Good evening, everyone. I want to talk this evening about Sangha. So, as most of you know, Sangha is the third of the triple jewel, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Sangha could be translated as community, and it's a jewel in as much as it supports our practice and supports our lives. So, the Sanskrit word, the etymology originally, comes from something struck together well, something solid and not easily broken apart. In the early days of Buddhism, four or five ordained monks were considered Sangha. And that meaning opened up over time to mean a particular community, like into Dragon's Neck Gate here, or just the Sangha of all beings.

[01:14]

So, I'm going to start tonight by reading one of the practice instructions, the Gargoyles, from Hongzhe Zhangzui. Last time I spoke, I read something from Hongzhe, who lived in the 1100s, was the most important Soto or Saozao teacher in China in his time, and a very important influence on Dogen. So, this is called the family business. Practitioners roam the world, continually emptying and expanding their minds. Without the slightest remnant held inside, they can respond appropriately, not hindered by beings, not tangled up by dharmas or phenomena. Openly appearing and disappearing, you can freely share, but if merely involved in intellect, you will be buried.

[02:19]

If enacting pure maturity, then you can naturally journey at ease among the 10,000 changes without touching or grasping them and without turning away from them. Box and lip join, arrow points meet, harmoniously hitting the mark. Whether releasing or gathering up its journals, eliminate all leaking. Such a person can fulfill the family business. From this place just returned, the white clouds enter the valley and the bright moon circles the mountain. On this occasion, you have the same substance as the elders. Do not leave any traces, and inside and outside will merge into one totality. As leisurely as the sky, clearing of rain clouds as deep as water, drenching the autumn.

[03:22]

All of you virtuous people remember this matter well. So this is about the family business, another name for Sangha. So this could refer to a specific family or lineage, like we're in Suzuki Roshi lineage, but it also refers to the family business of Buddhas. How to take care of the family business, how to sustain this practice, how to share it with all. So in many of the sutras, all practitioners are described as children of Buddha. Sometimes sons and daughters of good family. But this family business is that we are all part of the Buddha family. This is how it's said in Sanskrit. So all of us are children of Buddha.

[04:25]

This is a family business. How do we take care of sustaining, maintaining this practice and teaching? And making sure it continues and sharing it with people all around us. This is the family business. So in the Vimalakirti Sutra, there's a chapter on Buddha family. And we're going to be doing a practice period in April and May, focusing on this Vimalakirti Sutra about the great enlightened, awakened layperson, Vimalakirti in Buddha's time, according to the story.

[05:30]

In this chapter on the family of Buddha, Buddha family, that's us. It is said that all passions are the family of Buddha. All of the, it even goes so far as to say all the deadly sins are the family of Buddha. As opposed to those who dwell in the unconditioned. Those who dwell in purity, who have gotten rid of all of their defilements. This is possible through some exchange practices. But in the Vimalakirti Sutra, it says that such people who dwell in purity, who have no defilements, cannot awaken to the Buddha way. Maybe this is a kind of extreme way of putting it, but the point is that delusions is the world of delusions.

[06:47]

The world of sentient beings is where beings awaken. Our practice is not to get rid of delusions. So we recently changed the four vows reading to say the second vow, delusions are inexhaustible. We vow to cut through them, rather than we vow to end them. In the middle of all our ancient twisted karma, in the middle of our confusion, in the middle of our sadness and regret and afflictions even, is where we awaken. Buddhas need this soil, it's like the lotus growing out of the mud. This is how we awaken. How do we do this? Sangha is the vehicle for which we awaken. In Sangha we acknowledge and repent all our ancient twisted karma.

[07:52]

We know it, we study it, we see these delusions arising. In Zazen, it's not a matter of getting rid of all thoughts or all desires or all confusions, but to sit upright, right in the middle. To be aware, as Dogen says, to study the ways to study the self. So to study how these afflictions arise, to get to know them, to be intimate with ourselves. To know we also get glimpses of this greater self, of dharmakaya, of the ultimate reality of all phenomena. But each of us, in our particular way, got here, came to practice through some difficulty, some affliction, some confusion, some clinging.

