For the first three days, I've been emphasizing sitting upright and unmoving and relaxed in the midst of great compassion. Sitting upright, unmoving, and relaxed in the midst of wanting to give this sitting upright being to the work of great compassion. Compassion. I heard a Buddhist scholar

[01:09]

express his view of different forms of practicing Buddhadharma, he said the Tibetan monks sit upright and chant OM MANI PADME HUM over and over to manifest great compassion in their body and mind. And the Zen monks sit upright in silence to manifest great compassion in their body and mind, particularly Soto Zen.

[02:14]

All the monks of the Mahayana wish to manifest great compassion, and probably all the monks in other traditions also wish to manifest great compassion. Now, as we are in the middle of session, we can begin to move deeper into the, what one might call the wisdom center of this great compassion. We're still sitting, hopefully, in the middle of great compassion, but now we move to the profound aspect of great compassion, the understanding of the workings of great compassion, the profound

[03:34]

wisdom which purifies great compassion. Continuing to sit in the middle of great compassion, now we also hear the teaching that all Buddhas and all ancestors who uphold the Buddhadharma have made it the true path of enlightenment to sit upright, unmoving and relaxed, in the midst of the self-fulfilling samadhi, the self-fulfilling awareness at the center of great compassion. But you can also reverse it and say that the self-fulfilling awareness at its center

[04:46]

has great compassion, the self-fulfilling awareness. Literally or not literally, but you can expand the expression self-fulfilling or self-fulfillment into receiving and employing the self-awareness, the awareness of how what you are in this moment is given, and so you're aware of receiving your life at the same time as you receive your life, or this life, or yourself, or this experience, the same moment this received

[05:50]

life is employed. All beings give you life, and then you use this life to give all beings life. This inconceivable process of receiving life and giving life, this inconceivable intimate relationship with all beings where you receive your life from all of them and give your life to all of them, this actual relationship is enlightenment. This quiet bond between you and all beings, or this bond between all beings and the enlightenment

[06:52]

of all beings, this is the self-fulfilling awareness. And now we sit in it, sit in the midst of it, and sit upright. And sitting upright means sit in such a way that your body and mind are most celebrating this reception, so you make your body the most receptive shape it can be in. So, usually we don't curl up in a ball when we want to receive something, and also when we want to receive something we don't lunge forward to grab it, we don't move to the

[07:57]

side to avoid it, we don't shrink back to avoid it, we just make ourselves open and available to receive this life and to let this light be used. So the sitting upright is a ritual posture, is a yogic posture, and so you can contemplate what is the posture that most expresses your receiving the enlightenment of all things. If I check your posture and make a suggestion, in a sense I'm suggesting, this posture I'm suggesting looks more receptive to life. This posture looks like it's making more room, increasing your surface area, so that the enlightenment of all things has more opportunity to penetrate and also to emanate from this

[09:04]

body. Sitting still, not moving, means in the moment you're there completely so you can receive this gift, and also you're there completely on the ground so you can express this gift. Like they say, you have to be present to win. And then you have to be present to really wholeheartedly give what you want. So, then our ancestor Dogen says, just wholeheartedly sit, dropping off body and mind.

[10:14]

Same thing, sitting in the midst of compassion, just wholeheartedly sit, dropping off body and mind. And when even for a moment you express the Buddha's seal, or the Buddha mudra, the word mudra means circle or ring, but it also means a seal, like a seal of approval or a seal of verification, it means all those things. So, when even for a moment you express the Buddha's mudra in your actions of body, speech

[11:28]

and thought, and what is the Buddha's mudra, what is the shape of Buddha, what is the seal of approval of Buddha? It is the practice of Buddha, and what is the practice of Buddha? It is the practice of all beings. And the practice of all beings, practicing together with all beings, is the practice of all Buddhas, practicing together with all beings. This present, impermanent relationship of inconceivable mutual assistance between the enlightenment of all things and all things, this is the seal of Buddha, this is the mudra

[12:33]

of Buddha. When you sit upright expressing this mutual inconceivable assistance, I'm sitting upright to express this inconceivable mutual assistance among all beings and all Buddhas. I can have an idea of this, but my idea of it, of course, doesn't reach it. And yet, my body, which I have an idea of, I give this body, both my idea of this body but also the actual body that's sitting here, I give this body to the practice which celebrates, which celebrates, which comes back to the Buddha mudra.

