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. Welcome to those of you who just came in from around around this temple. We're having a practice intensive here for three weeks, and we're right in the middle now. I thought I would start by giving a kind of frame for the way I will behave this morning. So the way I'm going to be expressing myself in your presence, and my expression I think may be an earnest assertion.

[01:28]

I will probably be making earnest assertions. sincere assertions, which are also thought experiments. Also. They're both assertions, but also, in a way, they're thought experiments. assertions like some objective reality other than how you work with what is asserted. But they're not just thought experiments. They're something I'm going to offer with some in earnestness. In earnest means vigorous or bold, strenuous, energetic. even though I offer with some energy, it doesn't mean I'm saying this is like objectively true.

[02:35]

I'm just saying, I assert this. I assert that. I propose this. And then you can, and when you hear those, whatever I say, or when you see whatever I do, those are offered to you as thought experiments for you. ways for you to look at life and watch how you do. Here's an assertion. We living beings, humans and even non-humans, are what we call bodhisattvas. How many people are not familiar with the term bodhisattva? Bodhisattva, bodhi, is a Sanskrit word meaning awakening, enlightenment.

[03:44]

The word Buddha is made on the same root as bodhi. And sattva means being. So literally it's an enlightening being. enlightening beings beings in a process of becoming greatly compassionate and wise bodhisattvas are on this path such a path when when the Tibetans translated the word from Sanskrit to Tibetan, they translated it as heroes of enlightenment. Or heroines of enlightenment. So it's a kind of heroic path. So there's a, I assert. And I can assert other things, but I'm starting by asserting that we, all of us living beings, are on a path to Buddhahood.

[04:57]

And if you don't agree with me, then that's the way you're on the path. If you reject the assertion, the assertion is that that's the way you are, and you are, and the way you are is on this path. And this path is not just that this path to Buddhahood is not just so that you become a Buddha. The path to Buddhahood is the path of you helping everybody become Buddha even before yourself. It's not, this bodhisattva path is not about me becoming free and me becoming content and peaceful. It's about helping others to become free and at peace.

[06:05]

And so I propose to you that we're all on such a path, even though we may not know it. And most human beings do not know it, although I haven't really conducted a survey of all human beings. But I have met some human beings who hear about the bodhisattva path, and they graciously inform me that they're not on it. They come to a Zen temple, which is a place set up to train bodhisattvas. And they come and they hear what a bodhisattva is, somebody who's devoting their life to the welfare... all beings, and they come and they tell me, you know, I'm not actually devoted to the welfare of all beings. I am devoted to the welfare of me. May I stay at the Zen Center.

[07:08]

May I continue to practice here, even though I do not wish my life to be devoted to the welfare of others. And so far, I've always said yes. when they ask me. Maybe someday some really advanced bodhisattva might say that to me, just to test me. And I might say, no. But after you leave, can I come with you and study with you? So that's kind of assertion number one. And it's a thought experiment. Please consider that you might be a bodhisattva and that everybody else is.

[08:09]

Bodhisattvas, at some point, but not necessarily... Some bodhisattvas have not made bodhisattva vows, but at some point bodhisattvas do sort of notice that they wish to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all beings. And then sometimes they make a commitment, they make a vow. A vow to realize enlightenment. in order to help all beings be free and dwell in peace. They vow to realize enlightenment so they may make an unceasing effort to free all beings.

[09:23]

so they may be peaceful and at peace. Another way to say it is, another bodhisattva vow is, I vow to hear the true Dharma, to hear and understand the true teachings so that I may make an unceasing effort to free all beings so they can dwell in peace. Realizing enlightenment and understanding the truth are synonymous. And bodhisattvas vow to realize enlightenment in order to help all beings realize it. They vow to hear the true dharma to help all beings realize and hear the true dharma. True dharma is one word, another word is inconceivable, wondrous dharma.

[10:55]

So in this school we say that all the Buddhas... and ancestor bodhisattvas, all those who take care of this wondrous teaching, this wondrous enlightenment, all those who take care of it, all those who transmit it, they have a wondrous way. Those who transmit the wondrous dharma have a wondrous way of transmitting it. They transmit a practice. They transmit a mind. And the practice they transmit, the mind they transmit, is a samadhi. They transmit a samadhi. And samadhi is another Sanskrit word which could be translated as...

