and unsurpassed, penetrating, and dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas, having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept. to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you for being here. First of all, this is the last day of our four weeks practice period, Aspects of Aspects. And I want to start by thanking Lori and Susan, who really orchestrated the whole thing.

[01:02]

Many people were involved. They were the ones that put them all together. And I want to take a moment for you to acknowledge yourself for doing this practice period, and it doesn't matter what you did. If this is the one day that you did, or you attended the class. We were there every Monday and Saturday. Whatever it was, just take a moment to acknowledge that. My teacher, my original teacher, would say, after we did some physical exercise, that was her practice, stop and look at what you have done. Though it's not complete yet, we'll be till you... complete at the end of this day, it marks a completion for you, however you stretched yourself, however you made yourself to this practice.

[02:08]

Acknowledge that. And I also want to, we already did dedicate this in our chant this morning, but with everything that's going on in the world, just remember to dedicate this day, this practice to the well-being of everyone in need. So, at the end, and this is kind of the capping verse, I like to look at it that way, So let me read it. We read it this morning together. Let me go ahead and read that to you. Zen master of Mount Mayu was fanning himself.

[03:15]

A monk approached and said, Master, the nature of wind is permanent. and there is no place it does not reach. Why then? Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent, Bocce replied, you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. What is the meaning of it reaching everywhere? asked the monk again. The master just kept fanning himself, and the monk bowed deeply. Deactualization of the Buddha Dharma, the vital path of its correct transmission practice. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent, then you can have wind without fanning.

[04:19]

Sorry, my eyes are having a little challenge here. Because the nature of wind is permanent, and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind. The nature of wind is permanent. Because of that, the wind of the Buddha's house, the gold of the earth, and makes fragrant. The cream of the long river. So let me just say a word about Aceh. His name means clear treasure. And he was also called Matsu. And there's really not much known about him. He got his name because he lived on the mount. And we think he was born around 720. So that was about 500 years before Dogen and Zenji.

[05:26]

And his teacher, and I mention this because you'll see in a minute, his teacher, Matsu, or Mazu, as he was called, he was associated with two famous sayings that we've talked about here. So you can sort of see the correlation. Self, Buddha, and ordinary mind is the way. So those are attributed to his teacher. And I believe that Bakshi had a very special place in Dogen's heart, because he uses three of his koans throughout the Shivalgenzo, and of course this is one of them. So going back to the text, Well, what is this food in nature? That is the wind. The wind is everywhere.

[06:29]

And it's permanent. Wind is permanent. We don't necessarily know that it's everywhere. But we know that to keep our practice alive, we have to fan it. That is the way we can tap into this Buddha nature, fanning it. And as we do this, practice deepens and widens. It's hard to grasp this. It's really experiential. And at the end where it says, the great earth, the wind of the Buddha's house brings forth the gold of the earth and makes fragrance, the cream of the long river.

[07:37]

Very poetic, they're saying things. But the great earth filled with gold, well that's it, everything, filled with Buddha nature, to the great ocean, to every grain of sand, every speck of dust. And then, you know, we think of gold as being such a precious stone with so many fine qualities. It's malleable, but at the same time beautiful. And that's Buddha nature everywhere. And The water of the river, that is really us, the stream of our life, going through our life. And as we go through this life and practice with our sincere practice, here is using cream, which is, you know, rich and fulfilling thing.

[08:39]

That is how our life becomes as we practice. So what is practice? And what is enlightenment? Well, Dogen Zengi uses one word. He doesn't see it in these two. It is really . And Sojin, he would call it enlightened activity. So when we practice, that is enlightenment. They are not separate. They are simply Joined, no boundary between. Practice and enlightenment. Or realization, we can call it realization too. And Dogen uses a lot of analogies about nature. So in tune to nature.

[09:43]

And I myself am thinking of nature and its Buddha nature. So for example, I think of a tree. And it's practicing enlightenment. It's expressing itself fully, actualizing the fundamental point, really. It's doing exactly what it is meant. And for example, let's say it produces seeds and maybe it produces flowers or fruit or nuts and then gives them gives them to the earth, begins that cycle again, restores itself, actualizing its fundamental point, expressing that Buddha nature. You can see that in all of nature. It doesn't fight itself, it just does what it has to do.

