I am Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today, I want to present this case number 17 from the booklet record. Its title is Kyo Rin's Sitting Long and Getting Tired

[01:00]

Maybe I can close the book and leave now. The rest is just commentary. Sometimes it's called Bodhidharma's... Why did Bodhidharma come from the West? So I'll read Engo's introduction, Engo always introduces the main case. Setsho, Chikan, Daisho compiled the booklet record. And Engo was introduced, made the introduction. So Ango says, cutting through nails and breaking steel.

[02:08]

My surmiting power isn't strong enough to. Cutting through nails and breaking steel. For the first time, one can be called master of the first principle. If you keep away from arrows and evade swords, you will be a failure in Zen. As for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, that may be set aside for a while. But when the foaming waves wash the sky, what will you do with yourself then? See the following. Main subject. A monk asked Kyorin, what is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West? This was a famous question in the history of Zen. Kyorin said, sitting long and getting tired.

[03:23]

And there are many famous answers to that question, why does Bodhidharma come from the West, which I won't go into. But this answer of Kyorin's is quite plain. Maybe that's why it's plain and yet, when you look at it, it's very deep. So Kyurin says, sitting long, getting tired. And then Setso Chikang, versifies on the case. And his verse says, one, two, and tens of hundreds of thousands take off the muzzle and set down the load. Take off. Take off the muzzle and set down the load.

[04:38]

If you turn to the left and right, following another's lead, I would strike you as Shikō struck Ryutetsu-ma. In other words, if you don't find your own way, you'll get a beating. Not from somebody else. Not from somebody else. Actually, you get beat up through your own effort or lack of effort. I want to... This is... The notes here are from Sekida Sensei, and I thought I'd read his note because the notes are kind of interesting.

[05:45]

His commentary, the translator's commentary. Kyorin, who was born in 908, was one of the four outstanding disciples of Unman. Unman, or Yunmen. In Chinese, Yunmen. And Yen Van was one of the most famous Zen masters. And he has, there are more cases, I think, in the Blue Cliff Record on Un Maung, Blue Cliff Record and Hei Gi Gan, and... Kateless Kate. Kateless Kate. Un Maung Khan. Un Maung Khan and Kateless Kate. Thank you. There are more cases of umman than anyone else. And he's famous for his short cryptic remarks or answers.

[06:49]

Kyorin followed umman for 18 years as his attendant. Every day, umman called him. And when he answered, yes, sir, umman would say, What is this? This was continued for 18 long years. Then one day, Kyurin exclaimed, oh, I understand. You know, we think that maybe we spend a long time studying Zen. When will it be over? When can we move on? When will we get enlightened? U Mon said, why don't you say it in a transcending manner? Say it in some way that expresses your understanding. And Kyorin spent another three years with U Mon to attain full maturity.

[07:58]

He was a great master but slow to mature. Kyorin's disciple, Chi Mon, was Setsho's teacher. Setsho was the compiler of the Buddhist record. Kyorin taught his disciples for 40 years. And when he was dying, he said, for 40 years, I was constantly in one piece. By this, he meant that he had maintained his samadhi, both absolute and positive, unbroken through that time. I want to talk a little bit about samadhi. Suzuki Roshi, I almost never heard him use the word samadhi. He would say, imperturbable mind, or perfect composure, something like that.

[09:01]

He would use those terms over and over again. He rarely used the word Samadhi. But when he made the calligraphy, his calligraphy, the calligraphy says, King Samadhi. I think that we have trouble with words like Samadhi because they sound exotic. When you say Samadhi, some of you say, oh, some Eastern mysticism. But I like to use the word Samadhi. I've started using the word Samadhi, even though I didn't want to use it for a long, long time for that reason.

[10:03]

But if we use a word like samadhi and use it in its true sense, we demystify it. So I would rather demystify a word, some word, rather than just keep it, just avoid using it because it's mysterious. And words like dharma, Prajna, so forth, Buddha nature, sometimes the exalted kind of connotations they have, kind of mysteriousness behind them, sets us off, turns us off.

[11:06]

So it's hard to penetrate the meaning, or hard to enter into it, into the word, in order to let it open our mind. Actually, a word can open our mind. If we put a word into our consciousness, we don't understand the meaning of, we just put it in there and water it, so to speak. Pretty soon it will start to grow and we'll open up the channels of our mind so that we can begin to understand it. So with words like samadhi, prajna, dharma, and so forth.

