This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. How's everyone doing? Is this a little too loud? Move it up a little more. Okay. Is this okay? Okay. I'd like to thank Reverend Jiu for inviting me here, and Reverend Tenzin, the abbot, for his hospitality. We had tea this afternoon. And thank you all for coming. So it just so happens that there's a board meeting, a very important one. So,

[01:00]

Both of them are not here, which means I can say whatever I want. Usually I don't really prepare for short Dharma talks, and I like interaction. So I'm going to leave hopefully maybe 20 minutes of interaction for Q&A. So that leaves me 20 minutes of talk. So what would you like to hear? Let me get a show of hands maybe. How many of you practice as your primary method? Shikantaza, just sitting. Raise your hand. Okay. And maybe working with the breath. Raise your hand.

[02:01]

Okay, all right. Go on. Okay, good. Would you like to hear a little bit about Silent illumination. How many of you have never heard the word silent illumination? Okay. So silent illumination is the precursor to the practice of just sitting. Shikantaza. So I usually introduce silent illumination as a kind of poetic way of expressing the essence and function of awakening in activity.

[03:21]

Whereas Shikantaza, just sitting, is a description of what happens when one is seated in meditation. In principle these two are not so different. But in the Chan tradition, the way we express silent illumination as a practice varies according to different teachers. Because in truth, silent illumination is really not a method of practice.

[04:31]

is just a poetic way by Chan Master Hong Chi, who is attributed to coming up with this name, to articulate awakening and how that is expressed in daily interaction with people, with life. Whereas the practice We have very little descriptions of what one is actually doing in seated meditation by that time. Why is that? Because Buddhism has already existed for over a thousand years by that time. No Chan master is actually giving instructions on how to do basic things like seated meditation. It's already a given. Everyone already knows. So the situation's a little different.

[05:36]

It's a little different in Japan, which called for a re-emphasis of the embodied experiencing of seated meditation practice. by Dogen in that context. So he kind of singled out this emphasis in contradistinction to what the practices or lack of practices the monastics were doing in Japan at that time. Buddhism has also been in Japan for hundreds of years by that time. But in Japan, it's different than China.

[06:43]

Buddhism in Japan has always existed as a theocratic tradition in which the politics and religion are merged as one. So the powerful monastic institutions were closely tied to Aristocracy was a way to circumvent centralized power to impact regionally different areas of Japan. Especially during that time, defused centralized power, the rise of local regions. monastic tradition, powerful, powerful. And these regional powerful institutions were closely tied with the aristocracy because the

[08:01]

monastics themselves were part of the aristocracy. They were no, in a sense, kind of checking point on these powerful institutions. Whereas in China, Buddhism's continually being persecuted by the central government, you know. So, but in Japan, it was time so because of this close connection. And great master Dogen was trying to move away from, he could say, corrupt, powerful monastic institution, which by the way, had their own militia. But you can't possibly protect aristocracy like the ex-prince without protection in a monastery. So the monastery developed their own militia, monastic militia.

[09:09]

It's called Sohei. Were they monastics? Yes. But it's questionable why they were there. They're basically soldiers. So Dogen decided to move out to the countryside where no one really wanted to be there to reinsert the importance of practice as opposed to climbing up the ladder of success, competition, competing, vying for power. Because if you're not in a centralized government, another way to climb up the ladder of success was through monastic ties to be the local regent. habits, and so on. Does that make sense? So, I mean, he could have articulated this as silent illumination, but in that political context, it's too poetic.

[10:14]

You need to reemphasize the actual embodiment of practice. So, just sit in. as opposed to getting involved in all kinds of bureaucracy and stuff like that. So in the poetry of Hongzhi Zheng Jue, his audience were very familiar already with the practice of meditation, the doctrinal teachings himself, very familiar. with Tiantai and Huayin traditions of Chinese Buddhist doctrine. So his way of articulating this practice and awakening in a very poetic way, in what is seen and what is heard in the monasteries, what is readily accessible,

[11:24]

those allusions to nature and so on, this is what was readily accessible to people, was a way to bring Buddha Dharma, the doctrine, down from the clouds to the everyday experience of people. So hence, it made sense in that context. Instead of using Buddhist jargon, you used made allusion to the moon, the limpid, transparent lake, to the snow-clad mountains, and the different creatures. Those were what was seen and heard and experienced by the everyday monastics, his audience. So in the tradition of silent illumination, there is no clear step-by-step instruction of how to do meditation, because basically everyone already know how to do that.

[12:35]

His audience was monastics. And also, his strong emphasis in grounding, embodying the practice was very particular in that context, historical moment of what? Just like what Dogen was doing moving away from bureaucracy, corruption, to focus on practice in a very explicit way. Hongzhi lived through the transition of the fall of a whole half of the dynasty.

