Good morning, everyone wrong and. So I want to talk this morning about Dharmakaya practice and spiritual bypass. So during the Rojasu Sashin, we did month ago, a little bit, so that we were talking about the Samadhi of the Treasury of Radiance, which is an important early Soto Zen teaching from Dogen Sasatpo Koen Ejo. And there was a lot of resistance that came up and I wanted, so I want to talk about Dharmakaya teachings and practice. This is foundational to Soto Zen. Dharmakaya is the reality body of Buddha, the body of Buddha, who is simultaneous with the whole universe.

[01:02]

So this is about seeing the whole universe as awakened. And many of our basic teachings are foundational to Soto Zen or are from this context. So teaching Buddha nature, that all sentient being is Buddha nature. Is of the nature of awakening, the self-fulfillment Samadhi that I've talked about a lot, where Dogen, our founder in Japan, said that when one person displays the Buddha Mojo, expresses Buddha with their whole body and mind, all the whole environment, the whole universe completely awakens. This is totally strange to our usual way of thinking. And yet this is the starting point of our Soto Zen practice. The Avatamsaka Flower Ornament Sutra, which we chant monthly, just Friday evening of the

[02:08]

month, is one great source of this. So this is about recognizing wholeness. What I felt the very first time I had Zazen instruction. This sense of everything is okay. The sense of openness, the sense of immediate awakening. Our first thought of awakening, or Ishita, awakening mind. This is all Tamakaya practice. The context of our practice in which everything is right here, everything everywhere all at once right here, and it's all perfect, just as it is. This is inconceivable teaching, it's beyond our conceptualization.

[03:13]

This is the teaching where we hear that Zazen, just sitting, is an expression of awakening. It's not a method to attain some fancy experience, some so-called enlightenment, sometime in the future. Everything is right here, now. This again is foundational to our Soto Zen practice. Just to express Buddha, in this body, mind, in this place, in this time, in this body, is our practice. However, when we talked about this in Rahatsa Zazen, numbers of people expressed resistance,

[04:20]

strong resistance. Aishen, who I see is here online, asked, what about spiritual bypass? Wonderful question. So, spiritual bypass is, I don't know, a current term for using spiritual practice, using awareness, awakening, whether it's some experience, fullness, genetic, or just everyday, or whether it's some understanding of it, using that as an excuse to ignore our own karmic suffering, our own ancient twisted karma, and the difficulties of the world around us, of our family and friends and followers, and in the world, and in the world at large.

[05:22]

So, Dharmakaya practice is not spiritual bypass, but I need to say more about that. And this kind of practice, Dogen called it just sitting, a century before in China, Hongsha called it serene illumination, many names for it. Again, the samadhi of self-fulfillment, or self-expression, the samadhi of the treasury of radiance, many, many words for this, and the words, the many words, none of them actually catches it. This is inconceivable teaching, it's beyond our conceptualization, and yet this is what Zazen actually is, what our Zazen actually is. We express awakening here, this morning, in the cold of Chicago, this body, this mind,

[06:34]

these problems, and going back in history of Zazen, it's been criticized, the term spiritual bypass is a modern psychological term, but this practice was criticized as quietistic by other teachers in China, or inside school teachers, who were criticizing Hongsha's disciples. So, how do we express this Dharmakaya practice, this practice of, this inconceivable practice of fullness, and reality, and enjoyment of our lives, without ignoring our ancient twisted

[07:35]

karma, without ignoring the suffering of the world? This is the question. Zuki Roshi, so this issue of Dharmakaya practice goes all through the history of Soto Zen, from our founder, Gokushan, who wrote the Jewel of Marriage Samadhi, who's credited with it, right up to Suzuki Roshi, who said that our practice is constantly losing our balance against the background of perfect balance. Suzuki Roshi said we're perfect just as we are, just as we exist, and yet we need to do a lot of work. So, this inconceivable Dharmakaya practice is wonderful. I mean, really, to just sit and be fully present, and just as best we can in this limited body,

[08:37]

this limited mind, express everything, express all of women. This is a wonderful practice, and I know that all of you have some taste in it, or else you wouldn't be here. So, this Soto Zen is an expression of awakening, but not some technique to achieve some special experience in the future. This Dharmakaya expression practice is the source of our creative energy. And the genius of Soto Zen is that it is a tradition in which we experience and appreciate this wholeness, this Dharmakaya practice, and at the same time, know that it is a source

