Good evening, everyone. So we have some interesting technical difficulties getting the documents. This is the 21st century, I guess. So anyway, I'm going to talk about stuff from the 1200s and the 1600s tonight. So, So a few of you maybe were at Douglas' talk yesterday morning in which he talked about the story. Yes. So when you are ruffling your papers around, you're ruffling them over the microphone. So just the scratching noise. So it makes it hard to hear. Thank you. OK. I'll try and do better. Can you hear me now?

[01:02]

Okay, so. Yeah, so yesterday Douglas spoke about the story that's case 23 in the in the Gateless Barrier about the sixth ancestor telling the monk who had tried to chase after him and take the robe and bowl away to not think of good or bad. turn the light within. So this is a basic meditation instruction in all of Soto Zen and beyond to not get involved in judgments, to not get involved in opinions and right and wrong and good and bad, and to take the backward step, as Dogen says, to turn the light inwardly to illuminate the self. This is a basic, our basic Zazen instruction. And this, following this, we can, as the sixth ancestor said, see our original face.

[02:09]

so we connect with the ultimate by just letting go of our judgments and our opinions and all of that and seeing the ultimate the in the deep interconnectedness of all of us and all things which this zoom window and the pandemic and various things have demonstrated to us recently. So here we are, some of us in Chicago, two people in California, somebody from Cleveland, we're all here together. Anyway, okay, I wanna talk tonight about the other side of our practice, which is how do we express that? that deeper awareness in the world, in the streets of Chicago or Cleveland or wherever we are. How do we discern what's going on in the world and following our bodhisattva vow, try to help, try to relieve suffering.

[03:25]

And so the teaching about that that goes back to the Buddha is the three steps. and the version of the precepts that we follow, the 16 precepts that Alex just chanted for us that go back to Ehei Dogen in the early in the 1200s. There are sources for those but as a group those 16 come from Dogen. I want to talk tonight about another text from Dogen called the Kyoju Kaimon. which is an essay on teaching and conferring the precepts. This is a text about these precepts from the point of view of could say the ultimate. So this text, we don't know if Dogen himself wrote it down, but it seems like his successor, Koen Ejo, put it together based on things he heard Dogen say about the precepts.

[04:29]

So Alex, could you screen share that, please? And I want to just start by I want to talk about the background of this, but I want to start by this, we have the first page here, and it may be hard to read, but I'm going to just read it aloud. the first half first, and maybe we'll get to the second half of it. And actually, I'm hoping to do a series of talks on Kyoju Kaiman, not necessarily consecutively, but in the next few months. But this is to start this. So the text goes, the great precepts of all Buddhists, have been tested and maintained by all Buddhas and have been mutually entrusted from Buddha to Buddha, mutually transmitted from ancestor to ancestor. Receiving the precepts goes beyond the three names. Confirming the precepts penetrates throughout past and present.

[05:31]

our great teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, conferred them upon Mahakasyapa. Mahakasyapa conferred them upon Ananda, and so on. In this way, the precepts have been legitimately conferred up to the present teacher as the 94th generation successor. So the 94th millennia Shakyamuni Buddha. And again, this is the story about the transmission of the precepts and the Dharma. from Shakyamuni to Mahakasyapa to Ananda. And we have sometimes chanted the names of the ancestors from Shakyamuni through Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Shokaku Shunryu Daisho. And Well, anyway, well, I think back to talking about that and, and the historicity of it, but that's not so important, really, in terms of the heart of the precepts. Dogen goes on to say, now I confer these precepts upon you, through which you respectfully repay Buddhas and ancestors.

