The Art of Zen: True Concentration

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SF-03666
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Sesshin 1 Day 1

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a baby mind is mirror mind
whatever whatever it crosses the mirror
is seen just as it is because there's no partiality
there's no idea of what
to interfere or intervene in what is seen
so has called seeing things as it is
to just have the mind totally open concentration totally concentrated and open pure concentration
ah so this poor concentration takes in the whole zendo but not anything in particular
so if something moves over here
you see that movie
it's like come when you walk down the road i was noticed i noticed this when i walked down the road my head is down i'm looking at the stones
and where i'm working and my mind is really
working very hard
nicely but hard be a when village and i don't see anything
and then i'll stop
an open my eyes put my head up and just walk and that the whole forest appears
the sky and the forest the burj without thinking without any idea it on appears and it's wonderful and overwhelming
the same way in the city
when we walked down the street east and west the and in the west the ocean and in the east the mountains
but usually were walking when i head down looking at the sidewalk
and then you pick your head up and you can see that little triangle there's the ocean oh yeah and there's the ocean wonderful
ah
it's also like when you drive a car
when you drive a car without thinking about anything to to have the whole road the whole view in front of you open so that you know exactly where everyone is on the road you know we're all what all your other cars are doing you can assess the state of mind
of each one of the drivers just by the way they move and you know exactly what to do without thinking
is totally open when i drive a car i have a hard time having a conversation
what if i do how conversation my attention is really on the road mostly and a little bit on the conversation but when it comes to what did what to do next is always what's a what's in front of me on the road
i often drive with people who are involved in the conversation and they don't see what they're doing in iraq
oliver
that's what i really like to drive by myself
but
but not really so
when he says our locators url is the bodhisattva of compassion sounds like is changing the subject of a locate his work is the bodhisattva of compassion sometimes portrayed as a man of a located but also appears in the form of a woman sometimes she has one thousand hands to help others
but as she concentrates on only one hand than nine hundred and ninety nine hands will be of no use
they have these thousand arm
cannons or quaternions in china and japan when i was in china
we did i visited this factory where they make the thousand arm
canon's it is a mountain tie
very very famous
a mountain monastery and in the heroes of those shops and the little village around it and as one and in the village some various stages of these statues are made very interesting place to go
but i can on of a thousand arms there's a call on also about this but i want to talk about it now from ancient times that main point of practice has been to have a clear calm mind
consider a he always talked about calm mind
wherever you do you should have a calm mind even when you eat something good your mind should become enough to appreciate the labor and preparing the food and the effort of making the dishes chopsticks bowls and everything we use
what a serene mind we can appreciate the flavor of each vegetable one by one we don't add much seasoning so we can enjoy the virtue of each vegetable and that is how we cook and how we eat food so this is a kind of concentration and aspect of concentration
how we
when we eat something were concentrated on what we eat and we can also appreciate
each
i think that we eat and also
the vessels and how they come to us course we say this in our meal and we used to
serene mind
and tranquil mind three not track serenity is like the sky it at
sunset
and tranquility is like water in a quiet lake
serenity and tranquility
so did this peter images of settled this and also have clarity and stillness
we have this wonderful when we feel a
but when the sun goes down and a clear day
mary
serene and we have this feeling of serenity
am i or into clear lake we have this feeling of tranquility
but this is also our mind
serene mind tranquil mind
in many things can appear
and we can appreciate whatever appears
listen to this is really an important part of our practice to appreciate whatever it is that appears
without judgment
without judgment is the key
and so this is a also regime
to have a serene or tranquil mind in zazen and means whatever appears is what appears without judgment of the good and bad like and dislike
i want or don't want
we can just appreciate everything

and then he talks about flavor he says to know someone is to sense that person's flavor everyone has a flavor
what you feel from that person is the sweet flavor
sour flavor to bitter flavor faulty cold hot mild warm spicy

