The practice of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. As we sit on the threshold of our I wish to say that I'm sorry for any and all unskillful action that I have done during this intensive. I'm sorry. Me too.

[01:03]

It seems that I've made simple suggestions, which I make again now, which is basically that within stillness, practicing compassion towards whatever comes with no abiding. No clinging. To be compassionate towards whatever comes with no dwelling in it. That in such a practice all things will unveil or reveal

[02:52]

the truth of them, finally the ultimate truth. And I think of something that Kafka said. I guess he didn't sit cross-legged on the floor. And he said, you don't have to leave your house. You don't have to leave your desk. or your chair. Just wait. No, you don't have to even wait. Excuse me, just listen. He said, no, not even listen, just wait. No, not even wait. Just be silent and still. and the world will come before you and unmask itself.

[03:58]

It will roll in ecstasy at your feet." I think he discovered the practice of the Buddha way. Unfortunately he had, I think he had tuberculosis or something and died before he could tell us all that was revealed to him. And I guess actually not so much what was revealed but tell us more about the practice. But I think that's the essence of the practice he discovered. I think someone asked me, is compassion karmic consciousness? And so I went to the karmic consciousness and checked out what was there.

[05:06]

And also I checked out the traditional possible scenarios of karmic consciousness in the tradition. And I thought, well actually compassion and loving-kindness are not on the list. Of course the whole practice is based on compassion. and loving-kindness. But if you look at the analysis of karmic consciousness done by our ancestors, and also if you look at your own karmic consciousness, you might not discover compassion in there. You might find the word compassion. You might find the wish to be compassionate. You might find a sentence in there, I wish to be compassionate. I wish to live for the welfare of all beings. That's not necessarily the same as compassion. So yeah, I thought that's interesting. It's not one of the dharmas that constitute karmic consciousness.

[06:11]

But then I thought, oh, wait a minute. Maybe compassion is actually the overall, the totality of the karmic consciousness. Is vow one of the dharmas? Actually, it's not that vow isn't one of the dharmas. It's not usually called vow. But what I thought was maybe the thing in karmic consciousness that's compassion, you say, could be this thing called thinking. Thinking. thinking, or this thing called, in Sanskrit, cetana, or this dharma, which is thinking or intention. And when intention becomes really intense, and it's expressed with the support of the sangha and the teacher, then this intention becomes a vow.

[07:20]

And this intention is not one of the elements of karmic consciousness, not one of the elements of analysis of karmic consciousness. It's not any one of the things. It's the way they're all working together. None of them themselves are compassion. Pain is not compassion. The feeling of pain is not compassion. The feeling of pleasure is not compassion. Concentration by itself is not compassion. Faith by itself is not compassion. Lack of faith is not compassion. Ill will is not compassion. Nonviolence, the Dharma of nonviolence by itself is not compassion. But if you get certain elements together, the overall synergy of the karmic consciousness, the overall synergy of the consciousness of a living being is compassion and actually is enlightenment. So again, the analysts of consciousness in the tradition long ago asked the question, for example, Vasubandhu asked the question, among the phenomena which have outflows and which don't, in other words, which are pure and which are impure,

[08:43]

And the pure, in his system, there are seventy-five elements of experience. Seventy-two are called conditioned dharmas and three are unconditioned dharmas. The three unconditioned are two kinds of nirvana and space. All the other elements of analysis of experience have outflows or are impure. and constructed. All of them. So all of the elements in karmic consciousness have outflows, are kind of dualistic and impure. But there's one more thing which is not one of the 75 dharmas, which is also pure, like nirvana. And that's called the Buddhist practice or the Buddhist path. But the Buddhist path is composed entirely of impure dharmas. All the impure dharmas, when you get them together in a certain pattern, make this thing which is not one of the dharmas, it's called the path.

[09:58]

And the path is wisdom and compassion. But the path is just these impure psychophysical elements. So there are 75 dharmas, and wisdom and compassion, enlightenment is not one of them, but the path is composed. The path is not composed of nirvana. The path is composed of the impure dharmas. So all the impure dharmas, none of which by themselves are compassion, none of them which by themselves are wisdom, none of them by themselves are enlightenment, but all of them working together in a certain pattern are the Buddhist path, the Buddhist practice, the Buddhist practice enlightenment. I see, but can I wait for a while?

[11:04]

So I I've always been really struck by that, you know. Reading the Abhidharma Kosha, and you're reading along, you say, well, there's two kinds of dharmas, the pure and impure, and here's the pure, okay, that makes sense. Here's the impure, okay. Well, they're kind of not okay. Almost everything is impure, you know, or kind of leaking. as outflows, draining. Almost everything is about gain and loss in that field. Even faith is kind of faith towards something. But then it said, except there's one thing more, the practice. And the practice is made of these things that are impure.

