Good morning. Welcome to Day 3. If you're just joining us, welcome to Sashim. I really appreciate that the session director is reading the admonitions every morning. I am listening carefully. It's all good advice. A little bit closer to your mouth, right? Thank you. Like that? Is that good? In towards your mouth. There you go. That's it. How's that? A little bit better.

[01:04]

A little bit better? Can't even see it. A while back, I spoke about the very kind and very wise abbot of Shasta Abbey, Reverend Master Mayon Elbert. And her Hanshi, or root teacher, is a great woman ancestor, Jiyu Kenneth Roshi. Now, I feel like Jiyu Kenneth Roshi does not get enough credit for all that she did to establish Zen in North America, which was a lot. And she was very early. And as a woman in Japan and here, I was going to say that she busted through many glass ceilings, but the expression glass ceiling implies a semblance of equality.

[02:16]

Kenne Roshi busted through ceilings that were thousand-year-old stone and did so much. She wrote a book That is quite famous. It's a compendium. At a time when people, Westerners, were just interested in like the Zen of it all. The Zen of Zen. You know, Alan Was and mysticism and spirituality and you know, koans and you know, make it so Zen. Shi'i really made an Tremendous effort to transmit what she got from practicing in Sojiji Temple in Yokohama with the Abbot of Sojiji, her teacher, which was everything. Liturgy, ceremonies.

[03:20]

This book is called Selling Water by the River. It's an incredible compendium. This is from our library, our amazing Berkeley Zen Center Library. This is an amazing book. Written in the late 60s, published in 1972. This is the first edition. Later on, a few years later, I believe 1976, it was republished with some edits This is a thing that publishers do sometimes. Give it a different title. They'll sell more copies. Chick-Anon books have done this and others. We'll republish it with a new title. So in 1976, it was republished, what had been Selling Water by the River, a great title, was republished as

[04:29]

Zen is eternal life. Same book, basically. I remember this because this is around the time when I first started practicing at City Center. Yeah, I came to San Francisco Zen Center when I was 19. I practiced pretty diligently for over a year, and then I stopped. I left. I did other things. But at the time, people saying, Ah, too bad, man. Like, wow. Selling water by the river is such a great title. And Zen is eternal life. Bogus. Don't they know about impermanence? Don't they know about, you know, nothing is eternal? I don't know. But I remember that vibe from that time. People say, oh, wow, too bad. They republished it with this different title.

[05:30]

I don't like that title. And that kind of stuck with me. I'm going to say it was a koan for me. I've worn that one out. But it did stick with me. What could she be talking about? I've thought about it from time to time over the years. Going even further back, if you've heard a version of my Wayseeking Mind talk, you may know that as a child and a teenager, I was really drawn to , not so much Buddhism initially. Interesting. But in the 60s and 70s, there were gurus all over the place. I mean, there was lots of them. And I know some of you are old enough to remember the teenage guru, Guru Maharaj Ji.

[06:38]

Yeah? Remember that guy? Maharaj Ji. Yeah. The 13-year-old avatar is directly connected to the goddess. An enlightened master. 13 years old. Somehow I felt like he was 13 years old for a long time. I looked it up and it turns out I'm only a year older than he is. But I was a teenager. I was in high school in the UK. Guru Maharaji was really popular. And, you know, I was really interested in Eastern spirituality and I would read, whatever I could get my hands on. I was very interested. So I remember reading about this Guru Maharaji.

[07:39]

Actually, he's a pretty good guy. He's still teaching. He doesn't make any claims to godhood or anything, but cool guy, actually, in India. The girl I was interested in He was a devotee, so maybe I was a little jealous. Whatever. I read an interview with him. And the interviewer said, what happens when you die? And he said, nothing. Made a big impression on me. on Teenage Greg. My teacher, Soja Roshi, seemed like he never failed to miss an opportunity when he would hear somebody talk about life and death.

