This is the high part. We're right here. One, two, three, four, one. When one with the best wisdom of the heart That is beyond discriminated fight The Holy One, great Kante on Bosatsu, knew that the skandhas might work as they are in their self-nature, void, unstained, and pure. O Shariputra, form is only pure. Pure is all form, there is then nothing more than this.

[01:08]

For what is form is pure, and what is pure is form. The same is also true of all sensation. thought, activity, and consciousness. O Shariputra, here all things are pure, for they are neither born nor do they wholly die. They are not stained nor yet immaculate, increasing not, decreasing not. O Shariputra, in this pure there is no form, sensation, thought, activity or consciousness, no eye, ear, nose, tongue,

[02:20]

Body, mind, no form, no taste, sounds, colors, touch, or objects. Vision none, no consciousness, no knowledge, and no sign of ignorance. Until we come to where old age and death have ceased, and so has all extinction of old age and death. For here there is no suffering, nor yet again is there accumulation, nor again annihilation, nor an eightfold path, no knowledge, no attainment. In the mind of the Bodhisattva who is truly one with wisdom, greatly obstacles dissolve.

[03:28]

And though alone beyond his human mind he is Nirvana. All the Buddhas true of present, past and future they are all. because upon great wisdom they rely, the perfect and most high enlightenment. The prajnaparamita one should know to be the greatest mantra of them all, the highest and most peerless mantra too. A layer of all pain, great wisdom is. It is the very truth, no falsehood here. This is the mantra of great wisdom here. O Buddha, going, going, going on beyond, And always going on beyond,

[04:39]

always becoming Buddha. Hail, hail, hail. Thank you very much. So there was a Dharma event, as advertised.

[05:50]

On this day that we're thinking about the birth of this person who became our founder, a thought crossed my mind that after he realized the truth he didn't say at least we didn't hear about him saying now I'm going to teach everybody this truth and he didn't say everybody's got to learn this truth and we're going to get rid of everybody who doesn't see this truth and my disciples are going to eliminate everybody who doesn't line up with this truth. He didn't seem to talk like that. So he had this insight which is related to truth, this awakening related to truth.

[07:11]

But the way he taught his disciples was not to hate any living being. Even if they hurt us, even if they hurt us very badly, My disciples will not get angry and will not hate them. So he not only realized a wonderful truth which made him very happy, but he taught his disciples not to hate each other or other people of other persuasions. Okay. So anyway, I really appreciate his teaching of nonviolence.

[08:18]

There's other teachers who realized wonderful truths, but they didn't teach nonviolence so strongly. Maybe they did teach it, but their disciples thought they said, you know, go to war for this religion. But he was very clear far from it, never hate anybody no matter how bad they are to you, was his very clear message. And although the people who relate back to him as their founder innovated greatly on the teaching, he was very clear about that point and no one could ever, can ever find any sign of him ever not being very clear about non-violence. So it's a wonderful start. And this practice period has been whatever it was, and there were some times

[09:37]

when I think some of the people had some difficulty with each other, some painful difficulty, I'm tempted to compare this practice period to other ones. And if I compare it, I would say that there really wasn't much at all compared to other ones. This was really a non-violent practice period relative to other ones. But I'm not going to compare. In Zen style, I'm not going to compare. But I still want to recognize that there was some difficulty among us. There was some pain. We had to practice patience with each other at some times. And there were hard times, but still, unless I was really sheltered from what was going on, and I do get sheltered to some extent, but usually I find out something eventually.

[10:51]

And what I found out was that we did pretty well. We didn't hate each other much at all. That we were nonviolent. And... And that has something to do with us, I think, studying well the truth and learning something, taking a few steps into the awesome depth of the bodhisattva practice, the awesome depth of the teaching of emptiness. So we were patient, although we can get better. We were patient with each other and with ourselves. And that's great. Nothing's greater. I want to... Of course, yesterday was a Chisou ceremony, and we all...

[12:09]

saw the celebration of our wonderful Shuso and again I thank him for all of us for doing such a wonderful job which was not that different from the way he was before Shuso or the way he'll be afterwards again I'm not comparing him to anybody else but he was a splendid Shuso and it wasn't that different from his daily practice. So it's wonderful that he will continue through the summer here as an ordinary monk flying into the land of flies, happily doing the lowest work in the true spirit of a Zen monk. And There wasn't a ceremony for the Tanto yesterday, but the Tanto also did a splendid job.

