I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good evening. I have two things. My main subject tonight is talking about why I'm here. I spent the last three months here in the practice period, and now I'm appearing again for a week, so I want to explain what that is. But first, I just want to say something about being here again and seeing all the old students who I practiced with, and how I miss those people that are not here now, who were here then.

[01:01]

But it's great to see everybody and to see everyone in a new position. Most of you are in new positions, and that's very refreshing. So I just want to give a word of encouragement. It's always hard work opening the practice period, the transition from a practice period to guest season. People are exhausted and have been working very hard. And so I think you've done a great job in making the transition. I just want to say a few words about how to stay focused on practice, which is not to lose your samadhi. Samadhi means concentration.

[02:06]

But it means concentration not just in any way, it means concentration on practice. In any way that we concentrate on practice, we create samadhi, or samadhi is that concentration. So to not lose the power of samadhi, which is to stay always concentrated on practice, always concentrated on whatever we do as practice, and when we get lost, to come back. That way you'll have a very wonderful summer. So this is the time when we take care of, when we share our practice with the public. During the six months of practice period, we retreat up the mountain,

[03:10]

and during the five months or six months of guest season, we open ourselves to the public and take care of people who come to visit and pass through here. So how we behave ourselves makes a big impression on people. So if we really know how to center ourselves, to stay centered and not lose our concentration, we can really help people. So the reason I'm here with my students is that I'm doing what we call Dharma Transmission. I have two women students who have been practicing for many years with me and with us in Berkeley,

[04:12]

and also in San Francisco Zen Center, who have their own practice places, and this transmission ceremony is for them. It makes me realize how we wait until people get pretty old before we transmit the Dharma to them. Grace Shearson started practicing with me in Berkeley in 1967, and Mary Moseine, I can't remember exactly when, she started practicing with us a long time ago, and each one has established their own practice place. So I want to talk about what is this Dharma Transmission. We have several ordinations in Zen Center,

[05:17]

in our school, actually. There's one called Jukai. Jukai means taking the precepts, but we don't do that ceremony. Jukai is a ceremony that's done in Japan and also other places in the world, in the Buddhist world, Jukai is done very regularly for lay people who are called believers. But we don't have people in our practice, we don't see people as believers. In America, we have developed a practice where lay people are practitioners. So we give lay people lay ordination called Tokudo, Zaikei Tokudo, which means ordination while living at home, staying at home. And then we have priest ordination,

[06:25]

which is called Shukei Tokudo, which means leaving home, kind of like a monk. Technically, that's what it means. Actually, some people leave home, some don't. Some lay people leave home, some stay home. Some priests leave home, some people stay home. So how do you leave home while staying home, and how do you stay home while leaving home? So this is the koan of American practice, which we all are dealing with. And then there's a rite of passage called Shuso, which is head monk during a practice period. The head monk practices as the protege of the abbot,

[07:26]

or practice, or former abbot. They have this role, this position. So that's a kind of rite of passage. And then the last ordination is called Dharma Transmission, which makes a priest a full priest. Someone who is ordained as a priest is called an Unsui, which means clouds and water. It has the feeling of freedom, of clouds and water. Of course, the water always seeks the lowest level. Not all Unsui do that, but... But seeking the lowest level means you conform to things,

[08:31]

and you have flexibility to take any shape. So water doesn't get... unless it gets frozen. Anyway... So this Dharma Transmission is given as an act of the final rite of passage of a mature priest. So this is very traditional in Zen, because in Zen, we don't take any special sutra as our touchstone. We study all of the sutras and doctrines of Buddhism,

[09:38]

but basically Zen has nothing. We borrow our service, our chanting, and so forth, from other schools of Buddhism. So there's very little that we would call a Zen chant, or Zen way of doing... Zen formality. Mostly it's borrowed from other schools of Buddhism, because Zen is simply a practice of being present, and letting go. And in order to give it some form, we use these structures. So Zen practice has a very formal aspect to it, in order to give this thing, or this nothing, some form. So that you can recognize it. So when we walk into the Zendo, we are confronted with the atmosphere of practice.

[10:43]

So, since there's no special sutra or doctrine, which is Zen, the teaching actually comes from within us, rather than from without. So, whatever we study from without, is to stimulate what's within to come out. And so this is what practice is. Practice is to bring forth the Dharma, rather than to put it in. But we do put it in, and that stimulates it to come out. But basically our practice is how we follow our way, moment by moment. So, then teaching is handed down from teacher to student,

[11:52]

teacher to disciple. And that's the way our lineage is created. We say that our lineage comes all the way from Shakyamuni Buddha, and from before Shakyamuni Buddha, through all of the ancestors. So that's why it's so important in our Zen practice to pay attention to the ancestors and their teachings. So we chant the names of the ancestors every day, and with some veneration. So, when one has Dharma transmission, one is like an ancestor. And can transmit Dharma to others. So this is a very typical history in our school, our Zen practice.

