Good morning and happy New Year. I want to speak this morning about Mahapajapati, the founder of the order of Buddhist nuns, about 2,500 years ago. But first I want to put that in some temporary context and put her story in a contemporary context. over the last month I've been speaking a few times about marginalized beings. This goes back to a talk that Professor Charles Strain of DePaul gave here a few weeks ago about the Bodhisattva ideal and the prophetic ideal. And he's a Christian and, well, we all have a context as American Buddhists of Western religion as part of our background.

[01:02]

How many people here have parents who are Buddhists? Okay, so we're first generation. We're finding our way to be American Buddhists. So nobody raised their hand, but I saw. Anyway. So Dr. Strain talked about the Bodhisattva ideal in terms of Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Vietnamese teacher, and talked about the prophetic in terms of Dan Berrigan, the great activist Catholic monk. And I feel like in the various ways in which Buddhism is coming to America and integrating with our Western contexts, Western religions, psychology, many aspects, but also this prophetic heart is important to our practice of the Bodhisattva way. That means universal awakening.

[02:02]

Bodhisattvas are dedicated to awakening with everyone. So we have a number of people who are here for the first time this morning who've had zazen instruction, maybe sat their first period of meditation this morning, which is wonderful for all of us. So our practice is about settling. kind of going deeper and recognizing what's happening here now on our seat, beyond our stories and ideas of who we are and what the world is, and also about opening up. And I recommend very much doing this practice several times a week or more. You can do it at home 20 minutes or whatever. We usually sit 30 to 40 minutes at a time here. But just having this regular rhythm of stopping and being present and settling and being upright, we start to realize and actually feel beyond some theory how deeply interconnected we are.

[03:07]

everybody who you've ever known in your life is part of what's on your seat right now. And we don't, we're not practicing, this isn't just a self-help or self-improvement practice. It is beneficial to ourselves and we focus initially on, at least on, paying attention to our own patterns of greed, hate and delusion, of grasping and anger and so forth. But we also realize that we're connected, deeply, deeply connected to many beings all around us and all through the world. So one of our precepts, so we emphasize the sitting, but then we also emphasize how is that meditative awareness we connect with here expressed in our everyday activity, in our life in the world. So we have various precepts, guidelines, guidances about how we can act in a wholesome way from our deepest integrity, from our deepest dignity that we connect with in this practice.

[04:22]

And so these precepts have to do with helping rather than harming. They have to do with respect and respectfulness for ourselves and for all beings. One of them is to benefit all beings. So this practice goes back to this sense of inclusiveness, that we are concerned with universal liberation, not just becoming enlightened for myself or for my friends or my group or whatever, but that we're actually really, really connected to everyone and everything, in all beings. I mentioned Dan Berrigan, another Catholic monk, Thomas Merton, who was one of the people who initiated the Christian-Buddhist kind of interface, talks about monks as marginal beings who are not caught up in the world of fame and gain, not caught up in the usual rat race, but actually can see things from the margins and can be present in various different modes.

[05:35]

And I think this idea of marginal beings is important in the bodhisattva practice, too. When we develop this sense of caring about the quality of the whole world and of our lives, we start to be able to see so-called different beings in various ways. we start to be able to actually see that our life is about benefiting all beings. Of course, that includes ourselves. How do we include all beings? So, part of this, in our current context, in our country, is seeing all the beings who are marginalized, who are not included. and the way in which this is happening in our society.

[06:37]

And first is just to see this, to witness to it, and then respond to it as we can, which is challenging. But, you know, right now, there's this prejudice and fear being spread about Muslims because of some Islamic jihadi extremists. who are dangerous, but there are also other beings who are dangerous. Fossil fuel companies, for example, spreading climate damage. There's prejudice now against immigrants. There's some people, so I'm not talking about politics, I'm talking about bodhisattva ethics. There are people now who want to build walls to keep out people who speak Arabic or people who speak Spanish. Our practice is to sit facing the wall. And that's not to keep out the world. The wall is a mirror. When we sit, we face the wall.

