Okay, well, this evening we're going to concentrate on Shito Shichen from Sekito Sen's show. It starts out, the 35th patriarch or ancestor, great master Wu Chi, visited Ching Yuan. That's Sagan, right? And Ching Yuan asked, where are you from? And the master, you know, here is always

[01:05]

and the master is always the present ancestor. So the master replied, I come from Cao Chi, Qingguan, then raised his hustle, you know what a hustle is? Anybody not know what a hustle is? Everybody knows. And asked, does this exist at Tsaochi? Does this exist at Tsaochi? The master answered, it's not only non-existent at Tsaochi, but it doesn't exist in India either. Chingwan asked him, you haven't been to India yet, have you? The master said,

[02:07]

If I went, it would exist. It would then exist. And Ching Yuan said, That's my bitterness. Say something more. The master replied, The master replied, Master, you should say half of it and not depend completely on me. Ching Yuan said, I don't refuse to speak to you, but I am afraid that after this, no one will be deeply awakened. And the Master said, it's not that it will not exist, it's just that no one will be able to express it. Ching Nguyen hit him with the Hāsū, and the Master was greatly awakened. Do you have any questions? So this is the story. The Master is already... The Master what? Is the Master already... Is the Master already... Oh, well, uh, in this kind of story, um, they just call him the Master from the beginning, in order to identify him.

[03:21]

Well, you know, it has nothing to do with the way, he may not be awake at the time, but they still call him the Master. So, the Master's name was, uh, Shi Chen. Shi Tu was the place that he taught. Shi Qian is his name, and he was from the Qian family of Kaoan in Tuanju. After his mother became pregnant, she took no pleasure in strong-smelling vegetables or food that was meat-like. This means that in a monastic Strictly speaking, in monastic practice, you're not supposed to eat onions or garlic. Monastic food is supposed to be free of onions and garlic and, of course, meat and all manner of strong-smelling spices and pungent odors and things like that.

[04:28]

So here his mother, you know, as soon as he was born, she kind of lost her taste for these things. And so it implies some kind of affinity here, you know, that her mother has with her son, who is just a baby, but has some destiny. Even as an infant, he didn't give his nurse any trouble. Here it says, didn't trouble his nurse, but I would say didn't give her any trouble. He was very easy to take care of. Even when he was young, he had a lot of self-confidence. Hunters in his native place were afraid of demons and spirits, and many offered sacrifices to appease the spirits. And it was their practice to slaughter oxen and offer wine libations. And the master went there once, demolished their shrine, and freed the oxen.

[05:31]

This occurred more than ten times a year, and the village elders could not make him stop. So here's a famous story. He used to go and destroy the shrines of the people who made these sacrifices. So when he was 13, he paid a visit to Cao Chi. Now, Cao Chi, of course, is the place where the sixth patriarch, sixth ancestor Daikan Ino was teaching. So he became a disciple of the sixth ancestor Daikan Ino. And he became a novice monk, but he did not receive the complete precepts. He can't receive the complete precepts until he's twenty-one. So they used to allow younger children, younger people to practice. And in the monasteries, sometimes they, you know, like in Tibet, you see all these little children in monasteries.

[06:34]

And they wear these monastic robes, but they're not fully ordained. They have some novice ordination. And if they stay in the monastic system until they're 21, I think it's 21, some 20 or 21, then they can become fully ordained. take off precepts. So this was when he was 13. So he started, you know, he went into monastic practice when he was 13. But he didn't receive the complete precepts. The sixth ancestor was about to die, so when he was still young, still a boy, he was at the sixth ancestor's temple, and he And Eino was his teacher, but Daiton Eino died still before he was mature.

[07:44]

So the sixth ancestor was about to die, and the master asked him, after you die, if I am still uncertain, who should I go to? answered something that sounded like, go and think about it. But this was a kind of misunderstanding he had. What he meant was go to Sing Su, go to Su. Su means S-S-U as a two meanings. One is to think about something, contemplate, and the other was this, uh, Singsu's name, Sagan's name. So, he didn't understand it. So, uh, when the, when the, uh, sixth ancestor died, the master was sitting in meditation in a quiet place.

[08:52]

So still, it seemed as if he were dead. And the senior monk, uh, Nanue, Nangaku, Hoijong, uh, asked him, Your master has died. Why are you just sitting here for no reason? And the master replied, I received his final instructions, so I'm investigating. Nanyue, or Nangaku, was the sixth ancestor's other disciple, main disciple, to Rinzai School of Tracy Theory. So Seigen and Nangaku were the two horns of the six ancestor's head. And so then Nangaku or Huijang told him, you have an elder Dharma brother named Xing Su Seigen.

