Good morning. Well, today is the last day of our seven-day Sashin. We've been sitting for seven days, from morning to night. And we've been studying several things. I think I began by talking about the seven factors of enlightenment. This is Rohatsu Seshin, it's called, commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment, December 8th. 7th, 8th, depending on where you are in the world.

[01:08]

So it's appropriate to talk about Buddha's enlightenment, but I'm going to talk about it today from various standpoints. The seven factors of enlightenment. Mindfulness, Investigation, Effort, Ease or Settledness, Joy, Concentration and Equanimity. These are all and I've talked about how all of these qualities are present in Zazen. kind of funny places was investigation.

[02:12]

Investigation has several meanings. Investigating the Dharma, investigating our practice, investigating our mental faculties, investigating our feelings, and so forth. In India, one of the most studied, one of the ways that Indians people studied the Dharma, because Indians tend to be very intellectual, and they studied the Dharma by analysis, by analyzing. medical journals or medical books are full of analysis of the body.

[03:17]

And every little part of the body is analyzed and categorized. And what the Abhidhamma practitioners did was analyze and categorize all of the all the facets of our mind and consciousness as well as the body. When we read the Heart Sutra, the Heart Sutra says that all five skandhas, that Avalokitesvara realized that all five skandhas were empty and were saved from all suffering. So five skandhas are, and the analysis form, which is our body, and the rest are the analysis of our mind. Feelings, perceptions, mental formations, which are karmic formations, consciousness, those are mental.

[04:25]

The first one is rupa, body, body analysis, and then there's analysis of what we call dharmas and consciousness, the various kinds of consciousness. So this was the study of the self for the Abhidhammas. Abhidhamma means higher dharma, dharmic analysis. So they made this wonderful study, which of course is very boring, I always thought that Abhidhamma was very boring because it was all these lists of dharmas. In the Heart Sutra it says all dharmas are empty in their own being. So dharma and dharmas. Dharma means the study of reality.

[05:29]

Dharmas are the subjects of the study of reality. What are these dharmas that constitute our being since there is no self? What is there if there is no self? The three marks in Buddhism, no self, no permanence, and depending on which school you belong to, nirvana or suffering. Do you mean you belong to the suffering school? So the synthesis of that third one is nirvana within suffering and suffering within nirvana. You don't escape suffering. If you try to escape suffering, you just suffer the more. So without

[06:32]

trying to escape from suffering, which is all-pervasive, you find your freedom within suffering. Suffering is a big word, but in the unsatisfactoriness of life, you find what's satisfactory without separating, trying to separate the bad from the good. So I used to think that Abhidhamma was very boring because it had all these lists and I couldn't kind of put it all together but when I discovered Mahayana Abhidhamma and Vasubandhu it all made sense to me and became very interesting so I studied it and I think that we should all I think we should really study Abhidhamma of Vasubandhu, because when we're talking about, in the study of Buddhism, whenever you read, everything you read talks about dharma and dharmas.

[07:44]

And we kind of read through that without really knowing what it's talking about. So we should understand what that's talking about because that's the very basis of Buddhism. And it's interesting because interesting. What could possibly be more interesting than studying myself? So, there are many paths. There's the Eightfold Path, and there's the Six Paramita Path, and there's the Ten Oxfordian Pictures in Zen, and Tozan's Flag Ranks. These are paths in Buddhism. So, what I'm interested in is talking about study the self. Investigate.

[08:47]

Investigate, investigation has various meanings. Investigate or look at, or Dogen says, Master Dogen, and he's in Jokovan, says To study the Buddha way is to study the Self. So this is like investigation of Mahayana investigation within Zazen or within our practice. So Mahayana is not so... I won't say that, but Zen practice is not so analytical. We should have the basis of the analytical study, so that we understand that. And then, Zen practice is more synthesis.

[09:48]

So these are like the two schools, the two sides of Buddhism's Buddhist study. The analytical and the synthetic. Not synthetic is fake, but synthesis. So the Abhidharmas would analyze all the constituents of our physical and mental and emotional life in order to prove that there's no self. Is this self? No. Is this the combination of these things? No. You can't find the self in any combination because as Shakyamuni says, it's simply Dharma rolling along. It's just the constituent physical, mental, emotional dharmas that are in combination, continually, karmically continuing various lines of existence.

[10:56]

And they're all impermanent. But the problem with the Abhidharmas to a great extent, because although they realized there was no self in the dharmas, they thought that the dharmas were real or permanent. So the Heart Sutra is a kind of critique of denying that Abhidhamma outlook by saying all dharmas are empty. All the five skandhas are empty. Nose is empty. Everything is empty. So, emptiness means synthesis. In Mahayana we say, we are one with everything. In analysis, it says there is no everything.

