All right. Good morning, everybody. Well, as most of you probably know, today's a special day at Green Gulch. Anybody here who just sort of stumbled into this and doesn't know that it's... Yeah? Well, it's Buddha's birthday. We celebrate Buddha's birthday today. So, we don't have

[01:05]

balloons every Sunday. And there aren't as many children here every Sunday as there are today. And we have multiple ceremonies and celebrations. And because of that, the lecture today is not the same as usual. I hope it will be a little shorter than usual so we have more time for the other festivities. And also, the only thing I want to share with you today is my good feeling for this day and its meaning. And also, to give you instructions and tell you what's happening so that you are oriented toward the program today. In our yearly calendar, there are three days in the Buddha's life that we commemorate. And

[02:14]

as we go on, year after year, I think our understanding and appreciation of these days in the Buddha's life grows. These three days are the Buddha's birthday, the day he was born, which is the day we're commemorating and celebrating today, his enlightenment day, which we usually celebrate toward the end of our winter Seshin in December, December 8th. And the third day is the day that he passed from this world and entered Parinirvana. That's Parinirvana Day, which is commemorated on the 15th of February. And all three of these days each year are wonderful and joyous occasions. But this day is the most joyous of all because

[03:23]

this day celebrates the birth of the Buddha, which is really the birth of everything, the birth of all small creatures, children and animals, plants. We celebrate, especially on Buddha's birthday, flowers and the beauty of flowers and decorate the altars with flowers and appreciate the wildflowers on the hills. And we celebrate the birth of earth and sky and sea. And this wonderful possibility of renewal that is fresh really every moment. And the fact that no matter what the circumstances are,

[04:24]

it's never too late to experience renewal and to begin our life fresh. And this year especially, I've been thinking about the world we live in. With all its difficulties, both here near us and elsewhere. These difficulties that seem these days, to me anyway and to many others I'm sure, so drastic, so threatening. So it's nice to celebrate today and celebrate the certain fact that renewal for our world is also possible. And that that renewal starts with our own powerful spirit,

[05:31]

with our strong and joyful intention to make a better world. We don't know how, exactly, we're going to do it, but we know and feel that intention to do it. And there's a real celebration and a joy in that and a confidence in that, I think. And today while we're celebrating here, a contingent of Buddhist practitioners led by our friends in the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and also with our abbot Tenshin Anderson as one of the key speakers, is celebrating Buddha's birthday in Nevada at the nuclear test site area, offering a wish for peace and that there really isn't any need to continue testing nuclear weapons and playing around with such

[06:38]

dangerous stuff. So I want to remember that effort also today. So I'm very enthusiastic about renewal in general and very happy to be a follower of Shakyamuni Buddha, who I really appreciate as a really great person. Buddha was a great person. With the help of his good luck, as we might say, or somebody else might say, with the help of his wholesome karma and powerful past life practice, and with the help of his own despair at the human condition,

[07:39]

and with the help of his determination and also innocence and stupidity, really, to think that he could do something about it, not to be like us and say, oh God, it's impossible. He was too stupid and innocent to realize that and he said, well, why not? So with the help of all these qualities, he was able, a long time ago, or if you look at it another way, just now, to rediscover an ancient path, an ancient way, for people to be honest with themselves and through that honesty find happiness and harmony together. So for that, I thank Buddha for being so great as to stumble into this

[08:44]

rediscovery. But not only did he do that, he also decided that he would dedicate his life to teaching others how to find this path. And so for that, I'm doubly grateful to Buddha that he not only found this ancient path but felt like he wanted to spend his whole life, he could have stayed on the beach his whole life, and enjoyed himself, which he thought about for a while. But then he said, well, no, I'm better off helping others to find this way. So I'm doubly grateful to him for that. And then not only did he do that, but also he created a tradition and a way that could be passed on even after his lifetime and after the lifetime of his immediate disciples. So that now, 2,500 years later and more, we can still, in our own way,

[09:49]

walk the path of the Buddha. So I'm triply grateful to Buddha for having gone that far, for us and for his kindness. So as I get older and as each year we honor the Buddha on his birthday, I love the Buddha more and more, and more and more I'm grateful, and more and more I'm impressed with what a lucky break it was for us that this could happen. And Buddha really did this, and he was really a person, just like you and me. It's amazing that he could do this for us. And also, Buddha is not a person, but a myth. Buddha is a wonderful myth, a dream, an imaginary vision in our lives, a person that walks around in our imaginations.

