Excuse me, would you like to put on the microphone? Oh yes. We got it. How is this? So I hope you all are doing well.

[01:08]

Practice period it's Even, well, I'm used to doing residential practice periods and you really start feeling it after a while. I'm feeling it there too. So that, you know, like the more activities and, you know, coming to Zazen regularly and for us preparing for classes and for you, I think many of you are just doing more. So thank you all for your great effort. Really appreciate it. And all of you online also really appreciate your effort. Thanks for coming. Call that Sangha Synergy. Well, that's what I call it. We chanted, some of many of us, surprisingly to us, many people chanted the Lotus Sutra all day on Sunday. Monday, on Monday, on Memorial Day. For those of you who weren't there, we started at 8.30 in the morning and finished at about 5.10. So that's getting close to 9. Continuous chanting without stopping.

[02:12]

Greg was there, I think, for all, but about 15 minutes. But many people were there quite continuously. And for myself, I noticed how different it was to chant the Lotus Sutra, you know, rather than reading it. It was just a very experience. I experienced the sutra differently. One of the things that I noticed was you know, there's like certain things that repeat again and again, like who's there, the Gadars, the Asuras, the Yakshas, and then the 3,000 old worlds, and just the repetition of that. I noticed something about it, which I haven't gotten from The sutra, just reading it, it was like, oh, there they go again. I would skip down to the next one. And then Holly Kahn and also aren't even included. It's just like, and in the heart sutra, it's like, and so on until, you know, because we're not going to go through all of those again.

[03:18]

So that was really interesting to me to just feel the power of that repetition. So we were wondering, for those of you who participated, online or in person, what was it like for you? What did you notice? What was interesting? What was challenging? So we'll take questions or comments from both online and OXIA. And we have a microphone somewhere. Yes? I think Marley. I really liked how people came and went the whole day. Dropped in. Some people came for a little while. Some people came for a couple hours. Then they came back. Hello. Hi, Bonnie. Hi. Can folks hear me? Yeah. Can you hear online? Great.

[04:19]

Great. I was there from start to finish with a couple of breaks. It was an intense experience, a lot of highs, a lot of lows. There are times I wasn't even the only one who kind of got the giggles from some of the, you know, the hundred or more stunts that a doctor might have. I feel like many emotions, what it drew me at various points of this, but like you say, the repetition and Also, I feel like many of the parts that you want to skim over when you're reading it, or that seem, oh, this is getting, like you say, repetitive. Some of the late ones where it's like, oh, another bodhisattva with the power of changing form. And yet that sort of impersonate kind of builds and builds and builds.

[05:20]

And even the Dharani section is very different. Yeah, I feel like it's just like Zazen. It's like there's no part of it you can sort of fast forward over and just get to the good parts, whatever those are. And I really feel like that changed the whole thing for me. Great. Thank you. There's several people online. Did you call on them? Sure. How about Jeff? Hello. Jeff was there all day. First, my voice sounds like this now. Yeah, I fully got a cold experience. Not in a bad way, but it just totally knocked me out. Yeah, the repetition really got to me.

[06:23]

When I was leaving, My takeaway was, what is my daily religious experience? Like, there's no other word I could come up with that surmised it as much as that. It was just, it was such a overwhelmingly, like, giving myself up to this thing. Like, there was a section, which probably took, like, you know, five to seven minutes, where it went from, like, it went to the east section. And then it went to the south section. And then it went to the southeast section. And I was convinced it was going to do all ten directions. And then eventually did skip after just those three. But yeah, that really sucked me in. And I intentionally had not read the Lotus Sutra before this. Once you guys told us that we were going to be chanting. And I was like, oh, I'm not going to read this first. I'll just let that be my first direct experience of the text. And that was really cool.

[07:26]

I'm glad I did it that way. So thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the room? Then we'll go back. Sure. Sure. Sure. You know, the microphone is not working when that mic is on. I remember when Hosan set it up, the other mic, there's something in the settings. So it's not actually doing anything. Well done. Um, yeah, I think for me, I appreciated the experience because similar to when you talk about koans or kind of about destabilizing, like logical, discursive thinking, like, oh, this is meant to be experienced, not, not meant to be sit down and I'm on the couch, like drinking tea, reading, like it's really, it was about the presence of of it and it living in that moment too.