[08:59]

And he would say, uh-uh. I don't agree with that. I don't say life and death. I say life, which includes birth and death. There is only life. Life includes birth, which includes death. And, you know, I think Dogen Zenji would agree with that. It's maybe a small quibble. But he would always say that in my recollection. I'm saying that quite a few times. Not life and death, life which includes birth and death. So I'm trying to work around to talking about chapter 16 of the Lotus suit. the lifespan of the eternal Tathāgata, which is a hard thing to talk about.

[10:04]

So I'm just like trying to come at it from a few different angles, soften this up possibly, I don't know. But that's what I'm up to. Most of the translations of the Lotus Sutra that we have available to us in English, which are quite a few, have been translated from Kumarajiva's translation from around the 6th century of the Kaminyur. Kumarajiva and his crew, his actually big crew, tremendous translation project they undertone. translated many, many sutras. If you want some fun, check out the Wikipedia page about Kumarajiva.

[11:11]

What an interesting story. He was considered such an asset that he was kidnapped twice. He was from the Kingdom of Kuchat in but we'd say North Mongolia along the Silk Road. So there was lots of trade, lots of people coming and going, and many different languages spoken. So he became multilingual. He learned Chinese on one of the occasions when he was kidnapped. And he was kidnapped back to Chang'an, eventually the capital of China at that time. And that's when he and his crew undertook this. And he was a great monk. I think about Kastanahashi and teachers of San Francisco Zen Center working to translate the Shomogenso, which eventually they did publish an entire translation of the Treasury of the True Dharma, Ai, by Dogen.

[12:16]

Working with various teachers, especially my teacher, Sojourn Roshi, more of them than anybody else, actually, were collaborations between Sojin and Kaz, to get at the meaning, to get at the meaning, you know, not just to translate, not just this word, this word, this word, but what is the meaning, what is the intention? And I feel like Kumar Jeeva and his crew worked really hard on that, and it was a very daunting task, from Sanskrit to Chinese. Most famously, The way, when they say the Buddha way, it's translated as Tao. They already had a conception of the way. It's the Tao, which is, of course, from the Chinese religion of Taoism. And this had a big, big impact on the development of, in particular, Zen.

[13:21]

Their translation for samsara, well, I can't say in Chinese, but in Japanese is shoji ri ne, four characters, shoji ri ne, which more or less is birth, death, going around on the wheel, the wheel and turning. being termed by birth and death. And for short, sometimes just shoji. Birth and death. Samsara. In case you think The Lotus Sutra is all bells and flowers and parasols and banners and jewel trees and level plants.

[14:42]

It isn't. There's a lot of double distilled capital D Dharma Sutra. So this is from the translation that we chanted on Memorial Day. Thanks again, Blake. That was incredible. The translation we chanted was Shinozaki Ziprin and Earhart. Recent translation that is pretty darn good and quite chantable. So, here we go, chapter 16. Good children, the sutras of Tathagata are all for the purpose of liberating living beings.

[15:43]

I may speak of myself. I may speak of someone else. I may appear as myself. I may appear as someone else. I may appear through my own deeds. I may appear through someone else's deeds. And whatever I teach and whatever I say is valid and never in vain. Why is this? The Tartagata perceives the character of the threefold world as it really is. Birth and death do not leave it or appear in it. There is no staying in the world, or departing from it, for extinguishment. It is neither substantial nor insubstantial. And it is neither thus nor otherwise. This is not how the threefold world sees itself, but the tautograph sees such things as these clearly and without error.

[16:48]

That's a lot. Suzuki Roshi talked about, speaking of the Lotus Sutra, he said that the Lotus Sutra was preached by the Sambhogakaya Buddha, cosmic Buddha, eternal Buddha. If it's just Shakyamuni, you know, the historical Buddha, it doesn't really make sense. It doesn't really track. And that's an example. That's all through the Lotus Sutra. You hear, it's Shakyamuni speaking, supposed to be, preaching from Vulture Peak, surrounded by those 80,000 bodhisattvas,

[17:52]

and he's preaching as the Sambhogakasana Buddha, eternal and ever-present. And that's the gist of chapter 16, that he's telling us, you only appeared to be born, only appeared to die. There is no staying in the world or departing from it for extinguishment. Birth and death do not leave it or appear in it. Like that, you know. And at the same time, although this may sound pretty far out and cosmic, I feel it's also quite practical. and relevant to our lived experience.

