Today of our five days of Shudder. And we've been sitting pretty continuously for four days. And I've been lecturing on the Shin Shin Ming, which means Faith Mind. And I'm going to continue today, but I doubt if I'll get through by the end of Sachine, because it's a pretty long poem. But that's okay. In some way, the poem keeps turning in on itself. and saying the same thing in many different ways.

[01:01]

So really, all we have to know is the first few lines. And in the first few lines, everything is exposed. And the rest is just commentary. So commentary can be long or short. This commentary will be five days. So today, I'll read the poem up to the place where we stopped yesterday. The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When freed from love and hate, it reveals itself clearly and undisguised.

[02:03]

a hair's breadth difference, and heaven and earth are set apart. If you want it to appear, have no opinions for or against. The duality of like and dislike is the dis-ease of the mind. When a deep meaning is not understood, the mind's essential peace is disturbed. The way is perfect, like vast space, where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Because of grasping and rejection, you will miss its suchness. Pursue not the outer entanglements. Dwell not in the inner void. In oneness and equality, confusion vanishes of itself. Stop activity and return to stillness. Within that stillness is the great dynamic activity. Falling into one extreme or the other, how can you recognize oneness?

[03:13]

Not penetrating the unity of the way, both sides go astray. To deny the existence of things is to miss their reality. To fall into the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you go. Let go of speech and thought, and there is nowhere you cannot pass freely. Returning to the root, we get the essence. Following after appearances, we lose the spirit. One moment of inner illumination goes beyond appearance and emptiness. The changes that appear to go on in an empty world are all we call real because of ignorance. No need to seek the real. Only cease to cherish opinions. Do not abide in dualistic views.

[04:15]

Carefully avoid seeking after them. If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the mind essence will be lost in confusion. The two exist because of the one. but do not hold even to this one. When the one mind is undisturbed in a way, the 10,000 dharmas offer no offense. When a dharma or thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the usual way. When discriminating thoughts do not arise, the usual mind ceases to exist. When thought objects vanish, the thinking subject vanishes. When the mind vanishes, objects vanish. Object is object because of the subject. Subject is subject because of the object. Know that the two are originally one emptiness.

[05:16]

In this emptiness, the two are indistinguishable, and each contains in itself the whole world. When no discrimination is made between coarse and fine, how can a one-sided and prejudiced view arise? The great way is vast, neither easy nor difficult. But those with limited views are irresolute. The more in haste, the tardier they go. Clinging never keeps within bounds. Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. These last four lines are where we begin today. You know, the Xin Xin Ming has been talking up to now about not holding dualistic views, letting go of views and opinions in order to become one with the way.

[06:50]

And that brings up for everyone, well, does that mean I shouldn't have a point of view? Or does that mean that I shouldn't have an idea? Or does that mean that I can't have an opinion? I think the word here is Cherish. Cherish views. Cherish opinions. Cling to views. Clinging to opinions. Clinging to ideas. We all have ideas. The mind is full of ideas, continuously. And wherever we stand is a standpoint.

[07:54]

Wherever we look at whatever, Moment by moment, we are standing someplace, viewing something. So, it's impossible not to have views, or not to be viewing, or not to have a standpoint. But all views, all standing points, all ideas are partial. They only see part of things. Wherever we're standing, we see things from that point of view. So what the text is talking about is to give up partiality. We all have to have a view. So when we come together, I have my view and you have your view. And if I cling to my view and you cling to your view, we have a problem.

[09:06]

If I have my view and you have your view, and we say, let's share these views and look at these views and see what they are. And let's look and see where the truth lies between these two views. Then we give up partiality. We give up clinging. And it's not called views anymore. It's called, let's look at reality. Let's look and see what's true. whether your view is right or wrong or my view is right or wrong. But right and wrong get dissolved in truth. Clinging gets dissolved in reality when we give way to truth or reality.

