This morning I said that Buddhas are born of great compassion, but there is no seeking in their practice. And I just said there is no seeking, and then I said kind of indistinctly something between their and the practice. In other words, there is no seeking in the practice or there is no seeking in their practice. In other words, in the practice of the Buddha

[01:02]

there is no seeking. Being born of great compassion, there is a practice without seeking. This is the practice of Buddha. Hopefully we can be mindful of this basic, this basic feeling for practice. Feeling of great compassion and where there is no seeking. When Buddha sits, or Buddha does sit with a great vow, and Buddha sits with no seeking

[02:35]

and no expectations. Sitting with this great vow in heart and with no seeking in mind is Buddha's sitting, is sitting Buddha. Of course, walking with the great vow in heart, with the great compassion in the heart, and walking with no expectation in mind is Buddha's walking. And when Buddha walks, when Buddha walks, she washes my sins away. When Buddha walks, oh when she walks, when Buddha walks, oh when she walks, when Buddha walks,

[03:36]

oh when she walks, she washed my sins away, oh when she walks. How does Buddha walk with great compassion in his heart and no expectation, no seeking in the mind? This is how Buddha sits and walks and stands and reclines. When Buddha looks, Buddha looks with great compassion, with no seeking in the looking. And Buddha looks deeply, and Buddha sees the true nature of phenomena that she's looking at, and therefore Buddha can respond appropriately in this world. So in the context of great compassion and no seeking, there still is looking at what's

[04:43]

happening, and this context is a context of looking at what's happening and hearing the teaching about the nature of what we're looking at. So Buddha does actually practice wisdom. Buddha wants all beings to be happy and free. Buddha has no seeking, and Buddha practices wisdom. All the time, Buddha is like looking at what's happening, what's appearing. Buddha is listening to what's happening, what's appearing, and Buddha is examining with wisdom, tuning into the nature of phenomena to keep the compassion aligned with reality, because it's possible to feel

[05:43]

great compassion for even all beings, but for the compassion to not be aligned with the vision of reality, and therefore the compassion can get off course. So some people can say, I just want peace in the world, and think that it would be good to bomb children in order to have peace, because their wisdom is not in the line with their deep compassion. In other words, their compassion is being affected by a lack of understanding of what's going on. Can you imagine that such a thing would be possible, that someone would want to protect life, but not be able to see the proper way of doing it, and act inappropriately? Does that seem possible? So we make some effort to develop deeper and deeper insight into

[06:55]

the nature of what's happening in this world, but if there's seeking in our study, it's not the way Buddha studies the Dharma, and if there is seeking, then we practice confession and repentance about our seeking in the process of learning wisdom. This morning we chanted the Phucon Dzogchengi, which is the, it's often translated as the general or universal encouragements or admonitions for the practice of sitting meditation, but that translation is not the way I would do it, because that translation overlooks the

[07:57]

word gi in Phucon Dzogchengi, and gi means ceremony. It could also be translated as procedure, but procedure loses the fact that it's usually used in China to mean a ceremony. So that instruction we read this morning, that text we read this morning, is the universal encouragements for the ceremony of sitting meditation. In the text, it gives instructions for basic kind of practical and actually ceremonial preparations for the practice of Dzogchen, for the practice of sitting meditation, and what's intended here is the practice of the

[08:58]

sitting meditation of Buddha. It's possible to practice sitting meditation, for example, as you may have heard or seen some other people demonstrating, some people practice seated meditation with the intention of gaining something. Some people practice seated meditation seeking something. Have you heard about some people practicing that way? This has happened. People want to get this, want to get that. They're seeking in the practice, but this text is the encouragement and instruction in how to practice, learn how to practice, seated meditation of the Buddha. So it starts out by giving some practical descriptions of the way to set up the ceremony. And then, like it says, quiet room, eat and drink moderately,

[10:07]

gives instruction on the posture, and it also gives instructions on, for example, it says, cast aside all involvement, cease all affairs, do not think good or bad, do not administer pros and cons, cease all movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views, have no design on becoming a Buddha. That's an older translation than we did this morning. Did you hear those instructions just now? Now when I hear those instructions, what I think of is that these are instructions in giving up discursive thought, giving up the wandering thoughts. So that part of the text in some sense is giving you instruction about how to practice Samatha

