Good morning. Can you hear me okay? Wonderful. So good to be sitting with all of you on this bright, cold December morning at the start of Rohatsu. I imagine most of us have worked quite hard to... clear the space and get ready to sit together for this week. And I know many of you are sitting for the full time and many of you will be coming and going as you need to take care of the many things in your lives. So thank you all so much for being here. It almost feels a little funny to be breaking the silence because it's been so silent and still in the zendo this morning.

[01:07]

Really a powerful feeling. And being silent and still is a practice. It's one we give ourselves and it's one we give to others too. By our silence, by our stillness, we support those around us in this commitment that we have together. And it's just a really precious thing. Whatever's going on inside each one of us If our minds are struggling a little to catch up with our bodies, our bodies are providing ourselves and each other such a strong foundation to settle into.

[02:13]

So for this Rahatsu, I want to talk about the Satipatthana Sutta. often called the Four Foundations or Four Establishments of Mindfulness. It's one of the most foundational and well-known teachings of the Buddha. It's very influential, particularly in modern-day Theravada and in... the Western Vipassana tradition in this country, which was where I first, I think I must have encountered it before then, but that was where I became much more familiar with it. Because I used to sit Vipassana retreats at Spirit Rock, and even before there was a Spirit Rock. It was a kind of a joke that if you came into a Vipassana retreat, usually seven or ten days,

[03:29]

and you didn't know what day it was, you could figure it out by what the topic was. Because it goes through in this very progressive way. And of course, pretty much everybody was doing talks on the same sutra, but it was always different. It was always different. Everyone had their own take on it. They brought out different aspects. It wasn't that they were reading the sutra so much. And this isn't really a class. I chose this text to share with you because it's one of my favorites. And in my own experience, it helped me so much in my practice to ground and to settle. And I'm so grateful that I had that exposure before I came to Zen because... I had an active and unsettled mind a lot of the time then.

[04:36]

And just the bare bones of instruction that I received through Zen was not really enough. I needed a little more grounding. And I remember that Suzuki Roshi used to teach breath counting as a ground in practice. So there are many, many ways to ground in our practice. But my intention in choosing this text is that I hope that it will support you in your practice. Because I want to keep this basically just about practice and supporting the practice. And I also want to be clear that I think some people may associate the Satipatthana Sutra, so strongly with Vipassana or insight tradition that it might seem as though I'm recommending that you take up those practices, which I'm not.

[05:43]

We're sitting Rohatsu Sushin, we're doing Zen practice together. But just as everything we encounter can broaden, freshen, widen, our view, our awareness. That is my intention here. Not that you do any particular thing, but that you let it in and if anything sticks, that's helpful. Great. So I am going to break down some of the the terms, especially in the beginning of the sutra, because it helps to understand the Buddha's intention. And it's just a different way of putting so much of what we're already familiar with. So there's two words, sati and upatana.

[06:50]

Satipatana, satipatana. Sati is usually translated as mindfulness or awareness, but it's specifically awareness of the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh says that sati also means stopping, stopping the train of thoughts, stopping the body, stopping to just be present. And upatana literally means placing near and refers to a particular way of being present or attending to something with mindfulness. Someone attends to another when they're standing by and just ready. An attendant is just ready, just aware.

[07:55]

not looking for anything, not expecting anything, just open. So this establishing can also mean establishing in addition to like standing by or attending to establish. So there's different different ways of looking at the language of it. Because you could say establishing, as in the process of bringing to be this deep open awareness, or you could say that it's established, or maintaining the establishment, the abiding, and it has both those qualities. So it's the practices that help us establish things so that we can be in, rest in that state more readily.

[09:10]

Currently there's a lot of awareness of nervous system regulation and how to do that and the need for calming the body, calming the mind. and many practices have been developed around that. And in one sense, the sati-pitana also addresses that as the first step, as the first ground, so that we can come to be present, come to the present moment, fully arrive. So when sati, when awareness, when mindfulness is present in your experience, how do you notice it?

[10:24]

How do you recognize it? It might be through the presence of certain ways of being in the body or certain qualities of the mind or it may be the absence of certain ways of being in body and mind. Freedom from. full awareness or mindfulness is something that we often feel like we may be chasing a bit in our daily lives.

[11:31]

But when we remember when we call to mind what it's like to be in that state, that helps us turn toward it even more deeply. So I'm reading from Thich Nhat Hanh's translation.

[12:45]

The book is Transformation and Healing. And he calls it the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness. I heard these words of the Buddha one time when he was living at Kama Sadama. a market town of the Kuru people. The Buddha addressed the bhikkhus, the monks, O bhikkhus. And the bhikkhus replied, Venerable Lord. The Buddha said, Bhikkhus, there is a most wonderful way to help living beings realize purification, overcome directly grief and sorrow. End pain and anxiety. Travel the right path and realize nirvana. This way is the four foundations of mindfulness.

