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. Good evening, everyone. Hi, everyone. I'm so happy to be here. This is the first week of practice period here at City Center called Nothing Lacking, Continuous Practice. And I want to thank Tanto, Tim, and David, Abbot David, and Zen Center for inviting me to co-lead this practice period with Tim San. And it's a great opportunity.

[01:01]

honor and pleasure to be with you. So I recently just came back from China. It seems like every time I give a talk here, I had recently come back from China, which is true. I go quite often. So just this Just a few weeks ago I was in China and visiting family and also sitting with a group of people there, a small group, and we had the joy of doing a little sashim together in a beautiful mountain village. probably like an hour and 45 minutes from Guangzhou, my home city.

[02:02]

And basically we just turned a house into a retreat place. And one of the bigger guest rooms turned into a zendo. And people brought their cushions and we set up a altar. And so we sat together, and the retreat house was surrounded by bamboo groves and banana trees and a little creek passing through. As I was watching them sitting, I was just so amazed that despite the difference in culture and language and location, this expression of upright sitting is not so different from what I see here.

[03:25]

Perhaps here, right here in this place, we are surrounded by busy city life. And in Zazen, we hear not the flowing stream like in Tassajara, but the flowing traffic. Still, the upright sitting and what it expresses is not that different. And so the theme of this practice period is called Nothing Lacking and Continuous Practice. It's about an exploration

[04:29]

of the relationship between that we are already complete, there is nothing lacking, and that we still do our practice, we still make continuous effort. And this is actually one of the central inquiries in Zen. That if awakening is already present, if we are already complete, then why do we still practice? Does anybody have this question? Well, Master Dogen had this question, and that's what brought him from Japan to China.

[05:43]

Yeah, if we are already, inherently we already have the Buddha nature, why do we still practice? So there's a little tension between these two aspects, and on the surface they seem to point to different directions. And this is what we're exploring during this practice period. And we are exploring this through two poems, two verses, by famous Zen masters, the sixth ancestor Hui Neng and Shen Xiu in Tang Dynasty.

[06:52]

In the practice period classes, we talk in more details about these poems. But in a nutshell, these two poems represent two different approaches or two different perspectives about practice. Master Shen Xiu thought that awakening is not a single dramatic event. It's a process of refinement. It's a process of continuous practice. So he represented the gradual path, the graduate school or the northern school. Whereas Master Hui Neng thought that awakening is inherent and immediate, and it's not through achievement, but it's recognized in the absence of grasping.

[08:13]

When we can let go of our grasping, then our original nature shines through. And in our practice, in reality, these two are actually not opposite. They are complementary. and they are actually not separate. So Dogen Zenji later on emphasized practice realization or 修正一体. Practice and realization, practice and awakening are not two.

[09:20]

They are one. And in Tang Dynasty, around the time of Master Hui Neng and his succession, his disciples, there was a lot of debate between these two points. And on the one hand, there is the graduate the gradual path, the gradual school thinks, you know, the mind is like a clear mirror and you have to keep polishing it, keep cleaning it so that the dust don't accumulate. The dust, you know, our attachments and habits and delusions, you know, can obscure this, uh,

[10:25]

clear and brightness of the mind. And in the Southern Awakening, Southern Enlightenment School, it is said that this is it. We don't go from here to there. We are awakened right here and right now. where we don't have to sit for, I don't know, 40 years and study all the Buddhist scriptures in order to awaken. We can awaken right at this moment. There's not a solid thing called a mirror or a bodhi tree.

[11:27]

When you let go of the grasping of this solid self, then awakening is right here. I requested warm water, being Chinese. And this is perfect. Thank you, Ino-san.

[12:35]

So I don't think I can give a Dharma talk without telling a Zen story. So I can't. noodles without chopsticks. So how many of you have heard of the story of Master Xiangyan, his awakening experience when he heard the sound of a piece of tile hitting the bamboo? Great! Any of you want to tell the story? I've told this story before, but I love this story, so I'm going to tell it again. So, Master Xiangyan, whose name meant fragrance adornment.

[13:41]

Master Xiangyan was a disciple, initially a disciple of Master Bai Zhang. You heard of Bai Zhang? Bai Zhang was the who established the pure code of monastic conduct, Xingyi, back in the Tang Dynasty. And when Bai Zhang passed away, Xiangyan went to study with his elder Dharma brother Guishan. because Guishan was a very well-respected teacher already. And so even when Xiangyan was with Bai Zhang, he was a very learned and brilliant monk.

