Well, today is the opening or first day of our fall practice period, which will end with the Rohatsu Sushin in December. So today's talk, I want to set a tone for the practice period in which I want to talk about what's called the six pairs of qualitative factors. These qualitative factors appear in the Abhidhamma literature. Abhidhamma is the Buddhist analytical approach which analyzes the psychological aspects of our mind and categorizes and analyzes and reduces

[01:27]

all of the factors to their bare essence. So everything is analyzed and nothing is left out. And in the end, all of these mental, physical, and emotional concomitants add up to no self. That's the conclusion. Nevertheless, something's going on. So even though there's no self, we still have to do something moment by moment. That's our life. So, these six pairs of qualitative factors are, I'll read them to you, what they are.

[02:56]

And these 12 factors, 6, actually there's 6, but the combinations make 12. They're called pairs because each one complements, one complements another. And ideally, all of these factors should arise in any wholesome thought or activity, moment to moment. And if we keep these in mind, we can see clearly what the balance of our mind is at any moment. These factors are meant to balance any moment of thought or activity. So the first one is called tranquility.

[04:06]

The second is agility of mind. Pliancy of mind is the third one. Workableness is the fourth one, proficiency is the fifth one, and uprightness is the sixth one. So, tranquility and agility balance each other. Tranquility, which is also one of the seven factors of enlightenment, Tranquility is like the ocean when there is no ripple. Tranquility and serenity are sometimes equated with each other. Serenity is more like the open sky at sunset.

[05:10]

when you have a beautiful clear sky at sunset, that's more like serenity. Tranquility is kind of like the ocean when it's very calm. And this calm state of mind is really the basis for all activity. So it's also sometimes called settledness. Suzuki Roshi used to use the term settled. You should settle yourself, you know. And Sawaki Kodo Roshi used to always say, settle the mind on the mind. Settle the body on the body. Settle Zazen on Zazen. Kata Geri Roshi used to say this all the time. settle the self on the self.

[06:13]

This is settled mind or tranquility, which is the undisturbed quality of mind. And it's also the basis of Samadhi. Samadhi is tranquil mind, which is not disturbed by anything. So no matter what situation a person is in, you're in, the mind is always settled and tranquil. So we say either on the mountaintop or in the busy marketplace, it's all the same as far as settled mind goes. And of course, in Zazen, to have settled mind, tranquil mind, no matter what's happening.

[07:18]

So when there's a pleasurable state, there's tranquility. When there's an agitated state, not agitated state, but when lots of agitation is going on around you, there is settled mind, tranquility. This is some, you may, you know, we say stillness and motion. Within stillness is great dynamic activity. That's called zazen. Within the tranquil mind, is great dynamic activity. And within great dynamic activity is the tranquil mind. So in Zazen, within this stillness is dynamic activity.

[08:30]

And when in the busy world, within that busyness is calmness and stillness. This is what our cultivation of practice is, to always have composure in any situation. So how to keep your composure, how to maintain composure within your deep pain, That's called not moving. So the opposite of tranquility, of course, is agitation, and worry, and flurry, and scruples.

[09:45]

We use the term scruples. Scruples probably means something like too attached to some idea of righteousness, of what's right, so that you become rigid. Also, anxiety is the opposite of tranquility, and tranquility is the antidote to anxiety. So if you have anxiety, which most people do, there are various ways to deal with it. One way is to cultivate tranquility. Another way is to eat pills. Sometimes it's pretty hard to cultivate tranquility, so if you have to eat pills, go ahead.

[10:57]

But one way to really get confidence in Zazen is when you have a big problem, And walking up and down won't help it. Running around won't help it. Thinking won't help it. Nothing will help it. So you just sit in zazen. You sit down and cross your legs and you say, I'm not gonna get up until this problem or this agitation dissolves. And if you sit down, it may take you a week without getting up. Whatever it is, I'm just going to sit here until that happens.

[12:07]

If you actually do that, you will have great confidence in Zazen at the end. This is my own experience. So the second factor is agility. Agility means lightness, springiness, you know, that buoyancy, which stimulates presence of mind, is like, kind of like sharpness, you know.

