This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. This is the ninth day of the Sashin, in case some of you didn't know. One... one practice, nine days, nine boughs, nine great bends of the Huang River,

[01:04]

where the fish swim up and go through the nine great bends of the river and when they get through the last one they turn into dragons. And whatever we're feeling, whether we're not wanting this to end, whether we're wanting it to end, whether we don't care one way or the other, let us not abide in any of that and continue our swimming up the great river together I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's participated yesterday.

[02:22]

I mentioned the volunteer cooking crew. Thank you all again. And I want to thank the Chouseau for being in her place, in her seat, without fail, period after period. Thank you very much. and all the practice leaders who saw folks, the Tonto and the director and our treasurer and Leslie who will be coming back tomorrow, and the Dohans and the Eno for taking care of all the details and all the serving crews and everyone. I don't know if that cover is anybody left out, everybody who sat or didn't sit. Thank you all very much. I wanted to clarify something was brought to my attention a question that might be if one person has the question maybe others have the question which is the various suggestions about

[03:41]

stretching, squeezing the organs, exercise, eating, and so forth. Is that, you know, is that the Buddha Dharma or is that kind of a new agey, really, you know, take care of yourself kind of practice or concern? You know, am I taking good care of myself? How do I take good care of myself? And is that an emphasis that isn't quite in alignment with our way. So I wanted to clarify that. The way I understand all those posture suggestions and, you know, working with the pelvis and just all of it, all of those, the mudras, is all for me. supporting life and practicing the way of Buddha.

[04:47]

How do we support our life? Not for that alone, so that I'm feeling good and my problems are lessened, but to practice, to be able to practice fully and be ready and available for whatever happens. in our meal chant, there's the five reflections. The first, we reflect on how the food came, which is really a reflection on interdependence, interdependence and gratitude, you know, reflect on the effort that brought us, brought us this food, a myriad beings really, and causes and conditions and how that food came to be. And the second is a reflection on our own practice, you know, our virtue and our practice.

[05:49]

This is a kind of looking at our karma and avowing our karma and acknowledging that whatever about are we being upright. And there may be times when you feel, I shouldn't eat this meal maybe, but I think that goes too far. I think we eat our practices to eat to support our continued study of our actions and our karmic formations. And we get a chance in that reflection to look at that. And the third is it's essential to keep the mind free from excesses and then it's just naming one of them greed as an excess as something that colors our way of seeing and thinking and supports unwholesome actions and also not taking care of self and others so we reflect on that that this is

[07:05]

an essential part of our practice, working with the three poisons, such as greed, one of the poisons. Because the actions flowing from the three poisons, greed, hate, delusion, are not skillful, are harming, and are not in alignment. So we reflect on that. And then the fourth is how we regard food. We regard this food as good medicine. to sustain our life. And we eat to support life and to practice the way of Buddha. So these, in the same way, these five reflections on our eating practice would be the same on our walking practice or our stretching, is to sustain life in order to practice the way of Buddha. And our resting and restorative practice is to support life and to practice the way of Buddha and good medicine.

[08:14]

How come we take medicine to support our life? How come we want to support our life to practice the way of Buddha? You know, when Suzuki Roshi was dying, he had Shiatsu massage. I think someone came every day and did deep shiatsu, and he also had moxibustion. I don't know about acupuncture, but to support his life as his life was waning, you know, in order to what? To practice the way of Buddha, to be there for his students to the last breath, good medicine. He didn't take painkillers. I think wanting to be conscious for for his students. So in the same way, all these admonitions around posture and breathing and stretching, if it wasn't clear to you, I just wanted to make it as clear as possible that that's how it's being offered as a way to support life, to help our practice not

[09:34]

self-cherishing and, you know, so I don't grow old or something. So we have gratitude for our bodies that have come to us, the preciousness of human life, sort of like the first reflection, you know, we reflect on the effort that brought us, we reflect on the myriad causes and conditions that brought us into human life, and our responsibility to take care of it, and some humble feeling about our actions, and are we taking care of ourselves in order to practice the way of Buddha? So in order to have a lifelong practice, these are medicine, this is some medicine for us. And in the Buddha's time, you know, the Buddha had back trouble.

