Nothing Wasted

0:00 This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:17 Good morning, dear Saṅgha, here in Green Dragon Temple. Hello to all of you joining us online now, in the future, and to everybody else who may just be out for a walk right now. Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:33 My name is Eli. I'm one of the resident priests here at Green Gulch and currently serving as the head of practice. Before I begin, I want to give gratitude to our abbot jury for inviting me to this seat. And somehow he's managed to miss all three of my talks here. I'm just kidding. He is the hardest working abbot in Zen biz, so no love lost there. Report an error in the passage at 0:33 Highlight the passage at 0:33

1:01 Also, gratitude to my teacher, Ed, for turning me all of these years. I think that'll make more sense later. So before we begin this morning, I wanted to guide us in a little meditation, if that's okay with you. So I invite you to close your eyes. If you're not comfortable with that, you can just lower your gaze. Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:32 So just start by simply feeling the weight. I'm just aware Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:45 and noticing that gravity is already holding you. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

1:53 It's a relationship that you do not have to create. It's already there. Report an error in the passage at 1:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53

2:02 Become aware of your breathing and without effort, just watching air as it enters and as it's leaving. Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

2:23 Now what I'd like you to do is to gently bring to mind Something that you ate yesterday. Maybe breakfast. Maybe lunch. Maybe just a cup of tea. Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

2:47 And so notice that this is no longer food. It has already begun becoming you. The Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

3:02 apple is becoming skin. Yes. The rice is becoming warmth. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:14 And the tea is becoming this very breath. Report an error in the passage at 3:14 Highlight the passage at 3:14

3:22 I argued with this for years too. So now notice something else. Notice every cell in your body has not finished its work. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:37 It's already being recycled. Report an error in the passage at 3:37 Highlight the passage at 3:37

3:43 Cells die, new ones arise, bacteria receive them, and other cells arrive. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

3:58 This body that we inhabit is continually letting go, continually receiving. Report an error in the passage at 3:58 Highlight the passage at 3:58

4:14 Nothing Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:20 here is static. Nothing stands alone. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:31 This very body is not separate from the earth. Report an error in the passage at 4:31 Highlight the passage at 4:31

4:38 It's one expression of the earth's continual transformation. So Report an error in the passage at 4:38 Highlight the passage at 4:38

4:53 slowly allow your awareness to expand beyond your body into this room, throughout Green Gulch, the fields, the gardens. Report an error in the passage at 4:53 Highlight the passage at 4:53

5:12 All the way past the compost piles. Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:19 To the hawks overhead. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:24 The worms beneath the soil. Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:30 None of them are outside of this moment. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:38 None outside of this breath. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

5:46 Nothing in this moment stands alone. Nothing is static. So when you're Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

6:04 ready, you can open your eyes. So I guess over a week now. I realize that us residents, the wider saṅgha that comes in, are not the only one practicing Buddhism at Green Gulch. Report an error in the passage at 6:04 Highlight the passage at 6:04

6:28 Normally I talk about bubbles, but today I want to talk about compost, the great bodhisattva of transformation, the great bodhisattva of nothing wasted. Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:47 So as many of you know, there's many, many residents that live here. And part of what we do besides kind of formal practice is work. We take care of the lands, we cook food, we take care of each other. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:06 And so a couple of Fridays ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with the farm crew, dear friends. And the job assignment that I was given was compost, which I knew in advance and was kind of curious about. Report an error in the passage at 7:06 Highlight the passage at 7:06

7:24 So we meet usually right in front of the bell, circle up, announcements, bow to each other as a whole community. And then each crew goes to their particular department, I guess you could say, Zen department, and has another little bow-in. And usually we read a short verse or a passage or from a book and then have an individual check-in. And so the book we were reading, I happened to be reading that morning. It was from Reb Anderson, former abbot of this temple, Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains. Report an error in the passage at 7:24 Highlight the passage at 7:24

