Let me just share a few words about Taigen, our guest speaker tonight. You know, welcome, Taigen. Welcome back. You've Zoomed with us in the past, but it's been a few years. And, you know, I just I want to just say that Taigen is I hope this is not going to be embarrassing. This is Taigen is a living treasure. We are so lucky. that you're alive, Taigen. She is so prolific. If you are into Zen books, which Taigen, I kind of discourage, if people, you know, if they do that as opposed to sit. But let me just say, if you're... Right. I agree. I agree. I know you do. Too many books. I'm sorry I've contributed to those. No, no. You and Kaz, both of you, and Shah, too. But you've probably encountered one of his books. He's a scholar, a co-translator, a co-author with Shahapu Okamura, maybe others, I don't even know.

[01:05]

And he's also the translator of the Song of the Grass Hut that we chant on Friday mornings, and also other wonderful books. You know, Taigen, I just want to personally say that we have a priest candidate in our midst, Chisei, And part of their priest training preparation is we are reading the pure standards of the Zen community that you and Shohaku worked on. And we're reading the whole thing, including the introduction and all the wonderful notes. So I just, I'm so happy to know you. I'm so grateful that you're here to share Dharma with us tonight. And we are recording, so we'll send you a copy of it so you can use it however you'd like. And we'll also circulate it to the sangha here so that everybody can experience this. Okay, so, Taycan, would you like any kind of introductions from others, or are you okay just going? Whatever you think.

[02:08]

I'm ready to go whenever you think it's appropriate. Let's go. Vámonos. Okay, so... This is the first of three classes I'm doing at North Shore on So Anka, the Song of the Grass Hut. So I hope to go through the whole song line by line, but I want to do some introduction first today. So, yeah, So Anka. I'll just start with the title. So means grass. An means hermitage. Ka is song. So sometimes it's translated, this is Song of the Grassroot Hermitage. But this word hermitage, an, is very interesting because it's also a word that's used for temples in Japan, this Sino-Japanese character, an. And some of them are like little huts, little hermitages. And some of them are quite large, grand temples that are called hermitages.

[03:12]

Anyway, just to say that. And I want to talk about Shoto. Sekito in Japanese, Shoto in Chinese. He lived from 700 to 790. He's two generations after the sixth ancestor in our lineage and three generations before Dongshan or Tozan in Japanese, who is considered the founder of Chinese Soto Zen. And so... Yeah, Chateau is better known for his poem Sandokai, Harmony of Difference and Sameness. I don't know if you guys chant that sometimes. So that chant, again, is much better known. That's Chateau's presentation of the underlying philosophy.

[04:15]

of Soto Zen, the harmonizing or integration of sameness and difference. So just to say a little bit about that, this sameness or oneness and difference has to do with the integration of the universal and the particular, to put it that way, or the ultimate and the phenomenal. And our practice, turning within, sitting upright, facing the wall, A practice of Zazen is that we connect in some way, we commune in some way with the underlying ultimate universal reality. But our practice is not just to realize that. Some spiritual practices are just to realize the transcendent. But Zazen and I would say basic Bodhisattva Buddhism is and the philosophy that is presented in Chateau's other short poem, Harmony of Difference and Sameness, is about how we integrate our practice, how we express our communion, our understanding, our perspective of the ultimate in our everyday activity, in the world.

[05:39]

And this is... you know, so central to also to Zen practice, this realization that, so as he says in the Sandhokar, merging with enlightenment, merging with the ultimate is still not enlightenment. So our practice is to connect with, through our practice, through our sitting, through our everyday activity, connect with something deeper. with higher powers, if you will, with the ultimate. And we all have had a glimpse of that, or else you wouldn't be here. So the point then is, how do we bring that into everyday activity? How do we share that with the world? So that is, we might say, the purpose or point of our practice. that we can take care of the world, and this is so important now in these difficult times.

[06:44]

So that's a little bit about the Sandokai and Shito, the harmony, the action of Shito's harmony of difference and sameness, or the integration of the universal in particular. So that's Sandokai, but So Anka, the Song of the Grass Hut, is Shito's teaching poem, about the actual space of practice, about the dojo, if you will. Dojo is, you've probably heard that word, in relationships to martial arts. But it's also the Sino-Japanese word for the Bodhi Mandala, the place of awakening for Shakyamuni Buddha, the... his seat under the Bodhi tree, where he awakened the sight of the morning star Venus, 2,500 years ago or so, and continued awakening and practicing and sitting every day of his life.

[07:54]

So just to mention that Dogen, who you've probably heard of, the Japanese founder of our tradition, talks often about Buddha going beyond Buddha. So the grass hut, the space of practice, is where we continue to awaken and go beyond Buddha. It's not enough to just realize the ultimate. It's not enough to just have some experience of, even some deep experience of awakening. The point then is, well, how do we share this with the world? The world needs this, as you probably noticed. in some ways this we could even say you know that the Song of the Grass Hut is a guide to how to how to arrange a Zendo so I'm glad to hear that you're studying Dogen's Pure Standards Zen community which goes into that more deeply a Zen priest is fundamentally someone who has a sense of how to create

[09:06]

the space of the zendo. It's a sacred space. And there's a particular structure to that and form for that. Although it's flexible. If you've seen different zendos, you know that it can be done in seemingly different ways depending on the space. So again, the Song of the Grass Hut is about teaching for us about how that space works. How to be in such a space. A Space of Awakening, the Bodhi See. So, again, I want to talk about the Song of the Grass Hut and go through it line by line. But first I wanted to give some highlights. But I want to share another story, another teaching from Chito. And it's very short. and it's included in Dogen's extensive record, Eheko Oku, which I translated to Shohaku Okamura.

