Good morning. Well, as the abbot of this Zen Center, my job is to repeat the meaning of our practice over and over again. Sorry. But if we don't keep repeating the meaning of our practice over and over again, we forget what it's about. So sometimes if I have a class and we study something and then we come back the next week And I say, does anybody remember what we studied last week? Silence. It doesn't necessarily mean that we forget, but we do.

[01:05]

So my purpose in life is to keep reminding us what our very basic practice is. And if we don't keep reiterating, new people will not understand. So for the sake of one new person, we explain the whole thing over and over again. But it's always interesting, I hope. So today I'm going to talk about shikantaza. Shikantaza is the basic term used for what the goal of our practice is. There are many ways to talk about shikantaza, but basically shikantaza means going down to the deepest part of your being and expressing that in your daily activity.

[02:27]

And it's characterized by zazen. Zazen, deep stillness, letting go of discriminating mind, and getting down to the bottom. So, when we have meals in the zendo, for the sake of you who've never had a meal in the zendo, we sit in zazen like this, the servers come, and someone cooks the food, the servers come and serve the food to us in a very formal way, and then we eat the food in a very formal way, and then they come and give us water and we wash our bowls, And everything's done, finished.

[03:37]

Nobody has to wash our bowls for us. So it's one complete activity. It's the most satisfying way to eat that I have ever eaten. So when the servers come, often they have soup. So soup usually has water. The basic thing about soup is water. And then there's additional things like carrots and vegetables, you know. The water has a certain density and the vegetables have a certain weight. So when the servers bring the food to the table before they serve, in the meantime, all the heavy things, like the vegetables, are going down to the bottom, and then the water is at the top.

[04:38]

This goes for oatmeal and various other foods. As you can understand, it's very simple. The heavy stuff goes to the bottom and the water stays on top. And then when the servers come to serve the food, they take the water off the top and put it in your bowl. So I always say, stir the soup so that the vegetables and the water are equal. Why do I have to say that? This is the most fundamental thing. If you understand this, you understand everything about our practice. That the heavy stuff goes to the bottom and the water stays on top unless you stir it. So you should always go to the bottom. That's the point. The point is, always go to the bottom and find out what's on the bottom.

[05:43]

What's at the bottom of the pot? So this is a metaphor for our practice. What's at the bottom of your, our body is the pot, and the water stays on top of it, but you have to go down and dig deep. So zazen is going down to the bottom and finding out what's there. The goodies are at the bottom. salads the same way. They serve the salad, then all the goodies are at the bottom. So you have to find what's at the bottom and serve from the bottom of your heart. We serve each other from the bottom of our heart. Going down to the bottom of the pot is like going down to the bottom of our heart or our mind. sharing what's at the bottom of your heart and your mind with everyone else.

[06:49]

That's Shikantaza applied, applied Shikantaza. So, Buddhism is like, There are many animals that are featured in Buddhism. We use animals as, each animal has wonderful qualities. If we really look at the animal world and the insect world, and if you read National Geographic, you get a really good picture of the animal world and the insect world and the magnified insect world. Every insect, every animal has a certain quality or certain qualities which are incredible. So, you know, the Jains were a sect in Buddhism, not in Buddhism, in Buddhist time.

[07:53]

separate sect in Buddhist time, and they were naked ascetics, and they had a stick with rings on it, just like the Buddhists, and they would go along jangling the rings so that all the little insects and animals would get out of the way while they were walking, because they didn't want to harm anything. So, we have that kind of understanding. So in Buddhadharma, Buddhism, we talk about three animals. The elephant, these are animals that appeared in India, the elephant, the horse, and the rabbit. So the rabbit is just hopping all over the place. And the horse has wonderful, noble qualities, but it's always running around.

[09:00]

And the elephant is big and heavy and takes very careful steps. And their step goes all the way to the bottom, one step at a time, one step at a time. So, basically, in the olden days, they said that Buddhism was like an elephant. Or sometimes they said like a rhinoceros. But, so the elephant is very careful, very determined, and very aware. But these three animals, I think it's not like one is right and the others are not so good. Sometimes we're like a horse and sometimes we're like a rabbit. Sometimes our practice is like a rabbit. Sometimes our practice is like a horse.

[10:03]

But to get to the bottom, it's like an elephant taking one step at a time very carefully and knowing where their feet are placed. So that's why elephant is used that way. It's not to, the horse and the rabbit all have great, wonderful qualities, as we know. The rabbit's ears, jackrabbit's ears are as long as its body. If you measure, I was looking at a picture of a jackrabbit the other day, and the ears are just like this long, and the body's about that long. So, we use these animals as metaphors for various qualities that they have that match our own. American Indians are very good at that. They appreciated all the animals.

