That's my fault. I meant to say something about that the classical translation, as I said, appears in Lunar and Dewdrop, and I meant that to be the main translation for all. And then the Abbe translation as a supplement. How many copies do we have of Abbe? for everybody who has a learning backdrop. Anyone who has this has the chakra obvious also. Well, next time bring that learning backdrop. If you don't have it, I suggest that you buy it. Because we have some copies that are very inexpensive. The original publisher And they have some copies left over. And we have some, haven't we?

[01:03]

Not yet, but we will have them next week. It will continue to be published by another publisher, apparently. But they're very inexpensive. We will have them. So anyway, You can use the Abe translation, which is actually a very good translation. There are two classicals, Zenki and Shoji. And Zenki, they're both very short, but they kind of go together. Zenki means something like total or complete and zen and ki is like energy or dynamics is how it's usually expressed and so dogen

[02:17]

uses this term, Zenki, to express the total or complete working of the universe as our complete life. I think a lot of you are not familiar with Dogen's Engine. This may be your first time, actually, that you're studying anything of Dogen's. I don't want to take the time to explain Dogen, but I would suggest that of Dogen's works, and you can become familiar with Dogen through those translations. Lunen and Dewdrop is a good introductory book.

[03:23]

As you know, Dogen was the founder of the Soto school in Japan. So, not only that, but he was a very radical, not just a philosopher, but practitioner, whose works are very highly esteemed. He wrote a lot, which is unusual for a Zen master. And his works seem very contemporary. So we study Dogon because our practice stems from Dogon. And if you understand Dogon somewhat, then you understand better what our practice is. Do you have any questions?

[04:30]

I just wanted to say, if this is... I was having a little bit of a dew drop when I was looking through it, and boy, if this is for beginners... It's not. The way you said it was introductory, so... Oh, I see. Yeah. Well, I love... Yeah. Oh, you're saying, if this is for beginners? It's not introductory, but it's an introduction. An introduction. In other words, you step in off the deep. It's a little bit of shore. So, it's not introductory, but it's an introduction. Just take your life as it were. So Dogen had a very deep grasp of Buddhism and interpreted Buddhism in his own terms. He didn't change it, but

[05:38]

certain figures who have clarified the teachings like Nagarjuna. As a matter of fact, a good many of the ancestors whose names we chant in the lineage were people who And in that way, it kept the Dharma alive. Because if we don't keep taking a fresh view, according to the transformation of society and humanity, then we get stuck in old views, and Dharma no longer exists. Every once in a while someone comes along who makes, who creates a fresh view, not changing anything, but gives us a way to look at it in a fresh way.

[07:06]

So Dogon was one of those people. Here, you know, if you look at your page, first page, this is an introduction by Dr. Abe and Rumi Wadil, Dogen's Shobo Genzo. Shobo Genzo was Dogen's Bodhi's work, which he wrote, 95 fascicles. And Zenki and Shoji are two of those fascicles. And so Zenki is translated here as total dynamic working. Cleary translates it as the whole works, which is kind of cute.

[08:08]

Actually, it's a nice way of translating it, the whole works. In other words, Everything is working together, somehow. And the other one is Shojin, called Birth and Death. And both of these fascicles, they complement each other. And Shojin is very short, and puts the emphasis on birth and death. And Zenki puts the emphasis on total dynamism of the universe. Yes. We don't have the one you want, because that's not our first page. That's at the end. No, he just did it. I thought it was from the... We just start with the... You start at the moment. You draw. And then you go on to...

[09:10]

I said I did. I thought you said you didn't. No, I did. They're both there. I thought you said, no, I didn't. No, I didn't. Okay. So I'll just, since it's rather short, I'll read this Abbe's introduction. He says, these words from Shobo Genzo Shouaku Makusa, Shouaku Makusa is Do Not Evil, can be said to form the essence of Dogen's entire career. All these words, clarifying birth and clarifying death, is the matter of greatest importance for a Buddhist.

[10:16]

These words, from Shobo Genzo, Showa to Makuta, can be said to form the essence of Dogen's entire career, and to be the reason for his voluminous literary production as well. His main work, Shobo Genzo, devotes little space to this subject directly, but all of his writing may be said to spring from his concern with this question of birth and death, because for Dogen, as for all Buddhists, birth and death is the basic existential problem. one that knows no sectarian boundaries. The need to resolve this problem drove him to undertake the dangerous sea voyage to China. There, in words from Ben Doa, he tells us, I went to a Taipei peak and engaged in religious practice under the Zen master, Ru Jing, until I had resolved one great matter of Zen practice for my entire life. Two fascicles of Shogun Genzo deal specifically with birth and death, Zenki and Shochu. According to its colophon, Zenki was delivered the 12th month of 1222 at the mansion of a samurai official named Hatano Yoshishige.

