April 29th, 1995, Serial No. 00973, Side B

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i love to say two years
as righteous morning
yesterday we had to my ordination for ten people and
today
with are sitting we opened the practice period and and at
or so we are enter our she so
grace shazam
so we have a lot of energy here going and
going into our practice period

and today i want to
continue
commenting on master hung his writing
the past two two weeks and been talking about mr hung z

and talking about
his so-called practice instructions
and he is is the term petro monks but you can translate that is distance

zen students
run the world constantly emptying and expanding their minds
without the slightest remnant held inside they can respond appropriately not hindered by beings are not tangled up by dharmas
openly appearing and disappearing you can freely share but if merely involved in intellect you will be buried
if embodying pure maturity
then you can naturally journey at ease among the ten thousand changes without touching them and without turning away from them
box and covered join an arrow points meet harmoniously hitting the mark
where the releasing are gathering up externals eliminate all leaking
such a person can fulfill the family business
from this place just return
the white clouds enter the valley and the bright moon circles the mountain
on this occasion you have the same substance as the elders so it has said that three people are propped up by one staff and lie down in one bed
do not leave any traces and inside and outside will merge into one totality as leisurely as the sky clearing of rain clouds as deep as the water drenching the autumn
all of you virtuous people remember this matter well
so he starts out saying ah
zen students are petrol bunks
roam the world constantly emptying and expanding their minds
ah the work of a zen student actually is to empty the mind
ah not yeah
ah trying to shave everything out but
what does it mean to empty the mind
as soon as you want to stop thinking says you make an effort to stop thinking ah thats just fled into your mind and safe device various schemes to see if you can sneak
up on not thinking
but
when does it mean really to empty the mind
mine will always have some thinking mind will always have something going on because it's the nature of the mind to think
but is it necessary to have opinions about everything
based on partiality

and what do we need for self defense
and what are we defending
most of our
a good deal of our thinking process is geared toward self defense
and ah
ah
protection
and in one way or another
to establish ourselves in a way that i were protected
as we grow up when were babies we don't need to protect ourselves somebody protects us
but as we grow up
we stand more alone and
ah create our self protective devices
and until it became to a point sometimes where he just completely shut off
our true protection
and
create devices
for self protection
we can very clever added
and

so emptying the mind
can be
let it go just let it go
self protective devices
and depending on
buddha nature for protection and members as if you wish she used to say were protected from within we don't need some protection from outside were protected from within
and that's duggan's understanding and buddha's understanding
to i actually allow
data are in in most
request
our inner nature to give us
what we need
hmm so maybe the hardest thing is to be defenseless
and ah
trusting
very hard to be trusting in his world
be almost impassable
but ah
at the expense we we create
defense at the at the at the expense of
our serenity
or at the expensive are true settled this
so if the kind of toss up maybe
what whether you want to
when you want to sacrifice
when you're willing to sacrifice and when you're willing to
allow
so if you become a monk and says petrol bunks if you become a bunk and a monk
the marks practice is to give up
to empty out and give up always shedding something
until you find out what it is that you actually depend on
and when we come to shane
we are participating in amongst practice which is the practice of letting go of everything
and discovering just what it is that you really depend on
with you have nothing
but this body mind sitting down and by a cushion
what does it depend on
someone feeds us
so we can express our gratitude
but there's nothing
so this is
the work out of the to
to let go of everything
and come down to what it is that you really depend on
and there's no defense completely open defend and defenseless
so i says instance around the world constantly emptying and expanding their minds so when this
ha
letting go means expanding the mind
or the mind is already unlimited so to say expanding the mind is not right either because the mine is already expanded its far as it will go
it's just that we put some limitation on it
so to take off the covers and the limitations
oh we enter in a true moment
true ah
our true self and allowed to shine forth so this is what doesn't is in this is where practices
without the slightest remnant held inside they can respond appropriately not hindered by beings and not tangled up dharmas
ah expanding appropriately i mean responding appropriately means with nothing in mind
put in it your response
our true nature response this is the basis of all the dharma dialogues of the old masters
they say funny things you know to each other
what does that mean you can't figure it out what what they mean when it when they're talking to each other because it's not based on
a mental thinking
this based on immediate response because there's no hindrance so ah
the language is immediate and just a vehicle
for ah
the contact
so if you sit
compare someone as one question after another
you can't have anything in your mind
you can't have a list of answers to the questions
you just have to respond
when the shiso has their she's a ceremony
at the end of practice period each person in the practice parade will ask a question
and if the shoe so has anything in their mind
just stumble
the the response has to fit through the at the question without too much thinking
just open mind just openly receiving and responding
that's the essence
so he says without the slightest remnant held inside
they can respond appropriately not hindered by beings and not tangled up by dharmas dharmas are in this case things all the various phenomena
i'm openly appearing and disappearing you can freely share but if merely moved by in in intellect you will be buried
if embodying pure maturity then you can naturally journey at ease among the ten thousand changes without touching them and without turning away from them touching and turning his phrase in the hokey a semi you know it's like a
great fire you can't touch it and yet you can't turn away from it it being essential nature
ah
if you embody the pure maturity pure maturity what is a mature person bodhisattva meaning of the word bodhisattva is one meaning is mature person
person who is not self centered and who is effort is ah to see reality moment by moment
this is that true maturity not
working to for self gain or self aggrandizement or ah
fame or name
but simply
settled in reality
if embodying put pure maturity than you can naturally journey at ease among the ten thousand changes without with empty mind empty mind does not mean without thoughts
we should not understand that empty mind does not mean without thoughts
he means not being attached to thoughts
not being dominated by thoughts
not being fooled by thoughts
able to cut through
ha
the web of thoughts
so that essential nature shines through the web or thought

