The zazen that I've been speaking to you about is a zazen of bodhisattvas. It's the practice of those on the path to realizing Buddhahood, or of others. There are many other kinds of sitting meditation, of course, but this is the one which I'm talking about with you. And it has been suggested by the ancestors that all Buddhas and ancestors of the Bodhisattva lineage, have made it the true path of enlightenment, have made it the true path of Buddhahood to sit upright, to be upright, practicing in the midst of self-fulfilling awareness.

[01:17]

This is done so because teachers and disciples in India and China and Japan and Korea and Tibet and so on have personally chosen this as the excellent method to sit upright in the midst of self-fulfilling awareness. And another way to say this is they've made it the true path to sit upright in the midst of the awareness that others are yourself. For me, this is the same thing. The awareness that others are yourself is the self-fulfilling awareness. And to sit and be mindful

[02:30]

and live in the midst of the understanding that others are yourself. This is the true path of enlightenment of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. There are other kinds of zazen and there are other kinds of enlightenment that are really excellent, wonderful enlightenments. But the enlightenment of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas I understand to be like this. To sit upright practicing in the midst of the understanding of ourselves is also the same as to sit upright practicing in the midst of thinking of not thinking. It's to sit upright in the midst of thinking beyond

[03:39]

So understanding that others are ourself is beyond thinking. To be aware of, to be aware beyond thinking, and also to be aware in thinking, but to be aware in thinking that others are ourselves and also to be aware beyond thinking that others are ourself All that is the essential art of this type of bodhisattva practice called Zazen by Dogen. And it's the same as to say the true path of enlightenment is to sit upright in the midst of awareness of Buddha. Awareness of others as ourselves is awareness of Buddha.

[04:48]

Bodhisattvas, although this may sometimes forget their job, their job is to always think about not just helping others, but that others are themselves. which is the same to say that Bodhisattva's meditation is to think about Buddha and to think beyond thinking about Buddha. Bodhisattvas vow to help all beings, to give their life for the welfare of all beings, and they also have a meditation job. And their meditation job is to sit upright in the midst of this awareness that others are themselves. This is also the same as to say bodhisattvas sit upright practicing in the midst of the awareness ultimate truth of the self.

[06:04]

Bodhisattvas are mindful of the ultimate truth of themselves which is that their self is empty inherent existence, which is the same as their self is truly others. That's who we really are. We are nothing in addition to others. That is the meditation practice of the bodhisattvas. I suggest that to you. And another important point, I think, is this sitting upright. Sitting upright kind of includes sitting upright and the upright part kind of means, you know, like to really be here with what's going on to us.

[07:21]

being upright is kind of the same as saying not moving. So you've heard the expression settle into a steady immobile sitting position and then enter into the awareness of the understanding that others are yourself. But first Come and be where you are. Don't just dream about it without being aware of where you are. First of all, the gifts that are being given of this psychophysical presentation and settle into it with a steady, immobile sitting, standing, or walking, or reclining. Settle into it. Once you've settled into the situation of your psychophysical state, then think of Buddha beyond Buddha.

[08:39]

Think of Buddha beyond thinking of Buddha. Now we're in Sesshin and some of us have not completely given up to that reality. There's some resistance to some of the things that are going on here, perhaps. We're having trouble really completely relaxing into the moment, the moment some of the things that are arising for us we have a little resistance to, or quite a bit of resistance to. Some of us may wish we had two bodies, one that could do the sesshin and one that could do the sesshin.

[09:46]

So So it's a big deal, actually, to settle into the steady and mobile sitting position. It means that we really need to give ourselves to the moment, give ourselves to it, but, you know, wholeheartedly, with no regret, with no reservations. Just really be willing to be how it is for us. It's not reality, it's just our experience. That's enough. Settle there. That's the place to settle in the gift that's being given to you and in the gift that you have to give. And it is difficult until we completely give up resisting to what's given.

[10:51]

The day before yesterday, I think I was my daughter and her son and her partner arrived at the airport and She knew that Sashin was starting that night. And she said, is the pain intentional? I said, no. And she said something like, it just sort of comes along with it, sort of. Yeah. And I said, it gives a chance to develop patience and gives a chance to develop curiosity and gives a chance to develop relaxation. And, you know, put the relaxation to the test. Can you relax with this? Mm-hmm. How about this? Mm-hmm.

