One more, I think, I hope people will become honest and more direct, you know. That will be the, you know, root of the problem. Can you say... It's so simple to be honest and direct. Why is it so hard? Why is it so hard? Yeah. Why it is so hard is because we are trying to escape from it. We should suffer more maybe. We will not lose in suffering. But if we try to escape from it, you will be caught by it.

[01:08]

Isn't that right? And how did it get started that we try to escape suffering? Because I have the courage to face it, but it works out fine. But seldom can I do that, you know? How did it get so popular to run away from pain? You know, we have many Many, you know, ways of escaping it. Very advanced and... We have... We can now escape from this earth to the moon, even. You know, we have many, you know, ways of escaping from it. And we are, you know, we have not much courage, you know, to... or too satisfied with a cup of water, you know. We are trying to put sugar in it and, you know, and to sell something, you know, putting something, you know.

[02:18]

And it is not just exactly what I want, you know. Maybe I want a cup of plain water more. But I have to drink it, you know, because we, you know, we try to escape from something, you know, or we rely on something. We want to make ourselves happy, you know, without, you know, making ourselves really happy. But we Because we want to, you know, we want to satisfy or not satisfy. We want to, maybe we want to be fooled by something, you know, to escape actual suffering. If we are honest enough, you may say, I like brain water.

[03:24]

But if beautiful girl, some sweet like this, you don't say, no, I like water. Many things, many words, it's going with things, to sell something, to pour something on us, So in our everyday life, we find this kind of dishonesty. So if we become very frank and honest, if we try to be honest as much as we can, and if I want to have something

[04:29]

something for ourselves, you know, then various problems will be solved. So it is not possible to, you know, to change our way of life, you know, all at once, because our, you know, This kind of effort has been going for many hundreds of years after counter-reformation, maybe, or industrial reformation. This is current of our thought, I think. And we are deeply involved in it.

[05:39]

And we like to enjoy it still, you know. Hi. Did you say something to watch brand of the exact same old exact figure? Practicing that then, where? If you, you know, really want to practice, then naturally you may need some advice. You know. Practice should be for your own. Must be your own practice. So it is necessary to... Some advice or instruction is necessary.

[06:51]

So after you start, you know, after you know pretty well about your practice, you can... Do it alone, baby. If we start to talk about this kind of thing, it is, you know, endless, actually. You can do it alone. But always you should be, you should have close contact with, you know, more matured Because there is no definite, you know, concrete way of practice.

[07:54]

No, no more question? Is that okay? So Dogen Zen says, you know, two Two important things are to practice jazen and to ask advice from your teacher. These two points are very important for practice. I have something that, a question that has come up in talking about Western religious quests versus Eastern religious quests.

[09:26]

And one thing that I've heard people say is that Zen is more interested in the individual alone and not so much in the society. On the other hand, I hear... Bodhisattvas say, you know, not rest until all saintship beings. Yeah. What, really, what is them's concern with society as a whole? Society as a whole. Or all of the people in the country, all of the people in the world. Is it? Is it only a thing that's so difficult that maybe judge the people? It's such an individual thing. Or is there some hope? All of the world.

[10:28]

All over the world, including stones and trees and everything. That is our way. Not only human beings. That is, you know, so we are not interested in individual practice, so-called individual practice. We do not acknowledge any self, you know. He may disagree with me. Please come here. Your self, you know, will be found in your surrounding, you know. You will be always completely, you know, absorbed in what you see.

[11:39]

If you are not fooling yourself, you know. if you exist here, you know. That is very true. We know that. So, we have no individual practice in its usual sense. Our individual practice includes, you know, No one can practice alone. No. No individual. No practice just for yourself. You know.

[12:44]

To take care of gender is practice. To take care of Your own kitchen is practice. We understand practice in that way. How you know how to take care of your kitchen is how you sit. Even though you sit, you have many problems, you know, drowsiness, pain in your legs. and posture, and you have to take care of your breathing. And your posture should not be like this. You should be always straight. There are many things to take care of in your practice. We are not just sitting on cushion, you know.

