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Breath Awakenings: Journey Through Subtle Gates
The talk explores the Six Subtle Dharma Gates, as taught by the great Chinese meditation master Jiri, emphasizing the profound meditative practice of breath awareness and its transformative potential. The speaker outlines the practices of counting, following, stopping, contemplating, returning, and purifying the breath, highlighting how each stage is interconnected and how embracing the subtleties of these practices fosters a deeper understanding of dependent co-arising, allowing practitioners to transcend self-centric perceptions and achieve a state of profound integration with all things.
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The Book of Serenity, Case Number Three: A text that discusses Prajnatara's method of meditation on breath, essential for understanding the subtle and mysterious practices transmitted in the Zen lineage.
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Six Subtle Dharma Gates by Jiri: The primary focus of the talk, detailing a sequence of practices–counting, following, stopping, contemplating, returning, and purifying–for cultivating deep meditative awareness.
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Rumi's Poem ("The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep."): Emphasized to convey the importance of remaining aware and not retreating from the insight gained through meditation practice.
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The Concept of Dependent Co-arising: Central to the discussion on how awareness and objects interact and the fundamental nature of existence in Zen thought.
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Avlokiteshvara's Symbolism: Represented through personal anecdotes involving dogs, illustrating compassion and devotion as fundamental teachings in Zen practice.
AI Suggested Title: Breath Awakenings: Journey Through Subtle Gates
A:
Side: A
Speaker: Tenshin Reb Anderson
Possible Title: Wed D.T. #5
Additional text: N.R. O Yes Ono
B:
Side: B
Possible Title: Overview of 6 Subtle Dharma Gates
Additional text: Counting, Following, Stopping, Contemplating, Returning, Purifying
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ask your permission to continue speaking about the teaching of the great Chinese meditation master Jiri's instructions on breathing, which he called the Six Subtle Dharma Gates. As I mentioned to you earlier, some years ago when I was studying the book of Serenity, case number three, wherein Bodhidharma's teacher, Prajnatara, describes his meditation on breath
[01:11]
which I talked about in detail in an earlier Dharma talk. The commentator says that this kind of practice which Prajna Tara taught us and which Bodhidharma practiced, this practice of oneness which has been transmitted in our our practice lineage, is very subtle and mysterious, and it is recommended that one study this text on the six subtle dharmagates to help us understand the essential teachings of our of our tradition. So with that encouragement I have been studying this text for some time.
[02:31]
I begin with a brief overview of the text again, or the brief overview of the practices of the six subtle gates. They are called counting the breath, following the breath, stopping the mind, contemplating reversing the mind and purifying the mind. They're actually just called counting, following, stopping, contemplating, returning, and purifying. Counting, following, stopping, return, Looking at them as a sequence, where they happen one after another, first by counting the breath,
[04:12]
the mind becomes more and more concentrated and gathered and refined in the process of the discipline of counting. And this practice naturally flows on to the next practice where one stops saying the numbers, stops counting the breaths and just follows the breath. When one completely gives one's whole life energy and awareness to the practice of following, the mind, the heart, the body become one-pointed. And the movements of mind, heart, body stop.
[05:26]
at the point of complete following the breath, the mind stops. Then one enters into the practice of stopping, where one immerses body and mind in this stopped body and mind. And that's the feeling, that's the sense, that's the understanding of the unmoving character, the unmoving nature of body-mind. completely pervade, deeply settling into the samadhi of this peace, the samadhi of stillness.
[07:11]
Then to perfect this stillness, to bring this peace to perfection, one gives it up and moves on to the next practice of contemplation. moving on, protecting the body and mind from attachment to this peace. Now having reached a place where you're willing to stay there, unmoving and peaceful forever, you also are willing to get up and leave it. And now the mind is slightly activated again and one contemplates the relationship of awareness and objects.
