This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. One of my most favorite poems by Jane Hirschfeld is called Cedary. fragrance and I'm not sure why it's called cedary fragrance because it must be a koan because there's no cedar trees or anything and the poem is even now decades after I wash my face with cold water not for discipline or memory or the icy awakening slap, but to practice choosing wanting the unwanted.

[01:16]

Even now, decades after I wash my face with cold water, not for discipline or memory, or the icy awakening slap, but to practice choosing, wanting the unwanted. We had a number of practice periods at Tassajara where we overlapped, where we were here together, and this is referring to, you know, decades after being at Tassajara, you know, with cold water, only cold water in your rooms, washing your face in the morning, unless you open your water bottle and use that water. Maybe she didn't do that. Anyway, such a simple practice, practicing choosing wanting the unwanted, choosing not the path of resisting

[02:28]

but entering that space of, even though I don't want it, I choose to practice with it. And I want to practice with it. I want to practice with that which I resist. Let us reflect on our resistances. large and small, and whether we choose to practice with them rather than just going with them. We left Siddhartha Gautama yesterday after he had left his companions and remembered a time of calm and happiness just sitting as a young boy and then sitting under, resting after bathing and resting by this banyan tree and Sujata, Acharya Sujata, she became, seeing him and thinking it was this tree spirit that she owed a debt of gratitude to and

[03:57]

not knowing who it was or trying to cater to or flatter someone or get something, just expressing, making an offering, expressing gratitude and bringing this bowl of food. And the bowl, she chose a golden bowl to bring this offering. And after Siddhartha ate up the rice pudding, I can't remember if I said this yesterday about the golden bowl, did I say? He said to himself, if I am to fully awaken, he kind of made a kind of a prediction thing, if I am to fully awaken, may this bowl float upstream. and then he took the golden bowl and, I don't know how Sujata felt about that, but anyway, he took the golden bowl and he tossed it into the river Naranjo and it did float upstream.

[05:08]

So that was a, you know, a sign. If I am to realize my true self, realize, attain enlightenment, may this bowl float upstream, and it did. and then he took his leave and walked, I'm not exactly sure where that spot was where he received that, but he walked to what is now known as Bodhgaya, and when we chant at our meals, enlightened in Magadha, I guess Magadha and Bodhgaya are synonymous, those of you who've been there, but Bodhgaya is what we call the place where the Buddha went to. And I just wanted to note, in our chanting, when we chant before meals, we say, now I open Buddha's bowls. Now how can we get to open Buddha's bowls? They say, Buddha's bowls. But we get to open Buddha's bowls because Buddhas and ancestors are the same as we.

[06:16]

We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Buddha's bowls are our bowls. We open Buddha's bowls. set up Buddhist bowls. And it says, you know, we eat for the sake of enlightenment, we now receive this food. And yesterday, after telling this story, when we chanted that at lunch, I heard that as we receive Sujata's rice, milk, porridge, you know, this rice pudding, we receive that. This is, that is our food. For the sake of enlightenment, we nourish, strengthen, and have energy for our practice. So this is enacted every meal. If we recall, these are the reflections. We chant the five reflections. To reflect on that, that is a reenactment of that moment of receiving this offering.

[07:20]

Now, today. And I tried to xerox something that Dogen says about this very point on Buddha's Enlightenment Day ceremony. He says to the monks something like, Something about, do you want to understand the Buddha's enlightenment? Eat your porridge, or something like that. I'll have to write it down because I don't have it memorized, but he refers to this porridge, this rice porridge that Sujata brought, that this is our food. So the Buddha walks, he had enough strength to walk.

[08:31]

By the way, right before he left his friends, he had collapsed, actually. He had tried to bathe himself in a river and collapsed and almost drowned, according to a particular rendition of the story. So he was really at his last ounce of energy there. and makes himself a sitting cushion, probably out of kusa grass, gathered kusa grass to make a comfortable cushion. Kusa grass is sharp, has sharp sides to it, but it must make a kind of springy comfortable seat, but you have to gather it very carefully with skill or you cut yourself. And the word kushala or wholesome or good or wholesome comes from that word kusauk you have to be skillful careful in handling it so he made himself a comfortable seat and he sat down with resolve and with a strong deep resolve to which was his resolve was I will not

[09:55]

get up from this seat until I have realized the truth. This is a vow and a resolve that was so strong that it just changed everything to make that kind of resolve. I will not get up until And often for Rohatsu, I'll tell that story the first day as Heshi, you know, to kind of galvanize this resolve to sit period after period with choosing, you know, choosing to come back over and over again, because we do get up and down. And this time, it's come at this time in the Sashin where the Buddha is finally, after all these trials and tribulations and near death and so forth, makes this resolve.

