I vow to chase the traitors out to target us first. What do you mean? Would somebody be willing to turn the lights down? You must be right. We don't have a lot of energy elsewhere. I don't know. Let's go. I wanted to talk to you about a few things. Bowing, sleepiness, restlessness, and service.

[01:08]

Did the chat work? Yeah. And hopefully we'll have a chance. I think the last talk I gave, we didn't have any discussion at the end, so hopefully we can talk a little bit and also do some chanting practice. Are the windows open? For you. Anyway, please feel free to open any windows across the floor. I was not scheduled to do the Dharma talk tonight, so I'm... Norman suggested... He said, just open Suzuki Roshi's book to any page and read it, think about it for a little bit, and then just put it out there and have people talk, and that's it. End early. Solid advice from the end.

[02:11]

Just wanted to say a little bit about service and bowing. I know for many people, they didn't... This was not what they came to Zen Center to do. Bow and chant and... Basically bow and chant. And we don't talk about it so much, you know, when you're first calling up maybe about Zen practice, and it's not really emphasized or described very much, and then you arrive and follow the line, everybody's doing something, and then all of a sudden the room drops to the floor and you sort of get down into... I remember being outside of Page Street, waiting at the bus stop, there was a bus stop, and looking in at the Buddha Hall, those of you who know what corner I'm talking about, and there's a big room full of people, and then all of a sudden they just disappeared. And then they all popped up again. I remember thinking that the other folks on the bus

[03:14]

must think this is crazy, they placed this house on the corner. Anyway, I want to read to you what Sugiroji says about bowing. There's a section in Zen Meditators' Land called Bowing. It's several pages long, but I just wanted to read part of it. Actually, there's so many good parts, but... After zazen, we bow to the floor nine times. I don't know if you all know that in Japan, correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who've been to Japan, they begin service with three bows usually, right? Is that true, Galen? But Sugiroji felt that Americans, Westerners, they didn't understand this practice, or he felt it would be very good for them to do more bows, so he had us do nine bows. And during Tokubetsu Sashin,

[04:18]

when we were going through what our service was, Tokubetsu Sashin was last spring, and we had a group of Japanese teachers here and American teachers. And the Japanese teachers said, Nine bows? Oh, nine bows. They were going to do it the way the green belt people did it. So Sugiroji says, After zazen, we bow to the floor nine times. What did we know? We just did what he said. By bowing, we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas. So there is no difference between zazen practice and bowing. Usually, to bow means to pay our respects to something which is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha, you should have no idea of Buddha. You just become one with Buddha. You are already Buddha himself. When you become one with Buddha,

[05:20]

one with everything that exists, you find the true meaning of being. When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship. At this one place, he says, you should be ready to bow even in the last moment of your life. Here it is. Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow even in your last moment. When you cannot do anything except bow, you should do it. When you cannot do anything And as I read this this evening, I was reminded of Suzy Clymer. And I don't know how many of you knew Suzy, but she was a resident here, lived at Tassajara, and had breast cancer. And over the years, it got worse and worse.

[06:23]

And she died here. It was September 13th. Two years? It's been two years now. Two years. September 13th. And I remember, she lived up on the hill in the trailer that Suki and Mick live in, and Martha was taking very good care of her, and a lot of us were visiting. And I remember when I came to visit, I think Martha said something like, she really would like to have you chant. She would love to hear some chanting. And so we chanted. I think it was Steve and me and the kids, we chanted. And she was lying there, really it was just, I think, maybe a day before she died. So she was, her energy was very, it was really attenuated, you know. It was just, and she couldn't do much but really just breathe. But at the end of the chanting, she blinked. And I think Martha said,

[07:25]

she thanks you or something. And I felt that blink as she was bowing to us, because she couldn't put her hands in gassho anymore or do anything really but lie there. But she was able to lower her eyelids. So that was, I really understood that as the bow, being ready to bow, even in the last moments of your life. So, bowing is a very physical practice, actually. As you know, some people really, it's really difficult to get all the way down, get that head all the way down there, and then get up, you know, without sort of tripping and losing your balance and hurting your knees. So, it's interesting. I think I owe this to Pat Phelan. In either a recent lecture,

[08:26]

Pat Phelan just received Dharma Transmission down at Tassajara from Mel. She is head of the Chapel Hill Zen group and was at Zen Center for years and years and at Tassajara. She was saying, try to hold a thought, you know, an intellectual thought, while you're doing full prostration. It's like you can't do it, you know. It's, your, your mind doesn't kind of, isn't able to do that kind of thinking, thinking, thinking. So, it's very physical and very unifying kind of event to go down totally. You know, it's very unusual to have our head down, down on the ground, humble, you know, living humble. There's a gospel song, which is, the words are, I'm living humble. I'm living humble.

