This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. So the subject of this practice period has been the body as great vehicle practice. And by extension, this sashin also is the subject of this sashin. And so, for eight or nine weeks, some of us have been studying the experience of body and mind. Studying the experience of how they influence each other, of how They are completely interwoven with one another, with how they arise from each other.

[01:08]

And I would say that even if you have not been in the practice period, if you've done any sitting this morning, you've already had an experience of the study of body and mind. So in Zen, it's often said that body and mind are one. And at some level, we know this intuitively. We know this in a way that seems quite mundane. So for example, if you were driving a car along some long country road, and it's nice and smooth, and the weather is beautiful, and maybe there's a mountain or two to have a look at, and you're just having a nice, relaxed drive, your mind might be one way. And then if you arrive at a town and there is some intersection and somebody runs through the stop sign because they didn't see it, and they swerve around you so as not to hit you,

[02:27]

and you feel that clenching in your gut and that quickening of your breath, then your mind might be another way, just from moment to moment. So we know that. We know that relationship at a very everyday level. So the question might arise, what does this have anything to do with great vehicle practice? So the Mahayana is said to be the great vehicle. That's a particular school of Buddhism. And it's a school that is about a way of practice that is being in the world. A way of practice that is not about escaping the everyday reality of our lives, but to really immerse ourselves in it over and over again. Really finding ourselves

[03:31]

finding our Buddha nature within this world of delusion. This is what's called the path of the Bodhisattva, the Mahayana path. And that's the school in which we practice here at Zen Center. And so it's natural that it's a very physical practice. It's within the world. That's how we experience the world, through contact with our body, mind, It's a natural thing. And actually, one of the most physical practices that we do is to sit zazen. So if you're sitting sushin, then you are involved with that physical practice. And if you're doing cooking sushin in the kitchen, then you're also involved.

[04:33]

in a different form of physical practice. So the real question is, how is all of that transformative? How can our physical practice, our experience of this body-mind, be transformative? Sen. Master Dogen, who is the founder of this school, says, he has this to say about it. He says, just this seeing and hearing goes beyond seeing and hearing, and there are no other sounds or colors to offer you. Having completely settled within this, you are genuinely beyond concerns. Just this seeing and hearing goes beyond seeing and hearing.

[05:35]

So this going beyond, this might sound like some really special state. This might sound really like something fantastic. But it's going beyond seeing and hearing. But actually, the phrase is, just this seeing and hearing is the going beyond already. So Dogen here is really pointing to our most basic experience, our realm of the senses, our natural state as being already an awakened state for us to discover. Just this seeing and hearing is already going beyond. So why is it that this can be said? So the basic underlying teaching there is something to do with this phrase that the true nature of form is actually formless.

[06:46]

Or another way of saying it is that the inconceivable is inherent in the mundane. So this is really the great gift of Zen, that there is nothing inherently wrong with this world of delusion. There's actually something really inherently, we could say, beautiful to discover about it. So I want to give an example of how this... can be experienced. Something that happened to me, I was practicing in the monastery and a group of monks, some of the monks, probably four or five of them or so, had gone off to a meeting. They'd gone to a meeting that was offered by the administrative body of the Soto School.

[07:50]

And they came back and they felt like they had some things that they wanted to tell all of us. So we were going to have a meeting to hear what they had heard. And it was summertime and really hot. Really hot. Like the kind of hot where you're sticky all day long. And so the folks who were the practice leaders at this particular temple, through their great beneficence, handed out fans. Little fans that you... that you hold in your hand. For us, so we'd feel a little more comfortable in the heat. And so we were having this meeting. It was going to be held in the evening, and it's indoors. So even though it was a nice, clear night, we were going to be indoors.

[08:51]

And everyone sit around, and we were told, bring your fans. And we're going to sit in this room and talk a little bit about what happened at that meeting. And so there we are. And the fan, so everyone brought their fan. And it was just, you know, it's a little piece of plastic, basically, a white plastic handle fan. It's kind of an oval-shaped thing, blue, with some little white dots on it. And when they first handed out the fans, I was really curious to see what This was because it was actually the constellations. It was a picture of the night sky in a certain part of the country where we were. So that's what was on the fan, a picture of the night sky. So there we were, and we're sitting there having this meeting, and the folks who are running the meeting are there talking, and they're just droning on and on about...

[09:55]

stuff that even they don't want to be talking about, really. And we're all sitting there, and it's hot, and we're just melting. And so the monk that was sitting next to me picked up his fan and started waving it. Right? He's trying to cool himself off. And he started waving his fan. Suddenly, with one flick, as I was watching the fan, it went completely white. So the fan was made of this kind of shiny paper. And so under the fluorescent light, it just completely went blank. No more night sky. No more fan even, just white.

[10:57]

And then another flick, and we're back to the constellations and the stars and the idea of night and how we understand the stars in the sky. So it's probably pretty obvious to you that there's nothing special about this fan, right? There's nothing special about my eyes. about the fan, about the paper of the fan, about the light, about the way that the monk was waving the fan. But just in the natural way of things, it was possible to go from the idea, the concept of night sky, to the formless. where there is no concept of night sky. Now, mind you, this was for me not complete because there was still the observer, right?

