every moment and everywhere. May we extend this mind over the whole universe so that we and all beings together may attain maturity and Buddha's wisdom. Anyone who's here today who won't be here tomorrow, I want to say goodbye and farewell, and thank you so much for your wonderful support in these great assemblies, these great Lotus Sutra assemblies.

[01:02]

And of course, any of you who will be here tomorrow, the same to you. Going over the narrative of the sutra again. So we have gone through the sutra. We arrived at the place, the chapter, which is called Beholding the Jeweled Stupa. We beheld it and experienced the great teaching of what our life really is that's implied by the images in the chapter on beholding the jewel stupa. We contemplated the necessity, the requirement of the visiting tathagata, abundant treasures, that if people want to see

[02:16]

her sitting in her stupa, then Shakyamuni Buddha has to bring all of his embodiments from the whole universe to be present. And I see this teaching as telling us what we are. Just as Shakyamuni Buddha is embodied throughout the universe, we too are embodied throughout the whole universe. And The sutra doesn't turn the flower in this way explicitly, but not only are we embodied throughout the universe, but the universe is embodied in us. Each of us is the embodiment of the entire universe. Meditating on this, settling deeply into this teaching of mutual inclusion, of the universe with the universe as our life.

[03:22]

We get to see abundant treasures, Tathagata, sitting in her stupa. Now Shakyamuni Buddha then joins her on her seat, and then we continue with the predictions and the assurances a Buddhahood given by the teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. So chapter 12, As we said before, devadatta receives prediction.

[04:25]

And the Buddha says, thanks to the kindness, to the good friendship of devadatta in the past, I was able, I have been able to master the six perfections of the bodhisattvas. Generosity, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. I've been able to master the four Brahma-viharas. loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy in the merits of others, and equanimity. The ten powers, the four methods of guidance, the four methods of embracing and sustaining all beings, the ten powers of the Tathagata,

[05:47]

and so on. All these things I was able to master by the kindness of Devadatta, who then, after all that kindness, Buddha didn't say this, but our history says, kind of slipped and got jealous and envious and tried to kill the Buddha on a number of occasions. But still, because of this kindness to the Buddha, this good friendship, Devadatta, even after these horrendous actions in this sutra, is assured of Buddhahood in the future. And also, the Buddha predicts his mother and his wife. who have become nuns and are wise women now, and he predicts them also to Buddhahood.

[06:53]

In chapter 12, then we go to chapter 13, and now the Bodhisattva's medicine king, and great eloquence come before the Buddha with their retinue of virtually innumerable bodhisattvas, and they make a great vow, the vow which is to live according to what Buddha recommends if you want to teach, which is to receive, Embrace, protect, read, recite, copy, and teach this sutra. They vowed to do it in Chapter 13.

[07:58]

And they vowed to do it after the cittagata, now, and also after the cittagata makes a gesture Now, I'm adding the word gesture. Makes a gesture of extinction. In a number of Zen liturgical expressions, Soto Zen, and I don't know about Rinzai, but often speak of the gesture of nirvana or the gesture of extinction. that the Buddhas and great bodhisattvas make gestures of extinction. Their disappearance is not ultimately true. It's a skillful means. The real nirvana is unsurpassed, complete, authentic awakening.

[09:06]

Anyatara samyak sambodhi. That's the real nirvana of this sutra. And in this sutra, there's also speaking of these provisional gestures of awakening which are given in order to benefit and encourage our practice. So, Medicine King Bodhisattva and Great Eloquence Bodhisattva make this vow together with many Bodhisattvas for the Buddha. And the Bodhisattvas tell the Buddha not to worry. Don't worry, Buddha. We'll take care of your teaching for you. they vowed to do so.

[10:16]

In the coming evil age, and then there's a description of the coming evil age, and I don't really think I need to tell you this description of the coming evil age, All you need to do is turn on the television and you'll see the description. It's CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, you name it, turn it on and you get to see. Now, even without turning it on, you might be able to see it, but many of us are kind of in quarantine or, you know, not running around much. So at Green Gulch, I mostly see bodhisattvas running around or walking around. They're mostly walking. But, you know, if you want to see the evil age, you know, it's out there to look at.

[11:30]

And so how, how to practice in the evil age. That is addressed in chapter 14. More instruction about how to live in a time like this. One person excused herself from this retreat because she wanted more addressing of our present problems. Well, I think this sutra is teaching us to address these problems by teaching this sutra and by practicing in a way that we will be able to teach this sutra. In the onslaught, in the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and outrageous misfortune, How can we make the vow and remember the vow and teach the sutra under these circumstances?

[12:36]

Well, first of all, in this sutra, these people vow to do so, they want to. That's the basic thing is you want to. If you want to and you vow to, you will someday, because you're gonna be a Buddha. In the meantime, you might want some instruction about how to walk the path of Buddha. So chapter 14 gives a little bit more instruction on how to do it. Chapter 13 is about, we're going to do it, Buddha. Mahapajapati and Yosadara, those two female monks, they say, you know, we're going to do it. we feel confident that we can do this bodhisattva practice and teach this sutra. Again, in chapter 13, Manjushri says, well, how? And Buddha explains. And, yeah, so in that chapter, there's

[13:47]

Buddha speaks of four practices or four teachings to use to teach this sutra in the coming evil age. Now, at that time, the Buddha was still alive. I guess he's kind of implying things are going to get worse after I make the gesture of disappearance. And what are these four? These four methods are basically methods of body, speech, mind, and vow. Those are the four teachings.

[14:50]

And under the first one, the Buddha says that the bodhisattvas dwell in peace with, number one, patience. You're gonna need patience in this world called needing patience or able to be patient because there's opportunities for patience. Number one, patience. Number two, gentleness. Number three, learn how to be calm in the onslaught. of arrogance and cruelty. It actually says in the sutra, excuse me, it says, always be patient, always be gentle, always be calm.

[15:55]

You can start with sometimes being patient, sometimes being gentle, and sometimes being calm. Don't act in a way that creates attachment that makes you get attached to things. Act in a way that you can take care of things without attaching to them. And contemplate and eventually be able to understand the real nature of all things. And under speaking about contemplating and seeing the real nature of all things, there's a little section which sounds very much like Prajnaparamita literature.