[13:18]

Really, as you know, took special care of many people who, during hard times, she was there to help them. Really, has a lot of energy to help people. It's wonderful. and also it wasn't that different from before the practice period and it probably won't be different this summer she'll be moving among you helping you out when you have a hard time probably and as usual for the 73rd practice period Leslie was the director and smoothly arranged so many things so that various worlds meshed and the practice went along very smoothly due to her careful attention to all the little details.

[14:28]

Thank you so much. And Galen sitting next to her leading the the maintenance crew or a shop crew who are taking care of the physical side of the place, maintaining the equipment so nicely, especially the swimming pool, which I almost got attached to. And again, not only did they Not only did they take care of everything really well, but they were very strong in the zendo. And sometimes the maintenance department freaks out and runs away from the zendo at various points. But somehow they were steady in their formal practice, even though they took care of the plant, which is amazing.

[15:34]

So I thank you and your crew. And the Sheikah, Kathy, also, and also assistant director, always helping everybody, sometimes too much. But, you know, not too much too much this time. You let people do a few of their own jobs. That's good. Thank you very much. And this is the last practice period she's going to do for a little while, so... Last formal Tatsuhara practice period for a while. So this is wonderful that I could be here when you were here. And the tenzo.

[16:37]

And, of course, the whole kitchen staff. As I said before, not only did the kitchen go well, although again, there was difficult times, but they're all still here. And again, the zendo, the kitchen was so steady in the zendo. It was wonderful. I hope wonderful for you also to be able to continue your zendo practice so intensely while doing all that meditation. physical work so thank you so much and um and charlie uh the the treasurer was also the jisha so he did his treasurer job which i don't know too much about But again, things seem to be going so smoothly.

[17:38]

And he also was a Jisya, as you know, and, you know, spent a lot of time being Jisya, being open to you, receiving your requests, organizing all those 475,000 dog songs. Yes. that took a lot of work for him to coordinate that that was a major thing but it's wonderful again that he was able to take care of all that and still sit cross-legged and work on his sitting through the practice period and develop sitting practice even though he had to coordinate all that so thank you so much for both your jobs and the head of the garden. The gardens look wonderful. I look forward to seeing them burst forth in radiant life.

[18:43]

And thank you for coming to the Zendo, even though the spring calls you. And the Eno. I felt that Zendo was very strong, very well organized. He led the Daons very well. The ceremonies were so smooth, especially like the Nirvana ceremony was very complicated, and he organized things like that so well. So thank you also, and thank you all the Daons. You did a splendid job, really. You thought I forgot? Did I take the Benji yet? The Benji not only did the regular Benji work, but was the, what do you call it, point person.

[19:46]

on the owls making this practice period the true owl practice period the owl shoe sew and the owl cookie so people will always remember this practice period thanks to thanks to your special creative touch thank you so much and then there was an anja where's the anja? next to the Benji and the Anja well he just was like not to compare but so sincere and always wanting to help any way he could and sometimes just a little bit attached to being helpful one time I told him I'd make my own lunch and he got a little upset but He really gave up himself to do the job.

[21:09]

It was never like, well, can I take care of myself a little bit? Give me some space. Don't ask me to do another thing. When I was done asking him, he asked, what else can I do? What else can I do? Now, I don't know if Burt was like that before the practice period started. Was he? Yes. He was? Fantastic. So, there he is, folks. An available bodhisattva. If you need anything, there he is. With tremendous stamina. And then, what do you call it? Last but not least. I don't know if it's last, but anyway. Another one is the person who organized all the work. Liz. And, well, Liz is another open-hearted bodhisattva who completely gives herself to her work. And you're also part of the reason why everything went so smoothly.

[22:13]

So we thank you very deeply. And hope you can continue the nice balance between be almost impossible to maintain balance between your formal practice and your work practice when you go to Green Gulch. Green Gulch doesn't have quite as much monastic support, but I hope you can approach what you've done here. And yes? Thank you for thanking me for the shot, but actually, even though I was the Andre for the generator, David Verders was the chief shot, and he actually responded to everything. You do? David, thank you. I was wondering what you were doing. And then, oh, and Susan, too, also particularly helped me. very thorough and skillful and ready to help all the time.

[23:21]

Thank you so much. So, and the rest of you, I mean... Anyway, not to compare you, but I really do thank you for taking such good care of me. I hope that... you treated me honestly and that you were able to say what you wanted to say but it's not too late if there was anything you didn't get a chance to say you can say it now I'll sit down if it's too much so it's It's a matter of continuity now. If you can just achieve continuity, that'll be wonderful. And that's my intention, is to continue the practice that we've been doing here.

