Gasshō,
Recently I was asked some good questions by a woman who lives flying distance from the Monastery. She wanted to know 1) how to make sense of flying to San Francisco to participate in the Golden Gate Bridge Walk when she could contribute far more by just sending in the money, and 2) what the point is in spending millions of dollars on a Peace Center in Assisi, Italy, when that money could be put to immediate, better use here and now. She added that she really wanted to discuss these questions because conditioned mind was having a field day convincing her these differences in perspective were proof she needed to quit this practice. Yes, she had seen and learned a lot during conditioning’s siege, but she had a growing concern that the voices would eventually wear her down.

I’m very glad she asked. I’m happy any time a person reveals what egocentric, karmic conditioning is doing to them. I’m pleased when I, as a representative of this practice, am given an opportunity to directly address concerns conditioning is attempting to keep hidden in its effort to sabotage a person’s relationship with their spiritual practice. Plus, talking with her helped clarify what is true for me about Zen awareness practice and Living Compassion. And, last, I get to tell all of you about this conversation, which may be helpful to some who might be in a similar struggle with those “persistent voices of discontent.”

Last weekend we had the first of our “Participation Days” at the Zen Center in Palo Alto. It was great fun. Our focus was on creating presentations to be used in some upcoming events, as well as the one we will send out to teachers and members of various organizations who want to be informed about our work in Africa so they and their students and colleagues can participate with us.

As we were leaving Palo Alto on Monday morning, we had a conversation in the kitchen about the work we’re doing in Living Compassion and how people are still asking what Living Compassion has to do with Zen practice. Sister Phil, who lives at the Zen Center in Palo Alto, who was the head monk at the Monastery for many years, and who suggested twenty-two years ago that we buy the original Zen Center in Mountain View said, “But nothing has changed. We’ve always done this kind of service work, right from the beginning. We started with yard sales to pay the mortgage on the new Zen Center, then we created ‘Shoes for Kids’ when we learned there were children who couldn’t go to school because they didn’t have shoes. After that we did ‘Bikes for Tykes,’ refurbishing hundreds of bikes to give to underprivileged children at Christmas. We have supported the Ecumenical Hunger Project, a service organization in East Palo Alto (a poor community near the Zen Center in Mountain View), since the Zen Center opened in 1984. We’ve always ‘adopted’ one or more families, providing gifts and food for the holiday season. In addition we agreed to provide ‘extras’ when someone needed something special such as glasses or a washing machine or maintenance on their home. We did maintenance on the East Palo Alto Montessori School, provided vegetarian meals to teach people how to cook and eat as vegetarians, and offered gourmet vegetarian meals as fundraisers. We’ve worked with women’s groups, helped women and children in shelters, and done workshops in the local prison.” She summed up with, “Living Compassion is doing the same work on a larger scale, but that’s just logical—everything about the Zen Center is happening on a larger scale than it was twenty years ago. There are a lot more of us.”

When my teacher sent me out to do this work of encouraging and guiding people in the process of awakening and ending suffering, he said to me, “You will do for the love of others what you would never be willing to do for yourself.” He was right—as always. I would not have made the kind of effort for my own spiritual well-being that I have made knowing others might benefit from my endeavors. Years later I encountered another quote, from Ginny Ditzler of Your Best Year Yet, that to me expresses the point of Living Compassion perfectly: “If you don’t have something larger to serve, you will self-serve.”  That’s it!

This is a path of bodhisattvas. This is a path of people who commit not to enter Nirvana until all beings have entered. Now, that is worth thinking about! In the Three Pure Precepts we are exhorted to 1) Cease from evil, 2) Do only good, and 3) Do good for others.

The point of doing good for others is not the actual “good” that we do, though that can surely seem like the point to the person who is now eating instead of starving. So what is the point? The point is to be involved, to participate, to do for the love of others what you would never be willing to do for yourself, to serve something greater than yourself, to be a difference. The point is the conscious, compassionate awareness, the lovingkindness, the open-heartedness motivating the action. That’s what is life-changing—for everyone. It’s the caring that is life-changing. We go beyond our own egocentric, karmic conditioning in order to care for another. That is our challenge, our opportunity, and our blessing.

Sending in the money is not the same as being with all of us who are walking. It’s not the same as enrolling all your friends and relations to sponsor you on the Walk. When you enroll your loved ones, you give them the opportunity to participate, to go beyond their conditioning, to be a difference in this old world of samsara. Sure, they may just do it because it’s you asking. That’s okay. Someone or something asked you to wake up and see a larger perspective, and look at the difference that’s made in your life.

The money we will spend for the Peace Center in Assisi (and on the Monastery as we continue to make it an acknowledged Peace Center here in the U.S.) could conceivably be better spent. But when I visit the Louvre or the Roman Coliseum or even a beautiful college campus or a library, my first thought is not, “This money could have been better spent” (though, admittedly, I do have similar thoughts when I see a Wal-Mart or yet another mall under construction). Giving to what expresses the best in us humans seems a worthy use of resources. Expansiveness and beauty help us remember what we truly are rather than being lulled into believing we are what society says we are.

All that being said, if you can’t make it to the Walk or to the Sit-a-thon (yes, we agree it is a bizarre name, but no one can think of a better one) or to a Participation Day or to as many workshops or retreats as we would all like, we will be very happy indeed for you to send us a donation. But if it is ever a choice between you and the money, we choose you. We are an intelligent, talented, creative, resourceful group of people. When we get together we can figure out where the money will come from to do what we want to do.

Gasshō,
Cheri