This morning, I'm going to talk about what is a practice place. You know, sometimes people say, what is the future of your practice place? at Zen Center in San Francisco, there's always this question of where are we going? What is the destination or the goal of the practice place? What should we be doing? And so, which are good questions. But in my mind, it's quite simple. A practice place is like a Zen temple, is like a refuge, or like an oasis.

[01:16]

Although we are always connected to the worldly life, When you enter the gate, it's different. It's the other side of the worldly life. It's the place where we can let go of ambition, making things happen. letting go and not continuing. It's the gap between activity, activities.

[02:23]

You know, in music, what makes music is the space between the notes. For practice, zazen is the space between the activities that make the activities come alive. So I'm reminded of this koan in the Book of Serenity, of 100 koans. that you may be very familiar with, or you may not. The name of this particular koan is The World Honored One Points to the Ground. The World Honored One, of course, is, well, Buddha. So, Master Wan Thong,

[03:29]

introduces the subject. And he says, as soon as a single mote of dust arises, the whole earth is contained therein. With a single horse and a single lance, the land is extended. Is this person who can be master in any place and meet the source Sorry. Who is this person who can be master in any place and meet the source in everything? It's a wonderful introduction. Who is this person? So there are two or three koans. There's another koan that's referenced here Talk about the introduction, I'll read the case. So Master Wansong introduces the case, and he says, as the World Honored One was walking with the congregation, he pointed to the ground with his finger and he said, this is a good spot to build a sanctuary.

[04:42]

Indra, the chief of the gods, took a blade of grass and stuck it in the ground and said, the sanctuary's built. The world honored one, smiled. So to come back to the introduction, it says, as soon as a single mote of dust arises, the whole earth is contained therein. With a single horse and a single lance, the land is extended. This refers to a case in the book of record which goes something like, it's called Fuketsu's One Particle of Dust. Fuketsu said to the assembly of monks, if one particle of dust is raised, the state will come into being.

[05:51]

If one particle of dust is not raised, the state will perish. Particle of dust here refers to a practice place. If we make an effort to create a practice place, that will happen. If we don't, nothing will happen. But the practice place itself is just a dust moat. What is it? So the practice place comes through the practice. But what is the practice place? That's the big question. What does it mean? And In the old days, the monks in India, before Buddhism, they were just wandering monks, and they probably were viharas.

[07:05]

I talked about this before, where the monks could come together and practice during the monsoon season. But before that, there were places that were kind of sacred places. sometimes an old tree was considered a sacred spot. People didn't know how old the tree was, but they venerated old things, things that had longevity, that stood the test of time, like an old rock. We love mountains, you know, because they're venerable, they're old and venerable, and they stand for something solid. And within certain mountainous places, there are holy places. People find, they say, God, it's a great spot. It's a power spot. So we build something there, a kind of monument to mark the place.

[08:12]

And so in India, they built pillars And you can still see these pillars in Buddha's time, or just after Buddha's time, King Ashoka built pillars, beautiful columns. And they had the Buddhist symbols on top, they're still standing. But sometimes people would come to a tree and venerate a tree. And the tree would be like a symbol of something old and solid and venerable and something you could count on to always be there. So people would find comfort in this place that had this kind of security

[09:15]

So then later people built stupas to commemorate Buddha. When Buddha passed away, they built eight stupas in the eight different places where he practiced. And they all had relics. And the, early 20th century they found stupa of Mahakasyapa and Moggallana, two of Buddha's most prominent disciples, and their relics were in there, in a little box with their relics. So then people built temples in viharas and so places where people could come to a place that was a different place than the usual dualistic, or I don't know how to use that word, but the marketplace.

[10:37]

A place that was not the marketplace. that was a sanctuary. Sanctuary is a place of purity that's not touched by commerce. It's not touched by egotism or gaining something. It's like being able to rest in the absolute world. This is what a church is supposed to be, right? Supposed to be. And as time goes on, the sanctuaries become more and more worldly. And then they have to have a reform. And they have times that are called reformations, where they kick the money changers out and they, they kick the,

[11:38]

the commercial established idea out of the temples. The temples should be maintaining their purity of practice. So in Zen practice, Zen temple is a place of repose. Unfortunately, in Japan, the Zen temples have become funeral homes, which is, you know, there needs to be some reformation in Japanese Zen temples. Because they've become like mortuaries or funeral homes, and people associate them with funerals. Masti places where they do funeral ceremonies. So the reformation would be to reinstigate Zazen and the original understanding of practice.

