So today is Saturday, February 27. This is the first day of this four day, February, March sesshin 2021. And for this sesshin, I'm going to be going back to a book I've read from before, a few years back. The title is catching a feather on a fan. It's been compiled by John Crook, and it's it's talks given by Chan master Sheng Yen, Chinese Zen master, in a retreat in Wales.
And even though I've read it, you know, not that many years ago, I thought this would really be a good text to go back to considering how many people are doing their first sesshin or early in sesshins, because it really addresses the fundamental basis of good Zen practice. And I really resonate with Sheng Yen's approach, which I gather is is pretty common in Chinese Zen. It's a little different from the approach in Japanese Zen, a little more emphasis on relaxation. And maybe a little less emphasis on on seizing kensho. But it certainly doesn't discount awakening, enlightenment.
It's a pretty inspiring book. So I'm going to just start out sort of introduce his talks by -- I think he can do a good job himself -- so I'm just going to read a little bit about his arrival there at the farmhouse in Wales where the sesshin took place.
And Sheng Yen says, I expect some of you can understand that getting to Wales has been somewhat like undergoing a Chan retreat. For the last three days, we have spent over 50 hours on planes without a proper night's sleep and with a complete uncertainty as to whether we were actually going to arrive. Yet here we are. And I can see you're all ready to begin. Everything is arranged. You have your places marked and your jobs allocated. So we must certainly start at once.
And then he goes through all the difficulties that he ran into. Actually, there had been plans for him to come the previous year, but he didn't have a visa -- they weren't aware that it was needed -- and so he couldn't go and then this trip, they discovered his visa had expired. And they had to get a new one in New York. And that's why it took him over 50 hours on planes without a proper night's sleep to get from Taiwan to to Wales to Great Britain.
He says Actually, I should tell you that we almost gave up the idea of coming. But then I thought of all the work you have done, John, especially to John Crook, leader there in arranging this event. And I felt that on no account could I let you down. So here I am. This is then a very precious occasion. Despite numerous obstacles it has come about. I hope each one of you will treasure the opportunity and work hard.
So much of our experience in sesshin depends on our valuing the opportunity. There is a tendency if you go to a lot of sessions to get into the been there done that sort of mind state and not realize how uncertain it is that we'll be able to go to the next sesshin.
Right now there's only this What are we doing if we don't take advantage?
He says, You should know that Zen, Chan in Chinese, is not for the purpose of getting instant enlightenment. Rather, the practice itself is the goal. The practice itself is the goal. Most people think that seeing into one's own nature using some method of instant enlightenment is a convenient and speedy path. But this is a severely erroneous understanding. Of course there is enlightenment. But mostly there are false enlightenments. If you are very anxious to get enlightened, you can precipitate a kind of mistaken experience which you call enlightenment. That can be very sad.
Of course there are different ways of approaching it and for some people, the thirst for some sort of insight is, is great. And those people may benefit from being pushed a bit. But it really depends on the quality of the teacher. And it depends on the student too, because people whose aim is to have some sort of kensho can often end up slacking off once they achieve that goal. Better not to be so goal oriented, I think.
He says, After so much difficulty in getting here, I have not come to give you enlightenment. That is absurd. Rather, I have come to see whether it is possible to pass on to you the methods whereby you can improve your practice. It's like eating, we cannot expect to be filled by taking one mouthful and munching once or twice. We need to digest a whole meal until we know we have had enough. We're going to use the methods of practice to benefit the body and mind. That is the most important thing.
And skipping ahead, just as we had problems getting to Wales, so too will you encounter obstructions in the practice of your method. These arise from your own mind and body, not from elsewhere. One simply has to persist and continue with practice. Be prepared for struggle. We have six days ahead of us -- of course, we here have just four -- and even to recognize the obstructions is in itself, the beginning of true practice. In this small house, we are hidden away in the mountains, the moment is auspicious. Now sit.
And then I'm going to move ahead to his he gave during this session, it was a little unusual how many talks he gave. I think he says later, maybe we'll get to it, that basically he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get to Wales more than this one time. And there were so many people who are new, he really wanted to show everything, to lay everything out. And so he gave talks in the morning, he gave what seems to be some sort of a teisho. And he gave talks in the evening. And we'll just move right through those that seem to be seem to be useful for us, which is most of them.
So in this first talk on day one, they're just getting started, just a little bit behind where we are right now, he says to begin, let us set set out some basic rules for the retreat. No talking. Of course, for some jobs, a few words need to be spoken, especially in arranging the cooking for example. But apart from such necessary interactions, there should be no conversation whatsoever. Talking about how you are or how you think the retreat is going is of no help to practice. It is just an interference, and it wastes the energy of a focused mind.
