This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Welcome to November. Hey. It's one, [...] one. I've got a couple of things. No, I'm missing Sojin. Sojin Roshi is the first class without him here. He'll be back for the next couple. I also wanted to just thank people for everyone's participation in the ceremony last night. And then I thought maybe it'd be good to say a little bit about the history of that ceremony.

[01:01]

So it really, it all evolved in China. So I looked up and this is the Gyojiki Han, which is, this is actually the book two of the Gyojiki Han is called The Standard Observences of the Soto Zen School. And there's been a translation committee who worked on it for a long time and Griff Griffith Falk, who was one of the main translators, did this whole glossary. And so there's a lot of information in this glossary. So I definitely learned some things myself. So this is traditionally in China and in Japan as part of the Obon, which is translated as Ghost Festival. And so this is an observance practiced all over the East Asian countries, East Asian Buddhist countries.

[02:10]

And it comes with the ritual feeding of hungry ghosts. The hungry ghost idea came from India. This is part of the six realms and having the realm of the pretas. The hungry ghost usually depicted as beings with big bellies and tiny throats. So the They actually can't take nourishment. But in China, it turned into a little bit different. So just to read a bit here, it says, there's some scriptural justification in the Ulambana Sutra, which claimed to be a translation of an Indian Buddhist sutra, but was actually written in China. So the name of the festival comes from that. It was probably written in China in the 6th century and helped the Buddha Sangha there, established itself as a participant in indigenous modes of ancestor worship.

[03:12]

Although there was some Indian precedent for the idea of dedicating merit earned by supporting the Sangha to help ancestral spirits. So that idea was there, but in China it was a whole kind of problem. Well, let me just read a little more here, not jump around too much. So it goes into the title of this particular sutra. I don't think we need to get into that. But it makes the case, the Ulamvana Sutra makes the case that the traditional Chinese mode of ancestor worship, which involves giving nourishment, to the spirits by placing offerings of food and drink on an altar may not succeed if the bad karma of the ancestors themselves has resulted in the rebirth as hungry ghosts. So the Chinese have been doing this for a long time, but when they got the idea of the hungry ghosts, they thought, oh, gee, we're offering our ancestors as food and drink, but actually they may not be able to receive it because if they've been reborn as hungry ghosts...

[04:29]

their throats are too tiny. And not only that, what happens to the food, the hungry ghost, is it bursts into flame just when they're about to eat it. So that was the idea. So this, and it goes back to, it tells a story of Madhagalyayana, which is a Sanskrit name, or Mokurin, which would be the Japanese, version of that name. Mokaran's mother, who was reborn as a hungry ghost, she's not able to consume the food offerings he gives her because whatever she lifts to her mouth to eat bursts into flames. So to be truly filial, the sutra argues, to be a good son or daughter, but here to be a good son because it was his mother he thought he had to make donation to the Sangha because the Sangha would have the power to open the throat of the hungry ghosts.

[05:35]

Not just some individual, but the Sangha power. So this is part of what I was reading in my intro to the ceremony last night. So this is, of course, this is a way of increasing the power of the Sangha and the benefit the social benefit of the Sangha. In China, of course, this was very important. So anyway, the Sangha develops this big store of benefit. So then in China, it actually began to be called Saving the Burning Mouths. Saving the Burning Mouths Festival. And it became very popular in China from the 8th century on. And it enabled the Buddhist Sangha there to associate itself with traditional Chinese modes of ancestor worship.

[06:36]

This helped deflect a major criticism of Buddhist monks in medieval China, which was that they were unfilial. Because as celibates, they produced no descendants to care for their ancestors. So through the ghost festival, the Sangha was able to promote itself as a kind of public charity organization. This is Griffith Fox, you know, language here. The Sangha was able to promote itself as a kind of public charity organization that could care for and placate disconnected, potentially dangerous spirits who had no family, therefore protecting the imperial state and the populace at large from their baneful influence. The feeding of hungry ghosts also expressed the Mahayana Buddhist ideal of universal compassion and sent the message that the family of the Buddha included all living beings. So this then became an offering for all living beings and expanded the notion of family then from one's own immediate ancestors to a whole range of beings.

