talk about two very fundamental practices that everyone in the universe has continuously, moment to moment, and they're called going and stopping. Going and stopping is our life. So, every day we chant the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, which talks about emptiness in form, going and stopping, stillness in motion. So we say that the whole universe is practicing Zazen.

[01:19]

It's not something that's restricted to the Soto school. Everything in the universe is practicing Zazen. So when we practice Zazen, everyone is doing, except that we pay some attention to stillness. The people in the universe are mostly inactivity. Stillness is very important. Sometimes people say, That's a special practice called sitting zazen with the legs crossed. And then when I leave, I go out into the real world.

[02:25]

I don't say that it's backwards, that this is the real world. Zazen is the real world. Our daily activity is the apparitional world, apparent world. There's the real and the apparent. But we take the apparent for the real and the real for the apparent. This is called upside-down views. And perverted views, sometimes it's called, but actually it means topsy-turvy in the Heart Sutra. Topsy-turvy views. So it's not that The world of activity is not unreal, but it's only momentarily substantial. Everything is only momentarily substantial. And what's real is the empty quality of all phenomena.

[03:31]

So the reality of things is their impermanence. We usually think of reality as permanence, but reality is impermanence. That's what's real, not permanence. The only permanent thing is change. It's always happening. So what I thought about, I got this little idea. I thought, when you come to Siddhasen, Instead of thinking, this is zazen, say, this is just ordinary activity. And when you step off the cushion and go out into the world of activity, you just address it as zazen. You just switch positions. Zazen is what you're doing all the time off the cushion. And ordinary activity is what you're doing on the cushion with your legs crossed.

[04:42]

That's great practice, because then you don't have to worry which is which. When I'm sitting Zazen, I know that this is practice. When I go out in the world, I don't know what practice is. So just switch positions. And that's a great koan. How is this practice? I've been nursing this for a long time, so I'm going to stick my neck out and talk about it. It's about walking across the street. There's a law that says the pedestrian has the right of way when walking across the street. But my view is that nobody has the right of way when walking across the street. If you say the pedestrian has the right of way when walking across the street, that's a special empowerment to a pedestrian, which is nice for pedestrians, but it puts the drivers in a very awkward position.

[05:59]

Nobody has the right of way. the pedestrians have to be aware of the auto traffic, the auto traffic, the people that are driving have to be aware of the pedestrians. Otherwise, if you have entitlement, then it gives you the power to cause accidents. because I have the right of way means that I can step out in the middle of the street no matter what's happening and everybody else had better watch out for me. That's entitlement. And it causes all the accidents. I have a plan, whereas, if everybody pays attention to it, no one will ever get hit by a car. Unless there's somebody crazy. I mean, there are exceptions, but ordinarily, no one would ever get hit by a car. And it means pedestrians wait until all the traffic is clear and then walk across the street.

[07:08]

You know, I learned this through my experience. And you, of course, have all had the same experience. So we both had to wait on the sidewalk, and I realized that 10 seconds the traffic is clear. 15 seconds is a long time to wait. 30 seconds seems like an eternity, but it's only 30 seconds, or 10 seconds, or 15 seconds, or 5 seconds. Just be patient. Patient meaning just do zaten. So when I come to walk across the street on the Adeline, I know when the signal's going to change.

[08:16]

I can tell when the traffic's going to be up. It's like throwing a football. You watch the football game. But there's a time that the football travels. And so he has to time the traveling of the football to meet the running of the guy who's gonna catch it. And it just goes like that. And it's the same with cars. They can be right up on you in a few seconds, given that they're traveling 30, 40, 50 miles an hour. You just wait until all the traffic is gone, 15 milliseconds. on average, then you walk across the street, no problem. And when a dog is with you, you have to, he pays attention to it, he does exactly what you do. So if I walk out in the middle of traffic, he's gonna get eaten, get hit, because he's with me.

[09:22]

And then there's the good Samaritan. when they're driving, see somebody standing on the, wanting to go across the street, and so they stop for the person to walk across the street, not paying attention to the fact that all the traffic's coming from the other side. It's not paying attention to that. And so you're putting that person in a situation where they feel they're obligated to walk across the street, and yet, realizing they're gonna get hit by the traffic that's coming the other way. So you're entitling a person to do something which is going to be harmful to them. If everybody just waited until everything was clear, and then you walk across the screen. So this is called Zazen in your daily life. Coming back to yourself, pulling in all of your, like a turtle, pulling in all of your legs,

[10:26]

There's no anxiety, there's no trying to get someplace, feeling that you're gonna be late, 15 seconds, 20 seconds at the most. So, knowing when to go forward and when to hold back, that's our practice. It's our practice of every moment. So there are these two Prajnaparamitas. One is called kshanti, and the other is called virya. Kshanti means patience. There's a lot of various meanings. Forbearance, composure. And virya comes from virility, but in its broader sense, it means effort. to, I call it enthusiasm.