[10:24]

So this is why views are called false. because they're partial and we cling to them and we create views of right and wrong, good and bad, this and that. When people are at a standoff, sometimes they call in an impartial person, a mediator who is not partial. not swayed by one side or the other, and allows the two to see reality beyond their own views. So, when we come to practice, when we come into the zendo, or just come to practice,

[11:30]

we have to drop our partiality, our views. This is why it's much easier for someone to practice who doesn't know very much. The more you know, the more difficult it is. Because knowing, you think you know something. But all knowing, all knowledge is partial. And we cling, you know, intellectually, we can know quite a bit. We can know everything intellectually. We can know all about Zen, we can know all about Buddhism, we can know all about reality, intellectually. But it's still all partiality. And the more we know and cling to this idea, our ideas, the further back we go. the harder it is.

[12:33]

So, when we come to practice, we do come with our ideas. And little by little, or maybe suddenly, we can drop our ideas in order to be complete. And then our ideas become verified. When we first come to practice, maybe we read about what Zen is. And then when you start to practice, it's good not to read too much. Just put the book down and just enter the practice. And then later, you pick up the book and start to read the book, and the book, you say, oh, now I understand what this means.

[13:41]

The book verifies what you actually understand, rather than trying to understand from the book. I was talking to someone yesterday, and we were talking about some project here at the Zen Center, of which I hold a very strong view. He said, this is going to happen. And I immediately started clinging to my view. And this person was also clinging to their view, which was the same as mine. I thought, here we are reinforcing our views against some other view, which we didn't think we liked. And so it was a big challenge to me.

[14:45]

And I thought, well, I cannot be holding on to my view. Here I am talking about not clinging to views, and here I am kind of holding on to my view. And so I said, I cannot hold on to my view. I will not hold on to my view. I will be in the middle between the two views and stay in the center and listen and really try to evaluate, or not even evaluate, but just listen to the two views and see where they meet. and make my decision based on the reality of the situation rather than on what I think or what I would like. It's not so easy, but once I do that, it is easy. Once I give up wanting things to be my own way, it's easy.

[15:51]

It's a kind of relief, actually. A kind of relief to give up my own way and go the way that things should go. So that was good for me. So here we start with, limited views are irresolute. The more in haste, the tardier they go. The word irresolute here is a little strange. Everybody translates it mostly this way. But I think irresolute here means incomplete resolve.

[16:58]

In other words, I think incomplete resolve means you enter the practice in order to get something. You enter in order to get enlightened. Or you enter the practice in order to go away with something. You want to go away with something. When you go to the store and you buy something, you pay your money and you want to go away with something, right? And here you put your life on the line. And you want to go away with something. I remember, I've told this story before. This is in the 70s when there were a lot of gurus from India around. And one young guru came from India and rented a stadium. I may remember this. I can't remember the name. And charged a lot of money for And all these people, you know, housewives and businessmen, all kinds of people came to this thing.

[18:11]

It was just crowded with people. And there was a little documentary on it. And it showed various things, how it was going on. And just one woman came to the person you paid money to, you know, sitting at a table with a She was complaining, she said, I paid my money, I can't remember, a couple hundred dollars, three, four, I don't know, and I expect my enlightenment. I didn't get my enlightenment. You know, she was going on and on about this, you know. She paid her money, and why didn't she get it? So this is kind of maybe an extreme example You know, not going far enough.

[19:15]

She paid her money, and she got her money's worth, actually. So you should have charged more? Anyway, the more in haste, you know, the more we want to get something, the harder it is to get it. Until you stop wanting, you can't really enter the practice. Wanting is just another view. The practice begins, or the enlightened practice begins, or realization begins, when you stop wanting. When you really stop wanting. And over and over again, he keeps pointing to this. just to let go of everything, especially wanting.

[20:20]

This is just basic Buddhism. The second noble truth. The cause of suffering is wanting. So, limited views are irresolute. The more in haste, the tardier they go. Clinging never keeps within bounds. even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. Let go, or let loose, and things are as they are. While the essence neither departs nor abides, accord with your nature, abide with the way, wander at ease without vexations. So, desire brings vexations. But, you know, we all have desire, right? Can't get rid of desire. And it's not saying to get rid of desire. The language, you know, is very strong, get rid of desire, let go of it.