[11:31]

Dogen was then 42 years old. He had resided at Koshoji for nine years and would leave the very next summer for the mountains of Echizen in present-day Fukui Prefecture, where he would spend the remaining ten years of his life educating his students and devoting himself to literary production. In Zenki, as in Genjo Koan, which was also intended primarily for his lay followers, Dogen uses few technical terms. That, the subject of birth and death and the inclusion of the parable of boat and boatman, render it highly appropriate for a lay audience. The word zenki, which we have translated here as total dynamic working and also total dynamism, lacks any truly satisfactory English equivalent, for the Japanese and Chinese is freighted with a great many subtle and diverse connotations impossible to find in one or several English words. The title derives from the initial lines of a poem of the Sung Zen master Yuan Wu.

[12:34]

Life is the manifestation of the total dynamic working. Death is the manifestation of the total dynamic working, in which Zen, this particular character, means complete, a totality encompassing the entire universe with nothing excluded. And Ki covers such significances as motive power, spring, trigger, mechanism, opportunity. Thus, for Dogen, Zen Ki indicates the total dynamic function of man and the world in which total reality is disclosed. Life and death are the two great dynamic forces of the universe, and their zen ki are the total realization and manifestation of the Buddha Dharma, or Buddha nature. So, as he says here, birth and death are the two dynamic functions of the universe. of man and the world, in which total reality is disclosed.

[13:39]

And there's Zenki, or the total realization and manifestation of the Buddha Dharma, or Buddha nature. Zenki, of which no holograph now exists, has been included in all the main collective editions of Shobo Genzo since Dogen's time. So, I want to, since we have both translations, I want to start with reading Shunmunanda Dhruva, where Karan Hashi translates Zenki as undivided activity. Both of these are good translations, and it's good to compare translations because each translator has a different feeling for what the terms are.

[14:53]

And it's good to be able to see the terms actually posed in different ways. So undivided activity is also a very good way of thinking about zenki, because undivided means non-dualistic in a sense. So you can say the non-dualistic activity of birth and death. We usually tend to think of birth and death in a dualistic way. And what Dogen is trying to bring out here is actually the non-duality, which is the total undivided activity of birth and death. So, I'll read the whole thing, just to give us a picture. It's rather short. And then, we can study the first two sections, or three sections,

[15:55]

So he says, the great way of all Buddhas, thoroughly practiced, is emancipation and realization. Emancipation means that in birth, you are emancipated from birth. In death, you are emancipated from death. Thus, there is detachment from birth and death, and penetrating birth and death. Such is the complete practice of the great way. there is letting go of birth and death and vitalizing birth and death. Such is the thorough practice of the Great Way. Realization is birth, and birth is realization. At the time of realization, there is nothing but birth, totally actualized, nothing but death, totally actualized. Such activity makes birth holy birth, death holy death. Actualized just so at this moment, this activity is neither large nor small, neither immeasurable nor measurable, neither remote nor urgent.

[17:04]

Birth, in its right nowness, is undivided activity. Undivided activity is birth in its immediacy. Birth neither comes nor goes. Birth neither appears nor is already existing. Thus, birth is totally manifested and death is totally manifested. Know that there are innumerable beings in yourself. Also, there is birth and there is death. Quietly think over whether birth and all things that arise together with birth are inseparable or not. There is neither a moment nor a thing that is apart from birth. There is neither an object nor a mind that is apart from birth. Birth is just like riding in a boat. You can substitute the word life for birth. You can say life is just like riding in a boat. You raise the sails, you take the tiller, and row with the oar. Although you row, the boat gives you a ride.

[18:07]

And without the boat, no one could ride. But you ride in the boat, and your riding makes the boat what it is. Investigate a moment such as this. At just such a moment, there is nothing but the world of the boat, or the time of the boat. The sky, the water, and the shore are all the boat's world, which is not the same as a world that is not the boat's. When you ride in a boat, your body and mind and the environs together are the undivided activity of the boat. The entire earth and the entire sky are both the undivided activity of the boat. Thus, birth is nothing but you, and you are nothing but birth, or life. Zen master Ingo Iwanwu, priest Keikin, said, Birth is undivided activity. Death is undivided activity. Clarify and investigate these words.

[19:08]

What you should investigate is, while the undivided activity of birth has no beginning or end, and covers the entire earth and the entire sky, it hinders neither birth's undivided activity nor death's undivided activity. At the moment of death's undivided activity, while it covers the entire earth and the entire sky, it hinders neither death's undivided activity nor birth's undivided activity. This being so, birth does not hinder death, and death does not hinder birth. Both the entire earth and the entire sky appear in birth as well as in death. However, it is not that one and the same entire earth and sky are fully manifested in birth and also fully manifested in death. Although not one, not different. Although not different, not the same. Although not the same, not many. Similarly, in birth there is undivided activity of all things, and in death there is undivided activity of all things.

