Well, expectation, I think nothing to transfer anyway in the sea world. If you see that there is something, expectation, you have to face it because expectation is something reflected in the sea world and it's not something, it's not, there is no place to throw it away or there is no particular place to bring it into some place. So expectation becomes just a form of expectation reflected in the Buddhist world. So very naturally that reflection of the expectation comes up in the realm of form of expectation in the A world. So practically speaking, you have to anyway, through that form of expectation in the A

[01:10]

world, without touching it, without touching it, you have to go through, you have to know it, what expectation is, then you have to, to know it just without touching it, means without touching it means pass through as soon as possible. This is a practice, this is a practice, how do we know being in the sea world, that is our practice. If you do, if you are in the sea world, you can do, like that. What you, John, John, your name is John, you are talking about the person you touch,

[02:30]

I think, there is no particular answer, ok? But you should, you should see your life for long run, if you try to deal with that situation for a short period of time, so-called 20 years, 30 years, you really irritate. You don't know how to deal with that one, you know? So anyway, you have to live, that's why you have to live in the sea world. Sea world is huge. So even though you can't do it exactly in this life, you can do it in the next life. But the point is, you have to make every possible effort to practice that, ok? Without touching it, you have to go through as best as you can, moving toward eternal

[03:39]

life. Life after life. In other words, there is possibility, constant possibility there. Don't think it's impossible, no. Don't give up. I don't know, it just depends on the situation you are in. You work with that and you will find that you will maybe one day... Yeah, that means taking care, taking care. For instance, maybe if you have, you have a family. Maybe your question is, how do you deal with the family, you know? As an object to your object, it becomes a burden, doesn't it? It's a huge burden. So the question is, not seeing the family as an object. No. Because objects are completely something beings, you know, beyond your speculation.

[04:44]

Now, under certain circumstances, some object becomes a part of your life, that's it. So no problem, practically speaking. Then now, you see the object as a part of your life and then you think, oh that's a burden. That is already, you stay in the A world. Ok? But anyway, you have to continue standing in the C world means, how do you deal with this object? You want to stay for long, thinking with lots of ideas. This is a burden or this is not a burden. Whichever you make a choice, same problem happens. So the question is, how do you deal with this object? So as best as you can, without touching, you have to go through. Anyway, when you take care of objects, that's all we can do.

[05:46]

Don't you think so? Yeah, well I think you have to enjoy it. Not always enjoy. You have to enjoy the many things, you know, bad things and good things. I don't know the meaning of enjoy, enjoyment. Enjoyment means to satisfy? No, to be there and to see the universe reflected in the situation that you are in, to see it in the people that you are with. In the life you are living, you can see the ocean in your family or in the people there. You can say that we are all just one together.

[06:47]

Yes, one together. Yes, but practically speaking, it's not so easy to deal with, practically speaking. Yes. Still, that's the idea you have to throw away, that's the idea, you know, always. You shouldn't forget that idea, but you have to throw it away. Constantly you have to see that universe. Anyway, you have to walk in the universe, in the sea world, but you can't stay with the sea world, what you have believed in. So you have to throw it away. That is a sea world, don't you think so? Yes, you are a sea world, that is a sea world. What is mind? Could you say more about keeping the mind like walls and fences?

[08:00]

No, I didn't get that. Mind is fences and microphones and exactly, so not separate. Don't see the mind in the microphone or outside and out of the microphone. No, that microphone is mind. Microphone is you. That's it. Why do you think we use the word fences and walls? Because that usually brings up the idea of boundaries. Objectively we use, we see the microphone. At that time, well, we cannot see that, we cannot deal with the microphone in a proper way, you know. So always, you know, dealing with the microphone as a material. But if you deal with the microphone in a proper way, anyway, the microphone is exactly your life. The microphone comes up to your life and deals with it.

[09:06]

No discrimination between the microphone and you. At that time, there is a kindness and compassion itself, we can say. That is called microphone is mind. Mind is microphone. But through the common sense, usual sense of, even though I say microphone is mind, it is already jurisdiction. Do you understand? Yes. I'm not clear still on why the word fences and walls seem like a very... It seems as though there is a special connotation to using the word comparing minds.

