I'm going to continue with Dogen's Genjo-Kohan. So, I'll read up to where I was. When all dharmas are buddhadharma, there is enlightenment and delusion, practice, life and death, buddhas and creatures. When the ten thousand dharmas are without self, there are no delusion, no enlightenment, no buddhas, no creatures, no life and no death. The buddha ray transcends being and non-being. Therefore, there are life, death, delusion and enlightenment, creatures and buddhas. Nevertheless, flowers fall with our attachment, and weeds spring up with our aversion.

[01:06]

To carry the self forward and realize the 10,000 dharmas is delusion. That the 10,000 dharmas advance and realize the self is enlightenment. It is Buddhas who enlighten delusion. It is creatures who are deluded in enlightenment. Further, there are those who attain enlightenment above enlightenment. There are those who are deluded within delusion. When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, one need not be aware of being Buddha. However, one is the realized Buddha and further advances in realizing Buddha. Seeing forms with the whole body and mind, hearing sounds with the whole body and mind, one understands them intimately. Yet it is not like a mirror with reflections, nor like water under the moon. When one side is realized, the other side is dark. I commented on all that yesterday. Can I ask you a question before we go further?

[02:22]

That very last sentence, does that refer to When one side is realized, the other side is dark. It printed the previous, what went before. So now, we come to the well-known part where Dogen talks about the five stages or aspects of practice. To study the Buddha way is to study the self.

[03:26]

To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever." So this is a kind of summation of what went before and kind of a turning point for what comes after. This seems to follow very nicely, or to be in accord with Tozan's, one of Tozan's renditions of his Five Ranks, which I don't want to compare. I don't want to go into comparative study of the Five Ranks with Genjo Koan, but Dogen

[04:33]

kind of rejected the study of Tozan's Five Ranks as being people falling into too much intellectuality. But it seems that Dogen did not ignore Tozan's Five Ranks and actually incorporated them into his own teaching. The more I study Genjo Koan, the more I see Genjo Koan as a reworking of Tozan's five ranks. Five ranks of, five positions of the relative and the absolute. And even in the first three opening sentences, the relative within the absolute, hidden within the absolute, I mean, the Absolute hidden within the Relative, the Relative hidden within the Absolute are the first two.

[05:39]

And the Absolute and the Relative coming forth. The whole thing is not there, but basically it's there. And here, in these five aspects, in this one version of Tozan's Five Ranks, to study the Buddha way is to study the self, is called the shift. The shift from your ordinary life to entering the Buddha way. And the second, to study the self, is to forget the self. Well, the shift is also called aspiration. leave your old life of delusion and take up way-seeking mind. And your aspiration is a shift away from that.

[06:43]

And the second one, to study the self, is to forget the self, is renunciation. which is called by Tozan, willing submission, letting go of your own ideas, letting go of your ego actually, letting go of self-centeredness and submitting, laying it down, laying everything down, which is called renunciation. So you shift the center from yourself to Buddha and you sit on Buddha's seat instead of your own seat. And the third one, to forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas are confirmed.

[07:54]

That's called achievement. And to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas, it's also called the virtue of fruition, the fruition of virtue. To be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas, or affirmed by the 10,000 dharmas, is to free one's body and mind, and those of others, And that's called combined virtue, which means virtue for yourself and virtue for others. And that's called collective achievement by Tozan. And no trace of enlightenment remains. And this traceless enlightenment is continued forever. That's called virtue upon virtue and integration of achievement.

[08:58]

which is the fifth rank in Tozan's five ranks. So, to study this is actually just... And then to study Tozan's five ranks, you can really see the correlation. If you wanted to study Tozan's five ranks, you can do it in connection with this. Someday we'll do that again. So... This is one event seen in four ways called practice. So to study the Buddha self, to study the Buddha way is to study the self, but it doesn't mean study in the sense of reading. or collecting information about yourself.

[10:02]

To study the self means to do something over and over again. This word study is translated as study, but the actual meaning is to do something over and over again. It really means practice. To practice the Buddha way is to practice the self. And it really applies to zazen. What he's talking about is zazen. To study the self is to sit zazen. And to extend zazen from daily life, which is genjo koan, actually. So you could say to study the Buddha way is to study practice ginjo koan, which is called studying the self.