[12:56]

And how it's transmitted. We say from warm hand to warm hand, from teacher to disciple. And then when someone has Dharma transmission, they're, I don't want to say empowered, I want to say entitled to pass that on to someone else. So this is the way we keep the lineage going, and keep the presence of the school alive, is through this transmission from teacher to disciple. So, this ceremony of transmission is an acknowledgment of the transmission that one already has. It's not that through the ceremonies that one receives Dharma transmission.

[13:58]

One receives Dharma transmission through their own practice, and through association with the teacher over a long period of time, the transmission has actually happened. And the ceremony is an acknowledgment of that, and an empowerment. So, during this time, which traditionally it's 21 days, the length of these ceremonies takes 21 days, but we often shorten it to seven, to one week, because people are very busy. But in this case, I did 21 days,

[14:59]

I had my Dharma transmission in Japan, and Grace and Mary are doing 21 days. So you see them all coming around, and in the morning they get up before everybody else, an hour before everybody else, and they go around to all the altars and offer incense and bow, and do a little gatha, chant. And then everybody else wakes up. And then they go and do this, Buso Rai, which is ringing the bell, and chanting the name of one of the ancestors, and bowing. And they do that for each one of the ancestors. That takes a couple of hours. And then they have to make their own documents, transmission documents, one each day, and it takes a long time. They have to use brush and ink, and big documents,

[16:02]

and a lot of writing. So it's an intense period of time in which they do nothing else. You notice we go and eat in our own little table in order to get some space and to stay together. So Vicky and Alan are helping us, and so we all are in this kind of thing together, this kind of transmission samadhi together. And it's hard to step outside of that. So when I see the people that I've practiced with, in the first part of this year, it's hard to have a conversation or to say something. And I really apologize for not associating with you more.

[17:04]

But it's really hard to step out of this concentration. So we have several ceremonies along the way, while we're doing all this. And the last two nights we have a ceremony each night, which is late in the evening after everybody goes to bed. And one of the ceremonies is an empowerment ceremony, and the other ceremony is a transmission ceremony. When we say transmission, transmission is a funny word, because even though it's okay, there's nothing transmitted. There's nothing like, now you have this, because you already have it, otherwise you wouldn't be having a ceremony. So it's more like two minds come together.

[18:09]

It's like pouring water from one cup to another. It's the same water. So our understanding is the same, in a very deep way. It just doesn't mean that we don't have differences and conflicts. Not that everything is perfect, but in the deepest way, we have the same understanding. It's possible in this transmission ceremony for the student and disciple to not even like each other. That's rare. But it's based not so much on, not at all on personality, but on understanding.

[19:10]

So in the last ceremony, which takes place at midnight, it's a ceremony of, actually the disciple becomes a child. And it's kind of like a rebirth. And we call the person by their name, new so-and-so. So it's very humbling. Dharma transmission is a very humbling experience. What does humble mean? People have different ideas about what humble means. When I say humble, what I mean is when one is humble, one knows exactly where one is. One knows where one is and who one is.

[20:17]

And is not going beyond who they are, or below, beneath who they are, but standing right in the middle of just who they are. No pretense, true or false. So, and you receive a brown robe when you have Dharma transmission. So in a way, it's a kind of a coveted thing, becomes a kind of coveted thing for priests. And for a long time in Zen center, only one person had Dharma transmission. Suzuki Roshi only transmitted one person before he died,

[21:21]

one of his disciples. And he didn't have the opportunity to complete that with his other students. I've completed that with many of Suzuki Roshi's students, which has given me great joy and made me feel that Suzuki Roshi would have wanted somebody to do that. He said, I remember him saying, when a teacher dies, the teacher's student who has Dharma transmission will continue to transmit the teacher's other disciples. So I've done that as much as I could. But I think we have to understand that we say, well, does that mean the person is enlightened? When they have Dharma transmission? I don't like to think of enlightenment as something that one has.

[22:28]

I think enlightenment is something that one does. If one acts like an enlightened person, if one's actions are enlightened, then that's all that needs to be said. Sometimes we say, or we read the stories in the book, so-and-so, and so-and-so is enlightened. But it doesn't say what all the circumstances around that were, of course. But in my book, I always wait until somebody gets to their old age before I give them Dharma transmission. Because every one of us is working out some ego problem. Almost every person is working out some ego problem.

