Well, as you know, our class is going to be the study of... I think the door's open. Is that better? Is that? No. Is that better? Okay. Thank you. So, I chose the subject of the seven factors of enlightenment.

[01:22]

I chose study of the seven factors of enlightenment, because during practice period I think it's nice to have a practical study. And this study, although there's a lot of academic commentary about it, I've chosen the text, or the various texts to use, as the ones with the least amount of academic commentary, because that way we have more space to have our own commentary.

[02:23]

That's what's interesting for us, I think, is how do we relate this to our own practice. So, during the course of our class, I'm very open to discussion And this study, I've always liked these seven factors of enlightenment, because as I said on Saturday, they reflect all the aspects of sadhana, but also they reflect the practice of our daily life. So these are meditations, meditation factors, but not just in sitting, but in our daily life. So to me that's what's important. Our practice period takes into account our daily life.

[03:31]

It's not just coming to the resendo and sitting, but it's how we take care of all the aspects of our daily life. So I think these seven factors really weave in and out of our life and weave together, and we'll see how they support our life. The first one is called mindfulness. So the seven factors are actually included in the mindfulness sutra, which is called the Satipatthana Sutra. In Pali it's sutta, in Sanskrit it's sutra. Somehow I like to use the Pali terms. I don't know why, they just sound nice to me. They leave out the R's. But even though they are included as aspects of the Satipatthana Sutta, they are also independent.

[04:49]

They just happen to be included. So we have to be careful not to get too wrapped up in the Satipatthana Sutta, because then we won't have time to study the seven factors. But we will take into account the sutra. And with the subject of mindfulness, which is the biggest subject, actually, we will study a bit from that sutra. Sutra is about 2,500 years old. Well, I don't know how old the sutra is. Nobody knows. Buddha is about 2,500 years old, give or take a few hundred years, 50 years here and there. But, you know, the sutras were not written down until almost 400 years after Buddha, maybe 250, somewhere between 200. Prajnaparamita Sutras, of which there is a whole set, came out around the first century or second century.

[06:04]

You're not hearing me, huh? Keep talking. So this Santipatthana Sutra belongs to the... that's better. You have to use the right button. Thank you. Yeah, that's much better. It belongs to the Pali Canon. And sometimes people say, well, don't we study Zen? How come you're studying from the Pali Canon? Isn't that Hinayana? You know, our practice is actually Hinayana practice, so don't worry about it. Hinayana means small. narrow actually. So we have a narrow practice and we have a wide practice. We have a Hinayana practice, as Suzuki Roshi said, but I don't think he made this up, a Hinayana practice with a Mahayana mind, a Mahayana attitude, but the Hinayana

[07:18]

That's narrowing down to sitting on a cushion and letting go of everything else. And the Mahayana aspect of our practice is getting off the cushion and practicing the Dharma in the world and not ignoring the world, not neglecting the world. So we have both sides. And in Zen, we have no special sutra. There's no Zen sutra. Zen sutra is our daily activity. We are writing the sutra. Each one of us is writing the Zen sutra through our activity. And the mantra of our sutra is how we go about our daily life, with how we go about the rhythm of our daily life.

[08:24]

That's our mantra. So, in Zen practice, we borrow from Buddhist, whatever comes up, whatever is written, whatever is doctrine or philosophy of Buddhism, we freely use it. So we just use everything. And we appreciate all of the aspects of Buddhism. There are 12 schools of Buddhism. Each one approaches Buddhadharma from its own perspective. And we appreciate all of them. But we're grounded in our own practice. So it's not like we kind of move around from one to another. But if we want to express ourselves in some way or learn something, we just freely borrow it. So no problem with a Pali sutta.

[09:35]

We should know the Pali literature. we should know the Sanskrit literature. Sometimes people say, well, it's dualistic. But the sutra is not dualistic. Only the way we think about it is dualistic. So if we treat any sutra in a non-dualistic way, then it becomes a Mahayana sutra. The metta sutra is a product of the Pali or the old Theravada, I think. But I didn't retranslate it, I edited it, and then I changed the ending a little bit to make it into a Mahayana sutra. So anyway, what I like about this, the four foundations of mindfulness is the Satipatthana Sutra.

[10:47]

Mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, mindfulness of mind objects, in mind objects. So the text that I like is called Transformation and Healing. But it's really Thich Nhat Hanh's exposition of the Satipatthana Sutta. I didn't say so on the cover, but that's what it is. But this will be the text that I would like you to buy. I don't know how much we'll use it, but Karen has bought some.

