Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Do we have a fly in the sound system? Inos have to know much more than the ancient ones. By the way, the world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robes and come to the zendor when the bell hits?

[01:04]

Uman said that. And this is the fourth day of Sashin, so we're not asking why do we go to the Zendo, we just get up and go. And of course, the answer to the koan is the world is vast and wide, we get up to the Zendo and the bell rings. The fourth day of Sashin is the middle. We've come as far as we're going to go back. And actually, this is the highest you'll ever be. Maybe. It doesn't get any better than this. It doesn't get any worse than this either. It's just as it is.

[02:17]

The fourth day, you may be able to Experience transparency. You feel miserable? You feel miserable. You feel good? You feel good. There's a fly in the sound system? There's a fly in the sound system. Just as it is. If you want to judge it, it could be terrible. Or if you want to judge it, it could be wonderful. Either way, it's just as it is. The world is vast and wide.

[03:30]

Why do you put on your robe when the sound of the bell? Mumun's comment. In studying Zen, you should not be swayed by sounds and forms. Even though you attain thought, you attain insight when hearing a voice or seeing a form, this is simply the ordinary way of things. Don't you know that the real Zen student commands, sounds, controls form, is clear-sighted at every event and free on every occasion? Maybe some Zen centers. Granted you are free, just tell me, does the sound come to the ear or does the ear go to the sound? Or does the fly go in both? If both sound and silence tie away at such a juncture, how could you talk of Zen?

[04:37]

While listening with your ear, you cannot tell. When hearing with your eye, you are truly intimate. With realization, things make one family. Without realization, things are separated in a thousand ways. Without realization, things make one family. With realization, things are separated in a thousand ways. The true Zen student. You are the true Zen student. What you feel is the true Zen. What you experience is what is happening right now. You may not like it, but you might love it. And still there's a buzz in the air.

[06:00]

New Guardian has said, the mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. First time I read that, I thought there must be a misprint. The mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. I thought that was the thought of delusion. The mind that fully sees into the uncertain world at birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. The world is uncertain. The world is uncertain. This is not of enlightenment. The world is uncertain. Every moment is beginner's mind.

[07:28]

So maybe this is the fourth day and you think you can gut it out the rest of the three days. Or maybe you're thinking, oh, not another three days. All of those are the thought of enlightenment. If you think you have a choice, well, I'm not so sure about that. Of course you can leave the sashim. But you can't leave the sashim. The sashim of your mind continues to go moment after moment. The Guardian has said, the mind that fully sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment.

[09:03]

And Michael Wenger says, the mind that partially sees into the uncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of enlightenment. The thought of enlightenment isn't partial or whole. And who cares about the thought of enlightenment anyhow? Don't we want enlightenment? We can have all kinds of thoughts. But what's happening right now? We spend a lot of time thinking about whether we like what's happening right now or don't like what's happening right now. But does that affect what's happening right now? Does that give us any control?

[10:11]

I don't think so. The fourth day is the day to jump off the 100-foot pole. All you've thought that has brought you here is just a moment to leap off. The buzz that's going on right now is not saying that Paul is dead, or it's not saying that the secret hiding place of munitions in the United States, the buzz now is just the buzz now.

[11:45]

but we want to make it into something. Think of all the energy you waste on judging things, tracking things. I'm getting tired thinking about it. The world is vast and wide. What do you do about it? Do you try to make it small? but they try to make it bigger than you can imagine.

[12:55]

Buddhas and bodhisattvas, don't sell yourself short. Don't try to gouge something out of what reality is. That quote from McGarjuna is the beginning of a fastball of dogens called Yakkyojojojinshu. I always have a hard time with that. Guidelines for Studying the Way. And the last section of that. To follow Buddha completely means you do not have your old views.

[14:16]

To hit them more completely means you have no new nests in which to settle. No new nests in which to settle. Ginjo Koan has being and doing in it.

[15:23]

There's the old Zen adage, just don't sit there, do something, or just don't do something, sit there. You only have three more days. What are you going to do with it? Is there some problem you want to solve in the next three days? Besides getting through it? Notice where your mind wants to go. And rejoice in the clarity you may occasionally have when there's clouds open and you just see, this is it. This is it.

[16:31]

This is it. You have attained sitting Buddha on the fourth day. And it may hurt. But whether it hurts or not, you're still here. And you have company doing it too.

[17:38]

You're not doing it alone. Raven flies. Whatever you experience is what you experience. Ah, well, forget about this.

[18:56]

Dogen says, There's a story about... He asks a teacher, someone asks a teacher, what do you do when hundreds, thousands, and millions of things happen all at once? Like now. Only don't try to control them. Even if you try, you can't. So it's okay to try to control them, but you can't. Don't believe that you can. We have three days left of mystery. Three days left of not knowing. Three days left of transparency.

[19:58]

So it's my tendency to want to encourage you. As you are encouraging me by your sitting. But I'm not gonna coerce you into being encouraged. I give you the gift of being who you are, experiencing what you're experiencing. because it'll change. Blanche said yesterday when David Chadwick asked Suzuki Roshi what was Buddhism in a few words. He said everything changes. A while ago, I was at a Zen center where I was teaching painting and giving a Zen lecture.

[21:34]

And at the end of the painting class, I said, there's no one in charge of painting. There's no one in charge of religion. You need to find your own way. There are teaching streams which have teachers in hierarchy, which is useful. But finding out who you are, there's no boss of that. Painting what you see, there's no boss of that. Finding your own freedom It's not a matter of rejecting what you already see, but finding what you don't. I was in more Southern California and I was giving a talk and I mentioned that I had been at Senate Center for 38 years.

[22:55]

I was going to do something new. I was going to leave. And that was just an aside. But at the end of it, this person who was my age said, that's the most encouraging thing I've ever heard. That at my age, his age, we could do something new. That the adventure is still to come. That we're not stuck in where we've been. Now, it may be foolish or not, but I was encouraged by his being encouraged. Because I think we should all be able to step off a 100-foot pole. Of course, what's down below? That makes it interesting. So find your own way. There are many people here that can help you

[23:59]

but you have to do it yourself. There are many teaching streams which are very useful, but you have to find, you have to walk it by yourself. There are many of us sitting, and each one of us is profoundly alone. And the company helps, but we're profoundly alone. Good luck to us all. 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.

[25:07]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[25:10]

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