This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Firstly, I would like to thank my teacher, Hushin Zendo, for this opportunity. Thank you. Some beautiful rain. Marilyn and I almost didn't come. We almost walked out to the flats under our umbrellas. It gives us something to listen to. Maybe it's soothing.

[01:07]

Maybe it's a soothing sound. Maybe not. flowers, the autumn moon, cool summer breezes and the winter's rain. If useless things don't clutter the mind, you have the best days of your life. So we've come here with our wounded hearts and our wounded minds, our wounded bodies.

[02:30]

I think it's quite natural to be wounded. in this world in the Buddhist tradition the world is called the Sahara world and the Sahara world is whatever is in the reach of Shakyamuni's teaching And it's translated as the world of endurance. So this endurance refers to our wounds, to our suffering.

[03:38]

And it speaks to a long tradition of engaging this life in terms of our suffering and in terms of the suffering of others. Engaging and turning. the deepest elements of our being. And sometimes people have a response and sometimes that response is to go to the monastery.

[04:43]

Come to the monastery seeking refuge from our suffering, perhaps. From our constant efforts to endure. From the sense that there's something wrong with me, in the sense that there's something wrong with the world, or both. And we inevitably bring our conditioning with us. When we go to the monastery, we bring ourselves with us. You know, could be I'm not okay. Or that person's not okay.

[05:53]

Could be, you know, the forms are ridiculous. Or that person doesn't know how to do the forms. Or I don't want to do the forms. Or... Why do I have to get up so early? Or maybe it's the chanting. So we bring ourselves here. And I think this is quite natural to bring ourselves with ourselves. I mean, it would seem kind of strange that we wouldn't. Like if somehow we could leave ourselves somewhere and then go somewhere else without ourselves, that would be very strange. I think the Tibetans do that, but we don't do it in Zen.

[07:04]

So I'd like to give you permission to... I would like to... also have permission to experience the mind that is like this. I think it's important to experience the mind that is not enjoying things or enjoying things. Or thinking maybe that person over there in the corner is kind of crazy. And the person next to them. And the person next to them. So, yeah. So, please. If you want to think that I'm crazy, I give you permission.

[08:08]

I think Zen is about the maturation of beings. It's set up so that we mature. And we don't necessarily notice that this is happening. So it's something like, you know, a moment happens and kindness arises where, like, where in the past it wouldn't have. Maybe anger would have arisen. And maybe we don't even notice that kindness has arisen, but it has. Where a deep sense of love for another person, or compassion, or respect, just slips in there. So it seems like this Zen practice, this maturation practice, is a whole life practice.

[09:33]

It's not attainment practice. There are attainment practices that one can do, and you can attain something. But it seems to me Zen isn't bad. I think this maturation, you know, when we come to the monastery, I think this maturation is accomplished by tightening and loosening. So we come to the Ongo, we start the Ongo, we get fit into a schedule, and it feels kind of tight. And maybe we don't know our new jobs or we've never been here before, so it's, you know, we don't even, we don't know where to put our dishes or how to make tea.

[10:39]

This is tight. But then we get familiar with it. We settle down a little bit. It gets a little looser. now we have sashim we're going to tighten it up a little bit more again and i think it's um you know we come from not being in sashim to being in sashim and there's a possibility that at some point we won't be in Sushin again. And this is kind of true. But there's also something else.

[11:51]

You know, there's this notion of each moment is wholeness of Zen practice. So this each moment does not depend upon sashin or non-sashin. It doesn't depend whether the moment is up or down. or this way or that way. It's just wholeness of Zen practice. Each moment succeeding each moment. This is what's called continuous practice. And sushin is a way that we can connect with that continuous practice.

