Fifth day of Sashin. I could be saying today is the 106th day of Sashin. Today is the 9,994th day of Sashin. Anyway, today is the fifth day of Sashin. And it means that Sashin started an infinite number of days ago. and it will continue an infinite number of days in the future. But the level of ease rises as we drop the things that we came in with and settle into the rhythm of standing, walking, sitting, and lying down. The rhythm of activities that are provided by Sashim, whether they're a lot of activities or very few activities, provides a kind of trellis. or ladder for us, something that allows us to take a form that we can all agree on.

[01:14]

And because of that is a very safe place to look at what hasn't been looked at and to take care of what hasn't been taken care of. As Rosalie said, When this day is done, our life also decreases, that we don't know what the next moment will bring or the next period, the next day will bring. Can we practice today throwing our entire body and mind into the practice and taking care of ourselves completely as if there were nothing outside, nothing inside, nothing down, nothing up, just this. And so today I would like to speak about that kind of radical intimacy, the intimacy that leaves nothing behind.

[02:19]

We've been studying it the entire practice period, and yet if we were to study it for practice periods or for a lifetime, we would still have an infinite number of things to study. Yeah, so Zafus may be too high for the bench. You might need just a support cushion or something. I don't see any extra ones, but anyway, keep it in mind. So this intimacy is our transmission. It's what Suzuki Roshi came here to give us. And it's what we get to give to our friends during the seshin and also after the seshin, when we go out of the door into the great wide world. This is what we have to offer, this intimacy that leaves nothing behind.

[03:24]

And particularly when we know we've left something behind or something out, for us to be able to admit it and then to let it in. That's our practice. Dogen Sanji said in the Genjo Koan, you know, it's deluded people who have ideas about enlightenment. Awakened people or enlightened people, what they're enlightened to is delusion. So there's nothing shameful about recognizing our limitations. We're built to have them. And as a matter of fact, that recognition is what gives meaning. It's the content of our waking up. So it doesn't matter whether something's your fault or whether something's not your fault, whether it's given by the condition of your body or by your psychological limitations or by who you learned how to be nice from.

[04:27]

None of that matters. What matters is that we're here and that we understand the preciousness of human life and the beauty of human life and know that we're seeing it through a limited lens. Our limitations become our form. We wouldn't have a form. We wouldn't have perception. without our limitations. But knowing that they're limited, knowing that we're deluded, allows the light of the universe to shine into us and to save us. Just like a stained-glass window needs the letting for the pattern to glow, that's us. Here are some koans which have to do with the transmission of our lineage.

[05:36]

A koan means public case, and it means someone's story is being held up to us. In this case, these are stories about actual teachers transmitting the Dharma to their students who then became teachers and transmitted the Dharma to us. This book is called The Denko Roku. the record of transmitting the light. Some people say transmitting the lamp. And it was written by Kezon Zenji. Kezon Zenji was, you know, we recite, And Kezon was the person in our lineage who took the teaching and made it accessible. So he... gave Dharma transmission to several women, for instance, and he developed ceremonies that we're still using today.

[06:37]

So he's a very, very interesting teacher, and he's the founding teacher of Sojiji. And so he put together a list of the enlightened teachers up to Ehe Dogen, up to Cohen Ejo, Dogen Zenji's disciple. And so the generation before him, and he showed the transmission from Buddha to his time in these transmission stories. So the Kohanejo was the 53rd ancestor, the 53rd transmission from Buddha. And this one is about 12 generations before him. Dungan Gwangju. We say Dungan Kanshi in the chant. So the 41st ancestor was great master Dungan, the latter.

[07:44]

And he studied with Dungan, the former, Dungan Dohi. Okay? So Dungan Kanshi was... having Dogasan with Doan Dohi one day. And this is the question he brought. The ancients said, what worldly people love, I love not. What do you love, teacher? So that was his question. He sat down, he bowed, he sat down and he said, ancient teachers said, What worldly people love, I love not. How about you? And so Doan Dohi answered, I have already been able to be like this. With these words, Doan Kanshi was greatly awakened.

[08:50]

So being like this is what his teacher said. And then, later on, when Doan Kanchi grew up and became a Zen teacher, he was giving Doga-san one day, and his student, Liang-shan Yuan-guan, Liu-san En-khan, came to see him. So now, the person who was enlightened by true love, was able to give Doga-san to a student whose name we still remember. So the forty-second ancestor was priest Ryo-san Yangshan. He studied with Dungan the latter and served him.