[11:53]

She didn't buy one for everybody. She bought a number of them. at the end you can buy one, and then you can buy one on your own if you don't buy one now, or you can buy one next time if you tell her, she'll have it for you next time. And then we also have a Xerox. This book is called It's the Satipatthana Sutta and commentary by a monk, a European monk named Soma Thera. It's pretty old. I don't know how old it is, but I'm not saying you should buy this book, but you can somewhere. It's from Khandi in Sri Lanka. The part on the seven factors of enlightenment, I've xeroxed for everybody. And also, this book, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness by Utsi Lananda.

[13:00]

Remember Utsi Lananda? We used to let him use our Zindo for his meditation people a couple of years ago. Utsi Lananda, he was a Burmese monk. And I don't know how long ago, five years? Maybe ten. Yeah, maybe 10 years ago. Did you say he used to come here? Yeah, we used to let him use the Zendo. For years? Yeah, for years. Anyway, this is his book, which came out recently, and it's very nice. So I've also Xeroxed his commentary on the seven factors of enlightenment, which is a handout. So you get those two handouts. Do you have any questions so far?

[14:03]

Yeah. Is this your annotation? Yeah. Over the years, I've made notes. I've lectured on this a number of times. This is the only copy I have, so the notes come with it. For better or worse. They're not bad. Which one do you want us to buy? The Thich Nhat Hanh? The Thich Nhat Hanh. is the one that you can buy. Okay. I want to read you something right here, as soon as the fire engines die down a minute.

[15:09]

In the Satipatthana Sutta, when it talks about mindfulness, the four foundations of mindfulness, it says, the body in the body, to observe the feelings in the feelings, to observe the mind in the mind and the mind objects in the mind. And someone asked me about what do you mean by in the mind last Saturday and I explained it, but I'll read what Thich Nhat Hanh has to say about it. He says, the subject of observation is our mindfulness Mindfulness has the function of illuminating and transforming. When our breathing, for example, is the object of our mindfulness, when we're focused on our breathing, mindfulness shines its light on our breathing, transforms the forgetfulness in it into mindfulness, and gives it a calming and healing quality.

[16:29]

Our body and our feelings are also illuminated and transformed under the light of mindfulness. Mindfulness is the observing mind, but it does not stand outside of the object of observation. It goes right into the object and becomes one with it. This is called subject and object, not two. Because the nature of the observing mind is mindfulness, the observing mind does not lose itself in the object, but transforms it by illuminating it, just as the penetrating light of the sun transforms trees and plants. If we want to see and understand, we have to penetrate and become one with the object. If we stand outside of it in order to observe it, we cannot really see and understand it. The work of observation is the work of penetrating and transforming. That is why the sutra says, observing the body in the body, observing the feelings in the feelings, observing the mind in the mind, observing dharmas in dharmas, dharmas are mind's objects.

[17:50]

The description is very clear. The deeply observing mind is not merely an observer but a participant. Only when the observer is a participant can there be transformation. In the practice called bare observation, mindfulness has already begun to influence the object of consciousness. When we call an in-breath an in-breath, the existence of our breath becomes very clear. Mindfulness has already penetrated our breathing. If we continue in our mindful observation, there will no longer be a duality between observer and observed. Mindfulness and breath are one. We and our breath are one. If our breath is calm, we are calm. Our breathing calms our body and our feelings. This is the method taught in the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness and the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. There's also a Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing, which is just about as a kind of companion, in a way, to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

[19:01]

I lectured on that one session, I think. If our mind is consumed by a sense of desire or by what we are observing, mindfulness is not present. Conscious breathing nourishes mindfulness and mindfulness gives rise to conscious breathing. When mindfulness is present, we have nothing to fear. The object of our observation becomes vivid and its source, origin and true nature become evident. That is how it will be transformed. It no longer has the effect of binding us. When the object of our mindful observation is totally clear, the mind which is observing it is also fully revealed in great clarity. To see dharmas clearly is to see the mind clearly. When dharmas reveal themselves in their true nature, then the mind has the nature of the highest understanding. The subject and the object of cognition are not separate.