[11:59]

and a collected, unified awareness, undistracted, settled, calm, flexible, open, available for any wholesome activities. It's often translated as concentration, but concentration maybe seems like focused on some particular topic which is maybe too tight. It's open. It's not distracted by anything. Nothing disturbs it. And it's flexible. So in this intensive, we've been trying to take care of samadhi. So the mind of the Buddha is a samadhi, is a collected, calm, flexible awareness which is realizing the truth and realizing awakening.

[13:29]

And in that samadhi there is an unceasing effort of freeing beings from suffering and helping them dwell in peace. That's what's going on in the Buddha Samadhi. So Buddhas are transmitting the Samadhi as a way to transmit the liberation and peace of all beings. there are many ways of instructing living beings in the care of samadhi. One way of instructing beings to care for samadhi, what's samadhi?

[14:36]

It's an awareness. So there is an assertion, there is an awareness. There is an awareness which is open, calm, flexible, bright, undistracted, undistracted, undisturbed, peaceful, joyful. There is an awareness like that. And we have the bodhisattvas' vow to take care of that awareness, to go with the vow of helping beings. So the instruction to care for that is sometimes like this. Give up thinking. Sometimes people say stop thinking, but it's more like when there's thinking going on, for the sake of taking care of this awareness, let go of your thinking.

[15:42]

So right now I'm thinking, and you might be thinking too. And maybe everybody here, all the living beings in the room, each one is thinking in a little bit different way. So each one has a little bit different thinking to let go of if they would like to let go of it. And then someone says, but I can't let go of it, right? Well, actually, yeah, that's right. I can't really let go of it. because I let go of it is another thought. So I let go of my thinking, that thought I would also want to let go of, or I would want that thought to be released. So maybe it's more like be mindful of letting go. This awareness is already here. The way of taking care of it is to be mindful of it. Be mindful of letting go of whatever I'm thinking.

[17:00]

And that instruction is, most people have trouble understanding it, and that's fine. And if you have a teacher who understands how to apply this, you can talk to your teacher about it. But sometimes what the teacher does is give another instruction, which is kind of an indirect way of taking care of letting go of thinking. And that is like to be mindful of your posture or to be mindful of your breathing. So sometimes if people are mindful of their breathing, while they're mindful of their breathing, they let go of their thinking. Yeah.

[18:10]

Or sometimes someone, if you had a meditation instructor and the teacher said, I'm going to teach you now how to let go of thinking. And you say, OK. And then they throw a ball to you. And you reach up and catch the ball. And when you reached up and caught it at that time, you really weren't thinking about anything. You just were boop. That's it right there. How you were at that time. Or another example. Instruction I heard one time is a teacher said to a student, I want you to find your place. Now, some people, when they hear that instruction, they don't move. And they might say, the place is found. Other people wander around looking for their place.

[19:16]

And finally, they don't move. And when they stop moving, they find their place. There's a famous series of novels by an author named Castaneda. And in the first novel, the teacher says to him, Tonight, I want you to find your place. So he spends the night looking for his place. And the next morning, the teacher said, Did you find your place? And he said, No. The teacher said, where did you lie down and go to sleep? And he said, over there. And the teacher said, that's your spot. That's your place. It's his place because that's the place he stopped moving. Your place right now is where you are. But if I ask you to find your place and you go away, you just lost your place.

[20:21]

because you think it's someplace other than this. So the next place you move to, you think your place is someplace other than this. When you stop moving, you have found your place. So another instruction for caring for samadhi is be still. But another instruction instead of be still is remember stillness. Remember the samadhi. You don't have to do anything to not move. But people sometimes have trouble understanding how to take care of something without doing something to take care of it. So then sometimes we say, well, take care of this. And while they're taking care of this, they discover not doing anything, or they discover stillness.

