Good evening. Good evening all you forms of emptiness out there in Zoom land. And all the forms of emptiness here in the community room. And a bow to the unity of the dichotomy. Neither here nor there. All interconnected, all one. So today, tonight is the last class, and so mostly what we're gonna talk about is the mantra. That music you heard, there was a choir performing at San Francisco Public Library when I was working there, and they sang this song, and I wasn't expecting it, so I pulled out my iPhone and recorded it,

[01:29]

It's not a great recording, but I couldn't resist, so anyway. I particularly like the part where it says everybody. Everybody's singing, everyone laughing, and the reason partly is that the mantra includes all of us together. crossing over to the other shore, not just us as an individual, not just me and my aspiration, but all of us. So I'll talk a little more about that. So I'm just gonna continue where we left off and then we'll have time for questions, comments, then a break. just kind of what we've done before. So one question I'd like to put forth before I start is, how does Prajnaparamita affect you?

[02:41]

This mantra is Prajnaparamita. So I'm wondering, and maybe we can talk about that in a little bit, Does that have an effect on you here in Prajnaparamita? Here we have, thanks to Kabir, the personification of Prajnaparamita. And I will talk a little bit about that too. So this is where I believe we left off. In the three worlds, all Buddhas depend on Prajnaparamita. and attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect, enlightenment. So the three worlds, past, present, future, three times. And then, unsurpassed, complete, perfect.

[03:44]

That means absolute. So, Shohaka Okamura says that when we say this, we're not talking about the relative here, we're talking about the absolute perfect wisdom. So the Heart Sutra is telling us that through Prajnaparamita we can liberate ourselves. And Prajnaparamita is the wisdom to see impermanence and interdependence. Dogen said in one of his very first writings, the Sui Monkey, that our practice begins with understanding impermanence. If you don't understand impermanence, you won't. Well, that's the first thing to really understand, and many of us understand it because we've lived with it, you know?

[04:52]

So the Prajnaparamita, through our understanding of impermanence and interdependence, relieves suffering by enabling us to change our views, to see reality from both sides. And it breaks our fixed views. So we often talk about right view as part of the Eightfold Path, and the fact that we need to let go of fixed views, and we can see today, with all the problems we have in the world, and on a personal level, and on a group level, and on a global level, the problem is often fixed views. So here we go into the mantra.

[05:54]

Okay, the mantra. So, just would like to talk a tiny bit about a mantra. I mean, what is a mantra? So, in Sanskrit, mantra means something like spell. And, Mantras were common way before the Buddha. Hindu and other religions that were around, they used mantras in different ways. But in the way that we're talking about a mantra, it means, well, one thing that it means is protector of thought. Now, man means mind. and tra means protection. So the mantra gives us protection.

[06:58]

Thich Nhat Hanh says the mantra is a tool to turn ourselves towards enlightenment. Now mantras were not, this mantra was not in the early Prajnaparamita literature. as we talked about in the first class, the first Prajnaparamita sutras that came out were the really huge ones, you know? 100,000 lines, 20,000 lines. What we're talking about, the heart sutras, more like approximately 25 lines, and the mantra appeared later, perhaps in the seventh century, approximately, The mantra is first introduced with all these big words like, for example, the great transcendent mantra, the great bright mantra, the utmost mantra, the supreme mantra.

[08:09]

This is typical. This kind of talk shows up in a lot of Mahayana Buddhist literature. I told you that Laurie and I read the Prajnaparamita Sutra together in 8,000 lines and things like this were repeated over and over. Supreme, great, utmost, on and on and on. But I'm just going to tell you what a few of those words mean so they don't all sound the same. Great, bright mantra means knows the great seal or emptiness intimacy and knowledge of emptiness utmost means you cannot go any higher in dropping the self supreme mantra no mantra is superior to the perfection of then to the perfection of wisdom mantra

[09:16]

This is the highest level of a mantra, the supreme mantra, which is able to relieve all suffering and is true, not false. So true means truth, like suchness. That's okay. I assume everyone can hear me, right? I would have heard about it by now. So then, we have gate gate. So gate means gone. Gone from suffering to the liberation of suffering. from forgetfulness to mindfulness.

