The Unceasing Effort to Free All Beings

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i got two new injuries this morning
my later cause these boo-boos
easily when i go downstairs i i watched my i watch my stick my feet good on the stairs
but morning i was going down the stairs and to say hello and deborah was so happy to see her i didn't look at the stairs
and then i was found myself on top of a buddha
and the buddha fell over and i got this a boo-boos

time i accept that
the practice of
walking downstairs carefully
and i'm not looking up and say hi to people when i'm going downstairs
sometimes i'm going to answer if people are coming towards me and i i think you know they probably want me to say hi to them
but i i say well you know
i got this job to do else also hide your later
sometimes i stop halfway down the stairs
stop walking down to just stand there and then i look at the person and bow
say hello and then when i start walking again i
i just concentrate on watching my favorite on the stairs
or if not watching stepping very carefully without looking
but to be stepping and also say hi to people and bowing and stuff like that has become too advanced

i'm starting out this is this is not so difficult to understand right
can i tell you the story about my later and the strawberries

so
i went to the
california academy of sciences
with my leader
and we're sitting there and she's having her snack
which is partly part of or smack of strawberries so his eating strawberries and she comes to a strawberry this kind of quite wrinkled
and she says this is for you
she gives it to me she says an old strawberry for an old man
did she say that part of a second-line she said an old strawberry for an old man
she didn't say an old wrinkled stronger
but a human have some strawberries are you know the whole surfaces kind of on wrinkled just
pump and no indentations
but it was delicious even so

as i often mentioned that the name of this temple is no abode and that a good name
a pays homage to the mind
a bodhisattvas
so in the
diamond of perfect wisdom scripture the buddha recommends that bodhisattvas give life to a mind that doesn't abide anywhere

it doesn't abide in anything
and
chose alone it's a an endless possibilities of things not to abide him
but he sought that need such a mind in order to do their work
how much their work their work is to make an unceasing effort to free all beings so they may dwell in peace
that's their work
and they'd do that work by
practicing compassion
welfare of all these beings
which they wished deliberate and bring to peace

the practice compassion in their daily life with all these to practice for the welfare of all beings and to practice with all beings compassionate way that's their job that's their work

this mind of no abode is
necessary in order to do the work
and
fully self one can
attempt to practice compassion towards oneself and towards others
but an order to for the compassion to be fully functional
to the point where the compassion
becomes a wisdom and therefore liberates beings
so they can dwell on peace the compassion needs this mind of no abode

the mind of know about makes it possible
to let go
to abandon
to give away
fear
a personal suffering

which for most of us is almost like an instinct
and if there is an instinct
to be afraid a personal suffering if there is an incident like that
then they would be appropriate to be compassionate towards that instinct to fear of pain a present pain
and that compassion and would promote the possibility
i'm discovering the mind of know abode
and when the mind of know abode is with the fear of suffering
the fairest suffering can be given away

and then there is the compassion and this mind of no abode and no fear of personal suffering and then the compassion is
it can save unimpeded by
the fear of what will happen to us if we practice compassion
for example the fear that it might be painful to practice compassion that sometimes would make us hesitate the practice compassion
the mind of no bird
is therefore necessary in order to fully liberate deliberating function

the discussions about how to develop this mind of new abode
don't necessarily sound like compassion practice so if i start talking to you about how to developed his mind of no abode
please remember that for we're talking about his his mind
that
lives in the context of compassion in order to make compassion fully functional
so is it the mind of know abode is a is a wisdom mind in order to have this wisdom of this wisdom mind of them is a type of which mind which is specifically recommended for those who wish to
engage with all beings
so they may be free and dwell in peace
it's not necessary it's not a wisdom which necessary for someone who just wants to liberate themselves
i'm dwelling piece themselves
it's it's a wisdom as necessary for someone who wishes to free hall beings so that all beings may dwell in peace

the clock please

in the history of the san francisco zen center we have used a word caught a word sauce and reviews that a lot
it literally means sitting zam
or then sitting
sometimes causes and meditation

so i was said that
there are many kinds of sitting meditation
but the sitting meditation of the body suffers
is the meditation
of on this mind of no abode this the mind of non dwelling
that's
the that's the practice
of the bodies after school
and again with way says i said at the san francisco zen center

and the last few times we met here i've been bringing up a text
wish
we may look out again soon
and the name of the text is zazen and shin
to some you remember that text as ours and shin shin mi's ah
needle
and it's it's up
it means like an acupuncture needle
a medicinal needle
so it's the it's the needle the name of the text is the needle of zazen

but so now today i would say it's the needle it's a text about the needle for the point of the mind of know about
it's the point of the body sought for mind
it's attacks about this point

but also maybe like
i need all that
is that touches the life
in order to express this non abiding heart
the law abiding heart which we which releases the boy said fuck
compassion into full function

