This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center, on the web at the city center. I'd like to welcome you to the city center and welcome Sojin Mel Watson as our speaker this morning. I think I'll say a few words about Sojin. Sojin was an early student of Suzuki Roshi and was actually ordained by Suzuki Roshi and he's been the advocate for probably over 40 years now. And he was in absence on her for a period of time in the 80s. And also Sojin is the teacher of Lance Hartman. Lance Hartman was a disciple of Sojin. Sojin will be leaving the funeral tomorrow, which we'll have at 10 o'clock here in this room. And that's the reason we'd ask Sojin to give the talk this morning. One more piece of information I'd love to share.

[01:02]

Today is Sojin's 87th birthday. Happy birthday to you. [...] I'll give him that. I don't know whether I like that song or not. Sometimes it seems more like an assault. But I'll accept it with grace and gratitude. So this morning, I'm going to talk about a bit about Blanche's life, Shunkei Keisan.

[02:10]

You know, informally, we use our full name, but informally in Japanese, for priests, we just... use the last character of their name, like Keisan. For Shunkei. Shunbo... Senkei. So Keisan, I'm going to talk about her today. I have some notes, actually. Because... You know, it's... When people say, do you remember anecdotes about so-and-so? And my mind goes blank. So I have to write down certain things. Blanche Hartman was her given name.

[03:15]

Actually, Hartman is her husband's name. Lou Hartman was her husband. And Lou and Blanche appeared... my doorstep in the early 70s. I can't remember exactly what year that was. No, 69. 1969. Suzuki Roshi had asked me to find a place in Berkeley. He had been coming to Berkeley for some time on Monday mornings, but there was no... no permanent place that we had in Berkeley. That was back in the 60s. I started practicing in 64. And I moved to Berkeley, and he asked me if I would find a place in Berkeley that we could use as a Zendo.

[04:18]

So I did that. And shortly thereafter... Lou and Blanche appeared on my doorstep. And they wanted to practice. Blanche had long hair down to her waist and sometimes was in a large QU braid. And it eventually turned gray. And Lou and Blanche were very earnest about practice. And they had been living in Berkeley. They had a house in Berkeley, not far from the Zendo. And they had four children who eventually grew up and actually were pretty much grown by the time they had started to practice.

[05:27]

And they had a group of friends. You know, Berkeley was very liberal. It's always been a kind of liberal stronghold. And they were liberal-minded. And their friends were all liberal-minded and always trying out something new, you know, open to something new. But when Lou and Blanche landed on the doorstep and started practicing, like, all their friends were astonished. Why are they doing that? I mean, we do a lot of funny things, but that's really strange. And it was kind of like leaving their society and stepping on the train and their friends watching the train leave the station. So that just shows their sincerity.

[06:29]

Blanche was born in, actually, three years before me. She died at 90 in May. And her husband, Lou, also died at 90. So I think that she wanted to kind of catch up with him. Truly. When he died, something went out of her because they had been together. the whole time, for 50, I don't know, 60, 70 years, whatever it's been, just really like one person with two faces, although their faces were very different. But they were really connected. So this happens, you know, when couples get old who are really close together when one leaves, then the space that that person took is no longer there. And you lean on the other person, and when the other person's gone, there's nothing to lean on, or what that person's supplied is not there to lean on.

[07:39]

And so, after a couple of years, she just wanted to die. Her health, of course, had always been questionable, but it got more extensive when Lu died. So it was a slow decline and we all had an opportunity to experience her demise and not a shock when she died. So when Suzuki Roshi, just before he died, he appointed Richard Baker to be his successor.

[08:51]

And then a little while after that he died. And Richard became Abbott of Zen Center. And all the students in Berkeley, not all of them, but many of the students in Berkeley felt, well, this is the way to go. So they all came over to San Francisco. And Blanche and Lou came to San Francisco. And many of my students came to San Francisco to be where the action was. After... The abdication of Richard, many of them came back to Berkeley. So Blanche was ordained in 1977 by Richard. And when she came back to Berkeley,

[09:56]

I gave her Dharma transmission. And so she was the first person to whom I gave Dharma transmission, my first deshi. Norman Fisher was the second deshi. Actually, I had 27 deshi. Can't believe it. So anyway... And then she became abbess in 1996, from 1996 to 2002. So she was the first woman abbess of San Francisco Zen Center. And she was a pioneer, actually, in... She never thought of herself, as far as my experience goes, as...

