I vow to teach the truth without the target of smurfs. Good evening. Strange to have it still light. Well, I left off after this poem, as an ancient teacher has said, two-thirds of our days are already over, and we have not practiced clarifying who we are.

[01:07]

We waste our days in chasing satisfaction, so that even when called, we refuse to turn around. I read that, and we talked about that. Not to encounter a true teacher will result in being led around by your feelings and emotions. The case of the foolish son of a wealthy man leaving home with the family treasure and throwing it away like so much rubbish is truly a pathetic one. Likewise, to the extent that we are familiar with what the work of the Tenzo is, we must not squander it. So there's a number of things here in this paragraph. not to encounter a true teacher. Dogen is constantly talking about the need to encounter a true teacher so that we know... so we have someone who helps us to... gives us some guidance in our practice.

[02:11]

But being a teacher is not so easy, and not because it's, it's not so hard to teach Buddhism. Well, every teacher has a different approach, you know, every teacher has a different approach. And you can't tell, you know, we have, there are stereotypes of what is a teacher. You know, we see these pictures of Rinzai, you know, the stern Zen master with a big stick, which is an artist's conception.

[03:18]

We have to be careful about artists' conceptions. They don't necessarily reflect the true character of somebody. And we have the myths about the old Zen masters, and we have the myths about Buddha. And these myths are the projection of somebody's idealization. So actually, this is why it's good to have a teacher, because a teacher is a real person, not just an idealized, dramatized picture. You know, the Mahayana path became so idealized that it became like pie in the sky, unreachable.

[04:23]

I think I talked about this before. practices over many lifetimes, and the practices which begin with being such a pure soul, so to speak. And the thing about Zen, you know, the sixth patriarch, Huineng, This is what he did actually. The main thing he did was to bring the lofty ideals of Buddhism down to practical application. So when you read the Platform Sutra, and you read about these people asking him questions and the way he speaks to people.

[05:26]

He always brings it down to, if you just do these simple things, you will have realization. You don't have to be discouraged by the lofty idealism of Buddhism. So when someone asked him, well, what is the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya, which, if you read the literature, they're talking about some celestial Buddhas. But he said, oh, dharmakaya is your nature. It's your nature. The dharmakaya is within you, not something that you have to seek. Sambhogakaya is your wisdom. Nirmanakaya is your body, your activity.

[06:32]

They're not these inaccessible practices. Simply pay attention to what you're doing. So this is the basis of Zen practice. Zen practice brings all the lofty practices of Buddhism down to practical everyday activity and it doesn't divide purity from impurity. So a good teacher understands people and sees the heart of people. and knows that everyone has a problem, more than one problem, including his own problems or her own problems, but is not attached to anything.

[07:40]

encourage them to develop a DARPA relationship with one of the senior student practice leaders. And there's some question about, well, are these teachers, or what goes on there? And it seems from what I've heard from different people, the feedback, while that's an encouragement for people to meet with one of the senior students, there's really the one teacher, the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, and I'm curious about what your relationship was with Katagiri Roshi and Suzuki Roshi and how that sort of true teacher was sort of discerned. The only thing I remember you saying was that Katagiri Roshi was like lot of things that you brought up.

[08:55]

So I didn't say perfect. I said, Kadagiri actually had Dharma transmission from his teacher, but he acted the role of the student. Suzuki Roshi acted the role of the teacher. So we could see how they interacted with each other and that was our model for I remember one time, we were at Zen Center at a dinner, at some kind of a banquet, and they'd served azuki beans, which I don't particularly like. And Katagiri was sitting next to me and Suzuki Roshi was over there. And I said, I don't like these azuki beans. I mean, I don't think I'll eat them. And Suzuki Roshi said, Katagiri Roshi will eat them. Well, Kanagiri-sensei will eat them. He wasn't at Roshi.

[09:56]

And he ate them. This is the way they teach. Sometimes they hit the person next to you. You know, you're doing something a little off, and the teacher will come and hit the person next to you. in order to teach you something. I can't explain that exactly. That does happen. So what you learned from that is that now you would eat the aduki beans? If my teacher asked me to eat the aduki beans, I would eat them. Yes, even though I didn't like them. The tradition in Buddhism is Kalyanamita, Kalyanamita in Sanskrit, which means a Dharma friend, and when a monk,

[11:15]

in the Theravada tradition, in the older traditions, they're assigned to an older monk, and that older monk becomes their Kalyanamita. And so, in that sense, you know, everybody, when we say teacher, you know, there's this teacher, and this teacher, and this teacher, and this teacher, right? But in the hierarchy of teaching, there's a head teacher, and then there are subsidiary teachers, and so forth. So there are older students who have experience and can actually help other people, help new people. And they can answer their questions. And if they can't answer them, they can say, well, I don't know that much. That's a good teacher. But I'll find out for you. Next time ask me, I'll look it up.