the text starts out by saying something like
the pivotal function or the pivotal activity of all buddhas
the active pivot of all ancestors
that's it starts

the pivotal function
on the buddhist is this mind of no abode
so in the text to name the text is the point of zazen so the and practice of the school
is talking up his is the
pivotal function of all buddhas
this tax is trying to help us understand
what this mind of know about is or what the pivotal activity of buddhist is

this is the pivotal activity which naturally let go of
the causes and conditions of fear
a personal suffering which once again if i'm afraid of personal suffering
that fear may hinder me in being compassionate towards something
towards some my own problems or torches the way i see other people
it's a right now in america right now on and on this planet
a lot of people are feeling some obstruction some hindrance to feeling and practicing compassion towards some people

so there's is text or which is a
please get your copy that text there's a texters just as attacks which is a poem the name of the text is
the point of zazen and there is a poem which this texas a poem and there's two versions of this text and they're both in chinese and one is written by a chinese bodhisattva and another was written by a japanese bodhisattva
and this one here is written by a japanese body safra
this one here
and he wrote his palm about this pivotal activity of our borders
where's the pivotal activity of are buddhists
doesn't
zazen compassion not abiding
the is the unceasing efforts to free all being so they may dwell in peace that's buddhist pivotal activity okay families are pretty clear
buddhists activity is a pivotal activity
the buddhas are pivoting with something one of the buddhist pivoting with
who's
they are pivoting with delusion
every everything all beings and which includes buddhas are pivoting with not buddhas
buddha's are pivoting with not boot is
some mixins buddhas are pivoting with all beings buddhas are pivoting with
everything
and this pivotal activity is an effort
the free all being so they may dwell in peace

so this this text bazaars and starts up by point addressing this pivotal activity and in this pivotal activity there's no abiding
and all buddhas are involved in this pivotal activity
and then the next line is the active pivot
of all ancestors
so this is a pivot as active and all the ancestors are engaged in that active pivot
which is an effort to free all being so they may dwell in peace
if there is abiding one could still be wishing to make the effort
to free all beings so they may draw in peace but the abiding stresses the process almost like hinders it
almost like blocks it
the boot is
are involved an unhindered effort to free freebies from dwelling

now then the next line starts to deal with
i'm
yeah starts to deal with
the
investigation
for the exploration
of

the non abiding
as had some can i'm i'm a full-time and i'm going to do the chinese poem
written by a chinese master named tentang hunger
who live like fifty years before the author of
the other palm who is also the author of the verse which we chat at the beginning of our talks a hey dogan
his pictures up there behind the altar
the person who is the first ancestor of our tradition in japan
so he wrote a poem about this pivotal activity but i'm before him a chinese master wrote the poem less upon i'm going to talk about first
and are probably talking about this poem for quite awhile
so that after introducing
the idea that what are zaza and practice is is this pivotal activity of are buddhists in other words our sitting practice
we've been practicing here
are sitting practice is an unceasing efforts to free all being so they may dwell in peace
i don't know if you noticed that when you are sitting you involved in an unceasing effort to free all being of the madewell on pace
but that's for this temples
devoted to for us to come and join that practice
sitting together walking together working together
yes the word dwell
the were dwell in sight
we talk a lot of i'm not dwelling so it's opportunities sorry my that
when you dwell in peace
gay
you give away the peace so you don't really dwell in it
so i'm a changed make things simple for you
unceasing efforts to free all beings so they may realize peace
and let it go
so with this this non dwelling mind does not abide even in peace even in nirvana
the free are being so they may realize nirvana not dwell even in nirvana okay
then you may say it's okay now but when i get to nirvana don't know
if i will be up for letting go of it
so where you can't come into nirvana whether you unless you
about to let go of at once you enter
okay i'll let go of our diandra okay come on in

hours as and practice has been described by the
by a dogan
it's been described as the dharma gate or the he could say the true gate to repose and bliss
ours as a practice
is the true gate to repose and bliss
reposing bliss is one of the ways of describing nirvana
ours as and practice is the true gate to nirvana
and it's it's the true game because if the gate which when you go through into nirvana you keep going he don't stop
there's a false gate to nirvana where you go and you stay
that's not the one that the school as as cool as the way to enter nirvana and give it away and enter nirvana and give it away
enter repose and bliss
and pivot
enter repose in bliss
and pivot with not repose and nautilus
this is the process bliss in nablus repose a not repos this pivotal activity is what liberates bags
not the boy in the blessing staying there
here's the next line after
the functioning
pivot of all ancestors had knows without touching things
or knows without touching phenomena
this day our the mind of know abode
maybe he wouldn't be surprised to hear that a mind of know bowed is a kind of knowing
when you say typical activity you might be surprised to hear that this is an activity which is a knowing
it's a pivot off activity
that is a knowing
it's a kind of knowing
but it's not the kind of knowing which is our ordinary consciousness because ordinary consciousness
touches the phenomena
that are known
this is in knowing which doesn't touch the phenomena