[09:27]

And then it says, humble yourself, the bell done rung. So, I always think that the bells ring and you just, humble is close to the ground, you know, it means close to the ground. And we often don't get in that posture very much. So, it's very helpful for inflated egos and dualistic idea. You can't hold kind of dualistic thinking in this. So, one thing, I know that many people have difficulties with is thinking that you're bowing to something else, something higher than you or some deity or something like that. But, the figures on the altar, wisdom, Manjushri for wisdom, Shakyamuni Buddha for awakening, is your own, this is bowing to yourself, bowing to these, your own true nature. And so, you get a chance to do that every day and just

[10:27]

plunge yourself into the mouth, throat, you know, in the Bodhisattva ceremony we say, entering deeply the merciful ocean, that little verse and immersing body and mind deeply in the way. And I always feel like when we do the bow, we're entering deeply the merciful ocean. You can have that feeling of throwing yourself into your life, you know, entering deeply the merciful ocean of Buddhist way or immersing body and mind deeply in the way and you get to actually express that through this prostration. So, it's also helpful to exhale when you go down, you know, and inhale as you come up, it actually helps your balance. And to, in tea ceremony you practice this kind of getting up from Seiza, you know, and

[11:28]

you really put your consciousness in those feet, you know, and feel those feet on the floor as they balance you as you go up. There's a very physical kind of event and also lowering yourself down so you don't crash your knees to the floor and it's also less noisy in Zen though. If we don't have mats, you know, if you just have the floor, you can hear these knees all come down and crash. Now for babies who are learning to walk, the fact that they fall all the time helps their knees and legs grow, actually this kind of impact. It's very good for toddlers to do crashing down on their knees. But I think for adults you can hurt your knees so you want to take care of them. So those are a few remarks about bowing and you don't have to like it, you know. It's more just exploring this realm of bowing.

[12:31]

You get a chance every morning and evening and noon pretty soon for a practice period. And right before bed we also do bows. So all day long, full prostrations. So as I was thinking about bowing, sleepiness, restlessness, it sounded like the seven dwarves or something. Sneezy, dopey. Let's see, sleepiness, I've been noticing, and I think it's been hot, you know, it's been hot in the zen now in the evenings and people are tired after physical work, but it seems like there's a lot of, there's some sleepiness going on. And you don't carry the stick, which is a help to wake you up. And I know that for some people sleepiness actually means that they've actually gotten kind of comfortable in the zendo.

[13:35]

You know, when you first start sitting, I mean, you couldn't imagine falling asleep. It's just like, what, you know, I hope I don't do anything wrong. And so you're kind of tense. And I remember when I first started sitting at Page Street, I actually, it was the neighborhood, you know, there'd be things going on in the street. And I remember thinking, what's to stop somebody? I mean, this is the image. I'm sorry, but this is what it was. What's to stop somebody from just going down the line and kind of stabbing everybody? Who's going to stop them? You know, we're all sitting there facing the wall. So I was, I couldn't imagine falling asleep. So if you are finding that you're sleepy, I think that may mean that you actually are kind of comfortable in the zendo and with the people here and with your posture and the forms. And I think it's a phase of, after establishing your practice somewhat, that you can actually fall asleep. So in some ways, you can think about it positively. You know, the problem with it is

[14:39]

once you start getting in the habit of sleeping, it's a very hard habit to break. So for those of you for whom this is happening, the other part of sleepiness is that there may be some material, psychological or mental, emotional material that's coming up that is too much to face. And it's kind of like going unconscious. You know, if you can realize what thoughts came just before you got totally sleepy, that might help you to see what's going on or what you're averting from. So that might be something, for those of you who are getting sleepy, that might be something to look at. Let's see if there's anything else about sleepiness. The main ways to help yourself, I mean, you've probably heard this before, but to pull up really high,

[15:42]

the top part of your head, pushing up. You can open your eyes. You can concentrate on the breath up a little higher rather than down here. Maybe around your nose will sometimes bring you some wakefulness. Maybe doing a little stretching kind of a thing. But sometimes nothing helps at all. But trying to elongate your spine, there's a kind of slump that goes along with it. So to pull up can be helpful. And also, just the regular things, eat and drink moderately. So when we start having zazen after supper, it really, I think, if you have a great big dinner, it takes a lot of energy to digest food and the blood goes down and away from your brain so you can get sleepy if you eat a lot right before.

[16:45]

So eat and drink moderately, and also take naps, get enough sleep, don't stay up too late, all these things. It's like your life begins to revolve around what's the most beneficial for your sitting practice. And sleepiness is really affected, I've found, by food and just being overly tired. But if you take a little cat nap, it kind of takes the edge off. So I recommend cat naps. Highly recommend cat naps. Okay, so let's see. Dopey. Restlessness. Oh yeah, this movement. I mentioned last time about involuntary movement. So some of you, I think, I know some of you have a little bit of involuntary movement, kind of little movements, but also there's fidgeting and restlessness

[17:49]

that is more voluntary, actually. I actually feel like it's right on the cusp of voluntary-involuntary. So one thing about moving and zazen and kind of restless moving is that we have a kind of habitual, we can have a habitual response to certain thoughts or kind of feelings that come up, like you can't stand it, so you move. And that perpetuates a kind of habitual response to the world. And it's a visceral, it's a body, it's a visceral, habitual response to suchness, that which is arising for you. So if you can break that kind of, by staying still, by not moving, let me back up a little bit.

[18:49]

So if you have a habitual response, then it's very hard to actually realize that which is thus coming, because you're doing a pattern that you always do. So you get there first with your pattern and your habits. And it's visceral, meaning that kind of fidgeting feels like it's coming from the inside out. Nobody's making you scratch and move around and readjust and this, that and the other. Often there's not really terrible pain involved in it, it's the kind of, it's restlessness,

[19:51]

there's no rest there. So to perpetuate that habitual response makes it harder to actually see what's coming, what's moment after moment. So to sit still, this overall pervades this school, the devotion to immobile sitting, total devotion to immobile sitting is a characteristic of this school that's come down to us. So for those of you who are finding this... this kind of restlessness, it may feel like there's nothing you can do about it,

