For instance, each one of us has his own way of standing.
 So our standing posture is based on the proportions of our own bodies.
 When you stand, your heels should be as far apart as the width of your own fist.
 Your big toes in line with the centers of your breasts.
 As in Zazen, put some strength in your abdomen.
 Here also, your hands should express yourself.
 Hold your left hand against your chest, with fingers encircling your thumb, and put your
 right hand over it.
 Holding your thumb pointing downward and your forearms parallel to the floor, you feel as
 if you have some round pillar in your grasp, a big round temple pillar, so you cannot be
 slumped or tilted to the side.
 The most important point is to own your own physical body.
 If you slump, you will lose yourself.
 Your mind will be wandering about somewhere else.
 You will not be in your body.
 This is not the way.
 We must exist right here, right now.
 This is the key point.
 You must have your own body and mind.
 Everything should exist in the right place in the right way.
 Then there is no problem.
 If the microphone I use when I speak exists somewhere else, it will not serve its purpose.
 When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place in the
 right way.
 But usually without being aware of it, we try to change something other than ourselves.
 We try to order things outside us.
 But it is impossible to organize things if you yourself are not in order.
 When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized.
 You are the boss.
 When the boss is sleeping, everyone is sleeping.
 When the boss does something right, everyone will do everything right and at the right
 time.
 That is the secret of Buddhism.
 So try always to keep the right posture, not only when you practice zazen, but in all your
 activities.
 Take the right posture when you are driving your car and when you are reading.
 If you read in a slumped position, you cannot stay awake long.
 Try.
 You will discover how important it is to keep the right posture.
 This is the true teaching.
 The teaching which is written on paper is not the true teaching.
 Written teaching is a kind of food for your brain.
 Of course, it is necessary to take some food for your brain, but it is more important to
 be yourself by practicing the right way of life.
 That is why Buddha could not accept the religions existing at his time.
 He studied many religions, but he was not satisfied with their practices.
 He could not find the answer in asceticism or in philosophies.
 He was not interested in some metaphysical existence, but in his own body and mind, here
 and now.
 And when he found himself, he found that everything that exists has Buddha nature.
 That was his enlightenment.
 Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind.
 The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is itself enlightenment.
 If you cannot be satisfied with the state of mind you have in zazen, it means your mind
 is still wandering about.
 Our body and mind should not be wobbling or wandering about.
 In this posture, there is no need to talk about the right state of mind.
 You already have it.
 This is the conclusion of Buddhism.
 Breathing When we practice zazen, our mind always follows
 our breathing.
 When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world.
 When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world.
 The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless.
 We say "inner world" or "outer world," but actually there is just one whole world.
 In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door.
 The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door.
 If you think "I breathe," the "I" is extra.
 There is no "you" to say "I."
 What we call "I" is just a swinging door, which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.
 It just moves, that's all.
 When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing.
 No "I," no world, no mind, no body, just a swinging door.
 So when we practice zazen, all that exists is the movement of the breathing, but we are
 aware of this movement.
 You should not be absent-minded.
 But to be aware of the movement does not mean to be aware of your small self, but rather
 of your universal nature or Buddha nature.
 This kind of awareness is very important, because we are usually so one-sided.
 Our usual understanding of life is dualistic.
 You and I, this and that, good and bad.
 But actually, these discriminations are themselves the awareness of the universal existence.
 "You" means to be aware of the universe in the form of "you."
 And "I" means to be aware of it in the form of "I."
 You and I are just swinging doors.
 This kind of understanding is necessary.
 This should not even be called understanding.
 It is actually the true experience of life through zen practice.
 So when you practice zazen, there is no idea of time or space.
 You may say we started sitting at a quarter to six in this room.
 Thus, you have some idea of time, a quarter to six, and some idea of space in this room.
 Actually, what you are doing, however, is just sitting and being aware of the universal
 activity.
 That is all.
 This moment the swinging door is opening in one direction, and the next moment the swinging
 door will be opening in the opposite direction.
 Moment after moment, each one of us repeats this activity.
 Here there is no idea of time or space.
 Time and space are one.
 You may say, "I must do something this afternoon."
 But actually, there is no this afternoon.
 We do things one after the other.
 That is all.
 There is no such time as this afternoon, or one o'clock, or two o'clock.
 At one o'clock, you will eat your lunch.
 To eat lunch is itself one o'clock.
 You will be somewhere, but that place cannot be separated from one o'clock.
 For someone who actually appreciates our life, they are the same.
 But when we become tired of our life, we may say, "I shouldn't have come to this place.
 It may have been much better to have gone to some other place for lunch.
 This place is not so good."
 In your mind, you create an idea of place separate from an actual time.
 Or you may say, "This is bad, so I should not do this."
 Actually when you say, "I should not do this," you are doing not doing in that moment.
 So there is no choice for you.
 When you separate the idea of time and space, you feel as if you have some choice.
 But actually you have to do something, or you have to do not doing.
 Not to do something is doing something.
 Good and bad are only in your mind, so we should not say, "This is good," or "This
 is bad."
 Instead of saying "bad," you should say, "Not to do."
 If you think this is bad, it will create some confusion for you.
 So in the realm of pure religion, there is no confusion of time and space, or good or
 bad.
 All that we should do is just do something as it comes.
 Do something.
 Whatever it is, we should do it, even if it is not doing something.
 We should live in this moment.
 So when we sit, we concentrate on our breathing, and we become a swinging door, and we do something
 we should do, something we must do.
 This is Zen practice.
 In this practice, there is no confusion.
 If you establish this kind of life, you have no confusion whatsoever.
 Tozan, a famous Zen master, said, "The blue mountain is the father of the white cloud.
 The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain.
 All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other.
 The white cloud is always the white cloud.
 The blue mountain is always the blue mountain."
 This is a pure, clear interpretation of life.
 There may be many things like the white cloud and blue mountain—man and woman, teacher
 and disciple.
 They depend on each other.
 But the white cloud should not be bothered by the blue mountain.
 The blue mountain should not be bothered by the white cloud.


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