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. A few days ago, many people said, Happy New Year. Many people wished each other peace and blessings in the new year. Can I still say Happy New Year? In the midst of everything that's arising and ceasing, all the apparent violence and unkindness and confusion and fear and defensiveness and armament, can we say Happy New Year?

[01:18]

And good luck. How dare we wish people peace in this world? And yet we can wish each other peace. May I say that this wonderful valley has a temple in it and this temple is dedicated to wishing for peace. to the outrageous effort to realize peace in the midst of in the midst of all living beings we say here repeatedly and regularly we say our

[02:39]

unceasing effort we refer to an unceasing effort to free all beings so they may dwell in peace an unceasing practice devoted to freeing beings so they may dwell in peace. That's one of the ways that we speak about the practice here over and over.

[03:47]

And sometimes even when we don't speak it, we think. unceasing effort to free beings so they may dwell in peace. Reporters are coming to the United States from around the world and interviewing people in the United States at gun shows, They're wondering what the people are hoping to find at the gun stores. Of course, they're hoping to find guns. But they seem to be hoping to find protection for their dear, sweet, beautiful children. They want to protect their children. So they think maybe if they have guns, that will help them protect their children.

[04:51]

Like mothers, shopping for guns because they, like other mothers who are not shopping for guns or who are shopping for food, all this is human effort to protect human beings that we love. Here we wish to make an unceasing effort to free beings from the fear and and the delusions that lead to fear so they may dwell in peace but obviously this is really a hard job because if you yeah if you bring up the topic of putting down weapons people can get even more frightened so it's kind of outrageous that we dare to work to free beings from fear which leads to which sets up the possibility of violence and yet there is such a wish now we also hear

[06:20]

are in a particularly intensive practice, in a way more formally intensive than usual. We have more meditation each day than we usually do here for three weeks. We're putting more energy into developing, sponsoring, nurturing, and an unceasing effort an unceasing effort to practice in a way that frees beings which is an unceasing to try to develop a continuous mindfulness throughout the day an effort to be generous careful of all actions, patient with all difficulty and insult and horror, diligent and concentrated, open and wise.

[07:52]

We're trying to be mindful and remember these practices. And in particular, during this intensive, we're starting by focusing on focusing. We're starting by emphasizing the cultivation, the growing, the nurturing, the generation of a mind which is present undistracted flexible calm and open that kind of awareness we're trying to we've been trying to develop and nurture It's a Sanskrit word for it, samadhi, which means to be settled and still and open and have a flexible, relaxed body and mind.

[09:07]

This type of awareness is the awareness in which we practice wisdom, in which we hear the Dharma, we hear the truth. So... For the first week of this intensive meditation, we've been emphasizing the samadhi and the practices which develop it. It is something that we consider over and over, this practice of samadhi, this practice of calming the mind, helping it be relaxed and flexible and open and undistracted.

[10:24]

basic way of doing that one simple way of doing it is just be mindful of being still and silent when something comes Meet it with stillness. When something goes, be still with the going. When you look at someone's face, be still. When you look at your own fear, be still. give up any thoughts about the fear.

[11:41]

When you meet someone, just meet them and give up all your thoughts about them. Give up all your discursive thinking about them. Just be still. Be still. When you're talking to someone, when you're talking, be still. When you're listening, be still. This way of being with the arising of the things we know develops this open, relaxed, undistracted awareness. It takes most people quite a bit of training to be able to meet a shout, an insult, a bad smell, a painful sensation, to meet it with stillness.

[13:03]

It usually takes quite a bit of training. And so we're here to train that way. There's a story that once upon a time, it's actually also called a scripture, the Buddha was sitting in samadhi with his friends. And his friends were sitting with their friend, the Buddha. And one of his friends who was in this samadhi awareness. In the samadhi, this friend was practicing what we call the perfection of wisdom, or perfect wisdom.

