Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: For more information on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, please visit our website at www.ancientdragon.org. our teachings are offered to the community through the generosity of our supporters. To make a donation online, please visit our website.
All systems go.
So here we are in this emergent spring in Chicago. I don't know about where other folk are, but anybody who came in through the garden saw some tulips and daffodils and hyacinths.
Jake saw them, and I don't know if anyone noticed flower buds on the viburnum and the Chinese peonies and on the lilac, which is wanting to blue despite me taking clippers to it mercilessly, which one has to do to prune.
And already weeds are sprouting in the garden.
This morning is an especially important day for our community as our dear Sangha member, Paula, Paula Lazars will be departing.
So really wonderful that we have such a wonderful community to honor Paula's years with us.
So today I'll introduce the topics of week four of our practice commitment period.
We're almost halfway through, believe it or not.
Then Paul will offer some words to us.
Then we'll have a little ceremony, traditional departing Sangha member departure ceremony, and we'll stand for that.
And this will mark our gratitude for Paula's many years of devoted practice with us.
An amazing service.
And then because we are the food cult, we will have a reception.
Artenzo is even going to go out and get some special food at some point. We'll leave, see our former tenso going, yeah, I've done that before.
So glad I don't have to do that. But, you know, and then we'll celebrate together.
So this time, halfway through the practice commitment period, you know, I can feel a kind of momentum building, energy, practice settling, or at least digging in to practice. Sometimes it's not settling, it's like digging in.
And tomorrow night, Tonto Douglas, freshly back from Portugal, will offer a Tonto talk to encourage the practice period. And everyone else who listens.
Excellent timing for the return because it's kind of midway through. You need a little encouragement.
And Douglas will offer that, I'm sure, not only to the practice period, of course, but to everyone who listens.
Even those who don't listen will be encouraged by Douglas.
On Saturday, our work leader, Jake, will lead the temple cleaning day.
So, yes.
Oh, Andy, sleep.
I thought your surgery was after that.
Okay, so Jake will be Jake's proxy. Andy, our assistant work leader, will be in Jake's stead. And we will all be somehow remembering
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Jake,
[00:03:44] Speaker A: somehow I feel comforted that you're not going into surgery. I thought you were going to surgery the next day. I thought he's going to have this work period and go into surgery. But that would have been a Sunday. So thanks for reminding us.
We wish you well.
Next Sunday we'll offer a talk on Zazen Shiseo talk number two of three.
And then later in the month, Andy and Lou, you don't see Lou around, but are going to offer sangha, birding and nature walk. So I'm kind of front loading all these announcements at the beginning, but just in case you didn't take notes, we have a wonderful website managed by Mike Bodhisattva, and there are even paper flyers, a few of those floating around to remind us of these things.
And then the practice period train comes into the station for a three day Sachin at the middle of May, May 14th through 17th.
And the big crescendo is a Dharma inquiry ceremony with the shiso, where everyone in the practice period and everyone who is at Sashin and maybe a few other special invitations can come and ask the shiso a question from their hearts.
So this is how we roll here this week.
So we've been exploring in this practice commitment period, Bodhisattva practices for caring for all beings without exception, not necessarily knowing what we're doing. We still enter this practice.
And there's a set of practices that really stem from before Buddha's time, but picked up by Buddha and his group of adherents, students called and these practices for caring for all beings are known as the Brahma Viharas.
And some of you are like, oh, not the Brahma Viharas again.
You know, we've all heard about this a few times.
Many of you have read about this. Some of you have even practiced with them.
And vihara, as I understand it, is an ancient a name in ancient Indian language, but that refers to the dwelling place for Buddhist monks.
I know you're like, I'm not a monk, but actually you're all urban monks. Whether you know it or not, you come here and practice the Dharma.
So during this practice commitment period, our vihara, our place of study and meditation, practice and living together in community, that is what the vihara does, extends into our homes, into our workplaces, into our everyday life.
And this viharas often have a central spot and this temple is sort of the center of that. And this practice period is revolving around it.
So Brahma Vihara, you know, vihara is like the abode, abode of practice, living Place, dwelling place are called divine or, you know, practices of the gods.
Brahma.
They're also called the four immeasurables.
And Thich Nhat Hanh refers to these practices, these four practices, as four elements of love.
Thich Nhat Hanh is always so sweet and brave.
He can use words like love, you know, in Zen and get away with it.
