Since we are having a one-day sitting today, I think it's appropriate to talk about breath. That's what we're doing all day is breathing, sitting and breathing. So I want to talk about breath. from the point of view of two sutras, two early sutras, two early Buddhist sutras. The Sutra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Sutra on the Sixteen Methods of Awareness of Breathing Sutra. So these are two of the earliest Buddhist sutras which have not been rearranged in some way or added to or fiddled with.

[01:05]

And they're very basic Buddhist meditation sutras. And Although we don't practice these sutras in a systematic way, the way the sutras are outlined, I always think of the outline of this kind of sutra as being simply a way to systematize something. So even though it looks like a progressive way to do something, none of these practices need to follow each other. It's simply a way of laying things out. But there is a kind of progressiveness at the same time. So the four foundations of mindfulness are mindfulness of the body in the body,

[02:13]

mindfulness of feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of mind in the mind, and mindfulness of mind objects in the mind objects. The reason why we say the body in the body or the mind in the mind is because mind and its objects cannot be separated. subject and object belong to each other. And discrimination is what separates them. But originally, there's no separation. So all of these mental factors, all of these factors, the body and the mental factors, are the subject and object which are not discriminated. So we say observation of the body in the body, which is, of course, the mind's observation.

[03:22]

And then there are the 16 methods of practicing observation of the breath. And this sutra can be seen in conjunction, the sutra of the 16 methods of breathing can be seen in conjunction with the four foundations of mindfulness, categorically. So, the first category is, the first four, since there are sixteen, the first four methods are methods which involve the body. The second four methods are methods which involve the feelings. The third four methods are methods which involve the mind. And the fourth,

[04:29]

13, 14, 15, and 16 involve mind objects. So the first four are breathing in, a long breath, a person knows, I am breathing in a long breath. And breathing out a long breath, you know, I am breathing out a long breath. I don't think long is, I'd rather use the word deep. Actually, sometimes you say long, short, but I think deep and shallow is a better way to express it. Breathing in, I breathe in a deep breath. Breathing in, breathing out, I breathe out a deep breath. And the second one is breathing in a shallow breath, I breathe out a shallow breath. Breathing in a shallow breath, I breathe in a shallow breath. Breathing out a shallow breath, I breathe out a shallow breath. So this is basic breathing, right? in and out. So basically that's what we do.

[05:44]

And we don't usually talk about breath any further than that in our zazen. We say just let the mind, just let breathing breathe. Don't try to control it in any way. You should know this is a deep breath, this is a shallow breath, both in and out. Whatever it is, just let it be what it is. That's what we say. So this is our, we don't go beyond this. But the Sutra goes beyond this and talks more in detail about feelings and the mind and the mind objects. But when you look at this, you see, well, this is what we're actually doing. So the third method is I am breathing in and aware of my whole body. I'm breathing out and aware of my whole body. So we actually do that as well when we breathe in, when we are also aware of the whole body with the breath.

[06:56]

So it's, of course we let breath come and go, but we're also aware of how the breath fills how the breath comes and goes with the body. The body's not separate from the breath. And then the fourth one is I am breathing in and making my whole body calm and at peace. Breathing out, making the body calm and at peace. You know, this is called settled breathing. settled breathing and breathing with a calm mind. So the breathing itself calms the mind. Sometimes we come into the zendo and we're very agitated or we have a lot of stuff going on and it takes a while to even find our breath. So sometimes the mind will calm the breath, but sometimes the breath will calm the mind. So we say, are we students of body or students of mind?

[08:02]

Well, body, mind are one thing. So to do something with the body also affects the mind. So we actually, you know, say, there's the old koan. If you want to make the cart go, do you whip the horse or the cart? Usually you whip the horse, but in our practice we whip the cart. In other words, we go from the body into the mind. The body affects the mind. The body is what sitting zazen itself is to whip the cart. So it works both ways. to sit down and make the effort to concentrate on the breath and the body, it calms the mind.

[09:11]

And when the mind is calm, there's a peacefulness. So these are the four methods which are associated with the body. Then there are the four methods associated with feelings. Sometimes in meditation practices, and in some Zen practices as well, people concentrate on their feelings. I am feeling this feeling now. name the feeling. We don't name feelings in our practice. We just feel the feelings. We don't say, this is a painful feeling. Although you may say that to yourself, we don't concentrate on naming feelings as a practice. But the fifth method, which is

[10:17]

awareness of feelings. I am breathing in and feeling joyful. I am breathing out and feeling joyful. You may be feeling something else. You may be breathing in and feeling awful and breathing out and feeling awful. It's just using joyful here as a hopeful, optimistic, way of feeling, hopefully. But whatever feeling is there, you're aware of that feeling. Whether you name it or not, you're aware of whatever feeling is being aroused. But you're doing it with the breath. Breathing in, I feel this feeling. Breathing out, I feel this feeling. That's the important part, is that whatever feeling is arising, it's arising with awareness of the breath.