[13:38]

The Song dynasty was split into two. So the Jurchens invaded Song. So... if you will imagine Canada, not that it's ever going to happen, but who knows, invades America and took from Kentucky onwards, everything becomes Canada. So, political upheaval, a kind of inward turn, because someone was so powerful as one of the longer reigns in the Chinese dynasty, so self-confident in its maritime trade and power and flourishing of culture, and maybe a little too much of that, the military weakness of the fall of the Song dynasty.

[14:50]

half of it conquered by the Georgians. Up north. So the whole nation, if you can call it that, was at the period of this inward turn. To regain one's identity as a nation, and practice, And throughout Buddhist history, whenever, especially in China, in East Asia, whenever there are biggest in China, there's just basically periodic persecution of Buddhism. When the Buddhist institution becomes too powerful, then the Confucian ideologue, the official, would influence the emperor too. persecute Buddhism, confiscate monasteries, wealth, and so on.

[15:56]

Whenever that happens throughout history in China, there's always been this inward turn. So Hongzhi focused on that to ground everyone, you see, to turn inward, to solidify one's practice. They were monks who also were politically involved, like his contemporary Ga Hui, the greatest advocator of Watou practice, Quran practice. He was pro-war to fight the Jurchens because he was kind of a political high-profile child master, tied to the pro-war faction in the government. So what happened to him was forced to return to lay life for 14 years by the government.

[17:08]

Because the government didn't want to fight the churches. History is very complicated. So you have these two. So Dahui's criticism of the Cao Dong tradition, Soto Zen as kind of pacifist, should be taken in this political context. Does that make sense? So it's not that inherently the practice is pacifist, because even Dahui's own teacher, the person who compiled the Blue Cliff record, I have an article out. I have an article that's been out for a couple years. Applicated to practice like a withered log. These are the words that so-called Lingji or Rinzai tradition criticized the Cao Dong tradition. Practice like a withered log, like an incense burner at a dilapidated temple.

[18:14]

basically inactive, right? So he himself, this is his words, Da Hui Song teach it. Of course, that was another period. So this kind of language is a shared kind of Chan rhetoric, if you will, for how to deal with vexations. How to deal with vexations, the things that come up in practice. you don't suppress, you don't follow either, withered log. No reactivity. Other cha masters, like cha master Linji, Rinzai, his teaching was, be an idiot. When these things come up, be an idiot. Other chan masters who are more lively, like Yun Men, Ung Men, says, every day is a good day.

[19:25]

His personality is like that. Difficulty come, it's all good. Basically. Other chan masters, you can see how they teach. This was a shared tradition. Da Hui kind of twisted it a little bit. to use it to critique the pacifists who weren't, who were not politically involved, did not want to win back the Northern Song Dynasty again, so all that context. But because of our modern age, the lack of explicit instruction on silent illumination, the way I teach silent illumination, because most people live in their headspace. So I train people to practice in an embodied way what is actually present.

[20:43]

In this time So for example So I create Out of expedient means Several steps To articulate The practice of Just sitting Like all of you sitting here How do you know you're sitting? How do you know you're sitting? Don't go to the head Don't go to discursive words and language, you know you're sitting because embodied. So, after I teach people to do relaxation, palpable, concretely, three main areas to relax. This area, what the Westerners call the 11th line, is that? especially the cosmetic field, they call it the 11 line.

[21:47]

This area is number one area to relax. Second, shoulders. Third, the abdomen. If these three areas are not relaxed palpably, then your energy, your tension will be locked in these different regions. You won't be able to feel grounded. your center of gravity, even when you close your eyes, where is the center of gravity? It's probably still here. It won't be grounded to earth. See, so these three areas, very important to relax. Once a person is relaxed, then one's feeling tone, the undercurrent feeling tone, will be able to be in the most ideal place In the Chan tradition, we say, don't grasp, don't reject. But how I phrase it is, content.

[22:48]

What does it mean to not grasp, not reject? Apathetically, Buddhist lingo tend to be always negative. Don't do this, don't do that, things are impermanent, everything is empty. Don't grasp, don't reject. But put it positively, catathetically, what it actually means is, It's all good. You're content. So you have to be in this frame of mind or this feeling tone because it is the feeling tone that actually dictates your perception and your experiences. It can hijack whatever you think is the correct view. If the feeling tone is one of agitation, you can use that correct view to start to judge other people. Or worse, to judge yourself, to make yourself into an object and attack it. I'm not good enough.

