Not… Teaching.
It's, feels, like…
Nap.
space of… no self, I feel like I'm talking to myself.
Together.
With all of you.
And, it's… it becomes, like, to speak like this for me, it's a little… odd, I'm not…
We've become used to it now, but…
wasn't what I set out to do in any way.
And… This kind of talking… Excuse me, in this environment.
it, it's sort of like a vibratory portal between
ordinary mind and this capital A awareness, so…
Trying to share that. That was…
we were doing… Ken and I reflected on What have been said.
Or… Past few days that… And the reason… that, I…
With the opportunity and sort of the risk of saying.
This is what happened, this is… This is the… The view.
This is the state of mind.
The ancients were talking about.
I have to find it, I think it's back in my room, but…
maybe tomorrow at tea, that I came across something that Lays out the…
How do you know where you're at?
You asked that.
So…
in light of that, you know, what I'm talking about is just the beginning.
Really.
And, I wanted to read something from,
And at the same time, it's all complete.
It's just a matter of… Where we are.
The expanse.
But… This,
We've been talking about Zogchen and… Zen, and I wanna… clarify that… to my… observation, there… They're very much…
Or, like, brother and sister, or something like that.
I don't know…
the extent of all of that, if that's true or not. I mean, there's other people who've studied it more deeply, and…
Relate.
Speak to that, but for me, it resonates Having been…
with COVID, he's the only teacher I had, so,
when I read this stuff and the things I've been talking about, I mean, it's… Definitely… how… COVID resonated.
So it's not… Far afield, or anything like that.
And… I find these Zogchan Tantras inform
Zen, it kind of lights it up for me.
And the Zog10 directly lights up.
Energy off the… Contained in the words.
But I want to read this…
it uses the word ZOKChen, which you could sort of set aside
It's not so important. And this is, from the Dalai Lama.
In Zogchen, while thoughts are active.
Rigpa permeates them all, so that even at the very moment when powerful thoughts like attachment and aversion are arising.
There remains a pervasive quality of clear light rigpa.
In Zogchen, since the clear light's natural way of being is like the sun and its rays, inseparable.
If you are able, through this, to bring out the radiance of genuine mind.
You will be able to maintain the experience of clear light in meditation without it fluctuating or coming and going.
Longchenpa speaks of self-arising wisdom, which is in fact Rigba.
Sulfurizing wisdom is rigpa that is empty, clear, and free from all elaboration like an immaculate sphere of crystal.
Its very being is such that it never explores objects of the senses.
This sulfurizing wisdom is rigpa, which in essence is primordially pure.
Long Chengpa describes it as empty and clear.
To call it empty is to refer to its essence, primordially pure. To call it clear is to speak of its nature, spontaneously present.
As such, it is free from all elaboration, and free from elaborations of adventitious phenomenon.
So it is like a flawless crystal sphere, and truly its very being is such that it never explores objects of the senses.
That's the mine we developed in Zazen.
I believe.
The other thing, I think, to look for in…
Teachings… You know, when you read something or listening to something as defined.
Not necessarily what appeals to you.
Something that,
Like, stops your mind.
your small m mind.
Or brings your mind to harmony.
And… and teachings that… Open up an entry point.
And that… Bring you to… Letting go of concepts.
I think it… It's a big hindrance entering into this.
Because,
We have some idea of where we're…
You know, like, we have a vision of where we're going.
And, that gets in the way.
And I don't know how it is for you.
It's… To just be…
Completely open to…
moment appearing.
So sometimes that moment is… the Dalai Lama described.
Rigby.
Select that clear… Spontaneous space.
But… Other times, it's…
something hurtling at you, you know, that's out of your control, and you don't know what to do. But with…
Developing this kind of seat… That I was mentioning.
I don't know exactly what the word for it is, but it's… This uncontrived, open… spacious mind that…
doesn't move.
And so… when you…
Just… As things appear in it, you have the opportunity to… Greet them.
There was, there's a guy on… in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Central Avenue.
Where everything happens. And… My wife and I were sitting having breakfast with our… My old grandson, and
Homeless, crazy person, you know, we would call him, was going down the side of the window, like.
Hold on.
And, creeping along, and you'd see people go, oof. And he came along our table, and he's looking at me, and I look at him, and I'm like.
Any… Goes back and stood up and walked on down the street.
That's what I was saying about COVID, you know, talking this fellow into going office.
Medication, because it's just mine, you know.
Oh, insane.
And, so there's different kinds of mind, and… different states of mind.
Colvin left, of course, but, but it really… opened up
The whole scene, like, how to deal with that.
And how to really meet it with the qualities of… You know, that are… Compassion, and clarity, and…
welcoming, and how… How do you meet all these things? Even things that aren't… Pleasant.
