Vahe Imagen Vanshi Jujutsu Runga Do Itari Negawangu Anhyo Rai Gyo Shinjitsu Jiyo Geshi Tate Matarang An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million golfers, having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept. I vow to taste the truth of the Kathagata's words. Good morning. So today we're having a one-day sitting, and the one-day sitting starts what we call a practice period, a period in which many of us

[01:25]

are intending to intensify or bring more dedication to our practice. I think most major religions have some version of this. Today is also the day before Easter, which brings up the end of Lent, a six-week period of intensifying your practice. I don't actually know what happens during Ramadan other than the fasting, but I have a sense that it has a similar kind of function in the Islamic tradition. There's a period of time, I think it's about a month. So in the Zen tradition, a practice period is 90 to 100 days. And the roots of it go the whole way back to the time of Shakyamuni Buddha when they lived in monsoon land. in Northern India. And since they couldn't travel during the monsoons, they decided that that would be a time for dedicated residential practice.

[02:31]

They'd get together, they'd stay in one place, and they would do more sitting, more mindfulness, more of the basic practices that enable awakening. So, that's what we're doing. We're doing our version of that. starting with sitting all day. It also includes a couple of talks a week in the class and getting together as a group to discuss practice. It includes being in residence and includes practicing at home. And the theme for this practice period is A fascicle by the finder of this style of Zen in Japan, Ehe Dogen Zenji. And the fascicle is called the Genjo-Kan. Is this light enough?

[03:35]

The hero came back there? Yeah. So Genjo-Kan means... Kauan means public case or what's commonly experienced or shared reality. And genjo means being completely itself. So our common everyday manifest reality is completely itself. It exemplifies itself. And then the interesting thing, you know, our human experience is to inquire.

[04:36]

You know, if you attend carefully, you'll notice that when you hear a sign intentionally or unintentionally If you identify it, you know, truck going on the street, you know, chair recruiting, you know, or whatever it is, that somehow we have this built-in drive to make sense of our experience. You know, a very practical impulse. So always reality is expressing itself And our impulse is to make sense of it, to learn from it, to have it teach us how to suffer less and be happier, how to teach us how to have priorities and values in our life, how to teach us how to be able to relate successfully with each other

[05:49]

and hopefully with our environment. And maybe you could say so far we're not doing so well, but we won't go into that. It is always considered as a work in progress, which is a very useful feature to remember. You think, okay, this is a work in progress, which is quite wonderful because Then when you notice just what you've done or thought or felt doesn't seem to be so smart, you can say, OK, well, that was a learning experience. And then let that support you to meet the next moment with beginner's mind, with a fresh approach, with a new way of being. So this title, and in some ways this is very close to the heart of Zen practice.

[07:04]

Meeting and experiencing life as it is and awakening with it. Through it. With it. Because we are just part of the experience of the moment. Awakening through it. Because it exemplifies something. It exemplifies the nature of reality. our life as we're living it is teaching us how to live. Our relationships as we're having them are teaching us how to be in relationship. There's a wonderful poem by Rilke where he says, I am, oh anxious one, don't you hear my voice? surging force with all my earthly feelings.

[08:09]

You know, what we're being in this very moment is a teaching. The first line of the essay, the fascicle that Dogen wrote about the Tenjo coin, he says, When all dharmas are Buddha dharmas. So usually we don't translate the word dharma into English because really there isn't an equivalent. It's a word that's crafted to include a variety of sensibilities and meanings that come out of practice. As some translations translate this, when all things are Buddha dharma, but actually Dharma in its variety of meanings one meaning is the law or the order of things or the way of things you know that there's an order to existence people are born and they die

[09:28]

Planets are born and they die. Universes are born and they die. When we grasp on and hold on to our own experience and try to assert it as the reality of all experience, we discover that that causes confusion. When we grasp onto something and try to make it always stay the way it is, we notice that causes suffering because it doesn't stay the way it is. It comes and it goes. So as we examine the way things, as we examine the way, as we look at it, it offers us a teaching. And so the next meaning of Dharma is that of teaching. Teaching of the way things are, the way things is, and the teaching of how to wake up, of how not to be lost in confusing, confusion.

