This podcast is offered by San Francisco's Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. The first morning of a seven-day sashim. One thing I've noticed in myself and in also coaching, mentoring others in practice, that there's a common tendency. One is to bring with you all the things that are relevant within your psychological life, to bring them with you to Sushin.

[01:03]

And then the other thing is to approach Shishin with some kind of strategy that's similar to how you approach the rest of your life. And, as you might suspect, neither of those are the greatest way to come at Shishin. Fortunately, there's a fascicle by Dogen, Hotsu Godai Shin, a rising way-seeking mind. And he starts off just with an interesting statement. He says, it's the discriminating faculty of mind, it's the discerning faculty of mind that helps arouse, helps bring forth the intention to practice. Then he goes on and says,

[02:06]

This is not the awakened mind, it's just what gets you going. Well, that's my way of paraphrasing it. What does practice ask of me? What is it to be fully available, fully present, fully engaged? in the process of Shishin. Not to say that the psychological issues and concerns of our life will wonderfully and magically disappear, or that the usual strategies with which we engage our life will also disappear, but is there a way Is there a way to bring forth an intentionality, a dedication, an engagement that rather than compounding and reinforcing those innate or habituated conditioned responses, is there a way to engage that will bring us back to something

[03:33]

that responds to the request of practice. As we enter into Sashim, can we just quietly and attentively watch what's going on? Can we inquire? What kind of attitude? What kind of abiding emotion or mood? What kind of thoughts are coming up? Just to note, just to notice. And in the midst of them, in the midst of them, can we return to the request of practice. Okay, noticing this, notice the signs, notice sight. Notice sensations in the body.

[04:35]

Notice in breath. Notice posture. So we're both noticing our psychological issues and we're noticing our usual way of struggling with them. And we're letting that become part of what stimulates our attention. We're letting that become part of what stimulates awareness. Now, this is in contrast to turning it into an issue of control or something we're endeavoring to suppress. So as we enter Shashin, this arising way-seeking mind, this response, this actualizing, this enacting, what is the request of practice?

[05:58]

To bring this into focus. And as we start to bring it into focus, it will start to align our effort with the process of presence, with the process of mindfulness, with the process of being the suchness of the moment. And in doing so, there are other interesting things it does. Hui Neng asked the monk, he said, do you depend on practice or do you depend on enlightenment? And the monk said, it's not that there's no practice or that there's no enlightenment, it's just

[07:06]

that it's impossible to divide them. That we might say, oh, well, this is like a preliminary step, this noticing what's going on, this arising, way-seeking mind, that this is a preliminary step to whatever follows. And, of course, in terms of conditioned existence, it is. This will influence whatever follows. But also, in engaging in this way, the way the moment is being engaged, the way the experience, the thought content is being engaged, the way the emotions are being engaged, already brings forth this is what is. I mean, our human consciousness has some very interesting characteristics.

[08:14]

We're quite capable in a moment of pausing and being present. We're quite capable in a moment of reflecting on the nature of the human condition. We're born, we live, we die. In that process of living, we have all sorts of emotions, we have all sorts of thoughts, pleasant and unpleasant, delightful and difficult. And we respond to them as we respond to them. And we construe around them a variety of psychological issues that then influence future thoughts and feelings. In a moment we can consider that and acknowledge it. And then usually we step back into a dreamlike intrigue where all of that, it's like the clarity of consciousness is immersed in that.

[09:32]

Something in that immersion obscures the capacity of consciousness to notice what's happening. Something in being immersed in what's going on obscures the capacity to notice. The process of mindfulness, the process of zazen, is as we engage what's happening, to engage it in a manner that that obscuration isn't an inevitable consequence. It's like when we sit down to sit zazen. We sit down, we bring a good intention, I will be present, sit upright, Notice the senses, the arising senses, saying, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching.

[10:45]

Notice the content of mind. And then as usually as we do that, the swirling issues of our life arise and we move in and out of different intrigues. Sometimes we go into an intrigue, and then we come back. We're not quite sure what happened inside that intrigue. We're not quite sure how long it was. And it felt like it was somewhere other than here and now. So this arousing the intentionality, arousing the matter of factness, that we're quite capable of. This is a human life. This is the way a mind works. This is the way it's influenced by emotions. We're quite capable of this capacity, this straightforward matter-of-factness.