[06:40]

for the depth of their benefaction and everlastingly become a leader for human and heavenly beings. After all, you are able to inherit the wisdom life of Buddhas and ancestors." And then he goes on to say, respectfully, in virtue of the testimonial of Buddhas and ancestors, you should take refuge in the triple treasure and repent. Sincerely repeat the words after me and we all just chanted these repentance this repentance verse all my ancient twisted karma and he says as already verified by buddhists and ancestors the karma of body speech and thought has been purified and you have attained great immediacy this is due to the power of repentance so then he goes on to talk about um triple treasure and various versions of the triple treasure. But I want to go back to some of the history of all this. So Alex, would you show that the document about Soto's history?

[07:47]

So that's the one about the Soto teachers. I think you have it. At any rate, I'll proceed. We sometimes think in Soto Zen, there it is, that You know, there's a straight line from Dogen down to Suzuki Roshi to us. But these precepts actually were verified and enhanced in the Soto school. through the work of a number of teachers in the 1600s and 1700s. So I'm just going to mention their names. Gesho Doko was important in reviving a lot of dogens. So this is not going to be a test on this, but just for your information, just to know that there is a long tradition of Soto Zen in Japan. These teachers are not in our particular lineage of Dharma teachers, but they are

[09:03]

actually our ancestors in terms of preserving these precepts. So Geshu Soko was important in reviving Dogen studies, which revived in the 1600s. And his student was Manzan Dohaku, and his student was Menzan Suiho, who was very important, who wrote a lot about Dogen and the precepts. These teachers were uncovering really Dogen's teaching and Shobo Genzo and reviving it for general use in Soto Zen. It had been there, but it hadn't been a focus as much. Another important teacher was Banjin Doton. who was, as you see, 1698 to 1775. He wrote a number of important texts that have to do with the transmission of the Dharma. And I can say more about all of these teachers, but I wanted to come to Okasota.

[10:07]

I don't have the exact dates, but he was around 1900. And I'm mentioning him because I'm going to read something from a text that he wrote called Zen Kaisho which is comments on the Zen precepts and um okay yeah um So Oka Sotan is interesting and important. He was a Soto teacher, again, around 1900. And he wasn't the Dharma teacher, but he was the study teacher of the three most important 20th century Soto Zen figures. And these three, there's a famous, there was a famous practice period, or ongo, where the three of them were all there. And I forget which was which, but one of them was the Ino, one of them was the Tenzo, one of them was the Jisha, I forget exactly. But I want to mention these three just as a way of introducing how this has to do with how we understand.

[11:16]

precepts because, well, Hashimoto Eko was one of the three, and he's the teacher who, his branch of 20th century Soto Zen, these weren't different schools, they were all interconnecting, but he emphasized ceremony and ritual and doing ceremony properly. And he was the teacher of Kategiri Roshi's lineage. So Kategiri Roshi was particularly interested in ceremonies. And I did a practice period with one of Hashimoto Eka's in Japan and the monks there were teaching me how to do various forms and talked about doing each thing beautifully.

[12:20]

So performing ceremonies, not just for the sake of the congregation, to get the congregation to support them, but as a way of expressing something beautiful, the way that the precepts are expressions. So Akikoto Roshi, was the teacher of Uchiyama Roshi, who was Shōhaku Okamura's teacher. Shōwaki Kōdō Roshi's branch was the branch that emphasized just zazen, zazen, zazen. Shōwaki Kōdō was known as Homeless Kōdō because he wandered around for most of his life teaching about zazen in various Sōtō temples. Eventually, he became the abbot of Antaiji, which is an important Sōtō monastery that's still there. And Uchiyama Roshi, Shōhaku's teacher, emphasized this kind of no toys kind of zazen. So the way Shōhaku leads zazen, I think still in Bloomington, or his disciple, and the way he did it in the temple in Japan where I translated with him,

[13:27]

every hour is 50 minutes of Zazen, then 10 minutes of Kinyin. And during Sashin, there's no dog-san, there's no Dharma talks, there's no ceremonies or chanting or anything. It's just Zazen, just Zazen. So that's the way Shōhaku teaches too, and it's It's powerful. And anyway, that's a second branch. Kishizawa Ion was Suzuki Roshi's teacher, which is partly why I'm talking about all this. Kishizawa Ion emphasized Zazen, but he also emphasized study. He was the Dogen scholar. And so, There's a kind of studying side of our practice in Suzuki Roshi lineage. Again, these are not sharp distinctions. These are matters of emphasis. But these were the three main trends in 20th century Soto Zen. I want to come back to Oka Sotan now.

