I've heard that we're having a session this week, a five day session. I'd like to discuss the word sesshin with you as I've done before. The word sesshin is a compound of two Chinese characters. The Japanese way of pronouncing the first character is Setsu.

[01:05]

And the second character is pronounced Shin. Setsu has many, many meanings and so does Shin. They probably both have infinite meanings. Many years ago I heard that Setsu meant to gather or collect. Shin meant heart or mind. So I understood that Sesshin meant something like gathering or collecting the mind and heart.

[02:21]

Making the mind and heart whole and one. So that's one interpretation or understanding of what sashin is about. Spend five days or a week collecting, gathering the mind, making the heart whole. But recently in studying the

[03:33]

three cumulative pure precepts as they're put forth in the Soto school. I saw that Chinese character, Setsu, in the beginning of each one of these pure precepts. And then I found out that Setsu has many more meanings besides collect, which I've shared with you already, but I'm going to do it again today, as a meditation on how to practice during Sashin. And also, If you keep in mind that this word, setsu, is at the beginning, is sort of the background word for each of the three pure precepts, it may help us understand that the way of gathering the mind in sesshin is also the way of practicing right conduct.

[04:57]

is also the way of practicing all good and is also the way of benefiting or maturing all beings. In the translation of the, in some of the translations of the Three Pure Precepts, We sometimes say, I vow to embrace and sustain. That embrace and sustain is satsu. I vow to embrace and sustain right conduct. I vow to embrace and sustain all wholesomeness, all wholesome things, all good dharmas. I vow to embrace and sustain all beings.

[06:02]

Or another translation is, I vow to fulfill right conduct. I vow to fulfill all goodness. I vow to fulfill all beings. then as we sit we may vow to embrace and sustain our own heart. Vow to embrace and sustain our own mind, sitting and fulfilling the mind, bringing Encouraging the mind to come to fulfillment as it manifests moment after moment in this way and now in this way.

[07:20]

This character, Setsu, also appears in a very nice chapter written by Dogen Zenji called the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance or the Four Integrative Methods. The word guiding or integrative is this sessu. The four methods are giving, kind speech, identity practice, and Identity action and what?

[08:40]

Beneficial action. So those are the four gathering, healing, guiding methods of a bodhisattva. So that word sessu tips us off, or may tip us off, that these would apply to taking care of ourselves during sesshi. How do you gather and make your heart whole? Practice giving. Practice kind speech. Practice beneficial action and practice identity action. This is the way to guide

[09:42]

your heart through this world. This is the way to nurture. Another meaning of sessu is nurture your mind and heart moment by moment throughout this world until it becomes collected and whole and mature. What we're doing here this week is, in one sense, we get used to it here. Those of you who are coming away from some job outside of Green Gulch, may notice that what we're doing here is a rare thing in this world.

[10:46]

I think there probably are people sitting Sashin somewhere else in the world today. But a lot of people and a lot of living beings are not sitting so sheen the way we are. I think of the wild animals or other animals that are standing out in the rain now. And I don't know if they're having a hard time with the rain. I don't know if I would have a hard time with the rain if I were an elk. I might like it. I'm pretty sure if I were a seal I would like the rain. I'm not saying that these creatures have easier time than we do, but in some ways I thought of them today and I thought, well, you know, it is simpler in some way just to sort of be walking in the grass, hoof step after hoof step.

[12:02]

Whereas human beings on days like this have to wear clothes usually and go out and then have umbrellas, which, you know, depending on the way you're collecting your mind, umbrellas can be kind of a hassle, like when you have to fold and unfold them, and particularly if you're going to work in a busy area and you run into other people with umbrellas and folding and unfolding umbrellas in crowded places with other humans. and figuring out where to put them and what to do with the water when it drips off. And when you get into your car and it's raining hard, how do you do that? How do you hold the umbrella over you? Or do you just give up and get wet? Or then you have a wet umbrella and you fold it up and it's dripping. Do you let the water drip into the car or wait outside and let it drip outside? We got all this stuff. We don't just have fur around us or feathers. And so, you know, umbrellas is just one small example of the hassles that human beings get into.

[13:12]

As many others as you know. And right now, all over the Bay Area, all over California, human beings are doing various things. They're driving in cars in the rain with windshield wipers and radios on. Some of them are taking drugs, and some of them are angry at the other drivers. And some of them may be sitting sashin in their cars, I don't know. Anyway, we live in a world that has many, many living beings who are coping pretty well with being alive or feeling very hassled and maybe coping pretty well at feeling very hassled. During Sashin, sometimes we get ourselves into a fix, physical and mental situation where we feel really... a lot's happening for us and we have trouble coping with it all we might be happy with just having an umbrella to close and unclose rather than a body which is closing and unclosing which is calling out to us strongly for some guidance

[14:45]

which is saying, something intense is happening here. Do you know what to do about it? And our heart hears this call from our very intensely crying body. And our heart and our mind wonder how to care for, how to nurture this body, how to practice right conduct with this body. Should we uncross our legs and take a walk? Should we take a nap? Should we cry? Should we think of Buddha? What would be the best way to care for and take responsibility for this bodily request? Responsibility is another word for Setsu. Accepting responsibility for your heart, accepting responsibility for your mind, sitting and doing that in the midst of a world where people are doing many, many things.