[20:03]

It's like, for example, when you follow your breath in zazen, or when you count your breath, you know, and teach people to count their breath when they begin to practice. And counting the breath is not making an object of the breath. When you say one, becomes the breath. The observing of the breath with the number one is not standing outside and counting the number of breaths. It doesn't really matter how many breaths, endless breaths. We count from one to ten and then start again with one, but the only reason we start again with one is to make sure that we're establishing mindfulness. If you can remember to go back to one, then you are mindful, you've established mindfulness.

[21:10]

But the breath and the number merge as one. So it's one, silent one, and then the inhale in a silent two. And two is simply a sound. It's no longer a number. It's simply the sound of the breath. So, the silent sound of the breath. Mindfully established. So there's no subject, no object. Yes. Yeah, sorry. I understand. How's that? For some. That's better, huh? Yeah, I understand. So I just want to read the sutra as it's written, having talked about this.

[22:22]

Mindfulness is like a place where we actually abide. The definition of satipatthana, let me find it. The word satipatthana is a compound of sati, which means mindfulness or remembering, and upatthana, which means the place of abiding. Establishment or application. In China, the title of the sutra is Nyan Chu Nyan, is to be mindful of, to put one's attention to, or to remember.

[23:26]

Chu means either the dwelling place or the act of dwelling, the act of being present, the act of establishing oneself. Nyan cha, therefore, may be translated as the four grounds of mindfulness. These four grounds are the body, the feelings, the mind, and the objects of mind. So it's the place where we establish ourselves, continuously establishing ourselves in mindfulness. It's not like sometimes we do this. If you're really practicing continuous practice, then you're continually establishing yourself in mindfulness. And mindfulness is like the glue that holds everything together. It's the glue that holds your practice together. It's like when we put salt on things, kind of like, you know, the seasoning that can be used almost everywhere. mindfulness. It's like the thread that binds things together.

[24:30]

So, sometimes it's called the practice of recollection and in Zazen we're continually asserting the practice of recollection because the mind wanders and then we wake up and bring it back. And the mind wanders and we wake up and bring it back. It's called waking up. Waking up. And then you drift off, or you drift, the mind is carried off by something, some thought or idea, and then returning. So this is called recollection. Oh yeah, you come back. Oh yeah, this is establishing mindfulness. And it's also called the practice of waking up. Be awake. It's also like, oh yeah, I remember what I was doing.

[25:36]

Sometimes people practice for a while and then they're really into practice and then somehow they get strike-jacked a little bit and then pretty soon they're just doing something else and then they find themselves in some dream world somewhere and then After a year or two, a couple of years, they wake up and say, oh, I remember what I was doing. They come back and start practicing. So I want to read the short part of the sutra. I heard these words of the Buddha one time when I was living at Kamasadharma. market town of the Kuru people, the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus like this. Now this is interesting. Usually when you translate this, any sutra, it says thus, the way English is translated, thus have I heard.

[26:45]

This is kind of like old English, archaic English, thus have I heard. So here he translates it, I heard these words of the Buddha, you know, more natural, translations of this stuff was a little more natural. I think it would feel different to us in some way, and the Bible especially would sound so much better if it was translated in a more natural language. But also, you know, these sutras, these old sutras were meant to be mnemonic devices. In other words, they keep repeating themselves over and over and over again, unnecessarily. If you read it, it's totally unnecessary, but they're meant to be chanted. So in the original language, you chant over and over, and then there's the refrain, which keeps going over, and then the new

[27:53]

idea is inserted in between the refrain. So if you're chanting it, it makes sense, but if you're just reading it, it's very difficult, very tedious. But I'll do my best to do my best. Anyway, I heard these words of the Buddha one time when I was living at Kamasadharma. So this is Ananda talking. When we say, thus have I heard, at the beginning of a sutra, it usually means that Ananda is... because Ananda remembered everything the Buddha said and supplied all the... verified all the sutras in the early days of the Sangha. I heard these words of the Buddha one time when I was living at Kamasadharma, a market town of the Kuru people. The Buddha addressed the bhikkhus, And the Bhikkhus replied, Venerable Lord. The Buddha said, Bhikkhus, there is the most wonderful way to help living beings realize purification, overcome directly grief and sorrow, end pain and anxiety, travel the right path, and realize nirvana.

[29:06]

This way is the four establishments of mindfulness. What are the four establishments? Now, bhikkhus usually means mendicants, you know, ordained people. But in a broad sense, it just means anyone who studies and practices. So, number one, bhikkhus. A practitioner remains established in the observation of the body, in the body, diligent, with clear understanding. mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. I want to talk about these words. With clear understanding, I think that could be translated as awareness. We have awareness, but we don't necessarily have understanding.

