I vow to taste the truth of the Togeter's words. Good evening. Next Thursday, Ed Herzog is going to be here to film Sojourn Roshi. teaching a class and the camera will only be on Soji Moshi and won't capture anything else. Sorry. Going on. So and the reason why we're doing this at this time is because Ed thinks that the lighting is really nice in here and should produce good film. Um... Can you close the door?

[01:09]

Please? So could somebody summarize what we talked about last time? Up here.

[02:15]

By studying in the marketplace, you mean a person studying... Well, just secular study as opposed to Buddhist study. One is a way of accumulating wealth, and the other is a way of accumulating enlightenment. They're not exactly the same in that way, because it happens to accumulate. But there's kind of a corollary between those two, that you have to, you must be studying. In order to get something, you have to do something. So, tonight we're going to discuss the fourth part, where Dogen says, the practice of Buddha's teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions of a master, not by following your own ideas.

[03:35]

In fact, Buddha's teaching cannot be attained by having ideas or not having ideas. Only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind be calm. If body and mind are not yet calm, they will not be at ease. When body and mind are not at ease, thorns grow on the path of realization. So he says that Buddha's teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions from a master or what we call a teacher. This seems to be pretty much the case because in Zen practice, which is not different from Buddhism, Zen is Buddhism, And when you study Dogen, or even when you study anything in Zen, you can always find the basis in Buddhist doctrines.

[04:48]

There's nothing outside of that that's presented in Zen practice. There are certain, in Japan, some Zen sects which tend to be a little outside of Buddhism, see themselves as independent from Buddhism. There's a tendency to be independent from Buddhism, but our Zen practice is basically just Buddha's practice. That's the whole idea, is that Zen practice is Buddha's practice. It's not about Buddha's practice. It's Buddha practicing Buddha's way. And in the various schools of Buddhism, there are various scriptures that are studied as, various scriptures and practices are studied in Buddhism.

[06:11]

In Zen practice, study is secondary to actual practice. So the transmission of Zen is from one person to another. So if the transmission of Zen is from one person to another, that means that there has to be a teacher and a student. So that's the way that Zen is always handed down from teacher to student. We say from warm hand to warm hand, or from mind to mind. So this is the necessary ingredient. And sometimes Dogen goes so far as to say, if you can't find a teacher, then don't study. Dogen has to be somewhat extreme. We shouldn't always take him at face value.

[07:15]

So this is a very important part of Zen practice, is to have a teacher. And sometimes there are what's called self-proclaimed masters. And this sometimes creates a problem. So it's true that someone can attain realization without a teacher. That's possible. So anything's possible. And that does happen sometimes. But generally speaking, the tradition and the understanding is, and Dogen says, between Buddha and Buddha, between a Buddha and a Buddha. He has a fascicle called just between Buddha and Buddha or

[08:25]

Buddha transmits to Buddha, and a teacher transmits to disciple, and disciple transmits to Buddha. So like pouring water from one cup into another, but it's the same water. So he says, the practice of Buddha's teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions of a master, not by following your own ideas. You know, the essential ingredient for coming to practice in most places, is you let go of all of your own ideas and opinions. You simply cast them away and open your mind. You know, if you go to a place like a monastery like Eheji in Japan, so the monks come and lay their heads down on the stairs for a couple of days until they're invited in to do the tangario.

[09:41]

And the tangario is kind of like the narrow door where you just sit by yourself without doing anything else for a week or five days or something. And at Tassajara we have the tangario. The students don't come to the temple with their head on the steps. I think it would be a strange thing for the neighborhood. But they do the Tangario, five days of Tangario, where you just sit Zazen. And you don't do any Kinyin, no walking, just sitting Zazen for five days. And that's like the narrow door. And when you come out, your ideas are flushed out. You come out as a kind of new person. And then the mind control people, open your head.

[10:46]

Pour in the information. Brainwashing. Peter, you got brainwashed, didn't you? the notion that one should always receive it from a teacher and have to hand it in? Yeah, well, you know, someone has to be first. But, you know, according to the legend, Well, let me say this. Shakyamuni studied with all the best teachers of his time. I don't know if all the best teachers, but he studied with the most famous, well-known teachers of his time, and he absorbed all their teaching. So it's not like he didn't have teachers.

