Amen. Amen. in a trading and perfect dharma is rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kalpas having to see and listen to to remember and accept i vow to chase the truth of the tathagata's words good morning Can you hear me? It was on.

[04:25]

I turned it off. How about now? Now it's on. Okay. Thank you. And can you hear me okay? Yes. So, welcome to Sashim. It feels like we're in Sashim. And I want to really appreciate the work of Rob and I know that Lori put in a lot of work and all the so-called officers of the temple in kind of pivoting really quickly to figure out a way that we can do what hopefully feels like while staying safe and also really changing our plans radically.

[05:48]

very quickly. I'm very moved by how gracefully we can do that. We've had a lot of experience in the last three years, but still, like every time, it's kind of like all of a sudden we're lost in the woods again. But here we are. Rohatsu Sushin is when we celebrate the Buddhist enlightenment. And ordinarily we would have a Buddhist enlightenment ceremony on the last day of Sushin. We're not going to do that for the sake of safety. We're not going to be chanting as such in the Zendo.

[06:51]

And alas, we're not going to be prancing about and throwing raining flowers on each other the way we would ordinarily do for Buddhist enlightenment. Nonetheless, what we're doing here for these seven days is we're celebrating Buddhist enlightenment by practicing Buddhist enlightenment. Because at the heart of the teaching of our school, as it was transmitted from Dogen, through all the generations, to Suzuki Roshi, to Sojan Roshi, and to us, is the inseparability of practice and realization. Doesn't always feel that way. doesn't always feel like enlightenment, but we are assured that it is.

[07:59]

And what we're going to do this week, my lectures are going to be on Fugan Zazemi, Dogen's universal recommendation for Zazen. And Explore what he says in this text, what some of the context of it is, and what it means to us. So that's the, that's my plan. And there may be, there'll be, I know that Jerry's going to give a talk on Wednesday, and I may invite somebody else to give a talk, we'll see. But my talks are going to be up for guns as I need. I was looking today, in the abbot's office I pulled out two volumes of Dogen.

[09:07]

One is Munna Doudrop, which doesn't have, but what Munna Doudrop has is Zazegi, not Fulkan Zazegi. And I'll talk about these different texts or recensions in a It's been a while. But Zazengi is in Munundutrap, and Fukan Zazengi is in the volume that Kazama Hashi assembled called Enlightenment Unfolds. And when you look, I was going to bring them, but I can't show you. The... Sojin's volumes of these is completely awash in his very tiny pencil notes, just all over, just like, it's like every word is underlined and annotated.

[10:17]

And you can see how deeply he studied this over the years. So what I'd like to do, to begin, what I had planned to do, actually, was to, for our noon service, to break Fukan Sasengi into two pieces, and to chant it on half one day, one half another day, and then repeat that over the course of the week. Yes? So rather than do that, you all have printed copies of it, is that right? So what I'd like to do is I will read it out loud and you can follow along and in silently.

[11:20]

Read it to yourself and pay attention to it. We won't do this every day, but I wanted to start out by doing it. The way is basically perfect and all pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The Dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice?

[12:23]

And yet, If there's the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose one gains pride of understanding and inflates one's own enlightenment, glimpsing the wisdom that runs through all things, obtaining the way and clarifying the mind. raising an aspiration to escalate the very sky. One is making the initial partial excursions about the frontiers, but is still somewhat deficient in the vital way of total emancipation. Need I mention the Buddha who was possessed of inborn knowledge? The influence of his six years of upright sitting is noticeable still. Or Bodhidharma's transmission of the mind seal. fame of his nine years also been celebrated to this day.

[13:28]

Since this was the case with the saints of old, how can we today dispense with negotiation of the way? You should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate yourself. Body and mind of themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay. For sanzen or zazen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink modestly, moderately. Cast aside all involvements and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad. Do not administer pros and cons. Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views.

[14:36]

Have no designs on being a Buddha. Sazen has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down. At the side of your regular sitting, spread out thick matting and place a cushion above it. Sit either in the full lotus or half lotus position. In the full lotus position, you first place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh. In the half lotus, you simply press your left foot against your right thigh. You should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order. Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left palm facing upwards on your right palm, thumb tips touching. Thus, sit upright in correct bodily posture, either inclining to the left nor to the right, either leaning forward or backward.

[15:44]

Be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth with teeth and lips both shut. Your eyes should always remain open and you should breathe gently through your nose. Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale. rock your body right and left, and settle into a steady, immobile sitting position. Think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking. This in itself is the essential part of Zazen. The Zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss.