[20:16]

There is undivided activity in what is not birth and not death. There is birth and there is death in undivided activity. This being so, the undivided activity of birth and death is like a young man bending and stretching his arm. or it is like someone asleep, searching with his hand behind his back for the pillow. This is realization in vast, wondrous light. About such a moment, you may suppose that because realization is manifested in undivided activity, there was no realization prior to this. However, prior to this realization, undivided activity was manifested. But undivided activity manifested previously does not hinder the present realization of undivided activity. Because of this, your understanding can be manifested moment after moment. This was taught to the Assembly of the Residents of the former government of Iizumo Prefecture, next to Roku Haramitsu Temple on the 17th day of the third year of Ninjutsu, 1242.

[21:26]

So it gets a little bit mentally complicated, complex towards the end. But you can study this and you can straighten it out. So, Dogen's great example is in the fifth section where he talks about Tonight we will study the first and second, and possibly the third sections here. If you have any questions at any time, I want you to feel free to just ask, you know, say what the question is. Can you guess what sort of a lay audience this was?

[22:42]

Not a special audience. I don't think so. Were they warriors, do you suppose? Well, I don't know exactly. This baron lent his house for this teaching. He had to have a bodyguard. Probably his court. You think there were women there? Probably not. Not that Duggan was opposed to women, but probably in those days there weren't so many women who would have been thought about. Probably not. Probably mostly men. But I can't say for sure. Although, you know, in Japan there were many Buddhists, in China, there were many women who were Buddhists and very interested in Dharma. And Dogen had women disciples before he moved to his monastery in the later part of his life with the monks.

[23:50]

Before he moved to Eheji with the monks, he was more interested in lay people, both men and women. You said you could substitute life for death. Yeah, for birth and death. Is there some way you can substitute for death? Can you think of one? No. I guess when I hear this again, I think, okay, so here we are talking about birth and death again, but are we talking about birth and death moment to moment? Well, those are good questions, which we will get into when we start to study the text. I was thinking, as I was driving over here, you could substitute motion and rest.

[24:54]

You could substitute motion and rest as maybe metaphors, but not motion and rest both. Well, yeah, I mean, you could. We can think about that. Metaphorically, if you think that death is rest, but then if you think about birth and death on each moment. And death will fit a part. A moment and a rest. I've tried to read Moon and New Drop a couple of times and sort of given up. I kind of wondered why Dogen was, for me, so hard to understand, whether it was the subject matter or that it's philosophy or that it's

[26:02]

Chinese being translated into Japanese, being translated into English, or whether it was kind of an esoteric use of words. I just kind of wondered about that. Well, Dogen is hard for everyone to understand. So you can feel that you're in good company. But one reason why Dogen is not so easy to understand is because he's not thinking in a human-centered way. And most of our thinking is human-centered, homocentric. And Dogen's thinking is Buddha-centric. As a matter of fact, his thinking is all-being-centric. And our way of looking at something is mostly homocentric. So because of that, because our way of viewing things is homocentric, it's naturally dualistic.

[27:04]

So Dogen is using language in which he tries to stay out of the dualistic realm. So when we read Dogen, it boggles the mind because our mind is oriented toward thinking dualistically. And so, in order to express himself non-dualistically, he'll take any word and use it to mean its opposite. Or, he'll take any word and use it to mean whatever he wants it to mean. Mel, can you give an example of that? I'm trying to think of an example. He uses the word impede.

[28:09]

Let's say, it's necessary. Life impedes life. meaning it resists, right? But he uses it in a sense to mean that actually life gives life to life. But he uses the word impede because if you say gives, then you're looking at it from the point of view of one-sidedness. So, in the Koan, Mu is like this. What does Mu mean? Mu means, in Chinese, Wu means no. Does the dog have Buddha nature? This is a very famous question.

[29:13]

And Master Joshu says Mu, which literally means no. But if I asked you, does dog have buddha nature? You wouldn't say moo, you'd say hi. You'd say yes. But if you say yes, you're falling into duality. So he uses the, Joshu uses moo to include yes and no. In order to include... If I explain it too much, you get the picture? In order to say something in a non-dualistic way, because words are dualistic, you have to include the opposite. So Dogen says, no buddhanature.

[30:28]

Your buddhanature is no buddhanature. No buddhanature includes buddhanature. Buddhanature also includes no buddhanature, but if you say, oh, everybody has buddhanature, then you don't think no-buddha nature. But if you use a radical term like no-buddha nature, then it's coming from the other side of the way you think. And you can't see something from the other side of the way you think unless your mind is boggled, or unless your mind transcends your usual way of thinking. So naturally, when you read Dogan, he's always changing your mind. He's always turning your thinking so that you see from an unusual point of view. And whenever he talks about something, he always talks about it from various points of view.

