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. So many friends in one room. This is really wonderful. And good morning to those online now or in the future. Is anyone here for the first time? Welcome, special welcome. I want to thank the Tanto, Tim, who's not here. So I will thank the acting Tanto Zak for inviting me to give this talk. My teacher, Abba David Zimmerman, for so many things. And I want to thank all of you for being here. Today, this is what sangha is.

[01:01]

I can give a talk, but if there's nobody here to listen, then I'm talking to myself. So this is much more entertaining. And I really look forward to the questions and answers. That's my favorite part. That's where I learn. I hope that something that I have to say will be of interest or of use. And if not, you still got to spend an hour in a beautiful room. with wonderful people. So we'll do the best we can. My name is Ellen Simpson Revan Odo Joe A. And I'm a resident priest here along with many other resident priests. My work role here is as the outreach director, which involves lots of different activities. I perform memorials at supportive housing and support the social workers, caseworkers, and other staff there. Many of you have participated in our burrito event, otherwise known as Open Sangha, where we partner with the night ministry to provide food and spiritual care once a month.

[02:08]

And I will just say, if anyone is interested in volunteering, please let me know, because we always need volunteers. What I want to talk about today is something that has been a challenge for me in my practice. That just seemed something that I worked on for many years, coming into Zen practice as a mature adult and just landing in the middle of it. And that's ancestor practice. Some aspects of that were familiar and easy, and some were much more challenging. I'll talk a little bit about how I found a way in, and really how it's been a very heart-softening practice for me. I want to start with the... I'm getting over a cold, so I apologize for all the throat clearing. I want to start with a sutra that we chant at some noon services that kind of... What's the word I'm looking for?

[03:16]

It kind of sparked my recent interest in reviewing my process through ancestral practice. And this is known as Master Dogen's vow and has other names, including the Ehe Kosu Hotsu Ganmon. I'm just going to chance to read a little bit of it. We vow with all beings from this life on through countless lives to hear the true Dharma that upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith. that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma, and that in doing so, the great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. Buddhas and ancestors of old, whereas we, in the future, we shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor.

[04:22]

Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. As they extend their compassion freely to us, we are able to realize Buddhahood and let go of the realization. So there are a couple of pieces here that kind of caught my attention. One was, I really like this phrase, Buddha's ancestors of old were as we... In the future, we shall be Buddhas and ancestors. We are one Buddha and one ancestor. That really was a kind of summary for me. And the other is this question of faith and vow. And I have to tell you, at one point, just out of curiosity, preparing this talk, I had all my notes. And just for fun, I put it through Claude. And it came up with this... It kind of sounded like a serial commercial, but... And then it also said, and what is this article on faith? That has nothing to do with anything. So I think Claude needs a little religious education.

[05:26]

It was just really so interesting. But it was a good question for me because, well, what does faith have to do with this? And what is vow? And that's so essential to what we're doing here. So I want to touch on a number of different areas because... Like every practice in Buddhism, it contains every single other practice in every teaching. But don't worry, it's only going to be 30 minutes. I'm not going to do all of it. But we will touch on a number of areas. So why do we offer ancestor practice? What do we mean by ancestor practice? What do we mean by an ancestor? What's the benefit or outcome of ancestor practice? Who's an ancestor? What's transmitted through ancestor practice? How do we transmit? Yeah, we could be here for a long time if I thoroughly answered all those questions. And some of the challenges, which for me were cultural, not coming from an Asian or a Buddhist culture.

[06:28]

And I think for many people that's the case in the Western world. Also for me, very much at the beginning, I have a very difficult family, the dangerous family member who is a first degree relative. I'm a geneticist, so I always use that kind of language. And that just felt like a real barrier to me. And I have a family who are adopted, and so that's a whole question of what does that mean in terms of legitimacy of ancestry and honoring ancestors. And then the contrast for me between, you know, the thinking mind studying Dogen and then the non-thinking mind just coming in and doing it. And I will say Zen practice, which, as I said, I came to as an extremely mature adult, was the first activity that I'd engaged in for a really long time in which I just, I was so exhausted from my thinking mind job as a genetic counselor that I came here and I just didn't

[07:36]

I didn't take notes, I just listened and I picked up as best I could the forms and it was a radically different way of learning. And then at some point I needed to go back and do some thinking and learning. And I hope there'll be a little bit of encouragement for your practice through this talk. So what is ancestor practice here at San Francisco Zen Center? And I'm certainly not an expert, but for me, the first experience with it was coming to morning service during the week before going to work and hearing the ancestors chanted in Japanese. That didn't really register with me at all intellectually or emotionally, so I learned the physical practice of bowing. And by then I had been bowing to people, but this full prostration bowing was really a very different way of approaching it.

