heart of our practice. And it gives me an opportunity to share my understanding of his teaching, which I absorbed in my seven years of practice with him. And it gives me a chance to add on top of his You know, the sixth day of sasheen, it's easy to be a little bit cuckoo. I mean, there's that element. So, but I think that's normal because we're out of, you know, We're not quite sure what day it is, and we certainly did not order a date, most of us.

[01:39]

And we lose that sense where we kind of naturally let go of that sense of conditioned time. edition time, even though we have a schedule. But you know, it's a thousand. When we go to Tassajara, if you've experienced Tassajara, it doesn't take long before nobody knows what day it is. What day is it? I don't know, maybe it's Tuesday. Because you don't go on that kind of time. You go on four, nine day time. Every fourth day or nine day. It's a day where you do your laundry.

[02:41]

You get up a little bit earlier, later. A little bit later. And you have time to do other things. But other than that, there's no... A common time is not observed. Saturday or Sunday, it doesn't make any difference. Monday or Tuesday. So it's a different kind of time and it's somewhat conditioned but it's much less conditioned. So we live in a more unconditioned time frame. So today I'm going to talk about Shri Nithyanandaji's talk on what we call true concentration. So he says that true concentration does not mean to be concentrated on only one thing or one point.

[04:01]

Although we say, do things one by one, what it means is difficult to explain. One by one means just do one thing after another. It's hard to explain. This is now, and then we do the next thing, and then we do the next thing, without much preconception. Without trying to concentrate our mind on anything in particular, or on only one thing, we are ready to concentrate on something. For instance, if my eyes are on one person in Zindo, it will be impossible to give my attention to others. So when I practice Zazen, I'm not watching anybody, any one person. If anyone moves, I can spot them.

[05:05]

So we usually think of concentration, our usual way we think about concentration is to concentrate on one thing. And strong concentration is sometimes likened to a laser beam. If you really concentrate on it, it'll burst into flames. He's talking about wide concentration that has no purpose. There's nothing in the mind. Simply, the eyes are open. So, if I just look straight ahead, my peripheral vision is pretty good. I can see everybody, but I'm not looking at anybody. So whatever happens in that wide field of concentration becomes apparent. When we sit sadhana, there's both.

[06:14]

Both pinpointed concentration and light concentration. Sometimes we have one and sometimes the other. But he's pointing out this particular aspect of concentration. When we sit, You know, people talk about body scan. I think I talked about this in an earlier talk. People talk about Vipassana meditation, a lot of body scan. Well, of course we do body scan, even though you may not know that. I want you to know that. Because during Zazen, we go over all the parts of our posture to make sure that our posture is correct and in line and harmonious. So, is the mudra correct?

[07:18]

Are we holding the mudra correctly? The mudra is like, of course it's not a perfect circle, but it's the feeling of a circle, even though it's an oblate spheroid. Yeah, like the world. That's why we're also cuckoo. It's eccentric. So, and we hold our thumbs with the thumbs facing each other, the tips facing each other, not like this. Like this. And just barely touching. And if you can concentrate, on your mudra in that way, that's one point of concentration. When the thumbs start to press against each other, you know there's tenseness in the body.

[08:24]

And when the thumbs start coming apart, that's laxness in the body. correct everybody's mudra. So that when we were holding the mudra, it was like this, we put our thumbs together, it was like this. Well, he wouldn't say so much, but always insisting that we hold the mudra in a correct way. And because this tells you the condition of your posture, of your bodily position, whether there's tenseness or laxness. So that if we concentrate on holding the mudra correctly, it feels like maybe there's a piece of paper in between, just barely touching.

[09:39]

It's kind of like there's electricity snaps between the two thumbs. And if we concentrate on the mudra in that way, then our body naturally falls into place, into harmony. Because that's the point at which we know how to adjust our body. the condition of our tension, bodily tension. So we concentrate on the mudra and then we go around and concentrate on the elbows out from the body. We don't want to be like this. This is like clutching your frame. The elbows should be out and loose. As Kali Giriraj used to say,

[10:40]

like putting an egg under, a raw egg under each of your armpits. So if you just... And then of course there's the posture, pushing your lower back forward, lifting your sternum, keeping your head on top of your spine, keeping the tongue at the root of your mouth. And if you have teeth enough, They should be together in the back of your mouth. And breathing through your nose, and paying attention to breathing from your lower abdomen. So all of these are the viewing points, the scanning points of Zazen, to mention a few. So this is what we do during Zazen. There's so much to do, you know, and then at some point we let go of that and just concentrate on the whole body at once.

