I don't know. Last night a question came up about, should we light the altar for tea? I think it was. And so I want to explain why we don't do that. We already know this, probably. Could you move the microphone just a hair away from you? A hair which way? So, we usually make an offering in the morning to Shakyamuni Buddha. We open the Zen door and we bow and so forth and make an offering of flowers. But customarily, or historically, the monks don't eat afternoon.

[01:10]

They only eat, they eat at a meal, at noon, a long meal. And they don't eat at a meal in the afternoon, and so forth. They cheat a little bit. where I'd have tea with a cookie or fruit juice or something, you know, to keep them happy. Or, who was it? Dr. Johnny, the Indian scholar who taught at Cal for a long time. He said that he did this once at a retreat with the monks. And the only thing the monks ever talked about was how hungry they were. And that happened to us at Atasahara in 1969, matter of fact, when we were still dead.

[02:19]

I didn't know anything about, we'd only been there a couple of years, 67, we opened Taza Hard, 69, we had the big snow. And that's another whole story. All we were talking about was eating food. Anyway, so when I had a meal, We offer the meal to, we have the train, we offer the meal to Shakyamuni. And then, that's the end. All the rest of the time, as a monk, you don't eat until the next, no meal, believe it or not. And so, but we have a meal in the morning that's Chinese. You have a meal in the morning, you have a meal, and maybe some monks still only eat one meal a day.

[03:23]

I don't remember who did that. Well, anyway, so that's why we don't do an offering for tea in the afternoon, because that's the tea is for the monks. It's not offered to Buddha. So we don't light the altar. in that way. And for dinner, that's called medicine. A medicinal meal. And that's offered to the monks, but he doesn't eat it. So he has to serve himself just one meal a day, one meal. So Sergeant, we do a little service right before dinner. Then we put out the big candle Evening service?

[04:26]

Evening service is medicinal service. That's a good question about evening service. Well, that's a service that we offer to Buddha, but it's not a meal. It's not just that if we do a service for Buddha, can we light the whole thing? It doesn't have to be a meal. Why would one make an offering for dinner? When we make an offering, that's when we... So we have a service, but we don't make an offering, no offering at dinner.

[05:31]

Well, we're offering our activity to Buddha. We're offering our activity to the whole universe, right? Because everything we do is I give it to the world, everything we do is given away to the universe. We're not doing it just for ourselves. So that's like, we make that connection, that whatever merit is accrued from this activity we offer to the universe, which is basically Buddha, right? Yeah, so we make these, like at Tassajara, in the morning we have all these small altars around and we make offerings. But usually a crew leader makes the offerings.

[06:53]

So in tea, which is how you open your talk today, there is no tea that is lit during the tea. After tea, we light a little yellow candle as an offering to Buddha or Arhat. that the yellow candle is always lit when we're in here. Oh, that's right. I thought you were talking about lighting the side candles. The side candles. Yeah. So, at T, the yellow candle is also lit. Yeah, but it's not operating. Right. I'll change the direction of the... Oh, no, that's right. Is that a plant? Is that something?

[07:55]

What kind of kind of compost? Just to have the presence of light. that was just oversight intentional. Oh, probably, sure. Can I ask a form question? Oh, of course.

[09:11]

It's kind of like forms you're talking about. When we start, when we get off our seats for kin-handing, do we bow at all to our seats and away from our seats, or can we just turn and do kin-handing? Oh, I understand what you're talking about. But, you get off the top, and if you want to adjust your cushion, then you adjust your cushion, and then you bow, and then you turn around, and bow, and do Kevin. But if you're not doing that, there's no need to bow. Then you get off the cushion. You have a choice. I mean, it's, you know, against the rules, but to have a choice. But we do it anyway, right? Yes. So anyway, but I just wanted to, when I said that, so I want to conclude

[10:26]

my talk on the missions you make today. I'm just going to read a little bit, as a synopsis, to get into the other side of the page. Synopsis. Were you old enough to remember Prince Valiant? Prince Valiant was in the comics for years and years. kind of street comic.

[11:29]

So, I'm not going to talk about this, I'm just going to read it. The Great Wall is vast, neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are irresolute. Someone brought that up, that word irresolute, to me, because I pondered it. I can't go back there, though. The man has the tardy way to go. Kundalini never keeps without nouns. Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. Let go, and things are just as they are. While the essence neither departs nor abides. According with your nature, abide with the way. Wander at ease without vexation. According to your nature, I can't help but make comment, you know. So everybody's got the same nature and a different nature. We're all the same and we're all completely different.