[14:29]

So would you please put up the, Alex, put up the Kyojikon again. Actually, no, wait on that. I want to look at that in a bit, but I want to read something from Oka Soton on his teaching about the Zen precepts. And the point of this is that, so let me say something else. We're used to thinking of these Zen precepts in terms, we kind of emphasize these 10 grave teachings, these 10 grave precepts, not to kill, not to steal, not to misuse sexuality, not to speak falsehoods. There's a different order that Dogen has in Kyoju Kaima, not to intoxicate mind or body of self or others, not to discuss faults of others, not to slander, not being possessive and so forth. And I think in the West we emphasize these as kind of ethical guidelines.

[15:34]

And that's, you know, kind of appropriate and they're very helpful that way. And again, we emphasize that they're not like the Ten Commandments. They're not prescriptions or rules. They're kind of guidelines for us to feel when we feel like we're harboring ill will or anger, or when we're feeling like we're being possessive. So these guidelines are very helpful. But what I want to say is that in Soto Zen, in our tradition, receiving these precepts, which a number of you have done formally, is not about ethical guidelines so much. receiving these precepts is a way of connecting to Buddha. So we could see that in terms of the first three precepts, taking refuge in Buddha, taking refuge in Dharma, taking refuge in Sangha.

[16:37]

In some sense, all of them are expressions of, I take refuge in Buddha. So, uh, whether or not you've formally done the ceremony of receiving these precepts, these are part of, or these are the expression of arsazan. So arsazan is turning the light within to illuminate the self, taking the backward step, but it's also then getting up from the cushion, or even when we're on the cushion, seeing the various thoughts and feelings that arise within ourselves. So these precepts are not just about externals. They're about how do we see Buddha here? So taking refuge in Buddha is the basic point. And the way receiving these precepts has been understood traditionally in Soto Zen in Japan and still in Japan is not really in terms of ethical guidelines, but in terms of connecting to something important.

[17:43]

And it's within us, Buddha nature is not inside or outside or in between, but it's also these ancestors, you know, the sense of continuing this practice. All of these people are part of how it is that we can do this practice here in Chicago or wherever you are. So taking care of Buddha is what we do when we, I was going to say after, but it's not before or after, but in the context of turning the light within, taking the backward step, We take care of Buddha. We recognize Buddha. We realize Buddha. Buddha is not something that I can have. It's not, you know, that some people have Buddhahood or something like that. It's the way things is. And yet we need to do this practice to realize that most people running around in the world, seeking after material goods or whatever, don't take time to see.

[19:00]

So I want to read something from Okasotan in his writing about Zen Kaisho, writing about these precepts. And this first phrase is kind of, is a quote from Geshu, who I mentioned, and Okasotan says that this is the heart of the precepts. So I'll read it a couple times. Sentient beings receive the precepts and unite with all Buddhas. All Buddhas responding to the capacity of sentient beings unite with them. Sentient beings and Buddhas are merged and there is no inside or outside. Present, past and future are themselves naturally complete. So I'll read that again. sentient beings receive the precepts and unite with all Buddhas. All Buddhas responding to the capacity of sentient beings, recognizing the differences between different sentient beings, unite with them.

[20:10]

Sentient beings and Buddhas are merged and there is no inside or outside. Present, past and future are themselves naturally complete. So this dimension of time is invoked here in various ways, just the lineage of ancestors and these people, both the ancestors we chant, and then these Japanese people from the early 1900s, as well as the Japanese teachers in the 1600s. And of course, many in between. Each one is naturally present. and we are connected by them to past, to present and to future. They inform, they help inform what we can appreciate in our presencing of taking the backward step. So again, just to take refuge in Buddha, just to come home to Buddha, it's the first precept.