[11:51]

That's the wide concentration. You're not concentrating on any particular part, but you're concentrating your inward vision and your outward vision are not attached to any particular spot. of you're viewing the whole thing at once. And then you go back to the particulars during the scan. So that's all there is to do in Zazen, but it's a lot. If you really do that, then you're continually readjusting your posture, because the posture is continuously changing. People often think that once you get into the posture that you should never move. But the subtle adjustments is not what we call moving.

[12:58]

Moving means changing your position or something like that. If you have to change your position, it's fine. At some point, So as a beginner, you will want to not change. But you can't do much about that until you realize that for yourself. So this is why concentration, when you allow everything to be, concentrating on any one spot, or favoring any one spot. But then there's body scan, which is concentrating on particular parts. So, he says, without trying to concentrate our mind on anything, we are ready to concentrate on something.

[14:10]

for instance. So when I practice Zazen and I'm not watching any one person or any one thing, then if anyone moves, I can spot them. So this is like called mirror-like mind. You know, there are four minds. Mirror-like mind, the mind of total equality, the mind of differentiation and the mind of enlightened activity. So the mirror mind just sees everything as it is, without any comment, without any preconceptions. Otherwise, whatever preconception we have is a taint. So it's not pure vision. Pure vision is without any taint of idea about it.

[15:16]

It's like seeing sees, hearing hears, tasting tastes, smelling smells, touching feels. That's all. Without naming. Naming engenders being. Naming creates something. As soon as something is named, it becomes tainted. So, we live in this tainted world, you know, where we're always putting conditions on things. which is fine, because as it is said, a fish cannot live in pure water. So it's not bad, it's simply tainted.

[16:23]

If we didn't live in our tainted world, we wouldn't be able to live at all. We cannot live in the pure world, which is the opposite of the tainted world. But the pure world includes otherwise it's not true purity. So Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Sometimes portrayed as a man, Avalokiteshvara also appears in the form of a woman. Sometimes she has one thousand hands to help others. But if she concentrates on only one hand, then 999 hands will be of no use. That's an interesting statement. And do you know the koinon of a thousand arms and hands?

[17:25]

Each one is a helping hand for some purpose. But here he's saying, if we only, if a little kid who only concentrates on one thing with one hand, then the other hands are useless. So he's just using this to express, actually, it should be expressed this way, that it's like Gutei's one finger. He used to raise, whenever anybody asked a question about Zen, he would just raise his finger. Like that. So what does it mean to raise one finger?

[18:28]

To raise one finger means that this one finger contains the whole universe. If you don't understand that this one finger contains the whole universe, or is at the focal point of the whole universe, if you want to see the whole universe, look at Kute's finger. So, if Avalokiteshvara is helping one person with one finger, all the 999 fingers are also But Suzuki Ryosuke is making this kind of separation in order to express, in order to follow up on what he just said here. So, from ancient times, the main point of practice has been to have a clean, calm mind, a clear, calm mind.

[19:36]

The main point of practice is to have a clear, calm, mind. Now we can stop and all do something else. That's all there is. Clear, calm mind. What does that mean though? What is a clear, calm mind? To have a clear, calm mind whatever you do, that's the qualification. It's easy to have a clear calm mind when there's no problem. But what happens when there's a problem? I always used to say, I remember at Page Street, Zendo in San Francisco, people were walking up and down the street yelling and screaming and cars going by. I always thought, well, this is the best place to practice Zen.

[20:40]

It's really nice to go out to the woods and practice Zen, when there's birds are tweeting and stuff like that. But when something's really happening that could be disturbing, how do you maintain your calm mind in that situation? So, real practice is, how do you maintain clear, calm mind, no matter what's happening? That's the point of practice. It sounds, like, maybe superficial, but if you go all the way to the bottom, you'll see that it's the most important point. To not be moved. Not be moved off your seat. We used to have this Dharma doll, Bodhidharma doll. They're the ones that don't move, but the real ones are the ones that have a weight at the bottom, and they have a round bottom.

