I feel the need to repeatedly bring up the big view of what we call Zen practice. so that whatever we seem to be involved in, whatever kind of efforts we may feel devoted to, that we have the right understanding of what's happening.

[01:04]

Otherwise, although we may be devoting ourselves to wholesome activities, our understanding may be such that these wholesome activities are hindered in some way. Now today, as far as I can tell, you've all been living in a wholesome way. You haven't hurt each other as far as I know. And as a matter of fact, you've probably been encouraging each other since early this morning. You've all made quite an effort to take care of the situation of being alive. And your efforts have encouraged the others in this room.

[02:16]

Haven't you felt encouraged by your comrades here? Doesn't it make it a little bit Well, I shouldn't say easier, but anyway. You're kind of carried along by the great effort of the group. Right? And also you're part of the group that carries the others. So it's been a good day already. But I still feel it would be good if we have understanding of some good understanding of how this all works. Part of the way meditation practice is often presented in the Buddhist tradition and in Zen too, is that it sometimes follows the presentation of the precepts.

[03:37]

Precepts being teachings on the ways of behaving. as a kind of foundation for entering into developing an understanding, developing a mind and body condition that's ripe for understanding the truth of the Buddha's teaching, which is the welfare of all beings. And these precepts are presented in two ways, or in many ways I can speak of two ways that they're presented. One way that they're presented is in terms of phenomenal behaviors, phenomenal

[04:53]

things that humans or other animals can do or not do. In other words, they're presented in a world where life is seen as the life of individual people who act by their own individual understanding and energy. They might be called the precepts of many minds. The many mind precepts. Because in the phenomenal world it's as though we have many minds. Does that make sense? Don't we sort of feel like that? I got my mind, you got my mind, they got their mind.

[05:56]

And our minds, sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't. But anyway, we have our different little minds, our different perspectives on what's going on here right now, for example. So in the beginning, oftentimes in the beginning of... of Buddhist training, Buddhist study, these precepts are given. These are precepts, the many-mind precepts, the precepts for how you, separate from me, separate from her, how you are encouraged to care for the way you think and the way you talk and the way you walk and the way you eat and so on. the many mind precepts. But there's also then another kind of precept which are also offered and those are the precepts called the one mind precepts.

[07:02]

These are the precepts of the one mind these are the precepts not of many minds but of one mind this is the precepts of the one mind wherein your mind and my mind and Buddha's mind are not two where you and me and all the Buddhas are just one mind and It's not that that one mind precept is better than the many mind precepts, it's more that the one mind precept is sort of the meaning of the many mind precepts, or the source, in a sense, or the point of the many mind precepts. So the many mind precepts are precepts like don't kill those other minds

[08:08]

Don't kill those beings who you think have a different mind from you. If you think they have a different mind in that realm, don't kill them. Don't steal from them. Don't lie to them. Don't possess them, and so on. Don't hate them. Don't slander them. So, in the realm of many minds, be nice to the other minds and the bodies that go with them. Or be nice to the other bodies and the minds which go with them. Be kind to all beings who you think are separate from you. But these precepts you see come from the one mind precept, which is that we are all one mind. And all the Buddhas are that same one mind, and there's nothing else besides that. And these precepts are also sometimes offered in a slightly different way of speaking of them as the many paths precepts, the precepts of many paths or many practices.

[09:26]

So it's again, there's a world which you may be familiar with where there seems to be many paths, like there's the my path, your path, there's the Zen path, there's the Christian path, there's the Muslim path, the Jewish path, the Taoist path, the Confucian path, the Theravada path, the Mahayana path, the Hinayana path, all these different paths, there's many paths. Have you seen that world? It's in the newspapers and stuff. There's even like different political paths. So in that way, sometimes there's bodhisattva precepts given, there's monk's precepts given, there's lay precepts given, and so on. And sometimes there's special monastic precepts given for a particular monastic situation.

[10:31]

So actually there's precepts given for the way we do sashin. We have special precepts for sashin. Now we have precepts for after sashin. We have precepts for eating. We have precepts for serving. We have all these precepts in the world where there's different paths. But there's also a one-path precept, which is the precept of the one path, the Buddha path, the path that we're all on. The Buddha path is not the path... of different people and different beings on different paths. It's the path of Buddha. The path of Buddha includes everybody, and there's nobody outside the Buddha path. So there's precepts of separate paths, there's precepts of separate minds and bodies, and there's precepts of one mind and one path. So I think this mind, which is a one mind, and there's two kinds of one mind.