[10:58]

being a pioneer for women. She was just a woman doing what she did. And she didn't have anything against men. You never heard a discouraging word. She was just who she was, doing what she was doing. And there wasn't that feeling of machismo, which actually made everybody relax. Not only was she... a wonderful example of a woman, Abbas, but she's like an older brother, an older sister, who has to find their own way where the younger siblings follow in the path of the older one. But the older one is the pioneer in the family. And so it was kind of like that, and she made a she just created a wonderful space that men and women could practice together.

[12:07]

When we first started practicing, you know, there was... It was the women's movement. The women's movement was just starting at that time. And men, you know, women were... fighting for their rights, and educating the men about what women need and the equality of men and women. So one of the big challenges of Zen Center in those early days, back in the 60s and 70s, was how to actually integrate men and women practicing together, which doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. Our practice is so unique. When new people come to Zen Center, they just take it for granted that men and women are practicing equally together.

[13:11]

But in those days, there were all kinds of problems. And those problems was a big part of our practice. And so we always had to make sure that There was a balance of men and women on committees and in teaching and in the various aspects that constitute our practice. And so we cultivated that awareness. And it's not perfect, but given what it was in those days, it really worked well. And I call it kind of the feminization of Zen. Because men dominated, of course, in all countries, Zen practice. Or any kind of practice, actually. Children should be seen and not heard.

[14:14]

And I think that kind of applied to women as well in those days. So I think we've come a long way. And so... Blanche, without making a fuss, just represented the perfection of that process. So that's one thing that was to her that we really feel... was a great thing for her to do. And the other thing was that back in the 70s, just before Suzuki Roshi died, in about 1970, there was no lay ordination. Suzuki Roshi ordained some priests.

[15:19]

Among them was me. But there was no lay ordination. until 1971. And I mentioned to Suzuki Roshi, it would be nice if there was lay ordination. The first lay ordination was 1969, 59, when Suzuki Roshi invited the bishop from Los Angeles, Bishop Yamada, to do a lay ordination for his first students. But from then until 1971, there was no lay ordination. And Suzuki Roshi was very humble by inviting somebody who had more authority than him to do this lay ordination. So he didn't really feel he had that authority. And Suzuki Roshi, we called him Reverend Suzuki.

[16:21]

And then someone said, I think it was Alan Watts, said, you should call him Roshi. But for many years, we just called him Reverend Suzuki. And he was very humble. He didn't say you should call me this or that. So Katagiri, Dining Katagiri, who came in 1963 to help Suzuki Roshi, Now he became Katagiri Roshi, and he went to Minnesota later on to become the abbot of Minnesota Zen Center. But he was Suzuki Roshi's aide. Suzuki Roshi and Katagiri Roshi are two examples of practice. We just watched the way they practiced for years. And that was our training, just observing their practice.

[17:29]

That's very Japanese. You just observe. You're not told anything much. You're supposed to observe and then learn in that way. It's a very different way of practicing. In America, we always want to know everything. Why do we do this and why do we do that and so forth? If somebody asked Suzuki Roshi why we do something, he'd say, I don't know. When I was ordained, I asked Suzuki Roshi, what should I do now? He said, I don't know. Then I asked Karagiri Roshi, I said, what should I do now? He said, I don't know. That was my training. that was the best thing that they ever said. So, when we started, Katigiri Roshi, he was sensei then, went to, when he came here, he had been studying with Hashimoto Roshi in Japan.

[18:43]

Hashimoto Roshi and Sawaki Kodo Roshi were two kind of maverick priests. In Japan, the only priests we ever knew, Japanese priests, were mavericks. Suzuki, Roshi, everybody. So they had researched the robe, the Buddhist okesa. This is the okesa wrapped around your body, Buddhist robe. So they had researched it, and they wanted to introduce this research into Japanese... rope sewing. And they had a lot of resistance from the powers that be. You can't change things in Japan. It doesn't work. Back in the 17th century, if you introduced some change to the powers that be, hoping that that would happen, if it didn't happen, they would kill you or exile you.