[17:02]

Yesterday I contrasted the Lotus Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutras. But in this section of seeing things as they really are, That actually sounds very much like prajnaparmita. Where I said, you know, in seeing the emptiness of things, you know, the bodhisattva views all things as empty, as they really are. Things by themselves should not be regarded as upside down or moving. coming or going. They are like empty space, insubstantial, beyond words, unborn, non-emerging, non-arising, nameless, formless, truly without substance, innumerable, unlimited, boundless, and without hindrance.

[18:06]

It is only through causes and conditions that they exist, only through the perversity that they are born. This is why I teach that one should always delight in seeing the character of things. So, the Lotus Sutra sometimes looks at things, looks at phenomenal existence, looks at things skill and means, just like the perfect wisdom scriptures do. But as I said, it then goes on to celebrate the phenomenal world, celebrate conventional existence in ways beyond what we find in the other sutras. But it also accords with them on how to meditate on emptiness. of all phenomena, and also saying that by this meditation on emptiness, this sutra is saying, you will then be able to delight in this emptiness and see and joyfully celebrate all form, all phenomena.

[19:27]

So this is, in some sense, the easy part of the first instruction in chapter 14, these practices. The next part's a little more difficult, actually a lot more difficult, and some people have referred to it. And it's basically talking about who to associate with. And, yeah. Yeah. I vow to discuss that section of chapter 14 with you in the future. It's kind of a naughty problem, or even a naughty problem. It's the teachings about associations. And bodhisattva's vow to embrace and sustain all beings, to live for the welfare of every single being. But this part of the sutra is pointing out that although that's true, it doesn't say that although that's true, but in the context of that, it says there's certain people you should not hang out with.

[20:42]

Even though you're devoted to completely work for their welfare, sometimes it's appropriate to not be physically or emotionally involved with them. And this is a difficult problem. It doesn't mean you don't have compassion for them. It just means you maybe don't bring up certain intimate issues with them that you feel they're not ready for or that you're not skilled enough to bring up with them. I think people have problems with this section because it sounds kind of mean because you're not associating with people. However, after it says don't associate with these kind of people and those kind of people, it repeatedly says, however, if they actually want to hear the teaching, then you can associate with them.

[21:48]

So it's not that you absolutely don't. It's just that before they want to hear the teaching, it may not be appropriate to basically associate with them. It is appropriate to view them with great compassion, with patience. Again, the previous thing, patience, gentleness, mindfulness, meditating on their true characteristics, being calm with them. Yes. But still, if they're not ready, Spend your time with people who are ready for the teaching. Don't give it to them before they're ready. Again, this is a big point in this sutra. Don't give it to people before they're ready. But be kind to them, but be kind to them doesn't mean you get intimate with them. If they're not ready for intimacy, or if you're not ready for intimacy because they're not ready for intimacy, if they're too immature, then...

[22:58]

Keep some appropriate boundaries going. So I guess a brief touching up on that point, which I am up for talking about in the future. I'd like to move on now. And then there's three more types of practices, practices of speech, practices of mind, and practices of vow. And those also I will discuss in the future. I'd like to move on then to The next chapter, 15. Oh, by the way, I remember one time I read that Dogen Zenji said that our practice, our Zen practice, he didn't say Zen practice, but our practice in the monastery is comfortable practice. And when I heard that, I thought, what?

[24:00]

Most of us were not comfortable in the monastery. It was really cold and we didn't get much sleep and so on. It wasn't exactly comfortable. So the road washed out and we didn't have much food. We didn't run out of food, but it got very simple. And we ran out of kerosene, so the rooms got dark and cold, colder than before. And it was raining all the time. We weren't comfortable. I thought, that's interesting. And I thought, well, maybe he means our practice is the comfortable way within an uncomfortable world. But I haven't been able to find the original of that statement, the Japanese original, to see if actually the characters in that statement are the names of the characters of this chapter. This chapter is called Comfortable Practices or Safe and Easy Practices. So these are the safe, easy practices to do in a horrendous situation.

[25:07]

This chapter is about the easy, safe, comfortable way to deal with this world we're living in, which is so difficult. This is the easy way to deal with it. Now, there's harder ways. There's ways which are hard, harder, because they just make things worse. But we're not talking about those right now. We could, but I'm not. I want to. Please excuse me. Then comes chapter 15, which is the chapter where many bodhisattvas who are, you know, there's a lot of visitors from all over in this great assembly around the jewel stupa. And some of the guest bodhisattvas say, don't worry, Shakyamuni, we'll help you. We'll help you take care of this sutra. And the Buddhist says, well, thank you, but actually... I actually have a whole bunch of bodhisattvas that you can't see that are available and already trained and they've already made their vows and they will help me.

[26:18]

And the visiting bodhisattvas say, well, where are they? And then suddenly this innumerable number of bodhisattvas break through the surface of the earth and appear. Oh, all these bodhisattvas are going to help. Okay, great. And then what's this thing about coming up out of the earth? Well, excuse the expression, your guess is as good as mine. But here's my guess. Number one, some of the bodhisattvas that are coming up through the earth are fungi. Actually the fungi, yeah, in the form of mushrooms. But underneath the ground, underneath the mushrooms is this vast, vast life system of organic bodhisattvas who are promoting life in this world, who are converting toxins into nutrients.

[27:24]

So these fungi are some of the bodhisattvas that are gonna make possible the teaching of this sutra. And also we have what? We have the earth itself breaking out of itself and showing itself. You people should start practicing the bodhisattva way. Do you see what the consequences of not practicing are? And other people who are also not practicing, you should help them because look what they're doing. And now we're going to show you a little picture of the consequences of what they're doing. And it could get so bad that nobody will be able to practice. So our current life situation, the way the earth is changing and teaching us, in a way, it's these bodhisattvas coming out of the earth to wake us up and help us practice, to show us

[28:28]

that what's really important is to be patient and gentle and careful and so on with everything. And if we aren't respectful of this earth, it's going to contribute to misfortune. That's some ideas I have about what these bodhisattvas are, but I welcome your ideas about these innumerable bodhisattvas living under the earth who are going to come to help us. By the way, I also wanted to mention, which I think I did before, that starting on November 7th, we started a three-month Lotus Sutra study practice period with the Sangha of the Noah Bowd Hermitage.

