Good morning. This morning I want to talk about posture and breathing. What we should be working toward in posture is to remain loose as well as concentrated and with upright posture.

[01:02]

There's an old saying that the person with realization is like a wooden man or woman, a wooden person. Wooden person means like a puppet. A puppet, you know, is nothing but loose bones and then you dress it up. But if you shake the pump it just goes click, click, clack, clack. And when you raise the string on the top of the head, the whole body just goes like this. That's zazen. The string that's attached to the top of the head is suspended from the ceiling. So So all the parts are independent and loose.

[02:13]

And yet, the string from the ceiling is holding it up. And the weight of the bones is giving it its shape. Or giving it its tautness. So at the same time that there's tautness, there's also looseness. So each one of these bones and joints and parts is totally independent. And when we sit, they remain independent. They're all, each one is cooperating. Each one is saying, yes, I'll do this. Sometimes, some of them are saying, no, I won't do this. I don't want to do this. Or I can't do it that way. My thing, whatever it is, doesn't bend like that.

[03:19]

But actually, all these joints and parts are independent, and they'll do. pretty much whatever this says it wants to do. Because this is the boss. And if the boss says, I'm going to do this, then would you cooperate? So you have to be friends with all of these parts. The boss has to be friends with all of the parts. Kind of like a corporation, maybe. The smallest part will give you the biggest trouble if it's not signed on, if it's unwilling to cooperate. So we're asking for cooperation between all these parts.

[04:26]

So we have to be respectful of all the parts and treat them kindly. and ask them to do this thing that we want to do. So this part is kind of making the decisions, and this part is supplying the heart or the energy. The heart is here, but the heart for practice is here. The source of effort, energy. So if you don't give each part its independence, then the parts get mixed up. And they don't know that they're independent.

[05:34]

So the extreme result of not giving them their independence is that you think that sitting Zazen is to be a statue. The statue of Buddha, you know, if you push his head over, the whole thing will go over. But as for Zen student, if I push your head over, head should be like a puppet. So all the while you're sitting Zazen, it's like, you could just do that. Like a puppet, except that you're sitting up straight. So this is the biggest problem we have in Zazen, is that we become too stiff. and two, fixed.

[06:42]

So once you assume posture, your posture is not fixed. Even though we say, sit still, don't move, the posture is slowly changing. Nothing can really sit still. Sitting still is just a kind of comparative value. It's sitting still in relation to your usual moving around, but actually sitting still, no matter how still you're sitting, the body's changing, the posture's changing. So we have to keep reasserting our posture, keep finding our posture. So we look for the perfect posture in Zazen. But as soon as you find the perfect posture, it changes.

[07:48]

And then you have to look for it again. So the work of Zazen is to continually find the right posture, continually looking for the right posture. we should make the effort to use the least amount of effort to do the most amount of work. If you push the small of your back forward, sit up straight, lifting up your sternum, and keep your head on top of your spine, that's all the effort you need. That's the entire effort of zazen, of posture. push the lower back forward, lift up the sternum slightly, keep your head on top of your spine, and the rest is just hanging out. You don't need your arms to hold you up.

[08:51]

You don't need your upper back to hold you up. You don't need your shoulders to hold you up. Simply the small of your back. and to keep your spine straight. Straight spine, as I say, is more like this, actually. It's kind of more like a... with a curve, you know? Kind of like a seahorse with a curve. And that curve is the straight spine. Some people can't sit that way. Everyone has some little exception. Not everyone, but many people have an exception. I can't sit with my spine, with my lower back pushed forward. So you sit with your more straight back. So if you need, if you can't do in that way, then you find the variation that works for you.

[09:55]

But you should at least make the effort to try before you think, I can't do that. It's the same with the pain in your legs when you're sitting. You may think, whoa, this is really a lot of pain in my legs. Maybe I should sit in a chair. Or maybe I should sit Seiza, which is fine. But we should make the effort first before we make that decision. Because everyone goes through this. It takes time for your body to adjust to Zazen. It may take you some years for your body to adjust to Zazen. For some people, they can sit Zazen posture pretty easily right away. Not so many, but many. And some people, we used to say, it takes about six months before you find your posture.

[11:06]

But for some people, it takes maybe a couple of years. And somebody else, it may take forever. But there is no perfect posture that you can maintain. If you get into your position, you think, this is the perfect posture and I'm not going to do anything, change it. Then little by little, the posture changes and then you're stuck. So during Zazen, we make minor adjustments all the time, continually making minor adjustments. Once we establish a posture, we're continually making minor adjustments. This is called not moving. So, you know, your head falls forward and you bring it back, you know, or you start to slip off to the side and you bring it back.

[12:17]

or you start to slump and then you bring yourself back. So you're always continuously readjusting your posture. When you have this kind of looseness, then it's much easier to accept discomfort or whatever comes, whatever is happening at the time. If you think, I am having discomfort, then it's not Zazen. If you think, there is discomfort in these legs. That's Sazen.

