Good morning. Can everybody hear me? Sound is okay? Good, good. So we're starting to have some very crisp autumn mornings. It's kind of lovely compared to all the heat we've been through. So it's a blessed relief and beautiful. This morning... going to talk about a section of the text we've been studying as part of Aspects, the Dogen's Guidelines for Studying the Way, or Gakudu Yojin Shu. And the section I'm going to be talking about is number three. It's entitled, In the Buddha Way, You should always enter enlightenment through practice.

[01:03]

So that seems kind of self-evident. It's always a little tricky in reading Dogen because sometimes he verges on self-evident and it turns out to be more complicated or perhaps more simple. So his words suggest perhaps a a causal relationship between practice and light, but that's not really what he's really getting at, of course. And the limitations of our language often lead us astray into thinking that things are related in such a way. So this is one of Dogen's. attempts to talk about the nature of these two indivisible aspects of our awakened body-mind, enlightenment and practice.

[02:14]

And the more I read of this, the more I studied, I came to feel like this particular section and probably many of the other sections of this text are kind of comments on Dogen's instructions for Zazen. So I'm going to refer to the Fukan Zazengi as part of this talk. So in a large sense, I find that Dogen's words are kind of trying to talk about effort and all inclusiveness and to kind of disabuse us of any limitation, idea of limitation about practice, realization regarding who and how the practitioners are and any idea that there's no effort involved.

[03:22]

So, One of the things I wanted to do is to slow down a little bit, because it's easy to kind of race through and miss some of the nuances. So I'm going to try and do that. Now, I'm going to read a couple of things, which I thought were relevant to this. I'm a member of a Dharma group here at Berkeley Zen Center that includes people with health conditions, chronic health conditions. And we've been studying a brief talk by Sojin. We're not entirely sure what the provenance of this talk is or who edited it, but it seems like it's a talk by Sojin. And then there's a subsequent editing by him as well.

[04:31]

It's called Why and How. and distinguishes the question of why from the question of how. And Sojan makes the point that how is really the more relevant question for Zen students. So in the middle of this, he talks about, it starts off It starts off talking about how to prepare for sashim, and Sojin says, just show up. But anyway, he says, it's seven days of letting go, of dropping, of no clinging, no discriminating, not chasing away evil thoughts, not coveting good thoughts, no holding on to the wonderful states of mind, not rejecting painful states of mind, just being fully present.

[05:40]

That's all. Maybe the most difficult thing we can do. So I think what Dogen is trying to do is to, in this section, is to point us to, or to, to lay that most difficult thing to do squarely in our laps and not give us an idea that we can kind of slide by by thinking about it or not addressing it directly. But at the same time, not falling into doing something perfect. So the focus is on sincere effort in practice which calls forth awakening. That's what Dogen's saying. Practice calls forth awakening. But does not cause it, since awakening is inherent in practice, is not separate, nor is it identical with awakening.

[06:42]

So the question is, how is this non-dual awareness manifest in everyday practice? Dogen starts off this section Saying, a worldly teacher says, through study one can gain wealth. Buddha says, within practice there is enlightenment. So he's using this analogy of so-called worldly activities as one way in which there's an example of how if you focus, if you study, you'll produce a beneficial result. But it's not as though, so it's not, he's trying to point to the fact that accomplishments or gain of some sort in our worldly activities is enhanced by thorough application, thorough and sincere effort over time.

[08:03]

And Buddha is trying to say enlightenment from within practice, enlightenment arises. Sincere practice. It cannot cause enlightenment, but somehow wholehearted devotion to that activity. is, you find awakening. So I'm going to read a little piece by the Fukan Sezenki. This is a paragraph. where Dogen talks about Zazen.

[09:07]

And he gives lots of specific instructions about how to sit, how to prepare the space. And then he talks a little bit more about his attitude. Now, the Phukang Zazengi I'm reading from here is the one published in Dogen's extensive record. There's a Zazengi, a shorter version, which I think was composed later. It's in this book, Moon and Dewdrop. So this is what I'm reading. Here we are. The Zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the Dharma gate of joyful ease. The practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the koan realized. Traps and snares can never reach it.