[13:56]

So this translation saying there is a most wonderful way That is Ekkayana, which many of us are familiar with from the Lotus Sutra and other places. The one path, the direct path. Ekka can also be translated as vehicle. But it's basically the path that leads straight to the goal, to the aim of nirvana, of an awareness that allows us to see reality as it is. Sutra goes on, what are the four establishments

[15:15]

Bhikkhus, a practitioner remains established in the observation of the body in the body, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. He remains established in the observation of the feelings in the feelings, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. He remains established in the observation of the mind in the mind, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. He remains established in the observation of the objects of mind, in the objects of mind, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life.

[16:38]

So these four aspects, the body, feelings, mind and objects of mind, are a sequential series of ways of being aware. And the Buddha is giving very clear directions on how to be with these objects of awareness. The emphasis is on direct experience rather than cognitive awareness. What is the experience of this moment? What is the experience, say, of breathing?

[17:53]

He says it should be diligent with clear understanding, mindful. Diligent is to have a sustained exertion or energy, virya. neither too tight nor too loose, like tuning a stringed instrument, a balanced middle path between extremes of overexertion or stagnation or insufficient effort. It means maintaining awareness with a a balanced and dedicated continuity of awareness. Returning to the object of meditation as soon as you notice it's been lost.

[19:03]

The first meditation instructions I received described it as training a puppy to go on the paper. And you just keep bringing the puppy back to the paper over and over and over again. You don't yell at the puppy. You don't swat the puppy. And you don't ignore or lose track of the puppy. You just keep bringing it back. So how do you recognize when your practice is diligent in this balanced kind of way? Not too much and not too little. Putting in the effort but not falling into striving.

[20:12]

Being with tiredness or distraction or sleepiness. but not just giving into it, finding a way to be that includes all of it. Suzuki Roshi often talked about warm-hearted practice. How do you encourage yourself? The next instruction is clearly understand or clearly know. And the word pajanati

[21:26]

means one knows. And the psalm is like an emphasis. So it's like the difference between, oh, she knew such and such, and she clearly knew such and such. Like, no question. Yeah. The knowing that is clear. There's a clarity of it. It's a little different than just bare awareness because there's a... There's a real quality of seeing or being with. It feels real or alive. And then mindful. Sati, our old friend Sati. often refers to memory, but in this case, it's really what makes memory possible, what facilitates remembering something.

[22:37]

We're not distracted. We're aware. We're mindful. When we're actually present, we can remember things that are that we didn't think we remembered, because we were there for the whole experience of it. For whatever reason, that moment stood out. And it might have been ordinary. There are a number of Zen stories about teachers who will abruptly ask the monk a question. Like, which shoe did you remove first when you entered the room? Paying attention in that way to everything, every detail.

[23:41]

In Japanese monasteries, instruction is pretty minimal because the learning is through observation, through training. one's attention. You're expected to learn forms by observation and not having to be told. So it sharpens qualities of awareness, qualities of observation. I was reflecting that if you know you're going to have to do something at some point, but you don't know when, and you're not going to be given much information about it, you'll pay attention very carefully.

[24:47]

Like, you know, at some point you'll be asked to do service, and you should be ready, or to be the Doan or the Kokyo. You should be ready. And in the beginning maybe you don't even know what you're supposed to pay attention to. But that can actually widen the field of practice. To not judge, oh it's this or it's that. Just to open to all of what's happening. Like it's new. So sati, mindful awareness, does not say anything about the response or doing anything. It's establishing the ground for action outside of this moment of just sitting, for meeting the moment, for meeting the person in front of you.

[25:59]

And then it says, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life. Another translation is, or free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. The Xin Xin Ming begins, the way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. So this letting go of craving, of aversion deeply is what this practice helps us in. This specific four foundations of mindfulness, this progression and the way of doing that is what helps us to live peaceably with ourselves and with others.

[27:09]

The sutra goes on. And how does a practitioner remain established in the observation of the body in the body? So what does that mean? That was in the previous section. Observation or contemplation of the body in the body. And a commentary by Inalio understands the first instance of body to be just bodies generally, one's own or others. So where one's body is concerned or with regard to another's body, it's not specific. But the second instance refers to the different ways of contemplating the body, the breath, postures, activities, It also talks about the anatomy of the body, elements of the body, stages of decomposition of the body.

[28:28]

So these are just in relation to the body itself. There are many ways that we can consider the body. And the ways listed in the sutra are not ways that we're used to thinking of the body these days so much, especially the four elements. I think we're very used to thinking about the anatomy of the body, but not just as it exists in itself. We have ideas about our organs and our bodies and how it should be. So these are ways of being with various aspects of our bodies. Continues, he goes to the forest, he or she goes to the forest to the foot of a tree or to an empty room.

