Many of you know there's a calligraphy, traditional calligraphy, a verse on the Han. And it says something like birth and death are serious matters. Life is fleeting. And then it says, quick, quick, hurry up, don't waste time. [...] Maybe it's too American slang.

[01:02]

Yeah, but there's something similar. How to spend these days with ourselves, with one another. So yesterday we had a discussion. We had questions. We talked about applied attention and sustained attention. Since our discussion, how much have we dedicated our time to exploring applied attention and sustained attention? Seit unserer Diskussion, wie viel von unserer Zeit haben wir dieser Erforschung gewidmet, der Erforschung von angewandter Aufmerksamkeit und aufrechterhaltener Aufmerksamkeit?

[02:22]

I think it's important for us to do an inventory. Ich glaube, es ist wichtig für uns, dass wir ein Inventar machen. We've been talking about experience. Wir haben über Erfahrung gesprochen. Can we have an experience and not immediately have some opinion about it? And once we have an opinion, can we not be caught by the opinion that we have? Where are we placing our attention? In our thinking or in our awareness? How much are we placing our attention in this kind of ungraspable feeling of awareness? And it's not about doing it someday when circumstances are right. Someday is no day. There's no waiting for someday.

[03:48]

How many of the thoughts that we have today are about self and other? How many about what we like and what we don't like? What we agree with and what we don't agree with. What we're hoping for or what we're dreading may occur. It's important. to do an inventory like this. Practice is about being where we are, not some place we think we're supposed to be, some ideal way that we're supposed to show up for ourselves and experience. So when Suzuki Roshi talked about moment by moment attention to breath and posture is true nature, this extraordinary statement,

[05:00]

He means this moment. He means don't goof off. Er meint, albere nicht herum. Verschwendet diese wertvolle Gelegenheit, die wir miteinander erschaffen, nicht. Bitte helft mir, diese wertvolle Gelegenheit nicht zu verschwenden. Applied attention. Where have we been applying our attention? To breath, to posture. Our walking, our standing. What's the focus of our attention?

[06:17]

A fruitful focus for attention is the vitality in the spine. Which we can locate and begin to explore in Zazen. And we can extend that activity, that exploration, throughout our day. Temple can have many functions. It can be a kind of spa. A place to come and lay down our burden for 90 days or even one monk week. Simply attending to breath and posture and each simple arising.

[07:38]

It can be a place of training and study. All of this we may say exists so we can continue to practice the self. It can be a kind of asylum. Creating a safe structure where we can allow ourselves to experience things that may be too frightening elsewhere. And it also can be a kind of laboratory. We can all become spine specialists. Wow, it's my spine.

[08:49]

Oh, wie geht es meiner Wirbelsäule jetzt? Is it supple? Is it strong? Supple? Supple. Okay, got it. Ist sie biegsam oder ist sie stark? Is it brittle or rigid? Is it weak? Ist sie... Is it fragile? Zerbrechlich? Zerbrechlich? Ja? Okay. Ist sie zerbrechlich oder schwach oder starr? Apart from our ideas about what we think our spine is, what actually is happening in our spine now? Abgesehen von den Vorstellungen, die wir haben, wie unsere Wirbelseile ist, was geschieht genau jetzt gerade mit unserer Wirbelseile? This is an opportunity for exploration and discovery.

[10:08]

Being close not just to our spine, but our experience of it. Being close to the quality of the mind that's inquiring and discovering. A brightness and openness in a soft, strong mind. in a strong spine or mind, what did you say? Mind. In a strong mind. And it begins by pausing for the appearance of the spine. As we talked about in the last lecture, practice is about what's experienceable.

[11:25]

And as much as we're able with this kind of open, curious attitude, what is the spine? What is my spine? What is breath in the spine now? This is applied attention. Sustained attention is an ongoing inquiry in taking care of the spine with our attention. This is what Suzuki Roshi means when he talks about moment by moment. It's the constancy as an unwavering willingness to see and accept simply what's here.

[13:00]

And there are three other factors for this first of the jhanas, the fine material. And as we're able to anchor the attention in the supple, alive, breathful spine, supple, We may begin to feel a kind of physical joyfulness simply in contact with our experience almost without a kind of reference a kind of smoothness in our experience.

[14:21]

As we're able to anchor and sustain that attention. And the fourth factor is a kind of equanimity or mental ease which accompanies that physical feeling of joyfulness. There's no place else that we need to anchor Es gibt keinen anderen Ort, an dem wir unsere Aufmerksamkeit verankern sollten oder müssten. It's the feeling in this phrase Baker Roshi often uses, just now is enough.

