I have to chase the truth of that detective's words. In the Mumonkan, in case number 16, Zen Master Unmon says, why at the sound of the bell does everybody put on their robe and go to the Zen Dojo?

[01:27]

And to expand it a little bit, Why, when there are so many other things in this world to do, at the sound of the bell, does everybody put on their robe and go to the zendo? In other words, why do this? How do you choose what you're doing? On what basis do you choose what you're doing? There's an infinite variety of activities. What brings us to this activity? The fact that we're here is a pretty good indication that we

[02:32]

understand something. Sometimes in our practice, in Zen practice, we talk about realization or kensho, some kind of sudden understanding. But why we're actually practicing is because of our realization. Even though we may not have a clear picture, or we may not be able to verbalize or even understand it. Still, there's something very deep that corresponds to and wants to meet itself in practice.

[03:43]

I think sashin, or one day sitting, like this is very important part of our practice. In this kind of intense embracing, sasheen means something like embracing mind. We meet ourself in a way that we can't do in any other way. Even though all of our activity, of course, is meeting.

[04:53]

We don't have the same it's hard to have the same kind of realization as we have when we sit. And even though sasheen, or sitting long, has its difficulties, our desire for it is very strong. Today, this morning, everybody, almost everybody was late. If we have sincere effort, then our realization will be pretty deep. But if our effort is half-hearted, our realization will be very shallow.

[06:01]

We may have some realization, but strictly speaking, our realization will probably be very shallow. And usually, our realization is proportionate with our amount of effort and sincerity in practice. That's why we don't stress your understanding, but what we stress is your actual practice. We don't ignore understanding, understanding without real effort, real practice. It's just like a picture book.

[07:06]

So how we learn our Zen, how we immerse ourselves in practice, how we get true understanding, we say, through our pores. Not so much through our ears, but through our pores. So, unless we present ourselves whole body, whole body and mind. Nothing happens. If we want to learn non-discrimination in its true sense, the easy way is through this practice.

[08:12]

A comfortable way is through this practice. Dogen talks about zazen is just a comfortable way. Not learning meditation, but just a comfortable way to enter the door of non-discrimination. So if you think that zazen is uncomfortable, you should look at the rest of your life. This morning, because most everybody was late, I hit everybody with the stick. And some people who weren't late

[09:23]

got hit with a stick. Everybody got hit with a stick. And some people were very surprised. I wasn't late. Why are you hitting me with a stick? Sometimes the stick is for punishment, and sometimes the stick is for praise. Hitting with a stick has various meanings, but if you're good, you should get hit with a stick. If you're bad, you should get hit with a stick. So, some people got hit with the stick because they were on time, and some people got hit with the stick because they were late.

[10:33]

You should understand this kind of activity. This is how we approach zazen. Without the thought of good or bad, what happens to us is what happens to us. Our life is our life. How we accept our life, how we accept this life, in its true sense, beyond our discriminating mind, just as it is. If we know how to do that,

[11:55]

No matter what happens to us, we always feel comfortable. So Dogen's comfortable way is a kind of koan. When we first hear about Dogen's comfortable way, it always makes us laugh. That Dogen's always choking. But comfortable way is a big koan. How can you be comfortable in this life? Pretty hard. How can you be comfortable with all the difficulties, real difficulties, in any situation?

[12:58]

If you can be comfortable in any situation, then you're your own master. If you know how to have composure, Don't lose, if you don't lose your composure in any situation, we'll all bow down to you. We talk about, sometimes about, we call this lay practice, lay person's Zen practice, Buddhist practice, practicing Buddhism, and sometimes

[15:10]

People make a distinction between lay practice and priest's practice. And we're always talking about this. I'm always talking about this. But I don't like so much to talk about lay practice. I'm getting really tired of that kind of term. It means people who live at home and practice. people who live in the world and practice. But our lay practice, so-called lay practice, is not the same as lay practice that people usually associate with Buddhism. It's just practice. any one of us can practice wholeheartedly and with sincerity if we really want to.

[16:22]

The demands of life are very strong and in order to practice we have to make a special effort to do this instead of something else. And I really admire all of you for practicing. And I think that the effort that you show that's put forth in your practice is and will be a good example for other people. When they see the benefit of practice manifesting in your life, your life will be a good example.