[29:39]

Sounds like the Fukanzazengi. Sits down cross-legged in the lotus position, holds his or her body straight and establishes mindfulness in front of her. Again, it really resonates for me with the fukansa zengi. The gaze is lowered and in front, establishes mindfulness in front of her. He breathes in, aware that he is breathing in. She breathes out, aware that she is breathing out. When he breathes in a long breath, he knows I am breathing in a long breath. When she breathes out a long breath, she knows, I am breathing out a long breath. He uses the following practice.

[30:44]

Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I am aware of my whole body. There are so many ways to be aware of the whole body. How is awareness of the whole body arising for you right now? And then breathing in I calm my body. Breathing out, I calm my body.

[31:44]

Just as a skilled turner knows when she makes a long turn, I am making a long turn, and knows when she makes a short turn, I am making a short turn. So a practitioner, when she breathes in a long breath, knows I am breathing in a long breath, etc. He uses the following practice. Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I calm my body. Is calming the body supported by returning and refreshing an upright posture?

[33:11]

Finding the place where there is no extra effort in remaining upright and balanced. And then the sutra continues with the first instance of what we could call a refrain. It recurs repeatedly after each section. This is how a practitioner observes the body in the body. She observes the body from within or from without, or from both within and from without.

[34:27]

She observes the process of coming to be in the body or the process of dissolution in the body, or both the process of coming to be and the process of dissolution. Or she is mindful of the fact, there is a body here. I love that, just the very simple, there is a body here. Until understanding and full awareness come about, He maintains the observation free, not caught up in any worldly consideration. That is how to practice observation of the body in the body, obikus. So all of this is not just to maintain concentration.

[35:40]

These are various objects of concentration. But it's to watch impermanence as it rises and passes. Well, impermanence is, I'm not sure impermanence passes exactly, but... The coming to be and the passing away. Sleepiness arising, sleepiness passing. Strong sensations in the body arising, sensations in the body passing. Clearly observe. Clearly observe. Not thinking about it, just witnessing moment after moment.

[36:52]

Moreover, when a practitioner walks, she is aware I am walking. When she is standing, she is aware I am standing. When he is sitting, he is aware I am sitting. When he is lying down, he is aware I am lying down. In whatever position the body happens to be, he is aware of the position of his body. And then again the refrain. Clearly observing from within or from without. Moreover, when a practitioner is going forward or backward, she applies full awareness to her going forward or backward. When she looks in front or looks behind, bends down or stands up, she also applies full awareness to what she is doing.

[38:02]

He applies full awareness to wearing the Sangati robe or carrying the alms bowl. When he eats or drinks, chews or savors the food, he applies full awareness to all of this. When passing excrement or urinating, he applies full awareness to this. When he walks, stands, lies down, sits, sleeps or wakes up, speaks or silent, he shines his awareness. on all of this. So much of our practice in the zendo

[39:09]

and particularly during Sashin, is about forms or form just generally, how we form our bodies and our voices enchanting to harmonize with others. So the activities of a Theravadan monk, well, wasn't Theravadan at the time, a disciple of the Buddha at that time, has a lot in common with what we're doing here together. So throughout the course of Sashin, I also want to bring attention to different forms.

[40:12]

Not necessarily because anyone's doing anything wrong or I saw something, but just to remind us all and bring together the ways that forms how we enter the zendo. Bow toward the altar. Bow towards and away from our seats and sit down. How all of this creates the container of practice for all of us together. I am so grateful for the deep silence and stillness in the zendo this morning.

[41:27]

And I want to encourage all of us to continue that practice throughout the day. Particularly in the breaks after meals, during the work period, all the moments of the day. Silence, particularly during Sashin, is a gift we give others as well as ourselves. once the silence starts to fray a little bit around the edges.

[42:32]

Just in many unconscious ways it can continue that way. And of course some speech is necessary, particularly during work period. So it's good to keep it to functional speech, speech about what is immediately at hand. Just what's necessary. Uryoki literally means just enough. So maybe this is the orioke of speech. What is just enough speech?

[43:40]

Not too much, not too little. I find that it helps Me and my practice of silence. One of the few things Sojin, more than a couple times, told me I needed to work on, which was being more silent, talky, friendly, encouraging, is to consciously be aware of my connection with other people and to feel warmth toward them. It helps me to feel like I don't have to talk so much because I feel connected without speaking. The last thing I wanted to say for this morning's talk

[45:03]

is if you haven't already, and I imagine that most of you have, given some thought to how you will structure your evenings after we go home or stay here, if you're staying here, what would maintain the continuity of practice for you? And each of your situations is different. Some of you have families and you've been away and now it's time to be with them and that's fine. But just encouraging whatever it is to be intentional rather than being dragged around a little bit by whatever. Because it's a big shift to leave such a silent and still container. And for most I think you're driving home, so traffic.

[46:09]

Just take gentle care with yourself as you're making that transition. And maintain the continuity throughout the day. Thank you all very much for your practice.

[46:34]

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