Good morning. As we know, one of the most important aspects of Practice in Buddhism is a practice of mindfulness, awareness. Mindfulness has various aspects. I think you could say that Samadhi is a developed aspect of mindfulness.

[01:04]

Samadhi sometimes is translated as absorption. You can say self-absorption, but self-absorption as the aspect of egocentricity. So samadhi is not self-absorption in the sense of egocentricity, but more absorbed self-absorption without ego. So I'll explain that a little bit according to the four modes, I would call them, of Master Rinzai.

[02:15]

You could say four categories, four modes. I like to call them modes, categories. It didn't sound so good to me. Four modes of Rinzai. So Zen Master Rinzai had what he called the four characteristics of samadhi, or four modes of practice. And the first one is circumstances are in the foreground and the person is in the background. The second one is the person is in the foreground, circumstances are in the background. The third one is both circumstances and the person are in the background or are gone, disappear.

[03:26]

And the fourth one is both circumstances and the person are in the foreground. There are different ways to say this, but this is my way of saying it. So in the first one, the first mode, the person is in the background and circumstances are in the foreground. In our daily life, often we become absorbed in our activity. A painter can easily become absorbed in a painting and forget... When you become absorbed in the painting that you're doing, you forget yourself. When you... A surgeon working on some operation forgets himself. Just the activity is present.

[04:34]

So we get into these kinds of modes, into this mode often. And in our daily life, we become absorbed or focused on our activity. And you can say that this is a kind of samadhi or mindfulness. But samadhi is a little different from, say, the samadhi of being absorbed in a movie, or the samadhi of being absorbed in a football game. Because in samadhi, there's no self-centeredness. This is absorption without self-centeredness.

[05:38]

If there's any self-centeredness, we don't call it samadhi. So, it's absorption without self. Absorption in activity, but with no self, no self-centeredness, no egotism, no... Not in the realm of reward, just activity, just being absorbed in the activity for its own sake. And the person disappears. But at the same time, the person is not absent but is in the shadow.

[06:47]

So the activity is in the foreground and the person is in the shadow. And in the second mode, the person is in the foreground and all activities are in the shadow. So this is where there's concentration just on the person's activity. So we have this kind of concentration when we sit in zazen. It's just the activity of the person is the focus. Often we call this mindfulness. This is what we usually call mindfulness. And in the sutras, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of feelings, mindfulness of mental states, and mindfulness of consciousness.

[07:54]

This is absorption on the self, but it's not self-absorption. It's absorption on the activities of somebody. But there is no me. So in this kind of mindfulness or samadhi, there's just bare attention on the activity of the person, or not on the person, on the activity of the activity. So when the arm is raised, it's not I am raising my arm, it's just there is the activity of an arm being raised, but there's no person. There is the activity of drinking, A cup of tea is being consumed, but there is no consumer. There is walking, but there is no person who is doing the walking. This is mindfulness practice in Buddhism.

[08:56]

There is the activity, but there is no owner of the activity. There is no person within the activity. So to just have bare attention, on bodily and mental and emotional and conscious activity is called mindfulness in Buddhism. So this is mindfulness where activities of the world are in the shadow and it is just focused on the activity for lack of a better term, the person. And this is a kind of samadhi, mindfulness. So these are the first two modes of Rinzai. One is the person is in the shadow and just the activity is dominant.

[10:04]

And the second one is the activity is in the shadow and just the person is in the foreground. And the third one is both the person and the activity are taken away. This is like in a very deep meditation where the mind is like the sky, the clear sky. It's where there's no reflection on activity. Our consciousness, our first mode of consciousness is to just recognize something, just to be awake without reflection.

[11:10]

And the second mode of consciousness is to reflect on something and to recognize it and name it and fit it in to some kind of category which compares with other phenomena. This is called discrimination. To discriminate is to compare and compartmentalize and name. And then there's another level of consciousness which discusses all of this. And we have these three levels of consciousness which are operating all the time. But we get lost in the second and the third without paying much attention to the first. When you have an extreme situation and you have to move very quickly and you're deprived, actually, of your discriminating consciousness for the moment, then you say,

[12:13]

What a fantastic experience! Time stopped and I just did this thing, you know. But usually we don't have this freshness of pure perception. Our mind is always discriminating on either the second level or the third level as soon as perception appears or as soon as perception notices something. So in this third category, both mind, consciousness, and the person, and circumstances are taken away. And there's only bare consciousness, bare awareness. And the mind is like the blue sky without anything, no speck. of discrimination.

[13:17]

So if a bird flies across the sky, there's the activity of the bird flying across the sky, but you don't say, that's a bird. Or you don't say, this is the sky. Or you don't say, this is a bird flying across the sky. There is just something happening. If someone is hammering a nail, You don't say, someone is hammering a nail next door. There's just some sound, some activity happening on the blue sky. And it's just noticed, but it's not discriminated. So this is where mind becomes very clean and pure. Pure mind, pure consciousness. It's like a glass of water which is very muddy and you put the glass of water on the table and little by little the mud settles and it's just the clear water.

