Looks a little like a sleepy day today. People are a little tired. But... As the day progresses, I think we'll all wake up. Anyway... Today, I want to talk a little bit about Dogen's Guidelines for Studying the Way, Kakudo Yojinshu. He talks about entering enlightenment through practice. He talks about the nature of practice and enlightenment.

[01:08]

So he says, in the Buddha way, you should enter enlightenment through practice. A worldly teacher says, through study, one can gain wealth. Buddha says, within practice, there is enlightenment. In other words, Within your practice, there is enlightenment. There's an old saying, I don't know if it's an old saying, maybe I made it up. I don't remember. But the light of the mind brings us to practice. and practice reveals that light. That's very nice, I like that.

[02:14]

It's circular. The light of practice brings us, the light of the mind brings us to practice. This is called, you know, there's Intrinsic enlightenment and experiential enlightenment. Intrinsic enlightenment is our natural endowment. This is what brings us to practice. Buddha seeks Buddha. Enlightenment seeks light. Light seeks light. You know how water, watch water on the ground. The water is going somewhere, sometimes, but it's slow, and then there's another maybe trickle of water coming from the other side, and it's slow too, but as soon as the two meet, it doesn't, it flows.

[03:20]

So, it's like, you know, enlightenment trickling, and then it meets itself. And then it flows. It meets practice and flows. So Dogen says, it is unheard of that without studying, someone should earn wealth, or that without practicing, someone should attain enlightenment. Though practice varies, there are various practices initiated by faith or dharma knowledge with emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment, you always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. So there are various aspects of enlightenment, various ways that it is expressed, and faith is certainly one of them.

[04:28]

Faith itself is enlightenment. if you really have true faith in practice, that enlightenment is there, because faith is a product of enlightenment. So, faith in our nature, Buddha nature, and faith in the nature of practice. And that faith, of course, is confidence. Confidence is an aspect of faith. Not blindness, necessarily. You know, we talk about blind faith, and of course we don't want to have blind faith because we want to see where we're going, right? And we don't want to just believe in something because somebody tells us. So there are different kinds of blind faith.

[05:30]

One kind of blind faith is someone tells you something and you're supposed to believe it. That's kind of blind. But true blind faith is faith with your eyes wide open. That's true blindness. It means really seeing completely. It means because your confidence and understanding is good enough so that you don't need to keep reasoning with yourself. You don't need to keep creating mental reasonings for what you're doing.

[06:37]

You intrinsically understand. Intuitively understand. So true faith actually comes from intuition, not just from knowledge. Knowledge is also important. But the fundamental is the intuition. because intuition means directly knowing. So, he says, though practice varies, initiated by faith or dharma knowledge, with emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment, we always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. So, enlightenment is important. But we should always go beyond enlightenment. In other words, not get stuck on some enlightenment idea. This is one of the biggest hindrances for many people.

[07:41]

They get stuck on an enlightenment idea. And he also says people think about sudden or gradual enlightenment. Zen practice is sudden enlightenment, so-called. But it's also gradual enlightenment. But it's not the gradual enlightenment of most other Buddhist practices. Most Buddhist practices have step-by-step practice. You know, the Tibetans have step-by-step practice. Vipassana has step-by-step practice. You do this practice for three years, and then you do that practice for five years, and then little by little, this steps to Parnassus.

[08:42]

This steps to enlightenment. And it makes sense, you know, it makes perfect sense that you have a systematic way of doing something. But in Zen, it's walking the plank. And then you just fall into the ocean and start swimming around. So instead of starting from the bottom and going up to the top, or no, instead of starting from the bottom and going to the top, you start from the top and go down to the bottom. float up to the top. So, the bottom is letting go of everything. You start there. Let go of your opinions, your ideas, your ambitions, and just naked enter the practice.

[09:55]

So sometimes it takes somebody 20 or 30 years just to enter the practice, and someone else can just walk right in. It just depends on how much we hang on to. So we start from the understanding that the enlightened mind brings us to practice. So we're not going from delusion to enlightenment. It's sudden enlightenment, gradual practice. So we're practicing from the foundation of enlightenment and polishing the stone. There's a saying that diamonds are created by intense pressure under the earth. a lot of heat, a lot of pressure, and it forms these real hard indestructible diamonds.

[11:07]

So this is a kind of analogy of practice. Practice is, you enter practice and then you, with your gem, with your uncut gem, And then, which is called Buddha mind, enlightenment, but it just doesn't look like anything, it just looks like a rock. And then through this intense pressure of practice, it begins to glow and take on its true functioning. But without the pressure, It doesn't manifest that way. That's why Zen practice is always associated with some kind of pressure. If you go to Japan and you tell somebody that you're a Zen student, they say, oh, very difficult.