[11:04]

And it's not too late for us to make this resolve too. To sit aware and present and letting go of resistances and gaining idea. So sometimes when we're in a lecture, I would say not infrequently, and it's happened to me, it's happened to many, many people, where we feel somehow the lecturer is speaking directly to us. You know, they're like, this is what I need to, this is what I'm working on, this is what I need to hear, this is exactly, and it feels like a personal teaching for our situation.

[12:09]

This happens whether it's at Tassajara or a Sunday talk at Green Gulch, it just happens. And So this story, the whole story we've been talking about for these days, can we feel this as a personal story for us, our personal journey? Maybe we didn't do those kinds of austerities, but we didn't take care of ourselves very well to the point of, I can't go on like this. Maybe we had to leave companions. who were not wholesome for us anymore or we couldn't take them with us, we had to go our way. Maybe we indulge completely in actions on the other extreme of material, hedonistic, pleasure-seeking, maybe we went that route for a while.

[13:22]

and found that it didn't feel great, you know? So each of us can personalize this story and coming to this point of sitting down under the Bodhi tree, the ficus religiosa, it was called, I think, after the fact, after the Buddhist enlightenment, under that tree it probably was renamed that in species, Latin. So sitting under the Bodhi tree. And the Bodhi tree, there are descendants of that Bodhi tree that slips or cuttings were taken to different countries. And when I was in Thailand for the Sakyadita Conference, the Women's International Buddhist Conference in, let's see, where were we? I can't remember. if it was exactly where we were, because we went on this tour.

[14:29]

But anyway, there was a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, I don't know how many greats, descendant of the Bodhi tree. Traditionally, it's understood that way. And it has a, it's a big, big tree and carved, it's like a bas-relief carving of the Buddha in it and with the tree kind of growing up out of this little sculpture. Anyway, so the Buddha made this resolve under this tree. And just to remind us, the Buddha was born with his mother holding onto a tree, a solid tree, in the forest of Lumbini. She gave birth standing, holding onto a tree, and Buddha was enlightened under this tree. lived and walked and sat under trees and in the out of doors and died between two solid trees. This tree image is, you know, throughout the Buddha's life there were trees that accompanied or witnessed or were there at these watershed times.

[15:45]

So sitting under this tree, he made this strong, strong resolve. And maybe we've made a strong resolve to turn our life in a certain way, to let go of something and take up something, to not move, meaning stay with our life the way it is without trying to avoid and get out of and skip over what we don't want. want, but choosing to want the unwanted, and he sat there. Now, there are stories of what happened there, part of the legend, and I understand that legend in a particular way which I'll relate to you, but I think many of you know the story of after Buddha made this resolve, what happens, and what happens to each of us, I would venture to say, is that to make a stand in your life, to stand in your Dharma position and say this upright there, and this is my intention, this is my vow, this is how I want to live, that will constellate, using a Jungian term, constellate

[17:26]

some things in our life, in our own psyche, in our own environment that says, oh yeah, well, you're going to see about that. You know, we'll see. Aha. And that's what happened to the Buddha, but I think this, or Siddhartha, but this isn't just some story, some dramatic tale. You know, what happens at this part is that resolve. If the Buddha, if Siddhartha was kind of, well, I'm going to see, I'll sit a little bit, see how this goes, then maybe we'll try something else, or kind of wishy-washy, or not filled with resolve, like this is the way I am manifesting, and I want the world to know it, and But if it's sort of hemming and hawing and kind of, sort of, and I don't want to, but, well, we'll try a little.

