The Stages of Practice II

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BZ-00024B
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Saturday Lecture

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last week i talked about on the three
hmm
yeah i like to talk some more about it
am
you can talk about stages the practice or
in many different ways
actually
we usually don't talk about any stages basically we say our practice is not practice of stages so since we know that our practice is the practices know stages
no step by step stages then we can talk about stages
pretty freely
yeah
in our
my on a practice again the time circumcision now there are fifty two stages of practice
in each one is laid out and are systematically
and i in zen practice this ah someone at once made
ten pictures accelerating pictures which described ten stages of practice and as a very useful
as a means to talk about practice
and suzuki roshi simplified it
and he talked about three stages of practice
so depends on how we want to describe something
ah three stooges jesus
ah pretty easy way to talk about it
and ah
so no way he described it was the first stages ah
when we begin to practice the difficulties and the ah
procedures that arise and beginning to practice which may take many many years
ha
and a second stage of practice is some kind of accomplishment
ah in our
and actually some actual attainment of ah
ah calm mind
and don't stage your practice is very much like the first stage
ah where you're not trying to ah
accomplish anything in particular
but you just go along with it
ah but you're going along with things ah
helps everyone
so the first stage of practice really is
first and second stage i wouldn't like to talk about those
ah
their first stage someone a friend when no longer said you know the thing that characterizes all of us is our resistance
the one thing that it all of us have in common in our practices resistance
one at that was very poignant thing to say
ah
the first stage of practice is really characterized by resistance
i'm the second stage her practice is characterized by no resistance
that's kind of like the dividing line between the first stage and the second stage
so i can you can i think by that you can tell which stage in
ah

sir
our practice always had some resistance almost always had some resistance and even if we don't want to have resistance know even if we think we don't have
usually it yet
yeah resistance recall by various names the one name for resistance is eager
ah another name for resistance it's self centeredness
ha
another name is cher
various names
another name for resistances desire
by another name is are clinging
ha

at oxford in pictures the ten oxford in pictures
am
the first picture is like looking for away
we have them ah
student is looking for away and he sees the arcs and sees the traces of the ox maybe footprints
ah he or she he in this case meteor or she
so ah
look just seeing the footprints seeing some traces and the second one is
catching a glimpse you know you see on this is practice i said now now
he said thousand nine you ah do various things and the thing when is where you actually engaged
and it's like you've got the axe is very difficult
to handle
very hard to handle the ox
i am so when once you really become engaged ah
the ox wants to go its own way this is the characteristic guevara
lavish you know we want to do our own way and ah coming to practice is like a tethering yourself so time the axe to or stick
it is on the beginning of things
where practice starts from the tether
me and ah this is ron a child again
is around the problems arise from is actually ah
i'm staying with
something
ah and not given being given you or your own head
in a western tradition
there are a wonderful tapestry
ha that angela questions in the yard and shows a picture of a unicorn and the unicorn has a fence built around it
ah
it is a kind of correspondence and the unicorn is in a sense corresponds to the our acts
and the fence corresponds to a tether there's also a tree
i believe in that
ah the tree is i'm a kind of them the tethering post
and then is a fence and ah
the symbolism is that right
the a unicorn needs to grow up in with inside
the space at the fence
ha
there has to be some protection you are some limitation
the the fence offences delimitation of the fence
is the field of practice
if the unicorn sees something outside the chance to look very attractive
ha
the unicorn may get some idea
tom
that that's where i when it wants to pursue but since the sense of their ah
the can't really leave so it turns back in to ah
turns his attention back into them
shield
i'm thin ah
the
then attitude is more than
the symbol is more of the ox than the unicorn but ah
it's an interesting way of saying that the ox is very strong will ah
and even if you try to hold him down
is it easily breaks away
so it takes a lot of determination
to ah just get hold of the acts
so ah most of us are always in a stage of before tethering
just just getting hold of the axe and ah before time to the post
sometimes we get the rope around the post that
the both is something some wonderful flower in the field and dashes i notice
yeah
running after him again
over and over again so then so ah
and sometimes just to break the axes will
sounds terrible
to break the ashes will you know we love that spirit the access to it we don't really want to lose the axe the accent spirit either
the unicorn spirit
so maybe not break the will of it
team
andy acts are attained a unicorn

and i preserve the spirit
not block that i

so ah for us in our ah
i'm daily practice of zazen
and mindfulness of daily life is the tenant it's really the tenant
that's the post when a cheap
and ah
how we limit our activity is the fence
and this is the first stage of practice
to actually put ourself in that position
i once we accept the situation
and the motivation comes from myself
ah in other words up to a certain point where lead in practice
ah
and when you can let go of the tether when you can untie the rope
and the com the ball state or the
staff
within the field
then that's called self motivation
and when you have that self motivation
that
comes now
with the confidence
oh
the second stage
where you are
know your own deep mind
and your motivation comes from the depth of you been rather than just from your idea some ideas here

