This is the third talk, my third talk on Ehe Shingi. Since I think, according to my understanding, Dogen Zenji's basic spirit of Morastic practice at Sorin community is having body-mind or way-mind, mind of the way, and keiko. Keiko is contemplating or reviewing the ancient. Last time I talked about body-mind or way-mind, so this morning I'd like to talk on keiko, what is contemplating or reviewing and following ancients. In this handout, page 141, let me read a few paragraphs.

[01:03]

141, second paragraph. Let's see. Furthermore, reflecting that inhalation does not wait for exhalation, also is the mind of the way and its diligence. Contemplating the ancients enables the eye of the ancestor's essence to observe intently and enables the ear of both past and present to listen vigilantly so that we accept our bodies as hollowed-out cabins of the whole empty sky and just sit, piercing through all the skulls under heaven, opening wide our fists and staying with our own nostrils.

[02:08]

This is carrying the clear, transparent sky to dye the white clouds and conveying the waters of autumn to wash the bright moon, and is the fulfillment of the practice of contemplating the ancients. If such an assembly has seven or eight monks, it can be a great monastery. This is like being able to see all the Buddhas in the ten directions when you see the single Buddha Shakyamuni. If the assembly is not like this, Even with a million monks, it is not a genuine monastery and is not an assembly of the Buddha way.

[03:10]

Upon seeing honorable persons with the mind of the way or who practice contemplating the ancients, the director should deeply allow consideration for them with appreciation and compassionate care. However, when seeing people who meet with teachers and read volumes of sutras without faith or loyalty for the triple jewels, or even persons who are not mindful of the way and do not practice contemplating the ancients, then the director must be aware that They are of demonic inclination or lack the requisite faith for entering practice. Knowing this, do not accept them into the assembly.

[04:15]

Buddha said, people without faith are like broken jars. Therefore, living beings without faith in Buddhadharma, of course, cannot become visitors of Buddhadharma. Buddha said, the great ocean of Buddhadharma can be entered due to faith. Clearly understand that we should not live together with beings who have no faith. So in the first paragraph, he's talking about fat is keiko, or contemplating and following ancients. In this section, Dogen Zenji is talking about, I think, absolute meaning of being ancient.

[05:16]

And in the Tenzo-kyokun, one of the sections of Tenzo-kyokun, he talks about more concrete meaning of being ancient or following ancient. So first, I'd like to talk on that section in Tenzo-kyokun. That is page five in this handout. The last paragraph of page five, it said, if you encourage your aspirations and are not sincere, are most sincere, you will vow to be more pure-hearted than the ancients. This is the ancient, ancient masters or practitioners.

[06:19]

And surpass even the elders in attentiveness. The appropriate manner of putting the mind of the way to work. So we should put our mind of the way, our body-mind into work, into work in our day-to-day lives. This is Tenzo-kyokun, instructions for Tenzo. So, Tenzo should work in the kitchen every day. And we should put our body-mind into the activities in the kitchens. And in doing so, Tenzo should follow the ancient or elders. So the mind of the way to work on this is to decide that even if the old masters, the ancient, got three coins and made a broth of coarse greens, now with the same three coins, you will make a high-class cream soup.

[07:36]

So what Dogenzen is saying is we should compete with the ancients In order to compete with the ancient, we should discriminate. We should say fat is coarse greens and fat is cream soup. There's a distinction. And it said we should try to do better job. than the ancients. So we should compete, always compete with ancients, not compete with, compete, yeah. We should compete with ancients, not contemporary. That means when we compete with people around ourselves, you know,

[08:39]

Compare yourself with the ancients, but don't compare yourself with the people around you. Yes. To compare with or to compete with ancient means to compare ourselves or compete ourselves with something absolute. That means, you know, we know the activities or practice or practice of ancient masters only through writings or records. And in the records, their weak point is not described. Only good point is described. So when we compete, there is no way to surpass the masters. So we should be aware that we are always not enough, lack of something.

