This morning I will be offering you some words about words. It seems to me that phenomena do not fundamentally have significance in their own being. They don't originally have meaning. And it also seems to me that human beings are quite desirous of meaning in the midst of phenomena.

[01:09]

And now I also suggest that the way we get meaning, a basic element in the process of receiving meaning in relationship to phenomena, is by words. By words we can somehow glean or PERCEIVE MEANING IN PHENOMENA WHICH ORIGINALLY DO NOT HAVE MEANING. A little more detail on this, which I'm not going to go into today, but before we associate a word with a phenomena, we project upon the phenomena some own being, some self-existence. And that gives us some sense that we can now put a word on it. And when we put the word on it, we get this thing called meaning, which, again, we kind of are looking for.

[02:14]

So we use words to get meaning out of things. I'M SORRY TO TELL YOU THIS. I WASN'T PLANNING ON DOING IT, BUT IT'S SUCH AN IMPORTANT STORY FOR ME. THERE WAS THIS RELATIONSHIP IN HISTORY BETWEEN A WOMAN NAMED HELEN KELLER. SHE WAS AT SOME POINT, I THINK MAYBE SHE WASN'T BORN BLIND AND DEAF, BUT ANYWAY AT SOME POINT SHE BECAME BLIND AND DEAF. And she had the amazing good fortune of meeting a very wise teacher named Ann Sullivan. And Ann Sullivan helped her find a way to get meaning out of phenomena and be like ordinary people.

[03:21]

Before that, she was relating to phenomena without meaning, and she was very upset about that. So in one, for me, the climax scene of the movie is Anne and Helen are together and Anne's hands touch water. Actually, Anne's hands touch something. And they've developed some kind of communication where not Anne, Helen's hands touch water. And Anne finds a way to tell Helen that the meaning, that this, this thing, whatever it is, this contact, that this contact is, that what she's touching is water.

[04:22]

And she says, the meaning of this is water. And then with that word, she has meaning or significance, a significance come to her in touching this, whatever that is. Agua. Wasser. Mizu. Water. These things give meaning to this sensory contact. And then Anne said something in the movie which I don't agree with. I do agree. The meaning of this is water. But then she says the meaning of water is this. That I don't agree with. My understanding is the meaning of water... One of the meanings of this is water.

[05:30]

Another meaning of this is vasar. Another meaning of this is agua. The meaning of the word water is other words, not the phenomena that they signify. So now I'd like to talk to you about words. And some of the words I want to talk to you, the two basic words I want to talk to you about are meditation and concentration. In the dictionary, or in some dictionaries, if you look up the word meditation, the first meaning of meditation is a text. A text. And it could be a written text.

[06:34]

It also could be an oral text. The first meaning of meditation is a text, particularly a religious text that is an object or an opportunity for contemplation. Most people do not think of the word meditation that way, but that's the first meaning. And the philosopher Descartes wrote one of his most famous works is called Meditations. And he offers these things for people to contemplate. these texts for people to contemplate. And the people did. And that contemplation of these texts, of these meditations, had a big effect on Western culture.

[07:38]

A more common meaning of the word meditation is focusing one's thought and also contemplating some object. For example, you could contemplate... To meditate or meditation could be to contemplate a meditation. So the object originally meant meditation and then to contemplate it, which was its purpose, is also called meditation. So meditation can have and can be used with two basic elements in its meaning, which are two basic sets of words. One emphasizes the focusing, the gathering, and the concentrating gesture of mind to gather one's thought, to focus one's thought, which can also come to fruit as tranquility.

[09:08]

And then also it means to contemplate something. So in some presentations of Buddhist meditation, these two sides, sometimes called two wings of meditation, are revealed. One is the calming activity that comes from gathering the mind And then that's the calming and then the contemplating. So I think mostly when I would use the word meditation, I would mean both the calming and the contemplating. And this is a traditional Buddhist way to use, to speak of, the practice. The practice of what?

[10:12]

Of Buddhism. So, for example, calming the mind and then contemplating the Buddha Dharma, the Buddha's teaching. And contemplating in a state of calm, focused awareness, the truth of the Dharma is revealed. And this is speaking in our meditation as a kind of exercise or activity. Collecting, focusing, calming the mind, like a verb. And contemplating, like a verb. That's meditation as a practice.

[11:13]

And that practice has consequence. And then the consequence can be called tranquility and insight. Focusing attention, calming down, contemplating phenomena, giving rise to tranquility and insight. giving rise to tranquility, and in that tranquility, insight. I've noticed in conversation with people that many people think that meditation is the first aspect. They think of meditation, particularly I think people Think about transcendental meditation as focusing on a mantra or something and the mind becoming open and clear and focused and joyful.

