Using At Hand

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BZ-02741
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so thank you
good morning everyone

i like to welcome everyone or into this one room schoolhouse and i third euro she likes to
consider our temple practice as a one room schoolhouse where we have people better here for the first time as well as people to defeating when fifty years altogether
i went to take a moment a good to go review and make eye contact with each and every one of you for for ibm my talk

i do this beginning before i give a talk to the zendo so it's nice to take a moment and an fuel

looks about right
can you henry blake

the kid across this article than in the times
i like to share with people

his books the case makes me look smart i hope not
but more importantly than the bookcase his own
so desrosiers mujer over there to my own
my love you're right that's our for baby
pfister for practice i study a lot and i have books behind me of course that are used to eliminate some things that have experienced over the years of things that i hope to experience at another time perhaps the most importantly
as as said is a foundation or practice and i'm really grateful for
zojirushi and curzon who took the picture or bring them together last year and and a visual reminder for maya
for me for my practice

the monks of old in china used to stand during lectures
that was our centuries and centuries ago
and it's a weight or the monks and nuns were sitting and videos on cushion is perhaps little bit more comfortably while they listen to lectures
and now we're sitting in our hose
is the first time i've given a talk on zoom it feels a little different and lawsuit is unfamiliar to when a done over the years since becoming shoe so i'll give you a talk to the vendor
the first time i gave a talk i guess on nestor whatever fifty plus a meditators hear what are could use a feedback on my talk and he said it felt like a fireside chat
i didn't quite know what to make it there but it a it felt
cougar with my attitude and feeling about presenting myself to you are about formerly of this way as a talk to the talk as well just incredibly when we need each other on the temple grounds
fireside chats were conducted by after yard during the depression and will work to as radio broadcasts to assure the population of america that things would be okay and if we will get through this
to assure you that we're going to get a few this but i have faith that in practice we will get through

today also feels like this time also feel good like pajama don dharma i got out of a pajamas day for the first time in a long time but you don't think it home it feels homey
and others feeling of buying out comfortably
and is no different than standing and listening to lecture so hope you're comfortably year old songs
and i'm thinking about timothy leary is a adage tune in turn on but dont drop out stay present the that's my update
a few weeks ago i was filling up my soap dispenser here my apartment and as service thick can a gelatinous liquid that was pouring slowly out of a large bottle into little are pump dispenser on my think
and i just wanted to get it done
and then i start
and i slowed down and paid attention to what i was doing a deeper less
ah
janie idea just to get it done and just to be president what was happening in front of me which is what we continually
remind ourselves to do so was grateful they have taken that moment to on just be with the task at hand
and i had am
canada oh an awakening experience not thunderclap by awakening was just an ordinary awakening to the extra of ordinary nature of just taking care of what was in front of me
and this is what we're always doing whether we we're aware of it or not

though so with the intention of taking care that task over filling my flock by so bottle
soap dispenser a wizard behind time and i wasn't ahead of time but i was just in time
and the kobe nineteen virus on reminds us to slow down and be in time

so the other day while watering the garden or i notice the leaves dropping as water with was getting them in it spring of the house after hands with pan of water the east north and west sides of the building here
so as the leaves were or the the grass and leaves were dropping i recall sottero she's teaching from a few weeks ago where he said a good then student adjust the circumstances
and i thought that's true
we're always suggesting the circumstances
the thing that gets frustrating for us sometimes is that we feel that a timeline when we're gonna just
i wanna be mature i would be able to sit still and whatever my mind to be so busy all the things and we get frustrated if it does it
to change fast enough
so just like with the soap dispenser
are we bought a i too slow
and coming my mind and adjusting to the circumstance where my too fast and not really meeting what's going on so again it's just being in tight
and hang out with it with a water hose
an ordinary thing have to take care of the a big round here one can have a i'm a realization that just what what's ahead right in front of us is all we need we don't have to go off the dusty lands as duncan said
you don't necessarily have to be reading scriptures to understand this all that should be supporting us to the matter hand what's in front of us
blake thank you for your introduction and noticing my own the visuals of of my food preparation i was photographer for many years and ever on a great deal of appreciation for the visual aesthetic or in life and so
while we eat the food or the the food eat first ah there's something in the process of ev that we can actually appreciate a few visualise that actually sets a tone of appreciation before the show reaches our

