Can we be right next to each other? We just sang a song about a Samadhi, a state of awareness, that is calm and open, where the body and mind are flexible and bright. And this Samadhi, this awareness is contemplating a precious mirror. It's contemplating the teaching of suchness.

[01:08]

It's contemplating an intimate transmission. It's contemplating a holy communion. And the holy communion is like a is like a precious mirror. And the Holy Communion is a teaching. But it's not from one side to the other. The teaching is the communion. And so we sang a song about being mindful and open and calm calmly, present with this Holy Communion. I honor the thought which has just arose in my mind, which was sort of not what I wanted to have come up right now, but here it is, and the thought is that I'm looking at you through a window.

[02:50]

However, the window is not transparent. When I look at you through this window, I actually realize that this window I'm looking at you, the window which I'm looking at to look at you, is actually a mirror. And I want to see you, and I'm enjoying seeing you, but I'm also really seeing myself. The mirror doesn't actually obscure you. You're not obscured. It's just the way I see you is as myself. I see you as my life. That's not an obscuration of you.

[03:55]

But you're not just the way I see you as my life, you're also the way you are everybody's life. But I can't see that. So the image of looking out through a window at everybody, but actually, and that's how I look at everybody, but actually I see myself, that window is in a house. And the house I have also, I can look at the house through another window, and the house I see is also me. But there's another house, just like there's another you, besides the you I see you as me, there's another house which I can't see. And just like there's another you that I can't see, and then nobody can see. There's an inconceivable you. You are not an appearance, except in the mind of sentient beings.

[05:03]

Then you're an appearance, but you really aren't an appearance. And my body isn't an appearance. The house in which there are windows is not an appearance, although I can look at it and then it's an appearance. It's only appearance when I look at it through my mirror. And the body in which this mirror is living, this body is in direct communion with your body. which is in direct communion with everybody's body. And this direct holy communion, nobody can see. It is not an appearance. It's a communion. A communion is not an appearance. It's an intimate transmission. It is Buddhas and ancestors.

[06:06]

So we sing a song about the possibility of a practice of remembering this Holy Communion, while also accepting that we are limited by the mirror, that we look at our life through a mirror, and that limits us. And if we can accept this limitation of our consciousness, which is that in consciousness things appear in consciousness, which look like they're not consciousness. Like you don't look like consciousness, but in fact what I'm looking at, what I'm seeing is consciousness. But the teaching tells me, all these people are not just your consciousness.

[07:11]

However, they're intimately related to your consciousness and to your body and your unconscious process. If I can accept this limit, of my consciousness, I can realize, or we can realize, the unlimited holy communion, the unlimited intimate transmission of the liberating teaching. So let me say now, and I probably will say again, dear friends, please remember and practice and transmit this holy communion, which doesn't appear

[08:14]

which doesn't appear. It is not an appearance. It doesn't appear to me, it doesn't appear to you, it doesn't appear to Buddhas, because it's not an appearance. It's reality. Reality includes appearances, but it's not one of them. In the song it says, a hair's breadth deviation will fail to accord with the proper attunement. Attunement with what? Well, holy communion. Attunement with the intimate transmission. A hair's breadth deviation. A hair's breadth difference between yourself and others, And in fact, there isn't a Harris-Brett deviation between yourself and others.

[09:17]

However, in consciousness, there appears to be some separation. we're limited by being presented with an appearance of the beings that we are not a hair's breadth separate from. And the beings look like they're at least a hair's breadth separate. Or a foot separate. Or a mile separate. They look that way. This is part of our limitation that we need to accept. So the Samadhi is focusing, is remembering an inconceivable intimate communion that's not an appearance. The Samadhi is remembering an unlimited reality.

[10:27]

But in order to realize this unlimited reality, we must truly accept our limited reality that's appearing in our consciousness, or that appears as our consciousness. The presence with this Holy Communion is called several names. One of the names is the Precious Mirror Awareness. Another name is Self-Receiving and Self-Employing Awareness. And in those awarenesses, there's not a hair's breadth deviation. And another name for this in our school is Zazen.

[11:38]

It's kind of a nickname for these Samadhis. Sitting meditation. It's meditating in sitting, And the meditation is this precious mere samadhi. The meditation is this self-receiving and employing samadhi. And in this samadhi, in this sitting meditation, in each moment of the sitting meditation, which is limited, each moment of this meditation is equally the same practice and equally the same enlightenment of the limited being and all beings.