[10:13]

And this is one of the early teachings. It's from 1240, before he left Kyoto and went up to Heiji. And so here's the story. Dawu, one of his students, asked Shoto, what is the essential meaning of Buddha Dharma? And my first teacher in New York, after several years there, when I was going to relocate to San Francisco, in the San Francisco Zen Center, he said to me, you should go ask the teacher there, what is the essential meaning of Buddha Dharma? And I got a couple of interesting answers. Anyway, in this case, Shitta was asked, what is the essential teaching of Buddha Dharma? And he said, not to attain, not to know. So, there you go. Don't attain anything. Don't achieve anything. Don't think that you've reached the end of practice.

[11:16]

Don't reach some final attainment because Buddha is ongoing. And also not to know. So there's a great co-op in the book of Serenity where a student, Bayan asked his teacher, told the teacher he was leaving on going around to different teachers, and the teacher said, well, what's the purpose of your pilgrimage? And he said, I don't know. And the teacher said, not knowing is most intimate. Not knowing is nearest. So, not knowing is, you know, even if you think you know things, even if there's something, all of you know a lot of things, of course. All of you have been through a lot. All of you have experience of your whole life and of all of our ancestors in many dimensions. But once we think we know, then, you know, my favorite of all the poets, is he not busy being born is busy dying.

[12:25]

So we have to keep going. We have to explore. When we think we know something, that's not it. So that was Chito's answer. But then this student said, beyond that, is there any other pivotal point or not? And Chito said this wonderful statement, the wide sky does not obstruct the white clouds drifting. So when we sit facing ourselves uprightly and facing the wide sky of the wall, Clouds of thoughts and feelings, they do. This is part of Zazen. Well, I won't speak for anybody else, but some of you maybe had a couple of thoughts during this last period of Zazen. It's possible. It happens sometimes that a thought or a feeling arises, even in the middle of Zazen. Maybe there are many thoughts in the monkey mind racing around.

[13:27]

At any rate, The wide sky doesn't hinder them. And I would say it the other way around. To add to Chateau, I would say the white clouds drifting by do not hinder the wide sky. So anyway, this is a great little story about Chateau's understanding and realization and expression of our practice. Dogen has a couple of things to say about this. Afterwards, he says, the wind blows into the depths, and further winds blow. The wide sky does not obstruct the white clouds drifting. At such a time, why do you bother to ask Chito? So, anyway, that's Dogen's comment. So, okay, I want to get to the song of the glass hut. Oh, and as a further introduction, Chito's name could be translated as above the rock. And actually, he did build a grass hut.

[14:31]

It is near his temple. He had a large temple. He had numbers of students. But nearby, there was a big rock upon which he built a grass hut. And he would go there and sit by himself. So he also did that kind of practice. And there was a fellow in the early 80s in Samson who actually went to Shuto's temple. And he took a picture of this rock. and it's hard to see in this picture, but I'll share it with you anyway, that there's a rock in the middle there, and that's the rock upon which Chateau built his hut, so whatever that's worth. There's no hut there left, the hut perished. But Chateau's song, Chateau's song is still with us. So anyway, okay, I want to just, I'm going to go in this class and in the next two, The next one is two weeks from tonight and then the week after that. So I will go line through line through all the through all the text.

[15:37]

But I wanted to just, you know, as a spoiler alert, I wanted to mention some of the lines that are that I kind of feel are really powerful. Well, just the first the first couple of lines, you know, I'll say. I go to grass hut where there's nothing of value after eating and relaxing and enjoying a nap. A good expression of just, you know, our everyday activity. And I'm now semi-retired, but I'm still... So I do relax and take naps, but I'm still a little busier than I would like to be. But it's okay. A lot of it is just sharing the teaching like this, which is fun for me. Anyway, Shuto says in this, Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. This is really important. In 10 feet square, an old man alumnus forms in their nature. And so this is, you know, we could say that this hut is about as the Zapataw or the chair we're sitting on, that it includes the entire world.

[16:47]

That's just reality. As you are sitting on your seat now, Everybody you've ever known is part of that. You know, your parents and grandparents, siblings, lovers and ex-lovers, friends, family, extended family, and even people that you haven't seen in a long time, like Charles, who's here tonight online. It's so great to see you, Charles. Anyway, lots of people, people we've met, people we don't remember, but we met in a... some gathering 10 years ago or 30 years ago or whenever, they're part of who we are. So when he says that although the hut is small, it includes the entire world, our seat, where we are, our practice place is maybe small, relatively, of course it is, but it includes not just this world, but all worlds. It includes the entire world.

