I want to read or discuss case number seven of the Blue Cliff record. This case is Hogan's URHO. U R H O. No. I think I need to read the case before I read the Ingo's introduction. Otherwise, you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. So, the main subject. A monk said to Master Hogan, My name is Eichao.

[01:02]

I ask you, What is the Buddha? And Hogen said, you are H-O. You are H-O. Hogen was one of the founders of one of the five schools of Zen in China. maybe the last one. And his zen was very refined. And as you might expect, actually, when you think about it, Rinzai was very rough, kind of a rough fellow, always shouting and

[02:06]

hitting. And by the time Hogian founded his school, he was quite refined, and Zen had already taken root in China. And his characteristic was somewhat intellectual, but also very intimate with his students, a kind of intimacy which is almost too much. Almost too much. Very subtle. Subtly intimate. Actually very much like Suzuki Roshi. So Engo introduces the case. And he says, As to what stands prior to the Word, or the pre-Word, I'll get back to that, not one phrase has been handed down, even by the thousand holy ones.

[03:18]

If you are not yet intimate with it, you are separated from it by the three thousand worlds. Even if you have attained some understanding of it, and could stop the mouths of people living in the world, you are not yet worthy to be called clear-eyed. That is why it is said that heaven cannot cover it, earth cannot hold it, space cannot accommodate it, sun and moon cannot shine on it. When there is no Buddha, and when you alone are the master, then for the first time you are worthy of being talked about a little. Now, if you are not yet like that, you have to become enlightened in relation to the slightest object and give out illumination yourself. Then you can go anywhere and enjoy perfect freedom in your Dharma activity. Whatever you take up, you act correctly.

[04:22]

Tell me, how could you achieve such freedom? Once again, I ask you, do you understand this? And then there's a verse in the introduction. None hitherto has noticed the sweat of his steed, but his merits must be recognized. Now, what is Setso's koan? See the following. The main subject. A monk said to Hogen, My name is Eicho. I ask you, What is the Buddha? Hogan said. You are, Itcho. And then Setso has a verse. In the land of the river, faintly stirring the gentle breeze of spring, far away, deep among blossoms, the partridge sings. Ascending the falls, the carp becomes a dragon.

[05:27]

yet still by night fools fish for him below." So I'm going back to the introduction and talk about that. As to what stands prior to the word, not one phrase has been handed down even by the thousand holy ones. The literal translation is The pre-word. Pre-word means before anything happens. In the Bible, I think it says, before the word or something. In the beginning, yeah. Before the beginning. This is before the beginning. Which means, beyond absolute and relative, we have absolute side and relative side of our nature.

[06:42]

The realm of activity and the so-called void, this is beyond relative and absolute. the pre-word. So as to what stands before that, no one can say. Not one word or phrase has been handed down, even by the thousand holy ones. But, that's my I say but, if you are not yet intimate with it, you are separated from it by the three thousand worlds, even though no one can say anything about it at all. If you are separate from it, it's like 3,000 worlds away, like mountains and rivers away from it. Intimate with it is

[07:53]

The point of practice is to become intimate with it. Even though we don't know what it is. Even though you can't describe it or say anything about it. It must be closer than hands and feet. And we must be intimate with it. So we can call it, it. We can't describe it, but we can call it it. Even if you have attained some understanding of it and could stop the mouths of people living in the world, you are not yet worthy to be called clear-eyed. Even if your understanding is very good, even if you'd studied all the scriptures and know how to expound Buddhist philosophy and turn everyone's head around, still you're not yet there.

[09:09]

That is why it is said that heaven cannot cover it, earth cannot hold it, space cannot accommodate it, sun and moon cannot shine on it, But in zazen, we are immersed in it. That's why it's so difficult to hold. You can't hold it. You can't hang on to it. You can only let it be. And for some reason, it's really difficult to just let it be. because it's pretty hard to be in Buddha's world. Human world is the same as Buddha's world, but not the same.

