So, the first part, what I've just said, was not recorded on the machine, but if you listened to me, it was recorded in your body. Your nervous system was transformed if you were listening to what I said. So, what I was thinking of sharing with you is again something which, as I thought about it, I thought, all poor people, This might be hard on them, but anyway, here it is. One of the... At this point in history, and it has been the case for quite a while, in the Zen monasteries, they have some basic terms like zazen, but they also have many terms for one thing. So they can have many terms, because they like sometimes to exercise their poetic energy.

[01:05]

So one of the names for a teacher who is leading a practice period is Dharma flag teacher. Dharma flag teacher. They had Dharma flags. the flags that they would raise when they had, when Dharma was being offered. And also in Tibet they had flags that they would raise when Dharma events were occurring. And at Nau Boad we also when we have teachings offered there. The Buddhist flag is not very interesting, but we have one and we raise it. It was a flag made by committee. It's not very interesting, but anyway... At the time of the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's birth, I think, they had lots of celebrations in India and lots of Buddhist groups came together and they agreed on a flag.

[02:12]

And you can actually buy these flags if you want to and put them over your house if you ever have any Dharma events. wrap them around you and sit in your chair in your room if you have a Dharma event. So anyway, there's Dharma flags. And so the Dharma flag teacher is a person who raises the Dharma flag during the practice period. When I give a Dharma talk in the Zendo, and when I bow at the beginning, I often have a little stick that I carry, and when I bow, I hold the stick, and hold it vertically as a symbol of raising the Dharma flag. So I go into the Zendo, and I raise the Dharma flag. One of the texts...

[03:19]

the way we say it is self-receiving and employing samadhi. That samadhi is one of the synonyms for the word zazen. Zazen is a type of samadhi. It's a concentrated object and it's concentrated on Buddha activity. Or it is concentrated Buddha activity. and Buddha activity is concentrated. You're frowning, Dan. Do you have some question about that? No. So one of our ancestors, Dogen, wrote something about this awareness, this Buddha activity awareness. And in that text he says, when even for a moment you express the Buddha mudra, the Buddha shape, in your posture, in your thoughts, or in your speech.

[04:37]

When you do that, when with your people, you express the Buddha activity. wonderful things will happen throughout the universe. The whole universe will become this Buddha activity. When you express with your body, with your posture, with your gestures, whatever you're doing, when you use this posture, or this thought, or these words, or this silence, when you use this silence to express the entire phenomenal world becomes Buddha activity. And the whole sky turns into enlightenment. That's what one of the ancestors said. So when one sits, one could use that sitting posture

[05:53]

to raise the Dharma flag. One could use the sitting posture as a Dharma flag or as a raising of the Dharma flag. This posture is raising the flag of Buddha activity. I'm sitting here with these other people throughout the universe and this sitting raising the flag of Buddha activity. And again, this sitting is raising the Buddha activity. I'm sitting there, moment after moment, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, decade after decade, raising the Dharma flag, raising the Dharma flag, raising the Dharma flag of Buddha activity. Or you could just say, raising the Dharma flag, and then the whole becomes the Dharma flag.

[07:03]

So this afternoon I was going... It was raining a little bit, I guess. I was going to sit in the zendo for a period of 5-15. I was walking to the zendo and as I was walking I thought, I'm going to the zendo to raise the Dharma flag. And I went there and I raised the Dharma flag sitting in the zendo with everybody else. And I did not know how many other people in the zendo were raising the Dharma flag. And now I'm here telling you that when you go sit in a zendo, every time you sit there, you have an opportunity to use your sitting, to give your sitting, as an expression of raising the flag for the world. Raising the flag of Dharma for the world, day after day.

