This morning, can you hear me okay? This morning I'm going to talk about six practices, six ways of practicing Zen which are not Shikantaza. In other words, which are not our practice. What is Shikantaza? Shikantaza is just sitting, just doing, which is very simple but maybe most difficult. At some point we have to get over a certain psychological or habitual way of doing something for the sake of something else.

[01:13]

So just to sit for the sake of sitting is Shikantaza, just to know sitting as sitting and not to gain something or for some other reason. Although enlightenment is important, we don't sit to gain enlightenment. Although progress is important, we don't sit to make progress. We simply sit to sit. That's so easy. I've talked about these before, but some will remember and some will not. Anyway, it's always good to go over these because we should examine why we're doing what we're doing.

[02:21]

So this is a kind of self-examination. Is this why I'm doing sitting? Is this why I practice? So these are the six types of Zen which are not Shikantaza. One is called the Zen of Hell, which you may or may not have experienced, or have experienced one way or another. But this Zen of Hell is very specific. It's specific to people who don't really want to do it. but somehow find themselves in the position of doing it. Each one of us has to come to practice on our own. If you belong to some religious practice, family practice, the kids go to the practice, and the family does this religious practice, whether they like to or not,

[03:33]

Still, it's a family, it's an inclusive kind of practice. This Zen practice, which centers around Zazen, is a practice in which you can only do it if you have an affinity for it. If you don't have an affinity for it, it becomes hell. It's the difference between ... I don't know if you ever find heaven, but it's as you know. So, this kind of Zen hell, those who are practicing for the sake of of position or are forced into it by family pressures or political pressure.

[04:35]

In Japan, there might be some political pressure to do this or family pressure, which wouldn't be the kind of pressure that we would feel. The kind of pressure we would feel would be a spouse or a friend. who practices and says, you should do this, this is really good for you. And you're kind of, okay, okay, or since I'm the spouse, I should do this in order to support my husband or my wife or whatever. And it's like walking into something that is very painful for you. those who do it, possessed by the influence of a friend or a spouse, forced to do it for some outside reason.

[05:44]

Anyway, so this is really difficult. And sometimes a student will come to me and say, you know, I have a girlfriend or a boyfriend and I'm just getting into this new relationship and it's getting serious, but they don't practice. And then I start getting nervous. If this person doesn't practice, then they don't know what you're doing. I just see this over and over again, where the person will say, okay, it's fine for you to do this practice, but then when they see you doing it, they say, what are you doing? Where are you going? Children have an aversion to their parents practicing, often, because they see mama facing the wall, and it's like she's gone somewhere else.

[06:51]

or, you know, and the kind of resentment against leaving, leaving our presence. So, when people get married, when they have relationships, the expectation is, we're going to have a nice happy life together. What are you doing going up to this place to do that? So, then I should go along and do it too. but they don't like it, the affinity is not there. So it's very difficult, very difficult. So if you choose a significant other, it's always helpful if the person has some understanding and experience of practice so they understand that they're not doing what you're doing. and have some real understanding of that. Okay, I'll do my practice, you do your practice, and we'll have our practice together.

[07:57]

But you have to be very careful. Many people come to Zazen instruction every Saturday. Very few people who come to Zazen instruction actually stay in practice after that. Some people have an affinity, and some people don't. Some people come back later and feel that, well, they do have an affinity, but they can't practice now. And the Zazen instruction will awaken an affinity in someone who has an affinity, but they may not be ready to practice yet, or they may. But that affinity really has to be awakened. Otherwise it's called the Zen of Hell. And the next one is called Hungry Zen. Like Hungry Ghost Zen.

[09:00]

But hungry. Like lusting after enlightenment. The hunger to get something. This is not bad. But it's also not good. It's like having that strong desire is okay, it's good, but lusting after enlightenment, looking for a prize so they can be powerful or show off, or maybe be ordained, their practice is in the realm of desire, not in the realm of way-seeking mind. So there's a difference. to have a strong motivation to practice is really good, but to do it for the right reasons is important. Otherwise we get into this gaining idea of lusting after enlightenment.