[07:47]

See what I was going to... I don't think I need to read that. There was some other part of it here that... So we do... So we chant the Khan Ramon, the Ambrosia Gate. It says... We call it here the Gate of Sweet Dew. It says dew is actually not so accurate. A translation, it actually came... into the Chinese Buddhist lexicon as a translation of a Sanskrit word that meant nectar of immortality. So this was a drink of the devas in India. In Indian Buddhism, the Dharma was likened to this ambrosia because it frees those who drink the Dharma from suffering in the round of rebirth. So if you're freed from suffering, then it is, so then you're no longer in this cycle of rebirth, so it is the ambrosia or the drink of immortality.

[08:58]

So when we say the gate of sweet dew or chanting the khanramon, that's actually, has this background. So it was in India, the The pretas, the hungry ghosts, were portrayed with having these tiny throats. But in China, somehow, it got turned into burning mouths. Very dramatic. So then it says, because of their bad karma, whatever food comes their way bursts into flames before they can consume it. The ritual offering of ambrosia douses the flames and enables them to receive... these offerings of nourishment. So there you have it, a little background of that ceremony. Now, I must say, when I first was just a participant in the ceremony, I didn't have any background at all, and I thought, it actually was, I thought, well, it was kind of fun.

[10:04]

Interesting sounds, and so more interesting than many of the other ceremonies. It didn't involve bowing. Well, that's kind of... I think we do, you know. For me, when I first came to Zen Center, bowing was a problem. I don't know why I didn't feel so comfortable bowing. And then kind of the instruments. But then the idea of feeding these various spirits... To me, I have to translate it into kind of a psychological interpretation because that's me. That's my cultural orientation, which is my understanding really of the six realms. And this is something I remember hearing from Chögyam Trungpa as well, talking about these six realms as being psychological states. states in which we often find ourselves in and we can kind of identify ourselves as being in a blissful the deva realm a heavenly realm where everything seems comfortable and you know it's easy to take nourishment everyone's well rested everyone gets enough sleep the sounds are pleasant to hear

[11:33]

the sights are pleasant to see, the temperature is just right. All this is the deva realm and sometimes life feels that comfortable. But if you get really attached to it, then it's even more of a shock when suddenly things start to go awry and it gets too hot or too cold or you get tired or You begin to feel cranky or someone insults you. Instead of all sounds being pleasant, there's unpleasant sounds and maybe even insults. And suddenly these things really hit you because you've been kind of accustomed to the deva realm. So you get plunged into a hell realm where everything is torturous. And in between there are these realms where the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, or the realm of the Ashuras, or the human realm.

[12:36]

And fortunately, there's a human realm where people actually have sufficient awareness to begin to practice. So anyway, that would be a whole, we'd do a whole class on that, but we won't. But anyway, still, with this... Well, we used to call it Seigaki. The most literal is Seigaki is feeding hungry ghosts. But the Gaki term, eventually in Japan, when the Soto school became more politically conscious of the association of Gaki with homeless or outcast people, So there was kind of a term of, a disparaging term then in Japan. Gaki was referring to people who were homeless or also were part of a whole subculture of people who were basically not part of society.

[13:44]

They're outcasts in Japan. And so when it was understood that that was really a disparaging term, then they shifted from calling it, say, gaki ceremony to say jiki, which just means nourishing food. So anyway, I thought the ceremony was, well, I don't know. I was so much in the middle of it. I don't know what it was like. Everyone had their own experience. But everyone participated in various ways, and I appreciate people making sounds when it was time to make sounds. and then going up and making offerings and chanting. And it is true that we don't recognize the power of people practicing together sometimes. When we're in the middle of it, we don't realize the power of it.

