Good morning. Yesterday we had a quieter day with a morning of sitting and a walk and also the rain. So hopefully that was a refreshing shift in our schedule. The parable of the Dharma rain in the Lotus Sutra

[01:00]

I've been very aware of in the Lotus Sutra, the Dharma rain comes down covering everything and all the different plants take what they need. So shrubs and trees and grasses all take exactly what they need and what they have the capacity to thrive. with that much water. And I've been realizing that each person in the Sashin is also just like those different shrubs and plants and trees and flowers, taking what you need and hopefully having to, just by definition, taking what you need and letting go of the rest. So hearing from some of you about the teachings that are coming up in the Dharma talks and what works or doesn't work or is encouraging or not.

[02:16]

And each is very different, very different. So it's not one experience by any means. as it should be. I just want to mention that just in the same way as each person is taking what they need from the teachings, each person is also having their unique experience and seshin, unique to each person, the seshin. There's the collectively shared schedule and food and so forth, and then each person is having their own physical events happening, memories, images coming up, regrets, struggles, worries, big life questions, or

[03:26]

you know, for someone else, very, not much going on, you know, kind of like really, maybe surprisingly so, almost you could say boredom or nothing much happening. And that may be in a big contrast to somebody else who's like going through all sorts of things. So just to mention that, that each person is very different in this way, and to be, as I said the other day, leave each other profoundly alone, allow each person to have their space and their experience, and know that it may be very different from yours. During the exercise bath time, I've been practicing yoga in the Abbott's cabin.

[04:30]

And I have a mat and blocks and everything there. And this wonderful book, 30 Essential Yoga Poses by Judith Laster with these marvelous photographs to help remind me of the asana. I remember Judith Lassiter, who was my first yoga teacher, saying something like, not exactly if you don't want to grow old, do this, but something like that. Like, this will keep you young or keep you youthful or something, which was backbends. Backbends. And backbends are a very powerful asana. And as kids, I don't know if you did this, but I certainly did. We just sort of put our hands up and just go back. You know, we were very close to the ground. It didn't take long. It was like a game.

[05:31]

And you could just do it. You didn't think about it much. But as we get older, backbends, anyway, and I don't recommend that you start doing backbends if you're not already doing them regularly. This is not the time to start backbends. which I found out, by the way. So this summer, we were doing backbend, preparation for backbend and backbend during the Yoga Zen retreat I did with Patricia. And I found that I could, well, I couldn't get up. I couldn't, and I was really remembering, you know, back bends will keep you young. And it was like, this is the end. It's downhill. I can't do it, you know. And then I was able to, with a prop, with some blocks, and it was like I got up. And then I thought, okay, we're going to work on this.

[06:35]

And I've done this before with asanas that I don't like because I can't do them, and they hurt. or it's a big stretch, or it's hard to do. So then I'll say, okay, so I have to do that every day until I love it, which happened to me with Ardha Chandrasana, the half bone. It's like one of my favorite now, but before I couldn't do it. Anyway, so I've been practicing, and I've been able to get up, and then I made the mistake of reading that you should hold it for seven breaths, is a long time when you're in a backbend. Anyway, so that's what I did yesterday. And then, I don't know what happened, but I never had backbend. But there it was. So that was kind of overdoing it. But that's not what I wanted to bring up about backbends. What I wanted to bring up was when you open in that way, and I'm going to bring this back to our zazen posture,

[07:39]

And this happened to me this summer when I finally did get out. There's a kind of, in that opening of this whole front body and the heart and maybe the opposite of a way of holding the body and protecting the heart. The open like that, there can be euphoria and joy that arises. And then very soon after, and I was glad Patricia had mentioned this because it happened to me, a kind of wave of sadness and sorrow that comes very, can come also with this opening of the heart chakra, or not even chakra, but just heart body. So I was noticing that too. And in our zazen posture, the upper body, the shape of the upper body, the back, is vertical.

