that that is

well can okay was the machine or

well first i would like to wish all fathers here happy father's day
her special day
are you sure this is a satellite phone yeah doesn't sell like it's order to properly
how's that
so i'm saying happy father's day to everyone
i was sir
at the baseball game yesterday passing through town i saw a lot of ads
which show a picture of a young father and an infant
child and the caption says
fatherhood is forever
which is true ethic
and help you all are your father's get really good presence today
i'm getting a great present my son's at the lecture and that's really depressing
when he wanted to come which was an even better present the head

so the great problem
they're all of us have
is or how can we live in the world as it really is
and find some true peace
how to live in the world as it actually is and as we really are
and to be able to sustain a life of real compassion
in a way this shouldn't be a problem but it is a problem because we are a problem
we have a hard time knowing how we can remain
fully engaged in our lives without getting swept away
by our lives
and i think we all have the experience of careening back and forth between the two extremes
on one hand longing for engagement in life and being swept away by engagement
when the one hand on the other hand longing for peace
but in our peaceful is becoming removed from the world and eventually frightened of the world
in in are clinging to our pistols so these extremes
ginza and practice we are trying to find a way to see that these two extremes are only extremes of our own minds
then in being itself
there are no extremes
always truly in the midst of
even the most complicated activity there's always peacefulness
and always in the midst of deep peacefulness
there is truly the passion of engagement
so it's it's just an idea and is just a fantasy it easy to put these words together now
but what about in life is it really possible
for us to live in accord with this
so that question is the question of zen practice that is the main issue probably the only issue in zen practice
at first many of us would come to the practice seeking some kind of peace
seeking some support for help for the problems of our life
what perhaps we come seeking song
encounter with
a colorful enlightenment
and we might practice seeking this piece were seeking this enlightenment for a while struggling
all the time with are unruly mind
but what about i wouldn't mind is somewhat take when we sit in zazen and we find that we can i remind at least somewhat thin
maybe we find some peacefulness and are sitting practice some peaceful listener life
what then
i think it's obvious that peacefulness is not enough
enlightenment itself is not enough
how to live are truly
in all conditions
this is the great question of our practice this is what
our teachers are always talking to us about
this is what all of us each one of us in our own way each one of us at our own level of practice each one of us within the situation of our own circumstances each one of us is working on this question
so this is my introductory remarks case thirty eight of booklet bracket so let's talk about case three three-year
those of you who don't know this is the collection and one hundred look like record is a collection of one hundred zone cases
where hundreds and stories
which illustrate different points about the teaching so this is a case thirty eight function ways workings of the iron ox
some of the cases are very very brief this was a little bit longer than usual
it's like this
at the government headquarters in yang chow thanks way
who was zen master entered the hall and said
the ancestral masters mind seal
is formed like the workings of an iron ox
when taken away the impression remains
when left their the impression is ruined
if you want to go beyond both these alternatives should you press the seal or not
so he
asked this question to the assembly
and at that time there was a certain elder luby who came forth and said
i have the workings of the iron ox please teacher do not impress the seal
and punctuates said accustomed to scouring the oceans fishing for wales
i regret to find instead a frog crawling in the muddy sand
and the stood there pondering this
and should give a great shout
and he said elder why do you not speak further
an elder be hesitated again
and show i hit him with his whisk the gentle they sometimes they hit it to stick for this case whiskey know is of course here with some
that
then choice i do you still remember the words tried to quote them as v was about to open his mouth show a hit him again with is worse
and it appears that the governor was there at the time
hard to imagine the governor being here but
the last time the governor hung around here he got in trouble for it
and it took them twenty years to get elected mayor of oakland
now when he comes he kind of sneaks it
anyway the governor was there and he said the
the buddhist law and the law of kings are the same
and choice said what principal have you seen
and the governor said when called upon to judge one must judge
otherwise you'd bring about disorder
and srei thereupon descended from the seat
so that's case thirty eight are very meaty case i think
last an important points in this case
so a punctuate it begins by talking about the ancestral masters mind seal and she says is formed like the workings of an iron ox are many things
we have to explain about the ancestral teaching teachers mind seal and the workings of the iron ox
the mind seal is a term often used in to express