[10:10]

What's the phrase? Keep your mind like fences and walls? Keep your mind. Keep your mind like fences and walls. Fences and walls, yes. Okay. Mind means also, it's not our conscious mind. Mind is universe, the sea world. All beings reflect in the sea world. That is mind, oneness. It seems like you've been saying that your point is to keep your mind like fences, walls, trees, birds, microphones, etc. Now, why do Dogen and Senji particularly use the terms fences and walls? They seem to bring up, instead of something very broad, it seems to bring up something very specific, which is kind of like a wall is like a boundary, an ending. Which seems to go against the idea of what kind of a mind it is.

[11:11]

No, no. What I mean is that there is fences and walls, and there is the... Fences and walls are kind of a presentative of all beings, you know, including visible, invisible. Trees, birds, snow, etc. Then they use, we have a technical term, a little bit of a rhythmical term, that shouheki, garyaku means, shou means fences, shouheki means walls, you know, and garyaku, ga means tile, and ryaku means pebbles, etc. Do you mean, originally there was no connotation that were emphasizing... No. No, no particular... I think that is confusing, because immediately you think we're talking about a wall instead of...

[12:13]

Kind of a... A solid form. That's right. No, I don't think so. On the other term is mountains and rivers. But rivers means including water, etc. And also you use the skies, the space, and... Okay. Okay.

[13:21]

Okay. ...are impossible.

[15:22]

I bow to her kingdom. The pyramids are boundless. I bow to her kingdom. The Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I bow to her kingdom. Now, please fast forward tape and turn it over where there is a lecture by Mel Weitzman during a session at Green Dragon Temple, the second day, Sunday lecture, 3-1-87, March 1st, 1987.

[16:34]

Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. During this week, starting with yesterday, members of the Zen community are sitting in Sechin. Seven days of Sechin. So I want to talk to you a little bit about what Sechin is. Sechin means something like embracing mind or gathering the mind or focusing wholeheartedly, inwardly.

[17:41]

Embracing mind or gathering mind could be misleading, though, because in Zazen we work not only with the mind but through the body. So in this case, mind means not just our thinking faculty, but mind includes body and actually includes the whole universe. So when we say embracing mind or gathering the mind, it doesn't mean just gathering your thoughts together, but actually to go beyond our thoughts or our thinking mind. In Buddhism, we don't make a separation between body and mind.

[18:52]

So you can say body-mind. In fact, in Zazen, the point is to reconcile all opposites. So we have body-mind or spirit and flesh, good and bad, right and wrong, comfort and discomfort, like and dislike, up and down, back and forth. Difficult and easy, life and death.

[20:04]

So, in Zazen, all opposites are reconciled. This is the point of Zazen. And during the course of our normal day-to-day life, we sit Zazen as a daily practice. But several times a year, we have Sashin. And during Sashin, we spend one week of just Zazen. So this is the second day of our Sashin.

[21:04]

And our Sashin will be over on Friday. I want to explain about the two sides of our practice, which, when they're reconciled, are not two sides. But everything has two sides. So we have to talk about the two sides of everything. But the thing itself cannot be explained, only experienced. So my explanation will not be our experience, but it will help us to understand something about what we're doing. The two sides of our Zen practice include retreating from the world, on the one hand, and going back into the world, on the other hand.

[22:22]

Retreating from the world means to cut off all of your affairs, to actually leave the world behind, and practice in seclusion. And when you enter into seclusion, you should plan well ahead for that event, so that when you actually enter into seclusion, there's nothing pulling at you, and there's nothing you feel that you need to do. So that kind of preparation is already entering into seclusion. And the other side is, after seclusion, entering into the world of activity.

[23:37]

And coming out from the realm of seclusion into the world of activity. And the third side is that activity and stillness, or seclusion, are reconciled. So when we enter into seclusion, we enter into great stillness. When we sit for seven days, there's tremendous stillness. When you get a group of people sitting together in Zazen for seven days, the world becomes very still. Your whole world comes to a stop.

