Good morning. So, just to say, Sogen Roshi called me last evening, and I don't know, the questions in the shosan may have just been too much for him. No, actually he felt a cold coming on and wanted to make sure that he was going to be able to be at the lay ordination ceremony this afternoon. So he asked me to fill in. It's a lot. going on here today. We have a lay ordination ceremony, which I'll, that's going to be sort of the subject of my talk. And also right after this, we're going to have a very small ceremony to to turn on our mighty solar array that's up on the roof of 1931, right?

[01:03]

31? 29. And we're going to throw the switch. I think Mark Hoppathon, who's been seeing this process through, will be here for that. So I'll say a little more at the end of this. And we are moving through our practice period at a ever-increasing pace, and starting Wednesday, we begin our five-day Seshin, which will conclude with a shuso ceremony, bringing forth the Dharma together with our shuso. And people in practice period are really encouraged to come to that. And I think that today is the last day to sign up for Seishin.

[02:04]

That's right, right? Right, so the sign up is still up there. Oh, there's Ken. Sign up is still up there, and if you have questions about that, talk to Ken Powelson. So, I know that Son Shinroshi was going to speak about Jukai, today because we were talking about it yesterday. He was looking for a talk of Suzuki Roshi's, which I will share with you. That talk was from August of 1970 and it was given the title, White Bird in the Snow, which is a way of seeing our practice, our seeing, the effort of our otherwise invisible practice, hidden like a white bird in the snow.

[03:09]

So I was thinking about this ceremony. And there's a verse that we chant at the end of the ceremony when it's been completed. And that says, we live like a cloud in an endless sky, a lotus in muddy water, one with the pure mind of Buddha. So to live with like a cloud in an endless sky means that space is limitless and we go where we are called, we take form, we melt away into formlessness in this boundless sky. A lotus in muddy water represents something else.

[04:16]

If you've seen a lotus bloom, you know, right out of the greenish brown muck of a pond, you have this extraordinary arising of a flower and it draws its nourishment from that muddy water, from what we would otherwise, in our kind of surface thinking, see as impure. But the lotus itself draws what is nourishing and what is purifying to bring forth this pure blast of life and color. And to the extent that we can do this, we are one with the pure mind of Buddha.

[05:18]

And that pure mind of Buddha includes everything that we might otherwise be tempted to think of as impure. So this is what you've been studying as you've been studying the shin-shin-ming, the faith and mind in Sojin's class, the way to look through our dualistic frame, frame of like, don't like, purity, impurity, and such. So this is what it means to live with the pure mind of Buddha. As best I can tell, this is like the 31st or 32nd Jukai since Sogen Roshi was installed as the abbot of Berkeley's End Center in early 1985.

[06:29]

And I think in the spring following that, there was the first one that he had officiated at. I'm wondering, it seems to me that perhaps Susan Moon and Raul Moncayo were in that first group, is that true? Anyway, it was way back there. And I think I've been at every one of the chukais, and I remember just being stunned the first time, just, I don't necessarily think of myself as a sentimental person, but I was, it was so emotional to see people coming forth this way with the rakusus, the heads, so on, and with the receiving their new name, a name that we live with and try to inhabit, a name which is the way you're, something about you that your teacher sees, which is really,

[07:57]

you know, a primary way of seeing you. And having been seen by your teacher that way, then can you see yourself that way? So one of the names that he gave me when I was ordained, I think I was in the third or fourth batch, Ross, which, do you know which it is? Right. I forget, third or fourth. But anyway, one of the names, we give two names for this ceremony. And the second one, which is the Dharma name, which is kind of essence to grow into, if you like. And mine was Kushiki, which the Japanese find a very amusing name. In other words, that is a really dumb name. But I love it.

