I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. So I've been talking about this sasheen, this meeting and gathering the heart, mind. In terms of this writing by Dogen from this new book, Beyond Thinking, and this writing, this essay is called The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas. I'll be talking about it tomorrow afternoon more systematically at a seminar in Chicago.

[01:02]

But I wanted to review a little bit. There's a few people who are here today who weren't here before in the session. And talk about how we actually take on this practice. Can you hear me back there, Karin? Let me know if you can't. So again, as I said, Dogen says, know that Buddhas in the Buddha way do not wait for awakening. We are not doing this practice for the sake of some future experience or understanding. We are practicing the awakening that's already right here on your cushion or chair. This is a ceremony or a celebration to express and perform the wondrous reality of this fundamental awakening that brought you here, that inspired you to take on this strange activity of just sitting facing the wall

[02:23]

facing the floor, facing the bricks, facing your own hard mind. So this is not a practice for the sake of something that's going to happen later on. Later on is right now. Your ancient twisted karma is right now. This presence, this presencing that we are doing includes the entire world. all of time and space is right here in the room on your cushion. In each inhale, in each exhale, in each thought moment are 3,000 worlds. So then Dogen says the mantra for this session Again, active Buddhas alone. Fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha.

[03:29]

Fully experience. Fully experience your own experience. Fully engage and express and perform and walk the walk of your own experience right now. as you sit on your cushion, as you get up from your cushion to do walking meditation, as you get up from session to leave and perform the ceremony of your everyday activities in your ordinary life. Fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So again, this is a vital process. Believe it or not, we are actually alive. And the people on the next cushion and the people across the room and the people you work with and your family and friends and people you interact with are actually alive.

[04:42]

There is a vital process. It's happening right now. It keeps on happening. So our practice is simply to fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So when you realize Buddha, please keep going. Don't stop. Buddha did not give up his practice when he was awakened. In fact, he continued awakening his awakening. every day for the rest of his life and the rest of our life. And he's still awakening right now. Fully experienced the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So this happens through this, we could say, awesome presence or just dignified presence, dignified bearing, dignified manners.

[05:49]

This is about learning the dignified manners of the practicing Buddhas, the active Buddhas, all around us and within us. And because active Buddhas manifest dignified presence in every situation, they bring forth this dignified manner with their body. This is not some idea. This is not abstract. This is not philosophy. This is something that actually we do in our experience. It's a kind of dance. It's a kind of singing. It's just turning cartwheels in each moment. It's just sitting up straight. It's just being upright in your standing and in your lying down, as well as your walking and sitting. Thus, their transformative function flows out in their speech, reaching throughout time, space, Buddhas, and activities.

[07:02]

So even though we're not waiting for something in the future, this is a vital process. We are sitting in the middle of transformative function of the workings of Buddhas. Everything is being transformed digested and spit out in each moment. Each moment there is this transformation. Everything is alive and changing far beyond what we can see and hear and smell and taste and touch and think with our limited human apparatus. And yet it depends on us. This transformative function happens because of your dignified presence. The transformative function happens together with all of us expressing the dignified presence that we can express with this body and mind right now, today.

[08:08]

So it's not that there's no time. There's a kind of craft to this and if you Take on this practice in an everyday kind of way and allow the everyday activities of your life to practice and take advantage of the everyday opportunities of the situation of this world with all its difficulties, with all its sadnesses, with all its frustrations and confusion. Bring to life your life and the everyday activities of your life. This is the transformative function. And in this transformative function, it's not that we're going to fix the world according to our ideas of what it should be. But our ideas of what it should be are part of the transformative function, too. So things happen all the time. Birds sing.

[09:19]

People drink tea. The world is in the midst of transformation right now, as is your body and mind and heart. So just to continue the review a little bit, Dogen says, who would regard this apparition of blossoms in the sky as taking up a mistake and settling in with a mistake? Can you do that in the midst of the flowers falling from the sky, falling from the roof, falling from the floor right now? Stepping forward misses. Stepping backward misses. Taking one step misses it. Taking two steps misses it. And so there are mistakes upon mistakes. So this transformative function, this awesome dignified presence, is not a matter of doing the forms perfectly or being a perfect Zen student, whatever you might imagine that is.

