Morning. People were having trouble back here. Hi. Oh, is that okay? Yeah. Okay. Good. People are raising their thumbs. Yeah. The thumbs are up, they don't want to feed me to the lions yet. I'll talk while you fiddle. Well, this is the fifth day of Sashin and I really feel that things are going quite well, very unified feeling, and even people starting later and moving in and blending in

[01:22]

and it's not intrusive, and so because we have such a good community of people who have been practicing a pretty long time and are able to adjust and it makes things go very smoothly, so I'm very pleased with that. Before I start talking, giving my talk, I want to give another talk. And it was something that just occurred to me that I wanted to express. which is about love. Every once in a while someone says this, you guys never talk about love in Zen. And I think that's rather amusing because everything that we do is about love.

[02:38]

The whole practice, every aspect of practice is about love. There is no aspect of our life and practice that's not about love. The reason why we think you guys don't talk about love is because we're so immersed in it. It's not something outside of ourselves. It's what our whole practice is about. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them all. Isn't that about love? Every day we vow to save all beings. To me, that's the ultimate in love. And the rest of it is how you do that. To save all beings from suffering and confusion is the ultimate in love. Bodhisattva postpones his own salvation until every single living being is saved.

[03:48]

What more do you want? James. This better not be about Camasio. Is there a difference between compassion and love? Love? Yeah, thank you. Love is just a word. I can't hear you. I'm married and I have children and that's not just a word. Well, let me finish. Love is a word that has a different meaning for everybody and multiple meanings. In Buddhism, love means, as I've explained many times, four meanings. loving kindness, which means putting everyone before yourself, and making the effort to express true love, which means disinterested love to everyone,

[05:16]

Two, it means compassion, which is to feel the suffering of others, to take into yourself the suffering of others and to respond to it. The third is sympathetic joy, which is to be joyful at the success of others. regardless of whether you are successful or not. The fourth one is equanimity, which means impartiality, which means to have a balanced mind, not a partial mind. The word love usually means partiality in its usual sense. It means I love you. I hope you love me. Whether you love me or not, I have to love you.

[06:29]

It's not expecting anything in return. It's not holding on to anything. It means freeing the world. It means liberating the world. That's true love. This is what Buddhism is about. It includes your children. It includes everybody's children. It's simply your state of being. So that's my preamble, my preamble ramble.

[07:37]

So I'm going to present another one of Hong Zi's practice instructions, so-called practice instructions. This is one that I've presented several times and you may remember it, but you may not. People usually don't remember. Sometimes I say, people say, well you talk about such and such, I never heard you, and I say, well I've talked about such and such time after time. Oh, I didn't know that. You may or may not have heard this. So Hongzi says, with the depths clear, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source, empty and spirited, vast and bright.

[08:54]

So he's talking about Zazen, basically, with the depths clear, meaning really going deep into Zazen, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source, empty and spirited. Empty and spirited is an interesting juxtaposition. empty means without holding on to anything in this case and when there's no holding on to anything then whatever you do is spirited because there's no obstruction and vast and bright so As he always does, he's talking about allowing light to come forth.

[09:57]

Now, Hongzi always talks about light. This is his main theme. Dogen also, in his fascicle called Komyo, Komyo means light, means, as I radiant light or divine light, as it's sometimes translated, and I explained that the word divine, although it applies to a deity and is associated with Diana, who is a deity of the basically it means brilliance or radiance from the sky in the vast radiance from the center of the universe really and it was appropriated

[11:15]

but further back it simply means the radiant light from the source. So, divine light, you can say, and Dogen talks about this is Buddha nature. It's another name for Buddha nature, which pervades the universe. So when we sit zazen, we sit zazen in the midst of this buddha nature or this komyo, light, and then light is expressed through our zazen. We touch the essence or the source. That's zazen. That's bringing love forth. Zazen itself is an act of love, but not in the usual sense.

[12:24]

So in this Komyo fascicle, Dogen says, he talks about the emperor, the Chinese emperor, who had a dream. that he saw this brilliant light in the dream and he thought well this is some kind of auspicious sign and he told his counselors about it and they each one of them expressed you know what they thought it was and then there was this other said he didn't speak up. And the emperor said, well, how come you're not speaking up? How come you don't have anything to say about this? And he said, well, I don't think that it's any of those things. I think the light you saw was simply the light of your protecting dragon.

