This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. I'm going to start out talking a little bit and then I'm going to invite the other practice leaders of this practice period to... put in their two cents. Now I'm going to invite all of you to put in your two cents. Because what I want to talk about is intimacy in the Sangha, is that we take this opportunity of this practice period to develop an intimate relationship with all the other people in the practice period. I remember on the application for Tassahara practice periods years ago, you have a quote from Suzuki Roshi, students should be as intimate as milk and water.

[01:09]

More intimate than that even. Because, and I'm not sure about the wording of the rest of the sentence, but it's because we're all living Buddha's life as our own, I think is what... That's how I remember it now. But what he was pointing to was really coming to support and depend on each other and recognize that the practice period, we make the practice period what it is. And if we want to develop an intimate sangha where we feel completely supported by each other and where we recognize that our practice is supporting everyone else, We can do that. It's up to us. And I really can't emphasize strongly enough how important that kind of mutual support and intimacy can make a difference in our lives.

[02:19]

I can tell you from my personal experience In these past two months, which have been extremely difficult for me, I have been completely supported by the Sangha. It's just amazing. All of the help and love and support that has just come forward because I was at a difficult time in my life. And everyone understood that. and came forward and helped me out. So that when we speak of the three treasures, we speak of the treasure of Buddha, of the teacher, of someone who sees and understands how we need to live this life and tells us.

[03:21]

and of the Dharma, the teaching that he gave us. And the Sangha, the community of practitioners, as the three jewels. In a situation such as I had recently been undergoing with Lu's dad, the treasure of the Sangha became totally obvious to me. in a way that, you know, I've always appreciated the sound of, but in an emergency, it all comes together and really makes a difference. And I want to thank you all for the support that I've been getting. So, one of the ways we develop this kind of intimacy... is that we practice closely together.

[04:26]

And, you know, at Tassajara, when we go to do a practice period, we all go down there and we sit five days of tangaryo together. And that's a very bonding experience. It's like sitting a session together. It's a very bonding experience, as we will discover at the end of the practice period when we sit our session together. To make our wholehearted effort in the company of others who are also making their wholehearted effort is really very bonding. If nothing else happened, it would be worth the effort. You know, in a Japanese training monastery, we don't have sort of private rooms where you can close the door.

[05:37]

In a Japanese monk's training hall, everybody has one tatami and one shelf for their bedding and bowls. And when I found out about 20 years ago, Paul Disco, having noticed that there was a monk's training hall at Suzuki Roshi's home temple, Rinso Inn, asked Suzuki Roshi's son, Huitzu Suzuki Roshi, if he could bring a group of students over there, and do a training period in a so-do, a monk's hall. So means monk, and do is hall. The monk's hall it read so in. And we said, okay.

[06:41]

And when Paul told me about it, oh, can I go? He said, no, we can't have men and women together. I said, well, can I bring a group of women then? And he asked, oh, okay. So the next year, I went with a group of women. And... Well... We had worked out our schedule and the positions and everything before we left. And we had... In the afternoon, in the middle of the work period, we had a 15-minute tea break, sort of like we had at Casa Haran's. Well, within a few days, this had become a 45-minute processing break. Because when you take a bunch of people who are used to having their own private space and you put them... on one tatami and there's somebody else on that one and somebody else on that one.

[07:45]

There's a certain amount of friction that happens. Particularly when you take a group of middle class women who had enough money to pay for a trip to Japan back, right? So they're mostly middle class professional women. Several of them were therapists. So they set up this sort of processing, right? But, you know, as Huizu says, he calls it potato practice. He says, you dig up a bunch of potatoes out of the ground and they've all got dirt on them. But you don't pick up each potato and scrub it. You put them in a bucket with some water and you stir them around and they bump into each other and they clean each other up. Or if you've ever had a rock tumbler to polish stones, I don't know if you know, you put all the stones in a cylinder and you put some water and some abrasive in there and you let it roll on rollers and they keep falling on top of each other and brush, you know, sort of smoothing each other off.

[09:04]

And so pretty soon you have polished pebbles. That's how polished pebbles are made. Um... So we did this rock polishing practice together for a month. And that group of women is still having a reunion every year. Most of them are Zen teachers by now. And... There's a real bond there that has lasted us all of this time. So we don't have a SOTO here. I've always, I really wish we had somewhere at Zen Center a SOTO, but so far we don't.

[10:04]

But we can make an effort to develop intimacy within this community. training period. And one of the ways in which we do that is helped by the chiseau. You know, we entered a chiseau this morning. How many of you were in the Zendo this morning when we had the chiseau entering ceremony? So this chiseau is is sort of like the elder sister or elder brother for all the other monks. Their job is to model what it is to be a wholehearted, practicing monk. They sort of set the tone for us, and they support everyone else.