[21:46]

And when you push it over, it comes back up. It's one thing to be pushed over, but another thing to come back up. So, how do you always come back up? That's the point. So, and being, you know, Imperturbability doesn't mean not to be moved. Imperturbability is no matter how you're moved, you're not moved. It's like being on a ship and the ship is rolling So, when you eat something good, your mind should be calm enough to appreciate the labor of preparing the food and the effort of making the dishes, chopsticks, bowls, and everything we use.

[23:01]

With a serene mind, we can appreciate the flavor of each vegetable one by one. We don't add much seasoning so we can enjoy the virtue of each vegetable. And that's how we cook and how we eat food. So I'll read some more. To know someone is to know that person's distinctive flavor. Each one of us has a flavor. Someone said in China, when they talk about Something like that. They talk about smell. Instead of flavor they use the term smell. But they may also use the term flavor. So each one of us has his or her own flavor. A particular personality from which many feelings appear. To fully appreciate the personality and flavor is to have a good relationship.

[24:05]

Then we can really be friendly. but to fully appreciate them. So, how do you meet everyone with a big mind, is what he's saying. How do you meet what you eat? You know, we say, innumerable labors brought us this food. How do we really appreciate that? So, for Suzuki Roshi, to appreciate everything, is how to accept and be one with our world. Even though there are things we don't accept, you have to decide maybe what to accept and what to not accept. This is why he talks about the frog. The frog is sitting on the rock, motionless.

[25:10]

Zen student sits motionless on the rock, with nothing in the mind. And the flag goes by. And when the flag goes by, the tongue goes, It's like there's a big fight going on in Congress and the White House about giving the richest people a tax break forever. You should know about this. One party wants to give it.

[26:12]

They already have it. but they're supposed to be repealed, maybe, or continued. And the president is having a hard time deciding. In the Congress, a lot of people are pushing to say, don't let him get away with this. So you have to make a choice to do something But I want to talk about the kitchen, because that's a great place to practice. I worked in there on Wednesday with Paul. He's the tenor, and I helped him cook. And you know, I have my ideas, he has his. But we work really well together.

[27:13]

He has a scientific mind, and he figures everything out scientifically, all the ingredients. are weighed and calculated. It's terrific. I'm going to stand there in awe. But when I cook, I just go ... He sees my strength as intuition and I see his strength as calculation. and we work really well together. He lets me do my part, and I let him do his part, and together we just harmonize like milk and water. And he'll start to do something, and then he'll walk away, and I'll finish what he's doing, and I'll start to do something, and he'll walk away, and he'll finish what I'm doing, without even saying anything. It's like the harmonious interaction is exquisite. So we both really love it.

[28:16]

And it's such a joy to work in the kitchen in that way. But there's nothing, there's no, you know at a certain time the meal has to be there. And so you know that. And if you know that, that's enough. Your body and mind will take care of the timing without worrying about it. If you trust that. So you really trust yourself that that will happen. And then your body and mind work and co-ordinate that trust. And it all comes out in time. So to me that's a wonderful sense of practice. Without preconceptions, you have an idea of what you're going to do, but you just go to work and do it. And everything works out very well. So that's one reason why I like working in the kitchen.

[29:22]

And you serve the food and everybody's satisfied. Well, everybody. So he says to appreciate things and people, our minds need to be calm and clear. So we practice zazen, or just sitting, shikantaza, without any gaining idea. At this time, you are you, yourself. You settle yourself on yourself. With this practice, we have freedom. But it may be that the freedom you mean and the freedom Zen Buddhists mean are not the same. To attain freedom, we cross our legs Keep our posture upright and let our eyes and ears be open to everything. This readiness or openness is important because we are liable to go to extremes and stick to something.

