Good morning, everyone. Welcome. So some of us have been here. This is our fourth day. This is your Aksu Sashen. And we honor the awakening, the great awakening of Chakram and the Buddha, 4500 years ago, more or less, this week. We'll continue the awakening beyond the awakening. and continues today. So when Shakyamuni Buddha awakened, all Buddhas awakened. And all Buddhas in the past, the future man, right now, are awakening in my sleep. So this is a wonderful It's been a while, and it takes a lot to focus off. So I want to thank Babetsu for starting this meeting.

[01:09]

Thank you for the representation of our conference. We've been just doing all this work. Mike here. Thank you. Ah, Mike, our wonderful pencil. But it was with us. And thank you to everyone who's here, who's been here all these five days, or who's here now. So, we've been talking about a particular text. And it's a challenging text, but it's an important text in our tradition of so-called Zen. in Sino-technique, the Komurozo Zanmai. It's the body of the treasury of radiance, is how we've been saying it. So Komurozo Zanmai was written by the primary disciple of Ea Yogen in the 13th century, who was the founder of our tradition in Japan.

[02:20]

And it's been controversial talking about this this week. It's genealogy. We haven't had this touch, but there's been resistance and complaints and questions about this. So let me try and say something to open this up. But first I will, I want to just, I'll quote a little bit for the people just joining us from this text. It's a long text, so I'll just say a little bit in the beginning and a little bit from the part of the enchanting. Just to give a little bit of a feeling of it. So Co-ordinator Joe talks about how there's a chapter I'm going to tell the treasury of radiance and brightness.

[03:27]

Don't make sure the winter masterworks for nature says this is the unobtrusive application of inconspicuous practice. Carried out by oneself and influence and others. However, the people would say that a long time And I've entered it here. What we're talking about is the people who are just coming to Sashen. Of course, it's so important. This so-called treasury of radiance is the root source of all Buddhists. The inherent being of all living creatures. The total substance of all phenomena. The treasury of the great radiance of spiritual powers of the clearings of the world. Well, this is kind of a brand new statement, but this radiance, this brightness, it's not light as opposed to dark.

[04:30]

It's not what the point is saying. It's not blue or yellow or red or any particular color. It continues a little further. What is awakening? It means knowing your own mind, as it really is. This is, of itself, complete, perfect awakening. in which there is nothing at all to be attained. Why? Because the form of it is awakened. It has no knowledge, no understanding. Why? Because awakening has no form. Formlessness of all things is called the form of mistakes. Then a little bit from the beginning of this talk, that can be perfectly decanting of the problem, or a little bit of that, I humbly say to people who are real seekers, who have the same aspiration, do not bring to one device or one state.

[05:36]

Do not rely on intellectual understanding or brilliance. Do not carry around what you learn, but see it. Plunge body and mind into the great treasury of radiance, not looking back. sit grandly under the eaves without seeking awakening, who are trying to get rid of illusion, without a version of key realizing of thoughts, yet without form of confirming thoughts, of beginning thoughts. Thoughts come and go. This is natural. It begins like this. He also says, outgoing breathing and incoming breathing, the essence of hearing and the essence of feeling, Without conscious knowledge of subjective discrimination, our utterly shining radiance in this body and mind are one suchness. Therefore, I'm called there is an immediate response. This is important. How do we respond to the world?

[06:38]

How do we respond to the suffering of the world, of our family, of our self, and of this body and mind? This is the radiance in which the ordinary and the sage are bewildered and reawakened by one suchness. Even in the midst of activity, it is not hindered by activity. In forests of flowers, the grasses and leaves, people and animals, great and small, long and short, square and round, all appear at once, without defending one with which the nation is at once dependent. So this surgery, this homeostasis, this surgery of radiance is about the presence in everything, in everything. The cosmos, the zenith, in all of the stories in our lives, in some of us.

[07:48]

And that sounds kind of out of stretch. If somebody like me brought up the question, well, is this a spiritual bypass and are we going to ignore something in the world by just looking at the wonders of the world? That's the part I had to handle. Do you have a question right now? Oh, that's my cursor. Sorry about that. Anyway, okay. So, we got this to the same abstract and actual or whatever. But the point is, this, this awakening, we use all kinds of words for it, this awakening is everywhere. It has always been everywhere. So it's not something that we got to discover for the first time.

