Good evening. So, oh, good. That nice microphone helps. I have a cold. And so I'm sort of gambling that I will be able to get through this talk without dissolving into cups. And you can send me your well wishes if you want to. Maybe that will help. So tonight I want to talk about our ceremonial life at City Center. And so I'm speaking from the, you know, seat and because this is what I do. I do ceremonies. And I want to talk a little bit about what what we do to make a ceremony special, how we do ceremonies and then talk about a couple of specific ones. Amplified.

[01:02]

So ceremonies usually mark some special occasion and they punctuate our lives and give texture to our daily routine. In the 80s, I lived at Tassajara and Reb was there and he used to talk about village signs and village dances and the village festivals. And that's what these ceremonies are for us. They're occasions when we have an excuse to get together and participate in something and celebrate and see each other. And I think those are the most important elements of the ceremonies that we do. And so I want to enumerate a few elements that we add to our normal service to make something a special ceremony. We have a little repertoire of things that we do.

[02:08]

And one of them is a procession. And the main thing that I think a procession does is it involves more people in the ceremony. So there are more participants. And also, you know, the ceremony usually starts up at the Kaisando and comes down to the Buddha Hall. And there's usually some instrumentation, a couple of Incans or an Incan and clappers, and maybe the drum is out in the lobby. So the procession comes down and you hear ching, sung, ching, sung, or ching, sung, clack, boom. And there's some drama to that. It's very... I think it's very pleasant to hear the procession for a ceremony coming in the distance. And another thing that we do is special drumming or adding a drum to a ceremony. And to me, the most outstanding example of this is Buddha's Enlightenment Day, where two people drum in unison on the two sides of the drum in a very interesting kind of...

[03:22]

uneven rhythm. While inside the Buddha Hall, we're chanting the Heart Sutra in Japanese and circumambulating and throwing rose petals at each other. And this drum is really thrilling, mostly for the people who do it, the two people who do it every year. And also for the people who hear it, I think it's just a wonderful thing. And, you know, they practice and practice. And then the ceremony takes place at the end of Rohatsu Sashin. So during that seven days, no practice. And then it's fresh again. And I just really love it. And scattering flower petals, of course, too. I remember a few years ago being here for probably Buddha's Enlightenment Day ceremony and watching Kieran dancing around just like he was having the most wonderful time and throwing flower petals at people and putting them in their hair.

[04:30]

And I remember thinking, how do the teachers here who do these ceremonies over and over and over every year, and they're always the same, How do they keep it fresh and alive and not get stale and kind of cynical about it? Well, now that I'm involved in doing this, I know that it's partly that the people are fresh all the time. I'm fresh. I haven't been doing it for so long. And the participants have maybe a new role each time they do it and a new group of people comes. And even if it's the same old people and the same old ceremony, something unexpected always happens. And that's what we remember. And for example, do you remember what happened at the most recent Buddha's Enlightenment Day? Well, another element that sometimes gets added to these processions is that there will be a Jiko who carries a portable in-sensor.

[05:34]

So we have a perfectly usable in-sensor or kabako sitting right here. But for some ceremonies, we take it away and bring in a portable incense with charcoal in it. And then the Doshi comes with a container in his sleeve with chip incense. And that's how we make incense offerings. So for the most recent Buddha's Enlightenment Day, the procession came in and the Jiko walked up and put the portable incenser down where it was supposed to go. And Paul walked up and fished around for his special stuff and got it out and was ready to do the incense offering and looked down and there's no charcoal in the incenser. So the ceremony came to a grinding halt for a few minutes while we lit some charcoal. Well, that was okay.

