Good morning. Well, it's nice to be here together on this early spring morning and what is, I think for some of us, usually a work day. And I really appreciate that people could set aside the time to come and do a a three-day session and that we're able to do it together and to do it here. Let me just give you a brief report, at least as of yesterday, on Sojin's condition. He went to the eye doctor and they removed his patch. And he no longer has to be face down, which I think got a little old.

[01:02]

Actually, I think it got a little old real quickly. So he was up and about. still not seeing. It's going to take quite a while for the full vision to return in his left eye, but the prognosis is good, so out of that eye he's seeing kind of colors and shapes and things, but nothing a whole lot more distinct than that. So he was feeling well and in good He wasn't sure what his schedule was going to be in relation to this weekend. He's been immobile for a number of days and was not actually relishing the thought of coming and sitting still for another three days.

[02:04]

So he may show up some tomorrow. I think it's more likely if he comes, he'll come on Sunday. But he wanted just to convey his thanks for people's concern and also his awareness of us all sitting here together. So that's the story. But as I said, this is a rare and precious opportunity, and we've set aside time from our very busy lives to experience ourselves completely. And yet, I notice from introspection, and I know from knowing people, talking to people, that even though Our intention is to come and experience ourselves completely.

[03:08]

For many of us, there's a way that we hold back a little, that we hold something in reserve or we're not ready fully to commit to just being here, just breathing and sitting upright, even though in one part of our mind, it's really what we want to do. I mean, otherwise, why would we be here? And so the question comes up, and it comes up, when I ask these questions, usually I ask them of myself first. But I think maybe it's a good question to share. How will we use, how will we fully use our three days of Seshin? and how will we be used by them, by those days, by those hours. So I'd like to recount to you the following dialogue that comes from Master Zhou Xu, or Zhao Zhou in Chinese.

[04:28]

A monk asked Zhou Xu, How is mind put to use? The master said, you are used by the 24 hours. I use the 24 hours. Which of these times are you talking about? You were used by the 24 hours. I use the 24 hours. Which of these times are you talking about? So we can talk about that a little bit. I think maybe I'd like to say, just give you a little background about Joshu, because as I was thinking about this dialogue, I decided, I sort of, first I had to find it, and then finding it meant looking through the record of of Zhou Shu, and then some other stuff.

[05:31]

And I just was reminded how much warmth and love there is in his teaching and how I seem to respond to it. So, Zhao Zhou, or Zhou Shu, lived in the Tang Dynasty, China. from about 778 to 897. So actually he lived, he was reputed to have lived 120 years. He was a contemporary of Rinzai or Linchi in the Northern School of Zen. Grew up in the countryside, a kind of rural kid. And at 18, he met his teacher, Nansen or Nanchuan, And I think that the account of their meeting sort of conveys the tone of Joshu's teaching style as it continued, even from the age of 18.

[06:31]

He was very to the point, but also very warm and intimate. Nansen was lying down in his room when Joshu arrived and came to pay his Nansen asked, where have you come from? Joshua replied, from Shui Xiang Yuan, which means the temple of the standing Buddha, the standing image. Nansen said, then did you see the standing image of a Buddha there? Joshua said, I don't see a standing image. I see a reclining Tathagata. And Nansen asked, Well, are you a novice with a master or a novice without a master? Joshua replied, a novice with a master. Nansen asked him, well, where is your master? And Joshua responded, in spite of the intense cold of early spring, I dare say your honorable body is enjoying good health.

[07:38]

And that was how they met each other. And it must have been a pretty good meeting because Joshu continued to practice with his teacher for 40 years. He came at 18 and he was there when Nansen died and Joshu was at that point 57. And then he wandered for about for more than 20 years. And he was reputed to have said, if I meet a man of 100 who is in need of the Dharma, I will teach him. And if I meet a child of seven who has a true understanding, I will learn from him. And he didn't seem to be in a big rush about things, because he didn't settle in his temple

[08:41]

Quan Yin Yuan, or Khenan Yin, until he was 80. And that's when he began teaching. So it's like, you know, Mel has another 10 years to go. And he taught for 40 more years at this kind of rundown, small temple. It was said that he was so good with teaching with words that his lips emitted light. And so this is the wonderful joshu that we know as the joshu of mu or the joshu of have a cup of tea. or the joshu of the cypress tree in the courtyard, or ordinary mind is the way.

[09:46]

There are just so many of these really critical exchanges and koans that are from his record, from what he said. But I thought I would give you a few more stories before, I am going to get back to the point. But I sort of got so immersed in reading this stuff that I wanted to share a little of it. A new arrival, a monk arrived at the temple and told Joshu, I have arrived empty handed. And the master said, well then lay it down. The visitor responded, since I have brought nothing with me, what can I lay down? Joshu replied, then go on carrying it. That's a really great exchange. Another one. A monk asked, among the 10,000 things, which is the most solid?

