This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Thank you for coming to the meeting. A couple formal things. At the noon meal, We, during practice period, we make a spirit offered. And the way we do that is take a little bit of grain, usually, from the first bowl, and put it on the tip of your setsuit. You know what a sessu is?

[01:03]

And then when the server comes, they will take a little rake and rake the offering from the tip of your sessu onto a... Don't tell me. It's called a dustbin. And a little shovel. And... When they do that, maybe put your finger on the cloth end of your sepsis so that it won't be stable. Does that make sense? And then, after they wipe it, you're in the gas shell. And that can still palpate you. Does that make sense? Maybe we'll start that today. Yes. And also during Zanjaya, sometimes I walk around the Zenido, and I check your posture in the eyes.

[02:07]

Sometimes I put my hand on your back, just to see how your spine is. And this is not posture correction, it's more like posture awareness or something. And sometimes I might make a suggestion, but just if I put my hand on it, I get a feeling for your posture in addition to my visual. And you can also feel your posture. So it's for you, too, to see how you feel when the hand goes down your back. And sometimes I make a suggestion to the neck or head or spine. But again, it's not a correction, just a suggestion. Because sometimes I might suggest something and you might feel like, oh, okay, but I can't do that for very long or whatever. So that's okay. Just a suggestion. Maybe later you'll be able to use that information.

[03:11]

Does that make sense? And one more thing is, over there by the altar is Dan Howe. So he's acting as... the attendant for the Oscars. And if you want to make appointments for Doxan, you can see him. He'll arrange the meeting. And one other thing is, just walking over here, I thought, it just seemed like yesterday I was walking over here to have a class here. I tell Sarah, can I practice my Also, I wanted to tell you that the situation where my body is fragile, so I'm trying to adapt to the physical situation of the practice period, finding my way.

[04:15]

But, you know, I haven't been doing this recently because I had a major surgical procedure and And I have various difficulties around that, so I'm finding my way to do things a lot, usually. Please support me. People say, are you looking for it? I say, well, I'm actually dreading it. They say, why? I say, look, that thing is going to be hard for me. Also, people have asked me, or throughout the year, I said, is there going to be some topic for the teachings? And I have said, I've responded to the question in various ways.

[05:17]

The question is, is there some topic for the teaching? And so today, I think just... I thought I'd like to use this word very much, but today the topic of the teaching, I would say, is Zazen. That's one name for the topic of the teaching. And then, for me, when I'm using that term, what I mean by Zazen in a particular school, So the word zazen just means seated meditation, and there's unlimited ways of people understanding what seated meditation is. There's Christian seated meditation, Muslim seated meditation, Jewish seated meditation, Hindu seated meditation, Taoist seated meditation.

[06:28]

In the Buddhist tradition, there's many kinds of seated meditation. So, when I'm talking about Zadda, I mean Zazen. Basically, I mean Zazen the way I mean it. And the way I mean it is influenced by lots of stories I've heard in the Buddhist tradition, stories I've heard about the founder, Shakyamuni, stories I've heard about many Indian disciples of the Buddha, like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Asanga. These are names that, the way they practice seated meditation is a big influence on the way I understand what the traditional, or what a traditional understanding is. And then in India, in China,

[07:30]

Bodhidharma, and then the whole lineage coming down to Bodhidharma, to Dogen, and then after Dogen, there's lots of ancestry, and then coming down to Suzuki Roshi, contemporary disciples of Dogen besides Suzuki Roshi, all those people have made me into the person I am, given me the understanding I have and understanding that I have of zazen. And again, the understanding of zazen is, there's many understandings of zazen. The one that I just start off by saying is that for me, when I say zazen, I mean the zazen that they talk about in the full-time zazengyi. People also ask me about texts.

[08:31]

Is there any texts related? So one of the texts that's related to the understanding of Zazen that I'm practicing with, that I want to tell you about, one of the texts is called Fukang Zazen. F. K. Z. Z. F-K-Z-Z-G that's one of the texts which you all have chanted right so in that text Dogen says and I'm signing up with him on that the Zad that I'm talking about the Zad that I teach you is not just learning meditation in that case, meditation means it's not just learning concentration.

[09:34]

Of course, it includes concentration. It's not just concentration. It's totally culminated in enlightenment. So, the topic is as in the topic is totally culminated in enlightenment. And one of the texts you can read about this is a text which describes a ceremony means ceremony so in that text it describes a ceremony for performing totally culminated in likeness And I'm proposing to you there's a close relationship between totally culminated enlightenment and ceremonies.

