We just chanted a verse written by the ancestor Ehe Dogen, Ehe Koso Dogen, the first ancestor of our tradition in Japan, who we understand brought the transmission of the Zen lineage from China to Japan, and it was vital enough to have made it to the present. And he said in this, what we just chanted, he said that he vows with all of us, he vows with all beings

[01:01]

from this life on through our countless lives to hear the true Dharma, that upon hearing the true Dharma no doubt will arise in us nor will we lack in faith, that upon meeting it we will renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma, and in maintaining the Buddha Dharma the great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. And just before we did the chant, I offered incense on your behalf, and then we bowed together. Throughout the ancestor Dogen's life he offered incense to the Buddhas and

[02:16]

Bodhisattvas and to his ancestors in the lineage. He also bowed, and he could not have recommended bowing more highly than he did. So the lineage has been continuing to offer incense and bow for 2,500 years. And also in this chant we just recited, in this vow we just recited, he offered incense to the Buddhas. He talks about the power of confession and repentance. He says that when we reveal

[03:17]

and disclose our lack in faith and practice before the Buddhas, we will not fail, we will never fail to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors. And then he says that by the power of confession and repentance the roots of transgressing from the way of Buddha will melt away. And he says this is the pure and simple color of true practice, the true mind of faith, the true body of faith. To walk the path of Buddha, and if we hesitate to walk the path of Buddha, if we forget to walk the path of Buddha, to reveal and disclose our forgetfulness, our being distracted before

[04:28]

the Buddhas and receive the Buddha's help in that way at that time immediately. When I first started practicing Zen, I had heard nothing of confession and repentance as part of Zen. I saw no sign of it. But over the years I've realized more and more how important confession and repentance is, and more and more how important bowing is, and more and more how important chanting Buddha's name is, and more and more learning how important it is to invoke the presence of Buddhas in the practice, and more and more to see how important it is to read the scriptures. But that all was nothing, I didn't expect any of that as being important when I first started practicing. I thought it was all about just

[05:33]

sitting. And the same ancestor says, from the first time you meet a master without engaging in incense offering, bowing, invoking the presence of the Buddhas, chanting Buddha's name, reading scriptures or confession and repentance, without engaging in any of that, you should just wholeheartedly sit and thus drop away body and mind. Thus wholeheartedly sit in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness of the presence of all Buddhas, the constant presence of all Buddhas, to just sit in the midst of that. How come he says, without engaging

[06:45]

in incense offering, bowing, chanting Buddha's name, repentance and so on? Well, part of the reason I think is that in the early part of his life, and for centuries in India and China, and after his life too, it was traditional to prepare for meditation by offering incense, bowing, chanting Buddha's name, confession and repentance. In the lineage he grew up in, in the Buddhism that he grew up in, these kind of preparatory practices which invoked the presence of Buddhas were done before one then sat. One did not sit by oneself. One always sat with all the Buddhas. So one would do various things to, in some sense, purify our

[07:51]

mind so that we could feel the presence of Buddhas and then sit. Purify our mind by learning to offer incense, bowing, chanting, repentance, confession that we are not completely present as we offer incense, for example, or that we are not completely present as we offer our bows, until we can bow with a clear mind, and with that clear mind realize the presence of the Buddhas and then sit in meditation with the Buddhas. Because that's how Buddhas sit in meditation. They do not sit alone. They sit with all Buddhas and with all sentient beings. But Dogen says rather than doing these ceremonies to invoke the presence and compassion

[08:56]

of the Buddhas and ancestors and then sit in the midst of their presence, he says just do the ceremony of sitting to invoke the presence and compassion of all Buddhas. Just use sitting to invoke the presence and compassion of all Buddhas. Without doing all those other ceremonies, just do one ceremony. But understand that that one ceremony is devoted to do the same thing that innumerable ceremonies were intended to do, that is to invite, to welcome and to see the Buddhas right before you, and then sit and face the Buddhas. And then continue to sit in the presence of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So the sitting is both an invocation

[10:02]

of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and it is something that we do together with them. I remember one time the Buddhist, the great translator, Edward Kansa, who did many of the first translations of the perfect wisdom scriptures into English. He said that the Tibetan monks, Tibetan yogis, sit in meditation and then they verbally and mentally recite the mantra of Avalokiteshvara. They do this recitation of this mantra, and by doing this mantra in their sitting they bring Avalokiteshvara into present manifestation. And he said, but Soto Zen monks, they sit in

[11:11]

silence to bring Avalokiteshvara into present manifestation, into genjo, into present manifestation. So, yes, we usually when we sit in Soto Zen, we sit quietly, we don't say anything. But this sitting we do, we do with all Buddhas and we do it to manifest the Buddha in the world with us and all beings. And then once they're here we continue to practice the practice with them. And every day, just about every day, we get up in the morning, just about every day, and we sit and we invoke with the sitting the presence of the Buddha.

