Good morning, everyone. So some of us here are in a two-month practice period that started last Sunday. For those who are not, we're talking for these two months about teachings from Soto Zen teacher from China, Cao Dong in Chinese, named Hongzhe, who lived in the 1100s, and from these teachings from Cultivating the Empty Field, about serene illumination, a way of talking about this meditation practice that we've just been doing. And so these are kind of poetic expressions of this awareness which is available in this upright sitting that we engage in and that allows us some glimpse, some communion with some deeper creative energetic source.

[01:03]

And so for people in the practice period there were six selections from Hongzhe's practice instructions that were available to focus on. We talked about the first of those last Sunday and Monday. Today, I'm going to talk about the second, which is called how to contemplate Buddha. And we'll come back, we may come back to all of these in the discussions over the next couple of months. But I wanted to read this and talk about it today. So Hongshuo says, contemplating your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha. So contemplating or regarding or observing your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha. Or it could be read as accords with contemplating Buddha. So this is...

[02:05]

very much reminiscent of what Dogen, who brought this practice to Japan and is considered the founder of Japanese Soto Zen a century later, says in his famous writing, Gensho Kōan, to study the way is to study the self, which is in effect to study the Buddha way is to study the self. Hongshu says that contemplating your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha. This is what we do. We sit and Well, in some sense, we're contemplating Buddha because we're sitting like Buddha. We are present and upright, relaxed, observing our breath. Whether we're sitting cross-legged or kneeling or in a chair, we're upright like the Buddha in the center of the room, the image of Buddha. And we consider, we regard, we observe our own authentic form. That's how we observe and contemplate Buddha.

[03:13]

Hwangje goes on to say, if you can experience yourself without distractions, simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. If you can experience yourself without distractions, And that could be read also as if you can experience yourself beyond outside realms, beyond conditions outside. If you can just sit and experience what is on your seat here this morning, not being caught up in what's outside. Simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. Or that partiality could also imply surpass dependency. Surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. He doesn't say to eliminate your conceptual consciousness.

[04:20]

Of course, as we sit, thoughts and feelings come up. Discriminating consciousness, that's one of the Sanskrit words are one of the Chinese characters for a mind. It's part of our human consciousness, this conceptualization. Hongzhi says, go beyond conceptualizing. So we talk, in Buddhism there's a lot of talk about mind and a lot of talk about knowing and how we know. Hongzhi says, if you can experience yourself without distractions, without being caught up in something else, simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. So even as conceptual thinking is going on, what is our awareness? Maybe I should just read through all of this.

[05:21]

I'm sorry, I've already started to comment on it. But, all Buddhas and all minds reach the essential without duality, Hongshu says. Patchrobe monks, or we could just read that as Zen practitioners, silently wander and tranquilly dwell in the empty spirit, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme emptiness permeates this dusty kelpa. Dignified without relying on others and radiant beyond doubt, maintaining this as primary, the energy turns around and transforms all estrangement or separation. Passing through the world, responding to situations, illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces. 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, without allowing past conditions to turn you, genuinely enact it."

[06:22]

So that's the practice instruction, the second practice instruction of the six. And also you're welcome to just look at some of the others. So I'm going to read through it again, and I commented on the first two lines. Contemplating your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha, or is what accords with contemplating Buddha. Just studying the self. Studying the Buddha way is to study the self. If you can experience yourself without distractions, simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. So as Uchiyama Roshi said in Japan last century, just like our stomach continues to secrete digestive juices, our brain continues to secrete conceptual thoughts. But we don't have to be caught by them.

[07:24]

the point that Hongxue and Dogen and all of our lineage reminds us of again and again. So Hongxue then says, all Buddhas and all minds reach the essential, reach the fundamental without duality. How do we, as we sit and settle into this upright awareness, how do we reach what is fundamental? beyond all of our dualistic thinking, beyond all of our distractions and all of the trivial considerations that are available to us. So our society and culture is very good at providing entertaining distractions. But here, Anga just says, all Buddhas, all Buddhas. all the Buddhas in this room, and all minds, reach the fundamental.

[08:32]

We can settle into that which is most important without duality. Zen practitioners silently wander and tranquilly dwell in the empty spirit, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme emptiness permeates this dusty kelpa, this dusty age. So, to silently wander and tranquilly dwell in the empty spirit, to tranquilly dwell, to abide in, to settle, part of our serene illumination is to tranquilly peacefully settle and abide and calmly just dwell in this experience, this space, this relaxed presence, upright practice on our seat as we sit.