[15:23]

Das ist das Gefühl in diesem Satz, den Baker Roshi oft verwendet, genau jetzt ist genug oder genau dies ist genug. And the fifth factor is an unwavering quality. When we spoke in Sashin about Hashimoto Roshi's statement, we need to hold up the banner of truth. The banner of truth meaning Holding the spine erect. The spine which holds heaven and earth in place. An unwavering quality and strength. And we have to do this constantly because we have a mind.

[16:55]

Because the mind is constantly adding something to what we experience. That's what minds do. So all too quickly, we start to generalize an experience we have of this vital, living experience. That central part of our life, which is our spine. Gee, my spine is a complete mess today. I wish I could sit the way she does. Then my spine would be in pretty good shape. I want to go back to bed and give my spine a rest. I'm amazed when I get up in the morning. I have no idea how I feel.

[17:58]

Sometimes we may be really sick, it's true. And we know. We may be sick all night. But most often, when I wake up, I have no idea how I feel. I have a lot of difficulty locating my spine. Can I get to the sink and wash my face? Will my legs carry me to the toilet? And then consciousness begins to come in and I can begin to participate in my experience, direct my awareness, attention as directed awareness.

[19:17]

And there's nothing wrong with our ideas about how we are. But there's no reason we need to give them the right to determine who we take ourselves to be. Who we take one another to be. What we take this moment to be. There's no need we need to generalize and compare. Discriminating consciousness knows how to do that really well. Awareness doesn't know how to compare. Awareness doesn't know how to judge. It's just aware. It's just aware. There's a story about Dongshan, one of our Buddha ancestors.

[20:49]

And his Dharma brother, Sung Mi. Sometimes he's called Grand Old Uncle Mi. So, Dongshan met Sungmi and he said, what are you doing? And Sungmi was sewing his robe and he said, I'm sewing my robe. Dongshan said, how's the sewing going? How's it going today? Dongshan said, each stitch is just about the same. Dongshan said, And Dung Shan said, you know, we've been practicing together for 20 years.

[22:16]

Is that all you have to say? And Sumi said to him, well, what would you say, oh venerable one? And he said, it's like the whole world burst into flames. Summi's answer was not a bad answer. Each stitch, each breath is almost the same. Summi is... I can possibly infer from this Sung Mi's default position is his breath body, his posture.

[23:36]

Ich kann fast daraus schließen, dass Sungmi, dass sein Ausgangspunkt ist der Atemkörper, sein Atem, seine Haltung. Each stitch, each breath in his, Atmar teaches sewing, each stitch is a vow. Jeder Stich, jeder Atemzug, und Atmar lehrt ja das Nähen, ist ein Gelöbnis. That's not a bad answer. But the entire world is on flames. A conflagration. Not a single ash may be left. Conflagration. Sukhiroshi said, practice is about burning completely. At Tassajara, as I've told many of you, in the Zendo, we had kerosene lamps.

[25:07]

We didn't have electricity. And we didn't have beautiful electric lights to light the path. We had kerosene lanterns. To light the path. And if you didn't trim the wick skillfully, if you completely cut it straight, it often doesn't work. You have to cut the edges, round the edges very slightly when you trim the wick for the kerosene lamp. If you don't do that, the glass chimney gets smut, schmutzig. So Suzuki Roshi said to us, you should burn completely. Don't be a smoky lamp leaving things here and there.

[26:27]

Leaving some remnant of a comparative judgmental self here and there. Just moment by moment entering each moment. Finding a so-called self and then being gladly willing to give that so-called self away. In practice, it is not about discovering some truth. It's about acting within the truth of each moment.

[27:37]

Within the truth of our settling into and exploring our upright, vital, alive spine. When we dedicate our attention to our thinking, there is no end to the thinking. When we dedicate ourselves to this upright awareness, The three additional factors of a physical sense of joy and a mental sense of ease and an unwavering quality may come forward.

[28:41]

What was the third one again? An unwavering. And it takes a kind of dedication to imagine that this is possible. A dedication to simply imagine that we have a choice about where to place our attention. Even for just a moment. If we can imagine we do it one moment, can we imagine we could do it two moments?

[29:43]

Will you give me five? And it's a courageous determination to imagine that we actually can choose how to live our life. And as we may begin to have one or two moments A kind of power develops in our zazen. I hesitate to use the word power, but it's true.

[30:45]

I hesitate to use the word power, but it's true. But it's not our power, it's the power of our practice. It's the power of the possibility of practice. This unimaginable possibility. Evidenced moment by moment in our zazen. Where we have the possibility to be exactly, completely, truly who we are. Thank you very much.

[31:52]

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