[08:46]

It was an interesting entry point. So we chant the names. We make offerings to the ancestors. We have representations of... ancestors of various types. And eventually I realized that sewing Buddha's robe or rakasu, that that's also an ancestor practice because we're doing what our ancestors did, Buddhist ancestors did, studying. And of course, in a way, and this took me quite a while to really incorporate, zazen is ancestor practice. because we're doing what our ancestors did together with them and everyone around us. These are all ways of honoring the lineage and honoring ourselves. And this question of the lineage was very difficult for me. However, I did realize that, of course, on a practical level, Buddhist history is simply the ongoing collaboration of teachers and students

[09:54]

monastics and lay people who received the teachings from their ancestors and passed them on to a new generation. For me, coming to practice at the time that I did, when I don't think I had one spare neuron, the way that the practice was transmitted was way, way more important than what the practice was. So being given the opportunity to come to afternoon zazen and not have to talk to anybody and not have to listen to anything after 12 hours in the hospital was awesome. And the way that it was provided was very gentle. And a big practice for me was hearing how the people who were organizing the afternoon, how they spoke to each other. because they were very kind and gentle to each other and very supportive.

[10:58]

So that was a huge teaching for me. That's the how it's transmitted. It took me much longer to understand the idea of a teacher-student relationship, which now is primary in some ways. A main teacher, but also the Sangha, all the Sangha members as teachers. And not didactic teachers, but embodied teachers. And a little more on the way that we transmit in Soto Zen, and specifically here at Zen Center, there's this phrase in another of our sutras that speaks about the wind of the family house, the style of the family, the style of the teaching, which for each school describes the the style of practice, the atmosphere, the flavor of practice, and the guiding spirit, how we ground ourselves in practice.

[12:03]

And for Soto Zen, for me, my understanding is that that's Shikantaza just sitting, Zazen, learning from the experience of our predecessors, alive or not, and the idea of practice enlightenment, that every moment of practice is a moment of enlightenment and that it never ends, that it's a circle of practice and a circle of enlightenment. It's always present and it never ends. And what's transmitted? The big book of ancestors, the transmission of the light, is just that. It is a list of biographies of people who may or may not have existed, teachings that may or may not have been transmitted in real life. And it's the transmission of the light. And that's what we're transmitting to each other, is the light of humanity, the light of enlightenment. And that was just really helpful for me, is seeing the ancestors in that way as guides to how I can experience the light in myself and in others.

[13:11]

Even though most of the ancestors in The big book of ancestors are male. I have been able to see them as archetypes of humanity, and that's been very helpful. Some of my reading that's been helpful is Hongju, Cultivating the Empty Field, which is essentially prose poetry, and that was something else that had not been in my life. I had been a lab scientist and a clinical genetic counselor for decades, 30 years. And there are many people who have those types of jobs who also play the cello and sing and read poetry, but I was not one of them. So I really didn't have this in my life until I came to Zen Center. And so learning through poetry and prose poetry and sutras has been very... It just touches me really deeply.

[14:17]

It's a very different type of learning than memorizing the genetic diseases and their symptoms, which is important but different. And from Hongzhu, this quote really speaks to me. All beings are your ancestors. Fully appreciate the emptiness of all dharmas. Emptiness in this sense being no continuous self, no inherent ongoing being. Then all minds are free and all dusts evaporate in the original brilliance shining everywhere, transforming according to circumstances. Meet all beings as your ancestors. I use this a lot on the bus, which is one of my many sanghas. I spend a lot of time on public transportation for my work. And seeing all beings as someone who may have been my mother, as many people say in a previous life, or as a member of the family, as an ancestor.

[15:19]

It's a really wonderful practice. It's a really wonderful practice. And it's fascinating to me how many other people on the bus who may or may not be Buddhists seem to have the same feeling. When someone starts to get on the bus and is having trouble, four or five people will hop up. I see really a lot of kindness on the buses, and that's really inspiring for me. So again, Master Dogen's vow, which is what we read at the beginning, is a slightly different translation here. From this life throughout countless lives, we vow with all beings to hear the true Dharma. Hearing it, no doubt arises, nor is faith lacking. Meeting and maintaining it, We renounce worldly affairs and together with all beings and the great earth attain the Buddha way. So this is a more expansive view of ancestry including the entire earth.

[16:24]

And it also includes, inherently includes, that all beings possess Buddha nature or inherent awakening. We tend to think of practice and enlightenment as a linear process. We practice, we become awakened. Then we practice more, we become a little more awakened. But in Soto Zen, our understanding is that it's a constant practice, that it's a circle, not a linear practice. So from Dogen, each moment of practice accompanies enlightenment, encompasses enlightenment, and each moment of enlightenment encompasses practice. Practice and enlightenment, process and goal, are inseparable. The circle of practice is complete even at the beginning. I just find this really, really encouraging. That was one of the things about Soto Zen that was very different than other aspects of my life. Like, you're already here when you get here. You're already inherently awakened.

