Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. Last night, the Eno read the admonitions for Sashin. And the opening sentences are then repeated at the end. Be silent and still. Sashin is a time to diligently care for and collect body and mind in one suchness.

[01:02]

It is an opportunity to discover anew, clarify and actualize our ultimate concern. Please be sensitive to the fact that you and your Dharma friends are making an effort for being upright and awake together. Every time I hear that, I'm inspired and struck by the importance of doing this together, alone together, each one of us making our effort and each one of us in relation and dependent upon, interdependent with each other. I want to acknowledge that our shouseau has a new situation that she's working with.

[02:24]

Maybe some of you have noticed Valerie has been the shouseau for the practice period, those of you who are coming in for the sesshin. And there's a challenge with her foot, and she's now unable to do some of the Shuso activities, running the wake-up bell, walking around the Zendo in the morning for the morning greeting, service, and even sitting on her cushion, all in order to take good care of what's happening with her foot. So I am encouraged by Valerie's... attitude. Okay? So this is the seshin. This is this next moment. And in our interrelatedness, it means the benji is now running the wake-up bell.

[03:33]

And so everybody's affected. And more people will be doing service during seshin. So there's one change in one place and everything changes. You pick up one side of the tablecloth and the whole tablecloth comes with it. So please be aware of these changes and how you might be needed to relate differently, servers and and everyone in the sashim. So this sashim is rohatsu.

[04:33]

Rohatsu means the eighth day of the twelfth month, December 8th in our calendars. which is the day designated for Buddha's enlightenment, Buddha's waking up upon seeing the morning star, Rohatsu. And all over the world, people are sitting right now, together with us, small Zen groups and big monasteries all over the world. Last year I was in Italy, I was in Rome for Rohatsu, and they had a four-day, it's a small group in Rome, led by Dario Girolami, and we sat for four days

[05:43]

and the night before the eighth, we sat all night, which is a tradition that some groups offer, and so I sat all night with that group, and it was just as each group has their own particular character and their own way of their own shingi, their own standards, and their own, you know, monastic forms in Rome for the sitting up all night. It was very... When in Rome, you know, when in Rome, we had... At Kenyon, we sat all night, and at Kenyon we had espresso, and... pound cake and chocolate and marzipan and delicious goodies kind of all through the night during the breaks.

[06:54]

So I joined in in that way. So please join in accord with the atmosphere in this zendo and in this sashim and with this group of people if you're not used to the atmosphere or the forms with diffuse awareness, diffuse not staring around but noticing how it's done, how people are... practicing oryoki, accord yourself with the sounds of the sashin. If you're often the last one in, take a look at that and be on time. Come in with everyone rather than being the last one.

[08:06]

If you're always the first one, you might find out what it's like to come in to the Zendo with everyone. So gathering, collecting body and mind in one suchness The word seshin means to gather the mind, to gather the mind-body, the heart-mind. And we do this together, and it's based on or in relation to your own efforts, your own sincerity, your own impeccable meaning, wholeheartedness, wholehearted, entering into the sesheen, you will be met by the sesheen.

[09:15]

And whatever you bring is how you will be met. So to care for and collect body and mind in one suchness. What is this one suchness? Is there any way to be outside of this one suchness? I don't think so. The nature of how we exist is in one suchness. And yet we're often, we don't necessarily feel collected and gathered in order to realize it or experience it.

[10:24]

So there's a mistake that's often made, which is something like this. I have to get rid of some kind of distractedness or ungatheredness or delusion. And then, once that is all gotten rid of, then there will be one suchness or dustness or... And what that feeds into or what that... Yeah. feeds and encourages is trying to get something. In this case, getting rid of something is a kind of getting something. And as we all know, Suzuki Hiroshi's almost mantra was, you know, no gaining idea.

[11:30]

But we make this mistake of as if getting rid of something wasn't gaining, wasn't trying to get something. But get rid of is not trying to get something. But that effort to get rid of, or to get outside of our life in some way, beyond our everyday mind, is a kind of gaining idea. So within the sesheen, Each activity of the sasheen, each meal, each period of zazen, each walking meditation, each soji, sweeping, break time, making tea, going to the bathroom, going for a walk, washing our face, washing our feet, is awesome.

[12:33]

not apart from one suchness. It's not apart from the nature of the way things are. So if we have the idea that, oh, I'm going to get through this break and then back to the zendo where the real practice is located, we will get more and more confused. So please practice just as hard, just as thoroughly outside the Zen Noh as inside the Zen Noh. And there are many practices, you know, on your break to wash face, hands and feet is traditional, or head, head, face, if you don't have hair, head, face, hands and feet as a practice, and receive the benefits of that practice of refreshment and...

[14:01]

waking up, wake up, and respectful feeling for returning to the zendho refreshed. So that's one practice outside the zendho. As I read last night, walk in meditation posture, this shashuk posture, bow in passing, these are all practices outside the zendo that express our sincerity and help create this collected and gathered one suchness. and feeling the effort of you and your Dharma friends making this effort together.

