Good morning, everyone. Welcome. For some of us, this is our third day of sitting sashi, sitting here all day. And others are sitting here all day today. And people have joined us for Sunday morning dharma talk. Welcome, everyone. We've been talking about appropriate response. How do we meet this situation before us? How do we meet each other? How do we meet our life? How do we respond to Buddha? How do we respond to this situation of allowing Buddha to express yourself in us, or allowing ourselves to express the Buddha sitting on your cushion right now.

[01:09]

And we've been focusing on the story about the great master Yunmen, one of the great classical Chinese Tang masters, Tang dynasty's Zen masters, The story is that a monk asked Yunnan, what are the teachings of a whole lifetime? Yunnan said, an appropriate statement. So the question has to do with the Buddha's whole lifetime. And there are various systems in East Asian Buddhism about classifying, arranging, making sense of the wide array of different Buddhist teachings and practices, all the many different sutras and so forth.

[02:20]

Buddha's long lifetime of practicing over 40 years and a long lifetime of teaching. So what are the teachings? What are the dharmas of a whole lifetime? The young man said an appropriate statement, and the commentary says, Zen people, if you want to know the meaning of Buddha nature, which we've been talking about, this nature of awareness and awakeness and kindness that is in the fabric of reality and already here on your cushion right now, this body and mind. If you want to know the meaning of Buddha nature, you must observe time and season, causes and conditions. So Zen and Buddhism is not timeless. It's not outside of time. Buddha, Bodhidharma, Dogen, Suzuki Roshi are only alive here in this time and place.

[03:28]

How do we bring ourselves to their teachings? How do we bring their teachings and practices and awareness and vitality to our lives here? 2010, I think, in Chicago, is it? Yeah. Here we are. This time, this place, this season, which is still summer for You know, until sometime next week, officially. Here we are. So we have to pay attention to this time, this situation. An appropriate statement, Nguyen Van Sinh. So he cut through all the systems, the classifications of the sutras. An appropriate statement. Yuen Man, as usual, cuts through all of the various philosophies to the point.

[04:35]

And as Chan was originating in that time and place, in 9th and 10th century China, it was trying to not deny the written teachings, the sutras, and then all the other words that came from those masters. But how do we bring it to our life? This place, this time. An appropriate statement. So this has to do with language. It has to do with words. How does Buddha express himself? What are the teachings? What are the written words? And in our style of practice, in the lineage of Dogen and Suzuki Roshi, it's not that we, going beyond words and letters doesn't mean that we don't study the sutras and we don't study these old teaching stories, but we look at them in the context of how does it bring our life to life here today.

[05:47]

So, Chan was about bringing the teachings into our experience. How do we enjoy our awareness today? How do we sit here, some of us, for the whole day, period after period, enjoying our uprightness, enjoying our inhale and exhale, just following the schedule, chanting and bowing when it's time for service, receiving the food offered to us when it's time for a meal, getting up and walking when it's time for that. How do we bring this teaching alive? An appropriate statement. So I'll say a little more about Yunmen. He's famous for brief responses to questions. And just a couple others.

[06:51]

He once said to the assembly, putting aside the 15 days before the full moon, what about the 15 days after? Nobody said anything. So he said, every day is a good day. Famous old Zen saying, every day is a good day. Here, today. is unique here today. It's different from yesterday, even though I'm talking about the same stories. Here we are. It's a new day. Not just every day is a good day. I would say every breath is a good breath. Every inhale is unique, actually, and spreads oxygen through your body. Every exhale allows carbon dioxide to release from your whole body.

[07:54]

Every breath is a good breath. You know, it's possible to say, oh, that was really a good breath. Oh, I really enjoyed that breath. You know, we can get into that. We can kind of categorize, or we could say, yeah, I didn't really, I just was, that was a really, I didn't really breathe fully that time. We can do that, but the young man says every day is a good day. Every breath is a good breath. The teaching of a whole lifetime, an appropriate statement. So I say, every lifetime is a good lifetime. Of course, we keep our eyes and ears open to the reality that there are many lifetimes of people in the world today where there's tremendous suffering and sadness and loss and hunger difficulties. And in our own lives, we all have our own sadness or loss or problems.