[12:14]

Dharma is already an accepted word in Berkeley, in the West Coast. It's misused a lot, you know. But even so, it's not misused in a bad way, I think. People like to take words, especially exotic words, and use them for their shops and so forth, or kind of toss them around and use them here and there. But still, when the word is used and seen and gets kicked around, people begin to think about it, and it becomes a kind of byword, or it becomes a word in our language. A lot of people, when they translate today, instead of trying to translate the words, just leave them.

[13:18]

Instead of trying to express in our own terms, we accept the word on its terms. In the old Sutra cards, the Prajnaparamita Sutra cards, we used to say, Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, which now is translated as Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. Everybody says, what's Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi? Oh, I see, it's Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. So, you don't have to think about it any further, because it's supreme perfect enlightenment. Oh, I know what that is. But if we have to try and find out what Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi is, it'll take us the rest of our life, maybe. So, it may be better to use Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

[14:33]

you know, back into the... comes from the past, from some history. So, if we cut off the history of the meaning of words, we lose something in the process. So it's better that we try to find out the meaning of the words and know the words. So we expand our vocabulary. And even at the risk of being misunderstood or mystified or exoticized, we try to find the meaning of the word and leave the word alone. So I like to use the word samadhi and demystify it, as well as find its true mystery.

[15:44]

So here he says, when Kyorin was dying, Setsuo's teacher was dying, he said, for forty years I was constantly in one piece." By this he meant that he had maintained his samadhi, both absolute and positive, unbroken throughout that time. Absolute and positive, this author makes his makes a distinction between absolute and positive, what he calls absolute samadhi and positive samadhi. And absolute samadhi is basic mind or perfect composure in zazen.

[16:53]

Positive samadhi is perfect composure in activity, without losing composure, without losing, or with imperturbability. When he says, when Sathya says in his Ingo in his introduction says, as for the subtle probe, as for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, we can set that aside for a while. Let's not talk about that. But for now, that's what he's saying. Let's just deal with this other part of the subject.

[18:00]

but as for the subtle place where no probe can get in, that means the place where nothing can get in to divide you from yourself. This is always the characteristic of sometimes Zen masters described as a steep, sheer cliff that can't be approachable. unapproachable, steep cliff. Silver mountains and iron cliffs. Steep, unapproachable cliffs. Everything slides off. No way to penetrate. You can't even put a needle. Can't find a place to put a needle in. This means imperturbable mind or complete wholeness. Seamless.

[19:01]

No scenes, not even one little teeny place where something can get in to open that up, to penetrate. This is the wholeness or oneness Samadhi means for us, when we sit zazen, no matter what problem there is, it can't move us. Why? Sometimes we think of zazen as an endurance test. It's just an endurance test. I thought there was something to this, but it just turned out to be an endurance test, as if endurance was just some slight thing, you know?

[20:15]

Yet endurance is very important. It's the, nothing can get in to make you wiggle. Nothing can disturb your mind. This is what he called the Great Samadhi. No chinks, no, don't move. We've been sitting very well. I'm very pleased with our Sashim. It feels that way to me. Our Sashim has that feeling.

[21:18]

We're all sitting very strong and very sincerely, really putting out effort So this is what he calls Absolute Samadhi. Positive Samadhi is in the activity of daily life. Nothing can get in to move you, disturb you, disturb your basic peaceful mind. no matter what happens. These are two sides.

[22:23]

It doesn't mean that there aren't waves or there isn't provocation. And it doesn't mean that you don't get angry. It doesn't mean that you don't have feelings. Some people who are very... whose practice is very strong, it looks like they don't have feelings or sympathy. They look very cold, you know. But... at the appropriate time and the right moment to very warm and they understand. So there are as many different personalities as there are Zen students.

[23:37]

And we shouldn't try to imitate someone else's attitudes. Oh, I should be like so-and-so. If I copy so-and-so Zen master's fierce exterior, that will make me a Zen master too. Actually, a Zen teacher is always different than you expect them to be. If we have some idea of what a teacher is like, we're always fooled. That's what he's referring to, actually, in his poem. If you turn left and right following another's lead,

[24:39]

I would strike you as Shikko strikes you Tetsuma. It means even though we all practice the same practice, we should all be ourself. There are no carbon copies, but this is the koan. How do you practice the same practice as everybody else and at the same time be completely yourself? Ryu Tetsuma, that story.

