And the fourth ancestor of the lineage leading up to this temple, the fourth ancestor of Chinese Zen, which is the thirty-second ancestor, actually not thirty-second, but thirty-first ancestor, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty-three, thirty-first ancestor from Buddha, His name is Daoshin, the great teacher Daoshin. He taught the samadhi of oneness, or sometimes called the one practice samadhi. One of his essential teachings was protect or care for oneness without any deviation.

[01:21]

Protect the oneness of all living beings and the Buddhas. And never deviate from taking care of the oneness of every living being and all Buddhas. The oneness of Buddhas and the entire universe and all living beings. take care of this and don't veer off or lose this. In Sanskrit this is called Ekavyuha Samadhi. Eka means one. Viva means view or realm.

[02:36]

Samadhi means to be absorbed or aware of. It's to be absorbed in the unified quality of all life. Or to be absorbed in the uniform quality of all life. It's to be absorbed in the unified form of ultimate reality. It is also sometimes called the one practice samadhi, the absorption in the one practice. In other words, it's the one practice that all Buddhas and all living beings are doing together at the same time.

[03:41]

There is a practice which all Buddhas are doing in the same way as each living being. The Buddha's practice is this practice which is the same practice as all living beings are doing. to calmly settle into the way that all things are the same. The way that every activity that we can ever be involved in is really the same. This was

[04:46]

his ultimate teaching. However, he also would offer what are called expedient teachings if people were not ready or willing to just take care of this oneness. The teacher, Daoshin, offered the ultimate teaching of absorption in the oneness of all Buddhas and all sentient beings. That was his ultimate teaching. That is the teaching of the Buddha. But he also offered teachings for people who do not want to pay attention to, do not want to be absorbed in the one mind, in which there's no distinction between ordinary living beings in any state and the Buddhas, all the Buddhas.

[06:00]

Some people do not want to pay attention to that. They steadfastly wish to pay attention to the difference between themselves and the Buddhas and the difference between themselves and other sentient beings. Some sentient beings want to be aware and pay attention to the fact that they're better than other sentient beings, or worse than other sentient beings, or not as good as the Buddhas. They want to practice as though the Buddhas were outside themselves, and they want to get over to be a Buddha. This is the way they want to practice, and Daoshin would give them practices which they would be willing to do, practices which might seem to help them approach becoming a Buddha. Letting them practice whatever way they can practice is called the granting way. It's called the relaxed way, easygoing way. In other words, let people practice based on their present point of view that they're separate from Buddha.

[07:07]

However, some of his successors got more strict and developed what seemed to emphasize more at least are well known for what is called the grasping way or a way of holding still and denying any other practice than this one practice. And I'm going to bring up some of that kind of teaching some of that teaching which says there is only one practice. And if you think there's another practice, you're actually going in the opposite direction from where you want to go. I said in Zendo that all the Buddhas are practicing together with each person.

[09:05]

And the way to understand this Or one way to understand this is that the practice of the Buddhas is to practice in the same manner as the entire universe and every living being. It isn't like there's the whole universe and all the living beings and then the Buddhist practice is something on top of that. The Buddhist practice, you see, really is nothing at all other than the whole universe. The Buddhist practice is simply the way the whole universe and all living beings are. The Buddha joins reality. Now, joining reality, Buddhists can also give teachings which are not like the way they practice, teachings which seem like something in addition to reality, teachings which seem like something that a person can do.

[10:28]

But when they give that teaching, it's not like they separate themselves from reality and give the teaching. Reality manifests as them giving the teaching. Because some people, what do they do? They become rebellious if they're only given the teaching of a Buddha. So since they're becoming rebellious, the Buddha's practice in the same manner as them and give them what they want so that they will start settling down. This is referred to as giving children yellow paper. They want gold. I mean, not they want gold. They don't want gold. The Buddha has gold, but they don't want gold.

[11:35]

So the Buddha gives them yellow paper. This is to give yellow paper to crying children. They're crying. They want the gift. The Buddha offers them gold and they don't stop crying. So the Buddha offers them yellow paper and they stop crying. But this is not, this is just the Buddha practicing in the same manner as the entire universe and every living being. So I wonder if more background or practical example is best.

