Good evening. A monk asks Bai Yan, what's the most important thing? Bai Yan said, the first thing is to practice. The second thing is to practice. The third thing is to practice. Usually it's hard to remember three things. So what is this practice that we do? Practice is intentionally trying to do something and watching how we fall short.

[01:03]

Or sometimes hit the mark, but really fall short. If you don't practice, you don't notice whether you're missing the mark or not. This is similar to the vow. The vow to say well sentient beings or the vow to live in the truth or the vow to intentionally live the truth. And because it's rather difficult, we do it with other people.

[02:10]

Just to make it a little more difficult. Probably the group of people we live with in practice are not the people we would choose. But also, we're not the person they would choose. So what we have in common is not some habit or unconscious tendency, but some conscious goal. I've been teaching course called What's Missing. We found out various things. We found out that everyone has something different missing.

[03:22]

Some different completion work. And For this course, we're looking at Jakujojo Jinshu, Guidelines for Studying the Way by Dogen. The first section is called, You Should Arouse the Thought of Enlightenment, or the Mind of Enlightenment, or just Enlightenment. The second section is called, Once you see or hear the true teachings, you should practice it without fail. The third section is titled, In the Buddha Way, You Should Always Enter Enlightenment Through Practice. So what I would like to recommend to you tonight is to observe and to listen.

[04:58]

Observe and listen to your own behavior. Observe and listen to others. Notice your own opinions. but don't stop there. Appreciate others' opinions, but don't stop there. Sometimes when we're doing something so important like practice, we don't listen because we're doing something important. That's kind of funny, isn't it? at Tassahara. I don't know if it was this year or last year. And there was a teacher who was teaching the Lotus Sutra, and she got sick. So I substituted and taught the Lotus Sutra.

[06:01]

And the people who were overseeing the class came up to me around lunchtime and said, are you going to lunch? And I was very caught up in trying to think about the lecture and said, no, I'm cramming. But when I got to the cabinet, I realized they didn't care about whether I was having lunch or not. They wanted to talk to me. And I was too much involved in something else. So I immediately went to see them. and apologized. It's a small thing, but we do it all the time. We get involved in our own practice or vow, which is not

[07:13]

big enough to include other people. I used to organize big events at Zen Center. And I would notice that when it came to be game day, when the event was about to happen, everybody was nervous and tense. There are a lot of high energy interchanges. So after a couple of my notice, this is really good. This is where we can show our practice. Not to be caught up in what we think should happen, but to be there for everyone. To be present for everyone. Particularly when it's going to be tense and people are worried and what's going to happen. So to live in an intentional community is to discover what living in an intentional community is.

[08:38]

I remember when I first came, I got permission to make some orange juice or something and I squeezed it and I cleaned up the orange juice squeezer and then I went back upstairs. Later on in the day I found the orange juice squeezer outside my door and it wasn't quite clean. I thought it was clean but I looked at it more closely and it wasn't. Someone was very kind to show me, without making a drama of it, what I thought was clean. Somebody recently

[09:49]

asked me if he'd been arrogant in a certain situation. And he hadn't, I didn't feel like he had, but he showed his heart by asking, checking it out. It's one of the inspirations of practice when you see somebody who Sincerely wants to know. Sincerely wants to know what's happening. And is not too caught up in what their idea of practice is to practice. Once you see or hear the true teaching, you should practice it without fail.

[11:12]

One phrase offered by a loyal servant can have the power to alter the course of the nation. One word given by a Buddha ancestor cannot fail to turn people's minds. The unwise ruler does not adopt a servant's advice. One who does not step forward cannot accept the Buddha's teaching. Few are unbending, inflexible. You cannot stop floating along in birth and death. If appropriate advice is not heeded, governing with virtue cannot be realized. To listen is very important.

[12:18]

If you're in a conversation and somebody's saying something, you can't wait to finish so you can get your word in. It's not listening so much. To listen to yourself, to hear your own imperfections, than to hear other people not sticking to anything. In this class is what's missing. I don't feel there's anybody who is the repository of truth. The truth is in the room. The truth is in the attention and effort. Practice is rather amazing and rather simple.

[13:33]

Of course, as you proceed in your practice, you get more things to do. As you become less attached to things, more is given to you. And then you have to find a way to take care of yourself as one of the sentient beings taken care of. I did the memorial ceremony for my mom in August and did the ceremony, and just as I was about to leave, it occurred to me, and I said, born in mystery, gone in mystery, what happened?

[15:04]

What happened? What's happening now? When we teach classes and get lectures, we want to give the truth. We want to tell Buddhist wisdom. And sometimes our pride in Buddhist wisdom can get in the way of Buddhist wisdom.

