I vow to face the truth of the Tathāgata's words. Good morning. When I talked about brushing off our Zavatthāns, I didn't mean to criticize everyone, but we have this habit of forgetting all about what we're doing. And when we finish some event and start brushing off our zapatones and creating a huge din in the zendo, which is uncharacteristic of the rest of our practice in the zendo,

[01:00]

So I would suggest that it's not necessary to clean all the dust off, to wipe the dust. If you want to wipe it, just do it carefully. After you put your Zabaton down, so that you hear what you're doing. As long as you hear what you're doing, and no one else does, It's all right. In our activity, in Zindo, we always see what we're doing clearly. We always hear what we're doing clearly. And we always smell what we're doing if you have a good sense of smell. And we always touch things carefully.

[02:08]

When we touch something, we know that we're touching something, either with our hands or our feet. So, complete self-awareness. And self-awareness doesn't mean just of this body, because everything is our self. So when we touch something, or listen to something, or see something, this body and mind, along with what we see, touch, feel, and deal with, is our self. So that's self-awareness. things and people we come in contact with. As soon as we have some contact, that plus ourselves is ourself.

[03:11]

So, I'd like us to avoid that great commotion at the end of something. wiping off the cushions. If you have to wipe them off, do it carefully and mindfully. What I want to talk about today, actually, is how our practice is extended from Zazen into the various practice positions that we have and mainly leadership positions. In the monastic life, monastic life is a self-contained ideal city or ideal community.

[04:26]

That's what monasticism is really about. It's an ideal way of life. And most monastic communities are an ideal way of life in which the essential, let's say, in which life is strained through a strainer of some sort, a grid of some sort, and all of the unnecessary or trivial parts of life are strained out and only the essential parts are left. And so in a monastic life we live with just the essential aspects of life, what we consider the essential aspects of life. It may not be, but that's what we consider them. But almost any monastic community is like that, Buddhist or Christian or any kind.

[05:32]

And different communities have various degrees of what is considered essential. But there's a very conscious effort to strain out the non-essential and just stick with the essential. And so a monastic community is more or less self-sufficient. Not completely self-sufficient, but runs itself. So in a Zen community, Zen monastic community, leadership is broken down into usually six departments. And there are six heads of the departments.

[06:36]

So one is the, this is besides the Abbott's department. There's the Tenzo, who takes care of feeding everyone, runs the kitchen. And then there's the work leader, I won't give you the Japanese names. There's the work leader who takes care of seeing that all of the essential work of the monastery is taken care of. And then there's the director who oversees all of the workings of the practice place. Then there's the treasurer who takes care of the financial end of things. And then there's the guest manager who takes care of affairs between the inside and the outside.

[07:45]

Guest manager, actually, who takes care of people who come and go. And then there's usually, sometimes, an assistant director who is considered part of that, called Roku-ji-ji, six officers. And those are the heads of the departments which keep the monastery, or the practice place, going. And traditionally, each one of those positions is considered a way of actualizing enlightenment. So what Zen

[08:55]

ancestors did was to take the stuff of life and make it into a way to practice and to actualize enlightenment. And our kind of practice place life or temple life uses that model as a, not in the same way that a monastic life would, but it's modified to fit temple life, or practice place, I like to say practice place life, rather than defining it into something like temple practice place. And so, each practice place finds its own way using that as a model.

[10:01]

And so each one of those departments has a certain number of people who carry out the various duties of the practice place and make the whole thing work harmoniously. It's like a harmonious, ideal way of life. And Dogen Zenji wrote a fascicle called the Tenzo Kyokun, which a lot of us are familiar with, but some people are not. And that Tenzo Kyokun is written for the benefit of the head cook. or the person who takes care of the kitchen, the tenzo, and explains how that cooking and taking care of the feeding end of practice is enlightenment itself, and how to work in such a way that

[11:32]

enlightenment is manifested. And he also wrote a fascicle on all of the six positions, which is very poorly translated and needs to be re-translated, but he explains or presents the qualities of each position and how if when each position is taken on in a selfless way, not only is the person in the position practicing with an enlightenment, but it allows everyone else around them to practice with an enlightenment. If we just look at what we do as work in an ordinary sense, then we become very confused and burdened, and our life seems to be too difficult.

[12:48]

As a matter of fact, it's very common for people to have a work life in which they feel very burdened and their life is just too difficult and they have so much work and don't know how they're going to get through it. If we bring that kind of attitude into our practice life then Our activity just seems like another burden. So zazen, sitting cross-legged, is one aspect of zazen. Eating is one aspect of zazen. Working is one aspect of zazen.

[13:57]

Zazen and enlightenment are actualized in all of those activities completely. If we look at Zazen as just painful legs, then it becomes a kind of endurance contest And if we look at work as just some kind of excess burden when we should be sitting zazen, then it looks like a waste of time. And if we see eating with orioke as like it would be easier if we just used a knife and fork and sat down at a table, if we don't really understand then it just seems like a waste of time. So, in our life, if we practice zazen, if we know how to practice zazen in all the activities of our life, that is, in a selfless manner,

[15:19]

not for the sake of reward or for any kind of personal benefit, then we can practice zazen everywhere at any time. It doesn't depend on sitting cross-legged or any special place. And that's meaning of our practice. So when we take on a responsibility in our Sangha life, it's a way to actualize enlightened life and also to serve others. I think that by serving others, we're also serving ourselves.