[13:18]

The opposite is dullness or apathy or sloth or heaviness, you know. So agility of mind, and agility of mind, of course, stimulates agility of body, because body and mind are not two different things. So agility is a necessary complement to tranquility, because tranquility is kind of like settling, right? And agility is like springing up, springiness or the ability to hop around and be to feel lightness. So these two balance each other. If there's only tranquility, then it can descend into heaviness.

[14:22]

And if there's only lightness or bounciness, then there's nothing to hold it down. So tranquility holds down agility and gives it some basis. Maybe You know, we're different types. Some are tranquil types and some are agile types. So the agile types need tranquility as a basis. And the tranquil types need agility to gain momentum, not just stay in your tranquil state. So these two factors are complementary, and they should be arising together.

[15:25]

In a wholesome state of mind, they should arise together. And the third one is pliancy. Pliancy means softness or openness. It's the opposite of rigidity. And it also means adaptability, the ability to move into various circumstances and to move in and out of various circumstances. And it also implies sensitivity, the ability to open yourself and be sensitive to what's going on. And it opens up intuition. Intuition, I think that when we say intuition, people think, I don't know what they think, but there are various ways that we have understanding intuition.

[16:36]

But basically, intuition means directly knowing to without the intermediary of discursive thinking. So, intuitively, we know something. Enlightenment is intuition. It's not thinking something. It's not a thought. It's not an idea. It's your direct knowing of who you are without an explanation. So, this is intuition. And all true understanding comes from intuition. Otherwise, it's just disconnected thought. So it's elasticity and resilience.

[17:49]

Resilient mind. Suzuki Roshi always used to talk about soft mind, which doesn't mean squishy, but it means the ability to bend, the ability to be large or small. It's the opposite of rigidity. In order to sit Zazen, we have to have soft mind, like grass which bends in the wind, rather than like a tall tree which is very stiff and gets uprooted in a big storm. Pliancy or softness is a complement to workableness. Workableness sets a limit to pliancy.

[19:01]

Pliancy can get too soft, too amorphous. You know, there has to be some backbone, right? But backbone does not mean rigidity. So workableness means the balance between firmness and softness. something is workable, like the example is gold. Gold, in order to form it into various things, various objects, needs to be workable. If it's too hot, then it just flows, and you can't work it.

[20:06]

If it's too cold, it becomes rigid, and you can't work it. So it has to be just the right temperature in order to mold and be workable. So gold means the mind, right? In order for the mind to be workable, it can't be too hot or too cold. So the two examples that are usually given is lust and sensuality are so hot that it makes the mind very loose and unworkable. And usually the mind is so distracted that it can't really concentrate on anything else. And the hate or ill will is what makes the mind stiff and unworkable, stiff and rigid and inflexible.

[21:09]

So these two aspects Lust and sensuality on the one hand and anger and hate on the other make the mind unworkable. So how to let go of these two in order to make the mind workable is very important. So these are the two things that we all have and that drive us and that we're always having a problem with, right? So it makes it very difficult when these two factors are driving us to be able to see clearly and think clearly. So workableness is also called tempered.

[22:20]

When you make a sword, you heat the iron up and then you dip it in the cold water. Here you have the heat and the cold together. The heat makes the blade soft and the cold makes it rigid. So it's like using both of these aspects to make the object. And tempered, we say temperament. Or someone has a certain kind of temperament. But we also say, someone really has a temper. You really have a temper. But temper applies to all states of mind, not just to anger. But when someone's angry, we say, well, you really have a temper. But someone can have an angry temper.

[23:24]

Someone can have a soft temper or a mild temper. Temper has to do with the state of mind that we have at any moment. So we have to continually temper the mind. and be careful of our temperament. Some people have an angry temperament, some people have a loving temperament and so forth, but whatever temperament we have, to make an effort to balance that temperament. to realize how much to one side we are and how much we need to cultivate the other side. Another good example is cereal.