[10:20]

Human world is the world of like and dislike and the world of desire and the world of preference and the world of conditions. Buddha's realm is the realm beyond conditions and beyond like and dislike and beyond desire and beyond good and bad and right and wrong that's why Buddha's realm that's why it is so hard to accept so then he goes on to say when there is no Buddha and when you alone are the master or mistress

[11:25]

then for the first time you are worthy of being talked about a little. When there is no Buddha and when you alone are the master, when you, you know, you can talk about seeking Buddha or seeking enlightenment. But when you are Buddha, when you are enlightenment, then there's no Buddha and no enlightenment. And you just stand all by yourself. Completely exposed. Nothing else to go after. That's very scary. When there's no Buddha. When there's no Buddha and when you alone are the master, where is your authority?

[12:34]

Where is our spiritual authority when there's no Buddha? We all need some kind of authority. If we don't have authority, if there's not, you know, in our daily life, we have rules and regulations. And if we do something wrong, the police come, we go to jail, we go to court. There's a higher authority, there are judges. In most religions, they say, you will be judged in heaven. Right? So be careful what you do. You may not be, they may not catch you here on earth. but you'll be judged in heaven. So people are a little bit scared, you know. But in Buddhism, there's nobody judging you in heaven.

[13:39]

So who do you answer to? This is an important question. In Buddhism, karma, we have the law of cause and effect, which is called karma. And karma is your judgment, or is your own actions. Eventually, the effect of your actions come back to yourself. This is, so in a sense, we're our own judge and jury. But we don't understand it. We don't always understand that that's so. It's actually, I don't think it's any different to say that you'll be judged in heaven or by God or whatever or by your own karma. What's the difference?

[14:42]

It's just a different way of saying something. But There has to be some higher authority. But here, where he says, when there's no Buddha and you alone, when you alone are the master, then for the first time you're being worthy of being talked about a little. When you are the Buddha and you alone are the master, that means personal responsibility, enlightenment, and personal responsibility. That means enlightenment is the realm of complete, total personal responsibility. It means being able to answer, to understand the law of karma completely.

[15:44]

The law of cause and effect. So that all of your actions are perfect. Of course they're perfect. you can't make any mistakes because you understand the law of cause and effect. So, this is to be united with yourself. Recently I talked about Sejo and her soul divided. Remember that koan? Sejo embraced herself at the end. Two Sejos, when they met, they embraced. This is the same as no Buddha and you stand completely alone in the universe.

[16:47]

When You completely embrace big mind. There's no Buddha. Just everything is Buddha. Standing all alone means standing at one with everything. Standing, being completely at one with everything, there is no Buddha. Just stand completely Ah, at one with everything. Buddha disappears and you become Buddha. Then he goes on to say, now if you are not yet like that, you have to become enlightened in relation to the slightest object. And give out illumination yourself.

[17:57]

I think the literal translation is something like you have to be able to find it on the tip of a hair. You have to be able to enter on the tip of a hair. That means you enter the Dharmadhatu, you enter the great Buddha life in relation to everything. There is no place that is not an entrance. It's also sometimes called the gateless gate, the mu'man khan. Mu'man khan means gateless gate. There's no place that is not a gate. Sitting on our cushions all day, there's no moment or no place that is not a gate.

[19:02]

He says, then you can go anywhere and enjoy perfect freedom in your Dharma activity. No matter how painful your legs are, or how long you've been sitting, or how much stuff is going on in your mind, or how uncomfortable you feel you are, or how happy you feel, or how easy it is, no problem. Wherever you are is the place, is the right place. And whatever you take up, You act correctly. Tell me, how can you achieve such freedom? Once again, I ask you, do you understand this?

[20:12]

And then there's this little verse. None hitherto had noticed the sweat of his steed, but his merits must be recognized. I guess there are different interpretations of this little verse. It means something like, I think it means something like, in our activity we just do what we do to our fullest, to the fullest extent, unselfconsciously.

