The Origin of Mothers' Day and the Precepts

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ADZG Sunday Morning,
Dharma Talk

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Day and Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are mothers or have mothers or have had mothers. So I want to continue today talking about the Bodhisattva precepts, which I've been speaking of the last few weeks, and I want to talk about them in connection with the origins of Mother's Day. But first, just some review. These bodhisattva precepts are about how we express that which arises in zazen. So, in this meditation practice we've just been doing, we get a chance to settle. to just be present as this body and mind on our Kushner chair today, beyond our ideas of who we are and what the world is, just to witness, to pay attention to how it is to be this person here, now, today, on this Mother's Day.

[01:26]

And as we do this practice and settle into it and have some regular engagement with sitting and being present as we are, facing the wall, facing ourselves. Naturally, whether or not we notice it, we are connecting with the possibility of wholeness, the reality of wholeness, the reality of interconnectedness. sometimes in spite of ourselves, start to feel how we are connected with each other and dependent on each other and actually everything in the world. So this awareness that we kind of endlessly can deepen in this practice of zazen, our connection with that and our opening in that, There's no end to that, actually.

[02:30]

But as we connect and see our connection and see how we are dependent on others and on Mother's Day, how we are here because of our mothers, we also feel the responsibility and the ability to respond, to express this awareness in the world. This is what the precepts are about. The precepts are kind of guidelines. They're not rules or regulations or commandments, thou shalt not. They're kind of guidance to areas where it gets a little sticky as to how to express this bodhisattva awareness. So we've been talking about this. We're actually this next weekend finishing our first practice commitment period for the last six weeks. Some of you here and some others have been taking on studying the precepts, each with focusing in your own way on those.

[03:40]

and talking together about them. Another context for us is that next month we will have a lay ordination ceremony, a precept ceremony, and then in October we're going to have a priest ordination ceremony. I've been speaking about these precepts and how they work and how they help us see the texture of our awareness in our lives, in the particulars of our lives, in our everyday activity, in our interrelationships. So we've been speaking and discussing in some detail some of these ten grave precepts. All of these, I won't read all of them, but all of these precepts come out of the basic impulse and practice of taking refuge in Buddha. That's the first of our 16 precepts, just to turn towards Buddha. So whether you formally do some ceremony about these precepts or not, all of us, just by showing up here this morning, are turning towards Buddha, taking refuge in Buddha, seeing what it is to return home to Buddha.

[04:53]

even if this is your first time doing the sitting. And it's very auspicious for the rest of us when someone has done the first Satsang, period. So thank you. We turn towards Buddha. We turn towards awakening. Of course, the ultimate Zen question is, what is Buddha? So we just made prostrations to this wooden image of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha. We honor the Buddha in, well, the historical Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago, more or less, in what's now northeastern India. But also, we bow to the Buddha in each person, all of us in each in the possibility of being present and in ourselves. And each of us has our own way to express Buddha. So this is what the precepts are about.

[05:54]

So we've talked some last few weeks about the precept of disciple of Buddha does not kill. This also means disciple of Buddha does not encourages others not to kill. And also, all of them have a positive aspect. A disciple of Buddha, those living in the light of taking refuge in Buddha, support life and vitality and energy. How do we support life? How do we be pro-life? What does that mean? We also talked about not taking what is not given, not Well, not taking what is not given also means to give and to receive and accept the generosity of the world and of our lives. And on Mother's Day, that's particularly relevant. We also talked about the precepts about speech. Well, we've talked about the precept about anger many times, because that's a problem for all of us. And we say a disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will.

[06:56]

Let's not hold on to anger. So it's possible that there are appropriate times for anger, but how do we not get angry when it's not appropriate? How do we not turn that into grudge or resentment? And then also we've talked about the precept about speech, about right speech, about kind speech, and there's three precepts that relate to that, just the disciple of Buddha does not lie. which is to say also that we speak truth. And what does that mean, and how is that helpful? What are the skillful means for speaking truth that are actually helpful, not harmful? Then we also talked about disciple of Buddha does not slander, or does not find fault with others, sometimes. So we talked about not engaging in fault finding. And what does that mean in terms of how we speak kindly to others? So all of that's kind of review. And next week we're ending the practice commitment period with a three-day sitting.