[17:51]

So I meant to mention that when he talks about the integration and harmonizing of the ultimate, in the particular, this is an example of Hawaiian Buddhism, of the teaching of the Chinese school of Hawaiian Buddhism. I don't mean to get too technical and geeky or anything, but that teaching is the underlying teaching of Soto Zen. and actually of all of East Asian Buddhism, this relationship between the universal and the particular that Sandokai is about. But in The Song of the Grass Hut, he talks about how to actually work that, our actual practice of that, how we build a space to practice that. So I just noted a few. Again, I will go through the entire poem and start that tonight. and I want to have time for discussion too very much if that's something that you all do I hope but yeah he says a bodhisattva actually I talked about this with Joan in our original translation he said a Mahayana bodhisattva trusts without doubt so this by the way this song I don't know if I said this was

[19:20]

I translated this with Kastanahashi in the early 80s. And literally, Shuto says, Mahayana Bodhisattva, trust without doubt. Joan said she didn't want to include the word Mahayana because, of course, if you say a Bodhisattva that's included, then Mahayana might feel sectarian to some people, but actually the whole universe is part of this great vehicle of Mahayana. And the whole world is bodhisattvas. So bodhisattvas are not just human-type beings. Bodhisattvas are dedicated to universal awakening. And, you know, sometimes bodhisattvas may appear as, Wendy, I saw you had a cat with you. I have a couple of cats in the next room and a puppy. Hopefully the puppy won't start barking too often. But... you know, animals, flowers, trees, rivers, mountains.

[20:28]

These also are doing the Bodhisattva work. The open makes this very clear. And it's implicit in Chateau, I think, too. And not just rivers and oceans, but there's a great lake that's nearby where I am sitting in Chateau. just north of the border to Chicago. Anyway, so, everything is included. Bodhisattvas trust without doubt. So, I've been having discussions with people about faith and trust. And these days, it is very... easily available to feel hopeless or to feel overwhelmed there's so much trouble in the world wars and genocides and difficult elections and fascist politicians and so forth so I will add an editorial comment would you all please vote anyway so but a bodhisattva trusts without doubt and

[21:40]

What is this trust? What is this faith in the Bodhisattva? It's this confidence to take the next step, just to do the next thing that's in front of us, to help where we can, to patiently pay attention to reality, to the world around us and our own personal world and the whole world. So there's another line coming up that talks about that. not stuffed inside or outside or in between. We inhabit many levels of the personal or psychological and the communal or collective. Sangha can be seen as something very wide, as well as a group of folks gathering together in Massachusetts to sit together. And so reality is like a... an accordion that spreads out or like a fan. Anyway, just a few more lines I wanted to highlight and then go back and start from the beginning of the song.

[22:49]

Perishable or not, the original master is present. So there's this whole question of impermanence and permanence and what is. And so when I get to that line, I'll talk more about the Mahapara Nirvana Sutra and how Buddha, later, at the end of his life, says, there is self. There is bliss. There is joy. There is permanence. So, that's... And Shutta knew about this because he was very well-read, it's well-known. Anyway... I'll come back to that when we go through it. Then a couple, just a couple more lines that I just wanted to give as spoilers just because they're, you know, so central. Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. Thus this mountain monk doesn't understand at all.

[23:50]

So, you know, no matter how many books you've read or Zen talks you've gone to or how many degrees you have or whatever, there's so much we don't understand. And we can admit that. We can find our humility and just, you know, accept that we don't know. But just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. This is a reference to Bodhidharma. I'll come back to that when we go through the poem. And he says, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. So some people don't realize that the purpose of Zen practice is to relax completely. So if you walk into a Zento during session and everybody's sitting very grimly, well, at least on the third day, I don't know, maybe it's different on the sixth day or whatever. But relaxing completely isn't what it feels like all the time.

[24:54]

Relaxing completely includes that you might have some aching pains or your back or your shoulders or your butt or whatever. or your heart, anyway. But the point of our practice is to let go of hundreds of years, or maybe hundreds of lifetimes, and relax completely. So that's what Shuto says. Believe it or not. He says, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk. So, walking Zen is a good practice as well as sitting zazen. When you're expressing your awareness in your everyday activity, you know, zazen is not just sitting. It says so in Sandakaya or in Hakusama anyway. And then the last line, the spoiler alert, the very last line is not to separate from the skin bag here and now.

[26:03]

And when we started chanting this at my song, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, one of our really dedicated practitioners was really offended. She was deeply upset to think that she was just a skin bag. And, you know, that's... We can see that, you know, this skin bag, whatever. But Shitta says don't separate it from it. Don't try and get, you know, don't try and run away from yourself. That's what my teacher, Rhett Anderson, said to me as I was leaving Tassajara at the end of my trauma transmission. Don't run away from yourself. Don't separate from the skin bag here and now. Whatever situation we're in, whatever confusions, whatever sadnesses, whatever feelings of the difficulties of our own life and the world, just to really settle into this being, this skin bag, here and now.

[27:22]

Okay, so that's a little preview of coming attractions. I want to go through the Psalm of the Grass Hut now. I don't know if I should stop now for... pause just to see if anybody has an immediate response or question or comment before I start going through the text. Oh, Tiger, would you like us to go get our textbooks? You know what? I was thinking, well, you can, yeah, you can if you want to look at the text. Yes, please do that. I don't, I'm not, I don't screen share. Thank you. What's that? Okay, good. And I have a slightly different translation than the version you have, which is based on the translation I gave. But yes, go get your translation. It's just that one word, Mahayana. The rest is exactly the same.