Of course, this is a rule for our sesshins as well. And during these zoom sesshins, a lot of us are embedded in family and there is a certain amount of talking that is necessary or wise, depending on how understanding our partners and family may be. And so we do what we need to do. But still the spirit of keeping the mind on the practice and not allowing it to drift off into talking for no purpose or talking just for diversion needs to be you need to keep that in mind.
Secondly, he says no noise. Keep yourselves tidy and quiet. Of course most of us are muted, so that's not a problem.
And then no thinking. For some tasks, you need to consider what you are doing or to plan the sequence of your actions. But for many jobs thinking is not essential. Just let the hands do it. Let the mind be on whatever you are doing. Just do it. Don't evaluate it or compare yourself with others. Put your mind on the job, on the eating, on the toilet. You do not need to judge what you're eating. All you need to do is fill the stomach to have the energy to practice.
I like this, this rule -- no thinking. It's It's when I look back on my own practice, and I think this is true for many people, I regret that I wasn't more vigilant about letting thoughts creep into the mind.
Of course, it's difficult not to have that happen. Because there's such a familiar friend slash enemy. For many people, that's kind of their comfort zone. If they, if they are thinking then some tension maybe drops away that they feel when they're trying to practice. But in the end, that kind of thinking is not your friend. And it's, it's, it's a way of sabotaging your practice. So it just requires vigilance. You don't have to be afraid of your thoughts. You just need to be vigilant not to give them a foothold, not to follow one thought up with another thought. We all know this, of course, but it's it's the doing it, the practicing it, the repeatedly dropping them is what makes the difference.
He goes on, no looking at others. It is of no value to you to see how others are doing or coping with problems. On retreat, to consider how others are is to fill the mind with inessential concerns. It is not your business. No looking about no listening to pleasing sounds. Keep the senses quiet. If you look around at the scenery, you will start judging it. How beautiful the sunshine Oh dear, here comes the rain. Likewise, with sounds bird songs, tractors, sheep bahhing, treat them all the same. Pay no attention. Of course you will see in here. But do not intentionally look about or listen evaluatively. The aim is to stop the sources of discrimination. In a way, it's just like thoughts. Sounds and sights come into the mind. But if we don't play with them, they're not a problem.
And then he says no analysis of whatever is said in the talks or instructions. If I say something that is helpful to you, fine. If not, forget it.
Yeah, watch out for that one. That's it's every now and then, you know, one of Roshi's teishos, I would hear something that was especially on point for me. And there is a tendency to want to think about it. There's no need. As Roshi Kapleau used to say, it all goes in, it's in the unconscious, everything you need, there's no need to try to remember it or play with it. Just take it in and keep your your mind open, taking in what comes next.
And then he says, maintain your separateness. Each of you is quite independent. Don't pay any attention to whoever is sitting next to you, whether they are complaining or happy. In this world, all you know is yourself. Nobody else. And in fact, you don't know yourself either. The best thing on retreat is to keep the mind blank, filled only with practice.
And finally, be on time. There are plenty of toilets. So there is no need to be late when the bell rings or the boards are struck. Indeed, unless you are sick or there is some special reason, you should always be early and ready to sit on time. This is an admonition that I need to take to heart. I have a habit of doing things at the last minute. And I do work on it. And I have to say it's always better to be in my place on the mat on the cushion a little before the sitting begins. You're just that much more settled and ready to go. You know if things interfere and you can't until the last minute well then so be it. But there's really some value in making a habit of getting this someplace a little ahead of time. It's a it's a courtesy to others. It's really thinking of other people. So many times there when we can arrive late while everyone else has been waiting for us. It's unfortunate, it's a life habit.
Now we're going to move to the evening talk on that first day. I've only been in your country for a day, but already I've learned something about you people You have a love for ancient things. This house is hundreds of years old, you treasure the old worm eaten beams and the crumbling stone walls, the bent timbers of the old barn. In Taiwan, we are busily engaged in pulling everything down and building up the new. In Chan we treasure the old while making it always new.
So it is appropriate here that I should talk to you about one of the oldest of the Chinese scriptures. I don't know what was happening in Britain in the sixth century. In China, it was the time of the Liang dynasty 502 to 556. Buddhism was already a stretch established, and Chan was developing it in those early years, the Chinese did not distinguish too clearly but between their own Taoist ideas, and those of the new religion. So in this text, you will find a number of Taoist ideas which give a particular flavor to the Chan of that period. You could actually say that that flavor still exists in Chan and in Zen.
