community are those who communicate and have communion, and communion is maybe the dark side. Communication is like on the light side. When we say dark and light, we don't mean good or bad, or evil and good. Dark means without reference points. And light means the realm of comparison, where there are innumerable reference points. When everything is illuminated, like right now, we have innumerable reference points, and when the lights go out you don't see any reference points, there's just utter darkness.

[01:16]

This is more like the realm of communion. We say no two things can exist in the same place at the same time. But in utter darkness, everything exists in the same place at the same time. And when we turn on the lights, no two things can exist in the same place at the same time. So in the realm where no two things can exist at the same place at the same time, we have the realm of communication. because there's some distance between things. And so this is the realm of difficulty, the realm of ease and difficulty, but the realm of problems and hard sometimes to know what everyone's thinking, hard to know what everyone wants to say,

[02:30]

and hard to get across our meaning. Sometimes we do it with words, sometimes we do it with body language, sometimes art, music, various ways of communication. Some are better than others, but in the realm of utter darkness there's communion. In other words, just the realm of no difference, and we all stand in the same place at the same time. And sometimes the realm of communication is the realm of communion. But you might say the realm of communion is the realm of intuition, and the realm of communication is the realm of thinking, or the realm of acting out.

[03:50]

Big mind, we say, big mind includes both the realm of intuition and the realm of thinking mind. And we say a small mind or thinking mind is the expression of big mind and the expression of intuition. Intuition meaning to directly connect or directly know. So in our Zen practice, when we sit Zazen, This is realm of communion.

[05:06]

Thinking mind, although thinking mind is present, it's not the vehicle. We have to go beyond that level of communication and just completely sink to the bottom, where everything meets in one place, beyond discrimination. Today, we have all-day sitting. more than 50 people, just sinking to the bottom of ourselves, letting go of thinking mind, letting go of feelings, thoughts, just letting ourselves sink to the bottom of our existence without interference.

[06:31]

This is the place where all the precepts are kept intact. So to be able to reach our original nature through intuition or through directly knowing, not some idea about it, but just to be ourself completely and to let our true nature express itself completely is what we're doing. And there is a place where intuition or communion and communication meet.

[07:55]

Spontaneity, so-called spontaneity, is where communion and communication are one. You can't say that there is one or the other. So for us, communion is the basis for communication. Communication without communion is like exchange of information. Today, this is the information age, the computer age, the storage of information age, but without communion it's just empty information, it's just a burden, a great burden. The more we know, the more of a burden it becomes.

[09:06]

Zen practice is sort of the opposite, to unload the mind, to let go of the burden of the mind and allow the mind to be free, freely flowing, but connected, deeply connected. To have so much information And to have information is okay, it's very good. But when information becomes dissociated from its source of life, then it becomes very dangerous. We can do many things with our information, but what good does it do? Where are we really?

[10:11]

And people are looking for something. Everyone is looking for something satisfying. And we think that we can satisfy ourselves if we have the most information. The most satisfied person will be the person with the most information. But information is power, very powerful. But I wonder if it's satisfying. In the end, it can't be satisfying. Matter of fact, the most satisfying thing is not knowing. In the realm of wisdom, not knowing is called the highest But the problem with not knowing is that we feel very insecure, and we feel that if we know a lot, the more we know, the more secure we'll become.

[11:20]

So when we become very intelligent and full of information, we look down on the common people who don't know so much. But sometimes the common people who don't know so much have a different kind of security. So in order to be in touch with communion, the mind of communion, we have to actually let go of everything that we know. We have to let go of all of our opinions, our ideas, and our knowledge, and just allow ourselves to sink down to the bottom, where everything in its essential nature meets

[12:35]

and in our daily life, this is how we practice, to always be immersed in this deep mind. then whatever we do comes to us intuitively and we know exactly how to act, we know exactly what to do based on reality. There's a very interesting story which many of you know from reading Dogen, and I've told this story before, It's a story of Isan, Master Isan, who is a great well-known Zen master in China, in the Tang Dynasty, and his two disciples, Kyozan and Kyogen.

[14:00]

One very warm day, Isan took a nap, maybe a day like today, or maybe a little bit hotter than today and he laid down in his room and took a nap and the door was slightly open and his disciple Kyozon came by, his attendant actually. Kyozon and Kyogen were not just his disciples but they were his attendants and Kyozon peeked in and saw that his teacher was taking a nap but Esan had his eyes open. He was kind of drowsy, but he hadn't quite fallen asleep. And so Kyosan kind of backed away. And Esan said, oh, don't go away. Come on in. So he came in and Esan said to him, I would like something.

[15:11]

What do you think it is? And without further ado, Kyozan went out and brought back a towel and some water for Ison to wash his face with. And Ison smiled and washed his face with the towel and the water. And while he was doing that, his other attendant, Kyozon, came by and peeked in, and Ison said, oh, come on in. So Kyozon came in, and Ison said, Kyozon brought me this towel and water to wash my face with. What do you think that I need?

[16:13]

And Kyogen went out and made some tea and brought it back. And the three of them sat down and had tea. That's the end of the story. This is not a story about magical powers. This is a story about ordinary mind. This is just a story about ordinary mind, where intuition and communication are the same. When intuition and communication are when lovers meet, in the beginning at any rate.

[17:19]

When lovers meet in the beginning, it's like intuition and communication, one thing. Communion and communication are right there, but it need not be combined to lovers. Although love is its expression, maybe more like meta, disinterested love, or unqualified love, which doesn't come out in the same way as between lovers, but takes many forms, but always has goodwill as its basis, because when you are deeply embedded in the mind of communion, you meet yourself in everyone else.

