Welcome to here. How many people are here first time? Welcome, first time. In this temple we're having a period of and one of the themes of the training is, or the main theme of the training is Buddha activity. One question might be, what is Buddha activity? And one response might be, Buddha activity is the unceasing process of freeing all beings so they may live in peace and harmony.

[01:18]

Should I run that by you again? Buddha activity is an unceasing process of freeing all beings so they may live in peace and harmony. If I want to realize this Buddha activity, then I do aspire to make an unceasing effort to free all beings so they may live in peace and harmony. I aspire to an unceasing effort of that type. And so then a thought might arise, free beings from what?

[02:38]

In what way? Freedom in what way? Well, basically, starting with freeing beings from their own minds. Freeing beings from consciousness. And when I use the word consciousness, I mean self-consciousness, I mean egocentric consciousness. I mean deluded consciousness. So one could say, it could be said that deluded consciousness is a consciousness in which

[03:45]

there is an I living. Or it could be said, deluded consciousness is where I live. And it could also be said, I say, in consciousness, I am saying that deluded consciousness is where I am. And awareness where there's no me is not what I mean by consciousness. And there are awarenesses where there's no me. And all of us have another type of awareness which we also call the unconscious cognitive process. We all have an unconscious cognitive process. We do, we living beings. And in the unconscious cognitive process there's nobody there. It's just a wonderful cognitive process that figures out what's going on and is watching out all the time for, you know, what's the safe way to do this and the dangerous way to do that and how to move fingers and hands and tongues and eyes.

[05:08]

It's really doing most of the cognitive work of our life, way most. However, it has its limitations and another consciousness has arisen, I mean another mind has arisen, which I call consciousness, where there is somebody there and the situation is really deceptive and misleading and full of all kinds of stress and fear and greed, hate and delusion. And I don't know about you, but I've seen quite a bit of this consciousness. This life has been experiencing that consciousness a lot. And now I've heard teachings about how to become free of this consciousness with all of its delusions and all of its afflictions which arise with the delusions.

[06:18]

So if this consciousness where I seem to be and we seem to be, if that consciousness is illuminated and liberated then the living being whose consciousness has been liberated, not eliminated, but liberated, that being with the consciousness that has been liberated can work with other beings so that they too can have their consciousness illuminated and liberated. And then they too can help others be free of their deluded consciousness and live in peace and harmony with other people, including other people who are not yet free and therefore are stressed and frightened and at risk of violence.

[07:23]

So that was a lot. I don't know if you got it. Did you? Normally we are not free. Normally we are not free of this deluded consciousness. The deluded consciousness is, one of its tricks is it tells us this is not, there's no delusion around here. All these things that appear are not delusions, they're real. And that's delusion. Another aspect of this consciousness, which is that in this consciousness there is this strong tendency, again, to see that what's going on, for example, what's going on could be practicing Zen or practicing meditation or eating breakfast or taking a walk or talking all these activities tend to be viewed as done by me.

[08:50]

So all the practice activities of our life tend to be viewed while carrying a self around and saying that the self is doing all these things, which is a mistake. It's a mistake. It's a misperception. And consciousness tends to believe that perception that I'm doing this talking, rather than there's an awareness of talking. Mm-hmm. There's awareness of me, mm-hmm. There's a me in awareness, mm-hmm. There's talking in awareness, mm-hmm. There's seeing people in awareness, mm-hmm. And they're living there together. They're like, they could be friends, rather than the self is the boss, the self is the head, the self is the operator, the self is the controller of the talking and the thinking and the actions.

[09:58]

Now what people often can see, however, is that when we see things that way, like the self is the one who's controlling or trying to control the stress and pain and fear that comes from the view of I'm trying to control, the stress and the pain seems to come back to the self. Since the self is operating, the problems of this misconception come back to the self. So then people can say, I'm sick of this self, because the self seems to be the locus of the suffering that comes from misunderstanding it. So people say, I'm sick of it. I want to get rid of the self. Because they can see that the self is kind of like a key ingredient in suffering. But trying to get rid of the self is just another delusion. It won't work. Getting rid of the self doesn't work.

[11:05]

It's more of the same. Because then we think, I'm going to get rid of the self. So how do we become free of this deluded consciousness and live in peace and harmony? Well, one of the basic instructions is remember stillness and silence. As I've mentioned several times, I used to say, be still and silent, but the be still plays into I'm going to make myself still or I'm going to make you still.

