Jujisuranga Dovetari Nagavanku Anyora Gyo Shinjutsu Jiyo Gishidati Matsaran Anansapas Penetrating and Perfect Dharma Israeli met with even a hundred thousand million galpas, having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept. I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. I'm trying in this machine to continue talking about the Genji Okan, but since some of you haven't heard the other talks I gave on the Genji Okan, I thought I'd start at the end and work back to the beginning, which actually for Dogen's writings often has its own logic.

[02:01]

not usually, Dogen presents the essence in the title. And then the first statement or the first sentence expresses it all. And then from there on, he just sort of unpacks it and offers illustrations of it. Kind of coin's a little different because many sections of it have their own beginning and end, but then in another way they are unpacking the title. Maybe that's a strange logic going through my head. So here's the piece I'd like to talk about today. which is not quite the end of it.

[03:04]

Those who would say we shouldn't fan because wind is permanent and we should know the existence of wind or feel the existence, realize the existence of wind without using the fan, neither know its permanency or the nature of wind. Maybe one of the points that's being made here is more readily expressed in a poem that I think many of you know, which is when Joshua asks Nansen about what is the way, you know. Joshua asks Nansen, what is the way? Nansen says, ordinary mind is the way.

[04:15]

And with a very straightforward approach, which Joshua was famous for, he said, well, should I... try to strive for that or not? How do I do that? And Nansen said, well, if you direct towards it, if you strive for it, you separate from it. And so Joshu said, well, then what should I do? Joshu's wonderful straightforwardness. What is practice? Okay, how do I do that? You don't do it? Well then what? What do you mean? What do I do then? If I don't try, how will I realize the way? How will I know the way?

[05:19]

If I don't try, how will I know the way? Well, it's not about knowing or not knowing. beyond knowing, and it's not not knowing, because that's just kind of spacey blindness. So last night when I was giving some encouraging words, I was talking about the notion of entering sasheen and setting aside our habituated existence, habituated mind, habituated behavior, even habituated body, maybe even habituated diet, habituated activity.

[06:25]

How we've construed our own being And its priorities and agendas, you know, they generate our habitual actions, habitual being, habitual emotions. And then those habituated ways of being reinforce the core experience, the core concepts, sensibilities that created them. So that sense of self is reinforced. And then Shashin is to quite deliberately undo those. And for the most part, unless you're quite unusual, you won't give up without a fight.

[07:30]

And this is a very helpful thing to be aware of and to just acknowledge in as matter-of-fact a way as possible. The nature of habit is that it's persistent. That's why it's called habit. The nature of habit is that it has its own kind of comfort that comes from its familiarity. However, the nature of habit is also that it's restrictive. The nature of habit is that it puts our being in a kind of loop. It narrows the potential and possibility of our experience. So this is a dilemma for us. When we ponder that side,

[08:35]

we want to immerse ourselves in the potential of spontaneous, non-habituated being. When we ponder the side of the reassurance and familiarity of habit, the comfort of just being able to go on automatic urgency of having to relive all things that have bothered us and upset us. Maybe this time, if I relive that experience, I'll get it right. Or I'll obliterate. If I get really annoyed at what that person said to me last week, maybe it won't ever have happened. All empirical evidence so far doesn't support that idea.

[09:53]

But these impulses are reinforced and established by habit being. Whether you want to think of rebirth as something that happens to us on a momentary or daily basis or in a lifetime, there's some cyclical way of being. And this practice is about breaking that cycle of rebirth. So just being willing to engage our human existence with this perspective offers us an entirely new frame of reference. Within an habitual being, we have some tried and true or tried and untrue frames of reference.

[11:12]

I mean, they're true to us in our own subjective experience. We worry about what we worry about for good reason. We're annoyed by what we're annoyed about for good reason. And we yearn for what we yearn for for good reason. This is our best effort at being alive. It's not a trivial event for us. In a strange and powerful way, this is our wholehearted response to the great matter. So seeing the proposition that's laid in front of us and seeing the opportunity that's presented when we enter into Shashin.

[12:13]

This is very helpful. Because when our persistent resistance or hesitation or digression, however you want to frame it, or describe it arises. If we hold it with this frame of reference, then without endorsing it, without becoming self-critical, we can just quietly, gently, persistently return to just being in the moment. So in a way, Nansen is saying to Joshu, quietly, gently, persistently, nothing special. When you get caught up in your own mind loops, don't make a big deal out of it.

[13:21]

Just notice and return to what you're hearing, what you're seeing. Thoughts, noticing the thoughts, the feelings. No big deal. Don't berate yourself with self-criticism. Something very ordinary, something very straightforward. Doesn't have to be a special state of mind. Doesn't require a great deal of insight just to hold this relationship between the beginner's mind of each moment and the activity of habituated being.

