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. Thank you Kodo for your introduction and thank you Nancy for inviting me to give this talk. And I would like to start by saying how happy I am to see everybody's faces and names on my little computer screen. And I wish everybody a very happy Lunar New Year, the year of the ox. So happy Lunar New Year where you are. And I would also like to dedicate this talk to Sojourn Mel Weitzman Roshi, who passed away on January 7, earlier this year.

[01:22]

And It's been over a month now. And within the past couple of months, our Sangha community also welcomed two newborn babies. So there has been a lot of things that happened. in the past few weeks. Sadness, happiness, and mourning, and celebration. And in this cycle of life events, everything seemed complete. And tonight, I would like

[02:28]

to say something about the Lunar New Year, especially the upcoming Lantern Festival, which is the first full moon in the Lunar New Year. And so in China and many regions in the world that celebrate Lunar New Year, the celebration starts usually the week before New Year, and it lasts for a while, and it kind of goes on until... The first full moon, which is a couple of weeks after the new year.

[03:32]

And that's like the grand finale. There's a big celebration around that time. And so the first full moon, it symboled symbolizes light and togetherness. It brings people together, brings family and friends together. And in many parts of the country or the town or the city, people will set up these festivals or lantern festivals where people come together and see the lantern displays, and families come together and they make tangyuan, the mochi balls, and they eat tangyuan, and that's, you know,

[04:54]

The roundness symbolizes union, completeness, being together. And so during the holiday, there's a lot of these things happening. And children love it. Children love to go to the lantern station. shows, the lantern fairs. And I remember when I was a kid, and there would be different, there would be several different places in the city where I grew up, Guangzhou or Canton, and in different parks, there would be lantern shows. And And not only, you know, all the colorful, beautiful lanterns, but also there could be like dragon and lion dances, and there will be food, and there will be the kind of fun part is, one of the fun part is to get the lantern riddles.

[06:20]

So on the lantern displays, oftentimes they hang riddles, and they're called lantern riddles. And then if you figure out what it is, you can go to a booth to get your reward. And oftentimes those are candies. And so it's also kind of a brain exercise for kids. and adults. And so it's a lot of fun. So, there is a famous poem about the Wellington Festival, was written by the Song Dynasty poet, Xin Qiji. It's probably one of the most well-known poems about Lantern Festival.

[07:29]

The title of the poem is called The First Full Moon Night, Yuanxi. Sometimes it's translated to just Lantern Festival because they are the same. And so... In this poem, it describes what's going on at the festival, the things I tried to describe earlier, but he says it in a much more elegant way. By the way, Xin Xiji, his family name is Xin, but Xiji, his given name, means dispelling illnesses or dispelling diseases. So I thought it would be auspicious to quote his poem tonight for the new year.

[08:36]

So the poem was written to the tune of Green Jade Table. Because in Song Dynasty, a very popular form, poetry form, is called ci in the Song Dynasty. And the poems are written according to certain tunes, certain patterns, so that people can sing it. And so it's more melodic, more musical. And comparing to the more popular form in Tang Dynasty that are a fixed length, I personally like the ci form even more because of the musical sound to it.

[09:45]

And... So the poem starts by saying, one night's east wind adorns a thousand trees with flowers and blows down stars in showers. Finds these spread fragrance in root. Music travels from the phoenix flute. Across the sky, the moon sheds its full light. while fish and dragon dance all night. So here it talks about fish and dragon dance all night. You know, that describes the fish and dragon lanterns. Kids are waving them. And so that's just how delightful it is. And... the lantern festival also gives us a lot of lantern riddles to solve.

[11:04]

And some of the common riddles, they are in Chinese, they are kind of hard to translate because, you know, They want you to guess certain characters or certain names of the places or names of people in history or in modern world. And so it's hard to translate these riddles. But for example, a riddle might say, what is... long-lasting peace, and it's supposed to for a name of the city. And so it's the name of Xi'an, but it's not the current name. It's the name in ancient time, which was Chang'an, long peace.

[12:11]

And so you kind of have to know just a little bit about the history and about the characters to get these riddles. But during this time of Lunar New Year month, I have some of my own riddles. Because of pandemic, I have not been able to go back to China for quite a while now. I want to say for a year and a half now. I usually go visit my parents and family twice a year. But since the beginning of last year, I have not been able to go because the border is closed. And so during the holiday time,

[13:15]

I would get a little homesick. And some of you might be able to relate to this. Whether it's the Western holiday or the Eastern holiday, something comes up, which is very, very close to our heart. And so, yeah, so I was a bit homesick the past few weeks. And I was, you know, talking to my family a lot, and I was thinking about my friends in China a lot. And so the question came to me, where's home? What is home? Since I'm so kind of missing home, I mean, I have a home.