[16:46]

the practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It's the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Once its heart is grasped, you are like the dragon when he gains the water, like the tiger when she enters the mountain. For you must know that just there in Zazen, the right Dharma is manifesting itself. and that from the first, dullness and distractions are struck aside. When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In surveying the past, we find that transcendence of both unenlightenment and enlightenment, and dying while either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the strength of sase.

[17:50]

In addition, the bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and the effecting of realization with the aid of a osu, a fist, a staff, or a shout, cannot be fully understood by discriminative thinking. Indeed, it cannot be fully known by the practicing or realizing of supernatural powers either. It must be deportment beyond seeing and hearing. Is it not a principle that is prior to knowledge and perceptions? This being the case, intelligence or lack of it does not matter. Between the dull and the sharp-witted there is no distinction. If you concentrate your efforts single-mindedly, that in itself is negotiating the way.

[18:53]

Practice realization is naturally undefiled. Going forward in practice is a matter of everydayness. In general, this world and other worlds as well, both in India and China, equally hold the Buddha seal. and overall prevails the character of this school, which is simply devotion to city. Total engagement in the immobile city. Although it is said that there are as many minds as there are persons, still, they all negotiate the way solely in Zaza. Why leave behind the seat that exists in your home and go aimlessly off to the dusty realms of other lands. If you make one misstep, you go astray from the way directly before you. You have gained pivotal opportunity of human form.

[19:57]

Do not use your time in vain. You are maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way. Who would take wasteful delight in the spark from the Flintstone? Besides, form and substance are like the dew on the grass, destiny like the dark of lightning, emptied in an instant, vanished in a flash. Please honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to groping for the elephant, do not be suspicious of the true dragon. Devote your energies to a way that directly indicates the absolute. Revere the person of complete attainment who is beyond all agency. Gain accord with the enlightenment of the Buddhas. Succeed to the legitimate lineage of the ancestors Samadhi.

[20:59]

Constantly perform in such a manner and you are assured of being a person such as they. Your treasure store will open up itself. and you will use it at will. Really wonderful to read. And each time I hear it, something new strikes me. Today, this line just leapt out at me. We'll come back to cover a lot of this, but just this line towards the end, it says, you are maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way.

[22:08]

That's What I mean by the fact that we are practicing Buddha's enlightenment and actually we're doing it together. Those of us in the Zendo and those of you in Zoom land, we're actually practicing. If you think another wonderful and important fascicle that we study often is Genjo Koan. And at the end of Genjo Koan, there's this wonderful story about Master Bao Jai, who is fanning himself. And he fans himself in response to the students' inquiry about the nature of

[23:10]

Buddha nature penetrating or just pervading our atmosphere, and Master Bao Che keeps fanning. And that fanning is another way of expressing that we are maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way. It takes in order to maintain it, in order to sustain it, both in the world and for ourselves, we need to act. And our zazen, our participation in practice is our acting. It's our way of maintaining that for ourselves and for everyone else. So, Let's take a breath here. So Fukan Zazengi is really the source of our nuts and bolts instruction for Zazen.

[24:33]

And it's also framed in this the context of Dogen's philosophy and spiritual vision. So there are a couple of, I want to give you background on these texts, on that text and others. But first, just some very basic background about Dogen, which many of you know, but some of you don't. Dogen was born in the year 1200 into an aristocratic family. And when he was two years old, his father died. And when he was seven years old, his mother died. And the story is that as he sat with his mother's body,

[25:38]

he noticed that the incense smoke was rising and curling and disappearing into the air. And for him, that was, even as a child, a vision of impermanence. And there arose the idea that he wanted to be a monk, a Buddhist monk. So he left home, and at the age of 13, he joined a Tendai monastery. Tendai was the largest school, and it was quite an eclectic school that included meditation, devotional practices, and pretty rigorous austerities as well. And his uncle had been a priest there. After a short while, when he was practicing in the Tendai school, the doctrine in the Tendai school is the doctrine of original enlightenment.

[26:53]

So that's the term in Japanese is And it was very influential in Tendaya, and it implied or it said that basically everything was a manifestation of Buddha nature, therefore everything was enlightened. All beings, all creatures, all natural manifestations, wall tiles, rubble, It's famously described in some of Dogon's texts. So this was the doctrine that he was taught, and a doubt surfaced in him. And he asked, if all people are endowed with Buddha nature as the sutras teach, why is it that we have to train so strenuously to realize that Buddha nature?