But I think of these as four aspects of boundless caring that are cultivations and are embodied heart practices.
And I know if anyone wants to name them, because many of you do.
Did a whole practice period on them, didn't you? I thought you would do the brahmavah.
Ah, parmitas. Okay, close.
Well, there's meta loving kindness and karuna, which is compassion, and mudita, which is like compassion, but it's for joy, sympathetic joy. And then, then so you don't fall into the well of the people you're trying to help, is uttet, which is equanimity.
That's great, David Ray, thank you. I love this. So equanimity is what I'm gonna talk about today, actually, and focus on. So thank you for the, the preamble of, like, not falling into the well of those you care about.
Because we can get attached to anything and we can be deluded about anything, and we can get tired and want to turn away.
And equanimity helps us stay stable, present, warm, connected.
So many of you know, there are specific formulas to practice these caring practices.
Just, you know, the most famous, of course, it's usually where people stop. So that's why I started with equanimity, because most people start with metta and then forget there's three other ones.
Or they stop at metta because it's kind of. Either it annoys you to death or you actually love the practice of starting with yourself and extending goodwill to. Towards everyone, everyone you care about, everyone you don't care about, everyone you like and dislike, and then out into the, like, entire universe.
Boundless.
But some people like, are like, nah, I don't like doing guided meditations or meditations with goals, you know, because our practice of zazen is like this goalless, supposedly objectless meditation.
Nonetheless, nonetheless, goodwill, which metta or lovingkind, goodwill towards all compassion.
Appreciative joy, which is like joy at the wonderful achievements and happiness of others.
A great antidote to jealousy, envy and equanimity, which is not falling down that well.
They're all great ways to begin. Zazen, to settle on your cushion in zazen.
Like what I was told that just sit and Let go of everything. And I'm like, that's okay.
But it's really hard to do. And unless you have these qualities imbued in your body, your heart, your mind, zazen itself could be a trap.
I don't know if anybody got a chance to listen to this little five minutes of Norman Fisher introducing these in 2011 at Tassajara. The recording got cut off, but they posted these five minutes of it. It's really great.
And Norman Fisher noted that our minds are normally, you know, whirled around by afflictive emotions. Jealousy, hurt, anger, depression that constrict us.
And this great teacher says, having a heart of loving kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity, this would be like being in heaven as opposed to the hell of the well.
So I wanted to focus on equanimity. And I think of equanimity in this way, in this caring practice way, as a through line or a gravitational energy that connects the other three practices of goodwill and compassion and appreciative joy, that they are sort of held together by equanimity. And of course you could say that they hold each other together, all four, to create a warm hearted practice and an open wide perspective. Ready for anything, ready to care for anything. Even things we don't like, even things that repulse us.
And in our Zen speak, you know, we have this sort of like Zen code.
And this mind of equanimity is truly a don't know mind.
A mind of possibility and humility and readiness to not know.
And it's also a wise mind that sees things as they are, impermanent and constantly flowing.
Another way to think of equanimity is big boundless mind where there's room for everything, without bias, without being stuck in the well of our own ideas about things, our own narrowness.
Needless to say, this caring practice of equanimity isn't cold, it's not indifferent.
It's got passion and it's not numb, dissociated or cut off. You can find this in your zazen. You know, I'm in my own private Idaho. I don't care about anything.
I'm not moved by anything.
I'm just fine. I'm practicing equanimity. That's not it. There's a courage to equanimity and it's infused with goodwill, compassion and appreciative joy.
So, you know, I didn't plan for Paula to leave us.
I didn't not plan for it, but I didn't plan for it.
And so, you know, this is the year of the fire horse, when change happens quickly and dramatically.
And when I planned the practice commitment period and said today I wanted to speak about equanimity, I didn't have that planned with Paula's departure in mind.
It just arose.
But somehow this is the working together of things.
So I'll say that.
I'll just mention this part of equanimity is that the early Buddhist teachings depict equanimity as protection from the eight worldly winds or the eight conditions of our life that are constantly changing.
These, these experiences, these winds disturbed the ego, disturbed the small self, and provoke reactivity and will that will activate the ego. You can be like, I am grooving along, practicing Brahma viharas. My zazen's great, not holding on to anything.
And then somebody says something that you didn't expect.
So this is.
These are the winds. Sometimes the winds are kind of breezy. You almost don't notice them. Those might be the most dangerous kind. But sometimes the winds are like hella tornadoes, you know, super tornadoes, sharknado, you know, they're intense.
