How many are doing Jukkai next Saturday? So I'd like to start by reciting the Fukanzazengi, okay? Are you ready? The way is basically perfect and all pervaded. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? of the difficult, free and unchallenged. What a deed is there for concentrated effort.

[01:02]

Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's test. Who would believe in a means to crush a queen? It is never a heart for one, like everyone is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice? And yet, there is the slightest discrepancy in the ways that a citizen is guided and heard. If the least life or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose one gains pride in understanding and relays one's own enlightenment, cleansing the wisdom that comes to do all things, attaining the lay and clarifying the mind, raising an aspiration to desolate the very sky. One is making the initial partial excursions about the frontiers, but is still somewhat deficient in the vital way of total emancipation. The young man mentioned the Buddha, who was possessed with important knowledge.

[02:07]

The influence of his six years of upright sitting is noticeable still, or early on in the transmission of the line seal, the fame of his nine years of wall-sitting and celebrating to this day. Since this was the case for the saints of old, how can we today dispense with the negotiation of the way, You should, therefore, cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns you like a human being to illuminate yourself. The body and mind of themselves will drop away, and their original place will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay. For some men, the quiet in the room is suitable. To eat and drink moderately. Cast aside all the problems and cease all affairs.

[03:10]

Do not think good or bad. Do not diminish your pros and cons. Cease all the movements of the conscious mind to engage in all thoughts and views. Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. Sanatana has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down. Thank you. with your left leg and your left palm facing upwards on your right palm. Come to a discussion.

[04:12]

Now sit upright and grab a quality posture, neither reclining to the left nor to the right, neither leaning forward nor backwards. Be sure your ears are on the brink of your shoulders and your nose aligned with your navel. Place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth, with the teeth and lips closed shut. Your eyes should always remain open, and you should breathe gently through your nose. Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale, bow your body right and left, and settle into a steady, normal sitting position. Think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking. This in itself is the essential art of zazen. The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss, the practice realization of a thoroughly culminated enlightenment.

[05:20]

It is manifestation of ultimate reality. Perhaps the snares can never reach it. Once its heart is grasped, you are like a dragon which is in fire, like a tiger which sheds its mountains. For we must know that just there, in the land, the great army is manifesting itself, and that when it bursts, all of us in distraction are struck aside. Do arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, humbly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In surveying the past, be mindful of transcendence as well as enlightenment and enlightenment, and relying on either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the strength of Zazen. In addition, the bringing about of the document by the opportunity provided by a finger, letter, a mail, or a mallet can be a lesson of realization by the aid of a hosu, a fist, a staff, or a shot.

[06:30]

A lot of people are concerned by discriminative thinking. Indeed, a lot of people don't have the practicing or realizing of supernatural powers either. It must be important beyond hearing and seeing. It is not a principle that is prior to knowledge and perceptions. It is just being the case that an indulgence or lack of it does not matter. To be involved in the sharp-witted is no distinction. It is not a situation of effort single-mindedly. That in itself is negotiation of the way. Practice humanization is imaginary and undefiled. Going forward in practice is a matter of everydayness. In general, in this world and in other worlds as well, both in India and China, equally hold the Buddha's seal, though it all reveals the character of this school, which is simply a devotion to a good, global engagement in a mobile city.

[07:35]

Although it is said that there are as many minds as there are persons, still we all negotiate the way solely in zazen. Why do you, behind your seat, which is near home, go aimlessly off to the empty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep, you will stay directly before you. You have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not use your time in waiting. You are leading the essential working of the Buddha Dhamma. You are living it like the light in the sire of a flintstone. Your life's dormant substance are like a zero in the past, destiny like a dart of lightning, empty and instant, vanished in a flash. Please, honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to the learning for the affluent, do not lose your vision about the true Dragon.

[08:36]

To do so, train your Jesus to awaken and direct him in case the Absolute, the dearly person of any attainment, who is beyond all human agency, gain accord with the enlightenment of the Buddhas, so that he may be the legitimate lineage of the Ancestor Samadhi. Since they perform in such a manner, and you are assured of being a person such as they, the treasure store will open up itself, and you will use it at will. Josie, can I borrow your copy? Do you have a pen by any chance? Do you have any money? Do you have any money? Well, I thought about this talk for a while, and I had a really good one ready to present to you, but I forgot it.