[12:36]

So according with your nature, you know, Tsukuyoshi always talked about you have to find your own way. I can only point to this and that, but you have to find your own way according to your nature. So if we try to make everybody the same, And by what we do, you know, when we come into the Zen Dojo, we all wear kind of the same clothes, dark, and we do the same things. We all do the same things at the same time. But that's only one aspect of practice. It's only one aspect of practice. The rest of the time, you have to find your own way, according to your nature. So, let go, and things are as they are. While the essence neither departs nor abides.

[13:39]

According to nature, abide with the way. Wander at ease without vexation. While thought is in bondage, the truth is hidden. for everything becomes murky and unclear. The burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What is the use of being partial and one-sided? So, if you wish to walk the course of the real vehicle, do not be repelled by the sense realm. I'm just going to finish this little paragraph. With no aversion to the sense realm, we become one with enlightenment. The wise have no motives. The foolish put themselves in bondage. There is one Dharma and not many. The deluded mind clings to this and that. So the text says, if you wish to walk the course of the one vehicle,

[14:46]

They're not being repelled by the sense realm. So there are three vehicles, which are stated in the Lotus Sutra. The Shravaka vehicle, which is the arhats. The Pracheka Buddha vehicle, which is the solitary Buddhas. And then there's the Bodhisattva, vehicle, and the Buddha vehicle includes all three. But there's always like, which vehicle is this? And, you know, the Shravaka vehicle is sometimes called Heliana, which is a very narrow way of practice. The Pratyekabuddha vehicle is the one who actually has realization but does not transmit it to anyone, according to the critics.

[15:52]

I've been reading a little booklet about the Pratyekabuddhas and it's very interesting. because it's not exactly like what is usually described as their practice. Then there's the Bodhisattva vehicle. So in the Bodhisattva vehicle, it's the Mahayana. And the Buddha vehicle includes actually all three. Suzuki Yoshi used to say, we, as you know, our practices, Mahayana practice, Hinayana practice actually, was the Mahayana attitude or mind. So, the Shravaka vehicle wants to deny the sense realm.

[16:59]

And this is the critical assessment of the so-called Haryana narrow practice, is that it does not add the sense realm from the enlightened realm. So, the attitude is, if you repress the sense realm, then the spiritual realm becomes stronger. So, that attitude has been rejected by people. which is the wider vehicle. That is the Mahayana that stresses the non-duality of the sense realm and the higher realms.

[18:14]

So if you wish to walk the course of the world vehicle, don't be repelled by the sense realm. With no aversion to the sense realm, you become one with enlightenment. The wise have no motives. The foolish put themselves in bondage. But I think the men have no motives, means no gunning, not to do something, not to create activity that is aimed at So, it was just one Dharma, not many. The devoted mind comes to this and that. I think that many here are seeking big mind or small mind, using reasoning, mental reasoning, to understand the big mind, which is beyond reasoning.

[19:35]

So, since you're a man with mind, is this not the greatest of mistakes? So, sometimes this is called the mosquito biting the iron bull. The iron bull is pretty big, and for the mosquito to understand it is pretty hard. The alien mind, it gets the duality of tranquility and confusion. But mind awakened transcends both of them. Delusion spawns dualities, and those dreams are merely flowers in the sky. Why work so hard at grasping them? Gain and loss, right and wrong, discard them once and for all. That sounds good, but pretty hard. That's the difficulty. Sometimes people say, oh Zen, really hard.

[20:42]

But they don't understand why. The reason why is because getting lost, right and wrong, is the hardest thing. So if the eye never sleeps, all dreams will cease of themselves. So I never sleep, the eye never sleeps, you see, rest never sleeps. But the idea of the eye never sleeping was, I've always been aware. Only being aware. If the mind does not discriminate, the 10,000 things are all one suchness. When a deep mystery of one suchness is fathomed, we are released from all entanglements.

[21:49]

I think I talked about entanglements yesterday. Don't get me talking about kato. philosophical of 20 lines. Usually in Taiwanese it means something, confusion. But Dogen talks about it as beyond confusion and clarity. Trial and violence usually are the result of karma. or ancient twisted karma, tangled karma. But its entanglements are important between student and teacher. It has a deep connection.

[22:52]

When 10,000 things are involved in a oneness, they return to things as they are. When a subject disappears, there can be no measuring or comparing. A subject is myself against objects. So how do we reconcile subject an object as one. Fuzuki Roshi and other teachers always talk about Zen practice. We do one thing thoroughly. We are at one with one activity. The one activity eliminates the split between the subject and object.

