I've heard that for the last two and a half millennia, there's a tradition of teachings about how suffering arises and about how suffering beings can be free of suffering and can even assist others in becoming free of suffering. This teaching that I've heard about, which I also have heard has been repeated through those twenty-five centuries, is that suffering has an origin or arises in dependence on ignorance

[01:01]

and that when this ignorance is given up and our life experience is viewed free of the ignorance, we are also freed of this suffering which arises in dependence on ignorance. A scholar might say that the Buddhists believe, or the Buddhists say, the disciple of Buddha say that Buddhas appear in the world because of the desire that sentient beings would open

[02:09]

to Buddha's wisdom, Buddha's liberating wisdom, and see it demonstrated and awaken to it and enter it. This is what some Buddhists say is the reason for Buddhas appearing in the world. This Seshin, some of you are coming to the Green Gulch, perhaps for the first time or perhaps the first time this year. During this first eight and a half months of this year, we've already had two practice periods and two Seshins and many classes studying these teachings of the Buddha, these teachings of Buddha about how to give up our ignorant view and develop wisdom.

[03:19]

And now this Seshin will be, I guess, the last time, more or less, except for maybe a couple times, the last time that I'll be talking with you about these wisdom teachings. So it's an introduction to the wisdom teachings to some of you, a continuation for others, and a kind of a little bit of a completion of these teachings for the time being may happen during this Seshin. The ignorance that I referred to is basically the view or the understanding or the belief

[04:33]

in the appearance of the independent existence of things, and the independent existence of ourselves, or I should say, belief in the self of our persons, we tend to believe that this person who you are is independently existing, independent of other living beings, and independent of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it looks like that, it appears to us that we exist independent or separate from other beings, it looks or it appears to us that we are here separate from what we're seeing and hearing, it looks like that and we innately believe it, and we've

[05:38]

been believing it for a long time, and so the teachings of wisdom help us to give up this belief in the way things appear to be, and giving up this belief sets the stage for being convinced that it's not true and actually seeing how it is that there's no such thing as our separate existence. The Buddha has been teaching this for thousands and thousands of eons, and still beings are born innately ignorant, so there's always new ignorant people to be educated, and the

[06:40]

education of ignorant people may take quite a while, so people who believe in the appearance of inherent existence are advised to be practitioners of compassion, to be kind to themselves and other practitioners, to be patient with how long it may take for wisdom to be realized. During this first eight months of the year, there has been some detailed discussion about

[07:49]

how we see, of how there is the view of things and beings existing independently, and we've been listening and studying, listening to teachings and studying teachings which articulate another way of seeing how things are. In this morning, we chanted the Heart Sutra, some people left for service, but most of you have heard the Heart Sutra before, but anyway we chanted it this morning, and it said that the great Bodhisattva of infinite compassion, Avalokiteshvara, when practicing deeply, or when practicing the deep Prajnaparamita, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty. All five aggregates means all experience, and seeing that they were empty, in other

[09:00]

words, seeing that they were empty of inherent existence, seeing that every experience, every event, every person is empty of inherent existence, in this vision there is relief from suffering and distress. And the sutra went on to tell you more about the relationship between experience and this emptiness of inherent existence. It may be that during this retreat we'll have time to look at the sutra more, but it may not be the case that we'll look at the sutra more except by chanting it. So, those of you who attend morning service have a chance to hear this teaching which

[10:02]

is given to help people, given by the Buddhas to help people become free of their belief in their inherent existence. This morning, during the first period, I recited a little bit from a poem written by a Zen master named Dongshan Liangjie. In our lineage, Dongshan Liangjie is also called by Japanese pronunciation, Tozan Ryōkai Daiyōshō. So again, in morning service, he will chant the poet's name, Tozan Ryōkai Daiyōshō, received this precious mirror samadhi from

[11:04]

his teacher. He received the samadhi of the precious mirror and the teachings of the precious mirror awareness from his teacher and then he passed his poem to us. And in the poem it says things like, the meaning is not in the words, but it responds to the inquiring impulse or it responds to the arrival of our energy, of our life. It also says that the inquiry that we offer moment by moment in our practice, that the inquiry that we offer that the way we are here actually asks a question to the Buddhas and as soon as we ask that question, they respond. Matter of fact, they respond at the same moment. You

[12:07]

may not see that you're sitting here as a request, but the Buddhas see you're sitting here as a request. They think you're here asking them to respond to you and they do. If you don't think you're asking them to respond to you, you may miss their response. But actually the Buddhas think that everybody's life is asking them to come and practice with them. The Buddha thinks that every life is saying, come Buddha, come and practice with me. In that way maybe they're kind of unsophisticated. So part of what I want to talk with you about