[20:58]

like it gets there before you do or something. Do you know what I mean? I don't know if I'm clear enough. But anyway, to actually decide to sit still, to sit as still as you possibly can, and, you know, we had flies, we opened the zendo, and to get some air, and all these flies came in. I don't know, I saw some people go like... And flies can be really a bother. But what I was reminded of, for those of you who've been to Tassajar, was Tangario, sitting Tangario with the flies, because in the fall there's a lot of flies. And there's nothing you can do about it. Even though we ran to the zendo, snapping towels, trying to chase them out the door and then slam the door, somehow it didn't really help. And they would... You know, those of you who were there,

[21:59]

they're the kind that go for your eyes, you know, the itty-bitty ones. They like these moist places around your mouth, and they would sort of dance, not dance, but, you know, climb across your eyelashes. So there you were, and... I was very inspired by the story of the Zen Master Shougaku, one of those first Zen Masters to come in the early 1900s or 1800s. He came on a ship, do you know this story? And he sat zazen on the ship's deck, and there were all these mosquitoes biting him, and there were all these red berries kind of stuck to him, and he just sat there. I found that very inspiring for some reason, especially with these flies. That's what I reminded myself of, is that Zen Master sitting there and just letting the mosquitoes do what they do, because otherwise you're just... You can't... You might as well give up. So anyway, there it is. We do have the capacity to sit there and let flies dance

[23:01]

and little itches come and go. Well, if you don't itch, you know, it has its... It arises, you know, gets stronger and stronger, has some duration, and then it goes. The itch, if you leave it alone, you know, you get to kind of be there for these kind of events. But if we're constantly going with our usual habit way... There's... We cut ourselves off from something, something fresh, you know, and some stillness. So... I guess that's what I want to say about the restlessness and fidgeting, and to encourage you to really try, really try to work with it in a fresh way,

[24:05]

and see what happens, really experiment. So is there anything anyone would like to add to that, or questions or comments about any of those bowing sleepiness and restlessness? When I first came here and started sitting Zazen, I would fidget a lot, and I remember feeling that it didn't really relieve anything. You know, I might as well just sit there, because it didn't relieve anything. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Did you hear what Chief Carol said? Yeah. Yeah. I think I read or heard Pat Phelan say that, it's interesting, she mentioned it to me,

[25:07]

that you could move to be, try to get more comfortable, but to do it consciously, but not just sort of fidgety, that there's a difference between just fidgeting and trying to find how you might want to change your posture. Yes, I think that's a good point. I actually am talking about restlessness and fidgeting, not feeling like something's going on, you really need to change your legs or readjust or something, because you're sciatic, and those kinds of things, those kinds of movements, that's no different from, I mean, that's like sitting still, you bow, you anchor yourself in your breath, and you're very conscious of bowing, you move your leg, readjust, and bow at the end of that, and back to zazen, there's no fidgeting,

[26:09]

that's not moving, that's just zazen mind. It's the kind of, it's the unconscious kind of fidgeting that has nothing to do with pain necessarily, or taking care of your body, it's different than that. So I'm not saying not to move, if you feel you must move, and take care of that very thoroughly. There was a hand right in there somewhere before. It was a scratch. Speaking of bows, I'll just take this opportunity to mention that when we bow to our seat, I mean, many of you have heard this, maybe some of you haven't,

[27:10]

because I've noticed that's not happening all the time, but if two people are sitting on either side of you, and you bow to your seat, these people bow along with you. They acknowledge that you've come to sit zazen, and if you're sitting there, and somebody comes, you just let go of your mudra, and you bow with them. And we also, in the morning, there's a morning greeting, either the abbot or the tanto, or sometimes the senior dharma teacher, usually abbot or tanto, walk around the zendo, basically saying good morning, here we all are, let's practice hard. That's the kind of feeling. And the shuso will do this for practice period. In the opposite direction, there'll be two people walking around, one following the other. And when you hear those footsteps behind you, you place your hands in gassho, which is saying good morning, really. And I feel it's just respecting each other's practice

[28:15]

and intention, deep. Deep intention to practice. Here we are, 5 in the morning, and you just say hello. So I just want to remind everybody that those two bows, when everyone's doing them, it creates a wonderful feeling in the zendo. To actually come to your seat and have the people not bow, it's like... it hurts almost. If you know the person is a guest or something and they've never heard of it, it doesn't matter. But kind of your fellow sangha members who you've been practicing with, sometimes they're asleep, and then they realize and they kind of go... But acknowledging that your dharma buddies are arriving, the sangha jewel is coming together in this room, and to pay your respects. And when you bow to your seat, it's like bowing to all the people who've ever practiced zazen, all the way back as far as all those people.

[29:18]

That's how I feel. You bow to them, and then these little guys next to you just bow right along with you. So I'd like to really ask everyone to try and remember that. Liz? This is about bowing and recognition of others. When someone across the zendo just turned around and bowed to their person, do you bow also across the zendo to your person? Well, way across the zendo? North and south? Yeah, sometimes some people do that, but when I had started doing that, I didn't know if it was appropriate. Yeah. Well, I think in this zendo, because it's such a wide space, we just do the people on either side, and also the perpendicular, you know, the entryway tan and the side tans, you don't bow sideways. You just bow with these people either next to you or maybe one down. If you can see them out of the corner of your eye,

[30:19]

then bow, you know, on either side of you. But I don't think you have to bow. Like when I face out, I sometimes bow to the person way across me, like I see Dick coming in as Tank, and I'll bow to him, or I did the other morning anyway. But I don't think you have to feel that's necessary. What about the people who are on the floor? I noticed some people on the tan bow if somebody comes in right in front of them on the floor. And they're taking their seat and kind of... Yeah, that's kind of close proximity. I would return that bow there, yeah. Any other thoughts, additions? Yes. I had a question about the zendo in the morning. I'm on a short tan now,

[31:20]

but it's all seemed... We're told to bow as the person passes behind you, but it kind of feels like the whole tan. Now, maybe that's not true of the long side tan, but it feels like sort of... The minute the person gets to the end of the tan, everybody's in gassho. Rather than as they pass behind you. I didn't know what was customary or expected. I think people anticipate. They see the shadow and they kind of get ready. So I think on the short tan, for all they have... That tan has the abbot's seat in there. If it's me, I bow to the abbot's seat. So there's some activity going on there and you kind of have a little extra moment there to anticipate. Some of the other people, as you make the turn, they get sort of surprised. So it sounds like if everybody's hands are going up at once, that sounds fine. But it is a kind of domino effect.

