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. I'd like to start this morning by talking a little bit about really what is the foundation of Buddhist practice. You know, Buddhist practice is an attempt to address a fundamental human condition in that as we engage our experience of being alive, that there's a strong tendency to relate to it in a way that creates suffering and there's the potential of relating to it in a way that takes that very same experience and turns it in a positive way that helps us to wake up not only to the nature of what is, but also to discover how to be liberated in the process.

[01:19]

And we could say that Buddha's teachings are to... inspire instruct and support that process and what I'd like to suggest to you this morning is that we use this intensive as a way to return to that process that whatever comes up engage it in the context of that process engage it in the context of how there's a strong tendency to get stuck, a strong tendency to react, to resist. And how to explore and develop the process to behave and respond in a different way.

[02:27]

To have this as the central theme. And I'd ask you, Chris, not to eat. I'd like you to think of the class the same way you would as Zazen. That you bring your full attention to it. This is the theme. theme of Zen practice. Whatever it is, you bring your full attention to it. And hopefully, as we develop this time together, we can do that. We can look at what is it to bring our full attention. And whether you're staying within the schedule all the time, or whether you're coming in and out of it, maybe in being in it, You can discover something about bringing your full attention and then carry that capacity out into whatever you're doing.

[03:31]

So this notion of addressing something fundamental. And then within Buddhism, there's also another notion. which in later Buddhism, in Mahayana Buddhism, became known as Buddha nature. That as we start to make contact with what's going on and start to relate to it directly, we spark, we stimulate an innate capacity into responding in an appropriate, skillful, and compassionate manner. If you remember the talk I was giving on Saturday, I was talking about doing conflict resolution with two people. And of course they were doing conflict resolution because they had a conflict or they had distress, they had agitation, there was something going on between them that was causing suffering.

[04:54]

and the process of starting to settle down enough to be able to hear something more than the drama of the internal dialogue being able to hear it and being able to attend to it and at the same time being able to attend to what's going on internally well here's my thoughts here are my feelings that something in that settling, something in that connecting, stimulates a process that's innate in our being. It's not something we figure out. It's not something we manufacture. It's more something we open to. And in Mahayana Buddhism, this is called Buddha nature. That's there. It's more a matter of how... do we discover how not to thwart it, but stimulate it.

[06:03]

This is a key element in Buddhist practice and then in Zen practice. Zen practice says, create the conditions for this process to become potent and then get out of the way. Let it happen. And then there's something about discovering experientially how to do that. How does each one of us, given the patterns of thought and feeling, of interacting, of just personal physical disposition. In the midst of those, how do we engage this process? And that's a little bit about what I'd like to talk about this morning. Any questions so far?

[07:13]

No? I'd like to talk about it in early Buddhist teachings. My hope is to communicate something foundational that will give you a reference. The word mindfulness in Pali and Sanskrit, its core meaning is remembering. It's like remembering to notice what's happening. I think it's a very useful process. to just keep checking in when you're caught up in something, remembering to notice. And then within that, just as in the conflict resolution, in the conflict resolution, there's a prescription, there's a structure.

[08:21]

So within the intensive, we set up a structure. We set up a schedule. a shared commitment to how we're going to behave, what we're going to do, and how we're going to relate within that. In Buddhism, the term that's used is sila or shila. The structure, the conduct, the behavior that sets the context, that supports the process of waking up. This afternoon, I'll make up a list of books that you can refer to. And one you can refer to that describes this in a classic way within Soto Zen is Dogen Zenji's Pure Precepts for the Monastic Life. I'll also put...

[09:24]

a reference for how the formulation happened was put together in early Buddhism at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. And maybe we can discuss, maybe I'll put Thich Nhat Hanh there too. Thich Nhat Hanh did a very interesting thing. In collaboration with his monastics, he kind of rewrote the rules, the parimoksha, the rules and regulations for monks and nuns. And I've heard different places around the country, they write rules like, how much television should you watch? So the structure and also the personal relationship to it.

[10:26]

It's like zazen. When you've learned, your body has learned, when your mind has learned this process of remembering, zazen becomes settling, spacious, energizing. When your body's in the process and your mind's in the process of learning it, zazen can be demanding, tiring, frustrating, So just the same, the structure of the intensive, the structure that we set up. If you're used to it, you might find it spacious. If you're not used to it, you might find it unpleasant. And as best you can to be straightforward around your own experience. This is difficult.

