This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning, everyone. Lovely to see you all. I was enjoying walking through the mist from my... apartment into the building and it's been doing this a good deal of the day and it made me remind me of the saying that we have sometimes there's no steps and stages in Zen but what happens is as you practice little by little over time just walking in the midst of the Dharma you eventually get soaked and so if you keep Continue walking today outside in this amazing foggy mist.

[01:02]

May you get soaked in the Dharma. And even when it's not misty outside, you're actually still being soaked in the Dharma. Everything is totally soaking us in the truth of reality itself. So for anyone who might not know me, my name is Tenzin David Zimmerman, and I am a resident priest here at City Center. And I just want to welcome you all. Curious, how many people are new for the first time? A few people? Wonderful. Well, welcome. Special welcome to you all. Many of us here today are actually engaged in what's called a day-long sitting or a day of meditation together. And so this is an opportunity for us to really just deepen a little bit more into our practice by being together in zazen.

[02:07]

So I thought today for my dharma sharing that I would say a few things about zazen. or sitting meditation. For anyone who's not familiar with it, the Japanese word zazen could also be translated as, it means literally zazen, sitting meditation. It could also be translated as sitting zen or sitting concentration. So the word Zen, the transliteration comes from China, that comes from India, Jhana, which means concentration. So sitting, concentration. And just to offer a clarification, while you'll often hear folks at a Zen center talk about... sitting zazen, which often means sitting on a zafu, one of those round cushions. We can actually engage zazen by sitting in a chair.

[03:11]

You can also engage zazen by laying down and by walking and by standing. So all those are forms that the Buddha himself said these are forms for meditation. The thing is that for many of us, many folks, the sitting posture and the cross-legged posture as you see here is often the most supportive in terms of being able to sit for a long extended period of time in silence and concentration. And so it's because of the tripod triangle form of it. And so, but again, Find a posture that works for your particular body in whatever way you need. The tradition of Zazen that we follow here at San Francisco Zen Center emphasizes the practice of sitting in stillness and silence and simply observing and receiving our experience as it makes itself known to us.

[04:21]

rather than us striving for a specific outcome of some sort. And Zazen is essentially about just being present in this life, in this body, in this mind, and becoming intimately familiar with how it is to be this person. How is it for you? How is it to be your person? What is that experience? So we sit here and we just simply observe. What is it to be this person? And while this might seem relatively simple, hey, I can just sit here and observe. For anyone who sat down even for a few minutes, trying to be silent and still, you realize how difficult it actually is to stay with the present moment experience, right? And so it can first be difficult to sit in stillness itself because there's so much, think of it as momentum, kind of a momentum of our karmic conditioning, of this energy of just doing, doing, doing, right?

[05:35]

Anyone experience that? Right, go, go, go, do, [...] do. So then when we actually have a chance to sit down and do nothing, absolutely nothing, It's almost beyond us. It's like, I don't know how to do this, right? It's not an experience I'm not familiar with. And it's also difficult because our minds are constantly striving and chattering and judging and worrying and planning and anticipating. At least mine is. I don't know about the rest of you, right? And so, you know, there's just this kind of restlessness that we kind of find ourselves experiencing the moment we try to be still and silent. However, this practice of zazen that we are encouraged to do is not about, for example, stopping or controlling the mental noise that's going on.

[06:36]

whatever experiences we might be having, whether pleasant or unpleasant. It's actually about simply observing. Observing the chatter, the sensations, and, if you will, let them go. Not grasping onto them. And then in time, through this way, we realize that thoughts can kind of pass through our awareness without necessarily causing any kind of disturbance or excitement, right? And as the various, I think of it as weather, this weather in the body, you know, the weather of thoughts, you know, the clouds of emotions, you know, the temperature of sensations moving through our body, as all of these experiences arise in whatever form they arise and make themselves known for a period of time, they then disperse and they too disappear.

[07:41]

Everything is impermanent. And so when we sit down, we realize all of this experiencing is nothing but a flow of changing phenomena. And we begin to realize that who we fundamentally are is not any of these fleeting conditioned experiences. Rather, we are the eternal, vast, open, luminous sky-like awareness in which they all appear, abide for a period of time, and then disappear. You could say we are the sky in which they are known, but we are not the objects themselves specifically. And in this way, we come to realize that the small, limited self that we had previously thought ourselves to be and identified with is not who we truly are.

