Before I get into the text of Bodhidharma's Two Entrances, the Four Practices, I want to reiterate the central thread running through this text and all the other teachings of our ancestors, and that is the teaching of Suchness, or the teaching of Blessedness. In the collection of koans called the Book of Equanimity, or the Book of Serenity, the

[01:05]

first case is called The World Honored One Ascends the Seat, gets up in the teaching seat, and it goes, The World Honored One got up in the seat, Manjushri Bodhisattva struck the gavel and said, Clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King.

[02:12]

The Dharma is thus. And then the World Honored One got down off the seat. That is the first case, and that is the essential case of the Shoryo Roku, the Book of Equanimity. Clearly observe the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha's teaching is thus. The second case of the Shoryo Roku is a case about Bodhidharma. When Bodhidharma came to China and met with the Emperor, the Emperor asked him, What

[03:33]

is the merit of all I've done? What is the highest meaning of the holy truths? And Bodhidharma said, No merit, no holiness. And the Emperor said, Who is it that's facing me? And Bodhidharma said, Don't know. He then left, crossed the river, and sat in wall gazing for nine years. He sat in suchness for nine years.

[04:37]

He just did it. He just did it. So these are the first two cases, these are the cornerstone cases of our practice. Sometimes our practice is just the practice of suchness. It's all you can see. In Bodhidharma's time, that's all there was, just Bodhidharma sitting there. That was it. You could ask him questions, but he didn't get much. Sometimes our teaching swells up and the brocade gets thick and glorious. It can do that if people need it.

[05:44]

And sometimes maybe it even does it when they don't need it. Perhaps some of you have heard stories like some young student, some student who wants to study Buddhism goes to a Zen teacher and says, Please teach me about Zen. And the teacher says, Okay. And from there you can say the next thing can be anything, right? Slap me in the face, help me cook dinner, help me take out the garbage. Or he says, Okay, and then doesn't say anything more for weeks and weeks and years. And the student says, When are you going to start teaching me Zen? I've been doing it all along.

[06:51]

Anyway, there's many, many stories. Because it's the teaching of dustness, it can be any story. And Abbot Dineen Kadagiri had a teacher like that, I think. We didn't teach him anything. And then he went to Eheji and he met a very outstanding Zen master. Who told him a lot. Who told him how great Zazen was, how wonderful the Okesa was, how wonderful monastic life is, all the reforms. And he was extremely happy to find out all this wonderful stuff. He went back to his teacher and said, Why didn't you tell me about all this stuff?

[08:02]

The teacher said, He didn't ask. Just a lonely old man, all by himself with only one disciple who left him. He didn't want to be around a place where you don't get anything. And yet, maybe that teacher was really Bodhidharma. How many disciples did he have? Who wants to study with Bodhidharma? Well, not very many people want to study with Bodhidharma. Just flat out, unadulterated suchness. Who wants it? Nobody wants it. Whether you want it or not, there it is. That's it. But this is the main point.

[09:04]

Also, this Joshu Sasaki, who is the head of the Montbaldi Zen Center and so on, he said one time in one of his Zen notes, he said, American teachers teach too much. The students ask for a lot of stuff and they tell them. He said, If people ask me and I don't tell them, then they leave. And they go to the university and ask professors. And the professors tell them all kinds of interesting practices and teachings. And they come back to me and say, Why did you tell me that stuff? Anyway, there's a dynamic there between just sticking to suchness and don't give people anything other than suchness. Don't talk about anything. And giving people something so they can get a foothold, so that they don't give up and

[10:18]

go to the university. The first thing Rinzai said is, If I strictly accord with the ancestral source, I wouldn't say a word. But then you won't get a foothold. So he did some stuff. Not only did Bodhidharma just give suchness and just sit there, but he sat in the snow. I mean, you might be able to put up with suchness, but suchness in the snow? They didn't have little serving crews that came in there and served it either, you know, and wiped the meal board and stuff. And in China, Chinese people weren't used to making donations to wandering Buddhist monks. Bodhidharma and his near successors actually didn't avail themselves of indoor housing.

