Thank you. They're all good.

[05:24]

It's more than one person. So keep it for you.

[09:04]

Thank you. Thank you. While I've been getting adjusted, I might suggest, particularly for those of you on this side of the room, if you'd like to change your orientation a little so you can face this way, do whatever helps you to be more present and active.

[12:22]

You don't have to look at me, but... Thank you.

[15:08]

Good morning, everyone. Good morning. This is Ricky. Do I need to turn it on? That was the voice of Buddha. What's up? Is that better? Okay, let me know if we need to make any adjustments. Well, welcome again. Good to be with all of you here, whether you're here in person or joining virtually online. Anyone who might not know me, my name is Tenzin David Zornman, and I live at City Center, which is just a block away, and I currently serve as the central habit of San Francisco Zone Center.

[16:20]

And, wow, what a beautiful group we've got here. I'm wondering how many people are here for the first time. Excellent, great. And how many of you are here for the one-day sitting that A number of us are joining in excellence. And how many people just randomly found that we're in here and don't know how they got here? After 24 years, I'm still wondering, how did I get here? Well, as I said, a number of us are participating in a very long meditation retreats. Well, as we've been doing over the last five months since the renovation of Bikini's Maya Temple, we've been holding these day-long sittings at different locations, including the Unity Church right down from the center, and today we're at the 8th Street Art Center, which is kind of fun, you know, to walk through the halls and see the various art exhibitions that are around, and they're putting a new one up now.

[17:30]

Yesterday we had a bunch of mannequins in the hallway, so I guess they're going to dress them up on a costume exhibit of some sort. So, yeah, it's quite an adventure to be moving around in, Tim called the last time, kind of these pop-up zendos and really finding different settings. And I think that when we do this, we get a good reminder that the point... of establishing a strong and continuous Zen practice is to be able to find your place of practice wherever you are, under whatever conditions, whatever circumstances that you find yourself encountering. And when we're able to establish a consistent practice, you know, and kind of tune into this very body-mind and be present with what's arising in this practice, practice field, then, again, we're able to practice wherever we are.

[18:33]

We're able to find a place to practice. And we don't need a particular location. We don't need a particular place. We don't need particular conditions. And this is one of the things I discovered when I lived at Tasarada Monastery, deep in the Beltane Wilderness, how over time, the more you practice and the more you engage in practice places, you know, if you have advantage to engage with them, you realize that you internalize the temple, you internalize the practice place. And then when you go out into the world, wherever you are is your temple. You are a walking, manifesting place of practice, right? And Dogen, one of our founders, so to say, said, when you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs. So in other words, this very body mind is your place of practice. So you don't have to go anywhere else.

[19:35]

Just be right here all the time. This is the first Dharma talk that I've given since I came back from a two-week pilgrimage to Japan that I took at the end of Eat World. And the impetus for the journey was to participate in a multi-day tour and a series of ceremonies. Commemorating. I can't say any word. Help me. Commemorating. Thank you. Sometimes my group of dyslexia kicks up. But anyhow, these were commemorating the 700th anniversary, memorial anniversary of Kazan Jokun. who, along with A.A. Dogen, is considered one of the principal founders of Soto Zen, which is this particular, if you will, school of Zen. And the tour was organized by a group called the Soto Zen International, and they have an office here in San Francisco at the old Sukoji, the temple that Tsukiroshi originally came to.

[20:43]

And they partnered with the Japanese Soto Shu, which is kind of like the big big sotoshu organizing group in Japan. And they did three weeks of ceremonies for the Japanese practitioners, and then they invited about 100 global practitioners to join for three weeks, sorry, a tour, three days or so afterwards. And so they were myself, as well as Abed Mako and her husband, Joel, Victoria Austin, and Kim Hart. The five of us were able to participate, and it was quite wonderful. The tour included visits to Eheji, which is the monastery established by Dogen in 1244, and Fukui, which is on the west coast of Honshu, the main island. And also Sojiji, which is the primary temple affiliated with Kezon, and that's located in Yokohama, which is close to the Tokyo Bay.

[21:53]

And then on the final day, and look after the tour, if you will, Mako and a few others went to visit Rimzo Inn, which is the home temple of Suzuki Roshi. And his family is still his son and grandson and... and the rest of the family are still running that temple. Very beautiful. It's a very intimate family temple, and it was very sweet to be there. When I'd been to Japan before, it's been like 30 years ago, and when I originally went, I had just been practicing Buddhism for about four years or so here in San Francisco, and I wanted to go to Asia to experience Buddhism in its original cultures of development. And so I spent a year traveling around through Asia, and when I went to Japan, because I didn't know enough to go to A.G. and Sujiji and all these other wonderful places, so this time it was quite a privilege and an honor to be able to visit and practice at these historic root temples in our lineage.