[11:48]

He did. He studied with all those teachers. And then he had his own realization. So this happens all the time. A student will study with teachers, a teacher or a couple of teachers, but then they'll surpass their teacher, right? So this happened, this should happen. All of you should surpass me. I've been thinking recently about the process We have in our tradition, in some of our Chana ancestors, and we see today in Theravadin and some Mahayana traditions, where a person will study very... Speak a little slower, please. Where a person will study very intensively for a while with their teacher, and at some point they're told to go off to the mountaintop and sleep for 20 years. And so I'm wondering what the relationship of the teacher with the student is when they go off to the mountain, when they're told to go off and continue their studies on their own.

[12:57]

Yeah, well, on their own means on their own. Goodbye. You know, everyone has their own way of doing things, right? Some people keep their students very close to them. And some people just send them away, right? I don't know if this is so true today in our tradition, but I see it in some Theravadan training and in some Tibetan training. where a person will train for some years and then be told by their teacher, go on a long solitary retreat. We don't really do that. No, because our tradition is not a tradition of solitary retreats. Matter of fact, that solitary retreats are frowned upon. And I remember Sheng Yin, Master Sheng Yin, you know, when he was here, he was talking about how he had been, went to a cave, you know, for five years or something like that.

[14:00]

And then he came out of the cave and he said, I really didn't have to do that. I didn't like my neighbor. You commented some time ago that in Zen tradition, sometimes the teacher will say, go away, go away. But it's not literally go away. Could you talk a little bit about that? Well, that's a little different. That's like when the student is creating a kind of problem. And a teacher says, get out of here, go away.

[15:04]

But it doesn't mean you should go away. It's just an expression. Well, it's like the teacher and a student, if they have a relationship, that relationship is always a relationship. And if the teacher says, go away, the student may go away, but that doesn't mean they don't have the relationship. He's not saying, I cut you off from the relationship. He's simply saying, go away. Get out of here. That doesn't happen very often. But the point is that, um, um, Sometimes a student needs a big something, push in some way. And so, you know, teachers say, get out.

[16:07]

It doesn't mean that's the end of our relationship. Yeah. How does it fit in when you're told to check it out for yourself. It seems like a lot of my teachers have said, well, what's your own experience of it? Check it out? You know, when you're trying to, I don't know, understand something. I've been often told to look at my own experience. That's good. So it's like, if that is the case, then how does the teacher fit in with that? I mean, and not having your own opinions, how does it, you know, your own ideas, if you're... Well, the idea is this. The idea is, if you want to learn the Dharma, you should learn the Dharma correctly, not just according to your own opinions.

[17:11]

That's the idea. The idea is, you know, when you hear a talk, for instance, a taisho, you should just listen. But what we do is we listen and then we, oh, well, I'm not sure I like that, or maybe, you know, we have our own opinions going, and so we don't really hear the talk. People come up to me and they say, you know that talk where you said, da, [...] da? I didn't say that. That's what they heard. in their own mind, that they didn't hear what I said. So, or not just me, I mean, the speaker, right? So just to just listen, that's all. That's like to open your mind. So the idea is if you come in with your own opinions, you can't really absorb what's being presented And so the first rule is drop your own ideas and opinions.

[18:20]

Just be new, open, and receptive. It's not a matter of arguing about this, or arguing about that, or bringing in your own. Those kinds of debatable things, are in a different realm. The Tibetans are always debating each other, right? They have all this debate. That doesn't mean that you can't ask questions and that you can't, you should ask questions. Definitely should ask questions. You should definitely challenge. But when you enter the practice, Let go of your ideas. Otherwise, you just cannot absorb the practice. In other words, to be a clean vessel to receive what's being offered, then you can judge.

[19:25]

Asu, move. I guess we could say that not having opinions is a different thing than not trusting your own experience. That's right. Trusting your own experience is not the same as your opinions. I remember Suzuki Roshi talking about the difference between opinions and opinions. One is simply to state something which is opinionated, and the other is to say, this is my opinion.

[20:36]

So if you simply state something as if it's the truth, as if I know this is the truth, but it's simply an opinion, that's called an opinion. But if you say, this is the way I understand something, or this is my understanding, he said, my teacher would always offer his opinion, but he would say, in my opinion, it's like this. It's from this standpoint or from the way I understand it, rather than saying this is the way things are, which is simply an opinion. Because in order to understand the Dharma, most of our ideas are dualistic. It's very hard to not be discriminatory and dualistic. And in order to realize non-discriminating, non-dualistic mind, you can't do it through opinions.