[08:03]

So I'll be talking about, maybe somewhat indirectly, but talking about the precepts in terms of bodhisattva time and how do we appreciate this time and how do we see the multi-directionality or dimensionality of time. So that'll be one thing I talk about next week, we'll see. But today I want to talk about precepts and our expression of awareness and opening awareness in terms of Mother's Day. particularly in terms of the origins of Mother's Day. So some of you have heard me talk about this before, and maybe some of you know who Julia Ward Howe was. She issued the first Mother's Day proclamation in 1870. She's better known for having written the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

[09:06]

So she was connected with all of those wonderful New England transcendentalist and abolitionist types. But in 1870, in the aftermath of what we call the Civil War, she issued a proclamation, and that was actually the beginning of Mother's Day in this country. She saw some of the worst effects of the Civil War, not only death and disease, which killed and maimed soldiers. She worked with widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, realized the effects of war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She saw the economic devastation and crises that restructured the economies, both in the North and the South. And I'm very happy that we have some veterans in our sangha. And we see people working with the effects of having been in war.

[10:11]

Anyway, in 1870, Julia Ward Howe issued a Mother's Day proclamation. And it's a little long, but I'm going to read it all. And she addressed this. Two women. Arise then, women of this day. Arise, all women who have hearts. Whether your baptism be of water or of tears, say firmly. We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us reeking with carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

[11:13]

From the voice of a devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, disarm, disarm. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe our dishonor. nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women to bewail and commemorate the dead. let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of the divine. In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed

[12:17]

and held at someplace deemed most convenient and the earliest period consistent with its objects to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of their international questions, the great and general interests of peace." So the first Mother's Day proclamation in 1870 was a call for peace and a call for a day to celebrate and work towards peace. In terms of the institution of Mother's Day, Julia Ward Howe wanted women to come together across national lines and issue this declaration, but failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of Mother's Day for peace. But then the idea actually was influenced by a woman named Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who had attempted, starting in 1858, to improve sanitation through what she called Mother's Work Days.

[13:23]

So in Appalachia, she organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides. And her daughter was also named Anna Jarvis. started her own crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907, where she taught Sunday school, and eventually it caught on, spreading eventually to 45 states. The first nationally declared Mother's Day was in 1912, and in 1914, Woodrow Wilson, who was president, declared the first national Mother's Day. So a little bit of history. I bring this up because I want to talk about... We've talked mostly about these precepts as how they affect us in our lives, and that's important. So these precepts, again, I've talked about as expressions of the awareness of zazen, and how we express that in our interactions, in our world, in our everyday life.

[14:34]

I would say also that the precepts are helpful in Zazen itself as we are present and face ourselves and see the arising of anger, for example, or see the arising of greed or possessiveness fault-finding or criticism of others or ourselves, actually. So the precepts are not just for when we get up from Sāsana, but particularly they help us to see how to express Sāsana. And I think that it's not just about our everyday activities. I think Buddhism in the Bodhisattva way and precepts have something to teach for our world and our society now. that it's not just something that happens inside the doors of our temple, or in our homes, or other places. So, some more history.

[15:38]

There was a book published in the mid-90s called Senate War, talking about the background of World War II in Japan, and how some, not just Zen, but other Buddhist teachers, including some famous Zen masters, including Yasutani Roshi, who was important So a few major American lineages were not just went along with militarism that led up to World War II, but actually participated pretty actively, supported it, promoted it. And so this is, you know, a question for us and the violence in our society and the militarism in our society. In terms of the origins of Mother's Day, we should look at how the precepts affect our world and our society, as well as using them to help us find our own expression in our lives of this meditative awareness, this sense of kindness and openness that we learn here.

