Good morning, everyone, and welcome. For new people, I'm Taigen Leighton, the Guiding Dharma teacher at Ancient Dragons Zen Gate. Welcome. Today, I want to celebrate the 80th birthday tomorrow of Bob Dylan. Dylan's a truth teller. Various modes of truth. In that sense, maybe I could call him a Dharma teacher, or more accurately, a Dharma bard. He was called the voice of a generation. That was my generation. So I sometimes think of him as my first Dharma teacher. Dylan's always been changing. style, his genre of music and singing, often changing themes.

[01:05]

Dolan has embraced impermanence throughout his career, but there are also underlying consistencies. So one of those is in the long article I wrote that's on our website and on the Untold Dylan website about his opposing war and social injustice, starting with Masters of War, the greatest anti-war song ever written. This underlying consistency could be spoken of in a number of areas. So his spiritual songs, Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Gates of Eden, I Shall Be Released, Every Grain of Sand, Born in Time, Ring Them Bells, from his most recent album last year, Mother of Muses. So many other songs, spiritual songs. Also love songs, many romantic songs, a whole range of different kinds of love songs.

[02:11]

Also angry songs. And I'll talk later about how sometimes his angry songs have been transformed in his performances as sweet songs. Many songs about history of various kinds. He's a musicologist, but a history in many areas. He's often explicitly protesting against injustice, but also making incandescent protests against indifference and the indifferent universe. He's concerned with spirituality in the deepest sense, in the quest for human dignity and meaning. So there's been a huge range of what Dylan has done, you know, from different terms of genres, folk, rock,

[03:12]

Something he invented called folk rock. He's a symbolist poet. He's a country singer, a gospel singer. Throughout, he's always been a blues singer. So in various modes of the blues. His longevity, his resilience is kind of amazing. numerous brilliant songs. His first album, Bob Dylan, came out in 1962 when he was 21 years old. It's mainly covers of old blues songs, many of them about death and dying, another theme that recurs throughout his work, but was strong in his very first album when he was 21. His most recent album last year, Rough and Rowdy Ways, has fascinating dense lyrics. Some people say it's his best album ever. So he's still doing it.

[04:16]

That album has 10 songs, including Murder Most Foul, which is about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. and its consequences since. It's almost 17 minutes long. It's his longest song, even longer than Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands and other long songs he's done, Brownsville Girl. So I'm going to play three of my favorite songs from over a 41-year span. I tried to count his original songs from the list on bobdyland.com and counted 711, but anyway, it's over 700. And so I'm going to play, we're going to play three of them. David Ray's going to help me with the songs and you'll see the lyrics. You know, there are probably 200 of Dylan's songs that I might've chosen three of to play today. The first one I want to talk about is, It's All Right Ma, I'm Only Bleeding.

[05:22]

That's from his 1965, from his album, Bringing It All Back Home, which was the first of three early brilliant albums, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. It's influenced a lot by symbolist poets like Artur Rimbaud, very dense, complex lyrics. He's returned to this in his recent albums in the last 10 or 20 years, especially Rough and Rowdy Ways, the newest album. So I want to talk about some of the famous lines in It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding. And David, could you not start the song yet, but put up the lyrics? In an interview that he did for 60 Minutes, numbers of years later, he talks about how his early songs just came to him. He couldn't have made them up. So he cites the first verse in It's Alright Ma, darkness at the break of noon, shadows even the silver spoon, the handmade blade, the child's balloon, eclipses both the sun and moon.

[06:30]

To understand, you know, too soon, there is no sense in trying. And Dylan says, who could have made that up? It just came to him. He says, well, okay. And, you know, this verse, there's no sense in trying, to me resonates with, you know, our practice of not trying to become Buddha. It's already there. Anyway, okay. David, would you please play the song and scroll down so you can see the lyrics on your screen as we play it. And there's a lot. Darkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon A handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand, you know, too soon There's no sense in trying

[07:36]

Pointed threats they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece the hollow horn Plays wasted words, proves to warn That he not busy being born, is busy dying Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan, but unlike before You discover that you'd just be one more person crying So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright Ma, I'm only saying As some warn victory, some downfall, private reasons, great or small, can be seen in the eyes of those that call to make all that should be killed to crawl, while others say don't hate nothing at all except hatred.

[09:08]

Disillusioned words like bullets bark As human gods aim for their mark Make everything from toy guns that spark To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark It's easy to see without looking too far That not much is really sacred While preachers preach of evil fates, teachers teach that knowledge weights can lead to hundred-dollar plates. Goodness hides behind its gates, but even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked. And though the rules of the road have been lodged, It's only people's games that you got to dodge And it's alright, Ma, I can make it Advertising signs, they con you into thinking you're the one that can do what's never been done, that can win what's never been won.

[10:31]

Meantime life outside goes on all around you. You lose yourself, you reappear You suddenly find you got nothing to fear Alone you stand with nobody near When a trembling distant voice unclear Startles your sleeping ears to hear That somebody thinks they really found you A question in your nerves is lit, yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy, ensure you not to quit, to keep it in your mind and not forget that it is not he or she or them or it that you belong to. But though the masters make the rules for the wise men and the fools,

[11:32]

I got nothing more to live up to For them that must obey authority That they do not respect in any degree Who despise their jobs, their destinies Speak jealously of them that are free Do what they do just to be Nothing more than something they invest in While some on principles baptize To strict party platform ties Social clubs in drag disguise Outsiders they can freely criticize Tell nothing except you to idolize And say God bless him While one who sings with his tongue on fire Gargles in the rat race choir Bent out of shape from society's pliers Cares not to come up any higher But rather get you down in the hole that he's in But I mean no harm, nor put fault On anyone that lives in a vault

[12:57]

But it's all right, Ma, if I can't please him Old lady judges watch people in pairs Limited in sex they dare To push fake morals, insult and stare While money doesn't talk it swears Obscenity, who really cares? Propaganda all is phony While them that defend what they cannot see With a killer's pride, security It blows their minds most bitterly For them to think death's honesty Won't fall upon them naturally Life sometimes must get lonely My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards False goals I scuff at pettiness which plays so rough Walk upside down inside handcuffs Kick my legs to crash it off Say, okay, I've had enough What else can you show me?

