It's on now. It's on now. Thank you. Is it on now? Yeah. Saturday I talked about Dogen's, to study the Buddha Dharma is to study the self, and to study the self is to forget the self, let go. And then yesterday I talked about Buddhadasa, how the self arises, and today I want to talk about Joshu's non-discriminating discrimination, which I've talked about many times before in the past, but it's related.

[01:05]

It looks like I have a big stack of books here, but I'm not going to go through it all. A few pages into big books. So Zhou Xu, this is called Zhou Xu's The Real Way is Not Difficult. Zhou Xu liked to quote from the Xin Xin Ming, So San, the third ancestor's poem on faith in mind. Xin Xin Ming. So the Xin Xin Ming starts out, the real way or the ultimate path is not really difficult, it just dislikes picking and choosing, which is related to the discriminating mind.

[02:19]

Just avoid attachment to love and hate That's how it begins. And there are various translations. I added a little bit of mine when I said, attachment to. So, Joshu's The Real Way is not difficult. So Engo introduces the subject. And he says, the universe is too narrow. The sun, the moon, and the stars are all at once too dark. Even if blows from the stick fall like raindrops and the khats shouts sound like thunder, you are still far short of the truth of Buddhism. Even the Buddhas of the three worlds can only nod to themselves, and the patriarchs of all ages do not exhaustively demonstrate its profundity. The whole treasury of sutras is inadequate to expound its deep meaning.

[03:25]

Even the clearest-eyed monks fail to save themselves. At this point, how do you conduct yourself?" In other words, There's nothing in all of the teaching and demonstrating that really adequately expresses this truth. How will you find it for yourself? Mentioning the name of Buddha is like trudging through mud and dripping water. To utter the word Zen is to cover your face with shame. Not only those who have long practiced Zen, but beginners too, should exert themselves to attain directly to the secret.

[04:27]

I think he said it means not only beginners but long practice Zen students should not just rest on your laurels but penetrate the reality. So the main subject Zhou Xu, who was a very famous Zen master, one of the most famous in China. Some say he lived to be 120, some say 140. He started traveling when he was 80. He said, I'm going to start traveling when he was 80 if I meet an old man who hasn't much understanding, I'll teach him something, but if I meet a little girl eight years old who has the true understanding, I'll learn something from her."

[05:36]

So he's a very open-minded teacher. And he said, quoting Sosan's poem, but giving it his own twist, he said, the real way is not difficult. It only abhors choice and attachment. With but a single word, there may arise choice and attachment. Or there may arise clarity, if you say something, but a single word, you know, you either fall into discriminating choice and attachment or you abide in clarity. And then he says, do you appreciate the meaning of this or not?

[06:41]

No, I'm sorry. He says, by the single word, there may arise choice and attachment, or there may arise clarity. This old monk does not abide in that clarity. Do you appreciate the meaning of this or not? And then a monk asked, if you don't abide in that clarity, teacher, what do you appreciate? Very clever. And Joshi said, I don't know that either. And the monk said, if you don't know that, then how can you say that you don't abide there in clarity? Joshi said, asking the question is good enough. You can do your bows and go back to your room. which sounds like, whoa, wait a minute, avoiding, evading is challenge, right?

[07:48]

But this is an interesting point. The meaning of, so what is the meaning of asking the question is good enough? Asking the question is good enough, but the implication is, but it doesn't reach to this. It doesn't get to the point. It really is the arrow flying past Korea. This kind of question is very clever, but it does not address this point, even though it sounds like it does. So where does Joshua abide?

[09:01]

If you don't abide in clarity, then how can you say you don't have that clarity? So where does Joshu abide? Does he abide in clarity or does he abide in discrimination? He's very slippery, this Joshu. You know, we usually talk about discriminating mind and how discriminating mind divides the world and when the mind is picking and choosing, you know, then when the mind is picking and choosing a self arises,

[10:11]

As soon as we fall into picking and choosing and discriminating mind, the self arises. So, where's Joshu? He says, I don't abide in that clarity. Do you understand? Do you get me? Do you get what I'm talking about? I don't abide in that clarity. As soon as a thought comes, as soon as you say something, you enter into picking and choosing or you enter into clarity. So the assumption is that entering into picking and choosing is bad. Or he should be in clarity because he's Joshua. So then the question comes up, what is clarity and what is picking and choosing? What is discrimination and what is non-discrimination?

