This is the third day of this October or November 2023 seven day sesshin going to continue reading from the book Subtle Sound: Zen Teachings of Maurine Stewart edited by Roko Sherry Chayat.
going to jump to a new talk here. It's entitled building a temple. She says the Buddha while out walking one day, stopped and pointed and said this is a wonderful spot to build a temple bodhisattva stepped forward, placed a flower on that spot and said, I have just built a beautiful temple. This, I believe is must be her version of the fourth. koan in the soil show you Roko the book of serenity in our accounting of it, it's not a bodhisattva The Buddha is attended by devas and gods and it's the god Indra who steps forward and places a blade of grass on the spot, but otherwise the same.
And she says, Where is the most wonderful spot to build a temple? It's in each one of us. The bodhisattva placing a flower on that spot is a bodhisattva placing a flower in our hearts. Each one of us sitting on our cushions is building a beautiful temple, wherever we are, is a wonderful place to build a temple
back in the 60s Was it a row there was a book or a saying wherever you go, there you are.
We're here. It's wonderful. Certainly we can say that here in A cian. It's a wonderful place to build a temple, but everywhere, no matter what we encounter.
All they were called upon is to say yes. It's this
someone came to me and said, I feel I'm so lacking. At this moment, what do you lack? Not a thing.
As the truth eternally reveals itself, this very place is the Lotus Land of purity. This very body, the body of Buddha as Hakuin says, this very spot is a wonderful place to build a temple. In the beginning of our practice, we feel we have to do so much we conceptualize about what we what we find in the many books we read. Am I having that experience? Should I be doing this or that? Is that what it's all about? Books are important and can inspire us to sit more deeply and have some clearer understanding. But when we sit are sitting in Zen, we don't ponder what we've read. We just let the mind rest in its natural state and have our own experience of something wonderful. If we trust in this mind in ourselves at this moment, what do we lack? The beauty of all Zen practice is this mind at this moment. Whether we're working on a koan, and doing a breath, practice shikantaza Everything we need is right there. All we need to do is look
We don't need to stand apart. We don't need to regret our condition.
Get and she says we just let the mind rest in its natural state and natural state, not trying to force anything trying to squeeze into any particular shape or form. What's there? That's it. We just let the mind rest in his natural state and have our own experience that something wonderful. If we trust this mind in ourselves at this moment, what do we lack? Can we give up the small, egocentric grabby self? Can we let this mind just take care of it? The essence of our practice is letting the ego self fall away, melt down. It is the practice of forgetting the self. As we become less self conscious, we become more open and more warmly present. And what we discover as this melting down takes place is that what we really are is the pure clear lighted mind itself, nothing else. So the aimless aim, the goalless goal of our Zan is to conduct our lives from this clear lighted mind this always just beginning mind
when he was about 90 years of age, Dr. DT Suzuki said that he was just beginning to understand Zen just having some inkling of what comes from this ever beginning mind. true insight is always just out of reach. It's endless. It's a quote from Dogan I heard once looked for it and couldn't find it always struck me he said. You get it when you're halfway there. Do you find you've gone all the way? Keep going?
It's endless. If there were a finish line if we had some experience and that was all there was to it. What a pity. It's just beginning having some little opening in our inner eye of our inner eye. We then go on and on and on. Not yet Not yet. This is an insight is not our awareness. But Buddha mines awareness of itself in us. This buddha mind this awareness is out of time out of space. It is not subject to circumstances and it has no name.
Why somebody said if I say the word Buddha, I want to wash my mouth out for two days.
So someone said to me, why do Mu why not just brief and Maureen says it's the same. There is no name is just Mu Shin said Japanese for it no mind. People who haven't experienced Zen may hear the term no mind and say what is this? No mind. When you meditate, you're not supposed to think so your brain must go blank right? Of course we think we can never get rid of thoughts completely. And to imagine that we can is unrealistic. So to judge ourselves to chastise ourselves for our thoughts is a waste of time. But how do we deal with this thinking? Thinking is pondering considering weighing, judging and so on. Having an argument back and forth in our minds. Not thinking is the denial of thinking, denying what is going on in spite of ourselves. So Zen is something else. So Zen is completely accepting the presence of ideas of thoughts without either affirming or denying them without engaging them. Sometimes there is a life situation to which we must direct our attention at such a time of course We must think it through, we think it down to the last drop. But we don't fool ourselves that we are doing Zen
it's a real skill to learn that we can let thoughts be. Not every thought requires a reply. We really have no control over what thoughts enter our mind. So result of what we've thought in the past, our conditioning, going back, way, way back. Any thought can come in a mean thought, kind thought, embarrassing thought, it's just a thought, has no substance. To be able to let thoughts fade into the background. It's a skill that each one of us develops as we sit.
