Again, beginning with a storyline so far in the guidelines for practicing the way. First we arouse the unsurpassable spirit of enlightenment. and hearing this teaching about arousing the Bodhi mind, then it is stressed that we have to actually put it into practice. Next, be clear that the realization of the Bodhi mind, the realization of awakening, the realization of the Buddha way is always entered through practice. Fourth point, In this whole effort here, there should be not the slightest bit of gaining attitude.

[01:10]

Not even trying to gain things for other people. Just to do this whole process of arousing the mind, putting it into practice, entering the way through practice and doing all this just for the sake of doing all this. Really pure motivation. The fifth point is that in order to do this, we need the kind of true teacher. Otherwise, even though we're trying to do this, our way of doing this and the actuality of doing this will go separate ways. Okay, that's the storyline so far, and now we come to the sixth point, which is, it's difficult. This whole thing is difficult. Hard.

[02:21]

The sixth point is to look at a little bit how difficult it actually is to work with these dimensions of practice. And perhaps, contemplating this difficulty, you won't think there's something wrong when you find difficulty. It won't be that you like it or think it's easy, But at least you'll say, well, I'm having a hard time. And just like Buddha, just like Bodhidharma had a hard time, just like Buddha had a hard time, just like Suzuki Roshi had a hard time, just like I'm having a hard time. Here we go. What you should know for practicing Zen. Practicing Zen.

[03:22]

It says this. It says, practicing Zen, practicing Zen. Is that a misprint? Practicing Zen, practicing Zen. Studying the way is the most important matter in life. You should not make light of it. or be imprudent or hasty in any way about it. An old-time master cut off his arm. Another one cut off its fingers. These are excellent models from China. Sounds like America's kind of cult thing, right? I didn't know that Yangshan, until I read this text and looked at the footnote, I didn't notice that Yangshan, the wonderful Yangshan, Guishan's pal, cut off two fingers because his parents wouldn't let him become a monk.

[04:38]

He said, I want to become a monk with friends. He said, okay, you're getting married. He said, see these two fingers? I wasn't kidding. He said, okay, okay. Models from China. It doesn't mean you copy this, okay? It's just kind of like a Chinese metaphor for Something, I don't know what. Long ago, abandoned his home and left his country, gave up his empire. He had excellent precedence for practicing the way. You may or may not agree, but that's what Dogen Zenji said. Of course, he said it in Japanese. People of the present say that you should practice the way you practice. Dogen lived in the Kamakura era of Japan, and two other really important Buddhist teachers were contemporary with him, Shinran and Nichiren.

[06:02]

All three of these people actually kind of founded a religion, a new kind of religion in that time in Japan. And each of these religions had a very concrete practice that you could do. The Buddhism before that was very complex and mostly practiced by aristocrats. But all three of these people put forth very simple practices that made Buddhism much more accessible to the masses. Dogen taught this sitting teacher. Shinran taught just chanting the Buddha's name, Nenbutsu, thinking of the Buddha. And Ichiren thought, just chant the name of the Lotus Sutra. These three concrete practices were said to be sufficient for realizing the way. Just sitting, working with a teacher, chanting the Lotus Sutra, and chanting Buddha's name.

[07:06]

But the rationale for the other two practices were different from Dogen's rationale. And they were based on the idea that, you know, the world's a mess. You can't really do a hard practice. Do an easy practice. on the power of the Lotus Sutra, the power of Amitabha, Amitabha's vows. Dogen said, this view is that it's too hard for ordinary people to practice. That's what these people are saying. Ordinary people can't practice. The practice and enlightenment were no longer possible. But Zen and also Vajrayana Buddhism say that actually the Bodhisattva vow means that all beings have the capacity to realize unsurpassed liberation. That you have that nature.

[08:10]

It's not to say that you can make that happen, but that it is your nature to practice like a Buddha and practice like a Buddha. However, the practice of a Buddha is not an easy practice. The Shakyamuni Buddha did not have an easy practice. Matter of fact, part of his difficulty was that he practiced too hard for a while. First he practiced too easy, then he practiced too easy, then he practiced too hard, then he practiced too easy, until finally he found the middle way. But it was hard for him to find the middle way. Once he found the middle way, it wasn't hard anymore. Then he had kind of like what's called fun. But it was hard finding it. also was an event teacher who had a really hard time, almost killed himself. And after he found the middle way, he said, hey, you guys don't have to try to kill yourself.