[08:43]

And that our true self is always and already available to us to embrace and abide us. I, uh, recently been enjoying delving into a new collection of teachings by Zen Center's founder, Suzuki Roshi, and it's titled Becoming Yourself. Has anyone seen the book? We're trying to put it out there. Hey, check out this great collection, right? I find it comes closest to kind of the tone and the orientation of the first book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I've been really enjoying the the voice that is coming forward of Suzuki Roshi. In it, in the fourth chapter of the book, Suzuki Roshi proposes that becoming yourself is the practice of just to sit. Becoming yourself is the practice of just to sit, by which he means just to sit is a practice of wholeheartedly being as you are, moment after moment, and no matter what is happening.

[09:55]

Does that sound easy? No. It isn't for me, I can tell you that. I've been doing this a long time, right? So this phrase, just to sit, is another way expressing something called chikantaza. And chikantaza is a Japanese term meaning just, only, exactly, or precisely sitting, right? And in the Chinese vernacular, shinkan, as in shinkan taza, implies to be solely concerned about. To be solely concerned about. And taza means to sit. Now, if you unpack the characters for taza a little bit more, we learn that ta means to hit or to meet or to become one. And the za means It's the same zaza as in zazen, sitting, right?

[10:58]

And so the taza of shikantaza could also be translated as hit-sit. Taza, hit-sit, right? Just this. So hitting the target through sitting and becoming one with it. And this is an expression of non-duality. Shikantaza, expression of non-duality. sitting exactly as this one, completely, right? So you put it together, shikantaza means to be so solely concerned about just sitting. Your whole body and mind, it's concentrated in the activity of just sitting, just being here, right? And so this is to engage wholeheartedly sitting with our entire being. Nothing, not a single part of us is left out of this activity of just sitting. So becoming one with the activity of sitting, and in doing so, meeting and becoming thoroughly ourselves in that process.

[12:06]

So we can understand Suzuki Roshi's Just to Sit or Shikantaza as fundamentally the practice of opening to your life. Opening to your life. in whatever way it's revealing itself to you, however you might be experiencing it moment by moment. So this sitting, we're sitting with an open, wakeful receptivity. I keep reminding myself sometimes when I sit down. Open, wakeful, receptivity. And we're open and wakeful and receptive to our direct experience. Or the feeling of being alive in this moment. And this is the heart of Zen practice. Being at one with the feeling of being alive in this moment. And furthermore, this way of engaging Shikantaza, according to Tsukiroshi, is how you become truly yourself.

[13:15]

When we practice just sitting, he says... just to be yourself is no problem whatsoever. Oh, okay. Yeah, that sounds encouraging. Yeah, when you just sit, then just to be yourself is no problem. So all the more reason to sit Saza, huh? However, if you're and turning Suzuki Roshi's description of Shikantaza as a practice becoming oneself, we might be left with a question. And that question is, in sitting and becoming oneself, what exactly is this self that I'm becoming? Is it different from the self I am now? And if so, in what ways? Frequently in my conversation with newer practitioners, they tell me in a kind of variety of different ways, you know, some directly and some not so directly, that they've come to Zen and meditation seeking to be anything other than themselves, right?

[14:28]

Other than who they are now, right? Maybe you are kind of familiar with that particular sentiment? Anyone here? No? Okay, yeah. You're brave to confess that. And so, rather than becoming ourselves, we might actually approach meditation with the intention of escaping ourselves. Not just escaping our insistent thinking or disruptive emotions, but also our less positive character traits. and our troublesome behaviors that might come up sometime and cause us significant problems and suffering. And the last thing we might want to do is become ourselves because we are deeply uncomfortable with who we perceive ourselves to be. So as a consequence, we sometimes take up Zazen as a self-improvement project.

[15:35]

thinking that by sitting enough, we'll become a different person. Perhaps a better person. Maybe even some kind of special being, a special person. If I do enough zazen, I might even become an enlightened being. Ooh, that sounds pretty cool, right? Perhaps something called a Buddha. just as long as I can be someone other than who I am now. There's a well-known column that addresses his tendency to see Zazen as a way to become someone other than we are, or you could think of it also as a means to an end. And this story involves two famous Zen masters, teacher Nanue and his disciple Mazu. And Mazu, the story goes, had this habit of engaging in practice of zazen all day long. That's all he did.