[14:29]

It's a pretty straightforward idea. To just persistently bring it to the foreground, to let it be the primary reference as we engage the arising experience of Shishin. And to realize that that process will bring up its own kind of disturbance. Now, in early Buddhism, you know, the classic five modes are it will bring up desire and aversion. Well, what a surprise. Then students become experts.

[15:31]

very knowledgeable experts in their own genius at presenting desire and aversion. And then when they start to, when the allure of them, when the intrigue of them starts to dissipate and things get kind of straightforward, then the tendency is to feel kind of bored. start getting sleepy. If I'm not energized by aversion and desire, maybe I'll notice how tired I am. And then the next hindrance is restlessness, anxiety.

[16:37]

It's as if this habituated being, this world crafted and carved by our best efforts to be alive, and the familiarity as it offers, as we leave it and go on this journey into unknown territory, will we be okay? Why do I be if I'm not being the me that I'm used to? If I don't stick to my habituated way of being, will I be okay? Because I'm being the habituated being because it's my best effort to be alive. kind of anxiety, a restlessness.

[17:46]

And then the last hindrance is died. Will I be okay? Is this the right thing to be doing? Hindrances are a tricky practice because they feel pretty close to self-criticism But the spirit of Buddhist practice is that they're just frames of reference We hold even our habits with a certain generous kindness It is our best effort of being alive. It asks more for our compassion than our criticism.

[18:57]

So Joshua comes to Nansen and he says, okay, well given that, how to practice. And Nansen says, ordinary mind. Each mind that arises, each momentary experience, just as it is, meet it just as it is. Make contact with it. Engage it. knowledge, contact, engage, release. Dogen Zenji says, study the ways to study the self.

[20:11]

I went to a wedding yesterday and they quoted that part of the genjo con in the wedding. I thought I totally weird at a wedding. The groom is his end student. So he quoted that part, and then he quoted this part on the permanence of wind. He told me, he says, when I told his wife now, his, I don't know, his fiancee, as before five o'clock yesterday, just the day before they were doing the rehearsal,

[21:18]

And he said, when I told her that I wanted to include this and then I read it, she wept. And I said, yeah, I'm on horse side. we let the 10,000 things bloom and enjoy their fragrance. Sometimes we hold still and look carefully and examine what is it to have 10,000 things appear. This is what it is to fan ourselves.

[22:26]

Yes. The nature of a rising experience in a wedding and a shashim is exactly the same. They both express the suchness at the moment. They both make a request for presence. But a wedding has its own fanning and a shashin has its own fanning. And the fanning of shashin is to examine the arising. We don't embellish it and get carried away. Shashin is zazen light. It arises, we acknowledge, contact, engage, release. Zazen mode.

[23:32]

So Joshi says, how do you do that? And this is a tricky part. It's a great part. It's very helpful when you study Zazen. to be kind of stupid. Just be straightforward. Don't be too clever. When you're out of wedding, just be out of wedding. Okay, you're a big shot Zen student with all sorts of ideas. So what? But when you're in Sashim, again, Just be incision.

[24:46]

Don't conjure up some ideas that the arising experience needs to be different from what it is. The arising experience is already arisen. Hard to argue with that. The arising experience is exactly, completely itself. Hard to argue with that. So that's what nonsense said to Joshua. And then Joshua said, well, then how am I supposed to practice? How am I supposed to know something or get something out of that? And he says, if you try to know it, you're adding something to it.

[25:57]

If you try to not know it, if you try to suppress your own arising experience, you go into a kind of fuzzy space-start state. So this is a good admonition for Sashim to watch. Just steer a course between the two. Tearing between controlling, trying to make something happen, trying to have a special experience, and trying to suppress, separate from what's arising, that will make the mind kind of spacey or heavy, or both. This is what makes practice, the practice, the simple, direct practice of awareness so difficult.

[27:18]

It's steering a course between the two. It's watching when you're leaning one way or when you're leaning the other. not try to accentuate those moments of concentration, of settledness, of abiding clarity? How do we not try to suppress those difficult emotions or nagging thoughts? Literally reliving that same old stupid scenario that I've relived 50 times is not the way. Grasping it is not the way.

[28:26]

Suppressing it is not the way. So coming into this territory, the acknowledgement of the human condition, Proposition of practice. Being able to not be dissuaded by our very understandable resistances and hindrances. To see the agendas of trying to control and trying to suppress. Trying to grasp and trying to avoid. remind ourselves of Joishu's quiet dedication and persistence.

[29:28]

Seven days, one straight line. Zazen mind, Zazen mind, Zazen mind. Of letting that be a reference point, a touchstone. And then watching the multitude of ideas, of agendas, of distractions that arise out of our being. Of becoming aware of the range of variation that they come forth I'm just noting them for what they are a whole desire Rumi's father

[30:50]

Rumi's father was also a famous spiritual seeker. And he wrote a notebook throughout his life, through most of his life. And then Rumi used it as a kind of reference book when he was studying and teaching. In his notes, Rumi's father said, I really appreciate desire. When I experience desire, it's like I see exactly where I have to practice. It's like the energy of it, the allure of it, just shows me exactly right here. This is a great attitude because it sort of turns things upside down.