[14:14]

And if my soft dreams could be seen They'd probably put my head in a guillotine But it's all right, Ma. It's life and life only. So there's obviously a lot in that song. And I want to comment on a few of the lines. So Well, I talked about the first verse, but one of his most famous lines is in the second verse. So I'm just gonna read some of these lines. Well, just the last line, he not busy being born is busy dying. Again, accepting impermanence, facing death, knowing that,

[15:24]

one needs to keep going beyond. So Dogen talks about Buddha going beyond Buddha, endless growth, accepting impermanence, that there's no end to our practice and there's no end to our awakening. He not busy being born is busy dying. So it's a very strong, strong line. And please take notes if you'd like. We can talk more about this all in the discussion. The next verse talks about waterfalls of pity roar. you discover that you just be one more person crying. So I think sometimes Zen students feel bad when in Zazen, we see all of our grasping and fear and anger and so forth. So this is a line about the, the, uh, pointlessness of self-pity, but it's, it's part of our reality.

[16:33]

There's a verse, um, little later, human gods aim for their mark, make everything from toy guns that spark to flesh colored Christ that glow in the dark. It's easy to see without not look without looking too far that not much is really sacred. So in some ways, Dylan has always been pointing to what is really sacred. What does that really mean? And he's here pointing out our society, our culture's excessive materialism, which doesn't really care about what's really sacred. There's so much in the song. Oh, there's this famous line, even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked. I heard him perform that live during Watergate and everybody cheered, you know, as president Nixon was exposed. And we can talk about the emperor having no clothes with our most recent administration anyway.

[17:39]

Another verse after that, advertising signs, they con you into thinking you're the one that can do what's never been done, that can win what's never been won. Meantime, life outside goes on all around you. So there's this pressure in our society to be original, to do something great. And meanwhile, we miss the life that's going on all around us. one of my favorite verses in all of Dylan, and I quote it in my books and questions. A question in your nerves is lit, yet you know there is no answer fit. To satisfy, ensure you not to quit. To keep it in your mind and not forget that it is not he or she or them or it that you belong to. This line, a question in your nerves is lit, has to do with Zazen, I think, in a lot of ways. So there are questions that bring us to practice. questions about our life, questions about the world, questions about what is really sacred, questions about meaning. And sometimes people come to me and say, I don't have any questions.

[18:49]

And that happens sometimes too. But also sometimes there's a question in your nerves that's lit. And it's in our zazen body. And it's part of what impels us to keep questioning and to keep sitting. So I like that line. Then there's a verse that ends, what they do to be nothing more than something they invest in. So we not only make the world into dead objects, we make ourself into a dead object. We make ourself into a commodity that we're trying to sell, you know, trying to, you know, develop resumes or, you know, trying to improve ourself without actually appreciating that life goes on all around us. A couple more lines. Oh yeah, it blows the minds most bitterly for them that think death's honesty won't fall upon them naturally.

[19:58]

Life sometimes must get lonely. So again, looking at death, being aware of death, and without doing that, we don't appreciate fully our life. So being aware of impermanence, being aware of things passing and people passing all around us and all the things that have passed away in the last year, in the year of this pandemic that is starting to end, hopefully. But yeah, for them that think death's honesty won't fall upon them naturally, life sometimes must get lonely. How do we appreciate that things are passing and use that as a tool to really appreciate our life? And then the very last verse, he talks about walking upside down and side handcuffs, kick my legs to crash it off.

[20:59]

I'll say, okay, I've had enough. What else can you show me? So this is a kind of liberation going beyond one version of liberation. So there's a whole lot in this song. And it's worth listening to many times and as are most Dylan songs. So I want to next, many notes here. Okay. I want to next jump, 20 years, that was from 1965. In 1985, in an album called Empire's Burlesque, there's a song I want to play and comment on. And a lot of Dylan commentators say that, you know, that he kind of fell off in the 80s and there wasn't much, but, you know, in my opinion, even the albums that are not, you know, his greatest, have jewels in them, many jewels in them.

[22:02]

Rouse, Vocal Hour, is one example. But I want to play next a song, a tight connection to my heart, also known as Anyone's Seen My Love. So, David, if you could put that up and you can go ahead and play that. Well, I had to move fast And I couldn't with you around my neck I said I'd send for you and I did What did you expect? My hands are sweaty And we haven't even started yet I'll go along with this delay Until I can think my way out

[23:04]

I know it was all a big joke, whatever it was all about Someday maybe I'll remember to forget I'm gonna get my coat, I feel the breath of a storm There's something I gotta do tonight, you go inside and stay warm Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? I don't know Has anybody seen my love? If you want to talk to me, go ahead and talk Whatever you've got to say to me, won't come as any shock I must be guilty of something, you just whisper it into my ear Madam Butterfly, she lured me to sleep In a town without pity, where the water runs deep

[24:32]

She said, be easy, baby. There ain't nothing worth stealing in here. You're the one I've been looking for. You're the one that's got the key. But I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you or you're too good for me. Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? I don't know Has anybody seen my love? Well, they're not showing any lights tonight And there's no moon There's just a hot-blooded singer Singin' Memphis in June And they're beatin' the devil out of a guy Who's wearing a powder-blue wig

[25:42]

Later he'll be shot for resisting arrest I can still hear his voice crying in the wilderness What looks large from a distance Close up ain't never deathly I never could learn to drink that blood And to call it wine I never could learn to hold you, love And to call you mine Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? Has anybody seen my love? I don't know Has anybody seen my love? Baby better. Honey better.

[26:47]

Tight connection to my heart. Baby better. Tight connection to my heart. Honey better. Tight connection to my heart. Baby better. Tight connection to my heart. Honey better. I can let you do my heart, baby baby. I can let you do my heart, honey baby. I can let you do my heart, baby baby. I can let you do my heart, honey baby. I can let you do my heart. So this is one of Dylan's many love songs.

[27:55]

Some of them are straightforward, like If Not for You or Le Le Ni Le. And some of them have an edge. A lot of them have an edge. This one, Tight Connection to My Heart, is about intimacy, which really is what our Zen practice is about too. Our intimacy with ourself, our intimacy with, we could say big mind, our intimacy with teachers and students, our intimacy in Sangha. Anyway, I'm again just mentioning a few lines. At the end of the first verse he says, someday maybe I'll remember to forget. He has these throwaway lines that are just very deep. Someday maybe I'll remember to forget. How do we not hold on to the past? How do we not hold on to regrets?

