Good morning. So interesting how in the space between the time the bell ends and the lecture begins, so many things can happen that can be teachings. For instance, can you imagine what it would be like If you were the attendant for the lecture and, you know, after you already sounded the signal that you were coming and before you actually got to the lecture hall, the incense went out. You know, there you are standing in front of, oh, I don't know, a hundred people in a pretty formal situation. trying to light a match that will not light.

[01:06]

And that brings me, oddly enough, to the subject of this talk. Today we're having a one-day sitting. Because of the one-day sitting, the schedule's going to be a little bit different. And because there's an ordination next week and a one-day sitting today, Abbot Paul, who's sitting over there, over here on this side of the Zendo, graciously gave up his lecture slot so that I would give the lecture today, and he would give it next week. So because of that, I thought I would make a riff. Usually the abbot gives the lecture for the one-day sitting, or the person who's leading the sitting gives the lecture for the one-day sitting.

[02:15]

So I feel like it's a matter of honor to use a Zen phrase of Paul's as the basis of this talk. And that phrase, like the matter of the match that doesn't light, is a very ordinary phrase. What's happening now? So a one-day sitting is a time that we take out of our otherwise busy and scheduled existence. to sit and do nothing for a whole day. The form of the day is agreed upon. You know, it starts with a signal at 525. You're in your seat at a certain time. You sit in a particular posture.

[03:19]

Bells ring. You sit down. You stand up. You walk. You chant. You eat. You give food, you receive food, and you bow. And if those forms are already, if you already have mastery of that level of form, then you step through the left side of the door with your left foot on the way into the zendo. You bow with your hands with the tips of the finger. in line with the tips of the nose. You hold the bowl with the thumb and first two fingers of your right hand. You give it to the server if it's the second bowl. You hold it if it's the first bowl. If that form is already mastered, if that level is already mastered, then you do part of the bow on the inhale and part of the bow on the exhale.

[04:25]

You chant using the entire column of breath. You keep your energy within the skin of your body instead of bringing it outside your body towards another person and so on. There's never an end to the mindfulness of the form. No matter whether you've been practicing for five minutes, or five decades, this is the same. And we sit in silence. It's not complete silence, it's functional talking only. So you can say something like, good morning, or serve that side of the zendo, or... You know, buckets.

[05:27]

You can say something like that. But you can't say something like, oh, how are you doing today? You know, how's your sister? That level of conversation is not used. So that level of silence called functional talking, we adopt together so that we can notice the discursive mind and settle it down. because the settled mind becomes naturally awake. And we stand, sit, walk, and lie down in particular ways so that we can notice the restlessness of our bodies, or our body, our body, and settle it down. Because a settled body becomes naturally receptive to the present. And breathing.

[06:28]

There are practices for mindfulness of breathing. First, we notice the fact of breath. I am breathing in. I am breathing out. I'm breathing in a long breath. I'm breathing in a short breath. So we begin to notice with more refinement. We settle into the rhythm of the breath. And the rhythmic breathing becomes naturally profound. So we become naturally awake, naturally receptive, naturally profound. So I first heard this statement, what's happening now, in a private interview called Dokusan with Paul. And Dokusan, the name Dokusan means alone meeting. It means that the two people are united in one task of meeting in practice.

[07:30]

And so an utterance that's made in that context settles into the body in a very different way than normal discursive speech. And so that kind of statement, if you take it on and you practice with it, echoes day after day in your practice, and you join. If people are practicing with similar statements, then it's another way of joining each other as a community. There's a show in the art lounge right now, an art show in the art lounge right now, and it's called Nor Otherwise, Photographs by John P. O'Grady. So you might want to see these pictures because... They're pretty interesting. I want to read part of the artist's statement. The things of the world, according to a reliable source, are not as they appear.

[08:35]

Nor are they otherwise. So, the things of the world, according to a reliable source, are not as they appear. nor are they otherwise. The photograph is a frolicsome illusion. We as human beings are easily deluded. Illusion and delusion, both words arise from the same Latin root, the verb ludere, to play. A photograph is a playground for the mind. Okay. So. That's John's statement. So things aren't as they appear, nor are they otherwise. What's happening now?

[09:39]

Here's an example. You're sitting and it appears that you're sitting in your body. Yes or no? Try this. find the place where you're actually connecting to the object you're sitting on. You're connecting to Mother Earth. So with your inner eye, notice your sitting bones. And notice the sensation of contact between your sitting bones. and your pillow or chair.

