As I said this morning, I don't usually put too much pressure on you at the beginning of a sasheen. I don't know why exactly. Partly I have not wanted to exclude those of you who really can't do it.

[01:05]

and who can't really get much concentration until you've had six, five or six days of sitting. So I don't like to make you feel defeated, you know, at the beginning. And also, there's always the problem of who's doing it or why, how do you choose one thing over another? Making yourself concentrate, is that maybe some attainment or ego? But I think you must see that we have to do something, and this is sasheen, so to just practice, to just decide to sit and not leave it up to the sasheen. Let the sasheen do its own work,

[02:37]

and without depending on it, just in each particular, try to concentrate, sit straight. Ryokan says, paraphrasing Dogen's instructions on zazen, he says, sitting sitting by in the still night, sitting by the vacant or empty window, in the still night, sitting by the empty window, wrapped in monk's robe, navel and nose lined up, ears and shoulders paired, The window lights up with the moon. And although the rain stopped, everything is still dripping. Wonderful, vast, known only to myself.

[04:12]

The emphasis in most Zen poetry, and particularly in the Yogacara school of Buddhism, is on the particular. You could even say, taking refuge in the particular. Yogacara philosophy, you know, explanation takes such phrases or makes such terms as point-instant particular or extreme particular. So the philosophy which emphasizes mind only says the only reality is in the extreme particular, which you can't give any generalization about. just some point sensation. Japan and China, in their long political and social and economic stability, had a great deal of vitality.

[05:51]

but also at the times of expansion and much intermingling of people like Tang Dynasty China, where people of every race from all over the Asian continent and even from Europe and India, people were mixing in Tang China. And that also was the period of greatest vitality in Zen. And I think we may have a period like that in America. We are just beginning, of course. We don't know what will happen. We are just at the very beginning. So maybe one or two hundred years from now, we can see. we can say this was a very vital period or not. But especially now I think we need to be free from trying to make sense of everything. Of course if you do something with other people you have to make sense of it, have to make sense with others of what you're doing. But to practice Zen

[07:22]

It's important, necessary, to give up making sense to yourself. Who do you have to explain yourself to? But it's very difficult for us to do. We always want to make sense to ourselves, or more than that even, have some explanation to ourselves, which covers ourselves, as if someone else is going to discover us. This is not Yogacara, point-instant sensation, or extreme particulate, where there is no comparison. Chuanza. Chuanza supposedly said, don't hide the boat in the ravine. He meant, don't locate things in time and space. Don't hide the boat in the ravine, said Chuanza.

[08:25]

Hide phenomena in phenomena. It means don't compare, don't locate. So Wong Wei, such a famous Buddhist poet, he says the river flows beyond heaven and earth. He doesn't say the river flows between heaven and earth. He says the river flows beyond heaven and earth and the mountain color between seen and unseen. Beyond heaven and earth doesn't mean something transcendental. It means very particular. If you locate it, river flows between heaven and earth,

[09:26]

you have some comparative idea. So Wong Wei is always trying to strike at phenomena hidden in phenomena, just this river flowing beyond time and space, beyond heaven and earth, the color of the mountain between seen and unseen. So your actual uniqueness or perception is momentary. You can't capture it in language or discursive thought. So in Sachine especially, we can try to find out, try to take refuge in just the particular without any discursive thought or explanation. to hide yourself in yourself. There's no categories. Each thing is its own category. We begin to think there's such a thing as identity or ego because our ideas are similar. We have similar ideas, but those similar ideas are just similar ideas. They're similar because our mind is so tired or lazy.

[11:01]

and makes things similar. Our mind can't handle all the innumerable differences. You know, cows and lions and so forth. So cows all tend to be alike for us. But mountains color between seen and unseen. Wong Wei means so particular you can't make any comparison. So practice of Zen and Sashin is to make your mind tough enough and flexible enough that it can move unique to unique to unique without getting tired. So many things come into conjunction. You get out of your rutted thinking.