[30:10]

But the important part is maybe not so much understanding, but awareness. But anyway, then he says, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. So craving for this life means attachment, and distaste means aversion. So in other words, having abandoned grasping and aversion. is basically what it means, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. And then he remains established in the observation of the feelings in the feelings, diligent with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. Three, he remains established in the observation of the mind, in the mind, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life.

[31:19]

Four, he remains established in the observation of the objects of mind, in the objects of mind, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. So those are the four basically the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as an exposition. So the observation of the body is a big subject. The major focus actually is on the breath. In meditation we have observation of the body in the body as the rising and falling of our lower abdomen. There are some sutras that say put your attention on the tip of your nose, but actually the fundamental is to put your

[32:37]

attention on the rising and falling of what feels like your lower abdomen, which is the way we teach observation of the breath. So observation of the breath is a calming influence in zazen, but it's also an important factor in our daily life. When I first learned how to sit Zazen, I had an excruciating amount of pain for a couple of years. I had to really work my way through the problem of pain. And I can remember these long seven days at Shane's where I couldn't stay there and I couldn't get up.

[33:52]

You just had to stay where you were, as you know, and find out how to deal with that problem. And so, as you know, there comes a time when all you can do is breathe. You take refuge in the breath. And then you're living from one breath to the next. Simply living from one breath to the next with concentration, patience, and not allowing yourself to fall into one side or the other. And after doing that for a long day after day. I established a refuge in the breath so that during my daily life I'm always established in my breath.

[35:00]

I always know where my breath is. I always know that I breathe from here. I never breathe from up here. And if I should breathe from up here, I immediately am aware of that. So that helped me to establish mindfulness of breathing in my daily life. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate that and how much it adds to my calmness of mind and disposition of the body. And in the Sutra on Mindfulness of Breathing, there are sections on how you move with the breath, how you work with the breath, how all your movements are done in concert with the breath.

[36:06]

so that the rhythm of your breathing and the rhythm of your body movements are in sync with each other all the time, no matter what you're doing. So you breathe with your work, you breathe with your relationships, you breathe. If you find yourself holding your breath, sometimes people do, you have to learn to not hold your breath, but to let go of your breath. So this is mindfulness. Mindfulness keeps coming back to the basic factor of breathing. That's the basic mindfulness practice of the body, in the body. We started a little late, but this is 45 minutes of the hour and a half, so however you like.

[37:22]

Well, I'll go a little longer, since we started a little late. So, how does a practitioner remain established in the observation of the body in the body? He goes to the forest, or she goes to the forest, to the foot of a tree or to an empty room, sits down cross-legged in the lotus position, holds the body straight and establishes mindfulness in front of him. She breathes in, aware that he is breathing in, and he breathes out, aware that she is breathing out. When he breathes in a long breath, he knows, I am breathing in a long breath. When he breathes out a long breath, he knows, I am breathing out a long breath. When he breathes in a short breath, he knows, I am breathing in a short breath, and so forth. So he uses the following practice. Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body.

[38:25]

Breathing out, I am aware of my whole body. And then breathing in, I calm the activities of my body. Breathing out, I calm the activities of my body. This is a very good way, actually, when we have agitation. when we get angry or when we have some kind of emotional problem, to just step back into the breath, you know, stop, sit down and just take a deep breath and resume a kind of zazen mode. Just let yourself breathe and let everything come down. And then you start again from there. You may only have to do that for one minute, or two minutes, or maybe longer. But it's very important. Otherwise, we easily are controlled by our feelings and emotions.

[39:28]

And there's so much to be angry at. there's so much to react to. Then we get into the observation of the mind and observation of the mind objects and observation of the feelings. So, you can see how big this is. So, we're just talking about the body right now, the observation So, um... So then he says, this is how a practitioner observes the body. I'm skipping a lot of this. He observes the inside of the body or the outside of the body, or both the inside and the outside. He observes the process of coming to be in the body or the process of dissolution in the body, or both the process of coming to be and the process of dissolution, where he's mindful of the fact that there is a body here until understanding and full awareness come about.

