Good evening. We have, I think, two more sessions. Tonight and tomorrow. Tonight and tomorrow. And so we have five subjects to cover. And so we'll try to do more than one and maybe more than two. But that shouldn't be too hard. You know, we spoke about mindfulness, and about investigation of the dharmas.

[01:04]

And so the next one of the seven factors is energy. So, the characteristic of energy, this is Usilananda's book, the characteristic of energy is driving towards something and its function is to consolidate mental states which arise together with the mental effort. It supports and helps the investigation of the dharmas. It manifests to meditators as non-thinking and non-collapsing. When meditators put forth effort, they do not sink or collapse. It is said in the commentaries that when rightly initiated, effort should be regarded as the root of all attainments. No attainment can be reached without making an effort or using energy." So, of course, in our practice, our attainment is to be present.

[02:08]

We don't have some special attainment. We're not trying to create some special state of mind or reside in some heavenly realm or some advanced spiritual state of mind. Just to be present totally without any illusions or to know what illusions are and what delusion is. If we know what illusions are and what delusions are, then enlightenment rises up, because it's the enlightened mind that understands this. So as far as attainment goes, we attain the present. So we don't really attain anything.

[03:11]

So when we say, we don't use the heart citrus as attainment, but in our practice, we don't practice to attain something. It's a non-attaining attainment. The attainment of non-attainment. But, you know, in Buddhist... this is why Dogen speaks when he talks about zazen. He says zazen is not one of the meditation practices. Zazen is simply the gate to ease and joy, bliss, whatever. It's not one of the meditation practices. So when we talk about zazen as meditation, it's a kind of convenient way, convenient thing, because when you say meditation, then people get some idea of what you're talking about, even though they don't know.

[04:16]

But if you said zazen, you know, what? What's that? You have to explain it. So we say meditation, but it's not meditation in the sense of attaining. Dogen is very emphatic about this. And Fukunsa Zengi is very emphatic. When people compare Zen practice to other Buddhist practices, there's always some funny feeling. You know, like we're doing something different, or it doesn't quite match up. Well, it looks the same, in a way, but there's some subtle difference. So, Suzuki Roshi was very adamant about no gaining mind.

[05:31]

That was something that he repeated over and over again, that when we practice Zazen, or when we do our practice, we don't have a gaining mind, or a mind that's gaining or attaining. But we can use the word attainment, but we don't use it in that sense. So when we read this literature, a lot of times it refers to higher states, attainment of higher states. That those higher states are not there, but they're not sought after. So if we attain some higher state, so to speak, it's not something that we're seeking, it's simply something that happens.

[06:45]

But we always return to our normal state of mind, whatever that is, if you have one. which I would characterize as clear mind, clarity of mind, simply clarity of mind. When I was a kid, growing up, I always, no matter how much frustration or pain or whatever I was feeling, I always felt that I could rely on my clear mind, just my ordinary clear mind. I always had that feeling.

[07:47]

And then after I came to San Francisco in the 50s, and I got involved in the art scene and started smoking grass, that changed my clear mind. And I was, you know, kind of hooked on it for about a couple of years. But then I got very, you know, discontented with that because I always felt that it was obscuring the clarity of my mind. And then when I came to Zen, the first time I came to Zen Center, I had been smoking grass, and I sat down on a cushion, and that was the last time that I smoked grass, because I regained the clarity of my mind. And that, to me, that's been the most fundamental

[08:52]

treasure is reclaiming my clear mind and realizing that that's what I had lost when I started distorting it. And in the precept, the precept talks about that, the precept of not taking intoxicants but treasuring clarity. cultivating clarity. So this is what zazen is, simply cultivating clarity or allowing clear mind to be present. Clear mind is there even when it's cloudy, even when it's confused, even when it's sleepy or whatever. It's still clear mind. In the second case of the Blue Cliff Record, Joshu talks about this.

[09:55]

He talks about, the monk asks him about clarity, being attached to clarity. It doesn't matter, you know, for Joshu it doesn't matter whether his mind is confused or clear. It's still clarity. Because he's not attached to any special state of mind. When confusion comes, that's okay. Because confusion is just a temporary state of mind. But Joshu's mind is always clarity, even when it's clear. Clear mind, confused mind, doesn't matter.

[11:00]

Either way is okay, because he has the fundamental clarity. So, when we talk about effort, energy, you know, energy is good, but effort is a kind of energy. I don't usually talk about energy. I talk about effort, because energy is something that is kind of a natural endowment. But effort is something that we bring up, something that's volitional. And it's something that we apply. And so without effort, then our zazen sinks. Yeah?