[06:37]

And then later in the day, he gave a Dharma talk. And I don't know if it started with a poem about a magnificent mistake or if that's just what he called it, but this was the magnificent mistake that he lectured about. So it became very memorable. And he hasn't yet paid me for providing him for the material for this talk. But I hope the check is in the mail because I could really use it. And I may just have to settle for merit. I don't know. So another thing that we sometimes do is a three or five person food offering. And of course, a five person food offering is a little higher on the scale than a three person food offering. But we offer three towers, sweet water, rice and tea. And if it's a five-person offering, you know, we pass it among the five people and it gets incensed.

[07:42]

And if you do it right, the five people all kind of turn at the same time like gears. And it looks very elegant. Now, I did not go to Linda Ruth's stepping down ceremony at Green Gulch. but I heard that they did a five-person food offering and that it was so great that Huizu Suzuki Roshi, who was here for the occasion, said that it was better than they do at a heiji. So that is a high compliment. And I can imagine that they practiced this ceremony over and over and must have really felt terrific when he said that. So that's another memorable thing that one can do. Usually the Doshi wears tabby and the Jisha has special incense that smells nice and it's real long and fat. And let's see, what else?

[08:47]

Oh, sometimes there are special chants. For example, during Sijiki ceremony, you may recall, We chanted the Kanro Mon, which is a Japanese chant with a somewhat irregular rhythm, similar to the Sendokai. And it helps to have some experience chanting this chant. You know, the first time you chant it through, you may not quite do it exactly perfectly. So we wanted to do this chant. And of course, we want everybody to participate and to have really strong, vibrant chanting. So we were fortunate that about that time, a bunch of people had arrived from Tassajara to live here who had been chanting the Khan Ramon regularly. And so we organized some rehearsals during morning service. One was on a Saturday morning, and this group of people chanted vigorously and helped all the rest of us cope.

[09:52]

And I took it home and really studied it and learned it. And it was great fun. It's so much. It's so satisfying to do some of these things that are just a little bit challenging. So we had the ceremony and there was a really strong core of people who were able to chant this chant. And it helped everybody out. We usually have a special echo or dedication for So we write something for the kokyo to chant at the end of the ceremony that speaks to the point of the ceremony or says something inspiring about the content of the ceremony or something devotional to the person that we're venerating, whatever it is. Echoes is fun, and chanting a beautiful echo is really nice for Okokyo especially, and for the rest of us who hear it.

[11:01]

I have to cough. Can you do the honors with it? Huh? Thanks. Okay. Thank you very much. let's see, I want to talk about just a few of the ceremonies and what I think makes them so wonderful. So I think one of our all-time favorites is the sujuki ceremony that we do at Halloween. And one of the things that's wonderful about it is that there are a whole bunch of people who play instruments. The Eno Closet has tons and tons of horns and bells and drums and conch shells and a big Tibetan horn and all of these kind of eerie sounding things that a lot of people can take one instrument and play it during this ceremony. So it involves a lot of people and it's a lot of fun.

[12:02]

And then we set up an altar back there with stuff that we've decided hungry ghosts would appreciate. And that might be Pepsi-Cola or Snickers bars or Twinkies or some health food trip or something like that. Anyway, we project what we think hungry ghosts would like, and we put it there. And that's kind of fun. And then another thing about it is that people come in costume often because afterwards there's a big Halloween dinner and trick-or-treating for the kids. And some of these costumes are really something. They're really well done and elaborate. And there's a lot of energy during the ceremony goes into staring at some being and trying to figure out who it is. So, you know, something new happens every year. It's always a different thing.

[13:05]

And that's a lot of fun. Oh, and the building looks wonderful because we have all these paintings. of weird figures, um, that were painted by Peter Bailey. And we have a new one by Emma. And anyway, we put these up all over the building and they're just really nice. Give the place a real ambiance for the ceremony. Uh, Buddha's birthday we just finished. Um, it was at Koshlin Park. It often is. It's usually in some park. And usually there's some kind of picnicky meal afterwards. And, um, this year's ceremony was notable for the drizzle. And, um, so we, we take balloons and the kids go and there are these parasols that have these crepe paper streamers hanging down and they look really Japanese and wonderful. But this year, It was so wet that the people who were holding the parasols were kind of struggling with the wet crepe paper streamers clinging to the pavement.