[08:52]

We've always been involved with this. Sometimes we don't know it. Sometimes we fight with people, but it's weird to feel these things. I want to try and unpack it a little bit, because I want to try and make it part of our practice. And we could practice some of it with our brains, but still. So I want to start, really, the standard Japanese rules. And, you know, you can get caught up in words and definitions and, you know, we could add different word translations of the same text. There are good translations in several of these words of many meanings. But just to try and make it more available, tell me yourself, where do you form Samadhi?

[10:05]

In Brazil, I want to talk about this a little bit. So it all means any treasury, right? double work, shovel, masterwork, shovel, pencil, to the donor's treasury. So, well, it's not just a sensation of the fact that we're barbed wire. It also means matrix or womb. It's an active. It's not some static treasury that, you know, along the womb. It's It's alive. It's not constant. It moves. It moves. It's a process. It's triggering. And from this world comes forth everything, everything, everything of the world.

[11:08]

But it also, also all of our practices. It's not static. It's created. So that's actually some of the good source. I'll keep going. I'm in the good frame of the spiritual source. This is what we represent. This word source, though, is different. You know, it's hard for us to mirror that in a way. this is not like the great creator of the universe. This is not a source that happened sometime in the past in a long, long walk. Let's say a spiritual source trying to clear the way for the creation to come out in the darkness. This is not something that happened one time 25 years ago. All the benefits of all the

[12:10]

And that is always with us. This is the source of our thoughts, our feelings. This is the source that is happening right now. So sometimes we talk about the original emotion. But it's not original like it happens sometimes in our minds. That's why it's harder. I'm not going to read books on it. I'm not going to read books on particular definitions. Actually, it was a while. But it's happening right now. It will happen next month. This is the source of creativity, creative energy.

[13:30]

It's always here, it's always available. You get stuff, you get the letters, it's always available. That's what this is about. This source, this treasury of radiance, of creative energy, always moving around. And this is important in our practice of sasa, our sitting, our steady sitting. In some ways, it's about creativity. So then there's also a source who said, this is a period after community.

[14:37]

Sometimes I'm going to race it around, sometimes I'm speaking. But in the middle of that, something can come forth. And thus and supports creativity. Thus and is moving from just settled and returned back to the source, to those fortunate with moments. Find out all of the betterments. And from that, thoughts, feelings, watches, ideas, responses, May it come forth. So I've talked about creativity. I'm not just talking about writing or music or painting or art.

[15:38]

This concept is about everyday creativity. Expression. Durkheim talks a lot about one thing as expression, as a performance. You sit upright and still, you perform Buddha, which does Buddha in this body of mine. It's not something static. It's a dynamic practice. You know, it looks, you know, very stern. Sitting in this room, just not moving. It's actually about returning to the force or opening up the source or allowing the spirit energy So this has to do with formal creativity, but that includes cooking, gardening, parenting, relationships. What belongs?

[16:44]

Join the subject. How do we support this? So I think we've heard that somebody would insist on complication factors. Technically, it's complication. But we're sitting for a chain. We're sitting for that period. There's a settlement in between and even in the middle of it. Settle that. From that comment. Possibilities of expression.

[17:47]

So. Number one that is part of this. Come on, come on. Compounded. Right. [...] It's something that people don't dispute, for example. But we wouldn't struggle alone. If we had to talk about the planet, it would be an augmentable creativity of our items. But I would like to suggest that this third tone wall or radiance could also just need energy.

[19:00]

And a lesson is also about energy policy, talking about hours and hours and hours of working with energy. Actually, it's various sessions. And we will talk about ways of expressing something in three or four dimensions. Yoga is a way of working with energy, after all. So, how can we heal the Samadhi, the meditation, the settlement place of bringing energy to the person? And in our sasana, in the sasana, part of the process of this, of the life of this, actually, more of this is our experience of energy.

[20:19]

So, there are all kinds of techniques to a wonderful energy. I just did it in our ordinary city, in what I also call my room. Don't go very far now. We work with that. So, it's backwards. It's a body of augmented reality. The world of energy. We create a practice. And sometimes we don't see it. It's not that we have to look for something.

[21:24]

It's not about finding something. It's here all the time. It's always there. And it's our friend. So she helped us make it. Oh, even recognize it a little bit sometimes. And play with it. How do we play with the movement? How do we allow the radiance to come forth and bring it up? So, I want to suggest that this is a banana practice. It's the pressure is not static. It's the willingness is not static. It's the lie that, you know, it helps us to put more awareness out of the way.