[10:02]

And there is a term in Buddhism called arousing the thought of enlightenment. which is a good thought. You should have the thought of enlightenment. The thought of enlightenment is an enlightened thought. The thought of enlightenment comes from our enlightened mind. But we don't usually use that. We usually say way-seeking mind. The way-seeking mind is oriented toward doing something. Way-seeking mind, mind-seeking way. Way-seeking way, mind-seeking mind. Any way you want to say it, it all makes sense. Arousing the thought of enlightenment is good, but it has a gaining feeling to it, rather than

[11:16]

a working, everyday working feeling to it. So, we don't usually say arousing the thought of enlightenment, but that's okay, we do, Dogen uses that. But, arousing the thought of enlightenment and then seeking the way. So, arousing the thought of enlightenment is kind of like the mind, and way-seeking mind is like the body. So, But when we actually practice, we're not seeking something. We're just simply settling down in practice in an everyday manner. So the people who are lusting after enlightenment will work really hard, but they ignore the real purpose of practice. and then they're dissatisfied with this one, and then they go and they're dissatisfied with that one, and they practice a little bit with going from one teacher to the next.

[12:25]

So it's a kind of spiritual materialism, which Shogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to talk about. He wrote this book called Spiritual Materialism, seeking in order to gain some big spiritual power. So then the third one is called dependent Zen, like Zen of a domesticated animal, in other words, finding a nice place to stay, they feed you well, and you just mind, I just mind, and you get fed, and get petted, you know, and all this. the domesticated animal zen, looking for a comfortable place to spend their time.

[13:41]

They like to practice for all the peripheral reasons, and just enough to be able to hang out. They like the food, they like the social aspect. So, this is a kind of problem, you know, simply finding a nice place with nice people, friendly people, sometimes, not always, just a little bit of Zazen and, you know, good company, which is okay, we should have that kind of comfortable feeling. and sangha kind of feeling and some sociability, but when that becomes the dominant way of practice, then it misses the point, really misses the point.

[14:43]

Zazen is the central part, not the peripheral part, so it exchanges the peripheral part for the central part and the central part for the peripheral part, kind of backwards. Then there's the Zen of the Macho Zen. We don't practice that so much here, but we did used to. It used to be more, we'd become much more mellow. This is the competing to gain Satori, peers to gain Satori, see who can gain Satori fastest. This happens more in Japan than it does here. We compete to gain position, that happens. Compete to gain recognition, that happens.

[15:46]

Vying for dominance, that happens. Breaking the kyusaku to prove your manhood, I'll talk about that. Competing to see whose practice is the most severe, most aesthetic, like taking off your clothes in the snow and standing in the waterfalls and things like that, and who can be the most aesthetic. So this is kind of vying. This kind of practice, when people do this, it gains momentum, and then there's no end to this kind of momentum. A sangha can get into this, where the monks, we used to carry

[16:50]

the wake-up stick at Zen Center. Each period, there were two people carrying the wake-up stick, every single period of Zazen in San Francisco, Tassajara, back in the 70s. And it was okay. There was some macho-ness to it, but in Japan, They're very macho, they just have these big sticks and they just hit the monks, you know, the monks go out hitting each other. And they're young guys, so they're really into beating each other up. And see who can break the most sticks over a certain amount of time. So this kind of practice escalates, you know, competition. And there's competition, like we sit the most zazen, you know, we stay up the latest in sasheen, you know. That kind of thing also can escalate to where nobody goes to bed for seven days, you know.

[17:59]

So having a reasonable practice which doesn't encourage that kind of macho Zen is important. So it's interesting how our practice, you know, because some people won't believe this, but because we have men and women on an equal basis practicing together, it's gentilized our practice. I don't want to say feminized, but gentilized, our practice, and it's kind of middle way, with firmness and strength, but gentle and neither macho nor feministic.

[19:03]

to how you can get a balance which is not macho and not feministic, and where those two extremes meet. And, you know, each one of us has both the masculine and feminine sides, and the practice reflects how we balance those sides, those two extremes within ourself. So as we balance those two extremes within ourselves, it's reflected in how we all practice together, and how we influence each other in practice. So it's a very important part of our practice, because historically, monasteries have been divided into men and women. In America, we've brought both sides together.

[20:09]

So this is the new paradigm for Zen in America, is how those two sides, how we balance and integrate the masculine and feminine within each one of us and within our practice as a total practice. That's what I was working with. So then, there is a practice of gaining Zen. Or utilitarian Zen. You do it for some purpose. You do practice because you get something. Usually, when we do something, we want to get something. We do something for some reason. We do practice for some reason, but it's not a reason to get something.

[21:14]

And this is the hardest part for most people. What's in it for me? What do I get out of this? I've been practicing for 15 years, and I haven't gotten anything out of this yet. That's very good, but you just don't understand. Fortunately, you haven't gotten anything. So this is Zen for utilitarian purposes. Oh yeah, to get your head straightened out. Or for good health. Or sexual stamina. or to preserve your youth. That does work. To gain something out of Zen.

