Sunday Lecture

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jason
skirts

good morning

even with all the windows open it's pretty warm your skin
i g for the last four or five months or so i've been on a sabbatical and
the sabbatical his den it's work
in allowing me to laugh
have some fellow time uninterrupted fellow time in preparation for taking on a new position it's own center which is the position of abbess and last sunday actually there are two ceremonies last weekend
on saturday night and sunday afternoon and i know a number of you were at the both those ceremonies or or wonder the other on saturday night the former abbot now the senior dharma teacher norman fischer so katsu norman fischer stepped down from being ever
it and we say stepped down because their their position is called the mountain seat so he stepped down from the mountain in a wonderful warm
ah
intimate ceremony
he had just had an operation and so when he climbed up to the seat he he kind of needed some help getting up been getting settled and as someone said it's great to see how decrepit you were climbing up and down it makes everyone feel ah
somehow closer to him
ah so it's a chance for people to give their appreciations express their love and appreciation for norman and for his teaching and for all the work he's done and all the ways that he's helped send center
risque
i think one of the main themes was how healing his ever see worse for so many of us
just his way and his
commitment to healing
others and to healing the community
so he'll he'll be hum
ah
actively involved with send center for many many years but ah after this next year he'll be more are stepping out on his own in in new ways so we'll all miss him
and then the next day on sunday was the stepping up ceremony at the mountain seat ceremony and that to ah it's hard to say exactly what what it was each for each person who participated and for each person who was in the assembly
lee
it was what it was for each person
but i'm over and over again so
ah
impressed i guess with the power of ceremony itself with the power of ritual and that form of human activity ceremony and i think many people are not particularly drawn to ceremony or think that they're not and yet
ah want to find some way to make
events and experiences and
landmark times in her life to make them meaningful and human beings tend to create ceremonies to do just that and when you put enough energy and effort and devotion into a ceremony into a particular form the meeting arises the meeting is expressed
even though it may look like if you read it if you read the ceremony you know these five people go here and then they bow and these five people go over there and they offer incessantly they ran up and down and the drum ghosts and they bow and the
inspect see the seal of zen center and it's just you know you read it you think
this is you might think this is nonsense you know this is a bunch of nonsense but when
when people actually devote their energies
to creating a ceremony just like a theater piece actually for those of you have been in theater when you work on
way and put everything into it the process itself is so meaningful and the play itself can be transformative to the audience and the people doing it and i think that's how i think of ceremonies they they are transformed him

just listening to the rain
so although the there's a poem words is the meaning is not in the words yet it responds
to the arrival of energy
and that's how i think of this ceremony the meaning isn't in just the description of the ceremony but in the arrival of the energy that's brought their that's the meaning

so there are many parts to the ceremony many opportunities for me to offer my appreciation and my grateful
gratefulness to this practice into all the teachers who have come down to the ages to practice and to teach
and
thanking all the people that helped create the ceremony and there was a rogue that the sanga made and gave me and the sewing teachers
ah
coordinated all these different peoples sewing so all these things were part of the ceremony and there was a part where people could offer congratulations or words and
i wanted to read what pema chodron
many of you probably know pama children or have heard of her she said tibetan teacher who has a m practice place in nova scotia and she wasn't able to come to the ceremony because she's in retreat right now but she sent word
and i think this this particular advice was given to a your guinea tibet neo guidi
i believe the name is pronounced lap dual trauma
but i'm not sure that's exactly it please excuse me
so i think this advice is not just for someone taking the mountain seat are taking this position but twelve us in our lives in our family lives our work lives our practice last
so this is this is what she said
reveal your inner thoughts
approach what you find repulsive
help those you do not want to help
anything you are attached to let it go
go to places that scare you
if you do not grasp with your mind you will find a fresh state of being