[11:52]

It's one mind that's separate from your mind, and it's also one mind that's the same as your mind, and that mind thinks that it's good if you're practicing in the realm of where you have a separate path from the rest of us, And when you have your precepts that you're practicing by your own power, that you don't forget that the meaning of what you're doing is that we're all doing this together and we're really all on the same path. And if you look at the precepts you're practicing, for example, if you look at the bodhisattva precepts, you may be able to see that these precepts really are expressions of one mind, that they really make sense in terms of one mind. So if you keep that context, I think it's helpful. In the realm of one mind precepts, when Buddhas are enlightened, their enlightenment's not something that's for the Buddhas.

[13:03]

Their enlightenment's not for their own sake. It's for all beings' sake. And in the one mind realm, or the realm of one vehicle, there's not like one person, like one Buddha, that's enlightened. There isn't like a Buddha there enlightened. There's not a teacher there. In the realm of many minds, Buddha is enlightened and ordinary people are not. And the ones who are not are separate from the ones who are. In the realm of one mind, Buddhas are enlightened and unenlightened people aren't enlightened.

[14:11]

But they're not separate. And Buddha's enlightenment is exactly all the unenlightened people. And you might think, not a very nice enlightenment the Buddha has. But anyway, that's what unenlightened people think. Did you think that? Somebody did. I could tell. Who was it? So that's about the precepts and then after receiving the precepts oftentimes then we move into practicing what we call meditation or development of the kind of awareness that we'll be able to bring our life in accord with these phenomenal precepts and these ultimate precepts, which will bring our mind in accord with the one mind.

[15:28]

And these meditation practices, again, can be looked at in both ways, namely in the phenomenal way and in the ultimate way or the fundamental way. So just like there can be one path precepts or one mind precepts, there can be one mind concentrations or one mind awarenesses or many mind awarenesses. So we can develop concentration of one mind which is separate from others or we can practice the awareness of the one mind which is the mind where all beings are not separate. And of course the awareness of the one mind

[16:36]

includes all the minds which think that they're separate from each other. So if you enter into the awareness of the one mind, if you enter into the one mind concentration, all the apparently separate minds, the minds which think they're separate, are included there. So the practice is, The many-mind meditation practices are completely included in the one-mind meditation practices. And also, the one-mind meditation practices are completely included in the many-mind practices. So the many-mind practices, namely the practice that you do, and that you do and your neighbor doesn't do, or maybe you and some of your neighbors do, but then other neighbors don't. But anyway, the practice that you do by your own power in your separate way, or the practice you're having trouble doing, or the practice you would like to do but don't do, those kinds of practices are completely inseparable and completely pervaded by the one mind awareness.

[17:51]

And the one mind awareness is completely inseparable from our petty little dramas of meditation practice that we go through at various times, or that we wish we were going through, if we could remember what they were. When you forget them, you're forgetting your meditation practice is your meditation practice when you want to meditate and you forget to do it, that you, thinking that you have forgotten your meditation practice, which is yours, and you're not doing it. And that way of being is completely inseparable from Buddha's mind. All the Buddhas are right there with you while you're forgetting to do your meditation practice. And they aren't going, oh, you lousy meditator. They're not. They don't talk like that. You talk like that.

[18:57]

I talk like that. But they just are enjoying the fact that you are inseparable from them and you are their job security. They say, oh, it's going to be so much fun to hang out with this person until they get with the program and stop being on this very long-standing power trip of them trying to practice by their own power and also them failing to practice by their own power and them determining that they fail to practice by their own power and so on. Anyway, all that is completely included in the one mind. The one mind does not try to get rid of meditators like that. Now, sometimes it happens that the meditator is able to I mean, sometimes it happens that the meditator thinks that she is actually being successful at the meditation which she decided to do. And then she feels like, well, pretty good.

[19:59]

I decided to do this meditation and I did it. And like I'm a success. And not only that, but then I went and told the teacher that I was doing it and then I got the next step in the meditation. I tried that and I did that and that was great too. Then I went back and got the next stage and I got better and better and better. And this is like I'm on a roll. I'm really successful and I'm having a great time. And the Buddhas don't hate you for being successful. And they don't hate you for failing. That successful meditation tour you're on is completely inseparable from all the unsuccessful meditators in the room with you. Now they are very happy that, you know, if they know about this, they're very happy that your success is inseparable from their failure because they're getting a contact high. Now some of them actually are angry at you for being successful because they would like to not just be near the success but have it be theirs.

[21:05]

So they'd like to trade with you. But the Buddha doesn't prefer you successful ones over the unsuccessful ones, and both of you are completely inseparable from Buddhas, and also the successful ones are completely inseparable from the unsuccessful ones. But anyway, there are probably, who knows, at the end of the day, there may be like a few people here that are successful, have a successful sitting, and some other people may say, well, you know, that was kind of an unsuccessful sitting. I kind of like blew it today. That maybe happened here today, that someone will leave here with that thought. And you know what? Buddha is not trying to prohibit that and say, okay, nobody leaves this room talking like that. If somebody wants to say this was a lousy day, hey, you're welcome. And if somebody wants to say it was a great day, best meditation day of my life, okay, fine. But I would like you to understand that no matter what you think of your practice, no matter how you evaluate it, up till now and by the end of the day, your practice is just your practice.