[10:01]

who now lives at Mount Qingyuan. That is where you have an affinity. So the ancestor's words were extremely unambiguous. You just deluded yourself by thinking that he had said, go and think, su. Well, he really said, go to su, meaning, sing su. Chinese, it's easy to misinterpret because there are no connecting words. and we have to kind of figure out what it means. So there's a lot of intuition, I think, involved. So the Master paid reverence to the shrine of the sixth ancestor and left at once for Mount Qingyuan. The ancestor, Qingyuan, said, There are people who say that something is happening in Lingnan. The Master replied, There are people who do not say that something is happening in Lingnan. Qingyuan said, If that is so, where did the teachings of the Mahayana and Hinayana come from?

[11:05]

And the master answered, they are holy from here. Ching Yuan affirmed this as correct, and after they had engaged in question and answer, and after that they engaged in question and answer. So that was a very nice opening. He says, so when they came together, after not seeing each other for a while, I don't know whether they were with the ancestor at the same time or not looks like sounds from this like they weren't but uh something of meaning for the first time there are people who say that something is happening in Lingnan the master replied there are people who do not say that something is happening here we have something is happening and something is not happening right he says People say there's something happening in Lingnan. There are people who do not say that something is happening in Lingnan.

[12:08]

And Ching Wan said, if that's so, where do the teachings of Mahayana and Himayana come from? And the Master answered, they are holy from here. So this whole thrust of this story is about here. it and here. It's really about here. It's about right here. So this is why this is in here, this little piece. I think it's to just get set it up in a way. There are people who say that something is happening in Linnan. The Master replied, there are people who do not say that something is happening in Linnan.

[13:10]

Well, if that's so, where did the teachings of the Mahayana and Himayana come from? If nothing's happening, where did this come from? The Master said they are holy from here. So what does he mean by they are holy from here? They're sitting there talking about it? Yeah, they're sitting there talking about it, but... What do you mean by that? What else can you say about it? The fact that it's all in their minds, and their minds is where they are. And their minds aren't 2,000 miles away in some other place. Their minds are right there, and that's why we're talking about it right here. Yeah, pretty simple. This is where it's originating from. It's not originating from someplace else. So, in the Taisho, Kezan says, One time, at once, Ching Juan raised his hostu and asked,

[14:30]

Does this exist at Sao Chi? Does this exist at the sixth ancestor's place? And the Master replied, It's not only non-existent at Sao Chi, but it doesn't exist in India either. In past and present, they have raised the Hosu to demonstrate some principle, to instigate action, to make people depart from the crooked path, or to make people point directly to true reality. without delay, without anything interfering. Ching Nguan also raised the Hasu as a test. However, the Master did not yet understand what this is. Do they have this at Saqci? He didn't understand yet what this is. What do you mean by, do they have this? fixing his gaze on a raised Hosu he said he said he's still looking at the Hosu thinking that the Hosu is this still fixing his gaze on the raised Hosu he said not only is it non-existent at Tsar Chi but it doesn't exist in India either when this Hosu is raised

[16:00]

How can you say that there is either a Tsaochi or an India? Yet this view is still only a verbal understanding of something external. In other words, what he says is not wrong, but does he really understand what he's saying? Therefore, Ching Nguyen pressed him, asking, you haven't been to India yet, have you? But she, too, did not understand these words. What does he mean by you haven't been to India yet? How can you say what's in India?

[17:04]

Yeah, how can you say what's in India if you haven't been there? I remember one time, a long time ago, when I was studying with Suzuki Roshi, I was describing some place, you know, how we do. We say, oh, in such as a country, you know, it's like this and like that. And we said, oh, have you been there? No. understood it. He wouldn't have asked. Who's asking what question? Whatever this guy's name is. It's all written down. No, I'm sorry, I have the wrong one. Well, anyway, the teacher. He would have asked the question if the master had understood the pulsation in the first place. The question, have you been to India?

[18:07]

Have you been to India? You wouldn't have asked the question. Because the answer would have been irrelevant to the context of what was going on. So, I mean, all of this is not so much... I mean, we're all talking about this on this level of have you been in India or not, but that's really not... No, it has nothing to do with whether you've been in India or not. Right, so that's really not the level in which the... No, what he's asking him is, have you... experience what you're talking about. That's being in India. Have you been to India yet? Is this coming from you, from your own experience? You haven't been to India yet, have you? But she, too, still did not understand these words. Unable to forget himself, or self-consciousness, as Perry says. He said, if I went, it would exist.

[19:08]

If I was there, if I went, then it would exist. Even though he could say this, if he didn't know that it exists, he would not be the right person. So, King Yuan spoke again, saying, not good enough. Say some more. He was being kindly and compassionate, dripping mud and water. Dripping mud and water means, you know, that the teacher will slog through the mud for the sake of the child. Unless he spoke fully in this way. I want to look at my footnotes in here. So here, she too had no to speak appropriately, no place to put himself, no place to stand on.

