I are the taste, the truth, and the defogatous words. Morning. Today is the first opening day, the first day of our spring practice period, six-week spring practice period. It's such an unusual opportunity. I don't think there's any place in the world where this kind of practice for laypeople is so strong and vital.

[01:05]

Our teachers, when they came to America from Japan, met us where we were. They didn't try to impose a foreign practice on us, so to speak. Of course, the root of the practice is from another country, another society. But Tsukiroshi met us where we were and adapted the practice to our situation. we may think, oh, this is such a formal Japanese practice, but actually it's our American practice with American people, with lay people practicing in a way that is so unusual and is such a wonderful opportunity.

[02:18]

given our busy lives and all of our responsibilities and our ambitions and life problems and so forth, since students in America want something vital and wonderful, I remember when I first began to practice, I was looking for a practice that wasn't just going to church on Sunday. I was looking for a practice that would involve all of me all the time. And when I met my teacher, and the practice that he offered to us, I felt right at home.

[03:24]

And so I've always wanted to nurture that practice myself. And to encourage people who want this kind of practice to practice as well. So we have this wonderful opportunity, and I would call it a really rare opportunity, to involve our lives in this practice. And so I really feel wonderful, so encouraged by so many people who are practicing together and to make this happen. We, you know, in Zen Center, we developed the monastic practice, which is at Tassajara, and then a certain style of practice, which is at Green Gulch, and a certain kind of style of practice that is in the city center in San Francisco, three different styles.

[04:36]

And then we have this style, which is a small zendo, with so many wonderful practitioners. So this is the grand experiment of Zen in America. And I have a good number of successors, and each one has their own individual style which is based on our fundamental practice. And so it's really nice to see the development in so many different ways, how this practice can be developed in so many different ways that still maintain the essence and vitality of the original practice, the adaptation to the West, so to speak. So today, well, I would say

[05:38]

Twice a year we have a practice period, and this is the spring practice period. Spring is the time of renewal. The ground is producing all this wonderful energy. The atmosphere is producing all this wonderful spring energy. And so this is a time for us to renew our practice. During the year, everything starts changing and our lives change and sometimes our practice tends to weaken and fall apart. And so this is the time when we bring it all together again and renew our practice for the rest of the year. So I have some, I wouldn't call them admonitions, Maybe they are.

[06:43]

Directions, maybe, for practice. I just want to read a little bit about what I wrote for our approach to practice period. During the six weeks of practice period, we have the opportunity to renew and concentrate our effort and reestablish our practice in beginner's mind. The practice period has some minimum requirements, but within these requirements each person can recreate his or her own schedule. This is the nature of lay practice. Some will be able to do only the minimum, while others who have the opportunity will be able to extend or stretch themselves much more. So the way this practice, this kind of lay practice works, for a practice period is that each person has to create their own schedule, given their limitations of work and responsibility, and not compare one's practice to someone else's.

[07:55]

your practice is what you're able to do, and someone else's practice is what they're able to do. And we should not be in a comparative mode, but simply support each other in whatever it is that we can do. So it should be clearly understood. And when you include your zendo schedule in your calendar, it incorporates zazen into the rhythm of your life as an intention rather than as a random or arbitrary activity. So this is the fundamental basis of practice that I always encourage people to take up, is decide exactly how much you can do without overdoing or underdoing. And then you write that down in your calendar. And it says, oh yeah, today, Zazen. And then that's what you do. So that it's integral with the rest of your life.

[08:59]

Actually, if we have a sincere Zazen practice, Zazen is the center of your life. and all of the rest of your activities are based on Zazen. So when we design our schedule for a limited time period, taking into consideration all the other factors and responsibilities in our life, we have a foundation for practice. It's also necessary to honor our commitments and to be realistic about how we create our schedule. So this is how we actually practice, is to be realistic about what we're doing. And then when you do that, you can see how much you tend to want to overdo or underdo.

[10:04]

You have a standard for your practice. So honoring your commitment and being present. So I like to think of the spirit of practice period as the wish to do everything. and then narrowing it down to what is practical or possible, rather than simply picking and choosing pieces of it based on preference or convenience. This helps to create an edge, something to push against, but not enough to be inhibiting. And when we all have this attitude, it creates a strong sangha feeling of mutual support and encouragement. It is also important to manifest the spirit of zazen in our home life, in our work life, as continuous, well-rounded practice, not just something we do on a cushion. We can also provide a good atmosphere for those who are sitting and are not in a position to practice it fully.