[08:37]
and the field in which the awareness and objects occur. One studies how the mind can think of breath, how the awareness which can think grasps, tries to grasp, thinks it can grasp the object of the breath. One studies this relationship, this interaction, this play, this dance of mind and object. One sees how the mind arises from the play of awareness with objects.
[09:49]
One sees how the play of awareness with objects gives rise to mind. There is an understanding of dependent co-arising being born here. Contemplating the dependent co-arising of the mind, the body, the breath. Contemplating the dependent co-arising of subject and object. witnessing the birth of mind, the birth of self in the arrival of all things.
[11:01]
Using the previous stage of being stopped, of realizing stopped-ness as a tool, as a base for this clear contemplation, activating the mind just enough to do this contemplation. At the culmination of this study of the dance of subject and object, of thinker and thought of, of contemplator and contemplated, at the culmination of this study one understands dependent co-arising.
[12:41]
One understands the self. One forgets the self. Once one understands it, one forgets and is freed from the distinction of subject and object, of breather and breath. And one enters naturally into the stage called return. One realizes the stage that Yangshan referred to as the stage of faith. One realizes emptiness.
[13:48]
through one's own body and mind. This is the place where Rumi says, The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to say, You have to be clear with yourself about what you really want.
[14:56]
Don't go back to sleep. People are walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. Studying this threshold of subject and object thoroughly. The door is round and open. You realize disentanglement from the two worlds, from their meeting and from their separation.
[16:19]
and you enter the stage of return and there you sit breathing still steeping yourself again in this understanding of the ungraspability of mind and of all things. Immersed in the understanding of all dharmas being liberated, one then enters the stage of purity, where you now become free of these spiritual practices to counting your breath.
[17:38]
If you wish, This is an overview of the six subtle gates of the whole process, and you can see how it returns to the source. As I've said before, jiri The meditation teacher says over and over that each of these six contains the other five.
[18:48]
Each of the six contains all six. In each one, all are completely there. This is a basic principle in our tradition which is expressed by saying that to penetrate one thing is to penetrate all things. To become intimate with one thing is to become intimate with all things. To secretly and subtly communicate with one thing is to secretly and subtly communicate with each and everything
[20:07]
But we must be thorough. This intimacy must be complete. So starting with the most basic beginning practice of breath awareness, the counting, let's consider how this one counting practice may include the entire range of Buddha's meditation. how this one practice of counting the breath includes the practice of studying the self, of studying the Buddha way.
[21:24]
And the same will be true of all the other practices. Any practice that we become intimate with will be a way to become intimate with all things. As we enter into the practice of counting the breath, One of the first ways that we might be thorough about the practice of counting the breaths is to stop the practice of counting the breaths, to give it up, to reject it, and to go on to following the breath.
[22:49]
And here people may say, couldn't this stopping the counting of the breath be postponed until later? And the answer is yes. But there is a time when it's appropriate to give up a practice. There is a time when being enthusiastic about a practice means that you stop doing it. You enthusiastically reject it or rest from it. And this also shows that part of being thorough about a practice is to be flexible about how it should be done. to be gentle in the application, to not be so sure about what the practice is anyway.
[24:00]
And it may be that when you're following your breath, when you're counting your breath, that the correct way of counting your breath is not to count your breath. This is part of what it means to be intimate with this practice. And similarly, in any intimate relationship, to stop for a moment and deeply respect the situation. And remember that respect means to look again
[25:07]
So I talked already about how sometimes when we're following our breath, we notice that we aren't following our breath. When trying to count the breath, we notice that we're not counting the breath, that we have actually stopped counting the breath. And we may then try to force ourselves or, anyway, encourage ourselves to go back and continue the practice which we notice we have stopped. Maybe the reason why we stopped was not because we were enthusiastic. but because we were not making enough effort.
