Sometimes, excuse me, my voice is a little funny. I've had, just a couple days ago, I had my third, second, second relapse of the flu. Every 11 days it seems to occur, and each time it's about one third as bad as the previous time. And maybe a hundred years from now, every 11 days I'll still be having... People can't hear in the back, so maybe the machine isn't on, or maybe I'm not talking loud enough. If you turn the machine off, I can talk louder, or you can turn it on. All right. Okay. Anyway, this time my voice disappeared. Anyway, sometimes we talk about three modes of existence, and one is the complex or subtle, excuse me, complex or gross way that we perceive things usually, and the second is the subtle, and the third is the combination.

[01:33]

And mostly it's pretty difficult to know the second, the subtle, unless you do zazen. So, as you know, when we first start doing zazen, essentially our experience is a contrast between our usual state of mind and our more subtle state of mind in zazen. And when you have that contrast, not so difficult to do zazen. It feels quite refreshing to do zazen. When you no longer have that contrast, why you do zazen or what moves you to do zazen is rather different. But as long as you have that contrast between your usual life and practice in a sesshin, say,

[02:59]

then you have some motivation to practice. But it's very difficult to participate fully with everything if you don't know the subtle mode, and then its next step is its combination with the complex or gross. So the easiest way of practice for us is to do Zazen, to return to the field of our practice, the field of Zazen itself.

[04:01]

Maybe you experience some kind of envelope or field that's subtler than your usual perception and more unified, more sheer, more brighter. Anyway, you have some experience that's larger than your usual boundaries of mind and body. And it helps, when you're practicing in this way, to have physical composure. And so, it's very good, if you can, when you walk through the building, or when you're at Tassajara, to walk, particularly if you have robes on. It's a rather funny feeling, if you have Western clothes on, to put your hands in this position, outside of walking, kinhin, you know, the way we put our hands for kinhin.

[05:14]

But your energy pours off you when your hands are like this, usually. So if you can put your hands like this when you walk through the building, that helps you maintain your zazen field. And it also helps if when you greet each other, when you meet each other in the hall, You bow. Taking care of our physical space is very important. And so, when you are sitting, the sashin, you should notice that your robes or your clothes or your pillow keeps in your space, you know. Not because it's yours, but because that's the space you're taking care of. So our practice is to, because we can't know this field exactly, you know, we take care of what we can. So we practice in the realm of actual possibilities, what you can actually do. And you can have some physical composure.

[06:41]

And you can notice your breathing, count your breathing, follow your breathing. And at first there may be some control, and slowly you give up control, give up the observer. in your zazen. Actually, we want to give up the observer in everything we do. In all of your life situations, you want to give up the observer, give up control. But it's very difficult, actually, to give up control and give up the observer. in your daily activity. It's much easier in zazen. And I think you realize how difficult it is in zazen even. So we return to this field of our zazen.

[08:08]

And as you know the subtleness of yourself, your own subtlety, you can know the second mode better, the subtle mode in which we perceive everything. There's some way in which everything is connected and turning together. that you can perceive. idea of bodhicitta we've talked about too. And in your practice, bodhicitta is, you know, extremely important, the thought of enlightenment. And it has three possibilities, also three ways that must be there for your practice.

[09:42]

Not to kill bodhicitta is the real meaning, Buddhist meaning, of the first precept, do not kill. Give up the impure likeness of yourself. When you can give up the impure likeness of yourself, we say you're a conqueror, you've seized the jewel. Some hesitation about, You know, the ultimate hesitation is some impure idea of yourself. So to actually practice Zazen with confidence, you need to give up that impure idea of yourself. And the thought of enlightenment means it must be possible. Enlightenment must be possible. If you don't think that's possible, it's difficult to practice. Second, you have to think you can do it. You can dedicate yourself to enlightenment. And third, you must actually start. You can talk about traveling all you want, but if you don't start, it's a journey.

