I vow to face the truth without the darkest words. Good morning. This is the sixth day. Can you hear me? This is not working. This is working. This is the sixth day of our Rohatsu Sashin, which commemorates Buddha's enlightenment. And today we will have a ceremony, Buddha's enlightenment ceremony, right after this talk. which you're all welcome to come to. I've been talking about faith and doubt and about light.

[01:15]

And to sum up, in a way, I've been talking about that it's necessary, in order to practice completely, to have faith in our true nature, Buddha nature, what we call Buddha nature. Buddha nature has various names. Sometimes it's called big mind, universal mind. Sometimes it's called true nature, but actually it's also called light. So I've been talking about our true nature, our Buddha nature, as light, which is

[02:19]

goes all the way back to Shakyamuni Buddha and is expressed as light throughout Buddhism and Zen, of course. So if you look at carefully the sutras and the commentaries, you'll find that they're full of light. Sutras and commentaries are continually manifesting light as are our practitioners, as is everything in the universe. So today I'm going to continue to talk about light and I'm going to read and quote from Dogen Zenji, his commentary on ko-myo.

[03:26]

Ko-myo means light, means radiant light or actually divine light. And I'm also going to read something from Ko-un Ejo. Ko-un, not Ko-an Ejo. Ko-un Ejo, who was Dogen's direct disciple, who was his primary successor. Ajo wrote at least one thing that we think is Ajo's, but I'll just read you a small part of that. So Dogen has a fascicle called komyo-zo, komyo actually, and the samadhi of komyo is komyo-zo-zamai, the samadhi in which one is

[04:37]

constantly expressing this radiant light. So in the beginning of this fascicle, Dogen says, great teacher Changsha, Chaoxian of Hunan in China, of course, is in great Song China, addressed the assembly in the hall, saying, the world of all the 10 directions is the monastic's eye. You can translate that as student, Zen student. The world of all the directions is the Zen student's eye. The world of all the 10 directions is the Zen student's everyday language. The world of all the ten directions is the student's whole body.

[05:46]

The world of all the ten directions is the self's radiant light. The world of all the ten directions is in the self's radiant light. There is not a single person whose self is not the world of all the ten directions. The study of the Buddha way should always be carried out assiduously and one should never become negligent because of the difficulty the adept who gains knowledge of the radiant light is rare. So Dogen, of course, leaves nothing out. So he's talking about, of course, Buddha nature, but he's talking about it as the radiant light. How everything is expressing this radiant light and is filled with this radiant light, not everyone sees the universe as expressing radiant light or sees in their own particular realm or world that everything is expressing this radiant light, which belongs to everything and is the true nature of each thing.

[07:13]

So he says it's hard to see and it takes some effort, some practice in order to be able to realize that this is what's happening. So I'm going to skip over a little bit. Well, he says, the radiant light spoken of by Buddha ancestors is the world of all the ten directions, of all the Buddhist ancestors, and is communication only between Buddhas. I don't know about only, but Dogen says a Buddha and a Buddha express great enlightenment. So, in other words, this is something that's communicated between Buddhas.

[08:21]

In other words, this is something that's communicated with everyone. Not everyone realizes it, but it's communicated between everyone. Actually, when we speak with each other, or interact with each other, we're communicating this, whether we realize it or don't realize it. It is the Buddha's light and the light's Buddha. Buddha ancestors make themselves the radiant light. By practicing and verifying this radiant light, Buddhas actualize Buddhas, sit as Buddhas, and verify Buddhas. So then he's talking about a little story to illustrate something about this.

[09:25]

He says, Emperor Hsien-tsung of the Tang dynasty received one of the Buddha's relic bones and made offerings to it in his palace. In times that were closer to Buddha's time, people used to say that they had relics of the Buddha and they put them in little casks and worshiped them. When I went to China, when we went to China, there was a, I think it was Mount Ayuwang. where the monks showed us this container, which was supposed to have had the relic of the Buddha, and you had to look in a certain angle. It was very interesting. But, you know, having this relic made people feel something wonderful.

[10:28]

But actually, If you want to pick up a stone, you can call it the relic of the Buddha, and that's not untrue. So, one evening, a brilliant light radiated throughout the hall. The emperor was delighted, and early the next morning, The multitude of his officials all offered congratulations to him, saying, it is a divine response to your majesty's imperial virtue. However, one official, Han Yu Wen Kung, whose courtesy name was Tui Jur, and who had once studied the Buddha Dharma, did not congratulate him. Emperor Hsinchu asked, all the other officials have offered congratulations to me. But why didn't you?" Wen Kung said to him, I once read a Buddhist scripture that said, the Buddha's light is not blue, yellow, red, or white.

