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. Welcome to Beginner's Mind. name of this temple, Beginner's Mind Temple. As I was walking in here, I was, with every step, I was smelling the fragrance of the fresh grasses in these new mats. Yeah, lovely. Maybe too much for some people, I don't know.

[01:01]

If you... Yeah, maybe tickles the nose. It's January, late January, and it already feels like spring today. I saw robins returning out at Green Gulch a couple of days ago. And it feels... like the light is really returning. So welcome to a sunny day. This is the beginning of a practice period here, and Victoria and Blanche are leading. I asked Victoria about the theme. I understand the theme is body as great vehicle practice. Is that right? Yeah, okay.

[02:04]

It's good to get something right, you know, right off the bat. But I thought, oh, this is a danger. Body is a great vehicle practice immediately. It's big words. It's a danger of getting top-heavy, thinking great vehicle practice. And all of a sudden I'm destabilized by... the idea of it, which of course is not the intention of the idea. And I thought, well, body is, it's actually hard to speak of. Body is silent. Body is not... not necessarily found in our language. So here, to give a talk about it, I feel, okay, I can point to it.

[03:09]

Maybe I can say something that's helpful. The body as a great vehicle is something that each person needs to undertake. with each unique body as an expression of great vehicle. Each unique body is not separate from great vehicle, we might say. So, I re-read the first chapter of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. And I recommend it. The first chapter is Posture. And Suzuki Roshi talks about crossing the legs immediately as taking the duality of two and recognizing oneness.

[04:16]

Taking the two sides of our body and bringing them together. And we also do that with our hands when we come together with a mudra. We're taking the two sides of our body and bringing them together. If we think about it too much, we might think, well, one side is multiplicity and the other side is oneness. But the feeling of it is a unified feeling. So taking this posture itself, Suzuki Roshi says, taking this posture itself is enlightenment, to take this posture. It's not to have a particular state of mind. It's not to have a particular set of ideas. But to fully take this posture. In the middle of that talk, he says, the most important thing is to own your own body. Most important thing.

[05:22]

Own your own body. This particular body. And at the end, he says, again, he reiterates that this, to take this posture itself, is the practice of enlightenment. To take this posture itself is the practice of enlightenment. And then he says, this is the conclusion of Buddhism. What a statement. So we've gone all the way from beginner's mind and just taking the posture to the conclusion of Buddhism. In a way, this is very simple. And so I want to appreciate the simplicity of it. And at the same time, reflect a little bit on how, in my own experience, I find the body, the practice of the body.

[06:28]

And because I'm kind of simple-minded, I think of it as three parts. The first part I think of as intention. Intention. Setting intention. And the second part I think of as returning. No matter how clearly I set my own intention, I find that I tend to deviate from it, lose it, and so it's helpful to have a practice of returning. And thirdly, I think of it as abiding, that there is this settled practice of, sometimes I think of it as yogic continuity, yogic continuity, that actually there is this concentrated body-mind, unified body-mind, that abides in silence, abides in stillness.

[07:35]

No matter what's happening, no matter how noisy it is, no matter what one is confronted with, there is this body-mind. Now, there's a sense of it continuing, but we could say, well, we don't know that it actually continues, but that it continues to be reborn, reborn moment by moment. breath by breath. So with the matter of setting intention, my own feeling lately is that intention really comes from a sense of gratitude. That properly, you know, you can say intention comes from various things. Intention may come from suffering. Intention may come from recognizing the frustration and difficulty of having a body or being a body.

[08:40]

Shakyamuni Buddha, 2,500 years ago, was, at some point, was taken aback by the recognition of the impermanence of the body, that the body ages and the body does not stay stable. The body might get sick. And eventually the body dies and body decomposes. So when this really hit him, he had to stop. He had to stop what he was doing and deeply consider how to live with this recognition. So a part of this, how to live with this recognition is when you stop, you may notice, oh, something is apparent in the field of one's awareness.

