Well, this evening, we're going to continue with the chakra on mute off of mute on the microphone. Mute should be off. Well, it is actually. But it's on. OK. Good. Thanks for your consideration. But it's not sounding. Yeah, there's something. So maybe this. Yeah. This is better. Yeah. Yeah. And better on and on and better and better. OK. So Chaka is our continuing ancestor that we're going to deal with today. Tonight. And last time, because there's so many references to various practices in this particular, what do I call it, biography, that I made a point of explaining what some of these practices are.

[01:29]

like the ten Bhumis of the Mahayana Bodhisattva. I went through that list, the ten practices of the Bodhisattva and the eight jhanas, the eight meditation practices. There are four practices that are kind of earthly and four that are unearthly. And I don't think I talked about the stream winner, the once-returner, the never-returner, and the arhat. But those came up, and I'm sure you've probably read about those, but never quite understood what they were. I don't want to say Hinayana, and I don't want to say Theravada, because Theravada is a certain school of Buddhism.

[02:40]

Hinayana is an attitude, a narrow attitude, which is dualistic. And Mahayana, which criticizes Hinayana, because the Hinayana seems to have a kind of dualistic attitude. But as you know, Soto Zen is also Hinayana, as well as Mahayana. Hinayana practice with the Mahayana mind. So we don't actually criticize Hinayana, but we include Hinayana in our practice. Hinayana, not so much that it is dualistic, but that it has a narrow focus. And the way I see that narrow focus in its best light is

[03:50]

dedication and single-mindedness. And where the Hinayana falls short is that the Hinayana attitude is to find your own salvation rather than working for the salvation of others. That was the biggest criticism. any other practice. My other practice is we never make an effort to disappear, so to speak, to have final extinction. We stay within the world system in order to help people. So our practice is actually the practice of helping people. Not the practice of getting enlightened. But of course, the practice of helping people to practice is enlightened practice.

[05:00]

So you don't have to worry about it. So, helping others is helping yourself. The only way that you can really help yourself is to help others. And forget about yourself. So the Mahayana Bodhisattva is dedicated to helping others and forgetting about themselves. And in forgetting about yourself, you become enlightened. You reveal your own enlightenment. But if you go after it, it's elusive. So, I talked about this last time. Soto Zen practice is Hinayana practice and Mahayana mind. So even though we talk about non-duality, duality is included in non-duality.

[06:04]

And this is what the teaching is telling us. And as we go through but they're mythical biographies, with a touch of reality, I mean a touch of fact. We see that they're all about birth and death, which is about no birth and no death. So there is, Kaizen is always touching on this main subject, subject of what is birth and death. And ultimately, what is not birth and what is not death. So I'm going to just kind of catch this up. And then there are more items to explain.

[07:08]

And as we come across them, I'll talk about them. Do you have any questions before we start? So I'm just going to start in the beginning and read up to where I believe that we stopped just to catch us up. Prince Valiant in the comics always used to say synopsis synopsis. was Mithaka. Once the fifth patriarch, Daitaka, said to him, the Buddha said, practicing wizardry and studying the small is like being dragged with a rope.

[08:08]

You yourself should know that if you leave the small stream and immediately come to the great ocean, you will realize the birthless Hearing this, the Master experienced awakening. So realizing the birthless, which of course is also realizing the deathless, is what this ultimately is about. So here are the circumstances. The Master, who is Michaka, was from central India and was the leader of 8,000 wizards. if you can imagine that. One day, while leading his followers, the 8,000 wizards, he respectfully paid reverence to Daitaka. He said, in former lives, we, you and I, were both born in the Brahma heavens.

[09:11]

I met the wizard Asita and received the way of the wizard from him. You met a disciple of Buddhism who possessed the ten powers. and learn to practice meditation. So the ten powers is like the ten Bhumis, which I explained last time, and I will not go into that again. After that, our karmic paths separated, and six aeons have passed since we went our own way. The venerable Daitaka, as you know, Daitaka is Sanskrit, Daitaka is Japanese, And so many aeons apart is true, not a lie. Now you must abandon the false and come to the true, and then enter the Buddha vehicle. The master, Michaka, said, in former times the wizard Asita made a prediction, saying, after six aeons you will meet a fellow student and realize the fruit of purity, which is Arhatship.

