Next time we have a class, maybe we could have those chant cards for some people who don't know that chant. That chant is called, English translation is the verse for arousing the vow written by Ehe Dogenzenji. So he actually wrote, I vow from this life on throughout countless lives to hear the true Dharma. We change it to we for this recitation. Are those chairs uncomfortable? No.

[01:14]

It's the beginning of the intensive and it's the beginning of the year. So at beginnings it's often good to consider basics. There is a teaching which I'm influenced by, which is the teaching that all living beings are actually bodhisattvas. There's also a teaching that some people are bodhisattvas and some people are not. Babara, could you move to your left, please?

[02:24]

Actually, it's better if you move that way and she moves that way. Then I can see Eleanor. You can sit up straight, it's okay. Yeah. So within the great vehicle of bodhisattvas there are, sometimes it's suggested that not everybody is a bodhisattva, not everybody wants to be a bodhisattva. The teachings which I'm going to offer you are generally speaking teachings that have been offered to bodhisattvas in the past. They're like teachings that have been offered to bodhisattvas in the past. But the teaching that everybody, that all living beings are bodhisattvas, it includes the people who say they're not bodhisattvas.

[03:36]

So some people in other parts of Zen Center have confessed to me that they're not bodhisattvas. They've said that, I'm not here practicing for the welfare of all beings. I'm not here for enlightenment. And I always say, on those occasions I always say, If they say, I don't want to practice here, can I stay? I say, well, maybe this isn't a good place for you. But if you want to practice, even if you don't think that you're a bodhisattva, you can stay because you are a bodhisattva, according to some views. And again, if you say, I don't want to be a bodhisattva, then you're a bodhisattva in the form of saying you don't want to be a bodhisattva. If you say you're only interested in your own happiness and your own peace of mind, primarily concerned for the welfare and liberation of all beings, then you're a bodhisattva in that form, according to this teaching.

[04:49]

This is a teaching that we're all on the same path. We're all doing the same practice. The practice of the bodhisattvas is the practice of everybody. And of course, everybody's included in the practice of everybody. But this is just, you know, that's not the only story that's being offered in the tradition of the . But I'm kind of like almost upholding that teaching. I certainly want to tell you about it. So if you wish to study and learn perfect wisdom, I encourage you to arouse great compassion and make great vows, great bodhisattva vows.

[05:59]

And one classical Zen meditation manual says, you know, arouse great vitality. And then it says, and practice thoroughly samadhi. So this intensive, I will probably bring up a lot of teachings about bodhisattva samadhis. In the morning service we chanted the universal admonitions, the universal encouragements for the ceremony of sitting meditation.

[07:33]

And then this morning we chanted the song of the So in my view, both of these texts that we chanted are teachings about samadhi, about bodhisattva samadhis. We'll be doing them again and again so you can listen to these teachings about bodhisattva samadhis. We also chant the Heart Sutra every day. The Heart Sutra that we chant is one of the somewhat longer version of the Heart Sutra. It has an introduction where it says the Buddha was sitting in samadhi with Avalokiteshvara. They're both sitting in bodhisattva samadhis.

[08:37]

And then of Avalokiteshvara by the power of the Buddha's Samadhi, which Avalokiteshvara is practicing. Avalokiteshvara's, well actually, it explains that Avalokiteshvara is practicing and sees that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieves, and this vision relieves all suffering and distress. So this could be said to be an earnest assertion that practicing perfect wisdom and clearly seeing that all five aggregates are empty, that all suffering and distress

[09:42]

could be seen that way but another way to see it is this is a meditation instruction this is a this is a thought experiment think about a vision that would relieve think about the idea that a vision relieves suffering and then also here that this is being asserted in this text. Avalokiteshvara is saying, is going to say something, is going to give a teaching now. And it's asserted that Avalokiteshvara had this vision in this samadhi with the Buddha. So the Heart Sutra is about the vision that occurs. You could call it the Prajnaparamita Samadhi. Avalokiteshvara is in the Prajnaparamita Samadhi and sees that the way skandhas are and sees that this is what relieves suffering and distress.

[10:59]

And then The song of the Juhomir Samadhi is about the same Samadhi. And the Fukon Zazengi is teaching the same Samadhi. And then at noon service, we chant another song about another Samadhi, which is called the Self-Receiving and Employable. This is another Samadhi. Different names, kind of bringing up different aspects or different ways of talking about the Buddha mind, which is a state of samadhi where wisdom is living. So those four texts, the Heart Sutra and the Samadhi, will be brought up a lot during this intensive.

[12:06]

I borrowed this piece of blue chalk from the kitchen's equipment. I like to make thick lines when I write Chinese characters. Can you see it, Yuki? May I borrow this for the intensive? That character is a character which appears in, one place it appears is in this

[13:32]

teaching about the self-receiving and employing samadhi. This can be translated as stillness, silence, calm, tranquility. And I would propose to you, I would say, this is a text which is not well known, but the text goes like this. In stillness, enlightenment is living. Enlightenment is living in stillness. Living in stillness is enlightenment. This is not a technical Buddhist term.

