Good morning everyone and welcome. And for anyone who may not know me, my name is Tenzin David Zimmerman, and I'm the Abiding Abbot here at City Center. And it's my delight and honor to be able to welcome our speaker today, the Reverend Giyoke Yokoyama. And I'll just say, I first had the pleasure of meeting Reverend Yokoyama about four years ago at the Sota Center Disassociation in a meeting that we had in New York. And I was immediately struck by his great warmth, his openness, his kindness, and his seemingly endless good humor.

[11:01]

So it has continued to always be a joy to reconnect. So just a few words of introduction. Reverend Yokoyama currently serves as the Kokusai Fukuyoshi or the International Missionary. of the Sozenji Buddhist temple in Montebello, California. He is also the secretary of the Soto Zen Buddhism, North America, as well as a board member of both the Association of Soto Zen Buddhists and the Soto Zen Buddhist North American Association. So he's basically very steeped in the cultivation of Soto Zen Buddhism on this continent. And Reverend Yokoyama previously served as the minister of the Long Beach Buddhist church, which is a non-denominational Japanese-American Buddhist church. And prior to that, he was the abbot of Iwoji. ...anniversary of Soto Zen Buddhism in North America.

[12:12]

So, Kyoki-san, I'm so glad that you're able to join us here again today. Thank you very much for your dharma and for your dharma friendship. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for the introduction. And good morning, everyone. It's wonderful to meet you and see some of you. And good morning, everyone. I suppose there's a time difference. So thank you for joining us on... Zoom, I hope I'm looking at the right direction. My name is Gyoke Yokoyama, and it's such a pleasure and truly, truly an honor to be able to share the Dama talk today. As David kindly introduced me, I come from Montebello, Los Angeles, slightly east of Los Angeles. But I often commute to the Sotozen office in Los Angeles. And currently, I don't have a car, so I've been taking trains and bicycles. So that's been my new transportation.

[13:15]

Now, before I get to talk a little bit about my background things, I'd like to mention why I'm here, which is more sharing this joy of the centennial celebration for which we are having this jukai, a grand jukai ceremony coming up in November. And unfortunately, because of the restrictions and everything, and also the capacity of the venue, we have to limit the participants number down to 100, for which I think Taiga-san is here. Yes, Taiga-san, who is from Soto Zen Buddhism International Center, is thoroughly taken care of. Also, I'm here on behalf of also representing Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office which is one of the branch offices of the headquarters of Soto Shu in Tokyo. There are office in Paris, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and one in LA, and there's one in Hawaii as well.

[14:18]

So they have more of a provide us with this global perspective in a larger scale what's happening. And I believe now knowing this whole encompassing of activities of San Francisco Zen Center. I hope you can also teach us what's happening in the world in the Zen community. And yes, so now it's wonderful to see not just this community, but all the different communities. I just had a trip to New York and went up to Washington and I see the sign of people reopening the communities and sort of carefully and also very considerately to the members of the communities, and see the sign of the sort of momentum, strength coming back. 1922, right after 1918, the pandemic sort of subsided.

[15:24]

And of course, that was after World War I. The first Soto Zen temple was built. which started from the second floor of one of the devoted members in Los Angeles by Reverend Hosen Isobe. So when we look at the beginning of this first community, it's been exactly 100 years. And needless to say, during the last several decades, Soto Zen Buddhism penetrated, went to all corners of this continent and beyond through various Zen teachers, both from East and West. And so for that, we'd like to sort of share this milestone. And as we move on to the next century, I'd like to sort of share a certain perspective that I have.

[16:25]

Not so much from as an interpreter or secretary of the office, or rather as the former community temple abbot who happened to be able to serve part of the Sotoshio communities in Japan. Before I start to share what I wanted to share today, Coming to San Francisco Zen Center, especially city center, reminds me of how I, although I grew up in a temple community, I had a time I stayed away for multiple reasons related to my family from the practice and the temple. Then I came back to this practice through the encounter of a German Jesuit priest who was practicing Zen in Tokyo. And when the place they were practicing Zen at the time, it was very much like this.

