Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Welcome. So this is an important, auspicious evening. This is the winter solstice eve. So this is, maybe it's technically tomorrow night, I don't know. Maybe tonight is the longest night of the year, the darkest night of the year. It's a good time to come and sit together. The darkness has increased. to its maximum point. Starting from tomorrow, the light will increase. So in the Zen tradition, this is spoken of in terms of the fulfillment of yin and the beginning of yang energy arising. the receptive and active energy, which is part of the balance of our universe, of our world, of our lives, of our bodies.

[01:09]

So energies will start to arise. It may not feel like it now. This has been a difficult week for many people. And that's appropriate with the season, with the time. And yet something new begins. So I wanted to celebrate this auspicious occasion by reading a dharma hall discourse from our great ancestor, A.H. Dogen, 13th century founder of Soto Zen. So he did a number of these dharma hall discourses on this occasion of the winter solstice. This is one of the longest, so I don't know if I'll get through all of them. I'll go through it and come back and talk about some parts of it. There are many references to other stories, as is common in Zen discourse and various references.

[02:18]

And yet, this is about this turning, this turning in our seasons, this turning in our life, which happens every year. And this one, actually, maybe half of it, is Dogen quoting from an older Winter Solstice Dharma Hall discourse given by our great Chinese Soto ancestor, Tianzong Hongzhi. some of whose practice instructions I translated in Cultivating the Empty Field, Hongxue writes beautifully about the nature of this inner nature, this dharma nature, this buddhaness around us and how it flows in nature and how we can connect with it. So I'm going to read through and come back to some parts of it. Dogen says, when the ancient Buddha Hongzhi was residing at Mount Tiantong, during a winter solstice dharma hall discourse, he said, Yin reaches its fullness and yang arises.

[03:27]

Strength is exhausted and our state changes. A green dragon runs fleetly when his bones are exposed. A black panther is transformed when he is clothed in mist. Take the skulls of the Buddhas of the three times and thread them onto a single rosary. Do not speak of bright and dark heads, as truly they are sun-faced, moon-faced." So I was going to come back to that, but maybe I'll start with this. Skulls of the Buddhas of the three times. Thread onto a single rosary. And you can see I have some shrunken skulls from some of our And, you know, there have been some two dozen centuries of winter solstice celebrations like this tonight, of Buddhism ancestors keeping alive some recognition that yin rises and then fulfills itself and yang rises.

[04:38]

that energy shifts, that the Buddha energy can grow. So I spoke yesterday morning about our practice as remembering Buddha, reminding ourselves of Buddha. So sometimes we use Buddha beads or other devices just to remember Buddha in our daily lives. This is what we're doing. We are taking the Buddha mudra, displaying it with our whole bodies and minds sitting on our cushions and chairs, copying the image we have in the center of our zendo of the upright, calm, sitting, relaxed, fully luminous Buddha, each of us in our own way, creating this. Something happens with the winter solstice. Some energy arises. And I was told earlier this evening that tonight there also happens to be a full lunar eclipse.

[05:47]

Starting at midnight? 1.30. 1.30. Yeah, and I've also heard 8, so... Well, it may be happening right now. 8, midnight, 1.30. There's a lunar eclipse tonight anyway, sometime. I don't know if we can see it through the snows of Chicago. I don't know if Dogen could see it through the snow, so they're aging. And yet, it's appropriate when the shortest day of the year for the moon, too, to be eclipsed. And yet the moon, too, will grow and arise with this energy. So Hongshu says, take the skulls of the Buddhas of the three times, thread them onto a single rosary. Remember all of the ancestors. all of the people who kept alive this possibility for us. Do you not speak of bright and dark heads as truly they are sun-face, moon-face? So I want to come back to the words of the great ancestor Mazu when asked on his deathbed, How is your venerable health, sir?

