This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. Suddenly, the sun is shining. sky is blue with a few clouds. And yet just a moment ago we were sitting in the dark early morning hearing the splashing sound of the cars on the wet roads. The rain sounding on the walls and the roof. And now this

[01:00]

Where did that early morning go? Now, when we open our eyes and open our ears, the world expands the teachings of the nature of what is. Sometimes what comes in through our eyes and in through our ears is, in a way, a simpler message than the internal event. A shashin starts to loosen up and undo the body-mind, soul. diligently called me.

[02:06]

All sorts of experiences happen. That's just the nature of it. And it's helpful to just let that sink in for a moment. All sorts of states all sorts of emotions, all sorts of states of consciousness, from clear and attentive to murky and diffuse. A different sense of self accompanying either. And something in us determined to tie them all together, in the perseverance of me, its own miraculous event, what it is to be alive, what it is to have the karmic construct

[03:33]

of my own life, so-called own life, and how they play out under different circumstances. Recently, someone gave me this card, and in it's a quote from Leonard Cohen, apparently I don't know if this was part of a song he sang when he was in San Francisco, or just a random quote. For those of you who don't know, Leonard Cohen was a long-time Zen student, student of Suzuki Roshi, the Rinzai teacher. And at one point, he decided he would spend 10 years at the monastery, Mount Baldy. Now, I'm living in this temple, where they tell you what to do.

[04:38]

I'm old and I've had to settle on a different point of view. I was fighting with temptation, but I didn't want to win. A man like me don't like to see temptation caving in. Sometimes it's helpful to have a little sense of humor around your own process. If you look carefully, we're all quite foolish in how we relate to what goes on for us. But also if you look carefully, we all...

[05:42]

Do well with a little tender-hearted patience. Leonard Cohen went to the monastery for that 10-year session. His whole life he spent time there, going back and forth. But when he decided to do that 10-year session, he went to the monastery. And he left all his affairs in the hands of his manager. And she spent all this money while he was away. And he didn't know this. So when he came out of the monastery, he was totally broke. And he sort of saw the... the irony of it all, you know?

[06:44]

You go to Zen practice to let go of clinging. And in the meantime, someone's helping you with that. way in which our mind-heart can steady itself, can incline itself towards the Buddha way. And then we enter in, and all sorts of stuff happens. So yesterday I was talking about Basel's response to the question, what is Buddha?

[07:59]

And in a way, I would say in a significant way, this question, what is Buddha, is kind of like the heartbeat of practice. And yesterday I was saying, And that heartbeat can be expressed in what's happening now. Whether it's a raging storm of our own karmic influences and conditions. whether it's hearing a few lines from Leonard Cohen and quietly laughing and thinking, isn't that the way? He wasn't ready to let go of temptation, but it was being, things that he could be tempted by were being taken away.

[09:16]

The standard challenge of sushin is to literally feel the rhythm of it, to feel the request of it in each phase of the day, whether it's the splashing sand of the traffic on the wet road, light of the lecture hall. Some powerful expression of your own inner workings. One way it can be described is can each and every one of the happenings of what's happening now.

[10:29]

Can it be itself? So often our mind is referring elsewhere. Sometimes having a narrative with someone, and we're not even sure who that someone is, Sometimes we are. Sometimes we're not even aware of what the narrative is pronouncing. And I was characterizing Basso's answer. This very mind is Buddha. This very heart mind is Buddha. this way in the middle of a karmic life, within and without, and the interplay of the two.

[11:38]

Within all of that, attending to what arises in a way that reveals the nature of what is, and the path of liberation and the expression of liberation. This very mind is Buddha. And as we make our path in the expression of Sashin, step at a time, one breath at a time, as we create the path, all sorts of events, maybe in our own mind, triumphs and failures, tragedies and delights.

[12:45]

But can they be themselves? Here and now, this is happening. This thought, this feeling, this memory, this bright light, this sign of rain. Experience the experience that's being experienced. already happening. It's already being experienced. So how hard can it be? Impossibly hard. This is the great mystery of practice. How hard can it be to be what already is?

[13:53]

What, in fact, what could be simpler? What could be more direct? What could express the moment more thoroughly? What could be more enlivening and engaging? And what is it to explore this as we go through each event in the schedule of Sushi. Suzuki Roshi liked to use the phrase Nyunan Shin, soft, flexible mind.

[14:58]

In the Abhidharma, the later version, Abhidharma is the earlier version of Buddhist psychology, there's 52 characteristics of mind. And a couple of them attend to this soft, flexible mind. What's happening? Okay, now this. Okay, now the rain's gone and the sun is shining. Now that mysterious pain that was in my knee, hip, right shoulder blade, neck, lower back. How many secrets our body has within it. bring them for our exploration.