[10:20]

Gone from duality to non-duality. And then, gate gate, gone, gone. Paragate, gone all the way to the other shore. Gone all the way over. So, from samsara, to nirvana, from duality to non-duality, from relative reality to absolute reality. Now, para-sam-gate. Sam means everyone, the whole sangha, the whole community of beings. That's why I like that singing there, because it really emphasizes that we all go together to the other shore. You know, we're not out for ourselves here. You know, we want to save all beings, that's our vow.

[11:23]

So Bodhi means that light inside of us, enlightenment, awakening. And then Swaha means the cry of joy or hallelujah. Now, I wanna mention a few things about hallelujah. Often it's translated as all hail. And I've heard that used up at Dharma Rain. They use that word a lot, hail. But, svaha is only used for female deities. So, anyway, so this is an ecstatic shout of joy, the expression of complete release.

[12:27]

Paragate is the plunge into the unconditioned and parasamgate is completeness with everyone. So this, it's explained a little differently in all the books on your reading list, all of which I think are really good. Edward Conze, who's kind of a scholar, says this is the spell when we chant it that brings forth awakened mind, liberation, truth. So our problem is that we typically see through ego mind. But here, through the chanting proclamation of this mantra, we are brought to see clearly.

[13:36]

So, Prajnaparamita This statue that you see, I'm trying to hope that people can see it out there. We have a statue of Prajnaparamita on our altar in the Zendo, which was sculpted by one of our beloved ancestors, Rebecca Maino. So Prajnaparamita, many of you are familiar with because we invoke her. before we chant certain mornings, the Heart Sutra. But she is the personification of wisdom, just like, you know, Mara's the personification of devil and Avalapitasvara, the personification of compassion. So Prajnaparamita is the goddess of transcendent wisdom and the mother of all Buddhas.

[14:46]

And because she's the personification of these scriptures, the Prajnaparamita scriptures, and of transcendent wisdom, therefore she gives birth to Buddhas. And she is considered the mother of all Buddhas, and Buddhas come out of her womb. And she was actually depicted widely in Indian art. between the 9th and 12th centuries. And they actually have some nice ones at the Berkeley Art Museum, some Prajnaparamita statues. And she was also depicted in Buddhist art in Java, Cambodia, Tibet, and parts of the Himalayas. In the Prajnaparamita larger sutras, it is stated that these sutras, Prajnaparamita, are the highest object of worship.

[15:59]

Sometimes they're on altars, the sutras themselves are placed on altars, but they're a higher, they're more important than things like relics, for example, and stupas. these sutras. And because Parashma Paramita is the transcendent knowledge that sees all phenomena as illusory and unborn, and it's therefore the true source of Buddhahood. Are there any Questions or comments? I was going to say end of suffering. Your last statement? End of suffering, yes. I don't know if I just asked it a minute ago or not, but I'm still curious as to whether you people... Okay, I'll get to you in a minute.

[17:12]

One second. I'd like to know again, does this help relieve your suffering? I mean, how do you react to that? Cheryl Gordon has her hand up. Okay, I'm gonna get to that. Thank you, Ryushin. I actually need to put this on gallery so I can see who has their hands up. Okay, great. I'll get to you in a minute, Cheryl. So this is what's proclaimed here, and I'd like to know how it affects you. So I want to go to Margo first, and then I'll go to Cheryl. So I think I had something came to mind when you asked that question. Yes. And I think three, like three, it came up. They can't hear you. Oh, sorry. It came up in kind of three aspects. So one aspect is like this mantra as a...

[18:15]

object of concentration and that when my mind is turned towards this mantra maybe it's turned towards to turned away from unskillful thoughts or suffering states of mind i think another uh chanting practice i do a lot of like sound meditation practice and so chanting practice in particular like the second thing that came to mind was kind of the multi-dimensionality of sound so like the words but then the vibrations and the space of awareness in which I can feel my body and the sound interacting and kind of a more interesting way to interact with that. And then the third thing that came to mind was just the reminder that relief is available. That's actually really important. Hallelujah. Okay, I want to respond to the first two things. One, I mentioned this in one of the other classes, but part of the point of chanting is to develop concentration.

