A very fundamental question is, why do we do this? Why do we do this form of practice? And this question will come up for beginners, but it also comes up for people that have been practicing a long time. I've been doing this for 10 years and I still don't know why we do it. I ask myself, why am I doing this? I don't know. This question comes up like that with people. When this question comes up, it comes up because of the feeling of wanting something. Behind the question is, what am I getting?

[01:12]

So it's important to understand why it is that we practice. Primarily we practice to lay down the ego, to sit on the ego. You know Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of great wisdom sits on the lion, seated on a lion, the beast is under control and he rides around and the beast serves him. So to practice means to give up wanting anything.

[02:32]

The only way that you can sustain, practice or understand what it is, is to continually give up wanting, craving, grasping, attachment. So when this question comes up, you should realize why it comes up. When it comes up, you should realize, oh, I want something, or I think I should be getting something, or I think I should have something. Maybe I should be making some progress. There is such a thing as progress. but it's the opposite of what we usually think of as progress.

[03:40]

Progress in practice is taking a step backward and letting go. So sometimes we see people who seem to have made progress and they have some kind of position and so forth. The progress they made is that they progressed. The reason they make that progress is because they progressed in not wanting. The fastest way to to be given responsibility is when you no longer want anything.

[04:53]

The sixth ancestor in the Platform Sutra talks about three aspects of non-attachment. which he calls the three bases of practice. What he calls non-objectivity, or idealistness, and non-attachment. These are all forms of non-attachment, the three aspects of non-attachment. Idealistness, I mean, non-objectivity means to not be attached to objects in the midst of objects.

[06:04]

It doesn't mean to not deal with objects, with things, but simply not to be caught by things. Actually, you know, we're not really caught by things. What we're caught by is our own mind. To be able to see the elusive quality of all objects is to be able to release our mind from being fooled by things. Sometimes we think that things are chasing us, but actually we are chasing things. To be free in the midst of the objective Basically, we own nothing, but we claim ownership.

[07:24]

We own our car, we own our TV, we own our house, we own our clothes. Suzuki Roshi said, these are not my glasses, but I appreciate you letting me use them. Akin Roshi says, I call this my typewriter. It's not really my typewriter, but it doesn't really belong to me, but nevertheless, I won't let you use it because I need to use it myself. In San Francisco, recently, somebody wanted to changed the law about dog ownership, right, to be dog custodians, which I think is a great idea myself, even though idealistness is one of the attachments.

[08:29]

But we don't own our dogs actually, we take care of our dogs and we have great relationships with our dogs. I think the biggest problem that people have, dog owners have, is that they think they own their dogs and so they keep them on a little string instead of really creating a relationship with the dogs. When dogs are allowed to roam freely They never fight with each other and they're not aggressive at all. They only become aggressive when they have a string attached to them and then they feel defenseless and vulnerable and then they bark at you and so forth. So also, you know, I think it's

[09:37]

We really don't own things, but nevertheless, there are levels of ownership. So, if we don't feel ownership, then it's easy to just abandon things, and then the world gets cluttered up with things that people don't feel they own. But rather than ownership, I think it's taking responsibility for things that you use. If we have the understanding that we take responsibility for the things that we use, then we can either use them or let them go. So the idea of me and mine The idea of I arises when we objectify ourself, and the idea of mine arises when we hold on to things, when we claim ownership.

[11:09]

So what is the point? The point of Buddhist teaching is how to let go of suffering, how to stop causing suffering. That's the main point. Everything else is kind of tacked on to Buddhism. The point is, how do we let go of suffering and stop causing it? So grasping things in the world of objects is the cause of suffering, even though we feel that it's the cause of pleasure. When we get something new, it's very exciting, you know, very exciting to even think about that new dress, you know, in the window, if it was only mine, or that shiny car, you know, and then we anticipate, and we have a lot of joy in anticipation, and then once we have the object, we have a kind of relief from the expectation, and then we look for something new.

