Hi, welcome everyone. Good evening. So this is the third of the three classes about the Song of the Grass Hut by Shuto or Sekito in the 8th century. And actually, you know, in the first two classes, we did cover the whole text. But what I want to do tonight is to go deeper. So I will focus on... a number of the significant lines, and then we'll have discussion about it. And I want to hear your questions and comments, and let's talk more about this wonderful teaching poem by Chateau. And maybe just to repeat, the two lines that I have said are, I find most central. turn around the light to shine within then just return is the pivotal line I think in the whole song but then also don't give up let go of hundreds of years and relax completely so we'll come back to that to those but I wanted to just start at the beginning and mention some things about some of the lines we've already talked about

[01:31]

But then I welcome you to have questions or comments on them. So just to start at the beginning, I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value. And what is a value is a question that comes up here. What is a value? What do we value? After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. So this goes along with relax completely. This is... not samurai Zen. This is macho Zen. This is long-term settling in practice that will help us relax completely. And where we find what is of value, he says in his hut, there's nothing of value. When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lifted and covered by weeds. Does anybody have questions or comments or reflections on those lines, just to start?

[02:34]

And don't be shy. I can see the people online. Joan, maybe you can... Yeah, I'll see the people here. Yeah. Well, the weed implies something not so good. It's something unwanted. Usually that's how we think of it. I actually, you know, with apologies to all of you who are horticulturalists or gardeners, I kind of like weeds myself. I just, I like letting things grow wild and just to see what that's like. But of course, civilization would not have occurred without agriculture and weeding and so forth. But here he's talking about the grasses that he's covered his hut with. And, you know, this song is also all about Zazen.

[03:37]

So, you know, this is about, as I've said the last two times, this is about the space of practice, the Bodhi Mandala, the space of our sitting. And there's also, you know, Suzuki Roshi talking about mind weeds. So as we sit, of course, we can commune with that which goes beyond the ultimate or universal reality, which we get glimmers of at least. But weeds appear. The monkey mind weeds, the thoughts, thinking and feeling appear. And when we settle into Zazen, maybe we're covered by weeds. And as somebody mentioned last week, turn over the weeds to make compost, that when we see our own thought forms and feelings and stuff that comes up, just facing that, just acknowledging that,

[04:58]

acknowledging our ancient twisted karma, repenting for our ancient twisted karma, seeing this in terms of the presets in the full moon, you know, fresh weeds appeared. And we learned to live in the midst of weeds. So anyway, that's just a comment, but any other reflections or questions about, or other thoughts about This place where there's nothing of value. More about the weeds. Well, I think it's like the Bodhisattva Valley that's never done. Like when it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. It's like every other Golden Gate Bridge, as soon as they finish painting it, they have to start all over again from the other side. It's just continuous. Right. So Dogen talks about Buddha going beyond Buddha. He uses that phrase. maybe more than any other, certainly more than Shikantasa, just this ongoing Buddhiness, this ongoing awakening.

[06:04]

Shakyamuni continued to practice every day after his great awakening, for example. So yeah, this is... But then he says he relaxes and enjoys in that. How can we... settle into this in a relaxed way and enjoy just our everyday experience and enjoy our naps and enjoy our waking. Oh, yeah. Other questions or comments? Or I can move to the next slot to another line. I think there's something unsettling for me is... fresh weeds appear, it kind of implies there's a dichotomy between something else where there aren't any weeds and then there's something that has weeds. And is he saying the nap is clarity and then the weeds come back?

[07:09]

Or it just seems to be two separate states that he's implying. Thank you. Yes, yes, that's a good question. So I would say that part of the point of this is that they're not separate. So in Shuto's other famous poem, Harmony of Difference and Sameness, he specifically talks about, you know, the realm of differences, the realm of differentiation, the realm where all the weeds appeared, and then the realm of sameness, your oneness, your wholeness. And the point of our practice. So Dogen emphasizes very much expression of our practice and our everyday activities. So we do get a sense of replace where there's no weeds, maybe, to put it that way, or the ultimate space in our zazen.