[31:33]

So when he talks about time, he says time does not just fly. Time does not just pass from past to present. It also goes from present to past, from past to past, and from present to present. But usually we don't think, you know, we just, oh, time flies. Time passes. That's just, what's that mean? So, it's important to realize what the words mean. So it's difficult to translate Dogon, almost impossible to translate Dogen perfectly. Because Dogen himself takes all of the Chinese terms, a lot of Chinese terms, and turns them around, turns their meaning around. So even someone who's reading Chinese or Japanese, you know, will be startled by what he's saying because he reinterprets everything and turns things around.

[32:47]

So, of course you have a difficult time until you can get with Dogen. The easiest way to get with Dogen is just to read and not think. When you start to think, then your mind starts to become logical. And as soon as you start using your usual logic only, then you run into these barriers. Dogen is also logical. And there are varying degrees of what he's... In different fancicles, some are very logical and some are very obtuse. Not so logical in our usual logical way. But Doug is perfectly logical in his own way. In a non-dualistic way, it's perfectly logical. Anyway. So I'll start.

[33:55]

The great way of all Buddhas, thoroughly practiced, is emancipation and realization. That would be the whole of the First Station. Emancipation means that in birth, you are emancipated from birth. Or in life, you are emancipated from life. In death, you are emancipated from death. Thus, there is a detachment from birth and death, and penetrating birth and death. Penetrating also means, like, immersion in birth and death. Such is the complete practice of the Great Way. There is letting go of birth and death, and vitalizing birth and death. Such is the thorough practice of the Great Way. Realization is birth, and birth is realization. At the time of realization, there is nothing but birth totally actualized, nothing but death totally actualized.

[35:00]

So, first of all, Dogen tells us what the great way of all the Buddhas is. In other words, it's concerned with the basic question of all human beings, which is the question of birth and death. And the question is, what is it? What is birth? What is our life? What is death? What are these two things that concern everyone and which were always facing me at that moment? And he says, the great way, thoroughly practiced, is emancipation and realization. of freedom from birth and death. So in Buddhadharma, the way that Buddhists talk about birth and death is even though that there are two kinds of, two ways of looking at birth and death.

[36:13]

or various ways, actually, of looking at birth and death. One is that we have what we call our birth, and birth, childhood, youth, old age and death, and in that hemisphere is the span of life. And our usual way of thinking about birth and death is in that way. But there are also many other ways of thinking about birth and death. What we usually think of is there is somebody who is born and then who goes through all of these changes and finally dies. But if we look very closely at this span of life, so many years,

[37:24]

There is, according to Buddhist way of looking at things, there is no kind of inherent entity called a soul or called an abiding entity which travels from birth to death. We usually think, though, in terms of an abiding entity which does that traveling. But according to Buddhism, there are only these elements which come together at birth and are held together in a certain way. And the elements keep changing all the time. These dharmas keep changing all the time. And there is the feeling of a person we have the feeling of a person. But when we look closely, there's no real abiding person that changes in this line of time and then dies.

[38:41]

There are only elements which are coming together and transforming and dissociating. This is Buddhist understanding. So, as we know, the three major ways of understanding Buddhism are that there's no abiding soul, which travels through space and time, and there's no Ego. No person, strictly speaking, except for moment to moment. But we have the feeling of a person. We have the feeling of I Am. But when we look closely at that I Am, it doesn't have an abiding center, which is continuous.

[39:49]

It's a thinking of feeling. It's a thinking of feelings. It's more of a thinking. I don't know what you mean exactly. You said that we have the feeling that it's a person. Yeah. Feeling is thinking or whatever you call it. Feeling is thinking. They don't usually answer that kind of thing. Good night. Machine is on. So, I mean, this is basic Buddhist understanding. What was the question? When I said feeling, does that include thinking? We think. When I say feeling, I mean we think in this way. Is this the only religion that we know of that has this belief? I think so. I think Buddhism is the only religion, maybe, that doesn't have a belief in a soul.

[40:58]

or a creator. There's a sense that we're a person, an independent person. There is a persona, but that persona does not have inherent existence. Inherent existence means some substantial which is always there. The idea of a soul is, for most religions, an abiding entity which goes through one lifetime or another, or goes to heaven, or goes to hell, or whatever. What's that again? How does the Buddha recognize himself in all his lives?

[42:01]

I can't quite hear you. How does the Buddha recognize himself in all his lives? How does the Buddha recognize himself in all his lives? Yeah, how does he recognize that it's him that is next to all his lives? Yeah, well, that's a complicated question. I'd like to not get that far, because that whole thing about past lives is also another subject, even though it is connected with birth and death. Simply speaking, one Buddhist theory that most Mahayanaists kind of adhere to is life is circular rather than linear. Birth and death is circular rather than linear. So that after this dissolution of the person at death, there's what's called action influence.