[10:17]

Isn't meeting you my destiny? I ask the priest to be compassionate now and liberate me." So, Daitaka is asking Michaka. I mean, Michaka is asking Daitaka to do something for him. And the Venerable, it is interesting, to liberate me. This will come up a couple of, again, as we progress in this story. Liberation. Asking someone to liberate them. The Venerable Daitaka gave him the complete monastic precepts and made him a monk. The other wizards felt proud of themselves at first, but then the Venerable Daitaka exerted great supernatural powers. As a result, They all aroused the thought of enlightenment and simultaneously became monks.

[11:21]

8,000 wizards became monks. It was right at the time when they decided to become monks and follow him that the venerable said, as the above, practicing wizardry and studying the small, etc. which refers to the beginning, instead of saying it all over again. according to the story that you just read. So the master, Amitaka, heard it and was enlightened. So magic powers, of course, are attributed to wizards. But magic powers in those days were also attributed to Buddhists. As a matter of fact, in India, wizardry and magic powers have always been very prominent, because India is so full of a variety of practices, but magic and wizardry is definitely

[12:41]

differently rampant in India at that time. And of course, Shakyamuni didn't really exhibit magic powers, but nevertheless texts attribute magical powers to him. So we should understand this is a kind of tongue-in-cheekness when we're talking about Buddha's magical powers and so forth. And as I said last time, when the Buddhists began to come to China from India, they impressed the Chinese with their magical powers, with their trickery. So, a little later on we'll get into the six powers of the Arhats, which are kind of magical powers. and what that means.

[13:45]

So here's the Taishō. Here's Keizan's Taishō. Even if you study wizardry and learn to prolong your life or command the marvelous use of supernatural powers, you can only really perceive 80,000 aeons into the past and 80,000 aeons into the future. But you cannot scrutinize anything before or after that. Even if you cultivate the meditative trances at the stage of neither perception nor non-perception, and enter the trances of no mind or thought, you will unfortunately be born in the celestial realm of no perception and become a celestial being with a long life. He calls that unfortunate. So I talked about that last time. Those are the eight jhanas. And so the stage of neither perception or non-perception and the trance of no mind or thought are two of the higher jhanas.

[14:59]

That's either seven and eight of the higher jhanas. So the jhanas were step by step, considered step by step practices. to finally reach the highest stages that you could reach as a human. But the problem with this, John, is that even though you reach the higher stages, they're still bound by earth and subject to karma. So, when the karma of those higher states no longer has its support, they fall apart. And then you dive down into the Abhiji hell, into the hells or something. So, in other words, they are considered vain endeavors.

[16:04]

But there are many people now, probably in the Vipassana community, who really are kind of resurrecting the jhanic practices and say, well, this is a real practice, you know. But the jhanic practices are kind of left over from Hinduism, from Brahmanism, Brahma, and they were kind of introduced into Buddhism, but they're not true Buddhist practices. So they'll still be subject to karma. And my question is, so who and what is not subject to karma? And I think you're going to tell me Buddhas, but maybe not. Karma is something you create. You're not subject.

[17:07]

Well, I was quoting you. I know. You were. But I'm qualifying myself. Karma, strictly speaking, is a volitional action. When we say subject to karma, that's a loose definition of the result of karma. The result of your actions. So this meaning will unfold as we continue. So I'd rather wait till then so we can see it unfold and so we don't have to stop. Could you just give an example though of what these practices are? I did. I gave it all last time. Oh, okay. Sorry. I don't want to do it again. So even if you cultivate the meditative trances at the stage of either perception or non-perception and enter the trances of no mind or thought, you will unfortunately be reborn in the celestial realm of no perception and become a celestial being with a long life.

[18:25]

So there is a benefit to these, but they're not the ultimate benefit. It's not the ultimate benefit of the Dharma. So, but you know, you'll be in some wonderful realm, right? The problem with being in the heavenly realm is that you don't think you can go any further. And you become contented with that. This is the message of the Lotus Sutra. So even though you get rid of a corporeal body, Even though you get rid of your body, you will still have the functioning of karmic consciousness. Thus you will not be able to meet a Buddha or comprehend the way. And when the results of karmic consciousness are exhausted, you will fall into the Avicci hell. This is like being bound and dragged with a rope.