[16:17]

We still have to, like Turin, teach him. Because the meaning is not in the words. And yet perhaps it is. There's a fascicle of Dogen called Butsu-yo-butsu, Buddha and Buddha. which has many of the same themes as the Genjo Koan. The Genjo Koan, which is about the meaning of doing and being. And in here it says, when you realize Buddha Dharma, you do not think this is realization just as I expected.

[17:53]

Even if you think so, realization invariably differs from your expectation. Realization is not like your conception of it. Accordingly, realization cannot take place as previously conceived. When you realize Buddha Dharma, you do not consider how realization came about. You should reflect on this. What you think one way or another before realization is not a help for realization. Although realization is not like any of the thoughts preceding it, this is not because such thoughts were actually bad and could not be realization. But thoughts in themselves were already realization. But since you were working elsewhere, seeking elsewhere, you thought and said that thoughts cannot be realization. However, it is worth noticing that what you think one way or another is not a help for realization.

[19:01]

Then you are cautious not to be small-minded. Practice is about trying your best and surrendering. Trying your best and surrendering. Surrendering and then trying your best. And it's a jewel that we probably practice together. The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the teacher, the teaching, and those who struggle to practice it.

[20:09]

And when you come into the temple, you may see a lot of You may want to protect your individual life. But it's a wonderful opportunity to give up. By give up, I don't mean that you don't take care of yourself. you listen and watch carefully. If someone says they want to see you, try to make space for that to happen. If someone is critical of you, where is a Tassajara

[21:34]

A long time ago, we were sitting in Sashin and I was on a roll one day and stayed up in the Zendo and stayed up all night. It wasn't a big deal. It just happened. But then I got up and the wake-up bell rang and I got out of the Zendo and washed my face and brushed my teeth and immediately I was sleepy. And at that time, we carried the stick often. And there's something about people who carry the stick. Some people who really enjoy carrying the stick, they turn out to be better at doing it than people who don't want to carry the stick. They always hit you because they're avoiding it. They hit you wrong. But there's those people who really enjoy carrying the stick.

[22:38]

And I was sleepy. I was completely asleep. And every time she passed me, she hit me. About eight times. And usually I would have some resentment or something. But I didn't this time. She was doing her job. I was trying to stay awake and was not succeeding. It felt really good. Of course, it didn't help miss their work. give an example as the joy of practicing in the community.

[23:43]

Not sticking to what you think is the right thing to do or your rights or your... Something like that. There was... Recently, there's another teacher in another temple I go to sometimes, and I guess I can't tell this story. Can I tell the story? I can change it enough, so. Well, there was a teacher who I was giving the title Roshi to. And this person who had a difficult time with this teacher said that he forbid me to use the term Roshi in front of him for this person.

[24:56]

And I kind of knew his history. And I kind of... So... Wasn't quite outrageous or kind of accepted. And then I turned around and said, another coercion. He felt that that person's title was a coercion on him. And he wanted to coercion me not to use it. So what's missing in our life? What's missing is the fullness and what we define out of our lives.

[26:14]

The maximum and the minimum. So those of you who are just starting out and living in the temple, welcome. And it's a mystery. You will be mistreated and you will be treated better than any place else you've ever been treated in the world. You will learn things that it's very hard to learn anyplace else. You will learn about yourself and about other people.

[27:19]

But if you open your heart, not in a way in which you become a victim, but a way in which the truth of each situation goes into the middle of your heart. And sometimes the heart is overflowing, and sometimes it's breaking. We recently had a practice committee meeting, looking at the practice in the building with a new eye, seeing how things were going, checking in, seeing if there are ways we could do it better.

[28:43]

And since most of us have practiced with each other for a long time, There's an intimacy of knowing what our tendencies are with each other in a way which can lead to a real closeness. So we've come up with some things which you'll be hearing about, which you'll be asking your opinion about. But the intention of this is to find a way to help each person, if they're a resident,

[29:55]

be more fully in the practice if they're not a resident, to find a fuller way for them to be in the practice. But this quality of listening, listening carefully to yourself and to each person, And then asking a good friend, was I offered that meeting? What do you think? To be a practitioner is to be on everybody who's practicing side. It's not necessarily that you agree with them or disagree with them. you're joining with their biggest intention as best you can.

[31:06]

So, finding your heart, finding your emotional stability, and doing your best to understand things is all part of what we're trying to do in learning the truth. A vow is not about something that we can do or can't do, but something we want, something we want to enact, whether it's doable or not. To go beyond scheming. So I'd like to thank you all for coming and learn the truth.

[33:07]

Born in mystery, gone in mystery. What the hell is happening?

[33:18]

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