[10:46]

Ceremonies is the performance of it. The ceremony is not the whole extent of it because there's different ways different ceremonies do to perform it. So, one of the performances, one of the ways to perform enlightenment is to sit on thick nadi and put a cushion above it, you know, sit either in the full lotus or half lotus position. These are instructions for a ceremony to perform zazen, to perform the zazen of Buddhas, to perform culminated in enlightenment. There's no realization of total culmination of enlightenment. There's no realization of it without performance. And there's no performance of it without total culmination.

[12:00]

You're familiar maybe with the term practice enlightenment. But again, there's a school where practice and enlightenment are the same thing. You can discriminate between them, and yet they're the same thing. So, each one of you can perform a ceremony of ones that passed. perfect enlightenment. And each of you will perform the ceremony in a unique way. And the enlightenment is exactly the same. This enlightenment is the same as your performance and my performance. It's all of our performances. The way all of us are performing enlightenment is practice. So zazen is not something I do by myself.

[13:09]

I do certain things myself, but the way what I'm doing is the same as what you're doing. That's in life. That's the zazen, which is life. It's the zazen which we're doing, which is the same practice of me and you. And the same in life. So I perform it in a limited way, like I perform it, like now the ceremony is going to start, and now the ceremony stops. I sit in this posture, and now I change the posture. This is the performance. And now I'm going to do walking meditation, and now that's the performance, and so on. I'm sitting, I'm practicing stillness to perform stillness. So there's a stillness which is the same stillness of me and you. That's the stillness of puncture past enlightenment.

[14:13]

I don't do that by myself. And that can be performed in all daily activities. And that's what I mean by enlightenment. It's how we're all practicing together. that's a text on performance of the ceremony and then there's text on the zazen which is again the same as the zazen is the same as the practice but it doesn't necessarily talk about the sitting upright and having his offer so another text that you could use in the background for Zazen is called the Shobo Genzo.

[15:14]

S-B-G-Z. Shobo Genzo. It's meaning the treasury of the true Dharma eyes. So all those essays are about Zazen. All those essays are about unsurpassed enlightenment. So all those will be relevant to the study of enlightenment. Before I go further, I want to also say that sometimes gives us an instruction at Tassajara and City Center and other places, and we teach people how to be mindful of their posture, and we teach them various aspects of posture to be mindful of, and also we teach them to be mindful of their body, breathing of their posture.

[16:32]

So, part of... enlightenment, or I should say an essential ingredient of enlightenment, or as I was saying, is mindfulness. So, tradition teaches mindfulness of all phenomena. You can teach you mindfulness of body posture. You can teach you mindfulness of breathing. And there's a text, an early text in the tradition called, which is another text related to this topic. What's the topic? The topic is... That's the topic. Another text you can study, which is related to this, is called...

[17:40]

I think it's called Foundations of Mindfulness, or the Frames of Mindfulness, Satipatthana Sutta, description of the frames of enlightenment of mindfulness. And then there's four categories of phenomena to be mindful of. So, that's another text about Zazen. So it's just basically saying, pretty much, to make a long story short, it's saying, it's showing mindfulness of all phenomena, starting with body. And another text... I think will come to play soon, is in the Shogo Genzo.

[18:52]

One of the essays in Shogo Genzo is called Zazan Shin. Shin is spelled S-H-I-N, Zazan Shin. And that fascicle is translated into English as the acupuncture needle of seated meditation. He's getting kashunas like a needle. And in that classical, there's some stories about Zazen and some poems about Zazen. So that's another text, which I'll probably mention, which you can study in detail if you want to. Not necessary, but I'm just saying that's in the background of that text. And that text is closely related to the Fugan Zagzang.

[19:57]

One of the ways it's related is to it written by the same person. Another way it's related is that in the middle of the Fugan Zagzang, it says something like, think not thinking. How do you think not thinking? Not thinking. So that's, and then it says, this is the essential art of Zosna. And that statement in the middle of the instructions for the ceremony. Okay, so you're being given an instruction for a ceremony to perform enlightenment. In the middle of the instruction, it says, think, not think.

[21:04]

How not, how think, not think, not think. That's the middle of the instruction is Instruction. And that's instruction is an abbreviation of a store, of a conversation. And I'll probably go up that conversation with you fairly soon. But right now I want to point out that the instruction for the performance of a ceremony, which you can go up and perform in the Zen Go, that you have been performing? Part of the ceremony is to remember a story about the asana. After he says a story, he says, this is the essential art of asana. And that word essential is writing, implementing your life.

[22:12]

Like this. The Chinese character is translated as essential in that text. The Chinese character is written like this. This character is a bit pronounced yo, and it can be translated as essential or essence. And this is the character that's in the book. This character also means pivot. Pivot.