[29:29]

And this three-month practice period will end on February 6th with another Dharma assembly to celebrate the Lotus Sutra. And in the middle of this, or in the midst of this practice period, we have this intensive, this 20-day intensive in the middle of that practice period. So you're all welcome to come to the conclusion of the three-month practice period on February 6th, if you wish. Also, I want to, in the midst of this study, I want to again thank former abbess Linda Ruth, and current abbess Fu, for their wonderful discourses on the Lotus Sutra. And also tell you that Reverend Kokyo, who's in this assembly, will be giving a talk on the Lotus Sutra this coming Sunday through the Zen Center website.

[30:44]

So all these people I mentioned have vowed to protect and embrace and accept and honor and read and recite and copy and teach the Lotus Sutra. Right here in this world, we have people like that. Now, by the way, are you ready? Get ready. Tomorrow, my last day, I'm going to ask you if you're ready to accept this responsibility. It's coming up. Get ready for it. This is just going to be given to you tomorrow if you want it. Now we come to, if you're ready, to the great chapter 16 of the wondrous Dharma Flower Sutra.

[31:58]

the center of the second part of the sutra, just as chapter two is kind of the center of the first part. And here the Buddha tells this story about a physician who has quite a few children And this physician goes away to do some of his physician work. And while he's gone, children eat poison and become very sick. And a kind of sickness where it affects their minds, not just their body. when the physician comes home and sees his children writhing in agony from being poisoned, and more or less some of them like crazy in delirium,

[33:27]

the physician tries to figure out what medicine would be appropriate and says that he goes to his books, he studies up to find out what's the best medicine. And he makes the medicine and he gives it to the children. And the ones who are too far gone in their illness take the medicine and are immediately cured. Some others, however, are so sick that they won't take the medicine. They're like the children in Chapter 3 in the burning house. They won't listen to, this house is burning, come with me. They won't listen to it. So, again, the physician doesn't force the medicine down their throat. They're not ready to take it. It's not going to work.

[34:34]

So the physician gets this other idea. Oh. And he says, I got to go away. Bye-bye, I got to go away. Also, this physician is kind of old. So the possibility that he would die is the children know that about that. So he goes away and he sends word back that he has died. And even though they're virtually insane, they believe this skillful device is in a sense a lie, a misinformation. a misdirection from the physician. And they're very unhappy about that. And they start grieving and grieving and grieving the loss of their dear doctor and father.

[35:47]

And in their grieving, they start to become sober. They come down to earth and sober up. And then they remember that the doctor has left them some medicine and they take the medicine and they're immediately cured. And then, I think the sutra says, and then after they take the medicine and they're cured, then the father returns. But somehow, in my mind, when I think of the story, I don't think, and then the father returns. I think as soon as they take the medicine and they're cured, the father is returned.

[36:50]

The father is actually nothing but their cure, not something in addition that cures them. The father is their cure. The father is the medicine. That's the real father, the real mother, the real Buddha is our cure, is our being cured. That's the way I feel about that story. And then we have the Buddha explaining that this is like right now, that because people have not been able to accept the Dharma, I have made repeatedly the gesture of nirvana, of going away, so that my dear family will sober up in grieving me going away.

[37:56]

And in their soberness, it will become clearer to them that they yearn for Buddha together with Buddha. And then the beautiful verse follows where Buddha says, I'm living in this pure land with all my dear family. And my dear family, some of my dear family, all they see in this pure land is destruction and arrogance and evil. They see everything good being burned up.

[39:08]

My own dear children see that way. And I'm right here with them, and I could show them this pure land, but they're not ready. I could show them the joys of awakening, but they're not ready. So I'm standing right next to them, but I don't show myself. In other words, I don't show unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. I don't show it. They're not ready. They don't even want, they don't really want it. If they could see it, they would say, I don't want that. I didn't ask for that. Get that out of here. I wanted something else. No, they're not ready for the actual best thing. which again is how they, together with all beings, are living in peace and harmony.

[40:11]

They're not ready for it. So I'm not going to show it to them. I'm not going to shove the medicine down their throats. It won't work. If the medicine could get in, and I'm not going to do it intravenously either, They have to want it. That's necessary for it to work. And they have to want it in a state of patience and gentleness and calm. Not hysterically, impatiently want it, but their whole body and mind are ready to receive it because they've received some skillful means to ready them to receive what's right in front of them all day long.

[41:14]

So then in the verse, the Buddha says, you know, I don't show it to them. They can't see it. It's right here, but they can't see it. I won't show it to them means awakening doesn't show it to them because they're not ready to be shown, okay? But then the Buddha says, and I'm wearing the rock suit today that I was looking for yesterday. I found it. I thought it was gray, so that made it difficult to find. It's not gray. It's... kind of golden. And the reason I wanted to bring, show you this Raksu is because of what's written in the back of it. What's written in the back of it is from the verse section of chapter 16. So the Buddha says, okay, so who's going to be able to see, who's going to be able to wake up? Well, those who practice all virtues, those who practice all virtues and are gentle and flexible, harmonious, honest, and upright,

[42:52]

Those who practice that way with all things, they will see the Buddha right now. So this Ratsu, the calligraphy on the back of this Ratsu is by Suzuki Roshi's son, Hoitsu Suzuki. See, that says Hoitsu Suzuki. It actually says Hoitsu, not... And then over there it says... flexible, harmonious, honest, and upright. From the Lotus Sutra. So I get to wear the Lotus Sutra. I get to put on the Buddhist teaching. Every day we can put on our robe of putting on Buddhist teaching. In this case, I'm putting on For me, one of the key parts of chapter 16 is this statement.

[43:56]

And this teaching, this chapter 16 is also, it seems to be the chapter that is most central to Ehe Kosho, Dogen Zenji. And he comments on this section of the scripture, on this section of chapter 16. and where it says practice all virtues, he says that means to go into the mud and the water in order to embrace beings and sustain beings and practice. Gentle, flexible, upright, honest. Honest. It's really muddy here. I'm getting wet. I'm having problems. To embrace that honestly and be upright with it.

[44:58]

Don't turn away. Don't touch it. Don't get excited. Don't hesitate. Right here, fully embracing and not the least bit separate. Those who practice like that, the Buddha says in chapter 16, will see me right now teaching the Lotus Sutra. And if you want to teach the Lotus Sutra, it's really nice if you can actually see the Buddha teaching the Lotus Sutra while you're teaching it. Wouldn't that be nice? Teaching the Lotus Sutra, you're taking care of the Lotus Sutra in this evil age, and also you can see the Buddha teaching it. So that's my brief celebration of chapter 16, which again, I said in chapter 16, the Buddha is celebrating the phenomenal world.