[11:03]

And so today we celebrate also the myth of the Buddha's birth. Maybe some of you know the story and some of you don't. It's quite simple. And we'll enact it in our pageant today. Before the conception of the baby Buddha, his mother dreamed of a six-tusked white elephant. And at ruinous expense, we've transported from far away such an elephant so that you can see how it was. And then after that dream, she journeyed through the forest to Lumbini to give birth to the baby. But she didn't make it all the way through the forest. She gave birth in the forest,

[12:07]

holding on to a tree limb. And the baby came out not from her womb, but from out of her side. And now in the story of the Buddha, we see that the Buddha was not an average child. The Buddha was above average. And so when he was born, he immediately took seven steps. And you'll see this later on. He took seven steps and pointed to the heavens and pointed to the earth and said, I am born for enlightenment for the good of all beings. So this is the story of the myth, the deep myth of the birth of the Buddha.

[13:08]

And I was poking around today and I found this. I want to read for you a little passage. It's a little bit long, but it's kind of interesting on this deep mythical birth of the Buddha. This is from the Avatamsaka Sutra, which makes clear, I think, that the myth of the birth of the Buddha is a myth of time itself. A myth that occurs on each moment. So let's see how much of this I can read. This is Buddha's mother speaking. At that time, I was in the house of King Suddhodana. And when the time of the Buddha's descent from the heaven of contentment had arrived, from every pore, the Buddha emanated as many rays of light as atoms in untold Buddha lands, arrayed with the

[14:16]

qualities of the birth of all Buddhas, known as the light originating from the qualities of birth of all Buddhas. Those rays of light illumined the whole world, then descended on my body and entered into every pore of my body, beginning with my head. As soon as those light rays of the enlightening being, the Buddha, with various names, emanating magical projections of the various miracles attending the birth of a Buddha, had entered me, they caused the spheres of light at the front of the enlightening being's light rays to be manifest in my body and the supernatural manifestations of miracles attending the birth of all enlightening beings were visible. And as soon as those light rays of the enlightening being had entered my body, I saw all the enlightening beings whose birth miracles were shown in the spheres at the front of the enlightening being's light rays as they sat on the Buddha's lion throne at the site of enlightenment, surrounded by congregations

[15:19]

of enlightening beings, honored by the leaders of the world, turning the wheel of the teaching. I also saw all the Buddhas with whom those Buddhas associated as they carried out enlightening practices in the past. This is a lot of Buddhas right there. I also saw mystical projections of their initial inspiration, attainment of enlightenment, turning of the wheel of the teaching, final extinction, and the pure arrays of all Buddha lands as well as the multitudes of emanations of those Buddhas pervading the cosmos in each moment of consciousness. When those rays of light of the enlightening being entered my body, my body outreached all worlds and my belly became as vast as space. See, space is actually the belly of Buddha's mommy. Did you know that? That's really what

[16:24]

space is. And yet, and yet, did not go beyond ordinary human size, you see. So all of space is actually the belly of Buddha's mama and all of it is contained in the individual human body. So the supernal manifestations of the enlightening beings abode in the womb everywhere in the ten directions all appeared in my body. Upon the appearance in my body of the furnishings of the enlightening beings abode in the womb, the enlightening being together with as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten Buddha lands, all with the same vow, the same practice, the same roots of goodness, the same state of liberation, and the same state of knowledge adept at the same mystical projection, having accomplished the same endeavor, adept at the same practice, having purified the same spiritual body, able to assume an infinite variety of physical forms, expert in the projection of the endeavors of universally good enlightening beings,