[25:41]

Ryu Tetsuma was a nun. There's a Zen story about a woman who was a nun. And Ryu Tetsuma, her name, no one could defeat her. She was, her name means iron jaw. She would chew up anyone who approached her in dharma combat. So everybody was afraid of her. I'll read the story. One day, Ryutetsuma appeared unexpectedly before Shinko. Shinko, Shiko was a disciple of Nansen.

[26:43]

And who said, are you not Ryutetsuma? You are warm. It's Ryutetsuma. That's an interesting answer. Do you turn right or left? He asked her. She said, you don't overturn. Now this is an interesting answer. He said, do you turn right or left? She said, you don't overturn. Which was pretty good. But before she finished speaking, Shiko struck her. This is too bad, actually, because it's a good story about a woman. She gets hit by a man. It's really terrible, you know.

[27:47]

To say something like, you don't overturn, is like a big challenge. What else could he do? But overturn her. Turn her over. So you have to be careful what you say. Good answer, but very good answer. But unfortunately, she handed him the handle and he turned it over. She put it in his hand. So he says, Before she had finished speaking, he did that, she was struck by Shiko. It is said that she should have dealt the blow to Shiko herself when he asked, do you turn right or left?

[29:19]

She should have hit him. No? What should she have done? You know, in giving blows, when we read about this kind of stuff, it looks like everybody's hitting each other, you know, and hitting with a stick, and everybody's very mean and nasty. But mostly, this kind of hitting, you know, is not vicious, or it's like response. And not meant in a way

[30:32]

I remember in some case, Obaku went up and hit Hyakujo, slapped Hyakujo, hit him. A commentator on the case says, a student would never go up and hit his teacher like that. This is a kind of expression. If a student went up and hit his teacher like that, all the students would chase him out. It's a kind of expression, he went up and hit him. or maybe slapped him on the knee or something like that, but to hit somebody.

[31:45]

Rarely, sometimes that happens, or it's happened. Hyakujo tweaked Huang Po's nose, you know. That kind of, that kind of, activity, twist somebody's ear, something, you know, to wake you up, but not in a sense of really, nothing behind it. I'll just talk a little bit longer.

[32:49]

Take an easy posture, please. Sit. I want to talk a little bit about Ngo's introduction. He says, cutting through nails and breaking steel. For the first time, one can be called master of the first principle. The first principle is things as they actually are, learning or expressing through immediate presence. The second principle is talking about something.

[33:52]

So teaching goes both ways. Sometimes the first principle, sometimes the second principle. Zen is usually associated with the first principle. But the second principle is also used and it's just as important. So sometimes first principle, sometimes second principle. Cutting through nails. And breaking steel has the feeling of cutting through the difficulties, cutting through the barriers. If you keep away from arrows and evade swords, you will be a failure in Zen. If you don't face the difficulties and penetrate them, You can't get it. So that's why we have Sachine, how to penetrate it.

[35:00]

People say, well, if it was just a little easier, but it can't be easier. It has to be as difficult as we can get it in order to penetrate it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I don't know, but it's hard. As for the subtle point where no probe can be inserted, that's our samadhi, our complete round nature. That may be set aside for a while, but when the foaming waves wash the sky, what will you do with yourself then? One more point is that to demystify samadhi.

[36:46]

Samadhi is not necessarily something that you can feel as an object. And during sasheen, we get a very certain kind of feeling that we associate with sasheen. certain kind of clarity objects take on us there become more themselves than usual and we feel close to objects and so forth and to each other but if we expect something if we expect some kind of insight or some kind of feeling or some kind of enlightenment or some a different feeling than usual that can be a hindrance.

[37:49]

So we should be able to go completely through Sashin with just normal mind. We say the natural order of mind in the meal sutra, the natural order of mind, just ordinary mind. is the mind that we seek, just ordinary mind. But the question is, what is ordinary mind? But don't expect anything. Why we sit is just to sit without expecting anything.

[38:53]

It's like the Sixth Patriarch describes a man of the way, a person of the way, as the sun shining without discrimination. The sun just turns and shines without discrimination, without knowing that it shines. It's just being itself. The sun is just being itself. Without expecting something extraordinary, without doing something extraordinary, just No special feeling. If you feel the same way you did the day before you started, that's perfectly fine.

[40:04]

It doesn't mean no samadhi. Actually, when I practice this, really one, you can walk in and out of sasheen without hardly telling the difference. Thank you very much.

[41:01]

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