This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. There are quite a few young human beings here up in front who are charming us very nicely. Thank you. One time I was talking to someone and I felt a kind of uncomfortable feeling here in my chest, around my heart. Not exactly painful, but more like kind of dull or kind of dusty or dead feeling in here.

[01:02]

And I felt like if I would say something, it would clear that feeling away. And I felt like what I wanted to say to clear it was, I love you. So I said, I love you. And my heart felt some more clear here. But still, it wasn't completely clear. I felt I needed to say something else. Can you think of what I might have? Yes. Bring goodness. Bring goodness, yeah. Yeah, what I said was, the next thing I said was, thank you. And that cleared the heart area more.

[02:08]

But it still wasn't completely clear. I felt there was something else I wanted to say. Can you guess what it was? Good morning. Good morning. That's very good. That's very good. But unfortunately, it was afternoon. So I said, I'm sorry. And then my heart was completely open after I said, I love you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Yeah. I wanted to tell you that.

[03:12]

I also wanted to mention to you, have you heard of Zen? Yeah. What is it? It's some kind of form. Zen is some kind of form. That's right. It's a form of... Yes? It's a form of living. And I wanted to tell you that Zen is when you're hungry, eat. And when you're tired, rest. Okay? And I also wanted to talk to you about, I think, about something that happened about three weeks ago. There was a big earthquake in the ocean. Did you hear about it? Yeah. Yeah.

[04:13]

And it made a... Do you hear about it? Yeah, it's in China. It's in China? In Japan. Yeah. Yeah. Yes? We're making... We're trying to make a thousand cranes at my school. Well, I did a school in my school and hang it up in Yoshis. Hang it up in the ocean, did you say? Yoshis. Yoshis. Oh, okay. So they're... You're making a thousand cranes to hang up for the Japanese world. Yeah. So this huge earthquake was in the ocean near Japan, and it made a huge wave, a tsunami. Yeah, yes. People are scared to go back to Japan or go back to where they live because they're still having earthquakes.

[05:14]

Yeah. People are trying to get into high valleys. Yeah. So you know about this, you know about the earthquake and the tsunami and people are scared, right? Yes, Noah? Yes? Yes? Is your name Noah? Yes. Yeah? I went to Japantown. You went to Japantown? Five minutes ago? You went to Japantown five minutes ago? Five weeks ago. Oh, five weeks ago, yeah. And then I saw a little box saying the nation for Japan in a container store. You saw a little box for donations to Japan in a container store. Yeah. My granddaughter's name is Noah.

[06:17]

Yeah. How old are you? Huh? Noah, how old are you? I'm turning seven in May. Okay. Seven. Thank you. And you're six? And you're... Happy birthday. Happy birthday to, what's your name? Happy birthday, Jonah. So another thing that happened in Japan was there was a, in a place called Fukushima, there's a nuclear power plant. Yes, Noah. can't breathe really much yeah so the power plant was kind of broken by the by the earthquake and then this radioactive radiation went out from the power plant and started to go into the water and into the sky and it went into some people and plants and some people died because of the radiation from this plant and and uh

[07:37]

Now the radiation has been going into the water, around the plant, into the ocean. Does that make sense? So this is a thing, the water is being harmed, and the animals like us, because we're mostly water, right? We are experiencing this radiated water. So there's a man... who lives in Japan, who has studied water and teaches about water. And he asked the people of the world to do a prayer for the water. And so I thought maybe we could do a prayer because I think, especially the children, if you do a prayer, I think your prayers will be very strong and very powerful if you want to do the prayer with us. So I'll tell you the prayer. And this man is named Emoto, Mr. Emoto, and he asks us to do this prayer for the water around Fukushima.

[08:44]

So here's the prayer he asks in English. The waters of Fukushima nuclear plant. We are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you. We love you. Yes, Noah? Those were the same words that made your heart feel better. Noah said, those are the same words that made my heart feel better. I thought your brilliant little minds might catch that. I don't know if the adults got it. But I know the little brain. And you probably got this for the rest of your life. The rest of us will forget in a few minutes. Ah, so charming.