[21:39]

As a matter of fact, if you have an opinion, you can't get non-duality, because non-duality is free from opinions, and free from dualistic thinking, and free from discriminating mind. If you simply open your mind That's already the beginning of realization. So that's the first order of things. We don't tell people to do that, you know. But if you go to the monastery at Heiji, that's what you do. And the monks there are just moving really fast all the time. and there's no let up, there's no rest. They simply move all the time, and they're just from one activity to the next. So they're not thinking, there's no opinions, there's no ideas, they're simply, and they come out like, you know, newborn people.

[22:47]

Peter. Well, that's right. Well, yeah, of course. Yeah, either way. It's okay, it's okay. That's wrong. You want to be expecting to learn a form of practice from a teacher. And I think maybe the problem that people have I think that's a big part of it.

[24:08]

But it's not everybody. I think that's true. They see it as a set of ideas, and then you can argue about the ideas. Like we're doing here. But there's a place for that. So then he says, In fact, Buddha's teaching cannot be attained by having ideas or not having ideas. So he also presents the other side. It doesn't matter, having ideas or not having ideas. Buddha's way is beyond both of those. So only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind be calm. So calmness of mind is very important here. only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way.

[25:10]

The mind of pure practice is the mind of non-discriminating mind, non-dualistic mind. When we talk about purity, pure mind, purity of mind, or purity of practice, that refers to the non-discriminating mind, non-dual mind. That's what's called pure practice. And only then will there be some true ease or true calmness of mind. And the mind's not bouncing back and forth. The monkey is sitting still. When body and mind, it says, body and mind are not yet calm, they will not be at ease. When body and mind are not at ease, thorns grow on the path of realization. So it's important that we have, and Suzuki Roshi talked about this all the time, about calmness of mind.

[26:15]

When you have calmness of mind, then things will be different. So he always emphasized working toward calmness of mind, where your mind is not easily upset, and you have equanimity and balance. But that can only happen when there's no fear and when there's no expectation. So then he says, so that pure practice and the way coincide, how should we proceed? How do we do this? He said, proceed with the mind which neither grasps nor rejects. The mind unconcerned with name and gain. Here he is again, talking about name and gain. Do not practice Buddha Dharma with the thought that it is to benefit others.

[27:20]

So, the mind that neither grasps nor rejects. This is the mind of Zazen, right? This is what we learn in Zazen. When you sit in Zazen, you don't grasp something good, and you don't reject something that you don't like. Everything is equal. This is the great equalizer. And this is calmness of mind. When you can accept whatever comes up and not push away whatever comes through, but simply let everything come and go. Yes. Harking back to the previous passage, it says, when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way. Yeah. I don't know if coincide is the word I would use.

[28:27]

Maybe say merge. I thought about that, as a matter of fact. Merge might be a better way to express that. And then he says, don't practice Buddhadharma with the thought that it is to benefit others. He says this four different times in this section, in different ways. So that's a little funny because we always think about, well, we don't practice for ourselves, we practice for the benefit of other people and so forth. But he says, don't practice for the benefit of other people. Don't think I practice for you. That's a kind of egotistical, as a matter of fact, it's a dualistic statement. The practice that you do may be a benefit to other people,

[29:35]

But it's not up to you to think, I'm doing this for you. There was a Theravada monk, a famous Theravada, I'm trying to remember his name. He was talking about washing the toilet. He said, when we wash the toilet, he's talking to his student, don't think when you wash the toilet, you're washing the toilet for me. or for somebody else. You're just washing the toilet. So Dogen says, people in the present world, even those practicing Buddhadharma, have a mind which is far apart of the way. So he's talking about people who do practice, but their practice is not really coinciding with the way, merging with the way. They practice what others praise and admire. even though they know it does not accord with the way.

[30:45]

So don't forget that Dogen is talking about Japan. Also, he had criticism for China in the 13th century. And one of his biggest complaints was that Buddhism in Japan up to that time And we can see that this is so, that a good percentage of the Buddhism up until that time was scholarly, and it was for the aristocracy. The aristocracy, of course, incorporated Buddhism. And then the Buddhism and the aristocracy kind of got mixed up together. And one of the reasons, one of the main reasons why the aristocracy would allow Buddhism to be so prominent in the country was that Buddhism was the protector of the country, protector of the nation through its practices and the chanting of the monks and so forth, you know, kind of superstitious.

