That verse can be confusing. It can sound like somehow the unsurpassed penetrating in perfect Dharma is something that I or the speaker has that we're going to give to you. I don't think that's what it means. It says... the unsurpassed penetrating in perfect Dharma is rarely met with. The unsurpassed penetrating in perfect Dharma, which the Buddha spoke about, is just what is in each moment as it is right now. But we rarely do. We often hide it behind a screen of habitual thought patterns or opinions and preferences or criticisms and so forth.

[01:04]

And of course, you know, while that chant is happening, I am also internally doing a little chant of please, please let my words be of benefit to beings. And as I was thinking that this morning, I thought, it's not just my words. Please let my every action of body, speech, and mind be of benefit to beings. This is the Bodhisattva vow. This is what the Dalai Lama speaks of, I think, when he says that each morning, the first thing he does is to check his motivation. So we're alive, you know. We're alive and acting in the world. How do we want to act? How do we want to be? What I want to encourage in you today is be the person you want to see in the world.

[02:17]

You know? Through all of your actions of body, speech, and mind, be... Exactly how you would like to see people be. If you would like to see people be kind, start at home. Be kind. There's another opening of Sutra verse that appears in the, in Edward Konza's translation of the Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. in 8,000 lines in the verse in the verse presentation it says call forth as much as you can of love of respect and of faith remove the obstruction obstructing defilements and clear away all your taints listen to the

[03:21]

Perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas. Taught for the wheel of the world, for heroic spirits intended. Call forth as much as you can of love, of respect, and of faith. Remove the obstructing defilements and clear away all your taints. Listen to the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas taught for the wheel of the world for heroic spirits intended. I looked up wheel just to see what the dictionary said. For the well-being and benefit of the world. So this is our this is our vow. is a pretty big kind of commitment.

[04:26]

It requires all that we have, all of our effort. You know, this... looking at opening verses, I have another opening verse here I want to share with you. I'm not sure of the source of this, but it has the flavor to me of the great Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. In gratitude for my mother and father who gave me life, in gratitude to my teachers who have shown me the way to understand and practice. In gratitude to my friends who give me guidance and support on the path. In gratitude to all beings in the animal, vegetable and mineral world who sustain me.

[05:36]

This is the underlying understanding of our life that we are sustained by everyone, everything, all beings. And we were given life by our parents. And we were given guidance by our teachers and all our friends. So in that spirit, then, we look at the Dharma. We look at how we see the world. And we look at how we want to live in the world. And we look at what obstructs us from living as we want to live. And when we find an obstruction, can we let it go? Can we disengage from old habits of body, speech, and mind that lead us astray

[06:44]

from being the person we want to see in the world. We're just beginning a practice period with a one-day sitting today. And the practice period is a time when many of us come together to form a kind of a palpable body of practice where we join together and make a particular commitment for a particular period of time to be very wholehearted and focused and determined in our practice together and to really support one another, to follow the schedule completely and support each other in all of the activities of formal practice that constitute a practice period. And in this practice period, we're focusing on the compassionate teaching of Shinjuru Suzuki.

[07:56]

We're celebrating this year, the 50th year since Suzuki Roshi came to America and began to teach. And next year, the 40th year since the publication, of this little book of talks that he gave. This is a remarkable book to me because these talks that he gave down in Los Altos in Marion Darby's living room to a handful of people, a small sitting group which had formed there. Marion took the talks And the talks, you know, since it was a small group who were practicing together regularly with Suzuki Roshi, as they grew in maturity, the talks also grew in depth, I think.

[08:58]

And she transcribed them. And another of Suzuki Roshi's close students, Trudy Dixon, edited them into this book. which was published in 1970. I say it's remarkable because it has been in print since it was published and it's in 14 languages and it has affected the lives of many people deeply. Trudy was dying of cancer as she was completing the editing of the book. and she asked Richard Baker to do the introduction and she gave him this paragraph to include. In the introduction he says, the final tribute from Trudy to her teacher describes very well the relationship between Zen teacher and Zen student.

[10:02]

She says, a Roshi is a person who has actualized that perfect freedom which is the potentiality of all human beings. This is a very important part of the teaching of the Buddha Dharma. This perfect freedom is the fundamental nature of each one of us. The first time I ever heard Suzuki Roshi speak was at Sokoji Temple And what I heard him say was, you're perfect just as you are. The first time I met him, that's what he said. And I thought, well, he doesn't know me, I'm new here. But he kept speaking in such a way. And when he looked at you, he looked at you. That's what he saw. Now, let me go on with this. Roshi is a person who has actualized that which is the potentiality for all human beings.

[11:08]

He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. The flare of her consciousness is not the fixed repetitive patterns of our usual self-centered consciousness, but rather arises spontaneously and naturally from the actual circumstances of the present. The results of this in terms of the quality of his life are extraordinary. Fluency, humor, straightforwardness, simplicity, humility, serenity, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity, and unfathomable compassion. His whole being testifies to what it means to live in the reality of the present. Without anything said or done, just the impact of meeting a person so developed can be enough to change another's whole way of life. But in the end, it is not the extraordinariness of the teacher which perplexes, intrigues, and deepens the student.