[10:35]

being right according to some idea of right that you might have heard somewhere. It's simply mistake upon mistake. It's actually a vital process. We are actually alive. You should thoroughly understand that in the awesome presence and in the presence of awe, the great way is wide open. So we actually do this in this world. And again, Sometimes it hurts. Just because we're living in the world of the majestic presence and manner of practicing Buddhas doesn't mean that there are not tragedies and sadnesses and loss and confusion and frustration and craving and anger and wars and corruption.

[11:40]

That's exactly where we practice. So because of that, the awesome presence of active Buddhas right now is beyond obstruction. Totally encompassed by Buddhas, Dogen says, practicing Buddhas are free from obstruction as they penetrate the vital path of being splattered by mud and soaked in water. So this is not some practice that we do in some beautiful ethereal, heavenly, mountaintop realm, right in the middle of the mud and water is where we practice our dignified presence, where we engage the transformative function, where we can make a big difference. So your practice is very important. Your practice makes a big difference. I'm talking to you. Right now, this year, The next six months are going to be very important to the whole history of the future of the human species.

[12:48]

We're living in one of those very pivotal years. Some of you may remember 1968. It was a very exciting and dramatic and painful time and a wonderful time. And we have a wonderful opportunity, each of us, to make a big difference in the world just by your kindness and thoughtfulness and awareness and consideration and paying attention and not being afraid to be afraid, and not being afraid to speak your truth. We're completely in the mud and water. Please pay attention. Please take on this wonderful opportunity we have to make a huge difference to the whole world. So please enjoy the mud and water.

[13:53]

Don't imagine that it's not mud and water, though. Out of this mud and water is where the lotus grows. So that's a little bit of a review of what I've been talking about the last couple of days. In this essay, Dogen also says, the teaching of birth and death, body and mind, is the circle of the way and is actualized at once. Thoroughly practicing, thoroughly clarifying. It is not forced. So, you know, there's some effort involved in sitting upright for 40 minutes.

[15:05]

There's some effort involved in just getting here, getting into the room. Some of you have come from a distance, have traveled freeways and crossed state lines to get here. There's some effort involved in just being yourself. And yet it is not forced when we practice this dignified presence. You don't have to be somebody other than who you are. You don't have to reach some higher state of consciousness or higher state of being. You don't have to crawl through the desert on your knees. You just have to be who you are and express the dignified presence of the awareness and awakening that brought you here. It's not forced.

[16:07]

And Dogen says, it is just like recognizing the shadow of deluded thought and turning the light to shine within. It is just like recognizing the shadow of deluded thought and turning the light to shine within. So please, study your delusions. Don't turn away from the shadows. This is what Buddhas do. So deluded people have delusions about enlightenment and awakening and majestic Buddhas. Practicing Buddhas, active Buddhas, actually are awakened about their delusions. Don't be afraid of your fear. Don't be afraid of your craziness. It's not possible to be sane in this kind of corrupt, crazy society.

[17:14]

If you were saying that, that would be really crazy. Please study your own difficulties. Please study your own grasping and anger and frustration and confusion. That's what Buddhists do. That is the dignified presence of active Buddhists. Please study your own addictions. Please study your own Shadows and difficulties. It is just like recognizing the shadow of diluted thought and then turning the light to shine within. So this is the basic Zazen instruction. Take the backward step and turn your light inwardly to illuminate the self. Turn the light to shine within. This is what we do sitting on our cushion. We study the self. Of course, studying the self is forgetting the self, but don't try and get to forgetting the self.

[18:20]

Don't try and run away from yourself. Don't try and become somebody other than the person on your cushion right now. Everything you need is right here, now, in this skin bag. Just turn the light to shine within, and don't turn away. And take another breath. And then exhale. And be willing to be the person you are and face the wall of yourself. This is the practice of active Buddhists. So thoroughly practicing, thoroughly clarifying, it is not forced. It is just like recognizing a shadow of deluded thought and turning the light to shine within. The clarity of clarity beyond clarity prevails in the activity of Buddhas. This is totally surrendering to practice.