[43:12]

Action influence is like the influence of your actions. of a person's actions, which continue in some way. Action is not lost. Every action is somehow continuing in the universe. So the action influence comes around again and is re-embodied in a birth. But what part of that that will to live is somehow blind will, is re-embodied, but it's not called a soul. It's not the same person who is being reincarnated, actually. It's the rebirth of the action influence. It's like It's sometimes described as lighting one candle with another. If you light one candle with another, is it the same light or is it a different light?

[44:18]

Well, it's the same, but it's different. It's not really the same, but it's not the same. So in Buddhism, this subject of birth and death, is it birth or is it death? Are we alive or are we dead? Or not alive? So this, when you go deeply into this question, then you come to a point where, well, is it alive or not alive? Are we alive or not alive? And whatever you say is right but not quite. But we tend to want to define everything. and say, well, yes, it's this or it's that. And our logical mind wants to make definitions and fall into one side or another. And both sides do exist, but not quite.

[45:21]

I think when I think about it, it's very clear for me to see this concept. If I hadn't seen him in 13 years, I don't know if I'd recognize him as the same person. So when you watch children, you see that, and I'm not sure he is the same person. Who he was at 13, and who he is now at 13, and who he will be at 21, is very clearly, distinctly different, and maybe you're the different soul. And that seems very clear, but when we're adults, we tend to kind of level out, and it's harder to see that change. Well, yeah, we change in a different way. Yeah. But, that's right, is it the same person or a different person? Right? So, yes, it's the same, and no, it's not the same. So, our life is kinetic, right? And always changing, and always transforming.

[46:26]

And this transformation is change is the substantial part, even though it seems unsubstantial. Change is the one thing that you can count on. So, if we put our human life at the center, then it's very hard for us to see, to accept ourself as the life of the universe. because we see ourself at the center and the universe as an object around us. And then we want definitions. We have to have definitions. It's either birth or it's death. Well, it's true, but it's not quite so. So, that's why in Buddhism, no birth, no death. That's a very radical kind of statement, because we tend to think in terms of either it's birth or death, either it's life or death.

[47:37]

But if you think about it, birth and death are constantly arising in each moment. So we tend to think of this... There are different ways to think about it. There's this span of life, and then afterward comes this span of death. But another way to think about it is, at each moment, is the arising of birth and death. and we step into life. This is what the Sanda Upanishad says, you know, the foot before and the foot behind when walking. It's like the foot before and the foot behind when walking. This foot is going into birth, and this foot is trailing into death. And this foot is birth, and this foot is death. This foot is birth, and this foot is behind. This one is in front, and this one is behind. It leaves this one behind.

[48:41]

When you take a step with this foot, it leaves the other one behind. So everything that's gone is in the realm of death, and everything that's here now is in the realm of birth, but it's only for a moment. So birth and death actually arise in each moment. I always think of it when you're listening to music, when something's very beautiful, you want to hold on to it. And you can't do it, you have to let go of it to enjoy it. Yeah, you have to let go of it. That's right. And even, you know, I think about in Zenda, when we eat, we eat, and then something tastes so good, you want seconds. And then when you eat the second, it never tastes as good as the first. Because you have that idea, you know. And the reality doesn't match up with the idea. So, that's right.

[49:46]

And so, this is why emancipation, or freedom, is bound up with not hanging on to life as it goes by, so to speak, or life as it arises. To engage with life as it arises and not hang on to what's gone by. That's emancipation, is to completely be one with birth and death. Yet when we're completely one with birth and death, there's no birth and death. Birth and death arise when we think in that dualistic way. Well, as far as I know, nobody in here has experienced death. Well, we say that, but actually we experience it moment by moment.

[50:49]

Okay, I got you, but also... I mean, I don't really have... Right, no one has experienced death in that... You just say it so casually and so easily, but really, what is death anyway? Well, there's death, death, and then there's death. That's right. Absolutely. No one has experienced it in that way. And you can't think of it really in a logical way. I mean, in order to think about death, you have to think about it in... That's right. So you can think about it in a logical way, but it doesn't come out. It comes out as speculation. You can say the same thing about Earth, which we actually all have experienced. But it's just an idea. I always feel when I read this that he's making an argument against ideas.

[52:03]

That we have this idea of what birth is and this idea of what death is. And that when you're actually, when something is actually alive or when some activity is, you know, when you're totally in it, then you're not thinking about birth. And when you're dying, even though you may be thinking about dying, it's not an idea to you. That's right, it's not an idea. It's beyond your idea. This is very important because Dogen's whole way of practice is called thoroughness. Thoroughness means to do something completely. And as we begin to study this, you'll see what it means.