[22:33]

Buddha talks a lot about Buddha going beyond Buddha. Really having some great awakening of where to go to. It's managed to actually continue practicing origin of Becky and Zach. But this is not quite some practice where we try to get a hold of something. Where we try to have some special experience and definitely special understanding. This is artwork practice. Artwork for enjoyment of this wonderful possibility of creating radiance, energy, and then how do we use this? So the point of this practice is not just to have some humble book, meaning we'll work on it, but then how will the Buddha decide to respond to something? What works well under this practice being to believe something.

[23:41]

So we know We've got to eliminate all the political challenges and populates and lords and hatred and folklore in our world. This batch of creative energy is about trying to make some source from which to respond. And so that's an appropriate response. We've got to do this all over So we don't know, there's no instruction going on about how to involve and injustice a little bit. We bring this to our pipeline now, then again, in the next installation. But it's a resource for making some effort to install the program. We want to fix things.

[24:43]

Sometimes it's a little bit of a psychedelic problem, but how do we stay open and aware about who's gone? Some feels back on it, but it's gone. You don't have to leave it all. It's gone now. So I can talk a little bit about this. I can start there. You can talk to them for the products, especially responses. Maybe we can talk about this. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we can talk about this. Maybe we can talk about this. Maybe we can talk about this. Thank you. Thank you.

[25:44]

So the sound is. Something isn't quite right. It happens a lot. Try again, Rita. How's this? No. No, she's not. It's right here. Hello, hello, test, test. Okay, great, thank you. So the sound has been a little muffled, so I hope that I'm responding appropriately. I think I heard, are there any questions? Yes. Okay. Or responses. Or responses. So it's a little bit of both, I guess. When I hear words like the source, to me it sounds essentialist.

[26:47]

And that's kind of problematic. Yes. Well, you know, I think we all We are, most of us anyway, many of us here are raised in a culture that essentializes, where we have a creator deity, maybe some person, or even a goddess up there in the sky. This is not, this source is not like that, it's dynamic. It's always happening, it's a process. But it's harsh for us to think that way. Our culture is conditioned to think of this as some essence. So the source is a flow, a process. But it is present here now, everywhere. And part of the

[27:54]

context of our practice is how do we connect with it so that we can try to respond appropriately or we can express creatively the issues or practices in our life. Thank you. That's a very good basic question because it's hard for us to hear the word source and not think of it as something. So can I respond to your response? Please. So if when I hear such words that sound essentialist, if I remind myself, oh, the person is talking about emptiness and dependent co-arising, does that put me in a more receptive place to this flow? I hope so. And, you know, we talk in language.

[28:58]

We talk in words. And we each have definitions through all these words. And we get caught by definitions. And reality, as Joel Marisamadi says, reality constantly flows. It's not stuck in words. So, you know, definitions are ways of controlling our world. We define things and we want to know what it is and how it works. And I think awakening has to do with letting go of our need to control. Of course, there are things that we want to control. We want to stop the carbon lecture dread, but how do we open up to something more expansive? So thank you for your question. It's really an important question. Other comments, responses? Yes, hi.

[29:59]

I was wondering if... Thank you. So is it correct to say that the source is related to, or is it the same thing as a constant source? Like that everything is in constant, that everything is changing and happening all the time. Is that kind of like another way of saying that same idea? Yes. So impermanence is a basic idea that everything is changing. So yeah, the source is impermanent. But impermanence is permanent too, not to get too abstract. But yeah, I think hearing about the source thinking about impermanence and dynamic quality of reality is helpful. So thank you. So I found that there was on the first day you were talking about definitions and you were saying you didn't, you know, definitions.

[31:13]

It's interesting that we're back, that everything sort of came back to that, not necessarily my question, but I do think it's, interesting that we we always speak for me sometimes because of what i've learned i want to hold on to a definition but the thing is it's letting go of whatever it was that i had thought about or been taught to define as in a certain way it can also be framed um and it's interesting that the the pushback here is this idea of source what if changing it being different being in a different relationship with whatever that is um whether it has been from uh what we what people grew up with in their sort of a home religion or whatnot but this newness of a thing can also be and then it can you can define it and then you can let it go um And then you can define it again. Maybe not.

[32:13]

But we do need some direction, obviously. So we can't not define things, but we can also not. For me, I want to detach from things, but also recognize that I do need some clarity because I don't define what I am about. And I know that I is problematic here. But if I don't have some idea of where I'm going with the thing, I can get very lost. listening to what other people's thing is about it. So I need a place to move from. But then again, once I move from it, I can move from it without having to necessarily grasp that or hold on to it so tightly that I can't move to the next step. But I do need to know something for myself. So I do need to define it initially and then figure something else out, maybe, if that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you. Very well said. Yes, of course, we need definitions to know who we are and where we are and how to perceive.