[09:13]

I already did that. Take it easy. But his way of taking it easy, it was just easy relative to almost killing yourself. You don't have to necessarily get that close to suicide to find the middle way. The problem is that some people do get almost that close. That's not the middle way, but that's part of what looking for Buddha got close to death. Lankya got close to death. Those were mistakes. The Lotus Sutra says, the wisdom of the Buddha is very profound and infinite. And wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. It's difficult, but then to think that there's another way besides this difficult way.

[10:16]

This, according to Ancients of the Buddha, ancestors of the Buddha, is a mistake. It just turns out that there's not another way, and the way is difficult. Now, of course, the way is easy if you don't pick and choose. But since you're picking shoes, it's difficult. If you do pick and choose, even if we... So in Dogen's time, many people of the world would say stuff like, I would really like to practice the way, but the world's such a mess, and I have meager capacities. I cannot endure the hardships of practicing Zen, which according to the Dharma. I want to find an easier way. which is suitable for me. Make a connection with Buddha and attain enlightenment in my next life.

[11:17]

And, you know, why not? Just sort of like find Buddha, make pals with him, and, you know, ain't that the nicest? And some people, you know, some then monasteries and some of the Buddhist places, you find some people, some rich people, like to just sort of hang around with Buddhists, hoping that that'll do it. The fundraiser don't necessarily say, we're meeting with you now, but we want you to know that you're going to have to practice after you make this donation. After you make this donation, we will say your name in the service forever. Well, all of them have been named, listed in evening service. And we even have in the city center the name of Chester Carlson, who made a donation to pay for Tassajara. It says, founder of Tassajara, Chester Carlson.

[12:23]

But he was like forever venerated as then senator for helping establish his monastery. Well, we didn't tell him, by the way, thanks for the donation, but also don't forget to practice from now on. We should, really. After we cash the check. In Japan, mostly, in my experience in Japan, is mostly I talk to Zen people, people in Zen monasteries, and none of them are cab drivers. Because on the train, you know, I don't necessarily talk to people sitting next to me. I'm sitting next to you because my Japanese isn't good enough. I don't necessarily talk to every Japanese person in the seat. But in a cab, there's time to talk. And when they find out, they always say, 先週難しいです。 修行厳しい。 The Zen school is very difficult.

[13:32]

The practice is very strict. I can't do it. Too difficult. Reputation for really being hard in Japan. Whether it really is or not, it's got the reputation. Which is really good for the monks. Because people make lots of donations to them because they think these people are really smart. But of course, whether they are or not, still, practice is difficult. A lot of smart people think that enlightenment is not possible, like Marx and Hegel. They were smart, and they thought, yeah, enlightenment is not possible. People can't get along. People are naturally lazy, and they just want to be either bosses or employees. They just naturally want to be masters or slaves. They don't want to meet eye to eye.

[14:33]

That's too hard for people. So since they won't actually try to meet eye to eye, set up a system of government and a philosophy which takes into account that people don't have to actually meet a master and say, hey, master, I'm your equal. And masters don't really have the ability to look at their servants and say, hey man, get educated. So since they don't, let's set up a social system that takes into account that people can't actually meet face-to-face. It's too hard to meet a Buddha face-to-face and realize the way. It's too hard. So let's, like, get rid of Buddhas and get rid of students and have everybody be workers. Make everybody the same. Since they can't face the fact of their difference.

[15:37]

It's too hard. It's too hard to find that still point, that balance between self-assertion and recognizing the others. It's too difficult to find the balance between protecting your own rights and affirming the other's right. So forget it. says, no. I'm not saying it's easy. It's hard to do that. It's hard to defend your own rights and recognize the other's rights. It's hard to assert yourself and listen to the other's very hard, much easier to just like listen to the other or assert yourself. Much easier. You need to dominate or submit. It's hard to do neither. Press yourself fully while you also watch and encourage others to do the same.

[16:44]

That's very hard. But that's the practice and that's how You take your intention to harmonize the way into a relationship, and the relationship helps you not go off on your own. But it's hard. So since I gave that talk about teachers and stuff, it's gotten harder around here. A lot of people are on the verge of quitting after one day. Or day. Understandable. Understandable. In fact, the Dharma is present in the world because our great founder, Shakyamuni, practiced with great difficulty and pain for immeasurable eons and finally attained the Dharma.

