I'd like to see if I can come to some summary of what we've talked about with Sashin. What picture of Buddhism and Buddhist practice perhaps has emerged from our practice here this week? with the instruction we received in practicing our own practice and with the instruction received from these two koans. So let's start with the phrase, you know, sashin meaning to gather the mind. So what mind is being gathered?

[01:18]

And where is it gathered? And how is it gathered? And how do you sustain this gathering? These are all basic questions of practice. Now my observation and experiences of you in this session is that many of you, maybe all of you, have discovered a place to sit beyond this and that. A very precious place which sometimes you don't want to get up from. And what are the conditions that allow us, you, us each, us of us, to have discovered this place beyond or free of this and that?

[02:37]

No, we call it a mind, but it's not, when I say free of this and that, I mean you're not too caught up in thinking. There may be thinking, but there's a deeper taste of presence that is not connected to thinking. And that's what we call mind and sense practice, that presence, that... Now, what makes this settling into this mind beyond this and that possible? Well, of course, it helps that you have some experience in sitting.

[04:04]

And those of you with more experience are more likely to have this kind of place to sit. But it's also a condition of being in sesshin. As again, you know, the word means literally mind-gathering place, situation. So what are the attributes of Sashin that help this mind gathering that we discussed? Well, one is the A more neutral feeling, a more non-discriminating mind. A mind free of the...

[05:05]

of constantly thinking in terms of likes and dislikes. And a mind free from addictive self-observation. So what we could say is a bigger personality, maybe. And when you have this more non-discriminating mind, more neutral space, this bigger personality, this big mind is more likely to gather. And also, when you have more of what I call the energy of basic dignity,

[06:20]

Which is also the energy to follow a physical path. To know practice on the tip of the hair. Hakuin Zenji says we have to constantly investigate. And the word investigate is a good word for this because it literally means in the footprints of. He says investigate who is asking this question. What mind are we observing? Where is it? Is it in the inside, he says? Is it in the outside?

[07:22]

Is it in the middle? These are ridiculous questions, but yet we ask them because our mind is always asking such questions, so we see the ridiculousness of it when we ask them. Is it in the inside? Is it outside? Is it in the middle? He asks, what color is it? Blue, yellow, red, green? He says, when you're standing, investigate standing. When you're eating, investigate eating. When you're looking or hearing, investigate looking and hearing. And it says that we jiao understood on when Fa Yan said, it's Huijiao.

[08:33]

He understood because, the koan says, he had been investigating thoroughly. He had been constantly holding up the world to investigation. And a single word can shatter this, can turn you around. So on the tip of a hair, or this energy of basic dignity, is the energy to just do what's in front of you. When it's time to eat, you eat. When it's time to chant, you chant. Then you hold the card a certain way and you sit a certain way.

[09:43]

When it's time to light incense, you light incense. When it's time to carry the rake by the lake, you carry the rake by the lake. Now this... At first this is a kind of effort because we are so used to having our mind and our relaxation in mental spaces. And on the tip of the hair means that you have begun to have your mind follow along everything you do physically. So your mind is on your breath, on your attention.

[10:44]

on your feet walking, on whatever you're doing. Your mind is there on the surfaces and inside and outside of the world. And at first this takes a kind of shock of energy because it's so demanding in contrast to where we usually relax in mental spaces. But after a while it's much easier because this physical space is where we live and die. But after a while it becomes much easier because this physical space is where we live and die. And the mental space is an expression of this physical space. So this energy that, as Sukhriyashi would say, to just observe our way is one of the conditions of the gathering of mind.

[11:59]

Now, when we're sitting and our... found this place to sit free of this and that, quite free of this and that. Really free of this and that, we can call you entered the objectless continuum. I like the phrase, one of the phrases in this koan, in the multitude of forms, Within myriad appearances, there is not a single thing.

[13:10]

What mind is that? That's a mind so still that it doesn't accept a single object. It's as if you were looking out the eye holes from deep within some still place. Your senses, the world, begins before your senses even begin to perceive. You hear hearing before hearing occurs. You hear from deep inside your heart. You see from deep inside, as I said, it's like seeing through the eye holes, as if the eye holes are way out there somewhere.

[14:26]

Because this mind is so still, it's not dependent on the senses. We can call this original mind from which everything arises. Even if you are feeling only a relative freedom from this and that in this place that you found to sit, you're already on the continuum to this deep mind where there's not a single thing. You're already on the continuum of the dharmakaya, the mind as space that includes form and emptiness.

[15:33]

You already know this through the taste of your body, hands, shoulders, disappearing. Where are they? As we discussed, what's disappeared... is the object-bearing continuum. We call that the dharmakaya. Okay. So what allows us to have this experience? A sitting Your experience in sitting, your investigation, your mindful investigation. The deep relaxation in your sitting.

[16:54]

And so forth. But as soon as you get up, you'll lose it. As soon as you're not in sashin, it's not likely to be present. So what aspects of sashin are giving it to us? The practice of other people. Yeah. That helps. And also the practice of other people who aren't present here. For example, Suzuki Roshi. And, for example, Suzuki Roshi and Yokojin Dayan. Roshi is a teacher. It's better than I say German.

