Homage to the Vajracetaka Prajnaparamita, the Diamond Sutra, and the wonderful teaching of the Buddha that a bodhisattva must reveal and disclose and develop a mind which is unsupported, a mind which dwells nowhere. A mind of no address. The changeless mind of an enlightening being from which appropriate action spontaneously emerges. homage to Manjushri Bodhisattva, who shows us the light of the Diamond Sutra.

[01:14]

So in the morning we chant the universal admonitions on sitting meditation. and at noon we chant the self-fulfilling awareness, both written by our great ancestor of eternal peace. Phukanza Zengi is a If I might confine it slightly or highlight its function as being an entry text, a text about how to enter the mind of the bodhisattva.

[02:24]

And the self-fulfilling samadhi, self-fulfilling awareness, briefly notes the gate, which is elaborated in the Universal Admonitions. And then it goes into the realm and describes how things work in this mind of no abode. the wondrous, unremitting, unceasing, inconceivable, unstoppable, unsurpassable, ungraspable, uninhibited mind of the bodhisattva. And how it works with the grasses, the trees, the walls, the recycling area, cars, tiles, broken down people, and how all those things also work with this mind.

[03:35]

Recently, in an interview for the New York Times, Confucius was asked what the essence of his teaching was. And he said, You want the one word essence? And the reporter said, yes. He said, well, I would say, in English, for your benefit, reciprocity. So I want to, again, I want to go and scout around the gate, the gate to the samadhi of self-fulfillment, which is also the gate to all these other samadhis that are taught.

[04:46]

It's the gate to what we call the jewel mirror samadhi, It's the gate to the Ocean Seal Samadhi. It's a gate and that means it's an initiation. The teachings of the Fukan Zazengi are a gate and they're an initiation. They point to an initiatory process. for entering the world of Dharma. And entering the world of Dharma

[05:50]

initiation into the world of Dharma, we have to leave some things behind when we go in there. The main thing we leave behind is ourself. You can bring your money and use it there. You can actually bring everything with you except yourself, of all things. And actually, I'm just kidding, you can't bring anything. But when you leave yourself behind, everything else comes with you. All your money and possessions and friends come with you there. And then because you left yourself behind, you can use them or they can use you. Now your money and your pencils and your garbage can use you.

[06:52]

But you have to leave the self behind, which means we need to learn the backward step. The forward step is, I use you. I use my money, I use my car, I use my practice, I use Buddhism, I use my lunch. This is the forward step which we're all pretty familiar with, as far as I know. You're all fairly good at it. You've gotten through several meals already. You did your karaoke, you sinners. I saw you. You were sitting there thinking, I'm doing karaoke. I'm doing really well, or I'm not doing so well. I made a mistake. I didn't make a mistake. I'm better than him. I'm better than her. I'm worse than... I saw you. There you were. This is called the forward step. You do things. In the Dharma world, you leave the self behind and Oriyoki does you.

[07:58]

The servers, the chant, the zendo, the mountains, the rivers, they all come forward and then there's you You left it behind, but somehow it comes back. It comes back. But it's confirmed by everything. But to enter the real world, to enter the room of compassion, you have to leave yourself outside. It means you have to leave it. Also, of course, all your ideas, all your ideas of practice, to leave them outside. It doesn't mean crumple them up and throw them in the garbage can. It doesn't mean spit on them. It means just leave them at the door. You can gently, carefully put them in a little safety deposit box outside the door and pick them up later.

[09:01]

So what does Dogen Zenji say? He said, the Zazen I teach, the initiation practice I'm teaching you, is not learning meditation. It's not learning how to concentrate. Now this is a pretty subtle point. He could have also said, the Zazen I'm teaching is not learning Oriyoki. It's not learning kin hin. It's not learning how to serve. It doesn't mean you should resign from your serving crew. It doesn't mean you don't eat lunch. It means that zazen is not about you eating your lunch and you serving and you doing kin hin. It's about the backward step, which is giving up you doing things. and finding a way that lunch happens in a reciprocal way with all beings.

[10:17]

But we have to let go of our grip a little bit. And the way of letting go of our grip is not by letting go of our grip intentionally, because that's another thing you do. The way you do it is, well, I could say, by developing a living relationship with the ancestors, by putting your body into an ancestral relationship, by having a living relationship with dead people rather than a dead relationship with living people, not to mention a dead relationship with yourself, who is living. And the dead relationship with yourself is you have a relationship with yourself. That's a dead relationship with yourself. Which almost everybody has. I don't know about almost. Basically everybody has that kind of relationship with themselves.