[11:38]

The one last night was, in fact, the dragon god's protective light. The emperor asked, what is the Buddha's light like? Wen Kung had no answer. This Wen Kung, although a layperson leading the life of a householder, did possess the spirit of an honorable person and might have been regarded as an able person who could turn heaven and roll earth. However, Han Wen Kung failed to see or hear something in the Buddhist scripture. What he had taken as the meaning of the expression, the Buddha's light is not blue, yellow, red, or white, What had he taken? In other words, what had he gotten out of this? If upon seeing blue, red, yellow, or white, he had the ability to understand that it was not the Buddha's light, then in the same manner, upon seeing the Buddha's light, he should not have taken it to be blue, yellow, red, or white in a dualistic way.

[12:43]

Emperor Hsien Tsung, would have pursued the matter with him in this manner had he been a Buddha ancestor. So this is a little bit subtle. In other words, he's saying to the emperor, in the Buddhist scripture it says, the light is not any particular color. It's not something that you can recognize in some small way, and it's much vaster than that. And Dogen is saying, although he's half right, he also missed something. If the emperor had been a Buddhist, he might have discussed it with him, but he wasn't. So Wen Kong didn't really have an opportunity to grasp the other side. So Dogen says, we should study in detail Changsha's utterance, the world in all the ten directions is the self's radiant light.

[13:58]

And we should study his words, the radiant life's self is the world of all the ten directions. The going and coming of birth and death are the radiant light's going and coming. To surpass the ordinary and to go beyond the holy are the radiant light's indigo and vermilion. To actualize a Buddha and an ancestor is the radiant light's black and yellow. Practice and verification are not non-existent, but they are tinged with the radiant light. Grasses and trees, walls and partitions, skin and flesh, bones and marrow are the radiant light's red and white. Mists and frogs, streams and stones, the bird's traceless path and the mysterious path of enlightenment are the radiant light's gyrations. To experience the self's radiant light is to experience the inner verification of meeting the Buddha the inner verification of beholding the Buddha, the world of all the ten directions is this very self, and this very self is the world of all the ten directions.

[15:04]

There is no place to avoid it. Were there a place to avoid it, that place would itself be the living field of freedom. The skull-topped body of ours, at this moment, is the form and image of the world of all the ten directions. The world of all the ten directions, which we practice and verify in the Buddha way, is our skull and skeleton, as well as our skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Wen Kung, the problem with Wen Kung's understanding, or what he missed, is that although the light is not You can't point to any one of these things and say, this is the Buddha's light. And yet, each thing is the Buddha's light. So we can say, yes, red is the Buddha's light. White is the Buddha's light. Blue is the Buddha's light. But the Buddha's light is not red, white, yellow, or blue.

[16:05]

It's a subtle distinction, but it's a very big distinction. So, if we say that the light is not any of these things, it's beyond any of these things, then any of these definitions, that would mean that those aspects are without Buddha's light. So they're all expressions of Buddha's light. Blue, yellow, white, red, yellow. Everything is an expression of Buddha's light. So in the Hokyo Zamai, Tozan says, it is me, but I am not it. It is what I am, but I am not it.

[17:14]

So, yesterday I read, I discussed this case in the Blue Cliff Record, Master Oumong. Each one has their own light. One day, Great Teacher Kuangchen of Mount Yunmen addressed the assembly in the hall, saying, the radiant light is in everyone without exception. One who tries to see it will only see profound darkness. Where on earth is the radiant light of people? No response came from the assembly, so he himself spoke for them. It is in the monastics hall, in the Buddha hall, in the kitchen, in the monastery gate. This saying by the great teacher, the radiant light is in everyone without exception, does not mean that it will appear at a later time, or that it existed in times past, or that it is realized as we watch it.

[18:22]

We must clearly hear this to mean the radiant light is intrinsically in everyone. Intrinsically, there's always been a controversy between intrinsic enlightenment and acquired enlightenment. Intrinsic enlightenment is our basic nature, which everyone has, and acquired enlightenment is something that you gain. Intrinsic and acquired should be transcended because acquired enlightenment presupposes the thought of enlightenment.