[11:12]

or tranquility meditation. This more recent translation we're using is put aside all involvement, suspend all affairs, do not think of good or bad, do not judge true or false, give up the operations of mind, intellect and consciousness, stop measuring with thoughts, ideas and views, have no design on becoming a Buddha. Give that stuff up and giving those things up is a good idea. It's a kind of compassion and the kind of compassion which we call concentration practice or tranquility practice. And when this kind of discursive thoughts are given up, the fruit of

[12:16]

that is tranquility. It's a wonderfully bright and flexible, happy, serviceable body and mind. So he recommends that and I join that recommendation wholeheartedly. So this is the dimension of, the compassionate dimension of meditation. Basically giving up wandering thoughts which are employed in various affairs, which are employed in administering pros and cons which are employed in judging good and bad, this kind of stuff which is necessary in the world, but for the sake of calming down we put aside these things for a little while. And then again he goes on to, as I said before, and after that he gives instructions of the posture

[13:20]

to use in this ceremony. And now with this posture, sitting still, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking. This is the essential art of seated meditation. This instruction which is being given after the person's been taught to sit or instructed to sit still and upright, this instruction is instruction in wisdom practice. It's instruction not in giving up discursive thought, but it is a discursive presentation to encourage you to use your discursive thought now, which is said to be the essential art of Zazen.

[14:25]

Now this study of this teaching about learning a way of thinking, which is the thinking, which is the type of thinking that's going on in the seated meditation of a Buddha, this instruction comes from a conversation between a monk and a seated Buddha. The monk asked the seated Buddha, what kind of thinking is going on while you're sitting there? And the seated Buddha said, thinking of not thinking. The monk asked the seated Buddha what kind of thinking was going on in the seated Buddha. The seated Buddha did not say, I'm not thinking. The seated Buddha said, I'm thinking of not thinking. In other words, the seated Buddha

[15:59]

admitted to be thinking. However, the type of thinking that the seated Buddha is doing is the type of thinking which seated Buddhas do, or it's the type of thinking which occurs in seated Buddhas. Seated Buddhas are thinking. In other words, seated Buddhas are looking at what's happening and seeing what's happening. The way they look at what's happening is their thinking. The way we look at what's happening is our thinking. To become wise is to start thinking like a Buddha. How do Buddhas think? They think of not thinking. That's how they think. That's how they're wise. Wise beings think of not thinking. However, before I go further I want to remind you that the context of this Buddha sitting and thinking is that

[17:10]

in the heart of this Buddha is great compassion and in the mind of this Buddha is no seeking. So this Buddha is thinking without seeking. So as you listen to the instruction about how a Buddha thinks and as you endeavor to learn the essential art of the sitting meditation of a Buddha, be careful to remember that in the practice of learning the Buddha's meditation there is no seeking in that practice. In the Buddha's meditation practice there's no seeking, in the learning of the Buddha's meditation practice there is no seeking. If there is seeking in learning the Buddha's meditation practice we start moving away from the Buddha's meditation practice. So that's also why in the earlier part it said, cast aside all involvements, cease all affairs, have no designs on becoming a Buddha. You're

[18:19]

going to hear instructions now about how to become a Buddha, about how to realize that you are Buddha, and as you hear these instructions don't try to get them, otherwise you'll move away from what you're wanting to become, wanting to realize. Does that make sense? Any questions about that? Yes? Can you speak up? Well, one of the differences is that, for example, I want to realize your happiness, but if I'm seeking, that means I overlook appreciating

[19:30]

the way you are now. So Buddha wants you to be happy, but Buddha does not seek you to be anything other than you are. Say it louder? Yes, it includes what's happening, wanting to realize great compassion, wanting to realize the happiness of all beings, includes, as you said, appreciation of the way all beings are

[20:34]

now, but it not only includes it, it requires the appreciation. If you don't appreciate the way beings are now, you can't work for their benefit. You must not skip over where we are now, we have to start where we are. And if you're seeking, you go away from where you are and try to help yourself where you are, but you've dislocated yourself by the seeking. So, realizing the wish, the wanting of all beings to be happy includes appreciating the way they are now and requires appreciating the way they are. It's based on appreciating the way they are and it's based on the way they are. So appreciating the way they are grounds you in the way they are, the way you are, the way they are, and on that basis, we realize the way. But, easy for people to want something and then want something

