I may also change the truth that lies inside of us to work. This morning, today we have, or this weekend, we're sitting for two days, and today's the first day, and so I want to talk about Dogen's Rules for Zazen. which is called Zazengi.

[01:06]

There's Fukan Zazengi, which is more detailed and longer and talks about, a little more philosophical, but Zazengi is simpler and shorter, very short. And we usually pass over it because we think We know how to sit Zazen. We don't need to read the Zazenki. But there's much in the Zazenki, if you really look at it, that is very interesting and contains many things that we should pay attention to. So whether we have been sitting Zazen for a long time or just starting to sit it, This Zazen gi is very meaningful. Dogen wrote this in 1243, when he was 43. And he starts out by saying, practicing Zen is Zazen.

[02:11]

And that seems like a fairly straightforward statement. The whole of Zazengi is based on this statement. And the background of this statement is that in Japan in the 13th century, Japan in the 13th century was a time of Buddhist reformers. And Zen was introduced into Japan in the 13th century. And the practice of chanting the Buddha's name, Nembutsu, and the practice of chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra were the three main practices introduced or brought forth in Japan in the 13th century.

[03:35]

And Nichiren, who was the advocate chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra. And Shinran, who introduced chanting the name of Amida Buddha. And Dogen, who introduced Zazen practice. more or less, promoted. And each one of these teachers took one aspect, because Buddhism was so confused and eclectic in Japan at that time, each one of them took one aspect and concentrated on that one aspect. And their intention was that This one aspect that we concentrate on contains the whole of Buddhism. So if we study thoroughly this one practice, whether it was sitting zazen, chanting the name of Buddha, or chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra, that this one practice would fulfill

[04:58]

totally Buddhist practice for whoever did this practice. And so Dogen says, practicing Zen, the practice of Zen is Zazen, and the implication is that the practice of Zazen contains the whole of Buddhism. And later, at the end of his fascicle, he talks about Zen as not being one of the practices of Buddhism, but being the entire practice. We tend to think of Zazen as a meditation practice, but Dogen says, Zazen is not the meditation practice as one of the practices of Buddhism.

[06:04]

So then he talks about where to sit and what kind of conditions we should create for zazen. He says, for zazen, a quiet place is suitable. There are a lot of contradictions here. He says, a quiet place is suitable. Lay out a thick mat. Do not let in drafts or smoke. he doesn't mean incense smoke, or rain or dew, and protect and maintain the place where you settle your body. There are examples from the past of sitting on a diamond seat and sitting on a flat stone covered with a thick layer of grass. Day or night, the place of sitting should not be too dark, It says dark here, but I think it's not too dark.

[07:15]

And it should be kept warm in winter and cool in the summer. Those are all ideal conditions. He's laying out ideal conditions for Zazen. But he also was very fond of talking about the unideal conditions for Zazen, which there's an old story which Dogen loved to talk about, the teacher whose monks sat in this old barn-like building and the roof was half gone and the windows were, there were no windows, you know, and the snow piled in and the wind and the rain swept through it. And the monks asked the teacher, can't we kind of fix up the building? And the teacher said, you guys are not carpenters, you're monks.

[08:20]

Whatever the conditions, just sit with the conditions. Dogen just loved this story. So this is the other side. Ideally, to have a nice, warm, cozy place to sit. But actually, to not be too concerned about the conditions. So he says, for Zazen, a quiet place to sit. And Dogen loved going to the mountains. You know, go to the mountains and sit. That's in nature, amongst the birds and the trees. But actually, good zazen is done in the city, with all the noise and traffic and smoke and crazy people walking back and forth, shouting. It's nice to be able to sit zazen in ideal conditions, but it's really important to be able to sit zazen anywhere.

[09:26]

with all kinds of noise and racket and so-called distractions. This really strengthens your practice to sit, to practice with all kinds of distractions. That's why lay practice is very important. Because after you sit zazen, you go out into the world of distractions. and you have to practice in the world of distractions. And people say, how can I do this? As soon as I leave the zendo, my mind, my practice completely disappears. But it just looks like it disappears because the boundaries become so wide. But learning to practice in the busy world It's good medicine. It really helps.

[10:28]

That's the true test of your ability, is to maintain the practice in all kinds of conditions. So a noisy atmosphere around the zendo is not so bad. City zendo is actually a very good place to practice, where you can't control the conditions. You can only cultivate your own calm mind. So he says that there are examples from the past of sitting on a diamond seat. This is Buddha's seat. Buddha's seat is called the diamond seat. But also, your seat is called the diamond seat. When you sit zazen, you're sitting on Buddha's seat. It's good to realize this. And then he said, he says, in sitting on this flat stone covered with a thick layer of grass, this is Sekhito Sit, Shir, Shirto, Shirdao.