[10:45]

So when Dogen Zenji says, when all dharmas are Buddha dharma, When what's being experienced is an awakening experience. So the proposition of Zen practices, it's not a matter of having a special reality. It's a matter of waking up the reality that's already happening. It's a very significant proposition in Zen practice, and that's really what Genjo Kahn means. When all dharmas are Buddha dharma, when all dharmas are engaged in a way that they become a source of awakening, a source of a teaching as to how to live your life.

[11:53]

A source of a teaching of what exactly is going on. Rilke wrote a little poem for his own tombstone. This is the poem he wrote. Rose, oh pure contradiction. Joy of being awake under so many layers. A rose looks like it's something. It looks like a thing, and in fact it is a thing. It has a shape, it has a color, it has a smell, it has a touch, a weight. But if you peel away the layers, peel away the petals to get at the heart of it, there's nothing.

[13:04]

So he's playing with that image, you know? And casting his own life into the same analogy, you know? And then saying, at the heart of it, is the joy of being awake. So when you let go of all your anxieties, all your fantasies, all your preoccupations, and then you look what's giving rise to them, the emotions, the behaviors, the fixed attitudes, the prejudices, and you let go of them. And then you start to look at the experiences, the sense of self, how that influences the world on a more subtle level. The sadness, the joy, the disappointment, the fear.

[14:16]

And then you let go of that, And then you get down to phenomena, momentary experience. And then you realize that even momentary experience, you know, I see something and I label it window. I hear something and I label it truck, you know. So I name it, I label it in English, because that's the language I speak. It's conceptualized. And then when you let go of that, so these layers that constitute our existence, that constitute me and my world, as we peel them away, what's left?

[15:23]

The joy of being awake. So this is the Gange of Kahn. What's left? When you peel away all the layers, what's left? What is it to peel away the layers? Is it to affirm your life or is it to deny your life? Is it to become who you are or is it to try to get rid of who you are? This is the Genji Kahn. So the process of inquiry is rather than say that your mind and the way it thinks and discriminates and discerns

[16:30]

is a problem, is to say, no, it's a tool. It's a tool that can enable curiosity, a tool that can vitalize our engagement in what's going on. And most usually, as we formulate ideas and opinions, we take hold of them. We fixate on them. This is what I think, so it must be right. And anybody that doesn't think that way, well, I guess they're wrong. Pretty basic notion that trips us up all the time. So then we see then part of our inquiry becomes how do we relate to discriminating mind? What enables discriminating mind to be a tool rather than a trap. So Buddhism teaches there's two kinds of truth.

[17:36]

That one truth is what we might call our individual experience. I hear a sign and I think truck. Obviously my native language was Russian. Some other word would come to mind. Obviously, if I'd never heard a truck before in my whole life, I would just be without the concept. Or maybe I'd substitute something else. So there's individual experience. Our own notion of self, our own notion of the world, helps create the world we live in helps create the self it's an interactive process so this is our relative truth and we can have a personal truth and we can have a collective truth I remember sitting at a meeting and

[18:57]

Someone in the meeting said, well actually they made a comment about George Bush, a negative comment. And they assumed everybody at the meeting would be in complete agreement. And so they made it with that assumption. And then someone said, you know, I find that offensive. It doesn't agree with my worldview. So one person assumes a collective truth. And then another person offers different information. So usually we think, well, these truths are in opposition. but really they're all just versions of what's called in Buddhism relative truth.

[20:03]

And an absolute truth is that which when you peel away the layers, that wider sense of being, at its heart maybe we could say, goes beyond fixed ideas of any sort. That truth. So two truths. And then the heritage of inquiry is to see how those truths play off of each other, how they intersect, how they support each other. How to have your own truth, how to realize you are indeed living the life you're living. You're being the person you are all the time. You can't not. You always are completely, exactly yourself. And Zen practice is not saying, that's a problem, it has to change.

