Final Teisho, Rohatsu Sesshin 2018

Transcription

1 Final Teisho, Rohatsu Sesshin 2018 The Dharma, incredibly profound and exquisite, is rarely met with, even in hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas. We now can see it, hear it, accept and hold it. May we realize the deep, true Mind of Tathagata. Today is the seventh day of this Rohatsu eight day sesshin in December 2018, at Mountain Gate in northern New Mexico, and every breath we ve taken, every attempt to focus, to reach deeper, is moving us toward true understanding as we move toward sitting the night through. All of you are quite prepared for this; it s exciting to witness this steady dedication to the practice, all the way from the beginning of sesshin. Even though discouragement may have appeared from time to time, yet still the dedication is there. The deepening is there, and now we re poised to take it even deeper yet. Whether we have a significant insight or not there are positive changes that you will become aware of after sesshin as you go about your daily lives. We cannot sit with this level of focus and commitment for this long without some level of transformation taking place. You can be sure that it is happening; you can be sure of that whether or not you are aware of it and most likely you are not aware of it. This is one of the aspects of Zen practice that is challenging for most people for some time. It is why faith is so vital in Zen. We are often the last people to know what our progress is or even whether or not we are making progress. We re ignorant for a long time of the quality of our zazen. It may seem wretched. It may seem terrible. We can feel like we are a failure and be tempted to quit. But that is not necessarily an accurate assessment. In fact, our practice may be exactly the opposite The same can be true when our zazen can seem to be going smoothly, beautifully, well. With that we need to be especially cautious; with it comes the danger of coasting, of metaphorically treading water in our practice. And whether or not we coast, that seemingly smooth and easy practice phase is not going to go on forever. Things change. Regardless of how it seems, it s vital to keep going, keep trying, keep stretching. Let that perplexity, that curiosity, that need to know, pull you deep down beyond thinking. Zen practice, is for a long time a matter of simply learning how to practice. That s why they call it Zen practice. And just as when we were kids and learned how to ride a bike by peddling, balancing as the bike moved forward, we need to learn how to do Zen meditation beyond the basics of posture and instruction on focusing our mind. We were deeply invested in learning how to ride that bike and it happened relatively quickly; we were rewarded with being able to ride more and more skillfully. With Zen practice, positive results are not necessarily so quick, but there s also much more at stake.. Choosing to practice Zen we are investing in coming to awakening a mature and far-reaching investment. It s also likely to take considerably longer than learning to ride a bike, which is actually good. As we work on developing that practice we are building an increasingly stable base capable of supporting an awakening. It is possible to have a kensho experience too soon, before we have the ground to uphold, maintain, and expand it. With every attempt to focus, with every breath we re extending, we are practicing letting go, and that letting go is mounting up. It s changing us. It s significant. But it takes time for this to make a difference. Still, as long as you keep plugging away at it, trying to get the breath out a little further, trying to concentrate your mind a little more completely, it s going to make that difference. Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019 page 1

2 Continuing with Hakuin s Rohatsu Exhortations, today we will share first his Exhortation for the Seventh Night. Remember that here what is being read is an expression not only of Hauin s teaching but of his Japanese culture Japanese culture of a different era. They are the words of a man who was quite creative as well as dynamic in his speech and in his teaching. As a result we may find this exhortation different from what we might expect in our own culture. But remember that Hakuin did resurrect the then-moribund Rinzai Zen practice in Japan, bringing his lineage to such clarity and power that it is still alive today, though all other Rinzai lineages have died out. Can you hear his dedication to inspiring his monks to awaken? On the seventh night, the master said, When a child leaves home to become a monk it is said that family members for the next nine generations are reborn into a deva existence. He must be a genuine monk, though, one in whom a burning vow to save all beings wells up from within, firing him with fierce courage to go forward and sever the root to life so the true Dharma nature appears suddenly before his eyes. Such a person is an authentic monk. For his family, rebirth in the deva realm is no empty saying; it will become a joyous reality. A few comments here: Anyone training at Sōgen-ji is considered a monk whether or not they are wearing monastic clothing. Whether they are officially ordained or not they are doing the same work, they are living in the same environment, undergoing the same challenges. They re just as dedicated and