So this practice period is a pretty important time for us, especially a long practice period. Sometimes we have shorter practice periods. But this practice period ends with Rohaksa Sashim, which is seven days Sashim commemorating Shakyamuni Buddhist enlightenment. So during the practice period, the residents of this building and the older members who are not residents rejuvenate their practice. It's a time for straightening up our and rededicating ourselves with a renewed kind of effort.

[01:15]

We don't do a lot extra, but we just take care of what our practice is really about. That's the main thing. We do add some few extra little things that we ask people to attend. But mostly, we really make a big effort to take care of what our life is about. And in that process, to re-establish our life. During the year, it's very easy to drift. The city is an easy place to get lost in. that student starts out with a strong commitment to practice during the course of the year we usually get distracted and we have to do this we'd like to do that pretty soon our strong practice is linking and getting mushy and ill-defined so this is a time when

[02:36]

we gather ourselves together and we do our commitment and make a good effort to stand up or sit up straight in all aspects of our practice to look at everything we do and make it work well and for other students it's a way of entering into a new kind of activity so the older students are kind of leaders for the newer students and the newer students add a kind of beginner's enthusiasm to the practice of the older students students, it's incumbent for the older students to set an example for the newer members.

[03:42]

And we always appreciate the practice of new members. When someone sits on them for the first time, or does sashim for the first time, that not knowing what you're doing effort is extremely precious so a lot of times newer mentors will start to practice and feel clumsy or uninformed or stupid and all the older members have gone through that period and maybe still feel that way we all feel that way to some extent actually so the older members should be an inspiration for the younger or newer members and the enthusiasm and naivety

[05:06]

the newer members should be energizing for the older members. So it's a kind of wonderful relationship that we need to establish between the two groups. During this practice period, I'm going to be talking about ten oxfordian pictures ten oxfordian pictures are a very famous kind of explanation not explanation but layout of the progress of the zen students practice ten oxfordian pictures most of you have seen them

[06:09]

There are several versions of the ox-herding pictures. In one version there are ten ox-herding pictures. In another version there's five or six. But we usually use the ten version ox-herding pictures. Kakuang, who was a Chinese Zen master in around the 12th century. pictures really are very charming and they present Zen students in various stages of practice looking for the ox and the ox represents our nature, true nature, good nature, true face, call it whatever you want series there's a little scene of the ox herder looking or doing the valiant to the ox and the picture is in a circle sometimes not in a circle but mostly in a circle and a circle is an important aspect of the symbolism

[07:44]

of the arcs reading pictures. The first picture shows particularly a boy, usually a small boy, but it should be also a girl. And the arcs is a kind of male symbol that ox doesn't have much sex. I would love that everyone can relate to ox. In Buddhism, the elephant is the symbol of Buddhism. Of course, Buddhism comes from India, where the elephant is very prominent. the elephant symbolizes is the Buddhist animal and there are various animals that represent different aspects of Buddhism but the ox represents the self-nature which all of us have to get with but we easily become estranged from ourselves so the other sort of pictures are

[09:12]

a way to get back to ourself, an outline of how his instinct gets back to himself or herself, original self. And the first picture is a searching, called Searching for the Ox. And it just shows a little more looking. But there's no trace of the Ox anywhere. This is the kind of spiritual awakening The first picture is the awareness that something's missing in our life. We grow up, when we get back to our baby, a boy or a girl, and a youth, because we become so involved in the rest of the world, we lose sight of our original nature we get carried off by objects and desires and our nature gets clouded over and so our ego takes the place of our true nature ego is our acquired self and pretty soon even though we may have a lot of material success

[10:43]

there's something missing at someone. And this something missing is the beginning of our search. So this first arc-serving picture is about the awareness that something's missing and the need to work somewhere for it. So the little boy is looking for the ox. But it's nowhere in sight. But he knows there's something. He remembered something. Then the second picture shows the boy seeing the traces of the ox. The footprints.

[11:49]

This is maybe where one, after searching around, after reading and listening and searching around, realizes that there is something, some place to find that out. But there is a pattern. The footprints. denote that the ox is there someplace and that there's a trail so the little boy little girl finds the trail and starts to sniff and look around and follow the trail and then the third picture he sees or she sees little bit of the ox. Catches a glimpse of the ox.