[12:07]

So I thought that was a wonderful possibility in this world. The way all the things that make the impure world of suffering work together actually, under some circumstances, is the practice of enlightenment. And then this new question made me realize, where's compassion? Where's compassion? Well, I think it's the overall pattern. And again, it's not something exactly in addition to the overall pattern, but it's something that's intimate with the overall pattern. So enlightenment isn't exactly in addition to delusion. Delusion would often think there is delusion plus enlightenment. But plus is a little bit too separate, I think. It's so intimate that it's not an addition. It's a certain way of living in delusion called enlightenment.

[13:13]

Oh, by the way, also, the Chinese character that's used for enlightenment means path. It's this famous character, the Dao, which you see now. You see that, you know, in Sweden, in New York, all over California. It's a common word, the Dao, right? Usually understood as the Dao or the path, but it also means enlightenment. And it also means to speak, which is part of the fun of the beginning of the Tao Te Ching. It says, the Tao which can be Taoed is not the true Tao. So the usual translation switches from the Tao, the path which can be spoken, is not the true path. Does that make sense?

[14:14]

You could also say the speech which can be spoken is not the true speech. Or the path which can be passed is not the true path. So he had a lot of fun when he wrote that, whoever wrote that. It's become quite a popular statement. So, in a sense, in a sense, karmic consciousness is not really true. What appears in karmic consciousness is illusion. So again, the principle offered here is that to lovingly care

[15:16]

for the untrue, in stillness, or in stillness to lovingly care for the untrue, the true is revealed. We don't make the untrue more and more truthful. We try to be honest about the untrue, like this is untrue, this is untrue. We try to be honest about the untrue. That's part of being kind to it. And by being kind to the untrue, the untrue reveals the true. In the realm of the untrue, there's often a strong impulse to get out of here and go to the place of truth. You may have seen some people like that. who would like to get out of the world of untruth, the world of falseness, the world of illusion, and go to the world of truth.

[16:18]

That picture, you know, I think it's like maybe a medieval picture of the guy with part of his body in the world of untruth. like his legs and butt are in the world of the untruth, and his head sticking out into the world of truth. You know that picture? It's kind of cut in half. Have you seen it? It's really a sweet picture, I think. So it's got the, you know, one part, most of the picture's got, you know, the moon and the stars and, you know, babies being born and old people dying and people fighting and some people being nice. And then it's cut in half and his head and hands are reaching out into this world which looks, you know, kind of cosmic, very peaceful. So karmic consciousness has stories like that dualistic stories, whereas this path is not about that whole picture is in karmic consciousness.

[17:27]

And then to be kind to the transcendent and the not transcendent is the practice. Once again, be still and gracious, be still and compassionate with karmic consciousness, and it will reveal the truth, or the truth will be revealed. And I said that to somebody, and he said, well, once we're still with phenomena, should we do something, or should we investigate them? And I would say, yeah, go right ahead if you want to.

[18:34]

If in stillness, with phenomena, when they come, love them, be compassionate to them. And if compassion looks like investigating, fine. If somebody brings you an awi, do the visitors from other countries know what awi means? If someone brings you a wound, a wound, a wound, an injury, If an injury comes up to you in your body or somebody else's body is presented to you, be still with it and be compassionate with it. And you might feel like, I think I'd like to investigate this wound. I'd like to investigate it, do some experiments with it to find out more about it.

[19:36]

So again, if that investigative impulse arises, I would treat that the same way. Be still with that and be kind to that. Welcome the impulse to investigate if it arises. If it doesn't arise and you think, there's no inquiring impulse arising in me in response to this thing, I'm a bad Zen student. I should be asking questions of things." Well, be kind to that thought. But what I want to emphasize is it's fine to investigate what's being given to you to take care of. And investigation might be part of developing a loving, non-attached relationship to things. But the investigation I think that's leading to a loving, non-dwelling relationship is one where you investigate as a gift.

[20:47]

You don't investigate to get. So you investigate the wound, you investigate the problem, you investigate whatever, but as a gift. You just feel like, I have a gift. I have a gift to offer to this situation." And you give it, but not trying to get a deeper understanding. And that's quite an art, to offer a question. So this thing comes before you, you're silent and still with it, should you do anything? No. Will some action arise? Yes. Okay? So you're there with something. Should you do something? No. And then you do something. But that's the next moment. It isn't that you did that. It is now you've got this new thing to take care of. And it might be, what's your name?

[21:50]

Who are you? What did you come here for? But we ask the question, not to get intimacy with this thing, but to express intimacy. Sometimes when you're intimate with someone you say, are you the same person that was here yesterday? Who are you? But again, as a gift, not to get. That's a key thing. A key factor of being compassionate with what comes is to be giving to it, not trying to get from it. And again, that giving is not something that you do. If you think you do it, be kind to that thought that you think you do it. We do not make our karma by ourselves. Our karma now is a condition for future karma.

