Sedartha.
Serious stories but The one I'm going to tell you is that Sedartha snuck out. And he's he saw some things that he had never seen before.
He saw an old person.
Maybe who's just really old and Couldn't get around very well, gray hair, wrinkles.
He saw a sick person. Somebody just lying on the side of the road.
Remember this is in India now, so. It's, you know, Fairly poor country, I think, unless you were royalty.
And then he saw a dead person.
And.
He, he also saw. A wandering acetic. This is a person who is practicing very severe practices.
Like not eating. Not sleeping. Just trying to get somewhere spiritually by doing these. Types of extreme practices.
So soon after, he saw these things. Sedartha actually left his family. To find the truth about reality.
Because he realized it was not within the palace gates.
So he started to practice also. Some do some acetic practices. Extreme. Practices.

It said that he slept on a nail of beds. A bed of nails. That he deprived himself of sleep.
Of food he was so skinny sometimes you see pictures of him So skinny, you can see his bone through his skin.
And.
One day he was sitting. He was just, you know. He was just. On the side of the road sitting and
The girl felt sorry for him and offered him a bowl of milk.
He took it and drank it.
Sedartha then realized there was a middle way.
Doesn't have to be extremely luxurious. For extremely hard. Difficult. There's a there's a way in the middle to live.
So Dartha remembered sitting on a hill watching some workers plow his father's field.
And who remembered the feeling of peace. When he saw that.
So he decided to make sitting his spiritual practice.
So we sat under a Bodhi tree for, it is said, about 49 days.
And on the 49th day. And during this time, he had some really great insights. And he saw the morning star.
Rise and his greatest insight.
He touched the earth. And he said, I. And all beings and the great earth simultaneously. Achieve the way.
I and all beings. And the great earth. Simultaneously achieve. The way.
From there.
He became known, known as the Buddha.
Which means enlightened one.
During his time of meditation he came up with what we now know as the 4 Noble Truths.
The 1st is that there is suffering. In life there is suffering.
The second noble truth is that there is a cause. Of suffering.
The 3rd noble truth is that there is an end. For suffering.
And the 4th noble truth. Is that there is a path. That leads out of suffering.
It is this path.
This path is called the eightfold.
I'll share these. These 8. Views with you. These 8 ways or paths.
The 1st is Right view.
Right view means seeing things as they are.
Not adding any labels or thinking this is good or bad. No, no. No judgment around it.
It's what it is, right view.
The second is right thought.
This is thinking in a chord with the way things are. So it's not like you're going to wish that it were some way different.
You're just going to say, this is the way it is. Right thought.
There's right speech.
This is refraining from or not using. Harsh or harmful speech.
Right action.
Acting in a chord with the precepts. I'll go over those later.
Right livelihood.
Think about your work. What do you do? Are you making your living in a way that limits suffering?
Right.
Making the proper effort. In your Buddhist practice.
Right mindfulness. Being aware. Of what you're thinking. Right mindfulness.
And the last is right concentration or meditation.
Practicing meditation. With your body, heart, and mind.
That's the eight-fold path.
Now I mentioned. The precepts and there are 10. Precepts. So just a little bit about.
Maybe a little bit about this. That I'm wearing. This is called a rockasoo.
And some of us here do have them.
No, Emmy does. And he's not here.
When you decide to when one decides to follow the Buddhist path.
You may, you may have a a desired to show people that You're on this path.
You don't have to, but you can decide to.
And first, st you have to have a teacher. So your teacher would then, you would ask. Whoever it is that is your teacher.
Usually from a Zen place like this. And you practice for a while and then you may decide. This is the path I would like.
And. And ask them to be your teacher. Ask that person to be your teacher.
And at a certain point, your teacher may, you may ask about. Selling a rock sou. We sew these by hand.
And
When you finish sewing rock sou. Your teacher will write some things on the back. For you, give you a name.
A Buddhist name? And then there's a ceremony called Jukai Ceremony.
Where you Receive actually 16 presets.