[12:50]

You just see the behind and the tail going into the bushes. There it is. And the fourth picture is where the little boy catches the ox. Actually catches the ox. And the fifth picture is where he's taming the ox. Now, this fifth picture is where all the symbols are present. He has a rope around the ox's neck. He has a stick with which he Keeps the ox in line. And he's there, and the ox is there.

[13:51]

And they're all within this circle. This circle is like a mirror. Mirrors are round, usually. And this mirror is like the mirror which reflects everything just as it is. without any distortion. And it also represents enlightenment. So each of these pictures is within the circle of enlightenment or within the mirror of enlightenment. It looks like progressive steps to enlightenment. But enlightenment is from the beginning. in each step. This is a very important fact to remember. Otherwise, this progression of steps looks like steps from delusion to enlightenment.

[15:02]

Or that enlightenment is at the end and delusion is at the beginning. Dogen's ending says, True practice is contained within enlightenment. In enlightenment, enlightenment begins practice and practice begins enlightenment. So each stage of practice is also a stage of enlightenment. This is a very important point. Otherwise we fall into a kind of dualistic understanding of our practice. The rope is a symbol of faith. Faith is a very necessary factor in practice.

[16:09]

Without faith, it's impossible to continue or to know what it is that we even want. So faith is what ties us to our nature. We have faith that each one of us is good. Our nature is the nature of the universe. So faith is what ties us or what connects us to self-nature. Not faith, not kind of blind faith, but confidence.

[17:12]

Faith is a kind of confidence. stick is our goad our impetus that keeps us in line you know we're always falling off if you look at your life in Zazen even when you try to maintain concentration the mind is always wandering so when the mind wanders you wake up bring the mind back, bring the intention back that's the stick but we always come back to what we're doing so this is the boy training the others with mindfulness and faith and discipline without discipline

[18:20]

There's no practice. You may have a great understanding of Buddhism. You may know everything in the world about Buddhism and Zen. You may be able to answer all the koans. But without discipline, there's no practice. That's why we have form. The forms of practice allow us to easily enter into the atmosphere of practice. of what we're doing. So this training, this fifth picture is the picture of training, taming the ox. The ox wants to always go out. The ox wants to do what it wants to do.

[19:20]

And the stronger the passions and and emotion and desire. The bigger the ox. You may have given a good sense to what we said among the very meek and gives in easily to It's not so. It makes sense to someone who has a real hard time with discipline, who has a very strong head, big emotions, big desire. A person like that makes it a very good sense to him because he really has something to work with.

[20:25]

that's true if you don't have anything to work with you don't have you can't bring out your spirit so we always want to take the easy way out but it doesn't help us the more we take the easy way out to know we avoid what we have to do. So training is pretty hard. It's human nature to avoid what we have to do. So discipline really necessary.

[21:27]

Not disciplined, too. Not like the army. Not disciplined. But some strictness in our life, too. When we have an intention, we stick with our intention. We don't let something easily push us off. And the ox always wants to have his head. He always wants to eat grass or when somebody else's lawn or field. And And the boy's always pulling him back. And it's tough. It's really hard to keep that ox in mind. The ox, you know, is our self nature. And the boy is separate from his self nature. As he progresses, he becomes closer and closer. The ox and the boy become closer and closer. And so at some point, you can't tell which is which. Because really they're just two aspects of one nature.

[22:31]

And one of the arcs are just two aspects of one nature. It's really tough to bring yourself in line with ourselves once we get lost. to bring ourselves into line with our tristle because we have a big desire, big passion, big emotions, big lines. But in this fifth picture, the boy actually is taming the ox. And the ox becomes very docile. instead of a boy trying to pull the ox along where he doesn't want to come the ox follows along his training means to acquiesce and to feel comfortable

[23:58]

where the boy finally feels comfortable with the ox it says the ox feels comfortable with the boy but actually it's the boy feeling comfortable with the ox not trying to escape anymore no longer interested in externals or being caught by externals and the next picture shows the boy riding on the ox flying the flute. The ox is very gentle. And the boy is riding on his back, and he's flying the flute very freely and easily. So this is a picture of tranquility after all that work. He's finally a plateau. It's like going uphill and finally you get to this plateau where things are moved by themselves.

[25:12]

It's like the whole universe in you are moving in harmony together. That's a beautiful place to be. The next picture shows the boy lying in the grass all by himself without the ox. The ox is gone and in just the void. But he's very happy and content. There's no longer two things. There's no longer ox and the void. There's just the void. This is the non-duality of the void and the ox. The ox is no longer separate So you just see more. Then the next picture shows it's an empty circle.