The text is so ancient that we are not sure who wrote it. It is known as Wang Ming, but that may be a pseudonym. His surname was Sung, and he served as a government official. When the dynasty ended, he became a monk and took his vows under a Chan master. His intellectual ability implies that he studied theory with numerous teachers. Wang Ming emphasizes the unification of mind as especially important and this goes back both to the old Taoist notions and to the Indian idea of bringing the mind to single pointedness. He calls his poem calming the mind, and it is a valuable one for beginners. It describes the method of practice and how to do it. Wang Ming advises us to let go of our anxieties and vexations and to light let life unroll naturally.
In the poem, mind can be used in two senses. As we shall see, the first usage refers to the worried mind of discrimination, the tense mind that needs to relax. It is the mind is this mind to which the title refers yet when the mind becomes relaxed, w`hat is the mind then? This is the second usage of mind beyond illusion, discrimination, and the need to relax.
Pointing to the fact that when the mind is deeply concentrated, everything shifts and everything changes. And I thought I would read a little something from a Western Zen teacher, John Tarrant -- maybe gives a little more flavor to this. He says Hohn Tarrant says there's a gate in the mind, and stepping through is like leaving the palace that has come to feel like a prison. And the other side of that gate, silence fills the spaces. Nothing is happening but what's happening. There's no urgency. Nothing more is needed than what's here. In that silence and plainness things step forward and shine by themselves. Though I enjoy seeing this, I don't make it happen. It's not something that can be controlled. Help is unexpected.
It's really an antidote to the sort of doing state of mind, the agenda that we bring to practice. All we have to do is keep it simple. We have koan or the breath, shikantaza. We have a simple simple practice. And if we can just give ourselves to that, have faith in that, then the silence will open. Begin to get a flavor of mind with a capital m.
He goes on. What have you has remarked how difficult it is to concentrate. Which mind Are you trying to concentrate? We must be certain that we speak here of the mind of illusion that needs to become calm in order to see clearly. It is the mind that discriminates and then favors one thing more than another and always creates Tensions. We can say the mind that wants things to be a certain way.
When you try to calm the mind, there are two important principles, we need to be clear about these. The first is to cease worrying. And the second is not to be concerned with knowledge. For your practice to be effective, you don't have to worry. And you don't need to understand intellectually.
It's a tough message to take in for those of us who have relied on our intellectuality with with some success and worldly success over the years, but for practice, it's not a help. More often, it's a hindrance.
He says we would like to be able to concentrate fully on our method, be it counting the breath, silent awareness, or working on a koan. Yet, the more we try, the less concentration we achieve. Our minds simply do not obey our attentions. We try to stay with the method. But before we know where we are, the mind has drifted away on to something else. Our attitude is wrong somewhere, we feel frustrated and lost. This morning, I asked you to leave behind for the moment, all those people and events with whom you've been relating, we should stop thinking about the ongoing problems of our lives and relationships. Of course, these things are important. And after the retreat, we shall take up such issues again, but here and now in the retreat, we should let them go. Keep your distance from the past and the future. What is it that makes this so difficult?
Mostly the thoughts that arise are concerned with the past, or perhaps in the future that will arise as a result of the past. This involves discrimination, judgment, comparison and memory. It provokes an anxious tension that varies in strength according to the topic that comes up and your own disposition. It is vital to practice putting all this down, just put it down. Leave aside all past all knowledge. With practice, you can let it go. When you can do this for as long as you wish, you have found a certain freedom. Of course with everyone, there will be -- with almost anyone, everyone anyway -- there will be situations where despite your seasoning in practice, and your ability to lay things down, something hits so close to home that you can't. And then you've found your point of practice. It's not like I try to let something down and I can't do it. I'm a failure. It's just I'm working with more weight than I'm used to. And that can actually lead to further development. We have this habit of wanting things to be smooth and easy. But that isn't necessarily the best thing for us. Sometimes running into difficulty is is what makes us who we are, is what makes us value the practice. What leads us to be able to handle things better. Like skiing, if you always go down the bunny slope, you're not going to ever be able to go down the diamond run. If you're not falling down every now and then you're probably not pushing yourself enough.
Of course we don't have to go looking for problems. They seem to come to us. But when they do, it's good to keep that in mind. A lot of things that we see as problems are gifts. And they're not really problems if we can't do anything about them. It's a difference between a problem and a circumstance -- for running into pain in the legs or anxiety, we're feeling in our stomach or chest -- It's not our job to somehow make it go away. It's our job to unite with it, to become one with it if we can. Often this is the most effective way. Although no guarantees.