[14:12]

And then at the very end of the ceremony, the sun came out and it was just beautiful. And then you could see the slanting precipitation and see how fast the drizzle was coming down. So that's what I remember about this particular ceremony. We do spring and fall equinox and summer and winter solstice ceremonies in the courtyard. It's nice to be outdoors whatever season it is. The spring equinox ceremony was very windy, as it always is, I think. And then we have a beautiful echo. Bodhidharma Day, we reenact the first case of the Blue Cliff Record. And people take the parts of Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu and Master Chur, and we act that out sometimes with costumes. And I think really one of the very most wonderful ceremonies is a Shuso ceremony because it's unscripted and we love unscripted.

[15:21]

So there's a procession. It's very dramatic. There's drumming. There's all this stuff that happens. They chant the Heart Sutra really, really slow while the Shuso walks around the room and the Jisha walks around the room. And then finally, everybody settles down and there's basically a question and answer. The Shuso is up here answering questions. I think it's our favorite thing because we love to see people and the chouseau is totally exposed. That's what the ceremony is about. It's just up here exposed and the people who ask the questions are exposed too. So we see and be seen and it's scary for both the questioner and the chouseau and it's Just really a lot of fun and really memorable. And, of course, every ceremony is different. Maybe that's enough ceremonies to talk about for the moment.

[16:29]

So I think what happens with these special ceremonies is they take more effort. They require more people. All of that signals specialness. It allows more people to participate. And it makes the occasion more memorable and becomes part of our shared consciousness and our song of life together. So I want to talk about two specific ceremonies, very different from each other. One small that we do often, and that is the Suzuki Roshi Memorial, which we do every, um, on the evening of the 3rd and the morning of the 4th every month. And the reason we do it on those dates is because Suzuki Roshi died on December 4th, early in the morning in 1971, just as I believe Rohatsu Sushin was about to begin.

[17:36]

And there were many of his students, I think, felt that it was a great kindness on his part to go just then when they were entering a sushin and had some way to deal with and process their grief. So this is a simple ceremony, but we do it on the third and the fourth. No matter what day of the week that is or if it's a holiday. So if it's Saturday night or Sunday morning, we still do it then. And we have an offering of sweet water, rice and tea. It's just tea in the evening, a three person offering. And in the evening, the echo is in Japanese. We chant the sandokai and the echo in Japanese. And this is another thing that people love to do. It's really wonderful for everybody, but especially for the person that does it.

[18:39]

So there are maybe a big handful, five or ten people in this community that probably know how to do it. And Lou... for as long, I don't know for how long, but for as long as I have been at City Center, I believe, has done the chidning for this ceremony on the third and the fourth every month. And he still does it today. So I don't have to do a thing. I go upstairs after zazen and everything is set up and lit up. And I appreciate that a great deal. And I think he enjoys doing it because it's something he really cares about. So he makes fresh rice for Suzuki Roshi. Never uses leftover, I don't think. And it's very wonderful to have him there doing this.

[19:45]

I appreciate it so much. And Okusan. Shunryo, Suzuki Roshi's wife, always used to attend this ceremony when she lived here. And there's a picture of her right outside the Kaisando. And I took the picture, so I'm really happy that it's there. Of her coming out of the last Suzuki Roshi memorial service right before she left the to go to Japan to live with her daughter. So this is a ceremony of respect and gratitude for Suzuki Roshi's teaching and for this place where we all practice that, of course, wouldn't be here if Suzuki Roshi hadn't come to America. And there's also a big annual ceremony in December every year for Suzuki Roshi.