[24:36]

In the Japanese monasteries, they often have rice gruel, which is very runny, you know, and it's very hard to eat because it keeps falling off your spoon. So, if the cereal, if the rice cream or the oatmeal is too thin, it's good for our aesthetic practice, It doesn't stay on the spoon. It just runs off the spoon. And if it's too heavy, it's like digging into a mountain, you know, and trying to eat a mountain. So it should be somewhere in between so that it's workable. It stays on the spoon and yet it's not too hard, you know, not too heavy and not too light. When we work with food or with each other or whatever we're doing, how do we find the workableness in everything that we are dealing with?

[25:49]

This is a really easy way to practice. So in every situation, we have to say to ourselves, how do I make this workable? Am I being too stiff, or am I being too loose, or is this too tight, or is this too loose? A good mechanic, you know, knows how to tighten nuts and bolts. If you tighten down the bolt too tight, you strip the threads. So how to make a bolt snug so that it does its work without too much pressure. This is workableness. So the next one is called proficiency. And this one is the most difficult.

[26:55]

because we would all like to be proficient. But some of us are proficient and some of us are not. Dogen says, enlightenment does not depend on whether one is clever or not, or whether one is proficient or not. But nevertheless, proficiency is important. we should be striving for some kind of proficiency. But what does proficiency mean? How do you do something well? Well, it means paying attention, right? Paying attention to what we're doing. If we sit Zazen for 20 or 30 years, we might become proficient in our practice. Whether we're proficient or not, you know, if we work very hard, continuously, our practice will be very good, whether we're proficient or not.

[28:07]

But given that, proficiency is kind of like competence, right? And inner certainty comes from inner certainty. I know something, right? And assurance and spontaneity. When one has efficiency, one can operate spontaneously. You don't need to follow the recipe. I have, we have tons of cookbooks. If you go to the store every year, there are more and more cookbooks. They have wonderful covers with all this delicious food in it. But how many recipes can you follow, you know? If you know how to cook, if you really know how to cook, you just cook. Sometimes you follow a recipe, you know, but you can just cook.

[29:15]

And if you cook really nice food, you don't need to cook so much variety because the same kind of food tastes good all the time. And matter of fact, the more you know how to cook proficiently, the less spice you need, the less flavorings you need, and you know how to bring out the flavor of the food itself without using all those fancy things. And this comes from confidence and proficiency in having done something over a long period of time and refined it to the point where you don't need so much. But proficiency is balanced with uprightness.

[30:17]

Uprightness Balance is proficiency. If you're just proficient, then it's easy to get along on your charisma or your abilities, right? And your abilities can be used for good or for evil. So someone may be very talented, But then it's easy to use your talent in some way where you sell out instead of using your talent or your abilities for the best purpose. So uprightness is like sincerity. So abilities should always be tempered with sincerity and uprightness so that you're doing what you do for the right reasons.

[31:31]

and you don't get corrupted. So, sincerity and uprightness keeps you from being corrupted in your ability. So, these six pairs are complements to each other, but they also complement, all of them complement each other. in various ways, and you can see the various combinations that are possible. But all of these factors should arise together on each wholesome state of mind, moment to moment. And this is what we should be aware of in our practice. And I think this is a good tone for our practice period to keep these qualitative factors in our awareness.

[32:46]

And this is the subject of mindfulness, the object of mindfulness. tranquility, balanced with agility, balanced with pliancy and workableness, proficiency and uprightness. I will leave a list of these for you so that you can look at them and think about them, practice with them. and they really apply to everything in our life, every aspect of our life. So, these qualities, practiced with awareness, keep us centered and focused. Do you have any questions? disguise.

[33:55]

Well, I'm sure you don't mean to suggest that there ought to be, or that there's some sort of rating going on. I'm going to grade you on it. I'm going to grade you. Yeah, or a self-grading. I can see myself, for example, as a little more like to hear music, but certainly that is a limited one. And so there's something deep and basic Well, you know, again, you know, it's a recipe, right?

[35:03]

It's like a recipe. So you look at the recipe and you are aware of the ingredients, right? And you can use it as a recipe if you want to, or you can just say, I'm aware of those factors. I'll cook my own dinner. I'll cook my dinner out of these ingredients without measuring them. I just know how much. I take a pinch of this, and I take a pinch of that, and I take some of that, rather than measuring everything out, right? So when you're talking about a little lightness would be good, how do you measure that out? Well, you don't measure it. You just keep it in mind. Well, you can seek it, you know. What the teacher does is notice these qualities in each person, in each student.