[15:13]

The admonitions of not reading and writing, and that goes for texting and emailing and all of it. Letting go. our usual work, our usual keeping up with things. This is a time to let it go. And this will help with gathering, this gathering the mind, collecting the body-mind. the ways in which we have outflows through our activities of reading and writing and eye contact, all these things during sashim to let go of, not because they're not okay, but this is a time, this is the rhythm.

[16:41]

of the sashini, letting go of all those things in order to help gather and collect. Those of you with roommates, to be particularly careful about speech and talking and non-functional speech. this will support you and support the seshin. So in a fascicle of Dogen's called, well, it's translated different ways, but Thomas Cleary translates it as,

[17:43]

the nature of things. He has a quote from Zen Master Basso or Matsu. All living beings for infinite eons have never left absorption in the nature of things. They are always within absorption in the nature of things. Wearing clothes, eating, conversing, the functions of the six sense organs, and all activities are all the nature of things. Everything we do is within the Dharma nature, the Dharma of things. All the activities of the sense, the sense organs, We don't need to somehow get rid of something.

[18:48]

We just need to enter each activity completely. Seeing relatedness. Unhidden. So in your zazen, notice what is drawing you away from just sitting in the middle of your life, which is the nature of things.

[20:00]

It's not you sitting in the nature of things, but you sitting is the nature of things. There's nothing to attain. So we'll be talking about the Buddha's story of his enlightenment. And as you know, those of you who know the story very well, upon encountering old age sickness and death, Sakyamuni, Gautama Buddha, Gautama Buddha made this turn. with lots of gaining idea, I think, at first tried to get outside of the nature of things and get something through, as you know, strong ascetic practices, denying himself any comforts of food or lying down or bathing, so much so that

[21:35]

you know, he weakened. And this is not recommended. And afterwards, he did not recommend that kind of extremity, extreme practice. And it was a kind of swing back from the pleasure palace and his heavenly, comfortable realm he had come from. So after the pendulum swings, the extremes, you know, are closer together than the middle. He was exhausted. Our practice is not to become exhausted on purpose as a way to weaken our hold on on grasping mind or on delusion.

[22:42]

It doesn't work. So being exhausted, tired, he was seen by a young girl who mistook him for the tree spirit. And she fed him rice with milk, cooked in milk, very soothing, probably sweetened, salivating, just thinking about it. And he ate and, you know, in the morning when the Shuso says, filling us with ease and joy, the breakfast meal, This morning meal of ten benefits nourishes us in our practice. Its rewards are boundless, filling us with ease and joy.

[23:48]

And, you know, if you haven't eaten or just have had a medicine meal the night before and not had any snacking, and you feel that food nourishing coming in, filling us with ease and joy, how grateful. We are to have food, have hot food brought to us, cooked for us, brought to us, served to us like the Buddha. We enact the Buddha's life. We set out Buddha's bowls. Now we set out Buddha's bowls. Now we're served, just like the Buddha was served And in our practice of receiving food, we take the posture of the Buddha, we take a sitting posture as if we were sitting zazen, and we hold our bowls in meditation posture and feed the Buddha.

[24:54]

So please practice in that way, holding your bowls up, not bending over your bowls, in your meditation posture, whatever that is, in a chair or on your cushion, back straight, head up, so if the bowl is taken away, you could just sit sasa. No difference. This is another practice of gathering, collecting, paying attention while eating. So the Buddha felt, you know, filled with ease and joy as he ate his rice. And then he bathed, got all cleaned up. How wonderful a shower feels, or a bath.

[25:57]

Especially after not bathing for a long time. But every day it feels wonderful. And then he resolved to sit until he realized the truth. He made this resolve, this very strong resolve. Sitting under the Bodhi tree, under the Ficus Religiosa, the tree of awakening, he sat himself down, took his posture, upright sitting, with this strong resolve. And this, this is our rohatsu sesshi. We enact this, each of us for ourselves. We take our seat, our bodhimanda, our bodhisit, with resolve and sincerity, with the help of all beings.

[27:08]

Each of us takes our place alone with others. Alone. Completely alone. Completely with others. This is the nature of things. whether this is your first sashim or you can't even remember how many sashims you've sat, please sit with wholehearted sincerity and heart and eyes open with compassion for the whole world and a vow to live for the benefit of the whole world.

[28:23]

Absorbed in the nature of things. which one cannot be apart from. Even the thought of being apart from the nature of things, I'm apart, is one more expression of the nature of things. Right there. Each thing is like that. Please don't hold yourself apart from think that whatever you're thinking is not okay. Just study it as an instance of the nature of things. Whatever your activity is,

[29:46]

Feel yourself within it. Feel yourself it. One suchness. Gathered and collected body and mind in one suchness together. feel the Rohatsu Sesshin as a blessing, as fruit of our practice, that we are here together, we have this space, this opportunity, that we are supported to do this together.

[30:54]

Feel the support from one another from the rest of the Green Gulch staff that is supporting us, the kitchen and others. let us allow ourselves to relax into each sitting, each activity, holding lightly our views and judgments and annoyances.

[32:03]

After all, This is the nature of things. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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 sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[33:07]

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