[14:47]

He had, he read lots of scriptures and he, you know, the text said that, you know, there was no question he couldn't answer. And so, oh, by the way, this story came from the Jingde collection of Transmission of Lam. It's not from one of those Kowan collections that's common around here. But anyway. So he went to study with Guishan. Guishan, you've heard of five schools of Zen. Under Huinen, in a couple generations there developed five schools, different styles of Zen practice. And Guishan and his disciple Yangshan established the Guiyang school, the first

[15:53]

the first of the five. So Xiangyan went to study with Guishan. Guishan just asked him, now I don't need to ask you anything else, but can you say something to this question? What was your original face before your parents gave birth to you, before you were born. And, you know, this famous koan, what is your original face, came from Hui Neng's story in Platform Sutra. And so Xiangyan looked through his scriptures and couldn't find the answer. And he was like, well, I don't have an answer for you, but can you please tell me?

[17:02]

And Guishan said to him, what I can say is mine, not yours. Don't ask me what it is, because it's my own experience. You have to find it out, find out yourself. And so Xiangyan felt very defeated because he couldn't figure it out. And so then he said to himself, what's the use of studying? What is the use of a painted pancake? A painted pancake painting does not satisfy my hunger. So he burned all his books and notes and writings.

[18:09]

So very dramatic. You hear these kind of dramatic stories in many koans, like a student burned, or a master, a teacher, you know, ended up burning all his books after being questioned by like a roadside tea woman, tea lady, or in this case by his own Dharma brother. So he ran, he... moved away to live in the mountains and just live very simple life, chop woods, carry water, just not worry about what he used to do, what he used to strive for. And so he was just doing his day-to-day

[19:16]

temple work and one day well this is also years later one day he was clearing the yard and he threw this piece of tile away and that piece of tile hit the bamboo tree click and then it clicked and according to the story that he had an awakening. And after that, he bowed toward the direction of his Dharma brother and teacher Guishan. Thank you, my teacher, for not telling me what it is. So, and he wrote a poem, a verse, a enlightenment verse, which starts with, with one strike, all knowing was forgotten.

[20:40]

With one strike, all knowing was forgotten. Yi ji wang shuo zi. So in later Zen development, you know, people don't negate this aspect of continuous practice. And they also agree that we are inherently awakened. So later on, there is a phrase called Dun Wu Jianxiu, sudden awakening with continuous practice. So they put them kind of back together.

[21:45]

And so in the case of Xiangyan, you can't say his years of practice and studying had no no effect on him. You can't just qualify his experience by just that moment of hearing the sound of pebble or tile hitting bamboo. However, practice is not about building a library. It's not about accumulating knowledge. It's about cutting through. And so when we come to the practice period,

[22:55]

there is this question of, what is your practice? What is my practice? And how does it express awakening? me or what brought you to this practice? If I'm already complete, why do I get up at five o'clock in the morning and go down to the Zendo? Is practice an expression of your life energy, an expression of awakening in each and every moment?

[24:26]

Or is practice something you thought might be good for you, because there's something missing. Do I come to practice with this sense of lacking? That's an interesting question, right?

[25:33]

I mean, most of us come to practice because we have suffering, or there is something not quite right. But then if we, as we practice more and we keep holding on to that idea that practice can fix me, then it's not going to lead you to a more open and spacious place, because that comes from the sense of self. The more you hold on tight, the more it becomes small and narrow. So there's always this kind of tug that, you know, I practice, I'm motivated to practice because I want to feel better.

[26:50]

I get too much stress at work or in my family. Sitting zazen helps me to feel better, which is true. Is that it? Is that all? How about you're already complete? There's nothing lacking, inherently, in you. in the sense of lacking or thought of I need to fix myself when it arises.

[28:02]

How about just shift the way you think or see and to include that in a more spacious space, more spacious container, more spacious mind. What's happening exactly in this very moment is not just your thoughts, it's not just your feelings. There's also your body your posture, your breath, and everyone around you and the whole world. This very moment is not just this tiny dot called myself.

[29:08]

Yes, it's myself, it's me, but it's also part of the whole universe. So in this very moment, when I feel dissatisfied, when I feel restless, how about turning toward my body and my breath? And how is it in this very moment? So I thought Suzuki Roshi, there's a quote of Suzuki Roshi that's a perfect subtitle for our practice period.

[30:18]

Nothing lacking continuous practice. You all have heard it. He said, you are perfect just as you are. and you could use a little improvement. I don't have much more to say, and I think we can go to the next thing, which is Q&A, right? But before that, can we have a commercial break? So I believe the practice period registration is still open for commuter and online for until I think on the website.

[31:24]

Since the commercial break and you're making this as a commercial, I'll make sure the registration is still open. See? And the second commercial, there will be a one-day sit this Saturday, and I believe you can still sign up for it. Correct? There's four spots left. Oh, there's only four precious spots left. All right. Okay, so here's Q&A. But instead of you asking question, I answer. How about we turn that around? Just for a change. Just one question. Very simple. Very simple question. If you wish to share your answer, please do.

