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. We have a farm in this valley, and we also have a temple. And in the temple we have a meditation hall which you're sitting in. One of the young men who worked all summer down on the farm received a visit from his brother.

[01:05]

His brother came here and lived here for about two weeks. I think his brother worked on a farm with him. And also, I think his brother came to this hall and sat with us. And I think towards the end of his visit, the visiting brother said to the resident brother, what is Zen practice? Or he could have said, what are you people doing here? If he'd said, what are you people doing here?

[02:10]

His brother probably would have said, Zen practice. And then he probably would have said, what's that? Is Zen practice farming? Is Zen practice sitting in a room like this with other people who are sitting in this room? When he told me this story, I thought, your brother's question is good. I think it's a good question. And I think it would be good if people who were studying Zen asked the question, what are we studying? People who are studying Zen practice, I think it's good to wonder, what is Zen practice?

[03:24]

So, now you know what I think. So that's my talk for this morning. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Want another one? Hmm? Another short one? You do? Who wants it? One, two, three. Anybody who's had enough is welcome to leave. But if you do leave... I think it would be good if you took the question with you, what are those people doing in that valley? What is Zen practice? And some of you might stay in hopes that you'll find out the answer.

[04:33]

So this is just what I think, okay? This is not, you know, the other people who live here and practice here may not agree with me. But I think this valley offers an opportunity for me and you to wonder what is Zen practice. I live here to support people to wonder what is Zen practice. I have a story... in my consciousness of the history of Zen. And in that history, there's many stories of Zen students asking Zen teachers, what is Zen practice? For hundreds and hundreds, for more than a thousand years, Zen students have asked Zen teachers, what is Zen practice?

[05:41]

I wish to support the never-ending question, what is Zen practice? By the way, I looked up the word wonder and I found three basic meanings. First, to think about. To speculate curiously about what is Zen practice. Second meaning, to be filled with amazement and adoration and awe about Zen practice. Right now, I am filled with amazement

[06:49]

about Zen practice, about the question, what is it? I'm amazed that I can wonder so joyfully, what am I doing with my life? When I wonder about my life, when I wonder what is my life, I often laugh. What a funny life I have to be wondering all the time what my life is. And how wonderful that I have a life that I wonder about all the time. And here's another joke. I also wonder what your life is and what your practice is.

[07:52]

And by the way, I don't know. I don't know what Zen practice is. I don't know what my life is. And I don't know what your life is. I think my life is inconceivable. And I think yours is too. Which goes very nicely with me being awestruck by life. The third meaning of wonder is to doubt. Part of wondering about Zen practice is to doubt what it is. So I'm satisfying all the requirements of wondering. I don't know what it is. I'm filled with awe and I'm thinking about it. And I'm laughing about it. And occasionally I cry, but it's a joyful cry. So I'm wondering, you're in the room here, I think, and you're with somebody who's wondering about what Zen practice is and is wondering about what are the people who live here

[09:17]

doing and are wondering about what are the people who are visiting doing. The wonder just spreads, which is fine with me. I'm not trying to close down the wonder into an answer and then stop wondering. It's not my job. I'm not a wonder buster. I am kind of a dust buster though. Or at least I'm a dust buster operator. Do you know what a dust buster is? It's a little vacuum cleaner that you use to collect dust. Recently had a sign-making project at Green Gulch.

[10:27]

We made a lot of signs so people can kind of, I don't know what, play navigating Green Gulch. You can like see a sign and take an office and then sort of follow the board points and see where, you know. Anyway, you may have seen these signs. They're pretty new. And one of the new ones is right at the top of the driveway on Highway 1. It's a new one. And I looked at it one time when I was coming into Green Gulch, and I read it. And it says on the sign, I think, something like Zazen Instruction. 8.30. 8.15. Zazen instruction 8.15, does it say Sunday above it? Sunday, it says Sunday public program. Maybe.

[11:30]

Underneath it says, maybe. 8.15. And maybe it says a.m., I don't know. 8.15. One Zen trick would be to have a Sunday morning program and then have Zazen instruction at night. but I don't know. Anyway, it says 8.15. Zazen instruction. Then it says something maybe 8... 9.25? 9.15. 9.15. Zazen. Then it says 10 Dharma talk. So now it's It's almost time to stop again. It's way past ten. And so, is this a Dharma talk? Maybe this is the Dharma talk time.

[12:32]

It's a Dharma talk time, but I don't know if this is a Dharma talk. The thought arises in consciousness. Maybe the Dharma talk should be about the zazen that they gave instruction on. What's Zazen got to do with what these people are doing down in the valley? What's Zazen got to do with Zen practice? I don't know. But Zazen is one of the words that we use as kind of a synonym for Zen practice. So the snap sign could say, 8.15 instruction in Zen practice. And then after having instructions in Zen practice, you could say Zen practice. And then Dharma talk to discuss what is it that you've been doing here.

