Morning. So this is the fifth day of our June Sesshin. And it's the second day of summer. And most of us here are in Sesshin, deep into the middle of it. And today we're going to tie up the whole package of practice period with our shuso ceremony. I want to talk about that a bit. Somehow as you were coming down, what came to mind was like the beginning of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are. I think it's Let the Wild Rumpus Start.

[01:04]

Is that right? Begin. Begin. Yeah. Or anyway, we should that should be one of the that should be one of the lines that the Shuso says at the beginning of the ceremony. Let the Wild Rumpus Start. Begin. If you haven't read that book, you really should read it. I could do a whole Dharma talk about that book. I think that'd be great. It's really one of the great works of modern literature in the guise of a children's book. But our life is this wild rumpus and it's already begun. The other thing that occurred to me, because I was going to, I found this, a copy of Roshi Joan Halifax's book, Standing at the Edge, which is, came out about two years ago.

[02:09]

I've been working very closely with Roshi Joan for about seven years now at Upaya, where I go to partner with her in the chaplaincy training, and I learn a lot from her. She has a very deep and broad, interesting vision of how people encounter their difficulties. And Standing at the Edge is, unpacks a kind of approach for resilience and for working with ourselves that flows both from Zen and also from her her anthropological and neuropsychological work. But I think that being in the Shuso position is placing oneself in an edge state.

[03:22]

It's testing one's edge. Being in Sashin is placing oneself in that position. And one of the interesting things about the edge state, what is just in nature, we tend to think of it, it's the, it's the very fuzzy boundary between what we think we know and what we don't know. And that's where organisms and ecosystems and so forth, that's the place where they grow. They grow from the edges. They tend to expand outward from there. And I think that that's, you know, we'll see whether Carol

[04:26]

feels that way or not. I know that some of this has been pushing your edge, right? And that's good. That's how we grow. But we have to have, I mean, I think one of the things that's really great about Roshi Jones book, Standing at the Edge, is that it actually gives you tools for encountering those edges. So I do recommend it. I think it's very good. But I wanted to give you, so this afternoon, we're going to have what in Japanese is called shuso hosen shiki. which means basically, it really translates as sort of the, the Shuso's Dharma combat ceremony.

[05:29]

We're not going to be combative. That's not our method here, but it's, it's a test. It's a way of, of testing the Shuso's understanding. And I wanted to talk about some of the elements of that, some of the meaning of being a shuso, and for the shuso and for us. So the shuso, the word translates as head seat. And it's said, as it says in the entering ceremony, the abbot or in this case the vice abbot says this this student shares my seat and my responsibilities and she sits at the right hand of the teacher and for the for the duration for us for the duration of a practice period that's the traditional

[06:44]

interpretation. Practice period, again, it's looking at the Japanese words, not that we're wedded to these Japanese meanings, but they're instructive. So, shuso holds the seat for the duration of an ongo. An ongo means peaceful dwelling. So usually at Tassajara or the monastery in Japan, for a period of 90 days, we have Ongo. We have peaceful dwelling in which monks don't, they don't come and go. And they just focus on their practice. We just focus on our practice. Some places in America, the shuso actually holds the position for a year.

[07:52]

It's because perhaps they don't have a formal ongo with that intensity. But anyway, at Tassajara, they do. Lori was recently shuso at Tassajara. There she is. Right, which is a, that's a really incredible feat for someone who's 65. For in Tassajara, you, the shuso's responsibilities aside from giving talks and having teas and cleaning the toilets or doing the compost, the shuso gets up and runs the wake up bell every morning. Runs. Or walks. Right, right. I think when our friend Mary Mosin was just so, somewhere in the first week she broke her ankle, which was very challenging.

[09:00]

We haven't imposed that on our shusus. Sometimes we've done that with shusus, but Carol has been remarkable. She's been here for virtually every period of Zazen, and we've been really happy to have her staying with us in our house so that she could actually throw herself into this practice, which she has. So it's the chief, it's the head seat in the zendo. And so if somebody new comes in, it's also an example of practice to everyone. And so when someone new comes into this practice or comes into this new place, this place during our times, they can look to the shiso as a model of practice.

[10:04]

And it's interesting because the shuso is a position of responsibility, but not necessarily of authority. So this is a transition. This is when, uh, During the practice of the Spirit Wings, it means that person, we recognize that they have the maturity to be an example to other people, and to lead by example, and to take the step from, again, in Japanese terms, from junior to senior. And in this sense, during the practice period, the shuso really assists the teacher and stands in for the teacher.