[08:43]

Our backs are vertical with the natural curves, but vertical. And the chest is diagonal. Back is vertical, vertical, diagonal. But many times the chest front body is vertical and the back is diagonal. And to make a vertical front, I think I talked about the pelvis yesterday, but also there's a It may be because of a broken heart is what I think. We protect and... So to come into vertical back, and that means shoulder blades dropping, ear... Shoulders drop away from the ear, shoulder blades, as I think Judith Lester says, melt, drip down your back, your shoulder blades. If you can imagine dropping... that much, and then this diagonal chest, which is an open area here.

[09:52]

This is open. And there may be some, if you are not used to that or are in a mudra of protecting or dropping the chest, that may be very joyful, or there may be some emotional sorrow or sadness that arises, which may be difficult. So I mentioned that if you're going to work with that part of your body, and I suggest slowly, slowly, little by little, to come into awareness of whether you're — often if you are, that mid-back is one point that is rounded, a little bit rounded. in that diagonal shape in the back, and if there's a posture adjustment like right there in that mid-back, kind of straight back from here, I did that posture adjustment once with someone, not this practice period, and I just pressed there and they just burst into tears.

[11:00]

So this is a very powerful area of the body, and to have it shut down or in protective mode, may not serve you anymore. It may have served at one time. And it may be time to explore the physicality of opening to your life. So it's not really a back bend, even though every inhale is a little teeny mini subtle back bend as you breathe in So you're not trying to do that. But just have back vertical and front diagonal, see what happens. Raising, as I said yesterday, the sternum. And another very, very subtle instruction, which is more of a visualization than the possibility of doing it, is lifting the sternum and rolling the collarbones back.

[12:13]

Now, the collarbones don't really roll, do they? But to imagine the collarbones rolling back in your mind and bring attention to that area, see what happens. So I mentioned everyone's having their own unique seshin, and some people are struggling in various ways with memories and regrets and remorse and worry and anxiety maybe, and others are resting in each moment. The other day when I was speaking about the hindrances,

[13:18]

the hindrances that can be dharmagates, but can also, we can come up against these difficulties, the desires, you know, or greed, thoughts, and so forth, and actions of desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, worry and remorse, or restlessness, worry. and remorse and doubt. And someone brought to my attention, Shogun, that I had forgotten to say anything about sloth and torpor, which is really fun to say, those words, sloth and torpor, as one of the hindrances. I kind of skipped over that, so I wanted to go back briefly to sloth and torpor. Sloth and torpor is... The definition is a kind of laziness, a listlessness, drowsiness, sluggishness in the body.

[14:23]

And there's, you know, each one of these, there's so much written about them and so many helpful ways to work with them. But just briefly... not nourish more sloth and torpor, we want to rouse our energy and with a kind of exertion, you know, moment after moment, a sense of exertion and giving wise attention to this. The ways that we abandon sloth and torpor is, one thing they say is knowing that overeating is, you know, when we say eat and drink moderately, so sloth and torpor or drowsiness, this kind of sluggishness in the body may come around with overeating, which I don't, well, I don't know if it's a problem or not during sashim, but it's...

[15:37]

It is something they mention, although eating a little bit more during sesheen is often recommended. So this is for each one of you to know what's right, just right for you. Other helpful things are to change the body posture. So, you know, move into a different posture, maybe higher on your seat or change your legs or something. This can help dispel that. Thinking of the perception of light and also for drowsiness, looking at light. So maybe raising your eyes to look at the windows for a moment can help with drowsiness and this heaviness of the body. These are some general ones, not for sesheen. Staying in open air, which we do have a lot of possibility for that, mid between being in the zendo. noble friendship and suitable conversation.

[16:41]

Suitable conversation and noble friendship are really recommended for all the hindrances, for the greed and desires to have noble friendship, suitable conversations help with lessening that. And other kinds of conversations, unsuitable, can arouse So to actually wisely choose, we're strongly influenced by the people who are around us and who we spend time with. So just note that. Other things about this arousing or exerting oneself, well how do you do that? One is to contemplate old age sickness and death as a way to, okay, wake up here.