[09:01]

We all have been forgetting about past lifetimes. We all have been damaged in various ways during this lifetime. Well, I don't know, I won't say that categorically, but everybody I've ever met, you know, we've suffered some We have some way in which we're, to put it this way, damaged. And maybe some of us have more than others or less than others. I don't know. But still, every lifetime is a good lifetime. Here we are. We're alive. We have this possibility of responding, of patiently meeting the world, of being present in our life. So the point of Zen practice is not to reach some fancy, exalted experience, not to get high, not to become some super being.

[10:04]

The point is to be the person you are on your cushion right now. How do we fully express ourselves? I could say, how do we fully express ourselves as Buddha? Maybe that's extra. whether or not you're a Buddhist or even care about Buddha, how do we use our particular gifts, our particular interests to respond to the world, to respond to the sadness and joy of the world and of this life and all the complex beings sitting on your cushion right now, and of course to each other. So we're here together as Sangha to meet together. We bow together and we get up from sitting. We bow to each other. And for those of us staying a day at lunchtime, we will receive meals served in the zendo.

[11:12]

And we will hold out our bowls and try and allow the server to meet. with their scoop to meet our bowls. We engage together with each other in the world. How do we find the patience to just sit, to be present, to look at, how is it, to take care of our knees and back and shoulders and so forth? if we're sitting for all day or a period. How do we be kind to each other and to all the parts of this body and mind on your cushion right now? And sustain some attention, some awareness. Observing time and season, causes and conditions.

[12:13]

What is an appropriate statement? What is an appropriate response? Well, Yunmin said, every day is a good day. Another time he said, what is talk that goes beyond the Buddhas and ancestors? And Yunmin said, cake. So we sometimes treat ourselves to cake or whatever else it is you like. How many people here don't like cake? Not one person has raised their hand. Okay, so what goes beyond all the talk of Buddha's and ancestors' cake? So, Yun Men was very discerning and cut through all of the systems of thought and philosophy and brought it back home.

[13:34]

Here we are. And we study Yun Men's appropriate statement not because of some history lesson, but how does it relate to our life here today, this time and season. There's also this way in which we can look more deeply at Yun Men's sayings. So there's a teaching I've mentioned about Yun Men's statements. This is from one of his main disciples, one of his main students, who said that in every statement Yun Men makes, there are three phrases. And I've been talking about this as actually another way of looking at Arzaza. It's these three aspects. First is that it encompasses the whole world.

[14:40]

The second is cutting off all of the myriad streams. The third is going along with the ripples, following the waves. There's three aspects. And really, this is talked about in the context of trying to understand the teaching, the teaching of a lifetime, the teaching of the Buddhas, the teaching of the Ozen masters. And yet, it's also part of our Zazen body, our practice body. So just to share one of the verses about this, encompassing the whole world. This guy, Yuanmi, said, fundamental reality, fundamental emptiness, one form, one flavor. It is not that a subtle entity does not exist. It is not a matter for hesitating over. Clear and lucid, this contains the whole world.

[15:44]

So there's an aspect of the teaching, there's an aspect of every phrase of yunme, and there's an aspect of our practice. that contains the whole world, and he says, it is not that a subtle entity does not exist. This is not about stark emptiness. Actually, we're here. What is this subtle entity that brings us to the whole world? This is part of each one of those sharp statements by Jungmann. There's a part of cake that contains the whole world. Something is there. The second one is cutting off the myriad streams. And we can see this very starkly in Jungmann. It is fundamentally not a matter of interpretation or understanding. When you sum it all up, it's not worth a single letter.

[16:49]

When myriad activities abruptly cease, that's cutting off the myriad streams. So, yunmen sayings cut through. All of the different activities abruptly cease. It's not about interpretation or understanding. Understanding is not the point of this practice. It's okay if you have some understanding of Buddhism or yunmen or shogun or whatever. It's okay, in fact, it's a good thing if you have some understanding of the body and mind on your cushion. But this aspect of cutting off the meridians of dreams is just not. So one of the instructions for Zazen, and particularly maybe for Sashin, as we're doing this weekend, is put aside all affairs. Don't dwell on good or bad, right or wrong. Put aside all your involvements. And you can do this in any period of Zazen.