[10:45]

In the Pali Canon it mentions, and I imagine he got massages too. But there is one story where the Buddha is resting, lying down, and Mara comes. Mara not only visited the Buddha when the Buddha was under the Bodhi tree, there's other stories. And Mara kind of harangues Shakyamuni Buddha the sun is high, what are you doing loafing around, lying down in the middle of the day? You know, as if he's a goldbricker or something, you know, just lazybones. And Shakyamuni said, out of compassion for the many, I take my rest. In order to continue teaching, in order to be there for the four assemblies, the lay, women lay men, the monks and the nuns. I need to rest now. And also in the Viharas, in the monastic situations, there were promenades that were laid out for walking meditation.

[11:58]

That was included in the daily schedule. Long hours of sitting and also walking. to support life and to practice the way. Not, I don't think, for to look good, you know. So I just, I really wanted to clarify that with you. I also wanted to mention that there was an update yesterday on Thich Nhat Hanh's and the monks and nuns of Plum Village wrote that the doctors have expressed surprise at his resilience and stability over the last week. He had this brain hemorrhage and the intensive treatment is continuing. His blood pressure and pulse are stable.

[13:01]

He's breathing on his own. However, he's becoming increasingly peaceful. sleeping more, and communicating less. And whatever that means, I don't know, but they ask, this is a communication to the world, really, they're asking for us to support Tai, which is their name for, the name of the teacher, Tai, by sustaining mindfulness throughout the day. conscious breathing, mindful steps, and allowing his teaching to ripen in us. And then they had this wish at the end, which, you know, we have this last day of the nine days Heshin, and so it is a day of mindfulness. We're in a day of mindfulness there. They ask, may we let go of resentments against those who have hurt us?

[14:06]

and release our fear and sorrow by coming back to the calm of gentle breathing that Thai has transmitted to us. This is the best way we can support Thai and be his beautiful continuation with trust and love, monks and nuns of Plum Village. So this, by taking up the teachings that we have received mindfully, sincerely, making an effort to practice in the ways that have been passed down to us, is the only way we can requite our debt of gratitude to the teachers of the world, is to practice. That's the only way. And they say that. This is how we can support. and also how we can be the continuation of, in our own body, to be the continuation of the Buddha or Thich Nhat Hanh or any teacher, our own teacher, is to practice.

[15:24]

And this is how the Buddha is everlasting or eternal, which is Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha lives in each one of the practitioners who continues and does not let the teaching be cut off. That's the everlasting Buddha, each of us. So those of you who have practiced with Thich Nhat Hanh or met Thich Nhat Hanh or read his books or know people who are students In whatever way you have a relationship to this marvelous teacher of this time, of our age, we have a chance to practice with our breath and mindfulness throughout the day. In whatever way we're practicing, we also practice mindfulness.

[16:33]

the fascicle, yuibutsu, yobutsu, yobutsu, only a Buddha and a Buddha. There's so many wonderful things in that particular fascicle, but one is, it says there's an old saying, and it doesn't say from who, and maybe it's a folk saying, I don't know, but the old saying is, no one except a fish knows a fish's heart. No one except a bird follows a bird's trace, is the saying. No one except a fish knows a fish's heart. And Dogen goes on to comment, fish always know one another's heart, unlike people who do not know one another's heart. Sometimes we think we do and then we realize we don't really understand someone else.

[18:07]

We have an image, we have a concept, we have a story about who someone is and we don't really understand. And from that can flow conflicts and heartbreak. really heartbreak and distrust and all sorts of things. And it can encourage us to make the effort to understand another's heart. Both those are possible. But fish always understand one another's heart. And it says when the fish try to go up, Through the dragon's gate, they know one another's intention and the heart of breaking through, breaking through the nine great bends.

