I think it's interesting to remember that we're all descendants of Tozan's teaching. And if it wasn't for Tozan and Ungan, we wouldn't even be here today. We'd be doing something else. I don't know what we'd be doing, but we would not be here. So we're direct descendants, indirect, direct descendants of Tozan and Ungan and all the other ancestors. And of course we're also descendants of Shakyamuni, but more directly from Tozan because Tozan is the Soto school. the fountainhead of the Tso-To school. So, Tso-Dung, Dung-Shan and Tso-Zan.

[01:13]

It's interesting though that the name of the school is the two, Tso-Zan and To-Zan, but Ung-Gan is the is the school that descended from Oonga. But Oonga and Sojan actually worked together. They were Nanga brothers under Tozan. Does that make sense? They were getting their soles and toes mixed up. So, they were, but, Wen Gang, Wen Gang was the descendant that we passed down the school of Tozan.

[02:19]

So, Cao Dong, in Chinese, and Soto, in Japanese. You're behind the pillar. Is that okay? Yeah. Let's just see what my head's like tonight. I have a meditation chin rest if you want to. A question as far as Satsang. At what point did his lineage die out? I don't know. So I'm going to read today from a quote. Because that's what I have on my notes. This may be a bit frustrating on one end, but on the other end we can cook. And we'll do it all. And so I sat there and studied this morning. Cookett's page 181 in my book.

[03:36]

But not in Cookett's one in your book. Does anybody need a pronoun? Do you need a pronoun? Do you need a pronoun for that? We're sharing. Okay. Okay. So, the 39th ancestor was a great minister. Dao yin. Yi Qiu Jiao. You have to call him Dao yin in Chinese.

[04:46]

Interesting. He's studying with Deng Xian. Deng Xian asked him, what is your name? And the master replied, Daoyi. Dongshan said, say it from beyond. The master said, if I speak from beyond, I can't say that I am Daoyi. And Dongshan said, that's the same answer I gave when I was with Yunyan. And as I said, Yunyan was Dongshan's main teacher, who he inherited the Dharma from. So, you have to remember that there are two aspects of the Dharma. One is the essence, and the other is the function. Now, if you studied Master Dojon's teaching,

[05:56]

We know that his five ranks teaching is about the essence and the function. His circular forms, the dark and the light, and various combinations are about the essence and function. Essential nature and the function of essential nature. So if you keep that in mind, you have a better understanding of what's going on here. So if he says, my name is Daoyoung, Daoyoung, or, you know, Ugo Daoyoung in Japanese. We usually use Japanese because we're more familiar with it. We know that that's the function. That's the function. And whatever name we have, that's function. It's not essence. Although, essence and function are not two different things.

[07:02]

But, we talk about essence and function. We have to talk about essence and function in order to go beyond essence and function. So, the third ancestor was Great Master Jun Shu Hung Chau. He started with Dongshan. Dongshan asked him, what is your name? And the master replied, Daoyin. The point is, there are only two different names here. My name is Daoyin. And Dongshan asked him, what is your name? And the master replied, Daoyin. And Dongshan said, say it from beyond. Essence. So when you say it from beyond, it means beyond the function. What is it? And the master said, if I speak from beyond, I can't say that I'm Daoyin. And Dongshan said, that's the same answer I gave to when I was a young man. Okay, so that's the case. So, Zorozan is identifying with Ungo Doyo.

[08:10]

So, is he saying that Saying we haven't got there yet. No, it's [...] here. Oh, yeah. They say that's what you mean. So it is the point here that as a function, you can say you sustain the way. But as an absolute, there's no sustaining or there's no. Well, let's see what happens. Let's look at the circumstances in the case. I don't want to answer your questions too soon. That kind of question too soon. So, I'd like just to use the term essence. Instead of absolute in some other sense. Because essence goes with function. In that kind of pair.

[09:13]

And they belong to each other in speaking. So the master, who is ungao, I'm going to use the Japanese sometimes. I kind of go back and forth, but you kind of get used to it. Dao yin is ungao, Tokyo. He's the guy we're talking about. So master, you know, you get kind of mixed up here with master and teacher and stuff like that. So master is always referring to ungao. But he's very kind to us because he uses Dongshan as Tozan and master as Ungo. So the master, Ungo, was from Wangtian, Wangtian-in-nyu-chao, and his family name was Wang. He made his own departure. at Yanxi Temple in Fengyang while he was still young.