[12:45]

It's the same practice of the person sitting and all phenomena. That's the kind of sitting it is. It's a sitting that, you know, like, I'm here, I'm doing it, this body's sitting upright, this limited body's sitting upright for now. This limited body And this limited body has a limited mind and an unlimited mind. And the limited mind remembers a practice, which is the same practice as this limited person and all beings. I remember that practice. And it is said that if all the Buddhas throughout space and time try to measure the merit of one person's zazen, not to mention try to measure, and one person's zazen in this case is not the one person's zazen

[14:16]

which only they do. It's the one person's Zazen which is the same practice and the same enlightenment of all things. If the Buddhists try to measure your Zazen practice, which is the same Zazen practice as all of our Zazen practices, they would not be able to measure it. It is immeasurable. It is not an appearance. We're singing a song about this zazen. This zazen removes all suffering. This zazen is the liberation of all beings. We remember it. It is immeasurable. It is immeasurable and we must take its measure. And the way we take its measure is with this body. This body is the measurement of the immeasurable practice.

[15:25]

Your body is the way you take the measure of the immeasurable. Your limits are the way you accept your limits. And by accepting your limits, you accept the unlimited function of Holy Communion. When I was in Sacramento last weekend, Jim Hare told me about an article about surfing in the New Yorker. And I read it. And in the article, the surfer who wrote the article spoke about the ocean but also about the surf in the ocean.

[16:41]

You can be, I guess, out in the ocean in a boat, which is great, But there are certain parts of the ocean which kind of offer an opportunity to meet the ocean with your own body. And the author said something like, the surf, for a surfer, is a refuge. A refuge from their landlubber life, But it's also a wilderness. It's a dynamic, different world. And the surface is also immeasurable. He said, actually, effectively immeasurable. But you must take its measure, which means get the body on the surfboard and go meet the surf.

[17:47]

So I felt... You can see why Jim recommended the article, because that's like our Zazen practice. We put our body on the surfboard. In our case, the surfboard is the earth. that we're sitting on, and in that place we meet the surf, the dynamic wilderness of the Holy Communion. Holy Communion is a dynamic wilderness. It will never be tamed, and we are never a hair's breadth separate from it. Another body surfboard opportunity we have is called stillness.

[18:53]

There's infinite stillness and there's finite stillness. So this Holy Communion is going on in stillness. The song says, if you're excited it becomes a pitfall. Sounds like surfing. Or it also says, another translation of if you're excited is move.

[19:54]

move, and you're trapped. So, we're in this intimate communion, we have a limited body, and if we move to get it, we lose it. We get trapped in our movement and miss the stillness which we can never get away from. The Holy Communion is happening in stillness. So the song of the self-receiving and employing Samadhi says, mind and objects One translation says, appear and disappear in stillness.

[21:03]

In other words, consciousness, in which there's mind and objects, consciousness appears and disappears. Appears, disappears. Arises and ceases. And when it arises there's mind and object, or rather there's mind which knows and mind which is known. Mind which knows and mind which is known. They arise and cease together. The teaching is they arise and cease together in stillness. When objects arise, they may seem to move. And when objects arise, there must be mind arising with it.

[22:15]

If mind is not arising, but just present, there must be an object in consciousness. If there's no object, there's no awareness. If there's awareness, there must be awareness of object in consciousness. That's one translation of the original text of this Samadhi song. Another translation is, in stillness, mind and objects... Mind and objects... mind and objects merge with realization and go beyond enlightenment. In stillness, mind and objects merge with realization and go beyond enlightenment.

[23:25]

But literally, It says, in the middle of stillness, in the middle of stillness, and the character also means silence, in the middle of stillness and silence, mind and objects enter realization and leave awakening. But I would say, the text doesn't say so, but I see a circle. Enter realization. Leave awakening. Enter realization. Leave awakening. Enter realization. excuse me, leave awakening.

[24:33]

I use two Chinese words, one means realization and the other means wake up. In stillness, mind and objects enter into awakening, then they leave awakening and enter realization. then because of realization they enter awakening and then they leave awakening. So this is what's going on in stillness. I think I said, friends, please remember and practice and transmit this Holy Communion. One way to do this is, friends, please remember and practice and transmit stillness in daily life.

[25:47]

And again, remember a limited stillness, and remember the immeasurable stillness. And practice it. Practice the limited stillness, which you've been doing this morning, and while you practice the limited stillness of sitting here unmovingly, remember also the unlimited stillness, which I can't see and you can't see. I have faith in taking the measure of the infinite, immeasurable stillness by sitting with this body.

