Today I'm going to continue to present Master Hongzhi's teachings. Here he says, the matter of oneness cannot be learned at all. The essence is to empty and open out body and mind as expansive as the great emptiness of space. So oneness is not something that can be learned or even cultivated. He says, all we can do is totally open ourselves, to be totally open and expanded.

[01:42]

I think in this practice, this practice is The purpose of this practice is to become yourself totally. That's the koan of practice. To totally become yourself, which sounds contradictory to dropping yourself. But dropping yourself, dropping body and mind, is to totally become yourself. To let go of that which obstructs your true personality. One of the wrong beliefs

[03:01]

in Buddhism is belief in a personality. Belief in a self and belief in a personality. But each one of us has a personality. That which identifies us and which we feel is myself. But There's a false personality and a true personality. And the false personality is the one that we build up as a way to negotiate the world. A kind of battleship or some kind of vehicle to negotiate the world.

[04:02]

But then there's the true person underneath. And the true person is always wanting to come out, but doesn't always have the opportunity to be expressed. Because the false personality is sitting on top of it. Sometimes it comes out, you know, but so often our reality is inhibited. In order to satisfy the demands of society, in order to satisfy family obligations, in order to satisfy the people around us, and just because we're scared. So, the purpose of practice is to drop, let go of everything, and let true personality emerge.

[05:25]

to be wide open without fear. I think as we get older, we get bolder. You know, the old people say whatever they feel, you know, they don't care what, you know. really feeling your oats, you know. But there's a kind of, you know, can no longer, a person when they get that old, you know, they can no longer hold themselves back, you know, they don't care anymore. And it just, they're completely themselves. But still with residue. But he says the matter of oneness cannot be lived at all.

[06:39]

So our true self, when we get down to the bottom of self, we realize that there is no self. But there's still a personality. Something that personifies each one of us. is our motivator, our identifying mark. But he says the essence is to empty and open our body and mind as expansive as the great emptiness of space. When body and mind is open and expansive as space, then we know who we are. As long as we're restricted, it's very hard to know who we are. Zazen, although it's the most restricted activity, is the activity in which we totally open ourselves without restriction.

[07:50]

It seems like a kind of paradox, but there's no reason to hold back. in Zazen. So it takes time, you know, for us to really find that freedom, to find that total freedom in Zazen, the freedom of being totally open and being one with everything, accepting whatever comes as ourself. That there is nothing foreign. Because true personality has no particular shape or form. The true personality is not the one that is identifiable.

[09:00]

But it's always responding to conditions. not as objects, but is maybe kind of protoplasmic. I remember when I was a kid, there was a comic book, Protoplasm Man. He didn't have any particular shape or form. That's when we started. I always wanted to be protoplanet. And so we just, you know, just take any shape that he wanted. But our true personality is more like protoplanet than man.

[10:03]

There's nothing fixed. It's not something that's fixed. It's like life itself and all of the forms are one body of infinite forms constantly interacting with each other. as one body. So the true body is this whole body. And when we understand that, then we're not hindered by anything. When we're completely open, we're able to move with things without obstruction.

[11:10]

because there are no objects to get in the way. So he says, naturally in the entire territory, all is satisfied. This strong spirit cannot be deterred. In event after event, it cannot be confused. The moon accompanies the flowing water. The rain pursues the drifting clouds. The moon is like enlightenment, right? And it accompanies the flowing water. It enjoys flowing with things.

[12:16]

The moon is not hindered, as Dogen says, the moon is not hindered by the water. The moon on the water is not hindered by... and the water is not broken by the moon. And the rain pursues the drifting clouds. The rain and the clouds are not two different things. The water is not an object for the moon, and the moon is not an object for the water, and the rain is not an object for the clouds, and the clouds are not an object for the rain. Rain is clouds, and clouds is rain. Settled without a grasping mind, such intensity may be accomplished. Only do not let yourself interfere with things, and certainly nothing will interfere with you.

[13:20]

Interfere is an interesting word. We enter, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, we enter R. We enter B. And we interact. and we interfere. So, inter-being and inter-acting and inter-ar-ing or inter-is-ing. But interfering means to stick something into the harmonies, you know, to break up the harmony of things, This is where, you know, ego has its place. Or self-centeredness is interfering on behalf of itself and creating disruption and disharmony.

[14:33]

And, you know, when we sit Zazen, best thing, you know, is not to interfere. It's a case of letting go of this interfering self, which wants things to be different than they are, and doesn't allow things to happen. be able to actually just step off or step out of our skin bag or our rigid self and enter into that flowing which includes pain and pleasure and comfort and discomfort and allows everything to be equally and flows with things.