[30:26]

In this way we may lose our calmness or mirror-like mind, unconditioned mind. Because, as we know, the usual way of thinking about freedom is the freedom to do whatever you want. But this freedom is different. This is the freedom to not be caught by what you want. Not to get caught by what we want. You know, desire is, according to the formula of truth, the cause of suffering. to be open to everything without designing something special is freedom. But we don't see it that way. It's hard to see it that way. Zazen practice is how to obtain calmness and clarity of mind, but we cannot do this by physically forcing something

[31:35]

You may think that to have a mirror-like mind is Zen practice. It is true. But if you practice Zazen in order to attain that kind of mirror-like mind, it is not the practice that we mean. That has become the art of Zen. So he's making a distinction between what is true Zen and what is the art of Zen. The art of Zen is trying to make something come out that looks like Zen. to try to reach a goal that looks like the thing. It's like if we practice to gain some purpose or to have some purpose to get some place, that won't work. But if we simply practice without any gaining idea then that which we think we want will appear.

[32:46]

It's like, you can be it, but you can't see it. You can't peek. You can't peek. You just have to do it blindly. Just practice blindly. And if you peek, am I getting there? So, the difference between the Ardha-Zen and True-Zen is that already you have True-Zen without trying. You don't have to try to get it because it's already what you are. When you try to do something, you lose it. You are concentrating on one hand out of 1,000 hands.

[33:49]

You lose 999 hands. That is why we say, just sit. It does not mean to stop your mind altogether or to be concentrated completely on your breathing, although these are a help. You may become bored when you practice counting your breath because it does not mean much to you, but then you have lost your understanding of real practice. We practice concentration to let our mind follow our breathing so that we are not involved in some complicated practice in which we lose ourselves attempting to accomplish something. In the art of Zen, we try to be like a skillful Zen master who has great strength and good practice. And you strut around with your chest out.

[34:54]

You may call this what we do, group practice, but it's not so. It's not group practice. Group practice is quite different. Another kind of art. During the war... Can you practice again? Say group practice? Yeah, we practice as a group. Okay. I just wasn't catching the word. Group. Group. Group practice. If you say it enough times it loses its meaning. It sounded like you were saying brute practice. It is quite different, another kind of art. During the war, some young people, encouraged by the militaristic mood of Japan, recited to me this line from the Shushogi.

[35:57]

Shushogi is a number of Dogen's talks that were put together by the Soto school as a kind of And she showed me. To understand birth and death is the main point of practice, they said. Even though I don't know anything about that sutra, I can die easily at the front. That is group practice. Encouraged by trumpets, guns, and war cries, it is quite easy to die. We'll all die together. That's group practice. We do have a little bit of that. We all come to Zen and we all die together. Hopefully. That kind of practice is not our practice either. Although we practice with people, our goal is not to practice... I'm sorry. Although we practice with people, our goal is to practice with mountains and rivers, with trees and stones, with everything in the world, everything in the universe, and to find ourselves in this big cosmos.

[37:09]

That's what we're doing. We're practicing with trees, mountains, the whole universe. So when we practice in this big world, we know intuitively which way to go. When our surroundings give you a sign showing which way to go, even though you have no idea of following a sign, you'll go in the right direction. This is called trust. When you are all open, you can read the signs, which is called intuition. So, when your surroundings give you a sign, when you allow your surroundings to give you a sign, showing which way to go, even when you have no idea following the sign, you are going in the right direction.

[38:15]

To practice our way is good, but you may be practicing with a mistaken idea. Still, if you know, I am making a mistake, but even so I cannot help continuing with my practice, then there's no need to worry. So you know it's a big mistake, but you have to do it anyway. Dogen once said, Zen Master's whole life could be one continuous mistake. He didn't say, it is one continuous mistake. Some people misconstrue that, and they think that Dogen said, Zen Master's whole life is one continuous mistake. That's not right. Could be one continuous mistake, which means If you take that literally, well, it's ambiguous.

[39:22]

If you take it ambiguously, that's right. So, to practice our way is good, but you may, oh yeah, I just read that. If you open your true eyes and accept the you that is involved in the wrong idea of practice, that is real practice. You accept your thinking because it is already there. In Zazen, you accept your thinking because it is already there. You cannot do anything about it. There's no need to try to get rid of it. This is not a matter of right or wrong, but of how to accept frankly, with openness of mind, what you are doing. That's the most important point. When you practice Zazen, you will accept the you who is thinking about something without trying to be free of the images you have. So no matter how many times you say this, people say, but my mind is full of images.