[11:21]

So this monk is abiding in the duality between discrimination and non-discrimination. He says, it's either discrimination or it's not discrimination. So this is our black and white way of thinking. We say, you know, We talk about discrimination and non-discrimination or picking and choosing and not picking and choosing, but every moment you're making a decision, every moment you're choosing something. There's no way you can be living in this world without choosing or making a decision based on something moment by moment.

[12:30]

So how can you avoid discriminating? So what are they talking about anyway? But when you start discriminating, a discriminating mind arises, self arises. How does discriminating mind arise without The self arising. How do you choose? How do you decide something? How do you make a decision? Every time we choose something, we avoid something else. You want chocolate or vanilla? Well, I usually say I want both. Because I don't like to discriminate. So on what basis do we discriminate?

[13:52]

What is our basis for discrimination? What do we want to satisfy? discrimination or picking and choosing satisfies something. So if we pick and choose on the basis of desire, then we choose in order to satisfy our desire. So when we choose to satisfy our desire, then the self arises. if we pick and choose on the basis of what's the most important thing for a situation.

[14:55]

If we pick and choose so that the self doesn't arise. That's discrimination, but it's discrimination based on non-discrimination. It's called the discrimination of non-discrimination. So if I choose to pick something up, then that's discriminating mind. If I choose to not pick something up, it's still choice, but it's not choice and attachment. It's simply choice. So we can choose to not ever do anything, you know, and then we're clean, and we think, well, that's purity, right?

[15:58]

But that's also a trap, because then we have the attachment to what we think of as purity. Never pick up anything that you'll be attached to. So you never pick up anything. And then it's called the dry bones of practice. We can't really live that way. That's like trying to separate nirvana from samsara. don't ever pick up anything that you'll be attached to. But on the other hand, if you do that, you'll never pick up anything. So how do you pick up something and even have attachment without being attached? So this is our koan.

[17:02]

Joshu says, I don't abide in that clarity. He says, I don't reject clarity and by saying I don't abide in that clarity it kind of implies that if I'm not in a clarity then I must be in the picking and I must either abide in picking and choosing or abide in clarity. But how does Joshua pick and choose? It's not that he doesn't abide in clarity. It's that he's not attached to clarity. Of course he abides in clarity. He just says, I don't abide in clarity in order to make a point. This is what the monk doesn't understand, is that Joshu is simply making a point.

[18:11]

He's saying, you dumb bell, you're very clever, but you don't understand that I'm just making a point. I can pick and choose as much as I want to without leaving clarity. I'm going to read Setso's verse on the case. Setso says, the real way is not difficult. Direct word, direct speech. With many phases, two with one. I'm sorry, one with many phases, two with one. Far away in the heavens, the sun rises, the moon sets. Beyond the hills, the high mountains, the cold waters. The skull has no consciousness, no delight.

[19:17]

The dead tree sings in the wind, not yet rotten. Difficult, difficult. Attachment and clarity. Watch and penetrate the secret. So the real way is not difficult. direct word, direct speech. This is like Joshu's speaking directly. He's actually saying something to this monk very directly. He's not explaining anything, like me. And then he says, clarity, it's like one with many phases means something like discrimination within non-discrimination, two with one means non-discrimination within

[20:31]

Discrimination within non-discrimination and non-discrimination within discrimination. Far away in the heavens, the sun rises and the moon sets. Beyond the hills, the high mountains and the cold waters. It means something like, just look at how things go. This is the way things are. That nature is telling us, teaching us, preaching a sermon continuously. And far away in the heavens, the sun rises, the moon sets. Beyond the hills, the high mountains and the cold waters. Nature's examples. And then he says, the skull has no consciousness, no delight. And the dead tree sings in the wind, not yet rotten. Now this is very interesting, these two sentences.

[21:37]

They come from a story about Master Sozon. Sozon was Tozon's disciple and together they worked out the teaching of the five ranks. Sozon inherited it from Tozon. The skull has no consciousness, it's kind of like the relative hidden within the absolute. And the Ted tree sings in the wind, not yet rotten, it's like the absolute hidden within the relative. So I want to read you the story about those two lines, because it's such a wonderful story.

[22:39]

A monk said that there was someone who asked Master Xiang Yan, what is the Tao? Master Xiang Yan answered, in a withered tree, a dragon is singing. The monk said that he did not understand. Xiang Yuan then said, the eye is in the skull. Sometimes translated as, there's an eyeball glowing in a skull. I like that better. It's an eyeball glowing in a skull. Sometime later, the monk asked Master Hsueh Shuang what he thought of the statement. In the withered tree, a dragon is singing. Master Hsueh Shuang answered, there is still joy there. The monk again asked, well, what is the meaning of the eyeball glowing in the skull?