[12:03]

Is it the same word, virya? Yeah, I think it's the same word. I'm not sure. But effort and energy, they're probably different terms. You mean, is it the same? Well, sometimes the paramita say effort, sometimes they say energy. It depends on who's translating. But the root is virya. Oh yeah, the root is definitely virya. Virility. Both masculine and feminine. Yeah, vir, power. But virya is the basis of all of our activity.

[13:12]

So without it, there's no practice. So there's virya, which is very strong, And like, you know, the difference between a trumpet and a cornet? Trumpet has a very straight sound, whereas a cornet has a broader bell, and it's more of a wide sound. So the strong penetrating sound is more the trumpet. It's more like, you know, a strong determination to penetrate something. And the wider sound is more encompassing. It's just as strong, but it has a different mode.

[14:19]

Kind of like the difference between Rinzai and Soto. practice. Rinzai practice is like the trumpet. Soto practice is more like the cornet. So in Rinzai practice, they say it's like a general moving his troops. In Soto practice, it's like a farmer raising his crops. A different mode, but the energy the effort is the same, and the result should be the same. But there are two different modes. So, there are supposed to be eleven practices leading to the arising of energy. One is reflection on woeful states.

[15:21]

That is, you know, if you don't practice, you're liable to fall into woeful states. This is, woe, woe is, woe is me. That's true though. The reason that I came to practice was because I had fallen into woeful states. And I said, if I don't practice, Now that I have the opportunity, I will continue to fall into woeful states. And even though I do practice, I still fall into woeful states. But I can get out of my woeful states. I don't have to be stuck in my woeful states. And then the other one is reflecting on the benefits of energy. You can reflect in this way. By putting forth more energy and making more effort, many meditators have attained arhat-hood-ship.

[16:27]

So arhat-hood cannot be attained by meditators who are thoughtful and indolent. So I must make effort. We don't make our effort to become arhats anymore. Some people do. We make our effort to be bodhisattvas. Yeah, that's true. We make our effort to, you know, act like a bodhisattva. So, we do that. And then reflecting on the path. This path of meditation has been trodden by the Buddha, the Pacheka Buddhas, and the great disciples who are energetic. When you are going along this path, it is not fit for you to be lazy. That's interesting because they mention the Prachiga Buddhas and the disciples who are the Shravakas, who are disdained by the Mahayana.

[17:45]

You know, all those Prachekabuddhas and Tralakas, right? But here they, he said, uphold them. But actually, we do too. Because in our echo, not every morning, but our... I can't remember what day we use that echo anymore, but the echo where we say, we... respect for the arhats and their followers who attain the great, the great... Monday morning. Monday morning. That's right, not in here in front. We praise that the three wisdoms and the six unrestricted ways of the arhats may be always with us in our unceasing effort to renew Buddha's way. But it's the 16 arhats. Right, the 16 arhats and the 500 arhats, but they're not mentioned. And their followers attained the supreme attainment of arhatship.

[18:58]

So, we do respect that. So, you know, that's because our practice is a Hinayana practice. With Mahayana mind. So even though, you know, it's tricky, tricky. I think the Hinayana side is the strict monastic side. The Mahayana side is the more worldly, open side, or practicing in the world. So we have both. We do both. So honoring the alms, this is meant for the bhikkhus.

[20:01]

We also have this in our meal chant. The bhikkhus who are supported by lay people and also applies to yogis on retreat who are taken care of by volunteers. But we don't have that. Even though we have monastic practice, We work for our support. We have a different system. People don't support us, but in the monastic community we work for our support. But still, the feeling is there that we reflect on whether our virtue and practice deserve this food. That's in the meal chant. And that's where this comes from. It's really a monk's chant. And, of course, we pay for our food, even though it's cooked and served to us. But still, it's an offering. So, since a monk has no option but to practice for their support, if they don't practice, they don't get fed.

[21:10]

They'll just die. wither away and die if nobody feeds them. So through their effort to practice, they're supported. And this is the faith that a monk has in the practice, because they have no other way of support other than to practice and ask for support once a day. So their virtue and practice are the only thing that pays for their food. So everything is paid for. A person begging on the street is not the same as a monk begging on the street, even though it looks the same. Because the monk begging on the street His sole purpose is to do something, do this for everybody, for the sake of everyone, practicing for the sake of everyone.