[22:52]

Yes. But we don't make our future karma. Our future karma depends on this karma and other past karma in other people's lives too. So karma is grace. Karma is a gift of life to take care of and realize the truth of. So wholeheartedly practicing being still, taking care of things, giving up trying to get anything out of the practice, giving up trying to get anything out of life, and not giving up sometimes, hopefully not giving up quite often, giving to life, giving to life, giving to phenomena, giving to phenomena. Again, if you give to dharmas, they will in return give the truth to you.

[23:56]

And they can tell, he didn't give to me just so I'd give him the truth. He gave to me, and I thought he might be giving to try to get the truth from me, so I didn't give it. Just wanted to make sure, see if he does it again, and again, and again, and again. He's been giving to me so long, I think he actually is actually giving to me. He's not trying to like get the jewels out of me. So I'm going to tell him the truth now. He's been so kind. The truth is already within you. As you've heard in many current jokes, You know those current jokes? Do you know them? Okay. What's like, what is it just like? So one joke is the guy's ordering a hot dog.

[25:07]

You know what a hot dog is? And he says to the customer, He says, can I have a hot dog? And the person selling says, what do you want on it? And he says, make me one with everything. And the salesman says, that comes from within you. So it's out there, you know. But you have to be really kind to hot dogs to hear it and understand it. It's really within you. So again, whatever comes, Be still with and practice compassion. Very simple, right? Starting with giving.

[26:09]

Starting with giving. Every moment, start with giving. Every moment. Stillness and give stillness. Don't try to get something from stillness. Give to what it is. Give to it, give to it. Practice the precepts with it. Be patient with it. enthusiastic about the practice with it. Be calm with it again, and then wisdom will also be there. And one more. On the negative side, even if we're quite still, but then we start wiggling a little bit and investigate to try to get the truth from phenomena, if we try to get the truth from phenomena, the negative approach, getting, then we will get something, but we'll get an artifact of our greed rather than an artifact of our generosity.

[27:16]

Truth is an artifact of giving and a distortion of it is artifact of getting. And now I would like to prepare the ground for discussing this ancient and famous teaching from China and Japan. But before I do that, perhaps we could have a word from Elena. Could you stand up, please? I have a question about how close I've had it for a long time. Could it be called expendable energy? Expendable energy? No, I would say it's more like a wasting energy. It's a leakage. It's a linkage. Well, actually, the Sanskrit and Pali word is, what is it?

[28:21]

Tell me, scholars. All right, asarava. So this is the original. No, that's wrong. A-S-R-A-V-A. A-S-R-A-V-A. A-S-R-A-V-A. And in Pali, I think it's Asava. And its root meaning is flood. So the root meaning is flooding in. But it also, it means flood in and out. So when we see things in a you know, in a habitual, not habitual, if we see things in a way of trying to get things from them, like gain, then we experience like gain and loss.

[29:27]

And so we get, we have a life of inflation and deflation because of seeing things in terms of gain and loss. And, yeah, and that's basically one of the simple renditions of why we suffer. No, there are, well, in a life of what? In a life that is experienced in the field of non-thinking or no mental expression, there will be no auspices. Well, if there's no mental obstruction, that could occur where there's no mental phenomena, or it could occur with mental phenomena.

[30:31]

So there could be thinking with no obstruction. That's one of the possibilities of life, is thinking with no obstruction. But if there was no thinking, no thinking would mean there was no pattern. and no pattern would mean that there's no phenomena. So if there's no phenomena, then there won't be a pattern, so there won't be thinking. If there's no psychophysical phenomena, there won't be thinking. But if there is psychophysical phenomena, there will be a pattern, there will be thinking. But the path doesn't have outflows. The path is not about gain and loss. And the path is the path among the things that do have outflows. All the elements In the karmic consciousness, each one is a kind of gain-loss circuit. Like pain and pleasure are kind of gain-loss circuits. And neutral sensation is a confusion about gain and loss. You can't establish it.

[31:33]

So almost all the dharmas, not almost all the dharmas that comprise karmic consciousness, according to the teaching, they all have outflows. They're all about gain and loss. They're all suffering. However, when they're organized in the pattern of the path, then there's no obstruction, and then there's no outflow. The overall... the synergy of all the things with outflows can have no outflows. You're welcome. So I would guess that if we open up for questions now that I might not be able to introduce this other material which I think might be helpful for you. And also if I introduce this material there is the risk of giving you too much to handle but Ready for it? So what I'm referring to is this famous story of the Zen teacher, the Zen master, the great teacher, Yaoshan.

[32:43]

He's in our lineage, he's Yakusan Igen Daisho, and he is the 36th ancestor according to our lineage dream. You know the dream of our lineage? got 92 or 93 or 91 ancestors in it. Well, number 36 is Yao Shan. And anyway, that's the story that there was a guy in China who was a great master. His name is Yao Shan, which means medicine mountain. His name is also pronounced Yue Shan and Yaku San. So he was sitting one time And a monk came up to him and said something like, in the immovable, resolute state, what kind of thinking is there?