[12:21]

Next time I'll answer it for you. Something like that. So, we have people who have reached a certain level where they can deal with people, new people, you know, in various levels and so forth. So, it's very nice that people can take that responsibility. Did you hear certain questions in Katagiri Roshi versus Suzuki Roshi? Certain questions, yeah. Was Katagiri Roshi more accessible for learning certain things? Well, Katagiri Roshi would teach us form. more, you know, how to do things. Suzuki Roshi would teach us Dharma. Katagiri Roshi couldn't speak English very well at first. I remember his first talk. He wrote it out and read it and nobody could understand a word he said.

[13:24]

But he was not the level of Suzuki Roshi. In understanding? Well, in his ability to His understanding and his ability to transmit the Dharma and so forth. His understanding was very good. I had some problems with him. He was not Suzuki Roshi. He had a lot of assumptions. Suzuki Roshi never had assumptions. If he had assumptions, he put them aside. and he never approached anybody with an assumption. Kadagiri Roshi, excuse me, Kadagiri Roshi, you think this, or you think that, you know, in his talk, you people think this, or you think Suzuki Roshi would never tell us what we thought. That's an assumption, right? And when people tell you what you think, you haven't reached the right level yet.

[14:27]

You shouldn't tell people what they are thinking. You may have a hunch, though. You may have a hunch. You say, in my opinion, you're thinking blah, blah, blah. He said, many people think this and that. Yeah, you say, yeah, many people think. If you say, many people think, then you're describing something. But when you say, you think, you know, no, no, I don't. You just think I think. Even if you do think that. Right? It's impolite, but it's more than impoliteness. It's unskillful and assuming something. So, even though you may feel that, it's an accusation, you know. So, he was not skillful like Suzuki Roshi. enlightened with Suzuki Roshi.

[15:33]

Just one final comment slash question. I wonder if, and it's just presumption, clearly Suzuki Roshi was the abbot of the temple and the students were there for him, and I wonder if that comment of, you think this, and these assumptions that Kageyoshi demonstrated, was some And because Kazumi Roshi was there to help Suzuki Roshi, he wasn't there to be the teacher. Right, yet that he had some acknowledgement from his teacher and a fair amount of years of practice that there may have been, not a rivalry, but just something a little short from actually complete sort of empowerment with the students. Maybe. I don't want to be presumptuous to say that he did, but he might have.

[16:44]

He might be a complicated person, because Suzuki Roshi was totally unbiased. In other words, He didn't think that the Japanese were really better than the Americans. But almost every other Japanese in the world does. They're even half-Japanese. Even half-Japanese. So what was your observation of Kageyoshi and Suzuki-yoshi? He was... I just remember one time, I was coming into the temple, and Kenny Gregory was coming down the stairs, and instead of speaking to me, he just put his hands together.

[17:52]

If that had been Suzuki, he would have said, hello. That was the difference. He was more formal. But, you know, he could never really recognize any of his students as, he could never finally give them, any of his students, his confidence. His confidence, yeah, category. His own students? When it came to his, He was dying and he had brain tumors and all this. Up to that time, he had never given anybody Dharma transmission. He had a lot of students. They liked him. He was a wonderful person. I'm putting him in this funny light.

[18:54]

There's just one part of him. He was a very likable person, and generous, and forthcoming, and all this. But he could never really sanction any of his students. And then when he was dying, he gave 12 people, it was a big dharma transmission, kind of like at his deathbed. but he didn't ever appoint a successor. So, he couldn't do that because they weren't Japanese in the end. That's my, according to my opinion, that's the reason. And, or that was a big part of the reason, I would say. So, And this is the big problem between Japan and America.

[20:04]

Maezumi Roshi was good. He wasn't that attached to Japan. Suzuki Roshi wasn't attached to Japan at all. even though he was Japanese and you know he loved Japan and all this and his background but he was not attached and he totally gave himself to America and treated everybody equally and everybody felt confirmed by him whether they had Dharma transmission or whether they were priests or lay people everyone felt confirmed by him but not everybody felt confirmed by Kata Giriroshi kind of like nobody fell for that kind of thing. Without getting too far into it, but just maybe a quick thought from you. We did win the Second World War. Wait. And we did reconstruct the country.

