Good morning. Thank you. Those of you who've come from outside of Green Galps, thank you for braving the wind and the rain and the stormy conditions. Thank you for coming out this morning. It was quite wonderful this morning in the Zendo, the strong winds coming up. the valley, the dragon whooshing around Green Gulch. There's a Zen poem that is unattributed in a collection of Zen poems and sayings, and the poem is Flowers opening meet wind and rain.

[01:05]

Human life is full of partings. Flowers opening meet wind and rain. Human life is full of partings. just working with this poem, the images of this poem over the last couple months, imagining flowers unfolding and with our early spring in California, we're privileged to see these daffodils coming up and crocus and They come up, and they open, and what do they meet? Well, they meet whatever they meet, but they do meet wind and rain, and then what happens?

[02:13]

But that's the life of a flower. That's our life. Human life is filled with partings. Today and last evening and this morning, we had ceremonies for the marking of the pari nirvana or the great crossing over or the observed day of the death of Shakyamuni Buddha. So I'm not sure if people noticed the altar when you came in, but if you'd like to, you can look at it. The altar is... has offerings for Shakyamuni Buddha. There's also a picture of Shakyamuni Buddha at his death.

[03:18]

So we also have special flower arrangements. And this morning and last night, we made offerings of incense and our chanting and bowing and food offerings. tea, sweet water, rice, food, and commemorating this passing of our original teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. So I wanted to say a little about Shakyamuni Buddha's life, because perhaps, especially these last days of his life, may not be that well known to people. And I also, before I do that, Aside from these ceremonies of Parinirvana last evening and this morning, the Green Gulch Spring practice period, or Ango, has just begun this past week.

[04:23]

Ango means peaceful abiding or residing. So peacefully coming together and practicing together is Ango, or what we call in English, practice period. And the practice period is filled with ceremonies as well. We had, there's informal ceremonies and formal ceremonies, the ceremonial of, ceremonial arrival and orientations. We had a full moon ceremony and reciting the precepts. We had an all day ceremony of sitting. which expresses the sincerity of the participants, called tangariyo, which included a tea ceremony in the afternoon. Then we had regular chanting ceremonies. We had an entering ceremony. Each person offered incense and formally entered the temple for the practice period.

[05:26]

We had an opening ceremony where we offered incense all throughout Green Gulch. Then we had a meal ceremony. using traditional bowls called oryoki. And the word oryoki means a container for just enough. Just enough container. And more ceremonies. Ceremonies at work meeting. Ceremonies in our individual workplaces. So forms and ceremonies and a chance to practice together in this peaceful way. with the help of forms and ceremonies. And then culminating last night and this morning with rather major ceremonies of the liturgical year, the Parinirvana ceremonies. Meditating or reflecting on the Buddha's death also

[06:32]

What arises for me is the deaths of other friends and loved ones and family members and reflecting on their deaths and their lives. And how someone dies often is a very important part of our relationship with them. So there's been several deaths of Zen Center friends, sudden deaths. prolonged sickness with death this year actually. So just a few things about Shakyamuni Buddha's last days. The Buddha died in 483 BC which is the date that I think there's Not complete certainty about that, but that's the date mostly accepted.

[07:38]

So 2,492 years ago, the Buddha died. And in the last days leading up to his death, he continued his work that he had been doing for 40 years of traveling, walking, and giving Dharma talks, teaching, meeting with students, meeting with lay students, men and women and monks and nuns and also people who were not necessarily followers of the Buddha Dharma, but then met him and turned their life around. So he continued this practice. And the last person he ordained was in the last while he was sick and ordained someone who sincerely wanted to enter the way. There also is in the oldest, in the Pali Canon, descriptions of his illness, of difficulties he had and being racked with pain and needing to rest and asking for help with, you know, finding a comfortable place and having water brought to him.

[09:02]

asking his great assistant and half-brother, cousin, half-brother Ananda, who served the Buddha for 25 years or more. So in traveling and speaking, he continued to meet each group of people in different towns, different places, And finally, in the story, one of the stories, he knows his end is coming. And he has a talk with Mara, the kind of archetypal nemesis, which actually is more like a noble opponent to meet. And Mara's kind of hurrying him up a little. He said, just... Don't, you know, just hold your horses.

[10:05]

It's coming. You know, I'll be in the next weeks or so. So he took care of things very, very well at the end. And finally, the occasion or the causes and conditions of his death, they say, is this last offering. He actually was not feeling well and people wanted to offer something. food to him and he refused food. He refused the offerings until Chunda, the smith, a lay practitioner, said, may I offer you food and also all the monks who are traveling with you. And the Buddha agreed to have this offering. And the Buddha also told Chunda, the smith, don't serve this to anybody else. This food is just for me, this particular dish. And the rest you should bury somewhere. So all these details are in the canon.

[11:07]

So after receiving this offering, he became very, very ill. And it's hard to say what was, was it food poisoning, what it was exactly. And he let it be known that this was, these were his final days and hours. and with no regrets and calmly, he took the lion pose, a yogic pose for resting, which shows in that picture on the altar, lying on his right side with his, I think maybe some of you have seen pictures or actually seen the actual, a large, very, very large carving of the Buddha in prior nirvana lying on his right side in India. So he took this pose between two solitaries, two twin solitaries, and they bloomed out of season.