[15:47]

without setting up an opposition. As soon as we set up an opposition, we're interfering and we're causing suffering. He says, body and mind are one suchness. Outside this body, there is nothing else. Body and mind are Well, we talk about body and we talk about mind, as if they're different things, but in Buddhist understanding, body and mind are not two different things. So we say body slash mind, body-mind, rather than body and mind. There is a saying, Are you a monk of body or a monk of mind?

[16:49]

It's a kind of koan. Dogen has a fast goal on this subject. The mind does not exist without the body and the body does not exist without the mind. So we take care of body and mind as one unit. Consciousness and materiality are not separate entities. Rupa and Vijnana are not separate entities. So he says, body and mind are one suchness.

[17:56]

Outside this body, there is nothing else. The same substance and the same function, one nature and one form. In Buddhism, we talk about substance and function. Substance is like origin, and function is its expression. So Buddha nature is like the substance and our activities are the function of Buddha nature. So that's substance and function. The same substance and the same function, one nature and one form. So form is emptiness and emptiness is form. You can't separate them.

[18:59]

People do talk about un-emptiness, but it's a theoretical, intellectual game. There is not un-emptiness. Emptiness is form. So emptiness is the substance, the non-substantial substance, and form is its expression. Excuse me, I want to make sure. Did you say people speak of un-emptiness? Yes. Un-emptiness, as if it's an object. Dependence to that. But it's the logical way of speaking. In logic, you have to have it. But we experience emptiness as form.

[20:10]

If you want to experience emptiness as emptiness, you still have to experience it as form. Because you have to experience emptiness as its expression, as it's expressed. Because we're sentient beings, so we have to experience as sentient. But... We also speak of understanding beyond the senses. but it's still on this side. Our spirituality is still on this side of the line because we live in this world and our consciousness is based on our awareness in this world.

[21:22]

So anyway, the same substance and the same function, one nature and one form, all faculties and all object dusts are instantly transcendent. The sense faculties and object dusts, you know, object dusts are things. which the sense faculties perceive through consciousness. And he says they are all instantly transcendent. So it is said the sage is without self and yet nothing is not himself. This is a saying of Sekito. Transcending the sense dusts means going beyond seeing things as objects.

[22:32]

That's what he means here, I believe. You know, consciousness and the sensory perceptor and the object is how we perceive. And so we perceive things as objects over and against my subject. So this is what hinders us. We have belief in objects. We have a subject belief and an object belief. And this is what hinders us from seeing things as they are. So he's saying, let go, open yourself wide, letting go of the perception of things as objects, of the world as objects, and yourself as a subject.

[23:35]

And allow yourself to settle on reality. And so it is said, the sage is without self, and yet, nothing is not himself. So each one of us has no self, and yet, if you let yourself free fall, you'll find that everything is yourself. You will not bump when you land. Whatever appears is instantly understood, and you know how to gather it up or let it go, because it's not strange to you. Be a white ox in the open field. Whatever happens, nothing can drive him away.

[24:38]

I think most of you know this story, this nice little story, but I'll read it to you again. This is priest Da'an Yuanzi, who was a disciple of Yishan, and on Mount Yishan in China. Yishan was one of the famous Zen masters. Yangshan is his name in Chinese. Da'an wrote this little writing. He says, I have lived on Mount Isan for over 30 years. I have done nothing but eaten Isan's rice and shit Isan's shit. I learned nothing from my master Isan.

[25:42]

The only thing I have accomplished was to tame a water buffalo. When he wandered off the road, I yanked him back. And if she trampled others' fields, I struck him with my whip. After a while, he became quite tame. Such an adorable one. The only problem was that she would follow anyone who called him. But now, she has changed into a pure white beast. who stays next to me and always looks serene and bright. Even if I try to chase him away, she stays right there. So this is the reference, I'm sure. Be a white ox in the open field.

[26:47]

Whatever happens, nothing can drive you away. or him or her. So this is a kind of poem or testimony of practice. I just tended to this ox. I didn't learn anything. Esan didn't teach me anything. I was just there for 30 years, taking care of this beast. And it was very unruly, you know, I never did what I wanted. I was always... I keep pulling it back out, excuse me, excuse my ox. Embarrassing situations. But at some point, you know,

[27:49]

changing color. In the ox-herding pictures, one set of ox-herding pictures is the ox keeps changing color and becomes very clear. Instead of murky, it becomes very clear at the end. This is a white ox. But It's like, you know, through this long, long period of practice, 30 years of practice, the rough edges get worn down and through the hard knocks of various difficulties, the ox becomes brighter and brighter.