[12:17]

It is the teacher's utter ordinariness. Because he is just himself, he is a mirror for his students. When we're with him, we feel our own strengths and shortcomings without any sense of praise or criticism from him. In his presence, we see our original face. And the extraordinariness we see is with our own true nature. There's only our own true nature. When we learn to let our own nature free, the boundaries between master and student disappear. a deep flow of being and joy in the unfolding of Buddha mind. Now having heard that and having known that there are teachers like that, you don't want to make the assumption that everybody you meet when you enter a Zen temple

[13:26]

is going to be like that. I just had a conversation yesterday with someone who was deeply upset because he'd gone to practice in a monastery and he thought they were all enlightened beings. And so every little thing that didn't go the way he expected really disappointed and upset. And he was trying to get his... so he could continue to practice because it turned out they weren't already totally realized what he expected to find in a place like that. He was very upset when he called me and we spent quite some time talking. However, at a time in my life when everything was falling apart and everything was disappointing me and I didn't know which way to turn. I met such a person, and it was Suzuki Roshi. I don't know if you're familiar with the photograph that's on the dust jacket of Shenmai Beginner's Mind, but you can see he has a penetrating gaze.

[14:35]

He's looking right into your eyes, and he sees Buddha there. And you feel it. He taught us, of course, you should see Buddha in everyone. But the thing about him was, it was apparent to me that he did. He saw our original nature unpainted by all of our habitual patterns of confused thinking. And he somehow gave us that we could cultivate that fundamental nature of who we are and let it be the being that appears in the world when we walk into a river. I just happened, I happened to have a card that we made once

[15:46]

which has a photograph of Suzuki Roshi as he was when he was giving these lectures in Los Altos. So I think I'll just pass it around and you'll see this is when he was lecturing down there. And you see what care he's taking with his posture in that photograph. He made a very strong pitch for taking very careful care of posture in Zazen. And he demonstrated it for us all the time. And I want to really encourage you when you're sitting to pay careful attention to posture each time you sit. You know, I mean, he would go around this endo quite regularly, adjusting posture.

[16:47]

And I think that Jordan and I will do a certain amount of that during the practice period. It's very important to find your balance in posture. Be sure you're not leaning forward or back or right or left. And you can check it out. Lean forward and see everything tighten up as you lean forward and then gradually come back. Notice that there's a moment when there's an inhale because these muscles are all soft because you're balanced and they don't need to hold you up. And your lungs are naturally elastic so they expand. And then as you go back more, you tighten up again to keep from falling backward. Explore that very delicately so that you find the place where you really are balanced and not leaning in any direction because in that position all of the musculature of your upper body can be at ease because you're supporting yourselves with your bones and not your muscles.

[17:59]

And that's a very important part of adjusting posture in Zazen because You know, when your muscles don't have to work so hard to keep you from falling over, they don't get so tired. And a lot of the pain that you may experience in Sazen will dissipate. It's the tiredness of the muscles that causes a lot of the pain. And it's the balance that keeps them from getting tired. The same thing is with your head. If your head gets out in front of your body, then... that substantial weight is carried by the muscles in your upper back. And they get tired. And so then you start getting pain in your upper back. So when Vegum Sanji says in his Hukkan Sazangi, ears over shoulders, that's what he's talking about. Bring your head back so that your spine is supporting your head and not those muscles that are inserted around the bottom of your shoulder blades.

[19:06]

And sometimes your chin will tip up in the air. So bring your head level. So level and ears over shoulders. So it looks a little bit, a little bit strict, but it's actually perfectly balanced. And that's the point of those careful instructions about posture that Suzuki Rosh used to give us, that Durban Senji gives us in Fukan Sazengi and his... Universal recommendation for the practice of Sazek. It's not, you know, looking good. It's really telling you how to be upright and at ease at the same time. And this is very important if you want to cultivate sitting practice as... a practice for your life. So, I want now to talk a little bit.

[20:22]

The second thing, well, the other thing I heard when I first went to Sokoji Temple, by that time, Kafigiri Roshi had joined, Susan Kiroshi, and he was giving Sadan instruction the day that I went. And he said something that has stayed with me ever since then. He said, we seek to settle the self on the self and let the flower of the life force bloom. That was such a striking image that it stayed with me. Let the flower of the life force bloom, but this life force, this particular one, that is you. We don't need to imitate anyone else since each one of us is in our very fundamental nature Buddha. Each one of us has the potential for fully awakening to the truth of what is.

[21:23]

Each one of us will have our own very particular way of expressing reality in our life. Our own particular way of calling forth respect, love and faith and expressing it. We're not, although we're all Buddha, we're not carbon copies. Each one of us has been formed by innumerable causes and conditions that make each one of us Very precious as the unique being in the world. A unique Buddha in the world. And so we sit to settle the self on the self and let the flower of this life force bloom. In the course of my listening to Suzuki Roshi, the next thing that really caught my attention was, he said, Zen is making your best effort on each moment forever.

