You know when you walk in the Zindo, I talked about this yesterday. When we walk in the Zen Do, instead of walking on our heels, like we usually walk, when you walk down the street, you walk with your heels first. But in the Zen Do, whether we're serving food, or doing kinhin, or just coming into the Zen Do, We put the weight on the front part of our foot first.

[01:08]

Not like tiptoeing, but you're pushing your foot, you're pushing the fall of your foot or the weight of your body on the front part of your foot. Uh, so that, um, it's, uh, you're very aware of the, uh, your foot touching the floor and the weight of your body on the foot. Um, usually when we walk down the street, you know, we're thinking about something else. We're watching where we're going, at least watching where we're going. But usually we're watching where we're going. If we don't have to watch, then if we kind of know the street pretty well, then we don't really even watch where we're going.

[02:16]

We just kind of walk and then continue our thoughts. So our body becomes a vehicle for our thoughts. And it's walking down the street carrying these thoughts with it. from block to block. And so our feet just kind of go, which is okay, you know. But when we walk in Zindo, the walking itself is the important thing. The walking itself has the emphasis. And we try to be very careful about our step. And we know this is a step. This is a step. This is a step.

[03:19]

Sometimes in afternoon zazen, people come late. And we don't ask them to stay outside in their kaitan, which is the outside zendo. We say, well, please come in, because we like to have everybody sitting together. And sometimes people come in late, and they feel, I'm late. So I should get into the zendo as fast as possible, because I'm late. So they come in to the zendo in the same way they're walking in the street. Bang, bang, [...] bang

[04:25]

And it's really strange to see somebody coming into the zendo with their hands at their sides and say, no, no, that's not it. You have to put your hands in the shashu. And we get very upset when we see somebody walking around the zendo with their hands at their sides. And it's, you know, something about it we think. You have to be doing something with your hands. Your hands have a function. Your hands are in a meditative attitude. Also, your feet should be in a meditative attitude. You put your hands in a meditative attitude. And when you come in Zazen, your feet are also in a meditative attitude.

[05:30]

One foot after the other, on the balls of the feet, on the front part of your foot, cushioning the fall of your foot, cushioning the weight of your body. And very careful, if you come in late during afternoon Zazen, you should open the door and close it quietly. And then walk gently on the front part of your foot so that you don't make any sound at all. And then you can come and take a seat. And you're in rapport with the room. You're in rapport with Zindo. That same kind of rapport That same kind of entering into should carry over into the rest of our life.

[06:34]

Knowing how to enter into the situation that you're in so that you're in rapport with it and in harmony with things and in harmony with the universe. The teaching, you know, is in this, our teaching is very kind of subtle, but It has to do with the most common aspects of our life.

[07:40]

Sometimes we talk about great concepts in Buddhism, but our teaching is always based on the most common acts of our life. When you have an encounter with a teacher, if you don't understand what's happening from the smallest encounters, then it's, as they say, the arrow has flown past Korea. In the booklet record, When the monk misses the point, he says, the arrow flew past Korea. So encounter with a teacher is like whatever goes on between you and the teacher can be teaching in the most mundane situation.

[09:01]

in the most ordinary everyday situation. That's where actually teaching takes place. And we have to be able to recognize what that is. And what the teacher is always demonstrating or teaching is how to... the oneness of duality. how to recognize the oneness of our dualistic activity. So, if we don't pick up on the subtle points of our teaching, then we really miss it, and we're just thrown back into ordinary activity.

[10:05]

Ordinary activity is the way, you know. Very famous understanding of Zen. Ordinary activity, everyday mind is the way. Ordinary activity and everyday mind is the way. But what does that really mean? You know, there's a famous koan, Gutei, one finger, Zen. Every time somebody asked Gutei a question, he raised, he went like this. This is the simplest action you can possibly do to demonstrate something, is to raise your finger like that. But what is that? What is raising your finger mean? If you understand what raising this finger means, then you don't have any problem.