[12:38]

So we're always going from one thing to satisfaction in that way, but we get tired of that, it doesn't work. So rather than ownership, custodianship, pretty good idea. For now, this is my responsibility. Whatever we take up actually is our responsibility. So we meet things. and respond. We used to use this term, Indian giver, which is a kind of racist term, which meant you give something and then you take it back. But actually, the way that term, my understanding of the way that term developed was because the Indians, American Indians, didn't really claim much ownership and when they were given something they would often pass it on to someone else in the spirit of sharing things with each other and so they would pass something on and

[14:08]

because it was only custodianship, it wasn't ownership. If we know how to deal with objects in the sense of custodianship or caretaking, there's less problem, we cause ourselves less problem and less suffering and once we have the understanding of non-ownership and letting things come and go and sharing, we cut off a source of suffering for ourselves and for others. And we reduce our greediness. Greediness is one of the three poisons, greed, ill will and delusion, and they're all connected with each other.

[15:19]

So cutting off the source of greed is the most fundamental. And it's the hardest, because they always want something, you know. And as soon as we have contact, the self arises. Self arises with contact. Without contact, self doesn't arise. And then when the self arises, there's grasping, clinging, and attachment. So we lose our freedom. Even though we think we're getting something, when we attach to something, we lose our freedom. We lose the calmness of our mind. When we know how to practice, when we practice zazen for a while, we really begin to see or understand the value of calmness of our mind.

[16:27]

Calmness of mind means without being cluttered, without being drawn off or attached to things. More and more we can appreciate this clear mind. then he talks about idealistness. Idealistness doesn't mean not to have ideas or not to think. It simply means to not be attached to dualistic thinking or opinions or the way we create good and bad conditions through our partiality.

[17:30]

In other words, the more we create ideas about things, the more obscure the clarity of our mind becomes. You know, sometimes if we have a problem, someone will present us with a problem, and we just have to say, I don't know the answer. But often, we just come up with an answer because we think that we have to have an answer. But actually, sometimes the very best answer is, I don't know. As soon as we say, I don't know, the mind is clear. And then, boom, an answer comes from a deeper place. a response comes from a deeper place.

[18:49]

So, I don't know is, of course, you can't just keep going around saying, I don't know, except that you can. I don't know, but I don't know is a way of letting go of opinions. Master Sansanim used to talk about don't know mind, always maintain don't know mind and just go straight, go straight with don't know mind, that's great practice, that's wonderful practice, letting go of When you, I don't know means give space for a true answer, a true response to come up from a deeper place. It's not I am thinking or I am doing, but simply response comes up from a deep place.

[19:58]

in order to let go of this troublesome I, troublesome ego. Ego is what gives us the biggest problem and causes our suffering. The third aspect is non-attachment to self. Self, Buddha says within the five skandhas, there is no self to be found. Within this form, within our feelings, within our perceptions, within our thinking mind, our mental formations, and within consciousness, there is no self to be found. But we always think of myself.

[21:05]

So this is the cause of our suffering, is thinking of ourself as a self, as something fixed. So when we practice, when we sit Zazen, We have this opportunity to simply do one activity where there's no self involved. That's why we do this. We simply let go of the false sense of self. If you say, I am sitting Zazen, that means that there is an I, a self arising. Buddha sits Zazen.

[22:09]

If you say, I see, I see the wall, that's a self seeing the wall. If you say, I hear the airplane, that's self rising to hear the airplane. As soon as you start naming things, consciousness arises as a self. So when you sit in Zazen, seeing sees. Hearing hears. Tasting tastes. Feeling feels. Thinking thinks. But there is no self in it. Then you may say, well, who is it that hears?

[23:20]

Who is it that thinks? is correct. It's The Who. There was a band named The Who. A great name. So this is called resuming our original nature. and settling on big mind. If we have no ego, if self doesn't arise, then that's nirvana.