[09:47]

But, thank you. But if you give me enough stuff, still, there might be something of worth happening this evening. I do remember a couple things, though. One is that... Zazen, as you just read, has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down. Remember that part? Now, what you just read, the Pukan Zazengi, is a manual. It's a manual. It's instruction for a ceremonial procedure with, you say, a preface and an epilogue to help you orient and understand the ceremony which it instructed you to practice.

[11:05]

I wrote on the blackboard here two Chinese characters, which... Can you read them? Can you see them? Or is the light reflecting? Well, anyway, maybe after class you can look at them. People, you can't see them at all over there, right? Anyway, I'll just tell you what they say, and you can look at them later. They're two Chinese characters. They're both pronounced G-E-E. and one of them is featured, both of them actually are featured in each other. If you look at the characters, you can see that they both contain each other. Can you see that? They're a little different, but they're also very much the same. The name of this text, which you just recited, is called Fukan Zazengi in Japanese, and it's made of fu, kan, za, zan, gi, five Chinese characters.

[12:11]

Fu means universal or general, but I think universal is good. Universal means applying to the universe or coming from the universe. Universal and kan means observations or encouragements. And zazen means something which we'll be discussing. And the last character is gi. And gi means ceremony or ritual. And usually when this is translated, they usually translate it as general or universal encouragements or admonitions for zazen practice. or something like that, or for zazen. But another way to translate it would be universal encouragements for the ceremony of zazen.

[13:23]

And in the middle part of this text is a ceremony, a ceremony of eating and drinking moderately, casting aside all affairs, crossing your legs, arranging your robes loosely, sitting in a place that's not too bright, putting your hands and arms in a certain way, having your eyes open, putting the tongue on the roof of your mouth, not leaning forward or backwards, right or left, settling into a steady, immobile sitting position. This is a ceremony. And these are words describing a ceremony. and we have one of the other names for zazen is the jewel mirror awareness or the jewel mirror samadhi and it's one of the traditional chants of the soto school which we chant here regularly in the morning the jewel mirror samadhi and in that text describing

[14:44]

the jewel mirror samadhi of zazen, the jewel mirror awareness of total devotion to a mobile sitting, it says that the meaning is not in the words, but it responds to the inquiring impulse. Another way, a more literal way to translate it would be the meaning is not in the words, but it responds to the arrival of energy, or the arrival of function or opportunity, or working. So if you look at these characters, you'll see the character on the right, which is pronounced , that character means meaning. It also means righteousness.

[15:49]

It also means justice and loyalty and proper deportment. The character on the left is also pronounced gi, and that character means ceremony or ritual, a customary procedure for performing solemn religious activities. And if you look there, you'll see that the character for meaning is contained in the character for ceremony. And in addition, the character for ceremony has another radical, which is also a character, which means person. Ceremony is the conjunction of meaning and person or justice and person or righteousness and person.

[16:54]

Ceremony provides an opportunity for persons to make an effort for a person to express her energy for a person to offer her body and mind as an opportunity. And the meaning, although it looks like the meaning is in the character for ceremony, the meaning is not in the ceremony. Zazen has nothing whatever to do with this ceremony. with this crossing the legs and so on. The meaning and justice of the Buddha way is not in the form of the practice. However, when you put yourself forward and offer yourself completely, or even partially, but anyway, whatever you offer yourself to this form, the meaning responds.

[18:09]

it responds like an image in a jewel mirror it responds precisely just as you offer yourself the meaning is not in your effort but the meaning responds to your effort when you make an effort there is a response. When you make an effort through this ceremony, there is a response. And the response is the response of meaning, the actual meaning of the ceremony which you're doing. If you make the effort half-heartedly, there is a perfect response to your half-hearted effort.

[19:29]

If you make no effort at all, there is a perfect response to your no effort. But since you don't make any effort, the meaning is sitting there in the world responding, but you're not there. When you do some form, the meaning comes to meet you partly. When you completely give yourself to the form, the meaning completely responds. But the meaning is not in the form. Therefore, any form that you use, any way you bring yourself forward, will also be responded to. But do you know how to bring your effort forward? Do you have any other forms besides the ceremony? If you do, then you will be responded to, you will be met in that form.

