Good morning. Today and tomorrow are very special days at Zen Center for us to celebrate this fantastic thing called the Buddha Way. Today we'll be sitting, and tomorrow we have a ceremony where 12 brave people will enter into, formally enter into, ritually enter into, theatrically enter into, Buddha's Way. You are all welcome to attend the ceremony and witness their great vows and commitments to practice the way of Buddha. I'm getting happy at the thought of it.

[01:07]

Today I'd like to give you a complete and thorough understanding of Buddhism. But I also try not to talk too long, so please listen carefully. I begin with the first truth, the noble, wonderful first truth of the Buddha, which is that there is suffering in this world. So we begin by saying something that's kind of sad. And there's millions and trillions of reasons for suffering. But anyway, whatever the reasons, we have difficulty.

[02:13]

Not just us, but all living beings have some difficulty, some pain, confusion, and hard times. And not only that, but everything's changing all the time, and pretty soon the show's all gone. And that's kind of sad too, which is another reason. So I start by saying that kind of sad but noble truth that the Buddha had the courage to tell us, which we already know, but he reminded us. He also said, however, that there's a cause of this suffering and therefore there is release from this suffering. And he also offered us a way to become released, to become free and happy and compassionate, even though life keeps offering us this truth.

[03:19]

Even though this truth keeps coming up again and again, there's a way of happiness possible if we can realize the causes and conditions of this misery. If we can accept and acknowledge and understand the causes and conditions, the particular qualities and particular realities of difficulty, we can be released. That's what Buddha said. And people listened to him and practiced his way and verified his way, that actually there

[04:23]

There is possibility of freedom and happiness and compassion under these circumstances. Weaving into my talk today, I'd also like to... There's kind of a, what do you call it, a river motif here, which I initiate by quoting Mark Twain. Do you all know what twain means? You don't know? Well, you're going to learn at least one thing today. Mark Twain used to work on the river, Mississippi River, on riverboats. And when they're riding down the riverboats, I think, you know, the Mississippi River has some parts that are deep and some parts that are shallow. And out at the stern of the boat, no, the the bow of the boat.

[05:28]

One kid would be out there with a pole, sticking it in to see how deep it was, and he would say, Mark Twain. So what does Mark Twain mean? What? What? So how deep is that? Two fathoms. So Mark Twain means it's two fathoms deep here. You know how big a fathom is? Is a fathom seven feet? Six? So it's 12 feet deep. Mark Twain. In other words, watch out, because the boat's about 12 feet deep. So the pilot, the one who's steering the boat, would hear Mark Twain and then steer the other way. And he took that name for his pin name, from hearing that Mark Twain on the river. And if you think about it, it's a wonderful name because he's saying his name means, you know, listen.

[06:32]

And then you can figure out how to steer down the big Mississippi River without running into too much trouble, at least boat trouble. Mark Twain said, by watching. I know the stars are not going to last. I've seen some of the best ones melt and run down the sky. Since one can melt, they all can melt. Since they all can melt, they can all melt in one night. That sorrow will come.

[07:36]

I know it. I mean to sit up every night and look at him. as long as I can keep awake. And I will impress those sparkling fields upon my memory so that by and by, when they are taken away, I can, by fancy, restore those lovely myriads to the black sky and make them sparkle again and double them by the blur of my tears.

[09:20]

Although Mark Twain said it, Buddhist monks and lay people have been saying it for thousands of years. Yip Pen said, the great monk Yip Pen said, how sad the world. As a river of passing days through which to steer the heart to paradise." And I would add to what he said and say, through which to steer the heart of all beings to paradise. I know Ipen meant the heart of all beings, not just one person's heart. This is the vow of the bodhisattva in this transient world where the stars will not last,

[10:47]

I vow to steer the heart of all beings through this world to paradise, to freedom and happiness and compassion. So this ceremony tomorrow and our practice every day is to enter that way of guiding all beings on this way through this river of passing days. Tomorrow's ceremony in Japanese is called Zaikei Tokudo. Zaikei means staying or abiding at home or staying in the house. Tokudo means

[11:49]

Attaining the way. Attaining the Buddha way. Staying home in the literal sense means that the people who are becoming ordained are not required to make any formal renunciation. They do not have to shave their heads and wear funny dresses. They may continue to live in the apartments and houses in the Bay Area or beyond and live with their children and spouses, do their work of being writers and health care professionals and farmers and tree carers and all kinds of beneficial actions in the world.