[28:23]

Okay, anyway. Yeah, and Mahayana is not... sectarian. It does not have to be sectarian. Just my opinion. It's redundant. Anyway. Whatever. Well, yes, it's... And yeah, it is redundant. So is our life. Anyway. Okay. So... Is everybody ready to launch into the Song of the Grass Hut? Yes. Okay. 27, yes. And I do want to leave time for discussion. And I hope you don't mind asking questions and stuff like that. But anyway, and I see that my friend Ed and Kevin from Richmond is here online also. I can't see you, but I... Hi there. Welcome. So some old friends here. Hi, everyone. Happy to see you in the hut. Ed M. is an old friend who has a grass hut in Richmond, Virginia.

[29:34]

It's wonderful. It's more of a plywood shed. A home office practice space. I was talking about the word on, which is used for temples in Japan. There are many temples and sub-temples called so-and-so on. There are a few of the sub-temples at Taitokaji. But some of them are quite large and grand. And the Richmond Zen Center is lovely. I've heard it's expanding since I was there last year. And I saw that North Shore is hoping to... expand in some ways too. So we're all going through this difficult time. It's a difficult time. And we should acknowledge that. And one thing that I want to say about Bodhisattvas, because I was talking, and this came up this week because I've been talking the last three mornings, I spoke to an election retreat in Wisconsin.

[30:45]

I was still sitting here in my in my little hut near Chicago, but, um, these were people who were going out to go door to door to encourage people to vote. So again, I encourage you all to vote, but I talked about, uh, one idea of bodhisattvas is that there, you know, in the sutras, if you look at those things, uh, uh, there are bodhisattvas sometimes in attendance for many world systems. It's sometimes translated as, so, uh, there are many different planets or galaxies, different dimensions, maybe even other parallel universes, where there are many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In the wonderful Bayaan Sutra, that's the basis of Soto Zen, actually, says that in the tip of each blade of grass, there are many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the Bodhisattvas gathered around the Buddhas, and in every atom, even. So, okay.

[31:48]

Oh, the reason I mention all that is that There's an understanding that many, many, many, many bodhisattvas are lined up waiting to be born in this world of suffering and endurance that we are in. Just wind up waiting to be born here because they know that this place in time is a place of great difficulty. And therefore... our bodhisattva practice can make the biggest difference. So we are all lucky to be here in this difficult time. Everything we do to help express this awareness and awakening can make a huge difference. Even little things, sometimes just smiling at someone can make a huge difference, as well as, you know, encouraging people to vote or other things like that. Anyway, okay. That's just, you know, just a sideline about how lucky all of us are to be here at this time and place, in this difficult time and place, as bodhisattvas.

[33:00]

Okay, I've built a grass hut, Shinto says, where there's nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. This spirit of relaxation is an emblem of deep communion with the ultimate. When we have glimpsed the wholeness of reality, and for me, the very first time I had Zazen instruction at the place where I knew Charles first in New York with a wonderful Japanese Zen teacher, I felt this sense of wholeness, that it was okay. That was a long time ago, and things have happened. Once you build a grass hut, once you establish, once you find your seat in Zazen, once you have a place to sit, once you have a Zendo, or if you're sitting on a seat in your own home, there's nothing valuable there.

[34:10]

There's nothing that's more valuable than anything else. I mean, there are things we appreciate and enjoy. I do have a cell phone here, and I use it. and I enjoy all my little Buddha toys, but what's ultimately of value? That's part of the issue in this teaching poem, Mashita. What's ultimate value? And how do we express that in this difficult world? And he says, after eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. So, please, you know, for those of us who are not in some place where there's a horrible genocide going on. We should enjoy our food. We should relax. We should enjoy a nap. This actually helps all beings. This is part of expressing that there's no one thing of value, that there's everything of value, all of it. The whole mess is tremendously valuable.

[35:13]

So, you know, I'm thinking about... Bodhisattva values and American values these days as we prepare for this crucial election. What do we really value? And part of it is just that we can relax and enjoy a nap. May all beings be blessed with the opportunity to eat, relax, and enjoy a nap. Anyway, there's lots more that can be said about each of these lines, but I'm going to do some of them. Then we'll talk. So I will not go through the whole poem. this evening, because we had two more classes. When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lived in, covered by weeds. So this is literally a grass hut. So grasses, it also includes weeds. In this poem, Chateau is not discriminating against weeds. He's not saying that there's certain kinds of grasses or beings that are

[36:18]

secondary and it should be deported or something. It's all grasses, it's all weeds. I started to say in Japan when I lived there in the early 90s, I did see in some of the village where Shohaku had a temple where I translated the pure standards of Zen community with him a couple times a week. take a bus out from Kyoto, it was in this little rice lodge, but there were some buildings that had literally thatched huts, thatched roofs. This is something that, I haven't been to Japan for a while, but I hope there's still some. It was hard to, you know, when they were damaged, it's hard to rebuild them. The skills that people had when they built these original thatched roof huts, well, it's too expensive to do it now, anyway. But here he's saying when the hut was completed, when he found his seat, when he found his way of sitting that was satisfying, that was sustainable, including shifting it sometimes, fresh weeds appeared.

[37:35]

And I was thinking about this and remember Suzuki Roshi, some of you may have read Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and he talks about mind weeds. So when his seat was completed, fresh weeds appeared. As I was saying before, thoughts arise. Clouds shift by in the middle of the wide sky of Zazen. Thoughts and feelings. And we don't try and get rid of the thoughts and feelings. We let them go. And so weeds appeared. And now it's been lived and covered by weeds. As we sustain our practice, and continue awakening, day after day, period after period, year after year, we may be covered with weeds, and that's okay. We are thoroughly covered in delusion. So again, Joe Koan says to be in delusion throughout delusion, to be in awakening throughout awakening.