[24:26]

and we taste it, a little bit of nirvana, it simply means no trace of greed, no trace of ill will, no trace of delusion. It's very simple. There's a story of Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, talking to his disciples and he was talking about the complexity of the teaching. And he picked up a handful of leaves and he said, are there many leaves here compared to the millions of leaves in the forest? And he said, oh, compared to the millions of leaves in the forest, what you have in your hand is almost nothing.

[25:37]

He said, there are many things in this world, many ideas and ways to do things, as many as the leaves in the forest, but as far as my teaching goes, there's just a handful of things that you need to know. If you go to study all the leaves in the forest, it'll take you forever. But if you just pay attention to these few leaves that I have in my hand, the whole thing is right there. So Buddhism is actually quite simple. Our practice is actually quite simple. Matter of fact, the more complex it gets, the further it strays. So how to keep our practice simple and true and uncomplicated.

[26:39]

Actually this practice is for simpletons. It's true. Dogen Zenji says, It doesn't depend on whether you're smart or stupid or unlearned or what your IQ is. It doesn't matter. Practice is just very simple and accessible to everyone. All you have to do is lay down your burden and put your mind and body on the cushion Just give your ego a rest. It's very hard to control this ego. It's hard to control the lions and tigers of our ego.

[27:48]

This is why our practice is the practice of Manjushri. Manjushri is our wisdom mind, prajna mind. And we have to control this beast. But if you try to control it, pretty hard. So rather than control, if we taste the reality, then Once you taste the reality then this is really what you want. You want to stay in big mind.

[28:55]

People talk about Maitreya Buddha. Maitreya Buddha is the Buddha of the future. who sits in Tushita heaven, kind of like the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah, who the Christians say is Jesus, and the Jews say, no, the Messiah is still coming, and the Buddhists say Maitreya is still coming, someday, maybe in the next 10 million years. Somebody's a savior, right? But actually, in Buddhism, each one of us has to save ourselves. As well as being Manjushri, each one of us is Maitreya. Maitreya means love. So Maitreya is the Buddha of the future unconditioned mutual love.

[30:03]

But if we wait for Maitreya, you know, for somebody to come and save us, that's a myth. We can't wait for somebody to come and save us. Wouldn't you feel kind of weak having somebody come and save you? You have to bring forth your own salvation. So to practice sincerely is to bring forth Maitreya. To practice sincerely, letting go of self-centeredness and selfishness. and cultivating universal goodwill. As Dogen says, to study the Buddha Dharma is to study the self, and to study the self is to forget the self, to let go of ego, to give your ego a rest.

[31:24]

and let the bottom of the black lacquer bucket drop away and know what your sustenance is. When we simply always depend on big mind, Buddha nature, Then we know where our real security is. I met Tanaka Roshi from temple in Japan, one of Dogen's disciples, original temples, and I was very impressed with him.

[32:35]

He and his monks practiced begging for 15 years, depending on just, called Takahatsu, And if they were given something, they would eat. And if they weren't given something, they wouldn't eat. But somehow, they always ate. I think that's a great practice. What you depend on is what supports you. What you have faith in is what supports you. So, the less we depend on outer things and the more we depend on inner things, the more actual security we have.

[33:54]

So, we come to practice in order to let go and give up. And if you get the idea of gaining something, that should be a warning to you that you're misunderstanding what you're doing. Do you have any question? You said that it's good to depend less on outer things and more on inner things because then you're really secure, but you also said that the practice of begging was a great practice, and that sounds like depending on people's generosity of all untrustworthy things. It is, but Takahatsu is different than begging. Because a beggar has nothing, but just wants something, but actually has nothing to give in return.

