This morning I want to talk a little bit more about Dharma transmission. And what I want to talk about is the power objects. When you have dharma transmission, your teacher gives you seven things. First, I can't remember the exact order, I'll try to remember the exact order, but the transmission robe.

[01:21]

the whisk of the school called hosu and a staff and a shippei. A shippei is a kind of staff but it's used for shuso ceremony. I'll explain it. the lineage documents, and bowls, eating bowls, and a book of precepts. All of these objects are, not all of them, but most of them, the robe and the shippe, the robe and the whisk, and the staff, and the shippe,

[03:00]

the lineage papers, are symbols of authority to some extent. They're not power symbols. Authority and power are not, although they go together, are not the same thing. We talk about authority and we talk about empowerment. So how we use authority and how we use empowerment is very critical, very crucial. Dharma transmission, as I said before, the meaning of dharma transmission is entrusting. And this entrusting is very important and very critical for the continuation of the teaching.

[04:14]

Maybe, it doesn't matter, you know, if there are no more Buddhists left, there's still reality. But we like to maintain the credibility of the school and teach it and don't want to lose it. So that's most important. So these objects are a matter of trust, and actually they're passed from one person to another with understanding and trust.

[05:22]

in a corrupt way they're used for power and sometimes in Japan there are priests who use their power objects to gain power but they don't last very long because there's too much critical they're quickly criticized and not allowed to maintain a power attitude. In America, we don't have so many watchdogs. Now we do. We have a lot of watchdogs now. But we have to be very careful how we use, how we maintain dharma. and the way we, careful in the way we use these objects of power.

[06:31]

This morning I brought in this kotsu, this stick. Kotsu, it's called. And it's a symbol of authority. So I'm very careful. I didn't bring it out until now. And it's used during service by the Doshi. Doshi is the priest who does service or leads a ceremony. It's called the Doshi. And it's used for lecture, service and lecture. Goes this way.

[07:35]

And I don't know whether I want to use it or not. I like using it. to see what it is. In order for me to find out what it is, I think I should use it. But if you don't think I should use it, I won't. If you'd rather I didn't use it, I won't. So please tell me. I don't need to use it. It's not absolutely necessary to use it. But in using it, it helps me to focus on my own practice. This is a kind of mirror for me. This side is the most prominent side.

[08:51]

So that's why it faces the doshi, and because it should face the Buddha. So I have to always, when I see this, I have to reflect on whether or not I'm Buddha, acting like Buddha. So it's really a kind of teaching device for the doshi. the kind of reminder to the doshi of, what am I doing? In a perverted sense, you could use it as power, staff, or authority in some grasping way. I would like to use it as my teacher.

[09:56]

When I said, the first, the second thing was the Hossu. Hossu is the whisk. Originally made out of horse tail hair or ox tail, maybe ox tail. originally was a fly whisk in India. And the Zen masters, Zen priests, used to use a whisk and it became the symbol of a teacher, a Zen teacher. And I used it in the ceremony, a Segaki ceremony. That whisk is used in the most formal kinds of ceremonies. There are four kinds of sticks, or whisks.

[11:02]

One is the hasu, which is the most formal, and it's the long hair. And then there's the nioi, which looks very much like this kotsu. It has more of a curl, and it's a little more formal. And this kotsu is more everyday-ish. And then there is the fan. Fan is the most informal. And in Japan, when people give talks, they quite often use a fan. That fan is very foreign to us, so it would look a little funny for us to use a fan. When I was at Eheji, the guest lecturer used a fan to give his lecture.

[12:07]

When he gave his lecture, it was a very beautiful Chinese fan. He went to China about a year ago, and he brought back this beautiful Chinese fan that he uses to lecture with. This particular kotsu is made out of wood from a tree, a 600-year-old tree, that was planted by the founder of Rinzoin. I think it's... I don't know what cryptomeria is. It's like redwood. It's like a redwood. It's kind of like... Well, I think it's cryptomeria. Or... I think it is. Pretty light. and very tall trees. And it was just outside the gate, and it fell down. And this was made out of that wood. So the robe that

[13:21]

I received from Hoitsu is different than this robe. This robe was made by the members, all of you. But Hoitsu felt that he had to give me a robe from his side. And he said, not a brown robe, a gray robe. A gray robe is Dogen's robe. Priests in Japan, when they have Dharma transmission, wear brown robes, but Dogen always wore a gray robe, not brown robe. And he felt for a transmission robe, a gray robe is appropriate. And that robe, I don't wear so much, once in a while.

[14:27]

And if I have a descendant, I'll pass that robe on to that person. The staff at Rinzu, and they have very beautiful staff that's quite tall. It's about six feet tall and about this big around. It looks like it's made out of wood, which it is. It's very light. Maybe it's made out of cryptomeria because for such a large staff it's very light and it's black lacquer. Of course, I didn't take that with me. Somehow, I think that's Hoitsu's staff. If we had done the ceremony here, I would probably have a staff from here. So maybe I'll find some staff someplace.