[14:20]

Prajnaparamita. Now, this friend of Buddha's, his name was Avalokiteshvara. bodhisattva. There's a statue of Abhilakiteshvara. There's two statues of Abhilakiteshvara on the main altar. One is to Buddha's right. We also call that bodhisattva, Abhilakiteshvara, bodhidharma. It's a It's a Zen bodhisattva from China. And in the back is a statue of a more female form of the bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara. You can look at them when you leave, if you wish. These Avalokiteshvara bodhisattvas have realized samadhi. In their unceasing effort to free beings,

[15:27]

they work on samadhi. They cultivate samadhi. Bodhisattvas have the vows, have great vows, like they vow to free all beings so they may dwell in peace. And then to take care of their vows and to nurture their vows and realize their vows, they practice samadhi. And then after they realized samadhi, then they practiced wisdom. So Avalokiteshvara was practicing samadhi and practicing the perfection of wisdom. And in this samadhi and wisdom, Avalokiteshvara had a vision, a vision... became Avalokiteshvara.

[16:32]

Avalokiteshvara became a vision that all phenomena are what we call emptiness or what a friend of mine calls openness or free. All phenomena are seen as free of any ideas we have of them. Everybody, including ourselves, are free of whatever we think about them. So you enter samadhi by giving up what you think about people. When you look at people and think, oh, how lovely. Oh, how unlovely. And you give up your ideas over and over you enter samadhi.

[17:32]

And then in samadhi you understand that actually people are free of all of our images, of everything we imagine about them. We see that all beings are empty of any ideas we have of them. And we are empty of all ideas we have about ourself. We don't get rid of the ideas, we let go of them, and see that we're empty of them. And in this vision, when this great being in samadhi had the vision of the emptiness of all phenomena, that vision relieved all suffering and distress. That vision freed beings so they can dwell in peace. If a child could understand what I just said, they might say, how can a vision liberate people?

[18:46]

It's maybe difficult to understand. And to understand it, we need to enter samadhi. Even if you understand it intellectually, which is nice, we still need to enter this calm samadhi. to fully understand how it could be that a way of seeing is what liberates. Another teaching about the practice is When even for a moment, when even for a moment we express the Buddha

[20:04]

to say for now the Buddha seal now I'll say it again when even for a moment we express the Buddha seal and I'll say it again when even for a moment we express the Buddha mudra mudra is originally a Sanskrit word which means like a seal, like a circle, but also a seal or a stamp, but also just generally a shape. So for example, what I'm doing with my hands now is a mudra. This posture that this body is sitting in is a mudra. hands are in a mudra.

[21:13]

My hands together, joined together like this, is a mudra. My hands this way are mudras. Mudras are shapes. But this mudra also means, especially the Chinese word that they use for mudra, To translate from Sanskrit to Chinese, the word mudra also means a mark, like the mark of a seal, but a mark, a shape, an emblem, a sign. Yesterday, our great founders, Suzuki Roshi, yesterday his great wife passed away in Japan at 101 or two years old.

[22:34]

She used to be at Zen Center for many years supporting Suzuki Roshi to be our teacher and supporting us to be his student. After he passed away she stayed at Zen Center and continued to support us to be his student. She continued to support us to be students of this teaching to free all beings so we may dwell in peace. And yesterday she passed away. Peacefully. When she was alive, the wife of the second abbot of Zen Center, her name was Ginny Baker, she said to Oksan, Suzuki Oksan, she said,

[23:42]

I have a question for you. And Suzuki Oksan was a part of her work before she came to America was to be a principal of a kindergarten in Japan. And Mrs. Baker asked Suzuki Oksan, what's the most important thing to teach children in kindergarten? And Suzuki Oksan, made a mudra. Join in the palms. Join in the palms and bow. That's a mudra. And when I hear that story, I think she was saying the most important thing to teach children is emptiness. In other words, no matter what comes, make this mudra and bow.

[24:52]

So back to the original statement, when even for a moment you express the Buddha seal, all your actions it literally says in your three actions while sitting upright in samadhi or you could turn it around saying sitting upright in samadhi express the Buddha mudra in all your actions. And there's three basic types. Your thinking, your verbal expression, and your various postures, various gestures with your body.