[09:41]

When we compare with something absolute, we feel that we are incomplete. So this is repentance. And we try to do better job based on the awareness of our incompleteness. That is vow. So in our practice, repentance and vow is really important in the case of kai, or precept, also in the case of working. And repentance and vow is really actually works when we compare ourselves or reflect ourselves on the basis of absolute. If we compare ourselves with the contemporary people, we see the greatness of those people, and yet also we see the weakness, weak point of those people.

[10:45]

And we say, on that point, he is better than me, but on that point, on the other point, I am better than the person. So the competition is always relative. and we consequently have a kind of conflict with others. So there's no absolute basis to grow ourselves. So when each one of us compete or compare ourselves with ancient or something absolute, we feel something lacking in ourselves, then we can work together. We see the incompleteness of ourselves and we can study or learn each other and try to grow even a little bit together.

[11:51]

I think that is a very concrete meaning of contemplating ancient. So in this case, contemplate ancient means to study how the ancient master did work and how we should make that as a model of our work. then we see that we are not complete. So we have repentance and make vow to do even a little bit better job next time. I think that is one of the concrete meaning of contemplating ancients. And in the Tenzo Kyokun, he continued, this is difficult to do. And to surpass, to do better job than ancient is really difficult to do.

[13:01]

Why is that? The difference between the ancients and people of today is as remote as that between heaven and earth. How could we ever stand even with them? This can be a kind of difficult for us to understand. Why ancients are better than us? Probably, I think, because when we are educated in a school, we are taught that, you know, the history is, you know, in the human histories, civilization is, you know, developing or improving from the primitive age and this modern civilization, things are getting better. So we think this age is better than the before, better than the past.

[14:09]

So it's kind of difficult to accept that ancient people are better than us. I think that is one of the ways of seeing history. Things are getting better. Things are improving. And yet, I'm not sure in the West, but in the East, there is opposite way of seeing history. That is, in the ancient, things are perfect. And when time is passing, things are getting worse, being degenerate. That is, basically, We have seen history in China. In China, people thought there was an ideal world or community in the past, in ancient. And people's faculty is getting lower and lower.

[15:16]

So we should study the ancient. That is basic idea of Chinese. And I think here, Dogen Zenji, is following that idea and also in Buddhism. it also, you know, has kind of idea that ages we are getting worse. It said, you know, first 500 years after Buddha's death, it was the age period of time was called Shobo, true Dharma. In that age, the teaching... practice and enlightenment are there. And the second 500 or 1,000 year was called Dzogho or Semblance Dharma.

[16:18]

And in that period, only teaching and practice exist, but no enlightenment. And the third period was called mat-po, or last dharma. So only teaching remains, but no one practices and no one attains enlightenment. So this is also the way of seeing the time or history getting worse. Those two ways of seeing history for me is very interesting. And yet here, Dogen Zenji's idea is different from both of them. He said he said that the difference between the ancient and the people of today is as remote as that between heaven and earth.

[17:23]

So it's different. Ancients were better than who we are. Or ancient time is better than when we are now, this age. And yet, he said, however, when we attentively undertake this job, we can definitely surpass the old masters. So in other writings, he kind of negates, he was against the idea of three dharmas, true dharma, semblance dharma, and last dharma. He said, probably in Zuimonki, he said, whenever we are living, When we actually really practice, enlightenment is there. So the distinction of three times, three dharmas, is just temporal things.

[18:28]

It's not reality. That was his idea about those three periods of times. So even though this is a degenerated practice, if we really practice wholeheartedly true dharma is there true dharma will be manifested at this moment That is Dogen Zenji's idea. When he wrote, he named his collection of his writings Shobo Genzo. True Dharma is now right here. If we really wholeheartedly practice, put our whole energy into our practice, that is true Dharma. Anyway, I go to Iowa City four times a year to have to read Sesshin.