[38:45]

And He gives this wonderful definition of those two. He says, deluded people have delusions about awakening. Awakened people are awakened to their delusions. So be awake to the weeds growing all around you, all of the thoughts and feelings. We study the self. We see our own personal psychological self and also, so that's in the next couplet here. Now it's been lived and covered by weeds. And he says, The person in the hut, when you found your seat, you live here calmly. We find our calmness in our settlements, on our seat, in our grass hut. So the person in the hut lives here calmly, not stuck to inside, outside, or in between. So, you know, I translated this a long time ago, and I've given talks about it. many times, and I didn't need to write a book about it, because Ben Connolly, who's his fellow who lives in Minnesota, wrote a book called Inside the Grass about this, so otherwise I might have had to write a book about the grass.

[40:01]

It would have been really different from Ben's, but Ben's is pretty good. Anyway, and I did write an introduction about it. Anyway, this line, not stuck to inside, outside, or in between, is really important. So our awakeness, our awareness, our suffering, and our expression of zazen happens inside, outside, and in between, and we don't get stuck in any one of those. So this practice is about seeing the self, seeing the weeds that are growing every period of zazen, the weeds that we're covered with, and So, you know, Western Buddhism, American Buddhism has blessed us with Western insights into psychology and therapy and all that stuff, and that can be very helpful. And so we have to look at our own karma, our own ancient twisted karma, our personal karma.

[41:07]

All the stuff is a technical term that we know, that we see. I think what's most difficult about Thassa is we see our own habits and patterns, and some of it is kind of yucky. How do we stay calm in the middle of that? So we're not stuck to inside or outside, because also this practice is about seeing the world outside. All of the difficulties of our friends and family and neighbors and... our country and the world and the genocides and wars and cruelty, we don't get stuck there either, but we respond. So, I should talk about that. But we're not stuck inside or outside. We're not stuck to seeing our Zazen practice as merely some self-help kind of...

[42:09]

practice to benefit ourselves. Of course, you all know because you're here that practicing Zazen is beneficial for ourselves, for our own growth, for our own awareness, for our own kindness to ourselves and patience with ourselves inside and also outside and in between. So you can try and think, oh yeah, I can navigate this mysterious pivot of the ultimate in particular, but We don't even get stuck there, Shuto says. So he was a good Wayan Buddhist, as well as a founder of Soto Zen. So there's lots more to say about all of that. But this line, not stuck to inside, outside, or in between, sort of came alive to me this week in some ways. And again, there's more to say about all of these lines. And I'm going to go a little bit further in this song. And by the way, we still have the lyrics. As I've said to people, we don't know what the melody was when he was singing this song.

[43:16]

And if any of you are musicians, I'm interested if you want to put the music to it. We can still do that. This is a living tradition. We're still here expressing Buddha for our time and place. And for the future, too, of course. So, you know, we practice for the future. How will people... What town are you actually in, Joan? I know it's... Right now, physically, where we are right now is Wenham, which is basically one town over from Beverly. But we're sort of headquartered in Beverly, which is right on the coast. It's right near Salem. Maybe you know Salem. It's Salem's moment. And here is a big... I've heard about Salem. Yeah, you had Wiccans there, didn't you? Yeah, we still do. Oh, good. Oh, my God. Hey, yay. I like that.

[44:17]

Okay. Well, so, yeah. So, we're not stuck to inside, outside, or in between. And we're practicing, you know, I was talking yesterday about Maitreya. We're practicing for the future. So, how... How does our practice inform or support our ancestors of the future? The people in Beverly in 20 years, in 50 years, in 150 years, how is your practice supporting them now? So when we go to vote, we should think about that too. So, or some of you may have already, I don't know what the Massachusetts deal is, but anyway. so already tagging just since you're asking how many people have voted already yeah we got three in this room and we've got like you yeah so who you're dealing with thank you thank you thank you very much so you know I I'm I like to vote on election day it's just my thing I just know anyway but I have voted by mail at times anyway so okay

[45:30]

The person in the hut lives here calmly, finds their calmness on this seat, in this place, in this Bodhi Mandala, and then doesn't get stuck to inner psychology or outer activism or whatever's in between that. We are in all those places. Places where only people live, they don't live. Realms worldly people love, they don't love. So this is an important part of this grass hut and part of this process that he's talking about. We have to take the backward step and turn the light inwardly to illumine the self, as Dogen says. And it's actually later on, a version of that is later on in the song. So part of fundamental to... Zen practice, to Soto Zen particularly, is that we take the backward step. We turn inward. It's a necessary... It's not that you do that and then you go out and express it.

[46:34]

It's because there's this mysterious pivot of oscillation. But we also, you know, some of us have gone off to live and practice places or gone off to places like Tassajara or Green Culture. You know, there's some others. Mount Treadborough is near, closer to you anyway. Sometimes people go off to a place to do extended practice for a while, but just to go and sit for a day or a few days or seven days or even just for one period in the sangha together with others is about not going where all the people live. We're not stuck to the conventions of the world. We have to turn away from that. So places where the people live, bodhisattvas don't live there. So we have to see through consumerism and the corruptions of conventional reality and the kind of conventional attitudes about gender and beauty and ethnicity and all that stuff.

