Good morning. Today is the last day of our session, and also it's the last day of our practice period. Usually we would go another week, we go six weeks, but I'm not sure any of us could, I'm not sure we could handle that exactly. But it's been wonderful. And Sashin, it's wonderful to be back in Zendo. time for the first time in two and a half years together.

[01:05]

And just doing my schedule, even though the schedule is a little different than it had been, and perhaps it will be, but it's really settled. And I really appreciate the effort that everyone is making. So I've been thinking this afternoon, we will have the shuso ceremony with ensan totoku, round mountain, clear, genuine, Gary. And I've been, I wanted to say something about And the Shusos ceremony and sort of some of the thinking, reflecting back on some of the history of our Shusos and our practice periods here.

[02:14]

You know, the Shusos sits at the abbot's right hand and is really, is the abbot's right hand. in offering teaching, in offering this really wonderful example of practice, of setting aside all of his or her other concerns for this period, and just being there, meeting with all the students and exploring in depth a koan that I presented to him. All those are tasks of the Shusō.

[03:18]

It's an interesting thing because the Shusō is sort of standing at a threshold or standing at an edge and stepping over a threshold from into a role. They take up more responsibility for teaching, more responsibility for the Dharma in the future. And on the one hand, the activity of the Shuso say during work period, is very humble. But the humble is also the precious. So here, during work period, Gary's been cleaning the toilets. That's a traditional role for the Shusō at Dasa.

[04:19]

I believe they do the compost. And there's a lot of compost. And also she's so at the city center Greek culture, they they run every day. So they have to get up for everyone and run through the run through the monastery, ringing the bell, waking everyone up. Some of us at Shusel have done that here, just been responsible for the clappers, particularly when people were resident here. I went back to explore and found a wind bell.

[05:22]

from 1967, San Francisco Zen Center, which was their first practice period. I think Suzuki Roshi had just earlier that year, I think had ordained Richard Baker as a priest. Richard Baker was, was the first Jusseo. And there were some quotations of Suzuki Roshi in the in this window. And he talks about the Shusa ceremony. It's interesting. He calls it a discussion. So I think, as Laurie and I were speaking earlier, Suzuki Roshi was very aware that the language he used, the way he framed the practice here have a large impact. You know, so strictly speaking, we use, we call this shuso hosen shiki.

[06:33]

So shuso is shuso, shuso means head seat. And shiki is ceremony. And hosen means dharma combat. And it's, I think, noteworthy that Suzuki Roshi did not use the word combat. And that our attitude towards the ceremony here is not combative. It's bringing forth the Dharma. So Suzuki Roshi said the discussion ceremony is very old. and still exists in Japan. However, however, in Japan, it is more often, it's often more of a formality than anything else. The Shuso is often a young student without the experience necessary to answer questions about Zen that maturity.

[07:41]

So usually it's young monks who would enter the monastery either directly from their home temples or after a couple of years of university. And they had very little real Zen experience up to that point. And so it was really thrusting them into a role and it's kind of a, it's a role that perpetuates the lineage. But for us, it's a little different. So Suzuki Roshi says, the young shusō is given. So this is the way they do it in Japan. The young shusō is given the answers which have been given to the questions to other students. So it's scripted.

[08:44]

And so what's asked of the shusō in that circumstance is, can you bring your presence fully to you? It's actually sort of like the Soto version of Koan practice. Can you embody and demonstrate with your voice, with your actions, with your comportment, your understanding? that you have been given as a script, which is hard. But it's not the same as answering the questions that are just raised and offered to you sincerely by your brothers and sisters in the Sangha. So Suzuki Roshi continues, in America, the ceremony has returned closer

[09:50]

to its original content and feeling. Sentatsu, that's Richard Baker, is well into his older than his Japanese counterparts. No questions were given out. Chino sensei, that's Koban Roshi, he said, told the students, who demonstrated their own understanding of Zen and which probed the understanding of the Shuso. Something was obviously expected from the Shuso and the Zendo was charged with skeptical. How can a student answer a question that would usually be asked of a Roshi? And it's about to be resolved in one way or another.

[10:51]

So Sojin Roshi, Shuso in the fall of 1970. He had been ordained the year before here in Berkeley, and then he went and did a practice period And that practice period was led by Tatsugami Roshi. Tatsugami Roshi was a Japanese priest who had been the ino with a formal zindo manager position, which is a very high position at Aheiji. And he was a bluff guy who spoke no English at all. Sojun talks about it in his book. He said, we can talk to each other. I would talk in English and Tatsukami Roshi would talk in Japanese.