[22:17]

And your practice just being your practice is just one mind. So in Soto Zen, of the school of the master, the teacher, Dogen, there does seem to be, and sometimes I feel that there's kind of a little bit more emphasis on the one mind samadhi, or the one path samadhi, or the one practice samadhi. And from way back in Chinese history, from the teacher named the fourth ancestor, he also really liked this one practice samadhi. It's the awareness of the one practice, actually an awareness or a concentration on what we're all doing here together.

[23:27]

So what is it that the people who are like asleep and the people who are awake and the people who are grumpy and the people that are joyous and the people that are discouraged and the people that are whatever, what is it that we're all doing? The fourth ancestor recommended that samadhi, if you're ready for it, the awareness of the one practice, And the Zen teacher Dogen also seemed to be, although he didn't say the one practice Samadhi too much, he seemed to be, I feel he was, a lot of times anyway, paying attention to this one practice, encouraging the awareness of the one thing we're all doing together. And sometimes he called his practice just sitting.

[24:34]

And now, in the modern days, in the present days, I should say, of that tradition, many of his disciples, of Dogen's disciples, say that the main practice of this school is called just sitting. And one way of speaking of just sitting is that just sitting is... It's the body just sitting. And it is the body just sitting which isn't trying to do anything it's a posture in which it's the posture, it's the body in which a living being is not trying to do anything for itself and in not trying to do anything for itself

[26:00]

it becomes free of being a living being and becomes a Buddha. Usually living beings are trying to do something for themselves. Have you ever noticed that? I mean, among other people, have you noticed that they're trying to do something for themselves? That's a living being, right? Maybe you even sometimes slip into that mode of thinking that you're doing something for yourself. This is a normal living being, and those normal living beings who are doing things for themselves are just one mind with the Buddhas who are not doing anything for themselves. And it isn't like they're doing us a favor by not doing anything for themselves. It's just that they can't do anything for themselves because they're just not into that way of seeing the world. Because they don't see themselves.

[27:05]

All they see is all living beings and all the Buddhas. They don't see like, okay, there's all the living beings plus me. That's not the Buddha's world. The Buddha's world is there's all the living beings and all the Buddhas and that's it. Doesn't leave me out. I'm already included. So I don't do anything for myself. So when I sit in meditation, that body, that Buddha body, is a body which is not doing anything for itself. Now, if it's a sentient being who's sitting that way, then a sentient being is giving up being a sentient being. Because a sentient being is not... using the body to get something for itself it's letting the body just sit there and let go of getting anything for itself it's the body which is letting go of getting anything but it's also not just a physical posture of not trying to get anything for the physical posture

[28:18]

It's the person who's not trying to get anything for the person. It's me not trying to get anything for me, but it's that body, but it's also the mental or the mind posture like that too. So physically and mentally sitting here, we're not trying to get anything. Now you can sit here and try to get something, like you can sit here for the next few hours and you can sit here in order to get lunch and it probably will work. In other words, you'll get lunch by sitting here to get lunch. But if you sit here without trying to get lunch for sitting here you'll probably also get lunch. I can't guarantee in either case that you'll get it, but there'll be two different ways of spending the rest of the morning. One is sitting here without trying to get anything for yourself and becoming Buddha, and the other is sitting here and trying to get something for yourself and continuing to be stuck in being a living being who thinks she's separate from lunch.

[29:31]

A living being thinks, feels separate from lunch. And it's okay to be a living being, of course, because Buddhas are inseparable from living beings, and living beings are inseparable from Buddhas. Living beings help Buddhas, and living beings are those who are helped by Buddhas. So it's okay to be a living being, but it's also okay to let go of being a living being, and be not just a living being, but also realize freedom from being a living being, right while being a living being. That's called being free. But you can't be free of being a living being if you don't have a living being. When you do have a living being, so the question is how to let go of it. So we have this one practice samadhi, or one practice meditation, which is the meditation of letting go of being somebody who is trying to get something out of meditation. Okay?

[30:37]

So that's kind of a possibility. Now there's also, just as there's one mind awarenesses, or one mind meditations, there's also many mind meditations. And just as there's one mind precepts and many mind precepts, and we offer the many mind precepts, and you can practice the many mind precepts, you can also practice the many mind meditation practices. In other words, they're practices which are kind of like practices that you're doing. But the other people in the room may not be doing those practices. So you may be working today on some precept. Maybe you're working on I don't know what. Not killing. Maybe you're going to try to like... Maybe during the morning cleaning you tried not to kill any insects while you were cleaning. Maybe some of you are into some heavier trends of restraints.

