rather short, it's a shame, but I think some of us are tired and we're beginning to have But at the same time, our effort will transform our difficulty. Effort has the transformative quality to take care of our difficulty. So even if we feel that things are bad, At the same time, you can also say, well, they're good.

[01:08]

So are they good or bad? When you're having your most difficulty, is it good or bad? It's a good question. Matter of fact. On the main subject, Zen Master Unmon addressed the assembly and said, I'm not asking you about the days before the 15th of the month, but what about after the 15th? Come and give me a word about those days.

[02:10]

And he himself gave the answer for them. He said, every day is a good day. Everybody knows this koan. Very famous koan. Every day is a good day. And then Setso, Master Setso, has a verse. And he says something like, Sitting aside one, you gain seven. Above, below, or in the four directions, there is no comparison. Quietly waiting the rapids, you extinguish the sound of the waters. Watching at leisure, you retain the tracks of flying birds. Grass grows rampant. Mist lies thick.

[03:12]

Around Subuti's cliff, the flowers make a mess. Famed for emptiness in Zazen, yet flowers rain down on you for shame. Snapping my fingers, I scold you, Shunyata. Don't be confused, or else 30 blows. So it needs a little explanation. Master Aung Mon addressed the assembly and said, I'm not asking you about the days before the 15th of the month, but what about after the 15th? Come and give me word about those days. And he himself gave the answer for them. Every day is a good day. Before the 15th of the month and after the 15th of the month, Maybe he asked this on the day, on the 15th of the month.

[04:22]

I'm not asking you about before, but what about now? 15th, or after the 15th of the month, doesn't make any sense. Because, as you know, But the future is just an idea. There is no future, really, as such. The future is some kind of idea we have that something will happen in a certain way. So the present contains the past in our memory and the future as an idea.

[05:39]

We can speculate about the future, but there really is no such thing. Can you show me a future? I don't think so. You can show me an idea of the future. So the past leads us up to the present, and the present is as far as we can go. And when we come to the present, we draw upon the past and we plan for the future. We can plan for the future. It's all right. But future is just an idea. So we're always planning for the future and our life is based on what happened in the past.

[06:52]

influences the present. So there's the past-present and the future-present. If we want to talk about past and future, we can say past-present and future-present, because both past and future are based on present, and the present moment is where the past and the future meet. And we can say now is the present, right now. But as we say it, it's already the past. So the present is very hard to grasp.

[08:05]

So when we sit in zazen, we're really settling on the present, settling down in the present, just existing now. in the present, which means that moment by moment we have to have awareness. And moment by moment our situation is not what it was in the past. So we have to be present in this moment and take care of this moment, take care of our life in this moment. So we must investigate these words of U Mon. Every day, good day.

[09:19]

Each day, good day. So we should investigate what he means by or each day. Day, does day mean 24 hours? Or 60 seconds? Or 60 minutes? Or is day something that's measurable? Day is a unit of time. Every day. Sometimes, if you are having a difficult time, 40 minutes seems like one day. At some point today, you'll feel that 40 minutes is a whole day, like a whole day.

[10:26]

So you could just as easily say, every 40 minutes is a good 40 minutes. But we also have to investigate what is good. What do we mean by good? If we say good, then what comes up for us is bad. It's good because it's not bad. And something is bad because it's not good. But can you say something is good bad? Or good and bad? Maybe. So is this good, the same good that's

[11:35]

as its opposite, or is it just totally good? So that whether good things or bad things arise, it's still good. You could maybe say the same thing for bad. Everything is, it's, every day is a bad day. Matter of fact, that term is used in slander, But you can say that everything is totally bad. Which means whether good things arise or bad things arise, it's all bad. So, Hung Mon says every day is a good day.

[12:41]

Maybe you could just say, every day is a day. Every moment is a moment. Or you could say, every day is complete suchness. Every day is just what it is, just as it is. But he says, good. means well. When you say goodbye, the good means God. If you say goodbye, the good means God be with you. B stands for B and U stands for U. God be with you is goodbye.

[13:52]

It's just like saying adios in Spanish, adios. But as an adjective, good doesn't apply exactly. I think it derives, good derives from God. So in a sense, in that sense it means good which is not dualistic. It doesn't fall into right or wrong or good and bad. In his verse, he talks about it and he says, sitting aside one, you gain seven.