[08:26]

Like the continuous chance. Like I was there at 8.30 and I stayed, I think up till chapter three. I think we went through three. And it was like a portal. Like I looked at my watch and like how much time just went by? Like it was just really, there was no time passing. It was just the moment every month. Obviously time passed. We made it through the sutra. Thank you. We have Michael. Yeah, I've done a lot of devotional chanting in Vajrayana practice. And as with that, I found that it was second nature once it got started. But then, as I mentioned to Roshi Linda the other day, I kind of got into like trance state as I was chanting it. And there were a couple of points where I'm like, I don't know what I just read, but the words came out of my mouth.

[09:27]

That I'm not the only one that got the giggles. And I thought it was interesting. My chanting voice, I've always kind of known, like, when we chant in Japanese, it's fairly different. But it was really different. Like, it didn't sound like my normal voice as I was projecting my voice. So I thought... I'm just going to roll with it and just enjoy the experience. And I did it for about two and a half hours and loved it, but also found it exhausting. Thank you. Yes, Kempo. Just quickly, I also thought it was a really excellent sangha practice. You get a little taste of that during typical service of chanting with your ears, but this was really like, especially with the fluctuations in the room, There was sort of, throughout the whole day, this constant tuning into one another, and that was one of the lovely things about it. Thank you. That's a good observation.

[10:30]

Can you hear at all online? Okay, great. There's a yes, there's a so-so. Kenpo really appreciated that it was a Sangha practice. Jonathan? Here, that is. Yeah. I pause. Thank you. Yeah, I find when I do this kind of chanting, I don't retain anything intellectually. I'm usually very much in my own head, and I tend to over-intellectualize texts. And, you know, I was there. I chanted the whole thing, and I really don't remember very much of it.

[11:32]

It was just kind of chanting. A really different experience. Thank you. Thank you. Gary? Hi, can you hear me? Sure can. I was there through Chapter 3, and when I left, I felt like I had done three hours of Zazen. I just felt really present. Because, you know, when we were doing it, it was like your discursive mind couldn't show up because you were nonstop going. That's all. And I felt a bit like Shoray, too, you know. Thank you for having it. It was great. Thanks for coming.

[12:35]

Carol. Yeah, thank you. I was there, oh, I don't know, a little over an hour. But in the interim, I'd been listening to Maylee Scott's. You know, she's got four talks. And I've never listened to her, so I wanted to. And so they did some chanting. And some of the participants were saying, well, it's boring. You know, I don't want to be, you know, it just gets boring. She said, well, yeah, that's part of the process. You know, well, yeah, it's like in Zazen, you have boring, you have all the different emotions. And so it could be any different, really. You're going to phase through everything. And so I noticed a little bit about that. I think if we were to do it again, I would want to stay longer. I think I stayed about an hour. You know, it was just kind of warming up. One more.

[13:36]

Thank you. Okay, thank you. Karen, last one. Well, this is my second time chanting the entire Lotus Sutra. quite make it to the very end, partly because I lost my voice. But I loved I thought it was very deep, even though there's a lot of stuff I don't really understand. And that's very fantastical. But just the effort of doing it kind of brings you brought me into. a very deep state. And like Gary said, the fact that there were no breaks, that you had to keep no matter what you might hope for a rest or something. But I really appreciated the nonstop effort.

[14:37]

Thank you. Yeah, I think in particular, the Lotus Sutra and Yeah, this translation that we've been, it was specifically designed for chanting, actually. And the Avatamsaka Sutra. I remember when I first picked that up, at Thomas Clear's introduction, he said, well, it's best to be chanted, the Avatamsaka Sutra. And apparently he chanted it nine times. Just incredible. It goes faster in Chinese. I can hear someone online. So last week, chapter 16, the lifespan of the Tathagata, a lot. And yeah, I really appreciated that. Speaking of chanting, when Michael McCormick came, he started right out talking about the lifespan chapter.

[15:46]

and chanted the verse in Japanese, which was amazing. And there's a lot more we could say about it. I think I told Lori we could have done the whole practice period on chapter 16, I think. And we thought we would pick it up again this week, but then we thought better. We thought there's a few more Dharma talks coming up. So there's still opportunities to talk about cosmic Buddhas and the lifespan that is beyond, transcends birth and death. So, go into, yeah, this is, our plan is to do six chapters tonight and six chapters next week. And then that's the end of the Lotus Sutra. In Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side, this really wonderful commentary that's pretty recent by Lopez and Stone. They say, after the lifespan chapter, they said, nothing of consequence in terms of plot occurs in the next five chapters.