[12:53]

They may continue without formal renunciation and still they can attain the way by this ceremony. So by admitting this worldly situation, and by the vow to guide all beings, to help all beings find the path of happiness and freedom, they enter this ritual of Buddha's Way, or this ritual of entering Buddha's Way. If you want to come to the ceremony tomorrow and want to know a little bit about the form beforehand, one of the ordinees has kindly taken an article which I wrote in the wind bell and rearranged it somewhat and made it available to those of you who would like to study it and come to the ceremony.

[14:07]

Actually, even if you don't want to come to the ceremony, you want to study the ceremony, even if you don't want to attend tomorrow's ceremony, but you would like to study about the ceremony, you can also have one of those documents. Where are they? Could you put them on the front desk, please, after the lecture? Thanks. This is Stephen Thomas Whitney, who did the work. By the way, excuse me for saying so, I was born in Mississippi, just a little ways from the Mississippi River. And I grew up in Minnesota, where the Mississippi River starts. And so the Mississippi River means a lot to me.

[15:12]

So I hope someday to go down the Mississippi River with some friends, sitting on a barge, looking at the stars. It's a dream I have. Somebody could be up in the front saying Mark Twain. In the meantime, out here in San Francisco, we do these kinds of ceremonies, and the basic constituents of the ceremony are, first of all, to what we call formless repentance, which means to admit and acknowledge our human situation, that given the kind of nervous system we've got, We're constantly presenting ourselves with delusions, which we believe are truths. And therefore, since we think they're truth, we do what they say.

[16:18]

And of course, since they aren't truths, but just delusions, we have various problems. So we admit that we act in this human way. We acknowledge that and all the sadness that's entailed. at the beginning of the ceremony, formally, by saying, all my twisted karma, all my twisted action, from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, I now fully avow, I now fully acknowledge. And again, by acknowledging, by full acknowledgement of being a human being, we may be released from being a human being. while still being a human being. You can't get rid of that, but you can be released from it on the spot of being it. As a matter of fact, the only place you can be released from being a human being is at the place and time of being a human being. You can't be released from the

[17:19]

prison of being a human being from the place of being a celestial being, or a dog, or not a dog, or an animal, or a hell dweller, or whatever. You have to be yourself in order to get released. And that's basically what it's all about, just being able to admit you're yourself. So at the beginning of the ceremony, you admit kind of, I'm a human." The rest of the ceremony is to receive and to go for refuge, to return to your enlightened nature, your awakened nature, to return to the truth, the truth of your awakened nature, and to return to the peace and harmony of your nature and the truth of your nature, and the peace and harmony and community of that Truth in Nature with all beings. You go back to that. You take refuge in that.

[18:21]

You receive those Buddha, Dharma, Sangha treasures. After receiving them, then you receive the precepts of practicing right conduct, which is to avoid all evil, to do all good, to accumulate all positive behaviors and merits, and to live for the benefit of all beings. Those are the next three. And the last ten are, you can see in the handout, not killing, not stealing, not misusing sexuality, not lying. not intoxicating our own bodies or the bodies of others, not speaking of others' faults or discussing others' faults or slandering them, not praising yourself while putting others down, not being possessive of anything, and not being angry

[19:39]

And finally, not abusing these three treasures of our true awakened nature, the truth of that awakened nature, and the peace and harmony of all that. Those are the precepts which people receive in the ceremony. By admitting who we are and receiving these precepts, we can really be who we are. And what we are is... Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. We are enlightened nature. We are the truth. And we are peace and harmony. If we can be exactly what we are, that's what we realize. By receiving these precepts, we can finally be willing to be an ordinary person like the Buddha. And these precepts are something which we've been studying intensively for a couple of years at Zen Center, and there's things which you can study intensively for many lifetimes.

