Before you practice Zazen, it's good to remember that you don't know anything about Zazen. And nobody knows any more than you do. about Zazen. Even Buddha doesn't know what it is. Even the most profound wisdom does not know what Zazen is. Somebody may think they know, but this is just their thinking.

[01:29]

Somebody may think they don't know, and this is their thinking. It's not within the reach of feelings or discrimination. Hypocritic et net. Consideration in thought. I can't do zazen and neither can you.

[02:47]

But zazen is always being done. What is doing zazen? the whole body and actually the whole body is not even doing zazen the whole body is zazen Some people sit and make calculations about how they're doing. Some people say, I'm not doing very well. I can't concentrate well. Other people say, I'm concentrating pretty well. Some people sit for many years and still say they're not very concentrated.

[04:00]

This is their calculation about their practice. And they're in charge of the calculations about their practice. But no matter what your calculations are, you're still not your calculations. You're one whole being. And you can never see this whole being as an object. Stillness is the initiation into emptiness. So someone may wonder, well, what is stillness? Am I still? Looks like I'm still moving to me.

[05:01]

I got my calculator out and I came up with some movement. But this movement which we observe is simply illusion. Movement is illusion. There can be no movement in the present. You can only dream of motion in the present. is immovable. And the present mind cannot be got at as an object. You can never see the immovable present. However, it is always there.

[06:05]

And that immovable present is the body of emptiness. It is the substance of wisdom. Wisdom is the function of that stillness. Meantime, back at the ranch, you are seeing all kinds of movement, calculating movement. You won't stop doing that. But even while you're moving, you can still look for the stillness. You won't be able to see it but you can look for it. So I propose that stillness, that complete stillness, is an act of faith.

[07:08]

And it isn't that you say, I am still, or this is steps but rather that stillness is exactly immovable unshakable faith not faith in anything without saying this is stillness this is stillness and the function of this stillness is vast space complete spaciousness and this stillness it's not an object of thought

[08:26]

is the body of wisdom. This is deportment beyond hearing and seeing. The accomplishment of great peace has no sign. We want to find some sign by which we can tell how to accomplish great peace or to be able to tell that great peace has been accomplished but it has no sign.

[09:38]

That's why the family style of peasants is most pristine, most undefiled. To live your life not marking it with some device, some contrivance, like a peasant who doesn't know any better. To come to Zazen with no knowledge, with no equipment, that way of sitting is faith that's stillness but not even naming your sitting stillness not even bringing that with you bringing no sign to your sitting letting it be the illusion or lack of illusion that it is

[11:19]

So I propose that psychologically some of you will never be satisfied with your sitting. You will never stop criticizing it. You will never ever in your whole life feel concentrated. You will not let yourself do that because of your psychological habits. Some others will say because of their psychological habits that they are concentrated, that they aren't. But actually, if you look at a human body, it never stops moving. If you're thinking about it in terms of if there's any movement possible, then the body's moving.

[15:13]

If you can see blood flowing, the body's moving. If you can see mitochondria wiggling, then mitochondria are wiggling. Chemical reactions are happening in the body. There's tremendous movement if you see movement. You can never sit still if there's any movement. So the people who think they're sitting still are just thinking that they're sitting still. Other people who don't even get down to the level of looking at the cells, they think they're moving even more than that. But this is just because they're critical of themselves. and they're not going to stop being critical. Sitting still is something that doesn't have to do with whether you're critical of yourself or not.

[16:19]

It doesn't have to do with your opinion. Sitting still is the body of emptiness. I heard that there's an expression in Hebrew about the hand of the tongue grabbing emptiness. Is that right? Oh, life and death. Life and death is how about it. Dogen's teacher, Liu Jing, wrote a poem. The whole body is like a mouth hanging in vast space.

[17:31]

Mouth hanging in vast space. Not questioning. East, west, north, south wind. Just telling people about wisdom. I'm not the whole body. The whole body is a mouth. But that mouth is talking through everything. It's telling what wisdom is. a whole body wisdom.

[19:06]

Do you have not so much faith in the whole body, but do you have the whole body faith? Do you have it? Will you let the whole body sit? Will you let the whole body sit? Or will you banish it from your cushion? Will you say, whole body cannot sit here sit in the next person's seat because over here in this area there's too much psychological disturbance going on for the whole body to be sitting here this is not stillness I know better I know what Zazen is and this ain't it This isn't the way Buddha sits.

[20:09]

So, full body can't sit here. Martin Luther was very self-critical of himself. He was very self-critical. He wore out several confessors. I forgot how many. The origins of doksan are confession, private confession.