[28:58]

I can tell you this gets more challenging as one gets older. I'll remember to forget. Anyway, he has lines that turn things in ways like Zen koans. Just the chorus of this song, has anybody seen my love? This is a basic question, a Bodhisattva question. Have I as yet given all my love, all my caring to one person, to all beings, how do we give our full attention to our life? Has anybody seen my love? So the point isn't whether or not anybody's seen my love, but asking the question, is there more I can give? Is there more I can give to myself and not be overwhelmed? There's a lot to this question.

[29:59]

And he says, I don't know. Has anybody seen my love? So we don't know. If we've given all we have to give, and it's okay if we only, if, you know, we haven't given all we have to give, but has anybody seen my love? It's one of those questions like I've sometimes recommended as a koan mantra during Zazen, how does it feel from like a rolling stone? But this is a good one too. Has anybody seen my love? A few lines further. Well, the ends of the verses are poignant often. I'll just again, throw away lines. I must be guilty of something. You just whisper it into my ear. We're all guilty of something. She said, be easy, baby. There ain't nothing worth stealing in here. How do we just accept being easy, baby?

[31:03]

Then he says, you're the one I've been looking for. You're the one that's got the key, but I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you or you're too good for me. Wow. What a line. How does intimacy work? You know, sometimes in relationships, one person cares more than the other. Sometimes that switches back and forth. Sometimes there are power imbalances in relationships. I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you or you're too good for me. Interesting way of talking about intimacy and love and romance. There's another line here. Let's look through my notes. Oh yeah, the last verse is powerful. What looks large from a distance, close up ain't never that big.

[32:10]

Again, another throwaway line, but it's about changing perspectives. It's about one of the main themes in Dogen's Genjo Koan. What looks large from a distance up close ain't never that big. Well, when we get close to something, some problem may not seem so terrible, but it's also about how do we see, you know, Dogen talks about how different beings see water, you know, a human being or a fish or a dragon or a hungry ghost. How do we see other perspectives? And how do we see our own perspective changing? What looks large from a distance, close up ain't never that big. And it's a warning to not believe everything you think and to look more, to look closer, to keep studying as Dogen says. Then the last, the close of the last verse, I never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine. Never could learn to hold you love and call you mine.

[33:12]

So much there. So obviously, of course, this is a Christian reference to the blood and the wine as blood and sacrament, but it's also relevant to our practice. We sit like Buddha. Never could learn to sit Zazen and to call it Buddha, he might be singing. Dogen says not to be afraid of the true dragon when it shows up, but also to revere the carved dragon. So just to drink the wine, just to sit like Buddha. Anyway, then he says, never could learn to hold you, love, and call you mine. And that line works in a number of different ways too. Not being possessive of the other. Not to call you mine. Never could learn to hold you, love, and to call you mine.

[34:19]

But also, maybe his, again, not being able to, really show all of his love. Has anyone seen that one? So that's the song from 1985. Next, I want to move 21 years into the future. So a lot of people who know and appreciate Bob Dylan, you know, think of the 60s songs, which are great, but he's kept doing it. And especially in the last 20 years, I mentioned his most recent album. This next song that we're going to play is from 2006 from one of his greatest albums, in my opinion, Modern Times. And this song is called Working Man's Blues No. 2. So it's a Working Man's Blues song that Merle Haggard, country singer, did.

[35:19]

And this is expresses concern about the murderous effects of poverty and inequality. So again, looking at social systems and injustice. So why don't we go ahead, David, and play this Working House Blues number two. There's an evening haze Settling over town Starlight by the edge of the creek The buying power of the pro-rental It's gone down Money's getting shallow and weak Well, the place I love best Is a sweet memory It's a new path that we trod They say low wages are reality If we want to compete abroad

[36:35]

My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf Come sit down on my knees You are dearer to me than myself As you yourself can see While I'm listening to the steel rails hum Got both eyes tight shine Just sittin' here tryin' to keep the holler from Creepin' its way into my gut Paint me at the bottom, don't lag behind Break me by boots and shoes You can hang back or fight your best on the front line Sing a little bit of these workin' black blues Well, I'm sailing on back, ready for the long haul Tossed by the waves and the seas I'll drag them all down to hell and I'll stand amid the woe I'll sell them to their enemies

[37:41]

I'm a-tryin' to feed my soul with thought Gonna sleep off the rest of the day Sometimes no one wants what they've got Sometimes you can't give it away Now the place is rigged with countless hoes Some of them they've been never done No man, no woman knows The hour that's all become In the dark I hear the night birds call I can feel a lover's breath I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall Sleep is like a temporary death Meet me at the bottom, one leg behind Bring me my boots and shoes You can hang back or fight your best on the front lines Sing a little bit, these are working bands Well, they burned my barn and they stole my horse, I came to save the day I've got to be careful, I don't want to be forced into a life of continual crime I can see for myself that the sod is sinking, how I wish he were here to see

[39:09]

You have forgotten me Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret They waste your nights and days Them I won't forget but you I'll remember always Old memories of you to me have clung You've haunted me with your words Gonna have to straighten out your tongue It's all true, everything you've heard at the bottom don't lag behind bring me my boots and shoes you can hang back or fight your best on the front line sing a little bit of these working bad blues And you, my friend, I find no blame Wanna look in my eyes, please do No one can ever claim That I took up arms against you All across the peaceful sacred fields They were laying low

[40:30]

They'll break your hearts and smash you with steel I say it so, it must be so Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue Gonna give you another chance I'm all alone, I'm expecting you To lead me off in a cheers or a dance I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife I can live on rice and beans Some people never work a day in their life Don't know what work really means Well, feed me at the bottom, don't lag behind Bring me my boots and shoes You can hang back or fight your best on the front line Sing a little bit of these workin' papers So thank you again, David Ray.

[42:03]

I'm not going to focus on the lyrics too much. I'll just point out a few. He says, sometimes no one wants what we got. Sometimes you can't give it away. Reminds me of the early Zen book, Selling Water by the River. Sometimes no one wants what we got. Sometimes you can't give it away. I think of our practice, which is so valuable, and anyone can do it, but it's somehow not so many people were willing to give themselves to it anyway. Then in the next verse, he says, no man, no woman knows the hour that sorrow will come. Again, the importance of death to our life, we don't know. So somehow we had a pandemic this past year. Our whole world, didn't know the year when sorrow will come. So, and then one other line I'll mention.