[19:44]

I went there last fall, probably in October. In Iowa City, they have a small group of practice. They rent an apartment as a zendo, and they practice together every morning. and they invited me to read Sesshin. And there, Zendo was second floor of the school buildings, small school buildings. They have only 40 or so students or kids. And since the Zendo is not big enough, they allow me to use the school classroom for changing clothing and take a rest during break. And last time, I found a file of old newspaper in the classroom.

[20:47]

file of local newspaper published in the town in 1931. So it's very old. Let's see. So 64 years old, years ago. So I was trying to see what was happening there. And at the time, at the year, Japan was fighting against China in Manchuria. And also I found an article about Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison was in his deathbed at the time. I think he died in the fall in November 1931. It was very interesting for me. Thomas Edison was one of the most well-known Americans in Japan.

[21:55]

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Thomas Edison, and probably John Wayne in my generation. And when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he used Japanese bamboo for a filament. And the bamboo was sent from Kyoto. And when I was a kid, I visited in a kind of a Shinto shrine, and there was a monument. When I was a kid, I visited there and saw the monument of Edison. So Thomas Edison was a person pretty much familiar with me. After 64 or 65 years after his death, the electric valve he invented spread all over the world.

[23:06]

And his work really changed the whole way of life in the whole world. Even in Siberia or Tibet, they have electric light these days. Not only that, the electronics or technology have been developing so quickly. So I thought, if Thomas Edison was in this age, he must be really surprised. He felt he was ignorant. The books written maybe 10 years ago about technology or science, it has no value anymore at this moment. And I also think of Shakyamuni Buddha. He died about 2,500 years ago.

[24:12]

And his dharma has been spreading to the world. And it took 2,500 years. It's much longer than the electric light bulb. And I thought if Shakyamuni Buddha were at this moment, in this age, this society, I thought he was surprised because things are not changing. I'm human beings. I haven't changed at all. You know, the technology or knowledge in science, you know, develops so quickly because, you know, when someone reached to this point, the other people started from this point to improve the technology or knowledge.

[25:16]

And the next generation could start from this point. So technologies and science could develop so quickly. And yet in spirituality, all of us, each one of us, has to start from the bottom. You know, Shakyamuni Buddha start from the bottom and reach certain, you know, level. The next person cannot start from this point, but he should start from the bottom again. So, you know, each person and each generation, people have to start from the, really the bottom, bottom of humanity. And I think the bottom of humanity is, how can I say, kind of a childishness.

[26:23]

I mean, now my son is three and a half years old. When he came to America, he was about two. And he spoke any language. He didn't speak any language. And after he came to America, he started to speak Japanese because he mainly stayed with his parents at home. But since we sent him to a daycare, he picked up a few English expressions right away. The first two words or two English expressions he picked up right away was very interesting. The first one is no. And the second one is, this is mine. No, this is mine.

[27:29]

Now we live in Linden Hills in Minneapolis, and it's really near from the Linden Hills Park where Tenshin Sensei used to play. So I often take my children to the park. And when we take his toys, my son's toys, and play at the park, other kids come and want to play with my son's toys. And he said, no, this is mine. So you shouldn't use this. I tried to convince him that if you share the toy with other kids, you will get friends and you will have more joy, more fun. and yet he doesn't understand at all, so he keeps screaming and saying, no, this is mine.

[28:39]

I think that is bottom of our spirituality. No, this... You know, now I'm 47, 46 years old, you know, I'm not so honest as my son, so I'm not so expressing my childishness so directly, but basically, you know, not so different, actually. basic tendency we still have is, no, this is mine. And I think that is almost the main causes of almost all the problems we have in this society. No, this is mine. If we share the things with other people, we can eliminate many problems we have

[29:48]

in this moment, in this world. But anyway, that was the starting point we have to practice. So when I saw my son, I thought he has a long way to go to be a bodhisattva. Bodhisattva means a person who has joy when he or she helps others So, you know, that is, I think, the reality of our spirituality. So we should start from really the bottom of humanity, that is egocentricity. We have desire to fulfill our desire, to have satisfaction. And our satisfaction often against other people's satisfaction.

