One of the favorite quotes that people bring up from Suzuki Roshi is something like, you or we are all perfect, just as we are, but we need some improvement. Today I understand this part about needing improvement in terms of our understanding. Not that we really need to be improved, but we don't understand that. We don't need to be improved. And then someone can say, well, then you need to improve your understanding.

[01:01]

The way another Zen teacher put it is that the way, the Buddha way, is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The vehicle of truth is free and unhindered. What need is there for concentrated effort? Our whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in some means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What's the use of going off here and there to practice? And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, if there is a hair's breadth deviation,

[02:20]

If there's the tiniest bit of unclarity and confusion about this, the Buddha way is as distant from us as heaven is from earth. So we, from Buddha's point of view, we are perfect in our present understanding. It's perfect, really perfect. And yet if we're a little bit unclear about what we are, if we're a little bit unclear about our relationships, even a hair's breadth difference between the way things are and our understanding can create a tremendous gap. And in that gap, all the vast portions of misery

[03:25]

can come up. We're so close. This difference can be seen through. This wound in our heart can be healed. It's not that big actually. It's quite close to being healed. But the healing is very subtle. And we must be thorough. This hair's breadth difference is created by the way we think.

[04:33]

The way we think creates difference, creates separation. The practice of sitting, which we're doing today, is not intended primarily as another thing you can do. It's not just another thing we can do by ourselves. But it's a way that we can see what we think we're doing.

[05:41]

Because of the way our minds work, we think we're doing something. Or we think we're not doing something. And this goes on. This is called our ancient twisted karma. If we can sit upright, we have a chance to witness our thinking, to see how we think that we can do something by ourself, that there is the possibility of independent existence and independent action in this world. Although we think this way, some people do not notice that they think that way.

[06:51]

That's the usefulness of sitting upright and still. is it will become clear that we do think that way. So by sitting still and upright, we can see and understand our actions. we can see and understand our actions and thereby be fully responsible for our action. This is what was called in what we just chanted, the power, or I should say this is the practice of repentance or the practice of confession of our thinking.

[07:55]

the practice of confession of our action. So we act by thinking, by speaking, and by making physical postures. And we act by trying to stop ourselves from thinking and speaking and making physical postures. Stop ourselves from doing these postures, make ourselves do those postures. Stop ourselves from saying these things, make ourselves say those things. And this has been going on since beginningless times. You might even say that before this was going on, there was no time.

[09:04]

And then again, you might not say that. But whether you say it or not, you think you're saying it or not. Sitting upright, you can notice that. You can understand that. And by this practice of being completely responsible for your actions, you will realize the ability to respond in a way that realizes this perfect and all-pervading path of compassion. path of compassion is already perfect and all-pervading, but because of confusion about our actions, this path of compassion seems as far away as the distance from heaven and earth.

[10:21]

One day, two Zen monks had a conversation. They entered into observing their verbal action. Thinking they were speaking, they watched what they said. They sat upright and observed their verbal actions. One said, if there is a hair's breadth, a hair's breadth difference, it's like the distance from heaven to earth. how do you understand this?

[11:34]

And the other Zen monk said, if there is a hair's breadth difference, it's like the distance between heaven and earth. Then the first monk said, if it's like that, how can you get it? And the other monk said, I am just thus. How about you? And the first monk said, if there is a hair's breadth difference, it is like the distance between heaven and earth.

[12:49]

And then the second monk bowed. If we can watch what we say as carefully as they did, if we can watch the postures we make and the thoughts we entertain as carefully as they did, there is a chance to understand that there is no hair's breadth difference, and that the way is perfect and all-pervading.

[13:57]

The way pervades all of our actions perfectly. And that what you think, what I think, What we say and the postures we make are completely pervaded by Buddha's compassion. But if we don't clearly watch what's happening, if there's even a tiny bit of looking away from what we're doing, if there's even a little bit of irresponsibility for our actions, then by the law of the way our minds work, we will not witness this.

[15:00]

We will not trust that our words, our deeds, our thoughts are Buddha's compassion. By our inattention and lack of courage to be the person we are, we won't believe that this is the way right now. From our inability to affirm life completely as it is enacted right now by this inactor, by our inability to affirm life now, we can't affirm death. By our inability to affirm death, we can't affirm life.