[09:39]

for responding to the problems of our life and the problems of our world. I'm going to give some examples of that. So, Hongzhe, who was a century before Dogen in China, most important Taoist in China, a Soto teacher before Dogen, said, The field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. We need to purify it, brush away tendencies we have fabricated into apparent habits, and then reside in the clear circle of brightness. But he also talks about, then, how do we use this awareness to express kindness,

[10:44]

caring, compassion, support for suffering beings. So, it says, Totally let go, washed clean and ground to a fine polish. Respond with brilliant light to such unfathomable depths as the waters of the water or the moon, Stanton's guide, then you must know there is a path on which to turn yourself around. When you do turn yourself around, you have no different face that can be recognized. Even if you do not recognize your face, still, nothing can hide it. When you have thoroughly investigated your roots back to their open source, a thousand or ten thousand stages are no more than footprints on the trail. In wonder, return to the journey, avail yourself of the path, and walk ahead.

[11:48]

And like those darkness where it operates, no traces remain. With a hundred grass tips in a busy marketplace, graciously share yourself. I'll read that sentence again. With a hundred grass tips, in other words, all phenomena, all beings. In a busy marketplace, mundane world, graciously share yourself. Wide open and accessible, walking along, casual about the sounds and the straddle of colors, while you transcend listening and surpass fortune. So, graciously share yourself. This is also a part of Suttasat practice, the genius of Suttasat practice. From this experience, we taste or glimpse or have some rough sense of it doesn't, and it develops as we sustain, continue Suttasat practice. From that place, graciously share yourself.

[12:51]

So, in a couple months, late March to late May, I'll be leading a practice commitment period again, heritage and drag and focusing on Moksha. So we'll talk more about Moksha teaching. I also wanted to give an example of this sense of our practice from Dogon. This is from Keiko Okun's extensive record. The family style of all Buddhas and ancestors, so he doesn't limit it to our Suttasat lineage. The true family style of all Buddhas and ancestors is first, arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. This is the point of our practice. This is the point of Dadakaya practice. We vow, we vow, this vow is so important,

[13:58]

to free all living beings of suffering. Remove suffering and provide joy. Where's joy available in this practice? Only this family style is an exhaustively bright and clear. We first recognize in the lofty mountains, we see the moon for a long time. So this is literally true, but it's also a metaphor for our extended practice. Fishing practice, practice, practice, commitment, period of practice, but just even sitting this morning together here in this call center and online. We see the moon, and when we continue this practice, we see the moon for a long time. And the moon is this image of wholeness, perfection, Dadakaya, traditional meditation.

[15:03]

And he says, as clouds clear, we first recognize the sky, the openness, emptiness, the vastness of reality, the vastness of the Dadakaya, which we are one, each of us, in our own particular way is one piece of. And that says cast loose down the precipice, moonlight shares itself with the temples. When we let go, when we. It's not exactly when we get up from Zaza, go out in the world, but you might see that metaphorically. It's when we. Return to engage with all suffered beings. Family, friends, co-workers. The people of Israel and Gaza, people in Ukraine. All the people who are suffering now, various ways.

[16:04]

South Chicago and maybe even in North Chicago. So how do we respond to the world's suffering? And. How do we use the nourishment of Dadakaya practice? Where we are also. Same time. Everything, everywhere, all at once, we feel. Possibility and the reality of fullness. I'm enjoying my breathing. It's OK to be who you are with all your problems. All my problems. Some came early on. And yet. Who responds to the world's suffering? This is also again. This is the genius of such as that we. We we engage, we. Deeply feel.

[17:07]

This kind of reality. And. And. We don't hide from the world. No spiritual bypass. Engaging Dadakaya does not mean that we ignore. So even ourselves. So even at the end of that passage of it says, even when climbing up the birds. Fine tree. Taking good care of yourself is spiritual power. So we use this experience and this understanding of fullness. The inconceivable. We can't we can't get our head around the example. By definition, we can't just think that we don't know what it is. And yet we commune with it and does it. We commune with it in song. And working to support each other.

[18:09]

Taking care of each other. So how do we respond to the world suffering next week? I'm going. It is. It's Sunday. But Mark was a Kim day and I every year I talk about Dr. Chang and. And the problems of this world. And I'll talk about it in personal terms in terms of my own. Practice journey. But, you know, there's there's. I can name it, and we all know it. The rise of fascism in this country in the world, politics, cruelty. So many people pressed in marginal lives. Mass militarization of our country and the world. And the American war on Gaza now. Cleansing and genocide. At the same time that I sympathize with the. Years of the people of Israel.