[12:12]

Oh, hard. So, but, you know, there's a less intensity if you really take it on. You don't have to worry. So this is, you know, you don't have to do some kind of extreme practice, but it's important to have a consistent practice. If you have a consistent practice, then that's, there's pressure there. There's pressure just with consistent practice.

[13:14]

So cecine is pressure, you know. Sashin puts enough pressure to make everyone shine, to make everyone's Buddha nature shine out. And, you know, along Sashin, it's very visible. And it's also visible on a day like today, by the end of the day. Everyone will have some kind of wonderful, glowing presence. And if you have difficulty, that helps. And then he says, though study can be superficial or profound, and students can be sharp or dull,

[14:24]

Accumulating studying earns wealth. Accumulated study earns wealth. So in other words, we accumulate, I don't want to say credit, but practice matures you. Just like studying matures your understanding, practice matures your nature. So this does not necessarily depend on the king's excellence or inability Nor should it depend on one's having good or bad luck You know, it means that you don't have to be smart or dull or it's simply The practice, you know We say one minute of practice is one moment of enlightenment whether you're smart or dull. I It's not a matter of learning a lot.

[15:27]

That's why Zen is so wonderful. You don't have to be smart. You don't have to be a scholar. And it's better if you're not, because when you start depending on intellect, then you depend less on intuition. So, we have to be careful about study, because study is good, but when we start depending on it, when the balance shifts to study being more prominent than practice, we lose our intuition, or we weaken our intuition. So there are people who I say to, you should study more. But you should know something about Buddhism.

[16:32]

But for people who study a lot, they should practice more and study less, develop the intuition. So if someone were to get wealth without studying, how could that person transmit the way in which ancient kings, in times of either order or disorder, ruled the country? So if you were to gain realization without practice, how could you comprehend the Tartargutis teaching of delusion and enlightenment? So you should know that arousing practice in the midst of delusion, you attain realization before you recognize it. So this is important. In the midst of our delusion is where we practice.

[17:37]

Enlightenment shines through delusion. and we don't recognize enlightenment. This is why there are two terms. One is enlightenment and the other is realization. So, realization is to realize enlightenment. Enlightenment is simply to have it, but we don't necessarily realize it. As Dogen says, Some may realize it and some may not. But nevertheless, that doesn't mean that you should not practice, even though you don't realize your enlightenment. Not so many people realize it, but in some way we do realize it. But we don't... you can't put your finger on it.

[18:42]

This is the difficult part, putting your finger on it. You know, I always say, walking in the fog, you reach down and realize your clothes are wet, or damp. And at some point you realize, you know, things are different than they were before, you know. It's not like some big light bulb goes off unnecessarily. Sudden enlightenment is actually gradual. When it's suddenly, this world is just a finger snap. All the history of this world is just a finger snap. The whole thing is just a sudden moment. So, sudden and gradual are simply comparative values. A sudden moment can take years.

[19:51]

So, within sudden there's gradual, and within gradual there's sudden. It's not important At this time, you know first that the raft of discourse is like yesterday's dream, and you finally cut off your old understanding, bound up in the vines and serpents of words. This is not made to happen by Buddha, but is accomplished by your all-encompassing effort. Moreover, what practice calls forth is enlightenment. Your treasure house does not come from outside. How enlightenment functions is through practice. How could actions of mind ground go astray? In other words, practice touches the mind ground, and then the actions of mind ground cannot go astray if you actually touch the mind ground.

[21:02]

That's where all of your actions come forth from. So if you turn the eye of enlightenment, and reflect back on the realm of practice, nothing in particular hits the eye. So, in other words, with the eye of enlightenment, you turn and look at practice, and nothing in particular hits your eye. This is just everyday activity, right? If you are really immersed in practice, it's just everyday activity. It's not anything special. And enlightenment is not anything special. It's simply your everyday activity. What can you point out as enlightenment? We want to point out something, though. We want to be able to point out, that's enlightenment. But if you really pay attention to your everyday practice, that's enlightenment.

[22:04]

But it's nothing special. So if you turn the eye of enlightenment and reflect back on the realm of practice, nothing in particular hits the eye, and you just see white clouds for 10,000 miles. No special attributes. If you arouse practice as though climbing the steps of enlightenment, not even a speck of dust will support your feet. You will be as far from true practice as heaven is from earth. Now, step back and leap beyond the Buddha's land. If we know, if we have, if we can trust our practice, then our deep faith will grow out of that.