[13:11]

The nature of the schedule, the tightening of the schedule, the increased amounts of sitting. It actually enables us to awaken, to the notion that continuous practice is happening. So it's not that we sit sushin in order to practice continuous practice, but more like we sit sushin to awaken to the fact that continuous practice is happening already and has been happening. and has been successfully transmitted and continues to be ancestor to ancestor Buddha to Buddha so this tightening of the schedule allows us to

[14:31]

come into contact with that continuous practice. And this is the empowering nature of Sasheen's schedule. When we follow that schedule, it enables an awakeness. It enables a clarity A vision. Joshu asked Nansan, what is the way? Nansan said, ordinary mind is the way. Joshu said, well, should I try and find it?

[15:32]

Should I try and seek after it? Nansana said, if you do that, you'll separate from it. Joshu said, how can I know if I don't try? for me that it kind of you know it's joshua you know it's like this how can i know if i don't try it's it it's so uh he's so sincere it's it's it's so uh are you are you signaling for me to do anything no okay it's kind of heartbreaking you know How can I know if I don't try?

[16:43]

And I think we're all asking the same question, and it's kind of heartbreaking. So during Sashin, we sit more. And I would recommend that I would like to put in a plug for night sitting. You know, coming back to the Zendo after the last period. And I would I would recommend

[17:48]

you know, if you're really tired or something like that, I would recommend coming back to the zendo, sitting down on your cushion, getting up and leaving and going to bed. And there's something about coming to the zendo late night, you know, after the formal periods and just sitting down, you know, so it's like you can just sit down on your cushion, get back up. You can sit five minutes, you can sit 10 minutes, you can sit half an hour. You can sit an hour. You can sit all night if you want. So during Sashin, we attend to, we have the option of attending to a number of things. We have the option to attend to intention, posture, breath, and mind.

[18:59]

So, you know, our intention is kind of clear, actually. We talk about our intention a lot. We dedicate the merit of our activities to the welfare of all being, to the well-being of all being, to the peace and equanimity of others. So, you know, you can do this. We can do this. We can return to our intention of doing what we're doing for the benefit of others. You know, entering the zendo, wishing that all beings ascend to the unexcelled sanctuary, resting there secure and unshakable.

[20:14]

You know. Waking up in the morning. Wishing that all beings awaken to omniscience. Proceeding in all directions. Sitting down, sitting down cross-legged. That they should have firm and good roots. Firm, strong roots. and that their peacefulness is unshakable, unmovable. As we settle in our seat, I dedicate the merit of this sitting to the well-being of others. What does it mean to practice?

[21:18]

What does it mean to sit zazen? For others. Is it possible? Does that make sense to you? We can return to this intention over and over again. Sitting for others. Posture. I feel a little abashed talking to... about posture to a group of people such as yourselves who are so upright. Sitting outward I can see, you know? And you inspire me. You're pretty much constantly inspiring me by the way you're sitting. spine straight.

[22:22]

And I've heard that, you know, this notion of shin, the heart-mind, is located in where the heart is, right here. So I've heard this notion of pressing the spine to the mind. When we press the spine to the mind, Our shoulders go back. Our heart opens, chest opens. Extending the spine of the back of the head to the sky. Chin naturally goes under. Our gaze naturally falls for feet in front of us. Our hips You can move your hips, you can rotate your hips. Forward, backward. The small of the back, neither convex nor concave.

[23:31]

The mudra, the middle joint of the middle finger together. The middle joint of the middle finger together. the thumbs lightly touching like there's a piece of paper in between them and it should be an oval and it should be active by your hara and your arms your arms should be kind of bowed out like this Not too much, but they shouldn't be slack against your body. It should be as if you've got eggs in your armpits. So that we have the cosmic mudra of your hands is within another mudra of your arms.

[24:40]

This is very active sitting. Breathing. Breathing is enormously reassuring. I'm always reassured when I know I'm breathing. You can, you know, the nostrils, the back of the throat, where the air strikes the back of the throat, the whole thing, you know, like in and out, down to the bottom of the lungs.