[16:38]

Sit zazen, sit zazen, sit zazen. So the master Nanue approaches Mazu and asks, you can see probably a little bit of a hint of a glint of delight or playfulness in his eye, right? He asks, great monastic, what do you intend to do by doing zazen? What do you intend by doing zazen? And Masu says, I'm intending to be a Buddha. And then Nanyue picks up a clay tile and he starts polishing it. And Masu's like, what are you doing? Right? What are you doing? And Nanyue replies, I'm trying to make a mirror. And Masu then asks, how can you make a mirror by polishing a tile? And Nanyue replies, How can you become a Buddha by doing zazen? So Nanue's question of mazu is a question for all of us.

[17:39]

What are you intending by sitting zazen? Why do you sit zazen? Why do you sit zazen? And maybe that has changed if you've been sitting zazen for a number of years. Think of it when you first came, and maybe now. How would you answer? What do you intend by sitting zazen? And so Mazur's reply is that he's intending to make a Buddha. And perhaps you also have this intention. I'm going to become a Buddha by sitting zazen. Now, it's interesting to note that the Chinese character for the word here, intending, that's used in the chords, is sometimes translated as figuring. So Nanyue's question becomes, what are you figuring sitting zazen? I'm figuring to make a Buddha. And the ideogram for the word figure in Chinese, it resembles a figure.

[18:47]

It also resembles a diagram or a map or a plan. So kind of like as in a plan for making something or getting somewhere. So you get a sense of what's underlying that particular word here. And Dogen, A. A. Dogen, says in his phasical zazen-shin, which translates as acupuncture needle of zazen, get exactly to the point, that there must be figuring or some kind of plan or intention prior to and subsequent to making a Buddha. So in other words, figuring or some form of attention is always before, during, and after making a Buddha. And this figuring is also expressed in the posture of Zasana. So when you figure the body, when you lay out the body in a particular shape and form, one figures a figure of a Buddha.

[19:51]

sitting in steadfast stillness and concentration. And so at the deepest level, a Buddha is manifesting from the start, from the very first inkling of intention to sit. And not just at a later time in the future. So while we might think this khan is telling us to give up intending to become a Buddha by sitting zazen, Dogen is saying that from the beginning, with the intention, I'd like to be or make a Buddha sitting zazen, a Buddha is actually made. Zazen is the practice of being a Buddha without seeking to become a Buddha. Zazen is the practice of being a Buddha without seeking to become a Buddha. Zazen is the practice of being a Buddha is already self-sufficient and complete in and of itself. We do not do Zazen to make an extra effort of becoming a Buddha.

[20:57]

Zazen is already the complete practice of a Buddha when we fully embrace the direct experience of this very body-mind. Therefore, what need is there to add the intention of becoming a Buddha to Zazen, as if Zazen was the cause of one becoming a Buddha? Buddha is before Zazen, during Zazen, and after Zazen. Zazen, then, is simply the verification that nothing more needs to be sought or gained, or added to what we are in this moment. So just sit. Only by actually wholeheartedly sitting zazen can we go beyond the intentions and ideas we have about zazen and become who we fundamentally already are. And for those who are also new, the word Buddha means awake one.

[22:13]

So besides the tendency to treat Zazen as a means to end that we might have, such as seeing it as a way to achieve a particular state of being, there can also be kind of an adjacent tendency. to treat zazen as an exercise in seeking or trying to find ourselves or trying to figure ourselves out in some way. So in other words, we might treat zazen as a means to somehow fix ourselves by resolving. We sit down and we think that, oh, if I do enough meditation, I'm going to resolve whatever psychological, emotional issues I might have. All that ancient twisted karma with my mother and my father and blah, blah, blah, all that will just disappear. And I'll be fixed. All my problems will go away. And while Zen practice can certainly reveal some of the underlying issues and the psycho-emotional conflicts and illuminate perhaps the need for us to actually seek therapeutic help,

[23:23]

Neither Zen practice nor Zazen is meant to serve as psychotherapy. So it's often advised, don't conflate them. Zazen is Zazen. Zen practice is Zen practice. And therapy is therapy. They're two separate modalities. There might be aspects that overlap in many ways. And that's true. I see that. But they are two different modalities. So don't use them interchangeably. Because if you do, then what's happening is it becomes an exercise in which you're using meditation to, again, try to be something other than ourselves. And Suzuki Roshi touches on this point in the chapter of Becoming Yourself titled, Don't Try to Figure Out Who You Are. Don't try to figure out who you are. He begins by referencing a famous verse by the 9th century Chinese Zen master Tozan Zenji.

