Turn our hearts around, shine on us, open us up. Okay, I'm going to sing it again and then if you want, let's try it. Turn our hearts around, just listen. Shine on us, open us up. You want to try it? Okay, and a one, and a two, and a one, two. Turn our hearts around. Shine on us. Open us up. Now, I don't know why. I don't know if it's just us or if this is just a thing. But we're just a little behind the beat. So just whatever it is, you know, imagine you're in your car or, you know, you're whatever it is and just, you know, in the old days of the records, you know, you're just going to turn it, tweak, tweak it a little so that it's okay.

[01:01]

So I'm going to clap it out and anyone who wants to clap. Shine on us. Open us up. Turn our hearts around. Shine on us. Open us up. Great. Okay. Now here's the improv part. And we did this with the community. Okay. And you can imagine the kinds of things that people are going through and that we're going through right now. So I want you to really go deep for a moment. If you want to, close your eyes and just really, really take root in what's something that's hard for you right now, whether it's your own personal story or something you've encountered in the world, in your family, locally, in town, in this country.

[02:13]

planet. And as you listen, maybe ask yourself, and what's hard about that? Go deeper. So we can go beneath sort of this, um, you know, vocabulary of, uh, feelings are bad, bad, scared, glad to really what hurts what's hard and if your eyes are closed you know to open them and just a word or two of just what is that that you want to let go of that's so hard

[03:17]

And if you're so moved, just call it out, just like popcorn popping up. No pressure, just naturally call it out. Indecision. Inadequacy. Powerlessness. Fear. Regret. Breaking apart. Rage. Guilt. I'm going to add to that shame. Death of loved ones. So that we can include all of those. Maybe it's not a precise fit, but I'll just say pain.

[04:23]

And so here's how this part goes. We can actually choose three. So if pain is one aspect of that, of all that you heard, how would you bring all those together? Let's have two more words that include all that what you just heard named. If pain is one aspect of that, what are a couple others? Suffering. Okay. Separation. Great. Okay. So here's how this part goes. Let go of pain. Try that out. Let go of pain. Let go of suffering. Let go of suffering. Let go of separation. Let go of separation. Everyone. Everyone.

[05:24]

And now we're going to bring on something, that hopeful part. Let's name some things. What do you want to bring on? What do you want to bring into the room, into this world? Joy. What else? Integrity. Play. Understanding. Inclusion. Trust. Compassion. Joy. Okay, how about joy, trust, compassion? So, call response. Bring on joy. Bring on trust. Bring on compassion. Everyone And clap it out.

[06:28]

Turn our hearts around. Shine on us. Open us up. Turn our hearts around. Shine on us. Open us up. Three's a charm. Turn our hearts around. Shine on us. Open us up. Ooh, I heard a little harmony on the end there. Great. And that, that's resilience. That's what resilience sounds like. It is joyful. It is trusting, it is compassionate, and it includes everything, includes all of us. It just seems so amazing to me. So I'm noticing the time and, you know, as with many things, you know, what is it?

[07:38]

What's that line about, you know, you make a plan, but God has other plans or something like that. Anyway, so I did have a second story in mind, of course, which I just like to, just like to read, which is Ikkyu and Kannon's Messenger. Ikkyu Sojin was a 21-year-old monk when his beloved teacher died. He was distraught and wandered aimlessly, praying to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. His mother was so worried about him that she assigned a servant to surreptitiously follow him. One day, Ikkyu came to a bridge and thought, I will throw myself into the water. And I just want to say, as you're listening to this story, Just notice what it's like to listen to it, having tapped into, as we just did, into joy and trust and compassion. Just notice, has anything shifted since the last difficult story we were encountering?

[08:47]

So one day, Ikkyu came to a bridge and thought, I will throw myself into the water. If my life is spared, it will be proof of the Bodhisattva Kannon's protection. And if not, at least I will be good fish food. In either case, Kannon will not fail me. Just as he was about to leap off, the servant appeared, caught his arm, and gave him a message from his mother. It would be unfilial to harm your body. Enlightenment will have its proper day. Please persevere. Ikio did not jump off the bridge. Instead, he returned to the capital to pay his respects to his mother. You know, it reminds me of an old, well, I know it is a Jewish story, but it's, you know, everything's in the tone. So there's a lot of ways to read a story, tell a story. You know, the guy writes to his parents and first the dad opens the letter and it says, you know, mom, dad, I'm broke, send money, your son. And the father goes, oy, you know, what a, what a, you know, what a good for nothing.

[09:56]

How rude. What do you mean? You know, I'm not sending him anything. And the mom says, wait a minute, wait a minute. You don't know how to read that. That's not what he said. Let me see that letter. And she opens it and she says, mom, dad, I'm broke. I need money. Send some, your son. And he goes, oi, now that he's asked like a mensch, I'll send, we'll send him some money. So, you know, it's like that. So here we are, you know, tapped into joy and trust and compassion, and we're reading this story, which in some ways, you know, as I read it anyway, it's like, huh? You know, just the fax man kind of telling of, I mean, seriously, he went to the bridge and he had all this sort of clever stuff about, you know, fish food and whatever. You know, who's telling the story, whose voice? And what was the tone of his mom when she had these words to say? And what occurred to me is, because in the end, it's not about whether these stories actually happened and stuff like that, but it's really, how does it land with me and with you?

[11:09]

uh, which was, oh, I could so relate to how it is to be going through something incredibly, um, painful and confusing and everything else, anxiety producing, terrifying even, and just go into some kind of, um, you know, rationalization, logic spinning of, uh, well, you know, if I jump off this bridge, I'll either be fish food or I'll, you know, dah, dah, dah, dah. And then, from seemingly out of nowhere, someone appears and says something basically as simple as, hey, I really love you. And it would break my heart if you did this thing. Where are you? Because I'm right here. I'm right here. and I need you to persevere because we're in this together is kind of how I hear his mom even though the way she said it might very well have been completely straightforward because that's how it is and maybe that's their relationship such straight talk wow what a gift to really be met in such a moment to

[12:37]

speak through her servant to her son with a great trust in his capacity as Kisugutami in her crazed seemingly denial crazed grief that actually buddha is right there and this is what we do together and this is what we're going to continue this afternoon with something called a jizo ceremony We do this once a year and it's a time to honor loved ones who have died. And very briefly, Jizo is the bodhisattva of great vows and embodies the energy of the earth to anchor and to come home to. So I wanted to close with a poem by Ryokan, the great Zen fellow who

[13:51]

in all his wild, wandering ways. And to me, who has this sort of, I don't know if it's exactly androgynous or gender-inclusive, ambiguous, fluid way, somehow very sensuous in his expression, articulates Jesus' great vow. our vow. When I see the misery of those in this world, their sadness becomes mine. Oh, that this monk's robe were wide enough to gather up all the suffering people in this floating world. Nothing makes me more happy than the vow to save everyone.

[15:00]

And I'm noticing that we only have a few minutes. Oh, okay, so my clock is slow. So Kanon, and Ikkyu, and Kisogotami, and Jizo, are telling us time's up, time for a change, time for love. Thank you all.

[15:39]

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