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. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple and to this particular auspicious beginning of our three-day sushin that we are entering into. And for those of you who don't know me, my name is David Zimmerman. I'm the head of practice here. And I've had the honor for the last six weeks to be co-leading the practice period with Keju Lin Shat, Dharma's sister. And tonight's Dharma talk is the lead-in to the Three Days of Sheen, which is the culmination of the six-week spring practice period. So a good deal of you are here for the Sashin. And how many people are here for the Sashin?

[01:02]

And how many people are here just for the Dharma Talk tonight? Great, welcome. And how many here for the very first time? Excellent, well welcome, great. So we have a multitude of people here in various ways, so welcome all of you. I'd like to do this evening, because we're starting Sushin, I want to speak a little bit about towards the theme of our practice period, which has been on wise effort in everyday life, harmonizing stillness and activity, and doing that within the context of Sushin, which I'll also say a little bit more about what Sushin is, and this particular precious opportunity that we're taking to gather in this way. And... offer encouragement and support for those who are sitting Sushin. And for those of you who are not sitting Sushin, I hope you find something that is also encouraging and supportive when you leave here tonight.

[02:06]

So welcome again. I want to start with a parable about wise efforts. And this is it. The Buddha was once asked, Tell me, dear sir, And the Buddha responded, And the Buddha replied, When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing forward and without staying in place. Sounds like a koan to me, huh? And this is before Zen, right?

[03:07]

So I think it's safe to say that our lives and just being a person, just being a human being can be very overwhelming at times. Every day we face a tidal wave and flood of thoughts and emotions and feelings and sensations that can be unsettling and distressing, which also uproot us in some way and sweep us off our feet and carrying us far away from our true home. from that place that we feel most grounded, connected, and at ease. And that's just our inner experience. There is also the external world that we need to deal with and its demands upon us.

[04:09]

So the wave after wave of requests, perhaps in our work realm, perhaps in our relationships, and from the larger world in terms of societal expectations and politics and environmental pressures that we may be connected to. We are connected to, even if we're not aware of it. And we're also bombarded daily by what seems like an endless torrent of information, images and advertisements asking us, telling us we are not enough and that we need to get this one more thing in order to be perfect and whole and complete and somehow. And you better do it soon before everyone else gets it. And other messages that are served up on social media and news and entertainment outlets that basically are designed to unsettle us in some way.

[05:19]

And so we might feel burdened and weighed down by the demands of the world, as well as by those demands that we make of ourselves and our particular ideas and desires and attachments. And when this happens, we might feel, we might become kind of stuck, feeling stuck in our lives, beginning to sink in some way into a sense of helplessness depression perhaps, even grief. Or we might fight. We might do our best to aggressively push ahead or resist in some way and make headway despite all the forces that are coming at us like armies trying to undo us in some way. And we might also resist the stubbly clinging to our ground, to right where we are, to refusing to move in any way or go with the flow or to meet the changing circumstances.

[06:25]

So regardless of whichever of these particular approaches we find ourselves taking in any particular moment, we're most likely going to experience suffering in some way. And I would say that probably the most challenging and undermining process flood, floodwaters of awe that we might experience is that of impermanence. The shoreless river of non-stop change from which we can never completely extricate ourselves. How will you navigate the floodwaters of your life? So what type of effort are we to make in the midst of this deluge, in order to navigate our way across the wide expanse.

[07:29]

And sometimes the metaphor of crossing from one shore, the shore of other, to the other shore, the shore of liberation, is used. And that was something that we studied last practice period during the study of the six paramitas, that which takes us beyond the practices that take us beyond. And in this case, in the parable of crossing the flood, the Buddha reminds us that a practitioner of the way doesn't rush ahead by kind of over-efforting in some way. or making egoic, striving efforts, nor do they give up and allow themselves to sink into no effort or inertia. So what do we do?