[16:14]

How can we practice beneficial action for ourselves during this week? And is beneficial action for ourselves, will that extend and benefit others? When I was younger, I read a story. Before I really started practicing Zen formally, I read a story about a Zen monk who had trained for, I forgot how many years, I think it was 11 or 15, something like that. I don't think it was 25. And he finished his training with his teacher and he left his teacher. But one time he came back to visit his teacher on a rainy, I believe night, And he came into his teacher's temple and went to his teacher and greeted his teacher.

[17:21]

And his teacher said to him, when you came in the entryway, which side of the stepping stone did you leave your sandals and which side did you leave your umbrella? And the monk couldn't remember where he put his sandals and his umbrella. Maybe when he came in he was all hassled from his raincoat or his umbrella and his sandals being all muddy and wet. Maybe he was kind of excited and relieved to be indoors after walking in the rain in the dark. Maybe he felt relieved. Maybe he was excited to see his master after some long time. Maybe he was afraid of seeing his master after some long time. Maybe he was worrying about what his master would ask him.

[18:27]

And he didn't remember that moment. I don't know. Anyway, he couldn't remember where he put his sandals and where he put his umbrella. So he decided to stay and study some more. He stayed six more years. And then he left and walked back out into the rain. And guess what? Today, he's in this room. Still training at Zen. When I read that story, I thought, how lovely. What a wonderful way to live. to walk in the rain with a body and a mind, to wear sandals and have an umbrella, and wear monk's robes, and to go visit your old master now and then.

[19:33]

And when you go to visit, to forget where you put your shoes and have him ask you where they are. Or perhaps to remember where you're putting your shoes and to be quite interested in where you put them and to be ready to die as you put your shoes down and set your umbrella against the wall as your last act, as your last act of giving, as your last act of kind speech. as your last act of beneficial action, as your last act of identity action. You know, it hurts a little bit to have an umbrella.

[20:36]

even if it doesn't poke you, or even if those little tips that, you know, hold the umbrella onto the spokes of the umbrella, even if they don't fall off, still those tips are kind of a problem. But anyway, having an umbrella hurts. Having shoes hurts. Being with other people who are walking around with shoes and boots and umbrellas and hearts and eyes and chainsaws and cars and wrenches and mud and grease and blood. All these things hurt and they hurt because our mind is split in two. Because we're separated from all things in our mind. and everything's a hassle because of that.

[21:38]

Our mind is crying out in pain at being separated from itself, which it thinks is all things. When we take care of our shoes and our umbrella, when we take care of our eating bowls, and our body, when we nurture that relationship, when we nurture the response to these things, this is sesshin. While you're sitting, please see if you can practice kind speech with yourself. If you think of someone else while you're sitting, someone in the sesshin or someone not in the sesshin, when you think about them, you think about them in words and images, images and words.

[22:50]

Could those be kind words? Kind words are the bodhisattva's way to guide the heart through this world of suffering Even if you hear yourself saying bad things about yourself, judging yourself or judging against others, even if you hear those words, even then can you have a kind response? Oh, there you go again, thinking that person's not so good. Here's your bottle. Relax. Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you. We have five days to listen to our heart, to watch our mind,

[24:06]

to guide it, to nurture it, to gather it. Or not even saying it that way, to let it be guided and nurtured and benefited while coping with the umbrellas, the sandals, the schedule, the pots, the bowls, the knees, the backs, the elbows, the hands, the shoulders, the sleepiness, the agitation, the resentments, all these things which hurt a little or a lot

[25:09]

because our mind is broken, because our heart is split in two. If we can take care of all these situations kindly, if we're willing to take care of our shoes and our body, it may be that the mind can be united and we can realize the great mind of all beings, the Buddha mind. And that we can be people who will inspire others in the midst of their woe and their harassment to find some peace, to find some healing in this world. And for me, it's delightful that it's a moment-by-moment thing, that it happens every time you come in and door out of the rain.

[26:30]

There's the practice. You don't wait till you get to the zendo. So please, for the benefit of everyone, embrace and sustain your heart, embrace and sustain your mind, embrace and sustain all beings. Thus you'll practice what we call Zen. And you'll practice the three pure precepts which all the Buddhas have taught as the way to help people.

[27:36]

I wonder if this practice will work in California in the early months of 1994. If not, then let's find a new way We don't have much time left. We have a great opportunity. Browse the mind, brothers and sisters, that will endeavor to practice the true way wholeheartedly. Rainy time and the living is easy.

[28:55]

Fish are jumping and the cotton is low. Your daddy's rich, and your mama's good looking. So hush, little baby, don't you cry. If you have to, fine. One of these mornings, you're going to rise up singing. You're going to spread your wings and you'll take to the sky. Until that morning, there ain't nothing can harm you. With daddy and mommy standing by. They are in tension

[30:05]

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