[13:37]

I'm not going to tell you what Zen practice is. I'm not going to tell you what Zazen is. but it may sound like I'm telling you what it is. So be careful. Okay, I'm telling you ahead of time that I'm not going to tell you, but it may sound like that's what I'm telling you. What it is. The word zazen is kind of a... It's a Chinese-Japanese name. Zah refers to a Chinese character, which means... Sit or sitting. And Zen means Zen. Means Zen practice. Sitting Zen practice. That's a name for Zen practice.

[14:49]

Sitting Zen practice. So again, we come back to, okay, sitting on someone familiar with, what is Zen practice again? Zen practice, and again, I'm not telling you what it is, okay? Zen practice is the activity, of all enlightening beings. It's the activity of all Buddhas. It's what Buddha's life is. So Zen practice is the life of Buddha.

[15:51]

And so we have sitting life of Buddha instruction here. So again, if it was easy, I would change the sign frequently. Like next week if you came, it would say, sitting life of Buddha. And then the Dharma talk could be about that, sitting life of Buddha. Zen practice is sitting. unsurpassed, complete perfect enlightenment. That's what Zen practice is. It's sitting, unsurpassed, complete perfect enlightenment. Zen practice is sitting, unceasing,

[17:05]

inconceivable effort. Zen practice is sitting inconceivable, unceasing effort to free all beings so they may dwell in peace. Zen practice is sitting one single truth of all Buddhas. one might say, well, does it have to be sitting?

[18:21]

And sitting could be understood as sitting still. There was an American Indian chief named Sitting Bull A bull sitting. Actually, the name of the founder of Buddhism, his name was Gautama, which I think means bull. The Buddha was a sitting bull. As you know, bulls can move around and do various things. But we have a sitting bull. And people can move around. but they can also sit still. And they can sit still in the midst of an unceasing effort to free all beings so they may dwell in peace and harmony.

[19:34]

When a like you or me sits still that sitting can be and in reality is in reality is the same practice and the same enlightenment as the one who's sitting and all beings. In delusion, my sitting might be different from your sitting, or you might think it's the same. But it may appear that my sitting is not the same as yours and not the same as enlightened beings.

[20:49]

That my sitting is not the same sitting as all the Christians and Buddhists and Jews and Muslims and Hindus. That my practice maybe isn't the same practice as them. It may look like that to you or to me. But what I'm saying is that the practice, the Zen practice, is the same practice. My practice is not Zen practice, but my practice, which is not Zen practice, is the same as Zen practice. Because Zen practice completely includes all of us. And it has no disharmony with any other religions. It is the liberation of all religions without changing them at all, just setting them free so they may dwell in peace.

[21:57]

Any religion that holds to itself in the holding, it hinders itself from being free of itself and thereby freeing the beings who are practicing it. Zen practice is dropping all your ideas of Zen practice and dropping all your ideas of self and other and Islam and Judaism and Christianity and so on. Zen practice is letting go of Zen practice. And when you let go of Zen practice, it fills your hand and has no beginning or end.

[23:00]

When you let go of yourself, it's the same. When you let go of other, it's the same. When you let go of Islam, it's the same. When you let go of Judaism, it's the same. And this place where everybody's letting go of their ideas of who they are and who others are, this is the realm of Buddhas. And it's inconceivable and unthinkable and unstoppable. But it is the realm of peace and freedom and fearlessness. and great unhindered compassion. And we practice sitting in that realm.

[24:08]

And we sit still, because you do not have to move from where you are, because where you are... is in intimate communion with the life and practice of all beings. If you move to another location, then in the new location, you are there receiving an intimate transmission. the unceasing effort to free all beings. No one can get away from the unceasing effort to free all beings.

[25:12]

However, if we move, although we can't get away from it by moving, and we can't get closer to it by being still, because we are perfectly close to it. So we practice sitting still as a statement of faith. We sit still to affirm a holy communion. A holy communion which is beginningless and endless and changes every moment. It's the communion that among all beings. It's the way all beings are in the process of an unceasing effort to free each other. Where I am right now and where you are right now is in this inconceivable process of awakening and liberation.

[26:17]

So our practice of sitting still is a testament, is a statement, I believe in the unceasing effort of all beings to live in peace and harmony. This is my life that I wish for. The life of faith in a holy communion. I sit, I saw, then I sit in Holy Communion. Now I'm sitting here. Often I sit there. But wherever I am, I basically sit still. And so do you. You're actually where you are, and you are sitting in the middle,

[27:27]

of an intimate transmission of great compassion. But if I get distracted from where I am, I miss this place where I'm sitting in the midst of this intimate communion with all enlightened beings and with all unenlightened beings. This morning, I have been singing a song. It's a song about Zen practice. I'm singing a song about something I do not know. And nobody does. I sing the song of this practice in order to realize it, or for the sake of its realization.