[11:56]

How about this? Mm-hmm. How about this? I'll get back to you on that one. Okay, now I'm ready, yes, I'm ready to accept and relax with this. Ready to settle into And not just to settle into, but also to settle into, so I'll be ready for something which is in some ways even more difficult than accepting my own situation, my own pain and pleasure, my own energy. Something even more difficult maybe than that is to accept the teaching that everybody else is me.

[12:57]

Everybody. And not just everybody, but every little part of everybody. That's a very big teaching to open up to. But working with our own little body problems gets us ready. And if you don't have any pain, It's okay. Don't worry. Or if you do worry that you don't have any pain, try to relax with the worry that you have no pain. The experience that you have no pain is a psychosis. But we may have to deal with that. You may be taken to visit someone if you have that psychosis.

[14:07]

But please try to relax with that and don't blame anybody. So we started yesterday and I think many of us have been having some difficulty facing the difficult path of the Sashin. And so now we're in the process, actually we're in the process, I guess all of us are in the process of settling down into this Sashin together, settling into a steady unmoving presence. Moment. Moment. Sometimes it's, you know, sometimes the most nasty thoughts arise in our minds.

[15:14]

Terrible, terrible nasty thoughts. They seem like huge waves of nastiness may be coming upon us. We feel afraid that it will overwhelm us and we'll just become below average. So it's time to relax. It's relaxation time. Welcome wave of nastiness. Welcome ways of destructive thoughts. Welcome. I don't like you, I don't want to welcome you. It's hard to welcome you if I think about it, so I'm not going to think about it, I'm just going to welcome you. Except I sometimes don't and then I have confession that I'm not welcoming you and I'm sorry because

[16:19]

I need to in order to settle down here. And someone comes and asks me now, are you suggesting that when we're sitting in meditation, and the person could also ask, when we're walking around the temple, that we actually think of these teachings. And this person also said, you know, I have some intellectual understanding of others. And I think the person said, is that sort of a necessary step? And I would say, I think so. And again, it's not necessarily intellectual, just as a literal, kind of a literal linguistic understanding of those words, that understanding others or ourself is the milieu of the bodhisattva's meditation.

[17:38]

And also understanding not just that that's where they meditate, but each of us understanding that that's so. Yeah, I can kind of see that. And I can actually, there's some logic to it too, you know, that others, that I depend on others for my existence. Even all my state, my teeth, my history, they're not me. And yet, they are me. So everything is my true self. And there's nothing to me in addition to that. And I understand that. I've heard that and I understand that. then having that understanding, that's one level of understanding, that just from hearing, you hear it, you hear it. Some of you have heard this quite a few times now. You hear it, you hear it. And at some point you go, oh, I kind of get it. You know, I understand. I didn't understand. I heard it before. Now I understand. From hearing it or reading it.

[18:44]

There was a time when you heard it but did not understand. You sort of kind of did, but then suddenly you did. And you felt you became a different person, a person who has understanding of this. But you'd also be a person who'd say, well, my understanding still seems to be somewhat limited. And now it is. The next level of understanding is that you, based on the first kind of understanding that comes from hearing the teaching from the tradition, hearing somebody say it or reading it and hearing somebody talk to you while you're reading, or if you could somehow get it through some other way that you suddenly understand this is the case, like It could be that, you know, I don't know, that this may be, but it starts to move in the second kind. You could like see a rat.

[19:48]

And maybe usually, maybe a big one. I actually had a dream recently. Somebody showed me a rat. We have around here. And it was really a big rat. It was like almost a foot long. And it was an unusual rat. It looked more like a squirrel because it had a fluffy tail, but the guy said it was a rat. It was big. So imagine one of those soaked in grease and opening its mouth and teeth coming at you. And so seeing it, you say, Oh, God, it's me. It's me. It's me. that kind of thing could happen to you sometimes. And you might be surprised because usually when you've seen rats like that before, you said, no, it's not me. Get away from my baby. That would be kind of like a change of perspective. The second kind of insight is where you, based on the first kind of insight, you actually think about it and you understand.

[20:57]

The first kind is literal. The second kind is non-literal. You understand it, but not in a linguistic way, not in a literal way, not in a sentence in your head. Others are myself. He is myself. She is myself. The rat is me. That's a literal. And at a certain point, you do not know what that means, where the rat is me. and then suddenly you get it. In the next level, you have a new understanding of the rat being you. That's not the words, but somehow you shift in your relationship with the rat, with the person, with the pain. And then the next level is both non-literal and literal and neither. but both literal and non-literal.