so we compare ourselves with others when we try to find our balance or when we fall out of balance
i eighty row she said when you get when you let go of your own perceptions you give people a chance to change
when you do not let go you are participating in a continuation of their faults
so nothing good teaching for us to have patience and space and compassion for others
ah something that acre roshi i think implied ah but when it is whether explicit which i are avid thinking about lately is to add
when you let go of your own perception she give people and yourself a chance to change
when you do not like go your purchase sipping in the continuation of their faults and your own stuckness

a ellen webber has been standing walker had a art exhibit schedule a in april here in berkeley and it was cancelled of course because the virus and so he said images of his paintings to his mailing lists one each day
throughout the a to cover each each piece of the exhibit
it was a little bit of a commentary and i'm looking at just one call sean reese dancing
show me dancing
and if you can picture so to speak no pun intended no pun intended or a picture frame
and a collection of what looks like repeating images or lines of a figure slightly altered
across the frame for one side to the other
as some of you may recall marcel duchamp's new descending a staircase
where he depicted a nude descending a staircase with images slightly different from your down side of the steps to the upside of steps
so what would i inferred from a sandy's and ourselves depictions is that we are this body still
and there's movement within this stillness
after looking at sandy's painting i went outside for a walk in my pajamas in berkeley thankfully nobody bats like such such a thing and as i was walking out with down by the library there and i had a sense of
of this image that sandy had depicted where i was in my body and a walking slowly than russell street carefully and quietly
and
in a worse words are hard to words don't really get it but the sense of myself passing through space
there was just an ordinary thing but as when we sit saw that and we really still were really still and really tending to her body and our breath you can feel the movement within the stillness of thousand
so there was walking down here a russell street roofing
and experiencing stillness an movement is not one side or the other one sightsee in the army in light and the other science in dark one after another
are you located is zoomed single our shop out because the internet connection we'll have had those experiences and it gets kind of frustrating when that happens
ah for me besides the frustration that reminded me of the the spaces in our life that we we think everything is continually moving with and i feel like a movie screen their it they're single images that are being run across the a projector moving quickly given
the impression that thing the rubik's with in fact there's still
so how does that help us
well for me it helps to remind me that their space in between each every moment of our expression
it's like would be citizens and we breathe in
we take the universe little space
and we exhale
amy let go of the universe
but in between taking in and letting go is at gap or that space and in that space it's an opportunity for us to respond to the circumstances maybe not in the same knee-jerk reactive way that we often find ourselves when we are
either grasping toward something or pushing something wait

so we're not rigid and stuck we need to be flexible when that blade of grass really in reading out

speaking of books
not only so why are teachers teacher vicki roshi
he gives us a tip on how to read buddhist scripture which sometimes can be a little bit daunting
in the chapter letters from emptiness he says besides the world which we can describe there is another kind of world
all descriptions of reality are limited expression that the world of emptiness yet we attached to the descriptions and think they are reality
that is mistake because what is described as not the actual reality and when you think it is reality your own idea is involved then it's an idea of soft
when many buddhists have made this mistake
this is why they were attached to written scriptures or buddha's words
they thought that his words were the most valuable thing and that the way to preserve the teaching with remember when do to said
but what would a set with just a letter from the world of emptiness
just a suggestion of some help from him
if someone else reads it it may not make sense
that is the nature of buddha's words to understand what his words we cannot rely on our usual thinking mind
if you want to read a letter from the buddhist world it is necessary to understand to his world

