that today there might be a full moon. And tonight we may have a ceremony. And the ceremony could be called upasatha ceremony or fusatsu ceremony. Upasatha is, I think, Pali word, which means confession and repentance, I believe. I heard that it was practiced during the time when the Buddha Shakyamuni was still alive in India, where the monks and nuns would gather and recite the forms and ceremonies And then if there was any need, people would confess and repent any shortcomings in the practice of the ethical discipline of the community.

[01:15]

And Japanese way of pronouncing upasatha is fusatsu. And the ceremony we do can also be called ryaku fusatsu, which means abbreviated fusatsu or abbreviated confession and repentance. There's a larger one which we don't do very often. So tonight we may do that ceremony. We start the ceremony by bowing and then we do a formal expression of confession and repentance, which is the one we do every morning. And then we invoke the presence of all the great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And then we

[02:28]

recite the Bodhisattva, you know, four great vows. And then we go for refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And then we dedicate any goodness that has arisen by our practice together to the unborn nature of all being. If you have white footwear, please wear white footwear to the ceremony tonight. One of the precepts that we will recite — oh, I forgot to say, after going for refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, we recite the three pure bodhisattva precepts.

[03:43]

The three precepts which are to embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies, to embrace and sustain all wholesome activity, and to embrace and sustain all beings. Then we recite the ten major bodhisattva precepts. The precept of not killing, the precept of not stealing, the precept of not misusing sexuality, the precept of not lying, the precept of not intoxicating mind or body of self or others, the precept of not slandering, the precept of not praising self while putting others down, the precept of not being possessive, the precept of not harboring ill will, the precept of not disparaging the triple treasure of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

[04:57]

We recite these precepts. Bodhisattva precepts are presented as being threefold. The first is to embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies. These are also called the precepts of restraint. it says, the way we say it is embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies. Actually the way we say it usually is embrace and sustain right conduct. Tonight we might say embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies. Please repeat whatever I say. Literally it says

[06:00]

In Sanskrit, in Pali, it says to embrace and sustain or to embrace and care for that which is conducive to liberation. And what that is are the formal practices and ceremonies of the community. So some of the forms and ceremonies are the ten major precepts which follow. But other forms and ceremonies are the schedule, the way of eating, the way of serving, the way of receiving food and giving food, the way of the sitting posture, the bowing posture, the walking posture, the way of greeting each other, the way of being quiet during some times, the way of moving quietly in the meditation hall.

[07:04]

All these forms are examples of the first pure precept. And again, the character is embrace and sustain. It's the same character that's used in the word sashin. We embrace in Sashin is to embrace and sustain the mind. Embrace and sustain the heart. The precept is to embrace and sustain the forms and ceremonies. We don't say Sashin means attach to your mind. We don't say it means attach to your heart. It's to care for it. It's to nurture it. It's to bring it to maturity. The same with the precepts. We don't say the first pure precept is to attach to the forms and ceremonies.

[08:06]

Again, from the ancient times, one of the kinds of wrong view is to attach to the forms and ceremonies. So after the Buddha gave the community forms and ceremonies, then the Buddha mentioned that one type of wrong view is to attach to these precepts that I gave you. Buddha did not want us to attach to these wonderful forms and ceremonies. He did not want us to attach to the opportunities that are appearing in our mind and body. or appearing as our mind and body. He recommended to care for them, to nurture them and bring them to maturity as Buddha's wisdom. Taking care of these forms in the correct way is to nurture them.

[09:11]

It's not correct to attach to them. These precepts are flowers of enlightenment which come from the Buddhas. These precepts are flowers of enlightenment that emerge from enlightenment. We're not encouraged to grasp them because if we grasp them, they wilt. If we care for them properly, They bloom and bloom and bloom for all beings. Earlier in this practice period, the senior student who occupies the first seat, Simon here, gave a talk about how to care for the forms.

[10:16]

He talked about playing with the forms. In caring for the forms, in embracing and sustaining them, being playful is part of it. It appears that we, when we're little and young, and also other mammals, play at the adult activities of their species. The little animals play, biting each other, and play at fighting, and play, I don't know, play at nursing babies, play at being mommy and daddy, play at being a carpenter, or a warrior, or a cook. My three-year-old leader now has a little stove that she plays with and has knobs which click when you turn them on, but no flames come up from the stove.

[11:24]

And then there's an oven underneath that you can turn on, but no flame comes on. And then there's a little storage area under the stove where she can put her aprons. So she plays at being a cook. Now in her play she may, not in her play, but in the process of trying to learn how to be a cook, she might attach to the forms of being a cook and that will be part of her trial and error to find the way to embrace and sustain the forms of being a cook. It appears to me that this assembly has embraced and sustained the forms and ceremonies very, very well during this session.