[09:52]

Dangan asked him, what is the business beneath the patch robe? But Yuan Kuan had no answer. Then Dangan said, the teacher said, studying the Buddha way and still not reaching this realm is the most painful thing. Now, why don't you ask me? And so Ryozan Enkan said, what's the business beneath the patch robe? And Dongan said, intimacy. The master was greatly awakened. Okay, so how it happened was that no one knows where Ryozan came from, Ryozan Enkan came from. But he showed up at Dangan's place after Dangan was already grown up and being a teacher.

[11:02]

The student, Enkan, showed up. And after a while, Doan Kanshi asked him to be his jiko or jisha. And so as the jisha, Encon was responsible for the robe and bowl. So he would carry the robe and the bowl. At that time, the robe and bowl was the sign of transmission. Later on, we gave that at ordination, but we don't have one robe and one bowl that is the sign of the lineage. It's more the robe and the bowl in general are the sign of the lineage. But... So Dangan entered the hall, and he was supposed to wear his robe. So when it was time, Enkan brought the robe to him.

[12:05]

And as he took the robe, Dangan said to Najisha, Enkan, well, how about underneath the robe? What's the business underneath the robe? And Enkan said, He was floored. He didn't have an answer. And so the teacher said, well, when you study the Buddha way and you still don't reach this realm of being like this, that's the most painful thing. So, in other words, he's implying that the business underneath the robe doesn't matter what you wear. Underneath it, you're supposed to be like this. Okay? That's what he's saying, that that's the business of practice.

[13:11]

And so he said, that's the most painful thing. Now, why don't you ask me? So N. Kahn said to the teacher, okay, what's the business beneath the patch robe? And Tongan said, intimacy. And Nkan, again, was floored, but this time he was crying with tears of gratitude. He woke up. And he cried so much that the tears wet his robe. And so the teacher, Tongan, was moved and he said, now that you have woken up, can you express it? And Enkan said he could. So Tongan said to him, what's the business beneath the patch rope?

[14:15]

And Enkan said, intimacy. And then Tongan Intimacy. Intimacy. So as you can feel from this story, the business beneath the patch rope is of the business of nourishment, nourishing the intention to wake up with everyone and everything. It's not a complicated thing. Well, I have something to say about not being complicated. You know, Mrs. Suzuki used to live here. Suzuki Roshi's wife stayed here for 12 years, 22 years, 1971 to 1993. 22 years after Suzuki Roshi died.

[15:23]

So she was living where Blanche and Lou live now. Blanche is in the dining room. Hi, Blanche. So she was staying where Blanche and Lou live now. And she used to invite me over for breakfast sometimes. And probably she invited Tia and Michael, too. And so we would have a great... It was a real East-West breakfast where she would make usually miso soup and toast with, you know, that petit moment jam or marmalade. And she really liked the red kind, like raspberry or strawberry. She liked berries. And sometimes we would have a piece of melon. And then she would also have miso soup, green tea and miso soup. And the thing about her miso soup was that it tasted really good.

[16:28]

She would make it right then. And so we'd be in the kitchen, and you'd see her just, and she wouldn't put too much in it. She'd just put one or two things in it, and then she'd bring it to the table, and it tasted really good. And I said, Okusan. Okusan means wife, and that's her title. So I said, Okusan. your miso soup always tastes so good. And she said, oh, it's simple. And you're like, oh, this old thing. And I said, but, oh, son, when I make miso soup, it doesn't taste like this. And she said, she looked at me with scorn, and she said, simple, not easy. And So, you know, think of how many things go into Oga-san's miso soup, besides miso and water.

[17:31]

You know, how many thousands of generations of transmission from Japanese mother to Japanese daughter went into her miso soup? And besides her mischievousness, her mischievous sense of humor. Who knows? Yeah. Intimacy. I was getting to that, but... But I don't know that it's a character, do you? It is? It's an actual character for intimacy? And I was going to not know, but I'm glad you know. But also, Lou's name, Lou's Dharma name translates to... intimacy. He has that mitsu in his name as well. And it means, it kind of means under the surface, but it also means intimate.

[18:32]

So, like, her sense of mischievousness is part of the intimacy. You know, where it seems like she's being really serious, but underneath she's quite, she has quite the sense of humor. Like, for instance, one time I was in tea ceremony and I was sitting there and making tea. And I took the little scoop, and, you know, everything in tea ceremony is done really, really exactly. There's a very precise form. So I took the little tea scoop and the little tea bowl, and then my hand shook, and the tea spilled on the floor. And... You know, she had corrected me many times in tea ceremony. She hit me with her fan. Quack. But this time she just looked at me and she said, Now, seppuku. Seppuku is a ritual suicide where you wear white and then you take a sword and you kind of go...

