I talked to her before the sitting, I thought maybe I should leave the sitting and go to a ceremony where the abbess of the city center was going to step down from her responsibilities as abbess, was going to retire. I thought I should go and be there for the ceremony because she's like a successor to me. So I did, I went. But anyway, I told Eileen, Eileen said, well, if you go, probably everybody will leave. So I just wanted to say, thank you for not leaving. Thank you for upholding the practice in my absence. And you know I want you to, right? Because I'm going to be absent before too long and I hope you carry on the practice

[01:10]

even when I'm not around anymore. When I first started going to Europe, I noticed that when I would leave the meditation hall and go have interviews with people and then I would come back, the meditation hall would be almost empty. When I left, they left, when the cat's away. But over the years that I've been going, now sometimes I leave and go do interviews and I come back and everybody's there. This is called maturity, people growing up and sharing the responsibility for maintaining the practice of the Buddha way. So when we first start practicing, maybe we do go practice with a teacher or with other people so we can practice, and if they go away, we go away too.

[02:13]

But as we get more mature, when they go away, we carry on the practice. This is part of the reproduction, right? That we don't just practice for now, we practice for the future generations of living beings. So thank you for taking care of the practice while I was in the city. And things went quite smoothly. I went in, went to the ceremony, and came back, and the traffic was like, you know, the water's parted, I got, the truck dropped me off by the Zen Center, I walked in, and I wasn't late. So, another lovely day, and what we just chanted just now, every time we chant that I think

[03:21]

how amazing that a Zen teacher would talk like that. This is a Zen master that wrote that vow. Through his eyes, everything he sees is like the Buddha's teaching. Everybody he meets is like Buddha's teaching. But most of us have to train for quite a while to see that. When we do see it though, we feel very happy, wow, Buddha's teaching, Buddha's teaching, Buddha's teaching, wow, Buddha's teaching, Buddha's teaching, Buddha's truth, the dharma, the truth, how wonderful. The truth that sets us free to see it in everybody's face. This is what Buddha sees. But Buddha can see that some of the faces do not yet see that in some of the faces. So Buddha wishes to teach people so they can see the dharma in everybody's face.

[04:24]

Yes? That brings up a question that I've had from these last couple of classes, that you're talking about spiritual friendship as a student-teacher relationship, and awakening through a relationship with a teacher, face-to-face transmission. But it was seeming to me that spiritual friendship is more than that. Yes, you could say more than that, or you could say that I'm emphasizing that these relationships between student and teacher, that they're friendships. The Buddha, the Shakyamuni Buddha, is talking to his disciple Ananda. So everybody knows Buddha's the teacher and Ananda's the student. But Ananda didn't say, when he sat down with the Buddha, he didn't say,

[05:33]

this student-teacher relationship is half the holy life. Ananda said, this friendship between me and you is half the practice. And Buddha said, no, this friendship is the whole practice. So the thing about that story is, it's a student-teacher relationship obviously, but the student brings up, he doesn't say teacher, he says friendship. And the Buddhist doesn't say, what do you mean friendship? I'm the teacher. He says, yeah, friendship. But then he says, by relying on good friendship, by relying on good comradeship, you will be able to practice the way to freedom. And then he says again, by relying on me.

[06:37]

That's the second part of the sutra. In other words, it's good friendship, but relying on good friendship is also relying on the Buddha. Turn it around, your relationship with the Buddha is friendship. And I think we sometimes, with some scary Zen master stories, we forget that this is a friendship. So you're stressing that aspect of the student-teacher relationship, but not... I don't mean to stress the student-teacher side of it. I'm just saying that the stories that we have, a lot of the stories we have, are between students and teachers. But some other stories we have are between teachers and teachers. Some of them are between teachers. But the stories between the students, not so many of those are being transmitted for hundreds and hundreds of years. But there are friendships between students.

[07:39]

Two teachers are two students. Two teachers of the Dharma are two students of the Dharma. So we have stories of students of the Dharma who are now recognized as teachers and them relating to each other, and their friendship is another example. It's just that a lot of the stories, not all of them, but many of the stories where you see the friendship coming to maturity are stories where the student is with a more mature person. So I'm partly trying to show you friendship, but I'm also trying to show you the friendship which exemplifies the realization of perfect wisdom. So there's going to be one or more teachers in the story if perfect wisdom is coming to maturity. But there's also stories of pretty good friends,

[08:40]

but they're both not mature enough yet to be able to realize perfect wisdom in the story. But when it happens at that moment, it's not student and teacher anymore. So it's really, it's the relationship. It's like the face-to-face transmission. We worship the face-to-face transmission. It's not that we don't worship the teacher, and also what we just chanted here was that we have a worshipful attitude towards everything. In other words, worshipful means, worship means you acknowledge the worth. So when you have the right kind of eyes, you worship everything. And that's the kind of person who can be a good friend to you, one who sees your worth. And when you enter that friendship, it's not that the teacher's the good friend and you're not,