[29:04]

Until finally, it doesn't even want to do anything. It doesn't need to run away. It's just happy to be there. You're trying to push it away, but it won't go. There's nothing you can do about it. There it is. through no fault of his own. It's just the result of practice. And not trying to learn something, not trying to learn oneness, but just opening up more and more. So I think this is an indicator of practice. Sometimes we come to practice and maybe we start shutting down. But that's not a good sign. But, you know, we go through various phases. Sometimes we open, and then sometimes we shut down. And sometimes we come to a place where we're afraid to be more open, and we go away.

[30:19]

So, even if you go away, it's good to come back. because eventually you have to come back. The sign of a mature Zen student, though, you can tell. A person who is more themselves and who responds from their own understanding and from their own place. But I do feel that the goal of our practice is to allow our true personality to emerge and realize who we really are. But no need to cultivate anything. We can't try to be one with things.

[31:24]

It doesn't work. But we can make an effort to be open And in Zazen, you have to be totally open. When you find yourself having a problem in Zazen, you know it's because you could be more open. You should know that. When you're totally open, you can deal with any problem. What do you think? Do you have any response? Yes. The story of the white ox in the nursery rhyme.

[32:27]

Mary had a little lamb, his fleece was white as snow, and everybody there very wet. That's the end. The end of the story. That's a good one. I always like that, matter of fact. We'll take one, two, three, four, five. Oh my God. Yes. I am coming to a difficult day in my practice. I'm getting really tired of looking at the mind. It's almost like before I know it, I'm already again in thought and thinking. This is exhausting. Right. So I was wondering what Look at the body. Well, I started doing that and I noticed that there are little minor changes, like my low back begins to flex when I go into this.

[33:33]

Look at the body and stay with the breath. And, you know, if the mind doesn't bother you, it's easier. Well, if the mind doesn't bother you, then, you know, you're kind of easy to drift with it. And if the mind does bother you, it's easy to be dominated by it. So either way, it is attachment to the mind, to the thinking. So just keep letting go. Every time, you know, thoughts start coming up, let the thought come up and then immediately Let it go and come back to posture and breathing. Really put your whole attention into posture and breathing. Don't just sit there waiting for your thoughts. Right away, sit up as straight as you can. Put a lot of attention into your lower back.

[34:35]

Just keep giving yourself Zazen instruction over and over all day. Forget the mind. Not necessary to have all this. Just open yourself. The more attention you put into your body, the more open you become. This is what opening is. Opening up is totally opening your body. Just let your body be open. Forget your mind. You don't need it. Let the mind be occupied with the body. Then it won't be occupied with other things. But we think, well, if it's not occupied with other things, maybe the world will fall apart, or all my problems will leave, and then I'll be really sad. So, you know, we're moved by our problems.

[35:38]

And if there's nothing else interesting, Sadness and distress can become very intriguing. If we don't have something else that is engaging, then the difficulty is very engaging. And so we go for what's engaging. We really do. We go for what engages us emotionally. And it's our distress, you know, that does it. So we should be careful not to be caught by our distress, because it's addictive. I'm not saying that you're addicted to your distress, but it's easy to become caught by our distress. And because the most emotional thing, going.

[36:41]

You know, when we're caught by love, That's the most emotional thing going. And then, we don't have to worry about our distress. But, you know, when our lover leaves, then we turn to hate, you know. Because it's just the same emotions, the same power, just turn to a different object. So, put all that emotion and anger and whatever it is, Put it into your posture. Hey, that's, you know, a lot of power there. Put it into your posture and open up. That says it. I mean, if you're sleepy, you know, you can do this. But when you're not sleeping, make this big effort. Put it into your posture. Just open, just see how open you can be. Just open yourself up. And then you'll feel good.

[37:43]

And, you know, you feel radiant, just letting the light pour through. So don't stop it. Don't hinder it. What hinders it is putting that emotion into all those feelings. Emotion, thought, and feelings. This is what stops, you know, the radiance. Greg, you were next. Well, you've begun to speak to my confusion. I'll see if I can say it in a simple way. When you started talking, you had this image of a sort of attractive image of old people getting old and more themselves. And some of the old people I know, as they become more themselves, it's not attractive at all. So don't take the metaphor too far.

[38:44]

So I was listening to the whole first half of your talk, working with these images. I know he's extraordinarily unattractive of people who have become more than themselves. And thinking of myself and the parts of my false, what I think of as the false personality, the true personality, I sort of put all the blames into the false one. that I also see in my elder models. For some people, the worst thing you can do is be yourself. Yeah. So, I'm sitting here working with that and thinking, wait, [...] wait. We take all the constraints and go with, you know, and then we just lash out. So, then you came to the story of the ox. So, my question was about how do we bring the true self and the false self into relation, rather than, I mean, what is, I mean, I hear that guy, for his 30 years of practice, working with the ox, who is essentially undisciplined, you know, untrammeled, just ego.