and then one can easily
flow through the ten thousand changes
not bothered by change you know and one of the problems i think was instance sometimes is that we get very attached to a certain way of doing things in the slightest change people get very upset
and say i kind of hindrance presents it i think
we get very attached to our
usual way of doing things so it's good to take his instrument throw him out into the world
and so they have to accommodate themselves and flow with a myriad changes
smoothly
without any problem
that's the grand test
but you know most all of you are out in the world so that's why lay practice is rape wonderful kind of practice
because they you are you know the world with a ten thousand changes how do you do it how do you make it work
how do you make the ten thousand changes
to accommodate yourself to this ten thousand and changes so that each one becomes
i feel the practice
field of light
and not get bogged down in worried
and i
flustered intimidating
hmm
and then isn't box and cover join an arrow points meet harmoniously hitting the mark
that's is from the sand okay right arrows meeting in mid air a boxing live you know
the your activity
mitt
your personal activity meets the universe is activity perfectly like a box
a sled or like to arrows meeting in mid air
how do you bring that about so that whatever you meet you meet perfectly
it's not a matter of some kind of skill actually doesn't have anything to do a skill or
with any kind of practice
simply has to do with being yourself
without any contrivance
he without holding anything
that
any baggage
so when we came into the zendo and sits machine we go out of the zendo and we're feeling pretty light
how do you maintain that lightness
in meeting all circumstances
without getting pushed around and turnover by anything
and so he says whether releasing are gathering up externals eliminate all leaking
what is leaking making is a term
usually used from bucks
you know mike's
an unusually about your sex life
men's don't know
if i'm like a celibate
then get to be very careful careful not to leak not because your celibacy is a kind of container tight container and
and a kind of cooking pot
in your practice cooks and in that tight container
this is the main reason for celibacy i think
for a monk is that you have a tight container which is not your energy is not spilling out all over the place and your mind is not wandering but your mind is concentrated in your activity is concentrated and becomes very powerful and very show
concentrated in strong so and also leaking can be
just being carried off by
seductive thoughts that necessarily sexual but
in any realm
how so then he says such a person can fulfill the family business so this is called the family business this kind of practice is called the family business
and how do you carry on the family business
from this place just return the white clouds enter the valley and the bright moon circles the mountain he loves to use this
ah two terms the white clouds and a bright moon he is them all throughout and the white clouds returning to the valley valley's like big mind which contains all of the changing
moods and ah
all the changes that we encounter in the world these are the white clouds constantly changing the shape and form and big mind holds it all the big valley contains it
and the bright moon is constancy
or an entire
continually circles and in illuminates the mountain
and the mountain can be
you
each one of us is this mountain form
but it can be anything that is eliminated