[14:35]

So this is consciousness that's just like clear water or just like blue empty sky. And mind does not discriminate anything. It's like the mirror. Maybe not even like the mirror. It doesn't really reflect anything back. If it does reflect anything back, it reflects just as it is without discriminating it. So this is a very deep level of samadhi. and the basis of zazen and the basis of non-discriminating activity and the basis of non-dualistic understanding. Then the fourth mode is where both the person and the circumstances are in the foreground.

[15:48]

So, within our activity, there's nothing missing. Both form and emptiness are working in complete harmony. So in our daily activity, the person is completely grounded in non-activity, and always completely mindful. And no matter what happens in those circumstances, the person is never turned over or upset. No matter what happens, there cannot be any upsetting because there's nothing to upset.

[17:00]

So this is sort of Master Rinzai's four modes. And it's like looking at, say, a jewel that's cut on four sides, and it's transparent. So each side, when you look at one side, you see one aspect, and when you look at another side, you see another aspect, but it's really just one jewel. And you can look right through it and see the other three sides, no matter which side you're on. So it's not really four different things, but four ways, four perspectives of mindfulness, samadhi, circumstances, and this person.

[18:14]

So we say, well, how can I practice mindfulness in my life? How can I practice samadhi in my life? This is the most difficult thing. So Master Rinzai offers us these four modes. He says, this is the way it is. Sometimes, when it's completely absorbed in circumstances, And sometimes one is completely absorbed in our own activity. And you have to have both of these. And when you are absorbed, when you find absorption, especially in the third category, when you find deep samadhi in zazen, where the mind is clear, even though birds fly or hammer nails, or airplanes go overhead, or kids scream, or your grandmother is yelling at you in your psyche.

[19:36]

It doesn't matter. It's just phenomena passing by. When you get to this point, Then you can, without trying, you practice Samadhi in your daily life. When the mind is no longer always discriminating on the basis of like and dislike, good and bad, right and wrong, according to my standards of my ego, then we can have that place in our life, that mindfulness in our life, where things can't be overturned. And if we get knocked down, we get up again.

[20:37]

We know how to get up again. So there's a certain kind of constancy in that kind of practice. That's why practice is called everyday thing, because the constancy of practice is what makes this so. So mindfulness has many aspects. You know, if you're driving your car, or walking down the street, or in your body activities, we should always be mindful of the center of our body. This is the simplest practice. It doesn't require any thought.

[21:39]

It doesn't require anything to figure out. You just always are present. in the center of your body. And you relate all of your activity to that center. And you're always balanced and always in harmony with universal activity. And when your activity is coming from the center, then you actually lose yourself. You gain yourself and at the same time you lose yourself. Because you act through your activities through balance and you don't have to gain any advantage.

[22:43]

So a person who always comes back to themselves in this mode doesn't need so much. You know, in Zazen, when we're absorbed in Zazen, we don't need anything. That's one of the most wonderful things that we experience in Zazen, is at that time, we don't need anything. You don't get hungry, you don't have to go to the bathroom, you don't necessarily get cold or hot. everything's taken care of. So if we carry that mindfulness of always coming back to our center and our breathing, and to center ourself in each activity, and to breathe with each activity in a centered way, then we're always in zazen, But when we get off balance, then we need a lot.

[23:59]

Often we say, people say, well if everybody was just in balance, if the world was just in balance, there wouldn't be so much problem. But of course the world also needs to get out of balance, because otherwise life would be boring. I'm serious. True, actually. So it's fine for them. And there's nothing you can do about it because we're constantly being thrown out of balance. The world is constantly getting thrown into imbalance. Our world, every world, moment by moment. And then we have to find our place, each moment. So there's no place where you can just be. Each one of us has to find our balance with our surroundings on each moment, even though it seems very subtle sometimes, and not so subtle with others.

[25:10]

So this is how we maintain physical health and mental health, and also helping people around us. By maintaining this kind of practice, we help the people around us without trying to help anybody. It's very hard to help people. You know, when we start interfering with them, thinking that we're helping them, they get kind of irritated with us. So, the best thing we can do, basically, is really to take care of ourselves, mindfully, to take care of our surroundings, mindfully, and to realize that our surroundings are not separate from us. Whichever situation we step into, we influence.

[26:25]

How will we influence that situation? So this is part of mindfulness. Taking care of circumstances is mindfulness, and taking care of ourself is mindfulness, and forgetting ourself and forgetting circumstances is also mindfulness, at the appropriate time. Just a sense of balance in the center of your body. There's a lot of controversy about that.

[27:44]

You can't explain metal states or grain states. There's a split there. There's also a split in quantum reality. You know, that wave, particle, analog, digital, it seems to be a big... that hasn't been resolved in physics and studies. Well, if you keep it on this level of what we can see and experience in our normal way, it's possible to act in accordance with reality. So in Buddhism, Buddhism, except all schools of Buddhism, except the fact that body and mind are not two different things.

