I don't know if this is going to be unsurpassed penetrating. Isn't that on? It is on? I don't know if this is going to be a perfect penetrating and so forth. But I want to, before I give my talk, I want to give you some sense of my wanderings. As you know, most of you know, I've been doing the Tassajara practice period, co-leading the practice period with the President, the other day, Steve Stuckey. And, you know, I'm only leading half the practice period. I'm supposed to be here half of each week, month.

[01:04]

So this half, I got sidetracked to Japan to attend the 500th anniversary of Rinzuin, Suzuki Roshi's temple. So I went. And people said, did you have a good time? But it was three days of ceremonies. One after the other. And each was the same format. After a while I learned the format. And I gave a little talk. I led one of the little ceremonies. That was nice. So, I'll be going back to Tassajara again next week for two weeks, and then I'll come back in November.

[02:09]

Last time in November. And then I'll go back in December for two weeks and come back after Sashin. So, today we're having a Tsujiki ceremony. It used to be called a sakaki ceremony. Gaki means the print or hungry ghosts ceremony. This may seem like an esoteric ceremony, but actually it's just like ceremonies all over the world in every culture. Ancient ceremonies, ancient cultures used to commune with deceased. Nowadays, we kind of, you know, don't pay much attention to that. So we do this.

[03:15]

It's like a communion with the deceased. There's a difference between ghosts in demons. Halloween is the Christian equivalent of Sagaki or Seijiki ceremony. I think we changed the name from Sagaki to Seijiki because Sagaki was more like for Japanese people. Seijiki is more wide, which includes more open to everyone. So demons are loose in the world.

[04:17]

And ghosts, demons have some ulterior motives, bad motives. They have a tendency to find a body and invade it, take it over. This morning on my way to North End, on public radio, there was an interview with the man who, the author of The Exorcist, that came out in 1969. And he was talking about The host said, well, please read a passage from the Exorcist. It's about this little girl who was invaded by a demon. And he read this passage. And the passage was, the psychiatrist was talking to this little girl.

[05:19]

And he called her by name. I can't remember her name. Megan or something like that. Not quite right. But he called her by name. She answered, I am not Megan, I am the devil. Ghosts are more innocent. Actually, ghosts don't have ulterior motives. They're just out there because a ghost is a disembodied spirit that can't find its way, can't find its home. There's no place to alight. So, both demons and ghosts, you know, are all around us. Or in us. As a matter of fact, we are ghosts and demons. It's not just the other world. So, this kind of brings the two worlds, this ceremony kind of brings the two realms together.

[06:19]

The realm that we think is the realm that we live in. and ourselves, and then there's all of the disembodied spirits, either demons or ghosts, who are hungering for something. And of course we are all hungry ghosts, hungering for something. We eat with our ears, we eat with our eyes, we eat with our nose, our tongue, our touch. And we're always looking for something to eat. And we never satisfy. So, in the ceremony, we offer something to satisfy. Whoever needs satisfaction. Can you please speak louder? I can't hear you.

[07:21]

I can't hear you. I hate you. Why don't you speak louder? Well, this thing is supposed to be up. So, I'm going to read you a little something. about Halloween, the origin of Halloween. You may know the origin of Halloween. It had its beginning as an ancient pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. It's not called All Saints Day. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures, and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months.

[08:23]

Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending of the beginning and an eternal cycle. The festival observed at this time is called Samween. It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than at any other time of the year, the ghosts and the dead were able to mingle with the living. Because at Samhain, the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the other realms. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey and to keep them away from the living. On that day, all manner of beings went abroad, ghosts, fairies and demons, all part of the dark and dread, keeping them away from the living. So when we have in our sagatis to the sadhikis in a way, the altar is on the other side of the zendo in order to keep it.

[09:30]

So, Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcil converted them to Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists, and scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them evil devil-worshippers. As a result of their efforts to wipe out pagan holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it. In 601, Pope Gregory I issued a now-famous edict to these missionaries. peoples he hoped to convert.

[10:41]

Rather than try to obliterate native peoples' customs and beliefs, the Pope instructed his missionaries to use them. If a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship. In terms of spreading Christianity, this was a brilliant concept, and it became a basic approach used in Catholic missionary work. Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. Christmas, for instance, was assigned the arbitrary date of December 21st, 5th, because it corresponded with the midwinter celebration of many peoples. Likewise, St. John's Day was set on the summer solstice. Samui, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan. While missionaries identified their holy days with those observed by the Celts, they branded the earlier religion's supernatural deities as evil and associated them with the devil, as representatives of their rival religion.

[11:42]

Druids were considered evil worshippers of devilish or demonic gods and spirits. The Celtic underworld inevitably became identified with the Christian hell. The effects of this policy were to diminish, but not totally eradicate, the beliefs of the traditional gods. Celtic beliefs in supernatural creatures persisted, while the Church's more deliberate attempts to define them as being not merely dangerous, but malicious, followed the older religion that went into hiding and were branded as witchery. The Christian feast of all saints was assigned to November 1st. The day honored every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day devoted to them, and this feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion to the Celtic peoples and finally to replace it forever. That did not happen, but the traditional Celtic deities diminished their status, becoming fairies and leprechauns of more recent traditions.