[43:07]

He says, they'll break your horns and slash you with steel. I say it so it must be so. This goes to Dylan's sense of humor. He can be very funny at times. You know, I say it so it must be so. So all the people who, you know, cling to every word of his, he's making fun of. There may not be another rock song with the word proletariat in the first verse. Of course, the Rolling Stones did sing of the salt of the earth. John Lennon sang of a working class hero. There are many, many, many other fine political rock songs dealing with class or war. Here, Dylan mourns the downfall of the working class, complete loss of a living wage for Many honest workers, this is happening so much in this past year. People can no longer manage the new reality which he sings about before the pandemic.

[44:09]

He also evokes memories of old lovers and friends, the fading of such memories, the ultimate imminence of all loss. When he says, no man, no woman knows the hour that sorrow will come. Another thing about this song though, points to an important aspect of Bob Dylan. in the last 10 years, more or less. He's performed this with at least two or three completely different verses, the same song, but totally different lyrics for the last three verses or last two and a half verses. So he's done this before with other songs. Good examples are Tangled Up in Blue and A Simple Twist of Fate for Blood on the Tracks. Dylan is primarily a performer. One of his early interviewers, somebody asked him if he was a poet. And he said, no, I'm a song and dance man. So he's been performing.

[45:11]

He performs in the last, well, he was on what was called the Never Ending Tour from 1990 until 2019. He played an average more than a hundred shows a year performing all around the world. Often it was a lot more than a hundred a year. So Dylan, you know, writes these great songs. He got a Nobel prize in literature, but he's interested in performing. Going out on the road and going to all those places is, it must be very wearing, but he, he often changes. the melody, the way the song is sung, the music, and also the lyrics in his live performances. This is why many Dylan fans go to many, many, many concerts. And there are records of many concerts where he's changed his songs.

[46:14]

So I'm quoting from a good article about Dylan. Dylan is 80, that was in The Guardian. Dylan writes songs that are textured and capacious enough to withstand endless reinterpretation. A common experience when seeing him live is to discover the song that you thought was about rage is suddenly transformed into something tender. Positively, Fourth Street is like that. It's such an angry song, and that original record in a minute becomes something tender and sweet in some of his performances. 10 years on, at another concert, that same song you now think of as tender turns out to be a wry throwaway burlesque. the less waiter becomes an elegy and on it goes. You feel when you listen to his work as though you are partaking in some part of his extraordinary endurance, like he's sharing some form of heroic tenacity or stoicism. So Dylan's resilience is amazing. His embrace of impermanence, his changing lyrics, his changing the way he sings songs.

[47:17]

And then sometimes, you know, it sounds pretty much the same, but he's out there performing. His work is layered and sage. The songs are moving backwards and forwards throughout time in the company of other poets and writers. So he often lists lines from other poets and writers. He's been accused of plagiarism, but this is kind of an all blues thing. You know, you take lines from other people. In doing this, Dylan does what all great artists do. He puts us in conversation with the generations that have gone before and are yet to come. So he often quotes other, you know, as I said, he lifts lines from all kinds of places and finds new ways of hearing them. The other thing is that, you know, we can call him a poet, but he sings his songs.

[48:18]

He says, he said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, I hope you listen to these the way they were intended as songs. And, you know, I think of Homer, who, you know, the Iliad and the Odyssey were originally bards singing them before they were written down. I think of Shakespeare. You know, you can read his plays, but they were intended to be voiced on the stage. So I think Dylan is in that kind of company. I had an encore song. I'm not sure if we have time for it. I want to allow time for discussion. Maybe I'll just play. Go ahead, David. Let's play. This last song was from late in his gospel period. It has Christian overtones, but it works in a Zen context, too. It's called Every Grave a Song. Thank you, David. In the time of my confession In the hour of my deepest need When the pool of tears beneath my feet Blood heavenly born see There's a dying voice within me Reaching out somewhere

[49:50]

♪ Toiling in the danger ♪ ♪ In the morrows of despair ♪ ♪ Don't have the inclination ♪ ♪ To abandon any mistake ♪ ♪ Why can't I not behold this chain ♪ ♪ Of events that I must break ♪ ♪ In the fury of the moment ♪ I can see the master's hand In every leaf that trembled And in every grain of sand Are the flowers of indulgence And the weeds of yesteryear Like criminals they have choked the breath Of conscience and good cheer The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way To ease the pain of idleness in the memory of decay I'm gazing into the doorway of temptation's angry flame

[51:15]

And every time I pass that way, I always hear my name. Then onward in my journey, I come to understand that every hair is numbered, like every grain of sand. I'm gone from breaks to riches In the sorrow of the night In the violence of a summer's dream In the chill of a wintery light In the bitter dance of loneliness Fading into space In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face I hear the aging footsteps like the motion of the sea

[52:23]

♪ Sometimes I turn to someone else ♪ ♪ Other times it's only me ♪ ♪ I'm hanging in the balance ♪ ♪ Of a perfect pity's plan ♪ ♪ Like every sparrow falling ♪ ♪ Like every grain of sand ♪ That's okay. Thank you, David. So you may have heard a dog barking in the middle of that song. And meanwhile, one of my pets, Jesse, named for another great blues singer, wants to come to the conversation, which is sometimes very interesting. Anyway, I'm not going to point out too many of the lyrics, but there's this line, I now behold this chain of events, I must break, even though it's in a biblical context, the way he sings it.

[53:29]

And this was in 1981 from Shot of Love, which was the last of his gospel songs. But you know, this has to do with our practice too. In Zazen, we behold the chain of events that we must break, this inevitability of karma and how cause and effect has led to this. how we sometimes need to break some of our habits of greed, hate, and delusion. The chorus, onward in my journey, I come to understand that every hair is numbered like every grain of sand. This is a reference to William Blake, who sings about the universe being in a grain of sand. And this totally resonates with Huayen Buddhism and the interconnectedness of The universal in each particular grain of sand here, William Blake is another example of a great poet who was multimedia like Dylan.

[54:33]

He was a professional etcher and he has these paintings and drawings that illustrate all of his great poems. And he talks about his songs of innocence and songs of experience. He's also evoking songs. The last, I'll just read again the last verse. I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea. Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me. I'm hanging in the balance of the reality of man, like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand. So there's so much more that could be said about Dylan. There are numerous books. articles and I'm partaking of a three-day conference from University of Tulsa online where Bob Dylan's archives are in Tulsa of all places, but they also have Woody Guthrie's archives.