[08:12]

But how do we then express that or share that into our everyday activity where there are weeds? Ultimately, you know, in the Bodhisattva practice, nirvana and samsara are not separate. Nirvana is right in samsara. So we, as much as we may be annoyed by all the troubles of our everyday activity in our busy world and all the politics and so forth, it's not separate from this wholeness, this sense of wholeness. And that's... kind of foundational on Soto Zen. In Shuto's Harmony of Difference and Sameness, in Dongshan's Song of the Jewel, Mer, Samadhi, Who Gives Our Mind, and in Dogen and in Suzuki Roshi. Suzuki Roshi talks about losing our balance against this background of perfect balance.

[09:12]

So we get some glimmer or maybe even some experiences of deep communion with this perfect balance. But in terms of our everyday activity, of course, we're always losing our balance. So, yeah, thank you, Charles, for the dichotomy of weeds and napping, maybe. Or, you know, how do we see this? And it's how do we live here calmly in the midst of being covered by weeds? Thank you. That's right to the point. Other comments or questions or responses? Well, nothing of value kind of implies that there's nothing to grasp after and nothing to defend. Excellent, yes. Somebody said freedom is just another word, but nothing left to lose. I don't know about the same person.

[10:16]

Anyway, Yeah, there's nothing of ultimate value, which means that everything is valuable. There's a story that came up about, in another context, about the great pilgrim of Fidana from the last chapter of the Laonaman Sutra, who's asked by Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom, to go out and bring back some herb that will be healing. And he goes out and he comes back and says, there's nothing in the world that is not medicinal herbs. So there's nothing of super value, and yet everything is valuable. I think that's... But that's... You know, maybe that's too easy. We have to actually feel that.

[11:18]

We have to actually see that. We have to actually see the wholeness that is underlying all of the struggles of our world. When we see struggling and suffering, that implies that there's something other than that, that we have some background sense of. Maybe I'll go on to another line, and I want to keep just talking about these, so getting deeper into what's going on. And I'm going to skip a few lines, go down to, I talked about this last week, though the HUD is small, it includes, and if I skip a line that you're interested in, we can come back to it, so please speak up. But though the HUD is small, it includes the entire world, in 10 feet square, an old man illumines forms in their nature.

[12:19]

So I talked about this last week in terms of this being a reference to the Malakirti, the great awakened layperson of Chakkinuni's time, and the entertaining sutra about him. But, you know, and I'm thinking of Dogen's Genja Kahn, where the... Need is smaller, the field is smaller, the need is large, the field is large. So how do we see that everything is right here? Our own lives and our own space of practice, which this song is celebrating, includes everything. So... You know, maybe I asked this last time, but how many of you can remember your fourth grade teacher? How many of you have thought about your fourth grade teacher sometime in the last month?

[13:23]

Less. So everybody that we've ever been, you know, ever been engaged with is part of what we is right here on our seat now. So the hut is small, you know, our... We may feel like our lives are small and can't make much of a difference, but actually the entire world is here. Everything we do makes a difference. Everything we, all of our efforts, all of our kindness, all of our awareness, all of our activities spread out and do make a difference. So the entire world is right here. This works in time, too. I was, you know, asked about time. And, you know, when we say, be here now, you know, this old, or thinking about being present, that includes all times. Every time is right here. All of the times in American history are here in the current situation.

[14:30]

Both slavery and the average to abolish it. both women not being allowed to vote and women's suffrage, which allowed women to vote, at least for now. And so it's all right here. We're not separate from everything. Questions about that or comments or other perspectives about being small and including the entire world? Yes. How do we get people to appreciate that? Yes. How do we get people to appreciate that? That's right. Yes. That's our practice. How do we get people to appreciate that the entire world is right here and that everything we do makes a difference? You know, it's very easy sometimes to feel hopeless or feel overwhelmed or like there's nothing we can do.

[15:39]

And actually, that's not true that's not real hopelessness is not real feeling overwhelmed of course we feel overwhelmed sometimes that's just human and we should acknowledge that we feel what we feel but in reality you know it has been said that people have the power anyway we can express something deeper in our lives every day. And it doesn't have to be dramatic, but anyway, how do we... So, say your question again, please, Edith. How do we get people to appreciate that, you know, our little, so-called little lives has everything we need? Once at least you're past Maslow's four needs, but... I feel a lot of the grievance and suffering of a lot of American voters seems to me when I look at their lives, what are you complaining about?