[11:00]

Contact. Now without losing the awareness of contact, adjust yourself so that you're equal, so that there's equal contact. so that you're equally sitting on your left and your right buttock bone. If you have a question about whether it's equal, ask your cushion or the chair to tell you. So notice the sensation of contact. Whether you're on the front or the back of the buttock bone, whether you're on the inside or outside. If equal weight is on the two buttock bones, maybe you're not equal.

[12:14]

For instance, I see someone who's on the outside of the right buttock bone and the inside, the outside of the left buttock bone and the inside of the right buttock bone. Okay? So you're sitting on the outside of your left, the inside of your right. And if you just adjust, it will feel different, even though it felt right when you were doing that. And I notice somebody who's sitting on the front of the left buttock bone and the back of the right buttock bone. So adjust yourself equally. So who made that adjustment? Are you sitting in your body? So it's not as it appears, but it isn't exactly otherwise either.

[13:23]

So this is an example of how the forms can be supportive and mindful of our practice. It's also mindful of another's practice. So for instance, we have a practice called kinhin, walking meditation. And just as you adjusted your weight on your buttock bones, in kinhin we adjust our weight on our feet. So we lift one foot and then we place it. on the exhalation half step. We lift the other foot and then we place it. It goes with the inhalation. We lift and with the exhalation we place. But there are also traffic rules for Kinyin. So you walk clockwise, not counterclockwise. And you walk at an equal distance. Without looking, you walk at an equal distance. from everyone else. So who does that?

[14:37]

How do you do that? Who knows if you don't look? Who knows whether you're creating a traffic jam behind you or whether everything is equal? Who knows that? So in silence, What is the mind awake to? In silence, the mind becomes present because our thoughts are generally about the past, the future, or not knowing. Posture is very specific. So, you know, we notice, we might notice, oh, this... cushion, this chair. It's so patiently giving us feedback. So patiently telling. Telling me what?

[15:39]

What? What? You know? Forward, backwards, right, left. And this breathing, if we study the breathing, You can notice, just close your eyes for a second so you don't have to see anybody else and just notice your thoughts and your breath as they rise and fall. I'll be quiet. And now open your eyes. Did you notice what happened to the thoughts as you inhaled and what happened to the thoughts as you exhaled? I don't know if this is true of you.

[16:45]

You can check this out at home. You don't have to close your eyes when you're at home. As a matter of fact, in our system, we keep the eyes halfway open. But in my experience, the thoughts become more present and defined on the inhalation, and they fade, at least slightly, on the exhalation. So that the process of breathing, as it becomes refined, unites a feeling of being with a feeling of going away. A feeling of the fixedness of myself that alternates with the feeling of the dissolving of myself. And because the in-breath, in the in-breath, you know, I thought the air was there and I was here.

[17:49]

But in the in-breath, what happens to the air? And in the exhalation, what happens to myself? So these are questions that naturally arise in the breathing process if we wake up to it, just as it is. We don't have to add anything. So I've been studying a sutra by the Buddha, a teaching of the Buddha called the Kachayana Gota Sutra. It was... Not the first sutra that the Buddha taught, but it was one of the very earliest ones. Maybe the second sutra that the Buddha taught. And Kachayanagota just means of the family of Kachayana. Kachayana is a name. And the Venerable Kachayana was asking the Buddha about

[18:56]

how to see and experience the world, how to think about the world, how to view the world, and how to view the self. So I will read this sutra just because it's such an amazing teaching. And it relates to the question of what's happening now. So Katyayana Gota approached the Blessed One and on his arrival, having bowed down, he sat to one side. As he was sitting, he said to the Buddha, Lord, right view, right view, people say. To what extent is there right view? The Buddha responded. By and large, this world is supported by, or takes as its object, the world is supported by a polarity.

[20:08]

People, by and large, think that things exist or things do not exist. But when one looks at how the world comes up as it actually is, with right discernment, then the world when we look at the world, we can't think non-existence. So when we see how the world comes to be, let's say on the in-breath, as it actually is, that when we discern that, we can't really speak about non-existence. And when we see how the world falls away with right discernment, then when we think about the world, we can't think that it does exist. Do you understand? That's the beginning of the sutra. So by and large, the world is stuck to attachments, clinging and bias.

[21:18]

But One such as this, meaning a person who's awake, doesn't get involved to or cling to such attachments, clingings, fixation of awareness, biases or obsessions. Nor does he cling to myself, an idea called myself. He has no uncertainty or doubt that just stress or suffering when it arises, is arising. That when it passes away, that it passes away. In this, his knowledge is independent of others, what people say, for appearances. So to this extent, Kachayana, there is right view. Everything exists as one extreme. everything does not exist is another extreme.

