This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. How's that sound? Sounds a little booming to me. Does it sound that way to you? Yeah. Maybe try a little bit lower. Yeah. How about now? Maybe a little less? Sounds good? Okay. See what authority you have, Michael?

[01:01]

As many of you know, we are in the first couple of weeks of what we call a practice period, which is in a period dedicated to the process of awakening. And as a text for this process, for this period of time, I chose a famous... by the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, Dogen Zenji, and maybe his most famous fascicle, his essay, most famous essay, The Genjo Cord. And then I matched it up, if you could call it a match, Maybe I paired it up with its opposite, the six parameters.

[02:17]

The way I've been thinking about it in the last couple of days is in practice we have the principle and then we have the particular setting of the occasion or the moment that that we're endeavoring to call forth what the principles propose. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to read the first paragraph, and then I would... Just thought we should probably do a little guided meditation. And then I would like to... offer three, if we have the time, three vignettes that I think of as illustrative of applying the principle to life.

[03:24]

And just so you can get into a frenzy of anticipation, one of those vignettes is... how I related to Zazen this morning in this endo. But here's the first paragraph of the Genjo Koan. And I'm going to read a translation from Nishijima and Cross, rather than our usual one, which is by Kaz Tanahashi. When all dharmas are Buddhadharma, then there is delusion and realization. There is practice, there is life, there is death, there are Buddhas, and there are ordinary beings. When the myriad dharmas are each not of the self, there is no delusion, no realization, no Buddhas, no ordinary beings, no life, and no death.

[04:34]

The Buddha's truth is originally transcendent over abundance and scarcity. And so there is life and death. There is delusion and realization. There are beings and Buddhas. And though it is like this, it's only that flowers, wild love, fall, and weeds fall. wild-hated flourish. Okay. So maybe I'll offer you the first anecdote and then we can sit for a little bit. In the class that I was teaching on, I am teaching on Monday nights, I offered a guided meditation in relationship a number of things.

[05:38]

The first one is noticing and how to be instructed by the very process of noticing. When we notice, implicit in noticing is that we're just noticing what's happening. We're not endeavoring to change it into anything else. And in many ways, this carries the flavor of the Buddhist approach to awakening. And then taking the noticing and keeping that flavor of just noticing in contrast to improving or ceasing, or whatever other way we might relate to what's coming up for us in the moment.

[06:46]

Taking that noticing and bringing it into how we're experiencing the physicality of being and the breath that flows through the physicality of being. And that's what I used as the basis of the class on Monday night. And then interestingly today, I got some feedback. Someone was saying to me, I'm not getting it. What was that? That's actually what prompted me to think, well, what if I gave three illustrations? Would that help? So here's the first illustration.

[07:57]

I arrived in the Zendo this morning, took my seat. I have a little ritual that I do. when I am in the process of settling in to the posture of zazen. I get my seat, get the cushion, or actually I sit on a little folded support cushion, as we call it. or a flat A. So, sit on that and then stretch out my spine from the ground up. And then endeavor to discover uprightness.

[09:07]

Now, what is that place of balance? where the weight of the body is coming down through the sit bones, where the body is in an upright posture so the muscles are not working to hold it in place. To have a long, open torso so that the breath can flow in And so the chest, the ribcage, can expand with the inhale. The diaphragm can move down. And the abdomen can swell. And then the reverse with the exhale. And as I was going through that ritual, I noticed...

[10:10]

that there was a strong inclination to think about a certain issue. I'm part of a non-profit, I'm on the board of a non-profit, and there's a certain issue coming up. Surprise, surprise. Actually, I don't experience it as... a great problem. I try to persuade myself that it's a great opportunity. Sometimes that works. But often it softens up the kind of tenseness or singularity of this is a problem. Problems are there to be fixed. because something is wrong or broken.

[11:13]

That's why we call it a problem. What if we just call it something there to be related to? And I noticed that I was inclined to think about it because it was being experienced as intriguing. Like a little bit like a real-life crossword puzzle. Okay. And what is the issue here and how is it presenting itself? And then some attachment erasing that, oh, this is what would really help, you know.

[12:16]

And that thought, okay, let's hold on to that. That's a good thought. That's a ways thought. That's an appropriate, skillful thought. And while all that was going on, there was some other part of me saying, didn't you just come here to notice what was happening and allow it to come in with the inhale and cease with the exhale? And then these two, notions, the intrigue of the issue of a non-profit, and the request of just be the breath.

[13:25]

And then what came to mind, and in many ways came to heart, was just breathe it all in. Don't set up a duality. Okay, well, there's this that I want to think about, and there's this purity of just being body and breath. However it arises, breathe it in. It's all part of now. it's all there to be metabolized. If you think of breathing, it's kind of, it's a totally amazing process. Some volume of air, you know, air.

[14:32]

I mean, what can you say about it? doesn't have a lot of characteristics. And yet, when it enters the body, it gives it its life nourishment. If you stop breathing, pretty soon you're dead. And each breath is giving us that at something incredibly intimate in the workings of being that usually we think of as me. That's a very significant and intimate part of me being me. And this nondescript air becomes breath.

[15:35]

pauses and releases. And every moment of our life we're going through that process. Whether we are totally tuned into it or whether we're completely ignoring it. And that breath is so intimate that it expresses all sorts of happenings that are going on in the human organism. When you get excited, the breath expresses it. When you get fearful or angry, the breath expresses it. When you relax, feel trusting of the moment the breath expresses it.