[31:53]

Normally we think, oh, hindrance, that's a problem, makes my life painful, makes me a bad practitioner. Shouldn't happen, life would be a whole lot easier, I'd have a better sashim. dig a little deeper, then you start to see how much of our consciousness seems to swim around in a kind of unclarity. You're sitting in Zazen and you come to awareness and you think, where was I? What was I thinking about? I don't know. I don't know what I was doing. I was doing something. Don't know what it was. So then we can start to appreciate the support of desire and aversion.

[32:56]

Sometimes when we're filled with resentment, how dare you say that to me? We're very present. There's a lot of energy, very precise. Maybe we can just say, oh, this is ordinary mind. This is the sort of stuff I get up to all the time. Just see it and be present for it. What is it that you've offended that I would be so indignant? What precious sense of self do I cling to that when it's affronted like that, it brings up? Such an indignant response. What exactly does that object of desire offer?

[34:12]

That's so alluring, that's so worth investing with your creative thought and energy. What is it in that moment to let it go? This is fanning. Not because every moment isn't completely itself. But because every moment is completely itself, we practice being the moment.

[35:20]

Not because we're supposed to know something or suppress something, embellish something or get rid of something. Desire is the mind of desire. Aversion is the mind of aversion. Anxiety is the mind of anxiety. Mind meaning being, not just mind. The being of anxiety. of just staying upright and not leaning into or leaning away from. So Shashin is a journey.

[36:30]

Shashin is a journey into unknown being. A journey from familiar being to unknown being. And I would say for us as human beings, it's a very mixed proposition. In one way, from our humanness, it seems like the most difficult thing we could try to do. It seems unnatural. I have to kind of like cut off part of me. And then on the other side, It seems like our heart's desire. Something in us knows that there's more than just living in the tight circle of our own habituated being.

[37:36]

Something in us knows that each day invites us into an intimate dance of co-creation, of adventure, and full experiencing. So we sit Shashin with great devotion and great reluctance. It's a very odd proposition. just to accept that too. Okay. Maybe, but in Sashirin, there's going to be moments where you feel filled with great devotion. And maybe there's going to be moments where you're filled with great reluctance.

[38:41]

Okay? Oh, what's arising now? Great devotion. Great appreciation. Dedication. I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. This is the most important thing there is. Okay. Wonderful. I hate this. I wish it was over. I think I'm kind of sick. I think I need to go and rest this period. Okay. Whatever arises is exactly what's arising. It's just how it is. So in this koan, in the Mumman Khan, it caps this whole consideration with this verse. It says, spring flowers, autumn moon, summer breeze, winter snow.

[39:49]

When mind is uncluttered, This is a glorious season. Spring flowers, autumn moon, summer breeze, winter snow. Each moment has its own characteristic. That's its offering. Or, if you want to turn it on its head, that's its affliction. When the mind is uncluttered, it's just what it is. It's its own glorious season. Or in a much more poetic way,

[40:54]

Dogen Zenji puts it like this. Since wind's nature is ever-present, the wind of the Buddha family enables us to realize the gold of the great earth and to transform the water of the long river into creep. please, in this initial process of sashim, allow yourself to settle in. Let it work on you. Let it influence you. Don't resist it. You didn't come here to resist it. You came here to just let it And please try to stay close to these fundamentals of our practice that you know well.

[42:09]

You know better than the rambling words I've just spoken describe. Let that knowing that you brought here guide you. To stay upright, not leaning forward or pulling away from. Don't turn it into a battle of good and evil. We are human. This is our condition. And it's our teacher. It's a gift. Our desire, our aversion, our anxieties, our sleepiness, our diet. They're all our teacher. And so is our compassion, our clarity, our concentration, our dedication, our generosity.

[43:21]

When things loosen up, they just as organically bubble up too. Which season comes when? Well, just wait and see. But when it comes, it comes. The early sutras are very straightforward. Acknowledge, oh, aversion. Contact. Oh, what are the thoughts? What are the formations of aversion? What am I pushing away? What's the feeling of aversion? Engaging the mind-body experience of aversion. Do my shoulders tighten?

[44:29]

Does my chest contract? Does my mental disposition shift? And as we engage it, it becomes less of a being, of a fixed being, and more of an interactive process. And as we become that process, quite organically, that process turns into the next thing. It's the clinging that keeps it, gives it the solidity and continuity of this thingness. without knowing how we experience liberation. And as Dogen Zenji says in the Genjo Con, maybe we don't even notice.

[45:35]

Buddhas don't necessarily notice they're being Buddhas. spring breeze, autumn moon, summer warmth, winter snow. When mind is uncluttered, this is the glorious season. Thank you. May our intention equally extend the name and the place where the children were prepared.

[46:32]

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