[16:50]

I mean, all my family who voted a lot of grievance, they've got multiple cars, large houses. I can't quite grasp what they're failing to grasp or get. Yes. And so how do we listen to that? And respect that and know that many people in our country are caught by grievance. And so there's some suffering that has not been addressed. And so people look for strong leaders or whatever to try and cover that, and of course that's not going to be ultimately satisfactory, but yeah, how do we see that everything is right here, and how do we see that we have, we do have that everything we do has an impact, and it's a long process.

[17:56]

You know, history goes up, you know, oscillations and goes up and down and, you know, whatever, but Dr. King at least believed that it fends towards justice. So how do we go around the bend? So asking that question is exactly the point. How do we express this for people to hear that their lives are meaningful? Thank you for the question. That's... one of the really good questions to just be present with over time because it will take time. I have a question. Yes, please. What are the forms that are being referred to being illuminated?

[18:58]

Yes, what's that line? The old man illumines forms. Yeah. Each forms, it means everyone. Well, you know, I mean, there's so many levels. This kind of Zen teaching poem, we can see on many levels. We can talk about the forms of the woman ceremony or the forms of bowing or the forms of Zen posture. We can also talk about... the bells and the cushions and the windows and the floor. We can talk about each other as forms. How do we engage appropriately with all, you know, we can see forms as just objects, dead objects. We can violate the first great precept by seeing the world as a bunch of dead objects. as opposed to seeing that the world is alive and all forms are alive.

[20:08]

So every person, every teacup, every laptop, every zabutan, every chair is functioning, working in some dynamic way. That's the underlying reality for, you know, the Hawaiian school would be kind of fundamental to Soto Zen and underlies the harmony of difference and sameness that Soto wrote about, as well as this poem about the grass hut. You know, there's this image of Indra's neck, and there's the... The reality is this network, and at each place where there's a mesh, there's a jewel. You've probably all heard this metaphor before. And each jewel reflects all the jewels around it, and they reflect all the jewels around them.

[21:13]

So all the forms reflect all the other forms, ultimately. Do the forms mean the skandas? Is that what he's referring to here? Does the Chinese give us any clue as to what he's saying? I think it's just forms, so I can go look at the characters, but I think it's just forms. So sure, that refers to the Skandos, of course, yes, yes. But also, we can see many forms, many kinds of forms, including the Skandos. So, yeah. So... Forms and their nature. So I was talking about the nature of forms being interconnected and alive. And that's what old people may be seeing sometimes. I don't know. That's part of what Shuto is pointing out.

[22:18]

And that gets to the next major... phrase that I was going to come to, although, again, please, you know, if I skip anything that you're interested in, we can talk about any line here, but a bodhisattva trusts without doubt. So I talked a little bit about this last week, but what does it mean to trust? What does it mean to doubt? What is faith in bodhisattva practice? So there's one line, even if the sun rises in the west the bodhisattva has no other way even if if all the people in the country vote for cruelty still the bodhisattva has no other way we still express kindness and caring and try to promote awakening and yeah and share our express and share our gratitude

[23:24]

But this question about faith and doubt is important. And faith in Western context often means belief, belief in some deity or belief in some ideology or something like that. But I think this is deeper. Mahayana Bodhisattva trusts without doubt. What is trust? How do we take the next step? What is conviction that doesn't get caught by all the doubts and all the difficulties that we encounter in our everyday activity and in our world as a whole? Comments about that, about faith and faith in Buddhism. What is it? What isn't it? What it isn't? I really want to hear your reflections.

[24:25]

Well, I'll say that after last week, my trust in anything is gone. Well, it's easy to feel that way. And yet, we're still here. The sky is still here. The trees and flowers are still here. Of course, we're in a climate disaster that's likely to get worse. But how do we appreciate what remains? How do we strengthen what remains? How do we see that we still can perform sazen? We still can perform the form of the precept ceremony. But yes, it's very easy to feel doubt. This is the issue in this line. A bodhisattva trusts without doubt. But maybe we need doubt to find trust.