[46:00]

And he's even celebrating the misery that people are going in, in the sense of I'm right there. I have no other work. than to be with people who are suffering. This is my great joy is to be with them. I'm not happy that they're suffering. I'm happy that I can practice with them. This is my great joy. I don't want to be away from them. I've got over that. I'm totally on board. I'm totally on board the ship of compassion. which is smoothly walking through, sliding through, coursing through the ocean of suffering. And I'm joyful to be here and I'm encouraging people to get on the boat. All right.

[47:20]

Please, Great Assembly, you're welcome to make offerings to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. You're welcome to make offerings to this Great Assembly, to make offerings to the Dharma, Flower, Sutra. We have an offering from Yuzan. Thank you, World Assembly, San Francisco Zen Center, Reb, and the Triple Treasure. I feel like I remain in the shadows quite a bit, as I've done here. Excuse me, John. Yes. I'm having a little problem with my screen. I have people's pictures on top of cutting John's face in half. How can I get the people to... can move down to the bottom of the screen.

[48:24]

So is the bar of people's pictures draggable and movable? Let's see. Okay, now let's try it again. And I can see John's whole face. Is that Muir Beach behind you, John? Tennessee. But are those mountains and it looks like mountains and an ocean behind you. Yes, it's Tennessee Valley, one over from Muir Beach. Oh, it's not Muir Beach. It's Tennessee Valley. Oh, how lovely. Yes. Yeah. But you're not in Tennessee Valley, are you? No, I was at the January intensive three years ago. Okay. Well, welcome, John. I can see your whole face now and I can see Tennessee Valley. And in a few days, maybe I can walk over there. Yeah. Well, thank you. I'll try to be brief. I'm often not brief or concise. But I'm often in the shadows as I've been through most of this intensive observing and hearing everybody else participate.

[49:30]

So I thought I'd raise my hand and make an offering. So this year I've been studying the six perfections. My teacher Fu offered that I do that in my studies this year. And with that, and then studying the Lotus Sutra, I understand what I'm hearing is the Lotus Sutra, and my understanding right now is that it's a bunch of stories of other people experiencing their worlds and through our study in the assembly and as well as my study group, I thank you for that, books in that, that I too have a story. And today my story is about violence. I used to live in downtown Portland and felt like I had to leave there during the pandemic starting and then all the violence that's been happening there. And unfortunately after I need to report that I had to leave that town because of the violence and having to smell tear gas.

[50:30]

And this violence continues. In fact, unfortunately, I have to report that there's a lot of chemical warfare from military caches that are being used almost daily still in Portland against peaceful protesters. And it came to my attention through some pictures and some people reporting that some of these canisters and things are now ending up in our, in my neighborhoods and in our neighborhoods and in children's playgrounds at schools. And they're having to be removed by people with special means to do so. And I'm just not sure what to do with that kind of information. You have some thoughts about what might be helpful to do with that information? To share it here? Yeah, right. To share it with people who will help you receive it the way I just described from Chapter 14.

[51:34]

To be patient with it, to feel the pain of it, to learn how to best feel the pain. It's called the practice of patience. and to be gentle with it and be gracious with it and be honest with it and be upright with it and tell people about it when you're having trouble doing those practices. And if you don't do those practices, reveal that in the presence of Dharma friends and bodhisattvas and Buddhas that I forgot to practice compassion with this pain, with this violence. And yeah, I was, you know, I didn't do the practice which would be helpful. I'm sorry. And go back to the practices which are just described. These practices are for dealing with horrors like that.

[52:37]

Those are the things of the evil age. Evil age is now. And also, When we practice, the true Dharma age is now. And the true Dharma age meets the evil age and finds a way to peace in that interaction. So please keep coming to meet your fellow practitioners and converse with them about your challenges in dealing with violence. Ask for encouragement. Ask for their stories of how they're working with it. Like in a way, you know, addictions, alcoholism is a kind of violence to ourselves. It leads to violence towards others. So people get together and they talk about the challenges of dealing with this addiction.

[53:41]

so that they can be peaceful in the middle of the addiction. And we have other problems and we need to converse about it. We cannot face these problems all by ourselves. That's not the wholehearted way to do it. It's together with other people who are practicing, finding a way together to face violence, addiction. and the violence that comes from addiction. Thank you for your offering, Yuzon. Yep, good seeing you, everyone. We have an offering from Emily. Thank you, Roshi. Hello from the accounting office at city center.

[54:45]

I have the accounts here as well. I just wanted to say thank you to you and to the great assembly and it's a great joy and a great blessing. I feel very fortunate to be on the boat with all of you and I've really, really appreciated your offerings for the last few weeks. So thank you very much. You're welcome. And may I comment that, you know, in Chapter 4, after the son's done certain preparatory work, he gets to go to the accounting office. Okay, so we're in Chapter 4 right now. We're kind of stuck eternally in Chapter 4. You're learning the comings and goings of the state of Zen Center. the paying of the bills and receiving of the gifts.

[55:46]

And you're being very careful of it all, right? We are accountable. You are accountable. And if somebody calls you into account, you're up for it. Yes. And I'm glad to be offering this as my contribution on the boat. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, Brian. We have an offering from Sanko. Greetings, Tenshin and Great Assembly. found the chapter and the example of devadatta very challenging because this notion to me of a person who does evil or an evil person being assured of becoming a buddha maybe it just bothers me that people i don't like will become buddha i don't know but

[57:09]

What's the point of living the path if we're going to become Buddha anyway, you know? So that's my question. And I think in the way of an offering, it's not quite on this topic, but I just have noticed I've been thinking about the structure of the sutra and how there's a section that's prose telling a story, and then there's another section that repeats everything all over again, but in verse. And I had wondered why that was, and it struck me that it was, I felt like, well, this is kind of like an opera, you know, where the character sings, and what's being told, the story's being told in music. And I found that very pleasing, I guess, because I like music very much, and it helped me make this teaching a little more accessible to me.

[58:29]

You're welcome. And again, I don't know if I said it when Yuzan was talking, But, you know, it's up to you to bring the problems. Because if I bring the problems, then, you know, that isn't necessarily the ones you want to bring. So Yuzan brought a problem. Emily made an offering. And now you're bringing another problem. Thank you. And you brought a couple of them. One of them is not exactly a problem. It's more like an observation of the structure of the sutra, which is prose, verse, prose. And some scholars, by analyzing the language, there seems to be some sentiment or almost like agreement among scholars that the sutra started with the verses. It started with singing.