[21:24]

already are living beings we don't have to move to be a living being and for a living being to be a living being is the samadhi and for a living being to be a living being is stillness But again, you don't do stillness. You being you is stillness. And remembering this stillness doesn't make the stillness. Remembering that you're a living being doesn't make you a living being. But living beings do have the ability to remember that they're living beings and to remember

[22:43]

that being a living being is precisely what is meant by enlightenment. And to be remembering this and remembering this and practicing remembering this is the way to receive and transmit the Buddha mind samadhi. If you seem to be moving, then being the person who seems to be moving, if you seem to be a living being who's moving, who's making gestures and who's talking, the condition of being who you are at that moment, which seems to be a living, moving,

[24:26]

person, that condition itself is not moving. And that condition itself is enlightenment. To be distracted from that and think you have to go someplace to be yourself or go someplace to be enlightenment, you then do the magical trick of not being who you are. And then you miss that being who you are is awakening, even though all the while being who you are is never avoided and is realizing enlightenment. So I'm telling those of you who came in today that this is what we've been working on, that people have been in this valley hearing me talk like this for 10 days, and they're still here. Although some of them have caught a cold, so they have an excuse to not listen to me.

[25:31]

But anyway, we're focusing on, or we're being mindful of, the Buddha mind. The Buddha mind, which is a samadhi, the Buddha mind samadhi. For most people, it takes quite a bit of training to remember stillness. Because our nervous system is kind of like, move, move, move. It's hard to keep up with ourselves, to not be thrown off by our obsessions and hysterias. It's hard to keep abreast of the times. It's hard to keep your abreast right up to the time and not have it be ahead or behind. Right here, right here.

[26:35]

It's hard to remember that. For most of us, we have to train. But here's an assertion that if we train long enough, we will be able to actually be present and remember stillness. continuously. But even some of the greatest teachers had said that it took them a long time of training before they were able to be continuously still. And then everything changes and still again. And everything changes and still again. Gets spun around and flipped around, still. It takes training. Slapped in the face, still. But we've been working at it, and you're welcome to work at it, too. You don't have to be in this valley to be still. Wherever you are all day long, being who you are is stillness. In the description or the announcement of this intensive, there was some words

[27:49]

And the words were something like, the wooden man sings and the stone woman dances. Or you could say, the wooden woman sings and the stone man dances. Do you care which way it goes? Are you equally cool with stone... Man and stone woman, wooden woman, wooden man. Most of you probably have seen stone woman, stone woman, haven't you? There was an English sculptor who sculpted a lot of stone women, reclining stone women. His name was Moore. What was his whole name? Thomas. Henry.

[28:52]

Henry Moore. He sculpted a lot of stone women. They're out in the grass in England right now, reclining. And they actually, their shape is very samadhi-like, very smooth and relaxed and very collected. Plump and fully collected into their stone form of female shape. And there can be, there's also many stone men around the world that you may have seen. Like there's one in Washington, D.C., there's a stone man that looks like Abraham Lincoln. So you've seen these stone men. The name of the The words were, though, stone man, wooden man sings.

[29:55]

I have not seen any wooden men singing. I have not seen the appearance of stone women dancing. But in the samadhi, in the Buddha samadhi, there we have wooden men singing and stone women dancing. No words, like for example the word stone or the word woman, no words can reach this stone woman who is getting up to dance, who's living in the samadhi.

[31:04]

Enlightenment is living in samadhi. So if we take care of the samadhi, we'll find enlightenment living there. And we'll also find other inconceivable things wondrous phenomena living in enlightenment, like stone woman dancing. But the words stone woman dancing don't reach this stone woman. The words Wooden man. Don't reach the wooden man. No words reach him. But he's singing. He's not created.

[32:07]

He's not fabricated. He's an unconstructedness in stillness. And he's singing. He's singing. And although words don't reach him, he's not without words. So this samadhi where the wooden man is singing, the samadhi can talk. It can sing. And it does. And it is singing right now. And the woman who is dancing in this Buddha mind samadhi she's dancing right now with the wooden singer and although no gestures reach her like hi no gestures reach her but she's not without gestures

[33:17]

She does gestures, she does mudras, she takes shapes all day long. Up in the treetop all day long, hopping and bopping and doing her dance. Her dance is an inconceivable, wondrous mind of enlightenment. It's going on all day long. I can't see it as an appearance. My conscious mind cannot reach it. No consciousness can reach this dance and this singing. But consciousnesses can care for this samadhi, and in caring for this samadhi, we realize the samadhi, which our consciousness doesn't reach.

