Good morning. So yesterday I commented on Master Ujur's, he called it the, something of pure bliss. Excuse me, Sojourner, can you name what text you're speaking from for people? Cultivating the empty field that I used during the... Well, some of the people... I know, that's great, thank you. So... Guidelines for... Guidelines for the Hall of Pure Bliss. So, you know, when we study someone like Humger, who speaks in this way about illumination, silent illumination and bliss and so forth, it can be construed, maybe, that this is a kind of flowery, idealistic way of speaking about something.

[01:25]

But actually, This is very down-to-earth. From my perspective, this is just totally down-to-earth about our actual true life. And because we pay so much attention to the confused life around us, this seems extraordinary. But if you think about what is ordinary and what is extraordinary, what seems extraordinary is actually the ordinary. But we don't often, we doubt the ordinary. We doubt the ordinary and think of it as extraordinary, or something outside of our experience, or outside of the usual.

[02:28]

But, you know, there's a talk from Suzuki Roshi, which we titled, Receiving a Letter from Emptiness. Like receiving a letter from emptiness. There's a word for this in Japanese, which I don't remember, but receiving email from home, receiving mail from home, receiving a letter from home. It's like you hear about what people are doing and how they're feeling and how the plants are doing. the spring feeling and so forth. But it's not exactly your experience. You're experiencing the feeling of someone sending the letter. But it corresponds to some feeling that you already have because you've been there.

[03:32]

And you've experienced the home, right? It's your home. But it's somewhat removed from that place. And so when someone gives a talk or expresses this kind of understanding, it's kind of like a letter from emptiness, a letter from your old home, which you recognize as something from your distant past or something that is very close to you, but it's reminding you of your own experience. When I read Koumeijos, immersion in the treasury of light.

[04:40]

At the very end, he says, if you really understand this, you won't doubt it. It would be just like meeting your grandfather in the town and recognizing who he is. And then, in the same talk, Suzuki Hiroshi talks about an artist, or artists, you know, who contrive and work hard to create something wonderful and artistic. And he said, I'd love to make a small rock garden, but when I go down to the creek, I see how futile that is. I'd much rather just take the trash out of the creek, you know, take the branches out and reveal what's really there.

[05:41]

So this is what, actually, Hongjue is talking about. And what all the ancestors are talking about. Just take the trash out of the creek and reveal what's there. And this is what he's simply talking about. clean it up, clean up your head so you can see what's there, because it's all covered up. So, there's also the feeling of, well, since it's always there, since this, what we call, divine light, or whatever you want to call it, is always there, then we should always be experiencing that. But that's not necessarily so. Dogen says, when he went to China, he had this, of course as you know, this question, if it's already there, why do we have to do anything?

[06:53]

Why don't we just experience this? Why isn't it just part of our ordinary understanding, our ordinary experience? And then when he got to China, he realized that unless you turn the wheel, unless you practice, it doesn't manifest. So is it always manifesting, or is it not always manifesting? It's always manifesting. But unless we do something to realize it, it doesn't manifest. That's the basis of Dogen's practice, in which he wrote the Hundred Fascicles of Shambhogato, plus many other things. That's the real basis, how it becomes accessible. how your treasure store, which everyone has, becomes accessible.

[08:00]

So, although it seems like Hung Ger is putting a lot of emphasis on letting go and simply facing the bright window, But he also talks about taking care of the daily circumstances of our life. So we should realize that as well. I was going to read another. talk about the meaning of silent illumination.

[09:02]

But then I got interested in the letters from emptiness. Then I got interested in brown rice is just right. And this is a work in progress, of course. But I think the brown rice is just right. It's so good. It's so relevant to so many things that I will talk about that today. So when Suzuki Roshi came to America, I've talked about this many times and you probably remember it. When he came to America, of course, he was just eating white rice. and all Japanese people eat white rice. Asian people eat white rice. Brown rice is low class. It's, you know, pigs eat it and stuff like that. But Americans, as Americans, you know, love brown rice and it's good for you. And then you get very, very

[10:07]

Yeah, Perry Perry was a disease that came from eating too much white rice without balancing it with other things. Anyway, so there were many things that we ate that he ate too. And he saw the good qualities of brown rice. And probably you know how he killed him, but... I hate to say that. But... Harry talks about the wonderful spiritual qualities of brown rice. He says, how do you like Zazen? I think it may be better to ask, how do you like brown rice? Zazen is too big a topic.