[19:12]

Those who are not fish hardly know this. So these nine great bends are strenuous. I have a visitor here. To break through. And when you break through the dragon's gate, you turn into a dragon. And as we know, once its heart is known, you're like a dragon gaining the water. Dragons live in the water. That's their home. that's their element. And, you know, this fascicle is called Only a Buddha and a Buddha, and Buddhas also know other Buddhas. Now, as we've been

[20:23]

turning and discussing and talked about yesterday in Fushuku Hampo, that introduction, introductory paragraphs, each thing, each being, whether it's pretty neutral, dust moat, or whether it's something that carries a lot of or depth of feeling or whatever it is, each and everything is the true reality of all beings. And the true reality of all beings is Buddha. How things exist is Buddha nature, you could say. So when we don't know this, even though it's true, even though we're swimming in this reality all the time, when we don't understand, then we say sentient beings.

[21:39]

And only a Buddha and a Buddha is when there's understanding of this true reality. So we've been looking at and turning this one great true reality, this of all beings, sho ho ji so, and that one reality expresses itself in words and activities of each being. So each expression, each word, each action is expressing the one big being in that unique way, whether we know it or not. And this one big being is...

[22:49]

arising and vanishing each moment is impermanent. And as Suzuki Roshi says, strictly speaking, each one of us is Buddha. This is strictly speaking. This isn't how one might think, oh that's so compassionate, how nice that he says we're all Buddha. How encouraging. He says strictly speaking. We can't say other than that each being is Buddha nature. Not has, somewhere inside has a seed or something, but is. And each expression, you know, each each word, each expression, each action, each and every thing is expressing and acting out the Great One Being.

[24:06]

So strictly speaking, each one of us is Buddha. And if that's not helpful, which it may not be, there's all sorts of other teachings to get us to just sit down and be quiet and stop thinking, stop wondering about it. And when, this is also Suzuki Roshi, when we realize this truth completely, this strictly speaking, each of us as Buddha, when we realize this completely, we become Buddha in its true sense. Where Shōho Jisō is only a Buddha and a Buddha.

[25:19]

Only a Buddha and a Buddha. self-receiving and self... self-enjoyment. And what is the practice? This all sounds very theoretical. As someone said to me, Ndoksan, well, that's all well and good. It sounds like you're reading out of a book, which I am. So the practice is, you know, doing one thing is mastering it, doing just one thing unifying this this body with in each and every activity and expression of our life and some confidence I think that you know, to hear a teacher say, strictly speaking, this is the way it is.

[26:25]

And in Yui Butsu, Yobutsu, it says the entire universe is the true human body. The entire universe is the true human body. The entire universe is the eye of Vairochana. Vairochana is the Buddha, you know, That is the personification or the iconography, figure, image of Dharmakaya, the reality body of the Buddha, which is like space. We make an image of it. That's Vairochana. And the entire universe is the body of the self. So can we vow, can we take up the practice of doing one thing completely, unifying our life?

[27:38]

We lose our own life when we're all over the map and somewhere else. Some people, or I should say, you know, our tendencies are we can go lose ourself by going back, back, back into the past, or the past seems to come and take over, or forward into the future, worrying and concerned about things that haven't happened and may not happen, and when they do happen, we don't know how we'll feel about it anyway. You know, forward and back and forward and back. we kind of lose, lose ourselves. So in this same fascicle, only a Buddha and a Buddha, the entire universe is the true human body, the body of the self.

[28:43]

And the entire universe is the gate of liberation, the eye of Vairachana. Tomorrow morning at the wake-up bell, the sesheen will be ended. The sesheen really goes through the night up until the wake-up bell. And there's, you know, this, in the spirit of supporting our life and practicing the way, I wanted to say a few words about coming out of a long sesheen, coming out of a retreat.

[29:46]

Some of you know Zen-Ju Earthlin Emanuel. Zen-Ju Earthlin Emanuel. She has kind of guidelines for preparing for a long retreat, silent retreat, and coming out. Have some of you read that? In the preparations she has some very interesting things like don't start any difficult conversations right before you go into a silent retreat that, you know, haven't been completed. And I really understand that when some of you might also. We're left with that and there can be a preoccupation and you can't let it alone, you know. So she mentions that and being in nature, kind of calming down a little bit before you go in. And coming out of the retreat, she has things like, keep your experience to yourself for a while, whether good or bad or good, or positive or negative.

