This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. That struck me as very spirited chanting. The third day is the golden age, and the fourth day is getting down to business. So many years ago at City Center, I taught a class on the Four Noble Truths. And as you all know, the first noble truth is the truth of dukkha.

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And one of the members of the class was called Sparky Plug. I'm not sure if that was his real name, but Sparky Plug was a clown. And he, somehow or another, every one of the Four Noble Truths, he couldn't help but think it was hilarious. I'd be trying to talk about Dukka, and he'd be sitting there with this grin on his face. And then, you know, I asked him, you know, about his name, Sparky Plug. Was he the child of Mr. and Mrs. Plug? You know, was this one of those names, you know, on Ellis Island, you know, his name was

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or something. And then he told me he belonged to the Pickle Family Circus. And then we arranged for me to take my son, who was about five or six at the time, and he asked my son's name, Kieran. And then he was out there and then he dropped one of the balls. And he said, Karen, could you get that ball? And my son was astounded. That Klein knows my name. And then the circus left time and he left with it.

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Okay, that was to loosen you up because sure ye today, demons. Of which there are many kinds. There's four general categories. Then there are demons that come The day is broken into two R segments, and different demons are prevalent in each of the two R segments. I'll just give you the highlights. In the morning, 3 to 5, maybe this will explain some of your early morning session. the yin time period. In the yin time period, tigers. And such creatures.

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I'm not sure if that means all the wild cats, but tigers. Five to seven. Rabbits, deer, and so forth. And Okay? These are all demons. Seven to nine. Dragons and turtles. Seven to nine a.m. Seven to nine p.m. Dogs and wolves. Nine to eleven. Pigs and the such. Pigs. No, p.m. 9 to 11 a.m. is snakes and pythons and so forth. Then, of course, you have ghosts. They're a general category of themselves.

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They can come at any time. Now, here's... I remember when I was doing shamatha practice in Thailand, and I started to have these nightmares. In the nightmares, I was being devoured. And I went to the teacher, and I said, I'm having these nightmares. I just get eaten all up by a big, scary demon, monster. And he said, yeah yeah yeah so sometimes it looks like this sometimes it looks like that sometimes it just crushes your ball and sometimes it eats you yeah just keep practicing so elucidates

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The four categories of demons, the times of day, the demons come forth. The demons can be positive. Like that sweet image of Sparky Plug. Demons can come as Buddhas, as long-lost friends, as family members. And then he says, within the mental and physical phenomena, namarupa, name and form, all sorts of objective states are created, which deceive and confuse the practitioner. In cases where there are agreeable objective states, they may manifest as family members, attractive men or women, desirable phenomena.

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In the cases where they're disagreeable, they may manifest as tigers, wolves, lions, rakshashas, I don't know what that is, or manifest as all sorts of other fearsome experiences, by means of which they come forth and terrorize the practitioner. The point I mentioned yesterday, Master Ma's response, this very mind is Buddha. There's the sequel to that movie called This Very Mind is Buddha Continued. Apparently Master Ma, this was a phrase he used extensively.

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And one day a monk asked Master Ma, why? Why do you use that phrase? And Master Ma said, to stop the baby crying. What is this human tendency? I mean, who likes to be frightened? Who likes to be in a state of distress? or anxiety, or remorse, or hopelessness. Besides where I live, there's a park. And there's a guy who lives, I guess you'd call him homeless, in the back corner of the park. And he has some kind of post-traumatic stress. I think from the Iraqi war. He's a war vet. And when he's in the grips of it, he's fiercely angry.

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No. Don't speak to me like that. Don't. In this scenario, he relives. Seems like somewhere in the war, he was in a situation intense. He was given an order. Roger that. Missiles loaded, whatever the heck it was. And now it comes back to haunt him. This way human consciousness wants to resolve, wants to repent, wants to make whole the past experiences. And every now and then, not quite sure how it happens, often in the middle of the night you'll have one of these fierce episodes.

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Always the same. This emotional intensity. This rage directed out at some abuse, some deep injustice. How do we stop the baby crying? How do we get in touch with some aspect of the human condition that feels broken, traumatized, somehow not complete?

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speaks out and says, make me whole. Bring me to resolution. And one of the reasons that shamatha, the practice of directing the mind now whatever whatever the way now is created as an object of attention one of the challenges of it is that we can't bring with us our usual coping mechanisms oh I distract myself like this all I reassure myself like this oh I sustain my psychological defenses like this so we sit down and say

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I'm going to be present. I am a good Zen student. I'm a sincere Zen student. I'm a diligent Zen student. And some part of you goes, the heck I am. Are you kidding me? What could be more fierce than to say, this very mind is Buddha. Stay right here in the middle of what you are. Make contact. Be it. Don't separate from it. And yet Master Ma says, this is how the door of liberation is opened.