[19:24]

And the thought of enlightenment is important. Seeking enlightenment is the basis of acquired enlightenment. Intrinsic enlightenment is that which inspires acquired enlightenment. You can't acquire enlightenment because there's nothing to acquire. So acquiring enlightenment is actually to bring forth intrinsic enlightenment. So it's a kind of funny argument, but it's necessary. If you don't seek it, nothing will happen. If you do seek it, you'll stumble past. So it's a wonderful koan. It is as though you assemble hundreds of thousands of yunmans and have them practice together and recite in unison.

[20:38]

The radiant light is in everyone, without exception, is not yunman's contrivance. Everyone's radiant light emerges in the form of words meant for others. Everyone has the radiant light, without exception, means that one's whole being exists intrinsically as the radiant light. Then he says, the radiant light is everyone who turns the radiant light into dependent and proper rewards of karma. Thus, everyone is totally in the radiant light. Everyone is intrinsically in the radiant light. Everyone is intrinsically in everyone. Every light is intrinsically in every light. Every existence is totally in every existence. Every totality is totally in every totality. For this reason, we must know that the radiant light which everyone has without exception is the realized everyone.

[21:43]

Who is that same everyone which every light has without exception? So, I'm sure we all get that by now. When I was at Tassajara, leading the practice period last year, winter, I had a shosan ceremony, shosan, where students ask a question. And one student said, does the universe care about me? And I thought, that's a very interesting question. Does the universe care about me? I don't remember exactly what I said. I said several things. I think I said, no. And then at the end, I said, I thought about it as I was, you know, this going on in one compartment of my mind while I was doing, finishing this ceremony, and I thought I should say something about this again.

[23:05]

And I said, do you care about the universe? Why should the universe care about you if you don't care about the universe? Do you care about yourself? Do you care about anything? How do you treat things? Sometimes people say, nobody loves me. And I say, well, who do you love? And how do you do that? What do you expect from how you act? the world is actually a mirror for us. And what we receive is usually what we're giving. Reciprocation comes through what we offer. What are we offering? People say, well, I'm very lonely.

[24:06]

We are lonely. We are both alone and at one. Alone means two things, two opposite things. It means, alone means isolated. It also means at one with. So, to be alone means singular. And to be alone means together with. but singularly at one with. Singularly at one with. So there's nothing left out. So, when Buddha, the little story, historically the story, has Buddha stepping out when he's seven years old, seven days old. And he points one finger to the ground and one finger to the sky and he says, I alone am the world honored one.

[25:21]

And people think, oh, that egotistical little brat. But it depends on how you understand the word alone. because he's pointing to the sky and he's pointing to the ground, and his two fingers are meeting. So this is the all-inclusive oneness, the all-inclusive, both singular and inclusive. So this is our nature, isolated, singular, independent, and at one with. independent and totally at one with, the two sides. So when we don't feel at one with, we're stuck with the alone, the isolation.

[26:22]

So the universe cares for me as I care for the universe. Someone cares for me as I care for them. Someone responds to me as I, depending on what I put out there, depending on what I say, what I do, how I act. The universe responds. So there's nothing but response. We sometimes say, if you want to get out of your loneliness, help somebody else. Be of service to somebody else. So, we are, you know,

[27:35]

a human being is kind of like a receptor. We are receptors. And we have our five senses and the mind consciousness. And we absorb through, we receive, we're receivers. But we're also transmitters. So we receive and we transmit. So we receive and then there's something that works inside, a mechanism that transforms what we receive into something that we transmit. If when we're a little kid we receive lots of blows and our environment is mean and so forth, we usually often express that. Sometimes I wonder why these people who are so adamantly mean in the world, why do they do that?

[28:47]

Why don't they just love everybody instead of hating everybody? It's because they're brought up to hate. They receive so much hate, and instead of transform, they don't know how to transform it, so they express it as hate. So to learn to transform it, we are also transformers, receivers, broadcasters, and transformers. And the transformation mechanism is very important. This is called practice. Transformative mechanism is called practice. So through practice, we absorb what's transmitted and express it as light. But even the stuff, even the meanness is also light. The meanness is also light.

[29:50]

The hate and so forth, all that's light. But it's harmful light. We don't like it. But we transform it into positive light. So when Dogen says, I was wondering about this, what he meant by the radiant light is everyone who turns the radiant light into dependent and proper rewards. So what does he mean by that? Dependent means attachment, karma which creates attachment. And proper means karma which aids in release. So one is karma which makes us dependent.

