Morning, everyone. So, some of us, if they didn't think here, this is our full day. This is. When we honor. The way you can read away. Chuck, and when we do that, we're going to go more or less this week. We'll continue to awakening beyond the way. And continues today. So when Chuck and Bruno awaken, all of us awaken. And all of us in the past, right here, are awakening next week. So, this is a wonderful occasion for us, a song that has not been sung in a while,

[01:09]

and it takes a lot to take focus off. So I want to thank you for being here this evening. Thank you. [...] Start with salutation. I'll talk to all of you. Mike here. Very good. Mike, a wonderful friends. But he's with us. And thank you to everyone who's here, who's been here all these five days or is 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 Sun Tzu Zen, in Sino-Technical Cormorant Zil-Za-Ma. It's the body of the treasury of radiance, is how we can say it. So, Sun Tzu Zil-Za-Ma was written by the primary disciple of Eiei Dogen, who is actually the

[02:18]

founder of our tradition in Japan. And it's been controversial, talking about this this week, it's challenging. We haven't had fistfights, but there's been resistance, and complaints, and questions about this. So, I'm going to try and say something to open this up. But first, I want to just 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 from the beginning, and a little bit from the part that we've been chanting, just to get a little bit of a feeling of it. So, our organizer talks about how there's a chapter on permanence of the treasury of

[03:25]

radiance and brightness. In German, Scherle-Wenzel refers to this. Our organizer says, this is the unobtrusive application of inconspicuous practice. Carried out by oneself and influencing others. Covered with people who had studied Zen for a long time, and had entered an inner circle. But we're talking about it to people who are just coming to Sesshin. That's what's so important. This so-called treasury of radiance is the root source of all buddhas, the inherent meaning of all living creatures, the total substance of all phenomena, the treasury of the great radiance of spiritual powers of the three realms. So, I'm starting a brand new statement, but this radiance, this brightness, it's not light

[04:29]

as opposed to dark. It's not purple points, and it's not blue or yellow or red in a particular color. It continues a little further. What is awakening? It means knowing your own mind, as it really is. It's just on itself, a perfect awakening, in which there is nothing at all to be attained. Why? Because the form of it is awakening. It has no knowledge, no understanding. Why? Because awakening has no form. The formlessness of all things is called the form of space. Then, a little bit in the beginning of this talk, but in the first week of chanting, it's a one-minute talk, so I'll give you a little bit of that. I normally say to people who are real seekers, who have the same aspiration, who want to

[05:33]

bring to one device or one state, we're not relying on intellectuals, we're relying on actual understanding or brilliance. You're not harrying around what you learn or see. One must body and heart into the great treasury of radiance, without looking back, sit grandly in the weeds, without seeking awakening, without trying to get rid of illusion, without aversion to the arising of thoughts, yet without form-confirming thoughts or beginning thoughts. Thoughts come and go. This is nothing, but a being of all thoughts. It also says, outgoing breathing and incoming breathing, the essence of hearing and the essence of being, without conscious knowledge or subjective discrimination, are utterly shining radiance in which body and mind are one suchness. Therefore, a call there is a human response.

[06:33]

This is how do we respond to the world, how do we respond to the suffering of the world, of the family, of Osada, and of this body and mind. This is the radiance in which the ordinary and the sage, the bewildered and the awakened are one suchness. Even in the midst of activity, it is not moved by activity. A forest of flowers that grasses and leaves, people and animals, great and small, long and short, square and round, all appear at once, without depending on the discrimination of our thoughts. So, this treasury, this home of those, this treasury of radiance, is about, is present in everything, in everything, in the cosmos, in the zenith, in all the stories of our lives,

[07:47]

some of us. And that sounds kind of abstract. If somebody rightly brought up the question, well, this is spiritual bypassing, are we going to ignore something of the world by just looking at the wonders of the world? Why don't I ask at the end, do we have a question item? Oh, that's my cursor. Sorry about that. Anyway, okay. So, we got this to the same abstract and intellectual or whatever, but the point is, this preciousness, this awakening, we use all kinds of words for it, it's living, it's everywhere, and there's always the everywhere, so it's not something that we have to discover

[08:51]

for the first time. What was it involved with this? Sometimes we don't know it, sometimes we try to be involved, but it's here, it's real. I want to try and help it a little bit, because I want to try and help make it more of a practice, and we could practice a little bit with our brains, but still. So, I want to start really the final examination of common words, and, you know, you get caught up in words and definitions, and, you know, different word translations of the same text, but in Greek translations these words have many meanings, but just to try and make it more available.