[23:29]

If you always relate everything to your practice, relate everything in your life to the ground of practice, you'll be able to figure things out. You'll be able to know your direction. You know, practice is called shikantaza. Shikantaza, it means just doing. Sometimes people think about in practice there's no goal. This is a kind of understanding. There's no goal in practice, but that has to be understood correctly. There's always a goal in things. If you want to go to San Rafael,

[24:44]

And you step in your car. But you don't think about the directions. You just kind of wander around and hope you get there. Hope, good luck. So you kind of have to know where you're going and how to get there. So there's always a goal. And there's a goal in practice. But the goal in practice And the meaning of shikantaza is not a self-centered, selfish goal, not a self-centered, selfish act. So shikantaza is to act without a selfish purpose. So when you sit sadhana, you simply sit sadhana. There's no goal.

[25:47]

There is a goal, but it's not a self-centered goal. It's the goal of letting go of the self at the center. Letting go of attachment and clinging to self. That's the goal. Letting go of attachment to clinging and discriminating, and attachment to self and other. So they're simply sitting in complete harmony with things. So it's Buddha's practice. Buddha is the center. You take the self out and put Buddha in the center.

[26:48]

This is Buddha's practice. So who's Buddha? But don't think about that. Simply let breathing breathe, let seeing see, let hearing hear, let thinking think, without a self in the center. And then, miraculously, everything gets done. So, shikantaza is to just do, thoroughly and completely. If we want to wake up in zazen, zazen is total dynamic activity of the whole body and mind. We do sit Zazen and we sit quietly, you know, but we don't always put our energy into Zazen.

[28:04]

Sleepy Zazen can't be helped, you know, you try to wake up, but lazy Zazen, we can help that. Lazy Zazen is to just be there, kind of dynamic then is to really put the effort into posture so that even though, you know, lazy though then the posture is there but the energy is not there. So to feel the energy coursing up your spine and lifting up your sternum and keeping the energy induced the whole period of Zazen. Let the energy, let yourself open to the energy to sit up with good energy. You know, if you do that, then energy is induced through your effort.

[29:06]

At the same time, to hang loose. This is the secret of posture. is to have good effort and energy without any tenseness at all. Open the door to the energy, but let go of what's not necessary. So, this is emptying out and being fulfilled. So in Zazen we're constantly emptying out, letting go, letting go of, you know, you don't need this. You don't need this. Simply sit with ease, actually, but with a total dynamic energy.

[30:15]

So it's like a top, you know, you spin the top, and the top just looks like it's standing still, and it's well balanced, because it's well balanced, totally balanced. It's not exerting any more effort than it needs, but the whole dynamic is there. And then If you touch the top when it's spinning, it doesn't look like it's doing anything. If you touch it, it goes across the floor. Sometimes people say, oh, after Sashin, I'm tired. That's because you're using energy in the wrong way. After Sashin, you should be energized. If you're practicing, in the right way. Because you're not using any extra energy.

[31:21]

You're only using the energy that's necessary, the effort that's necessary. And it's all right here in your lower back. And lifting up. Let the energy work for you. Just let it in and let it work for you. Keep your head on top of your spine. Don't let this happen. You have to work. Zazen is working all the time to go over your posture, all the points of your posture, all the time. Breathing is important. Paying attention to breath, but paying attention to posture is Zazen. There's this lump of bone and flesh. What are you going to do with it?

[32:26]

When we sit, we're offering this body-mind to the universe. So how do you do that? This is my best. I'm offering the best that I can to the universe. Is that this? What is the best way to offer it? So, you know, zazen is called the noble posture. Just keep that in mind. How do you manifest the noble posture? Or how do you manifest Zazen as the noble posture? So, leave us with that. Do you have a question? Andrea?

[33:31]

You made a reference to clouds. Clouds, yeah. And I keep forgetting to ask you, You know, in the Bodhisattva ceremony, we say an ocean of illuminated clouds and an ocean of ornamentation. Oh, that's tricky. But clouds, you know, the analogy of clouds in Buddhism is the changing moment by moment changes a phenomena. Like, everything is like a cloud, you know. The phenomenal world is like clouds, meaning that it looks this way right now, and then the next moment it looks... today it looks like an elephant. I mean, this moment looks like an elephant, and then it looks like a cow, and then it looks like trees, and then it looks like houses. Those are clouds, ornamented clouds.

[34:37]

So it just had to do with the changing face of phenomena, the continually changing face of phenomena. Sometimes you say solemn clouds. Solemn clouds, yeah. Solemn clouds. I know. I read both translations. And because the two sounded too close. And then solemn clouds sounded like more of a contrast. But I don't know. I have to do a little more research on it. You talked about faith and faith being an aspect of enlightenment. You mentioned... Yeah. Can you say something about the role of doubt? Oh, yeah. I always love to talk about doubt. Doubt is the balance of faith. Doubt balances faith. So doubt is important.