[10:50]

Joshua said, when we curse at each other, that we can go on flapping our lips. When we spit at each other, that our saliva flows. A monk asked Joshu to tell him the most important principle of Zen. The master excused himself, saying, I have to go urinate. Imagine, even such a trifling thing I have to do in person. A monk asked, what is the one word? The master said, yes. The monk asked again, what is the one word? Djoser replied, I'm not deaf. I think I had one more here. Oh, no, there are a couple more. No, the one more.

[11:53]

He also, he didn't need to win all the time. This is sort of my favorite. On a summer day, Joshu was in his room when his disciple Wenyuan, or Banen, came to attend him. They decided to have a contest to see which of them could identify with the lowest thing on the scale of human beings, or human values. And the winner was to pay a bean cake to the loser. So Banen agreed to this contest and out of respect he deferred to Joshu as his teacher to begin. So Joshu said, I'm an ass. Banen said, I'm an ass's buttocks. Joshu said, I'm the ass's shit. Banen said, I'm a worm in the shit. Joshu felt he could go no lower.

[12:56]

So he asked, what are you doing there? Banan replied, I'm spending my summer vacation. Joshu said, you win, and demanded his bean cake. So that's some of the flavor of his teaching. I'll return the record, I don't have the book, I'll return the record to the library so you can check it out yourself. It's really wonderful. So again, the monk asked Joshu, during the 24 hours, how is mind put to use? The master said, you are used by the 24 hours. I used the 24 hours. Which of these times are you talking about? So I think this is really applicable to Sachine, to what we're doing here.

[14:00]

But I've also been thinking about my own recent life. I've been on leave of absence, sort of sabbatical from Buddhist Peace Fellowship. It's a two-month break, and a month of it is gone already. And this was supposed to be a time of ease and refreshment, which it is, actually. I get to, you know, if somebody comes up and wants to have a cup of tea or sit around and talk, actually, for the most part, I can do that, which is great. But not so surprisingly, I find myself almost as busy as before. It's just doing different things. Instead of going to the BPF office, I'm up in my office where I'm doing something else.

[15:03]

But the time fills up. The busyness is there. And I think this is because I'm still, in a certain way, being used by the 24 hours. But I think it's important to not to think that what's going on in this dialogue is that being used is bad and using is good. It's not so simple as that. That you can be used and used in different ways. When I talk about you can be used

[16:07]

you can be used by the 24 hours as being pushed around by the 24 hours, by being pushed around by your thoughts, by your desires, by the things that you think are around you. So when I find my life filling up with busyness and I feel somewhat crazed, that's being pushed around. But you can also be used as a resource for others, as just something that's there to be used and used up completely for other beings, for the world. So that is a completely different sense of being used by the 24 hours. just being completely used.

[17:12]

I think of this story, I think we've heard a lot story of Sojins told and other people have told of watching Suzuki Roshi move rocks. that he could move these huge rocks in ways that larger people could not. And that's because he used himself completely. But also, Mel describes him as, you know, he would exert himself completely, and then in all the spaces, in each of the spaces, he would rest. So he'd be completely at ease. So that's the side of, you know, he allowed himself to be used by the task at hand. And then he also used the 24 hours. He used each moment.

[18:15]

in the appropriate way. When it was time to exert himself completely, he did that. And in order to take care of himself, when it was time to rest, he did that. And he was able to move freely between those activities. So you can be used, you can be pushed around, or you can decide not to. And you can also be a resource for beings. As far as the using side is concerned, often we use the 24 hours to build monuments to ourselves. Sometimes they're modest monuments. Sometimes they're grand castles. But in gross or subtle ways, we are creating structures of ego, of self-centeredness.

[19:23]

And that's, I think, a way of using the 24 hours that we should be careful about. We should really watch that. or you can use the 24 hours to free yourself, to free yourself of all self-centeredness and to use that freedom to help other people find freedom, to help other people just make their way in the world and in society. And I think that's what that's what a real teacher does, that's what Joshu does, that's what Sojin does, uses those hours, those moments for the sake of freedom. And I come back, I think I've quoted this again and again,

[20:30]

This is a long time ago already. It was probably eight or nine years ago that Master Sheng Yan, the Chan teacher, came and gave a talk here. And we had question and answer. I think it was really a question and answer after his brief talk. And Lori asked him, you know, this kind of basic Zen question. Actually, it comes up, it's the same kind of question that one of the monks would ask, would ask Joshu, but she didn't get as earthy an answer, but the answer that she got to what's the most important thing, what's the most important thing to do, I felt, even though his words were very simple, it was a really turning word for my life. He said, regulate your life. That means use the 24 hours.