toyota we a peaceful mind actually or tranquil mind
ah
where you're not really bothered by things
i'm a surface of your mind even though when i say mind i mean body and mind together far
because you ah and have experienced a consciousness
which is not discriminating consciousness
and you have our
ha
a confidence in your own deep mind
this is also called samadhi
thought some ah when you know usually the level of our mind is somewhere not here at our nose or at our gym for it our neck or chest where the bug where the bottom of our ah
consciousness is
can be various places
now that when the bottom over when our consciousness is really bottomless
ah and ah
we feel that bottomless support
let's count samadhi
just being in touch with our bottomless nature
he means that we don't rest at some idea this idea ride this level of ideas are this level of ideas
but there's a whole because our way through
it's like i'm when you have a bamboo to guarantees section
then each section has a ah membrane
damn now
i think this is doug in describes ah consciousness like this levels in segments segmented understand it
when our understanding is no longer segmented that just goes all the way through
then our consciousness rests in samadhi or in a hobby
well then add some level
so instead of our support coming through and chuckles
it comes on it's very big
ah support is limitless
so when we have that samadhi power
ah sustaining power
then we feel confident and in the second stage
hmm so our mind is very calm and we're not so much bothered by
every little thing
comes along
and a third stage is when we can ah
not remain in some special place ah
quiet place
but just turn around and go back to the first stage
ha ha
dealing with everything is it comes along
then ah ah
i'm putting ourselves in a position that is not ah
ideal not necessarily ideal but
going along with the difficulties in the world
and facing all those difficulties this is the hardest part
because when we get to ah the point where every where we really feel good
when we have to give it up
genesis is the stage where most people stumble
first age ah is very good nationally because you know i always struggling where is feel that were ah
i'm putting out our efforts and the first ages that is really the stage of effort hard effort
yeah we never really need the front stage shouldn't ever mean the first stage but the first stage is a foundation for the second stage and it's really always there
and the second stage
is a manifestation of the first stage and grows out of it
ha so maybe that's a better way to to describe in we don't really leave the first stage but second stage
is an maturity of the first stage
and a third stages of maturity
going out of after the second stage
so are three stages i really there together so we don't really talk about stages leading one entering another
ah so you know even if you're in the first age there are always glimpses of the third stage in the second stage
no kind of mixed up
ha but why i want to talk about the first stage so much is because that's really where most of us are
ha
and it's a big problem how to attend to practice
how to in a busy life to ah
turn our attention to ah
a kind of discipline that allows practice
we don't have the discipline some discipline and some sense
our shield
ah
then our effort into
kind of beginning always over and over again
in order to really and have some fruit
there has to be some continuity
so
the amount of effort is proportion proportional to the amount of result
handyman of result is proportionate to the amount of effort
so ah
resistance of course is natural
ah

and as well as being a problem
ha
it's also ah the problem that we have to have
so ah
we have to be able to use resistance
ha
you know when are very important part of ah practices
not to just ah they accept it but you know you have to accept it eventually pet
and is also need to question it
ah
and but to question it at the same time that you practice it if you just stand outside in question and that's not fair
doesn't work but to practice and question at the same time ah means that
you're engaged in our earnest battle
just to stand out that interaction
that's nice of but to get in there and mess it up
i will show your i
courage

so ah
if you are actually get in and ah
engage with your doubts then you have some opportunity for ah
strong your strong spirit to arise
you can battle it out
in find you are
reconcile with yourself
once you reconcile it with yourself and give up ten am yeah
ha
mind the second stage
well i appear

you know you may not have some that it's ok not that have done but even if you don't have got you have difficulty
st bridge is the same thing
how are resistance doesn't necessarily come from doubt by just from ah
ah the direction that our lives have been going in
that ah
just to make some shift even know if we make a little shift into it brings up difficulties
ah some some of us
our lives are very flexible so a big shift is not so much been some others are lives and that so flexible so even a little shift in a direction or alive causes a big problem
ah sir
in this kind of practice ah we have to we can't make them generalization about how to practice but
it has to be individual in on each one is in a different place
every person who practices in his ways in a different situation
ha
and so we have to be able to determine how to practice given the situation that we're in best way practicing on is to ah
give up everything
gorilla good practice place
but ah
given the difficulties or that
ha
we have to practice from the place that will find our something
and if we do that sincerely that's to practice
and then our daily life becomes the field of practice
a daily life situation becomes the form of practice
and of course that's the is difficult thing for us to grasp
how do you are come home from work you know and find ah two children yelling and screaming and
ha
when an a second then you just want her ah sit down and relax have a bit canal here he opened the door in his own post stuff coming at you
has an example
how do you practice in that situation once your practice in that situation
ah well ah
that's actually the form of practice a few i have some experience you know if you're in the second stage
instead of reacting ah to the situation
you respond to it
ha if you're in the first stage maybe you reacted situation and get lost but then you start thinking about it him ah try to figure out how to ah
respond
that if you are bed in the second stage i think you will automatically respond to the situation there's a difference between reacting and responding
reacting is when you have some level at which ah the thing comes back and get stuck
the land and the situation lands on some level
but a responding means that
the situation mic is completely taken in and doesn't have any place to land
and you can you have space to respond from your on from that place from a deeper level and i handle the situation
and that's a very
important part of our how we practice
how to take care of situation either by reacting or by responding
and when we find us have caught in reacting
ah
what we do is give the other side of the situation the upper hand
ha and responding is to
accept the other side of the situation
ah and then you in a situation become one
and from that are completeness
he can respond
because you're not separate from the situation
ha
and this is a field of our practice which is very difficult
i'm needs a constant attention and how we know what our practices as where they were risk if we know were reacting i responded
you can tell whether you're reacting are responding you can tell whether you're practicing tonight
sometimes i catch myself reacting to situations
but ah
when i realized oh i'm reacting to the situation that's a mindfulness practice
it's not that you it's wonderful that you can always respond but i must have the time or half the time read at least find yourself reacting
ah but if we know that that's what we're doing
then we know that
we have mindfulness practice
where we can be rich and we have the opportunity to respond
the most important aspect and practices to have to mindfulness of practice all the time
this looks like this is our agenda
if someone says where is your zendo you say let's over there and recklessly had actually yeah zendo is wherever you happen to be
cancer center and then the resist them are world
huh
huh so one other
aspect of on
beginning practice at first stage ah yes
to be able to ah
take a ah
hello sick
ah and
by taking a lousy means to not always want your own way
but to see where you fit in to the picture of practice with other people
ah