so these these i feel are very helpful advice this is very helpful advice although you don't want to go too far you know when it says some approach what you find repulsive and go to places that scare you i don't think it actually means to seek
out the most scary and repulsive situation you can find and then just kind of barrow your way in it's more repulsive things are things that we find
we want to avert from or that were afraid of those come very naturally in our lives you know some reticence to talk with so and so about such and such at work or
ah or in family or in practice life some feeling of g i just i don't really want to talk with that person it's going to be heard that kind of thing go there something that scares you
go there and i suppose that also is ah
help those who do not want to help sometimes we don't want to
ah
because people are difficult or someone may be difficult so we we turn away from that so as as an advice to trip you can tell i don't want to help that person if you can notice that then go there
so i don't want this to be taken
incorrectly and find yourself over your head because that doesn't help anyone either to go over your head
the yummy
so if this lesson if you do not grasp with your mind you will find a fresh state of being so grasping with the mind is
but one of the basic teachings in buddhism is that grasping things is basically delusion that's that's also a line from a poem the merging of different set of quality grasping things are clutching at things suzuki roshi translated it as clutching at things is basically delusion
ah and trying to seize the word grasp means trying to seize with the hand grasping clutching holding on
now at at first take you may think why can hold onto things hold onto my job and hold onto my relationships and hold on
that's not true grasping things isn't i can hold onto a piece of pie grasping things this an illusion
but if you steady carefully trying to hold onto something you see that there's no thing that will stay put long enough for you to actually hold it it it goes right through your fingers or
or the pie is either eaten up or will compost right in front of you if you sit there long enough there is nothing there's nothing you can hold onto grasping things is basically delusion and the can you hear me okay with the rain soaking
and the the over and over habitual way that we try and hold onto things and grasp at things is suffering
in fact that the traditional way to define what suffering is is the five scandals or the way the self is
a definition of the self is these five heaps or scandalous the five grasping scandalous is suffering
so premise as if you do not grasp with your mind you will find a fresh state of being so what is it like what might it be like to not grasp of things what could that be
how am i going to get up in the morning if i don't grasp or apprehend with my mind in a certain way that it's time to get up i better get going i've gotta get to work that's a kind of grasping to how what other kind of state of being might there be

