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. This koan, case 32 from the Book of Serenity. And Yongshan asked a monk, where are you from? The monk said, from Yu province. Yongshan said, do you think of that place? The monk said, I always think about it. Yongshan said, the thinker is the mind and the thought of is the environment. wherein mountains, rivers, land masses, buildings, towers, halls, chambers, peoples, animals, and so forth.

[01:13]

Reverse your thought to think of the thinking mind. Are there so many things there? The monk says, when I get there, I don't see any existence at all. It seems to me the pivotal phrase is reverse your mind. Instead of running off into what our mind cooks up, how do we attend to the mind that's creating all that? It seems to me no matter what your practices, no matter what technique or non-technique you're using or not using, this is one of the key challenges.

[02:19]

I've had the good fortune to practice in three traditions. Maybe four traditions. Vipassana and Asian Thai Vipassana and Western Vipassana. Rinzai and Soto. I think of Rinzai as dedicated effort. diligently, determinedly sustain the technique of Sosokan. Without exception or deviation, follow the schedule. Once I was on a Rinzai Sushin, we'd finish the morning sitting, then we'd done the morning chanting, and then we'd come out of the Zendo,

[03:41]

And the work leader was there. And pronounced in a stern voice, you're light. How could we be light? We just followed the schedule exactly as we were told. But we were light. By his reckoning. Western Vipassana. Co-teach with Gil Fronstone. I remember the first time I did it and I said to him, somewhat concerned, there were many people who weren't at that period of zazen or period of meditation. And his attitude was, so what? They're just figuring it out for themselves what their schedule is. They feel like walking, they go walking.

[04:42]

They feel like taking a nap, they take a nap. Trusting each person's sincerity and dedication. And then you can say, well, which one of those is better? And then how would I... ours, our style, I would say a combination. This is Sheen's schedule. Somewhat strict, somewhat spacious. Strict, we do expect you to be completely accountable. another hand if you feel sick or exhausted just tell the you know and then go rest and you get to make that discernment so maybe we could say our style our style is

[06:09]

it really does ask each of us to tap into a sincere dedication and it has its strictness all these styles in the service of maybe what we could call, as it's called in Zen practice, this pivot point of turning consciousness from just getting carried away by its habituated constructs and sort of lost in that maze, caught up in it, stirring up our emotions, stirring up or psychological disposition.

[07:12]

And turning consciousness to look at the whole process that's going on. And have that You know, yesterday I mentioned this peculiar story of sitting in a shashin with a pool table in the middle of the zendo. But then after two or three days, it was just another object of the zendo. Maybe saying that the process is not linear. may be saying that when we give over to something, when we give something our attention, our dedication, our effort the habituations of our being loosen up.

[08:26]

The world that they insist upon is loosened up. Some other arising of being arises, comes forth. do we sustain that dedication how do we sustain that intentionality how do we sustain that trust in our school the answer to that is both utterly mysterious and quite simple Just follow the schedule and let that dedication flow from the formal to the informal.

[09:30]

Can your practice become a seamless continuation from when you wake up to when you go to sleep? In some monasteries they even have a prescription for how you lie when you're sleeping. You lie on your right side. And without contradicting that I would say complimenting that set your standards low. what goes on inside of us is amazing if you allow for that somehow our dedication doesn't get entangled with an endless struggle to control what's going on

[10:47]

bring forth your dedication and don't let it get caught up in ambition or goal or often what it gets caught up what seems more modest like a deep wish to not have what's going on be so utterly messy as the monk says when Yangshan asks them, oh, do you think of where you come from? He says, all the time. Constantly comes up. And not only does it constantly come up, how we think about it constantly comes up. How we relate to the thinking we create constantly comes up.

[12:00]

the patterns of how we relate. So dine in, great patience. Dine in, Kadugeri Roshi's name. Maybe it's peculiar to say, set your standards low. This, the turning, discovering the pivot point and trusting and discovering what it offers is a delicate process. And part of that delicate process is this great patience. know in our dedication we can become impatient with what comes up you know at its most blatant we become some form of reactiveness sometimes the reactiveness is just an associated thought process sometimes

[13:32]

It's a contraction, a kind of a resistance to that experience. Sometimes it's an agitation or distress. And all that is the grind of the teachings. We haven't done something profane, inexcusable, perverted. We're just displaying what it is to be human. And one of the initiating characteristics of patience is a willingness in a way to suffer.