[31:43]

Maybe some of you are trying not to take anything that's not given. Maybe you're working on not verbally, which is not too difficult, but not verbally or even mentally thinking any slanderous thoughts towards people. So you could be working on these particular precepts. but somebody else may be working on something different. So each of us may be working on certain precepts during this day or this week. Precepts, these many mind precepts. Similarly, some of us may be working on a certain type of meditation practice. Some of us may be following our breathing. Others may be actually just trying to do this just sitting. Others may be working on the posture. Others may be practicing loving-kindness. Others may be practicing stabilizing the mind by not grasping anything. And so we may have these different meditation practices that we're doing here.

[32:47]

And again, just as it's fine to do the many mind precepts, but I think good to have the one mind precept understanding why you're doing it. Similarly, if you do the many mind concentration practices, that you have the one mind understanding while you're practicing. While you're doing the precepts and while you're doing the concentration, you understand that there's another kind of precept that you don't do and another kind of meditation practice that you don't do. And while you may be even doing a precept practice, for your own sake, or a meditation practice for your own sake, simultaneously there's the practice of the precepts and the meditation, which isn't for your own sake. And I also feel that to keep these two sides of the precepts and these two sides of meditation in mind, they really help each other.

[33:58]

So if you keep the big mind, if you sort of understand the big mind when you're doing the small mind or the many mind, it actually facilitates the many mind. And similarly, doing the many mind precept practice or the many mind meditation practice celebrates and brings into full essence the one mind. A few days ago I was talking to some people in here about some practices, some ways to train the attention that have the potential to stabilize

[35:17]

the consciousness, to stabilize the mind, to make it calm and tranquil, and also to make it buoyant and flexible and bright and joyful and ready to do whatever is the appropriate thing. One of the ways to train the attention, and again, in this practice of training the attention, somebody might think, some person might think that they're training their own attention. And I say, fine, think about it that way if you want to. Later we'll get over this, hopefully. But for now, you may think, okay, I am training my attention so that my mind will be like totally cool, buoyant, blissful, and ready to go to work for all beings.

[36:27]

And then I will be like an excellent Buddhist practitioner. Fine, think that way. It's okay. Okay. But please remember, there's another way to see this all. So, how do you train the attention? And again, I would start by giving an instruction which was given by a Zen teacher as a kind of training in the one mind awareness. So he said, he said all the Buddhas And all living beings are just one mind. And given that, he said, so there's nothing to attain. There's nothing to attain. There's no progress to be made towards that one mind if you're already completely it.

[37:30]

But if you're a human being and you want to train yourself, well, then the way to train yourself is just don't grasp anything in mind. So that's a training in one mind. And it also is a training in stabilizing the mind. Just don't grasp anything in mind, which is similar to posture which isn't doing anything for itself, or the posture in which you don't do anything for yourself is quite similar to the posture, the mental and physical posture of not grasping anything in mind. That's the way that Wang Bo suggested to train the mind so that there's complete accord with the teaching and reality of one mind.

[38:37]

That's the way to train the mind which thinks it's separate from other minds into accord with the mind which is inseparable from all other minds. Just train the attention onto the posture which doesn't grasp anything in mind. Another way to stabilize and develop this kind of ready mind, a mind which is ready, a mind which is ready to be in accord with enlightenment, a mind which is ready to accord with the one mind, another way to do it is to train the attention onto tactile sensation of the breath. So, tactile sensation of breath, tractal sensation of breath, is there any tactile sensation of breath any place around here?

[39:53]

Can the mind, can the attention be Can the attention be on the tactile sensation of the breathing? Can there be an awareness of a tactile sensation of breath? Is there a tactile sensation? Is there a physical sensation of the breath? I have some clothes on, and my clothes actually touch my body kind of firmly around my abdominal area.

[41:01]

I have like a couple like little straps or belts and stuff around my abdomen, so it's quite easy. I feel a lot of sensation down here as the skin, My tactile area is pressed by these bands around my abdomen. So it helps me feel the variation and sensation in my abdomen when I'm sitting. And I notice that it seems like the variation has some relationship to inhalation and exhalation. There's more kind of tightness of these belts on the exhale. On the exhale, it loosens. So I feel this.

[42:02]

My skin gives me data on the inhale and exhale in my abdomen. So that's a tactile sensation which I can be aware of. And it's also possible then to see if I would like to train my attention to that sensation. And noticing the sensations in the abdomen, I also notice sensations going along with them above my abdomen, in the diaphragm area and up into my chest, that are kind of going with that.