[10:10]

I think of traps and snares as kind of our thinking mind. Thinking we can trick something. You know, we can trick our mind to believe something. If you grasp the point, you are like a dragon when he gains the water, like a tiger when she enters the mountain. For you must know that the true Dharma appears of itself, that from the start dullness and distraction has struck us on. I really like this metaphor of the dragon and the tiger. Something about beings of great presence and energy entering fully into a powerfully wild world in complete harmony. It evokes arousing bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment, or recollecting the Buddha.

[11:15]

The tiger is so completely enters the mountain that you can't see her even though she's there. Within this Section 3 of the Guidelines for Practicing the Way, you should always enter enlightenment through practice. Togin also says, though practice varies initiated by faith or Dharma knowledge. In other words, he's not saying what is the right to correct practice. He's saying it could be initiated by faith or Dharma in faith or study with an emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment.

[12:27]

There's an indication of his inclusiveness. It's not like he has to be sudden or gradual. You always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. I think going on beyond enlightenment is... This kind of speaks to the nature of awakening itself in that awakening is going beyond. And if it's not going beyond, it may be that you're resting on your laurels or something. So that's an important phrase there. He goes on, the study can be superficial or profound, and students can be sharp or dull. Accumulated studying, that is, in my words, paying attention to what you're actually doing, earns wealth.

[13:36]

He says, you should know that arousing practice in the midst of delusion. You attain realization before you recognize it. Again, he's pointing to something we don't normally think about because we're too deluded to realize that we're awakened. So he's kind of like holding a great basket of awakening here that's associated with all sorts of effort and all qualities of attention and so on and so forth. So depending on practice, to go beyond enlightenment in the midst of delusion is the direction in which we're going.

[14:47]

the character and intent of practice is not to gain something, but for its own sake, practice is for its own sake. So in the next section, number four, where he talks about avoiding practice for the sake of gain, I'm gonna read something here. It says clearly, Buddhadharma is not practiced for one's own sake, and even less for the sake of fame and profit. Just for the sake of Buddhadharma, you should practice it. And a couple of lines later, he says, all Buddhas, compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither for their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of Buddhadharma. I think this is a great line. There's no purpose or intention.

[16:06]

This is a strong statement, so take it with a grain of salt. But there's no purpose and intention inherent in Buddha's compassion and sympathy for sentient beings. That's just the nature of Buddha Dharma. It's just the way it is. So, how to practice without falling into the pitfalls of doing and accomplishment And it's all one-ism, or withdrawal. How to be fully engaged without fixating on the outcome, without falling into an over-focus on an imagined result, or withdrawing into a mind fog of delusive thought, or perhaps worse, over-focusing on delusive thought.

[17:08]

So Dogen is... is creating this problem for us, about how we function with practice and enlightenment, without grasping onto it, without trying to turn it into something real, and without thinking that our effort is done. So in the Fukkan Tzengi, Dogen explains pretty well what he means in concrete terms. He's kind of providing a template or metaphor for practice. He refers specifically to zazen, but his words also give us a clue about what sort of attitude to take. I'm going to read something from Dogen's extensive record across my extensive desk.

[18:22]

He said, This goes to also all inclusiveness as well. He says, for practicing Zen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately, put aside all involvements and suspend all affairs. That means your to-do list. That means what you're gonna have for lunch. That means the calls you're gonna make to family members. So find a way to arrange your time and space so that you can do nothing. Do not think in terms of good or bad. That's not easy to do. Do not judge true or false. There's another rabbit hole you can go down. Give up the operations of mind, intellect, and consciousness.

[19:47]

Stop measuring with thoughts, ideas, and views. This is where it gets really challenging. Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This is pretty much stopping everything for a moment, then going beyond. Anyway, he says, how could that be limited to sitting or lying down? So he's pointing to that aspect of our understanding and practice, which is that it extends everywhere. And there is no circumstance or time when practice is not applicable. Practice in awakening is applicable at each moment. I was thinking a little bit about my condition.