[23:17]

P-I-B-O-T. essence and pivot and need or necessary so this word pivot is going to be a big word in understanding practice understanding reality understanding enlightenment another way to understand that when you we don't have to change the translation you can just understand when you read that part this is the pivotal part of Zazen what's the pivotal part of Zazen? non-thinking think, not thinking how do you think, not thinking? non-thinking is the pivotal part of Zazen later in Pugganza Zengi

[24:24]

two times, this character appears. The pivotal opportunity of human life. The pivotal opportunity provided by a finger, a fist, a mouth, and so on. So, the pivotal opportunity provided by life is Buddhist activity. So, this story is the main story in the Zazen Shin. It's the first story in that text. And Dogen says, there's many stories about Zazen, but this is the best one. And at the end of the Zazen Shin, Dogen says, has a poem from a noted Zen teacher in China called Zazen Xin, called Acapulmonary Needle of Zazen.

[25:33]

And that poem starts out, the pivotal activity of all Buddhas, the active pivot of all ancestors. Now, what is the pivotal activity of all Buddhas? What is it? what's another word named for it? Zazen. Zazen is the pivotal activity of all kudas and non-thinking is the essential art of Zazen. The pivotal activity is the essential art in Zazen. So the The text starts out with the story of this pivotal activity, which is called non-thinking. And in non-thinking, thinking is pivoting with what?

[26:36]

Nothing. Yeah. Thinking is not thinking. In the Zen master's mind, there's thinking. But it's not just sitting there, abiding in thinking. It's a thinking which is not thinking. And it's a not thinking, just thinking. In the mind of the Buddha, thinking and not thinking, you're pivoting on each other. And the way you pivot, and the way you enter that pivotal activity of Buddha's mind is by practicing non-thinking. And I will, maybe before this class is over, I'll give you some instruction in non-thinking from ancestors. poem is called The Acapulcture Needle Bowl and starts out with this is a poem about Zazen and Zazen is the pivotal activity of all Buddhas and then it describes the pivotal activity it describes how thinking is not thinking is thinking which also is how self is other is self is other and how Buddhas are sent to beings are Buddhists

[28:00]

It's pivoting up often. Enlightenment is pivoting with delusion. It's the same pivot. Everything is pivoting with what it's not. What it's not is pivoting with itself. That's the pivotal activity. That's awesome. And then Dogen wrote a poem too. And it starts out. First of all, he's giving you an example of a tradition. He starts out by copying the first two lines of this ancestor. So his poem starts out, the essential activity of all humans, the necessary activity of all humans, the pivotal activity of all humans, that sort of thing. So he agrees with the ancestors. He agrees with many ancestors who teach this. Again, I just gave you lots of tests if you want to show the tests.

[29:11]

But you don't have to. You can just understand what I just said and you'll be fine. I will do too. If you're fine, I'll be fine. If you're not, I'm not. Because I'm you and you're me. So here's some more texts coming up, which are basically teaching you the same thing, which are part of our liturgy here. So this morning we chanted a text called Sang Yo Kai, which is translated into English as Harmony of Difference at Need. Again...

[30:15]

This is a text about Zaza. It's a poem about Zaza. Written by one of our ancestors. And then there's another text we should probably chant tomorrow, maybe, called The Song of the Jyomir Samadhi. By the way, did you know, before I told you, that Sangha Kai was a song about sausage? Did you know that? Did you? Some people didn't. Now you know. That's what I think. If anybody thinks it's not about sausage, please tell me what it's about. Yes? The interplay of phenomena, of absolute and relative, things like that. Yeah, exactly.

[31:16]

That's about Zazen. Fair enough. Zazen is the interplay. Did you say absolutely relative? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Zazen is the interplay. Absolutely relative. I just said that, right? You're the relative. And your relatives are your relatives. Right? You're a specific person. That's a relative phenomenon. And you're it. You're in a pivotal relationship with, absolutely, you're in a pivotal relationship with the complete situation. You're in an interplay with everything. You're a limited thing that's in relationship to the universe. The way you're interacting with the universe, and also, Son of Akai says, interacting and not interacting, The way you interact and don't interact, that's zazen.

[32:19]

Zazen is the interplay between relative and absolute. And also this poem about zazen, it says that zazen is neither of those. Zazen isn't the relative, the limited practice that you're doing, or universal practice. It's the interplay. It doesn't go into either side. this Tangemine, which some of you have heard me recite quite a few times. It's a poem by Rumi. And it goes like this in English. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. people, everybody, are walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet.

