Last night, when I came in for the last zazen, it was very touching. More than touching, it was a feeling that was rather overwhelming. The strong, profound silence made me realize what we're doing in a very deep way. We're going to have lay ordination. And I want to talk a little bit about lay ordination. I want to read a short talk by Suzuki Roshi, which I've read several times before.

[01:14]

His expression of, the way he expresses his feeling about what lay ordination it to a certain extent. He says, this was given in 1970, when 19, around 1969, 1970 is when we had, no, 1970 is when, actually, Suzuki Roshi gave his first lay ordination. There was a lay ordination at Zen Center in the 60s, but he invited Bishop Yamada, who was the bishop in Los Angeles. You know, the Soto School has a headquarters.

[02:15]

The Soto Mission has a headquarters in Los Angeles. And they always have a bishop there. Japanese congregations. Sometimes we invite the bishop up for something. The bishop knows us, we know who the bishop is, but we don't really have much to do with each other. It's a different kind of practice. So anyway, but he did ask the bishop to come up He didn't do it himself. But in 1970, after we had our practice going, Tassajara was going, and he decided to have lay ordination.

[03:17]

And so he says, I am so grateful to have this lay ordination ceremony for you, our old students. Students have been practicing for quite a long while. This is actually the second ordination for Zen Center. The reason we hadn't had lay ordination more often was because I didn't want to give you some special idea of lay Buddhists. According to the Bodhisattva way, all sentient beings are Bodhisattvas. Whether they are aware of it or not, they are actually disciples of Buddha. But the time has come to strive more sincerely to help others. As we have so many students here, inside and outside of Zen Center, we need more help. So I decided to have lay ordination for you, just for the sake of helping others, not to set you apart as lay Buddhists, because all of us are lay Buddhists, actually. This lay ordination is not a conceited idea. It is the spirit transmitted from Buddha to us.

[04:20]

Accordingly, our way is like that of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. When he wants to save women, he takes the form of women. For boys, he takes the form of boys. For fishermen, he will be a fisherman. A more sophisticated Chinese expression is, to be like a white bird in the snow. When people are like snow, we should be like snow. When people become black, we should be black. Being always with them without any idea of discrimination. and we can help others in a true sense without any idea of special teachings or materials. This is the bodhisattva's way. And how we actually have this kind of freedom from everything, and this kind of asking, and this kind of soft-minded spirit, is to practice our way. You may think we are forcing you into some form, when you have a sermon, or some rituals, forcing some rituals on you, or forcing some special teaching on you. forcing you to say, yes, I will.

[05:22]

But those things are provided just in order to help you to be like a white bird in the snow. When you go through these practices and when you practice zazen in this way, you have the point of zazen and the point of practice and the point of helping others. This is why we had lay ordination ceremony today for all of us, including various great teachers. It is not at all easy to be like a white bird in the snow. But then anyway, somehow, we should make our best effort to do so. Remember that this is not an easy task. In this way, if through practice you can help yourself, you can help others. Without anything, just to be with people will be enough. And then he says something else. Sewing your robe in spite of your busy everyday life is a good example of a Buddhist, I think. Even though we are busy, there is some way to practice the most formal practice. Even though we human beings in the city are busy, there is no reason why we cannot practice our way to be like a white bird in the snow.

[06:27]

If all of us follow your good example and join our way with the bodhisattva practice, the result will be great. Lay ordination lay people and priests take the same precepts. Strictly speaking, although it's not always true, not always true to form, that a lay person who has ordination, someone who practices like a white bird in the snow, White bird in the snow means not to stand out. This kind of expression, white bird in the snow, snow in a silver bowl, a white heron in the moonlight.

[07:32]

This is a Zen expression. To be distinct and yet to stand out, to blend with things, to move with things. He talks about avalokiteshvara. This kind of ordination is lay bodhisattva ordination. Bodhisattva is not a lay person or monk, but bodhisattva is underlying whether we're a monk, priest, or layperson. So a layperson practices as a bodhisattva as a layperson. A priest practices as a bodhisattva as a priest. A monk practices as a bodhisattva as a monk.

[08:40]

So there are many ways to practice bodhisattva practice. As a matter of fact, there are as many ways as there are people, and each one has to find our own way, actually. So, to be like a white bird in the snow means bodhisattva doesn't have any fixed position, no fixed way. Layperson doesn't stand out. A priest puts on a certain kind of robe and becomes visible. A priest is a visible manifestation of the practice. A layperson is a less visible manifestation. A layperson is more in the world, is an ordained person living in the world.

