I vow to teach the truth and not to monetize the work. Tomorrow begins our spring practice period, and our main teaching will be on various koans from different, various koan collections. Koan collections were put together by the old Chinese Zen masters, and there are a number of them.

[01:06]

Koan has various meanings. Generally it means a precedent, like an old, if you're a lawyer and you want to, and you have a case, that you need a precedent for, you go to the law books, the old law books, and see what the precedent was. So you can deal with the case according to the precedent that's been set. even though you may add something new. So the old koans were the dialogues of the old masters as they were remembered, or at least made into stories that expressed the Dharma in a non-dualistic way. Up.

[02:20]

Is that better? A little better? Not better? No. Up. [...] Is that better? I'll give you my name, but I won't give you my address. Or my telephone number. Or my social security number. So, these koans express various aspects of reality according to our practice, understanding. So today I'm going to begin with the koan, which is very well known, and it was one of Suzuki Roshi's, I don't want to say favorite, but favorite koans, and also dogen.

[03:38]

It has to do with baso, whose Chinese name is Matsu. Matsu lived from 704 to 788 in China, Tang Dynasty, and Baso was a disciple of Nangaku Eijo. The sixth ancestor in China had two main disciples, Nangaku Ejo and Seigen Yoshi, so the Rinzai lineage more or less comes from Matsu or Baso is a Japanese way of saying Matsu. Ma is horse. Matsu was considered like very strong, like a horse.

[04:40]

And it was said that he could stick out his tongue and reach his nose, but he was quite quite a large fellow and very powerful. And his teaching had this kind of power. And a lot of the precedents of hitting and slapping and shouting come from Matsu. Anyway, the Rinzai lineage kind of descends from Matsu. and you see that in Rinzai and so forth. And then Sagan was the other disciple, and the Soto school comes from Sagan, who was more not so demonstrative and more sophisticated maybe in a certain way. This case is called Baso's Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha.

[05:50]

It's also sometimes called Master Ma is Unwell. When I was at Tassajara during practice periods, some of my students, if I was sick, my students had a little joke among themselves. They'd say, Master Mel is unwell. So Master Engo, who is a commentator on this case, has an introduction. And in his introduction, he says, each ki and every kyo, every word and phrase or gesture, is a means for the moment of leading students to realization. I'll explain that later. I'm going to read the whole thing and then go back. But every such manipulation is like performing an operation on a healthy body and will give rise to complication upon complication.

[07:03]

The great way manifests itself naturally. It is limited by no fixed rules. But I must tell you that there is an advanced theme that you will have to learn. It presides over heaven and earth. However, if you try to guess at it, you will be confused. This can be right. That can also be right. It is so delicate. This cannot be right. And that also cannot be right. An unapproachable cliff face. How could you manage without stumbling here or there? So study the following. And then he presents the main case, Tsetcho. The great master Baso was seriously ill. The chief priest of the temple came to pay his respects. He asked, how do you feel these days? The master said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha.

[08:06]

And then Setso has a verse. He says, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, compared with them, how pale the three sacred sovereigns and the five ancestral emperors of China. For 20 years, I have had fierce struggles descending into the dragon's cave for you. The hardship defies description. You clear-eyed Zen students, don't make light of it. So to go back to the introduction, he says, each ki and every kyo, every word and phrase or gesture, is a means for the moment of leading students to realization. Ki and kyo, these two terms, Ki is like, it means breath. It also means vital energy.

[09:11]

Vital energy means the essential vitality of the universe, which is intimate with each one of us. This is where we find the source of our vitality, of our life. So ki, we say this place here at the center of our body is the ki. And sometimes it's called the sea of ki. and sometimes it's called rice patties, the place where, of peace and vitality, and where we always are aware.

[10:13]

If you're a Zen student, you should always be aware of this key. That's the main thing about being a Zen student, is that you never forget that you are motivated, all of your thoughts, feelings, and motivations are powered by this key, which is the vital energy of the universe. And each one of us has this, so how do we access this? It's also called buddhanature, the absolute, and has various names. We say there's a term, zenki, and zenki means total dynamic activity, total dynamic working.

[11:13]

Cleary translated it as the whole works. Which is very nice. The whole works, or the whole works. So kyo is the works, the activity, the expression. Whatever we do is an expression of ki. If we're totally balanced and centered on ki, then our kyo is the kyo of ki, the activity, the vital activity expressed in all of our actions. So you can say that a ki is non-duality. And kyo is the expression of that non-duality as duality.

[12:24]

If you fall into ki without expressing it as kyo, it's called sickness, zen sickness. If you're only aware of activity, kyo, without it realizing the source as ki, then you fall into duality, which is ignorance. So how do you deal with these kyo and ki without discriminating? It's discriminating on the basis of non-discrimination. It's called the discrimination of non-discrimination and the non-discrimination of discrimination. Don't worry about it. Matter of fact, if you worry about it, you fall into discrimination.