[08:07]

Kind of a question that's been on my mind for the past few weeks. So when I think about as the Buddha, as an expression of Buddha activity, and then when I think of like the legend of Bodhidharma in a cave, like what if no one was there to experience that with them and say like the disciple didn't come? to witness that? What is that relationship? Well, if I go sit in the zendo, which might happen, and I'm sitting in the zendo and nobody else is in the room, OK? Sitting in there. I am sometimes sitting in there, nobody's there witnessing me, and I might be raising the Dharma flag, just like Bodhidharma. Now, one of Bodhidharma's successors says that when I do that by myself in that room, or I could do it someplace else, but let's just say I do it in the Zendo, and nobody... At that moment, the entire phenomenal world becomes the Buddhist seal.

[09:26]

Even if there's nobody who can see me with their eyes. So even if Bodhidharma sat for nine years facing the wall and nobody witnessed him, the whole world would still have, moment by moment, become the Buddha's seal. That's the teaching that's being offered. That's Buddha activity. So Buddha activity is, he's sitting in the cave, and his practice, the Buddha activity of whatever he's sitting, is that his practice is the same practice as all beings all over China, and Japan, and Korea, and India, and Russia, and Italy, and France, and America, although there's no white people there yet, just Native Americans. Their practice is the same practice as Bodhidharma in a cave in China. That's Buddha activity.

[10:30]

The Bodhidharma by himself, where somebody's watching him or not, that Bodhidharma by himself is no such thing. Buddha activity is what's actually going on. But the dream that Bodhidharma is sitting by himself and that his practice isn't including everybody's, that's like what normal sentient beings think. But the Buddha activity is what he's doing to everybody. So if somebody's there watching him, they have a chance to hear him explain this teaching and tell him what their understanding is and ask him if they can sit with him. And then he says, no, you can't, and so on. Would you say that if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else that would have passed this teaching on to us? What I'm saying is that if anybody who ever existed hadn't existed, then the teaching would have still been .

[11:39]

And so particular people are born and die, but all those people are opportunities to to receive what's happening, practice it and transmit it. But still, as I just said earlier, the understanding that Zazen is not something you do by yourself is something that not too many people who come to Zen centers have heard anything about. And it takes them maybe years to hear that that's what they're being told about. and then it may take them quite a while to understand it, and then after they understand it, it may take them quite a while to remember it. So it's a radical reorientation of normal human mind to the Buddha mind, is the mind which already includes their sentient being mind.

[12:46]

But their sentient being mind doesn't believe that their sentient being mind includes the Buddha mind, or that their mind is included in the Buddha mind. It takes somehow, for some strange reason in this world, a long time to understand that it's delusion. and understand that enlightenment is what delusion is. It's so subtle. But the process of Buddha activity has no beginning and has no end. It's been going on all along. So Bodhidharma, like sitting in a cave with nobody around, was kind of like saying that. There doesn't even need to be anybody there for him to transmit them. He came to... We say in our stories about him, he came to China to transmit the Buddha Mind Seal. He didn't come to China to be famous and have a lot of people know that he had arrived and have a huge group around him.

[13:51]

He came to transmit this teaching, which is... Now it turns out he did have some disciples and they were important historical figures. So now we have these human beings who are telling the story of Bodhidharma. But really they're telling the story of Buddha activity. It seems to help human beings to have some human beings telling the story about what's not human. This activity is not human activity. It's the way human activity really is. And the way human activity really is, it's just not human activity. Human activity is really of human agency, of human karma. So, yeah. But still, Bodhidharma, as a human being, also might have said, how come there's no people here with me? Nobody knows I'm up here.

[14:55]

Didn't he say something like his sitting... Nine years or something. Somebody had asked him what effect it had on the world or something, and he said something about arrows being... He was asked that question, and he said something about... On TV? Rare footage. Yeah, so there's some stories about him, and Roberta's heard a story that he was asked some questions and he had some answers. So we don't even... There's not real evidence by scientific basis that such a person as Bodhidharma actually existed. As some people say, it's all the more important the less true it is. Because we're talking about a tradition to free from their consciousness which is dualistic and deluded and deceptive and constricted and not to be gotten rid of.