[14:56]

A willingness to experience the discomfort that our karmic life is creating. I don't by any means mean to say this is the entirety of our zazen. It's not at all the entirety of ours, as we'll see when we look further at what the monk says. But in terms of initiating the turning, in terms of rather than following after and perpetuating habituated consciousness, turning and looking at it, this is the delicate point. So when I say lowering your standards, in a way, just saying willing to stay with and open to an experience, all that arises.

[16:06]

I think every single one of us wonderful Zen students as we are devotees to Shikantaza as we are just this is it every one of us gets in there and wants to adjust wants to amend the workings of karmic consciousness to meet karmic consciousness. Yesterday I defined Zazen as, experience everything, let go of anything.

[17:24]

towards it. And let it be what it is. And I would say to you that when we do that there's a koan there. There's a way of relating that will teach us everything about practice. It will teach us patience. It will teach us renunciation. It will teach us immersion. It will teach us liberation. It will teach us the six paramitas, the seven factors of awakening. The four noble truths, the eightfold path. they're all formulations around this turning.

[18:42]

This not getting caught up and lost inside of our own concoctions, but seeing it for what it is and letting it teach us liberation and awakening. This simple phrase. Let the thinking think about mind. Reverse your thought to think of thinking mind. So it's very helpful. whether your mind has been rambling for five minutes engaged in some amazing drama in the moment of awareness to pause to try to bring to that moment to train yourself to bring to that moment as much presence attention awareness as possible

[20:03]

And when consciousness is in the territory of presence, to attend to that, let it teach you, let it teach you, oh, there's a state of consciousness other than just being involved in habitual consciousness. There's a state of consciousness It starts to illuminate, expand, create a depth of perception of what's happening rather than a further cloudy version of it. When we're studying the habituated mind, we're studying that it initiates, it's the source, it's the interplay that creates each moment, each constructed existence.

[21:37]

When there's presence, to whatever degree, to whatever extent the object of consciousness is engaged, that preoccupation of self starts to dissipate. continuously is to start to create within ourselves the adaptability. When mind is prevalent, presence for mind. When mind has diminished, presence for what is. The suchness of what is. We may have

[22:41]

notable moments on both sides we might have deep insights about some of our own habituated workings we may have startling moments of clarity when what was present in that moment like a blazing light with like an affirmation of the essence of existence and if we pay attention whether either of those happen we'll have glimpses as you walk with a pot of hot cereal around the Zendam.

[23:50]

How could there not be moments of just walking, of just carrying? How could there not be moments of sensing the assembly? And maybe it's intermingled with some anxiety about getting it right. some preoccupation about how the serving crew is doing right then. But the mind can turn either way back towards the source of what's constructed or towards the arising manifestation. And watch the interplay. Watch it, learn from it, and integrate.

[25:03]

Not necessarily in that order. The most subtle integration is thoughtless. And in the process, this turning, this turning consciousness from following after story to seeing story, it becomes more available. It doesn't seem like turning a great stone pillar. It seems like a freely swinging door. Yangshan asks the monk, he says, and when you reverse your thought, are there so many things?

[26:14]

What's that like for you? And the monk says, when I get there, there's no permanent existence at all. So usually, we rush back to permanent existence because something in our organism our existence it wants stability and assurance we rush back to conditioned existence only to discover once again it offers neither. It's not that stable and it's not that assuring.

[27:15]

So of course what should we do? Well we should struggle with it some more. We should double our efforts to try to get what we want and double our efforts to try to avoid what we don't want. this strange paradox of practice sometimes as you're opening up to just seeing what is your flight back to habituated consciousness is more determined so don't be surprised if one moment it seems you're getting in the groove followed soon thereafter to be inflamed by some passionate issue which may or may not have an existence outside of your mind so to remind ourselves that this is this is the

[28:36]

koan of awakening consciousness. This is the process of awakening consciousness. This presence that turns to look at its own being and opens and immerses in the arising experience. questions we can ask ourselves. What's happening? What is it to practice with it? What happens when it's practiced with? And I would suggest to you in engaging that to bring that

[29:42]

to Doka San, our practice discussion. Okay, what's coming up for you? And how have you been practicing with it? And if you're mystified as to how to practice with it, that's okay. That's why you would go to Doka San, our practice discussion. But there's something in trusting yourself to ask yourself, what is it to practice with it? What is it to turn it? What is to engage it in a way stimulates awakening.

