This podcast is offered by San Francisco's Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. Today we're having a one-day sitting, so I thought we could all start by sitting for a few minutes. So if you could just... make whatever adjustments you make when you're going to sit. The very process of making the adjustments starts to create an attunement into experiencing rather than acting out or doing something. And let your attention become more a process of noticing than doing.

[01:11]

Noticing your state of mind. Noticing your physical state. Noticing the very process of being alive. The hearing of sounds. The beating of your heart. The breathing. of your respiratory system To bring your awareness to the exhale.

[02:50]

As you breathe out, just deliberately extend your exhale. Make it full and complete. And pause and let your body breathe in. In particular, notice the reflex of allowing the breath. is it that releases, relaxes in the process of allowing the inhale. Deliberately breathing out, pausing and allowing the inhale. Thank you.

[05:09]

So that was an introduction to one of the things I wanted to talk about. And it was an exchange between two famous Zen teachers over a thousand years ago. And one said to the other, who was then his student, so the teacher said to the student, do you trust the process of practice? And the other one said in response, it's not that there isn't a process. It's not that there isn't a process. It's just it doesn't add or subtract to what's already happening. You trust the process. Well, it's not that there isn't a process. It just doesn't add or subtract from what's already happening.

[06:22]

So it's not like we're not breathing all the time. We are. But the process of engaging it and letting it stimulate an awareness... helps bring something to life, makes something evident, makes something more accessible. But to remember, we're not making something that isn't already there. We're already breathing. So in the Zen school this is the attitude with which we come to practice. This is the attitude with which we come to address the human condition. I read a couple of psychological articles this week and one was saying a survey that said that now one in ten American adults

[07:40]

take antidepressants, which I thought was extraordinary. And then the other article was a very interesting article, also psychological article. And the psychologist was looking at there's what we think we're doing and there's what we're doing. And one of the examples he used was the parole board in an Israeli prison. And he said, on careful analysis, statistically, they grant parole to about 35% of the people who come in front of them requesting parole, except for the person who comes just before lunch. That person has a 65% chance of getting parole.

[08:48]

I assume this isn't a deliberate strategy on the part of the parole board, but more something to do. I mean, not to get too technical about it, but... Sometimes things happen by coincidence and not by causal relationship. But setting that aside, we think we're operating in a certain way and then in fact there are influences upon us motivating us to behave in a way that we don't quite realize. Like it's a common fact in grocery stores, that if you put something around the eye level, maybe just a little bit below on a shelf, that's the optimal place to put it to sell it. I remember many years ago, the St.

[09:58]

Center had a grocery store where the restaurant is across the corner, and I was the manager. And one of the things I was taught by the previous manager was there are many things you learn about Retail. One of the things he taught me was, always sell milk at cost price. And always put it in the back corner of the store. So someone has to walk the whole way through the store to get to the thing they want, and they're coming to your store because it's cheap. And then, of course, on the way, you tempt them with all sorts of impulse items. You know, what I'm trying to mention is the way we think up reality, the way we purposefully craft a behavior.

[11:07]

And even though it's purposeful, which some of our behaviors are, we hope and intend, it's influenced by all sorts of things. And it presents in the process of awareness a very interesting and straightforward question. Well, how aware can we be of what we're doing and what's causing us to do it? and closely related, in the midst of those behaviors, how can we relate to that process in a way that causes us less suffering and more happiness? It's often quoted the Chakyamuni Buddha when asked a whole variety of questions, you know, what's the nature of the cosmos, what's the nature of the self?

[12:11]

He said, I just teach one thing. The cause of suffering how to suffer less and be happier more. That's what I'm teaching. And still, this is close. This is the primary agenda of Buddhist practice and Zen practice. How to notice what causes suffering and how to suffer less and be happier more. And then out of this, a process is crafted. Okay, the process is like this. Different ways to pay attention. Different techniques. Release and extend the exhale. And then through the very process of doing that, become more aware of the inhale. More aware of what's arising.

[13:12]

More aware of what it is to meet what's arising. more aware of what it is to be willing to meet what's arising. More aware of what it is to be willing to meet what's arising rather than be caught up in what you want to have happen or want to not have happen. So you get this simple technique and as you engage it, it has this profound relationship to the human process. Not to say that technique is the Buddha way, just an illustration, it's just a technique. Hopefully a helpful one. So the teacher asks the student, of this whole process,

[14:17]

Do you trust it? Can you let yourself do it? Or do you sit there thinking, well, maybe I will. Maybe I'll try it for a few minutes, and then if it doesn't work, I'll do something else. Or I'll go to the Zen Center and get the vibe of that, and then if I don't like it, I'll do something else. Maybe one way to think about it is no matter whether you go to the Zen center or wherever else you go, in terms of exploration of the human condition, there's some core agenda that's common to them all. And can we...