[20:51]

And for that, we usually invite some of the people to speak to Suzuki Roshi. So they face the altar and say something to Suzuki Roshi that reflects their gratitude or devotion or whatever they want to express. So now I want to talk about a ceremony, a big ceremony, the mountain seat ceremony, which we just did in February. And this is a mega ceremony. And preparations began long, long, long in advance. And printed invitations were sent out months ahead of time. And I believe three hundred twenty five people came. That sound right? And about half of them were in the Buddha hall and half watched the ceremony. The overflow crowd watched the ceremony in the dining room on a big TV set. So the mountain seat was set up and curtains attached.

[21:57]

And we took some of the tatamis out and replaced them with chairs to get just as many people into the Buddha hall as we possibly could. And the dining room was transformed into a theater with video and sound system. And I thought it looked just spectacularly beautiful. There were these gray roll-up shades that Sean made. And... And so that darkened the room so that people could see the video in there. And then they could also be removed quickly because right after the ceremony, we very quickly had to turn that room into the reception room for the order of dinner reception. So that took a lot of work. And then there were two work days for the residents and city center staff. and volunteers.

[22:58]

Many of you were there. You were probably all there. And the temple was cleaned from top to bottom. There were six rehearsals for this ceremony in the week leading up to the event. And the biggest thing that makes this special is that Huetsu Suzuki Roshi always, when we do this ceremony, comes from Japan to instruct us in how to do the ceremony. And at this time, he is the Tanto at a Heiji. So that's an extremely high status position. And he was giving the Dharma talk at a Heiji on the 21st. The ceremony was the 25th. So he didn't arrive here this time until Thursday. The ceremony was on Sunday. So some of these rehearsals began without him.

[23:59]

And as you know, I had heard rumors about what it would be like when he came. I was told everything would change, but that he was so funny and warm and loving that it would be just a lot of fun. And that's kind of what happened. It was a little confusing at times. And there were, you know, some language or cultural issues. And sometimes we weren't quite sure what each other was saying. And sometimes there were, you know, five or six different conversations happening at the same time, and it was hard to keep track of them. But he was just wonderful. And he's always so loving towards this community and obviously cares so much about it. You know, I don't know him particularly well, but every every time I have seen him over the years, he greets me with a big smile and bow like I was his best friend. And what's not to like about that? Blanche and others made two Nigel cases, one for Steve Stuckey, the new Abbott, and one for.

[25:12]

It's traditional for this ceremony to give the new abbot a Nainja Okesa because it's what he will wear when he does special ceremonies as abbot. And Huitzu wanted one and said so. And, of course, we were happy to have some way to express our gratitude to him. So after all these preparations, the day arrived and the ceremony happened, and it began with the Shinmei. The Shinmei is the word for the new abbot, and it means new life. And the ceremony begins with the Shinmei greeting guests at 273 page. and um there's a calendar there are various calligraphed signs around the temple for this ceremony that tell what's what and what's happening where and the sign at 273 page said something like new abbot's resting place and this is the idea that the abbot is resting and he's being served um green tea and treats and i've always

[26:34]

kind of imagined how restful it must be to be in that situation. Um, so he, so the, the procession begins. The Shinmi is carrying a staff and a whisk and he has incense in his sleeve. And he has five jishas, all of whom are Dharma transmitted priests who have been at Zen Center for 25 to 35 years. And I think I counted 25 people in the procession, which included all the officers and directors, the practice leaders and Tantos, the new Abbott, the five Jishas, the two Incans and Clappers, and the flower scatterers. I don't know if I've left anybody out, but that's a good-sized procession. And they start at the guest house and come to the building, and they have two incans and clappers, and the drum is out in the hall.

[27:41]

So as they approach, it's Ching-Song-Clack-Boom, and it's very dramatic. We know they're coming. And then they reach the door, and the procession comes inside and turns around, and the new abbot, Um, offers incense and makes a statement at the gate. There's an altar set up right in the door and he has a mic. So as he goes around the building, which you will do, he will go all over the building. We hear the statements he makes. So then he goes down to the Zendo and the, the, you know, gets to lead him on agenda. So that was fun for me. And then, um, the procession comes back to the Buddha hall. And the procession actually enters the Buddha Hall three times during the ceremony. So they come in and they offer some incense and make some statements. And then they leave to go have a contract signing ceremony in the Junkasan room with the officers.

