We just recited a verse written by, or attributed to anyway, an ancestor of ours named Heihei Dogen. And this is called you know, the verses on the vow or the verses of a vow to arouse the mind or a mind, to arouse the mind of Buddha, to arouse the mind of bodhisattvas to rouse the mind that hears the true dharma.

[01:02]

To rouse the mind that once it hears the true dharma and meets it, it doesn't get distracted and takes care of the of the buddha dharma. And that in taking care of the buddha dharma This mind realizes the Buddha way together with all beings and the great earth. This is a prayer or a wish or a desire of an ancient teacher in the lineage of this temple. Or that's the way it seems to me. that literally this is the vow of an ancestor. This is the ultimate concern of one of our ancestors.

[02:14]

And then we can, when we recite this, we can we can consider whether we share such a concern to hear the true Dharma, whether we want to hear the true Dharma and see the true Dharma, whether we share such a vow. And also we can look, if we wish, to see what is our vow, what is our intention, We can do that every moment. And this week, we basically have this great opportunity to look into our own awareness, to attend to our own awareness, to our own experience, moment by moment.

[03:16]

and see what vow lives there. What is the vow that lives in you, that lives in this room, that lives in this valley? Is your vow like the vow of this ancestor, Ehe Dogen? Is your vow different? What is it? What's really most important in your heart? Can you see it? Can you hear it?

[04:20]

I've heard that the Buddhas have looked at us, have looked at all living beings, and they have seen that actually we all do have a very deep intention, a very extensive intention, but we don't necessarily notice it. And so the Buddhists have said, I hear that they've said, they want to help us. They want to encourage us to look and see what it is. It's already present in us, they see. And they want us to see it because if we see it, we will be able to find our vow, our deep intention.

[05:47]

and join them in the way of the Buddha, of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Lately I've been going to Berkeley and discussing Zen meditation or the meditation of the Buddhas as bodhisattva vow. we have this expression of just sitting to describe or to indicate our practice.

[07:05]

And so again, how is just sitting the vow of the bodhisattvas? How does the sitting practice open us to the Bodhisattva's vow, to the Buddha's vow? And how does our sitting, our just sitting, express the Buddha's vow? How does it open us to the Buddha and bodhisattva vow, and how does it express Buddha's vow, bodhisattva vow. I have been very happy to consider this, to look at this, and I now continue to consider this and look at this out loud

[08:27]

and physically with you now. To me, just sitting is... part of it is to be open or to open Just sitting is a practice of opening. And it's a practice of being upright, a practice of accepting responsibility, And also for me the bodhisattva vow is is an opening, is being open and accepting responsibility.

[09:54]

The bodhisattva vow is to wish to open and it is also the opening to, usually first we mention opening to all living beings, the wish to open to all living beings. That's part of the bodhisattva vow, that you want to do that. And it can grow, this vow can grow so that you actually do start opening to more and more beings. And the Bodhisattva vow is to wish to open to all. But wishing to open to all is not completely the same as opening to all.

[11:03]

However, the wish to open to all is a seed for opening to all. All living beings also means all forms of suffering. There may be some forms of suffering now which we might want to open to, but which we feel unable to open to. We feel somewhat caught. We feel not quite ready to open to some kinds of suffering. But we still may wish to learn. So that's part of sitting. As Bodhisattva vowed, when you're sitting, also when you're walking and standing during this retreat, to look to see, as you're sitting, is there a wish?

[12:12]

Is there an openness to openness? Are you able to feel some openness to the suffering of, for example, all the people in this room, all the humans in this room? Do you wish to open to suffering of everyone in this retreat? I feel a wish and I feel a closeness to the ancestors in this wish. When I'm sitting in the hall, I wish to open to all suffering beings. That wish, that vow is the heart of the sitting for me.

[13:26]

And I think it's the heart of the sitting of the Buddhas. not separate from this, but amplifying on this, is also accepting responsibility. Accepting responsibility to all these beings who we could open to. accepting the responsibility, letting it in, openly letting it in, and openly letting it out. Breathing it in, breathing it out. All the living beings are surrounding us right now.

[14:32]

Each of us is surrounded by all living beings. We don't have to make that happen. It's already going on. But we can open to it. We're already responsible to all living beings. Can we open to it? Can we accept our responsibility to all living beings? And we may say, not yet. I can't quite dare to do that yet, but I would like to learn how. Because I think that's what the ancestors have done, is that they learned to open to all beings. And another part of this is that as we and once we are open, we sit upright, we stand upright in this responsibility and this openness.