that is recognized. It is the same at Mountain Gate and also at Hidden Valley Zen Center, and we have also done away with differentiating between monk and nun. There is no need for such differentiation. Anyone who is practicing diligently, whether they are male or female and whether or not they are wearing a monk s or a priest s robe, they are called a monk. Unlike in the traditional Buddhist countries of Japan, Southeast Asia and China, in the West the prevailing practice environment is most commonly that of lay practice. Nonetheless it s the practice of a lay person with a dedication and commitment to practice that can be just as deep as that of someone who chooses to become ordained. Very, very few of us have the karma to become ordained, and that s fine. As a lay person you can still do deep practice; it s not the robes that make the practice. It s the person and the dedication to the practice that makes the difference. Let me tell you about a mother from the province of Harima. On the night that she conceived she vowed that if she should give birth to a son she would give him to the priesthood. That same night an old man appeared to her in a dream and said, I m an ancestor of yours, born nine generations ago. When I died I entered the world of the dead, where I ve been undergoing endless suffering. But on the strength of the vow you just made I will finally be able to escape the torments of hell. There was a priest named Ryozan who lived in the provice of Kai and engaged in the training of monks. One night while the assembly was doing zazen during the Rohatsu sesshin the spirit of his dead mother appeared before him. Grasping a sword in her hand she rushed at him and stabbed him in the side. Emitting a loud roar he toppled over as if dead, vomiting blood, and didn t regain consciousness for a long time. That must have sobered the monks! The next day he bid farewell to his monks and set out on pilgrimage, carrying nothing but three robes and a begging bowl, and slept out in the elements. He wandered for years, going from teacher to teacher in his pursuit of the Way. His zazen attained an exceptional depth and maturity. One day when he was about to enter samadhi his mother appeared again. When he raised his eyes to see her, she vanished. Later she appeared again when he was deep in a samadhi as vast and tranquil as the great ocean, and this time she spoke. Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019 page 2

3 After I died I descended into the world of the dead. The demon-lictors all treated me with great respect as the mother of a monk. I experienced no suffering or torment at all. Then alas, you began to make a name for yourself as a teacher, and the lictors all began to say, We thought she was the mother of a priest but it s turned out she s spawned a scoundrel. They began to inflict terrible suffering on me: iron bars, heavy iron shackles. I grew to hate you with such bitterness it seemed to penetrate my very bones, that s why I came and stabbed you that night. You had a change of heart, left that temple and set out on pilgrimage. When I visited you the next time I saw that thoughts of birth and death still lingered in your mind so I disappeared. But now there s an almost transparent clarity to your meditation and prajna wisdom. My suffering has also ended and now I can be reborn in the deva realm. This time I ve come to thank you. You heard what that woman said, didn t you? All of you have mothers of your own, you have brothers and sisters, grandparents, relatives of various kinds! If you counted up all the ancestors before you, their number would reach into the tens of millions! Well, at this very moment they re confined in the cycle of birth and death, undergoing interminable, unspeakable torment! This is Hakuin at his most dynamic It would be hard to imagine their eagerness for you to break through and attain the Way! They are like people in a parching drought, scanning the skies for signs of rain! If you just sit there doing zazen, going through the motions because you haven t brought forth that great bodhisattva vow, how can you bear to look them in the face? Time waits for no one; you can t let a single hour pass in vain! Strive hard! Strive hard! It is true that as we change, others change as well. and the more free and we re talking about true freedom here we become, the more that communicates to and inspires others. In fact, inspires is not all that happens. Because of what are now known as mirror neurons in our brain, people can actually feel the feelings of others. This, also, can be a source of transformation. But something needs to be said about this striving that Hakuin mentions. We call Zen The Middle Way. The Buddha, when he first sought some form of understanding, some form of liberation, went into the jungle, into the mountains. The prevailing form of spiritual practice in those days is said to have been one of austerity, and he got very good at it. Rumor has it, and there s no way to verify this but it does make a point, that he was finally surviving barely on just one single grain of rice a day. But as he became more and more weak he realized he wasn t any closer to getting his answers and maybe he should try a different tact. So he left the small group of spiritual aspirants he had been practicing with. When he encountered a young woman who was carryin a container of water