[09:00]

Ku, we do this in, you know, we chant the Heart Sutra in Japanese. Ku is emptiness. And shiki is form. So Sojin Roshi named me Mr. Formless Form. And at the time, I thought, this is really weird. And I was not entirely comfortable with it. And I think that his motivation was to move me in the direction of manifesting form in a formless way, because I was very attached to form. And he was saying, there's another way to bring forth form. And that is a formless way. And as I've since persisted in, what can I say, persisted in my rambling about in the Dharma, I have come to appreciate that name so much because it gives me a,

[10:19]

When I'm lapsing into formlessness, it gives me a form to return to. And when I'm stuck on form, it reminds me, as I talk about it, it reminds me to be a white bird in the snow. And I feel that many of the names Sojan has given, and that among the names I tried to give, they get to something essential. So this afternoon, we're gonna have this ceremony for three of our members. I think Ben Claussen, and Peter Wallach, and Afsaneh Michaels. And everyone is invited to come for it. It's quite beautiful. We have some... We refer to this ceremony in different ways. It's sometimes referred to as jukai, which actually has the dual meaning of receiving the precepts.

[11:35]

It also has the meaning of giving the precepts. Kai being the word for precept. And that also we refer to it as lay ordination, which is a general translation of, the other way this is named in Japanese Soto Zen, zaikei tokudo, which means accomplishing the way as a householder. So it means living your life and being a bodhisattva. Again, this is the manifestation of a formless form. So, like me, you may find this a very emotional moment and I encourage you to be there. So the two, I know that what Sojin Roshi was looking at, as I said, he was looking at this talk by Suzuki Roshi, and he was also looking, he looks at this, there's a piece by Maezumi Roshi, which I want to share some details about with you, on this lay ordination.

[12:56]

So Maezumi Roshi quotes, he begins by quoting Dogen. And Dogen wrote a paper that was called Jukai, a fascicle, late in his life. And he says, all Buddhas and ancestors taught that receiving the precepts is the first step in the way. Dogen Zenji also tells us that on receiving the Buddhist precepts, we immediately enter the position of all Buddhas. How so? Because these wonderful precepts arise from the purity of self nature and reveal Buddha nature, our true nature. So, sometimes people ask, well what, how does one get to be a Buddhist. And there's often, in a ritual or ceremonial sense, there's two ways that, two acts that one performs.

[14:07]

Although, of course, by doing these, they don't guarantee anything. But the first is, they're both included in taking the precept and receiving the precepts. So they include the three refuges, taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and then taking refuge in the precepts. My feeling has always been, you know, we recite the, We recite the precepts at the time of the full moon. Was it last week that we did this, or the week before? I forget. But we do that, and that is a recitation. It's a reminder that these are the precepts. But in a ritual sense, like with jukai, or with a priest ordination, and also with a wedding, and also with a funeral,

[15:18]

the precepts are transmitted, you know, in what's seen as a proper way. So, when you are receiving these precepts in Jukai, this is, to me, to witness, it's a very powerful moment. And I do think of it the way, what Maezumi Roshi says that, receiving the Buddha's precepts, we immediately enter the position of all Buddhas. And so I feel like when we've really taken these precepts to our hearts or to our belly, then there's something really ineffable that changes in our nature. Once we've received the precepts as principles to return to over and over again, the precept of not killing, not stealing, not lying, and so forth, that by wholeheartedly receiving them,

[16:36]

It gives us a new way to be responsible to those acts. It gives them a new weight in our lives, if you will. So the parts of this ceremony that you'll see this afternoon, is first there's an invocation of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas so that they're witnessing what's going on and that's coupled with a purification that Sojourner Russia will do with what's called wisdom water. You know, extracting the wisdom from his head and aspurging the rest of us and purifying and then, because he only has a limited quantity of it, he puts it back into his head.

[17:43]

You don't want to lose any of that. And then we, having purified with wisdom water and also with the act of repentance, acknowledging one's karma. So confessing and repenting and setting the stage to start over again at this moment. And from there, we recite the three refuges, the three pure precepts, and then the ten grave precepts or pure mind precepts. In our way we do it, they're paired. Traditionally, they're prohibitory precepts like do not kill, do not steal. But we also frame them as in an affirmative way.