[25:31]

So I'm interested in hearing what other people say about this. How can you encourage... I think we have St. Tetsu. Excuse me? Oh, St. Tetsu. There's another... I have a question first, which is that there's another... There's another... chat that we say that has a similar line to it, I think, in a bodhisattva trust without doubt, or is that true, or is this the A.H. Koso? The A.H. Koso. Yes. That's a good one. Yes. And I wonder if they're in conversation with each other, those two lines. I'm going to look into my channel. I'm not sure what line you're referring to. It's interesting. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

[26:35]

Yeah, right at the beginning, no doubt will arise in us. We violate our needs. Yes, so this is important. Our practice is we vow with all beings. The bodhisattva vow, the commitment to care about suffering, care about the world, care about awakening, care about each other and everyone in the world, not just some people, not just people in our tribe, but to actually care about all beings and all beings. This is, we bow together with all feelings. Not to fail to hear the true Dharma. Hearing this, we will not be skeptical and will not be without faith. So how do we find trust even when things are going poorly?

[27:40]

But we don't always know. I mean, it's important that you don't know what it is. we don't know how this happened, we don't know what will happen, we don't know. We can see harm and suffering, but how do we address that? So, I think I mentioned last week, Yun-men's response to what is the teaching of the Buddha's whole lifetime is an appropriate response. How do we respond to each situation appropriately? And that's You know, it's not like there's an instruction manual about appropriate responses. There's trial and error. We make mistakes. It's really important to make mistakes and hopefully make good mistakes, not harmful mistakes. But how do we find a way to be encouraging to each other? So please encourage John, who says he's lost his trust after last week.

[28:43]

How do we continue in the middle of a difficult situation? How do we make our best effort? Sometimes we need to pause and just feel sad or, you know, take a break from all the efforts to express this, but how do we find a balance? How do we... come back to balance with this background of perfect balance when we're all out of whack? Those are the questions, I think. And, you know, nobody can tell you the answer. We have to find that for ourselves, each of us, and together in Sangha. How do we support each other to find the trust to continue to try to be helpful.

[29:52]

But it's a big question. And part of Zen, you know, teachings is to just face the big questions and to question them, to question the questions. you, Jack, that on that line about faith and trust, I mean, you know, I have perfect faith that life will go up and down and politics will twist around and there'll be hard times and good times, et cetera, et cetera. I have faith and I don't think, you know, I don't, you know, I take it a little more simplistically, I guess, that he's talking about that that a bodhisattva has to have faith in the teachings of Buddha that this is going to... that it's the true way to follow.

[31:02]

So, you know, that's how I take it. Yes, and bodhisattvas don't just... take the answer of some Buddha's teaching from 2,500 years ago, or in this case from the 700s, but how do we find Buddha in everything around us, in others, in the Sangha, and in, you know, the, so, we have ancestors of the Bodhisattva, the Zen lineage, for example, We have cultural ancestors, great musicians or writers or artists, and we have ancestors of resistance. So I've been thinking about Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony and many ancestors who have found ways to resist social societal difficulties.

[32:09]

So... Buddha is all around us. It's not just faith. It is faith in the Buddhist teachings and in the practice and in Zazen, but it's also faith that there are so many people who want to express, who work to express kindness and caring and resistance to harm. It's complicated, though. We don't always see the effects of what is happening. But thank you. Yes. So like reading that line, a bodhisattva trusts without doubt where it is, and I was just kind of scanning before and after. It's interesting because I kind of read it... And then the lines directly after it for the rest of the poem seem to almost be answering or rolling over that question.

[33:17]

Because the next line is the middling or lowly can't help wondering, will this hut perish or not? I think that has something to do with faith and doubt. To me, that's what it rings as. And so as you read down the poem, it's almost like he's talking about like those questions of like faith and doubt and coming back to practice to, you know, just fitting with head covered and then turning the light within, et cetera. I just think it's interesting where it is in the poem. It kind of is like a hinge to some of the other lines. Good. Yes. Thank you. Yes, so there's a way in which this poem, this song actually, you know, it fits together. It's discussing this whole, it's bringing up these issues, and that's a pivotal life.

