I vow to chase the truth that does us worse. Good morning. Good morning. Well, last week, I took Alan and Meili to Tassajara, and we spent the week I spent a week giving them Dharma Transmission, what we call Dharma Transmission, Shiho. As you see, they're both wearing brown robes, which means that they're now full priests. In Zen, the Dharma is passed, or the torch is passed, you could say.

[01:06]

Entrustment, actually, is what... I like to use the word entrustment rather than transmission. Because one teacher entrusts a student. And this is the lineage of Zen. That's why lineage is so important. such an important aspect of Zen because we trace our lineage back to Shakyamuni and this is the way that we keep our teaching intact and true. So there are stages of a priest's career, you might say. Ordination, and head monk ceremony, or not ceremony, but what we call shuso, the head monk during the practice period, and ending with a ceremony.

[02:24]

And then the stage of Dharma transmission, which is actually more rare. Not all priests who are ordained will have Dharma transmission. Often, a teacher will have maybe one transmitted student who is the Dharma heir, or two or three, sometimes more. I've already given Dharma transmission to 11 people. But in America, it's necessary. Also, because there are so many good students in America, we can do that. And in order to really propagate, not proselytize, but make available the teaching and the practice, we need to have good teachers who have entrustment.

[03:29]

So I feel very good about all the people who I've entrusted. These are the first two. Well, Fran Tribe was the first one from Berkeley. and I gave her Dharma transmission on her deathbed a year ago. So, these are the first two to actually take an active part after Dharma transmission. Dharma transmission enables one to be an independent teacher they can start their own practice place if someone invites them to do so. And I think Meili, at some point, she already has a sangha in Arcata and will eventually end up in Arcata before too long.

[04:46]

So this gives her a wonderful acknowledgement for people. So, both Alan and Meili have been sincerely practicing, Meili practicing with me for almost 30 years, with us. And they're both very active, and social action, which is very important now for Buddhists. And they're well known in the Buddhist world. And Alan, who is the director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, coordinator of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship,

[05:50]

is well known all over the world now for his social action and contact with so many people. And their practice is very steady and people acknowledge them as teachers. So this is a natural step. It's not like doing something special. It's just a natural step. So, Dharma transmission is actually between the teacher and the student. It's really not a, strictly speaking, a temple transmission. It's between people, two people. But I think it's necessary for being as part of the Sangha, for the Sangha to accept on this occurrence.

[07:00]

And so I really, I feel like most, almost all of us feel good about this. But I really want you to give them your support. And because I know that they've given you their unstinting support ever since they began to practice. This is one reason, one very good reason for disacknowledgement, is their total lack of restraint when it comes to generosity. supporting the Sangha. And this is their joy in life, actually, is to be able to support the Sangha and encourage everyone's practice. The ceremony, you know, at Tassajara,

[08:14]

It has many phases, and there's a kind of routine that they do. Originally, the ceremony or the activity around the ceremony takes 21 days. When I did dharma transmission, I did the procedure for 21 days, but we usually shorten it up to 7 days. to free yourself for 21 days. But it's more usual to do a short immersion, seven days. But during this time, their usual routine is to get up before everyone else and they carry incense around and light incense at all the various altars and make a chant a little gatha at each altar and bow.

[09:18]

So this takes about an hour, over an hour to do, going all around outside. And then after breakfast they chant the name of each Buddha, I mean each ancestor, and offer incense and sound the bell, just like this bell, and then bow. And when we were having a work meeting, I was talking to explainers, and someone said, well, do you also chant the acharyas, which means the women ancestors? There's a long list of women ancestors. And I said, no. And then they said, well, would you? I said, they want to. So they added that many. So there's about 100. 30 or 35 bows. I can't remember exactly how many, but about 135 bows.

[10:20]

So they did this every day. This is their daily routine. And then they would spend each day working on drawing their documents, their transmission documents, their three transmission documents. And each day they'd do one of those. And it takes the whole day to do that. And then we fold them and iron them. So there's a whole lot of stuff going on, which is more than I can explain. And then we have the concluding ceremonies, which happen in the evening. And then the Dharma transmission takes place at midnight on the last day. But we had it a little earlier because I had a cold. And we all had a good time, and it was a very joyous occasion.