[10:48]

You know, it is challenging to talk about enlightenment. We've attempted to do it in several of the classes, and everyone has a different idea about it. Everybody thinks about it. And you might have even had what you might call an enlightenment experience. and you're waiting for the next one, and the next one after. But I guess to me, this alignment is something, it's intrinsic. It's like at our core, our very base, may not have a feeling to it or anything. But this Buddha nature is at our core in an enlightened nature.

[11:52]

And as I say, maybe there's no feeling to it. We go about our day having this enlightened practice, just doing our practice, leaving no thought, no feeling. So how do we know we've even had an enlightened activity? And is it important for us to know? Koto Sawaki, he was known as Homeless Koto. Some of you are probably familiar with him. One of our texts included Kosho Uchiyama's reading on the Genjo column, and that was his teacher, Koto Sawaki. And he said, I've had two satori's. and it does in small ones, and they don't amount to a hill of beans.

[12:54]

So a Satori is like a sudden enlightenment, just effortless of realization. And I hear people talking about waiting for it. I guess it would be nice to have one of those. But in our practice, we don't really stress that. What we stress is practice enlightenment. Knowing that when we're practicing, this is an enlightenment. So I like to think of practice as formal and informal. That's how it is for me. For example, formal practice. Well, it's like a place here at BCC. This is our training ground. And... is that it doesn't have to be BCC wherever you practice, you're being trained. And our informal practice here would be when we leave the gate and we take what we've learned out into the world there.

[14:08]

So we all have different reasons for coming to practice. Yet it starts, I really think, with your own inquiry. This way-seeking mind that knows there's something bigger, deeper, than what we are or what we experience. And I feel this seed is in everyone. Because all the seeds around us, the dead seeds, they're all there, waiting to be opened, the good ones. And so, how do we keep this alive, this deep desire? And Dogan Zenji talked about it to his monks. He talked about arousing the aspiration to earnestly seek the way.

[15:20]

And he specifically stressed how it doesn't matter whether you are smart or what you know, what you don't know. That's not what is important. What matters is your sincere aspiration, a joyful longing. You know, something gets stirred up and then keep it stirred up and alive and active. And I see this as a great gift that we've been given, this aspiration that's been aroused. You know, for a number of years of my life, I've always been a secret, times of practices, just innate. at the very core, the way it was. But I was always embarrassed about it, because it was different.

[16:25]

And in my family, I noticed nobody else was like this. So it made me feel separate and different. And recently, I guess it was just after, so I've been here in a while, I mentioned this to my brother, that I was feeling different and separate from the family, and he just said flat out, trying to get it out of my mouth, stop saying that, because it's just not. So I tell you, that was an enlightened moment for me. That was a practice of enlightenment. Because it just, I saw that delusion I've been carrying for so long, and I could just let it go. So as I say, we enter practice wherever we are.

[17:32]

We begin there. Again, it doesn't matter. how smart we are, or what we know and don't know, our skills, it has nothing to do with that. We just enter the stream. This aspiration has been aroused. And this practice is really, it's meant to be a joy, but it's also an obligation. And the longer we practice, we just see how necessary it is in our life. And at the same time, we know it's good for nothing. Nothing to gain, nothing to get. We're just doing it for its own sake. Going back to the question, well, how do we keep this aspiration alive?

[18:36]

Well, if we can all answer first, what we do is Zazen. This is our main tool that we use. And it's right there on our chair or cushion that we're in an enlightened state. Again, may not feel like it, may not have any feeling to it. may not have any thoughts to it, my sensation. And yet, we know this now is an enlightened activity. And I often, at the time I have my realizations after, It's not on the cushion because on the cushion I'm trying to follow my breath and stay present. So it's afterwards that I have that recognition and realization.

[19:46]

Sort. Or studying or working can happen. So after Sassen, Dogan Senji talks a lot about too. We've got to establish this faith and trust. There may not be any proof, you know, there's a long time that this practice is actually doing anything for us. And yet it's kind of a blind faith of not knowing, putting our trust in the teachings seeing for ourselves. Maybe questioning too. It's good to question. Trust. Some people just naturally have it. Some people have to really work with it a lot.