[11:12]

to follow the schedule completely, first and foremost by doing it themselves and by energetically engaging in all of the activities of the practice period. Now, the city center is different than Tassajara or even Green Gulch in that many of the people who practice at the city center have ordinary full-time jobs in the world. And this practice place has been developed in order to support people like that. There are people who are also on staff here at Sunset. But there are quite a few people who work out in the world, as does our Shusoul. And we chose someone who could give us that example of working in the world and doing monastic practice. because I think it's encouraging to people who are here, who are practicing in ordinary jobs in the world, to have a wholehearted practicing monk in the same situation they're in.

[12:27]

How can you put your life together in such a way that you can do an ordinary job and practice wholeheartedly as a monk? We need that kind of example here in the city. So the Chisot rings the wake-up bell. The Chisot cleans the bathrooms so as not to, you know, get a big head. At Tassajara, the Chisot and help her, she saw at Benji, take care of composting all of the garbage and cleaning the compost buckets. But the main thing is to set an example of real engagement and to come...

[13:41]

to develop an intimate relationship with everybody in the practice period. So the Benji has now put up a schedule for teas. One of the Shusou's job will be to have tea one-on-one with everybody in the practice period to help build the intimacy of the practice period and to help the Shusou get to know each one of you who are in the practice period, so that when it comes to have the Shusoh ceremony at the end, the other thing that happens is it's the first time that someone who's been practicing for some time now is invited to teach. So she will be giving some of the Dharma talks. And at the end of the practice period, we will have a ceremony in which each of you in the practice period will ask a personal question about your practice.

[14:47]

It should come from your heart, and it should be a real question you have in your life. And in order to help the Shusou know how to respond to you, not just to the words, but to the person, She will have tea one-on-one with each of you to try to get to know each one of you better. So she's responding to you, to the person who's asking the question, not to the words. And the important thing for the Chisot is to be completely herself and to be willing to reveal herself, to be seen completely as she is. Well, in order to be willing to be seen, As you are, you have to be willing to be as you are. You have to learn to really appreciate this particular Buddha who is now sitting in this seat responding to these questions.

[15:51]

Not some idea of some fancy idea of whatever you might dream up. but to be you yourself answering from your own heart. This is what our Shuso will be working on this whole practice period, is coming forth as herself completely, being the Buddha she is, and encouraging you to be the Buddha that you are, and to let people see who you are, and to be willing to be who you are. And as you practice together, if you see some aspects of yourself that you're not real happy with, work on it. That's what practice is about. People were talking to me about how much they appreciated Lou.

[16:56]

And my response to you is, if you appreciated Lou, what were the qualities that you appreciated? Can you bring those qualities alive in yourself? If you enjoyed his humor, can you find your own humor and bring it out? If you enjoyed his kindness, can you cultivate your own kindness and bring it out? When you find that you appreciate someone, look at them and say, what is it that I like so much about that person? oh, I wonder if I could be like that. That's pretty nice. We can encourage each other to cultivate our most beneficial qualities.

[18:01]

Isn't that what we want? I have a sign on my door that I now can't remember. It's a quote from somebody. But it may have been Gandhi. But anyhow, you must be what you want to see in the world. If there's something you want to see in the world, you make it happen here. So as you practice together, when you see qualities that warm your heart, learn from it. Bring it out in yourself. These are all human qualities that we all have. Kindness is not something that was just only the Buddha has. If it's something only the Buddha has, then we're all Buddha. Well, okay.

[19:05]

I'll take it that way then. But kindness, the capacity of our kindness is in each of us. Will we cultivate it? All of these qualities that we appreciate in people are in us. And we can cultivate those qualities. make them alive in the world by our own effort. And as we become more intimate with each other, we can help each other polish up those qualities that we like, those qualities that lead to harmony and affection and appreciation. We can make this Sangha what we want it to be by making ourselves who we want to be.

[20:12]

That's a lot of power, and you have it. So the Shuso is going to lead us in this effort, and we're all going to support her in her effort. And I don't want to be the only one speaking tonight because there are other people helping to lead this practice period, a joint effort. So we have Shosan and Varyu and... What is it? Kiryu. So do any of you have words you would like to... say about intimacy in practice or anything else about the practice? Awesome.

[21:20]

What did you? I think that Inconceivable Joy has covered the territory. I do want to just emphasize a little bit that Shouseau is the second priest ordination also a second lay ordination. It's like an entry into public life, that it's for somebody who's been practicing quite a long time, working intimately on themselves.

