1991.03.02-serial.00150

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I have to taste the truth of life with those words. Good morning. Good morning. There's lots of kids here this morning. This is our monthly children's lecture. So, the first part of the lecture I'll be talking mostly to the children. And I wanted to ask you if you've ever heard of the word goodwill before. You've ever heard goodwill? What is goodwill? Do you think? Karuna? When you give up something? When you give up something? Yeah, that's part of it. Did you want to say something?

[01:02]

When you give away something to goodwill. Down in the basement? We have a goodwill at Zen Center, don't we? Who's been to the goodwill at Zen Center before? How do you like it down there? Is it fun to go down into goodwill? How come, what do you like about going down into the basement to goodwill? Jana? You can take anything you want. I think it kind of means you do something just because you want to help someone else, not for any special reason, just because of your goodwill. Uh-huh. Somebody else wanted to say something about goodwill? The goodwill? You know, Zen Center has what we call the goodwill, which is this place down in the basement where you can bring anything you want and leave it, things you don't really want anymore, and then other people get to take those, and it's this exchange all the time.

[02:07]

And the goodwill gets filled with bunches of things, and then they're taken to another goodwill. It's another place in San Francisco where sometimes people mend. If the clothing needs mending or things need fixing, the people at goodwill, the other goodwill, take care of those things and then offer those for sale. Well, goodwill, so it's this feeling of giving something, right, giving something up very freely because you just want to give it away. It's time to give it away. And that kind of thought of goodwill is a very, shall I say, that thought is not just a useless thought. And the Buddha talks about having a thought of goodwill, which I want to talk with you about a little bit. Do any of you know how to snap your fingers? Okay. Now, when I say three, everybody snap your fingers, okay?

[03:11]

One, two, three. Okay. You know what the Buddha said about a finger snap? It's very interesting. The Buddha said that in the time it takes to snap your fingers, that much of a time, the lasting of that amount of time, if during that time you have a thought of goodwill, that person who has such a thought at that time is called a practitioner. You know what a practitioner is? Somebody who practices the Buddha's way, practices understanding and compassion. So if you have a thought of goodwill, even that lasts this long, that thought is not a useless thought, and that thought means that you're practicing the Buddha's way and following the Buddha's advice, and he also says that you can eat the food that's given to you,

[04:14]

feeling that it has a purpose. So that's a pretty short time. And then the Buddha says, if that's what happens when you have that short thought of goodwill, what about if you have a longer thought about goodwill? That has a lot of effect. So let's everybody snap your fingers, and while we snap them, when we say one, two, three, snap, have a thought of friendliness. Goodwill is friendliness and feelings of non-harming towards other beings. So let's all try. See if we can even have such a thought in the snap of our fingers. One, two, three. That's pretty fast. Did you have a thought? It's pretty hard to have a thought of goodwill so fast. Should we try it again? Let's everybody in the whole room snap. One, two, three. Now, that's if you just happen to have a thought of goodwill.

[05:17]

Then if you happen to cultivate, even this length of time, the lasting of a finger snap, if you think a little bit more about goodwill or really pay attention to it, that has lots and lots of effect. So one way you can kind of lengthen that time is to say something like, May all beings be happy. That's sort of a big thought of goodwill for all beings. So let's snap our fingers and think, if we can, May all beings be happy. See if we can get it in the length of a finger snap. Okay, one, two, three. Okay. Now, that is an enormously big thought. Do you want to know why? Because all actions that harm people or all actions that help people come from a thought first. The action follows from a thought in your mind. So if you have this thought first,

[06:21]

the action will follow. So to have a thought, May all beings be happy, action can follow that. So I want to tell you a story about someone who had this kind of a thought. Actually, we've been having this drought. This is the fifth year of the drought. How did everybody feel about this rain we've been having? What? Wonderful. Didn't that feel great to have that rain come down? Yeah. Yeah. And at Tassajara it rained for three days, and the creek is filling up. Karuna? Whenever it rains, I feel sort of like a fresh feeling. Yeah, yeah. Because the air is really nice and cool. That's right. There's a little bit of breeze blowing. Doesn't everyone feel like Karuna? Refreshed? Well, we're in this terrible drought right now, and during the Buddha's time, there was a terrible drought going on. Do you want to hear about that, what he did?