[24:50]

But that stillness is permeated with tremendous vitality. We say in Zazen that the whole body and mind are in complete, total, dynamic functioning. It's not stillness of laying down in bed or going to sleep, but stillness of body and mind harmonized with great dynamic activity in total stillness. And sometimes an example is like a top, when you spin a top, and the top is spinning totally in balance.

[26:09]

Then it doesn't look like the top is moving. It looks like it's just standing still. But if you touch it, it goes skittering across the floor. So that's like Zazen. Now people sit in Zazen and it looks like statues, but it's just like that top. If you touch one of them, it might want to roar at you. Not really. It's very gentle. And when we return to the world from Zazen, we take that wonderful stillness into our activity.

[27:17]

So that no matter what kind of activity, or no matter how busy we are, our life is based on that stillness. A kind of example is if you look at a movie. It looks like the movie is continuous. But if you stop the movie and look at the slides, you'll see that each one of those slides is an independent movement. And if you look at each slide, each one has not only the main subject, but the background. So the main subject and the background are all included in that one still. It's like you yourself and the whole world arise in that one slide.

[28:28]

And in the next slide, everything has changed a little bit. Maybe you've taken a half a step and the background has changed. Maybe a bird has entered. Or a leaf has fallen. But each one of those slides is a moment of total stillness in dynamic activity. One slide, one moment following the next. Or one moment appearing to replace the next. Following is a kind of idea we have about time. So stillness in activity is to be completely immersed in each moment.

[29:45]

And totally at one with each moment. Moment by moment. So even though life is moving, at the same time, each moment is its own stillness with its own history. Kind of like the river. The river is flowing, but it's always the same river. So sometimes one old Zen master said, The water is standing still, but the bridge is flowing. Anyway, so in these seven days of Sashin, we started at five o'clock in the morning.

[31:08]

Not such an early hour, it's our usual Zazen time. And we have a couple of periods of Zazen and regular service. And then we eat breakfast in Zendo. We eat breakfast sitting in Zazen. And in a very formal way. And some of us serve the others breakfast. And breakfast is a form of practice in Zazen. One of the important things that we always have to remember in Sashin is that everything we do is Zazen. Strictly speaking, Zazen looks like cross-legged sitting. But this cross-legged sitting is one form of Zazen, one form of meditation.

[32:20]

During Sashin, we have to always remember that not only is sitting Zazen, but walking is Zazen, standing is Zazen, eating is Zazen, serving and being served is Zazen, bowing is Zazen, making mistakes is Zazen, communicating is Zazen. Going to sleep is Zazen. Someone asked me, how do you practice Zazen when you go to sleep? And I said, now I lay me down to sleep.

[33:25]

You know, you put yourself in the hands of the Dharma, trust. So Zazen, what is Zazen? Zazen is putting yourself into the hands of Buddha, or Dharma, or just trusting. You know, what do we trust? I don't know. Something. You can name it. You can give it various names, you can say God, Buddha, Dharma, Allah, anything you want. But, I think in Zen, I don't know. Just trust. Without qualifying it in some way.

[34:33]

So, in a sense, the bottom line of practicing Dharma is trust, or faith. Not in something special. I really can't name it. But in Zazen, it becomes apparent. So, all of our activities become activities of trust and faith. Someone is serving me something to eat, but I don't know what it is.

[35:48]

But whatever it is, I accept it, and I eat it. With that spirit. And also a spirit of gratitude. Whatever happens, there's always a feeling of gratitude for whatever it is. Sometimes, in Zazen, our legs hurt, or we want to escape, or we feel trapped, or deprived. But, in the end, it's always a feeling of gratitude for whatever comes up. So, in Zazen, the two sides of liking and disliking, preference and non-preference,

[36:58]

are always something that we're dealing with. Constantly dealing with those two opposites. I don't like this, and I do like that, and I want this, and I don't want that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't make any difference. What you get is what you got. What you got is what you get. What will you do with it? That's the point. This is what you got. What will you do with it? It's a very creative practice. Something's handed to you, and you have to do something with it. What will you do? And it's like sitting cross-legged is a very fundamental form of Zazen.