[33:26]

The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. Everybody's walking back. Now my comment is, everybody, all of us are walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. where the two worlds complete and partial. Absolute relative. Self and other. We all live at the threshold where self and other meet. We all are meeting, living our life together at the threshold where me and not me meet. Or you and not me. That's where we're all living together, on that threshold. The door is round and open, don't go back to sleep. And for a long time when I heard that poem, I thought, okay, we're at this threshold, so the world where I am is meaning a world of infinite freedom, so I can go through that door into infinite freedom.

[34:43]

I don't think that anymore. Now I think I'm going to stay on the threshold. That's where I am and that's where everybody's here with me. And the infinite and the finite are being here. I don't have to go into the infinite. And I usually think I'm in the finite. I'm trying to get out of it. But actually, they're both right here. So it's not a matter of leaning into the universal or the particular It's about being upright where they eat and living there, which is where we are there. And that's Zazen again. So again, I hear Rumi talking about the opportunity for Zazen. You're in the right place. You're what the true world needs. Go go to sleep. Enjoy that. Enjoy reality. It's right here. Everything's coming together right here for us. Yes. Did you say that that's delusion and enlightenment?

[35:47]

Yeah. The world of delusion and the world of enlightenment. There's two worlds. You can distinguish between them. One's got some problems. The other doesn't really. The one that doesn't have problems is inseparable from the one that does have problems. And we live with AIDS. And I would usually think that I'd like to lean into the enlightenment. Go through the door. The door is wide open, so go into enlightenment. No. Stay upright at the threshold. Enlightenment's right in your face. That's those delusions. I'll be right with you. So, uh, let this go. There's another pivot. We're at the threshold where the two worlds meet and pivot. Pivot. Pivot. It's not a static meeting. It's a meeting that's very dynamic and pivoting.

[36:53]

Now I'm going to mention just briefly this radical and simple and potentially boring practice of nothing. So I'll start with the Buddha giving the teaching of Nakti. I'll give two examples of giving the teaching that the Zen tradition, starting with Yaku-san again. In the Buddha's teaching, we talk. There's a text. There's another text. This is a text which isn't very long and maybe we can make copies of it for you because you might have trouble finding it.

[37:56]

It's in a collection of scriptures called the Sutta Kitaka. It's in a section called the Udana, number 10. It's about this yogi named Bahiya who went to the Buddha for instruction. Bahiya. I think it's Romanized. B-A-H-I-Y-A. Bahiya. He was a teacher of many people already. Spiritual teacher. But he honestly wondered if his understanding was authentic and complete. While he was wondering, a deity came to visit him and told him, no, it's not your understanding, it's not mature.

[39:02]

But fortunately, there is somebody whose understanding is mature named Gautama Buddha, and he lives over and... Sarna, for example, is like that. He didn't go visit him. So he went to visit the Buddha, and when he found the Buddha's community, he saw a lot of people doing walking meditation, and he went up to him and said, where's the teacher? And he said, the teacher is begging for lunch in town. So he went to town and saw the Buddha going around begging for lunch, and he went up to the Buddha, I've come to meet you. And he said, please give me the teaching I need. And the Buddha said, sir, this is not a good time. You know, I'm busy with this alms gathering.

[40:07]

And I said, yes, but We don't know what's going to happen this afternoon. One of us might die. So please, give me the teaching that I'm coming for. Buddha says, Sarah, this is not a good time. So then he asks the second time, but really, I'm not kidding. This world is impermanent and unreliable. We don't know if I'll get another chance to hear your teaching. Please give it. third time, Buddha says, okay. And the Buddha gives him teaching. And teaching is translated into English like this. Okay, you want the teaching? Well, if you want the teaching, Buddha didn't say that. You want the teaching? I'm saying, you want the teaching? Well, if you want the teaching, you need to train at not thinking. what the Buddha said is, train yourself thus.

[41:11]

So he wants the teaching, but the Buddha gives him a teaching. He gives him a teaching by which he will be able to receive the teaching. He has to train himself so he can receive it. So the Buddha gives him a training, which is a teaching. So he's meeting the Buddha face-to-face, and face-to-face asking for the teaching. And the Buddha doesn't give it to him either way. He makes him really say what he really wants. And then the Buddha gives it. And he gives him a teaching about practice. So it says, train yourself thus. In the scene, this kind of scene, there will be just a scene. In the herd, there will be just a herd. And then there's a category that includes the next three sentences, but I'll break it up instead of saying it in a category.