[14:46]

People, you know, if I'm Wherever I am, if I'm at Green Gulch or City Center or here, some other practice place, and it just seems completely normal. There are all kinds of problems every day. People coming from the outside often come in and remark about how peaceful it is. So people coming from outside experience the power of people practicing together. in some way that you lose the sense of because you're right in the middle of it. You don't have that comparative mind. But when you're outside and you come in, you have that comparison to make, and it's quite striking. So it is a reminder that people practicing together cultivate a kind of, what can we say? It's subtle, a kind of field of energy that affects everything. And when we do our...

[15:49]

An NG recitation, we say, you know, everyone in the ten directions feels something, a growth in wisdom and harmony and something. So doing the ceremony is actually emerging from that, having that kind of basis of practice together. Ki, you're... You had a question or something? If we feel that our deceased loved ones have not been born into the realm of ghosts, we should invite them to the ceremony? Or should we still invite them? That ceremony invites everyone. It invites everyone. This is kind of the evolution of it. It's especially evolved in China. when they got the word that their ancestors might, because they were already feeding their ancestors.

[16:54]

But to get the word that they might not be able to receive it because of their hungry ghost status, the ceremony came into being. But it's evolved to include all beings, and it's part of the invitation in the ceremony is to invite all beings. And it's actually then, of course, inviting everyone in the room. And whatever state of mind you're in, whatever karmic hindrances you carry, to come into this and be welcome and receive, in this case, the real offering is dharma nourishment. No one asked me about that this time. So sometime here at Tassara some decision was made about that.

[18:03]

I think there was a kind of a a tendency that it just felt a little bit like it took away some of the power of the ceremony, to have a bunch of names like Fluffy and Rover and so forth in the ceremony. And I don't know that that's really the case. I don't know, maybe Leslie, do you know the history of that decision here? Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, this time it didn't come up as a question. I heard the announcement at a work circle myself. Okay, that's been decided here, but it could come up as a question.

[19:07]

Animals, I have done Buddhist funeral services for people's animals because they are, it's actually taken care of, I feel it's actually taken care of the living because the dead are alive in the living. They're alive in our own attachment and our own love and the way we have understood the relationship. So taking care of that relationship is, I think, completely valid to do. Yeah. Yeah, that's an interesting point. Yeah. I've never done it.

[20:16]

Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, this is a phrasing. Uh-huh. I hear that differently. Famous people who we don't have a personal connection with. If you have a personal connection, then you can put their name on the list of names to be read. That's what I mean by personal connection. someone that you actually personally know.

[21:28]

So if someone in the, so Steve Jobs is world famous, but also there's some people here who actually had direct contact with Steve Jobs and Steve. So that would be different than someone who may be equally famous, but no one in the community actually has a personal acquaintance with. Is that clear enough there? Suzanne? Yeah. Can you speak up a little? as if they just stay where they are?

[22:35]

I mean, does the ceremony have something to do? Can the ceremony put the ancestors in a place of more comfort by virtue of the Saga during the ceremony? As I was saying, this is I really feel this ceremony is for the living. But in the ceremony, they actually say that we don't make so much distinction between living and dead. This is a whole conversation in itself. But we don't have some particular view that, okay, this is going to happen. Some particular thing is going to happen. But we offer. We generously offer. And how it's received, it's received in many different ways. received in many different ways by people who are in the room and then how we relate to people beyond.

[23:35]

Yeah. Okay, well, a little bit of time to look at the Denko Roku. So this time I wanted to take up Number 18. So in Francis Cook, it's page 98. And in... Yeah, I think that's right. It's 99 in Nierman. And 181 in Cleary, for those who have that. The 18th. Kayashatta. Kayashatta or Kayashatta. So Kayashatta is at the beginning of this there's the in the cook there's the story of there are really two dialogues in this.

[24:46]

One's around bells and one's around mirrors. And it opens with the one which is actually later in their relationship, which is the one around the bells. But to go back, Sogyanandai is the one who Kayashatta meets, and Sogyanandai, if I go back here to the 17th, he heard his teacher, his teachers say, since I am without a self, you should see the self in the capital, the big self. So as a teacher, he's offering himself, I am without a self, so you should see the big self.