[18:58]

When he says, I may appear as myself. I may appear as someone else. I may appear through my own deeds. I may appear through someone else's deeds. Hmm. So what is it that appears as himself or appears as someone else or appears to his own deeds or appears to someone else's deeds. I think about what people said about Suzuki Roshi a lot. They say, I felt like he could see the Buddha in me when I could not. that he could see the Buddha in everyone. When you see the Buddha in another person, when you see the Buddha in another person's deeds, that's the eternal, ever-present Buddha showing up in our lives.

[20:10]

And it's actually an ordinary, everyday thing. It's amazing It's magical. And it's an ordinary, everyday thing. Everyday. There are moments. Particularly when we allow ourselves to be open to these moments. The Buddha in another person. We see the Buddha in another person's deeds. And it's incredibly encouraging. It can melt your heart. Giving you courage. Helping you. Maybe I can even see the Buddha in myself. As crazy a prospect as that might feel, you can try it on.

[21:19]

I have a lot of favorites. But one that comes back to me over and over, the end of the verse section of chapter 16. the last lines of chapter 16. I like it so much, I made it one of my email signatures. That's right. And it's the voice of Shakyamuni. The voice of Shakyamuni speaking as Sambhogakaya Buddha. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna get into Trikaya again, I just can't. But fun fact, is often translated as enjoyment body.

[22:41]

I like that a lot. Please enjoy your practice. When the Shobha Genzo with Kaz Tanaji and the San Francisco Zen Center teachers, that translation, the complete translation, was finally published, had a copy. Kaz was in Tassahara. I said, Kaz, please sign this. And he signed it for me, did a little kanji of the word ocean. And then he wrote, enjoy your enlightenment. That's our friend Kaz. So I just picked some, I have quite a few translations of the Lotus Sutra on my hard drive. So I picked a few, pretty much at random. Although all of them are from Kumarajiva. Okay, you ready? This, okay, first from Shinozaki Ziprin and Earhart, the one we chanted, I am ever thinking, this is Shakyamuni's voice, okay?

[23:51]

Shakyamuni says, I am ever thinking, how can I cause to embark upon the unsurpassable way and quickly accomplish embodiment as Buddhas? from the Buddhist Text Translation Society. I am always thinking, how can I cause living beings to enter the unsurpassed way and to quickly perfect the body of a Buddha? Kubo and Yuyama. I am always thinking, by what means can I cause sentient beings to be able to enter the highest path attain the Dharma. Burton Watson. At all times I think to myself, how can I cause living beings to gain entry into the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?

[24:56]

And lastly, Bruno Kato. Ever making this my thought, how shall I cause all the living to enter the Way Supreme and speedily accomplish their Buddhahood. As I often say, all the things of the Lotus Sutra are good. Good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end. And I think you can tell that these are all, these five versions that I just read to you are very similar. This is what makes it, you know, it's fun to do translation studies, you know, if you have multiple translations. So you can, like, sort of begin to get a felt sense of what's trying to be said there. But what I really like is that three out of the five mention the word body.

[26:02]

Quickly accomplish embodiment as Buddhas. and to quickly perfect the body of a Buddha. Enter the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha. Why I like this so much is because I'm always saying, I say it because it's true, Zen is body practice. It's not about what you think. It's what you're doing with this body at all times. In particular, our practice of upright sitting. It's not something you do with your mind. It's something you do with your whole body and mind. The mind isn't left out. But it's one thing. You know, harmonized body and mind. Or another version of Sushin Admonitions would say,

[27:06]

body and mind in one suchness yeah so it's about the body achieving the body of Buddha this is what Shakyamuni Buddha is concerned with for us for us to liberate us as we are all buddha in the ultimate realm we are all in communion with the sambhogakaya buddha just like guru maharaji just like anybody we're all doing this all the time and We all have the capacity to be Buddha in the historical realm, in the, you know, as we experience it.

