Constancy

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BZ-00339A

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Saturday Lecture

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the
and
usual way education
is to collect
ah various
debts of knowledge
and put them all together from here in there to to gain something over here and little something there and something over here and put them all together and make it and conception
mages appear on spiritual cake
which can be tender and tasty
ah
this is often the kids and especially nowadays you know when we have so many spiritual practices and especially when the plays like the bay area where the autumn together
in the old days when you weren't so many
exotic spiritual practices around
anybody pay attention to their practice
and the teaches discouraged people from
ah the students from going around and
i'm posting other practices
lucky cause
they didn't think the those are good practices
but because
they didn't want your students taking little bits of this and that and making that on
ah

little cake
from outside
i think on zen practice is maybe the simplest of practices may not be the simplest practice but it's
a very simple and straightforward
and
the object or practice is to bring forth their own spiritual so-called stir
to dig down easily within yourself to find their on treasure
not to get it from someplace else
over there they have more colorful practice and maybe that would help me
and i overhear they know something's and then partly by something different maybe that will help me
you know we keep working from outside for help
for lurking in various places for the best
ha ha
philosophy or the best ah

spiritual kind of understanding
but actually
our own understanding as to come from within ourselves
so
our zen teachers
we're always very strict with us
ha
in order to bring for your own treasure
you have to drill your own well so to speak
i have to cat your own route so to speak that's why the simple practice exam
over and over again to sit jogging every day over and over again
but is
to ah
over time to bring forth
your true
nature
your own treasure
and not looking around
not looking for help from outside actually to be kind of helpless
it's important actually to be a little bit helpless
and not to came down something
macro speaking for shopping

to find yourself in a difficult position
and not like a new place for help
and to find yourself in a desperate situation and not find not return on for help

here to find
when she needs within yourself in that difficult desperate situation
this is what i'm jim factors is actually about
so what we go to
ha
you an idea for tilting or with our problem
or just in our daily lives is always referring to the deaths of her own
ha
true nature
and if we rely on this
will always find a way
the way is always found within ourselves if we really depend on it
and don't go looking other places for it ah ah
hmm
ha
so when this is one reason why systemes is such an important practice
this machine for sitting judge him for seven days or five days or
how long period of time
you realize there's nothing to depend on
and you'd have to go deeper and deeper into yourself
to find your equanimity
to find your calm mind
to find your nine discriminating mind
to open up junior enlightened mind

so
that's why practice practice that came to us
ah
with from attempted to various times to various ways to practice zen
the our teachers brought us version of everyday practice
which is
the constant
practice
house sitting jobs in every day
over a number we we cannot do this over and over
actually it looks like over and over that every day is another
totally different
ha event
and it resulted in is a totally different you event
total you meet you at
if you say i did that yesterday i know what that's like
that's not something
and advantage
unique event
time
and cannot be compared to anything before after
so we must enter into when we can enter into that practice for that attitude
then every moment comes to life
every moment is a totally new every activity is totally new even though
it looks like he did that yesterday
this way we don't have to look around for novelty
because we get
i'm bored with our life
keep upping the ante and novelty
and excitement
we keep adding more and more exciting things to her repertoire
but it's not necessary
every moment is totally new and and dazzling
if you can allow
the uniqueness of each event in your life
to be no
sitting still doing nothing
very satisfied
yes
yeah completely there