[11:27]

It's a dead relationship. And the main way of having a living relationship with the ancestors is to sit still. Sitting still is the way to check yourself at the door. And sitting still, again, is not something you do. You're already sitting still. Every moment you're sitting still. This is not something you do. This is your nature in the moment. In the present, you can't move in the present. As soon as you move, it's another moment. In the present, you are still. You are sitting still and you're also quiet. So silence and stillness is the simple, respectful way to align ourselves with Manjushri, to have a living relationship with Manjushri and simply enter the gate of Dharma.

[12:35]

It is this sitting still, this total devotion to just sitting still is the Dharma gate. And then you go into the room of compassion, repose, and bliss. So simple, but of course somewhat difficult because it involves death. It doesn't mean you die. It means you're completely open to your death. You check the self at the door. Life does not end. Life does not go on. Life is eternal and infinite. Death is eternal and infinite. Life and death don't change into each other. But if we live a life that's closed to death, we never enter the door of Dharma.

[13:44]

Life and death are reciprocal. They don't change into each other, though. They co-create each other. They're identical in a completely contradictory way. Learning the backward step, learning to give up doing things. also learning to give up not doing things. So some of you are practicing learning meditation, which is fine. And the reason why Dogen Zenji says the Zazen I teach is not learning meditation is because most Zen practitioners spend some time learning meditation, practicing concentration. Most of them do it. I know some myself.

[14:51]

Matter of fact, I did it myself yesterday a little while. I was sitting next to the head monk. I sat there and I followed my breathing. And I confess a certain thought crossed my mind. And the thought was, this is very pleasant. No wonder people practice this. Just sitting there breathing and feel the breath coming through the body. Anyway, it was swell. And it's okay to practice concentration. It's also okay to practice distraction. It's okay too. But me practicing concentration successfully or unsuccessfully, me practicing distraction successfully or unsuccessfully is not learning the backward step.

[15:51]

It's not the mind which has no abode. So someone was talking to me about having various responsibilities during Sashin, like, you know, whatever, serving or instructing people how to clean or hitting bells on time rather than sort of whenever you want to. when you're in the self-fulfilling awareness is hit bells whenever you want to. And it just happens to be the perfect time. Everyone says, oh, what a great time to hit the bell. That was perfect. It was right on time. How did that happen? Well, you told me when to ring it. So I did. Good. The other way is I'm trying to practice concentration and I'm supposed to watch the clock. And I'm meditating on my breath, so now I have to meditate on the ticking.

[16:57]

So it's hard for me to meditate, to concentrate on my breathing when I'm assigned to watch the ticking. Well, that's a problem. You can continue to try to concentrate on your breathing while you're supposed to watch the ticking, and then you'll feel some conflict, which makes sense. And you'll probably feel a little frustrated. You could also switch to concentrating on the ticking, which would be fine. You might feel less frustration. Tick. Tick. Tick. I'm concentrated. Tick. Wow. Tick. Tick. Great. Tick, tick. The period's over. Ring the bell. Gong. Boy, this is swell. Or, and then they say, okay, now you're not ringing the bell anymore. Go back and follow your breathing. Wait a minute. I want to follow. This is better. And so on. You have these problems of concentration practice. In other words, concentration practice is something which has an abode, has an address called my body and breath and my mind, body, breath being together.

[18:09]

That's an address. And when they take away your breath, you're in trouble if you're doing breath counting or whatever. Do you understand? Or you take away the clock, what are you going to do? What are you going to do when the big white waves come crashing in? If you enter the mind which has no abode, when the big white waves come crashing in, then there's going to be practice called big white waves come crashing in. Called the calamitous tide of unforeseen consequence is here. Let's go. Ripeness is all. So it's okay to practice concentration and it's a wholesome thing to do under most circumstances, especially your posture and your breathing. It's a wholesome way to conduct your karma.

[19:11]

And if you don't do that, you're going to probably do something else, which is also fine. The mind which has no abode, what's that? Where's that? This is what we need And this mind which has no abode does not get scared and run away from somebody who's trying to practice concentration. It lives very nicely in a concentrated, concentrating person. Well, what is it? Well, let's check out the ancestors. What do they say? Yesterday I told you when Bunji was about to leave Dungsan, Dungsan said, where are you going?

