Recording in progress. Feel free to come up closer.

[01:07]

There's some slots open in the front. A little easier here. Makes us feel a little more together, less bottom-heavy, if that is comfortable with you. Thanks. An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.

[07:13]

Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. It's wonderful to see. How's the sound working so far? Okay. It's a little anxiety producing to give the talk, but it's a little comforting to see all your faces. We had a 100th Breast Sangha member who actually passed away a couple weeks after the party, but she was in great shape for the party. And they wheeled her in early on. One of the first people she was wielding in this situation was taken out and it was all chairs.

[08:16]

And then slowly everybody came in, all her friends and her kids and her grandkids. And then went through the whole thing, the dance, the songs, the speeches, and the whole thing. And at the very end, they asked her if she wanted to say anything. And so they wheeled her up, and she turned around, and she saw who was in the room. And she just got this amazing look on her face. It was like one of those moments of just pure delight. Anyway, it was nice to see your faces this morning. This talk could be titled Back to Basics, so not any of the very relevant things people might be expecting me to talk about this morning. I think that many of us came to practice with a question like, is there another way to do this?

[09:24]

Is there a way to do this? How do you do this? This meaning our human life. Our human life with its joys and sorrows and possibilities. Much is given to us and much is taken away. We may feel like human life is hard. We may feel like we came into adulthood in a seat-of-the-pants way, like chance encounters. Our parents did their best, but there were the chance encounters and chance lessons, chance experiences, and then here we are, and we're doing stuff, but we might feel like we don't know what we're doing or why we're doing it. So we might have to do that. I think the Buddhist teaching is, yes, there is another way to do this.

[10:31]

There is a way to do this. And how is the right question? I think this is, to me, this is what the Buddhist question, in a sense. And many ancestors after him, down through history, have had a question like that, questions like that. So, I mean, to find oneself in a lineage of people who had a similar question to yours is really wonderful, comforting, I think, for me. And as you get to know the stories and the ancestors, it can feel like you're having a conversation across time with people. And I'm not saying Zen or Buddhism is the only way to answer questions. But it is our question, and a lot of what our words and actions are about are our answers to that question. So, however, there's something tricky right out of the gate because you try to come in and you try to do this.

[11:43]

You try to do the meditation. You try to calm the mind. And, you know, so we bring the way we usually do things to this. And it just doesn't work. But we can't help that. We try to make it happen. We try to calm our mind. And it's not infrequent that you hear somebody say, oh, yeah, I tried meditation, but I couldn't do it. And I was so close. Because you can't do it. You can't calm the mind. It's not something you do like other things like cooking and eating and reading and writing. You learn to do them and then you do them. This is something different. There's a story about calming the mind. The student comes to the teacher. I'm hearing a funny sound, but is that okay for everybody else?

[12:47]

It's like a tiny little something. Sounds okay to me. Okay, good. Okay, it's not a problem. Thanks, Blake. It's not a problem. The student comes to the teacher and says something like, I can't calm my mind. I can't calm my mind. And the teacher says, bring me your mind and I will calm it for you. The teacher goes away for days, months, or years. It's not told in the story. Finally comes back and says, I couldn't find my mind. It says, there, I've calmed your mind. So meditation is, yeah, it's something more like unlearning doing somehow. It's like we learn to open up a space for our breath. You know, we allow it to open up. And in that space, we feel our breathing. And of course, not continuously because thoughts crowd in.

[13:50]

So then we allow space for the thoughts that are crowding in. And some thoughts might even be, I'm so bad at working, I can't do this, you know. So you allow space for those kinds of thoughts. And then with those kinds of thoughts come feelings, sometimes bad feelings. So then we open up space for bad feelings or feelings, whatever feelings, feelings that are coming and going all the time. And as we keep doing this, you might even find you're touching like some kind of inner not-okayness, you know, inside. And then open up a space for that part. Eventually, you might find that you're residing in the space that's holding everything. Something more like that.