[17:51]

In fact, it's part of the basic instruction for zazen, for sitting. Just put it on the side. It doesn't mean get rid of it. It doesn't mean having that lobotomy operation or getting rid of all your worldly wealth and living on the streets. There's various ways in which people sometimes feel moved to get rid of lots of stuff. just, you know, for 40 minutes or a few days. Cut through, put it aside. And in each breath, in each statement, in each teaching of the Buddha, we can see this aspect. It's abrupt, it's stark, varied activities. Cut through. So that's the second one. The third one is following the waves. When you allow the presence of another, Follow the sprites, I'm sorry, follow the sprouts to fly the ground.

[18:52]

Understand the person by means of his words. This is going along with the ripples, following the waves. So in each teaching there's also this, yeah, somebody's saying something to me. There's another person here. So even if we see the side of stark emptiness and oneness and we're all deeply interconnected, How do we meet an other? The other is, well, sometimes it's the teacher. Sometimes it's Buddha talking to us through these various teachings. Sometimes it's the server offering us food. Sometimes it's your co-worker. Sometimes it's your partner, the person you're closest to. How do we meet another as another? How do we follow that and allow that? See how the situation sprouts.

[19:55]

See where it's coming from. Understand the person by means of their works. This is going along with the ripples following the waves. So, this is also about, as the man says, an appropriate statement. It's about time and season and a particular place. So following the waves is also an important part of our practice. How do we follow the waves in zazen even of our own thoughts as they arise and drift away? How do we go along with that? So again, these are three aspects of every spiritual teaching, of every sutra, of the teachings of a whole lifetime, as the monk asked about.

[20:58]

An appropriate statement. So in that statement by Yunme, an appropriate statement, We can see the whole world. We can see cutting through. We can see, oh, just following the situation these ways. And in our attention to our own uprightness in our practice also. And sometimes, you know, So there are commentaries on this that talk about one of these three being more helpful than others and so forth, and we can get into that, and this is the kind of thing the human mind does. Oh yeah, this teaching is better than that teaching, or this teaching, maybe just for you. Like we might say, I like the Lotus Sutra more than the Diamond Sutra. Well, in a way that's silly.

[22:01]

It's all the words of Buddha, but you know, people say these things like that. So, how many of you really like vanilla? How many of you really like chocolate? How many of you like carrot cake? Some of you raised your hands all three times. Some of you didn't. we can appreciate our own preferences and we can see through them and we can see that it's all just cake and we can see that the whole world is right there in a chocolate cake or a carrot cake or whatever. Anyway, how do we see the texture of our life. And this is about also seeing the texture of the teaching and seeing the texture of our practice itself.

[23:06]

So, in Sashin, it's helpful to return our attention to this breath, our uprightness. Sometimes we may want to cut off thoughts. Sometimes we allow them to be there. Either way, we return our awareness to this body-mind, this situation. So how is this practically? I want to mention a few lines from the Jewel Marrow Samadhi by another great Tang Dynasty Chan Master Dongshan, the founder of the Sutra School that we are part of. So this appropriate statement resonates with some particular lines from this Song of the Precious Mary Samadhi that we've been chanting in our midday service and we go again today.

[24:11]

He says, the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. So this whole issue of words and letters, and Bodhidharma was supposed to be saying that Zen is about going beyond words and letters. And, you know, Dogen and Zipi Rush is saying, that's OK, but please, you know, enjoy these words and letters anyway. How do we get caught up? How do we engage in the particulars, but see the meaning underlying? So he says the meaning does not reside in the words. But a pivotal moment brings it forth. Right now, the meaning. can arise. Right now, what's important for you in your life? Today, this day, or this week. Every week is a good week, with all its troubles, or this lifetime. A pivotal moment brings it forth. That also can be translated as, this is complicated in terms of how the Chinese characters are used, but

[25:21]

It responds, a pivotal moment brings it forth, has been translated as, it responds to the inquiring student. This pivotal moment, this opportunity, that's another translation for pivotal, this opportunity for the meaning to arise, depends on you, depends on each of us. Our engagement, our attention to, what is this appropriate statement right now? our attention to, how is this? What is this situation? Here, this day, this week, this lifetime. The meaning comes forth. There is a meaning to our life. Our Bodhisattva way is about how we connect together with the whole world, how we take care of this life, this body and mind on your cushion, and all beings.