The power of thoughts is entirely dependent on our investment in them, because we buy into them. They have power over us. There's a movie called A Beautiful Mind about the mathematician John Nash. And apparently, he had some mental illness. And one of the symptoms one of the features of that was that he saw imaginary people, people who weren't there. And in the movie, you see him interacting with some of these people. And it's not until later that you realize they're not real. They're just, they're just in his mind. But a point comes when he realizes what he needs to do. And he bends down and talks to some of them. And he says, I can't talk with you anymore. It's kind of poignant. One of them as a young child, I know I remember. And then for the rest of the movie, you still see them, but they're in the background. He's able to do what he needs to do.
If we hate our thoughts, we're giving them power.
Better to be compassionate towards our thoughts and towards ourselves. And put our faith in the practice. It will change how we relate to everything. Slowly, slowly, slowly.
She says thoughts are not our enemies and Zen. Our thoughts are endless, inexhaustible. This is the nature of our minds. Or as Roshi likes to say the brain is an organ that secretes thoughts. Thoughts are not bad. We let them come but we do not pursue them. We do with this powerful energy that comes about what do we do with this powerful energy that comes about through our sitting? Instead of using it to engage in these thoughts, to make arguments in our mind to raise waves where there is no wind? What do we do? We have excellent practices to help us, counting our breaths, just counting them, chanting inwardly just chanting, staying with the koan, becoming the koan being Mu, nothing but Mu, just inhaling just exhaling, the breath just as it is, without getting tense, without judging, weighing, or considering just this.
There is a difference between not thinking and being without thinking. The differences between a simple negation and the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness shouldn't shunyata the Buddhist doctrine of shunyata is the pure presence of things just as they are without thinking with no intentional attitude at all. No, I believe this to be the case. No, it is or it isn't. pure presence. This reaches the ground of our being our clear, pure mind and then We have a base for our thinking and reflection reflect reflection. That's what our practice is for. What does it give us for our lives, a strong seat, affirm base, then life can be dealt with harmful harmful, head cool
there is something from our John Cha, the Thai Forest master read from before relates to this.
says I'm telling you, it's great fun to observe closely how the mind works. I could happily talk about this one subject the whole day. When you get to know the ways of the mind, you'll see how this process functions and how it's kept going. Through being brainwashed by the minds and purities. I see the mind as a single, I see the mind as merely a single point. psychological states, our guests who come to visit this spot, sometimes this person comes to call, sometimes that person pays a visit, they come to the visitor center, train the mind to watch and know them all with the eyes of alert awareness. This is how you care for your heart and mind. Whenever a visitor approaches, you wave them away. If you allow them to enter, where are they going to sit down, there's only one seat and you're sitting in it. spend the whole day in this one spot. This is the Buddha's firm and unshakable awareness that watches over and protects the mind. You're sitting right here. Since the moment you emerge from the womb, every visitor that's ever come to call has arrived right here. No matter how often they come, they always come to the same spot right here. Knowing them all, the Buddha's awareness sits alone, firm and unshakable. Those visitors visitors journey here seeking to exert influence to condition and sway your mind in various ways. When they succeed in getting the mind entangled in their issues, psychological states arise. Whatever the issue is, wherever it seems to be leading, just forget it, it doesn't matter. Simply know who the guests are as they arrive. Once they've dropped by, they will find that there's only one chair, as long as you're occupying it, they will have nowhere to sit down. They come thinking to fill your ear with gossip. But this time, there's no room for them to sit. Next time they come, there'll be no chair free either. No matter how many times these chattering visitors show up, they always meet the same fellow sitting in the same spot. You haven't budged from that chair. How long do you think they will continue to put up with this situation? In just speaking to them, you get to know them thoroughly. Everyone and everything you've ever known since you began to experience the world will come for a visit. simply observing and being aware. Right here is enough to see the Dharma entirely. You discuss, observe and contemplate by yourself. This is how to discuss dharma. I don't know how to talk about anything else. I can continue on speaking in this fashion, but in the end is nothing but talking and listening. I'd recommend you actually go and do the practice.
Back to marine she finishes up saying our thoughts and delusions are not in the fundamental nature of our minds. They are temporary. They come and go. We can let go of them. We've become much more healthy minded through realizing that we are not stuck in some fate. To condition we all have periods of weariness or pain, but it's just a passing impermanent condition. And fundamentally, we are all Buddha from the very beginning. You can be thrown by those periods of weariness or pain, or loneliness, or guilt, resentment, whatever they seem to to color us seems to be who we are. But it's not everything passes
everything is impermanent, everything is changing
all our grasping and rejecting does is make it harder to live with that constantly changing life. Stay in that seat. Keep your eyes open. What a wonderful opportunity sesshin is to do that for extended period of time.
This is why people change. Keep coming back to sesshin.
