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 morning. I seem to be spotlighted. I'm wondering if I can, can I view a gallery? Yes. Okay. I'd rather not look at myself when I'm giving a talk. It's so wonderful to be here in this Zoom space with all of you. I see many familiar faces and many more unfamiliar faces. It's just a sign that has been far too long since I've been in the halls of San Francisco Zen Center. I'm very happy to say that I will be coming in next week to Sitsashin at Tassahara with my teacher Ryushin Paul Haller and with my Dharma friends there in the valley and hopefully maybe I'll run into some of you when I'm in the city before and after.

[01:16]

Today I want to talk about the ceremony that I believe that you all just performed maybe last night? Maybe, yes, last night? The Sejiki Ceremony. And I wanted to talk about this ceremony. It's one of my favorite ceremonies that we perform. We perform it here in the West, in Zen Centers in the West. Oftentimes it's performed around the time of Halloween. Traditionally, the ceremony is the Ghost Festival Ceremony. is performed on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month of the year. So I wanted to say a little bit about the history of the ceremony and what it means to perform it, what it means to take up the practice of setting up an altar, preparing offerings.

[02:21]

making offerings, invitations, chanting Dharanis, embodying mudras, and maybe most of all, embodying an open-hearted wish to welcome all beings in all states. One of my favorite things about the ceremony is this welcoming without any discrimination. It feels much in alignment with my own vow and all of our vows as bodhisattvas. A very powerful ceremony, the roots of which, I think there are several mentions of the Buddha speaking of how to perform this ceremony. And maybe the first that I've known sutra that describes this ceremony is the Ulumbana Sutra. in which the story goes that the Buddha's disciple, Madh Galyayana, was sitting with the Buddha and the assembly and had attained, just gotten to a point of attainment of the higher knowledges.

[03:42]

And he wished to repay the kindness of his family, of his parents in particular. And so using his powers, he... visited his family, his mother and father, he went to visit them, and much to his dismay, he discovered that his mother had been reborn in the hungry ghost realm. And some of the stories I've read about this suggest that she had, in her lifetime, as of the mother of Modgalyayana, had been kind of... skimming off of offerings that he had sent to her so that she could make offerings to the Sangha and to the monks and nuns of the Sangha, that she had been kind of pocketing the change instead of passing those offerings on to the assembly as they were intended, which was seen as maybe the root cause of her being reborn in such an unfortunate realm as the Hungry Ghost Realm.

[04:43]

I'll speak a little bit more about the realms in a moment. But he was very distressed, and he tried to feed his mother, who was in a terrible emaciated state, being reborn as a gaki or a preta, a hungry ghost. When he tried feeding her, the food that he gave her, while she was able to accept it in her hands, as she brought the food up to her lips that turned into hot burning coals and burned her mouth, And the water that he gave her to drink turned to pus and blood. So in no form that it could be in any way nourishing to her. So he went to the Buddha and asked for his help. How do I help my mother? How can I repay her kindness in raising me and help to alleviate her suffering?

[05:45]

The Buddha told Madhagalyayana that he, even the deva kings, the wheel-turning kings, no one by their own power had enough spiritual power to actually save her. That actually what was needed was the sangha, and it's referred to as the awesome power of the sangha in the ten directions. was needed to be brought in for this effort. The Buddha also told Madhgalyayana that the best time for this ceremony was immediately after the rains retreat. So after the three-month retreat during Pravarana, the monks all participated in a confession and repentance. ceremony where they ask for forgiveness to their Sangha members and to maybe all beings for any unskillful actions they may have committed during the retreats.

[06:56]

So tying this Pravarana day, this day of asking for forgiveness with the ceremony that later was developed into a Seijiki ceremony. There's something really beautiful about that. The time of confession and repentance is an inward looking time. And it's a time of really being open to the causes and conditions that lead to our both skillful and unskillful actions and behaviors. So a turning inward time is the time of giving nourishment to these hungry ghosts and to all suffering beings. So the Se in Seijiki means nourishment. And the term Seijiki, I think, started being used pretty recently.

