five days of sitting, I'd like to ask you a question right off, and that is, what is your ultimate concern? I asked an 80 year old man this question a few days ago and he said, I want to be of some help to people.

[01:03]

I said, how? And he said, I don't know. But I feel how is a is a good word to look for, to keep our eyes open to the way we may be helpful. I don't know what your ultimate concern is, but whatever you say, I'll ask you how. I'll ask you, what is it, even after you tell me?

[02:30]

So again, I'm not going to tell you what your ultimate concern is, but for me and for the ancestors of the tradition, that I align myself with, the tradition that I go back home to, the ultimate concern is, is this mind, is this heart where helpfulness lives? And for those who wish to return to this heart of helpfulness, they must find the mind, they must, we say, produce a mind which has no abode.

[04:07]

which does not dwell anywhere which is unsupported by anything. And because it's unsupported by anything it's all-pervasive and all-responsive. This unsupported mind responds appropriately to beings. I want to enter this, the realm of this unsupported mind of all enlightening beings and Zen ancestors. I feel they welcome me and invite all of you to join them in this unsupported eternal realm of peace and bliss and kindness.

[05:32]

Living there. was their ultimate concern. And because they live there, they can come forth into any part of the world that is appropriate. No words reach this place, but all words of kindness and dharma come from this place. All expression drops away before reaching this place, and all expressions come from this place. This morning we chanted the Heart Sutra in Japanese, and since many of you don't read Japanese, you may not know that that scripture was about this realm. That scripture was about the realm of unsupported, non-dwelling mind where all suffering is relieved.

[06:54]

The next scripture we chanted was in English so you could understand. And that scripture is not so much about this realm. That scripture is more about the gate to this realm. the Dharma gate to this realm, the how of entry. And the how of entry in India and China and Japan and now in America, the overall characteristic of the Zen gate is total engagement in a mobile sitting. Devotion to upright sitting is the gate to the realm of Buddha's mind. It is a way to have a living relationship with the ancestors.

[08:17]

to do the same practice as the ancestors. However, the non-ancestral dwelling mind of some of us the mind which is supported by thoughts and so on, when it hears about total engagement in a mobile sitting, it forms an idea of that and may even think that that idea has something to do with what sitting still means. The gate is simple. It is just this devotion to sitting still, being still, being upright.

[09:26]

But understanding the gate in the midst of the constant production of fantasies is rather difficult for us. So my intention in my talks with you is to clarify this gate and perhaps even enter the realm and cavort therein with you if you would be so kind as to enter and pay the price of radical simplicity. What does it mean to just sit One of the things it means right off is that it's not something that you can do.

[10:36]

And doing a practice or opening yourself up to a practice that you can't do is getting yourself ready for the realm where you can't do anything. The realm where you're helpful is the realm where you can't do anything. You just join the helpfulness project. So one time the ancestor featured in what you chanted this morning he was sitting still one day and a monk asked him what are you thinking about while you're sitting there so still? And he said, thinking about, not thinking.

[11:47]

The monk said, how do you think about not thinking? And he said, non-thinking. This is Yaoshan's talk about the gate to the realm of Buddha's Dharma. So the price that we must pay To enter the realm of Dharma is rather extensive. It's an extensive price. You could also say expensive. It means that you have to give up all your worldly affairs.

[12:51]

And I heard you just read a scripture, a vow, of giving up renouncing worldly affairs and maintaining Buddhadharma. The gate to Buddhadharma is to renounce worldly affairs. The main worldly affair is thinking. You have to renounce thinking. That's all. To try to get rid of thinking is not to renounce thinking. That's another kind of thinking called getting rid of thinking. And you can think in such a way as to get rid of thinking, but then you have this new kind of thinking which is very oppressive and cruel, actually, and disrespectful of your thinking. As a matter of fact, one way to express what it means to renounce thinking is to love your thinking.

[13:54]

Love it into oblivion. To respect your thinking so much that you realize that no one can ever find your thinking, that you have thinking which has no abode. To think all the way to the end of thinking is what it means to sit still. To give up the world, to renounce worldly affairs means to think thoroughly. Usually we just think and indulge in the thinking. We don't turn around and study the thinking And the way of turning around and studying this thinking is not to turn around and study the thinking the way you think you would turn around and study the thinking.

[15:01]

That's just more thinking. The way to study thinking to the end is just do not move. If you don't move, you will naturally study your thinking all the way to non-thinking. and you will there enter the realm of the bodhisattva's heart. And when you renounce worldly affairs by just sitting still, you then can maintain the Buddhadharma. You can join the Buddhadharma maintenance crew. There's a lot of people on the crew. Many of them are dead.