[13:17]

at the beginning of this session and perhaps all the way through is this teaching or this teaching called the teaching about the intimate communion between Buddhas and living beings or the resonant interaction between stimulation and response. Our practice is a stimulation of the Buddhas and there's a communion through this stimulation and response which I would like to talk to you about. Someone said to me a couple of

[14:40]

days ago with a sense of embarrassment that she actually wanted to just get enlightened during this session and I thought, why not? And again, what is enlightenment? Enlightenment is to become enlightened about the way we lack independent existence. Enlightenment is to be enlightened, to illuminate how it is that we and everything we experience, every taste, every touch, every smell, every sound, every thought, everything we experience lacks independent existence. To be enlightened about that or to wake up from the dream that we

[15:47]

inherently independently exist. This is enlightenment. To stop believing in the substantial body of the self. To see our nature, to see our nature, to see the way we actually are and give up the ignorant view of how we are. How about waking up to that during this week? Maybe? Fine. The discussion of the teaching of the nature of reality and the nature of reality is the same as the nature of events. Reality is about the way things are. Reality is how things

[16:48]

are. Those teachings, again I say I may not talk about them much. I'm going to start by talking not so much about the teachings but the practice. The practice which is entailed by us sitting together, eating together, bowing together, chanting together, talking together, meeting together, following the schedule together. This practice is a kind of, what do I say, it's a way to realize wisdom through the ritual of this retreat. And in particular the ritual of seated meditation. I'd like to talk with you about how when you

[17:55]

sit, when you stand, when you walk in this retreat, when you bow, this stimulates the Buddhas and in that stimulation they actually respond to you at that very moment. And I suggest to you from the start that the practice is not me sitting here stimulating the Buddha or me sitting here not even wanting to stimulate the Buddha but just me sitting here trying to accomplish something for myself. That I suggest to you is not what we mean by practice in the Buddha Dharma. Practice is also not the Buddha by herself. The practice is the resonance, occurs in the resonance between your sitting there right now and your sitting right now is actually touching the Buddha and the Buddha is going, uh, to your body

[19:02]

and mind sitting here. It's not the Buddha's, uh, or your touching that's the practice. The practice occurs in this communion, in this communion between you and Buddha right now. Of course it's okay to come to Sesshin and think I'm going to follow the schedule, I'm going to get enlightened or I'm going to get somewhat educated, I'm going to get calm, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. That's okay. And hopefully things will go well. That's fine. It's okay. You can get into this Sesshin with that attitude and many of us have that attitude. I'm trying now to begin to open up to the mode of this Sesshin, to the mode of this retreat in which the actual practice of the Buddha is happening. It includes your enlightenment and it includes your delusion,

[20:14]

but it is actually the practice of the way of the Buddha. I don't know who said this, but I heard that somebody said that the way of the Buddha is the mountains, the rivers, and the great earth are born at the same moment as each person. All the Buddhas in the three worlds are practicing together with each person.

[21:23]

All the mountains and rivers and the great earth are born at the same moment as each person. And again, this is a way, another kind of way to talk about, to massage our view that we exist independent of mountains, rivers, and the great earth. We may think that they were there before us or that we were there before them. We may think that. Thinking that they were there before us is an example of a view based on the idea of independent existence. Thinking that we were there before the mountain is also an expression of the view of an independently existing self. No one knows, so far as we know, no one knows the beginning of their own birth or the end

[23:13]

of their birth. No one knows that. Knowing the beginning of your birth is the illusion of inherent existence. We don't know, but we think that we were born before or after the mountains and the rivers and the great earth. Understand that that's not so, and this is a beginning of meditation on all five aggregates are empty of independent existence. How can we understand that the Buddhas, all the Buddhas are practicing together with us? First of all, you might examine the practice of all Buddhas. What is the practice of all

[24:29]

Buddhas? It is to practice in the same manner as the entire universe and all beings. What is the practice of a Buddha? What is the practice of a Buddha? What is the practice of all the Buddhas? Well, they practice together with each person. They practice in the same manner as the entire universe and all beings. Now, if you have a practice or I have a practice which is not practicing with all beings, if you have a practice which is not practicing with all beings, then that practice is not the practice of the Buddhas. And maybe you

[25:32]

do have a practice that's not the practice of all beings. Do you have any practices that are not the practice of all beings? Probably you've got some up your sleeve. Those practices are the practices which you have which are not the practice of all beings. Those are practices which are expressions of belief in your independent existence. All those things you do are practices of an ignorant person. Taking what's not given, for example, is a practice which you have. Not everybody is taking what's not given. When you practice together with all beings, you don't take anything that's not given. What you have is something you get through your practice with all beings. Everything that you do during this retreat