[40:27]

And I say, it's OK. But it's not OK. It's not OK and it's OK at the same time. But it's really okay, as long as you don't attach to the images. It's like floating clouds. We want the sky to be clear, but it rains, and the clouds are floating by, and you can enjoy them. You know, enjoy the thoughts that are the bits and pieces of thoughts that are floating through your mind. If you enjoy them, you can let them go. If you think they shouldn't be there, they will haunt you. They will defeat you. Just enjoy them and let them go.

[41:32]

Next. Next. Those are your patients. Can you repeat that sentence again? OK. When you practice zazen, you will accept the you who is thinking about something without trying to be free of the images you have. But that doesn't mean that it's OK to dwell on the images. This is about life. This is about our life, no matter where we are. If we get caught by the images we have in our mind, then we lose our freedom. But we know we love our imagination. When we think, well, who am I? I am my imagination. When your imagination stops, then who are you? That's a good point.

[42:35]

When the imagination stops, then who are you? Because we identify with the imagination. Where does the imagination come from? What is the source of imagination? It's the alaya-vijnana is the source of imagination. It keeps churning out thoughts and ideas and pictures and then thinks that that which the alaya is continually producing is itself. We think that's myself. That which is closest to me is my imagination. That's what we think. But actually, beyond imagination, the curtain of imagination is something else, which is very boring.

[43:38]

Because imagination, when we contrast the screen with the movie, the screen is just nothing. But without the screen, there's no movie. So someone said, When am I not in the movie? How do I know when I'm not in the movie, when I'm not creating the movie? It's a good question. We're always creating this movie. Zazen is to see the movie for what it is. That's to let the movie float through your consciousness while you are the screen.

[44:50]

It's to see the movie for what it is. And this is the mirror mind. The mirror mind doesn't mean that there's nothing reflected. What's reflected is the movie. that's continually going by, but without engaging in the movie. When you stand up, you can engage in the movie. It's called dreaming. We dream, and then we actualize our dreams in action. He says, when you practice Azen, you will accept the you who is thinking about something without trying to be free of the images you have. Oh, here they come! If someone is moving over there, oh, he's moving.

[45:53]

And if he stops moving, your eyes remain the same. That's the frog. This is how your eyes will see when you are not watching anything special. And that way, your practice includes everything, one thing after another. and you do not lose your calmness of mind. This is true concentration. The extent of this practice is limitless. With this as our base, we have real freedom. When you evaluate yourself as being good or bad, right or wrong, that is comparative value, and you lose your absolute value, which is called virtue. I've been falling asleep a lot. I'll check my posture and everything will be fine and then I'll discover I'm asleep.

[46:54]

And then I'll check my posture again and everything will be fine again. Well there are reasons why you fall asleep, which I won't go into. You just make an effort to wake up. So, Zazen is called continuously waking up. Continuously making the effort to wake up. Wake [...] up. That's what it is. Continually bringing your attention back to waking up. So, when you have wide concentration That's called waking up. Because there's nothing, there's no ego, there's no self. And then we fall into dreaming, or attaching to the flotsam, which is dreaming. And then we wake up from our dream.

[47:57]

And then we go back to the dream. And then we wake up from our dream. And then we go back to the dream. Or we wake up from the dream. That's what it is. Over and over and over. And then you realize, oh, this is the dream. Oh, this is awake. Oh, this is a dream. Oh, this is awake. That's what it is. And if you can refresh yourself so that you're not sleeping all the time, you know, we catch ourselves in various states. So, can't be helped. Sometimes we're refreshed and sometimes we're dragging our ass. That's the way it is. That's life. And it's just life, the way it is. We sleep, we dream, we wake up. Sleeping, dreaming, waking up, and eating.

[49:02]

And no matter where you are, that's what's happening. No matter where you are and what you're doing, that's what's happening. So this is just a way of really looking at it. Really experiencing what's happening with clear vision. So, the extent of the practice is limitless. With this as our base, We have real freedom. When you evaluate yourself as being good or bad, right or wrong, that is comparative value, and you lose the absolute value or virtue. When you evaluate yourself by a limitless measure, each one of you will be settled on your real self. So, instead of evaluating yourself in a comparative way, Virtue, you know, means the real way.