[28:10]

I'm sure some of us have asked that question ourselves. And his Tendai teacher was unable to answer satisfactorily and suggested to Dogen that maybe he should go find a Zen teacher, because they might be better at answering those questions. So he left the Tendai Monastery and came to Master Esai, who had brought Rinzai Zen from China to Japan. And Dogen brought this question to Esai, and Esai said, all the Buddhas in the three times of past, present, and future are unaware that they are endowed with Buddha nature. But cats and oxen are well aware of it.

[29:21]

This is aiming to mean that Buddhas, precisely because they are Buddhas, no longer think of having or not having Buddha nature. Only the animal-like or grossly deluded think in terms of acquiring enlightenment. I think there's this lantern on the animals, frankly. But I don't know whether they worry about being enlightened or not enlightened, but we do. We surely do. So, hearing this, Dogen decided to become Asai's disciple. But unfortunately, Asai died the following year. And Dogen began studying with his Esai's prime disciple, Myozen. And he studied Myozen, and they studied together for nine years, and they both decided to go to China to seek a true teacher.

[30:26]

At this point, Dogen was 23. So in China, Dogen practiced in several monasteries and didn't find what he was looking for until he came to find his true teacher, Rujing, or Tendo Yojo. And while he was sitting at Rujing's monastery, Rujing was doing the morning greeting as I did this morning. And one of the monks was asleep. And Dogen heard Ruching scolding the monk saying, the practice of zazen is a dropping away of body and mind.

[31:28]

What do you expect to accomplish by single-minded sleeping? And this is often, you know, we've had the case of, we don't carry the stick anymore, which I sort of regret. I think some of you regret, some of you celebrate. But one of the great effects of the stick was, you know, someone could be, could receive the stick across the room and you hear that great smack and On the other side of the room, you woke up. So that's what happened to Dogen. Dogen had an awakening experience when he heard these words. And after he settled himself, he went to Rujing's room and he offered incense and bowed. Rujing said, why are you doing this? And Dogen said, body and mind have been dropped.

[32:32]

That's why I've come. And it's a longer story, but Uchin approved. And Dogen continued practicing there for two years. A little later, after he was really settling his own Awakening in practice, Dogan asked Ruji, what is the mind of a bodhisattva? Ruji replied, it is soft, flexible mind. Dogan asked, what is soft, flexible mind? Ruji replied, it is the willingness to let go of body and mind. And I think this, to me, this

[33:35]

This is resonant with what Carol Paul was talking about yesterday, her excellent talk on renunciation. That, as we'll see, I think, as we study that dropping body and mind is not an action that you can consciously or intentionally do. And yet you have to point yourself in that general direction. Body and mind drop off of themselves when they are ready. But it is your practice and intention and attention that help create the circumstances very much like the metaphor we often use of around the birth of a baby chick.

[34:48]

That when that time is right, the chick is ready to be born. It's packing from the inside of the egg. and the mother hand is tapping from the outside, so they're working in coordination to bring about this opening, to bring about this birth. And so we can think of dropping body-mind as having those We can see it from each individual side, or we can see it as a whole, as a whole activity from both sides of us. But in order to do that, we must have this soft, flexible mind.

[35:53]

Token Return to China after Miozen also died in China, unfortunately. And he returned to Japan in 1227 to share what he had absorbed from Ruchi and what he had absorbed of the Chinese tradition that we now call, we call Sotosen. Dogen was reluctant to even put a name on or to align himself directly with a school, but it's what has evolved into the Soto School for us. And in that period, he began writing. He began writing the Fukanza Zenki. And it's a work that he revised throughout

[37:00]

throughout his life. He kept revising it. We, you know, it's, we think of it as something that was composed kind of early, but actually the final recension of it seems to appear about 1242 or 1243, which is really in his mature period when he had moved from Kyoto to Echizen province. And began to build what we know of as AAG. So we'll come back to this principle of dropping body and mind and other elements that Dogen articulates here, practice realization, shikantaza. will come up against it.

[38:02]

But Dogen was not working, I just want to make it clear, Dogen was not working from a blank slate. When you look at Zazengi, when you look at Fukan Zazengi, what you see is that it is, it's resonant with earlier texts. and the principal ones is a text called Zuo Chan Yi by Tsung Tzu which dates from about the early 1100s and you know I have I've been reading that and it's it's very much it's very similar except There, you know, there's a few nuances and it's also devoid of all the kind of philosophical material.