[21:37]

Use each moment. Regulate is kind of an interesting word. think of it as like a valve, or you can also think of it as the Latin root, which is regula, which means rules, that there's a rule, that there's an order to our lives. And to regulate it, I think, means to find that order, to find that naturally occurring order, and then Follow it. It means kind of narrowing. the waves, so instead of having big peaks and big valleys, it's a little smoother. It's never going to be, you know, when it's like this, you're dead, you know.

[22:41]

They don't call it flatlining for nothing, but that the peaks and valleys are less dramatic and that you're not caught by the dramas. You're not used by them, but rather You can use them like a skateboarder. Just the downhills, get up a little speed so you can kind of get over the next peak and just kind of breeze along. I think that's what regulate your life means. But these 24 hours are really just each moment. Just moment after moment. And how we enter that moment is critical.

[23:44]

Dogen Zenji says in uji, or what's translated as the time being, that people only see times coming and going and do not understand that the time being abides in each moment. So we're caught on this thought of coming and going. As I recounted, Hirata Roshi said to me in Sashin last month, he said, don't have a single thought about the future. And I think that that's the proper attitude of Zazen, that the time being, that our essence of the world resides in each moment. And if we're, it's not that there isn't coming and going, but if we get stuck on thinking about

[24:49]

that coming or going. Oh, here it comes. Oh, there it goes. Or the past or the future. Then we miss the present. So the proper attitude, I think, of Zazen, if we can find it here, this weekend, is just to stay present. Just staying in that present moment. And when a thought of the past or the future, when a thought of coming and going, when a thought of desire or aversion arises, you notice it and you put it aside and you return to what your intention is. How do you do this? That's the trick.

[25:53]

How? How can you return over and over again? How can you be used and how can you use each moment selflessly? You know, how to actually do this in your zazen. so that you're not holding something back, so that I'm not holding something back, not holding something in reserve that's thinking about, you know, what I'm going to do after Sashin, or what I'm going to do next week, or what I'm going to do later this afternoon, or even after lunch, or after this period. Hold nothing in reserve. And don't think of the future. So that means, as I was suggesting a few weeks ago, when you begin each period, really settle into your breath.

[27:06]

Take some deep breaths in and let the air all the way out. And let more of it out. Push a little further and bring it in again. and settle your zazen each time. And that's a way of keeping ourselves from kind of, there's often a tendency, I think, to just kind of drift into a period of zazen, you know, kind of, oh, I'll slip into it, you know, but why waste time? Why waste that time? Just get into it. Settle into it now, even as you're listening. So you settle into it with your breath and with your posture, and then with being, I think, like Joshu. Maybe, I don't think any of us are as pithy

[28:13]

articulate as Joshu, but we can be as warm and simultaneously tough with ourselves as Joshu, and we can have the same, we can taste the same fundamental experience. It's available every moment to each of us. We're living in it. You know, just it's not a cultural thing. You know, it's not knowing the right words. It's just really experiencing yourself in all that exists. And that experience is available. If we're just not distracted,

[29:14]

you know, if we're not looking to something else instead of what's really right here, right happening now. And when you're living in that moment, then you're simultaneously being used by all beings and using all the universe, using each moment. And you have some real freedom about how to live your life. And the freedom that you manifest gives freedom to other people, gives joy. Even though they may not even think that, they may not think they're getting it, they see it and it gives them another way to move in the world, another way to move in their lives.

[30:28]

So during the 24 hours, how is mind put to use? To use. Master said you were used by the 24 hours. I use the 24 hours. Which of these times are you talking about? So I hope that in these next couple of days, we'll all be able to settle in together and do all of our activities as Zazen. Zazen is not just sitting in the cushion. It's also the work that we do, the way that we eat, the careful way we communicate with each other. So pay attention to all of that because each of those moments can be entered completely.

[31:42]

They can be, each of those moments can be used completely. And if, in fact, you find yourself being pushed around by time or by your thoughts or by the pain in your legs, because, you know, we're going just long enough for the pain to get really bad. You know, three days, yeah, right, three days, okay. And then, you know, often, for me anyway, that's kind of like the turning point, you know. So, settle into that pain and don't let it push you around. And if you have to really pay attention to it, if it gets bad, just, that's what's happening.

[32:43]

And really enter the pain. But don't let it push you into distraction or other thoughts or thoughts of getting away. And I think this is something we all can do. And it's exciting. I've actually found myself excited about doing the Sashin because we don't have that many long Sashins here. You know, we have a five day and a seven day and then I think we have two, three days. Is that right? It's rare, and we're having this one right at the beginning of spring when everything is bursting forth. So you can let that bursting forth happen inside you. Anyway, I think I will stop there. And if you have any thoughts or questions or comments, we have some time.