[21:38]

that hasn't been realized and then dislocate from where they are. So the monk asked the seated Buddha, the Zen master, Yaoshan, what kind of thinking is going on when you're just sitting? What kind of thinking is going on when you're totally devoted to sitting? When just sitting, what kind of thinking is going on? And by understanding the kind of thinking that's going on in just sitting, we understand what just sitting is. So, people have heard of the practice of just sitting and then they think that just sitting

[22:40]

means that they just sit. But when they just sit, they usually just sit the way they think just sitting is. But in order to actually realize just sitting, you have to understand what kind of thinking is going on in just sitting. So you have to use your thinking to understand what just sitting is. Without understanding the thinking that is arising in the Buddha ancestor's sitting, we don't understand just sitting. So just sitting is rather difficult to understand. Yes? Does just sitting cover both shamatha and wisdom sitting of the path? Yes. It covers tranquility and wisdom meditation.

[23:47]

Zen Master Dogen says, something like, Let it be known that for studying the Buddha way, the established means of investigation What? In studying the Buddha way, the established means of investigation. Dogen Zenji is concerned about studying the Buddha way. And then he's talking about established means of investigation. It seems to me that what he's saying is that there is investigation involved in studying the Buddha way. Many Zen students have not heard or thought, or have actually thought that they have heard

[25:45]

that we don't practice investigation in Zen sitting. Some people think when you're sitting you're not actually investigating, you're just, for example, they think you're just sitting, or just dropping off body and mind. Well, that's right, that you are just sitting and you are dropping off body and mind if you are doing the Zen sitting of the Buddha's ancestors. That is so. Say it again. It is true that when you're practicing the meditation of the Buddha ancestors, that is just sitting, and that is just dropping off body and mind. However, that just sitting includes investigation. That dropping off body and mind involves investigation. That's what's not so well known in my experience of American Zen students, and also Japanese Zen students, and Chinese Zen students, and Indian Zen students.

[26:47]

Not so well known. I'm trying to make it better known now. And by pointing out that a Zen teacher named Dogen says, in studying the way, the established means of investigation is pursuit of the way. How? In seated meditation. So, in one sense he's saying that in studying the way you do it in seated meditation, that's the established way, but he said more than that. In studying the way, the established means of investigation is to pursue the way in seated meditation. So he's telling us that there's investigation going on in seated meditation. Any questions? Yes? If you're sitting and notice that there's some chain thinking going on?

[28:01]

Do you want to go on like that for a couple of hours? Is that enough? Is that enough? That goes on indefinitely, right? So we got the picture. Is there a question? No. What that is, is that's being involved in those affairs which you're told to cast aside. That's discursive thought. You just described it for discursive thought very nicely. That's discursive thought. Chain thinking. Chain thinking? That's discursive thought. Plus, on top of the chains, there's cross-chains, you know, woven into the chains, called, I don't want to be doing chain thinking. And then there's another chain called, I think I'll go back to my breathing, then something else happens, another whole set of chains happen, and then you go off there and all that. This is discursive thought. You're all familiar with this, right? Some people make a living at this. Computers go very nicely with this kind of thinking.

[29:28]

Chain thinking. Discursive thought. Giving that up is training your mind, giving that up is training in tranquility meditation. Giving it up results in tranquility. However, this is not thinking of not thinking, and this is also not non-thinking. It's neither one of those. Thinking of not thinking is... Thinking of not thinking is not dropping body and mind. However, thinking of not thinking, I'm just getting way ahead of the presentation, but I'll just say it, you know, I'll repeat it later in sort of proper order, but thinking of not thinking is meditating on emptiness. Thinking of not thinking is meditating on ultimate truth, ultimate meaning. Non-thinking is meditating on the other dependent character of phenomena.