[16:16]

When you go to the Tendo, you can go there and sit at your seat, and you're welcome to raise the Dharma flag by your posture, by every thought, and by your silence, please. But if you do a question like, would you please pass me a sutra card, you could use that speech to raise the Dharma flag. Everything you do, you could make as an offering to raise the Dharma flag of Buddha activity, zazen, whatever you want to call it, the Buddha mind seal. Which, again, the party line is, that's what Bodhidharma transmitted to China. He received it in India and transmitted it to China. Of course, I'm all for you which some people might agree with, that the Buddha Mind Seal was already in China, and it was already in Japan, and it was already in Mexico, and it was already in France, when Bodhidharma transmitted it in China.

[17:46]

But although it was in China, Part of the story is the Chinese people didn't realize it. And although it was in America, the Americans didn't realize it. And some Americans still haven't realized it. Some Americans still think that they can do something by themselves. Maybe you've met some people like that. And we're also teaching our children that they can do things, little kids are being taught that they can do things by themselves. And we're afraid to teach children that they're responsible for everything they do and that everybody else is responsible for everything. Because we're afraid if we would tell them that everybody else is responsible that they wouldn't accept responsibility themselves. that their sense of responsibility would collapse if we taught them Buddha activity.

[18:54]

So we don't teach them Buddha activity, we teach them deluded activity, just to make sure. And so the Buddha mind-seal is struggling in the face of the well-established transmission of delusion, which is, I can do things all by myself. And I don't need anybody else. And the next part is not deluded. And I'm responsible for everything I do. That part agrees with the Buddha. I am responsible for every touching of my lips together that I intend to do. But the part, Buddha activity part is everybody supports me to do everything I do and everything I do supports everybody.

[19:57]

That part is the part that is not deeply penetrated into the bones of everybody. Even though in reality that's what everybody's bones are like. Everybody's bones are supported by everybody else's bones. And everybody supports everybody. That mutual support, that inconceivable, unceasing, unhindered, mutual reciprocity between all beings is reality. And it's Buddha activity. And that activity is what sets up or in that activity, that's where freedom and peace are found. So, I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but maybe for the rest of my life I will, quite frequently, that what I'm doing is raising the Dharma flag.

[21:04]

I go sit in the Zendo, someplace in the zendo, and I sit up, and my body is the raising of the Dharma flag. I think of that famous picture of American soldiers climbing a mountain, I think it was on Iwo Jima, and the picture of them raising the flag. There they are, raising this flag. It's not even all the way up, but they're doing this thing called raising the flag. What is that saying? We're here. We're raising a flag for something. And in that case, I think they were raising the flag for like, I don't know what, the American... The Americans? I don't know what they're raising the flag to. But I'm talking not to the Americans, I'm talking about raising a flag for all beings, for the Dharma of all beings, to raise that flag.

[22:11]

And it's my understanding, which I'm sharing with you, is that you can do it with everything you do. And also, when you do that, the flag you're raising is a flag which is saying, this raising is supported by all beings. I'm not doing this by myself. And this raising is to support all. No exception. Not even accepting the President of the United States. not even accepting the president of Russia, not even accepting the president of Syria, etc. Everybody, including all people who are completely disturbed and confused, supporting everybody and being supported by all confused people and all enlightened people.

[23:14]

That's what this flag is saying. so that they can live in peace. I raise the diamond flag to free all beings so they can live in peace. And when my hand's up, I'm raising the flag, and when my hand's down, I'm raising the flag. And if nobody's in the room, I feel lonely. But then I'm a lonely person raising the diamond flag. If the Zendo's packed, I don't feel lonely. And I'm a not lonely person, raising the Dharma flag. Maybe even wishing that we had more seating. Or there were less people in the room. It's hot and stinky. So I'm not... telling you that you have to sit tzazen this way. But I'm saying that's one way to do it.