[11:21]

usually we're involved in our own kind of self-centered activity. And the purposes of practice, when we enter into practice, in order to have an easy time, we have to give up our self-centered way of thinking. And we have to put ourself under some restraint. And we have to harmonize with the Sangha. So that's why we put so much emphasis on Sangha. on doing things together.

[12:49]

When we do things together, practice together, you know, we all put ourselves in this pot together. And when we put ourselves in the pot, then in order to harmonize in the pot, in the frying pan, if you want, we have to find out what our place is in that realm. And in order to find our place in that realm, we have to give up our self-centered way of thinking and our self-centered way of acting. So in every situation that you have with a teacher, the teacher is always pointing out to you what you're doing.

[14:00]

Teacher doesn't teach you. What you find out, what you learn in Zen is strictly your own. But the teacher is always pointing out to you something. And what the teacher is always pointing out is usually your own self-centered way of thinking and acting. And if you don't pick up on it, or if you refuse to see it, or if you pick up on it and see it and don't respond, then you have a very difficult time over and over and over. Sometimes you have a difficult time with the teacher, and sometimes you just have a difficult time, you know, with whatever you encounter, because whatever you encounter is the teacher.

[15:09]

So we say everything is the teacher. every day, day by day, as the teacher. But specifically, a teacher's function is to point this out, to point out when our ego is dominating the situation. Because If this isn't so, then we can just go on and on forever without ever knowing what we're doing. So... You know, the best way to

[16:18]

practice in a situation this kind of situation is to find out what the rules are and go by the rules and when you have an encounter or when something is pointed out, to really pay attention to that and to deal with that. If you just let it go by, you know, then it comes up again in some other form, some other way. So, our Ginjo koans is right there in those situations. We're always dealing with our koan, no matter what we're doing.

[17:27]

But our koan manifests itself in every situation. Our self-centered attitude meets the absolute. That's where our koan takes place. That's where the drama of our koan takes place. Our self-centered attitude meets the absolute. And it meets on every situation, at every moment. And teacher represents, is like the referee. Something like that.

[18:32]

Sometimes, I don't want to say too much, but... So our practice is how to get rid of our self-centered way of thinking, acting, and attitude, and understand what our place in the universe is. Because You know, we were talking about free will, you know, the other day. Free will... What we think of as free will is the ability to do whatever we want.

[19:44]

And if, from our perception, we feel that the world around us is this great object and we're the center of the universe and we're free to do whatever we want in this world which is an object. Our We miss the connection. We miss the fact that we miss the connection between the world, the universe, and ourself. And so we feel that free will means my self-centered desire to do what I want.

[20:47]

That's what we think of as free will. But in Buddhism, what we think of as free will is a little bit different. Since in Buddhism we feel that we are the universe, but the universe is... How should I say it? It's me. I'm not it, but it's me. This is Tozan's famous statement when he saw himself reflected in the stream. He said, it's me. I'm not it, but it is me. have a realization of what we are, what we really are.

[21:55]

That this person belongs to the universe. Or we say universe as a way of talking about the ineffable. This person belongs to the universe. We want to feel, well, I belong to myself. Independent. I belong to myself. I have free will. I can do anything I want. But that's a kind of illusion that we have. Because we can walk. Trees have to stay where they are. And live their life out. Rooted in the earth. They can't move around. So it's easier for them to know their place. But human beings, you know, don't so well know their place because they can't move around.

[22:59]

And that's not a disadvantage, but it's a disadvantage in understanding ourself. It's a whole other factor to deal with in understanding ourself. So when we practice Buddhism, we should come to the understanding that our action, our activity, is not just our activity, but the activity of the universe. I don't belong to myself. I belong to the universe. So when we say, I am sitting zazen, like we said yesterday, I am not sitting zazen.

[24:08]

Just painful legs are sitting zazen on a cushion. A mudra is sitting zazen. The universe is sitting zazen on a black cushion and expressing itself through this form. So when we have this kind of understanding, the universe is expressing itself through this form. We get a little better picture of how we should act, how we should behave, and our ego becomes less and less, and our ability to harmonize becomes greater and greater. Because we know who we are, we have more desire to conform to the universe's way of expression.