[23:06]

I would say it's one thing to experience Zen Buddhism as it's been reinvented here in a Western context. It's quite another to witness and touch the living Buddhism that's in Asia and including Japan. And it was also inspiring to connect with both the Japanese practitioners at the various temples that we visited, as well as many of the kind of international ones that come to participate in the tour. And to have very interesting conversations about how is it to practice in our particular locations? How is it to try to hold solace, to support solunas, to lead them? How is it to deal with the various issues and challenges that are arousing in this particular day and age for each particular solunas? And then how can we kind of foster a greater connection among each other so we can continue to support each other in the practice of the Buddha Dharma?

[24:09]

One of the highlights of the Torah was an opportunity to spend the night at Sojiji, which is Kezan's temple. And this included eating some very traditional temple meals. They were vegan meals laid out in mini dishes. Very delicious, one that we made. And also do a communal bath in the temple onsen. And there was also the night we arrived that lectured by the head of the meditation hall, that was on Kaiza. And then the next morning at 3.20, you know, they rang a wake-up bell, though it wasn't the traditional one. It was with the speakers throughout. And so we had to get up. We had like 20 minutes to get up and get dressed. and then kind of go through all these hallways, you know, to get to what was the guest zendo. We weren't allowed in the primary zendo because that's just reserved for the monks who actually are kind of hoisted there in practice.

[25:14]

So we went to the guest zendo, we spent a period of zazen, and then we went to the main hall, the Dai Sodo, or the great ancestor hall, to participate in a series of ceremonies for Kheison. And this hall, it's dedicated to Kheison. It's actually not dedicated to the Buddha or others. It's actually for Kheison. It's huge. We were told it has 1,000 tatami mats. Tatami mat is the size of this compound, 1,000 of these. And also that it could accommodate 3,000 people. And the hall is as many as we have here today. But it was huge and very tall. And, you know, the thing that was amazing to see is just how the size of it all dwarfed for the ceremony, about the 200 people that were there, particularly just for the ceremony. And there was something about the grand scale, the hall, and the beautiful, very elaborate, very carefully choreographed ceremonies that were undertaken on behalf of Kazon,

[26:27]

that kind of underline both of the vast and the inclusive hearts of Zen practice, as well as a particular ethos that's known to Zen of mimitsu no kafu. And mimitsu no kafu basically describes what we would say is the soto Zen family style, which is the style of careful, exquisite, very considerate, intimate, warm-hearted, and continuous attention to detail. that character writes as much as that practice. And it was really beautiful to see, to be in Japan again and see how that just comes alive, that particular practice comes alive in so many places. I'm wondering, how many of you are familiar with Keizan Joken? Well, I'll do a little to introduce you. While Dogen, Zenji, and Kazan Jokin are considered the founders of sota today, it's usually Dogen who gets more attention and reverence.

[27:30]

How many of you have heard of Dogen? Yeah, quite a bit more. But in fact, it wasn't until the 19th century, late 19th century, that Kazan was actually officially designated as one of the two founding patriarchs of the Japanese sota Zen school, so along with Dogen. So, Kezan was born in 1264, and he was born 12 years after Gogen had already died. And he was born to a serious Buddhist mother who was devoted to Kenan Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. And the story goes that she dedicated her son to the Buddha before he was even born. She said, this child, this child is for Buddha. And... You know, who knows whether or not this is true. But the thing that we do know is that Khezon started to practice Zen at the age of eight, at Eiji.

[28:32]

So he went to the Mayan Monastery at the age of eight, started practicing under four of Dogen's leading disciples, including the second abbot of Eiji, Koan Ejo. And then he was ordained as a monk at the age of 13. and later received Dharma translation from his master, Tetsu Gikai, at the age of 32. And so this placed him in fourth in the generations of successors to Doka. There's a story related to Keizan's awakening that I'd like to briefly share with you, just so to sense it in. Keizan was listening to a lecture on nonsense, ordinary mind is the way, that his master, Gikai Esenji, was offering. And during that talk, Gikai noticed that Keizan seemed to have kind of achieved a realization of some sorts. And so he asked Keizan to explain the meaning of what he had just been speaking on, Ordinary Mind is the Way.

[29:37]

And then Keizan stated, it is like a black ball racing through pitch darkness. In other words, zazet and realization are ultimately the same. But the Adikai stated that although you are correct, it is difficult to understand. So please clarify it to me.

[29:59]

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