[17:27]

respectfully attended by chiefs of all worlds, descended from the heaven of contentment by the great miracle of enlightening beings, appeared to pass away from all heavens of contentment, appearing to become, just appearing, you see, to become regenerated in all worlds from each heaven of contentment to early existence, following a skill and means of developing inconceivable numbers of sentient beings to maturity and happiness, alerting all intoxicated, deluded beings, detaching from all attachments, emanating a great network of light beams, dispelling the darkness from all worlds, stopping all evils and all miseries, putting an end to all hellish ways of being, making all beings aware of their past deeds, rescuing all beings, appearing in the presence of all beings, he descended from the heaven of contentment with his retinue and entered my belly." Anyway, just wanted to read that for you. It's interesting, isn't it?

[18:28]

That's a little... It goes on from there. This is many pages describing the birth of the Buddha in the Flower Garland Sutra, one of my favorite sutras. Two thousand pages like that, a sutra. So, this birth of the Buddha has many dimensions. And many influences and much power. So, we want to devote our morning and our day to meditating on this and celebrating this in the most joyous way possible. So, let me tell you what we're going to do, how it's going to work, if I may, if I understand. Correct me if I'm wrong. First of all, the talk will be over soon. And it'll end as usual. We'll all leave. I'll bow and so on.

[19:31]

And I'll disappear first and avoid the crowd. And then you'll all leave. And once the zendo's cleared out and all the chairs are gone and put away, soon after that you will hear the big bell outside will begin ringing in a, I guess, 15-minute, 10-minute pattern. So, when the bell starts, you'll know that the ceremony to celebrate the traditional Japanese Zen ceremony to celebrate the Buddha's birth will begin within 10 minutes. So, as soon as you hear the bell, pretty much come back into the zendo, those of you who want to attend the ceremony. And we will have a ceremony around the main altar where we offer various kinds of delicious food and whatnot to the Buddha. And we will chant the Heart Sutra and offer bows and incense and make a special dedication commemorating the day. And then we'll bow again and that'll be the end of that. It'll take about, the ceremony is pretty brief, maybe

[20:36]

takes 15 or 20 minutes at the most. This is a little different. Those of you who are familiar with what we do on Buddha's birthday, it's slightly different because we're doing it indoors this year. After that, we'll gather out in the front lawn here, and already many people are there, and we'll make a big circle around the lawn, big circle. And then into the circle, the children who are right now rehearsing this so that they will get it perfect. They will march into the circle with the parasols and banners and an elephant cart full of flowers. And they'll put that down in the middle of the circle or toward one end of the circle. And near the elephant cart will be a pagoda also decorated with beautiful flowers. And on the pagoda is a

[21:38]

with one hand pointing up to heaven and one hand pointing to earth. And although you can't hear the sound, he's saying, I am born for enlightenment, for the good of all beings. And we will, at a certain signal, well, how will you signal, just tell us, go, right? Yeah, we'll start walking around. We'll start walking around in a big circle, which is very traditional Buddhist practice to circumambulate the Buddha, see? It's very good. Clockwise, yeah. Is that? No, this way. Clockwise. Circumambulating the Buddha as they did in ancient times during the Buddha's own life. And while we're circumambulating the Buddha, we will be chanting homage to the Buddha like this, Aum, homage, Shakyamuni Buddha, in perfect unison, as one voice.

[22:39]

Aum, homage, Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is how the Japanese pronounce his name, sage of the Shakya tribe. Like this, Aum, homage, Shakyamuni Buddha, [...] Aum, homage, Shakyamuni Buddha. Great, that's right. And it's a little harder to do it outside because we're in a big circle and it's not so easy to hear your partner, so you really have to

[23:41]

keep your ears peeled as you chant. Make sure that we're all in unison. So then like that, meditating on those words and concentrating our hearts on this magical, mythical, present moment, birth of the Buddha, we'll march around like that. And then at a certain signal, which we will find out about at the time, we'll start having people come in from the circle, peeling into the center where the little pagoda is, especially the children at first. And underneath the baby Buddha there's a little moat surrounding him, and in the moat is sweet tea and a little dipper. So we'll dip water from the sweet tea pool and slowly, mindfully pour it over the head of the baby Buddha, offer sweet tea, and then put the dipper down, gassho, and then walk away. And then the next person, and we'll just continuously offer tea to the baby Buddha as the rest of us are walking around, Aum, homage, Shakyamuni Buddha.