[32:26]

The hands go up and then they go down, all the way down. Yes? I actually have a request, and that is that you talk about when we have our seats set up in a certain way, that people not come in as they're going in, take your stuff and use it. Because if I don't have the little stuff that I have there, I've just been in pain the whole time. This comes up during Sasheen too. Everyone has their set up and it's just exactly right. And if you take away that little support cushion, which is three-quarters of an inch, and you have to get another one, it's wrong. Yes, the seats in the zendo that have name tags from the seating chart, those are often personal set-ups and zaafus and zaabotans.

[33:30]

So personal meaning custom-built, just right. So if you need extra zaafu, go out to the entryway. And also on Sundays, just to remind you, or if there's a one-day sitting like this Saturday, there's a one-day sitting with Ed Brown, take your stuff out because it will get rearranged. But for those of you who are just coming to the zendo, try to take your set-up from the entryway. And if you need help, if there's not the right stuff, talk with Jerry. So I wanted to say a few things. Oh, I don't want to cut anybody off. I wanted to talk about service and actually do a little chanting practice. I have another question. Yes. It's not really linked to this though. I was wondering about when we chant, Saving All Beings, I just wanted to hear about that.

[34:31]

What Saving All Beings means? Yes. Well, it's one of the Bodhisattva vows. And once we changed the translation for a while to I vow to, sentient beings are numberless, I vow to awaken with them, which everybody felt very comfortable with. They thought, yeah, I can vow to do that. But it's not actually the correct translation from the Sanskrit and Japanese and Chinese. It's always save. So we went back to save. And there's always problems about that. What does that mean to save all beings? So this is impossible. And that's, this is like an impossible vow. And so we make that vow because that touches our innermost way we want to live.

[35:36]

We don't want to have any limits really on who and how many we can. You say I'll save two people or I'll save, I can save ten. It's kind of limiting. It doesn't really expand your heart. So we actually say sentient beings are numberless and I vow to save them. And it's like beyond conception. It's beyond, it's inconceivable. And that's the vow. What does save mean? Save? Awaken. Awaken with. The only way you can save anybody is for them to awaken to the fact that they're already saved. Yes. If you would like to add a few more comments on chanting, I would appreciate that. Yeah, let's talk about chanting. Should we do that? The chanting that we happen to do in this zendo is kind of, what's the word, monotone.

[36:43]

Except for certain ceremonies where we do more melodic. In the morning the repentance is a Pali. The refuges that we take is a little more melodic. And it goes up and down very pretty, very beautiful actually. But the rest of the chanting really is more a one line rather than sing song. It stays like that. So chanting is zazen in action, you know. And I really miss doing a lot of the Japanese chants because they have. Oh, we should have brought a book with you. You don't have to worry about the words and what it all means and any of it. You just can stay with breath and posture. Watching your breath and posture, that's all. And keeping the beat and all. So our chanting, it's a kind of energy event. These are the things to really think about or meditate on for our chanting practices.

[37:48]

That you don't chant louder than anybody else. You want to be able to hear the people next to you and all around you. The kokugyo, the person who introduces the chant, starts out kind of loud and brings us into it. And then they fade off too. So you chant, we sing with our ears. So you should be able to hear all these voices and not drown other people out. I think that's very important for keeping the beat. Listening to the mokugyo, you know, the mokugyo. The people who do the mokugyo, they really do keep a steady beat. I don't think there's too much problem with our mokugyo hitters. But there's a tendency, if you're chanting too loud, to not be able to hear the beat and to march to your own beat and be off. And that will pull other people with you and cause trouble. So you really want to lower the volume. Oh, how nice. Thank you. Not lower the energy feeling.

[38:51]

You want to have a lot of energy, but volume and energy are different, actually. You can feel very concentrated and right with it and not be kind of blasting out your voice. So that's really important for the overall feeling. And the acoustics in this zendo are a little odd. Sometimes it's harder to hear, but if we're chanting right, it's just beautiful. It really fills the space and it will be nice in here when we chant tonight. So just some real basic things. When you have the sutra card, when you receive it, you make your hands into this little stand with these three fingers here. And then you've got your thumb and baby finger like this. That's the kind of sutra card holder mudra. And it's actually very convenient because it keeps the pages open. So that's how we hold the sutra card. And we hold it up, unless you can't see.

[39:52]

I know some people have to go like this. But basically you hold it up, sort of like your oreoki bowls. You don't bend down to eat. You keep your back straight and you bring the bowls up. Same with the sutra card. You keep your posture, because it's a posture just like everything else. It's posture and breath. So you keep your posture and then you raise up your card like that. The other thing is during some of the chants, or in between, we dedicate the chants to the long dedication to Shakyamuni Buddha and Bodhidharma and everybody. And there's a bell there and we go down. Now that bow is like this. You put your hands up and your bow is a fist's width away from your nose. That's the placement. Why doesn't everybody do gassho? Gassho is pressing your palms together so there's no air inside your fingers.