[26:14]

sitting upright in samadhi, sitting upright in an open, calm, flexible awareness, then express the Buddha seal, the shape of Buddha in the way you think, in the way you talk, and in the physical postures that you are Express it. slightly expanded version of the term Buddha seal or Buddha mudra, which is Buddha mind seal.

[27:34]

Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva coming to China in the form of Bodhidharma, this ancestor of Zen, Bodhidharma came from India. to China, and the story goes to transmit the Buddha mind seal. He walked to India. Some people say he rode on a boat part of the way. When he was walking, the story goes, every step he took with his body, every physical action with his body, step by step, expressing the Buddha mind seal.

[28:40]

This is how the Buddha mind seal is transmitted, by expressing it with our body. Everything he said, as he walked from India to China all his words were expressing the Buddha mind seal everything he thought like he might have thought this is a long trip but that thought this is a long trip, was used to express the Buddha mind seal. If I see your face and I think, oh, there's my friend, the teaching is the thought, my friend, or there's my friend, that thought, I wish that thought to be expressing the Buddha mind seal.

[29:50]

I'm thinking for the purpose of expressing the Buddha mind seal. I say hello, I say goodbye. I say hello in samadhi to express the Buddha mind seal. when even for a short time, when even for a moment, you express the Buddha mind seal in all the actions of your daily life, the entire phenomenal world becomes the Buddha mind seal.

[30:58]

and the whole sky turns into enlightenment. This is a statement of faith of ancient teachers. When, even for a moment, we express the Buddha mind seal in all the actions of our daily life, all and each. All sentient beings are freed and dwell in peace. The Chinese character, which is the basis of the word, the English word that I've been using, express,

[32:01]

Express the Buddha mind seal. The Chinese character has other meanings besides express. Another meaning is display. The bodhisattva, the Zen bodhisattva, wishes when they raise their hand or lower their hand that in that action of daily life they wish that gesture to display the Buddha mind seal I raise my hand now to display the Buddha mind seal I speak to you to display the Buddha mind seal I think of you I think of me all these thoughts are to display the Buddha mind seal

[33:05]

And when my gestures are offered to display the Buddha mind seal, the entire phenomenal world displays the Buddha mind seal. Like that statement, when you smile, the whole world smiles with you. When I smile, I wish this smile to display the Buddha smile. And when this smile displays the Buddha smile, when the Buddha smile is displayed in this smile, which I can't even see, I can't see my smile, and some people might think that's not much of a smile anyway, I can't see my smile, I can't see Buddha's smile, I wish that this smile will display the Buddha mind seal.

[34:08]

And when this smile is that way, the entire phenomenal world becomes a Buddha mind seal. And this practice is occurring in samadhi. Another meaning for this word... Express the Buddha mind seal in all your actions. Another possible meaning for that word is the topmost branch on a tree. Another meaning of it is a flag or a banner. And even for a moment, you raise the banner high up in the air, expressing, raise the banner to express the Buddha mind seal.

[35:38]

When I think of this, I think that sounds a little grandiose. But I'm telling you about it anyway. Imagine that everything you do is raising the flag of the Buddha mind. That all your daily activities are like a raising the flag of the Buddha mind seal. So the suggestion is, by doing this, it isn't just that you raise the Buddha mind seal, but that when you raise it in your actions, the whole phenomenal world becomes that raised flag. Yeah, it becomes the Buddha mind seal. Even though some people may not feel like they're raising the Buddha mind seal flag. It's not so much that I wish to raise the flag of the Buddha mind seal, but rather that I wish that everything I do raises it.

[37:00]

make the Buddha mind seal the topmost branch in the tree. And in this way, this is transmitted and the whole world, the whole phenomenal world, becomes the unceasing effort to free all beings so they may dwell in peace. Samadhi helps us remember this work. This may sound like bragging, so please forgive me. But I was in a gym a while ago, and I was doing some exercises with some equipment, and a man came over to me and said, are you using that equipment?