8:05 It's a great title. I've never heard it. So in it, he says that, I heard Suzuki Roshi say that Buddhism is not one of the isms, like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:23 Buddhism is when Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism go beyond themselves. Buddhism is not Buddhism. The Buddha way is not to try to make everyone into a Buddhist. It is to appreciate how all beings are not under their own control, nor under our control, and to be devoted to all of these beings. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:52 It is to appreciate beings the way that they are and to examine the mistakes that I am So in short, some of what I took from that is Buddhism is not another ism. It continuously goes beyond itself. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:09 Become intimate with your mistakes and that no understanding is complete. So I'll give my best attempt. This week also we had a group, Saṅgha Week. Asanga visiting us, studying the Ginjo Koan, and they're still studying over the year, but to them, I wanted to quote Dogen. He said, to study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by the 10,000 things or myriad things, a lot of things. Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:52 And perhaps I think that's exactly what compost is teaching us. Nothing in the pile remains only itself. The apple is actualized by bacteria, the bacteria by fungi, the fungi by worms, the worms by soil, and the soil by rain. Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

10:15 None of these things exist alone. Everything is realized through everything else. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:25 So after the reading, we just had a kind of a round of check-ins. I don't know if I was supposed to be first. Anyways, I blurted out, today I'm willing to put down my religion and try on a new one. I thought I meant compost. But anyways, the day started. We bowed in. Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:49 Myself, Daniel was driving. Lu Ting was... Riding with me in the back of the pickup and Nick was waiting for us down by the compost. So it's really kind of fascinating. The compost, if you don't know where it is, it's all the way down at the end of the property. And the kitchen and the compost buckets are all the way at this end for the most part. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:14 I guess the guest house and yurt are a little further. But we collected the buckets and started driving down to the compost. It was really beautiful driving across Green Gulch. From the front to the back, we can say from the front or the back to the front, but Lu Ting mentioned it was kind of like a ride at Disneyland. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:38 What I now think of it as is kind of like a gondola at Green Gulch. So we were just standing in the back of the bed, wind going through her hair, going over my head. And we were both, I think, in this kind of silence of just absorbing what was being Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

11:58 And I remember that she broke the silence by saying, I love compost because it was the first thing I did on the farm for work practice. I'm like, ah, me too. And she said, I love seeing where everything begins. I was like, wow, in my head. And then I think I did say out loud, I was thinking that this is where everything ends. Report an error in the passage at 11:58 Highlight the passage at 11:58

12:26 But it was interesting, by the end of the day, I realized that neither of us were right in that compost is not where things end. They're not where things start. Compost is where things belong. Report an error in the passage at 12:26 Highlight the passage at 12:26

12:44 So I'd want to express a little bit more about this bodhisattva. And I really don't actually mean this in metaphor, but actually as a true expression of our practice. Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

12:58 Compost receives everything, rejects nothing. transforms everything and also returns everything. Isn't that what a bodhisattva does? So I do believe that this compost is the bodhisattva of transformation, of nothing wasted. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:20 Avalokiteshvara, in some images, has 1,000 hands, all serving, hearing the cries of the world and extending an umbrella. A compost pile has billions. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

13:36 It has bacteria, fungi, worms. It's amazing. I was kind of cracking open the manure and out came like, I'm not joking, like a dozen or more worms and just a little clump this big. There's also microbes, just to name a few of these hands. So I thought that instead of just talking about this bodhisattva, that I could pay homage and actually build a living statue. Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

14:06 if that's okay with you. So, Neosho, can I have the land, please? Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

14:57 And also, actually, why don't we get the paper towels out as well right now? So the Report an error in the passage at 14:57 Highlight the passage at 14:57

15:15 first layer that we use in compost are paper towels. And to a degree now, or even when they're in the pile, they're almost invisible. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:30 I don't think any of you came to Green Gulch to pay a visit to the... They aren't what we'd consider maybe beautiful. Nobody writes poetry about them. Maybe I'm sure someone has. And yet, without them, the pile doesn't quite breathe right. And ecology reminds us that ecosystems are dependent on how things quietly relate. Gravity, oxygen, oxygen, microbes, fungi, the people who silently wash the dishes. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