[42:15]

In the touch, there will be just the touch. In the tasted, just the tasted. In the smell, just the smell. And in the mental phenomena, there will be just mental phenomena. That's the instruction. And then the Buddha says, When for you, in the scene, there's just a scene. In other words, when you do this practice and you become what I just told you to be, well, that's the way you see things. It's that in the scene, there's just a scene. That's it. When you get to that point. And similarly, when you get to the point where in the herd, there's just a herd. In the taste, there's just a taste. in the smell, just the smell, and the touch, just the touch, and when the mental, in the mental phenomena, the just mental phenomena, when that's what you are through this training, then you will not be with it.

[43:22]

It won't be like you with the color, or you with the sound, and so on. Are you with the people? It won't be like that anymore. And you won't identify with it. You won't be in it. That's what Buddha said. And I think he also meant you won't be with it or not with it. You won't be in it or not in it. So actually that was the instruction and then he's telling him if you do this instruction and then you become like this then you will now have a new relationship with everything. You won't be with anything anymore. You won't be with, for example, other people. You won't be in other people. You won't identify with other people or disidentify with other people. You need to do this practice and come with that. And then there'll be no here or there or in between.

[44:30]

This is like in the new chapter we say, The emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. When in the giver there's just a giver, or when in the gift there's just a gift, then there will be no gift, giver, and receiver. They'll just be the gift, or just the receiver, whatever. That's the instruction. Oh, and then one more line, and this will be the end of suffering. be not here or there or in between and this would be the end of suffering. And apparently by the time the Buddha said suffering, this monk had already listened to the teaching, put it into practice and realized it. And this whole thing was going on face to face.

[45:33]

What was happening there was this person was meeting the Buddha face to face and having a conversation with the Buddha from when they first met. And he said, please give me the teaching I require. Give me the pivotal opportunity. And then they just did this meeting. And as a result of this meeting being done wholeheartedly, it was the end of suffering. And in that meeting, That was a transmission of teachings, and a reception of teachings, and a realization of teaching, and a realization of the end of suffering. So again, this is an instruction about non-thinking. Non-thinking is in the seeing, there's just a seeing. In the herd, there's just a herd. Training in not thinking is to train at listening and seeing.

[46:40]

When I first tried to practice in the scene or just the scene, there's still like me in the scene. I hear the teaching that when I really it's like just the scene in the scene and there's no me and the scene. Not thinking is when you get to the place where In the scene, there's just a scene. And then you enter into the pivotal activity where the scene and you are pivoting. There's a scene and you're not in addition to it. Or there's you and the scene isn't in addition to you. You're pivoting. So you aren't in addition to me. You make me. I don't make myself. I exist because of you. And also, I include all of you, but none of you are in me.

[47:50]

And I'm included in all of you, and I'm not in you. I am in a pivotal relationship with you. Zazen is my relationship. So that's Buddha's instruction, I would say, on what the Zen ancestor calls not thinking. When you train that way, with phenomena, and when you become that way, then thinking is not thinking, and not thinking is thinking. And then, so that's, that's, then by the way, I don't think, Bahia said, well, I understand. I don't remember. Check it out. I don't know what the Buddha said. You understand. But anyway, there was a face-to-face transmission. And the Buddha didn't miss it. And Bahia didn't either.

[48:54]

And then Bahia said, because he was now free of suffering, he said, can I join your group? And the Buddha said, do you have the requisites? So when Buddha that people joined the community, they were supposed to have a rope and a boat. And he didn't have a rope and a boat. So Buddha said, get the requisites, come back, and I will welcome you to our community. And he went looking for a rope and a boat and got between a female water buffalo and her calf, and the female water buffalo killed by him. So he was right. One of us might die this afternoon. He died in London. And the Buddha died in London with him. So, and the monks ask, what about this guy? We just lost his grip. Don't worry, he's gone. So, and then waiting in arms is the Satipatthana Sutta.

[49:57]

And I would say that the Satipatthana Sutta, when it teaches mindfulness... He's teaching the same. The Buddha's teaching the same teaching. When he teaches mindfulness there, he's teaching them how to think. But he just calls it mindfulness of everything. So then there was two people who had their hands raised. I just have one more thing to say. But I'll call them people now. Two people. Greg. So, I have two questions, but my original question was about when we were talking about the interplay between absolute and relative. By kind of, you know, my understanding of the absolute is there's a large amount, or a large part of non-duality. No, either way. The absolute is not non-duality.

[50:59]

Non-duality is the non-duality of absolute and relative. Nothing is non-duality by itself. You're not non-duality, and you're also non-duality. You're the non-duality of you, everything. But it's not like everything's non-duality. Everything's everything. Everything's not one thing. One thing's one thing, not everything. But the way they're not separate, that's non-duality. The way they can't live without each other, that they can be discriminated. The question was, in relationship to this, just experiencing what is the relationship between cause and effect and this dynamic process of just hearing, just seeing cause and effect is cause and effect.

