Good morning, everyone. This morning I want to talk about zendo forms and the space of the zendo and the structure of the zendo or meditation hall. So, a number of you are here for the first time or are fairly new. Traditionally, there's a particular way that the space is arranged, and that has to do with how to support this practice of Zazen we've just been doing, of Zen meditation. So we just recently have put out on the shelves out front kind of basic Zen Do forms, and there's a glossary of terms we use, including things like apparel and decorum and how to move around in the meditation hall and instructions for walking meditation and so forth.

[01:11]

And I may come back to that if there's time at the end. Basically, I wanted to say about that that these are not rules that you have to follow or worry about doing it correctly. These are guidelines. ways in which to harmonize in the space of the meditation hall. But it also has to do with how the space of the meditation hall is designed to support our meditation. So there's a particular structure and particular elements of how meditation halls are arranged, a kind of mandala of the arrangements of meditation halls. And each meditation hall is individual in lots of ways. But there's a basic structure. There are lots of variations. So even going back to meditation halls in Japan, there's a way to do things in the various different training temples in the Soto school in Japan, in Heiheiji.

[02:22]

There's an Heiheiji way and a Sojiji way. where they're all slightly different, and in the meditation halls that I mostly trained in and connected with San Francisco Zen Center at Tassajara, Green Gulch, and San Francisco Zen Center City Center, slight differences, and partly that has to do with configuration. But one thing is that the point of all of them is to create a space that helps support the energy of Zazen, that helps intensify Zazen. So fully trained Zen priests, part of what they know is how to create a space of Zazen. So I want to talk about that a little bit this morning. And as usual, try and have time for discussions and comments. In some ways, this goes back to the way that monasteries in China and Japan were structured.

[03:29]

So in the traditional structure of the whole monastic setup, there were not just a meditation hall, but there was a Buddha hall and a Dharma hall. And actually, the meditation hall was off to the side. And the structure for that was sort of based on the human body. There's also a monastery gate that you enter through, and various other administration buildings, and other kitchen, and various other buildings. So this is for the monastery. And in Asia, this was the kind of center for Zen practice, was the monastic training monastery. And within that, actually within that, the meditation hall, the Soto was the monk's hall, and that included that, so these were residential places, and that included that the practitioners did their zazen and took their meals, as we do during our whole day sittings or longer sittings,

[04:49]

in the same seat, in the assigned seats, and also slept in the same place. So the forum for the monks hall, people sit on raised tans. So this is true of American meditation halls too, in many places there are raised tans. But in Japan, there's a few places now in America where they have this, where the tan is long and there's a sleeping cabinet in the back and you actually sleep in the meditation hall. So this is partly a function of, in Asia, these were mostly male institutions. Now, there's some in Japan that are co-ed, and men sleep in one side and women on the other. And places in America where they're doing this, they do it that way. Now, this is not how our American meditation halls are arranged. Of course, we're sitting on the floor, and particularly non-residential practice places like this.

[05:51]

We don't have assigned seats except for people who have particular positions like the Doan, the Eno, our head Doan, or now one of our head Doans, Dave, is sitting in there, but there are particular assigned seats. But most of the seats aren't assigned. During an all-day sitting or several-day sitting, the seats are assigned. Most of American Zen, and many places in Japan too now, are non-residential. And people come and sit, as we are doing this morning. But still, there's something about the basic structure of the meditation hall that has a traditional form, that supports meditation. So I want to talk about this mostly in the context of American are meditation halls that don't include sleeping in a meditation hall.

[06:53]

So going back to the places where I've trained, one of the places to start talking about how the meditation hall is arranged is with the Buddha. And actually the Buddha is the center of the meditation hall and of the temple. including large temple complexes where there's a Buddha Hall, a Dharma Hall, and a Meditation Hall. Now, actually, in Zen monasteries in China and Japan, they stopped having a separate Buddha Hall. They have a Dharma Hall and a Meditation Hall. And here, we have all three in one. And that's pretty common in America. So this is a meditation hall, and we just did meditation here, but it's also a dharma hall. I'm giving a dharma talk, and other people give dharma talks, so we do that function.

