Good morning. Today we're having a one-day sasheen. For those of you who don't know what that means, sasheen is a long period of sitting, one day or seven days or nine days or whatever. Today is one day. five to nine. And the meaning of sashin is something like to unify body and mind so that there is no gap. This is also called samadhi. Samadhi has various meanings but basically to unify body and mind.

[01:08]

There's many meanings of body and there are many meanings of mind. When we say body we usually think of just flesh and bones but in Buddhadharma Body means, our body means the whole body of the universe. That's what we mean by unifying body and mind, which includes this flesh and blood body. So we say the true human body is the whole universe. So today, I'm going to talk about a very basic text of Dogen Zenji, which the long-time practitioners are very familiar with.

[02:19]

This is going back to basics. I'm going to talk about Master Dogen's Fukan Zazengi. which is very appropriate to encourage us in our sitting today and for our sitting anytime. Master Dogen was of course born in the year 1200 and he's the founder of our school in Japan. He went to China as a young man because he wasn't satisfied with what he could learn in Japan. So he went to China and brought back the Soto teaching. Actually, he just brought back what he called Zen, but it happened to be the Soto style, Zao Dong in China, of Zazen.

[03:20]

And so the first thing he wrote was the Fukan Zazengi, Fukan Zazengi means, is translated as the universal promotion of the principles of Zazen. Fukan Zazengi. Promotion, I like the word encouragement, the universal encouragement or the universal any of those, use any of those terms. So Dogen talks about why he, about the meaning, the deeper meaning of Zazen, the deeper meaning of Zazen as practice, and what we should be aware of. So for you who haven't heard this, it's So he's talking about the way.

[04:32]

The way, he starts out talking about the way. The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. The way means bodhi. Bodhi means enlightenment. So he's talking about the Tao, of course, means way, but in this case, the way of bodhi, the way of enlightenment. is basically, or awakening actually, is originally basically perfect and all-pervading. Since it's basically perfect and all-pervading, how could it be contingent upon practice and realization? In other words, he's saying, since all beings have or are good in nature, have the nature of enlightenment, why is it contingent on practice?

[05:41]

Why do we have to do something? I think a lot of people think this way. Why do we have to practice? Why do we have to sit down and cross our legs when it hurts? How can it be contingent upon practice and realization, since it pervades everywhere? It's the most common thing, actually. The Dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled. This is a translation of Dr. Abe, a Japanese scholar and practitioner. And he uses very nice language. So, what need is there for concentrated effort? Why do we have to do something? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust.

[06:43]

When he says the whole body, he means the whole body of the universe, which is our true body. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who can believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. So what's the use of going off here and there to practice?" Bringing up this question, this is a kind of question he had before he went to China. He had studied in the Tendai monasteries in Japan. This question was very important for him. So whoever is opening the door can come in if they want to. So this wiping the dust refers to a story from the sixth ancestor in China.

[07:55]

But I can't go through that whole story, it would be too long. In other words, since the reality, true reality, is far beyond wiping the dust, what need is there to do that? But I don't want to go into that story, it's too long. But the gist of this paragraph is Why do we have to do something, you know, since we all have true nature? True nature pervades everywhere. And then he says, and yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy or duality, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. that. If the least like or dislike arises, that's discrepancy.

[08:59]

Our lives are based on like and dislike. This is the duality of our life, which causes us so much trouble. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose one gains the pride of understanding, and inflates one's own enlightenment, glimpsing the wisdom that runs through all things, attaining the way and clarifying the mind, raising an aspiration to escalate the very sky. One is making the initial partial excursions about the frontier, but is still somewhat deficient in the vital way of total emancipation. So here, he's talking about, we may study or even practice somewhat, or feel like, I've had a satori. People come up all the time with satori stories.

[10:02]

I had a flash of insight, so I must be enlightened. So, he's talking about people who are, when we become attached to this kind of The main thing, even if we do have authentic enlightenment experience, if we hang on to this and are proud of it, it just becomes delusion, the worst kind of delusion. The worst kind of delusion is to cling to our enlightenment experience. As soon as we have some experience, which is realization, if it was true realization, we wouldn't be proud of it in the first place. And we wouldn't cling to it in the second place. So when you have some kind of realization, oh, that was fun.