[12:40]

It appears to me that you have embraced and sustained the form of being careful of how you walk and sit and stand up, that you've been respectful of each other, that you've been careful about the way you've served food and received food. In many ways, you have embraced and sustained the forms and ceremonies of this great meditation gathering. There may have been some attachment to the forms. That's for you to look at in yourself. But I didn't feel, I didn't see much sign of attachment to the forms and ceremonies. I mostly saw a lot of embracing and sustaining of them.

[13:47]

Perhaps tonight when we recite the confession of repentance, something will flash in our minds and we'll remember some examples of where we attached to the form. One way to attach to form is to do it and then to notice that other people aren't and look down on them. Maybe somebody will have that arise in their mind tonight I see from all my ancient twisted karma, from beginningless greed, hate and delusion, born through body, speech and mind, I now fully avow that I thought I was better than somebody else because I practiced Zen really well. Maybe someone will see that tonight.

[14:58]

It would also be attaching to the form to say that you're a bad person because you didn't practice Zen. If you have white footwear, you can wear it and then you can embrace and sustain the form of wearing white footwear. If you don't have white footwear, you cannot wear white footwear and embrace the ceremony of wearing white footwear.

[16:11]

If you wear white footwear and are attached to wearing white footwear, you'll get to see something about that. If you don't have white footwear, and you don't wear it, and you're in agony because you don't look as nice as the other people, you might be attaching to the form of wearing white footwear. But then you can confess and repent. that you were greedy to look really cute. And, you know, I have some white footwear, which I'm probably going to wear, and my feet probably will be pretty cute. They look really nice.

[17:24]

And they move nicely across the floor. We wear them, you know, on such occasions as a kind of symbol of this is a really wonderful ceremony and we wear this white footwear to celebrate this wonderful ceremony together. Our daily ceremonies are important too. In many Japanese monasteries they wear white footwear. for daily service, daily morning service, right? But we just do it on sort of the most special ceremonies, like this bodhisattva precept ceremony.

[18:42]

This way of taking care of the precepts is the same way to take care of the precious mirror. The song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi is a song about embracing and sustaining the precious mirror. The precepts are the precious mirror. And learning to care for them helps us understand that taking care of them is taking care of the precious mirror. And when we are able to be concentrated on this way of caring for the precious mirror, we are in the precious mirror samadhi. At the end of the Precious Mirror Samadhi it says, if you can achieve continuity, continuity in embracing and sustaining this precious mirror, this is the host within the host.

[20:09]

This is the teacher within the teacher. This is the guru within the guru. This is the master within the master. We practice confession and repentance at the beginning of the ceremony to acknowledge that we have sometimes been distracted in some of our meetings. We have been distracted from embracing and sustaining the precious mirror. Everybody we meet, every object we encounter, is the precious mirror samadhi of Buddha Dharma. We sometimes forget or get distracted. When we look in the mirror and the mirror looks like a monster, looks like an angry person,

[21:19]

who's maybe angry with us or disrespectful of us at that moment, we sometimes shrink back and hesitate to practice embracing and sustaining the jewel mirror as a monster. But if we can embrace and sustain the monster as the jewel mirror, we realize the Buddha Dharma, we realize the Buddha Dharma. And in that realization, beings are liberated. All beings are liberated in realizing the Buddha Dharma in each meaning, because everything that comes is coming for us to realize the Buddha Dharma. But we get distracted, so we confess all my ancient twisted karma, all the times when I missed the chance.

[22:24]

As I acted, as I talked, as I thought, as I postured, all the times I missed the chance to practice the precious Mere Samadhi, I fully avow I can't remember them all right now, but any times that I got distracted from looking at my life as a teaching, I confessed them all. I remember a few, but not all of them. There's a book called Being Upright, and the subtitle of the book is Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts.

[23:37]

If you want to, if you have a copy, it's okay with me if you change the subtitle. From what it is now, you can change it to Zen meditation is the bodhisattva precepts. Or Zen meditation as the bodhisattva precepts. embracing and sustaining these precepts. He is embracing and sustaining the jewel mirror, embracing and sustaining the jewel mirror. He is embracing and sustaining Zazen. He is embracing and sustaining the Buddha Dharma. Thus I have heard one time,

[24:51]

Suzuki Roshi, the founder of this temple, was the son of a Zen priest, of a Buddhist priest, whose name was Suzuki. Butsumon Sogaku. And he had a disciple named Gyokujun So-on. And when Suzuki Roshi was a boy, he was already ordained, and his father and mother sent him to his father's student, Gyoku-jun Son, who was a good friend in the form of a very difficult teacher. Gyokujin Son seemed to be quite a difficult teacher to live with, especially for a boy.