[38:16]

And I made a gesture. And the gesture I made was, please use the equipment. I made a gesture of giving him the equipment. And then a couple of minutes later, he came back to me and said, Nice gesture. And I said, yeah, that's the way I meant it. I meant, hey friend, you can have this. You can have it. It's for you. And he said,

[39:20]

I want my children to learn this. And I said, I do too. The proposal is we can in the gestures of our daily life. It doesn't have to be traditional Buddhist mudra like this or like this. In any way you use your hands, in any way you use your shoulders, or your butt, or your knees, all the different parts of your body, you can use them to say generosity, carefulness, patience, diligence, samadhi, Buddha mind seal. It is, we can do this.

[40:22]

And then, by training, we can do it again and again until it becomes continuous. Someday. already been talking such a long time I want to make one more way of saying it in one of our texts which is called in English the universal encouragements for sitting meditation ceremony the ceremony for the universal encouragements for the ceremony of sitting meditation in Japanese fukan zazengi And in the text it says, the way our translation says it is now, practice a way that directly indicates the absolute or practice a way that directly indicates the real thing.

[41:37]

But a more literal translation would be practice a direct way that directly points. Or practice a straightforward path of directly pointing. Practice a direct path of having what your activity right now is as pointing to freeing all beings so they may dwell in peace. I'm talking to you now, and I wish this talking to be pointing, to be a pointing, to be an indication, to be a raising of the flag of peace and freedom for all beings.

[42:49]

That's what I want. I wish to have that expressed in everything I do. And it's hard to remember when many things come that are painful, messy, scary. but we do respond to them with our thinking, with our gestures, and with our voice. We do. Now there's the possibility to make whatever your response is, whatever your action is, in all situations, to make that express the Buddha Mind Seal. And not just so you do a great thing, but so the whole world shares in that Buddha mind.

[44:00]

And I think we need to develop samadhi to promote the ability, which we have, of making a gesture that encourages people to be peaceful. Sometimes in the gyms, people are using the equipment and they look like they have, what do you call it, they're not raising the flag of Buddha Mindseal, they're raising the flag of this is my machine. And don't anybody come near me. They don't have a sign necessarily saying stay away, but they have their towel over the equipment, their water bottle, their exercise equipment. It's like... It's kind of like, I'm here for a long time, and don't come near me. And if there's a big enough pile of flags saying, stay away, I do.

[45:15]

But if it's not too much, if I want to use the equipment, I actually go over to them and I lean around and look in their face and I say, could I share this with you? And sometimes the gesture they make, I don't feel like they're necessarily saying, yes, I thought you'd never ask. But sometimes they look back at me and they say, sure. Yeah. Almost like, thanks for asking. I need you to ask. To help me share. Thank you for helping me get over my possessiveness. The words, please help me, those words can be used to express the Buddha mind seal.

[46:37]

People can feel it when you're not asking them, please help me, just to get them to help you, but to point to what we're all here for. We do need samadhi, though, to be open and ready to use this situation for the practice, the direct practice, the direct path of pointing to the Buddha mind seal in all our actions of daily life. at the end of one of our songs about this samadhi this samadhi in which we express the Buddha mind seal at the end it says practice secretly working within

[48:33]

So when you make a gesture to some friend who you've never met before, you're not telling them that you're expressing the Buddha mind seal. It's kind of like you're working within to remember this gesture, this good morning friend, this is to express it. You don't tell them. It's kind of a secret in your heart, in your mind. But you're working this secret with everybody you meet. As you say the ordinary words of daily life, you're secretly expressing the Buddha mind seal, or subtly.

[49:39]

expressing the Buddha mindset. feel some reservation and I'm telling you that hoping that me telling you that is an opportunity to express the Buddha mind seal and the reservation I feel is about singing a song and now I feel like even though I have reservations I have to

[50:41]

It's just a feeling that I have to. I don't really have to. And yet, here we go. Once I had a secret love. Once I had a secret love. Once I had a secret love That lived inside the heart of me All too soon that secret love Yearned What? Became That secret love became impatient to be free.

[51:58]

So I... What? So I told a friendly star... The way that lovers often do. Just how much. Oh. Just how wonderful you are. And why I'm so in love with you. Now. No. No. Now. shouted from the highest hill even tell the golden daffodils now my heart's an open door my secret love's no secret

[53:13]

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.

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