A dharma talk I gave during the New Palz Zen Center's June retreat, a few days before our sangha member Monshin gave her first talk. I was just back from a trip to Nepal and India, and I described how the rituals, symbols, and language we use today go back at least 5000 years in India and Europe. We have a duty today to preserve our ancestors' tradition and to innovate, even though someday Buddhism will be forgotten and the whole universe destroyed.