[40:53]

You can feel the warmth of all your fingers touching each other. And your thumb is in and touching too. It's not way, way out like that. And your elbows and arms are parallel to the ground. And it's your own fist's width away from your nose, whatever that is. Some are longer, have bigger fists, probably bigger noses too. So that's the gassho. And then when you go down for that bell, you keep that exact distance all the way down until your hands touch the ground and you hold it there. So what I see often is people go down and they kind of take a little snooze. Some people kind of play around with their eyebrows. So basically it's just go down and when your hands touch the ground, you just hold it there. And then you come right back up. Okay? So that's that bow that comes in between chants. Let's see what else of that vein. Oh, when you chant the Buddhas and Ancestors, this is one of these dedications.

[41:58]

We dedicate the merit and virtue of the chanting to Biba Shibutsu Dayo Sho. That's this dedication. And so your hands are in gassho for that whole thing. And if you've memorized it, you know, you hold your hands in gassho. And if you've got the sutra card, it's a little bit harder. You actually, it's kind of hard to hold it. But I suppose you could do that, but that might not be so good for the book. Well, maybe not. Anyway, if you can, remember if you know part of it, do it with your hands in gassho. Okay? Let's see, anything else, mudra-wise? Ma'am? I was going to ask if you talked about breathing. Breathing. Why don't you say something about breathing? Do you want me to say? I'm afraid of tearing. You're tired of tearing? Okay. Okay. So in the chants, you want to not take the breath when other people are taking breaths,

[43:00]

so there's not a big, you know. So why don't you say the point that you want to make? Well, the point I wanted to make is that you need to actually stop chanting in order to take time to breathe. So you actually don't try to keep chanting and do that. You actually stop chanting. So I'll put out the time to really inhale completely, and then as you chant, use your breath, exhale completely, and stop chanting. I often hear people chanting every single word, and then in between words, trying real fast to go up in air and then coming in late. Let's see, any other general remarks anyone would like to make? Yes? With this one, is the idea that all the words kind of run together? Because I heard different things about it. Like before, I thought I heard you say once, you're not really supposed to hold on to that O. That's right. Yeah. Let's say a few words about the names of the Buddhas and ancestors.

[44:03]

Do you want to look at that page a second from the end? So these are the seven Buddhas before Buddha, which are really six, because the Buddha is the seventh, down through Shakyamuni Buddha and Lakshapya and Ananda and all our friends and teachers, all the way through the Bodhidharma, and he goes to China. You can follow the whole history of Buddhism in this chant, all the way to Chogakushin Ryodayo Shogun Suzuki Roshi, who came to America. So this is kind of a historical chant in some ways. So the tendency is to drag the dayo shog, to go, bibashibutsu dayo shog, shikibutsu dayo shog, bishafubutsu. So in order not to do that, we say to make that dayo shog shorter

[45:06]

and go right into the next one. So it's more like, bibashibutsu dayo shog, shikibutsu dayo shog, bishafubutsu dayo shog. It never turns out exactly that way, because just going from an O to the next consonant, but if you have that in mind, you will help counteract the tendency to hold that shog, like that. So the pace is, we try not to drag it, and I think it can be too fast sometimes, but it's hardly ever too fast. I think we actually tend to get too slow more. And Galen was talking about being in a temple where at certain names they really slow down and say, really slow, Reiko? Yeah. So different temples, I think, have different ways of doing this lineage. But are there any names that you don't know how to pronounce?

[46:12]

You've been wondering about how to pronounce them? Anybody? Butsudanandai. So the way the vowels are the same as for Italian or Spanish, and when there's a long mark, like kuna, gon, muni, butsu, you hold it a little bit, shona, washu, dayo, sho, uba, kikuta. Otherwise, everything gets its own beat. Some of the strange ones are to-su-gi-se. Instead of to-su-gi-se, it's to-su-gi-se. It's got a line over it, so that'll tell you. To-su-gi-se. To-su-gi-se. You know, perhaps to-su-gi-se? Gi-se. Gi-se. S-E-I is se, se. Just like dai, those are diphthongs that you slide.

[47:12]

E-I is ei, and A-I is ai. Dai, dai. So the E's are usually A sounds in Spanish. The last two lines. The last two lines are the whole thing? Yeah. Okay. So let's see, we've got ko-sen, bai-do, dayo, sho, gya-tsu-shi-tsu. This one. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun. Okay. Why don't we all try that one? Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun. And then, dayo-sho, bu-tsu-mon-so-gaku. Oops, let's see. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun, dayo-sho, bu-tsu-mon-so-gaku, bu-tsu-mon-so-gaku. Dayo-sho, gya-ku-jun, so-an, dayo-sho, gya-ku-jun. Gyo-ku-jun.

[48:12]

Gyo-ku-jun, gyo-ku-jun, so-an. It's actually so-an. So-an, so-an, but we tend to say an like in English. Gyo-ku-jun, so-an, but we say so-an. Let's say so-an. Gyo-ku-jun, so-an, dayo-sho. Gyo-ku-jun, so-an, dayo-sho. Gyo-ku-jun, so-an, dayo-sho. Those are really mouthfuls. Gya-tsu-shi-tsu-so-jun, you really have to get a lot in there in one couple beats there. Any other ones you've been wondering about? Is it en-jo-gi-kan or ji-kan? Where are we now? It's the fourth line from the bottom. One, two, three, four, first one. The first one. En-jo-gi-kan. En-jo-gi-kan. The G's are hard. Gi. Gi-kan. Gi-kan. And if it's a J, then it's the song. Okay. En-jo-gi-kan. Because I knew it was like up there, te-tsu-gi-kai.

