Talked out. Unusual experience. It says that in the Lotus Sutra a lot. They all experience something they've never experienced before. They all had an unprecedented experience. I like that. Several times. Anyway, I think we wanted to start by expressing our appreciation and gratitude. Appreciation is that is talked about a lot in the Buddhist sutras. How rare it is to be born in a human body. How rare it is to hear the Dharma and rarer still to get a chance to practice the Dharma together with good companions.

[01:49]

It's a big deal. And also the Buddha says, very rare to see that, to experience that, to acknowledge how rare it is. It takes so much for granted. So I don't want to take anything for granted. this amazing gift that we give each other called Sashin. It's been a real joy for me and Linda. It ain't over yet. But leading this Sashin and this practice period has been just transformative experience for the both of us.

[02:51]

So we feel very, very lucky and very happy and very grateful. Yeah, leading this practice period, Ms. Sushin, has really been a unprecedented experience for us to dive so deeply in with all of you and just stretched in so many ways and again and again leading the stretch and capacity expanding connection expanding and Greg and I were talking a little bit about what we were going to talk about today and One of the things that came up was the feeling of you all give me myself. You give me to myself.

[03:56]

And what a rare gift that is. You know, we give ourselves to ourselves and we give ourselves to others, but also others to us. when we meet, when we're seen, when we're respected, cared for, loved, welcomed. And it's been completely something that we put together. And that's one of the other themes of the Shouse's case, the koan, the sixteen bodhisattvas enter the bath together and wake up together. This mystery of practice and of sangha and of sushim that we all do together.

[04:59]

Which includes all of you online as well. to feel a part of things in your own space. And you have to imagine everyone here. But we feel you all with us here too. And I hope you feel us with you as well. Hopefully you're all using your Oreo keys at breakfast and lunch. Okay, maybe not. We both seem to be a little talked out, so there may be something else floats out. It's just peacefulness. I feel that perhaps the theme of this practice, putting back on it,

[06:09]

would be awakening together. You could call it that. That's actually not a bad name for, a generic name for a practice period. Usually in Japan, the word is ungo. It means peaceful abiding. I like that. I like that one. But you could call it awakening together. A time of awakening together. Time and a place. We make this big commitment. He always used to say... Well, he always used to say a lot of things. I've been thinking about him a lot. For example, he used to say, Tazahara practice is easy practice. You might think, no, it's really hard.

[07:11]

The schedule is so demanding, and it's just one thing after another, and go, go, go, do this, do this, do this. But you don't have to think about any of it. You don't have to figure anything out. It's just doing the next thing. That was when I decided to go in 2000. I remember so vividly this practice discussion, Doka-san, Rather, I had, in that hut, sighed. I was so... I was so wound up. I was like, Soja Roshi, I'm going to Tassara. How should I practice in Tassara? Just listen to this. Just follow the schedule. In an urban temple, it's not so straightforward.

[08:13]

You have to figure out your busy life. All of us. And you would always say, do what you have to do. Stretch. Stretch a little bit more. Think of something more you can commit to. See, can you do that for practice period? Make it more than your usual commitment. And I feel that so strongly from all of you. And we really feel that in this sashim given. Oh! Time out. Mojo is home. Oh yeah. Oh, well, Colleen sent pics. Oh, yeah.

[09:16]

So pics from when he was being dismissed from doggy hospital and he's wearing like a jumbo size cone and like a little which I've never seen before. But I think to protect his I think I think he got OK, content warning. So maybe I won't say more, but He got beat up pretty bad. It was really touch and go whether the poor guy was going to live. There's a guy, isn't it? Who cares whether they were going to live or not. But they're alive and the colony says, on the road to recovery. And so they were discharged from the doggy hospital and they're going to be taken care of. They are fine. John is fine. Poor John. Cause I don't know. He was really put through it.

[10:17]

Quite, quite traumatic for him. And so that happened. So we got COVID happened, you know, and Sashin kept going, didn't it now? Thank you, Gary. Thank you, everybody. There's this shuffling around of positions and everything being covered. Colleen won't be with us in the Shuso ceremony. Maybe she'll ask a question online. We'll see. Life comes at you that way, and the fact that, what is it?

[11:19]

Our great intention to practice, our way-seeking mind, our collective way-seeking mind. There's so much power there. We just, okay, we keep going. Okay, we keep going. We gotta practice, just like the Venerable worthies of old. We're no different. As Dogen said, Buddhas and ancestors, we in the future will be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. That's what we're doing here. That's what's happening. That's what you must say. Nothing special. It's pretty ordinary. It's magical. It's just us folks, ordinary bodhisattvas. You know, when you were saying that, Greg, I had the vision of a geese migrating in formation.