[24:17]

So there's a Dharma flag teacher, but there can also be Dharma flag people. There can be Dharma flag students. I'm still a student of Zen, even though I might be officially the Dharma flag teacher sometimes. I'm still studying the Dharma. I'm still studying Dharma flag raising. It's a study I'm doing. How to raise it, how to remember it, how to enjoy it. I'm a student of that, but also because I'm elderly, I'm also a teacher. I'm showing how to be a student of Dharma flag raising. And Dharma flag taking down? No. Because Dharma flag taking down is actually in some ways a better opportunity to teach Dharma flag raising than raising. Because when you fold it in a really nice way, unfolding it is not so cool as folding it, I think.

[25:26]

Yes? The other day when we had the bonus ceremony, I think I remember you saying, as the first vow, to vow for right conduct. Yeah. And I guess it's coming up in my mind right now that you're talking about this raising the flag. Is that what you said? Like, why did you choose to say that? Oh, that's like zen-centrist. You know, we go through various phases here, but earlier, for quite a few years, that was the standard statement. We have three pure precepts. The first pure precept in that ceremony, we decided on right. But another more literal translation of the Chinese is precept of embracing and sustaining forms and ceremonies. But embracing the forms and ceremonies is right conduct.

[26:33]

It's a way to raise a Dharma flag. One of the ceremonies, or one of the forms, is to sit upright in the zendo. That's a form. And we use that form to raise, to express and realize right conduct. Also, another name for that first pure precept, pratimoksha, from Sanskrit, which means that which is conducive to liberation. So another way to say the first pure precept is to embrace and sustain that which is conducive to liberation. So, sitting upright as raising the Dharma flag is conducive to liberation. But you can also call it right conduct. So I was just reverting to an earlier Zen Center standard way of saying that principle.

[27:37]

Which, you know, I hope we change it back to, I hope we do it in forms and ceremonies or something like that. but I was just being uncontroversial at that time, actually. But for you, it was a surprise, because you've heard some other renditions, right? I think, well, I personally feel that the forms of the Sabbath speaks to me so much more. Yeah, me too. Me too. And you lived here at Green Gorge during times when we were using that expression. And I think that's getting more to the core of it, right? Conduct is a little bit like music. It's kind of generic, but it's generic for good conduct. But then to get into the nitty-gritty of it is you get into the actual details of our actions of body, speech, and mind. And then you get to see if each little action of body, speech, and mind has an opportunity to raise a diamond flag.

[28:46]

Are you picking up your spoon to eat your food to get food for yourself? Or are you eating to raise the Dharma flag? If you're getting the point that this eating is to support all beings, is to nourish all beings, that's why you're eating, is to nourish all beings, not just yourself. And then if you notice, I actually am only concerned with feeding myself. I don't care about even the other people. Matter of fact, I hope they don't eat too much of this dish. And that there's more, there's some leftovers for me. So that kind of thought, again, isn't bad, because you can use that thought as a thought to raise the Dharma flag. And then you're fine. I'd say the whole phenomenal world's fine. Thank you. Yes, yes?

[29:49]

Did you mean me? I meant yes and yes. You were one of the yeses. Oh. Well, not to be cocky, but I sometimes think of this raising the flag as... as almost like they say, a finger pointing to the moon, that it is not an actual... the liberation itself, that it seems it's... I feel like the goal would be to be, you know, Dharma, to become it, not so much to be a flag of... There's something, what do you call it, showy about waving a flag.

[31:02]

Yeah, but in this case, there's no flag, there's just you. So you're using you, you're waving you, which is all you actually have. So that's the thing, you go like this. And this is my expression of Dharma. So it is saying, this is what I've become, and I'm using what I've become to uphold Dharma. And I'm showing that to people. because I care about them. And they can do the same by using what they are. So you could say it's showing... I'm referring to... I said it means express, but it also means to show. To show the Buddha activity, to show it with your body. to show it with your speech, to show it with your thought, to unfold it. Whatever you're doing, use that to show to the world what's the most important thing to you.