[21:10]

And we didn't, you know, ask for reparation. That's true. And, you know, it all worked out. That's right. And they were very wealthy until they didn't take our advice again. Okay, so hello, what about reality in Japan? Well, that's right. One of them not saying, that's not what I think. Who said that? One of them if they were sitting here. One of who? A Japanese citizen sitting here might not agree with that. Oh, he might not, yeah. That's true. I mean, those are pretty indisputable historical facts. These are just, yeah, historical facts. Maybe it made it feel a little defensive. Maybe.

[22:13]

So what do you have to say about that sequence of historical facts and, you know, the mentality of Japanese vis-a-vis Americans. Yeah. See, this is a country, this is the melting pot of the world. And most countries are like tribes. America is not a tribe. All the tribes meet in America. So the tribal countries have a different way of viewing people who are not citizens of their country. Of course, we do too, but we have a much broader acceptance of people. And I think that

[23:15]

It's just very insular, and still insular. It's an island. And, you know, if someone comes here, I don't know why I'm talking about this, but if people come here from Japan, they stay here for two years, they can't go back to Japan anymore. They're no longer considered Japanese. Even the diplomats who are posted abroad and come back to Japan, you know, They're not part of the gang? No. And, you know, children come over and they'll go to school here, you know, and then they'll go back after a couple of years, and they're not accepted. They're tainted. That's a fact. I didn't quite understand.

[24:19]

I would think that if a person held many assumptions, they wouldn't be a Dharma teacher. They shouldn't be. people are people and they have certain qualities and they study. So even if a person is a dharma teacher they can still have problems, they can still have blind spots, they can still have places where they're not finished. So nobody's completely finished. But it's important to know what your shortcomings are. That's the important thing. It's not that someone is perfect and finished, but the perfect teacher knows what his or her shortcomings are, and knows that they have to work with those, and they accept criticism or feedback.

[25:26]

Yeah. So, Jim, one of the senior teachers at Green Gulch recently said, that just find a teacher who's good enough. And I wonder in the example of Dogen's own life and his admonitions of finding a true teacher, how I can understand that statement of good teacher, good enough. Well, Dogen said, when you find the right teacher, don't criticize their shortcomings. That's what he said, and he names what those are. So a teacher who's good enough is someone who knows their shortcomings and accepts them? Yes. A teacher who's good enough knows who they are and has no illusions about who they are. So is a true teacher someone who's a particular teacher for a given student? There's a given resonance or connectedness with that person or not? Well, we resonate with people.

[26:28]

That's right. So you should find someone that you resonate with. But sometimes a good teacher for you is someone that you don't resonate with. It's nice to find a teacher that you resonate with, and that's really good. But sometimes that teacher will be too soft on you. So maybe sometimes it's good to find someone who It's not so immersive, you know, but it will give you a push and not let you get away with things. Well, things come together. He was very strong, my guy.

[27:54]

Relating to the teacher is just like relating to your practice. When your practice gets difficult, you don't run away. When your practice gets stale or difficult, you stay with it. And when the teacher gets difficult or you have some problem and so forth, you don't run away to another teacher. You stay with it. So the teacher, the student creates the teacher and the teacher creates the student. It's not just something that's one way. So that's the nature of a relationship, is that the student and the teacher are continuously creating each other. I remember Suzuki Roshi used to say, sometimes the teacher is the teacher and the student is the student.

[29:54]

And then sometimes the student is the teacher and the teacher is the student. But even so, the teacher is always the teacher and the student is always the student. Next lifetime, you'll be the teacher and I'll be the student. So anyway, I have to say that I'm sticking my neck out talking about Kanagiri Roshi as my observations, which doesn't mean that he was not a good teacher. He was an excellent teacher, but he had this. This was his characteristic. So not to encounter a true teacher will result in being led around by your feelings and emotions.

[30:59]

So a good teacher will help you to not be led around by your feelings and emotions, but be led around by your determination to practice. and you're by your intention. Intention becomes more, as you mature in practice, intention leads and feelings and emotions follow. So the Kesha, the foolish son, this is in the Lotus Sutra, the prodigal son. It's also in the Bible, I think. So, you know, the prodigal son leaves home and then he wanders around and he squanders his treasure, you know.