[08:32]

I think we can study this parable and apply the teachings to not only to how it is we might navigate our lives, but for those of you who are sitting sushin, how will you navigate sushin? How will you cross from the shore of right here, right now, to this fabled realm of the end of sushin somewhere? Suzuki Roshi said that in our practice we should walk like an elephant. If you can walk slowly, he says, without any idea of gain, then you are already a good Zen student. Don't we all want to be good Zen students, right? Ooh, ping! I'll follow those instructions. So to walk like an elephant, I think most of you probably have seen, even if not in real life, a video somehow of elephants walking. They walk with great care.

[09:36]

They move with great care. And with what I would describe as a mindful, steady, and deliberate pace. So to walk like an elephant means that we're being aware of how our every step, every step we take has the potential for great impact and weight on the world. When I was in Thailand, I think it was about approximately 20 years ago, I went on a elephant trek in the area around Chiang Rai, which is northern Thailand. And it was kind of an overnight trip for several days. And I remember how amazing it was to be sitting on the back of an elephant, particularly as they walked through the jungle, but then came to a small river. And the way they crossed the rapids of the river

[10:37]

And firstly, I was really kind of pretty, a little bit anxious, like wondering what's going to happen. Am I going to fall off of this elephant? Fall into the river and maybe have the elephant fall on me or something like that. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But the way that the elephants treaded very carefully, thoroughly, mindfully, you know, and checking each step as they went, not in any kind of rush, you know. very attentively with every step, in such a way that there was this deep sense of trusting this wise animal to take care of me as they cross through this somewhat precarious river. And I thought, you know, like them, we can cross the ford of our life, we can ford our lives in Sashin by also refraining from rushing ahead, trying to get somewhere quickly. In this case in Sushin, we often think, well, maybe this will be the one, if I just struggle hard enough, I will be awakened this time around.

[11:47]

Or we can refrain from pushing ourselves, straining too much, or trying to force our will onto what our experience is in Sushin or what the circumstances are. We need to remember that in Sashin, we don't have to get anywhere. There's nowhere to go. There's nowhere to end up. There are no particular goals or objectives that we need to accomplish. And there's nothing that we can succeed in here. Zazen is about total failure. You cannot succeed at Zazen. So just keep that in mind now. And there's nothing to fail in. So we're just going to sit on our cushions. and be attentive to the moment-by-moment flow of experience. That's it. In the collection of teachings by Suzuki Roshi, the book is titled Not Always So.

[12:57]

Suzuki Roshi says that the purpose of sushin is to be completely with our practice. In sushin, we concentrate on having the experience of true practice, forgetting all about any idea of gaining anything. We just sit here. And he goes on to explain that the Japanese word sushin is made up of two Chinese characters. The first one is shin, which means heart or mind, can be used interchangeably, and setsu, and it gets shortened to sesu, which means to gather. So we can understand sushin to mean to gather the mind, to collect the mind, or to convey the heart-mind. And Suzuki Roshi also goes on to say that sushin means to have proper functioning of mind.

[13:58]

Proper functioning of mind. And in doing so, he explains that setsu has another connotation, which is to put things in order. So proper functioning of mind means in some way our mind is placed in order. And then he gives the example of the way in which if you were expecting your teacher or a guest to tea, that you might want to set your room to in order in some particular way, that you're going to clean it up, tidy it up, put things in their proper place, get it ready to meet your esteemed guests as an expression of deep care and love and respect for your guest or teacher. So this is kind of the same way in which we are gathering our mind, preparing our mind for a guest to arrive. whoever that guest might be.

[14:59]

And a large part of preparing for sushin requires that we set aside our personal activities and our personal affairs in order to create the space for universal activity to come forward in some way. And so in sushin, we simplify our activities and our environments. And in order to be able to fully dedicate our effort and our energy to just being here, completely following the schedule, completely giving ourselves over to the container that we are creating together, and in doing so, allowing ourselves to stay present here and remain here, not wandering off in mind or body or energy to some other place. Right before this talk, those of us who were participating in the three days of Sashin gathered together to go over the Sashin guidelines, or what's also called admonitions.