[19:27]

Because one of these, I forget at the moment who said it, but that it's less important to understand the words because a lot of the time we're chanting in Japanese and a lot of us don't know what we're saying. it is a concentration practice, and that's very important. It really focuses the mind and the body. And second, Margo was saying about the vibration and the effect on the body, and Okamura Roshi says, chant with your hara, not with your mouth. So, This is a whole body practice. It's not just the brain reciting words or, you know, it's not about memorizing things and it's not about thinking. So Okamura Roshi said, chant with your hara and I might have to, I'll get to it.

[20:40]

Oh, he also said, chant with your ear, not your mouth. So your hara, you feel it through your whole body, and you hear it because you're in community, and we're all making a sound together. So Sojin used to talk about this all the time. He got on people's cases if they were too soft or too loud. He'd say, You're too loud, make yourself blend with the rest. And then he'd also say, because some people are just mumbling, he didn't like that either. It was like, come on, get some energy, contribute to this group effort to cross the other shore, to really bring out the Dharma. So thank you for that. Cheryl. Thank you, Karen. I'm wondering why when we're chanting the sutra that we elongate the syllables of Prajnaparamita and the bells ring when we get to these words.

[21:57]

You know, I'm not sure I know the exact answer to that. My instant reaction is because it's so important that these words carry transcendent wisdom. In those words, you know, we say that Prajnaparamita means transcendent wisdom, but it also is transcendent wisdom, just chanting those words. Now, if someone else in the... Pauline probably knows the answer. Well, part of the answer is that it's actually trying to be faithful to the Sanskrit pronunciation. If you've seen written Sanskrit in the Roman alphabet, there are those bars, macarons all over the place indicating vowel length. And so the final A in both Prajna and Paramita is a long A. Thank you. Sure. I actually could see that when I was studying it, but I'm not so up on languages.

[23:07]

What was your second question, Cheryl? Well, and then there's also bells and rhythms that go with these words. Well, I know that the priests bow. I see Hannah's hands up. Hannah, why don't you answer that from the doshi point of view, like what you're doing with those bells? Yeah, that's just what I was going to say. I think that's when we bow. at those words, though the bell is a signal to the priest to bow. So when Andrea maybe can talk more about this, actually. Ryushin, do you have something else to add about the priests when they bow? I was going to say, I think of those bells. We have ending bells at the end of every chant, and they're I think a notification to everyone that the chant's ending.

[24:09]

I think it's really that simple. The doshi goes into ga sho at that point, but we don't actually, I don't think we actually bow at that point, but we go into ga sho and get ready for it to end. Thank you. What's the internal bells? They're on the word prajna. Okay. Is there one on five as well? Yes. I mean, for example, when we chant... Five. There's a big bell. Why do we have that bell, Ryushin or Hana? Oh, that's at the beginning of the chant? Yes. Yeah, at the beginning of the chant, that's the place where the Kokyo and the Doshi are supposed to bow to each other, so it's like the introduction is done. And then there are some more big bells. Go ahead. Those are the markers for the doshi to go up and make an offering.

[25:11]

And then at the end, towards the end, there's a small bell with gate gate. That's to mark the ending. Oh, okay. Hannah, you're muted, Hannah. The three boughs at the beginning of the sutra are because it's the word of Buddha. So all the sutras that are considered to be the word of Buddha, we priest do three boughs at the beginning of those sutras. Thank you. The Metta Sutra, the Heart Sutra. Marley, I see your hand up. You're muted, Marley. Thank you.

[26:14]

Appreciate those explanations. I think my answer, my question or response was about, you know, the earlier question, what, you know, what does it mean to you that, you know, these words, this mantra, this, you know, what is it? mean these words of project paramita to me i i think something really affects me that there's a um there's that word beyond there's that word gone in lots of translations i i feel like in some way that hits me like let go let go let go um And in another way, like, yes, every moment is letting go is being gone one after another. It's not the whole thing, but these are angles of it that that reach me and that somehow.