[18:46]

So we pair killing and giving life. We pair stealing with generosity. We pair lying with sharing the truth. And then one receives a rakasu, which many of you are wearing, which is a Buddhist robe that you have sewn yourself. And you've taken refuge with every stitch. You know, each stitch you take is, I was talking about Blanche Hartman a couple weeks ago, it's like, with each stitch, I plunge into Buddha. And you do that stitch after stitch. And along with the Raksu, you receive a lineage paper. So it's, you're wearing the garment of the Buddha,

[19:48]

and you've taken place in the lineage, the family, if you will. I don't know so much about lineage, the family of the Buddha. And this is a long, complex document with all the names of the Indian ancestors and the Chinese ancestors in the Rinzai and Soto lineage. And it goes back up to Dogen who had recognition in both those lines and then down through his successors to Shinryu Suzuki Roshi, who gave transmission to his son, Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi, who gave transmission to Sojin Roshi, and then your name here. And connecting all of these is a thread of red, which is known as a bloodline.

[20:57]

And that bloodline runs all through those ancestors and down to your new name, and then from your new name, back up again to the head of Shakyamuni Buddha. And this is our new family, that does not replace our old family. How we see them as interconnected is, that's also part of the work of our lives. I often think I often have, I've had imaginary meetings between Suzuki Roshi and my paternal grandfather, you know, thinking that they might have gotten along really well. And wouldn't it have been wonderful to see that?

[22:02]

interaction. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to see the interaction between, say, our parents and our teachers? Some of us, actually, some of you have had the opportunity to see that. But it's like, these are our lineages. We have multiple lineages, and we can inhabit more than one family at once. So I wanted to read a little from this talk by Suzuki Roshi. So this was in 1970, and he said, I'm so grateful to have this ordination ceremony for you, our old students. This is actually the second time. I think he only did, I think, two lay ordinations, as far as I know. We didn't have lay ordination ceremony more often because I didn't want to give you some special idea of lay Buddhists.

[23:13]

The Bodhisattva way, according to the Bodhisattva teaching, means actually every sentient being is a Bodhisattva. Whether or not they are aware of it, they are actually disciples of Buddha. And this is our conviction. So I didn't want to give you some special idea of lay Buddhists. And then he says, but the time has come for us to strive more sincerely to help others. As we have so many students here, inside and outside of Zen Center, at this point they were already at Page Street. As we have so many students here, inside and outside of Zen Center, we need more help. And I decided to have lay ordination for you just to help others.

[24:19]

but not to give you some special idea of lay Buddhists. So to help others, this is the Bodhisattva way. To save all sentient beings, to end all delusions, to enter all the Dharma gates, to become the Buddha way, with the Buddha's, with the Bodhisattva's calling to benefit, save and help all sentient beings. And I think that his motivation was to give us a little encouragement, a little urging to move into that role more consciously. And what does it look like?

[25:23]

What does his helping look like? He says, accordingly, our way is like Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. When he wants to save ladies, he takes the form of ladies. For boys, he takes the form of boys. For fishermen, he will be a fisherman. The more sophisticated Chinese expression is to be like a white bird in the snow. When people are like snow, when people are like snow, we should be like snow. When people are black, we should be black. And being always with them without any idea of discrimination. And then we can help others in the true sense without giving anything, any special teaching or materials. This is actually a Bodhisattva way. And this is vintage Suzuki Roshi to me.

[26:32]

It's like, it sounds so right. You know, it sounds so open and open hearted and right. And it's like, wait, so what am I supposed to do? You know, not, It may be as easy as he says and it may not be as easy as he says. But he's always pushing us in this gentle but very firm way. And he's also, as you'll see in this next paragraph, always finding the balance between what I was talking about with my name between form and formlessness. So, speaking of the white bird in the snow and what we do, he says, This kind of freedom from everything, and this kind of asking, and this kind of soft-minded spirit is to practice our way.

[27:42]

You may think we are forcing you in some form, forcing some rituals on you, or forcing some special teaching on you, or forcing you to say, yes, I will. Actually, if you're in a ceremony, there's a lot of, Yes, I will. Will you take the refuges? Yes, I will. Will you take the precepts? Yes, I will. And like everybody is supposed to say this wholeheartedly, even if you really don't have a clue what you're doing. But you're supposed to say yes. But those things are provided for you just to be like a white bird in the snow. When you go through those practices and when you practice Zazen in that way, you have the point of Zazen and the point of practice and the point of helping others. This is why we had ordination ceremonies today, all of us, including various great teachers, because it is not at all easy to be like a white bird in the snow.