[16:13]

And these guidelines are set up as a way to help us to create a supportive container for Sashin. You could say a vessel or a raft. of sorts for our journey through the next few days. And if we really give effort to keeping the admonitions, it will be very supportive to us. We have to really do our best to try not to cut corners and really make a wholehearted effort into following the guidelines of Sushin. For example, when we do not talk, unless it's absolutely necessary, And rather than talking, if you need to, write a note. Don't go back to your room during breaks checking your cell phone for email or what's happening on Facebook or Twitter or anything like that. And also, when you're walking around the building or sitting in the Zendo, don't let your gaze wander around.

[17:17]

But keep your gaze inwardly focused. So you're not distracted by external. Because if you do, if you allow yourselves to break the guidelines in some way, then you are actually kind of dissolving, undermining the quality of your sushin. The energy is going to leak away in some way. You're going to lose the buoyancy and begin to have a sense of a sinking feeling. the quality of your mind will also begin to sink in some way and become scattered. So, really, do your best to follow the admonitions, follow the guidelines as a way to support yourself and support each other to uphold the container. And when we do this, we see the way in which we use many excuses for

[18:21]

breaking out of being continually present in some way, not only here, but in our life, in our day-to-day life. So we're encouraged to stay with the machine and forms to help us keep our heart and mind gathered and stay in continuous contact with awareness at all times. I think the primary purpose or support of the guidelines is to support a container of silence, to stay in our own body and mind, and so that we can dwell together mutually in a sustained, still, quiet space. So this is why we're encouraged to

[19:21]

maintain our commitment to silence throughout Sashin. Not only silence outward, but also silence inward. To turn inward to that place of stillness and silence and not engage in any activity that in any way disturbs that still, quiet expression of our true being. And in doing so, if we maintain a close relationship to silence, we are able to maintain a continuity of presence at all times. And in doing so, we become more able to be with the experience that we're experiencing, regardless of what it might be. So silence itself becomes this wide, boundless,

[20:22]

spacious, holding container for our experience in which we can collect our body and minds and settle into a space in which we get to illuminate and study what it is to be human in this very mind-body, moment by moment. the forms of sushin, and sushin also allows our monkey mind, our chattering mind that's continually jumping all over the place and being forever distracted to be more controlled and to become more quiet so that big mind activity has a chance to come forward. And Suzuki Roshi said of the one who isn't busy, when small mind becomes calm,

[21:28]

Big mind starts its true activity. Most of the time in our everyday life, we are involved in the activity of small mind. That is why we should practice Zazen and be completely involved in resuming big mind. So you might be able to identify a small mind activity in the form of labeling and analyzing or judging or or complaining, or assessing, or any form of this discursive, you know, searching around, jumping around, that creates a sense of separation and dualism between our direct experience and what it is that we are perceiving in every moment. Dogen Zenji, the founder of our particular school of Zen, gave us some that we can take up during Sashin.

[22:29]

And this is from the Fukan Zazangi, which often is translated as the Universal Recommendations for Zazen or the Principles of Seated Meditation. And this is what he has to say. Seize from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech. And learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to eliminate yourself. Body and mind of themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay. For zanzen, or practice, or practice of zazen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately. Cast aside all involvements and and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad. Do not administer pros and cons.

[23:32]

Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views. Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. And further on he says, the Zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss, the practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the manifestation of ultimate reality. So according to Dogen, we are not engaging in any particular concentration, technique, or strategies, or agendas. but rather we're allowing our mind to rest as still, silent, open awareness. And this approach to Zazen, according to Dogen, is the Dharma gate of repose and bliss.

[24:38]

And this is how we find peace, tranquility, composure, a dignified calmness, as well as joy. And so our effortless effort in our practice of Zazen is allowing whatever it is that is happening to simply be what it is, without leaning into it, without grabbing it in some way, without holding on to it or suppressing it. And it also tells us, when a thought comes, be aware of it, and it will vanish. Just that. Be aware of it. Simply shine a light on it of awareness and it will simply dissolve. So test that out. Simply be aware of the thought without getting involved, without pushing it away in any way or averting it or doing anything other with it. Simply take the backward step and illuminate with the flashlight of awareness what is happening now in your mind.