[39:07]

That's the stuff that Dogen really places his zazen instruction in the context of. And there's also another version of this. There's a text called Shobogenzo Zazenki, which Dogen was seems to have been composed in 1243, which again, is very much like the Zohacani. It's quite a bit more succinct and doesn't have a lot of the, well, it doesn't have the stories, it doesn't have the philosophical context that we find in Fugunsa Zengi. So, Maybe we'll start, we'll see if we can get through the first paragraph before we have to end today.

[40:15]

The first paragraph is kind of, it's like the whole deal. Oh, that's great. You have the text, so you can read it, actually. It's great. The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The Dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It's never apart from one, right where one is. What's the use of going off here and there to practice? So, the first two sentences are the essence of Soto Zen.

[41:19]

The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice from realization? So, to me, if the way is perfect and all-pervading, then what we're doing here is simply harmonizing with it, simply aligning ourselves with that way. And Dogen uses the term in one of his other explications of Zazen, we're doing something very straightforward and it's physical. we are manifesting Buddha mudra. That is putting our body into the posture of Buddha.

[42:33]

Even if we're sitting in a chair, even if we're lying down, we are maintaining the upright posture. A Buddha, you know, it's like, Buddha, live like him. We live like him by actually putting our body into that same form. And when we put our body into that same, into that yogic form, something happens. Something that we can't actually put into words. But it happens to each of us in our own way. Then you have the second sentence. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? That is, that's the heart of Soto Zen to me.

[43:42]

Practice Realization, that the term in Japanese is shusō itō. And shū means practice, shō means realization, means realization as the fruition of practice, and itō means the oneness and equality. So the oneness and equality of practice and realization. That is a radical perspective that's not unique to Dogen. It's not unique to Soto, but he seems to be, to me, he's the kind of the primary advocate for it. But we see it throughout as a strain, as a kind of dialogical strain in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism.

[44:58]

You have these two approaches that are not incontradictional, but they're emphases. So you have the Rinzai approach which calls for a kind of breakthrough as a necessary stage of the path of fulfilling one's practice. And Then you have the silent illumination school, which evolved and was most clearly articulated by Hongzhu, who many of us have read.

[45:58]

And he was, I think, two generations before Rujing, who was in his lineage. And you have these, you know, they have these barbs being thrown back and forth, dating from the Song Dynasty, if not earlier, and as some of you are aware, it's still happening today. You know, it's like, so you have the Soto School, the practice realization or silent illumination school, and you have the Rinzai approach, which is Koan introspection, designed to kind of unlock you. And, you know, so the critique, the Rinzai critique of the Soto school is, you know, silent illumination that's like sitting like a lump on a log, not doing anything.

[47:00]

You know, it's just pointless laziness. And then the Soto critique of the Rinzai school is Oh, it's all gaining idea, gaining idea, just, you know, getting something, getting a thing called enlightenment. So these are all polemics, frankly. Actually, we need the energy that's drawn from both. And so Dogen never contradicts the need for an energetic practice. But what it looks like is subject to our interpretation. So, how could it be contingent?

[48:04]

The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? That's an interesting, there's an interesting question there, because it seems to be a critique of practice and realization. I think what he's saying, however, is that how can it be contingent upon our separation of those two aspects? How can it be contingent upon practice towards realization or practice for the sake of realization? That if the way is basically perfect and all pervading, then practice and realization are one thing.

[49:04]

The Dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled, which means it's not It's not dualistic. It can't be separated into pure and unpure, impure. What need is there for concentrated effort? That was Dobin's question to his uncle. If the way is basically perfect and all-pervading, why do we have to practice? What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust.

[50:06]

Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? So this is... probably many of you recognize this as a reference to a famous poetry contest that took place in the early Tang Dynasty. And the fifth ancestor, Hongxian, asked his students to write a verse to determine who was going to inherit the robe and the bowl. And the head monk, Shenshu, said, this body is the Bodhi tree. The mind is like a bright mirror on a stand. Constantly strive to brush it clean. Do not allow dust to collect. So that's the side of cultivation. And cleaning.

[51:11]

who became his sixth ancestor, responded. He said, basically Bodhi is not a tree. Neither does the mind mirror have a stand. From the first, there is not a single thing. So where can dust collect? Now, That's the side of the way is perfect all-pervading. And he won the contest. However, I think this is where I'll stop today and leave time for a few questions. To my point of view, and I think there's something In Suzuki Roshi that speaks this, to me, the entirety, the wholeness of our practice is the interpenetration of Huineng and Chen Shu's perspective.