[09:44]

Just realizing what's apparent in the field of one's awareness is a practice of gratitude. To receive what arises in the field of awareness is, I say it's a practice of gratitude because it's receiving what arises as a kind of gift. For a moment you can let go of thinking about what you might have done to create what is arising and you can stop and just receive it. I hope you're all drinking water with me. So refreshing. And intention then, coming from gratitude, sometimes I think it's helpful to have it as a very deliberate practice.

[11:04]

When you realize that there is this impermanence of the body, when you realize that things, as we experience them and as we think of them, are changing, it may be helpful to set an intention. An intention to actually be a present in the body, as Suzuki Roshi said, to own your own body. What does it mean to own this body? Does it mean to possess it like a thing, like an object, manipulate it? I don't think that's what he means. I think he means to fully inhabit, to embody the body, to fully inhabit the body. For myself, when I came to Zen Center, I was very much in my head, I would say.

[12:10]

Oh, very much in my head. I had lots of ideas and thoughts. And I wasn't sure what I actually felt because I was involved in thinking about what I felt before I could even pay attention to what I felt. So there's a sense of progression in this, of moving from head to heart, to actually move from head to heart. and then from heart to hara. So owning one's own body, entering into fully inhabiting one's own body, this is a practice of stopping the dominance of the thinking mind. It doesn't mean that the mind doesn't continue thinking, but it means that you also listen to the silence of There's an internal practice then, listening to sensation, listening to the sounds, the sights, the smells, the tastes, listening to them and noticing the tendency to want to add language and having a

[13:37]

a choice there as to whether you add language or not. What happens when one adds language to sensation, to experience? As human beings, of course, we need language. And it's very, very important. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here at all today. And at the same time, this practice of owning the body is to realize that language... is inherently dualistic. Language is referential to something else other than itself. Maybe we could say sometimes that poetry and song is not dualistic. Poetry and song is itself, right? Not referential. And yet, it also enlivens and frees, and so there's some way in which there is some duality in language, even as poetry and song.

[14:37]

But maybe there's more of a kind of a vibration, an interplay of subject and object and oneness. I better not get too far off into that. But this intention that I think means that one studies. So to set an intention means that you actually make a conscious effort to study the Dharma. You make a conscious effort to lift up the teachings of this ancestral lineage, to lift them up and investigate these teachings and see how they actually support your intention to own the body, to be present here and now in this body.

[15:43]

So the teachings are very important in supporting intention. I was reading how some of Dogen's And so I read Dogen, partly, to support the intention. Dogen, great Zen master of the 13th century, who brought this lineage of Zen from China to Japan. He was quoting an earlier Zen teacher from China, quoting Banshao. Zen master Banshao is saying, when a monk A monk came up to Banshau and said, what do you do? What do you do when a hundred things, a thousand things, myriads of things come at you all at once?

[16:51]

What do you do? And Banshau said, don't control them. them. And the monk bowed. And then Dogen doesn't quote this, but another source quotes. Then Banshav said, don't move. Don't move. When you move, you're cut in two. at the waist. So this experience, I think, okay, what do you do when a hundred things come at you at once? Do you begin multitasking more furiously? How do you actually relate to a world where a hundred things or a thousand things are?

[18:00]

A million, myriad things are coming at you all at once. And this old teacher said, don't try to control them. So this is pointing to a practice of owning the body. He says, don't move. Don't try to control them, don't move. So how can this possibly be helpful? This is inviting. I hear this as inviting, stopping. Inviting, stopping, and listening. So stopping and listening, I think of as returning. When one sat One may set an intention to be fully present, owning the body.

[19:03]

But when circumstances come up, one may get lost in circumstances. A hundred things coming at once. Cannot even remember to not try to control them. Someone was telling me about their experience working in the kitchen. Working in the kitchen, is, you know, here we have, you know, there's a saying, many cooks spoil the broth, right? And yet here in our Zen kitchen, we have many cooks. Does that mean that we always have spoiled broth? We have many cooks. Well, we have someone in charge. We have a head cook. And then we have an assistant. And we have other people who have their particular role to play. And yet sometimes it may feel like it's not so clear who's in charge of this or who's in charge of that. Who is in charge of the soup?