[23:51]

I'm not enough. All this kind of inner critic. So it's actually the feeling tone. So once a person is relaxed, we can check into the feeling tone. Allow this feeling tone to resonate. Once the body is grounded, you'll feel... content, and then avail oneself to what is actually happening in this moment. So the first stage I teach people to do Sekantasa is now the center of gravity is down, low. I don't tell people to put it in the hollow, Dantian, because this leads to side effects. especially when there's no instructions on relaxation. So their body's tense and they're trying to breathe here. All kinds of side effects. You see what I'm saying? So I tell them to put those sense of weight at the buttocks, just down here.

[24:57]

So relax, ground, then content, then engage. with clarity. In what? First stage. Embodied experiencing of posture. Because at that time, your posture is still present. Your posture is still here. Once the body is more relaxed, even more grounded, the body becomes absent of what's present. is embodied experiencing of grounding. So first, embodied experiencing of posturing. So I don't mean you have to use your head to visualize yourself sitting. It's actually a felt, embodied, palpable experience of being here.

[26:05]

So it's not a method of Working on the breath, suddenly you hear some sound, your mind goes there, a little bit of itch here, and back a little bit, and you notice this, and emotions come up. That's not what your sitting is. Because Shikantaza, the Chinese word, the word has a particular flavor, connotation, of mind your own business. It has that flavor. So when one says, shikan, something, something, something, nari, nari, nari. They mean, don't mind that, don't mind this, mind this. It has that flavor in that Chinese and Japanese context, you see? So this means when you're doing what you're doing, just sitting, it's just that embodied experiencing of posturing.

[27:08]

So when the mind wanders off, Posturing. And you're grounded, rooted to earth. Content. Once the body disappears, what remains is embodied experiencing of grounding. Sense of solidity. Why? It's not imagined at all. It's completely felt sensation. You see? It's what is present. So you're not out there. You're not anywhere. You're here. So it's palpable, concrete. If you keep on going, that embodied experience, you're grounding. And what I mean is, like your buttocks. Because the upper body, your hands will disappear. Your posturing up here will, as if there, as if not there. So if your method is as if there, as if not there, your method is vague. If your method is vague, your mind will be vague.

[28:11]

Your mind has no anchor. You'll start to notice this, that, all kinds of other stuff. Does that make sense? So it has to be very clear whether you're on the method or you're not. If you're not, that means you're either wandering thoughts or you're sleeping. Does that make sense? So what is actually present at that time is grounding. Upper body, doesn't really exist, but here, palpably embodied. And if you continue and dig into what is actually present, what is actually absent, if you look into the presence of grounding, what is actually present, actually experiencing experiencing this kind of freshness this kind of continuum

[29:37]

it's no longer the object of the body anymore. It's like, if you all look at me for a moment, it's like me looking, I'm gonna look at, what is your name, Sam? Sam. Sam, that's right. So I'm gonna look at Sam. You know, in the beginning, Sam is out there, right? If you look at long enough, sin starts to fade away, and this seeing, this experiencing itself becomes to the foreground, more prominent. It's no longer Guo Gu out there. It's the seeing itself. That's what I mean by experiencing. And what is that? It's this non-abiding, moment to moment to moment, wakefulness. So then, that, in our tradition, in the way I teach it, that's the foundation of silent illumination.

[30:58]

On the one hand, this absence of wandering thoughts, the silent part. On the other hand, There's the presence of wakefulness. Illumination part. So it becomes a methodless method. So I just merely inserted a few steps before that. Very concrete, very palpable ways to get people out of their head and into their body. Does that make sense? So to segue into that. Wakeful, but no wandering thought. Clear, but not abiding anywhere. That's why Hong Shi says, encountering things

[32:05]

without making things into objects. Knowing without filter through condition. Usually when we encounter things, we make it into an object. This person is here, that person is there. It's kind of opposition. So you're not oblivious, but you're in nor are you in samadhi, a kind of meditative absorption. So you're wakeful without wandering thoughts, clear without resting, allowing the mind to rest anywhere. It's just experiencing. So the mind reverts to its most organic, natural state.

[33:10]

Like the eyes see, ears hear, what does the mind do? What does the body do? Experience. Without encountering things. It sounds abstract, but it's very, very concrete. If we do it step by step. Step by step. So... That's the way I teach silent illumination. And in our tradition, my teacher also is the recipient Dharma transmission of the Lin Chi Rinzai school as well. So we also have Hua To practice, Gohan practice. And the way I teach is at that juncture of experiencing, without encountering things, making things into things, that's our problem, basically. We make everything into a thing. So when we reach that state, that's where I segue for some of my students to go into huato practice.