[28:56]

So in this, the ceremony is about giving us some support, some foundation. And also, I really feel that the way we do it, and I also see this is very much the way I've seen it, because I've been working at Upaya Zen Center and my friend Mark back there had lay ordination there. It's like to do this witnessed by the whole community is for all of us to hold our vows and our responsibility together. Ah, so anyway, we should make the best effort to be like a white bird. Remember that this is not an easy task. Ah, in this way, if you help yourself through practice, you can help others.

[30:03]

And then he says, just to be with people is enough. And he closes by saying, I'm grateful to have this kind of very, very formal ordination ceremony. Without the guidance of Yoshida Roshi, who came to visit Zen Center and just to help us, we could not have had this ceremony. Yoshida Roshi was the first sewing teacher. a woman very well recognized in Japan, and she was the first person who brought the sewing practice to San Francisco Zen Center. And Blanche began by, Blanche Hartman began sewing with her, and then there was another, I think the next year, Joshin-san came, who was,

[31:06]

who really sort of planted the exact style, but this one was Yoshida Roshi. After sewing your robe in spite of busy everyday life, and I think this is also a good example of Buddhist life, even though we are busy, there's some way to practice the most formal practice. Even though we, all the human beings in the city are busy, there is no reason why they cannot practice to be like a white bird in the snow. So this is the motivation. This is the spirit of ha. of the lay ordination that we'll have. And I offer this to give you some context and also to kind of raise the idea so that perhaps there are people next year who will want to do this, to want to enter this way to, on the one hand, wear a robe, and on the other hand, to be

[32:28]

a hidden bodhisattva, a white bird in the snow. So I will stop there and leave time for questions or thoughts. Yes. Forgive me for my ignorance. Why do we take refuge in the Buddha? The Dharma is not, well, the Buddha broke it up into these three aspects as a way of dividing what is indivisible. I think we take refuge in Buddha. To take refuge in Dharma, if you don't personalize it, it can have an abstract quality. To take refuge in Buddha, it's like, I am Buddha, you are Buddha.

[33:34]

When I take refuge in Buddha, this is what my friend Taigen Layton, Zen teacher, just the way you're sitting and the way many of us are sitting is Buddha mudra. The position that we take is that is the enactment of our refuge. So we take this posture, And when we take this posture, we are becoming Buddha. So it personalizes it. And that way, once that's personalized, then the Dharma is not a set of ideas, it's a set of practices that I personally have to enact. And where do I do it? I do it in Sangha, in the community of all beings. That's a start. Yeah.

[34:36]

Ed. In our practice, there's emphasis on ancestors. Your take on that is the significance of that practice, that part of our practice. Yeah. I think that's a really good question. This is a development that comes from East Asian Buddhism in particular. And the emphasis on lineage is essentially a Confucian

[35:43]

idea that was so deeply imprinted in Chinese and Japanese culture, you find it's less so, say, in Theravada. And, you know, people will know a generation or two back, they'll know their teachers and their teachers' teachers perhaps, but they don't posit the lineage in a way that the lineage itself is something to bring forth as a devotional practice. For me, it's really family. And I remember that very clearly being at Tassajara in the 80s and chanting the lineage and having this great, very powerful feeling that I'd like to, you know, I belong in this family and I want to be in this family.

[36:48]

The lineage as it is, frankly, a lot of it is made up. But it's made up, even the ones that are made up, there's a narrative about each of the ancestors that we can learn from. So I'm not so concerned with an orthodoxy of this person passed it to this person, or passed it to this person, passed it to this person. In certain sections, I think that's true, but they also passed it to other people. You know, I mean, Sochin is what, 22 Dharma heirs? That's not a one-way transmission. You know, it's like scattershot. And one thing I will do, I'm giving lay ordination to one person, and when I do that, I also give to them a document of women ancestors.