[20:40]

Any form will do. The point is that you bring your life to it, that your energy your body and mind offer the opportunity whatever you give yourself to holy will be met holy whatever you give it yourself to partly we met partly these forms offer an opportunity for basically actually 100 percent generosity by being by being traditional forms there are practitioners who also have been doing these forms and who have been taught by practitioners who have been doing these forms, who have been taught by practitioners who have been doing these forms way back to the Shakyamuni Buddha. Therefore, if you open yourself to these forms, you open yourself to guidance in doing them with total devotion.

[21:44]

And if you do them with partial devotion and you want to know if you're doing them with full devotion, you can just go show A meditation teacher can say, oh, I see. And then you'll see, perhaps, that you're holding back or overdoing it, whatever. The form offers you a chance to be upright, to meet it precisely without being pedantic. Just so. Not leaning into it, not shrinking back from it. Not making too much of it, not making too little of it. Just doing 100% what you're doing. And the meaning will be realized in that effort.

[22:50]

Another interesting factor here is that it also says in the Jomir Awareness that inquiry and response come up together. So when you bring your life to some thing, the response comes up at the same time as the arrival of your life, energy, and effort. It isn't that you say, Hi, Buddha, and Buddha says, Yes. What is it, dear? As you say, Hi, Buddha, at that same moment when you say, Hi, Buddha is there. As soon as you touch your seat to the cushion, Buddha arrives.

[23:57]

Therefore, you can't see the response. It doesn't become an object of your consciousness. It totally illuminates your consciousness but cannot be separated from it. It is realized but not known as an object of awareness. Therefore, when you do the practice, you don't do the practice to get a result. You don't do the practice and then get a result. Doing the practice is exactly the result. You do it, period, and that's it. There's no and then what. That's enlightenment. That's not like doing something to get concentrated.

[25:04]

That is simply repose and bliss. This practice, the practice is also not something you can do because the practice is not your effort. The practice is not what you can do. The practice is what you do, what responds to you, and the realization that dependently co-arises in that meaning, in that meeting and in that meaning. In fact, to think, oh, I'm going to practice zazen, is simply delusion.

[26:13]

But to be aware of me or myself as it receives its function is enlightenment. So you bring yourself forward and at the tip of your effort you see yourself receiving its function. But that's not zazen either. Zazen is not the delusion of you doing something, and Zazen is not the enlightenment of all things coming forward and realizing you. Zazen is to see both of those things simultaneously and have no preference. And you can see both of those worlds simultaneously because they perfectly meet each other. The place where you come forward to do things

[27:17]

where you push things around, where you realize things, where you do practices, that world of delusion, which most people are somewhat familiar with, although they don't consider delusion, a lot of them consider it really kind of pretty good Zen practice, and it is a nice delusion, it's a nice deluded version of Zen practice. which most, very high percentage of Zen students practice that way. Also, non-Zen students practice that way, too. Almost everybody practices that way. All the time. Zazen is not to, like, say, uh-oh, bad people. Zazen just sees, in a sense, Zazen is just the admission that we all have a deluded approach to Zazen. But it's more than that. It's also right at that same place witnessing this deluded person who thinks she can do stuff receiving her function from everything.

[28:23]

That is not so commonly witnessed by practitioners. Even though it's happening at exactly the same place of where we are bearing down on trying to do the practice or trying to make things go a certain way. That same place of where the self is bearing down on things is the place where the things are coming to give the self its function, which could be to turn around and bear back down on them. It's the same place. The reason, the main reason why people don't often get to see enlightenment or experience enlightenment at the very place where they're expressing delusion is that very few people are willing to be thoroughly deluded. Most people, you know, come into the place of expressing delusion and then they put the brakes on when they start to see what they're up to.

[29:34]

From a distance you might think, hey, this is a pretty good idea. This, you know, me practicing. Me accomplishing this practice and me accomplishing that practice. Me attaining enlightenment. Me attaining this improvement and that improvement. Me avoiding that downfall and that one. Me getting a little bit more advanced over these other people. This is a pretty good deal. Until you get like right up to the full expression of it and you start to see, whoa, this, something smells funny here. This doesn't seem... This is really... This is looking... This is sounding like... I'm beginning to act like I feel there's some delusion around here. So we back off at that point and then practice a little bit more at a distance from our delusion. And then, of course, the more distance you have on a delusion, the more nicely it goes ahead. It actually doesn't go ahead more nicely. It just goes ahead like it was before. It isn't that it actually goes better... who goes ahead more thoroughly or less thoroughly, the more thoroughly you do it.