[16:04]

And then we are driven by our anxiety and fear. But again, if we can have the courage to be anxious and afraid, to affirm life in that form, then we will be able to affirm death. And this will be the end of suffering and the realization of Buddha's compassion. The entry into Buddha's mind and Buddha's compassion is simply to sit upright.

[17:15]

And to sit upright simply means to have the courage to live this life right now and completely accept it, be responsible for it, admit it. thoroughly, completely. Human beings are capable of such a way of being. We are actually capable of no other way of being. We just dream of some other way. And that dream is the hair's breadth difference. Once there was a recluse who lived in India.

[18:25]

He was a saintly person, very saintly. And people came to him and told him they thought so. They even said to him, you seem to be completely liberated When he heard that he thought, maybe I'm completely liberated. But he was actually an honest person. So he thought he would look at himself and see if he was. So he looked and he found out that there was a little confusion there, a little hair's breadth difference between himself and others.

[19:31]

He was a little unclear about his relationship with all beings. He noticed that. And he asked these people who visited him, who praised him so highly, if they knew of anyone who was definitely completely liberated. And they said, yes, there is such a person we've heard. His name is Shakyamuni Buddha. Unfortunately for you, he lives on the other side of India. This man lived on the west coast of India. So he decided to go see this Shakyamuni Buddha.

[20:39]

He walked all the way across India to where Buddha was teaching at Sarvasti. No, not Sarvasti, Savasti. And when he got there, he went to Buddha's meditation center and he asked where the teacher was and the people said, he's out. He went to town to beg for his lunch. He'll be back in a little while. Please relax and rest and recover from your long journey.

[21:46]

And this recluse said, no, I really can't stay here. I have to go talk to him right now. So the monk said, OK, if you really want to go, he took this road. So if you go down this road, you may be able to find him. So the recluse walked down the road looking for the Buddha. And when he got to town looking around, he saw a monk begging. who seemed to be in an atmosphere of peace and harmony. So he asked someone nearby who that was and they told him that that was the Buddha.

[22:49]

So he walked over to the Buddha and knelt on the ground and took a hold of the Buddha's feet and said, I heard that you teach a way of complete liberation. Please, teacher, show me this way. And the Buddha said, that's right. I do have a teaching about how to be completely liberated, and I will teach you. But this is not the proper time and place. I'm in the middle of begging for my lunch. So why don't you go back to my meditation center and I'll come there later and teach you." And the recluse said, No, I can't wait. I must have the teaching now.

[24:00]

And the Buddha said, what, you can't wait for a half an hour? And the man said, no. In a half an hour, I might die. You might die. I might lose my courage to receive this teaching. Now I want it. Give me the teaching now so I can receive it and practice it." The Buddha looked at him and the Buddha could see that this man was going to die in a few minutes. So he said, all right. And there, right in the street, the Buddha gave him the teaching.

[25:06]

And the teaching he gave was, dear friend, please train yourself thus. In the scene, there will be just the scene. In the heard, there will be just the heard. In the imagined, there will be just the imagined. And in the thought, there will be just the thought. You must train yourself thus. When for you, friend, the seen is just the seen, and when the heard for you is just the heard, and the imagined for you is just the imagined,

[26:25]

and the thought for you is just a thought, then you will not identify with this. When you do not identify with these processes, you will not locate yourself in them. And when you do not locate yourself in them, there will be no here or there or in between. And this will mean the end of suffering. This was the Buddha's teaching for him. This is the teaching of how to realize no here, no there, and no in between. no heaven and earth in separation.

[27:37]

This is the way to be free of the hair's breath difference. This man's heart was pure. He heard the teaching and he sat down at the edge of the road and completely concentrated on letting things be the way they are. He realized complete liberation and died. He affirmed life. He affirmed death. And he affirmed that the way is perfect and all-pervading. Can you find your heart like that, that hears Buddha's teaching and puts it into practice right now?

[28:58]

This is the teaching of thusness. It has been intimately conveyed from Buddhas to Buddhas. Now you have it. Please take care of it. They are in danger

[31:28]

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