[07:54]

It's also a Buddha hall, so we have services, and we have the Buddha in here. So most American meditation halls serve all three functions. So Tassajara and Gringos, for example, San Francisco Zen Center. Some of you have visited some of these places. San Francisco Zen Center has a separate Buddha hall where they do talks and services, but then downstairs is a lovely meditation hall. One aspect of all of such places, though, is how the Buddha is situated. So like in our meditation hall at Ancient Dragon, in Tassajara, in Green Gulch and San Francisco Zen Center, the Buddha and the Buddha altar sits in the center. And that's actually traditional in most meditation halls where I practiced in Japan as well.

[09:02]

Sometimes people have asked me about this. In terms, we have fairly active discussions at times after Dharma talks, but with the altar in the center, sometimes people on the sides can't see each other. So maybe you can't see Nyozan right now, and vice versa, because the altar's in the way. I'm not sure if that's the right geometry, but anyway. Some temples have the Buddha and the altar at the end, So there's some variation. And there's some variation in every meditation hall. And there's a lot of variation based on size and the particular configuration. So there's a great deal of variation based on size. The other meditation halls I mentioned are much larger. And there are many meditation halls in American Zen that are much, much larger than this.

[10:10]

And there's quite a few that are smaller, or even more informal than this. So there's ranges of formality. What I want to get to is how, whatever this space is, though, it's about supporting zazen. So for those of you who are here for the first time, or for those of you who've been here and also sit at home, you may notice that when you come and sit together with others, there's a kind of energy, there's a kind of intensity that's supportive to meditation. Some of you have told me you have trouble sitting at home. Some of you do quite well sitting at home and just occasionally show up here, and that's fine too. There's quite a variety, but there's a kind of way that the space of a meditation hall is actually configured to help support the energy of meditation. Part of that, again, there's the different sizes.

[11:15]

I actually like this size. I can see all of you. I can pretty much feel, can you hear me, Catherine? Yeah, I can pretty much feel like you can all hear me. There are larger meditation halls where they use PA systems. There's people way in the back and you can't see them. One thing is the direction the Buddha's facing. So our Buddha is facing south. And that's also true at Tassajara and City Center and Berkley Zen Center, where I spoke last month. And one at Berkley Zen Center is the Buddha's at the end of the hall. And where the doors are depends a lot on just the particular place and configuration. So we were fortunate enough to find this place to rent it while our landlord was kind of doing a rehab.

[12:17]

And so we were able to design the space. So we had this door on the side at Tassajara and Green. Well, actually, at Tassajara, the doors are just in the front and in the middle, behind and in front of the Buddha. At Green, they're sort of on the side and front. Anyway. At Green Gulch, the Buddha, because of the configuration of the space and the land and the zendo there, the Buddha's facing west because he's facing the Pacific Ocean and Muir Beach, and the land slopes down to Muir Beach. So it's sort of natural that it faces that direction. So there are exceptions. It's not like there are rigid rules about all of this. But I remember when I was practicing at Tassajara, and Kategiri Roshi came. Kategiri Roshi initially helped Suzuki Roshi, who founded the San Francisco Zen Center.

[13:17]

And then when Suzuki Roshi died, Kategiri Roshi moved to Minnesota and founded the lineage that's predominant in the Midwest. And many teachers still in Minnesota and elsewhere came from Kategiri Roshi's teaching and his successors. But when Kategori Roshi came and did a practice period in 1985, this was a period when he didn't, after Baker Roshi stopped being Abbott, he did this amazing thing. He turned the Tassahara Sendō 180 degrees on its axis. Just twirled it. And, well actually that's the, some of you have been to Tassajara, have you been to Tassajara? Maybe. It's an amazing place way back in the mountains, 14 miles up and down a dirt road, and it's a very remote place way back in the mountains in Monterey County.