[13:36]

And it doesn't go any farther than that. And Dogon says, this lay person was really right on, you know, says, poor lay person, pretty good. He praised him as, you know, really, but he said, except that the Emperor should have asked him, well then what is it? He missed his chance. He says it's not red, yellow, blue, white or any of those colors that we associate with light. It's not any of the lights that you think is light. It's simply the Buddha nature which covers and is everything in the universe. mountains and rivers are all expressing dyscomia, which we all take for granted and lead our life in the realm of suffering drama.

[14:59]

suffering dramas instead of just totally appreciating and immersing ourselves and dancing in this light and we get caught by our emotion, feeling, With the depths clear, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source. Empty and spirited, vast and bright. And then he says, even though you have lucidly scrutinized your image, and no shadow or echo meets it, meaning being, you really feel like you have emptied out. Searching throughout, you see that you still have distinguished between the merits of a hundred undertakings. In other words, you can still be discriminating between this is good and this is bad.

[16:10]

This is right, this is wrong. So you still have your discriminating mind. Then he says, you must take the backward step and directly reach the middle of the circle from where light issues forth to really sink yourself into that the center of your nature. So people say, well, what's next? You sit down and you do Zazen, and then what do you do? But Zazen is not to perform some other activity or to widen your activity, but to sink deeper and deeper, to go deeper and deeper, doing the same activity for the rest of your life, to really touch that place.

[17:18]

Even though you sit Zazen, and we say Zazen itself is enlightenment, And we also say one moment of Zazen is one moment of enlightenment. Still, there's a deeper place to go in Zazen. The Zazen of today is the same Zazen you're doing 20 years ago, but the quality is not necessarily the same. So then he says, outstanding and independent, even though you get to that place, still you must abandon pretexts for merit. In other words, you don't do this to get some place or to be somebody special.

[18:21]

And this is very difficult because usually we want to progress some way and we want some merit. Very difficult. This is why in our service we always dedicate the merit, giving away the merit of our practice and dedicating it to the ancestors and to all sentient beings as an act of love. Carefully discern and that these rise and fall with intricacy." Naming solidifies or it sets. I remember Suzuki Roshi didn't like to name. He says, I have a name, but when you call me by that name, it doesn't feel familiar to me.

[19:25]

That's not me. That's not what I am. but we name things and then we say that's what it is and when we name it and say that's what it is then it's hard to see what it is because we've projected our idea onto it. So let go of naming. Some people in Zazen name this is anger, this is this, this is blah blah, I don't say it's not right, but it's like, what is that sound in the sky? If I say it's an airplane, then I've solidified my idea about it. If I simply let the sound be the sound, I may or may not know it's an airplane, but when I just let the sound penetrate

[20:30]

then I know what it is. I mean, I know what it is, rather than think what it is. So, knowing and thinking. Sometimes thinking is knowing, but there is a knowing which is beyond thinking. And in Zazen, knowing beyond thinking, which is called intuition. directly knowing without the intermediary of thinking. So he says when you can share yourself then you may manage affairs and you have the pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms. Share yourself means you know in order to share yourself you have to let go of letting go of yourself is an act of love.

[21:33]

And then you can share yourself freely because you don't have anything that you want for yourself, although you are given everything. As soon as you let go of self, you're given everything. It's amazing how that works. then you can manage affairs, you know, you can take care of things, anything that comes your way, and have the pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms. The pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms is the Buddha seal, Buddha nature seal. It means you recognize the Buddha nature Travelling the world, that means going out, right? Travelling the world and meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters Samadhi.

[22:39]

People say, when I leave this Indra and go out into the world, I feel so confused. But you should joyfully enter Samadhi when you go out into the world. Traveling the world, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters samadhi in all delusions and accepts its function, which is to empty out so as not to be full of itself. The empty valley receives the clouds. The cold stream washes over the moon. This is like the passive side and the active side, you know, when one is empty everything comes and you receive it. That's the passive, there's another word, but receptive side.

[23:47]

The active side is the clear stream washes over the moon. I like that. That's your active side, which is actually doing something. This is receiving and this is doing. So both receiving and, you know, as Dogen says, turning the Dharma and being turned by the Dharma. Being turned by the Dharma is the receptive side, allowing yourself to be moved. turning the Dharma is the active side, you actually make things happen. So knowing how to keep that balance, that turning going, it's like a revolving door, you push it and the energy makes it go but then you have to push it again and then it's kind of like

[24:52]

in harmony, knowing how to receive and how to give, how to receive. If you're always receiving, that's not enough. And if you're always just moving things, that's not enough. So then he says, not coming, not going, far beyond all changes, you can give teachings without attainment or expectation. If you give a teaching, if you are in the position where you are asked to teach something, you can do it out of your head or you can do it out of your heart or you can do it out of your hara.