[07:39]

The wall is a window. How do we see ourselves? How do we see our connection to others? How do we sit present and upright and enjoying our breath, our inhale and exhale, and see how we are connected with all beings? How many of you are partly Native American? Nobody raised their hand. So we all, oh, yes, of course. Yes, okay, so a couple people. So, but everybody else is, was an immigrant or was forced to come over in a slave ship, their ancestors. So, you know, there is this, marginalizing that's happening in our society. And part of our practice is to see that we are connected. What happens to other people affects us. Especially now with African-Americans, the horrible karma of and legacy in our country of slavery and racism, which is still very present.

[08:50]

And African-Americans are at risk for their safety just walking down our streets from being shot, even if they're not armed. by policemen. This is happening in Chicago, and it's happening all over the country. So this is a deep practice opportunity for all of us. We all grew up in a country that is based on racism, that whose economy was built on slavery. So how do we honor and respond to and feel how difficult it is for African-American brothers or sisters to be in this country now. Many other beings are marginalized in our society. LGBT people, just because gay marriage is illegal doesn't mean they're not still discriminated against.

[09:52]

But I want to focus today on women and the way women are, well, going way back, discriminated against. In this country, women only have to vote for less than 100 years. And women still are not allowed, do not receive the same pay for the same work as men. And there's attacks against women's health programs, and even some politicians or pundits who are talking about removing the vote for women. So there's some karma in Buddhism about this. That's what I want to talk about today. So I started speaking last week from this book, Hidden Lamb. Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of American Women by our friends Florence Caplo and Susan Moon, a wonderful book.

[10:59]

So I want to talk today about the founder of women's order of nuns in the Buddhist time, Mahapajapati. But I'll just mention what I talked about last Sunday, Heihei Dogen. So I'm talking about history and also putting it in current context, the 13th century founder of this branch of Zen, Ehei Dogen, has, as far as I know, the strongest statement against discrimination against women in spirituality and of the equality of women in spirituality, of all of Asian Buddhism. So I'll just read a little bit from his essay called making frustrations and attaining the Mara, he said, there are foolish monks who make a vow never to look at a woman. Is this vow based on the teachings of the Buddha or the teachings of the non-Buddhists or on the teachings of Mara?

[12:05]

What are the inherent faults of women and what are the inherent faults and virtues of men? There are unwholesome men and there are unwholesome women. Hoping to hear the Dharma and leave the household does not depend on being female and male. before becoming free from delusion, men and women are equally not free from delusion. At the time of being free from delusion and realizing the truth, there's no difference between men and women. If you vow never to look at a woman, must you then abandon women? When you chant, beings are numberless, I vow to save them, which we'll chant later. If you do so, you are not doing Bodhisattva practice. How can you call it Buddha's compassion? He also talks about if you see women only as sexual objects, well, then men can be sexual objects, too. So discriminating against women, he says, is very foolish, and women are equally capable of spiritual awakening. I would say maybe more capable, but anyway.

[13:07]

So in Dogen's time, in 13th century Japan, there were monasteries where women were not allowed to go in. And so he talks about them and how foolish that is. So that's a context from our media tradition. Going further back, I want to speak today about Mahaprajapati. And in our service dedication, we dedicate our practice to our original teacher in India, Shakyamuni Buddha, to our first teacher in China, Bodhidharma, to our original teacher in Japan, Ehe Dogen, Our original teacher in America in this lineage, Shobha Goswami, that's Suzuki Roshi. But we also mention our original woman and our first woman ancestor, Mahaprajapati. So she's part of our liturgy. And so I want to read the context of that in this hidden land book, and then a little of the commentary and talk about it, and I hope there'll be some time for