[12:57]

But in America, we have a very unique situation where the contributors to the temple are also the practitioners. So we can manage to keep a pretty pure practice without diluting it. So he says, as soon as a single mote of dust arises, the whole earth is contained therein. With a single horse and a single lance, the land is extended. So a single horse and a single lance, it means like this is the activity that comes out of practice. So the practice place is where you find the stillness. And then when you leave the practice place is where you enter into activity and extend the practice into activity. So then he says, who is this person who can be the master in any place?

[14:07]

Which means that wherever you are, that's where the holy place is. It's not limited to the temple. And who is that can meet the source in everything? So when we come to the temple, the temple is the place where you meet the source. That's why you come to the temple, in order to meet the source, to meet yourself face to face, to see your original face, not hindered by anything. And then you continue to meet yourself You continue to stay centered on the source throughout your activity. That's called practice in two places. Same practice in two places.

[15:09]

So who is that person that can do that? So then he presents the case. As the World Honored One was walking with the congregation, he pointed to the ground with his finger and he said, this is a good spot to build a sanctuary. Well, why did he pick that spot? That just sounds arbitrary to me. He goes, oh, there's a good place. And then Indra picked up a blade of grass and he planted it in the ground. He said, yeah. There it is. And Buddha smiled. There's another story where Buddha was giving a sermon to 500 monks and he held up a flower and turned the flower and blinked. Mahakasyapa smiled.

[16:14]

He said, you got it, Mahakasyapa. You understand what I'm doing. You understand the nature of this flower. In this case, Indra planted the flower and Buddha smiled. So what is this? You know, pointing to the ground, this is the place. Planting the blade of grass is like, this is the activity. This is called continuous practice. Planting the blade of grass. In other words, wherever you are and with whatever is in your hand is the material for practice. Every dust moat, every place where you step is the right place to practice.

[17:22]

That's the sanctuary. And whatever you use, blade of grass, is the means. You say, well, what shall I practice with? Whatever is at hand. Whatever is at hand is the vehicle for practice. If we don't understand that, we don't understand practice. Good things happen to us, bad things happen to us. We get into a situation we love, we get into a situation that's oppressive, These are all practice opportunities. If you see those as practice opportunities, then you'll never be lost, no matter what happens to you. This is the person who is always at the source, who never loses sight of the source, who never loses their place, no matter what happens to you. It's the only way to practice.

[18:24]

Practice not just coming to the temple. Although, the temple is the place where you have the opportunity to let go of everything. And then when you leave the temple, you have the opportunity to take up everything. It's just the opposite. This is the place where we settle on stillness. Stillness is in the The character for stillness, Chinese character for stillness is the same character for Nirvana. Means without any hindrance. Because the basic nature of the universe is stillness. And activity arises out of stillness. and returns to stillness. We take a leap in the air, but we always come down.

[19:31]

Everything that goes up, it's an old saying, right? Whatever comes up, comes down. So it's much easier to come down than it is to go up. As I say, we're always working with gravity. Everything we do is conditioned by gravity. There's nothing that we do that's not conditioned by gravity, being pulled to the earth, being pulled down. So our energy keeps us going up, keeps us rising to the occasion. And then gravity keeps pulling us down. So we operate in that space. which is the energy that pulls up and the energy that pulls down. But no matter how much we go up, we eventually come down.

[20:39]

So everything returns to this stillness. And out of the stillness, everything arises. So birth and death arise on each moment. arise and fade away, arise, fade away, arise. That's the rhythm of life and death. But there is no life and death in the big sense. There's simply arising and out of stillness and returning to stillness over and over and over again. So the practice place is that even though we come and we go, it's a place of no coming and going.