[15:31]

But I also have a little top with rings. So I'll put that little top with rings on top of the staff when I find one. And the staff is good for takahatsu, if I go begging, I'll use the staff. And then there's the shippei. And the shippei is a short staff which the shuso uses during shuso ceremony. And it's, shuso is a, a lot of you know already, but for you who don't know, shuso is a head practice leader at a training period, either in a monastery or at a temple.

[16:37]

So if, we ever had a training period and had a shuso, who was the head practicer, head monk, not necessarily a monk, usually a monk, but lately in America, there's some tendency to have lay shusos. And we might possibly do that here, a valet shuso, or ordain someone as a priest. Either way, if we had a shuso and a training period, at some point in the training period, we have a shuso ceremony where everyone challenges the shuso with their questions. And the shuso has the shite. and holds it up and makes his announcement, please give me your questions.

[17:43]

So it's a staff of authority which the abbot or the teacher gives to the shuso. Very traditional. But the shuso only uses it. And so I selected a... I didn't want him to buy a staff, a shipwreck. I didn't want Oetsu to do that. You can buy all these objects at a Buddhist store. But they're very expensive. And... I remember at Tassajara when Tatsugami Roshi came, he came with a store-bought shippe. And nobody liked it.

[18:47]

It was kind of black lacquered and fancy. And he didn't like it either. So we put that one aside and got a very nice piece of bamboo and tied the cord around that. and used that. And when I was at Rinzu and I spotted this beautiful piece of bamboo that was very much like that one, and I said, let's use this one. And he said, good. So I brought it home on the plane. People asked me questions about it. What is that? But everybody that asked the question, mostly people from Hawaii and Japan, And someone said, is that a piece of Japanese bamboo? It's really beautiful. There are some great respect for that piece of bamboo. People didn't know what it was, but they felt some great respect for it for one reason or another.

[19:50]

And then, of course, the lineage documents are the documents that the person who is receiving dharma transmission makes. So part of what we call the transmission ceremony is making the documents, making the transmission document with a brush and ink, very nice silk paper and supposed to be very accurate and very well done with a lot of care. And then those documents are stamped and authenticated by your teacher and then he gives them to you. And it was interesting, the book of precepts actually was an empty book.

[21:12]

Very, very nice Japanese folding book, you know. But when I opened it up, it was just empty. Very interesting. So now I have all these things, and if they are of any help to us, that's very good. If they help us in some way, that's good. If they don't help us, it's not so good. But my feeling is that When you have something that has some authority or power connected with it, you can either use it or throw it away.

[22:20]

You can either learn how to use it or throw it away. The tendency when it creates a problem is to throw it away. But I would like to be able to find out how to use these things in a way that helps us. And it's not just me alone. because we're all connected in this practice. Because it's meaningful for all of us. So I very much need your help.

[23:25]

And I'd like to know how you feel about these things. and what you think I should do. So, do you have any question or something you'd like to respond to? Could you say something more about the problem of just throwing them away? How that becomes a problem. Well, it's like Let's take the example of Suzuki Roshi. When Suzuki Roshi was our teacher, he wore a brown robe, and he used his various sticks.

[24:36]

various power objects, but we always felt that those were objects of authority which were vested in him. And what we felt about that was that our practice didn't originate with Suzuki Roshi, but it originated with Shakyamuni Buddha and came through the various patriarchs, our ancestors, through Dogon, and from one ancestor to another. This is the 91st, I'm the 91st generation from Shakyamuni Buddha. So what these objects represent is trust through 91 generations. You could throw them away, but it's wonderful to have that feeling of trust for that long period of time, so that you don't have to start your school all over again from scratch.

[26:05]

So anyway, that's partly what I feel about it. Kevin? It seems to me that these are symbols that are important in a certain place, but it seems to me they're more like certificates. as people who receive those emblems of recognition are put on the wall, that the authority of a priest or a doctor comes in his teaching, in his practice, rather than in these objects. For this reason, they seem to be distracted from the actual words being said or in their significance in the symbol. That's a good point. Do you know anything about when these things started being used?

[27:32]

Do they come from China? Yeah, from India through China, Japan. Were they used in India? It's hard to know what was used in India, exactly. In what form they were used in India. Hard to know that. I think that some of the things that are strictly used by Zen people may be started in China. Because that's where the Zen school, so to speak, started. So there are things that are peculiar to the Zen tradition. But it reminds me that you are a teacher, but we're not relating to you necessarily in your personality form.

[28:46]

You are 91st in the line of people, our generations, and it's a good reminder. I think that's a really good point. And I think that's probably a very well taken point. Did you have a question? I think you should use them too. I think that you should use them until you're really comfortable use it until you don't feel awkward. And that just will become a natural thing for all of us.

[29:52]

I appreciate that point too. And maybe as you were Yeah, so I won't be so attached to my brown robe or this. And I also pretty soon would like to wear my old robe. There's also the question of title.