[14:13]

some discussion. So I'm going to say it in the book, it's in Nepali, but I'll say it in the Sanskrit from our Bodhisattva tradition. Mahaprajapati was the aunt and foster mother of the Buddha and a queen of the Shakya tribe. So Shakya and the Buddha, the original historical Buddha, 2500 BC, was the sage of the, his name means the sage of the Shakyas. And Mahaprajapati was his aunt and his And his foster mother, his mother died in childbirth, the story goes. So, many women turned to Mahaprajapati for counsel when their husbands and sons left home to join the Buddha's order. She was the first to ask the Buddha if women could also ordain. the story about the Buddha, the various stories, and we don't know the history exactly, but he left his comfortable home and wandered around and did lots of meditation practices and finally sat up all night and the morning star realized the chain of causation that traps us in confusion and in greed and prevents us from seeing this possibility of

[15:39]

awareness and awakening and kindness that is right here for all of us, each in our own way. And after he became the Buddha, many of his relatives came and became monks in his order. His cousin Ananda and many others, his son Rahula. But Mahaprajapati also wanted to join his order. So she asked the Buddha if women could also ordain, and the Buddha replied, this account goes, don't set your heart on this. She asked two more times and received the same answer. She departed in tears. Later, Mahaprajapati and 500 other women cut off their hair, which is something we do in Buddhist ordination, priest ordination, she put on saffron-colored robes and walked barefoot for hundreds of miles to where the Buddha was teaching, weeping.

[16:47]

These women stood outside the gates, Mahaprajapati and these 500 other women. Ananda, who was the attendant of the Buddha, and actually his cousin, saw them and asked Mahaprajapati, why are you crying? And she said, because the Buddha does not permit women to ordain. Ananda went to the Buddha and said, your aunt is standing outside with swollen feet, covered with dust, crying because you do not permit women to ordain. It would be good, Buddha, if women had permission to ordain. And the Buddha replied, enough, Ananda, don't set your heart on this. Ananda asked two more times, to no avail, and he asked, Buddha to realize the full fruits of the way, even arhatship, or personal enlightenment.

[17:48]

And the Buddha said, yes, Ananda, they are. So the Buddha realized this. Ananda said, since women are able to realize perfection, and since Maha Prajapati was so kind to you, caring for you, and suckling you at her own breast, surely it would be good if women were allowed to ordain. the Buddha relented of the Sangha when he was born. So there's some commentary by a nun named Thanissara that I'll read some of, but just to say a little about this. You know, partly the Buddha was responding to the prejudices in his own time in his own society, which was very patriarchal and women were not allowed to own things. Actually, through most human history and most cultures in the last 3,000 years, this has been the case, that women have been discriminated against. But I think we have to

[18:51]

Well, and also even after there was an order of nuns, traditionally, and this is still the case in some traditions in Asia, the most senior nun was a junior to the most junior monk. So it's really very sexist from our point of view. And so I think just as citizens of the United States, we need to realize horrible karmic legacy of slavery and racism and how it affects all of us. As Buddhist practitioners, we need to recognize this pattern of discrimination that has been part of Buddhism. And fortunately, I think it's getting better. It isn't to say it's still not a problem. But I think this is happening in Asia, too. there's a whole, some of you may know more about this than I, but the order of nuns was cut off for some Asian cultures, but now there's ordination happening again.

[20:10]

And in Western Buddhism, There are many, many women teachers. So one of my teachers, Blanche Hartman, this is my teacher when I was shiso or head monk at Tassajara. And I've had other women practice leaders. And part of, one of the things about this wonderful book, The Hidden Lamp, not only are there 100 stories of women throughout India China, Japan, and Korea, and the United States, who are great teachers and practitioners, but also there's commentaries on them by modern American, mostly American, some non-American women teachers. So we're really, in some ways, fortunate to be in an age of great women teachers in Buddhism. This is one of the really

[21:10]

wonderful things about the possibilities for modern Buddhism. So, this story about Mahaprajapati, you know, this is historical, we don't know all the details and all the dialogues, but there's this sense of, you know, the Buddha says don't set your heart on this, but there's a sense of great heart, of great resolve, by Mahaprajapati, of wanting to follow the Buddha way. So she's really an inspiration to all of us. So I'm going to read some of the commentary from Ramanasara. What is this story? Why is it so? It's the story of Mahaprajapati setting her heart. It's the story of the Buddha's refusal of Mahaprajapati, and it's the story of the Buddha's acceptance of Mahaprajapati. As we engage the story, we are invited to fashion this fabulous set art of Mahaprajapati, and doing so to discover our own set art, our own resolve.