and to enough
one of the big problems behalf
is kind of repression of authority
nowadays ah we can know that will have their
repression of authority my parents always told me to do this that and on my boss or his in judaism and in school they said this and i just wanna be free you know from i'll add
so
ah is a reaction to ah no matter what i'm gonna make up my own mind to do this map i'm going to make the decisions
whether it's meaningful amount is not the point
but i know we have that desire for a certain kind of freedom
from authority
hello
but ah a restriction and now his authority
and a sense his authority and tying on self to repost his authority it's like
giving authority to ah
a limitation
and ah when we worked with other people for a practice would have been people
ah we have to go by
some guidelines for some roof
ah
and ah you know it to have ah tight friends without
i'm holding it
ha
they have to put ourself under some kind of restriction
as far as
ah
giving herself our own head
so a free
decide to do
to give a thought to give us over to some authority that's our decision it's not that
someone is taking us over but it's really aren't decision when you come to practice
ha you decide that this is the way that
i want to restrict myself matter there's some authority over you
but ah if you change your mind and a middle
when our have you ah
i always jumping of wanting to jump over the fence and new causes of a lot of difficulty and in turn around he said
well i don't like authority figures or i don't like authority in
and he turn the situation around
to make it seem like someone is holding something over you can actually the whole thing is your own decision you know we said in zen practice to the gate landscape
you just walk in where's the gate it's everywhere
the gate in as everywhere the gate out as everywhere
but you have to have your own discipline
and
you know we talk about dharma
karma in buddhism is ah
universal law it's not something that somebody made up
the not some idea that somebody had but universal lot how the universe works the law of how the universe works
is our dharma is
not so much ah natural laws no physical laws but although that tiffin
ha human nature law
ha
if we don't i pay attention to those laws were always last
the and better we're always looking for
when
when we have suffering and pain and problems and we look for were once the natural law you know what's the real natural law that's a beloved somebody made up at the natural law
know in our meal chant we say the natural order of mind they pay homage to the natural order of mind
but the natural odor mind is to law natural law as and if you break the law than you suffer
so i didn't practice anna has some kind of discipline and some kind of restricted activity so that you can learn what the live
the natural law if you don't have that
just wander with phil and this is freedom to wander to just don't do anything i want but freedom to do anything you want is not for natural law
the natural lot suffering
so i know it's difficult
and then
ha
difficult to bring herself to that point and stay there where we can ah
ha
and until the point where we
i have our own motivation
and it's always a battle you know between ah the natural law and our own desire
for the battle between a natural law and the own and in our own desire
and when our own desire is in accord with natural law is no problem
hey

and we try very hard to practice in the third stage
but we do it all together in the fellow going on at once
separately and at once
but our sincerity is the most important thing
what brings us to practices are suffering yeah
because we have some suffering and we went to over what is in practice
hey

you have any ah
christian
henry
one to me that able to react much funding
hey
to protect the have hang on that
some suffering
at from suffering
so we wanna know how do i have a job how can how can i get out of standing there with egg my things over time in this band
so that the a problem that it's a problem that should happen
you know and i've been that happened to me and my should have been able to say something
a zen priest i should should should have been able to save enough
and i missed but i know i missed i have to tell from why did i miss him why didn't know why couldn't i responded them
and that helps me
i don't really think about it why thinner responded out there are one thing i can take an rgb the their emotions that
the american
just accepted me and work on it
so that that incident gives you a problem the problem is what you need to work on you know it shows you what you need to on
where you're missing
has been banishment very bad but offensively again
and that's how we practice
exactly how many bankers what happened
come happened
yeah i ever felt that the identical haven't really head out between like have credited and was confident
i'm very interconnected the criticism of to get on board
it's not so much criticism in this case as