Good morning. Each one of us utterly and completely alone. Each one of us has just this one life, this one body, this one mind. That's it. So Sashin is a place where we can actually feel that and become intimate with that existential truth.

[01:13]

And I think what Linda yesterday quoted from What's on the Hands, you know, life is fleeting, wake up, don't waste this life, and practice like your head's on fire, or practice now because there might not be a tomorrow, are all kind of pointing to this is all there is. So the world each one of us lives in is the world that this body, that body, that mind, that heart experiences. I cannot see colors exactly the way you see them.

[02:19]

I can't see the world exactly the way any one of you sees the world. I always think if I had somebody else's eyes and brain in my head, I might not find my way around Tassajara. Because the things I pick out to orient myself may not be the things you pick out. Maybe Tassajara is relatively simple, but think of New York or San Francisco or something. So we are utterly and completely alone. each one of us. And we also can feel that a little bit more tangible, I think, at least I do, thinking of Abbot Steve Stuckey, because we can stand by, we can send best wishes, we can send love, we can think of him, and we cannot

[03:28]

change the slightest thing for him. And we shouldn't. Because that would be meddling. That's not the same that doctors try to manage his pain, which actually they have arrived to do. He's home. He's happy to be home. And he offered incense in the backyard. And he's saying he can feel that his body is very tired and he's getting weaker. But he's in not so much pain. So the way he is able to be present with that abrupt, totally unexpected change of life and life perspective that happened to him, And how he's able to meet that has something to do with the years of practicing being present with his life, his experiences, his sensations, perceptions, everything, and his body.

[04:43]

So we are all lucky that we have this time and this machine to practice that, because To start practicing when you're ill or when you're facing death is too late. You can't. Your body is either too much in pain or your mind is too clouded or you're too afraid. So to wait with practicing to be present with the moment and the life now, we can't postpone. We might not even get a chance to practice this. You might just drop dead. It's possible. It happens. So I would like to encourage us, really, each one of us, because you came here with the purpose to meet and be

[05:52]

touch and be connected to the being that you are. It's not the being you are making. It's not the being anybody else is making. It's the being that came to life through, is coming to life through you. It's the life that expresses itself through you. And that is the same life we all share. So we are completely alone because we are absolutely unique, irreplaceable, non-replicable expressions of one life. That's the interconnectedness and that's how we share everything with the whole universe, with all life.

[07:00]

So we have a schedule to help us come back to be present. Come to the Zendo. Walk. Bow. Chant. Pick up your bowls. Wrap them, unwrap them. Eat what's offered. Rest. There's no inside, no outside. Can we bring that same attention and presence to sitting here in the seat to offering the bowl to be served, to walking out into nature, to go to the bathroom, to lie down, to exercise.

[08:16]

Can we practice that? Can we become adept at that. Can we be curious? How is this happening? How is it easy here and maybe difficult there? How is it possible to translate it through old activities? So because Each one of us is utterly, completely, existentially alone. There is no point in blaming anything. There is no point in blaming something outside or something inside.

[09:25]

Because that's taking us away from simply, really simply being present with what is, with a gentle, kind, non-judgmental attitude. And of course, we do have all those attitudes and we do have the tendency to blame. So it's not like then you have to be hard on yourself because this is all going on here and there and everywhere. But to approach that with the same gentle, kind, non-judgmental, but firm effort. So today I'm having one of those post-concussive days where I'm not quite in sync with my body, with my mind, with the schedule, with everything.

[10:46]

So I feel a little lost. And then Norman comes to mind, you know, the more that's going on or the more confused. the slower I move. Norman used to walk like a snail through Green Gulch. We were all scaring around, leaning into our work, working our heads off, and he would just go somewhere like that. And just his physical, his body moving at that pace through Green Gulch shifted something. Either it sped us up because it irritated us so much, or it helped us slow down. And he said, the slower I move, the more I get done. So my mind, of course, is ready to get upset.