[19:46]

you know, and that's it. Anyway, that's her sense of humor. So her mischief was part of her miso soup. And, you know, she probably was not shy about slipping a few, you know, this is a vegetarian household, but she probably slipped a few bonito flakes into it when I was looking. And then she would put a green onion but it had to be just the right... You know, she would pick the green onions. If they were too old, she wouldn't use them. So she put in a little green onion and maybe just a little bit of daikon or something else, or a green seaweed, something that was in season. And so by the time you received that miso soup, it was like... The gift of today, the gift of this moment, it was so incredibly wonderful to sit in her kitchen and have that toast and tea and miso soup.

[21:02]

Her tea was like that too, where she would gently warm the pot with hot water. She said, you weren't supposed to use water that was hotter than 180 degrees. And she put the leaves in and she wouldn't shock them with the boiling water. But she would just, she'd say, you have to keep the tea leaves happy when you make tea. And so she would put that in and then let it steep for the right amount so that when she poured it into the cup, it would have the aroma and the taste of... And so she was really the person who was living here who was teaching us how to see the beauty of human life moment after moment. Another one of her teachings, in the morning, she would brush out her hair.

[22:04]

She'd wash her hair and then she would brush it. Or she'd comb it. until it was dry, and then she would brush it. But she would come down into the courtyard, and her hair was very, very long, probably still is, and it didn't have any gray in it, even though she was in her 60s, early 70s. Her hair didn't, maybe one gray strand. And as she combed her hair, she would comb a little bit, and then she would walk around the courtyard and say hello to all of the birds and all of the flowers one by one. She would greet them. And one time I asked her about it and she said, those are my friends. So she noticed things about today and that was her teaching. So

[23:04]

Let's see, where is that bit of the story that I was talking about? Here we go. In the previous story, here we go. So in the story about intimacy, the teacher says, studying the Buddha way and still not reaching this realm is the most painful thing. How true. Even if you demolish your meditation seat from prolonged sitting and persevere mindless of fatigue and are a person of lofty and spotless conduct, if you haven't reached this realm, it will be hard for you to escape the prison of the triple world.

[24:14]

Even if you possess the four kinds of eloquence and the eight sounds and your preaching covers everything like mist, your speech rolls like the waves in the sea, your Dharma preaching astounds heaven and earth, and you make flowers rain from the sky and make rocks move still, if you have not reached this realm, old Yama, Lord of the dead, will not fear your eloquence. Even if you practice for an exceedingly long time Exterminate thoughts and still your emotions. Make your body like a withered tree and your mind like dead ashes. Mind never reacting to external things and never losing mindfulness when confronting events. And even if you become liberating while sitting or die while standing, and you seem to have acquired independence and freedom with regard to life and death, if you have still not reached this realm, All that is 100% valueless in the house of the Buddhas.

[25:16]

Thus, an ancient said, our predecessors all considered this business, under the patchwork road, to be the one great matter. Thus, the first patriarch of the Soto lineage, Dongshan, asked a monk, what is the most painful? And Dongshan answered, hell. Hell is the most painful. He said, hell. Dongshan said, nah-ah. I mean, he said, no. Winning the road but not clarifying the great matter is the most painful. So if you put a little spirit into it, you'll do fine and not give in to a life of peace and tranquility either. or violate the spirit of the Zen community. The ancients said, if you wish to be able to take care of this matter, you must stand on top of the highest mountain and walk about on the floor of the deepest ocean.

[26:22]

Then you will have a little life. If you have not yet figured out this great matter, you must constantly tread the dark road. So it means you have to go to the top of the mountain, you have to go to the bottom of the ocean, which means you have to explore who you are 100%. And this is the great matter. So basically, robes and not robes, or hair or not hair, or sesshin or not sesshin, is a matter of externals. It's nothing but a change in appearance. Ultimately, you are like everyone who has ever done this practice before. So in the final analysis, when your breathing stops and your eyes close at the end of your life, your spirit will still be attracted by objects, by pleasant and avert from unpleasant.