[30:35]

Non-thinking is meditating on dependent co-arising. So, you will find out later, if I live longer and you keep listening, you will find out later how this teaching of Dogen Zenji, which is actually repeating the story of his ancestor, the seated Buddha Yaoshan, how that teaching is actually a lovely presentation of the teaching of the Samdhinirvachana Sutra on the three natures of phenomena which we're studying. That's why I'm saying to you, I'm now coming to this teaching, this wisdom teaching of the Mahayana Sutras through the Zen presentation today. So, the kind of thing that Elena presented was an example of discursive thought. This is what you give up as you train in Samatha. But that discursive thought, that type of discursive thought which she presented just now

[31:35]

is not the type of discursive thought which promotes wisdom. That's the type of discursive thought which if you give it up, you calm down. Also, the type of discursive thought which… Okay, say it again, and Joe asked this question the other night. There's a type of discursive thought which when you give up, you calm down with, but that type of discursive thought is not the type of discursive thought which leads to wisdom. The kind you demonstrated would not lead to wisdom. Chain thinking, like chain smoking, does not lead to wisdom. So, Joe asked the other night about discursive thought which takes you away, which is a distraction. There are forms of discursive thought which are just distractions, and there are forms of discursive thought which lead to wisdom. Now, here's a little test. When you give up the discursive thoughts, the type of discursive thoughts which are just distractions,

[32:36]

what is the fruit of giving up that type of discursive thought? Tranquility. When you give up the type of discursive thought which leads to wisdom, what is the result of giving up that type of discursive thought? None. Hey, you guys, you guys… No, it's tranquility. You didn't get it. It's still tranquility. Giving up the kind of thinking, chain thinking, or in-chain thinking, giving up that kind of thinking, one becomes tranquil and flexible and buoyant and awake. Awake like bright and alert and ready to study the Buddhadharma. It's a good state, right? It's a fine state. It's the best worldly state to be in. It's not wisdom, necessarily, unless you happen to already be wise. Okay? Now, there's another kind of thinking which is, for example,

[33:40]

called non-thinking and thinking of not thinking that the Buddha is doing. That type of thinking, which also involves discursive thought, when you give up that type of thinking, the fruit of that is also tranquility. So the Buddha can be cooking along, using her thinking to penetrate into the nature of reality, having a great time, practicing wisdom, seeing what's going on. It's wonderful. And then give up that thought and go, poof, into tranquility. Giving up discursive thought, even excellent wisdom-conducive discursive thought is still tranquility. That's why tranquility still operates after you're wise and you use your discursive thought to hear the teachings, to work with the teachings,

[34:41]

to examine and investigate the teachings, in the context of no-seeking. And that process leads to the conclusion of deep vision of reality and wisdom has occurred. And then you give up all the discursive thought, which has come to fruit as wisdom. And then this huge ocean of samadhi comes in and surrounds your wisdom. And now your wisdom is in this huge ocean of calm. And then the great wisdom arises from this wisdom which is living in the calm. That's the picture. That's the way it works. Even the excellent, highly trained discursive thought, which comes to fruit as penetrating, authentic wisdom, that too is let go of.

[35:42]

And the letting go of it ushers in the inconceivably great calm of the Buddha's mind, which then surrounds the wisdom and now the even greater wisdom blossoms out of this samadhi-surrounded wisdom. So giving up distracting, unskillful, habitual, obsessive-compulsive activity, and giving that up comes to fruit as calm. And giving up highly skilled, dharmically, properly employed Buddha's teaching, giving that kind of thing up also leads to calm. Okay? How can you give it up? No, you can't give it up, but giving it up has a fruit. But actually I am making you give it up little by little, so don't worry.

[36:47]

You're totally under my control. I just don't want you to get enlightened ahead of these other people. But it will happen someday. The chain thinking that's going on in Elena's neighborhood will be given up, but not by Elena. But you'll be there when it's given up and it will come to fruit as serene Elena. But then you still have to do the discursive thought of listening to all these teachings and learning how to apply them to what's happening. But you'll be cool, so you won't mind doing all this wonderful study. So again, I want to say, I was reading what Dogen said, right? And I stopped and said, were there any questions? Now may I go on? No, I'll stop again someday. Be it known that for studying the Buddha way,

[37:52]

the established means of investigation is pursuit of the way in seated meditation. Now we also have classes and usually in our classes people are either sitting cross-legged on the floor in chairs, or so you are actually seated for most of our study classes on wisdom, on investigation. So you're kind of like right there in line with what Dogen says. The established means for learning investigation, the established means of investigation is in seated meditation, pursuing the way. So when you go to classes on wisdom, the established means of investigation is to pursue the way in seated meditation. The essential point that marks this investigation is the understanding that there is a practice of a Buddha

[38:57]

that does not seek to make a Buddha. So that, you know, I'm happy to repeat that over and over again and again, year after year, day after day, but please try to remember that the essential point that marks the investigation that we're doing into wisdom teachings and wisdom practices is the understanding that there is a practice of a Buddha that does not seek to make a Buddha, a practice that does not seek to make a Buddha, a practice of a Buddha that does not seek to make a Buddha. This is the context of the study of the Buddha way in the Zen tradition. Of course there's also, I guess, there's also a practice of a person who does seek to make a Buddha, there's also that. But everybody knows that.