Picking up now on a another talk she gave. It's entitled Breathing in breathing out. She says when we are praised, we are happy. When we are blamed, we are unhappy. Even an old person such as myself, loves to hear kind words, and is unhappy when somebody says something unpleasant to me. Supposedly wise, supposedly enlightened, I still have a need to be liked. We are all the same. koans stories that originated in China are transmitted from one to another of us to keep alive the spirit of Zen. But there are wonderful 20th century koans. And in fact, the koans of our own lives are the best. What are we doing with the infinite resources that have been given to us? How are our lives taking shape? Do we react to praise or criticism? Do we take criticism or do we shrink from it when it is hard? Do we want more and more if we are praised? Are we greedy? We are constantly examining one another. When we know we are being observed, we often worry about being judged. This can be an impediment can make us feel very self conscious and become tight and constricted. But sometimes we are very aware of one another aware of being observed. And we learn a great deal to really be with a friend to really be present to all the various shades and meanings of our lives together. How are we sharing this? How are we accepting this together?
Sometimes the teacher sees that praise can give a student confidence and that he or she needs to be helped along. Sometimes it is necessary to criticize not yet. Go on, move on. Don't get stuck here. As parents we know how necessary this has been in bringing up our children. Sometimes it's important to be encouraging. Sometimes we need to say that's no good. Let's get on with this. Nonsense. That's Chinese and master non Schwann. Nan Zen said, if you are fooled by others, you will never get this matter who are the others, not other people. But all the other delusions that come up in our minds, those others that are not our true self. This matter has nothing to do with whether it is fine or terrible, good or bad black or white. It's beyond all that. We are here to let go. You're not here to get something but to let go of everything.
Exactly it. We're not here to get something but to let go. Let go of everything. We sit together to deeply understand this matter. The ground of our being. Some people may say, I'm sitting because I want to get some peace of mind. Yes, yet. This is what gives us peace of mind, to experience the depths of ourselves and understand that it belongs to all of us. So we walk together harmoniously and step with each other. We work together as one body, we sit together, and we feel this peaceful condition, this room that is filled with silence. But when we get up from Zen what happens? There is still fear, doubt anxiety, there are innumerable thoughts that assault us. So year after year, we sit and we become more stable, so that the inevitable difficulties that come up in our lives do not shake us do not knock us off our rockers. To enter into this unshakeable state of being is to see things just as they are, rain is rain. Wind is wind. Anger is anger. Joy is joy. Everything just as it is. If this is our condition, then we are not being fooled by others. We're not being fooled by all the junk that clutters up our minds. We're not regretting, not daydreaming, not wishing things were otherwise.
Our practice never comes to an end. There are endless steps along the way. Even the most outstanding Zen masters are taking endless steps. With each step the circumstance circumstances of our lives are asking, are you here? Are you present
reminds me of something that Joe called back. American Zen master, similar in some ways to marine Stewart. Also a pianist also left her first teacher for similar reasons if I can find this, yes.
Somebody wrote about her. Her style emphasize the ordinariness of Zen. One of her Dharma Heir is once wrote of a Dharma talk she gave. She said, I am fully present about 15 to 20% of the time. This frankness thrilled many as it went against the idealized and nearly unattainable image that Zen teachers are always fully present. Among her heirs, her disciple noted one of her disciples among her heirs, Dr. Barry Magadh, noted to me Joker was always, always struck to me JOCO always stressed, experiencing the absolute in the midst of the everyday staying with anger or anxiety wasn't so much a technique for dealing with emotion as a way of seeing emotion itself, resistance itself as it not as obstacles on the path to be worked through and removed. But the path itself
don't have any doubt, somebody who's fully present 20% of the time is remarkable person.
Occasionally, somebody will wonder if a teacher can read their minds I don't know of any.
Maureen goes on how seriously are we taking our individual and separate selves too seriously, most of the time. To live with our consciousness rooted in this present minded condition is to lose our self important seriousness and to live more playfully, Buddha nature the essence of it all. We take supremely seriously, but not this passing form. How do we live this way? How do we begin? Sitting just sit, walking, just walk to think over what has just gone on or wonder what is to come or to think about how it will affect us is to lose the moment. We can get so caught up in such concerns that we live our lives secondhand. We are so much with what we are doing that there is no room for anything else, then we are in direct contact with the flow of our lives with the flow of Buddha nature in us working through us. Really, we have to surrender. It's our resistance that causes us all our difficulty scanning the horizon looking for trouble. Just for a little while, we can put that down
when we do we transform makes a change. Maybe it's not a huge and immediate change. Sometimes I think it's like water dripping on a stone. You leave a stone with water dripping on it for long enough. Makes a mark. But it takes a while.
