in this world of suffering, bodhisattvas knowingly and willingly enter. all beings are welcome to this seven days of gathering the body-mind, this seven days of caring for body-mind. this seven days of enlightening body and mind for the welfare of this world.

[01:20]

This seven days has a schedule offered and at this time on the schedule it says, I think, Dharma talk. I'm wondering, do you request a Dharma talk? Does anybody not want a Dharma talk now? Speak now. or forever be silent. Also, as you may have noticed, if you looked at the board, there's a schedule which says over and over, I think it says, does it say Zazen? Does it? Did you see that? Zazen, Zazen, Zazen. This morning we recited, we sang a song called Fukanzazengi, which means universal encouragements for the ceremony of seated Zen.

[03:24]

And in the text, you may have noticed the author Eihei Dogen Zenji wrote the Zazen, the seeded Zen, which I teach, is not just developing concentration. It is totally culminated enlightenment. The Zazen I teach is totally culminated enlightenment. So we have the text which is about the ceremony of seated totally culminated enlightenment. It's a ceremony to express, to enact complete perfect enlightenment in the sitting posture.

[04:45]

There could be another text called the Universal Encouragements for the ceremony of perfect enlightenment in walking or standing. So there is an encouragement to practice Zazen. As our teacher Suzuki Roshi said, the job of a Zen priest, but you could also say the job of some bodhisattvas, is to encourage the practice of seated meditation, to encourage the practice of seated enlightenment, of enlightenment in the sitting posture. That's what he said the job of a Zen priest is. One way to encourage it is, of course, to practice it in sitting.

[06:04]

So he practiced sitting in meditation as a way to encourage the practice of sitting meditation. He practiced, he performed the ceremony of seated enlightenment to encourage the practice of seated enlightenment. Not just enlightenment, but complete perfect enlightenment. In this temple and in many temples around the country, around the world, in Japan and China, the practice of Zazen is also called by other names.

[07:06]

I think it might be helpful, it might encourage the practice of Zazen to understand the other names for it. I don't know why there's so many names, but there are. So again, another name for Zazen is Complete Perfect Enlightenment. in the sitting posture. Another name for Zen is perfect, unsurpassed, authentic awakening. And then another name is precious mirror samadhi. That's another name for Zaza. It's another name for perfect enlightenment. we'll probably, maybe we'll chant that tomorrow, the song of the precious mirror samadhi. In that song it says something like, although it's not fabricated, it's not without speech.

[08:17]

This this precious mirror samadhi, this perfect enlightenment, is not a fabricated thing. It's not a constructed thing. And no words reach it. Nothing I can say or you can say reaches this zazen samadhi. Although it's not fabricated, it is not without words. Although no words reach it, it can talk. so we have Dharma Talks. So it can talk. It can use a human being to express itself. It can use human beings to encourage human beings to practice it. I've been put in a seat to speak for Zazen. Do you allow me?

[09:22]

Then I will speak for Zazen. The person leading a practice period in some Zen temples is called Dharma Flag Teacher. So I joyfully raise the flag of Zazen. I raise the flag of the Dharma of Suchness, the invisible flag of the invisible Dharma. the flag is being raised. As I say over and over, and you may have heard me this morning, enlightenment is living in stillness.

[10:49]

and silence. Stillness and silence is living in enlightenment. Now I expand this proposal. Zazen is living in stillness and silence. Stillness and silence is living in Zazen. the song of the precious mirror samadhi starts out by saying, the dharma of suchness.

[12:32]

And now I say, now I suggest, the dharma of suchness is living in stillness. and stillness is living in the Dharma of Suchness. We are living in stillness. Stillness is living in us. During this session we are performing a ritual of stillness to raise the Dharma flag

[13:51]

which says, Stillness is living in us. We are living in stillness. Stillness is living in us. Stillness is living in Zazen. We and Zazen are living together in stillness. the song goes on. After saying the teaching of suchness, it says, intimate transmission. And

[14:58]

it often is translated as saying, the teaching of suchness is intimately transmitted, which I agree, it is. But it can also be read, the teaching of suchness is intimate transmission. Or, the teaching of suchness is intimate transmitting. Intimate transmitting is the teaching. And then it says, Buddhas and ancestors. Usually the sentence goes, in most translations we see, the teaching of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors.