[20:13]

And he said, so he was really, you know, kind of up there, and he said, Master, you should say half of it and not depend completely on me. That was his little song and dance, you know, kind of sidestepping. He had no place, he didn't know what to do, you know, didn't know where to go. Well, you take half and I'll take half. Don't depend completely on me. Meeting in this way and speaking in this way, if each just communicates a half, how can the whole thing be expressed? Even if heaven and earth collapsed and the entirety was revealed alone, this would still be going halfway. Even if the whole universe collapsed and you could see ultimate reality, it's still going halfway. That's just a kind of way of, um, kind of exaggerated way of expressing the situation.

[21:18]

You know, this, um, well, so, this place is still only reached by oneself, not by borrowing someone else's resources. So this is an important part of this story, is Sekito, Shitu, is still not yet himself. He hasn't really met himself yet. He's good, you know. And he has really good things to say. And he says the right things. But the teacher is very smart, you know, and can see right through the fact that although he says the right things, they're not his own things to say. So he's trying to get deeper and deeper. How much less can you inform someone else by continuing to go halfway when you are trying to communicate intimate words and absolutely not depend on someone else?

[22:26]

On the contrary, you can only experience the fundamental true self alone. In other words, yourself. Therefore, Qin Yuan said, I don't refuse to speak to you, but I'm afraid that after this, no one will be deeply awakened. No one means who? It also means you or him. Even if someone speaks of pain or speaks of bitterness, if that person doesn't experience pain deep in his bones, or experience bitterness ripping apart his tongue, he ultimately cannot understand the reality of it. You cannot get it through words. You have to get it through something. Well, you know, this thing about raising the hustle, you know, in the Kukhan Zazengi, Dogen says, in addition to bringing about the enlightenment,

[23:34]

et cetera, by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and the effecting of realization with the aid of a hasu, a fist, a shout, cannot be fully understood by discriminated thinking, et cetera. It must be deportment beyond seeing and hearing. So this is an example of the hasu, right? And the finger is like, His finger. Yeah. And the banner. What's the banner? Ananda. Ananda. Yeah, Ananda. And a needle. I don't know what a mallet might be. Yeah. I don't know who it is. Maybe a rolling pin.

[24:38]

Someone heard the... Well, a lot of people have been awakened by the sound of the heart. No pun intended. And then there's the fist. That's the famous poem about the hermits. You know, Joshu visits the hermits and he asks them a question and raises a fist. And the other one, he asks them a question and raises a fist. This one is right and that one is wrong. this is the way it is spiritual teachers do not use words indiscriminately or do things pointlessly that's protecting the principle of self-effort protecting the principle of self-effort what's the principle of self-effort let them do it let them do it you do it

[26:04]

However, still thinking that true reality was not the same as the Hosu, and not knowing deep inside that there was a passageway, Shih Tzu did not see it fully. He said, it's not that no one will be deeply awakened, but no one will be able to express it. I am afraid that this is what Shih Tzu said, but when a person reaches this realm, How could he not have something to express? In other words, if you understand it, you can express it. You should be able to express it. Although, Shakyamuni Buddha, when he was enlightened, was thinking about whether or not he should teach. And he was not really sure. And then someone came along and asked him three times, And so I said, well, okay.

[27:05]

Try to figure out how to do it, yeah. And also we know that it would be apparent, you know, rather than that you would actually go out and say, this is what it was like. Your life would demonstrate, yeah. Well, I think that's right. That's right. How can you not have something to express? It's not a matter so much of teaching, but expressing it in your daily activities. If he reaches this realm, what can he have? He too sought externally, outside himself, and separated himself from inner realization for no reason. He didn't have to do that. In order to make him realize at once the existence of such a thing, and in order to make him realize at once the existence of his original mind, he wants struck him with the hustle, whacking the grass and scaring away the snakes. Consequently, the master was greatly awakened.

[28:11]

I like that line. Chasing away the snakes. Banging the grass and chasing away the snakes. Through this story, you must experience carefully the whole of understanding and true realization. See it minutely and reach it close up. When Shitu said, it is not only non-existent at Tsar Chi, that's the sixth ancestor's place, but it doesn't exist in India either, although he could demolish heaven and earth and expose the whole body standing alone, he still suffered the misfortune of recognizing his self. He couldn't get beyond self in order to find self. He didn't let go of his small self in order to allow a big self.

[29:17]

This is why he could speak so grandly. However, in the end, he realized that the whole thing was exposed when a hostile was raised. He knew it existed when he was struck. Lately, Zen people get lost in sounds and sights and search in seeing and hearing. So the first time, when the ancestor, the patriarch, questioned him, it was like the arrow went by. is saying, the arrow went toward Korea. The second time the arrow struck, he caught it. He knew it existed when he was struck.