[09:48]

And he says, without even trying to do anything, just being with people is enough. If you have sincere practice, if you really know what you're doing as you practice, then you don't have to try to do something necessarily. Just being with people, just practicing your practice and moving in the world without standing out. is how you find your way. Sometimes we compare, you know, lay practice with priest's practice. Because priest wears a robe and is visible, we feel that's what we should strive to do, is be a priest. But that's not necessarily true.

[10:52]

Sometimes it seems like lay practice is maybe secondary kind of practice, but that's not necessarily so. The main thing is that we understand that our practice is bodhisattva practice. He says, ourself and to meet any situation. It's not that you transform yourself into some object, but when you're helping a fisherman, you take on the mind of the fisherman.

[12:07]

When you're helping women, you take on the mind of a woman. When you're helping men, you take on the mind of a man. And when you're helping children, you take on the mind of a child. You become a child. You become a woman, or a man, or a Christian. But you always remain yourself. This is how we help people. they have to do. It's like the last thing in a person's life that they have to do is when they become a priest.

[13:12]

But not everyone should give up their life, work, to become a priest. It's not necessary. When we go to the monastery, whether we're priests or lay people, we all become monks at that time. Because that's our life. Our life is strictly within the monastery. So everyone is on the same level. Even though there are priests and lay people, everyone is a monk, and everyone practices together the same way.

[14:14]

And when we come here to practice, everyone practices the same way. but they're priests and they're lay people. For this kind of practice, a priest has a kind of function. And the function of the priest is to help everyone to practice, to help the practice of everyone when they come to practice, to help maintain the practice. a kind of servant of the practice. So what a priest is doing is just being the servant of the practice, not to stand out in some way, in some exalted way. Although in the past, priests have always been respected,

[15:17]

for their service. And a priest is expected to study and to develop themselves in some way. So a priest's commitment, a priest makes that kind of commitment, but it's not necessary for everyone to make that kind of commitment. It's enough to to take bodhisattva vows and practice in the world. It's necessary for people to practice in the world. This is why it's so important to have good examples of lay practice. In our Sangha, we've always had members who are really exemplary as lay people.

[16:23]

And I think that's one of the accomplishments that we've done here, is to promote lay practice without precedent. It's a kind of pioneer practice in America, this practice. There's always been lay practice in Buddhism, but here, you know, it's different. Lay people practice zazen every day. That doesn't happen elsewhere. So when we have ordination, as he says, all of the ancestors join our practice.

[17:34]

Actually, the ancestors are giving us ordination. And the person who does the ordination, which is me, I'm just acting for them. So we say all the ancestors are present at this event. And when we have ordination, each one of us receives a lineage paper. And the lineage paper is from Shakyamuni Buddha through the various ancestors that are in our lineage. And then through me, and then through you. And then, in the lineage paper, there's a succession of ancestors, and then down to the new person, and then the line goes back around, back up to Shakyamuni Buddha, so that each one is standing on the other's head.

[18:46]

But the poor guy in the bottom, you know, It's got all the weight, but actually, his line comes around and he's standing on Shakyamuni Buddha's head, or she is. So it's actually a circle. And this is called the Ketubhyaka, which means blood vein. And it's a red line that connects everyone. And then, of course, each ordinee sews their raksa by hand. And it's a very special way of sewing. Each stitch is... Each stitch has to be just right.

[19:56]

So there's a certain kind of stitch. And then every time you take a stitch, you say, namo kiei butsu. And this raksu is sewn in a certain way. Actually, this robe, this is the Buddhist robe, a kesa. The raksu is just like this, only it's smaller. You see us wearing them with a strap. It's just a small Buddhist robe. Some people say it's a kind of token, but it's not a token. It's your real robe. It just happens to be small. So a priest wears a robe that goes all the way around, covers the body, and sometimes wearing also the rocks teacher gives each one a Buddhist name.

[21:57]

So it's a little bit paternalistic, because the teacher chooses the name. And then you don't know your name until the time of the ordination. So ordination is like a confirmation of your practice. It's something from Buddha's side. We meet the practice, and the practice meets us. Because we're already practicing, Because we're already immersed in practice, we receive something.

[23:02]

Do you have any questions? Well, you know, it's different. With a different song, it's like different countries have different customs. The L.A. Zen Center has always called everyone by their Buddhist name. And whether they're priests or laypeople, they're always called by their Buddhist name.

[24:28]

And they have always known each other by their Buddhist names. And in Zen Center, it just never took off. It just never happened. And I remember being at Tassajara, and somebody, this is 1970, and somebody asking, should we, Suzuki Roshi said, we use our Buddhist names. And he said, yeah, you should call Mel Sojin. It never happened. Nobody ever did it. Do as I say, not as I do. Huh? Do as I say, not as I do. Oh yeah, I see. Yeah. Well, he just said, sure. He didn't say, you have to. He said, let's do it.