[14:19]

And the zendo there is, I think it's still called the temporary zendo, although it's been there since, It's about 30 years or so. Anyway, probably will continue, because Paul Disko did a great job of building it, I don't know, maybe less than a month after there was a fire in the old zendo. Anyway, it's a wonderful zendo. But Ketagiri Roshi just twirled it, because before, the Buddha was facing south, back up the road. And Ketagiri Roshi, who trained in many monasteries in Japan, said, no, that's wrong, the Buddha should face face south, not north. I'm sorry, what did I say? Anyway, he was facing north, and Katagiri Roshi turned the altar around. It was pretty, it was a dawn for that practice period. It was pretty radical. I mean, it just, you know, he didn't move anything else at his endo, but he just turned the altar around. And that changed where everybody else sat in all the particular positions.

[15:23]

Anyway, it's very interesting. So, how the space is configured in all kinds of ways makes a difference. the particular shape of the zendo. So the Tassahara zendo, the Buddha's facing south, but it's very long this way. Ours is long this way. So, you know, the particular space and configuration that changes. But something about the way it's arranged and the structure of it I can't explain how, but there's something about the space that supports this. So it's kind of a circle, even though it's a rectangle. The rectangle can move in different ways. And we have aisles so we can fill in when we need to.

[16:24]

And that's also traditional. But beyond particular shapes, there's something about this that has to do with the relationship of zazen and space. So the point of this meditation is just to sit, face the wall, and face ourselves. When we do that, and when we do that regularly over time, Various things happen. And often, maybe usually, we don't necessarily notice how they happen or that they're happening. But there's a kind of opening up of awareness. Or at least there's an access to some other kind of awareness.

[17:28]

So to be able to come and sit satsang Just pay attention to what's going on This morning on your cushion or chair And maybe your mind drifts off and thoughts happen and then oh, yeah come back to posture and inhale and exhale and Breathing and settling and maybe more thoughts come up and drift off or you sleep here, whatever's happening. The point is just to pay attention to what's happening here. And we have various tools to focus and help settle, focusing on breathing, counting breaths, focusing on sound, the various ways to focus on settling. But whatever's happening, can you pay attention to what's happening here? And in some traditions, People face the center like we're doing now during meditation, too.

[18:32]

And we do that occasionally, but mostly we face the wall. And we do it together, though. So I encourage it for people who came to meditation instruction this morning. I encourage you to do this at home in your spare time, somewhat regularly, several days a week, as much as you can. It doesn't have to be 30 or 40 minutes, but if you can, do that, or 20 minutes or whatever. But just to have that space, so like there's a space that has a particular configuration in this meditation hall that's based on traditional configuration, with the Buddha and the altar in the center in this case, and this kind of a circle with corners, and we walk around it during walking meditation. And there are other things that happen in this space, service and prostrations and so forth at different times, eating meals during longer sittings.

[19:43]

But as you sit regularly, there's this space of connecting with What is it like to just be present? And it's not about doing it correctly or incorrectly, just like following the forms. So there's two and a half pages of forms on the handout out front. And take a look at them. Try and follow them. But it's not about doing it. There's no grades. It's not about doing it right or wrong. It's about how to harmonize with this basic attention and settling this deeper awareness which becomes accessible as we sit together. So again, notice, well some of you I know have noticed and have told me, some of you it may not make any difference whether you're sitting at home or sitting in a meditation

[20:49]

But that's kind of unusual. Usually people know one way or another. Some people like to sit alone at home. But still, even if you do, it's good to come and sit together with others. Sometimes, just a kind of. There's a kind of attunement that happens. There's a kind of channel that happens when we're sitting in this kind of space. So I wanted to mention also the differences in some of these spaces, some of the varieties of spaces. Well, first, just in terms of this intensity, the other thing that happens when we settle is that we see how we are connected. So even if you're sitting in your own place at the Zendo, wherever that is, facing the wall, we start to feel the other people around us.