[14:43]

This isn't like a translation of the word samadhi. It's just a word that could be used by any Chinese person referring to stillness, silence, and calm. But it's the term Dogen uses in that song about the self-receiving and employing samadhi. He says that he describes all the wondrous functions that goes on in the self-receiving and employing samadhi. And then he says, all this hardware does not appear within perception. So if we have actually realized this samadhi and are living in it, in this stillness, or walking in this stillness, in the midst of all these inconceivably wonderful functions of compassion and wisdom, which are liberated

[16:00]

It isn't that we perceive the process of perception, that we perceive the process of liberation. The process of liberation is imperceptible. Sometimes we perceive liberation. Sometimes we think, oh, I'm liberated, or oh, she's liberated, how great. And sometimes we think, oh, I'm not liberated. She's not liberated. How not great. We have perceptions like that. Wonderful, you know. And it can be very moving and encouraging to have a perception of liberation. I was walking down Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco one day into the bay. to swim. I wasn't going to commit suicide.

[17:10]

And I walked by a little newspaper stand and I looked and it said, the headline said, Liberated. And I just, I was deeply moved. just to see the word, to perceive the word, just to perceive the word liberated. I just deeply moved. What it was, was the people, the hostages in Iran were liberated. That's what it was about. I didn't know what it was about. Just the word deeply moved me. And I still went swimming. That's a perception. But the process of liberation is not one of our perceptions. So the bodhisattvas vow to reallocate, to make that, to enter into and exercise that process of liberation.

[18:20]

And it doesn't appear, the process does not appear in or as perceptions because this this process of Buddha's liberating function is unconstructedness in stillness. It's an unconstructed way that things are in this stillness of samadhi. And again this is a teaching for bodhisattvas. And then later the text says, in stillness, mind and objects merge in realization and go beyond enlightenment. Another translation would be, in stillness, mind and object enter realization and leave enlightenment.

[19:30]

Or More literally, but strangely, a translation would be, in mind and objects, in stillness, realizationally enter and awakenedly exit. which is in the way it literally would be translated, it's less substantial that way. That we enter realizationally and we go beyond awakenedly or enlightenedly. But we don't exactly have that worked out yet to call realization an adverb out of realization and an adverb out of awakening. Right? So stillness. How do you pronounce this character?

[20:37]

Sei. In Japanese, sei. S-E-I. So this character appears at least three times in that section of the teaching. And again, it isn't the word for samadhi, but it could be understood, I think, of samadhi. Yes? I'm sorry to ask, but would you be willing to define samadhi? Before I do, I want to say you're welcome to ask questions. So, samadhi. Again, you know, Buddhism is not a fascist state. So definitions are, you know, not under control of any agency.

[21:38]

Some agencies have the terms but are not successful. So maybe I'll write on the blackboard at some point, but for now I would just say that the definition of samadhi could be concentration. No, a translation of samadhi, a translation of samadhi might be concentration, or another translation of samadhi would be settledness and tranquil and collected, collected and unmoving. That would be translation. And the definition of samadhi is mental one-pointedness. One-pointedness of thought is the definition.

[22:39]

So in samadhi, mind and object are one point. That's the definition. And that entails, so the translation is to be settled and calm and collected. The definition, mental one-pointedness. Chitta eka gata. C-I-T-T-A. A again. No. A-G. Chitta eka gata. One-pointedness of thoughts. Translation, concentration, definition, mental one-pointedness. Which means mind and objects are one point. Mind and object are one point, the mind is collected.

[23:43]

And when it's collected in one point, it's calm. So the definition and the translation go well together. That could be a definition of . So in that sense, samadhi is a state of awareness which kind of realizes non-duality of knower and known, or mind and objects, or the knowing and the known. Yes? If you are, so samadhi is these things that you said, concentration, subtleness, one-pointedness of thought, you're concentrated or settled, tranquil, and have one-pointedness of thought, is that always necessarily some kind of samadhi?

[24:53]

I don't know if I want to say always necessarily. That would sound like a good definition, a good description of samadhi. And I would also say that this kind of samadhi, is, kind of like a positive quality of it is, is a great service or can serve for a vast variety of wholesome activities. So someone might say, is it possible to be concentrated and do cruel things? This kind of, in a way, samadhi does not do cruel things. It does not do unwholesome things. You enter samadhi by developing all kinds of wholesome practices. So in the openness, samadhi isn't just concentration and calm, but in the openness of thought, in some sense it's impossible to do any cruelty.

[26:05]

And you get to one point in this by developing compassion. So like, samadhi can be realized by using a variety of methods. And when the samadhis develop, the work they're doing can be more wholesome than it would be otherwise. Yes? concentration of focusing the mind on one point and a one-pointedness of mind. So a distinction between focusing the mind on one point and one-pointedness. I think that usually when someone is focusing on one point, That's because that mind that's focusing on one point still feels like the point that's being focused on is separate from the focusing.

[27:16]

And some people use the act of paying attention to a point as a way to develop samadhi. But in samadhi, there's no more focusing on a point. even though the samadhi is focused on a point. And so now it might be good for me to mention how to develop samadhi. There's another word which I often use, Sanskrit word shamatha and I think in Pali it's samatha. Is that right? And it means tranquil abiding or calm abiding. And calm abiding, as it develops, it develops towards

[28:29]

towards samadhi. The culmination of calm abiding is samadhi. A culmination of calm abiding practice is samadhi, pointedness of mind and object. And then once samadhi is developed, the samadhi can go in different directions. One direction is towards the samadhi can be applied to the teachings for bodhisattvas, all the wisdom teachings, but other teachings too. And also the samadhi can go in another direction, which is called dhyana or jhana.