[33:48]

And Yashan said, thinking of not thinking, or it could be translated also as thinking of what doesn't think. And then the monk says, how do you think of not thinking, or how do you think of what doesn't think? And Yashan said, non-thinking. Non-thinking. And what I wanted to introduce today is some pictures of these Chinese characters. So when the monk says, he says, in this unmoving, resolute, in the unmoving, resolute state. You know what resolute means? Okay. In that state, Kind of like, what's going on with karmic consciousness?

[34:55]

Is there karmic consciousness? Is there thinking? And what kind is it? And I wanted to write the characters for that. In Japanese it's pronounced, go-tsu, go-tsu-chi. In Chinese it's pronounced, woo-woo-jir. And here's the main character. It's Can you see it? It looks like pie, yeah. So the image originally is of a high, flat, something high and flat, like what we sometimes call a bald mountain, a tall mountain. that's been sort of worn down by the wind, so it doesn't have a sharp point.

[35:58]

It's got a flat top. A lofty, flat mountain. That's this character, Wu, or Wu in Chinese, Gotsu in Japanese. So the monk comes and says, In go-to, go-to, he says go-to, go-to. Go-to, go-to. Go-to, go-to. So go-to, go-to is double go-to. A mountain, unmoving, old mountain, unmoving old mountain. And then chi is earth. And it means earth, but it also means condition or state or situation. So in the grounded condition or situation of immovability, it's not just not moving, but there's a resolution to be still.

[37:11]

So it's a kind of like a living stillness. In that situation is there or is there, and what kind of karmic consciousness is there? It's hard to make out the character because there's a circle and there's a superimpose on it. I've never seen traces of the erasures here. It's the same character as this one. It's pie, pie, pie. Yeah, pie. And this one down here? Yeah. Yeah, so it looks like this. This part should be a little smaller. And this character, again, means earth, ground, situation, condition.

[38:16]

Yes? When the monk asked what is going on, what was the character? Did he do chetana or did he do thinking, another character? The character he used, it's a compound, and the first character in the compound is the character for chetana. So it means thinking. When Chinese speak... When they speak, China is a disyllabic language in speaking. So, for example, if you look in the Heart Sutra, there's a character for nose. In the Heart Sutra, it says no nose. So it's like woo, woo bee, woo bee. The character for nose is bee. Okay? So if you're looking at the character, you can see, oh, that's the character for bee. Okay? which, by the way, looks like a beehive on legs. Okay? But when you speak it, you don't say bee, you say bee-the.

[39:29]

Because if you just say bee, people won't know which bee it is. But if you say bee-the, then they know. It knows. And same for ear and eye. If you're speaking, you would use two characters. So people, just by hearing, they know what you're referring to. But when you write it, one of them is enough. So in the Heart Sutra, it just has no eyes, no ears. It just writes one character for eye, one character for ear, one character for nose, one character for mouth, one character for body. Does that make sense? So same with thinking. He's talking to the teacher, so he doesn't just say, what kind of she is going on? He says, what kind of she-ryo is going on? So when you speak Chinese, you would say shi, rio. So the combination of shi and rio, you know, it means thinking. And sometimes that doesn't mean enough, so you've got to say another word. Because many characters have the same sound. Like the character for new and true and...

[40:32]

and deep, and so on. Many characters are pronounced shin. Deep, true, new, and so on. So you don't just say, the character for a newspaper is shinbun. Two characters. Well, actually that's not a good example because just by shin you wouldn't know that it meant newspaper. But part of the thing about newspaper is that it's new, right? But just saying nu isn't enough. So anyway, the word that's used here is shirio. So shirio is the character that's used for thinking. Fushirio is the character that's used for not thinking. And hishirio is the compound, not the character, are the characters used for non-thinking. Shirio, fushirio, hishirio. Fushirio, Fushiryo and Hishiryo.

[41:40]

Fushiryo and Hishiryo, right? Fushiryo is not thinking. Fushiryo is not thinking. Yeah. And Hishiryo is non-thinking. N-O-N. And what's the difference, not thinking and non-thinking? I will talk to you about that during Sashin. I'm going to study this case with you during Sesshin, this story. But I want to start, before the Sesshin starts, with emphasizing go-tsu-go-tsu-chi, the resolute, unmoving state of the Buddhists. or this master, this great teacher, the monk honors him by saying, when you're sitting, that's the unmoving state. That's go to go to chi.

[42:40]

By the way, I was studying this story with Carl Bielfeld one time, and he had some really good dictionary, and he pointed out that in the dictionary, the first character, the character go-to by itself means like a worn great mountain, and it means unmovingness. And then when you put two together, it makes it like more, you know, more emphatically still. but then it also has the nuance of wobbly. It means, of course, it intensifies the stillness if you add another one, but then the two of them together have sort of some nuance of wobbliness in the Chinese language. In other words, when things get really still, they also manifest intimacy with not stillness.