Traditionally, there's these four pairs which are pleasure and pain. That which is agreeable or disagreeable. So they move you around like, oh, that feels good. I want more of that. That doesn't feel good. I get the rid of that gain or loss, you know, oh, look, I won the lottery.
Loss.
A wonderful dragon moves on from the Sangha.
Status or disgrace, which is like fame or disrepute. You know, we all want to think we're great and get praise from others.
But then when we're like, disgraced, that moves us around too, and praise and criticism.
You know, somebody was telling me recently who lived in Japan at a monastery, said, yeah, there's this great teacher, and he said, oh, you want praise? That's like checking the stock market.
That's you. You. You're treating your practice like a commodity.
I'm like, woo, you know, so in the interest of time, I'll wrap up in a little bit, but I'll read a verse from a sutra, Buddhist verse on this from the Pali canon.
Gain or loss, status or disgrace, censure or praise, pleasure or pain, these are conditions among human beings that are inconstant, impermanent, and subject to change.
Knowing this, the wise person in parentheses, who's completely cultivated equanimity with some doses of goodwill, compassion, and appreciative joy. The wise person, mindful ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don't change. Harm the mind undesirable ones bring no resistance.
Their welcoming and rebellion, rebelling, are scattered, gone to their end, do not exist, knowing the dustless, sorrowless state they discern rightly.
And they've gone beyond becoming, to the further shore, to nirvana, to heaven. This happiness.
So equanimity is finding our place in the midst of the winds of life and impermanence.
And it's a receptivity and responsivity to what is not, a reactivity and a negation, trying to pretend that the winds of the world don't blow, you know, harmonizing with the ups and downs is known as boundless equanimity and bodhisattvas. We feel the spring wind through the windows in Chicago.
And you know, there are little wind bells all around the house, outside and inside in the garden, they've been tinkling.
It's like yoga class, The breeze, the breeze, they're tinkling in the breeze of equanimity.
So I'll end with the Great Equanimity verse.
This is Dogen's report of his teacher's verse, translated by Reb Anderson, one of my teachers.
And it says, the whole body, a mouth hanging in emptiness, not caring which way the wind blows, east, west, north, south, all day long it sings prajna paramita, great boundless wisdom of equanimity for all beings.
Ting tong, Ting tong.
So the worldly winds do not disturb the windmill, and the windmill does not disturb the windmill, and the windmill sings this song of life, of awakening, each moment, each breath, complete justice.
Know zazen meditation can entail some ambition, trying to find the right posture, breath, mind, state, eye, gaze, whatever.
But the wind bell simply hangs in just this moment, not disturbed by the ups and downs of life.
In fact, these winds praise and blame, status and disgrace, censure and praise, pain and loss are transformed by the wind bell of equanimity into a song of life, an affirmation.
So this windbell equanimity just sings, elegant and responsive, peaceful and harmonious, singing the song of awakening with nothing extra.
The year of the Fire Horse. Here we are.
It's said to bring the swift, unexpected change.
And the windmill just meets this moment with its sweet song.
And now it's time for our community to meet this great fire horse of change, Paula's departure.
So before this ceremony, you can invite Paula now to offer some words from her seat. And then afterwards, we'll chant the four vows and proceed to the ceremony.
And the Sangha will be invited in the cloud and ground during the ceremony, also to Offer some more words before our reception, and we'll do the four vows after Paula's words.
So thank you all very much.
And I would like to.
It's white.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Hello, everybody. Online. Thank you for coming and joining us.
So I know some of you are new to our sangha that just came in today, and we've been sitting for quite a while. Don't be afraid to move around. And if you need to get up and stretch your legs, please, please feel free to do that. But basically, I wanted to talk about what brought me to Ancient Dragon, and I'm hoping that my words will encourage all of you to continue your practice. And I am not stopping my practice. I'm just changing the way I practice. So I don't want you to think that somehow Buddhism bad. No, not at all. Buddhism great and transformative. Still feel that way. Okay.
All right. But there are three reasons. Essentially, it came to Ancient Dragon to practice and.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Hang on one second.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: There we go. I don't want to give you the second half of my talk first. Okay.
As you know, first off, I am a practicing martial artist, and I make my living doing martial arts. I practice a martial art called Shaolin kung fu. And Shaolin is actually a Zen practice that has a combination of practice paths in it that embody themselves as one vehicle.