[06:55]

He said, Sun-face Buddha, moon-face Buddha. And there's a scripture that talks about the sun-faced Buddha who lives for a thousand years and the moon-faced Buddha who lives for one night. Sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. Hongzhi goes on, even if your measuring cup is full and the balance scale is level, in transactions I sell at a high price and buy when cheap. Zen worthies, do you understand? In a bowl, the bright pearl rolls on its own without prodding. So our planet is rolling through its orbit. Then, again, still quoting Hongzhe. Hongzhe said, here's a story. Hongzhe tells a little story. Xue Feng asked the monk, where are you going? Great teacher Xue Feng. And the monk said, I'm going to do community work.

[07:56]

It's time for temple cleaning. Xue Feng said, go. Later, Yunmen, great master Yunmen said, Xue Feng understands people according to their words. Hongzhe said about this dialogue, don't move. If you move, I'll give you 30 blows. Why is this so? For a luminous jewel without flaw, if you carve a pattern, its virtue is lost. For a luminous jewel without flaw, if you carve a pattern, its virtue is lost." So that's Dogen's quoting of this winter solstice dharma hall discourse from back in the 1100s by the great master, the great Buddha, Hongzhe. But then on this occasion in 1245, Dogen continued, Although these three venerable ones spoke this way, I, old man Daibutsu, do not agree." Sadoke was calling himself Daibutsu because he just moved to the mountains near Eheji.

[08:57]

Eheji wasn't built yet and they were living in a monastery. Actually, I guess it was Eheji. They hadn't renamed it yet. They were still calling it Daibutsu Temple, Great Buddha Temple. So he called himself by that name. Just like I sometimes call myself. I, O Bandaibutsu, do not agree. Great Assembly, listen carefully and consider this well. For a luminous jewel without flaw, if polished, its glow increases. So this is kind of the crux of this talk, this comment, and I want to talk about this more, and then I'll get into some of the other things. There's still a lot more that Tolkien says, Hongzhe said, for a luminous jewel without flaw, if you carve a pattern, its virtue is lost. Dogen says, going beyond, climbing up on the shoulders of his great ancestor Hongzhe, for a luminous jewel without flaw, if polished, its flow increases.

[09:58]

What is this about? What does this have to do with winter solstice? Well, one way to understand what Hongxue is saying, for a luminous jewel without flaw, if you carve a pattern, its virtue is lost. Just sit, don't move, don't mess with it. This flowing of the light and the dark, this flowing of Buddha nature, this settling into being yourself, each of you, not running away from yourself, this body and mind, on your cushion or chair now, tonight, even on the winter solstice. A luminous jewel without flow. If you carve a fig pattern, its virtue is lost. Don't mess with it. You don't have to, what is it that Mary Oliver says? You don't have to crawl through a desert on your knees.

[11:02]

You don't have to make great efforts and accomplish great things and push yourself and whip yourself to become a better person. There's a luminous jewel right now sitting on your cushion or chair. This Buddha nature is complete as it is, even on the winter solstice, maybe especially on a winter solstice. The darkest day, the darkest night, So I love Hongzhe and his expression in seeing the flowing of moonlight in the mountain stream. The reflection of the street lamps in the falling snow. All just as it is.

[12:03]

Chicago, like one of those balls you turn around But Dogen has something more to add, for which I'm deeply grateful. He says, whereas Hongzhi said, for a luminous jewel without flaw, if you carve a pattern, its virtue is lost. Dogen, on the other hand, says, for a luminous jewel without flaw, if polished, its glow increases. So all of you Taipei personalities can take refuge in this. There is work for us to do. You are perfect just as you are, and yet Buddha calls you to work harder. For a luminous jewel without flaw, if polished, its glow increases. So this increasing glow, this increasing light that comes,

[13:15]

to us, to our life, to our world with the winter solstice. This is also about our Buddha nature and our Buddha practice and our way of remembering Buddha, reminding ourselves of Buddha. This Buddha nature can unfold, blossom, develop. We can learn how more skillfully to bring Buddha's love to our world, to our friends and family, our work situation, and the difficulties of our society and planet. If polished, its glow increases. So this darkest night of the year is an encouragement to us. there is a luminous jewel without flaw.