[12:06]

So complete oneness with that thing would have been a place where there was no one observing. But in any event, I tell you because for me, this was a wonderful example. This was kind of a moment of actually... experiencing that it's possible to drop that conceptual realm in a very everyday kind of moment. And this actually is true for all of us in every moment. This possibility, this actuality, yet we have to practice to realize it. Chances are it's not just going to jump up and hit us over the head without practice, without some effort.

[13:16]

And so what kind of practice might be helpful? And Dogen hints at it in the second half of this phrase. So again, the phrase is, Just this seeing and hearing goes beyond seeing and hearing, and there are no other sounds or colors to offer you. So what is he hinting at there? He's hinting at the mind that is always looking for something outside of this moment. He's looking at the mind, the comparing mind, the mind of jumping to the future, the mind of, I don't like this, I'd like it to be like that. Some other sound would be nice. I'm sick of hearing the bus or the siren or the traffic. That's that mind that he's pointing at. And yet, what he says is, there is nothing else.

[14:19]

That seeking isn't helping you go beyond. So I want to read to you just a phrase or two from Harada Roshi about this. What does it mean to make something clear? Is there a time when things are not clear? If there is something you don't understand, there is no reason to think that you can understand it. When you truly understand that you can't understand what you don't understand, in other words, when the seeking mind, which wants to understand, disappears, this is true understanding. This is what we call cause and effect. At that point, you are free of the problem. So when you truly understand that you cannot understand what you do not understand, in other words, when the seeking mind which wants to understand disappears, this is true understanding.

[15:47]

So really... For me, what that's talking about is a practice of acceptance. A practice of really radically accepting exactly what is in the body-mind at any given moment. Not that it's okay, but that it is what your present experience is. So this kind of acceptance is really nothing to seek outside of your everyday experience. So assenting to that which is as a way of seeing how it expresses the ultimate. But the hard part is actually just to be here and now.

[16:56]

The hard part is actually to be present with others. your present moment experience oftentimes. For me anyway, right? This is what happens. I sit in Zazen for a while and then I notice that I've started to go off to some other thing. That's a typical experience. And then something might happen. You might hear a crash of a pot in the kitchen. And suddenly you're back to this moment. You're back to that present moment of hearing that sound rather than being in whatever future or past that you were imagining at that time. So for me, it's also a practice of gratitude to be thankful that I heard a pot crash in the kitchen, to be grateful for whatever it is that seems to interrupt

[17:59]

whether it's my seatmate adjusting their posture, or whether it's the sound of somebody yelling in the street. All of these things are simply our present moment experience. And to turn those experiences back... to reflect on who it is that experiences that, what is it that experiences that. That is the practice of being in accord with this present moment, of accepting this present moment. So let me just also read a few words about the way that Suzuki Roshi expressed this.

[19:07]

So he says, to realize the truth is to live, to exist here and now. So it is not a matter of understanding or of practice. It is an ultimate fact. Even before we practice it, enlightenment is there. but usually we understand the practice of zazen and enlightenment as two different things. Here is practice, like a pair of glasses, and when we use practice, like putting the glasses on, we see enlightenment. But this is the wrong understanding. The glasses themselves are enlightenment, and to put them on is also enlightenment. So even before we practice it, enlightenment is there. And still, we're going to sit sishin for seven days.

[20:15]

We're going to sit and study the experience of body-mind. We're going to practice with our six senses. So in Buddhism we say that there are six senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking. And this is an important point, that thinking is a function just like hearing. It's not something that needs to stop. It's not something that needs to be judged. It's simply the natural state of things. And when treated like that, when treated without grasping or rejection, then you might find that the thinking, that it's less...

[21:34]

It is, how can I say this? It carries the same weight as the other sense functions. You don't have to be pulled by it or pushed by it. You can simply see the thought arises. I wonder what's for lunch. Hmm. And just leave it at that. And just leave it at that. So sitting in Zazen, the thing seen and the thing that is seeing are actually one. They can be experienced as one. Even if you have this sense of the observer, that is still the thing seen and the thing seen as one. So, just like Jordan referred to yesterday, Ling Yun, seeing the peach blossoms, there is nothing special about that tree or his eyes or Kyogen hearing the pebble, the story of Kyogen.

[23:09]

was that he had practiced for many, many decades, for several decades with his teacher. And he finally got really fed up. He said, you know, this is not working. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. And so he went off to a little hut in the mountains. And there he was, just doing what had to be done. cooking the meal, doing a little housework, washing his bowls. And at some point he went out to the front porch and he was sweeping the porch of his hut. And there was a little rock, a little pebble that jumped up and hit a piece of bamboo. And you know, bamboo is kind of hollow, so it sounds like... Like that, the pebble would have hit the bamboo with a little knock.

[24:14]

And in that moment, he was able to see how it is possible, he was able to experience how it is possible to relinquish the conceptual realm with some very simple thing. So, it is said that this very ground is the ground of awakening. And I just want to assure you over and over again of that. So, please, Siddhasen wholeheartedly. Siddhasen with your six senses. with your six senses. Wash your oryaki bowls with your six senses.

[25:25]

That's enough. That's really quite enough. So I hope that you all have a moment-by-moment sashing. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[26:10]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_98.16