[25:30]

Yeah, let's do that. But some people like to be called by their Buddhist names. And so they always have been. And you should know the name of your teacher. You should know the Buddhist name of your teacher. So sometimes we call a teacher in a very formal way, a very formal name or designation, and sometimes a more casual way. So formal way would be Roshi, or Sensei, or Sojin. That's formal. And sometimes in a more casual way, no. Depends on the situation. So it's fine with me if people want to use their Buddhist names.

[26:38]

I don't have any. I think it's fine. It's not just not been our habit. How does it come about that somebody is ordained? Lay ordination? Well, it used to be we'd wait three years. After three years someone could ask to have lay ordination. But now we don't wait three years. It's more like the feeling of a person's practice. But I would say at least a year. And then ask. For a priest, it's best to be asked. Because to become a priest, We may not feel someone's ready.

[27:42]

And we don't like to say, no, you can't. But most people do ask, anyway. Difficult, sometimes. Do you have more than one priest in a congregation? We already do. We have about five. But I think that we have to be careful because people will think that the way to advance in practice is to be a priest. And I feel very strange about that because it's not the way to advance in practice. I mean, it's not not the way, but it's not the only way. And I think that sometimes we put a lot of emphasis on priests.

[28:46]

Sometimes it looks like it. balance that out so that people don't feel that in order to feel recognized or integral with things that they have to be a priest to do that. A question about the white bird in the snow. That's a hard, it's not, it's easy to say Can you say more about how you do that? How you find that part in our minds, like that person? Especially when it's someone that seems different. Well, the way to do that is to not have any special idea about it. To just keep your mind open all the time. And then respond to circumstances as they really are.

[29:53]

To not have any prejudices or preconceptions, which is not easy. and just have your mind. Mind here means mind and heart. So, you know this word shin means mind, it also means heart. So to have your heart-mind open to respond to circumstances. And to have your mirror-mind open so that When a child appears, you can see the reality and you can respond accordingly. The main thing is just to be open. From the what?

[31:28]

To the Buddha. Oh. Well, it's like a ladder coming down, and there's a name on each line. And then, I'm not the last one. You are. And then from you, it goes back up again. Just one straight line to Buddha. So that you're actually standing on Buddha's head. What does that mean to stand on Bruce's head? Well, um... wash your feet. It means that everyone is equal. It's not a hierarchy. It means, actually, that when we take the precepts, we become equal to Buddha, because that's who we are already.

[32:47]

But taking the precepts manifests Buddha nature. Buddha nature is already there. It opens the door. So we may not be equal in ability with Buddha, with Shakyamuni Buddha, but we're equal in that we're all Buddhists. So there's vertical equality and horizontal equality. In horizontal equality, everyone's the same. But equality doesn't mean that everything is exactly the same. Someone is five feet tall and someone else is six feet.

[33:52]

And they're actually equal because There's nothing to compare with each one. Although we do say, well, this one's five feet and this one's six feet. But a comparison is just a way of measuring things. Our true value is immeasurable. You can't measure it. You can't compare it with anything. Even though we compare, actually, you or you, You have your position, I have my position. Jerome? What's the difference before and after the May ordination?

[34:54]

Before and after? That's a good question, which I won't answer. I would say there's no difference, and yet you're not the same. I won't say that something's changed, but it's not the same. There's no need to.

[36:29]

But nevertheless, there's some feeling about doing it. So I don't know whether everybody feels the way they feel. You can't say. Everyone's different. It may make a big difference in someone's life. It may not make any difference in someone else's life. Nevertheless, the fact that this has happened, is significant. And you may not know what the difference is until the day you die. So you're a true home leaver.

[38:00]

But you always go back. Do you know anything about the significance of the pine needle stitch? Yeah. Pine needle stitch? Well, in the back of the rock center, there's a little stitch that looks like a broken pine needle. And actually, pine needles are green. So when you get a raksu from the store. It's made by somebody. It's always green. The pine stitch is always green because it's a pine needle. Pine needle means everlastingness. It's a symbol of Not affected by the seasons. you know just pine needle has a little bud there in the bottom and it goes like this right and this one goes like that.

[39:42]

It's not that it's So, after lunch, we're going to have a kuktsjendo. Kuktsjendo, jendo means to walk around the zendo with your hands like this and greet. bow to the cooks when they walk around, and they will bow to us.

[40:46]

And they'll stop here, and I'll say something to them. So Raoul will explain it to you later. I just wanted to mention that after sashimi, we usually pay our respects to the people who have fed us

[41:09]

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