[10:18]

He became a full monk when he was 24. His teacher had him study the books of the small vehicle, so here it says, the Vinaya, right? But he did not like them, so he left and went traveling. When he arrived at Sui Wei Monastery, he was asked to He asked about the way for Mr. Sui Wei. As it happened, that a monk arrived, and it so happened that a monk arrived from Yuanzhang, and he vividly recounted Nongshan's teachings. And in the end, the master went there. So I kind of convinced Unko that he should go visit Nongshan. So when he arrived, Nongshan asked him, where are you from? So this is the circumstances. And so the master, Ugo, answered, I come from Tsui Wei.

[11:23]

And Dongshan asked, what does Tsui Wei say to his followers? And the master said, Tsui Wei was making an offering to the Arhats. We did that today. Right? 16 Arhats and their followers, we actually made an offering to them today. So it's very much the same way. When you make an offering, it's like to invite. The purpose of incense is to invite Buddha or one of the Buddha or Avalokiteshvara or whoever we are offering the incense to, to come and join our practice. Or, you know, come and... it's like some wonderful essence that Some of us can't stand.

[12:25]

Flowers do the same, similar thing. So an offering invites Buddha to come and join our practice. But what we're actually asking is for Buddha to come out from us and join our practice. Not to appear from some other place, but to invoke the Spirit. So the Master answered, Where are you from? And the Master said, where am I? Oh yeah, Tsleil-Waututh was making an offering to the Arhats. And I asked, you are making offerings to the Arhats, but do you think they will come and accept the offerings? Like an offering tray of fruit and stuff, right? And Tsleil-Waututh asked, what do you eat every day? Dongshan said, did you really say that? And the master said, yes. And Dongshan said, you didn't read that adage in vain.

[13:33]

In other words, he had a good answer for you. Then he asked, what is your name? And so on, which brings us back to taste, right? So what do you think he meant by, what do you eat every day? What do you eat every day? What sustains you? What sustains you? That's good. Also, um, uh, um, well, uh, what about you? He's kind of equating him with an Arhat as well, right?

[14:40]

You see, well, you know, the Arhats are not somebody out there, right? So, what he's being invited is not something out there, but what feeds him, yeah. Or, what do you respond to? What do the Arhats respond to? What do you respond to? So he's equating him with an Arhat. Yeah. I can't help but think that Kaethon is thinking about the story of Choson and Lontron. Yes. With the memorial service. Can you... Can I remember it? If it's just a coincidence, or if it's actually some shared teaching? Well, it is something like that. But I'm trying to remember it exactly. Because Nansen was doing a memorial service for his teacher. Well, maybe he was doing it for another teacher.

[15:46]

And the emperor's son was his student. And he said, how come so-and-so is your student, and you're doing this memorial service for this other teacher? As if he's making some kind of distinction. And Nantza gave him a slap. It's called slapping the emperor's son. But there's something else that goes in between there, and I'm trying to remember what that is. Actually, a story I was thinking about was Tozan asked him, will he come? Oh, OK. Right. Tozan asked him, well, yeah. He was reading an offering, and Tozan said, well, will he appear?

[16:51]

Right. Oh, and the teacher said, he will appear when he has a companion. Right? He will appear when he has a companion. That's all I remember about his luck. someone to appreciate them or something like that. He will appear when they ask someone that appreciates them. So since everyone's present, he's talking about, Joseph, are you present to appreciate this offering that we're making? Well, you can see it as sharing the offering.

[18:07]

I don't know if it's the same. I can't remember exactly his story, but it's something like that. He will come when he has a companion. That's the punchline of that story. When he has a companion, he will come. And meaning, Tozan was his companion. If you try to explain it, it loses its edge. You kind of get it, but when you start explaining it, it loses its edge. Well, for me it's kind of like we make a flower offering, an incense offering to invoke the spirits of Shakyamuni or Bhagavad Gita Shvara, but who are they? And we are in a serious place outside. But if you if he if you give us a will, they come.