[21:25]

But letting go means, doesn't mean to get rid of. It means to accord with. Because our strong egotistical or self-centered desire is in conflict with the way. And when we let go of that desire and allow our desire to be desire for the way, then the way provides. It's like your mother wants to feed you nourishing food as a kid. Your mother keeps wanting to feed you nourishing food, but you want candy. You know, if you were ever a kid, you know this is true.

[22:30]

You want candy. Mom wants to keep feeding you all this good food. You don't want good food. You don't want nourishing food. You want candy. I mean, my kid, you know, it's different, a little different now he's growing up, but for several years, all he wanted was candy. And we kept feeding him all this nourishing food, but he only wanted candy. And he would say, nourishing food is poison and candy is nourishing. But now he's beginning to see the way. Not completely, but... When thought is in bondage, the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear.

[23:42]

So when our thoughts are tied up, we can't see. We can't really see the road, even though we're walking on it. The burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What's the use of being partial and one-sided? if you wish to walk the course of the one vehicle, do not be repelled by the sense realm." So, you know, he keeps switching from the oneness to the oneness of retreating from the sense realm to going forward into the sense realm. And there's the duality of activity and stillness, of the one and the many.

[24:55]

So it keeps going back and forth. And here he's saying, it's okay to live in the world. Don't get the idea that you should retreat from the realms of sense in order to find oneness. So if you wish to walk the course of the one, do not be repelled by the many. With no aversion to the sense realm, you become one with enlightenment. So, in the old Buddhist aesthetic style, there was the idea of retreating from the world.

[26:03]

This is one of the basis of monasticism, to retreat from the world, not just society, but from all activities of the sense world, of the sense realm. And this is deep-rooted in Indian religious asceticism, that if you leave the world of the senses, then you'll find the world of reality, because the world of reality doesn't exist in the world of the senses. But this is a dualistic, one-sided idea. And the Buddhists came to realize that the world of the senses is also the world of reality, as much as anything else. So it's important to realize enlightenment within the realm of the senses.

[27:09]

Not by retreating, but sometimes we withdraw from the sense world and sometimes we enter the sense realm. This is what our practice is. When we sit Zazen, we withdraw from the sense realm. And when we go back into the world, we re-enter the sense realm. And we should be able to have enlightened life either way. But to transcend both the sense realm and the non-sense realm is actually realization. So he says, the wise have no motives. The foolish put themselves in bondage. No motive, yes.

[28:16]

When one is secure in the way, one actually has no motives. Motive here means doing something for a reason, right? We have to have a reason for doing everything, right? But the sense here of no motive means no self-centered motive. So we have to realize that everything that he's talking about is from the side of enlightenment. not from the side of delusion, even though delusion is included in enlightenment. So when he says no motive, he doesn't mean it from the point of view of usual point of view. He means it from the point of view of enlightenment. So no motive means no self-centered motive.

[29:21]

You're not doing something just for yourself. You have nothing in the world to do, actually. Everything is at rest. There's no more striving to do something for yourself. In other words, you don't need to do anything. But whatever you meet demands something to be done. And so you're constantly doing something. But it's not for yourself. You're just meeting conditions and acting in accord with the way. So everything you do is correct. Because there's no selfish motive involved. This is why it's said an enlightened person can go beyond the norms of society. And some people go beyond the norms of society thinking they're enlightened.

[30:24]

And that's a big problem. So we don't usually say this. We don't say, when you get enlightened, you know, you can go beyond the norms of enlightenment. And everything you do is okay. Some people act that way. But for the person who has nothing, no selfish motive, it's not a problem. because they don't cause a problem, because there's no gaining idea. They may bumble, make mistakes, but everybody does that. But still, there's no selfish motive. So whatever they do with people or in the world is neither for the benefit of themselves or the world, but everything turns out to be beneficial. So, the wise have no motives, no self-seeking motives.

