I have been talking about the five controlling factors of our mind lately. And I'd like to continue that a little bit. The five controlling factors, as you remember, are faith, effort, or energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. And keeping these five factors in control, in balance, rather, is fundamental practice of Buddhism. And when these factors are well established in our mind, in our actions actually, as part of ourself, then they're called the five powers, five spiritual powers.

[01:29]

the power of faith, the power of effort, the power of mindfulness, the power of concentration, and the power of wisdom. But in order for them to be powers, or bala, as they're called, balas, they have to be established as well in control. It's like a a net or a balloon that has something that opens up and is equally, the pressure is equal on all sides, so no one factor is dominant

[02:32]

while the other factors are weak. Otherwise you don't have a real tight, plump mind. So today I want to talk about the factors of concentration and wisdom. In this system, Theravada system, Hinayana system maybe, is more analytical and Mahayana approach is more to find, to reduce everything to its finest elements in an analytical way, till you see that there's no self.

[03:39]

That's a Hinayana way and attitude. And Mahayana attitude is to see yourself in everything. That's called the synthesis or synthetical approach. to see yourself as the whole universe, with nothing left out. So sometimes we talk about, we express it from a Hinayana attitude, sometimes we express the Dharma from the Mahayana attitude point of view. So a Hinayana point of view would be concentration is necessary to balance all the five factors, the other four factors, because even if you have good faith and good wisdom, good energy and mindfulness, without concentration you can't stay on the subject.

[05:01]

And wisdom is more associated with knowledge in the Hinayana attitude. Wisdom is more knowledge and understanding. Whereas from the Mahayana point of view, synthetical point of view, Concentration is samadhi, and wisdom is prajna. And samadhi and prajna are not two different things. Samadhi is like the essence of prajna, and prajna is like the function

[06:10]

of Samadhi. So if you study the Sixth Patriarch Sutra, the Sixth Patriarch says Samadhi and Prajna are not two different things, but one is the essence and the other is its function. samadhi which is deep calmness or imperturbable mind. Samadhi is our imperturbable mind which is not moved by circumstances and is not conditioned by circumstances.

[07:19]

Our ordinary mind, ordinary level of mind is conditioned by circumstances and is moved by good and bad and various things that happen to us. But deep samadhi is concentration which is settled or rooted in our fundamental mind, which doesn't come or go. And prajna is our inherent wisdom, not our acquired wisdom, but inherent wisdom.

[08:24]

So when we talk about precepts, if you take the 16 precepts or if you take the 250 precepts of the Hinayana school or Theravada school, those look like something imposed from the outside but precepts actually come from our essence of mind and they spontaneously arise when prajna arises so precepts which we read or seem to be given to us are actually the precepts of our essence of mind when prajna actually arises in our mind. So precepts are not something imposed on us.

[09:29]

If you think that precepts are something imposed on you, it means that you haven't yet tapped the essence of your own mind. So precepts arise with prajna, and Sixth Patriarch says that the analogy is like a lamp and its light. Samadhi is like the lamp, and prajna is like the light, which is the function of the lamp. So through samadhi, prajna arises and is our guide. So the purpose of studying Buddhadharma and practicing is to allow prajna to arise in our mind moment by moment based on samadhi.

[10:44]

So when we sit Sazen, Sazen is the practice of Samadhi, of Prajna Samadhi. You can't separate the two. When there's Samadhi, there's Prajna, and when there's Prajna, there's Samadhi. And Sixth Patriarch says also that we take No thinking is our faultlessness, maybe. No thinking is our guide. And no thinking doesn't mean not to think. It doesn't mean that your mind is not working or thinking, but it means that your mind is not attached to anything. In the working of our thinking mind, Our thinking mind is not attached to things.