[22:29]

And it's a transition from being a private citizen to offering the dharma in a public way. And I do want to I do also want to mention that this is an impossible task because as Leanne said in the ceremony, this responsibility is too great for me. Okay? And it's too great for anyone because basically the proposition of offering the Dharma in the lineage of the Buddha is pretty much... You know, as soon as you open your mouth, you've messed it up. And so it's an impossible task. And so we have to appreciate anyone who takes it on. And this is the ordination or the occasion on which you spend an entire practice period taking this on, this impossible task, and making mistakes because you can't help make mistakes.

[23:41]

You can't help making mistakes when you try to present the Dharma. You never present the whole Dharma because whatever you present isn't the whole Dharma. So I just wanted to say that, that we give someone an impossible task to do and we support them really, really well to do it. And then... We do it not because there's like a, you know, the person gets like an A plus or a D minus or something like that, but because it's an inconceivable practice. And so it's just something that we can just work with. Or it's like an art form about caring about each other. and offering something. So that's what I wanted to emphasize.

[24:43]

And you already said it, but I'm going to say it again. So being foolish, I will try to offer a few words. Since Michael... gave the talk on the one-day sitting that opened the practice period and announced that I was the chuseau. I've had several people ask me, well, what is a chuseau and how do you become one and how long have you practiced? And other people telling me what a chuseau should do and how to do it. And I was sharing with Jordan about a week ago that at first, you know, I was like, don't tell me what a shuso is or, you know, don't question how long I've been practicing.

[25:51]

And then I thought, well, whatever other people's ideas of a shuso is doesn't describe a shuso. Whatever my idea of being a shuso is, doesn't describe being a shuso. And it was a settling thing. You know, I was like, oh, what a relief, right? Because I don't know what a shuso is. You know, so, shindo, the eno, comes to me. to say the first Monday after the one-day sit, you're going to do the wake-up bell because you're this yourself. And I said, okay. And Kogan, who's the Benji, was like, well, then do we start cleaning the bathrooms then?

[26:54]

Good question. And I said, I don't know. So I asked Shindon and he goes, yeah, I think so, but check with the work leader. Okay. So the first Monday comes. And, you know, I have enough memory of chusos and other practice period I've done to not sit at the chuso seat yet. So I sit where, you know, at a seat, a regular seat. And after a little while, Vicky taps me on the head. Or on the shoulder, excuse me. And she said... This seat is for you. It's the Shuso seat. And the next day, a little plaque comes up that says Shuso. So I come to service. And again, I know I haven't entered. Or I think. I shouldn't say no. I think that I haven't entered. So I stand in a regular place. We go through service.

[27:55]

We go upstairs. The priests are taking off our cases in Shundo's office. And Jordan says... you should stand in the shouseau spot. And I said, okay. So then I go see Kogan, who had tried to start the bathroom cleaning, but the work leader said, no, not though she's entered. So when am I a shouseau? So, you know, I'm trying to understand what being a shouseau is, and I'm not suffering, luckily, I feel. To be honest, you know, I feel really fortunate that I haven't practiced. You know, I used to live at Tassar for three and a half years and here a couple times. But I was feeling kind of fortunate that I haven't lived in a temple setting for a while because I don't have a clear idea. If I had done the last practice period, then I'd be like, this is what Ashiso is, you know?

[28:57]

And so I was feeling fortunate in my ignorance. So I wasn't suffering too much. So, and, one thing that we've been talking about in the Genjo Cohen class, the question that seems to come up, and it's my question too, and that is, what is the difference between understanding, realization, and actualization? So I'm feeling like I'm getting a better understanding of what a shuso is, and Blanche has just laid it out. Inconceivable Joy, I love that name. I wanted it, but she couldn't give it all to me. Excuse me, that's a small sigh. I'm Joyful Dragon. So anyway, so I think I'm getting a better understanding of what being a shuso is. And I say to you with all my heart that I feel like we realize, or I realize at least, and I hope that you did too,

[30:03]

what a shuso is in the entering ceremony. Our life as Zen is ceremony, and it isn't separate. So I really felt like the shuso was realized this morning. Now, the actualization comes with each time, maybe that I wake, ring the wake up bell. But it definitely comes every time you and I interact. So I do hope that you'll come to tea, bring yourself, and I make the commitment to bring myself. I hope that when you bow to me as I'm running by with the bell, that we meet then in the little kitchen, wherever. Because I can't be Shouseau. We can't actualize Shouseau. without each other.

[31:05]

And we don't actualize you so unless we're doing it, not our idea of it. I'm only pointing right now, I feel. So please help me. Thank you very much. Say another word? Would you care to say another word? Sometimes I think there aren't enough words and sometimes I think there are too many. How many ever words there are, let's use them. Okay, I just want to be sure you had a chance. So I look forward to practicing this practice period with you.

[32:09]

studying the koan of everyday life, genjo koan, studying how to live our life in a harmonious and connected way. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[32:56]

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