the essential
and to radically simple
realization of buddha vision of life where the field for life that the buddha saw and passed on to us the mind seal this passed on from generation to generation this sense
how life really is which is not
a doctrine or a theory but as an experienced a light within us that's passed on from hand to hand
in a more specific or technical sense that word buddha mind seal is also used to mean
the seal of the dharma transmission which has passed on from master to disciple or teacher to student
which involves the giving a ritual objects in it in a very
thoroughgoing ceremony
handing down the essence of present understanding through the generations
and so the minds who always has this double meaning on one hand the official transmission and on the other hand this wider and deeper sense where a universal sense
in the dharma transmission ceremony on one is empowered to be able to perform
various rituals and so on it in one of the things that you actually get in the dharma transmission ceremony get all this stuff you to go home and boxes force that you get a seal you actually get a seal
that you use when you transmit
initiate people into the dharma and you have a seal that you put on the documents of initiation that makes them official
a seal of the triple treasure
so
the mind seal has this or double meaning it means that narrow sense the the actual transmission ceremony and empowerment and it also means that are in a wider sense this understanding of life which without which of course the ceremony and handing down and all this stuff is pretty meaningless
worse than meaningless
now what about what seal think about what ceilings and we all know what to see a put a seal on let a letter right
interesting thing about a seal is that
doesn't change the letter at all
in china
various noble men and the emperor would have their very seals of office and we have that today there's a seal office
governor has a ceiling on the different officials in the state have a seal
and when you put the seal on the document
the document becomes empowered it becomes an effective document
before it was sealed it said exactly what it says after it seal
no change really but the seal in a way brings to life document makes it official once the seal is on and things happened happened as a result
before the seal is on the doctrine document is just a thought just an idea so the fit the seal
confers authority
and empowers something that was not empowered in that's in that same way before
so is in to be awakened to the mine ceo of the ancestors
means to
pass through to one's own authority
when zone true autonomy
to be able to live one's life as if one where the author of one's own life
when zone authority is real
and i think that in the end this is really what enlightenment is the monster
is that we would
truly the autonomous free individuals with our own authority in our own lives
in other words that we would be really free
to be our own self you know if you look inside to see how many ways that you are not free to be yourself are many ways your condition by the past
and bound by that conditioning
to be awakened is to respect that conditioning
but not be bound by to be free to come force as the unique person that you are
so the stuff is the same in the letter thing but now there's full authority
and no longer bound
by the stuff that's there
so that's the mind seal a little
explanation of the mind seal of the ancestors
now what's the iron ox
while the iron bowl
well long time ago according to the legend the yellow river in china used to flood
causing great damage and so forth
in some legendary emperor emperor you
built
an ancient china they did some unbelievable public works projects
truly prodigious and this was one of them are building a vast embankment to prevent the yellow river from flooding
and in a way as a kind of seal of having completed that project the emperor had constructed
the iron ox which apparently was built to cover the entire room before to the river you know it was had its tail and one side of the river and its head on the other side of the river
and it was a
an image of the accomplishment of this
feet
perhaps also
it was a day to ensure that the embankment would actually work
and i know in ancient china they are often which make sacrifices and offerings to the god of the river to ensure
but the river would be helpful
anyway that's the only or not
and it's in this iron ox which symbolizes the power to stop the yellow river
came to be an image of of power and strength
towering strength of our practice
which is not exactly a macho kind of overpowering
image of strength really
but a strength that's beyond
that kind of overcoming power
a strength that includes flexibility and yielding and letting go as the deepest
expressions of strength
and in the hosts and tricky ceremony
when the head monk at the end of a training period
and it's resolve the questions of all the students
he or she says somewhere in in the speech
before receiving the questions i am like a mosquito biting and iron ox
even even though even though i'm like a mosquito biting and iron ox still you don't let me answer your questions the best i can have some way so this is the iron ox
very powerful so
the mind seal of the ancestors is like this powerful iron ox
so then punctuates that's worth this funny paradox
when you remove the seal there's an impression take it away and as an impression but if you leave the seal there
there's no impression or the oppression is spoiled