16:13 GPs, thanks. Excuse me, guest students, thank you. The people who fold the towels and make the beds, the people who light the Zendo before dawn. So the Bodhisattva vow is not always dramatic. Sometimes it looks like a paper towel. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:35 So before we lay down these paper towels, I have a couple of questions. So the first one is, what invisible relationships are supporting your life right now? Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

16:51 You can think about it. I'll give you like 15 seconds. Report an error in the passage at 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:04 You have so much support. Report an error in the passage at 17:04 Highlight the passage at 17:04

17:10 Second question is, what ordinary things have been holding your practice all along? So again, what kind of ordinary things have been holding your practice all along? And Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:37 then the last question, What have you stopped noticing because it's always been there? This Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

18:07 pile, paper towels. Report an error in the passage at 18:07 Highlight the passage at 18:07

18:15 You'll not normally see paper towels go on an altar, but right now it's kind of okay. So can we have layer two, the food, please? Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:50 So layer two, food. Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

18:55 So, you know, in essence, food is nourishment. And I believe there's a pretty strong emphasis on not wasting. Especially nourishment in our practice. And we receive nourishment constantly from food, from friendships, from feedback, from silence, and from dharma. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:21 Food, if you think about it, carries kind of this ancient generosity. It's always given itself up without any expectation of things back. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:35 It never asked to remain food and completely offers itself. So again, every day we're nourished by conversations, by learning, by grief, by friendship, by beauty and silence. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

19:52 So a couple more questions before we offer the food. What have I consumed? But actually, I think the more important question is, what have I actually digested? Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:08 What teachings have I thrown away? Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:17 According to our sixth precept, Zen is not about accumulating teachings. Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

21:03 Okay, let's see. This is what happens out in the field. You get a little stuck. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:18 Thank you, dear nourishment. Report an error in the passage at 21:18 Highlight the passage at 21:18

21:24 We are ready for the greens. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:44 So next we put on greens. You could call them weeds, trimmings. And nature doesn't call them that. It's only what we do. Acknowledging that a weed is simply a plant that we exist simply where we think it doesn't belong. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:04 And I wonder how often we do this to ourselves. How many parts of ourselves have we named weeds? Fear, grief, ADHD, anxiety, restlessness, old age, sickness. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:24 So a couple of questions before we offer the greens. Which parts of your life have you decided don't belong? Take Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:40 a moment with that one. Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

22:45 Which parts of your life have you decided don't belong? Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

22:56 Next question. What emotion have you considered a distraction? Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:14 And the last question. What part of yourself keeps showing up, asking to participate instead of disappear? What part of you continues to show up and wants to participate instead of disappear? Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:39 So what if Buddha nature is wider than our preferences? So this dear... Compost asks, not should this exist, but how can this participate? How can we practice together? Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:00 So this is the cool trick that Nick taught me. So instead of just dumping them on, we do this kind of one, two, three. All right. Report an error in the passage at 24:00 Highlight the passage at 24:00

24:17 Thank you, dear greens. Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:45 It's interesting I put it in the same bucket that I put nourishment, but I guess it's, well, you could figure that out. I wonder if this is a first for the Zinda, perhaps. All right, so I thought about this in preparation. I think it will. It Report an error in the passage at 24:45 Highlight the passage at 24:45

25:21 smells real up here. Report an error in the passage at 25:21 Highlight the passage at 25:21

25:28 So we spend enormous, enormous amounts of time and energy avoiding the shit in our life. Shitty days, shitty jobs, shitty relationships, shitty mistakes. Report an error in the passage at 25:28 Highlight the passage at 25:28

25:43 But compost does offer another teaching. But before we offer that teaching, I have several questions. questions for you to contemplate. Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