[16:56]

Yeah, that made me giggle too. I'm not here for the plot. So chapter 17 is called the specification of merits or description of merits. And it's just basically, the whole chapter is devoted to, these are the wonderful things that are gonna happen to you if you chant, for example, chant the Lotus Sutra, or read it, or they're very big on copying it, because then there's more copies of the Lotus Sutra in the world. Share it with others. All these things they suggest constantly, if you do this and then these are all the wonderful things that are going to happen to you. And yeah, about your experience of chanting it, it's very colorful. I think it was in the first class that I said, I feel like the people who wrote the Lotus Sutra would really want to have something for everyone.

[18:05]

And it is, you cannot overlook the entertainment value. It's Hollywood. It's CGI. It's special effects and dazzling. Of course, you know, there's no movies, but it's up here. Visualization practice. Visualizing all this stuff. ...those Bodhisattva Mahasattvas attaining such great benefits of the Dharma. Mandurava and Mahamandurava flowers came raining down from the sky, scattering over the immeasurable hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhas on lion seats under the jeweled trees, scattering over Shakyamuni Buddha and the longest abundant treasures on their lion seat in the jewel stupa of the precious seven, and also scattering over all the great Bodhisattvas in the assembly of the four groups. Incense of finely ground sandalwood, aloes, and so forth also came raining down. Heavenly drums in midair sounded of their own accord with extraordinary resonance.

[19:10]

Thousands of kinds of heavenly robes also came raining down. Necklaces, pearl necklaces, money necklaces, and money jewel necklaces were hanging in midair, filling the nine directions. Many jewel sensors burned priceless incense, its fragrance wafting everywhere of its own accord. assembly over each Buddha bodhisattvas held banners and canopies one above another right up to the brahma heaven these bodhisattvas sang countless songs of praise in voices sublime extolling the buddhas so it's like all the senses are at work here you know there's song there's the canopies there's the jewels there's the incense there's you know just everything just like it's all happening And it's all the best things in the world, you know, everything special, everything special and good. This is what you can expect. It's just a small sample.

[20:10]

This kind of language, it's just, yeah, if you were chanting it, you, in these 17, 18, 19, this kind of language just goes and goes and goes. A lot like the Avatama Saka Sutra. The Avatama Saka Sutra just does this over, over, over, over again. My friend Ben came last Saturday and we sang that song. Ben and I chanted the Avatamsaka Sutra together, the whole thing, and we agreed that it's not just consciousness altering, but will rewire your nervous system. If you chant the Avatamsaka Sutra, you're going to have some new neural wiring, actually. I think so. Can I add something? Please. While you were saying that, it occurred to me like how much more vivid and intense at that time where there's no movies, no stuff, like your life is the same day after day.

[21:16]

It's very repetitive and it's not very colorful for most people. So to have, you know, to have this mind-altering experience out of a very different kind of, that must have been really intense, you know, people developing this capacity. Well, we don't have that many glowing rectangles in Tatsahara. It's a sort of side question, but you chanted that Abhatam Saka Sutra. Are you breaking it up? Because it's like, how are you doing that? It took us a year and a half, and we would chant for either about an hour or sometimes two hours on personal days. Which boggles my mind when I look back and think about that. We have a hand up from Zoom group meeting. Sorry. Yeah, sorry. My name's Mike. and um zoom has renamed me um i uh it feels like in the african in the flower ornament sutra that some of the lines and this is true in the lotus sutra feel like they're just kind of if you let your mind dream at them they kind of pop open even like the names of the bodhisattvas or the images themselves

[22:37]

And I remember getting an instruction in koans at one point to dream into the koan. There's something about like letting kind of the dreamlike quality float and kind of open your mind that feels powerful. Yeah, couldn't agree more. So one thing it says in chapter 17 that caught our interest was that they especially say, you know, wonderful things will happen to you if you... uphold the Luna after the Buddha has passed into pari nirvana. So, of course, in the Sutra, you may recall from chapter one, you know, historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, he's on Vulture Peak and he's 75 years old. So near the end of his... And supposedly this was his last, you know, according to Lotus Sutra and... Nichiren Buddhists and others, this last and most important teaching.