[11:03]

But anyway, the point is, Shikantaza is like the elephant. very careful and very single-minded. And Zazen is, to the stillness of Zazen and to letting go of discriminating mind is the essential practice. Letting go of discriminating mind Suzuki Roshi said it's like a baby's practice, a baby's practice. The baby doesn't discriminate between things.

[12:05]

Whatever the baby touches or uses or is interested in is equal. Everything is equal. There's no discrimination until the baby, of course, starts discriminating through trial and error. So zazen is like going back to being, not to being a baby, because you can't do that. But the quality of that, of the babies, of the early young child's, the quality of that life is like shikantaza. of unassuming mind. The mind, even though we assume, you're like this, I know what you are, and so forth. This is assumption based on experience, but assumption nevertheless. The baby doesn't assume anything, but just simply experiences everything exactly as it is.

[13:13]

or exactly as they experience it without preconceptions. So this is called great freedom. Shikantaza is great freedom. Freedom from the duality that creates karma. So the baby cares about itself in some way, or is not too worried about itself, but realizes or lives in the space, lives in the space where everything is real.

[14:22]

Baby lives in the space that is real. And what real means is non-substantial. Just think about it. What we call real is substantial. We look at a rock and we say, that's really substantial. We look at Mount Tamalpais and we say, that's really substantial. But actually, it's not. There is a certain reality to what we call substantial things. Substance, right? But substance is just malleable. There's no substance that's not malleable, including steel and iron and whatever. Everything is real because its reality is its non-substantiality.

[15:29]

So the baby doesn't really get attached to things because there's no correspondence between desire and substantiality. So it lives in the malleable world of one thing after another, just one thing after another. When there's something for the baby to laugh at, the baby laughs. When there's something to cry about, the baby cries. But the baby doesn't hold on to the crying. The baby doesn't hold on to the laughing. It's just one thing after another, one moment at a time. When we sit in Zazen, it's just one moment at a time without being attached to anything. No attachment to a thought, no attachment to a feeling. Just simply experiencing one thing after another.

[16:42]

This is great freedom. And then being able to move. Sitting still, sitting very still is great dynamic movement. We call it great dynamic activity. because all the energy is contained in one movement called stillness. It's like a top. You spin the top on the floor and it goes, but then it stops. And then it doesn't look like it's moving, but it contains all the energy of movement

[17:46]

and within this stillness. So that if you kick it, it goes spinning across the floor because of its dynamism. So sitting still in zazen is great dynamic activity, just like the top. All that energy is contained in one activity. So the extension of Shikantaza is to be totally focused and one with each moment's activity. Very hard, not so easy, because we're always being distracted by our desirous mind. So I just want to read a little bit to you from Suzuki Roshi when he's talking about enjoying your life, how to enjoy your life.

[18:55]

He gave this talk on the day of the moon landing. the Apollo landing in 1969. Some of you probably remember that. It was a great event. But he's saying, although it's a great event, it's not the greatest event. So he says, in meditation, We sometimes practice counting our breath. You may think it's silly to count your breath from one to 10, losing track of the count and starting over. I remember when I started to sit zazen in 1964, and Suzuki Roshi recommended that we count our breath.

[20:00]

And people say, I came from the world, I come from the world of numbers to practice meditation, and here I am sitting in the world of meditation counting my breath. What does that have to do with numbers? Well, it really has nothing to do with numbers at all. You could just keep saying one, one, one, or mu. The Renzai school says, mu, mu, mu, which is the same as one, two, three, four, up to ten. The thing about mu is that it's easier because you don't have to keep track. It's just the same sound over and over again. So, it's very difficult to get to 10, and then you realize how your mind works, and how your mind wanders, and how your mind gets distracted.

[21:10]

So he says, so you may think it's silly to count your breaths from one to ten, losing track of the count and starting over. When you get to ten, you start again with one, if you're lucky enough to get to ten. If you are a computer, if you use a computer, there won't be any mistake. Right, so you can count it as high as you want without making a mistake, but that's not the point. The point is not to get somewhere, it's simply to have something, a limitation to give you perspective. If I light a match in a closet, it lights up the whole closet. But if I light a match outside, it doesn't make any difference. I mean, hardly any difference at all.