[11:41]

Sekhito means stone head. And he was, of course, our ancestor from, And he used to sit on a stone. They had a big stone, which he put a straw on, and that was his zazenzi. So he's referring to Anasekito here. So day and night, the place of sitting should not be too dark. And it should be kept warm in winter and cool in summer. I have hair reasonably warm in winter and cool in summer. Sometimes if I walk into the Zendo in the morning, the lights are so dim that it's nice and cozy, but it's like we haven't awakened yet. It's hard to see who everybody is, and it's a little too dark.

[12:48]

I can tell people from their shape. Even if I'm looking for whoever it is that is signed up for Doksan, I can't always see who it is. But also, it's good to not be so dark that you tend to go back to sleep, or too light that you're too wired. So finding the right light is nice. So we have adjustable lights now. And so we should be careful. Not too bright, not too light, not too dark. And of course, we used to sit without any heat at all in the winter. And in Japan, you know, they sit in snowy conditions without heat. And Tassajara, we used to sit without heat. It was a great disappointment in a way that we put

[13:52]

heating in the zendo, because it's always a great challenge, it's not just created in the winter, to sit in a cold icy zendo, but there's something really wonderful about it. Once you allow yourself to do that, you just feel totally wonderful. In the summer you can't help the conditions but we should be able So now that the weather is becoming warmer in the morning, we should open the windows so that in the afternoon there's a nice breeze blowing through. So it's good to remember these things because it helps. Keeps us mindful. So then he says, set aside all involvements. and let the myriad things come to rest or settle.

[14:58]

This is maybe the hardest part for people when we come to Zazen, is to actually let things go. Our mind is so clinging to our life that it's really hard to let go. In a sense, you know, when we sit Zazen, it's like letting go of this life every time we sit. It's in the same way that when you go to sleep, you let the world go. But some people can't do it. I always can fall asleep pretty easily, no matter what's happening. But when you come to the Zen Dojo, you just let go of the world, even though it's clean to you, you know, it clings to your clothes, it clings to your, like, like smoke, you know. So during Sashin, the first day is just kind of getting used to being without, just getting used to letting go.

[16:21]

And then, maybe the second day, you can actually let go. Your mind is not concerned with all the important things in the world. Then he says, Zazen is not thinking good and it's not thinking of bad. It's not thinking, this is good or bad. or anything that happens is good or bad. It's just letting things happen. It's just putting yourself on the seat and letting happen what happens. And it's not good or it's not bad. So it's letting go of our dualistic thinking and letting our mind become one. It is not conscious endeavor.

[17:24]

In other words, we're not trying to do something. You're not trying to get enlightened or become Buddha or become peaceful or become anything. You're just putting yourself on the cushion with your whole body and mind directed toward this one act and taking your chances. just being open to whatever. So I have a footnote that I wrote here a long time ago. It says, the realm of non-duality is the realm of non-duality where settling oneself is settling all things.

[18:28]

Settling oneself is settling all things. And Dogen says it is not introspection. It's not introspection. It's not visualization. It's not analysis. or contemplation. We don't have a subject that we contemplate, or we're not analyzing something, and we're not looking at our psychology, at our mind in a psychological way. And we're not saying, why did this happen, and why did that happen, and so forth. Some people feel that that's a good thing to do. It is, but not during zazen. All these things are good things to do, but not during Zazen. Zazen is just letting go of everything and coming home.

[19:36]

So then he says, do not desire to become a Buddha. Let sitting or lying down drop away. Sitting or lying down, by that he doesn't mean that you shouldn't sit zazen, but in the usual sense, sitting, lying, walking and standing are the four postures of a person. So he says, Zazen is not one of the four postures. Be moderate in eating and drinking, and be mindful of the passing of time. Being mindful of the passing of time, he means realize that time is passing, and settle the matter. Settle the matter means let go of your dualistic thinking and realize who you really are.

[21:08]

Be mindful of the passing of time and engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire. He likes to speak of that kind of urgency. Fire means desire. Buddha says, the human condition is that everyone's head is on fire with desire. Everybody's burning up, wanting something. So he says, cool it. Zazen is a kind of cooling action to temper the fire. And then he cites this example, he says, on Mount Huangmei,

[22:27]

The fifth ancestor practiced Zazen to the exclusion of all other activities, that's Daimon Konin. As a matter of fact, I think Daimon Konin said that he practiced Zazen and he never laid down to sleep. He just practiced all the time, sitting, without sleeping, without laying down to sleep. And so there's a kind of tradition, you know, among some extremists. of sitting up, and they have a meditation chin rest, you know, and they put the chin rest there, and they kind of sleep sitting up. So they do sleep, but they don't, they do it sitting up, they don't do it laying down. But I prefer laying down myself. And then he says, when sitting zazen, wear the okesa, or your robe, whichever kind of robe you have, and use a round cushion.