[19:13]

So I'll talk about that more next week. But I wanted to add that one of the greatest scholars of. Dr. King, especially from that perspective, is my good friend. Now it's an OK. Who is in the ICU now? And has he had a recent. But. He's been in a coma, but the last few days. And it's similar time. The war with the citizens was now awake. And yes, I contacted the Spaniel excuses that hands. So there's hope. Being after very near death, and it may be a long time before it was. Back functioning is added to the center. Anyway, I have a quoted. And they'll get it. I want to. Quote my friend and mentor, Joanna Lacey.

[20:15]

Talking about the world now. She says this is a dark time. With suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body. It is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. Don't be afraid of the anguish you feel. Or the anger or fear. Because these. Responses. Rise from the depths of our carry. And the truth. About our interconnectedness with all beings. Not separate. People are not separate from. And those of us who have been separate from. The oppression of women, the oppression of black people and other indigenous people. And a bunch of people that was happening. It was part of the politics of.

[21:18]

This is. The truth of our interconnectedness with all beings. Joanna continues action. Isn't a burden. To be hoisted up and. Loved around on our shoulders. This response is something. We are. The work we have to do. Can be seen as a kind of coming alive. More than some moral imperative. It's an awakening to our troop nature. Party. A releasing of our gifts. And each of us has our own special gifts and our own special way. Particular way of. Responding and being helpful. In the world. And so important. And. My friend Jane Hirschfield is a great poet.

[22:30]

And a. Practitioner. And Greenwich. Talked about how we need to feel. Brief. Situation. We need to feel. The grief and fear. Breathe. Before finding hope. So this is a difficult time. And yet we have this. This. Nourishment is support from Donna. From just. Clemson communing with the wholeness of reality. That is still here. So we can enjoy.

[23:31]

A homeless teaching. Teaching of the. Somali of the treasury of radiance. This is support and nourishment for. How we can each respond appropriately. To help them meet suffering and provide joy. For each other and ourselves and. Those. In trouble. Problems. The world. We can act. Helpful. In trouble. The trouble of our world. Yeah. So we can tell. To. In our own lives.

[24:34]

In our own particular limited body. To help. Down this road to help. To help heal the world. To come along to heal the world. This is part of our. This is our bodhisattva practice. So I can keep babbling about all of this. And, you know, just to say again. How wonderful it is to be alive. Maybe all the people. Come to ancient dragon are relatively privileged. And not. Victims of. Active cruelty and oppression. So many. Of our fellow beings. Not just human. Suffering, but also. We can respond.

[25:34]

Try and respond. We can feel. But not just possibility, but the reality of the nature. Of awakeness. All around us. So. We have a little bit of time. Comments, questions, responses, people online to. So can you talk to one of those people? But children on. And people on their. Comments, questions. I see Asian. And I wonder if this helps with your question.

[26:35]

Your wonderful question about spiritual bypass. Yes, it does. Thank you. Thank you for a really helpful talk. I actually didn't know you were going to be talking about this today. But my thoughts were turning to Zen and healing earlier. And I wonder if you could say anything more about how we can be with what. But, you know, the causes and conditions that are here. And also maybe. Use our energy to help with transformation and healing. Thank you. Yes, that's me question. What do we do? So we're healing is interesting. I think it has the sick has. Etymology that goes back to the to the also to the root of poems. To make whole to heal. To. Repair injury.

[27:37]

How do we do that? So there's a whole other talk I could give on skillful means. And the practice of skillful means. And it means it's not about having the perfect answer. To solve the fix. You know, our culture of consumers culture. We. I would get caught up in fixing things now and. Making everything. Making everything. Everything is perfect. And also. We see all the damage. How do we fix all of that? And I don't think that's exactly the point. It's not problem solving. It's just it's more immediate. So how do we feel? Feel as general said and breathe. For the trouble in the world. And the trouble in our lives and the trouble of friends and. And then what can we do?

[28:44]

And again, there's not one, right? It's still believes there's not one right formula or instruction manual. It's each one of us as our own. Feeling gets each one of us has ways in which we can respond. And they merit a very different but. And it's not about. Doing it perfectly. We. It's trial and error. No, it's we make mistakes. It's important to make mistakes. Try and make good mistakes rather than wrong mistakes. Try and make mistakes that don't make things too much worse. But we're going to make mistakes. That's also our life. That's included. In Dharmakaya. So. So we each do what we are moved to do to help out in each in our own way.