[40:03]

But did you know that there's a practice of a Buddha that does not seek to make a Buddha? And that's the essential point. Remember that one. Because the other one you usually remember like, I'm practicing to make a Buddha. Nobody has to tell you to remember that. That's not the essential point. That's like your habitual point. The essential point is there is a practice of a Buddha, a practice of a Buddha that does not seek to make a Buddha. Always remember that essential point when you're studying the Buddha way. What? Right! Now here's a comment that somebody wrote between the lines of Dogen Zenji. The practice does not seek to make a Buddha, but it does.

[41:12]

The practice doesn't seek to make a Buddha, but it does. And Buddha doesn't seek to make a Buddha, but she is, as Roberta just kind of suggested. Then Dogen goes on, Since the practice of a Buddha is not to make a Buddha, it is the realization of the koan. Now, which koan? Well, it could be the koan of... What kind of thinking are you doing there, Buddha? Thinking of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking, Buddha? Non-thinking. Since the practice of a Buddha is not to make a Buddha, it is the realization of that koan. So that attitude is the context

[42:16]

in which this koan will be realized. We still have to do the work of studying the koan, of studying this instruction, the essential arizazan, but this attitude realizes it. But again, although this sitting, which does not seek to make a Buddha, realizes this story and realizes the teaching, it's not like the realization comes to a point and stops. The realization is always going beyond itself. So when we practice this way, we realize this teaching, we realize the essential arizazan, when we sit as the Buddha, not seeking to make the Buddha, then we realize this practice of wisdom. However, we can go beyond this realization by studying non-thinking. And by studying non-thinking,

[43:18]

we will realize what it is to think of not thinking. As Roberta kind of noticed, the embodied Buddha does not make a Buddha. The embodied Buddha, of course, is a Buddha, doesn't make a Buddha. However, Buddhas are made, but Buddhas aren't made by Buddhas. Here's another question. This is not like a review question, exactly, but it's sort of a review question, but not really. It's like from a long time ago, in your previous lifetimes, when you were my teacher, what did you tell me? You said to me, Buddhas don't make Buddhas. How are Buddhas made? And what did I say? Huh?

[44:20]

The practice makes them? Pardon? The practice of being Buddha makes a Buddha? No, I didn't say that. Buddhas are made, how are they made? Yes? They're born of compassion? Yeah, how are they made? Yes? They're made by all beings. That's how Buddhas are made. Buddhas are made. Everything that's made is a dependent co-arising. Everything that's made has other dependent character. Buddha has other dependent character too. Buddhas are other-powered phenomena. They're extremely wonderful other-powered phenomena, but they are other-powered. Buddhas are not made by themselves. They're made by something... Now, one of the things that's other than themselves is compassion. So they're born of compassion.

[45:21]

But that's not all. They're born of all beings. All of us make the Buddha. Buddha is not made by herself. Buddha is a lack of own being in terms of production. Right? That was a test. You didn't get the answer. But now, maybe if I ask you next week, you will. How are Buddhas made? By all beings and things. Buddhas are produced by what? Something other than themselves. Buddhas are other-powered. It's not quite the same as a Buddha and a Buddha. A Buddha and a Buddha, the teaching of a Buddha and a Buddha is is that once all beings make a Buddha,

[46:22]

you have an other dependent phenomena called a Buddha. For that other dependent phenomena of a Buddha to fully realize the Dharma of the Buddha, that Buddha has to meet another Buddha who is another other dependent Buddha. They have to then also have this party where they come together and kind of like... Now, what did you say the Dharma was? Well, I said it was blah blah... No, it's not. It is. No, it's not. Finally, together, they realize the Dharma. In other words, one Buddha is not enough. Buddha has to like find a partner. So the full realization of Dharma doesn't happen by one Buddha alone. But each Buddha is an other dependent phenomena. Each Buddha is produced by all beings, which includes all living sentient beings,