[09:59]

So, so means, I mean, treasury, to the Treasury. It was so, well, it's not a sensation of the text, it was barbaric, you know, it also means matrix, or room, it's an action, it's not some static treasury that goes along the room, it's generative, it's alive, it's not constant, it's not, it moves, it's a process, it's treasury, as long as room counts for it, everything, everything, the whole world, but it also, also all of our practice,

[11:11]

it's not static, it's created, so in that sense, you sometimes use the word source, like, keep forward, so keep those, there's a, on the bottom of the book, the frame of the spiritual source, John's here, and all, it's this buttoning up itself, but this word source, though, it's different, you know, it's hard for us to mirror that, well, this is not, like, the great creator, this is not a source that happened some time in the past, and a long, long, long, let's say, this is not something that happened one time, years ago, that has all those limits,

[12:21]

this is the source of our thoughts, our feelings, this source, that is happening right now, so sometimes we'll talk about the original, but it's not original, like, it happened sometime long ago, that's why it started, like, I went through the, so I'm going to translate a few books on it, and I'm not going to, which is a big problem for all of us, not on particular definitions, but controlled by particular definitions, actually, it's a lot, so I like fundamental, it's basic, it's un-American, but it's happening right now, and it will happen in the next month, so modeling, this is the source of creativity,

[13:28]

which is always here, it's always available, it's always available, that's what this is about, this source, this treasury of radiance, of creative energy, always in the now, and this is important in our practice in Salsa, which is our sitting, upright sitting, steady sitting, in some ways, without creativity, but that is also a source, who sit, who sleep, period after period,

[14:34]

sometimes I'm going, there's racing around, sometimes I'm sleeping, but in the middle of that, something can come forth, and Salsa supports creativity, Salsa is being settled, returned back to the source, to this fortunate, with no groups, find out all the elements, one that, what's still watching, these boxes, may come forth, so I'm not, so I thought about creativity, I'm not just talking about writing, or music, or painting, or art,

[15:38]

Salsa is about every day, expression, Salsa involves a lot about, one thing as expression, as a performance, who sit, upright, and so forth, here's one group, which just do that, from this point on, it's not something static, it's done out of practice, you know, it looks, you know, very similar, sitting in this room, just, it's actually about returning to the source, or opening up the source, or allowing the energy, so this has to do with, well, formal creativity, but that includes cooking, gardening, parenting, relationships, opening up the relationship,

[16:40]

don't be lost, join the sunset, how do we support this, so, I think, not even just art, technically it's consultation, but we're sitting here, they're sitting here, sitting, really, at the period, where there's just several of us, absolutely, between, and even in the middle of, stay settled, from that comment, possibilities of expression,

[17:45]

so, another word that is part of this, which is, probably, one more thing, we say compounded, that's a Chinese character, each gene, right, so, that's a greatness, I like the word, maybe it's, but people don't, it's a thing, we have to get stuck in the mood, but there's this, possibility, of, all of you, I'm trying, when we, but, when we, it's not something, people, all of us, for example, but we really don't know, we have to, talk about the, what is it, it's an authentical, creativity, of art, but I would like to suggest,

[18:55]

that this word, already, not just energy, and, our lesson is also, about energy, how we're seeing, talking about, forms of, flowers, of this, working with energy, every, whatever happens, actually, like some, various, sessions, I'm trying to give a short, event here, historical example, but, that's not the point, but, ways of expressing something, at three, four dimensions, and, you know, there's a lot of, working with energy, of the art, so, how to, deal with, somebody, meditation, several of us, of creating energy, or,

[19:58]

in our, part of, the process of this, the life of this, especially, you, are, experience of energy, and, that was a little, kinds of, techniques, to, work with energy, but just, if, in our, ordinary, just city, you know, outside Beaumont, open very far there, we work with energy, but seeking, but the mind is not, going around, going around, the knowledge, so, it's practice,