[15:51]

We don't lean forward or backwards in this field of all beings. So this is an understanding of Zen meditation which I offered to you at the beginning of this retreat of sitting upright in this world, in this room, at your seat, open to all beings and accepting your responsibility to all beings and accepting their responsibility to you. and wishing, wishing to be this way, wishing to sit this way, wishing to learn to sit this way, wishing to learn this kind of sitting, which somebody's proposing to you that this is the way Buddhas sit, that they sit upright on the earth, if they're on the earth,

[17:19]

They can sit on other planets too, but anyway, on the Earth they sit upright and they're open to all beings and they're responsive to all beings and they accept that and they live that. And that's their vow and that's their meditation. That's not all of it. That's sort of the vow part of it. Because not only once you accept responsibility, then you start to exercise it. Once you accept it, you start to work it. You start to feel the working of it. So then infinite types of activities can be engaged in, in this vow. And in this openness, we also open to... What do I say?

[18:48]

In this tradition of Soto Zen, when we just sit in this way as Bodhisattva vow, in this open and responsive way, we also open to what we call Genjo Koan. So I thought that maybe during this session in the morning we would chant the Genjo Koan, which is a text written by Ehe Dogen celebrating this thing, this Genjo Koan. Genjo Koan, today I would offer you the English translation the realized universe or the real universe. And sometimes we say, sometimes in this tradition we say that the, you could say, the content and the context

[20:00]

for this just sitting is the realized universe or the real universe is the context in which we sit upright opening to all beings and accepting responsibility. We do that in a real universe or a realized universe So when we're open to all beings, we also open to the real universe or to the realized universe. And kind of like, of course, the realized universe is realized in every single living being which we vow to open to. So opening to a living being

[21:07]

we also open to the real universe. Because the real universe is working everywhere fully. The real universe or the realized universe is also called the real dharma or the true dharma or the wonderful dharma. So the content, so in the sitting, the way we are is we're trying to learn to be open and accept responsibility. And the content of what we're opening to is all beings as the real universe. That's what we're opening to. That's the content of this openness.

[22:09]

That's our responsibility. And it's also the context of this practice. It surrounds us and supports us to be a person, to be a person who has such a vow, in whom such a vow arises naturally because of the realized universe that surrounds us and is gently encouraging us to discover this wish, the wish of all Buddhas. So in one sentence I might say, open to what? Responsible to what? Upright to what? Or upright before what?

[23:11]

I often tell this story of a friend of mine told me she was waiting for a bus on Fillmore Street in San Francisco and there was an old gentleman there waiting for the bus too and she just happened to ask him how old he was and he said 102. And she says to to what do you attribute your ability to live so long? And he said, he withholds nothing to those who stand upright before him. She withholds nothing. He didn't say this next part. She withholds nothing to those who stand upright before her. and open to her and accept responsibility to her and with her. I actually don't... I'm not so impressed by a hundred and two years old but I am impressed by somebody who opens to her and accepts responsibility

[24:32]

I'm impressed, I'm deeply touched when a human being can open to that and be upright in this presence. So again, open to what? Open to the realized universe. Open to what? Open to all beings, all suffering and all Buddhas. This is again what I call just sitting. It includes body and mind dropping away. It includes the wish that body and mind, or the willingness that body and mind will drop away. In the openness, the body and mind drop away. in the openness to our responsibility to all beings, the body and mind which all beings support drops away.

[25:42]

It includes that. When I was bowing with you earlier, you know, like whatever, 20 minutes ago or something, I was contemplating the realized universe. And when I open to this realized universe, I sometimes get a little kind of, I don't know what, kind of, I don't want to say grave, but kind of heavy, kind of solemn.

[26:46]

And which I'm open to. I try to be open to solemnness in myself and others. I want to be open to solemnness, solemnity. But I also flashed through my mind this expression that I heard one time regarding a certain Zen teacher who I don't know if he's alive still. Last I heard, he was 87. He was a close friend of Suzuki Roshi, a close Dharma friend. And when I was, shortly after I was ordained, Suzuki Roshi told me he wanted me to go to Japan and study with this friend of his. But then Suzuki Roshi's cancer manifested, and I never went to visit Noriyoshi. I shouldn't say never.

[27:51]

Yeah, I never did go visit him, but I didn't go at that time anyway. And then about 16 years later, I went to Japan, and I asked Suzuki Roshi's son and successor Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi, if I could go visit Noya Roshi. And when I said that, he went, ooh, kind of like, ooh. And I said, well, never mind. If it's a problem, don't do it. And he told me that sometimes he actually did sometimes talk to Noya Roshi. He said, you call him on the telephone. You say, hello. And he doesn't say anything. You say, hello. Nothing on the other one. And then he said in Japanese, how did he say it? I can't remember. The word he used was kibishi, kibishi wa nai, kibishi nai, wa nai, or something like that.