[14:16]

So it's worth taking some time to see that, to feel that, to allow that to grow on your cushion. And yet, as it grows, its glow increases. And again, this isn't just about asasana practice, although it is about that. How do we share Buddha's life and love and our own deepest caring with this world in this dark time. So Dogen goes on. Today's first arising of yang and the daylight's increase is an auspicious occasion. A noble person reaches maturity. Although this is an auspicious occasion for laypeople, It is truly a delight and support for Buddha ancestors. Yesterday, the short length of day departed, yin reached its fullness, and the sound of cold wind ceased.

[15:23]

So we know that even though it's winter solstice, we have two or three more months of the sound of cold wind here in Chicago. And yet, the light is growing, even so. This morning, Dogen says, the growing length of day arrived, and Yang arises with a boisterous clamor. And actually, he was up in the mountains in what became Eheji, way up in the mountains. They got a lot more snow than we get in Chicago. There was often 6 or 7 feet of snow in the winter. And it was cold. So he would understand Chicago. Now, Petra monks and practitioners feel happy and sustained, and the Buddha ancestors dance with joy. How could directly transcending or going back before the realm of awesome sound king of emptiness have anything to do with the seasons of spring, autumn, winter, or summer?

[16:30]

So this is a reference to a Buddha mentioned in the Lotus Sutra, who is the Buddha of the empty capital. That's sort of like between big banks. And there's nothing, really nothing. And yet there's a Buddha there, according to the Lotus Sutra. And there's this kind of Zen slang talk about finding your original face before the Big Bang. What is it that is here? Tonight, this luminous jewel without flow. So this isn't something you have to think about or figure out, or forget about it. It's okay. But the Buddhas and ancestors said, yes, yes, there is a Buddha before the Big Bang. You have an original face before your parents were born. What does this have anything to do with the seasons of spring, autumn, winter, or summer? So even as he's celebrating the seasons and this marker of the seasons, the winter solstice, there is something that goes beyond the changing of the light and the dark.

[17:45]

Something that underlies that. Although to see in this way, he continues, transcending the phenomenal world, is the life gain of wise people and sages liver and kidneys, the essential organs of humans and heavenly beings, it is not yet the nostril of Shakyamuni Buddha or the eyeballs of Mahakasyapa. Do you people want to understand the occasion of this auspicious morning? So, Dogen picked up his whisk, and I'll just pick up my staff, and drew a circle, and he said, And after a pause he said, although the plum blossoms are bright amid the fallen snow, inquire further about the first arrival of Yang with his solstice. The plum blossoms are bright amid the fallen snow. So both Dogen and his teacher in China, Chantong Rujing, wrote many poems about the plum blossoms.

[18:56]

Because the plum blossoms are the first to open, and they open little white petals. And usually there's still snow on the ground, so there's all these poems about the plum blossoms falling on the snow. And there's a New Year's little talk that Dogen gives where he says, how strange, the plums blossom on the same branch as last year. So in the winter, the branches of the plum tree may seem dead, dark, cold. And yet, same branch as last year, a new plum blossom. A new year grows from this night forward. It's been an interesting year, a difficult year, an exciting year. For us here in our sangha, maybe a joyous year.

[20:01]

People come in and stay, finding their practice seat. What does the new year bring? Plum blossoms and other blossoms will come. So I want to go back and I'll just say a little bit about some of the other references in this Winter Solstice talk that Dogen gave. There's a few other things that are pretty cool, I think. And I'm not going to get to everything in it. But then we'll have some comments, responses, utterances, questions, whatever, as you wish. But I wanted to say a little bit more about Ancestor Mazu. So Dogen says, take the skulls of the Buddhas of the three times, thread them onto a single rosary. Remember all the Buddhas and all the ancestors and all the nobles and practitioners, all the noble meditators from the last two hundred centuries, the last two dozen centuries of

[21:10]

winter solstices. And then he says, do not speak of bright and dark heads, as truly they are sun-faced, moon-faced. So I want to say a little bit about the story about Master Ma, the horse ancestor, one of the great teachers in China. And there are various versions of this story, but here's one from the Lou Cliff record. Again, Master Ma was unwell. And when they say that, it means, you know, he was... The temple, the director of the temple came and asked him, Teacher, how has your venerable health been in recent days? And Master said, Sun face Buddha, Moon face Buddha. So as I mentioned, these are, you know, the Buddha, sun-faced Buddha and the moon-faced Buddha.