so
if we leave the seal there
there's an impression but the impression
in itself might be a bit of a problem a badge a seal a sign of an official sign might be a problem sometimes for right
he attached to the sign and seal and we forget about the mean it
and if the seal is the practice itself than it's also a problem the seal is gone we remove that we remove the actual mine seal of the buddha and we're left with a an oppression they
but the seal the true seal has gone
southern we think or what we should leave the seal there but if we leave the seal there and then there's no impression there's no effectiveness
so this is the the paradox or the problem of our spiritual practice if we do our practice
for example we've come the green gulch and we think that you feel good
come into green gulch practicing here we feel the effects of that practice in our lives
when we come when we sit when we practice
these effects might be quite weak
because the practice itself has been removed from us in other words we are not the practice of zazen if the practice or green gulch that's the practice
it's not really us it's not in us it's not fully us so we have some impression of it but were removed from it
on the other hand if we cling to the practice we make it into something get too enthusiastic about it than we can become blinded by it
and to me this is what fundamentalism as
fundamentalism we are admirably committed to our practice admirably committed to our truth
but were so intent on it that were blinded by it
when that happens we don't have the seal of practice at all
and what we take to be truth
is only a willfulness or a wishful thinking
instead of making our life more peaceful and were accurate
as all spiritual practices supposed to do we end up only making more trouble
for ourselves and others
so this paradox of the seal or the problem of the seal is the problem of how can we practiced fully and sincerely and faithfully
having the practice be our life without holding onto it too much so that we create in the practice itself a problem
how can we make a clear impression
without attaching to the impression without removing the seal or without holding onto the seal too much
so this is the problem that punctuate sets forth you understand properly
difficult ah how do we do this
so a certain elder came forward
you know good for him and had a response he was able to stand up and say
and he said in effect i am free within the practice i am practicing and i am free with into practice i have no problems therefore teacher please do not give me transmission please do not defile me with all of this seals and rigamer all in all this
i don't need your seal of approval i already
possess my own autonomy
that's how the elder respond which is one way of respond
in a way a good one
and she answered him
accustomed to score in the oceans looking for wales i find that i have caught a puny frog crawling around the month
this issue is a response to elder low
and sorry to tell you know what this means because sometimes in these stories these nasty insults stand for the best compliments
so one can't exactly judge by the words
whether he's
approving of the elder or not
but it seems as if he's not seems as if he's in this case in his words are to be taken more literally than often
because after that he whenever somebody stops and thinks you know already big problem is that story if somebody somebody stops and thinks than you know
and so were tipped off by the fact that elder louis or stops and thinks we know not not good
and of course it isn't good and and fluctuate shouts at him
because you know if we
how our own authority if we have our own autonomy truly then we just willing to respond we can be completely wrong so what
say
but we just respond when needed and that's the problem was thinking and over at least the news and stories not to say that will never thinks taking over
in these are supercharged convention of these stories you just don't think it
and sometimes we have encounters like this in our practice where you just have to come forward right or wrong and don't think about it
but so ah whoops problem and then master shouts
and says you know speak come on and the elder still as hesitating and he raps and with his with
and come on
invites him again to speak and justice is about to speak he
hits to get too late you your chance
so what does this mean
well who knows but
but this is supposed to be a dharma talk and so naturally i'll say something about it
a
i think the teacher here
looks at lou and thinks he's just holding up this freedom that he's telling me about as if it were something that it was in his possession he has this freedom
and he's telling me that he doesn't want to be defiled
by the mind seal of transmission
as if you know there were some freedom that one could possess possess
and as if they're really worth something called the seal of transmission as if dharma transmission ceremony where anything real
so the elder you know is mistaken deeply mistaken
and this is the problem right we off always end up thinking that the practice is something just as we end up thinking that our life is something that we could possess
so some people
make the fall have the fault of thinking that our life is something or our practice is something and therefore they want to avoid it
so there are people who say oh i want to meditate and i want to be enlightened but i don't want have anything to do with stupid practice all this is trappings and religious stuff and the hierarchy and dizzy dizzy complexity of ins announcement this the priests on its roads and only forget about it i'm not here for that he
people there are people who feel that way certain
too much ritual you know
i want to be free of all i'm not here for that
so they think that all these things or something they want to be free it
on the other hand there are people who think that all these things or something and they wanted they want it they like it the same problem which just the opposite reaction
oh i want to the practices wonderful i want to take the precepts i want to be a buddhist i want to go to all these retreats and want to wear robes i want to bowed to the teachers and so forth and so on same thing right only in the opposite
the opposite kind of reaction according to conditioning in one way or the other you you take the same fault in one direction or another but it really amounts of the same thing that person who get me outta here i don't like all these robes and the person who says let me have all these rooms same thing
really the same thing
so this is the elder lu say never mind i don't need any this
so funks way
without really going into details are explanations calls him on this
confusion
and it gives them several chances to see