[13:41]

I dedicate this body to the inconceivable mutual assistance among all beings. And when the body and mind are given to this Buddha mudra, then the entire sky turns into enlightenment, and the whole phenomenal earth becomes Buddha's seal. Of course, it already is that way, but if you don't celebrate it, you, by lack of celebration, by lack of giving yourself to this Buddha mudra, in some sense, you miss out.

[14:45]

You're not present, so you don't celebrate. If you don't celebrate, you're not present for this great celebration. And in that celebration, beyond your ideas and my ideas, and also interpenetrating our ideas, is this great quiet bond. And then, of course, in this whole sky turning into enlightenment, and the whole phenomenal world becoming Buddha's mudra, then the Buddha's original source renews their dharma bliss

[15:48]

and increases their magnificence in the awakening of the way. And all beings in the ten directions manifest the state of great emancipation. It's kind of like, I don't know what, like... self-fulfilling samadhi. And this practice goes on to say all this activity of mutual assistance among all beings does not appear, it's not an appearance. It does not appear within consciousness because it's not an appearance.

[16:53]

The actual way that we're working together is not an appearance. But actually, nothing is an appearance except appearances. Appearances are just appearances. And as a matter of fact, if this appeared, if you saw the appearance of this inconceivable mutual assistance, that would not be the realization of imperceptible mutual assistance. That would be an appearance, which is to render this inconceivable mutual assistance into a form that can be an appearance, and which can be talked about, and I'm talking about it now. Sitting upright and dropping our body and mind means you drop off the body and mind which give rise to the imagination which makes this wonderful enlightenment into an appearance.

[17:59]

You let go of that imagination which renders the process of enlightenment into an appearance. Dropping our body and mind, you don't dislike or disparage the function of your consciousness which makes the world of enlightenment into an appearance. You actually understand that that happens, and that's part of what encourages you in the process, encourages you in the process, encourages you to enter the process of dropping our body and mind and giving up appearances. Like those of you who read Chapter 5 this morning, get instruction on the workings of consciousness,

[19:00]

and then that's part of how you're wise, you learn about how the mind works, that's part of how you're wise, but that's not the only reason why bodhisattvas are called wise with respect to the character of mind, consciousness, and intellect. They also don't see the appearance of these things. That's the next stage of the wisdom about these things. So, it says that all this fantastic enlightenment of the entire sky and the whole earth turning into the Buddha's seal, this process by which when you celebrate this samadhi, when you celebrate this mutual assistance, when you celebrate the Buddha practicing with you, when you celebrate by sitting upright, you sit upright and say, this sitting upright is a celebration of all the Buddhas practicing with me. I sit upright to say,

[20:02]

Thank you, Buddha, for practicing with me. And I sit upright to say, Buddha, I practice with you. And I sit upright to say, I practice with everybody in this sasheen. This posture means I'm practicing with you. I come here and sit with you to say to you, I'm practicing with you. I'm practicing with every one of you. And I'm practicing with not just every one of you, but with every being on this planet. That's what this sitting means. I am devoted to all beings. That's what this sitting means. All beings are devoted to me. That's what this sitting means. I am devoted to all Buddhas. All Buddhas are practicing with me. This posture celebrates that. When I celebrate that, when this posture celebrates that, when this mind celebrates that, when this body celebrates that, the whole earth celebrates that. Beyond what I can see,

[21:05]

beyond how the hills appear to me, and the sky appears to me, and the room appears to me, and you appear to me, in the actuality of enlightenment, this resonance is established. This body practicing that way, this body celebrating that way, the whole world celebrates that. The enlightenment which I'm celebrating by this posture, by this breathing, by this thinking, resonates out and touches everything. And then it resonates back to me. In the next moment, I then receive the resonance of what emanated from this practice. It comes back and helps me. And then resonates back from me to help all the Buddhas. All the Buddhas get their curls redone. All the Buddhas get their robes adjusted.