[17:50]

If the original source is like this, how can the later streams be easy? Students who like to study the way must not wish for an easy practice. If you seek easy practice, you will For certain, never reach the ground of truth or the place of treasures. I like this. If you try to find an easy practice, then even lying down will be very simple. Even teachers of old who had great capacity said the practice was difficult. We should now put away a vast and profound.

[18:54]

It's not easy. However, Dogen Zenji also speaks the way of Zen as the comfortable way. It's relatively comfortable to some other difficult ways. There are worse ways, even harder ways than this one. But this way even is comfortable primarily because of the comfort of knowing that you're practicing the way of the ancestors. And this is part of the reason why the thought of enlightenment for Dogen Zenji has to do with going into the difficulty and the intimacy with impermanence and struggle. of finding this balance of knowing that you're modeling yourself on the ancient way. You can check. The word assert, by the way, has an interesting root, which I didn't know about.

[19:59]

To join oneself. In order to practice, you have to assert. You have to join yourself in the face of another who you recognize and respect. It's not just that you go to someone you recognize and respect and ask about the Dharma. You go there and you assert yourself in that face. But that's difficult for both parties. It's difficult For example, I've had two jishas over the years who knock on the door in a way that really bugs me. It's not wrong the way they do it.

[21:02]

It just kills me. One of them through the whole practice period, and I never said a word. I kept trying to send these mystic vibrations to this young woman. But I couldn't just tell her to stop. I couldn't just ask her to do it the way I wanted her to do it. Now this practice period, We don't usually do this kind of thing, but this practice period, we have another case like that. And now the practice period is getting close to the end. As you may or may not have noticed, some of you I know are practicing really sincerely have not been thinking of the future and don't know that quite a few days have already occurred in this practice period. The majority have already happened. There's only three weeks left. And that all this practice I've been trying to send these vibrations to the Jisha to say, to ask him to not knock so hard on the door.

[22:19]

All these soul signals I've been getting, praying to Buddha that he would stop. Finally, with the aid of Dogen Zenji, encouragement of difficulty of the ancestors, I finally said, would you please knock? not so hard on the door, more softly. Did I say more softly? Finally he said, would you please knock more softly on the door? And he said, it wasn't that, after I did it, it wasn't that hard. Took me all practice period, even though the first day I felt it. What kind of a wimp am I? I mean, something like that's difficult.

[23:22]

Imagine the other stuff we have to talk about. But it's never too late. So in the next three days, a lot of, you know, that's going to happen. Usually, I have a policy of, you know, when I used to do practice periods here and come and go a lot, I never bring something up just before I left because it's really, you know, hard to bring something up major and then split. People don't have any way. But this time I'm changing because we're all going to leave. So I'm not going to, I'm actually going to keep bringing up major stuff right to the, well, almost to the end. Actually to the end. Or maybe not in the morning of. All the way to the 19th, I'm going to bring them to catch up for my laziness and cowardice in the first part of the practice period.

[24:27]

But remember, I really have to do it. So if you feel like you're getting more than you share, I'm sorry. Some people, however, are having an easy time. I was once having an easy time. And I went to Sri Krishna and said, Roshi, I'm having an easy time. Don't worry, because it was strange. It was easy. He said, it may be all right for you to not have hard practice for a while. So it's OK if you're not having a real hard time now. And if you kind of like bliss out to the end of the practice period, you might be OK. Don't worry. This morning, somebody told me about the pain of having to eat dairy in the second bowl this morning.

[25:33]

And I told her that I would also not eat dairy with her. So I didn't have the buttermilk. out of sympathy for the pain of this person eating the banana, eating up, you know, being forced, this dairy product forced upon her. But she knows the origins of it and feels bad about it. But I'm not going to necessarily start forcing this person, a dog's son, to eat dairy. I'm not going to let go of my weight. to have a little dairy jug here to force. Drink this. Drink. I'm not going to do that. But there's other things which I sort of have to do. I think because I feel them. I don't feel like I have to force dairy people to eat dairy. I don't feel it. It's as if you actually did however you feel it sometimes. You know those stories.

[26:35]

Right? Right? I don't know if that's true. Well, you know the word about the meat, don't you? You don't? You don't? Well, he was traveling from Tassajara to San Francisco with a vegetarian. And he said, I'm hungry. And the vegetarian was as if he didn't try it. One time we asked him, how come you don't drive? He said, it's too dualistic. You'll be dualistic. I'm going to sit here and be non-dualistic. So anyway, this guy was being dualistic. I'm a vegetarian, and so on. So anyway, we're driving down the road. She said, I'm hungry. Please stop. I said, no. There's no place here suitable to eat.