[21:12]

It's saying, that's it. That's the public case. That's the Genjo Koan. Exactly as you are right now is completely, fully what it is. It's completely fully the opportunity to awake. But if you cling to it, if you grasp it, if you see it as the truth, if you relate to it as the truth, that's a misperception and that just introduces a confusion. And what supports us not to do that is the notion of, well, there's a truth that goes beyond all of our relative truths. So that's that teaching of two truths. And, of course, it has a practical expression.

[22:23]

process of reconciliation is to hear each other's truth with an open heart and an open mind. In a way, we could say that our practice, the activity of our practice, is the process of reconciliation. Can we constantly reconcile our personal truth with something that goes beyond our personal truth? You know, whether it's listening to the person we're having an argument with or opening up to a sense of being that goes beyond some tangible preoccupation with me. You know, me as this entity existing in some sphere of tangible existence around this body. To realize that the trees and the sun and the air and the sands and other people are offering this invitation to greater being all the time.

[23:39]

To reconcile our need for security and dependability and safety with this intrinsic truth of greater being. Shakyamuni Buddha called this dynamic tension dukkha, suffering. Although simply the word suffering doesn't convey as much nuance as the word dukkha. So dukkha has three aspects. The first aspect is the core pain, the core pain that arises in the moment, the suffering.

[24:54]

the response to the suffering, and then the response to the response. So the heritage of Shakyamuni's way of awakening was to look at these sources of suffering as a way to come into harmony with our lives and from that basis to discover how to relate to the very same experience is a way to wake up. Roughly speaking, you can do it in two ways.

[25:58]

You can start where you are or attempt to cultivate the capacity to see it more clearly. Even though they, in a way, they are different. You can start with Who am I? What's going on? And bring that constantly to all of your activities. Who am I? In some moment, you may be emotion. In another moment, you may be a stream of conceptual thinking. In another moment, you may be body. You may be physical experience. Another moment you may be a man or a woman.

[27:00]

A lover or an enemy. You know, a person of a particular national identity. Or race. Or rich. Or poor. I think being in recovery in a way exemplifies this style. exemplifies both styles actually, but it exemplifies this style in as much the first step of recovery is to be where you are and to be who you are. It's like you start with the response to the response. So as a core experience, you have a response to it and then you set up behaviors in response to the response you acknowledge them and through acknowledging them you start to take what dogan calls the backward step and you go from the behaviors to the felt experiences the responses that initiate that give the impulse for the behaviors and then you step back and even deeper into yourself and can you

[28:28]

cultivate and explore the core experiences. And this is always operative for us. You find yourself not speaking to someone. Well, why am I not speaking to them? Well, because I'm angry with them. Why am I angry with them? they said such and such. And why is that give us a source of anger? Because it hurt. When they said that, I was hurt. I suffered. Taking the backward step. Or to put it another way, is we look at the very being, the very details of our relative truth and let them teach us.

[29:33]

So Dogen Zenji says, when the very details of your relative truth try to define the world, that's just confusion. When the very details of your relative world teach you about the nature of living, That's awakening. So this is one way. We bring attention to all of our life. Whatever way it manifests. This is both in action and in the stillness of Zazen. This very same thing applies in meditation. Sit and be receptive to whatever happens. And rather than follow that stream of thought off to somewhere else, stay here, stay now.

[30:43]

And then the other way is we... We sit down or we meet the moment as simply and directly as we can. On the level of phenomena. We notice what's being heard, what's being felt, what's being seen, what's being thought. It's like we bring ourselves to being Buddha and then let that Buddha illuminate everything. And we could say this is also the practice of Sazen. We sit down and we give complete attention to body, to breath, to state of mind,

[32:00]

The content of mind. And that enables a second. So both of these ways are Dharma. Both of these ways are the process of awakening. And usually, even in Zazen, we're combining the two. we're applying attention to what's going on and we're receptive to whatever arises. And then Buddhism offers an amazing array to engage both of these. And I'd like to offer one idea comes from this, the paramitas, the perfections of engagement.

[33:01]

And that is, whether we're applying attention or just being receptive to what we're doing, it's very helpful if we do it with an attitude of benevolence. You know? A sort of well-wishing. A... And to hold our own life, our own experience, our relationships, our friends, everyone, the whole world with a benevolent attitude. If our inquiry has an undertone of something's wrong, somebody needs to be punished.