we all have each one of us has a disposition but i call it disposition
which is a general flavor
recently someone so was really salty you know
but the angry person but we like him anyway know or be careful of that one because you can really easily set them off
or someone has a kind of sixty flavor you know be careful of that went to
easily get caught
so
each one of us has his or her own flavor a particular personality from which many things will appear to fully appreciate his personality or flavor is to have a good relationship then we can really be friendly to be friendly does not mean to clean to someone or try to please them but to fully
so we have to meet everyone where they are and how do we meet everyone where they are and with we have to meet them with big mind
and if you're a zen teacher
you have to be able to meet everyone
you know to be able to meet everyone and
relayed in some way
so that you don't get turned around or pushed off your seat or
we'll have to run away
so how do you do that
how can you meet everyone
trust me i have to be able to see everyone as they really are
you know we say when you shake a stick at the dog
the dog will follow the stick
and then you can just lead to die wherever you want
just follow our stick you know i get me that they've given a thick
but when you shake a stick at the lion the lion goes for the person
so
you have to be able to
i go to the person got deeply in and not be fooled by what's on the surface
so easy to be fooled by what's on the surface
so if you know yourself
you can find that person's nature
neither right away or after a while
so to meet whoever we meet with big mind or whatever we meet whatever situation and we meet or whatever person we meet with big mine me to not have anything to do not have any defense or any
preconception
just be totally open
hum
and often you know we judge a person which we i know what they're like i see them day after day and they're like this
and this it and if we stick to that i know if this person is like then we limit our understanding and our ability to relate
so even though we know what someone is like
to relate to them everyday is a different person or or with a clean slate is if you didn't know them
and that way you give a person a chance to change
but if we maintain our
idea about who this person is that we contribute to their getting stuck being stuck there
so it's very important to not
maintain an idea about who people are
but to always be open
two
not knowing
even though you know very well
hmm so yeah you always giving someone the opportunity to change and when that happens you relate right away
as if nothing ever happened before
so
don't let a person's for whatever flavor it is some some flavors we don't like you know but still we have to be able to take a little bit in our bowl
so to appreciate things and people our minds need to be calm and clear
so we practice zazen are just sitting without any gating idea
gaining idea what no dating ideas to negotiate mantra
as this as at this time you are you yourself
you settle yourself on yourself this was kind of diagnosis mantra settled yourself when yourself let the flower that the flower of your life
force bloomed just settle yourself on yourself settle more self and big south
just sit down in the midst of put in nature
with this practice we have freedom but it may be to the freedom you mean and their freedom zen buddhist mean are not the same
to attain freedom we cross our legs and keep ours buster upright
and let our eyes and ears be open to everything
so we take the most restricted pract posture in order to have the greatest freedom
if you can have total freedom within the most restricted proper posture then you can have freedom wherever you are
sometimes we say will be really good to go to jail you know if i going to jail i can sit zazen and everything will be all right but don't do that
we don't do things that purpose
but to let your eyes and ears be open to everything just so it just tone a totally open
being
we say if you sit does and thinking i sit zazen that's not says it
well if you think these are my legs does not virgin or this is my pain is not a budget
pain is pain legs or legs arms or arms
feelings are feelings
i'm hearing hears i seeing these smelling smells
feeling fields but there's no i in within all that
soon as you say i didn't you create itself
there is a self
but if itself does not itself
if you just say there's no self that's only one side gets dualistic
so yes that is itself but that self is not a self
we feel that we have itself to me myself and i know all the time i wanted i do i guess obama but that self is not a not a real self
but we have to think in those terms otherwise it's hard to communicate
but the problem is that we start with we by right into it and believe it
and that's the problem
so he says with this practice we have freedom freedom means free from self
we have itself but were free of yourself
we to attain freedom recross are they ski over her posture upright and then our eyes and ears be open to everything this readiness or openness is important because we are liable to go to extremes and stick to something
extremes i think he means concentrating on one thing
i'm getting stuck there
when we face the wall and in we don't concentrate on spec or the bug or the configuration
it turns into many things
eyes are open but there's nothing particularly to see
there's just the field division
and there's just something seen in the field of vision