[52:07]

How does the mind that is pivoting at all moments relationship to cosmic death? The mind that's pivoting at all moments is a dependent cause. It's a dependent, it's dependent on the causes of that. The way it comes to being for a moment is by causation. And by blending this particular example of the cause and effect and causation, we enter into the understanding of the cause and effect. So Buddha realizes the kind of co-advising by this practice. So I just want to say something for more questions and answers, conclusions and responses. I want to also just say that I went back and I was talking about these other texts which I'm suggesting are called Enlightenment-Zazen, the Harmony of Difference and Unity, and Jomir Samadhi.

[53:22]

So it might not be surprising if it's a song about Samadhi, if the Samadhi might be Zazen, right? So the self-fulfilling Samadhi is another name for Zazenism. And there's... So one of the texts about this self-fulfilling samadhi is called the Song of the Self-fulfilling Samadhi. It's called... One of the songs about self-fulfilling... Yeah, one of the songs about self-fulfilling samadhi is called the Jewel Mir Samadhi. So Jewel Mir Samadhi is a name for Zazen. Self-fulfilling Samadhi is a name for Zazen. So the text for Jewel Mir Samadhi is called the Song of the Jewel Mir Samadhi. And it's talking about Zasana. Sandokai is talking about Zasana. And also, maybe a new service today will chant self-fulfilling Samadhi. Self-receiving and employing Samadhi. Do you have that? Yes, sir. So we can chant that at a new service. Are you ready for that?

[54:24]

Yes. So that's Dogen's description of Zasana. He calls it self-fulfilling. receiving and employing, but self-receiving and employing can also be translated as self-fulfillment. That samadhi is zaza. So all those are different pictures of zaza. Self-fulfilling samadhi, Jomir samadhi, how many different communities in mind, king of samadhi, samadhi, is zaza. Many, many, many, many pictures. What I want to also say is that at the beginning of the song of Julio Zaman and the song of the harmony of difference and unity, at the beginning in both cases, they say that this mind, that this practice, this mind of Buddha, this Sazen of Buddha, is intimately transmitted.

[55:33]

And this teaching of suchness is intimately transmitted. So in both those cases, I wanted to suggest to you that when I was talking about Zazen, I was saying that Zazen is an intimate communion. Samadhi is a communion. It's not just some state that you enter into. It's a state that you enter into in communion. With whom? Well, With Buddha, who's that? That's everybody. And not just everybody, but everybody being themselves and being liberated from suffering. So, another name for Zazen is face-to-face transmission. Intimate communion of Buddhas and sentient beings, of self and other, of birth and death. of thinking and not thinking.

[56:44]

So, I'm talking about Zaza, I'm talking about the pivotal activity of Buddha's, I'm talking about face-to-face transmission, I'm talking about Buddha's activity, I'm talking about perfect enlightenment, and I'm talking about practicing not thinking. So, by letting things be, mother mary whispers words of wisdom let it be let it be let it be let things be exactly themselves this practice of non-thinking is a way to enter into face-to-face transmission which is going on already but we have to train ourselves to be open to the doors of round and open. But that's kind of, like, all I have to say.

[57:44]

You may have some questions. And there's this text. What kind of those eggs? Okay. Yomir Samadhi. [...] Vendola, which is at Whitworth, where the song of the self-affilling samadans is put out. And also, every Zen story in the history of the school, every meeting between the teacher and the student, of course, it's face-to-face transmission, every story is about Zaza. Every story is about this pivotal activity of Buddha's meeting, Sanchi being, Sanchi being, Buddhas liberating centuries and centuries. So all the Zen starters are also. Okay, so now you have... Oh, and then there's the Moda Sutra.

[58:54]

Which also teaches the same thing. Moda Sutra teaches your practice is actually the same practice as everybody. Or there's only one real thing going on here. is that we're all doing this practice together in different ways, obviously. And then the Project Biometa is also about this. So all the Project Biometa texts are relevant to this. I'm not saying you have to read any of that, just saying if you want to study some stuff. Yes? This was more of an image-feeling response kind of thing. When Dylan was asking this question, I recall seeing a swing that an artist had made where he had two ropes and a wooden board, but he had lowered it down to be more like a threshold and a doorway than a swing, so that you would stand on this wooden board and the gravity of your own body and the hold of your hands.

[60:05]

would enjoy this playful swinging back and forth on the threshold space. It's really quite beautiful. Yeah, everybody's on that. And the training of letting things be... What time is it now? 10.50? 10.50. 10.15. The training in that includes being playful. So, the Buddha just said, in the scene, there'll be just a scene. No. In the scene, there'll be just a scene on this threshold. I'm not going to some placements. Right there. Included in being there is to really be there and just be there.

