Good morning, everyone. Welcome. Today was a very celebratory day. We celebrated the Buddha's Enlightenment today. In Japan, it's usually celebrated on the 8th of December. Here, we celebrate it on the last day of Sesshin, which usually happens on a weekend. So it happens today to be the 5th of December, but we celebrate it anyhow. And I thought that some of the young people would like to know what it's like when we're chanting and dancing around and throwing flower petals on each other. Of course, we're not going to do it because we've swept it all up, but we can do the chanting. And we chant with this big drum here. And so I thought... at least for those of you who know the Japanese Heart Sutra, rather than going through the whole thing of passing out sutra cards, we would just do a little demonstration of how much fun we can have here.

[01:08]

You know, we're sort of sober here most of the time, you know. But when we're celebrating the Buddha's enlightenment, we want it to be fun. we want to realize what a great thing it is to have this teaching of the Buddha Dharma that helps us to liberate ourselves from what? Well, from this mind that always wants things to be different than it is. Anyhow, If our Ino could introduce it, we will chant the Hanya Shingyo once around. And if you feel like getting up and dancing, you can do it. Okay? I invite you to get up and dance if you feel like it.

[02:09]

Okay. So are you going to announce it for us? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my God. Oh, so, [...] so.

[03:13]

Gen-tai-nai-si-mu-hi-si-tai-mu-mu-myo-yaku-mu-mu-myo-shin-tai-si-mu-ro-si-yaku-mu-ro-si-jin-mu-ku-sumetsu-do-mu-si-yaku-mu-toku-i-sho-tok-ko-boh-dai-sat-tai-han-ya-hara-mi-ta-ko-shin-mu-ke-ge-mu-ke-ge-ko-mu-ku-u-ku-u-ku- Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Ami!

[04:33]

And then we call that up with... Thank you. Thank you. So that's what we did this morning. And we... true flower petals on everybody. And then somebody had to clean them all up, of course. But we are very, very, very grateful to the Buddha and to all of the teachers who have come since the Buddha, who keep teaching us about how to free ourselves from This mind that is always dissatisfied, that always wants things to be different somehow than they really are.

[05:47]

And that is the work of practice that we do, is to see how our mind makes problems when there aren't any. Because it's not quite the way I wanted it to be. So we work at seeing, watching our mind. We sit very still sometimes and watch our mind, and we see the thoughts begin and come up, and then we see this thought, and we grab hold of it, and we make a big story out of it. And all of a sudden, what was just fine a few minutes ago isn't quite the way we want it, and we get all upset. Has that ever happened to you? You get all upset because things are not the way you wanted them to be, not the way you thought they were going to be. And when we notice that those thoughts are all happening in our own mind, then we see that we have some possibility of not entertaining the thoughts that make us unhappy.

[07:06]

We just see the thought come up and say, ooh, if I pick up that thought and start making a story out of it, I'm going to be mad in a minute or I'm going to be sad. Or you can say, oh, if I do that, I'm going to be mad. I could maybe just drop it and not follow that thought. I've done that thought before. I know where it goes. So our practice is really getting to watch our mind working and see how we get ourselves into unhappiness and about things just being the way they are, and see how we can decide, if we want to, not to do that.

[08:15]

We're the boss. We're the boss of our mind. Sometimes we feel like our mind runs us, but actually we're the boss of our mind, and we can choose what thoughts we want to follow and what thoughts we want to let go. And that's, I think, probably that's enough for the young people today. If you want to go to the, who's, oh, there's your buddies back there. If you want to go to the lounge and you won't be missing any more singing and dancing in here. Thank you for coming.

[09:20]

So we always have a seven-day session at the time of year when Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have experienced this great enlightenment. Of course, you know, these times that we designate, we have no idea what the historical times were. We don't even know for sure the years when the Buddha was born. So we don't know for sure the day that he woke up. to this great liberation from this tyrannical mind which runs us around. But we do know something about the teaching that he gave.

[10:22]

And that's how we've come to be practicing like this. For me, actually, how I came to be practicing like this was I'd never really heard much about the Buddha but I met this amazing person who was teaching and it seemed that he knew a lot about life that I needed to know. And so I started doing what he was doing. What he was doing was sitting zazen. Everybody here at least had Zazen instruction? You know what I'm talking about when I say Zazen? Maybe you think you know what I'm talking about. Maybe any of us here may think we know what Zazen is. But we come to know it more and more the longer we practice it.

[11:26]

But essentially, it is sitting still being quiet, becoming intimate with our own mind and our habits of mind, watching what habits of mind lead to happiness and watching what habits of mind lead to misery, and being intelligent people, choosing to not pick up those habits of mind that lead to misery. And to follow those habits of mind that lead to happiness. And of course, we can always refine that for our whole life. We'll never wear out the practice of sazan because we can always refine, be more precise about our observations and notice those states of mind that lead to misery earlier.