[21:49]

So when we say, well, what is the future of the Zen center? Or how does that develop or something? It doesn't. Everything develops, everything changes. Sometimes people come and they say, even though I don't practice here, or even though I haven't been practicing here for 20 years, I really appreciate the fact that this place is here. Every time I come here, it's exactly the same. You look the same, everybody looks the same, the place looks the same. It really makes them feel good that there's something that stays the same. Originally, I was a person who never wanted anything to stay the same for very long. But no matter what I want, it doesn't stay the same anyway.

[22:59]

Even though it looks the same, it's not the same. And at the same time, it is the same. It's just like our life. It's the same and it's not the same. So, Master Wansong has a commentary. He says, when the World One spread his hair to cover mud and offered flowers to Dipankara Buddha, the Lamp Buddha, that Buddha pointed to where the hair was spread and said, a sanctuary should be built in this place. At that time, an elder known as the Foremost of the Wise planted a marker on that spot and said, the building of the sanctuary is finished. So the gods scattered flowers and praised him for having wisdom as an ordinary person. The story Tian Tong quotes here is much the same. I say, the world-honored one's ancestral work was given over to Dipankara.

[24:05]

Then there was the elder. Getting the beginning, he took in the end. Dipankara Buddha was one of the ancient Buddhas and there's this unhistoric story about when the person who was Shakyamuni Buddha in another life saw Dipankara Buddha crossing a puddle, he put his hair down. There's also a story of a woman doing that, too, for him. And Dipankara walked across the hair so he wouldn't get his feet muddy. And he said, this is where, this act calls for a sanctuary. This kind of generous act calls for, there should be something to remember this place where this person made this generous, selfless act.

[25:11]

So he said, that's something like this story. Tian Tong has a verse about this, and he says, the boundless spring on a hundred plants, picking up what comes to hand, he uses it knowingly, that's like, the blade of grass. The 16-foot-tall golden body, a collection of virtuous qualities, casually leads him by the hand into the red dust. 16-foot golden body is like Buddha. Dogen in his fanciful Uji talks, being time, starts out by saying the 16-foot body of Buddha is being time. Being and time are not two things.

[26:17]

And then he says, casually leads him by the hand, leading Indra by the hand, into the red dust. In other words, into the dust of the world. And able to master the dusts, From outside creation, a guest shows up. Outside creation is like the host, is like Dharmakaya. And a guest shows up is like Indra. So in other words, from emptiness, something comes up. So when we talk about guest and host, host means the dharmakaya or the absolute. And guest means the relative. So guest and host are used in that way.

[27:21]

Sometimes prince and minister they use. But big mind and small mind sometimes used that way. Big mind is host, small mind is guest. So he says, from outside creation, a guest shows up. Everywhere, life is sufficient in its way. No matter if one is not clever as others. No matter that one is not as clever as others. So in other words, you know, it's not necessary to know everything or to even be clever. Cleverness, actually, not, such a wonderful thing. Sometimes just honesty and naivety works better. So you don't really have to know so much in order to practice well.

[28:29]

Sometimes we think of a teacher as someone who knows a lot about Buddhism. But actually, a good teacher may not really know much at all about Buddhism, but simply knows how to face practice. And without being self-conscious, practices in a sincere way with good effort over a long period of time and provides a good example. That's a good teacher. It's not wrong to know a lot about Buddhism, but it can also be a hindrance, because we get attached to what we know, and that can be a substitute for what we do. In the Tenzo Kyokun, which is Dogen's fascicle on the behavior of the head cook, he says, when you're cooking, you should maintain an attitude that tries to build a great temple from ordinary greens.

[30:08]

In other words, to build something really worthwhile from using the least thing. If you have a few leaves of lettuce, a few onions, carrot, tomato, you can make a wonderful salad if you know, if you actually put your heart into it, put your whole body mind into using those simple means to make a wonderful, delicious meal. That's the secret of practice. It doesn't apply only to eating, but to everything that you do. So he also says, handle even a single leaf of greens in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha.

[31:17]

This, in turn, allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf. Buddha comes up through the leaf of the lettuce or the leaf or whatever. You bring out the Buddha. in whatever you're handling. We usually think the other way around. But whatever we engage with allows the Buddha to come through us, but it also brings out the Buddha in whatever it is that we're relating to. So if we treat everyone as Buddha, then the Buddha nature comes through us and also we can see it in everyone else. It doesn't take a special place or a special activity. It should be continuous practice. And if it's continuous practice, how can anything be left out?