[11:26]

And I want to leave some space for each one of them to say something, and then we can, if there's time, we can ask some questions. So, Mary, would you like to say something? Yeah. This is the second time. You have to speak a little louder. And this is the second time I've said something. There's a tradition that you've given, that each person after the ceremony gives a talk at Tassajara, but we were kind of rushed, so we gave a three-minute talk during the work period gathering, and that was just right. I'm very grateful not to say more. And there were so many levels that are digesting themselves at night during sleep and waking during the day. I find it's a huge thing to get used to.

[12:33]

Being short on sleep, the first day was back here and it was wonderful to be back. We went immediately. There was kind of no pause in the drumbeat from service at Tassajara to service at the Berkley Zen Center. And that first day for me was this enormous rising of positive energy like I was riding a big horse and could I keep it on track. And I think that that's because of the enormous generosity of the ceremonies the generosity of the ceremonies, which are very ancient, and the generosity of the teacher, Mel, and of the assistants. We had very devoted, two really devoted assistants. Vicki Austin, who's the Tanto at Tassajara, just was unstinting in her efforts and her preparation.

[13:42]

She was Mel's Jisha. And two other people. So it was an occasion in which I don't think I have ever been so much cared for and cradled, possibly when I was 21, my wedding. But that's too long ago to remember. But it was an extraordinary occasion. And then in the midst of enormous activity at Tassakhara, And so a great deal to take in and a wonderful taste of the effort of the ancestors and of the ancestors' enlightened effort and this extremely generous invitation to join it.

[14:52]

well she said a lot of what was on my mind my experience there was one of and being taken care of by the ancestors, doing those vows every day. and that our mutual practice and interaction

[17:03]

Both Maylee and I have an opportunity to encounter a lot of other communities. The life that I have really comes completely from this community. My path in life, my partner Lori, my children, they all come from the work that Mel did and that many people So, do you have any questions for any of us?

[19:58]

is a good expression. The ceremony is translated as secret, but I'd rather use the word intimate. It's something that you share. If you have a partner, you share something very intimate. It's secret, but it's I have a question for you. What's the timing of this entrustment? How did you pick the timing? Did it just come to me? How did I pick the timing? Well, I asked them to invited them to do this about three years ago.

[21:56]

I think it was about three years. Was it three years? Yeah. And so then we just started working together, studying together. And then, of course, they had to sew their robes, their new robes. And so the process of them, you know, in their busy lives, sewing their robes, which took a long time. and studying together. We'd study together once or twice a month, sometimes more. And then at some point I just said it's time to do it. I'm not the kind of person that sets a date and then works toward the date. I look at the work we have to do and we just work. And then when I feel that it's getting close to the time, then I pick a date. So that's my usual way of working.

[22:59]

So I just could feel that, you know, things were at the point where I just felt we should do it. And I usually like to do it during the interim at Tassajara. when there's no practice period. And it kind of helps because everybody's working during the interim period. And this gives a different flavor to that period. And it's easier because there's not a practice period routine going on. So it's a little bit looser. Eric? Well, you know, when you read the literature, literature has a way of describing things, especially old literature.

[24:09]

And so, the old literature only takes a certain piece of the action and presents it as an example. Whether things actually happened in that way or not, nobody knows. But, you know, The way that dharma transmission is described in the Chinese literature is often the way, you know, you describe it. So-and-so had an enlightenment experience with a teacher, you know, and then the teacher acknowledged that person and that person became the dharma heir through transmission. But it happens in all kinds of ways. That's very classical kind of way. But the student should have some understanding.

[25:13]

You wouldn't give Dharma transmission to someone who didn't have good understanding. So you acknowledge someone's good understanding in different ways. It's not necessarily that the teacher enlightens the student, and there's a big flash, and then the teacher says, you're not, you know, it's not like that. Life doesn't go on that way. Acknowledging the student's understanding is more like, as we say, walking in the fog, you realize your clothes are wet. There's a certain point when you're with someone, over and over, day after day, year after year, where at some point you just recognize the way someone's walking, or handling themselves, or relating, or speaking, that you see that there's some transformation, and that things are falling into place.

[26:34]

And then you know that that's significant. But it doesn't mean that this person is finally perfect. To have this acknowledgement means that the student has come to the place where they have good understanding, understanding is never complete. And you know that they will spend the rest of their lives practicing just the way they are now and continuing to deepen their realization. So there's that kind of trust that they will continue to deepen their realization. But they've reached a point where they will not backslide and their realization is an ability to communicate and teach is good, satisfactory.

