Last Saturday, we were sort of giving a kind of sketch of the trip we took to Japan. I think as far as we got was a heiji. So we felt very honored in having this chance to see Dogen's image. After... No matter what people say about Eheiji,

[01:05]

It is indeed Dogen's home. And you get a sense of something you can't explain or describe through the unseen feeling. structures and corridors long many many many stairs and corridors leading off so when we were there it was uh maybe a foot of snow and um the spatial aspect and the outside grounds was covered with snow.

[02:19]

So it was a very inward kind of feeling during that time. We were the only, we were just the only guests there. After the special ceremony, the monk took a sightseeing. He took us, Shinko-san, took us around, showing us various buildings, meditation hall, Dharma hall, Hato, And for us here, because we are at the beginning point, most of us are familiar with the meditation hall.

[03:31]

But the Hato, or the Buddha Hall, is a very important building. When we went to see the meditation hall, deep brown kind of curtain, flat, you know, and with a deep blue diamond shape, so you couldn't see inside. And that building, the Soto or meditation hall, there's hardly any speaking done in that room. So this kind of tone that's always kept, same tone for about 700 years.

[04:40]

And so like the Hato or the is all tatami. I don't know, like our meditation hall, how many times larger it was. Maybe, I'm just guessing, 15 times. And all tatami mats. But very many temple pillars, gold brocade with dragons. Much more decoration than I think we're accustomed to, but I like it very much. It gives a very old kind of feeling.

[05:50]

So Asia, I think, would be like visiting the Vatican, I imagine. And it has that kind of dignity and splendor to it. Being in an HE felt like you were inside a refrigerator. And as you went back to the hotel, you were happy because there was heat in the hotel part. And so we took the train, the Shinkansen, bullet train back to Yangsu.

[06:56]

So that was February 27th, and we came back the 28th. And starting February 1st, 2nd, 3rd, preparation, more intensive preparation for the transmission ceremony began. Hojo-sama, Suzuki Roshi's son and also our oldest Dharma heir, has two rooms, and Hojo means ten, ten mass.

[07:57]

So for Roshi they call Hojo, and Sama is deep respect, Hojo Sama. So there's two rooms. One room where he's probably kind of a receiving room, and then the inner room is a very No one goes in there. That's his personal room. So I worked in both rooms, but mainly doing the preparation in the outer tenement room. In the room, there was a big long table. maybe seven or six feet long and about three feet wide.

[08:59]

And preparing, doing lots of writing, calligraphy. And at that time, the first, February 1st, Noiri Roshi came. When you see slides of him, you'll just see an old man. When I mentioned to Chino Roshi that Nori Roshi participated in the ceremony, he asked me twice, you know, if it was true. He said to me, Noiri Roshi is the best in entire Japan for this ceremony. When I mentioned it to Oksan, Suzuki Roshi's wife, she gets on her hands and knees.

[10:14]

It has that kind of feeling to it. He really is a great man. When you see slides of him, all you see is an old man. I think... Hojo-sama, I said something in kind of a kidding remark. One of the boys had one cigarette lighter at Pachinko Palace in Nizip. And so he gave the red one to Hojo-sama. When he lit it, this big flame came out.

[11:21]

Ten feet tall flame. We both went like this, and I said, oh, maybe Naughty Roshi is speaking to us. And he looked down, and he said, Urukai shimasu. I think it's poking back over the trip.

[12:39]

You know, it's kind of hard on everyone. And indeed like the foreigner who goes to a country becomes not so sensitive of what history there is there We visited a temple.

[13:57]

The second Dharma heir of Suzuki Roshi, Shoko Roshi. Hojo-sama was born at that temple. And I thought about He and his father Maybe his mother was killed there So there's a lot of subtlety.

[15:00]

There is the cultural aspect. But even in human nature, there's so much subtlety. When we think we've won one battle or some kind of victory, there seems like 9,000 more layers of subtlety. So when Hojo-sama said, Onogaishimasu, he was saying, please help me.

[16:06]

They were both afraid, and at the same time, So the first day was spent preparing for his arrival. Nori Roshi comes from a very famous lineage, Kishizawa Roshi. was one of the experts on Dogon Senchi in transmission ceremony.

[17:11]

And so he comes from that lineage. And there was a sort of second generation, another Roshi that participated in the ceremony, Keiro Roshi. He's about 52. Myself, early 40s, Keto Roshi, 50s, early 50s, and Yori Roshi, either late 60s or early 70s. It's hard to tell. For old man, he's very strong. I think he's kind of spirit and wisdom is enough strength for ten of us. I saw it.

[18:15]

So, we prepared for his arrival. When people say, well, what do you do at a temple? Well, I kind of sweep and clean. Really found out what that was about. There's so much to clean. Everywhere. You're cleaning. And you're moving very fast. Hojo-sama usually... Some places are in order, and some places are in chaos. So we had to get everything in order, because Noriroshi was coming. So... The children, Damien, wanted to see what this man was about.