[21:53]

And even if you're sitting at home, by yourself, so-called, you may start to feel the other people in your life, and how you are connected. So part of what this teaches us is that Well, that there is this deep interconnectedness to everything. We can talk about this in a way that sounds like it's some philosophy or theory, but the point is that we start to actually viscerally recognize this, that we are connected to people all around the world, that we are connected to people who we've known, teachers we had in grade school, of course, family and friends. friends we had in high school and so forth. All of those people, or even pets you had as a kid, are part of what's happening on your Kushner chair right now.

[23:01]

And the depth of this, it's very deep. So one of the chants we do, the Song of the Grass Hut, One of our great ancestors, Shuto, said he built a grass hut that he lived in, and it was ten feet square. Actually, Abbott's Quarters are named after that hojo. Several of those could fit in the size of this zendo. Very small. But he said, although my hut is small, it includes the entire world. in some ways, right on your cushion or chair, the whole world is there. And yet, we focus on what's going on, this body, this mind. So, you know, it's interesting to consider different kinds of meditation halls. They all have, in some way, some basic configuration, some space that is conducive to this practice.

[24:10]

So I mentioned some of the meditation halls that I've practiced in. I've been to many, many meditation halls. And there can be great variations in size. So I think the smallest one I ever practiced in. Very cute, very sweet meditation hall. It was in the home of Yoshi, who, if any of you have ever been to the Bay Area, she has one of the most famous jazz venues in America. She actually has one in, she has one in Jack London Square in Oakland, a very large space, wonderful jazz performers, and she has one in San Francisco now. Her husband, Akiba Roshi, is the former bishop, to use an English word, it's not the right word, but he's the former bishop of Japanese Soto Zen in North America. He's a Zen teacher and old friend. We practiced at Tosoha together. Actually, they have a meditation hall, a very nice traditional meditation hall with a nice Japanese garden in Oakland.

[25:19]

But before Yoshi met Akiba Roshi, Akiba Sensei, she had in her house a little meditation hall in the attic. And Kai was the teacher who led the sitting there before Akiba Roshi. was up in the attic and it was, I think there were seven zabatons, maybe only six. You had to climb up into the attic and, you know, I'm a pretty small buddy. I had to stoop to get into it. I couldn't stand up. It had a peaked roof. I couldn't stand up in the middle of it. Eric, you would have had a lot of trouble. But there were three zabatons on either side. And I'm not sure if it was just an altar or there might have been another zabaton. for a higher cubilator at the front. And the roof slopes, so if you sat in one of the zabatons, it had a very nice wood finish and tatami flooring.

[26:23]

And if you sat on one of the zabatons, there was a peak roof, so if you got sleepy and leaned over this much, your head would hit the roof. So on the ceiling. It was very sweet. It was a lovely place to sit. There was a lot of great energy. In some ways, a smaller place intensifies the energy. I mean, there's a way in which the space in which you're sitting actually... I can't explain this in terms of physics or whatever, but it contains the energy. It holds the energy and it supports the energy. So that place was one extreme. Oh, but to do walking meditation, you would scoot down and climb down the stairs. And then there was a larger tatami room, a beautiful room. She also practiced tea. And there was a larger room where you would do with regular ceilings, where you would do walking meditation in between periods of satsang and climb back up into the attic.

[27:27]

So that's one extreme. The other extreme is, Some of you have been to our Wednesday afternoon Hyde Park affiliate group that Nyozan leads every Wednesday afternoon from this instruction at 5 and then from 5.30 to 6 or so, meditation and then a talk. I go there once a month. And that's in Rockefeller Chapel in the middle of Hyde Park, so some of you may know that. That's a huge cathedral. And it's actually very challenging to make, to create a Zazen space. It's huge. We sit up in the, what's that called? Not the nave, the front. There's a technical, it's a non-denominational cathedral. I mean, there's no Christian emblems, but it's, you know, it's a European, Catholic-style cathedral. It's got huge ceilings and glass, stained glass windows. It's an amazing space. And doing satsang there is a different kind of experience.