[14:52]

allowing a space to open up for what's happening inside and outside. A lot of the meditation that we experience nowadays with people here, you know, it used to be that People had never meditated when they first came to meditation instruction here, like 30 years ago or something. But now when people come to meditation, almost everybody has had some experience of meditation. And when they come to instruction, they'll say, what's your experience with meditation? Almost everybody's had some experience. And a lot of the experience people have is what you might call guided meditation. That's where a person's voice, you know, person or a person's voice is leading you through, you know, tune into your breathing, relax certain muscles of your body, whatever it is, many ways to do it.

[16:01]

That can be very comforting. And it's, you know, especially if you're upset or if you have some kind of, if you know you have some special trauma that you're dealing with is coming up, you know, sometimes guided meditation can be comforting. Saying it's wrong. I think I want to say, our Zazen, just sitting in silence and stillness, we can actually learn to trust ourself. You might have to give it some time. You know, our path is written on ourselves, so to speak. You can trust, you know... As you settle, you might hear that still small voice within, you know. And you learn to tune into that.

[17:02]

And you learn to hear your deep inner prompting. So we can learn to trust ourselves. I want to say a few words about pain, about sitting with physical pain. We don't talk about it very much. I think partly because it's impossible to know what another person's experience is. And we don't want to say maybe too much, but I think it's okay about pain. I remember... You know, nowadays I'm sitting in a chair, so I don't quite get to the level of pain that I used to for 40 years. I remember a long sitting where I was... One of my first longer sittings, maybe my first longer sitting probably. I just was looking around and I was just... I could not believe that the other people in the room could possibly be having anything like the experience of pain I was having.

[18:15]

Like they just would not... Tolerate. That many people wouldn't. And, you know, it made me feel even more alone. However, they are. I mean, often they are. Again, we don't know what another person's experiencing, but many, many, many of the other people are feeling that. A kind of pain. And, you know, in the zendo, we're actually the opposite of alone. when we're here. And how we experience pain is probably going to evolve over time for each person, you know. Part of the way to do it is to kind of relax into it a little bit. Open up space for it. Gently, you know. And, you know, you can map onto, you can actually map onto the other people in the room. And everybody's, feel everyone's effort with that.

[19:21]

Again, we don't know exactly what anybody else is experiencing, but we can generally know that a lot of people are sitting with pain. Sometimes I've, you know, sat thinking, I can't. I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this any longer. And then the bell rings and you get up and think, that wasn't so bad. Because, you know, our lives are full of pain. Maybe, you know, physical pain, emotional pain, psychic pain. It's not infrequent part of our... So to learn how to sit with pain and sort of see where you go, you know, where you go when you're in pain can be really valuable.

[20:34]

Because, you know, our... I think... free associates us to our psychic pain often. So you have a little laboratory here where you can just be with yourself and what happens when you feel pain. I remember Sashin, you know, maybe through my journey of practice quite a way, you know, not right at the beginning, but after just a few periods, I... suddenly became aware of this part of myself, like you could say a little girl inside, you know, who... So I had a lot of physical problems when I was a kid. I had a lot of physical discomfort, you could say. I had really bad allergies, including like runny, sneezing, runny nose, blowing my nose all the time, and also a terribly itchy rash in my arms. I was pigeon-toed, so I sort of got made fun of for that.

[21:43]

And I also had, like, kind of intestinal cramps often in the morning before school. So I was just, you know, there was a part of me that was kind of holding that. And, you know, as I grew up, I learned to deal, as we all do, learned to deal with my life and my body. but there was kind of like a little girl inside who was holding that and, you know, holding the aloneness of that, the loneliness of that experience is kind of how I felt it. And so I just spent that sesheen sitting with that, that little feeling, you know, listening, staying in touch, not getting merged, but really feeling her in my body It's kind of like she'd been the water I was swimming in until this moment when I kind of got her in. And, you know, I think you can have some metabolizing of pain through a process like that.

[22:50]

I'm not saying it's the only way, but it's possible. You know, our parts are going to surface in their own time, I believe, when they're ready. Our parts are going to surface when they're ready. We don't so much go digging around for them, but they'll surface when they're ready. And hopefully you'll be ready for them. I wanted to bring up another somewhat taboo subject, enlightenment. Another reason many of us came to practice was for enlightenment. We want to be an enlightened person, a serene embodiment of peace, who always knows the appropriate response to what's happening inside and outside and other people. Or minimally, if not that, an enlightenment experience, like what we call in Japanese a satori or kencho experience.