[08:03]

It used to be called Seigaki, but the term Seigaki of a hungry ghost is... The gaki is considered a slur, so we now use the term sejiki instead of segaki. So the sangha was implored to make offerings, and the offerings that are given to these hungry ghosts and all suffering beings are ones of light, incense, food, food of many different kinds, food from... rivers and mountains, from the plains, from the oceans. So when we select the foods for the offerings, it's always in a warm-hearted way, I would say, we gather these foods that may provide succor and nourishment to these suffering beings.

[09:06]

So that's the Ulambana Sutra, where the Buddha gives Madhagalyayana some instruction on how to go forward to help save his mother. There is another story in the early canon found in the Buddha's discourse on the scripture of the spell for saving the burning mouth-hungry ghost, where Ananda, the Buddha's disciple Ananda, has these terrible visions. And it's while they're practicing in Kapila Vastu. And he has these terrible visions where a hungry ghost by the name of Yangku, or Burning Mouth, comes to visit him and tells Ananda that he has three days, that his life force only has three days remaining. And at the end of those three days, that he... His life force will become exhausted and he will fall into the realm of the hungry ghost.

[10:11]

Ananda, hearing these words from this burning mouth hungry ghost, Yangku, trembles in fear and goes to the Buddha and implores him. How can I avoid this awful fate of being reborn as a hungry ghost? And the Buddha in this discourse as well also gives him instruction in dharanis or incantations, various magical incantations that are designed to do a number of different things. I'll go over that a little bit when we talk more about the actual ceremony. But not only these dharanis or these incantations and mantrams, but also what offerings to make on the altar, how many... clean vessels of food and drink of 100 different flavors are to be provided. So it is a time for really finding one's own generosity and bringing it forth to provide nourishment.

[11:21]

In terms of these offerings, I wanted to say a little bit about offerings. The offerings that are given are Sometimes not the traditional offerings. There's a story of Milarepa as well, who when he, Milarepa, being a saint in the Tibetan tradition, was by himself in a cave meditating. And it was getting cold and he decided he needed to go collect some firewood. So he left his cave in search of firewood. And when he returned to his cave, he found that five demons had taken up shelter in his space and were kind of reading through his books and making themselves food and tea and kind of lounging on his bed. And he got there and he tried to, how do I get these demons out of here? So he went through a number of different things that he thought might help. He tried flattering them.

[12:27]

He tried praising them. He tried... preaching the Dharma. He tried feeding them and he ran through all these different ways. He's trying to get rid of them, make them go away. And they were becoming more and more menacing towards him. So they gnashed their teeth and advanced upon him and salivated and, and, you know, showed him their claws. And one of them went up behind him and, and he realized that, As he was trying to dispel them through these various means, none of them working. None of them worked at all. They just seemed to bring these demons closer to him. He had a realization that these demons were none other than his own mind. And that what is there to do with these demons? They're not separate from my own mind.

[13:29]

is the realization that Milarepa had. And in that moment, in his realization at how foolish it was to try to dispel them, he sang a song of realization. And the end of the song of realization, it ends with the words, I now welcome you and receive you wholeheartedly. Please stay the night. You are welcome here. And as the story goes, they kind of got confused looks on their faces, and all five kind of turned into one and disappeared. So out of Milarepa's own realization, he was able to turn towards these demons. Now, demons are not the same as hungry ghosts, but sometimes they're confused for one another. Sometimes the hungry ghosts in the realm of hungry ghosts, they're characterized often by having... huge, huge bellies and tiny needle-thin necks and small mouths.