[33:48]

Mary? Myriad things come forth and experience themselves. Is that using or being used? Myriad things come forth and experience themselves. I think that's simultaneously using and being used. To me that's complete mutual interdependence. So there's no I think when he asks, actually, it's interesting, I had a question, when he asked, which of these times are you talking about, I wondered if that were a mistranslation, but it may not make much, because the original question is, during the 24 hours, how is mind put to use? But mind or times, either one. I think he's making this distinction, but then saying, these things are interdependent, that those myriad things come forth and experience themselves.

[34:57]

Mark? I'd like to thank you for being able to practice together. I think one of the things that is valuable for me, having thought this out, is What's attached to that? Some emotional injury or something? Well, that's what I'm working on.

[36:10]

I wouldn't they claim to that. To confess, my usual experience with Sashin is, oh, sometime this afternoon, in the afternoon of the first day or so into the evening, I just think, what am I doing? And I find myself wanting to to turn away, to kind of crawl out of it. So actually, I know that so well at this point that I don't pay a lot of attention to it. I just feel like, well, that's the way it is. That's my habit, and maybe it'll be that way all my life, and maybe it'll move.

[37:17]

And actually, I was pretty resolved today Well, to give it even shorter shrift than I usually do. But I can't stop that from coming up. It's just what you do with the pain, whether it's mental pain, psychological pain, or physical pain. How you work with it is the question. How much power you give it. So that's, do you want it to use you? You know, and the question, you know, I think what the implication here is that you actually have some choice. The implication from Joshu is you have some choice about using or being used, being used in the negative sense. And yet we're also all used. Not just negative. So, do what you can, and I'm always glad to practice with you here.

[38:27]

Rebecca? Just at the end of my previous thought, what flashed in my mind is... I don't remember the exact words, but... They also sort of will only stand and wait. And it seems that that's all I can say. And somehow it has a different flavor than the use. And I have a feeling they intersect in some way, or are the same thing, but that the word use has a different kind of feeling.

[39:44]

Different than weight? but in that, the active part of that is that you're working with your mind, your body is taking care of itself, but we constantly have to work with our minds. If you're standing and waiting, It's not just a passive thing. It takes effort. It takes effort to stand.

[40:50]

It takes patience to wait. And it takes an ability, if you're to stand and wait, it takes an ability to really, you have to stay there. And not be drawn this way or that. So there's always this active side. There's moments of just complete receptivity. But one doesn't live in that space very long. One has to work with the stuff that comes up. So you have to put yourself in this place to stand and wait. You have to put yourself in that seat to face the wall and face whatever is coming up in your mind and in a sense you have to know how to do it and you have to know why to do it. You know there is a why of our vows and that

[42:07]

that helps me be patient with myself. It reminds me, you know, the precepts and the vows are reminders of, oh yeah, this isn't just, you know, pointless activity. And so that's helpful. Do I think for any moment that you doubt? That's a good question. I'm not sure. Do you? Well, when I'm doing it, I don't think or not think that it's a pointless activity. But when I'm outside of it somehow, then I'm sure there's a point to it or I wouldn't be here. I would have brought myself here.

[43:10]

And I don't think any of us would. So there. I think so, but again, you have a choice of where you allow your mind to go, how you want to use it.

[44:49]

And I think that the case that this exchange that I read, when we cursed each other, the among the 10,000 things which is most solid, when we curse at each other that we can go on flapping our lips, when we spit at each other that our saliva flows. These are miracles. And so, if you can use your mind to view the miraculous in that, then that has a power to transform the part of you that is just being used or manipulated. And that's, you know, maybe that's a way to work with it, is just remember, you know, that even in your anger, looking at the energy of your anger, it's the, you know, it's the energy of just life.

[45:53]

And that can be helpful. Also remembering that it's not always going to be this way. And watching how that emotion moves and shifts. Breathing into it. Breathing with it. And that's the best you can do. Rick? Who chooses? No knowing. But there's not somebody else out there making your decisions. Is there? Who chooses? I choose for me. Who chooses? sort of samsaric thinking of my pain and one thing that relieves me is well this isn't going to last, this is going to change.

[47:38]

When you mentioned Well, I think he was talking about it particularly in the context of Zazen. And if your task is to be attentive to your breath and posture, then you don't want to be pulled off by a thought of the future or a desire.

[48:41]

You know, so basically that's the approach. Sometimes the pain is such that you really need to attend to that, that that's what's happening.

[49:01]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