[09:33]

Of course, this is not just about formal meditation, and he comes to that later in the paragraph, but we tranquilly dwell, but also silently wander. So there's the side of focusing and settling, and there's also this silent wandering, allowing the mind to wander, allowing thoughts and feelings to arise, allowing the imagination to be free. So, someone reminded me of Chateau's great ancestors' statement that the wandering clouds do not obstruct the blue sky. And similarly, the blue sky does not obstruct the wandering clouds. as we sit and settle. We can allow our imagination to roam free. But we silently wander and tranquilly dwell on the empty spirit. So I want to talk about this word empty.

[10:35]

Kaz Tanahashi, who's going to be here Sunday, May 21st, and at DePaul University, speaking the day before, May 20th, his translation of the Heart Sutra, he talks about emptiness as boundlessness, and I've been thinking about that, and I think that's, may be useful. Formally, form and emptiness, it's useful to think about form as that which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness is form, form is exactly form, emptiness is exactly emptiness, and that polarity in Buddhist thinking is useful, but to think, to dwell on the open spirit, the boundless spirit, actually in some ways in this sentence maybe is more useful, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme boundlessness or openness or emptiness permeates this dusty age, this dusty age full of, well, not just the dusts of all of the defilements and all of the distractions, but also all of the dangers of

[11:53]

the Supreme Boundlessness permeates this dusty kelpa. The word that I translated there as permeates also means, is the word for to pass over or to cross over to the other shore. It means to transcend this dusty kelpa, to get through this dusty kelpa, but it also means it's throughout. So this sentence has a range here. So Zen practitioners silently wander and tranquilly dwell in the open spirit, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme openness or boundlessness or emptiness passes through, permeates this dusty age that we are in.

[12:54]

So this is Hongzhe speaking from many years of doing this practice, speaking to his monks up on a mountaintop in China in the 1100s, during a time of conflict and civil war. It was not a peaceful time down below in the world. And he was aware of that and tried to help. dignified without relying on others, radiant beyond doubt, maintaining this as primary, holding this independent dignified spirit as primary, the energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. When we connect with this energy, when we connect with what is fundamental, We can turn around and see all of the distractions, all of the trivialities, all of the dangers of our world, and transform all estrangement, he says.

[14:03]

Transform all separation. We can be present in our life. We can transform our sense of estrangement and separation and alienation. So again, these practice instructions may seem very lofty, but You know, when we do this practice, and for the people who just had Zazen instruction this morning, I recommend very much doing this regularly, several times a week at least, even for 15 minutes, sitting at home, stopping, being present, facing the wall, facing yourself, giving yourself the chance to just be there. And whatever is happening now, that's it. It's not about doing it correctly or incorrectly or judging yourself, or if you're judging yourself, don't judge yourself for judging yourself. Just how is it to be present, to actually experience yourself without distraction, simply surpassing partiality, going beyond conceptualizing?

[15:10]

So he says, dignified without relying on others, radiant beyond doubt, Radiant beyond doubt. Just open. And, you know, it doesn't mean that you don't have doubts. Of course, we all, you know, have questions about ourselves and about the world. But, you know, go beyond that. Maintaining this as fundamental. The energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. This can happen. We all, you're here because you've had some taste of this. And we continue this practice and sustain this regularly to deepen this possibility and this awareness. Passing through the world, responding to situations, illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces.

[16:15]

So the point of this is not to become some expert yogi or meditator. Passing through the world, engaging the world, responding to situations. Hamsa says, illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces. So we may strive and leave traces, but something, this illumination, this possibility of wholeness, this possibility of connecting with something fundamental, this serene illumination, that doesn't, that's not striving, that's just there. And it functions. It actually works in the world. And we can't really see, often we don't know how it's working. People who are practicing and who are actually making a difference in the world don't necessarily know that they're doing that. We can't tell sometimes. And yet, doing this practice regularly, and it's important to do it regularly and to sustain it,

[17:22]

Through doing this, how you are in the world makes some difference in a way that you don't necessarily see. It doesn't leave some trace for you to see. And yet there's this illumination which functions. From the beginning, and then he, Dong Zhou likes to use these nature metaphors to show the naturalness of this. From the beginning, the clouds leisurely release their rain, drifting past obstacles. So just like the clouds in the open sky, at some point, the clouds leisurely release their rain and drift past obstacles. Clouds are not lost. The direct teaching is very pure and steady, Hongsha says. Nothing can budge it. So what he's saying is just true. we get caught up in all of our hang-ups and neuroses. And he talks elsewhere about how we have to brush that away.