[11:47]

So when our thinking mind is not attached to things, our mind is free to come and go and allows samadhi, allows our mind to rest in samadhi. and which allows prajna to arise. So these three factors. Sometimes thoughtlessness is called dhyana. Another way of expressing it is dhyana. Dhyana is traditionally, we say the dhyana school is the school of meditation. That's the Indian Sanskrit word. Dhyana is meditation in a broad sense. And dhyana is non-attachment, the mind which is non-attached. So non-attachment, dhyana, samadhi and prajna are the three legs of practice.

[13:03]

non-imperturbability and wisdom, prajna wisdom, which is the inherent wisdom of our essence of mind. And non-attachment also means non-attachment to any kind of gaining idea of enlightenment or acquiring spiritual attainments. Some people are very disappointed about not acquiring spiritual attainments. But this is the purity of practice. Pure practice, Suzuki Roshi says it's not so hard to be enlightened, but it's very difficult to keep our practice pure without acquiring spiritual attainments.

[14:29]

Spiritual attainments are kind of defilement of spiritual practice. It's sometimes hard to take. You say, well, why am I practicing all this time? There's no spiritual attainment. Wasting my time. Sometimes people stop out. But this is what Suzuki Roshi, and not just Suzuki Roshi, but is meant by beginner's mind. Beginner's mind is the mind of no attainment. Doesn't mean there's no enlightenment. But enlightened mind is the mind of no attainment. So it's okay, you know, to have enlightenment. We practice within enlightenment. But enlightenment is not the same as attainment. If you attain something, what you attain is non-attainment.

[15:47]

Or what you attain is yourself, or your beginner's mind. mind which is not attached to anything, which is free to come and go, and is always ready for anything. Always ready without any preconception, not some idea about things. So we call it mirror mind. Whatever appears is reflected, just as it is. A mirror doesn't have any idea about what's reflected on it. It doesn't have any preconception about it or partiality. So its enlightened mind is a mind which is resting in reality.

[17:10]

without partiality or some special idea about things, but is always ready and always at the beginning, always at rest, actually. Imperturbability means always at rest. Of course, you know, when something comes, you get disturbed. Disturbance is natural. So if our mind of samadhi is like clear water, you know, without any ripples, then if you throw the rock in, there are many ripples, and the ripples are disturbance, and our mind is like that. When you throw the rock into your quiet mind, your mind creates ripples. But in the enlightened mind, even though there are ripples on the surface, there's plenty of space.

[18:22]

There's still a lot of undisturbed mind, so that activity takes place on the surface. It may reach all the way down to the bottom, but there's so much reserve that the enlightened mind can absorb it easily. It doesn't get pushed off. Whereas in a mind which is not so enlightened, when there's a disturbance on the top, it rocks everything all the way down to the bottom. So practice in zazen is to establish ourselves in samadhi, mind. Not some special state of mind, but just a beginner's mind.

[19:26]

But it's hard to keep an eye on ourself. You know you're practicing when you can catch yourself giving way to disturbance, to being caught or attached to what comes into your mind. Not today, this morning, as an example. I was thinking about this lecture and about not imperturbable mind and I was studying and my wife asked me to put, she was in a hurry to get out, she said, put Daniel's socks and shoes on. And my mind immediately reacted, you know, it's a very simple thing. My mind got very disturbed. I thought, how can you ask me to do that when I'm studying? you know, for my important lecture.

[21:00]

But then I thought about it. Mindfulness came and said, now wait a minute, you know, just put it all aside and do it. Forget it. So I put my book down and took care of the situation. So for me, that's what I call practice, is being able to put down your... being able to catch yourself. Being able to be mindful enough to know when something is happening, when it's not. To know what it is that's happening. And to be able to figure out how to take care of it. Most often, even though we're busy, There's always time to do something, even though we think that there's not. If we think that there's not time to do something, some little thing that comes along, we're usually too attached to what we're doing.

