Good morning, and again, welcome everyone. So we're beginning a three-day session, which is ending our two-month practice period. And I want to talk about, for these three days, some of you will be here for all three, some for today or a couple days, but I want to talk about some of the things we've been talking about over the last couple of months. And I want to talk about these teachings inspired by the Lotus Sutra and the Lotus Sutra stories in terms of their meaning for zazen, for this practice where doing here. And I've been talking about it a lot the last couple of months, and so I kind of feel like I don't have much to say.

[01:05]

Or I've said it all already, and so some of you weren't here, but so I'll try and say it again a little bit. But the starting point is the story about skillful means and that the single great cause, the single reason for Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appearing, showing up in the world, this world, all worlds, is simply to help beings to help all kinds of beings, to help people and other critters, to relieve their suffering, and to help everyone onto the way, the path to awakening.

[02:06]

That's all. That's it. But that means also recognizing all the different situations that each of us are in. and all the different situations in each different time and all of the ways those play out. And so skillful means is a matter of studying these differences and responding to them. Or as Dogen says it in his extensive record, the family style of all Buddhas and ancestors is first to arouse the vow. To save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear. So this is what all the Buddhas and ancestral teachers are all about. Respond to all the different kinds of suffering and provide joy.

[03:14]

So our zazen is to look at our suffering individually, collectively, let go of it. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. And to bring joy. So please enjoy this mysterious situation of the next inhale and the next exhale. Ji, the great founder of Chianti Buddhism that Brooks Aporn was talking about last Monday, the Chinese Buddhist school based on the Lotus Sutra, taught that there were 3,000 different realms in each moment, in each breath.

[04:34]

3,000, of course, is an abbreviation for 300 million, billion, gazillion, thousand, Well, actually, that's an abbreviation for something. I don't know what the word is. This experience, this moment. Each of us is such a complex accumulation of causes and conditions with many beings within and without. All the bacteria and what are those other things called that are within us? All of the different beings that are part of us right now and yesterday and seven years from now and whatever.

[05:34]

Not to mention all the other people we know. We could not possibly figure it all out. We may as well enjoy it. But beyond that, how do we help? So skillful means is about helping. Bodhisattva precepts and ethics is about how do we help rather than harm. So the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kanzeon, who we'll be chanting to, has many different forms. I think there are, I counted, there are eight different forms of Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Alikiteshvara Bodhisattva, just in this little storefront temple.

[06:44]

And one of them has a thousand hands, each with an eye in it, and various tools. So how do we use what's at hand? How do we see from all the different perspectives? Well, it's not all of them, but many. How do we extend a hand? How do we be helpful? And one of our precepts is to benefit all beings. So this is not just about self-improvement, you know. We try and take care of ourselves. So as you're sitting during the day and for three days, please take care of yourself. We have extra cushions, we have chairs in the corners. Please use what you need to take care of your body and your mind and your heart.

[07:52]

Please find a way to be at ease as much as you can. and help all the others around you too. Be present. Enjoy your inhale. Enjoy your exhale. We're all deeply connected with each other and with many, [...] many other beings. So skillful means is tricky. There's not one right technique, you know, Skillful means it's not a matter of techniques, you know, but we have libraries full of meditation techniques from Buddhism. One way to talk about this is part of our practice, part of zazen even, is focusing.

[08:54]

So we can focus on our breath. Inhale. Exhale. And there are many particular ways of focusing on breath. We can count breaths at the end of the exhale, if you want to do that. Count to ten and start over again. Or just count one each time, or just focus on that. That space at the end of the exhale is really interesting. I don't know if you've noticed it. Or you could just, you know, if that gets boring, you could focus on sound. Sometimes we hear sounds from the kitchen. Sometimes we hear the gurgling of stomachs from people near you.

[10:03]

Sometimes you might even hear the sound of sound. Or you can use a mantra. I don't know if that's considered heretical in American Zen, but, you know, I recommend. You can use the Heart Sutra mantra. Or the Kanzeon chant we do, we'll be doing in the evening meditation, in the evening service. Om Mani Padme Hum is the Tibetan Kanzeon chant or whatever suits you. So all of those focusing techniques are about calming. This is one side of arsazan. Just settling, calming, focusing, focusing the mind-heart, focusing the body.

[11:09]

You can also focus on aspects of the posture. Really pay attention to details of your posture. How is your mudra? Are you pressing your thumbs together? Can you bring it back into this nice oval shape? Are your fingertips falling back? Are your thumbs coming apart? How is your mudra? Is your lower back slumping? Is your mudra against your, you know, sometimes people hold it out here. During zazen instruction, I recommend holding it against your belly because it affects our shoulders. Is your back of the neck upright, chin tucked in? Focus on aspects of your posture. I recommend tilting lower back a little bit forward, tilting your pelvis a little bit forward.

[12:10]

So this is basic zazen instruction. But part of zazen, and maybe particularly during session, is giving yourself zazen instruction. You know, during the middle of the afternoon when you sort of, you know, wonder what you're doing here or whatever. Pay attention. What is this zazen? So, focus, focus, focus on posture. Is your head sagging? Is your chin up? Are your eyes down? Are your eyes open? Not too wide open, but, you know, aware of the wall in front of you, allowing the wall to see you. So that's all about calming and settling. That's half of the practice. I want one side of the practice. The other side, which is also important, is kind of openness and spaciousness, flexibility.