[29:33]

It can be used to develop more and more profound states of calm, psychophysical calm. Someone asked, towards the end of the year last year, the Zen tradition include the dhyana practice. And I said, well, it kind of includes it, but yeah, it kind of does include it. Our samadhi does kind of include it, but we usually do not. Most Zen bodhisattvas do not develop the dhyanas. we take, we usually use the samadhi to develop these other samadhis, these bodhisattva samadhis.

[30:35]

Okay, now I hesitate to touch the... Before you do, could you say what the parts of the character are? This character, this part's the moon, kind of the moon, I think. I don't know what this part is. Huh? This is moon? Oh, blue. Okay. Blue moon. This is blue. And another meaning of blue is fresh or raw. Okay, bye-bye blue. And this part, I don't know what that part means. Okay, so now let's see.

[31:38]

We have... Shamatha. Shamatha. In Mahayana teachings, shamatha goes with vipassana. And shamatha again means calm abiding, tranquil abiding. Chinese character is like this. And you'll see this on stop signs in Japan. and China. They had to practice shamatha.

[32:42]

And the Japanese drivers, when they get to the sign, they sometimes actually turn their lights off and enter into shamatha practice. And when the light changes, they stop practicing shamatha and drive away. So this character means stop also. Stopping or calming. So I just say that shamatha, as shamatha develops, it develops into samadhi. And then samadhi can go towards jhana practice. The Buddha did practice jhanas, and some bodhisattvas do practice jhana.

[33:53]

But the emphasis in the teaching of this school developed from the samadhi to develop the bodhisattva. BS with a circle around it is bodhisattva samadhis. Or our ancestors' samadhis. Is that like the four jhanic states? Yeah. And then there's, in addition to the four jhanic states, there's also four what are called samapatis, which are based on the four jhanas. Yeah, there's four jhanas, and then there's four samapatis. And then there's other yogic states, and they all flow from shamatha, samadhi, and so on. So part of the, I wouldn't say exactly confusion, but almost complexity of our tradition is that the Buddha practiced shamatha, samadhi and jhanas and samapattis.

[35:08]

That's part of the history of the Buddha's life. And the Buddha recommended the jhana practice. So some disciples of Buddha do think that jhana practice is very important. this particular school is more going into samadhi land and then going into bodhisattva samadhis. So in the Phukan Zazengi, it says, at one point it says, this is the essential art of Zazen. The zazen I teach is not, and literally it says, learning dhyana. The zazen I teach is not learning meditation, right? But the character for meditation is actually the character for dhyana.

[36:09]

So Dogen is saying at that point, it's not learning dhyana. It is the dharma gate of repose and bliss. It is totally culminated enlightenment. So bodhisattva samadhis are totally culminated enlightenment. So along with the teaching that we're all bodhisattvas, teaching which collapses enlightenment and the practice of enlightenment. So there's no enlightenment without practice, and there's no practice without enlightenment. If you've got a practice that's not enlightenment, it's not this kind of practice. This kind of practice is a practice where the practice is the enlightenment. So you have practice and realization.

[37:14]

And then you have Buddha. And Buddhas are realization. and Buddhas are practice. Buddhas are practicing Buddhas and of course everybody knows Buddhas are realizing Buddhas, but what some people don't know or don't think about is that Buddhas are practicing Buddhas. So practice and realization in Buddha. So our practice, the actual practice, which is inconceivable and imperceptible, The practice is the enlightenment. It's not the means to it. The means and the ends collapse into each other. ...enlightenment or floating practice. Practices in enlightenment and enlightenment in the practice. Yes? When Buddha's... One translation says,

[38:19]

When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, they do not, one translation is they don't notice that they're Buddhas. Another translation is they don't think, quotes, I'm Buddha. What was the translation you said, they don't know? And then it says, but they still are Buddhas. They still are Buddhas, and they're Buddhas going beyond Buddha. But when it says they don't think, actually I think even one translation says they don't necessarily think. I think Buddhas can think, I'm Buddha. They can think that, but they usually have other things to think about. What they're always thinking about, they're always thinking about How can I help beings enter the great way to attain Buddhahood?

[39:22]

They're always thinking about that. And occasionally if somebody says, you know, if somebody walks up and says, are there any Buddhas around here? The Buddha might think, yeah, I think there is. Where, where? I think, well, right here. But they don't have to think that. But if they do need to think it, they will think it, if it's helpful. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Right. In other words, even in samadhi, in fact, the reality of mind and object being one point has been realized, which is correct, the person may not understand.

[40:30]

Reality, in fact, is in our face all day long, but we don't know. Emptiness is present in everything we meet. But most people cannot discover it without instruction. In reality they're the same, but the first one, there may not be the understanding that's in the second one. Can we say that samadhi is the Buddha nature and dharma? I think the Buddha nature is more like everybody's a bodhisattva.