[26:14]

Suzuki Roshi said that at one point he was there studying with Gyokujin Son, and I think maybe there were six boys studying with him. And one day Gyokujin Son served rotten daikon pickles to the boys for breakfast. And then he went away, I guess. And when he went away, these boys got an idea to not eat the pickles. As a matter of fact, to bury them not to throw them in the garbage because the teacher might find them and not to leave them uneaten on the table so they buried them.

[27:20]

Now I'm telling you that I think how amazing that our founder participated in such activities of burying his breakfast to hide this from his teacher. Maybe it wasn't his idea but apparently he went along with it. Was this embracing and sustaining the forms and ceremonies? I don't know. Was this Telling a lie? I don't know. Hiding something from the teacher? And this amazing thing, not only is it kind of amazing to me that he and his friends did this in a Zen temple, has anybody here buried any food that's been offered by the way?

[28:27]

Nowadays, Things are not so tough here. We don't serve you... Well, I shouldn't say things aren't so tough. Things are not so tough with the food. I understand there's other ways you've found to have difficulty. But we don't serve rotten food very often here. Have you seen any rotten food during this session? Anyway, they buried it. And then this another amazing thing happened as this teacher just happened to go looking around the ground of the temple. And he started to dig in the ground. Was that a supernatural power he had? I don't know. It would be fun to be back there in the early part of the 20th century. This would be around 1921. No, 1917 in Japan behind the temple.

[29:41]

There's the Zen master digging around. And he comes upon some buried daikon. And he takes it up and washes it off, and guess who he gives it to? He gives it to his friends. And they eat it. And I think Siddharth Garshi said, after that he had a new understanding of food. But still, kind of a hard place to practice when you're just a boy. Just a little guy. He also said that all the other boys ran away. And he said he would have too, but he didn't know he could. His teacher died.

[30:45]

Susakiroshi's teacher, Gyokurijin Son, Daisho, died. when Shizukerishi was still a young man. Maybe he took 26? So he became his teacher's successor, I think, when he was around 26 years old, which is quite young to be a Dharma successor. And it just happened that not too far from his teacher's temple, was a teacher who was a well-known scholar of the Shobo Genzo of Dogen Zenji. So Suzuki Roshi, for many years, got to study with this teacher.

[31:45]

And this teacher's name was Kishizawa Iyan Roshi. So that was his second teacher. He's not in our direct lineage, but he's very important to our family practice here. He was a disciple of a priest named Nishihari Bokusan, the Zenji, who was once the abbot of Sojiji, Dai Honsan, one of the two main temples of Soto Zen at that time. He was the abbot. And one of his disciples was Kishizawa Ion. And I, at some point, Bokusan said to Ion,

[32:50]

you are not my disciple. And Eon was feeling devoted to his teacher and his teacher said, you're not my disciple. I don't remember if Eon said, why teacher? But anyway, maybe he did Because books unexplained. You're not my disciple because you don't bow to me every time you meet me. Like, for example, if you come into my room and I'm lounging around reading a book, you don't bow to me. When I'm going to the toilet, you don't bow to me. Therefore, you're not my disciple."

[33:57]

This is an example of working with how to embrace and sustain the forms and ceremonies. In that story, it may sound like Bok San was attached to his disciple, bowing to him every time they met. I don't know. Anyway, he was giving him a jewel mirror. And the mirror said, you're not my disciple. And watch how he deals and share with him how he deals with the jewel mirror. You're not my disciple. That's a form, which I don't use very often myself. because I don't want to be a copycat. But it sounds like a pretty good form.

[35:01]

I might start using it around here. You're not my disciple. I have to think of an excuse, though, first. Of course, sometimes you say, you're not my disciple, and the person says, well, that's a relief. Or, who cares? So what? Like I told you before, I was having such an easy time with Suzuki Roshi, I said, I have no problems with you. Am I missing something? He didn't say to me, you're not my disciple. If he said that, I wouldn't have said, no problem. He said, but eventually we'll have some problems. If he had lived a long time, he probably would have eventually said to me, you're not my disciple.

[36:03]

But he never said that to me, so I didn't have that jewel mirror to look into. Somebody just yawned, a big yawn. And inside that cavern of their mouth, I saw a jewel mirror. And there was a little tiny reflection of me in there. Also in this tradition, we have an expression.