[23:42]

So if you uphold the Lotus Sutra after you passed into Parinirvana, that's a really wonderful thing and great things are going to happen to you. But you might be thinking, wait a minute. I mean, just back in Chapter 16, we were talking about the the limitless lifespan of the Tantagata. He talks about it. He says, preaching the Little Sutra. So what's going on here? Well, it shouldn't be any surprise at this point that it's operating on these two levels, right? The ultimate cosmic Buddha and the historical Chakramuni Buddha or Sambhogakaya Buddha. and Nirmanakaya Buddha. And it's operating on these two levels at the same time. So, you know, if you see it from that point of view, oh, okay.

[24:45]

It makes as much sense as anything else in the Lotus Sutra. Yeah, it's a theme throughout the Sutra. It's a theme throughout the Lotus Sutra. I feel like to... help us to bear in mind that although physical form is limited, the teaching and awakening and consciousness is not. Chapter 18 is basically more of the same, more of the same wonderful and more of it's called the merits of rejoicing which i like that rejoicing in the lotus sutra rejoicing in the buddha dharma the wonderful things that will happen to you although like chapter 17 it says good things and bad things they're working well if if you uphold it chant it read writes copy you're gonna great things are gonna happen to you if you don't

[25:59]

If you do write the opposite, look out. Not so good. One thing that's interesting about chapter 18, this device in a repetitious way of teaching it person to person, down to the 50th person. So one person shares it with another, and they share it with another person, a second, and a third, and then a fourth. And even down to the 50th person who's just like, oh yeah, I've heard the words Lotus Sutra before. Yeah, okay. I think I've heard of that. Incredible merit. Incredible merit. Just share it. It's very evangelistic, to say the least. Yes, Ross. Hey Greg, thank you. As you were talking, I was thinking about our practice of Zazen and maybe orbit out for a while and then come back into BCC or maybe they're still here and they don't sit so much. I've heard people confess that when I don't sit, they don't necessarily say bad things are happening to me now, but there's like a lack of groundedness or focus or something like that with not sitting zazen.

[27:11]

So how do we reconcile something that's sort of tangible as if the physical act of sitting and the changes that happen in zazen with recitation of a sutra with all this fantastical imagery and predictions and all that? Well, when I heard that, it's like, I'm suspect that if I'm not chanting this Moda Sutra, which I don't, there's bad things that happen to me. So that's what I'm getting at. Well, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I'm not worried about it. And I think the same goes with practicing Zaza, actually. It's not for everyone. We don't really proselytize much in Zen. If people are attracted to it, welcome, y'all. My people still love Zazen. And it's got to practice and then they don't do it for a while.

[28:11]

I noticed that. And I think for someone whose practice is practicing with the Lotus Sutra and they don't, maybe they notice that in the same way. I don't see any need to reconcile anything there. It's just, you know, whatever your practice is, and do your practice. I could also, I'm having a memory of about 40 years ago I was playing in a band and one of the women in the band got really into Soka Gakkai, which is the really evangelical part of Yishun, where you're really trying to convince them and get them to chant, to have a gohonzon image and to chant. So at one point she had, not all at the same time, but she had all 10 of us I think, doing that at one point or another. And there was one guy who was like, because a lot of it is having people prove to themselves that chanting works. So if all that you want is to, you know, make more money or, you know, get, you know, partners or whatever, then it's like, go ahead and chant for that.

[29:21]

And then people start seeing that, oh, it works because, look, this happened. And one of the people in the band said, before he actually turned out to be kind of the biggest convert of anybody, but at this time he was very skeptical and he said, yeah, it's amazing. You know, I needed new tires for my car and I chanted for that for three hours. And you know what happened? I went out and I bought four new tires for my car. So I think, but on a non-funny level, I think that there is a way that what we think shapes our world. So if we're believing that this will bring us good things, then we will tend to notice the good things that way and that can actually, that can be used in powerful, positive ways to see, to deliberately see the world that way. Speaking of Hollywood,

[30:26]

Chapter 18, what for me personally, I experienced as another one of the shadows of the Lotus Sutra, because for me, my experience of it was this like toxic beauty standards towards the end of chapter 18, you know, such... if accepting the invitation that person goes to listen and hears it even for an instant the merits of such inviters i will now explain clearly and distinctly in lifetime after lifetime they will have no afflictions of the mouth their teeth will not be gapped yellow or black their lips will not be or cracked or have any other flaw their tongues will not be dry black or short Their facial features perfectly aligned and dignified. They will be a joy for people to behold. They're breathful and they will be foul. The scent of the blue lotus flower always coming forth from their mouths.