the next line is

the lumens
without facing conditions gay so i said it but really does not it
gates so the essential are the essential the pivotal function of our buddhists
knowing
without touching thanks
or knows pivotal function knows without touching phenomena
pivotal function illumines without confronting conditions
this is the first
two dimensions of describing the mind that in which
the unceasing efforts to free all beings is living
it's a my it's a mind it's a knowing it's an it's an it's a mind of non abiding it's a mind of not dwelling
that knows without touching
things there are things
living with this mind and this my nose things but doesn't touch them and also this pivotal activity is is a light it's it's an illumination
but it's not an illumination a light which is
confronting the things that are illuminated

when there is a knowing and touching things we have now the set up for what
delusion
grasping fear yeah
the mighty is actually even consciousness is an is illumined it illuminates things as light and consciousness it lights up objects but it it confronts them it faces them it opposes them
and in grasp
that's ordinary consciousness
this is not touching that ordinary consciousness
but it's another kind of illumination of this consciousness which illumines the situation in such a way that the conditions
at the moment of experience are not opposed and therefore are not
apprehended when there is opposition when there's a here and there and a grasping then
there's fear and then the bodies the practice is not fully functioning
but there
it's another possibility which is
knowing an aluminum and an illuminating without touching and without opposing and with aren't grasping
this is some more details about what the mind of know about like
what the what the unceasing efforts to unceasing effort is to live in such a way as to not
grasp what seems to be out there on its own

so i think that maybe enough for you to begin asking questions

so it doesn't touch
it does lumen it doesn't look out
because
self an object is not it's not that there's no self an object
because in in consciousness there is a sends herself it does not a sense of self there's no consciousness so this knowing illumines and therefore liberates consciousness
so encounters mr is a self
and another
it it's not a cell phone and other himself is my conscience in consciousness series of knowing and unknown and their see that the known since to be out in front of the knower for the knowing that ordinary consciousness knowing and out in front of it is
the known
now we're talking about illuminating that this this pivotal activity illuminates that and it shows that this is not actually out in front this is the knowing this is a known but the known is not out in front of the knowing
and the knowing is not out in front of the known
usually we don't have to tell people
that they're not out in front of what looks out in front of them
so so we don't say that usually but today i said
which which they can see is they think that the people they know
and the places they're going out in front of them
and were saying okay now that's the way it looks now let's see if you can like illuminate that see you see that will there's there's something and here's something and this is not on your front of this
so it's an illumination which can eliminate many things and one of the things that's very important to illuminate his consciousness
and again it it it's it's a way of knowing
where the knowing doesn't like touch the things
the knowing that doesn't touch the known
isn't it doesn't touch it because
there is the separation the separation
i'm not touching you can say that the that what might make the not touching possible is an awareness of a non separation of the knowing and the noon
or you can say weren't if to understanding that the knowing is not separate from the known
if we understand that the knowing is not set from the known than we wouldn't think that something that's separate from something can touch something
he can only have the knowing touch the known if they're separate but this is a pivotal activity and the pivotal activity as you start to see how the knowing is pivoting on the known
so the known could also know the knowing

and if if you see if he can pivot than than does not this touching that
which is another way to say to understand to know in such a way that you know that the knowing and the known are not separate because when knowing and known or separate we have when they see when they're a separate and we agree to that we have delusion and we have fear
yeah
and we a bondage and we're we're stuck in a setup of knower known and they're separate ways that are basic trap
the criminal activity is like
switching sides and when you switch sides
there's no way to dwell and also there's no apprehending
yes does your hundred
does it still count
i don't know
i may have stuck on confront the word confronting the ourselves it's the character his face
neat
confront oppose all of them were to some extent
so it's it's a illumination without confronting are meeting and again this is hard to catch but
when things meet by the very nature of talking by meeting meeting is impossible
so in the illuminated mind the mind no boat there is no confronting
there's no confronting
well yeah there's no confronting accept
there can be confronting but no confronting confronting
because of the pivoting

yes it's hard to get isn't it
things can meet unless they're separate if they separate the cabinet