[21:02]

I've been having a lot of trouble with walking. And been practicing a lot of different ways, approaches to actually getting myself across the room or around the block or whatever. And getting a lot of excellent coaching from my wife. who is an Alexander Technic teacher. And she gave me this little book the other day. I'm going to show it to you. You probably can't. Is it backwards? It's probably backwards. Anyway, it's called How to Walk by Thich Nhat Hanh. And if you know anything about Thich Nhat Hanh, you know that he does love to walk. But this little book has about 100 short paragraphs. It looks to me like they're extracted from various sources of his writings. But this is one I wanted to share with you.

[22:06]

It's called Sleepwalking. We're in such a rush, looking for happiness in one place and then another. We walk like sleepwalkers. We walk like sleepwalkers, without any enjoyment of what we're actually doing. We are walking, but in our minds, we are already doing something else. Planning, organizing, worrying. There's no need. There's no more need to run. Every time we return our attention to our breath and our steps, it's as if we wake up. Every step brings us back to the here and now. We can touch the earth. and see the sky and notice all the wonders in between. In each step there is the possibility of mindfulness, concentration, and insight. I was thinking of just opening this at random, reading to you, but I ran across this one and I thought that would be good.

[23:18]

So walking can be, you know, lazy, impatient, an excited walk, a tired walk, a depressed walk, or an exuberant walk, a balanced and energized walk. So I try to spend some time each day walking just for the sake of walking because not only do I find out something about practice, I also created a space where I'm actually able to access walking for its own sake, access components of walking that show me how to proceed sort of in a balanced and upright way, very naturally. as best I can, anyway. So, the message here that took that on is saying, well, I don't know what he's saying, but he says, when you're walking and you start doing other things, just stop and do the other things, like talk to your friend or have a snack or something and then walk.

[24:54]

But in any case, we're often walking to accomplish some task of going to the grocery store or going to a car or whatever. And I think it's important to realize that that affects our balance and coordination, our intention, how we're holding our intention. So it's not that having an intention for a desired outcome is wrong, but it requires awareness as to how that thought may be affecting our body-mind. Choice leads to action, action leads to inclination of the body. And in many case, in my case, we're going to start going like this. And it's true, obviously, it's insidious as well. If you're thinking about going leave, you're thinking how much you're enjoying being sleepy. You're probably enjoying it like that, or maybe not.

[25:56]

But anyway, everything you think has a follow-on consequence. So awakening to awareness of breath and posture practice, you fully enter where and what you are at this moment. It is a manifestation. This is a manifestation of enlightenment. Practice in a moment of practice slash enlightenment. Just noticing a shift away and return to presence. So I'm going to give another example, which is more subtle. It has to do with when you notice The noticing of intention.

[26:58]

Sometimes we talk about always returning to practice, always returning to presence or practice. And sometimes I feel like that way of putting it assumes that there's some place to return to. When in fact, you're just going beyond. So with this understanding, consider how it is when you notice something that you're drifting away from, you're just noticing that you're drifting away from your intention, or you're just drifting away from awareness of your intention, no matter how you're holding that intention. There's some quality of getting foggy about it.

[28:01]

And you notice that. That is a moment of awakening. And then you practice holding that intention. You find yourself practicing holding intention and going beyond that moment of awakening. And so on. So, As Sojan said, this is perhaps the most difficult thing to do. And Sashin is designed to kind of make it possible to engage with the most difficult thing to do. But what is the nature of difficulty? Difficulty is often encountered when we're wanting something, we're wanting to accomplish some desired outcome, or we want ease, or we want, or we have some pain.

[29:14]

So what kind of, what kind of difficulty calls forth some effort? And what is the nature of that? Difficulty is when we're wanting to keep our attention focused on something for some purpose. And we find we are diverted by something else. So then it becomes the thing we wanted to do becomes difficult. So what is, how do we deal with that? With some effort? And what kind of effort? Let's try, right effort is this, is traditionally the skin considered to be, it's sort of fourfold.