[26:17]

The empty circle is another picture, is another way of depicting the ox. There's no more. Just an empty circle. So these are the two sides. One is the boil down the ox. There is a circle about the Lord. Emptiness. No, nothing exists in this realm. This is understanding that in Zazen where there's no you and no breath. Everything falls away. reality without any in between. With the void, only the void, no arcs, you can say emptiness is form.

[27:26]

And with the arcs and no void you can say form is empty. The next picture just shows a tranquil countryside. No going, no walks. This is called returning to a source. Everything is just as it is. Self-nature has no special form. everything is an expression of it and this is the understanding in this picture this is like when everything disappears and then you look around you see the whole world

[28:38]

shining brilliantly. Every flower has its own face. Every person has a nerve. Everything you touch and see is wonderful. And the tenth picture is coming down and out with a bag of wonderful things to give away. This is coming back from the Source and entering into the world with ragged clothes and no positions completely free and empty. I call it bliss bestowing in.

[29:40]

Everything you touch is benefited. So in a way, these pictures are kind of showing progression up the mountain to the plateau and the peak and coming down the peak back into the world. This is the progress of a Zen student's life. This is Shakya Muni's story. This is the story of Shakya Muni Buddha and the story of any Zen student. And each one of these pictures expresses each one of these stages expresses the whole of practice. But in each one of these pictures, the others are included, even though it may not be so obvious.

[30:54]

But the important thing to remember, as I said before, is in each stage, each stage of practice is Enlightenment itself. When you first awaken to the fact that something is missing, this is kensha. This is enlightenment. People come to the inside there because they're enlightened. They kind of, I want to get enlightened. I came here because I want to get enlightened. The reason that everybody comes is because they want to be enlightened. The desire to get enlightened is enlightened. Looking for the art, looking for the traces is enlightenment.

[32:01]

Seeing the traces is enlightenment. Capturing or getting with it is enlightenment. Training is enlightenment. So it works both ways. Every moment in our life is an enlightened moment. even though there may be some stages, they're not stages of progression from delusion to enlightenment. They're stages of enlightenment to enlightenment. And they take place in a realm of delusion. Delusion is necessary

[33:08]

using it as a stepping stone, but it's not the basis. So, as well as being enlightened, we are all completely deluded at the same time. So within our enlightenment, we have to recognize our delusion. And within our delusion, we should recognize our enlightenment. Without looking for enlightenment, or without trying to grasp something, just doing the work, there is a light bulb.

[34:17]

Wanting something too much, that's delusion. But we need that delusion. We need that delusion to, as a kind of stick or a carrot, We need that delusion. That's good. But we have to be able to recognize enlightenment in each step regression, the sequence is not fixed. Sometimes we're at the eighth stage.

[35:23]

Sometimes we're back to the first stage. Sometimes we're at the third stage. And it's just a way of looking at a lot of practice. We shouldn't be attached to feeling that there's some sequence that's very important the main thing is no matter what happens to continue this is uh our practice, and whether you're smart or stupid or brilliant or whatever, the practice is the main thing.

[36:33]

It's not what you know. new people who are living in this building, new residents. I just want to know something. How many people who are members here didn't know that we were having a practice period? Are we good? how encouraging it is to have a hundred people here. And that's very inspiring for all of us older members.

[37:39]

We don't have a question and answer period today because it's assuming. So if anyone has a question, please. Yes. I don't like thinking of the dealing with the ox pretty as a kind of controlling, prevailing, terrific effort that you made. I prefer to think of coming in to understand the true nature and sort of release and letting things be as they are. And it troubles me with the image of this hedgehog ox being something that has to be brought into property. Well, for some people, it's easier to conform. Also, for most people, when you begin practice, you really have to stretch yourself as far as you can go.

[38:56]

Very important. Then, when you have some confidence, then it gets easier. But that stretching yourself in the beginning is a very important vector. you bring out your spirit. And if you don't have a challenge, it doesn't turn off. You have to go beyond whatever you think that you can go. Yes? I was wondering, so there's no particular progression that goes on during the sequence?