[31:53]

And this is always in the history of religion, religion and government. Religion is used as a protector of the state in some way. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, all the same. So when that happens, then the actual reality or truth of the practice gets subsumed or gets weakened and gets subsumed under the umbrella of the state. And this is definitely what was going on in Buddhism in Dogen's time in Japan. So he's criticizing people who don't really have a practice, but they have all the trappings of Buddhism, but a lot of corruption.

[33:04]

So they practice and admire, even though they know it is not a court of the way, they reject and do not practice what others fail to honor and praise, even though they know that it is the true way. And you can see that happens today. How painful. You should try to quiet your mind and investigate whether these attitudes are Buddha Dharma or not. You may be completely ashamed. The eye of the sage illuminates this. I think literally he says, shame on you, shame on you. That's the way he originally wrote it. So the eye of the sage illuminates this. So then he says, clearly, Buddhadharma is not practiced for one's own sake, and even less for the sake of fame and profit. So in the previous paragraph, he said it's not practiced for the sake of others.

[34:11]

Now he's saying it's not practiced for your own sake. You don't do it just for your own sake. This is why, in our practice, we don't practice solitary practices. because practicing a solitary practice is like practicing for your own sake. Although, you know, you can say that solitary practice is not for your own sake, but this is the way that in Japanese Buddhism, it's, they understand it. So, Other schools of Buddhism practice solitary practices, and some Zen monks practice solitary practices. But generally speaking, solitary practice is frowned upon.

[35:12]

Individual practice, my practice, is frowned upon because it can easily become egotistical. I'm thinking about the transition where one really learns to trust Zazen. where one really trusts their own understanding, what comes up intuitively, and how a period of time where maybe you're on your own can help reinforce it. Definitely. I think that everybody should practice on their own for a while, because then you can see whether the practice originates from you or not. whether or not you actually have internalized practice so that it's originating from you. And you don't just need, you know. So, you know, one of the things about everybody practicing together is that there's a lot of support, you know.

[36:17]

And so you don't know whether your practice is originating from you or whether it's just something that's supported by other people. And if they weren't there, it would fall apart. Well, that does happen to a lot of people. It just falls apart. You know, people go off for a while and say, well, you know, I don't practice anymore because there's so many other things to do. So, you know, the practice isn't really embedded. It's not a part of that person yet. But I'm just saying, this is what our Soto Zen practice is. That's the way it's presented and that's the way it's practiced. And it's not a solitary practice. We don't practice for the sake of you. We don't practice for the sake of me.

[37:19]

I don't practice for my own sake. Yeah. Was it more solitary in China? Sometimes, you know, sometimes. Sometimes they wall people up. They did everything in China. They cut off their fingers and, you know. Yeah. Going back to the line where you said, or maybe that just came out of you, where you said, if we don't grasp and we don't That's what Dogen says. One of you guys said that. One of us said that, yeah. So I was just wondering, so the mind is different from action. So something arises in the mind, we don't grasp it, we don't reject it. But if something, an act arises that's bad, We reject. Oh, okay.

[38:21]

Yeah. It's not... You don't grasp. Yeah. When something bad arises, you don't grasp. Well, I mean... When something good arises... Like, say, I'm sitting here and I have a thought that is a violent thought. Yeah. I don't grasp it and I don't reject it. Yeah. I don't judge it and I don't... That's right. But if I have a violent impulse in the world, I must reject it. I must say no to that impulse to act. Well, when a violent impulse comes and then you just let it come and then you let it go. Just like Zazen. You let it come and you let it go. So like, you know, when the thoughts come into your mind and zazen, you don't push them away and you don't serve them tea, but you let them come up.

[39:34]

So when the violent impulse, you know, the impulse comes up and you just let it come up and then you let it go. Sometimes, you know, like life isn't black and white, right? So there's a lot of... You're saying it's not different. Basically. I was saying it was different, and you're saying no, it's not different. Say that again. I was saying it's different, but you're saying no, it's not different. No, it's not different. It's not different. It can be different. If you could keep something like this in mind, out there in the neighborhood, then it wouldn't be a problem and you wouldn't have to either grasp or reject the issue. Well, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a problem. You always have a problem. But you don't make it into a bigger problem than it needs to be.