[26:33]

So this pivotal moment, this inquiring response, can bring it forth. So I'm just going to read a few lines that really bring this to life, I think. He says, turning away and touching are both wrong, for it is like a massive fire. This translator is touching, but it also means to get a hold of, to grab. We can't quite touch it. It's like a massifier. It's hot. We burn our fingers, but this reality is so deep and wide and awesome that there's no way to say it. The words don't get there. And yet, turning away from it doesn't work either. So all of you here have some taste of this, or else you wouldn't be here. All of you here have some sense of this possibility of wholeness and openness and responsiveness and meaning in your life.

[27:37]

So you can't turn away from it. You might find other ways to engage it. You might say, well, Zen's not my thing. I'm going to go and climb Mount Everest. I don't know, whatever. Or engage in other. practices, creative practices, or other kinds of spiritual practices. You can't turn away from the reality of them. And you can't get a hold of it either, no matter what various kinds of practices you try. So it's subtle. It's like a massive fire. And that's OK. In our Zazen, We can't get a hold of Zazen. We can hear all these different expressions like these three phrases of Yunnan. But also, we can't ignore that you know something's happening, but you don't know what it is. This is our life.

[28:38]

We don't know what it is exactly. And yet, we have this wonderful opportunity. Every lifetime is a good lifetime. Something's happening. Dongshan also says, wondrously embraced within the real, drumming and singing begin together. These two characters that mean drumming and singing have various meanings. They also can be translated as slapping and yelling. Somebody slaps you and you say, ah! And it's immediate. It's not something you try and think about on, oh, do I understand what that felt like, that pain? Oh, yes, now I'm going to yell. No, it's immediate. It's right here. It also can be translated as wondrously embraced within the real.

[29:42]

Inquiry and response arise together. So this directly relates to this appropriate statement of Jungmann. the appropriate statement, the appropriate response to ourselves, to Buddha, to another. From the perspective of this teaching, it's not about something that you go and figure out. Oh, somebody said such and such. What am I going to say? Well, OK, you go. Sometimes it happens. There's a story, one of the great stories, about a student who heard something his teacher said and went and sat for eight years. and finally came back and we had some response. It's a wonderful story. But what Dongshan is saying, within this reality, inquiry and response arise together. We meet the world in front of us.

[30:42]

We meet the wall with our eyes open. We feel the discomfort in our knee or our back. It's immediate. It's a physical thing. This is a physical practice, a yogic practice. We learn this pivotal moment in our bodies. And we can also, you know, a lot of the people in this room are very, very bright. We can also think about it and, you know, study it intellectually. That's okay to do that. But the point is, how is it? How does it feel right now? What is this? Here we are. Inhale. Exhale. So some of you, I don't know if anyone here has studied physiology or anatomy and understands all that goes into one inhale and one exhale, but nevertheless you still are breathing.

[31:46]

Please continue throughout. this good day to continue to inhale and exhale. Just a few more of these lines from the Jewel Marriage Samadhi that kind of comment on Min Min's appropriate statement. So there's a passage that goes, now there are sudden and gradual and teachings and approaches arise. and teachings and approaches are distinguished, each has its standard, but whether teachings and approaches are mastered or not, reality constantly flows. So the first two and a half of those lines are about, kind of about the monk's question, what is the teaching of a whole lifetime? And, you know, all of these very great, Chinese Buddhist philosophers developed ways of seeing, of distinguishing the teachings and the practice approaches and sudden and gradual and so forth.