so he says on this occasion you have the same substance as the elders in other words if you practice in this way you're just like all the ancestors
and doing and doing the same practice as the family business
and then he says so it is said
that three people are propped up by one staff and lie down in one bed
so who are the three people
me myself and i
well the edits i thought about well whom three people who are propped up by one staff and lie down and one bed
and what i think about is the three bodies
dharma gaia sam ukiah and pneumonic jaya those are the three bodies of each one of us
ah
dharma chi is are essential nature
sam boga kaja is our wisdom
and the monica is our activity
the
nature body
the wisdom body in the activity body
those are not outside of ourselves but are the three aspects of ourselves or three beings are three bodies
essential nature is what we call buddha nature and is
the nature that is common to everyone and everything is our big nature
essential nature buddha dharma buddha
nature
and that's the one cloth that covers everything
and some bolkiah
is our wisdom body
the body or the mind
which in understands or
six dharma kaja buddha is a buddha six buddha
it's the mind with which we seek
ourself on true self and it's the mine it's our wisdom which is expressed
whenever we express something i it's true sense this is the sambo your title so some bogus higher
create wrote the sutures some k and buddha wrote the messages
out of the wisdom
ha from dharma guy
in some bolkiah is our ah this person
the one that we say when we trust each other we address each other and some older tire buddha when you bow
he bowed some burger kind of buddha but actually you're bowing to all three bodies
so we have three bodies which are our true self
but there are one body
i'll held up by one stick and lie down and one bed
that's my interpretation
so he says do not leave any traces
and inside and outside remote will merge into one totality don't leave any traces
means i don't leave any
traces of ego
in your activity
you should be able to
go through something
without ah
disturbing anything
disturbing means putting your mark on it
hmm
at putting your mark on it means to divide it into subject and object
everything is perfectly connected
but
when
we start to discriminate
the basis of self-centeredness we divide
divide the world so
he says do not leave any traces and inside and outside will merge into one totality
as leisurely as the sky clearing of rain clouds
drenching the autumn

hard to leave the world in one piece

it's interesting that word peace because ptac a and i easy a look like different things
but one
peace is what is peace
one whole piece is peace
the world will not be at peace until everything is one whole piece
which it already is but
we keep tearing it apart
mesa or yeah agreed
oh well and delusion
so
this is called not leaving any traces
don't carry the world apart
recognize it as one piece
see it as one piece
and when you see it as one piece than you know an act
and you don't get in it any trouble
you don't create trouble for others
and it depends on letting go of opinions
and partiality and selfishness
and the way to do it is to sit zazen
whether you're in zendo
or in the marketplace
so he says
oliver you virtuous people remember this man of wealth

so ah
this is the work of the zen student how to keep the mind clear
and i actually had to empty the mind without getting rid of everything
but outta keep it empty emptying and clean
and
and divided
it's already undivided
how to stop dividing it
so maybe you have a question
yes
i'm a man was taken one of these instructions is to practice celibacy
wise
you have t practice
others that
relate to labor ah a good question
and feel sometimes will you are we starting out with the flawed practices
while some were some people would say so
but actually ah
ha
you know the precept for lay people is to remain faithful in relationship
so if what remains faithful within relationship then it's not
it has the same quality and celibacy because one is remaining faithful to once
ah
intentions
sort of cooking in relationship yeah cooking a relationship
that's right
ah
and a relationship you know has its ups and downs
and to test and sometimes gets very strained and sometimes it is kids were easy
but
to be able to
stay within the boundaries
ah
it's not leaking
so it's not so mad so much what you do as what your intention is and what your faithful to in your intentions
so it's not a matter of where the year celebrate or not sullivan
ah but have you practice with your relationship
so when you're a celebrate then you have space all array around you
person who has no no
sexual relationship as space all the way around
there isn't beholden to somebody in that
relationship
and can relate to everyone in a very freeway
ah someone who has relationship
there's always somebody standing next to you
and so it's a different kind of way that you know and
it modifies your the way you relate to everybody else
so it's just different i didn't say what is better than the other but they are different is a difference
and
part of the the monks reason for celibacy is to have freedom
from having to
related to one special person
you don't have to if you're if you're not related to one special person which takes time and energy and so forth then you're free to
a distributor energy equally much more free
but it doesn't necessarily work that way
sell of a person isn't necessarily doing that and a person who isn't so that may be doing that so
but my observation is that the person who doesn't have a special relationship is actually more free to relate to everyone and an equal basis even basis
and more free to come and go in
so forth
by person who does have a relationship
that's also that quality also has has an advantage
and so say a priest who is not solve it and has a family can understand people who who have relationships and and some suffers this the himself a staple have relationships and and the same joys you know soda
they there's some understanding there
so that's why a lot of most ministers i think are married but catholic priest turn up
big question
when it comes to sex is what werner erhard used to say
something about when it comes to sex you know
i do it or don't do it but don't talk about it