[12:35]

So, we stop the train sooner. So there's always refinement and there's always, because our minds tend to be so unruly, there's always some need for sitting zazen again today and again today and again today because we're human. We're human and we are often deluded. As a matter of fact, Suzuki Roshi says, when you see that you are deluded, in that moment you're enlightened. When you see your delusions as delusions. The big delusion, of course, is... thinking that we are somehow separate, that there is this which is me, and then there's all of that which is not me.

[13:46]

But as we study our mind and study our life more and more carefully, we find that we're not separate. We are intimately and intricately connected. with everything that is. And we are affected by other people's states of mind. When someone we know is sad, it makes us sad. I mean, one of the most something I think the Dalai Lama called wise selfishness is to notice that I'm happiest when I have the opportunity to make somebody else happy. Do you notice that? How good you feel when you're able to make somebody else happy, when you're able to do or say or give them something that makes them happy.

[14:51]

It makes me happy. And the Dalai Lama referred to that as a wise selfishness. To do things deliberately to make others happy in order to enhance your own happiness. So as I say, this past week, many of us here in the room have been sitting in meditation all day, every day. And for this past 10 weeks, we've had a practice period. A group of people together have been dedicating themselves to daily practice. and beginning with a one-day sitting and ending with a seven-day session and doing classes together and having tea together.

[15:53]

And we've also had the joy of having a head student for this 10-week practice period. And she's been the one who's been running around with a wake-up bell every morning. The... Today was the last day. Oh, you noticed that too? Yes, I thought of that. I almost said last time to you, but part of the game is that when she comes by my door, just to be sure that I get up and get to the Zendo on time, she says good morning, and I respond. If I don't respond, she maybe comes and... rattles my cage a little bit. And when I responded this morning, I almost said, last time. And so that means that this afternoon we will be having another kind of celebration in which all of the people in the practice period in Sashin will

[17:07]

greet and bow with our Shuso and shower her with questions. And she will respond to all of them. And then we'll have a party. But one of the things that the Shuso has been doing is really paying attention to taking care of people in the practice period. having tea with each person in the practice period to get to know them better, and to take care of them when they're sick, you know, to maybe make them some ginger tea if they feel like they're getting a sore throat, or take them a tray of food if they're not well enough to come to meals, and cleaning the bathrooms. So the chuseau is not only sort of getting the first taste of... being a teacher, also the Shuso is being a servant of the Sangha.

[18:12]

It's a very, very... It's the best job at Zen Center. It only lasts for three months, but it's... At least from my recollection of that time. So I was... I began this session with a quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama that caught my attention that has to do with this finding that making others happy is really the path to my own happiness. But on Thanksgiving Day, on the website, or actually I get a daily thought of gratitude from Brother David Steindler's website, gratefulness.org, or as he says, gratefulness.

[19:25]

I like when you said that gratefulness, you get a feeling of gratefulness that's a little bit different. So on Thanksgiving Day, the thought for the day was from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Every day, think as you wake up. Today, I am fortunate to have woken up. I'm alive. I have a precious human life. I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others for the benefit of all beings. I'm alive. I have a precious human life. I'm not going to waste it.

[20:31]

I'm going to use all my energies to develop myself to expand my heart out to others for the benefit of all beings. What a great way to start the day. I've been practicing with that since I got it on Thanksgiving Day. I plan to practice with it for as long as I have a chance to practice with it, for as long as I wake up in the morning. I've been also using the same recollection as I go to bed at night. I still have a precious human body. I'm still alive. Why not remember again? We share this Bodhisattva vow.

[21:34]

This vow that we live in such a way as to benefit beings. This is the fundamental basis of that stream of Buddhism which we call Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhism of East Asia and now here. This recognizing that we're all so connected that how I live my life affects you and you and you. How I live my life affects all those with which I have And of course, we have connection with all that is.

[22:38]

That is the nature of life, is that we're all totally interdependent and interconnected. The most vivid and moving aspect of this interconnectedness of all life with all life, of this web of life of which we are a strand, is the kind of wonderful codependency of the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. Because we depend completely on the plant kingdom to take our waste product, carbon dioxide, and breathe out oxygen for us. And they can depend completely on us to take their waste product, oxygen, and breathe out carbon dioxide. So we have this intimate exchange with all the plant life in the world, which supports our life and theirs.

[23:45]

And if I only knew more, I'm sure there are any number of those kinds of built-in interdependencies. in which all life is connected to itself, to each other, to all entities, all live entities are somehow connected to all live entities. And there's no way in which we exist isolated. So how we conduct our life affects all those around us. And how all those around us conduct their lives affects us. So it makes a lot of sense for us to pay attention to how we affect others and to make every effort to conduct ourselves in body, speech, and mind in a way that benefits others.

