It's my pleasure to introduce to you Gengo Kiparoshi. But before I do that, I want to let everybody know that I'm going away to Tassajara next week to do half of the practice period. So I won't be here in the month of January. and part of February. So I just want to let you know that, in case you're wondering where I was. So, I've known Akiba Roshi for many, many years. He came to stay here in America for a 1980 And he did a practice period when I was there at Tassajara.

[01:03]

And he helped me. He kind of developed kojin-an. A few roshi bumped into yoshi, and they got married. You know yoshi restaurant? So they're a combination. College Avenue in Chabot, a Japanese-style, wonderful, beautiful zendo called Kojiman. And they also have a couple of restaurants. But all this while, Akiba Roshi has been working to, he's always wanted to have a Japanese-style a Zen center.

[02:11]

It's a monastery. And we worked for years and years to try to make this happen in America, where they would have a kind of traditional Japanese practice, which would be open to everybody. Akiba Roshi was the bishop of Soto Zen in America for a number of years, which he's not now happily. He's finally been able to get this monastery together. They bought some property up near Clear Lake and have a good number of donors. And they managed to put this thing together. And after the talk, there'll be some diagrams and information about the center.

[03:25]

And it's quite impressive, actually. And it's actually being built. I've worked with Akira Roshi for so many years. And what's the, Shumucho, Shumucho is the administrative branch of the Soto School in Japan. And so, for many years, we've been trying to figure out how American Zen and Japanese Zen can kind of fit together. It's been a lucky road. But Makibo is also good ice cream. So I want Akibo to speak to us. Whatever he has to say, I'm happy to hear. And his translator, Mr. Kei Matsuda.

[04:28]

Good morning. Oheyo gozaimasu. Even though I've been living in the United States for many years, I'm afraid that my English is not very good. And I believe that probably is due to lack of my trying hard enough. When I first came to this country, I was 43 and immediately I started going to language school here. But as I started learning English, part of it, whatever I learned, left my brain immediately.

[05:36]

And as I tried even harder, my Japanese started to disappear. So I decided, probably that's not a good idea. And I really appreciated the very kind introduction that the Soji Moshi had given me. do you fondly remember the time I spent at Tassahara? And in some ways you have already So now I'm wondering what I need to add to what I've already told you. Of course, my days are spent to really make this Tenpyozan project a reality.

[06:44]

Tenkyozan is a temple that has the main hall, Zazendo, Kuri, and Sanmon, baths, baths, baths, and toilets. It is a temple of all kinds of people from seven to seven. of the buildings that we'll have at the St. Peter's on Project. We've got the building, all of the traditional design of the Zen temple, which includes seven main buildings. Of course, we will have a Buddha hall, or an altar pavilion, and zento, a meditation hall, and a kitchen, and support buildings, including bathrooms. and also the mountain gate for the main entrance to the temple.

[08:02]

And we will follow that traditional line when we build the Tenkyosan project. And the property is located near the city of Lowell Lake in Lake County and it takes about 15 minutes by car to get to the site from the town of Lowell Lake. And the site contains 111 acres. And the buildings will be constructed using a traditional construction method in Japan. First of all, we use the Hinoki, or Japanese cedar, which is a traditional material for the temple. buildings and the buildings will also have all those joints which will keep the buildings together.

[09:14]

In other words, without using nails and so forth. And I want to explain to you why I decided to have those buildings built in that style. As Sojin-san said, at the beginning that I was a shogun or bishop in North America for 13 years and working He came here in 1978 and visited all the centers in the United States.

[10:17]

He also took care of the Samurais for a year and a half. Since I arrived in this country in 1978, I have much experience of sitting down with people in this country, including the time that I spent more than a year at the San Francisco Zen Center. Of course, in the fall of 1973, I did the fall Ango at Tassajara, and over the years I have visited many Zen centers around the country. And of course, before coming here, I spent 8 years practicing and studying and training on Eheiji-tenno.

[11:27]

I was back in Japan and I spent three years at the administrative headquarters in charge of training of the new monks. And I really enjoy spending my time with those young, aspiring monks. And as you might be able to tell, they're giving dumb talks now. I much enjoy spending time with the young monks, sometimes scolding them, sometimes guiding them.

[12:46]

And as I said, I have visited many Zen centers around here. And while I was a bishop, one of the things I really tried to harmonize is the traditional regulations and teaching of Soto Zen in Japan and the practice in North America. And now there are so many Zen centers around the country. And there are also so many Oden priests in this country. And what I was thinking all the while I was a bishop was how to pass on the authentic teaching of Dogen and Keizan to those people who are now practicing in North America.

