the Han, they stop their activity, then go to the Zendo for meditation. During the pandemic, everyone started sitting and working in their rooms. I missed feeling, seeing the Han, so I put a picture of it on my computer. To remind me, a Han is usually hung near the Zendo. Anyone walking past will have the opportunity to hear, see, and read a Han. It says, great is the matter of birth and death. Quickly passing, gone, gone, gone.

[01:03]

Awake, each one, awake. Don't waste this life. Four simple sentences for study, all designed to encourage you to wake up about the truth, the true nature of birth and death. The sound of the Han says, go to the meditation hall. But the beat teaches time is short. How? The hit starts slow. Pow, pow. Life seems forever. Then the speed increases. Pow, pow, pow. We recognize impermanence. Then, at the end, pow, pow, pow, pow.

[02:08]

Life happens again quickly, then stops. Life is gone. So the Han summons us to Zazen first, then offers its four-part lesson. If anyone listening tonight is not yet familiar with Zazen, I encourage you to attend an introduction to Zazen class. It's worth it, okay? Zazen applies to birth and death. And why? Sitting again and again. And again, one eventually discovers his consciousness is not truly his identity.

[03:14]

Understanding that has a big impact on one's perception of birth and death. You can observe birth and death during one meditation period. How? Breathing. The bell for start and finish. Meditation. A thought arrives and then leaves. Every start and finish. It's a birth and a death. So, the first suggestion... from the Han, sit, zazen. Okay? Now, let's examine the writing on the Han. The first sentence says, great is the matter of birth and death.

[04:24]

Why great? The lesson on the Han is written big. encouraging you to notice it. Also, it's hit loudly. So the Han is shouting, this is an important lesson. Realizing the true nature of birth and death is essential. If one realizes birth and death, They also understand impermanence. Everything that we study here has some connection to impermanence. Our Western culture encourages minimizing death.

[05:26]

Your aim is to counter that tendency. We can't explore birth and death until we open the box and start unpacking it. Life will provide you continuous opportunities to see impermanence. When we explore, we begin to have close contact with death. Contact plus the experience inside the body. And Zen teaches that the body and mind are the same. Just one body-mind. And remember, birth and death happen to the body-mind.

[06:33]

Use the same non-dual approach for birth and death. Think of them both as one single coin. If you try to have only birth or only death, you can't. The coin has a head. I'm sorry, the coin has a head and a tail. Birth and death are inseparable. But we see and experience either heads or tails of the coin during any moment. If you try ignoring or minimizing birth and death, it that will not succeed.

[07:43]

Why? You're a student of Zen. Your practice will naturally increase your perceptive skills and you become more sensitive to death. Thus, it becomes more difficult to avoid and easier to notice. Therefore, I suggest not avoiding the thoughts and feelings about death when they arise. The second sentence says, quickly passing. Gone. Gone. Our human life allocated for practice, it's not a long time.

[08:49]

Our situation and attitude, it can change our perception of time. Sometimes time seems fast. sometimes slow. Wanting things to exist different than now can affect our perception of time. So we procrastinate and waste time. Gone. Gone. Time flows ahead. Never back. So we The whole sentence says, life is flowing ahead quickly and you can't get it back. Okay, the third sentence says, awake, each one awake.

[09:56]

This sentence might be understood to mean become enlightened. Or maybe... Wake up to the reality of birth and death. Which one? No matter. My personal opinion, all are immersed in enlightenment. Like a fish in water. Fish swim immersed in water. They're not searching for water. We are also immersed in our natural environment. But the request seems for us to awaken to the true nature of birth and death specifically.

[11:04]

Then it says, each one. That means the responsibility. It's personal. It's yours. Why? Birth and death are probably the deepest and most serious topic for anyone. You don't need to search for it. Same as the water. We are immersed in it. The fourth sentence says, don't waste this life. Zen practice is not the same as most Western religions, religious practices. Why? Zen offers a path. Then, oh, pardon me. and then encourages you to examine that path during your journey.

[12:12]

There's no promise of bliss or life after death. Zen is a natural practice and used here and now. It applies directly to our experience of life. So when the lesson on the Han says, don't waste this life, it's talking about not, pardon me, not avoiding the here and now. Don't rely on a future. that is not here. And the past is gone, never to return. The future is not ahead there, waiting to arrive here.

[13:20]

No, no, we only have now. Not wasting your life means living here, and now. The Han reminds us to fully penetrate birth and death and not avoid them. We change our minds through meditation and practice. Eventually, it becomes our flesh and bones. But how does the concept become bone deep? Practice. For example, the first paragraph of the Genjo Koan offers an excellent summary of practice.

[14:27]

We start from a view of many and then progress to a view of unity. And finally, leaping beyond both. So let's read the first paragraph. Signing in English, word for word, using ASL is impractical. So I need a volunteer to read a part. And I'm going to use my interpreter. All things are Buddha Dharma. There is delusion and realization practice, birth and death. There are Buddhas and there are sentient beings. The myriad of things without abiding self. There is no delusion, no realization, no Buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death.

[15:36]

The Buddha way is basically leaping clear of many and the one, and thus the birth and death. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. If I apply only the parts of birth and death, and simply it says, all things follow the laws of physics. So we... experience birth and death, but all things have no permanent self. So there is no one born and no one to die. However, practicing the Buddha way results in leaping beyond the many or the one

[16:38]

Therefore, we experience birth and death. We begin our relationship with birth and death by paying attention to our environment. We become involved in it. Remember the past. When we were children, we saw death. We lost pets. Killed bugs. and saw dead animals on the road. And we saw birth. Puppies and kittens are born. Babies are brought home, and we went to funerals. Eventually, we all become older, and death becomes increasingly real. When we practice and agree to show up, we begin to experience impermanence directly.