[19:31]

Traditional pattern of the temple is sort of like This is the Buddha Hall, and it's flanked by the meditation hall and kitchen, the monk's quarters, the abbot's quarters, the founder's hall. So like a mandala shape, stupa shape from aerial view. And so all the buildings are connected with corridors. He's coming, and finally the car pulls out, and in the parking lot, everyone gets their place. Damien runs down one of the corridors, and he hides, and there's some glass, so he looks through. So what does Nari Roshi do?

[20:38]

He walks straight towards him. And he went, you don't know which door he's going to come in. So he came in the Honda. The other time he came in another door. And he was coming in. Seemed like there was lightning. And there was a big wind in his coat. All priests have, they have like a, it's a band and a hat like this. And the band, it creases. And then they have this long thing. So he decided to take off his coat.

[21:41]

And his attendant was on the other side of the parking lot. A young monk. And his attendant is supposed to be one with the teacher. So when he takes off his coat, he's supposed to be there to receive the coat. So you heard this monk running across through gravel. One get us those wooden clogs. And then he came in. Looks like a lot of people coming. We, in the outer ten mat room we got together.

[24:33]

Incense bowl, stand, staff, shucho, the legs of Buddha, the staff, and some of the objects used and did a kind of sample at the beginning of the ceremony. Before the ceremony, we went to visit him at Kanyuan. And as the ceremony was approaching, Hojo-sama speaks somewhat, can speak English somewhat, but at the same time was difficult to communicate.

[25:50]

And at some point, my understanding was that I was to be the Dharma heir of Suzuki Roshi, and that was his request, his last request. So since that time, it's been seven years, 1971. So as Hojo-sama, Azusa Kiroshi's son, and also the eldest daimyo,

[27:04]

we're talking about the transmission ceremony. He said, Oh, I thought that you were going to be my Dharma heir. And, uh, it flashed in my mind. I learned Chino Roshi's face before we left. He said, trust him completely. Whatever he does, trust When you're in a foreign country, sometimes you get paranoid, because you can't communicate. It's a difficult expression. Anyway, that flashed. But I felt I should say, all these years of preparation, was that someone was to do it for Suzuki Roshi, because that was his request.

[28:17]

and Suzuki Roshi's 89th generation, Hojo Sama's 90th generation from Buddha. So, he says, I really understand your feeling. He said, have you had face-to-face encounters with Suzuki Roshi and I said many times and he said sometimes you get paranoid because you can't communicate there's a difficult expression anyway that flashed and but I felt I should say well all these years of preparation was that someone was to do it for Suzuki Roshi, because that was his request.

[29:28]

Okay? And Suzuki Roshi's 89th generation, Hojo Sama's 90 generations from Buddha. So he says, I really understand your feelings. He said, have you had face-to-face encounters with Suzuki Roshi? And I said, many times. So he says, if you go and see him, you have no power. The eldest son in the tradition has the power. So I have to go. So he said, after the visit, he got on his hands and knees and begged Naori Roshi to accept my request.

[30:42]

On his hands and knees. You know what she said to him? She said, can you sign a dead man's signature? He asked Hojo-sama. Hojo-sama said, I can't. Another thing too that's happening in Japan, is that buddhism is at a very degenerate stage just like christianity here and at the same time there's death there's a wonderful kind of birth it doesn't mean it's dying when there's death it doesn't end

[31:57]

So Nori Roshi wants to be very careful. We are Americans. And to transmit this properly. So he said, many priests nowadays just sign, fake it. Transmission ceremony. And it's a very long ceremony. And the faster they do it, the easier it is so he said it's better if you don't so we took his suggestion and I feel very good about it it's actually the same thing Buddha Mahakasyapa, Ananda.

[33:01]

Ananda, cousin of Buddha. Buddha died before. The Hojo-sama, Suzuki Roshi. Suzuki Roshi's father, Hojo-sama's grandfather. So, I'm not 90, I'm 91. So there was a big relief in the preparation of the ceremony, because of that point. And I think for us it should be clear, you know, 91. Somebody may say, You're not 90, but it doesn't, you know, there's no difference. The first day when we visited, Kanyuan is a

[34:22]

Very small. His An is like a hermitage. Yin and Ji, I and J and I are like temples. Hengchun Ji, Renzo Yin, Hei Ji. And he's retired into a very small hermitage. But he has deshi or dharma heirs. And one is A woman. Maybe in her 30s. A woman Roshi. Shaved head. Juho is her name. I forgot what ju is, but ho means Garuda. Big bird that eats. everything I can eat.

[35:24]

The Hojo sometimes say even dragon, dragon, Garuda, big, big bird. And there are two monks living there, but everything is very small. So maybe this room feels like the size of this hermitage and there are many little rooms in it and then outside there's a graveyard, a parking lot and one building which I didn't get a chance to go take a look First day I went there with Hojo-sama, he corrected my bowing.