[23:31]

And people who have Dharma transmission also have ego problems. But although we all have problems, which is human nature, we still give Dharma transmission. But we give it when we know, feel assured, that the person who's receiving the Dharma transmission will continue to be aware of their shortcomings and be aware of how they create problems for themselves and others. Being aware of your delusion is enlightenment. If you think, I don't have any delusion, that's really deluded. So you should know what our shortcomings are, what our difficulties are, where our ego stands out,

[24:33]

what kind of entitlement we think we should have, how we deport ourselves, how we handle things, how we see our relationship between not only people, but objects. You can see in enlightened action the way someone picks up something and puts it down. I can tell when someone walks into my doksan, my interview room, exactly where they are, just as they walk in. The way they walk in, the way they sit down, the way they bow, the way they start talking before they're even settled. And, you know, this kind of unsettled behavior

[25:48]

can't even go on with someone who has good understanding of practice and of Buddhism. So, we should be careful not to put a person who has Dharma transmission up on a pedestal. We should, I don't say should, but we give people the benefit of whatever doubts we have. But at the same time, when one has this Dharma transmission, it really behooves that person to be far more careful. Because that person carries entrustment. So there are two terms that come up in the ceremony. One is transmission, the other is entrustment, trust. This is entrusted to you. That's a big responsibility.

[26:51]

Big responsibility. And when we forget that, and our ego blocks reality, that's noticed by people. So we have to realize that we are the carriers of the Dharma. Not just people who have Dharma transmission. All of us are. You know, when Suzuki Roshi was alive and practicing with his students, many, many of his students had Dharma transmission, but not the ceremony. He transmitted his Dharma to many, many people, just naturally. Only one person was able to have the ceremony of acknowledgement. But many people received his Dharma, as they do now. So,

[27:53]

it's important that someone who has this entrustment recognizes the Dharma that everyone has, and doesn't try to stand out in some way, or be special. This is why the Dharma transmission ceremony is not public. People say it's secret. But secret is too strong a word. It's a private thing. It's like between two people, basically. Something that happened between two people. And it's very intimate. Very intimate. So, it's not something you like to peek at. You may want to, but it's not a show. So, that's why I don't like to

[28:59]

talk about it much, or have people discuss it a lot, or have the disciples who are doing this have a display. I like to just be something that is done in the midst of all of us, but it's private. And it affects everyone, but still, I don't like it to make waves. Because then we see, oh, gee, somebody just did something wonderful. I don't like that. It's wonderful, but it really is. It's just loading someone with a lot of responsibility. So, after the Dharma transmission, those people who have been transmitted,

[30:01]

or entrusted, will give a presentation to the Sangha. A public presentation to the Sangha, afterward. I don't know if we'll have time to do that now. I hope that they can, but we'll see. Is my time up? Okay. Does anybody have a question? I heard somewhere that in Japan, it's more, the Dharma transmission,

[31:02]

the younger folks, and maybe you have to, maybe not as long for practice, but there's different levels of Dharma transmission, or something like that. I was wondering why, if that's the truth you're dealing with, then why is there a difference in tradition? It's hard for me to speak about Japan. As a matter of fact, I don't want to say what's done in Japan. Our Dharma transmission is the most formal. The way we do Dharma transmission here is the most formal way that they would do it in Japan. And so there are levels of formality. Often, in Japan, it's just kind of given out very freely and easily. And Suzuki Roshi wanted our Dharma transmission to be more meaningful.

[32:07]

Speak up a little bit so people can hear you. How many of my students have I given Dharma transmission to? Well, I hate to say it, but this is number 19 and number 20. That's a lot. It's like the old woman that lived in a shoe. Why do you hate to say it? What? Why do you hate to say that? In Japan, a teacher would give maybe one or two Dharma transmissions, maybe three or four. But in Japan, they don't have so many students. Also, it's considered a little bit greedy, too. But here, our students stay with us for 20, 30 years.

[33:21]

In Japan, the students maybe study at the monastery for three years, and they go home to the home temple and take over the father's temple. They don't have very many students. Here, we have all these students. Because in America, the Zen practice is very new, and a lot of enthusiasm, and students who are very mature. So that's one thing. And because there are so many mature students, it just follows that they should have some authority. The other side is that we need teachers in America. If we're going to spread the Dharma, we need to have these teachers. And teachers can't all stay in one place.

[34:25]

They have to go someplace. It's nice to stay in one place. Zen center is very tidy. You can stay here a long time. And a nice happy family. That's great. But also, there's a need for teachers to go out and spread the Dharma. Not spread the Dharma like they spread the Dharma, but accommodate people who want to practice in the world. I never thought that I would give Dharma Transmission to 20 people. I will give Dharma Transmission to probably more. And I realize, I'm getting old myself. A little bit. So, and we need new generations, and so forth.

[35:29]

Yes? Done. Okay. So, we don't want to go beyond our time, because everybody has to get up and go to work in the morning, and play, or whatever we do. Okay. Thank you.

[35:48]

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