[30:59]

Let it settle, let it cook. I bring these up because of my own experience, which some of you know, of coming out of a sashin, here, Seven Days Hashin, and the mail came and I think I talked like non-stop for the entire day off, like seven hours of reading mail and laughing and talking and snacking and just with friends and just it just and by the end of it I was so depleted and so it's like the whole kind of gathered energy and kind of peaceful, joyous Sashin after Glow was like, whew, it was just, and a big kind of let down, you know, physically. So that was a good learning experience for me of kind of what not to do or what isn't supporting, you know.

[32:10]

So she says, Keep your experience to yourself for a while, let it cook. Try not to spend time judging your practice or what happened the last days, whether good or bad. I think that's always useful. Continue to sit every day, and we're so lucky here that, as Suzuki Roshi said, the most important zazen period of the entire sashin is the morning after, you know, Monday morning, which it will be tomorrow. It's going to be Monday morning. So that's the most important one. Just continue our practice. Engage, this is Zenchu again, engage in activities that are in alignment with peace, nature, walking, bathing. Avoid big parties. Sometimes we can't help that, especially the last session when we kind of go off into holiday cheer.

[33:18]

Remind yourself to breathe. Live the teachings and wait to speak about them. I think sometimes we have lots and lots and lots of insights, and yet... To live them out, because insights, I think Jack Kornfield says, insights are like popcorn, boom, boom, boom, but kind of, you know, there's not much there sometimes unless you live into them. So live the teachings, this is Zen Zhuo, and wait to speak about them. And then cherish every moment, which, yeah. could be for any time. And then she says, enjoy being a sleuth or a kind of detective with the mystery of your life. So however you want to practice with those admonitions, this is someone's admonitions, this is a teacher who is offering that to support our life and to practice.

[34:39]

the way and to take good care so that we can continue. So whatever resonates for you and what you've learned over the years coming out of Sashin, coming out of retreat. So I wanted to just And with a couple other things, also for the end of retreat, the end of session, there's in also Yoi Butsu, Yobutsu, there's a koan that many of you know, and it's... It says, an old master said, was asked when... Hundreds and thousands and myriads of things, of objects, come all at once.

[35:44]

What do you do? And the master answered, don't try to control them. I think that's also a wonderful koan to turn for when things get a little more complicated. and schedule is so simple. But what about when hundreds and thousands and myriads of things come all at once? Maybe we've been feeling that internally, but then there'll be lots of things happening, lots of talking, lots of interactions, lots of different kinds of delightful foods and just stuff. And the responses don't try to control them. another translation is don't try to manage them and Dogen's guideline or commentary is they're not objects at all they're not hundreds and thousands of myriads of objects coming they're Buddha Dharma it's Buddha Dharma coming and to practice with that as Buddha Dharma

[37:04]

as this one great body coming forth in that form, which is self-receiving and self-employing, because we are also one great body, strictly speaking, Buddha, and both are unique The first five suchnesses are uniqueness, individuality, and limited understanding, and at the exact same time, inextricably the whole, the one big mind, as Suzuki Roshi says, one Buddha body. So when objects come, they're not objects at all. This is the expression in this moment of Buddha Dharma.

[38:11]

But it feels like hundreds and thousands of myriads. If we try to control them we'll find out we can't, they can't be under our control. So we can study them, we can study what arises with our practice eye. as far as our practice eye can take us, can respond. That's it. That's our life. And some of what I talked about yesterday, these myriads and hundreds of millions of things, sometimes are these painful, comparative thoughts that seem incessant.

[39:18]

They seem like they never end. No situation does it not come up, this thinking about where we are in relation to This is dualistic thinking. This is suffering. This is comparative mind. And this is being in Uributsu, Yobutsu, stained. Rogen says stained, but this stained is not like a sinful being or something. It's not that. It's stained or defiled is another translation, I think, of stained. It's just defiled by duality. It's this thinking in that way that feels so unceasing. And then Dogen says, you know, what is it like to be unstained?