[11:55]

And somehow we seem to understand each other very well. Maybe so. But I think they did. Sojun always expressed love for Tatsukami Roshi and great respect. And some of you, when I was, when I've been training people to do the Bodhisattva ceremony, I give out a, I have a recording which includes Sojin and Fran Tribe, but it also has, it's a very grainy sort of Tatsugami Roshi. doing the Bodhisattva ceremony. It's really deep and raw. And there's something to be learned just by listening to his voice and how he embodied that ceremony. So when I had in 1970, when I had my Shuso ceremony, Tatsugami had me look away from the students.

[13:11]

In other words, he was sitting in the middle of the room, but he was facing the altar and everybody else back of him. And Tatsugami characterized it as questions coming from all sides. So it was unusual and I've never seen it done that way again. I'm not sure. I don't see it that way, but Maybe this is how they do it in some places, but we're not going to put Gary through that. You want to face the wall? You don't have to look at everybody. I've seen, you know, there are places where when somebody is giving a Dharma talk like this, they're also facing the altar. people are behind them.

[14:15]

So it's a way of depersonalizing, allowing the Dharma to speak for itself. I wish that I look forward, I think I gave it to Mel, to Liz rather. When we were going through Sojin's papers, I found something I'd never knew about or seen. It's a diary, a day-by-day diary of his Shuso term, where he wrote every day. It's really interesting. It's great to see the young Sojin wrestling with all the things that Gary's wrestling, there are other chuseaux that wrestles, and every student here has, and it just, it's very direct, very clear.

[15:18]

I'll have to borrow it back from Liz and see if we can sort of make it available. So this is the 32nd chuseaux we've had. I want to, before I go into talking about Berklee, just Let's see if there's other details that I wanted to share with you. It seems there's different ways that different temples organize the practice period and then organize the shusos. Some places the shusos, shusos for a year. And they have, they may have a lot of administrative responsibilities and positional responsibilities, not just sitting. It's interesting that the person who's the Benji is Nancy, who's been doing a wonderful job as Benji, is seen as sort of on deck.

[16:37]

You know, she's so in waiting. They don't do it quite that way. But, you know, often the Benji demonstrates characteristics that are really worthy of our deep respect and worthy of seeing as she's so at some point in time. One of the things I read that the Shuso is the heart of the practice and the desire to train in Sangha. And sometimes the best way to do this is by example, often by the example of forbearance and stillness. Grace, humility and willingness is the key to success.

[17:41]

In Japan now, so there's a shuso for every practice period, and the practice periods take place at training monastery. Usually someone is ordained at their home temple, and then they're sent to the training monastery. So for each training monastery, there's usually only one shuso per practice period. So what about all those other people? Well, even in documents, it says, currently appointment to the Shuso and Hosan Shike are often performed for form's sake separately from the actual training. There may not even be, sometimes what I've seen is that the Shuso ceremony is actually The photograph that they take of you with the fan.

[18:50]

You know, they set up the zendo. It looks like the ceremony. The real thing is the photograph. So this is what Suzuki Roshi warned us about. Looks like good. You know, it's weird. And I've seen it. I've seen it done. And often the Shuso ceremony is done in conjunction with the mountain seat ceremony. And the Shuso ceremony kind of seen as the abbot kind of planting the Dharma banner. So this is, in that sense, this is a significant event for me and for us about it, but I remember, it was a long time ago, when they had built Kojinan, I don't know, have you all been, have any of it?

[20:14]

Has anyone been to Kochanan? Kochanan is Akiba Roshi's temple in Oakland on Chabot. It's really beautiful. There's a whole, there's a whole Japanese temple there, you know, with a little Zendo with, I think, 12 seats. And it's very traditional joinery, you know, it's beautiful. And Akiba Roshi was installed His mountain seat was a big ceremony. They had dozens and dozens of priests came from Japan. And our friend, Bob Janicek, who was a resident here for quite a while, he was the Shouseau. And it was a one-day practice period. But it was a real shusho ceremony.

[21:15]

Were you there, Ross? Yeah, you were the Benji. I got a picture. Oh, maybe so. I don't remember much. What I remember is like, what actually I remember is all these Japanese priests, they couldn't agree on anything. And each one of them had their books of ceremonies and, you know, their guides to how they did it. And they're okay. They all did things differently. And that was wonderful to watch them come to agreement. And the ceremony was real, though, that the Kibaroshi set it up. So people ask real questions. And it was wonderful. Yeah. In reference to what Ross said, I don't remember a lot of stuff. You know, I don't remember exactly what I did.