[25:48]

Because you make me your master, you will understand that the self, small self, is not the big self. So that's where Suryananda, Suryananda, I would say, woke up. And then here he is in this meeting with Kayashatta. So Kayashatta, just to read, so I'll read the Cook translation in the case here. The 18th I always change patriarch to ancestor. The cook, when he did this, was using the word patriarch. The 18th ancestor was Venerable Gayashatta. He served the Venerable Sogyinandai. One time he heard the sound of the wind blowing the bronze bells in the temple.

[26:51]

Sogyinandai said, Are the bells ringing or is the wind ringing? Kayashattha replied, it's neither the bells nor the wind, it is my mind that is ringing. Sogyinandai asked, and who is this mind? And Kayashattha replied, both are silent. So then Sogyinandai said, excellent, excellent. Who else could succeed me? So this is the exchange and of course it reminded me and maybe you too of Ru Jing's poem. So Ru Jing is Dogen's teacher and Ru Jing's poem which I went back and looked at the issue number one of

[28:01]

Zen Center's publication, The Wind Bell. Issue number one was entitled Wind Bell, and that was the title that Suzuki Roshi chose. It was first published in almost 10 years ago, December of 1961, not 10 years ago, 61, 40 years ago, 50 years ago, excuse me. Which century am I in here? Yeah, 50 years ago, there was a decision to have this publication called Wind Bell. Suzuki Roshi had only been in the country for a couple of years, and they started doing this publication. So the translation there in that first issue is, hanging in space by his mouth, his whole body is his mouth. East, west, south and north wind.

[29:04]

He does not care. Always he talks in many ways about Prajnaparamita for others. So that came up. in the Shosan ceremony, right? When Sekiro was asking about, going back to Chico and feeling like he's going to be twisting in the wind, and I immediately thought, wind bell. So can you twist in the wind? Can you actually be right in the middle of your circumstances and be sounding prajna, prajna? And so... he really took that up. And when he made his exit, he went dancing out the door saying, ding dong, ding dong.

[30:11]

So now I think, okay, I'll have to change his name. Don't tell him. Anyway, this whole thing of the bell moving in the wind. So this bell is a kind of vessel. We were also talking about vessels, right? So this is a vessel of sound, and it's completely willing to respond, be right in the middle of circumstances, just responding to circumstances, but responding in a way that is so tuned to circumstances that it always... is teaching the Dharma. Always is teaching the Dharma, always expressing the Dharma. Prajna, Prajna. So Prajna Paramita is this.

[31:13]

In the early first issue of the Wind Bell, it's attributed to Dogen, but actually it's Dogen's teacher, Ru Jing. So that's the... We may come back, if we have time, come back to the wind and the bell. But let's read the story of Kayashatta. I think I'll continue with the Cook translation. It seems okay now. But by the way, this goes into the whole mirror image, right? And... I was poking around and was reminded that Dogen in the Shobogenzo, case 21, fascicle number 21 in the longer version of the Shobogenzo, retells this story almost exactly the same way.

[32:19]

So if any of you want to follow up with Dogen's commentary, and then he takes many, many other little mirror stories and... The fascicle is called Old Mirror. And he keeps working with that and talking about really citing the way mirror, a mirror image has been used in Zen teaching for many, many instances. But he begins with this almost the same story. So whether Kezan took it right out of Dogen Shobogenzo or they were both referring... to another source that was the same source. It's interesting to know. So here's the story. When it says master here, it means Kayashatta. So Kayashatta was from Magadha. He belonged to the family of Udrarama, Putra. His father was called Celestial Canopy.

[33:23]

His mother was... completely virtuous, everywhere virtuous. And she once had a dream of some deva or great spirit holding a round mirror. And as a result, she became pregnant. I don't know about this understanding of cause and effect here, but anyway. But anyway, she became pregnant. And very quickly, Kaya Shata was born in seven days. So he was one who didn't, you know, some of these ancestors take a long time in the womb, and some are very quick. And he was maybe the quickest, I don't know. And he was born beautiful, just beautiful, shining, fragrant, and clean. And then right when he was born, this mirror appeared. And it was always with him. So here it says... The mirror followed the young boy around.