[11:11]

This journey is turning the wheel of the Dharma. You know, everything is a version. What you see in this world is some temporary version. And version, you know, means to turn. like to furrow or to write a line of verse also. Aversion is to turn something, to translate something. And everything's turning. And what's important is whether you turn toward it or turn away from it, you know, avert yourself from it. And if you turn toward it, do you turn with it toward emptiness or do you turn with it toward rebirth? If you turn with it toward rebirth, you're constantly creating new situations that catch you. So, to turn with everything toward emptiness is to turn the wheel of the Dharma.

[12:47]

the fourth patriarch of the Tendai school, and Tendai is very important for Zen and particularly Soto, particularly Dogen's Zen. Anyway, in a rather interesting document by the Fourth Patriarch. It's translated in English in two places that I know about called Meditation for Beginners, but beginners means, you know, meditation from beginning to end, in The Secrets of Chinese Meditation and in Goddard's Che, I believe. Anyway, he lists five concurrent causes necessary to practice Zazen. One is strict observance or practice of the precepts, morality.

[14:18]

The second is a tranquil place, some solitude or some tranquil place in yourself. The third is giving up causal connections. And the fourth is adequate food and clothing. And the fifth is Dharma friends. Dharma friends means people who either your teacher or people you practice with or people who encourage your practice either by supporting you or by

[15:23]

having, you know, being your parents or whatever way people support your practice. So in order to practice we seek those five concurrent causes according to the fourth patriarch, Tendai. And life at a place like Tassajara is actually based on these five, and all of the activity of Zen Center in this office, etc., is based on supplying you these five concurrent causes, taking care of them. In other words, some of us, among us in this responsibility is to assure the existence of these five causes as an opportunity to practice. You need adequate food and clothing, and you need some quiet place, and you need good friends,

[16:52]

Those three you can have here, particularly if you know how to have a tranquil place in yourself. Maybe it's easier if your physical surroundings are tranquil as at Tassajara, but it's possible, those three. More difficult are giving up causal connections. and practice strict practice of the precepts. At Tassajara we don't have to worry, and of course while you're doing zazen you're practicing the precepts. After you stop doing zazen, I don't know, but during zazen there's no problem. But at Tassajara the life is based on harmonious interaction between all the people and the rules are such that it's quite easy just by living there to practice strictly the precepts. At least we can notice how our activity is limited, which is the purpose of the precepts.

[18:28]

I don't have time to talk about this morning the precepts very thoroughly, but it doesn't mean, the precepts aren't just some simple list, you know, they cover all of our activity. On one side they cover it just from the point of view of anybody, it's not but actually the precepts have been kept and transmission and precepts are very closely related and we say all Buddhas and Patriarchs practice the precepts. So what the precepts mean and how they're related and how they're Buddhist precepts in addition to be just common sense

[19:52]

Anyway, the precepts help us limit our activity, to stop our activity. And Zazen helps us to stop our minds. If we can stop or limit our minds and our activity, then realization is possible. But without stopping your activity and your mind, realization is maybe not possible. Preparation isn't necessary, actually. But Zazen and our practice consists of, on the one hand, being prepared, and second, being ready for anything. And preparation helps us to be ready for seeing everything as it is. So the second one that's rather difficult if you're practicing in the city is giving up causal connections. To go to Tassajara you have to give up or at least think about giving up causal connections for some time. But causal connections means not thinking of your life in terms of worldly solutions

[21:48]

doesn't mean not being worldly or participating in the world, it means that you don't try to solve your life in worldly terms, being a professor or having some position or some house or some way in which other people think about you. This is the real stuff of the world and what everyone tells us, you know? This is what counts. practically speaking, you know, if you want lots of food and clothing, you know, it's quite true. But mostly these fruitless solutions exist only in people's minds. What so-and-so thinks of you, or what your parents think of you, or what you think of yourself, or what you want other people to think of you. sort of hypnotism, you know, I'll hypnotize you to think I'm good and you agree to share in my delusion and I'll think you're good, you know, and among your friends you create some mutual agreement, or it may be quite wide, you know, but it's all in

[23:16]

We don't need to go outside this sangha or this immediate, your immediate situation you're practicing in. We say there are three doors to the city of nirvana. One is sunyata or emptiness. And the second is, I think, animittatata, anyway. It means non-clinging. And more than non-clinging, it means not creating situations or not allowing situations, to refrain from allowing situations to exist so that you can cling to them. knowing the insubstantiality of everything through your zazen usually. Then the second is through your deeds, you know, mental or verbal or physical, you create situations, allow situations to be created to which cause

[24:49]

If you do that, then from those situations passion can arise, desire for this and that. So, the third is to abstain from creating situations or responding to situations that spring from passion. And these are the precepts. Anyway, it means that in this realm you should have some control. It doesn't mean you shouldn't exist in ordinary life, but that it shouldn't control you. Anyway, this is necessary for realization.