[11:23]

So they didn't have a lot of disciples. They had like, fortunately, one. But that was a close one. Almost didn't have any. It's a very tough road. And this is our Indian, you know, part of our Indian ancestors. It's real tough, ascetic background, which is running through right there, hovering around the teaching of thusness is some kind of toughness, some kind of renunciation of the body. But if the renunciation is too heavy, we wouldn't have 43 people here. I wouldn't even be here. And so when it came to China, a couple of generations after Bodhidharma, things started to expand a little bit. We'll talk about that later. But remember this, this core, this cable, it's twisting opposite direction from the

[12:33]

way our dear little bodies want to go. It's running right through there. So we're not sure Bodhidharma really said this thing I'm reading, because even this is going a bit far. But the teaching of thusness, I feel, is running through here too. Slightly puffed up for our enjoyment. So we can get a little, get our little teeth onto a little bit there. So we already talked, I think, and read about the first two of the four practices, the practice of repaying wrongs and the practice of going along with the causal nexus. Now, to go on to the third practice, which is called the practice of not seeking anything.

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Worldly people, always deluded, craving everything, becoming attached everywhere. This is called seeking. The wise awaken to the real, using inner truth, they reach the conventional world. Pacifying mind without contrived activity, changing shape as they go, the myriad states of being are thereby empty and there is nothing wished for to take joy in. Along with this, the darkness of meritorious deeds is forever banished. Dwell for long in the triple world.

[14:44]

It's like a burning house. All who have bodies suffer. Who can find peace? When this is completely comprehended, thoughts of various states of being cease and there is no seeking. A sutra says, all who seek, suffer. If there is no seeking, only then is there bliss. Thus we know that not seeking anything is truly a practice of the path. I'd like to pick up a little bit on these points here.

[15:54]

First, the wise awaken to the real. Using inner truth, they reach the conventional world. Using inner truth, they reach the conventional world. I, myself, really like that line. It's a nice one from me. Practicing formally for 20 years, I'm now almost able to reach the conventional world. There are some people who are able, looks like they're able to reach the conventional world without such long study in Zen training. You know some of those people, like Shushan boys.

[16:57]

Anyway, some people seem to be really right in there. I'm not sure if they really are. I'd have to get to know them better. But I know that when I was in the conventional world, I had a little bit of queasiness about it. I wasn't entirely willing to be there. I had some reservation. Either I wanted to be in a better situation. Well, yeah, that's basically what I wanted. But I was always seeking something. I was not willing to be in the conventional world. Or at least I wanted a higher quality conventional world. But actually, to be there, I didn't use inner truth enough.

[18:04]

I didn't have enough inner truth available. But what we're saying here is that those who can use inner truth, they can reach the conventional world. They can live their life. And steadfast in suchness, they are unafraid to enter the world. They dive deeply into the conventional world. And this is sometimes called the unique iron person.

[19:08]

It used to be called iron man. We changed it to iron person recently. This is a person who enters the swirling waters of the world and doesn't forget suchness. She is also not afraid to be unique. I can feel in myself some reservations. I mentioned just the other day, sometimes even if I find some teaching in the street or in Sufism that I think is really helpful, like that poem I read the other day. I feel a little queasy about bringing it up because it's not orthodox Buddhist teaching. But I have to be unique

[20:13]

rather than being general and in accord with some kind of principle. When the wooden man begins to sing, the stone woman gets up to dance. Changing shape as they go, myriad states are thereby emptied. This is also to enter the conventional world and change shape as you go.

[21:24]

If you can change shape as you go, each state is thereby emptied. This is non-clean, but if I try to hold on a little bit and don't go with conditions, then the states don't empty. If I'm steadfast in emptiness, I can go with conditions, and if I go with conditions, I'm rewarded with emptiness. This is acting on the advent of ourselves. This is acting on ourselves in the advent of all things.

[22:35]

This is witnessing ourselves in the advent of all things. Changing shape as we go, witnessing ourselves in the advent of all things. This is called awakening. This is acting on a self in the advent of all things. Acting out of, changing shape as I go, acting there. This is acting from no place. This is acting from a mind that has no abode. Temporarily, it's this shape as it goes, now it's this shape, and now it's this shape.

