Thank you for joining me.
I'd like to talk today about the natural awareness that Zen practice.
Let's begin with this poem from Sun Tsung's Faith and Mind.
He writes,
Let it go and be spontaneous.
Experience no going or staying.
Accord with your nature.
Unite with the way.
Wander at ease without fixation.
This poem points to the sole purpose of zazen,
Or Zen sitting meditation,
Which is simply to sit.
No more,
No less.
Nothing else,
Just sitting.
In the Sōdō Zen tradition,
We sit with musho toku,
Or no gaining mind.
Just sitting in this way is a very natural act.
In fact,
The most crucial aspect of practice is to be natural and open.
Your posture should be natural,
And your mind should be natural.
We're organic,
Natural,
Additive free.
We maintain a natural posture and frame of mind.
So for example,
Your posture is not natural if you're leaning over to one side or the other,
Or if you're slumping forward.
That's why Dōgen teaches in Fukanza Zenji,
The universal principles of Zen meditation,
To rock back and forth a bit,
And from side to side also,
A few times,
To find your own natural center.
Regarding mind,
Being natural means avoiding attempts to control your mind or to impose techniques on it.
After providing posture instructions in Fukanza Zenji,
Dōgen describes the natural frame of mind as thinking of not thinking by leaving the thoughts alone.
That's it.
That's all he says.
So you keep your attention on just sitting still and nothing else.
Keep your attention on just sitting without any intention to gain any result.
This is so simple that it can be difficult,
But it doesn't have to be if we keep it natural.
I know that we all lead busy lives,
And you went through the trouble of creating space in your schedule to be here now and to practice.
So it's only natural that you would expect or desire to get something out of it.
But when you sit,
It's important to put aside any desires or wishes to get anything.
There's an old Zen saying,
No need to add flowers to brocade.
The brocade is already complete in itself.
And you are already complete,
Whether you feel that way or not.
During practice,
Everything is already fine the way that it is.
Of course you have concerns,
You have chores and problems to solve.
But for now,
While you're sitting,
Leave them alone.
They'll be there for you to think about and get done later.
I guarantee that.
But not for now.
There's no agenda except to just sit.
Any wish for gaining something or getting somewhere else will prevent you from settling down.
If you push yourself beyond the awareness of just sitting naturally,
You will simply create more tension,
Which can be very discouraging.
Everything is right where it originally is,
Just as it is,
In its own original place.
If you don't become erroneously fixated on stillness,
Actually,
The more the mind will settle down,
The brighter and more deeply penetrating its natural and easeful awareness becomes.
Mind is utterly still on its own,
Without any grasping or clinging whatsoever.
Its natural awareness is boundless in both scope and in depth.
But we often confuse the objects of mind for mind itself.
Whatever comes to mind,
Simply notice it,
Be with it,
And let it go.
And this letting go will happen by itself,
By the simple act of noticing.
In this way,
Letting go is not active,
But it's also not passive.
Rather,
It's simply in the very act of noticing.
We notice how everything arises and falls or crystallizes and dissolves,
Comes and goes.
Thoughts form and dissolve.
Body sensations arise,
Shift and fall.
Sounds emerge from silence and then dissolve back into silence.
And we just continue to simply sit with musho toku,
No gaining mind,
With the intention to be awake to the rising and dissolving of all experience,
Without clinging and without pushing away,
Without judgment,
Without grasping or rejecting.
This is bodhicitta,
Or the mind of true awareness.
So,
Let's begin with some practice by settling down in your seat.
Make sure the spine is erect,
But not stiff.
The shoulders are relaxed,
But not slumped over,
And your eyes are slightly open with a very soft downward gaze.
I'll ring a bell three times,
Provide some instructions that will lead into a period of silent sitting practice,
And then we'll end with the sound of one bell.
Beginning with the crown of the head,
Feel your awareness guided by the breath,
Spreading across the scalp with ease and gentleness.
And with each breath,
Allow the awareness to spread down through your head,
Into your temples,
Ears,
Back of the neck,
Nostrils,
Chin and jaw,
And into your throat.
Across the shoulders,
Down the arms,
To the elbows and the forearms,
To the hands and the fingers.
Feel the awareness spreading into the chest and the upper back,
And spreading down into your abdomen and lower back,
Hips,
Thighs,
Shins,
Kneecaps,
The backs of the knees,
The calves,
Ankles and feet,
Toes.
Now begin to get a sense of the whole body just sitting.
If you notice your attention is being drawn to any specific part of the body,
Simply take notice and gently return your awareness to the whole body just sitting.
And feel free at any time to repeat this step-by-step process guided by the breath,
And then gently bring your awareness back to the whole body,
Stepping back from the steady flow of objects of mind into the silence of the reflecting mind.
This luminous empty and quietness is itself the basic enlightened state of all beings,
And the fullest and most direct expression of unmediated Buddha nature.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Gently dwell here.
Thank you for your presence and for your practice.
And please keep on practicing for your benefit and for the benefit of all beings.
Thank you.