[08:57]

But in Sangha, in community, we find mutual support. We have shared intention to express awakening, to share it. So Sangha is the place where we, Zazen too, but in community we see each other's and our own hangups, confusion, delusions, and we cut through them. We find our way, each of us, to express awakening, to share awakening. Right in the middle of all of our intrinsic dharma. So Sangha is a kind of strange animal. Sangha is, you know, it's complicated. Sangha is beautiful.

[10:01]

Sangha is a jewel. How do we practice together? This is the question of Sangha. And Sangha, again, has a kind of... There are varied aspects. So there are particular Sanghas. This is Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. People I see online, people I see in this room, we call ourselves Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. Or sometimes just dragons or whatever. Some of us are more ancient than others. But we're all here together. But also there is Maha Sangha. So there's the Sangha of Suzuki Roshi lineage. So we are part of something called Gransho Streams, which is various smaller Sanghas,

[11:11]

smaller or larger Sanghas around the country, all derived from Suzuki Roshi in San Francisco Zen Center. There's also the Maha Sangha of Soto Zen. So there's the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, all different Soto Zen teachers and Sanghas in. America. There's also our connection to the lineage. Going back to India, China, Japan, and sometimes we chant the names of people who kept this Sangha alive throughout that time. And I'm a member of Shungo Cho, a teacher authorized by Japanese Soto school. So Sangha has a very wide sense. And also it's just the people here in this room and on this ship. And all the people who have been in this room or have been on this ship with us. And in Sangha, you know, again, we support each other.

[12:21]

We find support and we recognize each other. And then the greatest Maha Sangha is the Sangha of all beings. So it's not that on one level Sangha is not just about Buddhists, whatever that is. Sangha is about everybody you work with, your neighbors, your family, the people you see during the week. Sangha is a living creature. It moves, it changes. So part of Sangha is not to abandon anyone. We have this strange Sangha now. Actually, the whole world has a strange community now after the pandemic.

[13:24]

So there are four people on Zoom I see. I think there was somebody else who left. There's 10 of us in this room. We're all connected. And our practice is not to abandon anyone. And, you know, we practice. So our particular Sangha, you know, all Sanghas, all communities throughout the world suffered through this pandemic. Our particular Sangha, we lost our storefront temple on Irving Park Road, where some of you practiced. And Ben, it's great to see you. People leave for a while and then they come back. And that's also part of Sangha. It's wonderful to have. We have connections with so many people. So many people who sat at Irving Park Road or sat just online for a while.

[14:28]

We were just online after we had to abandon Irving Park Road temple due to COVID. And then we were sitting at Tiffany's Lutheran Church for a while. That was good. It was good to finally sit together in person. It was a kind of awkward space, very long and narrow, three seat floors up. So we're now fortunate enough to be in this interim, wonderful little Lincoln Square Center. It's great to be here. And sitting in person is really important. So just to feel like I'm sitting with you all just now and feeling the presence in this room of all of us, each of us. But also we're in this situation where we're both in person and on Zoom. So I see four people all of whom I know and I've talked with about practice.

[15:35]

And it's a funny situation. So we just decided, the practice council meeting, we have been putting the screen that I can see up on the wall so people in the room could see the people on the wall. But we decided not to do that because each aspect of our Sangha is kind of complete as it is. And somehow we have to learn how to do this together, not to abandon anyone. So post-pandemic, I think Sangha has a new meaning. And this is not something that's just about Inju Dragon, Zengi. It's about Sanghas around the country. So there are some Sanghas around the country, I know, also Zen groups where they're only in person.

[16:39]

There's some that are only online. But most are working with how do we do this together. It's a great challenge. How do we not abandon anyone? So in the regular attendees on Zoom include people from Southern California, from Northern California. Hi, Deborah. From Minnesota. Hi, Matt. From Michigan, from New Mexico, from New York. And people in this Sangha have gone to Zoom events from other Sanghas. So the Maha Sangha is increasing more. Now, thanks to the pandemic, it's a strange situation. We don't really know how to do this. And we have to confess that we don't know how to do this.