[43:49]

It's not an absolute stillness. It's just a heavy-duty stillness. And heavy-duty, when it gets really full, gets really light and airy and starts dancing. Have you noticed? Have you noticed? Have you noticed? No? Yes? People sit sesshin, they get more and more still, and then they start getting really, really light. So the most profound stillness is intimate with movement, and so on. I just want to say that it reminds me of T.S. Eliot's line in the Four Cortex, at the still point, they were dancers. Yeah, right. So you could say, in a way, one meaning in the stillness is there a dance, is there a thinking dance, and what kind of dance is it?

[44:54]

And so as a kind of priest, as an admonition a day or so early for Sashin, I just wanted to say some things that the ancestor Dogen says about this. He introduces a story. And then he says, experiencing this state in which the words of the great master are like this, we need to learn in practice go-tsu go-tsu chi, which could be translated this time as mountain still sitting. If you want to experience the state in which the Master talked like this, we need to learn and practice this go-tsu go-tsu chi.

[46:02]

And we should receive the authentic transmission of this mountain still sitting. And this, receiving this mountain still sitting, receiving the transmission of this mountain still sitting, receiving the transmission of this mountain still sitting, this is something which is given to us. This has been transmitted to us. This resolute state has been transmitted to receive the authentic transmission of it. This is the investigation of this stillness which is handed down or transmitted in the Buddha way. So the Buddha way transmits stillness and to receive it and investigate the stillness is the stillness that's transmitted in the Buddha way. I think this is something which one might be mindful of, something one might remember throughout one's life.

[47:22]

Verifying that such words, verifying that such are the words of the great ancestor, we need to study and participate in the correct transmission of immovable sitting. to investigate, to study and participate in the transmission of stillness, of still sitting, which we have been practicing in this retreat. We've been practicing it now for emphasis. Study the stilling. which is not moving. Study immovable sitting. Investigate it as a gift. Not trying to get something from it like, what is this thing?

[48:27]

You will find out. It will be given to you, but don't try to get it. Investigate it as a gift and participate in it as a gift. And that's the way to verify the words of the great teacher. It might be helpful also to hear the words that this, so go-tsu-go-tsu-chi is like the state, go-tsu-go-tsu-chi is the state of the Buddha. And we have a practice called go-tsu-za.

[49:31]

So go-tsu-za is, this is my jumbo chalk. Go to ZA is like this. Go to ZA. Resolute, mountain-like sitting. Go to ZA. Does that make sense? Between what two? This is go-to and this is za. This character here means sitting. It's a nice character. This character here means earth. These are people. So it's two people sitting on the earth. That's a character for sitting.

[50:37]

See it? Isn't it cute? Two people sitting, this is sitting on the earth, that's sitting, and this is unmoving. And this gotso gotso chi is the state that we're trying to realize by this ritual of sitting still. So sitting still is our offering to the Buddha's stillness. And by offering our sitting still to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, we realize together the state in which the practice lives. And this go-tsu-za, this immovable sitting, sits the immovable sitting.

[51:40]

Of course, you sit the immovable sitting, too. And I do, too. We try. But it is the immovable sitting that sits the immovable sitting. You don't have to add yourself to your immovable sitting. Your immovable sitting sits the immovable sitting. It's sort of like Zazen sits to Zazen. It's very much like Zazen sits to Zazen. Yeah. With a little emphasis on the Gotsu. Yes? I'm guessing it's no accident that there's two people sitting. You're guessing there's no accident? I have the same guess. It also looks nicer that way, doesn't it? Isn't it cuter to have two... It's a lovely day today, and whatever you've got to do, well, it's a lovely day for doing it by two.

[52:47]

But if whatever you've got to do is not something that can be done by two, well, it's a lovely day anyway. But there it is. So, you know, this character was waiting for Buddhism when it came to China. And the Buddhist came and said, oh, that's a good character for our practice. Let's use this a lot. Let's do this sitting thing. Because it's so nice. It's got two people together on the earth. This is our way. So let's do it. Yes. Yes, Nora. I'm just wondering, you say, go to, go to, what? What? Well, there's one expression, it's go-tsu-go-tsu-chi, which refers to the state that the Buddhas are living in.

[53:49]

And the monk comes and sees the teacher, sees the Buddha, and says, hey, Buddha, what's it like in that state that you're in? What kind of thinking is going on? Or is there any? And then they have the talk. And then in commenting on this, Dogen Zenji says that if you want to realize the state from which this conversation is coming, then you need to receive the authentic transmission of this immovable sitting and participate in it. And then he shortens it. So now it's not Gotsu Gotsu Chi, it's Gotsu Zha. This is the za zazen. Okay, and the go-tsu go-tsu together, those two characters together, are the stronger sitting, but now a little shaky.

[54:53]

Yeah, right, right. But when they're together, the go-tsu go-tsu chi, I don't know how common that was in Chinese speech, but the go-tsu go-tsu chi is referring to a state, And the Gotu-za is more referring to like a ceremony of a practice. And this practice is transmitted so we can realize the state. Yes? I don't understand the state. What's the possibility of the state? It's a kind of way of living. It's a state in which, for example, there is total devotion to things with no attachment. It's like a condition. And according to the early teaching that I put on the board, it is actually the condition of a living being.