[34:34]

Which applies to everything. Anything you take care of, you can realize it, but you can't reach it. sitting in front of you and you sitting in front of me. We are, we have been, I have been, maybe you don't think you have been, but I have been singing. Maybe you saw me. Did you see me singing? Hopping and bopping and singing his song. Am I singing? Some enchanted evening, you may meet a stranger.

[35:52]

You may meet a stranger across a crowded room. I'm singing. I perceive myself singing. Do you perceive me singing? I'll keep singing until you can perceive me singing. You're not made of wood. I'm not made of wood, correct. I am a flesh and blood singer. I'm a living being singer. I also have been dancing. Have you noticed me dancing? I've been sitting here dancing. It's a sitting dance. Up on my cushion all day long, hopping and a-bopping and singing my song.

[36:54]

I sit right there and all day long. Well, there's breaks, you know. We take breaks and walk and have... you know, go to the toilet and take naps. And then we come back. Sit in the Zafu all day long, hopping and a-bopping and singing our song. All the little birds in Green Gulch Farm love to see each other singing their song. So... I am singing and dancing all day long, and I'm not wood and I'm not stone. And even the wooden man and stone woman, no word, the word wood and stone do not reach these critters. No consciousness reaches them, but their song and their dance is inconceivable.

[37:57]

My dance is conceivable. Anyway, one of my dances is inconceivable. Some of my dances are inconceivable. And some of my songs are inconceivable. I might have got some conceivables and inconceivables mixed up there. But you probably perceived them. The way I take care of this samadhi is by my perceptible activities, my flesh and blood activities. That's how I take care of the imperceptible playfulness and imperceptible, inconceivable creativeness of the samadhi of the Buddhas, wherein

[38:59]

beings are being liberated and brought to peace. I do it by my conceivable, perceptible actions of body, of posture, of voice, and of thinking. I say I do that, but also you do that. But do I remember to do it? Am I mindful of it? My mindfulness might be interrupted. So again, in samadhi there is wondrous playfulness where all beings are in harmony, liberating each other, resonating with each other, imperceptibly helping each other all day long in the Buddha's samadhi. So I wish to take care of the samadhi which I cannot see.

[40:02]

It is imperceptible and the activities which are occurring in this samadhi the tremendous activity that's going on without moving the tremendous activity of things being themselves the tremendous activity of enlightenment you being yourself has a great function it is not you being you is Stillness, it's not moving, and it liberates being. And it's inconceivable how that happens. So, I believe in this inconceivable process of liberation, which we are involved in together, and that is a samadhi which I'm taking care of, and the way I take care of it is with my perceptible singing and dancing and thinking. I use the perceptible to care for the imperceptible.

[41:09]

I use the conceivable to care for the inconceivable. And in using our daily life actions of body, speech, and thought, by using those activities for the sake of realizing this Buddha mind, That's the way the Buddha mind gets realized. And there's not another way. This is rather difficult to understand, and even if you do, it's just for the moment, and then you have to do it again. The more we do it, the deeper the understanding. But there is a thing in our human mind which thinks, well... the inconceivable, this inconceivably wonderful way all beings are helping each other, the imperceptible way we're all helping each other. That's over there. And then over here is the perceptible way.

[42:14]

Okay, I can go with that. But what I'm saying to you is that this imperceptible way that we're helping each other will not be realized except through your daily life. That's the only way to realize it. But your daily life will not look different. You use however your daily life looks, you use the way it looks to realize something that doesn't look any way, to realize something that's beyond appearances. I see some furrowed brows. Furrowed brows are acceptable. Use the furrow. Use it. How? This furrow, this facial gesture is expressing.