[12:13]

And then many, many beings, both celestial bodhisattvas and laymen and laywomen, came to this place to sit with him while he was dying and animals too. And in these, the details of this in the polycanon mentioned that he asked people, please step aside so that other people and these bodhisattvas who you can't see can look as well. He was very concerned that everybody have enough room to be there in their vigil. So this is excerpts from the last words of the Buddha. I won't read the whole thing, but I'll read part of this.

[13:24]

Oh, good followers of the path, Do not grieve. Even if I were to live in the world for as long as a kalpa, which is a very, very long time, our coming together would have to end. There can be no coming together without parting. The teaching which benefits both self and others has reached completion. Even if I were to live longer, there would be nothing to add to the teaching. Therefore, you should know that all things in the world are impermanent. Coming together inevitably means parting.

[14:25]

Do not be troubled, for this is the nature of life. Diligently practicing right effort, you must seek liberation immediately. With the light of wisdom, destroy the darkness of ignorance. Nothing is secure. Everything in this life is precarious. Ananda, it may be that you will think the teacher's instructions have ceased, but it should not be seen like this. For what I have taught shall be your teacher. All living beings shall be your teacher. This bright world and your very mind itself shall be your teacher. now good followers of the way you should always wholeheartedly seek the way of liberation all things in the world whether moving or non-moving are characterized by disappearance and instability be as lamps unto yourselves and pass on that light throughout the generations and to everyone in this world stop now

[15:57]

Do not speak. Time is passing. I am about to cross over. This is my final teaching. opening meet wind and rain. Human life is full of partings. This is our life that we share. This is the communal ferry boat we sail on. One detail, after he got so sick, after eating that food, he was sure to say to Ananda, tell people that it's not Chunda's fault.

[17:02]

People will be angry at him. He took care of that. Be sure and say that this was a real offering, a very important offering to the Buddha, and it's not his fault. So these teachings of impermanence, All human life is filled with partings. And how are we to practice when our life is like this? How do we requite the teachings of the Buddha? How do we give back in gratitude?

[18:06]

How do we express our gratitude? And although we made many offerings, incense and food and chanting, truly the only offering, the real offering that we can all make is our complete, wholehearted a life of practice. Not just thinking about practice, but taking up the practice. Taking up the practice wherever we are in our life. Starting with the simplest things of noticing impermanence, feeling the truth Partings, coming togethers and partings.

[19:11]

So the practice period is coming together for traditionally 90 days or at Green Gulch at seven weeks is one way to fully express with our complete bodies and minds and all our actions of body, speech and mind gratitude. There's a story that the Shakyamuni Buddha said to Ananda, I'm constantly teaching the Dharma and people don't seem to be paying much attention to this. They don't have any reverence or respect for it. So I'm going to go into Indra's cave, hideaway, and have a 90-day practice period. Indra stone hideaway.

[20:12]

And if anybody comes and asks for the Dharma, please, you teach them Ananda. So when people come to practice period or take time for a retreat, even a one-day retreat, or a half-day retreat. We had 32 people yesterday at Green Girls for a half-day retreat. Taking some time to go into your meditation chamber, wherever that might be, and be quiet and still and present alert and relaxed in all you do and sit. There's some confusion sometimes that this is a turning away from the world or a cutting off from the world or that this is not, you know, being in silence or spending a lot of time in meditation is somehow

[21:29]

self-indulgent or just serving selfish purposes. But I would say taking this kind of time, finding this kind of time either daily in some small way, the practice period of one half hour sitting in the morning or mindfully washing your clothes, entering your life in a full way, including taking real time for quiet, is not a turning way. It's creating a life that is ready to open to the wind and the rain. Often we don't want to open to the wind and the rain. criticisms and the difficulties and the conflicts and the ancient problems with our friends and family and the world of work.

[22:44]

And it's too much. How are we going to open to our life, which includes wind and rain as well as sunshine? How are we going to be ready to meet others? So these ways of practice have been passed down for, you know, 2,000 plus years as a way to benefit ourselves, but not just self-serving. benefit ourselves in order for us to be able to benefit others, to be there for all beings in calm, openness, relaxation. So let us not be confused about what a practice period is, what the ango or the peaceful abiding is.

[23:59]

It's not a time to... turn away from beings, it's a deeply turning towards all beings in a very formal way, formal and informal way, a very particular way, rare. It's not a shirking of the responsibility of being in the world and being there for beings. The bodhisattva, the one who's taken up the awakened way for the benefit of others, is always ready to go into the mud, into the water, and be among the weeds. That's the life of a bodhisattva.

[25:01]

How do we prepare ourselves, groom ourselves, make ourselves Dogen speaks about this, a Japanese Zen teacher, about this 90-day period of the Ango, and he says, if people who call themselves descendants of the Buddha say that the practice period means words and speech are cut off, then you might as well demand a refund for the meals that they ate. Or they should get their money back because this isn't what the practice period is about. You should get a refund for it. So let's be clear about what going into this meditation chamber is really about.