[20:58]

So now we're just at the edge of the ocean of studying these precepts. One little thing I might mention about them. is that for quite a while when we were chanting these ten what are called grave or heavy precepts, the not killing, not stealing and so on, one way we have done it is I vow I vow not to kill. That's one way people say it. I vow not to kill. But another way to say it is I vow. So one way is I vow to not kill.

[22:02]

Another way is I vow not to kill. I vow not to kill and I vow to not kill. Now which one is a split infinitive? I vow not to kill is a split infinitive, is that right? No. I vow to not kill is a split infinitive. You're not supposed to do that, right? Why not? What? It kills the infinitive. I vow not to kill. Kills the infinitive. I vow to not kill. Kills the infinitive. What's the infinitive? To kill. I vow... You split it. You don't split it. Oh, I see.

[23:04]

You don't split the to from the kill. You put the not before the to kill. I vow not to kill. I vow to not kill. Hmm. I think this is a point that may be too subtle for me to bring up.

[24:05]

I'll do it some other day. I think if I do this, the lecture won't get too long. Yeah, I think it's beyond the scope of this short talk. Maybe in a question and answer we could talk about it. After admitting our humanness and receiving these 16 great precepts of an enlightening being, these 16 great precepts of one who is dedicated to the welfare, happiness, and freedom of all beings, then we can enter Buddha's way, and then we can really be ordinary human beings. Which means all we have to do is stay close to all beings and do nothing.

[25:18]

We don't have to do anything. Which means you can do anything once you receive these precepts. You can stay close to beings and you can walk with them through birth and death. You can do anything because of receiving these precepts. Before receiving these precepts, you can do some things and you can't do other things, and you can do other things and you can't do some things. So I like the image of fishes swimming in the ocean. And there's a gate in the ocean.

[26:23]

Actually, there's many gates in the ocean, fortunately. These gates, one of these gates is called this ritual of entering Buddha's way. Once the fish swim through the gate, they turn into dragons. They change into dragons. They're still in the ocean, but they change from fish to dragons. I just got a copy here of the Zen Center President's Report, and he quotes from the Book of Serenity, Case 32. The introduction says, the ocean is the world of dragons.

[27:33]

Disappearing and appearing, they sport serenely. They're diving and swimming and blowing fire and steam and making clouds and having a ball, serenely. After you go through the gate, you don't have to tie yourself up into the ball anymore and sort of sink to the bottom. You can have a ball after you receive these precepts. You can be a dragon. The sky is the home of, it says cranes, but I'd say condors. They fly and call freely and have barbecues, vegetarian barbecues. And it says, why does the exhausted fish or the dull fish stop in the shoals and the sluggish bird rest in the reeds?

[28:46]

Is there any way to figure gain and loss? If you really have the courage to admit who you are, you can become a dragon by receiving Buddha's precepts. On top of being honest to receive these precepts and you can be a dragon. However, why does some fish stay in the shallow water and some reeds, some birds sort of got just sort of like loaf in the reeds instead of like spreading their wings and taking to the sky? Why? Why do they? Well, one reason is because some of those birds and some of those fish think, well, gosh, I'm just a dumb bird or I'm a lazy fish or I sometimes bite other fish.