[19:49]

So you had to be very careful what you introduced as a change. So anyway, so Katagiri introduced to Suzuki Roshi, he said, maybe we can sew our own robes in this nyoho-e style. Nyoho-e means original, more or less, original style. Because the Japanese robe, which I'm wearing now, style, is different. And all the Japanese priests wear this style of robe. But the nyoho-e is a little different. That's actually more trouble. I understand why they changed it to this style anyway. But the style that most priests wear in Zen Center is the nyoho-e style, where they sew it themselves. So sewing your own robe takes a lot of time. and it has to be done in a certain way with a stitch, you know, as a certain kind of stitch, and all the little nubs of the stitch have to be just the right distance from each other.

[21:00]

So Suzuki Roshi said, okay, you know, in Japan, the only people that sew their robes, they just do it as a special practice. When they buy, when they... where the robes they have, they buy in the robe store. That's okay. I mean, nothing wrong with that. That's usual. Back in the day, people used to sew robes for priests and then our monks in India and various places and offered them to the monks. But to have the monks and priests sew their robes, Unusual. But here, everybody sews their rope. So that became our practice. And we invited two sewing teachers. Yoshida Roshi was the first one. And Joshin-san was the second one.

[22:06]

Yoshida Roshi was actually the teacher of Joshin-san as far as rope sewing. And Yoshida Roshi came a couple of times and taught us how to do robe sewing. She was from this Waki Godo, I think, tradition. That tradition's a little bit different. And Joshin-san was more from Hashimoto, I think. And the styles were a little bit different. But Joshin-san actually came over and stayed here for a long time. She was from Antaiji. And so we developed her style of sewing the robe. And, you know, the robe has to be sewn in a kind of... The way the Japanese do things is perfection. So, but they're willing to...

[23:09]

You know, perfection is the goal. It's not the... Well, it's the process. I don't know what it is, but... You know, when you sew the robe and then you look at it, it's a mirror of who you are. So, well, whatever it is is what it is. But if you make mistakes, like in a long... row of sewing, then you have to take it all out again. And it may have been a half a day of sewing. And start all over again. So that's the kind of, like, do it right. That's the perfection. So Blanche really became Joshin-san's disciple. And when Joshin-san went back to Japan, Blanche became a sewing teacher.

[24:20]

And she taught many people to do the sewing. If you're not a Zen student, it doesn't mean much to you, maybe. But for a Zen student, the robe is very important. Very important part of your wardrobe. Because the robe, it represents the robe covers you. It's your real clothes. The other clothes that you wear are also your clothes. But this is your real, your basic clothing to cover you in this life and life to come, as it's said. So this is Blanche's forte. And she's very much appreciated for this. People from all over the country and other places as well, other countries as well, use our style and the way we practice sewing.

[25:37]

I want to say that she also, the magazine Buddha Dharma, I don't know if you're familiar with that magazine, Buddhist magazine, she and a few other people were asked to answer questions that people send to the magazine. So she did that for many years. She was kind of like the dear Abby, maybe, of Zen Center. But I have a letter that one of Blanche's, she was a student of Blanche's, but she was also a student of Joshin-san, and they kind of studied with Joshin-san together

[27:06]

and Diane Riggs, Burr Riggs. And she sent me a letter a little bit about her experience with Blanche and with Joshin-san. And I'll just read you a paragraph from that. She says, I've known Blanche ever since my first one day sitting at Berkeley in 1972. following her long ponytail, and straight back in Kinhen, helped me through that day. Then later, we met Joshin-san, and this changed both of our lives. For me, it was a revelation that there could be such a person, dedicated, yes, but overflowing with joy and kindness, and infinite patience and humor. I think Blanche and I have both gone a very long way on the strength of that realization that Joshin-san gave us.