[11:50]

My brain, that's not working. And now being here and leading this practice period, I have much more anxiety. luggage on those thoughts, you know, how bad that is. So can I just let them be? The wonderful thing about this is it's about letting it be. Let yourself be. Let this body be. Let the others be. Let this mind be. Just let it be the way it is. If you let it be the way it is, if you notice the way it is, and then you let it be the way it is, it is expounding the Dharma. It is teaching you something. All things, grass, trees, tiles, pebbles, walls, the cats, the dogs, the babies, expound the Dharma.

[12:59]

They tell you about reality. wonderful to, for example, watch the cats. When we arrived here, they were lost. You saw them wandering around. You could feel they were lost. Some of them were meowing. So they were lost. And now they're not lost. And you can feel it. They know where they live again. Everything changed for them. Maybe the person who takes care of them, where that person lives. Maybe it's the same person, but the house is different. And it took them a little while, and now they have settled down. So I watch the cats, and I think this is actually what has happened in our bodies too. We know where we live.

[14:01]

We have settled in our places. We're not so lost in that way. We might be a little more lost in other ways. But can we just relax? Because you're going to get found. If you're really lost, we'll find you. That's why you have a seat and we can see. Are you here or are you not here? So we can come find you when you get lost. So it's fine to be lost. Just be lost. Be gentle, kind, nonjudgmental, and firm in your effort to stay present in that way with whatever it is you're experiencing. Looking on these pages, but none of what I'm telling is on these pages. This is the schedule. Now I'm lost.

[15:12]

So the key The key actually is mindfulness. Mindfulness and attention are the keys to waking up, to connecting to the awareness that is a natural part of being human. It's what, you know, in the last talk I said, we need to give credit or have faith in the truth that we all are Buddhas, and Buddha just means the awake one. So there is, the awakeness is part of being human. Mindfulness and attention is what helps us get, uncover what's there.

[16:27]

There are three kinds of attention. One is passive attention. That's what I'm suffering from right now. That is, anything kind of can distract me. It's the attention that comes when there's a loud sound or a thought or an idea and we say, oh, I'm paying attention, I paid attention, which comes through and attaches our attention. That's passive attention. That's not very helpful, but it's a form of attention. Then there's just regular attention, which is a little more stable, a little more intentional, and now I need my sheets because I landed on the pages again. It's a little more responsive, less reactive. The passive is reactive. The other is more responsive.

[17:32]

And it has more intention because we choose to place our attention. So when we talked about the posture, how to sense your posture, that's placing your intention in the feeling position. on feeling your posture and finding the one that is the most upright. Placing your attention on your breath is intentional. And how long can we rest there is really interesting. It's often just only a little bit and already it's caught by something else and we're off. So we return. And then there is active attention, which is the capacity to stay present with your experience in whichever realm it's happening, physical, emotional, mental, while at the same time being aware of your surroundings, so it's inclusive,

[18:48]

and it also is penetrating because it takes the whole situation in and sees through reactive patterns. Because our habits, habituated conditioned patterns are playing when we just have passive attention, which we always have. That's always there. But if that happens, usually we just react. We don't respond. So the attention that is more energized, which is stable, responsive, and strong, we choose to It's hard to read. I can't print my things, so I write.

[19:51]

I have to change something. That means we choose to direct the attention and stay with the object. We stay with the posture. We stay with the breath. And are not distracted by by whatever else comes by, which today is very hard for me. It's not my strong suit anyway, and today it's really bad. So how do I then keep just coming back with the amount, just keep coming back, keep coming back and not get distracted by how often I have to come back? So you all signed up to be here, one way or the other. And we all have this supportive schedule, this supportive crew of people who cook for us.

