Good morning. Welcome to Green Gulch Farm. Welcome to Green Dragon Temple. If you can't hear me in the back, raise your hand. And if you're raising your hand, you must have heard me. So, I guess we're okay. It's important that we get together every once in a while and remember who we are. Remember that we are not just who we usually think we are. There's a lot of pain, a lot of suffering in the world. And we go on, as human beings, we go on creating more. I think a lot of it, we cause more pain by trying to avoid pain, by trying to be safe, secure, to avoid just even the inconveniences of our bodies, of having to have a body, of having to have a body that's impermanent.

[01:29]

And to have relationships. We have to have relationships. We wouldn't exist without them. And yet they cause pain. We feel pain from changes in relationships. So the other day, just someone got a shotgun and killed his... partner, right, on the Richmond Bridge. And there is a war going on, maybe many wars going on, but I know there's another group of U.S. soldiers getting ready for another deployment, going to Texas after having a month leave and getting ready to go back to Afghanistan.

[02:32]

And then we have anxiety about the condition of the environment. It's hard for us even to acknowledge how much we even contribute to the condition of the environment. And here it is, 40 days, 40 years, after Woodstock. Someone was telling me yesterday that they were at Woodstock 40 years ago. And it was three days of peace and love and music. But then we were discussing a little bit and it turns out that they left a big mess. There were, I don't know how many thousands of sleeping bags. that were abandoned because they were all wet and soggy. So I thought if people are really being peaceful and loving, they would clean up after themselves.

[03:40]

So we need some training maybe in how to be peaceful and loving and some reminders of how to find that in ourselves. So I wanted to begin today with the khanzeon. We do, sometimes we chant a ten-verse khanzeon invocation, really. It's a kind of a durani, maybe. But most of our duranis come from... Durrani means like a magical incantation. And most of them come from Sanskrit. But this one comes from Chinese. Ten verses for Kanze On.

[04:45]

Kanze On is the Chinese for Avalokiteshvara. Kanze On means... observing the cries of the world, or hearing the cries of the world. So the one who hears the cries of the world is Kanzhion. And then it's often shorted just to Kuan Yin. So in Chinese, it would be I think, guan shui yin, guan shui yin, and then it's shortened to guan yin, and then in Japanese to kan on. And in Chinese maybe it became combined with a Taoist view or vision of a compassionate kind of goddess, a goddess of mercy, a merciful one who hears,

[05:57]

the cries of the world. So the practice of hearing the cries of the world, the practice of compassion, is generated in this chanting of this. And I'm guessing that there are enough people in the room who know it that we can just do it. It's ten lines. And the title, Enmei Juku Kanon Gyo. So what we're used to chanting here is the Japanese version of the Chinese. And so that's Enmei Juku Kanon Gyo. Enmei Juku Kanon Gyo. So the Kanon in there is the Kanzeon. And in may is timeless or eternal, or sometimes called life prolonging or life supporting.

[07:08]

And we chant it sometimes to support the well-being of someone. If we're concerned, if someone is having some hardship, so we may do this chant and then offer it in the benefit of that, which is really the benefit of our own compassionate heart. feeling that our heart is connected with that person who's having some distress. So maybe we'll do it three times. First time, just plunge in. And second time, plunge in deeper. And third time, maybe just ease back and just chant more like a murmur. So I have this little, this will keep time.

[08:15]

oh [...] Thank you. Satsang with Mooji [...]

[09:50]

So just take a moment. Now see how the room feels. See how you feel. So there's a story of a novice monk named Gao came and visited Yaoshan. And Yaoshan, this is in China, Yaoshan said, so I hear you come from Chang'an where it's pretty noisy.

[10:55]

And so I don't know my Chinese geography, so I think of Chang'an. I translate it as Chicago. So I hear that you're coming from Chicago, or it's pretty noisy. And the novice monk Gao says, in my place, it's peaceful. Or in my province, or my city, it's peaceful. So Yao Shan talks, kind of looks, hmm, interesting fellow here, and says, did you learn this from studying Dharma scriptures or from making inquiries from teachers? And the young novice says, no, I didn't learn it from reading scriptures or from making inquiries of teachers from

[11:58]

So then Yao Shan said, well, lots of people don't read scriptures and don't make inquiries from teachers. Why don't they get it? And Gao says, I don't say that they don't get it. Just that they... Don't agree to take it up. So this matter of agreeing to take it up, this is really what the verse we just chanted is about. Invoking the spirit of Kansayan, this agreeing to take it up. But what is it? What is it?