[09:49]

Ready? Should we try it? The waters of Fukushima nuclear plant. We are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you. We love you. The waters of Fukushima nuclear plant. We are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you. We love you. The waters of Fukushima nuclear plant. We are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you. We love you. And to your children, I love you. I thank you, and I'm sorry.

[10:51]

Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming, Lily. You did a great job. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye. At the beginning of this year, In considering a kind of theme for the year, I offered the theme or the study topic of delusion.

[11:56]

And I proposed to consider our delusion, our deluded mind... to study it, to care for it, and also to read and discuss various Buddhist scriptures and commentaries on the deluded mind. And I propose, and I... remind us that there is a theory that delusion and enlightenment are inseparable, are not two different things. That enlightenment, the content of enlightenment, what enlightenment realizes, is the process of delusion.

[13:06]

Living beings are living within a deluded consciousness. But if they understand the process of this deluded consciousness, they realize enlightenment. So it's not that we become enlightened and we're not deluded anymore. It's that when we become enlightened, we understand. Our delusion. We greatly understand. We greatly awaken to our delusion. In the midst of our delusion. In the midst of all of our delusion. And I spoke in January about authentic delusion. which is a surprising expression for some people.

[14:15]

Similarly, you could say authentic thinking, because thinking is a central process, a central function within diluted consciousness. And again, the word authentic has the... The word authentic means genuine, but its root is the same root as author. And the root of author is to originate, to increase, to promote, to create. So authentic... Inauthentic delusion is delusion that's not immersed in the creative process. Authentic delusion is in touch with the authorship, the origins, the creative process of itself.

[15:28]

So in order to reveal his enlightenment, according to this, it would follow that we need to totally immerse ourselves in the creative process of delusion. Wherein the future, the future is brought out of the past. And thinking about this, a poem came to mind by Rumi, which I often share. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

[16:43]

Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. I wrote a little note. I know this poem by heart, so I don't have to write it down.

[17:47]

I just wrote it down to remind me to bring it up today. And I wrote the breeze, excuse me, I wrote the breath at dawn has secrets to tell you. The breath at dawn has secrets to tell you. And the word threshold, one of the meanings of the word threshold is beginning. See, you could say the breeze or the breath at the threshold has secrets to tell you. And people are walking back and forth at the dawn. People are walking back and forth at the dawn, at the beginning. At the beginning where the two worlds meet. All beings are

[18:50]

are living there, walking around at the beginning where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. I have talked about this poem in many contexts. Today I talk about it in the context of the deluded mind. That... the two worlds of the deluded mind. And that there's a door where these two worlds, these two aspects of mind meet. And everybody lives, actually, where these two aspects of mind meet. And the two aspects of mind are... conscious and unconscious.

[19:56]

Or again, playing with the words above the threshold and below the threshold. The word limen means threshold. At the root of the word is threshold. Supra, subliminal, above the threshold, subliminal, below the threshold. We're above and below the threshold of consciousness. These are both mind, two aspects of one mind. One is actually most of what's going on, both in our nervous system and in our life. And there's another part which is very important, but a small part of our actual cognitive activity is above the threshold.

[21:02]

So, studying the origins, studying the creative process where the unconscious and conscious minds meet, and... meet simultaneously and meet reciprocally, is to immerse ourselves, is to plunge into the process, the creative process of delusion. This is not the creative process of reality, but there is a reality of how this creative process proceeds. goes around. The way it goes around is actually called samsara. And samsara means going around. You can also say that the unconscious, the unconscious aspect of mind is the past.

[22:14]

The unconscious mind is the past aspect But this unconscious mind is present with the future mind, which is conscious. They're simultaneous. The conscious and unconscious are simultaneous, and the basis of support for the conscious mind is this unconscious mind, which is our physical inhabit... physical inhabitation of our body and our inhabitation of our predispositions which are here supporting this moment. Predispositions from our past active conscious life. There's a present manifestation of our past

[23:18]

conscious life, our past karma. That supports our present conscious life and our present activity. And our present activity, which is simultaneous with our past, which is our unconscious mind, our present activity, which is the future of that past, becomes the past of the future past. Our present activity will soon be the past of the next moment, and the effects of our present activity will become the unconscious past in our next moment of experience.