[22:22]

So another thing to say about Shakti Muni, again, dealing with the difficulties of his time, not only were women persecuted, and discriminated against. There was also the Indian caste system, which is still part of Indian culture. They were outcasts. And the Buddha decided not to discriminate in this way either. One of his ten major disciples was from an outcast group, Upali. He insisted that all of his Saga members treat him with respect and equality and be together with him, which was very, very radical in that time. Gandhi did something similar more recently, but it's still a problem. And actually, so I'll talk about Ambedkar a little bit. Buddhism vanished from India pretty much in the 1100s. There were I think Turkish-Islamic invaders in the 1100s who wiped out the monastery of Nalanda, and Buddhism was pretty much gone from India for a long time, until the 20th century.

[23:36]

And two different things. The persecution of the Tibetans by the Chinese led many, His Holiness the Dalai Lama led many Tibetan Lamas and teachers to go to India, and they've now spread through the rest of the world. is one part of current Indian Buddhism. Also, talking about outcasts and persecution, there was a man in the 50s named Ambedkar, who was from the outcast group in India, but had the good fortune to become educated. He was educated in London and New York, and came back to India, and he decided that his that he would find a new religion for his people. He was the leader of the untouchables, the untouchable caste, and studied, you know, he did comparative religious study and studied all the different world religions, and finally decided he wanted to convert to Buddhism. And he led a conversion of

[24:42]

I think 500,000 untouchables in the fifties, and unfortunately died six months later, but they're still there. My friend, Alex Ananthi, who's spoken here, goes every year and looks within and teaches about Buddhism, and they're very much an activist Buddhist group in India. So, anyway, Buddhism is in India now. And, you know, Like all cultures, Buddhism has had to overcome problems of discrimination. A little more of what Dhammasara says. Don't set your heart on this, the Buddha said to Mahapajapati. In the Buddha's reluctant transmission of ordination to Mahapajapati, a flower garland of difficulty fell upon her shoulders. Even so, the moment the Buddha ordained her, She joyfully took the path of the nun's robe, leading the way for others to follow through the centuries.

[25:48]

In spite of this ambivalent legacy, we celebrate the Buddhist acceptance of a woman's order, thanks to Mahaprajapati. We also thank Ananda, who demonstrated that a monk can be a true ally of nuns. There are various ways still in which the order of nuns was discriminated against, and I think that is changing in modern times. Thanissaro says, as a Theravada nun for 12 years, I too knew the heaviness. This isn't the transmission of the Buddha's radical awakening, rather it is the silent poison that corrodes the potential of Buddha's foe. of awakening and dispensation. So she talks about eight special rules that were imposed on the order of bhikkhunis or nuns. For many nuns, the intransigence of an entitled male monastic hierarchy is heartbreaking. However, these days, misogyny within Buddhism that is antagonistic to the empowerment of women is increasingly unviable.

[26:56]

And I would agree. So she talks about, supported by visionary monks and lay supporters who align with Buddha's acceptance in women, nuns are following Mahapajapati by keeping their hearts set, by resolve. Women taking their hearts and lives in their own hands, as Mahapajapati and her Dharma sisters did. Dhanasara says, I have seen this same heart in South Africa, where my husband and I lived for many years. after she stopped being a nun, the same brave determination not to submit to special rules, but to struggle for equality. Many citizens in South Africa, including Nelson Mandela, manifested tremendous heart to overcome apartheid. We see that same heart in Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Aung San Suu Kyi, Let us take courage from Mahaprajapati, who is victorious because she kept her heart set.