[30:18]

Lately, Zen people get lost in sights and sounds, and searching and seeing and hearing. In other words, involved in sensory trying to get it through hearing and seeing. Even though they intone the Buddha's words, get mired in words on the road to liberation and say that it does not exist in either South Chi or China or India, they still don't understand. So they say these things, but they don't understand what it means. If this is how they are, then even though they shave their heads and wear their robes, thus resembling Buddhas, they cannot finally escape the bondage of imprisonment in the triple world. How will they ever stop going and coming in the six paths? You know what the six paths are, of course. Anybody who doesn't know what the six paths are? Only two? Six paths. There's six worlds. There's six worlds. Have you ever seen the Tibetan Wheel of Life, and Yama, and then there are these six worlds, Heaven,

[31:29]

demons, fighting demons, hungry ghosts, humans, animals, hell. Asherah? That's demons. And we transmigrate through six worlds, moment by moment, day by day. We find ourselves in one or the other. ever stop going and coming in the six paths. Alas, people like this vainly hang the patch ropes on blocks of litter, blocks of litter, mugs who don't have any functions. They're also called rice bags.

[32:32]

Yeah, probably so. Life's not fair. Is it? Is this life? Well, if it's not fairer than it is. The Buddha said, they are not the sons of the Buddha. There's no name for them. They are no different from blocks of wood. This is what I mean. People like, you know, a lot of criticism, but it's to stir people up, you know. Criticism is not for the sake of criticism, but it's to stir people up. It's to get them going. It's to make them feel shameful for a block of ways, block of ways. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He's telling them to not be afraid?

[33:40]

Yes. He's telling them don't be afraid? No. Never mind. He's telling them don't be afraid? Well, I was just, um, you know, how will they ever stop Well, yes, the boat is up as when they hear about dropping body and mind don't quake. Stiff and stuck, yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good analogy.

[34:44]

Not flexible enough to flow with things and to let go of things. That's good. Vainally squandering the donations of the faithful for a whole lifetime. When they end up miserable from drinking molten pellets in hell, They really have many regrets. That's one of the... There is a hell, you know, there's a hierarchy of the Buddhist hells, and one is the iron pressure on the head or something, and one is eating molten pellets, and one is being smashed up against them. There's a lot of these hells that, you know, I want to describe it in Buddhist cosmology. But vainly squandering the donations of the faithful is a real shameful act, because Mak is supposed to be supported by donations, and their work is the work of liberation, the work of enlightenment.

[35:57]

And if they're not doing that, then they're squandering. people are supporting me to do this, and they're not paying back their debt. So they're kind of debtors in a way. And then that part of the meal chant, you know, it says, does our virtue and practice deserve this food? That's actually a monk from a monk's level, because the monk is supportive and their food is an offering so they can do that work so they have to consider whether or not their virtue and practice which is the only payment they have is there so most people get

[37:01]

for their work, they get paid in money, and then they can do what they want with it. A monk gets paid just in food and has to pay back, and so the work that the monk does is virtuous practice. Now, don't you think that people who are looking for them, it seems to me like a lot of women come single nations, a lot of it comes So it seems like that even though we are being paid money here, those who work for Zen Center, we actually are receiving the donations. Oh, absolutely. People that are supported by Zen Center actually are supported for their practice. And somehow the money comes in there.

[38:04]

That's why if you really have sincere practice and allow yourself to depend on the mercy of the universe, you're usually supportive. It says that thus, if you investigate fully and completely and reach that place, Chi Tu reached in the beginning, where the whole body is exposed alone, you will understand that there is nothing in Sao Chi or in India. In other words, if you investigate fully and completely and reach that place, What he says is where you'll be.

[39:07]

Then there will be no, there's nothing in Saochi or India, it's all right here. Now there's a famous statement by Genshaw, that Shakyamuni didn't do something and Bodhidharma never came to China. dharma didn't come from India and the six patriarchs didn't go to China or something like that. There's no place to go. Buddhism did not come from China, did not come from India. Where did Buddhism come from? Well, it came from China. At first it came to China. No. It just comes from right where you are. And you have to find that place where it comes from. That's what he's saying here.

[40:12]

You have to find the place where it, not Buddhism, where it comes from. In other words, Dharma has to originate with each one of us. Thus, if you investigate fully and completely and reach that place, that place, which would be in italics, she too reached in the beginning where the whole body is exposed alone. What is the whole body? Well, that's just a name for it. What's the whole body? Yeah, if? The universe? The universe. The universe, yeah. The universe is the true human body, as they say, as Genshasa says.