[24:26]

So one of our scriptures says, past mind cannot be grasped, present mind cannot be grasped, future mind cannot be grasped, because they're all simultaneous. And you don't have one without the other. The unconscious mind of past is present right now. It's not in some place else. It's present right now. It carries past futures and past presents in the present as the past, as the consequences. consequences of activity are now present with us. Activity which is no longer happening, but once happened, is present in a mind which is predisposed in ways influenced by past activity.

[25:39]

Because in the past we thought there was an external world, unconsciously now, we feel, unconsciously or very vaguely, we have a sense that there is an external world. And based on that sense that there's an external world, we actively think that there's an external world. But the way we think there's an external world in the present, which is the future of the past ways we used to think there was an external world, That past way we used to think that it was an external world is the basis for, is the unconscious basis, which we can vaguely sense is the basis for our thinking, actively thinking that it's an external world. And this actively thinking that it's an external world will become, the consequence of that will be that becoming a seed for another unconscious moment of being predisposed to think there's an external world.

[26:50]

So we are somewhat trapped, at least temporarily, within a mind that has this sense that there's an external world. And that mind which we're trapped in is unconscious, and it's the basis for us consciously thinking that we're in an external world. But we usually don't feel consciously like we're in a mind that thinks. that there's an external world. We think there actually is an external world. I mean, most of us do. It seems that way. External world with external people. But for the meditator who is trying to plunge into the process of delusion, this is an example of a delusion. And we're not taking a philosophical position of saying there is no external world. We're just saying that for the meditator who's trying to realize enlightenment, we're saying for you, we're telling you that you live within your idea, within your imagination, conscious imagination, that's an external world.

[28:07]

And if you try to stop doing that, you will not be successful because that way of thinking is based on a deep, current, of thought which feels there is an external world. So we need to be respectful that there's a powerfully deep sense that there is an external world and that we have, in some sense, another important sense that there's an external world. And without saying that there isn't one, we're just saying that what you're seeing is What this is about is mind. And how can we plunge into, immerse ourselves in this process? And... To this end, we are... Well, actually, we have been studying for more than a decade a scripture, which is one of the origins of this teaching,

[29:17]

of this unconscious mind, which is the basis of the conscious mind. This unconscious mind, which is called, in Sanskrit, alaya vijnana, or storehouse consciousness, which is the basis, consciousness also, for the active consciousnesses, which see specific things, like colors, and hear specific things, like sounds, and so on, and think specific ideas. These active consciousnesses, which we're aware of, are based on this storehouse consciousness. And this scripture, which we studied for more than a decade here, we have now set aside and we moved on to another study of a commentary based on this scripture. And the commentary is called, translated as, Summary of the Mahayana, or Summary of the Great Vehicle. Mahayana Samgraha, by the great teacher Asanga. So we're starting to study that.

[30:20]

And this will probably go on for a while, if we are lucky. Because this text is offered by a great bodhisattva named Asanga, who wishes to give people some words to help them study their delusion, to help them immerse in delusion so that they become greatly... Enlightened about delusion, because that's what Buddha is. Buddha is great enlightenment about delusion. Buddha is not great enlightenment about enlightenment. The Buddha does not sit and think, I'm enlightened. Now, the Buddha could think that, but if the Buddha thought, I am enlightened, the Buddha would realize that that was a delusion.

[31:22]

Because thinking is delusion. And the Buddha would understand that delusion, quotes, I am enlightened, unquote, and become a Buddha again. And to think... that I'm deluded is no less deluded than to think that I'm enlightened. But thinking that you're delusion and thinking that you're enlightened are both delusions. So if we know that, then remember, we're always studying delusion because we live in the mind of delusions. So Asanga has given a wonderful text called Summary of the Mahayana, which is Summary of the Great Vehicle of Understanding Delusion, together with everybody else.