[17:28]

There's a silence, tranquility, and warmth. So this building always brings me back that memory. So thank you again for having me. And I'd like to share from this. I have a little quiz for you. This is a symbol of Soto Shu, a Soto Zen Buddhism in Japan. I wonder if people in Zen can see this as well. Yes, it's good. So one symbolizes Eheji, and the other one symbolizes Sojiji. So Dogen Zenji's temple and Keizan Zenji's temple. Do you know which one? Because I personally was a little confused for a while. This one? Yes, this is... The Eheiji Temple. Yes, thank you. So this mark, this crest is for Eheiji Temple.

[18:30]

Dogen Zenji's Temple. And the other one here is Keizan Zenji's Sojiji Temple. Taiga-san from the Inxoto Zen Buddhism International Center. He trained there. I went to Eheiji. So we train in different temples. Now, The Sozenji Temple that I currently serve is one of the branch temples of Soziji Monastery. And here's a question. How many of you are quite well-versed with, or knowledgeable about Dogenzenji? How many of you know Dogen? That's very Japanese. Dogenzenji. How about Keizanzenji? Ah, okay. Well, thank you for your humbleness. I asked the same question at each community. And then most people raised hands with Doga and Zenji. And I saw maybe slightly less than 10% of people raising hands when I asked about Keizan and Zenji.

[19:36]

To me, I have a way or how I take these two symbols is something I wanted to share a little bit. around the time of my grandfather, I think, because he was one of those people. There was a movement in Japan where the Shaka Muni Buddha's teaching, the wars, sort of came readily available in the modern version of text. So there were some movements that I saw in my grandfather's generation, wanting to go back to the pure teachings of Shaka Muni Buddha. And he was among such people. So when I think of Shinju Suzuki Roshi, Hakuya Maizumi Roshi, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, Kobo Chino Roshi, all these teachers who came around that time. I kind of see a little trace, the connection between what was happening in Japan and how the pure form, pure practice of Zen was embodied in this continent.

[20:45]

And so that's something I sort of sensed. And I reconfirmed this when I served Zen this non-denominational Japanese-American temple, Longreach Buddhist Church, which was built also by this teacher, Kosai Osara, who had this idea of bringing back the pure Buddhism, pure form of Buddhism. So therefore, that was a non-denominational Buddhist. When Dogen Zenji went to China and studied Zen and brought back this practice, he didn't mention or he didn't address, he didn't call this practice Zen, let alone Soto Zen, as you know. It was the words, the true teaching of the Shakyamuni Buddha.

[21:51]

Only around the time of Kezan Zenji, They started to call it Soto Zen or Soto Shu. So my way of taking it, it's from a very, from a perspective of average priest, is Dogen Zenji's spirit. One crest that we have here symbolizes integrity, that true, pure, sincere intention and practice of Zen Buddhism. Zen. And the other Christ of Sojiji, Kezan Zenji Spirit, to me represents the soft, flexible, open ability to merge into the existing cultures or embrace diversity. That's my personal take, of course.

[22:51]

Yet, As a Soto Zen school, we compare Dogen Zenji to a strict father figure who teaches us the core of this practice, while Kezan Zenji is often compared to a mother-like figure who embraces differences, shares his practice openly with diverse communities. Now, I'd like to share a little bit about what I saw growing up in my community. And it's not exactly the same image, but I'd like to share some images. And again, I hope people on Zoom can see this as well. Kezon Zenji was known not only for his dharma, but also his ability and commitment to training his students.

[23:55]

He trained excellent, excellent students. And they went to all corners of Japan and spread Soto Zen Buddhism. And that's why we have Soto Zen Buddhism widely available in Japan. And in one way or another, all of us come from Kezan Zen tradition, his students. Yet, we go to Ehage, myself included, to train and learn this tradition. spirit of Eheiji. And we come back to the community and then sort of follow the community's tradition, each slightly different. I have, again, a quiz for you. Are you familiar with all the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? I wonder how many of you now can identify this image? This was one of the things I was asked often from my grandfather.

[25:00]

One clue is that this Buddha is holding a pot. I wonder if you know this. This pot has medicine. So this is medicine, Buddha. Medicine. I grew up chanting the mantra of Medicine Buddha. The temple I grew up was supposedly made in mid 700s. And then it sort of started to go down as a community. Then in 1500s, it was converted to Soto Zen Buddhism. That's what came back alive. We still have the story of Soto Zen monk who came around that time. And the whole community supported him. And he made his teacher the honorary founder of this temple. But originally, our temple was an esoteric Shingon Buddhism.