[12:08]

So it's not so much be still, which it feeds into me doing the stillness, but rather remember it because the stillness is already here. The stillness is the stillness of you are who you are. And the deluded consciousness is actually already deluded consciousness. And it's completely not something the slightest bit different from the way it is. And in that way, it's still. And also, the deluded consciousness, although there's lots of talking going on, the talking is the talking that's going on and not any other talking. So there's also silence. and stillness all the time. And remembering that helps us, helps the illumination process, helps us see what's going on in this realm of affliction.

[13:13]

And not even, you know, helps the vision of how this is working be illuminated. So remembering stillness and then also Now, when you remember it, you can also receive it because it's actually given to you. But it might be good to remember it and then you can receive it because it is given to us each moment. Stillness is given to us. You don't have to make it. It's unconstructed. It's not made. It's reality. We are always still. And in stillness, there's tremendous activity like visions of movement. which again are seen as movements which I'm doing in delusion, rather than there's movement and me and we live together. Movement doesn't do me. I don't do movement. We actually come up together and go down together every moment.

[14:20]

Activity arises with me. I arise with activity. Activity goes away and I go away too. We're friends. Neither one of us is in control of what's going on. And there can be awareness of a teaching which says there is a tendency to think that there is an unbalanced control situation here, that the self is control of the activity. But part of what is possible in stillness is to see that you could also equally say the activity's in control of the self. It's equally real and actually equally silly. But they definitely depend on each other, but neither one's in control. And this consciousness where I'm living is a consciousness where there's constantly activity. There's emotions and feelings and perceptions and intentions every moment that is there.

[15:26]

And by the way, this consciousness is not always there. The unconscious is always there if we're alive. But the conscious actually sometimes is, you could say, turned off. For example, in deep sleep where there's no dreams, many of us every night have a little break from consciousness where there's nobody home. That consciousness is turned off by the unconscious. The unconscious says, we don't need your services at this time. And there's going to be a lot better rest if you just take a break. And we'll let you know when the next time you'll know." And then the unconscious says, I think it's time to wake him up. And then the consciousness comes up and there's somebody there.

[16:31]

A him or a her or a they or a whatever. There's somebody there. to be studied. So now, how does this consciousness become liberated? It becomes liberated by number one, remembering stillness. Set the stage of stillness for the drama of liberation. The drama of liberation, I say drama because This consciousness is dramatic consciousness. There's dramas going on. I think that I've heard that the word drama comes from, you know, Greece, where they had these dramas. And these dramas are about people doing stuff. They're about consciousnesses, where people are thinking about doing stuff and where there's consequence.

[17:34]

Tragic consequence, comic consequence, but it's about... activity and how that works. That's consciousness. So set the stage of stillness and silence to watch the drama. And then we start a conversation with the drama. or we enter into dramatic conversation within the consciousness and between this consciousness and other consciousnesses. For example, right now there is a conversation going on within this consciousness and between this consciousness and your consciousness. There is a conversation going on.

[18:36]

I'm saying things, you're listening to me, and you're talking back to me in your head. I mean, in your consciousness. And this conversation, again, is dramatic. It is and it needs to be wholehearted in order to be liberating and genuine and honest and tender and patient. And part of the tenderness or carefulness of the conversation is to ask questions. ask questions inwardly, ask questions outwardly, and also to be questioned from others.

[19:43]

It is necessary in order to liberate beings from this deluded consciousness, it is necessary that the consciousness is called into question. And the questioning can be inward, but also from others. And from others, in a way, is more essential. Because inwardly, there tends to be some selection going on about what we're going to question. Whereas outwardly, there's a lot more possibilities when we're questioned by others. The literature of Zen or the writings of the Zen school are mostly, to a great extent, they're questions of conversations, dramatic conversations, where people are being questioned.

[20:57]

where teachers are being questioned, where students are being questioned, where teachers are questioning students, and students are questioning teachers, and students are questioning students, and teachers are questioning teachers. They're mostly about this... What's the word? Is it interrogative? Is that a question? Like, what time is it? Is that an interrogative question? And then after the question's asked, there's often declarative statements. And this conversation, this questioning, again, the Buddha activity is questioning. The Buddha activity is reciprocal questioning. The Buddha activity is reciprocal questioning. Inquiry. The Buddha activity is compassionate inquiry.

