This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Of great suffering and sorrow and from the appearance of suffering beings, sometimes there arises cries. Sometimes we may not be able to hear the cries, and sometimes we can't. I propose that there is a there's a way, that there's a practice which responds reciprocally to the appearance of all suffering and sorrow, that there's a reciprocal response to all suffering, which...

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discovers the truth and realizes peace. There's a way of responding. There's a practice, a reciprocal practice with this suffering, which realizes the truth and peace and freedom from suffering. This wondrous, unsurpassable path of practice which realizes peace, cannot be attained by Buddhas and Zen ancestors.

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Nor can it be lost by ordinary people. trees, mountains and rivers are our intimate friends. They are our body. If we understand this, it may not be necessary to cultivate any further. If we don't understand it, then it would be good to step back and study ourself. Enlightened beings, sometimes called Buddhas, respond to the cries of living beings and appear in response to that

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cry by giving a practice and the practice is study yourself all the Buddhas teach living beings who are calling them for help they teach living beings to turn around and study themselves if they are able to turn around and study themselves, they will see the truth. They will see the nature of their suffering, the nature of their self, the nature of their mind. And they will become Buddha by this process. of rhythmically, repeatedly in the world of suffering, turn the light back, study the mind, realize its nature, and enter the process of becoming Buddha.

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Turn the light around, study the self, realize its nature. Its nature is the same nature of all beings. This process of studying the mind, studying the self, is the realizing of enlightenment, supreme enlightenment. There are innumerable practices taught in the history of the tradition coming to us from the Buddhas. But sometimes the Zen summary of it is a special transmission, a Buddha mind seal.

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And the Buddha mind seal is look at your mind. Look at your mind. Look at your mind. Study yourself. Realize this nature. Become Buddha. There are innumerable articulations of this basic practice of studying the self, of studying the mind. This is a summary. This is a kind of direct pointing. This is like Yeah. You might say, not beating around the bush. Sometimes I say that the path of seeing the truth and becoming Buddha is to practice the six perfections, the six bodhisattva virtues. Giving.

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ethical discipline, ethical study, patience, diligent effort in all kinds of wholesome activities, concentration and wisdom. These six are the reciprocal response. These six summarize the reciprocal response to the world of suffering which realizes truth and becomes Buddha. The response, the practice becomes Buddha. Buddha is the practice of becoming Buddha. Buddha is an ongoing process of becoming Buddha and going beyond Buddha by this response to all suffering.

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This six-fold response which summarizes infinite practices, giving ethics, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. Today I mentioned that all those can be called one Buddha mind seal. Look at your mind, see its nature, become Buddha. Practice these six. Realize your nature. Become Buddha. These six practices are articulations of how to study yourself. These are six ways of looking at your mind, of studying your mind, and realizing its nature and becoming Buddha. I was talking to somebody a few days ago, and he mentioned a poem by Tragor called Jitanjali.

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I never read the poem before, but I have the book. I opened the book and read it, and at the beginning of the poem it said something like, Thou hast thy seat. In the inmost shrine of my heart. And then it says something like. And it shall be my endeavor. To reveal thee in all my actions. And I thought that sounds like a Zen practice. There's something in the seat in the inmost shrine of our heart in Zen practice.

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It can be called the six bodhisattva virtues. These six virtues are on the seat of the inmost shrine in our heart. Generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiasm. concentration and wisdom in the bodhisattva practice of Zen these are placed on the seat of the inmost shrine of our heart but these can also be called the Buddha mind seal the Buddha seal the Buddha shape what's the Buddha seal study the mind study the self see its nature become Buddha. Study the mind. See its nature. Look at the mind. See its nature. Look at the mind. See its nature. Look at the mind. Look at the mind. No matter what you're looking at, turn around and realize you're looking at your mind.

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Everybody you meet, realize you're looking at your mind. It's hard to remember that, though, when the people you meet say. Hello, how are you? Maybe that's easy then. How are you? Good question. I'll look. Thanks for reminding me. Of my work. The mind. Sometimes reminds us to study the mind. But sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we think that the mind appearing to us as other people is asking us to look at someone other than ourself. It's asking us not to study the mind. It's asking us to study something other than the mind. But this is saying the path to Buddhahood is to study the mind no matter what's happening.