[26:08]

So when we chant sutras, Soto Shubuk, if you look at it, we honor Shaka Muni Buddha, Dogen Zenji, and Kezan Zenji. But you also have this section where it says, whatever... image you enshrine in your temple. We pay respect equally. And that's because when Kezanjan students were going everywhere to spread the Dharma, there already had been existing faiths, existing customs and traditions into which they merged, they mingled, they accepted. And that's another That's one aspect of Soto Zen Buddhism. If we go to the head monastery and train the same form and the same sort of a mindset, I would say that's half of who we are as Soto Zen priests.

[27:09]

Then other half gets trained as we go back to our community, to go back and then nurture that distinct, still connected, the practice of Soto Zen Buddhism. And that's the part of aspect I wanted to always share, but haven't really been able to fully. So I took advantage of this opportunity. And for the same reason, I want to ask you again this question. Are you familiar with this statue? Yes? Oh, thank you. Yes. Oh, yes. Right. I didn't have to bring this image. Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha. Namu Amidabutsu. Namu Amidabutsu. Right in front of the temple's presence, the property was a pond called Amidaiki, the pond of Amitabha Buddha. That also shows the sign of what people respected prior to the arrival or around the same time of the arrival of Sotoza and Buddhism.

[28:18]

And when I was commuting in elementary school days, always walk in front of this pond, and we pay respect to Amitabha Buddha. How about this image? I wonder how many of you know. Dainichi-nyorai. Dainichi-nyorai. Mahabharachana. The main image of Shingon Buddhism. We didn't have Mahabharachana in a temple. But one of the community halls that we always went to, to honor the tradition, had Dainichi Nyorai. So we always paid respect to Dainichi Nyorai. This is slightly different, but I'm sure if you've ever been to Japan, have you seen this image? Very muscular statue. Kongo Rikishi, Kongo Rikishi, is one of the guardian of the Buddha Dharma. In Zenshuji Temple, where we are having the 100th anniversary, we have a fellow priest, colleagues, Toho Sensei.

[29:26]

And he's actually an American football player as well. He's very masculine. So I suggest you find him if you have a chance to go there. Then along with the tradition of Shingon Buddhism, we always enshrined, yes, Kukai Kobo Daisu. And this is also something we always had in the community. It's hard to see. I'm sorry. It's a cluster of statue of foxes. Yes. Do we have it here? No. Oh, you do? Okay. Yes. They are the messengers or retainers of the Dakini, goddess Dakini. I have an image of the goddess Dakini. Yes. It's just one of the images we have. So this goddess used to be a wicked one, but then it got converted to Buddhism by Akala.

[30:28]

And actually, she's enshrined in a place, one of the, not anymore, but used to be one of the training monasteries of Soto Zen Buddhism. So we have the temple of Ura, Dogen Zenji, and Kezan Zenji. And then right next is a shrine where we enshrined Dakini, another deity of Buddha Dharma, the guardian deity. And of course, we have this image of Ojizawa-sama, Kustigarva. And so when you grow up again, I guess in elementary school days, on foot, it took about 40 minutes from my temple to the school. And every 10 minutes, you encounter Kustigarva. for various reasons. Sometimes they place a kushigalva to commemorate those who passed away, but we are taught to pay respect to Ojizawa-sama each time.

[31:30]

We faithfully did so until maybe we turned 14, 13 or 14. Yes. And we also have another goddess, Salasubati. Salasubati. Often we find her in the lotus pond. Another deity or Buddha Dharma. And just a couple more, we have Avalokiteshvara, Kwan Yin. Then we have Fudo Myo O, Fudo Myo O, very fierce looking. Interesting thing is he's another manifestation of the Mahabharachana. It's something to think about. There are also deities of Ashura who specializes in battle, fighting.