[22:17]

And so it's a kind of payback for being fed. That's his job. So in the countries where the monks do this, it's a support to the society, practicing a support to the society. We haven't gotten there yet, as far as being recognized that our practice is a support to the society. But in Asian countries, it has been in the past, whether it is now or not, I don't know, but in the past it has been. And the traditions are there. So then reflecting on the heritage, heritage means the heritage of the Buddha. So the meditators should reflect thus, great indeed is the heritage of the Buddha, namely the Dharma treasures, and they are not attained by the slothful. So an indolent person is like a child disowned by his parents.

[23:21]

There is no inheritance when the parents pass away. So too it is with the treasures of the Dharma. Only an energetic person will gain from them. So I always say that, you know, people say, what do I get from the Dharma if there's no attainment? Well, you get what you put in. You have the opportunity simply to practice and that's what you get. you get what you're doing. And then reflecting on the Master, it means recalling the great events of the life of the Buddha and admonishing yourself thus, it does not befit me to be lazy after having heard of such a teacher. And then reflecting on the race, race means the race of the Buddhas, Buddha's family. When we have It doesn't mean black and white or something like that. It means that when you have ordination, when you have jūkai, lay ordination, and priest ordination, we join the family of the Buddhas, the bloodline of the Buddhas.

[24:34]

So race here means, as a Zen student, a person gets a new birth as a spiritual child of the Buddha. It is not proper for such a person to be lazy. And then, reflecting on the other followers of the Dharma, like Buddha's disciples. And then, avoiding lazy people. So, you know, don't keep company with lazy people because they'll influence you to be lazy. And then, associating with energetic people. They will influence you to be energetic. And then, inclining toward energy. Inclining, leaning, sloping toward, that's the way it's described in the commentaries, sloping toward, inclining, leaning toward energy. This way of mindfulness that I gave you is actually a commentary, a wonderful commentary, an old commentary, but it's got some interesting things, some stories.

[25:54]

There lived, in the village to which he, the Tara, talking about Tara, Mahamita, means good friend. The Tara lived in Kasaka Lena, cultivator's or farmer's cave. In the village to which he resorted for alms, there was a certain Maha Upasika, elderly or great female lay devotee, who, taking him as a child of hers, looked after him. One day she was preparing to go to the forest and spoke to her daughter thus, here is rice, here milk, here ghee, and here treacle. I don't know what treacle is. Treacle is shear reduction. Molasses. Molasses. That's treacle and treat. When your brother, the venerable Mita, comes, cook the rice and give it to him with milk, ghee, and treacle.

[27:17]

You too eat of it. I have eaten the cold rice cooked yesterday with gruel. Mother, what will you take at noon? Cook a sour gruel with herbs and broken rice and put it by for me." Just as the Tara was taking out the bowl from the bowl bag, he was carrying his bowl in a bag, After he had robed himself to go out for alms, he heard that talk of the mother and daughter through his clairaudient power at the door of his cave, and he thought as follows, the great lay devotee has eaten stale rice and gruel and will take sour gruel at noon. For you, meaning himself, she has given old rice, milk, ghee and treacle. She does not expect field or flood or cloth from you. Only expecting the three good attainments of the human, divine and hypercosmic planes does she give alms to you.

[28:19]

Will you be able to bestow on her these attainments? Verily, your alms is not fit to be taken by you with heart of lust, hatred, and ignorance." So here we have, you know, does my virtue and practice deserve it? Then he put back the bowl into the bowl bag, unloosened the robe knot, refrained from going for alms, and returned to the cultivator's cave, put the bowl under his bed, the robe on the robe pole, and sat down, resolved on endeavor, thinking, I will not go from here without attaining arhatship. This recluse, who had been earnest for a long time, after developing insight, reached the fruit of Arhat ship even before mealtime. And the great destroyer of the corruptions, smiling like an open lotus, went out of the cave." That was his bad spirit, right? To him, the guardian deity of the tree near the cave said,

[29:25]

to the guardian deity, a tree sprite living in a tree outside the cave. To him, the guardian deity of the tree near the cave said this, Hail to thee, man's deed of finest strain. Hail to thee, the best of mortal kind. Gone are thy cankers, sorrowless one, and so worthy art thou to take a gift of faith. Now, an arhat means one who is worthy of an offering. That's one meaning of the term arhat, one who is worthy of an offering. So that's why the end of the poem says, worthy art thou to take a gift of faith. Having uttered this appreciation, the tree deity said, venerable sir, after giving alms to a saint like you, wandering for alms, wandering for alms, the elderly woman will escape suffering. When the Tara got up and opened the door to observe what the time was, he found that it was still quite early, so he took his bowling robe and entered the village.

