Dharma Talk by Katsuryu Bill Cooper
April 6, 2026 to Falmouth Zen Center
Tonight I will review Johnson’s chapter on social transformation, and I’ll present a few dramatic poems by Tu Fu regarding his experience in war and poverty.
Charles Johnson, Taming the Ox, “The Dharma of Social Transformation,”
TuFu, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu, translated by David Hinton, New Directions 1988.
Brief Introduction
Katsuryu: Living Dragon, 2 syllable, Kats! (the Zen shout) and Ryu (Dragon). “Living Dragon.” April 6, 1986, ordained as a priest by Soyu Matsuoka Roshi in Zen Buddhist Temple of Long Beach.
Chapter 3: “The Dharma of Social Transformation”
Johnson’s responses when asked about the Buddha Dharma’s “power to transform society …”
Johnson presents Tillich’s view: Agape. Unconditional love=energetic form, “the will to transform individuals and social structures.”
Tillich says Buddhism has “metta” but lacks “the will” to transform society. Paraphrasing Tillich, Johnson says, Buddhism is a salvation from reality, not a transformation.
Some background on Tillich was a German Chaplain in WWI: returned devasted.
Developed into a brilliant intellectual, theologian at several German universities. A new, radical, Christian theology. God is being. (No hierarchy.)
Johnson’s critique of Tillich
“Will” or transformation has been strongly “modeled” in Buddhism. For example, Ashoka, 304-232 BC, who as king, had been a bloody leader until encountering the Dharma. He then, over his lifetime, dedicated himself to leading extensive projects for the benefit of all people: laws, government, organization, water works. He also favored and extensively spread Buddhism.
Tillich’s Question(s) to Buddhists:
“Do you believe every person has a substance of their own?” A good question.
Thus, says Johnson, what is required in the world is nothing less than “vigilant mindfulness.”
We make our own suffering, out of nirvana.
Dharma and People
Regarding our first impressions of others …
White’s (the race) project fictitious “racial substance” onto others.
Whites dualistically carve up the world and people in terms of illusory constructs of whiteness and blackness.
Buddha rejected essentialist thought. This position or lack of position–does it create conditions which may spark the dedication to social transformation intending to help all beings?
Help, not save. (Remember the Diamond Sutra’s cautions against developing any idea of an eternal, individual being or thought).
The Buddha is known for saying that if there were already a teaching of non-self, he would have taught a doctrine of “self.” The point is to rid us of (overly) attaching to concepts. This is suffering.
Instead, turn to experience this very moment.
Daily sitting. “Vigilant mindfulness.”
Tu Fu
712-770 AD. Tang dynasty. One of the greatest Chinese poets. Influenced generations: humanism, colloquial, not a courtly poet.
Raised to be a middle class bureaucrat. Failed exams. Hated his job.
An Lu-shan Rebellion: 755, Catastrophe for China. Destroyed his family.
Reading of poems by Tu Fu from Hinton translation.
Conclusion
Your thoughts and feelings?
What are ideas regarding your practice of Buddhism and your Social Transformation? How have you been living it?
Gassho,
Katsuryu Bill Cooper