[11:11]

What makes the difference are the requirements and commitments, except for that we, participants and non-participants, are all practicing the same way together. practice period can set a tone for the whole year, which is one of the reasons we changed it back to spring rather than having it in the fall. Although we do have a practice period in the fall, if you recall, aspects of practice. So these are suggestions for how to practice. One is, It's called limiting your activities. During this time of practice period, we limit our activities. It's not like sacrificing something. It's like taking the opportunity to do something more, to do one thing more fully.

[12:16]

I think in some forms of Christianity they have Lent, which is giving up something. Maybe you can think of it that way, but I think of it more as just taking an opportunity to practice more fully without distractions. And then there's spring cleaning. which means to let go of stuff that you don't need anymore, to really look at what you've accumulated, not only in material things, but in emotional baggage and mental baggage. Let go of those things that are burdening you and kind of look at, well, what are those things? and see if you can let go of some of those.

[13:24]

In other words, clean up your house. And then there's home and work practice. In other words, extending the attitude of zazen into your work life and into your home life. You know, we say our practice begins with enlightenment. Enlightenment, practice, study. Usually, it goes from study to practice to enlightenment, and enlightenment being at the end. We study and we have some inspiration and then we start to practice with the hope of having enlightenment. But our practice is the opposite.

[14:28]

We start from enlightenment, which is stimulated through practice, and then we study in order to verify what we're doing. to see if our practice actually matches with the spirit of the sutras and Buddha's understanding. So, how do we bring our enlightened practice to our home life and to our work life? And of course, there's the practice of helping other people. When we do this practice, we do it for ourselves, but actually we don't do it just for ourselves. When our practice matures, we realize that we're also practicing for others. And then when our practice matures beyond that, we realize that we're not practicing just for ourself or for others, but simply practicing for the sake of practice, which takes care of ourself and takes care of others.

[15:43]

So that's called egoless practice. Then there's paying attention. paying attention to how the three poisons, three poisonous of our nature, poisonous roots manifest. The three poisonous roots are greed, ill will, and delusion, which turn the world. The world turns on greed, ill will, and delusion, as you may know. that also turns on kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. So, how to be aware of how greed and when greed, ill will, and delusion manifest, and how kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy arise.

[16:51]

Just to be aware. And this awareness is the basis of practice. This is enlightened mind. Enlightened mind is aware. So then there's taking the time to study. We have a class during practice period, so be prepared. Sometimes I'll say, what, does anybody remember what we talked about last time? No, nobody says anything. Although it's all there. And then there's being mindful, which means returning to the present moment. It's called the practice of recollection. Practice of recollection is always returning to the present moment.

[17:55]

as, of course, our mind becomes scattered. So this is how we actually practice Azan all the time, in every situation, is come back to the present moment. We hope for this, and we think about that, and we worry about this, and so forth. And the stuff of our life keeps turning and turning and churning. but we should always keep coming back to the present moment of now. That's the practice. Shikantaza, just doing. Although we have many different purposes in our life, and our life is driven by purpose, but shikantaza is just to be, just to do. regardless of purpose. The purpose of Shikantaza is pure existence.

[19:00]

And to have this, to be rooted in this pure existence is to manifest enlightenment. That's why Shikantaza is our practice. That's why our practice is based on enlightenment rather than working toward enlightenment. Shikantaza first and practice are the same thing. Practice and enlightenment. So we're not exactly working towards something. We're working toward being ourself right now. Manifesting our true self right now. And when we can do that, we have some space in our life So then we should be aware of our self-centeredness and knowing how much is enough.

[20:13]

Then I often suggest to people to take on a particular personal practice of one thing. such as, which I will explain later, a few. These are the possible practice choices, some possible practice choices, suggestions. One is, am I opinionated? Do I manifest opinionatedness? Opinionatedness means something like having something to say about everything, or always having the last word, or having an opinion about things without necessarily thinking it through, you know, just my idea.

[21:29]

So we can investigate, does that happen with me or am I being opinionated right now? Have some awareness of that as a quality. Another would be taking over or domination. Do I dominate a conversation? Do I intimidate people? Do I interrupt a lot when people are talking or doing something? I remember someone, when people are working hard, standing around and talking to them. It's like, you give that person a shovel. So another thing we should, Think about, do I tend to retreat or not come forward?

[22:35]

It's the opposite of domination. It's like reticence. Maybe fear or not wanting to be seen or not wanting to participate. So if that's a problem, you should look at that. And maybe that would be something to deal with, to make an effort to deal with. Another one is critical mind. Critical mind is like fault finding. Always finding a fault with something. Because I wanna see, I kind of thrive on fault finding, I always look for the fault. And so I'm always pointing out faults. So we have to be careful. And if that's your thing, that may be something to work with. And then there's, of course, value judgments. Oh, this is good, and that's bad.