[27:22]

This I know I've seen Prashna Paramita described in other of these sutras is what is it that the mind that doesn't dwell anywhere and that sees no being at all. And that that is ongoing in all this practice. And I take some great relief in that. Not in a way I can really quite put into words. So thank you. Well, letting go, it sounds so simple and so ordinary, almost cliche. But letting go is... I don't want to say the whole practice, but dropping oneself, it is letting go. Letting go of our attachments, which is a lifelong practice. So it sounds simple, but it's not.

[28:22]

Rich, I see your hand up. Hi. Just a couple of thoughts. The first thing, To respond to Cheryl's question, too, about the elongation of Prajnaparamita when we chant, I think it's a Berkeley thing. Like, we don't do it in the Japanese version. And it's not my experience that that's the way it's chanted at other practice and other temples either, which makes me curious. I was remarking to Ross after our class last week. I'm really interested in sort of how the Berkeley Zen Center version of the Heart Sutra came up. Like, what... It's not like other translations. Like, it's very particular. And I'm wondering maybe somebody, if anybody knows about that, I'd be interested to hear more about it. I also wanted to say, like, chanting, like, to answer your question, the mantra doesn't mean much to me. Like, it's not something that I ever think about or, like, chant personally. I think the Durrani's, which really speak to, like, what Margo was talking about, this sort of, like, expansiveness and sound and...

[29:34]

they don't have necessarily like direct translations. They're like an exercise in vocalization and the body. Those are sort of maybe more meaningful for me. And I think even the, the robe chant in Japanese, I think does that, even though that is like actual words, there's a sort of landscape to it, which I really appreciate. But the, I really like the question. The mantra for me doesn't, I don't know, it doesn't resonate for me, literally. And I never thought about that before. It's part and parcel of the sutra, of that longer chant that we do. And the last thing I'll say, sorry, I'm going on. A friend of mine, we received lay ordination around the same time, and his teacher on the back of his rock, Sue, wrote the perfection of wisdom in a single syllable. which I always thought was super cool, kind of jealous of.

[30:36]

Well, thank you, Rich. So, you know, we do invoke Avalokiteshvara in our chants, and I think that might be a little easier to digest than Prajnaparamita, but Lately, you know, I've been thinking about the personification of wisdom, and I'm wondering if it might be possible, and I'm speaking for myself because it didn't mean much to me for a long time, but to just feel how alive she is. I think a lot of us can relate to Avalokiteshvara easily. Wisdom has kind of a cold feeling compared to the compassion of Avalokiteshvara. Now, Jim, if you're in the room, please raise your hand if you want to talk, but Jim, did you have a response to Rich's question?

[31:52]

I did, and I had a comment on... Can you hear Jim? On mantras. Speak louder. Sorry, I tend to speak rather quietly. I've been listening a lot to not only the track that you shared, but that whole album of Heart Sutra recordings by Kanho. And what I've noticed, and I think it makes sense for Japanese speakers, is that they hold nia a very long time. And if you know the Japanese language, there's a syllable length called moras. And so that's a double syllable there when they do it. So we extend that on the A, but I think or the Sino-Japanese chanting. It's the nyah that's elongated. I don't know if other people hear that or not. This is not an academic. I haven't researched it, but that's what I've noticed. I wanted to say something about mantras. Every time we chant this, I wonder, where's the mantra?

[32:54]

Is it the entire sutra is the mantra? Is it the preamble to the mantra and the Sanskrit part? That's like an internal text. Is it all the Sanskrit or is it just the word ghatay? And then in this sutra, it's really a, if a mantra compresses knowledge into a very small magical kind of component where it becomes our body, you know, all the logical stuff we've been through kind of melts away. This is a mantra for all the Prajnaparamita literature, which is in a way, you can keep going out like that. So I don't know where, where the actual mantra is. I think just saying gate brings me back to myself sometimes, which is the point to drop all the rationality and all the yes, no, yes, no, yes, no that we've just been through. So that's it, just a statement. Thank you. Now that's something to really think about. I mean, from...