[13:10]

Maybe more background. So fourth ancestor, fifth ancestor, sixth ancestor, Sixth Ancestor was visited by a monk one day, and this monk was to become one of his main successors. This monk's name was Hoai Rong. also known as Nanyue, because that was the mountain that he became the teacher of, Nanyue Huairang, came to see the sixth ancestor. The sixth ancestor said, where do you come from? And Huairang said, I come from Mount Sung. And the sixth ancestor says, what is it that thus comes?

[14:16]

And Huay Rung said, to say that it's this misses the point. And the ancestor said, well, then is there no practice or realization? Is there no practice or transformation? And Huay Rung said, I don't say there's no practice. or realization or transformation. I just say that it cannot be defiled. And the sixth ancestor said, just this undefiled way has been protected and maintained by all Buddhas Now I'm like this and you're like this too.

[15:27]

This is the one practice, samadhi. What is it that thus comes? you walk in the door, what is it that thus comes? To point at yourself and say, this misses the point. To say it's that misses the point. Even to say it's the oneness of this and that and all this's and that's. might miss the point. Any kind of indication pointing in any direction other than pointing at the whole universe as it's practicing right now kind of misses the point. It's kind of hard to say, what is the oneness? What is the thusness, the non-duality of all beings and all Buddhas? It's kind of hard to say, what is it that thus comes? Because, by the way, thus comes is a name for the Buddha.

[16:35]

So when he says, what is it that thus comes, he says, what is the Buddha? How does the suchness of Buddha and sentient beings come? And he says, to say it's this misses the point, and so on. Well, if you don't say it's this, then he says, then are you saying there's no practice? If you don't say this is the practice or that's the practice, then is there no practice and no realization possible?" And Huay Rang didn't say, yes, there is practice and there is realization. He just says, I don't say there's not, just that you can't defile it. In other words, you can't say it's over here or over there. You can't say it's Buddha, you can't say it's sentient beings, you can't say it's greed, hate and delusion, you can't say it's not greed, hate and delusion.

[17:43]

There's no characteristic of the thusness that comes. The Buddha mind has no characteristics other than it is to practice in the same manner as the entire universe and all living beings. It's not that you can't practice it. It's not that it can't be realized. You just can't defile it. Of course, you can defile it, but that's just you think you can defile it. If we say it's this or that, the Buddha is completely with us when we say it's this or that. And we don't actually defile it. But we can think we do. Or we can think we don't.

[18:45]

But no matter what we think, there's no distinction between what we think and all the Buddhas who are practicing together with us at that moment. And they are not the slightest bit in addition to us practicing in that way, which might seem to be a defiling way. And there is nothing else in the universe besides us, together with the Buddhas at that time. This oneness of all beings is the undefiled way that all the Buddhas have taken care of. And Huairang had a wonderful disciple named Matsudao Yi, Master Ma.

[19:50]

Master Ma said, they say, the practice of meditation does not require cultivation. You don't have to cultivate meditation. Just don't defile it. There is a practice of meditation. What is the practice of meditation? It is the meditation on the oneness of all life. But you don't have to cultivate it. It's already there. You don't have to cultivate the oneness of all life. But it would be nice if you didn't defile it. But if you defile it, you know, the oneness is still there.

[20:53]

How would you defile it? Well, you defile it by trying to approach the oneness, trying to get the oneness, trying to prove the oneness. There's many ways you could defile it. and none of them would really defile it, but if you do something to approach it, you, in a sense, refute it. So the meditation does not need to be cultivated, only not defiled. Simply awaken right now to the oneness of all Buddhas and all sentient beings.

[22:12]

Just wake up to it. You don't have to do something to wake up to it. Just awaken to this Buddha mind which has no characteristics, and is not born and doesn't die. Of course, the universe and all sentient beings are born and die. But to practice in the same manner as the universe being born and dying, that is not born and that does not die, and that has no characteristics. It can't be grasped. It can't be avoided. You can only think that it's grasped or avoided. And people can think that, as most of you know.

[23:15]

And the thinking has characteristics. that define the type of thinking. But the fact that thinking is thinking, the fact that thinking is thinking the way it's thinking, is the way that thinking is thinking, and that's the way the Buddha practices. Every way that you or I ever think, every way that you or I ever feel, every way that you or I ever sense or emote, In exactly the way that that's happening, the Buddhas are there with us, letting that be like that. And that actually is the opportunity for the Buddhas to be one with us. They don't add or subtract to anything we experience. We don't have to cultivate this intimacy. Just not defile it by trying to get it. or by trying to avoid it.