[22:13]

So you have something to compare or a limitation to give you perspective. So the underlying spirit is quite important. While we are counting each number we find that our life is limitlessly deep. If we count our breath in the ordinary way, as we would count the distance from here to the moon, our practice doesn't mean anything. So the purpose of the count is to make you aware, to keep your awareness focused. It's not to add up numbers. It can be anything. If you count sheep, you'll go to sleep. That's the purpose of counting sheep.

[23:15]

But it's not like counting sheep. It's like each number is the whole universe. To count each breath is to breathe our whole mind and body. Your whole mind and body is involved in one or two. We count each number with the power of the whole universe. So, when you really experience counting your breath, you will have deep gratitude, more than if you arrived on the moon. You will not be so interested in something just because it is considered great. or uninterested in it because it's usually considered to be small. So this is elephant practice, so-called.

[24:22]

Each breath contains the whole universe. You know, when you're sitting sadhana, at some point you feel some discomfort. Sometimes we call it pain. Oh, this hurts. Because the whole universe is pressing down on your body. And if you are attached to that feeling, the whole universe is pressing down on your body. And you can't leave, and you can't stay. So all you can do is let go, accept. But letting go means freedom.

[25:23]

To find your freedom, total freedom, by letting go. But you can only find that through your own experience. I can tell you that, but it's not your experience. That's why we have to sit over and over again every day, sort of." So, he says, still you may be very interested in having new experiences. the way a baby does. A baby, I told you this but I'll read it again, a baby has the same basic attitude of interest toward all things. If you watch her, she will always be enjoying her life. We adults mostly are caught by our preconceived ideas and we're not completely free from the objective world because we are not one with the objective world.

[26:33]

Usually we think the other way around, to be separated. Because we're separated, we have pain. Pain is separation, because it's not what we want. As soon as it's not what we want, we have pain and suffering. Buddha says, I only teach freedom from pain and suffering. He doesn't teach freedom from pain, but he does teach freedom from suffering, which means separation. When you're one with things, there's nothing to be separate from. This is the koan of the dharma. When you're separate from, you have pain, you have suffering.

[27:44]

So there's, you know, the hot dog joke. You know the hot dog joke. Make me one with everything. But it's true. That's a great sentence. We are not completely free from the objective world because we are not one with the objective world. So the thing about pain and suffering is that instead of trying to extricate ourself, we become one with. When we receive something that we don't like or don't want, we usually set up a barrier.

[29:02]

or push it away. This is called aversion. Aversion and clinging are the two sources of suffering. Clinging is a source of suffering because whatever it is that we cling to will come apart. If we cling to our discomfort, we suffer. So what do we do? We have to let go. What do we let go of? We let go of our self-centeredness. Suzuki already called it selfishness. I said, what do you mean selfishness? He said, yeah, that's what I mean, selfishness. I thought, well, self-centeredness, right?

[30:03]

Self-centeredness is more objective. Selfishness is more subjective. You can say, well, you know, you're self-centered. Well, that's more objective. That's up here. But selfishness is more here. If someone says you're self-centered, Well, yeah, okay, whatever. But if they say you're selfish, then, oh yeah, me? It hits you in the emotions and the feelings. But it's true, we're selfish. And that's the cause of our suffering. It's the cause of clinging and aversion. What is it that feels aversion and clinging? It's our self, self-ish, self-centered.

[31:07]

I use the word self-centered because it's, but it really means, if you think about it, we want or don't want, don't want, is just the other side of wanting. So wanting and not getting, or not wanting and getting, are just the same thing, the two sides of the coin. So how to let go of ego? You can think about it, but the dharma is how you practice it. If you don't practice it, it's just an idea. And our suffering, how do we get rid of our suffering? We go to various places to do that. Various altering substances that make us feel good for a while, but then everything that we use

[32:19]

to divert our suffering or to ease it that is not substantial is just creating more karma. So, as you know, this country is in that terrible straits of addiction. In order to practice, Practice is not easy, difficult. So, and there are many ways, many practices today that people shop around for. You know, you go to this one and then you go to that one. Maybe this one will help me. But it's like shopping, you know, for spiritual medications. And what we think of as spiritual medications is practices that are, well, help us, right?

[33:23]

But I can't say that they're good or bad. This practice is not easy. And it's not so easy to maintain. It's not so hard to enter the practice and to have some benefit, if that's what you want. We don't claim benefits, you know. This is the cure that has no benefits. So if you want to have this practice, you have to be there, and you have to do it. And it's nice to start, but it's difficult to continue. Because you don't understand, or you don't necessarily feel the benefits for a long time.