[17:45]

Don't waste time. Don't goof off, as Suzuki Roshi said, for the Han. Also, another way to raise your energy is sympathetic joy, taking joy in the good fortune, the happy things that have happened to others. which is joyful for them, but it's a joy that you can participate in, too, rather than resentment and covetousness and ill will and jealousy. That joy can be shared, and the illustration of the example, which I feel is kind of a classic example, which I feel everybody can understand, is seeing... a baby, a toddler take their first steps and start to walk. And it's like everybody's rooting for them. It's like, come on, look at him go. And the joy is just, and I don't think anybody in a Delta is saying, well, nobody's clapping when I walk.

[18:50]

He's not doing it so great. I walk better than that. It's like total sympathetic joy. And that... That's possible with all sorts of stuff that happened to friends and family. You don't have to hold back. So remember that toddler and how you feel. Maybe that image will arouse sympathetic joy. Another is to contemplate the wonderfulness of the Buddha and the teachings and the Dharma. This raises aspiration. Can. When you begin, just the way the Dharma is, good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, and we're refreshed and enlivened by it. And you can bring up the Dharma or the teachings of the Buddha to work with this heaviness. Laziness is a kind of funny word. There's all sorts of lazinesses.

[19:54]

that aren't exactly the usual way we think of them. There's different kinds of lazinesses, but bringing to mind these things will rouse and stir the mind to exertion. The other kind of classical things are to contemplate, I mentioned birth, old age, and death, and then different kinds of suffering, like to contemplate Right now, we have enough food here. We have plenty of food. We're well-fed. But there may be a time, and this isn't just some kind of dream thing. There may be a time when, because of climate change and drought and the bees being destroyed, and maybe even in our lifetime, some of you who are young, where there will be really, that we'll be living in widespread famine, many countries, and food may be hard to come by.

[21:02]

So this is a kind of thought to arouse our practice energies. Same with now I'm well, now basically my cold is over and I'm feeling pretty good, or I'm youthful, or I'm a healthy middle or older person. But there will be a time where it will be very hard to practice because of sickness or old age. And you call that up as a way to arouse. Also, now there is harmony in the sangha, but there might be a time when there's a big schism in the sangha, and it will be hard to practice. So take advantage now. These are traditional ways of... with this particular hindrance, and of course they become Dharma gates. Thinking in that way arouses our commitment, our re-consecration to practice hard, to not waste time.

[22:15]

So they work with hindrances and become Dharma gates to strengthen and deepen our practice. So those are just a few things. And also with sleepiness, rubbing the limbs, getting up and walking, I think, throwing cold water on your face, these are things that you maybe have found out help or don't help at all. You know, whatever you do, nothing helps. So be it. And just a little bit more about the hindrance of restlessness and remorse. and how to abandon it with tranquility. How do you find tranquility? And in reading the traditional things that are helpful for worry and restlessness and remorse, they say knowledge of the Buddha's teachings, asking questions about the teachings, clarifying.

[23:22]

The precepts. And then this one I found really interesting. Association with those mature in age and experience who possess dignity, restraint, and calm. So if we're experiencing anxiousness, restlessness, worry, remorse, then to be with people who we consider calm, wise, mature, that is very settling, very helpful to, you know, explore what's happening with ourselves, with that kind of a person. Whoever that might be, good friend, counselor, teacher, family member, you know, this is not just, you know. Buddhist teachers or something. There are people that we can choose to be with that will help us in this way.

[24:33]

And another is noble friendship. And this last is suitable conversation. This conversation, suitable conversation, comes up with a lot of the hindrances, the power of our speech and what we talk about. can either settle us or arouse more dis-ease. So, association with those mature in age and experience who possess dignity, restraint, and calm. So maybe that's enough on the hindrances. I got enthusiastic about the hindrances and the working within these traditional ways of working with them. So right before the bell rang, I did a verse from a poem by Antonio Machado, a Spanish

[25:49]

poet from the late 1800s. And this poem, written in Spanish, was translated by Robert Bly a particular way, which is the one I'm most familiar with. But I've always wondered about Robert Bly's translation of the phrase, Marvelous Error. And I looked up the Spanish, which it's I benedita illusion. So I sort of saw that more as blessed illusion, which he translates as marvelous error. But I thought I'd read the whole poem. The only part of the poem, at the end, he brings up God, which is harder for me to relate to. So I usually imagine God. the Dharmakaya, actually, instead of God, in that line.

