What I want to talk about today, well, usually, you know, we have this urban storefront, Zendo, and we're all busy and involved in many affairs and events and stuff in the world of Chicago. And a lot of what we talk about is the practice that is an expression of our zazen when we get off the cushion. And that includes how we take care of sangha, that includes how we take care of the temple and how we take care of our everyday activity and our friends and family and co-workers and the world around us. But once a month we have this, some longer sitting. And so what I want to talk about today is the possibility that is available to us all the time actually, but that we can settle into perhaps more during a long sitting.

[01:15]

And this has to do with settling. This deeper space of awareness and caring that at least those of you who are here for the day, but all of you, can touch sometime today to find this deeper space, to settle into it, to meet the world in this deeper way, to just sit upright and enjoy your breath, your inhale and exhale, and to, again, to find your way to settle. Technically, this is related to what's called in Buddhism and Sanskrit, samadhi.

[02:22]

But this deeper space is always available. So, one of the basic Instructions for Zazen is to put aside all involvements and affairs in the world. It doesn't mean to get rid of them. And as you sit here all day, all of you at some point, you know, the stuff of your life this week or this lifetime will come up. And that's fine. You don't have to try and suppress it or push it away or get rid of it at all. That's not the point. And yet, can you please find some space to settle into? Can you enjoy your inhale and exhale?

[03:28]

Can you enjoy your uprightness? Can you feel the sounds around you? So there are particular ways to connect with this deeper awareness, deeper practice. Sometimes in the Mahayana Sutras, there are very flowery, visionary depictions of samadhi states. And for some people, that's very helpful. And maybe sometimes for all of us that's helpful. And there's also available the careful study of the mind and how it works, the Yogacara aspect of Buddhism that some of you study, and to really look at thoughts and how your mental apparatus works, that kind of analysis.

[04:32]

And that can be helpful in settling too. But in our Zen style, we often do this through kind of poetic, imagery. And for me, I go back again and again to the writings of Hongzhe Zhongshui, a Soto teacher in China, a century before Dogen, some of which I translated in Cultivating the Empty Field. And so I wanted to share a couple of those passages with you this morning and talk about them as a way of finding your settling. So he starts his practice instructions in cultivating the empty field. The field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning.

[05:37]

So this spaciousness, this empty field, these are metaphors for talking about some actual awareness that's available. It's always available. It exists from the very beginning. And in our sitting, we have the chance to settle into that, to meet that. So he says, you must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. Well, of course, that process of facing our various habits of grasping or aversion or confusion, that's lifelong practice. He says, you must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away. And as you sit here today, that stuff comes up too. And if you can, just brush it away.

[06:40]

Let it go. And just relax completely. This is not to say that you should ignore that stuff. In fact, we can't. And so when that comes up, that's fine. But as we are able to let go of that, and it may only be for a few minutes during the day, or it may be longer, and don't grade yourself on that. The point is just to let go. reside in the clear circle of brightness. So this practice is sometimes called serene illumination. To settle, to be serene, and allow this bright, boundless field to shine. Utter emptiness has no image. Upright independence does not rely on anything.

[07:42]

So I'm going to be reading all these images, but the images aren't the point. And of course, we rely on many things, on everything. Everything allows us to be present here now. But he says upright independence does not rely on anything. So as you find your own inner uprightness, your own inner dignity, you don't need to rely on any particular aspect of it just to be present. Just expand and illuminate the original truth unconcerned by external conditions. It doesn't mean we're unaware of external conditions, but just illuminate the original truth, just expand.

[08:48]

So he says, accordingly, we are told to realize that not a single thing exists. In this field, birth and death do not appear. Well, everything, of course, exists in and of itself, and yet it's not separate. So as we start to feel the non-separation of everything, we don't need to hold on to something as particularly existing. Sometimes it's helpful to focus on something as you're sitting to help settle. Focus on breath. focus on sound, the field of sound, or focus on physical sensation. And yet, it's all, to say that not a single thing exists is maybe a little bit extreme. On some level, that's true. But also, it's all fleeting.

[09:51]

Everything is changing. It doesn't exist forever, substantially. Things are coming and going into existence. And then he says this wonderful sentence, the deep source, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. The deep source transparent down to the bottom, again, can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. So this is a very practical way of settling.