[26:00]

This is to, if you don't cling to things or respond to things as if they were real, then you are turning the wheel of the Dharma and turning with things toward emptiness. Noticing how each thing is only a version. not being caught by each thing. Each thing you can respond to completely, but you don't respond to it in a way which causes rebirth, continuation of the situation. Just you respond to it, but you turn with it toward emptiness. And this path we're talking about is actually a well-trodden path. Suzuki Roshi said once, before I offer you a cup of water, he said, I feel quite good, like I have some secret. And then he said, after I offer you a cup of water,

[28:02]

I don't feel so good. I feel like I offered you snake oil." And then he went, like an Indian or something, in the movies. What I'm saying doesn't make any sense to some of you. But actually, as you practice, you'll see how familiar this path is and has been to many, many people. If you can return to the field of your zazen as the easiest place to practice, giving up control and the observer.

[29:25]

First you'll find you can stay with things a little bit, you know. Sometimes we say roughly, rough thinking or roughly abiding. As your practice becomes more subtle, your whole life becomes more subtle, but still your thinking is rough and you're abiding is rough. And then it becomes more smooth or subtle and you actually have some smooth feeling. There's some joy in your activity when you open a book or unfold a piece of cloth or whatever you do, just as the cloth moves, there's some great joy. No reason exactly, except just everything just the way it is causes you some great feeling of joy. And there's some soft feeling like a

[30:50]

And third, then you have more, almost completely soft feeling, but still you have some experience of your mind and body still and fourth, maybe you feel like the sky itself, your field is so wide, but still there's some contrast, you know. Anyway, this is what Suzuki Yoshi said was, and actually you'll find in your experiences,

[32:00]

sometimes called, first, trance. But trance isn't such a good description, except that it's very collected, as samadhi is a collected state of mind, which nothing can be dangerous in. Even wisdom can be dangerous if it's not in a collected mind. And samadhi means a collected mind. And the first jhana is when everything stopped, maybe. And there's a collected life. And there's no more contrast with rough states of mind and smooth states of mind. And the successive jhanas only are a continuation, except that experimentation or research and joy go away. And the side of your practice, which is experimentation or research, is very important. You know, all these various stages, etc., I'm talking about, are only to give you some confidence in your practice

[33:27]

and to give you some sense. What they mean mostly is you can experiment with your mind. Actually, we sometimes say there's 37 steps, and each way you can experiment. Notice what your mind does under various circumstances. Now, if you can practice this kind of calmness, giving up or limiting your thinking and your doing, this is, you know, sometimes they talk about samatha and vipassana. Samatha is the calm side, or chi and quang, serenity and insight. is this smooth, subtle, stopped state of calm, calm existence. And the inside side is your meditation then is more active and it extends into your activity and in whatever you do.

[34:55]

But in all of this, you know, we know ourselves more and more subtly, and the world more and more subtly, and how it comes together, turning together, and how you can turn toward everything. And everything turns with you toward emptiness. And this all comes from that innermost desire. Not a desire you seek outside or seek some solution or satisfaction for. Just noticing this desire to practice or enlighten everyone and yourself. So if you want to practice, the easiest way is to keep coming back to your field of zazen, existing on your breathing.

[36:40]

without any idea of who's breathing. Does anyone know what time it is? Thank you. Does anyone have any question? Yes. I think I understand, I figure, I do something, it makes me feel some way, or I do something else, which makes me think I should do something else. So I feel that, yes, it's all inside of me. But then, then I think that if the earthquake's old building is certainly going to fall down, In other words, you mean, everyone could hear what he said? In other words, you mean, you want to be free from causality, but what if there's an earthquake? Well, what if there's an earthquake?