[11:13]

And then he talks about the Buddha. He says, need I mention the Buddha, who was possessed of inborn knowledge. The influence of his six years of upright sitting is noticeable still. Or Bodhidharma's transmission of the mind seal. The fame of his nine years of wall sitting is celebrated to this day. So since this was the case with the saints of old, how can people of today dispense with negotiation of the way? So he's using them as examples. If they had to do this, how can you not do it? You should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, or words and letters, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inward to eliminate the self. Body and mind in themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay."

[12:25]

So this is a very potent paragraph, because there is a lot here that he's talking about. It sounds like he's saying you shouldn't study, but that's not what he's saying. He's saying you shouldn't depend on study at the expense of practice. Or you shouldn't think that studying will be beneficial without practice. And then he says, and learn the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate yourself. Backward step that turns light inward to illuminate yourself. The problem with this kind of expression is that it looks like there's something in front and something in back.

[13:31]

And if you step back, it's a kind of expression that we all understand, I think. We all understand it. Basically, it means citta-sat. If you sit in zazen, this is taking the backward step. Backward and forward, right? This is basically vipassana. Vipassana means to stop and look. Our lives have this rhythm of continual activity. And so it's hard to see clearly because our life is continually spinning out. So to stop and look and to actually really let things be for a period of time.

[14:45]

Just let things be. That's the hardest thing. hard for people to just stop. And this is also called investigation. But investigation, meaning what is real and what is not real, what is true and what is not true. So, taking the backward step to illuminate Where does this illumination come from? Where does this light come from? It's not a flashlight, kind of like a flashlight, but it's like, kind of like that. If when you're outside and you light a match, it doesn't, you know, it's somewhat insignificant as far as adding to the light. But if you go in a closet, and you strike a match, it lights up the whole closet.

[15:50]

So, taking the step backwards step is kind of like stepping into the closet and lighting a match. And the match will illuminate the whole space. So, Sazen is like that closet. It's like sitting down. without any purpose, letting go of everything and just seeing what's there, just letting everything be as it is. So, illumination is our nature. Everything is illuminated. The reason that we don't see our original illumination is because it's everywhere. So, it's like We call it selling water by the river. You know, if you want water, you just take a drink, right?

[16:56]

So we sell this stuff, but it's all pervasive. We just think, this is it. Get it? See it? It's hard to see, because it's all pervasive. So, this illumination, the light that is illumination, is our basic nature. But if you try to define it, it's not it. And yet, it is it. So, if you want to attain suchness, well, first of all, the body and mind themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest. Why can't you just say, as a way of explaining what taking a backwards step is, why isn't it sufficient to say that it's turning your attention inwards? And illumination, this illumination is your attention.

[18:02]

Fukanza Zangi workbook that we put together many, many years ago at Zen Center. And it has three or four different translations. And they're all different. So yours is OK. And this is OK. That's all. People have different ways of saying things. Body and mind will drop off away and your original face will be manifest. So original face is radiant light. That's our original face. You say, what was your original face before your parents were born? It's the same thing. Before their parents were born. Before anything was born. So this is body-mind dropping off. It's like just letting go. Just letting go. Nothing drops away except our delusions.

[19:23]

So he says, if you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay. Suchness means the way things really are without our opinions. and without our partiality. Body and mind dropped off. There's no partiality and no one-sided opinions as truth. For a sanzen, sanzen here means zazen. For a sanzen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately, cast aside all involvements, dismiss all affairs. do not think good or bad, do not administer pros and cons, cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views, have no designs on becoming a Buddha, and sansen has nothing to do with sitting or lying down. In other words, this is called dropping body and mind.

[20:30]

And as far as sitting or lying down, there are the four postures, Zazen is not considered one of the four postures. The four postures are standing, sitting, lying down, and walking. Zazen includes all those, but it's not defined by him. So at the site of your regular sitting, he tells us how to sit Zazen. Spread out thick matting and place a cushion above it. full lotus position, you first place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh. In the half lotus, you simply place the left foot on your right thigh. You should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order. Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left palm, I think it's your foot actually, and your left palm facing upwards on your right palm, thumb tips touching.