[52:27]

That one without the other is not complete. One was perhaps more brilliant and incisive and pointing to fundamental. But the fact of the matter is that unless you're a spiritual genius, a unique spiritual genius like Huyneng seemed to be, you have to do something. You have to do something. So Here we are. First day of doing something. And I hope that we will keep on and continue to have fun exploring this text. But let me stop here and see if you have any thoughts or questions.

[53:31]

Whether online or in the room. Online, please, if you have If you want to ask something or say something, please raise your digital hand. It makes it easier for me to see you. And here, just raise your digits. Yeah, Lori. This is under the topic of having a line jump out at you. It has never jumped out before. And then also along the line of the barbs between . So I was hearing this saying, Suppose one gains pride of understanding it. This is sort of like, suppose you have a Kento experience. Well, you're making the initial partial excursions about the frontier. You know, I just sort of, I just screwed this up. Oh, you're sort of, he doesn't say it's wrong to have a Kento experience. It's almost like worse. Yeah, you're sort of getting in the door there, maybe, but you know, you're somewhat deficient in the vital way.

[54:34]

Anyway, I don't have a question. Right, well, I think that, um, Whether that's true or not, I think that's a critique of, I think, some of the arrogance that he may have seen in people who were, who had certain position based on certain experiences. And what, you know, what we've seen, you know, to me, it's not, these experiences are really meaningful. But they're only meaningful if we use them. One teacher said to me a long time ago, he said, we take these experiences and we plow them back into the soil of practice to enrich the soil, to make it something that bears fruit more effectively.

[55:39]

And I think that's what I believe Dogen was critiquing, a kind of monastic arrogance that was not plowing it back into the soil. Yeah? I find the imagery of the animals very moving. the tiger taking to the mountains and the water, the dragon on the water, the true dragon. I was curious if you had any thoughts about that imagery in particular and any other associations that might have been in Dogen's mind around the meaning of a dragon or a tiger. You've got to wait until day three or four. Just be patient. We'll get there. Yeah, there's some specific stories and references to that, and I have my own feelings about it. But, you know, essentially, it's... He's talking about beings that are at ease in their environment, that just are naturally functioning in their environment, in harmony with their environment.

[56:57]

But there's specific stories that they do that. So there's a way in which people... that we have a natural kind of being. Yeah, yeah. I would say yes, and it's like all the other things that, you know, we read in these lists of practices and teachings that say like the paramitas. So the paramitas are the natural functioning of bodhisattvas. That's what bodhisattvas do. For us, they are practices that call for our cultivation. We are on the bodhisattva path, so we have to have, we have to apply ourselves, we have to remind ourselves, which is what the word sati or spiritual mindfulness means.

[57:59]

to remind ourselves of these values, to keep ourselves on the path and moving towards that naturalness. I should look online. Anyone? Yes, Nathan. Thank you, Hazan. I'm curious if you have any thoughts on that. I don't have the text in front of me, but it seemed like it said something to the effect of Zazed has nothing to do with sitting or lying down right before giving very specific instructions about the physical position of the body for Zazed. Right. Yeah, and we'll get to that also. I think that what he's getting at is And zazen is not about learning meditation.

[59:02]

It's about doing meditation. And that the that we're doing or practicing, which can manifest itself in any posture, in any position in one's life. And I feel like that's what we're doing here is not learning how to sit cross-legged anywhere we go, right? What we're learning is we are in this laboratory, the way I think about it, of the Zendo doing this practice so that we can actually really deeply embody it and carry it wherever we go. So it's not about the posture itself, but we have to learn posture in order to participate in our self-regulation.

[60:11]

So it's time for maybe one more. I'm either out there or in here. Jerry is going to end up. Oh, Jerry. I was interested in this, what need is there for concentrated effort? The whole body is formed beyond the world's dust. By concentrated effort, as we do talk about concentration, as part of our results in practice, is this concentration that he's alluding to of mental activity or emotional activity that is distinguishing and analyzing that kind of concentration. In other words, a thought comes up and a feeling comes up.