But I will share with you what the 10 grave. Precepts are. The 1st is These are, so let me just.
Mention. These are not like rules. These are not rules. Their guidelines as we mess up.
We can mess up. On these things. And when you realize you've messed up, then you just.
You just are mindful of it. And then you just correct yourself. Or you try not to make that.
Same.
Try not to do that again or just be more mindful. It's nothing to really.
Or rate yourself about or you know, think, oh, I'm such a bad person. No.
These are just guidelines. By which to live.
The 1st one is no killing life.
This is really not possible.
When we drive on the road. We drive over bugs and
You know, when you walk, you could walk on ants or insects. You know, if you see I like to, I'm not afraid of spiders, so if I see a spider.
In my house. I just I I capture it.
I bring it outside. I try not to kill life.
The second one is no lying.
Tell the truth.
3rd one is no stealing.
The 4th is no sexual misconduct.
The 5th one is no abusing intoxicants.
So this is not to say that you can't like have a glass of wine or, you know.
Whatever it is that you enjoy. But not to be excessive or abuse it.
The 6th one is no praising self. Blaming others. No praising self. And blaming others.
The 7th one is no dwelling on past mistakes.
Don't even talk about it. Just don't even dwell on it. Make a mistake, okay, learn from it.
Move on.
The 8.th Pressup is no hoarding materials or teachings.
Does that mean no hoarding materials?
You know, sometimes we're collectors of things and that's OK. As long as you're not.
Know when there's enough and teachings. I am sharing with you. A teaching.
For many maybe many teachings.
And I'm happy to be sharing them with you. One of the precepts. The 9th precept is no being angry.
Now. Let me just say. You know, we get angry. Just don't dwell on it.
That's all. You can be angry, be angry for maybe as long as you need to. But don't carry it around.
No grudges.
No.
On the 10th is No abusing the 3 treasures. Buda Dharma. Songa.
So Dharma is basically what I'm sharing with you today.
Truth. Songa is our community.
Those people that you that you practice with. We are all Sangha today.
And I appreciate all of you.
So.
How do we bring? So Zen is not just sitting on the cushion.
It's not just sitting here. Either at home or here in the Zendo. It's just not that.
It's actually bringing Zen into your everyday life.
You don't have to be sitting while you're doing everyday life, right? We go to work.
Clean our homes, we drive. You know, we cook. We tend to our loved ones.
We tend to ourselves.
So I'd like to share with you. The 5 daily recollections.
They go like this.
I'm of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape. Growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health.
There is no way to escape. Having ill health.
I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everything I have. And everything I love.
Are the are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape. From losing them.
And the last. My actions. Are my only true belongings.
We say that again. My actions. Are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences. Of my actions.
My actions are the ground. On which I stand.
So these 5 daily recollections give us a clue as to how to live.
How to pay attention to how you live.
How you love. How you speak.
What you think about.
Are your actions?
Kind?
Are your actions honest? And true to who you are.
Are your actions in line with helping others? And being of benefit.
Not just to other people but to the earth. And the sky. And to all beings.
Or your actions generous?
Or are they selfish?
Ask yourself, how are you living your life?
Everything's in action.
That's correct.
I mean even thank you even the decision to not
Isn't action. It's a decision that you make.
Yeah.
Fairly hear that.
Sort of implies what
Do have something to say about walking meditation.
What do you do when you walk to the grocery store? You leave your car. And you walk to the grocery store.
What are you thinking about?
Thinking about what you're gonna buy.
Well, if you're If you can. Think about the steps you're taking.
Be aware of your steps.
Now. If you, If you decide that So. I have a lot of things going on in my head right now, but.
Let's just say, you know, when we leave here, when we get up and We restore the Zendo to how it looked before.
This talk.
What if you just paid attention to every step that you took? Where you're stepping in every step.
That's mindfulness. That's being aware.
That's actually
In him. Walking meditation.
You can practice that in any time.