[22:16]

There's a lot of these ceremonies that I remember. Yeah. What I observed was just your quiet presence next to our Dharma brother who resided here. It was all this sort of cultural flowing. and just both your all stillness right there just to support. I don't know behind the scenes, which, but there was my, I just did what I was told. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it looked good. Yeah. It might have been good. And I'll post, I'll find the picture and post it on the Baltimore. And just to say, this is exactly, this is exactly the mind with which people were working on the funeral. are, you know, we're, we're getting direction in this very complex funeral as Gary's been getting direction in this very complex ceremony and just trying to absorb it. And I don't have any ideas, you know, I just like, tell me what we have to do.

[23:23]

So I was thinking, since we had, we've had 32 practice periods here. And I actually printed out quite amazing, an amazing group of people. Quite a number of you are here today. If I look around, there's Andrea, Susan, there's Ross, there's Jerry, there's Karen, Mary, Judy did it in another location. And there's... I'm not missing anyone. There's just 32 people. What? Lori and... Lori, yeah, yeah. So what I recall is that I saw my first shuso ceremony in...

[24:30]

the spring, winter spring of 1988 at Tassajara. And Shuso was Gilfranza. And it was just a terrific, it was a terrific practice period. And he was a wonderful model of Shuso and teacher. And he's certainly flowered as a terrific teacher. And also, you know, year of surgeons. What year was that? That was in the spring of 88. And once I got that chronology in place, I realized that I must have come back. This is actually in January of 88 and mainly Scott and Fran Tribe were ordained here I think it was the week before I went down there. It was in January of 1988.

[25:35]

I just checked all these dates. I think what happened was that I came back from Tassajara, and now we had priests. There had been one other person ordained here who had, by Sojin, who had left. But Meili and Fran were really abiding present at Berkeley for many years, certainly from before, well, before I was here and just, we all really respected and loved them. And I spoke to Sojin when I returned and I said, why don't we do a presentation and have a chiselle? And I think other people really reinforced him. liked that idea. And so that, that was the first. So, uh, uh, Maylee Scott was the first Chousseau here in December of, and then, uh, Fran Tribe was, uh, was a Chousseau about six months later in June of 1990.

[26:56]

And then it became... So the next Shuso was Rebecca Maeno. All these people are not with us, at least in body. What I remember about Rebecca's was... I don't remember the questions. It's more I remember kind of the tone and the feeling of things. The thing about... Rebecca's, I think, was the longest Jusso ceremony ever. Well, Ty was wrong. Oh, maybe so. Maybe so. Sojin got so mad at us because everybody said to him what he was good at. At the end, Sojin said, you're not supposed to do that. But see, there's something remembered. Yes. By the way, Ross was the Benji for Rebecca. Ah. Yeah.

[27:59]

I mean, it was like, it went on and on, and it was just, but it was, it was great. It was essence of Rebecca. Yeah. And, yeah. Rebecca, I guess that was my first shisos ceremony that I experienced. And I had to have a question. It was my first practice period, and I said, I was so scared to ask a question, but she was so loving. I said, do you think I could be a Zen student? She said, oh, yes. That's wonderful. Joel? Yeah, I just wanted to... The statue is on the altar. Yes. This is made by Rebecca. Also, the Jizo altar in the back, she was a wonderful sculptor and just a wonderful person.

[29:04]

All these people were so wonderful, are so wonderful. The aquarium on the altar was made by Jack, who was in your dream. Right. In my dream yesterday, I spoke of Jack Van Allen. He forged that Kuan Yin, my wedding ring, Lori's wedding ring, which we went through. Jack was quite the character. You know, when we met with him for this ring, we finally said, Jack, I'm not marrying you. Bill, he donated a bunch of his foundry. Yeah. So they're in the walls that were staring. Oh, I didn't know that. They were staring at his Buddhas. I didn't see them. I just reported to me that he opened up. When I look around just my house and stuff, there's Jack Van Allen things. He was Jusso.