that had been used to rinse rice and she offered it to him he took it, breaking his severe fast. He had realized that mortification of his body that searching outwardly was not going to bring him his answers. Why do we come to life? What is this life all about? Why do we get old and sick and die? Is it just that we re born, we have a little bit of pleasure and pain and then, Bam! It s all over? Isn t there something more? I need to know. When he saw that old person, that sick person, and that corpse and then saw the spiritual adept who was radiating peace, he had felt there had to be something more but what was it? He needed to know why he was born, what life was really about, whether there was a Way free of pain and suffering. As it turned out, he encountered a man selling bundles of grass and the man, seeing something about the Buddha-to-be, offered him enough grass to provide a cushion to sit on. And so he set out with an inner focus to his quest, sitting down beneath a tree now known as the Bo (or Bodhi) tree the Tree of Enlightenment and turned his search inward. A Korean Son [Zen] master said, Turn the light page 3 Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019

4 inward and trace down the radiance to its source! Just as happens to us, the Buddha-to-be encountered distractions as he commenced that inner search. Metaphorically expressed, he encountered distractions in the form of desires, of pain, and of discouragement: First came Mara s daughters, dancing erotically before him, trying to draw him away from his practice. When that failed to pull him off course, Mara the Temptor called out his hordes of demons who hurled boiling mud and spears and lances at him aches and pains! Most of us have experienced these as our bodies, initially unused to such long periods of immobility, reacted with pain in our knees, pain in our backs, headaches, and so forth. I knew only one person who could sit through sesshin without any pain whatsoever. But he, too, had his Mara: sleepiness! During one period of yaza late night sitting he drifted into sleep and fell over backwards off the tan (the raised platform typical in traditional zendos). From then on he was careful to sit yaza in the chair sitting room available outside of formal sittings during sesshin. We all have our own creative means of pulling ourselves off the practice. Each time we recognize we ve drifted off course and pull ourselves back to the practice we are actually training our brains to be more focused on task, on the moment, and thus letting go. We are wielding Manjusri s delusion-cutting sword and breath by breat becoming more free. Mara s pain-causing demons didn t distract the Buddha-to be either, and so Mara pulled out his final attempt to pull him away from his practice, taunting him: You don t have what it takes to come to Awakening! You re worthless! You ll never find your answers! Give up and go home! Forget about it! Most of us, too, have faced these very same impediments. In the Buddha s case, it was said that the earth rose up and in resounding voices spoke, He is worthy! and Mara slunk away. We re all worthy, but thinking we don t have what it takes can be the biggest boulder in our path, the biggest thing blocking the way. Once again, faith is vital. After that, the Buddha had more subtle temptations. He began to experience memories of past lives; these are now known as the Jataka Tales. Our Dharma brother, Rafe Martin has shared beautifully in a series of books, some of these tales. One tale is of a life in which the Buddha-to-be was a bird who gave his life carrying water in his beak to try to put out a forest fire so the animals living there would not suffer a fiery death. Another was of being a sage meditating in a forest where a very self-centered king was picnicing with his harem of beauties. When the king fell asleep the women, bored, went wandering about in the woods and discovered the meditating sage. Waking up and dispayed that he was alone, the king found his ladies in rapt attention sitting with another man and was so infuriated he began chopping of the sage s arms and legs and finally killed him, further infuriated when the sage didn t react in anger or fear. You heard yesterday of Shuho Myocho, one of the most highly respected Japanese Rinzai masters a National Teacher who, before he reluctantly began teaching spent twenty years doing zazen under a bridge in Kyoto with the beggars, honing his awakening, deepening his understanding. And how at the time there were bands of young men roaming the area, testing their swords on any hapless human being they encountered among the rushes. Not so long ago in Albuquerque several homeless people were found dead with bullets in them. It seems things haven t changed much regardless of the centuries that have gone by. At one point the ruffians came upon Shuho and surrounded him with raised swords. But Shuho simply continued doing deep zazen. Life and death were no different for him, and that is something we ourselves can deeply realize through our zazen. Hakuin s grandfather in Zen, Shido Bunan, said, If you die before you die you won t die when you die. Shuho Myocho had died the Great Death had had a profound awakening and was refining and deepening it; he felt no fear when facing those young hoodlums with their raised swords. There was something about him that caused one of the hoodlums to say, I think we would be doing a great disservice if we kill this man. He lowered his sword and put his hands palm to palm in gassho a sign of deep respect. Then he and the rest of the gang dropped their swords and fled. There is also the story of a Japanese man who was serving in a Buddhist temple centuries ago. He was asked to deliver a large sum of money to a distant place. It involved traveling on a dangerous road known to be populated by brigands and Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019 page 4