[30:41]

It's just that when you do it thoroughly, right at the limit of doing it thoroughly, you get to see the other side. Namely, that it actually isn't happening that way at all. But still, that effort, whatever that effort is that you're making in your deluded approach to zazen, whatever that effort is, you get met. And when you make your effort completely and admit completely your delusion, you get met by enlightenment, which is simply understanding delusion. And then, that's not the end, then you don't then sort of say, whew, finally.

[31:44]

Because the thing that got you able to witness the enlightenment was not trying to get enlightened, but was simply thoroughly admitting how deluded you are. Without even trying to get better at it or, you know, lift yourself up out of it. The willingness to be a deluded person without any leverage on that is what opens you to enlightenment. In other words, as you heard, to practice zazen with no gaining idea, next line, to practice zazen in the midst of delusion with no gaining idea, to sink down into the deluded state that human beings are in, and guess what? know who is in that state to sink down into that state and completely be willing to admit your delusion with no sense of trying to get something out of this this is the zazen upon which the you know opportunities provided by a finger a fist a mallet and so on these opportunities which i just offered you if you were completely settled into delusion you would have been awakened

[33:06]

But it's hard to be a deluded person. Deluded people have a hard time being deluded. Because since they're deluded, they think, good not to be. Doesn't sound good. Well, actually, it's not good or bad to be deluded. It's just what's happening for people. Anyway, zazen is not to get in there and like, extract the delusion and throw it in the garbage can, it is also not to go in there into your body and mind and try to be deluded. Zazen is not karma. Zazen is not karma. Zazen is beyond karma. Observing your karmic activity, your deluded karmic activity, observing your deluded karmic activity is not deluded karmic activity. It's just honesty. Honesty is not karma it is wisdom so that's it just admit what's going on and then do it more and more deeply and i just want to warn you again although you may not be worried about getting into this fix tonight

[34:36]

the next few seconds but if you should happen to see this reversal around the self to switch from the self pushing everything around and trying to control everything to everything pushing and control pushing the self around and controlling it you should make that switch from delusion to enlightenment then watch out for a preference to what you get for not being preferential By not being preferential about your delusion, you get to see the world of enlightenment. But then you have to continue that practice and not say, well, now, finally, I can be prejudiced for my new life. No. Just keep both eyes open and see both worlds still. That's zazen now. That's zazen for the enlightened person who is also still the deluded person. To watch this selfish person in his activities of Zen practice or anti-Zen practice, whatever it is, to watch this selfish person is not a selfish activity.

[35:55]

Watching the selfish person who thinks he can do things is not selfish it is selfless to watch the behavior of the self of course you could say well can't you corrupt it by watching the watching the selfish person with some gaining idea yes but that's not watching the selfish person that's watching the selfish person with a gaining idea the beginning idea isn't watching that's just an imperfection in the watching the watching is just watching when you're watching And being honest about what you're doing, that's it. You don't like then, when you switch over and think now, what am I going to get out of this? Well, that's just wondering what you're going to get out of it. That's not watching. But to notice that that's selfish, there you get back to, then you're back on track again. To actually sit and just admit what's going on,

[37:04]

And to be totally devoted to that, that's the opportunity for the meaning to be realized. So we have the ceremony, which you can practice, and you can make up other ceremonies besides the one you read about in this little text. And you can practice that ceremony, or that ceremony can be practiced. And if that ceremony can be practiced with no gaining idea, fine.

[38:11]

If it's practiced with gaining idea, fine. In any case, When you bring your effort forward to do the ceremony, you can notice how you're doing it and whether there's any gaining idea. And even if there's not a gaining idea, you can notice if you think in terms of you're doing the ceremony. So, ultimately, you would be able to do the ceremony beyond even the idea that you're doing it, the ceremony would be happening without you thinking that you made it happen and without any gaining idea. In the interim, you might be able to do the ceremony still thinking you could do it, but not have a gaining idea. Eventually, you drop both gaining idea and the belief in your own body and mind doing things. But you don't drop that by trying to drop it. drop it by completely admitting that you're into the karmic approach to practice and once again to thoroughly admit that you're into the karmic approach is to drop the karmic approach

[39:33]

Well, I have a lot more I could say, but maybe it'd be good to see if you have something to say in response before I go further. Yes? I got scared when you said... Well, let's see. Thinking that wisdom is free of karma. Wisdom is just to see how karma works. So, seeing how karma works is not karma. It seems like everything is karma?