[30:52]

So we have to conflict or even fighting. So I think it's really precious and important to see that there are people, there were, there have been people who are really beyond such childishness. And really have aspiration to help others, other people, to share things with all beings. That is the basic necessity to see and to know and to understand the way of ancient people who actualize the universality of our life.

[32:02]

Our life is really interconnected with all beings. And people who awaken to that reality can be beyond childish egocentricity. And the lineage which we recite every morning for morning service is the tradition of the people who really awaken to that reality and which enable us to actualize and manifest the universal reality of our life. Anyway, I go back to the Tenzo Kyokun. He said, this principle, this principle means the principle that we can surpass the ancient people.

[33:10]

This principle is a certainty that you still do not yet clearly understand only because your thinking scatters like wild birds and your emotions scamper around like monkeys in the forest. So that is because of our mind. Our mind is scattering around, moving around. Our mind and emotion is always clinging to something we encounter, the object. We have desire to deal things based on our desire. We always think how we can be satisfied using the object. And if those monkeys and birds once took the backward step of inner illumination, this is, this took, taking the backward step of inner illumination is a really important expression in Dogen Zenji's Zazen.

[34:19]

He used this expression, Eko Taiho Henshou, in Fukanzazengi. He said, we should study the backslide withdrawing, backward step into our self and illuminate the self. And he used the same expression here in Tenzo-kyokun when he teach about the activity, work in the kitchen. So we should really understand that our zazen and the work in the kitchen should be the same. We should take the same attitude toward our zazen and towards our work, not only in the kitchen, but anywhere. And naturally, you would become integrated. This is a translation for da-jo-ip-pen. This is also used by Dogen Zenji in Fukanzazengi.

[35:20]

Not in the popular version, but in the Tempuku version of Fukanzazengi, he used this word. Become integrated. Literally, it means become one piece. Our mind and our body is usually separate. Even though our body is here, our mind is somewhere else. But in our zazen, in our sitting, our body and mind should be always together. Body is here and mind should be always here. That is mindfulness. mindfulness in Chinese is Nen. Nen has two parts. In Chinese character, Nen has two parts. One part is now, ima, and another part is mind. So in Chinese, mindfulness means the mind in this present, present moment.

[36:26]

So our mind should be always right now, right here. That is meaning of mindfulness. And that is our zazen, and that is our working too. And this is a means whereby although you are turned by things, you can also turn things. Our life is always limited by situation and condition and things so we have to you know follow the condition we have to think what we can do in this condition what we have in the case of tenzo you know we have certain you know food materials or ingredient we shouldn't you know In the monastery, we shouldn't select the ingredient.

[37:41]

We cannot. We couldn't. Because there's no supermarket in ancient times. So people tend to have to use whatever they are given. So no complaints. And yet, using those things which is given, which are given, we have to turn it and make it the offering to the Buddha. In doing this work, the food becomes Buddha. And it is offered to the Buddha and the people who are practicing Buddha's practice. Then the food is part of Buddha. Not part of Buddha, but Buddha itself. So food becomes Buddha. So we should, as a tenzo, we should aim at the way of working we can make, not make, but I don't know a better word, but make the food into Buddha.

[38:45]

That is why he's saying, you know, being harmonious and pure like this, do not lose either the eye of oneness or the eye that discerns differences. Original expression is we shouldn't lose neither one eye or two eyes, ichigen and ryogen. To see absolute reality, universal reality, is one eye, one absolute eye. And yet, when we work in the kitchen, we should have two eyes. We should discriminate, make distinction, what is the best way to cook this food or this material in order to make it into the offering to the Buddha and practitioners.

