Last time we spoke about arousing the thought of enlightenment, and this time I think we'll take Sections 2 and 3 together. So Dogen says, once you see or hear the true teaching, you should practice it without fail. And then he says, one phrase offered by a loyal servant can have the power to alter the course of the nation.

[01:31]

One word given by a Buddha ancestor cannot fail to turn people's minds. The unwise ruler does not adopt the servant's advice. One who does not step forward cannot accept the Buddha's teaching. If you are unbending, you cannot stop floating along in birth and death. If appropriate advice is not heeded, governing a virtue cannot be realized." So here, Dogen makes an analogy between to the ruler from his retainers or from his friends. And it's analogous to heeding the Buddha's words or heeding the words of advice about Sometimes, often in Buddhist literature, there are examples of people whose buddhacy is planted at an early age.

[03:15]

And then at some point, it's brought to fruition by some chance meeting or some event. I'm trying to think of a story. Anyway, I can't think of any stories. But there's a story of someone who was an alcoholic who did something. My memory's not very good tonight. It'll come to me. power to alter the course of the nation, that is, if the ruler listens.

[04:26]

So one word given by a Buddha ancestor cannot fail to turn people's minds. But not everyone listens, and not everyone is ready. And if they're not ready at this time, they might be ready later. But often the Buddhist seed, this is a good example of planting the Buddhist seed. Often, every Saturday we have Zazen instruction. And maybe five or eight or ten people come to Zazen instruction. in Zazen.

[05:29]

But we give Zazen instruction anyway to all these people who never come back. But the seed is planted. Maybe they hear a lecture and they have Zazen instruction. And then ten years later, they remember this. Or something triggers their memory. And then they come and start sitting, Zazen, start practicing. And they say, well, the first time I came here was 10 years ago. And then I went away. And then something happened. And I remembered this, and I came back. And here I am. This happens all the time. So this seed is planted often. But you don't know what the results will be. So we just continue to practice and continue to plant or throw the seeds out.

[06:37]

And I'm not worried so much about what the result will be. I never worry about what the result will be. But the seeds often, at the right moment, at the right time, when all the conditions are right, they sprout. The unwise ruler does not adopt the servant's advice. One who does not step forward cannot accept the Buddha's teaching. People see it go by, but they don't necessarily put out their hand. If you are unbending, you cannot stop floating along in birth and death. So, often people see it, and they know that it's there, but because of their stubbornness, or because something holds them back, they can't quite reach out to it.

[08:00]

That's too bad. but we just give them opportunities. And if you talk to people, you can sometimes melt their stiffness or their resistance. If appropriate advice is not heeded, give I think it's fairly obvious what he's talking about. So then, section three. This section is so short, and it looks like he has to say this, but there's not a lot of discussion, I think.

[09:09]

So this is the main part of the next part. In the Buddha way, you should always enter enlightenment through practice. So it's nothing new. But let's see what he has to say. He says, a worldly teacher says, through study one can gain wealth. Buddha says, within practice there is enlightenment. So, same thing, but the result is different. Same attitude, but the result is different. that there is no enlightenment without practice. Enlightenment is not something to grasp or to look for.

[10:12]

Just to practice is enough. People seek enlightenment, but you can't seek enlightenment except to practice. And then you can't seek it through practice either. You have to seek enlightenment through practice, but practice is not a vehicle for seeking enlightenment. You have to seek enlightenment through practice, but practice is not a vehicle. Is he saying that here, though? I mean, I know that... Say that again. I know that you aren't supposed to seek enlightenment through practice, but it doesn't seem like he's saying that here. It seems like he's saying, just as you gain wealth through study, so you achieve enlightenment through practice.

[11:21]

Yes, but you don't... Yes, he's saying that. But he's not saying that you practice in order to seek enlightenment. It sounds like he's saying that. Enlightenment arises through practice. Do you say practice is enlightenment? Within practice is enlightenment. Is that the same thing? It's sort of the same thing. Enlightenment is practice, practice. Practice, yes. Practice, enlightenment. Practice is enlightenment, enlightenment is practice. say within practice is enlightenment, within enlightenment is practice. It's okay to say practice is enlightenment, but practice is practice, and enlightenment is enlightenment.