[11:11]

Because brown rice is just right. Actually, there's not much difference between brown rice and zazen. When you eat brown rice, you have to chew it. And unless you chew it, it's difficult to swallow. When you chew it very well, your mouth becomes part of the kitchen. And actually, the brown rice becomes more and more tasty. Part of the kitchen. This is a little funny statement, you know, but there's a saying that a monk's mouth is like a kitchen. You just, whatever comes, you put it in there. Without complaining. I have to complain, but... When we eat white rice, we don't chew it so much.

[12:14]

But that little bit of chewing feels so good that naturally the rice goes down easily right down our throats. So, you know, he said, this is the nice quality of white rice. You don't have to chew it so much and it goes down and you like it. But brown rice, you really have to chew it in order for it to reveal itself. When we digest food completely, what will become of it? It will be transformed, changing its chemical nature and will permeate our whole body. In a sense, the kitchen part of it is like, in the kitchen, you take something raw, and you prepare it, you cook it, and then it comes out as something different. We change its nature from raw material into food. And here, when we digest food completely, what will become of it?

[13:21]

It will be transformed, changing its chemical nature, and will permeate our whole body. In the process, it dies within our body. To eat and digest food is natural to us as we are always changing. To eat and digest food is natural to us as we are always changing. This archaic process is called emptiness. The reason we call it emptiness is that it has no special form. It has some form, but that form is not permanent. While it is changing, it carries on our life. So, this process of change is what creates the vitality for our life. So, dying

[14:21]

It dies within our body, but the dying is not what we think of as dying. It's changing the process to release the energy. So when we talk about birth and death, living and dying, it's more of a process of changing the energy to release energy so that there's continuation. So if we think that we were born and then we die and that's it, is very short-sighted. Just to think that we exist is short-sighted. So we You know, our understanding is always on the surface. Well, someone like Hung Jer is bringing out the essential.

[15:28]

And so it's hard to swallow, sometimes, what is essential. And it looks like dreaming or something, but actually it's the reality which exposes the dreaming. So there's other talks that Akira talked about. The way the Japanese people eat, you know, is a little bit here, a little bit there, and maybe five or six things on the plate, and each one has its own character. It's like little people. It has a name and a form and it's recognized and that's a very wonderful way to eat.

[16:29]

What we do is mix all our food together. Not all of it, of course, but there's a tendency to mix things together and to create wonderful dishes by mixing things together. They also mix things together, but it's different, you know. So you get a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And it has its character, but when it enters into your tummy, as he says, it loses its character, or its characteristics. And this is the difference between light and dark. In the darkness, all of those revealed in the light become, lose their character, and become what? It's like water returns to the source. In the shuso ceremonies, when the shuso brings back the shupe, after the shuso ceremony, the shuso says, water returns to the source.

[17:35]

It's a wonderful statement. So, we know that we are empty, and also that as Earth is empty, the forms are not permanent. You may wonder, what is this universe? But the universe has no limit. Emptiness is not something you can understand through a space trip. Emptiness can be understood when you are perfectly involved in chewing rice. This is actual emptiness. We sometimes feel that in order to have knowledge, we need to reach far and wide. And the further we go, the more information we have. And the more information we have, the less we know. Are we on the right track? Maybe. That's one way.

[18:38]

It's a kind of roundabout way of understanding, which is important. But how do you understand what's... how do we understand what's right here in front of us? How do we understand the transformative process which is right in front of us? which we're involved in all the time. The usual ordinary, what we think of as ordinary, which is so extraordinary. The most important point is to establish yourself in the true sense without establishing yourself on delusion. And yet you cannot live or practice without delusion. Delusion is what we usually think of as ordinary. Delusion is necessary, but it's not something on which you can establish yourself.

[19:45]

This is how we get lost. It's like a stepladder. Within it, you cannot climb up, but you don't stay on the stepladder. With this confidence, you can continue to study our way. That is why I say, don't run away. to me, I mean, stick to yourself and not with delusion. So, sometimes I may be a delusion. You may overestimate me. Oh, he is a good teacher. That's already a kind of delusion. I am just your friend. letters or ways of helping you. We shouldn't be disappointed with a bad teacher or with a bad student.