[29:02]

In other words, he's neither strict nor not strict. this guy. There's quite a few strict Zen masters and there's something to deal with, of course, and there's some that aren't so strict, but this guy isn't either, which is more of a kind of difficult to face, this guy. So I kind of like that way of not really being strict about this, Gandhyokohan, Shikantaza, you know, just sitting with the great Bodhisattva, don't be strict about it necessarily, but it's okay to be strict, and don't be not strict, although it's okay not to be strict. But I think kind of somewhere between neither being, having no fixed position about this, because not only be upright, but be soft about this, be very soft about this awesome issue, this awesome issue at hand, the real universe.

[30:07]

It's right at hand. It's here for us to see and listen to, to receive, to remember and express. saying this, I think, wow, that's amazing. It's amazing what's being said, that we can just sit here and open to the truth, which includes opening to everybody's suffering. And of course, including your own. Open to it. Accept responsibility to it and for it, your own, but don't lean into it and don't lean away from it. be upright and be very gentle with it. And then you get to open to the realized universe which is already surrounding you and gently knocking on the door saying, let me in, Richard.

[31:19]

But let, you know, be gentle and soft about it. Let's... I haven't heard in the sutras where it says be stiff and tight and rough with it. It's a subtle dharma. It's an inconceivable wondrous dharma. So what's recommended is uprightness and gentleness with this awesome situation which we're actually in. The suffering of all beings the inconceivable, miraculous, marvelous Dharma, to realize the universe, our home. The real universe is our home, not the counterfeit universe, the real one. We make up counterfeit ones, and they're part of the real one. It's allowed. You can make up, we can make up counterfeit universes.

[32:30]

It's okay. It's okay. I had the challenge and joy to spend some time with a young man who calls me granddaddy for the last 10 days. And he had the great experience of learning how to ride a bicycle here in the Green Gulch parking lot. It was a wonderful thing for him. And there were ups and downs, and during the down times he says, I don't want to ride bicycles ever again. even after he learned how, he had some crashes. And yesterday we had the biggest one so far. Shortly... Around the time you were having orientation, he was having disorientation. He hit the ground, the Green Gulf Road, but then, you know, because he had some momentum, he slid on the ground for quite a while. So he... Some of his skin came off and... And...

[33:33]

he didn't want the bike anymore. And so then I took him back to his mother and grandmother and we asked him who he wanted to clean his wound and he said he didn't want anybody to clean his wound, he'd do it himself. But then some people thought that he needed help and he just said, he said, it's my body, nobody else can touch it. And earlier in the day, actually, the real universe manifested as him asking me for a massage. He says, can I have a massage? And I put my hand on his back and I was rubbing his back. And he said, don't just rub, press. So I was pressing, and he really likes, you know, kind of real pressure.

[34:37]

And I was pressing his arms, and he told me that this arm is called righty, and this arm is called lefty. So during the, you know, cleaning, the cleaning the wound process, he says, nobody can touch lefty but me. This is the real universe, but it's difficult to face it sometimes and open to it. He has a hard time opening to it sometimes, but sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he's upright and gentle, and then wonderful things arise when he's in that state. he opens and accepts his responsibility and it's demonstrated. So we can do that too now, this week. We can enjoy that.

[35:40]

That practice of just sitting in the middle of and the real universe, the realized universe. Just sitting in Genjo Koan, And I just wanted to make clear that I've heard that some people, quite a few people, when they're sitting, they're working on their posture.

[36:44]

For example, when I'm sitting, I work on my posture or I work my posture. I keep trying to find a way to sit upright, moment by moment, sit upright, upright, upright. I call my spine, uprighty. Upright, uprighty, uprighty. Sit upright. Try anyway. I make that effort. But then I'm also saying that this effort, in this effort, I'm open to making the effort. And while I'm making the effort, I will also the thing I'm always trying to do when I'm sitting upright is to open to all beings, to open to the realized universe while I'm working on my posture. And if I should notice my breathing, which I do sometimes, oh, there's an exhale, high exhale.

[37:54]

There's an inhale. I notice these things sometimes. So as I notice an exhale, I try to be open to all beings at that time. I want to be open to all beings as I notice an exhale, mine or yours. If I notice you exhaling, I want to be open to all beings when I notice you exhaling or me exhaling. So I may notice my exhales and I may notice my inhales and I may notice my posture, etc. I may notice my mental activity. But my vow, the vow, which is the practice of Zazen as vow, the vow is no matter what activities involved here in this person, no matter what activities involved in these people, these persons,

[38:57]

The main point of the practice is to open to all beings and to be responsible, accept responsibility to all beings. That's what I'm emphasizing as the opening to the universal, the universe, the universal truth. that's always present or always offered each moment. And then we have particular activities which we are involved in and that our comrades are involved in, which we notice and are responding to. And again, it's not so much what the activity is, but that we are responding to each other. That's the main point that I'm calling just sitting. That's the topic of concentration that I understand is what the Buddhas are concentrating on, which includes every and all individual activities, all the individual activities of a

[40:25]

individual person and all the other persons that that person lives with. Did you hear the microphone respond to the wind?

[41:00]

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