You want. Or think about it. But sometimes, you know, we just, we zip through our lives, don't we?
We just, we zip. We go here, go there. You know.
Without really thinking about like
Where are we in space? The only time it really comes into focus is when you're sitting. So I was in.
Think about it.
Because you're actually concentrating. On your sitting and your breath.
You can bring that. To before you answer your phone, you can take a breath.
But a smile on your face and answer the phone.
Before you go into a meeting. At work.
We may want to take a few breaths, take a. You know, 5 or 10 seconds to.
Settle yourself down. Feel your body. No, lower your heart rate a little bit.
Enter in with more of an open openness.
Going into meetings or with people that you are going to talk to. Or whatever it is, whatever you do in your life.
You can do this with your family. With your friends.
So yeah, Ken Hin's really important. Because you can actually. Do it every time you take steps.
Okay.
It is.
Nevertheless.
No.
There is no should, sorry I That was that's a that's to me that's a habit.
Of saying should and I'm trying to released that from my vocabulary.
Correct. Don't say should. Avoid saying should.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's why I think.
Applicable finally.
Why?
Voluntary
No.
That's
Thank you, Todd. So, you know, we rarely realize our breath.
Do we not? It comes naturally. It just happens. If you exercise, you breathe harder.
Right? And when you're resting. You really can notice it when you're sitting. Especially Zazan.
So. Even just taking a few seconds. Every now and then to, Center yourself by taking breath.
So helpful. Brings you back to your body.
And your mind also engages with that. Because you're thinking about it. And then you make it happen.
Okay. Okay. And corresponding.
Thanks, are totally spontaneous. Sometimes things just happen.
We don't have control over Very much, really.
I can't control the wind, can you?
You can't control the The birds chirping or The trees, the leaves moving or falling.
But things happened spontaneously. It could be while you're driving, somebody swerves in front of you.
You have to react.
It's natural.
Yes. I'm talking about fun spontaneity. Yeah, fun spontaneity is good.
One thing I find is that as they get older. You know, more spontaneous. Yeah. I don't get so much.
Right. That's true. Present was practice. The nature of the spontaneity.
Very good. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Enables.
I. Before practice. Or maybe just Right. So.
I'm glad you brought the word joy. Into this because actually zazan is
Forget the words, but. Zazan is.
A practice of ease. And joy. Ease and joy. That's why the there's the relaxation.
It's easy. Right? You're going to sit up right.
And you maintain this good posture because you know if you if you sit slumped It's really hard to sit slumped.
For a long time. But if you sit upright, and you let your bones and your body support you, your muscles.
Tendons and everything else involved. It opens your chest, you can, you can breathe better. You can sit better.
Yeah, of course.
And then there's some joy that happens. Maybe not right away, especially if you're uncomfortable, and you haven't found the right sitting position.
For yourself that works.
But if you I'll just share that I've been practicing. Was Zen for 9 years.
Now and My life is so joyful.
Now, I'm not, I didn't sit because I was joyful. I mean, I didn't start sitting.
To get joyful. It's a byproduct. Bye-product.
Right. And so that's where I was going to go is. When you sit.
There should be no goal. In mind. You're just gonna set a timer. Or you're going to decide, you know, I'm just going to sit this long.
And then decide to get up. I like to use a timer. I just have a little time that goes off when I'm done.
I'm I set a timer and I go But. There is no goal. In sitting.
Don't think it'll make you a better person, don't think that it will. You know, solve all your problems, don't think that.
It will do one thing or the next.
You want to have kind of this empty mind, this mind of just. Sitting and being in the present moment.
Right here. Right now.
Don't be in the future.
Don't be in the past. What really matters is. Being here. Right now.
When you meet people.
Let's say, let me give you an example, for example, let's say.
You you have a spouse. Let's say you have a spouse or a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
Tell me, do you have an idea of how they are?
And when they're not that way.
You become upset.
That's habit thinking. You've you have a habit of how you view. This person.
Of a view. Of how you view this person. You have this, this. Kind of fixed.