[40:57]

Well, maybe wisdom is not something in addition to karma. But, it's karma to think that there's something in addition to karma. So, understanding that wisdom is not something in addition to karma is not karma. It's the same thing. Yes, it is the same thing. If it wasn't the same thing, it would be a slave of the thing it was different from. But it's not different from karma, but it's not karma. you know you you are not wisdom you know she is not wisdom you are not zazen she is not zazen but the fact that you are you is no different from you but the fact of you being you

[42:18]

and nothing more or less is exactly the same fact as her being her. The same thing. There's no difference between those two things. And no one can grasp either one of those. And you being you and you being you is zazen. And you can't do that. And I can't do that. That's something you can do. But it's not different from you But it's your zazen. And everybody has that zazen. All day long, wherever you go, you have the way you are. You're never the slightest bit different from how you're coming to be at the moment. And the way we all are in that way is the same. And no one makes that. We come to be made But the fact that we came to be this way and that we are this way for this moment is not made and there's no difference among us in that way.

[43:29]

The fact that I'm me right now is indistinguishable from the way you're you. The way I'm me and the way you're you is different, but the fact that I'm this way And the fact that you're that way is the same in both cases. Can you see that? I see at least one furrowed brow. But now he's smiling anyway. Yes. Yes. No, it's not a partial, it's a full response.

[44:30]

Yeah, it's a full response to a partial, it's a complete, perfect response to a partial effort. But of course there's no partial effort. It's just there's effort of making effort and also putting on your brakes and saying, I'm not going to make the full effort. So that's perfectly mirrored. It can't be objectively known, but it is realized, yes. If you think that you're not making a complete effort, then you think you're not making a complete effort. And that's right, you do think that. If you feel like you're making a partial effort, if you feel like you're resisting, and you admit that you're resisting, making a complete effort, you're getting closer to realizing the completeness of your resistance.

[45:58]

And you can feel, I can feel, you can feel I am 100% half-hearted. You can feel that. You can feel that way. You can also feel I am 100% whole-hearted. Or I am 100% I don't want to do this at all. But you can also feel I am i'm half-hearted about doing this and then you can feel i am completely 100 admit exactly how i'm half-hearted you can feel that way and if you feel that you're completely exactly fully engaged in being half-hearted then that you can have that sense and then what you do is you go hopefully meet a teacher meet your teacher

[47:04]

and say, I am completely, I have completely realized half-heartedness. And see what feedback you get. And teacher might say, oh, you have completely realized half-heartedness. And then you may realize, I have. Or, oh, no, actually I missed something there. Okay? Okay? No. If I say, you know, come and show me when you're wholehearted, very few people will come. Because people already think I'm not wholehearted. Or if I say, come and show me when you've completely accepted your half-heartedness, very few people come and say, I have finally reached 100% in any way or shape or form. But sometimes they do. Sometimes they do feel that.

[48:06]

Sometimes they feel, I finally stopped resisting and I'm completely a deluded person or whatever. Or I'm completely enlightened. We are not able to control, but we are able to be 100%. We are able to be 100%. We are able to be wholehearted. We are able to be totally devoted. We are capable of that. It's hard, but we can do it. And if you don't think you're doing it, then you're right. Okay? Now, once you're right about that, then can you be 100% engaged in being right about the resistance? Yes, you can. There's always a way to use what's happening. But when you can be 100% engaged in resistance, then you can be 100% engaged, period. When you feel like you are, you might be right. So come and get a reflection.

[49:07]

See what happens. A lot of times the reflection just says, oh, you're 100% and you understand right away you're not. But then you see where you're not and you make that effort and then some come back again and maybe it is 100%. Even if you're right, even if you reach total devotion, even if you're right, you have reached it, still, it gets deeper when you get reflection. Even when you're Buddha, you need a Buddha to reflect your Buddhahood, for it to be thoroughly exhausted. Yes. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Yes. So are you, is what you said that karma is the life of attachment and dwelling?

[50:15]

Karma is the word we use for the idea, for the expression of the idea that you can do something on your own. That's called karma. The idea of personal power, personal action that you can do as an independent person. We generally speaking think that way. That's our life of karma. And what's underneath that is that we are actually connected and we're actually enlightened. It's not underneath it. Ladies and gentlemen, she kindly offers the ordinary human idea that underneath this deluded karmic mind there's something under there where we're connected. There's nothing under it. So, what about this interconnectedness business that you hear about and this enlightenment?

