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. Also, good morning to everybody who's following this talk online. This was a wild morning. How are you all doing? Take a little moment to just feel your body. Can you hear me? Griffin? It's not working with your earphones? Well, the Eno is going to take care of it. Allow your body and listen to it if it wants to move or adjust your posture.

[01:08]

You can do that here. So feel free to make yourself as comfortable as you can so that you can be present. So about four days ago, five days ago, we started a 10-week practice period with the title, Buddha Body, Buddha Mind. There is a story of the Buddha talking to his monks. And he said, imagine this whole earth covered by water. And somebody throws a yoke with a single hole into that ocean. and the winds from the west blow it to the east, and the winds from the east blow it to the west, the winds from the north blow it to the south, and the winds from the south blow it to the north.

[02:16]

And in that huge ocean lives a turtle that is blind, and that turtle raises up to the surface of the ocean every 100 years. What do you think, monks, is the probability of that turtle, when it comes up, sticking its head through that one hole in the yoke? And the monks said, that is, exceedingly rare. And the Buddha says, as rare is the opportunity to be born into the human realm. So the human realm is held in such high esteem in the Buddha's teaching because it is the best realm

[03:24]

to wake up. It has all the necessary ingredients of suffering and pleasure and capacity of self-reflection to make us capable to wake up. And so the body is really what makes us human. We have a human body, not an animal body, not a titan body, So this is why during this practice period we are focusing on the body, the unique body we have been given moment by moment, which keeps changing moment by moment. It keeps aging, keeps getting ill, it may have injuries, it may have limitations. So I got up very early this morning and prepared the Dharma talk, which I can only do on the day of.

[04:36]

Whatever I do before is dead the next day. It's very alive when I do it, and the next day I look at it and it's just... So this morning I did it on the computer for the very first time. And I was so proud, and it worked so well, and I had it so nicely lined up. And I hit the delete button for some things, and I just see Dharma talk disappear. So it's all gone. Unretrievable. So that was a wonderful opportunity to practice what I... committed myself to be during these 10 weeks and to live in them in a relaxed and calm manner. So I could watch my mind go, whoa, whoa, whoa, trying a few things, and then I remembered, it's gone, just relax.

[05:46]

Well, do I only sit one period of Sasa instead of the two that I had? originally planned and run back up, try to recreate something. No, just stay sitting in this endo. And so this is an experiment. I have only one poem that I may or may not read, depending. And I also felt I have to rely on the Dharma names that have been given to me, which is Hiku, loom of emptiness, and the weaving loom, and the other is pure faith. So here is the loom of emptiness, and we'll see what weaves itself on it, which will come from your energy too, it's not just created here. And the other one is pure faith, faith that maybe a Dharma talk is coming together today.

[06:51]

So this is the very first time. I don't have the lectern in front of me to kind of give me stability. So this morning, I encouraged everybody to join us in the practice of returning, staying with our awareness with our body, and when we get distracted, returning to it. And I want to continue that every first period of Sazen up to the interval also during the week, because I have a strong feeling that if we all focus on the same practice for a period of time, that's an incredible support for everybody around us. That energy field affects us. You don't have to raise your hands, but who did you remember to do that during the two period?

[07:58]

Who remembered to do it after the King Hin to return to that practice? I had to keep reminding myself over and over that that's what I'm doing. And it's so easy to forget because we have such ingrained habits of how we... are in the Zendo, how we daydream or when we are uncomfortable, we think of something else or we imagine alternatives or ask ourselves, why on earth did I sign up for this? This is not, you know, what's the point in this? And to just let go of that or let that be and return to the sensations of the body. So we will try these 10 weeks. Together we will explore and practice and encourage each other to really become intimate with this unique and precious body each of us has been given.

[09:07]

And it's a body that keeps changing moment by moment. And it has a language and it's our best ally. but can we be its best ally is what I want to cultivate together with all of you. And I will depend on your feedbacks, on your sharing from your experience, because we're all unique and every path of practice is completely individual. We meander in our own life to pick up something over here and something back there. And that's like, nobody else can do it. Like, no, not one person can take a breath for us. Como Sabaki said, you can't fart the fart for somebody else. So, to become able to listen to our body, to

[10:16]

understand its impulses, to shift a little or to align a little better or to relax a little or to change if we need change. So in this practice period we also, as an experiment, we give participants that are sitting the possibility to when their body tells them it's not good to sit another period of 30 minutes to either go lie down in the hallway to the Zendo or to go do walking meditation in the courtyard or in the basement hallway or go to the kitchen and chop a few carrots for a while sitting on a table so that there is space to really start to have an intimate relationship with the body you have and befriend it and become its ally.