[20:14]

And Bunji said, I'm going to a changeless place. And Dungsan said, if there is a changeless place, You won't be going there." And Bunji said, going is also changeless. The realm of Dharma is a changeless place. Now, where did I get that from? Actually, I didn't get it.

[21:16]

You got it. I lost it. But I say to you, as far as I know, the world of Dharma has never been remodeled they've never changed the drapes. The dharma world is changeless. The world changes and the way the world changes is precisely the world of dharma. The world suffers and the way the world suffers is the world of dharma. The world is a prison and the way the prison works, and how the doors are locked and unlocked is the world of Dharma. There's no way, there's nothing about the world of suffering by which you can distinguish it from the world of Dharma.

[22:19]

And there's nothing about the world of Dharma by which you can distinguish it from the world of suffering. Even if I say in the world of Dharma the self has been left behind, There's no way to distinguish the way the self's been left behind. So in the world that doesn't change, you won't be going to that world. I'm going to that world, he said, but his teacher said, if there is such a world, you won't be going there. And that's right, we won't be going there. But the going is changeless too. Or another way to say it is, I want to go to the world of unsupported, the unsupported world. And the teacher could say, if there is an unsupported world, you won't be going there.

[23:29]

And you can understand that your going will also be unsupported. I want to go to the world that has no address. If there is a world that has no address, then you won't be going there. But the going has no address. There's no way that the going looks. It has no sign. In other words, whatever is happening to you can be the way you go. But if we hold to the self, then what's happening cannot be the way we go.

[24:40]

So the ancestor Bodhidharma teacher said, breathing in, I don't dwell in body or mind. Breathing out, I'm not involved in myriad circumstances. So if you're following your breathing, What does it mean while you're following your breathing not to dwell, not to get entangled in the very process of concentration? Now, I could say, Well, what it means is that if you're following your breath, if you want to follow your breath and you're successful, and then you're unsuccessful, you won't get upset when you switch from successful to unsuccessful, because you won't be dwelling in successful.

[28:03]

So when circumstances take away successful, you won't feel frustrated. I could say that and it sounds pretty good, but I don't feel good about saying that because then you might think that that not being upset was what it meant to not dwell. Not dwelling could even be present when you switch from concentration to distraction and get upset about that switch. Not dwelling will be there then. Not getting entangled will be realized in our pettiness about the ups and downs

[29:06]

of our practice. It will also be realized in our magnanimity about the ups and downs of our practice. Now our magnanimity actually is kind of close to this mind of no abode because our magnanimity is kind of like, well, my practice was really good this morning and this afternoon, it's a wreck. I hope that somebody has a good practice, and I hope that my failures are of some use to someone." That kind of attitude is closer to the mind of no abode, but I don't want to say it has to be like that. It doesn't have to be like anything. That's what it means by it isn't supported by anything. Still, magnanimity is kind of like it.

[30:14]

But the most magnanimous thing, the most giving and generous thing, is that we let things be the way they are. And that doesn't have any sign. And that's the gate. And learning how to be that way is learning the backward step. learning how to be with what's happening, and to be so still and quiet with it that we don't pamper at all, that we trust, not trust that things are going to work out, but that we trust not that things did work out, but that we trust what is happening. We trust what is happening. We use what's happening.

[31:21]

And of course, we can't use what's happening. That's why we trust it rather than use it. But trusting it, then it is used well. This trust is called not moving. This trust is called learning the backward step. And we walk backwards into this realm which we used to be in when we lived in the present. We enter into the realm of these wonderful samadhis Now, I have a little, I want you to check something out in yourself.

[32:38]

And that is, if you close your eyes and I say, teacher, do you see anything? If I say kindergarten teacher, do you see anything? Does it have a gender? If I say Zen teacher, what do you see? If I say, dung shan, what do you see?

[33:58]

If I say bungee, what do you say? I don't know if when you sit, if when you walk, if when you join this session, I don't know if you left yourself behind. I don't know if you're sitting still.

[35:10]

But anyway, that is the overall character of the Zen school. is total engagement in being still. That's initiation into the realm of maintaining the Buddhadharma. And I say Zen, but you know it. It's from Shakyamuni Buddha, that that's what his practice was. He sat still under a tree. And then he entered the realm of Dharma and the world of reciprocity, the world of the way things arise and vanish started to appear to him. So reading the self-fulfilling awareness, the self-receiving and self-employing samadhi, reading that is a preview of the Buddha's world that he entered, that she entered by sitting still, by not moving until the world of Dharma opened up.