[19:22]

So actually this is the main thing I want to talk about today. The clarity of clarity beyond clarity prevails in the activity of Buddhas. This is totally surrendering to practice. So many of you are very intelligent. and have very refined understandings of all kinds of things, of human psychology, of philosophy, of the workings of various things, of art and industry and business. Anyway, each of you has your own gift. But this practice, this dignified presence, this awesome dignified presence, is about finding the clarity of clarity beyond clarity. Understanding that is understanding beyond understanding. So anything I say about this will be a mistake.

[20:32]

So I trust that as active Buddhas listening to the Dharma, you will find your way to use this, even though each of my words is a mistake upon a mistake. This clarity of clarity beyond clarity prevails in the activity of Buddhists. There is a clarity that is beyond your idea of clarity. So clarity could also be translated as understanding. The same character also means brightness. the brilliance of your brilliance beyond brilliance, the understanding that goes beyond anything we can understand. Many things are happening right here in this room that we will never see or hear or understand. Don't imagine that reality is just what you think it is.

[21:41]

This is not just some ancient, eastern, esoteric, mystical philosophy. Modern science, at least as well as I can understand it with my feeble understanding of science, according to modern physics and string theory, there are dimensions of reality happening all around us that we are not aware of. And yet there is a clarity beyond clarity. This is the true clarity for active Buddhists. There is a clarity, maybe I could call it faith, but it's not faith in something outside. It's not faith in self-power or something inside either. So it's not about some belief system. It's about actually being the dignified presence you are right now.

[22:49]

Sashin supports this. And maybe it helps to sit, you know, Sashin after Sashin. Maybe it helps to practice. I know it helps to practice every day, even 10 minutes. Please try and sit at home. in between sessions, in between formal practice and Sangha, even 10 minutes of just being present awesomely in this dignified, upright clarity beyond clarity. So it may help, actually, to develop this clarity beyond clarity, to unfold this clarity beyond clarity if you continue practicing day after day, month after month, lifetime after lifetime. And still, it's all right here, right now, in your skin bag. So even though we can't understand it, or see it, or hear it, we have some relationship to it.

[24:01]

In some way, we can fully experience it, even though it's far beyond our experience, even. This clarity of clarity beyond clarity prevails. So maybe instead of my talking about it, I'll give some other sayings that might point to it, some other fingers pointing to the moon. So Dogen continues, to understand the principle of total surrendering, of totally surrendering to practice, you should thoroughly investigate mind and heart. In this steadfastness of thorough investigation, All phenomena are the unadorned clarity of mind. Every single thing that happens is related to your mind heart. All phenomena are the unadorned clarity of mind. You know and understand that the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness are merely elaborate divisions of mind. Although your knowing and understanding are part of all phenomena,

[25:06]

So it's not that you should get rid of your understanding and your intellectual knowing. That's fine. In fact, it's OK to work on trying to understand more. But that's not the clarity beyond clarity. But it's part of all phenomena. It's a little piece of the clarity beyond clarity. So again, you don't need to get rid of your thinking in Zazen or any other time. Your thinking is just your thinking, just like the bird singing is just the bird singing. So please don't follow the heretical American school of lobotomy zen. Please allow your thinking to be your thinking. Allow your gassho to be your gassho. Allow your posture to be the dignified presence of your posture. Allow your cushions and chairs to be your cushions and chairs. As you realize that although your knowing and understanding are part of all phenomena, You actualize the home village of the self.

[26:12]

This is no other than your everyday ordinary activity. This being so, the continuous effort to grasp the point in phrases and to seek eloquence beyond words is to take hold beyond taking hold and to let go beyond letting go. So please, actualize the home village of the self. Where is it that is your true home? Where is your home village? Even when you wander across state lines, please actualize the home village of the self. So the home village of the self, it's not about your small ego self, but it's not separate from that either, that's included.

