When I became abbot in 1986, the second abbot of Zen Center, Richard Baker Roshi, sent me this stick in the mail. And I, earlier in this intensive, I I mentioned to the assembly that it says on the stick in Chinese characters, diligently cultivate, diligently cultivate the samadhi of the Zen school, the bodhisattva samadhi. And during this intensive, the assembly has been diligently cultivating samadhi.

[01:11]

You have been maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way, which is to diligently cultivate the samadhi of the Buddha ancestors. even if all the Buddhas in ten directions tried to measure the merit of one person's samadhi, they would not be able to fully comprehend it. And yet, each person in this inconceivably vast bodhisattva, Buddha mind seal,

[02:29]

Samadhi. And this cultivation is an everyday affair. Going forward is an everyday affair. Just now I walked down from Spring Valley to this dharma hall, step by step. A human being walking on a nice human-made path, step by step, an everyday affair, moving forward on the path of samadhi. Somebody has to maintain this bodhisattva samadhi path step by step.

[03:46]

And this bodhisattva samadhi is something that is given to us. We may find it, but what we find was something that was put there for us to find. It was given to us. The samadhi is given to us. It's for us. Let me say, O Bodhisattva, Mahasattvas, please concentrate your hearts on me, I, Tenshin Zenki, Buddha's disciple, this Bodhisattva Samadhi, which is practiced by all Buddhas,

[05:07]

I will practice this with the body and mind of its sacred meaning. I, Tenjin Zenki, Buddhist disciple, receive this self-fulfilling samadhi. I, Tenjin Zenki, receive all the bodhisattva samadhis and I vow to practice them with the body and mind of their sacred meaning. In the past there was a question in this room

[06:10]

The question was, do you wish to receive the Buddha Mind Seal Samadhi? Do you wish to receive the Samadhi of the Bodhisattva precepts? The precepts of the Bodhisattva. Are you ready to receive this samadhi? At that time, no one said anything out loud. And then I remembered, the response comes up at the same time as the inquiry.

[07:29]

When the words, are you ready to receive the precepts of the samadhi, when those words were said, when that question was asked, the response was right there. The response is, you wish to receive this samadhi. Sometime later, one could think, yes, I do. And I did. And so I said it. that there was a Buddha who lived in India about 2500 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, and so on, 2500 years ago.

[11:00]

And that the Buddha taught, among other things, the Buddha taught the Eightfold Noble Path. And the first aspect of this view, the Buddha taught right view. And then the word is that he said, right view is action has consequence. There is a mother and a father and there are authentic teachers. Supposedly Buddha said that to the people he was meeting face to face.

[12:12]

And in that meeting face to face, Right View was taught and Right View was realized. The disciples did not come up with Right View on their own. They heard it and they heard it in the presence of their teacher. They saw the Buddha, and seeing the Buddha, they heard the true Dharma of the Eightfold Path. And the early Buddhists, the early disciples, understood that in order to realize right view, in other words, wisdom, you realize it in a meeting with Buddha.

[13:21]

So sometime later they thought, well, we should actually tell people not to start with right view. They should start with right action, or right livelihood, or right speech. They start with right view because right view happens when you meet the Buddha. And the Buddha's gone. So, Maybe we can start later in the Eightfold Path where you don't need a Buddha. Practice the precepts. Right action, right speed. Practice right mindfulness and right effort. And then right samadhi.

[14:26]

And then maybe in right samadhi we can receive right view. And things developed in the Buddhist, the great Buddhist Sangha. And some disciples of Buddha, practicing Samadhi, came forth with the earnest assertion, they came forth with the thought experiment, Buddha in samadhi. And meeting Buddha in samadhi, they can receive the Buddha's samadhi.

[15:35]

we enter samadhi, and many yogis throughout India and other parts of Asia entered samadhi. And some people, some living beings who entered samadhi, in samadhi, they received a visitor, a great bodhisattva who became a great Buddha. And meeting that Buddha, they received the Buddha's Samadhi. Their Samadhi opened to Buddha's Samadhi. Buddha had been waiting to come and meet. And now in Buddha's Samadhi, right view is transmitted and Buddha's Samadhi is realized. As Zen students continue their studies, like you have, the day comes when you hear about what I just told you.

[16:53]

That in the samadhis of the bodhisattvas, there is a meeting with Buddhas face to face. And actually not just meeting Shakyamuni Buddha, but meeting innumerable Buddhas occurs in the bodhisattva samadhi. And we sentient beings, we bodhisattvas, in order to enter Buddha's samadhi, there needs to be a Buddha's. And there is. And we meet in samadhi. And when we meet in samadhi, the samadhi is transmitted in both directions. And everyday things that occur in samadhi

[18:07]

like talking and winking, smiling, shaking hands, saying good morning. These everyday affairs become the everyday affair for realizing the Buddha way. as we say, by the triggering of awakening, by the opportunity of a finger, a mallet, a whisk, or a shout. and the effecting of realization with these depend on the strength, we say, of zazen, depend on the strength of the bodhisattva samadhi.