[23:40]

Acting from here. All things come forth and experience themselves. All things come forth and experience themselves.

[25:21]

All things come forth and experience themselves. All things come forth and experience themselves. All things come forth and experience themselves.

[27:12]

All things come forth and experience themselves. I have a suggestion about your sitting that I find, I've been finding is very helpful, and it is to touch the abdomen with your hand or a drum. Some of you are already doing this, and those of you who aren't doing it probably have done it in the past at some point. But I want to say again how useful that effort can be.

[28:40]

In particular, I would emphasize that you touch the inside of your baby fingers to your abdomen. If you look at my hands like this, if you had your hands like this, let's say your stomach was shaped kind of round like this, and you put your hands like this, touch like that, like that. That's okay too, it's touching, but what I would suggest is that you make an effort to bring the baby fingers in close, touch with them, like this. So these two fingers are actually touching, not just the side of the hand, but the baby fingers. Because you can do it like this and the side of the hands will be touching, but if you do it like this, it turns the hands, so that what happens then is if you watch, if I have my hands just, my baby fingers aren't directly touching them, but if I pull my baby fingers

[29:53]

in, my arms come away from my body, but effortlessly and very comfortably. And it makes also more contact with the baby fingers, so it has the advantage of more contact and also bringing the arms naturally away from the body and creating a space under the armpits. This space under the armpit is very useful for our posture. If you put your hands into your side and let your hands slip forward, one or both of those, if you let the hands slip forward, it sometimes seems comfortable, particularly during a daily sitting it might seem comfortable, or if your back is sore, but what that does, what that tends to do is pull your shoulders forward, you cave your chest in, and so on.

[30:56]

In the long run, it's really much more difficult and less vital. Temporarily it might seem more relaxing. Also, the arms next to the body might seem more comfortable, too, in the short run, but in the long run, having them away from the body is much more comfortable and much easier to then hold your shoulders in proper alignment with your head and keep your chest right and your back right. This is one little point of bringing the baby fingers in contact with the lower abdomen is one way to take care of all of that. And also, that contact there provides a way to sort of like kind of plug in to your body. It's kind of like, it's like turning the juice on, so to speak, turning the electricity on.

[32:00]

And the irony of little points of posture like this, for me, are that during daily sitting, when things are kind of, you know, not too stressful, when your body isn't really being put to the test, during daily sitting it's hard for us to realize how important these little points are, because you get through the period anyway. But it would be easy to do them during daily sitting, too, because, you know, you don't have such a hard time. But it's funny that during sasheen, or during times of stress, it's sometimes easier to realize how useful these little points are, because when you're being stressed, to sit in one way makes a big difference over another way. A slight change like that can make you feel a tremendous difference. But again, the irony is that when we're stressed, we tend to cling to our old habits, to the

[33:12]

last, and not try something which requires a little bit more effort. Oftentimes, when we're stressed, a little bit more effort will free us. In other words, push us beyond what we're holding on to, which is causing the stress in the first place. Does that make sense? Whether it makes sense or not, if you try it, you probably won't be able to understand what I mean during daily zazen, but I still recommend it now, even though you might not be able to understand, until sasheen, how useful it is. But during sasheen, as I mentioned in San Francisco, I had the feeling like the difference between holding my hands sort of on my lap and pulling them up and touching my abdomen with the baby fingers was kind of like the difference between, you know, I use this feeling of this movie called Star Wars, where they're driving around in ordinary circumstances and

[34:18]

they have this thing called overdrive, or superdrive, or hyperdrive, or whatever, where it clicks into this other dimension, this other, they do something and they go, you know, and they sort of, and they go, and they're in another, they go beyond the speed of light or something. They leave the room, you know, it's sort of like the difference between sitting that one way and pulling my hands in my stomach was like, it was like just a different body. Just like, it's like turning it on and leaving behind this old dead one. A real metamorphosis in that little point there. And as I say, it may be hard to feel in your ordinary daily practice situations, but during sasheen it's easier to feel because it's more flowing through you. But if you start now, you might be able to get ready for it, get used to using it.

