This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. So we have this great assembly here in person. And we also have people watching online. There's a camera on me. So we have an outside audience also. So welcome to the online assembly and welcome to the in-person assembly. We're having, as you know, and as you may not know, we have just started a January intensive. And we're being rigorous in our health and safety protocols.

[01:05]

I'm the only one in the room who's not wearing a mask right now. Everybody else has a mask on, N95 mask. And everyone has been tested before they came here, all the newcomers, and tested when they arrived. And I think today there will be another set of tests. And then another set. in five days, at the end of five days. So we're doing our best under the danger and risk of this very transmittable virus. And the assembly here is being, I feel, practicing patients with the difficulty of the situation. I don't feel any complaint in the air. I feel sincere effort. Thank you so much. And we had some teachings were offered.

[02:14]

Let's see, a couple of days ago in this room. And these teachings were inspired by our great ancestor, And the teachings work in the words of the teaching are basically about. Directly realizing. Awakening. Directly realizing the practice of awakening. And another way that this could be said is right here and now, hitting the mark. Hitting the mark of awakening.

[03:19]

Another way that could be phrased is right here. right where each of us is, exactly at this body and mind. Receiving a hit of awakening. Receiving the touch of great awakening. Receiving the transmission. Right here, right now. So, in a sense, this is a teaching that this is possible. Practice is possible. And it's also, you'd say, a teaching of how to practice. Realizing authentic awakening with nothing.

[04:25]

this body and mind realizing immediately awakening with nothing other than this body and this mind is called hitting the mark. It's called settling down into awakening, using nothing other than this body right now, here. This is a teaching for a world of suffering. This is a teaching for living beings who could say, generally speaking, have a body-mind. We might think that to settle down into awakening, we would use something other or be something other than this body and this mind.

[05:44]

And that thought, if we have that thought, Realizing, awakening directly with nothing other than that thought is hitting the mark. Whatever is in your mind, whatever is in your body, realizing the way through that is settling down in the way. Without trying to change this body and mind. Just following or just according with the realization of Buddha is right here, right now.

[07:10]

is hitting the mark, is settling down into awakening. Again, sentient beings, living beings, often think that the body and mind should be changed and then we can practice. That way of practice could be called indirect indirectly realizing the Buddha way. Today, I'm inspired to share the direct realization, which is not to wait for another body and mind than this one. All day long, we have a body-mind. In each moment, without changing that body and mind, Accordingly, the Buddha's awakening.

[08:15]

Which is how the Buddha practices. The Buddha uses nothing other than the Buddha's body and mind. When we do too, we are according with the Buddha. And this is called, right now, this is called immediacy. This is called settling down. hitting the mark, and also receiving a hit. Both it is hitting the mark and being hit. It is touching the point of awakening and being touched by awakening. The original Chinese can be read touching the mark or being touched. but almost none of the translators wrote that the two ways. That's one of the reasons for giving talks, because in the talk we can mention, this can be read actively or passively.

[09:26]

Most of the translations choose an active voice, hitting the mark, but it's also taking a hit, receiving it. And the character for receiving is a very humble word for receiving. It's the word that we use in our dedications when we're talking about receiving Buddhist compassion. We receive enlightenment when we don't spend our time trying to change this body and mind into another one. Just using this one, we're ready to receive for this situation. This situation is, as you know, right now and in the past and in the future. It's painful often. You think, maybe I should change my body and mind and then practice. No, no. For the direct way, no, no. Shall this generation waste?

[10:48]

This teaching will be here for the woe of the future. There's a story. book of record number 43, a monk comes to the ancestor Dungshan and says, when cold comes, when heat comes, how can we be free of them? Right now it's pretty pleasant. And it actually, even in the early morning, it's not that cold. But it's a little chilly.

[11:55]

And we have the doors and windows open for health and safety purposes. So this morning the wind was blowing pretty hard on some people's heads. Some of them might have even thought about closing the doors. It might get colder, and we're allowed here to wear hats when we have the doors and windows open in wintertime. People can bundle up, but still, it might get cold, and people might wonder about how to be free of cold. Anyway, in China, I think the monks and the nuns and the lay people wondered about it. how to be free of cold. It's really cold in China. And really hot. Some of the places where it's really cold, it's really hot.