[26:31]
Perhaps if we made more effort, we would be able to continue counting. Maybe that's what we really want to do, is to count the breath the way we were trying to count it before. Well, then try again. That's fine. Then we may find again that we don't seem to be doing what we're trying to do, that there seems to be a gap between our intention and what we seem to be doing. Again, we might stop and consider that maybe there's something to respect in this gap. Maybe there's something to respect in what we're doing without disrespecting our intention. Maybe actually what we're doing is in harmony with our intention, but we think there's a gap.
[27:47]
Maybe our idea of what our intention would look like when it's accomplished is just an idea. Maybe what's happening is the accomplishment of our intention. Maybe the practice of counting the breath includes what looks like not counting the breath. Maybe this world is extremely subtle and free of all our ideas. Maybe in the practice of counting the breath we can open up to total reality. Maybe we are manifesting total reality right now.
[28:54]
I spoke in some detail about when I was first practicing at Zen Center and I tried to get myself to do what I intended to do in terms of counting my breath. I had an idea of what breath counting was and I noticed I wasn't doing what I thought it was. And I forced myself to line up with my idea of counting the breath. I was extremely disrespectful of my behavior. I said it must stop and I must start behaving in the way I intended. And I threatened myself and coerced myself
[30:43]
and pushed and shoved my behavior until it lined up with my idea of what breath counting should be like. And I got to the point where my behavior was exactly like what I intended it to be. I brought myself under complete control except for one thing, and that was, I felt miserable. I felt as though I had killed something. I didn't want to continue that practice after I was successful at it. It's like one time I was having an argument with someone And she said, you're going to win this argument.
[31:48]
You're better at words than me. But even if you win, it still stinks. If you try to count your breath and you have some idea of what that is, And then you enter into an argument with yourself and try to talk yourself into making your behavior like what you think breath counting is. Be careful. There's something... There's something wonderful about the way you're practicing now. The way your practice is manifesting deserves the utmost respect, even though it's not your idea of, for example, counting or following the breath.
[33:07]
It doesn't mean to also disrespect your idea or your intention. It means to respect everything. If we can respect everything and study everything thoroughly, we will realize that our behavior right now and our intention right now are actually the same. But also we should respect that sense of gap that sense of deviation, the painful separation between what we think we want right now or we're intending and what seems to be happening.
[34:24]
That small or large gap also may be our good friend. And if we understand that gap, If we become intimate with that gap, we will become intimate with all things. We will become intimate with all beings, with all Buddhas. But the key is to be thoroughly intimate. As you approach, as we approach being thoroughly intimate with ourselves, being thoroughly intimate with the practice of breathing, as we reach the limit of it, as we reach the fingertips and the tips of the hair of our totally giving our whole body and mind
[36:21]
to any practice, we may feel some fear of this thoroughness, fear of this intimacy. Because at the limit of our thoroughness, of following all the way through on any practice, at that point, at that point we meet our death. We meet death. We meet the absolute, unlimited other. But our complete life is realized at that meeting with our death, and meeting our death Right there is our fully expressed life.
[37:30]
When we make complete, wholehearted effort, we come to the frontiers of the end of us. We come to the limit of what we're trying to do. We reach the limit of our personal effort life, and we come into relationship with our life beyond life. And there again, We can contemplate this relationship until we realize that there's no separation between our life and our death. This threshold where the two worlds meet can be witnessed, can be lived,
[38:47]
even in a beginning practice like counting or following the breath. And again, in those practices, all the great forms of Buddhist study come and are realized there. Ourself is afraid of the other. And as we become more intimate with the other, we don't become less afraid. The fear intensifies. The intensity builds up.
[39:51]
And, of course, then we have a habit of backing away from that getting farther away from this meeting and becoming less alive. This is a normal thing to happen, normal in the sense of common, frequent. It's a deep habit, the deep habit of turning away from being thorough, because we become afraid of what will happen to us at the limit of our effort. We're afraid that we'll forget ourselves at that point. And that's true, we will forget ourselves. However, when we forget ourselves,
[41:00]
When we forget ourselves, then everything that happens confirms us. Then everything that happens realizes our life. Even though when we first look we may think it's losing control, or not what we want, or not confirming. But we think that when we still remember the Self, and we remember the Self, we can remember the Self when we have not become intimate with the Self. When we become intimate with the self, we cannot remember it.