[11:21]

So the next one is, I am breathing in and feeling happy. I am breathing out and feeling happy. I want to talk about joy and happiness. Joy, the illustration is, if you're walking in a desert and you're very thirsty, and you see in the distance, oh, there's an oasis. And so that makes you feel joyful. And then you get to the oasis and you drink the water. That makes you feel happy. So, joy and happiness. are usually associated with meditation. But that doesn't mean that that's all that's there, as we know. But as the mind becomes calm and peaceful, joy arises.

[12:29]

You know, this is not the joy of whose opposite is unhappiness or unjoyfulness. And it's not the happiness in which whose opposite is unhappiness. This is the joy which is underneath everything. And the happiness which is underneath everything, which is not affected by the duality of joy and happiness. Joy and unjoyful and happiness and unhappiness. This is a deeper joy and happiness which is very fundamental because it's touching the basic reality. And it's not affected by the, it's like the ocean of joy or the ocean of happiness, which is not affected by the waves of joy and the waves of happiness. So it's touching something very much deeper.

[13:31]

So the seventh one is, I am breathing in and am aware of the activities of the mind in me. And I am breathing out and am aware of the activities of the mind in me. So activities of the mind means the feelings, actually. Because feelings are both physical and mental. In Buddha Dharma, there are good feelings, bad feelings, as we know, and neutral feelings. neutral or neither good nor bad, or they're just feelings. But they can be bodily feelings or mental feelings. So these are the activities of mind that are being talked about here. So the eighth one is, I am breathing in and making the activities of mind and me calm and at peace.

[14:41]

So, and breathing out and making the activities of mind and me calm and at peace. So, with the breathing in and the breathing out, with the activities of mind, the activities of mind, although they're not ignored, they're not taken up. As we know, we don't take, we don't, we do get caught by them, but then we let go of them. So we don't get caught by any activities of mind. We don't get caught by anger or lust or, or at least we hope we don't. So those are the four methods associated with feelings. And then there are the four associated with mind.

[15:43]

I am breathing in and aware of my mind, and I am breathing out and aware of my mind. One practice is like this. So mind is thoughts. Thoughts and fantasies and imagination. So We don't make judgments on these thoughts and fantasies. We simply observe them. So when a thought comes up, or a fantasy comes up, we simply observe it as a fantasy or a thought. And then we let the thought or the fantasy work itself out, or we let go of it, come back to calmness of breathing. So we do this with the breath. Breathing in, I'm aware of my mind. And mind is nothing but the thoughts. With no thoughts, there's no mind.

[16:48]

With no consciousness, there's no mind. So the object is the thoughts. And the object, in order for a mind to arise, there has to be an object. And in order for the object to arise, there has to be a mind, which is consciousness. Consciousness, sense organ, and object. All three are necessary. So number 10 is, I am breathing in and making my mind happy and at peace. I am breathing out and making my mind happy and at peace. By not discriminating and judging, actually. When we let go of discriminating and judging, our mind becomes happy and at peace. When we're discriminating and judging, our mind becomes anxious and disturbed.

[17:53]

And number 11 is, I am breathing in and concentrating my mind. I'm breathing out and concentrating my mind. One practice is like this. So concentrating the mind is to keep coming back over and over to what's important. To not let go of what's important. To not allow yourself to drift off and be captured. But when you are captivated by the mind, by the objects of mind, You don't get disturbed. This is our biggest problem that I see for most people in Zazen. You become disturbed by the objects of mind. we feel that because the mind is a jumble of thoughts and images and fantasies, that that's bad.

[19:17]

So that's a judgment. That's wrong. That's a judgment. And those judgments dig you further and deeper into disturbed mind. The way to practice is to not let anything disturb your mind. The example, of course, is Shakyamuni Buddha, when he sat under the Bodhi tree all night, and all the demons came. Demons just stands for whatever, stuff that bothers you, right? All the stuff that bothers you and that you make judgments about, and they go. Let go of judging and not letting them disturb his mind. So, going to a deeper place.

[20:18]

The deeper place, of course, is the great ocean. Even though tossed around by the waves, you know, Dogen has a wonderful image in a poem, the boat at midnight. At midnight, there's kind of a silhouette of a boat and the moon and the waves gently rocking the boat, but the boat's just gently rocking. It's a wonderful image. So, not letting the waves inundate you, but you have to learn how to ride the waves. and keep a calm mind. Sometimes we allow ourselves to get disturbed, but we have to let go of that. So, I am breathing in and concentrating my mind and breathing out and concentrating my mind without getting disturbed.