[11:41]

It's for practice. It's enthusiasm for practice and has various other meanings. And these two qualities are what drive our practice and balance each other. So balance is an important factor for practice. We're always finding our balance. I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, everything is continuously falling out of balance and finding its balance. And if you think about it, that's what we're doing all the time. Every time we take a step, we're falling out of balance and regaining our balance, even though it doesn't look like falling out of balance.

[12:44]

But you're raising your foot when you walk. This one is behind, this one is in front. And we just take it for granted that we're balanced. But if you get self-conscious, you lose your balance. Well, what am I doing? Right? So this is how we practice. This is our practice in our daily life, is to maintain our balance. And to maintain not only our balance, but everything around us is also falling out of balance, and regaining its balance, and sometimes not. And Sazen, sitting in Sazen, is maintaining balance. Balance is the most important thing. Activity of Sazen, so there's effort, So our ease, people say relax. I don't like to use the term relax because it means, has various connotations, like laying down on the couch, you know, a bunch of pillows around you.

[13:53]

The only pillow that you have in Zazen is the zafu. And you're not leaning against the wall. You don't have any props to hold you up. The only thing that will falling out of balance. When you have the right posture, you say, ah, this is the right posture. And then a minute later, it's changed, because everything is changing. So we have to continually maintain our balance and our posture. Posture being the most important thing. But we always emphasize posture. If you learn how to do this, when you begin to practice, you can maintain it throughout your life. But if you neglect it, then the forces that are not allowing you to balance will take over and you'll be stuck with poor posture.

[14:59]

The key to health, both mental health, emotional health, and physical health, is posture. So here are some of the qualities of Kshanti. We say prajnaparamita. There are six prajnaparamitas. Usually we say the six paramitas. We don't say prajna. Prajna, of course, is the wisdom which holds the world together. but we allow it to do its work. The blood runs through the body, through the veins, the heart beats, the juices are flowing, the mental activity is going on.

[16:04]

It's not me. It's Pranayama. The vitality of the universe being expressed through this body-mind. And we let that happen. Don't stop it. Don't hinder it. This is called practice. Practice is not hindering that which is holding everything together. So, kshanti, prajnaparamita, patience, forbearance, composure, endurance. Sometimes people say, It's not a contest, but it is an endurance activity. But it's an endurance activity which brings out the most fundamental aspects of our being, and calmness of mind, and being in time.

[17:25]

being in time in the present moment. Because time, although time is changing, one o'clock, two o'clock, you watch the ticker on your watch. How to be in time. But there's also being in time with time which is constant. In other words, time which doesn't go anywhere, but is always present. And equilibrium, and it's the practice, actually, of non-expectation. We think of patience sometimes as the okay, even though there's some anxiety. It's good.

[18:28]

That's very good. But actually, it's the patience to just be. The ability to just be where you are at this moment, as it is, and accepting this truth. So, Just sits there. Cats are wonderful Zen students. So are dogs, but cats teach us a lot about just being present and not needing to move, you know. But when the mouse comes out, catches the mouse. the dynamism to stillness. Stillness actually holds the dynamism.

[19:31]

So when the timing is just right, the cat moves, and then it comes back to stillness. This is the essence of practice. So the balance between effort and composure is our practice, which we practice moment by moment, no matter where we are, on the cushion or in the marketplace.

[21:24]

The marketplace is the great place to practice. It's called Sazen. Walking across the street is a great place to practice. It's called Sazen. So it's harmonizing with your surroundings. Harmonizing within our body-mind and harmonizing with our surroundings. Without anticipation. Wholeheartedness, wholehearted means that your heart is totally involved in what you're doing.

[22:38]

Thoroughness, positive attitudes, not holding back. Sometimes when we do something, we do it 50% or 75% And so you don't really get the benefit of 100%. People say, well, I don't get much out of practice. That's because you get 50% or 85%, but you don't get 100% because what you get is what you give.

[23:42]

This is called dana. Dana is the first paramita. Prajnaparamita means giving or generosity. 99% is good enough. We also have to be following.

[25:28]

We call it the wave. Following the wave and driving the wave. If you've ever done body surfing or any kind of surfing, when I was a little kid, you know, Venice Beach, I used to do body surfing a lot. And you ride in the wave and get up to the crest of the wave and you feel like you and the wave are one piece. So you're riding the wave, but you're also driving the wave. So it's you and the wave are one piece. So when you and the wave are one piece in whatever you're doing, that's called wonderful practice. It doesn't have to be on the cushion. It's in your daily life that you're in harmony with your surroundings.

[26:29]

So inspiration and commitment is also part of Virya. And establishing a rhythm for practice. And constancy. Establishing a rhythm for practice is very important. We establish various rhythms in our life. You have the rhythm of getting up in the morning, most of us. even if it's the rhythm of not doing anything. There's no such thing as not doing anything. Not doing anything is doing something. So how to establish a rhythm for practice, for zazen, for Buddha dharma sangha, engaging in Buddha dharma sangha, the rhythm of zazen is really important.

