So,
Arranging our body in a comfortable sitting place.
We've got our legs and a body arranged in such a way to feel nice and comfortably upright.
You're welcome to lower your eyes,
Maybe close your eyes if you like.
Schools of Zen encourage you to keep your eyes open and here in the Rinzai school there's not really any particular preference.
It's just whatever feels best for you.
Eyes open,
Eyes closed.
Your hands resting somewhere where your shoulders can relax and we come into our centered,
Balanced,
Poise.
Turning your attention within.
Noticing how you're feeling.
Noticing what's going on.
Remember there is no good and no bad here.
There's no better or worse.
It's just noticing.
We're not supposed to be one way or another.
Bringing your attention down into your belly and in Japanese they talk about a particular energy spot,
Energy center,
In the middle of your belly called Tanden.
In Chinese if you've done any Tai Chi or anything you might recognize it as in Japanese Tanden.
There's an energy center in the middle of your belly.
Just below your belly button in the middle.
A monk came to Master Joshu and said,
Does a dog have Buddha nature?
And Joshu responded,
Mu.
And we're going to drop this question from your conceptual thinking mind,
Which you could associate with your brain in your head.
Drop that question from your brain down into your belly.
What is Mu?
We don't need to worry about the question that the monk asked,
Does a dog have Buddha nature?
We don't need to ask that question.
We just need to bring Mu into your belly.
On each out-breath,
You can just internally say Mu into your belly.
Mu.
What is this Mu?
Each out-breath,
Mu.
Joshu used this answer as a sword to cut through our conceptual,
Analytical,
Intellectual mind that wants to know,
That wants to divide and label and work it all out.
He used as a sword to cut through all that.
So it's just Mu.
Nothing else.
Diving in,
Each out-breath.
And as I said,
The mind comes up with all sorts of weird things.
What is this crazy question?
What the hell am I doing?
Why am I looking at this foreign word?
It sounds ridiculous like I'm a cow.
If it helps,
In Japanese they smell it M-U,
So it's not M-double-O,
M-U,
Mu.
Show me the one Mu in the whole universe.
Show me your true nature.
Show me how you are not separated from the whole universe.
That's our direction.
In a sense,
There's nothing to find out here.
There's nothing to work out.
There's just a diving in,
A becoming.
They use this word as phrase in Japanese,
Narikiru,
Which means something like,
To become a hundred percent.
Can we become a hundred percent?
If your mind wanders off and we end up thinking about something else,
We get distracted.
It's totally normal.
Just as soon as you notice,
Bringing your attention back,
Centering your awareness in your belly and allowing this Mu to form in your belly.
Stepping into the shoes of Master Joshu when he answered Mu.
So this is not so much a mantra practice where you repeat a sound to develop concentration,
A focusing,
An investigation.
It's a broadening out,
Not a narrowing in.
It's a broadening out.
What is this Mu?
How can I?
It feels like I am saying the sound Mu.
What would it be like if there was just Mu when you and the sound come together?
Stepping into the lineage of Mu,
Extending back centuries through Zen practice over different countries,
So many different people,
Practicing with Mu,
Realizing their truth.
And as we come to the end of this practice period together,
Just starting to sway your body a bit from side to side,
Maybe take a deeper breath if you like.
Letting your eyes lift just when you're ready.
We offer the merit of our practice today to all living beings.
May they all find well-being,
Happiness,
May they find contentment and liberation.