[20:06]

So someone was telling me that in the kitchen, in this mix of circumstances, it's hard sometimes. It's hard not to think that one should control the other people. The other cooks. How to let other cooks do their thing and not actually... How do you know when to not control and when to try to control? Can you actually realize that other cooks are not other cooks? That other cooks are actually all one kitchen. So this is a moment maybe when one feels, oh, there's some irritation coming up. So this is a good point. This is a good time to practice stopping. This is a good time to practice returning to this body.

[21:17]

What's happening in this body? So... I'm remembering talking to someone else who was saying, well, my problem is I open my mouth before I even know where I am. I open my mouth before I think. And it's true, this person gets into a lot of trouble. Actually, serious trouble, opening the mouth. But the opening of the mouth is coming with the thought that of trying to control other people coming at this person. There's a feeling that other people are impinging on me and I have to control them and I'm going to tell them what I think. And they ought to straighten up and they ought to get out of my space and they ought to whatever. And before long, there's a fight.

[22:21]

So returning... taking a moment to stop when one is just beginning to feel some irritation or some tension in the body or beginning to start forming words of controlling others, if you can notice that, that's a good time to stop and return to the body awareness. And then people want to be abiding in stillness, right? If you turn to the body, and now I want to get to the third one, I want to be abiding in stillness. It's not always that easy. In fact, it's very difficult. Because in stopping, when one actually feels most compelled to do something and control something, to stop at that moment is the most difficult thing in the world for a human being. most difficult. Because right in there is an intense desire.

[23:28]

Right in there is a desire and in that desire is also some fear. Some fear that, oh, if I don't, if I can't, if I can't control this, if then the greatest fear I will I won't be able to survive. Somewhere underneath there, maybe this fear, I won't be able to survive. This is not easy to sit still with, to be still with. So again and again, even to have the thought of stopping for a moment, takes a deliberate kind of practice. Of course, there are some situations where it's unwise.

[24:29]

If you're crossing the street and you realize, I'm beginning to get irritated, I should stop right here. That's not what I'm talking about. You don't freeze in the middle of the street. In fact, your body may not stop at all. You can continue walking while your mind returns, your attention and awareness returns into the body. Now it's helpful, I think, to have breath awareness support this returning practice. The breath is always available as a touchstone. It's just great. We're so lucky to have this immediately available touchstone. To find the breath in the body where you most notice it at any moment immediately brings you into your own present moment awareness.

[25:36]

Immediately brings you into this what is right now. Many people have the experience of it takes a few breaths. So sometimes they say, well, take three breaths. They might even do more. In many situations, it's possible to stop and return with three-breath awareness. Finding the breath in the body. Let's do it right now. Maybe close your eyes. It'll help to close your eyes for a moment. Just notice, where is the breath in your body? Is it an in-breath? Is it an out-breath? Can you simply receive the in-breath? Can you simply release the out-breath?

[26:38]

So someone, I offered this practice to someone, well, actually many people. Hundreds of people. But sometimes someone comes back and says, well, it doesn't work. I come back and I find my breath and then I start thinking again and I'm gone. what should I do? I said, return again. Well, but how often do I have to do that? So I said, I think I said, well, I've said various things, but I said a thousand times a day. So a thousand times a day. And eventually, not straying from the breath.

[28:02]

So be willing to come back a thousand times a day into the silent body. I really think this is the way of world peace. This is the way that each of us becoming peaceful in ourselves and sharing this practice with others can create world peace. I think that's a big reason why Suzuki Roshi came to America was to help foster world peace. This understanding is that controlling the world outside of oneself is not possible when you think the world is outside of yourself. Having even an influence on the world outside of yourself, I'd say as a positive influence, comes from peacefully abiding within yourself.

[29:16]

Coming to, again and again, returning to this body, again and again returning to this body and accepting this body. Now we have a phrase in one of our dedications that says, save the body which is the fruit of many lives. Save the body which is the fruit of many lives. And someone was asking me about that a few days ago saying, That's confusing to people who say, save the body. What does it mean, like, to take what's impermanent and make it permanent? And my feeling is, and so they're saying, we should say, liberate the body. Maybe that's a better translation. Maybe it's a more accurate translation to say, liberate the body. Who knows, we might change it. We might change the translation. But then what does it mean, to liberate the body?