[22:02]

It is gentle. It is calm. It is deep. It is generous. It is patient. It is enthusiastic. Energetic. Again, calm, open, relaxed. undistracted questioning which opens to see what's going on and thus liberation. And there is a tremendous amount of Buddhist literature which is not so much questioning, which is having a teacher just talk about reality. But the Zen literature emphasizes this interrogative, dramatic conversation wherein liberation, mutual liberation, is being enacted and facilitated.

[23:13]

So I could give several hundred examples, because I have been talking about these examples for several hundred years. But of course I won't because that would take so long. And one person has already left. But yesterday I told a story and it's a really subtle story and it's possible that not too many people who heard the story remember it. or understood what the story was. So I think I could tell it again. Unless somebody else would like to tell it who remembers it. And does anybody here who was here yesterday want to come and tell the story?

[24:42]

Does anybody here yesterday remember the story a little bit? OK, does somebody want to come and tell it? I do. Okay, so once upon a time in China, there were some Zen people. And they started a school, which people later called Zen. And two of them are in a particular family relationship to this temple. One's name is, we say, Tosugisei. and the other one's name is Fuyo Dokai. Tosu is the teacher of Fuyo, or Tosu is the teacher of Dokai.

[25:55]

So Dokai, the student, says to Tosu, the teacher, I've heard that the words and thoughts of Buddhas and ancestors are everyday rice and tea. And then Dōkai went on to say, is there anything, any further teachings that could be offered about this? And the teacher Tosu said, you tell me, does the emperor or empress in her own territory

[27:10]

rely on the ancient emperors of China to make her decrees. And as Daokai was about to speak, Tosu, the teacher, put his whisk over his mouth. And dalkai became liberated from deluded consciousness. This is a conversation. Did you see it? Did you see it? And the conversation involved also some physical actions like putting a whisk. Sometimes teachers carry a whisk when they're walking around. Just in case anybody opens their mouth, they could put the whisk on.

[28:13]

Part of the conversation. Whisk covering. In this case, anyway, the whisk was placed over the mouth and the student realized liberation from deluded consciousness, which is sometimes called waking up from delusion. And he expressed tearful, wholehearted gratitude for the conversation in which his mind was liberated And then he started to leave. And the teacher called out to him, Reverend, wait. And the student did not turn around.

[29:20]

And the teacher said, did you, have you realized the ground of no doubt? and the student covered his ears and continued to leave. One could analyze the story, but before I analyze it, I would just say what's going on there in the story, My story about it is, this is a conversation about, a liberating conversation about how in consciousness it seems like there's me and somebody else. Or there's like a Buddha activity and then there's something else.

[30:25]

Not to mention there's my activity and something else. Normally in our deluded consciousness that's how things look. And then the question comes, I've heard that the words and thoughts of Buddhas... Now, the words and thoughts of Buddhas are nothing other than the activity of Buddhas, right? So Buddha activity obviously is not one thing and Buddha is another. But our activity and Buddha activity might be two different things. But still, even though we kind of know that when the Buddha sits before the assembly and gives teachings, we know kind of that the Buddha is the giving of the teachings. and that the giving of the teachings is Buddha's.

[31:34]

Kind of know that, right? Even so, we have a little bit of a tendency maybe to think that there's a Buddha and then there's something else called Buddha activity. But again, maybe we can accept that the activity of Buddha's is what Buddha's are. So he asked the question. I've heard that the activities of the Buddhas are everyday rice and tea. In other words, when a Buddha is drinking tea, that's Buddha activity. Of course, if the Buddha is giving a lecture which is going to be written down and transmitted for thousands of years, yeah, that's like Buddha activity. And also, like, the Buddha gives these teachings, and at the end of the teachings it says in many scriptures, A lot of people woke up and cheered and said thank you and they were free because of the conversation they had with the Buddha.

[32:41]

But the question is getting at some duality here. This cup has water in it and the water is near the top. but not at the extreme top, so I don't have to be that careful. But I could drink some now, may I? We could pretend that it's tea. When Buddhas drink tea, you might not be surprised that they're drinking tea. When Buddhas drink tea, you might be surprised that drinking tea is Buddha activity. But maybe you wouldn't. You could say, well, it's Buddha. If the Buddha's drinking tea, it's Buddha activity.