[61:10]

You need to be playful because the threshold is... We're walking back and forth and the threshold is walking with us. So it's a dynamic situation. So we need to be playful and relaxed. And again, in descriptions of the Buddha, malleable and flexible and so on. We need to be generous. We need to be careful. gentle and tender and patient, you know, not running away from the situation. You need to be diligent and enthusiastic and calm in your life. All these practices are involved in not being short, conversational, gesture towards all Buddhist practice, culminating in letting things be and realizing this acupuncture meeting themselves.

[62:16]

Yes? Buddhist practices and difficulties, is that what's so enjoyable about it? They, well, particularly starting with generosity, Once you actually get the generosity program, it is joyful. When you're practicing generosity and haven't really got into it, you might not yet be joyful, but the practice of generosity is very joyful, and that joyfulness of generosity fuels the other practices. Practicing ethics is joyful not all the time, because when you're practicing ethics and you slip up, it's painful. When you're successful at practicing virtue, it's a happy thing, too. Patience is not usually characterized as joyful, but it's like the more joyful way to be with pain. So it's kind of joyful, but it's fueled by the ones who are more directly joyful.

[63:27]

And the one that follows upon patience is actually to meditate on the practices you want to do. And as you meditate on it, you become more and more joyful at the prospect of doing these practices. As joy grows and grows, you're ready to enter into continued practice of it, plus move on now to practice mental work-pointedness, which is also joyful in openness and playfulness of the concentration. So joyfulness is necessary in order to continually devote ourselves to this kind of hard practice, so it's a practice that's hard, but we enjoy it, so we do it. But if we're not going to enjoy it, we need to actually, we need some face-to-face transmission to get joy again, because we need it. It comes with these practices when they're done, in the correct way, or appropriate.

[64:32]

Yeah, we usually start with generosity. And again, in Asia, generally, the first thing that people learn about Buddhism is giving. They teach children giving. They don't teach them meditation right away. They don't teach them sit still. And they try to do that, but... It's not usually, they're not ready for it, but they are ready for the practice of giving, so they do that. And they teach you to be careful. Like, bring them on some rice, so they like that, you know. You get parents who are like saying, but be careful, don't spill it on them. So they teach, but first generosity, then be careful. They learn that in school and stuff. And then, and then be patient. and also brothers and sisters, when they attack you, and be patient with hard work, and so on.

[65:39]

And then we're ready for concentration. Concentration. Yes. Last night I read in Not Always So, she said, when you understand that your practice goes back, or you will enjoy your practices, is he talking about Yes, thank you for connecting the Satipatami Sutta with these Chinese texts. I've had a lot of trouble relating to the language of non-thinking. just because I haven't taken my time to look at the Chinese or me thinking. I haven't taken a lot of nuance to the characters, the thinking.

[66:41]

And it always seemed to me like there's so many different kinds of thinking. You know, that word in English and some things. And so it felt very vague and I could relate to it as a Baptist. And I guess my question was, would I hate? When I try to practice the foundations of mindfulness, having looked at mostly yoga-char, yoga-char sources, like the reverses, for example, so when I look at Pursuit Satipatthana Sutta and I get to mental objects, I kind of just, like, I just go blank. Like, I can't quite relate to it. because I don't understand how we can meditate on the phenomena of the mind, and also the external phenomena, or sometimes it's translated, like the fourth foundation, you know, sometimes it's translated as like outer circumstances.

[67:54]

But if they're really like dependent co-original, I don't, I don't understand part of it. I'll do the same thing. Maybe that's kind of the pivot that you're speaking of. Because I guess I can relate to the foundations of, you know, the quality and feelings and the mind to some extent. But yeah, and it gets to the fourth one. I just don't understand part of it. So, one of the things that's listed under the fourth is the five skandas. So under the five skandas is the four skandas. So under the four skandas is colors.

[68:55]

see visible things and so that you can just directly apply this teaching to any color there's just a color so you're dealing with the first skanda according to that instruction but you can also go from the fourth when you're dealing with the form skanda you can go back to the first foundation where you're dealing with the body namely you have a tactile sensation in your body. So in the tactile sensation in your body, there's just that tactile sensation. So the Buddha says, if she's walking, he knows she's walking. If she's sitting, she knows she's sitting. That's the instruction. Then he says, you do this ardently. Do what? You know ardently that you're standing And you know mindfully that you're standing.