[13:08]

It's so difficult to take up, maybe hard to make that agreement. But if we look at the verse that we chanted, let's see if I can remember. When I'm chanting it, I can remember it. see if I can remember it when I'm not chanting it. So it begins kanze on. The first three syllables are kanze on. So this is the one who observes and hears the cries of the world. So this is beginning agreement right here. Being willing to hear, being willing to see, being willing to completely experience what this life is. This is the, say, the vow of Kanzaya.

[14:12]

And then the next line, Namu Butsu, means the Butsu is Buddha. Namu is translated in various ways, like veneration, that it means to be completely in accord with the essence of things. Completely in accord with waking up to the essence of things, to the truth of things. So this is a kind of surrender or a kind of submission to reality. This is hard for us, hard for me anyway. to submit to reality, I would much rather have it my way. So this intention stated right there is right there in Naamu Butsu.

[15:20]

So there are whole sects of Buddhist practice who basically just say that, Naamu Butsu. Naamu Butsu. maybe not so completely willing to agree but at least taking it up to say namubutsu so and then yobutsu in next line yobutsu in is this is source, Buddha as source, or awakening as source. This source is in each person and in each place. There's no place that is not source. So source is like, this is identity. This is that you are in complete identity with the totality of things and with the essence of things, with the reality.

[16:29]

So you don't need to go someplace else to find this because This identity is right within you. So it's kind of clumsy to say, I have Buddha as source. But that's kind of a rough English translation or version. Then the next line is, I have affinity. I have affinity with Buddha, which is relationship. So first source is there is no separation, Buddha and oneself. Second is Yobutsu-en is relationship. Relationship with Buddha means then that you have relationship with everything else that you meet as Buddha. Everything else that you meet is you have affinity.

[17:29]

you have a relationship and a kind of resonance. So this is a big problem. If you have any preferences, then you may be not so willing to recognize the affinity that you have with what you don't like. But your night liking something is also affinity. That's how you meet it, right? So I meet the person who is causing me trouble, right? I meet the person in that trouble. If I try to avoid that, then I'm not meeting Buddha, right? I'm not meeting that person. relationship is also a relationship with the reality of Buddha.

[18:38]

So here, as you can tell, I'm using the term Buddha with some flexibility, but it really again means the essence, essential connection and awareness of mind. Buposo N. Buposo N is the three refuges, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. And that's the affinity with Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So this is, as you can tell, it's a Buddhist chant. You don't have to be a Buddhist to chant it. But if you do, then it's kind of... You might get caught. You might get... Suddenly find, oh, now I'm a Buddhist.

[19:46]

Now that I chanted this. But fortunately in Zen, you know, we say that Buddha is kind of... something extra. The word Buddha is something extra. Whenever I say it, I should wash out my mouth. So please forgive me. Hard to use language to get at what is already inside. So anyway, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, affinity. So again, relationship. And then a Joe Rakugajo, interesting, right in the middle, Joe Rakugajo line is, there's a Joe at the beginning and a Joe at the end, and there are two different Joes.

[20:46]

My middle name is Joe also. That's another joe. So there's joe at the beginning is something like constancy or endlessly, endlessly unfolding. And then the raku is joyful ease. Joyful ease. So constancy is joyful ease, and then the ga means like, it means self-confidence, assurance. Assurance is maybe a good translation, but confidence in self, meaning having self-confidence, means that your confidence is placed in something that is

[21:51]

say, a big self. So even if your own self-identity is damaged or drops away, you still have confidence. And the last Joe is for purity. It means cleaning up after yourself. It also means things are already cleaned. Things are already completely pure, that everything in the whole wide universe is completely already perfect. So this is, again, a Dharma understanding of perfection, where everything Even the most, what we may think of as the most distasteful, miserable, or painful, or tragic is already in its perfect place, perfect Dharma position.