i want to read a little bit trump or situations

my teachers ah
when he talks about
constancy
and also about com
gathering pieces of information he says
i quite usual for us to gather pieces of information from various sources thinking in this way to increase our knowledge
actually following this way we end up knowing nothing if not knowing anything at all
our understanding of buddhism should not be just gathering many pieces of information seeking to gain knowledge
you should clear your mind
if your mind is clear true knowledge is already yours
when you listened to our teaching with a pure clear mind you can accept it as if you were hearing something which you already knew
this is called emptiness or omniscient omnipotent self
or knowing everything
when you know everything you are like a dark sky
sometimes a flashing will come through the dark sky
after it passes you forget all about it and there's nothing left but the dark sky the sky has never surprised when all of a sudden it's under both breakthrough and when the lightning does flash a wonderful site may be seen
when we have emptiness we are always prepared for watching the flashing
ha
how to keep our our mind clean and clear is more appropriate than to collect pieces with information
and build something
i called
spiritual knowledge
can just be able to
be like a frog
this is one of the diagnosis
favorite similarly
the frog sits on the right in utter darkness she says here
when the mind
totally still
then blinking once in awhile
and when apply comes along
just catches fun
and if he likes it
if he doesn't like it
the
cats are also very good at this
have a wonderful composure
and when the mouse comes
so this is actually to be always at rest
always at risk and at the same time always totally ready for
anything
so there's no anticipation
he's no
anxiety
always resting within yourself
and when something needs to be done you just respond
that's the fruit of practice
when that he talked to that
patients
ah there's a word nin which in japanese sometimes translated as patients kind of jerry know she's name was dine in
i'm so used to think of his name is great patience
but ah suzuki know she says
rather than patients constancy is a better translation
for men
ha to always because patients
patience
why has the connotation of
waiting or doing something against your
an inclination
to do something to to have patience is not to follow the inclination but to stay still
for constancy is more like
going with your attention
ah and
doing something
whether the circumstances are good or the hand or
but always been there
cannot depending on how things are but just always been present
hmm she says i've always said that you must be very patient if you want to understand buddhism
but i have been seeking for a better word than patients
the usual translation of the japanese were men his patients but perhaps constancy is a better word
you must force years after the patient but inconstancy there is no particular effort involved there is only the unchanging ability to accept things as they are
for people who have no idea of emptiness
this ability may appear to be patience
the patients can actually be non acceptance
people who know even if only intuitively the state of emptiness always have open the possibility of accepting things as they are
they can appreciate everything and in everything they do even though it may be very difficult they will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy
so we talk about a continuous practice
ha which is constancy
a snap and you tend to the sendo and practices in and then stopped practicing practices as the big news
and when practices continuous
and then all the events of your life
an aspect or practice
have you
scandal with all those aspects of the life
his practice
how are you find
the place within yourself
that ah can deal with any situation
without being turned around by it
he says
men are
constancy as the way we cultivate our own spirit
nan as i way a continuous practice we should always live in the dark empty sky
the skies always this guy he were no clouds and might become the sky is not disturbed
even if the flashing of enlightenment terms or practice forgets all about it
then it is ready for another enlightenment
it is necessary for us to have enlightenment one after another
it possible moment after moment
this is what is called enlightenment before you attain it and after you obtain it
ha
the sky is always the sky even though clouds and lightning
tens fives clouds enlightening are called the scenery of our life clouds enlightening i like the events
of our life
we identify with this scenery of our life
but it is just the scenery of our life constantly changing
but the dark sky doesn't change
it's the background on which
all the flashings
appear
and how do you stay
in this
place
to practice continuously is to always be in this place
which is called
now
which is called here
which is
not affected actually by events
today
and even heard of years in effect of course there is in effect
but ah
that place is the is not ah washed away

and this is the place that we are in georgia
and it's not something new or different is where where we've always done
it's just our true home
with nothing else to rely on
this is the place
and when you
find his place
where there's nothing else to rely on then you realize you can rely on everything
it takes a place where

you lose everything and gain everything
huh
superior she talks about ah
our practice practices being like
making bread
ah rather than making something ideal are trying to
ah strive for some ideal thing although ideal is important but what's actual is just as important
so when we strive
too much for some after some ideal
which we can never meet than we become discouraged
and in our practice
people often feel that ah
we're striving for some perfection
and we can never meet this perception and we get discouraged and we do something go away
but it's more like
every day you make a loaf of bread
and you're trying to make the same loaf of bread every single day
check
every day the bread turns out a little different
and you have some ideal about how the brain should be
but yesterday's bread is not the same as today's spreads
and today's bread is not exactly the same as tomorrow spread even though they look the same and kind of face the same but each one is different
and today's spread
is the bread that we eat today
among tomorrow's pay is the every tomorrow if you say today's bread is not as good as yes it has been so i'm already today
that's been too idealistic
ha
we have this idea is surgeon is some kind of
trying to attain some kind of perfection
that
there is an ideal exam which is to totally be present and to sit in a certain way and to make some good effort
but every surgeon is just what it is
you cannot compare to his days as in are just some of period sergeant
the otherwise and say oh this is a good one but yesterday's was not so good
or maybe tomorrow will be better
this is living a dream
today's as in is today's him with down oliver
factors of what it is
yesterday's as it was yesterday's as if you can't say one was better than the next
it's just as this is what we have now
and this is where we live how and this is
it
pumps at all
this is called accepting everything as it is
accepting everything just as it is
and appreciating everything just the way it is
you may feel that
there are many things about your life that you don't appreciate
and you don't want or appreciate
and you can't appreciate
should find something about realize that you do appreciate
ha for instance
if you just sit down
and appreciate your breathing
you can appreciate your life
no matter where you are you can appreciate your life
but we get wrapped up
in our problems

get a little too wrapped up in our problems and then we can't really appreciate what's going on
fundamentally in our life
so it became driven that circumstances
we become driven guy
the lightning flashes
in a dark sky
we have to take care of things of course
but we always have to keep coming back to the dark sky
where everything is
for the factory no discrimination
and not stray from that place this is what suzuki roshi got big mind
we should always
the
the immersed in big mind not just driven by small mind
so he says the way to practice is through repetition and constancy
to sit as an everyday and to continued and to have continuous practice without any gap
and to really make that
sincere effort to do that
then
you have your practice and you have enlightenment within the practice
that then you are turning the practice