[34:27]

But if you're looking for benefit, you'll be discouraged. I knew I could trust my teacher because he never promised anything, ever. He said, if you want to do this practice, you just do the practice. When you sit zazen, you just sit zazen, period. It's not like it will make you better or you'll change or blah, blah, blah. Nothing. If you sit zazen, you will sit zazen. If you eat, you will eat. If you walk, you will walk. That's all. There's nothing next. Shikantaza is, there's nothing next. There's no past, and there's no future. If you want to practice, that's the practice of shikantaza.

[35:29]

doesn't mean that there's no past and no future. There is no future. Anyway, we just think of a future. It's an idea. Future is an idea. We plan for it. And, you know, the past has given rise to the present, and the present will give rise to the future. But actually, there's no past, and there's no future. There's just our idea of the past, and our idea of the future, and our idea of the present. But even so, our life takes place right in the present. One quick, easy, short question. I didn't say there's no benefit. I said we don't sit zazen for a benefit. You know, whatever happens, whatever happens to you is benefit.

[36:56]

If you're happy, that's beneficial. If you're not happy, that's beneficial. If you feel terrible, that's a great benefit. Everything is freely given to you according to the way you approach everything. If you approach pain with aversion, then you will benefit from that by feeling awful. Do you understand? Because you're dividing, you keep dividing into benefit and not benefit. As soon as you start dividing, that's called discrimination. Pain is just pain, just feeling. The genuine feeling is just feeling. That's genuineness. It's not, I don't like it.

[37:58]

As soon as you start dividing, discriminating, discrimination means to divide. And to actually have the benefit of Zazen is to let go of discriminating mind. then everything falls into place as one. The two are one. The one is two. But if you don't experience the oneness of duality, then pain is something you don't like. So as soon as you don't like it, you've discriminated. That's what makes it difficult. Zen is very simple. It's so simple, but the simplest thing is the hardest thing. So the easiest thing is information.

[39:03]

We all have these little computers, right? And so information is the way to go. But that's not it. That's just going further and further away. Zazen is forget information, forget what you know, and just be. And just be, you can accept the sensations in your body that you call pain, and you're open to that instead of closing down. It's anti, what's that called? Yeah, counterintuitive. Zazen is counterintuitive. Because when something enters, it becomes a invasion or intrusion in your body. So you can't think of it as an intrusion. You open to it instead of closing down. But you want to close down. And it's very subtle, extremely subtle.

[40:06]

Just, you know, you're sitting pretty comfortably and then you think, is this, and then pretty soon it's, the more you want to escape, the harder, the more difficult it becomes. As soon as you start to escape, you can't, because you get caught by your discriminating mind. As soon as you let go of your discriminating mind, then everything's okay. That's just the way it is. But we get caught all the time. So our practice is to let go. It's not that there's no discrimination, because we're discriminating all the time. But it's discrimination on the basis of like and dislike, good and bad, right or wrong, to be caught by that. So sadzen, we concentrate on that.

[41:09]

because it teaches us everything we need to know. It doesn't lie. It does not lie. It just says, this is the way it is. When you start discriminating, you create problems for yourself. And as soon as you want to escape, it makes it worse. So we counter your breath. One breath at a time, just this breath, and this breath covers the whole world, the whole universe, covers everything. Then there's no discrimination. The breath accepts the sensations in our body, which we call good and bad. We just call them that. breath accepts that because the breath includes everything, and that's called one.

[42:15]

So the oneness accepts the duality but doesn't get caught by it. So he says we are not completely free from the objective world. Objective world means, in this case, discriminating mind. Because we are not one with the objective world. So it's not rejecting the objective world. is being one with it. So we say our practice, shikhatasa, is to be one with your activity. Just be one with your activity, whatever it is, whatever it is. It's not easy. So we're not free from discomfort because we're not one with discomfort.

[43:19]

And that's the hardest thing to realize. No matter, you may realize it or not realize it, but it's the hardest thing to realize that because we're always discriminating and think that we get out of stuff by getting out of it. We can't free ourself from stuff because we want to free ourself. As soon as you want to free yourself, you're creating a duality. And that's what causes the pain. It's hard to accept, and it has to be moment to moment. It's like walking the tightrope and not falling into one side or the other. But when you practice over and over and you have that experience, then the tightrope becomes more like a highway. Even if you fall into one side or the other, you know where to get up.

[44:28]

So it's continuous practice. Dzogchen, Shikantaza, continuous practice in all activity. So sitting in Dzogchen is one side of our non-discriminating activity. And then daily life is the same thing. It's just all one piece, which is called continuous practice. I could go on and on, but...

[45:02]

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