[17:50]

We begin to touch it and know how it feels inside. Our learning becomes real and personal. We begin to experience no permanent self. First, we experience birth and death from the viewpoint of the self, then from the viewpoint of the no-self. That's when Douzhen says we don't exist. He says If we have no permanent self, who is born? Who dies? I believe that means we don't exist how we think we exist.

[18:56]

I'm Keith. But there's no substance. Keith. I'm completely made from non-Keith things. Naturally, I have consciousness and self-awareness, but it changes and is new again constantly, and someday it shall Dojin's third viewpoint, we leap beyond the many and the one. Leaping beyond means accepting the many and the one both. If you try to label one true and the other false,

[20:08]

you try to create a coin that has only one side. Dojin says we leap beyond both. Thus, there is birth and death. Interesting. It proves impermanence is non-death. Dual. But that last viewpoint is different from the first viewpoint. It's from a non-dual perspective. From a perspective that has no opposite. You either have no coin anymore or Or, if you do have a coin, you know that both sides exist together, not as opposites, but just one coin.

[21:23]

Durgin calls this the Buddha way. We leap? beyond our either or thinking. The Buddha way is taking up three viewpoints and eight ways of developing practice. They're called the four noble truths. First one, suffering exists. Second one, craving exists. suffering. Third, we can reduce suffering. Fourth, the way is to practice the eightfold path. Our time is limited.

[22:26]

So I'll save the deeper explanation for another talk. So understanding suffering and how it operates, we change our relationship with birth and death. Why? Practice leads you to yourself. You are unique and complex. You are many and you are also one. Imagine Indra's net. A net that fills the whole universe. Then imagine each knot has a diamond. Each diamond reflects all other diamonds in the net.

[23:37]

Look at one diamond, and you see all the diamonds. Leaping beyond both concepts, you're neither or and both. You are interdependent. Nothing exists independently. I have my identity, and I depend 100% on everything. One very popular example is the ocean. There's only one ocean in the world. There are several seas. a myriad of waves, but just one ocean.

[24:45]

If you examine a wave, you understand it's always just the ocean rising up. A wave is born. It grows and grows. and maybe enjoys other waves. Maybe it forgets it's truly the ocean. Maybe it's fun to forget. Why? So it can enjoy exploring. Enjoy its wave nature. But eventually, It will crest. And then back into the calmness and the unity of the ocean.

[25:52]

You can't fully understand birth and death using your limited mind. But by staying present, you will notice birth and death appearing over and over, giving you the opportunity to see their true nature. Thank you. Do we have time for questions? There is some time for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand. And I will bring the microphone over to you. I guess we'll go home. I'm a little chicken anyway.

[26:55]

Don't all raise your hands at once. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, fine. Hi. So sorry. What I was going to ask was, I really like the metaphor about diamonds, but why contemplate, I guess, if Zen is all about now and here, what's the point of contemplating, like, at the nature of universe, whether it's connected or not. Oh. I didn't understand all the questions, so one second. You liked the net. Do you want me to repeat the question?

[27:57]

There's only one diamond. Really, that's the truth of it all. We experience a myriad and a net, but really, there's just one diamond. Ever. There's only now. Does that, is that understandable? Does that answer your question? Okay, thank you. We have time for one more. This has been beautiful. You have described the second noble truth as craving.

[29:22]

What does that word mean? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. I'm just wondering, you described the second noble truth as craving, and what does that word mean? Because it has a different meaning in everyone's mind. I'm just trying to get a greater understanding of your idea. Oh, being not satisfied. wanting what's not real, wanting what is not as is. Life presents things. If we could just change them, fine, change what you can. But if you can't change and you want change, We suffer. It's frustrating.

[30:26]

You crave. So for me, that means to see everything. And if I can avoid the label, it's to accept with no concept. And then there's no craving. But the first time I want to change, and I wish it was different, forget it. Everything goes just wacko. But if I go and see the beautiful trees, I forget the label. I'm like, oh, wow. I couldn't crave anything more. It is what it is. It's there. So, and I think the names become the problem.

[31:31]

And that's why I said craving. Is that understandable? Most definitely. You describe things very simply. Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, one of my favorite people. One of my favorite people. But that's not going to help. Right, right. Yeah, we're connected. Yeah. How does Zazen help with craving? several ways.

[32:36]

If I have a craving and I don't reject it and I accept it well, that's my craving for now. If I observe my feelings and I watch, it's not connected to me. It helps, Zazen helps not craving when I learn the flow through life. Again, as I said before, as is. That's so important. We're free to change things. And if you feel you want things, that craving is different from a preference.

[33:38]

And that's okay, having a preference. I like chocolate better than vanilla. So who doesn't? But if I want this chocolate and I can't have it, I'm setting myself up for suffering. So, and I lose the opportunity to taste really good vanilla. You know? So, zazen helps with that craving. By learning to watch, to watch. Accepting this and letting go if I notice.

[34:40]

Not pushing it away, but just letting go softly. Chocolate, huh? I got you with chocolate, okay. Ooh, probably making other people hungry too. And that is all the time we have. Thank you, Keith. Oh, thank you. Thank you all. I had great fun. I really appreciate all of this.

[35:15]

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