[55:35]

So anyway, that's a little bit about Bob Dylan. So I hope that you have comments, questions, responses to any of the above. And David, Ray, maybe you can go, if there's a request to go back and show some of the lyrics, we can do that too. So please feel free, comments, questions, responses. You can raise your hand or if you're not visible on the screen, you can go to the participants window and there's a raise hand thing. And Brian Taylor's first in this, yes. And my old friend Jim Harris also has his hand up. So Brian, you're first. Thank you so much, Taigan. I really appreciated this talk and your selection of songs. You know, for those of us who are baby boomers who grew up in this culture, Dylan's songs and his voice and his lyrics are kind of out of the atmosphere. I just wonder if there's anybody here in this gathering who is either of a younger generation or perhaps from another culture who

[56:41]

is relatively unfamiliar with him. And if that's so, what was it like for you to hear his lyrics today? I know there's a few people like that, but don't be shy. Mike has his hand up in response to that. Mike? I guess I am from a younger generation technically, but I am pretty familiar with Dylan's lyrics. So I had a separate point. Okay. Well, I'll come back to you then. I know that people of younger generations don't know Dylan's work, but I think even those of us who are baby boomers, Many people, as I said, point to his great songs of the 60s. But in my opinion, he's continued to produce amazing songs all through his career, sometimes more than other times.

[57:52]

But as I said, his latest album last year, Rough and Rowdy Ways, with a long song about John Kennedy's assassination, might be his greatest album. I'll come back to you, Mike. Does anyone want to respond about hearing some of Dylan's lyrics for the first time? I don't see any hands. OK. I guess I can speak of it. Oh, good. Xinyu, please. I guess I'm both younger generation as well as from different culture. And this is the first time I heard all of those three songs. I feel like my mind automatically would pick out also similar sentences that Taigen commented on, like some of the ones that really struck me or stood out.

[58:55]

For example, something like, if one is not born, If not busy born, then busy dying. One not busy being born is busy dying. Yes, exactly. One of his many, [...] many very famous lines. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, and then the feeling of impermanence and Yeah, I guess also for me, it sounds like he is definitely very interested in social issues. And I would say that's my initial impression. I really don't know much about Bob Dylan, I have to say. Well, I'm glad I could introduce him to you a little bit. So check him out. So my old friend Jim Hare from Sacramento has his hand up. Jim, it's great to see you. It's great to see you, Taigan. Thank you so much. In a sense, I can answer the question that the first person posed because even though I am of the Baby Boomer generation, I stopped listening to Dylan after Blood on the Tracks.

[60:11]

I was not familiar with any except the first song. I've never heard any of those other songs. So those were a new encounter for me. And I think one thing that I was struck by, and this has been pointed out by others, but how consistently Dylan functions as a profit. he foretells us, he tells us what's going to happen, not just what's happened, but what's going to happen. And that line in, I think the second song, the one about my love, I don't remember the full title of it, but there was a line in there about, There's a singer in Memphis. He's got a blue wig. He's going to get beaten and shot and then arrested for resisting arrest.

[61:17]

I mean, this is like 1985. And how and how far in advance of that is the Rodney King baby? I mean, you know, so he's just telling us you know, what's really gonna come to the fore there, I feel like. And also, you know, the one you played about, you know, the one with the line about, that used proletariat, I mean, there, you know, you really can see in that song some of the forces that are in play that are gonna lead to the rise of Trump. you know, the dissatisfaction of people losing access to the American dream, the middle class, and, you know, all the forces of, you know, international trade that are gonna knock every, you know, wages down and so forth. So, you know, I just, I'm getting impressed

[62:18]

You know, you go back to a hard rain's gonna fall. I mean, so many songs, Masters of War, so many songs where Dylan is just, he's telling us what's going to happen. And he's been quite amazing in that way as well. So I really appreciated you bringing out these songs that I had never heard. Thank you, Jim. It's great to see you. Check out our schedule and come again if you'd like. So a few things in response. In the article that's on our website about masters of war is his ongoing response to them throughout his career. There's a whole section about Dylan as a prophet and referring to Abraham Heschel's book about the prophets. So you might look at that article. It's linked to on our website on the first page. Yeah, I think it's very, very common that a lot of people who, who love Bob Dylan in our generation, listen to him in the sixties and I'm through blood on the tracks, maybe desire that came after that.

[63:30]

But, uh, I want to, I want to recommend his, his albums from this century. Uh, just a few of them are love and theft really worth checking out modern times. One of his best albums ever Tempest, which is one just before last and then rough and rowdy ways that came out last year. Check him out. So yeah, he's continuously changing. He's mercurial. He embraces impermanence in terms of his changing, but also there are these various underlying consistencies. So yeah, thank you, Jim. Mike, you are next. Thanks for the talk. It's always great to be reminded of Bob Dylan and how there's this treasure that exists in our everyday lives that we can always access. I feel like it's very easy to forget that there's this wonderful compendium of music, so I really appreciated that. While you were speaking, I thought of

[64:34]

kind of how there's this transition that some people observe in Dylan's career, where his earlier, I think, three albums have more protest material. He was identified with a clear social protest movement, and with bringing it all back home, he started to move towards kind of more abstract lyrics and He actually has this song, My Back Pages, with the famous lyric, I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. And he has a line about equality, I spoke their word as if a wedding vow. So it's kind of this critique of his engagement with the movement in maybe a more shallow way. And I think people have this idea that he ceased being a protest singer, but One of the things that struck me with all the songs that you chose is how there's this very clear element of protest, but it's a protest against the just the delusion of delusions in life.

[65:45]

And it's a protest towards reawakening. And, and so there, he has these kind of more evasive lines, like saying that the there's nothing worth stealing in the town. in a tight connection to my heart. And I think he has a line in another song about how all that's gold doesn't glitter. And he keeps on surprising you with these switches on proverbs and sayings. But I think what he's really trying to do is just bring you away from ingrained habit and delusion. And And I guess that's what pretty much all great art and music is. It's just saying this is a protest against falling asleep and falling into habit. And it's trying to invoke something more than that and bring you back to the moment. And I think that's why, like a Rolling Stone, it's such a seminal song for him, because that chorus of how does it feel to be on your own is the

[66:51]

exemplary state of music at its best is bringing you back to this moment. And, and kind of, so that question is really doing that work. Yeah, so that was kind of what I was thinking during the talk. Thank you. Yeah. Yes, good points. Yeah, his early protest singing he got identified with a movement and, uh, and then people wanted him to sing certain ways and sing kind of certain kinds of songs. He did songs like only upon in their game and, uh, uh, uh, lonesome death of heavy Carolina, you know, wonderful songs. Uh, but then he, um, he went electric and the people thought he wasn't doing protest songs, but he did this great song called, I ain't going to work on Maggie's farm no more. You know, and he, as he, as, uh, You say this kind of existential protest, a protest against the delusions of our world and our society, but in a kind of sly way.