[22:13]

And then we get very caught up in the importance of our life. But the main thing is to keep, not necessarily to analyze our mind, but to keep our mind in balance. As soon as something starts coming up in us, some kind of disturbance starts coming up in us, we should think, well, how can I not have this disturbance? or what can I do about this disturbance in order to resume my imperturbable mind. Very important practice. So Samadhi is something which is our natural

[23:24]

Essence of mind, the basis of our essence of mind is this imperturbability. It's not just to be like concrete. That's not imperturbability. People think that if they build enough buildings with enough concrete that they won't fall down in an earthquake. But the buildings that don't fall down in earthquakes are the ones that move. The ones that are not so firmly attached. but the ones that have some ability to give. So imperturbability is not like concrete. It's more like grass. And it goes along with flexibility. It's not fixing yourself in some position. truly being free. If it's not true freedom, then it's just impostor.

[24:30]

So what we're talking about is not bolding yourself down, but being rooted in a fundamental mind. or the mind of non-attachment. And when that function is... when that's freely functioning, then prajna is arising. So when prajna is arising continually in our mind, or as the function of our mind, That's enlightenment. Enlightened practice.

[25:34]

So, prajna and samadhi balance each other naturally. Naturally balance each other. And non-attachment is what allows us to balance our mind, the factors of mind. If we have too much attachment to anything, then we start having partiality. And you know how hard it is to give up something, even if it hurts, through our partiality. But in order to balance the whole, we have to be able to give up and accept very freely.

[26:55]

As you can see, our world is being constantly torn apart because people are not willing to give and take freely in order to balance it. There is a tendency to want to balance our world, our human world, but there's too much partiality in order to And that attachment and partiality and shallowness is what keeps our world constantly out of balance and causes so much suffering. We really hang on. So it's not so easy to just give up something.

[28:03]

People say, well, how do I get rid of anger? I'm angry now. What do I do about it? But you can't just give up something like that. The only way you can really do it is to practice non-attachment. If you want to work within the balance of those factors, you can't just suddenly give up something. You have to practice. There has to be a practice. If you want to give up anger, you can't just suddenly give up anger. You have to practice love. That has to be part and parcel of your character, is that you're constantly practicing love. then when anger comes up, you know what to do with it. But if you're not practicing something like love, some form of love, then when anger comes up, you don't know what to do with it.

[29:09]

And then you're stuck, and you say, well, how can I get rid of it? And it's not so easy. So that's why it's important to practice. You can tell people what to do, but they can't do it. So the important thing is to be able to practice, to know what your life is about, and to practice various practices. If you're going to practice love, if you understand that you don't want to live in anger and partiality, then you have to practice love constantly, and you have to practice non-attachment constantly, so that if you practice non-attachment constantly, and the various factors constantly, then when things come up, which they do all the time, you know how to handle them.

[30:22]

You know where to put them, and you're able to say yes and no, and even make difficult decisions. But if you don't practice, you don't know how to make difficult decisions, and everything is a wrenching experience for you. So that's what Buddhadharma is about. It's about finding a practice which allows you to live your life in an enlightened way. But if you don't practice it, it doesn't work. Yet there's some basis for doing these things. So somebody may ask a question, you know, what do I do with my anger? Well, what can you say? So, you know, the Japanese priests, when people would ask them questions, when the Japanese priests that came to America, people would ask them questions, their inevitable answer was, sit more zazen.

[31:45]

You know? And people would say, well, that's not much of an answer. That's not the answer I want. But actually, that's the answer. But zazen is a big subject. It includes study of dharma. Not just the study of dharma, but the actual practice of dharma. Do you have any questions? Bill? I remember once, many years ago, Being very angry at someone, and after you've been exhausted one time, I asked you what to do about it. You told me to hit the sun a bit. It was easy outweighing you, and I thought I'd do it.

[32:48]

Well, everything has its time and place. mind. And it occurs to me that maybe the difference was in concentration. In a beginner's mind, Keeps the beginner's mind from being imperturbable?