[47:52]

We don't live there. We turn away from that. Keep places where the people live, bodhisattvas don't live. Realms where the people love, bodhisattvas don't love. So I never really liked shopping, but some people really like shopping, for example. And, you know, it's okay to be a consumer, but don't get stuck there. So what is... What is it that we really love? There's a question here. Ram's worldly people love, Bodhisattvas don't love. What is it that we do love? How do we find our deepest caring, our deepest truth, our deepest reality, our deepest trust so that we can continue and express this inner calm in the world for the benefit of all beings? Species going extinct as well as people in, you know, all the swing states and also the states that aren't swinging anyway.

[49:00]

So, how much further shall I go? Oh, I was going to stop around now. Well, okay. The next couple. The hut is small. It includes the entire world. In 10 feet square, an old man of lumens forms in their nature. So this is what I was... I mentioned this before. We might feel like the space of our C, our Zabotan, or the space of our Zendo is small. So I've been in huge Zendos, like at Eiji, where it's just huge. Out of all, that's really huge. But... And then I... I'm tempted to tell you the story of... Akiba Roshi's early Ascendo in Oakland, California, where I lived, in which this was before, I don't know, John, if you ever knew Ektai Korematsu?

[50:04]

He was at Set Center for a while. Yes. Oh, you did? Okay. Yeah, this was before Akiba Roshi was in California. Anyway, Akai was the priest there. And it was, if any of you have been to Oakland and you know Yoshi's Restaurant, she had a smaller restaurant in the house, in the building next door. It's the center of jazz. They have great jazz performers there. But this little zender was on the third floor, and you couldn't stand, even I couldn't stand up in it. Not that tall. It had, what do you call that, peaked roof and... There were three Zabotons on this side and three on that side and an altar in the front. And so there were like six seats. Or maybe Ekai sat in the front, so there were seven. But if you leaned forward, you would hit your head on the roof. And you had to crawl in to get into it. And so anyway, for Kilian, we stepped down into a larger tatami room that...

[51:12]

though she used to for tea ceremony. But anyway, so when I hear that the hut is small, I think of that little zendo. But, you know, it looks like the space you're in there in Massachusetts is somewhat spacious. It's very spacious, yeah. It's a big question. My feelings. Great. Well, our space... Our current space at Ancient Dragons, Zengate in Chicago, is not nearly that big, but it's big enough. Anyway, so, though the hut is small. See, Cindy. Did you hear that, Tygen? I did. A whole conversation here. Someone said, she said, I'm happy if it's smaller, if it's our own. See, we rent here. We can only be here two days a week. Yeah. There's a lot of schlepping involved. We have to, like, transform it from a Vipassana space into a Zen space.

[52:16]

It's a lot of schlepping. Yeah, I remember that. My first Sangha that I built was in the Bay Area, Mountain of Source Sangha. Oh, wow, it's getting late. 17 years after I left there, it's still going, and it has a place in San Rafael. But I carried this off. It was in the trunk of my car. I'm going to San Rafael and then out to San Francisco and out to Palinas. Anyway, it has two different places. I'm going to stop now. Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. In 10 feet square, an old man of lumens forms in their nature. And 10 feet square is Hojo, which is, you know, the name for abbots in Japan. Because the abbots hall is supposed to be like 10 feet square based on this song. Based on this... Well, it goes back to Vimalakirti. So maybe in the next class I'll start there and talk about the Hojo. And the next line is about the Bodhisattva, trusting without doubt.

[53:20]

But okay, I want to stop and if there's time, have some questions, comments, responses, perspectives. Let's do it. Let's do it. There's so much. I'm going to just get the ball rolling. There is so much here, Tygen. This is awesome. Isn't this awesome? So there's several people here who sit every morning, basically. We're on Zoom in the morning. And every Friday for a good long time. I don't know how long it's been, how many years. Since the beginning of the pandemic, actually. We've been chanting the... Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage on Friday mornings. And, you know, I was, and many people have memorized it and, you know, we all have our favorite lines. Sometimes I can't say these lines without crying. Turn the light inward and just return.

[54:26]

The vast inconceivable source can't be faced or turned away from me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I apologize. I meant to mention that in the opening from the highlights. That line, just that line. So it's the relaxation you were talking about that includes buying grasses to build up hot and don't give up. It's relaxation that includes determination. I mean, so you, you've been referencing what some people might call political, but I think I'm not going to speak for everybody, but I do this too frequently. And I just really appreciate one thing I didn't share about Tygen is Tygen, your, your heart work that you've done over many years around the climate crisis and, you know, Justice, work, racial justice, social justice. And I think, you know, I think that this is a very important text.

[55:30]

I'll admit, I never knew it was an actual song. I never thought of it as being a song. I thought it was just like, you know, a way we just translate it into English. I never thought of this as a song. I think we should set it. to music, and then dance it. Because I have so important, this text, to connect Zazen with social justice, self-care, creativity. These are the four things we talk about here. Zazen, social justice, self-care, creativity. How this relaxation and this enjoyment of being alive, eating and taking a nap, makes our social justice work authentic and mutual, that we're not trying to help someone, some poor person over there. We are simultaneously helping ourselves, that we're creating the kind of world that we all want to, that we want to live in together.