[19:27]

In the end there is no liberation. So what this is about, he's saying, There are all these practices, meditative practices of Buddhism, which people strive for. Strive to complete, strive to perfect. But he's saying, no matter how much you strive for those idealistic practices, that are the perfection of these idealistic practices, it's not right, it's not it. It is actually simply being yourself as an innocent. And this is the message of the Sixth Ancestor's Platform Sutra. So Buddhism, you know, became very intellectual. And there are many practices

[20:31]

of striving for perfection. So, he's saying, these practices will not get you there. So, although students of the small vehicle, which is called Hinayana, attain the first, second, third, and fourth fruits, and attain the rank of Pratyekabuddha, so the fruits are The Four Fruits are entering the stream, being a once-returner after you pass on, and then coming back, and then coming back one more time, and then never coming back, and then being arhat. So these are considered four stages of practice in the Hinayana. And Pratyekabuddha, as we know, is one who actually has realization but has no interest in teaching or in influencing people or passing their understanding.

[21:46]

So although students of the small vehicle, for this reason, saintly ones with the first fruit, that is dream enterer, pass through 80,000 aeons and then become bodhisattvas who arouse the first thought of enlightenment for the first time. Those with the second fruit pass through 60,000 aeons and then become bodhisattvas with the first thought of enlightenment. Those with the third fruit pass through 40,000 aeons and arouse the first thought of enlightenment. The Pracheka Buddha passes through 10,000 eons and enters the path of the Bodhisattva. Even though he comes to the Bodhisattva path as a result of good conditions in the past, unfortunately, as a result of this, the turning of the wheel of karma does not end. This is also like being dragged of the rope. One is not truly liberated. They reach these wonderful conditions and practice wonderful stages.

[23:12]

In the end, it's not... It falls short. It falls short. Surgeon? Yeah? What do you mean, in the end? What end? Liberation. Liberation here is called the end. They're never through, right? But they're not liberated. But don't they get to come have another shot at it? Yes, that's what he's saying. You go through 10,000 aeons, to 30,000 aeons, and they still haven't... They go through all these, you know, lifetime after lifetime, and they still can't get it because it's not the right path. But there's still hope. Hope? Well, I mean the 61st thousandth time. It's like... I don't want to call these people idiots.

[24:22]

They're parking at the wrong tree. Well, it's like when you... We call somebody a fool who keeps banging at the same door which never opens? It's kind of like that. In other words, they're barking up the wrong tree. I said that to a woman one time, you know, you're barking up the wrong tree. She said, bark, she's from Germany. Oh, barking up the wrong tree, oh, that's so great. So, you destroy the 88 defilements. So, most of these practices are to actually destroy the defilements. And if you destroy the defilements, then you will finally be pure. You find the purity by destroying the defilements.

[25:25]

That's the point here. That's the thing about the Hinayana practice, is that you destroy the defilements in order to only be left with the purity, which sounds great, but it's dualistic. And this was the problem that Buddhism was having in the early days. So the Hinayana practice, actually, the core of that is to a discriminating mind. If you work to get rid of all the defilements through these practices, this is what Shakyamuni did actually when he left home. He did all these Hinayana practices you know, all the defilements, so that you become a saint.

[26:31]

But my Ayana practice is, without eliminating all the defilements, to find the purity within the impure, instead of making judgments about what is pure and what is impure. So, Jim, when you speak of the Hinayana practices, do you mean the ones that were practice then or is it still now? Well, both. I would call Hinayana practice a practice that is not focused on non-duality and is simply focused on the dualistic idea that nirvana appears when samsara is gone. removed, but all the elements of samsara are removed. So there is a kind of leaning in that way of not creating defilements, right?

[27:41]

But if you get caught in not creating defilements and seek to test the purity, then that's delusion. because I'm a practitioner and have a Mahayana mind and be a Soto Zen Buddhist and have a Hinayana practice, didn't you? Yeah, any of those combinations are possible. That's right. So even though you destroyed the 88 defilements, defilements of views and concepts and subtle defilements, and countless delusions, so that not an atom of them remains, this is a conditioned effort, and finally not the undefiled result, Buddhahood. Such efforts in a way as returning to the root, going back to the source, waiting for enlightenment, and making the easier standard, are all in this category."

