Thank you. The zazen I speak of is simply the dharma gate of repose and bliss.

[03:10]

It is the manifestation of ultimate freedom. It is complete gratefulness for our present circumstances. It is undefiled by ingratitude undefiled by wishing for something other than this. Complete devotion to sitting still.

[04:50]

Total devotion to unmoving sitting. Free from any gaining idea. Now for three days, almost exactly 72 hours, we have the great opportunity to be still and quiet in the midst of our life circumstances.

[07:16]

All beings have made this present possible for us. And if we can be grateful for it, infinite compassion and infinite wisdom can act through our life. In the next three days, can we eat just to support this sitting? Can we

[08:50]

Give our whole life effort just for this sitting. During these three days, we also have a chance to meditate deeply on the Heart Sutra and meditate deeply on the merging of difference and oneness.

[09:58]

Our sitting is the demonstration of form is empty, emptiness is form. The vastness of each thing The unhindered truth of inherent voidness yearns to take a body, yearns to take our body. Once a monk asked her teacher, Can you get a hold of emptiness?

[11:43]

Her teacher said, Why don't you try? So she cupped her hands in mid-air. The teacher said, There's nothing in there at all. She said, how would you do it, teacher? He took a hold of her nose and twisted it hard. She yelled out, ouch, that hurts. He said, that's how to get a hold of emptiness. First of all, zazen is a devotional practice.

[13:29]

First of all, the Heart Sutra is a devotional text. We don't understand them intellectually. We are told without any proof that just sitting is the Dharma gate of repose and bliss, of peace and happiness. We are told that the Heart Sutra is the great transcendent mantra, that it's true, not false. that it relieves all suffering. There's no explanation. We just chant it. Just chant it.

[14:43]

Just sit. This is faith. It's the entryway It's not the whole story, but it's the gate to truth. Once we've entered, then we can talk about that. But first of all, we have to come in the door, and the door is stillness. The door is complete gratitude. not reaching for anything else but this. Then the door will open by itself. Self-clinging will drop away of itself.

[15:51]

Buddha is truly great, inconceivably wonderful. Buddha's teaching is singularly magnificent and effective. The community is an incomparable gem. But even though Buddha is so magnificent and wonderful, we must not try to get it. We don't get Buddha. We take refuge in Buddha. We depend on Buddha. We return to Buddha. We don't get Buddha. And the way to return to Buddha, to be Buddha, is to sit still, is to be grateful for this, not ungrateful, not try to trade this in for something else, not refuse the gift of all living beings to you at this moment and say, I'd rather have something else.

[18:17]

Really appreciate this. Really appreciate the kindness of all living beings. This is to take refuge in Buddha. This is to be Buddha's child. This is to make a living Buddha. A living Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. A living Manjushri Bodhisattva. a living Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Long ago in China, a disciple of Buddha named Nanyue Huairang approached the sixth ancestor of Zen.

[20:08]

The ancestor said, What is it that thus comes? Nanyue said, as soon as I say, it's this, I miss the mark entirely. The ancestor said, well, does that mean there's no practice in awakening? Nanyue said, I don't say there's no practice in realization. I don't say there's no practice in transformation.

[21:16]

Just that it cannot be defiled The ancestor said, you are like this, you are thus, I am thus too. All Buddhas are thus and practice this undefiled way. Right now, we have a chance to practice the undefiled way of all Buddhas, undefiled by any gaining idea. If we can just somehow find a way to be completely grateful for this. Completely grateful for this we call sitting still Of course you move throughout the day You get up on your seat and down from your seat you adjust your posture you blink your eyes blood circulating through your body and

[22:48]

You feed yourself, you wash your face, you bow to your friends. But no matter what you're doing, please sit still. No matter what you're doing, please be grateful to the kindness of all living beings to make your practice possible. This complete gratefulness, this complete stillness, is the living Heart Sutra. The way is perfect and all-pervading, basically.

[25:08]

How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The Dharma gate is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It never is apart from one right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice? And yet, If there is the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. The slightest discrepancy, the slightest ingratitude, the slightest flinching from this

[26:25]

The least like or dislike throws the mind into confusion. Shakyamuni Buddha, who was possessed of inborn knowledge, still had to sit upright for six years. And the great Bodhidharma had to sit for nine years.

[27:41]

Since this was the case with them, how could we dispense with just sitting? Now we have the opportunity. Let's not miss it. Let us therefore cease from a practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns our light inwardly to illuminate the self. sitting still, naturally turns the light inward and illuminates the self.

[28:57]

Once the self is illuminated, self-clinging of themselves drop away and your original face will be manifest. If you want to practice suchness, please practice suchness without delay. If we want to realize suchness, let us practice suchness immediately.

[31:24]

Right now are you in your body? Are you with this body that you have? Are you settled? and appreciative and grateful for this body of yours, Are we ready to take refuge in the Buddhadharma through this sitting, through this body?

[36:05]

I feel this instruction is simple but not easy to do. It's not easy to sit still. It's not easy to be grateful for whatever is happening, especially if it's painful. So let us ask for the help of all beings. Let us ask for the help of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to help us sit still, to let us sit still in the midst of all of our obstructions and obstacles and hindrances and resistances.

[38:32]

Let us ask for help of all the ancestors to let us sit, to let us do their practice. Let us ask each other here today to help each other sit still, to enter the Dharma gate of peace and bliss. free of all of our activity. Are you ready?

[39:54]

Are you ready? Readiness is all. Are you ripe for practice? Ripeness is all. May our intention

[41:08]

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