Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to those of you who are here for the first time. Usually, Lucy, who's sitting here, carries the incense. But for reasons that will become clear in a few moments, Keith is filling in. Probably many of you never noticed, but there were a number of little things that weren't quite the way they're designed to be. Tradition is prescriptive, you know, okay, do it like this. Then what actually happens is strongly influenced by what's going on in the moment. the factors and conditions that are prevalent in that moment and how the human beings that are in the midst of them are behaving.

[01:06]

And very much that's what I'd like to talk about today. And here's the context in which I'd like to talk about it. Lucy is being priest ordained today. a prescriptive process in accordance with the tradition. And then also an adaptive process. As Buddhism moved from India to China to Japan to the United States, the process, the initiation of ordination has evolved. Part of the challenge is, as practitioners, what is the formless wisdom? What's at the heart of that that hasn't changed one iota? And then what are the adaptations that have happened according to different circumstances that guide us now in how to relate it to our current circumstances?

[02:21]

And then How does that process apply to each one of us as we follow our own path of practice? So that's what I'd like to talk about, or try to talk about. The primary and the principle expression of ordination in Buddhism is twofold. It's leaving home and refuge, taking refuge. In the early Buddhism, leaving home was very literal.

[03:28]

You left your home. You left your family. You left the lifestyle you were living. And you adopted an entirely different lifestyle. You became a monk or a nun. You became a renunciate. You didn't involve yourself in certain forms of Buddhism. Even to this day, when you become ordained, you do not handle money. You're prohibited. to touch it. You don't have any and you don't touch it. You eat. You go out and beg for food, receive the food and eat it and give the rest away. You don't keep any over for the next day. The notion being that this radical renunciation frees you from the usual ways we get stuck in the material world.

[04:42]

And as we free ourselves from getting stuck in the material world, it sets the stage. It's a foundation. It's a support for an inner work to free ourselves from the way we get stuck in our habitual ways of thinking, and feeling and behaving. And then as we do that, we cut off, we go to the very core of the desires and aversions and confusions that cloud our minds and limit our lives. And we cut off the root of those desires, aversions and confusions. This is the archetype of the arahat. This is the primary archetype of early Buddhism. And then as Buddhism evolved, the archetype of the bodhisattva arose and expressed itself in another mode of ordination.

[05:57]

The bodhisattva wakes up to this conditioned world, sees it for what it is, and in seeing it for what it is, sees through it. Money isn't dirty. Money isn't evil. It's just a form of communication in a material world. How you relate to it can get you into a lot of trouble or not. It can be how you express your generosity. I remember someone said to me once, a minister, he said, money is God in action in the material world. I was a little surprised, and then I thought about it, and I thought, that's pretty good.

[07:04]

So to enter the material world, to enter conventional life awake and have a skillful response, then this is the aspiration of the bodhisattva. And then in doing that, in entering the world in that way, exemplifying that such a way is possible. There's a way to be in the world that isn't about self-centered agendas. That this is all a Darwinian process, the survival of the fittest, the strongest, and the greediest. that this can be a process of mutual support, a process of mutual generosity. And this is the aspiration of the bodhisattva. So as ordination moved historically and geographically, this became

[08:23]

a stronger influence in how it was thought about and how it was constructed. And in early Buddhism, there was a strict code of conduct. It covered your behavior in all the aspects of the life you were living, which you were living as a monk or a nun. how to relate to other monks and nuns, how to relate to lay people, how to relate to people who are giving you food. When you go out begging for food, you do not hang out around the good restaurants. You walk impartially in all parts of time. Rules like that. 256 for men, 350 for women.

[09:25]

And then in the Bodhisattva process, this was condensed, crystallized, down to 16. Perhaps the notion, actually, personally, I'm not too clear how it got to that. I haven't noticed. I'm pretty sure it was Seicho in Japan that was the first person to formulate it in this way, but that it carried the spirit and the essential aspiration of the bodhisattva and was not contained singularly within being a monk or a nun. And so now when someone ordains as a priest, in our tradition, many of the traditional attributes of being a monk or a nun are not included. They're not excluded, but they're not considered to be a necessary part of this form of ordination.

[10:36]

We're not necessarily celibate. It doesn't mean we're not celibate. In fact, many of us or have been celibate for parts of our practice. I was celibate for about five years. Interestingly, I never intended to be celibate. And I don't mean it that way. What I mean is What I mean is, as the vow of practice became primary, and all the requests of that started to be activated, it's like the energy of my life was going in this direction instead of that direction. Then at a certain point, things changed, and then...

[11:45]

I got married, had two children. So the archetype of the bodhisattva aspires, dedicates to the primary principle of bodhisattva practice, this waking up, this entering the world skillfully and kindly. And then I would add to that the spirit of it unfolds from there the way it unfolds. If you end up being celibate, okay, you end up being celibate. If you end up being married and having 10 children, okay. You end up being married and having 10 children. There's something at the essence of the practice that's not obstructed. by either lifestyle or not singularly contained within either lifestyle.