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And Xury adds, well, and in the process, all sorts of stuff are possible. And the challenge for us is to create the conditions that help us to stay present. The general conditions and the specific conditions working with whatever it is we're personally working with. I remember first reading that comment by Master Ma because to me Master Ma, before he was a Zen teacher, he trained horses. And he often said there wasn't much difference between training people and training horses.

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You would probably take that as a compliment then, right? So he was known for his very straightforward, fierce style. And then up pops this, what I hear as utterly tender comment, to stop the baby crying. Is there any one of us who didn't come here, who didn't come here because of dukkha? You know whether we put it together like that or not? Something out of balance, something unsatisfied, something unsettling or confusing in our lives.

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The fierceness of this very mind is Buddha is that it says, don't spin off to there and then. Don't project out. There's the problem. That portion's the problem. If it wasn't for them, my life would be rosy. Stay here. Stay now. Experience it here. Let it arise. When we watch when something in our everyday life has stirred up unpleasant emotions.

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reach out and relive that scenario. Some way, in our own working, something wants to be brought to conclusion, resolved. Within the karmic pattern of that Maybe we can try to convince ourselves of some suitable karmic condition. I'll write them a letter telling them how awful they are. I'll speak to them in person and tell them how awful they are. I'll try to see the positive side of this interaction. sometimes this really helps but can we also start to get in contact with the Nama Rupa how things are put together how they come into being Nagarjuna says everything is a construct but the suffering is

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Israel. Okay, whether you want to take this list of demons literally, or whether you're more psychologically inclined and say, well, these are the formulations of our psychological makeup. is the same. Either way they are the fruition of conditioned existence. They come into being. Can they come into being here? When they come here They are a now event.

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And when a now event is held with awareness, something marvelous happens. We see not only the first Noble Truth, we see the second and the third and the fourth. opportunity that something in our being can be met and not only resolved but can reveal the path of liberation. But I would say, preceding this, we have to really get ourselves into trouble.

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We can proceed with sashin, with the delicate business of making sashin satisfactory. how much should I eat, when should I take a nap, when should I go to the bath, or exercise, or whatever else. And there's a skillfulness in this. The skillfulness is helping to create the conditions that draw us into now. Now, of course, will not function according to our preferences. That's not the nature of now. Now is the activity of the whole universe, and it will do what it will do.

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It will bring enticing demons and scary demons. but not making matters worse. Attending to the yoga, the process of connecting to now, the process of connecting to body, the process of connecting to breath, the process of connecting to mind and emotion. staying physical as much as you can, staying in the body. It's a simple, tangible practice, especially when mind is releasing a complex involvement of your own psychological life.

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finding, experiencing within Zazen the intimate physicality of being. When you're sitting and there's an impulse to change your posture, Before you do anything, can you notice what physical experience gave rise to the impulse to change your posture? Can you make the adjustment? Can you connect to that what gave rise to that impulse? And can you make the adjustment staying in touch with that sensation? And can you make the adjustment slowly? Usually what happens is sensation, the mind steps in and says, I'll handle this.

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This is wrong and something right needs to happen. Go to it. Adjusting the posture is a physical event. Your mind may or may not have some good ideas about it. but it's a physical event, and it's prudent to listen to your body. Contact, move deliberately and slowly, and track. You know, this consciousness I was mentioning, Virtha, learning through experience. We experience the body by paying attention to the body, and that teaches us how to be body and I would hope in whatever physical exercise you're doing on the exercise time it has an element of this process it draws you into the body and enhances the capacity to experience body the yoga of breath

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The initial breath, admonition, direction, guidance that I would usually offer is allow the inhale release with the exhale. It stimulates a flexibility of mind. The allowing inhale is opening, receiving. Releasing exhale is letting go, releasing. Allowing can be allowing physical sensation. can be allowing motion it can be allowing a thought a sound in this generalized allowing then everything is just the expression of the moment it's all just the arising phenomena

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And breathing it, in contrast to thinking about it, inclines us to not get busy thinking. When we breathe in the thought, it helps loosen up our grip on the content of the thought. It can be accompanied by counting the breaths. It can be accompanied by drawing attention into the body, wherever that happens. It can be accompanied by a sense of the allowing coming the whole way in. until the bottom drops out of the locker bucket.

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There's no resistance. And similarly with the releasing. Not holding on to anything. the yoga of the mind. When you notice the mind has taken up and grasped an object, in the noticing, pause. I know many of you have heard me lay out this formula.

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Notice, acknowledge, contact, experience. Notice, it's just like adjusting the body. When you notice the mind has grasped its object, pause. let that register, contact and experience. If there's a lot of tight energy in that, release with the exhale. Not as an act of suppression, or pushing away something kinder it's not necessary to grasp that demon and make it more fierce it's very understandable

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be awake in the middle of the night raging at what has hurt you. But it doesn't open the door of liberation. It's very understandable to desire what you desire with an aching something missing but it doesn't open into just this is enough it doesn't allow the sound of the jet plane to be just itself If you're moving around and you find your mind has gone into story.