[09:47]

it's a good friendship, and yet the teacher is a good friend. So the Buddha says, in the Sutra he says, good friendship, he doesn't say good friends. Other places he says good friends, but here he says good friendship, the situation. It's just a lot of examples. So maybe I should give examples that aren't student-teacher examples of the friendship. Maybe that would be helpful to make clear that I'm not exactly stressing the student-teacher relationship, but just that those are a lot of the stories I know, where I see, oh, I'm looking for friendship, where the friendship isn't just friendship, but where friendship is where wisdom is realized. Part of it, you know, we may be ragged and funny, we've pretty much run out of money, but we'll travel along singing our songs side by side,

[10:49]

through all kinds of weather, you know, it doesn't matter at all. There's that kind of friendship too, which is great. And the student-teacher walk like that together. But then there's another kind of friendship where somehow the mind dissolves, and we don't abide in the friendship. So those stories, a lot of them that I know, the ones I've seen, I'm looking at them again as friendship stories rather than student-teacher stories. So a lot of the stories I know about demonstrating how somebody talks to somebody to show them the way to wisdom, those are student-teacher stories. But now I'm looking at them as friendship stories. If I knew more stories where wisdom was being matured and there were no teachers around, I don't know what I would tell you, but most of the stories I know where wisdom is being realized, there's a Buddha and a Bodhisattva, or a Bodhisattva and a sentient being who's not yet a Bodhisattva,

[11:51]

or two Bodhisattvas, one who's more mature than the other. And sometimes they're Dharma siblings. And sometimes, like here's a story, okay? Maybe it's too long to tell you. So here's, I told you this guy, this family, so you have Sherto, and then you have Dawu. Tracy left. She left, but she left me a note before she left, which I think I have here. Anyway, I think she'll be okay with this note. She left a note. So anyway, while I'm opening this note, there's Dawu, and then there's Sherto, and then Dawu. And from Dawu there comes Lungton.

[12:54]

And from Lungton there comes Deshan. And from Deshan there comes Shreifeng. And from Deshan comes Shreifeng and Yanto. Those two great students, Shreifeng and Yanto. Or in Japanese, Seppo and Ganto. Not only learn them in Chinese, but also learn them in Japanese. And then look up the characters and learn the English. Seppo, Shreifeng, and what is it in English? Snowy Summit. Seppo was a very diligent practitioner. They say he destroyed nine Zafus. They said, no, he destroyed them with his booty.

[14:04]

Seppo. Also they say about Seppo, he climbed Dungshan nine times. So on the other side, coming down from Sherto, we have Yaoshan. And Yunyan and Dungshan. So Seppo went to study with Dungshan nine times. This is a really fanatic meditator. What's his name? Seppo. Or Shreifeng. Snowy Summit. Right. So this guy has a Dharma brother named Yanto. And one time they were traveling, visiting different teachers. And they couldn't go any further because the snow was so deep. So they stayed in some inn. And they were staying overnight. And Seppo was meditating. And Yanto was sleeping.

[15:09]

And he woke up and saw his Dharma brother destroying a Zafu. And he said, you know, take it easy, man. And Shreifeng said, my heart aches. I'm just trying to understand the Dharma. With my whole heart, I'm working to understand the Dharma. You know, I'm not just fooling around here being intense. And so his Dharma brother says, okay, okay, let me help you. Just tell me your understanding and I'll correct it where it's off. So he's an older Dharma brother. So he's a Dharma brother, but he's going to kind of teach Seppo. So anyway, Seppo tells him one story of an enlightenment experience and his Dharma brother says, don't ever mention that again. And so he does. He corrects his understanding on three different occasions

[16:10]

where he shows his understanding and his Dharma brother shows him that he's kind of grasping it, you know. And then his Dharma brother just says to him, you know, man, you should just let it come out from here and just spread over the whole universe. You know, you got it here, just let it out and let it go all over the place. And Shreflang woke up. That's a Dharma brother friendship. So here's a letter from Tracy. I'm sorry. Rev Dash. I'm sorry not to be able to stay for the afternoon. Thank you for the teaching this morning and as always deeply, deeply appreciated.

[17:17]

Tracy, exclamation mark. So, you know, without some resistance you don't make a pearl. A pearl comes from irritation, right? But instead of just crushing the irritant, instead of tossing the sand out of the shell, the oyster oozes some liquid minerals around the sand and makes it into a pearl. Yes? I wanted to express my gratitude to everyone for the memorial services today. It was fantastic and really very helpful.

[18:20]

Great. Dad was a great teacher throughout my life and thanks to him arose a lot of things for me. Like practicing Zen. Like kindness, compassion, intellect, intimacy, love. All of those things. Good friendship. Very good friendship. That's how culture begins. Infinite friendship. So thank you all very much. Thank you. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numerous.

[19:21]

I vow to save them. Illusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Thank you very much again.

[19:52]

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