26:00 What piece of shit in your own life became compost? Report an error in the passage at 26:00 Highlight the passage at 26:00

26:13 What disappointment became wisdom? Report an error in the passage at 26:13 Highlight the passage at 26:13

26:31 What grief softened your heart? Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:44 What mistakes enlarged your compassion? I'm Report an error in the passage at 26:44 Highlight the passage at 26:44

26:58 purposely using this word because a lot of times that's how we view these things. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:10 Shit is not outside of our path. It becomes one of our conditions for awakening, for truly turning. Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:21 Even though we may like it to be sometimes, the shit is not outside of our life. It's one of the primary conditions for transformation, for liberation. Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:36 Again, not because Zen folks think suffering is good, but because suffering should not be wasted. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:48 Zen practice asks us not to ignore our shit. Definitely don't hide your shit. Don't worship your shit. It could be a thing. So again, we turn the shit with awareness and we tend to it with sincerity and reverence. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:24 The flip thing, I don't know about this one. Report an error in the passage at 28:24 Highlight the passage at 28:24

28:33 Nick is so much more skillful. He has like a bulldozer with, you know, anyways, it's not a yogurt lid that totally got on the iPad. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:55 Okay, now we get to the good part. Turning the pile. I will sterilize this kitchen. I'm so sorry I did not ask, but I figured metal. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:25 Place the fork down so no one steps on it. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:35 Practice is not about removing what is difficult. It's introducing oxygen or breath, perhaps, relationship and movement, time, turning resentment, turning grief, turning joy, turning confusion, turning our entire life. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

30:10 So recently, I guess because I live at Green Gulch now, I don't know, three months. Ecology, I've been a little bit more interested in it, and it really or literally means the study of home, not as a place, but in the form of relationship. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:28 It asks what conditions allows for life to live together, to thrive. Buddhism, I think, is asking a very similar question. We call it dependent arising. Nothing exists by itself. Nothing becomes itself by itself. Everything is quite literally a meeting place. The forest is not made of trees. This body is not made of organs. The saṅgha is actually not made of people. It's all relationships. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

31:06 It's all participation. It's all practice. Report an error in the passage at 31:06 Highlight the passage at 31:06

31:14 And a compost pile isn't just made from scraps. It's made by continuously changing form. Nothing disappears, nothing remains, relationships just changing. So this microbe to forest to body to planet to universe is dependent arising and it's simply not just a philosophy. If Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:49 I had to express it in one sentence, I would say it's the ecology of being, the agriculture of awakening itself. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:07 So in our Zen practice, we're very much like compost, becoming intimate with our mistakes and all other matters of our life. Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:19 Compost, dear compost, becomes intimate with everything. Nothing remains at arm's length. Nothing remains permanently condemned. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:32 Nothing remains waste. You think of our great teachers, Dogen, Suzuki Roshi, Reb, Mel. My teacher Ed, Linda Ruth Fu, Mako, Abbot David, so many other Abbot, so many other amazing teachers have tried to express to us one thing, be ordinary, become ordinary. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

33:02 Going back to Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains, Reb says, we accept and become intimate with our ordinariness. And the ordinariness of others. So as I look here at this profound pile of ordinariness, again, something that is sacred and that I revere. Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:34 Going back to our 13th century teacher, Dogid, he said, firewood becomes ash and it does not become firewood again. So the apple does not become the apple again. The paper towel. Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

33:54 No more paper towel again. The manure doesn't become manure. It becomes manure again, maybe, but it becomes other things first. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:06 Again, nothing returns to what it was, and yet nothing is lost. Ash nourishes the soil, soil nourishes the roots, and the roots nourish the forest. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:22 So this is the compost teaching. It's not just merely a pile of ingredients. It's transformation itself and it dissolves identities. I don't think I mentioned that. Forms disappear. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:39 Relationships continue. Teacher, student, success, failure, good Buddhist, bad Buddhist. It's all just participation. All just practice. All Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