If you are a music musician, and you're making music, there was no time to think am I performing well? Or does she like this does she think I am marvelous. Our true freedom lies in moving with not against and completely accepting what is here and not pursuing anything else. We move in harmony with this dance of life. Everything is transitory empty, there is no need to cling to passing forms.
One of the hardest things to give up is our little security kit, or collection of reasons for our lives. We must have reasons we think our allies won't be secure. Use all kinds of devices, all kinds of reasons. Being a mother, a caretaker, a preservationist a cat lover, a doctor, a lawyer, a merchant, a chief, whatever. But we don't need to have reasons. What is the reason for that rabbit out there on the lawn or for the flowers blooming or the trees? When the survival kit has been forgotten, when me has been forgotten, then we can really join in the dance. Then we are really effective as mothers caretakers, preservationists whatever, because our action comes from a different place.
So much more effective. We can say all the right things, have all the right opinions can speak truth to power. But if we ourselves aren't comfortable in our own skins, how much effect will we really have? world is full of good people trying to go do good arguing with each other.
She says Zen is nothing but seeing in her own into our own true nature. And realizing that we have no fixed form. It's clearly realizing the ground of our being and realizing its imperturbability. If we have grasped this, even in the most minut degree, everything becomes Zen. That doesn't mean that we dispense with Zen. I feel somewhat dismayed when people tell me they jog instead of practicing Zen, or they read Zen in the art of whatever. There are a million books called Zen and the Art of something or other. But nothing takes the place of Zen, nothing. Zen extends itself into our lives. And we are one with whatever confronts us. What we are doing in Zen, is having a taste of this one mind, this plane pure clear being. How do we come to this? Not by thinking about it, not by grabbing it? Not by seeking after it just by doing what the practice asks. What is it doing through us? What is the Buddha Dharma doing through us? If we get out of the way, what does the Buddha Dharma do?
Therefore, during A cian, we don't talk unless it is absolutely essential. Talking, of course, diverts our concentration dilutes our experience. We maintain silence. And this quietness extends to how we open doors, how we walk, how we eat, how we do everything mindfully. And above all, we don't talk in our minds. Such an important point, so hard to give up. chatter in the mind. Of course, you have to notice. So many people say I just can't seem to bring my practice into my daily life, I'm always caught up in thoughts. And it's true. It's been pointed out, when you're lost in thought, there's not really much you can do about it. Because you're lost. You're one with your thinking. But when you do notice, then what happens? How quickly can you put it down? Everybody in sesshin, has chance after chance to find that they've gone off on some tangent, and come back. And so much of the skill of Zen is that readiness and that willingness, and confidence to let it go. Just notice, oh, oh, clean, nothing, nothing more to add. To practice, get good at it, we get better at it.
So as she says, we don't talk in our minds. We don't have little arguments and conversations with ourselves. We don't need to do that here. Everything is taken care of. For us. Food is prepared, the Zendo is prepared, everything is prepared. Thinking about outside things is not what we came here to do. So we don't engage in vague, rambling discussions. What is Buddhism about after all, what are the three fundamental precepts? To do good acts as much as possible inconspicuously to refrain from bad acts, acts that are inappropriate to our lives, and to keep our minds pure and warm. In our version of the precepts we chant, I vow to do good. I vow I vow to avoid harm. I vow to liberate all living beings. The three fundamental precepts in Buddhism
it's a nice way of putting it that she has for the liberate all beings to keep our minds pure and warm. And she says this compassionate activity, this warmth, certainly includes abandoning vague discussions, when we really realize truly understand that thinking cannot give birth to the essence of thought. That we can never understand this matter by thinking. When our minds are truly silent, then clear, alive dynamic, wide awake, vividly present mind flourishes.
Then she tells the story of verbal acuity, which many of you know they will occur. He was a layperson. This is during the life of the Buddha time of the Buddha's life. Like so many of us yet he was extraordinary, and people were often afraid to go and see them because they feared they could never have anything sufficiently significant to bring you to him. One day, however, mon juicery, the bodhisattva of wisdom, mon juicery summoned up all his courage, and went to see Villa kurti. He asked him, What is the doctrine of non duality, as realized by a bodhisattva that will occur it asked him the same question in turn. Turn the tables on him. My juicery replied, as I understand it, the doctrine is realized when one looks upon all things as beyond every form of expression and demonstration, as transcending knowledge and argument. This is my comprehension. I asked you what you Your understanding is vimble McCurdy sat with us thunderous silence
all of our teachers, Dogan, Zen G Rinzai, is ng all these wonderful teachers of ours are all saying the same thing to us. Turn the light on, return to the source where we have always been. How do we do this? We maintain our thunderous silence, letting go of all words and thoughts or grasping or rejection, not holding on to any experience whether wonderful or awful. We let it go. We are here to wake up to what we have been from the very beginning
that's a very good place to stop. We will now recite the Four Vows