[30:27]

It's sort of like, As explained in the Eightfold Path, right effort is one, discourage the arising of latent evil. In other words, your own sort of inbred tendencies to fixate on goals. That's an example of that. Something that, you know, a habit of yours that you're aware of, or only become aware of when it's happening. Number two is abandon existing unholdsome states. Perhaps you're over-focused on some imagined outcome. You're already in the thrall of your desire to get something done. Turn away from that.

[31:32]

or pay attention to it carefully. Change the situation, how you're existing in your body and mind. Number three is encourage potential good attitudes. Recollecting the Buddha, which is a traditional meditation, is a good way to encourage potential good state of mind, and preserve hopes and states of mind, perhaps by making the effort of appreciative gratitude for one's own well-being. So practicing with... I have a phrase written in here.

[33:06]

which I think is displaced. It says, it's not what you do, but how you do it. Stop. This is something I have to do a lot, is stop. And I can't get out of my primary techniques for Loosening myself from the grip of my delusions. Coming back, finding a way to come back to balanced body and mind. In walking, there's a moment when things are going well. At both feet, there's a very, very very small moment when both feet are off the ground.

[34:10]

I don't know whether that's true or whether it's just a great way to think about walking, but you're finding balance between two factors of support on the ground and flexibility. And again, another way to kind of interrupt the flow fixated thinking. He's walking backwards. There's a thought, a memory I'd like to share. I think it was in Tassajara in 1983. And The abbot, Richard Baker Roshi, was away at a, I believe, all the details around this, I'm a little fuzzy about, but he made a point and clear about it.

[35:25]

So he was away on a trip to New York, part of which, part of which Part of the purpose of the trip was to participate in a very large demonstration. And I can't remember what the occasion was. Perhaps some of you were there. Who knows? But a number of students came from Zen Center and joined in. And Thich Nhat Hanh was also there. And there was a very large number of people. And it was, I had in my mind, I had sort of long streets, blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks. It was just solid people walking. And somebody noticed that at some point, there got to be a gap, a huge gap between one or two blocks or something like that.

[36:34]

between one group and another group. And in the front of the second group, Thich Nhat Hanh was walking. And so everybody else around him was walking with him. And he was just very clear about how he wanted to walk. And it produced a slightly different pace, but everybody seemed to be enjoying it. Anyway, I treasure that. I treasure that thought. It's like mindfulness is really powerful. Let's see. So I think I'm going to stop at this point in between your comments or questions. You have a little bit of discussion perhaps. Someone can explain to me how that works.

[37:42]

Thank you for your explanations today, Peter. As you all know, just please raise your hand and I'll call on you. Hozan Sensei, please unmute yourself and ask a question or make a statement. Thank you for the talk, Peter. It's a wonderful talk. I've been thinking a lot about this fundamental question, how? Let's see, I just want to check one thing here. Yeah, so I'm on the right microphone. I've been thinking about this fundamental question,

[38:46]

that Sotchan really clarified for us over and over again the question how. What I'm curious about is when do you need to also or alternately investigate why? Is there a time for that? And when is that time? That's a good question. My immediate response, which perhaps is not the result of deep reflection, is that... is something around the periphery of how. Excuse me.

[40:00]

Something about clarifying your intention. It's useful. Go ahead. Just clarifying your intention. The intention is, how will I do something? But the clarification also includes why, to some extent. I think it does include why, to some extent. But I think we... My intuition says... We give too much attention to why. Perhaps it's not the best use of our time at a certain point. Thank you. Team Heiko, somebody in the room has a question.

[41:05]

We have two questions. Should I go first? I thought you raised your hand. I have one question. I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Thank you. Okay. So your talk, I really felt like really wonderfully dove into the nitty gritty of our experience on the cushion and our experience of our attention. So my question was, in your practice, do you have any... Do you perceive the application of a technique in Zazel or not? Technique. I think it's one of those...

[42:12]

Parts of Zazen where it's useful, but then you have to abandon it. Yeah, yeah. There's something, there's some piece of it. It's like reading the Fukun Zazengi. It starts off talking about something which could be read as application of a technique. But then, he tells you to go further. That's really great. Thank you so much. That was a really beautiful talk. Thank you. Is there another question from Heiko, you guys? No? Heiko, go ahead. The question of Hozon and the question of why, my instinct was to question that why leads down the hole of gaining mind.