[18:25]

We talked about that last week. And we have to see our own patterns of grasping and anger and confusion and keep paying attention to them and not get caught by them, not react and cause harm based on them. But the direct teaching itself is very pure and steady. Nothing can budge it. And finally, he says, immediately, right now, without allowing past conditions to turn you, genuinely enact it. So he encourages us. He doesn't say, get rid of past conditions. He says, without allowing past conditions to turn you. So we've all got our stuff. Don't let it turn you around. Don't be caught by it. Get to know it. Befriend yourself. Become intimate with all of the stuff, your own patterns of grasping, or anger, or fear, or confusion.

[19:34]

Right now, he says, we can just do this, actually. And it doesn't mean that the fear goes away, or the anger. but we don't have to, we don't have to turn that, our precept says, the cycle of Buddha does not harbor ill will, so okay, we don't have to, we don't have to turn anger into hatred. Immediately, without allowing past conditions to turn you, genuinely enact it, express it, allow this serene illumination, this communion with the boundless to express itself in your life. Get out of the way of it. And so then, so we do that and then we come back and we sit and connect with it some more.

[20:37]

Experiencing ourselves without distractions, simply surpassing partiality, separation, and going beyond conceptualizing, connecting with something deeper, with our deeper creative energy, with this source of that which allows ourselves to wander and tranquilly dwell in the boundless spirit. So this is the, this is Hongxia's instruction on how to contemplate Buddha. So, in some ways this may seem very challenging, you know, I can't do that.

[21:47]

Or, you know, we sometimes don't live up to this, maybe. But, you know, just immediately, genuinely enact it. Really, truly. And we do this while we're sitting on a cushion, while we're, you know, sitting in the middle of thoughts and feelings coming up, and we do it when we go out into the world. Drifting past obstacles. Passing through the world, responding to situations. So the illumination itself is without striving, it functions without leaving traces. So I'll read the whole thing one more time and then see if you have comments or responses.

[22:48]

Contemplating your own authentic form is how to contemplate Buddha. If you can experience yourself without distractions, simply surpass partiality and go beyond conceptualizing. All Buddhas in all minds reach the essential without duality. Zen practitioners silently wander and tranquilly dwell on the empty spirit, wondrously penetrating, just as the supreme boundlessness permeates this dusty age. Dignified, without relying on others, and radiant beyond doubt, maintaining this as primary, the energy turns around and transforms all estrangement. passing through the world, responding to situations. Illumination is without striving and functions without leaving traces. 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, without allowing past conditions to turn you around, genuinely enact it.

[23:52]

So comments, questions, responses, everyone, anyone, please feel free. Yes, Carla. Well, what I hear today, so we have for the people in the practice period and for everyone else we have two months and the rest of our lives to consider what he's saying. But today, dignified without relying on others, this is something we each find for ourselves. So we can talk about it together in sanghas about how we share our perspectives on it so we can be informed by others. You know, it's about your practice. How is it for you?

[24:57]

So how is it that you find your dignity, your inner dignity in zazen, your way of being present and upright? And then how is that? So it is an interesting phrase. How is it that you find your way of being radiant beyond doubt? How do you maintain this as primary? How do you find this inner resource as basic? How is it for you when the energy turns around and transforms your sense of separation? We all have that, we all have some sense of separation. being separate or different or estranged from the world or from somebody or, you know, how does that get transformed by this deep inner dignified energy? So, you know, I can say something about it, but really you have to find that for yourself. Thank you.

[26:01]

Other questions or responses or comments? I like the metaphor of the clouds in the blue sky, because they're both of the same nature, so it gives a different meaning. It's like our thoughts that keep arising that we're dealing with. it makes that part of the natural world. So it's like in some ways to be able to respect it, see it as that, and that there's also a drop of a blue sky is helpful versus tending to see it as something to get rid of or not natural. Yes, good, yeah. So again, our brain continues to secrete thoughts.

[27:04]

It's just part of the phenomenal world. It's like the sounds or the temperature or the visual field in front of us. So it's not something, you know, how could we get rid of that? It's just part of situation we're in. But we tend to think that people think that enlightenment would be to get rid of all your thoughts or all your desires or something. These are classical traps in meditation. And then there's that background sky, that kind of openness that's always there. Okay. So the point of these teachings is to encourage us to continue in this practice.