[34:20]

What is our faith? What can we trust? And then he says the original master is present, and I said last week I don't... I'm not sure what exactly Chateau is referring to. He could be talking about Shakyamuni. He could be talking about the Dharmakaya. He could be talking about the source of our awareness right now, the original space. But yeah, so thank you. That helps. There's some way in which these hinges in this poem, in this song... kind of develop a way of thinking, a way of seeing, a way of being, I would say, that we can find in our place of practice, in our grassland. And maybe I'll just jump ahead a little bit.

[35:22]

Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. And as I said last week, that's a specific reference to Bodhidharma. but it's also when we... This is just my associations and impressions, and part of working with a teaching like this is to bring your own reflections and your own connections to bear on it. So just sitting with head covered, to me, I get the implication of allowing all the thoughts, all of this, all of the heavy stuff to just be covered, not to be, not to get caught up in it, not to let our head explain. Just, and that can happen, but if we have our head covered, if we're not caught, it doesn't mean that there's no thinking necessarily, but it means we're not caught up in it.

[36:31]

all of our worries and thinking and frustration and so forth, and then all things are at rest. When our head's covered, when our thinking is not obstructing us, all things are at rest. How can we see the aspect of all things being at rest? How can we see that reality along with any other reality that our head is conjuring up? So that line is, again, about rest. He's talking about taking a nap in the beginning, and then he's talking about relaxing completely further on. How do we find our space where we can trust without that, where we can feel the wholeness of Zazen? the wholeness of our lives with all of its problems and relax into that.

[37:39]

And from there we can, so jumping ahead, we turn around the light to shine within, then just return. So we turn around the light to shine within, to me implies this resting, this settling, this... communion with something deeper but then we have to return we come back to the everyday particulars the phenomenal reality the world of cause and effect and suffering and you know we don't abandon we don't abandon anyone so just return, turn the light within, then just return, is this dynamic of our whole practice life. Questions or comments about that?

[38:43]

I think I said last week, it's just this line, turn around the light to shine within, then just return. Just remembering that. You don't have to remember anything else. All of Soto Zen is in that line. All of our practice life is in that line. Yes, thank you. This is a new thing for me to think about then. I was thinking, well, first you turned around the light just shined within for a day or two or a month or nine years. And then you return. But this is almost saying you keep the light shining within when you return. Yes. And you keep turning and then you keep turning back for nourishment to this original master, to this source. But so they're not separate, but they also nourish each other.

[39:50]

when we see the problems of the world, that helps us to turn back within, but the turning back within helps us to be able to respond somehow, to express something of our caring and kindness. It's not, you do, you know, you go into a monastery and then you come, and then you're finished and then you come out. Buddha didn't finish practicing when he was, when he had his, when he had his complete awakening. He continued to Siddhartha and everything. Even as he was providing teachings for people to help to help do what Evan from Richmond was saying, to help share this awakening. And people get fooled by all the things of the world and all of the you know, the producers of disinformation or fake news or whatever, you know, people get fooled by the struggle to get more, you know, and we become hungry goats.

[41:05]

But when we turn within, we can see that the original master is present, or sometimes we can glimpse that. So, yes, it's a very good point. It's not... one than the other or maybe it's very rapid oscillation so you know there's a precept I forget how we said it in the ceremony to not harbor ill will I don't know if that's how we've phrased it but it's about not getting angry but we do get angry there are things in fact there are some precepts about the precepts, where let's say if you don't get angry when it's appropriate, that's a violation of the precepts. But how do we let go, not turn the anger into hatred? That hatred is the enemy.

[42:11]

But of course, in difficult times, everybody can get angry. angry at one side or angry at the other side, whatever. And how do we not harbor that? And I once asked my teacher, does not harbor, not holding on to, not harboring, not getting angry is not harboring very quickly. But it takes a while when we're hurt, when When we're damaged, animals need to nourish themselves when they're hurt and recover, and it takes a while sometimes. But it's not just one than the other. There's this oscillation, and I think that's in this line. Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. Then just return to turning the light within, then just return to returning to the world.