[28:47]

Dogen didn't like the idea of going back to the source. It's like, how can you go back to the source when you never leave the source? So this is non-dualistic way of understanding. How can you go back to the source? Is the source someplace 80,000 miles from here? The source is always right in front of our eyes. so we can't ever leave it. There's no way to leave it, so there's no way to return to it. So, good people do not get caught up even in nothingness. You may become like non-Buddhists who fall into an empty nothingness by missing one whole side of the teaching

[29:50]

So what would be the one whole side of the teaching of emptiness? Form. Yeah. If you try to separate form from emptiness, that's enayana. Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. So that's the difference. So do not stop in an emptiness like the empty aeon before the beginning of the universe. This is like being a corpse from which the spirit has not completely departed. Do not think about putting an end to false illusions and trying to reach true essential nature. This is like saintly people who destroy ignorance and attain the middle way. you produce clouds where there are no clouds, and produce imperfection where there is none.

[31:01]

It will be as if you left your own home to wander in a foreign land, an impoverished guest drunk on the wine of ignorance and delusion." We tend to think of these practices Hey wait a minute, what's he talking about? Isn't this, aren't these practices what we're doing? No. You know, everything is included in our practice. Everything that he's talking about is not the practice. It's included in practice. If you try to reject anything, then It's like you're taking a piece out of the universe and throwing it away. You can't do that. If you take a piece out of the universe, the whole thing will collapse.

[32:03]

Can we destroy anything? That's a good question. It says destroy defilement. Yeah. Can we do that? Right. You can't destroy defilements. Can we create anything? Well, who is we? Yes. Can anything be created that isn't already? He'll get to that. All of your questions, this is really good because all of these questions come up and he anticipates all of your questions. And he'll deal with all of your questions. So let's see what he says about all that. Think. How can you think you are somebody and speak of before birth and after birth?

[33:07]

How can you speak as if you're somebody? So that's the question. That's the kind of answer to your question. How do things appear and disappear? How are things created? and uncreated. Who does this? Because you think you are somebody. How can you think you are somebody and speak of before birth and after birth? What past, future and present can you be aware of? For vast aeons there has been no discrepancy, even for a second, from birth to death. I'm sorry. From birth to death it is only this. Be that as it may, if you do not intimately experience it, experience it.

[34:10]

That word it should be emphasized. Be that as it may, if you do not intimately experience it one time, you will become deluded by your senses and their objects, and you will not know this self. This is being estranged from what is right in front of you. Therefore you will not understand the source of your body and mind, or the source of the myriad things, and you will want to brush away delusion. for no good reason, and seek enlightenment for no good reason. This being the case, you made the Buddha take the trouble to appear in the world, and you made the patriarchal teachers courteously extend their admonitions. So, you should apologize. I'm sorry that I made you do this.

[35:15]

You were sitting on your couch smoking your pipe. Okay, I'm going to go to the end of the paragraph. This being the case, you may conclude that even though they extend their admonitions in this way, you are still deluded in your own views, either saying that you do not grasp it or do not understand. Truly, you are not ignorant, nor are you intimately in touch with the truth, but you dwell vainly in thoughts and calculations. question. Stop me if this is irrelevant. I have just recently been reading Sogyal's Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. And in it he talks about the enlightening question that a master asks of his student once they've established

[36:27]

you know, just the right relationship. And the question, which apparently produces enlightenment right away, is what is the nature of mind? And this is reminding me of it, so I just thought I'd mention it. Well, when he talks about mind, he used the word it. Do you remember me saying it should be emphasized? Well, that's the same thing as mind. There are many names for it. One of them is mind. But I like it better. Because mind tends to have connotations. Whereas it has no connotations. And anything can be it. This is why Endogen uses words like who, and how, and so on.

[37:29]

Words that have no specific meaning, but can be applied to everything. So, it, everything is, nothing is it, and everything is it. But you don't have any conception of it, because it's not a conceptualizing word. You simply point to everything. So everything is it. How about consciousness? Consciousness is... don't you think consciousness is part of everything? It is it. It is? It is it. Oh, consciousness is it. Well if you point to consciousness as it, yes, but... It is consciousness, but consciousness is not necessarily it.

[38:30]

You can say consciousness is it, as well as you can say the pillar is it, or the floor is it, but it is not something that you can describe. So if you say it is consciousness, consciousness is an aspect of it, but consciousness is not all of it. But in another sense... Well, in a pure sense, yes. Yeah, well that's what I'm talking about. It is beyond consciousness. Although consciousness is it, it is beyond consciousness. Because if you describe it in any way, if you describe it other than by its forms, then it's not it.