[38:05]

And why we practice in this way is because it's so easy to understand when you sit. It's more difficult to understand when you're moving around. Because when you're moving around, you always think there's someplace to escape to. When we're moving around, we always feel that we have options. Well, if I don't like it here, I'll go over there. Nothing's going to hold me down. But, no matter where we go in this world, we still take ourselves there. So, what we're dealing with is always with ourself. And circumstances just happen to be where we are. Circumstances help us to define ourself. So in Zazen, the immovable position, the pretzel,

[39:18]

there's no place to go, no place you can escape to. No matter what you want to do, you can't do it. You just hand it yourself. This is you. What will you do with yourself? How can you find freedom without going someplace? This is the final place. This is where the buck stops. When you have that freedom that you find in Zazen, then you can go anywhere. I'm reminded of a story that I read recently.

[40:21]

A Russian priest, Russian Catholic priest, who talked about how he wanted to become a priest. But his preceptor kept putting him off. He had his aging mother to take care of, and his good works to do. The preceptor would never let him become priest. He went through a lot of agony with this. Finally, one day, he went to the preceptor and said,

[41:24]

Look, I want to be a priest, and I don't care about my mother. I don't care about all the things I have to do in this world to take care of people that are suffering. Please let me just do that. And the preceptor said, OK. And then I said, Now what shall I do? And he said, Well, I think you should go take care of your mother. And just continue doing all the things that you're doing. So this is a story. It's a very interesting story. When you actually give up everything, then you can have anything you want. Or you can have what you really need.

[42:31]

So Sanzen, you know, and Sashin, is like really giving up everything. You leave everything behind, even though you know that after seven days you'll go back to your job, you'll go back to your family, you know. Life will resume in somewhat the same way it was before you went. There will always be a difference. But when you enter into Sashin, you really give up everything as if you're not coming back. We need to have that attitude. We don't always have it. But even when you enter into Sanzen for forty minutes, we should still have the attitude of leaving everything behind. So Sanzen is a kind of mini...

[43:42]

Forty minutes of Sanzen is a kind of mini home leaving. You leave everything that you cherish in this world behind. And then when you return, the world is a completely new place. You have the opportunity to start life all over again. Even though we don't always see it that way. But when you step out of the Zendo, the world looks different than it did when you entered the Zendo. You've died to your old life and entered a new life, even though you may not recognize that fact. It just looks like, well, here's the door and here's the trees and birds,

[44:47]

but it's actually a new life. And in our activity in the world, moment by moment, we also have the opportunity to make each moment a new life. Because life and death appear on each moment. So Zen activity is to completely enter into each moment of life. Completely. And then we enter into each moment of death completely. We say, like, the foot before and the foot behind in walking. The son don't die, the second don't descend. The foot before and the foot behind in walking. This is life.

[45:49]

And we take a step into life. But the foot behind is already death. And then the next step is into life. And the other step is death. So, life and death on each moment. Moment by moment. Entering into life completely and letting go completely. So if we can let go completely, we can enter completely. The more completely we let go, the more completely we can enter. So in Zazen, Zazen, we enter completely into just this one activity.

[46:56]

We make it very simple for ourselves. Instead of doing a lot of things, just enter completely into one activity. Moment after moment, you can see the arising of life and the passing away of death. Moment by moment, you don't see it as life and death, you just see it as your experience. And then, what is it? Life continues on and on, no matter what I think about it. It's just that my breath comes and goes, no matter what I think about it.

[48:01]

I may be able to control it a little bit, but it goes on without me. Or it goes on as me. So watching breath is a kind of wonderful activity. Something is making this pulsation happen. And I say, I am breathing. But which I is breathing? Who is the I that's breathing? I'm not making that happen. But yet, I'm not making it happen. What's happening? So, moment by moment, we are all getting older.

[49:11]

We start out young, with babies, and who knows why. We often say, I didn't ask to be born into this world. But we don't know, maybe we did and maybe we didn't, I don't know. Something asked, something brought it forth. What is that thing that brought it forth? What brought us forth? And moment by moment, we are getting older. And then at some point, you know, wait a minute, where am I going? Where am I going? So anyway, during Sashin, we eat Zendo, sitting Zazen. It's also Zazen. And then we continue the day sitting Zazen.

