We'll be spending the next seven days together, and more and more closely. So today, what I want to do is just set a tone for Sashin. Cixin involves our body, our mind, and breath. So all we have to really worry about is how to take care of this body, how to

[01:25]

watch the functioning of our mind, and to let our breath be very free, freely come and go. When we first enter sashin, our body and mind and breathing are a little rough. Body has to adjust to zazen position.

[02:31]

and our mind has to settle down with our body. So, to not interfere, to allow ourself to not interfere with body, mind functioning together as one piece, one whole, is our task. When body and mind are functioning as one, breath takes care of itself. So I would like us to pay very close attention these seven days to how we take care of our body, not just on the cushion, on the cushion of course, but walking, standing, eating, working,

[04:03]

whatever we do, to extend the same kind of effort into each moment's activity. Everything we do here is one piece. So you can say Zazen is extended wherever we are. And Zendo is extended to wherever we are. So it's helpful. for us to pay attention to the form of Zazen.

[05:11]

I would like us to really pay very close attention to the form of Zazen. Every time we sit, every time you sit, please give yourself Zazen instruction. as if you were teaching somebody how to sit, as if you had a disciple and you're teaching this disciple how to sit, how to do zazen. And if a disciple is sleepy, wake him up or wake her up. If your disciple is getting lazy, give your disciple a little talk, a little encouragement. If your disciple is forgetful, give your disciple some reminder.

[06:24]

So when we sit down in Zazen, tell yourself how to do it. First you bow to the cushion, then you turn to the right and bow out. Then you get up on the cushion and you don't sit completely on the cushion, but a little forward on the cushion so that you can hold your back straight. and then put your legs in the proper position, and you sway back and forth to loosen up your body, and you lean forward in order to put some arch in your back, and you sit up with the spine straight, head on top of the spine, ears in line with the shoulders, nose in line with the navel, and mudra, just right, with the thumb tips facing each other, touching, very lightly touching, eyes open, teeth together, tongue at the roof of the mouth.

[07:51]

Give yourself this kind of instruction every time you sit down in zazen, each period. And then during the period, you remind yourself how to sit. And so you go over and over posture to check posture. So when your attention starts to drift, keep pulling your attention back, coming back to this. over and over and over again. This particular Sashin, I would like us to pay special attention to our mudra, this cosmic mudra.

[08:53]

This mudra, encompasses the whole universe. When you, this also is a kind of barometer, tells us, mudra tells us how we're doing. When mudra goes like this, when your thumbs collapse, that means that your mind is collapsing. Attention is drifting, sleepy, Slothful. So, good mudra, good form. When your thumbs are pressing together, that means you're building up tension in your body. Too extreme, too much energy. pushing, pushing, and then the thumbs, and then pretty soon your arms are starting to get tense, and your shoulders are getting tense, and pretty soon your shoulders are up like this.

[10:02]

And you stand up, and your body's going like this. So, that's too much tension. Zazen is a balance between tension and I don't like to say relaxation, because if I say relaxation, you'll get too soft. But tension and ease. And to keep this constant watch on this balance, when it becomes too much ease, then mood just starts to collapse. When there's too much tension, their thumbs start to press against each other. So to keep your attention on the mudra, keep a good mudra constantly in zazen, which means thumbs are facing each, the tops of your thumbs or the tips of your thumbs are facing each other and very lightly touching.

[11:19]

So that even though the form is very nice, Not tense. No tenseness. Tension, but no tenseness. And how do you do that? Supposing there is tenseness. What do you do about it? This is what you should be thinking about. How do I find this balance? So this is the refinement of sitting. When we enter into sitting, our breath is a little bit rough, there's some tension in our body, tenseness in our body, and little by little, moment by moment, we refine our energy so that we find the

[12:23]

a way to sit very easily so that our energy is very well balanced. So our body becomes very well balanced. You don't need to use a lot of muscular effort to sit up straight. But as we go along in Sashin, we find that we can depend on our balance. And this is what we should look for. When you find that your body's very tense, look for the balance. So it's very important to keep good posture because if you know what is good posture, then you always know what to come back to. So ears in line with the shoulders.

