Thank you. Today I want to present this case number 17 from the Booklet record. It's title is Gilrin's Sitting Long and Getting Tired

[01:01]

Maybe I can close the book and leave now. The rest is just commentary. Sometimes it's Bodhidharma's, why did Bodhidharma come from the West? So I'll read Engo's introduction. Engo always introduces the main case. Setsuo Chikan Daisho compiled a book of writing. And Engo was introduced made the introductions. So Angos is cutting through nails and breaking steel.

[02:08]

Your Samadhi power isn't strong enough, do you? cutting through nails and breaking steel, for the first time one can be called master of the first principle. If you keep away from arrows and evade swords, you will be a failure in Zen. As for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, that may be set aside for a while. But when the foaming waves wash the sky, what will you do with yourself then? See the following. Main subject. A monk asked Kyōrin, what is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West? This was a famous question in the history of Zen. Kyōrin said, sitting long and getting tired.

[03:23]

And there are many famous answers to that question, why did Billy Donner come from the West, which I won't go into. But this answer of Keoghan's is quite plain. Maybe that's why it's plain, and yet when you look at it, it's very deep. So Kyoryun said, sitting long, getting tired. And then Setsuo Chikan versifies on the case. And his verse says, one, two, and tens of hundreds of thousands take off the muzzle and set down the load. Take off the muzzle and sit down below.

[04:38]

If you turn to the left and right, following another's lead, I would strike you as she struck you titsima. In other words, if you don't find your own way, you'll get a beating. Not from somebody else. Not from somebody else. Actually, you get beat up through your own effort or lack of effort. I want to... This is... The notes here, Sekida Sensei, and I thought I'd read his note because the notes are kind of interesting, his commentary, the translator's commentary.

[05:48]

Kyōrin, who was born in 908, was one of the four outstanding disciples of Unmon, Unmon, or Yunmen, the Chinese Yunmon. And Yinbun was one of the most famous Zen masters. And he has, there are more cases, I think, in the Bukkha record, on Unmang, Bukkha record, and Hegyang, and Kate and Escape. Kate and Escape. Unmang Khan. Unmang Khan means Kate and Escape. Kate and Escape. Thank you. There are more cases of umman than anyone else, and he's famous for his short, cryptic remarks or answers. Kyoryin followed umman for 18 years as his attendant.

[06:57]

Every day, Umman called him. And when he answered, Yes, sir, Umman would say, What is this? This was continued for 18 long years. Then one day, Kyoryin exclaimed, Oh, I understand. You know, we think that maybe we spend a long time studying Zen. When will it be over? When can we move on? When will we get enlightened? Lu Mang said, why don't you say it in a transcending manner? Say it in some way that expresses your understanding. and Kyōrin spent another three years with Ūmon to obtain full maturity.

[07:58]

He was a great master, but slow to mature. Kyōrin's disciple Chīmon was Setsō's teacher. Setsō. Kyōrin taught his disciples for forty years, and when he was dying he said, For forty years I was constantly in one piece. By this, he meant that he had maintained his samadhi, both absolute and positive, unbroken through that time. I want to talk a little bit about samadhi. It's as if he were, I almost never heard him use the word samadhi. He would say, imperturbable mind, or perfect composure, something like that.

[09:02]

He would use those terms over and over again. But he rarely used the word samadhi. But when he made a calligraphy, his calligraphy, the calligraphy said, King Samadhi. I think that we have trouble with words like samadhi because they sound exotic. When you say samadhi, it sounds like, oh, some eastern mysticism. But I like to use the word samadhi. I've started using the word samadhi, even though I didn't want to use it for a long, long time for that reason.

[10:03]

But if we use a word like samadhi and use it in its true sense, we demystify it. So I would rather demystify word, some word, rather than just keep it, just avoid it, using it, because it's mysterious. And words like Dharma, Prajna, so forth, Buddha nature, sometimes the exalted kind of connotations they have and kind of mysteriousness behind them sets us off, turns us off.

[11:06]

So it's hard to kind of, it's hard to penetrate the meaning or hard to enter into it, into the word in order to let it open our mind. Actually, a word can open our mind. If we put a word into our consciousness we don't understand the meaning of. We just put it in there and water it, so to speak. pretty soon it will start to grow and will open up the channels of our minds so that we can begin to understand it. So with words like samadhi, prajna, dharma, dharma is already an accepted word in Berkeley, in the West Coast.