[26:50]

But I'll read it the way it was written. Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt marvelous error that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said... Along which secret aqueduct, O water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk? Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt marvelous error that I had a beehive inside my heart, and the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey. from my old failures. Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt marvelous air that a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart.

[27:59]

It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth, and sun because it gave light. and brought tears to my eyes. Last night, as I slept, I dreamt marvelous air that it was God I had here inside my heart. So these images of water and fire and light and the bees. I thought of this poem because of our bees. And for those of you who don't know, when the hive broke open, the wild bees, other wild bees from not that hive came and stole all their honey. Gentoku and Aaron, I'm not sure who else was working on it.

[29:08]

They looked in, the comb was put in the box, and the queen was alive, is alive, was alive yesterday. And some of the bees were there, but they had no honey. So I think we're feeding them kitchen honey, our own honey that we have for them. But it's maybe doubtful whether they'll survive. So this is the tragedy, this world that's right here going on, this life and death and struggle and invasion and the bandits coming and protecting your queen and not being able to fight for your own food and home. Anyway, it's the drama, the tragedy of it played out right here in our very own lawn.

[30:18]

So this is a tribute to the bees making this dream, and I feel like this, it sounds like a dream, these bees making from our old failures and our mistakes, sweetness and delight. And this water, you know, a spring breaking out, something new flowing and tasting that for the first time as an image. Where does it flow from? What is the source is the question. From what secret aqueduct, oh water, are you coming to me? Water of a new life. And then this warmth of sun and light inside, which may be bodhicitta.

[31:21]

Maybe what's arising is a vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all beings. Or some vow, maybe it isn't even in those words, but some vow to be in alignment with the most, what is most important, what you understand, to be your truth, the true reality of all beings inside your heart. So that's, I think it's called Last Night As I Was Sleeping, and Antonio Machado, So in thinking about this talk and wanting to bring up the Lotus Sutra again, I found it rather interesting that what came up with me was, this is too hard to talk about.

[32:28]

It was just like the Lotus Sutra, this feeling of, no, let's not talk about this. It's too hard. to bring up. It's not able to be talked about. No, let's not. And it was like, oh, this is the second chapter. There I am thinking exactly. So I'm going to try. I'm going to try. There are a couple things in Chapter 2 I did want to mention before I try to talk about this. One is when we're chanting, I think it's in part four of the Lotus of the Wonder's Law, we come upon something which I've been wanting to point out. Maybe you've realized it as you've been reading. Maybe not. But it's the part of the Lotus Sutra that is the origin of our opening the sutra chant that we do before study, that we do before Dharma talks, other than the

[33:36]

when we're not doing a koso, an unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma. So in Chapter 2, it's, I think it's in Part 4, Buddhas rarely appear in the world. They are far apart and difficult to meet. And even when they do appear in the world, teaching this dharma is difficult. Throughout countless eons, hearing the Dharma is very unusual. So those able to hear this Dharma are also very rare. So out of that, part of the Lotus Sutra came and unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect, is rarely met with, even in the 100,000. So when we read that, I don't know what part we are on today, but just to see how that resonates with our... our usual daily chant, that small verse that we chant.

[34:42]

So what is it that's enough? Let's speak of this no more. What is it? Right in the second chapter, And this, you know, the 5,000 that go off and leave and that the Buddha is not unhappy that they go, those 5,000 are eventually also predicted to be Buddhists in a future life. But it doesn't happen in the Lotus Sutra. It happens later. in the Nirvana Sutra. There's another place in the Lotus Sutra where 8,000 Shravakas are predicted, but these 5,000, it comes up in the Nirvana Sutra. And one way of looking at these Mahayana Sutras is not as they're all individual, separate teachings, but they all, you know,

[35:49]

reflect and support the teachings of the others in a kind of wide way. So the reason the 5,000, you know, they left before the Buddha really spoke in depth about what he, what Shakyamuni was trying to reveal to everyone and say for the first time. They didn't hear that, but what they did hear was they were still in the assembly at the part of the Lotus Sutra where Shakyamuni says only a Buddha together with a Buddha can fathom or investigate or reach to the heights of or study thoroughly the true reality of all beings. That is such a form, such a nature, such a body or embodiment, such an energy or power, such a function, such a cause, such a condition, such a result, such a recompense, and the whole from beginning to end is all one thing.

