I vow to taste the truth of God and talk to him first. Good morning. Well, we have a long way to go yet before the end of Sashim. Right? You can't hear me? That's a long time. not only are there two more periods, there's after, there's service, lunch, break, satsang, clean up, and then shiso ceremony. So that's a long time from now. So we will not, maintain the energy of Seshin all the way through.

[01:07]

Having work period does not mean that the Seshin is over, even though the Seshin will be over when we do the refuges. Then we have a work period, or Zazen and a work period after that. So we should maintain our Sesshin mind all the way through, rather than starting to talk and leak. No leaking, please. This is the day we have our Shisho ceremony. if everyone in this room asked a question, it would take a long time. So, the spirit of Kyusho ceremony is not to contrive something, of course, but to keep between the questions and the responses

[02:30]

to keep a good, strong rhythm going so that we don't get bogged down in explanations. It's not question and answer. It's question and response. When the shuso starts answering your questions and leads you around by the nose, and you lead the shuso around by the nose, I'll hit her. As an example, I will cite this case. When Baso was out walking with Hyakujo, he saw a wild duck fly past.

[03:36]

Baso said, what is it? Hyakujo said, it's a wild duck. Baso said, where is it? Actually, where is it going? Daishi said, it has flown away. Baso gave Yakujo, took hold of Yakujo's nose and twisted it. Yakujo cried out with pain. Daishi said, there, how can it fly away? This is the spirit of Shuto family. So, the shuso should twist your nose. If you have a question that's simply embedded in the relative, the shuso should bring it back to the absolute.

[04:43]

If you have a question that's simply embedded in the absolute, the shuso should bring it back to the relative and bring both sides together and show you what the meaning of non-duality is. See? It should go just like that. Then, at the end, we can all have some nice dessert. So, this is case 53. in the booklet record. It's called, ìKyaku-Jo and the Wild Duck.î I think you could also call it, ìWhat is a duck?î Anyway, so Ingo introduces the subject and he says, ìThe universe is not veiled.

[06:00]

All its activities are open. Whichever way he may go, he meets no obstruction. At all times, he behaves independently. His every word is devoid of egocentricity, yet still has the power to kill others. Tell me, where did the ancient worthy come to rest? See the following. Main subject. When Baso was out walking with Hyakujo, he saw a wild duck fly past. Baso, his teacher, said, what is it? Hyakujo said, it's a wild duck. Baso said, where is it? Hyakujo said, it has flown away. Daishi, the Hyakujo, Daishi is his other name, gave Hyakujo's nose a sharp twist.

[07:05]

Hyakujo cried out with pain, and Baso said, there, how can it have flown away? It's right there, how can it have flown away? So Setso's verse says, the wild duck, what, how, where? Baso has seen, talked, thought, and exhausted the meaning of mountains, clouds, and moonlit seas, but Joe, meaning Hyakujo, doesn't understand, has flown away. Flown away? No, he is brought back. So, Bazo or Matsu, Chinese name, was a disciple of Nangako Eijo.

[08:13]

Nangako Eijo was, Nanyue, was a disciple of the sixth ancestor, Eino, Daikan Eino. And Hyakujo was his disciple. Yakujo's disciple was Huangpo, whose disciple was Rinzai. So, this is a very distinguished line of ancestors. Baso's way was Maybe the first Zen master who used the shout and the twist and hands-on kind of teaching. And Hyakujo had another enlightenment experience with him.

[09:20]

when Baso gave him a shout that made him dead for three days, a very famous incident. So, going back to the introduction, Engo says, the universe is not veiled, all its activities lie open. In other words, you know, everything is right there. The whole reality is right there in front of our eyes. And yet, even though that's so, do we really see it? What do we see when we see it? And yesterday's koan Sutra's verse said, the sixth sense, or the sixth sense is purposeless.

[10:36]

When it is well acquainted with it, the masters, a ball is thrown under the rapids. Do you know where it's carried? Where does it go? What's the end? That's very interesting. Isn't that sort of like the bird, the duck? Where did it go? How do you see reality? With what eyes do you see reality? It's right in front of our eyes, but how do we see it? The sixth sense is purposeless, isn't a clue. When there's nothing covering reality, then we see it with our naked eye. When there's no purpose, there's nothing covering. So how does one stay open and unassuming?