[21:20]

And functionally, kind of socially, in Jukai ceremonies in Japan, that's the point. You connect with the lineage. You connect with the lineage that goes back to Buddha. So we're all, as the sutras say, children of Buddha. And, uh, in the Heikoso Hutsuganman, another chant by Dogen, he says, Buddhists and ancestors of the past, whereas we in the future will be Buddhists and ancestors. So this practice is about space in a lot of ways, but it's also very much about time. Appreciating these people in the past who made this possible for us. and appreciating how we are related to the Buddhas of the future. This is our work.

[22:23]

And of course, nowadays in the middle of all the stuff that we know about, you know, the climate destruction, environmental destruction, the threat of fascism in our country, all of the, response to the history of slavery and racism in our country, um, you know, it feels, um, like a perilous time and it is, and we have, and we, and the precepts help us to see, well, okay, how can I respond to some of that, to any of that, to all of that, uh, via Sangha in a way that is, um, grounded. in this deeper awareness from turning the light within. So this is the dynamic of the precepts. How do we take on not killing or supporting life from the place of the backward step?

[23:28]

realizing of that which goes beyond past, present, and future, and includes past, present, and future. So I'm going to read that phrase, that sentence from Geshu Soko again, that Oka Sotan quotes, and then I'm going to read Oka Sotan's comment on it. So Geshe Soko said, sentient beings receive the precepts and unite with all Buddhas, all Buddhas responding to the capacity of sentient beings, unite with them. Sentient beings and Buddhas are merged and there is no inside or outside. Present, past and future are themselves naturally complete. So we are not separate from the beings around us, including the ones who we may have very different opinions from, but how, how do we see that we are connected? So that, that statement from Geshe Soku, Okasotan praises, and then he says about this quote, receive and receiving the precepts means awakening.

[24:32]

Precepts is the Buddha nature. Sentient beings awakening to the Buddha nature is called receiving the precepts. Therefore, when one has awakened to the Buddha nature, it is the passing down of the precepts and teachings from master to disciple. This does not necessarily mean waiting for the three times or the repentance ceremony. If that were the case, the interpretation of the precepts in the three times ceremony would become obsolete. Then our lofty ancestors hopes would not be realized. Conforming with the three times ceremony is awakening to Buddha nature. I'll say that again, conforming to the, with the three times ceremony is awakening to Buddha nature while awakening to Buddha nature is not performing the three times ceremony.

[25:33]

So this is a kind of puzzling sentence. Um, but, but he's saying conforming to this ceremony in the three times, which is our precept ceremony, um, is awakening Buddha nature. but awakening to Buddha nature is not performing this ceremony. This is what it has to be. Okasotan says, where people see their own nature, they unite with the Buddhas. This is the same as sentient beings receive the Buddhist precepts and attain the rank of Buddhas. And that rank is the same as great awakening. All Buddhists respond to the capacity of sentient beings means that Buddhists explain the precepts in a way that corresponds with the spiritual capacity of sentient beings and manifests the wisdom within sentient beings.

[26:37]

One should be aware that that rank is the same as great enlightenment. from the Brahmajala Sutra in the fourth century, here is the same as that rank is the same as sentient beings. So that's sort of a mouthful, but he's talking about how this awakening to Buddha nature, when we turn the light within to illuminate the self, is itself the precepts, is itself awakening. It is Buddha. And how do we appreciate it and take care of it? So taking care of it, you know, in the beginning of the Song of the Jewel Mara Samadhi, he says that the Dharma of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhists and ancestors. Now you have it, preserve it well. So how do we take care of Buddha? This is the question.