[61:17]

You can notice it, but you don't hold on to it so that it doesn't become just Right. I think that here, in what you're reading, and I think what's implied there is that concentration implies an object, generally. So it has a specificity. And that then naturally moves in the direction of a gaining idea. So concentration, two points about that. One is that Zazen to me, and I think as it's been taught by our teachers, Zazen is not fundamentally a concentration practice. There are Buddhist practices that are, you know, you do concentration and then you do insight, you do

[62:27]

samadhi, you do shamatha vipassana. And what he's saying is that it's not a concentration practice. Concentration is an element. If you think of the Eightfold Path, concentration is one element of the Eightfold Path. It's not the whole of the path. And the other thing I would say is that this soft, flexible mind that Eugene spoke of, what it suggests to me, I use the expression, and I don't know where it came from, but that our method in Zazen is concentrated on everything. You know, which basically means to me, that's just my words. You know, these are my words for myself. means just open yourself to whatever's happening.

[63:33]

So there's something grinding out there, there's an electric drill over there, there's a burn over there. All these things are drawing my attention one at a time, and I'm letting go of them. So it's opening your mind, rather than doing what's often You know, a very traditional kind of practice of single-pointed attention. You know, so to focus on your koan single-pointedly or to focus on the light from a candle. And what he's saying is that that's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to really align ourselves. Again, as I said at the beginning, align ourselves with the nature of reality, which means being open to it. That's what we'll eat. Thank you. Beings are endless.

[64:36]

I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to become it. Beings are numberless. I vow to live with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. cleaning, sweeping, raking, or light gardening.

[69:03]

Right after week break here, you can see Preston on the lawn outside the Abbott's office, and he can set you up with a task that you can take out after pet lunch. And then this afternoon, we'll also be having Dokusan. Hozan will be offering Dokusan, and Mary Duryea will be offering practice discussion. There are sign-up sheets posted on the patio bull in the floor right now. Please sign up if you're interested. If you do sign up, please come back here from your break half an hour early. That is at 1 o'clock, in case you might be first on the list. And those of you who are online, Blake will explain how to sign up to do the online WCLA practice session. With that, we can have our break and lunch. Good people.

[70:06]

Welcome to Rohatsu. Let me see if I can turn off the Zendo's microphone. Oh, I think I can. Good people. Welcome. All the chants that I can think of and that we want to provide documents are in the chat right now. And in particular, the practice discussion DocuSan sign up for Rahatsu is in there. Just open up the document and go ahead and put your name on it. For any of the days, for us online, let's sign up for the first slots and then the people in person will be in the later slots. There might be some wheeling and dealing over the next hour or so, but be aware. And then I will, when your slot comes up, I will invite you into the breakout room between 1 o'clock today, 1 o'clock and 2.20.

[71:10]

And then for the following days, from 1.30 to 3.30, those will be the slots. And once again, for us online, let's sign up for the earlier slots. At least those are the instructions given to me. And perhaps limit yourself to one, two slots throughout the week. If there's space, then we'll let you know throughout the week. And again, welcome to Rahatsu. Yeah, enjoy your break time. If there are any questions, feel free to chat me now or you can unmute and everybody can do what they want to do. Blake, may I ask a question?

[72:28]

Of course. So just to confirm, sign up for an early slot. And then after it seems everyone's got one, you can come in and put your name in later in the week for another slot. Yeah, I'm making things up as I go, but that sounds good to me. I saw it. Thank you for signing up. And yes, any other than today, go ahead and just do it early, early slots. Welcome to BCC. Thank you. So I'm going, I would like another slot, but I'm going to wait till I see more names before signing up again. No, no, don't wait. Just put your name and it's all good. You're on top of it, so be on top of it. Hi, I'm Deborah Callahan.

[74:08]

Can you hear me? I can. Uh-huh. I had a question. Yes, Deborah, go ahead. What is practice discussion? It's kind of a new idea to me. What does that mean? You talk about your practice. Have you ever had doc? Yeah, I've never seen it separated, though. That's why I was curious. It's semantics. It's basically, I mean, it's serious semantics. When it's with somebody that has full transmissions, it's called dakasan. And when it's with lay teachers, then it's just called practice discussion. But it's just the same. Bring sort of honest, from the heart, Dharma questions. as you know so it's there's no difference it's a semantical difference for all intensive reasons okay yeah thanks so much you're welcome

[75:13]

Hey, Blake. Hey, Yoni. Do you have anybody signed up for practice? I do. The document is in the chat, so you can copy that, email it to yourself, save it, whatever you'd like. I have an understanding. How would you like to do this? So, you know, I, I encourage the people and I wrote it on the document for everybody to sign up early to sign for the people online to sign up early. This is what Rob and I shared and that you were going to sort of add the, the in-person people to the end. Is that how it goes? Is that what your plan was or how do you, how was it? Cool. So yeah, So as soon as we begin, I'm improvising.