so in in the ceremony in the mountain seat ceremony one of the area is one of the parts of the ceremony was for me to or the person taking that position to make a commentary on a co on and the koran synchronistic lee or serendipitously
that i chose to talk about was
ah mind cannot be grasped it's actually this coin is part of another colon in the commentary it's really as then story that doesn't have its own
it's not pulled out it as its own separate corn in the colon collections but it's in various ways in commentary you can find it and dogan zingy the founder of
soto zen in japan has a whole chapter on it in his masterwork the treasury i have true dharma called mind cannot be grasped so he goes into it at length and i wanted to tell the story and then we can
to talk about it some more and and we can study it together here to mind cannot be grasped so so the story is about a teacher name schon who was chinese ancestry living in about eight fifty
and he was a master of the diamond sutra which is perfection of wisdom sutra and he studied this extensively and lectured on it and comment did commentaries on it and made commentaries on other people's commentaries that it was said that he
he made so many commentaries that if you weighed them all they weighed you know like twenty kilos or something he did a lot of work on the diamond sutra and a lot of talking about it well one day dish on heard that in the south of china there was an another kind of teaching that was based on the
putting forth the the teaching that mind itself is buddha it wasn't based on any kind of scripture or sutra or
and he he was very
ah incensed at this very angry that's that someone and thinking that they were teaching the wrong kinds of things and this would be bad for buddhism so he set off on foot over the mountains down into the south of china to find a teacher this teacher that was teaching this way and to
set the set them right and he was going to show them because he was really the most ah
the the most knowledgeable about the diamond sutra this very
marvellous sutra so he set off
to go there
carrying his commentaries and the diamond sutra on his back in a big backpack he set off
and he got to he crossed over the mountains and rivers and he got to the south and he on
his way to this monastery decided to sit down by the side of the road and just rest himself for well because it's pretty tired so he was sitting there in an old woman came down the road and she set herself down next to him as well and he looked over to her and said what kind of person are you and she say
said i'm an old woman selling rice cakes
and he said i would like to buy some rice cakes to refresh my mind now i want to stop here for a minute because the the coal on kind of turns out this the word and chinese for refreshment and like to have some refreshment is the word ten shin shin means mind or heart by
mind actually and ten in this case means refresh so it's a kind of
little colloquial colloquial idiomatic expression and chinese kenshin means refreshments
our meaning food or or a treat like that ah
but the characters themselves are refreshed and mind so he he said i'd like to well have some refreshments tension will you sell some rice cakes to me
and she said down
what is that great load you're carrying on your back and he said have you not heard i am called shoe king of the diamond sutra
i have mastered the diamond sutra there's no part of it that i don't understand
and she said
oh and the load that i'm carrying his commentaries on the diamond sutra you sir may i ask you a question but that about the diamond sutra and he said
go ahead just ask
so she said i have a question in and if you can answer it then i'll give you some rice cakes to refresh your mind but if you can't i won't sell you any at all and you'll have to go hungry so he said all right go in just ask
so the old woman said i've heard it said in the diamond sutra that past mind cannot be grasped present mind cannot be grasped and future mind cannot be grasped
so which mind do you now somehow intend to refresh with rice cakes
and er shun was dumbfounded he was speechless
he had nothing to say
and the old woman at that point i shook out our sleeves and headed on down the road she didn't give many rice cakes
does shine after that went on to this other teacher and and ended up actually burning the diamond sutra and all his commentaries later on and was enlightened by with another teacher but they say that he was with this speechless this there he was ripe he became right now
so if passed mine can't be grasped and present mind can be grasp and future man campy grasp
how do we what do we do you know how are we going to live we can't get ahold of anything we're just
where do we even stand there two feet
right isn't that scary the thought of it go to where it scares you
now dogan later on looking at this had a lot of things to say first of all we'll we'd like this old woman we think she's really great and i like her lot
and we think dish on was really defeated in some way by her he was dumbfounded and but dogan goes on to say that the old woman there it isn't clear necessarily that she was fully understanding either because we don't hear from her she shakes out our sleeves and heads and down the road and
that's that's interesting so we don't really know
necessarily although we have a feeling she knew what was up duchenne didn't
he couldn't say anything so because he couldn't say anything and she didn't say anything back we don't know
what her understanding was and and dogan gives lots of different possibilities she he could have said well with if passed my and can't be grasped and present man can't be grasped and future man can't be graphs grasped with what mind you intend to sell those rice cakes he could have said that
she could have said
ah he says she could have given him a rice cake for every mind past present and future she could have slapped him around in the face with a rice cake
he had a lot of suggestions what could have happened there
but we're left with the fact that she didn't say she headed on down the road
now some other teachers feel that the fact that she just stopped him and he was speechless was enough but dogan
he he leaves it open because
in his commentary he says you have to say something there's there's gotta be something you can't just assume someone has to come forward to
so i leave it to you to think about that old woman and and