[19:09]

Yeah. When he has a companion, you'll come. Yeah. It's like that. So. So Dongchang asked, okay, so Dongchang said, then he asked, what is your name? This is the end of the sentence, the paragraph. Then he asked, what is your name? And so on, which is back to the case. So then the master was awakened when he saw the Dong River. And he discussed it with Dongshan. And Dongshan said, thanks to you, my war was carried endlessly. Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything about the Dong River.

[20:12]

But the Dong River must be the river that flows around Dong Mountain. But the way I talked about it today, this morning, And the way that Neumann talks about it, I think, is much better. Because it kind of talks, the way he translates it is, through you, the teaching will flow. And that kind of puts it in the context of the river, because rivers flow, right? So it's kind of like the river of Dungshan's teaching will flow through you, right? That's the way I see it. I forget, the Dung River could be Dungshan, for all I know. So, anyway, there's some meaning there that's kind of, I don't know, that's the way I see it.

[21:27]

It's like Master Dongshan's teaching will flow like a river through you. So, thanks to you, my way will spread endlessly. So not only that, but once he asks the Master, I hear that the great priest Su... Now, this is a little different, and I like this better than Demas' translation because it makes more sense. He once asked the Master Su, Great Priest Su, who was born in Japan and became the Emperor. Is that correct? And the Master answered, if you're talking about Great Priest Su, he wouldn't become a Buddha, let alone an Emperor. Dongshan thought that was correct. So, that makes more sense.

[22:28]

It's like, he was born in Japan, But he became a teacher. He became a great priest. And there's a rumor that he became the emperor. And so a guy said, you know, he wouldn't even become a Buddha, much less the emperor, right? Yeah. So in a closet rolled in, would you like the blinds up or your lamps to sit over there? I don't want to do that. If I need it, I'll do it. So, do you understand that? It seems clear, but it's not clear what the point is in saying that. That comes out much more clearly in Nierman's. Nierman says that the name, you know, Great Master Shi, or in Chinese it's Su, that that means discriminative thought. And of course, discriminative thought is not the Buddha and isn't going to be ruled over by anyone.

[23:35]

Zeni don't think much of discriminative thought generally. Yes, discriminating thought is much more pointed here. He's not thinking of becoming a Buddha, much less He's not thinking of becoming the emperor. He wouldn't even think of becoming the Buddha. Why would he think of becoming the emperor? He wouldn't become a Buddha, let alone an emperor. Oh, that's as if an emperor would be better than a Buddha. No. In other words, he says, if you're talking about a great priest too, he wouldn't become a Buddha, let alone an emperor. Overtainment. It's like not being attached to me, you know. Oh, OK. That's the attachment.

[24:38]

So this is high praise, but pre-sue. Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK. Right. That's very different from what I got from Yearman. Yeah. I think in a more logical sense. OK. You can follow it more easily. OK. So that's the nondiscrimination. The point of non-discrimination is that just as a non-discriminator, you kind of wonder about it. Anyway, you know, Issabei does not strive for something. That's the point. He wouldn't become an emperor. He wouldn't let himself do that. We wouldn't even let himself become a Buddha. A Buddha. Which is like... So it sounds like, from what you're saying, that Neirman totally missed the point there.

[25:41]

Could be. I don't know who missed the point. One of them had the point, maybe. But I don't know which one. This one just makes more sense to me. That's all. The master was awakened when he saw Dumshan. One day Dumshan asked, where have you been? And the master said, out walking in the mountains. And Dumshan asked, what mountain is fit to live on? And the master replied, what mountain is not fit to live on? In that case, said Dumshan, you've taken over the entire country. That makes sense. The master said, no one has them. And Dongshan said, if that is so, have you found an entry path? And the master said, there is no path. Dongshan said, if there is no path, how could you meet?

[26:43]

And the master was like, if there were a path, you would never have met. Dongshan said, hereafter, not one thousand, not even one in Australia. Does that make sense? So, one day Tozin asked Un'gol where he had been, and Un'gol answered that he had been walking upon a mountain. Tozin asked, was that mountain fit to live on? Un'gol said, what mountain is not fit to live on? Tozin said, if that is so, then everything within the whole land must have been tried out by the archarya. Not so. Tozin said, well then, you must have found the right roadway. And God said, there is no roadway.