[32:34]

He used to be a wicked one. He's a guardian. There are so many different statues, manifestations, expressions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We grew up. So when we chant sutras and we say, all Buddhas throughout space and time, all honored ones, Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas, personally, this image always comes back like a flashback. Now, I'm not an academic person. Of course, you can study these statues from an academic point of view. But what I wanted to share today was what it does to a small children's mind when you grow up. And this is the main Buddha that I wanted to introduce. It's this. Do you know any Japanese animation? Yes? It's called Anpanma.

[33:38]

If you grew up in Japan, maybe you watch this. I know Taita-san and Doga-san, they have small children. So do they watch them? Anpama? Yes. So it's really for a small children's show. Small children's show. And you can kind of see his face here. His head is actually made of a bread with a bean, sweet bean paste in it. So I'm trying to explain it. So it's kind of like a chocolate croissant maybe here. Does that make sense? And we have all different characters with different expressions. Some are a little short-tempered. Some are really cool-headed, and some are very gentle, and some are a little more aggressive. But they're all sort of friends in this picture. And there are also little mischievous ones, too. But they're also part of the pictures. If you see a little subcultures, even pop cultures in Japan, you might kind of see this little diversity, which is, of course, universal.

[34:42]

especially in a country like the United States, we have such diverse diversity. But often what I sense as more a cultural nuance is these different expressions of how they are. The creator of this animation, the Anpanman, the character, his name is Mr. Takashi Yanase. He particularly made this creed. So this character is derived, I hear, from the concept of bodhisattva in Buddha. You know, I saw the sign, Black Lives Matter, at this temple when I was coming in. In the United States, we have words, justice, justice, in such diverse community, such. The way Mr. Yanis explained justice is very interesting. He says, when we do justice, we commit ourselves to justice, we somehow have to know that we might get hurt.

[35:50]

He might get hurt. The Anpanman that I just introduced, what he does in the show is he sort of patrols. He can actually fly. And whenever he finds someone in trouble, he goes right there. with no hesitation and reach out to them, help them. And if he finds, usually in one episode, he manages to find someone who's hungry. So if he finds someone who's hungry, what he typically does is he takes out a portion of his head and says, here you go, you can eat this. So when I watched this the first time, like, wow. So that's how it goes. But then whenever he gives a portion of his head, he loses power. and he get defeated. He often doesn't win, he loses. Mr. Yanasa says, for him, the word justice has a slightly different meaning.

[36:58]

Justice is not something where the super powerful hero defeats these enemies and villains, but rather the way he sees it is the most boldly person with the most average skill, knowing that they might get hurt will still commit themselves to do this. So inevitably, you may get hurt, you may get overwhelmed, you may get defeated, or you may just burn out. But knowing you do not get bothered a bit, you do not mind this. So this character Anpaman, although it's a small children's animation, he does not hesitate when he reaches out to people in trouble because he simply cannot help it. He doesn't do this because it's part of his role or responsibility or that's what he's supposed to do, but he simply cannot help but reach out to them.

[38:02]

So The creator, this character says, that's sort of the body mind, the Buddha mind, body mind. Because he does this not because it's a work, but we sign up for it. Because that's his life, he does this. You know, Sotoshi practice comes with certain intensity, as you all know. We commit ourselves to do this. Japanese Sotoshi Monastery, Eheiji Sojiji Monastery, if you go there, It's very intense. Sometimes people look at Japanese people like, yeah, we're supposed to be hardworking people, hardworking, committed, responsible. It's a nice way to put it. But sometimes we get to be a little bit workaholic. Again, depending on what perspective you look at this from. Self-sacrifice. self-sacrifice. We sacrifice a portion of a life for the practice, sacrifice a portion of a life for the work.

[39:09]

I suppose we can say the same thing about average, I mean the general, general work, work in general. When somebody asked Mr. Yanase, this is a children's show and one Pan Man takes out of his portion of his head, wouldn't that be a self-sacrifice? But then Mr. Yanase says, no, this is not a self-sacrifice. And that's because when he gives out a portion of his energy for the sake of others, he's not doing this out of this. He's giving his portion of energy to somebody else. There's a subtle difference in the nuance. When there's that slightest, most subtle, sign of hesitation or draw withdrawing that's what makes the practice the self-sacrifice they say that bodhisattva's practice is not a self-sacrifice so when you get that point it becomes the act of giving as we always chant the giver receive and gift