[23:58]

Something like that in our minds when we come to practice. So of the two Zen schools that came to us from Japan, there's many, many schools of Buddhism, and Zen is among some of the Buddhist schools. And there's two main Buddhism that came to us from Japan, Rinzai and Soto. And Berkeley Zen Center is a Soto Zen temple. And I don't know if I can speak for all of Rinzai, but I know that a lot of the Rinzai practice and centers and teachers that have come to us in the West place a high emphasis on having a Kensho experience. Like it's really important to have a Kensho experience. And that's an effort you're making somehow to have that experience. teachers like exhorting you and such.

[25:04]

And in Soto Zen, not so much. In fact, our founder, the Japanese teacher who brought Buddhism to us, our group in San Francisco and all the groups that have blossomed from that, really seemed to feel that It wasn't an important point to emphasize for us, for Westerners. What he seemed to say was, what he wanted to emphasize was no gaining idea. Practice with no gaining idea, not even enlightenment. And this kind of goes back to what I was seeing at the beginning, where you can't do, you know, these things aren't things you can do or make happen, you know. And so what Hiroshi was kind of saying is just let go of trying to make anything happen, including enlightenment.

[26:06]

I have a little quote from him. The most important thing for Zen students is the way-seeking mind. Our sincerity... or constant effort, our constant effort which will last forever. The most important point for us is to acquire the spirit of practicing Zen, or to realize your true nature, or to appease your inmost request. Without realizing your true nature, it is impossible to make peace. That is why we practice Zazen. Should I read that again? The most important thing for Zen students is the way-seeking mind, our sincerity, or constant effort, our constant effort which will last forever. The most important point for us is to acquire the spirit of practicing Zen or to realize your true nature or to appease your inmost request.

[27:09]

Without realizing your true nature, it is impossible to make peace. That is why we practice Zazen. And so one sort of underlying idea behind all this talk of enlightenment, this is maybe the middle way between the two approaches, I don't know. Some sort of verification. It's about some sort of verification, mainly that we've for ourselves the teaching. It's not just we take in the teaching through our eyes of study and our ears hearing teachers talk. hearing people's talks. But then we try to put it into practice and we verify for ourselves whether it's true or not. Buddha said, life is suffering. Check it out. Is life suffering or not? Everything that comes to you from this seat or from the teachings, you can verify it for yourself.

[28:15]

The Buddha said, be a lamp unto yourself. There's no beliefs here. telling you you have to believe anything we're telling you the Buddha saying here's what I saw when I got really quiet and I looked at my experience here's what I saw and I think you will see that too if you do that and you know you can be comforted people through history have done that have verified it for themselves by putting it into practice So it's not so much about idealizing enlightenment or an enlightenment experience, but just letting us know that many people have struggled with this, and this has been an answer for many people.

[29:17]

Here's another Zen story. In this story, the student studied with... diligently for many years with two different Zen teachers, one after the other. But he failed to answer his teacher's question, which was, what is the face of your parents? Show me your original face before your parents were born. He wasn't able to answer that. And so he felt terrible, we assume. The feelings aren't in the story, but we can imagine. He felt terrible. Or maybe he just says, oh, fine. Okay, fine. I'll let go of it. Maybe. But I'm saying he probably felt bad. But he didn't leave Zen. He just said, okay, I'm just going to go and take care of this shrine area of the temple. Just going to sincerely do my best. Everything I've been trying to do here.

[30:23]

diligently practicing for enlightenment, and I'm just going to take care of this kind of untended part of the temple area. Then he's doing that. He's taking care of it. He's sweeping day after day after day, who knows for how long. Then one day, as he's sweeping, a little pebble flies up and hits some bamboo, and it goes, and then he has this enlightenment experience. And I'm saying that the takeaway from that story is it's going to happen when you least expect it. How about not expecting it? How about trying to spend more time not expecting it? In fact, let's spend all our time not expecting it. Okay, so I have plenty of time. I've thrown a lot at you. I think I wanted to bring up, I was going to see what time it is, and I think there's time, which is the Japanese chanting.