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Don't let events distract you. from your intimate friendship with everything. Don't let what's happening distract you from realizing that everything is your body. Everything is your mind. What we put in the inmost shrine of our heart? Well, study the self. No matter what you meet, no matter who you meet, no matter what comes up, practice giving. Practice ethical training. Today, this afternoon, there will be a ceremony of giving people, of bestowing people,

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Bodhisattva precepts, which could be called ethical precepts. Precepts of those who are on the path to Buddhahood. There's 16 precepts that will be given. The first three are going for refuge in Buddha, going for refuge in Dharma, going for refuge in Sangha, going for refuge in enlightenment, going for refuge in reality. going in for refuge in the community of practitioners sometimes we say go for refuge we think maybe you're going someplace else like I go for Buddha over there I returned to Buddha that I've left now I'm emphasizing that when you say I go for refuge you say I vow to express enlightenment in all my actions.

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I vow to study myself. When I say I go for refuge in Dharma, I say I vow to study my mind and realize its nature and become Buddha. When I say I go for refuge in Sangha, I mean... I vow, I intend to study myself and realize its nature and become Buddha. When I say, when I receive the precept of not killing, not killing, what is that? It's a phrase that's indicating to me how to study myself.

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How do you study yourself? How do you realize your nature? Receive the precept of not killing. How do you receive and practice the precept of not killing? Look at your mind. See its nature. become Buddha. Becoming Buddha is the way to realize the precept of not killing. Not killing is the way to realize Buddhahood. But not by looking at not killing as something over there, but using not killing as a precept to study your mind and realize this nature. Not stealing as a precept to study yourself.

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Study yourself as the precept of not stealing. Not lying or telling the truth as a way to study the self. It often comes to my mind that one of the ancestors of the lineage of this temple, his name was Shingsa.

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Part of his name is Shingsa or Gyoshi, which means walking and thinking. Or practicing thinking. And I often think. about what he was thinking when he was walking. And sometimes when I'm walking, I think that he was thinking about his mind. And realizing, seeing its nature, and becoming Buddha walking and thinking of becoming Buddha walking and thinking of the practice of responding to suffering by walking and thinking of the mind [...]

[20:56]

and thinking of mind and seeing its nature and becoming Buddha, walking on this earth and thinking of studying the self and realizing its nature and becoming Buddha, walking and becoming Buddha in response to the world to teach others how to walk and enter the practice of becoming Buddha. When the path is wide and open, or even just anyway, unhindered and nobody is saying, what are you doing? It may be quite easy just to walk and think of studying the mind. Every step, look at the mind, look at the self. Every step. Look at the mind, see its nature, become Buddha.

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And then someone may show up and ask for something. And it may be difficult for us to stay present with studying the mind when someone says, would you help me with something? Or would you please be different from the way you are? To not get, I shouldn't say not get, but perhaps we will get spun around by those words, become disoriented by hearing those words and forget to study the mind and realize its nature. Well, there again, when the mind is spun, study it. When it's disoriented, study it. Stay present with it and keep studying it. Be generous towards the mind which has gotten distracted from generosity. The point of generosity is not just to give people things and receive things from people,

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but to see the mind of giving and receiving and realize its nature and become Buddha. The giving process shows the mind and watching the giving process you can see the nature of all things and realize Buddha. These ethical considerations are opportunities to see the mind While we're trying to practice ethics, when we get disoriented, there's the disoriented mind to be careful of and to practice the precepts with and to stay, keep studying the mind when the mind is disoriented. Don't say this disoriented mind, this confused mind, is not to be studied. It is to be studied. Its nature is to be seen. Buddhahood is made by this process. all day long, all night long, all night long, in our dreams, this process can go on.

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We can wake up in our dreams. We can be afraid in our dreams. I was afraid in a dream just the other night. I was sitting on a steep, it was like a It was like a slanted roof. Like sometimes there was a slanted roof right outside of a window. And the slanted roof was about three feet long. And my feet were hanging over the edge. And there was a window behind me that I had come out to sit on this ledge. And my hands were in front of me like like they are now. And I felt like I couldn't get off this ledge because if I moved, I might slip and fall. Even if I turned around and tried to get a hold of the window, I would still maybe slip and slide off this roof because it was pretty steep.