[21:31]

But in the end, our efforts will be recognized. Our efforts will bear fruit. If we quietly and sincerely go about our business with full effort, full determination, without making any fuss about it, eventually, our efforts will be rewarded, will be recognized. We say, walking in the fog, you don't notice that your clothes are getting wet. So, the main subject. A monk said to Hogen, my name is Icho. I asked you, what is the Buddha? Hogan said, you are, H.O.

[22:38]

In the land of the river, Setso's verse, in the land of the river, faintly stirring the gentle breeze of spring, the land of the river, maybe the Yangtze River, which is very beautiful, apparently, the scenery around the Yangtze River, very beautiful. faintly stirring the gentle breeze of spring. Far away, deep among blossoms, the partridge sings. This has the feeling of, the partridge singing has the feeling of awakening. That's usually used in that sense. Far away, deep among the blossoms, the partridge sings. This is a kind of very optimistic feeling here. Ascending the falls, the carp becomes a dragon. One of the emperors in China cut a, made a, changed the course of the Yellow River, and as it went down this cliff, it became a very famous waterfall, and the carp

[24:03]

would gather below the waterfall, and the strong ones would make it to the top. And that's called a carp becoming a dragon, or like a Zen student becoming enlightened. Yet still by night, fools fish for him below. down in the pool. He's up there at the top, but they're looking for him down at the bottom. So Hogen says, you are H.O., you are Buddha. How do we become Buddha? How do we realize our nature? human nature and buddha nature or human consciousness and buddha consciousness these seem to be our two sides of our human nature is human consciousness and buddha consciousness and human consciousness

[25:32]

is our sense of self, ego. There are the five senses, and the sixth sense is mind. The seventh sense is sense of ego, or individuality, or selfhood. This is called the delusive aspect of ego. And then there's the eighth consciousness, which is the alaya vijnana, or storehouse consciousness. And these are all on the human side, human consciousness. Sense the eye, ear, nose, taste, feeling. And the sixth is mind consciousness, or thinking mind. And when these eight consciousnesses, these eight consciousnesses are on the human side, and Buddha consciousness is the reverse side of these eight consciousnesses.

[26:53]

It's like what's behind, or what is it that supports or produces the eight consciousnesses? is Buddha mind. So, when the eight consciousnesses are turned, then Buddha mind, it predominates. Buddha consciousness predominates. And all of the eight consciousnesses are purified. This is... Itch-o could say, well, am I really Buddha? How do you know I'm Buddha? Or, why do you say that? Those are good questions.

[27:56]

You should ask those questions. What do you mean, I'm Buddha? When we sit in zazen, we allow buddha mind to fill our eight consciousnesses. Actually, the eight consciousnesses turn, and that turning is necessary. Paravrtti, it's called, turning on the basis. trading in our dualistic consciousness for a Buddha mind.

[28:58]

That means we see everything as it is. In order to reveal Buddha mind, we see everything, allow ourselves to see everything just as it is. When we see a dish, we see a dish just as it is without distorting it in any way. When we see the pillar, we see it just as it is without any distortion or partiality. When we see another person, we see that other person just as they are without any distortion or partiality. This is clearly seeing with a mirror mind. So our mind is just like a mirror. It just sees everything as it is. It sees pain as just pain.

[30:04]

It sees pleasure as just pleasure. It sees tears as just tears. It sees confusion as just confusion. Without adding anything, or taking anything away, or being partial, without desire, without yes, no, good, bad, right, wrong. It just sees everything as it is. And then Buddha mind sees everything as being completely equal. A man is equal to a woman. An ant is equal to an elephant. The sky is equal to the ocean.

[31:06]

Soup is equal to cereal. Everything is the same. Everything has the same flavor. And then the Buddha mind sees everything as completely different. A man is not a woman. Soup is not cereal. The sky is not the earth or the water. Everything is completely different and independent. And then you know just exactly what to do. Because Buddha mind is dominant, you know exactly what to do. No problem. No ambivalence or wavering. When a situation occurs, you act.