I have another story. I grew up in an all-Black neighborhood, and
East Palo Alto. It's different now, but…
I was out working on my mom's house.
I guess I'd moved to New Mexico, and I came back and was hoping to finish up this remodel, her…
Boyfriend had started… He got sick, so he couldn't do it, and I… Came in to help finish.
Get up. And, Barbara and I were getting ready to leave, and I'm at the gas station, just before you hop on the freeway, and…
Checking the tires, filling the gas, and I'm down doing the tires, and I… see these…
Well, in those days, they were…
purple velvet shoes, and I look up, and this dude dressed, I mean, black guy, and
what I call a pimp suit.
And, he's got a gas can. He goes, hey man, you got, like, 5 bucks for some gas?
And I just stand up.
and say… You know, man, I grew up here. You know how many times I've heard this rap?
Oh, man! And he walks away. And Barbara's sitting there going, oh shit, we're gonna… you know…
But I mean, it's just, like, to deal with that stuff directly is… How…
This sitting can translate off into…
It's… it's not into the world, it's just moving in space, And these things appear because
It's… it's just these wisps that keep coming up.
And…
How to… how to have, not… it… to remain… Fluid in that.
But not lose your… confidence in…
What's, you know, what's uncovered in this, this mind state.
I think it's really important to… I'm not describing it quite as well as I would like, but…
I think it's really important to watch moving out of the Zendo.
you know, Just here to the kitchen.
Dining hall, even.
M.
continue to… Pay attention. Don't ever stop paying attention.
Don't stop being aware.
Sorry.
Because… like I said, One of the last things Coban said to me was…
ceaseless practice. He was kind of…
Ruminating on it, and he didn't elaborate.
And… And then he died.
a couple months later, so I didn't get a chance to ask him.
More about it from his perspective, but it…
Again, let this kind of echo.
And, that's what I've come to, is that it just…
is ceaseless practice. You just don't… let up.
Don't, like, sit and then go, whew, glad that's over with, and I'm gonna go on with my life.
And then come back and sit some more. It… it's… constant.
That makes sense.
And then there's this, this kind of ties into it.
Kind of in the middle of something, but…
All-consuming thought patterns cannot be abandoned by being renounced.
For they are the dynamic energy of awareness.
Their true nature is such that there are no distinctions, nothing to differentiate or exclude.
So that nature is not insured.
By achievement, but arises as basic space.
Without rejecting samsara, you perceive it to be naturally occurring timeless awareness.
Through the pure yoga of the dynamic Right, this…
Through the pure yoga of the dynamic energy of the vast expanse of being.
That's… Ceaseless problem.
I'm gonna rig a little more out of this.
In the timeless unity of sensory appearances and mind.
The naturally settled state that is the true nature of phenomenon.
Meditative absorption is experienced as an unwavering, ongoing flow.
Thus, the Vajra pinnacle, the most excellent, enlightened mind of Samantha Bahadra, is the most sublime, spacious state equal to space.
The most sublime meditation of all involves no differentiation or exclusion. It is spontaneously present as the superb, timelessly infinite monarch.
The ongoing flow of utter lucidity, timeless and omnipresent, is spontaneously present within this context.
In which nothing is discarded or adopted.
And so it is the most sublime, enlightened intent.
The basic space of phenomenon. The nature of samsara and nirvana.
This vast expanse, unwavering, indescribable, and equal to space, is timelessly and innately present in all beings.
It is the ordinary, confused mind that perceives sensory appearances to be something other than oneself.
It is the ordinary, confused mind that believes in meditation and making an effort.
The true nature of confusion is the realm of equalness, the natural state of rest.
The natural expanse that is unwavering and primordially pure.
There is nothing to do, and no effort to make. Whether or not you are resting is irrelevant.
That is in the same vein of…
this ceaseless practice. It's just waking up to…
what?
Initially, is… One would perceive from our…
Conditions state that it's outside yourself, but…
You come to recognize it as Beyond what you are.
Questions?
We're going out.
Yeah, that was… that was written by… I don't remember who.
No, it's just something from yesterday, here it is. Endless.
I think it was one of the Chase students.
But,
I'll reread that.
Section, because it'll help.
People that didn't hear it.
Well… He's talking about mental concept.
Of a prac… he, he, he says, let's look at a typical practice session.
And how…
how it's… possible to relax through Shamata.
And create the illusion of.
Rudpah, we call it, or this… aware… Luminous mind.
And…
That becomes a concept in and of itself, and you're actually… having… The feeling and experience of Settling down.
It's still conceptual, and he's saying, you know, you… That's the comfy trap.