[29:47]

How could I be a dragon? I'm just a crumb bone. I get irritated. How would I dare go through that gate and become a dragon? But it also says, is there any way to figure gain and loss? After you go through the dragon gate and become a real person that you are, you don't go around eating fish. These dragons don't eat fish. They play with the fish. They say, hey, fishies, come on around through this gate. Go through there. Or actually, you're already our friend. The dragons aren't really different from the fish. There's not really a gate. You just have to act out that you want to be a dragon, that you want to be yourself and be free.

[30:52]

You have to act it out. Now some people think, and it's true, that just in your heart you want to dedicate your life to your own welfare and the welfare of all beings. And if you, in your heart, want to receive Buddha's compassion in the form of Buddha's teaching and Buddha's precepts, if you want to do that in your heart, that's good. And that's right, it is good. However, it's to take one step further to do it interactively, to do it dramatically with other beings. That takes you one step deeper because our real heart is not just our own heart. It's the heart we act out with all beings. That's why we do this together as theater, as interaction, not just in our own heart. That's important.

[31:52]

But we do it also publicly, privately, interactively. And then we're dragons and we can encourage by our swimming and our serene sport, we can encourage others to also enter the Buddha way through receiving their own true nature. I have a example of a of a dragon for you. His name was Ryokan. He was a Japanese Soto Zen monk. And he was a person who, if you read his poetry, he really was very able to admit he was a human being.

[33:01]

He cried. He laughed. He played with the children. People made fun of him because he played with the children so much. He forgot where he was going a lot. But in my heart, he's a great little dragon. And this one night, he was sitting in his little house. on a full moon night, and he heard someone sneaking up to his house. Sounded like somebody was sneaking up to his house. What would they sneak up to his house for? Maybe they were going to rob him. So before the person entered his house, He didn't know if the person was going to enter his house, but just in case he was going to enter his house, before he entered his house, he threw all his valuables out the window and said, here for you. Enjoy.

[34:04]

I'm sorry I can't give you the full moon too. Actually, he could have also said, and take the full moon too. Because actually you can give away the moon to your friends, even though you don't own it. And when I heard that story, I said, I want to be a dragon like that. That encouraged me to practice Zen. And we are told that when Ryokan visited someone's home, everybody in the family became peaceful. And the home was filled with harmony. And that's all. Even after Ryokan left, it stayed that way for many days. It is said that he never gave talks that were difficult to understand.

[35:12]

He just sat at the same table and enjoyed food and drink with the families. That was all. everybody could really feel their peaceful mind through Ryokan's presence. Just an ordinary person that was so thoroughly ordinary that he was not stuck in being ordinary. And wherever he went, he helped other people dare to be themselves in peace and harmony. He had lots of fun, bouncing balls, drinking sake, writing beautiful poetry, smelling flowers, being a fool, and being serene, disciple of the Buddha. So not all of you are going to do the ceremony tomorrow, but anyway, if you are willing to be yourself and admit who you are, at least in your own heart, that's a step in the right direction.

[36:42]

And maybe someday you'll want to do it in an interactive way. I'm not pressuring you. I really don't want you to do it, except from your own desire. But anyway, look to see if you want to do it in your own heart. And if you do, then you can sing this song with me. This song is for those who admit that there's some sadness in this world and admit that they're human beings. Don't skip over that, and then you can sing this song. It's another song about a river. It's called, Roll, Roll, Row Your Boat. Gently down the river. Roll, roll, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. But it's a dream you must admit.

[37:43]

You must acknowledge the dream. in all, in its full impact. Okay? So I think some of you know that song, right? And we can do it in rounds. I'm not a, what do you call it, choir director, but is anybody here a choir director? You are sort of a choir director? Would you like to direct us? No? Okay. Would someone else like to direct us? Any other director types? No? Well, should we forget it? Okay. Okay. Starting three groups? Three groups. Okay. Starting from Jennifer that way, you're in that group. You'll be the first group. Then from Jennifer to, let's see, to like John.