[33:59]

The books that I've been reading, it talks about the beginning of the Heart Sutra as kind of a teaching. Avalokiteshvara is teaching us about emptiness, about reality, because he's speaking to Shariputra, and Shariputra is this intellectual, and so the first part is instruction, and then the mantra is introduced. So, just a second. I'm sorry. There are two people online. We may end up taking a little, well, let's see, Erna and then Charlie. Charlie, you're muted. Oh, Erna, rather. Are you there?

[35:07]

I don't hear you, Erna. Let me go on to Charlie and then I'll come back to you because I can't hear you. Thank you, Karen. Can you hear me? Yes. Good. I'm wondering if you're going to the other shore Do you need a boat? That's interesting. Dharma is the boat. Thank you. Did you get yours working, Erna? I'll get back. Better? Yeah, go ahead. Can you hear me?

[36:13]

Your connection's a little funky, but yes. Okay. Yeah, I don't know why my connection's funny. So, what... I like the hymn to the perfection of wisdom more than we do at Berkeley Zen Center. And so it's the part that fits in with me with the things about like the meaning of the words of the mantra is also the part of that all fear and dispersement is a delusion. You know what? Can't quite get what we're saying. You know, you could turn your video off and maybe we can hear you better.

[37:20]

I can't hear you enough to hear what you're saying either. So maybe I should be sitting here on a really fast network because I don't really know what's happening. Let us get back to you, okay? We're gonna take a break in a minute, but actually, I wanted Kabir, this Prajna Paramita statue belongs to Kabir, and I'm wondering if you could say something about it. Oh, okay, sure. But you have to speak up. She, when I started, my practice in 96 in Tibetan Buddhism, this house we used to practice in San Jose, she was in the altar. And from the first moment that I saw her, it was, I just felt very connected with her. And I'm very fond of the perfection of wisdom in the Prajna Paramita.

[38:30]

And so I stopped going in 2017, before I joined Vorky Zen Center, I went back to that tradition. And they closed that center and this was up for sale. And so she's sort of been in my life. Anyway, so if you look at her left hand, she's holding the 8,000 line Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. And on her right hand is the Dorji or the Vajra. And on her lap is a nectar ball, which also presents... Dharma, the medicine. And her mantra in Tibetan is So there's a at the beginning, there's two. But yeah, and she's filled. So inside this statue, what in Tibetan tradition,

[39:35]

they filled these statues with mantras. They roll in... Keep speaking loud. They roll these mantras. So for her, obviously, is the perfection of wisdom mantra, and it's filled inside, and it's sealed. So, yeah, there she is. And I have this in our living room, and every time I look at her face expression, I can tell you it changes. Mantras, I mean, statues do have a life to them and they're alive. Thank you. Can I, I think what the mantras function is the way they're, the words that are picked, they kind of, the way they work without breath. And that has an effect in our mind because our mind and our breath are inseparable.

[40:42]

If you know where your mind is, pay attention where your breath is. So how mantras are written and the letters have been chosen to create the words. So when we chant loud, how a breath enters our body What we're chanting, I think, this is just my thought about it, is that how the breath enters our body, and the way it enters our body, the rhythm of the breath that enters our body, our nostrils, our mouth, it affects our way of thinking, because it creates a certain wave. And that, I think, is what makes the mantra Very powerful. Well, thank you. Karen, could Kabir hold the statue up to the camera so we can see it?

[41:46]

The camera's right there. Yes, he will do that. Thank you. Right now. Oh. Pretty good. Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. The Dorji. Dorji. And what the Dorji represents, what I heard was, that is the indestructible power that we all have in us. That is our Buddha nature. That is our birds. And this is the nectar, the Dharma. Were you all able to hear that? Yes. Some are saying yes, some are saying not so much. Well, it's gonna be in the recording, so. Thank you for a long time. I wanted to say what. Okay, one more comment from Mira, and then we will take a break.