[36:45]

So right now in this room, you're sitting under trees. There's trees all around you. Dead trees and living trees are over your head right now. Are we willing to sit still like Shakyamuni Buddha did, to make that vow to be still until the Dharma door opens? After it opens, you can go flying, whatever you want. You can ring the bells whenever you want. You can do as you please because you'll be in accord with all things. Before that, it's not a matter of trying to get yourself under control, although we do appreciate you trying. It's a matter of stopping is forward walking and learning to walk backwards into the world of revelation.

[38:01]

And give up yourself, give up yourself, give up yourself, give up yourself means that you simply be nothing but yourself. The way to give up yourself is that you just simply, completely, thoroughly, exhaustively do what you're doing. And that's what it means not to move. And that's what Buddha did. He was just an anxious man breathing under a tree. He was completely that. He didn't get ahead of that. or behind that, or veer away from that at all. And that's how he gave up his self, by completely being himself. And we're just like Buddha. So if we are ourselves, we will leave ourselves behind and enter Buddha's realm.

[39:09]

And you will find a living relationship with him and all his pals. There was a wonderful Zen jewel. I think his name was Luoshan. Luoshan. Was that his name, Andy? Luoshan? He's featured in Case 43 of the Book of Serenity, Dulasan.

[40:17]

He went to visit Shishrong and said, when there's vanishing and ceasing When there's unceasing, arising and ceasing. No, when there's unceasing, arising and vanishing. When there's unceasing, arising and vanishing. Arising and vanishing. Unceasing. How about it? And Shishrong said, you should be like a dead tree for 10,000 eons. That was Sishwan's instruction on learning the backward step to Luoshan.

[41:24]

Be like a dead tree for 10,000 eons means be yourself completely. Completely be yourself. That's what I have to say about unceasing, arising, and vanishing. He didn't get it. So then he went to see Yanto. And he said, how about when there's unceasing, arising, and vanishing? And Yanto said, who's arising and vanishing? And then he got it. You check it out. Who's arising and vanishing? This is instruction on learning the backward step. So take your choice.

[42:31]

Who's arising and vanishing? Or be a dead tree for 10,000 eons. These are wonderful possibilities for you. They all boil down to being yourself completely, not moving from yourself, even while you're practicing concentration. Through all your successes and failures, just don't move. And then you can get your, what do you call it, your butterfly license. and you can fly in the changeless realm of Dharma with all beings. A poem fluttered down from heaven from a dead ancestor.

[43:44]

He said, the flower does not invite the butterfly, and the butterfly has no invitation, no intention of visiting the flower. But when flowers bloom, butterflies come to visit. And when the butterflies come to visit, flowers bloom. I don't know who they are, And they don't know me either. But we are practicing the way together. You know that dead woman? Do you know who that is?

[44:52]

Do you know who that is? Emily Dickinson. We have Emily Dickinson. Well, I'm not going to say no. The author of this is Sophia. You know Sophia? Wisdom. Prajnaparamita. The goddess of perfect wisdom wrote that. Do you know her? Does she live anywhere around here? Huh? Is she in your heart? Do you hear her singing right now? Do you know what butterflies sound like? Do you know what they sound like? Huh? I don't know. Do you know what they sound like? What does Butterfly sound like?

[46:02]

What does Sophia sound like? What's she singing? Do you have a living relationship with wisdom? Is wisdom living in your breast? Well, as far as I've heard from wisdom, all the messages that I've ever heard from wisdom, that anybody ever wrote down that wisdom said even, is, yes, you do. If you grab the breath, you can't hear, you squash the vibration of the sound of perfect wisdom. Perfect wisdom's always exactly vibrating with your breath, just as it is right now. Even some of you people with those short, stubby breaths. With those long, rough ones. It's always exactly that vibration.

[47:06]

So check it out. Leave yourself behind who's not interested in this kind of stuff and be quiet and still and feel the author of this poem in your breath. I can't even say, there she is, because she's not the slightest bit different from what's happening.

[48:21]

I can't say that what's happening is her, because it's not the slightest bit different from her. So can you settle into that, just the way things are? This is the most generous thing we can do. The question is, will I give my life to what's happening? That's the question for me. How about you? Attention.

[49:11]

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