[24:49]

We'll just keep doing that for a long time until most people have had a chance to offer to the Buddha. And then at a certain signal, which you will hear at the time, there'll be a little bell that will make a sound, and then we'll all, just standing in our place, do three bows in the direction of the little pagoda to the Buddha, and then that part of the ceremony will end. Those people who have not had a chance to offer the sweet tea can continue offering to the baby Buddha as the circle breaks up and people go here and there. After all of that happens, the next thing that is going to happen is we'll make ready for the Buddha's birthday pageant, and this is our, I think, our eighth year. Boy, that's amazing, our eighth year of doing this pageant, and it's quite a lot of fun. I hope you'll stay for it.

[25:52]

We'll clear the lawn, and in a semicircle around the oak tree, people can spread out their picnic lunches and find a good seat. We will have a few people, probably myself included, sort of moving you around so that you're not sitting in the middle of the stage, because the lawn is also the stage. So this is the hardest part, because sometimes somebody gets nice and settled, and they have all their picnic lunch out, and someone comes and says, gee, that's where the elephant is going to be. So please be patient with us, and if you go out there and you see other people preceding you setting up their picnic lunches, warn them. They may not be in the room now. We may have to re-situate ourselves. Anyway, once we're all settled, and the magnificent costumes are assembled, and the elephant is in place, and all the actors and actresses are ready, I'll announce the beginning

[26:58]

of the pageant, and then that will take place on the lawn, and it lasts about 45 minutes or so. Oh, and this is important. There's audience participation in the pageant. The pageant consists of a poem about the birth of the Buddha. Each stanza of the poem is read aloud, and then it's mimed, acted out, and at the end of each segment that's acted out, we strike the big bell, and then everybody says, homage to the World Honored One, because World Honored One is another epithet for the Buddha. So, there are 18 stanzas, and at the end of each stanza in each performance, bong, homage to the World Honored One, and lest you forget the words,

[27:58]

we have our director is going to pop out with a big sign that says, homage to the World Honored One. So, please join for that part, because it increases the enthusiasm of the actors and the musicians, and also brings down more Buddha power into our world the more you throw yourself into these words, homage to the World Honored One. So, you're responsible. Everybody's responsible, right? There are no actors and audience. We're all participants in this universe of Buddhas, so please do your part. Belt it out, let's try it. Ready? One, two, three, homage to the World Honored One. A little more, okay? One, two, three, homage to the World Honored One.

[28:59]

You're getting better, but still, don't you think it could be more? I mean, we could really bring down the roof. So, not that we want to, but this time, one, two, three, homage to the World Honored One. Great. Okay, good. So, let's do it that way out on the lawn. It has to be even louder out on the space to contain the sound. So, yes, 18 times with each stanza. And then at the end, it just sort of, we don't know what happens. There's no fixed ending, you see. It just goes on. So, I encourage all of you to be spontaneous and participate in the ending in whatever way suits you. You'll see what happens. It sort of spreads throughout the whole universe at the end.

[30:02]

And then, as I understand, we baked a big birthday cake or series of birthday cakes, four birthday cakes for Buddha that'll be offered. And we're all, it's all our birthday as well. So, we'll all have some birthday cake and enjoy ourselves and then go on with whatever happens next. So, that's the program. What did I leave out? Is that it? Yeah. No muffins. No muffins. No. Thank you for mentioning that. Yeah, there's no muffins. Usually after the lecture, you know, there's muffins and tea, but because of all this other stuff. And you're not allowed to drink the baby Buddha's sweet tea either. Okay. So, do you all understand that? Got that? Then why don't we end this part now and go on with the rest of the morning.

[31:08]

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