[20:51]

This is really important. We shouldn't be disappointed with a bad teacher or with a bad student. If we like something, we take it out. If we don't like something, we push it away. But we have to get beyond what is good and what is bad. We have to get beyond what is like and what is dislike. Sometimes I hear people say, well, I don't like so-and-so. I like so-and-so. I don't like. In a superficial way, that may be OK. But in a fundamental way, it's totally off. For a teacher, it doesn't matter whether you like somebody or you don't like somebody.

[21:53]

It has nothing to do with it. If you base your relationship on whether you like or don't like, it has nothing to do with it. People say sometimes, don't you have anyone close to you that you can express yourself to? I say, no, I don't. I don't have anyone close or far. Everyone's the same, although everyone's different. But it's not a matter of like or dislike or intimacy or lack of intimacy. Simply addressing everyone equally. try for the truth, something real will be established.

[23:01]

That is our zazen. We must continue to practice zazen and continue to chew brown rice. Eventually we will accomplish something. If a bad student and a bad teacher work together. You can say anything good about anybody. I don't choose my friends. Sometimes we have to ask somebody to leave. But it doesn't mean that we like or don't like the person. It's just too much trouble. Drawing too much, someone who draws too much attention to themselves. Or is not up to being able to practice. too crazy to deal with because they absorb too much energy.

[24:12]

But as far as like and dislike, preference, should have nothing to do with it. Otherwise, we're just skirting the surface of things. This is the letter from emptiness. The letter from emptiness is giving us some way to express emptiness as form. If we really want to understand or experience emptiness, the only way to do that is through form. Chewing brown rice. If you chew it thoroughly and digest it, he's really talking about our your practice. If it's too easy, it just goes down too fast, and there's no nourishment there.

[25:19]

But if you really take it on and chew it thoroughly, then it's nourishing, spiritually nourishing. We have body nourishment, emotional nourishment, but there's spiritual nourishment spiritual nourishment is through practice. And especially through something, and this is what Hojira is talking about all the time. It's all, it's just there, just open the door. And nourish yourself. Because in self-nourishing, practice is self-nourishing. so so So do you have any questions?

[26:54]

I was thinking about what you were saying about Japanese cuisine and also applies to our orioke eating, which is similar. And then what I've experienced in a lot of the South Asian monastic traditions where they carry this big bowl. That's like their belly. And everything goes into it, and it's all mixed up in advance, and they don't pick and choose. That doesn't happen all the time, but it happens. It's pretty. So all the time, it's already pre-blended in such a way. Well, this is monastic food. Yes, but Oreo is also monastic food. It's a different way of having it. There's a sutra, a Pali sutra, about different characteristics of people.

[27:58]

There's the types. There's the delusive type, the angry type, the greedy type, and I think there are four. Steve. Yeah. Yeah. The delicious one of the characteristics of the delicious type is that they mix all the food together. You can wash it all up. There's no there's no characteristics. But we're going to be tested. I understand. So the green type is very delicate with their food, you know, and very particular about themselves, like me. Can you talk about how dilution is working in the practice?

[28:59]

Well, we can't live without it. You know, it's... Dilutive means... It's like being tricked. The magic show. You think this is happening. But it's just a magic show, you know. And the magician can really fool you into thinking, the rabbit, where'd the rabbit go? Where'd it come from? And it looks like it's really happening. And also, it's also characterized by a sparkler. You know, a sparkler is just a piece of, it's like a stick, with a little punk, not even flame, right?

[30:02]

But a little red. But when you go like this, it makes a circle. And you say, oh, that's a circle. But it's really Not a real circle. It's a circle for a moment, right? So we live in this momentary circle of life. But it's not what it seems to be. But we live here anyway. So we live in the dualistic world. And that's where our life takes place. So we have to, we can't avoid that. This is the characteristic. The characteristic of this world is that it's dualistic and momentary. But in order to create a stability, we create a magic world, a magic city. and believe in it.