[17:40]

But I want to, Eleanor, just so not to go around and say everybody's name again. But could the people on Zoom say your name and where you are right now? Ed, start with you. My name's Ed, and I'm in Ukrainian Village. Which is part of Chicago, for those who don't know. Yes. Matt? Yeah, I'm Matt, and I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Great. Deborah? I'm Deborah Callahan, and I am in the East Bay near San Francisco, Walnut Creek. Great. Thank you. And David Ray? Hi, I'm David, and I am in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago. And the people who are sitting here in this room are from different parts of Chicago.

[18:41]

Some nearby, some further. So this is, well, just to say, you know, our Sangha includes both. And how to interface and be together is, you know, a great koan. And it's not just the koan of this Sangha. It's the koan of American Buddhism. And even beyond. In all the parts of the world. And our Sangha in person is wonderful. We can see each other and feel each other's presence during Zazen. But our online regulars are very much part of the Sangha. More than 25% of our monthly supporters are from out-of-state. More than 55% of the people who contributed to the year-end letter, which we haven't finished calculating yet, but they are from out-of-state.

[19:43]

So this is a strange event. We have reached from California to Minneapolis to New York sometimes. And also we're just right here in this room. And then there's all the people who joined us who were at the Irving Park Zen Do, many of whom haven't been around for a while. And I'm hoping we'll come back now that we have this nice little Zen Do in Lincoln Square. So again, welcome, Ben. And there were many people online when we were just online who haven't been coming online so much anymore. That's okay. It's not about quantity. It's about quality. But also I've been reaching out to people who want to collect. Sangha is about collecting all beings, whether they're here in person or on Zoom or just all of the different beings in your heartline.

[20:53]

All the people you've ever known are on your seat right now in some way have influenced you to be the Zazen person sitting here right now. So again, this is a koan for us. How do we feel our togetherness? How do we feel our oneness in the Dharma? So Matt, who's here from Minnesota online, is going to be leading an online workshop next month about Joanna Macy's work. It's on the website. They're all going to be planted. You all are invited to join that. How do we meet each other? Some people really don't like Zoom. And I appreciate some people spend their work day on Zoom or some other online vehicle and don't want to do that for practice.

[22:02]

But again, there are people who come on Zoom who have gotten to know each other. And it's really, I kind of like it myself. I can see these faces. Anyway, this is a question for us. And it's not that we have to all be doing the same thing all the time either. But we're connected. We're part of Sangha. It's a wonderful problem. It's an opportunity to spread the family business, to keep alive the family business more and more widely, more and more deeply. Thank you. So really, this is a huge shift in the nature of the world, the world of human beings.

[23:07]

That we now can sit together in a room, but also that we can see each other on screen. How do we find our way of supporting each other in Sangha? How do we not abandon anyone? How do we share our sense of awakening? Our glimpse of wholeness. Right in the middle of confusion and delusion and afflictions and the difficulties of this world, of each of our lives. Our practice is not about becoming a perfect pure being. Because we already are perfect pure beings. Right in the middle of our confusion. Right in the middle of our desires. Right in the middle of our anxiety and our anger and all that is human.

[24:11]

It is in this mud that we can find wholeness and awakening and connection. So this is a huge problem now. The world has gone through this pandemic. There may be more. The pandemic isn't over. People in our Sangha still have COVID. Anyway, maybe I've said enough. I'm interested in hearing comments from each and any of you about what Sangha means to you. How Sangha feels to you. How Sangha supports you and how you feel you may support Sangha. And again, Sangha is a living being. Obviously, it's moving and it's changing. And now as the world is shifting and changing, even more so.