[13:35]

That's good posture. Keep the awareness of ears being in line with the shoulders. If you keep your ears in line with your shoulders, your back will always be straight. So in Zazen we say, sit still. But sitting still doesn't mean not to adjust your posture. While sitting still, we subtly adjust because posture is always changing. It doesn't stay the same for one moment. So on each moment, subtle adjustment. Your head starts to fall forward. You get sleepy. Your back starts to change.

[14:44]

So constantly adjust. we're always losing our balance. And in one moment we're losing our balance, and then the next moment we're finding our balance, regaining our balance. And this is essential in Zazen. If you just assume a position and try to maintain it like a rock, you have very difficult time in Zazen. So if your body is not supple in zazen, you have a very difficult time. So what you should strive for is very good form, best form you can possibly find.

[15:57]

And at the same time, be completely open so that your body is very supple. No tenseness in your body. Perfect form with no tenseness. Which means that all the parts of your body are co-operating to make this, create this form. And the mind is the leader. body and mind together, of course, but you have to tell yourself what you're doing. So what we look for in zazen is not some special state of mind or some special feeling. but just to do the work of sitting up straight.

[16:59]

All the benefits of zazen come from just putting your attention into sitting up straight. Don't look for anything. When you can maintain this kind of posture, then you can also accept the difficulty that you have with the pain in your legs. Pain in your legs goes hand in hand with Zazen. But the secret of dealing with pain in your legs is to be able to accept it right away, without hesitation.

[18:07]

When you have pain, without hesitating, just open yourself. The difficulty we have is through resistance. So in the same way that we let the breath come and go, that we must allow whatever feeling we have, bodily feeling, whether it's pleasure or pain, to be there. If you wait too long to accept it, then you're just struggling. No need to struggle. If you resist and resist and resist, you're just struggling. If you can open yourself right away, without hesitation, then that pain actually can help you to be open.

[19:27]

And as one day goes by and another day goes by, even though your legs may become more painful, you're open more and more each day to accepting. So please begin right away. Don't wait until you have so much difficulty. In other words, if you know how to grow up with the pain, grow up with the difficulty by opening and not resisting, then by the time you're grown up or grown into what we're doing, it won't be a problem.

[20:49]

So during Sashin, we must grow more and more open and be able to embrace more and more. Sashin is sometimes called embracing mind. It means to be completely empty, without limitation. just wide open. So when we're sitting Zazen, consciously make an effort to let go of the tenseness in your shoulders

[22:05]

and in your arms, and in your back. Feel the tenseness draining out. Consciously do this to feel the tenseness draining out of your shoulders, upper back, and arms. And the same with your legs. When you feel some tightness or painfulness, just open. And until we are able to do this, session seems like pretty difficult. But sometimes we have to be driven with our difficulty to the point where we can just open up, because there's nothing else to do, no other way to go.

[23:14]

So this is the kind of barrier of Zazen. How do I do this? When you can't stay and you can't leave, where do you go? You just have to drop body and mind and open up. So my suggestion is, best way, easiest way to do this is to pay attention to the form.

[24:21]

Pay attention to the form of Zazen. And when we do Kinhin, please pay attention to the form of Kinhin, because it helps us to keep our mind Correct mind. When we do kinhin, keep your arms parallel to the floor, not down like this. If your arms are down like this, it's a little too soft, a little too lazy. It's easy to just let your mind drift. Kinhin is zazen. Sometimes we think that kinhin is the bathroom break. It's true at that time. If you have to go to the bathroom, that's the time to do it. But kinhin is zazen. And we should pay as much attention to our walking in kinhin as we do sitting in zazen.