[11:31]

to try not to draw conclusions. Can it stay simple? Okay, I'm struggling with this. I'm struggling with all these details about arioki. Or I'm struggling about all these details of the schedule. When we do this, when we do that. When you come to class, don't eat. Why not? What's the problem with eating a little bit? or making yourself some tea or whatever. How can the primary reference and how it's all related to be the process of waking up? How can the process of how it's related be remembering to notice the experience of the moment? So I'm going to go through a three, a four, a five, a six, and a seven.

[12:38]

So the three, the first part is sila, the structure, this conduct, these rules and regulations. And then the second one is continuous conduct, continually trying to return to just experiencing the moment. Samadhi. And as we go deeper into unpacking the word samadhi, we'll see that this is a powerful subject all in itself. But continuous contact. And I think the word noticing is very helpful. Because noticing connotes... It's like a light touch. You notice it. It's not like you have to do something to it. In a way, noticing is asking us to refrain from doing something to it.

[13:41]

And then what we can watch in the mind, is there some impulse? Does it become an expression of our self-criticism? Oh, I'm not doing it right. Does it become some expression of searching for approval. Okay, I did it right. There's some benefit. There's some praise that comes with it. So this process of noticing, simple, direct connection to the moment. And then the process of insight, awakening how do we start to notice how suffering is caused and how liberation is allowed to come forth so on Saturday when I was given the talk I was saying it's a little bit like digestion you know the process of digestion you don't think it through of course

[15:02]

There's all sorts of things we can learn about digestion. But essentially, you put the food in your mouth, deliberately, mindfully, and your body knows what to do from there on. And of course, depending upon what you put in your mouth, your body's going to go through whatever process it goes through. Something very similar. What kind of experience we take in through the senses, the way we relate to it, the way we chew it, absorb it, and then something in our being digests it. Not independent of what we put in, but the process there, in a way, is innate. And to carry the analogy over to awakening, The digestion is being conscious.

[16:12]

The potency of digestion is conscious awareness of what experience is arising. Not what do we conclude from it. Not how do we decide what should or should not happen. But just... how to hold something with awareness, how to let awareness be potent, how to notice. So insight arises. As we look a little deeper into it, we can see that our thinking process can facilitate it or our thinking process can thwart it. Sila, samadhi, prana, insight, awakening, liberation. So my hope is that as you engage the schedule, as you engage our time together, as you remember to take your cup back to the dishwasher, as you'll diligently

[17:34]

make an effort to turn up on time for each event, as you practice kind speech with other sangha members. All these particulars of our life, how they all embody and express sila, how they all create the opportunity for samadhi, continuous contact, and how some process, happens not exactly in consequence of that, but in the workings of that. As consciousness arises in response to experience, something's stimulated. Some insights happen. It's similar with our digestive system.

[18:37]

We may or may not know how that comes about, and then maybe a little bit confusingly, we may or may not recognize the insights. We may or may not notice them. Sometimes, I'm sure those of you who've sat quite a bit have had the experience where you sit all day, doesn't seem to have been particularly enlightening. But at the end of the day, you notice something in your mind is a little looser, a little lighter, a little clearer. Something cooks, something's digested. Maybe we couldn't say exactly what or how, but this, something's digested. So that's the three. Then the four, the four foundations of mindfulness.

[19:41]

How do we carry awareness with us? How do we hold it in our body? How do we remember to notice? So the formulation is attention to body, attention to feeling, attention... to state of mind and attention to content of mind. This is a formulation from early Buddhism, and it's also completely applicable to Zen practice. The reason we would add a yoga session to the afternoon is a way to enhance physical awareness. A way to enhance what it is to connect the breath.

[20:44]

And of course for each of us to have our own personal interpretation of this process. Maybe the yoga I'm going to do isn't so good for you. Maybe you need to do something entirely different. That's fine. if that's the case. You just negotiate it with the Ina or myself. But just to recognize and remember that awareness of body is foundational in this practice. Then the second foundation, Vedana, is actually a... Maybe a little different from how we would normally think of the word feeling. Although it can cover both. Emotions are actually a complex response. We have perceived a situation. We have a response to it.