[31:27]

You know, there was a period of time in our senior student group, the group meets, you know, once a month for many years. There was a little bit of doing the Japanese chanting. Just being too off-putting, you know, like people can come, maybe they're willing to bow. try that but that's just a bridge too far I'm chanting in another language I don't know what I'm saying okay no so there was a feeling and I understand as a response to that we should just stop doing the Japanese chanting and it is true that you kind of just it's kind of like suspension of disbelief and you just have to settle in and immerse yourself in this you know strange uncomfortable practice. And, you know, so I just want to bring up the other side. What's enjoyable? What's good? What's helpful about our Japanese chanting?

[32:34]

In the first place, we're not actually chanting in Japanese for the most part. We're chanting in this evolved over centuries version of Chinese and Japanese that come to us as a kind of chanting language, a language that's very good for chanting. It carries elements of Chinese and Japanese for sure. And one of the great things about it is that we use the makugyo, this drum right up here, which you may or may not be able to see. And it's really nice to be able to chant along with the drum. And in fact, to learn to play the drum. And we do try to give people a chance pretty early on to learn how to play the drum. Actually, any of the instruments for service are really great for practice. You know, it's like...

[33:51]

Not too loud, not too soft, not too fast, not too slow. Being in harmony with everybody and bringing something out of yourself to harmonize, you know? It's a beautiful thing. And, you know, when we chant together on one note or we're kind of merging our voices, that's kind of a way that we're kind of merging. So that feels beneficial. If you have another place in your life where you can chant or sing with a group of people along to a drum that ideally that you were doing from childhood, you know, I think that feels more natural than coming in here. You know, we have to get over this little bit of a hump of, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm just going to see what it feels like. Just see what it feels like and be with the other people.

[34:56]

seeing what it feels like. You know, in some centers, they use the makugyo for the English chants. So that's kind of another option if we ever got to where we went over to this other side of giving up the Japanese. We could at least still have the makugyo with our English chants. And maybe eventually we devolve Sino-Japanese English. chanting language. So there's a short chant that we do that I was thinking about just telling you what it means this morning. The Enmei Juku Kanon Gyo. And it's a chant we chant nine times and we do it usually during a well-being service. One of the main times we do it is... for well-being services. It's chant, calling for compassion of Kuan Yin or Kanon, Kanzeon.

[36:04]

Kanzeon is the embodiment of compassion, the archetype or the bodhisattva of compassion. So I'm not going to go through the whole thing. I'm just going to give you some So early on there's a line, bu po so en, bu po so en. And that means Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, affinity in the chanting language. If you told a Japanese person what does bu po so en mean, I don't know, maybe they would know that it means Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Maybe they wouldn't, I don't know. affinity with, you know, I'm aligned with Buddha. And then a little further in the chat, what's going on here?

[37:08]

I'm having so much trouble with my robe lately. For a long time, I prided myself. That was probably my biggest mistake. I prided myself on how well my robe stayed on. The chair does not help. So later in the chant, we say, Conzeon, as I said, means embodiment of compassion. So it's like the whole chant is like, compassion come by here. Compassion come, be with me or with us. Cho Nen Kan Zeon, Bo Nen. Cho means morning. Bo means evening. And Nen means thought. Morning thoughts Kan Zeon.

[38:10]

Evening thoughts Kan Zeon. In other words, ceaselessly, you know, without interruption, I am evoking the compassion of Kuan Yin. And then the last two lines. Oh, that seems really hard. Okay, we're never going to understand that, right? However, you can't... Oh, right, I didn't tell you. I was supposed to tell you during that part about what nen means, too. Nen means thought moment. A thought moment is supposedly 60th of a second. So like, you know how there's 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute? There's 60 thought moments, 60 nen in a second.