[35:20]

All right, another thing I want to recommend, which I don't know if I said yet, is I'd recommend that you cross your legs, alternate the way you cross your legs. In other words, if you usually sit half lotus with your left leg on top, I would suggest you start trying during daily practice to sit with your right leg on top. Start alternating. And there too, you may find some resistance to change or some tendency to want to keep doing it the way you're most comfortable. But again, in the long run, it's different during sasheen, you'll find it very useful to be able to switch. One of the characteristics of yoga practice is that

[36:23]

the, as far as postural, the postural side, physical, muscular, skeletal side of yoga, the, the effects of doing the posture correctly are quickly realized. You can quickly feel the benefits of correct posture when you're doing yoga. For example, this, what I just mentioned about pulling the hand into the abdomen, especially during sasheen, you can instantly feel the difference, how much it brings you into lines, kind of like, aha, that's what sitting is, huh? Good. So you can get a very quick sense of the benefits of correct posture. Okay. Does that make sense to you? Like, sometimes if you're yoga class, you feel good right after this,

[37:28]

if you did some postures well at that time. However, the, the ill effects of doing the wrong, do not show up right away. Usually you can do a posture wrong for many years and not notice anything until you get a slip disc or something like the way we're usually taught to touch our toes. Uh, in school, they'd say, bend over and touch your toes, but they don't tell you that you shouldn't curve your back. And for little kids who cares, they almost all make it into high school, uh, without a slip disc by even though they touch their toes in a way that's actually harming them. And if you keep touching your toes and touching your toes, many of us will develop back problem, uh, because of doing it properly. But it takes years of doing it wrong to cause the damage, to realize the damage. That's why you have to be very careful of how you sit. And that's why I suggest start crossing

[38:34]

your legs because so far you have not yet been able to, maybe you don't, have not realized the ill effects of doing it one way all the time. But some, unfortunately, if you keep doing it that way, someday you'll realize what the effects are. So I would suggest you start switching, even if it's already too late. And the breathing side of yoga, however, is different. It's opposite. The ill effects of doing breathing wrong show up quickly, and the good effects of doing it right show up very late, after a long time. Now, these little points I just made are examples of areas where you can make an effort, like pull your hand into your, uh, into your abdomen.

[39:38]

That's an effortful thing. But suchness is not exactly an effort. You're not going to make an effort on behalf of suchness. The practice of suchness is more to find some way to not seek in the midst of your effort. We need to make some effort. For example, don't we? I mean, don't you have to make an effort? Well, I have to make an effort to get here in the morning. You know, especially when it's cold, it's kind of an effort. Another day. How many days are we having here this practice period? 90 of them? Well, there aren't 90 left, are there? I tend to notice that. To me, anyway, it takes an effort to follow the schedule.

[40:45]

So, it's there, there's the effort. But, to follow it without seeking any more than that, that's what I'm emphasizing. But there also are efforts that we have available to us. So I suggest an effort. And the effort, it kind of creates the house, so to speak. Or the effort creates the structure. It's kind of the, maybe the masculine side. And then there's a practice called effortlessness. It's a practice. But it's an effortless practice. And that fills the house. So,

[42:07]

Namo Buddhaya. [...]

[43:39]

Good morning. Is it light in the way, Lee? No. You can look there just a little bit. There's a story about our ancestors. Tosan Ryokai, whom we chant, whose name we chant every morning. He was the founder of our lineage, the Soto lineage in China, and the author of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi that we chant every day, Tosan Ryokai.