[32:05]

looking around, doing all kinds of things. And then he finally comes back and the father sees him, but he doesn't, the father sends the messenger out to bring him back and he gives him a job in the barn, pitching hay and stuff. And finally he works his way up to being the counselor of the king. And the king finally reveals to him who he actually is. That's called enlightenment. In the end, Buddha will show you who you are. That's enlightenment. So likewise, to the extent that we are familiar with what the work of the Tenzo is, we must not squander it. So in reflecting on those who have labored as Tenzo with an attitude of practicing the way, We see that in every case, the manner in which they carried out their work coincided exactly with the virtues of their character.

[33:13]

So Da Gui's enlightenment came at a time when he was working as a Tenzo under Bai Zhang. The incident of Dongshan's three pounds of sesame took place when he was a Tenzo. Is there anything of greater value than realization of what the way is? Is there any time more precious than the time of realizing the way? These are two stories. Dagui's enlightenment came at a time when he was working as a Tenzo. There's a little story here. One day, when Dai Gui was serving as Tenzo on Mount Baizhang, he went to wait on the Master. Baizhang, Huaihai, called out, Who is it?

[34:18]

Dai Gui answered, it's me, Ling Yu. Bai Zhang said, go stir up the coals and see if they are still burning. Stir up the coal in the brazier to see if they're still burning. Dai Gui did as he was told. When he returned, he told Bai Zhang that the fire was out. Bai Zhang got up and went to the brazier himself and ran through the ashes, finding a small number still burning way in the back of the brazier. he brought it over to Daigui and he said, what's this? It's a great story. And Dongshan, three pounds of flax, you know, my guest, Dongshan, who is Buddha? What is Buddha? Three pounds of sesame or flax.

[35:22]

famous story. So, to cite one example of a person longing for the way, there's the boy who made an offering of sand as if it were a great treasure. That was actually King Ashoka. When he was a little boy, he didn't have much, so he offered a piece of sand. Some woman offered her hair for the Buddha to walk on. These are kind of very humble gifts, but have great karmic consequences. So there's the boy who made an offering of sand as if it were a great treasure. And the case of what good fortune would befall one who made images of the Buddha and showed an aptitude of reverence before them also illustrates the same spirit. So the duties of the office right down to the name Tenzo are the same as they were hundreds of years ago. If the attitude and activities of the office have not changed, how can we fail by functioning as Tenzo to actualize its marvelous nature and the way in the same way as those of ancient times did?"

[36:33]

So, he says, Dogen's always saying we should follow the example of the ancients. So then he says, actually, when working in any position of responsibility, not only as Tenzo, but as any officer or assistant, strive to maintain a spirit of joy and magnanimity, along with a caring attitude of a parent. So these are the three attitudes that he's going to explain, or talk about. The spirit of joy. the spirit of magnanimity and the spirit of a parent. Sometimes people say, oh, you Zen students, you know, you always have long faces. Don't you have any joy in your practice? So, Kishin is joyful spirit, joyful mind.

[37:45]

A joyful spirit is one of gratefulness and buoyancy. You should consider this carefully. If you had been born into some heavenly realm, you would most likely have only become attached to the pleasures of that realm, taking neither time nor opportunity to awake the Bodhi spirit. nor would you feel any particular necessity for practicing the Buddha Dharma. Much less would you be able to prepare meals for the three treasures, despite there being the highest and most worthy of all things, neither being sakro, devanam, indram, or a chakravartin compares with the three treasures." So, you know, the heavenly realm and the six realms, where everyone is so happy and contented in having everything they want or need that there's no motivation to practice, no motivation to bring forth the thought of enlightenment because their needs are satisfied.

[38:59]

This is the problem, you know, when people I started having a difficult time. They all rushed to the church. Did you notice that? When the Twin Towers were hit, everybody came to church. And the temple, too. And the temple, too. But now, you know, oh, that looks okay. Everybody comes out to church and forgets about it. So the more wealth and the more false sense of security we have, the less we need religion. Because we feel supported and comfortable, then we start seeking material comfort and security.

[40:00]

So the more comfort and security we have, the less we depend on our basic nature. That's the fact of life. So we can take a little break and I'll come back, we'll come back and continue. He says, much less would you be able to prepare meals, neither being sacro, devanam, indra. Indra is the chief of the gods in the Hindu pantheon. And a chakravartin, of course, is a wheel-turning monarch. Sometimes Buddha is called a chakravartin. analogy to a wheel-turning monarch.