[25:49]

And it's how effort leads to a sense of non-effort. And effort in this case is not about action, but about applying samadhi or concentration. It's about applying a clarity and a presence of heart-mind that is constant and consistent. So can we watch mind's activity moment by moment? Can we be aware of it without getting caught in some way? Without getting caught on the train of thoughts that carry us away from the present moment into memory, into the past, into planning, into stories or concerns about the future? into inventing some kind of speech that you're going to tell that person that annoyed you the last time that you spoke with them, you know, or daydreaming, you know, in some way, you know.

[26:55]

Just be here. Just listen. And watch the ripples of your mind as well as the breathing in your body. listening to the breath and listening to the sounds outside. Simply a deep, deep listening that comes from a place of silence. Listening to everything that is present, everything that's happening right now. Listening to the flow of your life in the midst of it as you're standing in the midst of the flood of what is your life. We often say, attend to the body. attend to the posture of the body in meditation, attend to the posture of the mind in meditation, and also attend to the breath. Be aware of your breathing. Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.

[28:01]

So if you direct the mind away from thoughts to the... spaciousness, the actual physical sensation of breathing, you will experience a sense of space. And then notice also at the bottom of your exhale how there is a small gap. And the way in which with the exhale there's a pause before the body begins the next inhale. See if you can rest your mind and presence in that gap, in that space. And if you observe very closely, you'll notice that it's very still, very quiet. And if you notice and observe, you'll see that it's the place from which everything arises in each moment.

[29:07]

So observe that space and rest there. Just watch the arising and fading of thoughts and emotions and sensations and all experience from that place. Settle there and be very, very quiet in that space. And in time, what you might notice is that gap, that space, begins to get bigger, and bigger. And in that space, you begin to be able to see things. It's the space in which insight blooms. In that stillness, in that silence, there is insight. And this actually is what we are, each of us, with no exceptions. So to rest in that space is to rest in what we actually are.

[30:10]

What is that experience for you? What is it to taste that? Sitting is actually a very physical activity. It's not really about doing stuff with the mind. It's a body practice because the transformation happens at a bodily level. And still, I would say, it's really also a question of with what do you identify in each moment? Are you identifying with the body? Are you identifying with that which is always changing, which is impermanent and conditioned in some way? Identifying with your changing sensations, with changing thoughts, with changing emotions. Or are we something else, something that is unchanging?

[31:12]

Do we identify with changing vaman or do we rest in something that is here all the time, that's available in every moment, that is quiet, that's difficult for us to see if we are also not quiet and connected with it? It's quiet, which is why we hold Sashin in silence. The outer silence of the container mirrors the truth of what we are in the deepest way. And so something in us, that place of silence in us, resonates with the silence of the container that we have created and is supported by it. And so... Silence often makes a space for what it is that we don't see on a daily basis. Here's something by Tony Packer regarding Sashim.

[32:17]

Over the years, I have wondered what it is about silent retreats that facilitate the emergence of openness, presence, and the simplicity of being. But it remains impossible to pin down in any precipitating cause. We all know that time spent in motionless silence does not necessarily lead to a quiet mind. All I can say at this moment of looking is that pure awareness is the silence of all habitual efforts to get someplace. It is the absence of any sense of me in time. In the past, all kinds of efforts were made to learn to sit still over long periods of time. which undoubtedly played a part in learning to remain motionless in the midst of fear, pain, pleasure, and the restless desire to be somewhere else. Having the opportunity to sit quietly over time, the body-mind is amazingly intelligent in learning new ways of being in the midst of the pushes and pulls of old habits.