[30:45]

And of course, when you put it like that, it sounds like an intellectual or a thought process. It's not. What we think has some benefit, some contribution, but it's minor. The closer we can get to being engaged in what's happening for us experientially, will arise for us. And then another thought I would offer you is that having like a through line, one of the great gifts of energetic dedication of Rinzai is that you sustain a technique that supports awareness.

[32:01]

Now techniques are a risky business. You can sustain a technique that also establishes its own goals, its own right and wrong, its own success and failure. And it becomes like a distraction. But the techniques have been practiced by the sages and skillfully adopted have their own benefits. So I would suggest to you to have your way of sustaining awareness as you go through your day. As Dogen says in Bendewell, without a practice of awareness, you won't see what's happening.

[33:12]

Without experiencing what's happening, realization doesn't appear. And I would describe our style like this. That the notion of shikantaza permeates our effort. Let what's happening happen. Experience the experience that's being experienced. This guides our effort. Maybe it doesn't make clear the request for diligence and continuous effort.

[34:16]

Can there be a continuous effort that doesn't create a strain, a pushing against, a control, a demand? And I would say, in particular, engaging the breath with diligence helps to identify that way of engaging. Allowing the inhale, allowing whatever arises, whatever experience happens in the inhale to be attended to. The technique there to be allowing.

[35:24]

Constantly exploring. What is it to let body and mind soften, open, receive? And then the pivot point, the turning. Pause between inhale and exhale. And then letting go. Releasing. With the exhale. And this... That technique can help us whether the mind has... substantial agitation, or whether the mind is quite settled.

[36:27]

Whether the mind is quite settled, we can see the subtler impacts of a certain thought. We can see and feel the importance, the significance of it, or lack thereof. We can see the subtle grasping or resisting. And then as we pause, Like dwelling in that place of seeing. And as the mind settles, it's not like there's some separate voice declaring what should happen next.

[37:42]

Our body, our breath, our mind have been doing this since we were born. It's more of a giving over. It's a giving over to awareness and the awareness brings forth a wisdom. Prajnatara says, and I study this sutra hundreds and thousands of times. allowing releasing. And when the mind becomes more engaged in its own constructs, breathe them in as if they were air.

[38:55]

as if they were the ambient experience. It helps us to be not so caught up in the particulars of them. It helps us to tune in to the emotional undertone. It helps us loosen up whatever's desires aversions and anxieties that are flowing through us and are being expressed by those thoughts so the second day of sushin it's like transition day we've just arrived and we brought with us all our suitcases filled with the world according to me which we should be grateful for because they brought us here and we're starting to see glimpses of existence beyond the world according to me

[40:30]

starting to see glimpses of where we've come from. We're starting to see glimpses of a world that both is and isn't. Yes. if we didn't have a shared common reality how would we ever have something called a schedule or a shashin but we see within that this fluidity of being Youngshan says to the monk reverse your thought Think of the thinking mind.

[41:35]

Are there so many things there? The monk says, when I get there, I don't see anything at all. Yangshan says, this is appropriate for the stage of engagement, the stage of faith, the stage of being willing to attend to mind. But that's not the whole story. What we construct is the vehicle of being alive. Our practice is not to annihilate it. Our practice is quite the opposite.

[42:39]

is to learn how to live it. Yongshan puts it this way. He says, that's appropriate for the stage of faith or trust, but not yet right for the stage of being a person. often maybe usually on the second day in transition side of fear those thoughts but is it to turn back and look at the mind it's creating whatever it's creating what is it to sustain

[43:45]

a diligence. I often think there's some way when we don't bring forth our diligence, we disappoint ourselves. Like when we don't bring forth our diligence, we discourage ourselves. And I also think that there's a way in which when we bring forth our diligence, even if all hell's breaking loose, if we bring forth our diligence, there's some way it supports us. Some way we're encouraged by it. It's not linear.

[44:48]

We're not exactly in control. We bring forth our effort and we accept. This is the spirit of Shri Kantasa. 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.

[45:34]

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