[07:23]

There's two stories about a drought. One, it was a terrible drought, and all the crops, all the things that were growing were all shriveling up and withering and dying, and all the lakes and the pools, and they had these things called tanks where they built something that filled up with water where you could take a bath inside. They were all dried up because of this drought. And the fish and the turtles that were in some of these lakes, the water got smaller and smaller and smaller until there was just like mud, and they burrowed down in the mud to try to get to water, but they couldn't really get to water. And the Buddha saw them kind of in the mud there, and then the hawks came, and the crows came with their lance-like beaks, and they went swooping down into this dry lake, and they picked up the fish, and they flew away, and they picked up the fish. And the Buddha saw these, and he had compassion for these animals,

[08:24]

and he said to himself, I'm going to make it rain. So this is what he did. He had a kind of schedule where in the morning he got up and kind of took care of himself, and then he got dressed, and then he walked into the city and gathered alms, gathered in his begging bowl food for the day. So he did that. And then when he came back, he called Ananda, who was his kind of real good friend and his attendant who kind of took care of him, and he said, Ananda, bring me my bathing dress because I want to take a bath. And he was standing by this place called Jetavana where there was this tank that usually was available to step into and take a bath, but it was all dry down to the bottom. And Ananda said, Oh, but my lord, he called him my lord, it's all dry, there's nothing there, there's no water. And Buddha said to Ananda, Is the power of the Buddha great?

[09:26]

And Ananda said, Yes, my lord. And he said, Go get me my bathing dress. So Ananda went and got the Buddha's bathing dress, and then he stood on the steps about to go into this tank, and he just said, I would like to take a bath now. Well, up in another realm where there was this sort of, one of these hero-type gods, he was sitting on his throne, and all of a sudden his throne got really, really hot underneath, and he thought, What's going on down in this earth realm? So he looked down and he said, Oh my goodness, the master, that's what they call the Buddha, wants to take a bath, and there's no water. So he called the thunder god, who was his friend, and he said, The Buddha wants to take a bath. So the thunder god put on one cloud, that was his undergarment, and another big cloud, which was his overgarment, and he sped off into the eastern realms with clouds,

[10:26]

and the cloud got as big as this room, and then it got as big as the whole kind of block, and then it got a hundred times bigger than that, and this thunder god swooped down and poured out of his face and his mouth all this water on this land that had been all drought-filled, and the torrents of rain just came down, [...] and filled up the tank, and then it stopped, and the Buddha went in and took his bath, and all the monks who were practicing with Buddha said it was because the Buddha had this compassionate thought for these fish and these tortoises that were dying, and by the power of that thought, this rain came. Do you think that's possible? What do you think about that? Now there's another story about a drought, which is a little bit different. Drought was covering the land the same way.

[11:27]

The crops were all withered, and the animals didn't have anything to drink, and there was a group of 500 hermits. Do you know what a hermit is? There are people who live alone, but if there's a hermit crab, they live alone with their shell. Yes, that's right. So this was a group of 500 hermits who lived in this mountain, and they lived sort of together, but they practiced separately. So one of these hermits felt very badly for these animals that were sort of dying of thirst, and he decided he was going to do something, and he cut down a tree, a great big tree, and he dug it out, [...] until it was a big, long, long, long, long trough. Do you know what a trough is? Like a big canoe. He dug it out and gathered as much water as he could and filled it, gathered and filled, filled, filled, until the trough was all filled with water. And then the animals came to drink, and they began to drink and drink, and then more of them came to drink and drink,

[12:27]

and herds of animals came, because this was the only place they could find water. And this hermit kept filling the trough as best he could, filling the trough, and he became hungry. He was working so hard, but he couldn't stop because the animals were all drinking. And one of these animals finally realized, this fellow who's helping us so much must be hungry. He lets all of us, because there were so many animals, bring a piece of fruit when we come to take a drink the next time. So all these animals each decided, one brought a banana and one brought a breadfruit, which is a certain kind of a fruit, I don't know if it grows here, but, and mangoes and all sorts of fruits, until there was so much fruit there that there was 250 wagonloads of fruit that were there, and all the hermits got to eat. So that one hermit who was trying to help the animals and have them not have thirst, he not only quenched the thirst of all these animals,

[13:30]

but he ended up feeding all the monks, too, because of this act that he did, because of this deed. Where did he get the water from? I'm not sure. It was someplace the animals couldn't get to. Maybe there was a well or something that was down deep and he had to bring water from there. Someplace where the animals couldn't get to. So this is the power of a thought of goodwill, goodwill or friendliness or helpfulness. I don't know how he got it. How? Because there's a lot of money. That's right. I think he maybe dug down and got to the water where the animals couldn't do that kind of digging. I think so. Wait, what? What? Rabbit. His eyes were still looking at the rabbit. And he went. She could see it. So he called, called for one Chinese monk. Got a monk.