[22:11]

All the Buddhas' auras are re-ignited by you practicing, by you celebrating. Now, if you don't practice, the Buddhas are still helping you, it's just that they're not helping you the same way that they help you as when you celebrate that they're helping you. They're helping you a different way. They're helping you by being patient with you, not celebrating that they're helping you. I'm helping you, you're not accepting my... you're rejecting my help, you're not appreciating my help, and I'm practicing patience with you, not appreciating that I'm trying to help you. Now you are appreciating that I'm helping you, so now I'm helping you by saying, Good. Very good. You're helping me for the welfare of all beings. That's very good. Now listen and I'll help you some more.

[23:13]

All this does not appear within perception because it is unconstructedness in stillness. It is immediate realization. It is unconstructedness in stillness. In this sitting still, the way this is happening is without any fabrication, without any projection of substantial existence upon the process, this is happening. There's no construction in this process. Therefore, although I can talk about it, my words don't reach it. Although I can sit in postures which celebrate it, this shape and appearance of my sitting doesn't reach the shape and appearance of my sitting,

[24:20]

and it doesn't reach the shape and appearance... excuse me, it doesn't reach the non-appearance, it doesn't reach the reality of this posture, it doesn't reach the reality of the relationship between this posture and all the Buddhas. That exists in an unconstructed space, in an unconstructed realm, in a realm where all signs have been abandoned. And signs and appearances are the contents of our thinking. So, in the realm where this is happening, we have abandoned the signs of phenomena. We've abandoned the appearances, the images of phenomena. Therefore, we have no way to think about this process in its actuality. And this is what's meant by think of not thinking.

[25:21]

Think about the whole world of suffering and think about the whole world of enlightenment without any basis for the thinking. Give up, remove, eliminate the signs of compounded phenomena. And you might say, or I might say, OK, but how do you give up the signs of compounded phenomena when you have a strong habit of grasping the signs of compounded phenomena so that you can think about compounded phenomena? It's difficult because if you look at compounded phenomena and let go of the signs of compounded phenomena, then you can't think about them. And if you can't think about them, then they have no meaning. And we like meaning. And so if we want meaning,

[26:24]

then just grasp the sign and interpret it and then you've got meaning. So how are we going to give that up? Well, we give it up by attending to suchness. So in order to actually give up grasping appearances and thinking about what's happening, we need to somehow start to train ourselves to attend to suchness. And other ways I've talked about this is, which is the same, I just want to make clear, that to sit upright in the midst of self-fulfilling samadhi means also to sit upright in the midst of no outflows. It means to sit upright wholeheartedly,

[27:27]

not being involved in gain and loss. But even to grasp the sign so that you can interpret it and get meaning is a subtle kind of trying to gain something from what's been given to you. To make the people you meet into appearances so that they'll be meaningful is, of course, a strong habit. To learn to meet people, to meet them face to face without interpreting them as referring to something so that they'll be meaningful. To meet people without interpreting them as referring to something

[28:32]

and thereby giving us meaning is a difficult habit to give up. But it's required in order to enter the process by which the entire sky turns into enlightenment and the whole phenomenal world manifests the Buddha mudra. Perfect wisdom is very challenging. It's very profound, it's difficult to realize, but it's necessary. That's why it's good to practice sitting upright, unmoving, relaxed in the middle of great compassion because that helps you get ready for the big job of sitting upright, unmoving, and relaxed and learning how

[29:34]

to give up any kind of seeking, any kind of grasping, any kind of meaning that you get by interpreting what's happening as referring to something. Learning to think of not thinking. Sitting upright

[30:46]

It may be that if you can sit upright wholeheartedly, sit upright with your whole body and mind and express great compassion in every physical, verbal, and mental activity, that that sets the stage for sitting upright and expressing wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly every action of body, speech, and mind so wholeheartedly that you wean yourself from making things meaningful

