I vow to taste the truth and not to die for those words. I know doesn't practice we stop thinking and we must be free from our emotional activity too.

[01:14]

We don't say there is no emotional activity, but we should be free from it. We don't say we have no thinking mind, but our life activity should not be limited by our thinking mind. In short, I think we can say we trust ourselves completely, you know, without thinking, without feeling anything, without discriminating good and bad.

[02:25]

Without saying right or wrong, we should trust our life activity. Because we respect ourselves, because we trust completely, put faith in our life, We do not think, we do not discriminate. And we sit. That is, you know, our practice. Tentatively, this morning, my version of practice is like this, because I want to extend this kind of understanding to our everyday life.

[03:37]

Between Human relationship, for instance, should be based on this kind of understanding. If Our love between us is not based on this kind of understanding, respect, and complete trust.

[04:42]

We will not have a completely peaceful life. and relationship between ourselves and nature should be like this. We should respect everything, especially something which we... this. We are thinking about rituals and how to decorate our Buddha hall, having some beautiful Buddha and offering some beautiful flowers, you know.

[06:00]

But, Zen Buddhist says, with a leaf of, with a blade of leaf, we should create Buddha. The golden body of Buddha, which is 16 feet high, with a blade of leaves, we should create a big Buddha. That is our spirit. But here, you know, to create Sixteen feet high Buddha with a blade of, you know, lead made a great effort.

[07:17]

I don't mean to accumulate many leaves and make a clay and make Buddha. I don't mean that. But, anyway, to see, until we see the big Buddha in a small leaf, we need a great amount of, I don't say how, how much effort we need, I don't know. For someone, it may be quite easy. But for someone like me, it needs a great effort. It is much easier just to see a great God and Buddha. It is much easier.

[08:20]

But when you see a great Buddha in a small leaf. That joy may be something special, I think. But we need a great effort. My teacher, Kusudawa Ieyan, did not allow us to shut Amado, to draw Amado, more than one. We should draw it one by one.

[09:23]

Perhaps you don't know Amado. the door outside of Shoji's screen. Outside of Shoji's screen, there is wooden to protect Shoji from storm or rainstorm. At the end of the building, there is a big box for the armadillo. And, one by one, we put it in the box, you know. It is sliding doors. So, one by one, we, you know, put it in that box. So, one priest is there, and another priest is there. And if you pull, if you push five or six doors,

[10:30]

like this, another one can be weighed there and put it in the box. But he didn't like it. He told us to do it one by one. So one person can do it. and put it in and next one that is how he told us to do and it is more I think anyway it may be In that way, we will not make much noise, of course, but the feeling is quite different.

[11:45]

When you do like this, you know, the feeling we receive from it is something, you know, a lack of respect. But when you do it one by one, carefully, without making much noise, then we will have there the feeling of practice there. So, there we have feeling of dozen practice. So, even you carry, you know, even you arrange your chair, If you do it one by one, then you have complete feeling in dying group. I don't feel good

[12:49]

to practice zazen in the first floor, where we eat, under the dining room. When we practice zazen, we are Buddha himself, and Monjushri is there. When we recite, maybe, sutra, you know, we are reciting sutra underneath kitchen. I don't feel so good. But, you know, if we have this kind of feeling in each corner of the building, I think that it's much better.

[14:11]

because our practice is beyond the idea of the first floor or the second floor. But that is pretty difficult. But we should know that, you know, even though we have this kind of beautiful building, There are eight difficulties in our practice. If it is easy, when we have a complete building with a nice Buddha hall and zendo, we can practice zazen. That may be a mistake, I think. But at the same time, I know how difficult it is, you know, to practice with this spirit, this kind of breathing.

[15:32]

Because breathing is so good that there is, on the other hand, there is difficulty. Because I know, you know, I know that anyway to practice our way is not easy. It is anyway, it is difficult. And what kind of difficulty we will have.

[16:37]

It's... I know what kind of difficulty we will have. Which way we may take. This is, as you know, city zendo. City zendo. Where everyone comes and practices our way. Not only all the students, but also those who don't know anything about Zen. There is double difficulties for

[17:44]

for new students and for old students. I think old students have double duty. And new students will have difficulties of which they do not never dreamed of. So we must, all the students, must make their practice easier, you know. How to make them easier is without telling them this way or that way.

[18:52]

You should do this or you shouldn't do that. You should lead them so that they can practice our way easier. There may be various ways, but... I think our traditional way, we say traditional way, is set up. with this idea, how to help people to practice right practice.

[20:00]

We say, you know, our practice is ornament of Buddha land. Our practice itself is an ornament of Buddha, Bukkakudo Shogun. You know, even though they don't know what is Buddhism, if they come to some beautiful, you know, Buddha Hall, Then, naturally, they will have some feeling. That is, you know, the ornament of Buddha land. But, essentially, for Zen Buddhist ornament of Buddha land,

[21:20]

is the people who are practicing there. Each one of us should be beautiful flowers, and each one of us should be Buddha himself, who leads people in our practice. So whatever we do, there must be some way of doing it. And we should always think, consider about this point. Of course, there is no special rules for, you know, to treat things. to be friendly with others.

[22:33]

There's no special rules. But how we find out the way we should do at that time is to think about what will be the way to help people, to practice religious way. If you think, if you don't forget this point, you will find out how to treat people, how to treat things, how to behave yourself. And that is, at the same time, so-called bodhisattva way. You know, our practice is to help people. And how to help people is how to practice our way on each moment, and how to live in this world, and how to practice that way.

[23:59]

To stop thinking, to be free from emotional activity when we sit is not just to have concentration in our mind. It is not just for concentration. But there we have complete reliance to ourselves. to find absolute, you know, refuge in our practice. That is why we do not have emotional activity or thinking activity in our practice. We are just like a baby

[25:05]

who is on the lap of Mother. That is, that is practice. And that is how we should extend our practice, this to our everyday life. I think we have a very good spirit here in this zento and tasahara. I was rather amazed at the spirit you have. But how you should extend this spirit to our everyday life will be the next question. And how you do it is to respect things, to respect with each other.

[26:19]

When we respect things, we'll find the true life in it. When we, you know, respect plants, we find, there we find the real life, life power. and dear beauty of love. So, love is important, but more important element will be respect, and sincerity, and big mind.

[27:42]

With big mind and with pure sincerity and respect, the love could be real love. Just love, separated from those factors, will not work. Let's try hard how to make big buddha. Namo Buddhaya.

[28:42]

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