[21:04]

So we're fed, we can eat, and we don't have to worry about that. We have beds and roofs over our head, and everything is taken care of. for us. And we help in the taking care of by doing the work. So are we going to use this time? Are we going to see that all the difficulties we run into are actually helpers rather than hindrances? They help us know something, learn something about our bodies. about our minds, about our emotional habits, and can we welcome them as helpers, as helping us to wake up to what is here. Buddhas are greatly enlightened about delusions. They're not enlightened about enlightenment. They are able to see what's here, and if it's a delusion, they start seeing how it works.

[22:09]

So can you really take the backward step and turn the light inward and study this being? And everything that happens to this being, even if it's Brooks doing it to me, it's actually he's helping me to study this being. He serves me what I don't want or more than I want, which he hasn't done. So don't get focused on Brooks and Sidetrack. Hasn't done yet. Possibilities are endless. But do I turn around and rather than being focused on Maria or Binda or whoever who seemingly got in my way or did did or didn't do what I expected them to do, to immediately go, this is telling me something about this being, not about the other being, which of course my mind wants to talk a lot about the other being.

[23:19]

Right? And starts also gathering more information to firm my view, you know, oh here she's going, doing it again, you know. And then not only is she doing it again, I also start knowing why she's doing it. So can we do all of that, when that comes up, immediately step back. It's not like it's happening to us. It's happening to me. I don't know for you, but it's happening. So whenever it's happening, go, oh, it's happening. Remember, turn around. Part of practice is remembering. Another big key thing is remembering, which means reconnect. You lost a member and you remember it. You lost your arm. You lost your arm thinking about that person and you can take it back. It really is.

[24:23]

It's an interesting thing that being totally alone and being interconnected, which is different than meddling in other people's lives and having ideas about them, and then treating them according to those ideas, which then is often very painful. And if it's painful, it's always painful in both directions. So can we turn back? Can you really... learn to be intimate, comfortable, peaceful, and restful alone with the being you are. Once we get there, or to the degree we get there, that degree is also the degree we can have real relationships which are not based on

[25:23]

I love you because you fill these and these and these holes that I feel in me, myself. And if you change, I'm going to be really upset. Because you're here to do this for me. That's why I love you. That's actually not love, that's just confusion. So, we have all the opportunity to befriend being alone, befriend this being that is all one. So today I want you to, when you go out, when you sit in, when you go out, whenever you are, I would like to encourage all of us to be present with the activity we are in.

[26:29]

So, Thich Nhat Hanh says somewhere, a philosopher asked Buddha, I have heard that Buddhism is a doctrine of enlightenment. What is your method? What do you practice every day? Buddha answers, We walk, sit, eat, wash ourselves. What is so special about that? Everyone does those things. Sir, when we walk, we are aware that we are walking. When we eat, we are aware that we are eating. So we can eat, walk, do all the things we do totally distracted and not present. And we can do them by being present.

[27:34]

And that's the difference between being a Buddha and being a sentient being. So today I would like us all to be Buddhas and to all see each other as Buddhas just the way they are. Funny Buddhas, sad Buddhas, strange Buddhas, crazy Buddhas, lazy Buddhas, whatever, they're all Buddhas. So it's like, I vow, so crazy Buddha. Bad serving Buddha. Great serving Buddha. So that's underlined, highlighted, That's where we land. Keep coming back to that. Stupid, stake-making Buddha. And you think about yourself or something, about yourself when it comes up.

[28:37]

Just this very mind is Buddha. Ordinary mind is Buddha. And when you go out and are outside, Let the hurt be just the hurt. That is Buddha's instruction to Bahiya. Let the hurt be just the hurt. Let the cognize be just the cognize. Don't add anything. Sound, thought, sensation. And Come back. Whenever you notice you've gone off somewhere, come back to what is here already. Use your body as anchor because your body is here. It says in the Fukan Sasengi, it says, the whole body is beyond the world's dust.

[29:43]

And then dot, dot, dot. It is never apart from one, right where one is. And that's a gift. You always can find your way back because your body is always where you are, sitting here and walking out there. So use it as your anchor and your posture. So, Happy Buddha Day. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[30:41]

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