[17:56]

And and so forth. Because Recognizing this, letting this big mind settle into us is also letting a big view settle into us. A big personality is set in, sit in with us. And that big personality comes from the lineage also sitting with us. Now, I so often said to you how Buddhism is rooted in this ancient Indian idea.

[19:13]

Is there a mind that joins waking, dreaming, and non-dreaming deep sleep? Is there a spirit that connects the waking, dreaming and non-dreaming deep sleep? And not only joins, but transcends. And yogic practice is to discover this mind, this fourth mind, this inclusive mind. Now, Buddhism extends this challenge to, is there a mind which also joins us with all other people? And joins us with the phenomenal world.

[20:14]

Now we actually have some information of this. You feel how you're connected with your family. And if you look carefully at your father, mother, brother, sister, you see that physiologically and psychologically there's a lot of overlap. And you're also quite connected with your friends and your enemies. And I think we have a suspicion we're even connected to strangers and maybe even everyone. It's just not so noticeable to us.

[21:24]

Or exists outside our ability to be conscious. No. Is this a fanciful idea? Maybe, maybe not. It's a little joke. At least it didn't stop. Croak. Old Bond frog jumping. There sank the tape recorder. Okay. So I think we have a feeling of connection with the frogs, with the ducks, with the trees in both shadow and the filigree of the trees in the shadow and in the brightness.

[22:47]

And perhaps we have a deeper intuition that that connection is always there, again outside our knowing. And if that's the case, that would be part of our body. And this 1400 years ago, Seng Jiao said so. He said, as is reported in this koan, heaven and earth and I share the same root. Myriad things and I share the same body. And this other koan about Huijiao and the Buddhist path describes the same thing, that as the earth cannot cover it, I mean the sky cannot cover it, the earth can't support it,

[24:17]

Space can't contain it. The sun and moon cannot illuminate it. These are both attempts to or descriptions of our true body. This means that this experience of being outside of this and that, of letting this sambhogakaya, dharmakaya body settle into you, to have this big objectless continuum settle into you. where you don't feel your boundaries.

[25:26]

And in your meditation experience is this of awareness and bliss. It's been discovered in Buddhist practice that this will not only arise through meditation experience. It will not only, it won't only arise. It will only arise and develop if you have a view, a big view of maximal greatness. Das wird aber nur aufsteigen, wenn ihr diese große Sichtweise habt, der maximalen Größe.

[26:30]

Ja. And in the Tibetan lineage, and as the Dalai Lama, his holiness describes it, he calls it the aspirational mind of enlightenment. Und in der tibetischen Tradition, wie seine Heiligkeit der Dalai Lama es bezeichnet, ist es der aspirational mind, der And Zen describes this aspirational mind of enlightenment. in this koan of the willingness to be Neil McLean or to be Daniela or Elke or Ruth Christian or Mahakavi to be Wee Jow or whoever you are and enter this path which is said to be like a fish entering the dragon gate.

[27:46]

To have the daring against all odds And all evidence that it makes any difference at all. You're willing to enter this path of maximal greatness. This big view that heaven and earth and I share the same need. That myriad things and I share the same body. And you take this as a faith and a contemplation within your mind stream. And again, it's likened to a fish crossing the dragon gate.

[29:05]

Anything else is like fishing in the pond long after the fish is gone. Here's that fish. It's circling heaven and earth. Yeah. Some kind of big spirit like this is needed in prayer. And it makes the tickets on the train cheaper. Yeah, the more people are on the train, the cheaper the tickets are. Yeah, if you're the only person on this train stretching between fish and dragon. Between Wee Jow and the Buddha. If we all get on this train, hey, it gives permission to a lot more people to get on the train.

[30:16]

If all these people walk us in this sashin, someone would say, are willing to get on this train marked Dragon Gate on the front. Hey! Other people will say, gee, they've got the confidence, we'll get on the train too. And the ticket price keeps going down. We can begin to afford this Buddhist practice. And this train, which stretches, which our society and planet need, us to be on this train which stretches from ordinary life to Buddha's life. Let's have that kind of daring. Why not? What did you get to lose except enlightenment?

[31:18]

And the more we can have this big view, individually and together, how much easier it will be able to sit with deep relaxation. With a deep feeling that everything's all right, or could be all right. And the Dharmakaya and the Sambhogakaya, the Dharmakaya and the Sambhogakaya body will become quite familiar to you. And this is taking refuge in Buddha and Dharma and Sangha. Sangha is the... Vertical lineage and the horizontal lineage. And if we become deeply familiar with the Dharmakaya body manifesting and the Sambhogakaya body manifesting,

[32:49]

The subtle way the nirmanakaya body, often called the body of magical transformation, can appear in the world, appear as the reflection on a gem, appear as the reflection on the minds of people. Maybe that's enough. All aboard!

[33:59]

May our intention equally penetrate every being and place.

[34:17]

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