[13:32]

Remember Maher Baba? Don't worry, just smile. Remember this other guy from Mad Comics? It's not exactly like that. But on the other hand, so he says, each ki and every kyo, every word, gesture, and phrase is a means for the moment of leading students to realization. So the teacher You know, what does the teacher do? How does the teacher lead students to realization? Or does the teacher lead students to realization? Using all the means and subtle understanding, he says, but every manipulation is like performing an operation on a healthy body.

[14:51]

and will give rise to complication upon complication. In other words, if the teacher explains to the student or tries to lead the student by some means, that can lead to all kinds of complications. The great way manifests itself naturally. It is limited by no fixed rules. But I must tell you, that there is an advanced theme that you will have to learn. It presides over heaven and earth. However, if you try to guess at it, you will be conflicted. This can be right, and that can also be right. It is so delicate. This cannot be right, and that also cannot be right. An unapproachable cliff face. How could you manage without stumbling here and there? So this is like Joshu and Nansen.

[16:02]

Joshu was Nansen's disciple, great Joshu and great Nansen. And when Joshu was rather young, maybe 60, He lived to be 120. He started practicing when he was 60, I think they say. So, Joshua asked Nansen about the great way. He said, shall I go for it? Shall I go for it or not go for it? And Nansen said, if you go for it, if you try to reach it, if you try to find it, It eludes you. You stumble past. If you don't try to find it, you fall into, nothing happens. So what do you do?

[17:05]

This is what he's talking about. Talking about means and ways. So this is the koan. How do you actually find the way without making without trying to find it and without not trying to find it? How do you study the mystery without studying it and without studying it? So how does the teacher find the means without teaching and without not teaching? This is our Zen koan, and it's always present. Sometimes people say, this practice is so hard to get hold of. It's like amorphous, which is true. You try to grasp it, but you can't quite get it by grasping it, and you can't not try.

[18:11]

So we say, we don't practice to get something. We just practice for the sake of practice. So we have the wrong goals often, because if we practice for my sake, that's egotistical. If we practice for your sake, that's also egotistical, even though it doesn't sound like it. We simply practice for the sake of practice. then there's no object, no subject, there's simply the activity itself, which manifests as realization. This is called letting go. Sometimes we let go, sometimes we hold fast. So here's the main subject.

[19:16]

The great master Baso was seriously ill. The chief priest of the temple came to pay his respects. He asked, how do you feel these days? The master said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. There's a short sutra, probably Chinese, I don't know, where it names 11,000 Buddhas, gives them names. And one of the names is, Sun-Face, Sun-Face Buddha lives 1,980 years, something like that. And Moon-Face Buddha lives one day and one night. So Baso is saying something like Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. Sounds like he's saying it doesn't matter how long I live. It sounds like he's being indifferent.

[20:20]

But actually, he's saying, the sun-faced Buddha lives 1,980 years. The moon-faced Buddha lives one day and one night. If I live one day and one night, I should live that one day and one night totally and thoroughly. If I live that one day and one night totally and thoroughly, my whole life is a complete life. If I live 1,980 years, I'll probably get tired of it. But if I don't live each day of that 1980 years totally and thoroughly, moment by moment, it doesn't mean anything, doesn't add up to anything.

[21:23]

So, moment by moment, he's talking about, I'm just here on this moment, living this moment thoroughly. Next moment, I'm just here on this moment, living this moment thoroughly. How am I today? That's how I am today. I'm just here as this, doing this, without asking for something else, without trying to change it into something preferable or hoping for something. It's just this moment, I'm totally present. with everything. I'm just this moment's Buddha, this moment's Buddha, this moment's Buddha. So Setso has a verse.

[22:27]

He says, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, compared with them, how pale the three sacred sovereigns and five ancestral emperors. In China, these are the ancient founders of the Chinese civilization, the three sacred sovereigns and the five ancestral emperors before almost prehistoric or leading to the historic. I saw a NPR one night, I just tuned in and Chinese are still venerating those ancestors in various temples around China. Interesting, very important for them. So, for 20 years I had fierce struggles descending into the dragon's cave for you. Dragon's cave is maybe in various places, but undersea is like when Nagarjuna, this tale, when Nagarjuna wanted to get the Prajnaparamita

[23:40]

they'd been kept by the dragons in the dragon's cave under the ocean. So he had to descend down into the ocean, into the dragon's cave, get the sutras. This is a kind of, of course, not true. But it's true in a metaphorical sense. So he says, the hardship defies description. You clear-eyed Zen students don't make light of it. He says, I struggled for 20 years. It took me 20 years to get to this place where I am today. Maybe more. But when he says, you clear-eyed Zen students don't make light of it. I think, you know, we pay for what we get.