[49:14]

Yeah. A lot of times when I hear it, en-jo-gi-kan, I thought I was hearing ji-kan and I wasn't sure if it was different for some reason. Uh-huh. The G's are all hard G's. Gi-kan. Gi-kan. En-jo-gi-kan. Also, since we're doing the Japanese pronunciation, we actually say sha-ka-mo-ni. Sha-ka. Rather than sha-kya. Ya. Sha-ka. All the sha-ka-mo-nis. Also in some other thing that we do in Japanese where we say sha-ka. And the same with bo-da-yi-da-ru-ma. Instead of bo-di-da, we say bo-da-yi-da-ru-ma. That's the Japanese pronunciation. Sha-ka-mo-ni. Sha-ka. Okay. Let's, um, let's see what else. There's one other little one. Yes. Which is about the double consonances. Yes.

[50:16]

When there are two together. Let's see. For example. Ku-nyo-mi-ta-da-yo-sho. Yeah, the double T's. Ku-nyo-mi-ta-da-yo-sho. That's the same as in Italian also. Pizza. Pizza. Mi-ta. It's a double, when you do the double consonant. And the N's, usually when we learn to do the chanting, you hold the N's in the N's, and it sounds very pretty. So, um. Han-ya-ta-ra. Ten-do. Han-ya-ta-ra. Han-ya-ta-ra-da-yo-sho. So if everyone's doing that, rather than han-ya-ta-ra, han might have a kind of hum there that's very nice. Let's see, are there any other ones? Sa-ka. Sa-ka or sa-cha. Sa-cha. Sa-cha. Is it sa-cha? Sort of in the middle, a little bit down in the middle. Right on the left there. Very much so. Sa-cho. Sa-cho-chi-ka. Say that. The E's are all A's.

[51:18]

Sounding in Japanese. Sa-cho-chi-ka. Chi-ka. Okay. Anything else about this one? So this chant, you know, tends to be the one that kind of falls apart a little bit. So I think it's good to spend some time on it. And we'll chant it in a minute. How are we doing for time? Not so good. Okay, let's just go through. If you would turn to the first page, Great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra. That one, we're now doing it with the mokugyo, so you just keep with the beat. We used to, for a while, did it without the mokugyo, and we had to kind of freeze, have some freezings. So I think it's easier now. But we usually do the Heart Sutra at least once a day or more. So on the next page is the Mata Hanya Hara Ritashiyo,

[52:22]

which is the Heart Sutra in Japanese. Let's see, anything about that? I have a question about the one in English. Yes. It's the end one. It says, you know, Is it... I've heard it is... The ga-te is not two beats, but one beat. Ga-te, ga-te. Well, now that we're doing it with the mokugyo, for a while we stopped and tried to do the mantra. The mantras really have their own... They're not just... It's ga-te, ga-te, para-ga-te, para-sam-ga-te, bodhisattva. But now we just do it with the beat. Ga-te, ga-te, para-ga-te, like that. But if you were maybe chanting this on your own, you'd do it a little differently, and maybe a little faster even. Ga-te, ga-te, para-ga-te, para-sam-ga-te, bodhisattva.

[53:28]

Okay. So this is the Heart Sutra in Japanese, the Shingyo. I don't know what to say about that. The double... So each one gets a beat. So it's a double syllable, so you kind of speed up. Double time there for those. Each word gets a beat. Instead of... Okay, the next one is Shosanyo Kichijo Dorami. These are the spells. This is the dorami for removing hindrance. We do this at various times. We do it three times over. And I just wanted to mention something. It's no-mo-sam-man-da-mo-to-nan-o-ho. There's something people always say. Chi-shu, chi-shu-ri, chi, chi-shu.

[54:36]

I hear something else sometimes. Shi-fu-ra, chi-shu, chi-shu-ri. Oh, I know. Anyway, I think that one's pretty good. It's the kanze-on. This on people read as on, kanze-on. And I don't mind it as much in that other chant, when we say whatever that person wants. So-on. Gyoku-jutsu, I mean, gyoku-jutsu, so-on. It should probably be so-on. But anyway, for kanze-on, I really feel it should be kanze-on. Her name is kanze-on. That's Kwan-yin or... Her name is kanze-on instead of kanze-an. So if you can remember that that on is not English. It's an on. Kanze-on. Okay? Na-mu-tsu-yo-tsu. Cho-nen-kanze-on. Yeah, we say it a lot in here. I hear that on. Cho-nen-kanze-an, bo-nen-kanze-an. It really... It's just a mispronunciation of the name itself,

[55:39]

so it's a little bit harder to hear for me. So, kanze-on. Okay. Then, Merging of Difference and Unity. That's the Sando-kai. We'll be chanting that this morning. Sando-kai, I was hoping in practice period we might do this more often, Sando-kai in Japanese, so we get more familiar with it. Because it's a beautiful chant. It's a poem. The whole thing's a poem. Japanese poem. And it has a wonderful rhythm to it. Any questions about the Sando-kai? I don't know whether it's just because we don't do it very much. It feels very difficult. It's difficult, yeah. Well, for this one, all the ones with the lines above get two beats. So, you know, you can almost tap it out of your mind. And each syllable gets a beat. Chi-ku-do-dai-sen-no-shin-to-zai-mitsu-ni-ai. So each one of those lines gets a double.