[22:50]

Wow. Forever. I mean, that really caught me. Zen is making your best effort on each moment forever. And then he also said, you should make effort with no gaining idea. And I thought, gee, I never did that. What's that? How do you make effort with no gaining idea? Every effort I could recall making had to do with getting some result. You know, maybe just getting an A on my school paper or getting somebody to notice me and think I was pretty neat. I don't know what, but anyhow, every effort I ever made, I had some expectation of getting something for that effort. So that really was arresting for me.

[23:54]

Recently, I... Well, you know, we had this project going on called... around this Book's End Mind, Beginner's Mind, celebrating the 40th anniversary it's publishing next year. And one of our members had this brilliant idea of, I guess she noticed looking at different people's books that people had underlined different things, or made comments, written comments, or drawn pictures, and you'll see them all in the hall here. photocopies of pages of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind from different people's books with different kinds of commentaries. And one thing that I noticed when I looked, I read my book. I didn't write in the book, but I highlighted. And what was really striking was everything I highlighted, or every time effort was mentioned in the book,

[24:59]

had highlighted it. Every time Roshi talked about effort, I was I was splattering my koan. How do you make effort with no gaining idea? This was my primary koan for close to 30 years. And so recently I went to the dictionary and the Buddhist dictionary and looked up right effort. Right effort is part of the Eightfold Path, which was the Buddha's first teaching, was that there is unsatisfactoriness, there is a cause, there can be an end, and the path to the end of suffering is the Eightfold Noble Path, or the path to the end of unsatisfactoriness. So right effort or wise effort is one of the elements of the Eightfold Path.

[26:10]

So in this dictionary it says, so the Eightfold Path is perfect view, perfect resolve, perfect speech, perfect conduct. perfect livelihood, perfect effort, perfect mindfulness, and perfect concentration. So it says a perfect effort. Cultivation of what is karmically wholesome and avoidance of what is karmically unwholesome. Or as I've read in another account, breaking that down a little bit, four steps. Ending unwholesome states of mind which have arisen.

[27:13]

Preventing the arising of unwholesome states of mind which have not yet arisen. cultivating the arising of wholesome states of mind which have not yet arisen and maintaining wholesome states of mind which have arisen. So this effort is all about states of mind because mind is what leads every action. This is the work that we have to do, is to really, by developing mindfulness, begin to notice how our mind leads our actions.

[28:24]

Begin to notice how our minds are working. Begin to notice the states of mind that we're in. Begin to notice the arising of difficult... mental states and not encouraging them and noticing as soon as you see, you know, we say the three of suffering are greed, hate and delusion. These are called the three poisons. And if we see any aspect of greed, hate or delusion arising, The minute we see it arising, then we have the opportunity to let it go. So one of the things that often keeps us from noticing an unwholesome state of mind is that we have this unfortunate tendency to criticize ourselves.

[29:32]

It's so bad, shame on you. So it's hard to notice. But instead, you know, you can't do anything about it. You can't relinquish it until you notice it. So you want to be able to notice it. So why don't you try congratulating yourself when you notice it. Oh good, you noticed it. Now you can let it go. That way you'll allow yourself to notice. And maybe you'll be able to spot the arising of an unwholesome state of mind before it's taken hold and really raising your motor and causing you misery. But this practice is all about really becoming intimate with how your mind works and seeing what thoughts lead you to misery. And when you see a thought that you recognize, that you've been there, done that, it's taking you to misery, the minute you see it coming, say, not today, thank you.

[30:45]

Later. See you later. Go away. You know, find some humor, find some way to deal with your habitual, familiar, ways of making yourself miserable, find some way to let it go with with humor, you know. It lightens things up, it softens things up a great deal and that was one of the things that Suzuki Roshi showed us also. Most of the photographs, in this photograph that I was passing around, he's being quite serious because he's having a formal picture taken. But most of the candid shots that we have of him, he's laughing or smiling. The ones where he's not being asked to pose for a picture.

[31:51]

I discovered when I visited Japan that when you ask a Japanese person to pose for a picture, the the image that they strive for is dignity, whereas whoever will say smile, a Japanese person when you're taking their photograph will, you know, if they're posing will think of dignity rather than smiling. However, in our practice, smiling is very important. And I was interested to find, once you adjust your posture, try adding just a very subtle smile and see how it softens all the tightness in your jaw and around your eyes and in your forehead. Thich Nhat Hanh is very big about requesting that everyone smile as part of the practice. And...

[32:55]

I've been recently studying Qigong. And in instructing people in sitting Qigong, the instructor instructs us to smile so as to soften the tightness around our eyes and forehead. But also notice it softens the jaw as well and cheeks. In any event, working on that I think is pretty important because I noticed around here anyhow, a tendency to take ourselves rather seriously and to, I don't know, we seem to have an idea of Zen as being really serious movements. But, I don't know, I have found that Joy has been one of the great gifts of practice. I was named Inconceivable Joy by my teacher and I couldn't understand why.

[33:59]

But as I practice, whether I want to or not, joy is what arises. It's not something that I'm reaching for. It's just something that comes up along with gratitude. And I think I'm way over time now. I think I have to stop. But please enjoy your practice as well as making effort in each moment. It can be a joyful effort. Thank you very much.

[34:37]

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