that he needs to let go he shouts it and try to let him see there's nothing here
he gently wrapped him in the mouth with his or still with
these are compassionate opportunities that the teacher is giving the elder
just wake up and forget about all this let go of your possession of freedom
let go of your notion of freedom let go of your bit pretension of freedom
and just be who you are right now
this come forward right now
as the person you are
but the elder is not quite ready
to let go he can't just come forward he of thinks that over
there's nothing to hold onto the teacher is letting him know
there really isn't anything to hold onto
let go
just accept this present moment as it really is
this moment
facing the
is the last moment of your life
this moment facing me is the first moment of your like you're born right now
everything all of the past all the future is contained in this moment there is nothing missing
please just be open
to this experienced right here
there is nothing to hold onto nothing to avoid
see this please elder loop
functional is urgent
what loop is not ready yet to see it
so
this would be just that much a worthy
corn plenty for us to consider
but there's another part that's very very important
this is the part involving the governor governor witnessing this
is very astute actually
and he says the buddhist law in the law of kings are the same
which i think we understand in the context of the case this is a true statement
buddhist law and the lot of kings of law of the world are the same
also they're different
the first part of the case lets us know that the law of the buddhist law and the law of the kings
are different
but now
the governor brings up the other side
buddhist law and the law of the kings or to say how do you mean
i'm sure he says
and the governor says
when judgment is necessary when makes judgments otherwise there's disorder
now remember in the first part of the case as the elder stops to make judgements and considerations he falls into attachment
and he's being required requested to come forward immediately without judgments without considerations and that's clear now the governor says one when it's time
poor judgments and considerations one must make judgments and considerations otherwise there is disorder
show a phone thereupon descended from his seat
i think innocent
in appreciation of the governor's state
so there is nothing to hold onto ever
in truly there is no basis for judgment there is no principle by which to judge
really in this wide world there is no way to judge anything
everything that there is in this world whether we like it or not is without exception good
and without exception bad
or good or bad or neither good nor bad
of course if we are honest with ourselves we all have to admit that we have our preferences
sometimes very strong preferences and there's no use pretending that we don't
but it is not necessary for us to favor our preferences so much
or make out of our preferences are right in iran
if we always want what we want and do not want what we do not want this is actually a rather weak and colorless way to live
you might not realize it when you're young but as time goes by one sees the world narrowing down more and more if we are stuck with liking what we like and not liking what we don't like
what we really need to do is to be free
to want what we do not want
and not want what we want sometimes
have the freedom to see behind
our preferences
in this way life opens up it's not always easy these openings of life
but unless we are challenged in this way
our life does not develop an open up
and i think it's very important
that we understand this point
and we will find out how to understand it through the process of ours as it
as we sit in the radical present moment
without trying to do anything but be present breathing in our physical body
in and day out
you're in and year out
we will definitely come to see
something very simple but very immediate that what is his period
what is his that's all
we will be able to experience this and appreciated as a fact of our lives
and we will be able to see that judgment
is extra
almost all of our suffer
and all of the suffering of the world comes from judgment her preference
to see that life is simply unfolding beyond all judgment is necessary for us
that's the first part of it comes now the general says the opposite of this right
when it's necessary
to judge one must judge
in our life a things are complicated
this teaching
oh choice on that he gives the elder lou is very simple but life is very complicated
we might think that things are complicated for us because we are very busy
we have financial life creative life family life children friends
television fax machine traffic so forth
i believe me monks
living in the mountains of complicated lives to
all human beings have complicated lives because all human beings that human mind
if you have a human mind you will have complicated life guaranteed and when i what your circumstance of them
and when you have a complicated life
you must work with preference and judgment there is no way to escape it
even in as in training period when there's absolutely no choices you just follow the schedule you know exactly what you're going to be doing exactly what you're going to be eating and so forth at every moment of the day still you have raging preference and choice
and very great complications
so there's no way to avoid
the necessity for preference and judgment is this practical
and every moment
a human being is called forth by life
yes or no someone or something asks you moment after moment yes or no
and you have to say yes
are you have to say no
and you have to be absolutely willing to live with the consequences of the yes or the no and there are always consequences believe me there are always consequences there is no way that there won't be
how do you know
what to say
there is no method
there is no guidelines
certainly and then we have the sixteen great bodhisattva precepts
but do any of us really know what those precepts actually mean
that said we don't try to learn
what isn't every moment of saying yes are saying no an effort to understand
what does a great bodhisattva precepts are us
and certainly we have
our great principle on which all the precept flow principle of non harming
a radical kindness
but what does that mean
do we really know what non harm he is
in specific moments specific situations it's not always so obvious
so we must just do our best
coming from the heart
coming from our grounding in the practice must do our best
yes or no
it is always necessary for us to come through with our response
in a voice that's immediate and loud and clear unlike the elder here who can't come forth
when we say yes or no though
we always have to understand
well maybe
they
we have to say yes or no