[28:31]

It's this huge space, and yet we occupy this part of the space, and we have the sabatons and chairs around this, what's it called, before the nave? It's the front of the church. Northex. Northex, yeah. Thank you, that's the technical, architectural term I think. Anyway, and it's a wonderful place to sit, but it's also challenging because the space is huge. And the ceilings are massive. And in some ways, that's really kind of, you know, so we're talking about sacred spaces, okay? The sacred spaces that support this practice. And that's a challenging one. So congratulations on making that a space for zazen. It's wonderful and it's also, you know, in as much as, you know, this is a, I feel like this is a really ideal space for, for a meditation hall in many ways. It's big enough and it's small enough that you can feel the energy anyway.

[29:41]

But there's no one exact prescribed form for the meditation hall. It varies in each situation. And yet there's something similar about each of them. There's some way in which there's There's a Buddha. Some are more minimal than others. We have some pictures on the walls. We have a number of things on the altar. And there's a whole structure. There's a whole form about how the altar's done, too. But some places are much more minimal. Some are much more, I remember Yvonne Lam's meditation hall on the beach. She collected all these wonderful Tibetan Buddha statues. So the point is though that there is this meditation energy and it has something to do with space. It has something to do with the space we're in, and that space intensifies our zazen, because it has something to do with that this practice is not just about yourself.

[31:00]

Of course, it includes yourself, and so for people who are just here, you know, for the first time today or fairly new, you know, it's natural to come to meditation wanting some personal calm or sense of settling or sense of flexibility or inner peace and so forth. But part of what we realize is that we are connected. And I've been talking down at Rockefeller Chapel when I go there once a month about this teaching from Dogen. He's a 13th-century founder of this branch of Zen, Sutra Zen. And it's one of his earliest teachings about Zazen. And he says this amazing, extremely radical thing. He says that when one person sits Zazen, even for a short time,

[32:07]

He says, all space in the universe awakens. It's not even, and he also mentions that the people that we come in contact with are influenced by our practice, whether or not we perceive it. And he says it's not necessarily, he says it can't be perceived, really, but that something about doing, settling, expressing completely with our body and mind, this uprightness, this Buddha mudra, he calls it, being present in body and mind, like Buddha, like the Buddha on our altar. It affects, impacts, awakens, has a mutual resonance with not just our own personal psychology, but also with people around us, beings around us, and even the space around us, the nature of reality itself. So of course, if given that understanding of what we're doing, which you don't have to take on faith, but that's what Dogen says happens when you do this.

[33:19]

Of course, given that, then all the particulars of reality itself, and all the particular how we take care of the cushions, and how we take care of things in the space, and how we take care of the space we inhabit, is related to this sasana practice. So just in closing, I'll say a little bit about this document we have out there. And if there's not enough copies out there for you, we'll make more. But the point of it, it says, is just to remain aware of what's going on around you. So again, that's part of the form of the meditation hall, too, is just to, wherever you're sitting in the meditation hall, to help support your awareness. And it says things like wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. Clothes should be neat and clean. Avoid perfume or strongly scented body products.

[34:25]

Jewelry and watches should be removed, except for those who need watches or some people who have Positions like the Do on a vista bell, and this is triggering me to reluctant, but otherwise not. Please maintain silos in the zendo, keep forces low in the spaces around it. Durance hussing. Walk quietly and lightly in the zendo at moderate pace. And so forth. Arrange your cushions. Anyway, there's a whole bunch of different kind of guidelines. And again, don't worry about doing this perfectly. But the point of all these kinds of forms, and I encourage you to take a look at them, is just to help harmonize taking care of these things. We also do that, we'll do this, do that after we finish this event.

[35:26]

We have Sunday's temple cleaning. So that's an extension of zazen into another form, just like our walking meditation is a slightly more active form. So if you can stay for that, that's, again, an aspect of meditation. It's about taking care of the space. But maybe I'll stop at this point and ask if anyone has questions or responses or comments. Kathy? It makes me think about my own space. And there are times when my space at home becomes very disorganized and cluttered and stacked. And I don't even know what's in the stacks.