[44:08]

And it's a different kind of a feeling. There's a different kind of contact between the belt in the lower abdomen and the cloth on the skin and the stretching of the skin around the diaphragm and the solar plexus. And then another kind of pressure or contact between my robes coming across my chest So I get like three or four kind of different types of sensation across the front of my torso with these inhales and exhales. So if I wish, I could, you know, I could let the attention be trained onto those sensations.

[45:13]

I could train the attention with these sensations. And to bring this kind of awareness or this kind of attention together with the teachings, the One Mind teachings, they actually come together quite well in that not grasping anything in mind includes not grasping anything that would take me away from my simple awareness my pure awareness of these sensations so the

[46:25]

most appropriate type of attention to these sensations is an attention which is not trying to get anything by paying attention. But if I'm paying attention and seeking something at the same time, like I'm paying attention so as to get the mind to be the way that guy said it could be if my attention got trained, That gaining idea or that grasping is antithetical to that tranquil, flexible, buoyant, bright, vivid mind. So if you wish to be aware of the breath, the body breathing, if that seems like a helpful thing to pay attention to, that's good but if we pay attention to that and try to control our mind into paying attention in other words meditation is for the sake of getting our mind to do this that kind of greediness is antithetical

[47:50]

to where we're going so can we train the attention without trying to get the training of attention so training the attention while not grasping training the attention now if you just don't grasp anything including not training the attention the mind will immediately be Buddha at that moment But you can also pick a favorite topic, like tactile sensation of the breathing cycle, the tactile sensation of the rhythm of inhale and exhale. You can choose that, or anything, and see if that particular topic can be an opportunity to not grasp anything in mind, to not grasp the breath, to not grasp the body, to not try to get anything. And yet, pay close attention, because

[48:54]

Just spacing out and not grasping anything isn't what we mean by not grasping. Not grasping means not grasping something when you're aware of it. Not grasping in absentia or by correspondence or something or absenteeism doesn't count. Intimately aware of whatever is happening and not grasping it. So, for example, intimately aware of the body breathing Intimately aware of the body breathing. Intimately aware of the body talking. Intimately aware of the body listening. Intimately aware of the body seeing. And intimately aware, in some sense, for me to say intimately aware and not grasping, is in a way redundant. because actually to be intimate with the breath, to be intimately aware with the breath, is to not grasp it, to not seek it, to not try to control it.

[50:01]

To let go of seeking, grasping, controlling, manipulating, gaining around the breath, around the body, around the mind. this way of being is always available and if you accept the offer of this way of being which is always available and always being offered to accept this and accept this is a mode of tranquility and healing of the disturbed mind which is grasping things all the time. The mind of the sentient being that's trying to do something for itself. So, in a sense, what I just said, if I think about it, you know, do a little review of what I just said, it sounds really clear to me, but I guess, you know, it's been a long day, and I see a lot of you are kind of sleepy, so you may not have heard what I said, so if you only heard bits and snatches, it may not make any sense to you.

[51:27]

So you probably have a lot of questions, those of you who have been sleeping during this talk. But who knows? You may have got it really well because you weren't trying to grasp it. And the other people who really are alert and been trying to grasp it, they may have missed the whole thing. So I don't know what you understood, but to me it seems very clear. But then I was talking so I didn't fall asleep. But anyway, it's on tape, and I think it was quite clear. But, you know, I didn't, yeah, I think it was pretty good talk, actually. I could give more examples of meditation practices which could be entered into with this not grasping attitude, and they would all work too. But do you have any questions, those of you who were here? So you understand pretty well, huh? It's possible, for all I know, that you all understand perfectly well, but probably maybe some details maybe you have some questions about.

[52:36]

Yes? This technique you just described of awareness of the breath, would that be considered a shamatha practice? It very well could be considered a shamatha practice, yeah. What I mean by shamatha is practices which are trying to support the realization of a tranquil, flexible, bright, buoyant and clear and joyful mind. A mind which is ready. to be awake, ready to accept the reality of the one mind. But that awareness of breath could also be seen as more than just shamatha. In other words, that in the realization of that kind of practice, there is also insight.

[53:42]

Because if you practice concentration with an understanding of not grasping anything, that not grasping anything is an expression of understanding that there's nothing to grasp, which is insight. So if you understood, if we understood that there's nothing to grasp, we would already be wise. And if we understood that there's nothing to grasp and didn't grasp, we would already be calm. So wisdom this kind of insight into that we're inseparable from all the things we'd like to realize, understanding that everything good that we'd like to attain we already have. When you actually understand that to such an extent that you act like that, you have wisdom. And when you act like that, you're calm. So that practice of being aware of the breath To be aware of your breath, like not trying to get your breath, or get better at being aware of your breath, or to be aware of your breath not to get anything for yourself, that way of being aware of your breath is calming.