[31:28]

In California. To me. So chapter 19, the merits of the teachers of the Dharma. The Buddha addressed bodhisattva ever diligent, thus, if good sons and good daughters receive and embrace this Dharma Flower Sutra, or read, recite, expound, or copy it, they will attain 800 merits of the eye, 1200 merits of the ear, 800 merits of the nose, 1200 merits of the tongue, 800 merits of the body, and 1200 merits of the mind. These will dignify their six sense faculties, purifying them all. And so I had to look it up. Dignify someone means to give them honor or respect or to really recognize their worthiness. I thought, oh, well, that feels good.

[32:31]

Yeah, purifying them all. So the purity is not about getting, in this sense, I mean, it can... It can certainly be heard that way, and I think that's one level of understanding that, like, my will now be straight or whatever. But the other way of looking at it is not like a dual, which is very dualistic. There's like beauty and then there's ugliness or whatever, good and bad. But the higher meaning of purifies. like Sochi's name is, it's white dragon, essence of purity. And the essence of purity is the non-dual dharma. So that's the, to purify is to let go of duality. Genkola? Yeah, is this the chapter where after each of those sensefights make a point of saying that they will not need a new, it was like the eyes that you were born with.

[33:36]

Yes, yes. The ears that you were born with. I remember that they, you know. They make a point of that each time. Their ordinary eyes that they received at birth will have such powers. So they don't have to turn into heavenly beings. These eyes will see this way. And then I thought that was really interesting because it's like the six sense gates are not kind of the way in for you know, the defilements or grasping or anything else, they're actually the gate of liberation, you know, when they're purified in that sense. And what they will, I'm just going to do a little bit from each of these, what they will see, hear, smell, taste, feel and think, it's like it's very, it's just like throwing on all these different images

[34:37]

So in the eyes, they will see all of the mountains, forests, rivers, and seas of the inner and outer reaches of the 3,000 great thousandfold world from the depths of the beach to the summit of all existence and all the living beings therein to have a capacity to see all that. And with the purified ordinary years, They will hear every kind of sound and voice, elephant sounds, horse sounds, all these different sounds, wailing, drums, gongs, bells, laughter, speech, women's voices, sounds that are joyful, sounds that are not joyful, dragon voices, Gerudo voices, the sounds of water, the sounds of fire. Yeah. And the smells, you know, all the different, like lists of flowers, lists of scents, lists of living beings. including heavenly sense from the heavenly realms. Tongue was interesting because it's like, I was initially thinking everything that they tasted, and that is one, like everything you taste, regardless of what it is, will taste really delicious and pleasant.

[35:45]

But when you speak, when your tongue touches in speaking, when you're teaching, that is also transformed and people will... will love to hear you, and your voice will be beautiful. Your body will become pure like clear lapis lazuli, and living beings will delight to see them. Because the things that become pure within them will be manifest the moment when any living being of the three great thousandfold world, three thousand great thousandfold world, is born or when it dies, whether its nature is superior or inferior, whether it is fine or ugly, or born into good or bad circumstances. This seems really like an instant where it was clearly pointing toward non-discriminating mind, like you'll be able to see in that way. And so seeing beings as kind of miraculous in themselves

[36:48]

worthy, and particularly at this moment of coming into being, coming into the world, and passing out of it, because it's at their birth and their death. In the mind, on hearing any single verse or phrase, they will thoroughly comprehend infinite and boundless meanings, and elucidate that single verse or phrase for a month, four months, or even a year, and the depth of that. And the teachings they expound fall in any direction and meaning are never contrary to ultimate reality. In these different ways, just as the Buddha did, all the teachers over time are expounding different aspects of the Dharma, all in accord with the ultimate Dharma. If they talk about secular texts, means of livelihood, all will be in accord with the true Dharma.

[37:53]

So it doesn't even matter what you're talking about. It will all be in accord with the true Dharma because that's where you're living. It will just come from that place. Though they have not yet attained undefiled wisdom, the purity of their thinking, as the Buddha Dharma, entirely in accord with what has been taught by the Buddhas of the past. So that's like... having this cognitive understanding where you can really express it even without deeply experiencing it. You know, I could definitely see something like writing very beautifully but not being fully awakened in an experiential way. And again, Definitely promising those cool ox cards and goat cards, you know, to take up this practice.