[32:46]

But Dong Xuan says, whether these teachings and approaches are mastered or not, reality constantly flows. Reality is here, riding the waves, cutting through, appearing on behalf of the whole world. How do we meet this reality, this constantly changing reality? How do we find our way, our own way, our own practice body for meeting this, meeting this, and then meeting this reality? So he also says, when inverted thinking stops, the affirming mind naturally abhors. So this might be commenting on the aspect of cutting through the stream, cutting through the streams of thought.

[33:49]

When inverted thinking stops, when all of our grasping and attachments and aversions and desires and so forth, when we cut through them, affirming mind actually abhors. I think there's a way of seeing the other two also in that. But this affirming mind. What is that? How do we say yes to the world? How do we accord and meet this situation? Sometimes the affirming mind might be learning to say no to things. It might be. Oh, okay, I can't really, no. Thank you for that request, and I have to say that my full-hearted affirming mind, no, I'm sorry, I really can't do that. So I've been practicing with this recently, because I get many requests. I've been studying how to say no with affirming mind. Still, affirming mind naturally reports.

[34:53]

We can meet the world. who can be an appropriate statement, a statement that accords, a statement that is appropriate to the time of season. So when it's time for the tensor to go start preparing lunch, she kindly bows as she leaves. A firming mind naturally accords And just a couple more of these statements from Precious Mary Samadhi about an appropriate statement. He says, the wooden man starts to sing, the stone woman gets up dancing. This is just like inquiry or response or drumming and singing begin together. You hear a beat and you start to dance. So, this goes back to some, yet another old Chinese story, but the wooden man starts to sing and the stone woman gets up to dance.

[36:03]

Naturally, we respond to the world around us. And, you know, maybe there's an aspect of the wooden man and the stone woman that is encompassing the whole world. And there's an aspect that's cutting off. But there's certainly also an aspect that is going along with the beat. So just to close this, Dzogchen ends, just to do this continuously is called the host within the host, the ultimate practice. How do we sustain this, to do this continuously? You know, this is a lofty, lofty aspiration to maintain a continuous, clear body and mind awareness of how wondrous reality is and of our ability to respond and meet the difficulties and situations and problems of our life and of the world and of our friends and family and so forth.

[37:16]

doing this continuously is maybe the ultimate, but part of our emphasis is, well, maybe we, you know, we have to pace ourselves. So what does that mean to do it continuously? Well, how do we sustain attention to this reality? How do we sustain our caring and aware mind? So, practically speaking, for Sachin, you know, sometimes It's helpful to change your leg position from one period to the next. Sometimes it's helpful to try a different cushion or get a support cushion. Sometimes you're welcome to get up and sit on a chair for a period if that's helpful. How do we take care of this situation, this lifetime, this day, this good day? It's not about reaching some exalted idea of Buddha or enlightenment or whatever, it's taking care of this situation.

[38:23]

How do we sustain that? How do we take another breath and continue to pay attention? How do we respond to Buddha? What is the appropriate statement, the appropriate gesture or posture? the appropriate smile or frown or whatever in between to give to our world here, now. And of course we forget and wander off the path and that's very important and that's great. That gives us an opportunity to, oh, yeah, Buddha, I remember, yeah, I want to, be in some relationship to Buddha or to, forget about Buddha, to kindness, to awareness. How do we return to balance?

[39:23]

So sometimes during the course of a day, we may be leaning one way or another. I'm exaggerating, but we might be leaning forward a little bit. We might be holding back a little bit. How do we return to uprightness? So sometimes I go around during Sashin and make little postural suggestions. It's not correction, it's not like you're doing anything wrong, it's just like, oh, yeah. Feel that spot in your shoulder, yeah. It's up to you to find your way to sustain this attention, to return to balance. to make your appropriate statement today, or this period of Zazen, or in response to this question. So this afternoon, for those staying, we will have a tea and discussion period. But for those who are here for the Sunday morning Dharma talk, and for those of you who are going to be here later, too, does anyone have any comments or questions or responses?