[20:59]

it's, a body of, cognitive, the world, the energy, the creative practice, and, sometimes, we don't see it, because, it's not that we have to look for something, so it's like, today, I said, clear, it's not about, finding something, or, there's something, you know, you know, it's here all the time, so, so, so, it's always been here, and it doesn't, associate, help us, make it, and, even recognize it a little bit, sometimes, and, play with it, how do we play with the movement, how do we allow the radius, of thought to play with us, so,

[22:05]

I've always suggested, this is the banana practice, it's, it's, pressure, is not, things, it's a lot, of, you know, point, it helps us, more awareness, and, a lot of, a little bit, well, Buddha, talking talks a lot about, we've been going beyond, really, having, some, way, what, about, you know, to go, to, what was finished, they actually, continue, practicing, already, so, this is not, like, so, practice, where we try, and we try, at some, special experience, and that's a special understanding, this is, our core practice, our core study,

[23:06]

our core, enjoyment, of, this, creating the gradients, energy, how to reuse this, so, the point of this practice, is not just to have some, wonderful, communion, work on it, but then, how, we'll start to resolve the suffering, both of what's about, under this practice, being, to, so, we know, I've got to read all the, down, confidence, and warrants, they could, know, this practice, creative, energy, waiting, about, finding, some, source, from which, to, respond, and so,

[24:07]

that's, the appropriate, response, is, the record of being a scholar, so, we don't know, there's not such a thing, about how to, own warrants, earn injustice, or whatever, we, bring this to, our heart, on, now, better than, any other situation, but it's a resource, for, stability. I think, some after two strong, we've got to help, fix things, and sometimes, it's business, no, but, but also public problems, but how do we, stay open, and aware, to start? So, this, backward, but the cars, even if we lose a lot, probably not, So, I just want to talk a little bit about this, but I think I'll stop there.

[25:16]

You want to learn from the comments, questions, responses. Thank you. Thank you. So, the sound is... How's this? No, she's not. It's right here. Hello, hello, test, test.

[26:19]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 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, so... 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. Ah. 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, you know, 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.

[27:23]

It's dynamic. It's always happening. It's a process. But it's hard for us to think that way. We've, we're, our culture is conditioned to think of this as some essence. So the source is a flow, a process. And, but it's, it is present here now, everywhere. And part of the 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, 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?

[28:23]

Please. So if, when I hear such words that sound essentialist, if I remind myself, oh, the person is talking about emptiness and coded and, and dependent co-arising, does that put me in a receptive, a more receptive place to this flow? I hope so. And if, you know, we, we talk in language, we talk in words and we have, we each have definitions for all these words and they get caught by definitions. And reality, the Tumar Samadhi says reality constantly flows. It's not stuck in words. So, you know, the thought definitions are ways of controlling our world. We define things and we want to know what it is and how it works.

[29:24]

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 a really important question. Other comments? Responses? Yes. Hi. I was wondering if... Louder please, so the people online can hear. Thank you. So is it correct to say that the source is related to, or is it the same thing as a constant, 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 our basic idea in Buddhism.

[30:26]

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 the dynamic quality of reality is helpful. So thank you. Thank you. So I found that there was something on the first day you were talking about definitions. And you were saying you didn't... Definitions. 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, I will speak for me, sometimes because of what I've learned, I want to hold on to a definition.

[31:28]

But the thing is, it's letting go of whatever it was that I had thought about or been taught to define in a certain way. It can also be framed. And it's interesting that the pushback here is this idea of source. What if changing it, being different, being in a different relationship with whatever that is, whether it has been from 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 you can define it and then you can let it go. And then you can define it again, maybe not. 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.

[32:28]

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 think is about it. So I need some place to a place to move from. Yeah, I can't. 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, something. So I do need to define it initially and then figure something else out. Maybe that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you. Very well said. Yes, of course. We need to we need definitions to know who we are and where we are and how how to proceed. The problem isn't the definition exactly is. We talked about ungraspability or inconceivability. If you hold on to type to some definition, you're missing part of reality. That is.

[33:29]

Says it another way. So so it's it's a kind of dances. 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 journal, Mary Samadi that we chant chanting 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. So, yeah, as you said, it's it's not it's not ungraspable. Talks about that. Talks about the inconceivable.

[34:30]

We can't. We're good at the human brain is good at conceptualizing early. Some human brains. To have some idea about what's happening. And there's, you know, we have very bright, intellectually grounded people here, and that's great. But how do we not be caught in some box? 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, 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 it's here. And as far as we 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 those people don't totally know.