[41:50]

Buddha nature is even if you don't want to be a bodhisattva, you still are. Buddha nature is you can't get away from your Buddha nature. Buddha nature is no matter what you say or no matter what you think, you are bodhisattva. That's a Buddha nature. That's why I always say Buddha nature. We are on the same path, all of us living beings are on the same path. That's our Buddha nature. We're all working together. That's our Buddha nature. But samādhi, among all the sentient beings, not all sentient beings are cultivating samādhi. Pardon? Does it go the same in Buddhism and in Germany? Not all sentient beings actualize that they are.

[42:57]

Yes, right. That's right, not all sentient beings actualize that, right. But the samadhi is for those who are actually doing the practice. of realizing the Buddha nature. And not all sentient beings are doing the practice that helps them realize it. In fact, they're already included. Yes? It looks like you see me. I'm separate from you. That's what it looks like. For me, you appear to be separate. There seems to be a distance between us. That's one way it can look. But actually the distance is not at all separate from my awareness of the distance.

[43:58]

Distance is the mind is one-pointed with the appearance of a distance. The distance is just mind. And there's no separation in mind between the knowing part and the object part. They're always one-pointed. But that's not an appearance. The appearance is that they're not one-pointed. So we cultivate samadhi to realize that the mental things which appear to be not mind are actually mind. I'm just going to keep answering questions for a while, but it might be good if I stop pretty soon. Yes? I'm thinking of the picture of the arrowhead being I think that you can see that in the Song of the Jewel Mirror, Samadhi, where it says, ye with each arch of skill could hit a target at a hundred paces, but when arrow points meet head on, what has this to do with the power of skill?

[45:15]

You could understand that the arrow points meeting head on in Samadhi. You can understand it that way. And then it follows by saying, when the, you know, when the air points meet in samadhi, and again, what has this to do with the power of skill? It's not by your own power that it's not by personal power that samadhi is samadhi. And in samadhi, when the wooden man can sing and the stone woman can dance, and her dancing is related to his singing. But they're not in control of each other. This is what it's like in one-pointedness of thought. I think I should stop just a second and say something, which is, how do you develop You have your hand raised?

[46:17]

You have your hand raised? Who else? You have your hand raised? Could you write your questions down, please? Because I think I should now mention something about how do you develop samadhi. Because you can go right to work on this, and then we can ask questions in the next class. I'd like you to start the practice of developing the samadhi. Samatha practice. Again, it goes with Vipassana. Vipassana means higher vision. Samatha means calm abiding. Those two go together. But I'm not emphasizing Samatha. So Samatha, the basic, in the Samadhi Ramachandrasutra it says that the bodhisattvas have four kinds of objects that they meditate on. Non-conceptual objects, conceptual objects, and I think all beings, and then the other is accomplishment of the goal.

[47:29]

Those are the four objects. And it says, in terms of Samatha and Vipassana, in terms of calm abiding and higher vision or higher insight, in terms of these two bodhisattva practices, which ones do they apply to and which ones they don't? And the answer is that the Samatha applies only, by itself, it applies to the non-conceptual object. And the vipassana applies to the, the insight applies to conceptual objects. And both apply to the accomplishment of the goal, complete perfect enlightenment, and they both apply to all beings. But shamatha is developed by meditating, by paying attention to a non-conceptual object.

[48:38]

Insight is developed by paying attention to conceptual objects. Samatha, tranquil abiding, is developed by attending to attending to some activity that entails giving up thinking. Or say it another way, attending to some activity entails giving up discursive thought. That's one way to put it, how to train tranquil abiding. Another way to say it is, tranquil abiding is developed directly by attending to giving up discursive thought.

[50:05]

or giving up thinking. And another way to say it is, tranquility is developed by attending to the uninterrupted mind. Those are three ways to talk about it. I'll just stop there for those three. So for example, you can pay attention to the breathing. The activity is to attend to the breathing in and breathing out. You're attending to an activity. And as you attend to this activity, that attention to that activity can entail giving up discursive thought.

[51:08]

And giving up discursive thought while attending to the activity of is conducive to developing shamatha, tranquil abiding. Because as you attend to the activity of breathing in and breathing out, that entails giving up discursive thought. And you can also attend to the posture. Your posture while you're sitting or walking, you attend. And as you attend to that activity, attend to engagement in the activity, that attention is conducive to giving up discursive thought. It is the giving up discursive thought that is conducive to the tranquility.

[52:17]

It's not the focusing of the mind on the breathing, or focusing the mind onto the posture, or focusing the mind onto the drumming, or the tightrope walking or the dancing or the chopping of vegetables that produces the shamatha. Giving up thinking about it while you're doing it or thinking about anything else while you're doing it. That's the kind of surprising thing which I hope I can tell you about in the container of the intensive. Timo's question is, a lot of people think that you develop samadhi by focusing on a point. But it's not the focusing on the point that makes the samadhi. It's the giving up the discursive thought while you're focusing on the point. You could also have the point focusing on .