[22:02]

And so there can be words there or not, but they don't have anything to do with it. That's when you just become. You become the reality of others or yourself. That's all there is. That's all there is to others. For you and for me, all there is, is others. There's nothing more. Not any slight bit more. And that others is who we are. And we are something. We are others. We are the whole universe. We are the entire universe. That's all we ever have been. That there was a universe plus something. Nobody else thought we were something in addition to the universe. They thought they were something in addition to the universe. Now we see there's just the universe, and that counts for everything. And I fill the universe, and it fills me, and there's no me in addition, or it in addition to me.

[23:04]

So there's kind of, just like, kind of not me, in a way. Except there is me, which is called the universe. You just become like that. That's all there is. There's nobody left. There's just you. There's just this understanding in accord with reality, and this is helping others, and this is the point. So that's the deepest level of that. And then that deep level can come back up into non-literal demonstrations where you can tell people about, you can mention to people about and encourage them to dive into it. Once they have settled into a steady, immobile posture, sitting, standing, walking, reclining, bending, twisting, all the different postures, each one to settle into it in the moment completely and be ready to enter the true path.

[24:16]

this awareness. Because I'm saying these words, I hear myself say them, I do think them, I think. Others are myself. Those who are awake are myself. Those who are asleep are myself. Everybody's myself. I say these words to myself. I think about it. But also, beyond thinking, I practice beyond thinking about it. And I vow and I want and I promise myself to this path. So that even if I'm not saying the words, she is myself, [...] he is myself, That's me.

[25:19]

He's me, he's me, he's me. That's myself. Even if I don't say that, I kind of am sort of, that's my understanding. Like if you say, who is that guy? You say, that's me. But when you ask me, I say, oh, that's me. as much as yourself, along with other things like that, of course. Just like you know some people are your close friends, even if you're not saying, they're my close friends, they're my close friends, they're my close friends, they're my close friends. You don't necessarily say that all the time. However, sometimes you do say it. Sometimes you say, this is my close friend, this is my close friend. Sometimes you do say it. Sometimes even you don't say it, you think it. Oh, there's my close friend. You do think it sometimes. You say it sometimes.

[26:20]

Sometimes you're just looking at him and you're just saying, gray, blue. But you know it's your close friend. That's why you're relating to this person this way, this compassionate way, because you understand this. Even though literally you're not thinking, this is my close friend. But you know, Say, we have a test for you now, are you ready? Yes. Who is this person? My close friend. You knew. And even when they're not following Zen procedures, you remember. You understand. And even when they're being naughty Zen students, they're still... you still understand that they're you, yourself. But you probably didn't get there without training.

[27:21]

These people are doing wonderful acts of service during the Sashin. People are cleaning the temple, you know, literally. People are cleaning the meditation hall, the rooms, the other rooms, the toilet, the dishes. People are making meals. The guest program is taking care of the guest facilities and arranging the sashin. The maintenance people are keeping the water flowing and electricity flowing. And people are like coming themselves to the schedule. A lot of people are making great effort. People are serving meals to us. We're receiving their servings. We're receiving their gifts and eating their gifts and cleaning our bowls. Everybody's doing a lot of service, which is, you know, quite skillful generally. So I'm just adding one little point here, and that is, while we're doing these things, what's helpful about them is that they're done in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness.

[29:00]

That's what really helps. So while we're doing these things, we can remember that others are our true self. remember and understand perhaps. And to understand again and again and again and again. And this understanding will be kind of, it will make us fearless, but it also helps all the people who we understand are ourselves. It helps them understand. By some people understanding this, everyone will understand this. So here we are together in a process of settling and in a process of understanding that ultimately we are empty of self-independence and ultimately

[30:12]

we can't be found and ultimately others are our self. Develop that understanding and let that understanding grow here and spread throughout the universe. Develop the understanding that this practice fills the universe so that that will be realized. And once again this sashin form is something to help us settle into the place where we can open to this teaching. If we can moment by moment accept this body and mind, welcome this body and mind, be here to catch it when it's tossed to us. And you know, when you catch a baseball, when the ball comes into your mitt, especially if it's, well, yeah, pretty much when it hits your mitt,

[31:22]

usually you give a little bit with it. You don't, you don't, you meet it with some resistance actually, but then at the same time you meet it with resistance, you give a little bit. So you catch this body, catch this body, kind of give a little bit back to it and kind of let it, let it, let it do its thing on you. Pardon? Pardon? Do you feel it? Did you feel that? Not enough? Okay. May our intention be equally extend

[32:30]

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