[54:50]

But if you can be with your breath that way, you're also quite wise. So wisdom is a basis for this kind of concentration or shamatha practice, and shamatha practice then makes your mind ready for wisdom. So they really are very, very compatible and mutually supportive. So yes, it's shamatha, but not just shamatha, if you practice in this non-grasping way. To practice shamatha with a grasping thing is what we would call, shamatha meaning tranquility practice, to practice tranquility practice with this gaining motivation to get yourself tranquilized and blissfulized, that mode is the way a lot of people begin. But in order to actually realize it, you have to stop trying to get something for yourself. Otherwise, it's undermined by that gimme, gimme, gimme kind of thing. Okay?

[56:00]

Yes, Sam? What is it? It's really kind of hard to say because, you know, if I say, if I say, would that do it? If I say, would that do it? You know, it's hard for me to say what the one thing we're all doing is. But I kind of, I'm totally convinced that this one thing we're all doing. I mean, when I say I'm totally convinced, I mean, I'm totally convinced. but I can't really say what it is any better than you can. But I'm not saying you can't. I'm just saying I can't do it better than you. It's kind of like that. That you can say it as well as Paul can. And Lynn can say it as well as you. I mean, anybody can say what it is because in fact, we're all doing it.

[57:05]

But I can say that if you were trying to get anything by that question, that your gaining attitude is one with the thing that I'm doing. Yes, Mark? Sometimes when I sit, I find myself grasping Sometimes when you sit, you find yourself grasping a stimulus. Pardon? Like loud breathing. You hear a loud breathing? Yes. So he says sometimes he finds himself grasping and he says any insight on how not to grasp.

[58:08]

Okay, I don't know if this is an insight, but this is a comment, or this is an instruction. When you notice in the practice, of tranquility, sometimes when you start practicing tranquility, the first phase of it is you do things which are antithetical to the practice, right? Like you're trying to stabilize your mind, and that involves not grasping, but then the first thing you're trying to do is to grasp stabilizing your mind, so then you step backwards from stabilizing, and then you learn that that's not working, so then you let go of grasping, and then that stabilizes. So the practice of not grasping anything in mind not grasping any object of awareness, that practice usually involves, as you start to train the mind towards not grasping, that usually involves lots of occasions of noticing that you are grasping. This is a many-mind practice, right?

[59:12]

And many-mind practice for you means training Mark's mind rather than training Michael's mind. Sometimes you try to train Michael's mind. Sometimes you try to train Mark's mind. Those are many mind practices. So in the realm of you training Mark's mind, you notice that in training your mind towards not grasping, you notice that there's some grasping. So noticing grasping is a big part of realizing non-grasping. Okay? Just like noticing that you're violating the many-mind precepts, noticing that you're kind of lying and kind of stealing, or just plain that you're lying and stealing, noticing that you're lying and you're stealing is part of the practice of not lying and not stealing. It's not that Lying is not lying.

[60:13]

But noticing that you're lying is part of what you need to do to realize not lying. So we have this practice called not lying. And we're trying to practice not lying. And then we talk and we notice, oh, that seemed like a lie. So we notice it and then we confess it. And then we say, now I think I saw myself lie. I noticed it. I acknowledge it. I confess it. And now I'd like to go back and try again to practice of not lying. And you try again to not lie, and you tell, maybe notice another lie. You confess it, and then you say, well, I still would like to learn how to not lie, so I'm going to try again. And then maybe, maybe, hey, the truth happened. But the truth happened, like, not by me even saying the truth, but me just sort of like, okay, I lied, I lied, I lied, and then poop, the truth was realized by honestly admitting that I lied three times. So when you notice you lie and you admit it, you told the truth.

[61:15]

And if you feel good, maybe you'll do it again. So if you're trying to learn how to not grasp, and you notice you're grasping, noticing you're grasping and just let yourself notice, hey, hey, Mark, grasp anything? You say, what do you say? Hey, Mark, have you grasped anything? Mark, what do you say? Yes. So when you say yes, was that the truth? Yes. Okay, so admitting that you did grasp something, that's not grasping. I just say, did you grasp? You say, yes, that's not grasping anything. You're just telling the truth. Telling the truth isn't grasping. It's just like, just say the truth. What's your name? What's your name? Your name's Mark? What took you so long? Yeah, yeah. So, next time you say, I'm Mark, and I'm grasping.

[62:17]

That's why it took me so long to answer you, because I thought maybe I should give a smart answer rather than Mark. Okay? So, if you're trying to learn... to practice Wang Bo's instruction, don't grasp anything in mind, if you actually try to pay attention, train your attention onto not grasping anything, you probably will notice lots of grasping. So you just admit grasping, grasping, grasping. But noticing grasping and admitting grasping without any, nothing more than that, that's not grasping. Grasping, admitting, not grasping. Grasping, admitting, not grasping. Pretty soon, sometimes it happens, just maybe it's not grasping for a while. But that's not important, because grasping is a perfectly good thing not to grasp. One of the things in mind is a banana. Another thing in mind is an apple. Another thing in mind is attainment. These are things that arise. You don't grasp them. But one of the things that arises in mind is grasping.