[14:36]

So they can't, even if they have food that they can put in their mouths, they can't get it down. And this, of all the six realms, the three higher realms are the humans, devas, and human realms. And then the three lower realms are considered the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm, And the hell realm. And oftentimes, you know, we may think of ourselves as being reborn in some of these realms on a day-to-day basis. I'm sure many of you have had this experience of being in the hungry ghost realm, where it seems like nothing is satisfying. That realm is characterized by a feeling of not enough. of complete, utter lack. And so in the ceremony, one of the first things that happens after the altar is set up... Oh, maybe let me say something about the setup of the altar while we're here.

[15:44]

The altar is set up traditionally as a reverse position of the main altar, which has Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on it. So... The altar with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is covered for the Sejiki ceremony. And a reverse altar is set up across, if it's in the Zendo, across the Zendo, or maybe across the Buddha Hall. I realize I've never been to a Sejiki ceremony at City Center. But the altar is set up as a reverse altar. And I'm curious, why is that? And one of the reasons I've read about is that the Dharma, that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the main altar, that hungry ghosts and unsatisfied suffering beings may not be able to access. They may actually be afraid of the Dharma, which is really interesting, right?

[16:46]

And how many times have we felt that in our own lives? Well, we know the Dharma. We know what... the path is, and yet we find we can't step forward into it for whatever reason. So in this sense, having this altar set up as a reverse altar and covering the main altar, a lot of the preparations of tzajiki are about making these wandering, confused, dissatisfied, angry, forlorn, abandoned orphaned beings, giving them what they need in whatever form they can accept it. And so sometimes you might even look at some of the offerings on these altars and say, why is this on the altar? Why would somebody put this on the altar? This isn't necessarily satisfying. Well, maybe these are the things that are needed to satisfy these wandering spirits.

[17:52]

Interestingly, when I first moved into San Francisco Zen Center years ago, there was a practitioner there who died in maybe the first few months that I was living there. And he was a wonderfully introverted fellow who spent much of the time on the roof of the Zen Center smoking cigarettes. Back when that, I think, that happened. And he apparently liked M&M's as well and ate lots of M&M's. So he was very known for his M&M eating and his chain smoking. And after he passed, a little altar appeared outside of his room and people would leave offerings there. And I remember walking by the room and seeing packs of cigarettes and M&M's and thinking... I really like this practice. The fact that this is being offered, even if it's like, of course you shouldn't be smoking and eating tons of F&M's, and yet this is one way to give some feeling of what's asked for, maybe, even if it's unhealthy.

[19:14]

And so Sujiki has that sense for me as well. It's a time when normally we, you know, we... It's not about cultivating unwholesome states. It's about turning towards them in ourselves and in others and in all beings, the universal karma of suffering that all of us share. But to turn towards and offer whatever is nourishing in that moment. So in the setting up of that altar, not only is it, there are certain, as I mentioned, to try to select foods from different regions. So to make it as inclusive as possible, we find, you know, sometimes you might find seaweeds from the ocean and tubers from the ground, from the plains. Maybe... vegetables, sea vegetables, or items that are only found in different regions, that you would try to collect a whole assortment of these items as a way of making offerings.

[20:24]

And in some ways, even honoring, honoring the existence and giving our presence. So the ceremony consists, as those of you who have participated, The opening segment is one of inviting these spirits through the practice of instruments. So there's an instrumental section that both calls the spirits and then at the very end of the ceremony dispels them. So it's welcoming them and then sending them on their way. As part of the ceremony, there's the Duranis that are chanted for each of these steps along the way so the first Durrani is the summoning Durrani to bring these deceased spirits to the great assembly and there's a mantra that goes with it which I'm not going to chant right now and a mudra so the officiant of the ceremony is offering the mudras

[21:38]

while the whole assembly is chanting the Durrani together. And then also the officiant, the doshi of the ceremony, is also doing visualizations. There are visualizations that are happening as the mantras are being performed. So it's a whole embodied effort on the part of the doshi and the assembly. And after the summoning happens, then the breaking down of the gates of hell happens. And then the opening of throats. So these Gakis with their long needle-like throats, the Jurani is to open the throats. Then there's the Jurani of blessing or increasing the amount of food offerings. So you might say, and this actually was part of what happened with Ananda when the Yangku, burning mouth, hungry ghost, told him that he was going to become a hungry ghost in three days.