[14:16]

And there are many projects I took on to make that a reality. notice while I was working on this mission. Of course, the Sōtō-sen developed over 800 years in Japan, and during that period, they came up with many rules and regulations. and I quickly realized that it will not be possible to apply these rules to our situation here in North America. And if you want to practice and especially train to become a priest in Japan, there are several options.

[15:40]

But all these options and styles of training has come out of the history and culture of Japan. And again, some of that will not be applicable here. And one of the things I also noticed was that while visiting various Zen centers in the U.S., some of them followed the lineage and some other centers follow the tradition given to them by Katagiri Roshi and some other places also pass on the tradition of Maezumi Roshi and so forth, so forth. So even the Zen centers in this country have a very traditional history. If that's the case, why don't you create a new temple in America

[16:47]

And so one of the realizations I had is that perhaps it might be an interesting idea to present the model of a training facility in this country. And what I envision is not necessarily offering strictly Japanese style training or what is fully adapted to the American culture but something which follows what's called the Shingi or pure standards which have been developed over centuries but Shingi says like what kind of schedule the monks should follow for example and I'd like to offer a place where people can actually experience

[18:11]

and that kind of schedule and training here in this country. And not only have I visited places in North America, but also I had opportunities to visit various Zen centers in Europe. And so what I like to do is create a place where people coming from the Western tradition with some of the teachings and training styles from AHE mixed in or combined with.

[19:13]

Of course, this place I'm building will have both male and female students. If the general public wants to participate, they are welcome to do so. But the Zen Dome is a place where you can only do Zazen. Buddha Hall is a place where you can read sutras and give lectures. And some lay people also will be welcome, but the main focus will be training, and actually training of the monks in the Zen Dojo meditation hall. The temple will have a separate Buddha hall where people can assemble and have In Zazendo, there is nothing but the rules of Shingi.

[20:19]

In Zazendo, there is nothing but the rules of Shingi. [...] And that is the space where you leave your ego and your own personal opinions behind when you enter. That would be the purely meditative space within a temple. Maybe you're probably aware that Dogen Zenji said that to learn the Buddha's way is to learn self and to learn self is to forget self and then he went on to say and to forget oneself is to basically follow

[21:36]

the natural workings of the environment, and then there will be where you follow that thought and idea. And also, all religions have rituals, and Zen tradition has them too, and it's important to learn about rituals. Of course, what we will train the monks at the temple will not just be the rituals, but that will be an important part of the curriculum. Right now, there are about 400 there are about 400 also in North America.

[23:19]

And in Brazil and other Latin American countries, there are about 200 ordained priests, all non-Japanese. And my temple, as I envision it, will be the place where all those people can come and get additional training. And what I hope the place will become will be that the facility in Lake County will be officially recognized as a Zen training temple. so that the people who have completed the training there will be recognized as properly trained Zen priests and therefore will be able to function as a priest wherever they go around the world. In North America, there is an organization called the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.

[24:24]

We would like to hand over the Tenpyozan to the members of that organization. There is an organization called Soto Zen Buddhist Association in the United States. My thinking at this time is that when the project is completed, the property and the center will be transferred to that organization, Soto Zen Buddhist Association. We have great fortune in this country to have people like Katagiri Roshi, Suzuki Roshi, and Mayuzumi Roshi who came by themselves to this country and trained their students individually how to sit Zazen, how to eat Oryouki meals and they trained the first generation of Zen teachers in this country including your leader, Sojin Roshi

[26:05]

Of course, their emphasis really was what Zen was. They introduced Zen to this country, but there were individuals who were working as And thanks to the first generation of teachers, now there are more people who come to Sendoh and sit as you are doing this morning. And that's a great accomplishment. And not only that's happening in North America, but that's happening all over the world. and I sometimes wonder why the popularity of ginseng is so prominent and one of the reasons must be that the age that we live in now present many great challenges.

[27:25]

Recently, I've been goofing off a little bit and not reading Buddhist books, but I read this novel called And as I understood it, the novel could be painted rather pessimistic picture and in 50 years the problems related to depleted resources and polluted environment and increasing population will basically create a total disaster.

[28:33]

And I personally agree that if we continue to live the way we do now, that birth might not be able to sustain itself in current state more than 50 or 100 years. Of course, this particular novel is a fiction, so it deals with the various ways to get the population to decrease. So that might be a bit extreme, but seriously, we are faced with very important challenges in our days. And of course the novel, in film eventually, says that the only way to deal with the problem is to invent some kind of virus to kill off people.