[53:19]

And if that helped you give up discursive thought, then that would be fine. It's the giving up the discursive thought. And another way of doing it, which is different, is focusing on something you can't see. And not only focusing on a mind, but focusing on a mind you cannot see. The mind you can see is the interrupted mind. So the third instruction is to pay focus on a mind that you cannot see, not on the mind you can see. I could mention other things, but to start with. And the third one is the one that's

[54:26]

the main one that's offered in the Samdhi Namacana. And all the different translations say it the same way. Continual mental attention to the uninterrupted mind. And then another place it says, attention to the mind which is the object of all minds. So the mind is now looking at the mind but not looking at the mind right now like this mind has a bunch of people in it and some people, some hikers just walked through the Green Gulch Path. That mind will be interrupted soon. Soon there will be no more hikers. And the people in this room will be someplace else. And so will I. This mind, where I'm perceiving you, and where I'm perceiving you, perceive me, be together, even though it's wonderful, it's going to be interrupted. As a matter of fact, it has already been interrupted.

[55:27]

And now we have a new mind that arises, and minds that arise are interrupted. So another instruction for developing shamatha, which again is a little bit more subtle than the previous ones. And this one you will not have to, this one you will, what do you call it, this one you won't have to like put aside when things get more subtle. This is more to pay attention to the uninterrupted mind. And in the Fukunzazengi, the first part of the... exactly, but after the initial introduction, introductory comments by wondering why we have to practice if we're, you know, if we have Buddha nature, why do we have to practice and so on.

[56:33]

But then he said, but if there's a hair's breadth difference Between what and what? Between the practice and the enlightenment. If we don't practice in such a way that there's no separation, it's like there's a big separation between the way we're living and enlightenment. So then he goes on and he basically says, he in various ways thought. Cease all movements of the conscious mind. The gauging of all thoughts and views. Don't think good, don't think bad. These are instructions for giving up discursive thought. Does that make sense? No? Not if you're supposed to be focusing on the mind you cannot see. How can you be focusing on the mind if you're at the same time? Would you say it again more slowly? Okay. Yeah, if the deal is focus on the mind, you cannot see, that's kind of focusing. Or you can say, you can say... Yeah, I said, discursive thought is what comes to fruit as tranquility.

[57:45]

Yes. Yes. And then there's an instruction to attend to — not think about — but attend to the uninterrupted mind. And I just mentioned that you can't see the uninterrupted mind. It's always here because it's uninterrupted, but you can't actually see it. Because again, as I said earlier, or as the sutra said earlier, the object of shamatha development is a non-conceptual object. We're focusing on an object that's not associated with any images. Look at something that's not associated with any images. So that's the more subtle instruction for developing Samatha. Look at something that's not associated with any images. That's an unstructured mind. But you can also look at things that are associated with images, like the breathing.

[58:48]

And as you're looking at the breathing, you may give up associations with images. You're flying all around the breathing process. But you just let go of all those objects that are associated with images. You give up the discursive thought surrounding the appearance and disappearance of the breath. At the beginning, there's a little bit of thinking about attending. But as the attending gets more subtle, you're not really thinking. It's an attention to its attendance to something that's not a concept. But you can also attend to something which seems to be a concept and by attending to it you can gradually let it go associations and the thinking that's going on around it.

[60:03]

So In one text, they talk about, one text in meditation, it teaches counting the breath, following the breath, and then it says stopping. It doesn't exactly say stopping, but it kind of does say stopping the breath, which is hard to understand. And it says, so it recommends first count the breath. The Buddha, as far as I know, never recommended counting the breath. He said follow, be mindful, but not count. later to count. In this text it offers counting and then it says, as you count, as you notice, as you're more successful at being able to count the breath, you may notice that your mind becomes more refined or more subtle. And you can actually feel sometimes that the subtlety of your mind is greater than the subtlety of the counting.

[61:05]

At first, some people's minds are so rough, so coarse, that counting the breath is like a refinement of their thinking. After you follow your breathing for a while, you're like, my thinking's more refined than the counting. And then you let go of the counting. Like if you use training wheels when you're riding a bicycle, at first, when you first start using training wheels, do you know training wheels? Yes. When you have a bicycle, you have little wheels on the side. So some people, without training wheels, the bicycle riding is very coarse. In other words, they fall over. They put the training wheels on, and it's kind of like, mm, kind of nice. But after a while, the training wheels are kind of restrictive, and a certain flow of turning corners the training wheels really interfere with the fluidity and the smoothness of the turning.

[62:07]

So you take the training wheels off and the bicycle riding becomes more subtle and more refined. Does that make sense? And you can actually observe that in yourself. Your mind's coarse. You follow the breath. The mind becomes more subtle. Then the mind's more subtle than the method. Drop the method. Then you follow the breath. And then your mind becomes more subtle. And you find that following the breath is coarser than the mind. You drop the following. Then you just practice tranquility. And then when you practice tranquility enough, you don't exactly drop the tranquility, you become the tranquility. And then you turn to the teachings for the bodhisattvas, which you've learned before. And then you start practicing shamatha. And then the shamatha, I mean, you've already had... So we say practice shamatha, but you've developed shamatha, now you have shamatha, Now you can let go of the shamatha developing practice, which is to focus on a non-conceptual object.

[63:12]

Now it's come to fruit. You are focused. The mind is refined. It's flexible. It's open. Now you're ready to look at the teachings, which means now you go and you look at a conceptual object, which is the object of the insight. It looks at objects that are associated with concepts. like emptiness, it's associated with this huge ocean of concepts of the teaching about what it is, and all kinds of balancing statements so you don't misunderstand it, which you've learned before. And as you study, now, the conceptual object, the shamatha, which focusing on a non-conceptual object, it becomes refined in association with the wisdom work. So once again, focusing on a non-conceptual object produces a state of calm, flexible mind.