[39:14]

That's how fast our mind is going all the time. So bonen, thoughts, kanzeon, evening thoughts, kanzeon. And then Nen Nen Juxing Ki, thought after thought. Nen Nen means thought after thought. Juxing Ki means arise from the mind. Shin, as many of us know, means mind. I'm not sure about the Ju and the Ki, but anyway, it means thought after thought, arise in the mind. And then Nen Nen Fu Ri Shin. Shin again, the mind, and fu means no. In the Heart Sutra, you might not have noticed this, but fu means no, and the Japanese version of the Heart Sutra is full of fu. I even, I wrote out, I wrote it out a little bit here. Fu, sho, fu, metzu, fu, ku, fu, jo, fu, zo.

[40:19]

You didn't even notice it went by so fast. That's no. No this, no that, no eyes, no ears, no nose, etc. So fu-ri-shin. Ri means different. Fu-ri-shin. Nen-nen fu-ri-shin. Thought after thought are no different. Which like right here at the end of this little chant for well-being is like basic Buddhism. Buddhism is there's nobody having thoughts. There's no... mind having thoughts thoughts are the mind the mind is the thoughts so now you can listen to that one and at least you have some idea what it means i think what i'm trying to say is you know give us a chance this is for kind of for the newer people give this give this a chance if you have the time and inclination you'll see you'll see give And thank you.

[41:23]

Thank you so much for your listening. Again, it's wonderful to see your faces this morning. Any questions or comments? Yes, Greg? I'll bring the mic up. You can see the time here. I guess it's pretty close. Thank you very much. Lori, thank you very much for your talk. Thank you. I really liked it a lot. I particularly appreciated what you said about things surfacing in their own way, in their own time, and just allowing that to happen. This was a frequent theme of practice discussion in Doksan in Tassajara, especially in the summers when people are trying this on, and they're like, oh, these things are coming up, and I don't like them. Or having a mild freak-out, you know?

[42:24]

Like, what? That's a part of me, too? And what I think I noticed, talking to many people about this phenomenon, is that it happens when the body knows when it's ready. And to whatever extent you engage in this body-mind duality, you know, their thinking mind is a little bit behind. No, no, no, I'm not ready. Yes, you are. The body is saying, yes, you are, and here it comes, and look, you didn't die, and it's okay. And then you can metabolize that. Practice matures, and you have greater capacity, and the whole thing works out pretty nicely overall. However, just to bring up the other side, we've been talking about this a little bit in leadership. You can actually have... a childhood trauma that is not going to work for you to deal with it. That happens to people. And now that we've been having meditation in this country for whatever, 50 years or something, there's people who can attest to that.

[43:32]

It did not work to have this come up during Zazen. And that's okay. The idea is that you're not totally triggered. You kind of... have it in view somehow, and you can kind of hold it and befriend it somehow. But sometimes it's just not possible for some people. So there's nothing wrong with you if that's you. And the important thing is to a teacher or practice leader. Good point. Which Berkeley Zen Center has a deep bench of teachers and practice leaders, and you're not alone in this. I think that's a very, very important point and that we should encourage this culture. And that's how we grow as a Sangha. And lastly, I just wanted to say that Sojin Roshi said that enlightenment was a great advertising gimmick. Yoni's behind you, Joe.

[44:36]

And it might be that you're... Actually, you need something more than this and helps you find that. Yes, Yoni. Thank you. Thank you for your talk. I find you so encouraging, so encouraging, and I find you enlightening. It's just like I love your talk so much. I've been so distracted lately, like cannot stop my mind running. Zazen, like, I don't even try anymore to, like, return my breath. It's just like, oh, I'm just... Here we go. Off to the races. And I want to know what you think about that. Well, I think where I'm going with this is kind of the arc of your life, you know? Like, you came and you settled and you got quiet, and then you started a bunch of things out of...