[47:23]

all unenlightened beings, and all enlightened beings, and all inanimate things. The entire universe makes each Buddha and then Buddhas have to get together and have a little conference in order to fully realize the Dharma. Unfortunately, they have had conferences, so the Dharma has been realized. And now it's a question of when is the next party? So, I propose to you, some of you have been... what do you call it... have heard about the teaching that all phenomena have three characters or three natures. And I just want to say now that today I'm telling you, some of you have already told this to, but that you compare these, I think, these three phenomena these three characters of phenomena

[48:25]

with this teaching of the essential art of Zazen. So, I'll just say that again, or maybe I'll just see if you got it. So, the three natures or the three characters of all phenomena are, what are they? What's the first one? The imputational character. What's the second one? The other dependent. What's the other one? The thoroughly established. Those are the three characters of all phenomena. Now, which one of the characters of phenomena is thinking of not thinking? Thoroughly established? Actually, you know, somebody said other dependent and thinking of not thinking is the other dependent. That's right. Thinking of not thinking is the other dependent. That was right.

[49:25]

Who said that? There's a tie between those two. Over in that section, there's a lot of realization over there by the wall. So, actually, thinking of not thinking is an other dependent character. Which one of the characters is not thinking? Thoroughly established. Not thinking or the absence of thinking is a thoroughly established. Which one of the characters is non-thinking? Other dependent. Which one of the characters is thinking? The imputational. So, this koan shows us that the imputational is involved in meditating on the thoroughly established. Because thinking is involved in meditating on not thinking.

[50:27]

Not thinking, the absence of thinking, the absence of thinking in the other dependent phenomena is a thoroughly established character of the phenomena. And thinking of that involves imputational but you're thinking now about the ultimate truth. Thinking of the ultimate truth involves some fantasy. However, you're using your thinking which involves some fantasy to think about the absence of fantasy and actually not just to think about it, but to see it. And the mode of entry into meditation on ultimate truth or thinking of not thinking is non-thinking. And non-thinking is the other dependent. So, non-thinking is meditating on the other dependent. And that's the way we get into meditating on the thoroughly established.

[51:28]

Yes? Yes. Yes. How would you go from chain thoughts into... Non-thinking. How do you go from chain thoughts into non-thinking? Well, one way would be... Two basic ways occur to me. One way to go from chain thinking or being caught in discursive thought, which is not discursive thought involved in investigating Dharma teachings and learning how to practice wisdom, but just discursive thought involved with, you know, recipes, planning the day, you know, planning revenge, thinking of what's wrong with other people or you, administering pros and cons,

[52:34]

thinking of good and bad, all that kind of stuff. To go from that to practicing meditation on the other dependent character phenomena or non-thinking, there's two ways to go. One way to go is, first of all, give that stuff up. The first way to go is to give that stuff up and enter into calm. And after you calm down a little bit, then go over to the wisdom practices. And that's what a lot of people do. A lot of teachers teach people, first calm down. People become very hysterical, you know. Calm down. Then people say, Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. I know what you're going to say. You're going to say, calm down, aren't you? Calm down.

[53:44]

Calm down. Let go. Let go, let go. Calm down. How long is this going to go on before I calm down? I feel better. What was the question again? How do you calm? Oh, calm has happened. How did that happen? I feel calm. I feel so at ease. I feel as though spring has sprung. Oh, how nice. This is great. Now I'm getting agitated again. So I don't know how it happens, but anyway, that's one way to go from chain thinking, and chain, [...]

[54:46]

chain, chain, chain, chain. One way to go from that to studying wisdom is first of all, give that up. Give it up. Give it up. Give it up and relax with it. Relax with it. How, how, how? Relax with it. That's one way. Then when you're calm, you may hear about wisdom teachings and say, hey, that sounds cool. Let's go practice some of that. That's one way to go. The other way to go is, which some people can do, is they're not so hysterically involved in their kind of distracting discursive thoughts. They're not super hysterical. They're a little bit calm. They say, there's chain thinking going on here, man. This is like chain thinking. We're like into chain thinking. I think I'm going to like apply some teachings, some wisdom teachings to this chain thinking. Now what kind of thinking is this? What kind of a phenomenon is this chain thinking? Well, it has an imputational character