[28:11]

This is a courageous heart, knowing heart, depth of intuition heart, beautiful heart, profoundly listening heart. Ancient pulse of the earth heart, devoted heart, radical heart. Heart that loves all beings. of wisdom, which does not waver. So Mahapajapati is one of our great ancestors. And this Bodhisattva way which we which is the basis of our zazen meditation practice and is something that opens up in the context of our settling and caring and paying attention to our lives in the world, and the world, and the life of the world, and difficulties in our own life and in our own society, to recognize all beings, to include all beings,

[29:20]

We consider her, we can, we often don't know what to do to help. And that's okay, that's part of our, in all kinds of contexts, in individual problems we have with ourself or with people around us, family, coworkers, friends, we don't often, often we don't know what to do. But our practice of just sitting, it develops our capacity for patience, for paying attention, for being ready and willing to respond when we see something we can do that can help. So this is the wider context for this Zazen practice. And it's also just paying attention to see our own patterns of grasping and anger and confusion. to befriend ourselves as well as all beings, to see that we don't need to act out patterns of hatred, self-hatred as well as hatred of so-called other groups, that we can actually be present and caring and kind and attentive.

[30:40]

This is possible. And when we sit facing the wall, we see ourselves And we see how we are connected to many beings in various ways. So Mahapajapati is just one of the great ancestors we have whose story can encourage us to practice great heart, to be willing to be ourselves and to be present in the world and to respond. So maybe I'll stop there, but I'm interested in any responses, comments, questions from anyone. Please feel free. Kazan. And a lot of the controversy and debate was going on when we got introduced to the ancestors.

[31:50]

You know, if you lived at Green Gulch, you knew a service, a service can be long. And now here we are, we have women ancestors added to the service. And I remember Chapman and Mahabjapati, Maha Prajapati. I remember her name was so catchy to me and I looked it up and I can't remember. My question is, can you remember what her name means? Maha is great. I don't know. Does anyone know the Pali or Sanskrit root for Maha Prajapati? Maha Prajapati. I'm not sure. I'll try and look it up for you. But yeah, we now chant too, during our Sashin's chant, the lineage of ancestors going back to Shakyamuni through various Indian ancestors. We know that we don't have the exact historical names, but we have in China they put together names of great Indian teachers.

[32:55]

And then the Chinese teachers and teachers and disciples who became teachers and so forth in that lineage. Going down to Bodhidharma was on our, well, the first ancestor of China is on our altar. And then Heidogen, who I mentioned, brought that to Japan. And then, from our tradition, there's many Americans and traditions, but Shinryu Suzuki Roshi, Kazan mentioned Green Gulch Farm, which is one of the three main campuses of San Francisco's own center where I trained and where we're connected to. But we also now chant a list of women ancestors, and it's not a lineage in the same way, but we have names, and they're in our new chant books, by the way, of great women ancestors in India and China and Japan and America. But the other thing about those lineages, we have, you know, there's this primary story in American in Zen about this lineage of teachers, teacher and disciple, and who becomes the teacher of the next disciples, and so forth, and various lineages.

[34:05]

But in all of those generations, they had numbers of teachers. A lot of them had studied with the various teachers. One of the strengths, I think, of our Ancient Dragon Zen Gate Sangha is Many of the people here, some people here have started practicing here, but many have backgrounds with other teachers or other traditions and lineages, and I think that's really healthy and wonderful that we have a kind of wide view. So it's not just, there were women, even though there are no women in our particular Dharma transmission lineage, there were women involved all along the way. And now in our Tsukiyoshi tradition, we have many women teachers. Some women teachers, Blanche was just one, who have become part of the lineage. Anyway, that's in response to Kassan's talking about that chant.