[22:41]

He also told Ananda that the only way out of this was if he were to be able to somehow feed all the spirits, feed all of them, bushels and bushels of food for each of them. Each of them got something like five bushels of food. So Ananda, of course, how can I do this? How can I do this? And so there's a Durrani, it turns out. A Durrani that is... where the Doshi is visualizing the food expanding to fill the entire universe and being made available to feed every spirit who happens to come by. Then there's a Jurati of visualizing water or chanting for the water to expand to fill the entire universe to satisfy the spirits with sweet dew, Amrita. Further on in the ceremony, there's a Durrani for encouraging the spirits to realize the emptiness of their suffering and the emptiness of the succor that they're receiving as well.

[23:54]

And then the Durrani encouraging the spirits to take refuge in the five cosmic Tathagatas. and then visualization and chanting to arouse bodhicitta, followed by the receiving of the bodhisattva precepts, followed by bringing forth to reside in the pure land of the great jeweled pavilion, and then finally the Duranis to empower and initiate the spirits into Buddhahood. So we have this ceremony, as I mentioned, at this particular time of year. It's a time of year where in our hemisphere things are getting colder and darker, the days are longer or shorter, and the night comes sooner.

[24:58]

The ceremony is performed in the evening. oftentimes around the turning of from day to night, so dusk time. And actually in Buddhist temples in Japan and elsewhere, I believe the ceremony, the ceremony of the Khan Ramon, maybe not the entire altar set up, but the chant is done every evening. Every single evening there's a ceremony to feed the hungry ghosts. In our tradition, I believe at Tassajara, at least during practice periods, every four or nine days, the ceremony is done. The Khan Ramon ceremony is done. Again, for the purpose of inviting these hungry ghosts and feeding and nourishing them. So in terms of the...

[26:00]

In terms of how we approach this ceremony, I think the Milarepa story of his Song of Enlightenment, which came only after his realization that these beings are none other than our own mind, that is the meditation. That is the practice of putting together... And it takes a lot of effort to put together a ceremony when we do all the... you know, all the things. So the ceremony is not only for the suffering beings, the ceremony is also to honor all of our departed ancestors. So people are invited to give the names of those who have departed, at the very least in the past year, but even beyond the past year. So parents and grandparents and loved ones who have passed. And it's a little odd, right, to have this ceremony where we're inviting hungry ghosts and rough demonic spirits from the untamed wilderness.

[27:11]

We're inviting all these kind of like karmic beings who are trapped in suffering realms and our own ancestors, right? They are invited too. Oftentimes, the way the ceremony is performed, at the end, all of the offerings are then fed to the sangha. They aren't thrown away. They're fed to the sangha. Again, this is a nice way of representing that these beings, oftentimes we may think of these beings as, oh, those scary beings over there somewhere. But no, how do we find those beings within our own bodies and minds and hearts? And what does it mean to turn towards them as opposed to turning away? Often with this ceremony, I think of, I recall the great teacher, Mjogan, Steve Stuckey, who studied the system of internal family, internal family system psychology.

[28:26]

which I'm not sure how many people are familiar with, but it's a kind of a, I think it's a pretty radical approach to a psychotherapeutic method where rather than pathologizing what's happening in one's life, even if it feels like, oh, this must be a path, there's something wrong with me, this isn't okay, right? We like to say, you know, just this is it. But then there's this, like, well, not that. We want to bifurcate. We want to compartmentalize. We want to even exile the things, the parts of ourselves, the parts that we see in our friends and sangha mates. We want to somehow turn away from those. This is an understandable impulse. But as Milarepa found, it doesn't work. So thinking about this internal family systems in which rather than pathologizing those parts of ourselves that we wish would go away, the practice is actually turning towards them and offering space for them to speak.