[31:04]

So, we go through the motions, or we go through the activity within the magic city, but the wisdom, if you have wisdom, you see it that way. If you don't, then you're totally in delusion. If the qualities of the delusive mind that allow us to get through the world you were saying, can be transformed in the great mirror wisdom so that you can identify quality, you can identify difference. Those are the functions that let us get through life, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we are trapped in delusions. No. So just for being trapped in delusions, delusions are necessary. In other words, wherever you are, it's necessary to be there. You find yourself in a situation. You're born in a certain place at a certain time with all these things going on.

[32:08]

So you have to live there. So that's necessary. You have to breathe and work and move around and all these things. So it is the delusive world. But we've lived in the delusive world in an enlightened way. So, samsara and nirvana are not two. Seth, I think I've heard you say that the transformative process is always going on. Transformation is always going on. And what came up for me is that includes when I'm asleep, literally asleep, I get my head down and lose consciousness. And I was wondering, is there Is there some way I should be trying to, or practicing, when I'm asleep? Well, you know, practicing sleep is to be totally asleep. Totally asleep.

[33:10]

No dreams. That's practicing sleep. I mean, of course, dreams are okay, you know. It's like being awake. Dreams are okay. We're dreaming when we're awake, and we're dreaming when we're asleep. It's really going to sleep and being awake are really just two sides of the same thing, in reverse. But you want to be conscious of being asleep, right? But you don't need to be conscious of being asleep. Because consciousness is on the side of delusion. So it's thinking there's something to do, Is that on the side of delusion? Yes. Seeing if there's something to do is on the side of delusion. So thinking I should go to the Zen Dojo, is that on the side of delusion? Yes, but it's OK. I won't deny that.

[34:12]

But it's an enlightened thought within delusion. When we sit Zazen, we're sitting Zazen within delusion. So it's not right to say, well now that I'm sitting zazen there's no delusion, or I'm separating myself from delusion. No, we're sitting down in the right in the middle of delusion, sitting zazen. That's what you do moment by moment throughout your life if you're practicing. Then the same could be said for when I put my head down on the pillow and lose consciousness. Yeah, that's the real enlightenment. Well, you take a nap, whether you want one or not. I mean, whether you decide or not. This is very common in the dental.

[35:13]

You just find yourself somewhere. It's like when you were born, you just find yourself somewhere. And, um, when Schrodinger talks about the circle of wonder, that's like waking up and finding yourself somewhere. How did I get here? We think we know where we are. You know, we think we know where we are. But when we enter the circle of wonder and wake up, wow, what is this place? So, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm kind of interested in this whole issue of liking and not liking other beings.

[36:14]

People? Yeah. And, you know, if we understand that beings are empty and can arise spontaneously in situations, then when these, and people are so, and everybody knows that because their kids can be very different when they're home and when they're away and so forth. So, is it our job when a version comes up to change the condition which is us? In other words, as a teacher, do you then become a condition? Do you consciously become a condition that should bring forth another being, that helps the arising of another being? Meaning yourself or the other person? Well, both. You can only be another being yourself, I guess. I can't say, it's tricky, but the bottom line is

[37:16]

to be open and unassuming. Assumption creates problems. To be open and unassuming and to, you know, I've all my life, when I have found myself in aversion to somebody, almost inevitably they end up being my best friend. maybe not best friends sometimes, but there's something about turning that aversion into something else. And I just can't think of so many people that that's happened with. So, and sometimes, you know, a difficult person, I, instead of, I have some aversion, but there's some curiosity, you know, like, Why can't I be friends with this person? Why can't I do that? So to me the challenge of doing that is more interesting than running away or avoiding something.

[38:34]

My experience is that whenever I shine like that at myself, I see that I have the same traits as these people that I have an aversion to. And so often, the people we have an aversion to are so much like us, and we have our characteristics that we don't want to look at. And so, you know, this is so common. For me, the challenge is, like, how can I, you know, How can I do this? And so I realized that I like taking on difficult people. Difficult people and difficult dogs. It's just, you know, what makes life interesting. So Jen, it's 11 now? It's 11-2. Yeah, so then you're scheduled to end on the 11th. I think you're right. I know I'm not.

[39:37]

Well now, wait a minute.

[39:38]

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