I'd like to talk about right effort, about the effort it takes to practice, the effort we bring to anything we do, about effort as practice. Suzuki Roshi said, for the beginner, practice takes great effort. And Shakyamuni Buddha, in his first sermon after his enlightenment, described right effort as one of the eight aspects of the path of liberation. Right effort means one's endeavor or energetic will to abandon unwholesome states and to

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develop wholesome states. Wholesome means that which supports awakening or enlightenment. If we take this meaning of right effort, one's endeavor or energetic will to abandon unwholesome states and to develop wholesome states. And if we look at it from the perspective of the Mahayana, perspective of later Buddhism, we might say that right effort is to abandon activity which is incomplete or unwhole, and to develop activity which is complete, which reflects our inherent wholeness or reflects

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that we are inherently Buddha. Suzuki Roshi spoke of pure effort. Pure effort doesn't mean right effort as opposed to wrong effort or unwholesome effort. Pure effort means just effort, nothing but effort, just 100% effort, the way ivory soap is 99 and 44 hundredths percent pure. Just effort. Suzuki Roshi said, When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind. You should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire.

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Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out with nothing remaining but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. When this kind of activity takes place, one activity covers everything. So our practice is not a matter of one hour or two hours, one day or one year. If you practice Zazen with your whole body and mind, even for a moment, that is Zazen. Bright effort, however, does not necessarily imply bright result.

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What allows our effort to be wholehearted is to let go of any hopes or expectations of what the outcome of our effort will be. When we try to attain something or set up a goal to accomplish, we're setting up a duality between who we are right now in the midst of our activity and who we want to be. As long as we have some idea of some other way we might be, some other person we might be, we can't be who we are. As long as there is some idea, some ideal or goal, our comparative thinking will create separation.

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The Japanese founder of our lineage, Dogen Zenji, wrote a fascicle called The Universal Recommendation for Practicing Zazen. And in it, he said, the way is basically perfect and all-pervading. And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. He says, if we concentrate our effort single-mindedly, that in itself is negotiating the way. The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, the slightest separation or feeling of separation,

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the way is as distant from us as heaven is from earth. if we concentrate our effort single-mindedly, that in itself is negotiating the way. We practice in order to realize the non-dual way that is always before us. Realization is the practice of non-dual effort, not the result or the accumulation of some earlier practice. Dogen spoke of practice-realization, which means that practice and realization are one, not that practice is a cause and realization or enlightenment its effect.

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Practice and realization are simultaneous. So we place our effort, or we emphasize just making an effort, without looking down the road as to how we can create a particular result. In the Genjo Koan, Dogen Zenji said, firewood becomes ash and does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood. Which fully includes past and present and is independent of past and future.

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They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring. Each season is complete in itself with its own past, present, and future, as is each moment. Uchiyama Roshi is a contemporary Zen master in Japan. He teaches us to put our whole attention into each task, to throw our whole life into each encounter, to meet each situation with wholehearted effort and wholehearted acceptance,

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so that everything we encounter, everything that arises for us, we can recognize as our life. It's not being other than what we are. He says, if we fall into hell, then we need to resolve to see that hell is our home. When we are being boiled in the demon's cauldron, that is where we need to do zazen. So according to this teaching, don't try to run away if you find yourself in hell. Don't rejoice if you find yourself in heaven. Just be one with wherever you are.

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When we no longer try to run away from our delusion, nor pursue enlightenment, then we can accept whatever we meet as our lives. In this way of practice, right effort means when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind. Uchiyama Roshi also said, You might think that to take up the problem of the meaning of zazen while working, or vice versa, to ponder how to practice in daily life while sitting zazen would be the perfect way to carry on your practice.

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Such is not the case. When you sit in zazen, just sit. And when you work, just do that. This idea of concentrating completely on one thing is the cornerstone of the teaching of Dogen Zenji. This is called shikhan. Shikhan means to just do whatever you're doing without adding anything to it. To just do what you're doing wholeheartedly, with undivided attention. We use the word shikhan taza sometimes interchangeably with zazen. Shikhan taza means to just sit, or to sit with undivided attention,

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to sit wholeheartedly. I like to think of right effort as the energetic will to enter each moment wholeheartedly, with no reservation. One way to develop right effort is to practice letting go of reservations. Without trying to hold back some part of yourself, or without trying to protect yourself, practice entering each moment completely, with no reservation, or hesitation. Zazen gives us a form

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and a safe environment in which to practice not holding back, breathing each breath without reservation. It's like walking on a stone path in the dark, where there's a single stone for each footstep. Just step forward, trusting your foot to find the next stone. And it's like bowing, the bowing of throwing ourselves completely into the bow, throwing away duality, throwing away any ideas of ourself, of anything that separates us,

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so that when we join the floor, we join everything. Sometimes people are confused about the figure of Buddha on the altar. This figure is just a piece of stone that reminds us that we are Buddha. We can never really be separate. Our delusions or our thinking may make us feel like we are separate, but we are always Buddha. When we bow, we physically drop, and our body leads our mind

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in letting go of who we think we are and what we think the world is. Without hesitation, just drop. What right effort is will be different for each one of us. No one can tell us the right amount of effort. We each have to find what right effort is for ourselves over and over. And even though we find right effort,

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it won't remain. What right effort is will change as we change. It will be different in different circumstances. So, for example, the amount of effort it takes to walk quietly on the wooden floor in a Zen Do will change as the weather changes. And it will be different for each Zen Do. In Zazen, sometimes it is useful to be strict about following the forms, about sitting upright, keeping our backs straight, about being awake, being mindful,

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not moving. At other times, it works better to accept and observe our body and mind, which may be resisting these forms. Wherever you find yourself, let your effort be undivided. Allow yourself to follow the forms, to follow the instructions wholly, undividedly. But if you find that you are ambivalent, don't resist it. Don't fight your own resistance. Don't fight your ambivalence. Learn to accept your ambivalence

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with wholeheartedness. Don't move away from it. Use wholehearted effort to stay right here, in this moment, with whatever arises, whether it be ambivalence or resistance, anger or comparative thinking, concentration or clarity of mind. Just be present. Don't try to hold on to pleasant states. Don't try to push away unpleasant ones. Suzuki Roshi emphasized daily practice,

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practicing evenly, rather than making a big burst of effort now and then. He emphasized making steady, regular effort in a way that we can continue day after day for the rest of our lives. Thank you. I'd like to end with another quote from Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. Suzuki Roshi said, whether it is difficult or easy to practice, difficult or easy to understand, you can only practice it. The point is to resume your actual being

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through practice, to resume the you which is always with everything, which is fully supported by everything, right now. You may say it is impossible, but it is possible. Even in one moment, you can do it. It is this moment. That you can do it in this moment means you can always do it.

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