[33:29]

Habits are energies expended. but sitting quietly is energy gathering, are wearing habits intelligently, letting them go without the effort. So wise effort entails surrendering with non-resistance to what exists in this present moment. And the very act of surrendering allows energy to be released. And then to be regathered and refocused in a way that is nourishing to our practice. So oftentimes after we've done a sushi for a few days, we notice that we have all this extra energy and we don't know what to do with it, right? And we kind of go off into the world and we kind of do a whole bunch of new activities that kind of draw it away and make it out in some way. But to actually take that energy and refocus it into our practice to allow it to nourish

[34:32]

help us to stay present in body and mind at all times, will continue to carry the container of sashim forward after sashim has formally ended. And so we are making the effort to surrender our habitual habits in some way and allow ourselves to simply rest in the still flowing waters of presence. And when we do that, the water of the present moment becomes clearer and clearer until we can see all the way down to the bottom in some way. Sushin is a chance to stop. It's to stop and remember our inmost aspiration for our lives. So Sushin is a way of offering ourselves a wonderful gift. to step out of the busyness of the world.

[35:35]

And, you know, we do have maybe important busyness at times and then also not so important busyness. But in this case, we're encouraged to stop and remember our inmost aspiration, our inmost intention, the very foundational questions of our life. So to stop and inquire, who am I? Where is meaning? What is this life about? What is the truth? Is there such a thing as freedom? Really? Now, culture doesn't actually encourage this kind of inquiry. It actually encourages us not to ask questions, not to inquire. So this activity of... Stepping into Sashin is counterculture in that way. Giving us a sense, an opportunity to settle into a space of silence which we are deeply nourished and healed.

[36:47]

Gary Roshi said that Zen practice is about a complete opening of the heart. which points to the intimacy of our effort together. In other words, our fundamental effort together is to be completely human, to be completely ourselves. And so as we sit together for the next few days and gather our hearts, minds together, we can be open and attentive and study this wondrous universal activity. because the effort that we are making is the universe making an effort. And as we make our effort to sit in harmony with ourselves, we're also making the effort to sit in harmony with the universe. So once we get up off our cushions and go back into the world, we find a way that we can be in harmony with the world and with the flow of our life as best as we can.

[38:02]

It's not that we're trying to do our best. We're just doing our best. That's really all that's ever asked of us. Suzuki Roshi reminds us, our right effort should be continued incessantly, without any gap, carried on forever. This is what we mean by to make right effort. I'm going to close with a poem, and this poem is by William Stafford, and it's titled, Being a Person. Be a person here. Stand, or sit, by the river. Invoke the owls. Invoke winter, then spring. Let any season that wants to come here make its own call. After that sound goes away, wait.

[39:02]

A slow bubble rises through the earth and begins to include sky, stars, all space, even the outracing, expanding fault. Come back and hear the little sound again. Suddenly, this dream you're having matches everyone's dream, and the result is the world. If a different call came, there wouldn't be any world, or you, or the river, or the owl's calling. How you stand or sit here is important. How you listen for the next things to happen. How you breathe. The person you are now is important.

[40:06]

The person you are now deeply matters. Your effort to be yourself is part of the universe being itself. And it affects the whole world, the effort you make here. So take your seat. Take your Dharma position. Take up your life as if it mattered, because it does. It matters because it's how the world is being dreamed, how it is being breathed. The dream we dream together makes the world. The dream of Sashin, like the bubble arising from the heart of the earth, makes the world.

[41:11]

The effort you're going to make in these next three days, or even if you're not sitting, Sashin, the minute you step out of this room makes the world. What kind of world do you want to make? What aspiration do you have for contributing to the dream of the world. And this is why it's important to proceed with great care and love, mindfully, steadily, walking like an elephant, taking our practice in that way, that careful way, right? Crossing, the river like the elephant, or crossing the flood like the Buddha. How do we do that without pushing ahead and without sinking right where we are?

[42:19]

So I'm going to end there. So those of us who are sitting sushin can now turn in and get rest for the night. And you're also welcome, if you are staying for Sushin, to go to the Zendo now and sit for a while as a way of settling in deeper into silence and stillness before turning in. And I want to thank you for maintaining the stillness and silence together and for our practice of the way together. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[43:19]

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