Good evening, so I want to talk about traditional teachings tonight. Would it work. And the ancestors. So, I want to talk about them from teachings by Hongzhi Zhongshui, who was a Chinese teacher, a century before Dogen. And this is from, this is from a book I did called Cultivating the Ancestry at Sun Tzu School. I have a few excerpts, but about the Buddha what. It says, birth and death, originally have no root or stem, appearing and disappearing, originally have no defining signs or traces.

[01:08]

The primal light, empty and effective, illumines the heads up, the primal wisdom, silence, but also learnings, response to conditions. When you reach the truth, without middle or edge, cutting off before and after then, you realize one moment. Everywhere, sense faculties and objects, both just happen. The one who sticks out his broad, long tongue. That's a way of describing the Buddha. The one who sticks out his broad, long tongue transmits the inexhaustible lamp, radiates the great light, and performs the great Buddha work. From the first, not borrowed from others, one Adam from outside the Dharma. This Buddha work is.

[02:10]

Yeah, so the Buddha work. This is what we're all doing. This is what Zazen is. This is what the various practices we do in the world all the time. That's what this is. We're doing the Buddha work. How do we do the Buddha work? Well, that's the question that we live with as practitioners. How do we do the work? How do we do the work that helps awaken all beings? That expresses kindness. And listening and uprightness and all the qualities of Buddha and Zazen. So, this teaching of the Buddha work that Hongxia refers to, that passage, is also important for Dogen. 100 years later, can we be a little bit strong? This is from Bendo Wa.

[03:13]

So, I guess it has been finally teaching about, especially more about Fukan Zazen, which is one of the early teachings of Dogen about Zazen. I would say Bendo Wa is Dogen's expression of the meaning of Zazen, particularly this one section. When you sometimes chant Kochi Jiyu, Samae in Japanese, or self-fulfilling Samadhi, self-experiencing a little bit of this as it relates to the Buddha work, when one displays the Buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this Samadhi, in this meditation, even for a short time, Dogen says, everything in the entire normal world becomes Buddha mudra, becomes the gesture and the posture of Buddha, and all space in the universe completely becomes awakened. This is not how we usually think about anything. How is it that just during this sitting and Buddha like this, even for a little while,

[04:16]

how can that lead to all space awakening? A little later, in the same section, the Zazen person, without fail, drops off body and mind, cuts away previous sentient views and thoughts, awakening genuine Buddha dharma, universally helps the Buddha work. In each place, there are numerous items where Buddha Tathagata teaches and practices, and widely influences practitioners who are going beyond Buddha, thereby vigorously exalting the dharma that goes beyond Buddha. At this time, because earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in ten directions carry out Buddha work, therefore, everyone receives the benefit of this. So, all are imperceptibly helped by the wondrous and incomprehensible influence of Buddha to actualize the awakening of man.

[05:19]

So, carrying out the Buddha work, Zazen is carrying out the Buddha work, our expression of the practices of generosity and ethics and patience and effort and meditative stillness, and expressing the Buddha work, sharing the Buddha work, carrying out the Buddha work. There's another phrase in that passage which is important for Dalai Lama, he talks about going beyond Buddha. So, our practice is not to get to some other place other than Buddha. Buddha is already here. You don't necessarily feel it on your belief, but it's okay. On your seat, right now, for the first time, you sit down and feel the omens of Zazen.

[06:20]

Buddha is here. But then how do we carry out, how do we perform the Buddha work? So, this is not something, this is our Zazen practice of just being upright and present, paying attention and breathing and feeling the ground under us. And of course, it's also the Buddha work that we get up, Buddha work, interact with families, friends, neighbors. How do we express Buddha? And this isn't something that there's some formula for. This is something that's deeper than that. How to perform the Buddha work, that's our job. But it's also our joy. How do we express this presence?