[13:17]

So we talk about this practice as just sitting. Nothing special to do. So this all has to do with skillful means. This is the skillful means of zazen. This applies when you get up from a zazen, too. Is there focus? And then the other side, again, is there spaciousness? And this has to do with attention. So we don't carry a stick in this zendo. We don't hit people if you're looking sleepy. It's up to you. But are you paying attention? Whether your mind's racing around or whether your mind is groggy or whatever, pay attention to that. Whatever's going on, pay attention. And when you're paying attention, you might find this sense of openness, this sense of spaciousness.

[14:18]

So even when you're sitting just facing the wall, feel the space of your Zabuton chair. What is the space around your body? And we've been talking about the bodhisattvas emerging from under the ground. What's going on under your seat? Can you feel those bodhisattvas? Maybe they're actually above your seat too. Can you feel that possibility of awareness and helpfulness and kindness All those hands and eyes. And as you're sitting facing the wall, can you feel the space of this room? There are many other beings here. So we'll be joined by other people tomorrow and Sunday. Monday night, and there have been other people sitting in this room previous days and weeks and years.

[15:36]

So, both sides are important, the settling, the calm, but also the openness, flexibility, feeling that spaciousness. And part of this self-suzan instruction is finding that balance. So some periods you might need to focus and calm and settle. It's up to you. Some periods you might allow the cow a wide pasture, as Suzuki Roshi said. Feel the openness that's possible. So this isn't exactly self-improvement, but this is skillful means in terms of taking care of this body-mind, this zazen person.

[16:50]

And this kind of balance applies when you are out in your world. our world, responding skillfully to all the challenges each of us has in our own particular situation. How to skillfully practice, how to see how to be helpful, how to see with a thousand different eyes, how to see like never disrespectful bodhisattva in the Lotus Sutra, how to see the Buddha qualities of many different beings, especially the people who give you a hard time or you have trouble seeing that.

[17:53]

So in some situation of difficulty in the world where you don't see how to be helpful, you know, just to be patient and pay attention, and sometime you might see, oh, I can use this hand, this tool, and respond, and maybe that'll be helpful, and maybe it won't be. We don't always know. Sometimes something that looks like it's not helpful, later on that person may see, oh, yeah, How do we look at all the different situations and see them from different perspectives so that openness, that spaciousness, that flexibility, we can see different options? So this isn't about, you know, fixing anything or controlling anything.

[19:21]

It's just how do we express Buddha as best we can in this body, mind? even though we have no idea what that is, even though we cannot calculate all of the different worlds and all of the different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who show up to hear the Buddha, like the ancient Buddha, Abundant Treasures, who I'll talk about more tomorrow, who shows up in his stupa and floats in midair and says, well done, Shakyamuni. It shows up whenever the Lotus Sutra is taught. So our practice is just to celebrate and proclaim this possibility.

[20:23]

Our limited human intellectual and spiritual capacities couldn't possibly figure this all out, calculate it. Don't worry about understanding it. Or, you know, if you worry about understanding it, that's okay. Just, you know, that's just worrying about understanding it. It's, you know, just another phenomena in the countless myriad phenomena. How do we celebrate all of it? So going back to the single grade cost, this is not to ignore or discount the reality of the suffering of the world, of the pain of the problems that we each have and our friends and loved ones have and the loss, the losses that happen passing

[22:01]

coming and going, and the reality of sadness. This isn't about fixing that, but how can we see this wider, I don't know, it's impossible to say how, I don't know what the word is, how amazing, how deep, how full reality is. And yet, we need to honor sadness and loss when that comes. How do we take care of that? How do we acknowledge that? How do we see our personal losses, the losses of friends and family, the losses and the systemic causes of suffering in the world.

[23:11]

So that's part of it. We respond to that, we help as much as we, when we can. We look at that, we study that, we pay attention. But what these stories, from these Bodhisattva Sutras tell us is that there's something much deeper also at the same time. And sitting with this, we can start to recognize this deep connectedness to something much more vast. Bodhisattva is popping out of the ground, the earth itself a source of support. This floor supporting us to sit all day. And this story about the Buddha not just passing away, but having this incomprehensibly long, long, long lifespan.

[24:20]

What does that mean? Well, here we are, carrying on Buddha's practice. Somehow, we've heard about this. Somehow we've all come to share in this noble practice of celebrating Buddha, whatever that is. So Dogen also says, bodhisattvas studying the way should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature. This quality of awakeness, this mysterious reality, gives rise to the situation.

[25:24]

that gives rise to the situation of seeing this quality of awakeness. And we support each other to do that. So please enjoy your sasana. Please enjoy all the forms of sasana. Please enjoy meals. Please enjoy serving the meals when you're doing that.

[26:28]

Please enjoy preparing the meals, those of you who are doing that. Please enjoy your chanting. Please enjoy your walking meditation. Please enjoy seeing that you trust that when you lift your foot, that when you place it down, the floor will be there. We don't know this for sure, but probably it will be. Probably it will support you to continue walking meditation. It's kind of amazing.

[27:00]

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