[27:33]

And you'll still flow through the world, you know, if you haven't realized what you came here to realize. I've seen people on their deathbed since I started practicing as a priest. My practice is to attend to people who are sick or dying. And I've seen people, you know, at the last moment of their life basically say, oh, no. You know, I didn't do what I came here to do. Okay? So even if you get a lot of wholesome stuff through your practices, if you don't do what you came here to do, you'll just be like a wheel that turns and turns and doesn't get anywhere. So basically, don't struggle pointlessly. You know? It's not a matter of working harder and harder.

[28:37]

It's not even a matter of working smarter and smarter. It's a matter of being in this moment, this moment, this one. You know? So, how do we do this? So, this practice period we've been studying Avalokiteshvara. And what Avalokiteshvara means, when we say a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, or ten thousand hands or ten thousand eyes, it means you have to abandon everything. And to find Avalokiteshvara, you have to be like the, you know, the labs where people work with infectious diseases, which are just basically, there's holes in the wall with gloves, and the hands reach through the gloves. You have to be able to let those hands reach through you and use these hands. Who is Avalokiteshvara?

[29:42]

Who do you think Avalokiteshvara is? So don't even seek the realm of Buddhas, much less have much less be attached to love or avert because of loathing for anyone or anything. Just look directly within, or I don't even say within, just look directly at this moment. There was without a doubt something that has no particular characteristics of whom the body is like space, which is in everyone and everything, like pure water that's clear to the bottom, in which fish swim like fish, and like the vast sky that's transparent everywhere, in which birds fly like birds.

[30:46]

You know, it doesn't get in the way of a bird being a bird or of a fish being a fish, okay? I hope these words don't mislead you. So Suzuki Roshi talked about it. You can read about it in the chapter called Readiness, Mindfulness, where Suzuki Roshi says, it's because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we're disappointed when we find everything only has a tentative existence. But when we actually realize this truth, we will have no suffering. So it says, Avalokiteshvara observes that everything is empty. Thus, he or she forsakes all suffering. It's the Heart Sutra. But it's not after Avalokiteshvara realizes that Avalokiteshvara overcomes suffering. You know, it's the realization itself that is the relief from suffering.

[31:55]

Does that make sense to you? I don't know whether it makes conventional sense. The realization of the truth is saving us from suffering, and that means letting ourselves be woken up by suffering. Okay? So, Suzuki Roshi says, whether you... Let's see. He talks about this prashabdi, this quiableness. The most important thing in understanding is to have a smooth, free-thinking way of observation, to think and to observe things without stagnation, to accept things as they are without any difficulty, mind soft and open enough to understand things as they are. It means on their own terms. It's not necessary to make an effort to think in a particular way. That's one-sided. Just think with our whole mind and see things as they are without effort.

[33:00]

Just to see and be ready to see things with our whole mind is zazen practice. Okay? The point is to be ready for observing things and to be ready for thinking. It's called emptiness of mind. And emptiness is nothing but the practice of zazen. Thanks for going to the kitchen. Thank you. Okay. So if you need to, I brought in a chant. If you need to change your position, please do. This chant uses the bell, and everybody in the room will be unfamiliar with this chant, including the Doan. So this is, could you hand some of them out? Could you hand some out and give one to the Doan? We might have to share because I only made a certain number. And this chant was developed by Sunyana Grafe, the abbot of the Vermont Zen Center.

[34:08]

And it was so, it's so much like a cheer about Avalokiteshura that I thought it might be a good one to do. It's from the Lotus Sutra, from the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, but she wrote it out in blank verse. Okay? If I had time, I would also talk about the Enmei Juku Kanan Gyo, but I'll do that some other time. So instead, let's chant this. Let me tell you a little bit about how she creates the meter of this. So Janine... Thanks for being a good sport. The little triangles are where you hit the big bell. Okay, so there's arrows that go up and arrows that go down. So the arrows that go up, you take your voice a pitch up. The arrows go down, you take it back to where it was. A single line, like hear her name and see her body.

[35:12]

It's an emphasized line in the meter, like Mary had a little lamb, like that. Okay? And two lines means hold it for two beats, like bear her in mind. Okay? Shall we start? The Little Sutra Scripture of Kahnseon Bodhisattva. In verse, Mujini Bodhisattva asked, world-honored one, possessor of all grace, for what reason is the heir of the Buddha named Kansayan? The world honored one answered to in prayer. Listen to the actions that Kahn say on which have their application to all her vows. Deep like the ocean, a fathomable rover, help us pass. A myriad of Buddhas she has truly served and made a great pure vow.