[42:49]

Yeah, so when I was visiting the Tibetan nunnery last summer, they chant this every day, the Heart Sutra. The nuns chant it. And the Lama there told me that when they chanted, they think of it as a mantra to remove obstacles. That's how they think of it, and I had never thought of it that way myself. Well, that's a really good, helpful word. I've seen translations where it says remove obstacles, remove hindrances. Yeah, both. Hindrances and obstacles. And the one thing I had read at the time that this became, in this version, that in the Tibetan tantric tradition, they were relying very much on mantras. It was a big thing, mantras. So this, what I read said that they reacted to this by creating this mantra.

[43:52]

That makes sense. Because they were in fashion at that time and they were getting a lot of devotees by reciting mantras. Thank you. Thank you for that. The Heart Sutra happened to come around or show up in its similar to its form today at the time when Tantric Buddhism was really flowering. Competition. Thank you. Maybe it was competition. Anyway, we're going to take a break. How about we come back at 8.15 and have your heart sutra in front of you. Thank you.

[45:05]

We're back together here. So, I'm gonna just say a couple things, and then we are going to chant the Heart Sutra together. And, well, I'm hoping that this class has contributed something to your understanding and appreciation. So what's gonna happen though that's a little unusual is Yoni is going to strike the makugyo as we chant so typically here at berkeley zen center we chant we use the makugyo the drum for the japanese sutras and then the english ones we just chant without any accompaniment last couple years ago i spent a couple weeks

[46:29]

at Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland. And they're a different Soto Zen lineage. They use the makugyo for everything. And it's very spirited. And I have to say, I really felt the heartbeat of the makugyo and the heartbeat of the Heart Sutra. I remember Mei Li used to talk a lot about how the Makukyo was the heartbeat that kept us chanting and awakening, awakening with each strike. So before we start that though, I just have a few words to say. I just want to say a couple things that Sojin said. He talked about prajna should be our mantra.

[47:36]

And then he referred to how we use mantras sometimes in a negative way. Like, you know how we can repeat a narrative to ourselves that's just not helpful? You know, it becomes part of our story, part of our ego-based life. Like, sometimes I get into this complaining mind about getting old, you know, this hurts, that hurts, you know, turns into sort of a not good version of, not the real kind of mantra, but that reinforcing of small mind. So anyway, So Sojan talked about transforming our personal narrative about me, me, me into the mantra of Prajna, of truth.

[48:37]

He talked about the Prajnaparamita mantra as a type of concentration, a type of samadhi. And when he talked about Suzuki Roshi, he would say, Suzuki Roshi did the same things over and over again. He came out of his office, he lit incense, he bowed, he did zazen, he did service. And Sojin would say, it was never repetitive. He did the same acts day after day, but it was not repetition. It was a dynamic which was always producing light. So that's the attitude we should have here. He also said, Sojin said that the form that Suzuki Woshi gave to Zen Center is what made Zen Center work so well.

[49:40]

Like the schedule, the schedule is a mantra. The mantra is a powerful basis. There also must be sincerity and incorruptible leadership. With good leadership and the strong, powerful, dynamic mantra of form, the Prajnaparamita reveals itself and is lived through the form. And then Sojin paraphrased Thich Nhat Hanh, and he said that Thich Nhat Hanh said that you should not just revere the Heart Sutra as some ancient Buddhist document. We should use it. You should know how to use it. We should think about how we use the sutra. On the one hand, the sutra's intellectual.

[50:42]

It tells us something and it prepares our mind, but the dynamics of the mantra expresses the actual use of the mantra. So I'm gonna just repeat something from Okomora Roshi, who said, well, first of all, Sojin said, when you chant in the zendo, listen carefully to the words and the sound. Do not chant on automatic. Now there are people and often Okay, I won't say what I was about to say. Some people think that it's impressive to memorize the chants and not use the chant book. Don't do that. Just use the chant book. Because what you're saying is important. And people forget, you know?