[24:47]

If we want something valuable, we have to pay something. worth that matches the value of what we get. So if you want realization, if you want to have an enlightened life, need an enlightened life, what are you willing to pay for it? That's always my question to people. What are you willing to pay in order to get what you want? So maybe we don't want it enough, but it's something to think about. There's a saying that it's better to live one day free of self or with realization than to live 100 years in ignorance.

[25:58]

That's an old saying. And another saying is, the unexamined life is not worth living. When I said the duality of non-duality and non-duality of duality, I want to express that a little bit differently. It's the non-duality of duality and non-duality. In other words, going beyond duality and non-duality, it's like Joshu's Mu. Moo means, when Joshu was asked if the dog had Buddha nature, he said, no.

[27:00]

But this no is beyond yes and no. It's the non-duality of duality and non-duality. or the non-duality of duality and non-duality. Suzuki Roshi had a commentary on this koan, and at the end he says, although you are looking forward to the bliss of teaching, that means the teaching or the dharma, you did not know that you were always in the midst of the teaching. So your practice is not accorded with your teachers. He's talking about himself and his students. In admonition, he says, you don't realize that you are in the midst of the practice all the time.

[28:04]

Even though we say so, it's hard to realize. If we realize that everything we do is practice, our life is different than if we think that practice is here and our daily life is over here. We have to see our life, our daily life, as our practice. What does that mean? If I give you methods, I'll be complicating the matter. You have to find out yourself. That's what practice is. When we live in a monastery, everything is taken care of for us. We just, all we have to do is follow the schedule. And that's wonderful. Great way to absorb the practice. But when you leave the monastery, you have to find the practice yourself.

[29:11]

So training in the monastery should be the preparation for helping you find your practice afterward. Otherwise, what have you been doing? So he says, you do not know that you are always in the midst of the teaching, always. Once you realize Buddha nature within and without, there is no special way to follow for a student or any special suggestion to give for a teacher. When there is a problem, that's the way to go. Your problem plus you is your teacher. how you address your problem, how you deal with whatever it is that comes up in your life moment by moment is your practice.

[30:18]

How do I practice walking across the street? How do I practice taking a step? How do I practice talking to somebody? How do I practice with my headache? How do I practice with my nose ache? or my lung ache, my belly ache, or the fact I only have a week to live? How do I practice all the way to the end? And how is the end a new beginning? So he says, once you realize Buddha nature within and without, there's no special way to follow for a student or any specific suggestion to give for a teacher. When there is a problem, there is the way to go, which doesn't mean that you and your teacher are not in accord with each other.

[31:28]

When you and your teacher are in accord with each other, you know that. And there's something very wonderful about that. There's a koan that says, when you meet a person of the way, do you meet that person with speech or with silence? How do you meet? If you and your teacher are both practicing moment by moment, when you meet, you recognize each other. There's not much to say, necessarily. You recognize each other. So actually, you continuously go over and over the great path of the Buddha with your teacher, who is always with you.

[32:38]

Negative and positive methods of the first principle and the second principle are nothing but the great activities of such a character. the Buddha nature is quite personal to you and essential to all existence. The first principle and the second principle. The first principle is your actual experience. Second principle is the teaching. So, If you are immersed in the first principle, then the second principle is also the first principle. There's no difference. Teaching, then teaching is imbued with the vitality of the first principle of just being.

[33:41]

So this is meaning of our practice. How to bring our life to life, moment by moment. There's no matter if you are really, if we are really immersed in practice, No matter what happens, or no matter what kind of problems we have, it's just the right problem. We may think it's good or bad, we like it or don't like it, but if we know how to practice, it's beyond liking and not liking, or good or bad, or right or wrong. We just deal with it, just accept it, and enjoy our life as it is.

[34:46]

Even in the midst of a great problem, we can still enjoy our life. Because it's, although totally ourself, it's also freedom. within the problem. If we don't try to escape, we have our freedom within the problem. Do you have a question? Back there. Now has two aspects.

[35:57]

Now is always now. Undifferentiated now. Eternally now. The other aspect is We divide now into little pieces and that's what we say, now. This now is compared to this now, is compared to this now. So that's called discriminated moments of now. So when we talk about now, we're usually talking about discriminated moments of now. Each one is personal. Yes, both are personal. that non-discriminated now is the most personal, even though it may seem impersonal, because it's always there. to someone who perhaps is facing a life-threatening illness but doesn't have a practice?

[37:34]

Yeah. Well, first, hold their hand. And when you do that, you have the possibility of creating an intimacy And when you create an intimacy that's very still, then you can communicate that. But don't take my word for it. Yes, I have two questions. The first one is what is the case? Oh, I'm sorry. Case is number three in the booklet record. And if you were the priest, how would you... Which priest? The one, he went to visit, he went to visit Master.

[38:38]

Master Ma. And said, how are you doing? Yeah. He said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. If you were the priest, how would you respond? Thank you for your answer. Be Thine.

[39:41]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