Idea of this person.
But how about this? How about when you see this spouse or your boyfriend, girlfriend, whoever it is.
Anyone you meet, actually.
But let's just focus on this one person that you're thinking of.
What if? Every time you saw them. They were like a new person.
Like somebody you don't know. Because think about it.
You're person may come in through the door.
And have gone through something.
And.
Are you going to get mad because they're some way different? They didn't kiss you because they're in a state.
Or you know they're angry because something happened or whatever it is.
What I'll say is meet the person. Where they are.
Meet that person where they are in this moment in that moment. In every moment.
Does that make sense?
Let go of what your think your habit thinking is. Not only of people that you know and love, but
You may see a person, let's say you see a person.
That is. Let's say a homeless person. You pass it on this person. On the street.
You may have ideas about this person, but what if you see this person?
With compassion.
Wondering what's their story. How did they get here?
Open your heart.
To everyone.
That's not to say that if you were going to be attacked, that you're going to open your heart to that person.
You need to defend yourself. I'm not saying that. I am just saying that if you
If you have the space.
To meet a person. As they are. It's helpful.
Not just to you, but to them as well.
Well, the 1st is the right view, the right thinking. It's not about you.
It's about them. Even if it's directed towards you, it's not about you.
It's about them. It's their cause and condition. Their conditioning that makes them that way.
You may trigger it.
Hey. Yeah
Language. Yes, sure.
That says try.
Fighter flight.
That's where.
So.
Sure.
Right. And, and that's where you can practice. That's where you practice in that moment, yeah, you practice.
You have to. And it doesn't happen like that.
It's something you have to practice. I mean that's why we call our sitting. Sitting practice because we have to practice it.
All the time.
That's what.
In the face and everything.
I would just say, are you okay? No, really. It's about them. Are you okay?
And you can say, and you can say. Yeah. No, I understand what you're saying.
Anyway, that's where it seems like.
Sure.
I think, okay.
Imagine.
Just happens in
Blindsided and
Try to.
Yeah. Right. And if that's the right response, then Do it. Then leave.
But that's the practice.
The. I'm sitting when is the city gonna be over? That happens a lot, right? Wow, it's a long time.
40 min is a long time.
Why this is practice. Also artificial. Not really.
That's where, and that's what I think.
Yeah. Yeah.
Any other questions or comments?
Jacky.
Whoever you are.
It's not up to me.
You need help. No way forward. That's not just
Sure, That is perfect.
The hours, days, years.
Hey off, they can. Everyday life.
This area. Our nature.
That's I think.
Really, I'm doing this.
Anyway, possibility for. For.
Skill for me. Really apply.
Okay.
To practice.
One of the
And one last thing about driving, bring your practice to your driving. Bring your, bring your compassion.
You don't know where anybody in the car is. You don't know what they're thinking and what they're going through.
You have no idea.
Be compassionate. If they cut in front of you. That's their problem. I mean, if you crash into them, it's your problem too.
But really, you know, the thinking is. Not to.
React.
Just respond.
Drivers.
Fashion move. Just move around, just move around. Don't, you know. So, cause if you, if you think a thought, it's just your idea.
Of them. It's just an idea. That's all. You're making it up.
You don't really know the reality. You're just making it up. In your head. Because it's a story you tell yourself.
Right? About these other drivers. Ryan. Oh yeah, sorry.
Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, so. Bring your practice to your driving.
As well.
I mean it's very helpful and let others in. Right? Don't speed up when they want to merge.
Let him in, be not be kind.
Right? Be, be compassionate.
You know, watch your reaction when you drive. Do you get mad?
I used to get mad. Don't get mad so much anymore.
Because I'm, because I'm more aware. Awareness is everything.
I'm going to stop there. Jackie. If you would open to page 2, the bottom of page 2 after the DARMA talk.
May our intentions equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way.
Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are in exhaustible. I vow to end them.
Darmo gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Who does way as unsurpassable?
I've vow to become it.