[16:02]

But when you join the crew, they become alive. And you actually can hold hands with deceased ancestors. And when you can hold hands with the deceased ancestors, you can really hold hands with living beings beyond your thinking of what they are. and therefore be helpful. When Yashan was still with his teacher, Stonehead, Stonehead came by one time when Yashan was sitting and asked him what he was doing. And he said, I'm not doing anything at all. When the ancestors are sitting, they're not doing anything at all.

[17:08]

They renounce the worldly affair of doing things by doing them thoroughly. with pure and complete mindfulness. Thoroughly means you do things just to do them, not for any other reason. You just breathe. You just inhale, and you just exhale. You just sit. That's it. That's what he was doing. He was just sitting. That's it. And his teacher says, what are you doing? And he said, I'm not doing anything at all. And his teacher said, then you're idly sitting. And he said, if I were idly sitting, I would be doing something.

[18:20]

And then his teacher said, You say you're not doing anything at all. What is it that you're not doing?" And he said, even the 10,000 sages don't know. sitting still, not doing anything at all, you enter the realm that even the 10,000 sages don't know. And if the 10,000 sages don't know, if all the Buddhas don't know, there's somebody else who doesn't know. And that is the Lord of Death. The Lord of Death can't find this mind.

[19:25]

The greatest magicians and shamans and musicians and physicists can't find this mind. No one can find this mind. Therefore, this mind is always available. Human beings cannot touch it, cannot get away from it. It's always there, beckoning us to return. The way to return? sit, just stand, just think, just breathe, just be thus, upright, and thereby renounce all the activities of your mind without tampering with them in the slightest. without squashing them down or fluffing them up, leaving them to be just as they are, you renounce them.

[20:40]

And no one can find this mind of leaving everything alone. Do you have a living relationship with an ancestor?

[21:57]

In the morning we chant that list of ancestors. Those are the ancestors. Do you have a living relationship with ? Do you have a living relationship with ? Are these people your close friends or are they some kind of like not close friend?

[23:03]

These people, they were close friends with the people that came before them. When they said the names of their ancestors, they felt that resonate in their heart. They felt alive. This was their life. Their ancestors were their life and they were the life of the ancestors. Tozan Ryokai Daiyosho had two main disciples. One was Ungodoyo Daiyosho and the other one was Sozan Daiyosho. Sozan Bunji. Bunji, as in bungee cord. Bunji. So Bungie studied with Dung Shan for quite a long time.

[24:30]

And when he was about to leave, Dung Shan said, where are you going? And Bungie said, I'm going to a changeless place. And Dung Shan said, If there's a changeless place, you won't be going there." And Bungie said, going is also changeless. After studying Zen for some time, when you leave your teacher, and your teacher asks you where you're going, you could say, I'm going to a place which has no support. I'm going to a place of no abode.

[25:30]

And your teacher might say, if there's a place of no abode, you won't be going there. And you could say, my going is changeless. This place of no abode, nobody gets there. But if you know how to go, you're already there. What does it mean to be totally engaged in immobile sitting. It means to learn the backward step.

[26:39]

What does it mean to learn the backward step? It means to take refuge in Buddha. What does it mean to take refuge in Buddha? It means to not move. What does it mean to be totally engaged in a mobile sitting? It means to not do evil and practice good and benefit all beings. That's what it means to sit still.

[27:57]

What does it mean to not do evil. It means to be totally engaged in a mobile sitting. What does it mean to take refuge in Buddha? It means learn the backward step. Are you learning the backward step right now?

[29:03]

is who is learning the backward step right now? Who is taking refuge in Buddha right now? We're always at the gate. We're always face to face with the one who's taking refuge in Buddha. Are we ready to enter?

[30:17]

The zazen practice is the gate. Are you open to this practice? I humbly say to you that no one can do this job for you. No one is forcing you to do this. You're the only one who can do it. the job of being yourself. The question is, what is your ultimate concern? Do you understand what is required of you, given your ultimate concern?

[31:26]

And are you willing to give what is required So please, please look into yourself and see what your ultimate concern is.

[32:55]

I personally wish to help anyone realize her or his ultimate concern. But you must see it for yourself and ask for help if you need it. You have five days to clarify, discover and deepen your concern.

[34:21]

So please, we need, we all sentient beings need you to Take good care of yourself and discover what's most important to you in this precious fleeting life. They are intentions.

[35:17]

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