[21:33]

Thus, sit upright in correct bodily posture, neither inclining to the left nor the right, neither leaning forward nor backward. Be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth, with teeth and lips both shut, and your eyes should always remain open, if you can do that. And you should breathe gently through your nose. So this is how we sit zazen. And I encourage everyone, when you sit down, this is the zazen instruction that you give yourself every time you sit down. Every time you do zazen, you give yourself this zazen instruction. And that way, you'll keep learning how to do it. Once you have adjusted your posture, you take a deep breath, inhale and exhale. Rock your body right and left. immobile sitting position, and then you think not thinking.

[22:40]

How do you think not thinking? Non-thinking. This non-thinking is a translation. Most people use that as a translation, but it can be neither thinking or not thinking, or both thinking and Think-not-thinking means when your thought and your activity are not separate. That's think-not-thinking. When you think the thought of Zazen, and you're doing Zazen, that's think-not-thinking. Thoughts will come and walk through your mind. That's not thinking. That's just thoughts wandering through your mind. Then when you catch yourself thinking, taking up those thoughts, that's called thinking.

[23:42]

But simply having thoughts running through our mind is not necessarily thinking, because the thoughts are simply random. There's no intention. It's not intentional thinking. It's simply thoughts randomly scooting around in your brain. That's not the same thing. So we think the thought of, let's not think today. Not thinking doesn't mean that there shouldn't be thoughts. Or it doesn't even mean that you shouldn't think volitionally. But it means that your effort is to not be discriminating, to not let your mind discriminate thought patterns. Simply pay attention volitionally to zazen and not be bothered by whatever comes up.

[24:50]

This is non-discriminating, non-dual activity. It is not learning meditation. It's simply the dharmagate of repose and bliss. In other words, learning meditation usually is step by step learning to do something. And you start down here without knowing something and then you keep learning something until you know it. That's not zazen. That's dirty meditation. Zazen is simply abiding in nirvana. You go, oh my god, abiding in nirvana.

[25:53]

I read about that once. Nirvana is actually our normal state. It's not something exceptional. It's the normal state when there's no discriminating mind, and body and mind are doing their proper function, which is called selflessness, which is called absence of greed, absence of delusion, and absence of ill-will. When greed, ill-will, and delusion are not controlling, that's nirvana. So when we sit in zazen, it's nirvana.

[26:55]

It's not a big deal. But it is a big deal, even though it's not a big deal. The most common thing is the big deal, but we think the most common thing is not such a big deal. So, it is simply, he said, just simply, he didn't say it's, he says it's simply the Dharmakirti root pose of bliss, or peace and joy. The practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Traps and snares means dualistic thinking, preferences, right and wrong, good and bad, being caught by dualistic thinking.

[27:59]

like the dragon entering the water or like the tiger entering the mountain. Dragons like water and tigers love the mountains. So, they're at home, in other words. So, once you're there, so many times I hear people say, oh, as soon as I started sitting in Zazen I felt like I was at home, I found my home. That's why people sit. For, you know, just right there in zazen, the right dharma is manifesting itself, and from the first, dullness and distraction are struck aside. That's questionable. When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Don't rise suddenly or abruptly. In other words, give yourself a chance to. hurry things up. Although, in Rinzai, at school, Zazen, everybody gets up real quick.

[29:13]

And if your leg is falling asleep or something, everybody else is marching off, and you're... They're very quick. But they don't sit as long as we do. We have more of a chance of going to sleep. So, in surveying the past, you find that transcendence of both enlightenment and unenlightenment, and dying while either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the strength of zazen. In other words, what we call enlightenment is not what people usually think of as enlightenment, because The transcendence of both unenlightenment and enlightenment. Delusion. Unenlightenment means delusion. And if enlightenment is the opposite of delusion, then it's simply not enlightenment.