[20:52]

But it's so important to build that faith and that trust. Recently, Chad was here talking about what is a good life. He's an imam, right? Yeah. Some of you may have attended this class, but he said something I wrote down. I very much liked it. And it was, faith equals gratitude. So this trust may take a while to build. really twisted you know lately i will have to admit i've been having um some a little dull and flat in my practice unenthused i call it a dry period maybe you've had that

[21:59]

You know, there's a tendency to really like to get away. I want to invalidate. I've done enough. I've done my share now. So I'm going to slap off. I'm not really sure I'm getting anywhere now. I've reached a plateau. And of course, this is all in my head. I have so many conversations in my head. My good ideas and thoughts. And actually, that is the time to double up the practice. Try sitting twice a day. Try showing up more. And continue to ask the question, what is this? What is going on? What am I not seeing? And remembering Reminding myself these are delusions.

[23:03]

These are not real. This is just thoughts. And so it's really, I need to keep fanning the wind. We go a little more vigorously. And it's a great time to return to patience and gratitude. I sort of dropped off my gratitude practice. Sorry, we may need those things to do. You know, I just read recently, a gratitude practice creates better sleep and better relationships. And the Dalai Lama, he starts every day a practice of faith and patience. I came for the Chinese, who are the ones that banned him from his own country.

[24:13]

It's a big part of gratitude. And Dogen Zenji particularly liked this when he said, it's a faith, patience will at some time in our life bring us through to the place we need to be. So this is a strong piece of my practice now. Well the good news is fortunately everything is impermanent. So I know this this stage will pass as well. Another thing is learning to make mistakes. And as he said once, it is one continuous mistake.

[25:17]

And this really requires humility when we make a mistake. And then admitting our mistake. And then, celebrating the mistake. Because that is actually how we learn. So, it would be nice to get to a point where we welcome those mistakes and maybe start to see them as one mistake after another. There I go again. It is good to lighten up. You know, when I first came to do-on, or when I first came to practice, and I was a do-on after a while. Of course, we were do-ons, or at least I did. And afterwards, this went on for several months, where I buried myself, you know, having another conversation with myself about my mistakes.

[26:24]

And just learn... to realize I'm going to make one joyous mistake after another, and it's okay. I recently also had an example around . And I had some preconceived ideas about someone, and I It was just a big conflict in my mind. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. But in my mind, I felt the person who came to me was disrespectful, that sort of thing. I had a story built up. And a couple of precepts came to my mind. Not to harbor ill will and not to slander. And this is all going, as I say, in my mind.

[27:26]

and harboring this ill will, this person. And I just couldn't quite get to it, what it was. But one day I had an enlightened experience, and I realized that I had jealousy and expectation of this person. And in fact, a lot of it was over on my side. I had to confess this. I had made this mistake and confessed to this person. And it opened up a lot of energy and goodwill and it just was what I would call an enlightened activity that happened. And it led to another conversation and another conversation and the way our raised in the way I was raised.

[28:29]

Oh, that's why you do that. So that was quite an opening. And the last thing I want to talk about, which is really important, and Dogen, again, also put a lot of emphasis on this practice, you know, in his monastery. We don't live in a monastery like his monks did, because we come and go. This is one of the most important activities of our practice. And in fact, Soji would often say that. Work practice is the most important activity. Of course, we learn so many things, how to interact with others, patience and tolerance, so many skills.

[29:31]

How to accept things the way someone is doing it. Well, I never did it that long. That sort of thing. Learning to accept those things and having our ideas projected. So it's a continuing practice of letting go. which is certainly an enlightened practice. And also what's very important is we care for the temple. We would not be here without the support of our practitioners. We care for the grounds, the temple itself, the buildings. This is an expression of dharma, of our enlightenment. And we're also fulfilling that cycle of giving and receiving.

[30:33]

I can't remember if that's one of the four things I was going to be talking about. But you know, there's that cycle where when you give or when you receive, you give back. Just keep turning that wheel. Giving and receiving. If you don't do that, it will die. You'll just be dead. And you give the way you can, and you receive the way you can. Compassion, we build up our compassion through this service. There was recently a study I was reading about the elders in Japan. You know, a lot of them are living long and healthy lives. And they said one of the key factors was in helping others.

[31:34]

That made them youthful and vibrant. You know, recently I had an experience work day. We've had work day, what about... And, of course, I signed up. And then I think it was the night, well, it started the night before. I had another conversation with myself. I am not going to do this again. I am too old. I've done my share. I've been at BCC a lot of that. So I convinced myself, okay, this is the last one. No more. I'm really justifying it. in my mind. And so the next day, you know, I showed up and like a little beehive here. People were just buzzing around and we were all in harmony doing our work. It was such an enlightened experience for me because I just noticed my whole attitude shifted.