[38:29]

To be free of causality doesn't mean some unlimited power to prevent earthquakes. You know, this may be gross causality and subtle causality, and what you want to do in your practice is stop creating, stop rebirthing. If you can do that, you can then, in some more subtle way, participate in, turn with everything. There's no problem if there's an earthquake. If you happen to be in this building, you know, maybe you'll be safe and maybe you won't.

[40:08]

but we're not practicing to take ourselves out of the world and make ourselves safe from situations. Such things as no causality, you know, little by little as you practice you'll understand the usefulness of this way and other ways of speaking about our life. Anyway, that's quite interesting to think about, and of course we all do, you know,

[41:17]

okay, being free from causality, but what about an earthquake? So it means that you don't fully understand what being free from causality means. Or if we talk about the insubstantial nature of everything, and yet if there's an earthquake that's quite substantial. Now, we mean the kind of substantiality you give it in your mind. It doesn't mean it's not real. I was taught the three forms as gross, subtle, and seed. Can you speak of something else, a combination? Seed, S-E-E-D. He said, yeah, he said he learned the three modes as gross, subtle and seed. I don't know exactly, you know, everybody has a little

[42:42]

teaching tradition uses such things a little differently. But seed, so I don't know exactly who taught you or who said it, but seed means almost the same for me, as I understand it, as combination. How things actually come together. And until you know the gross and the subtle, you can't see how things actually come together. So from that point of view, you can say seed. And so I talked about bodhicitta, which is a kind of seed. Yeah? You talked about being free from clinging. Could you say something more about that? What is your problem with clinging? Well, you also said something about not acting out of passion. It's interesting for us, you know, if you practice Zazen, you begin to find

[44:11]

that you have some experience or some way the world is the same except you're feeling differently about it or things seem to come together differently with more sureness or there's more relatedness or something and so you try to think of some way to express that you may figure out your own term if you try to say to somebody else, I'm having this funny experience, and you may look for some word to say, to use. But Buddhism has many, many such words that the tradition, over a couple thousand years, has come up with that are useful. And they're not just some simple definition, you know, can be, are some maybe, that's Alan's word, to use Alan's word, seed, which can link us with our own experience and some wider sense. So, when we

[45:39]

talk I will use it from one point of view, from another talk I'll use it from another point of view. It's up to you to put them all together in some actual experience for yourself. I can't and don't want to give you some complete definition. If I do, I can say non-clinging from the point of view of greed, hate and delusion, non-clinging from, you know, I can make out some complicated outline like that. So in various ways the most important thing for you is noticing what you think clinging is and how you refrain from clinging. But more important to go back behind that The way I used it this time was to refrain from allowing the very situations to occur which cause clinging. So from this point of view I'm speaking, from the point of view of, I said, three gates, from the point of view of emptiness, when you can practice and you can accept the insubstantiality of yourself and others,

[47:02]

And you can see that there's actually some creative process going on, in which there's some turning going on, that you're actually creating yourself. And for instance, the sixth precept says, don't criticize others. And the second precept, which sounds almost the same, says, don't put down others in order to put yourself up. It sounds like just don't criticize others. But the difference between those two is one says, don't interfere with that creative process which the other person is actually putting themselves together, moment after moment. And it means don't interfere with that creative process in which you're putting yourself together, creating yourself moment after moment. Actually, you participate in the creation of everyone. The actual way you respond and feel about each person is part of this kind of creation, this turning, we're all turning. So, when you see this turning, we can say even emptiness,

[48:31]

then you don't participate in this turning to create little stages, little platforms, platforms on which you can cling, or platforms on which you can want this or that, which then lead to other platforms, etc., and pretty soon you have this structure created, which we call karma. So in your practice of zazen and in your activity, you want to be able to let each thing go as it comes. One way in your meditation is when something comes, as long as it stays there, to look at it very closely. That emphasizes the calmness, samatha side. Another way in your meditation is only to notice the turning, and that emphasizes the vipassana side, inside side, which is much more like Zen. Anyway, I'm not speaking just to you, of course, I'm speaking to all of us about