[26:37]

that's not the practice of all beings is not the practice of Buddha. Everything that you do that's together with all beings, everything that you do, everything that you think, everything that you hear, everything that you touch, that is the practice of all beings is the practice of Buddha. If it's not that way, that's not what we mean by Buddha's practice. So, all Buddhas, from the moment of attaining realization, realize and practice together with the entire universe and all beings. You may have doubt about this, but the old Buddha's word was expounded for the benefit of you who doubt, for the benefit of you who doubt

[27:40]

and for the benefit of people who are confused. We are encouraged not to think that Buddhas are other than ourselves. If you have any practice, any activity, which is not the practice, not the activity of all beings, then that practice at that time is not the practice of the Buddhas. At that time you are what we call a sentient being. But even though you seem to be involved in a practice which is not the practice of all beings, the Buddhas are practicing together with you. They're practicing just like you are practicing, except

[28:42]

that they're doing it with everybody. When we reflect quietly, or when we practice deeply, the Prajnaparamita, we see that all five aggregates are empty, and seeing that they're empty, it appears that our body and mind is practicing together with all Buddhas. When we believe that our body and mind exist independently, then we are practicing together with all Buddhas. Independently, it's hard for us to believe that we're practicing together with all Buddhas. When you understand your lack of inherent existence, it will appear to you how you're

[29:51]

practicing together with all beings. The delusion that our body and mind is apart from Buddha is groundless. So don't worry. It doesn't actually interfere at all with our practice together. So you can continue to believe that you're apart from Buddha, but fortunately that belief has no ground and does not hinder your practice with all Buddhas. It is possible also to give up that belief and enjoy the reality of the practice of a Buddha. When we sit at our seat, and we offer a body, that is our stimulation of the body.

[31:26]

That is our call to Buddha. That is our touching to Buddha. That is our request of Buddha. It can be, if you wish to let it be. Every period, every moment, there can be the arrival of your life energy. And the meaning of the practice responds to that energy, to that pivotal opportunity. A radio or a television, particularly the radio maybe, because we don't have cable

[32:54]

radio yet. But anyway, right now, there are these, I guess, forms of electromagnetic radiation going on all around us. Some are called radio waves, and some of the radio waves are coming from stars, and some come from radio transmitters set up by humans. And also there's gamma rays and x-rays and light rays, and also there's TV rays, or TV waves, all around us, touching us right now. At least that's what I've heard. I can't see them right now, can't hear them, but if I was a radio, and I was set in a certain way, I would start resonating with these radio

[34:02]

waves. And if I was a television, I would start resonating with these television waves. And I don't know how cable works exactly, but that's another way of resonating. Gringotts, you know, we don't have much TV reception. One person, I guess, has a satellite dish, so that one person's like got a sensitive tissue to those TV rays. If you move down to the beach, you know, to get beyond the mountains, but you interfere between San Francisco's messages they're sending us, you can pick up better down there. These waves, you know, from the Buddhas aren't always coming. It's just a question of whether

[35:06]

you've got the receptive unit, and you do. Your body and mind are a receptive unit. The way you are is actually right now resonating with whatever Buddha there is. You are the things that Buddha's resonating with. We are the things that Buddha's are resonating with. Are you turned on for this, to receive this? And you keep turning on, moment by moment, that station? Somehow we have to make the effort and say, you know, like at the beginning of our ordination ceremony the other day, we said, invoking, invoking. Hello, anybody

[36:08]

in there? Invoking the presence of Buddha, invoking the presence of Buddha. When we bow here, we join our palms, invoking the presence of Buddha to come and meet us face to face. Actually the Buddha is right in our face all the time, but we have to do something to call it up. Bowing, sitting, walking, eating, chanting, listening. Listening is a stimulation to the Buddhas. Listening invokes the Buddhas, can invoke the Buddhas. I'm talking to you now just to help you be ready to enter this communion, to enter this

[37:23]

resonance, to enter this interaction. It is already going on. It's a matter of entering. In that way, our sitting is a ritual. We're being present with the Buddha. We're being mindful. We're being here, but not just to be here by our independent existence, but to be here in our lack of independent existence, in the way we really are, and be free of suffering. And the way we really are is that we're actually practicing together with all beings and all Buddhas.

[38:40]

Sitting to stimulate, to stimulate and realize this resonance, this communion. Thank you. This morning we recited the Precious Mirror Samadhi song. At noon we will recite the teaching

[40:00]

on the Self-Fulfilling Awareness, the Self-Fulfilling Samadhi. Or the Self-Receiving and the Self-Employing Samadhi, the Self-Receiving and the Self-Enacting Samadhi, the Samadhi of Grace and Giving, the Samadhi of how our life is given to us each moment and how it's given away, the Samadhi of stimulating the Buddha and having the Buddha meet us and having that meeting resonate back and what it's like when we sit upright and resonate with Buddha and with the mountains and the river and the great earth.