[44:47]

And there's a story about him that he was, on the anniversary of his teacher's death, Ungan Donjo, he was preparing a memorial for him. And as he was preparing the food offering, one of the monks said to him, what was your master's teaching? What did you receive from your master? And he said, well, I didn't get any teaching from my master. And the monk didn't understand this and said, but you also studied under Nansen and you had a realization under him. Why are you offering a memorial to Ungan Donjo? So they aren't just designs on paper. There's something which happens at a meal time,

[45:48]

with people sitting there eating and having a nice time. So we have to have both the effortful side, which sets the structure, which we have here. Right? Have you noticed? Zendos, stairs going up to them, palms and bells hitting at a certain time, little bodies running to and fro, sitting, getting up, eating meals. There's a structure. We need that structure, and it takes effort to hold it up. We fill this structure with effortlessness, not with more effort. We fill it with non-seeking. Once the structure is established,

[46:49]

no contrivance is necessary. Once you sit down to concentrate, you don't need to contrive anything. You don't need to have any supportive techniques. So to sit and concentrate without any contrived activity. To sit and concentrate with no way to concentrate. Just sit and concentrate. How? There's no how. Just do it effortlessly, without seeking another state of concentration from this one. If you refuse to do that, then we'll give you a concentration practice that you can do. But still, when you start doing that one, once you get the structure of it, you still have to...

[47:52]

Once you understand the structure, once you have made the effortful stage and that's set up, then you come into the effortless stage. So it's cultivation, effortlessness, always. The practice is balanced. But if we don't make some arrangements, and we don't have a kitchen crew that supplies three meals a day, then some of us might worry about where our food is going to come from. But with this nice kitchen staff, and nice kitchen, you don't have to worry about whether you're going to get fed. All you have to do is eat. And just carry on your life. Actually, in a real strict practice,

[48:54]

like Bodhidharma or something like that, they don't even have a kitchen staff. Then they just say something like, Dogen said, you don't need to worry, you don't need to do a thing to get fed. The amount, your allotment of food for this lifetime has already been set. All your food's already established. You have enough food to get you through your entire lifetime. It's already set up. You don't need to do anything to get your food. No matter what you do, you will be fed until you die. You don't need to worry anymore. But this is pretty strict. And he wasn't kidding when he said that. But it's so strict that most people say, okay, fine, but where's the kitchen staff? Show me a little bit more, would you? Do you believe that?

[50:05]

Do you believe that your food allotment has already been established? It's already set. There's enough food to keep you alive for the rest, as long as you live. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Anyway, try it on. Try it on. Try it on.

[51:29]

Try it on. I bow to you, my dear friend. Worst ways are insurpassable. I bow to you, my kind. I bow to you, my friend.

[52:58]

When we start looking at giving, wisdom is there. And morality is there. Energy is there. And, of course, wisdom underlies all of them. It's the basis from which all of them take their energy and their nutrients and their development and liberation. When I was in Suzuki Roshi's Anja, in the cabin in which Lushin is now living, it was at that time on the location of the new Kaisan-ji, the first day I came to work,

[54:00]

ready to clean his cabin, etc., I was pretty scared. I sort of looked around the room and I knew I was supposed to dust here and sweep there and wash here and there. But almost the first thing my eyes fell on was a little, I guess it's a petit four, a little cake with pink icing, which was on the altar offering to Buddha. And, honestly, the first thought that came to my mind was, well, what do I do with that? Should I clean that up and take it off? Where should I put that? So I asked him. And he didn't exactly answer. But it was like I could leave it there, it was all right. So I was dusting and sweeping and being careful.

[55:02]

At one point, a little bit later, I was outside doing something in the garden and he called to me. I'm forgetting how he said my name, my country or something. And he invited me in and he made a pot of tea and we sat down and he offered me his little cake. And I was pretty embarrassed. And in that act, he had kind of completely turned the tables. He was taking care of me. I thought my job was to take care of him. And suddenly there he was serving me tea and sitting down. I didn't have to be working every minute.

[56:06]

We were just in company with each other. And I felt he was giving me a pretty sweet teaching. I'm not sure I quite get it. It was pretty... It was very generous. And at the same time, it wasn't happening. It was both happening and not happening. That quality that he had of being present and like there's nobody home, like Nakamura Sensei at Green Gulch, when she serves tea, she's completely present. And you have to feel like there's nobody home. There's nobody there. Nobody doing it. I think the reason I've had trouble talking about giving,

[57:08]

I feel like I have a big problem with giving because it's always connected with... It's very dualistic for me. Someone gives to somebody and then one expects something back. There's some reciprocation involved and you measure what you give and you hope it's just the right amount, not too much and not too chintzy. And you hope it's received appropriately and you are considered a good person or whatever. You know, all this stuff. Birthdays and weddings and graduations and things like that, baby showers. And I think partly this has been complicated for me.