[27:38]

And of course, we're already taking care of Buddha. All of you here, just by being here, are taking care of Buddha. How do we appreciate and enjoy taking care of Buddha? Taking care of Buddha means responding to the suffering in the world. Taking care of Buddha means as we sit zazen, responding to our posture and tightness in our shoulders and pain in our knees, or whatever, feeling our openness and uprightness, that's taking care of Buddha. So this is in Zazen, and when we get up from Zazen, when we're walking, when we're chanting, and when we're face to face with the people around us who are in distress, And in this pandemic time, there's plenty of distress. And even those of us with relatively little distress, we're all kind of traumatized. So we have to face that. So this sense of precepts, not just as specific ethical guidelines, but as a really deep communion with the processing of Buddha.

[28:52]

Now, later, before, here in Chicago, there in LA, with Amina, in Cleveland with Ko, and Debra here in the Bay Area. So all those places are connected, and every other place too. And now, Okasotan and Geshe Soko and all these teachers who've given that to us are encouraging us to take care of Buddha. How do we take care of Buddha? And partly it's just settling, finding our inner basic equanimity, but also not ignoring not being blind to cause and effect and all of the suffering in the world.

[29:58]

So just returning home to Buddha is what this is primarily about. And again, as I was saying, in Japanese Soto Zen in the past and still, this has to do with connecting to a particular lineage, and we do that too. We connect to the lineage that Shinryu Suzuki Hiroshi brought from Japan to California, but This idea of lineage is deeper than that, too. How do we connect with Buddhas of all times and all places? So some of us have been reading the Flower Ornament Sutra, which talks about 10,000 Buddhas on the tip of every blade of grass or in every atom. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas everywhere. And it's hard to get our, wrap our heads around that.

[31:02]

And that's okay. That's not the point. The point isn't to have some intellectual understanding of all this, although, you know, that's possible and it's okay. That might be helpful to some of us, but how do we actually feel it in our shoulders and our belly and in our interactions with people around us? How do we take care of Buddha? So that's so Oh, but what I was gonna say is, he's, he's talking about Buddha's corresponding to the capacity of sentient beings. So what's important for us is, how do we find what's true and genuine in our own bodies and in our own practice in our own time buddhism changed the dharma changed transformed maybe in some sense the dharma is just always the dharma this backwards step this deep equanimity and yet how we take care of it

[32:16]

It changed when it went from India to China. It changed when it went to Korea. It transformed when it went to Japan. And we have to find a way to do it for us. So this is a big challenge. We're living in a difficult world. But it's just, yay Buddha, yay Dharma, yay Sangha. And we're going to have a chance, some of us, to actually sit in person together starting next weekend. It's kind of wild after all this time. And also you're welcome to come on Zoom. It's gonna be a little bit of an adventure to see how this all works out, but we have to find a way to make it real for us here. So I take refuge in Buddha. I take refuge in Dharma. I take refuge in Sangha. And the second half of that first of the two pages, which was up on the screen, thank you, Alex, talks about, and I won't go into this today, but there's more in this document.

[33:26]

He talks about three kinds of virtue to the triple treasure. The single-bodied triple treasure, the manifested triple treasure, and the maintained triple treasure. So there's three aspects of Buddha Dharma Sangha, which Dogen goes into in this Kyoju Kaimon. And we could see them as, if these funny Sanskrit words are helpful to you, the Dharmakaya, the Nirmanakaya, and the Sambhogakaya. express and feel Buddhadharma Sangha in those three ways. But that's for another day. That's a preview of a coming Dharma talk. So at this point, I'm interested in any comments, questions, responses, that help us to see how we are related to these ancient teachings.

[34:38]

So comments, questions, please feel free. And if all this seems rather abstruse and mysterious to you, please ask questions. There are no such things as stupid questions in Zen. Ed, did I see you? Getting ready to ask. Yeah, I guess I'll ask a question. Can you hear me? Yes. Well, thank you. Even though you didn't mention my place in the world, Humboldt Park, in your review of persons present.