[38:54]

Well, the next chapter is about the Bodhisattva never disparaging, which... Should we take a look? Yes, it's a great time. Yes, we will, and next week as well. So the same thing, three minutes, no socializing, and please come back. Shall we do that? Yeah, great. Three minutes? Three minutes. If it takes you more than that, just come in. Thank you very much. As I was saying, chapter 20, this obscure Bodhisattva doesn't, as far as I know, Buddhist sutras,

[43:12]

weird little guy, Bodhisattva never disparaging. It's funny because, you know, the original, well, I guess, as we discussed, over time, originally, just chapters two through nine, as far as we can tell, ancient history, and just the first sections of those chapters. And then, They added on chapter one and then other chapters. And then there was a version that went up to chapter 22, which is what we're aiming to get to today. And then that's it. And after that, the chapters that were added on later, some of them maybe came from China, talking about certain bodhisattvas and just bodhisattvas that had like cults

[44:15]

or especially venerated like Avalokiteshvara or Samantabhadra. That's later. But here's this guy. In an earlier version of the Lotus Sutra, I talked about this a lot last Saturday, so I don't want to talk about it too much more. Yeah, this little funny guy who just bowed to everybody. and said, I would never dare disrespect you because I know that you're going to be a Buddha someday. And some people found that really annoying. Some people, some scholars say that maybe that's something to do with how the people who were making, writing the Lotus Sutra, teaching the Lotus Sutra in the very early days, that was the kind of reception they were getting, which kind of makes sense. Suzuki Roshi You may think that it's very foolish, but that is bodhisattva mind. I really appreciate that he said that.

[45:17]

Bodhisattva never-disparaging is very foolish. And bodhisattva mind is pretty foolish. At the end of this class, we're going to chant these vows you're familiar with. They're just ridiculous. We chant them all the time. If you stop and really think about them, you're like, I'm going to do what? I mean, those vows, the bodhisattva vows are a coma. And to really take them on and just embody those vows, that's crazy. Beautiful. So this is, as Suzuki Roshi said, bodhisattva mind. Transcendent powers of the Tathagata. Now, this is getting pretty good. Well, more show. This time, the Buddha displayed his transcendent powers to the whole assembly.

[46:19]

He extended his long, broad tongue. So a long, broad tongue is one of the epithets of the Buddha and one of the 32 characteristic marks of the Buddha, which I believe is like Like what I was saying before about the tongue organ is that he had incredible powers of teaching, you know, of speaking. And broad is kind of common in Japanese Buddhist names. One of the names in the book of Dharma names is broad way. Broadway, right? But it's the way, the path is a broad path, a broad way, so this expansive sense. So he extends his long, broad tongue until it reaches the heavens, and so do all the other Buddhas there.

[47:27]

What an . And his skin radiates the light of infinite and numberless colors. illuminating every world in the ten directions, and all the Buddhas also do the same thing and radiate a measurable life. And while they were transcendent powers, 100,000 years passed, hanging out in the city. And then they all simultaneously cleared their throats and snapped their fingers, all however many gazillion of there are. And these sounds permeated the Buddha worlds in ten directions and the earth shook in six ways. And I thought this, you know, this oneness, this completely unified field, you know, we're usually like, people to be together, you know, to chant together, to be in synchrony.

[48:34]

That's a powerful human experience, but to have this whole field that's like right together. You know, 100,000 years go by, everyone's still together. And all the living beings, the usual, you know, heavenly beings, dragons, yaksas, et cetera, could see the millions of Buddhas, Greg was mentioning, sitting under the jeweled trees, and they could see Shakyamuni Buddha and Tathataka abundant treasures, the two Buddhas together. inside the stupa. It's just still there. And everyone gathered around the Buddha. Stupa's still up there. So like space-time has collapsed at this point. It's just being stretched in every possible and impossible direction. Everyone can see everything simultaneously at the same time. So there's

[49:35]

No more perspective in the sense of like, I see you, but you're seeing me. No, it's like everybody sees everything all at once. And this is like everyone has God's eye view. And then there's a connection made with the Saha world. That's this world. The human realm. The world of endurance. It's one of the six realms. The wheel of life. And all the worlds in ten directions become interconnected as one Buddha land with no obstructions. So it's like this unified field that is so powerful that it's able to connect basically everywhere in the universe. Essentially speaking, All of the truths, the transcendent powers, the innermost essentials, and the profound deeds of the Tathataka are proclaimed and revealed in this sutra, which is to say that all of the Buddhist teachings and actions are contained in this sutra.