[34:19]

How? Now they have a palpable, embodied, not in the head, embodied, felt sense of this experiencing. And then the huato that I use is, what is it? This it refers to this. What is it? It's like, it's like Sam, I'm gonna call your name in the next few seconds. When I call your name, you raise your hand. Okay? It's like you're morally grounded. You see, the mind is awake, yet not a single thought.

[35:23]

But it's not void, it's not absent, it's not nothingness. What is that? Sam. What is that? What is it at that juncture of experiencing that made you Raise the hand. What is that? So that becomes the primary guan or huato that we use to start off. Instead of what is mu. Westerners have no connection with mu. Who cares what dog have nobody in nature allowed. Mu, pre-Buddhist in the Chinese context, it's so rich in meaning. It's so rich, the whole philosophical tradition is founded on that, wu. So in that context, when they say, what is wu, it's such fullness to that.

[36:32]

Not that they're thinking, it's this embodied sense, but in the West, moo, moo, moo, moo. It's just lost in translation, right? In similar way, I train student to be totally embodied. That palpable sense of not knowing what is it that's animating this moment. What is it that's seeing, hearing, sensing. Now they have a palpable sense without being cluttered by objects of wandering thoughts, rumination, discrimination. They have direct encounter with this, what is it? It's a life potent. Not a single thing. Now that what is it becomes alive. To them. Does that make sense? Yeah. So this is the pathway. So silent illumination segway into, in the way I teach, segway into hwato practice.

[37:41]

But this is taking in a larger context. Oh my goodness. I'm sorry. In a larger context of, you know, affirming the self, maturing the self, and then dissolving the self. So we can entertain some questions if you have any. Yes, please. Thank you. How do you go about teaching students that judge their body when they're not being grounded in meditation? Because I find it very difficult to stay grounded for any amount of time. Judging is never.

[38:47]

Judging oneself is never helpful. So in our tradition, we actually do yoga stretches. So when we sit, we don't sit in robes. In this kind of robe. We do yoga stretches. We do self-massage. That sounds good, right? Self-massage after every period. Instead of the bell ring, ding, you stand up. We do self-massage. So everything we do is very embodied. And we do prostrations. So one of the problem with modern people is that we have six senses, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind. The mind faculty hijacks the previous five.

[39:49]

And one of the ways it does that is inner critic. It's constantly judging. It's got a name, it's got a container for everything. If it doesn't, it'll make up a container to put yourself, pigeonhole yourself in that. So we expose that. And we don't follow that. We don't suppress it either. You see it? We just amplify the sense faculty of the body. And the way that we're neurologically wired is such that so that we're not inundated with data all the time from these sensory organs. The way that we're neurologically wired is when we amplify one sense faculty, the functions of the other sense faculties will naturally receive in the background. So we're capitalizing, working with the way we're actually wired to do. So we are trained to relax these three areas and feel palpably grounded.

[40:59]

Grounded. Just again and again. Sweep the body, relax. Skin, muscles, tendons. Again and again. The judgment notes. That's the sixth sense faculty. Hijacking. You don't want to follow that. You're not aggravated by that either. You do you, I do me. Or you can do what Linji says. Be an idiot. He try to talk to you. No say. No. Walk out night. I don't understand what's happening. So you expose it, but you don't follow it. Your feeling tone is still content. We just get to what needs to be done. Relax. Some people, in order to train, get a good sense of it, the whole period of sitting there, actually training themselves to be embodied, embodied, embodied.

[42:02]

And that itself is a method. So that's very important. this problem where every time I try to meditate I get like pretty bad anxiety like if I try to focus my breath you know focus on earlier we said feel the grounding sensations and all of a sudden it feels like my body just feels weird like I want to move like I want to adjust constantly like every time I focus on it it's like it just feels wrong and I want to adjust and it's endless and then I get anxiety yeah yeah what can I do about that that's an issue of feeling tone you're not taking care of your feeling tone. Feeling tone. What I mean by that is, your mood, your attitude, is what you're trying to do is trying to fix things, trying to fix things, trying to get rid of something, trying to get something.

[43:15]

That in the Chan tradition, like just trying to get something, that's problematic. Feeling tone is, it's all good, right? It's all good. It's like, you do you, or I do me. So if you can't relax, or it's painful, you do you, or do me. What I'm doing is, just go down. Feeling tone is, it's my way of saying the second of the Eightfold Path, right intention. First one is right view. View usually is hijacked by whatever intention that you have. Feeling tone can only be accessed when you relax the body. Any subtle shifts, it's like mood. It's like when you're in a good mood, not trying to fix things, you're not that agitated, right?