[21:52]

That response stimulates something within us. and that gives forth an emotion now in that initial in the initial part of the process is what you might call a visceral response and that's what veden is the second foundation so everything from the initial visceral response which essentially is thoughtless to the developed emotions that arise through in risk in relationship to the thoughts and they can be momentary you know you may notice a flash they can be enduring they can be intense and they can be persistent you know maybe you notice you're in some kind of mood yeah so so the feeling naturally moves or can naturally connect to

[23:05]

the mental disposition. Whatever it is, can it be noticed? Whatever is happening, can we notice the impulse to move into content, to let content define reality, define the self, define other? Can we notice that process? The physical, the feeling, the state of mind, the mental content. Wherever we find ourselves in a moment, can we notice? And you can experiment. Does it help to label it? Does it help to come back into your body and just notice how it is in your body so that you're not caught up in ideas judgments about it so hopefully you can bring especially as we start very helpful as we start a process to set up certain kind of habits coming back to noticing the moment

[24:33]

to noticing what's happening. Okay. Any questions? You all look a little stunned. Okay. No questions. Content. Yeah. The body, the feelings, the disposition, and the content. And then just the same way we do that in Zaza, we sit there, we're in our body as best we can, we're connecting to our breath, we're opening the senses, the physical world is engaged as thoroughly as possible, and then we go off into some content.

[26:08]

And then at some point, we remember. We remember to notice. And literally becoming... Interested in the process of remembering. Hmm. What's it like? What helps it to happen? What's the shift that happens in how things are being related to when I'm noticing awareness and when I'm caught up in my thoughts? Become interested in that shift. Hmm. What's that like? How does it affect how I'm hearing and seeing? How does it affect sensations in the body? What stimulates remembering? What sorts of things are really powerful in pulling me into thought, into habits of emotion, of obscuring that clarity?

[27:19]

I was wondering several things. One of them is it seems to me so difficult to go into my body and what you're describing I'm interpreting as an intellectual way to get into my body and why it's so hard for me, I guess, to be aware of where I have a feeling. And the conflict with my head is really strong. But it's really difficult for me to get that. To get the thought, the process into my, to notice what's going on with the body. You know, so caught up in that. Yeah. Professor, part of the danger of turning things into words makes it sound like, when we do all this with our mind,

[28:28]

But actually, that wasn't at all what I was trying to communicate. I mean, getting into our body is a physical process. That's why I was saying, does it affect our vision? Does it affect our hearing? Does it affect... So when I turn it into words, it sounds like I'm saying, well, think about it. But actually what I'm trying to say is, feel it, see it, hear it. I mean, maybe the thought can initiate But certainly, I'm not at all trying to say that's what it is. It's a process of thinking. Maybe thought initiating experiencing through the other senses. And I would also say, wherever we can make contact, begin there. It's more skillful than saying, oh, I can't feel it in my body. Well then, feel it wherever you can feel it.

[29:30]

I mean, if it's just a very palpable mental experience, well, be present for that. If the most vivid experience is the thoughts, notice that. Even though it might seem distinct from sensations in the body, the process of noticing is transferable. As we start to notice through one modality, it stimulates the capacity in another one. Another thing is to notice and to become skilled as best we can around not struggling against our experience.

[30:32]

I'm having lots of thoughts, and I should be having lots of physical sensations. The very process of setting up that dichotomy doesn't stimulate the settling, the connecting that supports noticing. And that very process, there's all sorts of intellectual or psychological arguments as to why we're so prone to it, as to why this seems to be a strong tendency of the human condition. In psychological theory, noting what would be considered the dominant emotions, the majority of them are negative, you know?

[31:41]

It just seems to be how it is, how to become skillful with it. I have a question on Saturday. Okay. I was talking about the process of helping to create the conditions that support being present. And how, within the context of attention, both directing attention and receptive attention play a role.

[32:42]

As we direct attention, it helps us to release preoccupation in our agitations. And as we do that, it enhances the capacity to receive the moment, maybe what we might say more clearly, more simply than just the product of our preoccupations. Yeah. By bringing up that question. It's an unfolding. In the directing attention, you start to notice all the things that take you away from directing attention.

[34:01]

It's like noticing is in between being so distracted you're not noticing, and on the other side, noticing in the service of controlling. And hopefully the noticing is stimulating this inquiry. So if that's what's happening, you notice it. And in the noticing and attending to it, you're getting cues about how not to be caught in control. So the noticing gives rise to the awareness, The awareness stimulates Buddha nature. It's like as we become aware of the grasping, and we become aware of the contracting, something in us starts to discover, realize.

[35:09]

What is it to not grasp? And when we look at the concept of emptiness, you know, we can fill out... more notions around that but essentially that's it okay so the four foundations the five faculties the five capacities And this is where it starts to get a little tricky. It sounds like, okay, well, we're manufacturing something. We're manufacturing something. We're manufacturing enlightenment. But it's more like, what helps? What capacity helps to be in the moment?