[59:31]

So you have these bodhisattvas meditating, having revelations, about what the Buddha is, and they start singing. Originally in some language, maybe in Sanskrit, singing in Sanskrit. And then after a while, they started to write prose to kind of like simplify, sort of tell the message of their song. So that's one story of the composition of the Lotus Sutra. is that it started with the verse, and the scholars don't necessarily say, it started with singing. Singing from samadhi is the source of the sutra. It's the source of the Bodhisattva way, singing from samadhi. And then sometimes prose helps people. The other thing is having a problem with devadatta, not liking

[60:36]

The idea that somebody becomes Buddha. Not liking the idea that a murderer would become a Buddha. That's another point you raised. And Devadatta didn't like that Buddha became Buddha. How come he gets to be Buddha? Wait a minute. I'm hot stuff. I don't know why he got to be the Buddha. So that happens that some people do not like the Buddha. That's part of the deal. And another point that I mentioned now is that the Buddha, perfect awakening, includes all evil. It's not evil. No, it's not evil at all. It is the embrace of all evil.

[61:38]

It is compassion for all evil. And there's no evil that full-fledged awakening does not embrace. And it's working on the evil, practicing compassion to it, transmitting the teaching as appropriate to free the evil from itself. Destroying evil is not what Buddha is up to. Buddha is powerful. Buddha does not spend time destroying evil. If evil could be destroyed, the Buddha probably could destroy it. But that's not the Buddha's job. The Buddha's job is to wake up evil. Evil is delusion. It's ignorance. And all the unkind things that come from ignorance. That's the evil. Buddha embraces it all. And Buddha embraces Devadatta who doesn't like that he's Buddha. So thank you for bringing these issues.

[62:41]

to the four again, Enrique. Thank you. We have an offering from Yana. Or is it? I don't know if I pronounced that correctly. Is that correct? It's Yana. Hello, Rev. Hello, Jana. And hello, Great Assembly. I got so surprised that I was called so soon because I just put up my hand a while ago and there were so many people ahead of me, I thought. As it says in the Bible, those who are last shall be first. because you have because you have not had a chance earlier you get to go first i would like to just begin with saying that i have been so moved during this time and oftentimes i feel like i'm a person that has an ease with words and i felt like um

[64:07]

like I haven't had very many words. And I would like to try from this place to express something about what it feels like to, what is happening when I'm reading the Lotus Sutra a lot of times. So I've had a lot of resistance to read this sutra, and it's been sitting in my bookshelf for many years. And as I've started to read it, I've noticed that it's not really possible for me to read it unless I am quite still. It's almost as if I... Excuse me. It's not possible for you to read unless what? unless I'm quite still. Um, and, um, so what I've been doing is in the afternoons, um, I have sort of my regular life going on just like Lisa Lott was saying.

[65:14]

Um, but in the afternoons I've been doing some sitting, um, and then I have been doing some reading before our class. And this starts at 7 PM for me here in Finland. Um, and, um, then when the class has been starting oftentimes um i have been feeling a little bit like i'm a child listening to children's stories like something that i've heard many times before um and um also when i've been reading this sutta um quite often i feel like i'm it's um It's as if I'm reading it slowly and without starting to think about what something means. but somehow allowing this, in a sense, the sutta by itself to come inside of me. It feels like I'm falling down somewhere, sort of like I'm going below the words or beyond the words somewhere, and it's starting to turn me around.

[66:28]

And I'm ending up in a really beautiful place. And... I'm realizing that some of the reason why I have been resisting this is that when I end up in this place, it feels like it's not yet connected with words. I have, in a sense, had resistance to have the courage to allow myself to just fall down there and stay there and have patience and gentleness to wait for the words to come.

[67:50]

And And I realized that this is something I've been doing a lot in my life. And it's in a way the reason why I've had some, why I'm so drawn to practice, but while I've also had a resistance to it. Because it's so strong and it's so powerful. And it pulls me with everything. Yeah. And at the same time, I've also been seeing that it doesn't matter actually where I read in the sutra and how much I read of the sutra, it still happens that the whole sutra is in even a small place. And the other thing that I've noticed is that even if I end up in these places,

[68:56]

Right now I'm in this project where a professional dancer and me, I have a disability for the people that don't know. We go around to schools or at the moment it's mostly online. and run workshops with kids. So this has been going on during these weeks. And I've noticed that even if I end up in this place with the sutta or this sutra, and during this, and I often don't understand what's going on, it's still transforming and moving into the work that I'm doing with the children. And, uh, yeah, it's beautiful. And, and, um, I quit my job last year. Um, I no longer, uh, make documentaries.

[70:01]

Um, and, uh, um i was asked to come along on this project with the with the children this year and i thought well this is something i'm kind of doing in between before i know what i want to be doing and um I realized I really love being in that space with different classes or kids. And at times it's really hard. And it's every time different. And, yeah, I feel like I learned so much from them. And I learned from each time onwards. And, yeah. Yeah. This is what I wanted to say. And I decided I'm going to, I've been reading koans now in the fall, but I decided I'm going to start studying the sutra now, or it's going to be part of my daily routine with my afternoon practice.

[71:04]

And I'm on the boat. Thank you for your wonderful offering. May I make a comment? You may. I feel that Jana has kind of brought to our attention again the relationship between reading sutras, or in particular, reading the Lotus Sutra and samadhi, or concentration. So the Lotus Sutra For me, like you, if I'm not present and open and still, me entering the sutra and the sutra entering me, it's not quite time for it yet.

[72:10]

I have to really be present and still and open not going someplace else. That's what the Lotus Sutra kind of asked me to do in order to enter it. And when you were talking, I remember Jonathan Franzen, the novelist, said that he feels that novelists, you know, like himself, they write these books to help people to concentrate. He writes books which, if you concentrate, you will be rewarded. And if you don't, you're going to miss out. Because this is written to help you concentrate, and it's written for those who are concentrated. And also, I didn't hear Virginia Woolf say this, but when I read To the Lighthouse...