[31:48]

by interpreting them. That being wholehearted becomes meaningful enough to seek meaning through grasping, to seek meaning through making things into substantial existences. Substantial existences are meaningful. You can talk about them, you can write books about them. Can we find enough tranquility and compassion to wean ourselves from this and thus enter into perfect wisdom? Enter into

[33:02]

Enter into the way of being in accord with this simultaneous, imperceptible, inconceivable, unstoppable, ungraspable mutual existence. Yes. And then even even the study of the Buddhist teachings can be done in this way of not trying to grasp

[34:05]

or gain anything from the study of Buddhist teachings. So I I said earlier see if you can be present in the midst of great compassion and watch to see as you speak and move and sit and walk and reach and lift and eat and everything you do watch to see if as you're doing these things it distracts you from the feeling of great compassion the desire of great compassion or does it express great compassion? When you lift up a stick

[35:07]

is it an expression of great compassion or a distraction from great compassion? When you look at a comrade is the look an expression of great compassion a reminder of great compassion a celebration of great compassion or is it a distraction from great compassion? It's like great compassion and and there's this thing I want to do. I'll be right back, great compassion. I just want to take a little break now and look at this cute person. Or I want to take a little break from great compassion and frown at this not a great person. I want to take a little break from great compassion and straighten this person over here out give this person a little bit of feedback and I'll be back in a minute. You may have to do that. But then you can confess that

[36:13]

that was a break from great compassion that wasn't great compassion, that was me getting getting my thing in. I had to do that. Now I'll come back to great compassion. Anyway, I suggest it may be possible to touch a piece of wood and distract yourself from great compassion or touch a piece of wood to celebrate great compassion. Just like, I'm just thinking in the what is it, in the Christian tradition when they receive, when they do Holy Communion you can drink some wine to celebrate a communion or you can drink some wine to distract yourself from the communion. You can distract yourself from the communion. The communion is there.

[37:18]

Now the question is about celebrating it. Celebrating it. Celebrate the communion. The communion is already with the enlightenment of all things. Here's in fact what's going on. But do you celebrate it when you touch a stick? Or do you touch a stick for some other reason which distracts you from the celebration of your union with great compassion, your communion with great compassion? And then move on to wisdom. And when you touch something or think something. When you think of what is it, Thursday? Think of Thursday. Think of Friday. Think of Sashim. Think of people sitting in Sashim. You think these thoughts. As you think the thoughts do you feel you're celebrating

[38:19]

through this thought your communion with all Buddhas? You're so wholeheartedly thinking. You're not primarily thinking of Thursday to get meaning out of what day it is. You're perfectly willing to think of some other day if somebody wants you to. Let's think of Saturday, shall we? Or let's think of Sunday. Domingo. Sabado. Now, is that a celebration of

[39:22]

no outflows? Was that a wholehearted Sabado? Saturday, Sabado. That's a phenomenal thing. That word, those sounds, that idea, those are phenomenal things. How does that become enlightenment when there's no gain and loss around it? That's easy, right? Just say Sabado.

[40:25]

There was no gain and loss. If I didn't finish the word that would have been okay with me. I wasn't trying to get anything from Sabado. Can everything be like that? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe every action can be to celebrate wisdom, to wholeheartedly celebrate wisdom without trying to get anything from the word, from the thought, from the hand, from the gesture. And then you can watch to see is there anything where I did something to get something? Then you can find, oh yeah, at that time I said something not just to say it to celebrate the Buddha mudra. I didn't say it for that reason that time. I didn't look at the person for that reason.

[41:26]

I was trying to get something. Now what would it be like if I just dropped away that trying to get something and the same action came forth? I was sitting upright to get something. I saw it and now I let go of that and now I'm sitting not to get something, not even to get the celebration of the self-receiving and employing samadhi, not even to get the realization of great compassion but just to express it. Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. Shush, shush, shush, shush. Shush, shush, shush. Shush, shush, shush, shush. Do I have something else to do besides

[42:29]

express great compassion? Am I supposed to do something else? Do you want me to do something else besides express great compassion? Do you want me to do something else besides express the Buddha's seal in my words, thoughts and physical postures? Is there something else I'm being asked to do? Shush, shush, shush, shush. I don't think so. I don't think anybody wants me to do anything but that. And somebody might say, Yeah, you're lucky because you're a Zen priest, that's all people want you to do. But I'm not a Zen priest. I'm a blah, blah. And I'm not supposed to just express great compassion with everything I do and express the Buddha's seal with every action of body, speech and thought. I'm supposed to do something else. Well, what? What else are you supposed to do?