[33:15]

The problem isn't the definition exactly. We talk about ungraspability or inconceivability. If you hold on too tight to some definition, you're missing part of reality. That is, says it another way. So it's a kind of dance. We do need to have some place to start from, but then how do we, and we can go back to that definition, but maybe it's less caught by it if we, so, you know, I don't know if the word source is helpful or a treasury or, you know, The words aren't important. In the Jomar Samadhi that we're chatting later, it says the meaning is not in the words, but it responds to the inquiring impulse. How do we respond to suffering or questions? And we can use definitions, but the point isn't to be caught in some box with them.

[34:19]

So, yeah, as you said, it's... Not, it's non-ungraspable. Nielsen talks about that a lot. Zen talks about the inconceivable. We can't, we're good at, the human brain is good at conceptualizing, or at least some human brains. To have some idea about what's happening. And there's, you know, we have some very bright, intellectually grounded people here, and that's great, but how do we not be caught in some box? So, Eishin, you had your hand up. Well, I was thinking about this, like, when we think about the universe and the origins of the universe, and we trace things back, you know, through evolution and evolution, you know, beyond the time. And when we get to, as far as we can go back, we just don't really know where the universe came from. We don't know what the source is. It's here.

[35:19]

Hardly know it's always been here because what if, you know, if there was some kind of big bang or something, we just don't know. I mean, some people may know, but I think even most people don't totally know. So, um, so I don't know if that's a helpful analogy for this, but it's like we have the pendant pro arising and it's always been going on. It's been going on since whenever, you know, time began or the universe began. And, um, That's maybe the way in which you mean that the source is also flow. Yes. Yeah, thank you. That's, I think, very helpful. And there's an important Zen koan that says, not knowing is most intimate. So how do we find intimacy with our world and with ourselves and with each other in our life and not be caught in particular definition boxes? Of course, we need the definitions. But yeah, my understanding of Buddhist cosmology for whatever it's worth, maybe this is just my opinion, but I don't think that, I think there was, the universe existed before the Big Bang.

[36:39]

Maybe there've been many big banks. Again, that's just my opinion and other physicists, but if we try and find the one starting point, I don't know. I think it's more alive and dynamic than that. And that's why this word source or origin Again, we get caught in that thinking that there's one place to come from. But in terms of impermanence, everything is moving around. But the point is not to figure this out with language, although we'll probably keep trying to do that. But how do we actually... engage and live with it and practice with it and become more familiar and kinder to ourselves and each other, how do we find intimacy with reality?

[37:47]

There's another word for you. And many Zen koans come down to, what is reality? I had a question about the call and response. If either one of you, I mean, over the last few days, having you all get a dive into that, and you say, you know, when there's a call, there's a response. I'm probably not quoting this very well, but can you say a little bit more about that? Is that in relation to what you're talking about in terms of the living out as well, or... Yeah. And this, this text talks about the immediate response and Douglas, he shook his head. So that was a response. Okay. But it's, I don't know who gets it. Do you want to add something to that? I don't think so. Okay. David Weiner. One thing you're hurting me while she's on.

[38:50]

A couple of them. We're finite beings. Speak more loudly, please, for the being. We are finite beings. We are finite beings. We're born and then we die. We have this sense of limitation, sense of sorts, then sense of ending. And we don't have this for most of us. We're in a sense that something's going on continuously. And... The universe is still expanding and still growing. That's what the physicists say. That's a quandary. What's on the other side that the universe is expanding to? We're still stuck in finite. And the question is not so much what is fixed, what is our connection to it? And it's like the radiance is, what is my connection to the universe?

[39:57]

It's not how I define it. It's not how I try to put it in a box. But what is my relationship to it? And how do I see it? And that, I think, is the important question to ask. Yes. Thank you. Just to respond to that, there's a lot of... Disclosure is exactly without the limitations of our human perception and more than spiritual capacity and all that. Nobody talks about going out into the middle of the ocean. And if you look around, it looks like it's all around, but you're not seeing all the details of the shorelines. They're out there somewhere. Or, you know, for humans, water seems one way, but for fish, it's their air. For Rodrigues, it's something horrible. For dragons, it's their palace.