[45:39]

I mean, I hope, I believe and hope that you started some things out of that. And those are all new things. So like that's all the new things and the way they relate to the old things or whatever or what's coming up. So I think personally, I would just see it as part of the arc of your practice. This under these conditions, used all these new elements, you know, that's just how your mind, that's just what your mind is doing. So just write, yeah, write it out. That's my advice. You can ask other people, too. Ride the waves. You have a question there online. Oh, OK. Yes, Jinan? You're going to unmute. Thank you for the help with unmuting. Sorry, I hear a little echo. Is that OK? It's fine for us. OK. Thank you so much for talk I resonated quite strongly and especially as a newcomer felt I'm leaving this talk with a much better understanding of practice and of the tradition so thank you because that deepens it and the first about pain that's partly my question is you know I've

[47:08]

I've lived most of my life, if not all, in quite a bit of pain and a lot of it physical. And that's partly what brought me to BCC and to practice. It's a component of a broader aspect. Though, in this practice, speaking of holding pain, which is what I'm really trying to practice, Can you expand more? I know it's very personal and for each one is different. I really, instead of expanding, is there anything more you can say about holding pain past and present? That was a good question. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Sort of, I mean, similar to the whole idea of trauma, I have heard, there's a longtime member here who has chronic pain. I've heard that's like chronic pain is different. Chronic pain is just different. So I don't think the things that you do in Zazen to help you soften towards the pain, I don't think those are different.

[48:23]

But again, it's just different. I mean, there's nothing wrong with you that those things don't quite work or they don't quite, you know. But on the other hand, we're all going to, I mean, almost everybody, unless you die, will be there someday. And so it's good to, for us, you know, to learn how to sit with pain. And I don't think it would, I can't see how it would be wrong for you as long as you don't go to, I'm so bad at this or this isn't working or there's something wrong with me. You know, those are popular grooves that our minds go to. At least you have, you know, if you're in the room with a bunch of people, at least you know everybody is dealing with pain right now, you know, or something like that. Like just however you can find to open your, you know, to have a heart open to it and a mind open to it and kindness, you know.

[49:27]

Big mind is kind. Big mind is kind. Thank you. So, Mary, you got the... Oh, yeah. Oh, sure, sure, sure. Hi. Hello. Okay, there we go. Hello. Hi. Thank you very much for your talk. Very helpful. I had a question on, like, the specifically Kensho and enlightenment experience. When we do have that, what's your recommendation for... how to not get steeped in it or how to not get sucked up by it? That's a good question. Yeah. That's a really good question. I say, now, I have heard teachers say to people, let it go, don't hang on to it. That's a legitimate teachers I know that I've heard from the people. However, I would say it's some kind of information.

[50:29]

It's some kind of... It's a moment in time for you. You know, just like when Megan turned around and saw all the faces, 50 people love me, you know. It's a moment, wherever it is, you know, people say that it's, I haven't had that kind where it's about, I saw inter, you know, I realized interdependence or something, something like that. I realized I was connected to everything, you know. It's something for you to put into practice, you know. Incorporate into your life. I think it's a gift to incorporate. It's not just an advertising gimmick, you know. I think it's, and I also think that we minimize the small ones. We have this, we idealize this big thing and now this must not be it, you know. It's just, oh, now I see what they meant, you know. But take it in, yeah, take it in and practice it. There's another person online.

[51:37]

And then after that, Mary. Karen, hi. Hi, Lori. Thank you so much for your beautiful talk. I love how you have the sort of combined wisdom and levity. It's just an inspiration to my practice. Wisdom and levity. Levity. Yeah. And I just wanted to comment on the chanting. I didn't know all these details, specifically the Chinese-Japanese combination. And it's funny you mention that because yesterday during the memorial service for Gail Scherer, the McCutcheon drummer went really slow and it was beautiful. Like I really was able to kind of feel the ancient wisdom you know there was just sort of an energy in the zendo and it was because of the flow and i had not experienced that before yeah that's the instruction is to do it slower yeah and you know it's the one time like there's a chant we don't ever talk about what that what those words mean that's just not part of the our world and i think that you know i had someone once ask me my mom died and i need a mom

[52:59]

I need something. I want something. I don't know what it means. I mean, this is an inconceivable experience, and I need something to match that, right? And so that's what that chant is that we do. Don't even think about what it means. It's the mantra of the mystery, the mantra of the mystery. Thank you. Mayor? So seconding what Yoni said about your encouragement, thank you so much for your talk. This is a question I've asked before, but I really want to know your answer to it. And speaking as a person with one new knee and one old knee, what is the pain you don't sit through? Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that you, if you get up and it's gone, then you did okay. That's for sure okay. If you get up and it hurts, I mean, that may not be okay.