[18:36]

And I hope nobody notices that. I'm not really fully doing this, but nobody notices anyway, except we notice. So anyway, but the Buddha, the Siddhartha was not like that. And what gets constellated is, okay, let's see. That's what you say we're going to see. That doesn't get constellated in wishy-washy kind of, sort of, actually. So we don't get that kind of test, you know, that like coming up against the wall, you know, coming up against something, some noble, I think of it as a noble meaning something to come up against that won't happen unless we're that strong and clear so what gets constellated is in the story Mara the word Amara means some destruction and Mara sometimes it says Mara the evil one or meaning destruction Mara to me is

[19:54]

And Thich Nhat Hanh brings this up in his long white cloud, the story of the Buddha's teaching in life. Mara is a needed, the Buddha and Mara are, they need one another to practice, to come up against and have dialogue and clarify for oneself. So Mara and Buddha are actually friends, you know, they have tea together in Thich Nhat Hanh's book. And Mara shows up on this time of the Buddha's enlightenment, but also at different times in the Pali Canon, Mara will show up. Testing the Buddha. Oh, so you're saying this? Well, this doesn't look like that to me. And we can do that too, not as the evil one, but as we can ask somebody, and people do ask me. You say that you're trying to practice this way, but I don't understand these actions of yours or what you said.

[20:56]

That doesn't sound like compassion or that doesn't sound like the teaching. So we need that. We need that kind of help. That's like Mara the Bodhisattva rather than Mara the evil one. But Bodhisattvas take whatever guise, they take whatever form is necessary. The eleven-headed Kuan Yin, Avalokiteshvara, has a scary and fierce face on the back of the head. There's these 11 heads in the front, very lovely, sweet, and then in the back there's this fierce one, which is compassion in that form. So Mara, I think, comes in that form to help, actually. It's portrayed as Mara thinks, oh, if Siddhartha actually realizes his true self, then he will not be under my control or under my power.

[22:03]

And then other people will be able to teach, and then other people will be outside my power too. And this is not good because I'm going to lose power. So we're going to try to upset, upseat, unseat this fellow. So this happens. We make a strong commitment. We're going to do practice period. We're going to do sitzashin. We're going to practice the precepts, and immediately there will be constellated, oh, yeah? Well, how about this? You ever try this? How about this tempting thing? So in the story, of course, greed, hate, and delusion, the three big storm the three poisons, the center, the hub of the Wheel of Life, which is held by Mara, by the way. You know, the depiction of the Wheel of Life with the realms, the six realms, and the 12-fold chain, and in the center, greed, hate, and delusion.

[23:09]

And it's all being held by this being with these claws, and as Mara holds it. Anyway, so in In this story, Mara wants to unseat the Buddha and sends scary things and monsters and armies of really frightening, frightening beings. So how do we turn that for ourselves? What frightens us? What are our anxieties? What gives us you know, where we don't want to go forward, we can't tread, we want to run and hide, we can't face it. Those can be memories, those can be other people, those can be environments, those can be pain, you know, sensations, mental, emotional pain, whatever it is, these, and anger,

[24:23]

filled with anger and that manifests in the body in all sorts of ways. What are those things that can be, we can imagine, those are being thrown at us, sort of, even though they're arising, you know, within whatever we see is arising within us. If we see something as scary that's, scariness does not adhere or It's not intrinsic to any object that comes from us. Or anger comes from us. Nothing can make us be angry. So that's what Mara starts with. And the Buddha Siddhartha doesn't move, you know. mark and throw the book at him, these scary monsters who are shooting at him, arrows, they're trying to get him.

[25:32]

And with his own power of compassion, those arrows, slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, the vicissitudes of life, everything that comes unbidden and all at once to plague us, He understands the nature of these things and those arrows turn to flowers is the image. With his own, he can turn that. He can turn, he doesn't have to respond with hate or fear or anger. He understands what it is and that it's empty and remains calm and composed and unhateful. Hatefulness doesn't arise to meet that, or more anger, which as we know doesn't really work anyway.

[26:34]

So all these passions and afflictions, the kleshas are the Sanskrit word for afflictions of all kinds, jealousy, resentment and just you name it. These are the Klesha Avarana. Avarana are coverings. They cover, you know, they cover us. We're covered with these afflictions. They cover our own true being. So it didn't work. So then Mara thinks, okay, anger and hatred and ill will and meanness and cruelty and all these things, it doesn't move him, he's not frightened. Okay, let's try something else. So the next tact is to arouse, you know, lust and desire and wanting things, wonderful things, and greed, wanting the Buddha, wanting Siddhartha to be moved off his seat because of greed.