[12:56]

It's really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. And Chinese people suffered from the cold and the heat. And so the monks wondered, how can we be free of it? And they asked their teacher. And Dengshan said, Now, why don't you find a place where there's no cold or heat? And the monk said, where is the place where there's no cold or heat? Deng Shon said, when cold comes, freeze to death. When heat comes, burn to death. Or another translation would be, when cold comes, let the cold kill you. When the heat comes, let the heat kill you. In other words, when the cold comes, without using anything other than the cold, immediately realize the Buddha way.

[14:11]

Realize the Buddha way immediately with nothing other than the heat. In the heat. Do not try to change the heat. In the cold. Without trying to change the cold. In that cold. Remember to accord with the teaching of the Buddha. And we will be free. of cold and heat. Not by trying to change it. Not forbidding trying to change it. But anyway, without trying to change it. Just accord with the Buddha way. This teaching is offered for living beings who are into changing what's going on. It's a teaching for living beings to directly realize the Buddha way.

[15:23]

This teaching is given and people are listening to it. And people can think about this teaching too, can wonder about it. can ask about it, can question it, can investigate it, can make this teaching their own. This teaching at first is given to us by another. This teaching was given to me by another. I received it from another. And I have been thinking about it and talking about it and questioning it and wondering about it for decades. And it has become more and more my own. And you can also receive this teaching, listen to it, work with it, question it, doubt it, investigate it, experiment with it, experiment with it, experiment with without trying to change the heat, without trying to change the cold, without trying to change the monkey mind, just according with Buddha.

[16:44]

As I know, Buddhas are not into changing monkey minds. Buddhas are in accord with awakening. They do not try to change what's happening. They realize the way, no matter what is happening. That's their job. Their job is not to change what's happening. Their job is to use what's happening, to realize what's true, what's beyond happening and not happening. Thank you, Buddhas. I think it was a couple of years ago, in midst of other woes than ours.

[18:33]

There were woes back then, two years ago, at the beginning of the year. Before the pandemic hit. And for some reason or other, I think maybe one of the conditions for it was... Kimo cited this story a month before. It's a story from the Book of Serenity, number four. The story goes like this. The Buddha was walking on earth. The earth, you know, the place where there's lots of living beings. The place where there's lots of suffering. Buddha was walking on this earth with her friends, with her great assembly. The great assembly is walking on the earth, in the past and in the present.

[19:46]

And the Buddha pointed to the earth, pointed to the ground, and said, this is a good place to build a temple. And the king or the sovereign of the gods, Indra, took a blade of grass and stuck it in the ground and said, the temple is built. Buddha's walking along the ground, step by step. And Buddha points to the ground. The Buddha is walking. in this body and mind, step by step, and the Buddha points to the ground and says, this body and mind is a good place to build a temple.

[20:51]

This spot is a good place to have a January intensive. And at each seat in this meditation hall, no matter what's going on with the body and mind, it's a good place to build it. A sanctuary for the welfare of all beings. Every moment, every step we take, I'll be watching you. I'll be watching you. Not try to change, but to accord with the way. And if by any chance you're trying to change, not trying to change that in according with your manipulative activity.

[21:53]

Settle down in. immediately touch awakening with nothing other than this body and mind. It's with this body and mind that we touch awakening.

[22:56]

Immediately, with nothing other than this body and mind, we touch awakening. It's all around us. It's omnipresent. Buddhas accept that. But also, awakening is all around us. And Buddhas accept that. And they don't use anything other than what's happening as the mode of acceptance. Once again, this teaching is offered and we're listening to it. It has been offered and we listened to it. Now we can work with it.

[24:02]

We can think about it and make it our own. Including that you don't want it to be your own is a way to work with it. That's how you will make it your own. All the teachers you don't agree with, work with them. And they'll become your own. And then, come down with it. And become it. I could go on. And I want you to know, I hadn't been going on before today. You are the recipients of me going over this hundreds of thousands of times. And the more I go over this teaching, the more I'm delighted and encouraged by it.

[25:03]

Some of you are new to this teaching. It will be up to you whether you continue to remember this teaching. and apply it to your body and mind. Take away your to the body and mind, which you have every moment. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[25:58]

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