[11:58]

And to let this straightforward matter-of-factness meet and notice the thoughts and the feelings. Okay, that's what's happening now. And as we do that, the more usual way in which the thoughts and feelings trigger a patterned response, an habituated response, that sets in motion a narrative, that sets in motion a description of reality, that sets in motion a convincing idea, a concept of there and then. The more this very process can be met with a matter-of-factness, the more it's invited to be a here-and-now process. And as it becomes a here-and-now process, that characteristic of obscuration, characteristic of going into a dream,

[13:15]

and losing contact, that starts to not be so prevalent. So, in a way, all I'm saying is, as we shift how we relate to what arises, the consequence shifts to... So, as we start to sheen, be quite diligent in holding this proposition the process of Zazen is letting everything happen here and now the process of Zazen is abiding here and now process of Zazen is the thoughts and feelings that arise are not there to be met, to be controlled, to be suppressed, to be embellished.

[14:33]

The request is a matter of factness. It's as if we start with the concept, we start with the ideal, the proposition. Okay? And then we do it. And it's in the doing that something is actualized. In the doing, in the meeting the moment and not embellishing it. experiencing it as a here and now process. This is awakening. This is actualizing the suchness of the moment. It arises from intentionality, but in the doing,

[15:39]

And the notion, I am doing Zen, the notion I am carrying out my intention falls away. So to start with this kind of mental discipline, this kind of intention, this kind of wholehearted engagement. Dogen Zenji says, this is what arouses the mind that discovers the way, the consciousness that discovers the way. Because the path of Sushin is a yogic path. We engage the activity And as we engage the activity, something is revealed in the doing, in the engaging.

[16:47]

And even if we've engaged the activity in the past and have glimpsed something of that awakening, still, we start at the beginning. It's not that we hold on to past ideas. And as we start, we will start to notice these emotional, psychological patterns. We'll start to notice the tendencies, the strategies we have in relationship to them. And as we start to bring forth this matter-of-fact awareness. You can start to discover how that matter-of-factness is reflected and embodied.

[18:03]

What is the posture of uprightness, of presence that simply meets what is? without any hesitancy, without leaning away from it, or without leaning into it. Our body enacts our vow of practice. And our breath enacts our vow of practice. What is it to allow what arises to arise with the inhale? And what is it to allow whatever passes away to be expired with the exhale? What is it to gently and persistently meet the arising thoughts in a way that encourages them to not simply resume, recreate existing patterns of thought, but to discover the originality of the moment?

[19:46]

as this originality of the moment is enacted with attention. It has a brightness. It has a quality to it that is an antidote to moving into the dream that occurs when there is attachment to the psychological thoughts and feelings that more usually come up in our conditioned existence. The capacity to see those very same thoughts and feelings as the play of consciousness here and now. they start to be available to be punctuated by the sign of the traffic, by the sensations in the body, by the inhale and the exhale.

[21:09]

And as they start to be punctuated like this, their compelling story, and the world it conjures up. That we usually step inside and are enveloped by. That story, the compelling nature of it, starts to loosen up. And we can start to see a fundamental expression of the human condition. Our subjective world has its own potency, its own truth, and at the same time, it's just a subjective world. There's also the truth of now.

[22:18]

There's also the truth of the elemental existence of the moment. So as we step into Shashin, we're taking the first step on a journey. We are a journey that's enabling an alternate way of being. That we're not just simply inside the world of our own construct. with brief interludes, moments, where we contact the here and now, and then return inside our own construct.

[23:27]

But more, our own construct becomes the ground of attention. It becomes the content of awareness. that's my intro to this corner, as if that wasn't bad enough. Famous scholar Liang comes to visit Master Ma, and Master Ma says, well, what sutra do you teach? And Liang says, I teach the Heart Sutra. Master Ma says, well, how do you teach it? teach it with the heart.

[24:28]

I teach it with the heart. Ma said, the heart is the main actor. The will is the supporting actor. The objects of the senses are like their accompanist. How do they understand your teaching of the sutra? Leung said back to Master Ma, if the heart doesn't understand it, does emptiness understand it? Master Ma said, yes, it does. Leung flipped his sleeves and started to walk away. That gesture is meant to say, huh, that wasn't a very good answer. Master Ma said, Lecturer?

[25:32]

Liang turned his head around. Master Ma said, Just this. From birth to death. At that moment, Liang had realization. He hid himself on Mount Shi and no one ever heard from him again. Which sutra do you teach? What stories do you tell yourself? What's being learned? What's being realized from the experience you're having in your sitting? So, again, discriminating mind comes into play. The process of sitting for seven days is a process of physical yoga.