[21:23]

When you have group confession, in the early sangha, you're supposed to confess that you broke the rules. But there's many little things which are too tiny for those rules to catch. And some people have very tiny minds. Like Martin Luther had a very tiny mind. and he could find errors that weren't even on the precept list for Christian monks. Precepts do not say that you can't think certain things but you can confess all kinds of tiny little evil thoughts Anyway, he confessed and [...] he confessed.

[22:31]

And then one day, he was sitting on the toilet taking a shit. And he had a great understanding. He had a great release. And then he said after that, Here I stand. Here I sit. It doesn't mean we know what Zau Zen is. It simply means here I sit. Can you say that? without knowing what Zazen is, and also in the faith that even Buddha doesn't know what Zazen is, can you say, here I sit.

[23:39]

And nobody ever can say more than that. Martin Luther, Shakyamuni Buddha, that's all they can say. Here I sit. This is faith. And this here I sit doesn't move. I don't care what anybody says. It doesn't move. It is unshakable, never moving mountain lion. It is the body of wisdom. Without this here I sit, there's no wisdom. And there's no wisdom without this here I sit. It's up to you whether you say that about your sitting. Actually, you do sit there. Can you say it? Even though you may have a mind as small and picky as Martin Luther, still you can say, here I shit.

[24:54]

If you can't say it, then you don't have faith. And you will believe in your idea that you're moving. And if you believe you're moving, you believe in illusion. And if you believe in illusion, you don't believe in wisdom. And then, of course, you feel great. Here I stand in sarcasm. I'm not impatient with anybody, but I'm impatient with belief in illusion, in calling illusion reality, in believing that things are really moving and that you're really not sitting still. I don't like that because it causes pain.

[26:10]

But anyway, even though it causes pain, still, I say, here I sit. And I move as much as anybody else. Namely, I don't move at all. the illusion of movement occurs to me as much as it occurs to anybody else. And the one who sees the illusion of movement, that one who sees the illusion of movement, that one doesn't move. But the one who sees the reality of movement, that one feels that they're moving all the time. The one who believes in movement, of course, is constantly harassed. Movement is not real. Movement is just your thinking. But we still should honor our thinking.

[27:24]

But not honor it as reality. Honor it for what it is. The life of illusions. When you see movement in your heart, join your palms and bow. I respect you, illusion. You're very powerful. You look just like the real thing. But you are illusion. Beautiful, gorgeous world of illusion. Meantime, here I sit. So I recommend that we remember

[28:37]

that all sentient beings have is boundless illusion. That's all we've got. And there's no fundamental to relying on. And this illusion itself is the immutable knowledge of all the Buddhas. But if you think this illusion is real It's just endless misery. But even though we live in the middle of illusion, still we can say, here I sit. Or this is sitting. Even though I don't know what it is. And I'm just like all the Buddhas and ancestors.

[29:42]

They too didn't know what it was. They too just had illusion. They too knew illusion was illusion. And they too sat where they were. In a present that they could never apprehend. Sharing in the whole body that never moves. Everything changing, nothing moves. And this is the family style of peasants.

[30:59]

Just singing village songs and festival drinking. Sixth Ancestors Quiet Disciple Seigen Gyoshi Ching Niran Shinsa Walked around all day saying

[32:00]

Who is it that's mindful of Buddha? That's why they call him Shing Sa. Shing Sa means walking thinker. But he was always walking. When he was an old man he said, Before I studied Zen for 30 years, before I studied Zen for 30 years, I thought mountains were mountains and saw rivers as rivers. Then, as I became more intimate, I realized that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers.

[33:15]

Now I am with the essence and I am at peace. And I see that mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. Heard melodies are sweet. But those unheard are sweeter. Therefore, ye soft pipes, play on. Not to the sensual ear, but more endeared.

[34:32]

Play to the spirit. ditties of no tone. Want to hear one? Here I stand. Here I sit. This is a song to my spirit. My ear can't hear it. In the end, he says, truth is beauty.

[35:41]

Beauty is truth. That's all you're going to know in this world. And that's all you'll ever need to know. Buddha doesn't need to know any more than that. And Buddha knows there's nothing more to know than that. Sitting completely still is an act of faith. is not something that I can do.

[36:44]

If you're not sure if it's alright for you to sit still, but you'd like to, just touch the earth and see if she says it's okay. When you're being harassed by your critical mind that says you can't sit still, touch the earth and see if she scares all those demons away and lets you sit. Yeah, girl, I love you too.

[37:56]

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