[38:45]

That's a middle group. That's a big one. Second group. And then Cassandra back to, what's your name again? What? Sylvia. Cynthia. Sorry. Hi, Cynthia. So Cassandra to Cynthia, and then over this way to John. Don't forget to sing, John. That's a third group. Okay, ready? Ready? your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.

[39:50]

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. Okay, now again, it's okay to do that. The price of admission is, you know what? Right? Admit the first truth and the second truth, and then you can row down Buddha's way, okay? And then one more song is a song I learned on the Mississippi when I was a boy from Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Okay, you know that one? Happy trails to you.

[40:53]

Keep smile we meet again. Happy trails to you. Keep smiling until then. Happy trails to you. Again. Pardon? Oh, there is? Please tell us. Sing it. Please. Happy trails to you. Tell me again. Happy trails to you. Keep smiling. Who cares about the weather?

[42:06]

Who cares about the rain as long as we're together? Who cares about the rain if we're together? to sing a happy song, and it brings the sunny weather? So now you sing it? No? Rather not? Huh? Yeah, but you know it, so you can lead us. These songs just coincidentally often turn out to be the essence of Buddhism. I don't know why. Song record writers tap into something. We're all going to sing this, right? Right. From the top. From the top. Happy trails to you. Until we meet again.

[43:13]

Happy trails to you Keep smiling until then Who cares about the rain if we're together Just sing a happy song and bring the sunny weather Happy trails to you Till we meet again That's great. Thank you very much. One other thing I wanted to say about the ceremony. Please, I'm not going to go much longer, but make yourself comfortable if you're stretching your legs or anything. The ceremony I said was this ritual entrance into Buddha's Way, OK? But after you enter Buddha's Way, after you enter, then another part of the ceremony is

[44:15]

you basically get a whole new body and mind, right? So you get a new name. So these people will get a new name. They get to keep their old name too, in its fullness. But they get a new name, which has two parts. A sacred name is the first part, and a Dharma name, second part. And they also receive a new robe, a new clothing too, and clothing of awakening. And they also receive a lineage paper, which is the lineage of the transmission of these precepts down to the person. So that's, they get a new, and these people don't have to give up their old name or their old clothes or their old family. They can keep all that stuff and get a new name, a new clothes, and a new family on top of the old one.

[45:21]

And I want to say something about the robe. We have... They receive a five-paneled robe, which is called Raksu, which looks a little bit like a bib. Have you seen those? They receive a new one. And then there's also... larger robe called the okessa and it is comes in seven panels which is the number that people receive when they first become ordained and then it also comes in nine panels this robe here is a nine panel robe which we wear when we give a talk or lead a ceremony and then it's also 17 panels and 25 panels. And I guess there can be other numbers too, or those are the main numbers? Most panels is 25, but there can be 15.

[46:25]

Can there be 11? Yeah, so there can be... So the basic number is 5, 7, 9 for a priest, but then there can be all these other numbers. So this is a 9-panel one. And people at Zen Center made this one, which is a lot of work. And I'll show you the under part. Millions of little stitches in here. And also people at Zen Center have made a 25 panel one, which is just being finished and will be used, it will be worn in the ceremony tomorrow. And the leader of the sewing is Shunpo Sensei here, who has been leading that sewing, but also many other kinds of sewing. And there's many people now sewing these robes at Zen Center. And these robes are called a field of blessing beyond

[47:31]

you know, beyond what we can see, beyond form and emptiness. And so I want to thank now and again the sewing practitioners and sewing teachers who are doing this miraculous thing of sewing a field far beyond form and emptiness. We don't understand exactly what it is. But when you sew this robe, these robes, maybe you can get some inkling of this field far beyond form and emptiness, this field of blessing beyond our little human brains. So thank you very much and all your friends and many, many others for doing this stuff. And, you know, I thought about myself wearing that robe and I really don't feel worthy to wear it as a human being. But I guess there's some dragon someplace that will wear it. So, anyway, that's enough, I guess.

[48:37]

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