[27:45]

If there is no roadway, how will you meet with me face to face? And God said, if there were a roadway, then I would indeed break off my life with you and leave. That's the big difference. What's the difference? The last one. What did you say? If there was a roadway, then I would break off my life with you and leave. And I took that to mean that he's kind of like trapped, he's kind of like there because he has to be. If there was a way of, if there was some way of, there is no road. We're here face to face. If there was some linear way of going somewhere, I would have gone. I would have gone. So there, deep down, we've already met. And then how do I escape? By way of any roadway, but there isn't one. Well, here it says, we would never have met. And there it implies that they did be met.

[28:47]

It's pretty much the same thing. It's just a different way of expressing it. It's not radically different. I was thinking that, and maybe this is off, but that what he meant about a roadway was something that was already laid out. something that could already be found out some other way. And that if there was something like that, then he would do it, but that he has to be with Tozan face-to-face in order to actually learn that it's spontaneously happening. Well, spontaneously is what it's about. In other words, if there was some path that was already planned out, I would never have followed that path. The only reason I'm here is because this is where I found myself. It's not like there was some way to have a sign that said, go there.

[30:01]

It was like, here we are. I don't know how I got here. You know, it's like somehow circumstances point out and here we are. There was no road that said this is the way. So, yeah. They say it's a point for intuition. Yeah, point to intuition. Yeah, that's right. It's like something you know without going through the path of thinking about it. I was also saying that if there were a road rate, there would be no vitality. Yeah, well yeah. It's like my life and leaving. It's like the real life is gone. So, you know, this whole thing, I think, you know, what mountain is not fit to live on, right?

[31:06]

And in that case, you're taking over the entire country. I like that. Because there's no place that... every place is the right place. There's no place that is the wrong place. Every place is the right place. Not so. Yeah. If that is so, have you found an entry path? Right? And the Master said, no, there isn't a path. Then he said, if there isn't a path, how would you meet me? And the Master replied, if there were a path, we would never have met. I don't know if we can explain it. You kind of know it. But if you explain it, it kind of loses its edge. So the master was accompanying Dongshan.

[32:09]

And as they were crossing a stream, Dongshan asked, is the water deep or shallow? Now this is a trick question. You know that. And the master answered, it's not wet. And Dung-Shan said, of course so. And the master said, how about your teacher? And Dung-Shan said, not dry. He told the master, Nanchuan. Dung-Shan said, OK. He told the master, Nanchuan, he called him Nanchi in Japanese, asked the monk, what scripture do you read? And the monk answered that it was the sutra of Maitreya's appearance in the world. Now you know who Maitreya is. Maitreya is the future Buddha who is sitting waiting to meet the messiah. And he's waiting to come down and fix everything with his loving kindness.

[33:14]

That's what Maitreya means. So he's the one who will come down and create love and kindness in the world. And so Nantuan asked, this is a different story. When will Maitreya appear? And the monk answered, right now he is in the celestial realm and he will appear in the future. You know, like the Tushita heaven is the celestial realm. There are 32 heavens. And there's no final heaven. But there are these heavenly places. And the two sheet of heaven is like the highest place. Highest heaven. You will appear in the future, and Nantuan said, there is no Maitreya either in the celestial realm or on earth. And Manasa asked Dushan, If there is non-maitreya either in the celestial realm or on earth, what does it really mean?

[34:17]

Here in this Doshan's seat quaked, and he said, Daoyuan, once when I was a yunnan, my teacher, I asked a question and it sent a hearthquake. Today I was asked a question and my whole body was pinking with sweat. So here, the student is making the teacher sweat, and making the seat rock. So the teacher is actually rocking the seat, the student is actually rocking the seat of the teacher. That's the point, actually. There is no difference in the questions and answers between master and disciple. In the whole of Cognitive Genetics, no one can stand shoulder to shoulder as an equal with Nan Chu. But it's an interesting question. There is no Maitreya here in Tichina Heaven or on Earth.

[35:19]

Where is Maitreya? You have to be Maitreya. I'm sorry. But you can't wait for Maitreya. Well, aren't we on Earth? What? Aren't we on Earth here? Here's Maitreya. Plus between heaven and earth? Yeah, this is between heaven and earth. It's a little bit big, but... There was a book, you know, some years ago, called, What Do We Do Till the Messiah Arrives? I always thought that was a great title. I didn't read the book. Who needs to read the book? It's a great title. So, this is Maitreya right here. How do you bring love and kindness into the world and convert all the demons? That's your task.