[07:22]

The presence is just feeling the Zazen. How does it take care of the Buddha works? So, quite a van is gone. Studying is gone. Studying old teachings and new teachings. But if it is Zazen, how do we take care of Zazen to do this? We practice together. So, this is all challenging. How do we take care of Zazen? This is performing the Buddha work. I don't want to have some discussion about how we see the Buddha work. But I want to talk about this other aspect, this other practice, so we're teaching the Monja, Manjushri Monja. So, Manjushri, we chanted the song of the grass, another one of our ancestors, Chitra, who lived in the 700s. So, this is this tradition, this teaching tradition,

[08:26]

that Dogen expressed so wonderfully, what Shinri Suzuki, what she expressed so wonderfully, goes way back. We have many teachers and practitioners in every generation. We kept it alive so that we could be this now. So, another passage about, this is about the ancestors, from Monja. Return to the source and serve the ancestors. Those who produced the sentence are called ancestors. But the stream of versions is called the source. We can see that in Shakyamuni's Buddha's path of India. We can see that as just, he came, back to see the source,

[09:28]

as well as wants and feels, and presence. So, this idea of the source and presence. Important and, it's a little ambiguous, a little bit difficult. Anyway, Monja says then, after beholding the source and recognizing the ancestors, before your awareness can disperse, be steadfast and do not follow birth and death, or past and vision. If you do not succumb, then all the end will show the whole picture. Wake up and return to ground, roots, and the dusts are clearly cast off. Although empty of desires, with deliberations cut off, transcendent comprehension is not all sealed up. Perfect by understanding is carefree amid 10,000 images that cannot be confused. Within each dust mound,

[10:31]

within each situation, aspect of everything we interact with. Within each dust mound is vast abundance and 100,000 semantics, repetitions. All gates of majestic, all dharmas are fulfilled. Still, you must gather them together or bring them within to reach the time on earth, return to the source, and serve the ancestors. Drawing together is the end, so you don't want to just let them go on. So, our practice is to join the ancestors. And there's lots of ways to think about this. Of course, sometimes, we chant the lineage of ancestors. It was our tradition from Chakramuri to Bodhidharma to six ancestors later, to Dogen, to Suzuki Roshi, and to us.

[11:33]

So, there's this particular lineage. But, in each generation, there were many people who were keeping this alive. So, I think we practice this a bit in this strange 25th century. We also have a list of women ancestors, because even though in the patriarchal cultures of Asia, they recognized the ancestors as the ancestors. There were some women teachers who repainted ancestors in their own names. But anyway, there were always women as well as men practicing keeping it alive. This idea of ancestors is very rich. So, we have our Zen lineage of ancestors. But, we also have genetic ancestors, cultural ancestors. So,

[12:39]

sometimes asked, how many people know something about you, any of your great-grandparents? So, all I said, you know something about any of your great-grandparents? Yeah, a few people understand. Some people didn't. But, I think in our post-Slovenian world, you might all agree. Even if you don't know anything about your great-grandparents, they're part of who you are. And, we also have many cultural ancestors. So, if you like music, there are many great ancestors, musician ancestors. If you like literature, there are many great writer ancestors. If you like martial arts or athletics, there are many ancestors. In each tradition,

[13:40]

for the psychologists here, there are many ancestors in the study of the mind. So, how do we serve the ancestors? How do we take care of that which we have perceived? How do we express that in our lives, in our practice? So, there's another section, in motion, that withstands this a little bit. Fully appreciate the emptiness of all darkness. Then, all minds are free, and all dust dissipates in the fundamental brilliance, shining everywhere, transforming according to circumstances. Meet all beings as your ancestors. I'll come back to that,

[14:43]

but I'll say it's the best. Subtly, eliminate all conditions. Man, one of us, beyond all duality, clear and desireless, the wind and tides, and moon and water, are content in their elements. Without minds interacting, wind and tides, or moon and water, do not compete one another. Essentially, you exist inside emptiness, and have the capacity to respond outwardly, without being ignored. When experience loss, and what the mirror reflected, forms, and then all the noise, spontaneously, emerges in a single breath. So, it's obviously very poetic. I could use that whole thing again, if anybody wants, but it's very delicious. It's the best. Okay, I'll read the whole passage again, but the key phrase, from the psalmist, meet all beings as your ancestors. There's something in that verse,

[15:45]

that is, that every person you meet, was in some past life, your mother, gave birth to you. This is, well wait, meet all beings as your ancestors. Everyone you meet, even the people who, are difficult, and there are difficulties, but are to your ancestors, and are, supporting you. So, I'll read that, that whole passage again, but, fully appreciating, emptiness of all darkness, fully appreciating emptiness of all darkness, that all minds are free, and all dust, dissipate, from the original, ground, and fundamental glory, that's shining everywhere. Transforming, according to circumstances. Meet all beings as your ancestors. Subtly eliminate all convictions, and at times, the argo devours it. The air and desire, lives the wind and the pines, and the moon and the water, are content in their, balance.