[24:29]

I don't know if I'll be able to, but that's my intention. And it's a very, having such an intention is a great joy. Having even to be able to think of it is a great joy. and I will continue to practice patience and I will continue to practice shamatha and vipassana when I have shamatha and I will continue to practice giving myself to all beings and I will continue to observe the precepts as carefully as I can this is my intention I continue to be enthusiastic. I intend to continue to be enthusiastic about Buddhist practice. And I intend to continue to enjoy the gift of concentration which all the Buddhas are giving to me.

[25:30]

And I intend to continue to devote myself to the wisdom of the Buddha. And I intend to always remember the wonderful intention which lives here to attain Buddhahood so I can be a more skillful servant to all beings. That's my intention. And if you don't have that intention, I'm waiting for you, patiently, to join the Bodhisattva Club. I'm not in a hurry. Queen Razi, thank you so much. You were such a good sentient being. You helped everybody a lot, didn't you?

[26:33]

Congratulations on your first practice. She wanted so badly to get into the center. So, yes. And Mary and Mark R.B. and Chuck. And Mary and Mark R.B. and Chuck. We miss them. But in all three cases, I think it was, seemed like it was fine. I would have been, not felt so good about Betsy leaving. Where's Betsy? Yeah. I wouldn't have felt so good about her leaving, and she didn't.

[27:42]

In their cases, it seemed like it really seemed best for them to go, and it somehow didn't seem best for Betsy to go, so it was nice that she could come back and finish the practice period. And I also want to just say briefly that a special kind of recognition of the fact that we have two women here who are older than me. Lee and Elka are older than me. And I'm older than most of you. Oh, and you're older than me, too. And they're way older than me. You're too close, I'm sorry. You're too close. Okay. I'm talking about the women. I don't know. I think Lee is almost 70. And you're almost, you're over 70? 65. And Gordon is 61. So anyway, this practice is, you know, you know what it is, and they did it really well, and I want to especially notice that they were able to, two of them do their first tatsara practice period very well, and I could do another one, and it's great that somehow we can have this range of life, not just the young people, doing such a physically challenging practice.

[29:27]

So, Anything else that we should bring up before we do our formal closing ceremony? Yes? You know, I've been really looking at what I'm afraid of, and I've found that one of the things is just I have this fear that you don't realize how much we appreciate you. And I just really hope that you do. I think that's all I wanted to say. Well, thank you for saying that. Now, do I... What are you afraid of again? That I don't... I don't what? Realize how much we appreciate you. Well, I don't know if I do or not, but I just feel, I really didn't mean it when I said, thank you for taking care of me, because I do kind of, I get it. I get it that no matter what you do, no matter what you do, I get it. that it's love.

[30:33]

I get it. People are mean to me sometimes. Real mean. They hit me and slug me. But I understand it's love. I understand it's love. It's all love. There's nothing but love. I get it. And I also get that people are beating me up sometimes, too. And sometimes I say to my wife, you're so mean to me And she says, but you're thriving. Do you know what thriving? Thriving. Thriving. Thriving. Do you know thriving? Oh, yes, sure. It means like growing. It's like you pour water on the plant and it thrives. So my wife is mean to me. That is bad. No, it's not. It's not.

[31:35]

Because it makes me grow. It's good for me. Really. Do you... You're not married yet, though, right? No, absolutely not. So maybe... Growing well, not just growing. Yeah, growing well, right. So anyway, I do get it. I do get it. I do get it. But sometimes it's so intense, the love, that I do stagger sometimes and have to sit down. It's so much. You're so kind. And you guys aren't the only ones that have been loving me and kind to me. Buddhas have been kind to me. many old Zen teachers have been kind to me I am here because of kindness and you are too so I get it but do you?

[32:41]

do you understand that we all love you? that's another question Buddha's disciples love each other they help each other They don't hate each other. And they have difficult times, and they have pain because they're not completely enlightened sometimes, but they're helping each other. That's our Sangha. So I hope we live a little while longer so we can study together some more. Because it's getting deeper. It's getting deeper and deeper. It's good now, but it's going to be nice to get deeper and learn, open up new frontiers of reality and suffering and love and compassion and practice and realization.

[33:43]

Don't you think so? Isn't it great that we have this wonderful frontier to walk forward? Now we can go do our Nenju style ceremony, except at the end it won't say Hosan. It'll say end of practice period. All right, so let's go pay our respects to each other one more time.

[34:12]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_80.21