And in this way, all of these modules are completely integrated into a practice life.
So, ironically, that we brought up yoga, it's very similar to yoga, because many Americans know yoga. We think of it as the postures and going to the gym and doing a class. But yoga, there's actually eight limbs to yoga. The postures are only one of them. And. And there are other things like personal observance, breath control, inner observation, concentration, meditation, all that kind of stuff. Shaolin kung fu is exactly the same. So there's five components to the practice. There's a physical martial art practice, which most people know about in America. It's everywhere, right? If you have even half an eye to that, there's qigong, which is the breath work and the internal energy work. Sitting meditation, which Shaolin calls zouchan, which we call zazen, Japanese translation of that, which is what we're doing here, Buddhist ritual, which is what we also do here, and then also healing and medicine.
So these five limbs, six limbs, are all part of Shaolin kung fu practice.
Now, in America, it's very hard to study, specifically the zazen aspect of the Shaolin practice in the Buddha, Buddhist ritual, part of the practice.
So that's what led me here to Ancient Dragon, the Shaolin master that I had teaching me, explained to me that the rituals and practice they have at the Shaolin Temple to this day is Sao dong in Chinese, translated into Japanese, Soto Zen.
So what we're doing here, he told me, is exactly the same kind of rituals they're doing in China at Shaolin. And if I wanted to study deeper on how those rituals and how the sitting practice is enacted, it would do me well to study with the Soto Zen lineage.
So that's the primary reason I came to Ancient Dragon. The second one is that I am also a teacher. I've been teaching martial arts for 30 years now. But when I came to Ancient Dragon, I had been teaching for 15.
So as the profession of teaching, anyone who teaches knows this.
There's human biases that come into play when you're interacting with your students.
And if you're teaching a couple years, that becomes very obvious to you. There are certain people you gravitate towards. There are certain people you really don't gravitate to.
There are certain biases that get triggered from your childhood, from your normal life or whatever, in different people and the way they express themselves.
So you catch yourself when you're interacting with students with these biases while you're teaching them. So that could be problematic because you want to have a very equal, egalitarian way of approaching everybody if you want to be a good teacher. And then also because of the repetitive nature of teaching, you have to do the same thing over and over again. And you could get impatient, you could get frustrated. There's things on your face that can be shown to the student that you're unhappy and you kind of don't want to do that. You're hoping that your interaction with every student is a blank slate. And it's new, the beginner's mind, the new conversation.
So I was really hoping that deepening a sitting meditation practice would help me become more aware of those components as a teacher and would make me a more effective, patient, and loving teacher with more equanimity.
So that's another reason I came to Ancient Dragon.
As you know, even if this is the first day you're here, or if you've been here for three months, a year, or 15 years, those things at Ancient Dragon have been met in abundance for me.
So there's no doubt that there's no disappointment in the practice I've had here. And I think this is one of the best places in Chicago to explore that practice.
Now, the third thing of why I was here is, and I Didn't expect this is I took ordination as a priest. Now, someone who came to this practice, I didn't realize as a female that I would get I can become ordained.
And I realized that shortly after I started practicing an ancient dragon, that it was available for women to be ordained.
So that was a bonus. The ability to take Bodhisattva precepts in a public way and try to live up to those ethical guidelines really appealed to me. I do like religious practice.
The idea that the priest supports zazen practice, I'm already teaching and supporting practice that was a natural fit for me. And then I was hoping that I could eventually offer an ordination path to my students that I have that follow
[00:27:29] Speaker A: the Kung fu path.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: So this was why I also took ordination. First lay and then priest.
One thing to remember about Asian disciplines, and this is an important component in Asian disciplines, doesn't matter what kind you study. It could be martial arts, qigong, it could be Buddhist practice, whatever it is, calligraphy. The teacher student dynamic is a very central part to that practice.
And it's extremely so. The more immersive your practice gets. So the deeper you go at your training and the more you want to learn about the discipline that you are practicing, your relationship with the teacher gets more intimate, More intimate, more intimate, more intimate.
So with that in mind, in our lineage, then it would culminate as a priest in a ritual called Dharma transmission, which at that time you would then be certified to be a teacher on your own, like your teacher is. So Hougetsu has the darker robe on, that means. And now Reuben is a newly ordained priest, he's in training, so at some point he will go through a ceremony if he completes his training and to be wearing the gold robe. And then he could start a sitting group or he could give people ordination, offer them that path in coordination with his guiding teacher.