[12:21]

it's misused a lot, you know. But even so, it's not misused in a bad way, I think. People like to take words, and especially exotic words, and use them for their shops and so forth, or kind of toss them around and use them here and there. But still, when the word is used and seen and gets kicked around, people begin to think about it, and it becomes a kind of byword, or it becomes a word in our language. And a lot of people, when they translate today, instead of trying to translate the words, just leave them. So that... Instead of trying to express in our own terms, we accept the word on its terms.

[13:36]

So in the old sutra cards, the prajnaparamita sutra cards, we used to say, anuttara samyak sambodhi, which now is translated as supreme perfect enlightenment. And you're going to say, what's Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi? Oh, actually, it's Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. So you don't have to think about it in any trouble because it's Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. Oh, I know what that is. But if we have to try and find out what Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi is, it'll take us the rest of our life, maybe. So it may be better to use anuttara-samyaksa in Buddhism. It goes deep, comes from the past, from some history.

[14:44]

So if we cut off the history of the meaning of words, We lose something in the process. So it's better that we try to find out the meaning of the words and know the words so we expand our vocabulary. And even at the risk of being misunderstood or mystified or exoticized, And we try to find the meaning of the word and leave the word alone. So I like to use the word samadhi and de-mystify it as well as find its true mystery.

[15:44]

So, yeah, he says... When Kyoren was dying, Setsuo's teacher was dying, he said, for 40 years I was constantly in one piece. By this he meant that he had maintained his samadhi, both absolute and positive, unbroken throughout that time. Absolute and positive, this author makes it clear. makes a distinction between absolute and positive, what he calls absolute samadhi and positive samadhi. And absolute samadhi is basic mind or perfect composure in zazen.

[16:53]

And positive samadhi is perfect composure in activity without losing composure, without losing... or with imperturbability. When he says, when Sitchin says in his poem, when Ingo in his introduction says, as for the subtle probe where no, as for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, we can set that aside for a while. Let's not talk about that. But for now, that's what he's saying. Let's just deal with this other part of the subject.

[18:00]

But as for the subtle place where no probe can get in, where nothing, that means the place where nothing can get in to divide you from yourself. This is always characteristic of... Sometimes Zen masters describe it as a steep, sheer cliff that can't be approachable. Unapproachable, steep cliff. Silver mountains and iron cliffs. Steep, unapproachable cliffs. Everything slides off. No way to penetrate. You can't even put a needle. You can't find a place to put a needle in. This means imperturbable mind, or complete wholeness, seamless, no scenes, not even one little teeny place where something can get in to open that up, to penetrate.

[19:16]

This is... The wholeness or oneness of samadhi means for us when we sit zazen, no matter what problem there is, it can't move us. Why? Sometimes we think of zazen as an endurance test. No, it's just an endurance test. I thought there was something to this, but it just turned out to be an endurance test, as if endurance was just some slight thing, you know. Yes, endurance is very important.

[20:21]

It's the, nothing can get in to make you wiggle. Nothing can disturb your mind. It's what he called the great samadhi. No chinks. Don't move. We did sitting very well. I'm very pleased with our sashit. It feels that. Our sashit has that feeling. We're all sitting very strong and very sincerely, really putting out effort. So this is what he calls absolute samadhi.

[21:46]

Positive samadhi is in the activity of daily life. Nothing can get in to move you, disturb you, disturb you. basic peaceful mind, no matter what happens. These are two sides. It doesn't mean that there aren't waves, or there isn't provocation. And it doesn't mean that you don't get angry. It doesn't mean that you don't have feelings. Some people who are very... whose practice is very strong, looks like they don't have feelings or sympathy.

[23:05]

They look very cold, you know. But... at the appropriate time, at the right moment, to be able to understand. So there are as many different personalities as there are Zen students. We shouldn't try to imitate someone else's attitudes. Oh, I shouldn't be like so-and-so. If I copy so-and-so Zen master's fierce exterior, that will make me a Zen master too.

[24:08]

Actually, a Zen teacher is always different than you expect him to be. We have some idea of what a teacher is like. We're always fooled. That's what he's referring to, actually, in his poems. If you turn left and right following another's lead, I would strike you as Shiko struck Yutetsuma. It means even though we all practice the same practice, we should all be ourself. There are no carbon copies, but this is the koan. How do you practice the same practice as everybody else and at the same time be completely yourself?