so this readiness or openness is important because you're liable to go to extremes and stick to something in this way we may lose their communists or mirror like mind
zaza practice is how we obtain calmness and clarity of mind but we cannot do this by physically forcing something on ourselves or by creating some special state of mind
so people think about what is the state of mind we should have and judge him
no special state of mind states of mind are continually changing moment by moment that faster than moment by moment every many second is a different state of mind
so there is no special state of mind which is
zen state of mind or as as and state of mind because moment by moment a state of mind is is changing the state of mind is no special state of mind
totally open
just totally open
does a saying somebody gave me one time
the cool breeze blows through the empty all
state of mind
you may think that to have a mirror like mind is then practice oh
it is just it is so but if you practice zazen in order to attain that kind of mirror like mind that is not a practice we mean
it has instead become the art of them
so yes mirror like mind but if you
fit to have a mirror like mind if you sit to have enlightenment if you sit to get anything that's not doesn't
just sit to sit
whatever comes into the mind is at that moment is a proper state of mind
as soon as you start to go after something that you stumble past it
soon as you want something
you fallen into desert the realm of desire
i want mariemont i want enlightenment i want be a big juicy zen master
he
the difference between the art of then and truth in is that already you have choose in without trying
when you try to do something you lose it you are concentrating on one hand out of one thousand hands you lose nine hundred and ninety nine hands that is why we just sit
it does not mean to stop your mind altogether
or to be concentrated completely on your breeding although these i hope i help you may become bored when you practice county near breath because it does not mean much to you but then you have lost your understanding of real practice
we practice concentration to let our mind follow i'm breathing so that we are not involved in some complicated practice in which we lose ourselves attempting to accomplish something
so you know we talk about it is in hard practice
breaking the bones
hi what is hard practice practice is not hard or easy
if you say hard practice than
yeah that's
dualistic if you say easy practice that's also dualistic it's not hard or easy and as both hard and easy doesn't matter hard or easy what's hard is
to keep our mind from falling into duality
that's hard practice
it's not if you read the first chapter first time and general mind beginner's mind
suzuki roshi says
we talked about hard practice but it's not hard practice because it's hard to sit in zazen all day long with your exit legs aching
it's hard practice because it's difficult to keep the mind from falling into duality
that's hard practice
can we always falling into dualistic thinking
so when we sit thousand and we have this opportunity to do nothing else but keep the mind from falling into duality
that's all we're doing all day long and it falls you'll have to so and it goes that way and likes this it doesn't like that and it was this it doesn't want that and just to stay there with what is without desiring something else
is the hardest practice there is
hmm so
and we practice hard practice with a soft mind
keeping our minds soft is hard practice
soft mind is not mushy you're simply means to blend to to go with things to move with things cannot resist
to let things come let it come and let let it go
and it's like grass with it bends in the wind
grass the big wind blows blows the grass over but the gas can write back up it's very flexible
flexibility big strong tree
it's so stiff that it falls over in the wind
the grass
doesn't get damaged
if you are stiff and doesn't it'll get the wind will blow you over
so body should be lose you know when we said everyone over her joints and every part of our body is independent
the figures got three joints
the hand has always moving parts the alarm the elbows are flexible
everything is held together but as seniors
send us but it's all loose and it's up and the thought of zazen brings it all together into one act
but there's still all those parts are loose and it just all cooperating with each other they're not one piece
they're just doing one thing together there's are cooperating and doing this one thing but there's they're not one page they're all these little pieces that are cooperating and harmonizing together and they should always be independent
how to parse everybody should be always independent when you're sitting
and you're not forcing them to do anything they don't love it you know they liked cooperating with each other
harmonizing so we sit up straight
this is the active part of sergeant is to sit up straight and have and induce energy
with with total dynamic energy
at the same time to let all of the tenseness faraway sure there's no tenderness there's tension which holds everything together
and good form but the tenseness is not necessary that
ha
energy that is not necessary so your arms should be flapping you know if someone comes and pushes your elbow in jersey and just the was just the armored but if you're stiff if you think it's i want peace somebody pushes your elbow and the whole body goes over
so we're not statues
so when we sit well with this way in this way we can be very comfortable
and we used to ah least amount of effort to do the most work
but it's necessary to understand that
it's not just passivity
it's active
active
come
purposeful activity
at the same time
total passivity so the active and passive or just like this this is the this is the the active site and this is the positive side and
thank you very much
so is says in the art of then you try to be like a skilled zen master who has great strength and good practice
oh i want to be like him i must try very hard
the art of zen is concerned with how to draw a straight line or how to control your mind but then is for everyone even if you cannot draw a straight line if you can draw a line just draw a line that's then
for a child that is natural and even though the line is not straight it's beautiful
so whether or not you like the cross legged position or whether or not you think you can do it you know what does it really is and you can do it
so if you know it it's we will have this standard up there you know this is the
you know for standard for this incident is like this
well we read the literature you know you read about these
wonderful zen masters but actually they all had problems just like you
that's what we say the hotel going on
so
huh
go to
they were just the answers there it just like we right
exactly
so they just did the best they could and that then it just doing the doing the best you can doesn't matter whether you
are your outcome matches somebody else we should not compare ourselves to anybody
even though we're all sitting here and you notice he does going to he sits in a full lawyers and here she holds her back straight you don't like and i have so much trouble you know we're comparing ourselves to somebody else don't do that but even though you say don't do that you can't help doing it
we do do that we compare ourselves but we should not make judgements based on that comparison
we should appreciate all so so it does really well and this guy here it doesn't really want to that's nice
and this is the way i do it thank you so you can hershey remember saying
i'm i'm not such a good zen master
i do i do my best and i'm paraphrasing i do my best and i just keep going
just give us and if you are want to get ahead of me please go ahead no problem
so know we should know where we are we know where everyone else is sort of
i'm interested
you know this is my path this is what i can do i'm doing my best and that's it
as long as you're doing your best
and what you come out with is what you come out with with this person comes out with is what that person that the person who has an easy time that are sitting in full lotus and and they look like they've just eaten float through things may not be may not have as much
understanding as the person who has really having a hard time
so we owe it always appreciate the person for having a hard time who is really making that effort
because everyone's having a hard time in some way even though we don't know we don't see it
so the resistance that you get that buddhist resistance resistance is buddha
resistance is buddha so we we struggle against buddha
and but that resistance is what makes us
without to resistance you don't get cooked
with difficulty we have is what forms are
enlightenment
so it didn't harm practice yes we all have come to some place where we have a hard practice and for this person hard practice is one thing for in which may be easy for you
and for another person hard practice or something else
you know so
we can't say that such a thing as hard practice
no such thing so many can breeze through what other people call hard practice and other people have hard time with when somebody else thinks is hard practice nice easy time my family so
hard easy or just comparative values
but we should all have a problem
and we do so it's not a problem
so he's the most important thing in our practice is just to follow our schedule and do things with people you may say this is a group practice but it's not so
it is but he says it's not so group practice is quite different another kind of art
during the war some young people encouraged by the milk militaristic mood of japan recited to meet his line from the shoe she'll be she's shogi is a piece that was put together
the they earn the early nineteenth century by some sodas and precinct which is pieces from dogan things that formed a kind of ah
the document or peace then
ha the photos you presented to lay people as guidelines for practice it's quite nice but it doesn't mention thousand
but so the during the wars some young people encouraged by the militaristic moon in japan recited to me this line from this shoe shogi to understand birth and death is the main point of practice they said even though i don't know anything about this suture i can easily die at the front
for this is had the corruption how something in buddhism get easily gets
corrupted to
create something
ha
some warlike attitude to encourage to give people excuses for going to war
or reinforce their desire so this is group practice encouraged by trumpets guns and war cries it's easy to die that it makes it easy to die
so and during the war
ah no that's a whole other story but
it was very difficult to conjecture the government to what the government was doing in japan
you didn't survive if you did if you objected to what they were doing and so a lot of it
zen priest when
i rationalized this kind of thing
in order to
how encourage people to in their nationalistic interests
the were religion gets sucked in by nationalism and because i'm perverted
so far buddhism in america
doesn't that doesn't have to get to that point christianity takes
does it for it
i'm scuse me
i take a apologize for that
even though i believe it
so this kind of practice is not our practice either although we practice with people our goal is to practice with mountains and with rivers with trees and stones with everything in the world everything in the universe and defined ourselves in this big cosmos
so
here
we say that everything in the universe this product with museum
so when panicked when we practice doesn't it's not just some practice a separate from everything else in the world
johnson is the practice that everything is doing with everything knows it or not
and also you know suzuki roshi nice to people always wanted to practices and yes some good feeling
and he is a how can you want to practice to get some good feeling when there's so much suffering in the world
people are suffering all over the world and you're trying to do in you're doing something here thinking that you're doing it for your own self satisfaction
so we don't practice for our own self satisfaction we may feel satisfied
but that's not the purpose of zijin
purposes as and is to simply practice with the universe do the practice that the university is doing
it's not something special