[27:37]

I drew a phrase. I said, please stop. I'm hungry. No, there's no place here. Please stop. So I know the guy stopped and they went in. And the only thing on the, this was pre-vegan time, the only thing on the menu that he could eat was a cheese, grilled cheese sandwich. So the guy ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. It was a commercial order. He didn't know which. And they took a bite of it. And he said, this is no good. Here, you eat it. He took the guy's grilled cheese sandwich. Sweet guy, most of the time. Really. If the Buya way were originally easy to practice and teaches a great capacity from olden times, that the practice was difficult and understanding was difficult.

[28:43]

Compared with people of old, We today do not amount to like one hair compared to the number of hairs on nine cows. With our small capacity and shallow understanding, even if we today strive diligently and regard this as difficult and excellent practice, still it does not amount even to the easiest practice and the easiest understanding of the teachers of old. Getting kind of dramatic there, isn't it? What is this teaching of easy understanding, easy practice, which people nowadays like? It is neither secular teaching nor Buddhist teaching. It does not compare with the practice. You should regard it as a product of ordinary people's extreme delusion.

[29:47]

Even though they try to attain liberation, they find nothing but endless rounds of suffering. On the other hand, we can see that crushing a marrow is not difficult compared to harmonizing the mind. Harmonizing the mind is most difficult. Again, the practice of prolonged austerities is not difficult. Bodily activities is most difficult. Now, you know, people didn't actually break their bones. Well, actually, one guy did break his bones. But people didn't really break their bones and crush their marrow, but they worked, in a sense, so hard, those are the hard they worked. And they did practice extreme austerity and slow timers. Those austerity, they said, were not as hard as harmonizing body and mind.

[30:51]

Those who did those hard practices, the middle way is the hardest thing. Harmonizing body and mind means one practice of samadhi. But one practice of samadhi is really hard. Harmonizing with your teacher, and teacher harmonizing with students, . But Pilate says, you know, it's relatively rather easy to lay down one's life or to cut off one's flesh or hand in an outburst of emotion. Considering worldly affairs, people do such things even for the sake of attachment and fame and personal profit. Yet it is most difficult to harmonize the mind meeting various conditions and beings and situations moment by moment.

[31:56]

It's hard to meet and face the disharmony with someone you care about, not to mention to fill disharmony with someone you care about, your ancestors of spirit, blood, your successors of spirit, your successors of blood. To feel this harmony with these beings, what's more painful? To adjust and arrange our activity to be calm and peaceful so that it accords with the Buddha way isn't difficult. To pain the mind and take care of the mind so that it is unified, so that the unified nature of our being is actualized. The one practice of mind.

[33:03]

Zen training is not really about giving you in your basic Buddha nature. It's based on your confidence in your basic Buddha nature. Then training is to help you drop your attachments to self. The Buddha nature fully blooms. But if you don't have confidence in your Buddha nature, You should get it. And maybe you should get it from a Zen teacher or some kind of Buddhist teacher or from somebody else. Anyway, you do need to truly have confidence that you are a child because you are. You need confidence that you are truly a vessel of the Buddha Dharma. But one person can give you both.

[34:13]

Nurturance and confirmation of your Buddha nature. And also training to drop to your small self. But you can't come and ask for both at the same time. You have to choose. You have to say, okay, I want nurturing. Just cuddle me and confirm me. That's what I want today. I don't want any training. Or I do want training. I want to be on the Buddha way, and if I'm holding on to anything, if I'm veering off, I want feedback. So not too many people come to me and say, I want nurturance. I want you to confirm my Buddha nature. I want you to keep telling me that I'm Buddha. People come and say, please tell me if I'm veering off the path. I'm willing to myself confirm and nurture it. But then that should be the name of the game, and don't expect that you're getting Zen training.

[35:15]

You've got to choose. You can't keep both at the same time. They're different agendas. They're just different phases in the process of your Buddhahood being realized. Fundamental, excuse me for saying so, is the static, unmoving, feminine nurture. that you unconditionally, by Buddha, no matter what, forever, you always are a vessel for Dharma. But you get sick of that at a certain point. Buddha doesn't say you should get sick of that. Your Buddha nature drives you away from that, out on your own for a while. And then you get sick of that on your own, because you realize that you're deluded. But you can't manage the unfolding of your goodness, of your unshakable goodness. You're not mentioning it. You can't handle that.

