An unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kaphas. I begin to see and listen to, to remember and accept. I vow. to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. And welcome here to Berkeley Zen Center, and particularly welcome to President Kosai Ikeda for visiting us from Sotoshu and from East Temple in Japan. Ikeda Roshi is the habit of Kenryuchi. temple in Yamagata prefecture. For the last 15 years or more, he's been serving as a Buddhist chaplain at a local correctional facility, and he helps inmates with their rehabilitation and re-entry.

[01:13]

And he has also been teaching kendo, the way of the sword, to high school students in this region. So I really look forward to and what you have to share with us. Thank you. Are we recording, by the way? Yes. Good. Sure. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Kousai Ikeda. I can't speak directly in English. So, first of all, I have to apologize for talking or looking at the manuscript. It can be tiring to listen. If you want to go to the restroom, you can go to the restroom and you can sleep if you are sleepy.

[02:23]

Don't talk in your sleep. I serve Kenryu-ji Temple in Shonai Town in Yamagata Prefecture in the North Eden region of Japan. It is a pleasure to meet you on behalf of the head priest of Soto Zen Buddhist School in Japan. I am here. as a teacher to convey his messages and teachings. Last year, I shared the Dharma Talk on Zoom, but I am finally here to share a Dharma Talk in person. Regardless of our situations, the Dura Way manifests within our everyday life that we embody wholeheartedly. So let's begin with The first chant. If you have the favorite, then you can see it.

[03:27]

Oh, please have a look at the handouts. And you have Sankemon, repentance verse, and Sankemon, three refugees per year, and Ichidutsuri also, verse in worship of the three venerable ones on the page. I will chant the The first line of Repenters' verse like, Like this. Please repeat after me once I strike Kaishaku totals. Again, after I chant, Please repeat after me with Kaishaku, like this. We continue to chant the verses all the way to the last line. So align your posture, breath, and mind.

[04:35]

Repeat after me, slowly taking your time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Amen. Thank you very much.

[06:28]

I recommend that you chant the verses regularly throughout the day. Today I shared the verses in Japanese but you can certainly chant the English translations, there is no doubt that the habit will become a pillar of our mind. Anyway, we chant in the last verses, and we're going to sit in Zazen a little bit. After that, I will read the message from the head priest in Sotoshu. I think it takes about 15 minutes. Then I will have a Dharma talk about 30 minutes. This is going to be a very long time. Be prepared. So let's now do Zazen.

[07:31]

Zazen, very short time. Please form your hands in cosmic nodular. By placing your left hand on top of your right hand, palms facing up. Let your hands slightly touch and support each other. Please straighten your body. Back and breathe. Calmly, let's sit just a short time. Thank you very much.

[09:52]

Please relax your body. Just like the verses we chanted together, I hope you can incorporate the practice of Zazen into your everyday life. Your own karma haunts your own self. Although we get swayed by our own ego, when we Cumulatively practice the Buddha's karma with constancy through our body, speech and mind. We will certainly find refuge as a Buddha's disciple within ourselves. Please keep this in mind and work on your path. Here, I have the official message. From the country of the head priest of Soto Zen School, you have a message on the page.

[10:54]

This one. He is the head priest of Soto Shu this year. A message from the head priest of Soto Shu. We are now faced with many difficulties and uncertainties, and our way of life is being questioned. The global spread of the novel coronavirus has resulted in the loss of many precious lives, and people are in deep turmoil. International conflicts and civil wars, social problems such as poverty, discrimination, inequality, flooding, and incidents that take their lives, as well as natural disasters and global environmental changes that have been occurring frequently in recent years, have brought about a crisis of survival for us all.

[12:09]

What kind of way of life should we Who live by the teachings of the one Buddha and two founders strive for? The Buddha told us to live with wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is the ability to realize the truth of life, which is animated by all things. Compassion is the ability to eliminate suffering and lead people to peace of mind with a heart of infinite empathy. With wisdom and compassion, we can be tolerant and accept each other's different standpoints. Keizan Zenji taught us to accept the sorrows and sufferings of others as if they were our own and to live in harmony with one another.