[34:39]

No, I think, not really. Beginner's mind is the most advanced mind. It's the most, it's the end. It's the beginning and end. And it's imperturbable mind. I'll explain why that is. We say that the essence of mind is always there. Prajna is our original nature. But it's always obscured by something. you know, obscured by our mind of attachment to thinking and to things. And when greed, hate, and delusion are the three poisons which are the obscurations of our original mind, so our greed, when it's turned,

[35:49]

becomes the mind of non-attachment. And ill-will, when it's turned around, becomes the mind of samadhi. And delusion, the delusive mind, when it's turned around, becomes the mind of prajna. And beginner's mind is the mind which is free from greed, hate, and delusion. That's kind of what we mean by beginner's mind, the mind which is not obstructed, the non-obstructed mind. So, I'm getting the feeling that what you're saying, beginner's mind is not beginning,

[36:57]

Deceptive, isn't it? So you're saying that beginner's mind is not necessarily synonymous with our mind when we begin practicing? Not necessarily. Right, okay. Not necessarily, but, you know, when you just begin Zazen, you have it. When you begin to practice, you have it. And then when you start to understand it, then you start to lose it. When you start to get some idea about our practice, then you start to lose beginner's mind. Well, actually it's true.

[38:22]

Our naive mind has got that quality. And when we start to practice, and you see people sitting Sashin for the first time, no matter what they're thinking about, they all have beginner's mind. You see people, they don't know what Sashin is, they don't know what Zazen is, but they're trying really hard. So beginner's mind is there. And that's why I say, after a while they think they know what it is, then they start to lose beginner's mind. But it's also the essence or end of practice when it's there continually. So it's not so easy to keep it continually. Yes, very much, Chip, because I can remember what it was like when I sat those first sessions.

[39:28]

It takes weeks to get back there now. Right. You're just completely naive. You don't know what it's about. But you're doing it, you know, with real, pure energy, pure effort. So it's also not knowing mind. Beginner's mind is also not knowing mind. which is just open and not knowing. Not knowing is the most difficult because we feel very insecure when we don't know something. We feel that's sometimes the basis of our insecurity is not knowing. But we have to be able to be completely secure in not knowing mind.

[40:33]

And that's a big koan for us, how to really trust. to trust what's in front of us, and to act without preconceptions. So that's another way of watching ourself, mindfulness of practice, as to when you're responding to watch. Where are you responding from? Are you responding from some mindset or some preconceptions or some special attitude?

[41:37]

What kind of attitude are you responding from? What kind of partiality do you have in your responses Partiality means sometimes what you're like, but it also means some not wholesome way, because wholesome means whole, right? Complete. So when we say, you know, you're coming off the wall or off the top of your head, sometimes we say a person's remark is from the top of their head, it's coming from the top of your head, it's not whole, it's not wholesome. It's partial, partial kind of attitude. And it's our unbeginner's mind which

[42:45]

produces those attitudes. So beginner's mind is just open and whole mind. So that what comes up is based on that. We should always try to base our responses on our whole mind, not just on our partial mind. That's beginner's mind. I can't understand letting go of any feeling of achievement throughout the practice or any feeling of pride or any feeling of a particular state or whatever, like one vision. That's like killing the Buddha that you might meet on the road. But you also get a feeling of attachment for the zendo itself, you know, and for the deep brain.

[43:52]

A lot of that gets you talking. That would, that's much harder to let go. I mean, that's part of that. That's the question about that. That's part of what has to be let go. Feeling of attachment for the zendo itself and for the deep brain. Well, you know, Achievement is a little different than acquisition. Every time we're successful, it's an achievement. And so we have to feel success. You can't keep going and doing something unless you feel success. But success is different from gaining mind. We have to feel joyful and successful.

[44:56]

But it's not in the realm of acquisition. It's in the realm of feeling that we're doing the right thing always. And that we're rooted in our wholesome mind. That's our success. It's not gaining mind. And attachment, we have to be attached. We're attached to things. But there's some difference between the attachment, which is based on partiality, and the attachment, which is based on wholesomeness. So you can be a part of things and love everything, without the attachment of partiality. We always prefer one thing over another, you know.