[36:17]

This phase is called the dynamic masculine, to unfold and realize your goodness on your own. Well, have fun. This is called being a teenager. Hopefully, you'll survive. And you all have survived. Basically, here you are. None of you are teenagers, right? except some of you tend like to keep it. Like one of you said recently, I noticed that when I give the right answer, when I'm good, I have a short interview, and when I'm bad, I get a long interview. It's true. And as a being, there's not much to talk about, except straight ahead, if you're bad, all these corrections, not corrections, but feedbacks, right? So those long, miserable meetings, they're long. And then people are saying, gee, they're in there for a long time. It must be a good thing. That used to happen, you know, in the olden days with the old masters.

[37:22]

Suzuki Roshi used to have a little cabin. One of them used to be his cabin. It was where the Kaizondo was. And people used to sit and wait for Doksana. And they would, like, you know, time the people before them. And one of my best friends, you know, really a good Zen student, used to say, jeez, This one, I can't think of something to talk that long. It really felt inferior to me, putting my stay in there for an hour. The face is like, give me a break. You get a break, and the student is giving you a break. It feels like, jeez, I'm no good. What are you doing? Chicantaza. Ding. So anyway, after you, you know, run away from home and, you know, try to like unfold your Buddhahood on your own, you realize you need help.

[38:35]

You need training because your selfishness is interfering with the real goodness. So then you go and present training. Present training is not yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean, it's yes when it's yes, but sometimes it's no. Sometimes, no, you're off. That's not it. You assert your position, and the other person says, uh-huh, but drop it. This is called the static, heavy, boring. After you finish that and all your attachments are burned away, this is called the fiery initiation. Then there you are, unencumbered by selfishness. Then you go into like total bloom. All the junk been pruned away and your essential unique Buddhahood blooms forth in what's called the dynamic feminine.

[39:37]

You do your thing based on selflessness, never seen before, awesome, and sometimes difficult to accept. Other people have to go through. You have no problem with it because you don't care. Go back to the static feminine. In the end, we go back to unconditional. We're OK in this. But then you burst forth again and round and round you go. If you want unconditional love in the form of unconditional affirmation, then you can get it. You deserve it. You need it. You need it. You need it. But training is not that way. So state what you want. Do you want a cheese sandwich? Ask for a cheese sandwich. Do you want non-dairy? Ask for non-dairy. Do you want a hamburger? Ask for a hamburger. for a vegetarian and expect to handle it.

[40:44]

But that's difficult. Because some people want both. It's OK to want both. Be clear about which one you want now. At this moment, which do you want? It's OK to say, would you please give me a phone today? It's OK to like to get out of it. It's all right. But if that's what you want, ask for that, please. And if you want training, ask for training. And if you change from one or the other, put a little flag you put up saying, we're changing now. And I asked people this morning, I asked many people, do you want Zen training? A neighbor said, well, didn't I already tell you that? I said, yeah, but I have to check again sometimes. Because I was thinking of doing some Zen training right now.

[41:56]

I'm not going to do it if you don't want me to. Some people told me yesterday they wanted it, so I didn't ask today. But after a few days, I start wondering again sometimes. But this is difficult. Although many have endured extremely difficult practices, few of them have attained the Dharma. Just difficult practice is not enough. Do you think that people practicing austerities are to be respected, although there have been Few of them have attained the way, or they still have not harmonized body and mind. Shall we value the observing of precepts? Many people observe the precepts, but do not because they don't harmonize body, mind, and precepts.

[43:04]

You can't just receive the precepts and say, okay, I'm in. I'm just going to practice the precepts according to my idea. You have to harmonize body and mind, which means harmonize your body, other bodies, your mind, and the precepts. This is difficult. But when you harmonize body, mind, and precepts, you do attain the way. But just practicing according to my idea does not realize the way. Many people try. Like Yashong, a great master. He was a young monk. He was an expert on triceps, and he practiced them. My new attention to detail feeling. I'm not attaining the weight. I think I'm going to go study Zen. He went to see our old friend, Shirttoe. And he said, I've been practicing the precepts a long time, but I still haven't resolved the great matter, please, with great compassion.