He says that entire experience is just more mental content appearing in our actual natural state.
So… He says, to come to the actual resting place as the natural state, or Buddha mind.
It's as though consciousness takes one further step behind the witnessing eye.
Alright.
Ego I.
that is engaged in observing as thoughts come and go. If successful, the eye as the observing awareness disappears completely.
The seeker is this illusory, egoic witness or observer that disappears.
So, like, if you're sitting… Or… Walking.
And… the awareness… that's why I say capital Awareness, because it's… it's not cognition, it's not…
Using the senses to… observe and… and experience. It's… Outside of that.
To some degree, I think it's… Gogan's, or his teacher.
Eugene sprays of body and mind drop off.
Is what this is referring to.
Because up to that point, there's a kind of…
He know you're here in the room, and…
My butt hurts from sitting so long, whatever it is, or… Yes.
Bing… Settled. Quiet.
Breathing is still, and… becoming permeable.
But all of that is what's called the… be dropped, because actually… You have to go… Bigger.
To know self.
Capital Awareness now is… Don't conceptualize that, but it's…
through awareness.
All these teachings, like, if you read, there's really…
well-known one called the Supreme Source.
And it's, in the introduction, who gives it?
You know, I'm kind of nervous, but…
The whole thing is phrased in I.
I, the Supreme Source, Bop, bop, bop.
as it's explained, that eye is not what this eye, like… wise, you know?
It's… The eye of… God, so to speak.
God speaking.
Put it in Western terms.
Absolute.
Awareness.
Speaking to you.
Well… It's… it's… It goes to… this… What's your name?
Michael, right. Okay. So… Michael was saying, you know, well, how do you know…
you have some experience, how do you know where you are on the path? I guess I could paraphrase it.
Or what's the extent of the path?
Where does it… take you? What… what's the end…
Is there an end of it?
And…
So the comfy trap you… you're just… Static in terms of… Someplace on the path.
not.
developing more.
Confusing what?
It's that it isn't…
It's just like being in an eddy.
Further.
And so… you know, people can stay there. It isn't necessary to move out of that.
But… there's… more.
Wayne.
I think it was swinging, but… I… I understand.
butterfly.
Nope.
Bold.
Hmm.
Say a lot.
What's policy?
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
This is the… issue with talking about this at all. Because there is,
what Andy was referring to and describing is the…
Also has its own trap, by the way.
No, seriously, you know, because all…
You know, when you start looking at, like, all states of mind, appear… In the bigger mind.
We… we have to be careful.
There are two.
To not be trapped by… Oh, whoa.
You know, because it can be, like, oh, everything's okay, kind of, you know.
But sometimes, The things are socking with some… about…
You know, it's okay to set boundaries sometimes.
Because there's… Or… to shake things up.
I was describing COVID… tracking… people's egos.
In various ways.
Yep.
It's dynamic.
It's a dynamic practice, really.
Somebody said one of… Tim McMaster that I mentioned before, the… well-practiced Vajrayana student.
He said, Poland Zen has Vajra in it.
And… I don't know about other Zen, but…
He certainly did, and it's… you know, I don't…
we can take this comfy trap and apply it in different places, or we can just discard it. But…
I think what he's talking about, in part, is… Mental constructs being…
Like, you know, you're practicing along, you're… you're literally practicing something.
and you get to a point, you're like, hey, I think, you know, I think…
I think I got it, I'm comfortable with this now. And that's the trial.
Hold on.
Hold on. Got it. Hmm.
Yeah.
Thought I would ask you.
Other ways.
But there's also, rising.
Lovely.
Right.
I'm bird.
Couple of places.
Oh, my…
-Oh.
I had some instructions from him.
Not so much about getting up.
I do remember… I had a pretty high metabolism in those days, back in… Late 80s, and
So doing, you know, the instruction was… To go with your breath.
But… Inhalation, exhalation match steps.
And…
One time, he told me, you're going too fast, and I protested, but I'm doing it with my breath.
He said, well, slow down.
And so… The other thing he said… Is if you look at…
People doing Kin Hin, and there's a fence like that.
That it… it looks like this.
It isn't… It's completely smooth.
So… When you… I can do it with my hands.
You know, you… I can't.
it's constant, steady motion forward.
I'll show you those soon.
The other thing is, you know, it's usually behind your things, but… This mudra… This is, like…
Vosborough Fist, you know.
Conviction. Your… your vows and… and intention, and then this is… Like, the feminine part.
Soft.
And… and there's some pressure here.
And you're… You know, you're not like this.
you're… It's sitting posture.
And you… You don't let it droop.
It's here at your solar plexus, and then… when you…
And you're… he said, like, tennis balls under your arms.