[30:04]

Here? Not here. It might have been in Green Gulch. or might've been at Zen Mountain Monastery. I'm not rather, Sonoma Mountain. It was really a wonderful thing for him. So now we've just gone on for there. I remember again, like I don't remember any of the questions or answers, but if I'm remembering correctly, David Weinberg was done in, it was a power outage. And so we did it all by candlelight. It was lovely. the Benji that year. Yeah, it was at night. It was raining and there was no power. It was beautiful. Yeah. So there's so many of these memories. There's memories of Shusos bursting into song, of shouting, of them being stomped.

[31:11]

The thing about the Shuso ceremony is that everything is revealed. Everything is already revealed in the course of the practice period. But in the ceremony, it's kind of compressed. Your wisdom, your understanding, your lack of understanding, whatever. The important thing is for the Shuso and also for everybody in the assembly is just to show up, just honestly and simply show up. So I wanted to give some, you'll get some again right before the ceremony from Lori, I believe, is that right? But Just some points to, to be aware of.

[32:18]

So give me a lot of people in this ceremony. So take your, take your, get settled in your body and breathe, you know, so it looks like there's going to be close to 60 people, 30 in the Zendo and 30 already registered. So I encourage you really to be concise, to ask a question, not an abstract question, a Dharma question that comes from your heart or from your heart. And make it a simple and direct question. And Gary will try to give you a simple and direct response. And so it's an opportunity to meet. The place where people seem to go astray sometimes is that the question is too conceptual or people feel it's incumbent on them to offer a preface

[33:39]

can go on and on to the question. Just, you know, what Roshi Joan Halifax says, no Arias. You know, just it's not about you singing. It's about really bringing up. So I'd like to advise you to do that. And also my advice to Gary, which I'm happy to share with you all, is, first of all, enjoy it. Sure, you just find your breath as you take the seat. The posture of the shiso. So the shiso, you'll see, has a fan in one hand, and has the shipe, dharma staff in the other. They're holding it, and they're sitting upright. that you're exposed.

[34:44]

There's a vulnerability to the posture. This is something that Blanche Hartman I think communicated to us at some point. Just, it's an openness, you know, it's like, yes, there's strength with your fan, strength of your shippe, but your belly is bare. Your chest is open. It's just zazen posture. So that's the attitude. Enjoy. Go with your first thoughts. Don't try to think too hard. Sometimes you'll think. And also what I think you want to experience is You get into a rhythm. You can settle into the ceremony.

[35:49]

It maybe starts haltingly in some ways, but then you get into it and then you're in the groove. And we should be in the groove ourselves in the ceremony. I'm so used to sitting there and asking. But in this position that I take, you know, having raised the, planted the Dharma banner, I just watch and I plan to enjoy as well. So I'm going to see if you have any questions or thoughts. as we move into this really auspicious afternoon.

[36:51]

Ross. Thank you for the introduction to what's going to take place today. In general, what came to mind was, at the Shuto ceremony, Sojin, he made a sound, and it stopped. And he said, he leaned over to the Shuzhou and said, stop trying to explain. And then the energy and the tempo kind of built up. And it's kind of an ongoing tension about how much, in general, how much do we explain our understanding and how much do we just present it. And some people need more talk and explanation. Others are more like visualism. Can you say a little bit about, like our practice in general, in that spirit, as well as, you know, for our ceremony and reminding us? Well, I think we're always trying, it's, you know, it's like I was speaking up the other day, this tension between gravity and spirit.

[37:59]

You know, our explaining mind is the gravity side, perhaps, and the spirit is just the bubble of thought that arises. And we're constantly finding a balance. And each person has their own style, their own way of expressing themselves. And sometimes it's more, maybe more elaborate. And that's not bad. I mean, I don't remember. I don't remember him interrupting Rebecca. You know, Rebecca was Rebecca. And, you know, it's like, fine. And sometimes, but sometimes what happens is that the Shuso gets caught. Planning is often a sign that they're caught.

[39:03]

And so it's a reminder. You know, really look for what the first... thought is that arises. It's not always that the first thought is the best thought, but it's usually honest in one way or the other. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. Lisa. I appreciate the open invitation to bring a question that she presented at the very beginning of Sashi, because it has informed the whole Sashi. And it seems impossible And one shusel ceremony could bring it all. So I'm very curious to see what happens. Yeah. You don't know now. Yeah. Right. Even though you may have been working on the question, or even though you may think you have a question, don't get caught on it. Just because when it comes to your moment to ask a question,

[40:09]

Something else may be really present for you. Also, each of our questions are conditioned by the other questions and responses. And our questions are determined how we are energetically meeting this yourself. So just be open. Don't try to figure this out in advance. Anyone else here? Anyone? So, Blake, there's a question. Let me go to chat here. What was the question is, what was my experience of what was my experience of ceremony? can't honestly say I remember much about it.