[15:19]

human beings get in touch with that agenda that's coming to them all. So when I read that note, you know, that statistic saying, you know, one in ten of Americans, American adults, actually I think it ranged from about 14 upwards, takes antidepressants. It spoke to me, given the biases and prejudices of having read so much about Buddhism and Zen that I have, that it spoke to the first noble truth, that the human experience, as we commonly relate to it, is a challenging one. And how do we, how will we resolve it?

[16:32]

Is there an effective process that is within our human capacity to engage? And the response to Buddhism is, the answer is yes. There is a process. The Buddha way. The waking up, being aware of what's going on, and seeing how to suffer less and be happier more. It's not that there's a single technique that is the way to do it. There's an array of techniques. But they have a commonality within their agenda. So the teacher's asking the student, Do you trust this? Or would you rather take Prozac? No? Of course, he didn't say that to him 1,200 years ago.

[17:40]

But it's something about what do you trust your human life to? How within the process of being you, how in the process of a being that wants to suffer less and be happier more, how do you, what do you trust in that process? So it's a core question, you know? And the answer is equally as extraordinary as the question. Part of the challenge for us in our human life is getting at those core questions. So much we're caught up in the urgency of the moment. Even though the urgency is often what we've created through our thinking process.

[18:44]

And... How soon is lunch? Which we may or may not be aware of as having an impact upon us. And he says, it's not that the process is inconsequential or ineffective. It's that there's something in the human condition that sustains throughout a life. It doesn't grow when you engage the process and it doesn't diminish when you don't. Whether you're attending to your breathing or not attending to your breathing, you're still breathing. The practical consequence of that is it's not about trying to make yourself something that you're not.

[20:04]

It's not about you have to be a different person. That's not the agenda. It's about waking up to what you already are. And so that way of engaging practice, if you think about it for a moment, in contrast to the ways in which we're operating often from some gross or subtle self-criticism. I'm not such and such. Maybe if I do this, It will make me more of what I ought to be. Maybe if the parole board didn't eat lunch.

[21:18]

Maybe if they had a mid-morning snack. So the Buddha way is not trying to decipher the perfect antidote to the human condition. It's not saying, here's the perfect way to breathe. It's saying, how you relate to what's going on can help you wake up to it and help you discover how to suffer less and be happier more. And if you think about it, I mean, in a way, it's a very simple proposition.

[22:21]

You could almost think it's trivial. have it at the core of our practice, so as we engage the process, and then the process stimulates, makes more evident, all the complications of the human condition. This is the art of Zazen. You start to pay attention, and what do you notice? You notice an amazing array of things. you notice how incredibly difficult it is to stay in the here and now, aware of what's being experienced here and now. Incredibly difficult.

[23:25]

You notice that even within your own physiology, there's all sorts of activities. Even within your mental process, Of course within your mental process there's all sorts of activities. But to keep not so much in mind as to keep maybe in your heart the intrinsic condition of the human existence. You're always breathing, no matter whether you're aware of it or not. You're always being something in the process to wake up to that being, rather than to try to manufacture it. Maybe we could say it's about refining our effort. And then within Buddhist teaching, there's one formulation that's like this.

[24:33]

It says, there's five I've been told that five is a very auspicious number in Chinese, but this formulation came from India. The central factor is noticing. Just notice. Notice. as that psychologist did. Oh, the person before lunch, their chances of getting parole are doubled. After I worked in the grocery retail business, like when I go to Safeway, I notice usually the thing I want to buy

[25:38]

is at ankle level. And the thing they would like me to buy is here. You start to notice something about the causes and conditions of existence. start to notice something about how breathing can influence your state of mind. You start to notice something about trusting the process as it ripens. It stimulates confidence. It stimulates a willingness to just be what's happening.

[26:42]

And this is an important ingredient in Zaza. Whatever comes up, be present for it. And if you don't like it, be present for don't liking it. And if it stimulates some physical response, be present for the physical response. Say yes to everything. And as you start to say yes to everything, what do you notice? Like when we were sitting like there at the start of this lecture, I noticed that what was kept coming into my mind was What am I going to say during this talk? Oh, right. We don't exist in an unconditioned state.

[27:54]

We exist in a conditioned state. And as this trust becomes more pervasive, It's as if we start to create a friendlier relationship to the human condition. And we start to notice something quite subtle, which is, if you have a friendlier relationship to the human condition, It isn't so important that it is the way you want it to be. It isn't so important that the formulations that arise in your mind are endorsed by your emotions or the way things are.

[28:56]

their willingness to let it come and to let it go. And this is an important but subtle point. You can't force it on yourself. It's like letting your body breathe. you can let yourself breathe in you have to let something go you might think you can enforce yourself to let something go but you can't it's more like discovering the trust letting go and the marvelous thing about working with the breath is that it doesn't involve a lot of intellectual processing.