[26:10]

It's not to create some special circumstances for ourselves, special experiences, rarefied heavenly bliss states. It's to discover over and over again how we can open to the wind and the rain. So after Shakyamuni Buddha died, there was a cremation ceremony and his ashes were divided up among a number of people and placed in different stupas, different monuments throughout India, eight different places. And these are traditional pilgrimage sites. Kushinagara is where he died, and there's a temple called Mahaparinirvana temple in Kushinagara, but there's other places too.

[27:22]

So this is a tradition of having a place where the ashes are interred as an encouragement. People come and just the way it is in a cemetery, you pay your respects, you want to visit that place. But there's another story about a different kind of stupa or monument. This is a koan about the appearance of the national teacher's monument. So this is a story about a Chinese national teacher, very famous, who was invited by the emperor to come and teach, which he did. And when he was getting old, Emperor Xu Song asked the national teacher Zhang, after passing away, what will you need?

[28:26]

And the national teacher said, build me a seamless monument. And the emperor said, please tell me the monument's appearance or pattern. And Master Zhang was silent. And then he said, do you understand? And the emperor said, I don't understand. And the teacher said, well, have a disciple. You can ask him more about it. And then he died. And the emperor asked his disciple, Don Yuan, And the disciple said, south of Xiang, north of Tan, therein is gold filling the whole country.

[29:37]

Under the shadowless tree, the communal ferry boat. In the crystal palace, no one who knows. So this is one of those poems that you can live with for your entire life. But what is a seamless monument? The emperor said, after you've died, what can I do for you? What do you need? Build me a seamless monument. Build me a seamless monument. What is it? What does it look like? What's the pattern of it? What's the appearance of a seamless monument? And the national teacher couldn't say, or didn't say. What could you say? So I feel our practice life is building a seamless monument.

[30:42]

which has no particular shape or form that you can get a hold of. It's seamless. It covers the entire earth. It covers and permeates every action, every word, every encounter, every thought. Build me a seamless monument. Can we make our entire life a seamless monument that has no beginning and no end, no benchmarks, no way to get a hold of it and mark our progress? We just completely enter our life wholeheartedly. Can we make of our life a seamless monument?

[32:04]

This is how we pay back, how we give back, how we requite all the teachings, all the gifts that have been given to us, making our life a seamless monument. I wanted on this day of the Buddha's pari nirvana, it is traditional to offer incense and I would like to invite anyone who would like to offer incense after the talk. There'll be incense burners set up with charcoals and little chip incense that you can take a pinch of and offer it by touching your forehead and sprinkle it on the charcoal and then another little pinch. as a way to express your gratitude if you'd like to. So those will be set up after the talk, and anyone who would like to is invited to offer incense.

[33:08]

And also, the Dharma talk is often... There's question and answer following the Dharma talk, but our time together is... There isn't a kind of service or... responsive reading or singing or reciting of the teachings. But today, in honor of the Buddha's parinirvana, I would like us to, if you would like, to join in reciting one of the Buddha's teachings, which is maybe a very simple teaching and very deep teaching of loving kindness. So we'll be passing out right now copies of the loving-kindness meditation. And the simple teachings of kindness, non-harming, they sound simple.

[34:16]

And as soon as we take them up, we find, well, I'm not so kind, perhaps. Or I do harm. And then that can be an encouragement to look at our life more thoroughly and ask for help and study more of what the teachings are. So everyone starts exactly where they are and deepens their practice in your own unique way. Just a comment on this particular meditation. It's a meditation on loving kindness. There's one line that always struck me regarding material possessions.

[35:24]

The Buddha's teaching is Don't seek after great material wealth for yourself or even for your family. Just like the Orioki bowls, a container for the appropriate amount. So this meditation is, how do we find the middle way, having just enough, the appropriate amount, as a way to find a stable life. Is somewhat, does everyone, are there enough for everybody? You can share if. So the way this is recited is we don't stop, we just keep reading without stopping at the periods.

[36:31]

So it's kind of one run on offering. And the, you know, the head of the meditation hall will announce it and then we'll all join in and just recite it once. This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, who seeks the good and has obtained peace. Let one be strenuous, upright and sincere, without pride, easily contented and joy. Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches. Let one's senses be controlled. Let one be wise but not puffed up. And let one not desire great possessions even for one's path.

[37:34]

Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reap. May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safe. All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, Born or to be born, may all beings be happy. Let no one deceive another, nor despise any being in any state. Let none buy anger or hatred to another. Even with a mother, at the risk of her love, watches over and protects her own child. So with gladness should one cherish all living. suffusing love over the entire world, above the love and all around without one. So let one and infinite goodwill towards the whole world, standing or walking, sitting or lying down, bearing all one's waking up.

[38:40]

Let one practice the way with gratitude, not holding to fixed views, endowed with insight, feed from sin, sabotage, Thank you all for reciting the teachings of the Buddha. May they fill you with encouragement and support you. Support you as you open to the wind and the rain of your life. Please remember, human life is full of partings.

[40:04]

Please don't take anything or anyone for granted. Thank you very much.

[40:22]

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