[30:36]

The young girl, having prepared the rice, sat looking towards the door of her house, thinking, now my brother will come. Then, when the Tara arrived, she took the bowl, filled it with milk rice, alms, mixed with ghee, and treacle, and placed it in his hands. And he departed after giving thanks with the words, May there be happiness. And the girl stood there looking at the departing one. The color of the elder at that time was exceedingly clear, and his controlling faculties especially pure, and his face was shining like a ripe palm fruit freed from the food food stock, foot stock. The mother of the girl, on returning from the forest, inquired, dear, did your brother come? The daughter told her everything, and the Maha Upasika, knowing that her son's renunciation work had that day reached its acme, said, dear, your brother delights in the dispensation of the Buddha. He is not dissatisfied. So that's an old story that goes along with this.

[31:42]

So through his resolve, he reached arhatship before noon, through his one single-minded resolve. So that's a good example of energy. It's a nice little story. It also involves generosity and selflessness and all kinds of things. So, the next factor is called joy. Sometimes it's called rapture, depending on how it's translated. I like to call it enthusiasm. Rapture means absorption, actually, to be rapt. So there are 11 things that lead to the arising of the enlightenment factor of joy.

[33:02]

One, by recollecting the Buddha's qualities, By recollection of the Buddha's qualities, of the qualities of the Dharma and of the Sangha, joy arises. When we reflect on the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha, joy arises. Joy also arises for one having kept the precepts of fourfold purity, unbroken for a long time, reflects on one's virtue, to lay people who reflect on their virtue through observing the ten and the five precepts, to one reflecting on liberality and collecting one's gift of excellent food to one's fellows in the holy life during a time of scarcity and the like, that's generosity, to lay people recollecting their liberality and giving alms to virtuous folk, that comes from the side of the monks,

[34:12]

to one reflecting on one's possession of qualities by which beings have reached the state of shining ones, the devas, to one reflecting thus by way of subsidence, the passions suppressed by the higher attainments do not occur for 60 or 70 years." Well, this is the Way of Mindfulness. Actually, Usil and Nanda, they're about the same, because they're all citing from the same text. It only has five kinds of joy. Yeah. Joy is called piti. This Pali word is usually translated joy, happiness, zest, rapture and pleasurable interests.

[35:15]

It can be either one. There are many translations possible for this word. Piti means mainly contentment about getting a desirable object. We must therefore differentiate piti from sukha, which also is translated happiness or bliss. Sukha refers to the actual experience of the object attained, and piti is the contentment that you will get from a desirable object. It's like when a thirsty man is walking in the desert, and when he sees the lake, he has piti, joy. And then when he goes over and drinks the water, he has sukha, or happiness. So piti refers to the actual experience of the object attained. Piti is the contentment that you will get a desirable object.

[36:21]

Piti belongs to the aggregative mental formations, while sukha belongs to the aggregative feeling. So when you learn that you will experience something desirable, you have piti. But when you actually experience it, you have sukha, you feel it. So the characteristic of piti is to render co-nascent states more endearing. Its function is to refresh body and mind and to pervade them. And piti manifests to meditators as elation. There are five kinds of piti. The minor piti raises the hair on the body. When you practice meditations, you sometimes have goosebumps, or your hair stands on end. You are experiencing piti. Does that happen to you? Goosebumps? Maybe in the beginning. Momentary piti.

[37:26]

It appears like a flash of lightning. You experience this kind of Piti in your body like a flash of lightning once in a while. You feel very good and there is coolness in your body. Coolness is a welcome quality in the East where the climate is mostly hot. Wave-like Piti. This kind of Piti comes over your body again and again like waves on the seashore. Or maybe like waves of warmth, you know. and a breeze. Uplifting PT, it levitates the body and can even make it jump into the air." This is, you know, the Buddhists had a lot of practices like this in their long history, but this borders on the powers, you know, not magic powers, but siddhis, which are rejected by most Buddhists.

[38:33]

But there are stories of people who levitated on account of this kind of P.T. When practitioners in our days experience this kind of P.T., their body may be lifted up a little or moved to another place without disturbing their posture. Sometimes they may even feel they are lifted up into the air These are manifestations of uplifting Piti. You may feel that, but I don't know whether the body actually moves. I'd have to see that too. I'm a little skeptical about that one. But, you know, there are people who do levitation meditation, but they always come back quickly. They don't stay up very long. It's like, you know, somebody walking on the water. Zemesh says, oh, that's quite a trick. Why don't you just try walking on chopping wood and carrying water?