[35:16]

Takahatsu is different than begging. Takahatsu is, although we have nothing and we depend on you, we're giving you something in return. So when the monks do Tago Hatsu, they chant various little chants for the benefit of the people that are giving the offering. And then their whole practice is dedicated to those people who are giving them offerings. So it's in the meal chant we say, we hope that our virtue and practice deserve this food. And that comes from the monks depending on people's generosity. And so they acknowledge that

[36:23]

The only reason this is happening is because they're doing something like this. And they know that their virtual practice is what is bringing in the money, or what they're depending on to be fed. Jerry? It's a presidential election year and we're called upon to have to make decisions about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and what's right and what's wrong and what ideas are right and what ideas are wrong and we have to go into the election booth. That's no problem for me. All you have to do is say which side is the most selfish. And if you want an answer, I'll tell you after this.

[37:34]

If you don't know which side is the most selfish, that's a problem. in making an effort, there's a kind of zazen, an effort-making self that kind of arrives, which is, how do you balance those? Well, you know, it's called effortless effort. But that's when everything is, that's when effort and ease like the effort to do something and then the letting go are totally perfectly balanced. But before that, you know, you maybe have to drive real hard.

[38:41]

So when you practice, when you begin to practice you extend yourself totally, and you go through all this pain and discomfort and puzzlement, but you're just working real hard, you know, driving, until you come to the point where you realize, oh, it's balance that we're talking about. And then, little by little, your sitting practice becomes refined. and you no longer need so much effort, or your effort becomes refined. It's like anything else, you know? Whatever you do, in the beginning your effort is crude, but as you continue to practice it becomes refined, and not so difficult. But there's always some problem you have to deal with.

[39:44]

at the same time. The handle is on the top, not the wheel top, but right where you're with temporal identity or self-image. And say, in a place like Tassajara, it's a place that encourages that kind of reflection.

[40:46]

Well, it's true that there are many obstacles, but the whole thing depends on ourself. The monastic life is a world in itself, and you have all the same problems that you have in your monastic life that you have in the world. Not exactly the same, but when you get down to it, all those elements are there. because the elements are here. The outer, what we call the marketplace and the top of the mountain, right? They're different, but actually they're different, but we're the same. So when you go to the top of the mountain, you can have big problems. And when you go into the marketplace, you can have big problems.

[42:35]

The problems may be different, but you're the same. It's like, how do you deal with the problem that you have? So, ideally, you go to the monastery and it's a simpler life. you should be able to come out of the monastery and go into the marketplace and that's your monastery, the marketplace. How do I practice in the marketplace? How do I extend the zendo into the marketplace? Well, it doesn't look like the zendo, right? And the people there are not the people that you practice with in the zendo, but your zendo has suddenly become crowded with people and objects. And how do you not let it overwhelm you? How do you relate to everything in the same way that you relate to your body and mind in zazen?

[43:37]

And maybe someone else here can think of the term, but I've heard Ken Wilber and other people talk about even a concept beyond that, which is, because custodianship tends to view ourselves as like the top of the food chain. We are the custodians, we're sort of like, it's a very anthropoid-centric sort of view, as opposed to being, just a link in it. I don't see how one negates the other. We just take care of what's in front of us, because we're part of the link or the chain and so forth. Why complicate it? I think to take the step from ownership to Then we'll worry about the next step.

[45:04]

Ross? In the beginning of your talk you spoke about grasping and that implies a self and causes this chain of problems. Well, it means, you know, just to see that everything is one is enlightenment, right? If you have the realization that everything is one big total being, that's enlightenment. But enlightenment's not enough. Enlightenment's not the end. Duality. is the necessary cap. So we say like a box and its lid. Oneness is the box and the lid is duality.

[46:15]

So oneness without duality is dry enlightenment and duality without oneness is ignorance. Okay, the last question? Well that's just the inner things and outer things. I'm inside. Depend on nothing. Is that scary? How do I use that?

[47:17]

Oh, don't use it. Just cooperate with it. Yeah. What? That's different than dependence. That's different than dependence, yeah.

[47:43]

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