[43:12]

And that's our practice. Does that help, Becky? Other comments or questions? I can continue to other lines, but if I skipped any line? We have another one here from Chise. I just had, because as we're talking about, and maybe this goes back to what John was saying earlier about, you know, the difficulty right now and like the feeling of hopelessness. Because when I read that line, turn around the light to shine within and just return, and the thought of what we're finding when we return the cushions is it's hard, is what I guess I'm getting down to. It feels difficult and hard, so I find it just very supportive, the way that this is worded, I guess. Because you just like...

[44:13]

turn that light to shine within you and you may see things that are difficult and messy when you do that but then just return because you can't basically you can't you can't you know they can't stay so you can't turn away from these things and there are things that like the ancestors and instructions that can like help you but then i like at the end it's just like it's just find those grasses to build a hut and don't give up. Like that's what I like that little, that kind of four line couplet, like just rings as like a unit to me. Cause it's like that sort of, yeah, that shining the light. It's sort of like easier said than done. And so just at the end of that, like, I think it just brings back It feels like there's this constant back and forth between effort and rest throughout the whole poem that I really appreciate, especially in these times.

[45:15]

And I think something like people coming in will either have a pop culture view of Zen as being loosey-goosey or super relaxing or somebody who's been exposed to it a little bit and we see it is really strict. I like that. Not a spa. Not a spa. I didn't hear that. What is that? She said not a spa. Oh, not a spa. Yeah. I like that there's like this playfulness between the difficult and the relaxing that both exist in practice in our lives, in the world. That's all for me. Yes. Thank you. Very good. Yes. Yes. So there's this rhythm. this fundamental rhythm between effort and rest, relax. So the line that you were referring to, find grasses to build a hut and don't give up, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.

[46:22]

So don't give up and let go. You know, go together. We need both. Don't give up. You know, if you feel overwhelmed, don't give up. Shame. Things change. The pendulum swings in various ways. We need to work, but it requires our engagement. That doesn't mean you have to go out and make some super public effort or something, but just our caring and paying attention and then responding appropriately when we see some opportunities. In the next four years, we'll see various events and They will help us see how to respond. And there's not one right way to respond. And maybe each one of us has our own appropriate way to respond. We don't know. And it's okay not to know. It's actually healthy. The problem is when we think we do know. People who have all the answers cause a lot of problems.

[47:25]

You know? So how do we keep open to... turning the light within and then just returning? How do we keep open to building a hut and not giving up, but then letting go? Letting go of hundreds of years. I love that line. There's hundreds of years behind everything that's happening right now in our country. There's the whole history of genocide against the Native Americans, or close to genocide. There's the whole history of slavery. There's the whole history of and Jim Crow, there's the whole history of misogyny. It's hundreds of years. It's not something that we're going to get rid of in one election. How could that be? That doesn't make sense. There's a process. This has to do with hundreds of years of ancient twisted karma. So this is a long time practice. Zen allows us...

[48:27]

a wide perspective of time. It's one of the gifts of our tradition. So here we are talking about this poem that was written in the 700s. Yikes, I'm not good at math. How many centuries ago was that? Anyway, it's a long time ago. And yet, we're finding it's relevant to how do we practice right now? How do we not give up? How do we let go of hundreds of years and relax completely, but not give up? So there's this And yes, what was just said about the rhythm of relaxing and making efforts. So yeah, some popular view of Zen is that everybody's calm and cool and it's not troubled by anything. Zen is not about ignoring the world. It's not about ignoring everyday reality.

[49:32]

It's not about escaping to some mountaintop in the Himalayas or California or somewhere. It's about how do we turn the light within and then just return? How do we find a way to not give up and let go of hundreds of years? So... And do you all know about the Saha world? Does anyone not know about, not heard of the Saha world? No, you know about the Saha world. The Saha world. Is there anybody who doesn't know? Oh, my kid doesn't know what that is. And Seiran doesn't know about the Saha world. The Saha world is where we are. The Saha world in traditional Buddhist... scriptures is the world it's called the world of endurance it's the world where things are hard to endure and uh it's great training for bodhisattvas so i think i may have said this last week but there are there are these perspectives that you know all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and all that appear in the sutras coming from distant world systems different distant distant solar systems or galaxies or

[50:57]

different dimensions or whatever, there's this perspective that all these different bodhisattvas are lined up waiting to be born here now because they know this is the most important place to practice. This place and time that we are living in, in the Saha world, the world of endurance, is where bodhisattvas can make the most difference, can be the most helpful. So our practice is important. Even more important now than it was a month ago. You know, that reminds me. Because we studied here the Mahala Charity Sutra.