[67:57]

Going back to what Jim was saying about him being a prophet, I was going to mention he's got a great song this century called It's Not Dark Yet. The chorus goes, it's not dark yet, but it's getting there. So he was prophesying some of what's been happening. So anyway, thanks, Mike. Yes. You know, protest songs that are like, he called, he later called them finger pointing songs. You know, he's, he's talking about reality. He's, you know, last week, Paul Disko was talking about delusion and how we get caught up in delusion. And Dylan was doing the same thing. He's protesting that kind of delusion. So, yeah. Thank you. Xinyu had another question. or maybe not, maybe that's from before. Yes, and also right after, Paul has his hands raised as well. Oh, okay. Yes. Well, then I'll let Paul go first, since you're already.

[69:01]

That's good. I feel it's my duty as the village Concurian to point out that Will Dillon is an amazing poet and has, with the ambiguity of his lines, can be read differently by many people in many ways, and that it points out many of the attachments and sticking points that we have in our life, and that the, and that reality lies in a larger field and is, like all good art, makes us see the world differently. But as a Buddhist, I am concerned that it's all about alienation and that almost every song that you play today is about being alienated from some environment. And in Buddhism, there is no alienation.

[70:02]

The samsara and nirvana are one. And I think we should not be caught in my imaginary visions, but we also should not be caught in my alienation. Thank you. A point well taken, but, or and, there's a part of practice, maybe the first phase of practice, which can last a year or 20 years or 30 years, which is going against the grain. We have to step out of the usual worldly concerns in a way of doing things. So in that sense, yes, Dylan is contrarian and is protesting usual ways of the world. I did not play some of Dylan's really sweet songs where he is, um, contented and peaceful.

[71:06]

And so those are there too. Um, there's so much in Dylan, um, as Mike was saying, uh, but yeah, um, Buddhism is not about, not just about alienation going against the grain, but then bringing back within reaching something deeper. And Dylan has done that in different ways. You know, he's, uh, his spirituality, you know, the, quote I read, which maybe I can find again, that his spirituality is deep in the sense of his endless quest for human dignity and meaning. And I think that accords with our, through practice and sasana and dharma, connecting with something deeper, something that goes beyond the materialism of our culture. And then how do we bring that back?

[72:07]

The point isn't we're just reaching oneness. How do we bring that back into everyday activity and into this world? And that's really our challenge. That's the challenge of Soto Zen practice. How do we integrate that? As you said, it's not just about protests. So yeah. and I could find Dylan songs to play that would maybe be in more accord with that. But yeah, he has been protesting. It's easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred in our society. Anyway, but I appreciate your point, Paul. Anybody else who has not spoken yet who has a comment or a question or a response? I don't see any hands up. Oh, yes, David Ray. Thank you, Taigen.

[73:08]

So this is also a kind of what about Buddhism question, but maybe in the other direction. So it's about the way that the whole domain of love and sex, romance, the erotic is in Dylan. Like all the other spiritual traditions that I've wandered around in use that realm of life as a way of talking about spiritual longings and aspirations. You know, it's in all the great monotheisms and mystical poetry, it's in Hinduism, it's in Greco-Roman poetry and philosophy. So my question there is what about Buddhism? So this thing that we're doing today where we're listening to and looking at these songs that are at least in part love songs and songs about that Rome, Rome of life. Is there a tradition in like, does has Buddhism in different places interacted with love poetry, and, and, you know, and, and found spiritual significance in it, because all the other traditions that I that I know of do that, but I get the sense that Buddhism maybe doesn't do that, because it's maybe more purely monastic, but I don't know.

[74:19]

Well, my response is it doesn't do it enough. But There are examples. The one that comes to mind immediately is from the great Rinzai Zen master in Japan, Ikkyu, who was kind of an iconoclast, an outcast, who was very much involved in hanging out in brothels and, you know, being very explicitly sexual. There's other stories. The Ryokan, great hermit poet of Soto Zen, early 19th century, later in his life, there was a nun who became his companion. And so, yeah, and there are poems between them. But you're correct that it's not, and maybe other people can think of other examples, it's not as predominant in Buddhism as it is in other traditions.

[75:20]

And Dylan himself has embraced particular traditions, even fundamentalist Christianity, Judaism. He's knowledgeable about Buddhism. There are references in some of his songs about Buddhism. Anyway, I think you're bringing up a good point. So look at Ikkyu and some of the songs about that. Paul, response. Well, we have to remember that beginning, You know, the Buddhist monk is a home viewer. Not only he gives up on romance, he gives up on his parents as well. So it's about leaving home and not having the attachments of family. And until recently in Japan, like the Meiji Restoration, 150, 200 years ago, The priests were not married, but it wasn't because it was something against sex or romance.

[76:27]

It was marriage and romance were considered two totally different things in that era. Anyway, it was because of the family ties and the nepotism and the attachment to family tradition that marriage and children bring up. So it has not been part, as far as I can tell, it has not been part of the Buddhist tradition, the romantic relationship. Thank you, Paul. I'll just add to that a couple of things. Yeah, as Paul says, I think the tradition of celibacy for monastics in China and then to some extent in Japan was not about sex, it was about children and not being taken away from commitment to the Dharma.

[77:31]

And so as Paul said, that changed and now most Japanese priests of all the traditions are married or can be married. But I want to add that amongst the many things that are happening in Western Buddhism, you know, since Suzuki Roshi came 50, 60 years ago and Zen practice has developed and various other Buddhist practices that in our form of Buddhism, in our practice of Buddhism in the West, relationships and parenting have become very much realms of practice. So to engage that, you know, Buddhist teachers have borrowed from Western psychology and Western religion to some extent, but that's in modern Buddhist sanghas. practicing in family, practice with relationships, they're very much part of practice.