[36:12]

And when there's a student who is very rigid and stiff, you know, you try to steer them to the lighter side, the buoyant side. When someone's too jumping around so much, then you try to pin them down to the tranquil side. But this is a long process, and it's not like you do something special, but in the process of everybody practicing together, bouncing off of each other, and rubbing up against each other, you see where your problem is or what is lacking. And then little by little, the balance occurs. But you have to put yourself into the mix in order for that to happen.

[37:16]

You can't stand outside and try to make up yourself. That's not it. It's not like you make up yourself. That's a made-up self. I'll try a little buoyancy now. But mixing, putting yourself into the mix, the balances occur. The need for the Sangha, in other words. The need for the Sangha. That's right. This is why the Sangha is so important. This is why daily practice is so important. It's really through the body practice and through the interaction with each other that the process is at work. Well, this book is one of my favorites.

[38:24]

It's called Abhidhamma Studies. It's an old book. I don't know. I hope so. I have no idea. By Nyanaponika Thera. Let's see. Yeah, the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy. You just got it? Uh-huh. Yeah. So, it's not an easy book to read, but once you are into it, it's very interesting. Andrea?

[39:24]

Well, you know, you were saying to practice tranquility. To practice what? Tranquility. Oh, yes. Do you need to avoid things that cause anxiety? I mean, is that one way of doing it? Okay. How do you cultivate tranquility, right? Well, You avoid things which create anxiety. That's one factor. Yeah. Stop doing those things which cause you a lot of anxiety. But even if you do that, there will still be things which cause you anxiety. So you cannot, you know. But, you know, why create more than you need, right? Buddhist practice is to stop creating karma that causes you problems.

[40:32]

That's basic. You just, what are the things that cause my problems? Let's see, well, there's this and this and this. And then, well, I can't stop doing that because I have too much lust and desire. Or I have too much hate and anger, right? How can I stop doing those when I love them so much? So they have me, right? I don't have that. I have them, but they also have me, because they are controlling me. So how can I take control of my life? That's basic. How do I take control without controlling? We hate that word, control. How can I control my life without controlling, without being controlling? So that's a good question. And that's a question that has to be there all the time.

[41:36]

And then, you know, practice of zazen is the practice of settling down. But we have this buoyancy that wants to not settle down. So how do you balance these two factors of wanting to spring up and dance around and at the same time settle down? So it's not that you eliminate one or the other, it's that how do you balance them? In other words, how do you sit Zazen with buoyancy and lightness? And how do you have buoyancy and lightness in your life in a settled way? Without going overboard.

[42:40]

Without bouncing off your place. So that's how you maintain the balance. It's all there in Zazen. All these factors are there in Zazen. Every one of them. And they're all complete in Zazen. Settleness, buoyancy, lightness. In Zazen, when I come and I adjust your posture in Zazen, some of you are like that post. There's no difference. It's like trying to adjust that post. I don't know how you can be that stiff. You know, what you should do when you're that stiff is, you know, I am this stiff. And to practice loosening up. You can do it. It's possible to practice loosening up. Instead of trying so hard, you know, like, what do I need to hold me up?

[43:50]

What do I need to hold this body up? Why do I need to be so stiff up here? Because that has nothing to do with sitting up straight. So efficiency is to find out just how much energy you need and where to put that energy. So the rest of you is totally free to sit. And you just put that energy into the lower back and sit up straight. And that's all you need. You don't need to flex your arms. You don't need to flex your shoulders. You don't need to flex your trunk. You don't need to flex anything. And you can sit up by just putting the effort in your lower back. Whole body's loose, flexible. There's no rigidity anywhere. Suzuki Yoshi went to a chiropractor one time, and the chiropractor said, there's nothing here to work on.

[45:04]

Charlie, I'm beginning to get a glimmer of what the difference is between psychotherapy and Buddhist practice. But if you would clarify the difference between those two, it would be helpful. Well, I know a little bit about Buddhist practice. I don't know anything about psychotherapy. Well, as I understand psychotherapy, largely based on association with my family, psychotherapy attempts to What would you say to that?