[25:14]

So, comments, questions, responses. Please feel free to raise your hand. I'm sure I can see you all. Thank you for taking care of T. So, anybody in the room? I think I can see everybody's hands if you raise them. What is Sangha to you? Ed has his hand up online and so does Debra. I would say let Walnut Creek go first. I insist you go first. Aren't you in some weird part of Chicago that you always mention? It is a weird part of Chicago. You're right. You said that. You go first. Okay. You know, I think it's interesting. This difference in format between online and in-person

[26:19]

and how that causes a certain maybe feeling of disconnection. And, you know, at the same time, I want to point out that even as we are often in-person, as we are just maybe a visual representation or electronic set of data points and so forth, we remain to a certain degree images of ourselves and images to others. And the koan of imaging and self-presentation and the presentation of the self to the self and the fundamental experience of witness in the world, both of our own lives by virtue of being present to others in every single format, is maybe a vital meditation or contemplation in presence, period. And so it also suggests to me maybe what is a non-problematic situation

[27:21]

in terms of how technology presents itself to us. At the same time, and I really appreciate your observation about the physical feeling of being present to others in the same physical space is so vital at the same time when that opportunity presents itself. So just a menagerie of ideas affiliated with what you were saying. Thank you, Ty, again. Thank you, Ed. Devin? Yeah, so I think sangha is super important. It's been a big part of my practice when we were able to be in person or I was able to be in person with people, but there is something that goes on. I mean, I've been online at least three years and I feel like I know people in the sangha because I've seen how they sit and I've seen how they speak. So something's going on. Maybe we can't put it into words, but the part I love about sangha is we are all humans.

[28:26]

You know, we are just these human beings dealing, like you said, with greed, hate and delusion. And the sangha is that manifestation and it's always inspiring to me. It's always inspiring to me to see it and to be part of it. Even how someone sits on their cushion or approaches it or especially in a session where there's pain and you're just watching people make effort. It's very touching and dear to me to see that. So even though I'm not in person, I still feel connected. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Thank you. And you gave us another definition for the three jewels. They are jewels because they are inspiring. The Buddha inspires us. The Buddha, you know, the Buddha on our altar, the Buddhas in the world, the Buddha on our seat inspires us. Dharma, the teaching and reality inspires us.

[29:26]

Not to, you know, read a lot of Dharma books necessarily and have a lot of understanding and knowledge, but just that it helps us come back to practice. And then sangha is also inspiration. So, you know, in sangha we are together with people sharing this intention of practicing awakening. And, you know, some of the people in this room probably would never meet each other or, you know, be interested in meeting each other, except that we're sangha. We inspire each other. So, yeah. Anybody in the room have some comment on sangha? I'll guess. This is an interesting, you know, topic always, but it reminds me, when I think about how I first practiced, my primary sangha for probably 15 years was in the San Francisco Bay Area. And I spoke every week by telephone with my teacher.

[30:31]

So we only saw each other maybe a month or two per year maximum. And I also didn't have physical presence with the San Francisco Zen Center sangha very often. But then, you know, even in other sanghas, people go off to Tassajara, they don't see people for a couple of years in the sangha. So in some ways, this is an iteration. At least we can hear each other's voices from afar. You know, but there's something about this. This practice seems strange, but in some ways it's not, you know, it's not. People have been practicing, you know, I think in Buddhist time, people would go off for months at a time by themselves, wouldn't connect in person with the sangha, but somehow there was still a feeling of family. You know, still a feeling of when we come together, we recognize each other. You know, it's like an ancient dragon, everyone calls me Pogetsu. But at San Francisco Zen Center, everybody calls me Lori. So people are like, Pogetsu, who's that?