[41:19]

You will understand that there's nothing at Tsaochi or in India. Where can you come and go? Where can you go to and where can you come from? In this realm of vision, you will not wear the patch robe pointlessly. Even more will you understand that it exists when struck by the hosu, like she too, and quickly forget the self and understand the true self. In other words, bam, you forget the self and understand the true self. It seems like all of the questions that he was asking before about what the hosu were about Things not exist here. Uh-huh. What things do not exist, you know? What are the things that are... It's not here, it's not there, it's all not. And then when he's hit in the home city, it's like... There it is. There it is. There it is, yeah. It seems like all of his questions are what he's saying. You don't wear the past road in vain.

[42:26]

If you're living that, not that you get it, but that you're seeing not this, not this, not this. Yes. And then when he gets hit... This. It gets hit. This is it. That's right. Yeah. He said, there it is. Oh, yeah. It reminds me of the four horses and talking of some people. Four horses, yeah. The first horse goes at the shadow of the whip. The second horse runs when the whip hits its skin. The third horse runs when the whip bites deeply into its flesh. And the third horse, or the fourth horse... I can't remember that one. Well, no, but you missed the first horse. The first horse was what the Bible just said. There's an invention. Well, maybe... The fourth horse, don't mean to the marrow, to the marrow.

[43:27]

Yeah, it speaks to the marrow. Why about donkeys? Donkeys? so then he says even more you understand that it exists when struck by the hustle like shitu quickly forget the self and understand the true self you will be alive in the midst of death and in the dark your eyes will be bright this is the intimate reality beneath pat's robe had already seen it in this way, the master eagerly went to the south monastery of Mount Hung in the early 740s.

[44:49]

East of the monastery there was a stone terrace on which he built a hut. At that time he was called a stone monk. Shitu means stone head, stone monk, or hoshong. So he had this big stone, and he built a seat up there, and that's where he used to sit a lot. That's where he built a house. Oh, there's the Song of the Grass Hut also, which I was going to bring, and I forgot. Anyway, it's a poem by Shitu called The Song of the Grass Hut. I live in this grass hut where no coins are kept. I can't notice the whole thing. It's very nice form. So he was famous for that stone. That's where he got his name, Shih Tzu.

[45:53]

So one time, so this is his first enlightenment experience, was when he got hit by the hospital. And then we had another enlightenment experience. of realization when he was reading. So this gives us hope. Maybe in your reading you'll get enlightened. So once he was reading the treatise of Seng Chao. Seng Chao was Kumrajira's disciple. Kumrajira came to China from India. He appeared in China. He was born in India and appeared in China. He was a very famous translator. He managed to translate the Indian scriptures into Chinese in around the 6th century.

[47:05]

Kumar Jiva's translations or the most, you know, accurate and well-known translations. And Seng Chau was his disciple, Chinese disciple. And Seng Chau was considered, you know, to be as bright as Guamajira. And he wrote many chief treatises, and one called Prajna is Not Knowledge. And this was This was the siddhas that Shih Tzu was reading when he got enlightened. And there's a story about Seng Chao that he was a monk. Well, he was a monk, and also Kumrajiva was kind of a monk, but the emperor made Kumrajiva

[48:14]

He gave a whole bunch of consorts in order to, you know, nice ladies. And said, you know, don't resist. But with Seng Chao, the emperor wanted him to marry one of his daughters. And Seng Chao said, I can't do it because I'm a monk. And if he defied the order of the emperor, You have your head cut off. So the emperor said, well, I'm just going to have to cut off your head. And he said, well, okay, but give me two weeks to write this thing. To write my last. Seems like it would have been easier to just get married. Anyway, so he finished up and he said, okay, now, Then he had his poem, which was something like the knife texture, like a spring breeze, nothing happened at all, something like that.

[49:30]

Of course he wrote that before the fact. But anyway, that's something about Seng Chao. So once he was reading the treatise of Sang Chao, when he came to where it said, Is it only the wise person who understands the myriad things as himself? And he struck his desk and he said, For the sage there is no self, and yet there is nothing that is not his self. Very wonderful statement. The Dharma body is formless. Who can speak of self and others? The round mirror reflects clearly and the wonderful forms of the myriad things appear in it spontaneously. This is like the great mirror wisdom that sees anything clearly without any bias. Knowledge and its objects are not one or two.

[50:34]

Who can say they come and go? how true these words of the treatise of Seng Chao are. He finally rolled up the scroll and fell asleep. In a dream, he and the sixth ancestor were riding on a turtle swimming around in a deep lake. When he awoke, he thought about the dream carefully. He interpreted the marvelous turtle to be wisdom and the lake to be the ocean of essential nature. He and the ancestral teacher were riding on marvelous wisdom swimming on the ocean of essential nature. Later he wrote the Sandokai, the Tsan Tung Chi. Sandokai, identity and relative and absolute, which is well known all over the world. And we even chatted all the time. So this is an example of somebody who was awakened through reading. But he was already awakened.