[50:50]

And what's been... moving for me is that I'm thinking less and less of the Lotus Sutra as a text, a kind of a more or less fixed text and more like a pattern or a song or a gesture that has its own set of characteristics but also changes some over time and encompasses everything but is also particular and kind of like opens up and closes down, and you can see it from different angles. And I think in the beginning, it may have been an oral text, so it would have been continually evolving anyway. It would be like the stories that you hear that keep evolving over time. And we tend to think of, and in music, a lot of things evolve over time, but in classical music, you know, musical notation, it started being able to be fixed, and then it would be this thing that you had to adhere to.

[51:58]

But prior to that, it wasn't. It was more like blues or jazz. It was always in motion. So there's something for me alive and kind of considering . I was also remembering that, you know, if the true Lotus Sutra is infinite, as the Buddha's awakening is infinite, and the Buddha, you know, what I have awakened to is like the whole forest, but what I teach is just a handful of meanings. Because he just taught suffering and the end of suffering. He wasn't concerned with trying to teach everything, but... Well, let's shine some light on some of the forest. But it's a living forest. Of medicinal herbs.

[53:01]

Yeah, tropical rainforest. Yeah. Chapter 22 is called Entrustment. It's one of the shorter chapters. And it's very typical for Mahayana Sutra in that it sums things up. Because at one point, and I think, sure, I haven't looked into that, if anybody has an opinion about it, but for a long time, I think chapter 22 was the last chapter. And it reads that way. And then the next six chapters that we're going to talk about next week were added on. And they're kind of stand-alone in many ways. So, yeah, like Lopez and Stone saying, in the next five chapters, not much happens to advance the plot. It has anything to do with the plot. So, you know, the dual stupa still up there in the air, and many treasures, Tathagata, sitting side by side,

[54:15]

and all these other teachings and all these other Buddhas who came from many other universes, actually, beyond this one. I'd like to think of it as parallel that the Buddha said, or rather, they heard. They heard that the Lotus Sutra was being preached on Vulture Peak and they had to come check it out. And the Buddha invited them. So they're all there too, all floating up in the air. And like a lot of Mahayana Sutras, this entrustment, you know, is the title of the chapter, entrusting it to us, you know. And like a lot of other sutras would say something like this at the end, it's very typical. Hey, you have the sutra, please keep it in mind, uphold it. revere it, pass it on to others.

[55:17]

It's great. Except a little sutra has been saying that the whole time. This entire time. So what's different about this? Not much actually. It's just persevering. Yes, by the way, don't forget to read, write, recite, and uphold the sutra. Okay. We won't forget. Thereupon, Shakyamuni Buddha caused those who were his separated embodiments that had come from the ten directions to return to their own lands, saying, Buddhas, you may go as you please. Let the stupa of the Buddha abundant treasures return to its former state. There you go. And that's it. That's the end. There's probably something similar to this in music as well. So that was the six chapters that we were hoping to talk about.

[56:30]

We are very pleased because we have time for small groups. So let's see, so the prompt is... Oh, we got four triads right here. Yeah, I think it's three or four in the room. We're gonna do six groups online and I'll come over and get you started there in just a minute. So yeah, make up and do three supports, but first... It's groups of three, we got 12 people in the house. I think it's 13 groups. No, no. One to three, one to three. One to three, one to three. Some groups of three have wondered before, but before you get started, I want to give you a prompt. Like, what's alive for you in the Lotus Sutra? How do you notice it taking hold or not? It could be what you notice as resistance, what you notice .

[57:30]

But just, how has the Lotus Sutra, how has it been being in and with the Lotus Sutra? So far. Yeah, so far. And we'll have about eight minutes. How's that? So you can just then talk to each other. And then we hope to hear back from some of you. Hopefully, if something comes up that you want to share. For those of us online, are we breaking into? What should we do? Breakout rooms are happening. Breakout rooms are happening. We hope to have people do a little workout. Go for it. I'm happy to help with you. Who said that?