[12:22]

But within practice, enlightenment arises. And within enlightenment, practice is turned. That's the example he says, within practice there's enlightenment. He doesn't say, through study one can gain wealth, but he doesn't say within practice one gains enlightenment. He says, within practice there is enlightenment. Susan? Yeah, I'm just seeing at the end of the section he says, So then he says, it is unheard of that without studying someone should earn wealth or that without practicing someone should attain enlightenment.

[13:28]

Though practice varies, initiated by faith or dharma knowledge, with emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment, you always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. Though practice varies, initiated by faith or dharma knowledge, with emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment, you always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. Sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment. Gradual enlightenment is like gradual approach.

[14:30]

First you learn this, and then you learn that, and then you learn that. It's like going to school, and then, in a way, like going to school. And you do various practices in order to gradually open the mind, or gradually let go of the mind. But Zen practice is called When there is enlightenment, everything is seen as a whole, without gradually seeing it as a whole. You see it all at once as a whole. You see the universe all at once in its wholeness. So gradual practice is sometimes called step-letter practice, stepwise.

[15:46]

And you climb the rungs until you find your niche, nirvana. But some practice starts at the end, starts with enlightenment. and you're pushed off into the ocean and then you have to start swimming. It's like you let go of everything all at once and start swimming. And then you find yourself in a scene of practice and in the midst of enlightenment. Not everybody is willing to swim. take that plunge. But that's Zen practice.

[16:53]

When you come to practice, you're not really taught anything. You just, here's the cushion, this is how you So you practice from the inside out, so to speak. And even though you don't realize what you're doing, So then he says, the practices vary. Practice varies initiated by faith or dharma knowledge.

[18:02]

Dharma knowledge means understanding Buddhism. Someone asked Master Ino about understanding Buddhism. And Ino said, well, I don't understand Buddhism. Which is a little shocking for a six-man sister. my understanding is not based on learning. Even though I don't reject learning, what has to go beyond learning?

[19:16]

So practice varies, initiated by faith or Dharma knowledge. And faith has various meanings also. Faith, in this case, probably means faith in Dharma knowledge, or faith in Buddhism, or faith in your teacher's words, something like that. But faith is a really necessary aspect of practice. As a matter of fact, true faith, real faith, is enlightenment. When one has true faith, this faith arises through the enlightened mind.

[20:18]

devotion in the context of Pure Land practice which he was exposed to. Right. Faith in Buddhas without any doctrinal stuff. Well, for Dogon, faith is faith in Buddha nature. One of the necessary factors for practice is to have faith in your own Buddha nature, which is not some deity or something outside of yourself. This is why Zen is called the practice of self-reliance. It's called the practice of self-reliance

[21:30]

And through practice, one realizes one's own Buddha nature. And that Buddha nature is the same for everyone, even though everyone is different and experiences differently. But here, he's talking about the practice initiated by faith or dharma knowledge, with emphasis on sudden or gradual enlightenment, you always depend on practice to go beyond enlightenment. So what is going beyond enlightenment? We say in this practice, actually, that practice begins with enlightenment. It's not that you work step by step in order to keeps us practicing, and enlightenment is fulfilled through enlightenment.

[22:55]

And then we say, oh, that's enlightenment. But it's been enlightenment all along. The difficult part is to have pure practice, to maintain a pure practice, which is to go beyond enlightenment. So we have enlightenment on one hand, Most practices start from delusion. Because we are deluded, we want enlightenment. If you weren't deluded, you wouldn't want enlightenment. If you were already enlightened, you wouldn't want enlightenment.

[24:02]

Because, see how bad it is. You said it was boring. We have delusion on the one hand, and enlightenment on the other. And so most ways of thinking about Buddhist practice is to start from delusion. Here we are in our delusion, and we're working toward enlightenment. That's okay. But that's dualistic understanding. practice. And practice within enlightenment is refining our life, refining our understanding and our behavior and our character, which is

[25:19]

So yes, we are. So, don't say that. I mean, don't believe it. You should believe that you're a little bit crazy. The enlightened mind realizes our problem.

[26:56]

Yes. It's something that keeps us... There's something about sitting still, and not moving, and identifying with something that is not moving. There's always a saying, and yet it is always moving. It was like the original thought of who you were, or are, is always there. Very thoughtful, huh? the arising of an ego or an I. And there's just Buddha nature in its naked form.