[51:37]

So, one should have many awakenings, not just one after another. So, it happened like this because his marvelous wisdom was equal to that of his sixth ancestor. and no different from that of Qingyuan. Not only that, but once he entered the hall and said, my teaching was received from the ancestors of the past, to arrive at the knowledge and perception of the Buddha without recourse to meditation and effort, this body is Buddha, mind, Buddha, doom, body, enlightenment, defilement, defilement. The words are different, but the substance is the same.

[52:40]

So we should look at this. But once he entered the hall, in other words, he came into the teaching hall and he said to his students, My teaching was received from the ancestors of the past. To arrive at the knowledge and perception of a Buddha without recourse to meditation and effort This body is Buddha. This body is mind, Buddha, beings, Bodhi, defilement. In other words, many things, right? You could say almost anything. This body is Buddha or mind. There are many different names for Buddha, and these are some of them. Mind, Buddha, beings, Bodhi, defilement. Defilement is another one for Buddha. The words are different, but the substance is the same. So, without recourse to meditation and effort, what does that mean?

[53:45]

Hey, why are we sitting there? Without recourse to meditation and effort. This body is Buddha. To arrive at the knowledge and perception of a Buddha without recourse to meditation and effort. Right. That's right. So what does not learning meditation mean? Probably not knowledge. Hmm? Probably not knowledge. Yeah, but what does not learning meditation mean? Not steps and stages. Not steps and stages. Not sitting in order to become a Buddha. Not sitting in order to become a Buddha. And not practicing the various stages of meditation. So when Dogen says, It is not practicing meditation. He means it's not practicing the step-by-step, you know, the various meditation practices which lead to enlightenment.

[54:56]

Because in Buddhism, there are, you know, many stages, step-by-step stages of meditation which lead to enlightenment, like the jhanas or like that. It's simply stepping right into it. As I was saying, it's simply stepping right into Buddha nature, repose and bliss, the impossible way. So it's not, you know, meditation has a special meaning, meaning various stages in order to reach the goal. So if you practice meditation to reach enlightenment, it means that the place where you are is delusion.

[55:57]

And you practice these various meditation practices in order to reach enlightenment, which is a place that you're not at right now, because you're at this stage of delusion. So this is a kind of dualistic understanding of going from delusion to enlightenment, which Dogen is avoiding. That's why he always says that Sazen is not one of the meditation practices of Buddhism. There's meditation, observing presets, and the third one, the three—huh?

[56:58]

What's it? Well, there's meditation. sets of following rules and study. That's not the basic. In Buddhism there are the three basic practices. Meditation, sila, prajna, and samadhi. Yeah, usually it's Sela, Samadhi, and Gosna.

[58:02]

But Samadhi is meditation. And This is not what, zazen is not the meditation of one of the three basic practices. Zazen includes all of them. So zazen, you know, we tend to think of zazen as specifically sitting with your legs crossed, even though we know that that's not true. You know, somebody says, well, what is zazen? You'll inevitably say, well, it's sitting on the black cushion with your legs crossed. But next time someone asks you, what is Zazen, think of something else to say. That's right. It's my cold room at four o'clock in the morning. It's my stuttering. It's my stumbling on the stair.

[59:04]

It's my inadequacy, my shyness. eating dinner for a fork. I don't know if I should tell the story, but this happened to me this weekend, which is I had a headache for three days, and I called my doctor on the phone, and I said, I've had a headache for three days, I think it's from tension, and she said to me, do you meditate? I said, well, Yeah, I guess so, but it doesn't work that way. It's not the same thing. I thought that was funny, because people, I mean, they have this idea about meditation, like, that it's this very relaxing, soothing activity that you're doing, and that if I had meditated, then my headache would go away. It would probably do. I don't know. Actually, it is relaxing.

[60:11]

Maybe for you. just take a couple of aspirin and sip you can actually make your headache you can concentrate on your headache to concentrate on where is this headache, and really try and find the headache, where the epicenter of the headache is. The problem is that when you've got a headache, you don't feel like doing that. And if you know where the epicenter is at that point, what— It has nothing to do with knowing. It's when you find the epicenter of the headache, and the headache disappears. the way.

[61:14]

Sorry. Yeah, it does. I don't care. I mean, I'm sorry that you're sorry. But it does. It's because your mind is, it becomes in balance with itself. Is it like confronting your fears and confronting your Yeah. That's right. Well, in the process you have to drop the one and go away. Yeah. That's right. And it's no longer, once you merge with it, it can't bother you. It's just like the pain in your legs and zog in. Once you merge with it, it doesn't bother you. When consciousness merges with the headache, it disappears because there's no separation.

[62:23]

Headache is a separation. That's why your head is aching. So there's some imbalance, there's some separation. I don't know why that would seem strange. Usually, with the headache, it's bothering us, so it's hard to concentrate. We just want to get rid of it. But you can do that. You can concentrate on it, and it won't disappear once you merge with it. Sādhan is not step-by-step meditation. It's simply all at once, seen into our nature.

