Well, welcome to Sashin. This scroll of Bodhidharma was loaned to us by Grace Shearson. She got it in Japan. It's by Soyin Shaku. Soyan Shaku was kind of like the grandfather of the Rinzai teachers in America. Their lineage has come from most of them. I don't know about Sensaku. Sasaki Roshi, but the New York, the East Coast Rinzai School is from, descended from Soya and Shaku. And I'll talk about it, but not today.

[01:02]

Later on I'll talk about that. So, I think one of the comments is Be careful because Bodhidharma is watching you. What I want to do is comment on Suzuki Roshi's talks in this new book, Not Always So. And so I'm going to start with one of his Sashin lectures, talking about attitude in Sashin, which I think is probably a pretty good idea for the beginning of Sashin. that we haven't discussed before, but it's nice to go over what he says and think about it.

[02:11]

He says that the purpose of sasheen is to be completely one with our practice. We use two Chinese characters for seshin. Setsu, which shortens to ses in conjunction with shinji, with shin. Setsu, which shortens to ses in conjunction with shin, ses and shin, which is seshin. means to treat something the way you treat a guest, or the way a student treats a teacher. Another meaning of Setsu is to control or to arrange things in order, and Shin means mind or heart. So Sesshin, Sesshin, means to have proper functioning of mind. In the meal chant, we say, natural order of mind, to resume the natural order of mind, which is actually sasheen mind.

[03:21]

Not to gain something or to create something special, but simply to, he says, resume, but allow ourself to rest in the natural order of mind. So he says, so sasheen means to have proper functioning of mind. It is our five senses and our will, or monkey mind, which should be controlled. When we control our monkey mind, we resume our true big mind. When monkey mind is always taking over the activity of big mind, we naturally become a monkey. So monkey mind must have its boss, which is big mind.

[04:26]

So monkey mind is karmic mind. desire mind, dualistic mind. And in the hierarchy of consciousness is called manas, which is the designated ego of consciousness, manas. So then he says, however, when we practice zazen, it is not that big mind is actually controlling small mind, but simply that when small mind becomes calm, big mind starts its true activity. So this is an important factor. It's not like we try to control something or let something control something.

[05:31]

control is just a way of speaking, which means that small mind is letting go of its territory and allowing big mind or true mind, non-dualistic mind, essential mind, to do its function. So the activity of small mind, although it's an aspect of big mind, blurs the activity of big mind, which is more calm. It's like a pond. When a pond has no ripples, it's called serenity.

[06:32]

And then when we drop a pebble, there are waves. So the waves are the activity of big mind as small mind. But because we're always dropping so many pebbles in the pond of big mind, we often only see or experience the ripples, and we lose sight of the pond itself. or the big mind. So, in Zazen or in Sashin, we simply stop dropping the pebbles. We just let go of the disturbing qualities or the activities of small mind and direct them toward calmness. So he says, most of the time in our everyday life, we are involved in the activity of small mind.

[07:39]

And that is why we should practice zazen and be completely involved in resuming big mind. So resuming big mind means to be residing in the calmness, in the true calmness of our mind. And he talks about concentration later. How do we maintain a calmness of mind without getting ahead of ourself or getting behind ourself?

[08:54]

How do we stay right in the center of this moment's activity without anticipating or without losing our place. As soon as we anticipate, we lose our place. You know, if we're playing one of the instruments in the service and we anticipate what's going to happen. Say I have the beater and I'm waiting for the doshi to do something and I've got the beater and I'm standing there and I'm waiting and then at the right moment I do something. You lose your place.

[10:03]

you lose the calmness of your mind. In order to retain the calmness of your mind, you have to wait until just the right moment, so that within the rhythm of what's happening, at the right moment you pick up the beater and sound the bell. But if you stand there waiting, you lose your place. It's like in an orchestra, the musicians have their instruments at ease, and at just the right moment in the piece of music, they pick them up and start playing. But if they sit, you don't see them. They're waiting for the moment to play the music. They keep the music on their lap. They keep the instruments down, and they listen, and they watch.

[11:06]

And then at the right moment, they pick them up. So they're always in time. They stay in time. And with whatever we're doing, To be in time means to be on the moment, in the moment, with the activity of just this. And this is what Suzuki Roshi is always emphasizing, to not think ahead and not fall behind, but just to be right in that moment. And when we're right in that moment, then what we do will be accurate. And we will have the presence of mind to be able to bring out the best qualities in whatever we're doing. And this goes for any activity. And this is one aspect of how we practice in our daily life.