[16:40]

Sometimes we say, nobody loves me. If we say that, I hear that. Nobody loves me. Mostly, the reason why nobody loves me is because I don't love anybody else. But we don't realize that, always. We think that we do. We think, well, I love other people. But they don't love me back. We think we love other people, but we may be very far away from what we think we do. So we need to, it's necessary to know how to serve people. We enjoy, you know, when we eat our meals,

[17:47]

It's very enjoyable to serve. One of the most enjoyable things is to serve, even though it may hurt your back a little bit. It's a very enjoyable kind of activity, you know, to actually serve somebody without any motive. No motive. No sense of reward. No sense that something will return to you. Just something that you do. But it feels wonderful. And when we go to work, we feel, well, how much am I going to get paid for this? And if you get, most people will do this. If you get 50 cents an hour more working at a place you don't like, most people will take that rather than get 50 cents an hour less and work in a place that they do like.

[18:53]

Because there's something about that, you know, that's getting more. Some kind of funny reward. But rewarding life is very different from that. When we really know how to take care of things, the same way we take care of ourselves, enjoyment rises by itself.

[20:16]

If we look for some kind of happiness, happiness is not an object. Happiness is the result of something. If we go looking for happiness, it will always run away, never quite get it. People who are always going around looking here and there for happiness never can get it. It's always elusive because It's just a dream. You can't find it because it's just a dream. And even if you get it, it's not satisfying, so you need to get something else to replace it. Once you get it, you don't want it. So taking care of ourselves and taking care of our surroundings, taking care of our friends in a way that is not burdensome, but is wholehearted.

[21:43]

Wholeheartedness is really the secret of life. To do something wholeheartedly is the secret of life. half-heartedness is just suffering. That's why I say to people, you know, sometimes people say, well, I don't know what I'm doing here. What is this? And what I always say to people is, you don't have to be here. Just find the thing that you really want to do. Find out what you really want to do. Do it. Completely. You don't have to stay here with me. That's not what this is all about. You should really find what you really want to do. And do it just as hard as you can.

[22:47]

Use yourself up completely. Then you can find some happiness. Happiness will arise by itself. You won't have to go looking for it. Happiness comes when you're fulfilled, filled full. And it may or may not make so much difference what it is that you're doing. You can find complete fulfillment cleaning the toilet. Some people say, oh, this job is too low for me.

[24:04]

I want to read a little bit of this. Uchiyama Roshi was the abbot of Antaiji. Antaiji was a very small temple in Japan. It moved. That's why I say was. There are two Antaijis. One is the old one, and there's a new one. I don't know so much about the new one, but the old one, Uchiyama Roshi was the abbot. And he wrote several books on Zazen. But at Antaiji, Antaiji was a very small temple. Maybe the size of this temple. I've never been there, but it was rather small. And they had maybe eight or ten monks who lived there. And they didn't have any electricity.

[25:07]

And they did all their own cooking and whatever cooking they needed. And every day they would go out and beg. And no telephones. I think the lights were most of them kerosene lights or something. And they lived just a kind of monastic life, but in a very small setting. The place was kind of famous because there was a real sense of practice in an environment where people had forgotten what practice was about. Anyway, he wrote this book recently called Refining Your Life. And this is a commentary on the Tenzo Kyokun of Dogen Zenji.

[26:10]

And I want to read you just a little paragraph where he actually quotes from Dogen. Dogen says in the Tenzo Kyokun, he says, from ancient times, in communities practicing the Buddha way, there have been six offices established to oversee the affairs of the community. The monks holding each office are all disciples of the Buddha, and all carry out the activities of a Buddha through their respective offices. Among these offices is that of the Tenzo who carries the responsibility of preparing the community's meals. It is written in the Chongyuan Quingri, that's my Chinese pronunciation, that the function of the Tenzo is to manage meals for the monks. This work has always been carried out by teachers settled in the way and by others who have aroused the bodhisattva spirit within themselves.

[27:14]

Such a practice requires exhausting all your energies. If a person entrusted with this work lacks such a spirit, then that person will only endure unnecessary hardships and suffering that will have no value in his pursuit of the way. If you only see it as work, then it becomes too burdensome. It's really necessary to see it as your own expression of your own Buddha mind. I remember When we used to have a work period at Sokoji, Suzuki Roshi would always talk about it as, when we sweep the floor, we're sweeping our mind.

[28:23]

If you think that's only the floor, then you're creating a distinction between the floor and yourself. Or how long will this go on? And so this kind of working activity is really the actualization of Zen practice. And it's the traditional way of practicing in all Zen practices. And in monastic practice it takes up a big part huge part of how we practice. And if we neglect it, or think, well, we can just sit Zazen, and that's what it's really about. I work every day. What do I need to work for when I come to the Zen Center?