[29:47]

And so many people in our Sangha are doing helpful work in various different ways. So I see Dr. Chris Camden, who's part of our Sangha, as I said, helps the doctor with people in hospice. Chris, you have a question? Comment? Yes. Can you hear me OK? Yes, I can. In listening to. Your talk, my struggle is really with, I think, with the word healing. And the sense of. Healing is not necessarily and actually to me is not making whole or perfect. OK, it's, you know, reducing suffering. Is is a form of healing, but it's not making perfect. It's not making whole. And the other.

[30:48]

And a related question is. Is that joy? Is reducing suffering. Necessarily joy, so that makes sense at all. Yes, yes. Thank you for that. So. Again, it's not fixing. It's not making things perfect. They're already perfect, including all of the difficulties. So that's. So your work, your profession, helping. Helping people. Who are in hospice and using your medical. Profession to do that. It doesn't heal. It doesn't mean that everything that you make it, but you fix everything, right? It's our effort. Our our response are working to be kind. Compassion is not about fixing everything. It's about just expressing compassion in the world.

[31:50]

And that is. Seems to be contagious. So our efforts at. Helping. And I understand your question about the word healing and healing doesn't mean. Necessarily fix it. It means trying to help. So. Yeah. I don't know if that helps. We have a few hands on. I don't know. But I think David was first. Especially. Yes, if I may. I'm commenting a little bit on Chris and then I also have a question. As a hospital. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I.

[32:54]

It's not so much, you know, I'm not going to heal a dying person. You know, I've been in rooms where the person was already comatose and not, you know. Intubated or some form of, you know, ventilator. And they may not even hear me. I've been with people who are who are awake. It's a matter of being in the room and having everyone have some sense of connection. For me, that's the key word. We often live in worlds of delusion. And how can we connect with the ultimate reality? So it's more about for me, not so much healing, but connections. Good. If I may. Well, okay. If you have something else quickly. No. Go ahead. You comment. Go ahead. So connecting is the point.

[33:58]

Yes. It's not about fixing. It's about wrecking. And we already are connected. That's the point of Dr. Kind of teaching. That's the point of the Somali of the treasury of radiance. Radiance is here. Here we are connected. How do we recognize that? Yes. Yes. I'm back to that. So thank you very much. Meows on. Yes. Good morning. Good morning. I. If you'll excuse me for saying so, I feel a little bit of disappointment in your talk this morning, in the sense that I'm not a psychologist, nor do I play one on TV. I may not understand what the term spiritual bypassing actually means, but. As you quoted Suzuki Roshi,

[35:01]

the world is perfect as it is and it has a lot of work or something like that. As I remember the quotation, it was you are perfect as you are and you need a lot of work. And me, me, you, everybody. When I. In preparation for your talk perused, you know, just casually online definitions of spiritual bypassing. In every instance, the emphasis was on developmental issues, unresolved psychological issues, unresolved interpersonal conflicts, all these kinds of things. Now we can, and we do in our service, um, acknowledge our ancient twisted karma. How do I put my hand down here? I'll figure it out later. Um, we acknowledge our ancient twisted karma. I myself have come to feel like this in itself can be a form of spiritual

[36:06]

bypassing in that we sort of say, okay, we got problems and then we move on and we don't actually do the work of attending to our own psychological, um, mess our own neuroses, our own stuff. Um, we don't turn away from the world. This is a very strong aspect of, um, so to teaching and, and that may be an aspect of spiritual bypassing. But as I understand the term, I think you rather under emphasize that part. And over emphasize Dharmakaya part. And that, that's the, the issue that comes up when we talk about spiritual bypassing. So, um, yeah, I feel like, I feel like I'm making a slightly critical comment, but, um, I would appreciate your response. Well, thank you. Uh, yeah,

[37:07]

I didn't mean to make light of the difficulty of responding to the difficulties of the world and the difficulties of our own body mind. And it's, yes, our body mind. Let's talk about our body mind, our body mind. Yes. This is personal for each of us. And it's also the world. So, um, I'm tempted to call on Asian to, um, comment. And she brought up the term and I am not a psychologist on, but I, I appreciate your, you're saying this. It's not, it's not something to take lightly. It's, it's work. How do we take care of ourselves and our relationships and our being in the world? It's not, it's not simple. It's not easy. And yet I do feel that this Dharmakaya teaching and this practice of Zazen is a support and nourishment for doing that. Asian, do you have any quick comments and response?