[24:02]

The subject disappears into the object, and the object is one with the subject. So that's why in Zen practice, to not depend on dualistic thinking, but to simply be one with our activity, And that's demonstrated by drinking a cup of tea. When I look around the window at tea time, I see who's doing this and who's taking care of their thing, one with the tea in the cup. There's something called casual activity and something that's called strict activity. But strict activity can be casual, and it's still strict. And casual activity can look like it's lazy, but it's actually strict.

[25:07]

Because the person is so, a mature Zen student, can be very casual in how they relate to objects, and to when looking, when drinking, when eating, when doing all these activities. Oryoking is a wonderful activity, a demonstration of letting go of duality, the food, the bowls, the cloths, and the person. You let go of your subjectivity within the activity itself. And allow the universal activity to manifest through you.

[26:13]

So when we allow the universal activity to manifest through our activity, when we give ourselves over to that with awareness, That's letting go of self. That's why we don't have formal practice. One reason why we don't have formal practice is to allow us to let go of extraneous activity, extraneous thinking, and just be one with our activity. So, we're so lucky to be able to do this for seven days. That's what I'm talking about. Just this. Just this. Our practices are simple.

[27:21]

Just this. If we actually practice just this, that's enlightened practice. I don't want to explain anything. But don't let time rule us. Master Joshu, the monk S. Joshu, I never have enough time to do anything. I'm just being, you know, and Joshua says, well, you are ruled by time, you are ruled by time, not ruled, but you are driven by time, and I drive time. I have time for everything. And so Zuckerberg, he gave me a note, he said, he didn't say exactly, Just be one with time.

[28:25]

Don't go too fast, don't go too slow. Just walk gently in time. Well, 10,000 things are valid in our awareness when we try to think as they are, or as it is. When a subject disappears, there can be no measuring or comparing. Consider motion in stillness. In stillness, in motion. both living and stillness disappear. While such dualities cease to exist, oneness itself cannot exist.

[29:33]

So even oneness is wiped out. To this ultimate formality, no law or description applies. In other words, you can't explain it. Maybe you can. In these days of science, science explains everything, right? For the unified mind, in accord with the way, all self-centered striving ceases. Anxious doubts are completely cleared, and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke, we are freed from bondage. Nothing clings to us, and we hold to nothing. All is empty, clear, and self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power. The problem is that we'd like to be bound.

[30:37]

We do. We'd like to be bound. We like it when we're trapped, but because we don't realize that we are, necessarily. And freedom looks like... What did I do with myself? I was saying that the food of the sages tastes like nothing at all to the ordinary person. So, for the light of land, the light of land's without a gap. For the light of land, in accord with the way, all self-centered striving ceases.

[31:41]

Anxious doubts are completely cleared, and life in true faith is possible. True faith is like, well, what do you depend on? Basically, true faith means, well, what do you rely on? Well, that's a good, that's a great comment. What do I rely on? What do I really rely on? You can really work on that for a long time. Or not. I have just doubts. are completely clear and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke, we are freed from bondage. This is like, like catch-all, maybe, or a single stroke, we are freed from bondage. Nothing clings to us, and we hold to nothing.

[32:45]

All is empty, clear, and self-eliminating. And with all the exertion of the mind's power. Well, what about the mind's power? We strive for the mind's power, right? We think that the goal of life is to strive for the mind's power. And that the body is a kind of platform for the mind. The body carries the mind around so it can think. But actually, it's all one piece, according to the old understanding. And according to the new understanding, it's also one piece. So, the real exertion of a man's power, when you turn over your power, when you turn over

[33:50]

You turn over your thinking mind's power to your big mind's power. And then your big mind does the thinking. Big mind does the thinking. This doesn't mean that your individual thinking is reduced. It's enhanced. Because the way I'm speaking is the mind of wisdom, and my thinking is the mind of learning. I have a mind of learning and a mind of Inquisition. Inquisition. Inquiry and so forth.

[34:55]

You've got wonderful thinking mind, absolutely wonderful, because it's an expression of our big mind. But if we open it up to our big mind, then it becomes more wisdom rather than just cleverness. These people are really smart. Those people are really smart. But smart has to have a mother. Smart is our child. But wisdom is our mother. So our child has to be guided by its mother until it's independent enough, which is called enlightenment. James? Is there that supreme power of the mind that we're in?