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And there was somebody sitting next to me. And I told them about this situation. They were in a similar situation. And I thought if I fall off this cliff, off this slanted roof, I might not be able to practice anymore. I wanted to practice some more. And I was kind of afraid that I was going to slip off this thing. So I said, well, I think I'm going to wake up. I kind of got impatient with the dilemma. If I kept sitting, if I could just keep sitting still and forget about meals and things, I would be all right. But the slightest movement, I might slip off.

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So I just, you know, I became impatient and decided to wake up. It's hard to study the mind. And in that case, I really, I didn't say, well, let's study the mind. I didn't. In my fear of sliding up the roof, I didn't think, oh, study the mind. Realize its nature and become Buddha. So in that dream, I failed. However, I don't know how long that lasted in the dream. But I failed to expressed the Buddha mind seal in the action of sitting on that slanted roof. In the presence of the fear, I forgot. In the dream, my mind was not sufficiently well-trained to remember, oh, oh, look at the mind.

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which is afraid of flighting off the roof, realizes nature, become Buddha. But I'm proposing that if we train ourselves, that no matter what our mind conjures up, no matter what world of suffering we're living in, if we're well trained, nothing will stop the process of Look at the mind which is afraid. Look at the mind which thinks it's going to slide off the edge of the world. Look at the mind which thinks it's going to die with its body as it falls. Look at the mind which is insulted, afraid. Look at the mind which thinks it's better than other people. Look at the mind which is struggling with these precepts. Look at it and see its nature and become Buddha.

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As long as there's a mind and as long as we're alive, there is a mind to study. There is a mind which can reveal its nature. There is a mind which can become the vehicle in the practice of becoming Buddha in response to this mind, this troubled, suffering mind. innumerable wonderful practices are innumerable wonderful ways to study our self. Studying our self can be done through innumerable practices. So again, this is a reciprocal relationship between studying the self and doing all good, doing all good and studying the self.

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Doing all good means all the things conducive to freeing beings from suffering the mind by the way that we're studying again is not the mind we usually think of or may not be the mind we usually think of as the mind the mind which we study mind which we study is body Mind is body. And body is not the usual body that we think of. Body is not the conceptual mind. The concept of body. It's our actual relationship with the whole world. Studying our mind is studying the body. Not our body. The body. The body which doesn't belong to anybody but is

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total relationship of our life with all life if you understand this congratulations if you don't step back and study yourself if you study yourself you realize that yourself is your body and your body is the whole world Sometimes when I have a writing surface next to me, I draw a picture of a circle. And say this circle is a circle of the. Of everything, of the whole world. And then I make a little bump on top. There's the whole world and plus a little bump.

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What's the little bump? Yeah, it's. It's me. You think it's you, but it's actually me. We have a mind which thinks there's a world plus something. And each of us think that the plus something is ourself and other people think it's them. They're misled, of course. That bump is not them. They're included in the world, of course. If they think the bump's them, they're wrong, of course. They're not in addition to the world. Nobody is, except me We should be generous towards this mind that thinks it's something in addition to all beings. We should be generous towards it. We should be careful of it. We should practice not killing with it, not stealing and so on. We should study the mind that thinks it and the self, the self and it.

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something in addition to the universe which makes the universe more or less scary place because what if the universe evolves this way or that way We are all your body. And you are our body. This is our actual mind, is this physical body. this physical relationship is mind.

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Studying this mind is possible, but requires I guess faith that studying the mind would lead to seeing the nature of all things and create great enlightenment. That's the story I offer you. Yeah, and I'm embarrassed when I forget it, and I'm joyful when I remember it and practice it. I feel ready to die when I practice it, and the death that will come when I'm ready for it will be the birth of Buddha. death that comes when I am not ready for it is the birth of suffering the death that comes which I deny just makes more death and birth and death but the death I'm ready for is the death that I will welcome as an opportunity to study myself oh death's coming

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Self-study time. And not too much resistance to self-study time. This person who I'm looking at, who seems to be not me, is in a way the death of me. I'm not over there. I'm over here. Being over there, no me. Being ready for that, Being ready to study how that is, is an opportunity to see the nature of this and that and realize Buddha. Or become Buddha. I can remember moments when I did not wholeheartedly study the self when I saw someone.