[53:09]

That to engage totally in the activity that is in front of you, is total emancipation. That's your freedom. That's where you find your freedom. Not in trying to escape from something. If we try to escape from death, then we're caught by death. If we try to escape from life, we're caught by life. So, to have emancipation from birth and death is to completely engage in birth, or completely engage in life. and completely engaged in death. But not engaged with itself. I mean, you don't engage. You are engaged. No.

[54:13]

Well, if you try hard, that's different from being engaged. because then there's a separation between you and the activity. And we might think that we're sometimes not an undivided activity, but we're always an undivided activity, whether we think we are or aren't. I think. You know, the two parents of self-consciousness Self-consciousness is what divides us. It's like Adam and Eve. When they ate the apple, they ate the apple of self-consciousness. And this gave them a feeling. When we eat the apple of self-consciousness, it gives us the feeling of a divided universe, of a separation. So, Zazen, as Sarathi Roshi says, Zazen is to vomit up the apple.

[55:26]

That's attractive. What? I said that's attractive. Our practice is to vomit up the apple. Separation. But there are two kinds of self-consciousness. One kind is the kind that divides you. When you go to do something, you suddenly feel self-conscious, and you can't do it, because you're divided from your activity. And the other kind of self-consciousness is that you're conscious that everything is yourself. Then there's no division. That's more like true self-consciousness than whatever, whether that's birth or death. Both are yourself. But we tend to think of that I'm alive and identify with life.

[56:33]

And at some point I'll be dead, but I don't identify with death. We don't like to identify with death. We only like to identify with life. what we call life. Now, why is that? And is that, do you think that that's universally true? Or is it something that we're more... I can't account for everybody. Oh, that's true. But, I mean, I just, I wonder if it's universal or if it's something that's, we're, you know, socialized into. Well, I think it's both. Some are more easy. Some people accept more easily than others. Of course, we all want to live, you know, but we have attachment to birth and attachment to death, because attachment has two aspects. One is grasping, and the other is rejecting.

[57:35]

So we grasp Because we're attached to life, we grasp it. And because we are adverse to death, we become attached to the idea of a virgin. So it's attachment either way. And because of our human-centeredness. We don't trust life outside of our human-centeredness. It's hard for us to trust the way things go, because we're very attached to what we perceive as this life. So let's read Dogen a little bit. Let's read Pabe, because he has some nice footnotes. He says the culmination of its quest, in the culmination of its quest, or request, the great way of all Buddhas is emancipation and realization.

[58:54]

Emancipation means that life emancipates life and that death emancipates death. For this reason there is deliverance from birth and death and immersion in birth and death. There is discarding of birth and death, and there is crossing of birth and death. Both are the great way totally culminated. Realization is life, and life is realization. When the great way is realized, it is nothing but life's total realization. It is nothing but death's total realization. And in his footnote, he says, all dharmas, or things in the universe, are the Buddha dharma. that Buddhadharma is manifested or realized, genjo, clearly in all dharmas. For Dogon, being confirmed, show by these dharmas, that is, proven the above fact in oneself and zazen, is the emancipation from all attachments, the breakthrough that constitutes enlightenment.

[59:58]

For all Buddhas, that is, for all enlightened beings, there is emancipation, shedding the ego self in practice. in realization, manifesting or realizing all dharmas in one's true Self, the Self beyond all dualities. So, I want to clarify the word dharma. There's many meanings of the word dharma, a very important word in Buddhism. Dharma with a capital D means the law of the way things go. And it's epitomized in Buddha's teaching. So we say the Dharma, the Buddha Dharma, is Buddha's teaching, or the way things are, the suchness of the universe. But then, Dharma with a small d means various things, but generally it means everything. So each individual thing you can call it Dharma, with a small d.

[61:02]

And the way that the Abhidharmas studied Buddhism was to break down the psychological and physical elements of our being into a system of dharmas in which they studied our psychology, the psychology of emptiness, the psychology of the human being. So Buddhist psychology is called Abhidharma, or the higher dharma, dealing with all the little dharmas of our life. So when the word dharma is used here, it's used in those two different ways. Buddha dharma means the law of the way things actually are. And dharmas are all things that apply to those laws. In other words, everything in the universe is subject to various laws. The laws that Buddhism is concerned with is the law of cause and effect.

[62:07]

Nothing arises without a cause. This is basic Buddhism. For everything that arises, there has to be a cause. Because it's full of complexes. And each one of our lives is a complex of causes and conditions. and everything that arises, arises that way. So, human beings, in that way, are not different from everything else in the universe. So, when we realize that our own life arises from causes and conditions and elements of the universe, just like everything else does, then we identify with all beings. rather than with just some special source. In other words, in Buddhism we don't say there's one source for human beings and another source for everything else in the world.