So… and… feet, if I may say your feet are too close together.
From my observation.
But… Shoulder width apart. It's a half step.
Toe to arch. And so when you inhale.
When your heel comes down, you're exhaling.
And in that, Maw, that space between breaths.
You're still moving forward.
And then the next inhalation.
Like that, but it's… Here, and it's off the big toe, like, pushing… Slightly forward.
in the… In between exhalation and the next inhalation, and then you inhale.
Set your foot down like that.
And,
Okay, about getting up, yes, coming to me, but… You know, if you're…
You're sitting… Zara.
Hmm…
Whatever you have to do with your flows.
And you… Still keeping your gate, it's not like, you know… What are we doing?
You hear it from the bell, you know what to do, so… Three bells start zazen.
two bells… start Kin Hen.
And then one bell ends Ken Hin, and everybody goes back to their seat.
So, if I'm sitting… Three Bells starts Zaws in, and if I hear… One bell.
From over there, not from the Incan going around.
I… I know that it's something other than kinhin.
So, if I'm… sitting… And I hear… one… And… Without changing my gaze…
Let's start getting him.
Same posture… Like that.
So you don't… Get it up and go… You know, Starting him.
No.
No.
Now, you get up directly from your seat, and start kinhan. It's…
That's what I mean, it's like the first movement, you… and that's how… If you…
Practice getting up from your seat.
and going into Kin Hen, it's a good… vehicle… To study how… Say how you're…
How to not move your mind is the beginning of ceaseless practice.
How to not… Like, stir up everything by getting up.
You can get up, And start walking somewhere.
without… starting a cascaded.
And later, as you become familiar with this whole thing.
The cascade of thoughts is not a problem.
It… it isn't… it just, like…
There's a cascade of thoughts. Just don't buy into it.
I remember.
Hello.
Oh, for Rami, yeah.
Huh.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was a neighbor. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know.
Goal practice.
You know…
Whoa.
Perfect.
.
Fairview.
Oh, interesting.
Huh.
I remember that now.
I used to live in an apartment in Berkeley. Well, it was two flats, you know, we were in the upstairs flat.
And the guy downstairs had decided to…
take singing lessons, because he was going to be in an opera. You know, like, endless all day long. Fortunately, I wasn't there most of the time.
It's funny.
Whoa, yeah, and then actually… At the last sashine we had there.
the sky came from… this is the inverse of that.
you know, it's like 5.30 in the morning, Steve's ringing to Han, and…
this guy comes up, just like, he's a neighbor, and, you know I have insomnia! What is this clacking sound?
It goes both ways, is what I'm saying.
What's that?
I think so, yeah.
But, you know, COVID and all that, he wasn't used to us.
Yeah.
Sent.
Well, there's a bunch of them, but…
Might have been the powwow, I think.
That particular sound.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and then we have a bell, like some of these metal bells.
And we used to ring it to call people back.
It'd be like… it was from a… settling… Bottle, I think, originally.
You hit that thing.
Well, you could see the wave going off down the hill, like… And indeed, somebody came driving up to find the source of it, and they're like, you know, we can hear that, like, a mile away.
I agree.
Or you'll have something.
My point after this.
Wonderful.
Yeah.
Well, not…
Not bothered.
They're in a good shape, they're greatness.
She does.
Hmm.
Eliminate it, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and the other thing in the shrine room at, on… Pearl Street area.
Double the size of this, and… People, you know… Just get up and…
go out and come back in. It wasn't scheduled the way ours is.
So there was that kind of movement, too. I mean, people were… Sitting.
But then, they'd get up, Go to the bathroom.
Take a break, come back in.
I couldn't quite hear all of that.
What's reality? I mean, which reality are we talking about?
Sorry.
Oh.
Well, I didn't have anything ticking like that, but… In my environment. But, I would…
I would say there was nothing ticking.
in… in that… Absolute state, or…
There's no differentiation.
And it… I mean… If…
If somebody came and, you know, Put something against your ear.
physical ear, maybe… I don't know. No, that… Let's say.
Who knows?
Hmm.
That's harder.
Come on.
I would say, Ying, that,
Primordial Light, like, only that.
thing happening.
And it isn't like me sitting here going, Nothing's happening. It's… Doubt.
Capital A awareness experience would be…
That there is nothing going on, in the sense that There's no…
movement. There's nothing arising and nothing dissipating.
No life or death.
As it says in the Heart Sutra.
And also no extinction of it, because, you know, the body will die, but in… that state.
there is… I just… seeing it again, it… There is nothing…
Arising and nothing dissipating. It is just so…
Yay.
Rest.
Thank you all for your input.