[36:14]

If you hear her... a little higher, okay? I think we started too low. If you hear her name and see her body and bear her in mind, your life will not be in vain and you will end up suffering. If someone wants to hurt you and pushes you into a great fire pit, if you think I'm the power of Kansai on the fire pit, you'll change into a pond. If your cats will drift upon the vast ocean and move danger from dragons, fish, and demons, if you think I'm the power of Kansai on the waves, we'll not drown you. Wait. Wait. Let's do it like this. If someone wants to hurt you and pushes you into a great fire pit, if you think on the power of Kanzeon, the fire pit will change into a pond.

[37:18]

If your calves adrift upon the vast ocean and meet danger from dragons, fish, and demons, if you think on the power of... Do it like a cheer. Let's start if you think on the power after the dragons, fish, and demons. Okay? If you think on the power of Kansai, the waves will not drown you. If from the peak of Sumeru, someone would push you down. If you think on the power of Kansai, unlike the sun, you will stand firm in the sky. If evil ones chase you and push you from Mount Diamond. If you think on the power of Kansai, the waves will not drown you. Wait a second. Camilla, would you be willing to do the makugyo on the lines? Thanks, Tia. Great. Tia is a master drum person.

[38:18]

Okay? So we're going to start with evil ones chasing you as soon as Tia comes. Okay. This evil one... If evil ones chase you and push you from Mount Diamond, if you think on the power of Kansai on... Okay. Is that good? Do you need a... Is that too... Yeah. If evil ones chase you and push you from Mount Diamond. If you think on the power of Hanzeon, not even a single hare will be far. If rabbits surround you, each with a surge round to strike. If you think on the power of Hanzeon, compassion will awaken in them. If you suffer by royal command and your life is to end, In execution, if you think on the power of conflict,

[39:23]

the sword will be broken to bits if you are imprisoned shackled and shamed if you think on the power of khanzeon the feathers will drop and you'll be relieved this salmon wants to injure you with curses or poison if you think on the power of khanzeon these ills will return from whence they can if you need for Racha, poisonous dragons or demons. If you think on the power of Kansaeon, they will not dare to harm you. If you are surrounded by evil beasts whose teeth and claws are fearfully sharp, if you think on the power of Kansaeon, run away in boundless retreat. If vipers, woes, or snakes or scorpions threaten to scorch you with poisonous wreaths If you think on the power of Kansai, they will turn away quickly at the sound of your voice of cloud, thunder, and lightning flashes of hailstone speech and rain pours down.

[40:36]

If you think on the power of Kansai, immediately they will vanish away as sentient beings are in great adversity and immeasurable. Pressles them down. The wonderful power of the wisdom of Kanaan can relieve the sufferings of the world. And doubt with sense and in power. Full master of wisdom. Scareful means in all the worlds. In the ten directions. There's no place she doesn't manifest herself. Sufferings of those in the troubled state. Where with hungry spirits and beasts. Sufferings birthed. In Milton Jett, all my degrees are by her. Show you as a children. Show you as a pure gaze. Gaze of good and encompassing wisdom. Gaze of pity. Gaze of compassion. Ever wronged. Forever revealed.

[41:37]

It's a spotless, pure ray of light. A sun of wisdom. Dispelling darkness. A door of walls. A storm and fire. The rumining all the world. The world of compassion. Shakes like thunder. her mind of mercy is like a great clap. Sometimes we do a dharma reign to quench the flames of earthly desires. Ring bell. In the spirit of sleep or judges in the midst of battle, if you think on the power of Kahn-Zayon, all enemies will flee away. She has the wondrous voice, the voice of one who perceives the world, a brawn, a voice, voice of the rolling tide, a voice unsurpassed all this world. Therefore, you should always think on her. Have no doubt, even for a moment, the pure seer Kanteon will be a refuge.

[42:42]

Suffering distress or the mystery of death, she is endowed with every quality eye of compassion views all sentient beings her ocean of blessings is beyond measure therefore you should honor us to her when judging birth he stopped for a road to be for the food and arrested us Honored one, they who hear the scripture of Kanzi on those thoughts and hear of her deeds and transcendent power, small amounts of merit will they gain. Put your hands in that show, please. When the Buddha taught the scripture of the life and work of the all-sighted one, all present then in number 84,000 strong, with all their hearts cherished a longing for the supreme enlightenment with which nothing in all the universe compares.

[43:50]

All Buddha tells directions three times I honor one's bodhisattva Mahathassas with them beyond with them Mahathrasya Uh-huh.

[44:27]

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