Yesterday I spoke of the expression, settle the self on the self. And a short, a brief description of the practice is settle the self on the self and forget the self. expanding it a little, we say, settle the self on the self, and learn the self, and forget the self, and be enlightened by all things. being enlightened by all things, the bodies of ourself and others drop away, and peace and freedom is realized.

[01:25]

Moment by moment, there is the opportunity of the self settling on the self. Of course it's always happening, but if we don't attend to it, we may miss it. And if we give ourselves over to attending, to paying attention to the self, settling on the self. We may notice that it's easy to be distracted from that attention. Nonetheless, this basic mindfulness of the self settled on the self is repeatedly recommended. Settle the body on the body.

[02:42]

Let the body be settled on the body. Let the breath be settled on the breath. Let your feelings be settled on your feelings. And so on. For each experience. So simple and so easily to be distracted. Easy to be distracted from such a simple, pure mindfulness and simple presence. If there is attention, if there is wholehearted attention to the self being settled on the self, then there's also the opportunity to study the self and forget the self.

[04:17]

To learn the self. To learn the self thoroughly and forget the self. And again, to forget the self is to be enlightened by all things, to be enlightened by all beings. The first part of the practice, in a sense, is to give up thinking.

[05:34]

And just settle. If there's thinking going on, settle with the thinking. Settle the thinking on the thinking. The next part, studying the self and forgetting the self, we now think. So first we give up thinking and settle and become tranquil and imperturbable. And then we use our thinking Thinking is used to learn about the self. Another way to say it is settle into a steady, immobile sitting position.

[06:48]

Think of not thinking. Think of not thinking. In other words, study the self. Settle into a steady, immobile sitting position, standing position, walking position, reclining position. Settle the self on the self. And then, look at everything that happens. about everything that happens.

[08:04]

Look to everything that happens as studying the self. Look at everything that comes to you. Look at everything that arrives. in the context of studying the self and learning the self. If I open to the practice of considering whatever comes as an opportunity to learn about the self. One of the things that may come is a resistance to opening to everything as an opportunity to learn about the self.

[09:20]

You could say myself, yourself, or the self. How could this event I can't see how this event is an opportunity to learn about myself. This event's about somebody else, not me. I may feel such resistance. And this, too, is an opportunity to learn the self. When I feel that way, I have not yet forgotten the self. If I haven't forgotten the self, I haven't yet learned the self. When I haven't learned the self, I think something's not the self. When I forget the self, because I've learned the self, nothing is not the self.

[10:24]

Everything awakens and confirms the self. So the great teacher Dogen says, when all dharmas are Buddha-dharmas, or when all dharmas are Buddha-dharma, then there is delusion. Enlightenment. Realization.

[11:26]

Birth. Death. Sentient beings, excuse me, Buddhas and sentient beings. Sorry, I added one to the list, usual list. When all dharmas, when everything is Buddha Dharma, there's delusion, enlightenment, practice, birth, death, Buddhas and sentient beings. When everything and everybody is Buddhadharma, then there is everything. The short list is delusion, enlightenment, practice, birth, death, Buddhas and sentient beings.

[12:37]

When all things are Buddha Dharma, then there are all things. Like this. When our pain and our illnesses, when the sufferings of those who we love, and the confusion and misery of those we care for, When those things are Buddhadharmas, then there are those things. Those things are Buddhadharma. Everything is Buddhadharma. There's nothing that's not Buddhadharma. is the world teaching us.

[13:55]

It is teaching us Buddhadharma. if I remember myself or the self, which is easy, because that's the habit, then because I'm busy remembering the self and holding on to it, I may not be able to remember the teachings

[15:37]

about the time, the moment, when all beings are Buddha Dharma. And even if I remember, I may not wish to pay attention to that teaching. I may actually wish to make some exceptions. and actually disagree with the teaching that this being that I'm meeting right now is Buddhadharma. It's good to be settled and tranquil.

[16:53]

It's hard to be settled and tranquil. But once settled, there's a better chance to open to this simple and... everywhere available teaching that wherever you are and whatever is happening, it's Buddha Dharma. The subtleties of this radical statement can be unfolded indefinitely, but there it is, a radical statement.