[26:05]

It's good to have all three when you're giving a presentation. If you're simply talking out of your head it's just an idea. If you're talking out of your heart it's your belief and if you're talking out of your your own understanding and you don't have to worry about attainment or non-attainment. And you have to give a talk without any expectation that anyone will understand it or like it or dislike it. Most teachers would say, when I give a talk even if there's one person the talk will be exactly the same with one person there or if there are a hundred people. It's not a matter of any expectation, you just do what you have to do.

[27:14]

It's nice though when people understand it. So then he says, everything everywhere comes back to the ancient ground. Not a hair has been shifted, bent, or raised up. Despite a hundred uglinesses or a thousand stupidities, the upright cauldron is naturally beneficent. The upright cauldron is Chinese symbol and it means various things. It means uprightness in the I Ching it's used as a symbol in the I Ching the upright cauldron number 50 and it's And what it says in the I Ching is, it means spiritual transformation.

[28:35]

To change things, nothing compares with the cauldron. This is the vessel used to refine the wise, forge sages, cook Buddhas, and purify adepts. How could it not be very auspicious and developmental? It's also the kettle used to cook missionaries by cannibals. But this is Seshin. Seshin is the cauldron. Zazen itself is the cauldron. this is where we get cooked, this is where we get the transformation takes place even though you may not see it as transformation, you may simply see it as the pain in your legs or whatever, but this is the realm of transformation.

[29:36]

Suzuki Roshi in Zazen once in a while would say something like you are all like slowly, slowly cooking in the oven. So this cauldron is a wonderful image to put yourself on the hot seat, to put yourself in the cauldron of transformation and stay there and uncomfortable. I remember seeing this Japanese movie that Grace showed me. I can't remember all the details, but this guy jumps into this pot and then they boil him.

[30:37]

It's a true story actually, you know, Japanese feudal times. He climbs into the pot and then they boil him. Anyway, this is not that bad. He was actually sentenced and as he was in the pot he was holding his wife. And the emperor was just watching this happen. The daimyo. Anyway, that's a digression. So this is pretty easy.

[31:44]

So he says, despite a hundred uglinesses or a thousand stupidities, the upright cauldron is naturally beneficent. So you know no matter how many mistakes we've made in our life, what our You know, what our ignorance and stupidity is, the cauldron accepts that. You just bring all that and sit with it. That's called pure love. Zhaozhou's answer, Zhaozhou has two answers, Zhaozhou's answers to wash your bowl and drink your tea do not require making arrangements or deliberations.

[32:51]

From the beginning they have always been perfectly apparent. Thoroughly observing each thing with the whole eye is a patchwork monk's spontaneous conduct. with the whole eye, that's your job. Not to see just with the partial eye, but with the whole eye, which is very hard. So, Jojus, you know about Jojus, wash your bowl. The monk comes to the monastery And the monk says, well, what shall I do now? And Choshu says, have you had your meal? And the monk says, yes, I had my meal. Choshu says, well, wash your bowl. So washing your bowl is the practice.

[33:56]

Keep the bowl clean. Keep the bowl empty and ready. for the next meal. Suzuki Roshi used to say, the practice is to not have anything special in your mind, but just to be totally ready. And when something appears, you got it. And then you let go. And then the mind is empty again. then when the next thing appears you got it. So you see everything clearly, not partially, totally clearly without partiality and then you can respond to it. And then drink your tea. Joshu says, have you been here before?

[35:09]

And one monk says, no, I haven't been here before. And Joshu says, well, have a cup of tea. And then he says to that monk, have you been here before? The other monk says, no, I haven't been here before. And he says, yes. The first monk says, no, right? The second monk says, yes. He said, have a cup of tea. And then the attendant said, this guy said he'd been here before and he gave him a cup of tea. This guy said he hadn't been here before and he gave him a cup of tea. What's going on? Josje says, attendant, have a cup of tea. Have a cup of tea. I think this is stopping on time, right?