[32:24]

The Chinese character, the way the Chinese translate this text, and we do not have this text in Sanskrit, the previous text, the previous scripture which I referred to, which we already studied in a long time, We didn't have the original Sanskrit of that either. Now we have another great text we don't have the original Sanskrit of. But we have several Chinese translations and several Tibetan. Two Tibetan and several Chinese. Somehow the Chinese and Tibetan people thought it was a great text and so they translated it. So now we have it. And now we have English translations of the Chinese and Tibetan. of this summary of the Mahayana, summary of the great vehicle, which is about saving all beings, and the summary of the great vehicle of saving all beings is studying the mind of delusion, and the mind of delusion has these two basic parts, unconscious and conscious.

[33:33]

And so this great bodhisattva is teaching us about how the conscious and the unconscious are playing with each other, are supporting each other, are co-evolving together, are becoming the seeds and fruits for each other. So by studying the text, it helps us study our own mind, which the text is talking about. It's a summary of... for bodhisattvas, for beings who wish to become Buddha for the welfare of this world, it's a summary of the teachings about the living being's mind so that the living being can become Buddha. At the beginning of the year, I said that I might, I'm getting ready to make a commitment to study this text. I have now made the commitment support me to continue to study the text we have we have studied for now for a month or two and we've got we've done two paragraphs I had a seminar the other day with senior people at Green Gulch we had a lovely one paragraph class and then second class we also had stayed on the same paragraph we're now moving on

[34:59]

So I will be sharing this study with you in various venues for the next approximately decade. just came upon a statement saying that when you're sleeping and you think you're sleeping well, you're not sleeping so well. When you're sleeping well, you're not thinking. You're resting your thinking. The same with enlightenment.

[36:06]

If you're enlightened and you're thinking you're enlightened, you're a little bit disturbed in your enlightenment. But if you think you're enlightened or you think you're deluded and you study that delusion, you wholeheartedly enter into study of the delusion that... I think I'm enlightened or I think I'm deluded or I'm not sure which, wholeheartedly immersing in that is the path of enlightenment. What I'm saying to you now is based... my past mind, which I'm... I'm conscious I have one, because I've heard a teaching that there is an unconscious mind, and I vaguely sense it, but I feel confidence in the teaching that it is supporting my present expression to you.

[37:22]

I can reason with myself and you about this. For example, I wouldn't be able to talk to you about this if I hadn't read these texts with my active consciousness in the past. But because I read these texts with my active consciousness, which my conscious mind was actively doing, that past activity is the basis for my present conscious activity. It is right now present with me in an unconscious way. I don't know how my past is supporting my ability to talk to you now. I can have theories about it, and those theories, again, are based on my past activity. So one way we can do this is simply just to be aware I am studying delusion. I'm studying my mind, And what I'm studying is based on something which will be influenced by this study.

[38:25]

The more I study my mind, that active study of my mind will have the consequence of laying seeds for study into my unconscious mind, which will support future conscious minds, which will think, now, what is it again that I was going to do? Oh, yeah. I was going to study something. Now, what was it? Oh, I was going to study myself. I was going to study my conscious mind. Oh, and I also heard a teaching that I am studying my conscious mind, but that isn't all that's going on, which is part of the reason why I sometimes can't remember to study my conscious mind, because there's an unconscious mind which wants to do something other than that, because in the past it did something other than that. In the past, it wasn't interested in studying itself, so there's seeds for being distracted from your study. And there's seeds for being concentrated on your study. There's seeds for remembering to study your delusions and become Buddha.

[39:29]

And there's seeds for, don't study them, believe them and act on them, which leads to stay in the mind of delusion. There's seeds, unconscious seeds, For, in other words, for practice and distraction for practice. And thinking that is a seed for remembering that. And thinking that is a seed for not being fooled by delusion. And not being fooled by delusion, also not being fooled by the idea that once you're not fooled by delusion anymore, you would stop studying. It's another delusion not to be fooled by. And that's a seed called a seed for... That's a maturing of a seed called... You don't have to keep practicing. That you can be enlightened without practice. There's a seed like that. Or that once you're enlightened, you don't have to practice anymore.