[11:50]

I like the word unassuming because it assumes. Assuming means, oh, I know what that is. I know, oh yeah, I know that. Knowing actually blocks understanding. This is a problem, a kind of conundrum for us because we feel that knowledge is, you know, and rightly so. Knowledge is actually the hard way up the mountain. We're learning little by little, whereas freedom is the fast way up the mountain, the direct way up the mountain. Letting go is the direct way up the mountain, not covering, but covering by knowledge is little by little putting it together.

[12:52]

Sometimes we say, we read something in the paper that says, science has just discovered that, The dogs have Buddha nature. We knew that all along. So, both of these koans are talking about how we actually see something. What is it? This also relates to the koan we had in our class. What is it? Here we have a a duck, so we think that a duck is a duck. There's mutual understanding that a duck, we've all agreed actually on the fact that a duck is a duck, but someone may not agree, say, no that's a lizard, you stupid, it's a duck, but I can call it whatever I want, and it's still what it is, no matter what, a rose is a rose, it's still

[14:01]

no matter what I call it, but when I say it's a duck, then the mind says, oh yeah, duck, and I know all about ducks, but I only know what I know, what I think I know. And I remember when I was in, and you probably remember this too, when you were in high school or junior high or whatever it was, And in science class, people were dissecting frogs to find out what makes the frog work. But no matter how much they dissect the frog, you never find out what the frog is. You may find out how things work in a certain way, but you will never understand what the frog is by dissecting the frog. So here, in the other koan, we have, like throwing a ball on a rapidly flowing river or stream, and where does it go?

[15:23]

And here, Baso pulls back Yakujo's nose and says, where does it go? Where did they go? So, Yakujo is taking the standpoint of the relative. Vassa is bringing him back to the Absolute. So here we have the fundamental koan, what is reality, when we have relative and absolute, relative meaning and the absolute meaning. So, the universe is not veiled, all its activities are open, meaning

[16:28]

Through the relative we understand the absolute, and through the absolute we understand the relative. If you want to know what emptiness is, you can't find emptiness by eliminating anything. People often think that, well, emptiness means to get rid of form. Emptiness is expressed as the relative. The Absolute is expressed as the relative. If you want to study the Absolute, you have to study the relative. So everything is a gate. Every activity and every occurrence is a gate to the Absolute. That's what mumon means. No gate. It's an empty gate.

[17:29]

no special place, you can enter anywhere, and you should enter everywhere. That's the advantage of our formal practice. Our formal practice takes it out of the head and puts it into the body. So we practice very carefully with the body, learning how to harmonize with our surroundings. in a way that expresses that non-duality. That's the meaning of formal practice, is how you express that non-dual understanding, beyond understanding, in every activity, every aspect of our activity. And when you see a well-trained Zen student, A well-trained Zen student flows through activity in a beautiful way. One activity flowing into the next.

[18:36]

This is the meaning of how we ideally practice Oryoki. When you know how to do Oryoki, then one movement flows into the next. with no extra effort, no extra, you're not deciding how to put your spoon or something, it's just that one movement flows into the next without any hindrance, without having to, in a non-clumsy way. But if you don't know how to do it, then everything is clumsy. Unfortunately, if you have enough time to practice, like every day, then you can accomplish that. So, we don't say you should do orioke, you know, perfectly. Do your best. Get through it. But still, when you learn how to do it well, it's the most wonderful way to eat.

[19:46]

because everything has its rightful place. All the motions give you an opportunity to just concentrate on this one thing and treat everything with respect and gratitude. Everything is there. Everything that you need to know is right there. So, the universe is not veiled, it's right there. We can enter into the realm of non-duality, into the realm of practice, into the absolute and the relative, right there in every activity. That's why we say daily life is the way, not some special activity. One of the problems with koan practice is that people try to solve the koans and neglect the practice of everyday activity, and enlightenment becomes the ideal.

[21:14]

So because you're striving for enlightenment, it's easy to neglect where your feet are right now. The greatest koan in the world to solve is the koan of right where you are right now. That's the fundamental koan. Where are you right now? Not what's the answer to the mystery. That's all in the head. I remember when Suzuki Roshi came to America, and there were the jet-set Roshis who also came to America. This was in the 60s, and he was a Soto Zen priest, and he set up ... well, you know, he just did his practice, and then people came and

[22:21]

and he accommodated everybody, and Zen Center happened. But he didn't emphasize koan practice, and he didn't emphasize getting enlightenment, because his practice was infused with enlightenment. He didn't have to talk about enlightenment, tell people they should get enlightened, work for it, strive for enlightenment, just do the practice. and let the enlightenment emerge from your practice. Enlightenment is there when you do this. This is pulling half of Joe's nose. Where did they fly away to? Where did they go? There. Where is it going? So, and the Ajats said they were good teachers, but they were all emphasizing getting enlightenment.