[77:08]

As soon as we begin at one o'clock, like at 110, whoever is those empty spots, you can fill up. Okay. Okay. Of the people in person. And you can do it tomorrow the same way, unless you guys come up with a better plan. All right. Sounds good. All right. All right, Pete. Yeah, peace. You're welcome. Okay.

[185:55]

Thank you. Thank you.

[225:40]

Sure. Good afternoon.

[236:51]

We are now going to have, just a second. Good afternoon on Zoom. Good afternoon in the room. We're now going to have our annual Suzuki Roshi Thank You Founders Ceremony. Suzuki Roshi came from Japan and founded San Francisco Zen Center in the 50s. With his student, our old abbot Sojin Roshi, he was a founder of Berkeley Zen Center. And every year, close to the date of his death, which was December 4th, we honor his memory with offerings of flowers, food, tea, his favorite chants, bows, and our words of gratitude. So in this ceremony, In this ceremony, our abbot Hozon will be first to make a statement.

[238:00]

And then we'll follow abbot Hozon's lead. And so we'll go up, we'll bow to the altar, we'll offer flowers, and then make our statement. If you don't want to state out loud words, you can just do a bow. okay so you go up do the offering come back here make your statement and then um we'll go to the right and rob is gonna he'll he'll be second and he'll start over there and we'll just we'll make a big clockwise circle so these people will start to head that way and we'll THESE PEOPLE WILL BE FIRST AND WE'LL MAKE, SO YOU GUYS WILL KIND OF MERGE, THE INNER AND THE OUTER WILL BE MERGE INTO ONE LINE. ANY QUESTIONS? ALL RIGHT, SO THAT, THERE'LL BE A PLACE WHEN THAT HAPPENS AND YOU'LL KNOW BECAUSE WE'LL GO.

[239:12]

SO WE DO SOME CHANT, WE DO A CHANT BEFORE, WE DO THE SANDO CRY. And then we do the Heart Sutra afterward. And so just follow along and enjoy yourself. And then when you finish, go this way so that you don't have a traffic jam over there. Go back to your seat. You don't have to go quickly back to this. Follow everybody. And then also after all the people in the Zendo go, Blake will be in charge of calling on the people on Zoom to go.

[240:17]

you can raise your hand now or anytime during the service or pretty soon but anytime before the statements finish in the zendo you can raise your digital hand and i will call on you from now until that time okay we'll begin shortly on each side they're black there's a few chants we're going to be chants

[241:51]

priest bound to the house food offering no free pass first right is it offers flowers and that says food offering right Yoni, if you could stand to your right a little bit.

[247:20]

Thank you. Fine and common speech come together in the dark.

[248:56]

Clear and murky phrases are distinguished in the light. Before elements return to their natures, just as a child turns to its mother. Fire meets, wind moves, water wets, earth is solid. High in sights, ears and sounds, nose and smells, tongue and taste. Thus with each and everything, depending on these roots, the leaves spread forth. Trunken branches share the essence, revered in common, each has its speech. In the light there is darkness, but don't take it as darkness. In the dark there is light, but don't see it as light. Light and darkness oppose my another, like front and back, foot and walking. Each of the myriad of things has its merit, express it according to function and place. Do not exist, box and lid fit.

[249:59]

Principle responds, arrow points meet. Hearing the words, understand the meaning. Don't set up standards of your own. If you don't understand the way right before you, how will you know the path as you walk? Progress is not a matter of far or near, but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way. I respectfully urge you to study the mystery. Do not pass your days and nights in vain. Dear Suzuki Roshi, 51 years ago, during the first morning sitting of Rolhebson, you left this world and entered the great mystery.

[251:31]

Now, in our own aging bodies and minds, we are coming to face this mystery, just as you did. just as you showed your students the way that is always unfolding. Your kindness and grace embrace us still as we make our journey. Thanks to you, we carry our practice to the threshold and beyond. Suzuki Roshi, Crooked Cucumber, thank you very much.

[253:12]

Thank you for bringing us this practice and thank you for establishing the Sangha, which has changed my life in the lives of some of the others. Be sure to speak loudly enough for the Zoom folks. Dear Suzuki Roshi, friend, teacher, father, I just have so much gratitude for you and all the words I draw upon them all the time.