[39:42]

pervading piti. It completely pervades the whole body. It is compared to oil pervading a piece of cotton. When it arises in meditators, their whole body is, so to say, soaked with this kind of piti. Well, that's nice. Your whole body is absorbed in joy. That's nice. But, you know, hap, joy, In our practice, joy is more something, not something to cultivate, because we don't try to cultivate any special feeling. But if our practice is genuine and sincere, joy will arise by itself without being called for. You know, we say, pursuit of happiness. One of our rights is the pursuit of happiness. But you can't really pursue happiness, or you can pursue happiness, but happiness doesn't come from being pursued.

[40:51]

It just keeps running away from you. True happiness comes when you stop pursuing it and just settle down. So joy is kind of like a deep river that runs underneath your whole being. It doesn't depend on whether you're happy or unhappy, or whether things are going well or not going well, or whether there's pleasure or pain. The joy of our practice is always there, no matter what's happening. That's when your practice is mature and deep, deep enough to tap that pervasive joy. And this is when we have that deep, I've tapped that deep pervasive joy, then that promotes faith. of joy emerges.

[42:09]

Yeah, that's right, because it's simply our natural state. And when it's obscured by clutter, so to speak, we try to create a happiness on top of that happiness. And so when all that's cleared away, then the natural happiness just is there. So, I think that my question might be the same thing that was just asked. So this deep pervasive... Joy. Joy. Piti? Yes. Is that the same thing as the nature of experiencing the nature of emptiness, this deep pervasive joy? Well, that's a characteristic of emptiness. Got it. It's time to take a two and a half minute break.

[43:21]

Time to come back. Love it!

[44:30]

There are many... Rapture is also a kind of definition of PT. Rapture has more of the feeling of an extraordinary feeling. And we can feel rapture. We feel various states, both mental states and feeling states, in zazen and otherwise. Suzuki Roshi was very careful in warning Samadhi, which is a concentrated effort.

[46:25]

There are different kinds of samadhi. There's a book that lists 500 different kinds of samadhi. I don't know how many, something like that. And in Zen practice, we have various kinds of samadhis. We have self-joyous, Jinju-yu-samadhi, self-joyous samadhi. We have Ichi-ni-samadhi, which is one-act samadhi. Samadhi of simply doing one act, which means to be totally present without self-centeredness. There are kinds of concentration. Well, this goes into concentration. So I'm going to save samadhi for concentration. But there are concentration practices which will bring up rapture and various wonderful ecstatic feelings.

[47:37]

When people think about meditation, this is what they think of. Mostly. Why does somebody want to meditate? Well, because you go into these various states, right? Rapturous states. So that's a kind of candy for people. And it can be kind of dangerous, because then you go in expecting something. And if you don't... I remember In the 70s, 60s, 70s, there were a lot of gurus who were appearing, and there were these gurus from India, a young man who was supposed to be the big guru of India. He rented an auditorium and thousands and thousands of Naive Americans came to this auditorium to hear his teaching and get his thing.

[48:39]

You know, get his enlightenment. Because enlightenment was some rapturous feeling. And there was a movie made. And in the movie it showed some of these people's reactions and responses. And there was one moment complaining to the person at the desk. Yeah, I remember that. Remember that? I want my enlightenment. I want my money. I pay my money. I didn't get nothing. India for having 14 Rolex watches.

[49:44]

So we have to be very careful about promoting rapturous states. Although rapture will happen. I asked about a particular, sort of from the ridiculous to the sublime. A lot of people have something before they even hear of it. before they ever practiced, may have a sort of ecstatic opening that's very like what's described as Kensho. And then they seek out Zen centers looking for people who will help them understand what happened to them. And they may bring various attitudes about that. I remember one man arriving at Honroshi's Zen Dojo, and he was enormously frustrated and angry with the reception he got because all of these So the Zen people were sort of saying, oh well, don't make anything of it, don't make anything of it. And he had had this totally life-changing experience and he was getting greeted with, oh we don't do anything with that, we don't, you know.

[50:46]

But it seems to me there's something different between going to meditation to seek it and going to meditation because you feel that you've been brought to a path by having this this reaction of, oh, we don't want, don't make anything of that, don't feel like it's special. But that doesn't help somebody who's trying to understand the experience. What would you say? Well, you can help somebody try to understand their experience. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to deny that it exists. No, you should not deny anything. You can't, no, you should never deny anything. But you can help a person understand their experience, maybe. And the thing is about when you have an experience, then what? So in the 70s, 60s, 60s and 70s, there were a lot of teachers pushing Kensho. And Kensho was really big.