5 thieves who often murdered their victims as well as robbing them. He set out, delivered the money, and on his return was accosted by one of the robbers with sword upraised. Immediately without thinking he dropped to the ground and began doing prostrations before the thief, completely catching the man off guard; the thief left without demanding anything of him. A bystander witnessed the event and when the man continued on, asked him what motivated him to act in that unusual way. I live in a Buddhist temple, replied the man, and I see the monks prostrating all the time. So I did so as well. Eventually the Buddha went so deeply into samadhi that he disappeared. And in doing so he realized that who he thought he was was simply a set of ideas, a set of assumptions, and not a reality at all; it was only a story. This is what we are doing as well. Who we think we are is an accumulation of conditioning based on how we were treated when we were growing up, how we interpreted those experiences; possibly some sensitivities were transferred over from previous lifetimes as well. But that s not who we really are. Then who are we, really? Who are we, really? If we re not this set of stories, if we re not this bundle of conditioning, who are we? This is our quest: to find out. And the process of working to find out is something we do through the Middle Way, neither striving too intensely nor being too relaxed. Hakuin s own experience with this can teach us something. He had already had more than one kensho experience but his Zen opening was not as deep as he thought it was, and his way of working could be extreme. He had had a second, deeper kensho while training with Dokyo Etan the Old Man of Shoju Hermitage and for awhile his zazen was quiet and deep. He was called back to take care of one of his original teacher, Nyoka Roshi, who had become ill, and as you will read here, in this sharing from Wild Ivy, continued his zazen. After we took our leave from Shoju my companions and I pressed on for several days, traversing difficult stretches of rugged terrain where the trail wound along towering mountain cliffs. After a long, arduous journey we at last crossed into our home province. I went straight to Nyoka Roshi s bedside and began ministering to his needs. Even as I nursed him I complied faithfully with the injunctions Shoju had given me when we parted at the foot of the mountains. Never for a moment was I remiss. Regularly and without fail I sat for eight incense sticks of zazen each night. Soon after that another student of Nyoka Roshi appeared and suggested that he take over the roshi s care, freeing Hakuin to move on as incumbent priest to Shoin-ji, the temple his family had supported and which had fallen once more into disrepair. While originally he had felt he could sit with profound peace, it seemed to slip away from him. So he redoubled his efforts to do zazen, straining forcefully to do so. So doing, he developed a tremendous amount of body tension. From the chapter titled, Zen Sickness : Long ago Wu Chih-chih told Master Shutai, In order to refine the elixir it is necessary to gather the vital energy. That translates to Focus your mind as if your awareness were centered in your hara your belly, your tanden, that place just a few finger widths below your belly button. This allows your shoulders to be relaxed; it allows your body to be relaxed yet upright and focused. And it s a very grounded, very centered way to practice and to live. Focusing as if your mind were seated in your hara, you can be focused and centered whether you re seated on the cushion or in the chair, or out and about, going about your daily work. Elsewhere Hakuin quotes someone who said, When you walk, let the energy be in your heels. It may be easier to focus on the sensations of your feet as they touch the floor or the ground through your shoes or your socks or bare feet or in the case of seated zazen, your rear end on the cushion or chair, your knees on the mat whatever you re sitting on, to be aware of that physical connection. It helps keep your energy down when you focus on this when you first sit down or while you begin doing kinhin, the walking meditation. Starting with that focus on the physical contact you can then, from that place of centered awareness, allow your mind to gently sink into the wordless perplexity of the koan, helped by the extension of your outbreath. When we strive too hard and Hakuin has talked page 5 Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019