[41:11]

But I gave myself the advice to enjoy it. And what I remember was that there was some nervousness and anxiety at the beginning, and then that sort of dropped away. And I pretty much enjoyed it. And I don't know whether it was good or bad or what. I have very little recollection. of it. A certain sense of relief when it was over. Karen? I remember it was. Okay. It was good. Good, bad, you know. Yeah, thank you. Let's see. Laurie Sinaki? Oh, Laurie Sinaki, okay. I was remembering yours, which I don't remember the questions and answers so much, but what I remember is that you had talked, you had the koan of coming from the West, which in the old days was everyone's, I think, or it was the one you read or something.

[42:26]

It was very common, yeah. It was the seminal. I think at Tassajara they always did that. I think... Somehow it was an innovation that you got your own koan. So anyway, you were doing bodhidharmas. Before you maybe had two, I'm not sure, but you talked a lot. You really got in in your talks during the practice period. You really got into the story of bodhidharmas and Emperor Wu in some way that questions be very much about that. And I remember Norman, I specifically remember Norman's congratulation was like, I've never heard anything like this before about Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu. Like somehow as a practice period, we had really story and we're thinking about it and questioning it. So it was very, I just remember that as being a really nice moment.

[43:27]

Oh, thank you. What I can recall of mine When I'm studying a koan, I try to identify all the characters in the koan. And usually, you know, Emperor Wu is the fall guy. He's the guy that doesn't get it. He says, you know, he asked Bodhidramas before me and Bodhidramas says, I don't know. No knowing. And he asked, you know, then he's with some consternation. He says, I built all these, all these temples and monasteries. What merit is there? And Bodhidharma said, no merit whatsoever. You know, really tough stuff. And then Bodhidharma, you know, sort of flips his robe and walks off.

[44:28]

And, you know, who was that masked man? And my perspective, which I think is my perspective, was that that truth would not have been brought forth without Emperor Wu. That Emperor Wu, it was a dialogue. And we owe a debt of gratitude to Emperor Wu for allowing us, for showing himself. Anyway, that's what I recall. Other thoughts, questions? You mentioned like, are there any more questions? Reminding me of Sojin saying there are no...

[45:29]

wrong or dumb, stupid questions, because it actually invites a dialogue, which you just really get eliminated so nicely. And the response. Right. I mean, the thing is that for whatever reasons, we often carry our own shame. You know, we carry our own reluctance to speak, you know, our wish to to perform well, to ask a good question, to be a good Zen student. And that's all extra. It's all extra to just stepping forward and asking your question sincerely, whether it's good or not. Yeah, that's I think that's exactly right. Yeah. So along those lines, this exchange is reminding me one of the really wonderful aspects of the shoe-seaux ceremony that you're being a part of is that we all help the shoe-seaux.

[46:44]

Yeah. So they would go around the room and everyone asks a question, and sometimes the shoe-seaux is right on, and sometimes they kind of get the exchange, it kind of works, or maybe it doesn't, and the shoe-seaux kind of gets caught, People further on can continue to ask questions to really help and support the Shusos. It's a very dynamic process of exchange. It's not one way the Shuso answers all the questions. We're all making it happen. You know, I mean, I think that echoes what happens in the Shuso entrance ceremony where people promise to support the Shusō, and the Shusō promises to support the Sangha. And this is why this idea of dharma, combat, is not so, does not hit the mark for me, you know.

[47:54]

But we're not in a, you know, We're trying to transform the martial aspects of our culture. I'm talking about this country. Not just Zen, but Zen too. And so, yeah, that's the spirit. Joel. Yeah, that's great. I was just remembering when Laurie was speaking at her ceremony, and that whole week, She was so radiant. It was incredible. And I asked her that, and she seemed quite taken aback. And I said, how do you do something really scary? And I just keep remembering that. And it was beautiful. Well, yeah, thank you. This is a really, I mean, it reminds me of just saying, to be this yourself.

[48:57]

And to do this is just a really special opportunity, you know, because after you just kind of return to your relatively ordinary citizenship, you know, you're not in this special seat and, you know, you're facing the war. So it's kind of a once in a lifetime. thing. It's just, it's a great honor. It's something I think just really wonderful tradition that we have in Soto Zen. And so, enacted today as best we can all together. Thank you.

[49:51]

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