[25:51]

That's a possibility too. Becoming aware of those moments. The rise and fall of the abdomen. These are all possible places of where we can place our, we can return to the breath. And these things you know, we return to over and over again. Tension, posture, breathing. It's no problem for us. It's what we do. It's that whole life. I'm not trying to get anywhere. Just returning. No problem. You know, if we're dwelling on something, if we're in some curative fantasy or falling asleep, returning.

[27:07]

Returning to intention, returning to posture, returning to breath. No problem. It's what happens. We get sleepy. We might even go to sleep while we're sitting. That has happened before, if you can believe that. And then you kind of wake up and you kind of return. You kind of sit upright. You kind of are reassured that you're still breathing. You're in the zendo, maybe. like maryl and i you know we clean the bathrooms you know every day and we have this soji list it's like spray disinfectant on the toilets we're like okay spray disinfectant on the toilet it's like wait 10 minutes okay you know use bon ami on the sinks the toilets and this is we just do this it's very clear and we do it we do it every day and it's no problem you know

[28:23]

that's like um that's like returning to our breath returning to our posture it's no problem once we're settled we've returned again and again you can try this when you're not settled too um but we we kind of want to maybe you know we have there's a possibility that we can engage in attending to that which arises in the stream of awareness? What's happening? The distinction between awareness and mindfulness, in my view, is awareness is kind of like a big picture. And my understanding of the term mindfulness, sati, is that it's a technical Abhidhamma term that only arises in wholesome moments of consciousness.

[29:33]

So awareness is kind of a broader picture. Actually, we want to be aware of our unwholesome moments of consciousness as well as our wholesome moments of consciousness. And my understanding is that perhaps this awareness in a wholesome moment of consciousness transforms, or just is, or is called mindfulness. So being aware, coming to some sort of awareness after being settled of What's arising in the stream of awareness? And then do nothing. Okay.

[30:41]

Do something. No, don't do anything. Be very allowing. We need to be, like, welcoming, practically. We don't want to be touching. We don't want to be getting all involved. Now, this is just something you can do, you know, or not do. I mean, really, it's kind of like not doing. It's like allowing that which arises in the stream of awareness to arise. Give it a large pasture. Don't get involved. Don't grab onto it. There's a word in Japanese called bujii.

[31:47]

I think it can be translated as no practice. And this is what it's referring to. It's referring to this... this quality of not doing anything. And we might find that this is very difficult because all of that karmic conditioning that we brought to the monastery... everything that we've learned about is that we have to do something. We have to fix it. So, you know, I would say that this is what I'm going to be doing or not doing, this sashim. This is what... kind of the outline is for sitting for me.

[32:54]

This quality of allowing the object of awareness to practice. Allowing the object of awareness practice so sometimes you know the object of awareness allows you to practice but what I suggest is that we allow the fullness of that which arise to express itself and to practice on its own And this is perhaps one way to do this, is to allow it to be welcoming, to not push it away, to not pull it towards you, not to kill it.

[34:24]

crush it but also not to keep it alive not to nourish it not avert it not grasp it like the hot iron ball that's stuck in your throat that you can't swallow and can't spit out I think this is strict practice and difficult. And so when we find ourselves moving to some other destination, we can return to

[35:33]

our intention dedicate the merit of this sitting to the welfare of all being we can return to our posture the spine to the mind into the sky active mudra breathing through the nostrils tongue on the roof of your mouth noticing the air strike the back of your throat settle I think we could do this practice forever no problem and when we're settled attend to that which arises in the stream of awareness by not getting involved by giving it a large pasture and welcoming to it.

[36:37]

This is... this is Shikantaza. This is not producing karma. And... And it's here that I have a belief that it is here that we find an end to our suffering. So I think, you know, the spring flowers and the autumn moon, summer breezes in the winter rain you know it says if useless things don't clutter the mind you know there are no useless things

[38:05]

There's not a single useless thing. How could it clutter your mind? Yeah. When it's like this, Pretty good. Thank you for your patience and your overall goodness. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma.

[39:16]

For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving.

[39:20]

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