[13:19]

Just uncomfortable legs sitting on a black cushion. But our comfort, you know, how do we remain comfortable? The only way we can remain comfortable is to let everything be. You can't fight Zazen. You can't fight what's going on in your body. As soon as you start to fight, you lose. You simply have to cooperate with things. How do you harmonize with that? So,

[14:37]

If you experience some pain in your legs, which you will if you sit long enough, to let the legs be independent. Let your arms be independent. Let your head be independent. Every part is independent. When it's independent, then all the other parts can come to the aid of the one part that's having a little problem and support the part that's having a problem. So when a problem arises like that, we tend to focus on it. And then that becomes the big focus. because we have a sense of self.

[15:40]

It becomes a big focus and we attach to it right away. If we let our mind accept everything equally, then this is something that's happening. This is something that's happening. Breathing is something that's happening. Why should one part be more important than another? We just happen to make it more important. So if we know how to accept it, allowing ourselves to open up to it, become one with it, and not reject it, then it's just another feeling. The way we hurt ourself is to fight or try to conquer the pain.

[16:54]

You cannot conquer the pain. So Zazen is a balance between effort and ease. And we're always maintaining the balance between effort and ease. And effort is the assertive or positive side, and ease is the receptive. side. And these two balance each other out. We're always in balance. So we don't lean way back. We don't lean forward. We don't lean to this side.

[17:57]

We don't lean to that side. We simply sit straight and perfect balance. And if your head is on top of your spine, then it's much easier to balance, to find that balance point. When the head falls forward, it puts a strain not only on your back, but on your legs. So the more you can sit up straight, making the effort to sit up straight, the more it takes the strain off of your legs. So, legs are like the roots, and the body is like a tree, the trunk of a tree. And the body's, you know, in the breeze, kind of moves around a little bit, is loose, should be loose, feeling of looseness.

[19:06]

When I adjust some of your postures or even come around with a stick to hit you, some of you are like telephone poles rather than trees. Dead wood. So this is what I would like you to work toward staying loose and opening up. The more you open up, the easier it is. So, our usual reaction to intrusion is to close down. But we have to go against that natural tendency to close down and go the other way and open up to receive, to encompass.

[20:22]

So the more you encompass, the more you open up. So Zazen is opening up moment by moment, opening up, opening up to every feeling. whatever the feeling is, you open to it. Doesn't mean that you grab onto it. That's different. You know, sometimes people will say, well, the pain in my legs, so if I open up to it, it means I have to concentrate on it. No, that's not what I mean. Simply means when you open to it, then the rest of the body shares that feeling. And it's not a point that you concentrate on. Concentrate on posture and breathing. And you know, well, something's going on down there. And the feeling of relaxing your legs.

[21:30]

Relaxing your legs is like opening up. I don't know how else to explain it. Also, in posture, we have sometimes problems with our back. So maybe your back gets tired or sore. And I really want to put emphasis on stretching when you get into your position to stretch your body from side to side. And not just perfunctorily, but really feel the stretch. This is one stretch that I do. I stretch over as far as I can. And I feel the whole side and your leg, everything's stretching out. And on this side, you feel the whole thing stretching out.

[22:34]

And then to do this, induces moisture into your vertebrae. If you do this for 30 seconds, really stretch your neck, your back, then you can feel the moisture, or you don't feel the moisture, but the moisture. Because the thing that makes our back inflexible is that it dries, vertebrae dry out. And then people complain about disc problems. So I stretch every time I sit down for Zazen now, because it makes me feel so good. If I don't stretch, then my back starts to hurt. So keeping flexible, keeping stretched, and be a puppet.

[23:43]

Feel like a puppet. You know, if I come behind you with my stick and I push you over, you should just go like that. But I push you over and go... I don't know how you can do it. to do that. I also want to talk a little about breathing. You know, when we teach people Zazen, give people Zazen instruction, I always say you should count your breaths on the exhale. when you exhale, you count one and then you inhale and then exhale, you count two.

[24:49]

But it's not like counting sheep, you know, leaping over the fence. It's, you're not trying to keep track. It's simply trying to be concentrated. So counting breath is like the handle of a cup. You know, you can drink out of the cup. You don't need the handle, but it's kind of a little help, you know, So I ask people to learn to count the breath at first, and then when you need the breath, when you need the counting, you know, when you're stuck, when you don't know what else to do, you always can go to counting breath. And the counting the breath is like one, it's the sound of the number is the breath. Two, at that time, there's only two. When you're counting two, there's no one, there's no three.

[25:51]

Simply everything is one or two, or whatever number it is. But you don't have to keep doing that. It's just a help. It's just a device. There are many ways of dealing with breath. But To be concentrated on breath, to watch the breath in your lower abdomen as it rises and falls. This is inhaling, and this is exhaling. Inhaling, exhaling. And just to concentrate on following the breath. Let your mind follow the breath as it rises and falls here, not at your tip of your nose, and not as it goes up and down, but simply as the rising and falling of your lower abdomen. And then at some point, you may not be even concentrated on breath.