[34:02]

I'm broken, I need to be fixed. takes away our vitality. It undermines our enthusiasm, our endurance. So some sense of benevolence. And, and this is a little tricky juxtaposition, some sense of discipline. To sit in the here and now, to walk, to stand, to be in the here and now, requires a certain kind of discipline. A certain kind. And if there's benevolence, that kind of discipline will come forth.

[35:09]

Usually when we apply ourselves, there's a slight impulse to tighten, to constrict. Slight nuance towards aggression. And the art of practice is to drop that and have it more as a curiosity. There's a way in which we're a mystery to ourselves. Can we pause and listen deeply to who we are and what we're thinking and what we're feeling? as an act of benevolence, not with some undertone that we're doing something wrong. And we need to learn how to stop it. So benevolence, discipline, and patience.

[36:10]

Because no matter how dedicated and sincere we are, the very vitality and passion of our habituated responses still comes forth. It's like to sit down to do Zazen and to think, okay, in this 30 minutes, this 40 minutes, my mind is going to wander, kindless times. That's a given. That's how it's going to be. My mind is going to wander. Okay, now I'm going to pay attention. Now I'm going to be disciplined. Now I'm going to inquire into what the heck is going on. Now I'm going to inquire into what I think and what I feel and how that flows out and creates my world, my relationships, my sense of being, my values, my priorities.

[37:11]

What an amazing adventure this is going to be. Constantly throughout the process, my mind is going to wander. I'm constantly going to get distracted from this very vital, significant thing. I'm going to wander off into fantasy. I'm going to wander off into regret, resentment, fear, all sorts of amazing things. And amazingly, they're all going to become part of the teaching too. At the very start of our meditation, we just open up to this vast realm of possibility. And I would say to you, that opening is a mix. Benevolence, discipline, patience. And we learn that and then we bring that to everything.

[38:15]

And then everything starts to flower. as the Genjo called, as Dogen Zenji says, when all dharmas are Buddha Dharma. Whatever you do, think, feel, becomes an opportunity to see who you are and what's going on. As Rilke says, roles a pure contradiction I am I know I am I'm certain I am I'm something fixed solid real but when I examine it that becomes a pure contradiction and when I examine it and start to let it become a teaching it becomes an interactive dynamic

[39:17]

It becomes, as Wilkie says, joy of being awake. Under so many layers, rose of pure contradiction. Joy of being awake under so many layers. That's what he had put on his tombstone. poetic way to say when all dharmas are Buddha Dharma. So Genjo Khan is learning from what's going on. Genjo Khan is learning how to learn. And I would say part of learning how to learn is discovering benevolence, discipline, and patience.

[40:22]

I don't say that as the way. I just say, anyway. And then for each of us to discover in our own life, where do I shut down? How do I shut down? And where do I open up? And how do I open up? This is Genjo God. Everywhere we turn, we see the opportunity. To discover what is. That's what public means. Everywhere it is. It's public. It's available everywhere. It's evident all the time. And Genjo, completely itself. Everything is just completely itself. That's our theme for this practice period.

[41:33]

In a way, the practice period centers around the temple. And I want to briefly mention one other thing, because next week we're going to start a program with the idea that the practice does not center around the temple. So what we're doing is we're crafting a year-long program that centers around maybe we could say the individual. I remember once the Dalai Lama said that he thought Buddhists, whoever they are, have a lot to learn from Judaism because Judaism While the temple is important, monasticism, living in residence in the temple, it was not primary, that the practice was based in the home.

[42:42]

So this program that we're starting next Saturday, we've created a year-long program with the idea of how to figure out what practices can be done on a more individual way rather than just inside the monastic mandala. And then we've broken it into three, it's a year-long program broken into three semesters. The first one is about settling, learning to be Buddha. The second semester, trimester, is about discovering the self that already is. And then the third one, how to live that in the world. Of course, it only takes a moment to discover all three of those.