but we have to also understand know maybe
sometimes you can get away with answering maybe but usually not
usually not usually it's has to be yes or no
and whether it's yes or no always we have to appreciate well maybe
without ever letting well maybe be an excuse
a way for us to paralyze ourselves so that we can't come forward and a strong way
but some is
and some gentleness and some joy we have to come forward if yes or no
and as i said be absolutely willing to live with them no matter what because there's no other way to live
our practice is very practical and seems to me in this way
we never
go beyond the governor governor always shows up in our practice
so this is what i was referring to in the beginning when i said how can we be engaged with our lives and still be peaceful
and how can we be peaceful and still be engaged
and the way we do that is knowing we must say yes or no one over the consequences and always understanding well maybe
maybe part of the peacefulness
maybe is the place where we understand
there is no yes
there is no no
there is only life
in life is also death
this is the source
of our great peacefulness
and when we can be grounded and not understanding then we can then we can take up our yes or are no
and we can follow through and we can live with the consequences this is the dignity
they courageously and truly lived human life
each one of us as a life story
and moment after moment we enact our life story and the story goes on
we never know how it will end
is it away it doesn't matter a whole and
we don't need to care all we need to do is this moment
enact that story
so always a part of the cases in the roof with record is that
the compiler the book of records a little poem as a commentary to the case so here's a little poem
leicester square though rights as a commentary to case thirty eight
the congress having caught luby he makes him mount the iron ox
the spear in armor of the three profanities have never been easily opposed
by the castle of the king of to the title water
shouting once he caused its flow to turn back
it's suede us point and again we have a little explanation for sure the three profundity ease
this is
a famous saying master lindsay
if you need translation of buccleuch record and explains that and the commentary traditional commentary what the three profundity is are
and i'll just quickly
explain tell you what the commentary says here
typically and
explain his poems so there's three little poems one for each of the profundity
supposedly compose my vinci himself so the first performed it is
when the seal of the three essentials is lifted so you see that the original saying in the case of master fluctuate came from this
earlier poll of lindzey when the seal of the three essentials is lifted the red mark is narrow without admitting hesitation
host and guest are distinct
so i think from what i said so far you can understand this right that am
more exact translation is when the seal is lifted the three dots merge into one the ideas that on the seal their three little dots but when you lift the seal the three dots melt into one impression
so in other words
when you look to seal the mark that's left is the mark of oneness you know things are distinct they're also seen as oneness
and yet see even though
we see one this
without hesitation we make distinctions
hosting guests are distinct without hesitation
so we make distinctions without a practice we make distinctions and we get very uptight about as we totally believe in these we don't have a maybe in their tsunami
we say yes this is right and that's wrong in let's fight here
but this way we make distinctions and we might have to stand up for our distinctions but we understand the unity behind the distinctions that's the first of three profundity of master lindsay the second one is how can subtle discernment admit of no questioning
how can settle the servant admit of no questioning experience do not go against the ability to cut off the streams
so
once i gave a talk about questioning
i said that questioning his heart of our practice there's always questioning nothing that we do not question
we assume nothing
and we know but nothing in the world is ever certain or ever the same as it was a minute ago
cutting off the streams is to recognize this is the same as in the main problem turning back the stream to recognize it
that everything stops here
it means that in the midst of the flow of life that is always threatening to engulf us and overwhelm us we know
at the stream is already stopped already reversed
and that are feeling of being engulfed his only
confusion of our own minds
that the piece of nirvana
is not later
or elsewhere
it has always and only here and now
so experience do not go against the ability to cut off a strange experience means saying yes to no he's expedient necessities
and we can
use those experience because one this doesn't come forth any other way
but in those experience in those individual and particular judgments and distinctions
what we can make them
without
going against
the ability to cut off the streams realized one this
and we have to do that
but that doesn't in any way interfere with our appreciation or peacefulness
it's really the truth that we can be involved in all kinds of controversy all kinds of trouble when it's necessary
and we can remain peaceful even as that's going on this is really true
so these first two were come pretty like in the third one's a little bit different the third profundity of master lindzey just observe playing of puppets on the stage
the pulling of the strings depends on the man behind the scenes
so we must act but we understand that life is like a puppet show
we're all wiggling around you know like puppets on a stage
you can really see sometimes if you'd look look at us all wiggling around like puppets on the stage
it's a little deceptive what he says the man behind
the seniors is pulling the strings
how's the man behind the scenes pulling strings isn't anyone there's no man behind it
stage pulling the strings
there's only the puppets
making beautiful theater production fantastic costumes look at all our customs the theater customs were wearing
or to say the same thing another way we could say the person behind the stage pulling the strings is me and you
each one of us is the true person
as master lindzey said once the true person
it was nobody
the true person who's nobody who was here before time began
and who will be here after time is
so that's my speech about kiss thirty eight and record
and i realize
then i haven't explain exactly how to go about doing this
how how exactly you could go about the java being fully engaged and completely peaceful at the same time i have not explained that and i know
in the reason why i haven't explained it is because i really don't know how