[37:10]

They heard that. They were still in the assembly for that. And that part of the lotus in the second chapter is the proclamation of the one vehicle, really. He doesn't say right there, this is the one vehicle. Later, after they leave, he goes into how that is ekayana, because it's the reality of all beings, is these ten suchnesses, and then... is what flows from that teaching. So the 5,000 who were haughty and said, we have no more learning, we've already accomplished everything, they heard that, and that was understood as, in the commentaries, as a seed for this eventual prediction and Buddhahood in the Nirvana Sutra, that they heard this enigmatic

[38:18]

Lotus Sutra teaching that Dogen takes up and Suzuki Roshi takes up, and I am bound and determined to continue taking up, although, you know, it may for some people feel like this is, I'm really not interested in hearing about these ten suchnesses anymore. It has no relation to my life. It's just some intellectual thing and a list that is so boring, and I would rather hear about Peter Pan or something fun, you know, So I understand that. And that's why I thought, this is too hard. We're not going to, we can't do this anymore. But I have come back with renewed, I don't know what, determination to clarify for myself the importance of this, which, you know, as I said, Suzuki Roshi said, now listen to what I am about to say, you know. And, you know. So what is it that flows from this that has anything to do with our lives and our practice and our well-being and the well-being of all beings?

[39:34]

And our zazen. This is what I'm working on, for myself, going over and over and over, kind of like a backbent asana, really, because it's not fun, particularly. It's hard, and I feel like I can't get it, and then I'll have a little glimmer, but if I stay too long with it, then I get a backache, probably. But coming back to it over and over, I think, is one way. of, like, Lectio Divina, you know, reading and studying in a different way, which is not, because you can't, I can't get it like that. Okay, got that. It's over and over and over.

[40:38]

It's like, what is this? So, I'll just say in my own words how I see it connecting with or expressing our life. Each and every thing, each unique and being and object and thing is the whole. And I think that's one of the reasons that the Lotus Sutra itself, as an object, you know, as a book, becomes this venerated thing. Because where it's, you know, in the Lotus Sutra, it's a very self-reflective... The Lotus Sutra keeps reflecting on itself over and over, and the importance of the Lotus, read, write, copy, venerate, put on altars, make prostrations, to the book itself, the book.

[41:51]

And one thinks, well, that's enough already with venerating this book. But that flows from the teaching that each thing itself is the entire whole, just the way that we went through the suchnesses. It has its own particularity, you know, the unique personality and nature and look and body and energy as we've gone over that. And this book just didn't come to be just drop out of the sky. And the paper and the ink and Gutenberg and... who invented the printing press, and his mother, and fourth mothers and fathers, and everything's included. And it's in this object. This is the entire Buddha verse right here. And this particular object is talking about that particular thing.

[42:59]

So in this case... Please venerate this because it's trying to tell you that you yourself are Buddha. And there's no place to hide and there's no place to go and there's nothing lacking. And please take care of your life and everything you touch because it's the true reality of all existence and all beings is Buddha. You and everything. So this teaching is being said over and over and over in different ways, in a very colorful way. And one thing about the Lotus, and Mahayana Sutras in general, which I mentioned, is the imagery, the panoramic, cosmic play, like opera or some fancy... way of presenting these teachings, which could be presented very dryly, too, I think.