[40:21]

It's looking at the moon and not wishing for it to be any brighter. Just moon. seeing flowers and not wanting the colors to be brighter or seeing a person and not thinking about what they look like, you know? Can we, what would that be like to drop that? That's unstained. So I, to studying how this arises and the pain around it I think is can be beneficial for our practice to to engender a wanting to let go of this and at the beginning of the practice period I think I suggested or mentioned a practice of following a

[41:38]

you know, be aware of the breath throughout the day, not just Sazen or certain times when you might have it as a practice, but to permeate our lives with awareness of breath, posture and breath. And I would like to bring that up again and ask you to see for yourself how this might meet this incessant comparative mind and competition and all those things we were talking about yesterday, how I just put that out there, how that might be to take up that practice and what happens to that habitual judging, jockeying mind.

[42:41]

We are plagued by wanting and caring about the approval of others if we think we aren't you know it may be a reaction to that we do care but we don't want to care so we're not going to care can get very complex there in the loving kindness meditation where it says let one do nothing that the wise would reprove that that isn't like wanting the approval it's caring about our good friends and our teachers and people we respect and love and that it matters to us that we're in good relationship with them and that they understand our heart. It's different than wanting approval or wanting to be accepted into the crowd or something.

[44:02]

So that practice to me is not this kind of being anxious about are we included, are we accepted, and there's this wonderful quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, you know, Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of FDR Roosevelt, and her quote is, let's see if I can get it, you would not be so concerned about what others think of you when you realize how little they do you would not I'm gonna read it you would not be so concerned about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do yeah that to me was like it was like being thrown like water thrown in my face you know it's like oh it's yeah we think about ourselves

[45:08]

And if you think, if you ask yourself, how much am I thinking about everybody else in the room, you know, you could probably say, it's kind of seldom. I am not tracking what so-and-so is doing or where their mudra is or whatever, you know, how their oryoki is going today. You know, we're just, I'm not, I really am not concerned. But from this person's side, we might feel like, I'm being judged or everybody's noticing or cares one way or the other. Really, what we really have to work on is that we have a lot of self-concern. That's where our attention often is going about how I'm doing. And in the polycanon, you know, there's the story of King Bimbasara and his wife, and they're sitting out on their... on their balustrade, the palace.

[46:09]

And he, I think King Bimbisara says to her, I can't remember her name, but she was really cool. When he got put in jail, she did this very interesting thing. But anyway, he said to his queen, you know, who is the most important for you in this world? Maybe thinking she'd say, oh, you my king. But she was very honest. She said, you know, the most important person for me is me. And he had to stop there for a second, and then he realized, yeah, it's the same with me. And then they realized, well, it's the same with everybody. Everybody feels that way. They're the most important. Oh, that means that those feelings I have about myself, that's what others feel about themselves. So I need to be very... compassionate and gentle with everybody because I know how they feel. This fish knows a fish's heart. I understand. So it went from a kind of realization of self-cherishing and attachment to self and self-concern and broke into all beings are like that.

[47:19]

And I understand how painful that is. So we will act accordingly. What she did when he was put in jail was make a, and he was being starved to death, but he got a visit from her, and she put this paste of flour and honey all over her body that looked like makeup, and then he sort of ate it off her arms and stuff, so she kept him alive for a while. Anyway, it's one of those Indian tales, I think, of kind of like exotic. creativity. Yeah. So I guess that's it for today. Just a quiet, a quiet, maybe I'll end with this poem that I've been carrying around with me.

[48:27]

This is Dogen. Appearing before my eyes is wondrous suchness. Outside of this reality, why trouble dividing true from false? Seeing colors, hearing sounds, both fully verify it. Stepping forward and turning within, both softly cry out, the way. Appearing before my eyes is wondrous suchness. Outside of this reality, shōho jisō, why trouble dividing true from false? Seeing colors, peach blossoms, hearing sounds, stone against bamboo, both fully verify it. stepping forward into the next moment, and turning within, turning the light inward.

[49:41]

Both softly cry out the way. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

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