[22:12]

One lives a thousand years, one lives one night. So, Master Ma facing death, just so, Buddha. Sun-faced Buddha and moon-faced Buddha. And in the verse comments in the book, in the Blue Cliff Record, The originator of the book, the Friar Perjueta, said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, what kind of people were the ancient emperors? For 20 years I have suffered bitterly. How many times have I gone down into the green dragon's cave for you? This distress is worth recounting. Clear-eyed, Zen sitters should not take it lightly. So Shiodo is maybe speaking for Masa here.

[23:16]

He says, what kind of people were the ancient emperors? So this doesn't mean so much to us, but You know, maybe we could say what kind of people were the founding fathers, you know, it's kind of that feeling. In Chinese culture, the ancient emperors were these legendary figures who'd lived not just a couple hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, and who'd been great sages and benefactors and noble people who helped their nation, helped all the people. So Sun-Faced Buddha and Moon-Faced Buddha. Buddha of a thousand years, Buddha of one night. What kind of people were the Founding Fathers? And I'll say the Founding Mothers, too. For 20 years, I have suffered bitterly. And yet, was he really suffering? Didn't he take this on for love? How many times have I gone down into the Green Dragon's Cave for you? restriction, this distress, this regulation, is worth recounting.

[24:26]

Clear-eyed Zen practitioners should not take it lightly. The same story is in the Book of Serenity that Hongzhe, who I told the first story, the first part of the Dharma Hall Discourse tonight, put together, and he wrote in his verse about this story, Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha, stars fall. Thunder rolls. The mirror faces forms without subjectivity. The pearl in a bowl rolls with itself. So he mentions that again in this Winter Solstice discourse. The mirror faces forms without subjectivity. How do we meet ourselves? How do we meet each other on this darkest night of the year? Without subjectivity or objectivity, just meeting, just hearts together. A pearl in a bowl rolls of itself.

[25:30]

Interesting image. Snowflakes in a silver bowl. The heron hidden in the moon. Snowfall against the streetlights of Chicago. Here, tonight, our lives. A luminous jewel, perfect as it is. And yet, we can allow its glow to increase. So thank you all for being here for this celebration of the beginning of new life. Comments, questions, responses, utterances, please feel free. Jerry, I know you're smiling.

[26:45]

Yes. Yes. Janet, you're smiling too. Any words to celebrate the winter solstice? Yeah, we have this rhythm in our lives. Sometimes the seasons help us to recognize it. We have rhythms in our practice.

[27:55]

We can't always see them. Facing the wall, And yet, there is this talk of the glow increasing. I heard something along the lines of the face that existed before your parents. Yes. Something I heard along the lines of that. That's something I referred to tonight, yes. Yes. And it was just powerful for me because I found myself sometimes struggling with the situation that I was born into.

[29:08]

And I just had a moment of revelation that I could have been born from those people, and I was grateful for that. I just want to express that, and I think that's part of my light growing, is just to honor that it couldn't have happened any other way. That's true. Some of you may not want to hear it, but one understanding in Buddhism is that we choose our parents. And yet we also know all of the complexities and sometimes woundedness of family dynamics and our own patterns and grasping and versions and so forth. At the same, so it's very sweet that you honor your parents on this winter solstice night. And yet also, maybe we best honor them by recalling our original face before our parents were born.

[30:19]

There is this also. They're not separate, actually. It required your parents to be born for you to recognize your face before them. So what is the moonlight before the lunar eclipse? What is the moonlight during the lunar eclipse? How does its glow increase? How is its glow right now, whatever the timing exactly of the lunar eclipse, how is it just perfect as it is? This is what we study. This is the mystery that we face when we face the wall. This is the depths that we have a chance to express when we step out from our sitting, from the center, into our lives.

[31:34]

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