Then he goes on. Please do not misunderstand me it is not the knowledge and experience are to be avoided and condemned. Rather, knowledge and experience are to be valued But we need to gain control of their use. If we leave them to ramble haphazardly through our heads, sowing worries and agitation, then they become a burden to us of vexation and an obstacle. Some people spend all night worrying, others put away their thoughts and sleep soundly. We need to cultivate the art of putting aside our memories, our concerns, and our intellectual knowledge. And it is an art. It is something that we do learn to do over time.
And now finally, he gets to the first verse of the poem, which reads, too much knowledge leads to overactivity. Better to calm the mind. The more you consider, the greater the loss. Better to unify the mind. And then Sheng Yen yet Sheng Yen expands on that. The more you know, the more things can cause you distress. When you know a little you can be simple. In practicing do not consider what you are doing intellectually or theoretically, all you need to do is the practice. Use it to replace everything else. When you are confused and filled with conceptual fog, you may get depressed and struggle, it is important not to become too judgmental. In fact, any thought is illusory. It is never the thing in itself. Whatever you think is illusory. illusion is normal. Do not be afraid of the rambling mind nor condemn it angrily The important thing is to recognize the state of thought that at that moment inhabits you, recognizing an illusory thought will usually get rid of it. To have an aversion to thought is to sustain yet another level of illusion. That's pretty well explained.
He goes on in Chinese the sentence better to unify the mind -- The final line of that verse -- can be translated as guard the one. What is this one? There are two meanings here. The first applies to the mind that is split up, discriminating filled with illusory intellection. This mind needs to be focused, brought to a single point. Guarding the one means bringing the mind to the single place that is done through the method of practice. Training is portrayed in the Chan tradition by the parable of the ox herder. The ox has to be trained to do its job and not wander about over other people's gardens. To begin with the ox herder must use his whip and apply discipline. Later the ox is tamed. When eating it eats, when drawing the plow, it pulls, it does the thing in hand undistractedly. This is guarding the one.
Once the mind has come to a single point, the term acquires a further meaning. The mind is no longer practicing, it has arrived, the whip can be put away. Three things are happening. One, body and mind are one. Two, internal and external are unified. Three previous thought and subsequent thought are continuous. And then he goes on to explain the longer is there an experience of the mind separate from the body regarding the body is something different. No longer is the observer separated from the observed and experience flows without time being split into now and then -- say we're in the eternal present. These three conditions arise together. If one is present, so are the others. Once the mind is unified, so once the one is guarded. I'm sure those of you who have participated in several retreats have had some experience of this, is it not so?
Even if the Oneness is not complete, we nevertheless we get a taste of it as our practice deepens, sometimes just for a moment, just for a flash. There it is. It's real.
And he goes on to the next verse. Excessive thinking weakens the will. The more you know the more your mind is confused. A confused mind gives rise to vexation. The weakened will obstructs the Tao. This word vexation that Sheng Yen uses quite often is, I believe a translation of dukkha of suffering. It's a good it's a good translation. So many ways that dukkah can be translated -- suffering, pain. I remember being told that the word, the image for the word, is a cart wheel, where the axle isn't really in the center, so it's kind of lumpy. And that's the way life seems disjointed, difficult. As Roshi, as Bodhin Roshi says like, hard butter on soft bread. When the mind is confused, when we're separated, that gives rise to vexation is the cause of vexation.
Sheng Yen goes on, again do not fall into the mistaken belief that Chan is anti intellectual. I myself, that is Sheng Yen have persevered in scholarly scholarly studies and looked into theories and explanations, and so have many of you. These lines refer to the inappropriateness of thinking in the context of practice. Sometimes somebody comes to me with an answer to a koan. I may ask where he got it from. And sometimes it obviously comes from a book. The answer has been a consequence of knowledge of thinking. It is not an answer arising from a mind free of illusion. This is not wisdom. If you rely on books or theories or other people's descriptions, you can never solve a koan. The wisdom of the book is not the wisdom of seeing. If you deliberate, you are far from the mark. If you are far from the mark, you are confused, and there will be vexation. If there is intellectual doubt, there is only faulty awakening.
Again, reason why it's so good to have a teacher. If you do think you've understood something it really helps to have someone you can, you can go to.
Okay. Moving into day two, this is early morning talk at 4:15am. So they're starting a little earlier than we. He says I have three words for the day. These words are isolation, non dependence, and non attachment. The purpose of these words is to give you a focus for attention within your practice, and awareness from moment to moment, whether in sitting or in relation to the group while you are working or eating.