[32:44]

I just actually felt a bright And, you know, it was fun. And so, you know, there again, I saw those deluded thoughts I was having, you know, things I made up. So, work practices are wonderful. And, you know, we see even in nature, again, back to nature, that they're doing service too when i think about the trees they now know that they have a practice by transferring their resources like underground if transfer uh you know nutrients where other trees or other species are in need and so they're they're doing

[33:46]

Well, so just stepping back and looking at some of the things that may help you in your practice. Well, they're all important, but first and foremost, keeping it alive, that arousal that you felt to practice. Keeping it alive. through establishing deeper faith and trust in this practice, and through it all being willing to make mistakes and to learn from them. And then remembering service, whether in some way, whether it's here or out in the world. very needed not in this day to help others.

[34:53]

So really, there is no end to our practice, and there's no end to this enlightened activity. So I think I'll stop. And if you have any questions or comments, we'd like to comment about your own unwanted practice. Okay, Ellen. Oh, okay. Thank you, Daryl. You talk about formal and informal practice. And they're all kind of made sense to me, but I was thinking about, you know, spanning oneself. And I don't mean this particularly for you, but are there times when we aren't practicing?

[36:02]

Informally. When we're just not practicing. Well, that's a good question. I think we are, but maybe we're unaware of it. Those conversations with myself. I don't know. That sounds like practice to me. Well, I mean the negative ones. I think so. I think this is just my opinion. The core. practice is going on, particularly if you're a practitioner and you've been aroused and you know there's something more to this life. You know there's a wider place to be and know.

[37:10]

So I think that's always there. You need to cover it up when you think, you know, when it doesn't feel like practice. But I think it's there. Thank you. Do you have thoughts about it? Well, I just really think about the distinction, you know, between somebody who's a practitioner and somebody who's not a practitioner, somebody in another practice or another spiritual pursuit. You know, I'm just looking at all I think of as you know, kind of practice. So I don't really have an answer. There's many practices. There's a lot of Bodhisattvas out there that have never even heard of Zen. So we're not the only enlightened ones to see. So we have to keep, and we need to find it.

[38:12]

I think we need to find it in people if they're not necessarily a practitioner. Gary? Hi. Hi. I feel you connected to the sangha really closely. I just wanted to say that. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I feel that. My question is about the wind. And I see the wind as a wrong kind of a metaphor. for the Dharma. And it's pretty, pretty directly says it's permanent. And yet all things are impermanent. How do you, how do you reconcile those two?

[39:13]

It was a hard one for me too, Gary. Well, Buddha nature is permanent. Buddha nature is at our very core. And it is in everything. We don't necessarily experience that. So it's... I trust that. I have enough faith now, I'm trusting that. So, I see it that way. Thinking it could be, it's your talk, so I should know. Well, you're coming up in a few weeks. Yes. Good. Sue?

[40:20]

online. Thank you for your talk. It's a tough one. Everything changes and the wind is permanent. And how do we hold that? It's, I guess, our practice, our study group with Magarjuna probably helps me let go of worrying about it so much. I saw in your talk the fan on the scroll behind you throughout. It was a blessing. And I felt like your talk just opened up something. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it might be a good thing for us all to just have that as a come on. Is Buddha nature permanent? And this is called a saving, the winning discriminant.

[41:25]

I think that I had to let go of worrying about it, actually. Yeah. And appreciate, like you were having your conversations with yourself. I have those conversations, unfortunately, with myself. My family's familiar with them. My daughter said the other day when she was visiting, she said, I've never understood. You complain about that place and how hard it is, and you keep going back. Or my practice, at any rate. I think that complaining is a genetic inheritance. I have a feeling it's in all of us. A little bit of that is in all of us. But that realization of showing up for Workday, and I did, didn't sign up, I just showed up.

[42:30]

And it was a joy. And it was really great that we got rained down after that. True. And thank you for this being able to concentrate on the last part. So thank you very much. Thank you, Sue. Should we see if there's anybody online? I don't think so. Okay. Wasn't it you going to say anything? Oh, Riocean. Careful. Careful. Careful. Well, thanks very much for your talk. Thank you. We've talked a lot in this practice period about what enlightenment is, and I was interested that you use that word many times in your talk. And I was wondering if for you there's a difference between the kind of maybe insight, being able to give yourself a good talking to and say, and drop down into a line that's shattering to see more of what's behind it, whether it's about showing up at work day or about someone that you know, and the kind of realization in the way that Togenzenji used it in Genjo Koana.