[33:47]

But some people actually kind of, they listen to the Buddha talk, but when the Buddha's drinking tea, they think, oh, that's not Buddha activity the way that talk was. That talk was really good. And the way he drinks tea is like, it's okay, but... When Buddhas drink tea, the question is, I've heard that when Buddhas drink tea... it's like ordinary activity. Drinking tea is ordinary activity, right? But when Buddhas drink tea, it is ordinary for them that that drinking tea is Buddha activity. That Buddha activity is like drinking tea. And you drink tea too. Is the Buddha's drinking tea more extraordinary than your drinking tea? No. Is it more ordinary than yours?

[34:51]

No. Is it Buddha activity? I guess so. What about your drinking tea? Buddha's ordinary activity is Buddha activity, right? Anybody got a question about that? Isn't the activity of Buddha, Buddha activity? And if Buddha's drinking tea, isn't it Buddha activity? And if they were drinking tea, would that be like a great teaching for you to watch how they drink tea? And see, how do they drink it? Do they think, oh, if I drink this tea, I'll be Buddha? Do they think, I'm Buddha, I'm drinking tea? When you drink tea, there's not much water left. When Buddha drinks water, does the water stay at the same level? Now, some people say, yes, Buddha can do miracles and keep the water level the same while they keep drinking.

[35:58]

Yeah, they can. But that's not the point. The point is they can also drink it in the ordinary way, just like us. Yeah. And the way they drink it is they're free of, I'm drinking it, or it's drinking me. They're free of that because they've studied the consciousness. And this monk is asking, I've heard that the words of the Buddha are, it doesn't say like, are everyday rice and tea. But then he said, you know, then he says to the teacher, can you tell me more about that? Do you have any more things to say about that?

[37:01]

And the teacher asks him a question. And at first, he thinks, his question is, is there something more to this than that? And there isn't. When Buddhas drink tea, there's not something more to Buddha activity than drinking tea. When we drink tea, there's not something more to Buddha activity than when we're drinking tea. The idea that drinking tea is one thing or drinking water is one thing and Buddha activity is another, that's a normal thing for people to think in deluded consciousness. That's a delusion. there's no Buddha activity when you're drinking tea other than drinking tea. Again, just like if a Buddha's drinking tea, there's not another kind of more spectacular Buddha activity than the tea drinking that they're doing.

[38:17]

But even so, people kind of think, okay, you drank the tea, Buddha, let's have the, let's, come on, let's have some teaching now. We're getting into the subtlety there, you see. You're watching the Buddha drink tea. Here's the Buddha over there. They bring the Buddha tea. The Buddha receives the tea, drinks the tea, puts the tea down, and then people think, now we're going to get the teaching. Now that the Buddha's had some tea, we're going to have some teaching. And sure enough, the Buddha goes, and you get teaching. Because the Buddha's is teaching. an everyday thing, because Buddhists just go, Buddha. Buddha's talking is like ordinary for them. Buddhists can be quiet, and that's kind of ordinary for them. Buddhists can talk.

[39:19]

Buddhists can raise their hands and lower their hands. They can drink tea. They can do all this stuff. But whenever they do, it's just their ordinary Buddha activity, because they can't do anything but. So all their activity is Buddha activity, and all their activity is their ordinary activity for Buddhas. Our deluded consciousness thinks that drinking tea might think that drinking tea is one thing and Buddha activity is another. Even when we hear about Buddhas, we might think that. Now we're told, no, no, no, no, no. Buddhas who are totally into Buddha activity, when they drink tea, they're totally into drinking tea. And when they sit, they're totally into sitting. But we are too. We are too. When we drink tea, we're drinking tea. Now we can think, while we're drinking tea, we can think, I wonder if there's some other instruction on drinking tea. Now if somebody whispers as you're drinking tea, this is Buddha activity, you might say, would you tell me more?

[40:29]

Rather than look at the tea drinking. The monk heard this teaching, but he didn't quite believe it. So he told the teacher in this teaching and said, can you tell me more? And then the teachers, what did the teachers say? Do you think an emperor is like saying, you know, what should I do? Emperors of the past? Is that an emperor? No, that's not an emperor. An emperor says, I'm feeling tired today, when they feel tired. They don't think, what would the old ancestors say about this situation? They speak their mind, which they happen to have. So the teacher says that. And now the student's going to say something, but, mm-mm, whisk over the mouth.