[64:17]

And now you can do the insight work. To do the insight work before you've realized that shamatha, it's not called insight work. It's like insight work because you're looking at the same, you could be looking at the same teachings that you would be looking at if you were doing insight. But because you don't have this flexible body and mind, it's like you're trying to do fancy bicycle riding with training wheels on. So you're not flexible enough. And again, to be focused and flexibility is nashamata. And some people are quite focused, but they're tight. and not open. So in the Samatha, when it's developed, it's undistracted, buoyant, open.

[65:21]

And now in that state we can now look at the teachings and they look much different than they did before we were in that state. And then as we look at the teaching, which are conceptual objects, that actual state which was realized through a non-conceptual attention. And then that state and the refinement of that state is developing in tandem with the development of insight. And then they become, they're working together, unified. And that's when we develop the bodhisattva samadhi. So, I suggest you consider maybe which of these These shamatha-developing, samadhi-developing practices you'd like to do.

[66:28]

And then go practice them in the zendo and all day long, actually. And they're also, another way to summarize it, they're just ways to assist you in practicing stillness. Practicing stillness, practicing stillness, practicing stillness with everything. So if you have any questions about this or your previous questions, which you may have remembered... Yes? When I read or listen today's shamatha, I feel like we are trying to attain some state of mind. That's what I feel like. But when I read more, Our practices, whatever comes, be with it. That is how you connect with that kind of .

[67:36]

Instead of counting this, if I'm just being with anger, in that state, we are something free from the anger, and we have some sort of Yeah, the peace in that woman, instead of counting a breath to calm down, like how to connect. Part of what you said, something comes and just be with it. Okay? That could be understood as something comes and just be with it. That could be understood as something comes and just be with it. And that's that. And that will develop shamatha. That will develop shamatha. Yes. So if somebody says this, somebody says, something comes, just be with it. Like one Zen teacher said, or some student asked a Zen teacher, well, how do you practice?

[68:38]

He said, attention. And the student said, well, how do you do it? He said, attention. Could you give me some instruction? Attention. Attention. How do you practice? Be with it. How do you practice? Be with it. How do you practice? Be with it. The student maybe the first time, the second time is not just being with it. They're asking for some instruction and then they get it. But that instruction you brought up, it sounds to me like it could be understood as shamatha instruction. And another thing you said, giving up. Same as the let go? Yeah, let go. So that giving up and let go, we don't give up, right? Let go and giving up, it's happening. So we have to kind of, like we cannot be one moment, another. We are not continuously thinking the same thing. So that is the giving up and let go, and we just... Yeah, tune into it.

[69:44]

But we cannot give up things. We cannot give up intentionally. Well, like it says, when arrow points meet, what has this to do with the power of skill? Even two skillful archers, very skillful archers, even they by their own power cannot do this amazing thing of arrow points meeting in midair. But it can happen. It can happen that Something comes and you're with it. Not by your power, not by its power. So that instruction, just be with it, could be understood. Give up discursive thought. But I'm not giving up. If you think it's true, I'm not giving up, and then give that up. Okay? And if you think you're not giving up, then give that up. It's true that I'm not doing it.

[70:45]

Give up that thought. Don't hold on to the thought, it's true I'm not giving it. Don't hold on to the thought, I am doing it. Because, again, if I'm doing it comes, just be with it. If I'm not doing it, just be with it. If our points meet head on, just be with it. So just be with it, in a way, is another way to say give up discursive thought. It doesn't sound like follow your breathing, but when you follow your breathing, then, you know, when you're following your breathing, somebody may say, hello, and you just meet it. Someone can say goodbye, and you just pay attention. And you don't pay attention some other way. You just pay attention. And then you may notice that it was just and notice it in a way that's not associated with any image.

[71:46]

So again, how do you just be with it? Be with it. The student wants maybe some more information about how to be with it. Be with it. The answer might be thinking about how to be with it. So I want to be in accord with the new versions of the ancient teachings. And if you try to get anything out of it, be with it. Don't be with somebody who's trying to get something. Somebody who's trying to attain something. Somebody who's trying to avoid attaining something. Be with it, be with it, be with it. Give up discursive thought. And again, that's the same as paying attention to the objective mind. So there may be all kinds of thought of getting something or losing something, of improvement and not improvement.

[72:52]

All those thoughts may arise. There's no comment made about what to do with them. The comment is pay attention to the uninterrupted. In the midst of all the interrupted minds, interrupted mind, interrupted mind, interrupted mind, So in the ocean of interrupted minds, there's an uninterrupted mind, or in the uninterrupted mind, there's an ocean of interrupted minds. The uninterrupted mind isn't stopping the interrupted minds, it isn't starting the interrupted mind, but it doesn't start and it doesn't stop. That's what we're paying attention to. And any idea you have about the uninterrupted mind doesn't apply because if it did apply, then that would get interrupted. So the people who raised their questions before, what time are we supposed to stop? No? Okay. Yes?