[51:49]

And a lot of the Zen centers were involved in pushing Kensho. Then a lot of people were coming with those experiences. And there was a lot of problems. And Suzuki Roshi was the only one who was not pushing those experiences. And he just recognized that people had experiences, and then that's good, and that's fine. And if you want to practice, you're welcome to practice. But just because you had an experience, the thing is, most people who have experience, a lot of them anyway, want to feel, well, now that I've had this experience, I must be a teacher. So, yeah, so this kind of problem, you know, it doesn't occur much anymore, because even the people who used to push Kensho are not doing that anymore, at least not so much. And so that's kind of, that whole expectation of gaining some experience has kind of gone out of favor because it was very extreme.

[53:05]

There was a tendency in this young man to do this kind of self-deification. I mean, there's a sense of analogy, if not God, something really holy. So, you know, we should have experiences. But, you know, any Zen teacher that's worth his salt will recognize that people have experiences, which they should have, and it's fine. And then you drop it and go on. If you hang on to that experience, then it's worse than if you hadn't had an experience, because then you use that as your... you become attached to that experience, and then nothing else will do except that experience, which will never happen again. So then you're stuck with that experience. And Suzuki Roshi said, well, yeah, you should have an enlightenment experience moment by moment. No problem. What does that mean?

[54:07]

You should wake up moment by moment. No problem with that. But to think that you had this experience and it woke you up so that you don't have to have any more practice, well, maybe. But if so, if you really had that experience, that would help you to drop it. If you had a genuine experience, you would realize that the thing to do is let go of it. If it's not genuine, it means that you're hanging on to it. So, that's one way to tell. And experiences, you know, are comparative. Compared to what have you had an experience? You know? If you're way down at the bottom and you have an experience which brings you up here, well, maybe there are a lot of people that are up here, but don't think anything of it.

[55:13]

So, excuse me, what's Kensho? Kensho. Kensho? It means to have an opening experience. Your mind opens to a realization. So is it synonymous with enlightenment? Yeah, it's a kind of enlightenment experience. The experience of opening up, of your mind opening up. Sometimes your mind will open up. It's like a curtain, you know, and you have a realization of who you really are and how things are. And then it closes again. Then you have to do the work of called practice. When people have what they call a dry spell, I've heard people talk about going through a dry spell. Is that when they're not having any kinshows?

[56:20]

No, that's complete kinshow. That's when a dry spell is good, you know, because that tests your practice. Test your sincerity, test your effort. So this is why practice is so important, because practice is something that's continuous, you know, and doesn't depend on how you're feeling. Your practice only depends on how you're feeling. then you feel good, and you practice, and then you feel bad, and you say, well, why am I doing this? It's not helping me, it's not giving me something. So your feelings in your mind would just, you know, take you anywhere. But your intention is what keeps you going. If you don't have the intention, and that's where the energy is, that's the effort. The effort, basically, is to have the intention to practice no matter what is happening.

[57:26]

That doesn't have anything to do with how you're feeling. It's not that we don't honor feelings. Of course, you know, feelings are feelings, even though they're illusory. And we should respect and honor them. But you cannot base your practice on feelings. You have to base your practice on your intention, which is your effort. So when you just get up in the morning, or whenever it is that you practice, you just do that. And it has nothing to do with your feelings. And then, if you continue to do that, joy will arise. beyond a doubt. Because it's not dependent on your feelings or how you're feeling. You know, he quotes, there's supposed to be 11 practices which lead to the arising of PT, which are the same 11 which lead to the arising of all the others.

[58:42]

Yes? Thank you. When Dean was talking about the kinship and experiences, and you were talking about in the 60s and 70s, there were teachers that were pushing it, it sounded like, it reminded me from my own readings, of these big experiences that people had. How does that compare to, say, to, say, your own clarity of mind, and then it got fogged over, and then you sat down, and then you returned to that clarity of mind. Is that Kensho experience? I would say that was Kensho experience. But it's not an experience. It's more like a big experience. There's what's called sudden, and what's called gradual. And so when we think about Kensho, if you think about a sudden, you know, boom, the sky opens up and so forth. But, you know, Kensho can just be a kind of low-key opening that you experience in a very subtle way.