[28:19]

Enter the way supreme. Entry into the unsurpassed way. Enter the highest path. quickly acquire the body of a Buddha. You sit down, you sit upright. You do all the other things that you learned in Zazen instruction. Boom. You have a Buddha. And, you know, as Dogen says, in his fascicle Bendo Wa, although this inconceivable Dharma is abundant in each person, it's actualized without practice. It's not experienced without realization. That's the task before us. It doesn't happen automatically.

[29:31]

In the ultimate realm, it is happening automatically. We have work to do. This is a difficult thing to talk about. Apologize. At the end of the chuso ceremony, the chuso holds up their staff and says, friends, my actions and words have misled you. I'm sorry. I don't want to confuse you anymore. And like I said, I'm trying to come at this from a few different directions. You know, last Sunday, we had a beautiful Shukai Tokudo home meeting ceremony, priest ordination, with Reverend Joe Buckner and Reverend Clay Taylor.

[30:40]

And that ceremony begins, the first words, the preceptor says, Anybody? No. Okay. I'll say it. In faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha's way. In faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha's way. That's it, friends. A lot of people have a difficult time with that word faith. I'm sorry. Sochen always said, Dogen Zenji was a great intellect, but at heart he was a faith type. There's a fascicle.

[31:44]

There's always a fascicle. There's a fascicle in the shabha gazo called Shoji. The title of it is Shoji, birth and death, shorthand for samsara. And there's some lines in that one that just knock me out every time. See what they do for you. I love this so much. It's got some, actually, these could be sashimi admonitions. I said, it's difficult to talk about. Dogen says, do not analyze or speak. Just set aside your body and mind. Forget about them. and throw them into the house of Buddha, then all is done by Buddha.

[32:49]

When you follow this, you are free from birth and death and become a Buddha, effort or calculation. Isn't that great? This is what I wish for you, in particular for Sashim, but also in particular for your whole life. So I'm going to read. Do not analyze or speak about it. Just set aside your body and mind, forget about them, and throw them into the house of Buddha. Then all is done by Buddha. When you follow this, you are free from birth and death and become without effort or calculation. The practice of Zen as an act of devotion allows you, allows us, to access the eternal, ever-present Buddha that lives within all of us.

[34:03]

That's what I think. That's what keeps me doing it. Zen is eternal life. And that's my day three Dharma talk. Thank you very much for your attention. I don't know. Do you want me to take questions? Hello everybody on Zoom. Good morning, Gregory.

[35:20]

Where is the health of Buddha? Right here. Thank you. Yes, Laurie. I'm thinking of Buddha's question, how? I think all day about how. How can we get people to start telling the truth? Well, I think... It's very, very important that we, those of us who have this intention, and it's a very virtuous intention, that we be truth-tellers ourselves. That we be super scrupulous about telling the truth, telling our truth, speaking truth to power, as they say. That's important. You can't, as they say, you can lead a horse to water, you can make it drink.

[36:23]

But you can embody truth. You can live your truth. We can live our truth. There's a great deal of power in that. And that power, to me, that power is transformative. People pick up on it. And then, yeah, I mean, this whole Bodhisattva project, you know, helped people wake up. So it's a great question. It's a great thing to work with. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Jisha. So thirsty. Yeah, Blake. Thank you. Thank you. So, Greg Roshi.

[37:28]

The seeing Buddhas in everybody, how can I avoid some scary type? Because I want to kind of see Dogen or Suzuki Roshi or some whatever... the Buddha looked like. I want to see an Asian brother in everybody. How can I see the Buddha in everybody? Yeah. Thanks. Excuse me. Sorry. It's beyond form and appearance. The word Buddha, actually, you know, not bad translation is woke. The word Buddha means the awakened one.