[40:38]

Grandpa would say, but if you understand the basis, the basic thing, then you will cultivate that basic attitude. But you may get turned around, you may get pushed off your basis, but you keep practicing with that attitude. And actually, the more you're able to do that, the better. It works. And, you know, I find sometimes, you know, arguing, some point will come up where you just wanna argue back, you know, and then just not say anything. And just let that fall down. And then just go on.

[41:44]

But we think that we have to grapple a thing to the death in order to be true to ourselves. And it's not avoidance, it's simply not catching that thing or being caught by it. Because when we catch something, the thing that we catch is what we're caught by. And it's time for our little break. Five minutes of silence. I think next time we take our break, we just stand up for about one minute and sit down again. I think that would be enough. Yeah. Well, I had a question. Because... Do not practice Buddha Dharma with the thought that is... Speak a little bit.

[42:58]

Sorry. Don't practice... You should not practice Buddha's teaching with the idea of gain. Oh yeah. Right? That's the title of this section. Right. You know, when I think of practicing Buddhadharma, I think that it's not different from living my life. So then if I follow that logic, then how do I practice my life? How do I live my life without the idea of gain? By following Buddhadharma. You say Buddhadharma follows your life, but life should follow Buddhadharma. I mean, that it is. It's not gonna be different. It's not different. So, you know, when you do something, you know, we do things and something happens, right? When you do something, something happens, right? And sometimes you do something and you get something, right? Sometimes you do something and you don't get something.

[44:00]

Right. So, practicing Without the idea of gain means if you get something, okay. If you don't get something, okay. How do you be okay if you don't get something? Well, you have to be okay. Because you're not grasping for anything. You're simply doing something for the sake of what you're doing. What if you don't know what you're doing? Oh, that's even better. I don't know what I'm doing. That's good. If everybody could say that, you know, we wouldn't be in so much trouble. Yeah, it's true anyway. So, you know, we think,

[45:01]

Sawaki Kodawarashi had this couple of sayings. He said, basically like, you don't eat a big meal in order to take a shit. Just enjoy your meal. If you think, I do this work and you get my paycheck, then the paycheck becomes the dominant thing. You're getting something. But what you're giving is not as great as what you're getting. So when you do your work, you're simply giving. You simply, it doesn't matter what the work, you may not like the work.

[46:07]

I don't like this work, too hard, stuff like that. But just give yourself to the work. And then at the end of the week, oh, I get paid too. Okay, if you didn't get paid, you wouldn't like it. But you do. But you practice Buddha Dharma just to practice. Not to get something. Because what you get is what you give. You're allowed to give. You're allowed to, you know. We think that we do this in order to get that. That's the gaining idea. We do this in order to get that. We practice in order to get enlightened. But if you don't practice in order to get enlightened and simply practice, enlightenment is right there. But you don't recognize it because there's this thing called enlightenment that you want to get and it doesn't look like what I'm doing.

[47:12]

I thought enlightenment was like, oh. The big explosion. I remember we used to use LSD, peyote, stuff like that in the 60s, 70s, 60s. Suzuki Roshi said, I think you're all eating LSD or something. If you want to have a really great experience, you should take LSD. But if you want to practice the dharma within enlightenment, you should just practice the dharma. But if you want some big experience, you should use the LSD.

[48:16]

Yeah, he wasted his whole life doing Zazen. And then there's something else. But if you don't do Zazen, you're really wasting your life. Did that satisfy everybody that had their hand up? So then he says, clearly, Buddhadharma is not practiced for one's own sake and even less for the sake of fame and profit. Just for the sake of Buddhadharma, you should practice it. And then he says, all Buddhas, compassion and sympathy for sentient beings, are neither for their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of Buddhadharma. Isn't it apparent, so here he gives the example, isn't it apparent that insects and animals nurture their offspring, exhausting themselves with painful labors, yet in the end have no reward when their offspring are grown?

[49:42]

So birds and animals and so forth, they nurture their young and then they go off and then there's no payback. The payback is in doing the work. In this way, the compassion of small creatures for their offspring naturally resembles the thought of all Buddhas for sentient beings. They just simply do it, you know, that's all. So you have compassion for sentient beings, for beings, and so you work out of compassion for all beings, but not for any reward, or even for any idea that sentient beings will be enhanced in some way, saved or whatever. You just simply do this because that's the thing to do. Otherwise there's self in it.