[10:57]

As you sit facing the wall, of course there's the color, maybe it's the texture of the wall or the floor in front of you. But your awareness and this deeper awareness that can work through us can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. We don't have to hold on to a particular you know, to the color of the wall, to a particular site, or to the sounds around us. It's okay to just be with sound, and we don't have to try and figure out the different sounds, whether it's somebody else in the room shifting their posture, or sometimes we hear vehicles out front, or whatever, or sounds from the kitchen, just to He says, the subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds.

[12:01]

So we don't shut out colors, sounds, smells, tastes during our zendo meal, and physicality. So you may feel some discomfort in your knee or your back. You may be aware of your shoulders. We don't have to partner up with that as if that's the ultimate reality, just to breathe into some discomfort and let it go. And the same with thoughts. So in Buddhism, thoughts are another sense. Thoughts come. We don't have to do anything with them. We don't have to become their partner. We don't have to figure out where they came from. There is a source of sights and sounds and smells and tastes and physical sensations and thoughts. It's arising all right now together. Source is constant and ongoing.

[13:06]

And yet we don't have to try and figure them out or track them or do anything with them. Thoughts come. Let them go. They may come up again. It's just part of the scenery. So we don't shut out any of it. We keep our eyes open in the same way that we keep our ears open. It helps. So this isn't about going to sleep. It's about paying attention. But I'm suggesting, particularly today in this process of settling, to just gently Be aware of everything inside and around you, including the shapes and colors in front of your eyes, the sounds around you, and your thoughts as they come and go.

[14:20]

And keep breathing and settling more and more deeply into this and this. Just enjoy this deeper space. And of course, at times, things may interfere with that. It's okay. If you get really caught up in some particular sound or some particular thought, okay, well, that's what's happening. When you can, just, oh, okay, let it go. Come back to just, here we are, in this field of boundless emptiness that exists from the very beginning. This actually is here. And these longer sittings that we do, they're not unrelated to the practices we do when we go out into the world. So in April and May, we're having an eight-week practice commitment period here where we'll talk about the bodhisattva practices of patience and generosity and ethical conduct and effort and commitment and so forth.

[15:39]

There's ten of them we'll be focusing on. But really this settling I'm talking about today is a kind of resource for all of them. So we have these monthly sittings as an opportunity, when you can't, come and just slow down, put aside affairs, and radiantly shine and respond, unencumbered to each speck of dust, without becoming its partner. You don't have to catch onto it. We don't have to be caught by it. It's just, you know, it's just out. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. And I would say the subtlety of thinking transcends mere thoughts. The whole affair functions without leaving traces and mirrors without obscurations. So again, it's not non-awareness.

[16:42]

It's a kind of awareness. It just mirrors. We see. We hear. We are aware of thoughts coming and going. And in the middle of this is this deep settling. So he says, very naturally, mind and phenomena emerge and harmonize. Again, all of these phenomena, sounds, smells, physical sensations, thoughts, they emerge, and our awareness, this translated here is harmonized, but it's about a kind of integration, a kind of meeting or encountering, a kind of harmonizing, integrating, mirroring, So it's not about stopping awareness. In fact, it's a deeper awareness.

[17:44]

Hungry says, an ancient said that mind enacts and fulfills the way, not that non-mind enacts and fulfills the way of non-mind. Again, these Zen terms can sound jargony, but non-mind One way to understand that anyway is just not holding on to any awareness, that everything is just right here and we can settle into that and enjoy our breathing. And he says, in acting and fulfilling the way of non-mind, finally you can rest. Proceeding with thoughts clear, sitting silently, wander into the center of the circle of wonder. So in the midst of all of this, everything I've been talking about, it's okay to just wander into the center of the circle of wonder. So you might wonder about this, and that's okay.

[18:50]

Or you might feel how wonderful it is, and that's okay, too. Again, it's not absence of awareness. It's, oh, what is this? He says, this is how you must penetrate and study. I would say, there's a question in this. What is this? How is it that I can be here? And it's not a question that you have to get an answer to or even any response. It's just, oh, how is it to be present here in this field of boundless emptiness? How is it to find ourselves in this circle of brightness, Serene, settled, illumination. So again, this is not something you have to accomplish. I'm encouraging you to explore this today in your city, to use this opportunity for settling as a resource for all the rest of our practice when we leave at the end of the day, or at the end of the Dharma talk if you're just here for the morning.