what she was up to
but we're left with past mine cannot be grasped present mind cannot be grasped future man cannot be grasped and grasping things is basically dilution
so what kind of practice takes that all into account
i want to leave that they're just for a second and backup or back around to something else that happened in the ceremony which is there is a point at which there was a chance for me to make some personal comments personal statement
and i mentioned
my gratefulness to my life dharma partner and husband steve and i mentioned that we were yoked together like two oxen plodding along in the mud
and i've always thought that that's kind of the way it was to acts and you know they have this yoke which is this some wooden
contraption kind of with places for two heads and kind of walking along and kind of looking over at each other and kind of how you doing there and keep plodding along in the mud and someone at the ceremony whose i'm young eon psychiatrist said that the
the word yolk the word yolk comes from the same word about the root of it means in in young union understanding it the latin word connote dio or or joined together and the word yolk is very interesting because it
it means to join and union and yoga yoga comes from it yoga is
you know that the practice of your weight is about joining and being
unified with
truth and we sometimes think of zazen also as a yoga or being unified and yoked
so
ah so to join
and also the of this is really this is really interesting i hope you find it interesting i did but the greek word for this same word of yolk
is like
zag gone i z y g o and and the word zygote comes from the same word which means yolk or union unified and zygote is a m
is a
ah is is a to gametes meaning a male and female sex ah
sell the ovum in the sperm in this case and when they're they when the sperm enters only one can enter and that's this fertilized ovum is a zygote it's before it breaks before the cell begins to split is a zygote
and
or conception right conception so there's just one that just takes one and then it's a zygote it's union it's yoked
and it's conception so
in our zen practice we have a term to turn the mind back to turn the light back and look at the mind
now this is a meditation instruction that you find in various places and different
actual meditation tex texts and also in commentaries on
cohen's and so forth often you will find or many places you will find this instruction to turn the light back turn their like back to look at the mine that's thinking
and this practice of turning the light back and looking at the mind that's thinking
is
a union of the mind that is receiving objects mind and objects come up together you don't have objects and mind separately as sort of two things floating around mind and objects come up together so when the mind perceives object
x that is the such lists of mind and objects which is sometimes called enlightenment the such this of mind and objects his enlightenment so the the way the mind works is that it just
is able to
receive one object one after the other moment after moment one object
mind and object together in this zygote way where is just takes it just one at a time over and over and over which is conception
so this mind and objects can see the conception of mind and objects is ah this union
of such this
and this very mine that operates in that way is ungraspable this mine and objects they come up together uninterruptedly moment after moment if you turn the mind to watch to study and look at the mind that
is watching mind and objects come up
it cannot be grasped
so
so the my nets thinking and discriminating if you turn and look at that very magnets thinking and discriminating
that is the mine that cannot be grasped right there
so grasping things is basically dilution but are very mind and body that we
we don't have to go somewhere else to some ungraspable lofty ungraspable line somewhere else right here right now
as you hear the sound of my voice
can you not grasp it the the shakyamuni buddha has the instruction just the heard within the heard just the sound within the sound just the site that's just the scene within the scene just the thought of within the thought of if you can just stop there
there with just the heard within heard and not
elaborate or get involved in any way besides that this is the mind that cannot be grasped
grasping pinks is basically delusion so trying to elaborate and get involved
with
at which is
kind of leaning into ribbed talks about upright sitting and when we lean forward in zazen or lean forward into things and you may be leaning forward in your seat right now trying to understand what the dickens i'm talking about but if you can come back to uprightness
this and just allow the heard within the heard or without
and look at the mine that's even that's trying to understand uninterruptedly that's the mind that cannot be grasped which is your birth rate
so
the sexiness of mine and objects is a is this gate
so this is a meditation instruction but it's you don't have to wait for a period of zazen to practice turning the light back and ah
and watching the mine that's thinking you can try it out of a at any time
and what you see is that you can't hold onto it it's just objects mind and objects mind and objects minded objects with that uninterruptedly so and
there's nothing to hold onto
and yet there's some
yeah you know that there's another cohen on where
a am quaker as bodhidharma a he's he's in a state he's just stood in the snow wanting the teaching for you know all night long and he cut off his arm showing his sincerity is very wild and an extreme store
three of the sincerity of a student and he says please pacify my mind for me notes i can imagine you're having this grasping man wanting wanting so much to understand buddha nature and to understand the truth and to be seeking seeking seeking standing there in the snow frost frostbitten toast please he says to voted i'm a pacify my mind
bodhi dharma says bring me your mind and are pacify it for you
and he wakes up right there because he says i can't find it i can't bring it and bodhi dama says your mind as pacify
so when you see that this
mind of grasp began seeking and when you look at it when you see that it can't be grasped and you drop grasping through this study of just looking at mind and objects uninterruptedly that are ungraspable
that is calming that is
stabilizing