[32:08]

And it is showing, it is demonstrating, it is expressing, it is revealing. But just by what you're doing, It's not like something on top of what you're doing. But there also is sometimes we do actually raise a flag, but the actual raising of the flag is also what we're showing. That's why I'm saying the picture of the people raising that flag, they don't even have it up. They're just doing this thing of raising the flag. It's that human effort. So every moment you're here is an opportunity to show by what you are, not what you're going to be or what you have been, but right now, to use this to show reality. Yes? I was thinking about flags. Excuse me. I thought the next person was Christopher. That's me. Oh, thank you.

[33:11]

I got the ricochet. Vantriloquist. It goes into my question, actually. I find it's impossible to subconsciously raise the flag Like the flag signifies something like a territory or a concept or an affiliation. But this, it seems like Buddha activity isn't a territory, a concept, an affiliation. Well, maybe it is affiliation in a modest sense, but not an allegiance to like an in-group or an out-group. So it's like any way I can conceive of raising a flag, it's going to be painted by the that kind of project. And so if I ever have the inkling that I immediately have this sense of spiritual pride that kicks in, that I'm actually one of the ones that gets Buddhism or some BS like that.

[34:31]

So yeah, I guess I'm curious to ask How do you not raise... I think you just suggested that that was possible. I think you're the one who just said that that was possible. And I thought, oh, he's skipping over what he thinks is not raising the Dharma flag. So I would... When those things that you just talked about... Did you say B.S. ? So, as I said earlier in this class, don't skip over BS. BS is somebody's activity. It's an activity of a person called BS, or SB, whatever. It's what you have that you use to show BS. But I think maybe you're like thinking... I don't know if you're thinking about it even, but I guess you're thinking that it wouldn't be appropriate to use BS to raise the Dharma flag.

[35:49]

Or it wouldn't be appropriate to think that you're raising the Dharma flag as an opportunity for raising the Dharma flag. And I'm saying that is what most people think. And that is missing out on Buddha way. Because if you keep waiting for unselfish, unbullshit... When am I going to get something here that I could use to... That's what most people are... So then, I'm saying, no, no, no. All those moments where you thought, no, no, we can't use this, can't use this, this isn't good enough, this is defiled, this is impure, this is selfish, this is... whatever number of moments those were, as your actions, your opinions, here's your action, that's an opportunity, your opinion about it was an opportunity. I'm saying, these are the things, this is what you use.

[36:56]

You use your life. And you also might think, how ironic that I'm using bullshit as the opportunity for raising the Dharma flag. I thought I would use whatever is not bullshit. What's not bullshit, by the way? What do we call that? What is that? What's non-bullshit? Authenticity. Authenticity, yeah. Okay, so authenticity. Now, how about using authenticity to raise the Dharma flag? Does that seem okay? The Dharma flag is your intention to help all beings. That's right. Aren't you saying that? I think that if you had the intention to help all beings, I think that would be a good intention. Body, speech, and thought, right? Use body, speech, and thought to raise the Dharma flag. One thought is the thought of benefiting all beings, right?

[37:57]

That's a thought. So could we use that? You say yes? I'll say yes. What does Reb say? What does he say? What does he say? Don't you know what he said? You've been in silver classes. Well, any of those are... What does Reb say about... But in my silence you understood that if you had the thought of living for the welfare of all beings, of saving all beings, of benefiting all beings, each one was a thought that you could use to show The Buddha activity. Now, if you thought, I only want to help six people, if that was your thought, I'm saying, if you did, if I had the thought of helping everybody, I had the thought of helping six people.

[39:03]

That thought, I want to help six people, is being, we are being told, if you use that thought, even one moment like that, the entire world will become the Buddha activity. if you have the thought, I'm not going to help anybody. That thought. And you might have the thought, I don't want to help anybody, and you could maybe be very authentic in not wanting to help anybody. I do not want to help anybody. That could be authentic. I was just referring to the fact that the Buddha flag is really setting forth an intention, isn't it? It doesn't have to be a flag. I was going to ask you what the flag looked like. It's using your intentions as a way to express the Buddha mind. It's using your posture. It's not an intention, it's an expression of an intention. It's using your voice.