[16:44]

So this play was happening within me. Some version of me. the mind being tempted. Come over here and think about this. It's a lot of fun. And then this, just marvel at the whole thing. Marvel as it's breathed in. as it shimmers and reflects the state of consciousness, the state of somatic being, the state of emotionality that's present right now.

[18:01]

What a statement about life. when we accept and engage the inhale. I'm willing to be right here. I'm willing to be what's happening now. And then I thought to myself, I'll just do this for a while, and then these thoughts will dissipate. And I'll settle into this intimate process.

[19:07]

I will notice it. and feel it more. And surprise, surprise, that wasn't what happened. They danced back and forth for most of the period of Zazen. And it was a one hour period. then where in the midst of that and how in the midst of that is there engagement? Is there some extra effort to join more intimately with the breath? Or not?

[20:10]

And in just sitting there, experiencing that, endeavoring to neither drift away or take control. And the bell rang. In my mind created the thought. Well, that was a pretty good period. Level of awareness wasn't so bad. It was pretty good.

[21:18]

thought of this first notion. When dharmas are Buddha dharmas, Buddha being awakening and dharma being teaching, the awakening that teaches, the teaching of awakening, Genjo Kahn. The Kahn of how what happens for us all the time can be a Dharma that invites Buddha Dharma.

[22:30]

So I thought maybe we could briefly sit and you can notice and you can experience what comes to mind and you can notice what to do with that. As you do that, can there be an experiential learning? So we'll start now. Maybe you could hit the bell after four minutes.

[23:33]

So just notice. Notice what comes to consciousness. Notice what it's like to just open to what comes to consciousness. And as best you can, don't try to control it in any way. noticing school your mind on what it is to be present, what it is to be aware of now.

[25:05]

And regardless of what it is that arises or how it is, can it be breathed in like the sounds, like the physical sensations, like the thoughts. be breathed out. In the process of being, be breathed in and released with the exhale. not in the Genjo Koan, but in another fascicle, another essay written by Dogen Zenji.

[28:40]

He said, this wondrous method is what has awakened all the Buddhas and all the teachers of the Buddha way. is it what is it to let what happens for us be held in awareness and let it teach us how to awaken so vignette number two

[29:43]

Someone came to talk to me quite recently, and they wanted to talk about something that was going on for them, something that they experienced as challenging, unpleasant, disturbing, and discouraging. rather than talk about all the details, we talked about how those experiences arose for them, how they impacted them, and how they related to the discouragements, the

[30:45]

the subject matter, and the impact. I would say things like, when you were discouraged, how did that feel physically? What kind of did you have about the person who was bringing up that discouragement for you? And how did that, where did that, did that just dissipate like a lullaby? Or was that like harsh and persistent as we discussed it in this way, the person's mood seemed to lighten.

[32:07]

It was as if and as our discussion continued, this was not only how they felt, but It was how they were thinking about the situation. Right in the midst of this situation, which at times feels like a great affliction. It feels like a visceral agitation. And right in the middle of it, that disturbance, when it can be seen for what it is, when it can be acknowledged for what it is, something opens.

[33:11]

When dharmas are Buddha dharmas, It's not as if those people who are calling forth this person's agitation, distress, frustration. It's not as if, well, they need to cease existing. this person needs to run away and be in a different environment. Somehow, how all of this is related to offers a path forward.

[34:26]

famous Zen teacher, said, sometimes our life's like this. It's like we're facing a solid rock wall. It's a mile high and a mile wide. And we're being asked to take the next step. he's talking about how the mind can create that impossibility. He's talking about how our distress, our agitation, our frustration, however, and whatever is evoked within us when we face

[35:33]

challenging situations. How in the midst of it do we discover liberation? Vendogen Zenji Yes. When it's without an abiding self, with a fixed sense of me and what's good for me and what I approve of and what I don't like, and all that that evokes within us,

[36:36]

our patterned behaviors, part of which we inherited it. It came with the DNA. It came with the environment in which we grew up. Within that we can discover. And sometimes the very intensity of it that we're yelling no at, that very intensity, something open.

[37:38]

And the Genju Kahn asks us, how come? What happens in that moment? How does that shift from distressed, agitated, frustration that speaks from the heart and says, no. How does that no become okay? That's what's happening. That's this moment. That's what's here to be acknowledged, noticed, just as it is. And the person quite surprised by their own

[39:07]

shift seemed to be relieved and somewhat enthused about the process of practice. And then they thought, Yeah, but for how long? Until our meeting ends? Or until the next person does what has been distressing me? Yeah. what came to mind for me.

[40:09]

And I thought of the Bodhisattva vow. This is impossible. And I vow to practice with it. Delusions are inexhaustible. And I vow to practice with it. Here's a thought that came up for me, and I shared it with the person. I said, not because we're perfect, not because we have some inexhaustible reservoir of resilience, but because we're imperfect. Part of what gets taken care of is this one.

[41:30]

No. And the Genjo Kahn says, and what's all that going to look like? Now what? how to take the principle and enact it in the moment, in the particular. Nishijima says, the truth of the Buddha way is originally transcended overabundance and scarcity. This path of Buddha being and its capacity for liberation, it's innate in the nature of our existence.

[42:37]

in picking up the particular and meeting it with beginner's mind, meeting it with, oh, what can I learn from this? How can I be compassionate and skillful with my agitation, distress, and discouragement? How can I uphold the notion of not harming other or self? How can I help everything to flourish? in the class I thought well what if we added in the six paramitas what if we added in generosity persistence patience discipline awareness

[44:16]

and the insight that awareness calls forth. Would that help? I would say it can help us call forth Genjo card. Thank you. 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 please visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[45:19]

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