[58:10]

When I was a kid, my folks had a restaurant and I wanted to help and I wanted to be with my parents. So I started serving, waiting on tables and on the counter when I was, I don't know, 10 or 11 or 12, very young. And I was very happy to be helping my parents this way. And when I realized that when you serve people in the booths, they left you tips, then the big game was as soon as they left, you know, to run to the table and see if you got a tip. And one day, after I'd gotten like 10 cent tip or something, I realized that the people were still, you know, were in their car and could see me. And the people had seen me do this and I felt kind of bad. As if what I was offering, pleasant service or friendship or fun,

[59:14]

you know, at that point it was fun. It wasn't the point. I really wanted something from them. And it's been that feeling of wanting something back, some greed or dissatisfaction, that's kind of tainted giving for me. It's been hard for me to give gifts to my little Buddha boy, Daniel, because I remember when my relatives would come, I used to think, are they giving me a present? What are they bringing me? That kind of thing. So I think we can talk about giving as a helpful act. You know, giving gifts can be helpful. It's nice. People like to give presents. I love to get presents too. I like to have people say nice things. But there's a kind of giving that is liberating.

[60:15]

It's a kind of giving that's helpful. Or comfortable maybe. It eases our relationships with this. When Oksan, Mrs. Suzuki, when you give her a ride anyplace in San Francisco to her doctor or acupuncturist, she'll always come to your room and she'll leave a little present, a little cookie, a piece of fruit. And that's always sweet. It's always thoughtful. It's not necessary, but it's thoughtful. So giving, giving praise is helpful, feels good. But there's another kind of giving that's the giving of that third day of Sashin,

[61:17]

the giving that's liberating. And that's really what I want to talk about. And I didn't think I could talk about it because it was so far out, and who's there anyway? And that's just up in the clouds. But as I thought about it and read about it, I realized that that kind of giving we're all doing all the time. And we're not aware of it. We don't have to wait until that day, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that's not there, until we're all fully enlightened and we've realized the six perfections and we've completed the path to realhood. To give from emptiness, to give from non-duality, when there's no giver and no receiver and no gift. We are, in fact, already doing it. Some of us know it and some of us don't.

[62:21]

But most of the time when we're doing it, we don't know it. And the reason it works is because we don't know it. Because we're not conscious of it. And I think of all the ways in which people, you know, at times people come and say, thank you for... And I don't remember what they're talking about. But it was just something I said or did in passing. And mostly what we're thanking each other for is for being who we are. But the gift that each of us is giving to each other is the gift of our own being, just as we are. Each of us is giving all of us the gift of this practice period. All of us together are creating and giving each other this practice period. It's really true.

[63:27]

And when we get up in the morning, that's giving. When we come to the zendo, that's giving. When we bow together, that's giving. Chanting, service together, is an act of giving. In a way, traditionally, giving, Dana, is talked about as renunciation, giving over. And of course when we start using words like that, it's scary. We come to Tassajara maybe to get something, to give ourselves over completely. It takes some time to feel okay with that one, or to realize

[64:30]

that the schedule is actually set up to allow us the experience of giving ourselves over to something. Knowing that the giving, the act of giving, there's no one to give over. In the early days of Buddha, he taught his disciples the formula of the Four Noble Truths and the various teachings. And he asked them to go out and be with people and save sentient beings, to liberate them from their suffering. And their practice was to go out and be with people.