[11:07]

And of course to study the self is to forget the self, which is the purpose of Buddhism. The whole purpose of Buddhism is to forget the self. In the meal chant we say, to be free from self-clinging. It's wonderful. If you do that, you forget yourself, which is the small self. No, it means to study the small self. To study yourself. To practice the self. To study yourself. To study yourself is to forget yourself. Yeah, it just means you yourself. What you call yourself. Is it me? Paul?

[12:14]

To study Paul is to forget Paul. That sounds different from practice, because you just re-translated study as practice. Yeah. So to practice Paul? Yeah. To practice Paul, and to practice Paul is to forget Paul. Could I just suggest adding a preposition? They don't have prepositions in Japanese, and I think we need one. I would say practice with the self. No. No? No. Practice the self. Because we have these convenient little connecting words that make everything dualistic.

[13:16]

And when you take those out, you say, well, there's a gap. My dualistic mind refuses to make that leap. Not everyone thinks dualistically in the world. And not all language is geared toward duality. But our language is definitely makes duality a really convenient way of thinking. But not all language does that. I'm usually with you, I'm making those leaps, but when I think about practice and I think about trying to turn it into something I can work with, and when I think about what Zazen does, with my little self, with letting stuff come up and just noting it, letting it go, Practicing the self is letting go of the self. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not practicing with the self. It means, you say practicing with the self, it means there's something besides.

[14:19]

Right? Okay. Well, at the risk of getting into trouble, you could, listening to what you were saying to Paul, you could also use the word just be. Yeah, just in place of, or how? In place of practice or study. Huh? In place of practice or study. To... To... To be the Self? To study the... To be... To be the Self. What? What? To be the Buddha way is to study the Buddha way? To study the Buddha way is to be the Buddha way. To be the Buddha way To be the Buddha way is to be the self. Is to be the self. You could say that. But it's a very... I'm thinking of it as very large. That's why I said I may be getting in trouble here. But that... Then... I think it's better just to... It's good, okay, to paraphrase.

[15:27]

I'm fine with this language. But, yeah, I think to stay with the language is good because... Well, of course, then we have the word study, right? But I think it has to do with the meaning of the, which I can't remember the name, the character exactly, but it's to do something over and over. Repeat something over and over. So until... No, you say practice without practice the self. Yeah, so that's why I say practice. Yeah. But the meaning is like, oh, something over and over to, like rub, you know. and to rub until it's all gone. But somehow it's to study the Buddha way, because that's what we do in a way.

[16:29]

We kind of study the Buddhism. But it's study, not intellectual study. The word observe would imply a dualism. Yeah, it would. Observe. Not the same. Observe is static. So this is the active. To do. So it's kind of like to be is okay, but it's also static. How about to do Buddhism? Yeah, to do Buddhism is to do the way. To do is more, a little more active, but it doesn't fit perfectly. Because it does have, all those, be, it includes be, it includes observation, and it includes doing.

[17:34]

It includes all those. Maybe. But anyway, it really means doing something over and over again, like Zazen, until one finally lets go. And then to study the self is to forget. But forget is pretty good. To shift the center You know, there's this old saying, the true sage does not see

[18:42]

a self. Therefore, the self of the sage is seen everywhere. Why would the repetition culminate in letting go necessarily? Well, because if you say, I will let go, The only thing that works is throwing yourself into the machinery. Putting yourself into the tube, so to speak. So that it's not really, you're not trying to do anything. You're not trying to let go. The more you try to let go, the more you cling. So you can't try to let go. All you can do is practice. Is it then a process of exhaustion or extinction? Yeah, a process of exhaustion. Exactly.

[19:53]

Process of exhaustion. That's why, you know, in Sashin, you're sitting for five days or seven days, and the first day is just allowing the mind to settle. The second day is a lot of pain. Third day, things get worse and worse. And then at some point, you just let go. I mean, letting go happens, hopefully. You can't... Of course, you make an effort, but the effort you make is just to sit. It's just to beat it. And then suddenly, something shifts. So it's not like you make it shift. You don't make something. Things just shift. Exhaust has another meaning also, which I think really applies here also, which is when you're trying to do something, you exhaust different options.

[21:03]

Yeah, you exhaust everything. That's right. It's exhaustive and exhausting. That's right. So you go through all of the tricks, all the possibilities, and nothing works. I don't know, but then there's the return, the vengeance of the exhausted. How is that you? I mean it's sneaky. Well, maybe you invite them. Yeah. So don't invite them. So then to forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas.