[24:32]

We have many practices in Buddhism, like the Six Perfections. generosity, giving, conscientiousness and minute attention to the details of our daily life, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. These are the six perfections. And they are brought to perfection when we understand that they are not done by us. They are actually the way we behave. They are the way Ascension Being behaves when Ascension Being understands the practice which is the same as all living beings.

[25:57]

But to take those practices and do them in order to become a Buddha then you go against Buddha. The Buddha practices these six perfections by practicing in the same way as all living beings. But for a living being to practice those practices in order to become one who practices the same as all living beings, you move away from the practice of the six perfections of the Buddha. Some people actually teach that By doing these practices, you can approach and become a Buddha. But the ultimate truth is that no Buddha ever practiced the Six Perfections and progressively approached the state of Buddhahood.

[27:11]

And from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Eightfold Path has been taught as the path which leads to nirvana. A path which is not nirvana, which leads to nirvana, is the way some people hear that. The ultimate truth is there isn't a path which leads to nirvana. There isn't a practice which leads progressively to becoming a Buddha. There is a practice which is said to be so, but nothing like that has ever reached the Buddha. The Buddha is reached by appreciating that the Buddha is reached. Before the reaching of the Buddha is appreciated, you have not reached the Buddha.

[28:17]

because you don't appreciate that you've reached the Buddha and the Buddha's reached you. This is not so easy to hear. Dogen Zenji says, what you think, one way or another, prior to awakening, is not of a help to awakening. If awakening depended on thoughts, it would not be reliable awakening. But awakening does not depend on thoughts. There is no dharma by which awakening is realized other than the entire universe and all living beings.

[29:23]

The gate to realization has no signs, has no characteristics. And realization has no signs and no characteristics other than the entire universe and all living beings. In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says to Subuddhi, Subuddhi, is there any dharma by which the Buddha has realized the utmost right and perfect awakening? And Subuddhi says, no, Lord. There is no dharma by which the Buddha has realized anuttara samyak sambodhi. Therefore, it is unsurpassed, complete and perfect awakening because it doesn't depend on any dharma. It doesn't even depend on the entire universe and all living beings. It doesn't depend on them.

[30:30]

It is none other than. There isn't Buddha's unsurpassed enlightenment and the whole universe and all living beings separate. There is just the whole universe and all living beings and Buddhas as one thing. To think that this enlightenment depends on something is to defile it. To think that it defends on some practice other than itself, as it is, is to defile it. What we think, one way or another, prior to awakening does not help awakening. If it did, the awakening would not be reliable. It would be dependent on some particular condition other than what's happening. But it is reliable because it doesn't depend on what you think one way or another. It doesn't.

[31:31]

It only depends on awakening itself, which is always inseparable from the entire universe, from beginningless time up to the present, and all living beings from beginningless time up to and including the present. And it doesn't even depend on that. It is the same as that. The teaching, the practice of the Buddhas is to be absorbed in this oneness of Buddhas and sentient beings, in this undefiled reality before settling into this samadhi, before settling into this awareness of the oneness of all living beings and all Buddhas, before settling into this unborn Buddha mind, what you think one way or another doesn't help.

[32:42]

And then Dogen Zenji says, but it's not that what you think one way or another is bad. although it could be, it is possible to think bad thoughts. But even if you thought thoughts that were good, they don't help. Those thoughts that you thought, these thoughts that we think, prior to awakening, are themselves awakening. Even unskillful thoughts are themselves awakening. Unskillful thoughts also the Buddhists are practicing together with the person who is practicing unskillfully. The Buddhists don't disdain practicing together with unskillful meditators or even unskillful non-meditators. There is no exception.

[33:51]

The Buddha's practice together with all living beings. If it's not all living beings, it's not the practice of the Buddha. what we think one way or another, which means also what we do one way or another prior to awakening does not help awakening. But it's not because what we're doing is not good, it's because what we're doing is realization itself, except because we don't think it's realization itself, or because we think it is realization itself, or because we think realization is something other than that.