[12:27]

And the one in the very front at the head, I guess the V, is taking most of the wind and the others are kind of coasting along more behind. So the head Goose is working harder. And periodically one will duck out and go, and else will come forward and take over. And I just love that, you know, it's just what you were talking about, you know, that just the gap fills in seamlessly. saying yes and also knowing how to balance it between taking care of yourself as well. The thing is saving all beings, not just the other ones, and not just this one either. It's all because we're all so interconnected. It's so ordinary to see geese flying in the sky.

[13:32]

It's beautiful. It's heart-lifting, but it's very ordinary. And what they're doing together, they don't think about it at all. They're just doing that over and over again, spelling each other. And that was one of the real gifts that I got from being at Tassajara for so many years, was a deep trust that no matter what happened to any particular configuration of roles within Tassajara, winter or summer, that if someone had to sick or whatever it was, that we were going to be okay. We were going to make it. There might be some interesting accommodations, but that's fine. Everybody knew what it was for. So yeah, this trust that's actually based in experience, we can only have the experience if we're paying attention.

[14:37]

If we're seeing things and noticing things so part of the trust is having empathy and imagination to kind of reflect on what's going on behind the scenes sometimes or you know if something happens it's like oh you can be curious like how how is that happening oh look who's sitting in the sushin director's seat now oh thank you All these things, I don't even know all the physicians that Shoray had, that somebody filled in for each one of those. So this extraordinary, extraordinary, extraordinary thing, I think a lot of it becomes extraordinary when we pay attention, when we notice, when we give ourselves a chance to appreciate what's actually going on, rather than thinking about or worrying about whatever might be top of mind at the moment, but just to widen and let it in.

[15:50]

You don't have to go looking for anything. It's all right there. But just to let it in. Someone smile, bowing together. It's amazing. It's amazing what we do here. And it's so ordinary. But where else do people go where they're just like bowing to each other? I see the Buddha in you again and again and again. Other people feel it. And we can too. It's always hard to refresh. You know, it's like when You get used to the whatever town you're living in, and then someone comes to visit, and they want to go see things, and you take them out, and they're like, this is amazing, and you're like... Because we forget, and then we see with someone else's eyes.

[16:55]

So, again, that's waking up together and seeing with someone else's eyes, borrowing their eyes empathically for a second. We'll never have exactly their eyes, but we can imagine. It's like, oh, if I were seeing this for... It's really special. It's really good. This is really good. Now you have it, so keep it well. Yeah. It's that warm feeling. It's great. Kind of basking in it. We wanted to say a bit about the ceremony this afternoon. Shuso Mark will be passing through a big old Dharma gate this afternoon called Shuso Ceremony.

[18:03]

very old tradition. I don't know how old, but it's what's been passed on to us in this tradition that Suzuki Roshi brought from Japan, Japanese Sodo Zen. And, you know, I talked about Jiyu Kanagroshi's amazing book, Selling Water by the River, or Zen is Eternal Life, take your pick. It was written by her teacher, who was the abbot of Sojiji Temple at the time, in the 60s. Sojiji Temple, we've been there, with our friend Britt. That's actually where she goes to practice in Yokohama. temple is Sojiji.

[19:11]

They offer Zaza. There's a guy there who gives tarotox. I mean, it's a gigantic training temple. I mean, it's so big. Heaven only knows how many millions and millions of yen. All that real estate. It's incredible. But, yeah, they actually offer... It's like a... A friend of mine, young kid, used to come to Tassajara and be a summer student sometimes in the summer. Carmel Valley. I was doing this interfaith thing in the, you know, it's like, I think it's like the oldest extant building in California. It's the mission. Carmel. Carmel mission. Very, very, very old. It's church. And I was invited to participate in this interfaith service.

[20:15]

Where we got a Buddhist. We should have a Buddhist. Well, we got a Buddhist in Tassajara. So I came. And I saw him in one of the peers. He said, Michael. This is my church. Oh. Yeah, kind of like that. Anyway, I thought it was very cool. that the abbot of Sojiji, who obviously supported Gio Kenner Roshi very much, bringing Zen to North America is going to be a big task and a lot is going to change. Really respect that. Suzuki Roshi said the same. He said, you're going to be changing things. He said, if you're in doubt, try to default to the Japanese tradition. That was his advice for us. That was Suzuki's advice for us.