[30:17]

This is what most people think of as enlightenment, that it's the opposite of delusion. But enlightenment is beyond enlightenment and delusion, and enlightenment includes delusion. Delusion includes enlightenment. This is basic Mahayana Buddhism. Dying while sitting or standing. You know, we have these stories of the Zen masters. The third ancestor of Zen in China died. He said, look folks, why don't you took hold of a branch of a tree and died. I'm kind of adding something to that story. Basically, that's what he did. He said, it's time to go. I'm leaving.

[31:21]

It's time to go. And this is the way I do it. So that's the way he did it. And then there's the story of Tozi. I know a lot of people are familiar with this story. When he was about to die, he was one of our old ancestors back in China. And all of his students were mourning. They said, oh my god, he's dying. They were crying and carrying on. And after he died, he did who he died. And they did this. And then he woke up. Why are you doing this? And so he said, for one week, I want you to prepare a stupidity purifying meal, banquet, and to serve it in one week.

[32:32]

So all the monks went, they made this big banquet, sat up there in one week, and he said, now I'm going. And he went. And everybody stopped crying. That's the story. And then, Dogen talks about, he gives various examples, which I won't explain all of them, In addition, the bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and the effecting of realization with the aid of a husu, which is a whisk, a fist, a staff, or a shout, cannot be fully understood by one's discriminative thinking. Indeed, it cannot be fully known by the practical or the practice of realizing of supernatural powers either. Is it not a principle that is prior to knowledge and perception?

[33:37]

So, he's bringing about, he's talking about, when we read the stories of the ancestors, they do these, you know, kind of funny, crazy things to enlighten, and some people are enlightened by them. And then he's saying, We can't, it's impossible to know why this happens or how that works. But he says it also must be, it can't be understood by undiscriminated thinking, but it also can't be understood by realizing supernatural powers. In those days Back in India, there were the six supernatural powers, which nobody pays any attention to today, but they were dividing yourself into many different appearances.

[34:53]

and becoming one again, and then passing through walls and mountains, diving into the earth as if it was water, and walking on water, and levitation, and touching the sun and the moon. These are kind of like Indian, in India, these kinds of supernatural powers were The idea of them was very common. And of course, Dogen proposes all this stuff. So, he's saying it can't be understood this way either. None of this can be understood dualistically. That's his point. The opportunity provided by a finger is like Gutei's finger.

[36:01]

Whenever somebody asked him a question, he just raised one finger. This is his enlightened act, his way of explaining things. Someone would ask me this question, and he'd go... And then his disciple did that. Without understanding it, he cut his finger off. We can't understand this story logically. So, in this paragraph, Dogen is talking about our intuition. We can't know it. We can only know by intuition, not by discriminative thinking. Basically, that's what he's saying. And yet it's not something mysterious or supernatural, but just normal everyday reality.

[37:02]

The only way we can really know ourself completely is by just ordinary daily activity, not by some strange way of acting or by some kind of supernatural power. The way to understand is just through our daily normal activity. which is the easiest and the hardest. For this being the case, intelligence or lack of it doesn't matter. It's not that the smart ones get it and the dumb ones don't. It's not like that. Or that the dumb ones get it and the smart ones don't. Although, our intelligence can be a hindrance. Between the dull and the sharp-witted, there's no distinction. If you concentrate your efforts single-mindedly, the way. Practice realization is naturally undefiled. Going forward in practice is a matter of everydayness, ordinary.

[38:04]

That's a koan about that which I won't go into. So, in general, this world and other worlds as well, both in India and China, equally hold the Buddha seal and overall prevails the character of this school. in an immobile city, which is called Zazen. Although it is said that there are as many minds as there are people, still, they all negotiate the way solely in Zazen. So why leave behind the seat that exists in your home and go aimlessly off to the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep, you go astray from the way directly before you. So he's saying, you don't have to go someplace else. Just sit down where you are. You don't have to go searching around for something. Just sit down where you are. And making one misstep, going away, straying from the way, directly away, we're talking about the story of the prodigal son from the Lotus Sutra, which also appears in the Bible, about the child, I'll say, the daughter or son,

[39:24]

who leaves home and goes wandering around and comes back as a beggar because that child really didn't find what the child was looking for and passes by the parent's estate And the father recognizes him, but he doesn't recognize the father. And the father offers him a job working in the stables. And he gradually works his way up until the father tells him who he really is. And he inherits the father's estate, which is like, you find your way to the true practice. In other words, you've been wandering around for a long time and you finally find the way to true practice and you inherit the father's estate.