[52:00]

And for those who were in that study, do you remember that world where they went to, where there was no me? There was no arising of a Bodhisattva. Am I remembering this correctly, Tegan? The big world with that. Because we feel you here. We're with you, Tegan. We feel you. We're pulsing. We're moving you. And by way I just wanted to offer I wanted to just share that what comes up for me with that line turn around the light to shine within and just return you know the image I get is Dogen's like a dragon gaining the water like a tiger taking to the mountains that kind of coming home yeah Because I see, I see, you know, in the Saha world, there's an opportunity for Bodhisattvas to shine. Yeah, I love this time, but I did try it.

[53:05]

I did try out a song. I can't hear. I couldn't hear what the last thing. See, Tansu tried out a song. She said she doesn't know if this is the right time. I think this is the perfect time. Oh, I want to hear your song. Well, it's a dragon song. It's a dragon taken to the water song. I did. I just recorded this. You recorded it? Why did you just say it? Because I can't remember it. Say, Tetsu is in the midst of a public art program at the Boston Public Garden. And it's an ode to trees. I'm not doing it justice, but it involves poetry, and we're going to be doing a sangha walk there in a couple weeks. So the tensor's on a roll right now. She's just on fire. Okay. Let's see. This is recorded at 4.30 this afternoon.

[54:06]

It's just dry. And it's a little long, so you can please feel free to just say. Please go. Yes. Yes. Here we go. I am to press up where there's nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lived in comfort by weeds. The person in the hut Lives here, calmly, not struck to inside, outside, or in between. People, worldly people live, he doesn't live. Round swirly people love, he doesn't love. Though the hut is small, it includes the end.

[55:10]

In ten square feet an old man, a woman's forms and their nature, a bodhisattva trusts without doubt. The middling or lowly can't help wandering with its hut. Perish or not, perishable or not, the original master is present. Not dwelling south or north, east or west, firmly based on steadiness, it can be surpassed. A shining window below the green vines, Jade palaces or four billion towers.

[56:14]

Can't compare, is it? Just sitting with head cover. All things are at rest. Thus, this fountain book doesn't understand. At all. To get free. We proudly arrange streets trying to entice guests. Turn around the light to shine within. Then just return. The battle is in. with them.

[57:17]

Meet the ancestral teachers. Be familiar with their instruction. My grace is to build up and don't give up. Let go of the bits of years and Reveal life's complete. Open your hands and walk in a sense of words. Be eerie at interpretations of me. To free you from obstructions. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, don't separate from the skin back here.

[58:32]

And now... I can tell you that I can hear the influence of Karuna Tanahasha. Oh, yes. She wrote a song with Kaz about carrots. I've had a girl in my garden. I plant carrots. Major influence. Major influence. That's so true. Thank you. Yes, and I translated song with cause. Yes. And Karuna was around then. Yes. And I kind of wanted to hear like a round just going, I can't sing, but anyway.

[59:43]

Yeah. Sorry. You wait. It's coming back in May. Yeah. We've got a harvest here. Yep. Thank you so much. So wonderful to be with you. Yep. Thank you. especially during these times, to do this study together. Deep appreciation for you. And thank you so much, and thank you all who are here. This is, you know, we have to hang together, you know? And please take care of yourself, and take care of each other, and take care of our country and the world that needs it. And oh, give me Okay, thank you, Limani.

[60:46]

Let's stand. Let's take that touch together. Keep on Zoom if you're up for joining us as well. In your own space, grounding ourselves, feeling our feet. Rooting. Buddha. Buddha. Thank you. Do tell me.

[61:47]

Do tell me. Do tell me. Thank you. Good night, everybody.

[62:56]

Feel free to unmute. Take good care. Good night, everyone. Good night. Thank you. Good night. Good night, everyone. Good night.

[63:16]

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