[25:29]

Same thing. So keep your Shashu, with your arms up like this, parallel to the floor. Not like this. Not like this. This is a little too precious. And when you step, take a step in Kinhin, just a half a step, at a time. But when you raise your foot, you raise your foot on the inhale and put it down on the exhale. And then raise your foot on the inhale, put it down on the exhale so that your breath and your foot are in harmony with each other. But you don't have to take one step each time you take a breath. Your step can be after two or three breaths, depending on the pace of everyone.

[26:40]

You can do it after two or three breaths. But keeping the form helps us to be mindful. helps to keep our attention where it belongs. And when we eat, we open our eating bowls very quietly. No sound. Try to make no sound. This is focused attention. So, whether we're walking or sitting, or opening our bowls, whatever we use, whatever we come in contact with, there's no separation. When we walk to our room, pay attention to your footsteps.

[27:52]

So, two things. Let's pay special attention to our mudra. Two, please pay special attention to your footsteps wherever you go. Be mindful of how the feet touch the ground. When you forget and you're not listening, at some point you'll wake up and realize, I'm not listening to the sound of my feet. So please listen to the sound of your feet, wherever you go. And when you forget, remind yourself, just like you remind yourself to come back to the breathing when your mind wanders. I just want to say one thing about mind, our thinking mind.

[29:00]

Sometimes we get the idea that we're supposed to shut off our thinking mind. But in Zazen, we don't shut off or try to shut off our thinking mind. And at the same time, we don't indulge ourself in thinking mind. Thoughts just come up like your heart beats and like the breath comes and goes. Heart beats, blood runs through the system, breath comes and goes without our having to do anything about it. And in the same way, thoughts are always bubbling into the mind. just let the thoughts come and go. So that the thought that you have is the thought of zazen rather than the thought of something else.

[30:06]

It's not that we don't think in zazen. Our thinking in zazen is to think zazen. And when we're thinking, when the mind is thinking something else, just bring it back. So continuously bringing our attention back is what this is all about. The mind wanders, we bring it back. The mind wanders, we bring it back. Constantly recollecting. Don't worry about it. As soon as you start to worry about it, you create another problem for yourself. So the fact that your mind is wandering is not bad.

[31:10]

It also is not good. It's not wrong, and it's not right. It's just mind is wandering. So when mind is wandering, bring it back. and then it'll wander again and you bring it back. But underneath the wandering and bringing back is very steady zazen. Zazen does not depend on whether the mind is wandering or focused. But if you just let it go, that's not zazen. So to pay attention, when the mind is wandering, bring it back.

[32:21]

That's zazen. But just to let it go, to think, oh, it's not bad, just let it go. That's not zazen. But to make the effort is zazen. So, zazen is our effort. As long as we're really making the effort Anything can happen, and it's still Zazen. It may even be Zazen when we don't make the effort, but we shouldn't say so. And if you get sleepy, you can ask for the Kyusaku.

[33:26]

I would like us to carry the stick from time to time in the sasheen. It helps to keep us alert and awake and aware of what we're doing. Very easy to just have a nice quiet sasheen and space out. So, to constantly wake up, bringing back our attention moment by moment, is called waking up to the reality of this. And that's what we're doing. Moment by moment, waking up to the reality of just this. And when we can make that effort, you'll find that there is a continuity of just this, even though it goes like that.

[34:40]

So please make good effort during this session. And if you have questions, please come to Dokasan with your questions. Norman is my Jisha, but he's not, he has to take care of the kids today. So his Sashin is a little different than our Sashin. But Scott is my Jisha in his place today. So if you want to sign up for Doksan, please see Scott and he'll, I think that's the way we're doing it, and he will put you on the list.

[35:51]

I hope you come. I would like to see all of you, actually. at some point during Sushi. So maybe three things that I would like us to emphasize One is straight back with our head on top of our shoulders and ears in line with our shoulders to really pay attention to that and to pay attention to mudra and to listen to the sound of your footsteps wherever you are. Do you have a question?

[37:02]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