[73:16]

I realized that if I didn't concentrate, I didn't know anything about what was going on. The words say, if you're not concentrated, you're not getting anything here. She kind of makes us concentrate to read her novel, To the Lighthouse. And the Lotus Sutra doesn't make us concentrate. It just is necessary for us to concentrate in order to enter. And so if I'm not concentrated, I would just close the book until I'm ready to be there for it. And sometimes it's hard to be there, again, for a list of hard to pronounce, for me to read Sanskrit names and not be able to say them. It's really hard. to read those. So, if I'm not willing to really be there for those Sanskrit names or these strange stories, then it's maybe not time for me, I'm not, go concentrate on something else.

[74:27]

And then when I'm concentrated, come back to the Lotus Sutra. And one of the chapters in the Lotus Sutra, I don't remember which one, but it's maybe around 16, 17, 17, 18. At the last word, I think, of this chapter is Sadharma Pundarika Samadhi. The wondrous Dharma White Lotus Samadhi. That's the name of the samadhi that one of these bodhisattvas entered. It's the last, it's the last thing in that chapter, which talks about various samadhis. What chapter is that, Sam Ridge? 24. 24, chapter 24. He found that for me. So just before Avalokiteshvara, yeah, it's a good one too.

[75:30]

Just before reading chapter 25, which again, if you're not concentrated, that chapter might bounce off you. So just before reading chapter 25, enter the Saddama Pundarika Samadhi and then enter. Well, knock your shoes off then. Knock your socks off. So again, remember that reading the sutra and also copying the sutra and reciting the sutra is to promote samadhi and best done in samadhi. And one more comment on what you said is, we have this expression in our family, words don't reach it. Our words don't reach the Lotus Sutra. But when we are present and open, undistracted,

[76:34]

and silent and still, this samadhi enters the Lotus Sutra. And the words don't reach it, but the samadhi embraces and sustains it. And then from that samadhi, the words come. Maybe the Lotus Sutra comes, but maybe your own words will come from that same place. So thank you for your gift, your offering, Jana, gives us an opportunity to remember the close relationship between samadhi practice and reading Mahayana sutras, entering them in silence, reaching their heart, and then letting their heart talk through the words in the book, or through our own words. Thank you. We have an offering from Parnoush.

[77:46]

Thank you so much, great assembly and rep. You're welcome, Farnoosh. Thank you. It's such an emotional thing to speak, to realize you're here. And so excuse me if I overflow. You are welcome to overflow. Thank you. Thank you for using that word, because really, that's what we are. We are constantly overflowing ourself. I hadn't really thought up this question. It hasn't been present necessarily until today's meeting. But it reminded me of a story that you told a couple of Sashim's Yor.

[79:00]

I think it was at the Brooklyn Zen Center about a walk with Mr. Green. And... I remember Mr. Green's name. And I... shared this with students. I teach middle school and high school and I taught different kinds of things. And this story, I often return to it because of the description of your feeling like you were trying to be respectful of the face-to-face interaction with Mr. Green. And it seemed like respectfully, your message wasn't getting across to Mr. Green, that you were ready to be done with the conversation. And you started to feel your whole life draining. And... And then you heard your father's voice inside say, I love you, Rebbe.

[80:01]

And this was an example of how you made some compassion or compassion arose for how you were feeling in that moment. And then magically Mr. Green suddenly released you or was released from that face-to-face kind of. So I, before that, before I heard my father's voice saying, I love you, Rebbe, I was feeling, you know, basically, um, he wasn't making any space for me to speak. And I was just getting more and more confined by the conversation, by his monologue. When I heard my father say, I love you, Rebbe, the word came out of my mouth. And I said, great talking to you. See you later. So that's what, you know, that released both of us from this trap. But I couldn't speak before that. There was no, I couldn't breathe. I didn't want to interrupt him.

[81:04]

But when I heard my father's, when the air of my father's voice came in me, then my own voice came out. And he was perfectly happy with that. But I needed help. And also the help came to me because to some extent I was accepting this confined, kind of like breathless conversation. I was accepting it. And in that pain, this wonderful voice came to me. And then I could speak. Thank you for taking care of that story and sharing it with the children. Thank you for refining it in my memory for me. If I may ask a question. So, I wish I wasn't taking this long.

[82:20]

Precisely because I have this... But I think precisely I have this desire not to recreate what I maybe experience sometimes as the difficulty of attending to the face-to-face transmission meeting without feeling eviscerated, without becoming faceless, without feeling small and tight. And, you know, what I marvel at, and I learned so much from your body, mind, presence, is how, for example, you can listen and be present, because this is part of the challenge, I feel, is I want to hear what someone is saying, but then I feel at some point I can't. If I keep listening with my heart to... May I put a little seed in there?

[83:23]

Listening is not the same as wanting to hear. And if you are listening and you want to hear, then listen to that you want to hear. That's another thing to listen to. Don't let wanting to hear distract you from listening. And also don't push away that you want to hear. That's part of your face is that you want to hear. And you're giving your face partly because you want to hear and you're also giving your face because you want to listen. So in order to have the meeting, you have to have your face. There's not going to be a meeting if you don't bring your face. And your face can listen and your face can speak. And part of the speaking of your face is I want to hear something. Okay? But don't let wanting to hear something distract you from listening.

[84:29]

So if I understand correctly, listening includes myself. Yeah, it's your face. It's part of your face. Part of your face is you're listening and part of your face is you're calling. So partly you're listening to me and partly you're saying, I want to hear you. You're doing both. You're telling me and listening to me. That's your face. You got to bring your face. You're not going to be able to meet me unless you're yourself fully. That's your face. You got to be yourself to have a face and then bring your face and we can work with that face. And I'll try to bring my face and we can work with my face and your face. But if we don't give our face, we're not yet ready to meet. So if you, so for example, like I was practicing when other Sangha members were speaking, you know, I was practicing like, okay, I'm hearing what they're saying, but I'm feeling this constrictedness.

[85:35]

So I want to hear myself in this constrictedness too. And then it starts to turn, you know, a safe space for me of the kind of flowering of that feeling is to get, I get an image, you know, and I had this image of like letters being sort of sliced, bodily sliced. And it was exciting. At the same time, I was missing what the song member was saying, but I knew I was transforming my kind of judgment or resistance to what was happening. Is that okay? But then I forget. I don't know what they said, everything that they said. Well, you don't know everything they said, but also sometimes you miss what you're saying. And in this case, you're attending to what you were saying, your word slicing activity. That's equally important. What you're feeling and what you're doing is equally as important as listening to the other person. You have to listen to both sides because both sides are talking. What's going on inside of you when you're talking to somebody is equally as important to attend to and practice compassion towards.