[36:31]

And when Keido-roshi was over at Rinzai, in the living room area, I noticed he looked at Damien and he went like this. And then he was kind of waiting for Damien to look up. And he told Damien, he said, you go like this, and he went like this. There's some strength. our bowels are, we should try to practice our bowels, our fingers are sticking out, thumbs are sticking out, fingers are open, but everything is together, you know, your arms are open, and your nose, and it's this kind of feeling, there's some strength to it, it's not

[37:52]

So I couldn't speak very well and I was doing something wrong and he demonstrated me and came over. And so he would maybe go like this with his hands, you know, just, you know, like so. Actually, those encounters were more like, you know, you have this religious form. What's the form mean? So it's just, we just copy it. life, no good.

[39:06]

So he was like preparing me for opening the ceremony. If you can't bow, you can't do anything. first thing. So the day he arrived at Rensselaer, I spent three days at that table doing calligraphy, and the table turned into ice. It was so cold in that room, it felt like I was working on a block of ice. And especially when you do writing, your hands don't move so well.

[40:15]

So there's special paper used for the ceremony. Silk paper. Plum silk paper. And as I was copying the names of the Buddhas, I made a mistake. character. And so there was only three pieces of paper. That's all there is. And so they started talking. I didn't know what they were saying. And I put my head like this. And I was waiting to get beaten. That was the feeling. So, Noel Hiroshi went to his briefcase, and he brought one.

[41:22]

He had one old stain on it. And he said to me, you have one chance. You just have one chance. Don't make a mistake. This is your last chance. It's true, huh? We all have one chance. So, I was lucky. You know, it all came out okay. As the ceremony progressed, I tried to take notes on it, and as you could see from the materials brought in, there was like a hundred, maybe two hundred feet of red silk curtain which surrounded the area, and a chair made in a certain style.

[42:49]

And so there was a lot of articles being brought in for this ceremony and also maps and diagrams and diagrams and diagrams. So you felt a lot of preparation and meetings and meetings of how it was to be done. And in the recent translation, the Shiho book, the transmission book at Zen Center, he crossed out line by line. Not right, he said. The one that Tonohashi-san's doing now. Not right. So my notes aren't probably very accurate, just from being tired, cold, you know, all that stuff.

[44:03]

Not so accurate. So I was trying to record it. Because this is what we'll use here. Not just record from my point of view, but also from Hojo-sama's point of view. The other seat. What he did because I'll be at the other side. So trying to see it and then what Keda Roshi did and what, there are different teachers in the transmission ceremony. Maybe this is a good place to start. Usually a transmission ceremony is basically one-to-one.

[45:09]

It's not a public ceremony. Usually you don't talk about it very much. And so like for this country, you know, you have the, per se, the ceremony itself, and then you have the daily transmission of just your own lives with each other. So what I'm trying to say, there is the ceremony, transmission ceremony. Also there is a daily transmission happening between all of us. And to try somehow, because we have one chance in this life.

[46:12]

And with the feeling of of trying to swallow your own pride, individuality. Americans are very individualistic and egocentric, very much. If you mention something to a student, he'll give you an excuse. Just listen to what someone is saying. Don't say anything, just listen. As soon as I understand...

[47:49]

Old patterns are hard to turn over. But we should, you know, aim towards turning it over anyway, no matter how hard they are. Because we only have, I only have one chance. One chance. No one can do it for you either. Anyone else?

[49:51]

No. He said that, you know, Indians are very hard to turn off. But basically, you're also moving into a very odd pattern. Like this lineage seems to be a pattern. And, you know, you can tell from the pictures, If the lineage turns over, the pattern of lineage turns over, I don't know what you mean. It's like what I hear you say, when you say, old patterns are hard to turn over, it's like one's own personal pattern, one is corrupt. And in a sense, a lineage to me also is a personality. I'm a person there, although I'm keeping one, and I'm delighted from way back then. So what turns one petal into another petal?

[50:53]

Yeah. If that would be turning over. Yeah. Seems like one day the test is over. It's a very good way. Very good way. Actually, when we're studying Buddhism, that's what we're doing. One small pattern into a larger pattern.

[51:58]

Sangha is kind of a family outside of your family, a bigger family. Someone else? There's a part of me that understand to not say anything and just listen. Why is that so hard to just listen? Even though maybe sometimes you don't say anything, your body is completely resistant, you know? The body's closed completely.

[53:06]

All of the words don't come out. The body, not, well, not. I was surprised with myself. No idea if she came over to correct my bow. But as the ceremony, as the days went on, it became very fond of him. Anyway, he pushed you, the ball, he was soft. He was soft. You want to go this way? Okay, we'll go this way. imagine there may be many, many, many reasons maybe the reason may help us and many times the reason may not help us the most important point is to be enjoying it trying to do it

[54:33]

You know, so like, in a situation, my body does not move. We could, instead of saying, putting your body down, or separating from it, say, Thank you.

[55:13]

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