[46:48]

I would say that psychotherapy has numerous methods and philosophies and basis for what they do. So it's not all one lump. I think that psychotherapy is always in flux and always working on new theories, kind of like science. As soon as you come to a conclusion, then you change it or something else. There's no conclusions, I think, in psychotherapy. therapy, yeah it is therapy, in a wide sense, is to balance the body and mind with all the factors of the body and mind.

[47:57]

Simply to create a balance and a harmony with the mental factors, the physical factors, and circumstances to create wholesome states or natural states. in order to practice. So, in order to practice well, we eat this food and we put our body and mind in order. So, and we work on those factors which are hindrances.

[49:13]

So, in one sense, just the way we are is perfect, right? And at the same time, we can all stand some improvement. We have to keep working. You know, if you just say, as I am, I'm okay, that's complacency. And if you say, I'm going to work so hard that I'm going to blah, blah, blah, that's trying to make something out of nothing. So yes, we are OK as we are. And yet, we have to continue to not exactly improve, but because that's not the right word, but to keep ourselves moving and balanced and thoughtful and making a little bit of progress.

[50:30]

Even though, you know, what we call progress may not be the same as what other people call progress. Normally it's called progress or improvement, right? But progress usually for most people is from going from one thing to another, but from progress in practice is progress to really be where we are. That's progress. to really stand on where we're standing. And just to be real, that's progress. So that's what all this is about. Yeah?

[51:42]

I have two children. I have two young children, and it seems that they're always being tested on workability. Yes. So sometimes, you know, an example might be manners. Yeah. Yeah. The answer is cultivating tranquility.

[52:48]

I, you know, had the same problem. I say I had the same problem. Well, he's no longer He'll be 19 in a few days. And he's no longer in that child state. So things are much better, much different. But I know exactly what you mean. And now, for years, he wouldn't eat with a fork or utensil, just with his hands. Why do I have to go through this? Why do I have to use these? You know, it's not a matter of table manners, it's a matter of just eating with your hands, you know? They're my table manners. But, you know, like sometimes I'll reach for the salt or something and say, God, Dad, that's so rude.

[53:53]

How can you be so rude? Well, just continuing on cultivating tranquility, I just thought I'd ask you for practical advice. A week or so ago I said to somebody, well, my effort is to find a mind of practice in the midst of this most demanding and anxiety-producing period of work that literally on my bike, and I was very, very anxious and very, very driven. And I said, oh, didn't I say something about cultivating a mind of practice? And I had this memory. And then the next thought that arose was, forget it! It's just like, hopeless, no way. So if you were right there in my mind at that moment, could you tell me?

[54:58]

Well, why forget it? I don't know. That's a tantrum. That's called giving in to your tantrum. Yeah. You know, sometimes when my son and I were growing up, it was like, you know, I was always insulting him. you know, according to him. And he was always insulting me, you know. And I realized that when you receive an insult, then you want to strike back, you know. That's the impulse, is to strike back, you know. And I just said, I won't answer. I won't respond. So he'd say something, you know, insulting or the last word.

[56:02]

And that was the last word. So when he gave me the last word, is it the last word? Does the last word mean that you're sunk? So I just stopped and I just stopped the process of the last word. Okay, you can have the last word and whatever it is, but I don't respond to it. And then he's left with it. It looks like I'm left with it, but actually he's left with it because there's no response. And the thing just stops. And it's somehow, there has to be a stop to anxiety, or there has to be a stop to whatever it is that's going on, that's building up and building up and building up. Where does it ever end? So your first thought was pretty good. Where's my practice? Just leave it at that.

[57:05]

Where's my practice? Just leave it as a question. If you leave it as a question, then something will come forward. As soon as you say, I don't know, that's the opening for something to come forward. So maybe the answer to your question, what would I have done? Just, I don't know. That's a great answer to the next possibility. Because you just let go of everything. I don't know. You just let go. And then something comes up because your mind will keep, your being will produce something. That's the end. The last word. The last word. Liesel.

[58:09]

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