Good morning. Good morning to all of you here in this Buddha Hall. And good day to all the virtual reality people who are listening to this on our tape from our website. So truly our our lectures go out in time and space. been talking about practice these days is you fall down, you get up. So there's always time to practice. It's a little like bowing. We fall down and we get up. I was asked, what is the correct way?

[01:05]

What is the? What term was it? It was something like what is the correct way? And he said the first first is to practice and second is to practice. The moon in a dew drop. Some of the writings of Dogen. So the world cannot be entertained unless you practice and without study, it remains remote.

[02:05]

Mr. Dowoo of none. You said it is not that there is no practice and no realization. It is just that they cannot be defiled. It's not that there's no practice in realization. It's just they cannot be defiled. You know, some people find it easy, easy to do physical practice, but hard to talk about it. And other people find it easy to talk about it, but difficult to do. And then you may be like me and find them both difficult. It's actually comforting that there's always a way to practice that we're always falling down and having to get up. So there's always something to me.

[03:09]

There's always a challenge. For those of you who are bored, you're not noticing how much you fall down. Not that there's no practice in realization because people often want to hear about realization. They want to think about realization. They want to be realized. But you have to fall down an awful lot. If you think it can be realized by just standing up, I think that's denial. Part of this lecture is getting settled in this.

[04:10]

I want to just lecture. I don't want to take care of my body. There's always something in front of us. There's always a question in front of the Stogan says. Our life is one mistake after another, one continuous mistake, one continuous falling down and getting up. It's not exactly that practice and realization don't exist or that practice doesn't make perfect. It's just it. It's not in the realm of the way we think of it. People want to know how their practice will help them. Well, that will limit your practice.

[05:21]

If you say, oh, it'll help me in these ways. Probably it won't help you in these ways, but it'll help you in other ways. Whatever you think is going to help you with, you've already got cornered. And the realm of practice is not in there. advantages of living in the community is that you can notice the example of your fellow practitioners. Now, people often say, well, he does that, that, that, that. He's not so good. But you mentioned the other people who have far surpassed your practice. Could do more than you do. Do you want as your example, those who don't do as well?

[06:32]

Well, they can be examples because they keep getting up after falling down. But do you just want to swallow and self pity of being fallen down? Somebody wrote to me yesterday that they're really angry because of some. There was some mistake made at a Zen center and there was fumes from what had been worked on in the temple. We're keeping them from going to the Zen though. Well, it's quite understandable to be annoyed and upset about that. But now you have to get up. You don't have to put yourself down for being angry, but don't spend a lot of time with it.

[07:33]

The good thing about. Falling down and getting up is that you're always falling down. There's always something to work on. I remember category or she was a great teacher who was here once. And this was probably in his six years, probably in the 60s. And people in their 20s were complaining to him about not being able to sit cross legged in their legs hurting. And they said, does it get better? He said, well, my legs became more flexible, but my body began to decay. Another story about Category Rashi is he was in Minnesota and they needed to raise funds. So they got together this fundraising event and they invited wealthy people who were generous. And they brought in Category Rashi to try to charm them.

[08:47]

And he came in and the first thing he said, you're all gonna die. Somehow the fundraising event didn't go so well from there. But there was something real about that. We're all going to die. And we want to stay with our excuses or compare people who are doing worse than we are better than we are. Each one of us has their own value. It's not comparative value. For some people doing one period of Zazen is a tremendous effort.

[09:50]

And they should they're inspiring in doing so. For other people, sitting 10 periods is easy. It could also be an example. But do you want to live your life being rated by other people? Or do you want to be the best person you can be without enlisting? Practice the arrow is always on you. There's a.

[10:56]

He was here for many years. Who's. Who moved to the East Coast and is now dying. And this person was such a bitch, complained all the time, except when he was near death and then he was fine. He had a near death experience here and. While he was close to death, he was impeccable. But as soon as he got better, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I didn't get this. I didn't get that. How come? Poor me, poor me, poor me. But when he had really something to complain about, he faced death. One of you has your own realization, your own truth.

[12:04]

But we often look for our own truth. We look for somebody else's truth. We look for the truth that we want rather than the truth that we have. One of you has your own absolute value. There's relative value, but that's not so interesting. In relative value, there's always someone better than you and somebody worse. But in absolute value, you're just who you are. What could be better than that? And who are you, by the way? Totally who you are.