[44:18]

Legs. Someone stepped on your feet. It's alright. That's what I mean by mood. Feeling tone. When you're in a bad mood, agitated mood, everything's wrong. Everything's going wrong. Nothing's right. You see? Most people are not in tune with how they actually feel. How they actually feel. they're caught up with notions and ideas. So in order to, you know, in order to tap into the undercurrent feeling tone, you have to come at it through the body, relax the body, section by section, flow down, take your time, enjoy, right? Changing the muscles, Through sheer muscle memory Different chemicals will flow through your body Yeah, if you for example if you're annoyed and just smile Even though in the beginning maybe a forced smile, but if you smile You will sense the feeling tone undercurrent feeling tone.

[45:40]

So there's a subtle shift So when you relax the body Gentle smile. Relax. Sway the body from left to right. Relax the subtle tension that's holding the lumbar area. Make it loose. And then front and back. And then sink. Just that gentle smile. nonchalant. That's what I mean by feeling tone. Without this ingredient of feeling tone, we're blind to how our habit tendencies hijack each moment. And the only way to get to the feeling tone is relaxed, grounded.

[46:43]

So your body your system shift to the mode of safety. I feel alright. Then the chemicals will flow through your body. That's okay. And then you can tap into the feeling though. I have some online guided meditation that you can search out. I'll give you a more concrete example. how to tap into the feeling tone. This is seldom talked about in the Chan Zen tradition, but it's needed, so I lay it out. I'm over time already. I'm open to it, but some people, if you have to go, then feel free to exit.

[47:55]

If you have questions, then you can ask. Thanks a lot. You talked a little bit about the ways that our minds sort of turn things into objects. I've been having this experience lately where when I'm very deep in meditation. I've been going for a little while. It's different than just sort of my wandering thoughts, but I sort of have this experience where I start to almost have like dreamlike visions and they're almost like, they're very fragile. Like I'm looking at them with like the peripheral vision of my mind. And if I shift my concentration at all, they fade away. But they, I don't feel like I'm in control of them in any way like I would regular wandering thoughts. They feel very interesting to watch unfold and to explore. But at the same time, I'm kind of wondering, is that just a fancy version of my mind wandering?

[49:01]

Yeah. Thank you. It's just a habit tendency. Sometimes it can come from something deeper. from your psyche. It's like a person walking from point A to point B. If you're not clear of your walking, which is your practice, your method, sometimes you can stop and just start looking at the scenery. Oh, it's so nice. Some people practice in order to check out the scenery. That's another point. So at that time, you already don't have a method. you're already off the method so the mind starts to that kind of subliminal vulnerable open state so something deep from the psyche will start to some people who are visual they would they would see visual things there are three types visual and second type is

[50:15]

Emotional feeling strong. They will have different raw feelings that come out. Depends on their own practice history or personal history. Just maybe fear. What kind of feeling of positive feelings, expansiveness. The third type is linguistic. These things. So at those vulnerable junctures. One must have a method. It must be clear. At that time, if your body is still present, why aren't you sitting with the body? See? The body is sitting. Just mind yourself sitting. Mind your business. If the body is not there, experiencing is there. Methodless method. It's not the object. It's moment to moment to moment fresh, wakeful, non-abiding.

[51:19]

What is it? Death. That should be present. So if we lose track of the method, then these things will just come out. So for you, it's visual. So the way you can tell is if you recall back an important memory that you have, you can try this. When you recall back, How does it come? What form does it come? Some people, they just remember things, the feeling that the things left them with. That's the feeling type. Some people, they remember the exact scenery in which someone said this, I said that, that whole scene, the visual type. Some people, they go, I can't believe that guy said that to me. It's just the words. So we're all, all three of these. It's just a matter of predominance. Does that make sense?

[52:20]

Have you ever noticed this about yourself? We're kind of working with our mind practitioners, so we should work with what we're about. You're more clear of these habit tendencies. They are your strengths, they're also your weakness. So you can be more holistic, balance your shortcomings. Not only weakness, but shortcomings. So you can be able to convey all three. So part of the teacher's job, for example, is to be able to cater the teaching to particular people, the type of people. And then, because that will resonate with them.

[53:21]

So, but that requires a teacher to also work with their own shortcomings and their own strengths. So it's not like a one trick pony, you know, just like, I only do this, just this. And you're only able to connect with people that only resonate with that. So, so like what Dogen said, to study the way you study the self. This is part of studying the self, like exposing your habit tendencies, the way you work, so you know what to do. Once you turn on the light in the room, you see what needs to be done, what needs to be cleaned up. That's part of that. Okay, thank you. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[54:37]

May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[54:40]

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