[17:59]

When all dharmas are Buddha-dharma, You have the world just as it is. Including whether you pay attention to that teaching or not. But there is then the opportunity, upon hearing this teaching, with an open body and mind, that one will actually Accept it and let it be practiced. settle the self, learn the self.

[19:25]

Learn the self is to learn the Buddha way. To learn the Buddha way is to learn the self. The basic way to learn the self is learn from everything. Not learn from some things, learn from everything, including that you have the thought, the delusion, that you can only learn from some things. When all dharmas are Buddha-dharmas, there is delusion. There is the delusion that you can only learn about the self from some things. That you can learn about yourself by studying your own fingernails. Not that you learn from the self by studying somebody else's fingernails. Everybody's fingernails, including your own, teach you about the self.

[20:29]

Because everybody's fingernails are Buddhadharma. Understanding that is enlightenment. And that enlightenment is Buddhadharma. Not understanding that and disagreeing with that is one of the varieties of delusion. But that delusion is also Buddhadharma. And any of the unskillful and unkind acts that arise from delusion are also Buddhadharma. At the time when all things are Buddhadharma. So if you feel settled, while you're settling, as you're settling, when you're settling, into a steady, immobile presence, you may be ready to open to the teaching that the wonders and the horrors of this world are Buddhadharma, are ways to learn the self and forget the self.

[21:53]

And Buddhadharma is Buddhadharma while it's trying to wake you up. And Buddhadharma is Buddhadharma while you're waking up and after you have awoken. but I sympathize with myself and you. I know it's difficult when people are being cruel to each other or to you. I know it's difficult to say, Ah, so this is how Buddha Dharma is coming now.

[23:06]

I know it's difficult. And also when people are being kind to you and praising you, I know it's difficult to remember that this is not just praise. This is Buddha Dharma. It's easy to veer off from such a basic teaching. It's a great challenge to find a way to balance on it. And balancing on it, I feel, includes accepting that veering away from it, turning away from it, resisting it,

[24:12]

that those phenomena are also Buddhadharma. Accepting the teaching, not accepting the teaching, are both Buddhadharma. Or I should say, Buddhadharmas. Think of not thinking.

[26:13]

How do you think of not thinking? When all dharmas are Buddha dharma. There's delusion, enlightenment, practice, birth, death, Buddhas and sentient beings. When you're ready, you may want to think about these teachings. When I've resisted my suffering enough and I'm willing to accept it, when I'm settled in the midst of my difficulty, I'm where I am and I have some spare time.

[27:50]

So I can think about some teachings. Like, when all dharmas are buddhadharmas, then there's delusion. When all dharmas are buddhadharmas, then there's delusion. Hey, there's delusion now and enlightenment and practice and birth and death and Buddhas

[28:57]

sentient beings. Is there anything you'd like to express? Pardon? How do you do? Sentient being, wow. Buddha Dharma.

[30:07]

Would you say that louder, please? Would you say that louder, please? Yeah. And then... When thinking of not thinking and a picture arises? Yeah. All right. Next question. Is the arising of the picture thinking?

[31:54]

No. Thinking is the way you relate to the picture. Thinking is your relationship with the picture. So now we want a new relationship with this picture. Our usual relationship with the picture is thinking. So the picture arises and there's a relationship with it. There's the thinking. Okay? Now we're going to think about what kind of relationship would it be if a picture arose without a relationship? or without the usual intention. So we're going to think about a new relationship called not thinking.

[33:05]

So now we're going to think about a new relationship with everything that happens. We're no longer going to think, some things are Buddha Dharma and some things are not. Or I wouldn't say we won't think that, but we're going to learn a new way to think called not thinking. We're going to think about a new way. A way of thinking so we can wake up. Which is, for example... that not just some things will teach you about who you are, but everybody and everything teaches you who you are.

[34:08]

or anything in life, just see it, just look it, just know it, just know it. Just know it, like you said. Just sit, just talk, just feel it, know it. Yes. Those of us, maybe I'm the only one. For those of us who might not be certain we settle the self on the self, could you point to some symptoms of the self not being settled on the self and then perhaps give us

[35:16]

some simple exercises or one simple exercise for settling the self on the self so that we know it's settled. I mentioned yesterday. Train yourself like this. In the scene, there will be just a scene.