[25:26]

Ute's finger, you know, we can say this is Ute's finger, and he lifts it up. But where is the beginning and end of this finger? He says, well, this is the top. And this finger is independent. You know, we call it a finger. This is a finger. It's independent, there's not much around it. But when we come down here, we see that this finger is connected to this hand. And in order for this finger to be independent, all these other fingers have to bow down, take their place in place, in order to reveal the finger. Here we don't say one finger. Say, oh, that's a hand. But when we take these fingers away, oh, there's a finger.

[26:49]

So, the hand makes the finger. Even though the finger is standing out there by itself, the hand makes the finger. Gutte's disciple came up and he said he got his finger chopped off. When his finger was chopped off, pretty hard to identify what it was. Only when it's here is it really a finger. Only when it's attached to the hand is it really a finger. You know, it's attached to the arm, which is attached to the body, which is attached to the cushion, which is attached to the Zavaton, which is attached to the floor, which is attached to the earth, which is out in space, you know. So, everything comes up with Ute's finger, this little finger, just this little three and a half inches of flesh and bones.

[28:04]

But it depends on everything, interdependent with everything for its existence. And when it goes like this, it doesn't look like much is happening, but something on the other side of the world is affected. So, if we understand this, then what we do, you know, is not just for our own individual self. Whatever we do affects everybody else. If your practice, you know, one of the most important things, if you study in a monastery, is the fact that

[29:12]

Whatever you do, you know, you have a limited framework and a certain number of people who are all practicing together. And you don't get much coming and going. And so you're here in a box. And whatever you do in that box affects everybody else in the box. The smallest thing, and everybody knows everybody else, and everybody knows what everybody else is doing or thinking. Pretty soon, you know, there's no place to hide in that situation. If you're hiding, you can hide, but everybody knows you're hiding. So-and-so is hiding. So, within that confine, You can only do so much, and then you have to harmonize with everybody.

[30:22]

You have to find your place in each situation. So your situation is constantly changing, and all the factors, all the people, all the activities are constantly changing. But wherever you find yourself, you have to know what's happening all around you so that you can find yourself in that situation. And the same thing goes for a wider situation. When you have that kind of training, then when you get yourself into a wider situation, you have less ego and you can harmonize with a bigger situation. So as we step out into the world and continue our zazen in the world, we can harmonize with any situation that we should be able to harmonize.

[31:32]

That's our practice, is to make that effort to harmonize with whatever situation presents itself. And that's our koan. are gone, is coming up in every moment's situation. And it's our ego meets the Absolute. Or we're constantly meeting ourself. So how do we meet ourselves? Whatever we meet is our Self. That's what Tozan says in his poem, Everywhere I go, I meet my Self. If you always have this in mind,

[32:45]

then you can feel that you're practicing, no matter where you are. But it helps a lot, you know, if we practice together this way. Usually, you know, when we do something, when we build something or when we go about our everyday life. We're trying to accomplish something. Trying to accomplish a means to an end. We do something and then we expect to have an accomplishment after the fact. But in our practice, sometimes what's most important is not accomplishing the material aspect of what we did, but accomplishing the spiritual aspect.

[34:04]

We don't like dividing to spiritual and material, but the training or the learning aspect, which for us more important than accomplishing something. So, sometimes, you know, if we're building something or trying to get something done, the teacher will maybe frustrate you by not allowing you to finish. Do you know the famous story of Milarepa and his teacher? Where his teacher asked him to go and build a stone tower. And so he went and he, Milarepa went and he hauled all these big stones to this hill.