[23:44]

And Suzuki Roshi didn't do that, and so a lot of people thought, oh well, you know, he's just a common sort of Zen priest, and all these other guys are Zen masters, because they're pushing everybody to gain enlightenment. But as you notice, those practices have kind of died out, and Suzuki Roshi's practices And sometimes people think nothing special means you don't have to do anything or, you know, they take that literally. Nothing special is great koan, really good koan. I think that we should all concentrate on this

[24:48]

wonderful koan of nothing special and what that really means. If you simply take it literally, it has some meaning. It's like, oh, they're ducks. You may think that nothing special, it's just another duck flying away. because people were thinking that enlightenment is something special. They get lost. So, you know, this is what then gets very smelly when we put too much emphasis on enlightenment, because it's just this stinging idea.

[25:53]

when we forget about all that and simply put our activity into nothing special, just doing, just doing wholeheartedly, enlightenment infuses our practice, permeates our practice. But if you try to pin it down, it disappears. You can beat it, but you can't see it. If you peep, it's gone. So, I'm just still on the first sentence. the universe is not veiled, all its activities lie open.

[27:09]

So, we have to, we should be able to see the real within the apparent. So, when we see somebody, we know that's Joe or Jake or somebody, Mary, but actually, do we see Buddha nature? we should be able to see Buddha nature with our naked eye. So when we look, everyone sees maybe the same thing, but actually we all see something different. We see the same thing, but we all see it through our own eye. This is called the double moon. We all see it in one way, but we each see our own moon individually. Actually, no.

[28:11]

The rest is just commentary. So, whichever way he may go, he needs no obstruction, because everything is just an opportunity. What we call obstructions are just opportunities. At all times, he behaves independently. dependently means with confidence. And his every word is devoid of egocentricity, yet he still has the power to kill others. Kill others means, I think, the sword that kills and brings to life. So this is a good example in this koan of Baso killing and bringing to life. cutting off Khyabhujo's one-sidedness and bringing him to life.

[29:16]

So tell me, where did the ancient worthy come to rest? Or where did he find his emancipation? So the main subject. When Baso was out walking with Hyakujo, he saw a wild duck fly past. And Baso said, what is it? And Hyakujo said, it's a wild duck. And Baso said, where is it? Hyakujo said, it has flown away. Baso at last gave Hyakujo's nose a sharp pinch. Hyakujo cried out with pain. And Baso said, there, how can it fly away? So a wild duck, what, how, when, what is it, how did it fly away, and where is it going? Baso has been taught, has seen, talked, and exhausted the meaning of mountains, clouds, and moonlit seas.

[30:25]

Everyone has a different interpretation about what that means. But Hyakujo doesn't understand, has flown away. So, you know, this kind of abrupt cutting off is very common in Goan, in the history. Mu'ungan got his leg caught in the door. I don't know if you remember that. A monk went to see Bokushu. Bokushu was really tough. Zen master, who wouldn't let anybody in the door? Really like that. He wouldn't let anybody in the door. And so whenever a monk came and knocked on the door, he would say, what do you want? And before the duck ...

[31:26]

He slammed the door shut. And so, to get out of here, Sumedha went, Uman wanted to see him because he knew he was a good Zen master. And so, twice he got the treatment. And the third time, before Bokshu could close the door, he put his foot in the door, his leg in the door, and Bokshu slammed the door in his leg and broke it. Whether he broke it or not, we don't know, but it hurt. It was like even stronger than the twist of the nose. Yakujo got off easy. And, oh yeah, Gensho, one time, was walking along and he hit his toe. the whole universe came together for him.

[32:40]

So this is very common, somewhat common. Actually, there's a kind of rite of passage in Sashin, where you want to scream out in pain but you don't. Which is very similar, you know, it's like a painful experience, staying with a painful experience can turn you, and that happens all the time, but you don't realize necessarily that it does, that's what's happening, but it is what's happening. The rest of this poem, it says, flown away, no, he is brought back. And it's a wonderful comment.