[16:46]

And that outlines a directive, man, that pines, or moon and water, do not invade one another. So don't just start poetic, this is wonderful nature. Essentially, you exist, inside of those, and have the capacity, to respond out of them, without being, ignored, like spring, blossoms, with a mellow, reflective form, with all the noise, almost like you're just, hearing, thoughts tonight, and with all the noise, spontaneously emerge, like a draft, from a signal. So, this, sense of doing the Buddha work, has a lot to do with, serving the ancestors, appreciating the ancestors, taking care of the ancestors. This isn't just, Chinese, constitutional,

[17:47]

ancestor worship. This is about, all the causes and conditions, that, the Buddha was. Another way, to think about this, is a poem called, Meeting the Ancestors of the Future. Meeting the Ancestors of the Future. So right now, we're here in, only three, I've been watching, all this time travel. It's nice that she chose such, it's been confused, but, you know, we're not, practicing, worship just for ourselves. This isn't a self-help practice, worshiping all that we each benefit from, practice. We're from the dark, so. But the point of our practice, is not to, you know, I don't know what, get a better job,

[18:48]

better grades. We practice for each other. And, we practice for each other. We practice for all beings, and Mahayana, Bodhisattva ways, universal religion. So our practice, here, is not just for, all of us here, although it is for all of us here, we each benefit each other, just as we, sit here together, breathe the same air. But also, we are practicing for, people in Lincoln Square, 100 years from now. And so that we can have, that they will have a place to, find this practice. We're practicing for people, walking by on, Lawrence Avenue, 500 years from now. Whatever that will be, 500 years from now. We practice for, beings in many times.

[19:52]

So, those beings, 100 years from now, or 200 years from now, are looking back at us. In some sense, they are our ancestors. They, are, looking back, and encouraging us. Do what you can, to take care of it. Do what you can, to do what you can to, find peace and avoid war. They're concerned. They're having a hard time. We know now, that they will be having a hard time. But there'll be somebody here. How are we practicing, for, ancient dragons in the, 50 years from now, 20 years from now. 170 years from now. For your grandchildren's grandchildren, or,

[20:55]

you don't have children, for, grandchildren's children, never children's grandchildren. How are we taking care of the world? So, serving the ancestors, is, doing the good work, in all space, in all time. So, just to add a little bit, there's an issue in, American Zen, now that, goes back to both sides of this. Performing the Buddha work. When one person sits, all space awakens. This sense that, the first time, is that Zazen, whether you,

[21:56]

conceived of it this way or not. That was it. Of course, a practice develops, practice deepens, more. Practice of generosity, deepens and opens up, a practice of skillful means, a practice of patience, and so forth. But in some ways, just to, take this position, is to do the Buddha work. The other side is, respecting the ancestors. You know, this, I've been inclined to study Dharma, so, to, study some of the teachings of, Sixth Ancestor, or, Nagarjuna,

[22:58]

or, Dongen, or, Suzuki Roshu. They nourish our practice. So, we look back and, respect, and our functions as serving ancestors. But, practically speaking, in terms of American Zen, there's a tension there. How do we recognize that each, Sangha member is good? How do we listen to everyone? And also, how do we respect experience, and, training, and, practice experience, and that, the ancestors have, given us something. So, practically speaking, Zen communities, the tension there is between, you know,

[23:59]

in America now, we've sort of had this, idea of democracy. We've never really had, one person, one vote, but we've had the idea, of each person. So, when we make decisions, should we just have everybody, in the Sangha vote, and that decides it? Or do we respect, the ancestors? Do we respect, the experience, of, practice, teaching? Many people in this room, have practiced, long and hard, really practiced, the difficult. That is, what's, so, you know, in traditionals, in Japan, Americans, you know, the Abbot, the teacher, had this great authority. And then the Lord, first came to San Francisco,