[70:03]

You remember that you're standing. And you remember that you've done a meditation on standing when you're standing. And also, you're... mindful or... alert, huh? Yeah. And so... In other words, you're looking at your body, not just in general and standing, but this, right, I'm aware of this standing posture. So I would say those words are pointing to in the standing posture, there's just the standing posture. In this kinesthetic sense here, there's just that. So that connects to fourth, where you're meditating on the first skandha, which is now the body as a kinesthetic phenomenon, with the first where you're meditating on the body as a kinesthetic phenomenon.

[71:04]

And in both cases, you're trying to do this ardently, alertly in the present, remembering, and completely letting the standing just be the standing. It doesn't say walk faster or slower. It says the way you're walking, you're aware of. And the breathing is the same. It doesn't say breathe longer or shorter. In the long breath, you're aware. But you're aware in this just... In the long breath, there's just the long breath. There's no like, well, this is a long breath, but it should be a little longer, a little shorter. You know, my neighbor's breathing not as fast as me. But if you do think about something else, then that's not when you're talking about a mental phenomenon. Let that be. And the next skanda, the second skanda is feeling. Well, that connects you back to the... Now you're meditating on the five skandhas. That refers back to the second foundation, where you're meditating on feelings. In the pleasure, there's just a pleasure.

[72:09]

The Buddha teaches, in the pleasure, there will be just a pleasure. So he says, first he does. See, learn, touch, taste, and smell. Then he does. Feelings. Pain. Pleasure. Neither. In the pleasure, there will be just the pleasure. So at that point, you're meditating on the second foundation. And the fourth. Letting the feeling of pain just be the feeling of pain. Everybody's got pain sometimes, pleasure sometimes. But what's not so common is to let the pain just be pain. I got pain, you got pain. But I'm not practicing this instruction on pain. Well, if so, this will lead you to not be with it. When you're not with the pain, that's the end of suffering. When you're not with the suffering, when you're not with the pain, to be with things is suffering.

[73:12]

To be in things is suffering. But to let things completely be, everything drops away. And you're free. that's all I would apply, you know, teaching tabahiyah to the four foundations, same practice, basically, just completely let things be. But again, you have to be generous with them. For me, you have to be generous. You have to be careful of them, you have to be patient with them. And all these practices help you be relaxed and playful completely, letting things be, and then you're out of here with them. I see this all over the Buddhist early teachings. I was just reading yesterday, or was it the day before. Here's another text for you. The middle length saying, number four.

[74:13]

It's called Fear and Dread. Another one of my really inspiring texts. And, yeah, and Buddha. Should I tell you a little bit about that? So the Buddha... The Buddha is... A Brahma comes to talk to the Buddha. The Brahma's name is... Or it's Jhanasoni. Jhanasoni. Apparently Italian Brahma. Jhanasoni. He comes to the Buddha and... And they have this nice, respectful interchange. And after they have this interchange, the Brahmin says to the Buddha, basically, are you like the teacher of all these people? Are you their guide? Are you their example?

[75:16]

Do they like follow your example and receive this? I am. They do follow my episode. But don't you go out in the forest? And in the forest thickets, in the jungle thickets, there's lots of dangers. Isn't it hard to, doesn't that destroy people's concentration out there? It's so frightening. You say, yeah, that usually does, but not for me. Because when I went out there, it used to be that way, but now it's really pleasant for me to be out there. I love being out in nature. But now when I'm out in nature, it's... Yeah, it's pretty lovely. But at one point, I was afraid. So what I thought I would do is when the fear came, if I was standing, I wouldn't... I would just stand. I wouldn't start walking. I would just stand until the fear calmed down. And if I was sitting, I would just sit until the fear calmed down.

[76:17]

And if I was reclining or walking... Again, I would just do the same posture until the fear calmed down. And it did calm down, and then... And then da-da-da-da-da-da-da. He realized I'd like to do that practice. It was basically the same practice. So now when I grow out in the forest, it's just very pleasant. And I continue this practice because... It's really nice to go out there. And here's an example where the Buddha says, I really like community of nature. For me, it's not a frightening thing. It's a lovely playground. Carolyn was telling us about this hermit that came to visit recently who really likes to be out in the forest. I think he's not afraid to be out there. The Buddha wasn't either. Wild,

[77:21]

untamed nature, I think, was one of Buddha's best friends. So he left to go out there, hang out there. So he continued to do it, even though he was free. And also he did it for future generations to show us how we can also become that peace with nature. By being basically in the fear that just fear. Whatever posture, just don't run away from the situation. be still and silent and let it be. So anyway, I just, and he was talking about how he was, you know, flexible and buoyant and all that stuff, same stuff that I was talking about. Another example, basically the same teaching. So, setting up for today.

[78:23]

For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving.

[78:45]

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