[16:03]

I today suggest to you, Buddhas and ancestors, what they are, is intimate transmitting. Buddhas and ancestors are intimate transmission. And the intimate transmission is the dharma, the reality of the way things really are. Right now, there is an intimate transmission, and it's alive in stillness, with us in stillness. This intimate transmission is Buddhas and ancestors. Buddhas and ancestors are not someplace else. They are with us in stillness. there is an intimate transmission right now going on. And that is the teaching of suchness, and that is Buddhas and ancestors.

[17:05]

And we sing this song over and over. So when we sing it, it's an opportunity to remember the teaching of suchness, which is the teaching of suchness, intimate transmission right now. Buddhas and ancestors right now, teaching of suchness right now. And we have another song called, The Harmony of Difference and Unity, which also starts out, The Mind of the Great Sage of India. Intimate transmission, again, the mind of the great sage of India." Again, usually it's translated, is intimately transmitted, which I agree, but I thought take away the is and mind of the great sage of India.

[18:09]

The Chinese doesn't have the character for is, it says mind of great sage of India, intimate transmission. the mind of the great sage of India, intimate transmission. And I'm suggesting it's happening right now in stillness, which means you don't have to do anything to get it. Whatever you're doing is where it's happening, in the stillness of your body and mind and all actions that are occurring in the stillness of all that, the mind of the great sage is present. And it is, the mind is an intimate transmission process. And

[19:15]

One more amazing step to suggest, I'm amazed to say this to you, this intimate transmission is face-to-face. There is a face-to-face intimate transmission living in stillness. Face-to-face transmission is another name for zazen. And the face-to-face transmission is living as Zazen, with Zazen, for Zazen, in stillness. Always, every moment. And we can sit here in the present and we can offer this sitting as a raising of the flag of this face-to-face transmission, as a testament, as a witnessing, as a everything to this face-to-face intimate transmission, which is called Zazen, which is called

[20:44]

Precious Mere Samadhi, which is called Self-Receiving Unemploying Samadhi, which is called the Buddha Mind Seal. We can use every word we speak, every thought we think, every gesture we make to raise the flag of complete perfect enlightenment. we're invited to do so if we wish. And whether we want to or not, it's happening in stillness. It's just a question of whether you want to join the party. When I...

[21:52]

first started sitting zazen, I did not think when I sat that I was entering into a practice of face-to-face transmission. But over the years I've come to see Zazen as sitting in the midst of a face-to-face transmission. so many faces transmitting to so many other faces.

[22:58]

And what I'm saying today has never been said before, I've never said what I said today before. Nobody else has said what I'm saying before. And it's pretty much totally unoriginal. In face-to-face transmission, you can actually look into another face and do it. I mean, and join it.

[24:12]

And the other face can look back at you. Or not. Both faces cannot look at the other face. There's eyes in the face, maybe, but the eyes don't have to look at the other eyes. The face-to-face transmission is going on even if you cover your face. in stillness, before you have a chance to cover your face or before you have a chance to take the covering away. Zazen?

[25:53]

Mind of the great sage of India? Mm-hmm. Mind of the great sage of India? Yes. Zazen? Zazen? Yes, mind sage, great sage of India. Precious mirror samadhi? Yes, Zazen. What is it? Complete perfect enlightenment? Yes. What do you need? Sausage? Intimate transmission?

[27:00]

Yes. Someone asked me recently, do you have any encouragements for what to do upon waking in the morning? And I said, well, something does come to mind when you ask that. Once upon a time there was a Chinese monk who practiced And in the morning when he got up he would say to himself, Master. And then he would answer, Yes. And then he would say to himself, or he would say, Are you awake?

[28:08]

And then he would say, Yes. And then he would say all day long, Don't let anybody distract you." And then he would say, I won't. In the stillness of each one of the moments of that morning ritual, Enlightenment was living and breathing and transmitting. In every moment of stillness, in the stillness of every moment, awakening is living, is breathing, is transmitting face to face with no limit.

[29:15]

These hands are cold, but there's a feeling of heat in the upper part of the body and the thought, maybe I've said too much. Or certainly, maybe I've said enough. May I make a dedication of this seven-day practice event? May I make a dedication of it to the intimate transmission, which is Buddhas and ancestors? May I dedicate this to the teaching of suchness, which is zazen?

[30:42]

May I? dedication has been made. May our intention equally extend

[31:05]

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