[19:09]

In the bodhisattva samadhi, these everyday things are the place of meeting. We're meeting all day long, Every meeting is an opportunity in Samadhi. I have proposed to you over and over that you are not appearances in conscious minds. All of us are more than appearances. But minds can make us into — conscious minds can make us all into appearances.

[20:13]

Buddhas basically are not appearances. They are the realization of perfect wisdom. which is the relief of all suffering and distress. Buddhas are the relief of suffering and distress, which is perfect wisdom. Buddhas are perfect wisdom. It is not an appearance. It's beyond all appearances and is everywhere what everything is. And this perfect wisdom is relieving all. However, Buddha's perfect wisdom offers itself to become an appearance. So Buddhas do appear in the world.

[21:18]

And the way not the way they basically are. They're appearing that way so that we can relate to the Buddha. They appear so that sentient beings can open to Buddha's samadhi. So they might appear as a form of a sitting human being. Or they might appear as a gorgeously robed human being with a... They appear in various ways.

[22:26]

And they appear, first of all, to open sentient beings to the Buddha Samadhi. In my case, the Buddhas appeared in the world as stories about Zen monks. I read these words and I saw pictures of beings in dark robes doing marvelous things that opened me to the samadhi. And then once I saw a picture actually of a lay person sitting in samadhi, a photograph of a lay person sitting in samadhi, and the photograph was from his back.

[23:37]

And that picture opened me to what he was doing. He was sitting, it said, in deepest thought. My heart opened to this appearance of the Bodhisattva Samadhi, which he may have thought he was devoted to. I never talked to him. But I know a little about him and I wouldn't be surprised if I said to him, are you diligently cultivating the bodhisattva samadhi? He might have said, mm-hmm. But I saw him and the picture of him opened me to the samadhi of Buddha's wisdom. But also, At the same time, the appearance is not just to open us to Buddha's wisdom, but to show it to us.

[24:44]

With a body. Here, there's a body. Look at it. This is showing you Buddha's wisdom. And then the Buddhas appear. After opening and demonstrating, by the demonstration which is offered in samadhi, people have a chance to wake up to the samadhi, to wake up to the transmission which they have been receiving through the opening and the demonstrating. and then to enter it. That's the reason why Buddhas play along with being an appearance so that we can open, see a demonstration, wake up to the samadhi and enter it.

[25:57]

And then practice it. and then again transmit it by letting our life be an appearance of the samadhi. Letting our daily life be an appearance to open beings to the samadhi. Forty-five or fifty years ago there was a young man who has the same name as me who was practicing in San Francisco at a temple called Sokoji. And there was a teacher whose name was Suzuki Roshi.

[27:03]

And he practiced sitting with his students And he gave Dharma talks at Sokhoji Temple. And Dharma talks, that young man who had the same name as me would sit cross-legged, would sit in full lotus. And Suzuki Roshi sometimes talked a long time for an hour and a half, an hour and forty-five minutes. And when he gave the talks at Sokoji, he was usually standing while some of the students were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him and some other students were sitting in pews because the place where he gave the talks had pews. And towards the later part of one of those talks, when that young man was feeling kind of uncomfortable, he said, is the suffering of a Zen master the same or different from the suffering of the Zen students?

[28:32]

And he said, the same. I thought that was a good answer. He looked really comfortable. He hadn't been sitting cross-legged with me. He could have been, and I could have asked him the same question, and he could have gave the same answer. But I imagine that what was going on there is he was receiving Buddhas and practicing it and transmitting it to his students. And his students were sitting there with him, cultivating samadhi, receiving the samadhi from him, and sometimes asking questions.

[29:38]

Is your suffering the same as mine or different? The pivotal opportunity afforded by a finger depends on the samadhi. The pivotal opportunity of daily life depend on samadhi.

[30:56]

The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are present. They're offering Samadhi unceasing. We have to join it in order to receive it. We have to Ask for it and be ready for it and receive it. And those all can occur in the same moment. Wish for it, ask for it, receive it, practice it and transmit it. As far as I know, that's what they're doing. We're invited. But our job is to remember this opportunity.

[32:08]

They can't make us remember. Their job would be too easy if they could make us remember. But they can't, so they're not. And they love their work. there's some basic ironies, almost contradictions, built into the story of Samadhi. And that's because of human nature being kind of basically ironic.

[33:12]

We're being offered a gift which we want, and yet it's hard for what we most want, especially as it gets close to being delivered, we most are not sure about whether we really want it. Many of us aspire to an understanding which is full of wisdom and compassion. We understand that we don't really know how to proceed and we want some help, but it's very difficult for us to find the help. And even when we find it, it's very difficult to be on good terms with the help.

[34:17]

Like some wealthy people say, I'm having a lot of problem with the help. The Buddhas are our servants, and we have a problem with our servants. It's difficult to deal with Buddhas and be with them. Not because they're mean, just that they're, I don't know what, It's just that they're in an ironic relationship with us, because we're ironic. We want something that we don't have any idea about what it is, and that makes sense to us and doesn't. they were, we wouldn't want them so much.