[32:22]

How can any time be left out or any activity be left out? So when I think about progress, I think in this practice place in particular, progress means to not expect anything more than what's here. I think progress for a Zen student means to be able to let go more and more.

[33:31]

That's real progress. to be able to let go and allow a big mind, big nature to fill your hands without grasping or attachments. So that's why we sit all day. Sushin, what's sushin? Sushin is moment by moment letting go. moment by moment unburdening yourself and simply resuming your original unburdened nature. Assuming our original posture, when we're out in the world, in our worldly activity,

[34:37]

Our reactions to our activity modify our postures. So we become shaped and bent in certain ways relating to our activities. We get stooped or tense in various parts of our body. Our body accumulates tensions. from engaging in certain activities. And when we do zazen, we straighten up and let go of all those tensions, all those tensions that accumulate in our body which create assumed postures. And we just resume our original posture free from conditioning. So our body resumes an unconditioned posture and our mind also is allowed to let go of conditioned reactions and resume its natural function, free from hindrance.

[35:58]

Yeah, free from hindrance. And the problem we have in doing that can be pretty big because it's hard to let go of knots. Buddha talks about knots in the Surangama Sutra. He says there are these knots. How do you untie these knots? You know, sometimes we try to cut through the knots. Alexander did that, you know, with the big knot, but the Gordian knot untied. But in Zazen, we can just let the knots untie themselves. They just, like that.

[37:02]

Sometimes when we're sitting, because we have a lot of resistance to discomfort, the resistance will create a knot. And the only way to unlock that knot is to let go of the resistance. Then the knot unties itself. But it's hard for us to do that sometimes, so we think we have to have an operation. The Gordian knot untied. Better to let the knot untie itself. You can do that. So, The point of having a practice place like this is to allow the knots to untie themselves, to allow us to reside in our unfettered, original state, free from everything.

[38:23]

I remember Bishop Sumi, who was the Sokan in Los Angeles, of the Senshuji Temple. He would come up and visit Suzuki Roshi and sit sashimi with us sometimes. And he had a big stick that he'd go around and hit everybody with. We also had a big stick. We don't use it anymore much. On the stick, he had these characters. I said, well, what do those characters mean? He said, free of everything. Bam. Do you have any questions? So, back to the first thing you said about, like, what's our goal here, or whatever.

[39:33]

Doesn't it come right down to... I mean, you said that was a good question. But doesn't it... But there really isn't a goal. It doesn't have to be, but... I mean, maybe there's a point, but there's not really a goal. Oh, I see what you're saying. The goal is to not go anywhere. So using the word goal in this way, it's not the standard way we use the word goal. That's right. I remember Suzuki Roshi, when expressing himself, usually we think of a goal as something going away from you, something out there. a straight line going or a line going out towards something, but in the practice it's being able to be where you are.

[40:36]

So the goal is to be where you are, totally. Going will happen, but the point is to be, to be here. The hardest place to be. Not the hardest place to be, but it can be a very hard place to be. When we like it, it's a good place to be. When we don't like it, it's not a good place to be. Why is it so hard to just be? Someone asked me that the other day. Why is it so hard to just be? Because we're attached to our likes and dislikes. That's the reason. You said it's a... You have to speak up so people can hear you. Okay. You said letting go, moment by moment letting go.

[41:39]

That's what we do in our sanctuary. Yes. Wherever it is. Yes. Including in front of my computer. Yes. That's simple. So hindrances, for most of us here, aren't external things that are troubling us, but internal things. So my question, which I don't know what words are exactly going to be, In that moment when I don't let go, where does, is it will, is it grace to let go instead of clinging?

[42:45]

It's mindfulness. It's remembering. It seems I remember. in this moment, this is a moment to be mindful. And then some other voice says, no I won't. Who's that? You're getting personal. See, we're two people. We're Linda and Buddha. And Linda and Buddha seem like two people. So Buddha says, let go. Linda says, oh yeah? Or whatever it is that Linda says, you know. You said it really well. So Buddha, you can either let Buddha lead or you can let Linda lead.