[34:53]

Because of that, Realization, awakening is not realized. Realization comes forth by the power, by the efficacy of realization itself. The realization of the oneness of all living beings and all Buddhas, the realization of that, the awakening of that comes through the power of the awakening. which is already completely practicing together with the way you are right now. That's how it happens. And you don't have to cultivate that. It's already reality. Just don't hinder it. Just don't defile it. How do you defile it? By not trusting it. How do you not trust it? Well, just look at your present state

[35:55]

for example, today, for example, right now, and then in the next moment, and the next moment, and see if you have any doubt that this could be realization. That realization would be delivered to you in this form. That realization could hurt, for example. That your hurting could be realization. So now, some people come to talk to me. Now, they weren't necessarily coming to, you know, test the teaching, but in fact, it could be seen that way. People bring themselves into a room and they're a certain way, and then there's some question about whether that way is the way Period.

[36:57]

Is the way we are the way? Is this the way that the Buddhists would be practicing together with us? Would the Buddhists be practicing together with us if this was the way? Not if this was the way. Are the Buddhists practicing together with us right now? And if so, do I kind of feel like, well, okay, yeah, but that's not good enough. I want to also feel better. Do you really think if you actually felt that the Buddhas were actually right with you, holding your hands, that you actually would say, could I please like feel a little better? Now, I mean, since you're all here, no, couldn't you sort of like just make me feel a little more comfortable? You guys can have the power to do that, don't you? Don't you guys have some milk or something that would like run over me and like relax me? And you might actually say that, actually, and they might have the milk and pour it over you and you relax. But if you knew that they had this milk and that they poured it over you, you totally relaxed.

[38:07]

Do you think you'd ask for it? Imagine that. I mean, just think about it now. You can hear you're sitting there. You've got Buddhas, like infinite Buddhas all around you, you know, packed right in around you, you know, all just loving you with total enlightenment. And you're a little uncomfortable. And you know that they could do anything you want. Do you think you'd ask for it? Well, what would you ask for? You'd say, now, which might I ask for first, you know? You'd know that you could ask for anything. And you could. And there would be no problem. Could I have a new bicycle? But even before the words escaped your mouth, you'd know, if you trusted that these actually were the Buddhas. And also, all the other sentient beings are packed in there, too, in the whole universe, too. You'd know that you could have whatever you wanted, but you already have it.

[39:08]

You are totally immersed in enlightenment, totally freed, totally supported, reliably realizing reality. And you can have whatever you want, but what would you want? All you'd want was this. to be together with all the Buddhas and all the sentient beings and the entire universe in perfect oneness and harmony. It would be more like if somebody else wanted some milk or somebody else wanted a bicycle, you'd be happy to give it to them if it was helpful. That's where you'd be at. But, you know, it's interesting here. We have this interesting place here. Not so simple as that. So one of the things that happens during Sashin is that we have this schedule and these forms, you know.

[40:10]

And someone came and talked to me about this thing about Nagarjuna talked about putting a snake in a bamboo tube. Now snakes, I don't know how you get a snake in a bamboo tube in the first place. But anyway, maybe it was a big bamboo tube and then it shrunk. A bamboo tube with some kind of thing that tightens down on the snake. Because how would a snake wiggle into a bamboo tube if it was just so narrow that the snake got straightened out? So somehow you get this bamboo, this snake into a bamboo tube that's not big enough for the snake to wiggle. So that's the image. Snake in a tight bamboo tube. Now, not everybody, not all snakes are willing to get into these bamboo tubes or have the occasion to be in a bamboo tube, but some snakes do get into them, and some people in the sashin are snakes in bamboo tubes. Now, some people in the sashin are such little snakes that this bamboo tube, they can wiggle in it.

[41:17]

So, you know, those people need some new adjustments, some new tubes, and we have, I've ordered some for you. But other people are big enough snakes so that this particular setup here is like a tight fit for you. And therefore, you're having trouble wiggling. I mean, you're trying to, but it's not working very well. I mean, you're not able to express the wiggles. You're feeling frustrated in your wiggles. And it's a painful situation not to be able to wiggle. or put it the other way, not being able to wiggle, you notice that you're uncomfortable. Matter of fact, some people think that they're more uncomfortable in the tube or in the sashin than they were before the sashin or that they will be after. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't think so, but, you know, it might be so. If you're uncomfortable and you wiggle...

