I feel a sense of gratitude walking over here. Gratitude for Tassajara, gratitude for gravity. I was able to touch my feet down to the ground. Gratitude for people who are taking care of this place by being here. and working hard and practicing hard and gratitude for all the people who come and appreciate Tassahara even for a few hours. So I thank you all for being here. Tassahara has long been a place of healing and of nourishment.

[01:01]

And when Sense Center acquired it in the 60s, I think it was Suzuki Hiroshi's intention that this would be a place for helping people to clarify what's important. Clarify what's important in this one rare life. each of us has, in a way to help the whole suffering world. So, that's a big order, and you may feel, oh, it's too much. How can I even do that? There's a sense, I think, that people come to when life may be not satisfying or life may feel, oh, it's not what I want it to be.

[02:21]

And since it's not what I want it to be, I'm looking around and looking around. So Tassara is a place to stop even for a little while and ask, you know, what's the deep request? You may find it somewhere in your body. You may associate it with the heart. You may associate it with the gut feeling of what's What's genuine? How can I not lose touch with that? So the last few days I've been here with a group. We've been walking in the mountains. And so I feel very fortunate to have some time.

[03:28]

to join this group walking in the mountains. So we walked up to the wind caves yesterday. And we walked with the thought of not thinking too much. It's hard to go anywhere and not think too much. It's hard to sit down and sit zazen and not think too much. Some of you know that. So this was a big challenge. How to walk and notice the tendency of the mind to start trying to figure things out. to distance oneself from the experience of the mountain, the experience of walking.

[04:35]

So this means actually facing the fear of entering the unknown, entering mountains as unknown. Of course, this is a challenge every moment of the day, you know. when you realize that the next step you take actually is into the unknown. You may notice the tendencies to prepare yourself. And we would say delude yourself by thinking that what is truly unknown is actually known. So there's a tendency to get ahead of oneself, to get ahead of the reality of where one is, thinking, okay, I know what's ahead.

[05:41]

And it may be something good or it may be something scary. Sometimes people are afraid by exaggerating what might be there. So we thought we would walk with a sense of listening, listening, not knowing what one might hear. Listening with all the senses, listening with the eyes, listening with the ears, listening with the skin. Would you like a drink of water? I'll put it right here. So, you see, you don't know what will happen.

[06:56]

So to support this notion, presented a little dialogue, a Zen dialogue from one of the founders of this lineage of practice, this tradition of practice in China. Before I mention that, I just I want to say a little bit more about how much we try to control things. We're surrounded by wild here. We're surrounded by wilderness. And it's evident that it's wilderness. Pretty great extent. Not tampered with.

[08:03]

By human artifice. So here it's easier to see that we are surrounded by wilderness. Wilderness, the wild, is a sense of, the word itself may be kind of scary. Out of control. So this understanding of control is very big then. That things are are in control in the widest sense. So how is it that a pine tree grows right in one spot? We were going up the Church Creek Trail to the wind caves and looking for some evidence, because the fire a couple of years ago burned all the big pine trees, looking for some evidence of some new young coulter pines coming from seed.

[09:10]

And we found very few, but we did find a few. But I thought, this is pretty strict. Pretty strict. The conditions that all have to play upon this particular spot and this particular seed and this particular angle of the mountain in relation to the sun, in relation to other plants, in relation to mice that might eat the seed before it even germinates, right? All these conditions. And yet, okay, there is a little seedling. Now, maybe six, eight inches tall in a particular place. And all around it, no, there's no other, there's no ceiling within a few yards of this particular one.

[10:19]

So how is it? And can one accept the reality of that? That was hard because I wanted to see more. I wanted to see another one over there and another one over there and another one over there. Hard to accept the strict teaching of the wild. So in Zazen, we actually have this notion that we take this form, this posture, But inside, it's wild. Completely wild mind. That is, letting things be in control in the widest sense.

[11:20]

Not manipulating. The word manipulate, interesting, right? This is our hand. what the human hand with the opposable thumb and the grasping that we can do. So we have such a tendency to want to manipulate and control. I have now a five-month-old granddaughter and I just spent some time with her last week. And she's just learning manipulation. If there's... If there's a bottle and she kind of holds it but then loses it a little bit, then she's working on how to get that back into position here. There's this very profound instinctual desire to have the comfort.

[12:27]

Sometimes it's a need for nourishment and sometimes maybe it's just wanting some more comfort. So even at that age, it's difficult for us to sort out what's need and what's desire. So listening to the mountain and going up the trail, feeling of wanting to be in alignment with things, Can the mountain say something? Is the pine tree right there, that little pine seedling, saying something? By the fact of its existence. So, I'll take a turn on that.