[24:54]

I was... We've been studying a lot of Suzuki Roshi's teaching this training period because it's 50 years ago this year that he arrived in this country. I think he was planning to stay for three years when he came. It surprised everybody, including him, that he never went back to Japan. But here's a short talk that he gave on the day of Buddha's enlightenment sometime back before 1970 when this book was published. I am very glad to be here on the day Buddha attained enlightenment under the bow tree. When he attained enlightenment under the bow tree, he said, it is wonderful to see the Buddha nature in everything and in each individual.

[26:05]

What he meant was that when we practice Sazen, we have Buddha nature. And each of us is Buddha himself. By practice, he did not mean just to sit under the bow tree or to sit in the cross-legged posture. It is true that this posture is the basic one or original way for us. But actually, what Buddha meant was that mountains, trees, flowing water, flowers, and plants, everything as it is, is the way Buddha is. It means everything is taking Buddha activity, each thing in its own way, and each one of us in our own way. But the way each thing exists is not to be understood by itself in its own realm of consciousness. What we see or what we hear is just a part of a limited idea of what we actually are.

[27:13]

But when we just are, each just existing in his own way, we are expressing Buddha himself. In other words, when we practice something such as Zazen, then there is Buddha's way or Buddha nature. When we ask what Buddha nature is, it vanishes. But when we just practice Sazen, we have full understanding of it. The only way to understand Buddha nature is to just practice Sazen, just to be here as we are. So what Buddha meant by Buddha nature was to be there as he was, beyond the realm of consciousness. Suzuki Roshi had an expression, when you are you, Zen is Zen.

[28:19]

Each one of us is uniquely who we are. The whole accumulation of causes and conditions that create one life far too numerous to enumerate. So each of us is this particular being with all of our beautiful and wonderful aspects and all of our rough edges as well. We are exactly who we are. Just this one created by all of the innumerable causes and conditions of this whole life. How we express that is up to us. And as we live and as we notice this way has this result and this way has this result, we get an opportunity

[29:37]

to choose which kinds of thoughts, feelings, actions are beneficial and which are harmful. And we get to choose whether to continue doing some of the harmful things we've been doing, like giving rise to anger, or whether we notice every time I give rise to anger, suffering occurs. I need to work on that. You know, it says in the Vasudhi Magha, the path of purification, where it lists sort of each of the mental factors in people's lives and what their characteristics are and what their function is. And then it says the function of anger is separation. And a friend of mine who was prone to anger.

[30:38]

When she saw that, she said, oh, no wonder I feel so isolated. If the function of anger is separation, every time I get angry, I'm pushing people away. So guess what? I get left alone. And I don't like that. So I'm going to actually start working on maybe not being so quick. to grab hold of anger when it first pops its head up. My tendency is more in the, you know, they say there's sort of three types of, they're called the three poisons, the three sort of sources of suffering, greed, hate, and delusion. Greed is, I want more, I want more, I want more. And hate is, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it. And delusion is, I don't know what's going on here.

[31:42]

Do I want it? Do I want it? But I identify myself more as a green type. I don't want to miss out on anything. So I will try to say yes to every invitation. And then wondering why I'm so tired. Because I'm sort of terminally gregarious. We are who we are. And that's my tendency. I'm sure you are quite familiar with what some of your tendencies are. And if you find that there are any tendencies that you have that invariably lead to misery. What do you want to do about it? I think you will want to pay attention and see if you can spot it earlier and earlier, before you've made a whole federal case out of it.

[32:51]

Just see the bait and feel that tendency to take the book I say, no, you know, I'm going to leave that book alone. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. But you have to be paying attention in order to notice before you've kind of fully engaged in whatever your habitual way of wanting the world to be different is. Because the fact is, the world is as it is. Suzuki Roshi used to have the expression, things as it is. It is what it is, and how you're going to live with it. What we have a choice about is how we're going to live with what is. We don't so much have a choice about what is, but just how are we going to live, given that we are as we are in the world as it is,

[33:59]

how is the most harmonious way to conduct myself? Both for my benefit and for the benefit of everybody around me. When I'm happy, the people around me are happier. When I'm grumpy, the people around me are grumpier. We affect each other. So let's figure out how to... how to affect each other in the way we want to affect each other, in the way we want to be affected by each other. Pay attention to the choices you make and the results that happen. And the more you pay attention, the more you will make wise choices. We actually are not stupid. We just are not attentive sometimes. And somebody said, there's no stupid people.

[35:04]

There's just stupid actions. So we can learn what kinds of actions lead to happier and more harmonious results and what kinds of actions we want to begin to relinquish because we don't like the results. Fundamentally, without any sort of technical language, that's my understanding of the teaching of Buddhism. It's just really common sense. Do what makes you happy. And don't do what makes you unhappy. And then as you notice that what makes you happy is making other people happy.

[36:05]

So try to do more of that. We'll all be better off.

[36:13]

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