You know, we have, there is a phrase in Japanese called the great matter. I'm not sure what means. It's going to mean something like, please take care of the great matter. It's something to say to someone who can say goodbye. And this great matter is also part of a verse that sometimes chanted at the end of the day in Zen monasteries. Great is the matter of birth and death. All is impermanent, soon gone. Wake up, wake up. Be awake each morning. Don't waste this life. It's generally on the pond, that wooden block that sounds So you can get real serious about this week.

[01:07]

And maybe that's the problem. I was talking a few weeks ago about being welcoming and friendly. It's a very important matter. It's true. But you know, what is there to do with this matter of what is it that can live our life to a place, expressing ourselves completely in each moment? the question of being friendly and welcoming at the front door, you know, a smile is very important. And when I was thinking about this, someone reminded me, and I'm okay, I don't remember who it was, but I really want to thank him, that Kidnappan was close to a smile as mouthy over.

[02:17]

So that comes up for me now, every morning as I arrange myself in Sazen Foster. to not forget the mouth yoga. And you know, the expression on your face affects how you feel. Just as how you feel affects the expression on your face, it works the other way. Someone said to me a few weeks ago, you know, in some way you disapprove of me. I don't. And I really need to work on it. I remember reading a book by someone who had come to do

[03:24]

training with Thich Nhat Hanh at Phum Village in France. And I remember very vividly one thing she said in there was that Thich Nhat Hanh said, if I come up to you in the kitchen and say, what are you doing? I would much rather you say breathing and smiling time than to have you say cutting hair. You know, he's always this about mindfulness, being mindful of what you're doing in each moment. And although you may be cutting carrots, are you breathing? Are you still aware of your breath? Are you smiling? And it struck me because I do notice that when I actually choose to smile, it affects how I feel. And it certainly affects how I am perceived And of course, how I'm perceived by others has everything to do with this practice.

[04:34]

You know, my text today is a page from the Los Angeles Times. It's a song in the line. Do I hear things? I'm still a preacher. Hey. Comes on, had one. who left and went all around to the various Zen temples seeking. But no matter where he went, the name of Khosan was mentioned to him as the name of a great master. Finally the monk returned and in interviewing Khosan he said, you were reputed to have the greatest understanding of Zen. Why did you not reveal this to me when I was here with you before? When you boil rice, did I not light fire? When you pass around the food, did I not offer my bowl to you?

[05:40]

Where did I betray our expectations? And with that, that's many of these stories, and with that, I don't know. So what I get from this is, we are teaching in each moment we are conveying our understanding of life to each other in each interaction how we live our life next and how we walk around as simple to respond to someone. Because this is how I'm teaching. Not when I sit up there on the platform and say them. You know, this verse that we chant, an unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma, Israeli myth, even when he does it, having ever seen and listened to his memory.

[06:50]

I vow to taste the truth, which Dr. Floyd It has to do with what I'm saying last year. I don't think that's the meaning of that verse. It says that unsurpassed communicating in perfect dharma is rarely met with. The unsurpassed communicating in perfect dharma is all around us all. The truth of what is, is never perfect. But what the verse says is we rarely meet I rarely actually meet what is life. And one of the verses says, I vow to taste the truth of these words. Taste is a very different sensation. I vow to really need it, understand it, make it my own, and cooperate it.

[07:57]

incorporate it in my body. And if, for example, I am going to teach, as I often do, the great value of wholehearted practice. You know, the great value of wholehearted practice is, when you're practicing wholeheartedly, you get to have whole heart. It's very important to me to realize what a gift life is. And the importance of the practice of gratitude is you get to feel gratitude. It's not like you should do it for somebody else. It's just in feeling grateful for this life.

[09:04]

offer that feeling to others as well. If we want to teach something about the Dharma, what I think Kassan is saying is that our understanding of the Dharma communicates itself in every activity of body, speech and mind. In every activity we communicate our understanding of the Dharma. You know, I've been ill for that seven days, and I knew I was getting it home today, and I was reading a book which I love, which is not always a collection of the group of Roshi's thoughts, some of his later thoughts. Send My Beginner's Mind is a collection of some of his early thoughts, and not always a collection of some of his later thoughts.