[31:35]

Oh, Lori, yeah. So I think we have these experiences to draw upon that are really rich. And it's kind of nice to have Zoom, even though like the screen is way over there by the way. I still feel your presence in a different way as we're talking. So thank you all very much. Thank you. Yes. So family. This is a kind of family. So there are people in our extended families who maybe we haven't seen for a long time or we don't talk to sometimes, but we're still family. You know, we don't, you know, we say we don't choose our family. From some Buddhist perspective, we do. We choose our parents, but that's a whole other story. But yeah, we're connected with family. So this is another way to call this, this is a beginner's mind family. So Sophia, if you don't mind,

[32:36]

I would, Sophia's our intern at Ancient Dragon from UC Divinity School. And so I'm just wondering, now that you've been here with us for a while, how is it that you see Sangha? Sorry for putting you on the spot. It's okay. Whatever you say. This Sangha specifically or Sangha essence? Either. Or both. Yeah. I feel the Sangha that, that is just the showing up, the continued showing up in space, be that virtual or in person. I think there's this repetition to continuing to come together. Yeah, I think like, when I think about Sangha, there's the kind of like ideal feeling of like

[33:39]

when we're all together and it feels just right. And then there's also just the everyday feeling that it doesn't matter if it's just right this time. It's just about continuing to come. And we learn from that over time. Wow, excellent. That was, that's the heart. Just showing up, whether it's in person or on Zoom, or, you know, people who practice, people we haven't seen in a while, but who practice on their own in their house sometimes or even every day. But just to show up in your body, mind, and feel connection to Buddhadharma Sangha. Great. Other reflections or responses? Kathy, hi. Oh, I meant to say, excuse me, Kathy, part of what's happening at Ancient Dragon

[34:40]

is this is our new interim Zetna. So we can stay here as long as we need to. Thank you, Loketsu. And it feels really good. I really enjoy this space. But we are looking for a long-term, larger space. And Kathy and I, just before we came here tonight, looked at a building that's available just up here on Lawrence Avenue, just around the corner, practically spitting distance, as they say, which is available. And it doesn't have a yard, which is too bad, but it has a, it's a large building, and it has a second floor with a center. So anyway, we're going to look into this as a possibility. And we're looking at other, we're looking at buildings. And at some point in a couple of months or a couple of years, we are going to be in a larger, full-time, long-term space. So that we'll still have the issue of

[35:43]

people coming from Walnut Creek in Minnesota by Zoom, but maybe we'll be able to, it'll give us more access to working out different ways of connecting with each other. So that's happening anyway. Kathy, you reminded me that we just saw that building, and it's in Lincoln Square, it looks like a good building. So Kathy, you were going to say something. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that building, okay, so first I'll say, the Sangha is like, to me, like a close community, a family, even of people who are attempting to sit, connect with the Dharma. And there's a shared interest, a shared what's the word I want? Intention. Yeah, who said that?

[36:45]

Deborah. There's a shared intention. Yeah, thank you, Deborah. It's very powerful. Yeah, and there's a sense that people are sharing a feeling, a sense that they're not even aware of that is similar. You know, like in a Sashin, or when we're all sitting, a teeny quiet, connecting to attention. And so anyway, it is very valuable to me. It offers a settledness in my life. The building that we saw tonight, it made me think, you know, if we chose that building, I was thinking it would be similar in some ways to being on Irving Park. It's very much a feeling of urban Zindo, you know, where you got a street front, and you're in a, there's a large interior space, you know, I can see how it could be very nice.

[37:46]

And, but it brought my mind back to the sense of an urban temple, an urban Zindo, which is different from some of the elaborate things in my mind that I imagined in Japan. Yeah, thank you. That's, that's an important point in terms of this particular saga. And this, you know, when I relocated from the Bay Area to Chicago, that was the origin of Hokus Ulus and others, Kathy, and Aisha, my intention was not to, you know, I've practiced at Tassajara way up in the mountains. And that's wonderful. It's wonderful to practice like that, where that's all that's happening, really. But I kind of feel like the point of our practice is to be in the muddy water. This is what our tradition and what the Dharma says,

[38:49]

that's what the Valakirti Sutra says, that we practice in the world of confusion, in the busyness of, you know, Chicago, or it's probably busy and confusing in Minnesota that we'll not treat too. So how do we be in the world and yet have this sense of coming together and settling and feeling something of wholeness or, you know, of the worship of youth? So that's an intentional quality of this particular Sangha. But of course, you know, someday maybe we'll have a, we'll age of driving, we'll have a space somewhere more out of the country. I don't know. Anyway, it's all evolving. And this evolution of in-person Zoom has been kind of forced on us by circumstances in the pandemic.