Isolation means keeping yourself separate from the environment and from others. Isolation is an attitude of practice. Even though you are sitting and working with others, let it be as if you were the only one here, as if there were only one sitting place in the meditation hall in the whole building. It as if as if you are alone, a solitary practitioner in the mountains. It is important sometimes to withdraw and to be solitary to be isolated and separate. Usually, we are in constant interaction with the environment, our everyday worlds. We are disturbed by the ongoing growing concerns of the world, the news bulletins, the politics of the capital, new taxes, old commitments. All this involvement causes us to lose touch with our basic being, we get filled with the noise of the world. If you isolate yourself in practice from past and from future, just being present, then you can see your self-nature more easily without interferences. If you go into this, you may eventually isolate yourself from previous thought and again from subsequent thought. As you withdraw from your own thoughts. You begin to discover what the independent self, the unconditioned is.
By non dependence I mean not being concerned with what others are thinking, doing or saying. Most of our lives are spent in some sort of adjustment to other people we want to influence in some way. Maybe we want to please somebody or we feel obliged in some way or we owe somebody a favor or we want to reject or harm somebody. We are driven by our involvement with others and cannot let go. This is dependency. When we let ourselves be ourselves, we are not involved with others. We may still be concerned about people, but are not dependent on their thoughts, attitudes and opinions.
This is such a big one I remember reading a book by Richard Fineman, the physicist brilliant physicist, It's entitled, what do you care what other people think? That's non dependence. It's freedom, really. We obviously need to hold ourselves to some standard, need to examine our behavior, not cause harm, but to worry about what other people think about us is unfortunate. It's common, understandable, but unnecessary.
He says even here on retreat with the rules of silence and such, where we've seen easy to be free of dependency, you may not find it so. You may be aware of others attitudes, you may develop feelings of attraction or repulsion towards another, you may be concerned whether I'm thinking well or unfavorably about you. You are not independent in your inner self. You are still bound by habits of dependence, which you are throwing out around you as you sit or as you work. If this is the case, notice it, separate yourself. Find a mind that is not dependent on others. Even if you are afraid of loneliness, you need to experiment with this to make progress.
That's, that's I'm glad he brings this up. There are a lot of people for whom getting into real practice and really letting things drop triggers reaction of loneliness. It's scary. It's so unfamiliar. As wonderful as it can be, we don't take to it immediately.
It's so helpful not to be concerned about what others think about us. You see it sometimes as a monitor, and when we're in the zendo, physically doing sesshin, the monitor will walk around through the zendo. And every now and then you'll see somebody you can sort of realize that they're watching you out of the corner of their eyes. It may just be nervousness about the stick or more likely concern about whether you're looking at them and evaluate them, evaluating them. But if you if you have that tendency yourself, if you find yourself doing that, just stop it. You know, it's not, it's definitely not helpful. You're safe, the monitor is there to take care of you. You don't need to keep an eye on him. Especially with sesshins now. No one has ever struck with the stick without there agreeing to it. It's always a warning tap. I think in Japan, sometimes the stick is used with no warning. And as Roshi has said, it can be used punitively. I don't think that's helpful. Maybe for a certain kind of person, but even then, it seems like we're reinforcing the wrong qualities.
He says, You need to train yourself so that at any time in any moment you choose, you can free yourself inwardly from your world from others from the past, from the future, from the previous thought, and the next thought. That is defined freedom. Yet if you then think you are free and have some wisdom, this is not so. You should not be attached to solitude, or to the experiences of relative freedom. When you are neither attached to independence or to company, then wisdom will manifest. It can be exhilarating, when you get into that state -- the state that John Terrant was talking about -- stepping through the gate in the mind into that place of silence. But it's not awakening and it's not going to last. It's a condition. It's a state. It's wonderful. And it has an effect over time. like walking through the mist. We become wet. And it's out of that stillness that insight can come. but that's not up to us. It's not something that we can manufacture. What we can do is drop distractions, drop thoughts, leave things alone, not concern ourselves with things that don't, that aren't our business.
Since isolation and independence constitute non attachment, so, the final of his three things -- isolation, non dependence and non attachment. So, the first two constitute non attachment, I mean non attachment to yourself, to the devices by which you make yourself safe. When you go beyond this illusory safety, you will find freedom and wisdom and from wisdom as you look at the world comes compassion. When we're no longer protecting ourselves from others, are no longer seeing obstacles outside ourselves, no longer worrying about the future, then our hearts can open, then we can truly be of use to others. We can listen to others -- may be one of the greatest ways of helping anyone. For them just to be heard. This is a quality that we cultivate in Zen practice. It doesn't come by grasping anything. It comes by letting go. It doesn't come by tensing up. It comes by relaxing into the practice.
Well, I see where it a good place to stop. Time is right. So we'll stop now and recite the four vows