[42:21]

It changes it quite a bit. If you're sitting still and you feel discomfort and you change your inner posture, it changes it quite a bit. Almost like it goes away. Like if you have your legs crossed and you uncross them, it's almost like the pain goes away. And I've told this story before. I was in a yoga class one time, and I was lying on the floor, actually, at the end of the class in this posture called the corpse pose, where you're just sort of down on the earth, you know. And it's quite comfortable just to be lying there at the end of the class for a minute or two, you know, maybe five minutes or less, maybe ten minutes. But, you know, it could be longer. Anyway, the yoga teacher during this pose said, If you stay in any yoga posture long enough, you will realize that, and I thought she was going to say, you know, some quintessential bliss. But she said, you'll realize that you're uncomfortable. I thought that's pretty good.

[43:27]

Actually, I thought it was very good. Now, I would say further, if you stay in any yoga posture long enough and you realize you're uncomfortable, and then you realize that all the Buddhas in ten directions, which means throughout the entire universe, in the past, present, and future, are practicing together with you in exactly the way you're uncomfortable, then you'll feel very comfortable. You'll feel a comfort which is unshakable, unshakable, unshakable, really reliable, and a happiness beyond anything that anyone's ever been able to say anything about, other than people saying all the things they say, which don't reach it, don't reach it.

[44:29]

It's unreachable by our little poetic expressions. And yet people have made some nice expressions, but they don't reach it. But first, before you get to that, you feel uncomfortable because you're not moving. And then she said, the yoga teacher said, even if you look at someone who's asleep, you know, in a nice, comfortable bed, they move every now and then in the bed to get more comfortable. In the most comfortable bed, after a while, they get uncomfortable and they change their posture. Or in a nice, one of those special reclining chairs that they have now, you know? They have some really nice chairs, high-tech chairs, And even in Noah, people keep eventually changing their posture because they get uncomfortable after a while. Why do you feel uncomfortable? Because you don't trust that all Buddhas are practicing with you in that posture you're in.

[45:36]

In other words, you're clinging to your little self and you think your self has a nice little shell around it that keeps the entire universe and all sentient beings and all Buddhas out. Or at least to keep some of the Buddhas and some of the sentient beings and part of the universe out. And one Buddha left out, one sentient being left out, one particle of dust in the universe left out, that's enough to shoot the whole thing down. This person that you are is completely nothing but what this person you are is. And this person, there's not one single thing in the universe in addition to what you are. And if you think there is, you'll be uncomfortable. When you first get into one of those chairs, you think, hey, I guess this is the whole universe. After a while, you doubt it, and then you start to suffer. You think, well, I think it would be good to wiggle a little bit.

[46:42]

But if you don't, if the tube stops you, or if you don't act on that, you feel uncomfortable. But that's because you think, one more particle of dust, one slightly, I want to adjust one little particle of dust here. Basically, I trust the teaching, but I want to change one little particle of dust. Or maybe a chunk of dirt. But anyway, I want to make an adjustment here. Because I don't really, I actually don't believe it. The forms of Sashin give you a chance to feel this constriction so that you can feel your impulses to try to get something. It actually puts you in a situation which is basically not about you getting something. Actually, you do get things, but not on your schedule, right?

[47:48]

You actually get these nice meals, And they're brought to you and served to you by expert servers in this lovely, you know, traditional way, which you can then, you know, you can receive the food, but you can also like argue about the food and wish it was some other food and wish they had some other style of delivery. Because although it's given to you, it's given to you in a certain way, not another way. and you have a certain seat, not another seat, and a certain body, not another body, and a certain tongue, and not another. All this stuff is quite given to you moment by moment as such. And if you don't trust that all the Buddhas are practicing together with you right then, and that you are practicing together with all Buddhas, and that you are practicing together with all sentient beings right then, as you are right then, if you don't trust that, you might think, well, maybe I should just change things a little bit, because it's uncomfortable to feel cut off from your nature.

[49:01]

So you think, if I feel cut off from Buddha, maybe I Maybe I'd be a little closer to Buddha if I ate a little less or ate a little more or had one more bean or adjusted my posture. I don't care about Buddha. I just want to be more comfortable. But you do care about Buddha because Buddha is right there with you, and you really do. And if you lose track of that, you're losing track of the oneness of yourself in Buddha, so you feel lousy. And Buddha's right there holding your hand while you feel lousy. And if you say, ìLet go of me. I don't want to hold your hand.î you feel worse. And then you say, oh, come back, hold my hand, and they come back. But they never left. So the forms surface, you know, these impulses, which show you, moment after moment, you don't believe the teaching of the oneness of all life.