[23:32]

If you don't have a robe, wear clean clothes when you sit zazen. Suzuki Roshi always admonished people to wear clean clothes to the zendo. Old clothes are OK, but clean clothes, You don't have to go out and buy new clothes, but you can always wash them. He always admonished us to wash our clothes and also to wash our feet and under our armpits. The cushion should not be placed... Now he talks about how to sit Zazen. The cushion should not be placed all the way under the legs. but only under your buttocks. Actually, when you sit, you know, you shouldn't sit. Normally, we don't sit totally on the cushion. You sit on the first half of the cushion or the first two-thirds of the cushion, so that your knees will go down.

[24:40]

If you sit all the way back on the cushion, then your knees are up. So, and if your knees stick up, You know, sometimes it's hard for people to get their knees down. Then it's good to build up a cushion. Sit on a very high cushion. And that way your knees will go down more easily and your back will be more easily held up straight. So in this way, the crossed legs rest on the mat. It means the knees. And the backbone is supported with a round cushion. This is the method used by all Buddha ancestors for zazen. Then he says, sit either in the half lotus position or in the full lotus position. And my footnote says, or any other position. You should sit in a position that is comfortable and easy.

[25:47]

When I give Zazen instruction to people, I always say, sit in the easiest way. Don't try to do something extreme. When you give Zazen instruction, people will come in and they want to show you how extremely well they can sit. So they give a full lotus for a few minutes or try some extreme posture. But you have to remember that you're sitting for a long time. So even though you may be able to get into the posture, I always tell people to take the easiest posture to begin with, so that you can, instead of being limited by your posture, put your attention into all the other aspects of sitting. So to take an easy position, and then gradually your legs will, if you continue to sit regularly, your legs will want to get into a more extreme position.

[26:59]

They just want to do that. And when they want to do that, then allow that to happen. But that happens with steady sitting. So don't be in a hurry. take some extreme position, especially older people may hurt your knees. So anyway, it says either in the half lotus position or in the full lotus position or any other, for the full lotus position you put the right foot on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh. And then people will invariably say, well, can't I do it the other way around? And you say, no. But if you want to do it the other way around, go ahead. But for the full lotus, put the right foot on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh.

[28:06]

And the toes should lie along the sides for a good full lotus position. And the half lotus, for the half lotus position, you simply put the left foot on the right thigh. Not so simple for some people. And then people say, well, can't I put the right foot on the left thigh? No. But you can work out what works out for you. You know, the statues of Buddha are all backwards from what Dogen says. But that doesn't mean that the people that made the statues knew how to sit Thuzit. When we look at statues, you know, we tend to take them as models.

[29:13]

We don't know, you know, if the person that made the statue actually understood completely. Anyway, there's, you know, some controversy, well, why is the left foot, why the right foot, you know, and you can make up various reasons why, and there are various reasons why, but whether they are actually good reasons or not, I don't know. All I know is put the right foot on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh. If you sit in the half lotus position for a long time and then decide you want to sit in the full lotus, you have to start all over again. So that's a little blow to the ego, but sitting in the full lotus is a good way to sit. I did it for about 20 years. I'd now sit in an easier position, because my knees were getting a little rusty, or something happened there, so I don't do it anymore.

[30:29]

But it's not necessary, but it's wonderful if you can do it. It's a very nice way to sit because we're balanced. But hamsthlotus is also balanced. And then he says, loosen your robes and arrange them in an orderly way. Place the right hand on the left foot and the left hand on the right hand. Well, it's lightly touching the ends of the thumbs together. With the hands in this position, place them next to the body so that the joined thumb tips are at the navel. tops of the thumbs facing each other very lightly not like this so you can make a nice circle this is called cosmic mudra there's the universe right there the whole universe is right there in this circle sometimes

[31:44]

Remember, Suzuki Roshi would say, hold your hands as if you're holding a jewel, a gem, a large gem. And then, Katagiri Roshi would say, hold your elbows out a little bit as if you had an egg under each armpit, and you don't want to crack it. Straighten the body, straighten your body and sit erect. Do not lean to the left, do not lean to the right, and do not bend forward or backward. Your ears should be in line with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Most people can keep their nose in line with their navel, but not everybody can keep their ears in line with their shoulders. So, to keep your nose in line with your navel means that you're not leaning this way or But to keep your ears in line with your shoulders means that you're not doing this.