[40:31]

There's a seed like that because people have thought like that before. So unconsciously, part of us thinks, if we could just get enlightened, we wouldn't have to do this hard work anymore of studying ourself. So when we think that, say, oh, that's probably the maturing, and I'm aware of that now, that's the maturing of a whole ocean of past thoughts of laziness. But fortunately, there's some past thoughts of effort which are supporting me now, realizing that that's a delusion. It's to be studied, not to be believed. And every time you study a delusion rather than believe it, you plant another seed, which will be an unconscious support for another moment of thinking about what is the practice. So a couple weeks ago, I gave a talk, and our Eno suggested, asked me for a title, and she suggested the title would be The Practice,

[41:34]

of asking, what is practice? When you ask what is practice, that's a conscious thought, what is practice? That is possible that that thought arises in your conscious mind because in the past, you've heard the words, what is practice? And you thought those thoughts in a way that you felt some interest in, and because of that, now there's an unconscious support for you thinking the thought again. What is practice now? And there might even be an answer, because you thought in the past, or you heard someone say in the past, and when you heard them, you thought you heard them. And because you thought you heard them say, practice with your delusion, now you can think, study my delusion. Everybody's walking around thinking.

[42:41]

All sentient beings are walking around thinking. All sentient beings are walking around thinking deluded thoughts. And some of them are thinking, what's going on now? What delusion is happening now? How am I studying my delusions now? And I want to study my delusions now. And I am studying my delusions now. And this is what I want to do. And that becomes again a seed for a similar thought of practice again. This is how these two worlds meet, interact, and at that threshold, at that dawn. And at that dawn where these two worlds meet, if we can be focused there, the secrets of the Buddha, will be told. Another

[44:07]

Interesting point I want to share. In other words, something that was interesting to me is, again, one of the Chinese translations of this summary of Mahayana, the first character which is translated as summary, it's also this character which I often point out means embrace and sustain or nourish or guide or cultivate. It means... It means those things, but it also means to be embraced and sustained, or to be nourished, or to be cultivated, or to be guided. It also means to guide, but it also means to be guided. So it's translated, most of the scholars have agreed, it's translated this character as summary. But another way to translate it is embracing and sustaining the great vehicle. or another way to translate it is to be embraced and sustained by the great vehicle, to cultivate the great vehicle of universal peace and salvation, to be cultivated by the great vehicle, to be nurtured by the great vehicle, and to nurture the great vehicle.

[45:27]

And what's the text about? The text is about the mind. And the first part of the mind that's introduced is this great unconscious mind. the storehouse consciousness. And then the next part of the teaching is about what is known based on that. So I will be sharing this with you in the future, which will be based simultaneously on its past. And if I forget, you'll perhaps remind me. There's a song called Once I Had a Secret Love. But I don't know if it applies here because my love of this teaching, actually, I haven't kept secret. But as living beings, in a sense, that song, Once I Had a Secret Love,

[46:38]

You know, it does apply. There's something that we love that's kind of a secret to us. There's something, there's an unconscious clinging going on. This word alaya, as in alaya vijnana, alaya can mean storehouse, or mooring, or something that... that which is clung to, that which you can attach to. It can mean that, but it also means a clinging or attachment. And it's unconscious. There's some unconscious clinging, some unconscious attachment. So I... My love of the teaching is not secret, but my... attachment, something deep in my mind that I'm attached to, that I love, that I attach to, that is kind of a secret to me.

[47:49]

Not to you. You can see I'm attached to something, but I don't see what it is. And then there's one more major detail in this teaching. And that is that along with these two layers of consciousness, the unconscious and the conscious, they're both consciousness, they're both cognition. One's unconscious cognition is one's conscious cognition. Along with both of them comes a type of thinking, a type of reflecting. They both have a reflection going with them. And that reflection... has the ability to support both of them, and they support it, but that thinking also sees the unconscious content as a self, as a substantial thing.

[48:52]

It sees the things which we love and cling to unconsciously as substantial things, and then consciously, Those things, when they become conscious, are also seen as substantial and existent. So that's another dimension of the study, is to see how that works in with the conscious and the unconscious. The breeze at the threshold has a secret has secrets about you to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to consciously say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. Everybody's walking back and forth at the threshold where the unconscious and the conscious meet.

[50:01]

The door is round and open. May we not go back to sleep. May we not get distracted from this threshold, from this creative process of delusion. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving, by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[50:52]

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