[39:50]

So we need two eyes. Two eyes means relative eyes. We have to discriminate and make the food better or into the best way to eat. Take one stalk of vegetables. One stalk of vegetables to make the six-foot body of Buddha. So using one stalk of vegetables, we have to make it into Buddha. and invite the six-foot body, that means Buddha, to make one steak of vegetables. So this one small, coarse vegetable and Buddha, which is really absolute and universal life, should be really one, together. And

[40:53]

they become one together by or through our activities as tenzo, as cooking, as a cook. We make this one small, you know, impermanent, always changing being into eternal Buddha life. That is a point of practice as tenzo. And he said, this is the divine power which causes transformation, transform this deluded human beings into Buddha ancestors. So actually, when we cook foods, we are cooking ourselves in order to make this impermanent, small, deluded person, human beings, into Buddha ancestors. So actually, we are cooked. by our practice.

[41:56]

So this is transformations. And the Buddha work, this is the Buddha work, Buddha's business, which benefits beings, all beings. This is, I think, the concrete, very concrete way of contemplating ancient, to compete with others and ancient, and always try to be better than ancient in our day-to-day lives. And by such practice, we manifest the absolute, eternal reality of our life within this moment, right now, right here, the whole universal reality actually manifested in this tiny work, tiny activity. That is the meaning of keiko, or contemplating the ancients.

[43:06]

And here in the Chiji Shingi, I go back to page 141. Basically, he is saying the same thing, but in very poetic ways. He said, Contemplating the ancients enables the eye of the ancestors' essence to observe intently, the eye of the ancestor's essence. Ancestor's essence means wisdom. So eye of wisdom, which sees emptiness, emptiness of all beings. So by seeing or contemplating or following ancient, we see things with the eye of ancestors' essence.

[44:20]

That means prajna. we see things with prajna, see the impermanence and egolessness and interconnectedness or interbeing of things with ancestor's essence, the I of ancestor's essence, that is prajna or wisdom. And to observe things, everything intently, whenever possible, we encounter with any object, we see the emptiness and interconnectedness of all beings and enables the ear of both past and present to listen vigilantly. hear of both past and present.

[45:27]

That means, I think, see or hear, hear the things on the basis of absolute. So there's no separation between person, hearing, and the sound heard. That is the way we hear with the ear of both past and present. And so that we accept our bodies, accept our bodies, as hollowed out, not simply the space, vacant space, but that is emptiness, that is reality itself, reality of our life.

[46:31]

So we gouge out the reality of our self and put our bodies into it. So we become really one with reality of our life. And just sit, just sit, piercing through all the scars under heaven, scars There is a painting of skulls which has quotes, but skulls in Zen, Zen literature, means being free from all human sentiment, all human judgment. So just be a kind of dead or death. Just become one with death. Sakiroshi said to sit in Zazen, to practice Zazen is to see things in our casket.

[47:41]

That means from our death. When we are in the casket, even though people are criticized, speak ill of me, I couldn't say anything. We have to just accept it. We have to really accept it. And when we are sitting in Zazen, we do the same thing. We are like a dead person. although we are really alive and things are going on within and without ourselves, and yet when we sit in this posture and let go of thought, you know, thought is always coming up. And we should let everything come up freely and let everything go away freely. We don't put anything under our control.

[48:43]

That is, I think, that is what letting go of thought means. So never cling to anything. And this means we negate everything. We really negate everything. That means we cut off the root of our thought. Whatever coming up, we are not being pulled by any thought or emotion or feeling, whatever. We should cut off the root of our thought. And yet, letting go of thought doesn't mean we should negate or we should kill the thought or we should hide any thought. But just everything come up freely. and yet we are not being pulled up, being caught up with our thought. So thought is there, but we don't think. It's really a kind of a strange statement, and it's really difficult to explain to the people who have no experience of sitting.