[28:29]

Formless form. But is it naming it? I mean, another approach to the same The same thing that we're calling Buddha, I think. But it's something that comes before the names. I mean, it comes before you name it. Well, it always comes before you name it. Names follow forms. That's why it's hard to discuss it as ideas. Because as soon as you start discussing it as ideas, it's already kind of dead. And it's just in the wrong with ideas. Is it the same for a baby as it is for an adult?

[29:46]

Who's talking? Me, Barbara. Oh, what? Is it the same for a baby as it is for an adult. Food and nature. Oh, of course. Same for this post. Cats and dogs. Light bulbs. You know, what about maturity? What about growing in experiences of life? Doesn't that have any, doesn't that take any, have any value? Well, that's what I'm talking about. Well, then a baby, let's say, does not have knowledge of work or experiences of certain levels of resistance for things that it... Well, you know, a baby's work... You look at the baby sitting there, and you think the baby's not working. But the baby is working continuously

[30:47]

without stopping. The baby's work is far more, I don't want to say far more, but at least as much work as any adult who is putting in all their effort. Babies just putting up, even when they're sitting there, you know, apparently not doing anything, doesn't have the experience, and the baby accumulates experience, and then at some point the experience starts telling the baby that they are an entity, an ego, a separate person. Before a certain age, there's no separation. You just eat whatever comes into your hand. Everything is one. You come from the world of oneness. And then you become educated into the world of And it's not becoming a baby again, it's going beyond baby and becoming a truly mature person, adult.

[32:11]

Excuse me, is that not the value of a bodhisattva above a baby, because the baby is just present, but then when you learn separations from presence and then how to reach presence through that, that's a value. Yeah. That's right. So Bodhisattva is the maturity. The baby comes to maturity. The baby has gone through the various stages. It emerges as fruition as Bodhisattva. Yet they follow the right path. Otherwise they become something else. But everyone is still looking for it. The baby and the adult of the Bodhisattva all have Buddha nature and Buddha nature for them is all the same.

[33:37]

But what's different is their level of realization. That's what changes over time. So when the baby goes by, we go, oh, look at the baby. There's something compelling about the baby, this helpless being who doesn't differentiate, totally at one with everything, until it becomes educated to be self-protective. But the buddha nature is the same. The buddha nature is the same in a baby as in a bodhisattva. Buddhas and sentient beings are one. This is the theme of Zen practice.

[34:41]

Buddhas and sentient beings are not two. One and the same buddha nature exists in everyone. It doesn't exist in everyone. It is everyone. As Dogen says, Everyone is Buddha nature, not has. This is Dogen's little contribution, you know, the Nirvana Sutra says, all sentient beings have Buddha nature. And Dogen changed that to, all sentient beings are Buddha nature. This is the point he emphasized. So that's a separation between yourself and Buddha nature. So when it says all beings, sentient beings and Buddhas are not different, it means Buddha nature is the same in whole. By the way, if anyone still hasn't taken the class, you can...

[36:59]

That's a lot. So if you go to the left, you're going to go to the right. No, that's wrong. You're going to go to the left, and then you're going to go to the right. Yeah. I mean, it's like, yeah. Oh, that's right. You're going to go to the left, and then you're going to go to the right.

[39:40]

No, that's right. You're going to go to the left, and then you're going to go to the right. Yeah. That's the way it's supposed to be. You're going to go to the left, and then you're going to go to the right. Thank you very much. Can I share that with everyone? Thank you.

[40:46]

Thank you. So he says, you always depend on practice to get here on enlightenment.

[42:19]

Your study can be superficial or profound. This does not necessarily depend on the king's excellence or inability, nor should it depend on one's having good or bad luck. If someone were to get wealth without studying, how could that person transmit the way in which ancient kings, in times of either order or disorder, ruled the country? If you were to gain realization without practice, how could you comprehend the Tathagata's teaching of delusion and enlightenment? That's the question. If you were to gain realization without practice, how could you comprehend that the target is teaching of delusion and enlightenment?" I think what he means here is, without the basis of practice,

[43:30]

What is there to be done with enlightenment? You put it in a plastic bag. The activity of enlightenment is compassionate practice. and that the Buddha was enlightenment, but still. And it was the activity of that enlightenment which is how it moves, how it manifests in the world, and it's balanced by wisdom on one side and compassion on the other. That's right. So the Buddha is right in the middle. He has an easy job, he doesn't have to do anything. Right. So this could be Vairagyana.