[55:55]

A living being actually is itself, and it isn't attached to itself. It's just being itself. That's its state. So the sentient being's condition. So the word, the sentient being, that word condition after sentient being in that teaching, the condition is similar to goto goto chi. The chi is, one of the meanings of chi is earth, but another meaning of, well, it's not really another meaning. Earth is not exactly other than the meaning of state. The earth is kind of a state. It's kind of our state. Our condition is earth. Our ground is our condition. So nature and qi are somewhat related in that way. So the condition of sentient beings or the ground or the state of sentient beings is unmoving.

[56:59]

So that's a state. The Buddha is a kind of condition, like a sentient being is a kind of condition. And the condition of Buddhas or the state of Buddhas and the state of sentient beings are not two. But they're not completely identical either because Buddhas are completely free of fear and... grasping. And sentient beings are still kind of caught in that, but the immovableness of that condition is the same as the Bodhi of the Buddhas. I think the problem for me in the word is a tendency to want to get into a particular state or something like that. Yeah. Or attain a certain state. Yeah, the karmic consciousness might then say, I'd like to get in that state.

[58:06]

Mm-hmm. And so we're emphasizing not trying to get anything here when you hear about such a state. So again, if you want to understand this state that the teacher is living and teaching, in which the teacher is living and teaching, if you want to understand the state, don't try to get anything. Don't move. Study not moving. If you move, that's not the state. The state is not moving. If you want to understand the state of not moving, practice not moving, which means don't try to get anything from this teaching. But it's okay to give yourself to the teaching. That's okay. Does that make sense? That's okay. Yes? Is the state recognizable? Is the state recognizable? Good question. We're getting into the situation, but I think I'm okay with that sitting still does not look at sitting still.

[59:14]

Sitting still sits sitting still. but sitting still can't look, because the next thing Dogen says after he says that sitting still sits sitting still, he says, therefore, how could sitting still look at sitting still? So sitting still cannot recognize sitting still. If you recognize sitting still, fine, that's okay, you're allowed to do that, but that's not sitting still. The sitting still is busy sitting still, but it doesn't recognize itself. So the monk was not sitting still himself. He recognized the state, but he wasn't moving. No, not necessarily. This monk might be able to... It doesn't mean there's no recognition going on for a being who's in this state. So like the teacher is in this state, but the monk can say, hey man, and the teacher can say, yeah?

[60:20]

Or the monk could come up, does the master recognize me? The teacher says, yes. I have a question for you. May I ask? Okay. I've been waiting. The teacher can recognize the monk. The monk can recognize the teacher. They can do that. And the monk's recognizing the state, but the recognition of the state is not the state. But if you're in the state, you don't have to get rid of recognition. You don't have to get rid of the things that are not the state when you're in the state. The Buddhas don't have to get rid of the sentient beings. Looks like I lost you there a little bit. Want to try it again? I was wondering if Because Terlan asked, can it be recognized? And it sounded in the story as if the monk was recognizing that state.

[61:24]

Oh, did you say, can it be recognized? Okay, it can be recognized, but it doesn't recognize itself. What recognizes it is not it. The recognition of it isn't it. But you can recognize it. But the stillness itself doesn't look at itself. The stillness is busy practicing being itself. So that which can be met with recognition is not the thing itself, plus the recognizing. Now if you recognize recognition, then the recognition of recognition is the thing you're recognizing. But if you're recognizing realization, that which you're recognizing is not the realization and is not the realization itself. Does that make sense? If you recognize recognition, then the thing you're doing is the thing itself.

[62:28]

And you can recognize recognition. So that which is recognized is the thing itself. But if you recognize realization, that's not the realization itself. Plus the thing you're recognizing, that which can be recognized, is not realization itself. The same with the sitting still. There's a problem there. You want me to stand up? Yeah, would you stand up? Because your voice is like, if you talk to me, it's going to come over here and they're not going to know what we're talking about. See, they can't hear me right now. But if you talk like that. In the story about Buddha's enlightenment, and he's tempted by various things and attacked him, can you use that story to talk about or to illustrate some way the giving aspect of this that you have been talking about?

[63:47]

Yeah, well, the story of the Buddha, you mean where lots of demons are assailing him? Yes. That one? Yeah, and so he meets, so he's sitting still, and as a matter of fact, he sits down and he says, according to the story, it's just a story, but anyway, according to the story he says, I'm not going to move until there's realization. So then when that happens, then sometimes we say, when somebody intends to sit still, the demons' palaces start having earthquakes. And then the demons send their armies down to get that person to give up their commitment to sit still. So they come to the Buddha, and the Buddha meets them with loving-kindness. He loves, in his stillness, he meets it with loving kindness. He meets it with loving kindness. And then in this way he sits still and then finally doesn't dwell in what comes to him.