[14:18]

I have a shelter. I have a place to live. And I love where I live now. Still, there is a sentiment that I would call homesickness. And so my lantern riddle for this year is was, where is home? And so I walk around it, walk around with it, and it comes to me when I cook, comes to me when I walk, where is home? And One day, I started to, well, I read poetry.

[15:30]

I read classical poetry on and off. I go through phases. But lately, I started to read more. And so, I read a lot of poetry by Su Dongpo or Su Shi, who lived just a little earlier, also from Song Dynasty, but he lived about, let's say, 100 years before Xin Qiji, who wrote the Lantern Pong. So Su Shi was... Well, he was probably the most admired and accomplished poet in Song Dynasty.

[16:34]

Also a photographer, a painter, a government official. And he was... Many, many, many things. And his poetry was quoted oftentimes by Zen masters in their teachings, including Master Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan. So I was reading his poem and also his stories. And one of... One of the stories really caught me. So Su Shi went through many ups and downs in his life, depending on the ruler, the emperors, the rulers.

[17:47]

of the dynasty of the court, he, depending on whether he agree or disagree with the rulers, he was named high officials and he was sent exiled. So he was, he had ups and downs many times and he was sent to And the very southern part of China at that time was very remote. Three times in his life. And during those times, he suffered a lot. But he also was very resilient and very... It kind of stimulated him. his heart and his art, his poetry.

[18:54]

And so one time, he came back from one of these exiles, and he met with a friend of his who got exiled at the same time he was, but to even further down south. further remote and harder, you know, places with harder conditions. So his friend was named Wang, his name was Wang, Wang Dingguo. So Wang Dingguo also returned from exile together with his female companion. And so Su and Wang were good friends.

[19:56]

So they got together for tea and music. And Wang's partner was an accomplished singer, musician. So she played music and sang for Su. And Sue was surprised to see them, to see that they didn't look like they had a really rough time. They looked even younger. And she looked... even more beautiful. And in his poem, he says, when she smiled, well, he wrote this poem to this lady friend whose name is Ronu.

[21:07]

And he said, when you smile, it looks as if you... Your smile carries the fragrance of the blonde blossoms from the southern mountain. And so the story goes that Sue asked Ronu, the musician. Well, I thought in the South, life is quite difficult. difficult for you. It must be. You know, also for Chinese people, when you're sent away, so far away, far away from home, I mean, it's very hard for them. And so, so the lady friend answered, wherever

[22:12]

My mind rests is my home. And so Su Dongpo or Su Shi was very touched by her answer. And so he wrote this poem for her that says, basically describes the conversation. Life is difficult in the south, wasn't it? You said, where this mind settles. Where this mind rests is my home. Where this mind rests is my home.

[23:15]

And when I read it, it just brought me to tears. And, you know, I read these poetry many times, but this time around, it just stride a chord more than ever. And... So part of my practice is to copy classical poetry with calligraphy. And I started to do this when I was very young. And so it comes back to me sometimes.

[24:19]

couple weeks I sometimes I just pick up the brush and copy these poems and it seems like they seem like a threat they seem like threats that take me back that can take me back to China and take me back to to places and to the history and to the connection that I long for. And it brings me a lot of comfort. And so where is home? Ronu said, where my mind rests is home.

[25:23]

And maybe this riddle has many answers. And maybe where connection, where there is connection, there is home. And... So I'm jumping back to the earlier part, the Lantern Festival poem by the other poet, Xin Xiji. So he continued to say, to describe what was happening at the Lantern Festival. In gold-threaded dresses with moth and willow hair ornaments, giggling. Girls disappear with trails of sand.

[26:28]

A thousand times I search for him in the crowd. When all at once I turn my head, he's there where lantern lights are dimly shed. So sometimes we we keep looking for something, we look for something, we search for something. And sometimes, sometimes we find it where it's most surprising. Or sometimes we find something else. Sometimes the riddle gives us a different answer, not the answer that we're looking for.

[27:31]

I'm going to read it in Chinese. Thank you. thousand times I search for him or her or them or it in the crowd when all at once I turn my head he she they is are there where lantern lights are dimly shed

[28:49]

What is home? What is my riddle now? What is your riddle at this point? I hope that we find discovery. within the search, within the questioning. And as the first full moon, the first full moon night is approaching, that's going to be Friday, the first full moon in lunar new year, to end my talk with some words from Sojin Roshi.

[30:19]

He often likes to talk about light, and so this is a line from one of his talks. Zazen means to open yourself to be a vehicle for light. So may the first full moon shine through you and take you to new discoveries. Thank you very much for being here with me tonight. 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.

[31:19]

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