[35:23]

But since they're not just what we think they are, we kind of have a problem with that. This is part of our nature. And Buddhas are not like saying, you shouldn't be that way. They just say, you know, work with it. Once upon a time, There was a monk in China, and his name was Celestial Dragon. In Chinese, something like Tianlong. Tianlong, Celestial Dragon. In Japanese, they pronounce it Tenryu. He lived in a temple probably in the mountains.

[36:26]

There's a lot of mountains in China. And in between the mountains they have somewhat flatter areas where they grow rice to feed billions of people. But a lot of mountains. And A lot of Buddhists and Taoists live up in the mountains for thousands of years. So one Buddhist monk was living in the mountains. His name was Celestial Dragon. And one night a female monk came to visit him. And her name was, of all things, You could imagine nuns do get names like reality. It's not so far out.

[37:26]

Also male monks get names like reality. But this particular nun was named reality, Shriji. She came to visit him. I don't know why she came to visit him. And he didn't know either. And nobody knows. But the story is she came to visit him in the night. And she had her nun's hat on and she had a staff. And somehow she came into his space where he was, and stood in front of him with her staff and her hat on. And she said to him, or maybe he said, aren't you going to take your hat off? And she said, I'll take my hat off if you say a good word.

[38:36]

And he couldn't say anything. He could also say, and he didn't know that he said something. Say something, but he missed it. And she could tell. that he missed the opportunity to meet her. So she said again, I'll take it off if you can say a good word. And again he missed it and couldn't notice. And she said it a third time, I'll take it off if you can say a good word. And he couldn't. So then she turned around and started to walk away.

[39:41]

And he called out and said, it's really late. Why don't you stay the night? And she turned back to him and she said, I'll stay if you can say a good word. And he couldn't. Yeah, he couldn't. And she went away. Reality went away. She gave him a chance. He missed it four times. Sometime after he left, after she left, he thought, I've got the body of a man, but I don't have the spirit of a man. I should leave here and go find a teacher who can show me how to be a man, who can show me how to walk the path.

[41:01]

I don't know how, obviously. Reality has shown me that. I don't know how. And not knowing how is not a bad thing. Reality shows that to us. Reality shows us the possibility, and then it also helps us realize, I don't know how to do this. I should get some instruction. I should find a teacher. It's nothing wrong with us that we are looking for a meeting with the teacher so that we can receive the samadhi. It's normal. Is the whole kitchen going to leave now or just the Phuketan? Are you all going to leave? Well, just let me finish the story. It's just a minute more. Are you ready?

[42:08]

So he says, I should probably leave and go find a teacher. But then somebody in the mountains came to him that same night and said to him, you must not leave. A bodhisattva is going to come here to visit you. A bodhisattva will appear to you in flesh to help you. Don't leave. And in ten days, Okay, so he has ten days to get ready for the visit. Ten days later the bodhisattva comes. What was he doing those ten days? I don't know, but he had a warning that a visitor was coming. Samadhi is coming. Samadhi is going to come and appear in flesh and demonstrate itself to you in a way that you can see.

[43:14]

Don't go." And he didn't. And he waited. And ten days later the Bodhisattva did show up and the Bodhisattva's name was... Oh, I told the story wrong. Sorry. The monk who was living In the mountains, his name wasn't Tian Lung. His name was Judy. Judy. Sounds like a girl's name, but it's actually Chinese characters. The monk's name was Judy. And the bodhisattva who came to visit was named Celestial Dragon. So now Celestial Dragon is coming to visit Judy, who's been waiting for the visitor.

[44:25]

And Judy tells Celestial Dragon what happened between him and reality. Tian Long, dragon, celestial dragon, raised one finger. And that was the everyday event that opened, illustrated the samadhi. And Judy awakened to the samadhi. He probably was working while he was waiting, getting . And so when the samadhi came, he could open to it.

[45:26]

And then an everyday thing, like this finger being raised, was the opportunity for him to enter that samadhi. And then he entered that samadhi and for the rest of his life whenever monks came to him to ask to receive the samadhi, he would raise one finger, showing, demonstrating the samadhi. So the kitchen is . Thanks for staying. Goodbye. Be careful of your fingers in the kitchen. One final thing maybe is that one of you came and told me the other day when I said, do you wish to receive the bodhisattva precepts of samadhi?

[46:52]

Are you ready to receive? The person felt pain. because she felt like there wasn't a response to that inquiry. But there was, I say. You are the response. You are taking care of the samadhi. You have been And I pray that you continue to take care of it. You've been taking care of it very well. You've been wholehearted about it. And continuing this wholehearted care of the samadhi

[47:54]

And in the Samadhi we do have the opportunity to meet Buddhas face to face. Honoring and worshiping the Samadhi is honoring and worshiping the meeting, the face-to-face meeting between Buddhas.

[48:48]

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