[64:57]

And he's devoted to these beings because he loves them. He loves them and loves them and loves them and then they cool it. But still, he has to realize that there's no dwelling in them in order to realize it's not flowing. And then he realizes the way. He realizes the way when he's sitting there. He realizes the way our human life is pure and not clinging. He goes further after that, after he treats these demons which are challenging his stillness. Then he feels supported to sit still. And then he goes further into studying kindly, compassionately studying phenomena and realizing no abiding and no outflows. I think this gives you more room.

[66:39]

When I'm sitting and... Can you hear that, Deirdre? Could you speak back to Deirdre? When I'm sitting, can you hear me? When I'm sitting and something arises in my consciousness that I intend to be kind to, it's often really not very clear what it is that I'm seeing or thinking. So then I'm trying to identify what it is that I'm experiencing. And that then immediately feels like movement. Can I say something? Yeah. When something comes and it seems unclear, be kind to it in its unclear presentation.

[67:57]

Don't wait to get things, you know, tidied up before you start practicing kindness to the unclearness Be kind to things that you feel you don't know or that you think you don't know. Be kind to the feeling of not knowing and how the thing which appears to you but you don't know, how that appears. Be kind to the appearance even though it's not clear. Like someone just said to me a while ago, when I have low energy How should I practice with it? And then, of course, somebody else says, when I have low energy, how can I have more energy? And there are ways to get more energy, but putting that aside for the moment, and let's address the low energy first, because that's what we've got.

[69:01]

So I'm saying, if you really love the low energy or the cloudy state of consciousness or the cloudy state of mind, if you can love that, before it clears up, you'll realize enlightenment. Now it may clear up, which is fine, and then hopefully realize enlightenment with that new friend, that new partner. But cloudy, low energy is a perfectly good thing upon which to practice and realize the Buddha way. But it might be easier, you might feel easier to be kind to a nice crystal clear, spiffy, perfectly energized state. Fine, if it's easy, sometimes it's easy. But some people also tell me when they have these wonderful, empowering gifts that they spend many years afterwards trying to get them back. So if they would have really loved it in the first place, they would have let go of it.

[70:06]

So you're not loving this cloudy situation to get rid of it. You're loving it to realize the way now. And things may clear up and then love the clear situation. And then energy may become just right. Love that. Energy may come low. Love that. I have one more question. When... When you or anybody is practicing caring for karmic consciousness, is the mind in the hara, or is the mind, where's the mind? The mind is in the whole body, the entire body. However, people often forget about their hara. People often get up into their head even above their eyebrows quite a bit.

[71:12]

Like, I'm definitely up here. It's hot. Well, yeah, it's true. We are up here. We are up here, and it is hot up here. That's fine. But we're also down in our heart. And we're also down below our navel. And we're also in our knees and our feet. So for a lot of people who get distracted from their hara, there's a lot of encouragement. Go to your hara. Bring energy away from where it's overly concentrated. Share it with the rest of your body. And in particular, people often lose track with that dumb vitality below the navel. that's really a big part of us, is below the navel. And below the navel just happens to be kind of in the middle of our body. And it happens to be where you put your mudra. So there is kind of like, don't forget this area which can be overlooked as we get into our busy practices that we use our head to do.

[72:22]

So it's not so much we should be there, it's just that we shouldn't be under represented there. We should be fully represented below the navel. Give it just the right amount of attention. To give below the navel too much attention and not enough in the heart wouldn't be good, and not enough in the head wouldn't be good. So most people have too much someplace. Too much in the head, or too much on the right side, or the left side, or too much in the heart. But some people could have too much below in the hara. It's possible to have too much below the hara. Not very common, but it could happen. And such people then need some help to somebody who's saying, we need you to circulate that energy a little bit. You're overly concentrated below there, but it's not so common. So, yeah, so please let's take care of that area of our body. Give attention to the area below our navel. It's really a good place to pay attention to because we can forget it.

[73:25]

And to our heart too, and to our whole body. And actually look around and wonder, is there some part of my body I'm not taking care of? Actually, I'm not feeling my feet on the ground. Okay, feel your feet on the ground. I'm not feeling my fingers extended. Okay, feel them. Try to inhabit the entire body, which in fact you are inhabiting. And try to balance the inhabitation, which again might mean to remind ourselves to go below the navel. So, I'm finding, because I'm used to putting my attention in my hara, that's been the instruction I've received. So, this intensive I've been practicing more caring for karmic consciousness, and it feels like my energy comes up to do that. So I'm finding it quite ... I feel like there's a lot of movement within me, energetically, kind of between this new thing.