and even if i did know how and i were to explain it you should be suspicious

this is the question that i have that we all have
and i would be suspicious of myself
if i did not have this question
how do i live
how do we all live
no one really knows
that's the point isn't it
no one really knows
and no one can really explain
but we're lucky because although we don't know and although we can't explain
we do have a path
and we do have a teaching
in our path
is it doesn't
just returning to our breath in the present moment
what on any doctrines to contemplate or
attitudes to cultivate simply
letting go and returning to the present moment of mere existence this is our path
and we have a teaching are teaching is the mind seal of the buddha
which is really
the deep and accurate experience of our own lives
in the intelligence
in innate intelligence
that is in each one of our lives
day by day and year by year we study our past
in our teaching together
sometimes i think of it as a big hike in the moonlight all of us wandering around in the moonlight
together in silence
no one actually knows the way
this sort of a trail but not clear exactly
but together we wander and we do arrive
at each moment each step
is arrival
we don't need to look for anything else
so again happy father's day
thank you for your attention this morning
no
the can we do it can be stuff that came up of the lecture but doesn't have to be
sure yeah
so does anybody have any to bring up this morning
who
the lotta korea

yes
yeah

oh
oh yes although that that wasn't in the case i don't think it
that was an issue but yeah what what do you think it means what he says like you have something in mind
ah
no
yeah
well
this is an interesting and important thing you know because
sort of raises that raises the issue of spiritual power and it's its virtues and its drawbacks and so on so forth you know
and
ah
there is no and xander is this right
in those traditions there's some sort of spiritual power that's handed on it and conveyed to individuals there are also traditions that rebel have rebelled against spiritual power and tried to create traditions in which there was true egalitarian islam and no distinction between practitioners like the quakers for example the and anywhere where there's clergy
right of any sort there a sense of hierarchy and spiritual power and i think we all know that there's drawbacks to that difficulties to than many historical uprisings against it
but ah
and it's best if we could avoid the pitfalls of it it it can
enlarge our spiritual practice i think it can be helpful
the the power of a tradition and the power of the dharma seal you know can help us so a particularly
i think most traditions that have
overthrown
spiritual hierarchy and
that kind of empowerment have seen the links between that kind of empowerment and ritual because that's almost the essence of it is that you are empowered to be able to perform a particular kind of ritual which empowers people to do things in a certain way so like the quakers don't have ritual and almost most traditions that
i've thrown over the idea of
clergy and empowerment have
dispense with ritual and ritual can be beneficial right and anybody who has practiced rituals that ritual knows that ritual can have a healing and opening function in our lives and ritual is made effective by various empowerments so it's definitely a question and in a problem and and i'm very well
aware of that and then
it's something that we work with in our tradition
we tried to were trying to
somehow
have you didn't away it since then were very traditional you know i mean we we have inherited tradition from japan that were actually in some way in most ways fairly true to actually in fact
our sort of like a sweater
our ritual
correctness so it's big is probably
more strict than a lot of japanese should people sometimes japanese people come over here and they can't believe that we do the ceremonies as thoroughly as we do them for example like we have you know the cases that you were the okay so we and the beginning of sense that are adopted the tradition of sewing each person receives a case or
rocks and so's their own and this is rare in japan in japan they don't do that as this was the original tradition but many hundreds of years ago they stop doing it and they go to the priest or and they the and people saw them and make a living at that and when people come here from japan they're very impressed that we do this and the dharma transmission ceremony that we do it
very thorough and a lot of priests we had a priest come from the big monster in japan who wanted to participate in one of our transmission certain ways to learn how to do it
so i'm saying that were very conservative in a lot of way so we're we're so we seem to have
a strong
feeling for that kind of conservative
practice at the same time we're trying to see whether we can
have empowered ritual and empower teachers who are not
imperious and somehow
you know
having an aura of
you know too much
serious
involvement with the trappings of power so each one of us is trying to work that out in his or her own life
and that's our cohen that's our problem other like i know up the road it's pure rock they solve this problem in a totally different way by determining that they would start over again so they they started a completely indigenous unique american tradition
that has nothing to do in a way with the asian tradition when they have teachers and friends from asia but they are not following inline that's a tradition that this has enabled them given them the freedom to say forget about all this year so they because as you know in in
teradata of buddhist countries where the clergy is not married there is a very big gulf between the laity and clergy
so but they don't have that spirit rock that their teachers or have no special empowerments they're just teachers without a ritual empowerment
so that's the that's the way that they've done with it and so it's nice that there's all these different approaches each one has its own benefits
but yeah spiritual power is dangerous actually
it's but it's any powers dangerous read it has the power power to benefit and also the power to
not destroy someone has to be very careful
dearborn thoughts on that million worth of
i

yeah yeah yeah i think that the
in our tradition the relationship where the teacher is very important
and your students who have been practicing here for a long time usually enter into relationships with individual teachers
but i don't think the ideas that the teacher as all the answers you know it's it's a dynamic relationship and it's the possibility of mutual surrender with in that relationship that's that's dynamic and that creates an opa a spiritual opening so not to say that teachers are irrelevant but on one hand on the other hand not to say that
teachers have the answers and maybe some teachers do but i don't
yes
i bet
that's what i think in the end in the end it's clear from the
it's pretty clear that in zen teaching this is true that the that you really have to realize it for yourself and that that the teacher can be a catalyst in that and they'd be a necessary catalyst but it's not that the teacher has it and yet you don't it's that you have to realize the for stuff there's no doubt about that
he has to be your own
there's an old saying in then you know that that that the lineage will die out and less each disciple surpasses the master
and i think that what that means is not to be taken literally because otherwise on the ninety second generation from buddha right so i'm ninety two times better than buddha right that doesn't sound right
so clearly what didn't what it says that this disciples surpasses the teacher what that means is that the to disciple
is themselves doesn't imitate the teacher is not trying to be the teacher
each person has to realize for themselves
it's true
what
morning
oh
hmm
hmm
huh
huh