[30:52]

And one is karma which frees us. And the karma which frees us is letting go. Actions that radiate positive light. So when we sit in zazen, we sit in the midst of this radiant light. and that's expressed. Sometimes we say, people say, well, you're just sitting there, you know, and all by yourself, when, you know, what are you doing? You know, how does that help the world? We think that helping the world often, mostly we think, is to do something, you know, and that's true. Doing something really can help. But Receiving and radiating light in both zazen and daily life is our practice.

[32:02]

To me, that's the basis of our whole practice is what that is. And so we sit for seven days and the light becomes stronger and stronger. The light just becomes stronger and stronger. And you can feel it, it's tangible. When we sit and face each other on the seventh day, the light is very tangible. That energy and power, very tangible. And it's just being expressed into the atmosphere, permeating the atmosphere. So Ejo says, Go Un Ejo, Dogen's disciple, he says, I have some earnest advice for those who sincerely aspire to practice.

[33:08]

Do not be pulled by a particular state of mind or by an object. In other words, he's talking about Zazen specifically here. Don't think that what you're supposed to have or attain is some particular state of mind. The zazen mind is the mind of no particular state of mind. Whatever the state of mind is that's present is the state of mind that's present. And the object is to just be present with what's there. And then that state of mind changes. States of mind are changing continuously. Simply be aware of each particular state of mind as it arises and fades away. We think that we have a long thought, a continuous thought, because we don't see

[34:16]

the discrete moments of thought. Because we're interested in the story, we're aware of the story as a continuous thing, but we're not aware of the discrete moments that create that story. It's like a cartoon. Each phase of the cartoon has to be drawn in incremental pieces. But we see a continuous flow when we watch the movie. But each frame is just a little bit different to the next. So what we consider a continuous thought is really on each moment a new thought, a new state of mind called state of mind. And we perpetuate the state of mind until it looks like a continuous thing. And our life is like this in the same way.

[35:23]

So don't be pulled by a particular state of mind or by an object. Do not rely upon intellect or wisdom. Do not carry in your hands what you have learned on the seat in the sangha hall. Cast your body and mind into the great komyo zo. Just jump into it and never look back. Neither seek to be enlightened nor drive away delusion. Neither hate the arising of thoughts nor love thoughts and identify with them. Just sit stably and calmly. If you do not continue to think, thoughts will not arise by themselves. I'm not so sure about that. Just sit as if you were the boundless empty sky or a ball of fire. This ball of fire is also used as like, that's the basis.

[36:29]

It's like the big ball of fire, which when it's refined, it's called light. Trust everything to inhalation and exhalation. Even if 84,000 idle thoughts arise, each and every one may become the light of prajna, which is non-discriminating wisdom. If you do not pay any attention, pay them too much attention and simply let them go. Not only in sitting, but every step you take is the movement of the light. Step after step, no discrimination. Throughout the day, be like a dead person. Well, that means, I think, unassuming. In other words, letting go of judgment and just being present on each moment.

[37:30]

completely without personal views and discrimination. To exhale or to inhale, to listen or to touch, being without thoughts and discrimination, is nothing other than the tranquil illumination of the light in which body and mind are one. Therefore, when someone calls, you answer. This is like, you respond. Just simply because your mind is empty, when something happens, you respond just like that. This is the light in which ordinary and sage, the deluded and the enlightened are one. Even in the midst of change, the light is not hindered by it. Forests, flowers, grass, and leaves, human beings or animals, big or small, long or short, square or round, all manifest themselves simultaneously, independent of discriminating thoughts or will.

[38:39]

This is proof that the light is not obstructed by change. The light illuminates of itself. It does not depend on the power of the mind. From the beginning, the light does not rest. Even when Buddhas appear in this universe, the light does not appear. When the Buddhas enter nirvana, the light does not enter nirvana. When you are born, the light is not born. When you die, the light does not die. It does not increase in Buddhas. It does not decrease in sentient beings. Neither is it diluted. Even if you are nor enlightened, even if you are, It has no position, no appearance, no name. This is the whole body of all phenomena. You can't grasp it, you can't throw it away. It is unattainable. Even though it is unattainable, it penetrates the whole body. From the highest heaven down to the lowest hell, all places are perfectly illumined in this way. This is the divine, inconceivable, spiritual light.