this book is the book of serenity which is a collection of cars for about a thousand years ago in china
thank you leave lisa rezoning wherever you are the universe for this gift of a bookmark
k for
the world are one points to the ground
the case
as the world honored one was walking with the congregation he pointed to the ground with his finger and said this spot is a good place this i'm sorry this spot is good to build a sanctuary
indra ever of the gods took a blade of grass stuck it in the ground and said the sanctuary is built
the world honored one smiled
and on a offers averse
to comment on the case
the ballast spraying on the hundred plants picking up what comes to hand she used it knowingly
the sixteen foot tall golden body a collection a virtuous qualities casually him by the hand into the red dust able to be master in the dust from outside creation a guest shows up everywhere life is sufficient in its way no matter of what
it is not or is clever as others

so when i read that i thought what what is this grass and go at sticking in the ground and building of sanctuary
it didn't make any sense to me
and then i realize it's a it's a story and a teaching
it has to be looked at differently than the usual our usual way of thinking
and for me it means to use western hand worth friend in front of us

a few weeks ago for the that on friday afternoon while monday afternoon maybe a kick it with dhawan and xanthan for those who are not in zazen
platform here and zuma bsd see the street i give you a sense what it is we sit on the in front of a computer and a timekeeper i rings a bell i felt the bill and keeps the time anyway i kick his computer died just before his eyes and was scheduled to happen so she
texted me that a living you know what had happened i said what does come on down and we'll set up here my apartment so she came downstairs and be set the computer up a pretty quickly before five forty and then i'm thankfully ah a little while earlier my friend henry who turned me on this end and jazz to the
three most important things my life i gave me the spell present his belt me in the mail and
as came from a amsterdam from a trip that can i went on a jury and paul and from a kicker see she found the bell
sorry balances of the day
with the game
so she had to adjust
using a large kane large bamboo stick sounding a little bell typically the strikers on the belt are pretty small so again this is this world of adjustment that so general she was talking about that we need to do with convince students in order to up
the one with and that separate from the things in front of this and around us in this world
so how do we build a sanctuary a place of refuge
well the zendo is a really beautiful space to do that a designated space but for the past few weeks few miles we've been sitting at home so how do we make our hope is sanctuary
ah this reminded me of the diaspora the juice or undertook undertaken seventy of a common era where the temple in jerusalem was destroyed and that the practice went from the temple into the home and all the ceremonies and
our rituals that were typically done by the high priests and surgeon in the temple were now done by ordinary people in their homes which is what we do we create by building altars and fittings am i here in are a dedicated space

so how does our body feel of a flexible blade of grass
vs i'm rigid edifice the rebuilding a sanctuary of flowing grass or rebuilding something stiff that does it move
is it appropriate time for stiffness
in uprightness where the summer cause by and taps you on your shoulder should be able to flex and flow with that movement and then come back upright

i was gifted this card by your friend some years ago

that says effing love this
and i have it on my altar
i didn't know what my
friend met by taking the current between my a door the door jam when i came home and found it well
i could only on my altar and further however many years has been now when i offer incense i see this card fucking love this

welcome do for me it's come to mean
nothing except this
when i find myself in some world a disconnect and separation and suffering is typically due to not my not accepting some circumstance some idea from situation and so by making the effort she's just accept
what is in front of me
it allows me
to be myself
to be myself with my pain and difficulty in temporary to be to be with myself when i'm happy and joyous and free to know wherever i happen to be at it's all about accepting
and adjusting the circumstance
i've also thought of this card as it get out of jail card for those of you who are familiar with the game monopoly
now we place ourselves in jail
by our agreed ill will and confusion
so how did we get out of jail
the we live with condition relationships and we are divided separate how do we cultivate it live in sanctuary and
live the unconditioned life
well there's a role of of the out condition which read which we sit with we tap into is awesome the world of oneness and then the bell rings so to speak and then where the road conditions of a rally
how do we can we work with those two two sides not one not too