[23:38]

And these people are good, and those people are bad, and so forth. So you become a person of good and bad, a person of right and wrong. This is right, and that's wrong. So if that's your thing, be careful. It's something to work with. The other one is gossip, talking about other people. I have a lot of wonderful things that come to me about what I said and what I did and what I'm supposed to be doing and what I will be doing. I can see that. Going around finally getting back to me. It's very interesting what happens there. So, if you have the urge to talk about others, put a clothespin on your lip. And so then there's the problem of the inability to say yes to anything.

[24:42]

I never say yes to anything. I might get caught by something if I say yes. And then there's the inability to say no to anything. I can't say no, I just have to go along. I have to accumulate as many activities as possible. So we should be careful of either one of those. So in other words, what's the balance? To always stay in balance, to always not go too far to one side or too far to the other side. This is called tsa-tsen. Tsa-tsen is being in the center, at the still point, not leaning to one side or another, not leaning forward or backward, simply being in the correct position. And then there's being able to forgive.

[25:52]

If you have a problem with holding a grudge, think about, can I forgive? Because forgiving is like letting go of attachment. A grudge is attachment or anger. without letting go is attachment. Whatever you are resentful about or angry about is your attachment. And so forgiveness is more for yourself than for the other person because it releases you and gives you the freedom to move without being caught. So we value our freedom, but sometimes we value our captivity, you know. We make ourselves into slaves, actually. Slavishly hanging on to something that is killing us because of our resentment and because of our inability to let go.

[27:08]

And then there's repentance. You may feel that you need to release yourself from holding on to your own faults. So to just be able to acknowledge our faults and turn around. Repent means re-enter, to re-enter wholeness because hang on to our feeling of inadequacies in some way or something we've done that we don't feel good about cuts us off. So when we can re-enter, pen, we re-enter and regain our wholeness, our way-seeking mind.

[28:18]

So then there's practicing with the vow of intention rather than being pulled around by karma. And of course, that's the basis of practice. is your intention of practice rather than creating obstacles through karma. So it's turning desire toward practice instead of toward unwholesome activity. And then there's doing one thing at a time. There's no such thing, actually, as doing one thing at a time, because everything we do is made up of so many different elements, but doing one thing at a time is doing one thing, considering all of the elements that are present in that one thing.

[29:40]

And then there's practicing patience. Practicing patience means to be present right now, not waiting for something. but simply being present. Totally. I'm not waiting for the bus. When will the bus come? That's not patience. Patience is, maybe the bus will come. If the bus doesn't come, here I am. And then, of course, being centered and balanced all the time. And then there's engaging thoroughly and wholeheartedly. When we do something, to be engaged thoroughly and wholeheartedly, that's also the basis of our practice. That's what it means to do one thing at a time.

[30:47]

It means being, whatever you're doing, to be totally engaged with that. That's how we take our practice into our daily life. do one thing thoroughly is called one-act samadhi. Another is setting an example. Each one of us sets an example for practice, and that's how we encourage each other. And so it behooves us to act according to that example. in a wholesome way so that we encourage each other. And then, of course, there's maintaining an awareness of breath. Keep coming back to our breathing. This is very important because as our life, in our daily life, our activities influence our breathing.

[31:53]

When we're tense, our breath comes up into our chest. When we're anxious, or when we're busy, and so forth. So, to consciously keep our breathing down in our hara, and keep returning to the breath, keeps our mind settled, keeps our body settled, keeps our activities settled, and keeps us centered. So, and then we work with the breath, in harmony with our breathing. That's practice, and we can do that all the time. And then there's practicing shikantaza, which is the basis of our practice, means just doing, which I talked about before, enlightened practice. And then the other thing is practice period is like a tune-up.

[32:58]

You're taking yourself into the Zendo garage and tuning up. Change the oil, adjust the valves, make sure everything's working well. And then work secretly like a fool or an idiot. to do this continuously is called the host within the host. This is the jewel, mirror, and samadhi of our life. To be like a fool or an idiot is the balance between doubt and faith. I know nothing, but I'm totally faithful. I totally feel secure. So since we all need to have some work to do in this world, it might as well be to nurture enlightenment.

[34:10]

So as Dogen says, To study the Buddha way is to study the self. And to study the self is to forget the self. This word study, though, doesn't mean study. It means practice. So you could say to practice the Buddha way is to practice the self. And to practice the self is to drop the self. Forget, drop, let go. And to forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas. To drop the self is to be enlightened by everything around us. To be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body-mind and the body-mind of others. With no trace of enlightenment remaining, this traceless enlightenment continues forever.