[41:05]

So in the Chanyuan Quingui, we find this passage, the Sangha is the most precious of all things. Those who live in this community are unfettered by the pettiness of social affairs. Such a community manifests a refined attitude, he says posture, but I change it to attitude, devoid of fabrication about the world. Well, it's true that those who live in this community, whatever community he's talking about, are unfettered by the pettiness of social affairs. In a Zen community, people have their own pettiness of social affairs. And sometimes, in a monastic community, They just talk about these little things, you know, and they become big things. You know, like when we have practice committee meeting, we talk about these little details, you know, that seem very petty, you know.

[42:15]

But we have to do that, because we're into details. So we try to make them not be petty. Not kidding. But what he means, actually, is penniness of social affairs, like, you know, comparing, you know, you have to have what the Joneses have, you know. keeping up with the Joneses and having to have a certain financial security and social status and so forth. There is status within a community. That's true. So status, I think, will always be in any community. It's just natural, a certain kind of status, because everyone's different. and because we compare with each other and so forth, but hopefully status in the community comes through humbleness and humility, not through self-aggrandizement and wealth, so pettiness of wealth and position and so forth.

[43:43]

There is position in the community, so whoever has a position in the community should understand that a wealthy person should never show off their wealth. Never show off their wealth. These are people who have been rich, wealthy for a long time, Sometimes you don't recognize that they are, because they're very careful not to show it off, but people who are newly rich like to show off their wealth. So, if someone who has a lot of knowledge and a lot of ability and has some realization, will not show off their ability and not show off their knowledge and not try to let people know how smart they are. So there's a saying, you should hide your good qualities and show your faults.

[44:57]

Reveal your faults and hide your good qualities. Hiding your good qualities doesn't mean not to let them work for you or for people, but to not show off. So how fortunate we are to have been born as human beings, given the opportunity to prepare meals for the three treasures. Our attitude should truly be one of joy and gratefulness. So doing work for the community is to bring forth joy. And I always felt that.

[46:04]

What gives me the most joy is when I'm able to work for the community. That's a very joyful thing to do. When you don't do that, it's easy to feel depressed. I remember someone said, I think it was Ichiyama Roshi or somebody, Someone said, what should I do if I'm depressed? And he said, find someone that you can help. Find someone that you can be of service to. Run to my teacher and bow down to him. That's how I felt. with this totally joyful, liberated feeling. That was my impulse, just to run it down and find him and bow down to him.

[47:15]

Did you do that? Did I do that? No. The impulse was there. The impulse was there. Yeah, the impulse was there. But I remember one time he bowed down to me, and I was so startled. And he said, well, when I bow down to you, you should bow down to me. we should also reflect on what our lives might have been had we been born in one of the realms of hell as an insatiable spirit, as some lowly animal or as a demon." So he's talking about the six worlds. He's naming the six worlds. He's talking about the heavenly realm and now he's talking about the human realm.

[48:23]

How wonderful to be born as a human. And then he said, we should also reflect on what our lives might have been had we been born in one of the hell realms, or as an insatiable spirit or a hungry ghost, a preta, or as some lowly animal, the animal realm, or as a demon, the fighting demon realm. Of course, we're born into all those realms, and we transmigrate through them every day. you know, something happens and we get real angry and we become a fighting demon or we see some wonderful thing that we want but we can't have it and we become a hungry ghost or attached to some get some hungry, some big... We see something divorced of its human qualities and we become like an animal.

[49:40]

And we relate to somebody like an animal rather than as a human. And then in the hell realm, we're always tortured, you know, always tortured. So, you know, sometimes we're in the hell realm for a long time and then we come out of it and we transfer to the heavenly realm or to the animal realm and we can go through the six realms in one day. Many times. Many times. So how difficult our lives would be if we suffered the misfortune of these four circumstances or any other of the eight misfortunate circumstances. There are eight misfortunate circumstances which I can read to you. We would be unable to practice the Dharma with the strength of the community even though we had a mind to do so. Much less would we be able to prepare food with our own hands and offer it to the three treasures.