[254:21]

We've lost some good friends this past year. Lena Smith, one of your very early students. And she continues to guide us as well. Just please stay with us in our hearts. Attitude. say through your disciples. to the bowing map to make the statement because then you'll be visible on that zoom screen thank you suzuki roshi throughout the years i have found this awkward speaking to you who i never met but your student soja and mel weitzman roshi

[256:24]

My teacher for 46 years, and I miss him terribly today on this first day of Lahatsu. He talked about you all the time. I am grateful to know your teachings through him. Suzuki Roshi, thank you for your being our ancestor and for your devoted students who brought us your teachings.

[257:44]

And your memorial stone in our garden looks so beautiful next to Soju Roshi, so thank you. Hiroshi, thank you so much for coming.

[259:14]

Suzuki Roshi, thank you for this gift. Thank you for your courage and your confidence. Charlie says he appreciates your teaching of small mind and big mind. Suzuki Roshi, thank you.

[262:04]

I appreciate it. Thank you so much Suzuki Roshi, I never met you and I've always wondered if I had studied with you how that would have affected my understanding of Zen practice since you came from the source in Japan of Zen and it was really in your blood.

[264:45]

So that's my question. What would have happened if I had studied? It's really nice to be here with you and everyone. Thank you for always being so welcoming. Suzuki Roshi, I always have longed to have met you, but I feel your presence in your writings and words other people have said about you.

[266:31]

I'm deeply grateful. I'm especially grateful for your student, Sojin, I felt this morning very powerfully, laughing like a Buddha in his office while he was a hot, very new student. Thank you, Roshi. Thank you for bringing your teaching across the Pacific, from east to the west.

[267:36]

Feel your presence here today. Feel your light shining. Thank you. Suzuki Roshi, I read something you said the other week. A student asked you, well, how do you know if someone's enlightened? You said, when they stopped complaining. dead or alive, dead or alive, they won't say, they won't say.

[269:54]

I will say, since your student Sojin died, you two are very much alive. Thank you for your continuous practice. I WISH, [...] WISH YOU COULD HAVE STAYED LONGER.

[271:20]

OVER TO YOU FOLKS. Can you hear me? Yes. Suzuki Roshi, I know you hear me. I hear you. I hear you as the love that's always here, the quivering heart, the steadiness, the constancy. and how you have shown the significance of continuous practice as the practice of Sangha everywhere, always.

[272:32]

Thank you. Blake, I can't hear you. It's my turn. My turn, okay. Suzuki Roshi, as each mask member came up and offered flowers, I could tell who they were. without seeing their face, just by their movement. Because each of us move differently.

[273:37]

And I can only attribute that to you. Also, your, I quote, not always so, is such a wonderful reading with great magnanimous And joyful mind, you come through on each page. And I'm so grateful for that. All my love. And Amira. Suzuki Roshi. Thank you for taking the care to find just the right words to teach our practice to your students and for those words to come to all of us.

[274:42]

Thank you. And this is all. Back to the Zendo. Great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra.

[276:51]

Amokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Vraja Parangita, perceive that all Christ come best in their own. was saved from all suffering. Oh, Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness. That which is emptiness form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness. Oh, Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They do not appear nor disappear, are not tainted or pure, do not increase or decrease, therefore in emptiness, no form, no feelings, no perceptions, no formations, no consciousness, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no

[278:07]

no object of mind no realm of eyes until no realm of mind consciousness no ignorance and also no extinction of it until no age and death and also no extinction of it no suffering no origination no stopping no path no cognition also no attainment with nothing to attain Bodhisattva, Dhyansan, Vajna, Parabhita. And the mind is no hindrance, without any hindrance no fears exist. For our heart is an every perverted view, and dwells in Nirvana in the three worlds. All Brutas, Dhyantham, Vajna, Parabhita. And the three Unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

[279:09]

Therefore, know the Kacham Arnita. is the great transcendent mantra, is the great bright mantra, is the utmost mantra, is the supreme mantra, which is able to relieve all suffering and is true, not false, so proclaim the prajna maravita mantra, proclaim the mantra that says kate, In gratitude we have offered tea, cake and flowers, and chanted the Sandokai in the great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra. In memory of the founder of this temple and our teacher, Shinryu Suzuki Roshi,

[280:12]

and to all the cooperating founders, both hidden and revealed, who have made possible this practice place. All drugs and directions

[280:33]

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