did
well
while them
course sorry
and i'm glad that became today i hope that you're being here today was a chance for you
allow the grief committer in a in a situation in which could arise and it could be absorbed and understood because you really write that i think in our our society as a whole is a media is definitely changing but more or less we live in a pretty feel good world
and so
is something that really is devastating and horrible is in our hearts were encouraged and will forget about it and enjoy yourself that have gone on that but clearly
grieving is a part of life and really important part of life every time we lose someone it's no matter how difficult are tragic losses it's always
an opportunity for us to understand life
and understand our own life more deeply but the way we do that is by turning toward the loss and feeling feelings one doesn't want to turn away from the feelings no matter how difficult they may be
and one needs
a contexts a form for that and it's just it is too bad that we don't have before for that in our society and buddhist societies
that there is there is actually as far as i know no universal buddhist grieving process because
each ah
country in which buddhism ride develop its own grieving rituals were practitioners and this is all conditioned by the fact that in buddhism and you know the mayor and teachings for practitioners are on the assumption that practitioners are all
first of all it's based on the assumption of impermanence and appreciation of the primitives and secondly on the fact that all practitioners are home leavers and and literally in in the process of in being initiated into the practice leave their families and enter the sanga because of that the breathing in buddhism
this has been ambiguous in million the buddhist countries but for example in china which received buddhism into a context where they had a very strong sense of filial piety and family relations and so on
they did practice confusion forms upgrading the monks and nuns did so you'll often read the stories of the ancient chinese zen masters that they would like their secular brothers and sisters they would
they would actually
build a hut
and know if you know about this they would build a hut near the gravesite of parents and they would live in the hunt for three years
then take time out from their lives if they were government officials they would leave their posts and come to the grave site for three years and they would
tend the grave and and be in morning
in monks and nuns do that too
so we need to have our own forms of really that are are appropriate and
here at temple our tradition
is there's not enough to it but the tradition is that we chant a service sometimes there's a full funeral or memorial service but even if one doesn't want to have a full funeral or memorial services were private or personal you have as short a small service janet and we make a car they have you seen some time the cards on the altar make
card for the person and then we turn a service dedicating the merit to that person and then love one can come and then once a year we have a service memorial service around halloween time in which we read the names of all the people who have died during the year as well as any names
that people were give us so that's a good way and annual way to more because i think morning is a lifetime
i think that there's a time there's three ah this is my own personal understanding
there's at least three phases to grieving one is the initial phase of deep greeting which last for at least at least a week
we're basically it's possible you don't do anything at all
but grieve
that you'd just abandon everything you know and let people take care of you
and just hopefully if you're lucky you can be with loved ones that were also grieving and you can just celebrate the life of the person who's passed on talk it over
how what do you remember about him or her how to use the feel be together in integrating if you can because it's not so great to be absolutely alone you agree if it's possible to be with others
and i would say that if you can't if you don't have family to be with some circumstance and maybe you become your place like this just take a week off and just be here and talk it over with people hear about your grieving used to use the resource to the temple and then after that then there's another period of time of maybe one
month or two months where you are still breathing but now you return to the world back to work and new things and somehow if you let people know i think it's good to let people know nowadays people could understand so maybe before people would think you're a little nuts you know but now at least people can understand if you said to them
i agree that i want to take this time when be taking living caught more quietly in the next month or two i'm working but i'm not going out and i'm not celebrating are having parties i'm really been quiet in this next move to any people nowadays would understand that and maybe give you the space to do that and then maybe after that there's a
whole year and think you need to feel that you're in grief for at least a year and then after that there's the annual market of that of that loss and i think if you feel sort of make up your mind that you'll breathe in that way then it becomes i actually have found that reading and continuing to grieve for a person
is actually
in some way continuing the relationship with the person so that you never forget you never say now that relationship is over they're gone
it's not like that is like the relationship continues forever in the way if it's a close family member is or close friend and every year when you remember them if you cry again and you you you begin overtime to feel as if you actually feel you know somehow the person is with you
actually you feel that you still are in relation to the person you've lost and in a way by the virtue of your grieving you purify that relationship and you'll make it more beautiful over time
and that's where where i think the people say you know in traditional religions where they were they have an image of heaven and so forth they will say i'm going to heaven to to meet my father and mother and my friends and it gets what they mean they mean that i've kept this relationship alive in my life all this time and now that i'm leaving my
own life i'm entering that same space in which they exist in have existed for me so that so that if you grieve with some clarity and some help in the process that it's a creative thing and not a it's a sad for sure but it's a deepening so i hope that you can
find a way to to make up your own way of doing this and use your friends and your go through wherever you find spiritual support to
especially at this time to visit your teachers and your time offence more regularly and focusing on breathing it's very important i often
i encourage people to maybe if for a whole year to chant the on sutra for a loved one you know every day to chant that sutra as we do at the temple seven times
dedicating the mirror
do the safe passage of the person who who've lost put a little card on the altar and like that these things are very meaningful and this is where the the
empowerment is a of the diamond transmission in the field of the power of the ritual
it is important because these things are possible out of context in which there is all of this pussy
then you can do those things it doesn't feel like it feels like it's coming from a very strong and the place not just something you made up doesn't want your own
and yet exists in a in a powerful space beyond your preferences
so you please do not an earnest sir
yes such a mystery
this kind of these moments are such a mystery
anyway i'm very sorry that it's not especially when someone dies too young and suddenly very difficult if you can be with a were like you said with your mother over a long period of time you can say goodbye you can really take them into your heart they can you can make some kind of
long relationship based on goodbye but when someone is we have thought of life suddenly for whatever reason very difficult and takes a long time you have to do more work side
not
the brother