[35:14]

So what does that mean, this traceless enlightenment? Every moment, we bring life to life. We can't depend on the last moment. We can't depend on the enlightenment of the last moment. We have to manifest the enlightenment of this moment forever. But this moment, what is this moment? It's a great koan. Bring each moment to life, moment by moment, with no trace. No trace. It's called shikantaza. That's our practice. Do you have any questions? Yes?

[36:16]

I can't see you, but I can see your hand. I was just thinking about that we don't practice to get somewhere, but it seems to me that the practice sometimes somewhere comes and gets us. Well, the 10,000 dharmas advance and verify the self, is what Dogen says. Can I say why what? Well, when we drop the self, everything becomes our self.

[37:19]

So all the dharmas advance. If we try to make something happen, we can do that. But we say that you advance anyway, right? But actually, what is it that's advancing? What is it that's moving? Where is it going? we have this idea of progress, but if you look at it carefully, as you say, everything is moving in some way, nothing is standing still, but where is it going? Is it really going somewhere or do we just have the illusion that things are moving,

[38:23]

We're always in the same place, even though it all looks different. It all looks different. Yesterday I was in New York, today I'm in San Francisco. But we're always in the same place, no matter where we are. So where is this same place? Well, it costs your life. You have to pay for it with everything you've got then. And you are the mechanic. Way in the back there.

[39:35]

Paul? You changed from study the self to practice the self. That's confusing to me. I know what it means by practice, but practicing the self? Yeah. The word study actually doesn't mean the character for study doesn't mean study like a book. It means to do something over and over again. It's like practicing the piano, practicing scales, you know, you do it over and over again. We tend to think when we say practice, we usually say, oh, it's not like practicing the piano, that's not what we mean. But actually it is. It's doing something over and over until it's just a part of you. Until it's, you know, you are it. And then when you and it are one thing, the self is gone.

[40:41]

When you can practice totally, when you and practice are one, there's no self. That's dropping the self. Letting go. When there's any gap, it's not complete. It's not one. So this is why when we do Zazen, we don't study ourself, we practice ourself. And when you and Zazen are one, then there's no self. And there's no time, except right now. And then you and practice and the whole universe are not separate.

[41:48]

That's two. free body and mind of self and others, and leave no trace. That's right, to do one thing thoroughly. Practice is so simple, you know. That's why practice is so simple. It's not complicated at all. The more complicated it is, the harder it is. So we keep it really simple. It's the simplest practice you can do. And the beginning is just like the end. The first time you sit down in Samson, it's exactly the same as the last time you sit down. Even though there are differences, it's still all the same. It's just deep immersion. Kate?

[42:56]

Well, you may be sharing. I was thinking about the difference between dropping the self and the undesirable thing of dropping one's boundaries. And I was going to ask you what the difference was, and then I was thinking about it in the meantime, and I think probably the answer is empathy. And I want to ask you about that. If I'm not having any boundaries, because I remember you said the thing about having boundaries is not letting other people in, but it's pushing yourself on other people. if I'm not having boundaries that are kind of extending my little self and sort of taking territory, whereas dropping the self means getting rid of that whole membrane and becoming not separate. Is that right? Well, good fences make good neighbors.

[43:58]

So, having no boundaries includes boundaries. There is no self to drop. It's like dropping the illusion. When I say drop the self, I mean drop the illusion. That's tough. Thank you. Well, you're the standard bearer for our practice here, and we're going into practice period, and quite often, in fact, annually, people come up against their self and feeling that they can't make the grade.

[45:08]

And I appreciate your encouragement for us to look at and be realistic with our schedule. How can we know if we're not being realistic? we say we can't do this or this is pushing it too far for me because in one sense everybody should be able to do practice period because we all do within the parameters of what our lives will allow and yet there's a sense of you know that's a little too much and Well, you can bring the horse to water, but it's not always easy to make him drink.

[46:12]

And not everyone is ready. And when you come to that watering hole, it's like so psychologically, it's a psychological minefield, and I'm not gonna step into it. So my attitude is, You know, if you want to do this, I'm there for you. We're there for you. If you don't want to do this, it's fine, too. Whatever it is that you feel is right for you. That's always been my attitude. And sometimes I get, well, maybe I should just whip everybody into shape. And somebody would say, yeah, do that. But, I'm not going to.

[47:17]

I will encourage people as much as I can, but I'm not your daddy.

[47:24]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