[14:31]

Well, we were keeping her on a big bench. She was in a chair, under that bench. And there was another thing. One of the bulldogs. And it was a rabbit. She got out, and she dug under that bench. Oh. Yeah, rabbits are good diggers. They can get under a fence like that. But I'm not sure they can dig down, [...] down to where the water is when there's a drought because sometimes it's very deep under the ground. So that story of that hermit shows what a thought of goodwill can do, an action that follows from it. Karina? Well, even if it was deep down under the earth, it would be hard to get because, you know, there was a drought, and so it would be dry. Yeah, it would be hard to get to. So let's do our finger snap, okay? And let's think a thought of friendliness

[15:34]

and a wish for everybody, okay? All beings, ourselves and all beings, okay? That they be happy and free from hatred and free from thirst and free from illness and all those kinds of things, okay? So, one, two, three. Okay. Thank you all very much. Okay. Okay.

[16:46]

There they go. Those little bodhisattvas. So, let's see. This last story that I talked about, the hermit who gave the water to all the animals, and then the animals wanted to give something back to the hermit, and they brought fruit, and... Can you hear me okay? Yes? And that fruit ended up feeding all the hermits. And this story to me is a beautiful example of not only the power of a thought and the action that follows, a thought of goodwill or compassion, it illustrates that beautifully,

[17:55]

and it also illustrates fundraising. It illustrates fundraising. Now... I've recently been asked to work in the part of Zen Center which is called the Fundraising Office, or the Development Office, and I've never done fundraising before, what's thought of as fundraising, specific fundraising. Now, fundraising, I think, for most people, has kind of a bad rep, right? Bad connotation a little bit, just kind of... I mean, unless you're a fundraiser, you're not really interested in fundraising. Is that true? And fundraisers are a little bit suspect, like used car dealers. I remember someone signed up for practice discussion with me,

[18:56]

and their wife said as they left the door, don't give her any money. So... And I also had that feeling about fundraising. In fact, it was one of the areas... Having been at Zen Center for a number of years, I was very happy to have somebody else take care of that and not be asked to do it. But since I've been doing it, I actually find it very, very... What shall I say? Right livelihood, maybe you could say, or not only right livelihood, but it's actually the essence of what happens here, just like that story where the hermit is doing, through the hermit's insight into compassion and feeling of interconnectedness with all beings, right? This particular hermit was a he in the story,

[20:01]

but he or she does some activity in the world out of heart, out of love, out of compassion. And then that's appreciated, and then people just naturally want to bring fruit, want to bring a present, want to offer something back. So it's this win-win situation. It's not like someone is losing something in order for someone over there to get what they want. The situation is completely mutually enhancing, naturally that way. It's a win-win situation. They recognize this person is working so hard they don't have enough time to gather fruit for themselves, to gather food, so we'll bring the food, and they can keep doing what we can't do for ourselves, and back and forth and back and forth. So this is true fundraising, actually.

[21:02]

This is fundraising in action. Now, I looked up fundraising, looked up the words in the dictionary, and fund, not so surprisingly, comes from a word that means the basic or elementary or the foundation, you know, foundation, profound, come from the same root. And it's a fund is resources or money set aside for a specific purpose is a fund. And the word raise means to make appear that which hasn't been there before. It's one of the definitions, or to make grow, right? So you have a situation where the fund is like the foundation

[22:10]

or the basic resource on which you can build, and the fundraising is to make that appear. Well, how do you make that appear in the world? How do you make funds appear? How do you raise funds? And there's whole, you know, there's fundraising schools and all sorts of lore about it and technique, but the basic way to raise funds is where you do something out of your thorough understanding of what the need is, what need there is in the world, and this is recognized, and it's a circle. It's a... You can't tell where it begins and where it ends. If you're doing that, then it... So Suzuki Roshi talked about the Dharma wheel turning and the material wheel turning, and they turn, they've got... One way you can have an image of it is that they have little,

[23:13]

what do they call, gears, and when one turns, the other turns, they're connected by their teeth, you know, by the gears. So when the Dharma wheel turns, the material wheel turns too. And if the Dharma wheel isn't turning, the material wheel doesn't turn, and if the material wheel doesn't turn... For example, if the animals just kept drinking and drinking and it didn't occur to one of them to bring fruit, this poor guy would have to stop bringing water because there are limits to body and energy and stamina and so forth, he would give out at a certain point, he couldn't keep going that way. So when the material wheel stops, the spiritual wheel stops too because they're so interconnected. So, the...