[35:44]

Well, I assume that Chicago was, most of us are in Chicago. Humboldt Park's part of Chicago, isn't it? Oh, is it? So I was talking about the people outside Chicago, but yes, Chicago, of course. I felt a little marginalized, but anyway. We all feel a little marginalized. That's part of the deal. I think I want to be with Debra in the Bay Area. You're here, you're there. You know, I guess it's always interesting this relationship between the individual, that being myself, as someone conscious and present and living, and a history and how that history reflects on my own sense of place and time and how I relate myself to a history that's been documented as you've described it and I don't want to say in a linear fashion but certainly that's an element of it and how

[36:50]

And what is the history the predicate to me or am I the predicate to the history in a sense? And of course, I think that's somewhat of an unanswerable question. And you also invite the notion that the precepts originate in the individual soul primarily, not in an external compliance or form of compliance. Although that might be a bias of yourself versus the tradition. Just to respond to that part of what you said, it's neither inside, outside, or in between, right? It's not me. So it's all of it. It's each one of us, each box in the Zoom window. And it's the history, and it's the names of those past people. And I didn't say the names of the future people who will keep this going. I don't know their names yet, but the history is, you know, it's not, the history is not, you know, you were talking about this linear sense.

[37:56]

John McKay, a great Buddhist scholar who's now passed, was, talked about the string of pearls fallacy. So when we talk about, you know, The names that we chant, it seems like there was one to one to one to one, but actually each one represents a Sangha. And each teacher in the various lineages had, many of them anyway, had numbers of teachers, as have had many of the people at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. So it's not linear. It's history, but it's history right here now. This is history. Right now, you are history. And yet, you know, we can talk about these names of these people, but, you know, and appreciate how they expressed it.

[39:02]

And then how do we express it? So, yeah, anyway, I think I got lost there and I missed some of your question. Okay. Thank you. Was there something else that I did not respond to? Well, I think you were suggesting that there's an invitation, it seemed to me at least how I interpret it, that there's an invitation to participate in that non-linear tradition as a non-linear being myself, a consciousness that actually does not subject to a measurable place in time. Yes, you know, and it's both. We also have particular places in time, like Humboldt Park, 2021, November, but we're also connected to something that is really deep and intimate. We're all children of Buddha.

[40:03]

We're all expressing Buddha each in our own way, together. Other comments or questions? Yes. Am I next? I was curious about, for some reason, using the phrase, the backward step, which is used in a sutra we chant, I was just caught up with that. And I was curious how you'd comment on that in this context you're using. Well, that's a particular meditation instruction. So usually, for the most part, our attention is focused outside. or we are looking and hearing, and there's a world of so-called environment, so-called objects. We think of it as objects, as dead objects. Of course, the environment is totally alive, but our sense perceptions see them as out there, so-called.

[41:06]

So the backward step is just to let go of that or to turn that around. to feel, it's not exactly insight. It's not like you're scanning your organs of your body. It's just to feel the presence. So it's turning away from that obsession with the outer. That's not the end of the story though, because when we settle into that and open up into that, then we also, awaken to the precepts to the Buddha nature precepts and, and there and thereby respond to sentient beings as Buddhas. Okay, thank you. In this context, I just was paying attention to that phrase. Yeah, it's a good phrase. It is useful. Doesn't this?

[42:08]

Let me just say, I have one more question. Doesn't this sort of resonate with the Lotus Sutra with the, like this sense of where there's time, you know, time is not defined. And it's, it just seems to resonate with me in hearing your talk this evening. Well, I think everything resonates with the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra. That was an easy one. Buddha, Buddha goes to each disciple on each bodhisattva and eventually says you're all going to be Buddhas. And, and then he goes and says, and says, Deborah, you're going to be the Buddha, and in a Buddha field in the north-northwest, about 100 constellations away, and that the name of that Buddha field will be such-and-such, and the name of Debra Buddha will be such-and-such. Anyway, that's part of what happens in the Lotus Sutra. I don't know, but to me, in hearing you speak, I feel that these parameters, to me, this kind of drops duality, these sorts of what you were talking about tonight.