[13:26]

Falling down and picking yourself up. Over and over and over again. That's practice. It's practice, which is not based on some gaining idea. I know it's inevitable that you have some gaining idea. It's OK. Just don't make a big deal out of it. Make it as small as you can. You know, when I first came to Zen Center, we had two 40 minute periods starting at 5 a.m. and I would get up at 430 and get to the Zendo. I'd sit down. And the first thing I think about is when I go to bed.

[14:28]

That's silly, isn't it? And then there are practitioners here now who who don't miss us at all. And in fact, in there when they don't speak, their practice is impeccable. And there are people who talk very good, but you can't see them on the cushion. There's always a foreground and a background in our practice.

[15:39]

The foreground is what we're working on and the background is we keep those variables the same. And then as you work through the foreground and then what becomes background becomes foreground. So now there's people I'm thinking of who are so strong in this in their silent practice are now working with their mind and their thought process. Usually follows a lot easier than people who think a good game. But don't put their body on the line. Because they understand that they don't have to do it. Oh, I understand getting up every area in the morning. That makes perfect sense. I feel like I'm entitled to say such a thing because I slept in this morning.

[16:49]

I didn't have a rationale for it, though. So I just had to get up. It is not that there is no practice and no realization, and it's just that it cannot be defiled. It means that the world is its own magic. There is cause and effect, but we don't necessarily understand it. We often have groups of people who come and want to be oriented to Zen practice.

[17:54]

And we usually get a group from Stanford every year. And they want to know, why do you want to practice? What do you get from it? They're not Stanford students for no reason. Everything has to have a reason for doing it. But in Zen practice, it's more like you do it for its own reason. You do meditation because you enjoy doing meditation. Most of the time. And then you do it some other times, too. If you're always doing something for some reason, you're always running to catch a bus. You go to school to go to get grades, to go to a better school, to go to a better school, to get a good job. Basically, the why comes down to right now.

[19:06]

Right now, are you practicing fully? Not in order for something to happen, but in order for something to happen right now. The birds are back, the nice singing birds. Are they singing for some reason? Well, maybe. It's not that there are no reasons. that there are no cause and effect, but they can't be defiled. Their greed, hate and delusion can't be fixed.

[20:21]

You just have to fall down and get up. Gargana said the mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. The mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment.

[21:32]

The mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. The mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. It's rather magical. Most of us experience a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, some joy. And perhaps we get some glimpse into the fragileness of the uncertainty of what we think is certain. It's all in a fading light.

[22:33]

They took my mother to the hospital yesterday and I'm finding out it may just be a gallstone. But at 86, it's anything is. Not just something. Maybe cyberspace is fighting back. Now comes the point where I have to say what I really want to say, which is get up and don't be afraid of falling down.

[24:00]

And when you miss an opportunity to get up, take the next opportunity. Don't beat yourself up. Oh, I missed that opportunity. I'm so bad. Get rid of that thought and move on to the next. It's truly an awesome opportunity to be in Sangha. And in Sangha, look for the better examples rather than the examples you don't think are so good. Because the examples you don't think are so good, you don't really know their circumstances. But look for inspiration from each person.

[25:10]

Each person has something to teach you and show you. And look at that instead of saying, oh, I don't have to be so good because that person's not so good either. What kind of logic is that? Why should you live your life that way? You can always find bad examples and you can always put them up as something you should aspire to. But each one of you is more than that. Each one of you can find your own truth and let it shine. And Zasana can be an opportunity to Allow that to happen. To allow your gaining ideas to fall from your mind. Because you don't have to gain anything.

[26:11]

You got it all right now. What else do you need? And you may say, I have it all now, this? Well, there you may have to study. And the place you study is from right where you are. And fully appreciate each one of you, even those of you who think that they're just falling down. We can appreciate that as human beings, we have a lot to work on, a lot to work on for ourselves personally, a lot to work on for our world, a lot to work on for our country, a lot to work on for the generations of people that follow that came before us and that will follow us.

[27:22]

Many of whom have given us big problems, but have also given us great gifts. sounds in these places. So let me reiterate. Fine. And was asked, what was the proper way? Proper. No wonder I sounded so much like finishing school. What is the proper proper way? The first way is to practice. And the second is to. And. If you fall down, get up.

[28:26]

And if you don't notice yourself falling down, get up anyhow. Not that there is no practice and no realization. It's just that it cannot be defiled.

[28:43]

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