[29:40]

We provide them a space at the table, these exiled parts of ourselves that we'd rather not have. This is a courageous practice. It requires deep compassion. It requires some courage, confidence even. It requires a calm mind to be able to turn towards those parts that we'd rather not see. Other forms of practice around this include maybe the practice of Cho, which is the practice of feeding one's demons, feeding your own, the visualization of feeding one's own flesh, of giving over to. The ceremony brings up this opportunity to really deeply connect, to deeply connect to things and states, mental states, that mostly we may be terrified by.

[30:47]

So the other practice that I think comes out of this, because Sejiki, it is a time of coming along with the confession and repentance ceremonies. It is a great time to reflect on karma and the way that we reflect on karma. How? How? How can we reflect on our own karma, especially, I'd say, especially the unwholesome karma? How do we have the strength to turn towards our own unwholesome karma with a curiosity, with a welcoming attitude? It's not something that we can fabricate, maybe. Or maybe we can try it, we can fake it till we make it. But really, like, spending some time to... you know, look deeply inside at our own, you know, the feeling tone of, you know, aversion or grasping or neutrality.

[31:54]

How do we feel towards our own suffering? I have a personal story that I would maybe would like to end with that we here in Austin Zen Center, we had our Sajiki ceremony this past Wednesday. And we did it outside so that we could invite people to come in person. And during the day, I had gone shopping for some items. I had picked some eggplants that were growing in my own garden and brought them to the altar and setting up the banners and bringing out the bells and basically re-erecting a Zendo outdoors from the inside, bringing everything out. And as I'm... Preparing for the ceremony was a very windy day, and so like the flowers kept falling off the altar and the banners, it wasn't, you know, time yet to string the banners up because they were, you know, they would just get tangled up in the trees. So I'm spending the day with my, I have an assistant who was working with me.

[33:00]

She had a few hours to spare, so she was helping me. And then she had to go and someone else who could come in for Dokuzan ended up helping me for a little bit. But for the most part, it was just me doing the preparations and the setup. And at one point, I realized that I was feeling kind of grumbly, maybe even a little resentful, I have to confess. There was a little feeling of like, why aren't more people coming and helping? And I realized that this feeling of distress in myself was As I was doing this great work of setting up the ceremony, I was at the point at which I was making the rice offering and chopping the vegetables. And I was kind of selecting different vegetables. And I was like, oh, I'm going to put a little wakame in there and maybe a little bit of this root vegetable. And so I'm chopping and I'm feeling a little grumbly. And sometime through the act of chopping the vegetables, something in me was like...

[34:07]

Oh, I see. I see what the ceremony is about. I need to welcome this uncomfortable feeling, and rather than externalizing it, how do I take care of it with the big Buddha heart that I know I have? How do I make that space? And something with the, you know, just the tactility of... You know how it is when you're working in the kitchen, the tactility of the vegetables and the smells of the seaweed. And this brought me back. Just this act of making this offering brought me back to, oh, the problem, the problem is not out there. It's right here. And I have the means to transform it through this presence. So. a small event to occur, but for me, it really embodied the spirit of Sujiki, that these hungry ghosts and demonic spirits are not out there roaming around.

[35:18]

Maybe they are, but the interconnection of all beings and how much of this, how I can see in myself these unsatisfied, these places of fear and distress and how I can turn towards them. So I think I'm almost out of time. I wondered if there were any, maybe questions or comments. I'd love to hear from people about your own feeling of the ceremony and maybe share that Each year that this happens, the ceremony happens, I think people go away from it feeling a little bit more connected, not just to their departed ancestors. Maybe they feel like they have the weight of letting go, letting go of their own attachments to those loved ones who have passed.

[36:28]

Maybe they feel a little bit closer to their own heart of compassion. So I wonder how it is for all of you. Thank you very much. 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.

[37:06]

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