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Harada Tangen Roshi #2 | Otter.ai

Harada Tangen Roshi #2

John Pulleyn50min

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This is the fifth day of this, September, 2025, seven day sesshin, and today we'll continue with reading from the book Ichi tante. One doing by Tangen-roshi. It's a collection of excerpts from his teisho's given during his many years of teaching at bukoku Ji, and it was published just last year, edited by Ron klein

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Tangen-roshi, often used imagery from the natural world, such as trees, flowers. Insects to express in words that which is beyond words, Using words, giving definitions, making explanations of what this is.

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Of what mu is,

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or who you are,

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any kind of explanation or concept is like pointing A finger at the moon.

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That's a famous Zen saying, pointing a finger at the moon as if you're separate from it.

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How can you identify or point to that which is not other, not to,

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not outside nor inside, no borders or edges.

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We just can't fathom this from a logical standpoint.

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That ultimately we're not separate from a tree, a rock, a leaf,

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a shoe, a teacup,

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a strand of dental floss,

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not two and and not even one, to say we are one

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with all things that too can be understood only on an intellectual level.

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So to get beyond relying on our intellect, what we need to do is put our trust in our experience, our direction. Direct experience,

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not the stream of thoughts that bubble up out of our brain. We. That's what our brain is designed to do.

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We couldn't really survive without thoughts. We need them.

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They're not a problem at all, except when we linger in them in such a way that it removes us completely from where we are, who we are in time and space.

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So when working on our practice, whether it's a koan breath practice or shikantaza, experience of it,

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The experience of being this living, breathing mu,

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this one,

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so let's turn to a teisho snippet from Tangen-roshi.

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This one is titled, the little squirrel was encouraging us, the flying squirrel that had been living under the roof of the Zen tou here for a long time comes out in the morning thrashing noisily over our heads. I don't know the reason, but he has been extremely rough and loud, so loud that it's become a hindrance to our morning. Zazen, this reminds me of all the times we've had woodpeckers pecking away on the retreat center right outside the Zen tou it's a phenomenon that especially happens in the spring. The woodpeckers drum and bore into the shingles they may be trying to find something to eat, like an ant or larvae, or they're making it known, advertising that this is their territory, or that they're available to me.

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And it's true, we've all experienced how extraneous sounds can feel like a distraction, and usually that's happens when we're having difficulty keeping our concentration on our practice, you can get bothered by the sound of someone Breathing.

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09:18

I actually know someone who awakened to the sound of someone breathing.

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You can get bothered by the sound of the train, sound of the stick,

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the hum of traffic off in the distance, but when we're really absorbed in our practice.

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None of those sounds matter. None of them are disturbing. We just receive it all

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without labeling it as good or bad. We

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so if you find yourself getting irritated by sounds or something else, that's actually really good feedback, internal feedback to pay attention to because it means that

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you don't have a strong hold on your practice at that moment, at least.

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And it's something you can work with you know, we can't sustain deep concentration. 24/7, it's just not possible. We have to work with it. Work with conditions. So when you're feeling disturbed, right there, relax,

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not placing yourself in opposition to anything, and then even the most annoying sound

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can wake you up.

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Still, we have to recognize that sometimes we all need a little help, whether it's in the case of woodpeckers, where we've sent the monitors around trying to chase them away, or in this case of the Flying Squirrel, there was an intervention that was needed, and this is a practical decision in the interest of supporting everyone's Practice. Tangen-roshi says, so last night, we sprayed the area under the roof to drive the flying squirrel away.

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We took away his beloved home. I felt so sorry for him,

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but we had to ask him to go and live in the big tree next door for a time, so as not to disturb our zazen, the Flying Squirrel who has a deep karmic connection with Our Zendo, who has been practicing with us has been asked to go away for a time to let us sit without the racket of his banging the wood as he scampers back and forth. We haven't heard from him up there today, but we are indebted even to this one squirrel, if you have firmly made up your mind to practice in order to repay the kindness of that little fellow, this one Flying Squirrel, then your practice is sure to be strong. Was it yesterday that the little squirrel was encouraging you to lay your life on the line with this one doing? Do? Don't be careless. Do your one doing. Practice your Ichi tante. This one doing.

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So how can a squirrel? The sound of a squirrel urge you to lay your

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life on the line, to give it all up to the koan, to the breath, to.

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It's the same way that the honking geese urge us to do so the sound of the wood floor creaking as you walk on it,

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sound of silence.

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Every single moment of our lives we're receiving sensory inputs, if it's not sound, it's sights, taste. Textures, sensations of all kinds, and all of it is inviting us, calling us to pay attention to

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here.