[50:48]

Selfness in it. Do Buddhadharma for the sake of Buddhadharma. Do Buddhadharma for the sake of Buddhadharma. I mean, is that a thing for the sake of, or is that just a trick, a word? Buddha Dharma is to help people understand the reality of their own nature. It's kind of hard to say what Buddha Dharma is, right, without getting a little inaccurate. A little. A little inaccurate, or, I mean... Inaccurate? Don't do it for the sake of others, don't do it for your own sake or for me. But then Buddha Dharma isn't a thing that you do something for. Right, so Buddha Dharma is the practice. You simply practice for the sake of practice. If you do Buddha Dharma for the sake of Buddha Dharma, then Buddha Dharma takes care of yourself and others.

[51:57]

It's not like there's anything there, is it? No, there's nothing there. Because Buddhadharma arises with your practice. You stimulate. When you practice, Buddhadharma arises. And then if you sincerely practice, then beings are benefited. You're benefited and whoever you're with is benefited. You create a Buddha, through Buddha practice, the Dharma practice, you create a Buddha field. And whoever comes into that Buddha field is benefited.

[53:06]

So, if it's a true Buddha field. Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember anybody's name. I'm too old to remember names. Even though I do remember your name. Anyway, now I was just thinking about the question she's raising, and not that I presume to understand, but I think that a lot of times when I read this, the same advice, I mean, I read it, Thich Nhat Hanh, I think, in some book was talking about a friend washing the dishes, and he said, are you washing the dishes to make I really think whenever you see that, and you see it all over and over and over applied to different things, it seems to me what a person is trying to get across is that whenever you're doing something to do something else, then you're away from what you're doing.

[54:15]

So it's just a device to try to help you just do what you're doing. Well, that's true, but it's not the only part of it. But if you're then doing it, and then it's helping other people, then now you're adding something to it, aren't you? Well, you know, other people are helped. So, you know. But then don't you get, I mean, it's so easy, not that one should, but is it so easy to get caught up in, well, how are they helped, and am I noticing whether It seems like a lot of the things, or at least I was told this once by someone who made sense to me, that a lot of the things we do in practice are ways to help you stop thinking. Well, stop thinking has various meanings. Yes. Stop thinking basically means not being attached to your opinions.

[55:20]

doesn't mean to stop thoughts. It's not that you don't do practice, it's not that you don't practice for yourself, and it's not that you don't practice for others. It's that you simply practice for the sake of the dharma, and the dharma benefits yourself and others. But, you know, they say, well, where's the dharma in there? I don't see anything in there. Dharma is a term that means, in this case, that means something like the benefit, right? Or the reality. So there's something called parinama. Parinama means giving the merit away. And this is practiced in all Buddhism. When you do something, Whatever you do, you transfer the merit.

[56:26]

But merit can't be transferred. It's kind of like karma. Karma can't be transferred. But it's a term that means you do something for the benefit of all sentient beings. A chant, you know, we dedicate the chant to all sentient beings. We dedicate the merit of this practice, the merit of our chanting, to all sentient beings, right? That's an expression of Parinama. And so we just do the chanting, right? We just do the practice. And then the practice is for the benefit of all beings. But if you think I'm doing this for the benefit of all beings, that's kind of egotistical. The point is that you don't think I'm doing this for you, or I'm doing this for me. Because if you do that, then you're expecting some kind of, you have some expectation, some kind of reward.

[57:27]

And then you have tainted practice. As long as, you know, what is the, when you're talking about Donna, giving, right? When you give, if you have some idea, oh, I'm giving something to you, that's tainted practice. You simply give and forget. It's just like that. You don't think I'm giving you something. It's just something being transferred in some way, but you don't think I'm giving you something. So in dana, in giving, there's simply giving. When the monks do takahatsu, they wear these baskets when they go to begging. I mean, they wear these hats, and they don't see the people that are putting whatever it is in their bowl. And they kind of see, but the people don't see them.

[58:30]

There's no eye contact, nothing like that. It's simply just giving and forgetting and just receiving and appreciating. So it's minimizing the idea of I'm doing something for you or I'm doing something for me. Simply doing something and without selfness so that self doesn't enter into it. So on the one hand, we say, yeah, this is for the benefit of all beings. This is my practice. But on the other hand, we say there are no sentient beings to give to, for one thing. But that's a little extreme. But on the other hand, I'm not doing this for you, and I'm not doing this for me.