so
so now going to fire would be
there's no mind to grasp so there's no mine you know there's no nothing and and that means there's no practice and there's no thought of enlightenment and then and the whole thing we can just throw it out the window that's going too far that's
i always pronounce this word raw mats nihilism my nails and nails
that's going too far and grasping at things holding on is going too far so the middle way is
is the way things actually are which is grasping things is basically dilution mind cannot be grasped and yet right in there
what do we eat rice cakes with
or do anything else with take care of her kids go to work fix dinner with
the whole mahayana points to the mind of compassion
that even knowing that there is nothing to grasp and hold onto understanding this thoroughly
we respond to beings we respond to whatever happens in the world
which is compassion compassionate mine so the mind of compassion is unhindered it's unhindered by past present and future it doesn't the conception
looking at this conception is zygote conception past present and future doesn't it doesn't stop you you don't have to be caught in is this past present or future the mind of compassion is unhindered
crosses all lines
and this is the bodhisattva vow to
i live for the benefit of all beings
even knowing that there's no beings to grasp this know it's like you might we might think or i'll do something for this person and i'll get some i'll get some things backer all that is ungraspable there's nothing that sticks nothing next sticks
if you do not grasp with your mind you will find a fresh state of being very fresh

so
i wanted to read this meditation instruction which was given to me this is from one bo
who lived in china and eight fifty and this particular there was a the teachings of one bowl was one of the earliest translations of buddhist texts that came out and it was one of the first books i got in the sixties actually i think the cupboard is my copy is fifty seven
and i realized just coming upon it while i was preparing for this lecture that this or this impressed me
i'm impressed i was impressed with this
teaching and i just wanted to offer it it's a it's a meditation instruction but right we're right now we just started a new practice period for the next seven or eight weeks we have a group of about twenty two people who are here doing traditional training period
at green gulch and
so this grasping things is basically delusion that how does them mind and body all throughout the day practice this and that's what that's really what the practice period is about the schedule
the sounds of the schedule meaning you hear the wooden board sounded and it means go to the zendo you hear the bells sound for the end of cleaning temple cleaning go to breakfast you don't hold onto anything even
even the best of intentions like wanting to finish up the job so that it's really done right so that the bathroom is really mobbed thoroughly but when the bell rings you'd you drop that you don't even grasp the good things let alone good things meaning that the beneficial things you don't even grasp onto those let alone the ones that
or non beneficial in practice period that's what these weeks or about
letting go of our own body and mind and our habitual ways of doing things over the kitchens leaving thankyou kitchen
letting go and not grasping onto anything this is a fresh state of being and it's also can be unsettling to so this so all throughout the day not just in in during periods of zazen but all throughout the day letting go not grasp
ping on
so so one bosses were you now to practice keeping your minds motionless at all times whether walking standing sitting or lying down concentrating
entirely on the goal you shall we don't use the word goal but anyway entirely on the goal of know thought creation that's this kind of grabbing on and elaborating in adding two things so the goal of know thought creation
no duality

no reliance on others
and no attachments just allowing all things to take their course the whole day long as though you were too ill to bother
you know how that is sometimes when you have the flu and you're just you have no you just the sun comes up and the day changes and someone brings you t and you just are too ill to bother with getting involved you just
what would that be like to have the whole day be like that where you're just too
that feeling of being you just can't bother with getting involved and seizing on it and grasping and adding and labrie so this is this is turning the light inward and not involved in thought creation
mind and objects such lists of mind and objects
as though you were too ill to bother unknown to the world innocent of any urge to be known
innocent of any urge to be known or unknown to to others with your minds like blocks of stone
that men no holes and i think we hear this blocks of stone and with you i don't want to be like a block of stone but in the new translation of for kansas and either the promotion of zazen it says totally blocked in resolute
what does it in resolute stability totally blocked in a resolute stability that's this stone that men's no holes is just you just receive
whatever arises without you know being a stone that ooh that would i am just the right size to go there isn't that good and i perfect so to be this has also mind like a wall which is another instruction for for our meditation so
this says like blocks of stone that men no holes
so if you're like this than all the dharmas would penetrate your understanding through and through in a little while you would find yourself firmly unattached
thus for the first time in your lives you would discover your reactions to phenomena decreasing
because we're so reactive to things and this kind of turning the light this way the reactions to things decrease and ultimately you would pass beyond the triple world and people would say that a buddha had appeared in the world
so
so to practice being to what would that be like to practice kind of being too ill to bother you know what anything get down would we get the dishes dan
so too ill to bother does not mean that we don't respond
to whatever is needed
too ill to bother as a meditation instruction about our usual habitual way of grasping grasping at things

wow thank you very very much for coming today
me our dear