[63:35]

So he says, to arrive at the knowledge and perception of the Buddha without recourse to meditation and effort, doesn't mean that there's no effort. That means you're not making this effort for realization. It's just expressing realization. Realization sought after. Huh? Realization sought after. Saw after? not seeking after that realization. There's no effort to seek realization. This is why we don't practice seeking realization. We just do the work.

[64:36]

Just do the practice. In other words, just do the Just do the sitting or the activity. We don't concentrate on enlightenment. We just concentrate on the activity. If you concentrate on the enlightenment, there's nothing to get. So you have to concentrate on the activity. And then the activity is where the enlightenment is. an expression it's not you're not running after anything you're not trying to get something you're not running after enlightenment you're just doing the activity you know if you want if you want the boat to go you can't just say go boat go You have to do something. You have to take people to do something. Set up the sail. Turn on electricity.

[65:46]

Do something. But looking for enlightenment, seeking enlightenment is like saying, go boat, go. Go. It'll go if I just keep looking one minute. So back to the idea of a mirror. A mirror, it remains very pure. It's like dreaming of something. So what appears on the mirror is a dream. It's not reality. But it's not—you can't really separate the inside and the outside. If you look at it, it's outside, where the six realms are being there. It's part of the dream, then itself.

[66:49]

The six realms are part of the dream. This is the dream. Dream is also important. But there could be a few, if you see it out there. This seems very difficult to... Well... If you want to express the self in its pure aspect, let go of the dreams. In other words, don't have any dream about anything. In other words, stop thinking. Even if you stop thinking, that's not enough. Because the dream is also a Buddha nature.

[67:51]

But if you only have the dream, then you don't understand, you can't have any, you don't get realization. If you're only involved in the dream, You have to get beyond your dream. You have to let go on your dreams. Then you can go back into your dream. But mountains are mountains, is a dream. Mountains are not mountains, is ultimate reality. And mountains and mountains, mountains are mountains, is the reality of the dream before realization before practice when you say mountains you say oh I know what those are when you say rivers you say oh I know what river is

[69:10]

But that's just in the dream. So when you enter practice, you let go of all those opinions and ideas. Mountains are not mountains. Rivers are not rivers. Nothing is what you think it is. And when you get to this place, when you realize nothing is what you think it is, or thought it was, You go back and you look at mountains and you say, oh yes, those are mountains and these are rivers, but not with the same understanding. First you have to take everything away. Then you can get everything back. Then you know what it is after you get everything back. It's pretty good stuff, but it's hard.

[70:18]

Well, you have to realize it. So just to stay there with that seems to be the hardest. I mean, when you start looking at just the six rocks sometimes, I see them kind of painted on the inside of the cylinder, always changing. They're always changing. So you can't really design a map to get out because everything's in flux. Yes, everything is changing. So when I get mad, I'm an angry demon. And when I crave too much that I can't eat, I'm a hungry ghost. And when I'm in a pleasurable place where I don't need anything, I have to think about the suffering of the world, then I'm in the heavenly realm. And then I drop down into the hell realm. Things aren't going well. And then sometimes we're just a human being, which is a good place to be.

[71:22]

And we keep changing. We keep changing all the time. And we just keep transmigrating from one field. This is the realms of thoughts and feelings, right? Thoughts and feelings through the ears, eyes, nose, tongue, feeling. Sensory perception. Touch. And there's another one. Mind. Thoughts. But we never get underneath all that. So this sensory perception is consciousness is using a sensory perception as information and inventing a world. Inventing a world, I believe. And each one of us is inventing our own world.

[72:27]

We have certain things in common that we share. And we say, this is a table. This is a table. And we learn that when we're kids. You know, if you ever brought up a kid and closely watch, the way they learn to identify things, you realize that, you know, this is, to a kid, this is not a table. To a little baby, this is not a table. It's just what you feel, and it's what's felt, and it's what's seen, and it's what's heard, and smelled, but it's not identified as anything. And then when they get a little older, they start identifying, oh, because you tell them. That's a table. See? That's a table. Table. Table. And before long, that's a table. This is a chair. And if you don't get what they get, you're stupid. You also upset them at a certain time in that by saying that's not a chair.

[73:33]

That's right. That's right. So this all is up to the old class. That's right. That's right. Is it way in the back? Oh, I never did this. I'm back here. Thank you. We had a kid brought in that was re-evaluated for a mental re-determination, and they were using the developmental phenomenon And they asked him where his elbow was, and he pointed to his head. And they asked him where his nose was, and he pointed to his elbow. And otherwise, he was very bright. And it was that two out of three older brothers had taken a break in life and been teaching him over the last four years, totally so-called different names for all of his body parts. Yeah. And he was labeled. Anyway, but it's true. We, um...