[40:27]

So then he says, you have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not use your time in vain. So, in Buddhism we say that Being born as a human being is a rare occurrence, a rare thing, even though there are billions of people on the planet. Being born as a human is a rare occurrence, and it's a pivotal opportunity. In other words, we have a choice of how to go. We create our own destiny. We're self-creating beings through our activity and our karma. So which path are you going to take? that leads to some beneficial, I can't think of the word actually, correct or true, what is the true way?

[41:35]

Everybody's looking for the true way, but there are all these true ways, but there are also a lot of false ones. So we have the pivotal opportunity to do something So don't use your time in vain. You are maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way, which is zazen. Who would take wasteful delight in the spark from the Flintstone? So a spark is like each one of us is a spark of original nature. Form and substance are like the dew on the grass. Destiny, like the dart of lightning, emptied in an instant, vanished in a flash. So then he says, please, honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to groping for the elephant, do not be suspicious of the true dragon.

[42:36]

These are two stories which most people know. The one about the elephant, seven blind men are trying to identify this thing, that if you have eyes, you know it's an elephant. And so each one says, oh, this is a tree trunk. He's got the elephant's leg, and he says, oh, this is a tree trunk, I'm sure. And then he has the tail of the elephant. He says, oh, this is a branch of a tree or something. So each one has a view, a false view. long accustomed to groping for the elephant, don't be suspicious of the true dragon. The true dragon refers to the story of the man who loved dragons. His house was built like a dragon. Everything inside was the form of a dragon. And one day, the real dragon came along, put his head in the door, and so he fled.

[43:39]

So devote your energies to a way that directly indicates the absolute. Revere the person of attainment who is beyond all human agency. Human agency means... It's an interesting concept. You know, we say, drop body and mind. Let go of self-centeredness. But yet, what do you do with it? What do you do with yourself? Well, you co-operate. beyond human agency. When we cooperate with our true nature, then our true nature is the guide. And I have a little note here that says, originally meant to level a place for an altar for a sacrifice, or to abdicate, adopted by Buddhists for dhyana or meditation.

[45:03]

So I find that very interesting, to level a place for an altar, or in other words, clear a place for That's a sacred place. Clear a place where that's what your zazen cushion is. Every time you sit zazen, you bow to the cushion because it's a sacred place and you sit on it. Sounds good to me. You revere the person of attainment who is beyond all constantly perform in such a manner and you are assured of being persons such as they, your treasure store will open of itself and you will use it at will." Well, what is our treasure store and what is samadhi, the ancestor samadhi and treasure store?

[46:11]

Your treasure store, which is your Buddha nature, of course, will open of itself like a flower. All the conditions are right. You don't have to do anything. It will open by itself. Just like you don't have to do anything in order to grow up. I mean, for your body to develop and your mind to develop, we don't have anything to do with it. We open up like a flower, actually. And if we have the right seed, the right foundation, our treasure store will open up just like a flower. We don't have to do anything. So, and it says you can use it at will. Well, how would you use it? That's the big question. How would you use it? Well, succeed in the legitimate lineage of the ancestor Samadhi. So, there are many Samadhis, many Samadhis.

[47:15]

They're all aspects of the same Samadhi, of course. and Ji-Ju-Yu Samadhi. Ko-Myo-Zo is the Samadhi of infinite light. And Ji-Ju-Yu Samadhi is self-fulfilling Samadhi, or sometimes called self-joyous Samadhi. But it also has an aspect Ji-Ju-Yu and Ta-Ju-Yu. Jijyu means self-fulfilling. Tanjuyu means other, the fulfillment of others. So Jijyu and Tanjuyu Samadhi means you receive what is your true treasure store and you share that with others.

[48:18]

So it's Prajna and compassion. Samadhi of self-fulfillment and compassion toward others. Lighting up your own light, allowing your own light to be lit up and lighting the light of others. Drawing out their light. So, that's a whole other talk.

[48:55]

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