[35:56]

Is there a big mind that can do it? Well, that's up to you to discover with your small mind. But see, the small mind won't discover that. That's what he said here. That's what this says. The small mind won't discover the big mind. That's just, that won't work. That's what it says right here. The seeking of a mind with a mind is just not the greatest of mistakes. What will work? Nothing. But I have to pick my own tree to guide this mind. I can't tell you what the contents of the big mind are. That's why, if I start explaining this, it just gets further from the truth. That's what I mean. That's what turning over a big mind, small mind, to big mind, which is the same thing, turning over the child to its mother to educate it, is called practice.

[37:01]

You said just this, you were holding the cup, and my question is, If you're holding a cup and you're thinking just this, but your small mind is also moving around and doing things, can the mind, the small mind, become just this, too? The small mind is just this. Because I split when I hear the vision. That's the point. No subject or object. It's all one piece. What do you mean by mind-moving? There's a time for mind-moving. There's a time for no-mind-moving. There's a time for neither mind nor no-mind-moving.

[38:04]

But it's all the same, as long as we don't create the split. And even without duality, It's one piece. And with non-duality, it's two pieces. You know, the stereotype answer is, more Zazen. Yes, I don't know what it is, is a great question. That's the best answer. I don't know what it is. So, my tail, don't cling to it.

[39:08]

I don't know, but I don't know is the best answer. Just keep asking that question. What is it? What is it? What is it? The answer to what is it? Yes, this is it. What was the question? In a dharma realm of true suchness, this is it. In a dharma realm of true suchness, there is neither self nor other than self. There's this wonderful statement that the devoted sees him or herself as other. Whereas the sage sees others as him or herself.

[40:21]

The sage, the enlightened one, or the unenlightened, sees others, sees himself or herself as other than. I am other than you. You are other than me. The Enlightened One sees others as himself or herself. But the Supreme Enlightened One sees both, or goes beyond both. I see myself as other, but I also see others as myself. I think that's more complete. Because to say one sees, that's a duality. It's nice, but it's a duality. So I don't want to choose such mysteries neither self or other than self.

[41:31]

Just to come directly into harmony with this reality, just simply say, when doubt arises, not two. As not two, nothing is separate. I would say instead of separate, you might say independent. But everything is independent as well as dependent. Nothing is separate or independent, and nothing is excluded. Enlightenment means entering this truth. And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space. So this is an explanation, one explanation of enlightenment. Enlightenment means entering this truth of non-duality. And duality, non-duality, and the non-duality of duality. And a single thought is 10,000 wires.

[42:35]

And a single thought is 10,000... In other words, everything is totally spacious. When there's this understanding, there's tons of space around everything. A thing of that is 10,000 years. Did you ever watch Sesame Street? Well, they had these characters which are big stones, enormous stones, talk like this. Hey, Joe, what are you doing in the next century? I don't know, Sam.

[43:38]

I'll let you know in about 500 years. Abiding everywhere, not nowhere. Right? No special place. The whole universe is your playground. So an infinitely small is as large as can be when external conditions are forgotten. So, you know, a pebble is a witness to some being that's really small. I saw this world, you know, huge and big and vast, but it's just a pimple, you know, as Dogen says, a drop on the beak of some kind of bird, a little bubble.

[44:56]

The whole universe is just a little bubble on the beak of some kind of enormous bird, and it's really very small. because everything is just comparative values. We stand in a certain place where we judge huge and small, but that's just our standing point, it's just our perspective. No such thing as big and small. It's only big and small according to ... big is only big compared to something small. Something small is only small compared to something big, as we all know. So the infinitely small is as large as large can be when extreme conditions are forgotten, and the infinitely large is as small as small can be when objective limits are put out of sight. Existence is precisely emptiness. Emptiness is precisely existence.

[45:58]

Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Don't waste time on doubts or arguments that have nothing to do with this. Don't waste your time. Well, all in all, that's the Andrew Smith, right? What is it? The Three Musketeers. The Three Musketeers. Yes, by Tom Young. That's what I said, all in one word. Yeah, yeah, well, that's right. So that's a great demonstration of Indra's net as the three musketeers. Have you thought of that? If only this is realized, no more worrying about your not being perfect. Don't worry about her not being perfect. But if this is realized, don't worry about it.

[47:01]

Stop judging. The believing mind, or the mind of faith, true faith, is not divided. It's the undivided mind, basically. And undivided is the believing mind, or the mind of faith. This is where words fail. For in it, there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today. We just make it up. So what's that? We're finished, yes. No, next. I promised that there wouldn't be any questions. I didn't promise that. I promised that we would stop on time. And it's just time to stop.

[48:03]

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