[26:56]

I have faith in taking the measure of the immeasurable Holy Communion. But I also have faith in the immeasurable Holy Communion, which I cannot take the measure of. So I try to remember and be mindful of this limited body being still. And I also try to remember the immeasurable stillness in which mind and objects are entering and leaving, entering enlightenment and letting it go, and by letting it go, entering it again. and entering it again, letting it go, and thereby entering it again. I try to remember that, and practice that, and transmit it. I try to remember to transmit the transmission.

[28:00]

I try to remember the Holy Communion to transmit the Holy Communion. I have a story to tell, but also I want to call on Charlie, and I don't know how I come to be calling on Charlie. Someone could say, well, you're calling on him because he's sitting in front of you. Someone else might say you're calling on him because he's sitting in front of you and he raised his hand. Someone else might say you're calling on him because he's sitting in front of you and raised his hands and you love him. Someone else might say, all that's true plus also you had your eyes open so you could see. But I really don't know. how it happens that I happen to be calling on him.

[29:04]

How did my calling upon him arise? I don't know, really. It is inconceivable. I just told a story about it, but I could tell others. But the main thing I want to say, the main story I want to say is that why I'm calling on him, why I will call on him someday, is inconceivable. Now it's going to appear now. There's going to be an appearance. Ready? Yes? I've got to make this good. Make this good. Make this Holy Communion good. What's the difference in the relationship between awakening and realization? Well, the way I use the term, and not everyone will agree, the word awakening means awakening from delusion.

[30:07]

Once I thought we were separate, and then I awoke from that delusion, and I suddenly awoke from that delusion. Now that I'm awake, I give up that awakening and enter realization, which is freedom from freedom from delusion. In other words, realization, you're not holding on to that liberation. And when you're not holding on to that liberation from the delusion that we're separate, from the delusion that there isn't holy communion going on, then you give that up. And when you give it up, you can have another one, and give that up. Is saying, I awoke to realization, any different from saying, I realized awakening?

[31:14]

Are they interchangeable in a way? One is a verb, the other is a noun? I wouldn't say exactly they're interchangeable, but I would say they pivot on each other. they are in an intimate transmission with each other. So there is in the tradition some sense that you can suddenly wake up from delusion. And the delusion that you wake up from, you also then open to not-delusion, which is immeasurable. Delusions measure. So when you wake up from the delusion you let go of the delusion and you're open to the immeasurable. The realization of the immeasurable is in some sense a gradual process where over time you integrate the immeasurable with the measurable.

[32:19]

So first of all you wake up from believing that the measurable is reality then that awakening launches you into a process of integration. Without giving up the measurable, now you integrate the measurable, which you now no longer believe is the immeasurable. You integrate the measurable, integrate the measurable, which means your daily life, with the immeasurable. That's the process of realization. To make what you opened to when you forgot that your limitations were not limited. To integrate that openness, or in that openness, in that stillness actually, in that stillness of the openness to this inconceivable world, you integrate the limited,

[33:21]

with the unlimited. And that process will continue from the time of awakening from delusion until realizing complete perfect Buddhahood. So it's a long process of integration with reality, a long process of verifying reality so that you can verify that reality is inseparable from our limited life. So there's initial awakening from the delusion that our limited life is reality, and then there is a long process of integrating the reality, which is unlimited, with our limited. This reminds me of a quote I heard yesterday. Somebody asked Ernest Hemingway, how did you go bankrupt and lose all your money? And he says, well, gradually and then suddenly.

[34:23]

Yeah, it's kind of the reverse. It's kind of the reverse, and I'll go into more detail on this, but one direction is you have your wealth and you gradually throw it away, and then finally you've thrown it all away, completely. Suddenly you have none. The other way is you have this wealth, but you don't see it, and then you wake up to it, and then you gradually integrate, you wake up to your wealth, but then you gradually integrate that awakening until you fully realize your wealth. So one direction is sometimes called the dependent co-arising of our true nature, the other one is called the dependent co-arising of karmic consequence. So the story, I don't know how that happened, that your hand came up.