[36:14]

And the formulation is something like this. Trust, diligence, mindfulness, continuous contact, and insight. So trust and diligence. Something about... something in us is open to doing the process. You know, if we're completely skeptical and hesitant, we just don't engage. So how do we cultivate that kind of trust, that kind of willingness? I mean, you've displayed a certain amount of trust just coming and being here, right?

[37:26]

Maybe we should all listen to each other, answer, you know, what is it you trust about this process? Hmm. Anyone got any response to that? Or what is it you don't trust? Maybe that would be more interesting. I was trying to trust not to don't trust. Okay. It's the presence that people that live here and the people that practice what you just feel when you feel. What's that? Yes, sir. I actually have nightmares. in which you turned out to be a fraud and everything I ever learned by person was sad. Okay. But I trust that I'm a lot happier and more connected to things now than almost before I started to.

[38:37]

Yeah. And there's a place in the early citrus and usually it comes up in a very strong way. in relationship to experiences of concentration, of immersion. Often, I don't know if it's for everyone, but for a lot of people, if you move into immersion and concentration, there's a deep feel. A deep feel. It's like the way a fish struggles when you pull it out of water. We have crafted the world we're living in, albeit we've got lots of complaints about it, but we have crafted it as our best attempt being happy and avoiding suffering. This is it. For reasons we know and reasons we don't know.

[39:38]

This is what we've crafted, what we've created. When something comes along and says, okay, I'm going to take that away, but naturally we would have hesitancy, some disturbed response. The more we can meet that with notes, with backwards, is that so? There's a famous story about backwards where he gets interrupted and accused. He simply says, is that so? He's living near a village. A girl in the village gets pregnant, says, actually, they get pregnant. The village runs him and he simply says, presents. He takes the baby. Six months later, the girl says, no, no, I made that all up.

[40:39]

I was protecting this other guy and I feel totally guilty. And they go back to hackling and they say, poor guy. It's okay. So accepting. We're a true sentence. It just is what it is. How can you meet the moment? Okay. Right now, I'm totally resisting. Okay? Right now, I'm filled with gratitude and appreciation. Okay? Something about creating a willingness plus engagement. And then it dilutes. Two things I would say about this. One is, my observation, it's a little bit like learning theory.

[41:47]

We all learn in different ways. Some people are very visual. Some people are very auditory. Some people are very tactile. So I would say start where it's easiest for you to engage. When you find it easy to engage, engage there. If you love chanting, love it. Really do it. Get into it. If you love zazen and hate chanting, really get into zazen. Try not to make them exclusive. Try not to concoct within your mind reasons why this is the true way and this is just some extraneous perversion that we're all caught up in. But learn something about trust and diligence where it comes easily.

[42:49]

And let it become a transferable skill. So as you get engaged in the intensive, you know, if there's some part of it that rubs you the wrong way, just notice. If there's some part of it that delights you, notice that too. So trust and diligence. And then this remembering, this remembering to return, to noticing. So as you'll notice in all these lists, the remembering to return, the continuous contact, and the arising insight. They're all there. So developing those capacities. And how do you develop them? Like exercising a muscle. You do it by doing it.

[43:51]

You do it by letting yourself become part of what's going on here as best you can. And then the six paramitas. Six paramitas are a little different notion. Like the five faculties and the seven factors of awakening. They're more in the context of facilitating the capacity. The ability. And then the six parameters are more in the terms of the disposition. Not exactly the emotional disposition, but something in that character. The first one is generosity. As much as you can, hold your own process and hold each other's process. with a certain benevolence, with a certain disposition of kindness.

[45:02]

We all bring a complex array of behaviors to the process of practicing. We're all trying to sort ourselves out. We're all trying to suffer less and be happier more. that it has its own ability. If you think back when I was talking about these two people in conflict resolution, as they settled, the capacity to listen to each other, the courage, the generosity with which they did that. There's something noble about it. There was something worthy of appreciation. So how can we bring that forth? And there I would say, You know, sometimes it's easier to attribute that to others. I would say, actually, most of the time, it's easier to attribute it to others than to attribute it to ourselves.