so when we practice in this big world we know intuitively which way to go
you know intuitively which way you get when your surroundings give you a sign showing which way to go even though you have no idea of following your side you'll go in the right direction
so if your mind is empty
and but attentive concentrated
everything will tell you which way to go you know which way to go because it is it's not like things are pointing to you but if you see the science this way to fifth avenue
ah we don't need written science because we can see the signs
that are point pointing in the way we need to go
and so your intuition is open intuition as well as i said before i is
directly touching without the intermediary of having to think
so when you see the signs immediately know which way to go
to practice our way as good but you may be practicing with the mistaken idea still if you know i am making a mistake but even so i can't help continue with my practice then there's no need to worry
you can you even though you're practicing for the wrong reasons if you know i'm practice between the wrong reasons but i'm still practicing in have to worry
if you open your to eyes and accept that you that is involved in the wrong idea of practice that is real practice so least you know what you're doing
except you're thinking because it's already there he can't do anything about it there's no need to try to get rid of it but he's talking about like now in san
there's this is not a matter of right or wrong but or how to accept frankly with openness of mind what you're doing this is the most important point when you practice zazen you will accept the you who was thinking about something without trying to be free of the images you have the big point is as in
after practicing twenty five years someone will say to me but i still have all these images in my mind and see if there's something wrong with that
right
you don't have to get rid of the images in your mind this is just as scenery or you're thinking mind just goes i like riding in a train and you just watching out the window and you watch the scenery going by but the same time you're riding the train the what you're actually doing is riding even train
when you're actually doing is sitting still with an open mind and because the mind is open all this doctor and really rushed through
do you have an empty space something will fill it