[43:28]

Would you say that there's something to that or how would you think of that? Something to what? Excuse me. I'm sorry. It leads us toward gaining mind or the tendency to with why is because. And then with because is I want, and then after I want is so on, you know, the rabbit hole of gaining mind. So how versus why is why not. So when you encounter gaining mind, is that the question? Does it drive you to the question of gaining mind? Yes. The question of why. or when you're dealing with gaining mind, question of why. It's sometimes when you're right up against it, it seems like

[44:43]

why is trying to get out of it trying to get out of the problem when you're when you're not stuck on something you're not you're not so directly involved in how how am i going to deal with this And so why can be involved in matters of understanding the context? And that may be of limited use. There may be of some use. but it's not the same as how am I actually going to deal with this?

[45:50]

I don't know if that clarifies anything or not. It makes it clear that it's a very difficult question and your insights are helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Hannah Mira. Peter, thank you. Hi. Hi. deep place you've taken us. So I loved what you said, the tiger so completely enters the mountain that you can't see her even though she's there. I'd like more about that. I'm wondering, is that related to the way Thich Nhat Hanh was walking in his section of the demonstration? Very interesting. You could say that because I imagine the scene is such that you could not really see who was leading the session of the march.

[47:07]

You know, if you knew anything, you'd probably notice the guy in the brown robe or something like that. I imagine that everybody was entering the mountain together. But the tiger. Yeah, the tiger. The tiger so enters the mountain that, you know, he or she is indistinguishable from the rest of the... the rest of the tigers or whatever they are. And from the point of view of the tiger, it's just joy. Is there anything else that comes up for you?

[48:21]

Well, there's the rocks and the trees and everything around her. I love the joy. Well, it's all of that, too. The joy from its inclusion of everything without limitation. Thank you. Susan Marvin. Hi, Peter. Hi. Thank you so much for this wonderful talk. I love this question of how versus why. So I was wondering what you think about this. Like, why seems to take us right into the thinking mind. Yeah. And how maybe more connected to a response in the moment.

[49:26]

And, you know, this connection of hearing and thinking and practicing all in one and forgetting the self, you know, this pause where we notice the stillness and then the response, which doesn't come from... you know, may not come from like the Susan mind, but come from, you know, awakening in that moment, the way that you described it earlier. And my question is, you know, when you were talking about having difficulty with walking, might you say something about that difference between, you know, why is this happening and how you respond in the moment? Yeah. Okay. I wanted to respond first to what you said earlier. in that we think the thinking mind is the kind of separate world.

[50:29]

But I think how includes the thinking mind. We get so excited about our thinking mind. There's so much value placed on it that we kind of think of it as this kind of separate entity. And getting all sorts of trouble, paying too much attention to it, all that kind of thing. And I think it's important to remember that in awakening, thinking mind is there. It's just finding its proper place. And with regard to walking, yeah, that's really interesting. I can sort of say, you know, the why is maybe some habits of body-mind from the past, the deep past. Maybe it's just this condition we observe and classify as Parkinson's or something like that.

[51:38]

But the how is really about... In some ways, the why doesn't really matter at this point. The how is... I've got the situation. I'm observing these things about my body and my movement. And how am I going to meet those? What is the most, you know, there's no real alternative to have at this point. So every once in a while, it's important to go to the neurologist, you know, and sort of entertain why for a while. or to learn something about it. It gives you a fresh perspective. But in the moment, it's just how. Thank you, Peter. It sounds like in the first part of your response, what you were saying is that why is included in how.

[52:46]

I mean, I kind of got that from what you were saying. I like that. I don't know if picturing it is included in how it's really the useful way to look at it or it's just there to get functioning harmoniously. Thank you so much. Joan and Jeff. Good morning. Thank you. Let me know if you can hear me. Okay. When I wanted to say thank you, the question of why often plagues me. And the response to how is if the response to how is just show up, which

[53:49]

is a useful response, then why also can be answered more easily or so it feels as I listen to this. Because if I just show up, then why is I'm here? So then I don't have to wrestle so much with why and try to only figure it out without how. And if I can show up in how, by just showing up, then Y can play out in its entirety, whatever shows up with it. When you were delineating the right effort, I was carefully annotating all of my stuff. It's all written down somewhere. I'm sure it is. It's only partly written down here because I kind of got lost in number four.