[13:11]

This year, let us continue to deepen our human relationships by sharing, supporting and caring for one another with cooperation. One of the dorisat was for embracing actions. Dogen Zenji stated, although this dharma is abundantly present in each person, it isn't manifested without practice. In this way, he admonished us to carefully apply his teachings to our daily lives. Let us all join hands with the Buddha and proceed with the practice of a Bodhisattva by being familiar with Sazen and praying together to live peace-free so that no one in the world is left behind.

[14:13]

In the coming year, memorial ceremony for the 700th anniversary by Honzan Sojiji's founder, Taiso Keizan Jokinzenji, will be celebrated. I hope that you will appreciate this precious opportunity to experience this Dharma connection, and that you will deepen your faith together with us. Nam Shakamuni Buddha Nam the Great Ancestor Joyo Daishi Dongen Zen Shi Nam the Eminent Ancestor Josai Daishi Kezan Zen Shi God Show April 1st, 2023 Reverend Shuko Ishizuki Head Priest of the Soto Shi Thank you. In the face of many challenges and causes of our anxiety, questions about our way of life is being posed on us all.

[15:19]

Not just serving our own benefit, we must learn to live together with others as if their concerns are your own. This is the practice of doji, cooperation or identical actions, of Ori Sadaba. There is a parable. Once people decided to host a festival in a village, as you know, sake is an essential item for enshrining deities. Sake, alcohol, right? But the village was very poor financially, so one person made a suggestion. I have a good idea. We can each drink several ounces of sake. Then we can pour it into a big barrel and share it with everyone.

[16:24]

Everyone thought that was a good idea. When the day of the festival came closer, One young man in the village had a thought. I feel like it's a bit wishful to share the sake with everyone. Wait a minute. Since everyone else is bringing sake, no one would notice it even if I alone brought water. That's brilliant. I will bring water instead. So the villagers came together and poured their sake into a big barrel one by one. After offering a ritual to the deity with the sake, they opened the bottle and had a toast. Then they realized they were just drinking water instead of the sake.

[17:28]

Do you get it? Everyone brought water. Because every one of them thought no one else would notice it even if he or she alone would bring water. In reality, there might not be such a case, but I think there are various issues and problems this kind of selfish thought conceived by each individual is causing. We think It cannot affect the environment even if I alone forget to turn off the light and waste the electricity a tiny bit. Though I bought too much food and wasted it, it just happens sometimes. My bad manners shouldn't be a problem if no one is watching, etc. If everyone in the world

[18:31]

acts this way, the environment and the system of the earth would immediately perish. The thought that I alone need to benefit is precisely the path to destruction. If you think about it this way, then you know that the world would immediately shift its direction in a favorable way when each of us makes a tiny bit of effort to take the right actions. I believe we are in the pivotal moment to take even half a step forward with what can we do and continue to carry them out. can we do not? I want to say that we have dozens.

[19:37]

There was a documentary program on TV in Japan the other day featuring a small island with a population of about 500 in Italy. There is a nunnery and many sisters live there. It is really a quiet and I hear it is called the Island of Silence. There is a sign on the path leading toward the nunnery which says, silence is love. One sister said, when you let yourself be in the world of silence, You will hear the voice of the world. You will hear the groaning. By letting ourselves be in silence, we can be intimate with the voice of the world.

[20:41]

That is to say, we can be intimate with the voice of each and everyone. Silence is that. It is the teachings from the Christianity, I felt it is also Zen. Zazen is the practice of Bodhisattvas, was Bodhisattva. In the book called Ho Kyoki, in which Dogen recorded his own teacher's teachings, there is a line that says, in Zazen, we do not forget sentient beings. We do not abandon sentient beings. Furthermore, we always extend our compassion to even insects and vow to deliver them and circulate and extend all merit to all beings.