34:55 just soil. There's really no independent self. It's just all becoming. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:06 Wrap things up, because it's about that time. A couple of Thursdays ago, actually the day before I went and did this composting adventure, our Abbot jury was teaching a Thursday night class. Report an error in the passage at 35:06 Highlight the passage at 35:06

35:22 It's kind of like a Dharma talk kind of a class. And anyways, towards the end of it, he had us turn to somebody that we were sitting next to and speak to them. As if they were Buddha. I mean, we all are Buddha, but like Buddha, Buddha. Don't worry. I see some of you sweating, thinking that I'm going to pull that on you. Don't worry, I won't. But in that exercise, me and Amir, one of the guest students that was visiting us, were trying that out. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:57 And I know I was kind of hot. Everything was kind of, for both of us, a little clumsy. And the second part of that, The exercise was to actually speak it as a sūtra to the other person. I think that's what it was. Do you remember? Okay, looking at the residents there somewhere else. But I think that was the prompt. So say hello to the Buddha, whatever you have to say, and then say a sūtra. Very, very hard. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:26 However, the next day at our compost adventure, it came quite easily. At the end of our... Our time together, Daniel, Nick, Lu-Ting, and myself bowed to the compost. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

36:45 And I felt a deep warmth of gratitude, and the words came out, thank you. And I think that's apropos to say to a Buddha. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Too many I's. Two hands, but thank you. And for the suture verse, nothing came easily at the moment, but since I have you here, deer compost. Report an error in the passage at 36:45 Highlight the passage at 36:45

37:23 I don't think that's how sutures start. Maybe a deer compost. Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:29 Nothing asks to remain itself. The apple lets go of the apple. The weed lets go of the weed. The paper towel, the peel, the worm, the shit. Compost. Report an error in the passage at 37:29 Highlight the passage at 37:29

37:44 May this mind become like compost, rejecting nothing, wasting nothing, holding nothing apart. May everything we call useless ripen into wisdom, compost body, compost world, compost universe. May all beings be nourished. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:14 I think we have a few minutes for questions, comments, concerns. Report an error in the passage at 38:14 Highlight the passage at 38:14

38:26 So I went through an extremely difficult time about five years ago, and I realized no shit, no lotus flower. So pay attention. The gift is to pay attention and find that being in the present is where the gift is. Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:47 Thank you, Jonathan. And I was not calling people paper towels, but... This space that you all come into every Sunday is often set up, prepared, and greeted by Jennifer. So thank you for taking such great care. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

39:08 Anyone else? I'm okay with going out with the baby. I got more bubbles. Thank Report an error in the passage at 39:08 Highlight the passage at 39:08

39:17 you Report an error in the passage at 39:17 Highlight the passage at 39:17

39:27 for such a unique dharma talk. I was wondering if you could speak just a little more about the participation. I understand the practice and the importance of regularity, but as far as the choice points of how to show up or where to participate in the process of difficulty, the suffering, S-H-I-T. I don't know why. So you're talking about how to participate in the... Your own composting process. I don't think we have a choice. Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

40:04 Actually, I think it's maybe just becoming more aware about how my body, speech, mind, my actions, my engagements, how am I participating. I think we have a little bit of direction, effort, sincerity that we can give to that. So I hope that helps. You can have a follow-up if that didn't. I need to stew on it a bit more. Report an error in the passage at 40:04 Highlight the passage at 40:04

40:31 Turn? Okay. Turn. That's what we say. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:43 Oh, very back there. Right in the corner. We'll bring you a microphone. Thanks. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:03 What about the things that can't compost and don't transform into anything when they get into the pile? So we should invent some technologies and science to take care of that. We can mitigate which products that we use. We can pass legislation. We can... Have companies that tend to waste in a more productive way. And I think that those parallels can be made in our own life. Report an error in the passage at 41:03 Highlight the passage at 41:03