[12:02]

There is nothing. Which is not the same as emptiness. Emptiness means total. Totality. Because the thing about Mahayana is non-duality. The thing about analysis is that it tends toward duality. So Mahayana and Zen practice is more centered on non-discrimination, non-duality, the oneness of both dharmas. So we have cosmic life and individual life. And our individual life is also a karmic life.

[13:03]

This is synthesis. There's no difference between our karmic life, our individual life, and our cosmic life. So when we sit zazen, we let go of everything so that our individual life no different than our cosmic life. So, on Dogon, I'm going to read from Dogon's, or talk about Dogon's Ginjo Koan. Ginjo Koan is, of course, one of the fascicles of Dogon that is at the heart of this whole Buddhist philosophy and is the touchstone for all of his writing. And the center of Genjo Kōan is five lines, which you're all familiar with.

[14:16]

He says, to study the Buddha way is to study the self. So here he's talking about how we study. What is it that we study and how do we study? To study the Buddha way is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the Self. The way that we study the Self is to forget the Self. To forget the Self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 Dharmas. To be enlightened by the 10,000 Dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. And no trace of enlightenment remains. And this traceless enlightenment is continued forever. That's a very nice line. So what does it mean to study the Buddha way? What does it mean to study the Self, when there is no Self?

[15:18]

How do we study that which doesn't exist? Well, we study it by letting go of it. That's how we do it. So, for Dogen, and for anyone who's studying Zen, we don't try to get something through our study, through our practice. Study is not quite an accurate translation. It kind of means to investigate, but really what it means is to do something over and over again. To actualize, maybe, or to be intimate with, basically. To study the Self is to be intimate with the Self.

[16:20]

Familiarize oneself? Well, that's a little... God is deep. So, deep is intimate. Intimate means one with. To be one with the Self. So, what is the Self then? If we say there's no Self, that's a kind of half-truth. If we say there is a Self, that's also a kind of half-truth. So between is and is not is where we find our intimacy. It's a lot of activity out there today. Between is and is not is where we find ourself.

[17:32]

No, there is no self, but yes, there is. And yes, there is a self, but no, there isn't. The self, what is it that's not a self? If there's no self, what is it that's not a self? If there was no self, you wouldn't have to say anything. If you stick to one side or the other, it's okay to say, there's no self. That's Buddhism. But if you stick to no self, you're attached to the idea of no self. If you stick to a self, the idea of a self, then you're caught by self. Most of us were caught by self. So Buddha says, no self. because human beings are caught by the idea of self, which is ego.

[18:40]

We call it ego. There are various meanings in the word ego. But in Buddhadharma, it means a self, an established self. So, for the moment, we address ourselves as yourself, myself. We have to say something. But the problem is that when we say something, we believe in what we say. And we don't go much further. So, Buddhadharma is the investigation of the Self, which is not a Self. So to study the Buddha way is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the Self. To forget the Self means that you realize the no-self of the Self.

[19:44]

So we say, the true Self is the whole universe. Your true body is the whole universe. You know, when we think about cosmic, it seems like it's all up there. The cosmos is all out there, and I'm here on the Earth. Almost as if the Earth is not cosmos, and as if I'm not cosmos. Each one of us is a cosmic being, actually. We're not separate from anything. We're simply manifestations of cosmic energy. So, what is our true self? Our true self is far extensive than just this body-mind of dharmas. So, we say all dharmas in their own being.

[20:49]

Own being means inherent existence. But as we know, nothing exists by itself. Everything exists as combination. So this combination, at this moment, is what I call myself. And this combination, in the next moment, is another self. Even though it looks the same. And then at some point you say, oh, he died. Or he was born. But it's simply combinations, if you reduce it to this. is reductionist thinking, combinations of dharmas forming and not forming. But then there's myself, yourself. So there are various levels of how we interpret and how we understand and how we experience.

[21:52]

when we fit in Zazen we let go of our discriminative thinking and merge with our cosmic self and then when we get off the cushion we take up our activity more egoistic You know, Dogen's experience was when he was with his teacher, he uncovered his intention and realized that dropping the self, dropping body and mind is what he called it, drop body and mind, so that you are allowing yourself, when we drop

[23:09]

the ego, let go of the ego, we realize our bigger self. And our bigger self is more intelligent than our smaller self. This is called wisdom. We have, you know, in business, in government, it's really interesting because what they characterize successful people by, they say, he's really smart. You hear that all the time. This treasurer is a really smart guy. But you never hear anybody say, this politician is really wise. Big difference between being smart and being wise. Being smart is more egotistical, more egoistic. Being wise is more cosmic. You're allowing your bigger self to come forth.

[24:15]

And the wisdom is not in my small self, but in my big self. So, reducing ego. We say, get rid of ego. But, get rid of... The more you try to get rid of ego, the bigger it gets. Actually, trying to get rid of ego is kind of egotistical. trying to get rid of your anger, trying to get rid of blah blah blah, is how you use these elements rather than being used by them. We all have anger, we all have lust, we all have all these qualities, wonderful qualities, but we allow ourselves to be used by them rather than using them and turning these qualities qualities instead of harmful karma.