[46:11]

But needless to say, they both have their place. If it's easier for you to cultivate it internally, start there. If it's easier to notice it in others, start there. This kind of generosity of spirit. And then, again, within the parameters, discipline. That perseverance. keeps us on track. And then the third factor, kashanti, patience, which is in some ways a very significant factor because as your practice continues, one of the things that happens is you become astounded, I think,

[47:28]

certainly I have, become astounded at the persistence of your own habits. You see something, and you see something, and you see something, and you think, okay, well, I'm over that. And then you just notice, no, I just have a new version of it. This willingness, how long is this going to take to work with this? Forever. Okay. I'll just work with it forever. This willingness to engage what's difficult for you, that kind of patience. It's not so easy to persist with the habits you have that help you to be grounded and open and generous. It's the ones... It tells you to contract, react, and download.

[48:37]

Those are the ones it's not so easy to stay with in a matter-of-fact way, to stay open to patients. And then, sense of deepening the engagement. Can you let yourself dine into the experience? And then again, absorption and insight. Letting dine into it, opening up to it, and letting It cook. Those are the six paramitas.

[49:41]

And then the seven factors of awakening. Maybe I should stop there. Any questions about them? Yes, sir. I've noticed, like, in you and in Ingrid and some other people I've met, not so much in other Zen people, but like a real grinding in that early classical, like, Tarot and teaching. And I've tried reading some tippa-tappa stuff, you know, like The Hundred of Dharmas and all this stuff. Why is it that, like, in Zen, we don't look at all these different formulas so much? And is it, would you say, that it's worth like looking into and studying more equally, you know, as opposed to more moderns and stuff. Yeah.

[50:48]

Well, hopefully I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was helpful, right? And here's why I think it's helpful. I think... You know what I'm trying to communicate this morning is... a way to think about why we're here and what we're doing here. And of course, each of us has within the context of our more usual way of thinking about the world and who we are, a more personal agenda, a more personal way of looking at this and relating to this. And Buddhist teachings, they offer... proposition about the nature of existence. They offer a proposition about how to relate to the nature of existence. That's essentially what I'm trying to do in bringing these up. Here's a way to hold our time together. Here's a way to think about it. And these Buddhist teachings do that.

[51:49]

Just to say, okay, one of the primary ways we behave as human beings is in relationship to suffering and ease and joy. It's a primary motivation. Can we get in touch with how we suffer and can we get in touch with how to facilitate ease and joy? So it's a basic Buddhist teaching of Four Noble Truths. And then I would also say that Zen has these as an implicit part of what it is. It's not that Zen comes along and then says, no, no, no, those are irrelevant. It's more like saying, of course those are relevant. Of course those are implicit. If you think about the classic Zen approach, you're only admitted into the training after you've proven

[53:00]

by sitting tangario, by going through an arduous initiation. Then you're admitted into the training. So you already come, haven't gone through whatever process you needed to go through, have that trust, that diligence, that commitment. And then... You could say then you enter into a more refined process. You could say that Zen emphasizes inquiry. As I was saying earlier, what are you noticing? Inquiry. When you look at the historical records of Zen, Over the centuries there's been a debate as to how much Zen students should know about Buddhism.

[54:06]

Sometimes it seems like the debate is saying none, and then sometimes it's saying, you know, teachers like Guishan and Yongshan, they were saying, no, they should be thoroughly conversant with the early teachings of Buddhism. That's why I'm going through this. And then I hope when we start to look at the Zen stuff, you know, when we look at Bodhidharma saying, who are you? Don't know. That we can see that it's an elegant way of saying that investigation, inquiry, noticing is the way to initiate and open up the practice. Any other questions?

[55:16]

Okay. So we're going to end in about 20 minutes. What does that mean? Is it 1145? 45? Let's do something else rather than me talking and you being forced to sit there. Let's do something around inquiry. So if you could... We'll do it in pairs. If you could join up with someone. Someone just... And then if you could sit and face them. Here, you can sit here.

[56:35]

Sit here. In a way, I've been trying to answer the question, what is practice? I've come up with all these different notions and ideas. So we're going to do a repeated question around that topic. The idea of a repeated question is you just let the answer come up. It's not the product of what you've grasped with your understanding or what you've figured out. It's more about this digestive process I was talking about. What's cooking? And sometimes the response to inquiry sparks something.

[57:44]

So in answering the question, just let the answer come up. as best you can. Okay? And then in asking the question, you know, deep listening is an enormously helpful thing. We could say in some ways in Zazen, our mind is rattling away in the hope that we'll listen to it. And then we don't, so it rattles away some more. Let me just repeat that story for you in case you didn't get it. I was really hurt when that happened. I was upset, distressed. So to de-list as best you can. Take in what the person's saying, receptive attention, available for their experience, just as it is.