[40:41]

Sometimes we lose that. He maintains the observation free, not caught up in any worldly consideration. That is how the practice of observation of the body in the body, that is how to practice the observation. Moreover, when a practitioner walks, he is aware, I am walking. When he's standing, he is aware, I am standing. When he's sitting, he is aware, I am sitting. When he's lying down, he is aware, I am lying down. in whatever position his body happens to be, he is aware of the position of his body. So, often we're moving so quickly and our mind is so full of ideas and tasks and activities that we kind of leave a trail you know, of half-finished things, or before we're finished with one thing we're already entering into the next thing, you know.

[41:51]

Life is actually increments, but our observation of it is as movement, as like the way a fish swims. But you know, when a fish swims, there's no trail. When a bird flies, there's no trail. But when a person moves, we leave a lot of trash behind us. Our lives are very complex. So it's hard to be really settled on each activity. on moment to moment. But that's the practice of the body. What is the disposition of the body in each activity, moment by moment? In Zazen, that's all we have to do, is shine that light of observation, of mindfulness, on the position of the body, and on each element of the body, because there's nothing else to do.

[42:59]

But in our daily life it's much harder, but it can be done. When you leave the zendo, you should be aware of your bodily movements, of how you hold yourself, and where your breathing is. So body, mind, and breath are harmonized. That's what we do in zazen, and in our daily life, as much as we can, to keep recollecting mindfulness of the harmony of body, breath, and mind. Are you reading Nathana? I'm reading Nathana, yeah. Or the Sutra? Well, it's both. Well, it's the Sutra. It's actually the Sutra. So, moreover, when the practitioner is going forward or backward, we don't usually go backward, but that's more rare, he applies full awareness to his going forward or backward.

[44:13]

When he looks in front or looks behind, bends down or stands up, he also applies full awareness to what he is doing. He applies full awareness to wearing the sangati robe or carrying the alms bowl. When he eats or drinks, chews or savors the food, he applies full awareness to all of this. When passing excrement or urinating, he applies full awareness to this. When he walks, stands, lies down, sits, sleeps or wakes up, speaks or is silent, he shines his awareness on all this. Further, the practitioner meditates on his very own body, from the soles of the feet upwards, and then from the hair on top of the head downwards, a body contained inside the skin and full of all the impurities which belong to the body. I don't like to use the word impurities, but I don't object to it. In Zen, we call this the skin bag.

[45:18]

It's called this body, the old skin bag. I remember when I was at Tassajara the first time, and we didn't see anybody except each other. And then I came out, I was walking down the street, and of course the cars were whizzing by like crazy, you know, it was terrifying. And I watched the people on the street, and their faces looked like skin bags. Very interesting. That's what they are. Anyway. You know, we say... Yes? I'm curious about if that moment of awareness arose in Tasselhara or if the bearing that your Dharma brothers and sisters had there was a different... Different bearing. Different bearing. There's a contrast. Yeah. But these are called impurities, you know, all the stuff inside of our bodies and the waste and all that.

[46:27]

But I just like to call it the elements. They're just elements, you know. Impurities puts a kind of judgment on them. But I don't know if that's what Buddha said. It could be that's what the people who wrote the sutra said. Skin and full of all the impurities which belong to the body. Here is the hair of the head, the hairs on the body. Bile, phlegm, pus, sweat, blood, fat, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, synovic fluid. I don't know what that is. Joints. Oh, the joints. Urine. So bikus. Imagine a sack which can be opened at both ends, containing a variety of grains. brown rice, wild rice, mung beans, kidney beans, sesame, white rice. When someone with good eyesight opens the bag, she will review it like this.

[47:29]

This is brown rice, this is wild rice, these are mung beans, these are kidney beans, these are sesame seeds, and this is white rice. Just so, the partitioner passes in review the whole of his body from the soles of the feet to the hair on the top of the head. a body enclosed in a layer of skin in front of all the elements which belong to the body. Here's the hair on the head, there's the hair on the body, the nails, the teeth, the skin, blah, [...] so forth. So this is how the practitioner remains established in the observation of the body in the body. from inside and outside and the observation of the coming to be and the dissolution. It's like watching how things come and go in the body. The cells of the body apparently completely renew themselves every seven years. So this is not the same body as you had seven years ago, even though it looks the same, but it's changed. It has changed. It keeps changing all the time.