[35:34]

So so I don't know if that's a helpful analogy for this, but it's like we have dependence co-arising and it's always been going on. It's been going on since whenever, you know, time began or the universe began. And that's maybe the way in which you mean that the source is also flow. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. That's that's help. 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, I 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

[36:37]

universe existed before the Big Bang. Maybe there have been many Big Bangs. This again, that's just my opinion. I'm not a physicist. But if we try and find the one starting point, I don't know. I think I think it's more alive and dynamic. And that's why this word source or. You know, origin again, we get caught in that thinking that there's one place we come from. But, you know, in terms of impermanence, there's everything is moving around. So how do we. But the point is not to, you know, figure this out with language. Well, we, you know, probably keep trying to do that. But how do we actually engage and live with it and practice with it and become

[37:37]

more familiar and kinder? So ourselves and each other. How do we find intimacy with reality? There's another word. And many then come down to what is reality? Why did Bordigliano come from the West? Anastasia. I had a question about the call and response. If either one of you, I mean, over the last few days, having you all that did a dive into that. And you say, you know, when there's a call, there's a response. I'm not, 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? Yeah. And this, this text talks about the immediate response. And Douglas, we shook his head. So that was a response. Okay. I don't know who gets it.

[38:38]

Do you want to add something to that? I don't think so. Okay. And David, why are you on the pen? There's one thing here. Irving wall issues. A couple of them. We're finite. Speak more loudly, please. For the me. Finite things. You give the boxes. Yeah, we are a finite being. 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. You know, we're going to have the sense of something's going on. 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?

[39:39]

We're still stuck in finite. And the question is, not so much what is fixed, what is our connection? And it's like the radiance is, what is my connection to the universe? 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 is an important question to ask. Yes. Thank you. Just to respond briefly to that. There's a lot of discourse that is exaggerated out. The limitations of our human perception and spiritual capacity and all that. Nobin 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.

[40:41]

Or for humans, water seems one way. But for fish, it's their air. For hungry ghosts, it's something horrible. For dragons, it's their palace. So anyway, having some sense, as you were expressing, of our own limitations. The limitations of the boxes that we construct to help us navigate the world is helpful. We can 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 a radical possibility. Everything is available in all situations, which sounds so hopeful.

[41:45]

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. 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 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, mind, this person. So, yeah, it's a dynamic situation. Is that Tyler? It is Tyler. Yes.

[42:47]

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. I struggle with definitions. I don't even desire them. I don't, I don't, 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.

[43:47]

So I think there's a lot to be said for surrendering to the experience. And dropping the words just like we drop body, 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. 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 showing up.

[44:49]

Yeah. David Ray has his hands up, but we should know how much time we have now. But I was thinking 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? David, did you have something? I do. So I've been 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, the traditions of monotheism have sort of co-opted all these words. Like miracle is just wow, wonder. But miracle has got a whole tradition attached. So in Radiance, I don't know, it's a little, I don't know, cranky, whatever.

[45:56]

I mean, I'm starting to think that I want to start, you know, allowing for things like thinking of this as the absorption in the treasury of dizziness or absorption in the treasury of glam. There it is. Wow. Wow. That thing. Because those show searchers do have that thing. Like, there is this flash. That flash word is when you say welcome. So when they come in, it's like, wow, there you are. Everything is alive with that stuff. So that's coming up. Well, that's creative energy. And, yeah, the trick, the absorption in the somati of the treasury of wow. Yeah. Maybe 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.

[47:00]

It's the study of emotions and the study of awe and what awe means. And what he talks about in the beginning, and this has been going on for years, is sort of the negative emotions like fear and hate and anger. And they were able to scientifically measure these. And then they started a positive one. When the anger, awe, they kind of burned back. 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, is outside of ourselves. It's not us. It's something greater than us. Because 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, deeper.

[48:01]

Higher, deeper, whatever. But, yeah, so it's not about, we tend to reify concepts and definitions. We need to use definitions. But, yeah, awe, awe, awe. Sense of wonder. I think that's what this is about. So maybe it's time to. Yeah, the next thing is to support yourself the best, but I'll just, if somebody else here in the room or on zoom has a burning question. Please. Back up. Going once, going twice. Okay.

[48:50]

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