[44:59]

This is a kind of is that. It's not any, I don't think it's any particular Buddha, but you can attribute that, you can say, well this is Bhairavachana Buddha, even though it's not holding Bhairavachana So mañjushri is wisdom, and avalokiteshvara is compassion. And these are the two aspects of Arjuna. These are the two aspects of enlightenment. One is wisdom, which manifests through enlightenment, and compassion, which is the activity of

[46:04]

and selfless activity. That's why I suppose fundamentally it would come out as serving other beings. Serving other beings, yeah. In Hell, there's a big banquet, and people are sitting at this big banquet table, and they all have these long chopsticks. And the chopsticks are so long that even though they can pick up the food, they can't get it into their mouths.

[47:52]

And Heaven is exactly the same place, and the same people, the same table, the same chopsticks, and the same food, except that You should know that arousing practice in the midst of delusion, you attain realization before you recognize it, is the key. That brings us to practice.

[49:08]

We're always practicing in the midst of our delusion. So enlightenment and delusion are right together in practice. You should know that arousing practice in the midst of delusion, you attain realization before you recognize it. Walking in a fog, your clothes get wet before you realize it. Not like walking in the rain. Yes? Could you say something about what pure practice is then in relation to practice? Pure practice, yes. Pure practice means practice of non-duality. And how is that different from practice?

[50:09]

It's not different. Practice of non-duality is what practice is. That's called pure practice. Earlier I thought you said, Suzuki Roshi said, the trick was to keep your practice pure. Yes, that's right. Yeah, so what's different about that? I don't know. You have some idea about purity. I think so. I just said purity means non-duality. It doesn't mean that over against something that's impure, like enlightenment is something over against delusion. Enlightenment exists within our delusion. Delusion exists within enlightenment. Purity is to be found within the impure, and the impure is to be found within purity. If you try to separate them,

[51:11]

and keep them separate. It's like digging a hole in sand. We have some idea, an ideal about how we want to keep everything pure. An idea of purity. And of course, in certain disciplines that's necessary. But purity from one side is impurity from another. Impurity from one point of view is purity from another. And that's wisdom. And understanding this, realizing this, is enlightenment. So that's like practice. preference or self-centeredness.

[52:43]

We're always making choices, but what are our choices based on? Are they based on delusion, or are they based on reality? Are they just based on personal preference? a situation that has nothing to do with partiality. Partiality has two meanings, A and B. sense, rather than its whole sense. So when we see things as it is, that's an enlightened

[53:53]

the world in terms of personal preference or partiality. So he says, you should know that arousing practice, amidst the delusion, you attain realization before you recognize it. At this time, you first know that the raft of discourse is like yesterday's dream, and you finally cut off your old understanding, bound up in the vines and serpents of words. This is not made to happen by Buddha, but is accomplished by your all-encompassing effort.

[55:16]

In other words, to explain this. I can't hear you very well.

[56:27]

In the section just immediately preceding this one on the previous page, he says, those studies can be superficial or profound, students sharp or dull, does not necessarily depend on excellence or inability, nor should it depend on one's having good or bad luck. But where he says excellence or inability... Doesn't depend on your excellence. It doesn't depend on your inability. He's just using those as two. I understand. But what about the dichotomy of lazy or energetic? You can't use those two on the same.

[57:43]

Whether you're intelligent or not is not up to you. Right. But whether you're lazy or not is. I understand. So that's why your effort brings it forth. Your laziness does not. Right. So in a sense, okay, but you wouldn't say laziness or a kind of, you wouldn't say that was an inability. No, that's not an inability. Laziness is not, well I mean in a sense it's, you know, it feels like an inability. But it's not a disability. But laziness is Buddha nature.

[60:06]

call somebody who, you know, has great enlightenment, that lazy bum. If you see somebody who has great enlightenment, you say, oh, that's just a, that lazy bum? Country bumpkin. So what is that above, you know, being a lazy bum. With nothing left out, then one can realize Buddha nature through being a totally lazy bum. That's purity. That sounds strenuous to me. Yeah, it's too hard. That's purity. Well, what I'm wondering is, there's effort, now there's some effort I make in my practice.