[35:36]

I don't know what did that. The story, which I'll tell before I call on Simon, but before I call on Simon, I just want to quote Charlie. Since he quoted Hemingway, I want to quote him. About two months ago we were talking here and he said, so it looks like a Bodhisattva cannot have their cake and eat it too. Bodhisattvas cannot have their cake. Bodhisattvas can only not have their cake. Bodhisattvas cannot have their cake, and actually nobody can have their cake, but Bodhisattvas can have their cake and eat it too. Some people think, I can't eat my cake if I don't have it. And smart people say, I have it but I also want to eat it but I'm afraid to eat it because then I won't have it. Bodhisattva is trained to not have a cake so that they can eat it. Same thing I've been talking about today. So here's the story.

[36:37]

Once upon a time, two of the ancestors of our lineage One's name is Da Wu and the other one's name is Yun Yan in Chinese. Da Wu means path awakening or awakening to the path, awakening of the practice. Da Wu. And the other person's name is Yun Yan, which means cloudy cliff. So Yun Yan one day was sweeping the ground. Or maybe raking the ground. Which some of you will be doing today here in this temple. There he was. Now I don't know if somebody's going to be walking around here making comments while you're working. But in that temple a long time ago,

[37:41]

The wonderful ancestor, Yun-Yuan, was raking the ground, sweeping the ground, and his brother came up to him and said, you're too busy. And Yun-Yuan said, you should know, you should remember, that there's one who's not busy. And then Dawu said, well then are there two moons? And Yanyan raised his broom and said, which moon is this? You're moving too much. you should know that there's one who's not moving. Are those two moons?

[38:44]

Which one is this? So, during work period today, at lunch you can take a little break, but during work period, when you're working, someone may be walking around, and might come up to you and say, You're too busy. Or, you're moving. I gotcha! And you don't evade the indictment. Just receive the indictment. You're moving. Just listen. But then you get to say, please remember stillness. Please remember that somebody is not moving. And that person might say, are there two moons? And don't say, yes there are, or no there aren't. Although, in a way, yes there are.

[39:51]

And in a way, no there aren't. But which one is this? Is this moving? Or is this stillness? So, please remember and practice and transmit this stillness in your daily life. Simon, did you want to say something? I'd like you to tell a story about transmission. Could you say that louder please, so that Ted can hear you? Raise your hand if you can hear him, Ted. Or raise your hand if you can't. Simon, will you say that again, Simon? You didn't hear that, did you? I did. You did. Great.

[40:52]

I did. Okay, some people didn't hear. Louder, Simon. I'd like you to tell a story about transmission. I heard you say that I just told one, did you hear it? I did. You were going to ask that question before I told the story of transmission. Yes. And I don't know how that happened. I'll make another story. To clarify, you said, and sometimes I remember to transmit And I'm curious, is there a difference between being the realization and then transmitting? Well, there's not really a difference between

[42:03]

realization and not realization. But there seems like there is. But there isn't really. So, in order for there to be realization, there needs to be remembering what is to be realized. And there needs to be practicing what is to be realized. and there needs to be transmission. So, actually, for there to be transmission of what? Of Holy Communion, in which there is no difference between the holy Buddhas and the ordinary people. The holy Buddhas teach that there's no difference between us and all living beings who have not yet realized perfect Buddhahood, or there's no difference between us and those who are giving us a chance to tell somebody that there's no difference.

[43:14]

Even though the other Buddhas would listen to me if I told them, really they don't need me to. If there's only Buddhas, I'm not going to talk. I'm not going to appear to move. my mouth and tongue. But in the realm where I talk, some of the people who are listening to me think that they're different from me. And they're not. I remember that we're not different. I remember that I do not live without you. The Buddhas remember that. I remember that we're always in holy communion and we don't have to move to realize it. Matter of fact, if we move, we get distracted. I remember that.

[44:19]

And because I remember it, I practice it. And because I practice it, I realize it. And because I realize it, I transmit it. The transmission has not been realized by everybody that I'm intimately communicating with. Some people are resisting this transmission, even though I'm transmitting. And I'm transmitting, and I'm remembering the transmission, and I'm happy to do so, And I'm not in a hurry, even though I would like this to happen as soon as possible. And wanting it to happen as soon as possible gives me more opportunities for patience. And patience is part of the Holy Communion.

[45:22]

It's full of patience and generosity and so on. So all the transmission stories are stories of remembering this intimacy, practicing it and transmitting it. And in some of those stories, the blessed friend of the teacher gets angry at the transmission. Like the blessed student says, I already have transmission, I don't need any more. And the teacher says, oh, great, tell me about it. And the student tells the teacher and the teacher says, oh, that's what I thought, that you didn't have the transmission. And the student gets angry and storms off. And the student thinks, Well, maybe I should reconsider.