[65:33]

And there was no difference between practicing for themselves and practicing with others. That was what they did. But in the years after Buddha's death, after a couple hundred years, the monks got a little more interested in their own salvation and liberation and practices for themselves, and less interested in helping the laymen, the general population. And so there was less emphasis on being with people and more with practicing for themselves. The notion of the arhat, the person who is liberated from his own delusions and confusions, his own fetters. And so a hierarchy developed, you know, like giving morality was okay for the layman, that that was the layman's practice, to give to the monks. And jhana, concentration, and prajna, wisdom,

[66:40]

those were monastic practices for the monks. And there was some hierarchy, some feeling like the better practices were the later ones. And in this environment and in this culture, the bodhisattva ideal was developed, the mahayana group, in which Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, are united with the act of the results, the fruit of wisdom and insight and understanding is compassion. When you understand how things really are, how the world is interconnected, things are interpenetrated

[67:43]

and exchanging always with each other, how everything is a part of everything, then you naturally act in accord. When you understand the heart of everything, that all of us are causes and conditions, that there's no Catherine, that's just a label. There's just the events that are continuously going and changing within each of us, that our bodies and minds are continuously changing and are in flow, that our feelings and perceptions, impulses are always changing, and that the label of Brian or Les or Barda is extra. When we see things in that way, we act in accord with the changing conditions. We experience, we liberate ourselves

[68:45]

from ourselves. This isn't a table. We call it a table, but you know it's wood and some nails and some glue. If we call it a table, that's extra. We call it a table for convenience. The other day, during the lunch with the Tongariro students, Sochin Sensei looked at the tree and said, that's not a tree. That was kind of a wonderful moment. We call it a tree. It's not a tree. It's a thing. It's elements of existence. Dogen has an essay

[69:48]

called the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance, and he talks about giving is the first of the four. He talks about giving. The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action. Giving means non-greed. Non-greed means not to covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor. When you leave the way to the way,

[70:48]

you attain the way. At the time of attaining the way, the way is always left to the way. When treasure is left just as treasure, treasure becomes giving. You give yourself to yourself and others to others. When a person who practices giving goes to an assembly, people take notice. You should know that the mind of such a person communicates subtly with others. To launch a boat or build a bridge is an act of giving. If you study giving closely, you see that to accept a body and to give up the body are both giving. Making a living and producing things can be nothing other than giving. To leave flowers to the wind,

[71:50]

to leave birds to the season are also acts of giving. You should know that to give to yourself is a part of giving. Mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. Moreover, in giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind. These are just selections from that first section. Giving means non-greed. The literature says that we conceive of giving because in our mind we're taking. We want to give to ourselves.

[72:58]

We conceive of morality because of immorality. We conceive of patience because of impatience. We conceive of energy because of slothfulness. Concentration because of distraction, lack of concentration, and wisdom because of stupidity. I snitched a book from the abbot's cabin the other day and it was a fascinating little book and on the back cover the author says about it that the stupidity of people comes from having an answer to everything and the wisdom of this book, he said, comes from having a question for everything. Dogen says giving means non-greed.

[74:10]

We conceive of giving because of our greed, because of our bottomless, endless wanting, affection, cake, influence, appreciation, power, whatever. I notice with myself when I go to help myself to a piece of something like, for instance, chocolate cake, my hand automatically goes to the big piece. I have to make an effort to bring it back. It's almost like it has a will of its own to bring it back to whatever piece is right in front of me. We're like that. We reach out for what we want. Non-greed means not to covet.

[75:20]

Not to covet means satisfaction. Satisfaction. I was really grateful to the abbot this summer when we talked about the precepts together and he directed us to what's the positive side of the precepts and how many of them, the positive expression was satisfaction. Just satisfaction with our life as it was. Not wanting the weather to be different. Not wanting the food to be different. Not wanting our position to be different. Just satisfaction with what we have right here. Finding our place. Finding our home. Finding our home in that. Not to covet means not to curry favor.

[76:34]

When you're... reminded me of how much the time when we talk about each other we tend to present ourselves in a pretty good light and we present the other person in some critical mind. I do it myself. I find that when I'm repeating a conversation which didn't go so well I tend to change it just a little bit so I don't come off looking so bad. So the tone of voice I used or the feeling or something is a little bit softer, a little bit kinder. That's currying favor. That's trying to change the mind of the person that you're talking to. That's kind of slanting things

[77:39]

instead of just trusting. Trusting yourself. Trusting what happened. The causes and conditions were okay. And the person who hears it will hear it with that understanding. Reminded me of a friend. I cherish her a lot because she's the person that brought me to Zen Center a long time ago. And one of the reasons I value her so much is that she's just herself. She doesn't smile unless she feels like it. She doesn't say nice things about people because that's a nice thing to do. She just says what she thinks. Does what she feels like doing. And the result of that is how liberated I feel around her. I don't have to be anybody special around her.