[39:44]

So it's beyond description. That's why we say it. But all of the forms are the forms of it. So you can enter the gate of it anywhere. So we sometimes call it Buddha nature. So if you see everything as Buddha nature, then you see it. But if you describe it, it's not it. Isn't it also true that the pillar is everything? I mean, the moon and the dew drop and all that. I mean, each thing is the totality, isn't it? Yes, everything, that's right, everything includes everything. Everything is a product of the whole universe. But then when you get down to it, there are no things, really, because all things are simply powder, are simply essence.

[40:52]

So there are these constructions that are continually popping up and disappearing. The best description of it is change. Everything is continually changing. So there is nothing that... Within a certain realm we have tangibles. we're dealing with tangibles. But actually these tangibles are really intangible. Because nothing really, even the mountains and the rocks, nothing lasts very long. The shapes are continually changing like clouds. But everything looks kind of solid. until the earthquake comes and the tsunami takes everything away.

[41:56]

If you want to, you can stand up and move your legs for a moment. The next paragraph is about how he views birth and death. He said, don't you realize that when someone calls you respond and when someone points with a finger you follow? I think that this refers to several koans about And then this koan of Ziligon calls Master. He calls in response, calling in response.

[42:59]

But in a bigger sense, there's a kind of calling and responding. It's interesting. In Christianity, someone would say, well, I have a calling, right? And I'm responding to my calling. And I think that's something like that. But doesn't it, I think of it as meaning that it's not a matter of what particular drama is going on in your mind. It's a matter of just taking care of what's happening. Yes, responding to the circumstances. In contrast to having a whole scenario or a script. Yes, that's right. Because the national teacher called, when the student's leaving, he says, oh, I can't remember his name.

[44:02]

And the student turned around, and he says, goodbye. And then he does it again, three times. And then there's this little story about it. But it's about not really Akinoroshi said something like, when the baby cries, the mother says, I'm here, I'm here. And the baby cries, the mother says, I'm here, I'm here. So it's not about anything. It's just about pure response. Just, you know, it's just about pure response without any ideas, without any opinions, or just simple oneness, actually.

[45:05]

So, he said, don't you realize that when someone calls, you respond, and when someone points with a finger, you follow? This does not occur through discriminating judgment. or through a conscious effort. It is the working of your Lord. Now, that's an interesting word he uses. I don't know what Naiman says on there. Lord of the house. Lord of the house, yeah. It's another word, Buddha. Buddha nature. So, it's the working of your Buddha nature. The last, the Lord, or the Buddha nature, has neither face nor bodily characteristics. So, however, he or she or it never stops moving. Because of this, this mind arises and is called body. It's interesting. The mind arises and is called body. So, body-mind are not two things.

[46:13]

Sometimes we think of the body as one thing and the mind as something else. But body and mind are not two things. So, the mind creates the body. In other words, the seeds in the alaya, according to the model, actually create the body. The seeds of the body are also in the alaya. So, because of this, mind arises and is called body. But you can also think of it as big mind, because it's capitalized. When the body appears, the four great elements, that is earth, fire, water, earth and air, the four great elements, the five aggregates, form, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness, the myriad pores, I don't know how many of those there are, And the 360 bones, maybe they counted them, come together and you are a body.

[47:21]

So all of these elements come together and there you are. Creation, the mind creates the body, or is it mind that creates body? It's a little bit vague there. But it is like a jewel having light, or a sound having an echo. From birth to death, you lack nothing and have nothing in excess. With such a birth and death, though you are born, your birth has no beginning, and though you die, your death leaves no traces. It is like waves rising and falling on the ocean and leaving no traces. Even though the waves disappear, and do not go to any particular place, because the ocean is what it is, it is large or small, or waves appear and disappear. So, if we think of this analogy of waves, or simile of waves and ocean, the way the energy goes, actually, there are various forces, wind and

[48:37]

It's important to drive the waves on the ocean, but it's the energy that goes, and the water just rises and falls. But it looks like the water is moving, and it is moving to a certain extent. But a wave that starts in the middle of the ocean doesn't travel all the way to the land. It just goes up and down, and the energy keeps pushing up. waves, and they rise and they fall. So when we are born, there's a rising, so-called, and then there's falling, but there's no place that we go. It's the ocean, the Buddha nature, the ocean is rising up in this form, and then when the conditions are no longer supporting it, Because the ocean just comes back to itself and takes up another form through various energies.