[25:00]

and said, make your own sheep. We decide, you know, there were no, buildings. It was up to him, to decide what color, came true. But still, how do we respect, authority, and at the same time, respect, each person's, each being? So it's a question, for us. And this has to do with, how do we serve, the ancestors? And how do we perform, with the New World Code? So maybe I've said enough. I'm interested, in your comments, questions, and responses. If you're online, or if you're here, but there's something, that's very very useful. So far people, online... I'm sorry if, you can't see peação. It's been a little difficult, this since Nicolas. I was having a 어떻lé association,

[26:04]

with you Tom. I don't find so much. I'm just really, the truth in what you were saying, it fills it very deeply. You know, they're saying there's no crying in baseball, but there is crying in Zen. So, thank you for, yeah, saying that. Yeah. You know, ancestors, I'm lucky because my grandmother's people documented their ancestors very well. They were abolitionists in southern Indiana, and they ran the Underground Railroad. And we have these great stories, like one ancestor, she chased the slave captain out of the house with an ax one time.

[27:10]

And she was fierce. And another ancestor just would not buy products that were made by slavery. So, he had to ride his horse, you know, many, many, many miles away. And the train came back one time, and it was frozen. So, the horse, you know, so sad. I mean, it's like chicken maha. And some other people were kidnapped by Indians, and it's just great to have these. They're really charming, three years later. So, as I say, you know, no self, no problem. And I've been thinking about that a lot. And I think, for me, the blue work is really seeing that it's truly, emptiness is a real thing.

[28:13]

It's not a thing exactly. It's just, it's not like some weird theory. It's like, it's just reality, right? Reality. Yeah. And so, what I have left is my conditioning. My kind of genetic conditioning, all my conditions, all my reactivity. And so, for me, that's what I can do to the people, community, family, friends, world, city, whatever, is let go. Let go of fear. Let go of, you know, delusion. Let go of cheating, greed, coward, solid things. That seems to me to be the word. And then it plays out in different places. Here, home, work, where I work.

[29:17]

And also, the thing about the ancestors, like, everyone's, yeah, everyone is our ancestor, literally. Like, just, you have genetics. You know, we're the same species. You know, it's like, we're so much more alike. There are differences. And that's a new theory. And it's sometimes hard to remember. Because, you know, there's othering, you know, making these people back home. But then we can have a good talk like this, and it all just cracks open. You know, it's just, it's a relief. Thank you so much. And thank you, Nicholas. And thank you for telling us your wonderful ancestors. Gosh, you know, it's, you know, we're living in a time where some misguided politicians who are promoting cruelty are now saying slavery was a good thing. So it's not as good as it probably was anyway.

[30:19]

But I wanted to, this thing about genetic carnal ancestors, it's really interesting. My favorite television show is Finding the Roots by Henry Louis Gates. He's a great scholar and has a wonderful staff who explores histories of his guests and finds all these interesting stories way back. It's a wonderful history lesson. And he also explores DNA. Yeah. He finds amazing things like Johnny Cash is related to Angela Bass. And sometimes, I don't know, has anybody else seen the show? It's Finding the Roots by Henry Louis Gates. You can look up back episodes. But sometimes at the end, he'll provide this wonderful family tree. I don't believe that.

[31:20]

Sometimes somebody they took back to Charlottesville. I don't believe that. And some black people, he actually finds the person who came from Africa. Usually that's not possible. Sometimes it's a couple generations it's possible. But sometimes at the end, they. Well, there's stories about ancestry. Sometimes at the end, he'll say, oh, look and see this next person. And there's somebody he's been on before who through DNA, they know this is related. So just I'm going to keep this brief. Ed Norton, wonderful actor, and Julia Roberts were on one episode. And Julia Roberts had abolitionist ancestors and slave owners. Ed Norton is a direct descendant of Pope Francis. And also has from people who came over on a race level.