no
when i graduate from college it's about five years before i started sitting i came out to california and lived here district ten months and i got a copy of tatar cookie off our bread book editor of the laptops a horror and brown or zan or anything to destroyed the the for good books and i got the
i'm and i baked a little bread of from our from a book i preferred the bread that i bought the store and and do such a great job at it but nevertheless i made the effort to do that
yeah some years later i stumbled into various places thirty six years ago him out that i found my way into that temple
and then i discovered at brown and cooking and and such and this is asparagus season now and so i've been getting asparagus at the berkeley ball up the street and are making a my little pasta dish with asparagus and
ah with the cooking that a blank alluded to earlier that i i do here along with a bunch of other people of color july ten zones that were i'm grateful to have here feeding us i thought well i'll be going to cut the asparagus spear
one way is straight across chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop job fast and noisy
an aunt got this technique whereas called a role cut on don't know if he invented or not but nevertheless it's a really cool technique
for king asparagus so you are hemisphere is it held down and one hand on your cutting board and in the other hand you able your life like so and you
don't go like this but you just slice it down using the whole motion
after you sliced it new role it a little bit with your other hand
and then slice it again roll again slice it so this raul cut is gonna create a piece of asparagus that have different angles on either side of them
now i don't know if it affects the taste and not bit more surface area exposed to the oil or are your cooking your asparagus
ah but there's a visual treat or to it but i like and a but more importantly
from a practice place not from a chef at a efficacy place there's the opportunity to be at one with the asparagus because you're going slow you have particular technique that you're following and it's chop chop chop
and as if the story girls we often say cutting the carrot so today it's gonna be asparagus that you're cutting the carrot but a certain point the carrot the a carrot or the asparagus is cutting you
and so how can that be
you now i'm here in the asparagus layer and i would cut you up and budget and saute pan
well would that kind of attitude or you will always be cutting the care but if they go in your present with the practice the carrot is executing you knew and the cure or what
if you're not careful
as i was not careful your mind dressed and the the asparagus will cut you and i have a little scar on my finger to prove it so please pay attention when you're cutting the asparagus

i like to close or
by noting that i i feel that we're missing our body practice during this time of a sheltering in place
he though he practiced together in the one room or one rooms room schoolhouse we rub up against each other literally or metaphorically we have different experiences and we are connected by by our presence and relationship and being isolated some speakers separated were missing that body connection
and there's a attendance the i believed that to go into our abide and become little bit more psychological trying to figure things out so i look forward to returning to the zendo and being with you in body and mind
a question to keep his to keep in mind is
how to be with ourselves and returned to this this body practice
we have an opportunity moment by moment
as
ah sandy and marcel duchamp by showed us pick it those in their images when we're sitting and breathing who were standing and breathing inhale exhale what goes on in between those moments where are we
thank you very much for your attention
and i like to on
ah open up the question well blank maybe it will give us a brief description of the questioning i liked it a sog roshi for a combat before opening it up to the group make you are
on
yes so we know
go ahead and type of question good sanga or a raise your hand on the virtual hand ah participants pressed the little blue hand raise it and then i'll call on or type of question for our first sojourn roshi ah do you have a comment or question for ross