[78:39]

So when we are just who we are ourselves without trying to direct the traffic or the activity, we actually liberate each other. Because we can tell when somebody is trying to get us to be a certain way. We're doing that to ourselves all the time, of course. We're trying to be a certain way with each other, maybe. A conscious way. Practicing being a good student or whatever. I had a hard time, terrible time, my first practice period because I was so much older than everybody at that time. Now some of you, your first practice period, you're older than that. Anyway, I thought of myself as having already lived in my life. I'd worked for almost 20 years and had professional responsibilities and I thought I should not have certain kinds of difficulties.

[79:43]

I should sort of be a resource for other people. It took me a long time to be able to just be myself with people because I kept thinking I had to be on top of things. It's always a relief when people can just be where they're at and just be themselves. Then we can really be together and I can be myself and each of you can be yourself. The End When you leave the way to the way, you attain the way. At the time of attaining the way, the way is always left to the way. You know, this Mahayana teaching that I was just talking about, about turning our life

[81:01]

over to others, that the expression of enlightenment or emptiness is that we're there for others. That's the foundation of the practice which Suzuki Roshi gave us. He actually said, I think this is a quote, you should not worry about your own practice. Not worry about what happens to you. We should just practice and create a good sense center. And create a foundation for the next generations. At the time of attaining the way, the way is left to the way.

[82:02]

We shouldn't worry about what we're getting from the practice. We should just trust this moment, this period of samsara, just do this period. He also said, maybe one or two students at sense center were just sitting. Most of us had a great big gaining idea. I certainly did. I always thought, oh now it's time for zazen, now I really have to see if I'm going to get something. I'll get a good breath, have a good period. I'm going to get something from it, have an insight, get concentrated. Instead of just coming to the zendo, it's nothing special, it's not different from work.

[83:11]

Don't put more emphasis on it than work, or study, or food, eating. Just come and sit and cross our legs. And make our best effort to be still and to be settled. Without wanting to take anything from it. Without wanting any traces from it. When he said only one or two people were doing it, that was really rather startling. I knew I wasn't one of those people, I knew I wanted something. And yesterday as I was walking up the mountain and back, I noticed once again how beautiful the mountain is, the sky,

[84:17]

and the wind, and the leaves, and the shadow climbing up the side of the mountain, changing every day. And the way the shadows look when it's four o'clock or when it's five o'clock. And there are times when the whole experience is just extraordinary. It's just, you know, you feel like you're there. And I wonder why I don't have that feeling so much. Why is Tassajara not always like that for me? Why don't I see it as it is? Why don't I see that mountain, and those trees, and those rocks? They're there every day, just as they are. They're there for me. And yet, and yet, what do I want?

[85:26]

What do I want from this practice period? Maybe giving is like the first precept to give life to everything. And we give life by liberating everything from its own restrictions, from its own ideas of itself. So my liberation would be to be liberated from whatever I think Catherine is, and should be doing. And Les's liberation is from what Les thinks he should be, getting out of this practice period and doing gaming. And just settling into the complete fullness

[86:33]

that's there under our feet right now. Complete boundless fullness that we're enjoying actually every moment. The suchness that Brian talked about, if you want to attain suchness, practice suchness without delay. So those were some of the questions that came up for me, some of the thoughts that came up for me, thinking about giving. Does anyone have any comments or questions? Just at the end when you mentioned that to liberate Catherine

[87:44]

you need to give up some idea of what you think you should be doing. Thank you. Very often around here we hear about, we hear the phrase or use the phrase that this is something I should work on. Patience is something I should work on. So, I might have the idea that in this practice period I should work on patience, try to memorize the Shantideva's passages on it, be mindful of impatience, things like that. But is your statement that to liberate Catherine, is that a conflict? No, I don't think it's in conflict. And I think we have these practices to help us focus. No, I don't think it's in conflict.

[88:45]

Thank you.

[88:45]

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