[38:00]

basically the ancestors, pretty much the ancestors that we chant. And that's not, that is not a lineage. It's a list. It's a list of people that we, of women that we recognize, who inspire us, but doesn't purport to be a lineage. So I'm not super concerned with lineage. On the other hand, to me, The connection, so my lineage from Sojin, and then Oitsu, and then Suzuki Roshi, And then, you know, I pass this to Catherine who's sitting next to you, you know, this is, and to have family, like, you know, Raul is back there, but everybody who's had lay ordination, actually everybody who sits here is family.

[39:03]

So I see it that way. Tamar. You know, it's really moving that people want to wear Buddha's robe My response is, I don't know. My response, quite honestly, is I have some ambivalence about that, but I also, this is like, this is something Zogdin said a couple weeks ago in a meeting, you know, I think

[40:15]

Each of us should keep our minds open to determine what we think about how the dharmas spread, taught, et cetera. And I just try to go slowly about making changes. you know, maybe there's changes that need to be made. There's various discussions being made, but there's also, I also believe in, beyond belief, I have some deep resonance with the function of ritual, even though I don't fully understand it. So I'm just trying to be very, careful around what I change, what I throw out, what accretions I might bring in. So that's a completely, what can I say?

[41:24]

I'm not staking out any position in this, but I understand your question. Judy? I've heard you put a lot of emphasis in recent months on framing the third pure precept as appropriate response. No, the third tenet. Okay. So to me, how that connects with the interplay of authenticity and inclusion. So for instance, appropriate response, you know, you've talked about this yourself, when you went to be with the Dalit community, a lot of the time is spent just listening. And you told some wonderful stories about, you know, you might have had an idea of what appropriate response is, but what you discovered was that bearing witness, really being present, that emerged.

[42:33]

And so, you know, We talk a lot these days about what it means to be an ally, whether it's in terms of Black Lives Matter and white privilege, whether it's in terms of sexism in the software industry and the implications of that, whether it's in the election, this whole phenomenon of othering. And so I wonder, how do you practice with the interplay of those particular three tenets around this theme of being both authentic and inclusive. So this is another talk, but it's one that I had half written for something else. But Lori reminded me, we took a walk and Lori reminded me, I forget why she was thinking about this, but when I started working at Buddhist Peace Fellowship in 1991, it's like, I just, what am I doing? You know, what is,

[43:35]

what's the Buddhist part of peace work? Is there a Buddhist flavor? And evidently, I didn't recall this, this is not a totally original perception, but evidently I said, well, I think what's Buddhist here is non-attachment to views. And I think that that's exactly how I try. I recognize the poles and barbs and attachments that I may have to certain views, but if I also recognize that underneath that is a perspective that is non-attached to views, not because there's no good and bad, but because Every view, every act brings up aspects of each.

[44:40]

There is nothing that's pure. The purity has to be in how we make and in how we relate to each other. And I think that this is a good place to end. I think that the transmission and the enactment of lay ordination is designed to empower us to bring our best self, our one that's unattached to views, to meet everyone, to listen to everyone. We have to be able to listen to everyone. Without the interposition of our own very usually, you know, can be very strong opinion, review.

[45:41]

So let me stop there. And I just wanted to say we're going to be doing this solar Transmission. Transmission. Yeah. So right. So I just want to read you something from their statement was put out by the by Western Soto Zen Buddhists. And in the process of that, I came on a a set of practices that Sotoshu had already articulated in the 1990s. And I think they're relevant to what we're doing now. It's the five principles of green life. Protect the green of the earth. The earth is the home of life. Do not waste water. It is the source of life. Do not waste fuel or electricity.

[46:45]

They are the energy of life. Keep the air clean. It is the plaza of life. Coexist with nature. It is the embodiment of Buddha. So in whatever way However, to whatever extent we're doing this by turning on these solar panels, we're trying to be in line with these principles. And in the sense of non-attached to views, it's a good thing that we're doing this. And it may not save the world. So thank you very much.

[47:35]

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