[56:33]

So there's a quality to this text that's so important that for me is about this connection between this great determination and this relax and enjoy it happen. Enjoy your, your meal. It's like the, you know, when I got here, I asked how they were and they said, Oh, well, you know, I, I, I had a good meal and I took it. I don't think you were going to be thinking about the class, but you know, dealing with your life right now. We were dads in the hospital and, but forefronting that, that, There's a trustworthiness to this. A bodhisattva is not trying to be some special person. And I think that this is why I'm so happy that we're studying this. And I feel like you are writing the book. All bodhisattvas are special persons. But there's nobody who's excluded from bodhisattvaness.

[57:38]

Can you hear me? Okay. And I won't get into what Kategori Roshi said about Trump's favorite historical antecedent. But anyway, there's so much to say about all this. Amen to everything John just said. I mean, that was great. And yeah, Zazen is exactly about expression and creativity and for the whole world and oneself and people around you. around us. But yeah, I wrote an article about zazen as ritual enactment. We sit like Buddha to express and enact Buddha. So, zazen is a performance art. Okay. Oh, there's, yes. I can. Edem. Yeah, question. Thank you. And everything I'm hearing is lovely and the words from Joan as well.

[58:43]

I appreciate it. I want to get back to the section you talked about and the bit on weeds. You know, I have an outer world concern about weeds with my conservation work, but I'm very interested to hear kind of the... inner aspect of weeds, you know, and when I hear these lines, I always think of Suzuki's lines in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind about mind weeds. Right, right. As I mentioned, yeah. Those outer weeds that are good fun, but I don't want to trigger myself right now. But he says in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, we say pulling out the weeds, we give nourishment to the plant. We pull weeds and bury them near the plant to give it nourishment. So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you. So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds because eventually they will enrich your practice.

[59:49]

I wonder if you would say more about how that works. Yeah. Thank you for sharing those great words. Yes. Well, yeah, it's like compost. You know, we... We sit and thoughts come up, feelings come up. We don't try, you know, the practice is not to get caught by them inside, outside, or in between, but also we don't ignore them. We're aware, we're present. And, you know, sometimes my favorite part of the Patvam Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor, who was two generations before Shattva, is where he talks about the oneness of Samadhi and Prajna. Right in the settledness of Zazen, insights arise. Koshna means insights. So, yeah, that's the mind weeds. The mind weeds sprout and we turn them over.

[60:50]

It doesn't mean that you have to think about your thoughts. It's just to sit with, to let your thoughts inform your posture. So it's a physical, it's a physical awareness of how the thoughts, you know, and, you know, the thing about the insights coming up in samadhi as a writer, I'm sorry for all those books I've burdened you all with, but, you know, sometimes when I'm in the middle of a writing project, as I'm sitting, sentences and whole paragraphs will come up. And, you know, and whatever it is that we're struggling with this week or this month or this lifetime, you know, is going to come up in your sitting. And that's okay. And we don't need to go and write it down or anything. It's there. It's in your form. Linda Ruth had said this to me once in Baptist discussion.

[61:55]

You don't have to do that because you're Anything that you've thought has informed you, and it's in your form. You're aware of it. So those insights are there. But you were asking about the process of that, and it's just to be patient with them. Hi, Shodo. It's right on time, Minnesota time. Shodo is just that kind of day. I can get there. It's 7.15, but I didn't. Anyway, we're just winding up, actually. It's over time. Oh, no, we have maybe eight, or it's about 8.20, maybe like, you know, seven or eight more minutes, because we end with the Pali Refuges, but I just want to check in so the Titan can get to know you a little bit this long, a little bit. Comments or questions here in this room? Yeah, for people in the room, other comments or questions.

[62:57]

I know Shoto and Charleston. Wendy and Aiden, Wendy, we corresponded a little bit. Yes, Terry. I have a comment that I think is related to what that person there just said about the weeds. And I find it interesting that they, that whoever wrote the person who wrote this, what's his name? Chito. Chito. starts about building a grass hut and then ends with a skin bag. And then the person there was talking about the internal weeds that grow, and he talks about weeds. It strikes me that maybe metaphorically, and maybe this is what you have been saying, is that the skin bag and the grass hut,

[64:00]

are really the same thing. You know, we're building ourselves up and we are a skin bag. I'm sort of getting somewhere with this, but I'm wondering what you think about the beginning. Yeah, I think that's... Thank you. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, of course. This is a song about this space of practice, of our practice. So we... build a grass hut, we build a body and mind. You know, when he says, I've built a grass hut, we can metaphorically take that as, well, how did we become adults, if there's such a thing? How did we get through childhood and adolescence and find a way to, you know, and actually get to a Zendo? I mean, that's amazing. We're so lucky, everybody here. But, yeah, and that's our skin bag, too. So the hut is... So to talk about the space of practice, we can see it more or less widely.

[65:05]

It could be just the space of our Zabuton, our Sikh. It's the space of our skin bag. It's the space of the Zendo around us. And Gary Snyder, one of the great patriarchs, to use that word, of American Zen, said that Zen practice is about two things, zazen and sweeping the temple. And the size of the temple can be as wide or small as you wish. So we each have a... Dogen talks about this in Genjo Koan too. When the knee is small, the field is small. When the knee is large, the field is large. And so I was referring to... I've been talking this week about Bodhisattva politics and how we have this field of... this election to practice with. Anyway, yeah, thank you for that. I agree with you. The skin bag and the grass hut can both inhabit.