[35:41]

Doubt is an aspect of faith. Faith is a counterweight of faith. So it's a complement. So there's doubt, which is checking to see if this is correct. But then there's skepticism. which is skepticism is going over outweighing faith. So then skepticism becomes the object instead of faith. So skepticism needs an enlightening experience. So there's the skeptical types and the faith types.

[36:45]

And the skeptical types need koans in order to have, you know. Whereas for the faith types, that wasn't good enough. But doubt is important, you know, otherwise faith becomes too... Faith is naive, has a tendency to naivety, and will be pulled around by anything it finds attractive. So doubt says, oh no, go over there. No, no. Go away. So doubt is like faith's big brother. Or faith's grandfather. Katherine? It's a study question, not an intuitive question.

[37:56]

A little something I think I'm supposed to know about Buddhism. When you ever use talk about sudden and gradual enlightenment, it's always a term, I always feel like there's this argument going on to eradicate the distinction, but I don't understand the historical distinction that used to exist that we're so busy trying to eradicate. Well... Talk about sudden and gradual enlightenment, what it used to mean before we started saying it's not a distinction. Well, it's not what it used to mean. Okay, what did it mean? I think that there's a lot of emphasis on book thin. In book thin, there's a lot of emphasis on drama. And the drama, you know, is too often overemphasized in order to create an awe-inspiring gasp

[38:59]

So, the problem with so many sudden enlightenment stories is that they add this dramatic aspect which tends to present a kind of, this is the way it is. sudden experience. So that's okay, but that tends to minimize the fact that enlightenment does not come about just by this dramatic experience, that there are many ways that enlightenment appears or manifests, a sudden experience. Sudden experiences are a kind of contrast and not everyone needs that contrast, not everyone experiences enlightenment through such a powerful contrast.

[40:21]

So when I talk about it, because in our practice we don't try to seek a sudden experience, and experience always has to be followed, mostly has to be followed by practice. So that's why enlightenment is, you know, sudden enlightenment, what people call, you know, a big experience. We try to not emphasize that, because then people will think, well, what I'm doing is not enlightenment. Enlightenment is when you have this big experience. And then you tend to minimize what's happening right now, because the real thing is out there in the future, whereas our emphasis is, the real thing is right here now. So the more you emphasize that sudden enlightenment thing, the further it takes you away from where you are now.

[41:30]

So is there like a school or a tradition of gradual enlightenment like ours? Ours is not gradual enlightenment. What is this thing called gradual enlightenment? I understand what you're saying and that jogs with my current... Gradual enlightenment is like step-by-step practice. Okay, like you just do each thing. Right, you have this kind of practice, then you have that kind of practice. So that's not us. What we are is practice, practice, practice. Sudden enlightenment, gradual practice. You just didn't realize the suddenness of your enlightenment. So, gradual enlightenment. sudden enlightenment and gradual practice, or intrinsic enlightenment and experiential practice. So I don't criticize any of the ways that people have attained enlightenment, but

[42:35]

I think it's a mistake to emphasize some big experience as the only way to gain enlightenment. I used to practice Rinzai tradition and I went home to my old sangha last summer and I brought a copy of Branching Streams Flowing in the Darkness to give to them. And I thought, there's no way they're going to have this book. And I handed it over, and the monk who leads the group said, oh, I've just been reading this. This is very good. So I think the Rinzai group approach, which their group is all about koans and enlightening experiences, they still have a very deep appreciation for ongoing practice. Well, you know, Dogen's practice is in accord with Zen practice, but since Hakuin's time in Japan, the Koan practice has been emphasized in Japanese Zen.

[44:00]

And it's taken hold in the way that we see it today. It's just an emphasis that he put on, that mostly Hakuin put on. He revived the Renzai practice in Japan, which was pretty much dead, dying, and he did it through the Koan practice. He used that as a vehicle and emphasized having enlightenment experience. was one of those people who was kind of a skeptical doubter. And, you know, that was his way. Whereas Dogen had faith from the beginning, pretty much, you know, and he had his doubts.

[45:03]

And Dogen's doubt was, if everyone has Buddha nature, why do we need to practice? So his practice turned on practice brings forth enlightenment. So there are many approaches, but we follow Dogen's approach and Suzuki Roshi's approach. I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, well, most of your enlightenment experiences are not what they're cracked up to be. oh

[45:52]

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