[43:19]

I want it to express. I want it to realize the Buddha face. which may or may not have furrows, I have no idea. So I'm not too happy with this calligraphy, but anyway, I wrote out of Chinese characters. And the characters are about this mindfulness of not just the mindfulness of enlightenment,

[44:29]

Not just that, which is a good thing to be mindful of. I have no problem with being mindful of enlightenment. It's not just mindful of the samadhi. It's not just remembering stillness. But remembering stillness is, I recommend it. Remember being yourself. And remember that you being you is precisely what is meant by enlightenment. You can remember that. I try to remember that. Did you hear what I just said? Remembering what? The condition of you being you is precisely what's meant by enlightenment. You can remember that. But these characters are referring to something called grandmother mind. Grandmother mind isn't just remembering. the Buddha's samadhi, it's not just remembering living for the welfare of all beings.

[45:41]

It's not just remembering an unceasing effort to free all beings, although it is remembering that. That's part of what it's remembering. It's remembering freeing all beings so they can dwell in peace. But not just that. It's remembering that What you're doing right now is the only way right now that what you're remembering will be realized. That's called Grandmother Mind. This is an ancient expression, and in Japanese, the way of pronouncing is ro-ba-shin, which this literally means old, old wife or old grandmother, heart, mind, or heart.

[46:45]

But in modern Chinese, the first two characters, ro-ba, it means just old lady as in my old lady. It means a wife. But it also means grandmother. Grandmother mind. It's hard for us to understand that the liberation of all beings cannot be anything other than what we're doing. However, if we don't remember... the liberation of all beings, and that it must be what we're doing right now, otherwise it doesn't get realized, then it doesn't get realized. Because we're looking someplace else for the realization. The realization cannot... It's not the kind of realization that's someplace else.

[47:50]

That's not realization. Realization is here. But if we don't remember that it's here... and allow here to be the realization of it, then we don't believe it's here, and we might even be looking someplace else. And usually, people who are trying to practice are looking someplace else for realization. It's normal. Even great ancestors who were told by great teachers, your daily life is the only way to realize the Buddha mind, they couldn't believe it. They still thought, There must be some Buddha mind that's beyond what I'm doing right here. Well, maybe there is, but even if there is, it's still the same thing as what you're doing here. So it's difficult to understand. This stick I mentioned to some people before, on this stick it says, diligently or energetically care for...

[48:53]

Stillness. And you can hold the stick up like this and remember to diligently care for samadhi. But you can also put it upside down and diligently care for samadhi. And you can also put it down and say hello to somebody and diligently care for samadhi. Of course, you can forget. But if I forget, then I might say, I forgot. And now I'm here again. And me forgetting, when I'm forgetting, the condition of me being forgetful, that is precisely enlightenment. I don't have to move from being forgetful of stillness

[49:55]

I can be still while I'm forgetting to be still. And I am always still when I forget. And I am still when I remember. And so are you. That's an assertion, which is a thought experiment. The assertion is... I've made many assertions. So the assertion that you being you... is precisely what's meant by bodhi. That's an assertion, but it's also a mind experiment. For you to be enlightened is precisely to be still, is precisely to not move from where you are now. To find where you are, where you are now, is realization of the true Dharma. Living beings have better things to do than that. However, the good news is, or I think it's good news, this is an assertion, the good news is that even while you think there's something better than realizing the true dharma and liberating all beings, while you're doing those things which you think are better than that,

[51:21]

You can use those things which are better than that to realize that. Because that uses everything, even the disagreement with itself. I don't know if you could follow that, could you? I barely could follow it myself. I have this thought, you didn't talk way too long. Maybe a little bit. So I'm available to discuss how to do this practice, which is how to do the practice of being still.

[52:31]

and how that realizes the liberation of all beings. Because it's kind of difficult to understand. And then it's difficult to remember it, what you just understood. So we have to go over it quite a few times for quite a few years. So that's why we have the Zen Center. So thank you for... listening to these assertions and maybe trying some thought experiments this morning. I pray that you realize the liberation of all beings in your daily life. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

[53:38]

For more information, visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[53:49]

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