[43:50]

So somebody has to make the decision. Who does? Well, Linda makes the decision to let Buddha lead. That's not clearing. No, I realize that. But this is the kind of struggle, you know, between, that we always have. Between ego, so to speak, I hate to use the word,

[44:53]

ego and Buddha. So when you were talking it sounded simple, but now it's a struggle. Simple means be simple, but it doesn't mean being simple is a simple thing to be. It is a simple thing to me, but it's not necessarily an easy thing. That's why we can be practicing for years and years and still, you know, we have a lot of problems. Not only that, but the problems we have are the problems we always have. But the saving grace is that within the problems, we still have the practice. And the practice goes on with the problems, and the problem is the practice. If you see the practice over here and the problem over there, you've got a big problem.

[45:58]

But if you put the problem together with the practice, then the problem is the practice. And then the practice gives you a problem. But it rises you above just simply having the problem, which is fatal. There's got to be some saving grace to having all of these problems, and it's got to be that we rise above the problem within the problem. You said that you didn't used to like change. Oh yeah, I used to like change. Oh, I thought you said you didn't. No, I said I always, you know, didn't like not to, things wouldn't change. I always liked, you know, new, not novelty so much, but not discipline, you know, to do the same thing over and over.

[47:12]

Well, I misinterpreted you, but when you talked about the stick, being hit by the stick, I thought, oh, the stick. I really miss not being hit by the stick. And I thought, oh, isn't it too bad that new practitioners don't have the opportunity to be hit by the stick? And then I thought about you, and you used to talk about the benefits of the stick. You don't do that anymore. give up talking about... Well, we used the stick during Sashin, a little bit. But, you know, everybody sits so well these days. When I first started practicing, you know, we were... And slumping. People slump. They do. I would say our postures are about 60% all told, or what they could be.

[48:22]

But, you know, you can lead a practitioner to posture, but... But I thought we stopped using the stick because there were so many complaints about using the stick. No, but we had long talks about this and decided that we would use the stick. But we don't use it so much. Do you feel sad about that? Not sad, but I'm glad you bring it up, you know. And I think it can be helpful. It's a kind of compromise. During the week we don't use the stick, but during Sashin we do. But not much. But it could be more. People appreciate it during sasheen. And, you know, the stick, bang, wakes you up. But you only use it usually just once in the morning. There's only one morning round. Yeah. You like change? Let's have a little change.

[49:25]

Okay. This has got to be a very short question. Okay. I don't want to answer that. No? Okay. You can't hear you. It's getting louder and louder. Just wait till it's gone. heart is going, and we're breathing, and our body is, a lot of stuff going on.

[50:33]

As long as we're alive, a lot of stuff is going on. So what is, talk about stillness, what do you mean by stillness? Yeah, stillness is the dynamic still point within activity. So when we say still, you know, it means the quiet place within the most raucous activity. It's the still point, which is the center of gravity. So when we say sit still in zazen, everything's dynamically in activity. Your whole body is in dynamic activity, even though it looks like it's sitting still. But this activity is totally harmonious and balanced. It's so harmoniously and totally balanced that it looks like it's not moving.

[51:33]

But it's in, you know, somebody were to cut your head off, the blood would go gushing out and it's all over the wall. So there's all, this body never stops. It's just, and the mind never stops. Like rust never sleeps. just keeps going and going. So we're always in dynamic activity, but stillness is that center of everything. So another way to say stillness is centeredness. So within all of our activity is the centeredness. And within the still activity is dynamism. So they're always both present.

[52:34]

The emphasis in the zendo is on this one, and the emphasis in the zendo in the world is on the other side. So you are always centered on your activity so that you don't get pushed off. That's called composure. And no matter how people treat you or what happens, you don't lose that centeredness, that still place. You're always centered on that stillness, which is the center of gravity of the universe. Sometimes we lose it.

[53:40]

There are instances where we lose it, but because we know how to practice, we get back on, or we know how to recover ourself. So we're always losing it, but we always recover.

[54:00]

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