6 about clenching fists, tongue pressed against palate, fingernails digging into palms this is a good way to bring forth a particular kind of Zen sickness. While it may force a kensho, it s a way to develop a lot of stress in your body. It s not an effective way to practice, and sooner or later the stress it produces is going to come out in unfortunate ways. That s exactly what happened to Hakuin. He became so wound up that he was constantly in a state of extreme stress. The doctors he consulted gave up on him; none of their treatments seemed to work. There are various versions of Hakuin s story after he developed that extreme bodily tension. It seems someone told him of a mountain hermit living outside Kyoto, a man who knew how to heal. Hakuin supposedly searched the man out and was taught how to bring his energy down and relax; he writes about it in several different writings, including his autobiography, translated into English under the title, Wild Ivy. But how had he gotten himself into a condition where he needed to find someone who could cure him? What can we learn from this that would benefit our own practice? On the day I first committed myself to a life of Zen practice I pledged to summon all the faith and courage at my command and dedicate myself with steadfast resolve to pursuit of the Buddha Way. I embarked on a regimen of rigorous austerities which I continued for several years, pushing myself relentlessly. Then one night everything suddenly fell away and I crossed the threshold into enlightenment. All the doubts and uncertainties that had burdened me suddenly vanished, roots and all, just like melted ice. Deep rooted karma that had bound me for endless kalpas to the cycle of birth and death vanished like the foam on water. It s true, I thought to myself. The Way is not far for human beings. The stories about the ancient masters taking twenty or even thirty years to attain it, someone must have made them up. For the next several months I was waltzing on air, flailing my arms and stamping my feet in a kind of witless rapture. This was his first kensho experience when, as you ve already heard, he thought it was the deepest kensho anyone had had in 300 years. Clearly, however, it was not. He was caught in a kind of Zen sickness, an ongoing makyo, a distortion of reality. It underscores the vital importance of not sweeping any issue under the carpet. Zen practice reveals where we are caught in skewed views and if we re willing to own our mistakes can open us to more clear seeing. Most people are usually invested in denying their dysfunction. If we continue to deny, however, we prevent ourselves from opening into the true freedom that Zen practice can result in. This is something that has been overlooked in much traditional Zen teaching. Afterward, however, as I began reflecting on my everyday behavior I could see that the two aspects of my life, the active and the meditative, were totally out of balance, and that no matter what I was doing I never felt free or completely at ease. I realized I would have to rekindle a fearless resolve and once again throw my self, life and limb, into the Dharma struggle. With my teeth clenched tightly and my eyes focused straight ahead I began devoting myself singlemindedly to my practice, forsaking food and sleep altogether. That s not the way to practice and Hakuin found this out the hard way. But the other end of that spectrum is to be too relaxed and, just sit there and expect enlightenment to open without any effort on your part. There is a tale about a farmer who witnessed a rabbit racing through his field, slamming into the tree stump and dying. So from then on he went daily to sit in front of that tree stump and wait for the next rabbit to do the same thing. So how do we find that Middle Way? This is the big challenge. The balance between extreme practice and the practice that will bring about awakening, insight is vital and for each person, requires attention and exploration. Yes, it s important to face obstacles straight ahead, to embody them to experience the physical energy of those obstacles. When we can do that fully, they melt and we can drop more deeply into this profound mind of exploration. The Buddha tried outward means to get his answers and realized that the only way to do it was to go within and search the depths and breadth of his mind. When we go Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019 page 6

7 within we must go within with commitment, with courage, and a willingness to walk into whatever we might face.. If it gets extreme we can walk back out a little bit, back up a little bit, and then go back in again. It s amazing what a difference it can make in your life to allow yourself to practice radical acceptance to acknowledge the physical energy of the moment rather than stiffen against it or try to avoid or deny it. The search is inward. It s a matter of dropping beneath words with an openness to possibility that tion based on not assuming you know what you re going to find or how it will appear. It s fueled by perplexity, a need to understand, a need to be free which may or may not be conscious at any given time. That, in a nutshell, is practice. And now we are poised on the brink of tremendous opportunity for deepening as we continue into the night on this final evening of sesshin. Give it your best! You re all capable of it; you re proving it right now. Take it a step deeper! the Truth will reveal itself to you, an open explora- A Revived Meditation Garden! Ken Siers, landscape architect internationally known for his exquisite Japanese garden designs, is donating his time and creative efforts to help us irenew and improve our landscaping and accessibility, beginning with the