and can say
the practice turn to you and you turn the practice
it's
by your through your effort
to turn the practice the practice meet you and ten
you and you beat your return each other

germany question
yes
the
here you popular for about the relationship this from you
that inner knowing that you know absolutely
sober our ability and the whole concept of
the were receiving health because i'm hearing
compare that a dichotomy like one is hitters not the yeah i know that my life
what i'm absolutely rely on the ever knowing his the final arbiter i've also get enormously from
being held and i wouldn't be here if i hadn't had one to my goodness that of prey help and good and felt that i have answer i also as didn't sue
have i think are wrong notion of what we're saying that they shouldn't have to get help and so they resist being instructed sounds like you can sail with more about the relationship between
help then the south yeah
well you know their times and are you a new job
the return to the room into a bird
ah

there are also times
when you should be forced to find something without help
and
well then
am
you with him in practice
ha
your teachers always willing to help you
so it's kind of like with a child you know
the child you go to the nurseries you know the playground with the child in the child goes and plays
and then it was world says oh my mom and then comes back and check soon
and then you know everything okay the child was out again and place and then took on my mom and dad was buried in for the mom is always there you know help is always the around you with is so is there
but
two
go deep
regarded as far as you can go you should go and then at some point you have to come to the critical place where nothing can help where no one can help you so this is what i'm talking about
the did it can be a practice there's a critical place it only you can go to
and no one can help you
and and the end when you die
go by yourself and no one can you know people can comfort you and this net but it's your trip
and
i
going deeply within yourself is the same is dying and showed it is going it's the same process

he kids
what you're saying
my guess is that die
ah
no to died before in stuff
hundred
and adult
that that
so thirty stayed into different languages wow
you sit that that night
looking even not even though i was thinking about than perhaps do and haven't talked a lot of election talked with that
people should sit harness
the and as to eat those it together in our kicking the and yet five inches away
the
particularly in the most non verbal or twitter airplanes and spider what by using by hearing your breath when an item is faulty
you i mean all the way and as handsome conversations with people of that people that i myself it's not know i know them so infinitely for i have static
it took a long time from your building
you know that
so good in our practices an enormous amount of mutual support and stroke that's very true also
when you let go of when you let go outside support
the whole universe comes to get rescue that's what i'm talking about

he had to this is the trust the you have
this is how you have to be of the chest
that the universe is supported you
this fat frog
the francis a lot less complicated for instance
the regular technology so forth
that stuff
well
questions is about
you know since we kept we only have a problem with to desire and grasp and cousin of is complicated
happiness mass sang themselves then teachers often suggests that he could be like a stroke or something like that we have some problems that constant kevin eyes
so the questions that our nation to desire and grasp what's the point of talking to you for that
well appointed time of fries is we're not trying to my friends were trying to grow flowers and
that's what i'm talking about you
and so we're taking a certain aspect of frogs nature
which is analogous to earth nature is not the frog is different
try is your the frog you can be a frog
he's complicated countries to decide or
yes and designers very complex complicated very it but if you had the desire
if you can turn desire in many ways
desires
is a is a strong force lifeforce it's it's like can be turned its this is the way i often describe desire
is like getting have a big boiler
and it's got fire hundred and the fire
make steam and esteem keeps building up building up and then they are these tubes that go out from from the boiler
yeah is too
goes out to
as a way to relieve the state that the pressure and this one was out to lust as a way to relieve the pressure right
is and this one goes out to food and this i use that to entertainment and this on your the come to the whatever all those ways that we receive our the pressure to build up called designer
l have the it's one of these tubes as about one and since you know some people the to the the anger ground found is really easy to them
just consider shooting out you know and the last one that's easy to open to him
so it depends on what were to pressures build up the pressures there but where are you going to directive
and when you're used to direction a different way
then it's you that's called habit
then the habit
i just keep building up and getting stronger and stronger but it doesn't have to go that way
it can be channeled another way so how do you are you going to channel your energy
one way to channel your energy is to sit down there
that's the most virtuous i didn't say it was richard
that's that's that's that's the way to
contain it and then you can directed more easily
that's is coming that's coming down to
settlements

so
i to encourage everyone
not discourage you
return to practice
continuously stand
that's all support each other to
to do this together
than that
have an enlightened practice and like life
and
if
you see your life as practice
then it's kind of like stepping back
they're that beans you know it's like stepping back and ah

much separating but

not been so reactive stepping back so the units of reactive to whatever comes and you can actually respond
from by cleared place