[34:26]

The boy was fond of quiet places and was not at all contaminated by worldly matters. He didn't get involved in worldly, so in the everyday kind of contentious matters. And the so-called round mirror was before him when he was sitting and all matters pertaining to the Buddhas were reflected in this mirror. It was brighter than one's mind illuminated by the holy teaching. If the boy went someplace, the mirror followed him like a halo. However, the boy's form could still be seen, so he wasn't blocked by the mirror. When he went to bed, the mirror hung over his bed like a celestial canopy. In short, the mirror never failed to follow him wherever he was walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. So there's the mirror boy. So the mirror boy is there and then Sogyanandai comes around and there's this well okay I'll just read it.

[35:46]

Sogyanandai was traveling and arrived in Magadha and there was a little fresh breeze that arose and everyone was delighted. But no one could understand why they had a fresh breeze. And so this needed an explanation. So Suryanandai said, this is the wind of the virtue of the way. Some wise person has left the secular world and will perpetuate the lamp of Dharma. So saying, he used his spiritual powers and gathered up the whole assembly of monks, carried them over the mountains and valleys. They went flying over mountains and valleys and they arrived at a mountain, a particular mountain, and Suryananda said, on the top of this peak there is a purple cloud, like a canopy, and a wise person lives there. So they wandered around for a while and finally saw a hut with a young boy in it who was bearing a round mirror and who approached and asked, and so Suryananda asked, how old are you?

[36:52]

And the boy replied, 100 years old. And Suryananda and I asked, well, you seem young. How can you be 100 years old? The boy said, I do not know. It's just that I am 100 years old. Yeah, probably didn't have to show his ID. So Suryananda and I asked, so are you skilled? in the functioning of a Buddha. And the boy replied, the Buddha said that even if a person lives 100 years but does not understand the functioning of the Buddhas, it is not as good as living a single day and being capable of settling the matter. So then, Suryodhana asked, this thing you hold in your hand, what does it represent? So his response, actually I copied that from Kaz Ta-Nehisi's version, which is in Dogen, says, All Buddhas are a great round mirror.

[38:06]

There is no obscuration inside or out. Two people have one understanding. Minds and eyes are alike. So this came out of this 100-year-old little boy. And then his parents evidently were part of the group there. His parents heard this and so they said, obviously it's time for him to go and become a monk. So then Sugyanandai took him along and they continued together so he became his attendant. Kaisata became his attendant. And then eventually they had this dialogue that we started with about the wind and the mind.

[39:10]

And Suryananda transmitted the Dharma to him and he became the 18th ancestor. And then it's noted that when he became a monk, the mirror vanished. So another case of something like the earlier story of the vessel vanishing. In this case, it was a mirror that vanished. So you may notice a pattern in some of these stories. that there is something particular about some of these ancestors, and then what is kind of particular about them cannot be resolved until they actually step on the Dharma path. When they clearly step on the Dharma path, then what is kind of

[40:17]

a particularly kind of unusual aspect of them, disappears, or just becomes normal. So, Keisho, I mean, Keishon's Teisho, first takes up this whole matter of the mirror. And she basically recounts quite a bit about the mirror. But then after a while he says, when one truly understands, I'm on page 100 now for those of you who are the cook. For those of you who truly understand the great round mirror of all the Buddhas, what else is left? Well, there is something. He says, this is not the ultimate truth. For what must the great round mirror of all the Buddhas be? And what must all alike see be?

[41:17]

And what must no blemish or obscuration be? And what is meant by obscuration? And what in the world are mind's eyes? So he basically takes every noun in there and turns it into a question. What could this be? What could this be? What could this be? So then he says, even though, so he said that this young boy, did he not lose, now did he not lose everything, his skin and flesh? Did he not, in other words, did he not drop away all his body and mind? So that's going beyond having something like a mirror. So then he says, even though what he saw was this lack of difference in mind's eyes, And he saw that all see it equally. In fact, this is a dualistic view.