garden between our zendo and dining hall. Currently the existing garden needs some tweaking and planting improvements, and the creation of a wheelchair-accessible path between the two buildings is essential. Our current path is an obstacle course even for able-bodied folk and severely limits access for anyone with mobility challenges. Above is a picture of the rendering Ken has made of his preliminary design for the garden. Much of the existing plantings would be retained, but some would be removed and there would be some new plants bought. The meditation platforms would be retained, in keeping with its being an environment inspiring peaceful meditation. The existing path would be removed and one that is truly ADA-compliant would be built, allowing wheelchair access between the two buildings. In order to make these significant improvements we need your help. While Ken is volunteering his time and design skills, specifically skilled paid help is required, and for a short period of time special equipment will need to be rented. Although we will be able to do plant removal ourselves, the specially skilled and experienced help will need to be hired. New plants will need to be purchased. The very good news is that Ken has found very close by the [free!] rocks that are most suitable for the design; this will save a great deal of expense. For only a few thousand dollars we will have a vastly improved environment. No donation is too small and your donations may be tax-deductible! page 7 Oak Tree in the Garden January/February 2019

8 2019 Calendar January Day Sesshin at Mountain Gate; deadline for applications is December 31. January 13 All Day Sitting NOTE CHANGE OF DATES: January 31 - February 5, 5-Day Sesshin led by Mitraroshi; she expects to be at HVZC January 30-February 7 Applications must be received by January 26; otherwise you may not be considered for sesshin. This is essential in order to make sure sufficient food is on hand and other essential planning can be in place. Thank you for respecting this deadline. February Day Sesshin at Mountain Gate; deadline for applications is February 16. February Weekend Sesshin led by Sozuisensei. Application deadline: February 18. March Day Sesshin at Turtleback Zendo; deadline for applications is February 16. To apply, see March 15-17, Weekend Sesshin led by Sozuisensei; deadline for applications is March 10. April Buddha s Birthday Ceremonies: Temple Night, 6-9 pm, Friday evening, April 12; 9:30 am Bathing the Baby Buddha Ceremony, Story of the Buddha s Birth and Life, followed by Sangha Potluck Gathering, Saturday, April 13. Sunday, April 14, there will be the usual Sunday morning schedule, with Sozui-sensei giving the talk. Mitra-roshi will not be at HVZC this Vesak. April Day Sesshin at Mountain Gate; deadline for applications is April 14. April Weekend Sesshin led by Sozuisensei; deadline for applications is April 20. May dates for extended sittings and sesshin at HVZC and Mountain Gate will depend on the dates for the Tahoma osesshin, currently unknoen. Stay tuned for further information. RegainingBalance Retreats for Women Veterans with PTSD will continue to be held at Mountain Gate. These are not sesshin, but special retreats specifically developed to teach tools known to help reduce stress to women veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Dates for 2019 are May 29-June 2, June 26-30, and September 25-29; a weekend retreat specifically for wives or female partners of veterans with PTSD is scheduled for August 2-4. If you know of a woman who fits either of these categories, please pass the word. More information can be had at www. RegainingBalance.org. The 7-day sesshin at HVZC, led by Mitraroshi, will be held this year July More information will be forthcoming closer to the date. Mitra-roshi will be coming to HVZC twice in 2019, but she will be offering a full schedule of 7-day sesshin at Mountain Gate and one at Turtleback Zendo in NJ, You may apply to these sesshin by downloading a form here: Sesshin%20Application.pdf Deep Zen practice affords us the opportunity to see clearly who we really are, and with that seeing, wisdom and compassion naturally arise. When we see a need, we naturally move to meet it. The practice of dana generosity is a way to express that compassion by offering support to our places of practice and to our teachers, who guide us through the pitfalls of practice and help us to reach depths we never knew existed. Without dana, neither our Zen centers nor our teachers would be available to us or to future generations. Although Zen teachers and centers are sometimes supported by larger institutions in places like Japan and China, they are not usually supported in this way in the U.S. Offering support to our places of spiritual practice and to our teachers is a vital component of our practice as Zen students, because it affords us not only an opportunity to express compassion and gratitude, but it also ensures the continuity of Zen itself. Where would we be without a place to practice and a teacher to guide us? The Oak Tree in the Garden, a bimonthly publication of Hidden Valley Zen Center, is available as a free pdf download via and also, by paid subscription, as a hard copy for $20 per year within the United States or $35 per year internationally. To download a subscription form for either pdf or hard copy, please visit www. hvzc.org