[24:25]

That's the Japanese name. In Chinese is Dongshan. And I'm going to use the Japanese in this case because Suzuki Roshi uses the Japanese name. So just for anyone, sometimes it can get a little bit confusing going from the Chinese to Japanese. Which is which? Is it Tozan or Dongshan? I'm going to use Tozan here. And... Tozan is said to have written this verse on the occasion of his enlightenment. And Tozan, by the way, was one of the founders of Sao Dong, or the Soto School of Zen. So he's a very important figure in our particular lineage. And here is Suzuki Roshi's version of Tozan's awakening verse. Don't try to seek yourself. Don't try to figure out who you are. The you found in that way is far from the real you. It is not you anymore. But when I go on my way, whenever I turn, wherever I turn, I meet myself.

[25:32]

Don't try to seek yourself. Don't try to figure out who you are. The you found in that way is far from the real you. It is not you anymore. But when I go on my way, whenever, wherever I turn, I meet myself. And then Suzuki Roshi comments right after that. He says, this first means that you must find yourself in each Zazen period. When you take your own step, then wherever you go, you will meet yourself. This is the Bodhisattva way. Now, There's a background story here that offers a little bit more additional context for us to reflect on Tozan's verse. So the story is that Tozan had been studying with the Zen master Ongan, Ongan Donjo, for some time. And at one point during a dialogue with his teacher, Tozan experienced a significant awakening.

[26:38]

Even so, he continued, it's said, to still have some doubts about his practice. And eventually he decided to move on and seek out the guidance of other Zen teachers. And so as Tozan was taking his leave of Ungan, he asked him, if in the future someone should ask, if I could describe the Master's truth, if I could describe your truth, how should I respond? In other words, how might I sum up your Dharma teaching? Another version has Tozan saying, after your death, If someone asks me if I can describe your reality, how shall I respond? And I think that line in that translation is a little bit more evocative. I particularly like it. How would you describe the essence of your reality, of your fundamental truth, of your dharma? And after a long pause, Ungan replied, just this is it.

[27:40]

Just this is it. But to his own side, you know, it's not quite understanding it. And so he remained silent. And then Ongan continued, you are in charge of this great matter. You must be thoroughgoing. This line sometimes is also represented in another chant that we do here, the Song of the Jomira Samadhi. And it's kind of transcribed as, now you have it, so keep it well. So Tarzan left the monastery without saying anything more. And later on, as he wandered the countryside and was crossing a river, he looked down and he saw his image reflected in the water below. And at that moment, as happens in Zen koans, he was thoroughly enlightened, right? And instantly all of his doubts about practice resolved. And so then he composed this verse, because that often happens

[28:43]

Do you ever notice that? Someone has an awakening experience, and then they immediately go to their desk and write some kind of verse or poem, trying to capture it, right? This one is a translation from the Book of Serenity. Don't, excuse me, just don't seek from others, or you'll be far estranged from self. I now go on alone. Everywhere I meet it. It now is me. I now am not it. One must understand in this way to merge with lessness. I'll read that again. Just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. Self with a big S. I now go on alone. Everywhere I meet it. It now is me. I now am not it. One must understand in this way to merge with thusness.

[29:46]

So Tozan's verse expresses his realization that there is no need to seek it, his true self, from others, including from Zen masters. I'm sorry to tell you folks, Zen masters cannot give you it. So don't expect it from them. And He doesn't need to seek it, his true self, from others, because it's already as close as he is to himself. And so we're to understand that one's true self isn't found by searching elsewhere, but is always present here and now. And it's an aspect of this very person. And thus, wherever you go, you encounter it. In other words, the it we seek is already profoundly intimate to us because this it is our essential nature. What in Zen is called our Buddha nature.

[30:48]

That boundless, open, luminous, impermanent nature of all things. So this it, this Buddha nature is exactly me. It now is me. But at the same time, I now am not it. In this case, the I refers to the I that is a matter of my own individual karma. My own, if you will, egoic self. Which is, my own karma is a non-reputable event. No one else has my karma. It's unique to this particular body-mind. It's unique from everything else. Each of you has your own karma. Each of you has your own it. In your own way. And the It, a boundlessness, cannot be contained, limited, or defined by this karmically conditioned small I. Even though we try, we try all the time, you wouldn't be surprised how often we try to fit the whole universe into my ego, me, and try to control it all.