[27:54]

wanting extra comforts and extra sensual pleasures of all kinds, maybe that will move them. Let's try that. So those will take any form. The traditional form is one form for Siddhartha. The form it takes for each one of us may be unique to us, what it is that excites our greed or has us break precepts out of desires, precepts of taking what is not giving or not lying or because we want something for ourselves, that feels so desirable. And that's according to our own karmic life, our own karmic consciousness. There aren't specific things that everybody is greedy for. Those are unique to each one of us. what ignites that for us, what will topple us over into leaving our seat that exists in our home and go off looking for something that we feel we lack.

[29:12]

And it's powerful, it's strong, it's incredibly powerful, it's physical, it's mental, emotional, and So whatever that is for you, you can conjure them up. You've been conjuring them up, I would guess, all says she and all practice spirit. I know because I know. That's the way it goes. And yesterday during dinner, this song occurred to me, which is a really kind of sentimental, a song you hear in elevators during Christmas time, and it arose with all its lyrics, and I sang it to myself, which is, I'm not going to sing it, but I did sing it to myself, just the whole thing. It's winter wonderland, walking in a winter wonderland, and I had a full body experience of, I was thrilled from top to toe.

[30:25]

And I was so embarrassed that to say, you know, in the meadow we will build a snowman and feeling like, just like tingling with memories of snow in St. Paul and walking and building snowmen. I mean, it was just like this full on event, you know, but that wouldn't happen to you probably, you know, unless you're Danny and come from St. Paul. It was so embarrassing. but there it was, and it was really like, and the same thing happens to me, you know, this is very unique, you know, to hear like the Star-Spangled Banner, you know, I'm embarrassed to say I become thrilled, you know, like at a baseball game. It is karmic, you know, it's a karmic formation, it's old, old imprinting, and so all of us have that unique, you know, like the ten substances, unique, unrepeatable to you, that which you're drawn to, that which you would love to have, that's what you would break precepts to get, is unique.

[31:33]

And then there's some shared ones, but not necessarily everybody is ignited by the same things. That's our wonderful diversity and variety of all kinds in this world. Siddhartha gets sent by Mara, what Mara thinks is going to unseat the Buddha, and it just doesn't work. He remains calm. You can imagine what it would be for you, surrounding you, enticing things. Maybe it would be salted caramel or something. which somebody sent me once during sesheen and I broke the ammunitions and actually opened and ate salted caramel, homemade. It was really good. It arrived during sesheen and because I was the abbess, I think they thought they should deliver, whoever should deliver the package.

[32:44]

Yeah. Anyway. So, back to Siddhartha, sitting there, kind of just withstanding, allowing himself to experience and not be moved, you know. We shall not be moved just like a tree that stands beside the water. That's an old labor song. we shall not be moved. So just like Siddhartha, under the Bodhi tree, we shall not be moved. So then Mara kind of thinks, okay, now what? This didn't work. And Mara, and you may not have heard this is one, you know, I think there are different renditions of what happens here at the beginning of the Buddha's resolve in this story I'll tell a couple of them but one is that Mara claims this seat is my seat I have more spiritual accomplishments than you get out of my seat you know this is I should be sitting there and then all the armies who are still hanging around

[34:11]

All in one voice say, we bear witness to Mara. This is Mara's seat. Who bears witness for you? And here's Siddhartha all by himself, surrounded by enemies. Who will speak for you? I think they're taunting him. Who will speak for you? Nobody's here for you. We think Mara has the seat. We claim Mara is the one. who speaks for you? Well, we kind of know the story. We don't have a statue of it. City Center, there's, I mean, Green Gulch has in the Zendo Buddha Hall, the touching the earth Buddha. So the Buddha takes his right hand and touches the earth, touches the earth with his right hand and calls the earth herself, the earth itself, herself, to witness.

[35:13]

You know, will you bear witness? I call on the earth to witness that I have a right to be here. And the earth kind of roars and shakes in seven ways and says, I bear witness that the Buddha has a right to sit here and has practice for you know, uncountable time and has a right to be here. There's a wonderful depiction of this where it's like an earth goddess coming up out of the earth and the Buddha's touching the earth and she's kind of coming up and touching the Buddha's hand like that. It's a beautiful depiction. In a talk that I gave on Earth Day, I turned this to that the Earth is now saying, who will bear witness for me?