[39:51]

And all of the problems that came from that. Anyway, Aishan has something. Hi, Aishan. You just asked a rhetorical question about how do we come together in the midst of our busy lives and in Apadharma. But it made me think of a very specific answer, which is from my own personal experiences that we make a commitment and we may not always feel like doing that. But that's part of part of our commitment to being a Sangha. It's that even though we may not do that perfectly and it's important to not put something that's too hard, too rigid or too loose. We find our own way to make a sustainable commitment because without that commitment, we can't really experience the benefits of Sangha. Thank you.

[40:52]

Yes. So part of the practice, a big part of practice is being willing to be uncomfortable, going beyond our comfort zones. So, you know, as Sophie was saying just about showing up, sometimes we don't feel like showing up, want to sleep in or whatever. Something else to do. This may be more interesting than just sitting and looking in a wall. But we commit ourselves to coming and sitting and being present with settling the self on the self, as Chioma says. So that's part of it, too. It takes an effort to just show up. Yes, Wade. I was I was thinking about the thing about that word commitment as well, based on what you were saying, Sophia, that in regards to family, there's a lot of friction in that way, that we're making a

[41:54]

commitment to ourselves to show up, to sit and practice. But we're making a commitment to the practice to continue it. And we're making commitment to each other, to the sangha, to support each other, show up for each other. And just like family, sometimes that means that there's friction or that we don't like each other very much. Sure, I like that person, but not that person. All the time. All the time. Kathy is telling me right now she hates me. But I'm a Dharmic. But right. So the commitment is to work past the ways in which we rub up against each other. It reminded me of the way that queer people often talk about chosen family versus a biological family. And in a lot of ways, this is that chosen family. I think something I've noticed sometimes queer people, when friction arises, they just jettison people

[42:56]

because it's more, you know, it's easy to not deal with that. And I think you can't just jettison your aunt in your biological family. You can't just say, well, you did something wrong and now you can't come to Thanksgiving kind of thing. Anyway, that was a bunch of only semi-connected thoughts. But yeah, that's the theme I've heard from both of you. So thank you. Yeah. We show up. Sangha is where you're always welcome. Like family. Can I just add something to that? Yes. I was thinking since the pandemic, I have been connecting with my biological family more online in systematic ways than I ever have. Like I do Wordle with about five people every morning and it's really gotten competitive. So I can't skip. So it is a way that I at least know something, some comment with those five people every morning and

[43:57]

another group that we typically say something to each other, what's going on with you, whatever. And those are ways that, you know, if we can do that with our families, we can do this online. So it's ways to maintain contact. And I think that that we find those ways, you know, and my guess is it's happening with people because there's so many offerings each morning of the week that it's happening in those ways. So I don't know But I just thought I'd throw that in. Thank you. Well, maybe it's time to... I saw that Matt raised his hand. Do you have the last word? Yeah, I'll do the last word. I just wanted to add that Sangha has a lot of different levels. You know, with your Sangha, I'm mainly a participant. And with Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, I'm one of the behind-the-scenes people who kind of

[44:57]

helps everything run. And it just really helps me appreciate how much work goes into everything you all do in setting up. And it's really important to be a newcomer, too, because when you do have these extra roles like I have and a lot of you have, we need newcomers. We need people who are new to the Sangha to really make that work. And I have a newfound appreciation for the newcomer. And I think that's a really important role of the Sangha. You know, sometimes we think people who have been there a while are the important ones. But really, we're all important, we're all necessary to the Sangha. So I'm happy to be a participant with all of you. Thank you, Matt. Yeah, and our Sangha has the wonderful situation of having numbers of new and younger people. Wade has just taken over as president and board chair after Douglas long since. So anyway, it's a

[45:58]

living thing. And yes, we need newer people and we need older people and everybody else. So we'll close with the four Bodhisattvas and then I'll have some announcements and then we'll have tea upstairs.

[46:13]

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