[21:45]

It teaches us to sit straight with a compassionate mind that reaches all beings including insects. Keizan Zenji's book called Zazen Yojinki that teaches us what to be aware of in Zazen says, remain always in great compassion and dedicate the boundless merit of Zazen to all living beings. Maintain the vow to and afflictions, the vow to realize awakening and justice, do nothing at all. This is the way to study Zen. The Zen of great compassion generates merit. This is extended to all living beings. And to live our life in truth,

[22:51]

Ending the delusions means to sit single-mindedly without aiming for anything. That is the essence of Zazen. The practice of Bodhisattva we do with our vow to deliver all beings before delivering ourselves is to do what we do wholeheartedly without aiming for any purpose. we must keep in mind that it is the extremely important point of Zazen practice. Shobo Genzo says, when we cast away our body and mind into the house of the Buddha, and the practice is carried out by the Buddha, and when we follow the practice of the Buddha, we become the Buddha, living behind life and death

[23:52]

without exerting effort or spending our mind. That is the practice of Bodhisattva we call Chikan Taza. But it is not only Zazen, a living daily life. And placing our hands together and bowing is one of the practices of Bodhisattva. This prostration is an extremely important practice. I want to convey the importance of this worship. We put our hands together and prostrate completely, lowering our head. A chunk of ego. That is quite hard to lower down. Once is never enough for me, filled with ego.

[24:59]

So we prostrate twice and three times. Then it is still not enough. So we prostrate today, tomorrow, and the day after, and so on. We prostrate this year, next year. This decade and the next decade, if the prostration of this life are not enough, we prostrate in the next life and the life after. We have to be humble thoroughly. We step back once, twice, and then step back the third time to prostrate, lowering our head to the lowest, over and over. This is a manner of touches that we throw away by, like, let's see.

[26:02]

Stand up here. Here. It's okay. Like this. Push your hands together, then throw away. Right leg and the left leg and the right hand and the left hand and then the head. We call this Gotai Torchi. Gotai means five parts of the body. One, two, three, four, five. And the Torchi means throwing away to the ground, gotai tochi. This is also commonly seen in other religions.

[27:02]

By prostrating over and over, we approach the sacred place. I wonder if you have seen the scene where the doshi, the officiant, prostrates during the ceremonies of Soto and Buddhism, where he or she prostrates and elevates the palms above the level of your ears, like this. Putting our hands together and prostrating, lowering our heads, lower, lower, Not enough. More, more, more. Then firmly touch the ground with the head. But it is not enough. Finally, you touch your head into the ground.

[28:03]

So elevating the palms above the level of your ears just indicates that. put your head into the ground like this. Then you can receive and hold the feet of the Buddha above our head. This is called Dussoku Chorai. Dussoku. Dussoku means the feet of the Buddha and Chorai means receiving and holding. We humbly receive and hold the feet of the Buddha. How filthy and humiliating it is to place a person's foot on our precious head. We feel sorry for having to place the feet on the head given by my father and mother.

[29:08]

Such thoughts might come to our minds. but we completely throw away such attachment and prostrate, casting away the body and the mind. When we can do this, the Buddha's feet can finally be placed on our heads. We have an expression that goes like this, what is normal is not the head, or hands, but instead it is the feet. Become the person, like the back of the foot, which quietly fulfills its role without ever being noticed, always facing the filthy and dirty place through its entire life. We must fulfill

[30:11]

The task of this given life diligently, wholeheartedly, and quietly, even if no one ever notices it. There might be days winds blow intensely against us or stones hit. There might be days too painful to endure and keep going. We do what must be done and sins to do what must not be done. We live our life all heartily with dedication. Among the renounced Japanese poets, there is a poet called Kenji Miyazawa. I want you to see the poem. The poem is by far the most beloved work of which is called, I wrote with the poem in both Japanese and English.

[31:26]

I'm feeling by rain, I'm feeling by wind. unburled by the snow and the summer heat, strong in body, free from greed, without any anger, always slim. With a handful of brown rice a day, miso and a small amount of vegetables suffice. Whatever happens, consider yourself last. Always put others first. Understand from your observation and experience, never lose sight of these things. In the shadows of the pine groves in the fields, live modestly under touched roof. In the East, if there is a sick child, go there and take care of him.