[22:17]

Or the art of Zen. That's a good subject, the art of Zen. Zen and the art of. So, to get something, what's the payoff? What is the payoff? So, when we think in this way, we're way off the payoff. So, you know, everyone has some kind of psychological problem, almost everyone, but it can be dominant or it can be not so dominant, you know, something that's not such a problem. If a person has a real big problem, they should see a therapist or a psychiatrist. When we think about the Zen interview, which a teacher focuses on, or practice instruction, this is sometimes called a kind of therapy, but it's distinguished from psychotherapy.

[23:29]

There are various therapies, and we associate them with health. but the Zen teacher is the Zen therapist, but not the psychotherapist, because the Zen teacher is helping the student to maintain the way, the way-seeking mind. not the psychological mind, although psychology is always involved in every encounter, in one way or another, but the Zen teacher is the therapist who helps guide the student in their practice, not so much in their mental health. So if someone has a real big problem, they should see a psychotherapist, if they have psychological problem that's bigger than what the Zen teacher is qualified to deal with.

[24:45]

Teachers should know the limitations. I remember one time, I thought, I should be able to handle everybody. Whoever comes through the gate, I should be able to handle them. I found out that some people are so clever at using you that you don't even know you're being used. And when I found that out, I realized, well, this is my limitation. This is where I stop. This is where you should do this instead of doing this with me. You should do this with somebody else. So there are limitations. And so in order to keep maintain the right attitude and the right kind of practice, we should know, where there's a certain psychological problems that can be handled, because they go along with the practice.

[25:50]

but there are certain psychological problems that are just not ... they're too big. Someone comes in with a big psychological problem and then takes the energy of the whole Sangha to deal with it, and it doesn't work. So, all of these things, all of these like good health and stamina and youth and all that, those are secondary perks of practice. If you practice, that will happen, but you don't practice for that purpose. If you practice for that purpose, it's not real practice because you're doing it for some reason and you lose the reason for practice. because you want something. As long as you want something from practice, you're on the wrong track. So the teacher tries to help you stay on track.

[27:00]

That's the main purpose of the teacher, is to help you stay on track. And sometimes the teacher gets seduced off track by the student and starts making concessions. And as soon as you do that and everything starts watering down. So how do you keep the practice firm? And people don't like it. If you don't have a problem with your practice, maybe you're not practicing well enough, or maybe not really facing your practice. Practice should give you some problem. You say, Buddha obstructs practice. Buddha is an obstacle to practice. So, why is Buddha an obstacle to practice? You have to face Buddha, and Buddha will let you know what the obstacle is if you face Buddha, if you put Buddha in here. If you really face yourself, then you'll see there's an obstacle to practice, because the practice is an antidote to desire.

[28:08]

is like putting on some airs about who you are, about the great Zen masters, strutting around, putting on some face, you know, and acting like they know a lot, and intimidating people, the art of Zen. So, the next, the last one is Hermit Zen, sometimes called Dilettante Zen. We all practice Dilettante Zen. Actually, you know, the real meaning of the word Dilettante has changed over the years. Originally it meant someone who is not necessarily a professional but is an adept.

[29:25]

So in the 18th century there were people who were dilettantes but they weren't dilettante in the sense of the way we think of somebody just dabbling. There were people who were very serious about what they were doing but they were not professional, necessarily. But anyway, in the sense of somebody dabbling, this is Dilettante Zen, somebody who dabbles in Zen, and talks about, reads a few books, and then collects some people, and over coffee, expounds the Dharma. but would never come close to practicing anyplace, or maybe practiced once or twice and then thought, well now I have this and I can go and tell people all about it. Hobby Zen.

[30:35]

Zen around talking about Zen and drinking tea. and feeling no need to practice with others. They never find the right teacher. Their teacher, no, he's no good. That teacher, no, she's no good. Nobody's ever right. No teacher's ever sad because they know more than the teacher. So they're not liking to submit to authority. That's good. None of us likes to submit to authority, but we have to submit to authority when authority is there. You know, I don't like to join ... I'm not a joiner, I don't rejoin you. I'm not a joint, I'm not a joint, I don't like to join it, you know, I don't like to belong to this and I don't like to belong to that.

[31:40]

Oh yeah, we don't like to do that, but when there's people who are practicing the way we practice, we're naturally joined with those people because we support them and they support us. So this is Sangha. Sangha is the most important part of practice. because we're not ... Sangha reminds us that we're not just doing something for ourself. Why do you sit Zazen? Well, I sit it for these and that reason, blah blah blah. That's all self-centered reasons. As long as you have a self-centered reason for sitting Zazen, it's not real Zazen. If you sit Zazen for yourself, it's not real Zazen. If you sit Zazen for others, that looks better, doesn't it? But that's not real Zazen either. You simply sit Zazen for Zazen. And then I'm taken care of, others are taken care of. This is called non-duality.