[33:43]

Hyakujo wanted to fly away, but Matsu held him fast. Get that? I don't want to explain it, it's too beautiful. Hyakujo wanted to fly away, but Matsu held him fast. So the next day, Baso was to give a lecture to his monks. Yakujo pushed himself to the front before the lecture, and quietly bowing to the teacher, Baso said, thank you for your lecture. And turning to the monks, he commented, the lecture is over. Baso was about to return to his room and he turned to Yakujo and he said, �How was your nose today?� And Yakujo replied, �No more pain.� And Baso said, �I'm glad you understand thoroughly the business of today.� And the comment is like water poured from one pitcher to another.

[35:08]

And then, there's this little addenda. Pai Chan returned to his room, crying. The attendant asked, why are you crying? Yamaguchi said, go ask the master, Batso. The master said, go ask Pai Chan. And Pai Chan laughed loudly. The attendant said, before you were crying, and now you're laughing." And Paichang said, yeah, then I was crying, now I'm laughing. So, this is Yagyu-jo's total freedom. When he cries, he cries completely and totally. The whole universe is covered with Yagyu-jo's crying. in the next moment he's laughing, the whole universe is covered with Jacojo's laughing, nothing left over, nothing carried over, just moment by moment, non-stop flow.

[36:23]

That's called total freedom and he can express his freedom through the relative, or he can express his freedom through the absolute. And he goes back and forth, and no problem. He doesn't fall into one or the other. Suzuki Roshi had some nice things to say about this koan, so I want to quickly give you some of his comment and how he interpreted this koan. Of course, he didn't have such good translations, so he kind of used Shaw's translations for his talks, and then he made his own talk out of that.

[37:41]

So, introducing, Engo said, �Obtaining the sole existing independent body, the total free activity takes place. When you become one with an object, your activity is omnipresent, the activity of one existence. On each occasion, an enlightened mind is quite free from intercourse with the world, to have, well, free within intercourse. This is called intuitive free activity. Only because he has no idea of self are his words powerful enough to put an end to ordinary minds. Baso's powerful way in this main subject. Think for a while. After all, for what place did the ancients get the ultimate restfulness? So ponder the following subject. Once, while Baso was walking with his disciple Hakujo, wild ducks were flying over them. Baso, the great teacher, said, what are they? Hakujo said, they're wild ducks.

[38:43]

Baso said, where are they going? Hyakujo said, they're flying away. Baso gave Hyakujo's nose a great tweak. Hyakujo cried out with pain. Baso said, did they indeed fly off? Hyakujo had practiced Zen under Baso for 20 years. There's no break in Zen practice. Who but alert Zen masters would know that by these wild ducks was meant Buddha Tathagata. Wild duck here meant Buddha. Kyakujo was too truthful to his teacher's question to realize the secret point. And he said, they're wild ducks. Baso was pleased with the disciple's usual innocent answer, but as an efficient teacher of a good student, he had to be a poison oak. That's really nice. Baso said, where are they going? This is the so-called

[39:44]

Don't take this to heart, old woman's kindness, or to go into a donkey's belly. Those two don't compute together. In the realm of Buddha Tathagata, or reality, there is nowhere to come from for ducks. But from the standpoint of the relative, there are the ducks flying away over their heads. So, both is true. Yes, the ducks are going somewhere, of course. But nevertheless, the ducks are not going anywhere. Nothing's going anywhere. Everything is in total stillness. For a good Zen master like Hyakujo, his way should always be free, sometimes relative, sometimes absolute. But instead, He always remained in the relative way of observance."

[40:45]

This is Hyakujo. Baso wanted him to get over the relative by himself. That's why Baso put to Hyakujo a strong relative question expecting a kind of strong absolute answer. But Hyakujo remained in his pure, complete innocence and presented a relative answer. That's like playing it safe. They have flown away. That's what he said. So at last, Baso gave Hyakujo's nose a sharp tweak with his big hand, and Hyakujo cried out with pain. Baso was this huge guy. And so Hyakujo said, he could touch the tip of his nose with his tongue. Thereupon, Baso said, the MD flowed away. and enlightened Yakujo who acquired the free activity of Baso.

[41:47]

That's like pouring water from one cup to the next. Baso released him to enjoy the free activity of himself. So Baso and Yakujo, a teacher and disciple, had practiced together for 20 years. It was sincere Yakujo who fulfilled the absolute request of his teacher Baso. He was kind Baso who recognized his disciples' train of relative effort and helped to switch him over to the full awakening of relative and absolute. They are a good example of the relationship between a teacher and a disciple. When we come to a thorough understanding of the oneness of the relative and the absolute, we will realize that what Baso said was right because of Hyakujo's enlightenment. Or it may be said that the wild ducks did not fly away because of Hyakujo's true practice. In short, Hyakujo completed this relative conversation provided by Batso. So here is the true sense of the oneness of practice and enlightenment.