[17:30]

I did not have a religious upbringing. However, I had very religious neighbors who believed in original sin, and I always had a big problem with that. So I appreciate this being explicitly a part of our practice here. The circle of practice enlightenment is renewed moment after moment. You just let enlightenment unfold. So faith in the sense of trust or confidence is already present. So this faith and vow, again, underlies everything that we do, whether we are conscious of it or not, whether it's a religious practice or a non-religious practice, a formal ceremony or embodied practice. Vow is an expression of what already is, even if we aren't aware of it. Buddhas and ancestors of old, whereas we in the future we shall be Buddhas and ancestors,

[18:34]

Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. As they extend their compassion freely to us, we are able to realize Buddhahood and let go of the realization. So the idea of ancestors as compassionate and extending compassion to us was also enlightening. for me, rather than thinking of ancestors as static lines, static individuals. Again, thinking about that we are our ancestors. This has to do with Dogen's idea of time. And this is a Dogen quote that's going to follow.

[19:38]

Time isn't something that just passes from past to future. And here's what he has to say. Know that in this way, there are myriads of forms and hundreds of grasses throughout the entire earth. And yet each grass and each form itself is the entire earth. The study of this is the beginning of practice. When you're at this place, There is just one grass. There is just one form. There is understanding of form and non-understanding of form. There is understanding of grass and no understanding of grass. Since there is nothing but just this moment, the time being is all the time there is. Grass being, form being, are both time. Each moment is all being, the entire world. Reflect now whether any being or any world is left out of the present moment.

[20:41]

So all of time is present in every moment. All beings in all worlds are present in every moment. The Buddhas and ancestors of old are in this moment. We as Buddhas and ancestors of the future are in this moment. Future Buddhas and ancestors are in this moment. We are one Buddha. and one ancestor, which is how we can be each other's ancestors. This also speaks to, I think, one of the cultural challenges that I had. And this is a thought from Zenju Earthland Manuel, who has a beautiful book on the shamanic bones of Zen. Her point is that understanding the present moment in this way shows why it's a mistake for Westerners, including me, to be in a big rush to perhaps not engage with the Asian ancestors.

[21:45]

If I'm removing the Asian ancestors out of my present moment, then I'm missing the present moment. That was a really interesting insight for me, that it's not for me to... It's not for me to say who's legitimate, and it's in the same way not for those ancestors to say whether or not I'm legitimate, which was underlying, I think, a lot of these questions, is am I a legitimate Buddhist in this lineage? All spiritual and religious paths are ancestral, and of course Buddhism is an ancestral practice. Buddha is our most revered ancestor. However, there were Buddhas before Buddhas, So I can belong. I can belong to this lineage. It both precedes and includes all of us. So what's happening when we make an offering, we bow, we chant the names?

[22:46]

We're making a mark in the world. We're offering ourselves, our lives, to practice, to awakening. And we're making a mark of awakening for everyone. Referring again to the difficult question of legitimate lineages and individuals I would like to exclude from my lineage, I realize it's important to remember that I wouldn't be here in this case without that individual. And so even if I would like to completely disown that person due to their wrongful actions, I have to acknowledge that that person is part of the lineage. And they are an ancestor. I also have chosen to consider other individuals as ancestors, teachers, mentors, dear friends. And that's equally valid.

[23:55]

That's equally legitimate. They're equally ancestors. Ancestor practice can be encouraging if we can really feel the strength and compassion of Buddhas and ancestors within us right in this moment. If we can really take it in, really feel it, and then allow it to radiate out to those around us. Also, when I'm making an offering and when we're... Being a ceremony together, it's not just for us. It's partly for us. We give, we receive. The experience is transformative for us in the moment, and we're also providing that moment for others who are not physically present. We're giving, we're offering, we're receiving simultaneously. Ancestral practice here is an embodied practice.

[25:00]

It's a wordless expression of devotion. It's something that we do every morning, opening the temple, beginning zazen, ending zazen, every time we pass an altar, every time we bow. It's an act of spirit through the body, an embodied practice has been very sustaining for me and very encouraging, wordless embodiment. And living in Sangha has been very encouraging in that way as well. And Zenju makes the point that when we're making an offering in a sense, we're not so much doing something as being led to an alignment with the unseen, the inexpressible, and the unsurpassable. And this idea of alignment really speaks to me. I really do feel that practice is allowing me to align with my essential self and the essential self in other people, even though I know that there is no continuing self.

[26:14]

It's the Buddha nature. And when we're performing these practices and embodying them, everyone, all the ancestors are inherently with us, even if they're not physically present, because we wouldn't be here without them. So in summary, the practice of honoring the transmission of the light confirms for me that we're all connected. We're all fundamentally okay. And this results in joy arising in practice. Joy in the alignment of vow and practice and the embodied experience of interconnectedness, which is love. Continuous practice is the circle of the way.

[27:17]

The power of continuous practice confirms you as well as others. Your practice affects the entire earth. And I'll close with a final reading of part of the Sutra. We vow with all beings, from this life on through countless lives, to hear the true Dharma, that upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith, that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma, and that in doing so, the great earth will and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. Buddhas and ancestors of old, whereas we, in the future, we shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. As they extend their compassion freely to us, we are able to realize Buddhahood and let go of the realization.

[28:25]

Thank you for your kind attention. 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. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[28:56]

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