[63:18]

You don't grasp that either. So whatever it is, you don't grasp, but also if there's grasping, you don't grasp that. And one of the ways to not grasp that is just to say, okay, grasping, that's it. Okay? And this is possible if you're not practicing for your own sake. Practicing for your own sake, you say, darn, I'm grasping, I don't want to admit that. Yes, what's your name? Dennis. Dennis? If you have an itch and you scratch it, what? Are you relieving the grasp? If I have an itch, I scratch it, am I relieving the grasp? I don't know. I couldn't see whether there was any releasing there. But if I have an itch, if I tell the story somewhat differently, if I have an itch, perhaps I feel an impulse to grasp, to grasp itching.

[64:34]

It made me feel that. If I admit, hey, there's an impulse to grasp the state of having an itched itch, a scratched itch, I feel that impulse, I want to grasp that. If you notice that and admit that, then admitting that is not grasping. So even before you scratch the itch, if you notice the impulse to grasp something and admit it, that admitting that impulse to grasp something is not grasping. And then it's possible that right from that condition of not grasping, being realized, one might scratch or one might not. Or you might find out. You might find out. that in the realization of not grasping, somebody else scratches the itch. And that's Buddha, not you. So you get relieved of this thing that you've got to go around scratching your itches.

[65:39]

Because you admitted that you thought that, and you felt the impulse, you know, if I don't scratch my itches, who's going to? You admitted that impulse, that grasping, and in admitting it, you're released from being a sentient being who thinks he's got to take care of all his itches. And you realize that we all come on behalf of Buddha and take care of you. Because you trust us enough to give the very best, non-grasping. And your way of doing that was to admit that you're a sentient being who's into grasping. When you admit your ascension being without trying to get anything for that, you're a Buddha. And you realize the one mind of cosmic scratching. Michael? What's best?

[66:49]

Well, it's hard to say exactly what's best, but one of the things to do, one of the main things to do when you're really fatigued is to rest. Shamatha, tranquility meditation, could be translated as resting meditation. It's a meditation of resting. Resting in whatever is happening. So if you're fatigued, generally speaking, in Zen, guess what we do when we're fatigued? Rest. And guess what you do when you're hungry? Eat. It doesn't say, when you're fatigued, grasp resting. Because grasping resting, in case you haven't noticed, is not very restful. Just rest when you're fatigued. That's usually the Zen thing to do. And here's a day when, you know, all day long, it's fine with me, it's fine with me, and I'm leaving this sitting, it's fine with me if you're fatigued, if you rest.

[68:05]

And I would suggest, if possible, that you rest at your seat. But if you can't rest at your seat, rest someplace else. Rest on Mark's seat. Ask Mark to move over and use his seat too. Or put your head in his lap. You know? Now somebody may come and give you trouble, but I'm supporting you. Rest. Rest. Rest. And if you rest long enough, the Buddha's going to say, hey, I feel rested. I'm going to like sit up and enjoy this because I'm rested. I had my rest. This is a great opportunity. It's called life. So if you're fatigued, rest. Rest. Rest, rest, rest. If you're in suffering, rest. If you're having a hard time, rest. If you're bleeding, rest.

[69:08]

If you're breathing, rest. Wherever you are, rest. Rest. Relax. Whatever it is, relax. You don't have to tense up. You don't have to fight back. It's not necessary. You know how already. You won't forget. Don't worry. What you need to learn is when you're tired, rest. And if you rest long enough, your Buddha enthusiasm will come back. And you won't be tired anymore. But if you don't learn how to rest, you're going to quit this practice. This practice is not necessarily easy because life is not primarily easy. It's challenging. And these challenges offer us the opportunity to get really skillful at resting. We're already skillful at resting. given difficult opportunities tensing up and getting more tired.

[70:12]

We're already good at that, most of us. Now, some people do need to learn that a little bit better, but most people are already good enough. I mean, somebody might be too good at resting and not good enough at tensing, but there's very few in Zen Center. So please, rest when you're fatigued, okay? And today is an excellent day to rest because I'm here to support you in having a very restful day. So at the end of the day, you're full of enthusiasm for benefiting all beings because you had a rest. And I want you to rest so you can help us, okay? Rest. Whatever is happening, rest, relax, release, relinquish, everything.