[13:47]

sleeping. We are taking care of everything. Just you take care of your family, your children. That is real practice, you know. So if you know how to take care of your practice, you will know how to take care of your business, you know, in its true sense. Sometimes, a businessman doesn't take care of his own business. He takes care of something quite different, you know, beautiful girls or bank books. That is the problem, you know. You said that during practice,

[14:52]

A student can do, must be careful not to be too little or too much. For example, too little, you said you might fall asleep. What do you mean by too much? How is it possible to do too much or try too much? Too hard, you know, too hard. To get up, you know, too early, you know. Before other students in bed, to get up. to sit. That is not good practice. You know, our rules are not so loose, you know. Our rules are just right. If you try to do more, you will be exhausted. You cannot keep your practice for seven days. Eventually, you will give up.

[15:53]

That is the result, you know. So, you know, this much care, you know, it's necessary on the part of the teacher or leader. The great teachers are doing, you know, just enough and not much.

[16:55]

Sometimes they wear, you know, gorgeous, you know, and beautiful hat and, you know, long stuff, you know. Beautiful sandals and beautiful fish, you know. You may think that is too much, but actually maybe too much. Maybe too much, but the reason why they do so is people like it. So he may say, you know, even though I wear a gorgeous robe, this is just right for the people, for, you know, people, contemporary people, he may say. maybe before i finish my lecture i you know let me talk more about kumasa zenji i rather you know angry with him because i was fooled by him for maybe more than 30 years

[18:36]

And I found out that I was fooled by him, you know, some 30 years ago. And, you know, he gave us some Zen story during session time. We were sitting in cold, cold Zendo for seven days at a hedge in the snow. And we are, you know, very serious practice. Of course, we are so young. One morning, Kumazawa, late Kumazawa Zenji. At that time, he was the director of the Eheichi Monastery.

[19:42]

came to Zendo and gave us Zen story. He said, do you understand this story? He said, a sparrow, a sparrow broke, you know, a big stone, a gate. Tori, Ishinotori means, you know, big gate built by, built of stone. As sick as this, maybe, I don't know how big. But a sparrow break it. I don't know how, maybe by stepping on it. And he said, do you understand? We thought that it's some koan, you know, we must serve during seven-day session.

[20:53]

And he started to talk about it in very serious mood. I didn't like, you know, that kind of, you know... story, Zen story, so-called Zen story. I feel as if wherever I read or hear Zen story, I felt as if I was fooled by someone without giving not much reason for it. So, you know, they talk about something funny. Because I didn't like it, so I remembered it, what he said. I still remembered it. But the other day, you know, when I, you know, think about what he said, you know, when I read it, what he said, ah, kosuzume ga, kosuzume ga ishinotori iwo o fumi otte.

[22:12]

What does it mean? Of course, in Japanese, I'm sorry. Ah, it is Japanese. Fumiota means, you know, to step on it and break it, it's to Fumioro. But another meaning may be Funde Ita. A sparrow was stepping on the, you know, stone, funde ita. Was stepping on the stone, back and forth, you know. For me, oru, oru is, one meaning is break, and the other meaning is, it's on it, stepping on it, it's the other meaning. What he said was he was, you know, seriously talking about it as if a sparrow was breaking, you know, has broken the big stone gate.

[23:27]

But before he started to talk about, to say something, to explain that koan, He repeated, did you understand? Did you understand? No one could understand that it was a joke. Because we were too serious. No one talked about his joke or his corn after that session time. Because no one could understand what he meant. Or no one could understand that was just a joke.

[24:34]

that is another side of the serious, you know, practice. That is, you know, if we could, if someone could, you know, no, that was just joke, you know. We are practicing very good practice, not too much effort, not too little effort. Maybe we are wasting our effort, making some excessive effort, too much effort. So we lost our usual thinking mind. That is how we obtain our true practice. He was a really great Zen master.

[25:51]

That is, you know, how you solve the problem. If every, you know, governor of the United States is like him, not much promise may not arise. Even though someone is very, you know, murdered him, they treat him just, you know, just right. Not to, you know. not strong or not soft. That is not something which we can attain by skill or by repeating things.

[27:02]

But if you know, just know what is real practice, then you will have just You can do things just right. Thank you very much.

[27:19]

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