[40:29]

Because when his head is missing, he takes out a portion of his head to someone, nothing really is missing there. And then Anpanman embodies this understanding in a children's show. So if you ever have a chance to watch it, you'll get it. Like there doesn't come with this impression that it's somebody sacrificing themselves. So he gives out his energy and he gets supported by other folks. And so it's a good lesson for us watching this show In Japanese, I have this word here. Yes. We have a word. Kakugo. Kakugo. How many of you learn Japanese? Are you interested? Kakugo. Kakugo. These are two symbols. Kakugo shimasu. I would usually interpret and translate it as, I'll make up my mind. I'm determined to do something.

[41:32]

If you look at the letters carefully, each letter has the same meaning. Same meaning. To realize. To awaken. These are two same letters. To be truly determined means to awaken, to realize. That's how we see the practice of Bodhisattva. I came here sort of to ask for or hoping that we can build more friendship and connections. And that's always been our wish, personally, but also as an organization of Soto Shu. I'm sure you must have seen many priests come to this temple past up to the present. I also did, personally, intercultural communications study in this Jesuit school and Catholic school in Tokyo. They learn the local language.

[42:34]

They march themselves to local cultures and try their best to learn the way of life locally. Then they share their value. So in my opinion, building friendship, building trust requires more than just gentle nature. It requires kaku. It requires this tremendous level of kaku. And I hope that walking over the threshold, the 100th anniversary, we can continue to cultivate our friendship. And this Jukai happening in November, in a sense, mostly led by the Samaritan leaders, supported by the Japanese priest. It's interesting when you see the prep meeting, everything is happening in English. I've never seen it happen this before, right? and the japanese priests are committed to support american teachers and always there's always this sort of input in backward you know backward uh back uh back and forth back and forth in a sense this symbolizes the independence of soto zen buddhism yet at the same time building this friendship partnership

[43:59]

So on one side, it might look like you're separating the way there's Eheji Monastery and there's Sojiji Monastery, each different hip temples. But in another sense, it is building this connection. So it might sound contradicting in one sense, but that's what these are the qualities of Soto Zen Buddhism. And to me, that's what this two crests symbolizes. And it takes kaku go to me. And I say it is sort of giggling, but it does. And it gets sometimes uncomfortable. It takes sometimes a little challenging. But that's what it is. That's where this practice of this two embodiment of the spirit happens. Now, with that spirit, I'd like to share a little bit of Reverend Kosai Ikera, who was supposed to come to this place originally. And so... but because as a representing, as a delegate of Soto Shu, but unfortunately he couldn't because of the pandemic.

[45:07]

So here I am as a substitute teacher, but I still had an honor to translate his message, which I'd like to share a little bit. Can you wish happiness to those who drop bombs in your town? Can you wish happiness to those who threaten the life of your family? Can you forgive those who hurt your most beloved child and wish happiness to them? There's no way. I have a child with Down syndrome, so I can relate to that in many ways. However, we recite in the practice, may this merit extend universally to all. We say all, we mean all. including the ones we hate, the ones who hate us, the ones whom we can't possibly forgive.

[46:09]

Yet, we say universally to all. And it includes all such people. Reverend Ikeda here says, the hardships of the cold weather, it's something that's beyond our power. like this pandemic. It's not the cold weather that affects us. How we live our life is not a matter of if there is a cold weather or not. It is the matter of ourselves. What you bear on your shoulders would not make you a fool. What you bear on your shoulders would never block your path. Fear your own mind that wants to make you a fool. Fear your own mind wanting to stop this walk on the path. Reverend Decatur will share his story fairly recently.

[47:17]

He faced a challenge and he'll be sharing this. This talk is happening on May 12th, pretty soon at 6 p.m. So if you could join us, that'd be wonderful. I had a conversation with him. Last night? No, sorry, the night before. And he has been working hard to convey this message in English directly, which is also unprecedented. It just started happening last year. Now, with this, I hope I am not, I would like to share on this occasion, in case you miss his talk, the message from the head priest of Soto Shu. You can actually find his message on the website of Satoshi. But I wanted to share all this thought of mine and the message from Reverend Ikeda to fully share the message from the head priest. I hope you don't mind.