[48:31]

It's not really the same body. So to be aware of how it changes, you know, I can often, I look at my own hand and I'm just totally fascinated in different lights, you know, different lights, you know what I mean? And like right now, I can look at it, you know, and it has a certain aspect, and it's not the same hand as I had 10 years ago or 20 years ago, you know? The skin is a lot different, you know? And also, as you get older, the skin gets more transparent, and the knuckles stand out more, you know? And you watch the body aging. It's very interesting. I'm fascinated by it, by this whole process, you know. And then the dissolution of the body or both in the process of coming to be in the process of dissolution or he is mindful of the fact there is a body here until understanding and full awareness come about.

[49:45]

He remains established in the observation free, not caught up in any worldly consideration. This is how to practice the observation of the body in the body. And then there's the So, in whichever position his body happens to be, the practitioner passes in review the elements which constitute the body. In this body is the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element. Those are the ancient four elements. Anything that's liquid is water, and the heat element is fire. The solid element is earth, and the air element is breath. So, you know, this is another way to observe. As a skilled butcher, or an apprentice butcher, having killed a cow, might sit at the crossroads to divide the cow into many parts, the practitioner passes in review the elements which comprise his very own body,

[50:55]

here in this body are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element. So you really look at this thing clearly. So then it goes on. And then the practitioner compares his own body with a corpse. which he imagines he sees thrown into a carnal ground and lying there for one, two or three days. And then it goes through all of the conditions, which I won't read about unless you want me to. Thank you. You're welcome. But, you know, you can read about it when you have the book. kind of like the stereotype of the mindfulness of the body in the body, to really have a total awareness of all the dispositions of the body, in order to what?

[52:13]

In order to see that there's really no self in the body, to establish mindfulness and realization that there's really no self in the body. The body is these elements, simply these elements, the kind of analysis of elements. In Zen we don't so much analyze, you know, have this analysis. Zen or Mahayana is more synthesis, you know, we are one with everything and so life is synthesized. So these are two sides, one is the analytical side and the other is the synthesis side. Also the difference between in the Mahayana, the Madhyamaka, which is analytical, and the Yogacara, which is synthesis. The whole person, the whole, you know, the whole, the true human body is the whole universe.

[53:24]

This is Yogacara understanding. The true human, that's what Charlie has written on his rock suit. That's what it says, right? And that lady at Green Gulch. She wrote the same thing. Oh, yeah. She's a Green Gulch? Yes. I can't remember who that is. That was Al Greenish. There can only be one you. Right. Anyway, so we have these two sides. One is the analytical side, the other is the synthesis. And both are important. So this is like the analytical side, which we don't often study. So let's take a little break. Five minutes. Thank you.

[54:58]

I like it. It's going to be in totality from the 15th to the 19th. But it's always bright, it's always on the rise, it's when it's cold.

[58:15]

And when it rises, it's when it's cold, it's always on the rise. Those Marines who kill people two miles away with one rifle shot. I think it's the same. I hope I didn't say anything about George Bush.

[60:25]

I hope I didn't say anything about George Bush. So the second foundation of mindfulness is mindfulness of feelings, in the feelings. So feelings can be either physical feelings or mental sensations or emotional feelings.

[61:34]

psychological feelings, any kind of feeling actually comes under this heading. I feel this, or I feel that, I feel a bodily sensation, or I feel a psychological mood, or I feel an emotional feeling. These are all feelings that come under this heading. Categorically speaking, there are pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, and neutral feelings, which are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. But a neutral feeling is more on the side of pleasant feelings, because it's not unpleasant. The sutra says, bhikkhus, how does a practitioner remain established in the observation of the feelings, in the feelings?

[62:39]

Whenever the practitioner has a pleasant feeling, she is aware, I am experiencing a pleasant feeling. Whenever having a painful feeling, she is aware, I am experiencing a painful feeling. Whenever she experiences a feeling which is neither pleasant nor painful, she is aware, I am experiencing a neutral feeling. When he experiences a pleasant feeling based in the body, he is aware, I'm feeling a pleasant experience based in the body. When experiencing a pleasant feeling based in the mind, she is aware, I am experiencing a pleasant feeling based in the mind. When he experiences a painful feeling based in the body, he is aware, I'm experiencing a painful feeling based in the body. When he experiences a painful feeling based in the mind, he is aware, I'm experiencing a painful feeling based in the mind. And same with the neutral feeling. which applies in the same way.