[28:15]

That's very sweet. She also said, be sure to have a statue of some kind of representation of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva because Samantabhadra Bodhisattva was a very important bodhisattva in Blanche's life. Samatabhadra is usually portrayed as riding an elephant. Manjushri rides a lion. Samatabhadra rides an elephant. And we always refer to Samatabhadra as the shining practice bodhisattva. The bodhisattva who represents... determination in practice, which was very much part of Blanche's personality.

[29:21]

She was so dedicated and so her practice was so strong. felt that she was always right there. It reminds me of an example. When Mrs. Suzuki, a number of Japanese priests came to America, and we entertained them in the dining room. We gave them lunch and stuff. And I wanted to introduce, say something about Mrs. Suzuki. Sugi Roshi's wife.

[30:22]

And I said, and she's such a strong person. And then later, she came up to me and she said, never say that a woman is a strong person to a Japanese man. I said, okay. So, they had four children. And you can imagine, or maybe you can imagine, your mother being a Zen priest and all these people relating to her in a way that you never could relate to her. You wouldn't ever relate to her in the way people related to her as a Zen priest. So when I did her... exclamation ceremony, I had a little story, which if you've heard it before, you'll enjoy it the second time.

[31:30]

You know how up in the New Yorker magazine there's the guru on the top of the mountain with a little cave behind him, you know, and somebody climbs up and asks us a question. And This guy's climbing up the mountain, and then he gets to the top, you know, and there's this woman sitting there in front of the cave with her legs crossed. And he says, Mom, what are you doing here? So that's the story of Blanche and her children. Oh, yes. So I want to read some... This is from Blanche's book, Seeds of Boundless Life, which was just recently printed.

[32:41]

It's her talks and some of the answers to the questions from Buddhadharma, the magazine. So this one is about... I'm going to read something about birth and something about death. She says, I've just been spending the last two weeks in the midst of the miracle that is birth. And I was struck once again by how extraordinary this miracle is and how ordinary. The simultaneity of the miraculous and the everydayness of birth, not just of a baby, but of any creature, of anything. When I was gone, involved completely in this particular birth, There were happening here at Tassajara myriad and innumerable births of every bud and every maple tree, bursting open and presenting a new expression of life. The opening of every flower and the germinating of every seed and the opening of every bud are all miraculous births.

[33:48]

Each one of us is in the midst of a gestation process. He says, As far as I know, every religious tradition has some story of what happens when this body dies and a suggestion of something that continues. The importance of how to live our lives and the teaching that our volitional actions of body, speech, and mind have consequences, that's called karma, and will affect what happens next are also part of the religious traditions with which I am familiar. Speculating about the great matter of birth and death may not offer as much ease as making your best effort to cultivate the six perfections or seeing the Buddha in everyone. Frankly, at this stage of my life, with diminishing energy and some mobility issues,

[34:50]

My focus is on cultivating loving kindness for everyone and making my best effort to follow the golden rule of always treating everyone as I would wish to be treated. For me, the effort in practice is better spent on developing the capacity to fully experience the present moment so I may be more able to experience what is happening as I breathe my last breath. When my time comes, I truly hope I may be able to meet this great mystery with ease and curiosity. Well, I did see her on the last day. She called and said that she would like to see me. And so I went to the hospital. But she was not awake. And she never did wake up, but she died that night. But she did look like she was just peaceful and accepting.

[35:54]

And it just felt very peaceful. It just felt like she was ready to go. She prepared herself for quite a while. when we think about birth and death, birth is one aspect and death is the other, and one brings about the other. They balance each other very well. What we need to understand is that life itself includes birth and death. So actually, life... is another term for nirvana, and nirvana is another term for life, which includes both birth and death. So death is the inevitability of life.

[36:58]

It can't be right or wrong. And any more than birth is right or wrong. We understand that. As she says, just experiencing this process moment by moment. Maybe better than trying to figure it out. So there will be a question, an answer, or whatever you want to call it, a conversation in the dining room 20 minutes after this talk, which will end now. And you're all welcome to come. there will be cookies in between. And you can bring your cookie to the talk. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[38:05]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[38:18]

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