[48:18]

A message from the head priest of Satoshi in 2022. We're now faced with many difficulties and uncertainties, and our way of life is being questioned. The global spread of novel coronavirus has resulted in the loss of many precious lives, and people are in deep turmoil. International conflicts and civil wars, social problems such as poverty, discrimination, inequality, bullying, and incidents that take lives as well as natural disasters, and global environmental changes that have been occurring frequently in recent years, have brought about a crisis of survival for us all. What kind of way of life should we, who live by the teachings of the one Buddha and two founders, strive for? The Buddha taught us to live with wisdom and compassion.

[49:21]

Wisdom is the ability to realize the truth of life, which is animated by all things. Compassion is the ability to eliminate suffering and lead people to peace of mind with a heart of infinite empathy. With wisdom and compassion, we can be tolerant and accept each other's different standpoints. Kezan Zenji taught us to accept the sorrows and sufferings of others as if they were our own and to live in harmony with one another. This year, let us continue to deepen our human relationships by sharing, supporting, and caring for one another with cooperation, one of the bodhisattvas for embracing actions. Dogen Zen stated, although this Dharma is abundantly present in each person, it isn't manifested without practice.

[50:25]

In this way, he admonished us to carefully apply his teachings to our daily lives. Let us all join hands with the Buddha and proceed with the practice of a Bodhisattva by being familiar with Zazen and praying together to live peacefully so that no one in the world is left behind. In 2024, the 700th anniversary of Kezan Jokin Zenji, the founder of Daihonzan Sojiji will be celebrated. I hope that you will appreciate this precious opportunity to experience this Dharma connection and that you will deepen your faith together with us. Please put your hands together. Sorry. Homage to Shaka Muni Buddha. Homage to the great ancestor, Joyo Daishi. Let me just check time a little bit, if we have time.

[51:51]

Oh, it's already one hour. So I'd like to honor the schedule. Yes. 11.30, okay. Thank you. Then I have just one last message, which I thought is important, which I translated a day before I started this tour. From Shindo Aoyama Roshi, who is the current sater of Sojiji Head Monastery, the first nun who assumed this role as one of the directors of So head monastery. I found this message in the monthly booklet circulated, distributed from Sojiji Head Monastery. So it's a rough translation. I apologize in advance. Message as my will to the young monastics, the practice of gratitude. Shindo Aoyama, Seido of Sojiji Head Monastery.

[52:55]

Last fall, Ishizuki Zenshi, Geika, kindly asked me several times to consider assuming the position of Seido. And I shamelessly accepted this offer, despite where I was standing in terms of health. For the last several years, I suffered a series of serious illness. And also being at age 90, I feel ashamed and humbled when I think about how I could be useful when there's so little that I can do about my own health. Dr. Kyuki Ota, professor of Komaza University known for its study on Yogachara, once said, Buddhism talks about cause and effect, but there's only so much say that we have as for, sorry, but there's, we can only have so much say

[53:57]

in relation to the codes. And then there's almost not much to say, much say that we have regarding the effects. All we can do is to accumulate good causes according following the guidance of good teachers and following the professor's advice without asking myself about the effects results. I've been telling myself to do whatever I can do as a practice of gratitude. Blessed with this life, which went through multiple illness through all these years my age, I find each occasion where I convey my message to my students as an occasion where I can convey my will, which deeply touches me. Shaka Muni Buddha awakened to the universal and eternal truth.

[54:58]

Since then, 2,500 years have passed. And countless number of sages and ancestral teachers attained this Buddha Dharma, the teaching, through their body and mind, giving their whole life to the way and transmitting it through their Jinkaku Shoujo. through their characters, formation of characters and personalities, all the way to right where we are standing today. I sincerely wish that this light of Buddha Dhamma will remain undistorted and stay strong. I'd like to conclude this message today with her poem that she left at the end of this article. The flame of Dharma you have lit. Humbly and respectfully, I transmit to the next generation.

[56:10]

So that was a word from Shindo Roshi. Thank you very much for your time and sharing your presence. And thank you very much for your time and presence on Zoom as well. Bye. This concludes my Dharma talk today. Thank you. Thank you.

[57:17]

Thank you. If you would like to please come back.

[59:40]

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