[56:41]

And if you... Sometimes we're going... Anyway, you can't keep... One can't keep that in mind. But that will help you with what to hold and what not. All the lines get two beats. I-chi-i-chi-no-ho-mi-o-te. Okay. N-E-S-S-H-I, how is that pronounced? N-E-S-S-H-I, where are we? Sort of middle. Hi-wa... N-E-S-S-H-I. Hi-wa-ne-shi. So the ne-shi. Ne-shi. So the ne gets two and the shi gets one. So hi and wa each get one. Hi-wa-ne-shi. Like that. Tracy, no more sentences? Yeah. So the Kichijo Durrani chant was for removing hindrance and the Enmei Juku is for protecting life?

[57:44]

Yes. Okay. We do the Shosan-yo, for example, after a wedding. That's the final chant that kind of seals the ceremony. Which one? The Shosan-yo Kichijo Durrani is chanted at the end of weddings to kind of remove hindrance and just clear the space for and promote that, what's just happened. And the Enmei Juku, you know, we do for people who are sick, you know, we do that one and protection. So that's done at different times. They're slightly different. The Enmei Juku Kano and Gyo is a sutra, actually. Gyo is a sutra, whereas the Durrani is a spell. And the Durrani's, the Daishin Durrani is the Durrani of great compassion and they're almost untranslatable. The words are more like mantra rather than like actual translations. So we don't ever chant the Daishin Durrani in English.

[58:47]

We keep it as just the pure sounds. Okay, so it sounded okay. I was just going to point out a couple of things like Ata Ate, right in the middle. Where is this? Son No Go O Mo Chi U Me Tu Mi Ata Ate It's that double T in there. So it's Mi Ata Ate An Ari An So it's a little hard there. Mi Ata Ate I have one question. Yes. It's eight lines from the bottom of the Sanda. Uh huh. G-A-I-N-G-A-S Gai and Ga is that? Eight lines from the bottom? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Six, I'm sorry, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Okay, G-A-I-N-G-A-S Beshi Ji Son Su Re Ba Kan G-A-I-N-G-A-S-H-I

[59:51]

The S, it goes that, it's not gas. It's G-A-S-H-I It's like a double S there. G-A-S-H-I-R-I-O So that looks weird, doesn't it? G-A-S-H-I It might have been better to keep that as one word. But it probably isn't one word. I don't know what it is in Japanese. Why don't we chant that line? Beshi Ji Son Su Re Ba Kan G-A-I-N-G-A-S-H-I-R-I-O Su Re Ba Sen Po Sa So Ko To We'll chant that too. Let's just try to get through this. Song of the Jewel Mir Samadhi is Hokyo Zanmai, we don't do it in Japanese anymore. It's very beautiful. Also, a poem. You know, one of these songs, you know, doing them in the original is great. Fukan Zazengi I think the problem that happens with Fukan Zazengi is our voices begin to go lower and lower and lower

[60:52]

and kind of drag. And somebody often will kind of bring it up and go up an octave or something and then we tend to go down. So if you can keep the energy up and the voice up a little higher, that might help. It gets pretty low. Also, you know, the way it's developed, there are periods and sentences in a sutra book. Yeah, the chanting really should just wrap around, just keep going. Although there is some phrase and you can't help it, you know, but more try to just keep chanting. Same with Genjo Koan. Very long, so you've got to get, you've got to really bring your energy to it. Self-receiving and self-employing awareness we aren't doing right now. We might do it at a practice period. We'll see. Meda Sutra Is there a reason for that? I think it's just, Rev was doing it for noon service during practice period and Norman was doing Meda Sutra so we'll just see. Meda Sutra we do three times in a row,

[61:52]

don't forget. And then the names of the Buddhas and Daishinderani. Okay. So what should we chant here? Can we chant the Shingyo and go right from there into, let's see, it's late. It's 8.30 right now. What would you like to chant? What would be a good thing to chant? I think names of the Buddhas for sure but other than that, what would you like to chant for practice? What, what? The refuges? I've never, I've never done it before. Buddha of Suriname, those guys? Oh. Yeah. What, we could do the refuges? Dharma. What, what? Dharma. Dharma. Are they posted? Yeah.

[62:53]

Are they in here? They're not in here. I hear people saying Dharma. Yeah, Dharma. Let's wait on the refuges. They're posted and you kind of, yeah. We have more copies too. Yeah. So people can get a copy from Katie if they want one they can keep. Yeah, good. So let's, would someone like to introduce the Heart Sutra and then go right from there into Sandokais? How about that? Should we do that? And then, and then Vibhashibutsus and Dedicate the Merit with all Buddhist ten directions? How about that? Would you like to do the Mokugyo? You'd like to do the Mokugyo? Okay. Who's volunteering to Mokugyo? Any Mokugyos here in the, in the,

[63:54]

may I? Okay. So let's do this thing where we listen to each other and also I just wanted to mention one thing. The, the, there's a kind of like strata of, or river of flowing sound and almost on top of that you form the syllables rather than chopping it separately. So there's a kind of flow that goes along and the, and you form with your musculature, you know, and mouth and lips and everything you form these words but there's a kind of flow that's going on that rather than chopping each one. Just try that and see if you get a feel for that. So should we try to pick up the pace a little? We can pick up, yeah, that's the other thing that there's a tendency to drag so let's try to keep a good pace. David, you can not too hurried but

[64:56]

yeah. How to do it in English? I was thinking of Japanese, yeah. How to do it in Japanese? So can I be bashi butsu? So let's hold our super cards. Okay. Okay.