[59:33]

Just doing. And this just doing is the whole basis. When you get to that point, just doing, then you have calm mind. And when we look at what our practice is like, When we do sashin, we sit down and do zazen, and no grasping and no rejecting. And then we stand up, and we do kinhen, and then we sit, and keep going like that. And we're just doing something. Suzuki Rishi used to say, when you wash the windows, you just wash the windows. You don't wash the windows to get them clean. You don't sweep the floor to get it clean. You don't get up in the morning and brush your teeth to get them clean. You just get up in the morning and brush your teeth. You just sweep the floor when you're sweeping the floor.

[60:37]

You just wash the window when you're washing the window. But we also wash the window to get it clean. We also sweep the floor to get it clean. We also brush our teeth to get them clean. But we have to understand the attitude what I need to do next. You already made your decision. Yeah, I made my decision to come here and do whatever people tell me to do. So, in some sense, I can just do that. I don't have to be attached to the outcome. I can just do. But when I'm in most of my life, I need to sort of decide, well, should I do this or that? And when I do that, I usually need some idea of what I think is better thing to do, or what's going to benefit people, or something like that.

[61:45]

When I think in those terms, I become very attached to the outcome, because in a sense that's the point. When you want to decide what to do, you want to think about what's the outcome of this versus that. No, there are two things. One is, when you're doing something, you have an outcome, right? Then there's the process of doing whatever it is that you're doing, right? There's no need to be attached to the outcome. There's no need to be attached to the whole idea. You're simply doing this thing, and there's some reason for doing these things, whatever it is you're doing. I don't know what that is. But we do it with an attitude of selflessness.

[62:54]

It's very interesting when all the houses burned down up there in the hills a couple of years ago, remember that? The Oakland Hills, all those houses burned down. And it's amazing, you know, a lot of people were crying and people, oh, I lost all of my whole thing, you know, I lost everything. And some people were saying, well, you know, just start over again. It's interesting to see the different attitudes that people had when that happened. So you just say, well, you know, I lost everything, but I still have the body, you know, we're still here, hey, you know, and we'll start over again. There's all the sadness and the, you know, all the emotional feelings and so forth. But some people had some feeling of being able to let go and not, you know, being attached to what they've lost. So anyway, we make a big effort to try as hard as we can to do what we're doing.

[64:08]

So if you put all, just do. And one of the things about our practice, especially the Japanese practice, is that Zen has kind of introduced into the cultures When you do something, okay, this is my lot to do this. I'll do this as well as I can. It's not a matter of doing this to get something. I'm doing this to do it as well as I can. I'm doing whatever I'm doing to do it as well as I can. And that's kind of the basis that goes on within the phenomenal side of life. So there's the phenomenal, there's you, and then there's the phenomenal side of life, and then there's the truth about life, which is everything is empty in its own nature.

[65:12]

Nothing has its own being. So how we merge with, you know, circumstances, is the point. How do you do that? How do you merge with circumstances so that you're not caught by things and you're always at ease, even though you may be working really hard and working to get something accomplished. Still, you're free from attachment to what's going on, even though you're totally involved So one of the key words is compassion. You have compassion for what you're working with, you have compassion for who you're working with, and that is the fundamental.

[66:15]

But what happens is greed takes over, ill will takes over, and delusion takes over. So if you can do all of those activities without greed, without wanting too much, without ill will, without getting angry and upset, without delusion, which means doing something for the wrong reasons, then you can harmonize with your life. So, you have your family, you do stuff for your family and so forth. Sure, we do things for people, but there's something, some equalization about it. There has to be some equalization, because gain and loss are equal.

[67:25]

Gain and loss have to be equal. So we rejoice at our gain and we cry at our loss. You know, as Dogen says, flowers fall with our rejoicing, weeds spring up with our rejoicing. Flowers fall and weeds spring up. Right? Just when we want everything to go right, it all falls apart. And just when we think that everything is falling apart, something happens. Being able to flow, right? Just being able to flow with things. When things are falling apart, that's what's happening. When things are coming together, that's what's happening. And so we work to make things work.

[68:28]

So if we simply work to make things work, then people are benefited and we're benefited. So I think that's the point. You go with what makes things work for the sake of them working. If you're the boss of a big company, you have your employees to take care of and you have yourself to take care of. But you simply, when things are going well, then the workers are taken care of and you're taken care of. So it benefits everybody just to keep things working right. That's called practicing for the sake of practice. Phew. The last word. The last word. Not necessarily the last word. Couldn't or could just for the sake of also mean becoming one with?