[11:27]

Because it is, our body is absolutely essential for us to wake up. We can't wake up just in the head. There is no brain without the body. There's no, that consciousness we have is very tight, very inseparably intertwined with the body we have. And that is also completely interconnected with everything in this universe. So if you now put your attention in your body, is it telling you to change your position? Take a moment and two. Yes, please. Thank you. And if we tune into, we now hear all those bodies shifting a little bit.

[12:35]

And because they're shifting based on information you got from your body... it shifts the energy in this room. Everybody feels more at ease, even if you yourself don't have to shift. And this is how our bodies ping off each other. The energy that is in my body affects all of you. The energy that is in your body affects all of us. The energy that's in your body affects our bodies, our cells, kind of regulate and harmonize themselves to what's around you. So, of course, I want to do this practice period relaxed and at ease, and I want the same for each of you who are participating and also you who are just, for example, visiting today.

[13:40]

So when we concentrate our awareness on somatic, physical sensations, the breath also is a wonderful way of helping us with that, because our breath is actually something absolutely necessary. Without it, we won't live. But also, it's the one thing when it comes in it becomes individual when it goes out it becomes universal the breath is like a swinging door between being the unique individual you are and being completely interconnected because we all breathe the same air in this universe so That personal and universal and personal and universal is, for example, something you can for a while feel and sense in your body.

[15:01]

How far does your breath come in? What does it move? What parts of the body you can feel movement when the breath comes in? And then you can send out your breath to the universe, for example. There is a lot of... practices that then you can send out well-being to the whole universe or peace to the whole universe. And our breath also is a wonderful guide in adjusting our posture. It tells us how it will be to be flowing more easily. And you can close your eyes for a moment and just feel, if you can feel your breath, and if it invites you to shift something that might be visible or invisible, Can it flow freely?

[16:17]

And in this Sutra of Mindfulness, Paul help me out, what is the translation of the Satipatthana Sutra? Thank you. That was helping me out big time. Thank you. That you don't know either. I was searching for the words. Yes. But you know it. I know you do. So, but in it, and please correct me, Paul, if I misquote it, but there is a whole chapter on breathing. And it invites us to be so... attentive to it that we know when we take a short breath and we know when we take a long breath.

[17:29]

And that is just a wonderful guide we can do in that first period of Sazen when we all concentrate of awareness of our body as it is in that meditation period, which may not be how it was the one before or may not be how it is the one after. to feel just with no judgment, just bear attention. Oh, this is a short breath. This is a longer breath. Oh, this is even a longer breath. And just be with that. Would you like to add something, Paul? Think about Anapanasati in that.

[18:30]

That's where it describes being aware of a long breath, being aware of a short breath. In other words, however you're breathing, trust it and learn about it. Yes, thank you. Yes. And that you used a wonderful word, Paul, because that's the other thing that I... hope and aspire, with the help of all of you, that your trust in your body, in your own body, will grow during that practice period. Because we live here in a culture that thinks as a body as an object, that we can just manage and we can control and we can tell it what to do, and very mind-based with ideas how it should be better and how we make it better and how going to the gym makes it better and how running makes it better and so we're using it as an object and it's a subject it's us and so to shift that or recultivate that or support that is part of what

[19:54]

the aim is of this practice period, these 10 weeks. And one thing that I think all of you, if you feel so inclined, can take with you wherever you go, one of the other practices that will run through the whole 10 weeks is the practice of slowing down a fraction. just a little bit so that you notice you're slowing down. Because the moment you remember to slow down and do it, it brings you right into your body. It takes you out of wherever else your mind was into your body. And that is for anything you do, you can apply that. Walking to your job, going to the bathroom, which I recommend to always go when you need to go and not wait.

[20:55]

That was a hit at the last practice period. Because when you wait, a lot of energy gets absorbed by the waiting and you cannot be fully present for what you're doing. And you can find that out. if you do that in the middle of a meeting, you say, excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom or the restroom, everybody in that meeting will relax and gets a break. And then the meeting will go much better. So, and the example I used in the last practice period, which kind of is so poignant for me, is a friend who is a an artist, a singer, he said he discovered that when he is practicing, at some point suddenly he can't reach his highest pitch.

[22:01]

He just can't reach it. And he tries and he tries and he thinks I have to do this exercise and he just can't. And then he realizes, oh, my body's telling me I need to use the restroom. So he went to the restroom and afterwards he had no problem to reach his pitch because the energy is stopped. And that's how we're trained as little children. You can't go to the bathroom until the class is over. We are not trained to live in harmony and listen to our body. We learn to ignore those signals and that has become a habit. I encourage you to follow when your body is telling you that you need to lie down, that you need to go shopping in the kitchen, that you need to walk, and not as ahead-of-time management.