[32:31]

you can raise your hand. The question is, what motivates your practice? What motivates your practice? Yes, Monica. Can you also say your name, please? Thank you, Lucy. This is Monica. I will answer the question by saying the postal clerk at the village I used to live in, I asked him one day, why do I do this? And he said, you do it for the same reason you do everything, connection. He could see what motivated me. It's all about connection, wanting to connect. Connection. Thank you, Monica. Anybody else? Yes. Thank you for your talk.

[33:42]

My name is Miguel, and my practice, what motivates me to practice is restlessness. If I don't practice, I don't feel quite right. You said restlessness, right? Yes, restlessness. And practice helps you to release that? No. No. It's not a release per se, but more like a completion. You boil a pot of water and you're staring at it. It's like, when is this going to boil? When is this going to boil? When is this going to boil? And then it's boiling. It's like, well, you took your time. Now instead it's, okay. Bubbles. Neat. Thank you, Miha. I'm pretty sure of this answer.

[34:55]

I practice in faith that the gain of... Well, the reduction of suffering, the gain of freedom that I've achieved or experienced in practice will continue. And I... apply to this practice, this practice period and all of them, in kind of knowing that I need to keep my eyes open or do this, something along these lines of this practice to keep that freedom and to keep that reduced suffering. But I'm not, nothing else planned. Well, that's a pretty, pretty big... a big goal. Based on gradual reduction of suffering. Gradual reduction of suffering. Thank you, Hiko.

[36:04]

Hiko, yes. Thank you, Hiko. Hi, Tara. I was thinking about when you were saying there's nothing lacking or do you, like you were asking, like, do you come here because you feel like there's something missing? And I was like, no, I don't. And it's interesting because I think I've always, even from like a really little kid, felt like there was nothing wrong with me. And even though like... there were a lot of people saying that there were things wrong with me. I was like, no, you're wrong. Actually, I'm fine. I'm fine. And I think like what happens as we like grow in this world and have experiences like that sort of like that idea or that lightness, that light that was like...

[37:05]

you know, original, you know, to me, was, like, kind of, like, mucked on top of and blocked by all of these, like, experiences, like, whatever, you can call it, like, karma or trauma or whatever. All of these experiences. We all, not me, but, like, everyone, right? Like, this is what happens. And in doing that, like... like I noticed the way that I am towards people and like what I'm putting out into the world is like blocked by all this gunk. And so I practice to like slough off the gunk. And that's really beautiful. So that the original, like the, there's a thing wrong with me, like all that stuff that there's nothing wrong with can actually like come through and like meet the world. And yeah. Yeah. So in Shen Xiu's words, to polish, to clean up the mirror. Maybe not a mirror. Well, the original clearness.

[38:10]

Yeah. Because I think it's better for everybody else. So you practice for everybody else. Sure. Thank you, Tara. There are a couple of hands on this side. Thank you. I'm curious about how being nurtured by and being motivated by are hand in hand. I feel very nurtured and motivated by the practice of others. Thank you, Catherine. Hi, I'm Carter. I think when I first came to Buddhism, I sensed some sort of truth in it, in the practice.

[39:13]

But now what motivates me to practice is bodhicitta. Bodhicitta. The mind's inclination for awakening. So, arousing the mind of bodhicitta. is your motivational practice. And how do you practice that? I don't know, but living here, studying with others who have the same inclination, it makes it happen. Thank you. Thank you, Carter. There's Oh, did you see another hand? My name is Kathleen. Thank you for your talk. For me, practice has been true medicine for my suffering and for trying to understand and work with the suffering that's outside of me.

[40:19]

And it's really true, like it resonates in my heart. And that's what keeps me coming back. It's never been false. So it resonates with you. Is there any hand on the online people? No? Okay. So you have one minute for this answer. Perfect. Avi. And joy and enjoyment. has been a big, big motivator these days. You practice, too, so you can experience joy. I experience joy in practicing. You experience joy in practice. It's a result of practice, not something you seek after.

[41:22]

It seems to be both. It's enjoyable in engaging. And I enjoy engaging with suffering or with others or whatever. Yeah, there's something perpetual about that for me that's alive at this time anyway. I'm sure that may change or who knows. Thank you. Thank you, Avi. All right. Okay, one more, one more. You have 20 seconds. I think I am Roja. I practice as a reminder. I feel like I forget a lot. But I definitely have a secret agenda. Tell us the secret. I'm looking for wisdom. That's my secret agenda.

[42:25]

But, you know, just between us. No longer a secret. No longer a secret. may wisdom come to you. Thank you all very much. It's a pleasure. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dorma.

[43:08]

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