[25:17]

Stubbornness, you know, when it's transformed becomes a way to stick to what you're doing, stay with what you're doing and accomplish something. pushing away, being medicine. So all of the qualities that we have can be turned one way or the other, depending on how we want to use them. But we're often used by things. Mostly we're used by our feelings. And this is where we have our problem. And this is the stage at which we are dealing with our egoistical life. So, getting rid of, and even getting rid of ego doesn't make sense. Because ego is a kind of force which, when it's in the service of Buddha, is a helpmate rather than, it gives us some kind of direction and a way of life

[26:41]

using our life force, but when it's perverted, it just becomes self-centered. So, to forget the self, actually, is instead of being self-centered, to shift to being Dharma-centered or Buddha-centric, so that our activity proceeds from our Buddha nature rather than from our ego. So ego becomes absorbed or gives itself over. This is called submission in the Dharma. Submission, and this is what Tozan calls it, submission means turning over the ego to be in the service of Buddha. And being Buddha-centered means that your activity comes from the source. more cosmic than self.

[27:51]

So then he says, Bhagavan says, to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. So the hundred dharmas of Asavandhu is a category of most of the constituents of our nature. But in a wider sense it means all phenomena. Dharmas are all the various things that are concoctions. Like this book is a concoction. So everything in a wide sense is a dharma. So to forget the self means that we're no longer self-centered and realize that everything is our self. So we relate to everything as our self. I don't recommend that to everybody. If your self is nothing but anger, then you may relate to everyone in an angry way.

[28:56]

That's what happens. When we exhibit or act toward each other with unwholesome attitudes, it's because are harboring this for ourselves most of the time. Don't harbor ill will, that's one of the precepts. Don't harbor ill will, the ninth precept. Harbor is really a good term because we make a safe place for it. We incorporate it into our nature and then we're looking for something to be angry at. Let's see, I'll be angry at him, or her, because we have to express it. When it's in there, we have to express it. So how do we refrain from expressing it? Turn it over to Buddha.

[30:00]

Just turn it over to Buddha. Dogen says, in his Shoji, Shoji is his classical on birth and death. He says, there's an easy way to become Buddha. Refraining from all evil, not clinging to birth and death, working in compassion for all beings, respecting those more advanced, and taking good care of your juniors, without any grasping or rejecting, worry or lamentation, worry and lamentation. This is what is called Buddha. without any worry and lamentation. So, that sounds easy. So, when we realize that all Dharma is our big self, then we relate to everything.

[31:14]

free from ego, free from dominance of ego. So there are so many dharmas which are ego builders. Anger is an ego builder. And all those related kind of ill-willed dharmas and greed dharmas and delusion dharmas, they are ego builders. And this is what we call ego. This is what we call ourself, which really doesn't exist except momentarily. Everything exists momentarily. So to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. So this is called a collective achievement. Collective by Tozan. Collective means My purpose in life is to practice and help others to practice.

[32:22]

That's what it means. I turn my life over to the benefit of all beings. This is the third pure precept. To avoid evil, to do what is good, and to turn myself over to the welfare of all beings. So this is the next stage. if you want to call it a stage. And then he says, no trace of enlightenment remains. This is like the fifth stage, and what Tozo and I call integration of achievement. In other words, this is where you're totally enlightened. All of your activity is enlightened, and you're not even aware of it. In other words, there's no He says, no trace of enlightenment remains. And in Tozan's Five Ranks, he calls this, he says, foolish wise men filling the well of snow.

[33:33]

Whatever you do is expressing the Dharma. You're not self-conscious. It's just what you are. This is what Shunzuki Roshi's ideal was. So he would say, when you sit Zazen, you're just sitting Zazen. It's not like you're taking Zazen out into the world. Forget all about Zazen and just go into the world and do whatever you have to do. What you express just through your ordinary activity, which is not self-conscious, is the Dharma. You'll say, well how should I practice? I'm not sitting on a cushion. Just live your life, totally, moment by moment. There was, we were talking yesterday,

[34:44]

about time, and, oh yeah, Suzuki Yoshii, I was reading his talk, where he says, just living your life one event at a time, rather than thinking of it in terms of categories. So, no trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever, because enlightenment leaves no trace. When we get to this point, enlightenment, you don't notice it as enlightenment. There's nothing to be touched or categorized. Because there's nothing special that's Enlightenment.

[35:49]

We tend to think that Enlightenment is something special. 99.9% of people who seek Enlightenment think Enlightenment is something special. But it's nothing special. When you realize it's nothing special, then you realize that it's Enlightenment. But there's no trace. No trace means no particular mark. When we're studying Zazen, mostly people think that there's some special state of mind, because when we think about meditation, we think about trying to create some special state of mind. I mean, why else would you do it? But, Siddhi Guruji is always saying, nothing special. Nothing special. Every moment is a different state of mind.