[40:01]

No what? No particular progression on the sequence? Well, I said there was a progression because I said it wasn't fixed. Would it be possible to be walking down the street in front of the empty picture on its glide? Well, that's always there. The empty picture is always there. It's the background that really does. But That empty picture is more easily experienced in zazen, when you have to have everything to do. Zazen is where we experience it, but there's the

[41:03]

snooping in a courtyard and a stone hit a piece of it and it cracked and his whole mind dropped away body and mind everything just dropped away so you could be walking down the street suddenly you find yourself in the midst of reality Maybe I have read a different version of P-Oxidant. Doesn't it end sometimes with a return to the marketplace? Yeah, this one can do. Yeah, two things. I said it return, but coming back when this was going in the marketplace. Speaking of the mind that gets distracted, and the mind that brings it back, aren't they the same mind?

[42:20]

Yeah, the same mind. Could you talk a little bit about health? Yeah. Sometimes in order to get spiritual health, we don't worry so much about physical health. Although physical health is important, it's not as important as spiritual health. teachers will always recommend that you don't worry about your physical health. You should worry about your spiritual health. But I would say you should take care of yourself.

[43:26]

Take care of your body. I can't tell you how to do it, but if you spiritual health then it's easier to have physical health and so this way is middle way you know not to neglect your body for the sake of the spirit neglect the spirit for the sake of the body but that they should cooperate with each other and that's actually what we've been doing at Cincinnati rather than some kind of ascetic life We try to live a very well balanced life both physically and spiritually. That's always been our endeavor. That's why we spent so much time in Tassajara trying to figure out the right menu for thousands of people who come from different backgrounds and maintaining health

[44:43]

Yes? If these pictures were rendered by a 20th century American, what would the ox be? Well, they were rendered by a 20th century American. Arthur Okamura did 10 oxford pictures quite a few years ago. What did the ox look like? But... What would you think it was like? Attractive. Attractive? Not too attractive. Attractive. Oh, attractive? Yeah, something in a popular field. I see. Well, I hope that you're so familiar as a mechanical. but ox is pretty good because it's not too violent but it's very solid and very strong will that can be tangled I think that's

[46:17]

You recently taught a class on five ranks. Are they parallel as teachings or do they start at different places? Yeah, you can pick out the five ranks if you need. You can do the last Oxford in the picture. It's different. And that is also To me, one rendition of drawings I saw, I think it was the 6th, not the 10th, but it seemed like the ox was training the boy. Of course. The ox was training the boy. But the boy thinks he's training the ox. But that's why the image of a small child Usually as a young child, it always makes me think that the ox is actually just acting that way in order for the child to learn.

[47:30]

Of course. The ox is an actor. You can look at it that way. It's like whatever you engage in, whatever you face, whatever you're working with, it's training you anyway. you're learning how to drive your car. If the car is training you, of course, the ox is training the boy, anyway. This is why engagement is so important. Everything that we enter into is our engagement in life, which is training. Everything is our teacher. No doubt about it. Inanimate objects are our teacher. We step into the boat. sail, take hold of the tug, and we make the boat, and the boat makes us.

[48:35]

We step into Zen Center, and we make Zen Center. We create it, and it creates us. There's nothing here. It's all an empty circle. But as soon as we do something, it comes to life. I'm confused about faith. I don't know what it is. It seems like wishful thinking. I hope that there's something to have faith in, but I'm not sure that I have faith. I'm sort of like one step before faith. I'm not sure I've fallen home. Well, the fact that you can take another step, that's good. Something.

[49:42]

You've got to have faith in something. You know, something about faith in your brain, you know. But they're The fact that you go out there in the world, step out the curb under the street means that you have faith that the street is there. If you have faith that the street is there, what about the fact that you appear in this world from nowhere? without asking for it.

[50:42]

And life is lived through us. We say, I live life. But that's from the point of view of myself. From the point of view of myself, I live my life. But actually, life is lived through this person. So why not have faith in the life that's lived through this person? in their life instead of to be in prison. Can I ask how Virginia did he, a microphone? life that's living in this person into the universe.

[52:00]

And it sustains it. But the more we think about me and mine, the less further away we get. There you have faith, but you just don't know that. But when you think of what is faith, you know, belief in some deity. Deity is a way of, having faith in a deity is a way of grasping something. There's nothing wrong with it. It's like somebody, you know, 25 years old was a teddy bear. There's nothing wrong with having a teddy bear, you just don't need one.

[53:01]

You know, people have faith in teddy bears. But if you don't need a teddy bear, you can just let go and just have faith in life. The process itself. Otherwise, we're always frightened about what's going to happen in this world. We try to fit in objects or something, but nothing will help us. In the end, without him, it will help us. We have to get security, money, houses. a little bit.

[53:59]

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