so
when you practice as in you will accept the you who is thinking about something without trying to be free of the images you have oh here they come
if someone is moving over there oh he is moving
and if he stops moving your eyes remain the same
you don't react to it that is how your eyes will see when you are not watching anything special
in a way your practice includes everything the one thing after another and you do not lose your calmness of mind this is to concentration so no matter what happens you don't lose your concentration and mind you might still stays open it doesn't cut it down on something if you have a pain in your knee
your mind tends to close down on it
react to it
that is one only one thing that's happening
not the only thing that's happened the body cities or them
there are all the other parts of the body that are just as important is that one and when you take the concentration when that ah
single minded concentration off of that and spread it around
and just open your mind without
attaching to that
then you can sit easily even though that's happening
you just don't know this is like the whole body comes to the aid of
the weak point
if you allow it to happen if you allow your you allow your body and mind to come to the to help balance out
well and he pointed that has a problem
the rest of the body will help so this is the staying loose means me and said you flexible enough to
ah
compensate or to adjust show that
one part is not taking the whole brand of the problem
so the rest of the body comes to the aid of that spot
if you allow that happen by staying open without attaching
problems we have is we attach to the problem
so we take this concentration and zero it in the problem
and then we become attached to the problem

so he extent
of this practice is limitless
with this as our base we have real freedom when you evaluate yourself as being good or bad right or wrong that is can compare to value and you lose your absolute value
so as as in we'd concentrate on absolute values instead of comparative value
we don't compare
just stop comparing this is just this
comparing means this is justice but i like that better that's compared to value i wish that this would stop or i wish i had that that's our comparative value this is not good compared to what i think is is bad this is not bad you'd better way that you get is just as soon as that arises
is your last
that as soon as but if you take it up your last

so when you evaluate with yourself by a limitless measure
each one of you will be settled on your real self
that is enough even though you think you need a better
measurement if you understand this point you will know what real practices for human beings and for everything
so
true concentration is to keep the mind
open and not let it get caught by something
not get attached to what we usually get attached to
in a dualistic thinking
we can do more than we think we can if we leave my mind open

so in these five days
that should be our effort
to keep our concentration open without attaching to anything attached to it is good for attached to what is bad attention to what we like are attaching to what we don't like
and then let the mind settle calmness
settle the self on herself
breathe deeply soon as you're breathing find yourself breathing up here you know you have a problem
so when you find yourself breathing in your chest
get your breath down and allow exhale in them
inhaling is opening your abdomen exhaling is
collapsing it
inhaling
take sailing
when breath at a time

and without expecting anything
you can ah
we can
to have a comfortable feeling
and i know you're all experienced i'm not telling you something new but i am reminding us all
that's all
i do