[32:47]

This is called giving up self-centeredness. The purpose of practice is to let go of self-centeredness and to see everything just as it is, without deceiving ourselves. So we do sit in order, or we practice together in order to encourage everyone's practice, including our own. So I encourage your practice, you encourage my practice. When I come and sit at the Zen Dojo, it feels really good when you're here. that I feel my practice encouraged, and I'm feeling that it makes me want to encourage your practice as well.

[33:49]

So in that way, we're simply taking care of the practice together. Everybody's taking care of the practice together. And then there's no worry, no worry about you or me or self or other. So, there are three aspects of practice. Practicing Buddha, practicing Dharma, and practicing Sangha. Buddha is like, each one of us is Buddha. the Buddha on the altar, but that's not any more Buddha than anything else is Buddha. So everything is an aspect of Buddha, but specifically we're thinking about each other as Buddhas.

[34:57]

So some people are interested in Buddha. The teacher is Buddha, but the student is also Buddha. So student and teacher are practicing together as Buddha and Buddha. Buddha is practicing together with Buddha. So some people are very oriented toward that kind of practice, just simply sitting zazen and talking to the teacher or whatever. That's one aspect of practice. The other aspect of practice is called study, which is the Dharma, to study the sutras, study the commentaries, study the history. Who are all these ancestors? We chant the names of the ancestors all the time, but do you really know anything about these people? So we should study this.

[36:02]

Then there's the Sangha, which is all of us together practicing and mutually supporting the practice. Some people are simply interested in the Buddha. They're not so interested in Dharma or Sangha. I like to come to Zazen, but I don't like to study, and I'm not so interested in who else is here. Some people are interested in Dharma. They like to study. They really get a lot out of studying, but they're not so much interested in the teacher or the saga. Some people are really interested in Sangha, but they don't care so much about the teacher or the study or the Dharma. So there are all kinds of combinations.

[37:04]

We all fit into certain combinations. Some of us like the Buddha and the Sangha, but they don't like to study. Some like the Buddha and the Dharma, but they don't like the Sangha, and so forth. So a well-balanced practice is all three, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So that's actually, the term is sanshi-mongpo, a Japanese term, sanshi-mongpo, which means practicing with the Sangha, the Dharma, with the Buddha. So, we practice together, and we study together, and we listen to the Dharma from the teachers, and then we have an interview where we talk about that.

[38:08]

We talk about how it affects our lives, how we relate to that, how we relate to the Dharma, how we relate to the practice, how we relate the practice to our life. So we should be careful to avoid these practices which are not Shikantaza. Shikantaza is a very difficult practice, but it's the simplest practice. That's why our practice is so simple, so we don't get confused, we don't have a lot of colorful things around, we don't talk a lot about so much intellectual stuff, but simply to get down to just doing this. just breathing, just sitting up straight. It's like Sesame Street. I used to love to watch Sesame Street. It's pre-kindergarten, you know, the most basic kind of practice.

[39:13]

Most basic. Walk, oh, walk. When we come to practice, we have to learn how to be little kids all over again. We have to learn to sit up straight. We have to learn how to move in a certain way that is actually mindful and not just driven by our idea. How to let go of our ideas and our thoughts and our desires and simply learn how to take a step. How to sit down, how to stand up, How to say something and really feel what you're saying. Really do what you're doing. And how to continually let go.

[40:16]

This is the most difficult part. I keep saying this as much as I want. Every part is the most difficult. Time to keep letting go, moment by moment. It's a practice of renunciation, which doesn't mean throwing all of your worldly goods into the ocean. That's no good, because, hey, the ocean will say, what are you doing? Why are you throwing this stuff into me, my lap? No, simply letting go of gaining idea. It's okay to have something, but it's almost impossible to not have things in this society. This is a society of having stuff. The characterization of this society is having stuff. I remember one time, I think it was when Nixon was

[41:23]

We used to have these anti-nuclear rallies at the university. And we'd stand there with these big banners, you know, while the cars would go by up at the university. And so every once in a while we'd have a... I remember on a Hiroshima day, I gave a talk up there, and I said, our national bird used to be the eagle. but we killed them off. At that time there were very few, almost no eagles left. We killed off our national bird, which stood for this wonderful nobility. And we've substituted it by using the turkey, which is a symbol of gluttony and greed and all of our big fat bird. The turkey's become our national bird. mentioned the symbol unknowingly. But the egos are coming back, but hard.