[40:01]

And I've also heard you say once, sort of, It came out of your mouth once. I said kill the ego? Yeah, it was a throwaway line. So there may have been an occasion when it was appropriate. But I've heard you say things that sound like, you know, we need to bring it in relation with the ego as he is with his ox and that somehow that will transform and become. Do we get better? We may not get better. Yeah, we may not get better. But what's better than being better is to be real. You know, as R.H.

[41:08]

Blythe said once, It's not peace of mind we're looking for, it's just mind. Never mind the peace, just find the mind. Well, I'm really with you on the idea that we can't get better because we're trying to please or appease. I mean, just absolutely, that just draws ego into hiding and it gets worse. You know, just other ways of kicking out. of dropping the need to please other people and go to something true. But my faith has always been that if I get to this truer place, that the ox gets better behaved. Well, the thing is that, you know, if we want something, like, better behaved, then that interferes with

[42:09]

getting there. So, I'm sorry, if I pray, not pray, but yearn or whatever, sometimes when I'm taking refuge in Buddha I ask, That's good. Yeah. That's informing yourself. Very good. Your wish is valid. You're last. Okay. Well, each one of us is different, right?

[43:12]

But we all come from the same root. Each of the branches are different, but we all come from the same root. True personality is when we act from our deepest part and not just superficially. Does it say it's true nature? when our actions come from our true nature. And then we see Buddha nature. Instead of just seeing Miriam, we see Buddha nature. So we're saying true personality. That's true personality. Cool. Yeah. Don't quote me on that, but... Rick?

[44:19]

You mentioned interfering. Interfering in a harmony. Is there times where that's a good thing to do? Well, yes, but when I say not interfering, that's an attitude, it's not a law. Of course, interfering sometimes is creating harmony. But, you know, when everything is working according to its nature, then there's no interference, even though the big fish eat the little fish. That's harmonious activity in the law of the fishes. No way you can stop it unless you eat a lot of fishes yourself.

[45:25]

What about if you're talking about human society, though? Well, we like to think that human society will someday be totally harmless. But it's not so. They're like sharks, aren't they? Yeah, the sharks and the perch. We can't control everything. But what we can control is ourself. That's the main thing. You have to be able to control yourself. If you can control yourself, then you control the world. But you can't control the world by trying to control the world. You control the world by controlling yourself. Which doesn't mean that the shark won't bite your head off.

[46:29]

So each one of us has to work with ourself. And then we have laws that control everybody else. Who's the monk who raised the ox? That monk. So, it sounds in a way that he's being modest. I mean, raising the ox was quite a piece of work. I mean, when I've heard that story before, I respond sometimes to the whipping and so on. And what occurs to me is that you can't even control yourself. So it's very subtle.

[47:41]

I mean, in a sense, there's a lot we can do. We can make an effort and be sincere, and then we're constantly blowing it. Yeah. But we have to reinstate our sincerity over and over again. That's what we have to do. Because we're walking up, and then we fall off. And then we get up, and we fall off. It's some kind of little game like that, isn't it? We just keep getting back up, you know. We keep reinstating our sincerity, and then we become insincere, and then we become... You know, we do things we don't want to do, and our mind wanders, and we drift off and get caught by this and that. And so, that's what it is. But we keep going in a straight line, even though it doesn't work all the time. We keep going in a straight line, and falling off, and getting back up, and falling over again.

[48:42]

It's just like, as I say over and over again, watching the thoughts in your mind when you're sitting without them. You want to sit there perfectly. You know, if you say, I can't sit perfectly, never really want to sit perfectly. You know, my mind is always going on and on, and I have one minute of zazen. But that one minute is just that one minute. But everything you've been doing, because you've been sitting zazen, even when your mind is trashed, and you're not aware of anything, and pretty soon you wake up, and you say, oh jeez, the whole period went by, you know. That still doesn't, because your effort was still there, even though you didn't know, you didn't think your effort's there. You know, you say, well, but my mind is wandering off, you know. That's not effort, is it? Well, we're very hard on ourself.

[49:44]

It's just what it is. And then you just get back and do it again. And you just keep going. And your whole life, you just keep going that way. And so you have a direction and you see how you are interacting with life and with your own mind and what your behavior is like. But the constancy of practice It gives you a direction. And if you stay with the constancy of practice, you'll understand what you're doing. You'll understand what your life is about. And you won't get turned around by it. We all make mistakes and get, you know, thrown by things. We don't get turned around by it.

[50:47]

If you have this strong practice, you don't get turned around by it when something happens. You know how to get back on and continue. And you don't dwell on past mistakes. Because there's just this present moment to deal with. And you know that by coming back to the present moment and starting again, there's always possibility. You don't have to worry about, well, what will I do now? Just hop back on, keep going.

[51:28]

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