[44:04]

And the Abhidharma Kosha, the categorization and lists, and some of these lists of hindrances and the ways you deal with it, and all that is codified and memorized and is very, very And what happened in the old wisdom schools is it took like nine years to fully understand the Abhidharma Kosha, which is all the Buddha's teachings from all the sutras, the Pali Canon, into this coded way of lists and the skandhas. And it's like reading the phone book or something or like reading programming, you know, for a computer, just like... It doesn't warm the heart particularly. And then you've got the lotus, which someone who's a Lotus Sutra scholar, Michael McCormick is his name, he's Nichiren, says the lotus is more like user-friendly graphic program, you know, with images and you can change the color and you can make it big and you can go here and there.

[45:25]

with the teachings. So it's Abhidamra Kosha is like the programming underneath it and then there's the lotus. So these are different ways of approaching these teachings. And for us, I'll just read a bit of what Suzuki Roshi says. All the ten suchnesses are words that express And then he names two of the Dharma seals, the four Buddha seals or Dharma seals, which are suffering, impermanence, no abiding self, and nirvana. So he says, all the ten suchnesses are words that express things change, he said things changes, and things have no self-nature. So you've got the ten suchnesses, the first five are the uniqueness of each being, which is always changing.

[46:33]

And then you've got no self-nature, which is the causes and conditions and the connection with everything else that allows it to come to be. So it isn't itself by itself. So these words express things changes and things have no self-nature. And things are originally organic, one whole being, which makes one whole life. That is the fundamental teaching in this sutra. So this one whole being is the Choho Jiso, the true reality of all beings. It's just one being. You could call it the true reality of all beings. You can call it Buddha. You can call it the cypress tree in the garden. You can call it whatever... whatever you want to, one finger. However, one whole being, one ekayana, one vehicle that we're all it, not even part of, but each one of us is it.

[47:47]

And to have this kind of understanding or view of life, view of nature, is the Buddha's wisdom. And in this chapter 2, and in the sutra, Buddha puts emphasis on this point. So this is the Buddha's wisdom that all the Buddhas, only a Buddha and a Buddha, or all the Buddhists, and the Buddhists in the Ten Directions he mentions in Chapter 2, I and the Buddhists in the Ten Directions have all realized this. We all see this. And this is Buddha's wisdom. So we hear it, I hear it, whether I've realized it or not, I want to let this in. I don't want to say, like the 5,000, they kind of... I certainly don't want to reject, and I also don't want to say this has nothing to do with me.

[48:58]

I want to open, and as the Buddhas are opening and demonstrating and helping me to realize and enter, I want to make that effort to meet with my effort to study this. you know, to turn this, reflect on it, Chintamaya Prashna. We've already been Shrutamaya Prashna-ing this and reading and reciting, and then to really reflect on it. What does this mean, that each and every thing is it for a life? And then he says, Shobo Genzo puts, Dogen puts emphasis on this too, only a Buddha and a Buddha can exhaust, and that's Hurwitz's translation instead of fathom, this gojin, he says it as exhaust, or penetrates early, the reality of these dharmas.

[50:06]

And then Suzuki Roshi says, this is very important. You know, for some of us, Suzuki Roshi might be the only teacher we ever really accept in our life, you know, like really. and allow in in the deepest way. And so for Suzuki Roshi to say, even though he says it a lot, you know, listen to me, listen to this, this is very important. Then he says this is actually how we transmit Buddhism. Buddhas understand and Buddha's disciples understand. This is our transmission. And the transmission is there's nothing to transmit. You already are it. And when you understand there's nothing you're lacking and nothing to transmit, then we have a ceremony called Dara transmission.

[51:09]

I hope you all read this at some point. This is on the reserve shelf. because he goes into this transmission where the disciple, there's only the disciple, the disciple. Do you know this, when Suzuki Roshi said, when Reb is Reb, then Zazen is Zazen, or Buddhism is Buddhism, think at his ordination. And also he said, when you are you, then Zen is Zen, right? When each one of us is really completely ourselves, then Zen is really Zen. And what is this completely ourselves? And I think it's this pointing, offering this teaching. It's not when we're our small selves. Our true nature small self is the ten suchnesses. It's not so small. I say so a lot when I listen to my talks.