[29:26]

The unique thing about the Zen Center is that you can sit cross-legged there and be quiet. That's true. That is true. If you reduce it, if you reduce your practice to only sitting zazen, cross-legged, and not understand how you take care of the whole practice, and take responsibility, and work with others, and practice with others, then we miss, we only have one leg. Zazen is one leg. Sitting posture is one leg. Working is the other leg. And communicating with your teacher and your sangha is the other leg.

[30:32]

And those three hold up our practice. And if you only eat from one dish, you're not getting the complete nourishment of practice. And if you only eat, but don't also offer, then your practice becomes one-sided. A lot of times, you know, we don't realize that we just like to take. The practice is offered and we kind of take from it. But we also have to give to it. Giving and taking, it's all the same.

[31:37]

It's true that there are times, you know, we can only do so much, and we should know how much it is that we can do. That's a very important part of practice, is to be able to ascertain how much time I can give to this, how much time I can give to that. And sometimes we have no time to give to the practice other than to come and sit in zazen. And that's wonderful. No problem. You should know that. And everyone should know that. But at some point in your life, if you can practice all three aspect, then your practice will become very much enriched and much more complete.

[32:51]

When your life is fully functioning, without any gap or without any sense of self-centeredness, then you're really practicing zazen. So that's also called practicing a straightforward mind. So Tenzo, when Dogen Zenji talks about the Tenzo and how the Tenzo takes care of practice, it's a big, big subject.

[34:00]

How you take care of all the pots and pans and how you take care of the food without making distinction can use whatever is in front of you to make some superb meal, rather than saying, oh, this isn't good enough. We need to go to the store and get all this. But how to take this, what's right in front of you, and make it into something tasty and superb, that's a real test of practice. how not to waste anything, but to use everything up completely. I remember when at Tassajara, when we first started at Tassajara, we used to have breakfast and lunch, and then for dinner we had gruel.

[35:17]

No, we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And in the morning, the next morning, the food that was left over was made into gruel for breakfast the next day. And when Tatsugami Roshi came to set up the monastic practice, he said, serve the gruel in the evening rather than the next morning, that the food that you don't use in that one day, you make into gruel for the end, rather than carrying it over into the next day. You don't carry something over into the next day. When this day is finished, it's all over. This day is a whole lifetime. You should practice as if this day is it. not leaving something over for tomorrow.

[36:20]

When tomorrow comes, you start with something new. And then whatever is left over, you finish up with at the end of the day. So at the end of the day, everything's tied up. All the loose ends are tied up. And you try and plan a meal, all the meals of the day, so that nothing is left over. And that's very difficult. Very, very difficult. But to have that kind of mind really helps you to practice. When I was learning how to paint houses, I was sort of a maverick apprentice. I would go... I didn't get into house painting on purpose, I needed to make a living when I was an art student. So I got into house painting.

[37:24]

And it was very difficult because there's a way to do house painting. And it's a whole kind of trade that you have to learn. And one of the things that I learned was that when you spend a lot of time, an apprentice painter you will usually spend the first year washing brushes, learning how to wash brushes, and learning how to wash pots. And it's like learning how to wash the dishes. Most people, when they paint something, wash the brushes a little bit and then throw the bucket away. But the bucket is like your plate, you know?

[38:28]

It's like eating with a knife and fork and then throwing away the knife and fork and the plate. Because they're dirty. But you learn how to make everything come out just like it was before you started. So that all the pots are you can eat off of them. And the brushes are just like when you started. So that kind of consciousness, you know, of the value of something that you're using is important. How you use something, how you use materials, how you take care of materials and how you take care of your tools and the things that you're working with. And how you respect them. And how you treat them as yourself. This is our practice. This is the practice of how you practice in a position. In the monastery you keep changing positions and each position that you enter is a way for you to practice and express that kind of mind, Buddha mind.

[39:41]

So position is not just something, some burden for you to make you tired. But it's a way to express your Buddha mind. And you learn how to do that through the position. And that's why in a monastery, you keep changing from one position to another. And if it looks like it's just a job, you don't get it. You're not getting it. It's not like an ordinary job. And you never let somebody come into the kitchen who is a professional cook. unless you absolutely have to. But if somebody comes into the monastery and they're a professional cook, or they have some idea about how to do it, you never let them go into the kitchen. Because that is very different than the attitude of a tenzo, or even someone working in the kitchen. It's a whole different way of seeing things.

[40:47]

So as we practice in the Zen Dojo, we extend that to everything we do. And especially when we take on some position, we learn how to interact with people and how to take care of people and how to take care of the tools and equipment that we work with as our own mind. So rather than being a burden, actually it's an opportunity to express ourselves and to learn something and to merge with life. What I would like you to do, actually, my suggestion is that you read this book, Refining Your Life, by Uchiyama Hoshino, and study it.

[42:20]

Don't just read it through once, but read it through Study it a little bit, and if you don't understand something, come and ask me about it. This is a kind of text, actually, for our practice. I don't have more time because we have to go on, so thank you.

[43:10]

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