[31:32]

The foolish put themselves in bondage. So, when we want something and get something, it looks like we have something through our craving. But whatever it is we have also has us. When we take hold of something, that something has us. When you buy a house, you say, oh, I bought a house. But the house has you by the neck. So be careful what you want. You may want a partner. I want that partner. So, whatever you hook up with, you shouldn't have views about. Let go of your views. Otherwise, you have a big fight.

[32:36]

Whatever you hook up with, try to bring out the truth in the relationship by letting go of self-centeredness. It's the hardest thing in the world to do. I don't say that I am free of all that. It's a continual struggle. But if one knows where one's going, one can deal with it. So we're on the path, and then we're off the path, and then we're on the path, and then we're off the path. But every time you fall off, you get back on. It's just like Zazen. You sit there, and you fall off. even though you're sitting there. Mind is continually. And then you remember, oh yeah, zazen. And then you come back. And then you fall asleep. Oh yeah, zazen. And you wake up. And life is just like that. But yet, if we're walking on the path, we get back on after we fall off.

[33:45]

So it's a continual. like this. Path is not straight. For some people, path is straight. That's pretty good. But it's really like this, you know. It's a great life if you don't cling. So, then he says, seeking the mind with mind, is not this the greatest of all mistakes? Seeking true mind with thinking mind. You can't think yourself into it. It's another way of saying you have to let go of views. You have to let go of thinking your way into it. Because it is beyond thinking, although it includes thinking. When you can let go of thinking and really reach it, then you can start thinking. And thinking is fine because thinking illuminates or is illuminated by mind.

[34:55]

But thinking brings us, you know, thinking brings us to the brink. And then in order to go in, we have to leave it behind. The erring mind begets tranquility and confusion, but mind awakened transcends both. Sometimes our mind is very clear. Clear means without thinking, actually. Clarity of mind means without any motive thoughts. And confusion means full of motive thoughts or full of not clear.

[36:06]

And so what we want is clarity. And what we don't want is confusion. But confusion actually is very important. Confusion is just confusion. Confusion, actually, is when the clarity of mind is there, we feel right. But nothing lasts. Everything changes. And clarity will become cloudy, and then confusion will come in. And then confusion gives us an opportunity to go another step further. Confusion is actually an opportunity. And when we make an effort in our confusion, we can come out the other side of confusion to an even greater clarity.

[37:10]

So confusion and clarity alternate with each other. It's a kind of pulsation or rhythm. Clarity doesn't last. As you know, and you can see this in Zazen, sometimes you're very clear, just sitting there, and no thoughts are arising particularly, and there's just wonderful, unstained clarity, and then it doesn't last. And then confusion comes in, what we call confusion. And then we make some effort and break through that confusion and come out the other side. And then clarity is even brighter. So confusion and clarity alternate with each other. And in our daily life, of course, confusion and clarity alternate with each other. They're just two sides of one thing. And either side is fine. So we shouldn't be too choosy.

[38:13]

As soon as we want to hold on to this clarity, we fall into confusion. So, this is one of the gravest mistakes, is trying to hold on to confusion or trying to hold on to clarity and pushing away confusion, pushing away undesirable states. You can't push away undesirable states. You just have to be in that state. may be undesirable, but if you can neither desire it or not desire it, then you have clarity. You can actually transform that confusion into clarity by not disliking it or not wanting to push it away.

[39:14]

Then everything becomes quite clear because you're abiding in the one mind. in the undivided mind. So clarity and confusion are just two sides of the undivided mind. Just abide in confusion without worrying about it. Try that. But we get rather frantic and we want everything to be right. And the hurrier we go, the further behind we get. So one must have patience. Patience doesn't mean waiting for something, in this sense. It means the ability to abide in this state of mind, to just abide in it.