[51:43]

They hear so many no's. No suffering, no origination. What comes next? You know? There's actually a logic to this whole sutra. But... People often, of course, you know, are not paying attention. We do this every day, twice a day. So there's no need to take pride in memorizing the sutra. Just get it right. I mean, read it as you're chanting and understand it if you can. So use the chant books. And, okay, so Okamura Roshi said, chant with your hara, not with your mouth. Feel that vibration, feel the sound throughout your body-mind. Chant with your ear and not your mouth. Listen to other people chanting and blend with them.

[52:44]

We should be more like a chorus. Don't think, just chant. It's like zazen. with the whole body and the whole heart. And so here's a quote, that's what I'm gonna end on before we chant, from Okamura Roshi. Chanting can be prajnaparamita if we put our whole time and being into it. It can open our eyes to reality, not to an intellectual reality, but rather to our life energy. When we chant wholeheartedly, our voice is the sound of emptiness, exactly like the wind bell. It's the sound of the wind, the bell, our ears, our mind, the entire universe. Okay.

[53:47]

So. Jim. Do we do an intro or no? Just the announcement, yeah. Yeah, yeah, so what we're gonna do is we're all gonna chat together. Now, unfortunately, the people on Zoom have to be muted or else something weird is gonna happen. But the people in the room, all of us chant together and Jim Erb, will be our kokyo, and yoni is going to be the fukudo. Can we get a couple more copies from the window? Yes, if we don't have them. Because I feel like chanting at a different pace is going to . Well, you're going to set the pace. No, I mean like at that cadence, it's hard for . Okay.

[54:50]

We're gonna pause for about two minutes while we collect some chant books from this end. Does anyone have a question out there in Zoom land while we're waiting? Karen, did you already cover why we chant this particular version of the Heart Sutra or where it comes from? I don't know. That was a question earlier. That was one of Rich's questions, and I thought if Ross is here, he probably could say, I know a little bit. Liz might know also. Do either Liz or Ross know where this virgin came from? I don't know where the virgin came from, but I've heard Sojan say, in contrast to San Francisco Zen Center's chanting, that... Ours was how it used to be, and they changed it.

[55:51]

But he wasn't referring, I don't think, to a heart. He was talking about something, and I believe there was a change, so it would be consistent with sort of Soto Shu, all unified, this is the authorized translation. He did say about some syllables, the Daish and Jurani. that were changed as well. This was ours was the original one. The rope chant. Go ahead, Liz. Way back in the day, in the 70s, the Berkeley chant and the San Francisco and Tassajara chant, they were all the same. And then over the decades, little tweaks have been made.

[56:53]

The main one that comes to mind right at the moment is that any gender was taken out. It used to say he this, he did that, and they took out all the gender words. And there have been a few others. I think if I had a copy in front of me, I might be able to remember a few others, but the one thing that has not changed for some reason is this word perverted, which I just can't understand why that hasn't been changed. Yes, City Center did change that one. They did, what did they change? Inverted. Inverted. What did you say? San Francisco City Center, and I guess Green Gulch does as well. Green Gulch, I don't know. Oh, okay. Why couldn't they change it to the store? Did somebody go get Sutra book?

[57:55]

Yes. Oh, thank you. Is this the same version? Yeah, I hope so. I'll use a Sutra book too then, just to be sure. One more please. Another change, it used to be the same as true of feelings, perceptions, impulses. Yes, that was different. Change to formations for some reason. Yes. Ryushin? I just wanted to add, I didn't catch everything Liz said, but I just wanted to add what I had heard was that Sojin and Reb and whoever else was doing these things in the early 70s worked on this particular, the translation we use and while San Francisco Zen Center changed to be more aligned with the Soto Shu or whatever Abbott changed things, Sojin wanted to keep it the same as the original.

[59:03]

That always touches my heart, actually, to think that we're chanting what Suzuki Roshi chanted. if he chanted in English. Okay, we are going to start. I thought it just meant wrong. Okay, just one moment. And we are going to start. Great wisdom beyond wisdom heart sutra. Watch out.