[16:47]

So, again, I want to say that I've talked about right livelihood as, and Don spoke about it recently also, as one of the most important teachings for our time and our world and our society. And it's complicated and it's something that I know there are people in our Sangha who are unemployed and looking for work and something that actually is a major struggle in the difficulties in our society now. I do actually believe that it's possible that human beings can live in a world without war. But of course, given the current situation of the world, I think that serving our country in the armed services definitely can't be right livelihood. Again, I appreciate the veterans in our sangha, but I question The way the military has been used by politicians and corporations, this is something that actually affects all of us in terms of, although right now there's a kind of draft by class or by opportunity, there's no draft like there was

[18:13]

When I was in my late teens during the Vietnam War, but people who don't have opportunity often go into the army. And again, I appreciate their serving the country. But, well, I want to talk about Thich Nhat Hanh's version of the precepts in terms of this. But also just to remember that it's 50 years ago this year that President Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex, which was very dangerous then, and he talked about it. He talked about the effect of all the money being put into the military then and how many schools that cost, and how much that cost in terms of taking care of our infrastructure and so forth. And, well, in the last 50 years, in some ways, it's gotten worse.

[19:16]

Eisenhower also talked about the way it affects us spiritually. I really appreciate that. How the concentration of wealth towards military purposes affects us spiritually and affects every district in the country. So I think what he said is still very much relevant today. So I want to talk about this in terms of precepts again. Thich Nhat Hanh, the great modern Vietnamese Zen teacher, has a set of 14 precepts of interbeing in which he talks about in actually a very helpful way of informing our own study of these precepts. And the first three are about self-righteousness.

[20:18]

So whatever view we may have about anything going on in our world, in our own personal relationships, in our workplace, in our society, Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes that right view in Buddhism is about listening and seeing perspectives and not holding on to one fixed view. So I want to read, I'm not going to read all of Thich Nhat Hanh's, he has 14 presets of inner being which come out of these 10 that we follow. But the first three I want to read, he says, one, do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means, they're not absolute truth. So, in various religions in the world today, there's the possibility of fundamentalism and holding on to some doctrine or some ideology as ultimate. And Thich Nhat Hanh starts right away by saying that Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means, they're not absolute truth.

[21:23]

This is very important. As a Zen Buddhist teacher and precept holder, I really don't care for any of you if you identify yourselves as Buddhists. It's just not important. What's important about Buddhism is that each of you, in your own way, express this awareness in your life, in our world. That's important. And Zazen helps us to learn how to do that, and it's a lifelong process. But it's not about Buddhism, even though I guess I am formally a Buddhist priest and teacher. Number two, do not think the knowledge you present presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. Truth is found in life, not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.

[22:26]

So, as has been said here, this practice is lifelong learning. and also listening. So we may have differences of opinion, and many of us have talked about this here, where we have some viewpoint that conflicts with those of our family or friends. How do we speak our truth, but in a way that listens to the truth of others? It's very important. And number three goes even further. Thich Nhat Hanh says, do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness. So this compassionate dialogue, this hopeful conversation that Reb also talks about in his book, Being Upright, very important. And this is important for us as a Sangha now since we're developing, Matt's not here today, but an education committee and we had this Buddha's birthday celebration last month, which was wonderful.

[23:34]

We had 10 children here and it was delightful for everyone. So we're including children in our Sangha. But, and we may have, you know, tell them about stories from Buddhism and so forth. But it's not that we want to educate our children into becoming Buddhists. How do we help them to grow up to be able to listen to others and respect others? So this is very important in terms of anything that we say about what's going on in the world today. that we be open to listening to others, that we don't have some final viewpoint on all of this. How do we take care of our world? So again, I really believe that Buddhist teachings, teachings of the Eightfold Path, like right speech and right livelihood, teachings of the Bodhisattva precepts that we've been studying, teachings of the transcendent practices like patience and generosity and skillful means and commitment and so forth, that these are helpful for this world and for our society, and that we'd be willing to look at that and not turn away from the world as a whole, even if we don't know what to do.

