Lost Coin Class Notes - December 22, 2009

Last week we talked about sitting.  Let’s talk about it some more in light of your conversation from the last class.

Sitting is not what we think it is.  The more we try to say what it is, the further away we are.

What are we talking about when we talk about “sitting?”  This is a question that cannot be answered.  It’s like saying, “What is making love?” 

One could say that sitting is “forgetting the self.”  Say you want to go to Canada, you have to leave the old horizon before you can go to the new horizon.  You must leave yourself – leave gender, name, history, doing, occupation, preferences, etc.  The more you forget the self, the more you will access emptiness (Shunyata).  It is not empty; it is simply empty of ideas, concepts, loss of separation, entering oneness.

It is not passive to sit.  It’s alive and wide-awake.  You have chosen to enter new territory and see what’s there.  Slows down the mind and creates an opening, Sufi compares this with drinking wine.  You don’t have to figure out how to get drunk if you drink 10 glasses of wine.  For thousands of years people have sought out substances to slow down the mind and get out of the self.  The best way is to sit.  Just sit and it will transform you over time.

Most of our negative emotions come from a lack of space.  Zazen makes you comfortable in body and comfortable in mind.  Over time it will allow you to drop self and experience no separation.  Then there’s no worried and nothing to dislike.  

Good for all practices.  Go far enough into it.  This requires courage.

Dharma Lion is a courageous practitioner.  You must have that courage during sitting.  When things start to fall away- have to have courage to LET them fall away.  Not to cling.

Main point tonight is we don’t understand what sitting is.  It’s magical and inexhaustible.  

There was a period in India where major religion was Vedic which became Hinduism.  This was prior to Buddhism.  The practitioners of Hinduism started to question things.  They asked, “Why the caste system?”  “Why this way?”  A number of people left home and wanted to do practices another way.  Eventually Siddhartha came along (historical Buddha, Doen says to think of him as “Sid.”  Sid was a regular human with a strong drive for the truth.  He was also very afraid of old age and death.  Eventually he practiced Zazen and one day (around Dec 8th) he forgot the self.  Profoundly dropped off.  He saw the morning star and he said (supposedly), “Between heaven and earth, I alone am.”  And “All beings and I are simultaneously enlightened.”

Others started to study his way.  The sutras were used and studied.  Around the 6th Century, a group of these students said.  “Why are we studying the written words?  Why not just SIT as Sid sat?”  This became Ch’an in China and Zen in Japan.  (These words mean “sitting” or “sitting Buddhism.”)

Don’t DEFINE sitting.  Don’t think you have less material to work with than Sid.  Don’t be caught up ion an ordinary understanding of sitting.  The Soto School says JUST sitting, the moment you do so, you have reached enlightenment but you don’t know it.  Flash a coin before your eyes.  You didn’t see it but it was there.  It moved to fast.  Sitting is like this.

Doen says, “I like you very much whether you sit or don’t sit, but if you sit, I like you better.”

The long-term commitment is the difference.  If you rethink it everyday, this is the problem.  If you just say, I’m going to do this always, often, and forever- this is the whole thing.

From Doen’s point of view- please forget about Alpha and Gamma brain waves when sitting.  Don’t look for a certain state of mind.  The more you “know” about sitting, the further you are from what he’s saying.  Sitting is a mystery; think of it this way.  No explanation. No perception.  No expectation.

FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW.

People in general want to know and understand.  This is the problem.  If you want to kiss someone and you KNOW what that is going to be like, you won’t like it.  It will not be fun or enjoyable.  Sitting is like this.

Everything you know puts a lid on your sitting experience.

A blind donkey is better than a Wiseman.  In the Jewish language (Hebrew via Yiddish) a Maven is an expert, but this is always used Sarcastically.  Even worse is to be a Chochem, a wiseman.

There is a Koan:  “Wisdom is not Tao.”  Knowing is not it.

Students have questions about their sitting.  Are they “doing it right” or “doing it wrong.”  Daisen and working with a teacher is to help you figure this part out.  Sitting is not right and wrong, it’s a matter of experience, guidance, and feedback over time.  These things keep you on track.

Sit down with the intention of not knowing.  Do it in this spirit.  The spirit should be, “I am about to sit on this cushion and as soon as I do, I will sit without gender, name, form, occupation, habit, thought.

Question from students on difference of “losing the self” and “forgetting the self.”  

Answer:  Doen says, looking for these distinctions is thought.  JUST LET GO of WHATEVER comes up.  EVERYTHING.  Every image, every thought, every idea, every concept, every distinction, every thing that comes up- Let it go.  Do not entertain it, just drop it.

As you sit, things will come up that show you and allow you to self-regulate.  The teacher is there to help as well.

Knowing is so mundane.  Get over knowing stuff.  You all know a lot.  Get over it.  Knowing stuff in the information age is no great feat.  You’re too old for that.

Doen’s idea of your practice is to fall through the rabbit hole.  Forget what you think you know.  If ever in a car accident, a smart person tells you what to do but the stupid person will actually help you.

Rinzai’s teacher was Obaku.  Rinzai went to visit Obaku and when Rinzai arrived, others approached Obaku and said to him, “It must be wonderful to have Rinzei come visit you.”  Obaku said, “He’s like a thief in the night who comes and steals everything.”  This was a huge compliment to Rinzai.  To take away all things!!!

Rinzai was known for shouting in response to questions about the dharma.  On his deathbed, he talked to his successor and asked what the successor’s understanding was.  The successor shouted and Rinzai said, “I can’t believe I’m leaving the lineage to a blind donkey.”  This was a sign of Rinzai’s approval.

Have the courage to sit.  Don’t take it so easy on yourselves.  Don’t get into, “how little can I sit and it still counts.”  Sit with absolute openness.  You must be willing to go deep.  All the way.  Absolute dedication, depth, courage, commitment.  This is being the Dharma Lion.

Sit on your cushion.  Don’t be wussies.  Just sit on the cushion for ½ hour per day to start with. Don’t try to substitute with other ways and don’t make bargains with yourself.  Don’t cheat yourself.  Don’t train just hard enough to not get anywhere.  It’s like training for a race but doing the minimum so that you run but can’t quite make it or can’t quite meet your goal.  Shoot for the real thing.  JUST DO IT.  

Everything that we’ve said about sitting is true about the whole practice.  Do it for YOU.  This is YOUR personal exploration.  

Roll out of bed right onto the cushion.  Don’t do anything first, sit first.  Just UP- then sit.  If you do anything in between it opens you up to thinking.

Physical activity is good because you need a strong body and physical activity builds strength of mind if it has a competitive element- Doen encourages physical competitive activity.

Question from students about seeing others on autopilot, asleep- how do you not judge?

Answer:  If a rat broke into your house.  You wouldn’t be mad at the rat; you just wouldn’t want it to do its thing with YOU.  Same situation.  Be strategic.  If you want to do something, do it.  No one’s way of being is preventing you from anything.  

Be an Artist Warrior Sage.  
You have serious enemies:  1.  FEAR 2. Anger and victimization.   
Doen’s job is to tell us about them.  They work on us all of the time and no one looks at them because we’re looking at OTHER PEOPLE as the culprit.

With Doen’s help, make an agreement to fight your fear.  When you see fear, just drop it, let it go.

Knowing is limited but as a teacher, Doen has to teach something.  The term is “selling water by the river.”  Teaching is an unnatural act.  Don’t do it until approved and only do it if you HAVE to because, without it, people would be lost.