[19:58]

there's a study involved. And by study it doesn't mean, you know, reading some book and figuring it out. What is it like in this body, in this Uttamudra, in this position, to be present and upright and silent? We don't have to do anything with the sound of the footsteps in the ceiling above us. It's part of the field of our own body and awareness. So this is something that's available all the time, again. And again, I'm not asking you to please discover this, or do this, or find out anything about it today.

[21:08]

I'm just presenting this as something that's available. And sometime in the course of the day, without thinking about it, it will be present on your kushin or chair. So I was going to read one more of these little practice instructions by Hong Xiu. So again, as a way of helping you to taste this sense of openness. So this one I call, How to Contemplate Buddha. Hongzhu says, Contemplating your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha. What does that mean, your own authentic form? Well, it means everything I've been talking about, but again, your own authentic form, it's your own. How it feels to each of you is wonderful and unique.

[22:15]

I can't tell you how it feels for you. I can't settle, do the practice of settling and entering the circle of wonder for you. It's available to each one of you, every one of you. Your own authentic form. What does it mean to be authentic? And I'm not suggesting that you think about that. But how do you find your own uprightness, your own inner dignity? And if thoughts come about that, fine. It's OK if you think about some of this stuff. It's OK to forget it completely, too. The point is, what is it like to be present as you are right here? So he says, how to contemplate Buddha is just to contemplate your own authentic form.

[23:19]

Contemplate doesn't mean necessarily think about it. It's just, oh, pay attention to what it's like to be this form. And this form, of course, includes your body and mind, your sense of sight and your sense of sound. and your awareness of smell and taste and your thought awareness as that flips around. How do you consider, how do you be present with your own authentic form? If you can experience yourself without distractions, he adds, simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. He says simply. Sometimes it's simple. Sometimes it's, well, it can't be done even. To surpass partiality. Again, this doesn't mean suppress.

[24:20]

or repress the ways in which we see parts of things, or the ways in which we see differences in things. But just let go of that. There are 10,000 distinctions in the world and in this room right now. 10,000 is kind of a number they use in Buddhism for a large, large, large number. You don't have to try and count the 10,000. Please don't do that. But simply let go of partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. So it's not that you should get rid of your conceptual discriminating consciousness, you can't do that, and please don't do that. This is not lobotomy zen. But just Let go, go beyond all the conceptualizing, all the discriminations.

[25:24]

And, you know, in the next moment you may feel more, you may recognize more conceptualization. So, you know, saying to let, to go beyond conceptualization may encourage you even to have more busy discriminations. That's okay, just let that go too. Don't conceptualize about your conceptualization. But you see that stuff going on. Okay, here we go. So, Dong Zhuo says, all Buddhas and all minds reach the essential without duality. So he says all Buddhas, this is what Buddhas do, but he also says all minds. It's pretty interesting. This is the mental capacity that each one of you has available. All Buddhas and all minds reach the essential without duality.

[26:30]

The essential without duality. So, what is important? What is essential? And part of what Hongjo is suggesting, of course, is that this practice I've been talking about of serene illumination, of settling into your presence beyond conceptualization, letting go of partiality, is the essential matter. And it's without duality. Now again, as I was saying, our discriminating consciousness is built from the capacity to discriminate and conceptualize and produce dualities. And maybe it's biological, it's deeper than just consciousness. We have left and right, and front and back, and man and woman, and old and young, and we can go on and on with the 10,000 dualities. But he says all Buddhas and all minds do reach this essential settling beyond duality.

[27:42]

It's available. And again, in the course of a day of sitting, maybe you'll actually be present in that clear circle of brightness for a minute or 10 minutes, or you may not recognize it. It's not important to recognize it and make it into something. How do you just settle, just breathe? all Buddhas and all minds do reach the essential, beyond duality. Zen practitioners, he goes on, silently wander and tranquilly dwell in the empty spirit, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme emptiness permeates this dusty kalpa, this dusty age. In the middle of this world of dusts and sense objects and attachments and discriminations, He says, send practitioners silently wander.