[24:53]

So going back to the situation that Julia Ward-Howe talked about, about the problems of war and the problems of violence in our society, one of, actually, it's our first precept of the 10 great precepts of what disciple of Buddha does not kill. Thich Nhat Hanh has it as number 12, do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war. So he has this as one of his precepts of interbeing. Do not live with a vocation, he also says about right livelihood, do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion. As I said before, I do believe, actually, that policemen and soldiers can be doing right livelihood.

[25:58]

You know, there are actually some of our military academies now, and in the Pentagon, meditation groups. I think that's great. Buddhist soldiers who've heard about Right Livelihood are far more likely to say no if or when they're ordered to commit torture or shoot civilian women and children in that. So it's happened now. So how do we see this precept of not killing? And on Mother's Day, in terms of Julia Ward Howe's original call for a Mother's Day in terms of, you know, she saw the horror of war right here. Maybe we saw that on 9-11. So I think there's a wonderful opportunity now with the death of Osama bin Laden that we could say And maybe some of you may feel like saying it to your representatives in Washington, but we can say to each other also, hey, we don't really need to now to have a war in Afghanistan or Iraq or Pakistan.

[27:11]

What's the point of this? What's going on? So I think as Buddhists try to look at precepts, we may not completely agree, but we can look at what's going on in our world and speak about it. And maybe there is an opportunity for peace now. And maybe there is an opportunity for looking at all of the huge amount of our national resources that goes into wars and military and how much of that really is supporting our national security. I think this is not something that we must ignore as Buddhists. We can look at that. and talk about it together and think about it. So again, this affects all of us in terms of what the budgets that politicians in Washington put forth affect.

[28:13]

They're moral choices. What is it in our society we support? I'm very happy that we have in our sangha a number of teachers Teachers are not something supported by some of the politicians in Washington. But I think it's the most important job in our society now. How do we take care of future generations? How do we help young people? And again, on Mother's Day, how do we as elders, support young people to try and to have a kind of open-hearted curiosity about the world and be willing to discuss values in the world. So, you know, I'll just mention briefly also, which we've talked about, the problems in our environment and I've been very concerned with what's going on in Japan and our friends in Japan ongoing nuclear meltdowns there, how do we help to encourage change in our environment?

[29:21]

How do we pay attention to that? And there's a, I'll just mention, there's a friend of mine, a colleague of mine, Diane Benage, is a Zen teacher. She's in Eastern Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. Interesting person. I just found out recently she used to be a professional ballet dancer, which you wouldn't notice here now. But she's spent many, many years training in Japan. Very interesting. She came back from her training in Japan. was very much different from American Zen culture and has learned to adapt and teach in her sangha in Pennsylvania. Her sangha and her area is now victimized, though, by another environmental destruction.

[30:23]

Do any of you know what fracking is? So this is a kind of way of extracting gas for our energy. This is a huge co-op for us now. How do we support our energy needs? But anyway, fracking is being done in upstate New York and eastern Pennsylvania and through Appalachia. drill down into the ground and drill horizontally and release lots of really poisonous liquids to release the gas, which they then harvest. But it leaves lots of poisons in the water. And there was recently, a couple of weeks ago, a big explosion from this fracking near Dian Song Temple. Even before that, in upstate New York and this area of Pennsylvania, many people could turn on their taps in their kitchens and light them for the water to go on fire.

[31:24]

So obviously, there's people being poisoned by all of this. Diane's response to this, and she and her disciple, Daishin, I can't remember his name, holding a ceremony to, well, it's patterned on ceremonies that were held in Thailand to ordain trees. So this happened not so long ago in Thailand where Buddhist monks ordained trees because these were trees in all-growth forests that were threatened by loggers. And the culture in all of Thailand is Buddhist, so the loggers, once they found that these trees were actually monks, were not willing to cut them down. Very skillful action, I really like this. Anyway, May 15th, Diane thought about doing that for the Susquehanna River, which is endangered by this wracking and is very near her. She's in the watershed.