[42:19]

It's still not really thoroughly clarifying the self. So then, he goes into a very sweet little rant, just for a couple sentences, saying, do not form. do not. Monks, do not form the view of a circle. That's a maybe literal translation. I think Nirman translates it as a view of perfection. Do not form a view of perfection. You should investigate this in detail. And you may notice very many times, Dogen and also Khezan say, investigate something in detail. Really look carefully. What is this matter of self and object what is this matter of self what is this matter of mirror reflecting exactly what is in front of it quickly he says do not form views investigate in detail get rid of views of karmic results in the form of body and environment so don't even be thinking about results

[43:38]

Don't even be forming, oh, some idea of perfection and getting to perfection, something like that. Just realize that the self, and this is capitalized here, the big self, realize that this is, here Cook translates it, incomprehensible. I think Nierman translates it as beyond... intellectual conception or beyond intellection, something like that. So realize that this is beyond what the intellect can hold. If you do not reach this realm, you are nothing but sentient beings subject to karmic results and you do not understand the functioning of all the Buddhas yet. So, Kayaśyata repented and finally made his home departure, receiving the complete precepts, and then spent his time serving Sajinandai.

[44:46]

So after this, Kezon goes on to the bell image and leaves the mirror image. But this mirror image, very interesting, how do you actually see? How do you experience what you see? Do you see clearly? Do you see what you want to see? Or what you're afraid of seeing? Or do you see things as it is? It's a very... It's right at the heart of our practice. Suzuki Roshi, I think, coined this phrase, seeing things as it is. Which is seeing things... seeing the relational world of phenomena as it is, as the unified world with no separation, the non-dual world.

[45:48]

To see both the relational world and the non-dual world and not be caught by either side of that. So the process of this practice may be to notice the ways in which one can't see the non-dual world, the ways in which one can't see the non-dual world would be felt as separation, would be felt as dual, be experienced as, oh, I don't feel connected. I see some other person and I don't feel connected to them. I see some, someone was telling me that it's easier to be connected with plants And animals, people are more problematic. For many of us, anyway, that may be the case. Easier, it's one reason I think that there's pet therapy, right, or animal therapy.

[46:56]

People actually can pet a cat and their heart rate settles down and they become calmer, right? So there's now a whole therapeutic approach to taking animals in. But to take a human being in, a whole other set of complications occur in the mind. They tend to occur. But then you notice, oh, this is something that is occurring in this mind. So this mind is not exactly a pure mirror, just seeing what's, just reflecting what's in front of it. There's something being added. So this is something then to acknowledge and include. so that one can see more completely exactly what is in front of one, because what is in front of one is creation of mind. So, this is, you know, this whole mirror image is just reminding us, how is it?

[48:00]

In Dogen's commentary on this and in an earlier commentary, Actually, I think the one I was talking about before with the vessel, Kazon also uses a mirror image and talks about how the story is, oh, if I see, I think it was Shui Feng saying, if I see a Mongolian in front of me, I see a Mongolian. That's this mirror. If I see a Chinese, I see Chinese. So that seems pretty straightforward. It doesn't get to the point of, do you have a different feeling about a Mongolian than you have about a Chinese? The idea there is that I actually see them equally. I just see what's in front. I just see what's in front. Someone's hand. Brendan, yeah. What's in front of me is reflected clearly, or what's in front of me is reflected not clearly, but what's in front of me is still a reflection in both cases, still a reflection of the mind.

[49:21]

So how can it be as it is without this added reflection? I'm adding something to it if the mirror is not clear, and I'm adding something to it if the mirror is clear. So in each case, it's perfect. And yet, if you completely realize that, oh, in either case, it's mind, that's the same. Whether there's something obscured or not, it's the same. But if you don't completely realize it's mind, then it makes a big difference whether it's obscured or not. Because your response is based upon the obscuration that you're adding to it, if you're responding to that, then you're responding in a way that's, say, not as accurate as if you're not adding that obscuration.