[66:16]

Okay. Okay. I think it's a very important thing

[67:35]

and I think you just did it too is to carry out that last syllable, whatever it is on any chat that we do so it's like a wisp of incense smoke just going off and evaporating out. Everybody just carry it way out and the Kokyo will come in right on top of that so there's this constant sound, okay? So everybody do that, just let it fade into the distance. Okay. Okay, let's do the gyate gyate. Gyate. Gyate, gyate, hara, gyate, hara, so, gyate, pochi, sawaka, anya, shingyo, san, no, ka, i, [...] ti, u, ra, sen, no, shin, no, sa, hi, tsu, ni, ai, kutsu, ni, ko, mi,

[68:35]

yo, na, re, yo, ni, na, boku, na, sun, na, shi, rei, gen, Jutsu shi ima to shitsu sou o koto ni Shishou o to raku o koto ni Suwan wa jojuu no koto ni kanae Me wa seitaku no ku o wakatsu Shidai no shou o nosu kara Fukusu kono sono ha ha Oburu ga koto shi wa ne

[69:38]

Shikase wa dou yo Mizu wa uru o rechi wa kengo Mana ku wa iru imi wa honjou Mana wa kashita wa kansou Shina o ichi ichi no hou ni Oe rei o te abun musu Hon wa susube karakushu Nikisube shisou Hisa no go o mochiyu Rei shu ni atate ya nari ya Sou omote o koto naka rei ya Shu ni atate rei ya rei Sou omote iru koto naka rei ya Mono mono wa itai shite Hisu no nisen go o ayumi no Koto shi wa motsu o nosu kara

[70:40]

Go wa rei wa sami yo Otosho to yure shi ni sou Su rei wa kanga e ga shiri yo Su rei wa sen no sasou Koto o ukete wasubeta rakushu Oe shime shi mitsu kara Kikubori suru koto naka rei Tsukumo kudou Weste sun wa ashi o hako Kumo ni tsukumu Sou nishi o shiran Ayumi susubu Rei wa kono Shia wa suma yo Tetsu zen ga Kougei asu shinde Sangen no hito ni mosu Doko ni munashiku wa taru koto naka rei We corrected them once, but they didn't like it.

[72:05]

Really? Does anybody have a pen? No. You've got a pen? I'd like those of you who don't have that o to put in a little o. Ayumi o... Just put a little caret and an o, okay? Third line from the bottom, it should say Ayumi o susumu reiba. Actually, do we know which is correct? The o is correct. Yeah, the o definitely is correct. The line? Let's see. Ayumi o susu... Is this a line? Let's see. Kuzo mitsu yo shiran Ayumi o susu... No, just o susu, just plain. Ayumi o susu. Okay. Okay, it's late, folks. We've got to get up early. So let's do... Can you dedicate that and... We dedicate this merit and virtue to... We dedicate this merit and virtue to...

[73:49]

We dedicate this merit and virtue to... [...] Kusho-ryu-ryo-ryo-ryo

[75:57]

Bugai-he-ryo-ryo-ryo-ryo Nenshitsu-ryo-kaku-ryo-ryo Sessho-ho-suki-ryo-ryo Tai-se-sho-ryo-ryo Nanpo-gen-taku-ryo-ryo Zoden-ryo-ko-ryo-ryo Ten-ryu-so-wen-ryo-ryo Ken-ran-jun-san-ryo-ryo Shokoku-go-wen-ryo-ryo Senshu-don-go-ryo-ryo Furen-gen-to-tsu-ryo-ryo Daishun-kan-ryu-ryo-ryo Ten-ren-kan-chu-ryo-ryo Sasan-tetsu-zen-ryo-ryo Futsan-shun-i-ryo-ryo Jisan-mo-hu-en-ryo-ryo Sen-gan-mo-ryu-ryo-ryo Daikin-yo-kan-ryo-ryo Enjo-ji-kan-ryo-ryo Shou-wan-ho-su-ri-ryo-ryo Shi-san-to-ku-chu-ryo-ryo Nan-so-shin-chu-ryo-ryo Kan-kai-to-go-wan-ryo

[76:59]

Kousen-mai-ro-ryo-ryo Yakushi-tsu-so-shin-ryo-ryo Butsu-wan-so-ga-gyo-ryo-ryo Gyo-ku-shin-so-wan-ryo Shou-ga-ku-shin-ryo-ryo-ryo So, let's dedicate the merit of this evening. And this can be the end of the lecture. We'll do May Our Intention and the Four Vows. Actually, let's do All Buddha's Ten Directions to finish. And the All Buddha's Ten Directions also can tend to drag, so we want to try to do each line on a breath and see how that is. All Buddha... Excuse me, just see if that first line, All Buddha's Ten Directions, three times, can be one breath. Is it wrong to hold it throughout the whole thing? To keep all the way? Is it wrong?

[78:00]

I think there is a breath there and the bell comes in. And then, yeah. But if you want to hold it all the way, it's probably not going to be terrible. But I think to have it be one line, everybody, and then we all come in together on the next one. Let's see if we can do that. All Buddha's Ten Directions, three times, all beings, all beings of us, all beings of us, wisdom beyond wisdom, all Prajna Paramita. Thank you very much. I'm sorry it went so late. By the way, tomorrow morning we have a special service to Bodhidharma,

[79:07]

and I hope everybody can be there to attend. We'll be chanting the Heart Sutra in Japanese, and the Dahi Shindirani, and there's surprises for everybody. Could someone help us by bringing these back to the Zen? Morning service, morning service. Thank you. Here's somebody. Yes. Here's somebody.

[79:34]

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