[24:23]

Keizan Jokin, who's one of the ancestors in the lineage, Dogen's... One of the Dharma heirs of Grandmaster Jokin, and son of Dogen, says, Zazen is just to illumine the mind and rest easy in our fundamental endowment. Zazen is just to illumine the mind and rest easy in our fundamental endowment, which is to say that every person has a fundamental endowment. Fundamental meaning, this is a given, this is basic origin, source, there, before you know it's there. Fundamental endowment. I looked up endowment, and endowment has to do with dowry. To endow is to give a dowry.

[25:26]

So a dowry is your... Well, that was interesting to me, that that's what endowment means, to have your dowry where you can then... Depending on which system, you either pay the dowry or you have to have a dowry in order to make this connection of marriage in this case. So Zazen is just to illumine the mind and rest easy in our fundamental endowment. Now it's interesting also that the root of the word fund, or fundamental, from the root comes also the word fundament, which means buttocks, which means your bottom. So it's so perfect for Zazen because in order to raise funds

[26:30]

you've got to sit down on your bottom, on your fundament, and raise, make appear, or rest easy in your fundamental endowment. And that activity, if people are aware of... People then want you to keep doing that because they drink from that... I'm mixing my metaphors. They drink from that trough that's getting filled. So they bring fruit, right? They bring the breadfruit or the mangoes. So in trying to, for example, write... Is this getting boring about fundraising and noticing people are leaving? So, for example, I've been working on a fundraising proposal for Zen Center, and in writing that kind of thing you have to first... You can't just say, well, we need money for this, this, and this, and this.

[27:30]

You have to first go back to the fundamentals, right? What is it that you're offering? Are you actually fulfilling a need? Are you actually offering water to drought-thirsty animals or not? Are there any animals there who want to drink? And if there aren't, that's not the animal's fault, or it means you're not offering something that's needed. Somewhere something's off, right? So you have to first, before you can ask for funding, you look at what it is you're offering and is it fulfilling a need? It's very basic to fundraising. It's called the case statement, right? And you have to really ask. You have to look. You have to scrutinize what it is you're doing. And if you can't answer those questions, first of all, what is the need you're serving, and da-da-da-da-da, and if you can't describe that, it's pretty hard. There's no fruit. No fruit comes. So one of the hardest parts about writing this proposal

[28:33]

was looking at Zen Center very clear-eyed, or trying to, and say, what is the purpose of Zen Center? Is anybody... Why do people come here? What is it that they're... Does it really matter? Would it matter? One way to look at it is to think, would it matter if Zen Center weren't here anymore? Would that make a difference to people? Let's look at it. If Zen Center wasn't here, what would that mean? Would anybody care? So these are the kind of questions, you know. And sometimes when you're in the middle of it and very involved, you actually don't know anymore why anybody comes or what the purpose is. What is it serving? What is the water we're offering? And so that's a question that I'm actually putting to you folks. Many of you have come, maybe some... For whom is it your first time here today? Okay. And everyone else has been here, some of you, many, many, many times,

[29:33]

years and years you've been coming. So that's really a question. What is the purpose of Zen Center? And what are we offering? Now, this Fundamental Endowment, Zazen, Zazen just allows you to illumine the mind and rest easy in your Fundamental Endowment. You know, for a while, Zen Center was talking about trying to get an endowment, raise money for an endowment for Zen Center, which is something lots of institutions do. They have the endowment that's in the bank somewhere, and then interest from the endowment takes care of the operations and so forth. And we were advised very strongly by someone not to get an endowment, not to go that route for various reasons. And some of the reasons are

[30:34]

when you have an endowment and the money just comes because it's in place, you begin to lose touch with, or you may lose touch with, the people who are coming to the place to, for whatever reason, because you don't... You begin to lose that interconnectedness of those two wheels because the material wheel is just going to spin. It's kind of disengaged, or it can become disengaged because you don't really need donations or contributions because you're okay. And the tendency, or what can happen is the institution or church or whatever can get further and further away from what the Assembly feels is vital and what the Assembly needs because you're not locked in together anymore. So instead of having a fundamental... Instead of having this kind of endowment, the fundamental endowment is there.