[22:09]

So to let go of the self is to actually realize the self. To let go of the self is to realize the self. To realize your original face, which is no special self. Yes, Paul? That time you used the same word, self, and you did mean the two different selves. Yeah. They're not two different selves. Small self and big self. Yeah, I said, you let go of the self in order to realize the self. When you let go of the self, you realize the self. What you're letting go of is your very limited self view. Yeah, view. Self means clinging. You know, self arises with clinging.

[23:12]

Self arises with views. Self arises with delusions. Self arises with ill will. Self arises with greed. So we are continually creating the self, which is a self overlaid on the self. I wish there was two different words that we used. Those two different selves. Well, it's okay to wish. Look at that as it is, without trying to find some other way to look at it. It would be such an enormous relief to really understand that.

[24:21]

Yes. It frees one. It's an enormous relief to let go. It would free one of this obligation. No. Obligation? To do something about it. Never mind, that's obscure, but I know what I mean. To do something about it. Well, once you do something about it, you don't need to do something about it anymore. With the reasoning mind to solve it. That's right. The reasoning mind no longer has to deal with it. And all the money that Satan's You can still be enlightened and still need to be happy in therapy. You're welcome. Ziphi Roshi used to say, when you're enlightened, if you like ice cream and you're enlightened and you pass the ice cream store, you still want to have an ice cream cone.

[25:26]

Even an enlightened person can have psychological problems. Dharmas or the 10,000 Dharmas? That's the next line. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 Dharmas. That means that when the self is dropped, everything becomes enlightened and you respect each existence, and you learn from every existence.

[26:40]

And you don't assert yourself on things, but you learn how to know how to be turned by things, and you know how to turn things. So it means that you're really in harmony with everything. You're in harmony and balance with everything, with your surroundings and with life itself. That's to be enlightened by the 10,000 Dharmas. You understand the nature of things, so you're no longer in contention and you're no longer trying to control everything. So then he says, to be enlightened by the 10,000 Dharmas, is to free one's body and mind and those of others. So that's two virtues.

[27:43]

One is to free your own body and mind and to free the bodies and minds of others. And when there's no self, when one realizes no self, one is directly in harmony with everything. This is called samadhi. And samadhi is present in zazen. because you've dropped everything. You've actually dropped the self in zazen, even though you may not feel that way. So this is called samadhi, ji ju yu samadhi, samadhi of self-fulfillment. And this is to free one's body and mind. That's jijijusamadhi. One's body may be totally free from self-centeredness. And tajijusamadhi is to extend that to others.

[28:50]

The samadhi of... In jijijusamadhi, we reflect inwardly. In Pajayusamayi, the light is reflected out and is freely given to everyone. So that's two virtues of freeing one's body and mind and those of others. And then he says, no trace of enlightenment remains. And this traceless enlightenment is continued forever. This is the final expression of practice.

[29:59]

It's not that there's no enlightenment. It's not that enlightenment ceases, it's that the traces are not there. So one may be enlightened, but it's not obvious, or one does not make a show of being enlightened. There's no trace of grandiose or setting oneself up in some way. If someone is setting themselves up in some way, that's not enlightenment, or the smell, you know, poop, stink, scents that causes them to stink. So, sometimes we see people that have these traces. Someone may have some good understanding, but the traces, they leave a trail. So, be careful.

[31:03]

Yes? Well, could you comment on the word forever? Oh yeah, forever. Means endlessly. Because when one, you know, endless seems to imply rebirth after rebirth. Which brings up the whole problem of rebirth. But we'll get into that when we talk about firewood and ash. So, you know, we say practice goes on forever. It's not like you practice, you know, for five years and then you're finished. or ten years or six months. Real practice goes on endlessly. It's just totally endless.

[32:06]

The beginning is endless. And the practice that you begin, which you feel, you know, oh, I just came to this practice new, you know, it's the practice that you've always been practicing. But you don't always realize that. And it's the practice that you will always be practicing. It's just a practice that's continually going on. It's just called life itself. So there are various ways of looking at the word endless or forever. But you can also look at it in the sense of this moment, this dharma position is an endless moment right now. That's exactly what Dogon's saying, is this moment does not become some other moment.