[32:36]

If there is an exhausted mother, go there and relieve her of her burden. In the south, if there is a man near death, go there and comfort him, tell him, don't be afraid. In the north, if there is an argument and a legal dispute, go there and persuade, then it's not worth it, worth it. In a drudge, shed tears. In a cold summer, carry on. Even with a sense of loss, being, being called a fool, being neither praise nor burden, such a person I want to be. I will try to read it in Japanese as well. There is no rain, or [...] rain.

[33:44]

I have no body, and [...] I have no body, 東に病気の子供あれば行って看病してやり西に疲れた母あれば行ってその稲の束を追い南に死にそうな人あれば行って怖がらなくてもいいと言い北に喧嘩や訴訟があればつまらないからやめろと言い綺麗の時は涙を流し寒さの夏はオロオロ歩きみんなにデクノボウと呼ばれ褒められもせず My teacher would say, this must be residing, so I can recite it, and all my children can recite it, because it is like his will, and all of his teachings, I say to them,

[35:06]

You never know your grandfather, but you don't have to worry about it. This is grandfather himself. My teacher would say, this is the Duda Way. He served Ahij Head Monastery for many years, since even before I was born. I believe he dedicated half of his previous life to AH temple. However, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later years. After my training at AH was over, I don't remember him teaching me specific practices. However, The only teaching that he shared with me was this point in his words.

[36:14]

This is the Buddha way. My teacher suffered Alzheimer's disease for 10 years and died 13 years ago at the age of 80. Among the well-known symptoms is wandering around aimlessly. My teacher was no exception, and he wandered around every day. He simply kept walking, whether it was sunny, rainy, or snowy. He kept writing the unbeaten by rain indoors, and he kept walking outdoors, unbeaten by rain, so there are still hundreds of sheets of papers of the unbeaten by rain he wrote. The unburden area, once densely covered in grass, became burden enough for us to see a narrow path because he was wandering every day.

[37:21]

The members and the neighbors of the temple all knew what was happening to him. Nothless, they watched over my teacher lonely, always talking to him. I am really grateful to them. After my teacher passed away, I had a chance to talk to a priest from the neighboring temple. When my teacher was wandering around as he always would, a priest from another temple came to our temple on an errand and found him. He greeted him saying, Reverend, it's a nice day today. Are you heading somewhere? Then, my teacher replied, what are you talking about? We will reach the Eichenshi temple.

[38:24]

If we walk along the path, Eichenshi temple is waiting for us at the end of this path. What your teacher said to me, said the priest. I was shocked to hear his words. Indeed, it might have come out of his mouth due to the disease, but I was moved to hear his words coming out of his mouth even in such condition with the disease, he then said. That's how the ones who walk on the Buddha way must be. That's how I felt to hear your teacher's words. My name is Kosai-san. Please don't ever forget how your teacher lived his life.

[39:29]

That was the story this priest shared with me. He walked every day was not merely a path to wander around. The path was leading him to a huge temple. All of us have our own parties that we have walked through and parties to go on. Can you see the path and where it is leading you? It doesn't matter where it leads you. It doesn't matter who this I is. Simply just continue to walk on the path that is unfolding right in front of your eyes earnestly. Walk earnestly and sincerely one step at a time.

[40:29]

I believe this was the teaching for a life of a Zen monk. Even if not everything goes according to our wishes, we are in the abyss of sorrow, or in the midst of confusion or chaos, or facing the inevitable illness, or even if the names of our own children bleed into oblivion. We are at the peak of happiness. We just walk, continue to walk on this path most earnestly and sincerely. This, that is the Buddha way. In every moment and in every place, the Buddha way extends and unfolds for us to walk.

[41:36]

Rest assured, this is the path we walk together. That's it. Although it was a long message, I hope you could understand the essence of my message. Apart from the contents of my message, I was actually quite anxious if you could understand my poor English.

[42:03]

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