when you were
ha
part three ice when the catering for you
kitchen was i
felt like he was making a pact
criticism
that same
just the language of being propped up by one stick i get it when bit and somewhat seem to me with the maybe it was that
our
past present future
isn't that we carry around the idea es cell switches you know some olympics are working to right we have to catholic empty because it just keeps coming back
just switches popped have demanded the yeah that makes sense
and past
past present and future them
connected
what have held up by one stick right
and ah the karma of that continuing through from past to present or future and i lying down and one bit
because it removed from them
we're constantly slipping back really doesn't
the flipping back and forth among a great feeling that they're each one is great
rather than just being candy
yeah
now i think that's probably right
i'm talking about t i
that's
when you find that pops out a lot of
your reception
not accustomed to
yeah what pretty hard to be free and of of feelings and perceptions and and thoughts
oh
and we become obsessed with certain things
so
the work is to continually
let go of
attachment to feelings
an attachment to the way we perceive something always open to
but other possibilities of what something might be
know we really become attached to our perceptions oh i see this in that way you know what i see and then we stick to our perceptions and then we create a feeling around the perceptions and express a fair fight
so
it becomes a very tangled mess you know
so to be able to
we have to have perceptions and feelings and thinking but ah
to be very careful about how we express it and
on
how we check it out
we want to be right on time
and we weren't to you know
i had it if we we need to have something this to feel is we can hang onto and so
you know if you'd like if you think about
the misperceptions in the world that people hang onto is just because they need something to hang onto
and they chose something simple
mike
the feds are a to get us where their helicop black helicopters
the what we do what we do that to you we have our own fantasies so fantasy is is
fantasy is the stuff of art you know so it's very valuable but
it's it's also our seduction
so to be a careful
this
after that
it's consideration entering the high
the side
how decisions
my own spaces
it is you know the stories encouraging hundred sharp decision eight
so
is line
when she sees question
colored
nine process it often seems like
the season especially in the opposite off taking in all actors
i that attachments
just have
my life just grinding for a while until it feels like the right decision is clear
in hindsight it ought to think it was the obvious it's
right so we have to do that you know we have taken all the information
and
let that the factors sort themselves out can do it becomes clear right that's also a form of emptying the mind

the my emptying the mind and in that way mids
ah to see everything as it is
see all the factors as they are
without
a sub making assumptions
when vincent mancini is that i'm really attached it's grinding process
the difficult decisions that the outcome
painful
decisions
yeah i'd rather go to the right
yeah just the right to seek
hmm as if that's necessary to live stance
necessary experience earth it's just joseph
well you know
our life is a combination some people are just make decisions we will greatly interesting things you know other people grind away at and you know it's matter personality
badass

we have different ways of arriving a clarity
but within is a grinding away to actually have freedom that's important thing you know someone who makes quick decisions may stumble it may be fought in the hall and you know that's not necessarily so good but
to make quick decision to make an immediate decision you know with ah
wide open mind
is different than making a quick decision based on assumptions
and
making a slow decision with wide open mind
is different than making and slow decision
dragging your feet and in being bound by chains

ah
when the seen them jazz musicians
or any as for musicians who are engaged in conversation
on and with things are going well there's a clarity likeness and never found them
statement and we listening one i was still free land
and i wonder it the mysterious dialogue that
engagement is that a language that is
becomes uncontaminated i the first help
what when steve brings two words
they become
personal emotions and after that the language gets very conversation get very snarled and happy in unclear but so sad isn't it is the pipe with musicians what is in
zendaya dialogue when it's really glad will
music is wonderful because
it once you get into the flow it flows and so we loved listening to music because it doesn't have all the interruptions of our normal life you know and we can let allow ourselves to flow in some way
and the music speaks in different ways and some of it speaks in a low way some of the speaks on a highway but nevertheless it flows and that's why people become addicted to music and love it so much because you can step out of your trouble into the music
which although the music may express problems and travel
so ah
and jasmine meet you know is to improvise without thinking you do serious thought is thinking but
i you don't stop to think
the thinking and the process or one thing and it in
doesn't doesn't hesitate is this athens not hesitating snow to send i yes then why do not send people who are adept is why does they use words right out sentenced for
hi u alerts are sounds words or sounds
but why why haven't we have strap sometimes they do is sometimes he hit the floor or you know show or something like that
but would it say my views not so much for the union as for some raw energies and or our energy just directly know when like this
pick apart from we don't think you know
given a second vote

the