[32:21]

And in the end, they showed the person who they related to. And they related to each other. So we're all related. This web of ancestry, you know, it's also, it's true through the Zen ages, Buddhist ages, all the different branches of Buddhism, which all interact. Anyway, but I do recommend that show. It's a great history lesson. Thank you, Nicholas. Other comments or questions? Yes, Hudson. Thank you so much for touching a few things that I've been just now starting to see. I realized recently, you know, when you say or check things, or sometimes they make up a new meaning. Yes. And I feel like the merit, we dedicate this merit to our ancestors, you know. That's soon the meaning of dedicating our work to somebody else, if we're able to also.

[33:22]

And it also made me think, because, you know, we do say that to save our ancestors, our ancestors. And that connected to the things that I've been thinking recently, but I don't know how to describe it. One is, you talk about the lineage, and that is linear, right? Whereas when we talk about the living ancestor, I see that more as a cloud that goes throughout horizontally. That's a different kind. And then you touch the future ancestors. It's also very important to teach ourselves that being present, again, you know, it's all connected as the same. One can feel that. And it all connected also, and I don't know in which way, but it resonated with what you said last week. Some people have talked about drifting. I think drifting in the Americans, and you guys have mentioned that. And I also recently heard one of the talks by Suzuki Roshi that is on the website, that talks about the American way of Zen Buddhism for the art to find.

[34:23]

It's going to look different. And we, you know, and it also connected to maybe Yin going to Sokochi, and that drifting away, and the idea that happened in Japan also. So, I don't know what to make of all of that, but with all this puzzle pieces that we might be presenting ourselves here, and it particularly resonated with Suzuki Roshi's American way of Buddhism, of which I don't know, I don't know enough about my ancestors, but it feels like an open field of possibilities a lot. And as much as tradition, as a person who, you know, when I was 21 years old, when I was 16, if I were to follow the ways of my mom, in that sense, or in honor of the way that my grandma saw it, it wouldn't have necessarily been the best thing for me or for the people that I touched in my life, right? So, it took a new path for that, and eventually, I think it's forcing what he needed. It had to be, you know, so I wonder what that would imply,

[35:24]

but I think it's really great that we have this lot of possibilities. Thank you for touching on all these very complex issues that I have no clue how to interpret. Complex possibilities, that's good. And just one point, when you're talking about the example of the age, we say one name after the other, but in each generation, it's not, it's more like branches and stalks, you know, because in each generation, well, maybe not, maybe in some generations there was one student with one teacher, but usually there's a number of teachers, right? Suzuki Roshi is studying with, he's transferring from Georgetown and so on, but he's also studying with Kishin Saori. He has a lot, so I think, so both of them. And, you know, my own practice, I have many teachers. So, although I had attention, I'm just a smart teacher, but anyway.

[36:28]

So, it's not just one person. This is what I wanted Eiji Dragon Zengate to be, and we have in the room a number of teachers, in fact, just the version. And I recommend you to talk with them. And I was going to save this for last, but I'll just say it now. I'm going to start doing dopes on here. Before Sunday morning, before Monday evening, times 6.6, I mean, Wednesday at 8.30. So, but my appointment, so email me and we'll get to know each other. I also will continue being available for phone and Zoom. Sorry, but yeah, we all learn from each other and we're all each other's ancestors.

[37:31]

So. Mike, Sam, it's up. Oh, Mike. Hi. Hi, Taigan. Thank you for your talk. I'm thinking about your talk and then what Simone just said, and it made me think of this idea of chosen family. And so as LGBTQ people, and not just LGBTQ people, but a lot of times LGBTQ people especially will separate themselves from their biological families for whatever reason, whether or not their biological families might disown them because they're not comfortable with whatever their status is, or vice versa. A person might intentionally make a choice to not want to be a part of the family that raised them. And so I think about, okay, which I think is good,

[38:34]

but then those people who you distance yourself from are still your ancestors because you have their genetic material as part of you. And so I think about how we chant our ancestors in Zen Buddhism. And I wonder, obviously, usually if a person studies with a teacher, they usually have a good relationship with that person. But I wonder if they might not like someone who's two or three rings up the lineage, and they're like, oh, I wish that person wasn't in my lineage, or I wish I could disown myself or separate myself from them in some way. And so I don't know what I'm trying to get at. I'm thinking about how there might be situations where people, for whatever reason, might separate themselves from people who are their ancestors, but we still learn from that and that still shapes who we are, that separation.