[43:12]

And the Lotus Sutra, to me, points to that as well. Yes. Yeah, I felt with what you're saying, we're using words, but it's not, it's like we're one with the precepts or one with the Buddhas. And yet, as you pointed out, the human reality of that we're related to a lineage, which seems so human. So just an observation. So I'll stop. Thank you. Yes, good. Thank you. Jerry. Just two things came to my mind. One is, I was intrigued about the, three teachers from the 19th century. 20th century. 20th century. I was like, well, who are these people? I'm so used to hearing of teachers from the 12th century that somehow it's like there's the 12th century and now there's now. And so it was interesting to think in a linear sense that there are teachers closer to the linear time I'm in that. So that was intriguing to me. The other thing that occurred to me is, you know, I think a lot about all of the people who do work in our sangha, the people like, you know, who go out and find a place to meet in person and all the people on the board and the doans and the tokyos and who make that happen and the amount of gratitude to have for all of those people who do all of that work to keep the

[44:39]

tradition going here in our ancient dragon world. When this sort of expands out in a bigger place of sort of the gratitude and the debt we have to all of those other people who brought it down to here. So this sense of, you know, when you talk about keeping the Buddhas alive, you know, it's that everyday work that makes this center work that does that. And I just have a lot of gratitude for all of the teachers and dons and lay people and whoever who actually shows up and does work and makes it happen for us who just show up. So thank you. Well, thank you, Jerry. But that's actually, I mean, everybody I can see here. um, is part of that. And, and each of those teachers who we can name and all three of those main branches of 20th century Soto Zen that I was referring to, and all those teachers in the 1600s who were, you know, uh, most of them were sort of scholar monks and were, were studying Dogen and working on these teachings, but to keep their, uh,

[45:56]

practice going, they all had a sangha, you know, some of them, some great teachers in our lineage had eight students, some had many more. But each one of you I can see is doing, Jerry, you've been on the board, and so has Hogetsu and so has Amina, and Ko and Deborah are our assistant directors now. And Michael takes care of our website where we've lived for almost two years. And Ed is, anyway, I can go on and on. Ed is really helping in terms of looking for a new space to fully inhabit. And Hougetsu is a sewing teacher who helps people be ready to take, to receive their precepts. Anyway, everybody here is doing a lot. And that's how it works.

[46:58]

So there's nobody, you know, it's not a matter of hierarchy or something like that. It's that each one of us as Buddha is doing what we're doing and it changes. We take on different jobs at different times. So thank you. Yes, Alex, did you have a question? I did tell you, and thank you for the talk, you know, and I think in the Judeo-Christian tradition, you know, I think I've just always had a tendency to connect the precepts to sort of, you know, the Ten Commandments and a list of thou shalt not, but what I was thinking, too, is there's been sort of a widely published study in psychology today and elsewhere that vegetarians are more depressed and maybe anxious than meat eaters, and significantly so.

[48:16]

So I'm just wondering... I haven't heard that. I don't know. Anyway, go ahead. But you touched a little bit on your talk, and I'm a vegetarian and probably anxious and depressed, but you touched on a little bit of your thought and your talk about how can turning towards suffering but not becoming overwhelmed, do you have any comments on how to do that? It's challenging. I think it's easy to become overwhelmed. There's lots of levels of that. Just, um, you know, looking around at each of you, um, you're all doing a lot. I mean, I, I, I know something about each of you and you're all doing a lot.