[37:06]

The expression is an iron person, tekkan, tetsukan, iron person. And we write, iron person lives here. Kishisawa Iyan heard his teacher, Bokusan, talking about this iron person. This iron person is a person of the bodhisattva vow. And you can put that person in the middle of the flames of suffering and that person will not lose the vow. And they will walk this path of the bodhisattva no matter how hard it gets. Bok San was talking about this iron person and Kishizawa Iyan, who was a very good calligrapher.

[38:16]

We had some of his calligraphy here at Green Gulch. Somebody gave me a piece. Do you have a piece? So we have some calligraphy by our wonderful ancestor, Kishizawa Iyan here. He was a great calligrapher. And he wanted his teacher to write the characters for Iron Person, TechCon. He wanted his teacher to write that. But his teacher practiced a form with him. His teacher practiced a ceremony with him. And the ceremony was whatever Kishizawa Iyan asked for, he would not give him. So he knew that if he asked his wonderful teacher for a piece of calligraphy for Tekkon, that his teacher would not give it to him. So he didn't ask his teacher.

[39:21]

He was embracing and sustaining this form, which is the teacher doesn't give me whatever I ask for. He gives me some other things. Whatever I asked for, he won't give me. They had that special form. It's not one of our regular forms. It's a special one that Bok San made for his disciple, Eon. Bok San had a friend who was not a priest. And this friend was an old man. maybe older than Bok-san. And whatever that friend asked for, Bok-san always gave it to him. So Eon went to the old man and said, would you ask the teacher for the characters Tekkan? But don't tell him it's for me.

[40:27]

Isn't that amazing that people do things like that in our tradition? So then the old man did go to Nishihara Bokusan Zenji and he said, would you give me some calligraphy of the characters Tekkan? And Bokusan said, that's not for you, is it? And the old man said, No. Yeah, he said, Eon asked you for that, didn't he? And the old man said, yes. And then the tough, the super strict Nishihari Bokusanzenji started to cry because he understood, he knew now that Eon understood how to practice with that precept.

[41:41]

My disciple finally understands how to try to trick me. He can't trick me, but he knows how to try. He's not frozen. He can play with me finally. I don't think that Boksan Zenji was like flattered that his disciple wanted his calligraphy. I think he was deeply moved by the jewel mirror that he could see now himself in Aeon and see that Aeon could see himself in his teacher saying, you can't have anything you ask me for. Can you see yourself? I just thought I might mention also that I think Nishihara Bokusan was a martial artist.

[43:20]

There are stories about he lived during the time when Japan transitioned from the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji Restoration. He lived through those years and so he actually met, you know, armed samurai as part of his life. And there are stories about armed samurai harassing him and threatening him and him skillfully pacifying them with no contrivance. So he was a brave priest and a strict teacher with a great soft heart. and a fierce face. One day, Aeon was sitting in meditation and it was raining. And he heard in the rain, he heard the sound of a distant waterfall.

[44:32]

And then he heard the sound of the Han, the wooden board being struck. And he got up from meditation and went to see Boksan Roshi. And he said, where is the place where the sound of the rain the sound of the waterfall and the sound of the Han meet. He heard that place where the sound of the rain, the sound of the waterfall, and the sound of the Han were all at the same place at the same time. He wanted to know, what is that place? Where is that place? And Bok San said, true eternity still flows.

[45:50]

Do you recognize that phrase, Mark? When we chant the song of the Jewel-Mir Samadhi, there's a line there which says, although the basis is reached, and the approach comprehended, true eternity still flows. Where is the place where all sounds meet? Where is the place where all colors meet? True eternity still flows, Boksan said. And Eon said to his teacher, what does that mean? And Bok San said, it's a clear, bright mirror, smooth and eternal.

[47:01]

And Eon said, is there anything beyond this And Bok San said, yes. And Ian said, what is beyond this? And Bok San said, break the mirror. Come and meet me. This is a story of one of our family stories about good friendship. Now you have it. Please keep it well. You can find this story on page 27 of Warm Smiles from Cold Mountain.

[48:18]

It's in an essay called, Sitting in the Heart of Suffering. Sitting in the heart of suffering with all the Buddhas, that's where they sit. They sit in the heart of suffering, studying the Buddha Dharma, turning the wheel to free all beings so they may live in peace. we can join them there. Break the mirror and go meet them and join the great work of freeing all beings so they may dwell in peace. This place is conveniently located. It's right at that place where the sound of the rain and the sound of the waterfalls and the sound of your friends and the sound of the Han meet.

[49:25]

Thank you very much. May our intention equally extend

[49:42]

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