[54:03]

So that's what I always went by, you know. You get up and, oh, not so bad, you know. Or, you know, your legs come back. You know, sometimes your legs go to sleep, but then they wake up without any problem. So I think it's kind of a dance. And I don't know the anatomy of getting the knee surgery. There's other people who've gotten that. And... I didn't know that you could go back to cross-legged with that. Yeah, we want to be careful. And for the other people, the other people who are still sitting cross-legged in half lotus or full lotus or quarter lotus, keep doing hip openers, not just zazen. Zazen is not enough of a hip opener. You need to keep doing your hip openers every day. And if you don't know what hip openers are, get a yoga teacher to tell you. I think they used to have on the Yoga Journal website how to grow a lotus, and it gives you a set of exercises.

[55:07]

Do them if you want to keep sitting cross-legged and not wreck your knees. That's right. I have a second request. Okay. Could we do one round of the enme? Sure. Greg, can you? But how can we do just one round? Should we do nine? What time is it? Do three. Thank you, Joe. A person in charge is a good thing. Okay. Thank you.

[56:19]

Namu butu yo butu hu en yo butu hu en bu po so en jo ragu ga jo chon en kan se on bo nen kan se on nen nen ju shing ki nen nen fu rishi kan se on namu butu yo en yo butu hu en bu po so en jo ragu ga jo chon en kan se on What was that? With the deep desire for peace, we offer the merit of this chanting to the world and our country and climate change and all the things that I didn't mention today. More questions?

[57:21]

It's 11-11. It's a good time. Any last questions? Seems like we're done. Things are numberless. I vow to end them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Beings are numberless. I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them Dharma gates are boundless I vow to enter them Buddha's way is unfurpassable I vow to become beings are numberless I vow to awaken with them

[58:48]

Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates all. I vow to end them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to be idle. Good morning.

[60:13]

Welcome to Berkeley Zen Center. My name is Joe, and I am the... I got some announcements for you. On Monday, Nathaniel Page will offer a way-seeking mind talk in the online Zendo. You can find that link on our website, and that's July 27th at 8 a.m. Beginning on this Thursday at 7.15 to 8.30 p.m., there'll be a... class koan series on rhinoceroses and radishes. So that begins this Thursday and next Thursday. This will be in-person only. There's some information on the website. You can also speak to Gary, who's right here, for more details. Gary's leading the class. Next Saturday, Linda Roshi will give the Dharma Talk at 10.15. That's on August 1st. And as a reminder... In August, beginning in August, for the Saturdays, we will not be offering early morning Zazen service or breakfast.

[61:17]

So usually we start at 6 a.m. periods of Zazen and service. We eat breakfast together. It's a very special practice, but we're taking a break for August to give people a chance to rest and go on holiday. But if you want to know more about that practice, please speak to myself or someone who looks like They know what they're doing here. And we'd be more than happy to tell you about what that entails. There is also no August one day sitting. So we're not having a one day sitting in August. So it's a bit of a break. But our Saturday program will continue starting at an 845 work period. So please keep coming throughout the month. BCC is supported by your dues and donations. And there's a donation box outside. by the tea and cookies, which we'll have shortly. So please make a donation to support the temple. There will be tea and cookies afterwards. I need two people who can stay.

[62:19]

Just wash up the teacups. Is there anyone who can do that? I have one. It's another person. Two. Thank you very much. So now please feel free to exit the Zendo and feel free to start socializing once you're off the steps. please be silent until you're off the steps. Yeah. Thank you very much. Have a good day. If you're online, feel free to unmute and greet one another. Good morning, Sangha. It's good to see you all. Thank you, Laurie, for your talk. Hey, everybody. See you all. Good morning, everyone. Hi, everybody. Thank you, Lori. Hey, Mary Beth. Yeah. Take care.

[63:21]

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