like these to had these two are separate right so they have the potential to meet okay all right okay here that go now they're not separate anymore so we say that i mean but if they're not separate
they couldn't meet
only when they're separate to and see the possibility of the meeting
but when they actually meet they're not separate
so a non separation there's no meeting
and in fact knowing if knowing his stepper from known what you got like zero knowing
and yet we think that i can know something as separate
from the knowing
but let's
doesn't hold up in reality but
we fall for that and then were
fearful unstressed
and when i fall for it but we fall for it and we think we should stay there
and then more stress
but actually they're pivoting the pivoting of this of everything is the way every all things are pivoting all things are pivots
everything is pivoting with not that thing
every man is pivoting with not man have a woman is pivoting with not woman
every good as pivoting with not good every evil is pivoting with not evil
that pivoting is the activity and in that activity that there can be an unceasing effort in other words nothing will stop it
it's unhindered unthinkable unmemorable unstoppable unhindered because it is tuned into the reality
that every thing every coherent phenomena every moment of experience is a pivotal

and to join that pivoting is what is where buddhism
here's the practice of buddha's with are doing that pivot
with not put as with central banks
boys enlightenment is pivoting with delusion
but isn't like must not over and enlightenment it doesn't abide in enlightenment and of course it doesn't abide and delusion it is the pivotal relationship between the two
daryn the freedom is alive therein fear has no foothold
and also therein fear is not pushed away
an affair should come it welcomes fear
and a in it ended welcome sphere in the vivid between in the pivot of fear and not fair it isn't a dwelling and not fear it isn't dwelling in fear
if it is the life of fear dancing with not fear
this
it's the way things are is they're pivoting every thing is a pivot and every pivot is pivoting
and in that situation where now been told what's it like they're well it's there's a knowing it's not just you know the way things are
isn't on dwelling and non dwelling is a mind
but it's not consciousness it's the way consciousness really is
consciousness seems to be i know that
i'm gonna meet her
but i'm going to meet her mean she's separate from me
and when i meet her and then i will be separate from her but i'm saying he won't be able to meet her if you're not suffer from her he just gonna be sorry what god is not separate from her you don't get to have
not separate and meeting her you want a meter fine then you gotta have bought then you're in the separation camp which is a suffering cap
like charlie said a while ago bodhisattvas
can eat their cake and not have it to
so you can eat your cake and not have it you can have non separation budget you gotta have and you can have non separation you can eat it but you also can have it
can have non separation
but you can eat it you can be a qr it that's who you are
station lois
is this fear was fear of separation and fear of not separation yeah but it's more if it's mostly of the or something that arises from believing separation
once you believe in separation than you can be afraid of separation like killed in are afraid of separation right because they believe there is separation they believe they can be separated from their mother
so they're afraid of it
but they're also afraid of non separation i was afraid of meeting right kind of a child they're afraid of that to so basically if you believe in non separation and don't dwell on it you won't be afraid of anything
but if you believe in separation and you'll be afraid of separation and non separation
so we have the we have to investigate the illusion of separation and that's what isn't that a detectors doing it it's okay let's get in there and look at look at what is like let's investigate separation okay whereas like
knowing
of knowing which touches for illumination which faces things which meet things that's get now look at how that works by investigating this process
of consciousness we realized this new information which is not not meeting not facing and not grasping and not touch him
not touching because there can only be touching of their separation and there's no separation
this my realizes that but you realize it like today by investigating
touching we think there's charging will look at it and you'll find there really isn't
you think there is a grasping will look at it and you realized there isn't but we have to investigate it thoroughly in order to realize that it's an illusion but it's an illusion which has the power if you believe it
to give rise to fear
and hesitation to embrace sentient beings because you might get hurt

yes
south
is a baby down there oh my god
that baby has long curly hair could come on up here
make yourself at home internet the were into non separation of here
where we're we're into embracing what we're not separate from look at this
the girl how old is she oh my god
what a big girl
right
make yourself at home just you know right yeah do whatever you want if you want to walk in here but you don't just stay down in the pit
tie a way it sounds
relationship between sunlight
you know the sort of see separate apparently separate it reflects on every yeah
perhaps likewise wise
oh let's say an illusion or awry
when it was brought into the open
oh yeah
yeah well yeah yeah right
the used to lose it's power
one of the surface space right
so
des
so why is one word another word is deception so the way consciousness works is that it produces deceptions
it has things it comes up and says hello i'm not mind
crisis says i'm not consciousness i'm something that's not consciousness
i'm a person who's not you that's true scott consciousness produces things which it it has a a sign on top of it which says this thing that there is outside the think that it is and but we're trying to put another sign on which says this is a deception
the things in consciousness are deception so other people that you meet
everybody you meet is a deceptive version of your mind
and i liked also mentioned that your mind is a deceptive version of everybody you meet just turn of the other way so the this this knowing this pivotal activity he lumens the disruptiveness of consciousness so illumines the deception of separation
and makes possible to know things and to aluminum without separation without the illusion of meeting what is yourself

so i'm
this is a getting into
investigating what the mind of the buddha is what them what they knowing of the buddha is what the illumination of the buddha is to get in to and you can look into your consciousness and see where to find and we can do more that
for the rest of our lives there