ah surgeon surgeon you need to unmute yourself

good you're good to go surgeon gone pam nearest yes
the images of the painting and
a said his painting and
there's new descending a staircase
the top marcel duchamp yeah yeah shop
i am ah
the the stillness within the movement and the moment dollars and i doubt brain paradise or image who hadn't thought of it that way and yet it does you see it that way but into an initial think it that way
the
i'm jarred my
perception wow wow well that's a definite great artists do as a jar our perceptions yeah
oh i wasn't jar thank you for that sojourn or i wasn't jarred when i saw saved his painting it was a to the experience in my body walking down the street that it came together for me and that's where the body practice or i was reminded of how
for the despotic practice is it a snap person an intellectual exercise know that pretty roulette
you
i'm next up we have a if i think it's sean could you go ahead and lower your blue hand and ask a question
okay i ah yes it is sean and i'll have to update that at some point oh i was sir thank you for speaking and
you are talking about the space between movements and my mind instantly when wow now there's no space between movements it's all analog as and it flows completely
but i still kind of listened and trusted and i started at reminded me i was recording a cellist here at my house and i had a had a very long tone i needed a long tone from him and at some point he had to return
turn the boat back in the other directions and i said well when others a space there
you know once you get to the end of the bone is yes there's space there
so i didn't run into a couple of classical musicians down at stanford just gonna grab them they had
viola's and and violence and i cannot ask them to an embedded visitors a space that
so i just wanted to share that really there's something you know fascinating that's really great shot me though it is what i tried to say is in everyday life we experienced as the booted we experienced the buddha dharma we don't have to go to a monastery necessarily to see that
it's like if is right in front of us if we can see that just like that blade of grass
as far as the one in the many the space of a stillness an activity is important to not get attached to one side or the other we think things are moving but when there's a glitch where there's a depiction by an artist we can actually see there's
there's a little space there and as as our practice saddles and quiet where we can perceive that and actually tastes that just like when you add a few a take a for full of food you can actually feel the subtle differences and flavors of versus just and as eating
distant it to thanks again
ah next thank you for the questions i think that gag katie or caddy le monde as she heard ah could you a time like you can hear me yes when is actually from can thank you ross net
i'm hovering on taken by the or hot for me he can sit on a commotion
and on that
if we do not accept people we participate in our stuckness and in there i forget the word hobby
we have we don't allow them to change and we persist in our own stuckness am i i believe that's true that's that's my experience but i wondered if you could maybe share why that's the case why our ideas
i'm or how are our ideas limit other people's growth
in our interactions i'm i'm curious to understand that with a little bit more nuance and texture
with a good question

i'm reminded of a when so duro she says when he meets people in docusign
but there is no a
there's a perception or of awareness if someone in front of him but there's no story
they really the person fresh and so when i uh
when we are in dialogue like right now we're dialogue i see you and katie and
that literally kept their so already have an idea or perception of what that must feel like when with be like and not even meeting with you how already you a story going on in my yet and that limits our relationship and that it limits the depth of our relationship
well as to why well that's an interesting story because it's about me is my story somebody go on it and when that little story out whereas to be a neutral that ahead or behind to be a neutral and to receive your story ah invoice visually and all rest
the scott does that are playing out here it enables us to have a an actual relationship versus des amis ah your dislike audience miranda's your audience how as that atlanta and even in a conversation we can go for went to the others though the war to kind of stay
they i grounded in received completely is that touched you left yeah thank you very much that that answered correctly yeah good yeah well it's think you can think again
mm think is we get
on i think of a final question dan harden and inviting you do lower your blue hand and unmute yourself
thank you so much yes and thank you ross ah hey at try to think of exactly how to phrase this i was thinking about the you cutting the carrot and the carrot cutting you and i was going back between you and the carrot and i was thinking wow
here's the knife and all of this and you know i was thinking
maybe i'm focusing too much on the knife and the point is to just
be cut if if that makes any sense and i don't quite know it my question is bad
well i was just looking for the knife i guess yeah
well there's a there's enough information there for me to give a response offer response
one of the first experiences i had of ah hell no separation so to speak was i was sitting in the zendo and i had a a ball in my hand please are with in hand which is andrew little bell here at
and i was he and i felt a bowl and my hand and my chopsticks and all of that and a certain point the bowl wasn't there my hand whether they're just all one one piece which is is always that way but are we tend to chop things up so to speak or divide things up and has happened
so actually conscious of the knife i was conscious of the night when i was a gonna be asparagus so that's the many five with at the same time there's also the oneness of it and when we are
swimming you know we we practice our swim strokes but if we just talk is so much on the strokes will say we have to let go of the form of the strokes and swimming and just go down the river this that's the best way i can explain it so it's always
ways there and once in a while that curtain is pulled back and we get a little glimpse into something that is
a different different view a more holistic view with you will