[11:07]

I feel I'm really grateful that I've been sitting zazen a lot during practice period and have sort of increased my schedule. But during practice period and during Sashin, if I have to be away, Carol really, she covers the ground, she's sitting out, sort of taking you all in, and she does service and so forth. And so that's an important stage. It's a unique moment in one's practice. And you may have noticed she sits facing out so she can take in the room. She can see anything that needs attention during sasen. And we've come today. I can't believe it.

[12:08]

Probably Carol can't believe it either. We've come to the conclusion of this practice period. but you don't get through it without a test. Sorry. It's not pass or fail. It's not. No, it's not pass or fail. Well, it is pass or fail, but nobody's failed yet. No, there won't be a first time today. I can guarantee it. I don't really go for this combat mode. It's like we're bringing forth the Dharma together. And I think in the context of the ceremony, all of you are really invited to ask a question.

[13:11]

and a heartfelt question and a practice question. And it's not, it's not a matter really of testing the shuso. It's a matter of, of really presuming that the shuso has some wisdom that they can help you with. They can help you with your question. She can, so you're asking a question, you're asking, you as you are asking a question of Carol as Carol. And together you're having a moment of meeting and dialogue. It's not so much testing her, It's really leaning on her and she'll do her best to respond to you.

[14:21]

It can be a question that comes from the koan that Carol has been working on all practice period, Kyogen's man up a tree. And she'll read that Koan, just to refresh your memory, she'll read that Koan to you during the ceremony. But it needn't necessarily be that. But it should be a question about your life and your practice, which are not two. In Japan, the ceremony is, from what I understand, I've never, I missed the one that we had at Zuyoji, I think our practice period, our training finished before the end of the practice period that we were in. This is about 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, I'm not sure.

[15:27]

So I've never seen a shuso hosen shiki there. But my understanding from all that I've read and from talking to people is that, believe it or not, they're scripted. There's a script for the shuso and script for the questioners. So these are scripted questions and responses. And it's interesting because I came upon something that somebody wrote that as far back as the 17th century in Tokugawa era Japan, there was a very sharp critique of this pattern of shuso in Japan that that it was a kind of staged ceremony rather than drawing forth spontaneous responses.

[16:37]

But here, the responses are live and the questions are live. And we can see for ourselves both in the heart of each Sangha member and the heart mind of the shuso. Interesting. Someone wrote, someone at the monastery in Taiji wrote about the ceremony itself, saying maybe the reason why the physical presence, the attitude and the voice of the monk

[17:58]

who performs the Dharma combat ceremony are so much emphasized, while the actual content of what is said is secondary importance, has to do with the literal, physical meaning of standing firm. Which is, what's brought forth is this, a word that we haven't used, what the Shuso manifests is re-shin, which is to raise one's body into a standing position. It's what children learn to do as toddlers. You know, they're crawling and then they're walking and then they figure out how to stand up. And first they pull themselves up on chairs and tables and then they're standing on their own. This is what the shuso is symbolically doing.

[19:03]

Not that Carol has been crawling, but they learned to stand up. And so this kind of ritualistic enactment of being shuso is showing people just showing them your posture, your stance, your voice. The stance is really powerful. The shuso, you'll see, sits with the fan in her left hand, vertical, and a staff, the shipei, in her right hand. And I just always remember Blanche Hartman saying, this posture means you're really exposed. Your belly, your hara is exposed. It's not, we're not protecting it.

[20:07]

We're not covering it with our mudra or with the fan. It's like we're upright and ready to meet the world belly first. And I think that's in a seating, seated position. That's the meaning of this, of this term Rishan. So that's what we're going to, that's what we're going to do this afternoon. We're going to complete this ceremony. I found In Chobokento Zuimonki, which was Dogen's disciple Koen Eijo, it was his record of Dogen's talks.

[21:09]

And in section four, book four of Zuimonki, it says, on January 28th, 1236, Dogen first requested me, Ejo, to occupy the first seat of Kosho Temple. So he was the first shuso at Kosho-ji, which was Dogen's first formal zendo on the outskirts of Kyoto. Thus, after an informal meeting, Dogen asked me, as head monk, to take up the whisk and preach. I was the first head monk of Kosho Temple. And when he invited H.O., this whole section, which you can find, it's in book four, part five of Zooey Monkey.

[22:16]

And Dogen speaks about what the first, what the responsibility or the meaning of of Ongo and also of being Shuso is. So just one thing he says, the conditions for the study of the way are also like this. Although the way is complete in everyone, the realization of the way depends upon collective conditions. Although individuals may be clever, The practice of the way is done by means of collective power. In other words, we do this together. Therefore, now you should make up your minds as one, set your aspiration in one direction, and study thoroughly, seek and inquire. This is by entering into the Ango, into practice period.