[63:14]

In fact, we don't talk about a source. But we do talk about Buddha nature. talks in a very radical way about buddha-nature. But I don't want to talk about that right now. I'll talk about that a little later. So, the point here is all dharmas in the universe are the buddha-dharma. In other words, whatever exists is called buddha-dharma. But that's just a name for things, right? There's no such thing as Buddhadharma. It's just a name for things, for something. The Buddhadharma is manifested or realized clearly in all dharmas. In other words, you could say, God is in all beings, in all things.

[64:25]

But here, we say, Buddha nature. Buddha nature is all being. So, Dogen is saying that there is no special center for things, but mostly we become, we're self-centered. human-centered. But when we let go of self-centeredness, then we allow ourself the freedom of realization that with everything it's all being-centered, which is not any special center. He says, the Buddha dharma is manifested or realized clearly in all dharmas.

[65:40]

For Dogen, being confirmed by these dharmas, that is, by everything, is proving the above fact in oneself and Zazen. who has proven the above fact in oneself, in his eyes, is the emancipation from all attachments, the breakthrough that constitutes enlightenment. For all Buddhas, that is, for all enlightened beings, there is emancipation, that is, sharing the ego-self, in practice. Or ego-self means self-centeredness. And realization, manifesting and realizing all dharmas in one's true self, the self beyond all dualities. So this is a very lofty kind of thinking. As philosophy, you can think about it, but as practice, it's zazen. This is what this is. To actualize this and realize it is to sit zazen.

[66:45]

Or for zazen actually to be the basis of your life. So this is what Zazen, you could say, this is what Zazen is about. And then in the second footnote, crossing of birth and death, Dogen says, crossing of birth and death. And the second footnote, Abe says, crossing of birth and death signifies entering birth and death in order to work for the salvation of all beings. So, crossing of birth and death, according to this footnote, this footnote means to forget the self. Forget your own... Instead of practicing for yourself, you practice for the sake of all beings.

[67:47]

And because what your self is, is all beings, when you have realization, you realize that what your real self is, is all being. We substitute this self-centeredness for all being-centeredness. This is Dogen's radical understanding. So when we first come to practice, we are thinking about ourself, about maybe I want to get enlightened, or I want to do something for myself. But when we have realization, then we realize that ourself is not just this person. So we practice for the sake of all being, not just for which includes ourselves, which is our self. This is enlightened understanding.

[68:53]

So, Dogon says, you don't practice for yourself, you don't practice for others, you practice just for the sake of practice, just for the sake of Buddhadharma. So then, the third footnote says, see footnote one. Since all dharmas are the Buddha dharma, there is no life apart from its manifestation, and no manifestation apart from life. And then he says, see the illustration of the man riding the boat. Well, we can look at the illustration of the man riding the boat before we go on. Can I ask you a question? Yes. It just occurs to me, I've been reading these translations, discarding birth and death and crossing birth and death, like there's like two, there's like the two,

[70:08]

two vehicles of Buddhism. Discarding birth and death means the goal of finishing with it, whereas crossing over birth and death is the Bodhisattva's path of returning to it out of compassion. That's right. Crossing birth and death is returning back. So we're both sides in Buddhism. Well, that's it. To be free from birth and death and at the same time to be immersed in birth and death. then you'd be making this distinction.

[71:11]

So, let's look at the fifth paragraph. Similarly, he says, life is like a man riding in a boat. So Abba uses the word life instead of birth. Life is like a man riding in a boat. Aboard the boat, he uses a sail. He takes the tiller and pulls the boat along. Yet, the boat carries him. And without the boat, he is not there. By riding in the boat, he makes it a boat. You must concentrate yourself to studying and penetrating this very time. At this time, All is the world of the boat. The heavens, the water, the shore, all become the boat's time, and they are not the same as time which is not the boat. It is for this reason that life is what I make to exist, and I is what life makes me.

[72:20]

In boarding the boat, one's body and mind, in the entire surrounding environment, are all the boat's dynamic working. Both the entire earth and all space are the boat's dynamic working. The I that is living, the life that is I, is just like this. So, we tend to think there's a boat and this is me. But the boat is not the boat until I... is not really a boat until I make it work as a boat. And my making it work as a boat creates me. So whatever I do creates me. We tend to think that we exist in an independent way. This is our tendency, to think that we exist in an independent way. But we only exist because of our surroundings. And our surroundings are what make us exist.

[73:22]

If you ever go into an old house, an old house, you know, a house that's not lived in, has a very strange feeling, because it's not really a house. It looks like a house, it has rooms, it has dimensions, but it's not really alive as a house. But when you move in, and you start putting the furniture in, and lighting the stove, and moving around, then the house takes on its life. And by moving into the house, the house gives us our life. So we don't exist independently. We exist completely dependent on our surroundings. And the way we take care of our surroundings is what creates our life. So we say, well, you know, I don't exist in a vacuum, which is quite true.