[59:56]

So we say, like walking in the fog, you realize your clothes are wet. It's not necessarily like a big thundercloud opens up and soaks you, that's okay too. But it's more like, oh geez, I realize that for a while I had this understanding and now I realize it. So it's something more subtle and doesn't come on like gangbusters. It was a realization of returning to my original mind. It reminds me of the title of one of Jack Kornfield's books, After the Ecstasy of the Laundry, which is, I think, really on the mark.

[61:20]

It's a really nice little book, which is kind of a tribute to Three Pillars of Zen. And Capo, where she's based in Manchester, is one of those kind of Kencho pressure cookers. Yeah, well the big test of whether or not you've had a real Kensho experience is how you relate to everyone on an ordinary level. And how you take care of yourself.

[62:22]

And how your actions are not based on self-centeredness and ego. So one may have certain experience, but that doesn't necessarily make you enlightened. You can be enlightened for one moment and then be deluded for the rest of your life. That's possible. So enlightenment has to be continually generated. That's why Suzuki Roshi didn't pay much attention to Kensho experiences because although they may be what they are, valid or invalid, it's like what you do with your life that is the important thing, not what kind of experience you have. The rapture or joy that's referred to is

[63:32]

You can have that feeling even when you're not feeling joyous. That's right. Correct. It doesn't depend on the ephemeral feelings, the passing feeling. It's an underlying confidence, an underlying It goes with settledness, which is the next factor, which is called tranquility, or settledness, or peacefulness. There's tranquility and serenity. Serenity is like this beautiful sunset in the summertime when everything settles down and the blue sky and passing clouds, maybe pink.

[64:50]

And it gives you this wonderful feeling of everything in the world is okay and serene. And tranquility is like a clear body of water, like a lake. that has no ripples, and you can see all the way down to the bottom. I remember one time, we went to Oregon, and went to this lake, and took a little rowboat and went out to the middle of the lake, and you could see all the way down to the bottom. A deep, deep lake. I don't think it exists anymore, but at that time we were so lucky to be able to see all the way down to the bottom. The lake was very still and there was no pollution. Amazing. So that's like tranquility. And meditation or zazen is likened to tranquility or to a deep

[65:54]

lake, which is where you can see all the way down the bottom. So you still the ripples, right? When you sit, the mind becomes still. And because when the mind is going like this, when there are all these ripples, waves, that obscures the water. And then when it all settles down, you can see down the bottom. That's called tranquility. So tranquility, its characteristic, let's see what it is. The next factor is pasadi, calmness or tranquility. It occurs when feelings of tiredness or other unpleasant feelings subside without any special effort. When meditators have reached a certain level of samadhi, this pasadhi is experienced. You won't feel tired or have unpleasant feelings in your body.

[66:57]

Without any special effort, you experience this pasadhi. So, you know, this is why you can sit zazen all night and have maybe one or two hours of sleep and then continue a sasheen that way. Used to do that. Probably don't do that anymore because we have too much, not enough pasadhi. But its characteristic is quieting disturbances of consciousness and mental factors. Its function is to eliminate disturbances. It manifests to meditators as inactivity or coolness of consciousness and mental factors. So, coolness, you know, we say that nirvana means coolness. Originally, The original meaning is cooling. In the olden days, in India, they used to use that term, just, you know, have a samadhi drink. I mean, a nirvana drink.

[67:58]

Meaning, have a cool drink. You know, is your food nirvana? Or is it hot? So it has cooling the mind, cooling the passions. cooling the greed, cooling the anger, cooling the delusion. So, it manifests to meditators as inactivity or coolness of consciousness and mental factors. So, Satsang is actually nirvana when it's done with coolness, when one is cooled off. There's not a lot of poisonous activity going on. What's the difference between calm mind and cool mind? Calm mind can be cool mind. Cool mind can be calm mind. Cool mind is calm mind. And calm mind can be cool mind.

[69:01]

When it reaches a certain level, Suzuki Roshi, this was one of his most, one of the things he talked about the most, put emphasis on calm mind. To him, calm mind was one of the most important factors even, you know, more than concentration, to have calmness of mind, to settle, settled mind, settle the self on the self. So there's seven practices which lead to the arising of pasadi, or calmness of mind. Resorting to fine food, Fine food means suitable food. I think that's what it means, appropriate food. Neither gourmet nor lavish, but sufficient to satisfy and nourish you. You know, there are four things that one needs in order to actually practice.