[58:32]

Whoever said that? Oh, yeah, great. Great, Mike. If you can go ahead and do that, I think six groups would do it. Or, anyway, there's 20, I guess there's 21 people, so like three groups, three each, three or four each. Thank you. You know what? Are we going to be assigned to a group? Yeah, we should be. And I wonder if I may not have the right permissions now that I'm looking at it.

[59:34]

I'm trying to find the breakout spaces, and I don't think I do. I'm logged in as an appropriate way, but I may not. I just made you a co-host, Mike, so I don't know if that'll help. That does help. And Clay, do you need help joining? Are you just choosing not to join? And Paolo? I am not feeling very well.

[60:45]

So I'm going to... Trouble. Anybody have anything they want to share from their discussions?

[66:47]

Anybody? Make the breakout rooms go away. Okay. Well, so maybe starting with who's in this room because Now they're coming back. Now they're coming back. So yeah, if anybody has anything they would like to share from their discussion from the small groups. I heard everybody talking. I know y'all are talking. Yes, Mike. Yeah, I think, you know, there was kind of like three very different reactions in my small group, and all of them I felt were kind of illuminating. One person was that the act of this and this and this kind of like, in a way, kind of like pulled off of the mind that gets so discursive to a really intimate presence.

[67:59]

And the other person talked about how that was true somewhat, but also just like the intellectual learning of it and the rawness of it and the big expansion and the And then I was kind of feeling like this idea of like, how do you, how can I kind of like live this day to day? You know, can I start to kind of figure out ways that I can bow to you all and say, you're going to become a Buddha. So I just see your essence, you know, blah, blah, blah. So many people said that about many times. Some version of he could see the Buddha in me when I couldn't see it. we have Michael yeah in our group we were both kind of really captivated by a lot of the imagery of it the very vivid imagery and kind of said you know this you know it could be an opera it could be a Grateful Dead album or it could be a movie but ultimately we're appreciative of the Dogen shaped lens that you're this through because that's

[69:11]

that's been very helpful to take what's vivid and kind of abstract and put it into terms that make more sense to our practice. So, thank you. Thank you. Those people are all, right? Yeah, I can close that. I don't necessarily want to speak for everyone in the group, but I'll just speak for myself. I feel like we all had, some similar responses, but, uh, for me, um, the first class I realized I was bored and, um, but for various reasons, I'm open to boredom at the moment. And, um, I realized that, um, allowing myself to be bored, I didn't veer off into frustration and anger and like, what's the point of this? Blah, blah, blah. I can just be bored. And, um, and it's been fine. You know, I read it every day and, um, I'm kind of bored, but it's okay.

[70:12]

It's fine. Um, yeah, I can't say I'm wild or bowled over or anything's changed too much, but, um, I'm kind of still interested in reading the whole thing. I'm only on the third chapter, you know, but I'm kind of like, well, why stop now? Um, so I'm bored, but I'm still sick. So maybe something has changed, but, um, yeah, it's been, honestly, it's been fun to be bored and not resistant. So yeah. Yeah. So this morning, we chanted, no, excuse me, yesterday evening, we chanted the well-being of Zen Tatsu Richard Baker. And I mentioned at the beginning of the service that way back when, when I was 19, very impressionable guy, you know, briefly, I was his student at City Center. I started practicing Zen. A lot of what he said, because I was so impressionable, a lot of what he said landed with me and I still remember.

[71:15]

And one thing I remember him saying is, if it's not boring, it's not Buddhism. All right. Well, it's 8.30. Oh, really? So we still need to do the closing chant. Yes. Dan. In our group, a question came up again. I think you can answer quickly. What are the writings by Dogen specifically on those? Well, our Yubutsu, Yobutsu, which is inspired by chapter two, Only a Buddha and a Buddha. And then a whole fascicle in the Shobhagenzo called Hoke Ten Hoke, which is the Dharma flower turns the Dharma flower. exclusively about the Lotus Sutra. But it's throughout Dogen, actually.

[72:17]

The Lotus Sutra informs a lot of Dogen because of his childhood. I mean, he was a really young guy when he became a Tendai monk in Mount Hiei. So he memorized the Lotus Sutra. That's how the story goes. He had the whole thing memorized. Well, Charlie memorized it. Well, no. You made a good shot at it though. Yeah. But I'd say those are the two most important ones that people talk about the most. Okay. Beings are numberless. I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. Good night everybody. Are we supposed to do that two times?

[73:33]

In your lifetime? I hope so.

[73:42]

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