[49:19]

Patrick, whose face we can't see, works for the Environmental Protection Agency. That's a huge benefit to all of us. It's easy to be overwhelmed. However, there's a kind of turning that can happen, a kind of pivot where we can feel that all of the challenges and all the work are also energizing. We don't always realize that. Realizing the precepts is in part seeing that. So, you know, one of my mantras these days is I can't do everything because there's so many things that there are to do everywhere. And yet, Sangha is about, we each are doing something, and somehow that makes a difference. And not only does it make a difference, it keeps Buddha alive. So, you know, I was talking about the importance of taking refuge in Buddha, but really, I think, for us, maybe that means taking refuge in Sangha.

[50:36]

How do we support and appreciate each other? So it's challenging and yet Sazen helps. Other comments or questions, anyone? I was intrigued by the three buddies that were together with the same teacher and then took took the teaching in three different directions. And I wonder what piece makes someone love ceremony, another piece loves just the zazen, and another more the scholarly pursuits. And if you just encounter one of the lineages, you think that that's the whole thing, as opposed to that's the filter through a particular teacher from a hundred years ago.

[51:40]

I was wondering if you had any reflections on that. Yeah, it's a really interesting thing. I mean, since I understood that aspect of 20th century Soto Zen in Japan, that there were these three. They're lineages, but they're not different schools, certainly. They're just different emphases. And all of them were involved with Zazen. All of them were involved with, you know, ceremonies in some ways, more or less. All of them were, you know, appreciating Dogen, so study was part of them. So it's a matter of emphasis. It's not so much difference, but it's, but it is, I think for me, it's been interesting to see, because I've, I've, I've practiced with teachers from all three of those emphases. There was Akihiko from, and Katagiri from Hashimoto, and Shohaku from,

[52:43]

Sawaki Kodo and of course all San Francisco Zen Center from so from Suzuki Roshi and Kishi Zawa in so but it's just it's just this interesting historical whatever that they all practiced together in this one practice period and then and then these three teachers were all really great teachers who, who inspired others to follow and in some ways carry these different emphases. So it's kind of subtle. And, you know, maybe, you know, there's 10 of us here, each of us has different aspects of the practice of zazen, of Buddha mind, that we might emphasize in our life. And that's great. That enriches the whole thing. But I think knowing about those three guys, Kishizawa Ian, and they were guys. There were women who were supporting them all along too, of course. But Kishizawa Ian, and Sawaki Kota Roshi, and Hashimoto Eiko Roshi.

[53:46]

Knowing about them, I think, I find helpful anyway. Other comments, responses, questions? We have time for another one, if anyone has something to add. Yeah, I was just gonna say, I just think sangha is so important, whether it's on Zoom or in person. And I thank all of you, I'm an outsider physically, but for me to have a virtual sangha with you means so much. It's a huge, huge foundational part of my practice. So I don't know if that's part of your emphasis today, but as you mentioned that each of these teachers came from a sangha, it came very alive to me that that is a huge body of people doing, as Jerry pointed out, all sorts of things. And for me, it's a deep point of gratitude.

[54:51]

So I just wanted to thank all of you. Letting these outsiders join you, thank you. No outside, no inside. We're all marginalized and we're all right in the center. So, you know, Debra and Ko are officially our assistant directors now. You have important positions in the Sangha. And Amina, I want to just appreciate that you are here. I mean, it was, you know, one of our founding members, like Kogetsu, and was on the board way back when. And so even within this, you know, whatever it is, 15 or so years of this sangha more, you know, we have this, this, this, this history, but it's all right here. So maybe we should do our closing four bodhisattva vows.

[56:02]

I just want to say one other thing, that I think it's going to be really challenging trying to figure out how to make Ebenezer Lutheran Church work for us. It was, you know, it was challenging at first at the Seneca, it was challenging at Irving Park at first too, but anyway, so this is, we're about to embark on an adventure together. So would you please lead us, Alex, in the four bodhisattva vows? Beings are numberless. I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless.

[57:05]

I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to realize it. Beings are numberless. I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to realize it. Beings are numberless. I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to realize it.

[58:00]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_90.98