[55:47]

and it has other dependent character, a thoroughly established character. But I heard it's supposed to start with the other dependent character of this chain thinking. If you're calm enough, you can go right at it. When you're right in the middle of all that stuff, you can just turn right around and say, okay, chain thinking, this is something that's not produced by itself and my activity of being involved in this chain thinking is not produced by me. This phenomena is like, it's actually an other dependent character, an other empowered event. It doesn't produce itself. It's a lack of own being in terms of self-production. You start, you know, it's possible to go right over to wisdom practice and start applying those to teachings right in the middle of the mess. Some people are a little bit too upset to do it though, so you may have to give it up for a while. But if you're already calm enough, then you can go right to it.

[56:47]

Now, when you give up discursive thought considerably or a lot and become calm, the calm state is not the same as the training of giving up discursive thought. The calm state is like the way you feel, the way you are after you've given up discursive thought. It's like you're, it's a state. It's not a practice at that point. You just happen to be calm. It's like, it happens to be your current destiny. You is calm. And when you're calm, you can then still have the discursive thought and can start coming up again. But you're still calm. And you can be, so I used the example the other night of, some people are trying to train at giving up affairs and ceasing being involved in pros and cons while they're in the office. It doesn't work very well. You still have to like be involved in discursive thought.

[57:50]

But if you're already calm, you can be involved in discursive thought and continue to be calm. So it's possible if you're calm, like for example, if you sit here and calm down, which some people do, they sit day after day, hour after hour, and they just finally get calm. The barking stops. Or they just relax with the barking. And they're calm. And then, quite naturally, in that calm state, when discursive thought arises again, they can now look at it and say, There's the discursive thought again, which I guess I gave up a while ago. I guess I'll look at it now. I'll examine it. I'll investigate this discursive thought. And again, starting with this discursive thought is a dependent co-arising. And if you see and meditate on how all your discursive thought is a dependent co-arising, if you're calm enough to do that, then you start to like

[58:50]

relate. While the discursive thought is going on, you start to relate to the discursive thought in a different way, which I also talked about before. Namely, you start to relate to it in a caring way, which you were doing before, but before you tended to care too much or too little about it. When you look at your discursive thought, at your own thinking, when you look at your own administering of pros and cons, like, for example, you administer a pro to him and a con to him, but if you're not meditating on the teaching of dependent co-arising, then you care too much about your pros, and you care too much about your cons, or you care too little about your pros and too little about your cons. Like you think, oh, this is my friend, he's my good friend. You administered a pro, and you can care

[59:52]

too little about your nice friend, and you can care too much. When you don't hear the teaching of dependent co-arising, when you don't look at your friend, when you don't look at the pro, with that teaching in mind, in heart, you will tend to have an imbalanced level of care for your friends. You will care too much about your friends or too little about your friends. And you may try to balance between the two, which is nice, but it's hard to balance just in terms of thinking about balancing. But actually, it's easy to balance once you see the nature of your friend. I shouldn't say easy, it's spontaneous. Once you see how your friend is an impermanent, unreliable thing that's unworthy of confidence, you don't care too much about such a person. And everybody is like that. Everybody is unreliable, impermanent, unworthy of confidence.

[60:53]

That's just the way people are. That's just the way everything is. Nothing against anybody. And it's also the way pros and cons are. Pros and cons are not worthy of confidence. When you realize that, you take care of your pros just right. You take care of your cons just right. You take care of your feet and your teeth just right. You don't brush your teeth too much and, you know, remove your gums. You don't brush them too little and remove your gums. You don't care too much about your teeth and have a nervous breakdown. You don't care too little about your teeth and have them fall out and have a nervous breakdown. You take care of them in a not-too-much, not-too-little, which is like fun, it's like nice, hey, I've got teeth, I can practice meditation on other dependent character on my teeth, how nice,

[61:57]

because they're other dependent phenomena, they arise and cease, they're unreliable, impermanent, unworthy of confidence, you can't trust them, but you can take care of them, and taking care of them properly is happiness, is virtue, and sets the stage for realization of ultimate truth. In other words, non-thinking is the way to take care of your teeth, and your toes, and all beings. Then, when you have the proper way of relating to these things, which is also the way to relate to discursive thought. So discursive thought can be used to hear the teaching about how to relate to discursive thought, in such a way that you see the nature of discursive thought, and when you see the nature of discursive thought, you don't care too much or too little about your discursive thought. So again, you can