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I just remember actually last night, last evening, beautiful sunny afternoon I saw someone from about a hundred feet away I was walking in her direction and she was walking in my direction but she was about a hundred feet away and I was at a place where I was intending to turn left walked on another path I noticed my mind did not want to stand there and wait for her to come she wasn't coming to see me she was just happened to be walking in the opposite direction to me as me I think she was on her way somewhere I think she's on her way to this room maybe

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Okay, there she is. Who is that? Her name was different from mine. She's called by a different name than me. Okay, what do I do? Do I stop and stand there and wait for her to come? Do I lie on the ground and roll around? Or do I take a left as I was planning before I saw her? I didn't, by the way, I didn't think of turning left when I saw her. I was planning to go up the path and take a left. Then I saw her. It wasn't, I wasn't really, yeah. I wasn't like, okay, there she comes, I'm going left. No. I was actually intending to go left at that point. But when I saw her, I thought, well, what should I do? I could have kept going straight and forgot about and give up going left. That's a possibility.

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I could have turned around and gone back the other way. I could have turned right and walked off in the woods. So what I did actually was I put my hands together and bowed to her and she bowed back from 100 feet away. But I'm telling you now that if I review my practice at that moment, I did not feel wholehearted. I did not fully enjoy that moment of, oh, wow, this is it. This is my... I'm going to completely bow and turn left or I'm going to completely bow and not move or I'm going to completely not bow and stand there. and wait for her and block her path and say to her, where are you going? But as an opportunity to study myself, to learn my mind, I was sort of there like, okay, there's somebody far away.

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I definitely felt like it would not be good, although she was really far away and maybe didn't even see me. I did not go so far as to think, I'll just avoid this whole thing and turn left. I realized that that would be too, that would be just too much missing my life. So I said, okay, I got to meet this person from 100 feet. And we have a way here that you can meet people long distance. Sometimes there's a parking lot up there, you know? The parking lot, you know the parking lot? Sometimes when you're going across the parking lot there, if you're coming down the valley from up there in this direction, going through the parking lot, sometimes if you are aware, sometimes if you look, you can see people way up on the hill in that new building coming out of their houses.

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What do you do? Do you say, hi? How do you relate to them? How do you study your mind with people who are like, probably not expecting you to relate to them at like, this is like 200 or 300 feet away. You can see them and they might be able to see you. How do you relate to them? How do you study yourself? It's like, well, I'm not going to study. This is a self which is just a little bit, this is optional. You don't have to deal with people that are that far away. You don't have to know, but you've got a mind that sees them. You don't know if they see you, but they've got a mind. And you can practice with them, because there they are. They're your mind. They're your mind. How are you going to take care of it? How can you be generous to somebody who is several hundred feet away, who you see?

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study myself and see if I'm doing it wholeheartedly. Which means be generous with that person. Give myself to that person. Practice with that person and receive them as supporting me to practice generosity in the form of studying myself. And step by step see what unfolds. maybe you'll just turn right instead of going straight and run up to them and say, good morning. Or you might say, thank you for supporting me to study my mind. And then they might say to you, did you see his nature? And you might say, yes. And they say, Are we becoming Buddha together? Yes.

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I'm up for that with you. Bodies together, parking lots, paths, right turns, left turns, seeing each other. How do we meet? There it is. Study the self. There's never moment where we can't I mean where the opportunity is not there we are never apart from this great way of this great relationship that realizes nature and brings peace but if we skip over those if we skip over us if we skip over then we skip over opportunities, and then we, yeah, and then we regret that we missed the opportunities.

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I do, but that regret is not a bad thing. I told you my regret. I feel more encouraged now to practice by telling you, by confessing to you there was a little bit of hesitation, a little bit of half-heartedness in that moment. to study myself. But now there's inspiration from that half-hearted, from that regret to try to not miss more, to, I should say, vow to not miss more opportunities. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

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Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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