[23:04]

Oh, I get through this day, but every third period I go walk. That's not the same. That's not listening to your body. That's managing a situation. What I would like to invite you is to just go and find out and be attentive so when your body tells you it's time to take a break, you change your activity. It's not you take a break. You change your activity so your energy stays refreshed. Thank you for changing your position. Perfect. So that's... What we all can do, wherever we work, we can pause. We can take a moment to pause, check in our body, and adjust it according to its messages and what needs it has.

[24:07]

The other thing, so the slowing down, you can take with you. I will keep reminding us here. because the moment we get anxious or stressed, our body tightens up. We start having a kind of tunnel vision, and we tend to speed up. When we speed up, our senses kind of also close down to some degree, our inner organs, depending on their importance, kind of get less nurtured, so that we're ready for whatever we think is going to happen. When we slow down a little bit, our sense is open. We can start noticing what's around us, and we have access to the resources around us, which also gets actually closed down when we are stressed or anxious or fearful.

[25:24]

So the slowing down in situations where it's safe, like when there's not really a danger around, is a very powerful way of... enhancing your capacity to meet what's presenting, what is presenting to yourself moment by moment. And the other practice, so there are three practices, focusing on the body during morning meditation, the first period. The second is slow down. And the third is thinking about why am I talking? That's an acronym. Wait. W-I- W-A-I-T. Yes, thank you.

[26:34]

Thank you. The I and the E's are Terrible, because that opposite in German, how you say it in the alphabet, you know, you say the E isn't... Anyway, I don't... So, wait, why am I talking? Because we talk so much without thinking and being aware what compels us to talk now. And so we talk about other people when they're not in the room. We lobby together against the institution. We talk about things that are not really important. And we also don't know how we talk about it or what the consequences of our talking is. And talking is a physical thing.

[27:37]

somatic expression, and it's an action. And Dogen says, every action we take through body, mind, or speech, and speech is mentioned specifically, affects the entire earth and the whole sky. And if we take that really seriously, then we realize that speaking is a very, very powerful event and has powerful consequences. So to start practicing and asking yourself, why am I talking? Is it necessary to say something now, or can I just... wait and see what happens is also a very important practice.

[28:41]

Because we see what happens in our politics with talking and leads to other actions. So I feel that if we can here cultivate a environment in which we are taking care of our bodies, that also gives the space for the people around us to take care of their bodies without us meddling in their caretaking, you know, and having opinions about how they take care of their body. So it's a very space creating opportunity for us. So I'm gonna read the one thing that I had left this morning.

[30:02]

And it's a poem by Pablo Neruda. Keeping quiet. So you saw all the signs. Please support noble silence. That's the other thing. We will try to cultivate quiet spaciousness in this building and during this practice period. Keeping quiet. Now we will count to 12, and we will all keep still. This one time upon the earth, let's not speak any language. Let's stop for one second and not move our arms so much. It would be a delicious moment, without hurry, Without locomotives, all of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness.

[31:11]

It would be a delicious moment. Without hurry, without locomotives, all of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness. The fishermen in the cold sea would do no harm to the whales. and the peasant gathering salt would look at his torn hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars of gas, wars of fire, victories without survivors, would put on clean clothing and would walk alongside their brothers in the shade without doing a thing. What I want shouldn't be confused with final inactivity. Life alone is what matters. I want nothing to do with death.

[32:15]

And if we weren't unanimous about keeping our lives so much in motion, if we could do nothing for once, perhaps a great silence would interrupt this sadness, this never understanding ourselves and threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth is teaching us when everything seems to be dead and then everything is alive. Now I will count to 12, And you keep quiet and I'll go. Would you like me to read it a second time? Now we will count to 12 and we will all keep still.

[33:29]

This one time upon the earth, let's not speak any language. Let's stop for one second and not move our arms so much. It would be a delicious moment without hurry, without locomotives. All of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness. The fishermen in the cold sea would do no harm to the whales. and the peasant gathering salt would look at his torn hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars of gas, wars of fire, victory without survivors, would put on clean clothing and would walk alongside their brothers in the shade without doing a thing. What I want shouldn't be confused with final inactivity.

[34:33]

Life alone is what matters. I want nothing to do with death. If we weren't unanimous about keeping our lives so much in motion, if we could do nothing for once, perhaps a great silence would interrupt this sadness. This never understanding ourselves and threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth is teaching us when everything seems to be dead and then everything is alive. Now I will count to 12 and you keep quiet and I will go. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma.

[35:39]

For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[35:47]

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