[41:01]

The meaning is not in the words, and as I said earlier, one translation is the meaning is not in the words but it responds to the inquiring impulse, it responds to the inquiring energy, like, where are you Buddha? Will you come to meet me? Where's our meeting? Where's your face, Buddha? Another translation is it responds to the arrival of the opportunity. The current translation is it responds to the pivotal opportunity. Is that what it is now? How is it? What? The pivotal moment. Another translation is when the student is ripe, they will be taught. When the student is ready, you will receive the Buddha's teaching.

[42:17]

The Buddha's truth will come to you when you're ready. So we have this wonderful opportunity to practice being ready for the teaching, ready for the Buddha Dharma. Ready for this interaction between the devotee, that could be you, and the sacred object. The object which is reality and sets you and all beings free. Are you ready for this interaction? Are you ready to open to this? Is there anything else you need to do besides be ready for that

[43:22]

today? Under ordinary circumstances, we might think, I'm a little bit too busy to be open to that right now. I wouldn't be able to be open to that and carry on certain self-centered activities which I really need to do for at least a few more days. But now during this retreat, in a way, it seems like, wouldn't you? Don't you have room in your schedule to open to this? Don't I? Is there any problem? Is there something else that you'll be doing that interferes with this? Is there anything? Yeah, well,

[44:34]

I have a few things I'd like to do by myself, not with all sentient beings and all Buddhas. So those things, when I'm doing those things, those would interfere with this openness to this readiness. Right. Those are the things. The things that you're going to be doing, not together with all beings, those will be the things which in a sense will appear to interfere with practicing together with all Buddhas. But they don't really interfere. So if you spend the whole week with thinking, moment after moment, I'm not practicing together with all beings, I'm not practicing together with all Buddhas, I'm not doing the Buddhist practice, I'm doing my practice by myself, if you're continually tuned into that delusion, which by the way, that delusion is not going through the air all over the universe. That's just spinning around in one head. We're not tuning in that. That's coming out just here.

[45:42]

And that's not interfering with the communion. So if I spend the whole week in self-centered deluded activity, I just remind myself that that does not hinder this resonance. It just means that I don't enjoy it. That's all. We can only exile ourselves from this. We cannot stop it. It does go on. It is the main program. So again, readiness is all. And maybe we can get ready today and enjoy almost seven days of communion with Buddhas and all beings. Seven days of Buddhas practice. Seven days of total immersion in the Buddha way. That

[46:54]

seems to me to be supremely wonderful. I saw the kitchen leave, so that means probably it's almost 11 or something like that. So I might show you a picture I drew. I painted. This is a watercolor I did with my grandson the other day. He says, what is it? I said, it's a flower. This is my notepaper. I'm recycling my artwork. And I also want to mention to you that a couple of years ago I had an accident

[48:02]

and my leg was broken. My femur was broken. And I think as a result of that, although that's healing pretty well, a little pearl has formed in the back of my knee. Probably a little piece of bone broke off and then the body coated it with calcium. So now there's a little pearl, actually a pretty big pearl behind my knee. And then there's a cyst around that. So it's a little hard for me to cross my legs and bow, although you see I'm doing it. It's a little difficult. So it turns out this little pearl can be removed, which is somewhat unfortunate because one of the practices in the Buddhist tradition is after cremation to look through the bones of the person to see if there's any like little notable little items in there. So now they're going to remove that, so my claim to sainthood will

[49:05]

be shot. But anyway, I thought they can take it out, so they'll schedule an operation for 7.30 in the morning on Wednesday. So on Wednesday, I'm planning to go to the hospital and have this pearl taken out. And then the rest of the session, I'll be with you in some condition different from this one. So I don't know what I'll be able to do. But I'm pretty sure I'll be able to come into the room, but I don't know what my body will be able to do. I don't know if I'll be able to bow or cross my legs or something. But I will be able to walk, I think. So I just want to tell you that I needed to schedule at this time because I'm going away after Seshin, and I didn't want to be away from the doctor in my travels. So please excuse me on Wednesday morning, and please excuse me if I'm not sitting cross-legged

[50:12]

on the later part of Seshin, but I'll be in the room with you in some fashion. And I'd like to talk to you later a little bit more about this spiritual communion between living beings and Buddhas more tomorrow. But I'm not going to talk about it now, because I thought this is the teaching of suchness, which is intimately communicated between Buddhas and Buddhas and between Buddhas and sentient beings. Now you have it, so please take care of it. It's supposed to be really good for your health.

[51:14]

May our intention equally...

[51:25]

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