[40:34]

We can take a little bit of time for that. Yes, Laurie? This is my first all-day sitting, and... That's so wonderful. I can relate to a lot of the things that you're saying. And one of the things that came to mind when you were talking about riding the waves, meeting this presence, is when I am learning to sit and be upright, learning to be my teacher and student, this feeling as though I'm becoming more aware of certain things and teaching myself to see or meet those moments or instances. It seems like there's more that comes up. Good.

[41:35]

Keep going. Yes. So that's... As we have an opportunity to stop and pay attention to this body and mind, this situation, this world, yeah, things come up. And we do have to, and paying attention means to listen to yourself, to allow yourself to listen to Buddha, whoever she is, however that is for you. I can't tell you how to be Buddha. talk together and I can share some of my experience, but you have to find your way to express your appropriate statement. So Yunmen isn't speaking for you, Yunmen's speaking for himself, but he's pointing out a way to you. Thank you. Other comments, responses, questions? Statements? so

[42:40]

Kathy, what ways are you writing? I'm just thinking about a comment that you made, and thinking... So, having that awareness, whatever, coming through, or whichever it is, could be happening if I was climbing a mountain right now, also. Right, good, yes. So I think that just helps me to open it up sometimes. Yes, thank you.

[44:16]

So this practice is just about making available, giving ourselves the space to notice that. realize all of this climbing a mountain, or playing basketball, or playing guitar, or going for a walk, or washing the dishes, or all kinds of activities. But somehow, Zazen, this practice of just sitting upright, breathing, paying attention, is conducive especially to realizing that This possibility is here all the time. And so, Sazen is a kind of creative activity, a kind of performance of Buddha. And it does very much resonate with and mutually inform all those other kinds of activities.

[45:19]

So the more you can find a way of continuing to have this kind of space in some regular way in your life, the more it becomes accessible to those other times and seasons and activities. The more you are accessible to yourself, the more Buddha is accessible to you. And whatever you're doing, or whoever you want to call Buddha. Any last thoughts or comments? Yes, Nick? It could be thought of as a kind of mind training. You actually mentioned that when he was here. So you kind of have to look at what kind of training do I need right now?

[46:26]

Yeah. That's a good question. Is it better for me to go to the Zen Dojo and sit or join the army? What kind of training does the army provide me? Does it help me become more intimate with what's going on? Maybe in some respects. So yeah, we have to consider possibilities. What is your appropriate statement? So, UNMEN's pointing to us, what is the appropriate way to train your mind and heart and body? What is it they say? Is it the Marine Corps that says, be all that you can be? The Army. Is it the Army?

[47:27]

Okay, well, yeah. So, be all that you can be. That's a good sense of slogan, yeah. This is what we're here for in this. and Buddhist soldiers. Now, here we are, this kind of training, and just paying attention to how it is. But actually, Nathan, if you're seriously considering joining the Army for training, would you please come and talk with me? I've got some feedback for you. But yeah, there are many ways to be who we are. Good. Yeah. So... We don't know exactly what is the appropriate statement. That's why it goes back to this, how do we just meet this situation?

[48:27]

But yeah, to dig into and study some situation of opening up your heart, some vehicle for that, whether it's art or music or meditation or target practice or whatever, the more we study it, if it's really worthy, the more we see more questions, the more we realize how much we don't know. That's one criteria for a worthy training program, I would say. You may get certificates and diplomas, that's okay, The more you understand something, the more you see that it does point to the whole world, encompassing the whole world, that first of your notes. Titus. I just wanted to touch on what Nathan was saying, and I think that seems like one side of an important point to make, but the thing that's striking me is the other side of that is what's sort of calling us to serve.

[49:41]

So not join the Army because of what necessarily, how we'll benefit, of course, there's always that. There's always that aspect, and that needs to be attended, and there's that other aspect, sort of what's calling us to serve, calling us to respond. There's that side, too. It seems important to, you know, suss out which one, maybe in the moment, is the important thing to focus on. It's not like one's better than the other. It just struck me. However much you settled into the situation of this body and mind, still there is reality that constantly flows and that we need to engage.

[50:33]

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