[12:03]

get out of keep always thinking in terms of identity or similarity or relatedness in some way. That makes sense. So to have the courage and confidence to not make sense, to not try to organize, to explain your perceptions, Not try to relate your ideas. By this means you can have your freedom. And you'll find many things in conjunction. And you'll find out something very interesting. The more you can, in sasheen, allow, you know, it's something more than just free-floating ideas. And so Ryokan says, sitting, very particular, nose and navel, ears and shoulder. And then he says, this wonderful, beyond, vast, known only to me, not some story or something discursive,

[13:36]

Just all he says is we can describe as taking refuge in the particular. Maybe I would say for Sachine, to uncalibrate the world and calibrate your posture. Get your posture as much as possible, straight and relaxed. and determined to sit that way each period. And let the sun come up in you. Let your breathing and mind relax Try to keep your mind away from discursive thinking. If it's necessary, bring it back to the particularity, the particular of your breathing, of your posture. Something your mind just notes and doesn't think about.

[14:55]

You don't have to make sense to yourself. Without thinking about the whole session or even length of the period, You are just sitting. Holmes Welch, when he was discussing with the various Chinese monks he interviewed, how could you sit 9 to 15 hours a day for 9 to 15 years without getting bored? That's a very logical, sensible question. The monks who stayed, oh, I don't remember being bored. Always something, each moment unique. Holmes Welch asked one of the old abbots, and he said, oh, many people, the ones who got bored ran away. For people who can't let go into this uniqueness,

[16:30]

Abbott said, monastery life is just like a prison to them. They always feel confined. They always want some story, you know, and they always feel anxious that they're not working out that story. Ryokan, who had such a respect for being a monk. He said, how could I have nothing to do all these years wearing the monk's robe? So to take advantage of the opportunity of sesshin, you do quite a number of them, and so you think you have many, but actually you have only this one. You have only this sesshin, no other sesshin. Zhao Zhou was asked by a monk,

[18:03]

Everything returns to the One. Where does the One return to? And Jao Zhou said, when I was in Say province, I made a robe that weighed exactly six pounds, two ounces. And one of the commentaries says, in such and such a province, so-and-so is being is riding in some kind of cart, and another person is pulling the cart, and another person is making the sandals for the person who pulls the cart. It doesn't mean there's not some difference between these people. or to ignore the difference, but at the same time you should see just someone's pulling the cart, someone's riding in the cart, someone makes the sandals for the cart, for the person pulling the cart. If you can't drop the storyline of your life,

[19:35]

You can't really take advantage of Seshin. This one Seshin where you can open up all of your channels. So main effort in this seshim should be to calibrate your posture and to keep your mind on something non-discursive, a koan, a question, the particularity of your breathing, Something you just bring your mind back to, you know, like I said in a lecture a while ago. Even some mathematical problem. 247 divided by 93 and a half.

[20:45]

See if you can let your mind be like a block of wood. You're sitting like a stump or stone. It means to drop your storyline. You know, drop the fake, what's called transcendental illusion. The fake identity of ideas and relationships Allow the world to do its own work. Allow the Seshim to do its own work. And you, at least for these seven days, to just be able to sit and let the world go on its own immoral way without your help and corrections and comparisons and concerns. meaningless existence. Rain, moon has come up, the window whitens, moon has come up. Rain is stopped but still dripping. Vast

[22:30]

known only to me," says Ryokan. Nose and ears and shoulders, Buddha's robe wrapped around he goes out begging. No point, he just goes out begging at Hachiman Shrine. And little boys call out, oh, there's the crazy monk who was here last year. You don't have to be a monk to live this way. You just go to work

[23:38]

Get up, go to Zazen. You know, you may think this is immoral life, but just for seven days you can try it. Completely immoral life. Just a vacation in particulars. Just sun on the beach. just sasan with no idea except to sit completely straight and awake without thinking discursively about anything. This way you will find out the real import of your self and sashin your body and mind, you won't interfere. And by the second and third day, you may, I don't know for sure, you may find out something very particular and unique known only to you.

[25:09]

Maybe everyone knows it, but you don't care. Known only to you in this one session. Eighth day, and this is the eighth day of this one session. You've already been sitting seven days. So please relax. and concentrate only on your posture and keep your mind on something not discursive

[25:55]

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