[27:49]

I understand for, given all of your other activities, I have time for this. And you do that for a certain period of time, and then you review it. And say, well, I can continue doing that, or I really can't continue, I want to modify it a certain way. But you keep that in mind, so that the rhythm of practice is what creates practice. or I don't feel like it. Today I feel terrible, so I'll sit thoughts in. Or today I feel real good, so I'll sit thoughts in. That's arbitrary. That's going according to your feelings. But practice has to be based on your intention. So that when feelings come up, which are very fickle, you override the feeling. That creates a practice.

[29:18]

Following your feelings. Feelings are great. Nothing wrong with them, except that they're deceptive and easily overwrite each other. They're not stable. So what is stable is your intention. So stability is a big part of practice. Stability is what creates practice. something extra that you do sometimes. So that's very, that's intention. When we begin to practice, we usually have some beginner's enthusiasm.

[30:22]

level where I've been doing this for a while, maybe I should go to the movies more often, or maybe I should watch TV more often, or maybe I should do various other, which is fine. That happens. Anyway, to find, to establish a practice. I've been thinking, you know, in all this time, I've never said to people that, to our sangha, that, I said, you should, you have to design your own practice according to your responsibilities, your work, your family, whatever, which is good.

[31:34]

And people do that. about setting up a practice together so that it would be helpful. And I've never asked for a commitment, but for somebody to say, I want to be able to commit myself to practice in a way that's reasonable so that it helps me practice. And I'm thinking that's probably a good idea, too, if you want. to do that, I'd be happy to do that with you. So, if you want to do that, you can talk to me." He said, you know, I'd like to. It's hard for me to know how to set up a practice. the inspiration was for pedestrian safety, because they don't do so well against steel going 50 miles an hour.

[33:04]

So, I'm thinking about the entitlement of drivers and their desire to get to where they want to go. And I'm wondering if you could see that perhaps a pedestrian not being I'm going to teach this driver something and step out in a busy street, if they can also be seen as someone who actually can help a driver slow down and not be in their hurry, just as a driver will often honk on the horn to get somebody in front of them going. Yeah, I don't want to go there. Instead of trying to control everything outside of yourself, it's better to control yourself. I say that to the drivers, and I say that to the pedestrians.

[34:05]

Control yourself. That's why if you wait for the traffic, you know, a pedestrian, all you have to do is stop. A car, a ton and a half vehicle that's moving down the street at 30, 40 miles an hour, You're not driving by yourself. You're driving together with all the traffic and harmonizing with the traffic. And there's a block of traffic that goes. So whatever deviation as a driver you make while this block of automobiles is moving as one piece, you create problems. So it's better to recognize that that's happening. It's not just like all the drivers are just driving individually and can do whatever they want. They have to maintain their position in this block of automobiles that's driving down the street, and you just let them do that.

[35:07]

don't go knocking down pedestrians. When they're in the crosswalk, you should stop for them. But that, of course, and that's their right of way, is when they're there, you let them cross. But for the pedestrian to just step out in the middle of the street and say, you guys got to stop for me, when the cars are all hurtling down, is arrogance. It's the arrogance of the pedestrian. All of pedestrians waited for the traffic to, it's even, it's equal. It's not that one is better than the other. Wait for that rhythm to go by. It's a rhythm. We're all going in these rhythms and to step outside of the rhythm creates problems. The rhythm of the traffic going, and there's nothing to it. You just walk by the street, it's all clear, it's yours. Is there arrogance in a horn honk to get people to go faster, to get out of the way?

[36:25]

Sometimes. Sometimes. There's a fast lane, and a slow lane, and a middle lane, and a two-lane. Sometimes. A two-lane is faster than a slow lane. Slow people going in a fast lane creates a problem. Sometimes you have to drive faster in the slow lane, which is against the law. But you have to do it, or else honk. Get over where you belong. I just think that if we all had patience and wait for the traffic to go by, you just watch. Nobody will ever get hit, because there's nobody there to hit them. That's the simple way. I think it's also sometimes a question of experience.

[37:33]

I walk a lot here, because I'm a car. And actually, when I look at the cars, if they will wait, they wait here. I was very surprised. They wait quite often. So maybe sometimes it's also, when I take your words of apprentice and every day, maybe I change also my perspective on the stripes, This mark of the government, of pedestrians, how do you call it? Crosswalk. Crosswalk stripes. Maybe they are like sitting Buddhas. You know sometimes there are invitations for the cars, oh I have a chance to stop. So I experience quite often that cars stop and it looks like wow, everything comes slowed down for a moment and you can walk and you get a gift. I think that it depends on the distance. Oh, I was driving in the Berkeley Hills and I stopped at the crosswalk for a family of raccoons.

[39:02]

Oh yes, yours... I was driving in the crosswalk. Yes. Raccoons and ducks, I would ride away. Always. I would come to the screeching halt for ducks. which I've seen on the freeway many times. The duck that's walking around your house is beating on all the little ducklings that are walking in this town here.

[39:29]

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