[46:30]

He's supposed to be a good teacher. I mean, I don't need him, but he's supposed to be good. Maybe I'm being too hasty. And while the students walking away from the teacher, the teacher thinks, if she comes back, she can be liberated. If she doesn't, that won't be good. But she comes back, in most of the stories we remember. And they meet again. And now the teacher makes the offering, and now the student It was always being offered, but they wanted to hold on to something. So, it's like this magical creation of hindrance arises.

[47:37]

And it seems like it's sufficient to feel like we failed to realize the proper attunement. Even though the teacher is saying, we already have the attunement, please accept it. But many stories, when the teacher says that, the student has to say, no, I don't agree. So the teacher says, in the perfect attunement, the teacher says, that's what I thought. I thought you didn't understand anything. That's the attunement. That's how the teacher was perfectly attuning. But the next response was, no thanks. I don't need your attunements. I don't need your offering. This is not welcome. I'm not going to welcome this teaching." So many stories of great students not welcoming great teachers' teachings.

[48:45]

And then sometimes when they realize how kind the teacher was in offering them this teaching, which they didn't want, then when they finally see what the teaching was, they realize, they sometimes say, well actually there's not much to it. Because it's just us being together. It's just us in this intimacy. The teacher doesn't have anything more than that. The teacher doesn't have anything. And the teacher is enjoying not having anything, which is the way everything is. The way everything is is nothing has anything. And yet, when the teacher offers that, it seems like something which you can reject. But if you come back for second helpings, sometimes you're ready to eat. So part of it is opening the throat, right?

[49:51]

Yes, John? Who is the teacher? Which is the teacher? The teacher is the relationship. And they are, in this case, the two players who demonstrate the teacher. Well, and also the broom. The three of them. And also the ground. The ground, the broom, and the two brothers. The way that they're communing.

[50:54]

That's the teacher. And if you look at Da Wu or you look at Yun Yan, is that a Zen master or is that a Zen master? Or is the earth a Zen master? Is a broom a Zen master? Well this broom, you know, it's all twisted and most of the straw has fallen off. Probably in their case a bamboo broom. That's a pretty crummy broom. Could that be a Zen Master broom? And I've told you many times a story about when I visited a noted Zen Master in Japan, and I knew him when he was younger, like I knew him when he was in his 70s and 80s, and then I met him when he was almost 90. And he was like, his eyes were watering, and his mouth was drooling.

[52:00]

He could still sit in his chair, but he couldn't say hello or goodbye. And he was a great calligrapher, and he couldn't hold a brush. Maybe he could hold a brush, but I don't think anybody wanted to see what he would do with it. And I looked at him and I thought, where is the Zen Master? And at that time I was looking at him, is the Zen Master over there? I wasn't looking at some of his students who were sitting next to me crying. And then years later I realized, me asking, me wondering where the Zen Master is, in his presence, him being in communion with me, and me asking the question in English, which he couldn't ask. Where is the Zen Master? Who is the Zen Master?

[53:06]

What is a Zen Master? That wondering about what a Zen Master is, what a teacher is, in the relationship where that question arises, I think we have a Zen Master. If you walk around this place and take care of it, wondering who's the one who's not busy, if you're wondering that while you're taking care of this world, I think there's a Zen master in the neighborhood. So I'm happy that we have Erica Lane, it's a wonderful street. It's so welcoming to your cars. And I'm glad we have Friars Lane. But just for fun, we might secretly think of it as Zen Master's Lane. Or maybe not even that.

[54:09]

Think of it as, who is the Zen Master Lane? Or what is a Zen Master Lane? the lane in which you wonder, what is a Zen Master? You're welcome to come here and wonder what a Zen Master is. Is it a man? Is it a woman? What is it? and to be filled with awe while you ask, to be filled with amazement that your life has come to this, that you're walking around on the earth wondering what a Zen Master is. Wow, how did I get here? And also doubt that you know what a Zen Master is or that anybody else, including the Buddhas, knows what a Zen Master is.

[55:13]

But I propose to you that that wondering will realize this holy communion. I propose that to you. Thank you. You're welcome. Are you happy? Well, thank you very much for attending this morning at Noah Bowood. And now we're going to have an afternoon. Please enjoy it. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way, beings are numberless.

[56:16]

I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible.

[56:25]

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