[23:21]

Jade becomes a vessel by carving and polishing. A man becomes humane by cultivation and polish. What gem has highlights to begin with? What person is clever from the outset? You must carve and polish, train and cultivate them. Humble yourselves and do not relax your study of the way. An ancient said, do not pass time in vain. Now, I ask you, does time stop because you value it? Does it not stop even though you value it? You must realize that time does not pass by in vain. It is man who passes it by in vain.

[24:24]

This means that people like time should not go idly by, but should earnestly study the way. So even though we're at the end of our six week practice period, we are not at the end of it. First of all, we're not done yet. And please don't stop short of when we declare it done. And at the same time, once the wild rumpus has begun, it don't stop. So even though we end our practice period tomorrow evening, we just continue Zazen again. I think of that practice period, I don't quite get this right.

[25:33]

The image of a fisherman who catches a fish and then paint some mark on the side of the boat where he caught the fish. Yeah, don't do that. You just have to continuously fish. So practice period is over and we continue our practice as ever. We've been doing We've had practice period here, I went back and looked at the records, for 30 years. 30 years? There have been 31 Chusos.

[26:39]

It began, the first practice period was in December of 1989. And that was, I spoke yesterday of Cushin Seisho Meili Scott. She was the first Shuso. And that was, I don't know, a year or two after she was ordained, I think, year and a half, something like that. But she'd already been practicing for a long time. And then in the spring of 90s, about six months later, Engetsu Honshu Fran tribe was the Shusou, and she and Meili had been ordained as priests together. And we've been going ever since then. Some of these Shusous, Meili and Fran and Dalai Gatozi are no longer.

[27:45]

here on our planet in this life. A lot of the others are still around. And if I look around this room, let's see. There's like 11 or 12 people who have been Shuso in this room of 30 odd people. And there'll be more of you who will be in the future. It's just a, it's a rite of passage in, in our practice. So, um, You may have some questions about the ceremony or some questions about the meaning of being shiso.

[29:00]

And I'd like to leave some time for that. But just to encourage you, bring yourself completely to this ceremony and ask a question that's really, you know, that comes from your heart or comes from your belly that's not not designed to trip up the shuso, but to bring forth dharma, bring forth a response that is helpful to you and that you might imagine could be helpful to everyone else in the room. Don't go on at length, please. This is meant to be a somewhat brisk, entertained, but not superficial. And I'm really looking forward to the ceremony this afternoon.

[30:02]

So we have some time for questions and responses. Gary. Which book are we talking about? This one? This is called, well, the title of this is Record of Things Heard, and it is Thomas Cleary's translation of Shobo Genzo's Zui Manki. Zui Manki was basically a collection of relatively early, I think, talks by Dogen that were transcribed or recorded by his disciple, Colin Ajo. And it's really, this is one of the first Dogen books that I read, because it was one of the first Dogen books.

[31:03]

I think it was available before Moon and the Dew Drop. And so, you know, we bought, as soon as Dogen came out, we rushed to the bookstores. Maybe Was that one of the Soto Shu things? Yeah, that was one that Shouhaku Okamura published, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, Heiko. I'm curious about the strengthening process of Shuso being up there and challenged by our questions. And it seems to me very rich or possibly rich in the way it's being presented today But the trees, not standing on their own, began to fall one at a time.

[32:10]

So what degree of protection is service, and what degree of protection is hazard? Well, you learned something, didn't you? From trees. Yeah, but people are the same. I mean, that's what I would say. And we have to find that out together. We have to discover it together. You know, we're not cutting back the what looks like excess. It's actually the practice. Our practice is to include all of it. You know, even the sloppy and messy parts. reckon that there's something alive in there that certainly we can learn from. Thank you. Ben.

[33:11]

some trepidation about being able to transition in a helpful way and bring some benefit from Sashim to my life next week? Yeah. Well, certainly quite a few of us have done this many times and You know, it's interesting, we find ourselves, so tonight, maybe some of us are gonna, people go out to dinner, go to a restaurant, and the server comes and we find ourselves bowing to the server. Actually, that's pretty good, you know? That's nice. It's like you understand what you understand that's different about your world. is really helpful. And then you have to figure out what's an appropriate response. The other thing that I would say is that, again, in my experience, we are very open after all these days of sitching.

[34:47]

There's strength, there's energy, but there's also a kind of rawness. And so the things that we may encounter can hit us hard. And because of that openness, we want to think that the effect of Sashin is to make us very peaceful. And what we may find is that part of the effect of the opening is to make us really raw and vulnerable and reactive. So the really The part that I would encourage is to attend to your mindfulness, recognizing that there's this raw energy and channeling it into, channeling the energy into your activity and

[35:53]

really being careful of our interactions with people. And not just with people, with traffic and all that stuff. And don't hold on to Sijin. You know, don't hold on to the energy because that direct feeling will, you know, it'll fade. It'll taper off in the course of the days, I think. On the other hand, what you... what you will learn over time is to see how the ground of your life is shifted, but you won't see it right away, you know, and you won't see, it won't be so obvious. It'll be something that, that evolves over a long time and you'll notice it in the context of your relations with other people. Some people may give you feedback to that direction and so forth.