[51:19]

Hmm? It's not underneath the deluded world. Like there's a... Underneath the deluded world there's this nice interconnected, you know, enlightenment world. Or up above it. It's not like that. The world of interconnection is exactly how it comes to be that we're deluded. It's not something underneath it. It is the way we are deluded that is our enlightenment. Our enlightenment is not something that's floating independent underneath. Enlightenment is just understanding and becoming free of our delusion. And real freedom of delusion means you don't have to get away from it. There is no thing underneath, down there, to rely on. But the delusion itself is exactly what is meant by enlightenment.

[52:28]

Is because of delusion? No, it's not because of the delusion. Because we don't realize we're deluded. The reason we aren't enlightened is because we don't study delusion. Delusion is not the reason we're not enlightened. There's no enlightenment without delusion. Delusion is the condition for enlightenment, not the reason why we're not. There isn't enlightenment out there someplace. And then delusion comes along and covers it up. Sometimes people say that there's this delusion that covers up the enlightenment. It's actually that there's delusion and then because of that condition, there's enlightenment. Enlightenment comes to meet delusion. Take away delusion, there's no enlightenment. The way things are is that when you have delusion, there's enlightenment.

[53:39]

When you have enlightenment, there's delusion. That's the way things are. The thing that's blocking the enlightenment is the lack of understanding and study of delusion. People keep looking, they look at the delusion and they say, well, there's some delusion, I guess, well, maybe some, or some pain maybe, and maybe it has something to do with delusion, but then it's kind of looking around underneath the delusion for some neat thing. This is called half-heartedly being deluded. Look for something more reliable than your than your own perceptions of reality. What's wholehearted delusion? To study your delusion. To admit exactly, precisely, not generally, how deluded you are. okay not like okay you know i'm really really deluded like just generally speaking like okay i'll sign anything just you know no no no no specifically for you you know do you happen to know specifically any specific examples of how you are deluded most people don't i mean they have like you know how deluded are you they have nothing to say

[55:10]

mean they're totally like you know like their own delusion is like yeah I just really unfamiliar to them how come well they don't study it oh yeah like what yourself are you selfish oh yeah sort of I suppose well what tell me about it well let me think about it years later you know did you ever think find anything no Most people do not have much data on their own delusion. Buddhas, however, have a full complement, not any more than they need, just the delusion for themselves, their own delusion, they know all about it. So everybody's like working their delusion thing all day long, but most people are unconscious of it. So actually we are wholeheartedly deluded. The question is, Are you aware of it? If you're aware of it, then you can be awakened about it.

[56:16]

That's it. And then when you're awakened, on top of that, zazen is not just to be awakened from your delusion. It is then to keep your eye on it after you're awake. And not to sort of like veer over to sort of, well, now I got enlightenment, so I'm going to camp out there. No. Now take that enlightenment and circulate it back through the delusion. And again, not to get rid of it, but to more thoroughly awaken to its nature and how it works, so that you can help others and encourage others to jump into their delusion and understand it. Yes? This is why in the book of Yogi once, when he finally had to say something about enlightenment, he looked at the person and said, some of you may be enlightened, and you're not enlightened, Oh, yes, definitely.

[57:17]

Definitely. Sure. Yeah. Yes, sir. When I hear you use the word delusion, I try to think about what that means to me. So let me see if I'm getting close to understanding what you're saying. When I think of delusion, in my terms, delusion is past and delusion is future. So that is my interpretation of delusion, and that's what I'm trying to be mindful of. Realize, oh, I was six years ago in this moment, or I was projecting three days ahead. I was missing now. So when I realize that, and I bring myself back to this moment, I escape that kind of delusion. Yeah, well, the parts you thought were delusion, that's right, they are.

[58:18]

But the other part that you thought wasn't, that is. As a matter of fact, the part that you think was the part that wasn't delusion, that's super delusion. That's the core of your delusion. Delusion is whatever you think is true. That's delusion. Want to know what delusion is? What do you think is true? that's it now this stuff the suburbs of your area of your truth you know like the past and future the grungy you know suburbs or you know dilapidated areas of your awareness that you don't think now there's there there's some reality to them but they're really like not like this part here which is really trustworthy those are not as diluted as the part you think is really reliable and you know like has some reality to it the part that you think is most real is a place you're most diluted And that's the place you should pay the most attention to. Which most people think means, well, then I should pay attention to reality. Right? Yes. Pay attention to reality means pay attention to what you think is true. And what do you think is true?