[50:21]

And we have lunch in the Zendo. And then we continue the afternoon sitting Zazen. We have dinner in the Zendo. And then we sit some more until 9.30. And then we get up again and start sitting again at 5. And we do this day after day for seven days. I'm reminded of an old Kuang. Pai Chong, who was a very famous Zen master in the Tang Dynasty in China, was asked a question by a monk. The monk said, Master, what is the most wonderful thing? And Pai Chong said, the most wonderful thing is sitting alone on top of Mt. Dayu Ho. Mt. Dayu Ho is a Japanese word for a Chinese mountain,

[51:28]

which means something like sublime peak. Sitting alone, all alone on this sublime peak. And then Pai Chong hit the monk. There is kind of a wonderful koan. I think we have to clarify the word alone. Alone has the connotation of separateness. How far our language has been perverted during the course of years is that alone now means separate. Whereas the original meaning of alone is at one with. And it also has the same root as atonement.

[52:35]

Atonement. So atonement, also people think of atonement as confessing your sins. But it actually means coming back to oneness with everything. Returning to oneness. And the way you do that is to acknowledge your separateness, which is called sins. So Master Pai Chong said, sitting alone on top of this mountain, sitting at one with everything on top of this mountain. Mountain is like peak, you know, but this peak is attached to something else,

[53:41]

which is attached to something else, which is attached to something else. And when you view it from a certain standpoint, you can see that everything is attached to everything else. So in one sense, it looks very special. I am sitting on this flying peak, the most wonderful thing in the world. And when the monk bowed to Pai Chong, he hit him. So why did he hit him? Well, maybe it's good to hit a monk. If you're hit by a teacher, it's actually not always bad, it can be very good. He might say, you're wonderful. Bam! Or he can say, you idiot. Bam! You don't always know what you did. But I think that the way the monk was bowing,

[54:46]

was saying, oh Master, that's so wonderful. And Pai Chong was saying, it's just ordinary. Please remember that it's just ordinary. It's not something extraordinary. This wonderful thing is just ordinary. Mount Taihu is not some special place. Mount Taihu is wherever you are, is Mount Taihu. If wherever you are, you're connected with everything, nothing special. Just our ordinary life. But in our ordinary life, we don't feel that way. So, it's something special, feels like something special. So, point of our understanding, point of our practice,

[55:53]

how to make something special, something very ordinary. When that something special is something very ordinary, when everybody has that ordinary understanding, ordinary experience of being at one with the universe, then something, I don't know, will all be happy. So, in a sense, we think, well,

[56:56]

Sashin is such an unusual activity. You guys go in there and sit there for seven days, with your legs hurting, blah, blah, blah. But actually, it's just ordinary activity. Really nothing special. The day after Sashin, we just go back into ordinary activity, without blinking an eye. If you can do that, then you have some mastery of your life. So, coming into Sashin, going out of Sashin, even though they're different experiences, fundamentally, it's the same. It's not always easy, but...

[58:07]

So, this is a little something of what our effort is, a little something of explanation about what our effort is during Sashin. But there's no way I can tell you about it. I invite you all to sit Zion in, and sometimes sit Sashin. Thank you very much. Satsang with Mooji

[59:22]

Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji

[60:49]

Satsang with Mooji [...] Excuse me. Excuse me. Because it is Sashin this week, we're not offering a regular lunch or tea after this lecture. However, now we'll be available for discussions and questions and answers after this lecture in the Wheelwright Center. So, anybody who'd like to go there, can go there now.

[62:08]

If you want to go over there and sit on Zarku, please take one with you as you go, because you don't know where they're now. Also, I'd like to remind people, if anybody's interested, that two weeks from today, we're going to start our one-month Garden Study Period, led by Wendy Johnson and Ken Gardner here. And if anybody's interested in Garden Study Period, either as a resident or as a non-resident, they can talk to one of the residents here. Myself, or you can go into the restroom, or Wendy herself. Thank you. I have one other announcement, and that is that next Sunday afternoon, there will be a meeting to tell anyone interested about the Master... Master...

[63:08]

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