[14:59]

Sitting aside one means not dwelling in oneness, not being attached to the unity or oneness of things. you allow yourself, you gain seven, means you merge with the world of diversity. We have two sides to our practice. One is sitting zazen, where we become one unify ourselves with the universe, and there's only one thing in the universe. And then when we leave the zendo, we meet and merge with the myriad forms.

[16:06]

Sometimes we get stuck, thinking that zazen is just sitting on a cushion, and we kind of want to spend our time seclusion. Once we find the joy of seclusion, it's easy to get attached to it. And we think sometimes that just being in seclusion, getting away from the cares of the world, is good. It is good, but if we're attached to it, then it's not good. Become too attached to that side, it's not good. So, I remember in the early days of Zen Center,

[17:15]

But there were a lot of people that liked to sit through kin-hin. So when the bell would ring, everybody would stand up for kin-hin, and there would always be some people who would want to sit through kin-hin, because they were having such nice samadhi and zazen. They didn't want to be disturbed. But Tsuki Roshi would always make them stand up, do Zazen, do Kinyin. He said, when it's time to do, when the bell rings, you just stand up for Kinyin. When the bell rings, you just sit down for Zazen. But people always go by their preferences. We're always drawn to do things through preference. taking the rug out from under our preference.

[18:24]

When it's time to do something, you just do it. This is what monastic practice is about. When it's time, when the bell rings and the Han goes, you just stop whatever you're doing, whether you like it or don't like it, whether you're into it or not into it, and just do something else. So this is where a Zen student usually gets stuck. I used to have this friend. He used to sit beautiful Zazen, but he was sitting Zazen all the time. He never did anything else. So on the one hand, if you look at him, you say, oh, this guy is really pure and wonderful, and he was actually.

[19:32]

But there was, you know, he couldn't, he was too attached to Zazen. He couldn't let himself, he couldn't stop and do something else, like getting your feet dirty in the mud. Some people are so attached to getting their feet dirty in the mud, that they can't bear to do anything like Zazen. So this is, he says, setting aside one, you gain seven. No one can rival you above, below, or in the four directions. There's no comparison. It means that you can't compare. You're not Buddhas and sentient beings are not different. Zazen and activity are not different.

[20:40]

Work and rest are not different. This is all part of that same statement, that you should be ready to do anything at any moment and not Also, pleasure and pain are not different. That's why, even though we know what happens in Sachine, yet we still do it. Right? You think, geez, maybe we're masochistic. But it's not that you like the pain. You don't sit sushi because you like the pain.

[21:44]

But what you like is the fact that you enter non-duality. You enter the Dharma door of non-duality through the pain. And that's why you continue to sit. But you don't like the pain. Nobody likes it. It's not bad. It's just pain. It's just what it is. And when you enter the Dharma door of non-duality through pain, then pleasure arises. So pleasure and pain are not so different.

[22:47]

They complement each other. They go hand in hand. If we're having too much pleasure, we need a little pain to feel alive again. And if we're having too much pain, we need a little pleasure to feel alive. to balance ourselves, because life is pleasure and pain. If it's only one or the other, there's something missing. We want only one side, but the fact of the matter is that we have to have both sides. So when we enter into Zazen, into Sashin, we know that both sides are going to come And what we do is balance them. And when pleasure and pain are perfectly balanced, every day is a good day.

[23:58]

You feel that. It's a good day. It's a good time. It's a good moment. Then he says, quietly wading the rapids, you extinguish the sound of the waters. It means that even though you're walking through difficult places, you don't hear the sound of the waters. The sound of the waters doesn't affect you, doesn't hold you back. In other words, you can walk through anything if you have that kind of confidence. When pleasure and pain are completely merged, you can walk through anything without being bothered too much

[25:18]

This is the power of Zazen, actually. Yes, it permeates your life. It doesn't mean you don't have problems and troubles, but there's always a way. You always can find a way. If you can find your way in zazen without moving, then you can always find a way. And then he says, watching at leisure, you retain the tracks of flying birds. It means you become so intuitive that you can see what's going on.

[26:24]

Now, when a bird flies through the air, it doesn't leave any tracks. And when a fish swims in the ocean, it doesn't leave a path. But he says, watching at leisure, you retain or you can see the tracks of flying birds. That means you can see how things work. that kind of perception. Also, Master Tozan says, Zen practice, or the way, is called the bird's way. Then he says, grass grows rampant and mists fly thick.