[36:23]

That's our task. So, when Maitreya arises, we are Maitreya. Maitreya is not going to arise unless it's us. It's not. Everything is going to come down. There's Maitreya. Maitreya has already arrived a long time ago. It's just that he has a hard time convincing people. Okay. So, later, the master built a hut. That's his ungo. Built a hut on Mount Sanphang. Sanphang. Sanphang. And he did not come to the monastery for ten days. Dongshan asked him, why don't you come here and eat these days? And the nursery answered, every day a spirit brings offerings. Dongshan said, I thought you were an enlightened man, but you still have these kinds of views.

[37:25]

Come tonight and visit me. So that night, Yunzhu went and Dongshan called, Oh, Herb of Taoyuan, The Master replied, and Dronchon said, without thinking of good and without thinking of evil, what is it? This is exactly the same thing that the sixth ancestor said to Nyen... Ngen... [...] N The Fifth Ancestor rode him across the river and in the middle of the night held up a letter and gave him the dharma transmission and said you better get out of here because the Hanus are going to follow you. Because they're jealous and they want to ruin the ball. This is a great story.

[38:27]

And so he went off and he went up into the mountains to get the probability of all throwing. And so this one fellow, Huimin, who was a general. He hadn't been a general in the army, but he was a monk. And the sister, Huimin, put the robe and the bowl on a rock. And Huimin came up. Anyway, I'm sad. Well, you know, if you want the robin bowl, they're just symbols of the transmission, but if you want them, you can have them. So, when they tried to pick them up, but he couldn't do it. They were too heavy. It's kind of like the sword in the rock, you know.

[39:32]

See, we're not his. So he couldn't really pick them up for one reason or another. And then he said, well, I understand from now on, I think you're my teacher. I would ask you to be my teacher. And Wendell said, well, we're both students of the fifth ancestor. So that was a good answer. So Huimin asked him for detention and he said, OK, well sit down and cross your legs and think neither good nor evil. Just think neither good nor evil. So here he says, I have to find it. Without thinking good or evil, what is it?

[40:36]

So it's the same answer. It's the same question that the 5th Ancestor asked Queen Aeneid. Without thinking good or evil, what is it? That's a non-dualistic question. Without thinking good or evil, what is it? So the master returned to the hermitage and sat silently in Zazen. After this, the spirit came, but couldn't see him. And after three days of this, the spirit left. So this is reminiscent of another story. I'm trying to remember who it was though. I think it was Amukhijesvara or something. The spirits were raining flowers down on, I can't remember who it was, but one of the ancestors. And that will come later.

[41:48]

So, once, Gunshan asked the Master, what are you doing? And the Master said, I'm making bean paste. Dongshan asked, how much salt are you adding? The master said, I added a little. And Dongshan asked, how does it taste? And the master said, it will do. I like that story. It doesn't sound like much. But it shows his independence. And it shows his non-attachment to recipes. It brings out his intuition and his independence. This is Apollo now, working in the kitchen. And so, another time, Dorjean asked him, if someone without a Buddha nature commits the five unpardonable sins, how can he take care of his parents?

[43:13]

This is very interesting. The five unpardonable sins, or the five deadly sins, killing a Buddha, killing a Buddha, killing your parents, and causing disturbance within the sangha. These are unpardonable offenses. So, there's someone without buddha-nature. So this is called an ichatika. Ichatika means someone that doesn't have buddha-nature. Now, when we read the sutra, it says all beings have buddha-nature. But there are still some schools of Buddhism that believe that there are people who don't have buddha nature. And you can understand why. But the great ecchantika is called a bodhisattva.

[44:15]

The bodhisattva is called a great ecchantika, one who has no buddha nature. And Dogan uses this as a column in his fanciful Buddha-nature to illustrate that no Buddha-nature is kind of like, does the dog have Buddha-nature? So, no buddha nature is also a koan for a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva has no buddha nature. Moo buddha nature. But also, you can say that the bodhisattva, because the bodhisattva doesn't postpone parinirvana, or, you know,

[45:19]

and vows to be reborn into the world over and over again, he loses his opportunity to complete his Buddha nature. So he just remains in delusion. In other words, he vows to remain in the world of delusion. So it's called a great ecchantika, one who has no buddhanature. Stupidly, stupidly vowing to remain in the world, to the same beings. And being the last to leave. Can somebody turn on the lights? That would help. Yeah, the blinds would help too. All right.