[49:44]

Someone had their hand up. Oh, I was just thinking for the first time that the idea of the wave in the middle of the ocean not being the same water that makes it to the shore, it's exactly like the wave at a football stadium. don't worry, you know, no matter where you are, you're still part of the universe. You can't get lost. You may get lost, but... So, he says, your own mind is the same. Now, I think he means big mind. Your own mind is the same. It moves without ever stopping.

[50:49]

and therefore appears as skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. It functions as the four great elements in the five aggregates, which are the five skandhas. It also appears in the form of peach blossoms in virgin bamboo. Now this may be an analogy to someone being enlightened when they saw the peach blossoms, and Kyogen being enlightened when I think he's referring to those stories. It also appears in the form of peach blossoms and verdant bamboo. It realizes enlightenment in the form of acquiring the way and enlightening the mind. It divides into sounds and forms and is different in the forms of seeing and hearing. It functions as wearing clothes and eating food, in a speech and action, dividing

[51:50]

and dividing. Dividing and dividing, you know. Dividing and dividing. Forms are, you know, the amoeba divides itself, right, and keeps dividing itself. And so that's a kind of very fundamental animal, or whatever it is. And we also, It's the basis of ourselves. We keep dividing. We have children, and have children, and have children. And division is happening continuously. Nothing ever stays together for very long. Some things seem to stay together for a long time, but what is a long time? Not very long. So dividing, and dividing, and dividing, and dividing. So I like the language here.

[52:55]

It realizes enlightenment in the form of acquiring the way and enlightening the mind. It divides into sounds and forms and is different in the forms of seeing and hearing. It functions as wearing clothes and eating food and as speech and action. Dividing and dividing, it is nevertheless not separating itself. Not separated itself. itself, meaning mind or buddha nature. Although there's all this dividing in forms, buddha nature itself is never divided. The ocean is never divided, even though there are all these divisions called waves. But the ocean itself is never divided. Except by Moses. Moses. Appearing and disappearing.

[54:01]

It is not limited by physical characteristics. It resembles a magician performing various magical illusions, like producing images in a dream. Even though 10,000 images go through a thousand changes and 10,000 transitions in the face of a mirror, It is still just a single mirror. If you do not know this, and vainly cultivate wizardry, or study the trivial, there is no chance for liberation." So, it's interesting, when we have a mirror, and we can do all kinds of acts in front of the mirror, and all kinds of dramas take place in front of the mirror, the mirror doesn't change. Nothing stays on the mirror. The mirror reflects it all. It's just like the screen, actually, and the projector that Suzuki Roshi talks about.

[55:04]

The screen is like the mirror. Without the mirror, without the screen, the drama has no place to take place, nowhere to go, nowhere to act out. The movie of our dreams is projected on the screen, on the black screen. And without the black screen, there's no movie. There has to be the black screen for the movie, which is like the mirror. And it comes back to us. But when the movie is projected, we don't see the screen. That's why, because of our busy mind, We're simply projecting on the screen, but we never see the screen until we sit Zazen. Zazen allows us to experience the screen, even though we may not experience it when we sit Zazen.

[56:06]

But we see our projections projected onto the screen of our mind during Zazen as well. So that's why we don't try to wipe it Don't try to wipe the thoughts off the screen. That's trying to eliminate samsara in order for nirvana to appear. So, just let the defilements be there. They're no longer defilements. Samsara is called... everything is defilements. So, it's like the lotus existing in the mud. Without the mud, the lotus can't exist. Fish cannot exist in pure water.

[57:09]

So, purity is found within the impure. we have to deal with. This is just the impure world, that's all. But if you think that it's impure, then you're making a judgment, that you're separating the pure from the impure. In chemistry you have to do that. difficult understanding. I have an example. At work, I was jumping up and down in the garbage can to stamp down the garbage so that it could be recycled. And the people inside were watching. They said, we really enjoyed watching you jump up and down in the garbage can.

[58:15]

And I said, it's like the purity of existing in muddy water with purity like a lotus. Who is the guy in Sesame Street to live in the garbage can? So, yes, you also say if the lotus or the fish must can only exist in the impure, is it possible to say that? The impure can only exist because of the lotus and the fish? Well, pure and impure are discrimination. So, war exists because of peace. Peace exists because of war. Right exists because of wrong, and so forth. So you're saying you can do it both ways?