[36:59]

But, uh, you know, When it fades, don't suppose it's all for nothing. It is all for nothing, for the sake of nothing. Nothing is very good, you know. Do you have some advice? I don't think we should take that literally. Challenging in shuso means putting the shuso in a position where they have to go deeply in order to respond.

[38:03]

And then they all feel good about that. I had a couple other things that came up. I don't want to take up too much time. But when I was shuso in Sahara, 1970, making the wake-up call, It's a bell, bell, yeah. The clapper fell out? and my hands and knees hurt.

[39:05]

So that's the colon is what's the sound of a bell without a clapper? Yeah, right. How do you ring the bell with your clapper? Yeah. That's good. Linda. I have an extra copy, which I promised to Mary. The library has a copy, too. All right. There we go. I'll tell Roshi Jones she'll be very happy. She likes to sell books. Other questions or thoughts? Yes. Here we go. Being here in my everyday life, and then just being here in practice, when I say yes to it, everything else shifts.

[40:41]

So when you read about time, it made me think about, I always end up thinking like, this is a waste of time, and here's where you should focus. But I don't always notice it right away, but by the end of practice period, there's something that happens where But even though we don't think of it all the time, being in a practice period for the six weeks is short, but a lot happens. Thank you. It's good to go to Tassajar too. I mean, that is good, but it's really important not to idealize it. Because for most of us, sooner or later, we have to come back to our lives.

[41:43]

Very, very rare people who actually make their life in a monastery. But to take that time out and step back from what you think of as the events of your life is really good. And then you go to the monastery and you find, lo and behold, your life has followed you down the road. There is no way to get away from it, you know, but it's like, it is actually like Sachine in the sense that what we've created here is a safe, is a relatively safe environment. That's relatively quiet, relatively, uh, There's a relative lessening of stimulation. And then we see who we are, who comes up to face us in that encounter.

[42:48]

Yeah. So, James. Responding to Ben's comment, we're moving from sushi to our own life. Classic signs are Yeah. Don't make them tonight or tomorrow. Have you done those things after Sishine?

[43:52]

Good. Thank you. That's really good advice. Maybe one or two more if there's anything. Laurie? I almost felt like I remembered, like trying to remember and see what that felt like. I almost felt like I was there for a minute as a one-year-old or whatever. And I wonder if that would also be an analogy we could use for leaving session because in a way we have all the support here for Big Mind. Yeah, I hadn't encountered that term Rishin before. Yeah. And that's Suzuki Roshi's, you know, he says, stand up by your own two feet.

[45:20]

I think that's the, yeah. Well, while you're doing anything, though. You know, and this is what, uh, you know, one thing that I use a lot when talking with people is, you know, something again that I got from such as like, um, ask people, where are your feet? That's really good in an instant. As soon as you're asked that question in an instant, you're going to think about where your feet are and yeah. Well, that's something else. Right. What if you left your shoes on your feet? Right. Karen, and then they play. I was just thinking about the end of Sashane. And I like what people have said.

[46:20]

want to make it something that's graspable or repeatable. So there's a certain way of having to let go of it and just continue with the daily practice as it is. Maybe one period sounds better than all day. Yeah, I think that's true. I think that in the immediate aftermath, what I finally figured out, because we used to have, sometimes we would have like big group dinners after Sasheen, and it's like, I realized, I don't actually enjoy that. You know, I love everybody who's there, but it's overstimulating. And so I like to have this kind of decompress or, you know, have dinner with a couple of people. And, you know, I think about, I'd like to, I haven't done this.

[47:45]

I don't know if maybe some of you have done it, gone to, in the Deshimaru tradition in Europe. After Sashin, they have a big cocktail party, which seems to me like a terrible idea, quite aside from the precepts. It's like, boy, is that ever not my idea of fun, you know, but... Yeah. Because they want to make sure that they're not too pure. Right. We had that after Sashinetsu Yoji, after Rohatsu Sashin, the next day we had this huge blow out with beer and sake and meat. It's like, those guys got bombed.

[48:51]

But the Americans are going, we don't know about that. But that's our uptightness actually. We should have done our best to merge with them. But you don't have to do that. Yeah, if you're in recovery, please don't do that. You know, but at any rate, watch, you know, take care of your energy and take care of yourself in the after, particularly in the aftermath of Sishin, of the intensity of Sishin. And I think let's stop there and the wild rumpus will continue.

[49:31]

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