[60:48]

ten directions three times wisdom beyond wisdom And we dedicate the merit to all beings, all beings all over the planet, beings of every religion, skin color, country, size, shape, humans, animals, plants, bacteria,

[64:34]

everything. May all be well. May we all be free from suffering and take joy in liberation. We're at the last five minutes now, so if there's any, if anyone would like to say something, I think it'd be a good idea to make it concise, given how little time we have.

[65:52]

Ross. Two things. In the 80s, we used to chant the English heart suture with Macugio. You did? Yes. And then someone said, you know, in English, we don't chant that way, so we stopped doing it in the Japanese. That's how that came about. And the other thing I wanted to say is thank you very much for a solid four weeks of teaching us. And illuminating the sutra and facilitating a very lively discussion about all sorts of things. Thank you. And thank you, everyone. Thank you. I see, Marley, you have your hand up. Would you like to speak? Sure. I'll keep it short. I think one thing just now I noticed again is that for all we talk about the importance of Prajnal Paramita, it's the third line of that echo that we talk about all the time.

[66:58]

And I think it reminded me that if it weren't that important, it wouldn't be something we say at the beginning of every dedication. Thank you. Thank you. Well, You know, I was here in the 80s. I don't remember us ever using the kugyo for the English heart citron. Is that for real? I wouldn't joke about something like that. Is he kidding? You know, I was retired by the 80s. Liz retired by the 80s, but she's come back for a post-retirement practice.

[67:59]

She was gone, gone beyond. But anyway, I was here in the 80s. I never heard it with the Makugyo, but as I said, the first time I heard it was at Dharma Rain, but then I think, who was it that I was speaking to the other day who said they do it in Minnesota? Me. Oh, you. It actually sounded really good. Yoni has a brother who practices Soto Zen. Soto Zen in Minnesota, and they do it. And I just, I really enjoyed it at Dharma Rain, and so I thought, this is my party and I can do what I want. I can keog if I want to. You should start with here or something. Anyway. Could I say something? Oh, go ahead, Maria, Teresa. You know, I was here for a little while and then I had to leave for a long while.

[69:01]

And when I was out in Florida, I got there, there were only, in the whole of the Miami territory, there were only two groups. One which was Roshi, what was his name? In Florida? In Florida, yeah. The gentleman who wrote the three pillars Kapla Orozha. Right, Kapla Orozha. There was that one group that by that time there was only two people and I was the third one, you know. And then there was somebody, another teacher that was from the lineage of Sasaki Roshi from here from California. And therefore, you know, I desperately looked for community and to continue my studies in Buddhism and all that. And so I have been exposed to other forms of Buddhism than Zen, like Mahayana. And in Mahayana, there is something called... We are Mahayana.

[70:03]

Yes, but I guess I'm thinking Tibetan. They have what they call pointing out instructions. And when I have listened to the pointing out instructions, and I listen to... Prashnaparamita. To me, it's like one and the same. It's like, if you get one, you definitely got the other one. But I remember too, when I started here, the Prashnaparamita was an enigma to me. And it was like, I kept reading it and I wanted to know what does this mean? What does this mean? And then finally one day, there was a breakthrough, you know? And then I realized, oh, That's a good way to end, I think. Well, I want to thank everyone who attended.

[71:08]

And I really appreciate you coming back week after week. And a bunch of people are here in the community room in this pouring rain. So that's very... heartening and encouraging. And so I hope that we chant our daily heart suture chant with some renewed vigor, enthusiasm, concentration. I mean, many of you do this anyway, but it's not repetition. Let me just quote what Sojin said about Suzuki Roshi. It's not repetition. So good night, everyone. Just on behalf of everyone in the room and on Zoom, I think we've had 40 people attend all of the classes, Karen.

[72:10]

There's been no attrition, which is highly unusual for any class that's given. On behalf of everyone here, thank you for your years of preparation and your generosity of teaching. It's really been a terrific class. Well, you know, I got so much out of it. Thank you all. Beloved Sangha.

[72:36]

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