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Tangen-roshi then says, look at the grace of that little squirrel. There are some people here who received that grace with gratitude and encouragement, and who were spurred on to sit encouraged by this squirrel. Others were bothered by the noisy animal. The question is, one in the same, but each and every one of you are in your own unique world with your own way of reacting and receiving if you settle in letting go of distractions and carelessness, you will receive it as a gift, as a blessing and

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we each have our own way of reacting and receiving it's at least in part, a product of our conditioning. In other words, it is learned to some degree, a lot of what we view as good and bad right and wrong comes From our socialization. We learn it from our parents, siblings, educators,

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peers, media, all the information that we're bombarded with across our life.

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But biochemistry also plays a role, and that's why something that triggers anxiety in one person can ignite enthusiasm in another. I

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other, and in sesshin, we really come to see our reactivity becomes amplified

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more in our face than it is in our everyday life. And that's because as the mind settles, you're going to see the thoughts that travel through it. And this is the process of zazen working, seeing thoughts for what they are.

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You might notice a pattern of compare. Yourself to others, or a tendency to linger in feelings of pride for a job well done,

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or for being such a good Zen student. Or or you'll notice a habit of wallowing in pity, self pity,

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lamenting about what a mess you are. You

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these are all thoughts,

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by the way, they're no different than any other kind of thought we kind of assign importance to certain thoughts because they're about us, our identity, our narrative, our life story. But those kinds of thoughts are the same as thoughts about random things like ice cream,

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lamp posts, cars.

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Thoughts are equally thoughts

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doesn't matter the content, we just notice and return to our practice, and this is how this is the process for

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receiving things as they are, simply through where we direct our attention

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and how things are is constantly changing. It's never boring.

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It's never fixed, and that includes us. We're constantly changing. We're not stuck in place. We can't be

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can't even say, oh, you know, this is just how I am. This is just me. Can't even say that, because this, as soon as you say that you've transformed, you're not that you

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Don't fall for what the ego might tell you you now back to the squirrel. Tangen-roshi says, with just the right karmic affinity that little flying squirrel found himself living above the Zen Tou, how nice he must have appreciated the preciousness of his connection, the preciousness of his relatedness. How about you?

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How about you?

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Okay, the next one I'm going to read from is called you can awaken from the dream. He says, The human being is a champion wall and fence builder, a champion wall and fence builder. We're so good. Good at building this little corral, the i idea building cages and baskets and boxes, boxing ourselves into a notion of Me. You.

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You can say we're not just good at building mental walls,

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as in duality, you and me, us and them, but also physical walls.

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We do it to mark our territory and keep so called outsiders out and insiders in we do it because we think it will make us feel safe.

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The same applies to those mental barriers that we erect

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trying to protect a self that actually is no self.

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There have been studies done on the aftermath of the Cold War, which included, of course, the fall of the Berlin wall that separated east and west With such a momentous occasion. These studies showed that the presence of the wall had a significant effect on people's mental and physical health, especially for the people that lived in close proximity to it. I So depression, anxiety,

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paranoia, were among the most common symptoms, and it was a big enough phenomenon that it came to be

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called Wall disease, wall disease, and yet we continue to build them.

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And you can say that this, this practice, is a a this is a remedy

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for wall disease, one that we've all been diagnosed with. It's a chronic condition.

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We imagine there's a wall. We imagine that I'm over here, you're over there,

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that in our differences, we are worlds apart. I have brown eyes, you have blue eyes.

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That's only one side of our true nature. We are different, but we're more than that. We need to go beyond appearances. Go to the root.

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Tangen-roshi says all of the me is a dream, an illusion. Living in a dream, you've assumed the name of a dream. Same person, you're swept along in a dream. As a human being, you dream, but as a human being, you can also awaken from the dream, realize that you are here. You are here thanks to everybody and to everything. This is your treasure, and you are evidence of your treasure. You can live in accordance with truth. Yuanwu, believe and hear the Dharma. You can practice awakening, Bodhisattva, Buddha, True Life steadily, steadily functions this way you

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When the mind settles and we relax into this right now,

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that's when the wall comes crashing down. It's not a one and done thing, though. You got to practice it over and over.

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But the good news is you don't have to take an ax to it. You

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don't have to push it over. You don't have to do anything to

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break down this wall. And actually, if you do those things,

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if you exert yourself in that kind of way, in that kind of spirit, like you're a samurai warrior.

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You're just going to give more strength, more power to the wall,

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because you're validating it, essentially you're validating that it's there in the first place.

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It's all an illusion. You we can imagine ourselves running into over and over again, a solid wall, a brick wall.