[59:19]

Well, you think you're, you know, whatever you think is true. And you're right. And who you are, that's what you think is true. And that's delusion. But who wants to look at that? You know? Yes? You make me wonder, how do you know how to live your life? If you have some sense of what's true... How do you know how you live your life? The way most people live their life? They live their life by negotiating delusion. That's how you live your life. Okay? You got one delusion or infinite number of delusions, and you go shuffle through your delusions to try to figure out what to do. That's what most people do almost all the time. Okay? Very few people admit that. They think they're shuffling through the best possible realities. And if you had a bunch of realities, then you probably should come up with the best ones to make your life, right? And that's what people do. They've got a whole bunch of realities, and they've got some delusions, which they have a reality about how those are delusions, and they stay away from the delusions they say are delusions, which they have a reality about that, and they try to steer themselves towards the reality.

[60:27]

This is how people proceed. This is endless prison. Did you say prison? Craziness or prison. It's endless delusion. Dogen Zenji says, you know, fish swim in the water, and no matter how far they swim, they never run out of water. If a fish would leave the water, it would die at once. Know that for a fish, water is life, and life is water. Birds fly in the sky, and no matter how far they fly, they never run out of air. For a bird to leave the air, they will die at once. Know that air is life to the bird. And so on.

[61:28]

And then he says, and the same is true of, you know, enlightenment and people and stuff like that. Hmm? Humans, thank you, humans swim in delusion. And no matter how far they swim, they never run out of delusion. Like, you know, as this gentleman pointed out, he liked to swim sort of over here and over to this area over here where there's less delusion. This is like, this is like deeper, darker waters. no matter how far we swim in delusion we never run out of delusion if we would leave delusion we would die at once which is one of the advantages of dying know that life is delusion and delusion is life for us when you totally immerse yourself and become a good swimmer in delusion

[62:37]

you will realize the unconstructedness of delusion you will realize how delusion is delusion is exactly freedom from delusion and from that unconstructedness you will be able to act it says also in the jewel mirror samadhi although it's not fabricated it's not fabricated, although zazen is not fabricated. You are fabricated, I am fabricated, but the fact that we're fabricated is not fabricated. When you enter into zazen, which is not fabricated, okay, when you are zazen, and zazen is you, when you are delusion, being delusion is delusion, into the unfabricatedness of delusion and enlightenment, Although it's not fabricated, it is not without speech.

[63:41]

It is not without swimming. It is not without talking. It is not without walking. It is not without moving your arms and legs and lifting your eyebrows and sticking your tongue out. It can act. However, it doesn't any longer act like deluded people act. It doesn't try to figure out, now, what's best? Which of my realities should I pull out now to deal with this situation? Prior to practicing zazen, prior to coming from your zazen, of course you should do your best and try to cut your best deal with your delusions. Of course. Please do. But what I really hope we do is settle into zazen and then you act with no deliberation, with no thought. You spontaneously, foolishly, vividly express your liberation from delusion, which you are no longer running away from because you're liberated from it.

[64:52]

Since you're liberated from delusion, you're willing to be a deluded person. Being willing to be a deluded person, you're liberated from it. being willing to be a deluded person with no advantage, with no improvement, with no gain, with no loss, just simply, honestly be who you are. Then from that place comes the speech of the Buddha, the thought of the Buddha, the action of the Buddha. But in order to be able to be that way, you have to do this difficult thing called being you. And being you is very difficult. But you being you is not something you can do, and that's zazen, which you can't do. but what you can do is you can you know be you who's doing something called being you you can be that karmic person and admit that and that's that part you can do in other words you can take responsibility for your karma and that will help you settle into your karma and you can also feel whether you do that wholeheartedly or not and if you don't do it wholeheartedly then you know you haven't accepted so you know you're not going to be home so you know you're not going to be able to witness

[66:16]

unconstructedness of your nature and you know you're not going to be able to witness this spontaneous, undeliberated Buddha activity. On the other hand, if you can be home in this person, this unremitting, unceasing, ungraspable, miraculous activity of Buddha Dharma will come working through you by the simple fact of you being willing to be who you are And if we hesitate a little bit from that responsibility, that little bit of hesitation means that this function is a little bit away, and a little bit away means then it's a little bit away. So that's it. This gap has to be closed completely. Precepts. There's one precept. It's called zazen. Zazen is the practice of one precept.