[23:05]

Chōnen Tanzeon. So the next line, Chōnen Tanzeon. This Chō is mourning. Morning, waking up. Waking up. And then thought. Waking up thought is kanze on. Waking up thought is clearly observing whatever arises. Bonen kanze on, next line is evening thought. or completion thought, end of the day thought, is also khanzeon. Same thought. Waking up, going to sleep. Same thought. Khanzeon. This little word, nen, nen in here, thought, is then repeated in the last two lines.

[24:19]

Nen, nen. this Chinese character has two parts one part means now present moment and the other part means mind so present moment mind So present moment in the mind. So this is moment, moment, thought. So this thought, thought arises in mind. So thoughts, this is our experience. Thoughts rise in mind. So this is a great thing that we realize as human beings.

[25:20]

This is the mind that just generates thoughts. And a thought, whether it's a word or a picture or a feeling, whatever it is that is the moment now, this now moment of awareness, whatever that is, that is how we know... that there is a whole universe. And so we experience it as something, as an object. Thought arises in mind as some object. So that's one way. So let's translate that line as thought arises in mind. And then the last line, thought, thought not separate from mind.

[26:28]

Thought not separate from mind. So this is, say, the relative and the absolute way that we live. So one understanding of our life is that there are things and there are thoughts that arise in mind. And then the other side of our understanding is that there are thoughts, but they're not separate from mind. So to say thoughts are not separate from mind is actually also to say no thoughts. So here it's saying thoughts, thoughts, thought moment, thought moment, not separate from mind. Well, this is something to investigate for yourself. Now, today is the beginning of Sashin here at Green Dragon Temple.

[27:45]

Seven-day Sashin. Now, some of you in the room may begin the Sashin this evening and are wonderful senior Dharma teacher, Tenshin Anderson, will be leading this session seven days sitting. During that time, people will be considering. Is there a thought arising in mind? Watching very carefully. Or is there no thought? No mind. Is Chicago noisy? Is Chicago peaceful? Is this mind here, that I'm sitting, this awareness of sitting, is this something that I am completely at home with?

[28:51]

Am I completely at home, joyous, endlessly content with what arises in this mind? So all the painful ideas that come up then are the, say, the nourishment. for people sitting seshin. Of course, you don't have to sit seshin to find nourishment in your experience, but this is a particular, say, occasion where we have this practice of taking away other things that may distract you. So just to kind of sit here in this in this room for seven days.

[29:54]

But then again, this is no different, really, from your everyday mind. All day, every day, it's just moment by moment. Moment by moment, you have this opportunity to inquire about the kind of agreement that you have taken up, the kind of agreement that I want to have. What kind of agreement do I want to have with reality? What kind of agreement do I want to have with my friends? So there's a kind of agreement that invites an investigation. I know I was talking with my wife, Mia Sposa. I was talking with Mia Sposa. And she was telling me about a dream.

[31:07]

And then I didn't get it. I didn't quite get the meaning of her dream, right? So I started asking more questions about And then later she told me that she really liked that. She liked that I was asking questions about the meaning of her dream because I wasn't judging her dream. I wasn't even trying to figure it out. I was trying to understand how she understood her dream. What did it mean to her? So this kind of practice of inquiring into what someone else's mind is, what their thought is, what their ideas are, what their dream is, this kind of practice is the beginning of taking up compassion.

[32:24]

Still, it could have been a nightmare, right? A dream, a nightmare, not judging it, but being willing to say, okay, well, what is it? This also happens inside oneself. You may, within yourself, find there's something that comes up, maybe a heavy feeling, oh, it's Someone was telling me they had a heavy feeling in their chest, heavy feeling. And they wanted some suggestion, what to do about it. And my feeling was, it's really pretty good to just have that heavy feeling, to get to know it. What is the heavy feeling? how heavy is it is there gravity working more on one part of one's chest than another what's the word what does the word heavy mean it's kind of taking one down and then but but then to say heavy feeling means maybe there's some resistance to going down with it oh I don't want to I don't want to

[33:59]

I don't want to know how far this heavy feeling could go down. So, moment by moment, thought rising in mind, a feeling rising in mind, with the spirit of kanze on, this spirit of being willing to and not turn away. So inside oneself, very quietly, people who sit quietly notice, oh, all kinds of things can happen, just sitting quietly. Is there enough confidence to sit quietly with what is distressing? I may notice that as I sit quietly with what's distressing, then what I'm actually doing is beginning to blame someone else.