[22:26]

So to resolve these two extremes, the Buddha teaches the truth by way of the middle. And this is the teaching, the main teaching of the sutra. From ignorance as a requisite condition comes fabrication. From fabrication comes consciousness. From consciousness comes name and form. From name and form comes the senses. From the senses comes contact. From contact comes feeling. From feeling comes cravings. From craving comes clinging.

[23:30]

From clinging comes becoming. From becoming comes birth. From birth comes aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. So that's how this entire mass of suffering arises. But from the remainderless fading and ceasing of ignorance comes the ceasing of fabrication and so on. And down the entire chain, all the way to from the cessation of birth, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, Pain, distress, and despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress and suffering.

[24:35]

So I don't want to get technical. So I don't want to dwell too much on the names of each step of the chain, although we could go that way. I don't want to get too technical. But the main point is that When this part of life comes into being, that part of life comes into being. If this doesn't come into being, that doesn't come into being. So if ignorance doesn't come into being, then suffering can't come into being. If clinging doesn't come into being, then suffering can't arise. This is the Buddha's teaching, which he taught in response to the human condition. And so the point of the sutra is that everything exists as an extreme view. Everything doesn't exist as an extreme view.

[25:40]

And so the cure for those extreme views is the middle way, which teaches that when this arises, that arises. When this doesn't arise, that doesn't arise. Now, how is this important? to us in Sashin. You may want to refresh your posture. You may want to take a deep breath because I'm going to try to tell you how it's important in Sashin. And you might not agree. You know? You might have a different experience. Or it might be the complete verification of your experience, which, you know, is rare in this life. So refresh your posture and get ready to listen. Check it out. Don't just believe or disbelieve what I say. It might be true and it might be completely bogus, so check it out. So let's say you believe in existence.

[26:46]

Maybe you don't know that you believe in existence. Maybe if somebody asks you, do you believe in existence? You'd say no. So let's talk a little bit about what goes with that. Another name for believing in existence is that you emphasize the physical in your life. That you live in the world of difference. That you believe that suffering is caused by chance or by... Other. Something other than yourself. Okay, those are other names for believing in existence. It means that maybe you have a pattern of when you're in an argument with someone else, you're always right and they're always wrong. The argument is generally their fault. Okay?

[27:49]

And the car crash was always caused by the other driver. Or by... the slippery road. Okay? So that's called believing in self. And the karma that goes along with that, the desire and the motivation that goes along with that view is self-indulgence at one end, but it can also be as subtle as just a deep and persistent desire for acknowledgement, for being, for being something. And the philosophy that's associated with that is called materialism. Okay? And it will dwell on arising. And the practice, just in case you're sitting and you don't recognize this in yourself, the tendency in your practice will be to enjoy the pleasure of the senses, to sit down and say, oh, the zendo is so beautiful and...

[28:55]

It's so relaxing just to sit here. Or if it's painful, you say, oh, it's painful. I have to change my posture. So that's the kind of practice that that gives rise to, and that's one extreme. The thing that you'll be practicing with in that case is reactivity. Let's say you believe in non-existence. You might not think, I believe in non-existence. I don't believe anything exists. Okay? But another name for that is, are you a skeptic? You know, if people say things, do you ordinarily believe them or not? Do you think that suffering is caused by yourself? Do you blame yourself when something arises?

[29:59]

Let's say there's an argument. Do you think, that must have been me? Or, that can't have been. Are you skeptical of your thoughts? Are you skeptical of the world? And the philosophy that goes along with that is called annihilism, or being a nihilist. You know, the desire, the karma that goes along with that is a kind of self-mortification, a deep desire for non-being. So if you think about anorexia as a psychological... that might be worn a piece of it. Or if you think about... If a problem comes up and you say, I could just die.

[31:08]

Okay? So this person... the practice associated with that will be a kind of extreme self-mortification. And the psychology might be one of aloofness. The first one, the thing that they're practicing with, might be reaction. The second extreme, the thing they're practicing with, might be aloofness, a sense of disconnection between oneself and the world. And the Buddhist teaching, of course, in this model, the Buddhist teaching is the right view, or the closest to right view that there is. And in the Buddhist view, suffering comes up through a chain of events that starts with ignoring or turning away from something very basic about the world.