[42:03]
And when we can't remember it, there's no hindrance to realizing that everything is realizing us. Everything is your breath. Everything is my breath. Everything is teaching you what breath and breathing is. Respect all things.
[43:08]
Look again at all things as a way of learning who you are so thoroughly that you forget who you are. Avlokiteshvara once came into my life actually twice came into my life that I could see in the form of a dog. One dog was a mongrel. mix of golden Labrador and terrier. The other was a thoroughbred Doberman. They taught me about compassion in different ways.
[44:15]
They taught me about how to respect a living being in different ways but they both taught me there are many stories of these dogs teaching me and the one I'm telling this morning, I told the other day, but I want you others that didn't hear it to hear it. So when my dog became pregnant and as she got closer to delivering her puppies, she was secreting through her backside some kind of
[45:20]
bloody fluid, mixture of blood and other kinds of fluids were dripping out of her. And I made a separate bed for her in the kitchen. Usually she slept on my bed, but I didn't want her to get that rich, living fluid all over my bed. I was concerned with order and control and dry cleaning bills. So I told my dear teacher to stay in her own bed and not to get on mine. But she liked my bed.
[46:26]
So it was hard for her to stay out of it. I don't know why she liked to be in my bed. But she did. And I wanted her to be one way, but she wasn't always that way. When I told her to go into her bed, she would go back, but then when I wasn't around, she would come out and go back to my bed, and I would send her back again. I didn't stop to wonder what I was being taught, and that maybe my idea was just my idea anyway one day I came home and she was up on my bed and not only was she on my bed but she was on my pillows and I saw that there was the pillows were completely soaked and red and gooey and I became
[47:55]
irritated with my dear dog, with my dear breath, with my dear mind. And I told my mind-breath to get off my bed and go back to the other place and be the way I wanted her to be. And sweet thing that she was, she did. Follow my strong, rough command. Maybe she would have gone back to her own bed in the kitchen if I had said it gently. I don't know. But I didn't. I was rough. I was mean. to my mind and my mind submitted to my orders.
[49:09]
And then I went over to my bed to clean up the mess and I saw behind my pillow four little puppies. And then I saw And then I understood what I was being taught in this life. Then I understood how stupid I was, how I had missed the whole point, being concerned about clean sheets, about having control of my breathing process, Then I understood the lesson of my dog of love and devotion to her master, to her babies, to life.
[50:15]
And I invited her to come back and take care of her puppies on my bed. And I cleaned up the pillows and made a nice bed there on my bed for the new family. But I don't think it was bad that I was so stupid, that I was so rough with my dog. And I don't think it was bad that I was so rough with myself when I was a young meditator and tried to get myself under control. I don't think it was bad because there was something good about how rough I was because I learned from being rough how stupid it is. And my breath, my life spirit, my dog, in their devotion to me, in their devotion to life,
[51:29]
patiently taught me that I was off the track. Let me control them the way I wanted to, and then showed me that that's not what I wanted. So, in a way, it was good that I was that way because I was thoroughly trying to keep my bed clean. And by thoroughly trying to keep my bed clean, I realized that's not what I want. So if you thoroughly try to control yourself and thoroughly try to follow your breathing, you'll realize that's not what you want. That's not why you came to Zen Center. But unless you do something thoroughly all the way, even to a stupid extent, you won't realize that actually right now everything in the world is loving you.
[52:50]
and devoted to you. Everything that's happening is confirming your life and realizing you. So pick something each moment and be thorough, please. Be intimate with it and use whatever you're working on moment by moment throughout the day to realize Buddha, to realize Dharma, to realize Sangha.
[53:39]
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