[28:28]

A song of Zen practice. a song of sitting, unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening and liberation. Another synonym for Zen practice is the precious mirror samadhi or the precious mirror awareness. We sing that song in this room It's called the Song of the Precious Mir Samadhi. And we sing it over and over. And the way it starts is the teaching of suchness. Zen practice is sitting teaching of suchness.

[29:31]

Or you could say I think it's better to say sitting teaching of suchness rather than say sitting the teaching of suchness, but I'm not sure. The teaching of suchness. Holy communion. Buddhas and ancestors. The Buddhas and ancestors of the tradition transmit a holy communion. which is the teaching. And then the song says, now you have it. So I say to you and to me, now we have it. What do we have? We have the intimate transmission of Buddhas and ancestors. It doesn't

[30:34]

The song does not say intimate transmission of the teaching of Buddhists and ancestors. If you're good, you'll have it someday. No, it says now you have it. Before you move, you already have it. And then it says, so take care of it. How do you take care of it? Well, I don't know. But one way to take care of it is don't move from where you are. Be still. Now you have this perfect, complete, holy communion with and in an unceasing effort to free all beings. so they may dwell in peace. Now you have it.

[31:35]

And you've always had it, and you always will have it, but still, we are instructed in the song to take care of it. Somehow, even though we have it, it also, it's calling for us to take care of it. How do we take care of it? By being still. Every moment, be still. And be silent. If you're talking, like now I'm talking, I'm also trying to remember to be silent. My mouth is moving. My lip is moving. My tongue is moving. My jaw is moving. My heart is moving. Yes. But there's a stillness. And I'm Remembering the stillness. I'm remembering the stillness. And I have a thought.

[32:39]

While I'm remembering stillness, I can think that you can remember stillness too. As you're moving around this world, I think you can remember stillness. I also think you can forget it. And I can forget it. I have forgotten it quite a few times. and I can wish to remember it, and I can remember stillness. And I'm not just remembering stillness to be still, I'm remembering stillness as an act of faith. Because in stillness, in faithful, in faith in being still, in faith in being present, I also enter the inconceivable realm of all Buddhas. All I need to do is remember to be still.

[33:42]

And I remember to be still because I believe in a beginningless, unthinkable, inconceivable, endless process of Holy Communion, which is Buddhas. Buddhas are not somebody who is in communication with somebody else. Buddhas are the Holy Communion. of all beings. I believe in that. And I sit still as an affirmation, as a statement of faith in the imperceptible liberating activity of all beings. So we spend quite a bit of time sitting in this room over the years.

[34:44]

I don't know how many thousands of hours I have spent sitting in this room. I've sat in this seat thousands of hours. I've sat in this seat thousands of hours. I've sat in a seat at the end of that row over there thousands of hours. Those are my three main seats. Thousands at each place. Now, today when I sit on the seat, I remember stillness. I practice stillness. I transmit stillness. I wish to remember stillness as an act of faith in Holy Communion.

[35:48]

I sit in stillness in Holy Communion with all of you and with all Buddhas. I do not have to move to be in Holy Communion with you. I am in Holy Communion with you. This is my faith. I am in intimate communion with you. This is my faith. And my faith is that that communion, which is already here, that that is Buddha. I sit still. I remember to sit still in this communion. And if I move, I wish to continue in my new position to be still. In this communion, I meet infinite beings.

[36:50]

Some of them are delightful. Some of them are boring. Some of them are in me. Most of them are in me. There's some boring people living in me. Some delightful people. Some scary people. Some painful people. I don't have to remember that people are delightful or painful. I do need to remember the Holy Communion with everyone. And I need to practice it. And I need to transmit it. Again, one of our songs says, in this stillness, mind and objects, mind and all the things it knows, in this stillness, mind and objects, enter awakening and go beyond enlightenment.

[38:39]

And enter awakening and go beyond enlightenment. enter enlightenment, let go of it, go beyond it, and enter. This is the constant process of Holy Communion. We sit in stillness there and realize it. People are leaving to make lunch for you and get the muffins for you and make tea for you.

[41:07]

We want you to be well hydrated so you can sit in stillness and make an unceasing effort to free all beings. so they can dwell in peace. After the announcement I just made, some more people got up to leave who didn't know that they were supposed to go now. But I have this dream that they have a song in their heart. A song which goes like this.

[42:16]

The teaching of suchness has been intimately communicated to Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it. So please, take care of it. May that song resonate in our hearts forever and guide us on the path of freedom from suffering. The song goes on to say, this holy communion will guide you and relieve all suffering. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[43:27]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[43:31]

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