[12:26]

And they think of... And that's one side of the word meditation. That's what they think of as meditation. And I agree that is part of it. But I'm also saying that For me, the word meditation has more range than that and includes both the focusing and calming and contemplating, which can become penetrating, which can become tranquility and insight. Now the word concentration. Again, part of the meaning of the word concentration is to gather or collect, focus. And as a Buddhist practice, it has those qualities of focusing, but also has the quality of calming and opening and relaxing.

[13:38]

And again, that's one side of the word concentration. The other side, which is sometimes I think not so well acknowledged or attended to, is that concentration also means contemplation, that in concentration there can be, in the concentration of the Buddhas, there is a focused, relaxed, open, undistracted, and tender awareness. And there is also, in that space, a deep contemplation. So in a given Zen center, there might be some people who are practicing one side of the practice of meditation, or one side of the practice of concentration.

[14:56]

Namely, they might be practicing the collecting the focusing and calming side. Now, on the other side, some people who are in a state who have practiced concentration and for whom the mind has become calm, they also might be practicing contemplation of phenomena. contemplation of teachings and phenomena. If we practice contemplation without first entering a state of concentration, I would say that that contemplation is not yet what we call insight.

[16:04]

or insight meditation. The insight meditation, the insight concentration, is living in a concentrated, a collected and calm awareness. Also, I would say that if we're focused, not really distracted, but focused, but we're not flexible and soft in body and mind in this focus, if we're rigidly focused and rigidly not distracted, but we're not soft and open, that's not yet quite what is meant by concentration in the bodhisattva meditation or the bodhisattva concentration. So again, if we don't have this focused, soft awareness, it's not really what we mean by meditation.

[17:09]

or the calming meditation or the calming concentration. But if you have those qualities, maybe we have a concentrated state of mind. Now if we contemplate phenomena, think about phenomena, ponder phenomena without the concentration, then that pondering, that contemplating is not insight or is not insightful. It may be wholesome, but it doesn't penetrate unless it's in this concentrated environment. But in the concentrated environment awareness, then the contemplation naturally penetrates, naturally enters deeper into sounds and smells and words. and words of somebody talking outside the meditation hall, but also words of the teaching.

[18:17]

Once again, in many Zen centers a lot of people are working on the concentration practice and A lot can be said about that, which maybe I will. But when the Zen teachers are talking about concentration, they're not usually talking about just one side of it. not one side of it or the other side of it. They're usually talking about both sides at once, because the second side of meditation, the insight side, isn't there without the first side. The first side can be there without the second, but the second cannot be there without the first. The insight must be in concentration, But there can be concentration without insight. And when the Zen ancestors are talking about Zen meditation or seated meditation, they're talking about the union of the two.

[19:32]

For example, did you chant the Fukon Zazengi today? No. In the Fukon Zazengi, the Universal Encouragements for Sitting Meditation by Dogen, he says that the the sitting meditation, the meditation I'm talking about, is not just learning meditation. In other words, it's not just the concentration side. It's totally culminated enlightenment, and totally culminated enlightenment concentration, focused, open, relaxed, awareness is united with wisdom. And that union is where totally culminated enlightenment is living.

[20:45]

That's the seated meditation that Dogen and the other ancestors are teaching. But part of the process is the first aspect. So today, if you want to, would be a good day to work on developing a focused, tranquil, open, and flexible awareness. and be aware that this is a setup for insight. Sometimes people talk to me and tell me that they're practicing this tranquility side of meditation. And they ask, well, when do I switch or when do I start doing the insight side?

[21:57]

When do I turn my attention to contemplating phenomena? And it's a subtle question. I often say, well, are you there yet? And then maybe they say yes. And then I ask them each other what it's like. And maybe it sounds like concentration. Maybe they look concentrated. So then we could, right then, we could just look at what's going on. Or I could say, what is it? Or I could give them a teaching. Or I could ask them, what do you want to look at? And they could tell me, and then we'd look at it. and see what they see in that state. So then as soon as we start talking about what to do insight meditation with, if we're in a state of tranquility, we're starting to do insight meditation. But sometimes one might be sitting in concentration and not thinking, when should I start doing insight meditation?