[12:11]

We don't sit all by ourselves, we don't just sit with a few people, we sit with everybody in the room, we sit with all beings and we invoke, in particular we invoke the presence of the Buddha. We can see quite a few people, we don't usually invoke the presence of people, we see enough people. We see enough mice and ants and cockroaches and earwigs. We mostly invoke what we can't see with our diluted eye, and then we practice in that presence. Then, with this approach to practice, having invoked the presence of the Buddhas, having accomplished what the various ceremonies and rituals and practices are meant to accomplish, which is just bring the Buddhas to practice with us, now that they're here, then we do

[13:22]

the practices, which he said we don't have to do. Actually, that he says, just immediately, wholeheartedly sit in the midst of this awareness, this self-fulfilling awareness of all the Buddhas. Then, in the midst of that awareness, continue sitting and practice bowing and offer incense and eat formal meals and work in the kitchen and walk around the farm and practice confession and repentance and study the scriptures and write commentaries and study the commentaries and memorize scriptures and do more prostrations and offer incense and be devoted to all beings in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness, in the midst of all Buddhas, which you have invited. So, tonight, we will do a ceremony, a confession

[14:26]

and repentance ceremony. We start by a formal confession and repentance in the ceremony. Then we invoke, most of the ceremony is invoking, twenty to twenty-one times we invoke the presence of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. With twenty-one bows, we invite them to come and realize the non-duality of Buddhas and sentient beings. Once they've arrived, we then let them know our vow. Then we take refuge. Then we recite the Bodhisattva's precepts, which the Buddhas have transmitted to us. But, I say to you, [...] tonight, please, before the ceremony starts, open your heart to the presence and compassion

[15:35]

of all the Buddhas. Before you even invite them in the ceremony, invite them. Just wholeheartedly be here in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness. Self-fulfilling awareness. Awareness that because the earth and the grass and the trees and pebbles and all living beings all engage in Buddha activity all day long. We are inconceivably helped by Buddha's guidance, splendid, inconceivable, unthinkable.

[16:44]

And we receive these benefits spread by Buddha's guidance based on original awakening. Then all of those who meet you and live with you and speak with you will obtain and share in this Buddha virtue. And we will together unroll widely inside and outside of the entire universe, the endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnameable, ungraspable, unstoppable, uninterrupted, but realizable Buddha Dharma. We will receive all this, all these benefits, from all things, and as we receive them, we will share them with all beings.

[17:49]

And if we forget this self-fulfilling awareness, we may confess and repent, and again thereby receive immeasurable, inconceivable help from all Buddhas. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:09]

Thank you. Thank you. If we lack any faith or we forget to practice in the midst of this wondrous method of practicing the method of living in the midst of this self-receiving and self-enacting samadhi, this self-fulfilling samadhi, if we forget, perhaps we'll be just like Dogen. Perhaps all Buddhas before they were Buddhas sometimes forgot this awareness. Perhaps all of them before they were complete in their practice sometimes forgot to practice this way. But

[20:54]

then perhaps they all confessed and repented. It seems to me that all the wonderful instructions of the Zen tradition are different ways of saying the same instruction, different ways of enacting the same awareness, which is the Buddhas. After we dedicate the merit of this talk, of this meeting, then we can wholeheartedly

[21:57]

and uprightly, in the midst of the self-fulfilling samadhi, look at the moon. Just wholeheartedly look at the moon in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness. Or, if you want to, look at your feet instead, in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness. The most ordinary or the most amazing worldly things done in the middle of this samadhi

[22:59]

is a true path to enlightenment. But even wonderful worldly things, wonderful activities, if they're not done in this context, in the midst of this awareness, although they may be wonderful, they are not the true path to enlightenment, because we are ignoring the presence of the Buddhas. But once again, if we ignore the presence of the Buddhas, we are just like some of the Buddhas used to be, and then we have the practice of confessing and repenting that we've been ignoring the presence of the Buddhas, and they will come and help us give up ignoring them. May our intention be to help you, [...]

[24:07]

to help you, to help you, to help you. Thank you very much.

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