[59:16]

Well yes, it takes one to make the other. So he's talking to these monks. He says, monks, you are not in bondage. So how can you become newly liberated? Delusion and enlightenment are originally non-existent. You are free from bondage and liberation from the beginning. Isn't this non-birth and non-extinction? Isn't it the great ocean? Where are there any small streams? So small streams of being, like, or individuality. Each one of us is a small stream, which is, you know, really part of the great ocean. And when Taiso Ika came to Bodhidharma, he said, my mind is really unclear.

[60:32]

Please clarify my mind. And Bodhidharma said, well, show me your mind. And I clarified it for you. And Taiso Ika said, I can't access it. He said, well, there, I've purified your mind for you. And the same story with the third ancestor. I think he was coming to Taiso Eka, and he had the same question. Taiso Eka said, well, show me your mind, and I'll clarify it for you. He said, well, I can't find my mind. So these are two stories that are kind of reinforcing each other. And he's kind of alluding to these two stories. So he says, you are not in bondage. How can I free you? How can I free your mind when you are not in bondage? So how can you become newly liberated? Delusion and enlightenment are originally non-existent. In other words, delusion creates enlightenment and enlightenment creates delusion.

[61:35]

Isn't this non-birth and non-extinction? Isn't it the great ocean? Where are there any small streams? Lands as numerous as grains of dust or atoms are all the ocean of the universe. The flowing of valley streams, cascading waterfalls and swirling rivers are all the lively turning of the great ocean. So there is no small stream to leave, no great ocean to seize. This being so, all the Michakas difficulties went away of themselves. and his former views were taken care of in one blow. And he gave up wizardry and made his home departure. This is an expression of karmic conditions." So in other words, this is it. What are we going off to do all this stuff for when this is it? That's what our practice is. It's the hardest thing for us.

[62:41]

Judy? Well, those instances where the person said something about their mind, and then the person said, show me your mind, and then they couldn't, that's OK, I solved it for you. That's just, for me, that's not very convincing. It's kind of a trick. And it seems to me. And I keep thinking in this. I'm trying to make this very short. I read something recently about a man who, a scientist, who has done some experiments with people whose brains are separated because of some accident or something. The right and left hemispheres are separated. And what he does is, by some means, he puts a command to the right side of the brain. And then the person does something. Then he asks the left side of the brain why they did that. And they come up with a story that fits with their other stories. They don't say, I did it because you stimulated my right half of my brain. They come up with a story consistent with their other stories.

[63:55]

And they apparently each come up with different stories, because they all have different typical stories. And I think that kind of process there is what these guys were talking about when they said they have a problem with their mind. I don't think so. Oh, OK. What do you think it is? They're not talking about... You know, what he's talking about is that we are our own jailers. Our own what? Jailers. We bind ourselves with our mind. When actually there's no need to. That's what he's talking about. Well, that seems to me the same as that we do it with our stories. You know, we have stories that people read. That's right. And we use them to explain stuff. Yeah. Our left and right sides are in competition with each other or are not one.

[65:06]

I don't like to use the term, the idea of the brain, because that's physical and it can, you know, We're talking about normal human beings that don't have brain problems. Don't have what? Don't have brain problems. Oh, yeah. So, when we start talking about the brain, that's a different order of things. But we all have story problems, most of us do. Yes, we have story problems. It's called the Manas, the seventh consciousness, which creates a story. And so that's the ego. And so we were talking about the ego, not so much the brain. It's not the mechanism, but it's a product. So when he talks about his mind, he's not talking about his brain. He's talking about my confusion. I can't find my freedom, is what he's saying, because I'm so bound to my

[66:14]

conflicting opinions. And so he says, well, show me your mind. So mind, you know, is simply a complex of various levels of consciousness. Mind, what we call our mind, is a complex of various levels of consciousness. So to say, show me your mind, well, duh. So I can't produce something like that and show you, because actually what we call our mind is our ego. But I can't pull that out, you know. So I said, well, it's your ego that's binding you. Show it to me. That's what it is. Show me your ego. And he said, well, I can't really find it exactly, because it's not a solid thing.