[28:45]

So as you're sitting here on your cushion, some part of you might be wandering to some place you've been or what you could be doing if you were spending the day here, or what you might be doing this evening or whatever. And yet, in the middle of this silent wandering is this world, this realm, this circle of brightness, this possibility of just being present, this serene illumination. Just as the supreme emptiness permeates this dusty age, Again, supreme emptiness, it's a technical term. Emptiness is not some thing. Emptiness is just the way everything is. So this flavor of reality permeates this world, even with all of the problems in the world that we all know so well.

[29:57]

Or we know, maybe we don't know so well. Maybe we need to know them more. But for today, put them aside, if you can. dignified without relying on others and radiant beyond doubt. Maintaining this as primary, the energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. So this is really interesting, this settling that I'm talking about that's available to you, that I'm encouraging you to allow it to express itself on your cushion or chair during this day of sitting. This dignity, without relying on anything else, just this uprightness, this breath, radiant beyond doubt. Let go of conceptualizations again.

[31:00]

Maintaining this as primary, really, So I'm really actually encouraging you to focus on letting go, on settling today, on feeling some sense of this openness, this illumination, this serenity. But then he says that this dignity, the energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. So this serene illumination is not exactly passive or There's some function here. The energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. It's a very powerful statement to me. There's an energy involved in this, in just being here and present and meeting up with the settling that is available now, today. And all of you, you know, again, the people who are just here for the talk,

[32:04]

You can do this in one period of Zazen, but it's possible. So you can go home and sit for another period after you leave. So we do these monthly sittings to provide the space for Settle, which informs everything else. And what Ongju says here is that The energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. This is very powerful. There is some energy that arises in our willingness to be settled in this body and mind, to let go of involvements and affairs, to just settle into this circle of wonder. And this energy can turn around and transform all estrangement. So one way to describe Buddhism is non-separation.

[33:08]

We see that things aren't separate and segmented. But as human beings, of course, we feel various estrangements. We feel separate from others. We feel separate from ourselves sometimes. We feel separate from our jobs or our family or, you know, in relationships. This happens. Estrangement is part of how conceptualizing dualistic mind works. So don't, you know, you don't need to blame yourself or get angry at yourself if this happens. And again, all of this is not some goal that you have to achieve today. It's not what this is about. This is a possibility that's always available, right now, that you can settle and taste. And as it soaks into you, whether or not you have some idea about it or even awareness of it, just to settle into this does transform our sense of estrangement.

[34:15]

He says, passing through the world, responding to situations, Illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces. So again, as I said before, this practice of settling into this circle of wonder, into this serene illumination, is also relevant to the practices, the transcendent practices of Bodhisattvas and all of the practice we talk about more often of how we express this meditative awareness in our everyday activities. it is relevant. It's kind of the background sponsor for how we can meet our world and our life with patience and with energy and with awareness and insight and so forth. So this is not about, again, this isn't about something you should strive towards.

[35:19]

Please don't get worked up trying to find some illumination or whatever. That's not the point. Illumination is without striving and it functions without leaving traces. We don't necessarily see, and this is part of the point, we don't necessarily see how this experience of Zazen affects people around us, our own ability to be more patient with difficulties, our own possibility of more energy sometimes when we might otherwise feel exhausted. All of this happens without necessarily leaving traces. We may not even be aware of it. And having some idea of what you've accomplished in your practice is not the point either. And yet, he says, passing through the world, responding to situations, this settling and illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces.

[36:20]

And then he gives this wonderful image for this. From the beginning, the clouds leisurely release their rain, drifting past obstacles. The direct teaching is very pure and steady. Nothing can budge it. Immediately, right now, without allowing past conditions to turn you, genuinely inactive. So, it's subtle, it's something that you can enact, to use that word, you can express, without being caught up in all of these past conditions. It's not that you should suppress the past conditions again, but let them go, put them aside for the day. He says, from the beginning the clouds leisurely release their rain, drifting past obstacles. One of the things that Hongshu does a lot, and that's just one little example in what I'm reading today, is to use nature metaphors or imagery to express the quality of this settling and illumination.

[37:36]

Clouds just drift by, and when they're ready, they release their rain. So through the course of the day of sitting, Please enjoy your zazen. Please enjoy the color of the wall and the sounds around us and the physical sensations, comfortable or uncomfortable. The breath and opening of your throat and chest, the exhale and the space at the end of that. And thoughts too may come and go. Can you just settle into this circle of wonder?

[38:18]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v005
@Score_90.72