[23:14]

But just something comes up. And you look at it. And the looking is deep pondering. And without wanting to or not wanting to, suddenly there's insight into what's appearing. And you just spontaneously, in that concentrated state, entered into insight. But you can also be sitting in concentration and another kind of thought can arise like, there seems to be concentration here. And then you could contemplate that thought or just be aware of the thought, there seems to be concentration here, and see the deep nature of the thought, there seems to be concentration here. And it could also be you're sitting, you're concentrated, and the thought arises in your mind, it's hot in here. But in concentration, when the thought, it's hot in here, arises, you may see something about that thought that you never saw before.

[24:25]

You may see, as we say, its original face. So without trying to switch to insight meditation, without trying to switch from calming to contemplation, you may spontaneously do it, or it may spontaneously arise. Another conversation which may have happened but maybe never did before this moment is a student comes to see the teacher and the student demonstrates and expresses that they feel tranquil and undistracted and tender. And they may say, Should I start practicing insight meditation now?"

[25:29]

And the teacher might say, did you hear what you just said? And they wake up to that they just practiced insight meditation. But maybe they need someone to say, did you hear what you said? And then they hear what they said and they realize what they said beyond what they knew before. So again, these two work together and the two of them together or each separately. Again, the insight cannot be separated from the concentration, so when they're actually together You have both, but you can't have concentration by itself. There are some people who are concentrated, but somehow the contemplation has not come alive yet.

[26:31]

I've also—so I've had experience, again, of people who are quite concentrated but don't actually understand that they're practicing insight, and then they do. But at a certain point, they didn't feel like they weren't contemplating yet their concentration. They weren't contemplating their tranquility. So they didn't have insight yet. But then if they continue to contemplate this tranquility, this tranquility or what's going on in the tranquility, insight does arise. Some other people come and talk about the teaching, which I'm very interested in. Sometimes they bring up something I'm really interested in. But I notice that they're really agitated and getting really upset and uncomfortable in the discussion about this really interesting topic.

[27:45]

So then the thought occurs in my mind, maybe they're not calm. And so the more they talk about this teaching, the more agitated they get. Their thinking just is getting more and more intense and agitated. So I might suggest to that person who's sincerely talking to me and looking at these teachings, just set the teachings aside for a little while. Let go of them. Put them on the altar. They're wonderful teachings, but just go back to the zendo and sit and let go of your thinking. And come back and talk to me when you feel really calm and relaxed about all this. And there's many Zen stories where the student comes to talk to the teacher about the teaching. For example, the teaching might be a Zen story, or the teaching might be a question that the teacher gave the student.

[28:54]

And the student comes to talk to the teacher, and they're not concentrated. So the teacher basically says, go back and sit in the meditation hall and calm down. And when you're calm, come back and let's talk some more. Because, yeah. If we're either too loose or too tight, the conversation doesn't open to insight. And this, I don't mean to say that the following is an example of focusing on one side, insight on the other, but rather it's a way we practice to realize the union of focused, calm, tranquility, and insight. And it's the model that our ancestor Dogen gives of wholeheartedly sit on one side, on the other side, go meet the teacher and

[30:06]

ask about the teaching or listen to the teaching. So if you wholeheartedly sit, great, and maybe you've attained wholehearted sitting, then you go talk to the teacher and then you ask about the teaching and your question about the teaching can now be an opportunity for contemplation of what you're saying. Or you go to the teacher and the teacher asks for the teaching and the teacher gives you teaching and you contemplate the teaching in a state of tranquility. And now you're doing insight united with tranquility. But again, if you go see the teacher and you're not agitated, the teacher might say, let's not talk anymore. Let's just let go of our thinking and when we're calm, let's start talking again. And then maybe have a good conversation where some insight occurs because the conversation is occurring in a state of tranquility.

[31:20]

And then the conversation ends, and then the party's in the conversation. Again, just practice letting the mind calm. And then look at the insight that arose in the conversation. Look at that. in the sitting. And then, again, go meet the teacher and talk about that new insight that arose without anybody even talking. But just the words, some words about the insight arising while sitting. Back and forth, deepening concentration, deepening insight. So I think that maybe is enough. And I just want to now just say a little bit about the calming practice. And the basic thing about calming practice, the basic thing is that we pacify or tranquilize our thought by giving up our thoughts.

[32:27]

The basic gesture which calms our mind is to give up our mind. The basic gesture that calms our thinking is to let go of our thinking. The basic gesture that calms and collects and opens our discursive thought is letting go of discursive thought. So as an exercise, letting go of discursive thought. And some people use their posture or their breathing, they look at it as a way to look at this and let go of all thought. Look at this and let go of thought. So you can use posture, you can use breathing, but you can also use listen to the cries of the world.