[63:45]

So this is how the practitioner remains established in the observation of the feelings in the feelings, observation of the feelings from inside of the feelings or outside of the feelings, or observation of the feelings from both inside and outside, and remains established in the observation of the process of coming to be in the feelings, or the process of dissolution in the feelings, or both in the process of coming to be in the process of dissolution, where he's mindful of the fact there is a feeling here, until understanding and full awareness come about. He remains established in the observation, free, not caught up in any worldly consideration. This is how to practice observation of the feelings in the feelings. So, not, yes. When you keep saying, or this, or this, it's sort of saying you can try any one of these. Well, yes, that's right. It's like... Get out from some angle that works for you, kind of. Well, it's like... You should try them all. Whatever feeling comes up, it's just kind of giving you a little layout as a kind of device.

[64:54]

We shouldn't be attached to the way the sutra is expressing itself. It's like when you have a car and then you look at one of these manuals like your Nissan and you want to see what all the parts are of the Nissan and you open the manual and here's an exploded view of the manual of the car and you see all the nuts and bolts and wheels and everything all laid out. That's what the sutra is like, but that's not how you actually deal with things. You have to deal with things hands-on with the actual parts. So this is just saying, this is like the stuff that you work with. And it's just an example of the stuff that you work with. Just an example. So you can work with it in very different ways.

[65:59]

This sutra is sometimes felt like it's the property of a certain school of Buddhism, but it's not. It's just that one school works with it in a certain way and another school works with it in another way. And if you see how we don't talk about this sutra, but yet everything in here is what we actually do, but we don't do it in a systematic way that's outlined by the sutra. The sutra is a help to help us to find our way, but we have to find our way ourselves. So, inside and outside, it just gives you all the possibilities, right? So, when a feeling arises, you simply shine your light, as it says, on the feeling, whatever that feeling is.

[67:04]

So like a feeling of restlessness comes up. So I am mindful of this fact of restlessness and I don't try to do anything about it. I don't try to eliminate it or make it bigger or anything. I just become Sometimes we say, what do you do with fear? And often we say, well, just let it be there. That's right. When fear comes up, if you run away from fear, you're avoiding something. And so to just be able to stop and shine the light on the fear. and just let it be there and then shining that light can transform the fear because you begin to have some realization about what that is.

[68:13]

So sometimes people say, I have so many demons, you know, I have these demons and they follow me around, you know, and I don't know what to do about them. So, if you have demons that are following you around, just turn around and look at them. Demons like to live in the shadow, you know. They live in the shadows and they're kind of obscure in a way, you know. They play on the imagination. And if you can just shine the light, open up the curtain, open up the shades and let the light shine on the demons, you find that most of the demons will disappear because they live in the shadow, they don't live in the light. the kind of creatures that live in moisture, the bottom of the pot, to actually shine the light on them and just see them for what they are, just to see things as, you know,

[69:32]

to just be able to see everything as it really is. That's what mindfulness is. Not colored by something, not colored by imagination, but simply to see it just as it is. So to be able to see our feelings just as they are and what they are, that is the process sits in motion, the process of transformation. So that's why he calls his book, Transformation and Healing. You know, the four foundations of mindfulness. You simply allow your mindfulness to light up the body and the feelings. Whatever feeling comes up, to be really aware of it. And, you know, we have feelings of craving, we have feelings that we're caught by, habitual feelings, so forth.

[70:42]

We don't know what to do about it. But just to look at it clearly, as it comes up, without trying to do anything. This is how we set in motion the process of transformation. naming feelings and naming things. I mean, that seems like this text is suggesting that we name things, but I don't know. It's okay, you know, naming things is okay. In Zazen, we don't do it. Some people, some teachers teach naming things in Zazen, naming feelings and so forth. But it's too easy to get caught up in the name itself. As soon as you name something, then you establish it as a fact, which is okay, but if you can avoid naming and just see the thing as it is, because as soon as you name something, it's no longer what it is.

[71:47]

It's your idea of what it is. I remember Suzuki Ryoshi saying, well, my name is Suzuki, But I don't know if I really feel that my name is Suzuki. It's just something that people call me. But I don't know what I am. But I'm not really Suzuki. It's just what I'm called. So we have feelings that come up, and we name them. we have pain in our legs. And we say, oh, that's pain. But it's not pain. It's not just a sensation. But you call it pain. And because you call it pain, you believe it, that it's pain. And because you believe it, you say, I don't want it, or I don't like it, and so forth and so on.