[31:35]

But instead of trying to do this other kind of endowment, the feeling was to fundraise for specific things that are needed and make a clear and strong case for why those are needed, and then people will respond to that. And it's the same with our own fundamental endowment that Zazen illumines the minds and allows you to rest easy in this fundamental endowment. This rest easy does not mean that you leave off work in the world or leave off compassionate action because in this tradition, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are the awakened ones, and those who are practicing in this way are fundamental to this practice. Every time you sit, foremost in your mind is compassion for all living beings.

[32:38]

That's part of the sitting. So resting easy in your own fundamental endowment does not mean that you forget others and you get to rest easy. Fundamental endowment is everybody's fundamental endowment, and if someone doesn't understand or is suffering, then you know and feel for that person because you know how it feels too. You know that you want to be happy, you want to be free from hatred, you want to be free from ill, you want all these things for yourself, and each person is like that. And so compassion arises for everyone. So resting easy in your fundamental endowment means that you sit on your fundament and make appear these resources

[33:44]

and then use them at will or use them for whatever is in front of you, whatever needs to happen. And you try never to forget all living beings. All beings, living or not living. So that is part of our tradition. And sometimes when you first sit you actually can say something to remind yourself of that, that you're sitting, your meditation practice is not for you alone. Those of you who have had Zazen instruction or who sit, when you bow to your cushion and when you bow away, that to me is always a reminder. Bowing to your cushion is bowing to everybody who's ever put their fundament down on a cushion, past, present, and future. You bow to them in understanding of their... the aspirations they have which are the same as yours.

[34:44]

And then you turn around and you bow away, and that's to all beings, past, present, and future. And they're all right here as I sit myself down. They're all included. They're all included. And... In that story about the finger snap, this is from a Pali text called Gradual Sayings of the Buddha, and the name of it is Finger Snap. And I changed it a little bit for the children, but what the words of this translation was, it said, O monks, in just the time of a finger snap, if you were to indulge

[35:44]

in a thought of goodwill, such a person is a monk. And I changed that for practitioner. Maybe I could change it again for practitioner, but anyway... And such a person abides by the Buddha's teaching, takes good advice, and eats the country's alms food for some purpose. And then there was a little footnote which said, For someone who isn't acting worthy, it is better to swallow a hot ball of iron than to eat food which is given through charity. Now, we have this meal chant. Some of you have heard it. It's a long chant, and let's see, it starts out, Innumerable labors brought us this food. We should know how it comes to us. Receiving this offering, we should consider whether our virtue and practice deserve it.

[36:46]

Now, many people sort of, they choke. It's like they look at their plate of food and they say, How can I possibly scoop up lasagna now? And I remember when I first came to Zen Center that I would always be particularly brought up short at this point of, you know, whether my virtue and practice deserve this food, this plate of food. And then I read this thing about, If in a finger snap you have had, you have one thought of goodwill, you can eat the country's alms food for some purpose. And I thought, Ah! And I know that for a number of people, this particular saying has always been like, Why do they put it in there? You know, I can't, emotionally, I can never feel comfortable eating because we're very hard on ourselves, I think. We can be very hard on ourselves and we forget that we actually have had,

[37:47]

in just the time of a finger snap, we've had a thought of goodwill, you know, or cultivated a thought of goodwill, or attended to it. And then, the last part is, then what of the person who makes more of such a thought, not just a finger snap, but makes more of it, you know, actually dwells on it, thinks about it. So everybody can eat. Not to forget this, though, I mean, I think it's a reminder, does my virtual practice deserve, have I had a thought of goodwill today? You know, have you hugged those bumper stickers? Have you hugged your child today? And further on in this finger snap, little chapter, it talks about harmful thoughts and actions which follow from, harmful actions follow from a harmful thought.