So with that being said, it's good to have someone, if you go down this path that's local to you. It's good to have someone in your community that you can interact with day in and day out.
And then also it's good that there's a lot of mutual trust in this relationship, because it is a very intimate one and you have to trust that the teacher is guiding you.
So there is a lot of structure then around that with one on one discussion and training. Some of you are new to Ancient Dragon today, but you probably did some research on that. And then the teacher decides on how the training is shaped and how you're going to move forward in that training.
And though there are guidelines that are instilled by different governing organizations, the teacher still determines what is important in your training.
And this makes sense. If you're a student, you don't really know anything.
The teacher has walked that path. So you're trusting that the teacher knows what they're doing in the guidance that they're giving you. And you have to allow yourself to avail yourself of the teacher's experience.
There's really no way around that, especially in Asian disciplines. That's the way it has to go.
Okay?
And there's a lot that could be discussed around that, and a lot of it is transported here from different cultures.
So the way it manifests in America isn't necessarily the way it's going to manifest in Asia. But you have to give up to the teacher as they guide you, because otherwise you can't learn. You don't have an open mind on how you're learning. You just don't. And it's very hard to be taught if you have ideas about how you're was supposed to be taught.
So now, before we decided that I would give this talk and, and, and when I did decide to give up my practice and leave, give up my robes and leave this practice here at Ancient Dragon, we were in discussion Hougetsu. Myself, Douglas was part of that, my good friend Adrian was part of that, and also Hougetsu's teacher, Tayo was part of that. And we wanted to have transparency as to why I'm leaving. So, so I'm sitting here telling you how great everything is, but obviously something's not great because I'm leaving. And it would actually be kind of an insult to your intelligence for me to act like nothing was wrong. Okay? So I want to be open to you because we've done a lot of work here and Hougetsu has spearheaded a lot of that on how to make this practice more accessible, more open, more diverse, more inclusive, more transparent to everyone who's here.
So we're enacting this together, this transparency.
So the reason I decided to leave is I don't agree with the teacher student dynamic here as I experienced it.
And then I do not agree with how I was being treated as I was being trained.
Now, with that being said, I want to say a couple things before I go further.
Being the guiding teacher of a congregation like this is an extremely difficult job.
And the teachers put themselves on the hot seat, okay? So they know they're going to get some pushback. They know that. And it's part of the job it's also hard for a student to say anything because it's uncomfortable. Okay.
One thing to remember too, in community, most people are happy with their training.
And if people are happy with their training, they honestly don't care if you're not.
And I'm not trying to be rude about that. That makes sense. Because people come here primarily, they walk through the door, we say we don't want to gain an attitude to ease their own minds, to help them with their own lives. They don't want to get roped into someone else's crap. That actually seems like a very personal relationship that they really have no business.
Okay, so. So that's one thing. And also, most people who come through the door here at Ancient Dragon have a completely wonderful experience here. 99% of the people do. There is no doubt about that. And I have complete faith that every single one of you are also going to have that very wonderful experience here. I was here for 15 years, so obviously something was working right.
In the 10 years I trained as a priest, I did not feel like the priest training itself was an integrated part of my life.
Not the Buddhist practice, the priest training.
I found there to be an underlying tension in Soto Zen in general to expel anything it doesn't agree with.
Make a note though, what it doesn't agree with and how that disagreement is expressed is up to the local teacher.
Okay? So it's not necessarily throughout every teacher you're going to find, but you do have to train under that teacher, and that teacher has to define how your training is going forward. You see, it's like kind of a catch 22.
My martial arts practice was viewed as a distraction to my Zen practice.
So in many ways my martial arts practice was kind of an add on to my Zen, where I felt it actually was the other way around.
With that being said and just looking at the broad strokes aspects of my life that serve my martial art practice, my physical health, my ability to maintain my livelihood, my emotional equanimity, I felt at times through the 10 years were at threat.
And then within that feeling, in my weekly and everyday interactions, my mundane interactions, they were getting increasingly difficult and a little bit adversarial for my comfort.
So after 10 years of trying this, trying that, doing this, doing that discussion, talking to people, I just couldn't find a solution. I couldn't find a solution, guys.
And so I felt the best thing would be to let go of it and walk away from that aspect of it.