[12:13]

It works when we're driving our cars in traffic. It works when we're relating to people. It works with whatever activity that we're engaged in. So, he says, a good example of our practice is a turtle. which has four legs, a head, and a tail. Six parts of the body, which are sometimes outside of the shell and sometimes inside. When you want to eat or go somewhere, your legs are out. But if they are always out, you will be caught by something. In case of danger, you draw in your legs, head, and tail. The six parts refer to the five senses in the mind. This is sasheen. For one week, our head, tail, and legs are inside the shell.

[13:20]

In the scriptures, it says that even demons cannot destroy us if the six parts of our body are inside the shell." What do you think of that? It sounds kind of like escaping, and in a sense it's escaping, or hiding in some place, but the meaning is Suzuki Roshi sometimes would say we're protected from within. We don't find our protection outside. We don't find our protection through using weapons or creating fortifications, even though the shell sounds kind of like a fortification.

[14:22]

But it's like we go deeper inside. We don't depend on so much. There's a time when we don't depend on seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and feeling. And we withdraw from that realm and depend on something that transcends that realm. That's what taking in those feelers means. And then, when it's necessary, we extend the feelers and enter into the realm of seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and so forth, and even thinking. So, we just withdraw from those activities, and that's protection, because nothing can touch us, even though someone threatens to cut your head off.

[15:24]

Okay, as some of the old Zen masters said, okay, you can cut off my head. It only matters when your extensors are out. In Zazen, we do not try to stop thinking or cut off hearing and seeing. If something appears in your mind, leave it. If you hear something, hear it and just accept it. Aha, that's all. No second activity should appear in your zazen. Sound is one activity. The second activity is, what is that sound? So in conscious thinking, there's just the reception of a thought or the reception of a sight or a sound. That's pure cognition without reflection.

[16:31]

And the second thought is the reflection. And then there's a third thought, which is the reflection on the reflection, which elaborates on the reflection. So the first what's called NIN, this moment's thought is simply cognizing an object of thought or an object of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and feeling or hearing. And then the second nen is reflecting. This is something seen. This is something heard. You name what it is, it's heard or seen.

[17:34]

So the second activity is What is that sound? Is it a motor car? Garbage truck or something? If you hear a sound, that's all. In other words, when you hear the sound, that's all. Whatever it is. You just hear it. Don't make any judgment. You don't try to figure out what it is. Just open your ears and hear something. Just open your eyes and see something. So I think rather just let seeing see, let hearing hear, or something is seen, something is heard. When you are sitting for a pretty long time watching the same place on the wall, you may see various images. It looks like a river or it looks like a dragon. Then you may think that you should not be thinking, even though you see various things.

[18:40]

Dwelling on the images may be a good way to kill time, but it's not Sashin. So we dwell on images, whether it's something on the wall, or something that we think, or something that we hear, and then our mind starts working on these things. So it's not necessary to do this. So drawing in the senses doesn't mean that the senses are not alive or are not active. It simply means that we just let everything go through. Something is received and then it's... So the senses are very clean. The mind is very clean. the feelings and emotions are very clean, because even though they may arise to sense whatever is passing through, just passing through is what's happening. So, it's very clean. There's no constipation.

[19:43]

It's simply a flow, easily flowing, and nothing to grab onto, nothing to hold onto at all. So then he says, to be concentrated on something may be important, but just to have a well-concentrated mind is not zazen. So, you know, sometimes we hear zazen is not a concentration practice, not one of the concentration practices. It includes concentration. doesn't mean that there's no concentration. It simply means that concentration is not selected out of all the other activities and made the center of zazen. Concentration is one of the activities, but calmness of mind is another one of the activities of mind in zazen.

[20:49]

And Suzuki Roshi actually always emphasized calmness of mind more than concentration. Because concentration tends to have a kind of purposeful gaining aspect to it. If I'm concentrating really hard then good things will happen. But calmness of mind allows big mind to arise. Concentration, of course, is important and necessary. But it should not be... We shouldn't think of concentration as the most important aspect. Concentration is like the active side. And calmness of mind is more like the passive side. if you think about it.

[21:51]

Calmness is like the ocean which receives everything. Concentration is like the active side which makes things happen. So those two should balance each other and work together because calmness tempers concentration and concentration enlivens calmness, vitalizes calmness. Because calmness will tend to sink and concentration will tend to rise. So, they have to balance each other out. So, you know, there are the seven factors of enlightened activity. And mindfulness, investigation, effort, joy, calmness, concentration, and equanimity.