[10:07]

And I noticed that, you know, as I was reading, when I talked about that, and I realized, you know, if I start reading, I will read the whole book. Because he really does give back what I do. He's very inspiring. But for me to read this text to you doesn't make any sense. It's available. You can read it. What's important is that my life be informed by his teachings and that I live my life in a way that conveys his teachings, in a way that conveys his great appreciation for each one of us, in a way that he understood that each one of us is perfect just as we are.

[11:10]

One of the things I wanted to read is a talk in which he says, of course you are perfect from the beginning, but you don't need to say so. I have struggled in my life and had many discussions with people who have been ordained to try to understand what is renunciation. What have I remembered? Renunciation is a big part of being ordained as a monk. Being ordained as a monk is leading home. It's renouncing home. And every time I look at my life it seems to me I have everything I need. What about now? And I've had this conversation with others.

[12:15]

But in one point he's talking about not even thinking I am is renunciation. And Quinty is talking about the the six confections, or the six practices of the body, the first one is dhamma, or generosity, or giving. And Bukai says, dhamma is relinquishment. Relinquishment of what? Relinquishment of self. It seems very close to Suzuki Roshi saying that renunciation is just, don't even think I am, I am this, I am that.

[13:22]

Don't get involved in any distinction between me and me. The idea of self another I mentioned before. The teaching in the angelic khan of the study of Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be awakened by the nature. To be confirmed by the nature. This forgetting the self very important and very difficult. You have to know it's difficult. Now, I hear a self comes up from you all the time.

[14:24]

And I've shared with you again a quotation from St. John's Holy Spirit where he says, above all of the you I need some help.

[15:57]

I need to work on it. I was, you know, I got up this morning to see if there was anything I might be able to eat. And someone came up to me in a very simple fashion and made some chocolate jokes and I responded to that. I'm sure back in the day it was, don't bother me. And I realized, well, you know, if I feel like that, I should just stay in my room until I feel better. Just go out of the room if you feel too bad. I was saying, life is much too serious to think it's so serious.

[17:03]

The straight manner of birth and death is to bring our attention. We appreciate that.

[18:10]

Which actually, what I've been doing one day. Tell me, is there something else that I've been doing? Doesn't everything die and consume? Tell me, what is it your plan to do? If you're one mile. that it is, will you express that appreciation by the way you address the people around you?

[19:11]

Will you appreciate your opportunity for this very meeting, for this very person, which will never happen again? Will you convey to this person your appreciation of this very meeting? What will you teach in the way that you do this? What will you convey to people by your activities of each moment? What is important to you? What marriage do you need? What do you want to convey to people? Do you want to convey a precious life that's in it? and how much you appreciate the gifts that you're doing, and how much you appreciate the gifts that you're getting in your life.

[20:11]

What is it that you want to communicate? Please realize that you're communicating all with you. Whatever it is that you want to communicate, pay attention. Because you're communicating something If you want to communicate surliness, as I did this morning with you, you can, but it doesn't. I want to face on your life in that moment. And guess who gets the pace of it? So you get to face that too.

[21:18]

If you express yourself in a friendly way, you get to feel free. Nothing about this from that. So what I'm suggesting is we need to be aware of how we are in the world. We need to be seeing attention in each moment. How we are in this moment. What is it that we want? What is it we would like to see coming back from the world? How would people respond to us if we respond to them in such a way? That's the role we get to live in. So it matters what you do. I think that's the meaning of the expression for daiji.

[22:22]

just as you are, that you're already here from the beginning. Then we should see to it, and we should see everything. Let's do it. This is the literature's most special teaching for me. And he repeated it many times in many ways. But he conveyed it mostly by training me And that's the important thing to me that I want to tell them. Learn that valuable lesson from them. What is that saying, your actions are speaking so loud I can't hear what you're saying? Something like that. I want to convey the fact that I've seen this much.

[23:57]

Look at you. I can think of it. Mm-hmm.

[24:04]

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