[58:44]

And then ask the question at a pace that works for your partner, not too slow, not too fast. And the question is, what is practice? So if you could decide who's going to ask first, we'll do it both ways. Who's going to ask first and who's going to answer first? Okay? And then if you just close your eyes, try not to spend too much time thinking up your answers. Okay? But more availability, available to let something happen. Then when I hit the bell, the questioner can begin to question. The U.S.

[60:27]

is doing that. They're both right there. One about the radio, you know, there are a lot of people in the home seats, and we've got a little bit, because it's the U.S. from America. What is great? What are you talking about? What are you talking about? It was all right. What is .

[61:37]

. Thank you. And if you could just pause and close your eyes for a moment.

[62:39]

Four foundations of mindfulness, awareness of body, feelings, mental disposition, mental content. And when I hit the bell, you can change roles. The questioner will now be the one who answers. It's okay.

[64:15]

What is black? It's black. [...] Okay. Well, that's it.

[65:41]

I'm not respecting. Questioning yourself. Questioning yourself. Questioning yourself. Questioning. Questioning. Okay, just there we are and just turn in this direction, if you would, please. Anyone like to share some of the answers that came up?

[66:59]

Being present, being in the body, embracing. Listening. Anyone else? Two words that resonate equal courage and trust. Courage and trust. One thing I've been learning to have my heart broken, my whole life is to have much helped you. Being willing to have my heart broke, the challenge of the practice. Put it forth and then negate it.

[68:23]

Girl I used to know. So not to say that inquiry... Go ahead. Let me finish this process. Not to say that inquiry was the invention of the Zen approach, but certainly within the Zen approach, that kind of...

[69:34]

question and response, that kind of meeting the moment with inquiring mind has a strong presence in the Zen school. One way we could say is that it stimulates that insight, that intuitive knowing, not so much that then we can grasp the answer. Okay, that's what practice is. But more, it's something in the process of inquiry and response, something's revealed, something comes to light. Maybe we say something that we're surprised by what we said. Maybe we say something and in the saying of it, it has a depth or significance that we hadn't realized before, or that we hadn't been in touch with for quite a while or something.

[70:40]

And then something about the very process of inquiry. There's something in our being that's inquiring. We look and we give name to what we're seeing. and we give name to what we hear. This is innate in our being. How can it become an ally in the process of presence? How can it become an ally in the process of waking up? So it's not so much that we're trying to shut off mind. It's more we're trying to be skillful with it. It's not so much that we're trying to shut off who we are. It's more we're trying to relate to it in a way that literally supports waking up.

[71:55]

And so each time we sit down to do Zazen, it's not like, oh, this is how you do Zazen. It's this mechanic or wooden process that you... afflict upon yourself. It's more of an inquiry. What's happening? What is it to be this being called me on this occasion, in these circumstances? How does it play itself out? There's an innate curiosity. There's an innate... exploration in our being. How to align with that rather than feel like, well, I'm doing something that doesn't allow that. It just asks for compliance. This certainly is the spirit of a Zen school. And then, of course, it has all these strange stories, shouts and gestures.

[73:04]

Just to say that something about sparking the originality of the moment. Something about the answers we have are relevant. And something about... They're speaking about something beyond the words we chose. but it will allow for that. So that's my answer, Adam. Okay. So just in ending up this morning, This afternoon I'll put together a book list.

[74:13]

I know some of you might be quite new to Buddhism and then some of you are not at all. And so I'll put together a book list and if there's something that you're interested in that's not there, you can ask me about it. I'll try to give you a reference that you can study. Most I'm going to be looking at books that, for now, that relate to early Buddhism. These lists. Thich Nhat Hanh has a nice little book, The Heart of Understanding, has all these lists in it. As I said, Dogen Zenji's books on the Shingi, The Rules and Regulations of Monastic Order. And then we'll put them downstairs in the reading room.

[75:19]

And then over the next couple of days, I'll add to them other references and maybe print up some handouts with regards to them. But just to cap what I was trying to say this morning was just... Something about becoming genuinely curious about the human condition. Something about the process of noticing. And noticing that stimulates something in our being, below our thinking. And noticing that stimulates our natural curiosity. And if we can start from there, the teachings of Buddhism make sense to addressing our life, but not in the way that maybe arises from the question, am I going to get what I want and avoid what I don't want?

[76:41]

They make sense in a different way. Thank you. 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. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[77:16]

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