[12:55]

And then, of course, in Zen we say, what is it? What is such a way of being? What is Buddha? We carry this inquiry into the activities of our daily life as a way to stay close to our vow, and as a way to keep discovering how that vow expresses itself in the whole varieties of activities that humans get involved in. Another element of the Bodhisattva way is that we leave the world to enter the world. And in some ways, this is part of growing up.

[13:56]

You leave your parents' home to meet your parents as an adult and to take a different role in your family. There's something, some way of relating between parent and child that's given up. Not the bond, not the affection, not the mutual respect, but something of the one-way dependence. Maybe you could say the one-way authority. It becomes more reciprocal. It becomes more mutual. So the bodhisattva moves from one way of relating to the world to another way of relating to the world.

[15:06]

The bodhisattva receives from the world and the bodhisattva gives to the world. We cultivate an adultness. We cultivate a maturity. We cultivate a different attitude to being alive. We're no longer a child. The world is here to satisfy my needs and give me what I want. The world is here and we have a mutual responsibility for taking care of it. And taking care of each other. This is the spirit and the attitude of the Bodhisattva.

[16:13]

And in order to be able to take care of the world, we need to not be blinded and limited by our own self-centered thinking and our own self-centered ways of being, our habits and behaviors. So in some ways, from this aspect of the request, it's no different from the diligence of the arahat. trying to come to terms with the desires and aversions and confusions of a human life and not be defined by them, not be just simply spending the energies of our life struggling with them. This is one of the threads of Buddhist practice that doesn't change. And throughout the ceremony, the Ordinand is asked, will you give up this way of struggling for what you want, avoiding what you don't want, and being confused and anxious about it?

[17:34]

And throughout the ceremony, the Ordinand bravely and courageously and foolishly says, yes, I will. Yes, I will. And the marvelous thing is that you don't quite know what you're getting yourself in for. How can you? None of us here know what challenges we're going to meet in the next week. None of us know what challenges we're going to meet before sundown. What situations, what ways we're going to be asked to relate. What ways we're going to retreat into a more self-centered way of thinking or open up into a more wholehearted, clear-minded way of being. But there's something about a commitment, a vahal, a dedication.

[18:40]

Yes, I will. Yes, I will. Yes, I will. very interesting aspect of the human ability. You know, in the process of Western psychology, you know, when Freud, with extraordinary insights, crafted some of the influences that come to bear on us, you know? And then one of his students, an Italian, a Sazolioli, he said, This is a beautiful teaching on conditioned existence, but it misses one aspect of the human capacity, the capacity to intend. The capacity to say, yes I will, yes I will, yes I will.

[19:43]

And so it's actually only crafted a process of stimulating intention. and that give rise to an adaptation of Freudian psychology. So I would say spiritual practice, in fact, I would say most, if not all, wisdom practices have this quality of intentionality as a catalyst, as an agent of change. as an agent of staying true to that which is worth staying true to. And as I said before, it's a very interesting process. It's not that we know completely or exactly what it is we're staying true to. It's a commitment of involvement, engagement, and dedication.

[20:50]

has a basis of some degree of prescription. We have a heritage here of how we do ordinations. We inherited from our teacher, Suzuki Roshi. He inherited from what evolved in Japan. There is a heritage, a tradition, and then there's always a current adaptation. So for each of us, there's the life we're living, there's how we're living it. One of the helpful things about prescriptions is that they make evident what it is we're doing. If you say, step up onto the tatami, on this side with your left foot, on this side with your right foot, do a shashu bow, and then move forward.

[22:09]

If you give it that prescription, whether you do it or not, it starts to make evident what's going on. If you do a zazen, and you sit down and say... I will bring attention to the inhale and the exhale. Then you notice where your mind goes. So prescription offers us both the wisdom and the skillfulness of tradition, and it offers us a way to make contact with what's coming up. And both of those together support the process of practice. And vow keeps that process alive. So, the ordinary vows.

[23:12]

And right away, everything's different. It's a different proposition. It's not a matter of okay, when I've accomplished my vow, when I've fulfilled it, then things are different. No, right away, it's a different proposition. Right away, in the symbolism, in the prescription of the ceremony, you're given a new name. You're given a new way of dressing. You're given a new way to be in the material world. You're given a set of bowls hearkening back to the tradition of Shakyamuni. And you're given a new family.

[24:19]

In a way, your new family is the family of humankind. Inasmuch as that within each of us, there is some quest or some inquiry to discover how to be fully alive. There's some capacity within each of us to know wisdom when we see it. with some capacity within each of us to express generosity, kindness, and meet the suffering and limitations of our collective life with compassion. So the Ordinand acknowledges and commits to being part of that family. It's the vow that expresses that commitment.

[25:37]

It's the vow that sustains that commitment. And then if we take this as in our typical process, then for each one of us to ask, what am I committing to in my life as it is now? What aspects of my life are foundational? What aspects of my life express what I think is valuable in my life, in human life? How am I promoting that? How am I limiting that? And then in the language of Buddhism, We express that by taking refuge.