[13:29]

important to carry water when hiking. It hasn't actually been so hot the last couple of days. So, back in 9th century China, there was a young fellow named Dongshan. Actually, that was his name later on, but I'll use it to keep it simple. So, Dongshan Very sincere person, I'd say. When he was a little, maybe 10 or 12-year-old, he heard in the temple people chanting the Heart Sutra. Some of you, I think, experienced the Heart Sutra here in morning service for the first time this week. And others here... are experiencing it fresh every day because everyone's practicing beginner's mind.

[14:40]

And hears it fresh every morning. So Dongshan heard it and when he was little and he said, he went up to the priest afterwards, after the service and he said, basically he said, you know, I don't get it. The sutra says no eyes and no ears no nose. I have eyes, ears, nose. And the priest said, you better go find a good teacher. I'm not good enough for you. So, starting from then, he went off and visited various teachers. At one time, he was struck by the question that he heard someone say, actually it was a national teacher in China who had said that inanimate or non-sentient beings are continuously expressing the Buddha's teaching.

[15:56]

Inanimate or non-sentient beings are continuously expressing the Buddha's teaching and so Dongshan went around visiting various teachers with this question. And when he finally came to Yunyan, who later became his primary teacher, he asked Yunyan, what sort of person can hear the Dharma or the Buddhist teaching expressed by non-sentient beings? And Yunyan said, non-sentient beings can hear it. So Dongshan thought about that for a moment and he said, can you hear it? And Yunyan said, if I heard it or when I hear it, then you can't hear my teaching. So then Dongshan said, why can't I hear it?

[17:08]

A kind of a plea. Why can't I hear it? And Yuen Yan held up his whisk. It was like a handle with horse hair for brushing away flies. Not swatting them. But he held up his whisk and he said, Now can you hear it? And Deng Shan said, No, I can't. So Yunyan said, you can't hear the Dharma that I'm expressing. How do you expect to be able to hear the Dharma or the Buddha's teaching expressed by non-sentient beings? So then Dungshan thought about that a bit and he said, well, is it written someplace?

[18:13]

Is there something written? in some sutra or text that tells about this. And Junyan said, haven't you heard in the Amitabha Sutra where it says, lakes, rivers, trees, birds, forests, all, without exception, are proclaiming, chanting, expressing the Buddha's name and the Buddha's teaching. So Dung San then reflected deeply and woke up to the sound. And he said, amazing, incredible. To hear the Dharma expressed by non-sentient beings

[19:17]

is inconceivable. To hear it with the ears is not evident. When you hear it with the eyes, then you understand. When you hear it, actually I think he said with the eye, when you hear it with the eye, then you understand. So this phrase, very significant phrase, that the teaching, the sound of the teaching expressed by non-sentient beings is inconceivable. So as we're walking up the mountain, we're looking at how we are conceiving of things. Conceiving of this, conceiving of this.

[20:19]

Conceiving of, oh, we're going someplace. Conceiving of, oh, we're going uphill. Conceiving of, oh, this is a dead pine tree, blackened pine. Conceiving of this, oh, this is a toyon in bloom. Oh, this is the heavy fragrance of the toyon. Oh, this is the fragrance of sage. All these experiences But what we're doing there is conceiving of things. Yes, there's something happening. And yes, we tend to remove ourselves from what's happening by living in the world that we conceive. So this is a very, maybe, subtle point. But it makes all the difference. Are you living in the world that you actually experience? Or are you living in the world of your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs?

[21:28]

So it's good, actually, to live in both worlds. It's good to live in the world of the necessary world, as Yunyan was saying, if... I just teach, you know, if I just teach what inanimate beings teach, then you can't hear it. So before I even came and sat down, the seat was teaching. It's teaching the fact of its existence. You are all teaching. Everyone here expressing What we call, sometimes we call true nature. Sometimes we call Buddha's mind. And if you really pay close attention, you notice more and more that the way you decide to identify things, the way you decide to conceive of things, sets karma in motion.

[22:46]

Just that thought sets karma in motion. Which means then you have to live with the consequences. Living with the consequences of the world constructed. And are you constructing this world mostly out of your desires? Are you constructing it mostly out of your fears? So Buddha taught how to be free. First of all, he taught there is a problem. There is frustration that people have. There is suffering. The term dukkha, some of you are familiar with. And there are all kinds of ways in which people suffer. But this most fundamental way is the suffering in which one creates a separate world from oneself.