[32:25]

And then she thought about getting other, in doing an interfaith thing. Ordination didn't seem like it would be relevant to people, but they're having an interfaith blessing ceremony for the Susquehanna River, May 15th, next Sunday, during our three-day sitting. Daishen wrote to the Zen teachers list about this and her student, and also he said, There are people still in his area in Eastern Pennsylvania who don't believe in climate change. Science is very clear on this, but the energy company's misinformation has been very strong. But also there are people who feel like there's nothing that can be done about climate change. And he said both extremes make it possible for the gas companies to come in and do what they're doing there. So in terms of our world, I think there's some tendencies of some Zen people to say, there's nothing I can do about the world.

[33:35]

I'm just going to try and take care of myself and people I know and apply precepts to that. And that's great, actually, because I think that does contribute to the benefit of the world. But there are things. It's important not to feel hopeless, because that's not realistic, actually. Everything we do, even in terms of our own interrelationships, helps promote awareness of kindness. Everything we do in our own lives supports these precepts and is turning towards what we call Buddha. We can translate it for others, to awareness, to kindness. So change does happen. We don't know how, and I don't think it's going to come from Washington, D.C. myself, but change happens. We see this in the Middle East now where at least there are very positive possibilities. It's not clear what's going to happen, but change happens sometimes when we don't expect it.

[34:41]

So again, I would say that all of these precepts are ways of developing awareness. in the realm of right speech, in the realm of speaking truth, in the realm of supporting life, in the realm of intoxication, in the realm of not misusing sexuality. These precepts are guides to encourage us to develop awareness. And also in terms of our world and the wishes of Julia Ward Howe when she started Mother's Day, how do we bring awareness? I know that awareness is transformative on many levels, in her own sitting, in our own expressions of that as we try to think about how to act on how to express connectedness and interdependence in our world and also in our society. So awareness is transformative and that's what we're here to do together to help promote awareness on all kinds of levels.

[35:47]

So, that's what I wanted to say this morning. Again, Happy Mother's Day. Does anyone have any comments, responses, questions, other viewpoints? Please feel free. Hi, Kathy. Hi. As you were talking about, as you moved through the talk, I thought back about mothers and that mothers often have the roles in families of holding things together. So I hear more about mothers putting on large dinners where everybody gathers, keeping families connected, making sure people visit or stay involved with each other. And I think there's an important role in that. And that I think, you know, like right now in our country, we are so completely divided. You know, I've recently been out of the country, so it's kind of like you're considered part of that family. And, you know, it's like we are so completely divided.

[36:54]

But it's like there are fewer things, we've gotten depersonalized, there are fewer things that pull us together. And so I just wanted to go back and reflect on the role of mothers Because I think that same role is needed in terms of, I think we need to stay in conversation with people that we really don't understand or agree with, because I think that's where a lot of the willingness to do extreme measures is coming from, is beginning to see people as somehow evil because they're different than you are, or to be very removed from that. So I think this sense of mothers, which forces siblings to stay in connection with each other even when they might not easily do it without some other force. I think it's the same concept that is needed in various ways in our country right now. Thank you. Thank you very well said.

[37:56]

And the perfection of wisdom represented by Manjushri on her altar, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, but also by the Bodhisattva of the Perfection of Wisdom, the goddess whose picture is in the window in the kitchen, is considered the mother of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Yeah, this is about how do we connect, and within our Sangha, how do we keep in contact with each other? How do we connect with each other? How do we not see any others as the evil others? Thank you very much. Other comments, please. I'd like to thank Kathy for that comment. It strikes home with me. It seems like so much of what we do now, we wonder, well, how can we get out of Afghanistan? How can we find peace? And it seems that really the problem is not, we've gotten ourselves in a situation where

[38:57]

Iran and Iraq, and getting even below that, a lot of that came because we saw certain people as less important than us. It was okay to make them palms. And so, the attitude that we all shared back at that time, to me, has led directly to where we're at now, where you have people dying. And so, it's really more about what do we do now to keep the wars from happening 30, 40, 50 years from now. And I think that we really can do. Yes. And need to do. And I look at how attitudes have changed in my lifetime towards gay issues, towards race issues. I mean, we have made progress. We're not there, but we've made progress. We can make progress. Yes, change does happen. That's very clear. And awareness is transformative. Yeah, thank you. Other comments?