[52:48]

I say so at the beginning of almost every sentence, and I apologize. It's one of those habits. Sho-ho-ji-so, true reality of all beings, Suzuki Roshi says, is things as it is. You know that phrase? That... thought maybe he was grammatically not correct. It is things as it is, the myriad dharmas, the 10,000 things, each and every unique element is it, things as it is. And what will be our actions of body, speech, and mind with that as... What was that?

[53:55]

Earthquake? There was an earthquake last night? Did some of you feel an earthquake last night? What time? 10.30. Let's all for a moment bring positive energy to wherever the epicenter was and that may no one be harmed and may it be small so that no one is hurt. this chapter two where he says, no, Shariputra, I can't do this. I'm not going to. It's enough. It's enough. And then Shariputra asks three times. So he's speaking to the audience who hasn't yet heard that this hard-to-understand teaching.

[55:07]

They've been working with Abhidharma and purification and arhatship and and they have a path that they're following. And then to hear this, that you too will be Buddha, and actually are the same as Buddha in chapter two. I want all beings to realize they're just the same as me. That's my effort here. This is the birthright. So this was hard. hard to take in and it's hard to talk about. And the skillful means chapter, Suzuki Roshi goes into skillful means as we think of skillful means as trying to help someone have something else happen, means to an end. And instead, and this is

[56:10]

The words themselves and the skillful means itself is it. It's not a means for anything else to happen. Just like everything else is it, the skillful means are not about something else. The skillful means is all we've got. It's all we've got to work with. So Suzuki Roshi uses first and second principle. He says people think skillful means it's the second principle, pointing to something else, finger pointing to the moon. Go look at the moon. That's a skillful means. But he says it's not the second principle. It's the first principle. The finger itself is it. Rather than I'm supposed to go look at the moon to understand that,

[57:16]

Each thing is it, so skillful means is it, too. So how does this relate to our sitting? Well, our activity, each moment, day after day, period after period, is a chance Not even a chance. It is expressing this. And when we're running around and very, very active and so forth and thinking about all sorts of things in our conventional life, which we need to take care of, we may not realize it or be meditating on this nonstop. We can be caught up in the affairs. of the world and our affairs. So to, in the simplest, simplest way, to sit down, take our upright posture and fully confess, fully express and fully convey this teaching in our very own body-mind.

[58:36]

There's no other way. or I should say, every way is a way, and this is a very simple, clear, direct way. And the last thing I want to bring up, and then I'll... I'll take some questions, I guess. So Suzuki Roshi says, how we attain this kind of skillfulness, which is this moment after moment practicing, depends on how seriously we practice. Only when you are involved in your activity, moment after moment, completely.

[59:39]

That is what we mean by skillfulness. And this, we've heard it, you know, when you cut the carrots, cut the carrots. When you do each thing, completely be one with your activity. This is skillfulness. This is expressing shōho jisō. This is expressing the ten suchnesses. So this is what Suzuki Roshi says is, you know, when you seriously take this up is when... that's really skillfulness. As long as you make your best, even though you make a mistake, that's also skillfulness, according to this sutra. Usually people don't understand in this way. Usually we say, if you make a mistake, then it's not skillfulness. That's not good skill. Until you do something without a mistake, you have no dharma, and No first principle.

[60:40]

That's the usual understanding. And that is more shravaka way, says Suzuki Roshi. You have to be perfect. Get it right. No mistakes. No failures. That's skill. And that might be our usual way of thinking about skill. That is when we're like really perfect. And he says, even though people do things with... you know, perfectly, this isn't, that's not it. That's actually a big mistake to get caught in that. So the Arahats who said, we're Arahats and we're next to Buddha but we can never be Buddha, that was a mistake on their part. If we do something, even if we make a mistake, or maybe even especially if we make a mistake, but with our sincere effort, try over and over, that's skillfulness too.

[61:55]

We don't have to be perfect, which is such a relief. That's the quality of our life, this softer quality. So I'm going to stop now. That was my attempt to understand, really my attempt for me to understand as best I can how this has meaning in our life and practice. So I know it's getting late. Are there any questions or thoughts? Yes, Mary. Mary and then Tanto? You know what Dogen says, if you would practice suchness, practice suchness without village.