[50:49]

our bodies and minds would be bound by the limitations and afflictions of those worlds and we would have to suffer their burdens. So in other words, we wouldn't really be free to be able to do this because we're so self-obsessed, so self-absorbed in our suffering that we don't have the wherewithal to be free enough to serve others freely and joyfully. And this is very common, very common. We say, if you want to get something done, ask a busy person. Ask someone who's always doing something, because they're always willing to take something on, always willing to do something. And so they're always handed things, and it's hard to say no. So we also have to have our yes and our no to be able to say no to something as well as yes.

[51:57]

But we have to be free enough to be able to do something in such a free manner that the only reason for doing something is to serve and feel the joy of that. without any expectation or without any feeling of we need to be rewarded. The reward is the joy. When we serve, most everybody when they serve in Zendo feels that joy. It's just wonderful to serve people, to serve each other. and so so many people say oh it's a wonderful feeling you know serving in the zendo and feeling that joy of uh communicating and it's like you're you're not there and they're not there it's just the activity going on just this activity and uh

[53:06]

totally unburdened, except your back may hurt. Pots get heavy. But the act itself is one of total joy. I always love serving. It's a kind of dance. You know, when you get into it, you really feel like it's kind of ballet. This is the thing about Soto Zen, you know, the movement, and we don't do it so well, but in Japan, you know, and if you've ever been to So-ji-ji, Eheji and Soji-ji. Eheji is a little less ballet-like than Soji-ji. But Soji-ji, when you do the service in the morning, it's just a total ballet. I mean, the monks come out on their toes, literally. And then they turn the books around in this, you know, it's really incredible. So it's all kind of joyful movement, wonderful, joyful moving.

[54:12]

So therefore, rejoice in your birth into the world where you are capable of using your body freely to offer food to the three treasures. the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Considering the innumerable possibilities in a timeless universe, we have been given a marvelous opportunity." That's interesting, a timeless universe. Dogen has this, and Dogen has been talking about this, uji, being time. Time is being and being time. And Dogen, then he says, a timeless universe. Time is being and being is time, within timelessness. When one is totally time, when your being is totally time, that's timelessness. You have no idea of time. When you're totally one with time, there's no idea about time. It's like when a painter is totally engrossed in the painting and

[55:24]

It could be an hour, it could be a day, it could be a week, it could be five minutes. But it's totally timeless because the painter is one with time. So the merit of working as a Tenzo will never decay. My sincerest desire is that you exhaust all the strength and effort of all your lives, past, present, and future, and every moment of every day, into your practice through the work of the Tenzo, so that you form a strong connection with the Buddhadharma. To view all things with this attitude is called joyful mind." The basic message is to be totally one with your activity.

[56:33]

To not be outside of your activity. To totally be one with the activity. And Tsuki Roshi is always talking about this. Whatever you do, this is how you practice through your day. People say, well, what do I do when I leave the zendo? Well, you'd be totally one with your activity, whatever it is. So that's why Soto Zen is taking care of details, taking care of the minutiae of your life, as well as everything else. Because to be with what you're doing, to be one with what you're doing, it's also the way we do Zazen, to be one with The pain in your legs. When you're one with the pain in your legs, it's just a sensation. But when there's a gap, it's called painfulness. So, dzazen is to close that gap between subject and object.

[57:41]

In other words, not to objectify. Totally be one with whatever it is. So Zazen, daily life, Dogen, it's all connected. That's Dogen's basic message, Suzuki Roshi's basic message. Be one with your activity in a timeless universe. So there are two kinds of time. I mean there are more kinds of time than two, but there are two kinds. One is continuous time and one is discontinuous time. Continuous time is just the moment of now, which extends forever. Discontinuous time is what we break time into, the segments we break time into, called one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock,

[58:42]

That's simply discriminated time. We just make it up. I mean, it's based on the movement of the planets and so forth. But still, we create this kind of time, discontinuous time. But continuous time is the eternal moment of now, which is just now, always. And when you're totally one with your activity, you can realize this discontinuous time. Continuous time. The continuous moment of now. Every time you are anywhere, you always say now. So the deeds of even a benevolent ruler disappear quickly like foam on water, or the wind-blown flame of a candle.

[60:09]

Rather than be as such a ruler, it would be of more value to the Buddhadharma for you to prepare meals and offer them to the Three Treasures." In other words, it's better to offer food to the Three Treasures than to do the stuff like kings and monarchs do. Even if they're good things, they disappear quickly. But your effort to serve meals to the Sangha and Buddha and Dharma will be much more beneficial. Roshan is called the mind or attitude of a parent, parental mind. In the same way that a parent cares for an only child, keep the three treasures in your mind. A parent, irrespective of poverty or difficult circumstances, loves and raises a child with care. How deep is love like this? Only a parent can understand it. Although Dogen is not a parent, he understands it. A parent protects the children from the cold and shade, and shades them from the hot sun with no concern for his or her own personal welfare.