[38:32]

So when you see awakening, when you see truth, when you see love, Suzuki Roshi talked about the Buddha's tender mercy all the time. We don't really talk about that so much, you know. But I'm on a mission. Maybe I'm a Buddhist revivalist. The devotional aspect of Buddhism, which, you know, I just feel like white convert Buddhism bypassed it in many respects. And it has so much to offer. I look for that, you know? I look for kindness. I look for wisdom. I look for love. When I see that, I see Buddha. It's beyond form and appearance.

[39:34]

It's arises from, from what? Fast emptiness, big mind. the great mystery, but it's manifesting itself through us all the time. Open to seeing it. You're gonna see it a lot. Yeah. So it's, Karen, you had your hand up. Yep. And then I saw Susan. Go ahead, Karen. Earlier you were saying that when we practice, we kind of put ourselves aside and Buddha does the rest. Dogen said that, yeah. Dogen said that. Yes. What I wonder about often kind of personification of Buddha and how

[40:46]

I'm trying to mix together, you know, faith. And I know ourselves and our attachments and aversions. But I find the personification comforting, like Buddha's out there doing something. But is that completely... and question myself as to whether that's the intention. Well, you find it comforting, right? Yeah. Me too. Me too. So it's skillful. I feel that as people, this particular species of primate that we are, we're hopefully very chummy, friendly, relate to each other, relate to Buddha.

[42:02]

So it's quite useful to relate to Buddha as a being. I was telling Linda why I like to move my sabbatan down to the floor when she's talking. Because I look over and I say, well, you know, Samanta Bhadra and Manjushri, they're my friends too. But mostly I want to concentrate on you. But it's just, it's helpful. You know, this is called skillful means. It's helpful. It's how people operate. That's what I think, you know. So, yeah, I'm right there with you, Karen. Talk about having a relationship with Jesus, which is very kind of foreign to me because I wasn't raised a Christian.

[43:07]

But can you have that kind of relationship with Buddha? I think so. It's up to you. For some people, that really works. Other people, forget it. Some people reject that entirely. There's, I think, a book called Buddhism Without Belief. Okay, whatever. It seems kind of cruel to me, but whatever works for you. That's what Shaky Muni is about. It shocked me. It's like, I'm never thinking, how can I help these people to quickly acquire the body of a Buddha? So, if it works for you to have a devotion to it, I personally, I definitely have. You know me, I'm going with Kanzayong. I say it all the time, bad news, Kanzayong. Yeah, me too. I say it a lot.

[44:08]

You know, it helps me. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you for your talk Craig. Towards the end of Sojin's life, we were taking a walk and we were talking about the political situation and I said to him, do you really think that everybody has Buddha nature? And he kind of paused and he said, well, I always did believe that, but there is a sect of Buddhism, I don't remember what it is, in which people believe that some people are born evil. He said to me, and I'm beginning to wonder. And he said, I don't know.

[45:10]

And I've been thinking about that. I've been wondering, could it possibly be helpful to think that perhaps some people are born evil? For myself, it doesn't make me more pessimistic about work in the world. But I guess I... Now, I don't know, and I don't want to romanticize this idea that everyone has Buddha nature. And I just wonder what you think about that. Well, good for you for not romanticizing it. You know, that's good, I think. Because when you say romanticize, if you're like, you know, well, we can fall into delusion. diluted thinking about that. The expression is Ichantika, without Buddha nature.

[46:14]

Yeah, this sect, whatever it is, they believe that certain people are without Buddha nature, Ichantika. And the thing is, if you say that to a Zen teacher, a lot of Zen teachers, they'll be like, ooh, that's me. You know, itchantaka? Oh, that's me. I immediately identify with that. Because why? Because, and I feel this super strongly, there is evil in the world. Cannot exclude or other anybody. So if you say itchantaka, I say, okay, that's me. then I identify with that. Because there's nothing outside. This I believe with every fiber of my being.

[47:19]

And thank you very much for sharing that great story about Sonoroshi. That is awesome. A great way to end. Thank you. Thank you. Oh.

[47:46]

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