[43:43]

Or if you want to go the other way, it takes countless lifetimes. Or you could say it takes countless lifetimes to discover you can do it in a moment. I dreamt of this year-long program because of a simple notion that most of us now live in urban environments. And at the time of Shakyamuni, the early sutras would say, well, go sit. in a quiet, deserted place under a tree. None of those are pretty rare. You have to sign up for a wilderness experience. Then you go do it for two days and think, wow, this is amazing, unusual and rare.

[44:52]

So to find the practice How will practice takes root in the environment we're already in? How to make it relevant and vibrant in this environment? And of course, the very process of trying to answer that question is a great teaching. It's a source of benevolence, patience, and discipline. So please, whether you're in the one day sitting, allow the sweet dew of the Dharma to saturate you now. Or whether you're walking out the door into whatever. It's all a teaching of what is.

[46:02]

It's all there. to show us the path from suffering to joy. So please, enjoy your path. Thank you. Good job, man.

[47:03]

... [...] I don't think we're going against it, huh?

[48:16]

I have a few announcements that you've met to make. Established next Saturday, April 22nd, between 1.30 and 4.30 p.m., Abbott Paul and senior teacher Christina Lindberg will have the workshop of establishing earlier workshops. This is a one-year program intended to help participants develop the fundamental skills that support bringing practice into the relationships. It's a home practice or practice in the world. Well, if you're secondarily, because this is a one-day sitting, there are no tea and cookies today. We won't, unfortunately, have open lunch. The office will be opened for a short period after this. if you need to pay for tapes or to do any of your normal business things.

[49:59]

And unfortunately, I can't talk. Howard won't be available for question and answer after this. And we normally do that on Saturdays. Our donation box is available. It's a really big box. Your best. Now, classes begin this Monday, and the descriptions are contained in our scheduled events. If you intend to sign up, you really should do it today, because what often happens is if you don't find that there are enough sign-ups, the class will be canceled next Monday and Tuesday when the classes actually begin. So if you'd like to sign up for a class, this would be a good time to do it once you click the class here. After we leave here, There's a go back to the, uh, gardening room when the Zahu is saved for about 15 or 16, uh, can go on the rocks and we can take about a dozen miles and down to the extent of the guide conger that would be helpful for the rest of the one day sitting and we get a nice support.

[51:05]

Um, and our Chanto, Jordan Doerner, head of practice, is, uh, is inviting all of his first time sitters here at San Francisco's S and we should be able sit for the first time today. to meet with them across the hallway. They'll be out. It's fun to kind of meet with you and check in on your first one-way sitting here. Now, the Lens servers, these are announcements about the one-way sitting, so bear with just a keyboard. But Lens servers, please go immediately to the student lounge when we leave here to meet with the soap and then get down. Now, everyone else in the sitting enjoy and and the next period then will be at 11 30. i think that's just about it if the dough on real could stick with me in the buddha hall and for the folks that have signed up for the one day sitting but because there wasn't enough space and they couldn't be in the zendo with us uh please come down to the zendo find seating uh so that everyone can eat together for lunch yeah uh this

[52:20]

Friday night, the 21st. A lot of the people who are interested, who are able to explore how racism and the privilege and depression function in our lives and in a conversation with Paul Kiebel, who is the author of Buckingham University. So if you're interested, that would be Friday night, the 21st. I'd like to invite everybody to the annual San Francisco Bed Center's title benefit and sign of the option. They'll be able to leave them to help locally at the leading restaurants on Fort Leeson. And if you've been there, you don't have a great view of the Bay and the Boogie Bridge, and at sunset it'll start at 16th, and it'll be nice to me, shall we find out? Well, I've been pretty individual this year.

[53:22]

There are two Asian support event. One is just come and enjoy the evening, and the other is the bid on the end. You'll pick your life as an ordeal there. Some of the things I see are a bit on the walls, the art, and so on. Other pieces of art, other pieces that are for Austin are things like days of meetings at a restaurant, performances, and so on. If you'd like more information, I'll be outside after the election today. Also, if you can get more information online, if you log into the Senate Center's website, there's full information in the full catalog of items that are available. Thank you.

[54:25]

Thank you very much.

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