[74:35]

And then we learn all this stuff in common. And then, you know, we expect that everybody will agree. So we just have these agreements on what reality is. We have a shared agreement on what reality is. And in this language that we speak, you know, we say certain things are called this and some other language, they're called something else. And they may not even be the same thing. The Eskimos have 30 words for snow or something. So what's reality? That's the question. I mean, it's all experiential. We all experience it differently. We all have different concepts of what this is and what that is. And I taste things. I see things. It's all in my mind. But what's reality? Because that's not the question.

[75:37]

Reality will kill you. But it will also bring you to life. So, you know, ultimate reality has no form or shape. Is it able to experience? And yet, all forms and shapes are its characteristics. let go of opinions about what everything is. Who am I? If all these things are just an agreed upon reality, we never get beneath what we agree on. We never get beneath words and sensory perception. So that's why we sit zanzan, in order to let go of all that. and just exist without that conditioning.

[76:40]

And then you come back and you see a table, or you see this, but you don't name it right away. But we enter into this agreed upon reality. Oh, that's the table. This is the care. So we accept that. But we know better. that even though we call this a fable, it's not a fable. And we can't talk about it with anybody. As soon as you talk about it, you discriminate. That's right. You're not in the world of reality, or the alternate reality. Well, but you know that you're discriminating. You know that you're discriminating. That's the difference. You know, well, I'm discriminating on purpose, in order to tell one thing from another. But my discrimination is based on non-discrimination.

[77:44]

My temporal reality is based on ultimate reality. So all the 10,000 things are also an expression of ultimate reality. But until we can dissolve everything, we can't experience ultimate reality itself. In other words, the non-separation of all these separate things. On National Public Radio the other day, during the traffic jam, they were interviewing an author who recently wrote a book called Talking to the Animals or something, something like that. But he said that any American adult will tell you that a pig says a poink. pigs don't say oink, but your condition from the tongue is the child that pigs say oink. In France, pigs say, I forget how, but it's quam quam.

[78:49]

And in China, they say, you know, some Chinese word for oink. It's because, you know, when a child is developing its language, it babbles, it makes every conceivable sounds, and it's the sounds that are reinforced by people around it, that form the basis for, for, for, for vibes. So, you know, when a child's going muh, muh, muh, wants milk, you know, wants a bottle, or a breast, um, you know, and eventually it seems like mommy, you know, because, you know, it's, uh, maybe the author tries to tell his daughter, you know, well let me just finish here the words are different but the substance is the same you must realize that the substance of your own mind is beyond annihilation and eternity and its nature is beyond purity and impurity

[80:04]

That means it's okay to be able, and it's okay not to be able. Beyond that, deep and complete, it is the same in sages and ordinary people. It responds freely and differs from ordinary mind in its various functions. The triple world and the six paths appear spontaneously as nothing but mind, big mind. Not little mind, but big mind means Buddha nature. How can the reflection of the moon and water or the shapes reflected in the mirror originate or cease to be? If you can understand this, there is nothing you lack. If he had not demolished heaven and earth and seen himself as independent, this talk would never have occurred. As a result of attaining realization when he was struck and experiencing clearly original mind, big mind, he became the thirty-fifth ancestor. How can your own marvelous nature be distinct from his?

[81:07]

How can the realm of mind not be common to all? It is only due to arousing determination or not arousing it. But it comes down to meeting an enlightened teacher or not meeting one, that one rises or sinks, and not all are miserable or happy alike. How can I explain this story? Would you like to hear? examine the story. Would you like to hear? With one raising of a Hosu, he held up the totality of the way. Never by so much as a hair did Shitu ever deviate from it. And then Cleary translates it as, all at once he raises infinity. What? All at once he raises infinity. That's the raising of the hasa. He doesn't say so, but all at once he raises infinity.

[82:09]

Never has he clung to anything beyond him. That's interesting. I like the way it says that. Never has he clung to anything beyond him. He raises up infinity, but he's never clung to anything beyond him. So infinity is something that's way beyond us, right? Or is it? Where is the extension of infinity? Where does it extend to? Good. There it is, right there. This is called Cosmic Mudra. There's the end. the beginning and the end right there next time I'm having a little difficulty in deciding what to happen next time but I think Dongshan which is rather long Dongshan is

[83:31]

The 38th ancestor. It says 38 here. In Clary's book, the numbers of the chapters and the numbers of the ancestors are not the same. It's one digit apart. So Doshan is her 38th ancestor. I can't hear you. Chapter 39. Gongshan. Gongshan is chapter 39 in Cleary's book, but he's the 38th ancestor. The chapter and the answers don't need the period of time.

[84:49]

So just look for . Never mind, remember the chapter.

[84:52]

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