[16:07]

How amazing that we can sit and delve into the archaeology of our psychosomatic being. embodied within our body. And then we sit and they offer themselves up Many, many years ago, I was in Thailand, and I'd heard a lot about meditation.

[17:15]

And I thought, I should go check that out. And so I went to a Vipassana Center outside of Bangkok. And I said, I'd like to learn to meditate. So they put me in to attend a solitary intensive. And it is true, I did learn something about meditation. The instructions, the initial instructions were beautiful. Here was the first one. Sit any posture you like and notice when you have the impulse to move and before you move feel the sensations that are giving rise to that impulse. And then move with as much attention as possible. And then start over.

[18:19]

Sit till you have the impulse to move. Attend. So in your sitting, this mysterious world of psychosomatic being that reveals the uprightness of Zazen. Before you move, attend to the impulse to move. the sensations that give rise to it. Everything is conditioned existence. Everything arises out of causes and conditions. Can we engage in that way?

[19:27]

Can sometimes that be A steady, quiet observation. Sometimes can that be a flowing movement as we sweep or work in some way. That was actually the preamble to my talk for this morning. That was the build-up to this. Basso, who said this very mind is Buddha, in talking to his teacher, in what is recorded, as far as I know, it was first recorded a hundred years after it happened. The pivotal conversation he had with his teacher was, you know, why are you sitting?

[20:39]

I'm sitting to become a Buddha. What are you doing, teacher? Well, I'm polishing a tile. And why are you doing that? Well, that doesn't seem possible. So trying, striving, knowing what the goal is, and then trying to force it to happen. This was the first part of the teaching that Nangaku gave him. Then they went on from there. And this is as recounted by Dogenzenji. If you're starting to become a Buddha, then know that Buddha has no fixed form. What's happening now has no fixed form.

[21:47]

And this is its great gift. If it had a fixed form, how could we ever resist grasping it and holding it in denial of impermanence. Neither grasp or reject. And in a practical way to acknowledge that when mind is not so settled, we do both. We grasp and we reject. And in our grasping and rejecting, Thoughts, feelings, memories, pour forth. All asking to be acknowledged, contacted, and experienced.

[22:54]

with a disposition that allows for that? With a little savvy, can we set aside some notion of perfection? In my diligence, my mind will do exactly what it's told. Maybe on rare occasions. Maybe for a few seconds. Neither gasp, grasp, nor reject. Sabasso asked his teacher, then how can one cultivate mind in accord with formless samadhi? You know, one translation of samadhi, it's a term that covers various states of consciousness and involvement in the moment.

[24:20]

One of those characteristics is continuous contact. How can one cultivate continuous contact with an ever-changing arising? moment by moment. What a beautiful question. If everything is changing, how can you continually make contact with it? Sometimes Zazen is described as objectless concentration. It doesn't have a fixed object, but there's a mind that's attending and experiencing each arising.

[25:24]

And his teacher said, this is to study the Dharma of the nature of mind. the essential Dharma of this can be likened to rain that falls upon seeded ground. In the same manner, this allows you to perceive the way. So don't worry about that too much for a moment. Actually, don't worry about it at all. The mind, and then Vaso says, the mind is without color or form. How can one perceive it? The Dharma eye can perceive the way. The formless engagement realizes it.

[26:34]

pay attention and experience what's happening. It's not so much that our thinking mind figures something out. Quite literally, we experience something and we realize it. This is the nature of our practice. moment by moment, we experience what's happening. And as we attend to that, we literally don't know where this is going. We don't know the conclusion.

[27:43]

your karma unfolds in Shashin, all sorts of things can happen. And just to acknowledge and relate to the impulse when they happen, the impulse go somewhere else. They create somewhere else. Some other time. And patiently and steadily inviting them to be here and now. This thought about there and then happening here this thought is an illustration of itself to be experienced this feeling this emotion this interaction this hearing this seeing all happening here

[29:18]

And his teacher says, this is like rain falling on the seeds. Something comes to life. Something is being germinated. Something more than just the constructs of karmic mind. What is that something? Well, it's not the thought we attribute to it. It's not the figuring out that we impose upon it. The foolish request of our practice is experience the experience that's being experienced. It will show us everything from the way in the middle of being me there's a quivering apprehension.

[30:42]

It will show us in the way of me being me there's a golden-haired lion ready to be the moment. leap into being the moment. It will show us the traits of mind that come forth like old songs that we feel kindred spirit with. And then Basso asked his teacher, and this meeting the moment by moment by moment,

[31:58]

Is there a good and a bad? You mean any moment, every moment? If in a moment you're filled with hatred? If in a moment you're thinking of saving all beings? Is it just the same? Is it all just... Is content irrelevant? She says, if the way is seen as an aggregation or a disintegration of good and bad, if it's seen as trying to put something into place or stop something, we're getting distracted.