[33:11]

In time, we tend to look at time as discontinuous. Discontinuous means breaking it up into pieces. And so we have the idea of now and forever, or now and then. And then we say, we divide it up and put it on our wrist. You're not supposed to be wearing watches, by the way. One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, that's discontinuous time. Or I have, you know, we start Zazen at five o'clock in the morning, you know, and then we... Discontinuous time. We're always involved in discontinuous time and we don't think about, we're not aware so much of discontinuous time, which is just the moment of now, which doesn't come or go. And it's the same thing as saying,

[34:23]

the absolute and the relative. We have relative time and absolute time. Relative time is what we're always aware of. But relative time only exists as eternal time. So in each moment, we say now. Yesterday you said now. Today we say now. But this now is always now. It's always now. It doesn't come or go. It's continuous. So this moment is a discrete moment of now. It doesn't become the next now. It doesn't turn into something else. Spring does not turn into summer.

[35:45]

Spring is just spring. Summer is just summer. Spring has its before and after. Summer has its before and after. But now is... And summer exists now. Spring exists now. This moment exists now. But it's a relative moment, but it's an eternal moment. So practice continues forever. Impermanence, does that take place in the now? Impermanence is not a thing. I know, it's not a now.

[36:51]

Impermanence, you can't grasp impermanence. You say when we breathe, we live and die in every breath. Impermanence is just a way of saying that nothing has a self. There's no self. And that's eternal. It's a not-self. But a not-self doesn't exist. To even say summer, there is no such thing as summer. And so therefore we say summer. So there's this illusory view of things. But I'll get into that tomorrow.

[37:55]

It's a great subject for tomorrow. So no trace of enlightenment remains with the enlightened person. And this traceless enlightenment is continued. Continuous. Continuous. It's continuous forever. It's just continuous. Like continuous time. And then he says, I don't have too much time, but, when first one seeks the truth, one separates oneself far from its environs.

[39:00]

In other words, when you seek it, when you go after it, it becomes something distant. When one has already correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, One is one's original self at that moment. So how does one transmit the truth to oneself? Well, through zazen. Then one is one's original self at that moment. In other words, when one seeks, looks around, tries to find the truth, it just goes farther away. But when one sits down and becomes the truth, and unifies body and mind, letting go of self, then that's called transmitting to yourself. There's nothing transmitted, of course, but it's a way of speaking. Nobody can transmit anything to you. Nobody can transmit this to you.

[40:02]

One has to transmit it. One just becomes oneself at that moment. When riding in a boat, If one watches the shore, one may assume that the shore is moving. You know, you've had that feeling, you're riding in the boat and it looks like the shore is moving, the boat is standing still. That's the delusion we have about ourselves. We think that we're permanent and that everything is moving around us. But if one watching the boat, but watching the boat directly, One knows that it's the boat that moves. In other words, you realize that yourself has no fixed position because we see everything from the fixed position of ourselves and the world revolves around us, but we have no fixed position. Let me talk about

[41:07]

marking the fisherman who is out at sea, and he puts a mark on the boat because the fishing is good at this spot. But if one examines the ten thousand dharmas with a deluded body and mind, One will suppose that one's mind and nature are permanent. Well, we know that our mind and nature are not permanent, don't we? But what he means here is that even though you know that that's so, you feel that something still continues, like a soul. That deep down, there's a soul, right? This is what religion is built on, mostly. But in Buddhism, that's a heretical view. It's called the Shrenika heresy.

[42:12]

Shrenika is one of the Buddha's disciples, and he insisted that there is some soul that continues, that's eternal, and that after every death, that some body forms again around the soul, and each time the soul transmigrates through many lifetimes. This is a heretical view in Buddhism, so-called. So if one examines the 10,000 dharmas with the deluded body and mind, one will suppose that one's body and mind are permanent. But if one practices intimately and returns to the true Self, it will be clear that the 10,000 dharmas are without a Self. but don't give up. So, how does one reconcile the fact that, you know, there are two extreme views.

[43:33]

One is the view of permanence and the other is the view of annihilation. So the extreme view of permanence is that even though one dies, one continues to be reborn. The eternalism. And the view of nihilism or annihilation is that once you die, that's it. There's nothing. So both of these extreme views are dualistic views in Buddhism. So then what?

[44:16]

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