[50:24]

So in the relational world that we're involved in, when we meet each other, this is very relevant to how we meet each other. We meet each other with an open mind beginner's mind, a mirror mind that's relatively clear, so we actually can see who's in front of us, who's in front of me, or do we have a whole bunch of attitudes and preconceptions that are already screening and limiting the information that comes through. It's kind of like walking around with a template over the mirror that has little openings in it and we can see this and we can see that, but we actually can't see what's right in front of us because we're already carrying this particular preconception. So it makes a difference in how we relate to each other. It makes a big difference. But when you realize that it makes a difference and you include that, then you

[51:34]

then you no longer invest in it. That's dropping body and mind in that case. You're no longer holding the template. That make sense? To some degree. Hmm. Investigate this thoroughly. I'm approaching somebody with a clear mirror, but then I find out there's some obscuration just because of conditions that arise.

[52:36]

Exactly. Conditions are continually arising within and in the environment. When you notice that, and you want to actually bring a compassionate presence, say, you want to actually be willing to be present with someone with openness, then you have to, say, confess your own, what you've noticed is your own, say, obscurations, if we want to use that term. I confess my own feeling. So I confess my feeling about you is not so good. And I know it's my feeling, and so I actually don't feel so comfortable right now in front of you. If I say that, then you've opened the field. However, the other person, then it depends on the other person.

[53:39]

Can they be present with hearing that, or do they get all upset? Are you accusing me of whatever? being somebody that is unlikable. Someone may have that feeling. So that then is on the other person's side. So relationships immediately become, as we know, they have the potential for becoming very complicated very fast. They also have the potential for each person being present within themselves being still within themselves, seeing each other eye to eye, body to body, and completely including everything that arises without grasping it and becoming harmonious with each other. This is mirror mind moving in the direction of harmony with each other.

[54:47]

So this is completely accepting and attuning, attuning with each other. So this is actually a practice. It's one of the practices of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is harmonizing with beings. So harmonizing with beings would be... noticing this reflection back and forth. We notice it, say, and if we're trying to harmonize musically, we may notice, oh, that person's tone is like that, so I'll try to harmonize. I'll either meet it or be in a harmonic relationship to it, and we find we have some ability to do that. And that could actually extend to all conversation and all forms of how we are together. This is a kind of practice which is based upon understanding the mirror.

[55:52]

I think I'm going to stop because I said I'd end early so we can do this survey. Yes? I just wanted to be clear of what you're saying. What I think I'm hearing you say is that seeing clearly Clearly at all. Is that what you're saying? Seeing clearly is to include that we don't see clearly. And to know yourself, to actually understand your own tendencies and how each of us has our own particular way of not seeing clearly. clearly seeing that we can't see clearly.

[56:56]

Or seeing that everything that we see is obscured by the conditions of our life. To not see clearly, completely and thoroughly, is seeing clearly. So just to add to that just a little bit, that is a refinement of awareness practice. Becoming more and more aware that whatever is coming into my conceptual field is shaped by my own involvement with forming conceptions. And to fully confess that, we're actually confessing that when we say, all my ancient twisted karma.

[57:56]

When we say that, we're actually confessing our own obscurations. We do that each day and take that into account. But when Khezan says, investigate this thoroughly, then it means each person's practice is to be willing to be completely present with the obscuration itself. Yeah. I guess we can't stop yet. To me, the analogy of the mirror is to say that the so-called obscuration are the natural function, that to the extent that we see, to the extent that conditions are responding to conditions, that the mirror reflects what's happening, whatever is present in front of it without any kind of anything.

[58:57]

That's its natural function. So if we see that conditions respond to conditions, then by their nature, these so-called obscurations are the part of the natural function. That's the first step, potentially, in being able to work with them. Okay. So it's mirror and image. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving.

[59:53]

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