[27:54]

But I see in both these people shortcomings and places where they need to develop more. and places where, you know, and I see it in myself. So, we have to be very realistic about who we are and not think that because someone has some status that they're perfect or that we should never argue with them or that, you know, that everything they say is right. That's not so. And it includes myself. We are who we are and where we are. And we can help each other. And the people who have good realization can be trusted to bring up the people who are

[29:00]

And we all have more to learn. We all have more further to go. There's no end to it. It's even said, oh, Shakyamuni still has thousands of miles to go. So please be respectful, but don't idolize anybody. and I'm really struck by how happy I feel. And I just want to say thank you for your intention and your willingness to be present. It's really inspiring and encouraging to me and it's one of the most important things in the healing of the world.

[30:08]

So I'm very grateful for both of you Are there going to be any new roles for Al and Megan here? Well, they're both already Tantos. And they both teach classes, and they both do practice instruction. Pretty good. They may shut me out of the way, I don't know. lead teacher. So it's getting a little crowded up here.

[31:16]

So we have to learn how to harmonize. I think that's very important. How to harmonize and You know, to always put someone else before yourself makes that very easy. When you want to... You know, I have a student who has a position at Tatsahara. And when I come to Tatsahara, she says, do you want to give a lecture? And I always say, You should never ask a person a question like that. When I come to Tassajara, she'd say, would you please give a lecture?

[32:17]

And I'd say, OK. But to ask me, do you want to open a zendo? No. Would you please open a zendo? OK. Just that slight difference makes all the difference. Because it means, if you say, would you like to, it means, I would really like to, but I'm asking you to, because it's an obligation. So, you always refuse. So, as long as one puts others before themselves, with harmony. Yes? Is there any relationship between the dharma transmission and choosing a successor?

[33:23]

Dharma transmission and successor? Choosing a successor. Well, dharma transmission is a succession itself, you know. One can have a dozen successors, but if there's a place, like Zendo, Zen Center, then somewhere along the line, I would have to choose a successor among my successors, which I haven't done. And then the Sangha would have to approve of that. But they're all successors. They're not the only successors. People that don't have Dharma transmission, in a sense, are also student successors. You know, we say, Suzuki Roshi only had time to give Dharma transmission to one student.

[34:29]

And a half, actually. But he had, you know, lots of successors. And he had ordained a dozen people. And he would have given dharma transmission to many of them if he'd lived longer. But then, there are many people who were his dharma heirs in a different sense. Just by being his student. In a broader sense, all the people that were his students were his dharma heirs. Oh, yes? I was wondering if, during this process, you know, this three-year process, if Alan and maybe had co-ons to work on? No, it didn't work. Not in the... We didn't... I didn't... No.

[35:33]

We worked on studying the transmission documents and tricycles of Dogen. and some of the key teachings of the Soto school. Mostly stuff like that. And then I taught them how to do calligraphy. They spent a bit of time just practicing using a brush. Because they have to make the documents with a brush. And the documents are about six feet tall, long, and they're made out of silk. So they had to learn how to write on the silk. Without ruining it. That's a con. There were many cons.

[36:40]

More than I can describe. Thank you. You laughed, and everybody laughed, and you didn't answer, and nobody left. I just have an appreciation.

[37:49]

I work with both Alan and Mei Li and Buddhist Peace Fellowship and I know how dedicated and effective they are in their work in the world. And their commitment to practice has really also been an inspiration to me and many others. And just knowing that there are people who can be so committed to practice and to I think is relatively rare. for each of you in this process?

[38:59]

Well I can easily say that the calligraphy was very hard. I completed lines in one document and I think Alan, we worked back to back, we each had a competent, but as it was also something really enjoyable about the process. And by the time I had completed this document, which was sometimes teetering on the verge of ruin, but by the time I completed it, I was very fond of it. I'm trying to remember if I knew of anybody who bailed out.

[40:51]

As we got on, I realized And that's part of what I'm always practicing with. I think that's pretty close to what Meili was saying. I have to say that Meili mentioned this, but she didn't really explain it, that they were in this little cabin, and then right across the aisle, the road, which is like an aisle, were two cabins where the roofs were being replaced.

[42:23]

And it was like hammers falling, like, boom! And slugs going... And the whole time, this enormous cacophony of tools. And at that time, they didn't even hear them. Right? They didn't even... Took naps through them. Really, it was like... He's carnivorous.

[43:37]

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