[23:49]

Hsueh Shuang replied, there is still consciousness there. Master Cao Shan, who is So Zang, hearing of this composed a poem, which reads, he who says that a dragon is singing in the dry woods, he has dry woods, but it's usually withered tree. He who says that a dragon is singing in a withered tree is one who truly sees the Tao. The skull has no consciousness, but wisdom's eye begins to shine in it. If joy and consciousness should be eliminated, then fluctuation and communication would cease. Those who deny this do not understand that purity is in the impure." After hearing this, the monk asked the master, what does it mean? In a withered tree, a dragon is singing. The master said, consanguinity never ceases.

[24:53]

Sangwa, sange, sangre is blood, right? The bloodline, the continuity never ceases. The monk asked, what about the eye and the skull? The master replied, it can never be dried up completely. The monk went on, I wonder whether there's anyone who can hear this dragon song. The master said, There's no one in the entire world who does not hear this. The monk continued, I don't know what kind of composition the Dragon Song is. The master answered, I don't know what kind of composition the Dragon Song is either. That sounds like Joshu saying, I don't abide in clarity either. I don't know what kind of composition the Dragon Song is either.

[25:59]

But all those who hear it lose their lives. Dogen has a commentary on this case, I might call it, story. I think he said, the roar of a dragon, which is Ryugen, is like the sound you hear when breathing through your nose. Sozan could not express the Ryugen in words, but his own voice was the Ryugen itself. I think the significant lines here, those who deny this do not understand that purity is in the impure.

[27:22]

within discriminating mind is non-discrimination and non-discrimination is an expression, is expressed as through the non-discriminating mind. You mean to say that non-discriminating mind is expressed through the discriminating mind, or non-discriminating mind is expressed through... You said non-discriminating mind is expressed through non-discriminating mind. I know, I said that. You know, non-discrimination is like purity.

[29:14]

And discrimination is like defilement. This is usual understanding. So discriminating mind is defiling the pure mind. But the pure mind actually can't be defiled. And a pure mind expresses itself as discriminating mind. You know, we say a fish can't live in pure water. A human being cannot live in a world of purity, so to speak. We have to find the pure aspect of our life within, as Sozon says, the discriminating mind.

[30:20]

We have to find the pure mind within the discriminating mind. This is nirvana is samsara. this is what it means, nirvana is samsara, within the discriminating mind is to be found the pure mind. We can't separate the two. So that's why we always have this problem, because if the two were separate, it wouldn't be a problem. And the problem is to, you know, Do we fall into discrimination or do we fall into purity? Joshu can go anywhere he wants because he's not attached to either pure mind or discriminating mind.

[31:34]

For Joshu, attachment is freedom. But for us, attachment is bondage. Because Joshu has freedom within bondage. So if you put Joshu in a cage, he'd be okay. because he doesn't need anything. Everything he has, everything he needs, he has. But we're always looking for something more than what we have. And so we become attached to things. If only to our restlessness. or dissatisfactions.

[32:41]

So, Joshua can come and go. He can have things or not have them. It doesn't matter. Yeah? to my real life. Real life? Yes. What is your real life? Well, it's just everyday coming and going. Is that your real life? Everyday coming and going, that's your discriminating life? Life of discrimination? I appreciate your candidness.

[34:20]

I think there is something missing. but it's not something missing in you. It's just something that's still not aroused. I think you're complete, but something that you need to zero in on. to center in on. Well, sit more as I said, when you don't want to, or whether you want to or not. Because want to or not is discriminating mind. That's discrimination on top of discrimination.

[35:26]

It's the discrimination of discrimination. The discrimination of non-discrimination is to just sit whether you want to or not. Because that's what needs to be done. I highly recommend it. I'm glad you asked the question. so we can swim through this world, through the waves of this world. As Dogen says, swimming on top of the waves while walking on the bottom of the ocean with your feet.

[36:37]

read and didn't say too much about. Which line? It might be completely off, but maybe off the beautiful glow here. You read, whoever hears, the one who hears the song of the dragon loses his life. Yeah. And I wondered in what sense loses his life. Dogen says, drop body and mind.

[37:56]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