[41:34]

Now, is whisk over the mouth Buddha activity by any chance? Somebody's going like this. Somebody's going like this. I say I vote for, yes, it was Buddha activity because it liberated that consciousness which was still looking for some place other than this for that. It still was in the pit of duality between me, and my body, me and the activity. It was still, he was on the verge of letting go and diving and not being caught by the duality of Buddha activity and human activity. Still couldn't quite accept it though. And the teacher stopped and he woke up.

[42:38]

And then you could say the teacher tested him because then he, after expressing his gratitude, he left. Not, you know, yeah. My leaving is not separate from the teacher. It's not like I'm going away from the teacher. My leaving is the teacher's activity. The monk leaving, that's the teacher's activity which doesn't belong to the teacher or the monk. That's the conversation which is liberating, which liberated and is now liberating. The monk's leaving. And the teacher tests him again. Wait. And the student doesn't fall for it now. He has awakened. He doesn't turn back. And the teacher asks him another question, and he covers his ears and leaves. And this is called the transmission of drinking tea and eating rice.

[43:40]

In this tradition, the ancestors had transmitted drinking tea We drink tea here and eating rice. We eat rice here and oatmeal and toast and so on. You've seen some of the stuff we eat. You eat here too. The eating of food and the drinking of tea has been transmitted to us. And someone said to me yesterday, well, my parents taught me Well, okay, so maybe your parents are Buddhas and ancestors. If they transmitted to you how to drink tea and eat rice as Buddha activity, and Buddha activity is the activity which was nothing other than the liberating way you are living right now.

[44:45]

Can you allow this Buddha activity? It's already here in stillness. It's already here in not looking someplace else for Buddha activity. This way of drinking tea has been transmitted for thousands of years. This way of eating, this way of sitting, this way of talking, questioning, being questioned. A conversation where we realize that Buddha activity is nothing other than our daily life. And being patient with the mind which keeps looking for some kind of liberation, some kind of peace, some kind of freedom, someplace else and being kind to that tendency to look someplace else for liberation it isn't like we're trying to eliminate that that tendency to think that there's something more to drinking tea than we've seen so far

[46:12]

Is there going to be like a new kind of tea drinking when I wake up? And I'm not complaining that this is water rather than tea. Perfectly acceptable to me. This conversation I told you about, this dramatic conversation, it was dramatic. It was like consequential. They talked and there was awakening and liberation. This is a drama. I see. And it was such a good drama that it's been told for more than, retold and told for more than a thousand years.

[47:20]

And our stories can be just as dramatic and wonderful if we are as wholehearted as they were. I say that, I believe that. This is our unceasing effort which we aspire to, to free beings by wholehearted dramatic conversation in stillness, remembering stillness, which helps the conversation remembering silence, which helps us listen to the conversation in which there will be liberation from delusion, which is endemic and not going to be eliminated, but will be liberated. But there's tremendous subtlety here, so it's going to take a while to get really skillful at this conversation.

[48:30]

But we're doing it. We're working at it. How does it go? Oh, yeah. Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money. Maybe they're... Wait a second. We ain't got a barrel of money. Maybe we're ragged and funny. But we'll travel along singing our song side by side. I don't know what's coming tomorrow. Maybe it's trouble and sorrow. But we'll travel the road. Sharing our load. Side by side. Through all kinds of weather.

[49:32]

What if the sky should fall? Just as long as we're together. Let's be compassionate to all. When they're all had their quarrels and parted, we'll be the same as we started, just a-traveling along, singing our song side by side. I changed the song a little bit. I updated it. because there's a line in there which says it doesn't matter at all and during these dire times it's hard to say that so I took it out and replaced it with let's be compassionate to all in this world in this dire situation which may not be fixed in the next few days

[50:46]

Let's be compassionate to all of it. Let's liberate it before if, you know, before it all gets fixed. It may get fixed. Everything may get worked out. But we don't have to wait to liberate. We can start now by conversation, compassionate conversation in stillness and silence. May our intention equally extend.

[51:29]

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