[21:32]

And 12, I am breathing in and liberating my mind. I am breathing out and liberating my mind. That's called liberation, actually, not getting caught by discrimination and judgment. So the last four are the four methods based on mind objects, the fourth foundation of mindfulness. So mind objects are all the dharmas that are associated with the mind. In the Abhidhamma, there's 52 mind objects, which are emotions and feelings and ways of thinking, which are both good and bad.

[22:34]

But all things are dharmas. In a larger sense, dharmas are just things. So the 13th one is, I am breathing in and observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas. All dharmas in their own being are empty, right? That's the impermanent nature of all dharmas. Impermanent and interdependent. So, breathing in and observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas, I am breathing out and observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas, as the Heart Sutra says. We don't necessarily think, I am contemplating the impermanent nature. We just simply let things come and go. When we let things come and go, easily without getting caught by them, then we are observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas, not grasping anything, not clutching, and not averting anything, simply letting everything come and go, but not ignoring things, letting everything come and go.

[23:59]

When a thought comes up When an idea comes up, when a dharma comes up in your mind, that's the subject of meditation right there, or the object of meditation. We don't ignore the object of meditation. Every thought or idea or dharma that comes up becomes the object of meditation, the object of zazen, of your attention. So concentration is like a light beam and illuminates every dharma in the mind. So when the dharmas are illuminated for what they are, this is called seeing things as they are, without judgment, without... discrimination, then we can see what a thing is.

[25:01]

And that's seeing things as it is. Not biased by our emotions, or our feelings, or our prejudice. So the 14th one, I am breathing in and observing the fading of all dharmas. I am breathing out and observing the fading of all dharmas. So there's really nothing to hold on to. In other words, simply letting things come and go. The fading of all dharmas means there it goes. Okay. Then the next one arises and then you observe it coming and going. And then the 15th one is, I am breathing in and contemplating liberation.

[26:02]

I am breathing out and contemplating liberation. So liberation means freedom from being caught by things. And freedom to come and go. We don't think, well now I am contemplating freedom, but simply that's what's happening. And that's where actually joy and happiness arise. That is true joy and happiness. And then the 16th one, the last one, I am breathing in and contemplating letting go. I'm breathing out and contemplating letting go. Ultimately, letting go of the idea of birth and death. This is the basic understanding of Buddhadharma. The ultimate goal is to let go of the idea of birth and death. so that there's no anxiety or fear, and to see birth and death as the natural process and not as some big problem.

[27:10]

When I asked Howitzu, I said, When you tell people about birth and death, when you go to the hospital, he does go to the hospital a lot, to the old folks' home, and ministers to them. Matter of fact, he got a medal from the emperor for doing that. Every year somebody gets a medal. It's a wonderful thing. Anyway, but what do you tell people? He says, well, I tell them, everything is going along, everything that's around you is going along with you, so there's no problem. And then I was just looking at a talk of Tsukiroshi's, and he said exactly the same thing.

[28:15]

He said, because we single ourselves out, as something special, we think that there's some big problem with us being born and dying, or dying anyway. But we look at everything around us and we see how everything appears and disappears, everything arises and leaves. Why are we different than that? We're just a part of that whole thing. If we realize we're a part of that whole thing, no problem. Can I ask if people are receptive to that message? Probably. Well, it seems to work. He got a medal. It worked for him. I think anything he told anybody would work for them. So, letting go, breathing in, and then letting go, breathing out, letting go.

[29:29]

But ultimately, that's Zazen. So Zazen is the place where we actually experience this letting go. And all of these 16 methods are really just aspects of one thing. They're just various aspects of one thing. And it's not a method. per se. These are the elements of breathing practice. Mm-hmm, yes.

[30:33]

But this is not just for the cushion. This is, I'm breathing for around the clock. So, right, since we are breathing around the clock, I always, when I talk to people about breathing, I always say, where are you breathing now? Where's your breath? Well, I don't know. Mostly, they say that. But if I ask you, where's your breath? You should be able to say, oh, it's here. Right here. Without hesitation. We always breathe here. All the time. Sometimes we breathe up here when we're anxious or angry or emotional or something. But you should know where the breath is all the time. That's the whole point here, is where's your breath all the time?

[31:37]

And in all of your activity, how are you breathing with it? Breathing into all of your activity. So, you know, when you're working in the kitchen, how are you breathing when you're chopping the carrots? How are you breathing when you're mixing the cereal? It's all rhythm, right? So breathing is associated with rhythm. And how to breathe in rhythm with your activity. If you're playing music, I remember I was surprised when somebody told me that as a drummer, this guy was a drummer, he said, yeah, as a drummer, you have to practice breathing exercises. And a pianist told me when she was a well-practiced pianist that you have to practice breathing practices to play the piano.