[33:34]

And you can look at that name, that practice of listening to the cries of the world, as an opportunity to let go of thought and just listen to the cries of the world. But also, you know, including listen to the cries of the birds. So you can use, or you could use a bodhisattva vow and just look at the vow to save all beings. and focus on that and let go of that and all other thought. But you can also just sit and let go of thought and let go of thought and let go of thought, let go of thinking, not stop it, not energize it, just let it be and let it go, let it be and let it go. Let your distracted mind be. And in really letting it be, it's released. Letting it be and releasing calms, opens, softens, and focuses our awareness.

[34:45]

Between my last words and these words, I was actually aware of my breathing. And the thought arose, I almost never regret being aware of my breathing. From the time I just stopped talking until now, I was aware of my posture. and also that my posture was changing in relationship to my breath. I felt my abdomen going out and in. I can also practice concentration or meditation in the form of calming by being aware of my own words as I'm speaking them and let them go.

[36:17]

And some people do actually practice mindfulness of their own breathing, excuse me, their own speaking while they're speaking and calm down while they're speaking. It's rather uncommon, but There's, again, a number of stories about that. For example, a Buddhist monk went to visit a Buddhist monk and said to him, how is your venerable health? And the Buddhist monk said, I'm sick. And the other monk said, I'm sick. Oh no, the other monk said, you're sick. And then the first monk said, I'm sick. The second time they said, I'm sick, they really listened to themselves. They calmed down and they woke up.

[37:26]

I just laughed because I thought of telling you about my visit with one of our Sangha members named Lee de Barros yesterday. And I laughed because I was going to say to you that I'm not going to tell you the story. Maybe you don't think that's funny, but I thought it was funny. Anyway, it was a great visit. But maybe I'll tell you later about what a wonderful visit it was. It was quite There are a lot of angels involved and stuff. So maybe you understand what I just said. Maybe I do too. About how the word meditation and how the word concentration might be used of having these two sides. Calming and contemplating. as a basic training.

[38:36]

And then coming from that basic training of calming and concentrate, calming and contemplating, we have tranquility and insight. And one more thing I didn't mention is that if you're working on developing calm and collecting the mind by letting go of your wandering thoughts. Again, not pushing them away, not spanking them, just letting them go. If you're training that way, when you actually become calm and relaxed and unafraid of distraction and so on, you can give up that training. You can give up the discipline of letting go of your thoughts. because now you're calm. And then you can switch to the contemplation. So when you're doing the contemplation, you don't have to actively be letting go of the thoughts. Now you've done that for quite a while.

[39:43]

You're calm. Now you can actually be a little bit active and look at what's going on. Is that clear? So there's a phase of training. When the training comes to at least temporary completion, you can let go of that training and turn to the other training. When you're doing the other training of contemplation, which is more active, you're actually now using your thoughts. So first you calm your thoughts by letting them go. Once you're calm, now you start using your thoughts again for contemplation. If you're using your thoughts in contemplation and you notice that you're becoming agitated, then it probably is a good time to stop the contemplation and go back to the calming. Does that make sense? And you sometimes can tell, I feel calm and now contemplations are rising, it's going really well, and now I'm getting excited about that and agitated and trying to hold on to how well it's going.

[40:53]

I think it's time to let go of the contemplation. And so I let it go, go back to the calming. And you can feel the qualitative difference between the agitation that was, first of all, the calm, and then the agitation, and then giving up the thinking and going back to the calm, and then coming back to the thinking with the calm, and maybe noticing there's a way to think that doesn't disturb the calm. And then, oh yeah, so there's thinking going on, and I'm noting it, but it's not agitating. Oh, now it is. Okay, give that kind up and go back to calming now. When your contemplation becomes deep, it doesn't disturb the tranquility anymore. It actually deepens it. But most of us, when we first transition from calm to contemplation, The contemplation, as it goes on, usually will agitate a little bit. So then give up the contemplation and go back to the calming.

[41:57]

Again, as the contemplation gets deeper, it's done in a way that deepens the concentration And, of course, the contemplation is basically deepening the contemplation. The focusing, the tranquilizing, is basically to deepen our thinking, to switch our thinking from just thinking to insight. So now I think I've mentioned all the different aspects. I guess we could stop here unless somebody really wants to ask a question. Well, somebody does. And it could be called me. I want to ask a question. My question is, did you understand what I said today? One person, two, three, four, five, six.

[43:04]

Anybody over here? Yeah, some people. That's great. I'm glad I came. Thank you very much for listening and understanding. And again, I'm available for a while. Maybe if you have any questions you'd like to ask me individually. May our intention

[43:31]

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