[45:59]

I mean, you're very advanced if you can just not prefer anything. But we don't live our lives like that. We can't live our lives like that. So that's why people, you know, pay great respect to these saints, you know, some cloistered saint who has no preferences or partialities and people kind of feed them and they But they're not of the world. They're not in this world. And we have to realize that we're in this world. So, we do have attachment, but it's called the attachment of non-attachment. It may sound like double-talk, but our attachments are within the realm of non-attachment. So it means being in the world, but not attached to the world. and being responsible with people, but not being attached to... not having a vested interest in our attachments.

[47:06]

So you have to be attached to your family in some way. But... You have to be able to accept it, and you have to be able to let it go at the same time. But not so easily, you know. You have to be careful. Some people will say, well, I'll just let my family go and practice Buddhism in a monastery. And there are lots of cases of that. But that's a kind of spiritual attachment Suzuki Roshi would never let people do that. Suzuki Roshi would never let people do that. He said, you think you're advancing your spiritual practice by leaving your family. You're just getting yourself into a lot of trouble. You're just creating a big ego for yourself.

[48:09]

By thinking that by leaving your family and going to the monastery, that you're going to advance your spiritual practice. Before he was enlightened. But after he was enlightened he accepted a lot of people who left the family. Yes, he did. It's true. But he didn't have so much time to be enlightened, you know. He didn't have centuries of practice behind him.

[49:16]

He may have been enlightened, but he didn't have centuries of practice behind him. development. And I think that's important. You know, it was all very fresh for him. Leave your family, come and follow me. But, you know, later on you see that there's some compassion for the people you leave and your responsibilities. And he didn't have time to develop that side. So we think, you know, there's this original way of Buddha. But sometimes we tend to feel that Development is... there are two ways of thinking about development of religious practice.

[50:19]

One is that it's... as religious practice becomes developed, that it becomes watered down. And the other side is that religious practices that becomes developed advances. There are new ways to practice and other considerations that were not dealt with in the original practice or in the practice from the beginning. And sometimes people look at the Mahayana and they say, well that's just a degeneration of the practice for 2,000 years. And other people look at it and say, well that's the development of the practice for 2,000 years. So sometimes it's degeneration, sometimes it's development. It's both. But the practice certainly develops.

[51:22]

If it doesn't develop, then we don't have anything to do with it, you know? Just following Shakyamuni Buddha's footsteps is not our practice. We have to be able to develop our own practice with that inspiration. And that was very definitely Suzuki Roshi's way to find your own way of practice with that inspiration and that understanding. Not to just be like somebody that was walking around here 2,500 years ago. You can't do that. So all of the practices of Buddhism claim to be Buddhist practice, and they're all very diverse.

[52:27]

This is it. This is the original Buddhist practice. But all of them are developments of one kind or another from that original seed. And they're all wonderful. No need to fight, you know, or to compare and say, this is good, and this is bad, and this is the right way, and this is the wrong way. People do that. They get caught that way. But all of the ways of Buddhist practice are wonderful. They're all different. And they're all wonderful. Everyone is a development from that seed. But if we try to get down to the original practice, if you want to get down to the original, what was Buddha's real, original practice, you think that you're going to find it by searching through the history books.

[53:29]

real practice is knowing how to develop using history and our present situation and knowing the development of practice through twenty-five centuries to So there's a lot of collected wisdom and there's our own wisdom. And the fundamental thing is our own wisdom. And if it's just, you know, imitating, that's not it. So sometimes it makes sense to leave your family and go to the monastery.

[54:56]

Anyway, it's fine for short periods, but you have to think about what you're abandoning. For Suzuki Roshi, taking responsibility was a fundamental thing in practice, knowing how to take responsibility. And if you leave your responsibility for some other responsibility, That ain't it. You're just fooling yourself. Sometimes it's OK. Anyway, it's a pretty big subject, and there's no one way.

[56:03]

Everything's true. So if you say, this is right and that's wrong, that's taking a partial stand and not keeping your mind open. Everything's true, in the right circumstances. So let's practice Beginner's Mind, please. Put it together.

[56:34]

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