[25:19]

Ryu Tetsuma, that story, Ryu Tetsuma was a nun. There's a Zen story about a woman who was a nun. And Ryu Tetsuma, her name, no one could defeat her. Her name means iron jaw. She would chew up anyone who approached her in Dharma combat. So everybody was afraid of her. I'll read the story. One day, Ryutetsuna appeared unexpectedly before Shinko, Shiko was a disciple of Nansen, and who said, Are you not Ryutetsuna?

[26:49]

You are warm, said Ryutetsuna. That's an interesting answer. do you turn right or left? He asked her. She said, you don't overturn. Now this is an interesting answer. He said, do you turn right or left? She said, you don't overturn. Which was pretty good. But before she finished speaking, Shiko struck her This is too bad, actually, because it's a good story about a woman. She gets hit by a man. It's really terrible. To say something like, you don't overturn, is like a big challenge.

[28:19]

What else could he do? But overturn it. Turn her over. So you have to be careful what you say. It's a good answer, but, very good answer. But unfortunately, she handed him the handle and he turned it over. She put it in his hand. So he says, Before she had finished speaking, he did that. She was struck by Shiko. It is said that she should have dealt the blow to Shiko herself when he asked, do you turn right or left? She should have.

[29:20]

Have you? No? What should she have done? Um... You know, in giving blows, when we read about this kind of stuff, it looks like everybody's hitting each other, you know, and hitting with a stick, and everybody's very mean and nasty. But mostly, this kind of It is not vicious, or it's like response. And not meant in a way

[30:32]

I remember in some case, Obaku went up and hit Hyakujo, slapped Hyakujo, hit him. But a commentator on the case says a student would never go up and hit his teacher like that. This is a kind of expression. If the student went up and hit his teacher like that, all the students would chase him out. It's a kind of expression. You went up and hit him. Or, you know, maybe slapped him on the knee or something like that to hit somebody.

[31:45]

Rarely, sometimes that happens, or has happened. Hiyakojo tweaked Wonpo's nose, you know. That kind of, that kind of activity. Twist somebody's ear. Something, you know, to wake you up. But not in a sense of breathing. Nothing behind it. Just talk a little bit longer.

[32:49]

Take an easy posture, please. Sit. I want to talk a little bit about Ango's introduction. He says, cutting through nails and breaking steel, for the first time, one can be called master as the first principle. He says, first principle is things as they actually are. Learning or expressing through... immediate present. And second principle is talking about something.

[33:52]

So teaching goes both ways. Sometimes the first principle, sometimes the second principle. Zen is usually associated with the first principle, but the second principle is also used and is just as important. So sometimes first principle, sometimes second principle. Cutting through nails and breaking steel means, has the feeling of cutting through the difficulty, cutting through the barriers. If you keep away from arrows and evade swords, you will be a failure in Zen. if you don't face the difficulties and penetrate them, you can't get it. So that's why we have sashing, how to penetrate it.

[35:00]

People say, well, if it was just a little easier. But it can't be easier. It has to be as difficult as we can get it. in order to penetrate it. Unfortunately, unfortunately, I don't know, but it's hard. As for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, that's our samadhi, our complete round nature. That may be set aside for a while, but when the foaming waves wash the sky, what will you do with yourself then? One more point is that to demystify samadhi, samadhi is not necessarily something that you can feel as an object.

[36:53]

And during sasin, we get a very certain kind of feeling that we associate with sasin. certain kind of clarity objects take on us there become more themselves than usual and we feel close to objects and so forth and to each other but if we expect something if we expect some kind of insight or some kind of feeling or some kind of enlightenment or some different feeling than usual that can be a hindrance. So we should be able to go completely through sesshin with just normal mind. We say the natural order of mind in the meal subject, the natural order of mind, just ordinary mind.

[38:09]

is the mind that we seek, just ordinary mind. But the question is, what is ordinary mind? But don't expect anything. Why we sit is just to sit without expecting anything. It's like the Sixth Patriarch describes a man of the way, a person of the way, as the sun shining without discrimination. The sun just turns and shines without discrimination.

[39:17]

Without knowing that it shines. It's just being itself. The sun is just being itself. Without expecting something extraordinary. Without doing something extraordinary. No special feeling. If you feel the same way you did the day before you started, that's perfectly fine. It doesn't mean no samadhi.

[40:28]

Actually, when our practice is really one, you can walk in and out of sesshin without hardly telling the difference. Solution B-1.

[41:01]

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