[32:49]

So it's really hard for a lot of people to keep their ears. It's more complex keeping your ears in line with your shoulders, because you really have to keep your back straight and keep your neck in line and push to keep it that way. So it's an extreme posture. to really sit up straight and keep your head on top of your spine instead of falling forward. To actually sit that way means that there's no energy to push you forward. Sometimes people sit in this posture that's leaning into the wind, still going somewhere, with some goal. And when you drop that, then you can sit up.

[33:56]

It's hard to sit up and just be neutral. It's hard to sit up and find where the weight is just going straight down and the energy isn't pushing forward. So, I think I would like everybody to really work on keeping the head on top of the spine. Keeping the ears in line with the shoulders. Really think about that, in line with the shoulders. And then, you know, if you look down, not to push your head forward to look down, but just to rotate it, your head, on the axis. Rotate the head on the axis, rather than pushing it forward. letting it lean forward and letting your shoulders get rounded. It's not good for your shoulders. If you sit in this posture, if you really make an effort with this kind of posture, your whole body will feel wonderful because everything in your body, all the parts of your body fall into line in a harmonious way and there's no strain on your body.

[35:07]

When your head leans forward, then it puts a strain on your body. So to be able to sit up that way and let go of everything, totally let go of everything, except your intention to sit up straight, and then your effort. And then he says, rest the tongue against the roof of your mouth and breathe through your nose. Lips and teeth should be closed and the eyes should be open, either too wide or too narrow. If your eyes are open too wide, you're likely to get tired. And if they're too narrow, you'll just fall asleep. So just enough.

[36:08]

And then, having adjusted body and mind in this manner, take a breath and exhale fully. I think I have to explain what he means here by take a breath and exhale fully. That means to get your breath primed so that you're breathing in your lower abdomen, or what it feels like, your lower abdomen. I suggest this to people, to when you sit, actually before you put your hands in your when your hands are still like this to go. Take a big breath and expand your lower abdomen like a big tire or inner tube and then go. And let it all come in. Take a couple of breaths like that and then just resume your normal breathing through your nose. so that your breath is always down, always.

[37:21]

Don't let your breath come up. And when you find your breath coming, creeping up and being shallow, to keep lowering your breath. And when you find your breath is rough or you're confused or something, take that deep breath and push it up. Pushing it out is important because when you push it all out, then it gets the energy down here. And then it's primed, just like priming a pump. Put a little water in first, and then it draws the rest. And then comes the interesting part. He says, sit solidly in samadhi. Solidly also can mean unmoving. And think. Not thinking. How do you think? Not thinking.

[38:22]

And then he says, non-thinking. Non-thinking, it's really hard to translate this term. Non-thinking. Dogen calls it the non's thinking. The no's thinking. The not's thinking. which is very hard for us to accept right off. It's the not-thinking or the non-thinking. It's not a personal thought. It's thinking as thinking and not thinking. Thinking things and thinking not things. And non-thinking is beyond thinking and not thinking. Simply, in a practical sense, it's like not dwelling on thoughts, and it's not suppressing thoughts.

[39:37]

Not dwelling on the thought that has arisen. and not suppressing thoughts, but they don't arise. This is the koan of Zazen. He says this is the art of Zazen. So Zazen is artistry. It's the non-dual art of Zazen. And it's called pure practice. It's called pure practice because it's non-dual. It's not falling into one side or the other. And then he says, Zazen is not learning to do concentration. I would say Zazen is not just learning concentration.

[40:47]

It is the dharmagate of great calmness or ease and joy. It is undefiled practice enlightenment. It's not step-by-step meditation. That's what Dogen means. It's not step-by-step meditation. learning concentration as one of the steps of meditation. I have a quote here from somebody, I don't know who, says, you are not learning something a little bit at a time. It is just throwing wide open the gate of liberation. That's not good. You know, we have the seven factors of enlightenment, which are seven meditation practices of the 40 meditation practices.

[41:51]

Zazen is not one of the 40 meditation practices, but it includes the 40 meditation practices. And it includes the seven factors of enlightenment, which are mindfulness, investigation, energy, or I call it enthusiastic effort, joy, calmness, concentration, and equanimity. These are all present in Sanskrit, all these seven factors. And he talks about joy and calmness. He said, this is just the joy and calmness, and equanimity. and concentration. See, it's not just concentration. Because concentration, people tend to think that meditation practice is just concentration, and samadhi, samadhi is concentration.