[73:53]

I'm really struggling with the phrase non-interruptive. Non-interruptive. I think it is common for us to think it's hard for us to image an object that's not an image. It seems like it's not an object, yeah. Just being linguistically stuck. Yeah. But I guess it's useful because it is a way of thinking of kind of just considering what we're trying to consider. Yeah, so I'm stuck. That's an idea that's associated with lots of images. And so that's an opportunity for letting go of that thought. Object is a dreadful word to use, though. It's dreadful. And let go of the thought, dreadful. It's dreadful. Let that go. If it's dreadful keeps coming up, just keep saying, thanks for dropping by.

[74:59]

You're welcome to come back again if you'd like. And that's easy to say, let that go. There's so many things, so many comments, those are interrupted minds. So when you hear the instruction about paying attention to a non-conceptual object, Then an interrupted mind arises and says, that's crazy. That's strange. That's an oxymoron. Hold on to your earrings. Yes. When you were talking about the bodhisattva samadhi a while back, it occurred to me, it sounded to me like perhaps You could say it's the fruit or you could say it is the union of them. Samadhi is the fruit of training in Samatha. And then Vipassana is the fruit of

[76:03]

or it's based on the fruit of Samatha training because we need Samatha for to be Vipassana, but also Vipassana is the fruit of hearing the teachings, which now will come up in this new context. So both, it's developing samadhi and practicing them, and it's also the fruit of listening to the teaching and discussing the teaching and being clear about the teaching, and then having the teaching come up again now in the context of samadhi, and then it will be insight. And then when these two, the integration process is this bodhisattva samadhi. Yes? the activity of samadhi, the training, the training which comes to fruit as samadhi is occurring in consciousness.

[77:25]

Because it's in consciousness where we have the discursive thought going on. But the samadhi is not confined to the consciousness. The samadhi The unconscious process and the samadhi is also embracing a state of mind which is not unconscious cognitive process and it's not conscious cognitive process. It's the intimacy of all processes. The samadhi opens to that. So samadhi embraces wisdom, consciousness and unconscious and transforms and they all transform together. the conscious and unconscious process feed the samadhi its life, give it life. Because without them there's no samadhi. But the samadhi liberates or fuels and fosters the mutual liberation of the conscious and unconscious processes.

[78:30]

Yes? I think part of the reason the Buddha recommended it is because it's like family business, so to speak. You know, it's kind of like some Zen teachers are car mechanics, and if you go to study with them, they say, come on into the shop, and you can pass me a wrench. you know, because that's their work. So the Buddha actually, part of his besides being growing up in a warrior family where he learned martial arts. So that's another part of Buddha's background is he was a martial artist before he left home. And then he was a, you know, a trained yogi and practiced these things.

[79:36]

So it's part of his background. So I think that's part of the reason about realms of study that he had gone in, and if they would go in these realms, he would help them understand them and help them understand him and help them understand themselves. I think it's part of that. And I don't know of the Buddha's saying, but later Buddha mentioned that in some of these jhanic states, bodhisattvas do sometimes go into them. They do go into them. Dogen doesn't say so. Actually, he does in some places. This is a universal encouragement for the ceremony of zazen. This is a teaching for everybody. For the teaching for everybody, he said, this is not jhana practice.

[80:38]

But for some of his , he might have said, well actually, you can practice with jhana. But that's not for everybody. Because some of the jhanas lead you into states of concentration where you don't see any beings anymore. And bodhisattvas, then bodhisattvas can't see how to help. A lot of bodhisattvas, although even if they can enter those jhanas, they're recommended to not stay very long because they cannot evolve in their bodhisattva path when they don't see any beings. In some of those states, it's not just mental one-pointedness, it's just you don't see any suffering beings. In that way, bodhisattvas are encouraged not to go into these formless jhanas. for long, but it's okay to go for a little while. But you don't evolve the way you do when you're engaging with human suffering.

[81:39]

it may be helpful sometimes to get a special exercise to encourage you to go back and do the work of showing beings how suffering has a door to peace in it. We're not trying to avoid suffering, we're trying to use it in such a way as we can see its true nature. Can it be perceived? I do not know how it could be perceived. I think the uninterrupted mind is not an object of perception. But it can be known, but not as an object of consciousness.

[82:53]

But consciousness, a consciousness that's willing to spend good and good money on focusing on something that it can't perceive, is a consciousness that's getting ready to calm down. I want to look over this way. Somehow I've been looking over this way. What's going on over here? You could trace, yeah. But it's a trace. It's not the uninterrupted mind. It's the uninterrupted mind deigning to appear in consciousness. It's the uninterrupted...

[83:56]

uninterrupted mind in a sense can deign to appear in minds with spectacular things like arrow points meeting. We can see things where we think, no, usually I think somebody is in control here, but obviously not now. Nobody made this, nobody made this happen. This is like a revelation of a greater. You know, like some people, when some people are just amazingly cool, Your story of seeing the liberation in the paper, that would be a... Yeah, or the stories that... Like my story of hearing someone respond in a relaxed and open way when falsely accused of a crime. And then when exonerated and praised for the way he responded to the false accusation

[85:00]

responding in the same way. I think, well, that's like, that's a trace in consciousness that encourages me to want to learn where does that come from? Well, I'm suggesting it comes from the samadhi. But in the samadhi, there's like, that which can be met with recognition is not realization itself. But there can be recognition. Oh, there's realization. Great. And I think a lot of, I was just reading somebody talk about Zen and Soto Zen to somebody. I don't know if the Soto Zen priest or Rinzai Zen priest, but the person's answer I thought was kind of nice. He said, something they were talking about, what's the difference between Soto and Rinzai? And the guy said, I think Rinzai is more accessible to Westerners. Because Rinzai is often more psychologically.