[40:06]

These three kinds of actions. Intention, posture, and speech. Those are the three types of action. Those are all to be used to express, to show. We can see karma in our karmic consciousness. You can see these things. To use, actually, use the visible to express the invisible. And any of these actions can be used. Let's see, there was green, and then there's Tim. Well, I'm just observing that the word show and the flag kind of have like a little bit of a different feel to me than the word express.

[41:10]

Yeah, these have different fields. Actually, I'm referring to it as a Chinese character, and this character can be translated as express, show, display, unfold, because it can be used for a flag. It also can mean a flag or an emblem, or like a shingle that you hang out on. It had all those meanings, that one character has this range of meanings. So again, as I said, when I carry the stick, I put the stick up. I could put it down, but I put it up. There's no flag at the end of the stick, but I mean this gesture, a physical gesture. I'm saying this is raising the Dharma flag. But I could also say, good morning everybody, I'm raising the Dharma flag. Or I could say, let's raise a Dharma flag.

[42:11]

Or I might say, could I raise a Dharma flag? Or I could say, do you want to raise a Dharma flag? I can go on. And no matter what I say, each of those could be used with the intention to raise a Dharma flag. And I'm also saying, this is another hard part, is there's no other way to raise the Dharma flag other than using your intentions. Otherwise it's just a theoretical thing. Because again, the Dharma flag is what's already going on. But in order to realize it, we have to use what's going on to realize what's going on. I mean, just the languaging, though, does kind of keep her into mind this idea of something other than the expression. Yeah, and the languaging is to help you realize that that's the way you think, that there's something other than the expression.

[43:15]

So we have to use We think that our life is something other than what it is in order to realize freedom from that. We have to use what entraps us to free us. We have to use what sets up the separation in order to become free of the separation. To avoid it, you're trapped in it and you're not doing anything about it. You're not even accepting that you're trapped. And some people might avoid language that makes them be aware that they're trapped. So then they're trapped, but they don't even know it. So they can't even engage their... So our language is our entrapment, and we use language to become free of the entrapment. Or we can't use it. And without using language, we can't become free of the entrapment.

[44:18]

...entrapped by it. And when you start to notice that language is kind of like reminding you that you're trapped in, my life is other than this, or there's some life other than this, or that freedom is something other than this, you're starting to wake up. Not to the truth of that, but that you think that way. It's not true, but you start to become aware that you're thinking that way, or that somebody else is thinking that way, and that them thinking that way is something other than being enlightened. Those deluded people believe that enlightenment is something other than enlightening. They're not enlightened. I am, because I don't think that. Yes? You used the phrases relative truth and ultimate truth, or absolute truth. And I think sometimes maybe the shorthand for that, maybe in something we chant is like the or something like that, that the relative truth, like there's myriad things, the absolute truth is that there's a unity or something.

[45:27]

And then Dogen advises us to like leap beyond that, or maybe I sometimes think of it as being able to be present with those two truths at the same time. Yes. But then sometimes it sounds like we also Maybe it's the relative truth of exclusion or being stuck in the relative truth. It isn't the truth, it's delusion. Relative truth is delusion. So it's truth and delusion. It's truly delusion. It's the truth that appears in delusion. And the Buddha way is not to avoid the truth that appears in delusion. It's not to avoid the truth that appears to deluded people. It's not to avoid that. And it's also not to wallow in it. And it's also not to avoid delusion. It's not delusion. It's to leap beyond both. And actually to leap into the non-duality of those two.