[50:05]

Usually you walk around, you know, or I walk around, usually just walk around, right? Not believing in the oneness of nature, but it doesn't hurt. I don't necessarily feel the pain of it. Because everything I do, which is based on not trusting the oneness, I just can do. So I act freely in this deluded way, unhindered, a good share of the time. But what if I get hindered in the things I do to act out my lack of confidence in the practice? Then I can notice, oh, I actually am unhappy with the situation as it is. Usually, a good share of the day, we can do things to adjust our circumstances, or try to adjust our circumstances, before we even notice that we're uncomfortable with our circumstances.

[51:10]

Before we even notice that we don't appreciate what's happening, we do something to try to fix the situation of the pain of not appreciating what's happening. In Sashin, there's a little bit or a major obstruction to that, so you notice it. And right there when you notice it is now an opportunity to see if now you can believe the teaching, now if you can accept the teaching. So I was talking to somebody who was feeling pretty bad, And I felt like she just, you know, it was hard to accept that this bad feeling was that this person who felt this way, all the Buddhists were practicing together with this person, and their practice was to practice together with this person, and their practice was to practice together with everybody else.

[52:23]

And that this person feeling bad could also practice that way too. That this person feeling this painful, depressed state was actually completely one with all Buddhas and that there was nothing else, there's no other stories in the universe really but that. There's just the story of being this person. and the stories of being other, but they're all contained in that oneness. It's hard to accept that that's what's going on. But if we're feeling comfortable, you might be able to accept it, right? If you're feeling very comfortable and someone says, the way you are is one with all Buddhists, say, oh, great. That's nice. You feel good, plus you feel better. But you might say, I don't even need all those Buddhists. Well, fine. You don't. You don't. actually, because you already got them. They're not other than you.

[53:27]

They have no life other than you. But then, you know, so what if I don't have the Buddhists, and so what if I reject them? I'm feeling good. But the funny thing is when you're feeling bad, when you're feeling the pain of not believing in the Buddhists, that's when believing in the Buddhists, believing in the oneness of all life, that's when it would really help you, and that's when we doubt it Now, of course, it would also help other states, too. And in those cases, we accept it to some extent, but not really because as soon as it changes to feeling bad, then we realize we didn't really accept it then. Now, if you're in suffering, if your legs hurt or your butt hurts or whatever, it doesn't mean that you can't move and adjust your posture.

[55:00]

If something's going wrong with your body, it doesn't mean you can't go to the toilet or go rest. You can do that, really. But no matter what you do, one way or another, it doesn't help realization. What helps realization? Realization. What is realization? It's to be absorbed in the oneness of all life, which is to be absorbed in what's happening anyway, all the time. So whether you sit in your cushion

[56:06]

for one minute or three hours or ten days, whether you get up and adjust your posture or not. There is a practice of the Buddha. There is a practice of all Buddhas. which is the one mind which is always happening right now, where you are, as you are. As you are. And if you realize that, you might continue to sit or you might move. You might practice this as you eat or you might not. But it comes from your activity comes from, it emerges from absorption in the oneness of all life.

[57:14]

It's not the practice of one sentient being. It's the practice of practicing together with and in the same manner as all sentient beings, which includes for each of us to practice in the same manner that we're practicing, to practice in the same manner that I'm practicing. That is required because that's what's happening. The various difficulties that you go through this week are opportunities for realization.

[58:54]

It's not that what you're doing one way or another helps the realization. It's that everything you're doing or thinking is an opportunity for realization. If you think this happy thought or this painful thought, if you have this painful emotion or happy emotion, if you have this painful sensation or pleasant sensation, what these are, one way or another, don't help realization. But every one of them is an opportunity for realization. to see if you can accept the teaching of the one mind, teaching that the way it is for you as a sentient being, as a living creature, and the way it is for Buddha, are indistinguishable. And there's nothing else in the universe but the oneness of you and all the Buddhas, which is, in fact, the entire universe.