[74:36]

I do not exist in a vacuum. Something that does exist in a vacuum could tend to shrivel up and die, because there's nothing to support it. I mean, it's possible to live in suspended animation for a little while, So, you know, we have our car out there, you know, and we look at it and say, that's my car, but it doesn't function as a car until we open the door, put the key in, and turn the ignition on, and then boom. And at that moment, the car becomes a car, and we become ourself. car makes me what I am, helps, is a factor to create me at that moment.

[75:38]

Because we only come to life on each moment. We tend to think of our life as continuous, but our life really comes to life on each moment, over and over again. So it would be kind of like a car-self, or that moment or something? A car-self. A car, I don't know. A what? A car-self or something, that moment. Well, the car is bound up with ourself at that moment. That's right. We and the car are one piece, even though we're distinct. Well, if you're a good driver, you feel that. You know, a good driver just drives along. Anxious drivers see obstacles all over. That's right. Just see everything as a kind of obstacle. Or you can see everything as a kind of play. I mean, you know, a way to play with life.

[76:41]

So we actually bring life to life. But life lives through us. Because we see from the point of view of ourself, we say, I live my life. That's from the point of view of I am. But if you get around to another point of view, you can see that life actually lives me. It lives me, as much as I live it. You can say, I live life, but you can't say that without also saying that life lives me. All dharmas live me. All dharmas awaken me. All dharmas cause my realization. So in the same way, I talk about this as an example often, about breathing.

[77:48]

We say, I am breathing. You can say, I am breathing, but the fact is that we are being breathed. I am being breathed. Because I actually have nothing to do with it. Very little to do with it. Breathing. Breath just comes and goes. And whether I like it or not. But we say, I am breathing. It's true, but not without understanding the real fact that I am being breathed. I am being lived. So it's important to see from the other side. Otherwise we get stuck in our one-sided views about things. I am being breathed. I am being lived. I am being driven down the street by my car. I am standing still while the sidewalk is moving.

[78:52]

You know, there's a saying in Zen, the stream, the river, stands still while the bridge is moving. It's not logical, but it's true. So, the Heart Sutra says, don't get caught by topsy-turvy views, upside-down views. But we're always looking at everything from an upside-down view. Continuously looking at things from an upside-down view. When we read a chapter that's called Complete Dynamism, I would want to put that into the metaphor of the bridge and the stream, that they're both moving.

[80:00]

What you said as far as the stream is still and the bridge is moving, I was thinking what you said earlier tonight about how Dogon changes things so you don't get stuck in the humanistic or homophobic, homocentric way of looking at things. So is that what you're getting at? I think that's what everything is doing, and also everything is still. Everything is completely still, while moving. But it's just a way of saying something, which is rather arresting. I'm not sure what the answer was either.

[81:14]

I understand what you say, that we are breathed. And I know we're not yogis, but I do know that they can pretty much stop their breathing. You know, they get buried and a few days later they're pulled up in a very small container and they're fine. We are being breathed. What's happening in that case? They're transparent, so there's just no breathing at that point. It just stops. They are breathing, they're just breathing very slowly. No, that's what Charlie says is true. Breath is one of those things that's voluntary and involuntary, so that when you become unconscious, whether it's through sleep or coma or a blow to the head or in some accidental way, you will continue to breathe, only for sure you're being breathed. Because there's no more will breathing.

[82:18]

And they don't discontinue the OBEs, I mean. They're simply reduced. Their heart beats about seven times a minute on stage. And you can imagine. Dali, an Indian, made a study of that, right? Yeah. So you have an expert in it. Yes. Do you know what the study is? Luan. Luan. That's right. Yes. But, you know, you can take anomalies or unusual circumstances, but what we're talking about is the way, you know, our usual life. Not some exaggerated circumstance. But, you know, it's a co-operation. between our persona and life. It's true that life is living me, but I'm also living life.

[83:31]

So we have to be able to look at it from all sides. If we don't look at it from all sides, then we just get a one-sided view of how things are. And if we only look at birth and death from one side, we only get a one-sided view of what that is. It's like determinism and free will. It's like one people holding together. Right. So it's neither determinism nor free will. When we analyze something in Buddhism, we usually use these four propositions. One is, a thing is, and a thing isn't. And a thing both is and isn't, and a thing neither is nor isn't. And these are the four ways that you can view something. Four pillars, anyway. And then there are all the ways in between.

[84:34]

But this is a standard way, you know, to do something. If it is, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is form, emptiness is emptiness. No form, no emptiness. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. And form is form, and emptiness is emptiness. Birth is death, death is birth. Death is death and birth is birth.

[85:31]

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