[21:16]

So, for example, in Japan, it's most traditional, these days, what happens? All the questions are scripted. The shuso knows what all the questions will be, and the shuso knows what The answers are supposed to be. It's all figured out in advance. And maybe it's the same script. It's the same script every time. My friend Ajo McMullen, such a sweet guy, he leads the Buddha Eye Temple in Eugene, Oregon. And he practiced for a while, his teacher's in Japan. And he was Shusou in Japan. And he told me, he begged his teacher, please, please, can I have some real questions?

[22:22]

Can we do it with actual questions that I respond to? And his teacher said, no difference. Either way. just stick with the script. So of course here we have actual questions and you know a lot of it very recognizable to a Japanese monk such as this cool little red lacquer gold silver fan that she still holds that symbolizes And the shipei, the staff, the stick, the shuso holds also a symbol of their teaching authority. Kind of like this is also a symbol of teaching authority. The shuso pops the stick on the block.

[23:29]

Next question. Shuso. And it has this flow to it. Deborah, the Benji, will ask the first question. And when the exchange is done, Chusot will hit the staff on the bottom. Question. Chusot. Question. Like that. Chusot will respond. And when the exchange is finished, that's up to the Chusot to decide. the staff in their hand. The chuseau decides the exchange is done. Next question. Chuseau. No gap. So try to know if you're next. Carol's going to tell us the order of the questions. Be aware of who's next when you're next so that when the chuseau is finished with the exchange and the person ahead of you hits that stick.

[24:38]

Get hands immediately and gush up and go, shoot us out. And we'd like you to speak up, please. We're not going to pass a mic on this. So for all y'all online and everybody online in the ceremony, for the benefit of the people online, please speak up. And we're going to try that. There might be another mic. Send up. I'm the directional mic, some kind, and we're going to do our best. But it's a big part of the ceremony to have that flow. So Shuso doesn't get too much time responses because it's not about thinking. You know, this is Zen. When I was Shuso and Tassahara in 2005 with my teacher, Sojin Roshi,

[25:41]

Lucky, lucky me. He came to the orientation himself, which was very unusual. To come to the orientation in the dining room. He came for the express purpose to tell them, Greg is not going to explain anything. And he said that to me a couple of times. Don't explain. Just respond. Philosophical discourse. And it's also, hopefully, I feel, my strong opinion, I would say, not a game of Stump the Chisseau. Or, you know, try to demonstrate your extensive knowledge of Buddha Dharma. Questions? In this tradition, I feel this life to the ceremony is the authenticity of the questions that come from the heart, that they relate to your practice.

[26:57]

There's actually something that's up for you. And the Shuso hears it and everyone else hears it. It's a beautiful thing. That can be so powerful. I think it's more about meet the Shusel, meeting between you and what you said about bringing from your heart what's alive for you. Going back, I wanted to hold up the other side in what I said a few minutes ago. about, you know, there's something that's effortless about saying yes and supporting each other and geese flying in formation. And I don't want to pretend like it's not also work and that what we do together involves a lot of work to make this happen.

[28:03]

It is. Not always, but there's effort. I think I should call it effort. I think we call it work when it's feeling hard, but you could say effort. It's bringing forth this effort and this energy, and I think if it's feeling a lot, like too much, or like work in that sense, ask for help or to say this is too much or check in with a teacher, a practice leader, you know, and see how to work with that. Because it will feel heavy sometimes, what we carry. It's like sitting, you know, when you sit, it might be uncomfortable sometimes.

[29:12]

Maybe a fair amount of the time. But if you're not injuring yourself and you get up and a few minutes later, or the bell rings and it's like, wow, I don't hurt anymore. That's so interesting. That's okay. That's just stretching. It's just stretching. When we exercise, we try to do like a little more because that's how we get stronger. So you don't want to overdo. Many people who come to Zen tend to overdo. You have to be saying no. And there's always more to do. So you can get stuck in that. Everybody can get stuck in that. Please try not to do that. But we can all support each other. We can have trust. And if it falls apart, it falls apart. And we'll all come together and that's okay too. Yeah.

[30:15]

Bringing forth your heart of practice, your body of practice, your meeting, your desire to meet, and allowing yourself to be met, allowing yourself to be as well. So as we're coming to the end of the sasheen and the end of the practice period, which will happen simultaneously this afternoon. I just want to say, let's carry that energy, that effort, all the way through to the end. You generated so much concentration and practice, however long you've been here. You are, you know, into Sushi, even if you came in, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you could probably feel it coming in, that there's a subtleness.