[26:44]

Your body is going through a seven-day yoga sushi, a seven-day hatha yoga workout. Surely it makes sense to notice how all that's going and to make course corrections as you go around. not to tighten your fists and grit your teeth and try to turn your body into a stone that can stay impervious to pain. Not to move with each twinge, hoping to avoid any kind of discomfort. Not to think your physical condition can't be skillfully related to in a way that will allow for more uprightness, more spaciousness, more capacity to let the energy of the body flow.

[28:07]

is to study the form of sitting, the physicality of sitting. Hishin is to study the breath of sitting. So, discriminating mind, citta, initiates this, but it's initiating noticing the experience, experiencing the experience. You know, we can say, what color is the wall? But then we experience the wall. We go beyond opinions and ideas and experience directly. Similarly with the body, similarly with the breath. Similarly with sustaining intention. These are the things we study in Shishin.

[29:10]

This is the sutra we study. And at the heart of these things, we study the heart sutra. What is the heart of practice? Okay, these are attributes that enable something. What is it they enable? We study what is presence. Suzuki Roshis, how do you realize yourself when you hear this sound? And then you give a long talk on what the response to that koan was. And then he would ask you to express it from your own realization.

[30:19]

We study what happens in Zazen to discover how to be Zazen. So Master Ma is asking each one of us, how do you study Shashim to learn How do you study breath to learn how to be breath? How do you study posture to learn how to be posture? And Yang says, the heart. With the heart. With the heart of practice. Something more than just our agitation, our yearning, our struggle of the moment. Something more than what's preoccupying us, some issue that's preoccupying us at this moment.

[31:34]

It's the breath, the posture, and noticing the thoughts and the feelings are enabling the heart of practice. What is the heart of practice? What is it to be it? who says, this is the main actor. The will is the supporting actor. It supports us to do this. The objects of the senses, they're the accompanists. To return to the here and now and notice what's being seen, what's being heard, what's being smelled, what's being touched, what's being tasted. to notice even what's the thoughts as an object.

[32:51]

It's just something that arises. And Liang says, if the heart doesn't understand, does emptiness understand? In a way, this could be criticized as, oh, bringing it all back into the realm of thinking, bringing it all back into some kind of conceptual notion. And Master Ma turns it totally on its head and says, yes, it does. Of course, it goes beyond understanding.

[33:54]

It goes beyond thinking. But something in meeting the moment with the clarity of discriminated mind facilitates a matter-of-factness. moment if there's a noticing, oh, the mind and emotions are searching for things to worry about. Oh, I'm worried about that. Oh, I'm worried about that. Oh, and then, of course, there's always this. When will that ever end? To just notice. To notice in the mid-afternoon, this is not this morning's mind.

[35:02]

This morning's mind had the color of worry. This mind is more spacious, more willing to just be present with the sunlight. To notice how it glimmers. on the water of the pond. This morning's mind had the flavor of discouragement, dissatisfaction. Why am I doing this? Maybe it's not really for me. This afternoon's mind has a simpler appreciation, a simpler affirmation. What more is needed than just appreciating the sunlight glimmering on the pot?

[36:06]

Just noticing mind, emotion, attitude, intentionality, encouragement, discouragement, all beyond right and wrong. pointing to all expressing the heart of practice, all expanding the heart sutra, the sutra of the heart, the Dharma teaching of the heart of being. So Master Ma says, understanding, I know it's all about going beyond thought. Understanding, it's got its place.

[37:14]

However, just this, just this moment, just this sound, Just this physical sensation, just this breath for the whole of Shashin. Just returning, returning, returning. Letting the dense opaqueness of the swirl of thought and feeling, letting it start to loosen up, start to open up. product of I'm doing something. But more, noticing what I'm doing. And letting that noticing help it to shift from something we grasp, something we make real, to something that's fluid, dynamic.

[38:29]

Something rather than creating obscuration, it expands the Dharma. It points the way. It actualizes the way. Dogen Zanji says, it's not that discriminating mind is actualizing the way. It facilitates. actualizing the way. So my suggestion, my encouragement to you as we settle in, notice. When mind is active, notice active mind. When mind becomes quiet and spacious and the senses become more vibrant, notice that. returning, returning, what does practice ask of me?

[39:43]

And to hold as gently and compassionately as you can the bubbling up of your psychological issues. to let a benevolent attitude towards your own issues draw forth a straightforward acknowledgement of what's going on. The first noble truth is suffering. So guess what? Guess what we're going to discover when we pay more attention? to not compound it, to start to see the path beyond it.

[40:53]

This is what it is to study the Heart Sutra. 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.

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