[27:26]

These are two, again, two opposites. Grass grows rampant means the world of entanglements. When you look at certain kinds of grass, you can see how it's all entangled, bunched up, lots of stuff going on. And mist lies thick. It's like deep samadhi. So what he's doing is bringing up these two sides for us all the time in his poem. He keeps bringing up one side and then the other. And then he stops and says, round subuti's cliff, the flowers make a mess. And then he talks about Subhuti. And another name, Subhuti, is the character in the Diamond Sutra.

[28:30]

Buddha and Subhuti have a dialogue in the Diamond Sutra. So Subhuti is very famous. And he's also called, another name is Shunyata, which means emptiness. Yes, he's also called Shunyata. So here he's called both Subhuti and Shunyata. So Setso goes on to say, famed for emptiness and zazen, yet flowers rain down on you for shame. He's talking about Subhuti. Snapping my fingers, I scold you, Shunyata. Don't be confused, or else 30 blows. There's a story about Subuti, or Shunyata, that he sat in very, really deep samadhi for years, and the gods rained down flower petals on him because they were so impressed.

[29:45]

And this seems like a wonderful thing, but everybody criticizes him and says, Sabuti, how did they know that you were there? How did they know that you were sitting in Samadhi? You should have been completely gone. If you had been completely gone, no one would have known you were there. There's still some trace of something left. Therefore, they could rain down these flower petals. Shame on you. So that's what that part is about. He says, snapping my fingers, I scold you, snapping fingers. This is kind of clearing the air. Zen priests snap their fingers sometimes in ceremonies. to clear away all the ghosts and goblins, clear the air.

[30:52]

So he's kind of criticized for staying in... Some people think he's criticized for not being completely gone in his Samadhi. And other people think he's criticized for being stuck in his quietism. Maybe Rinzai, a teacher, will criticize and say, you're stuck in quietism. Or he didn't go far enough.

[32:16]

There's still some trace of him left. So you can draw your own conclusions. The main thing here is not to get stuck someplace. have very deep samadhi, you should be able to immediately get up and do something else, go into the garbage. There's a story about a Buddha who was in deep samadhi for ten kalpas. Some people were some kids came by and started making a lot of noise, which disturbed his samadhi.

[33:22]

And he complained. And he was banished someplace, I can't remember exactly where. This word, good, is not so different from mu. You can say, mu, Choshu, a monk once asked Choshu, does the dog have buddha nature? Choshu said, mu. Mu means no. But is this no, just ordinary no? But because monk asked him another time, does the dog have buddha nature?

[34:34]

And Cho Shu said, yes. Someone might ask you, is this a good day? And you say, no. It's OK, as long as you're being moved. So good and moo may not be so different. So you can say, no, it's not a good day. But even though it's not a good day, it's still a good day. Even though a dog has no Buddha nature, still, I like this dog.

[35:35]

But it has nothing to do with my preference. And this is a good day, but it has nothing to do with my choice. It has nothing to do with whether I like it or not. Do you have any question?

[36:50]

In the realm of the absolute, it's a good day, whether you choose it or perceive it, or however you act with it. On the other hand, we always have this So how will you meet it? That's the question. Always. So we do always have this element. We always have a choice. There's always a choice.

[37:51]

That's right. Sometimes I have no choice, but Have no choice is the same thing. Within no choice, we have a choice. And within choice, we have no choice. So it looks like free will. But we have choice and no choice. When we make the right decision, it's no choice, even though we have to choose.

[38:53]

We always have to choose on each moment. there's something that determines our choice. Choices, are they arbitrary or not? You know, we choose and then we end up disappointed in our choice. If I'd only chosen other way. But we had to choose the way we chose. But we didn't know it. We don't always know it. So, yes, it's choice. It's not fate. It's definitely our choice, moment by moment.

[40:07]

And there's always a way. I keep thinking, all week I've been thinking about this phrase that's been popping into my head. My mother always used to say to me, where there's a will, there's a way. I've been thinking about that all week, every day, for some reason, I don't know why. I don't seem to have any choice about it. So, but I've been thinking about that, and I'm thinking, she's right on. She was right on. She really knew what she was talking about. So, it's getting late.

[41:06]

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