[36:23]

The Earth bore witness for the Buddha to sit there and have a place and be able to thrive and realize himself. And now the Earth is saying, who will bear witness for me? Who stands for me? Who sits for me? I need witness now. So now we all have to bear witness to the earth. So at this point, Mara just, well I'll tell one other story, another one where Mara tries to unseat and he calls on the earth for witnesses where he undermines them with Who do you think you are? You think you're such hot stuff. You're not anything. You should go back home and take care of your family. Who are you off wandering around like a big shot?

[37:24]

Just get off it. Go home. That kind of talk. Kind of self-sabotaging, second-guessing, like I'm not worth much here. Self-critical, harsh speech. That kind of talk. I'm a loathsome, not a good person. I don't deserve much. Yeah, I shouldn't even try. That was another way of Mara unseating, trying to, and the Siddhartha bore witness. So I think this one of I have more accomplishments than you is a similar, like you have no standing here. Get out of here. And I think we talk to ourselves that way sometimes. You're unworthy, you're worthless. And even though you've been practicing a long time, what do you have to show for it?

[38:29]

Which somebody once asked me when I came home, high school friend, what do you have to show for your life? After he had me his where they had just bought the property next to them to protect the view and there was the gazebo and the new pool and he was kind of showing me and he said and then he said what do you have to show for yourself that was the question and i remember it got like mara you know it's like my mind did a little flip like let's see i've been you know and i was do on and i've been on the board you know And I realized, you know, come, and I, actually what I said was nothing. And he just, ugh. Just like, ugh, what a waste, what a waste. Kind of shook his head and, ugh, come, let's go to the gazebo.

[39:30]

Because I think he thought, well, in high school you were kind of promising, you know, you were, What was I? You were secretary of the sophomore class. I mean, come on. And up for homecoming queen, although I didn't win, and cheerleader and stuff. So, you know, we thought you had it in you, but this is really... Anyway, yeah, so that was a kind of Mara thing, but I did move. I kind of did a little spin there, but there was nothing to be said. So I think at that point, Mar just slinks away, you know, like, gives up. This fellow cannot be moved. All my tricks, I mean, maybe there's something, but I've run out of tricks. Which is kind of, I think, our own minds, you know. This is a story of, you can think of this as just you taking all these roles, you know.

[40:41]

if we have enough clarity and resolve and just say, yeah, even though I don't like it, I am returning to my seat. I am choosing to want the unwanted. And, you know, that's how it is. And nobody can stop me, even though it's really hard. And so things will weaken. You know, Mara kind of weakens, because nothing works. And this is what happens with and our afflictions and all these desires, they wane because we're not giving them strength by taking them up and believing in them. They wane. When we engage with them as if, oh yeah, that's really what I really do want, only to be disappointed, that gives it strength for the next time around. Oh, yeah, maybe I want this one. But when we are unmoving, they wane and lose hold and lose power, even though they keep arising.

[41:54]

They'll arise, but it's like, hi, I see you, ha-ha, remember you, yeah. And they'll arise, I think, forever. That story of Sashin or Suzuki Roshi said, the problems that you have now You know this story, you're already laughing. And people were hoping, were thinking, they were ahead of the game, he's gonna say, we'll disappear and you will be, but he said, you will have these problems for the rest of your life. Problems you have now. So yes, but do they have the strength to push us around? Or unseat us? Or can we just sit in the middle of the fire and the cold and the pain and find our life, true life, which is not dependent on any of those things.

[42:57]

Being there and not being there. So after Mara wanes and calms, everything calms down and then we will leave Siddhartha there under the Bodhi tree, just things quieting and evening coming, you know. You know, there's different renditions. Some say he sat for 45 days, some for seven days, which is Rahatsa Sashin has this seven day, others for a day, three days. There's, you know, different stories, different renditions of how long the Buddha sat. but let's say he just settled down right there for that, you know, night was coming on. So... So we're settling down.

[44:08]

I think we have settled down. and yet there may be some upset things that are trying to upseat us, upset, upseat, leaping ahead into thoughts of delights, you know, of interim, and I do want to say interim is part of the rhythm of the year to have restorative, unscheduled interim time. This is built in, this isn't, Oh, don't tell anybody that's interim. You know, this is made for us. This is a time of rest, restoring, sleeping in. And I really want people to appreciate that and participate, partake of the delights of a different schedule or the letting go, a looser, open schedule.