[32:16]

which is that everything depends on everything else. Everyone and everything depends on everyone and everything. And in this path, desire is not as important as finding a way through suffering for oneself and for others. And the philosophy that goes along with this is one of impermanence. that no one thing is permanent. What one might be practicing with in this way is presence, response, appreciation, or skill. So I'm not saying that all nihilists are bad or all materialists are bad. That's not what I'm saying. So I don't want to disrespect

[33:18]

materialism or nihilism or so on. I'm saying these are the extremes that the Buddha was talking about. And there may be a way of being a materialist or being a nihilist that I don't know about that's completely okay. I'm open to that. So you can tell me after the sitting if that's true. Because during the sitting I don't want to focus on philosophy too much, I'm too busy trying to return myself to my breath. Okay. So, for the middle way, in the middle way, there's an ultimate truth, which is something that we can't name, that is best really expressed in the form of a question. But there's also a side of the middle way that's about process.

[34:27]

The process of everything arising, independence on everything else. My hand takes the food in this bowl. now is constantly falling away. So it's precious. It's to be appreciated because it won't last long. And that is a provisional, what's happening now is provisional truth. Totally to be appreciated like a flower You know, how does that help? Okay, this is a picture taken by Mako of a tree at Tassajara after the forest fire.

[35:37]

So I was just at Tassajara. Can you see it or should I pass it? Okay. It's just a picture of a tree. I'll try to draw a word picture for people who don't get to see the picture. As you know, Tassajara Monastery is our monastery in the middle of the mountains. And usually during the summer, it's green. And there are miles of trees and it smells good. It smells like forest. And everywhere that you look is alive. But on June 23rd, lightning struck and the forest burnt. It burned for miles. Very, very hot. And it came into Tassajara from four directions at the same time. Five people were there and saved the monastery. But now, coming back to Tassajara after the forest fire, it's a tiny little speck of green in the middle of miles and miles of ash drips.

[36:48]

It's so poignant to be there. So to be present with this poignancy is to be alive. You know, I could bemoan the fact of the forest's burning, or I could live in a fantasy about Tassajara being the same whether the forest burned or not. But the truth is that the forest is traumatized, that Tassajara is alive and will always live. There's nothing that can destroy it. You know, it doesn't mean that the buildings can't be destroyed or that we can't be traumatized. But what it means is that no matter how much burns, the real life of Tassajara happens.

[37:54]

It's like, so even death, even ashes and suffering and despair are like the letting in the stained glass window that helps us breathe because we're alive. So, and sitting in a one day sitting to wind this up because it's definitely time for the kingdom. To sit all day in the midst of our own ashes, in the midst of our own despair or desires or attractions or aversions or pain or pleasure or food or gifts or itching or robes or, you know, friends or enemies or anything. is to be poised on a point in the midst of everything.

[39:07]

And to be able to appreciate and understand through direct experience how we are interconnected. First through the forms, and then the forms are training wheels for life. So that's really the meaning of Sashin. And I hope that the people who walk out of the Buddha Hall after the lecture can be the meaning of Sashin for the people who are sitting. And that the people who are sitting can be the meaning of shopping or shopping. cleaning, or visiting with friends. So that's what we're doing. And in case you want to study these topics a little bit more, there was a great teacher, a great philosopher named Nagarjuna, who lived quite a long time ago, who's in our lineage.

[40:18]

And David, who's in the green puppy vest and black hat over there, who's a very, very experienced scholar and practitioner, although he doesn't like me to say scholar too bad, because it's true. But he actually has checked out in his experience his studies about Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna's entire writing, his entire set of works can be seen as a commentary. on the Kacchayanagota Sutta of the Buddha and on what's happening now. You know, beyond our ideas, which are important to us, beyond shoving away ideas as not really true, so beyond those two extremes, there is a middle path, which he starts out by talking about

[41:23]

and then points us towards experiencing. So David is going to teach a workshop from 1.30 to 5 called, Is Rebirth Possible? Is Existence Possible? Does Karma Continue? So I encourage you, if you're not in the Sashin, to flock to this workshop in great numbers. really put it to him because the teachings of Nagarjuna might not really describe your experience. Thank you very much for your attention. And oh, I want to give you one commentary by Kabir. As long as I talked unceasingly about the Lord... the Lord stayed away, kept at a distance.

[42:26]

But when I silenced my mouth, sat very still, and fixed my mind at the doorway of the Lord, I was linked to the music of the word and all my talking. came to an end. Again. As long as I talked unceasingly about the Lord, the Lord stayed away, kept at a distance. But when I silenced my mouth, sat very still, and fixed my mind at the doorway of the Lord, I was linked to the music of the word. and all my talking came to an end. Thank you for your patience, for your sitting, and for your shopping.

[43:34]

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