[67:20]

And the one precept is Zazen. Immanuel? Okay. Okay. Yes. It's the same thing as thinking. That's right. So, as you read in here, what's it like when you're really sitting still and being, you know, being like, you know, yourself? What's it like when you're like not wiggling around anymore and you're really settled into and taking responsibility for being you? In other words, sitting still. What's it like? What kind of thinking is going on? Or what kind of delusion is going on? Think of not thinking. think of the unthinking what's that non-thinking but that means just think 100% think 100% usually we're thinking okay now

[68:29]

think so thoroughly that basically you're you're not thinking of thinking anymore you're thinking of the unthinking what is unthinking it's the one who's willing to be there with you doing your thinking that's how to think so thoroughly that you're liberated and that's the kind of thinking that happens when you no longer try to get away from your thinking yes before thinking before thinking before thinking. Go ahead. What? Does that statement make sense to me? No. But it makes sense to me that you would try to, you know, try to do something about that and have that be your latest version of reality which you try to express and put some effort towards.

[69:42]

I thought that's probably how you might feel. Because I'm talking about a practice which is not something you can do. I'm trying to do that. It's okay that you're trying to do something, but that's not zazen. That's just you trying to do another, now kind of like really souped up kind of version of karma. What is it you're trying to do? Practice before thought? I've heard that kind of talk, but you know... Yeah, and... yeah before thinking but you know he could also say the state of mind i'm talking about is after thinking and the state of time this the state of mind i'm talking about is the fact that thinking itself is non-thinking that's the state of mind i'm talking about all those things but then when when zen student hears that and says aha let me try to do that then you are just once again trying to do something on your own effort to do that okay which is fine okay it's not zazen what that is is your personal delusion what's zazen hmm what

[71:23]

well just this zazen is the fact that you're trying to do that okay it's the fact that what you're trying to do is just that that's the zazen you could also be trying to you could also be trying to do the thought the state of mind after afterthought you could also be trying to drop all that stuff and just be an ordinary person anything you try to do is equally good to try to do okay I'm not telling you not to do that I'm just saying that the zazen is not the thing you're doing the zazen is more immediate than that it's immediate so some people say it's like before thought okay before thought, but it's before that, too. In other words, it's in the thought you're doing right now. It's already there. It's immediate.

[72:26]

It's what you are right now. Zazen is exact. Your delusion is exactly zazen. If you veer away from that by trying to get in some other state, that's zazen, too. In and of itself. And I can understand that that might be disappointing. I'm disappointing all human agendas by this talk. From non-humans. Yes, do you remember the question? Pardon? Yes. Yes. Your question is, is there not wisdom?

[73:41]

Yes. Yes, there's wisdom. So, yes. Very different. differentiating wisdom from truth? Well, wisdom is, you know, understanding truth. So if you have a deluded thought, wisdom is understanding that it's a deluded thought. That's all. It's not a big deal. Is that okay? You can't even realize delusion on your own.

[74:45]

You can't personally be deluded. Everybody's helping you do that. But delusion is to think that you can do it on your own. But most people don't think that. Most people think that they can be enlightened on their own, or they can be right on their own, or they can walk on their own. In fact, you can't even think of being on your own on your own. But that's what most people, of course, they never think. When they think that they can do something on their own, they don't think, well, I can also think that I can do it on my own on my own. But if you question them, they probably would say, yeah, not only can I do these things on my own, but I can imagine that I do them on my own. You can't even imagine anything on your own. You can't even dream up on your own. Everything you do is by virtue of the support of all of creation. There's nothing you do by yourself ever. All sentient beings help us imagine that we can do things on our own. And so far, everyone's been quite successful at this, right?

[75:53]

Most of you think that, as far as I know. I haven't met anybody except for some people who have some kind of disease, literally some kind of brain disease. They can't think of that. But most human beings think that they can do things by themselves, on their own, And that's called karmic consciousness. And we must take responsibility for that. And if you can take complete responsibility from that, it isn't that you stop being able to think like that, and it isn't that you stop thinking like that, it's that you become liberated from thinking like that. And you become liberated from using that kind of deliberative

[76:30]

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