[46:29]

But enlightenment isn't just as simple as the ultimate truth by itself. That's right. As we say, sameness is still not enlightenment. So enlightenment isn't just being overt in the truth. realizing and practicing the interfusion of phenomena which are particular and principle which is not particular. It's the interfusion of emptiness and phenomena. It's the interfusion of delusion and enlightenment. It's not one or the other. It's the relationship which is not falling into either one and including both. That's why we can use the phenomenal conscious mind with its pictures of action, of body, speech and mind, we can use those to express not just the ultimate, but the interfusion of the ultimate and the particular, or the ultimate and the phenomenal.

[47:37]

I use this particular to express not just that which isn't particular, which is universal, not just to express that at the same time, but to express the non-duality of relative and ultimate. And if I don't use the particular, it's possible to be sort of stuck in the ultimate. And some people do actually engage with the ultimate, which is freedom from the particular. But it's not enlightenment in this school. The enlightenment school also isn't just being stuck in the particular. Not being stuck in the non-duality of them. So it's not being stuck in the duality of them and also not being stuck in the non-duality of them. Welcome duality. welcome non-duality, welcome freedom, welcome bondage, welcome delusion, welcome enlightenment.

[48:46]

Yeah, I like that at the end of the heart state it says, gone, gone, gone beyond, bodhisvaha, which means welcome awakening. Meet me on and welcome awakening, which also means welcome everything. That's the nice thing about awakening. It doesn't just welcome some of the people some of the time. Yes? About bowing, I thought I remembered long ago being taught that the bowing to the cushion and away from the cushion was to include I thought everyone who was Buddhist, but it really is to include everyone. Is there a form that... I think one way to... So, when you bow, you can say, you can raise the Dharma flag when you bow to your seats.

[49:49]

You can turn around and raise the Dharma flag. You can bow to your seat as the place you're going to sit and raise the dharmic flag. And you can turn around and bow to all beings. And you can offer this bow to all beings. And there can be endless wonderful things you can make that bow into. When you talked about this point of remembering stillness, remembering to use whatever root activity to raising the guard of the flag, I think it's such a simple and profound thing, that turning to remembering.

[50:51]

It's very difficult with, like, the tide, like, this current of, you know, of... You know, I mean, it's easier when you're, like, stepping into the Zendo, but then when you're out in the world or just even just going about your daily activities, I'm wondering if there... Beyond just that function of remembering, I mean, other... ...different bodily practices or using it in different ways. I think I'm trying to grasp onto any kind of technique. You could use your attempt to grasp on a technique as an opportunity. So you sit in the zendo, but I think a lot of people have a hard time. You've got the zendo, you've got this whole room to remind you to practice, and you walk in, and you sit there and you leave, and you realize the whole time you were there, you didn't remember to practice.

[51:54]

Even though you have the whole room and all these people to help you, which made it so much easier. Even though it was easier, you managed to pass up on it. Now you go outside, and then it's also hard. So pretty much... When we're not, we have beginningless practice, beginningless Buddha activity, and we also have beginningless delusion. And the delusion has been fighting the remembering of the Buddha activity all along. So now here we are, and this long-standing opposition to Buddha activity is right there. Not now. And it's also saying, could somebody please remind me to do Buddha activity? And then somebody else is saying, use that. You say, no, no, remind me first before I use this. It's not well known, but there are some machines in the Get Welcome Center that you can purchase for free, which you can strap onto your hip, and they will remind you to remember Buddha activity no matter where you are.

[53:16]

They have them in the Welcome Center. It's a secret. And they're for free. Just go in there, get them, put them on your hip, and they will remind you to constantly express the Buddha mind seal, no matter what you're doing. And it will be easy from then on. But before you find that thing, which is somewhere in the Welcome Center, it's going to be hard for you to remember, because you're often thinking that there's something else to do besides raise the Dharma flag right now. So when you're leading a practice period, sometime in the future, and they call you a Dharma flag teacher, then you might feel like, well actually that makes it easier for me to remember to raise the Dharma flag because it's my job. So it's not for me to tell you that this is your job.