[32:17]

correctly. So these are the four wisdoms of Buddha mind, of our own Buddha mind, when the eight consciousnesses are turned. And in Zazen, we allow this to happen. So, this is the second day of Zazen. And sometimes our mind is a little confused. Sometimes we worry about the thoughts. My mind is always full of thoughts. My legs are beginning to hurt. I have to... I'm wondering if the bell won't ring sooner.

[33:24]

These kinds of thoughts are beginning to come up in my mind. I'm beginning to wish that things were a little different than they are. If you're a beginner, you may be wondering why you did this. But all we have to do is drop our discriminating mind and let Buddha mind fill our body and mind. How do we do that? That's our koan. A real koan here. How do we do that? How do we just sit? Letting everything be just as it is.

[34:27]

Letting every place be the right place. Every feeling is the right feeling. Every thought is the right thought. Painful legs are just painful legs. They're not good or bad or right or wrong. They're just this feeling. The thoughts bubbling up in consciousness are just thoughts bubbling up in consciousness. No problem. The problem is worrying about it. Adding something to something else. The nature of the mind is to think. If you try to suppress thoughts, your own mind will always outwit you. Your mind is much smarter than you are.

[35:28]

Your feelings are much stronger than you are. You have the whole weight of the universe on your body. When you sit in Zazen and your legs begin to hurt, the whole universe is crashing down on you. closing in on you. It's heavy. Fourteen and a half pounds per square inch? Not really. Tons and tons and tons are crashing down on you. How will you stand that? You just have to be it. Don't be anything different. As soon as you try to be something different, you split your mind. You divide your mind.

[36:35]

The whole secret is don't divide your mind. Don't allow yourself to be divided. United we stand, divided we fall. How do you unite with it? How can you be comfortable? Why not be comfortable? It just means that you have to die to your little self. Let go of body and mind. Dogen says, drop body and mind. It means don't be divided against yourself. just be completely unified, that's our effort. If you exert that effort, you may not know how to do it.

[37:39]

And much as I try to be unified, I can't do it. You keep trying, and you'll be able to do it. If you keep working. That's why the sweat of this brow, right? You've got to sweat it out until you find out how to do it. So you have to go charging ahead until you find out how to float or how to walk. So you have to go up the hill before you get to the plateau. It's easy to walk on the plateau, but you have to get up the plateau via the hill, via the mountain. So climbing the mountain is tough, but once you're at the plateau, even though there are rocky places and hills and so forth, It's a place of confidence. And so, letting go, you have to keep letting go.

[38:57]

Dogen says, you let it go and it fills your hands. But if you fight it, you're just miles and miles away from it. Don't fight. Don't fight. Don't divide your mind by thinking, I like this or I don't like this. I want it or I don't want it. Just let go of those thoughts. You have to keep letting go of those thoughts, especially when we get into a tough place. Just come back to breathing. Let the mind be one with the breath. Let the mind be one with the pain. Let your mind follow the pain. The mind is always thinking. Thoughts are coming up. Let them come and go. Just let them come and go. Don't worry about anything.

[40:04]

It's like, I had this image yesterday of a fish tank. The fish tank, you know, you see the bubbles. There's a little generator there and the bubbles are constantly coming up, right? But the fish, you know, are just kind of leisurely, leisurely swimming around in the tank, you know, leaving no trace. The bubbles are just kind of... all the time. Don't worry about it. Just be like those fish swimming around in a tank. Leisurely, leisurely swimming in a tank. Anyway, you are Buddha. In faith that you are Buddha, allow yourself to be Buddha. It's just a matter of allowing yourself to do that, to be yourself.

[41:10]

Don't fight. There's nothing to grasp or gain. Just let yourself be yourself. And enjoy yourself.

[41:27]

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