[12:46]

So, I'm going to skip a lot of this. So it all became Halloween. In Old England, cakes were made for the wandering souls and people went a-souling for these soul cakes. Halloween, a time of magic, also became a day of divination with a host of magical beliefs. If persons hold a mirror on Halloween and walk backwards down the stairs to the basement, the face that appears in that mirror will be their next lover. You'd better be careful. The face you see may be your own. Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. So in Mexico, you know, we have the day of the dead and so on. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it.

[13:50]

The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period. The first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches and demons, offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries went on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing entents in exchange for food and drink. This practice is called mummying. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeletal figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features that harken back to the original harvest holidays of Samhain, such as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as fruits, nuts, and spices, ciders associated with the day. Spices, ciders, and pumpkins.

[14:53]

So today, Halloween, we're going to get a robot. Now, Sagaki. Sagaki is a traditional Japanese ceremony for feeding the hungry ghosts. In Buddhist iconography, hungry ghosts are creatures who are extremely hungry but have very narrow throats. Those are the kaki. so that their hunger can never be satisfied. Hungry ghosts are entirely occupied by the pain of their own appetite, unable to consider the Dharma. In the Sagaki ceremony, Sanjiki, these hungry ghosts are offered nourishment with the hope of satisfying their hunger and releasing them. In addition, the Sanjiki ceremony is a universal memorial service for the deceased. In the Berkeley Zen Center, the Sagaki ceremony is combined with Halloween traditions. The ceremony has the spirit of a party with costumes, noisemakers, food, decorations. And for a nice essay on the history and meaning of the ceremony, see the October newsletter.

[15:58]

Costumes are encouraged. Children are welcomed. After the ceremony, refreshments are served. Anybody have a question? So we also use it to recognize or commemorate or something. People have died recently in the past year. We give out their names. So how does that tie in with what you Well, that's what tradition is about. So it's not just for demons and ghosts? Well, no. I mean, you have an extreme called demon and an extreme called ghost.

[17:07]

But in between, So during the ceremony, we read out the names of the people who died this year. And then people can add names. So it's a memorial. That's the way Sagaki is. But, you know, in an extreme sense, goes to demons, because... So, all those things are combined. Laurie?

[18:11]

What about the people who can never be satisfied even though they have billions and billions of dollars? Can we feed them somehow? Well, they're the ones that need the most pity, but they're also the demons, either realizing it or not, because they're so hungry they can never be satisfied. So, we don't express our sympathy, I mean, I'm petty for them directly, but we could. This is a ceremony. We should offer a dollar to each one. To the one percent. I know you need this worse than I do.

[19:17]

Was Tegaki a Buddhist ceremony or was it a Japanese cultural tradition that was taking place? No, it was a Buddhist ceremony. I don't know. There may have been something Shinto or... I think one of the responses that came up for me when Rory asked the question had to do with how does one know what it feels like to be fed? To be dead? Fed. Oh, fed. And if one hungers, then The extinction of that has to be something that really resonates. It says, oh, this is it. It's some form of enlightenment.

[20:26]

This is symbolic. This is symbolic. We offer some fruit and vegetables on the table on that little altar and chant for their, you say, please come and be nourished. But I'm trying to address what our whole culture is in NATO. That we are all something that is never enough. I'll tell you what it is in NATO. I've told you this story before. Heaven and hell. The difference between heaven and hell. In heaven, I mean in hell, there's this long table, and all these people are sitting around the long table. And there's a huge feast on the table. And everybody has a set of chopsticks. But the chopsticks are so long that when they get the food, they can't get it in their mouth.

[21:31]

Heaven is exactly the same place, with the same people, with the same food, with the same chopsticks. But when they pick up the food, they put it in the mouth of the person across the table. That's what this country is in need of. Yes? I'm reminded of a line that I've loved for years, that I think is pertinent, and it simply says, you can never get enough of what you don't really want. Yeah, on a different subject, could you say a few words about what it's like to be at Tassajara? Maybe give us a taste of what the practice period is like there, being that there's a number of... Well, we get up at 3.50 in the morning, like a bell.

[22:34]

I almost have enough time to do my stretches before going to the gym, which is just about like me doing her. And then, it's just the morning service and three curries. It's an hour zazen a minute, maybe a half hour of zazen. And then service and breakfast and break and soji. And then three periods of satsang. Unless it's a lecture. And then that's pretty much the morning. And then there's lunch. And then there's a break. And then there's a work meeting. And then people work until 4.30. bad time and exercise time.

[23:39]

And then there's dinner, and then there's something, and then there's bed. That's basic. But then there's other activities, you know, that go on. But that's basic. There's also studies. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, there's studies. Yeah, it's really kind for us too.

[24:10]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