[66:08]

Other questions? One more question or comment. Someone else in the room or anybody? Charles or Bikyo or Shodo? It's good to see you. I was thinking, Charles, Oh. Excuse me. Did I interrupt someone? No, no. Go ahead, Charles. I was thinking about, you were saying, finding your place in the grass hut. And I'm, I still work as an engineer and I'm very, very busy mind. And often when I sit, my mind is very, very busy. And at some point my body settles down, my mind settles down and a place of quiet comes and it's just, and I can think to myself, this is my practice. Is this quietness I want to get to? And is that finding your seat?

[67:10]

Is that referring to something about the mind and not so much a grass hut? Yeah. Well, I think metaphorically it's the same, but I showed you the picture of the rock that he had his grass hut on, but when it was completed, and maybe we're always building our practice space, and pandemics happen and we have to rebuild them and we lose our space and whatever, and things happen to us, old age, sickness, whatever, and we have to rebuild that. But yeah, exactly what you said is the process of What he says, later, turn around the light you shine within and we'll just return. Which is, if you just remember that one line, that's all of Sand is right there. So what you said was to say that in another way. And yeah, when we're busy working in various ways, it's helpful to stop.

[68:16]

That's just it. And... things start to eventually slow down. So yeah, and from there, we are better able to express ourselves. I have a personal, John, excuse me, but I have a personal request. Charles, it's been a long time since we talked, and last time I tried to contact you, I had the wrong email address. Would you please email me? I'll try and email you. I was thinking the same thing. Tygen108.gmail.com I have your email address or Ancient Dragons email. That would work, yeah. We'll make sure you're connected. We'll make sure you're connected, Taigen. You have for just one more question or comment from Chise, and then we'll wrap up. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yeah. I guess I immediately stated earlier when you were speaking about like imagining, like here, when you asked us like where we were physically.

[69:16]

Yeah. The other way. The other way. Yep, that's fine. Yep, it's fine. The, like, where we were physically and, like, just the beneficial action of what we were doing here, imagining, like, you know, 50, 100, 200, whatever years ago, like, what would that mean? And it just... Well, it reminds me that every week we chant, how does it go, like, Buddha's and Ancestors for the same as we in the future will be Buddha's and Ancestors. Right, so we chant that on Sundays. And I think I've shared a few back like 1,300 years ago. And if we know that Ancestors name, I'm thinking of all of the Asana members we practiced with and like all because he couldn't have done it by himself, like, past, um, past those, like, good works, the body support works, into the future, like, without all the bads passing on, and just, like, I was just really buoyed by the thought of, like, what we're doing here, and trying to find a forever home, and I'm like, sure, um, and, you know,

[70:38]

In 200 years, very few of our names are going to be remembered, but it's... She say, Liz! I just love the idea that somewhere in Beverly in 200 years, people will still be talking about the song of the press. That makes me up. Not bad, Beverly. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. You know, Zen people have this great advantage in our world because, you know, we sometimes chant the names of ancestors. We talk about Shakyamuni Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago. Oh, my God. And Shito lived 700 to 790 and Dongshan and the 800s and Dogen and the 1200s and Suzuki Roshi. who lived way, way back in the 1960s. So, you know, we have this built-in sense of the range of time.

[71:43]

And that's so helpful to not get stuck inside outside or in between. To be able to have that sense of time also gives us a sense of space, you know. And so I'm near Chicago and Evans in Richmond, Virginia. Shoto, you're in Minnesota? I am, yes. And then there's Massachusetts. I love Massachusetts. I haven't been there in decades, but I used to spend my summers in Cape Cod, so I just feel this affinity to Massachusetts. Anyway, so yeah, what you just said about time is really important, and it's built into our practice, and it's really helpful. And so, you know, again, I was talking, giving this... giving these talks this week about Bodhisattva politics to this election retreat in Wisconsin up the road and to people who are going out and knocking on doors and hoping to get out the vote.

[72:47]

What they were doing and what we are doing is not just about something that's happening in two weeks or something that's going to be happening for four years. Everything we do extends to in many directions in space and time. So our Zen tradition helps us to feel that and realize that. And that's a great gift to everyone. And yes, many beings, many people kept this alive so that this is now still a living tradition that we are creating here in 2024, I think this is. Anyway, so thank you. Yeah. Tiger, thank you so much. Thank you very much for being here with us. It's so awesome. We get to have two more classes with you this round. And I realize the next time we meet, the election will have happened. Yes, so we'll have to either celebrate or commiserate. Either way, we have to keep going. Yes.

[73:51]

Exactly right. Well, yeah. And I just did want to say that I've been sending emails out about our election day, Sachin, as a response, as a way to manifest something in the world from 6 a.m., just because our regular schedule starts at 6, all the way till 11 p.m. so that we can wrap the two coasts together. And we'll just be sitting on Zoom and it's open to anybody else. And you can drop in for even just a minute, just, you know, in the course of your day, just to have a thought, Zazen, Sanda, sitting together. So I'm really glad that we have this time with you, Tygen, in this study at this particular time in our unfolding of our history. So right now we're going to stand just to close for those who are up for standing so that we can chant the Pali refuges to end. Awesome. For those who are standing, feel the ground, the earth beneath you.

[75:04]

Use it. Hold your hands, palm to palm, focus, heart. Thank you. Thank you.

[76:16]

Tatyamdhi buddham sarham kashamdhi. Tatyamdhi buddham sarham kashamdhi. Thank you so much, Taigan. Thank you, everybody, for being here in the study. Thank you. Good night. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye. Good night.

[77:13]

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