[70:02]

One is food, shelter, place to sleep, and food, shelter, and support. Clothing and medicine? Clothing, yeah, clothing. Well, clothing. Clothing, food, a place to sleep, and... Chocolate? And just enough, you know, the orioke bowl that we use, the orioke means Something like just the right proportion. Resorting to comfortable weather. Well, comfortable weather allows you to practice meditation and tranquility. That's something you can't control.

[71:03]

What? What do you do if you're in India? Well, in India, the way the monasteries started was because in the monsoon season, that's when they would do their practice. And then the rest of the time, they would wander. So that's when they did their meditation practice in the monsoon season, and they'd go to the monastery. So in that way, that's probably where that comes from. But, you know, like Dogen says, you should find a place that's not too cold, not too hot, not windy. You know, a place that feels comfortable. That's what it means, really. Find a place that's comfortable. Resorting to a comfortable posture. Assuming a stable, comfortable posture allows you to practice without too much discomfort. This does not mean that meditators should fuss about food, weather, or posture.

[72:09]

Dedicated meditators will bear with inconveniences in practice. Yes. The commentator said, but he who has the nature of a good person is patient about all kinds of weather and postures. That's right. That's intention as the more important than your feelings. The subcommentator... Are we still on tranquility? Yes, we're still on tranquility. So, the subcommentator also said, Resorting to this threefold suitability brings about well-being of mind by way of the basis of bodily well-being, and so is the cause of twofold tranquility. I don't know what twofold tranquility, probably a body and mind. Twofold tranquility, probably body and mind. So, fourth one is reflecting on beings who have karma as their property. It is called judgment according to the middle way.

[73:12]

Taking pain and happiness as they are experienced by beings to be causeless is one extreme, and taking them to be a creation of an overlord in others is another extreme. So, to say that pain and happiness or don't have a cause, is one extreme. And taking them to be a creation of an overlord, or like God's will, or something like that. And others is another extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, you should know that suffering and happiness are the result of your own karma. All beings suffer or are happy because of the karma they have accumulated in the past. By reflecting thusly, meditators can develop tranquility. So this goes very deep and this is one of Bodhidharma's admonitions in the two-fold entrance. Have you read that? Two-fold entrance by way of practice and entrance by way of understanding.

[74:15]

And he talks about you should realize that you are where you are because of your karma, past karma. You suffer what you're suffering because of your past karma. or whatever state you have at the moment is because of your past karma. So you should, if you actually turn toward practice, it eases the result of your karma. It does. It's the one thing that will help to mollify, if that's the right word, your karma. So then, number five is avoiding physically restless people. Avoiding people who harass others will help you to develop tranquility. If you should associate with such people, you'll also become restless, and this is the opposite of tranquility.

[75:18]

Well, that's true, but then there's the other side, which is, to test your tranquility, you should, you know, get out there with the untranquil. You know, practice should always be tested by... We should not be hothouse Zen students. It's okay in Zendo, you know, everybody's very quiet. This is the hothouse. You should actually get out there in the field, you know, where all the wildflowers are, and test your tranquility there. That's how you practice in the world. how can you remain calm, settled, you know, when you have a classroom full of kids, or when, you know, you have people who are ardently advocating stuff that you're totally against, you know, you're stuck in the traffic, you're stuck in the grocery store, you know, you can't pay your bills,

[76:27]

so forth. Associating with physically calm people. These are people who are restrained of hand and foot and who are restrained in their actions. So that's the others. That's the hothouse. So you should do both. Inclining towards calmness. Inclining or directing the mind toward calmness in all postures will help to attain the desired quality. So that means this is how we carry our zazen into our daily life, really. by paying attention to our postures, paying attention to our breath, and keeping the mind as calm as possible so that when things come to you, you don't get upset. Or if you get upset, you know how to balance yourself. You know, Suzuki Roshi used to say, everything is falling out of balance and regaining its balance. If you think about that, kind of neat, you know.

[77:31]

Everything is continually unbalancing. Moment by moment we're changing our position and losing our balance and then finding our balance and losing our balance and finding our balance. And that's the way we kind of go through life. And so how, it's like the Darumadal, you know. When it's made correctly, with a round bottom and a heavy weight, it goes over and then comes back up, comes back up. So that's kind of the model for settledness. You always regain your balance, you always find your place, your firmness. And that's very joyful practice. If you can do that, continuously, you feel happy, even though things aren't going so well. So it's an underlying happiness and a consistent effort to settle yourself and to not be presumptuous.

[78:45]

Presumptuousness unsettles us. But if we don't have any idea, we just stay settled and alert. And then whatever comes to us, we respond to with our big mind. It's joyful practice.

[79:08]

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