[32:36]

And I don't particularly want any title. Maybe someday, if people feel comfortable with titles, That will happen, but we don't feel comfortable with titles, and I don't feel comfortable with titles, and I don't feel like I deserve some special title. So if you want to call me something, you can call me Sojin. That's my Buddhist name. If you want to call me something different than Mel, you can call me Sojin. That's appropriate and it's more the feeling of my Buddhist.

[33:41]

You're addressing me as a Buddhist rather than as just Mel. So that's okay. Well, I was going to say, in some schools of Buddhism, after a certain period of time, after you've been a priest or a monk for a certain period of time, you automatically have some other kind of title. But we don't have that in our school. Sometimes, you could call me sensei. That's a Japanese title, which means teacher, but it really applies to someone who is teaching something specific, like high school, or some specific subject in a class type situation, more specifically.

[34:47]

But it's also used, we use that for Japanese teachers. When I come to America, we say sensei. Sometimes people write me letters addressed to Sensei, or sometimes people from other places address me as Sensei. I won't say don't do that, but I also won't encourage you to do it. But Sojin is good. That's my name. Sojin. What does it mean now? I can't remember. But don't translate it. Don't call it that in English, huh? Don't call me that in English.

[35:48]

So is essence, like essence, and jun is purity. So those are the two characters. Essence, like innocence or innocence essence. It's good to know what it means. Yeah, yeah. Don't think too much about it. But one thing I've noticed is that people, you know, want to have somebody, they want to have their teacher be somebody. If I have a teacher, you know, I would like that person to be somebody, so we call them teacher. You know, we don't just say Joe or Mary, we say teacher, because we like to have the feeling that our teacher is

[36:56]

is a good teacher or somebody that we pay some respect to. So I realize that people want to be able to call their teacher something that feels good to them. And we always enjoyed calling Suzuki Roshi, Roshi, because it felt good that our teacher was Suzuki Roshi. So I understand that feeling. But when I was in Japan, when we went to Hoshinji, which was on the way to Eheji Monastery. And Hoshinji, I think I explained this, but it's a small training temple where there are Japanese and foreign monks.

[37:58]

And it's one place where the teacher, Harada Roshi, accepts foreign monks. And there are several Americans and quite a few Europeans. And some of them have been there eight or 10 years. And at the time that we came there, He was giving a seminar on how a person trains after Dharma transmission to become a Roshi. But we didn't stay. We just visited for an hour and left. But it would have been nice to attend that three-day meeting. But there is some process. apparently, in Japan, which eventually, or pretty soon, I would like to find out about what that is.

[39:01]

So there's a lot of stuff we don't know about. And I think there was a lot of stuff that Suzuki Roshi wanted to avoid, because it was very bureaucratic in Japan, in Japanese Buddhism. very bureaucratic and very ingrown and a lot of faults, you know. And he didn't want us to get mixed up with that. He wanted us to be more simple and not get too caught up in the machinery of Soto Zen in Japan. So he didn't expose us to a lot of things. But I think there's still a lot of stuff that we can learn about and would help us. So anyway, now that we have some kind of footing and confidence in our practice in America, I think we can go back and learn some of these things without getting caught by them, or at least know how to discriminate

[40:18]

Do you have any other questions? Yes, Fran? Well, I just wanted to say something about you. You said that even if there was no more Buddhism, there would still be reality. And in terms of your objects and your robe, I think what's important about you as a teacher and about your authority and where it comes from is that You know, we made the rope for you because we wanted you to have it. And you've always, for a long time, been our teacher without any external authority, because you manifested some authority. And that authority comes from that power that's yours, is yours because of your connection with the universe. It's universal power, it's not yours, and you can't abuse it. I'm not worried that you will abuse it.

[41:34]

I think having objects makes it harder, in a way. It can make it harder. But you've always been the same person, whether you were in your robes or whether we got you out of the shower. And so I think if you can continue to be that way, in spite of all the stuff that you have that you will be a Roshi. And I think that we can treat you that way. And it doesn't matter what we call you or what you're doing. Well, thank you. I'll try. Al? It seems like we, for a long time, have been talking a lot about what forms Zen in America. For the last couple of years, while I was visiting teachers, there's been a whole range of different styles.

[42:40]

I guess Tony Pack comes to mind as one extreme. And in some way, intellectually, that stripping everything away appeals to me intellectually. But when you walk in the door with Maketsu, me and me, a very good feeling. So I was glad to see it. I think I understand what you mean. I guess I just wanted to say... Yeah.

[43:59]

I thought about that. And my usual way would be to just go ahead and use them. But I didn't want to do my usual way. Already I found I don't want to make... I want to be careful not to fall into my old habits, which are not necessarily all so good. And already I found myself doing that a lot, falling into old habit patterns. But it hurts me when I do it. I really feel a lot of pain when I do it. So I'm trying some new ways, doing things. Yeah.

[44:53]

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