[40:16]

It means the ability to abide in the state of painful legs. Just be there without wishing for some other state. And then you will have clarity of mind. Clarity is right there. But if you wish for some kind of clarity, idea of clarity, that will never come. That will just drive you further into confusion or into hell. So he says, delusion spawns dualities.

[41:26]

These dreams are merely flowers in the sky. Why work so hard at grasping them? Flowers in the sky is a kind of technical term in Zen, which means delusions. I talked about that before, I think. out of the sky, right? But you can dream about it. So it stands for things that we think up that have no reality. Wishing for something that's not possible. Gain and loss. Right and wrong. Discarding once and for all. If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will cease of themselves.

[42:35]

If the mind does not discriminate, the ten thousand things are of one suchness. When the deep mystery of one suchness is fathomed, we are released from all entanglements. The I that never sleeps, I talked about that a couple of days ago too, I think, like rust never sleeps, you know, just keeps on going. But the I that never sleeps is mindfulness. In other words, continuous practice. It's not that when you come to the Zen Dojo you practice, but practice is continuous. Whether you're awake or asleep, or in the zendo, or at work, or wherever you are, mindfulness is continuous. That's the eye that never sleeps. Ah, mindful awareness.

[43:39]

If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will cease of themselves. Dreams, of course we dream, you know. But dreaming means to stay in delusion, to not really see the reality of things, but to stay in our sky flower state, where we're not really touching the ground. Dreaming is up here, right? So it's head work. And head work can take us off the ground. So it's important to touch the ground with the feet or the behind. And put the mind in proper perspective because the mind is like a helium balloon. It wants to rise up. It needs something to hold it down, keep it in touch with reality.

[44:46]

So, if the eye never sleeps, all dreams will cease to themselves. If the mind does not discriminate, the ten thousand things are of one suchness. When the deep mystery of one suchness is fathomed, we are released from all entanglements. Because we see that life is all of one piece. even though there are infinite parts. And then we see what our part is in life, and we don't get tangled up doing something that we're not supposed to be doing. We may do it that anyway, but at least we have the opportunity to weave the right weave.

[45:57]

weave the pattern that keeps us from entanglements. Entanglements are also important. Relationship is important. Dogen talks about entanglement, you know, in twining vines, kato, or wisteria. You know how wisteria So entanglements is usually, wisteria is a metaphor for entanglements. And here he's saying, don't get entangled with entanglements, you know, and get yourself choked off. Dogen uses entanglements to mean relationships. And so in that sense, relationships, entanglements are very important. How we relate without being, how you get entangled without being entangled.

[47:00]

How to weave the warp and weave the wolf of life without being choked up by entanglements. When the 10,000 things are viewed in their oneness, you return to things as they are. Things as they are. Suzuki Roshi used to say, things as it is. As it is means suchness. Suchness means the way a thing really is. Neither Neither eternal nor not eternal. Neither temporary nor not temporary. What is it? That's the big question.

[48:04]

Things are eternal, but they're not eternal. Things are temporary, but they're not temporary. What is it? That's the great mystery. And what is it is koan. If you keep asking yourself this question, what is it? That's to stay on the path. If you say, oh, I know what it is, that's an opinion. Being caught by an opinion. So what is it? Not knowing is most intimate. But this not knowing is different than just being ignorant. You know and you don't know. And you know that you don't know. But you don't know that you know. Necessarily.

[49:08]

You know and you don't know. Something knows. But this doesn't know. But something knows. And this knower is the one that you want to contact. With what? [...] With this. Find the center. Find your center. Stay there. Don't stray from there. It's called letting go and finding it. That's called trusting or faith in true mind.

[50:13]

You want to say something, right? Do you want to say something? No? Okay. So anyway. So that's where I'm going to end. You know, when we're sitting all day and sometimes it gets very difficult and we tell ourselves all kinds of things to encourage ourself, you know.

[51:31]

And when it really gets hard, you can run through a litany, a whole litany of things that you've told yourself all your life to encourage yourself. But none of them work. All you can do is run out of ideas. And just, there you are.

[51:57]

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