[62:57]

Yes. And I always think, but how? And then I think, okay, you can't plan it. Like you can't, if I think, how do I practice suchness, I'm already lost. You're already lost thinking in that way. But you're not lost because you're already suchness. But this is also where the hindrances come in, isn't it? Because it's like my hindrance is what keeps me from suchness. Yes and no. First of all, you can't be kept from suchness. It's impossible. How could it be? true reality of all beings. So it's right under our heels, Dogen says, it's there within a drop of water and you can't be outside of it.

[63:59]

However, we can be suffering when we don't realize it or rest in that. Is delusion? Yeah, you could say the hindrance is delusion, but our delusions have to be taken care of. We can't just say, well, that's a delusion. I mean, if you could drop it like that, okay, but we have to work skillfully. But it's all within Buddha's mind, body. It's happening all within. It's not, I'm going to do this, and then finally they'll let me in. It's already within. So all your work, you know, all your past failures are sweet honey, you know. Tanto-san.

[65:05]

Yes. How do you see forgiveness laying into that? Is this skillful? It's skillful. Well, forgiveness, there are practices around forgiveness. For example, for all those who I have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, I ask their forgiveness. You can meditate like that. Whether you go and make amends, you just bring that up. For all those who have hurt me, you may not be ready. You may not be ready to say, I forgive you. And if you preempt that forgiveness, you may also preempt some needed work that has to be done, some real work with forgiveness

[66:15]

another person and work they need to do and they need to see. And if you say, oh, well, my practice is forgiveness, you short-circuit that. And it may take a long time. But, yeah, I think the short-circuit is not helpful for anybody. So I don't ever, you know, prescribe or suggest or recommend, oh, you should forgive. Forgiveness has its own life, its own rhythm. But if you're not ever working on it, then it will just sit there like a pot off the stove. It's got to be worked with. There's other meditation on forgiveness where I forgive those who hurt others. You know, they didn't hurt me, but they hurt others.

[67:17]

And, you know, can we forgive them for hurting others? And also, do we forgive ourselves for hurting and abandoning ourselves? So those are, it's kind of a fourfold forgiveness. Yeah. Does that... You're welcome. The other thing was, going back to the heart opening. The back bend, yeah. There's a practitioner who's known to you, who grew up on the south side of Chicago, and might be giving his words that he might talk today, that he might have. Anyway, I was telling him that, as I said, is itself a hardening pose. Probably this other mudra. Probably this mudra. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this mudra.

[68:18]

On the south side. Uh-huh. Yeah, which is like a tough guy. Uh-huh. But it's also a fear. It's a mudra of fear. Yeah, yeah. Yes, definitely. And also, even if we don't cross our arms that way, we can, like with gassho, we can have our gassho really close in, rather than this space in here. So I think a lot of the mudras are heart-opening mudras, actually. Yeah. Well, body language, nothing's hidden. It's right out there. You know, yeah. Thank you.

[69:21]

Okay. I see no further. Oh, I didn't see these hands. Emma. Oh. Well, I would only do it if everybody took a comfortable posture right now. If you want to hear now, maybe it's too late. Do you want to hear about Peter Pan a little bit? Or should we save it for tomorrow? Tomorrow. Tomorrow, okay. And is that okay? I'm up? All right. Anyone else? Was there another? Kogan? I just wanted to check in about, you were talking about the finger pointing at the moon.

[70:25]

Yes. And I've heard that one so many times. Actually, the first time I heard it was Inventor the Dragon, Bruce Lee, who's teaching his disciple. He's like this, you know, the disciple's staring at his finger and he's like, whoosh. Yeah. And what we're interested today was that, you know, it's not that, I think what I was trying to say is we usually think that the finger isn't important and it's like we're pointing up there. But it's the moon, it's the finger, it's the space in between, it's the arm, it's all of it. And each thing completely expresses it. So Sometimes we say one thing, sometimes we say another. So today I was saying... Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[71:26]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click... giving.

[71:36]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_93.88