[28:31]

So we're studying this during this practice period, but it's not about learning some particular teaching or some particular philosophy. You know, it's what we call the section Practice Instructions, but really they're practice encouragements. But they're ways of seeing the dynamics of our formal sitting practice, but also what's going on in terms of how that, we emphasize the sitting practice, but then also how that expresses itself, how we express that awareness in our engagement in the world. Yes, Paul? Yeah, Hongxue was living in a monastery up in, pretty far up in the mountains, but yeah, people, he was, these dharma words, these practice encouragements were transcribed by one of his monks, and he was speaking to the monks who were at the monastery, but also there were lay people who came and listened to them, and there were people down the foot of the mountain,

[30:22]

who were patrons of his, and he knew about what was going on in the world. There was a civil war in the northern and southern Song. There was great changes in the whole political arrangement of China at that time. And there were famines going on in the countryside, and he a few times donated the food that was stored in the monastery and sent it down to help people. So yeah, he was involved with that. But he stayed in the monastery up in the mountains the whole time. Yeah, so I was thinking as I was reading this, there was a passage in here about without allowing conditions to turn you to immediately express it.

[31:23]

I was at the tax demonstration yesterday downtown and a lot of people were talking about what's going on and the way that the President is not releasing his tax returns. So there was a lot of anger expressed there. Our precept about anger is to not harbor ill will. It doesn't mean we can't express anger, but I don't wish any particular politician harm. I just wish they would stop, speaking of hunger, the massive famine that's going on. northern Africa and parts of the Mideast, largely thanks to our weapons bombing them and people in our government who are profiting from the bombs and so forth. So I can feel, I can start to talk about that and feel anger.

[32:25]

Okay, how do I not How do I turn that into some rage? How do I not get caught by that? How do I turn that into... So in terms of talking about the situation now, how do I turn that into an active response? And partly that's by talking about it here. Partly that's by going to actions like yesterday and next Saturday, the science action, the flyers out front to support you know, to support science at a time when science is under attack. And the following Saturday, there's a climate march to support trying to take care of our climate when it's being threatened by our Secretary of State, who helped create climate damage for profit. I don't wish him personal harm, but, you know, I wish The people who are involved in this would stop doing that. Anyway, so I can talk about that stuff. How do I not make that into a kind of corrosive...

[33:32]

anger that is harmful to me and doesn't help anything. And so there were some of the very creative sides yesterday that were expressing ill will and I thought, okay, well. And a lot of the creative sides were very humorous and to the point. That's in terms of responding to the social situation. In terms of responding to personal situations, and we all have people in our lives we have difficulty with, family members or friends or whatever. How do you respond without being caught by the natural perhaps anger or frustration or whatever or fear or whatever that comes up. That gets into the subtlety of the Bodhisattva practices and the precepts about how we immediately, genuinely enact this without allowing past conditions to turn us around.

[34:41]

So that's where he ends this paragraph with, and that's very challenging in this dusty age. But that's part of this. you know, that there is this possibility of creative illumination that we can connect with, commune with, in this serene illumination, and then how do we express that? How do we express that in a dignified, wholehearted way? Other comments? Time for one or two more questions or responses. Yes, hi. Contemplating your own authentic form. Yeah. Good question.

[35:44]

Yeah, that's exactly to the point. So, you know, one way is to Accept everything, you know. To see that, you know, that was one of Frank Ostaseski's points, just to, all of it, everything that comes up is part of your authentic form. But really be with it, be with it completely, wholeheartedly. Don't turn anything away. And can you actually settle with it, sit with it, be present with it? So contemplate, this word contemplate also means, it's the con of canon, to observe, to regard, to really listen.

[36:46]

Listen to your own authentic form. Observe your own authentic form. And the authentic is very important. What is genuine? What is something that somebody told? You know, we've all been told by our teachers and our parents and various people that you're this kind of person or you're that kind of person. What is it that you feel? as you're sitting. One of the gifts of zazen is that you get to be present and feel what you feel, not your stories about yourself or the stories that other people told you about yourself. That takes some time and takes some settling. Sometimes we can do it like this. Sometimes there's all these stories going on. How do we settle into something that Yeah, this feels right, this is it. And sometimes we can't, sometimes we don't know how to say it in words. Most of the time, to put it into, to articulate it is very challenging. So Hongzhe, we're studying Hongzhe, you know, from the 1100s still, because he had this gift of expressing something in words that speaks to us in Zazen.

[38:02]

but contemplating your own authentic form. So I appreciate you bringing us back to the very beginning of this practice encouragement, to really consider what is it that's authentic? What is it that's your form? And this sitting upright, This yogic posture of sitting upright, being present, relaxed, allows us to do that. And it takes a while, and it takes some consideration. So that's the work of this practice. And in some ways, he says, if you can experience yourself without distractions, without being caught up in all the external stories about yourself, you know, the things that your teachers or your parents told you you were, maybe that's part of it, but simply

[39:04]

Thank you all very much.

[39:08]

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