[74:35]

practicing, and the thing that I'm used to practicing. So is that just a question of practicing both? Or is it better at times to keep the energy here, like if I'm feeling fairly calm and there aren't a lot of phenomena arising? Anything is possible. In other words, sometimes it might be good to keep your energy someplace. But generally speaking, it's not a good idea to keep your energy anywhere. But just take care of where it is now. And keep it balanced. Not even keep it balanced. If you take care of it where it is now, it will become balanced. And I think actually Malvern came up and asked a question, or not a question so much, but he expressed that, I think he was kind of expressing that too much energy was getting up into his head, right? So I think it's true that these discussions, if you hear the instructions about how to study karmic consciousness,

[75:41]

it's possible your energy will rise too much up into your head. So it would be good if you're studying karmic consciousness, it would be good to make sure you're grounded below your navel when you think about it. I think the stillness is, again, close companions to the area below the naval. Because the area below the naval is kind of dumb. It doesn't think about going anywhere. It's kind of like the ground, right? So I think it might be very good for us to sit and make this mudra and put this mudra next to our stomach below our navel and be still and then from this stillness and from the center of this body to contemplate karmic consciousness. That might keep us balanced so we don't get too much up in our head, so we don't study karmic consciousness too much from our so-called head. Okay? So then you can study the new and the old together.

[76:47]

This is a follow-up question to the last question that was brought forward and it's how to be loving and kind with difficulty and perhaps even extreme difficulty in meditation practice in daily life. Because I think you mentioned a few days ago to someone that they were trying to practice loving fear or terror, some sort of strong emotion. And you said that that's very advanced. And so I'm wondering when it's skillful to see it in a greater context and practice loving what you love, not pushing it away, but maybe as a first step. Are you asking about loving something you already love? No, I'm asking about something that I don't already love. Oh, so you're asking about how to love something you don't already love?

[78:09]

Right. Yeah, so number one, practice giving towards it. In other words, be gracious. In other words, something you don't love, when it comes, try to say thank you very much. And if you have trouble saying it, Be very gracious with yourself who's having trouble saying thank you very much. And then try again. Really welcoming it. Being generous with it. Gracias. Right away. Try. Just like, you know, even if you don't love everybody and respect everybody in the sangha, still it's good to practice gassho towards everybody, not just towards the people who you kind of feel okay about or good. And some people actually might have trouble getting those hands together for some people.

[79:11]

Oh, what? My grandson does this now. And he goes, it's more like, it's just the finger. It's not the whole hand. Anyway, it might be easier to go like this to people. But how about practicing this? Try. Welcome. Thank you very much. Just try to do that with everything. And then if you do it with everything, then when really challenging stuff comes, you might be able to say, I've been waiting for you. Thank you very much. Wow. Okay. Thank you. Very much. That comes from a story that somebody gave me about this young man who hung around with this old lady.

[80:20]

I forgot his relationship with her, but anyway, he really respected her and thought of her as a teacher. And they were parting, and he asked her for final instructions. And he said, no matter what comes, say, thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever. So he left her and he tried to practice that and he wasn't very successful. And then a number of, maybe years later, he got back together with her and he said, I'm really sorry I wasn't able to practice what you taught me. And she said, thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever. if we don't practice kindness, you know, it's not necessarily that we like that. But we still might be able to say, thank you very much.

[81:24]

I have no complaint. Is that enough for today? So may we receive and participate in the correctly transmitted immovable sitting of the Buddha way. May our intention equally ascend to every being and place. With a true net above us waiting, beings are with us. I want to serve them. See, some of the life in this hospital, I don't think I can do it.

[82:41]

I don't think I can do it. [...] One more short installment in Chinese calligraphy or Chinese characters. If you take this character Gotsu and write one line above it like that it becomes the character Gen which means origin or originator. And if you put it together with that other character Dao That's Dao Yuran, actually in Chinese, or Dōgen. So Dōgen's name is, you know, originator in the way. But his name has this secret thing inside.

[83:43]

But you can even play with further and say, if you have one, if this character is one, one, Immovability, that's in his name. That's the gen of Dogen. Before we go, there's just a couple of things. Well, Zahan will start at a quarter of 11, and then there'll be one period with an interval. If the power does not come back on, we'll have lunch in the dining room, the same way we have breakfast. The kitchen and dish room will both have bleach in the rinse water for sterilization purposes, so be careful if you're in those areas in your rooms. I think that's all for now. I will be asking the tankers to meet with me after lunch for sasheen instructions, so I'll announce that again depending on whether we're in the dining room or the zendo.

[84:55]

The time will depend on that. Where should our Oreo could be at this moment? Wherever it is. Ah-ha! Ah-ha! The immovable state. I don't know if I should... The serving food got a break after breakfast that we may have because it was a long break for everyone. So you can determine... Wasn't there some break time after that? Before 9 o'clock? Well, if you feel you need part of a break, you could take the period before the interval. So the interval would start at 11.30. Is that enough? I have a short announcement. I don't know if it has been made or not. So if anybody needs, we don't know how long the power will be out, if anybody needs a flashlight or something like that, I'll go out today and get some other things.

[85:59]

So please let me know immediately after this meeting if you need something urgent for that power voltage. Okay.

[86:08]

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