[36:51]

And when we sit in Zazen, that's our state of mind. Whatever it is, it's our state of mind. State of our mind. We're not trying to create some special state of mind. But if you realize, when you're enlightened, you realize that every state of mind is it. No matter what it is. But we want to think that enlightenment is the good state. So we're dividing it into good and bad. Oh yeah, the good thing, that's enlightenment. But the bad thing can also be enlightenment, if we realize what it is. We don't have to act on it. Suzuki Roshi also said, well, we should be careful not to be good-bound. He said that way. We often appreciate someone who is very mischievous and who doesn't just abide by the rules.

[37:54]

I don't like to say that. But there's something about that vitality of someone who is not easily domesticated. Often I've run into people in my life who are scary. And so have you, right? But somehow, there's something that always draws me to those people. And they often become my best friends, or people who we appreciate each other. And there's something about that vitality, rather than avoiding it, to how do you make friends with it?

[38:59]

How do you join with that? So that a third thing happens, a kind of synthesis. So I've always enjoyed having these people around. is what continues forever. It's not you. And there's no such thing as forever, even though we're talking about it forever. Forever just means forever. We've got to talk about eternal. Eternal and momentary. We use those terms as well. Cosmic and particular. momentary and eternal.

[40:03]

So we're both momentary and eternal. So the purpose of practice is to see the eternal aspect of the momentary. Zazen is to experience beyond experience the eternal quality of this moment. and this momentary quality of what is eternal. Cosmic. Great. So we're always reminded by Sukhiroshi to always act out of our big mind and not just our small mind. And that's also what we consider to be Shakyamuni's enlightenment message Do you have a question?

[41:13]

Okay. Okay, so, if one shifts away from the self or ego or the notion of one's self, are you always shifting towards the Dharma when you're doing that? Well, you can say shifting towards the Dharma. If you want to talk about shift, or you can say the Dharma becomes more unfolding. Because the Dharma is not something over there that you shifted to. Dharma is here. So we allow the Dharma to rise up rather than going to some place. So it's not that we're going some place. We usually think that we're going some place. So it's kind of like, it just sort of moves out of the way so something else can... Right, so this is about in Zazen, you know, we stop going somewhere and let the Dharma come forth.

[42:25]

So when we let go of control, like if I'm used to doing something this way because I do it this way and it works, I put my pipes together this way, someone comes along and says, well I think we should try the Nope, this is the way I do it. If I let go of this other... OK, well... So, if I say, OK, we're going to do it your way, and I'm sort of letting go of that notion of myself. Now, am I letting go of control, or am I letting go of myself? All three. All three. Good. All three? All two? Or just just let go. The person says, well, you know, I'm a plumber, so I'm certified. And so my experience of plumbers is they really know what they're doing. I'm just plumbing to me.

[43:28]

It's like the door. People like me, Walter, neither of us are plumbers. When you're plumbers, you don't have to be certified to be a plumber. But when someone is certified to be a plumber, you know they're a plumber. It's just like enlightenment. We're all enlightened, but some of us are certified. But plumbing is dharma. You cannot fool it. It's the truth. And when you put it on that faucet, you know whether it's working or not. Right? No matter, you put it together and you say, OK, I think it's going to work now. And then it goes... So Dharma is truth. You can't fool... I mean, plumbing is truth.

[44:30]

Plumbing is Dharma. You cannot fool it. It's always truthful to its nature. And when it's working, it's great. So if somebody says, well, I know how to do this. And you can let go. If they make a mistake, it may be a big one or a little one. But the fact that you're allowing someone else to do something, this is a really good point, because it has to do with patience and with picking up. We feel that we want to fix it right now, you know, fix somebody or whatever. But rather than resisting, there was a guy I knew, Terry Dobson, who was an Aikido master, American. He wrote a book on giving up to get your way, giving in to get your way.

[45:35]

Giving in. Giving in to get your way. If you know how to give in to get your way, you don't have to argue with anybody. And you don't have to try and make your idea the best. You just wait for your opportunity. And if everything goes okay, fine. If not, you know what to do. And given that opportunity, And if you're working with somebody, they also get it as well. So giving things a chance to work, our resistance often stops things from working. So we have to know how to let go. And even though we think, well, this isn't going to work, you know. Like I was walking my dog. He loves to... I'm looking behind him and running real fast.

[46:38]

I wasn't looking over his shoulder. So one day we were walking and he was like this. And that was a big garbage can. And I said, I'm not going to say anything. That was great. It was wonderful. I didn't have to say anything. But he's tough. So anyway. So we still have the afternoon and the rest of the day.

[47:12]

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