[36:28]

And those are times I don't feel great. But when I do give more thought to the space, and it's stuff I'm using recently, it does feel more, I don't know, single. I can be more directed about what I'm doing. So you're talking about what goes into Zindo and how it affects our meditation. I think it's very parallel to me in terms of my home. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Taylor. So I have a question about the walking pattern. I guess it's not very Canadian, but just like when you're moving around in the center, sometimes there's play with the altar, and I wasn't sure what

[37:31]

Yeah, thank you for asking. Yeah, so again, that's very particular to different meditation halls. That especially is what the walking patterns are. So in this endo, just the form we use is that when you enter, take a step or two and bow to the space, and then whenever we're walking in the meditation, I'll use the hand Meditation Hall. We use the hand position we use in walking meditation. And we only bow when we enter. You don't have to bow when you leave. But if you go to the restrooms in the back, and you come back in the back door, also bow. If you're sitting over here, walk around behind the altar. And when you leave, also, if you're sitting on this side, walk around behind the altar. So we don't walk in front of the altar except during walking meditation. That's basically it. But also not to walk quickly.

[38:37]

You don't walk slowly like in walking meditation, but to walk quietly. Not thump, thump, thump, but just to walk quietly. So when you come in, for example, and people who are already sitting before the meditation period to walk mindfully at a normal pace, walk around. Is that the answer? Yes, thank you. You're welcome. Other questions, general or specific? Oh, hi, Angie. Yeah, I'm just kind of curious. He didn't, he just said this the right way, he didn't give an explanation.

[39:42]

But I know from seeing other zendos and from being in Japan that that's, that usually the Buddha faces south. And I think that was it. That was why he did it. And that's actually, there are exceptions. The Green Gulch Zen, though it's natural that it would face downstream towards the ocean. So there are exceptions to everything. But the usual way the main temples in Soto Zen are, the Buddha would face south. And it just happened to be that when we found this space that it was natural were coming in from the south. It just happened to work that way. It might have been that it couldn't have, depending on the configuration. I don't know. I can make up answers to that. Like in the Gandavyuha Sutra at the end of the Flower Ornament Sutra, there's a pilgrim who travels south to visit 53 different teachers.

[40:52]

I can say things like that, but I don't know, really. So any of the particular elements of the forms we do, it's not that they are in and of themselves like sacred. They are like conventional things that have been done traditionally for a long time. And so if you want to change them, there should be some reason that fits a particular context. And of course, we're, you know, philosophy's changing in American Zen. It's huge, it's a huge cultural leap from all of the different cultures in Asia to Western Buddhism. So a lot is changing, has already changed. We can't do things exactly the same as they were done in Japan or China or, you know, South Asia, Southern Asia or Tibet or wherever.

[41:56]

As Americans, we will do things differently, but if things have been done in a certain way for a long time, it makes sense to follow the tradition if there's not a reason to change it. Yes? Did you have a question? Oh, okay. There's no really one right way to set it up. And that even when we sit in our homes, we're kind of transforming our space and our homes into like a sacred space. Yes. Yes. There's no one right way to set it up. But part of what, as I said earlier, part of what a trained Zen priest knows is how to take some space and make it appropriate for Shazen.

[43:00]

And in your own home, there's a way, there's a way, so this is a whole different topic, but how to create an altar. You know, whether there's a Buddha or something else that represents Buddha's view, you know, there's a configuration for that, and that's a whole different topic. But how to make, so maybe you can have a class at some point about how to make a home altar, or talk sometime about that. But yeah, to take some corner of your space at home and, you know, just a space, a bare wall that you can turn, face in a chair or cushion, and do meditation. And some little space that you can use as an altar and you might offer flowers as we are today or incense or whatever, a candle and some flowers. It can be very simple. This is, you know, that seems somewhat elaborate. There can be much, much, much, much more elaborate, as you'll see.

[44:04]

But yeah, the point is to make a space that is conducive to your being able to settle and allow that space of settling.

[44:20]

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