[43:32]

You're supposed to cause trouble. Everybody's doing body, speech and thought, that's all you're doing. Do you think anybody wants you, and do you want to do anything besides with every action of body, speech and thought? Do you think anybody wants you to do anything but be compassionate through those three dimensions? Do you think anybody wants you to be anything other than completely wholehearted about everything you think? So wholehearted that there's no room for seeking? Do you think anybody wants that from you? Maybe. But maybe we can negotiate with that person. And in the negotiations, celebrate great compassion and celebrate profound wisdom. And maybe they'll adjust. And accept that you're not trying to gain anything from looking at them or talking to them or waving at them.

[44:35]

Maybe they can adjust. But first of all, in a situation like this, any problems? Do I feel like I've got to do something other than this? How could there be anything other than this? Well, simply by adding on gain, adding on getting some meaning out of this action, getting some meaning out of this word, getting some meaning out of this thought. That's how I can alienate myself from what I really want and what everybody wants me to realize. And, of course, there's a habit to do that. So it feels like, wait a minute, I couldn't actually like enter into this enlightenment of the entire sky. No, I couldn't. No. Because I've got this habit. All right. So let's dialogue with this habit and drop it. It's a body-mind habit to drop.

[45:38]

You can look at your watch. And you can look at your watch to get something, or you can look at your watch to express great compassion and to end outflows. Same action. How's it going to be? What's it going to be? What do you want it to be? Can you remember what you want it to be? Do you want to sit upright in the midst of self-fulfilling samadhi and realize this unconstructedness in which enlightenment is fully functioning? Do you want to? Well, if you do, just remember it. Any problems? Shoho? Reverend Shoho?

[46:59]

Could you speak up, please? Is there a difference between what? Is there a difference? There could be. The difference could be that you could celebrate great compassion. So, like, you raise a stick up as a celebration of great compassion and you could be doing that to try to get something. Like you could try to get a reputation for being a person who celebrates great compassion. Now, the celebrating great compassion, that's wonderful. And to celebrate it in everything you do, every physical gesture, you know, I think that's great. Like, open a door to the office with the intention to manifest great compassion. That's wonderful, but then to do it so that when I'm watching you I think, wow, what a compassionate practitioner. With that intention to become a famous practitioner of great compassion,

[48:04]

then that wouldn't be practicing great wisdom. You would be trying to practice great compassion and that would be good, but you would be defiling this wonderful attitude with which you open the door with this gaining idea by bringing this constructiveness into the process. But if you gave that up, then the great compassion, great compassion and great wisdom, of course, are perfectly harmonized. But the feeling of great compassion can also be somewhat impure if you haven't realized this self-fulfilling samadhi. Realizing the self-fulfilling samadhi, of course, it's like, it's kind of, there's no way in that inconceivable unconstructedness to hinder great compassion. And there is great compassion there without even the thought of great compassion.

[49:04]

But you can practice great compassion while still thinking of great compassion in terms of an appearance to your consciousness. That still counts as practicing compassion, great compassion. And you can wholeheartedly do it, but when it really becomes thoroughly wholehearted, then there's no room for gain. And then they're united. Then the wholehearted self-fulfilling samadhi is the same as the wholehearted great compassion. But in other words, it's possible to be sort of half-hearted or have a kind of dualism in your great compassion. Like, I'm compassionate to you who are separate from me. You can defile the compassion too. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Now I just like, clean it up, purify your consciousness of all these, all these obstructions

[50:06]

and realize Buddhahood in this world, please. And also, while you're at it, I'd like a new president for Christmas. May our intention equally penetrate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them and are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable.

[51:09]

I vow to become it.

[51:14]

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