[31:19]

You get to tap into that energy right away. It's a blessing. Yeah. We were saying before, you know, silence is a gift we give each other. So there's a lot going on. There's conversations that need to be had here and there, functional ones. but see if you can stay close to the heart of your practice. Through lunch, and then through the break, and then into work circle, and then through work. There'll be something you need to do to get the zendo set up and get ready for the shisō ceremony. And see if you can, like all the energy that may be bubbling up as we approach the end, see if you can put that energy back into your practice, into the forms, into the contentment, into holding it together, into holding each other together.

[32:31]

And not into conversation or distraction. And because sound carries, if you need to have a conversation, you can, you know, come inside somewhere and shut the door or go and it's just it's such an invitation when this is happening to like turn to the next person hey can you and then we'll carry all of that into the shoe so ceremony and then immediately after we're going to go When it's over, the procession will leave, and then everybody go immediately for the end of the ceremony. It's actually not over until we finish in the courtyard. Go straight. Not bathroom night, anything, because you'll miss it.

[33:32]

It's short. It's very short. So just welcome. And then we'll celebrate. You can talk to everybody. only a Buddha together with a Buddha also translated as only Buddhas together with Buddhas or Buddhas alone various translations but you get the gist of it I hope it's something we do together in community Quite like a flock of geese, but we're not going to Canada. We're not going anywhere. We're right here. We empower each other.

[34:38]

As Linda said, we give each other to each other. We give our true nature to each other. We see the Buddha in each other. We see our awakened nature in each other and can soften up to the notion that, oh, little old me, but, but, but, I'm a beastly, beastly prisoner. So we have Buddha nature. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, you can. Yes, you do. And that's the gift that we give each other. To me, it's worth a great effort. There's nothing I'd rather be doing.

[35:38]

I was in management over at Alphabase Medical Center. Quantity Food Service, Food and Nutrition Services Department. Patient Services Supervisor was my title for a while. One of the few that I had. Management team. At the age of 43, they had a going away party for me. And there's this Another guy on the team with me, my peer, about my age, was like, whoa. And I was trying to explain it to him. And I said, well, maybe you could say that I'm retiring. And he gave me such a dirty look. And then, you know, I've had a slog since then.

[36:51]

joyful. That's the difference I feel. We're doing this because we want to. We're doing this because it's truly joyful effort. Because we're engaged in this project of awakening. This technology of awakening. Ancient, ancient technology. Waking up. And it's so worthwhile. And As you all know, in this imaginary time called after Sashin, this imaginary time called after practice period, everyone you meet is going to feel that energy of bodhicitta from you. You may not know it. Toga says that a lot. You may not be aware. But it is so.

[37:54]

It is so. And it is a great benefit to our society, such as it is. Given everything that's going on, I mean, I touched on this on Wednesday, but don't forget that, please. What you're doing as great significance, great, great significance. You could deal out of it, but also, don't forget, it matters. Also, you might consider being thoughtful about how you react, set aside during the session. rather than just immediately jumping back on email and whatever else.

[38:59]

Partying, catching up on the news, whatever you've been disconnected from. I really suggest you take it slowly and more than that intentionally because this time of ending sushin and then coming out of it is a very powerful time. Because you get to watch that transition of how the mind that you've been cultivating, the body-mind you've been cultivating for these days, that's been really up. So watching like, oh, what is it that causes that mind to start to shift? I mean, we're not going to maintain the same mind out of Sushin. We wouldn't function so well that way. We can't walk at Kinhim's feet across Shattuck, for example. But there are a lot of areas of our life where we do have choice about

[40:16]

what we interact with, particularly what we give our attention and awareness to. So you might set yourself a little schedule. You know, okay, I'm going to spend 15 minutes and then I'm going to go take a walk or I'm going to make some dinner, I'm going to do whatever. Just so that you can reflect, you know, so that you can get more more fluid and more skilled in and out of presence. It's a very interesting practice to take up. You can even do that whenever you come here, of noticing what happens when you come in the gate or into the Zendo, what happens when you leave, and see if you can start to even before you get to the gate, maybe even as you leave the house. Maybe it lasts all the way, home. And then watch how it shifts.

[41:18]

What are the states of mind, of body, that you want to cultivate? Not exactly what we do during sushin, but what are the qualities of that? Cultivate further and take further out into your life and share with other people. What of the peace and subtleness that you experience when you're here, sometimes even on the sushin, Maybe some, maybe a lot, maybe... What do you want to share with yourself? What do you want to share with others? Just put your intention there and see what grows. It's five after 11. Oh, wow. We thought we had nothing to say. And I kept thinking... Let's leave the questions for the Chusot. Okay.

[42:19]

Short questions. From the heart. Ideally one sentence. Two-part questions. Brief and meaningful and from the heart. Thank you so much.

[42:38]

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