[86:45]

What's going on inside you is essentially being calling for compassion and the person you're meeting is the same. So we're trying to take care of both. That's the conversation back and forth. And sometimes you miss what they're saying, but you can ask them to say it again. And you can also say, I'm sorry I missed you. Because you are sorry you missed. And you give them that. And they say thank you. And maybe they'll say it again for you. Or maybe they'll say, no, I'm never going to say that again. And then you listen to that. This is the art of face-to-face transmission. But we, in order for it to occur, we need to bring our face and we need to attend to our face in order to bring it. And so I'm happy that the people in this assembly are bringing their face. They're listening to their own voices and in listening to it and bringing what they hear.

[87:46]

This is essential for the meeting. And the other person may have difficulty with you. Like I often say, when I receive my Dharma name from Suzuki Roshi, the first part is Ten Shin. When I was ordained and he said, Ten Shin means Rebbe's Rebbe. That's my face, Rebbe's Rebbe. And he said, and people may have difficulty with that. But you can't be helped. You got to give them Rebbe's Rebbe. You got to give us Farnoosh's Farnoosh in order for us to have real meeting. That's part of your job is to bring Farnoosh's Farnoosh. And Farnoosh has these feelings and those ideas. That's part of your responsibility. We need you to do that. and also listen to us. And we hopefully are giving you us being us.

[88:48]

And if we're not, then we're working that out. Sometimes we give half a face to each other. Well, we'll work with that problem. We have an offering from Wendy. Yes, bringing myself by hearing my name first off is a good way to start. My heart is pounding. Hello, dear teacher, and hello, great, great, great, magnificent assembly. so much this last three weeks, the term words can't reach it has, has come to me and it's just so many notes and things that I've thought about through the time to, to say, but I want to be, I want really, I vow to just be here with my pounding heart and with your face and my face and

[90:22]

This is such an amazing, incredible medium. Never have I seen so many faces and, um, resonated so much with, um, with so many things that everyone has said. And it's been a wonderful practice in, in listening, deeply listening and, um, It's like an alchemy. I just feel that there's been no... I was this close to not joining because things were very, very busy at work and I had to, the first week, had to miss a few days of it live. But that's been the magic. It's been right in the middle, smack dab in the middle of my life to have this incredible opportunity to... And hear it so many times from you about the sutra, about how hard it is, just how hard, how hard it is.

[91:40]

You've been saying that to me for a very long time. It's one of the phrases that is imprinted in my mind from years ago at Gaia House and all the wonderful, wonderful places that I've had the delight to have sat with you and with many people here. Um, I felt so, um, I'm so glad I discovered the evening sittings. Um, when I first heard the Han, it just, I just, I was just completely transformed and transported back to, it was been 11 years since I've been at Green Gulch and, um, That opportunity has been such a blessing, having the sittings and then service and chanting these verses.

[92:42]

And thank you for offering us the challenge in November. um, or the, the opportunity, the invitation, um, we have been in England. Um, uh, we've had a continuous zoom group actually since last January. I don't know every year since I haven't gone since 2010, I hold a three week practice period in January and we have a virtual, um, invite people in England, uh, mostly our Sangha to, to join in. And, um, So it feels very precious for me to be here with you live sort of live. Um, it's because it's always been, it was such a precious time for me that the times at Green Gulch in particular, the January, um, intensives. Um, so we have been reading that we've turned our sort of weekly group into, uh, reading the Lotus Sutra now. And, um,

[93:45]

It's been a, it's been a marvel. I think we all afterwards feel in this sort of space in the silence, there's about five of us after we finished our reading. kind of your presence very very strongly you know very sort of uh tangible we hear your voice we we see you know um i see you right now i see the buddha teaching the lotus sutra and it's sort of like what happens in dokka sound that sort of magic that again that it and reading the words out loud has just given it such a joy in hearing all of us from our various places coming and reading these sections and especially all the names of the creatures. And it's such a wonderful sort of... And then what happened, just kind of really, really engaged...

[94:50]

And so I thank you for that because I tried to do the Lotus Sutra study last year and it wasn't so effective because we didn't read it aloud, I think. And I'm going to practice chanting now that people have talked about and what you've just said to Jana as well. And this is kind of for the... My Dharma name is, 15 years ago, you gave me the name Song of Practice Fully Expressed. And it has been my koan as to how to express that I've never felt really feel fully expressed. And I'm sorry for all the missed opportunities I deeply want to say that for all the hesitation.

[95:56]

That statement could be the first sentence in your novel. Remembrance of lost opportunities. Yes. Yes. Strangely, today I get a daily meditation thing from somebody online. And today I sent it around to people. It was Proust talking about time. And I just thought that sort of took my breath away. So thank you. And I think if I remember, I might have brought those Proust books. I think I delivered them to you. You ordered them. And I think I seem to remember bringing them to you. A long time ago. Yeah, my novel.

[96:56]

Remembrance of lost opportunities. Remembrance of lost time. And remembering the work of art. Confession and repentance as an artwork. compassionate artwork. I started writing vows the other day, and my first one was to, I vow to remember Rebbe. I also wanted to express one of the missed opportunities, I think, because My role has so often been a keeper of the Doan Rio and all the ceremonies that I love so dearly, the forms and ceremonies so much.

[98:06]

And, um, I think when you talked about your, um, connection with Suzuki Roshi and, and, and the chanting practice and him asking to hear you, um, I'm just, I'm just, I think I'm confessing some arrogance because I'm a trained singer. I feel like I might have missed an opportunity to practice with you or ask for your feedback or with respect to chanting practice. And I'm sure I would have felt similarly to the way you felt about wanting it more than anything, but also just being, just squirming inside. I do that a lot. I've done that in the past with you a lot. I always remember you telling the story too of when you get home from a trip, the first thing you do is check the answering machine instead of seeing and meeting your beloved.

[99:15]

And that's another one that I, you know, I can really... Looking forward to the meeting and then when it comes, going to the answering machine. Yeah. Yeah. And I want to be the one that's got so many questions. I've always wanted to be one that has all the questions, like you talked about that as well. And I just want to know how to ask questions. But maybe you answered it with Indiana about the words come out of, you know, out of Samadhi. Sitting, the word, the questions might come. And You can write them down later. Yeah. And then bring them to the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. And also when you're walking in nature, take a notebook with you.