[35:10]

Other comments or questions or responses? Feel free, you people too. Yes, hi. I appreciate the passages you share. I was just wondering about the author of the book. Yes, the book is called The Hidden Lamp, 25 Centuries of Awakening Women. It's by Susan Moon and Florence Kaplow. Both of whom have spoken here at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, old friends of mine. So it's published by Wisdom. The Hidden Lamp, really wonderful book. I spoke about it last week and I'll speak about it again tomorrow. And Hogetsu has done a seminar on it. So anyway, it's one of our... It's a source of, Zen works by telling stories. We have stories and stories about stories. And so this is a wonderful contribution because these are great teaching stories, but about women. And in the traditional stories, there's some women too, but it's because of that prejudice of Asian cultures that most of the official stories are, a majority of official stories are about men, but there were women there too.

[36:25]

But The Hidden Lamp, very good book. Other questions or comments or responses? Kazan. I was curious about you guys' particular question. And was you surprised that... I don't think no one was taking it. as any of us had our family born into Buddhism. Could you share more on that, or are you going to answer that question? Yeah, just to emphasize that, you know, we are, you know, in Asia, that's why I spent some time in Asia and training there. In Asia, Buddhism is this old-fashioned religion, you know. It's the traditional religion. And I think a lot of people who practice, so all of us

[37:31]

you know, are new to Buddhism in some ways. We weren't raised as Buddhists. There's actually, there are people in our Sangha, a couple who have Buddhist parents, but none of them are here today. But, and for people, for Asian Americans, for Asian people, they are raised in some form of Asian Buddhism too, often. But, what we're doing here is really What we're doing here is taking on the forms and practices and teachings of this tradition that we weren't raised with, this Buddhist tradition, which is wonderful and has so much to offer, and to offer to our current difficult situation in this world. The practice, you know, I'll just say, I'll say for new people, the practice works.

[38:34]

Satsang works. I've seen so many people who, when you take time to do this sitting practice regularly, and face the wall, and face yourselves, something happens. And what it is is not based on our ideas of what we want. You know, this practice works, but it's alien to us, to our culture in some ways. There are, you know, there have been ways in which Buddhism has been part, related, in Western cultures for, you know, a couple centuries or so, but actual practice, this kind of practice, doing this meditation, and practicing it, trying to practice the awareness of it off our cushions, It's pretty new. It's 50 years old, or a little more. Suke Yoshi came to America in 59, and other Japanese and other Asian Buddhist teachers started coming after that.

[39:39]

So it's pretty new. And we don't really know how it works. It's integrating with our culture through mindfulness practice, through psychology. through inter-religious dialogue. I was holding up another mode of Western spirituality, the prophetic tradition, which Dr. Strain talked about. And I think it's part of what we can offer in Bodhisattva practice. But it starts with just stopping and sitting and being present and facing ourselves. And that is facing all of our background and all of our context of our culture. But we're doing something really new. And here in Chicago, even more so, and I'm going to talk about this more tomorrow night, another story from Hidden Land, we're doing this in a non-residential context, unlike Green Gulch, where you practice, and other people here have practiced. So how do we come together, sit down, be present, face ourselves,

[40:50]

and do this regularly, and then go out into the world, into Chicago, and try and be helpful, and stop causing harm, and include all beings in our vision. So this is challenging, and yet I'm so encouraged whenever I come here by all these wonderful people, all of you. It's time for one more comment, question or response if anyone has something else to add. Yeah, hi. Hi. I'm visiting from Darbaray in Portland, by the way. Oh, great. Say hello to Gilka for me, please. I thought maybe you guys were friends. Yes. And just being here and being at the Art Institute yesterday and seeing the Kessa exhibition. Oh, yes. I recommend that for anyone who can get down to the Art Institute. I was trying to remember, and I suspect you know, in the moment of the World's Fair and the Gap Meat Pavilion, and I think it was Shohei Shaku that was the teacher that came, and I think he is the one who then either left behind or sent back E.T.