[44:18]

Sato obstructed him and said, being like this won't do. I've heard that from teachers. Nothing like this won't do either. I haven't heard that. Being both like this and not like this won't do at all. How about you? As I used to say, how about you? He's trying to practice the three steps, okay? He goes to the Zen teacher and tries to help him harmonize body and mind. This is a real sincere person. The great Sekito Gisen tries to help him. It doesn't work. He tries to help him harmonize body and mind. It doesn't work. So the Sekito says, the conditions aren't right here.

[45:26]

We don't have an affinity. Go study with Master Ma. Matsu. So he goes and studies with Ma. He tells him about his talk with Sekito, with Shinto. Asks him too to help him harmonize body and mind. And after Ma says, sometimes I make him raise his eyebrows and blink. Sometimes It doesn't raise the eyebrows and blink. Sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is right. Sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is not right. How about you? John understood. He said, I love this part.

[46:28]

Brilliance is not primary. Understanding is not primary. Conscious endeavor is not primary. Introspective is not primary. Without using any of these, harmonize body and mind and enter the Buddha way. Shakyamuni Buddha said, Avalokiteshvara turns the stream to regards knowing objects. Avalokiteshvara turns the stream around and forgets objects. Avalokiteshvara turns the stream around and practices one practice samadhi. Forgetting objects. Entering the way. This is the meaning of

[47:31]

Separation between activity and stillness simply does not arise. Make the body and mind one with no division between movement and stillness. Meeting another being, forget the object. Drop the object. Recognizing an object, forget the object. Meeting another being, no gap between activity and stillness. This is harmonizing body and mind. And it's difficult.

[48:35]

Well, he has more to say about this, but I guess you kind of got the point. Right? Maybe I'll mention this. He said, for some people, their own views are private. Do you know anybody like that? Or some people, their own views are primary. I give talks there, and afterwards, people come to me and say, that was a good talk. That's just what I think. I think, uh-oh. For both of us.

[49:45]

I'm catering to people's views and they're liking it. That's slightly different from you're talking about what I'm my problem. That I feel good about. So way back in Dogon's time, people would open sutras and memorize a few words and think about the Buddha Dharma. And then they would go see a teacher. And if the teacher agreed with what they read and what they thought, the teacher was right. But if they disagreed, they'd think the teacher was wrong. They do not know how to abandon their mistaken tendencies. So this is a tough one, again, to assert your view and drop it.

[50:50]

How do you do that? You don't have a view, but at the same time, don't hold your view as private. Just assert, this is my view, and then drop it and listen. Or listen and then say, this is my view. Rather than listen, who's going to agree with it? And that's right. Students of the Way should not employ thinking, analysis, or any such thing. Students of the Way know that the Buddha Way lies outside thinking, analysis, prophecy, introspection, knowledge, and wise explanation. If the Buddha Way were in these activities, they would not have realized the Buddha way by now. If Buddha way were in these activities, why would you not have realized the Buddha way since from birth you have perpetually been in the midst of such activities?

[52:05]

Students of the way should not employ thinking analysis of any such thing. Though thinking in other activities perpetually beset you, If you examine them as you go, you'll clearly see the way to enter the gate is realized only by a teacher who has attained dharma. It cannot be reached by priests who have attained, who have studied letters. You can use these letters to bolster your own view. in studying the Buddhist teaching, in scriptures and commentaries, in listening to the Buddhist teaching by practitioners and teachers. The point is not to bolster and reinforce your own view.

[53:08]

It is also not to undermine and discredit your own view. The point of listening to Dharma and studying Dharma is to harmonize your view and other views. In order to harmonize your view and other views, you can drop your view and listen to others. Don't worry. Your view will always . It doesn't need to be gripped. And you should honor your view as your view and take care of your view. The whole world needs you to take care of your view and present your view. This is your job. Come forward and say, here is my view. Present it just so.

[54:09]

That's your job. And then if it's done fully, if it's done fully, if it's done fully, it drops. If you don't present fully, it sticks. Part of Zen training is to learn how to present your view, to present your understanding so fully that yours drops. Part of Zen training is to tell you when you present it too strong or too weak. You present 106% or 94% of your view. Can you present your view just so, and then let it drop? And receive another view just so, and let it drop. Let it penetrate and drop all the way through you. Dogen Zenji thinks this is possible. The Buddha thought it was possible. They thought it actually was realized, such a kind of meeting, such a kind of practice.

[55:15]

A lot of other smart people thought it wasn't. How about you?

[55:26]

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