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Pause, contact, experience. Sometimes that doesn't. Maybe release. If it has a lot of charge, maybe extending the exhale. getting dined business, the yoga of body, breath, and mind. Something is quickened. The process of this very mind is Buddha. This very karmic being, with all its extraordinary ways manifested, When we taste, when we experience this process of liberation directly something in our vow of practice is confirmed.

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It draws us into trust. a hopefulness. Maybe this cycle of suffering isn't endless. A reckless notion that we've never dared to consider in the midst of our karmic patterns. But even though this is a conditioned existence, it's possible to not just be trapped in how it manifests.

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know usually the brass ring the golden prize we wish for is the serenity of concentration it's it's luminous energy and it's true it it calls forth the state of being that's its bright suchness allows now to shimmer but this seeing the condition nature of existence

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it it stimulates an insight this is a conditioned existence if it's not grasped all its unresolved issues and pains and demons and dragons and snakes and tigers and pigs and horses all its post-traumatic stress from wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and everywhere else. They don't speak with such authority. They're just the workings of now.

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When we glimpse this, when we taste this wisdom and insight, in the process of practice, we call this seeing the emptiness, seeing just the patterned existence that arises. So in the book, the Muman Khan, the gateless gate, case 30 is, case 30 is, this very mind is Buddha. Case 33 is, no mind, no Buddha. long as we're projecting it out as long as we're solidifying making real there and then there's real things to do with no when we draw them here even though it has an intensity even though there's a way in which it might seem like

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this is making matters worse. At least when I can blame someone else for my problems, you know, it's like, well, if I can get rid of them, I've got rid of my problems. And, of course, that's an illusion. You can get rid of the momentary occurrence of your problems, but your basic patterns are just going to go out and find some other person. even though that's the case when we bring everything to now it can be experienced it can be illuminated in its conditioned existence this arises when it's grasped

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more real it can stimulate energy in the body it can stimulate intense emotion it can stimulate a convincing storyline when it's not grasped something arising now in some ways amazing it's amazing what arises in our minds I think of this poem talking about this it's called the Door by Kapka Kasubova, a Bulgarian poet.

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One day you'll see you've been knocking on a door without a house. You've been waiting, shivering, yelling, words of daring and hope. One day you'll see there's no one on the other side except, as ever, the jubilant ocean. that won't shatter like a dream when you and I shatter. One day, you'll doubt your movements. You'll shudder at the accuracy of your sudden age. You will ache for the slow beauty to save you in your quick, quick life. But not yet. fills the yawn of time blues around you now let's say you see a door and you knock and wait for someone to hear don't expect yourself to be a fully enlightened being

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most likely you still have a lot of karmic stuff rattling around in there. Some of which you may be very well aware of and some of which is going to come as a surprise. Either way, the practice is a theme. Suffering is real. We do suffer. Kindness and compassion can't go wrong. And along with it, this diligent effort of practice

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that will draw us into connection. That will let us glimpse those moments where we just watch a thought come up and in this seeing it just sort of dissipates. We didn't follow it down its usual track into creating its very real demon. I just watched it, and it's coming into formulation, and the clouds of emotion just starting to gather. And then it breathed out with the exhale. And the baby stopped crying.

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The baby stopped yearning desperately for what it didn't have. The baby let go of its rage for what happened in the past. Sort of breathe out like that. breathe in, so be it. This is a karmic life. This is its intrinsic nature. In experiencing it, in being awake in the middle of it, liberation. Something utterly

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in relating to a human life is revealed one day you'll see you've been knocking on a door without a house you've been waiting shivering yelling words of daring and hope one day you'll see there is no one on the other side this very mind this very arising here this fierce request take responsibility for what arises and I would add

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as best you can. Patience, kindness, compassion. Maybe a dash of humor. And then you can consult with jury checker time and consult. Oh, four o'clock, of course. Four o'clock demons are here. Right on time. How do they know? I left the forest where I was doing that concentrated meditation that invited the demons of destructions into my dreams. And the demons came with me. So sweet.

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Guess I thought we were friends. And they're loyal to their friends. The workings of human consciousness. I was with Thich Nhat Hanh in a swanky hotel in San Francisco, the Mark Hopkins, and he was doing, I don't know why he was doing a retreat in the Mark Hopkins, but it was quite amazing. We did walking meditation through the lobby. 30 or 40 hours. But the thing he said was, what I saw in Vietnam still haunts me in my dreams. All these years, all that practice,

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human condition. But how else will we learn compassion, empathy, kindness, patience. When others, when I hear that guy cry out at night, you know, part of me wishes he'd shut up, you know, like, did you go to sleep already? I've got to get up in a few hours. It's like this. To stop the baby crying. Yes, it's fierce. to take responsibility for all that arises.

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But can we offer a kindness that allows it to be... Not exactly attractive, but... Somehow we can accept the fierceness with a tender heart. Okay. I guess he has to do his thing. Rage at the sergeant. Tell him off. Because he wasn't able to in the past. these demons. So please, tender heart and uprightness.

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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, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

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