[60:08]

And all these pleasant and unpleasant experiences, all these sometimes strongly unpleasant experiences, present you with an opportunity for realization. to accept realization. And again, it's not that this is realization, that this is the Buddha. That misses it. Thus, thus, Don't make it into this or not this. This is just an arena in which the Buddhas help us and in which we help all the Buddhas. This is just the occasion in which we practice together with all beings, in which we enjoy, appreciate, and give our life to the practice of all Buddhas, in which we have a moment where we don't seek

[61:27]

particle of dust other than what is happening. And we're in a situation called sesshin where we're supported to have things happen. We actually have experiences that we notice We don't go through an hour without having some experience that we're aware of. I guess. I've heard some people are really good at going a whole hour without having an experience, but most people aren't that good at taking mind trips away. Most people have some kind of confrontation with some kind of sense of their sentient limitation to celebrate.

[62:38]

I'm talking now, and between this talking I'm doing right now and the last time I talked, quite a few things happened that I was aware of. A lot of things, I got a lot of sensations from the area in which my body's touching the cushion. And I thought, you know, maybe I could lift myself up off the cushion and give a little breathing space to that area down there. And now actually I'm going to do that just as well as experiment to lift myself up off the cushion. And now I have the experience of what it's like for my body not to be touching the cushion. And it's kind of refreshing. It has a kind of different quality. And now I'm settling back down on the cushion again. And it's kind of pleasant, actually. That little break was kind of pleasant. But in the intervening time, in that silent time there, I was trying to look and see what each moment was.

[65:35]

And I noticed that they were fleeting by very fast. It was hard for me. Actually, I couldn't tell exactly whether I was in pain or not. I kind of thought I was, but I wasn't sure actually because I was having, in some sense, so much fun looking for the opportunity to appreciate the practice of the Buddha. But it was hard for me actually to find it, to actually find my individual experiences. I was having a lot of trouble. I actually couldn't tell whether I was actually in pain or not, but I thought maybe I was because It seemed reasonable, but I might be, because there was heat down there, very hot. But now I have a similar feeling, but I don't really feel like it's pain. I could call it that, but it's pressure, yeah, but not necessarily pain. But sitting here, being aware of this, you know, the surface of my body and the surface of these cushions meeting and the sensation of that and talking to you about that and sharing this with you, bring me so close to it that it's hard for me actually to feel separate from it or like anything wrong with it.

[66:55]

But yet I did lift myself up there and get a little break, so maybe in a little while I will be clear that it's pain. And maybe I'll be clear that it would be good to lift myself up and give my skin surface a little air, a little break from the pressure. Maybe I'll do that. But for me the important thing is before this day is over, before this life is over, that I notice that these moments are the moments in which the practice happens. And they're actually not that easy even to notice and to be there. But that's kind of where it happens, is in those little physical and mental and emotional moments. I mean, it happens there or it doesn't. I mean, I'm there feeling it and trusting the teaching, trusting the practice of Buddha on this skin surface, in the feeling of this internal organ, in this thought, in this worry, in this emotion, or I'm not there.

[68:09]

But it's not that easy to be there. be patient with myself. But that's where it is. It's right here, right now. This is the opportunity for realizing the unborn one mind of Buddha. And it will be that way from now on. You'll never have a moment of life that doesn't offer this opportunity. Or at least that's what this teaching is saying. Because of the oneness of all life,

[69:19]

there's always that opportunity. No state, no living being is ever excluded from this practice, including those sentient beings who exclude themselves. You can exclude yourself, I can exclude myself willfully or by inattention, but All the Buddhas come with me wherever I go. I can never escape their compassion, their interest, their attention, because wherever I am, they are practicing exactly like I am. One of the ancestors says, when you're in this state, sometimes the conditions are such that you have something to say, so go ahead and say it.

[70:55]

Other times the conditions are such that you don't have anything to say, so be silent. Right now, I'm in one of those conditions where I have something to say. But I feel other conditions coming to bear which are saying, even though you have something to say, maybe you should stop. But I want you to know that other times the conditions are such that I have nothing to say. It's not just because I'm stopping myself. I actually have nothing to say. That's the way it is. That's the way all the Buddhas are practicing in the same manner as this sentient being, is that it's silence. But now the way they're practicing is to stop the talk.

[71:56]

May God help us.

[72:30]

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