[49:53]

But if we have some experience, somehow we understand this point. When I try to explain this, I use the analogy of driving a car. When you shift into neutral, the engine is moving and the car doesn't move. And that is what we do in our zazen. There's no way that our brain stops functioning. Even when we sit in this posture, our stomach is digesting, our heart is beating, and our blood is moving around the whole of our body. So nothing stops to function. There's no reason only our brain stops to work. So thought or emotion or daydreaming or whatever is always constantly coming up, but we should cut off the root of it and sit immovably.

[50:59]

That is just sit. And piercing through all the scars under heaven, so we are really free from human sentiment free from human sentiment, including the sentiment we want to become free from human sentiment. So human sentiment is there, and yet we are not being pulled by it. and opening wide our fist, open wide our fist, and staying with our own nostrils. Staying in our nostril means, you know, a place when we sit, the air comes in and goes out. So,

[52:06]

actually this is nostril is the point of contact or touching of inside and outside so and there's no boundary within our nostril so Staying with our own nostril means staying in the place where there is no boundary between self and others, self and whole beings or whole universe. And this is this sitting. So here, Dogen Zenji used the expression keiko, or contemplating the ancient, in the meaning of sitting, or going beyond separation between self and other, through which we manifest the eternal or universal reality.

[53:15]

the universality of our body and mind by letting go of thought. And that is keko. That is contemplating the ancient. By letting go of thought, we really go beyond the distinction or dichotomy of present and ancient. We should go beyond the dichotomy, beyond now, or present, and ancient. That is the ancient, the oldest. So this ancient simply means the people that certain times in the past, in the history. But as Dogen then said in Bendoho, this is before the empty carapace. That is real meaning of absolute meaning of ancient.

[54:25]

We should go beyond even the dichotomy between present and ancient, all the time, or dichotomy between this person at this moment and people in the past, the great people, Shakyamuni Buddha or Bodhidharma or Dogen Zenji or other great masters. And that reality works right now, right here. And in the case of tenzo practice of tenzo, one stalk of vegetable become buddha, become eternal life. And this is carrying the clear, transparent sky to dye the white clouds.

[55:27]

White clouds is always changing, always moving. Somehow it appear from the sky and stay for a while and changing constantly and disappear. It's really like ourselves, our life as a person. Also our mind, our thought is like clouds. And yet in this practice, I think this is a practice of Jijuyo Zanmai, in our Zazen and in our day-to-day activities, Our practice is called Jijuyo Zanmai. And in Kich, this white cloud, which is always changing, always moving, is dyed with vast sky, the color of the sky, the color of the universal reality. So impermanent and always changing and very small things is tied with vast universal reality at this moment.

[56:47]

And that is Zazen, and that is our activities, each and every activity in our practice, in our day-to-day lives. and conveying the waters of autumn to wash the bright moon. Water and moon. Dogen Zenji used this analogy in Genjo Koan. He said, When a person attains enlightenment, it is like a bright moon in the sky is reflecting on a small drop of water. So water is our service.

[57:50]

And the moon is universal reality. And yet, here, it's not only deflecting. But we should wash the moon with the water, the small water, small amount of water that we have. We have to work on the reality which is eternal, which is universal. And yet, beside this small body and mind, which is always changing and also very deluded, egocentric. But this body and mind, and this moment, and this place, this work, or these things we are working on. Besides this limited conditioned reality, there is no way or nowhere the universal reality can manifest.

[59:03]

I think that is the fulfillment of the practice of contemplating the ancient. So this is keiko. This is the absolute meaning of keiko, or contemplating the ancient. So ancient here simply means people in the past, great people in the past, and we have to compare ourselves to those people. But ancient means absolute, eternal universal reality. And that reality should be expressed, manifest through this body and mind in this moment. And that is keiko. And

[60:09]

If such an assembly has seven or eight monks, it can be a great monastery. If people practice with such an attitude, even the monastery or sangha or community has a small number of people, that is a great monastery. This is like being able to see all the Buddhas in the ten directions when you see the single Buddha Shakyamuni. So we, you know, every day we chant all the Buddhas in the ten directions, past, present, and future. Then how we can meet those all Buddhas? Dogen Zen said, Feng, if we want to meet all those Buddhas, we have to see the single Buddha Shakyamuni, only one Buddha at a time.