[23:00]

All of these factors have to balance each other out in zazen. And then we have enlightened practice. So when one factor becomes too strong, the other factors have to balance. So they all have to be taken into consideration equally. So when we're doing zazen, practicing cixin, mindfulness keeps our attention. Mindfulness keeps us focused on what we're doing. When we lose mindfulness, we tend to wander, forget what we're doing. And investigation means, in this case, investigation of mental factors or physical. review zazen all the time, to review your state of mind and to review the state of the body, to go around the body and investigate whether or not each part is playing its part.

[24:22]

How is the mudra? How is the back? How are the teeth? How is the breathing? How are the elbows? How is the ease? So to know all the time what it is that we're doing. And effort, of course, is to keep our energy at a high level, at a good level. And joy is the feeling of success, being successful in what we're doing. Even though there's maybe a lot of pain, a lot of difficulty, by exerting our effort and keeping our attention, we feel joyful, even though we may have some big problems. And calmness is the ability to accept it all, to just let it all rest within our calm mind.

[25:32]

Concentration, of course, is to be focused. And equanimity is the balance of all of them together. So there's plenty to do in samsara. without getting wound up or caught by anything. So he says, to be concentrated on something may be important, but just to have a well-concentrated mind is not zazen. It is one of the elements of practice. The calmness of mind is also necessary, so don't intensify the activity of the five sense organs. Intensifying the activity of the five sense organs is like Making hearing special, or seeing special, or feeling special. Sometimes we make feeling... In Zazen, we often make feeling very special, because our legs hurt. And so that becomes very special.

[26:38]

And we intensify that activity. by, through our discriminating mind, through our like and dislike. Like and dislike intensifies the activity. I wish it was something else. As soon as you say, I wish it was something else, then we intensify the activity. Just leave them as they are. That is how you free your true mind. When you can do so in everyday life, you will have a soft mind. You won't have many preconceived ideas and bad habits in your way of thinking. It will not be overpowering. you will have generous mind and big mind, and what you say will help others. So that is how you free your mind. When you can do so in everyday life, you'll have a soft mind. Soft mind doesn't mean spongy, it just simply means the mind that accommodates itself to every circumstance.

[27:47]

It's not stubbornness. Stubbornness is good, because it keeps you, when it's in its good aspect, it makes you energetic and makes your will strong. But in its bad aspect, it stops you. So, soft mind is to be malleable. He gives us an example of that, actually. He says, for example, in the show Bogenzo Zui Monkey, Dogen Zenji tells a story which is told to him about an influential person, Ichijo Motooe. One day, Motooe discovered that his sword was missing. And since no one else could have broken into his house, one of his own men must have stolen it.

[28:50]

The sword was found and brought back to him. But Moto-Oe said, this is not my sword. Give it back to the one who owns it. People knew that the man who had the sword was the one who had stolen it. But because Moto-Oe didn't accuse him of it, no one could say anything. So nothing happened. This is the calmness of mind we should have, according to Doge. It's an interesting story. It's like not being attached to anything. It's very hard not to be attached to anything, to let go of something if somebody wants it. On the other hand, we should also Sometimes we have to not let go. Sometimes we have to insist that something belongs to someone.

[29:58]

So, soft mind does the appropriate thing in every situation. In this situation, his soft mind allowed him to not accuse somebody and let the person suffer with their own... hang on their own petard, so to speak. But in another case, soft mind would be to claim it. So, this is not a rule. is simply an example of one aspect of soft mind. If we have generous big mind, and if we have a strong spirit of practice, then there's no need to worry. Dogen emphasized a sparse, simple life.

[31:01]

Without expecting anything, we just practice our way. Many students ask how it would be possible to support the temple or group without any plan. And he said, if it becomes difficult to support our temple, we will think about it. But until then, it's not necessary to think about it. So before something happens, it is not our way to think about it too much. In that way, we have complete calmness of our mind. Because you have something, you worry about losing it. But if you don't have anything, there's no need to worry. We only worry when we have something to worry about. I think that's been our attitude. I remember at Zen Center, Suzuki Roshi saying, worrying that people would get too involved in creating a bureaucracy or creating some a big place which they would have to protect or which they would become too attached to.

[32:09]

And he said we should be very careful not to be too attached to our place or to what practice we have. If things change, we'll change with them. If we have to move somewhere, we'll move with it. Don't be worried about it. But that never had to happen, and I think partly because of that attitude. One night, Dogen said, even if you think a teaching is complete and right, when someone tells you a better way, you should change your understanding. In this way, we improve our understanding of the teaching forever, because you think it is right, at that time you follow the theory or rules, but you also have some space in your mind to change your idea, and that is soft mind.