[30:02]

But, completely separate from that, what we are doing when we sit Zen is first to offer this idea of the realization that we are all connected. Our life is all connected. When you sit Zazen and keep your mind calm, that's a realization or idea that eventually starts to take root in your heart. So from there, how should we live our lives? How should we make our lives work? There are many other creatures on this planet, and we are a part of them. How should we live our lives? When you sit zazen, of course, you become more aware of your breath, breathing in and breathing out.

[31:31]

And that will give you the opportunity to think about life, and not only about your life, but the life of all living beings. how you should live your life and also how to help other beings enjoy life as well. All that sort of thing eventually start to come as you calm down in sitting zen. Therefore, I believe that But Zen is one solution to the many challenges that we are faced with. And my dream is to create this monastery or temple where that kind of contemplation will become available. Since 1984, I have been practicing

[32:33]

I have known Sojin-san since the 80s for many, many years. And I remember coming to this place in the early days of friendship. And I believe that Alan Samuel Weber was also a Paradian member of this place at that time. Well, about Tenpyozan, that's about it. I don't have much time. How much time do we have?

[34:10]

We have 10-15 minutes. So it seems like we have 10-15 minutes available. So if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer. I was wondering how jazz music at Yoshi's Club reflects What does jazz music mean to you? How does it relate to you? Well, when I came to the U.S. in 1983, well, after that, I met Yoshi and I got married.

[35:15]

hadn't married Yoshi, I think I would have gone back to Japan and by now would be a priest of a very high rank in Soto-san. And so all my friends who we trained together are now the high-ranking officials. But I'm still doing what I'm doing here in North America. and being here because not being a religious bureaucrat I can remain Zen priest. Zen priest should be free. So when Yoshi first took me to the jazz club, and he said that this

[36:21]

particular musician was very famous and you should really listen to his music but when he walked in and what I experienced was all sorts of crazy noise and it couldn't make any sense out of it and actually I got a headache. But after many trips to jazz clubs, I learned to... and of course I had to contemplate on some of the things I was hearing, but then I started to realize the richness of sound of some jazz music, and I developed some ears for jazz music.

[37:43]

Everyone plays jazz music freely, whether it's bass or guitar. And what impressed me was that it seemed like each musician, the bassist, the guitarist, all those people seemed to be playing very freely. But all the sounds come together and in harmony and create wonderful music. And I knew that's Zen. Thank you. Thank you for your very interesting talk. I'd be very interested in hearing your view of the role of the sincere lay practitioner in American Zen. when I came to the U.S.

[38:55]

In Europe and North America, the lay people come and seriously sit Zazen and practice. And I think that's a new direction that the Soto Zen took after it went beyond the border of Japan. And I think that's very important. And when people come and gather and sit Zazen together, and perhaps we hear some Dharma talks, including my humble talk this morning, I think that really shows that Zen is a living religion. In Japan, families are traditionally But it's something we aim for in our daily lives.

[40:45]

and so each family has been linked to a particular temple for generations so even though they so that's really part of their psyche and culture they don't necessarily ostensibly practice Buddhism but they are often have very strong Buddhist ethics and belief. This is an extension of that question with all respect. I'm excited by the idea of Tempyozan and wonder about the idea of transplanting the model of Zen that we have here in Japan.

[42:15]

Because I don't see it there. I think that's just what you were speaking to. We could have an exchange. So, for example, is it possible to introduce the Zen that you have here in Japan to Japan? Yes, it is possible. I think it is entirely possible. And I would like to encourage you and Mel-san, for example, to go to Japan and have more dialogue with the Zen community in Japan. For example, there is one temple in Japan where the abbot is actually a German-born priest.

[43:25]

He is becoming quite well-known as a Zen thinker in Japan and he has published books and so forth. Again, it revives some interest in Zen. So that kind of dialogue, I think, is very healthy. In America, And I think it's wonderful when people coming from different backgrounds come together and share what they have and create something new And I think the United States is one place where that sort of exchange and sharing happens a lot.

[44:31]

And that is something that has always impressed me. It is my sincere wish that the teachers from North America will join the faculty at the Tenpyozan Monastery to enrich the program. And I'd also like to create opportunity for late members to come to the Tenpyozan to practice and study as well. And right now, the project has been progressing with only myself, Kotsoku there, and Shuntoku here, with only three priests, and that cannot continue.

[45:32]

I think we're going to need to end. OK, it seems like we have limited time, but maybe the question... I just want to say that after the talk, people will meet outside and we'll have tea and you'll be able to ask more questions. Well, thank you very much.

[46:02]

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