[78:39]

So this is one of the transformations that's happening in the West, very much so, and I think it's a really good thing. Other comments? Questions? I think Marcia first had her hands up when Paul was talking, so. OK, so Marsha, then Ron, then Bob Dylan's namesake, our Eno Dylan. So Marsha first. Thank you, Taigan. This was such a wonderful way to start the day. And I really appreciated, David, the lyrics. It was both a poetic and a musical experience. It was a great combo, so it was a good idea. I'm not sure how to articulate this question, but one of the things that I take away from your talking, Taigan, is the tremendous capacity Dylan had for changing or transitioning or responding to the times.

[79:49]

Still has. Sorry? Still has. Okay, I didn't. Yeah, still has, continues to. And I wonder, as Buddhist practitioners, and the training that we are involved with, if you could speak to how we might emulate that or how we might mirror that capacity and do we have that in our training? Thank you. Oh, I think so. I think we have that in our tradition. So, you know, part of that is flexibility. Again, I've talked about Dylan as embracing impermanence. So that's embracing samsara and being willing to change and not being pinned down. Often his audiences have been upset with him for changing what he's doing. So flexibility is, you know, a steadiness and, you know, is also a virtue in our practice, but there's a sense of the possibility of

[80:58]

of being flexible, being willing to listen to others, being not, in the Eight Noble Paths, right view is not about holding on to some view dogmatically, but is about listening to others and being willing to shift. So I think that's in our practice. I think that's in our traditions. And, you know, Buddhism, has absolutely shifted and changed when it went from India to China, India to Tibet, China to Japan, and especially now from Asia, from all the different countries in Asia to America. So being flexible, being willing to change, not just changing for the sake of change, but actually, you know, Dylan has had his own kind of determined center. You know, he wasn't, you know, apparently wasn't thrilled by the Nobel prize in literature.

[82:07]

It took him several weeks before he responded to it. Coming from our own place of integrity and caring and sense of things, but then being flexible. So I think that's part of our, a big part of our practice, even though we sit still, but inside, uh, we're willing to, uh, shift. So thank you for that question, Marshall. Uh, so, um, I think my old friend, Ron Bass has had a, had a question, right? We know each other from way back in the day. I, uh, I listened to a lot of folk music in high school and Dylan's early albums never really interested me that much. I guess the first one that really caught my ears was another side of Dylan, some of the songs on that. Not quite as electric phase, but heading there.

[83:07]

It was when Mr. Tambourine Man surfaced and the lyrics started getting less political and more symbolist that I started really paying attention. Over the years, it struck me that compared with some of his contemporaries like and equals as songwriters, I would assert, like Leonard Cohen, Robert Hunter, and Tony Mitchell. Dylan's, from Metrical's perspective, a lot of his lines are just clunky and clumsy, but he's such a masterful storyteller that he overcomes that. There are even times where he triumphs from the poetic perspective and from the metrical perspective when he reaches beyond his ordinary realm into lines such as, in ceremonies with the horsemen, even the pawn must hold a grudge, and Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues, you can tell by the way she smiled.

[84:16]

He just, and what, You mentioned, you quoted with regard to the, it's all right, my lyrics, how could I possibly make that up? And I know that sort of thing is true because it was November of 2019, I had a sinus infection, took first antibiotic, took a short nap, and when I woke up, sometime between when I fell asleep and when I woke up, a whole song had appeared in my mind. It's called My Mummy, but I won't go into that now. Thank you. I enjoyed your talk very much. Thank you for your comments, Ron. Yes, yes, yes. And Ron is also a singer-songwriter, not as famous as Bob Dylan. Yeah, yeah. but also some really good stuff. Yeah, the thing you were just saying, that happens to me too in the context of when I'm in the middle of one of my books about Buddhism, sometimes I sit in Zazen and a whole paragraph will just appear.

[85:21]

So there is that realm. Sentences or paragraphs just show up, you know, and in Samadhi, in deep Zazen, insights arise. This goes back to the sixth ancestor, saying that Prashant and Samadhi are one. So yes, thank you very much, Ron. And Bob Dylan's namesake, our Eno Dylan, you're up. Well, first, just in response to Ron, that, yeah, that point reminds me, I know Neil talked about like having a fever of like 100 one day and being stuck in bed. And that being the day that I think he wrote like half of everybody knows this is nowhere. It just kind of just, you know, came in a day. And Robert Hunter had a day where he just wrote, broke down palace and ripple for the dead, like just in a day, it just kind of appeared to him. So, yeah, that realm of just when those things show up is fascinating to me. My question Taigan is, I'm really curious about Bob Dylan's influences, both at the beginning of his career and then

[86:30]

perhaps throughout his career, because, I mean, I would assume that Woody Guthrie would be a big one early on. And that, and the blues, as you said, I'm curious if he's mentioned any particular ones, is, you know, is it like, is it Robert Johnson? Is it Blind Willie Johnson? Who are we talking about? Muddy Waters? And then, but also through his career, he seemed, like William Blake, he seems like an artist that is sort of blazing a trail that he's, that maybe other people get, maybe other people don't, and is sort of in his own little realm. Like, I don't really think of William Blake having much, many people that he's influenced by. He's just sort of, he's in a, he's in a, another state. And so I'm wondering if there, if there were musicians through Dylan's career that he responded to and said, oh, like, you know, this artist put out this record, You know, I have to put out this now. I know he was really close to George Harrison, but I don't, I don't, I don't know if he was like, I think he inspired the Beatles more than the Beatles inspired him.

[87:36]

But anyway, just thoughts on that. Yeah. That's a huge realm. And actually I had jotted down, this is in response to Ron as well. Some of the, you know, there are other great rock songwriters. So I wrote down just off the top. Well, Neil Young and Robert Hunter have been mentioned and I wrote, Leonard Cohen, but David Byrne, Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell, Smokey Robinson, Elvis Costello, John Lennon, Robbie Robertson, Marvin Gaye, Warren Zevon, Tracy Chapman, and of course, Bruce Springsteen, all were influenced by Bob Dylan, very much so. And some back and forth. And yeah, Dylan was good friends with George Harrison. And he was in a group with George Harrison. And Tom Petty was also influenced by Dylan. And the great singer, oh, now I'm losing names sometimes. Roy Orbison, right, thank you.