there's a lot of greeting counseling that he did extensive

maybe

it

they used to give us a piece of cake area every year we get kate

this is
it

me
yeah
no part of our study in the tournament is to realize that
life and death are not a separate as they would seem to be
that we meditate on natalie
come to appreciate that mystery
yeah
yes walter

better
huh

huh
hmm
hey associated with your relationship with your mother
hmm

yeah this happens of course
and not all sometimes we lose someone and there's a mixture of feelings love and hate
the next
because the people in circumstances
sometimes create great harm in this life right it's not always people get along together do nice things for one another with one another there's plenty of
suffering created by pupils actions
so this is what are the most important things in practice practices how can we acknowledge the truth of this kind of suffering
but not perpetuate it how can we
the honest about it
not covered over with let's be nice
on the one hand but on the other hand not
push the hatred forward through our own actions and feelings in her own heart
in the end
i think the first thing that we have to do is be clear
that although the hatred that we feel in our heart is not our fault
and we don't need to feel guilty about it
it is our responsibility to take steps in our practice to reduce the hatred
sometimes it's not clear to us you i mean sometimes we say yes i hate and i want to hate and want to keep eighty it's right that i hate so as we feel that way honestly i think the first step and practices to say yes i hate and i even see that i want to hate you know i see that i admit it but my practice is to
try not to somehow to be clear on that point is the beginning because you're not clear on that point and that what you can do really so if you in the reason the way you get clear hundred point is the recognized by observation
did your life in the lives of anger and hatred leads to suffering and pay in you if you hate this is not a happy situation for you and i don't think you would bring this up if you didn't already know that you your i think you already know that otherwise you will not mention it today
hmm
when

yes

well i think if you begin again with being honest about what arises in your own heart
in processing through
i think that probably what i can tell you today is not so much because i am feeling that there are many conditions and intimate particular circumstances of your life than that i would need to know about nor it to be able to say anything that would be truly intelligent to your situation so i don't know but but in general i
think that home
one needs to acknowledge the feelings positive and negative veteran one's own heart and work them through and try to but with the idea of coming into place eventually will where one can let go and have a loving heart but i know what you're talking about sometimes a loving heart you become you actually become a victim
and in you have a resentment so what what you're trying to be loving but actually you're building up resentment because you haven't stood up for yourself in the right way sometimes that happens and that's a long road to walk down so if you want some time we can talk about it
individually as then it gets it's probably something that requires understanding more your life
but it sounds a little difficult story get or sorry that
and the suffer with them
but i know many practitioners you know who will say
ah you know there's this kind of suffering in my life and this suffering has been handed down for generations in my family
this kind of confusion love and hate and so forth and then they say and i my effort is to
stop that i don't want to hear that down more than i would like to have it end with me and not be continually put back into the world and that's certainly a worthwhile project for a lifetime is to heal the hurt sometimes of many generations and let it in with me
that's a beautiful thing because if one person does that it changes the world and major way because you you have not continued suffering in the hurt sometimes people are very well meaning you know very good people but they create suffering and hurt without knowing what they're doing because their understanding doesn't go far enough for the circumstances of their lives and not allowed them to understand deep
in but we have to be clear about the real situation

still cheaper

hmm

yes
yeah
this is a hard working
so my suffered yeah
now we have to accept know this is our job today and always accept all this suffering
acknowledge this this these are things that we're hearing about this morning that truly happened in people's lives that are very difficult
first of all we have to take a deep breath and acknowledge these things happened
they're are very difficult
they are not easily
turn around
so
this sounds like such a difficult thing
not even know for sure in order to me whether someone is alive
and assuming that they're not alive not really having closure with it
so
yeah
yes
yes
yes

this
yeah
yeah
yeah i think that the only thing is just it into canada
i can imagine so i think that it would really be nice to be able to do that really be nice to be able to hold hands together and sing a song or say a poem or somehow like to say acknowledged that we're here together yeah just be in silence with that with that purpose here
yes it would really be nice if you didn't know and so maybe you can find a way to make that happened i just i could imagine that the couple who's getting married they might say wonderful that would be a wonderful things to to to use the occasion of our wedding to do this but they also could feel the opposite because you all don't don't miss
up on monday with this so you'd have to be very careful and indiscreet and and you know your understanding about that but it really would be nice if we could do that i think and i know that it's not so easy to get families together often then you probably could never get it together for this yeah i know
so i hope that you can do something at least maybe some of the family members had been going
hmm