[72:51]

So it's not that we should like it. But it's not simply what it is. It's simply a sensation. So we can make it into something huge, or we can just see it as it is. And it can become a condition for suffering, or it can become a condition for liberation, depending on which way you want to go. I have trouble with this concept about seeing and being mindful of the feeling within the feeling. I don't really understand that. It's like seeing or being mindful of anger within anger. It's my anger. In other words, because there's no self.

[73:53]

When the anger arises, that's what you are. You are anger at that moment. So you're not separate from the anger. You are the anger. You are whatever feeling arises. You may think, I am Stanley, and this is some pain that's happening to Stanley. But the pain is Stanley itself. Because what we are is our feelings and thoughts and mind objects and body. But there's not a self there, not a substantial inherent self. So when anger arises, that's who you are at that moment. So you can be You don't have to be attached to any of those things, but when it's there, that's who you are. In other words, we have to own whatever it is that we have.

[75:02]

We own our anger. How do you see the anger if you're within the anger? It's not like seeing it with your eyes. There are two ways, you know. One is to simply be the anger, to let anger be there, and without acting it out, but simply let that feeling be there. Let the feeling be present. And so you are in the feeling. You are the feeling of anger. The other way is you step back from the anger and you just see that, oh, this is anger, right?

[76:08]

So that's anger as an object. And the other is anger as a subject, right? But even though you see anger as an object, you are still the subject at the same time. So sometimes you say, well, if you count to 10, you're actually not acting on the anger at that moment because you're counting. Because as soon as you stop counting, you might act on it. But counting to 10 gives you the space. to not act on it, right? But nevertheless, it's still, even though you see it as an object, it's still not an object. It was simply objectified. So if you feel anger arising, one can make a choice

[77:11]

Well, one has a choice on every moment. When we observe the feeling of anger as an observation within the anger, that actually isolates the feeling. And then we can say, well, I can let go of this or I can pursue it. Objectivity is to simply see it as it is. To see it, you know, like this is a book, you know, this is anger. So when one is one with the anger, then

[78:23]

It belongs to you and you can do whatever you want with it. That's part of it. It's not completely you. Well, nothing is completely you. But... You know, if you let go of the anger, then you disappear, right? I feel more real when I'm angry. Well, that's the thing. That's why we love anger, because it makes us feel present. So there are other feelings that also can make us feel present. So anger brings up energy, and energy makes us feel present. So when we're doing something, we feel present. And when we do something, it induces energy. You know, people have various dispositions. There's a person who has an angry disposition, which means that they're pretty much angry, you know, most of the time, but not necessarily about anything.

[79:34]

They're looking for, they need a subject to feed on. because that's the disposition. Some people have a kind of lustful disposition, and so they're always looking for something to feed on, you know, to satisfy that disposition. And so people have different kinds of dispositions, which is a kind of feeling that they have a lot of the time. So, when we can allow ourselves to just see clearly, what is this feeling that's arising? This is a feeling of anger. Is it necessary to have this feeling? So you can investigate the feeling and realize that you're simply hungry.

[80:38]

that it's not necessary to actually get into various states that we get into. Or someone has a fearful disposition. Everything frightens you. So then a frightful feeling comes up. Is it necessary to have this feeling? What is it that I'm afraid of? Well, maybe nothing. It's just that we feed off of things to fulfill our fright, because our fright actually makes us feel alive. So, it's nice if we can have universal love as a disposition without attachment. Then, we have freedom. And our energy is continually being induced and there's nothing to attach to.

[81:50]

So it's called freedom. So whenever a feeling comes up, we check it out. And if we have way-seeking mind, then, you know, it means that we don't want to be caught by our feelings. So basically, we become aware of our feelings, shine the light on our feelings. Am I being caught by this feeling, basically? Am I captivated by this feeling? Where is my freedom within this feeling? And if there's no freedom within that feeling, if that feeling is binding, then what can you do? There's always a way to let go of things, because we have the freedom to actually find our freedom.

[82:57]

But as Buddha says, what people think is freedom is actually mostly binding. And it's pretty much true. We rush into, because of our delusions of desire, we rush into things, latch onto them, and when we grab them, they actually have us. And then we get caught. So it's good to see what our feelings are, to be aware of our feelings so that we're not captivated by things. This is the land of freedom! Ho! Ho! So, anyway, so this is, next time we'll cover mindfulness in the mind and

[84:00]

mental objects, and then we'll get on with the other factors of enlightenment. And if you have any criticisms or whatever, you can talk to me about them.

[84:16]

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