[35:11]

I think it was the top of a mountain. Maybe that was for exaggeration. Anyway, he hauled all these stones to this place that was very difficult. Took him a long, long time. And he built this stone tower. And just as he got almost finished, teacher said, no, you have to take it all down. Start all over again. So he built the stone tower again. And when he got almost finished, teacher said, no, sorry, you have to take it all down again. So he took it down again. And then he said, well, now build another one, please. And do it right this time. So he built the stone tower again. He said, no, take it down. He kept doing this until Milarepa finally caught on to what was the most important thing. Accomplishing some

[36:12]

materialistic thing, you know, is good. But more important is your understanding. And through our work, we can gain understanding. I say gain understanding. We should have understanding before we work. so that our work has that understanding to make our effort joyful. When our work has no self-centeredness in it, then our work becomes very joyful because it's taking place in that realm of samadhi.

[37:41]

Samadhi means no selfishness, no self-centeredness. When there's no self-centeredness, then there's samadhi. Samadhi is our natural state of mind, natural order of mind, we say in the meal chant. The natural order of mind is our natural mind without self-centeredness. then Samadhi, that's what we call Samadhi. When we sit sadhana, the natural order of mind without self-centeredness just is there. We all live in Samadhi. Samadhi is a word for that. So what we want to accomplish is our natural order of mind. our samadhi mind, of no self-centeredness.

[38:52]

So if we pay very careful attention to practice, how we practice, and when something is pointed out to us, we should pay attention. That helps us. If you have resistance, That's our self-centered mind coming up. You can recognize it. So, you know, when we can just go along easily with things, our practice becomes quite joyful. And practice is set up, you know, to let our joyful mind arise.

[40:10]

Sometimes we call it a GJU Samadhi, Self-Joyous Samadhi. We just live in our innocent mind. So practice is set up in order to allow that to happen. And if we just follow the practice, That's why, you know, in this practice, if you practice in the monastery, not so much right here because we all have our individual lives, but in a monastic situation, just following the schedule is the practice. It means letting go of your self-centered desire and just following the schedule.

[41:15]

And it's very difficult to do if you don't just give yourself over. But if you do give yourself over, life... Your light can... You can illuminate your mind. Your mind will be illuminated. And you can do that here, just by doing what you have to do. That's why we always put so much emphasis on, just do what you have to do. When the alarm goes off in the morning, just get up. in one thing after the other, just do what has to be done. That's kind of following the schedule, following the order of events as they need to be taken care of with a completely subjective mind.

[42:32]

By subjective I mean You don't see the world as an object outside of yourself. Just are one with activity. Just are one with what we're doing. No separation. As soon as we start to hesitate, or when our self-centered mind comes up, then we start to separate ourself from, and we objectify, we separate ourself from ourself. from our bigger self and we start to objectify and then we start getting into trouble because everything becomes a hurdle for us, a stumbling block. So, we need to focus in this way on our practice.

[44:33]

We need to understand this and make that effort a focus. And to remember that we're not just isolated. in this world. You know, we like to make our own judgments and assessments, and show that we know something, and we like to show that we can do something.

[45:36]

But, and this is the Wild West, you know, But the Wild West is becoming one of the most populated places, and as the world gets smaller and smaller, we have to be more and more careful how we... we become more conscious of how we interact with people and things. In Japan, you know, Japan is a small island, and people learned long ago how to interact with each other in a confined space. And England is a small island. Those two have something in common. People have to learn how to interact with each other in a confined space. That's why those countries are so sophisticated. And people are very sensitive how they do things.

[46:40]

They have lots of layers of manners, how you do things so that you don't encroach, and how you are respectful to others and to the things around you. But here in the Wild West, you know, it's my country, and I can do anything I want. But it's not anymore, you know. The whole world is getting smaller and smaller and everybody's rubbing elbows and we have to become more sophisticated and know how to do things with less and less in a more confined space. Maybe we shouldn't have any more children. But it's getting smaller and more people.

[47:44]

So we have to... And, you know, it's all us. It's not me and the world's getting bigger for more people. It's I'm getting... I'm growing into more people. And I have to learn how to get along with myself. So zazen is how we get along with ourself. How to get along with yourself. And that extends. Yourself extends everywhere. Okay, it's almost time to take the lunch.

[48:43]

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