[30:11]

You don't have to run all these ideas through your mind to engage this activity. It can all happen on a physiological experiential level. So the teacher says to the student, can you trust the physiological experiential process enough to not just keep judging it, making up other ideas about it, getting distracted by other ways that might bring you happiness and alleviate your suffering. So as we attend to the breath, discovering the subtler expression of the human condition the non grasping of the exhale the allowing of the inhale

[31:24]

And as we discover how extraordinarily difficult it is to do that, if we keep saying yes to what's arising, we start to experience the incredibly subjective nature of what's going on. And as we start to experience it, we start to discover that the process of Zazen is not about fixing it. It's about staying open to experiencing it and breathing out, literally, but also something about not cleaning. Of course your mind will create ideas, formulations, judgments, memories, associations, anticipations.

[32:40]

But there's something in watching the whole process of doing that that's profoundly informative. In the Heart Sutra, which is one of the fundamental texts in Mahayana Buddhism, it says... When this process is watched carefully with compassion, the nature of consciousness is seen and the way beyond suffering is realized. Avalokitesvara, when practicing deeply, the Prajnaparamita perceives that all five skandhas are empty and is freed from suffering. And you can't force it.

[33:49]

You can't demand it. You can't figure it out. But you can open to it. You can experience it. Something in the potency of the process can ripen consciousness to realize it. And it's not pristine. It's not a singular straight line. It's all over the map. Because that's the way human consciousness works. It goes all over the map. And the challenge is to create a basis of awareness

[34:52]

that's wide enough to hold signs, physical sensations, memories, vision, and still stay present. This is the challenge. So I like to illustrate it, confuse it even more with Paul. The Art of Disappearing by Sarah Holland Batt. The moon that rose over the fence post will not hold. Desire will not hold. Memory will not hold. The house you grew up in, its eaves, its attic, will not hold.

[35:53]

The still lives and the Botticellis will not hold. The white peaches in the bowl will not hold. Something is always about to happen. You get married, change your name, the son you wore like a scarf on your wrist has gone. It's an art. This evermore escaping grasp of things. Imperatives will not still it. No stay or wait or keep the seas that disappeared and hold it clear. So tell the idling car in the street to go on. Tell the skirmish of chess pieces to go on. Tell the scraps of paper, the lines on the paper, to go on. It's winter. That means the blossoms are gone. That means the days are getting shorter. The dark water flows on endlessly.

[36:58]

So of the five factors, the central factor, noticing. we might call in a preparatory phase, trust, and diligence. What we might call in a fruition phase, continuous contact. Noticing this, noticing this, noticing this, noticing this. And the other, fruition, sort of, some recalibration of the human condition, some realization beyond what we think it is, beyond the judgments and conclusions we have about it.

[38:21]

It's a very interesting process. Today, many of us, about 70, are going to spend the day in the Zendo meditating. It's chaotic. It's messy. Sometimes frustrating. Sometimes affirming. and exhilarating. And yet often, no matter what arose in the day, the consequence in the subjective experience is some things more spacious, a little lighter. Often the mind is a little quieter.

[39:38]

What is the student's head of the teacher? It's not about the particulars of the consequence, whether the mind is looser or lighter, more pleasing or whatever. It's that the process itself attends to something intrinsic in the human condition. Some way, as humans, that we contract and struggle with our subjective experience. And that when we engage in this process, something can loosen up. Some way of being some way of trusting what we already are. Some way of realizing that we're always breathing. Even when our minds are utterly absorbed in what they like and what they don't like.

[40:53]

And then amazingly, we've developed the capacity to get in touch with that. We've developed the capacity to relate to it in a way that alleviates some of that core suffering. I just had the thought, but I'm not sure whether that was all painfully simplistic or brutally obscure. Maybe a little of both is good, huh? And I would say to those of you who are sitting today, and maybe to everyone, because whatever we're doing today, it is our life.

[42:04]

It's the expression of our life as it draws itself. purposefulness forward. As we do that, to engage it to engage it in a way that reminds us that this is indeed our life. That this process that we're involved in is always beating like our heart. We can do it in a way that will make sense. We can engage in the human process that helps us as we jump all over the place and we pay attention. Strange as it might seem, paradoxical as it might seem, we start to make more sense to ourselves.

[43:06]

Oh, look at this persistent thought. Look at this core disposition that relates to what comes into my mind in a similar way? No? As the array of our being becomes more evident, some way, just in practical terms, we make more sense to ourselves who we are, how we are, what we are. something at the core of all that is affirmed. It's profoundly educated whether we get it or not. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[44:11]

Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. 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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