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But actually, if there's any wall there at all, it's the flimsiest wisp of paper, if that I

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don't try too hard. Try different,

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steady, calm, gentle effort. There's effort for sure. It's active, not passive. It's not forced. You

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okay. The next one is, will you continue to read the cookbook? So we've covered flying squirrels walls, and now cookbooks.

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He says, So, what are you going to do? Will you continue to read the cookbook? I. To just look at the food. Will you continue to just gaze at the feast, or will you just eat it? Zazen is biting into the feast. Go on. Don't hesitate. Eat. Eat the feast. Some of you are discouraged. I can see by your face that you're feeling like you'll never get it. Don't worry, it's yours already. This feast will not disappear. You it's easy to eat, very easy. It goes down really easy. Even a baby joyfully enjoys it. It may seem to you now that it hasn't much taste.

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If you don't lay your life on the line for it, heart and

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soul, you won't be able to receive this feast. It's very straightforward. If you are operating through your cunning judgment, contriving, calculating, you won't receive the feast. You must be very straightforward, absolutely earnest.

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Again, laying your life on the line isn't about going into battle

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any more than It is about knocking a wall down that's grasping you.

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It's more about surrendering, giving in giving to these are these are other words for receive you.

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Allowing, allowing allowing everything to just be, allowing yourself To be as you are you. Opening up to this

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another word we can use is love, unconditional love and

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practicing with tenderness, not rejecting anything.

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The Sufi poet Rumi said, your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it to seek and find all The barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

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Let down your guard.

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Make yourself vulnerable and.

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Open up.

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Tangen Tangen-roshi continues each and everything in the universe is supporting each other, supporting all things. You are supported by everything in the universe all the time, but you fail to see it, and that's how you've come to be ungrateful because you are not seeing Yuanwu. With its opposite, with carelessness. If you fail to understand to grasp how blessed you are, your practice will surely slide because you won't be able to put the sustained energy into your practice. I hear, Oh, I'm not getting anything to eat, and I'm hungry and thirsty. Really? Are you really hungry? Are you really thirsty? Is your stomach really empty, or are you perhaps stuffing your belly with strange stuff? Strange stuff, the stuff of thoughts do?

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A feasting on thoughts, coming up with elaborate plans, rehashing or rehearsing conversations,

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solving problems.

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Seeking out ways to amuse or distract yourself,

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if your belly is stuffed with self. How can you have room for the feast? Even if the food is forced into you, you'll spit it right out. But if you are hungry, that's good. That's the best opportunity. Now here, here's the food. Don't hesitate eat.

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When you really bite into it. You're going to ask, How come I didn't notice this before you

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and here's one More. It's titled, we have become first graders again.

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He says, I suddenly remembered a story that was in my textbook when I was a first grader. The story was about a soldier who was ordered to blow his bugle no matter what in a battle, that soldier was hit by a bullet and fell, but he didn't let the bugle fall from his lips, even as he died, he held on to that bugle, and Now it's like we have become first graders again. Oh. Hold on to your practice. Keep at it and stick with it. Stick with it. No matter what you've got to bite into your practice.

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Okay, but take a bite, but not too tightly.

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Don't hold on too tightly that's grasping you. When I was a kid, I played the clarinet in the school Concert Band, and the first time you put a clarinet or any wind instrument into your mouth, it's really common to bite down hard on the mouthpiece, and the result is a very harsh, squeaky sound. It's not pleasant to play, nor to hear.

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And it's the same with sitting. You know, we can start off really tense in our body, in our mind. There's a good chance you started off sesshin that way rigid as you hurriedly tried to get things in order so you could devote this week,

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or however long you committed to to this this vital work.

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Sesshin is precious, and we know it, and that can feed into a temptation to hold on really tightly.

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And any of you who have done sesshin before know how that can backfire.

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Again, don't, don't. Try harder. Try different. You

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and then Tangen says, in another childhood story, the rabbit made fun of the slow turtle. The turtle walks, thump, thump, thump. While the rabbit jumped, boing, boing, boing, which one of them will reach the mountain first, the rabbit felt superior, because he could hop so well, he thought of himself as number one, but the turtle passes the sleeping rabbit. Maybe the turtle doesn't even notice the rabbit, or maybe she thinks, well, that poor rabbit must be tired. I'll let him sleep. Or maybe I'm not going to wake him up, just so he can leap ahead of me again. Or maybe she tries to wake him. Come on, let's go together. Together Together, always together we practice. There is no dust, no trash, anywhere in this world. There's nothing without value. There is nothing about which nobody cares everything is working together in perfect harmony to support everything. This path stick with it. This is the path of Buddhahood. Does one make progress so they can take it easy down the road,

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remember your vows. You.

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Remember your vows. Remember why you came here.

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We'll stop and recite the four vows.

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