[18:27]

So you have the basis for communication. So most important thing is to meet yourself wherever you go or in every situation so that there's no... you recognize your true self in everyone or you recognize Buddha nature in everyone. So when you meet someone, it's actually a matter of recognition. Oh, I know you. Do you recognize everyone when you meet them?

[19:34]

Every person when you meet them? If you know yourself completely, then you will recognize everyone that you meet. So communion and communication should be very close. Sometimes we have good communion, but our communication is not so good. That's true. Sometimes we get spaced out and forget things, because we get too attached sometimes to communion.

[20:39]

So not good to get attached to the side of communion. when people realize, have self-realization in the realm of communion, sometimes they go around for days and days, or you know, kind of crazy, and then so by little they calm down and get back to the world of communication. So when you find then you have to cultivate a communication. You have to be able to express it in the realm of communication. In other words, you have to be able to express your enlightenment in the realm of ordinary, everyday life. In the realm where things don't come together so easily, where we're always bumping into each other, getting angry,

[21:52]

jealous, avaricious, and so forth. In the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, which we chant often, it says, communing with the source and communing with the process. There are these lines, communing with the source and communing with the process. It includes integration and includes the way. Communing with the source is like zazen.

[22:54]

Communing with the process is like everyday life. It includes integration, which is like the source, and it includes the way, which is like everyday life. So, we can't neglect either side. The source is not separate. from the way, from the process, and the process is not separate from the source. One of our practice leaders was talking to me the other day and said, when a person comes to me and tells me about some big experience they have in Zazen, I don't know what to say. And I said, well, if this person is expressing to you some wonderful enlightened experience in zazen, then you can say, now you are ready to wash dishes for the next year and see what their reaction is.

[24:20]

You can tell pretty easily what their true experience is. or what the meaning of their true experience is. Someone who has truly enlightened experience will usually say, Oh, okay. Yes, I'll do whatever you ask me to do. I don't have anything special. truly enlightened person has nothing special to do. Their life is over. And anything is okay. So, in this session today,

[25:28]

We have zazen, and we serve each other food. Some of us cook for each other. Some of us, somebody is taking care of the office. Someone is making sure that everything works right. All of these activities are all the same. This afternoon we'll have a work period where we clean, sweep the floor, clean the corners, wash the dishes, all the same, all the same activity, just exactly the same as sitting Zazen. Somebody spends their day in the kitchen cooking,

[26:31]

That's zazen. So everything we do today, we do with zazen mind. We do it with communal mind, communion mind, the mind of no separation. the mind of nothing special. You know, in our activity, our usual activity, we want to accomplish something. When we go from one place to another, we want to accomplish something. We want to get from one place to another. This is a communication mind, I'll call it. But in a communion mind,

[27:36]

you just do it, you just go from one place to another without the reason. You just experience the going, you just experience opening your door, you just experience sitting down, you just experience turning on the key, starting the car. Each moment's activity is just that. This is communing with the objects around you, but we are always so intent on going from one place to another or accomplishing some task. We must accomplish tasks, that's important, but the other side is the accomplishment of just doing this moment's activity, of just actualizing ourself on each moment through this moment's activity, which is called communion.

[28:41]

I call it communion. When you sit in a chair, just sit in a chair. When you walk, just walk. When you eat, just eat. When you sit in zazen, it's forever. The bell will not ring. There is no bell, even though there is a bell, which will ring in 40 minutes. But there is no bell. When you sit, it's just forever. And then someone rings the bell? Oh, it's time to get up. There's no purpose in it. in Zazen, your life is just an offering. There's nothing to get.

[29:45]

When you go to work, you do your work, and then at the end of the month somebody gives you a paycheck, and you say, well I got the paycheck for doing the work. This is true, but the other side is, I'm just doing the work, and then at the end of the Somebody gave me a paycheck. Oh, isn't that interesting? We go to work to make money? No. We just go to work. To work. That's all. Just work to work. As one teacher said, do you eat food to take a shit? No. You just eat the food, then you take a shit. He said, but people go to college in order to get a degree, in order to get a job.

[31:00]

This is called wasting your time. it's fine to go to college, just study. That's great. And then, oh, this is a diploma? Well, golly! Oh, you mean I get a job? Oh, great! Well, I go to work now. So communion is to do something without the idea of a reason. Just do. This is how we can all stand in the same place at the same time. Because none of us have anything to do except what we're doing. But there's the result. Things happen.

[32:04]

Inaction always has a result. So, most of the time, if you just do, if we just do what we have to do, everything will turn out. This is called faith in life. We just do what we have to do, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. We don't have to worry about it. But by doing means really doing, wholeheartedly doing. When you wholeheartedly do this moment's activity, then the next moment's activity, and the next moment's activity, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. This is called doing without wanting. Wanting is called the cause of suffering.

[33:06]

in Buddha's Four Noble Truths. The first truth is that there is suffering, and the second truth is that the cause of it is wanting. Of course we want. We can't help but want. But where do we put our want? That's the problem. Where do we put our wanting? If we put our wanting in our doing, no problem. I want to do what I'm doing, that's all. This is what I have, okay, so that's what I'll do. Anyway, don't stick to the words, but when you hear a lecture in Zen, don't stick to the words, but try to understand the spirit in which it is given.

[34:17]

Do you have a question? Yeah, well, direction, no, direction is just, you know, these are just terms. It's not a direction down. But we say down because usually the basis of something is underneath. Okay? So when we create a building, the foundation is underneath rather than on top. So when we say down, when I say down, I mean foundation. in the sense of foundation. But actually, it's not up or down, it's not in or out, but it's more inward.

[35:35]

You know, when we say in, retreat, take the step backward that illuminates yourself. So that feels like in, but there actually is no in or out. Everything is just relative. But we use words, relative words, to mean something else. That's why I say, don't stick to the words. Try to get the meaning. Okay, thank you. May you find...

[36:17]

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