[23:47]

Separating oneself out and saying, okay, I'm here and the world is there. And if the world is a mountain, or if the world is a river, if the world is a rock, or if the world is dirt, there's a sense of separation and maybe of say, of superiority. So, so much of our effort goes into trying to manipulate things, as I was saying, to suit oneself without even knowing what is the reason, you know, What's the motivation for me to try to create the world that I want to have?

[24:52]

So this story about the hearing, the teaching of reality, of hearing the teaching of all the things in the universe, all the things in our environment, by the fact of their being exactly what they are, To see that as teaching. To receive it equally. To realize that one's self is just like that. One's self is just like the little pine seedling. So many things to be grateful for. So when you see that, then you're on an equal, say you're on an equal basis. So when we finally made it up to the wind caves, we were all hot and sweaty.

[25:54]

I don't know if we were, I was hot and sweaty. I was very grateful to sit in the shade of the wind cave, feel that we were in the shade there, so there was a cool stone, feeling of cool stone. and we had lunch and we wrote haikus hearing what was this experience. And then I heard the sound of Canyon Ren three times. Some of you, I know Judith knows. So clear, Canyon Ren with its trill descending Now I'm saying Canyon Rin. Before I thought Canyon Rin, I actually heard it.

[26:55]

And I heard it as something actually inside myself. This sound. So sweet and clear. And the third time I heard it, I went back into my conceptual mind. Canyon Rin. And then it stopped. No more sound. And I felt that because I wasn't trying to hear anything, I was just appreciating the cool rock, I wasn't trying to hear anything, and so it just entered. So I just suggest that this is a way to cultivate.

[27:58]

To allow things to enter is what we call compassion. And then to completely feel it. So that's actually just the the experience of compassion as the receptive side of compassion. And the active side of compassion is, oh, is there some way to be more in, say, in accord with... So this is... I'm very grateful for this little experience and we cultivated our practice all the way up and all the way back but every day there are thousands of moments and our practice is to be present moment by moment so being present moment by moment when you're able to do that then you understand that whatever you receive

[29:20]

is just what's right. I'm remembering that people need to go to bed. Get some rest. Have a few more minutes here. So receiving what's happening right now is fundamental practice. When you know what's happening right now, moment by moment, then you don't have fear. So that may be, who knows whether that's useful, even to have that thought.

[30:31]

Because what happens is fear. And what happens is tension in the body. And what happens is all kinds of thoughts. But all these thoughts and all these feelings that come up can be, and actually already are, included in the body of zazen, are already included in your big mind. So, this is a suggestion that this practice of being present in the moment and receiving experience is something that anyone can do.

[31:34]

It doesn't require any special talent. And to have that practice of noticing when you're getting off, caught up in thoughts, caught up in emotion, caught up in some particular belief that you are holding on to, to say to oneself, oh, I notice this attachment, I notice this grasping, I notice what it feels like, I notice what it feels like in the body, and get to know it. get to know it in the context of big field. This is popping up just like a pine seedling.

[32:36]

You can regard your irritated thought as a pine seedling. What's it doing there? How is it that it's coming up right now? I appreciate it. Oh, it's so beautiful. This irritating thought. Actually, it's so beautiful when you just look at it as a part of the garden or part of the forest, a part of the mountain. It's popping up because of all these causes and conditions. that have already happened. So this takes a big heart actually to accept that.

[33:41]

Next moment, having accepted it, then you can decide, is there something to do about it or not? Should I water the pine seedling? Should I pull it out of the ground? Could I let it be? But first it has to be seen, just for what it is. So I think cultivating this way, this mind, which doesn't separate A human being from rock, from mountain, sees, I see myself, oh, in the rock. The rock, myself, in some way, you know, equal. The fact of our existence, our presence right now, this moment, equal. As we cultivate this, I think it will help.

[34:56]

human society become more peaceful. Human society move in the direction of cultivating compassion and wisdom. The wisdom is actually to see that this is equal before we turn it into rock and me, before we say pine seedling or angry thought. So the world needs people to pay attention, close attention. And people to recognize that reality is strict. Notice your tendency to want to have it some other way. Have it both ways.

[36:01]

We want our options. We're Americans, right? We want it both ways. There's only so much reality I can take. I would rather have it my way. And when you find that your true way is completely in accord with the totality of things, then it's Very clear. Okay. What to do. Next thing. Doesn't mean you won't have difficulties and pains, but fundamentally no problem. And then you can really be helpful. And helpful means equally not helpful. You can let the pine seedling be.

[37:02]

Yeah. So I'd like to, we'll do our closing chant, and then after we close the talk, I'd like everyone to stand up. And then if you can bow, fine, and join me in the three bows, and then we'll do the refuges together. And if you don't know the refuges, you can hum along.

[37:30]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_96.08