[67:27]

It's not something that you can grasp. What if you just use the word essence instead of ego? Because ego is not essence. Why not? Because ego is a confection. Why is an essence a confection? Essence means the underlying fundamental. So what would be the underlying fundamental of your mind? I don't think there is an underlying fundamental. That's what emptiness is all about. There is an essence of mind. It's called buddha nature, but it's not a solid thing. It's not something that you can formalize. That you can what? Formalize. So you can't, you know, there's a story of the monk who said to his teacher,

[68:43]

I know how to find emptiness. And the teacher said, well, show me. And the monk went like that. And the teacher took his nose and went... Why are you laughing? Because it's one thing in contrast against another. Well, you can use this form, right? But the mind, show me your mind, it means show me something that you, you know, I can't find my mind, right? I can't, you know, there's nothing tangible because it's simply, continuously transforming, ungraspable entity.

[70:00]

But essence is, we say Buddha nature pervades the whole universe. That's essence. Yeah, but when you use the word essence that way, that's a different way than we usually use the word essence. Well, in perfume, I don't use it in a different way. I mean, you can use the word in various ways, but when we're doing a time-out talk, Well, that's what he couldn't find. He couldn't find that core. It's not exactly a core, though. I pictured this monk approaching a master with the concept that his mind is kind of a bag or a balloon with stuff in it.

[71:40]

And then when he tries to actually put that into words or put it into action, Well, that's right. It disappears. Yeah, it's like a container, but it's a container that's intangible. And it doesn't really exist. It exists in a certain way, in a kind of dream-like way, because it's the dream component. And then when he says, I can't find it, he's like waking up from the dream. So when he wakes up from the dream, that confusion and delusion are gone. He says, I can't find it. I remember asking this question, something like that, of my husband.

[72:45]

And he said the same thing, and he's not a Zen student or a Buddhist. He said, show me your mind. And the thing is that I was in a place of suffering. So that's what was underlying the conversation. And his response, which, you know, I mean, could be seen as sort of a smart-ass thing, but it was also a moment of letting go. It allowed me, it afforded me space, I guess. That was the only way I can describe it. And there was this moment of letting go and then we went on and continued our walk. And all of that story, like the balloon in the bag, you know, it just popped. I think that's good. I think that's like Bodhidharma and Eka.

[73:46]

Like vast space. Vast space. I just want to finish this, okay? So then he says, what is more, when you practice and practice in this way, and there is agreement between thoughts and words, it will truly be like intimate friends meeting, or self nodding to self. You will all swim together in the ocean of essential nature, and never be separated for even an instant. If you are influenced in this way, it must be the manifestation of karmic conditions. Don't you see? The great master Ma, that is Matsu, Tao Yi, said, no sentient being for countless eons has ever left the samadhi of dharma nature. In other words, there's nothing to return to because you haven't gone anywhere. In the samadhi of dharma nature, they wear clothes, eat food, talk together and reply.

[74:52]

The functioning of the six sense spaces and the carrying out of activities is nothing but the dharma nature. Hearing this did not take it as meaning that sentient beings exist within dharma nature. Whether you say dharma nature or sentient beings, it is the same as saying water and waves. Therefore, we may use words like water and waves, but how can there be such much difference? So, in other words, just things as they are, normal activities. But Shakyamuni Buddha said, the only thing that I have to, all that I have brought up is simply the norm, not something special. But his norm and our norm may not be the same thing. So, this morning, in order to say something definitive about this story, I have a humble verse.

[76:02]

Do you want to hear it? Yes? Even with purity like an autumn flood reaching to the heavens, how can it compare to the haziness of a spring night's moon? Many people desire to find purity in their lives. But though they sweep and sweep, their minds are yet not empty. Is this about the right time? Does this text have an author? Say that again. Who wrote this? Keizan. This is Keizan. Michiaka wrote it. Michiaka is the fourth Six Indian ancestors. And this text was written by Khe Sanh. A couple of generations after Dogen. Khe Sanh was the fourth ancestor.

[77:03]

Dogen's Indian Dinosaur. So, next time, do you want to continue with these? Vastu Mitra, which is really short, but I like it. It's short and good. So, I would say to read both. We only have one more meeting, and that's in June, and then you go to Pasupara, I think. Well, let's do both and read both anyway. Which two sessions?

[78:07]

Well, Pasupara is the next one. Okay. Utsada Nandai is the next one after that. Ah, thank you. Somehow I didn't get around to the six powers of the arhats, which we talk about in our service. But maybe next time.

[79:07]

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