[40:57]

So anyway, having some sense, as you were expressing, of our own limitations, of the limitations of the boxes that we construct to help us navigate the world is helpful to be open to more possibilities. Somebody had their hand up over here. Oh, Vicky is online. Yes. Thank you, Vicky. Thank you. Thank you for that offering this morning. What's coming forward as you were speaking about the radiance, the source was it's like it's a radical possibility. Everything is available in all situations, which sounds so hopeful. You know, it's in terms of the context of everything that's going on in the world. If I personally, I have to start here, but if I personally can remind myself that actually everything is available, it's so helpful.

[42:01]

And then in a very small situations too, dynamically with home relationships, if I can just step back a moment and remember that actually everything is available, you know, another possibility. and can come forth. Yes, thank you. So there are many possibilities and also we have to acknowledge our ancient twisted karma, the limitations of this body more in this version and each of us. So yeah, it's a dynamic situation. So I hand, is that Tyler? It is, Tyler. Yes. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Wonderful. Blessing to be with you today, all of you. My body didn't want to keep going, but my mind didn't want to leave the womb of radiance, so here I am on a chair.

[43:02]

I struggle with definitions. I don't even desire them. I can't abide in definitions. But the experience of radiance is something that feeds me when I'm capable of being present with radiance or what I feel is radiance. It can be spontaneous. Maybe sometimes it's continuous like a nature walk where things just are emergent and coming to me and there is that call and response. There's the bird that calls in the woods. There's a response of curiosity, of just gratitude that I can hear that bird. So I think there's a lot to be said for surrendering to the experience and dropping the words just like we drop body and mind. Maybe we should drop kick those words as well. I feel... At times I've had a wonderful dialogue with the universe or with radiance that was unexpected at times where I wasn't even open to it, but I was able to suddenly see it very spontaneously.

[44:22]

And that brings me to another troublesome word, which would be miracles and small miracles and large miracles. And I think sometimes just putting one of those words in your pocket or in your shoe like a pebble that you step on that just reminds you of that word and the fact you're working with it is another good practice. And I just am so grateful for spending time with you all. Thank you. Thank you for joining up. Thank you. Yeah, and I'll call, I think David Ray has his hands up, but we should, I don't know how much time we have now, but as you were speaking out, what came up for me is that this is about creative energy. Sometimes it appears unexpectedly because it's always there. But how do we not be caught by definitions, but use them? to share creative energy somewhat.

[45:24]

David, did you have something? Thank you. So, I mean, thinking about the causes for this resistance, and I really think that a big part of it is that in this language that we're speaking, you know, the traditions of monotheism have sort of co-opted all these words. Like, miracle is just, wow! But Miracle has got a whole tradition attached. And Radiance, you know, I don't know, it's a little, I don't know, cranky whatever. I'm starting to think that I want to start allowing for things like thinking of this as the absorption in the treasury of busyness or absorption in the treasury of glam or There it is. Wow. That thing. Because those Chinese characters do have that thing. There's this flash. That flash word is when you say welcome.

[46:26]

But wow, there you are. Everything is alive with that stuff. So that's what's coming up for me. Well, that's creative energy. And yeah, the absorption in the samadhi of the treasury of wow. Yes. Maybe if there's someone who hasn't spoken yet about something they want to offer. Okay. The new book I'll call Awe. It's very interesting. It's the study of emotions and the study of awe and what awe means. And what he's talking about in the beginning, and this has been going on for years, is sort of started the negative emotions, like fear and angst and anger. And they were able to scientifically, you know, measure this. And then they started a positive one. And the angle I did, you know, kind of, Burn back.

[47:27]

What they found is that the emotions that we feel are all about us. It's about our existence in the world. And what awe is, what is outside of ourselves. It's not us. It's something greater than us. Good is that sense of being there. And so I hope that speaks to what you're saying. Yeah. There's that term higher power. I don't know if higher is the right word, maybe lower power or whatever. Higher or deeper. Higher or deeper or whatever. But yeah, so it's not about, we tend to reify concepts and definitions. We need to use definitions, but yeah, awe, sense of wonder. I think that's what this is about. SO MAYBE IT'S TIME TO, YEAH, THE NEXT THING IS THE 440 CENTER VOTES, BUT I'LL JUST, IF SOMEBODY ELSE HERE IN THE ROOM OR ON ZOOM HAS A BURNING COMMENT OR QUESTION, PLEASE, ONE ONCE, ONE QUOTE, OKAY.

[48:50]

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