[86:03]

In other words, in terms of the traces. Somebody was practicing Zen and they had a breakthrough and tears squirted out of their ears. It's like, yeah. Rather than All beings in ten directions knew an increase in joy and growth in wisdom. Well, where did that happen? So Soto Zen is a little less psychological, but psychological Soto Zen too. Somebody else, one of our friends said, she said, I think she said, at Muktananda's place, Muktananda was a noted Hindu yogi, said at Muktananda's place they shake. They had a place over a while, maybe it's still there, and you go in. I didn't go, but somebody went in and reported me.

[87:07]

You go into the room, and everybody in the room is shaking. Everybody's got, like Kundalini is happening all over the room. Rochester Zen Center, everybody has Kensho, you know, running down the halls, laughing and crying. And at the San Francisco Zen Center we have babies and bad backs. But those are traces. The bad backs are not our practice. They're just traces which we don't advertise. But that's not the realization. The realization is not met with recognition. But there are recognitions. What's going on there? We do recognize things. That's allowed. And then whatever was recognized goes back and something else comes.

[88:13]

Everything that's coming is coming for us to understand. But what's appearing here is not realization itself. What's appearing here is something to deal with in samadhi so that we can realize what this is. And what this is, is not how it appears. ...appearances, ultimately. But we have to practice samadhi to realize the Buddha nature of everything. So if you want, please try to contemplate which method of developing, and it isn't that you develop samadhi in state, it's just samadhi for the moment. And then tomorrow you have to develop samadhi again. Well, maybe it'll last more than one day, but samadhi's, the fruit of this kind of cultivation of shamatha doesn't last forever.

[89:17]

It has to be renewed. One day or you know, once a day is a good way. But some people really don't need to. And it comes time for samadhi, renewal, and they realize, well, actually it's still here, so I'll just use it until it's gone. And then I'll generate it again, or then by the same practice. Next class or whenever, there can be more discussion of how to develop Samatha and Samadhi. And I also feel you're going to have opportunities to hear these teachings throughout the day so that will renew your mind looking at these teachings but these teachings do not. Actually, the Fukanzabzengi, I would say, Fukanzabzengi, it does give shamatha instruction, I feel.

[90:24]

And one other shamatha instruction which it gives is, how does it say? Turn back the light, illuminate the self, is that what it says? Hmm? Turn the light around inwardly to illuminate the self. That's a Samatha instruction, I would say. Turn the light around and look at the uninterrupted mind, the self. So those are the first parts of Samatha. And then it says, and then it gives instructions for the posture, and then it says, settle into a steady, immobile state. That's a summary of shamatha practice.

[91:27]

You've given up discursive thought, now you can be settled. Samadhi. Now you're in samadhi, then you look at the teaching. Think of not thinking, non-thinking. Now you start to look at images again. In this case, he's taking a Zen story. Look at this Zen story. Entering samadhi, settling into a steady immobile sitting position. Now practice vipassana. This combination is the essential art of zazen. This is not just shamatha. This is not just, and it's not developing jhana. This is the essential art of zazen. Here, the practice and the realization are one thing. So tomorrow we'll chant the Fukanzazengi again. Yes? In the state of Samatha, how does the passion arise?

[92:35]

At what point, and what is that like? I mean, is that spontaneous? the way it arises is, say, just kitchen, stop. One second, stop. She asked, how does the vipassana arise when you're in shamatha? The ways it arises are more or less unlimited. So you can go now. So, you know, one is you're practicing samatha. You're successful at practicing it. You've entered into samatha. So practicing samatha, entering samatha, we're in samatha now, to the level of mental one-pointedness, samadhi, now. Okay? And then you're in a zendo, and somebody says, Having met it, you renounce worldly affairs.

[93:36]

You hear that? And there's vipassana. It arises based on, well, the shamatha arises based on previous attention. Intention, yeah. The shamatha happens to develop it. Now you've got the samatha. Now how about vipassana? If you've been studying the teachings, that's part of the conditions of your life, so these teachings are there. Now actually you hear it, you've heard it many times before, now you hear it in samadhi. And you notice how different it looks than it did before samadhi. But that's not the main thing. But you have this whole new take on the teaching. a whole new way of being with it. And so then that's, and that's not a final thing, that's insight work.

[94:41]

With images which are coming up, or now you're working with an interrupted mind. So you're developing attention to uninterrupted mind, entering samadhi, now in samadhi an interrupted mind comes up, and it's an interrupted mind which is talking about a teaching. art sutra, whatever. There it is. Boom. And now you're going to look at it. Now you're going to look at the images and investigate the images and in a whole new way. You did it before, but now you're going to do it in a new way. Before it was learning the teaching. Now it's insight because of the situation you're in and also because of your previous study. and many other factors. Thank you very much.

[95:36]

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