[61:30]

Or all Buddhas are actually one Shakyamuni Buddha. There's no other Buddhas besides Shakyamuni. And what's Shakyamuni Buddha? What is Buddha? Buddha is the reality of our life, in which this individual person is really connected with all beings. So we can exist, we can arrive, we can be alive only in the relationship with other beings, with all other beings in the whole universe. This reality itself is Buddha. So if we want to see all the Buddhas, we have to awaken to this reality. And our practice of zazen and day-to-day activities based on zazen practice allow us to really awaken to this reality and see

[62:41]

or meet or manifest or actualize Shakyamuni Buddha. And at that moment, we see all Buddhas. If the assembly is not like this, Even with a million monks, it is not a genuine monastery and is not an assembly of the Buddha way. Well. probably the time to stop talking. Before stop talking or before, you know, receive questions, I want to mention one thing about the next paragraph.

[63:47]

Yesterday, Maezumi Roshi gave me advice about our translation. on the fourth line in the next paragraph, which said, however, when seeing people, who meet with teachers and read volumes of sutras without faith or loyalty for the triple jewels, or even persons who are not mindful of the way and do not practice contemplating the ancient, then the director must be aware that they are of demonic inclination or lack the requisite faith for entering. The point Master Miroshi mentioned is the very first part of this sentence. This is a long sentence, but it said, however, when seeing people,

[64:52]

Maezumiro said this kanji, the literal meaning of kanji also means to see, but he said this ken means gen, same as gen, that means to manifest or actualize. Also it means to actually as an adverb. So this is not a verb. Here is Taigen-san, who is my co-translator. So maybe I should talk with him. And if it's still not too late to change, Maybe we may be chance to change the translation, but temporal correction in my translation is as follows.

[66:00]

encountering those who do not have faith or loyalty in the Triple Jewels, even when they actually meet with sutras or teachers, or those who are not mindful of the way and do not practice contemplating the ancients, then the director must be aware that they are of demonic inclination or lack the requisite faith. Thank you for listening. Any questions? No questions. Please. Water of autumn.

[67:06]

Maybe I didn't explain it, so thank you for your question. Autumn has something to do with moon. In Japanese tradition, we have a kind of annual custom or event to see the moon, to see the full moon in the autumn, I think in September. And traditionally we think autumn is time to watch moon. In the autumn, the temperature cools down and the sky becomes clear. So we can see the moon clearly. we call the event Otsukimi, watching or seeing the moon. So this autumn has something to do with the season to see the moon, to watch the moon.

[68:38]

And also autumn water water means water is also become clear when the temperature, you know, go down. You know, No cloudiness. Become clear and pure. And I think that is an analogy of our body and mind in our Zazen. Everything will not come down. Okay. Any other questions? Well, I really appreciate your listening. And also, I'm really grateful to have a chance to practice with all of you at this talk with session and having a chance to talk about my understanding of dog and lens teaching in Helsinki.

[69:58]

I'm not sure this is what really Dogen Zenji want to say in English. But anyway, I have to use this body and mind. I cannot use nothing else but this body and mind, which has really limitation. My English is not I don't think my English is good enough to explain what I'm thinking. I'm thinking in Japanese and speaking English. And I'm not sure whether what my understanding in Japanese is really, you know, same with what Dogen Zenji wanted to say. And furthermore, you know, I don't really know, 100% know, whether what I'm thinking and what I'm speaking is true or not.

[71:02]

So please don't, you know, take it seriously. Yeah, I know. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[71:19]

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