[27:16]

All phenomena, all phenomena are the unadorned clarity of mind. So let go beyond letting go and actualize the home village of the self. So maybe that's just another way of saying, take refuge in Buddha. Come back home to the home village of the self. Just the ordinary, simple activities of taking care of taking out the trash, doing the laundry, washing the dishes. Take care of the home village of the self. So this reminds me of one of my favorite sayings in the Blue Cliff Record collection of koans. And I think, if I remember correctly, it's in case 61, which is about, are there any home-leaving practitioners who can't live the same and die the same?

[28:27]

But anyway, it's just a kind of throw-off line. It's a line. It's one of those added sayings commenting on one of the characters. koan, and this little bit of graffiti, Yuan Wu said, he has his own mountain spirit realm. So actualize the home village of the self. Realize that you have your own mountain spirit realm. Maybe you have your own prairie spirit realm. or your own lakeside spirit realm. Anyway, settle in there. Find your way to be at home in this home village of the self. To express the dignified presence of being completely present in the home village of the self, in your own mountain spirit realm.

[29:33]

To take on working with the mud and water of the home village of the self. I was reminded of another old Zen saying this morning, the ride home always seems shorter. It's very close, this mountain spirit home, this mountain spirit realm, this home realm of the self. Your ride home always seems shorter. It's very close. Turn the light to shine within. So all these fancies and words are about something that's very, very close. So close to you that you can't see it. It's like trying to see your own eyeballs. the ride home always seems shorter.

[30:38]

So this practice is about this clarity beyond clarity. This clarity of clarity beyond clarity is about realizing the vastness and awesomeness of the presence of active Buddhas right in the middle of ordinary stuff. So I mentioned Dogen in this essay also quotes Hongzhe saying, take what is there and bring it here. So whatever wonderful visions you have of the home village of the self, bring them back to the next breath, to the next step, to taking out the trash and doing the laundry and washing the dishes. This is faith in Buddhism. This is trusting your own mountain spirit realm. This is meeting the heart. This is the work that will help cure our corrupt, violent, vicious society.

[31:54]

Find your own home in the home village of the self, and then speak your truth. Sit upright. Just take the next breath. Thoroughly practicing, thoroughly clarifying. It's not forced. And yet, it depends completely on you. So I thought I'd read something else from Hongzhi since Dogen quotes him about taking what's there and bringing it here. So in cultivating the empty field, Hongzhi says, in clarity, the wonder exists with spiritual energy shining on its own.

[33:01]

It cannot be grasped and so cannot be called being. We can't get a hold of it. So we can't say exactly that it is. But it can't be rubbed away either. You can't get rid of it. So it cannot be called non-being. You can't say that this spiritual energy is not here. It's rippling through the room. Maybe you can't see it, but it's here in your experience right now. Beyond the mind of deliberation and discussion, depart from the remains of the shadowy images. Emptying one's sense of self-existence is wonderful, it's wondrous. This wonder is enacted with a spirit that can be invoked. The moon mind with its cloud body is revealed straightforwardly in every direction without resorting to signs or symbols. So all these words and all these images and all the Zen poetry and painting, it's wonderful.

[34:06]

You know, it helps point the way. It's part of the path of the vital process of Buddha going beyond Buddha. And yet we don't need to resort to signs or symbols. It's even closer than that. Radiating light everywhere, it responds appropriately to beings. It enters the sense dust without confusion. So please enter. into the world of mud and water. Enter into the world of confusion without confusion. Bring the clarity of clarity beyond clarity into meeting the next thing, taking the next step, taking the next breath, expressing your truth as you see it. Fearless, right in the middle of fear. Calm, right in the middle of outrage and anger. with the energy of, strong energy of kindness and consideration, pointing out when harm is happening without resorting to calling anybody an evildoer.