[17:33]

But Zen practice takes a long time. In the beginning, you know, sometimes we have some immediate result. Usually in the beginning we have some immediate result, and our life changes somewhat. And because of the contrast between our old way and our new way, you can see some immediate result. But as we go along in practice, the contrast between our old way and our new way gets kind of obscured. And then we just find ourself in practice without any obvious change or some obvious benefit. And we wonder, is there something to this or not?

[18:45]

And we wonder about it. Maybe I should go on to something else. Usually, in our speedy life, we're looking for various kinds of highs. And we see Zen practice as another kind of high. And then when it looks like the usual thing, we start looking for something else. Well, what's the next thing to get me high? But Zen practice is more like a glacier than a landslide. It moves like a glacier, and your whole life a practice moves like a glacier. But it also has, if you move with it, your life will have the power of a glacier. Maybe three quarters of an inch a year or something.

[19:56]

If you want to measure your movement, maybe an inch and a half or three quarters of an inch in a year. But since our practice is endless, we shouldn't worry about it. But whether we have lay practice or monks practice or just practice, the quality of our practice cannot be different. We have the opportunity to practice quality in all of our activities.

[21:04]

The quality of our practice should be in all of our activity. When you sit, you just sit completely with total freedom. When you wash the dishes, you just wash the dishes with total freedom. When you're driving your car, you're just driving your car with total freedom, total immersion. I notice, you know, little things about how we take care of our practice in the Zen dome, within this sphere.

[22:06]

And I see, you know, how careless we are. Zen practice means mindful, careful practice. When someone sees somebody practicing a mindful, careful practice. That's an example. The only way we can teach and learn is by example. And the only way that we can actually practice is mindfully and carefully. Strictly speaking, when we walk, say during sashing, when we're walking around, you know, we should have our hands in shashu, like this.

[23:23]

Not, you know, in our pockets. You walk around with your hands in your pockets, you know. That's... you're thinking about something. Thinking about something else. During this time, you should only be thinking about just exactly what your body is doing. What is my body doing now? It's walking around. So the hands have got a place. This is the form of the hands. Not like this, in the pockets. As soon as you put your hands in your pockets, you're someplace else. so This is how we keep our attention up, how we keep our attention focused.

[24:43]

And Zazen, you know, is just this form. So all day we keep our attention focused on just this form. And when we walk, we keep our attention focused on just walking. There's no time during Sashin that's out of time, that's out of the practice. So, walking, sitting, even speaking, you know, we only talk when there's some necessity. But that talking, that speaking, should also be mindful speaking. And when we sit down to rest, that resting should be mindful resting.

[25:50]

And when you go to the bathroom, that activity should be a mindful activity. Pretty much, you know, we make the effort to do one thing at a time. Just this thing, and the next moment, this thing. Sometimes we have to do two things at a time. But if we're doing two things at once, then we should be mindful of two things at once. And when our mind starts wandering, at any time during the day, we should bring our attention back to what are we doing, just like when we're sitting. So moving around is the same as sitting down. And we bring our attention back just in the same way we do when we're sitting.

[27:02]

If we practice this way consciously, over and over, we'll be able to penetrate zazen. But we have to have a strong desire to penetrate zazen. That should be uppermost. A strong desire to penetrate all the way through. And how we extend this kind of activity into our daily life, either consciously or not consciously,

[28:43]

How we manifest and bring some benefit to people is important. When we really become totally free, you know, we can give ourselves to people. Before we're totally free, we're always holding back, holding ourselves back. But real freedom means to be able to give yourself unreservedly. That's the freedom, real freedom that we have through practice. If someone asks for something, we give it. at least what we can give.

[29:54]

When you really penetrate through and through, you realize that there's nothing else. And then you realize what a great relief it is to be rid of the burden of ourself. Buddha, you know, Shakyamuni Buddha, if you read the old scriptures, He's always talking about laying down the burden. So-and-so laid down the burden, has done what has to be done, and has laid down the burden, burden of himself.

[31:03]

We have this weight, you know, on our shoulders, which is our self that we're carrying around. We carry this big sack of ourself around and it's quite heavy. When we can let that go, we will feel very light and unburdened and free to do anything. The benefit of this practice should be to help us to get rid of the burden of ourself. That's the goal of practice.

[32:09]

Do you have any questions? Thank you very much.

[32:42]

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