[28:49]

Oh, excuse me. Before they do that, on the way, they go to the Kaisando and the Shinmei makes a statement to Suzuki Roshi, which, of course, we hear. And then while they're having their contract signing ceremony, we're having an intermission. And then when that's over, the procession, but not the Shinmei, come back into the room, the two sides, one at a time. And in this very stylized way, they go up to the altar and do a standing bow and go back to their places. And the other side comes in and does the same thing. And this is called the empty seat bow. So they bow to the mountain seat before the new abbot arrives. And then they all file out to get the new abbot. And they meet him at the foot of the stairs. And when they meet, there's a big crescendo on the drum. And then they file back in. And the abbot, the new abbot, gets up on the mountain.

[29:53]

So he's standing, you know, basically on top of the altar. It's covered up. And there's a mondo, which is a question and answer. So this is the same as the Jousseau situation, except it's fewer people. So a handful of people are chosen to ask the new abbot something, and he gives answers. And I think like the show ceremony, this makes it really memorable. For example, how many people here? I just want to see if I'm alone. How many people here remember at Linda Ruth's mountain seat ceremony, Darlene Cohen doing a knock, knock joke with her? See, it's memorable what happens with these ceremonies. So let's see. Where am I?

[30:55]

Oh, another thing that has happened throughout this ceremony from the front gate and it's still continuing is that the Shin May makes all these statements. and offers incense, and one of his Jushas is carrying around this little black box with the statements and with rice paper packages with the incense. So every time he offers incense, he gets a new package and gives it back. And actually this year, two Jushas took care of that. And then after he comes down from the mountain, Statements are made by various people, and some statements before that, too. So they represent his friends, or the greater sangha, or this specific sangha. So groups are represented by people who make statements, and usually the last

[31:57]

statement is made by the Shinne's wife, and it's always the best one because it gives us a kind of glimpse into their personal private life, and it's just wonderful. So I still remember Sarah Weintraub reading Mary Oliver's Wild Geese to her mother, and I remember Steve Weintraub's kind of tearjerker statement to, um, Linda Ruth and Paul's, um, sister from Ireland who was warm and funny. Um, so these are the things that really bring, um, such a ceremony to life. So, um, lots of people had a piece of the action and it all worked out. And I think it was a wonderful ceremony. So I think all these elements that I've talked about are what make a grand occasion, especially the fact that so many people participated.

[33:05]

It was a huge celebration and a memorable event. And my one of my favorite things, actually, about Zen Center is the family reunion quality and having a big event like this. brings people that you haven't seen for a while. And it's very enjoyable to have that happen. And I think this is our eighth mountain seat ceremony. And that's probably very unusual. You know, most temples have lifetime abbots, so they don't do this very often at all. And I think we've had eight ceremonies since 1971. And I think we're really lucky that we have an occasion like that to draw people so we get to see them every once in a while. So I hope that you enjoy participating in the ceremonies that we have.

[34:11]

I hope you will participate. I hope you will never hesitate out of performance anxiety. or fear of making a mistake. The mistakes are half the fun. And it's just really wonderful for everybody if a lot of people take part. I also know, as you know, that some of you have had your dough on jobs for a very long time. And I think it brings things to life to shake things up a bit. So if any of you who have had your jobs for, you know, maybe six months and you'd like to try something different, please tell me. I'd love to make it happen. Or if you want to participate in some ceremony, please don't wait to be asked. Please tell me that you'd like to be in it. I really would like to have the juices flowing as much as possible. So.

[35:15]

It's twenty five after. I think you should go to bed. OK.

[35:24]

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