41:36 Sometimes we need certain types of professionals to help us through, whether that be relational, whether that be surgery or something of that nature. So there's things that do not... Report an error in the passage at 41:36 Highlight the passage at 41:36

41:56 I do think, however, all things do transform. If you were to look at the earth maybe three million years from now, something would happen to that. But as far as our responsibility in the world is to tend to and turn compost in a way that feels healthy. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:17 And when things don't fit, recycling bin, trash, reuse. The best that I got for you. All teachings are not complete. Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:43 And I would still say all those things are included. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

42:50 We've got one more in the back. Li Mei. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

42:58 Li Mei was wonderfully heading the farm crew the day I was out there. Thank you for that experience, Li Mei. Report an error in the passage at 42:58 Highlight the passage at 42:58

43:15 There's time for both. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:21 Thank you for bringing the compost into the Zendo. I think maybe just more of a comment, Zendo. Report an error in the passage at 43:21 Highlight the passage at 43:21

43:32 So Report an error in the passage at 43:32 Highlight the passage at 43:32

44:02 It's intentional and it will happen but it might take like lifetimes you know but we're trying to do it a little faster and at the same time like we have to wait like we just let the piles sit for certain amounts of time and then let the microorganisms do their thing and let the worms do their thing and that sitting and like Not touching it for periods of time is also important. We're not turning it constantly. Yeah, so I think that also feels relevant to practice in terms of those periods where we do the work and we're intentional, but then we really just let go and we really just let our life do its thing without putting so much control over it. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:31 constantly. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:53 And also, if anyone wants to experience this in real life, you should come talk to me afterwards. I was going to try to get you to plug. You've been doing a great job. And we also do a lot of things that don't involve food waste or poop, a lot that doesn't involve that. So come talk to me. Yes, Lime has been generously, yeah, turning towards people who want to volunteer. Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:15 And yes, you don't have to touch the manure, but even if you're picking weeds or hoeing, It is all part of this compost pile that we're sitting in, the lands that we are part of. So please come to join us. Get the actual hands in the dirt experience. We would welcome you. Was there one more question over there? Report an error in the passage at 45:15 Highlight the passage at 45:15

45:42 Thank Report an error in the passage at 45:42 Highlight the passage at 45:42

45:47 you so much for the talk. I'm curious about the questions that are not asked. How do we discover? What needs the tending? Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:10 There's something in your body that might give you an indication, a Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:18 natural intuition. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:22 Sometimes we need education or to learn or to listen a little bit more and then a little bit more. I don't have a right or wrong or a perfect time to tend, but I think that tending is kind of like the bodhisattva attitude. We have a lot of attitudes, but that's one of them. that we're constantly just trying to tend to this moment, to this body, to what's in front of us relationally. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:54 So, always tend. I'm sorry. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:05 Okay, we've got one online and then we're going to go have tea, compost, and you can visit the sculpture we've made. See, there's a little wormy right there. Report an error in the passage at 47:05 Highlight the passage at 47:05

47:28 This is a question from Tyler. Hello, Tyler. In living with chronic illness, where there are parts of my body that I want to throw away, how might I continue practicing how to welcome and compost in the context of ongoing illness? Thank you. Beautiful talk. Thank you for your really deep question. I think that sickness, old age, and death, we have a whole Report an error in the passage at 47:28 Highlight the passage at 47:28

48:01 slew of teachings on just that and I I'm sorry to hear that you're practicing in such a way. I don't have a perfect answer for you. It's hard to tell someone to just keep showing up or hang in there. Or maybe there's this, maybe there's that. But to know that you are supported, Report an error in the passage at 48:01 Highlight the passage at 48:01

49:01 of you that is suffering as well. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:07 I'd be happy to also help connect you to people who have experienced more physical ailments in our community, but that is the answer I have for now. Report an error in the passage at 49:07 Highlight the passage at 49:07

49:20 Please reach out to me if you'd like to talk more or be connected to Thank you, Tyler. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:35 Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Give. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

50:02 May we fully enjoy the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02