[50:01]

how to make use of these words we use, that we're trying to develop with each other as a way of talking about or encouraging our practice. So we are being introduced, you know, to such terms as non-clinging. But in this talk today, I'm emphasizing the relationship between sunyata and non-clinging and precepts as the only three paths to enlightenment. And you practice one or the other or the other, but any one includes the other two. And that if you're doing zazen, It's the easiest way to practice in this field, this sheer bright field of our life, in zazen. Letting things go, not being caught by your thinking. Seeing the relationship between thinking and doing. It's very interesting if you're eating in the zendo,

[51:28]

you'll notice, you know, now I'm, if your practice is pretty calm, if you're sitting still and you've finished eating or something and you're waiting for the water to come, you can be quite empty, you know, no thoughts at all maybe, just sitting there. And then it's necessary to use your Setsu to clean your bowls. And the minute you pick up your bowl and your Setsu, suddenly your mind is full of ideas about all kinds of things. You're thinking about this and that and you're sort of looking at your bowl. So you can see in that kind of situation where we practice very closely with doing and Zazen, how the very act of doing stirs your mind.

[52:30]

And at that moment you can break the link between thinking and doing. And you can see how the very activity itself starts clinging. So your mind should be just the ball. If it's not just the ball, still it's very clear, one or two thoughts and the ball. For most of you, I think, that's the best you can do, right? What I mean is, thoughts are not bad. It's just when they turn toward rebirth that they cause trouble. I'm using rebirth in rather wide sense to mean causation or creating anything, creating yourself, because actually you're not created at birth from your

[54:11]

and how you create yourself as some substantial being in which you're involved with that wants solutions in substantial terms to its life is what really we mean by rebirth. Each moment you're giving yourself some new substantial existence. But to turn the wheel of the Dharma means to turn away from that. Each thing you can do and respond to but you turn with it toward emptiness rather than toward form or rebirth. But this is maybe too philosophical. Actually, your practice is just to notice things like, oh, when I start using my bowl, my mind is stirred and it's much more active, and I start thinking about this and that. Unrelated to what you want to think about, it has nothing to do that you want to think about it, it's just that you start something and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Anyway, as you practice,

[55:35]

your mind becomes more and more soft or, I don't know what to say, it does anything you want. It doesn't have any hard edges in it. It doesn't say, oops, I don't want to do that. It doesn't balk, you know. It's not the primary way in which you define yourself or organize your experience. Your experience is organized by your whole field. Maybe we could say that, maybe, that's too simple a model. Anyway, as long as your mind has some, this is good or that's bad, or I like this or I don't like that, and it gets angry or something, or criticizes others, or blames others for things. Every time you do this, you just create a more substantial world. But your mind should be able to be concentrated like, you know, a flashlight beam on the bull, or on whatever you're doing.

[57:06]

Some of you who are in this Sashin, existing on your breathing and noticing how your actual tactile awareness, we can say almost, that you experience, a kind of tactile awareness that's bigger than yourself, how soft it is. how it has no nature of its own except to be responsive and to let go immediately. And when it clings, you know, or when you build fantasies on it, you can see that occur and you can break those links. Breaking those links is our actual practice, not changing your state of mind. And when you break those links, then it's possible to practice in the fullest sense. Most practices, sort of non-Buddhist practice, if anyone can do it, has nothing to do with Buddhism even. It's just some contrast between a gross state of mind and subtle state of mind. But when you have a subtle state of mind,

[59:09]

And there's a fear, a freedom from fear or hope. And to have a freedom from fear and hope, which are necessary for true practice, the condition and fruit of practice, you need that confidence, and you can't have that confidence as long as you're clinging to things, as long as you don't have confidence that what you're doing is So you have to find in yourself to practice the confidence in bodhicitta, in the enlightenment giving up your impure likeness of yourself and like a conqueror, just sitting ready without any predisposed ideas for everything

[60:23]

Thank you very much.

[60:29]

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