[35:18]

Radiating light everywhere, it responds appropriately to beings and enters the sense to us without confusion. Overcoming every obstruction, it shines through every empty dharma, in all things, in all phenomena, in every single piece of our life. So letting go of discriminating conditioning, enter clean, clear wisdom and romp and play in samadhi. What could be wrong? So please enjoy your life. Romp and play in samadhi. Enjoy your zazen. Sitting still and upright, throughout the period until the bell rings. Please be completely wild on your cushion. Allow the 10,000 things to course through your blood. Feel the feelings you feel. Everything is right here, the whole world in your heart.

[36:30]

Bring your dignified presence to meeting it. to looking at it, to feeling it, to feeling how it feels. Because of this transformative function, you have the power to actually be present in the world just as it is, to meet each thing. Suzuki Roshi said, the world is its own magic. We can't understand how wonderful and amazing and awesome and dignified this practice is. And yet, here we are, fully experiencing it, each in our own way. So there's an old Zen story, one of my favorite Zen koans.

[37:46]

Maybe the one Zen koan that all Zen students should know, about two old Zen teachers in China a long time ago. Two old Chinese guys. Actually, one of them got to be very old, but in the story, he's not so old. His name was Zhao Zhou, or Zhou Shu. And one day he went to his teacher, who was named Nanchuan, and said, what is the way? And Nanchuan said, ordinary mind, everyday mind is the way. Can you believe it? Please try. Anyway, he said, ordinary mind is the way. Everyday stuff, everyday stuff is the way. And Zhaozhou, who maybe, you know, was the greatest Zen master of all time. If you can say that about anybody, you can say it about Zhaozhou.

[38:49]

There's so many koans and wonderful stories about him. And maybe he was just the greatest Zen master of all time because he lived to be 120. So he had a lot of time to sit and reflect and turn the light within. But anyway, he was just a student at this point. He was one of us confused Zen students, and he heard ordinary mind, everyday mind is the way, and he said, oh, how do I get there? How do I approach that? And Manjuan said, sorry, the more you try and approach it, the further away you get. So all of these words I've been saying from Dogen about the clarity beyond clarity and fully experiencing the vital process on path of going beyond Buddha. There's not something that you have to figure out how to get there.

[39:51]

It's not that kind of thing. Anyway, Chojo, you know, was very sharp and he heard, oh, the more you try and get there, the further away you get. And he said, oh, well, then how do I know if it's the way or not? Really good question. Am I doing it right? Is this it? Is it just this it? Is it possible that I'm really sitting as Azen? That I'm really expressing the awesome, dignified presence of the active Buddhas? Is this, could it be this? With all the thoughts jammering around with that ache in my knee with that voice saying, where's the bell? When's he going to stop talking? What's for lunch? Could that be it? How do I know if I'm doing it right? How do I know if it's the way or not? So Zhaozhou asked Nanshuang, well then, if trying to get there gets us further away from it, how do I know if it's the way or not?

[40:53]

And Nanshuang said, it's not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is just a delusion," Lan Chuan said, but not knowing is just vacancy. When you reach the true way beyond doubt, it is vast and open as all of space. So here we are, sitting in empty space, sitting in the midst of this empty field of the wonderful Udumbara petals all around us. So just, you know, take the next breath. Follow the schedule.

[41:58]

When the bell rings, get up. When the bell rings to go to the zendo, go to the zendo. Sashin is this wonderful opportunity to really meet the mind, to really find that space beyond space, to get this little taste, this little sense out of the corner of your eye of the clarity, of clarity beyond clarity. Don't worry about, is this, am I really doing it or not? Still, please take it on. Fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. It's vast and open as the sky, and the sky is responding.

[43:10]

So this isn't something you can do through your self-power. It's not something that happens thanks to somebody else. Nobody can do it for you. There's no perfect master somewhere who's going to give you the answers to all your problems. Just sit right in the middle of the clarity, of clarity beyond clarity. Just be willing to meet your life as it is right now, today. Be willing to take the next breath. Be willing to feel what you feel and be the active Buddha in your skin bag here and now. So we still have a little more time to do this together today.

[44:23]

Thank you all very much for your awesome practice.

[44:33]

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