[61:16]

Only a person in whom this mind has arisen can understand it, and only one in whom this attitude has become second nature can fully realize it. This is the ultimate in being a parent. In the same manner when you handle water, rice, or anything else, you must have the affectionate and caring concern of a parent raising a child. In a Soto school, this is the characteristic of a teacher. Because Dogen didn't have children, but all of his students were his children. related to them as his children, and not only that, but probably to everyone. We say in the Soto school, a grandmotherly mind, like the grandmother, and I remember seeing this photograph of Sawaki Kodo Roshi, who was Uchiyama Roshi's

[62:20]

And he had his, some kind of robe, you know, that he put it where maybe he had the sleeve over his head, you know, kind of like, like this. You know, just like a grandmother. Who are you with? Oh, this is funny where I've seen it. That little picture of the Sixth Ancestor. Oh yeah, a little picture of the Sixth Ancestor too. Yeah, he has that. And Bob Rosenbaum did it during skit night. Oh, that's right. He was toasting. So, but that's the attitude that teachers should have toward students. But, you know, parent does have that attitude toward the child, but sometimes the parent beats the child.

[63:29]

Sometimes the parent is very strict with the child. Sometimes the parent, you know, holds fast, and sometimes lets go. But it's all done with love. Whatever the parent does is done with love. even if the parent has to be what seems like strict and mean, is not really mean, but whatever is necessary. It's the same kind of attitude we have toward an enemy. We may have to punish someone, but at the same time we have compassion. We cannot lose the compassion at the same time. So Shakyamuni took 20 years off his life expectancy to care for us in later generations.

[64:41]

Dogen was always saying that he was supposed to live for a hundred years but he only lived for 80. He took off 20 years You know, when he made this meal, whatever it was, it was either pork or a mushroom or something, that Kunda prepared for him. And he knew that it was going to be poison, but he ate it anyway. And so if he hadn't eaten that, he would have probably lived 20 years longer. So Shakyamuni took 20 years off his life expectancy to care for us in later generations. What is the significance of this? It was simply a demonstration of parental mind. The Tathagata did not do this in expectation of some reward or fame. He did it unconditionally without thought of profit or gain. And then the next one is magnanimous mind is like a mountain, daishin, big mind.

[65:46]

Daishin, big mind. Tsukino Roshi is always talking about big mind, but it also means magnanimous. It's like a mountain, stable and impartial. Exemplifying the ocean, it is tolerant and views everything from the broadest perspective. So like the ocean and like a mountain, right? Stable like a mountain and impartial like the ocean. Mountain is very, you know, we think of mountain as stable, and the ocean accepts whatever you throw into it. So, you know, we're polluting it, but it accepts it anyway, and views everything from the broadest perspective. Having a magnanimous mind means being without prejudice and refusing to take sides. When carrying something that weighs an ounce, do not think of it as light. And likewise, when you have to carry 50 pounds, don't think of it as heavy. That's helpful.

[66:52]

We sometimes impose limitations. But something just has its weight. Things just have their weight. As soon as we become self-conscious, then we give ourself a problem. So whatever comes, just carry it. Do not get carried away by the sounds of spring, nor become heavy-hearted upon seeing the colors of fall. In other words, don't let things affect you too much. In the fall in Japan, a lot of old people die. Old people die in the fall in Japan, but they never had central heat like we do.

[67:57]

In the temples and houses they have a hibachi and then people sit, they put a big blanket over the hibachi and then they sit under the blanket and keep their feet warm and their hands warm and drink tea. So it gets very cold, you know, in the temples it gets very cold. I remember Bill Kwan going to Rinzaman, Sugiroji's temple, in November, in December, and it was just freezing, and how, you know, telling me how really cold it was, and they just live that way. They just live in the cold. And the monks at Eheji, you know, you see them walk doing Takahatsu in the snow with their sandals. The sandals are hard enough on your feet, much less the snow. So they're hardy, hardy people.