[33:02]

Then that's not the way. Listen to this verse, in his teacher's verse. The mind grind is fully sawn. The mind grind is fully capable of awakening. When moisture lands, All seeds sprout. When the experience is experienced, that gives rise. The seeds sprout. The flower of samadhi. How could that be good or bad? each time we do zazen, each time we take a formal seated posture to remind ourselves this is to enable, to enact the process of being awake.

[34:37]

What will arise doesn't need to be different from what it is. What will arise doesn't need to be sorted out into what to hold on to and to what to push away. And then to attend to the details of the body. To attend to the details of giving attention. To attend to the details of working with the breath, being breath.

[35:44]

In that attending, maybe there's a particular technique that you've been taught. What's happening? How do you practice with it? How do you bring it into awareness? And how do you hold it? or let it be awareness. So as the spirit of Zazen starts, this very deliberate way of engaging. And it's not a contraction. It's not a rigidity. It's to incline the mind, the body, the breath, to the activity of awakening. And if the mind is construing it as something other than that, then we're back.

[36:56]

We're Basso's teachers trying to help them with this practice. If the mind is constructing something that should happen, that becomes its own complicating factor. It's tending to what is happening. And not to say that a technique isn't useful in that process, but how the technique is engaged. And it's helpful to talk to a teacher about how you're engaging the technique. And I would say this. Within the technique the most crucial element is experiencing.

[38:10]

If the technique becomes either a gross or subtle form of manipulation it can make the experiencing more difficult. And so that's why what I emphasize in relating to the breath is experiencing the breath. Before you get busy doing something to it or with it, experience it. And experience it and experience it each time at the start of every period rediscovering the sensation of breath in the body. And then if you're practicing with counting, I would say count and experience.

[39:21]

If you're practicing with a particular way of breathing, engage the particular way of breathing in as much as it facilitates experiencing. And similarly with the body. Experience the body. Experience the sensations in the body. And let the sensations, you know, as we settle into Zazen, the mind has a construct of the body. And then as we settle into Zazen, the sensations of physicality, create something called body. And let those sensations guide the posture. Let those sensations help sustain uprightness.

[40:27]

And the breath breathes through the sensations of body. And then mind goes crazy. best as possible to stay in contact with whatever formulation mind and emotions create as best as possible when mind gets carried away to notice when my awareness arises again and let that moment register and slowly, patiently, deliberately return, reconnect the body, reconnect the breath. And if the mind generates judgments about that experience,

[41:48]

Notice that too. Be aware of that. Basso's teacher is saying this awareness germinates the seeds of awakening. It's not something the mind figures out. It's something that just comes into being because of the exquisite nature of our consciousness that it has this marvelous capacity to wake up. And what it needs to support it to wake up is completely present.

[42:52]

all that a human life stirs up around that simple, powerful expression, all that a human life stirs up is asking for a tender approach. In some ways we could say, everything that's stirred up is our best effort at being alive. This is me exhibiting my best effort at being alive. What is it? This is the great koan. The practice is quite simple.

[44:07]

The human condition. is the great con. The multitude of things, of experiences that get stirred up. Can each of them be, each arising, be itself? Can each arising be now? Can it be here? Can it be an illustration of itself? Can the movement of awareness be towards experiencing it? Can any movement of the mind that says, I'm doing it right, I'm doing it wrong, I'm succeeding, I'm failing, any movement of the mind that grasps onto a memory or an anticipation,

[45:13]

any movement of the mind that creates a lingering mood or emotion, can they all be held with a tenderness? Can they all be experienced for what they are? Each of them is a teaching. And in the midst of our karmic preoccupations, the simplicity, the directness of our practice is quite literally forgotten. So part of the practice is to remind ourselves. What's this all about again?

[46:16]

How do you do that then? How do you practice with this ever-changing world How do you practice with this state of existence that's forever displaying a multitude of expressions of being? Oh, that's right. The sign to the traffic is the sign to the traffic. Is it allowed to come here and be experienced? as some value of pleasant or unpleasant distract my involvement into some judgment. I just had this mischievous thought

[47:26]

to kind of tie all that to the third day of Shishin. Here's the story my mischievous thought made up. How important the third day of Shishin is. We're starting to see the sunlight coming. starting to arrive where we already are. We're starting to see what's happening all the time between our ears. It's like this wonderful opportunity for a beginner's mind. So much to learn.

[48:29]

by practice. So much to learn about being alive. So much to learn about how the light streams in the window. How the tatami shimmers with its pale yellow ridges. And how wonderful, how liberating that we don't have to be some special way. Just as we are, completely expresses the nature of what is. 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.

[49:36]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

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