[28:45]

No matter what controversies are going on in the world, according to Buddhism, body and mind are not two different things, even though we say body and mind. So, in Buddhism there are two minds. One mind is the mind that we associate with thinking mind. That's small M. Big Mind with a capital M is Buddha nature. That's the mind that breathes. So who breathes? Well, breathing just happens. I'm not breathing. So the activity of the universe is called mind in Buddhism. So body and mind are not two different things.

[29:49]

And thinking is thinking and acting is acting, right? So the mind is associated with consciousness and the body is associated with form. But mind and form even though they're different aspects, are not different things. It's one being with many aspects. So, if we balance the body, it helps to balance mind. If we balance mind, it helps to balance the body. So body and mind are always working together. They're not working separately. And when they are, then we get sick. Is thinking an activity?

[31:01]

Thinking, yeah, thinking is an activity. So can you get absorbed in thinking? Don't you? We get absorbed in thinking. So absorption in thinking is also a kind of mindfulness. The problem is that thinking can also be a distraction. So it depends on what you mean by thinking. There's thinking which has an object, and there's thinking which is imagination, and there's thinking which is fantasy, all kinds of modes of thought. And there's thinking which can establish us in reality. And there's thinking which can establish us in delusion.

[32:09]

But even the thinking that establishes us in delusion is still reality. But although it's reality, it's delusion. It's the real delusion. practicing zazen and becoming aware of self, putting self in the foreground and being aware of one's activity like breathing. How is it that that goes to the other state in which one is aware of just clarity? Well, they're just two aspects of the same thing. It's not that one goes to the other. The third mode is really an extension of the second.

[33:16]

That's why I say they're not four different things. They're just four windows, or four sides of one piece. So, just to talk about it in terms of, in simple terms, is one window. And then to look at it in a more in-depth way is the third window. And didn't you say that the fourth mode is when it brings us in mind into everyday life? Is that how you would characterize it? Well, I would say it was when there's no difference between the categories. There's absolutely no difference.

[34:22]

Even between the fourth and the first category? Well, when there's no difference between our activity and mindfulness. In other words, no difference. The person is there, and the activity is there, and it's not a problem. So you can say, yes, this is me, Joe Blow, doing this. It's not a problem. Yeah, it's like that. Is that a perception?

[35:39]

Or a non-perception? Well, you know, there is a state of neither perception nor non-perception in the Jhanas. That's the last state, neither perception nor non-perception. Maybe the next last state. It's like, perception is not clouded. That's a state where perception is not... there's no discrimination. Even though there is discrimination within the activity, it's the discrimination of non-discrimination. Because all the discriminations that are taking place are not based on a self-centered perception or partiality. So we're always making choices.

[36:44]

There are always choices being made, moment by moment. But discriminated choices means choices that are based on partiality. Non-discriminated choice means choice that's based on non-partiality. So, in other words, based on seeing clearly that a choice based on non-partiality would be based on the realization that even though you're making a choice, you're still not dividing things into two. A choice based on partiality would mean when you choose something, you're cutting something

[37:58]

The choice is based on non-partiality. Who makes it? Who makes it? The one who has no desire. Think I'll ever meet that person? Thank you.

[40:13]

Yeah, that's why we say we make a mistake on purpose. Talking, you know, it's not possible, but it's necessary anyway. So, the problem is, If you think that you have to understand the words, then it's a problem. Whenever we give a talk, you should forget the words. And try to get the meaning. And if you don't get the meaning, it's okay. If you don't get the meaning, you know, then you think it's something to think about.

[41:58]

Well, they're all, they're all correct ways. There are four correct ways. There's four correct ways to look at it. Mindfully. It's a review. That's something you have to do.

[43:25]

You have to do it again. [...] You have to do whatever you want to call it, self-review, and you have to live with that. But the only thing happening is you have to respond. At the moment there, I was confused because it felt like I didn't have to do that screening, that I didn't have to do more of the same than you said I need to learn how, I don't know, what to put in there. So I guess I'm looking for some comfort around the screening. The problem is that choice and discrimination, you know, is a great big core.

[44:32]

And if you think you can figure that out, then you think, God, you know, what the heck is going on? You know, if you're this, then you're that. But if not this or that, it's a core. The most famous poems are about this. The choice of discrimination. Do I choose or not choose? How do I choose? What? How can I discriminate if there's not supposed to be any discrimination? It's not stopping anymore. No, it can't stop. Right, and that feels like it's happening over here.

[45:34]

So it's serious. It doesn't, it just seems to have emptied out of doing this effort. I'm not sure what you mean by that. Like good, but they're all not so specific. I don't know what you mean by this and the other. That's the con of my life. So we're always dealing with, how do we choose? How do we do things without discriminating? So you can use that.

[46:39]

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