[88:39]

So Traveling Wilburys was this super group that included all those people. Anyway, so yeah, he influenced a lot of people. In terms of his influence, his influences, yes, Woody Guthrie, yes, folk singers like Dave Van Rom, But also when he was younger, before he started doing folk music, he tells a story about, oh no, I'm losing the name again, about being influenced by one of the early rock people who died in a plane crash. Somebody knows who this is. the day the music died. Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly, yeah. He saw Buddy Holly and he was sitting in the second or third row or something. And he tells this story about, this was before he became a folk singer. And he used to listen when he was young to everything.

[89:43]

He used to listen to blues singers from radio stations down in the South. He listened to rock and roll a lot. But Buddy Holly was performing in Minnesota where Dylan's from. And he went to a concert there and he was sitting in, you know, near the front. And he says that Buddy Holly looked at him. And something was transmitted. Dylan says. So yeah, that's another influence. But, you know, he also, he was very well read as well known. He read lots of poetry. He read lots of history. He, One of the things he did that impresses me most when he was in New York, he was very interested in history. He was very interested in Roman history. There's a whole book by a friend of David Ray's about Dylan's connection with Rome and Greece. Bob Dylan Matters, it's called.

[90:45]

But he also was interested in American history, studied the Civil War. And when he was living in New York, he went to the New York Public Library. He dropped out of college in Minnesota like in his freshman year, but he went to the Public Library in New York and he looked through old newspapers from the Civil War. And he read stories from Civil War newspapers. He talks about this in his book, Chronicles. which talks about his life in various ways. That's just really impresses me. That's what an education. I remember reading books about the civil war when I was young, but they were all about the generals and the military aspect. Dylan read about what people were actually saying and doing during the civil war. And he was very interested in the 19th century generally, as well as in, you know, the classics, Roman and Greece and Homer and, uh, but also he read, you know, all the poets, uh, so many Kate's Keats and Rambo and Blake and, uh, you know, on and on and on.

[91:52]

So he was, you know, he had many, many, many, many influences in response to your question, Don. So, um, we're getting towards the end of our time, but if anybody else has a last comment or question, um, We can do one more. Yes, Doug Hendren. There. Wow, just amazing. I really enjoyed this so much. I've been away with back pain for a while, and it's so nice to be back. Glad you're back. But I think one of the guys you forgot was Willie Dixon. shortly. You know, and the dead just hardly, I don't know that I've seen a show without a Dylan cover in there, but one of my questions was, you mentioned that he mentions Buddhism a number of times, and I, like other people, kind of left

[93:05]

stopped kind of listening or paying much attention to his music when Blood Out of the Tracks came out, and I'm wondering if I don't want to re-listen to that, because maybe there's things in there that I didn't really realize, and what that period of, you know, whether it was getting involved in Christianity, or just studying things, or I don't remember really what and why I chose to kind of take a vacation from Dylan because I was listening to him in high school all the time. Yeah, thank you. I think that's very common. You mentioned blues singers. I mean, there were many. One of Bob Dylan's greatest songs, period, is called Blind Willie McTell about an old bluesman. It's a strange story because it's an outtake. Dylan didn't put it on the record. when it was recorded, the record is Infidels, which is a great album.

[94:11]

And then he released it later. So anyway, Blind Willie McTell is another one from the blues. But to your question about Buddhist influences, Dylan hung out with Allen Ginsberg a lot. Actually around that period of, he had a tour called the Rolling Thunder Review, maybe a little bit after or during, Blood on the Tracks and the album Desire. And Ginsburg was a Tibetan Buddhist, but he was very much a practitioner. And Dillon has hung out with other Buddhists, too. There are other references, but the one that's most explicit that comes to mind most is from the song The Hurricane, which is a protest song about Reuben Carter, who was falsely uh, put in jail for a murder. He didn't do a black heavyweight boxer, uh, or maybe it was middleweight.

[95:12]

Anyway, he was, uh, uh, contender for the middleweight crown, but he didn't know what kind of shit was going to come down. He got arrested, uh, uh, falsely, but, uh, and then he was in prison for a long time. Eventually he was released. Dylan released this song hurricane. And as part of one of the waves of trying to free Rubin Carter hurricane Rubin Carter, uh, but there's a line in there. about Reuben Carter could have been the champion of the world. And then he said, Reuben sits like Buddha in a 10 foot cell. Now that's a direct reference to the Malakirti Sutra. So Dylan must've known something. The Malakirti was a great enlightened layman in Buddha's time, supposedly. And in the Sutra, his room is described as 10 foot. squared. So Dylan knew that. Ruben's just like Buddha in a 10 foot cell. So there are other references that are that sneak in here and there that, you know, just not, not at well, I mean, there's songs like, there's, there's spiritual songs that, you know, could apply to Buddhism, every grain of sand might be one example.

[96:28]

But the references to Buddhism are here and there, but that's a clear one. So anyway, He knew about Buddhism. And supposedly, I have never been able to confirm this, but supposedly his first wife, who he sang about, Sarah, had been a Zen student. I'm not sure about that. So maybe with that, we will do the closing, not chant, but recitation that Xinyu will post and she'll recite for us and we can follow along from the words. And then we will have announcements of upcoming events and other announcements. And then if anybody wants to stay and just hang out, we can do that after that. So, Xinyu, please. All my ancient twisted karma From beginningless greed, hate, and delusion Born through body, speech, and mind I now fully avow

[97:52]

All my ancient twisted karma From beginningless greed, hate, and delusion Born through body, speech, and mind I now fully avow All my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. Flowing in the winds. How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? Yes, how many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, how many times must the cannibals fly before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

[98:57]

The answer is blowing in the wind. How many years can a mountain exist before it's washed to the sea? Yes, how many years can some people exist before they are allowed to be free? Yes, how many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind. How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes. How many years must one man have before he can hear people cry? Yes. How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind. May all awakened beings extend with true compassion their luminous mirror wisdom.

[100:07]

With full awareness we have recited Blowing the Wind. We dedicate this merit to... Our original ancestor in India, great teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. Our first woman ancestor, great teacher, Mahaprajapati. Our first ancestor in China, great teacher, Bodhidharma. Our first ancestor in Japan, great teacher, Ehei Dogen. Our first ancestor in America, great teacher, Shogakukan Shonnu. The perfect wisdom, Bodhisattva Manjushri. To the well-being of all those afflicted with ills and to peace pervading for all peoples of the world, gratefully we offer this virtue to all beings. All Buddhas throughout space and time, all honored ones, Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas,

[101:12]

Wisdom beyond wisdom, maha pratyaparamita.

[101:23]

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