[50:14]

Virtue means reality. We evaluate on the basis of reality instead of comparative values. So when you evaluate yourself by a limitless measure, each one of you will be settled on your real self. That is enough. Even though you think you need a better measurement, If you understand this point, you will know what real practice is for human beings and for everything. You know, the ocean has many waves, and you can compare this wave with that wave. But even though the ocean has many waves, and you're one wave, and I'm another wave, just water through and through.

[51:16]

So when we use the ocean as the measure, rather than the waves, we can see more clearly, and understand more clearly, and not get caught in small concentration, narrow concentration. You just talked about young militaristic students coming to Suzuki-Oshi during World War II and talking about group practice. They go to Front and they die together. Yeah. And, you know, I think we're horrified by this. And then you talked about how, well, I'm a wave, and you're a wave, and we're all water. And I think, well, what's the difference?

[52:19]

The difference between what? Between whether we go up to the front and shoot each other, or whether we just... Well, because when we shoot each other, we forget that we're one, all water. And that's called me wanting to get rid of you in order to be in order to be on top. That's comparative values. You're worse than I am, so I'll shoot you. That's comparative value. That's what we're trying to avoid. You have to listen to the whole thing. We're all water. We're all the same. So, we should treat each other like We want to be treated. We should treat everybody as ourself because we're all one body.

[53:21]

We're all one body in water. Why should we shoot each other? That's what he's talking about. But there's a way in which There's also a way in which we're all wider. Does it really make any difference? No, it makes a difference. The wisdom of equality means that we're all the same. The wisdom of differentiation means that we appreciate the difference So we're both the same and different. And we have to appreciate the differences even though we're all the same. We're all the same and we're all different.

[54:25]

I guess I think there might be a nuance here. A lot of times people derive a sense of being bigger than their small self when they become part of a group. I don't think it's necessary a small mind that goes out and wants to be shot at the front. He's talking about the spirit of being willing to sacrifice a small self in honor of something bigger, even though it's a big idea that You know, the big idea that one race is better, one nation is better than another race is one that we really question now. That wasn't something that those students questioned. So, that's right. So, group practice, what he's talking about, is sacrificing yourself for the good of your small group, particular group. What Suzuki Roshi is talking about is being one with the whole universe.

[55:36]

as your group. When you see images and you accept that rather than trying to get rid of it, I can understand that better than if I am doing something... Seeing images doesn't seem to be harming anybody, but sometimes I do something that seems to be harmful. That seems harder to accept. But you have to accept it. What happens, what is it you have to accept? That's hiding. If you don't accept it, it's hiding. Covering. Covering is one of the unwholesome dharmas. Yes, I did that. I am doing that. If you know you are doing that, that's practice.

[56:43]

I'm doing this awful thing, but I can't help doing it. That's where you have to find the true practice, right there. It's easy to find the true practice when you don't do anything wrong. But since we're always doing something that's a problem, it makes a problem for somebody, So that's where the real practice is. Right there. Yeah. On the second day I was in the kitchen with, can you hear me now? Yeah, but you have to really speak up. On the second day I was in the kitchen with John the Tenso and Matt and they're both not here anymore. But Matt mentioned Isan Dorsey, who was a monk at the city center. And he said, he told a story where Isan was cooking a soup.

[57:49]

And I think it was during the macrobiotic phase of sanska zenten. And Isan was putting in a few cubes of butter into the soup. And the monk said, Isan, what are you doing? And he said, They don't know what I do, and they like it anyway. So this whole week long, Peter, the builder, was here, and Suzuki Roshi, and Rebecca. And I was thinking, and Isan appeared. You know he was a lot like Avalokitesvara, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman. And I wanted to share his presence. And I was thinking sometimes you don't know a great teacher until... Until they die. True. Yeah, I remember him very well. He was kind of mischievous.

[58:53]

But Suzuki Goji liked mischievous students. He said, when you're mischievous, I can tell who you are. When you're not hiding anything, I know who you are. So I appreciate that. And sometimes going against what you think is the right way may be the right way. We can't always judge that.

[59:21]

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