No one is at fault, okay? This is life. This is just Life, no one is at fault. Everyone comes together with the best of intentions, and this is just life. And our practice is about life. We all just don't fit.
And one person can't be everything to every person that walks through the door. Can't be everything to every person that wants the training. And that has to be acknowledged.
Okay? And again, it's just combined variables that just didn't work. Just didn't work.
So I wanted to just make suggestions and end what I'm talking about for the community, because this is my last chance to do it.
But first off, make sure you talk to a lot of people who practice Soto Zen, not only here at Ancient Dragon, but within our lineage. Go to the different monasteries, if you can take part in branching streams. Do branching streams, all of that good stuff. Because it's very helpful. Be aware that just because someone is certified to teach doesn't mean they want to teach you.
I'm saying that because it can be harder to find a teacher than you think it is.
And just because you walk through the door and people are teaching, it doesn't mean they necessarily have the time or the capacity or they feel it's a good fit to teach you. Okay? Be aware that the teacher is accountable to a couple of people. So the teacher is accountable to their Dharma transmitting teacher.
And that sometimes, though, you have to be aware. Is the teacher around?
Where are they? What is the relationships? Does your teacher still talk to their teacher? You know, that kind of thing.
And then also remember the board. The teachers are still accountable to the board.
So, and I'm going to say this, this is, you know, we're thinking about the visioning project and how to move forward. I'm all for separating the board and the guiding teacher completely and having one liaison between the guiding teacher and the board. The board should be practical business. From my opinion, the guiding teacher should take care of spiritual affairs. And there should be one person, maybe the teacher's assistant, that serves as a liaison between the two. Because I think it's just harder for people to, if there are problems, to speak about them honestly, if the teacher's involved in all the discussions all the time.
And then talk to your trusted Sangha members if you're having any problem whatsoever with anybody. And it doesn't have to be another teacher necessarily. It could even be one of your friends, you could say, or a family member and say, you know what, can you come with me and sit down with my teacher? Because I'm having a hard time. I just need someone else in the room. And if you are not offered that ability to do that, something's off. Okay? And just make sure. And again, guys, I've had a wonderful experience here most of the time, and my teachers have tried hard. I know I can be difficult to teach because of my background. I understand that. And maybe I didn't come and approach it with enough beginner's mind. And that means I better practice more. I better really double down and practice more and keep practicing. But I want to close with the irony of all this is that my ability to deal with the difficulties I had wouldn't have been in place if I didn't have the deep practice that I have.
And then my ability to let go of wanting to go through the dharma transmission process wouldn't have been capable, wouldn't have been doable for me if my practice didn't teach me how to let go. Okay, so there is the irony. And our practice is full of these ironies and symbiotic things which Hougetsu pointed to with her talk on equanimity and the four immeasurables.
Okay, so I'm just going to close my 15 minutes are up with something from the Lotus Sutra, which is kind of like the granddaddy of sutras for the type of Buddhism we're under with Mahayana Buddhism, there is nothing other than one vehicle of Dharma. There is neither a second nor a third.
So anyone who hears the teaching of the Buddha are Bodhisattvas and will become Buddha through skillful means. Many roads are part of the one vehicle, and they all lead to Buddhahood. The one vehicle. It's non exclusive.
So thank you for giving me your ears for one last time and allowing me to speak.
And I highly encourage all of you to continue your practice deeply to support your teachers to be involved in the Sangha.
And don't be afraid to discuss things and bring them up and bring them out into the open so that Ancient Dragon, as a wonderful community it is, can go forward even stronger.
So thank you very much, everybody. And thank you, Teigen, very much.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: And thank you, Hougetsu, for allowing me to speak. Thank you. I know it's difficult and it's not easy, and I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: It's a joy to hear your voice and to feel that you can come and speak here and speak your truth.
That's the most important thing.
So that being said, ceremony time.
And as we end all of our dharma talks, may our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true caring of who does wait.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Beings are numberless, we vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, we vow to cut through them.
Dharma gates are boundless, we vow to enter them.
Buddha's ways unsurpassable, we vow to realize it.
Beings are numberless, we vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible, we vow to cut through them.
Dharma gates are boundless, we vow to Buddha's ways Unsurpassable, we vow to realize it.
Beings are numberless, we vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, we vow to cut through them.
Dharma gaze are boundless, we vow to enter them.
Buddha's ways unsurpassable, we vow to realize it.