[32:45]

You have to practice breathing practices to run. I mean, you do it naturally, of course. There are a lot of breathing practices that just come out naturally. But others, you have to be aware and conscious. Sometimes, if you're aware and conscious, it gets in your way. Actually, in Zazen, you come to a place where you're no longer conscious of breathing. That's when body, breath, mind is totally in sync. and there's no disturbance. And breathing is just... everything is breathing. And since everything is breathing, there's no awareness of breathing as per se, or as separate. So breathing always should be here.

[33:49]

And when you're anxious, that's how you let go of the anxiety, is to keep your, is to get, oh, there's anxiety, must be breathing up here, so you lower your breath. And that lowering your breath helps to relieve the anxiety. So you should always breathe here, all the time. And when you find yourself breathing up here, lower it down. That's how you practice breathing in all of your activities. And, you know, we're talking to people, and we're busy, and we're doing it. We don't think about our breath, necessarily. But the more you are aware, and the more you put that into practice, the more you'll be able to be aware of breath in all of your activities. Linda. I'd catch you before you put your hand up. Thank you.

[34:53]

On the advice that you mentioned from Hoitu about birth and death, if you tell people, including yourself, why worry about birth and death when you're the same as everything else, it sounds a little too logical. Like, you shouldn't worry. You're the same as everything else. So, because it's so logical, I don't find that it works. But I find something else works. Do you want to tell your response, or should I tell what I think? Well, I don't think what I said was that simple, simplistic. If we're fearful and upset about our own birth and death or anybody else's or anything else's, I think it's more helpful to just notice that.

[36:03]

say, oh, I am full of fear about that, instead of telling myself that I shouldn't. Okay, when I say, when I express the positive side, it doesn't mean that it eliminates the negative side. Well, I always like to bring out the negative. Of course, you know, we all have fear. We don't know what's going to happen or how we're going to actually respond, right? But, you know, the problem we have is we see ourselves as separate. That's the problem we have, is we see ourselves as separate. And when we see ourselves as connected with everything, then it's not the same kind of burden that it is when we see ourselves as separate.

[37:05]

So, you feel whatever you feel, you know, and you think whatever you think. But actually, there's nothing you can do about it. Because we identify with If we identify with life itself, then it's not the same kind of problem as when we identify with life as separate from us. The life of everything else is separate from us. You know, it's interesting. When you have, say, a troop of soldiers, and they're gonna attack this fort, and they all know they're gonna die, or most of them are gonna die, or, you know, But there's something that keeps them all together. And what keeps them all together is they know they're all going to die together. And that's very powerful. It's a very powerful thing.

[38:09]

It's not like they're dying alone. They're all dying together. And so there's something very compelling about that, something that eases or brings some truth into their life. And so if you realize that you're going to die with everything, that surround you, they're all going the same way. Some of us are younger, some of us are older, but we're all on the same path, going the same way. And it's not good or bad. I mean, you can think it's good or bad. But actually, it's just life. It's just the process that we're in. And if we can accept that, we can understand a lot of things. So, and the more connected we feel with this process, the less outside we feel, the less, why is this happening to me?

[39:15]

Well, it's, it's just happening to everything for some good reason. It's not good a reason, it's just, but everything is just right. Even though you don't like it. I don't like it. Yes? How can we use that to handle the feelings of grief over someone else feeling it? Yeah. You should feel your grief as thoroughly as you feel it. And then go on. You know, we can get caught by grief. Or we can, you know, you never say to somebody, don't grieve. Even though Buddha said, oh, those arhats are all crying because I'm dying, you know, they don't understand. Nevertheless, they should be crying. At that point, it's not about the person who's died, it's about the person who's missing.

[40:21]

Yeah, that's right. It's always about you. That's right, we're the ones that have to, the person that dies doesn't have to worry about it. The person that was left behind doesn't have to worry about it. So, I am breathing and feeling my grief. You know, within my breathing is my grief. So, breathe into your grief, you know, and then breathe out of your grief. When somebody came to Buddha, this woman, she said, I just have all this grief because whoever it was has died. And Buddha said, well, what I would like you to do is to go to every house on the block and knock on the door and see if there is someone in that house that hasn't died.

[41:24]

Yes. Yeah. Zazen. Zazen. Well, you know, that's why we're practicing. That's why we practice. You know, that's why our practice is doing something like Zazen and not just an idea. It's hard to get people to the cushion. Oh, Bob. On another side of it, I'm reminded of the story you told once about Suzuki Roshi falling into the river.

[42:31]

Oh, at the Narrows in South Sahara. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he didn't fall in. He thought he could swim, but he couldn't. He couldn't swim. That's right. He was drowning. He was drowning. And his students had to come pull him out. And someone asked him, wow, when you were drowning there, what did you realize? And he said something like, I realized how attached I am to living. Okay, so, breathe on.

[43:24]

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