[35:10]

That, oh, the reason I'm having this heavy feeling is because they, and it's very interesting. It may have been yesterday, they said, or it may have been 10 minutes ago, they said, or it may have been 10 years ago, In fact, yesterday someone told me, they were telling me about how things could be improved at Green Gulch, actually. This person was being very helpful, right? Telling me how things can be improved at Green Gulch. Except they were pretty, they were unhappy with certain things at Green Gulch, not everything. There are certain things at Green Gulch. And I said, I think I heard you say this to me about 20 years ago. This person said, that's right, that's right.

[36:16]

What's taking so long? And I thought, okay, this is true. This can really test one's patience. The way things are not right here for 20 years. But then I'm wondering, is this person really being helpful? this person being helpful, and how is this person suffering with this feeling? The pain this person's feeling is not exactly being acknowledged. This person is feeling pain, but they're actually saying, oh, the problem is something that you should change.

[37:24]

If you change, then... I'll feel a lot better. Maybe I'll feel that you finally listened to me. Or maybe I'll feel... I don't know. Maybe you finally listened to me. So I'm trying to, in this case, listen to the person without... without resisting their pain. The pain that they have that they think I can solve by changing something else. I think sometimes, in this case, I thought the best thing I could do was just listen. And to see, you know, maybe there is something that can be done.

[38:31]

Because Kanzayon also does things. Sometimes Kanzayon is depicted as having many arms with different tools and different arms. Sometimes a bell. Sometimes a stick. Sometimes a shovel. Sometimes a fire hose. more fires going on now in Santa Cruz. Many tools. Sometimes a spoon to feed you. Sometimes a brush to wash the bowl after you've eaten. All these tools appropriate to the moment. So after hearing, So kanzeon, hearing the suffering, then responds with the appropriate tool.

[39:39]

Sometimes the tool is a word. Sometimes the tool is silence. But always the feeling of not turning away. So if kanzeon turns away, then that is also a tool, a teaching. So when someone turns away from you, then you can also hear that as, oh, this is a teaching. So whatever is arising next after that thought, the next thought is also a say, response, complete response. So you have the capacity, each person has the capacity to decide, you know, is Chicago noisy or peaceful?

[40:54]

Do you live in a peaceful place? Within yourself, if within myself I hear loud chatter, I hear myself saying, I don't like that. I hear that in myself. Can I be peaceful with that? So I particularly like the lines here, mourning thought Kanzayon. Evening thought, Kanzayon. So I invite you even to take up the practice. As soon as you wake up in the morning, when you have that first little glimmer of dawning consciousness, morning thought, Kanzayon. Kanzayon.

[41:56]

Waking up with this thought of being willing to hear the essence of things, being willing to hear the particularity of things, being willing to respond. Evening thought, Kansayan. Last thought as you are going to sleep. Last thought. You may have your own version, something some other phrase or word that is for you is the spirit of Kansayan. Or maybe an image, you may visualize Kansayan, many different images. This Tara, Tara here is one version of Kansayan. Driving across

[43:03]

Interstate 80 from Wyoming into Nebraska. There's a white figure on the north side of Interstate 80, the Kanzeon, goddess of mercy. I stopped one time and went down and circumambulated. Walked around this goddess of mercy. Maybe about as tall as this ceiling. Maybe not quite that tall. Anyway, clearly visible from the interstate. I thought, okay. Even at the border, pine bluffs going across from Wyoming and Nebraska. We need reminders.

[44:04]

So maybe we can close chanting three more times. And then after that, we'll do our closing chant, OK? And if you don't know, though, the syllables to chant than just hum along. Or you can say, by now you've probably heard kanzeyon enough, so you can just say kanzeyon [...] Satsang with Mooji

[45:36]

Satsang with Mooji Bu-en-bo-po-so-en-jo-rak-ga-jo-cho-nen-kan-ye Bo-nen-kan-ye On-nen-nen-ju-sen-ki-nen-nen-fu-ri-sen

[46:23]

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