[38:48]

So it's kind of weighing the two together. Both of these appear in mind, and you can actually cultivate one, and they each perfume the next thought, or have a, the thought that precedes the next thought has, it's one of the causes and conditions of the following thought. The preceding thought is one of the conditions for having the next thought. So they're interconnected in some way, and the absence of one kind of thought will allow another kind of thought to come up. Because of this, this is. So if you can get into a real run of negative thinking, you know, and each one of those thoughts perfumes the next, or is the causes and conditions for the next thought and the next thought. So, so this finger stamp,

[39:49]

you know, even this one brief thought of goodwill has, the quote is, is not, this is not a thought in vain. This is not a thought in vain. Or, this is not empty musing. This is not just salute-a-do. Well, I'll think this, and then I'll think this. This actually has, or any thought has this consequence, is causes and conditions. So, so not to take it for granted, well, so I've had a thought for a finger snap, but you can actually get into a train or a whole time of very negative thoughts, you know. And one of the things that helps with that, that makes those kinds of thoughts wane, and allows goodwill and so forth to arise, is mindfulness. Mindfulness of your thoughts. Because often we don't even know

[40:50]

what we've been thinking, you know, for long periods of time you wouldn't even be able to tell somebody what, what you've been thinking about. So mindfulness and earnestness. So I just, um, I, I was going to talk with the kids about the fact that the war was over, and, but it's not what I felt like talking about, but I did feel a, it was in lecture actually, Wednesday night, that Mel, one of the abbots, said that there had been a ceasefire, and what I felt when those words, when I heard those words was a kind of ceasing

[41:50]

of something I had been holding very tight to. I don't know if many of you had that experience of when you heard it was over, or this aspect of it was over, the fire fighting. I felt a certain, it was right kind of in a heart shock, or kind of, it kind of let go a little bit. And I didn't realize the extent to which I was kind of holding. So what I've been talking about, you know, harmful actions, following harmful thoughts and so forth, the, the full-blown kind of manifestation of that, which starts in each person's body-mind, is something like the war that just went on. That's really no different in terms of actual, you know, the mechanism of it than what each one of us knows very thoroughly of how actions follow thought.

[42:51]

So, I just, that was sort of parenthetical, but not really. So I, I want to encourage everyone to, I think it's really important, and I want to encourage everyone to, you know, examine this question of, what is Zen Center? What is Zen Center to me? What is the purpose of Zen Center or what's offered here? Is it vital to my life? Is it, would it matter if Zen Center wasn't here anymore to me? Really? And if so, I think it would be very helpful to Zen Center to hear about this. What isn't working? What, what makes sense? What, what is not life, full of life here? And what you want us to do, and what you want to do, because then it's, then it's not Zen Center is doing this and I'm coming and just feeding or drinking at this trough and going away. It's more like

[44:06]

this is my endeavor too, and I have an investment and an ownership, and it's here. You know, what we came up with for this fundraising proposal for what is Zen and the purpose of Zen Center was this very tight paragraph, very short. In fact, we had two paragraphs, what is Zen, followed by what is the purpose of Zen Center. And the purpose of Zen Center was so short, we combined the two because it looked like, it just, it looked sort of strange. But what we came down to is the purpose of Zen was, this isn't word for word, but it's to convey Suzuki Roshi's teaching and practice. That was the purpose of Zen Center. And what is Zen had to do with this fundamental endowment and when you sit and feel the fundamental endowment or the stillness that is the ground

[45:08]

of our being, when you're in relation to this, or I shouldn't even say relation, when this is experienced, no, I should probably read it exactly to you because it was so tight that if I try to paraphrase it, I lose it. Anyway, it had to do with opening to yourself and to others in the world once you understand this fundamental endowment and rest, we didn't say this, but rest in the ease of your fundamental endowment. What happens is that you open yourself to all beings and this openness, so it's not human centered, it's all being centered and it's interconnected with all beings and then activity flows out of this. So that was Zen and the purpose was to make a place for this to happen. When we got it down to the tiniest thing, it was to convey Suzuki Roshi's teaching and practice and to make a place for that to be conveyed

[46:09]

because it's kind of hard out in the street corner, so to make a place for that and then any other thing that comes out of that, any program or any social service or cuisine or guest program or anything that comes out of that is just a response to what individuals and society is asking for. So it's very connected to everything around. So I really feel it's important for Zen Center to know from you all who come or who live here, what's working, what isn't working and why.

[46:45]

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