[38:08]

Um, so I would want, I really would want to give my comments more thought, but, um, but I do agree with Nyozan that, um, my understanding of spiritual bypassing is when we gloss over our own, you know, ancient twisted karma, our own actions, and kind of focus on, you know, like the oneness it's, it's a little bit like, you know, Zen sickness or the stink of Zen. Although it doesn't, I don't think it comes from the Zen tradition. I think it comes from the Tibetan tradition. Um, and now I've forgotten what I was going to say, but I think it's, I think it's, it's very difficult and it's something that requires discernment by each person and possibly talking about our practice or our lives with a teacher

[39:18]

or with others whom we trust to, um, tell us the truth because it's very, very tricky. Um, there is suffering in, in the world and there is suffering, um, in ourselves. And a certain percentage, a certain amount of that is, I think, unavoidable. You know, we, we are subject to old age, sickness and death, but as spiritual practitioners, I think we do have a responsibility to look at our actions and their impact on the world, but their impact also on those closest to us. And, um, to not just say, Hey, yeah, you know, it's a, everything is perfect, just as it is. But to,

[40:18]

but to, it's, it's really a, it's a, um, it's a tension that I think that we all have to hold. And that's maybe all I'm, uh, qualified to say at this time. Thank you, Richard. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. There's a creative tension about all this. How do we function and respond in our own trouble? And yet I do think that there's a support and nourishment available on practice. Nicholas has had his hand up. So Nicholas, uh, last, last person. Um, yeah, I have a comment, but I, I just want to address the spiritual bypassing thing. Cause I've used that term for many years. Um, and what I've meant by it and, and, uh, what I, um, took that the many people that have used that term also meant by it is it's

[41:19]

describing a type of person, a person, um, kind of a new agey type person who, you know, like if you tell them, Oh, I'm really depressed. I'll say, well, change your thoughts. You know, they have all this sort of bumper sticker, um, kind of, uh, uh, philosophies that they just dole out, you know, unrequested, you know? Um, so it's, it's, yeah, it's just a person who is afraid of dealing with their own suffering. So they skate above, um, and they're just into the light and love and, you know, that kind of stuff. So that's, that's what I mean by spiritual bypassing. So I, I was, um, watching, I watched a lot of videos on YouTube, physics videos. And I, I saw this one recently, um, where they discovered that, um, when light particles are observed,

[42:20]

they behave differently. And this was sort of a revelation to scientists. there, I think they, um, made it clear that other particles behave differently too, when they're observed. And I just, uh, wondered how, you know, that, um, what the implication, you know, what is the implication to our practice? You know, that, that we are paying attention. We are observing. That's kind of what we do in Zazen. We're paying attention to the world. We're paying attention to the body, mind. We're paying attention to our breath, emotions, thoughts, pain in the body, all of it. So by definition, it's going to change things even according to, you know, physics. So I just, so my question is, uh, what do you think of that?

[43:22]

I think that's basic for our practice, that when we paying attention, something changes it. I know this has been demonstrated in scientific experiments by physicists more recently, but the Heisenberg principle goes back to, physicist Heisenberg. When you, as you said, when you pay attention to a particle, when you pay attention to a problem, when you give your caring to a situation, that changes it. It doesn't necessarily heal or fix it, but it makes a difference. So all of our practice of working towards healing, I don't know what, what were other words to say, and I, I appreciate it, Chris's question, healing. But when we pay attention to our life, details of our life, and Zazen tends to help us do that,

[44:26]

and, and, and our world, it makes a difference. And it's not that, you know, if enough people are doing that, may it be so, and maybe we'll make a bigger difference. So, yes, thank you. I appreciate you bringing that. Yeah, and I just want one quick thing. It's like the impact that we have on other people, or the world, or the problems of the world is, is very mysterious. And we can't really know what that impact is. That's right. It's inconceivable. We don't necessarily know what the results or impact of our practices. That's important. That's an important point. We can, we may, we may think that we're, that what we're doing is not helpful. You know, sometimes we can feel that way. yeah, the outcome isn't, we don't know the outcome of our practice, and that's okay. But our effort to,

[45:29]

support, to relieve suffering, support joy, support kindness, does make a difference. And how, you know, and sometimes it's many years later. Thank you very much, Nichols. We do have to close now. I'm sorry. I get comments from people here in the room. Maybe we can talk about it over tea. But, I guess we'll do the court works out to 1,000 hours.

[46:05]

@Transcribed_v004ct2
@Text_v005
@Score_88.69