[100:22]

So many gifts, I was trying to coming into the place of what is the most important thing that I wish to express to you. Your voice, your way of being has been such a part of my voice and my being. For 21 years now, since I first met your gaze when you came in the door at Gaia House and you were down and I came down the hall. And I thought, oh, this must be the Zen master because you had your gray traveling clothes on and you had a bald head. And you were down taking your shoes off. And I remember just sort of bouncing up and going, oh, so hello, and putting my hand out and saying, so what should I call you?

[101:41]

And you just, you lift your face up, met my face and your eyes, and you just went, Reb, Reb. And that first meeting was, that was it. And it continues to be it. Very much so. Yeah. Only a Buddha and a Buddha. Only a Buddha together with a Buddha. And I vow to do my best to meet opportunities and not miss them. And to not hesitate.

[102:43]

Here's Suzuki Roshi. Don't hesitate. Don't hesitate. Write a novel about it. Yes. Remember the rotations. Yeah. Thank you to all of you who are there everywhere. here, there, and everywhere. Thank you, Rob. I love you. Thank you. I love you. I'm sorry. Thank you. We have an offering from Deborah.

[103:45]

Hello. Can you see me? Yes. I can see you. Yes. Hello. I just want to be, I'm just so grateful today. I'm admiring your strength and you're facing us. And when you listen, you're listening fully. And I just want to also thank the great assembly. Many of you have spoken throughout these weeks. I've learned from each of you, as well as Reb. And I had many things I was going to talk to you about, but the one that I would just like to comment on was when you today, when you said, be compassionate in the mud. I really loved it. Because often the image of the lotus flower, the roots are in the mud, but we're looking at the lotus flower. And I just loved trying to be present in the mud and kind of just hang in there with the fear or the uncertainty or the difficult situations and people.

[104:54]

I just found that it just really went right through my whole heart and my body. And so thank you. You're so welcome. I think that's all I have to say. May I say something? Sure. Thank you. Some people who have studied plants say that, you know, the roots are the intelligence of the plant and the flowers are the fruit of that intelligence. So the intelligent, wholehearted embrace of the mud has the fruit of this beautiful wisdom flower. But we're, being animals, we sometimes don't like to stick our, don't like to put our head into the mud, but it's being called for.

[106:02]

Yeah. Well, I'm a gardener. I love the mud. I love the dirt. And I think that's why what you said just went really resonated because we think we need to get away from the mud. We do. So that's more mud to embrace. Yeah. So that's all I want to say to you. So thank you again, Rab and the great assembly. I can't thank you enough. You're all just wonderful. Thank you. They're saying you're welcome. We have an offering from Carolina. Hello, Reb. Can you hear me? I can hear you. With your ears, maybe so.

[107:03]

Hello, great assembly. I have so enjoyed being here and I'm quite delighted to have found some virtual ears and eyes to show myself more fully. And my heart is beating and I'm just full of joy and fear to meet the people that I most want to meet. I read the Lotus Sutra last night until three and I was very awake and I must admit that it was a very well-peopled world. Very noisy in that book. And, you know, I put the book down and I thought, oh, these pillows are so quiet. That's my observation from my late night chats there. You know, I've been, wanting to figure out how to throw my robes up into the air and to celebrate that there might be a chance to be a Buddha.

[108:13]

You know, I always just want to help people, but I thought, I can never be a Buddha. And perhaps I'll just give it one little toss, um, to hear this Lotus Sutra. And, um, thank you so much. You know, um, My last doka-san with you, Rabbi, said, no, I just want to stay around and help people. That's what I want to do. I don't want to be a Buddha. But I think it was because I was believing I couldn't. And I still believe that I can't in my heart of hearts. And so that's how I'm confessing right now. I spend a lot of time feeling that because I don't show myself fully, I can't become a Buddha. I kind of linger at the gates. I spend a lot of time in the hospital where I work or in the building professions, feeling very, very attached to the beings that are in the wood and the flesh that I look at and examine and with on a daily basis.

[109:30]

And especially in this COVID time, I have felt that I especially am not worthy to share in any kind of becoming because I witness a lot of beings that are passing, and sometimes I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. And I pretend with my office mates that it's sad, but I also feel... that there might be a bigger picture, a bigger picture that I'm part of. And I also don't much like people that use substance. I call them junkies in my mind, and I don't often like them. But I was cleaning out a woman's knees the other day, And I felt this opening because we are watching a movie about a woman that eats cat hairs. And we were both laughing. And the junkie said, oh, she's addicted.

[110:35]

I just started laughing with her. And we were both laughing at the woman that ate cat hair. And I said, yeah, it's a hard thing to be addicted. And I said, I'm really addicted just to clean your knees out right now because I think I can probably get them a little bit cleaner here. And we just had this moment, and I want to just say that maybe there is hope for Carolina, who thinks she can't be a Buddha. However, I do have one question. Are there insentient beings in the Lotus Sutra? Is the stupa itself rising out of the earth? an insentient being? Well, they have this long list of varieties of beings, but the Buddha also just says flat out all beings at various points.

[111:38]

So any form of, if there's any being, they're included. So if insentient, insentient beings doesn't mean, isn't the same as non-beings. It's just beings that don't have feelings. But they're spoken of in sentient beings. And also in Lotus Sutra, it does talk about, it doesn't say, I don't know about the word in sentient beings, but it talks about rocks and trees and flowers. So they are included in the Lotus Sutra. Everything's included. And we're learning to be ready for the meeting. That's wonderful news.

[112:43]

Dogs are included in the Lotus Sutra. Is that true? Dogs are included, but also all evil is included. Everything's included. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I ask my dog daily, I'm working with, shall I do this question, does a dog have Buddha nature? And I ask my dog pretty much every day if she's got Buddha nature, and you know, she never tells me she does. But I think But that's a great thing that I keep asking. I do too. And so in that koan, perhaps, is the meeting of emptiness and the Lotus Sutra. I'm entertaining that with great delight. And I'll gnaw on that a little bit and get back to you. Thank you, Great Assembly. The Rose.

[113:50]

Thank you. We'll conclude with our chant. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way, beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Afflictions are inexhaustible, I vow to cut through. Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.

[114:42]

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