[30:23]

And I was talking to another person about it who said, isn't it to accept the body? To accept the body. To fully accept and receive, receive into the conscious mind everything that arises from the field of what is I'd say, a field that can't be known. The field of not knowing. The silent world, the silent realm. So everything that arises from the silent realm in the body then, can one accept it as it manifests in this body? When one completely accepts what arises and manifests in this body then and stays with this for the next moment, you enter this aspect of abiding.

[31:40]

Abiding means that you don't follow the desire that carries you away from this. So you may notice a little tug of, oh, to start thinking about something. to start the process of judging, which then leads to trying to control. When one is really concentrated, one can begin to realize that the impulse to project onto what is is already based upon thinking that there is some object. Stepping back from that, one realizes that there is actually no object. This moment experience is right here.

[32:45]

It's completely intimate. There's no separation. When you realize then no separation, then you are naturally abiding. You are naturally abiding in this path of the body as a great vehicle, great path. So this is maybe a very concentrated state. Very concentrated state of noticing just a little hint of leaning toward something or moving away from something. One time I asked my teacher, Sojin Weitzman, even though there is no absolutely good and no absolutely bad, isn't it better to incline toward the good?

[33:49]

I asked. And he said, our practice is upright. Our practice is to be upright. So at that time, it helped me to have confidence in what is. It takes a tremendous amount of confidence. It takes total confidence, immeasurable confidence in what is, in Buddha mind, in true nature. to abide in stillness, to abide in this body as great body, to abide in this body that is manifestation of the whole undivided body. So in this practice of intention, in this practice of returning a thousand times a day,

[34:55]

more than a thousand times a day, looking for opportunities to return. Looking for a stop, you know, receiving a stop sign or a warning signal as something positive, as a gift, as a reminder to return. I mean, literally stoplights. If you're driving, if you're like me driving, I'm driving as a stoplight. Yellow light? Caution. Can I beat the light? Should I stop? Red light, four-way stop, stop. What about stopping? I have a practice of stopping and saying, okay, I stop and taking my hands off the steering wheel, putting them in my lap and enjoying this moment. And then the light changes, continue. So our life is like this, actually.

[36:00]

We're always receiving signals. Sometimes it may be a slap in the face. Sometimes it takes strong feedback, right? For us to even begin to realize, maybe I should have a little different intention. Maybe I should return to something deeper than what I'm going on. So I invite you to take up this. This is the practice of your own body, your own heart, your own mind as one. No mind, no heart, no body. Just one. And at the same time, mind, heart, body.

[37:01]

Each particular and infinite, infinite in its particularity. So this is, I realized, well, it's time to stop. I thought, how should I stop? Well, actually, I had various things I was going to read, and I won't do that. I've given you the introduction. And I thought, well, maybe since I saw Robins, we should sing Red, Red Robin. When the Red, Red Robin comes bobbing, bobbing along. It's an old song from 1920. Who here is that old? There are a couple of people raising their hand. Blanche is raising her hand. But you actually are all that old.

[38:02]

We're all that old also. When you realize that you're one with the ancestors. Maybe sing it twice in the second. If you don't know it the first time, then you can join in the second time. See if I know it. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along, along, there'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing that old sweet song. Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Get up, get up, get out of bed. Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy. What if I've been blue? Now I'm walking through fields of flowers.

[39:03]

Raindrops glisten and still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again, singing this song. When the red, red robin comes, bob, bob, bobbing along. You kind of faded out there towards the... People were very strong on the first line. So see if you can stay with a little more of this next round. When the red, red robin comes, bob, bob, bobbing along, along. There'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing that old sweet song. Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Get up, get up, get out of bed. Cheer up, cheer up, the song is read.

[40:06]

Live. Love, laugh and be happy. What if I've been blue? Now I'm walking through fields of flowers. Raindrops glisten and still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again doing what I did again. Singing this song. When the red, red robin comes, bob, bob, bobbing along. Well, sometimes bobbing along can bring you back to your own body. So, bob along, uprightly. Thank you for listening. 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.

[41:14]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[41:29]

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