[54:51]

And I was wondering if you minded repeating number four, because it felt like then I would have a complete list. Sure. Thank you. What I have before me here is preserve wholesome states of mind. And the example is appreciative gratitude for one's own well-being. Beautiful. Thank you so much. Ron Nestor. You're muted, Ron. Okay. Hi, Peter. Hi. Why do you show up at Zazen? Why? I don't know. I don't know. I don't think of that as a really useful question. Why not?

[55:54]

Because I feel so certain of it as the idea of showing up as lazen is so connected with how I'm dealing with myself. It's so connected with how that I don't want to emphasize why. because it's not a question about whether I'm going to go do it. It's not a question about my intention or my love of zazen. It's how am I going to get myself under that seat? Yeah, I understand that how is the most important thing. But Still, it seems to me there's gotta be some idea someplace. Some idea of what, I'm sorry?

[57:02]

Excuse me. I'm sorry, my voice is a little hoarse. I understand. I realize and I agree that how is the most important by far, but it seems like why has to be there It's on some level. So that's what I'm getting at, even though I know that the how is more important. Well, why goes to some awareness of my appreciation for my intention. It's... I can check in with why to understand the source of my motivation. But if I understand the source of my motivation, that still leaves me with how.

[58:07]

I understand that. But I'm just thinking, to me, it's important to acknowledge both sides of it. That's all. Yeah, I think it is important. Once I asked Sojin in the Zendo, and he was talking about gaining mind, well, why do we even come into the door in the Zendo? Why do we drive over to the Zendo to come inside the Zendo? He said, well, you know, he said, I'm talking about when we're actually sitting, about no gaining mind. So that was a pretty good answer. He said, I'm talking about what? He said, I'm just talking about once we're doing Zazen. Oh, I see. But of course, there's some kind of why, why we would be bothered to have the intention even to do that that day and come up and make that decision. I appreciate that. There's something, there's a partnership between why and how.

[59:14]

Yes, yeah, that's what I'm getting. Which one deserves or needs most attention? Well, yeah, Sojin's point was that, and actually that talk that he gave was mostly focused on sashim and sitting. So that was his frame of reference mostly. I'm taking those words, as you say them, as metaphor. That they extend everywhere. Yes. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Kabir Nabi. Hi, Peter. Thank you. Hi. Hi. So many, many years ago when I first started Dharma and there were some really difficult times and I asked one of my teachers, I said, why? He said, why not? Yeah, it's true.

[60:16]

Somebody brought that up to me just the other day. I think the context was why me and why not me. Exactly. That was, yeah. And it was sort of a satisfactory question. It just sort of like put that part of me on hold. Like, why not? And he explained, he goes, well, you know, we live in samsara. Yeah. So anyways, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Looks like we have time for one more question or something like that. Hi, Peter. Hi. Thank you for your talk. Something that came up for me in this context is the sort of ongoing dance in the sangha of how will we open the Zendo to the public and why haven't we done it in X, Y, or Z way.

[61:29]

And I was wondering what you thought of the question of how and why in the context of sangha and authority. Oh, yes. Big questions. Well, the dance between why and how needs considerable attention in that context. There's always a question of how, you know, a certain kind of how is proposed. And then that reverberates as meaning in different ways, depending on the people involved. And so I think there's this need to be sort of spacious and flexible around those questions at this time, because there's so much uncertainty and so many needs are met by showing up in the Zendo that it's hard to sort of

[62:41]

say, oh, well, maybe we should wait or, you know, this doesn't quite feel right or, you know, that's the way somebody else did it. Yeah, all those things are constantly bubbling up and they all need attention. And sometimes they're a little more on the why side and sometimes they're more on the how side, as we just use that metaphor. But I guess, The perfection of patience is called upon. I would say, yeah, in this case, for sure. Thank you.

[63:24]

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