[45:09]

And that will have its time, and that will wane, those delights, just like always, there will come a time of beginning to be hungry again and eager to sit and to come back into the schedule. It has a very natural phase. But if, for some reason, we say, during the interim, I'm going to has some kind of hard and tough schedule or something, then I think the rhythm will be off. We have to have both. So it's your practice to enjoy restorative time and unscheduled and to sleep in. Isn't that great? This is why we love Zen so much, because it includes all that. It's not just some kind of strict thing. So we have these days together and how do we together once again recommit ourselves, re-consecrate, that was the word I was looking for last sashin, re-consecrate ourselves to the sashin, to the

[46:34]

scheduled to our sitting to each period completely with this this sense of resolve and not to move and not to move you know maybe for you each person that might mean something else but it may mean i'm going to experiment with um you know sitting through the interval this time i want to see what that what that is rather than being afraid that what's going to happen by, you know, as it gets close to the end of that, to make some strong resolve to stretch ourselves, to challenge ourselves, to practice kinyin. Do I need to go to the bathroom? Really, really. To stay with this, you know, we have shorter sittings and, you know, when the pot, when you put the pot on the stove to boil water, if it's constantly be taking being taken off the heat and then you put it back on again and take to just leave it on the steady leave it leave it on the leave it on the stove and that may mean uh you can see it may mean if you can you need to use the bathroom of course go use the bathroom but to with an unbroken steadiness from period of zazen through kenyan to the next or sitting through

[48:04]

the interval to make that, to see if we're shying away from anything. Are we working on our edge or our frontier of our, or are we playing it safe and moving back from, because we don't, because of fear. I think now's the time. You know, that's a Mara kind of a thing, really. I don't want to try this. And I also include, I don't want you to hurt yourself. That goes without saying. Hurt yourself if you have injury and you need to move or take a different posture. That is all fine and dandy. And you should be strict about doing that, taking care of yourself. And is there any place where it's Mara playing with you? you can ask yourself. Also in lecture, the tradition is to sit zazen during lecture and do we practice that or try at least for some time during lecture or how are we thinking about lecture?

[49:17]

These are traditional practices. They're not austerities. They're available to all of us. Are we shying away? And is that shying away, keeping us from fully manifesting ourselves, our fully exerted, I was going to say courageous, manifesting self, which is Suzuki Roshi's definition of Shikantaza. It's just being ourselves completely. Being ourselves completely without expecting anything, without expecting it's supposed to feel this way, or not this way, or that it be comfortable or not comfortable.

[50:22]

Just entering each period of Zazen, each moment of Zazen, each breath completely there. Yesterday I brought up this theme that arises about, you know, when the Buddha saw the sick person and said, what is the matter with this person? Doesn't he have a mother? You know, and this mother theme, and I found Suzuki Roshi's description of Shikantaza. as he says, we've been separated from our mothers. And I think this, you know, you could think of one's own personal mother if that works for you, but I think it's a wider thing, separated from feeling at one with our lives and our, the earth and one another, that separateness.

[51:32]

He says, we feel like we've been separate it from our mother. And in Shikantaza, on our exhale, to go back completely and enter as if you were at your mother's breast. He says, bosom. And it was so, you know, I came upon this and it resonated, of course, because of how we've been turning this in yesterday about nourishment. And here's Suzuki Roshi using that same image, you know, which, you know, I don't think it may work for most of us or many of us about our personal mother, but this longing to be unified and held in oneness is I think what he calls mother here, you know. And he brings up, then you will be cared for.

[52:38]

So this is cared for by our Buddha nature, really, our true nature. So each breath, to have that feeling of exhaling, in particular the exhale and letting ourselves just fade into the fullness of our... breath and inhale and re-oxygenate every cell in our body with refreshment. We refresh from what we bring in and then let it go completely without thinking we're going to get anything or expecting anything or wanting anything, just fully manifesting our life. And as I said in one of our sessions, that exhale in terms of our body means when we fully exhale, all is right with the world, you know, everything's okay.

[53:52]

And this is, this reminds me of this thing Suzuki Roshi's saying, to completely exhale with that in mind, with that image if that works for you, or just letting go That's all I want to bring up. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[54:40]

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