[42:57]

O wild ducks, how many of you understand them? Baso saw them and started the conversation with Hyakujo. His great tongue covers the mountains, clouds, and the moon above in the vast ocean with lofty sentiment." That's another totally different translation. But Hyakujo remained unaware of his true nature and said, the wild ducks were flying away. Indeed, except for the tweak and the pain, their true nature would have flown off. What else would you say but to cry out? Say something, say something. So, everything is always going away.

[44:13]

Is impermanence non-dual? Is impermanence a relative or an absolute truth? Impermanence is a relative truth. Does that mean that everything is impermanent? Yes, everything is impermanent. The Shusha ceremony won't be like this. No. But if the ducks didn't fly away, is there something that is permissible? If the ducks? The ducks didn't fly away. So is there something that is permissible? Yes. Baso's nose. Hakujo's nose. Hakujo's nose is impermanent. No.

[45:14]

Hakujo's nose is permanent. Hakujo's nose is right here now. I don't see it. Close your eyes. Show it to me. My eyes are closed. Show it to me. Your eyes are not closed. Your eyes are not closed. My eyes are now open. Okay. So, how could you relate what you're saying to Conflict. This seems really valuable. Yes. Conflict means that one side is opposing another.

[46:19]

So, how do you resolve two sides? When you see the oneness of both sides, One side brings up the other. But unless there are two sides, there's no conflict. So how do you... You have to bring the other side into your side to resolve the conflict. And we lose that in the conflicts that we're trying to solve here. I know, it's all become too serious. And it's a real problem in the ethics committee now.

[47:29]

We have to include the other side in our side, and include our side in the other side. Purposes means nobody wins. I'm not trying to win. It's like how do we do the best thing for the thing itself rather than for me or for you? What's the best thing for the situation? But people, you know, we have a hard time doing the best thing for the situation because you want something and I want something, so we have to give up what we want.

[48:42]

Desire, as Buddha said, is the problem. That's the problem. So we have to give up what we want in favor of what's the right thing. So, all these conflicts are all based on desire. They're all based on desire. And when that's not the main driving principle, then, of course, you do the best thing for the situation. It's not helping us with reconciliation. It's not? So, a lot of the situations we get into are not, people are not being reconciled.

[49:44]

Well yeah, because one thing, because they're not willing to give up their desire. So will you help us with that? Yeah. I've done reconciliation things like, you know, you talk to you and so forth, and they usually turn out okay, because I don't interfere and say, take sides for one thing, and the people talk to each other, and then you make sure that they're not... that they're being objective. As soon as they start leaning on being subjective, it doesn't work. Because they're still clinging to their want, instead of looking at something clearly. And then, you have to see where you're off. Admit where you're off, or where you're wrong. That's the hard part. But so, we want the truth to win, right?

[50:49]

Which doesn't often happen. But yeah, we want the reality, the truth to win and we should all take our places around the truth and make everyone feel safe to do that. So we respect you and love you more for being truthful even though it hurts, rather than you defending yourself so that you can feel safe. The further back you step in defense, the stucker we get. We become very murky and then we don't know what is right, what is wrong anymore. This is the state of our new world. And so the excuses and the, you know, the truth is so, it's just being pushed further and further into the muck.

[51:55]

Anyway. Well, what's hard for us to realize is that by taking care of our own space that has an effect on the world. It's hard to realize that, but it's so. If we, as Sisipi Rishi used to say, if you take hold of the tail of a comet, people will pity you. So, you know, I want to save the world. Just take care of your own little space. That's saving the world, there's a koan. How are people doing in the South?

[53:06]

Well, they do this and such, but how is that different from what I'm doing here? Well, they're saving the world or something. I'm trying to think. What do you mean by the world? What do you mean by the world? That's a really good poem. What do you mean by the world? What is there to save? What is there to take care of? So, you know, if the body, sometimes we feel that the body is sick up here or something, but if we take care of the toe, somehow that has an effect on the rest of the body. So, take care of your little toe, you know, which has an effect on the body, but you don't realize the effect that it's having.

[54:13]

It's all connected. So anyway, otherwise you fall into despair. If you feel you can't have an effect on the world, you fall into despair, if you're concerned about it. So just take care of this part of the world. And it has an effect on the whole body. Be strong.

[55:01]

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