[43:50]

in Genjo Koan. So I'm wondering how you understand that? No, I'm not sure I understand the question. I was wondering about the use of the word enlightenment, and you've applied it to many different kinds of situations, and I want a physical experience in your body, in your sitting, in Zazen, the kind of insight that you have when you recognize something about someone or some preconceived idea that opens things up. And the kind of realization or actualization or penetration or permeation, whatever, that is talked about in Genjo Koan. Do you see those experiences? I wonder. Well, I think so for me.

[44:52]

Yes, I do. I think, maybe I'm making it up, but it feels like a shift when something, you know, there was a shift. And I think that's practice. Practice enlightenment. It's not necessarily a big thing. It's those subtle little moments where, like, you know, we talk about aha moments. Oh, okay, yeah, okay. Now what? It was very subtle. Nothing special? Yeah, very special. We stopped and really looked at it. It's the line between something that's psychological understanding or a way in which you may have a certain frame of mind that orients and I think you use the word comparing or judging for example those kinds of insights are so profound and life-changing and I don't think they're unrelated in my experience to what for months and years of sitting zazen I have a different kind of experience of that of a kind of physical shift

[46:17]

in my body that I know it's hard to put it into words in that way because it operates in such a wide range of what I think of more of realization. I just wondered if that was true for you. Yes and no. It could be something really big, like a bolt or something, a bolt of lightning, but it might not be. In fact, for me personally, most of my emotions, feelings are very subtle. Very subtle. It's just I'm not a real out there kind of person. So that's just how it is for me. You pay attention because there will be a little tiny shift. I may not notice it. Thanks for your talking.

[47:26]

Break my own rule and not ask the question, but just say a comment really quick, which is that the system that you described where trees share resources, it's very interesting because in order to do that, they need to sort of draw on networks of soil fungus and and In my mind, when I imagine that happening, I just think of everyone in the soil just single-mindedly participating. No one's necessarily trying to help each other, but everyone just does their job, and I think that's an amazing part of that. That's really nice. Thank you, new work leader. Better get our assignments. Would you like to say something? No, I don't think. all right there's one hand from online okay we'll take that can i take it after susan's got the mic and then we'll i'd like to thank you thank you carol um someone who left practice and practice asked me before leaving um how do we know that

[48:48]

our maturing doesn't just happen naturally. How do we know that it's related to Zen practice? And I always thought that that question was really loaded with comparative mind, gaining mind. And so I was just wondering, coming to the end of the practice period, studying the Genjo Koan this time, For you, have you learned about that question, comparative mind, gaining mind? What does, again, Jim Cohen, teach us? Well, I think, for me personally, I think it's made me more aware of that in my own self. Is there something about the Genjo Koan that's made you more aware of that?

[49:54]

What are his last lines that you talked about? Well, it's just reinforced to me how important practice is. And in terms of the Genjo Koan, it's made me realize much I don't know. I'd actually like to study this a little more closely because I feel like I've sort of spent it here and it's got so much depth to it. Okay. Okay for now. Okay, good, that's good. Do we have time? I did say, I did tell Nathan. You're welcome. Hi Nathan. Hi, thank you for your talk. I think I heard you say this, I'm paraphrasing, but that our experience is not the measure of our practice.

[51:03]

And maybe you could say a little bit more about that. Our experience is not a measure. Is not the measure of our practice. Oh, I see. the part about where I said it doesn't matter about your previous experience in coming to practice, what you know, what you don't know. More how it feels. I think you were saying something that it may not, you know, that the practice may not produce enlightenment or that that's not necessarily the measure of. our practice. Right. So I think we can't look to our feelings or emotions to see whether practice is happening. You know, don't rely on your feelings and emotions because they're usually diluted.

[52:13]

And that doesn't mean I don't want to You know, for example, I'm thinking of grief. You don't ignore grief, or sadness, or any of those emotions and feelings. You go into them, just as we do when we have joy. We go into them. But I think what I was trying to say was, well, I think, was that they're not a measure of your practice.

[52:51]

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