[71:12]

And that's very restful. It's very restful. It is. Now, I recommend you stay in the room or stay in the schedule because it's possible that if you go out of this room, I won't be out there to tell you that you can rest out there. Because if you're driving your car, if you get in your car and go back to Berkeley, I'm not in the car saying, yes, you can keep resting while you're in the car, Michael. So here I can say you can rest. And I can say you can rest outside too, but you won't believe me. So that's why. Please rest today. See that you can do it. See that the world won't fall apart if you rest, if you take care of resting in the middle of your suffering. Try it. You don't have to pay money to come here and continue to be tense and fight your fatigue.

[72:15]

Surrender to it. Yes, Vernon? I noticed that I have stopped listening to you 100%. You were talking about your breath. and how it manifested through your chest. And the crow, bear it, says, and the crow stopped me there. And you were still cocked and closed your breast, and how it manifested through your chest. And I had not missed it. I hope that was restful. Denny?

[73:18]

Yes. Yes. Right. Well, the work, of a bodhisattva is play. Bodhisattvas work hard at playing. Like kids work hard at playing. They try to get playing. And if you'd like to be able to work hard at playing, and the play of bodhisattva is to play, play with all beings. That's our play. To joyfully interact with all beings in a playful, flexible, buoyant, energetic, clear, and calm way. Like, you know, excuse me, but we used to have this football player in the Bay Area called Joe Montana.

[74:31]

You know? And, uh, I saw it a couple of times myself, the way he looked sometimes when he was passing, with these giant guys running at him. And you look at his face and he was having fun. He was like, this is fun, I'm playing football. He was calm. He was present. His eyes were relaxed and joyful. So in the midst of difficult situations, you're working hard and it's playful. You're having fun. So it should be playful. It should be buoyant. And we're training ourselves to relax so that this can be fun. So sashin and sit-ins can be fun. There's a fun way. There's a joyful way. There's a buoyant, flexible way of having a body. And this isn't intended as a torture chamber.

[75:34]

It's intended as an opportunity for you to realize the way to care for your body in various circumstances. Like when you first sit down, you have one body. And then a couple seconds later, you have another body. And after 40 minutes, you have another body. So in one period, you have many bodies to take care of. How do you play with and care for all these bodies? in a joyful, healthy, healing way. Playful is the spirit, but playful with full energy, like you're working hard. So both of those things. Buddhas are hard-working at play. And again, if you're working hard and you're straining and tensing, you're going to collapse. You've got to find a relaxed way to work if you're going to be sustained. So that's another thing we're doing in these long sittings, is learning what kind of effort can you make through the whole day, and even so that by the end of the week you feel more rested than at the beginning, rather than tired out from sitting, rested from sitting, encouraged by this thing, rather than wiped out by it.

[76:52]

But again, in a challenging situation, we often tense up. We should actually, of course, even more than usual, relax because it's challenging. If it's easy and you tense up, you can survive. But if it's hard and you tense up, you'll burn out. So this situation is challenging because our body is being offered to us moment after moment, How can you handle it in a skillful, restful, healing, invigorating way? And we're playfully trying to find that path together. That make sense? Okay. So it sounds like you understand. All your questions seem to be coming from understanding. Anything else you want to bring up, though, about this? One thing I want to mention is that a noon service will probably be oftentimes we chant this little teaching which is called the Self-Receiving Samadhi and it says things like now all Buddhas and all ancestors who uphold the Buddha Dharma have made it the true path to sit upright practicing in the midst of self-fulfilling Samadhi.

[78:40]

The description here, you know, this self-fulfilling samadhi is the one vehicle samadhi, the one practice samadhi. And it says here, you know, that as it describes how this samadhi works, you know, the samadhi of all of us practicing together, you and me and the Buddhas and the trees and the sky and everything, the way that all works is described in the thing you'll chant at noon service. But then it also says, all this, however, does not appear to consciousness. It doesn't appear to the mind which sees separate things. This is describing the samadhi of the one mind. So if you chant this at noon service, you might see how this is describing the world where we're all working together and practicing together, which we can't see with our eyes that see things out there. But this is the source of the efforts that we make separately.

[79:50]

It's the source of our wholesome efforts that we make separately, is the way we're all working together in this one, in this self-fulfilling samadhi. the awareness of not the self operating by herself or himself, but the awareness of how the self is fulfilled by the one mind, in the one mind, and how that one mind samadhi works, that one practice samadhi, that one vehicle samadhi, that one Buddha samadhi. But although we can't see this thing with our dualistic awareness, we can realize it. It can be realized. Supposedly.

[80:52]

By chanting the scripture at noon service. Well, I guess you had a good rest. You seem to be pretty alert now. Please continue resting in the midst of whatever happens. Settling in the sea of sensation and letting Everything. Be free of grasping. And thus be what it really is. Thank you for letting me encourage myself in this meditation.

[82:15]

I will try to carry on. May our intentions

[82:23]

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