[36:18]

In the herd, there will be just a herd. In the tasted, just the tasted. In the touched, just the touched. In the smelled, just the smelled. In the imagined, just the imagined. That's a settling instruction. involves giving up thinking. So usually when we hear something, we think about it. We cover it with discursive thought very quickly.

[37:20]

And that still may go on while you're doing this training, but you're letting go of it. you're tuning into the simplest possible way of knowing things, which is right there. It's already there. It's just a question of letting go of the discursive elaboration, which we're usually involved with, which, until we let go of it, we tend to be somewhat agitated and unsettled. So we're going to let go of any kind of elaboration or discourse on the herd. So when we hear something, give up a discourse on it. Give up commenting, give up interpreting. And of course that involves noticing it's difficult to give up commenting and difficult to give up interpreting and being discursive about it. But then admit that and continue the training.

[38:26]

And know that most people have a long and difficult training to give up discourse upon the heard, the seen, the tasted, the touched, the smelled, and whatever cognition it is. But we're training ourselves into this simple presence, which will help us settle. Same with pain. physical pain, mental pain. Just let that be that. That's basic settling. And this does not involve, however, thinking about whether or not you've settled. That's not part of the settling process.

[39:28]

But even though it's not part of the settling process, if you become settled, you might notice it because you might hear that you're settled. Or see that you're settled. Or smell that you're settled. Or think that you're settled. It might occur to you. And you might be right. go check with your teachers and say, I think maybe I'm settled. What do you think? It seems like I'm like settled, like I'm calm and flexible and buoyant and ready to study teachings. And you have a conversation and maybe they'll agree that you've settled, that settling has arisen in the world, that your body and mind have settled, that the self has settled.

[40:34]

It can happen. And, or rather, it can be so. It can come to be that we are settled. And in fact, again, really we are settled all the time. It's just that we've got better things to do than notice it. Not noticing it, we feel agitated, even while we're settled. We're settled in agitation and disturbance and confusion. But really, we're settled. We just don't attend to it, because we're being discursive about what is going on. Does that make some sense? Yes. So if you're sitting and you have that image or eyes or thought, you notice that we start with this course.

[41:40]

Yes. Would it be so cool to remind ourselves that we're here in this moment, in this room, having a thought You faded there a little bit. So a thought arises and you start discoursing on it? Yes. And now you wonder... So now I'm actually, I'm discoursing on the discourse now? Yeah. So you're wondering what's skillful to do at that point? There you are in that little dance.

[42:44]

Yes? And then it seems to kind of go. It seems to kind of what? Yeah, that can happen. You can notice it and it kind of drops off. That can happen. And you can also notice it and feel... a little, sometimes people feel a little uncomfortable because they actually would like to let go of it, but they're kind of still involved in it, involved in the discursive thought. And then sometimes that little feeling of being discomfort, not too uncomfortable, hopefully, you go back to work and let go of it and go back to the simple way of being. Like you say, the discourse just drops. Sometimes it drops even before you notice it. But usually it doesn't. Usually you notice it and then it drops. Because you have to sort of like be willing to not direct your attention towards the discourse for a while.

[43:48]

Does that make sense? Yes? The spiritual pain, the mental pain, how does one avoid being taken over? With pain, how do we not become taken over by it completely? My first response is that if I try to avoid being taken over by it completely, I'm starting to be taken over by it. If I am actually... I think the way to not be overtaken by it would be to be willing to be overtaken by it. Because in fact, when you feel pain, you have been, in some sense, overtaken by it. It is what's happening.

[44:54]

So being willing to be overtaken, not resisting it, it can't do anything more than happen. But if you resist it, you can become enslaved by it. opening to it and not resisting to it will finally lead to settling with it. Now, once I settle with the pain, then there's also now the possibility, which is not different, to hear the teaching that this pain is Buddhadharma. But if I'm wiggling with it, first of all, then I hear, oh, this pain is Buddha Dharma, it doesn't really work very well. Because then I'm trying to use that teaching as part of my resistance program. But if I'm really not resisting, it won't take me over.

[46:01]

Accepting it, it won't take you over, it'll just happen. Easy to say. I want to wish you a happy birthday, Reverend Lumisal. He's reached the stable age of 40. It's a nice number. Please take care. May our intention equally extend to earth.

[47:04]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_91.68