[40:08]

Yes, Josh, hi. Also, I think, Kathy, I was just thinking about my mom, and I was like, yeah, she does do that. Also, I think Mother's Day is a good time to reflect on our mother. Yes. Chicago River Day, I think it's this Saturday. So please speak with Josh if you're interested in helping with that. And there are many ways. And it is part of, you know, I'm glad you connected Mother Earth. How do we take care of this planet? How do we take care of how we are all interdependent and interconnected?

[41:14]

It's really true. We see it in all kinds of non-theoretical visceral ways as we continue to do our sitting practice. We are connected. Tom? Anybody else? Any other safe thoughts? I didn't know about the origins of Mother's Day, so I was very interested. Yeah, if you Google Julia Ward Howe and Mother's Day, you'll get the text of that. It is very interesting. It came out of her concern for the destruction of war and her call to women to do something, to say something.

[42:16]

And perhaps we're at the point now where we really have to not be quite so, you know, smug about our situation and look to see that we've evolved to a point where we have to take another look at where we came from, where that went. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I think what's happened in the last whatever years is, you know, we as a country should feel rightly humbled and humble and not think we have the answers for everyone. I'd like to read and study history some and there's a lot that's really wonderful and worthy about the history of our country and I think of at least the writings of Thomas Jefferson as really congruent with Bodhisattva ideas and many of the founding fathers and yet also we, this country is here because of destruction of the Native Americans.

[44:18]

It's a very complicated karma that we have and being willing to look at it. and say, okay, well, are we, you know, in Afghanistan are we creating more terrorists, you know, which a lot of people would argue. And so anyway, what are we doing and how do we see an appropriate place for our values, you know, from the perspective, I'm not talking about this about politics, you know, actually, maybe I'll say this formally that We're a religious non-profit 501c3, which means that we do not advocate for any political party or candidate, and I'm not interested in doing that. We don't advocate for any particular legislation, and I'm not interested in doing that. But from the point of view of Bodhisattva precepts, it's appropriate to talk about how we see ourselves in the world and how we see these social and environmental issues and how that, you know, how we apply Buddhist teachings to how we think about it and share perspectives on that.

[45:21]

So yeah, I appreciate what you said, Ken. I think our willingness to reflect on these things is part of how change happens. Titus. So our tradition is often called patriarchal Zen in the texts. And of course, we acknowledge that in this country and elsewhere, Buddhists make a lot of strides to honor and incorporate the patriarchal aspect. How personally do you think And how much does it affect our tradition, and how are you addressing the patriarchal? Yeah, well, as a translator, you know, patriarch is one word, ancestor is another, which is more neutral, and I prefer to use ancestor.

[46:26]

But yeah, the realities of the history of Buddhism and of Zen is that It records in the lineage, which I'm hoping we'll chant at least one of the days next weekend, all of the lineage from the Shakyamuni or men. There were lots of women, and there's a lot of good research being done about that, which I've supported. We have a list of women ancestors, too, who were involved in it. time in history, all the mothers of all those guys, but also, you know, many other women. In terms of American Buddhism and American Zen, I feel, you know, there's much more to do about this, but I feel very good that there are many women teachers in American Zen, and many women priests, and in our Sangha we have many women leaders. Thank you, and I want to continue to support that. So yeah, it's something I'm certainly aware of and is part of how we do things.

[47:34]

Thank you for bringing that up. On Mother's Day, very appropriate. Any last thought or reflection?

[47:46]

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