[33:12]

A few weeks ago, Taiken Yokoyama brought his father from Japan, who was an abbot of his temple, and they came here and looked around And he looked at the walls and he said, you know, the walls are white. He said, usually in a zendo, the walls are dark. And I thought about that and I thought, well, that's probably true, you know. Maybe we should paint the walls a little darker, so they're not so bright on your eyes. Do you think the walls are bright for your eyes when you face the wall? No? In Rochester, Kaplow's place, the walls are this kind of beautiful beige, reddish beige color, which gives it a very different atmosphere.

[34:20]

And I remember at Zen Center, we painted the part about four or five feet down from where the people look, a darker color. At Tassajara, they're still white. So if you think that we should paint the walls darker, a little bit, not real dark, but maybe like that, a divider, It's okay with me, because I don't want you to hurt your eyes when you're facing the wall. Think about it. It is possible to change your ideas because you know what kind of monkey your thinking is. Sometimes you follow the monkey's suggestion. Oh yeah, that's right. If we go in that direction, we may get some food. Okay, let's go. But when you see a better way to go, you may say, oh monkey, it may be better to go this way. If you stick to your greed or anger or some other emotion, if you stick to the thinking mind, your monkey mind, you cannot change and your mind will not be soft.

[35:29]

So sometimes we should listen to monkey mind. You know the story about monkey? The Chinese story about monkey? Monkey is this very mischievous but very powerful character is a monkey and he can do anything and he wants to conquer the world he could almost do it but he comes up against Buddha and in the end monkey says I can go to the farthest reaches of the universe and Buddha says well where if you go there you may find me." And the monkey said, ah. And he goes to the farthest reaches of the universe and he sees these big columns. And he says, I've reached the end of the earth and here are these, because there are these huge columns, five huge columns. And Buddha says, those are my fingers.

[36:34]

So Buddha and the monkey are the same person really. a Buddha, a monkey accompanies Xuanzang. Xuanzang was the Chinese scholar, monk, who went to India to collect the sutras in around the 6th century. and very famous. So the story of Monkey is the story of Monkey finally getting together two other companions and devoting their activity to taking Xuanzang to India to get the sutras. And it's like they're the monkeys and Xuanzang is like is always getting into situations and the monkey and the others are always saving him.

[37:38]

They're always thinking of ways to get him out of his predicaments. So they're always working together. The monkey is working together with the Buddha and the Buddha is working together with the monkey. So they have this great affection for each other. and they save each other all the time. Sometimes the Xuanzang saves the monkey and his companions, the piggy and the chicken or something, and then the greed ain't delusion, right? And then sometimes they save Xuanzang, they're leading him to India. It's a great story. So in our practice, we rely on something great and sit in that great space. Not like that. We just sit in that great space. We rely on something great. That's faith. The pain you have in your legs or some other difficulty is happening in that great space.

[38:41]

As long as you do not lose the feeling that you are in the realm of Buddha nature, you can sit even though you have some difficulty. When you want to escape from your difficulty or when you try to improve your practice, you create another problem for yourself. But if you just exist there, then you have a chance to appreciate your surroundings and you can accept yourself completely without changing anything. That is our practice. To exist in big mind is an act of faith which is different from the usual faith of believing in a particular idea or being. It is to believe that something is supporting us and supporting all our activities, including thinking mind and emotional feelings. All these things are supported by something big that has no form or color. It is impossible to know what it is, but something exists there, something that is neither material nor spiritual. Something like that always exists, and we exist in that space. That is the feeling of pure being, pure existence, without relying on anything that we can name or conceive of, but just to rely on that inconceivable

[39:58]

Snoring. No snoring allowed. If you are brave enough to throw yourself into zazen for seven days, a little bit of understanding will help your rigidity and your stubbornness. Almost all the problems you create because of your stubborn mind will vanish. If you have even the smallest understanding of reality, your way of thinking will change completely and the problems you create will not be problems anymore. But it is also true that as long as we live, we will have problems. So don't practice Zazen to attain some big enlightenment that will change your whole being or solve all our problems. That is not the right understanding. That may be what people call Zen, but true Zen is not like that. In Sashin, we concentrate on having the experience of true practice, forgetting all about any idea of gaining anything.

[41:07]

We just sit here. If this room is too cold, we'll make it warm. And if your legs become painful, you can stretch them. And if it is too difficult, you can rest. But let's continue our practice for these seven days.

[41:20]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