[63:03]

have various discursive thoughts running through your head and you can be thinking, that's like low-quality discursive thinking, this is high-quality discursive thinking, but again that judgment is more discursive thinking. You can see all that stuff, and in the middle of all that onslaught of life, you can relate to it and care for it well, but you've got to remember this teaching somehow, the basic teaching of the Buddha, the other dependent core arising of everything that exists for a moment, and all things exist for a moment. Their existence is momentary. So we will maybe continue studying both the Mahayana Sutra presentation of the study of the nature of phenomena, but also I'll keep

[64:11]

checking back with the Zen presentation that we have in our tradition of, and you can do that too, just simply sitting still, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking, and start with non-thinking. So when you're sitting, the essential art of Zazen begins with non-thinking, that's how you start it, and non-thinking means meditate on dependent core arising of your experience in sitting. In that way when you're sitting you're doing wisdom meditation, you're investigating, you're practicing the way you meditate, and using investigation. However, there is another dimension of the practice which is mentioned earlier, which you can also work on in sitting meditation, and that is cast aside all affairs, cease all involvements in the movements of the mind, and so on. That's another way to practice sitting meditation. It's not the essential wisdom way, it's the

[65:18]

calming way, but that's also excellent practice, so you can do that as much as you want until you hear further notice. In other words, someone might say to you some day, you're calm enough, it's time for you to start doing wisdom practice. So even if you're just doing calming practice, you should still check in with a teacher, because a teacher might feel like it's time for you to move on to investigation, because you're quite successful at giving up discursive thought. Some of you actually are, you know, maybe not going to be good at giving up discursive thought, and when that becomes clear, I guess we just say, well, forget discursive thought, we have to go right to wisdom. And actually, if you can do wisdom and get better at it, you will calm down. Wisdom can finally be a mode of calming down, too. So some people

[66:20]

have to go into calm, they just can't do it, for some reason they can't give up the involvements and we sort of have to like get them to switch from involvements, from their regular involvements over to Buddhist involvements, and then they're still kind of hysterical about it, but gradually the whole thing backfires on them and they calm down. Like some people are just really nervous and they just can't relax in sitting meditation, but they can play the piano. In the middle of playing the piano they get quite concentrated and give up discursive thought and become calm. And then they can go from there to wisdom work. Does that make sense? So we have to be flexible about different approaches. So Susan asked, how do you go from chain thinking to wisdom work? So some people should go to calming practice first, some people can go directly to the wisdom work, and the two types of people that will go directly to wisdom work are one, the type of people who are already fairly calm in the

[67:23]

midst of the chain thinking, and the other people who aren't calm but who can't give it up in the chain thinking, so then we gradually like get them to trade in their chain thinking for this Dharma thinking, and the Dharma thinking then can start to be their version, their way of giving up discursive thought. Does that make sense? Pardon? Like bait and switch? What does bait and switch mean? Yeah. Right. That's sort of the Soto Zen understanding of studying koans, actually. That some people will refuse to practice just sitting unless

[68:25]

you give them koans, and if you give them koans, when they practice koans, then in fact they start practicing just sitting. So, and after they practice just sitting, you can give them the koans back, but now they are doing the koan study from the point of view of just sitting. In other words, they are doing the koan study from the point of view of non-thinking. So, we've got to be flexible about how to approach this, and so may we be flexible and may we be enthusiastic and keep practicing. When we pass our time without gain, we are going to lose our focus. We are going to

[69:39]

lose our enlightenment, but just in upright sitting, it's the path of the ancestors. If we just pass our time in upright sitting with nothing to be gained and nothing to be realized, this is the path of the ancestors. Can I just make an observation, that the word not has a T just like thoroughly established in the truth, but unfortunately it also has a T like thinking that not thinking, but I think it's a problem. The word not has a T like the word thinking?

[70:39]

The word not has a T like thoroughly established and true and thinking, and that's a problem one. Yeah, thinking is a problem, but problems are our business, our only business. Also, tango has a T in it, too. May our intention equally train every being and place in the true and boundless way. May our intention equally train every being and place in the true and boundless way.

[71:59]

May our intention equally train every being and place in the true and boundless way.

[72:10]

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