[31:58]

So another way to understand this in terms of the intimacy of self... excuse me, intimacy of subject-object relationships. So we typically conceive of ourselves as a subject that's separate from an objective world. I'm here, you're there, I'm here, that cushion's there. So I am me and the Buddha statue is an object and it's separate from me. However, true intimacy is whether with others or with ourselves, requires dropping the objective view, the objective world. And in that, in this way, everything becomes subjective. Everything becomes the self. There's a statement from a Zen writing script that says, when we are intimate with one person completely, we meet ourselves and others wherever we go. So when Tozan sees his reflection in the water, in the objective world, he realizes that it is not separate from him.

[33:06]

His reflection, the water in which it appears, as well as the bridge he's walking on, the trees nearby, the birds that are singing, the mountains, the wind, the sky, all of it is a part of him. And it's likewise all a part of you. And this is the one realization of truth. you as subject realize that the object is none other than you. Subjective you and objective reality are one. Reality and you are not two. So in commenting on this verse, Suzuki Roshi says, you may think that you can figure out who you are by looking at your reflection in the water. Do you ever do that? Have you ever stood in front of the mirror and like, who am I? Who am I? Who am I, really? Who am I? You may think that you can figure out who you are by looking at your reflection in the water. Tozan Zenji says that although the image you see there is not you, what you see in the water, as it is, is actually you yourself.

[34:15]

In the Hokkyo Zenmai, Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, Tozan makes the same statement. You are not it. In truth, it is you. Tozan uses a paradoxical statement like this to catch your mind. You are not it, it is you. It means that when you try to figure out who you are, even if you see yourself in the mirror, without any idea of trying to figure out what you are, that is, is you, is yourself. Let me read that last line from him again. Even if you see yourself in the mirror... without any idea of trying to figure out what you are, that is you yourself. So in other words, while you might see your reflection in the mirror or the water, you're not just seeing the objective per se, the object per se. Rather, you are seeing your Buddha nature, your subjectivity manifesting as a reflection of your visage in the water or the mirror. Regardless of whether the reflection on the surface of the water or the mirror accurately reflects your objective self or not, the reflection itself, because it is an interdependently core-risen aspect of reality, and as such is not separate from you, it is you.

[35:34]

Another way of saying this is that the you seeing your reflection is awareness seeing itself in the shape of a reflection. that you can conditionally call you. However, you, the reflection, the bridge, the water, and that which is seen are all manifestations of the same universal Buddha nature. But this is not something that we can understand or realize through our intellectual understanding, right? It's a matter of seeing and understanding and knowing that is beyond the capacity of the small self. So this is the reason that Suzuki Roshi warns, when you try to figure out who you are, you are using your self-centered, limited mind, and it doesn't work. If you try to attain enlightenment or to become some great Zen master, you cannot. Before you practice our way, you are Buddha.

[36:38]

But when you practice in a small, self-centered way, you will lose yourself. Or as those on... Tozan put it in his verse, you'll be far estranged from the self, with the big S. However, if we simply rest as open, awake, receptive awareness, then we have the experience of being a Buddha. But if you try to grasp your Buddha nature with your egoic self, your small self, your small mind, then you will lose your conscious connection to Buddha. And then elsewhere, Suzuki Roshi says, by giving up your ideas of self, you can practice real practice. By giving up your ideas of yourself, you can practice real practice, which is not based on a self-centered idea. Only a mind of a Buddha can do this. Only a mind of a Buddha can do this.

[37:40]

So the last line of Tozan's verse says that one must understand in this way to merge with thusness. That word thusness, sometimes it's translated as suchness. It's an English translation for the Sanskrit Buddhist term, ta-ta-ta. And it refers to the nature of reality, free from conceptual elaborations and subject-object distinctions. So thusness is the unconditioned, unadorned nature of reality as it is. Thusness is the unconditioned, unadorned nature of reality as it is. Seeing ourselves and the world in this way, free of dualistic categories, so without an agenda, without any attachment, without any kind of filter of a separate rigid self, it allows us to realize our intimate nature, non-dual relationship to the entirety of existence, just as Tozan did when seeing his reflection in the water.