[39:42]

If you truthfully, trustfully, trustfully open yourself, trust is like faith, right? If you trustfully open yourself to and believe the profound meaning of these words, you will not need to ask someone else what is true or false. You will be as intimate with the reality as if you were to come face to face with your grandfather in a town. Do not seek from your teacher certification of your enlightenment or a prediction as to when you will attain Buddhahood. Much less should you be attached to clothing, food, or a place to live, or be driven by attachment to desire. From the beginning, this samadhi, komyozo, samay, is the dojo. the place of practice, which is the ocean of Buddhahood. This is zazen, which is the sitting of the Buddha, the practice of the Buddha, which has been faithfully transmitted.

[40:47]

Since you are already a child of the Buddha, sit stably in the manner of the Buddha's practice. Never sit in the manner of hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting spirits, human beings, heavenly beings, sravakas or pratyekabuddhas. Practice shikantaza in this way. Do not waste your time. This is the dojo of straight forward mind. This is called komyo zo zamai, inconceivable liberation. That's liberation from self, which is the meaning of dead. Dead means totally being alive. The meaning of dead means totally being alive. This is the expression of Buddhist enlightenment.

[41:54]

Enlightened means to radiate light. As I was saying yesterday, Vairochana is the Buddha of radiant light at the center of the universe. And this is the center of the universe right here. If you want to point out, if someone asks you where is the center of the universe, you can tell them it's right here. But you can also point to them and press their belly and say, it's right there. So this is, that's why we put a lot of emphasis on this place right here called hara, which is just below the navel, two inches below the navel or less, which is where the center of energy and all the other parts of our body are in harmony with it.

[43:05]

So this is the center of our universe. And we have a planetary system called the mind and the body, the heart, and all the other satellites called the liver and the spleen and fingernails and toenails. And they all rotate around this place. So often, though, we use this place, mistake this place for the vital place. It's like manas, the seventh consciousness, is up here, which is called the ego. And this is the place of the pivotal point. that everything rotates around. And when you exercise, when you walk, when you sit, whatever you do, your whole body, all the parts of your body are rotating around this place right here.

[44:18]

This is called, the Japanese call this rice patties. because it's something warm and nourishing. This is where the nourishment comes from. And it's also the basic thing. So in the East, rice is the basic thing. In the West, bread is the basic thing. But in the East, rice is the basic thing. If you go to Japan, and go into market, you see rows and rows of different, slightly different varieties of rice. We have one or two or three. They have rice, but all kinds of different rice. And we tried to sell them our rice. Anyway, that's beside the point.

[45:23]

So this is the place of harmony. All the parts of our being harmonize here. And this is where the light issues forth. But it pervades our whole body and mind. It is our whole body and mind. And this is how we communicate and what we actually transmitting. We are transmitters of light. When the cooks bring the food, the actual essence of the food contains the light of the cook's effort. So although we're eating food and it has nutrition and so forth, the subtle ingredient is the light which is transmitted through their effort and which we're taking part in.

[46:34]

I think that's the main thing. That's why we try to keep our food, one reason to keep our food very simple. How do you make, how do you use the simplest ingredients to make the most tasty nourishing food? That's the task of the Tenzo. So, that the essential quality of each ingredient is brought out so that we can actually take that nourishment without any dilution. And this is what actually feeds us in a subtle way. It gives us that edge. So our practice is not just to have some selfish or self-centered accomplishment, but simply to transmit light, to receive and transmit.

[47:59]

This is called jijuyu samadhi as well as komyo samadhi. Jijuyu samadhi means receiving. self-joyous or self-fulfilling reception. We receive the universe, we receive the light of the universe, and then we transmit that That's what we call samadhi. We're sitting in samadhi. We're totally receiving and transmitting light without selfishness. There's no selfishness in it at all. You don't even know that that's what you're doing. That's why we say, don't worry about it. Just sit. Don't try to be Buddha. Don't try to be enlightened.

[48:59]

Don't even think about it. Just sit without selfishness, without trying to accomplish something for yourself. And just let this light flow through. Permeate the world. So it's simply light turning on light. one light brings forth the light of another light. So this is how we help each other, is by one light, not lights the other light, but helps another to bring forth their own light. So the teacher doesn't enlighten the student, the student brings forth their own light because they see that that's possible.

[50:09]

And it's not even something that one necessarily tries to do. So we say, without trying to do something, little by little, It's like walking in the fog, and you reach down and you realize that your clothes are wet. Sometimes it's like stepping out in the rain, but in the fog, you realize something's happened, but you didn't try to do anything. Thank you.

[51:11]

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