[54:20]

Kind of like telling you that you could say, nobody told me this is my job, but I heard about it and I said, I want that to be my job. What do you want to be your job? I would like my job to be to remember raising a Dharma flag. To raise it, to show it to the world. Now, the way I used to talk about it was, I heard from Susie Grosche, when I got ordained as a priest, that my job was to remind people of Zazen and encourage them to practice. So then I thought, well, it might be helpful for me to remember Zazen and encourage myself to practice it. So, it might be helpful for you to just think about, would I like my job to be encouraging people to remember activity.

[55:21]

And now that I have that job, does it make it easier? I actually don't know if it makes it easier, but at least I got my job straight. Now what about remembering my job? I would like to remember it, and I don't say, that was a waste of time. I almost say, yeah, I'm glad I remembered it. When I remember my job, is zazen, and I remember my job is not just zazen, but to encourage other people to practice it, I don't feel like, well, that was a waste of time. I feel like, well, I'm glad I remembered that. That's good. That's my job. Yeah. And I don't spend too much time thinking, how can I remember it more? I don't do that. I just say, when I do remember, I think, this is good. Like during sashin sometimes, I'm sitting there and I think, I love this. This is good. I'm doing it, and I think I like it. And you're not doing it by yourself. And I'm doing it by myself, and that's part of what I love, is that I'm doing it with all these other people, and I look at them, they seem to be doing it, and they seem to be happy doing it.

[56:33]

It's amazing. Especially when I walk in, and everybody's already sitting, I think, look at those people, wow. They're just like sitting there, and they're not looking around and saying, well, when is somebody going to give me something? Or, you know, when's the TV crew going to come in and take me away to fame and fortune? They're just sitting there. They just seem to be fine. So if our deluded mind says, it's hard to remember the practice, in that moment, is an opportunity. At that moment you just have remembered the practice when you said it's hard. I think in my first winter at Zen Center, I moved to Zen Center to live in an apartment. It wasn't really Zen Center at that time, it was a Japanese temple over in Japantown.

[57:33]

I moved to be near this temple and And I went downtown San Francisco, like I was in Macy's. Do they still have Macy's? I was in Macy's. I think, I don't know if I was buying Christmas presents, but it was Christmas time and I was in Macy's. And it was like 5, about 5.30 or something, p.m. And I thought, oh, I'm not at Zazen. Because they had Zazen at 5.30 at Sokoji Temple. And I thought, I'm probably the only person in Macy's who's thinking, oh, I'm missing something. In other words, I'm the only person in Macy's remembering Zazen, because I usually do it at 5.30. So, yeah, whenever I remember Zazen, I think, yay! I remember Zazen! Whenever I think of Buddha, I think, yay!

[58:35]

Yay! But I also know when I don't remember. But I mostly emphasize, yay, zazen, rather than, how can I get myself to remember zazen? I just want to remember it. When you remember it, you have just increased the likelihood of remembering it. Every time you think of it, It changes to become more conducive to more zazen. To think about how can I do it more is not zazen. But it's an opportunity for zazen. So if you think, how can I do more zazen, you say, well, I can just do it right now. Not more. I can do this. Zazen is not about more zazen. This zazen. How great. It's like this. How wonderful. And that makes you a person who says it again. It's about this. This is the opportunity. Not some other one. The other one, that's our deluded mind.

[59:37]

That's the anxious mind. What's next? Where is it? Where in the Welcome Center do they keep this device? Anyway, they do have it over there. I've never been able to find it, but it is over there. You don't need to go to the Welcome Center. You can practice as I said. Here, you don't have to go across the deck. You can start right now. And nothing is stopping you except thinking that something's stopping you. And that's not stopping you either, because thinking that something's stopping you is an opportunity for raising the Dharma. So it looks like you completely understand and you have now accepted the job offer of being down the flag raising people.

[60:44]

May your meditation be equally exciting to everybody in the United States. Thank you.

[60:58]

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