[42:13]

Suzuki and Hideo Kintsuzaki. this history of American Buddhism that starts in Chicago. Keep going. Yes, that's kind of what I was, you know, I was just kind of pondering that and being here. But I sort of wondered about, you know, what actually happened when Shakyamuni Buddha was here. What was the program, if anyone even knows? Well, I'm not sure. Maybe some other people here know, but he was down at Hyde Park at this World's Fair, and they started this International Parliament of World Religions, and he spoke and impressed a lot of people. I remember some of the story. He went back to Japan. One of his students, D.T. Suzuki, came. I think Soya Inchaku came and taught in San Francisco. There was a woman who lived out by Ocean Beach and had him come for a little while and be her kind of family's teacher or something.

[43:19]

But D.T. Suzuki, who was You know, I talked about Suzuki Roshi in Zen practice. D.T. Suzuki was a student of Soya Chakra when he came back. He was in Chicago and New York, but wasn't really doing practice in the same way. There wasn't that opportunity. There were intellectuals and artists and various people who were very interested in him and interested in what he was teaching about from one particular context of Rinzai Zen. And so some of his writings are really helpful. So he helped introduce Buddhism. And then he mentioned Nyogen Senzaki. So maybe we should call Nyogen Senzaki the founder of actual Buddhist practice in America. He came in the 20s and 30s and wandered up and down the West Coast working as a dishwasher and laundries and as a merchant marine. But he had set up a group of sitting places and they sat like in churches in chairs and pews because he didn't think Americans could sit cross-legged.

[44:29]

Some of us can't, anyway. So he was a great teacher who ended up in the Internment camps in World War II, Japanese internment camps. Now some politicians want to have Muslim internment camps, it seems. Anyway, a horrible thing. But there are writings of his from internment camps. They're really beautiful. He was a great poet. So anyway, yes. I just wanted to mention, I'm sorry. I just think it's interesting that somehow, with the advent of Zen practice in America, that it somehow ended up manifesting as this more monastic-style practice for lay people, for ordinary people, which is

[45:50]

of Americans, of Japanese descent, or Japanese Americans, whatever, voted a very different kind, you know, those of these Buddhist churches and so forth that are in cities and so forth, and that somehow, you know, those particular teachers actually, you know, I guess you could say decided So you're raising a whole bunch of other questions, which would take a long time, so I won't respond. But yes. And I don't think that this is not monastic practice. People can come here and just experience Zazen. But in Asia, just to say, in Asia, a lot of Buddhism was not based on meditation, but based on various ceremonies and rituals, and was Buddhism. But in America, in my generation, when coming out of the psychedelic era and all that. We wanted some way to actually experience reality more deeply.

[47:01]

And meditation provides that. So here we are. And you don't have to be a monastic to do this, although some of us have practiced in monasteries. Who gets it? Thank you very much for bringing up our great ancestor, Mahaprasakti. And I was struck, actually, as we were talking, It's kind of a radical act for 500 women to cut off their hair and say, we are not accepting marginalization. And that they have the courage to bring their tears and their pain to Buddha. And somebody actually could listen to that. And I've often thought about some practice of how do we actually stay still and respond and listen to the pain of the world that we're all part of. you know, really protest act of like, I'm, you know, Buddha, you're, you know, this powerful person, but we will not accept this. And how that karma still is working its way through our society and through our world.

[48:09]

But I, you know, think that even Buddha had limitations. Of course, this is a practice for human beings. It's not a practice for super-beings. This is a practice for you, for each of us, each in our own way, with our own difficulties and our own limitations. How do we find a way to open up and awaken and be kind and include all beings? Yeah, Mahapajapati's mark and her followers are cutting off their hair and marching, walking many miles to the Buddha. You know, it seems like a precursor to Gandhi or Dr. King and a lot of the non-violent response that is possible still and is happening in the Black Lives Matter movement. honor to march in one of those marches and will be again.

[49:08]

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