[69:29]

Yeah, becoming one with. And I just in my book here, I have from some other class a little note. It says just for the sake of Buddha Dharma, you should practice it. And then there's a little note here. It says Suzuki Roshi said to see things as it is. To see things as it is. Yeah. Well, the point is to see things as it is, so that you're not fooled by things. Simply, so to practice for the sake of the Dharma means to practice for the sake of reality or truth, as it is. Not as my opinion is or as my preference is or something like that, but as it is. Yeah? I guess it's obvious that the grammar, to see things as it is, that's all intentional.

[70:34]

Right, so that's using dualistic words to express a non-dualistic understanding. And so you have your cases mixed. Yeah. So I just want to finish this. So he says, all Buddhas, compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither for their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of Buddha Dharma. Isn't it apparent that it talks about insects and animals, right? So the inconceivable Dharma of all Buddhas is not compassion alone, but compassion is the basis of the various teachings that appear universally. And it's true. Already we are children of the Buddhas. Why not follow their lead? Students, do not practice Buddhadharma for your own sake. Do not practice Buddhadharma for name and gain. Do not practice Buddhadharma to attain blissful reward. Do not practice Buddhadharma to attain miraculous effects. Practice Buddhadharma solely for the sake of Buddhadharma. That's the way.

[71:35]

Grass, trees, walls, and tiles are all preaching. They're all chanting the Buddha Dharma. They're all giving us the lowdown. It's interesting. Human beings appear in this world, and there are animals, and there are trees, and there are rocks, and there are all kinds of rivers, and rain, and sun, and everything is doing its thing. you know, as an expression of Buddhadharma. And sentient beings are all going, people are all going like this. True. And so everything around us is teaching us something. Everything is, and so you can say that everything is preaching the Dharma. Everything, stones, garbage, everything is preaching the Dharma. And we don't necessarily get it. It's all telling us something.

[72:49]

And we are human beings, not everybody, but our leaders, bless them. are devouring the earth that we're standing on. It's like sucking the life out of the earth and putting nothing back. This, you know, children, yeah, they're not grown up. So this is the greed, the ill will, and the delusion, one big ball of delusion. Yeah. Well, where does that come from? Greed. Where does it come from? Well, you know, we have all these tendencies. Human beings have all these tendencies. We have the tendency for greed. We have the tendency for ill will. We have the tendency for delusion and so forth.

[73:50]

But we also have the tendency for self-control and for understanding. But there's a lot of fear and a lot of insecurity. Fear and insecurity rule the world. Fear and insecurity rule the world. You can rule the world. Just get everybody scared to death and tell them, I will take care of you. And you can rule the world because people are so frightened. So fear rules and ill will rules and greed rules. I mean, it's just all mixed up. You can just see it all there. And it's a lack of self-control, lack of understanding, and callousness, lack of compassion. But you know, I think about this world and I think about, what is this world?

[75:03]

It's something, I used to think it's something that everybody should enjoy. But actually now I'm beginning to think it's something we get through. Yeah, I think that's a very Buddhist attitude. Life in this world, it's something that you get through. And how do you get through it? How do you do it in the best way? with compassion for everybody and so forth, because it's not even the people. It's not what we, I mean, it's stuff we do to ourselves, but we have this self-destructive urge. And that's the nature of this world. It's just the nature of things. So you can get angry and you get resentful, but if you just think about it, it's the nature of this world.

[76:03]

And then we go through this world and we're born and we mature and we die, so to speak, but we can relax a little. Did you want to say something? You said it's the nature of this world that insects and birds take care of their young and they just do what they're doing. Not everyone takes care of them. Like turtles leave their eggs and then they go, right? But this kind of example is for those that do. So it's the nature of this world, it's natural to enjoy life and to love. And it's also natural to self-destruct. Yeah, both. Should we be picking and choosing? We can't. Between those two?

[77:06]

We can't. Even just like little me? Shouldn't I be picking and choosing between self-destruct and love and... It's not that self-destruct, it's that the nature of things is that they don't last. Oh, that's different. Yeah. It's the nature of things that they don't last. I thought you were talking about people who were... Oh, no, we have a choice. We definitely have a choice. That's the whole idea, that we do have choice. But the nature of things is that thing. And we only live to be 80, 90, 100 years old. So we don't live, people don't live long enough to remember what the problems are and how to fix it, how to deal with them. And every generation has to go.

[78:01]

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