[62:15]

every day, and you kind of go, and stop, and go. It just seemed like, I don't even remember why I came here. I mean, I remember the events, but it's like I was here thinking, how did I get here? And I just started doing this thing. So, and I, so I think, that, like, what is that, and what, and why, how did we, this particular group of people get here? And there's all those other people out there who didn't, who aren't there. I don't want to say why, because, It's just, that's what I'm wondering. What is it about the people in this room? Well, the people in this room seem to have an affinity with the practice and with each other. And it's not like there's some special group of related people. But you just don't realize what your effort has been.

[63:52]

You don't realize how much effort you've actually been making, and the struggle that you've actually had to maintain your practice, and the struggle that you're continually having. I see about them. So, you know, I see you totally engaged in this effort to practice. And I see various difficulties and stumbling blocks and barriers and You're always figuring out, making this effort to deal with that.

[64:58]

You may not think about it that way, but I do. But what is it that gets us here in the first place? Speak louder. What is it that gets us here in the first place? What is it that gets... That gets us here in the first place? Oh, what a nature. Buddha seeks Buddha. You may not know what it is exactly, but at some point you will realize what it is. So in a way, you know, It's a kind of blind path. And this blindness is important. You know that there's something that you're doing, and some direction that you're going, and some need to do it, and some effort.

[66:10]

But there's also a kind of blindness in that you can't really see. So it's kind of groping, you know. And this kind of groping along in the dark is practice. Intuitively moving. And you know, you feel your way step by step, little by little, but there's no path. returns to the source, as we say. We don't have to figure out why, you know, the water doesn't think about this level, or this level, or this, or where it's supposed to go, where there's a faithful.

[67:17]

There's another saying, just follow the stream. So, that's faith. There's something that, in the reality of that, sometimes it And some people it's very strong, some people it's not so strong. But this is the benefit of Saga. this sangha.

[68:49]

I've come from a place where, a monastery where I practiced for seven years and I mean it's hard, but you pretty much know what you're going to be doing every day. You're going to be sitting in the morning, you're going to be eating, you're going to be working, you're going to be sitting in the evening again. But here, you know, you have a job, some people go to And then, on top of that, you have this practice period going on. Sometimes it seems like we're making it impossible for us to do anything, or to achieve anything, or to get anywhere. But then, just coming back to Dogen, where he says, within practice there is enlightenment. It's much harder here.

[69:55]

It's much harder. It's much harder. So, moreover, what practice calls forth is enlightenment. The treasure house does not come from outside. How enlightenment functions is through practice. How could actions of mind ground go astray? Mind ground means being grounded in the mind. So if you turn the eye of enlightenment and reflect back on the realm of practice, nothing in particular hits the eye. And you just see white clouds for 10,000 miles If you turn the eye of enlightenment and reflect back on the realm of practice, nothing in particular hits the eye.

[71:04]

There's nothing special. You look and say, well, what's special about practice? Nothing. And yet, it's very special. There's no special form of practice, and all forms are really empty. bowing, working. All forms are forms of practice, if what you do is practice. And then you see just white clouds for 10,000 levels. White clouds, I think, means like the ever-changing landscape. changing forms. If you watch clouds, even slowly, little by little, they're changing.

[72:10]

Clouds are always changing. This is our life. Everything in this world is like, this is the realm of clouds. Everything is constantly taking on a new form, transforming. So if you arouse practice, then you come back to Susan's point. If you arouse practice as though climbing the steps of enlightenment, not even a speck of dust will support your feet. You will be as far from true practice as heaven is from earth. That is, if you do this step-climbing practice and try to gain something that way. And now, he says, practice and realization are separated is actually the separation of heaven and earth.

[73:24]

really heaven and earth. The spirit and the body. Spirit and body. But heaven and earth are not two. But we tend to think of them as two. When we think about enlightenment, we don't think about the body. That's because enlightenment is not our thought. Whatever we think enlightenment is, it's not. So we practice with the body. Practicing in the body with the body. Not practicing to have the spirit leave the body, or hover over the body, or be free of the body for a minute. The practice is the practice within the body. And mind and spirit and body are not separate. So what we do with the body is what we do with the spirit and the mind.

[75:01]

In order to talk about it, we divided it into different parts. We call this the mind, this the body, this the spirit.

[75:36]

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