[38:45]

So when this happens, we're graced with a visceral and embodied experience of thusness, of the totality of reality. It's an experience that's direct, that's unmitigated, a sense that everything is whole, everything's complete, there's nothing lacking, nothing extra here. Just this is it. We can say that from a firsthand lived experience. Just this is it. This is complete. This is perfect. All of it. How would you describe the essence of your reality? Just this is it. And that's the truest dharma. when Suzuki Roshi encourages us to find ourselves in each period of Zazen.

[39:48]

Find ourselves in each period of Zazen. He's not talking about finding ourselves in the sense of identifying a particular individual self within a complex landscape of time and space, kind of along the lines of find water. Have you ever done that exercise? Where am I in this field here, right? Rather, the imitation is one of experiencing ourselves at one with the present moment reality, not as a separate self within the field of experience, but rather as an expression of aliveness and awareness that is inseparable from this moment. So in other words, this experience, when we sit down, can we be at one with the breath, at one with each inhale and exhale? at one with each heartbeat, at one with the sensations of our bodies touching our seats, our hands and our laps, the fabric of our clothing, at one with the sounds of the traffic outside, the rustle of the leaves on the trees, at one with the dance of lights and shadows,

[41:05]

at one with the stream of thoughts and emotions that are coursing through us. All of these experiences are part of the fabric of our being as it's manifesting in this moment. Just this is it. There's no other being, no other reality. And so when we're intimate with our present moment experience, and this is the effort, how intimate can you be with your experience? How deeply known can you be to your experience? And you're intimate with the present moment experience doing zazen throughout the day. Because zazen is just not about sitting on the cushion. Zazen is 24-7. There's no end to zazen. When you're able to be intimate in this way and don't grasp at any particular experience, when you don't identify with anything that's happening, particularly the thoughts that come up in your mind, then we can discover a self that can't be separated or pulled out from the direct experience of what is.

[42:07]

In the same way that the image in a mirror cannot be separated from the field of the mirror itself. So Tsukiroshi's becoming yourself is not about figuring out who you are. Becoming yourself is not a conceptual process. It's not about thinking about who you want to be or how you want to be because that's merely a furtive activity of the small ego self. Rather, becoming yourself is simply and fundamentally the activity of being itself. This is why stillness and silence are cultivated in Zen meditation and practice. Just sitting. We encourage to be so still and silent in our zazen that all that is left for us to do is simply to be. You can't do being. You, the small self, can't do being.

[43:08]

This just being is what becomes the whole hearted activity of the present moment. Being is being being a human being being being themselves which is also the being that's shared by the entire cosmos by the way right a human being completely giving us over to being themselves as a particular expression of the universe what more can we possibly become what more So before I close, I would like to propose that Suzuki Roshi's Becoming Yourself is another way of expressing Dogen's teaching of practice realization. Dogen rejects the idea that engaging Zaza in practice is a path leading to a future realization or enlightenment or a complete awakening experience, right? So instead, he asserts that practice is the direct manifestation of enlightenment in the present moment.

[44:18]

Dogen's practice realization, the Japanese word is shusho ito, means that practice and enlightenment are not separate, but rather two aspects of the same reality. So practice then, zazen, the practice of shikantaza, is not a means to an end. It's not a means to awakening. But it is itself the expression of awakening. It emphasizes the immediacy and the inherent nature of awakening at every moment of practice. So practice is simultaneous. So practice is simultaneously realization. And realization is simultaneously practice. Every action, every breath, every moment of being present in practice is an expression of our inherent Buddha nature. When one sits in zazen, fully present with each breath, thought, sensation, The very act of sitting is the actualization of enlightenment. So I'll conclude with a final quote of Suzuki Roshi from Becoming Yourself.

[45:27]

Everything is Buddha. Everything is Buddha. Sitting is Buddha. Lying down is Buddha. Each word is Buddha. That is our way. That is Shikantaza. When you practice Azan with this understanding, that is true Zazen. And now you are in charge of this great matter. So keep it well and be thoroughgoing in your endeavors. So for those of you who are sitting, participating in the one-day sitting, I hope this has offered you some encouragement and support to just sit and become yourself, be yourself, Becoming is a process. We're always unfolding, right? And for those who are not sitting, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and your weekend and also the process of becoming yourself in whatever activity you're engaged in because that's going to be happening too.

[46:29]

So thank you very much for your kind patience and attention. 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, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[47:02]

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