[36:27]

If you stop. You can. I just would like you to say something about Buddha's enlightenment. I've been talking about it all this time. Well, that's true. A little bit more specific. I mean, we just did this whole ceremony. And so that's why I gave this tea show. It's about Buddhist enlightenment. Historical Buddhism. I mean, what happened to him? Shakyamuni Buddha? I don't know. It just feels like we should sort of say something about the guy. Yes. Maybe I really just want more noise about it.

[37:44]

There was a book I saw recently, but I can't remember where I saw it. I just glanced at it and I started reading a little bit of it and it was about Buddha's night under the Bodhi tree. when he was pursued by what we call demonic thoughts and this was about the women who came to visit him and it has a name for each one and a description of their But I don't know where I saw that. It was great. Yeah. What? It will be a bestseller.

[38:47]

It would be a bestseller. Well, somewhere. It's somewhere in the library. There's nothing worse than an ungrounded mystic. Mystic. That made lots of sense to me. How can I stay grounded if I love everybody as much as I love my kid? I just get lost. Well, I can give you some, you know. How do we contain our emotions?

[40:17]

How do we contain our feelings? When our consciousness meets outward circumstances then feelings and emotions go out to outward circumstances. I think it's important to have some self-containment. begin with and self-containment comes through discipline and discipline means you have to do something that not restricts you but what gives you some form for doing something. If we don't have form for doing something then our emotions and feeling just kind of you know blurred out and So, to find, to actually, this is why practice is, daily practice is our practice.

[41:30]

Daily practice is our practice. It doesn't mean you have to come and sit zazen every day. But, you know, if you want advice from me, from where I am, that's the advice I have to give you. That's the advice I have to give you. From my point of view, if you do that, then you will have some containment. You'll develop some containment. And then when you meet, when your feelings go out, you'll have some form to give and contain. So how do we use our feelings and emotions wisely? Otherwise we become very scattered and become attached to various objects.

[42:44]

And it's the same with all of us. And then we get into problems. Yes? I was thinking that to be grounded means to be connected. Yeah. I remember reading, in some ways it was like the first Buddhist sutra I ever read was a book by Richard Goodwin called The American Condition. He talked a lot about mysticism in that, and he held up Adolf Hitler as an example of the sort of perfect, disconnected mystic, with a sort of mystical belief in certain principles that had no connection to, well, you could say no connection to reality, but were unconnected to people. And it's sort of exactly the opposite of loving children and loving everyone as your child.

[43:52]

You're connected to the world. It's not dangerous. I think that's right. And zazen is groundedness. That's why you can have, that's why your spirituality, you have freedom with your spirituality because you're totally grounded. And the spirituality isn't just a big imaginative idea, but it permeates the mundane aspect of your life. Yes. Grace. I think that when we say we're to love everyone the way we love our children, it's the quality of attention, not the behavior. Right. And as Pramana said, when someone asked him, you know, what is the teaching of the Buddha's entire lifetime? He said, an appropriate response. Right. Which comes out of the daily suffering.

[44:52]

Right. Yeah. You've spoken several times during this session about the importance of not wanting something from the people you're teaching. And I understand that. So you don't manipulate people. But I think that that's... a practice for every relationship, and I don't know how to do that. And I know when I walk into, it's a certainly formal practice discussion or dokusan, the most important thing that I want, which is in front of my communication, is please like me, and please think I'm really special. So I just want to cop to that, because it's a big, And I don't know what else there is there, because that's so much, and it's so embarrassing.

[45:56]

So how do you not want something? And when people come to you and they want that, it's obviously a message that's there whether they admit it or not. Whether I admit it or not, it's obvious. Well, everybody wants something like that. We want, you know, people to like us. Especially people who, you know, we have some, who we're empowering with some authority. So that's understood and it's not bad. You always have to read between the lines of a statement when you say without If you don't get anything back then things wither on the vine. There has to be reciprocation, but you do it without expectation.

[47:00]

You don't do it for the purpose of getting something back, okay? You just freely give and forget and let go, but if you give in order to then that's manipulation. Then it's not free, you know. That's not love. Love has to just be freely given. Well, I keep making the effort and I keep seeing my manipulation. But, you know, you might think about, well, what do I want? What do I want? What do I want? Yeah. So this is a portrait of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. And a story about Shakyamuni Buddha under the Bodhi tree becoming enlightened.

[48:14]

just identifying with all sentient beings. This is what he discovered and keeps discovering. All of you are Shakyamuni Buddha. There are innumerable Shakyamuni Buddhas all over the world sitting under the Bodhi tree.

[48:50]

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