[26:54]

If you're really sitting comfortably, with good posture, and then at some point, there's simply body, breath, and letting go of thoughts. the body is sitting settled, the mind is sitting settled, and the breath is sitting settled. No need to feel that you have to concentrate on it like a beam of light. But, you know, in Zazen you are going over all the points of posture because posture is always changing. you want to make sure that you're sitting well all the time. So when you're watching, attending to your mudra, the thumb tips touching very lightly, an oval feeling, then the mudra is in the foreground and the rest is in the background.

[28:13]

And then when you're concentrating on posture of your back, posture is in the foreground, the rest is in the background. Sometimes you're just concentrating on the whole thing at once, whole body at once. And then you go to breath. And when concentrating on breath, breath is in the foreground, the rest is in the background. but sometimes you concentrate on the whole body and breath at the same time. So it's not one thing or another. It's the body, our mind is always, our consciousness is always attending to all these parts, to each part and to the whole as well. So there's plenty to do in Zazen other than think about your laundry. or what you'd rather be doing, or something. Of course, the mind is constantly spinning out stuff.

[29:20]

That's its function. So we don't blame the mind. That's just what it does. But we keep coming back to investigation, investigating the body, following the breath. So during Zazen, Best thing is to give yourself zazen instruction continuously. Continuously give yourself zazen instruction. The head is like this, spine is like this, mudra is like this, the breath is like this. Letting go of tenseness. in the upper back, letting go of tenseness in the shoulders, letting go of tenseness in the arms. Just feel the tenseness draining out. Tension holds everything in place.

[30:25]

But tenseness is what's extra. That extra effort that's not necessary. It simply ties you up. Do you have any questions? I have a burning question. A burning question? Well, you said, one with realization is like a wooden man or woman. So, you were just talking about leg pain. What? Leg pain. Leg pain. And I was thinking, well, and you were giving us some instruction, You know, we all have some other problem that we're dealing with. So, you know, I was wondering if your teacher says, well, do this.

[31:29]

I guess I wonder sometimes if I'm supposed to be like a wooden person and just do what you say or do what I want. You should do what I say. You always do what you want. How much effort should there be in the arms and hands? In the arms and hands? Well, you know, the hands are maintaining the mudra. Very lightly, you know. It's just simply, it's no effort at all, really. I mean, it's the least amount of effort. It's simply the thumb tips are facing each other. And very lightly, it's like a piece of paper in between.

[32:35]

And then you can rest, not rest, but kind of rest the mudra up against your abdomen and your heel, if it's up there. Some people hold the mudra up here. I think that's too much effort. Down here, it's easier on your lower back. Just moving the hands up makes a whole difference in your posture, in where the feeling in your posture, in the effort of your back. So down here, anyway, is where we hold the mudra. Sometimes people hold it up here. They like that. It's OK. Sometimes this helps your lower back. But there's really no effort there at all. And your arms are just there. Now, some people say, well, you know, I have trouble holding my mudra here because my arms feel a little tense, and it kind of affects my shoulders. But if you do this, then put the reliance on the small of your back rather than on your shoulders.

[33:49]

And just let the arms fall. You can let your arms fall off. See if they will. Also, the elbows should be a little bit out. We used to say, put an egg under your armpit. But don't crack it. Just hold it there. But there's no effort. I mean, it's minimal, minimal effort. I never think about it. It comes down to what do you rely on as the basis of your posture? Well, the small of your back, if you rely on your shoulders or your upper back, then it's the wrong foundation.

[34:52]

So everything, the whole upper body, the foundation of the whole upper body is on the small of your back. And if you push the small of your back forward, then you're not resting on your tailbone. You're resting on your upper thighs. Also, in breathing, You know, we just do natural breathing. Just let the breath be what it is. But it should be down here. If you're breathing up here, it's too shallow and top heavy. So to put all the weight down here, the weight means breath, as well as, you know, it's all centered here. The mudras here, The center of your body is here.

[35:56]

This is the hara. This is called the sea of ki. The fundamental place. The rice paddies, so to speak. And we just let our breath be normal, right? Whatever it is. and just leave it be. But sometimes you can make some effort to push on your exhale. Sometimes, you know, if you find yourself with some difficulty, you just kind of concentrate on one breath at a time. When you can't get out of your difficulty, instead of panicking, you simply focus on the breath. and to push on the exhale here.

[36:56]

And that kind of aerates your body, makes it lighter actually, opens up your capillaries or something. And, um, It's kind of like a groan, a moan groan. And you can get into that groan, you know, and then it helps take your attention off of your difficulty. And then you're concentrated on one breath at a time, and you're really here. one breath after the next. You're simply present, and there's nothing but breath. And that little effort, that's very good. Zazen. Could you say something about eyes?

[37:59]

Yes. Eyes, you know, we make an effort to keep our eyes open. They don't have to be wide open, but simply not closed. But you know, your eyes get tired and you close your eyes. And then you remember, you open them again. You know, you can close your eyes if they get tired, but remember to open them. You know, maybe they feel sore, you know, so you close them, but remember to open them.

[38:32]

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