[39:36]

So it's like another way of learning from your ancestors in some way. So I don't know. That was the thought I had. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. There's a lot there, don't you think? Chosen family. It's not this kind of like, you know, the people here choose to show up here and we're family, you know. Sometimes with family troubles, you know. But we, you know, we look things out as family. And that's important. I want to go back to something, though, that Simone said, something about American Zen. And Suki Rush is talking about American Zen. We don't know what American Zen is. I can say this is American Zen right here. But, you know, Chinese Buddhism became really Chinese at over, you know, four or five hundred years.

[40:39]

So we won't know what American Zen is for 50 years. But somebody made it. So we're making it all up in some real way. This is not, you know, it may feel like we're used to following all these archaic Japanese forms or something, but this is nothing like Japanese Zen. But that's OK. We've benefited from that. Anyway, I'm sorry. Dylan, hi. So I really love this question of, you know, how do we do the Buddha work? And there's, you know, hopefully a bajillion answers to it. But two that come to mind for me are the ones that I wanted to bring up were challenging and planting joy.

[41:42]

Thank you. Yeah. So, you know, although planting joy first isn't, it's almost like a Bodhisattva report. When I was on the train going to Texas to a branch of Grosse Act to see the bat, the woman that ran the dining car was with you on the microphone. I just, you know, talk to you as if you'd been in a conversation with her. Oh, hi. Do you like your little talk? Well, anyway, we're going to open the dining car. She would do this every time. It was planting joy. She would also ramble off, like, five dad jokes. So she won a lot of points to me. And then when I went to the dining car, she had all these buttons on her that said free hugs. And Amber had given me this assignment to go and get cream cheese for our bagels,

[42:46]

because we remembered to bring bagels and forgot to bring cream cheese. And the kids wanted cream cheese. And so I was like, hey, you know, we have some bagels. Could you give us some cream cheese? And she said, I can't actually, you have to buy the bagels in order to get the cream cheese. And I said, okay, that's, I guess. And so I, you know, bought something for Amber and me, Amber and I. And then she, like, made this call. Do I have a surplus of cream cheese? Especially on, you know, on the train stuff. And I'm like, affirmative, dude. So then she just, like, showered me with cream cheese. And so I was, like, walking back to my seat, and I just, like, I just felt it in my heart. I was like, that was a bummer. That person, like, just somebody else reminding me to, you know, to whatever you're wrapped up in, to just kind of let go of that, Amber. The joy of being alive. So planting joy has been part of the bummer stuff for me. And then in challenging, like, I'm thinking of this line from Good Will Hunting,

[43:50]

which is, since I grew up in Boston, was, like, required viewing. One of my favorite films. Yeah. And so Robin Williams, Matt Damon asked Robin Williams what love is, and Robin Williams said, so many challenges. And that's been a quote that's lived in my mind since I was a teenager. And I, like, there's a lot of different dimensions of what that means. I'm thinking, like, for Amber, like, you know, she'll, you know, tell me to go for something. Like, that challenge for it. Hey, you know, we can do this. We should go for it. Like, the challenge of that. I mean, we challenge each other here. I was thinking about this after your talk. So, you know, like, you know, that's part of what we do together, is we encourage each other to sit in an uncomfortable position for 35 minutes. And we, you know, will each other do that. And then there's also the challenge of, like, someone who's close enough to you and cares enough about you to let you know, like, hey, you know, this is only a little bit, you know, like, I think you might be running up against the rails a little bit.

[44:52]

And giving you the opportunity to be able to be like, you know, wow, I think I was being a little unfair. I had that moment with Amber, yes, on Sunday, where, you know, I got a chance to say, I think I was being unfair about this. And how much love there is to let somebody, you know, that needs to see that kind of connection. How to carry through to that kind of chair. So just a couple of examples. There's only one. That was great. Thank you. I'm not sure how much more time we have. Maybe she's starting to wrap up. Thank you for all the comments. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here. Thank you for performing the Buddha work. Thank you for respecting all the different kinds of ancestors.

[45:48]

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