[26:38]

We take refuge from. We take refuge from the suffering caused by self-centered greed and aversion. We take refuge in the nobility of living an open, connected, mutually supportive life. And there's three modalities to it. There's simply being it. Being in the moment. Being connected to what's in the moment. There's the truth of it. There's how it will teach us and guide us in how to live this human life. And then there's the interconnectedness of it. This is a mutual process. We're not doing this by ourselves. We're doing this collectively. And we're not even just doing it with all other humans.

[27:48]

We're doing it with all other beings. We're doing it with the earth, the whole planet, all the insects and birds and animals and microbes and all other forms of life that exist. We are all part of a singular ecology. This is the awakening of the last 20 years. Global warming is our collective concern. The extinction of a half-inch long snail is of concern to us. It's relevant to us. So we take refuge in Buddha, being in the moment. We take refuge in Dharma, the truth, the way, the guidance of being in the moment.

[28:49]

And we take refuge in Sangha, the interconnected community of all being. And it's a process that we never exhaust because our human way is to continually pull back into separate being. And our vow is, yes, I will, yes, I will, yes, I will. And our inquiry is, what is it to do that? What is it to do that right now in the life I'm living, in the relationships I have, in the way I relate to the material world, in the way I relate to the ecology of our shared being?

[29:57]

And out of this inquiry arises a radical honesty. What am I working with? I'm working with me. I'm working with this cluster of habits of behavior, habits of thinking, habits of feeling. That's what I'm working with. But it's not a proposition of I'm broken and I need to be fixed. Something's terribly wrong and something good and virtuous has to be done to remedy it. We're complex and wonderful and selfish. Or as Suzuki Roshi put it, you're perfect just as you are and you still have work to do.

[31:10]

You can still work on what's going on. So out of this vow, out of this commitment to refuge, to taking refuge, there's a fundamental shift in attitude. Don't harm. Do good. and include everyone in the process, and everything. In the heritage of early Buddhism, the word for harm and good, don't harm, do good, the word for harm was akusala, that which hinders waking up, and good was that which enables kusala, waking up. live this life in a way that's a continual unfolding, that's continually revealing what's going on, continually showing you who you are in this moment and what is opening and what is pulling away.

[32:39]

And then externally, help everyone else to do that. In some ways it's a very simple proposition and then in some ways it's an impossible proposition. It's like there's something deep within us that says, I must survive. There's a deep urgency in promoting our survival. I come first. If we watch our thinking carefully, we can see

[33:49]

how much of it is the primary reference is me. Is this good for me? Is this bad for me? Am I going to get what I want? Am I going to be harmed? This fundamental shift of don't harm do good is challenging that. The vow, the intention, is to meet that challenge. That's why our practice is a daily event. That's why our practice is a situation-by-situation event. A momentary event. And then that sets the stage for how we enter the world.

[34:51]

And then the world... continually presents us with an array of challenges. And that is expressed in the ten grave precepts. And the ten grave precepts offer what we might consider the fundamental dimensions that our life is expressed through. Don't kill promote life. Then there's the literal, don't kill. Don't get swept into violence, into a limited belief that says it's necessary to destroy other forms of life for my life to thrive. What is it to turn that around and say, this is a mutual process that we're all involved in. How can our mutual welfare be maintained and brought forth?

[35:58]

How does that enter into the life I'm living? How does that express itself in the priorities I make and the ways I live? So in the Zen school we say each of the great precepts is a whole mode of inquiry. It's its own koan. It's an inquiry that we're never finished with because it's constantly renewing the circumstances in which it's involved. And then in a wonderful, paradoxical way, this way of being brings us more fully and more intimately into the world.

[37:08]

This way of being brings us more fully and intimately into ourselves. So even though part of the archetype is leaving home, It's also about coming home. It's also about being at home wherever we are. It's also about knowing we belong. It's about authenticity. This awakened inquiry generates an intimacy that brings this way of being forth, not because we figure something out, but we literally experience it directly.

[38:19]

The process of Zazen is not one of figuring something out. It's about sitting down and experiencing it directly. And this is the whole process of practice. And this is the process of ordination. You don't know what you're getting yourself in for when you get ordained. But if you keep doing it, you discover. And the process of ordination in this tradition is nothing other than the process of living a human life. just has its own set of ways of being in doing that. So this afternoon, around 3 o'clock, that's what will happen.

[39:30]

but without all those words. With just a magical symbolism, you know? The way in which theater can express something that words can't reach. It often occurs to me that there's something about practice that is much more around and engaged in a deep feeling we have than it is about the well-crafted ideas and concepts that we create. Our ideas and concepts as we study the wisdoms of the world can be quite marvelous.

[40:39]

But that deep feeling, that inspiration that infuses us with a certain nobility, a certain courage, a certain generosity, the willingness to enter the world in a radically different way. This is the heart of ordination. I would say every day our life asks it of us. In so many ways. Thank you.

[41:24]

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