[42:54]

But not just concentration. Without concentration, of course, there's no practice. But concentration is just one aspect of practice. It's not everything. And concentration needs all these other aspects in order for it to work correctly. So in other words, Dogen is emphasizing the fact that we're not trying to do something step by step. If you do this, then you will do this.

[43:56]

And then after you learn that, you will learn this. This is the usual way of study. But that's not what Zazen is. Zazen is just totally opening the gate and being present. And people say, and then what? And then what? And then nothing. Or, and then whatever. Do you have any question? Did I cover it at all? Yes. When does Zazen begin and end? When does Zazen begin and end? Well, Zazen begins when you let go of your dualistic thinking and ends when you take it up again. What does that mean, that dualistic thinking?

[45:06]

Dualistic thinking means right and wrong, good and bad. pleasure and pain. We live in the world of duality, but we're fooled by the world of duality by thinking that it's only the world of duality. But within good is bad, and within bad is good, and within right is wrong, and within wrong is right, And within pain is pleasure and within pleasure is pain. Is there anything to be done about the self? Teach it a good lesson. Like what?

[46:07]

Just offer yourself to yourself. Offer your desire to something. That's non-duality. It's separate. Although things are separate, they're not separate. Although there are individual things, they are not separate. You were saying that it's good to ask these questions.

[47:51]

Why did this happen? Why did that happen? But not during his onset. Well, yes. Not during his onset, too. To dwell on, if only my mother hadn't done this and that, I would be in a different place now. You know what I mean? Not to dwell on the psychology of why But you think it's good to ask those questions outside of Zazen? Yeah, outside of Zazen. It's really confusing me because I was under the impression that, you know, Zazen, I've heard Zazen has nothing to do with sitting or lying down. In fact, it's the state of mind that we're supposed to, well, not supposed to, but... To what? Maintain all the time. Oh, I see. So that you can... Yeah. Maintain a seismic state of mind all the time.

[48:54]

Well, if you do that, if you actually maintain a seismic state of mind, you don't have to investigate your past. Your life begins from that time on. If you actually, so, but not everybody can do that and people need to, you know, have psychological excavation. unearthing the causes of why things happen to them and so forth. I mean, I'm not belittling that, but if you actually can maintain Zazen mind all the time, you don't need to do that. I won't say that unequivocally, you know, but your life starts from from now, even though there's history.

[49:55]

But what keeps us from doing that? Well, we don't need to have an egotistical mind in order to survive. We can survive in the realm of duality without being dualistic. That's possible.

[51:01]

We exist in the realm of duality, but we don't have to be subject or driven by or controlled by duality, even though that's the setting. So that's practice, actually, is to not be caught, to live in the world without being caught by it. It seems like sometimes in Zazen you can have an insight without any excavation. You can have an insight into the chain of causes that brought you to a certain state of mind. To me that's still within non-dual mind. You haven't dug around and said, I need to work on my dad. But sometimes something will just be clear. Of course. It comes up all the time. And you can have a season in your practice that might be a sort of psychological thing without you really going to therapy or digging it up, but just looking at it, just keeping looking at it.

[52:12]

Which isn't to say that you shouldn't go to therapy. Right, yeah. There is a psychological process. It comes up, but it's different than making an effort to investigate. Also, sort of ground. Well, and in a way, when you're sitting, things do come up, and they come into the light. And you actually shine light on whatever comes up, and see it clearly.

[53:19]

And sometimes you may do some investigation, turns out. But strictly speaking, to just let these things come up, And you can investigate them, but not use the sasen as a time to investigate. Who maintains sasen-mon? The who maintains sasen-mon. Who maintains dualistic-mon? The ego. Yes. Andrea. Well, you said, just exhausted and let go of this.

[54:25]

And what? Let go of these things that come up. And then you said, people, many people say, well, then what? And you said, well, nothing. So what is nothing? Allow yourself to just have pure existence. Allow just pure existence to be there without any desire for something else or need or reason Experience that. You know, we need to have some reason to be alive.

[55:35]

We need to justify our life. But just being alive, totally, is its own justification. have to be driven by the need to succeed in some comparative way. But we're driven by this. And if we're not driven by it, if we let go of that, we say, well, what? It's okay to be in that world. That is the world. But we also have to have freedom from that. Otherwise, we are just driven. Master Joshu said to a monk, he said, I drive the 24 hours

[56:50]

And you are driven by the 24 hours. Beings are numberless.

[57:10]

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