[42:34]

Anyway, I just wanted to, I think, keep over and over reiterating what our actual practice is, what is at the center of our practice. It's easy to start mushing the tone of our practice. We need to maintain a good, like a body tone. We need a practice tone that keeps the practice in tune, in tone, so that we know what we're doing. Do you have any questions?

[43:44]

And I'm wondering what the relationship is, if there is one, between the Eightfold Path and the practice of Shakyamuni Buddha. Yeah, well, the Eightfold Path, each one of those is one way of letting go. Each one. by understanding, right? Livelihood, right? Meditation, all those qualities are qualities of letting go. None of them are qualities of gaining anything. If you look at that, there's no gaining in the April path at all. It's simply expression. How do you express enlightened reality is through each one of those qualities.

[45:06]

That's purpose. Let go. No. No, he's saying no purpose. Everything has some reason for being. Right? As long as it's not selfish. As long as it's not selfish. Or self-centered. What? The way we let go of suffering is to go right into the middle of suffering. People think, well, we can escape suffering somehow, but because, well, Buddha says, you know, it's how to let go of suffering, how to escape suffering. To escape from suffering is not to run away from it. to escape suffering is to face suffering.

[46:31]

What is this? What is this suffering? Who is suffering? What is the cause of suffering? This is the practice. What is the cause? This is the problem in Buddhism. To escape suffering is to gain nirvana. This is the old paradigm. The Hinayana paradigm, the old paradigm, is in order to escape suffering you let go of all the things that cause suffering so that you have nirvana. That's the old way. It's like if you want to get out of a sand pit you start climbing but you can't do it because the sand keeps filling the hole. You can't get rid of suffering by trying to get rid of suffering. You have to face the suffering, go into the suffering, and say, how does this happen?

[47:38]

What is the cause of this suffering? So everything in the Buddha dharma is, everything arises through causes and conditions. What are the causes and conditions that I am arousing in order to make me suffer? We tend to think that suffering comes from the outside. This is making me suffer. That's making me suffer. My circumstances are making me suffer. What's making me suffer is my attitude toward my circumstances. This is what we don't ... some of us get this and sometimes we all get it, but ... what's making me suffer is my attitude toward the circumstances, how I respond to the circumstances is what makes me suffer or not, because there are always circumstances, you're never going to get rid of circumstances, you're always causing something to happen. So what's called outside is the raw material and the way we

[48:44]

deal with the raw material is what makes us either happy or unhappy or suffering or released or whatever. It's all here, not out there. This is the message of Buddhadharma. As you well know. So what I understood was that he was saying that if our purpose is to stop our suffering, and he said it belonged to an unselfish purpose, so wouldn't us wanting to stop our suffering be selfish? So is that why sitting to stop my suffering is not selfish?

[49:56]

Yes, that's right. Not wanting to suffer may or may not be selfish. It may or it may not. We may just want to change our circumstances rather than change the bait, we may just want to change the circumstances without letting go of the real cause. Then that's more self-centered. Ouch, I don't like this, so I'm going to move over here where it's more comfortable. That's not it, because you're just changing your equipment. not changing the basis. So when you change the basis, it means letting go of the desire that you have for maintaining the same level only in different circumstances, just moving around.

[51:04]

You're lying on the couch and you have a bunch of nice pillows and so you're laying down there, it's very comfortable, but then it starts to hurt. really they're too long, so then you have to move over to the other side of the couch. That's just moving from one side to the other, because you're uncomfortable. It's not the same as getting up and saying something, which is really uncomfortable. Well, on another point, I want to register an objection to referring to certain qualities that you're referring to as masculine and feminine, or macho and feministic. Even if you say we all have masculine and feminine in us, that doesn't solve the problem for me. You might mean hard and soft, but you might find any number of words for the qualities you're talking about.

[52:10]

I don't know what you mean. How do we get beyond attaching male and female? In the words? You said macho zen is one of those things that you gotta watch out for. It's an extreme. And then you connected that with the male side, and then you said then there's the other side, and you call that the feministic side, which is maybe... Soft side. Soft side. I didn't say feministic, I said feminine. Well, either one of those words I would have probably gone after you. But anyway. It's okay. You can run after me and beat me over the head. It's okay. Macho or feminine? That's okay. I don't mind. See you later.

[53:41]

Anyway, regardless of what I say, things are just the way they are. I may be right and I may be wrong, but things are the way they are.

[53:59]

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