[69:03]

But, you know, when you're old, it's hard to take that, and people die more easily. But anyway, they associate chrysanthemums, which come out at that time, and snow and cold weather. The fall is the time of dying. A lot of people die. So he says, view the changes of the seasons as a whole. Don't weigh the relativeness of light and heavy from a broad perspective. It is then that you should write, understand, and study the character for magnanimous. If the Tenzo of Jia Shan had not known the deepest implications of magnanimity, he never would have been able to help Fu Zongzhuo of Dayuan on his way toward actually practicing the Dharma through his sudden burst of laughter during one of Dayuan's lectures.

[70:06]

Well, there's a story, you know, of Joshan, who was a Tenzo. The Tenzo sometimes used to go from one temple to another with a big spoon, a rice paddle. Thank you, the rice paddle. You know, in a monastery, The rice paddle is like this big, because you have a big pot, and you have to stir it like this, you know. So, a big rice paddle. And several of the famous tenzos. Seppo was a famous tenzo. And they would go from one monastery to another and cook. And so Joshan was one of those guys. One day he went to this lecture of a monk named Fu Shangzuo. And Fu Shangzuo was very erudite and he knew how to explain the Dharma and so forth.

[71:16]

And as he was talking, Jia Shan burst out laughing. And Fu said, What are you laughing at? He was embarrassed. So afterward, he asked Josh, what were you laughing at? And Josh said, well, what you were talking about is all correct, but that's not coming from you. That's coming from your head. It had nothing to do with you. There's nothing of your understanding in what you're talking about. And Fu said, you're right. I think you're right. And so he set off on his pilgrimage around the country and finally ended up finding a teacher and getting enlightened.

[72:21]

That's what that story's about. So if Guishan had not been able to write the character for Magnanimous, he would undoubtedly not have demonstrated his deep understanding before his master by picking up a piece of dead firewood and blowing on it three times before returning it to the master. Here's another story about firewood, and I'll read that to you to get the details. The following story occurred when Shan Hui was working as a tenzo on Mount Guishan, while Guishan Lingyu was the abbot. One day, Guishan approached Shan Hui and asked, what will we be having besides rice today? And Shan Hui replied, the same thing we have every spring. There's another translation of that, which is one in the same spring. Upon hearing this reply, Guishan encouraged Shanhui to continue his practice.

[73:29]

Shanhui responded, there are dragons residing in the phoenix nest. That is, the monks are the dragons in the place of the phoenix nest. So what he meant was the monks are practicing very hard here. Guishan thought that here was a monk of real promise. So whatever they said was whether it translates or not. But that's not the story. The story is, when Guoshan Lingyu was living on Mount Baizhang, he went off into the mountains with his teacher, Baizhang Huihai, to work. Baizhang said, bring me some fire. Guishan replied, OK, I'll bring some right away. When Guishan returned, he brought a stick to Baizhang, who asked, well, where is it? Guishan proceeded to turn the stick around in his hand, blow on it three times, and hand it to Baizhang.

[74:37]

Baizhang took the stick from Guishan, acknowledging the monk's act. So he handed him the stick. Sometimes when you hand a stick that's smoldering, you don't see the fire, you know. So I said, well, where is the fire? So be very clear about this. All the great teachers down through the ages have learned the meaning of magnanimity not merely from writing the character for it, but through the various events and circumstances of their lives. Even now we can clearly hear their voices expounding the most fundamental truths and the ramifications of those truths for our lives. They were people whose eyes were opened to what is most vital in a life of practice, enabling us to have contact with the Buddha, the reality of life.

[75:44]

Their very lives manifested the sole purpose of the true Self, Whether you are the head of a temple, a senior monk, or other officer, or simply an ordinary Zen student, do not forget the attitude behind living out your life with joy, having the deep concern of a parent, and carrying out all your activities with magnanimity. Written by Dogen in the spring of 1237, when he was 37 years old, at Koshoji, for followers of the way and succeeding generations. I think we're going to visit Koshoji when we go to Japan. Then I have a few notes that I wrote down here. My notes here, this is just random thoughts, a few random thoughts that I wrote that occurred to me. Transforming karmic mind into bodhisattva mind, turning a problem into a beneficial act for the community, we always have a choice.

[76:47]

Taking our ego out of the picture, And how to take criticism out of the personal realm. How to take criticism out of the personal realm. Or how to take criticism out of the personal realm, yeah. Don't take it personally. We always say that, right? Don't take it personally. No, that's the end. Somehow I thought I'd be longer, but...

[77:27]

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