[46:26]

So when you went back to us, it's OK. Yeah. Too much. Do you have a question about the spirits feeding? Of course, yes. How come when he's in meditation thinking neither good nor evil? Yes, because he disappeared.

[47:35]

In other words, there's no... His mind stopped. Yeah. His dualistic mind stopped. So he couldn't be identified. And demons come at you by way of your discursive thought. That's right. These weren't demons. They were demons. It's the same idea though. They were bringing offerings, not temptations. Offerings are also a kind of temptation. It's the other side of the demons. It's the other side of the demons. It's like, oh, it's really somebody that offered me. This is maybe the flower petals. And you start thinking, oh I'm really wonderful. I really deserve this. So that's just as dangerous as giving in to the demons.

[48:44]

As a matter of fact, pride is the worst, the most difficult thing to overcome. Because you're so good. It's very important in Soto Zen to not be too good. It's really important to not be too good. I remember when I had stopped smoking in 1973 and I used to visit Covencino a lot. And so when I would visit him, sometimes he would take out a couple of pipes, you know, and he would offer me a pipe to smoke. You know, he would smoke a pipe. And it was kind of, you know, smoking pipes is really kind of camaraderie, you know. And I said, well, you know, I don't smoke, you know.

[49:45]

I don't know what he thought then. He said, you should not be too good. You should not be too good a boy. There should be something wrong with you. Some kind of thing that you have that's not so good. And to keep you in line. To keep you a little bit humble. You should have something wrong with you. If you have something wrong with you, it's okay. I know you all do. So do I. Is that similar to the way Suzuki talks about having problems? In what way? Well, you know, you should be thankful for your problems. Oh yeah. It's related but different. We should be thankful for our problems because they give us something to do. They give us something to work with.

[50:46]

Yeah. And not to solve them. Not trying to solve them. Just working with them is good. Just dealing with them is good. If you work on your problem to solve it, then you just get another problem. It could be even worse. What is working on a problem? I don't know. I don't know. Smoking is not a problem. Well, I didn't smoke, so that was a problem. I didn't take up his pipe, so that was a problem. If I'd taken up his pipe, that would have been a problem. And the fact that I didn't take up his pipe was a kind of problem too. So I had to say, well, which problem am I going to deal with?

[51:50]

Shallow or deep? Shallow or deep? Shallow or deep, yes. Am I going to insult him by refusing his pipe? Or am I going to keep myself safe by not smoking? But he understood. But still, you know, whenever you make a choice, there's always a problem. So, there's nothing wrong with solving your problem. We do work to solve our problem. But we should realize that when we do solve our problem, that leaves you open for another problem. Because we just keep having one problem after another, no matter what we do. So we think we're going to finally solve the problem. And I thought about this when I was quite young.

[53:02]

There's something within us that won't let us rest. You know? Even though we sit Zazen, Zazen is like bringing everything to rest, in a way. It's a harmony. But still, there's always something that wants to pop out. Something that wants to keep moving in some direction. And we're always dealing with that thing. It's called our desire. It's always there. So, if we know that, you know, just dealing with our desire all the time is enough. We'll never solve the problem of desire. But we will always we always have it to work with. That's what desire is like. Vitality. It creates that vitality. And so how do we deal with the vitality that's created by desire?

[54:07]

Because desire always wants something. Even the desire for Buddhahood. And even if you attain pride becomes the biggest problem. So it's the hardest thing to work with because you're convinced that you're good and you don't want to admit that you have something bad. Admitting when you really think you're doing something so well and then to see that there's something bad, it's the hardest thing. Because you don't want to admit that. Because then you're a failure. And you don't want to admit you're a failure. So the main thing in solving a problem is to admit that you're a failure. And then you say, OK, I'm a failure.

[55:07]

To accept that is really important. And then you can work with whatever it is you have to work with. In other words, it's like Practice is like throwing a sieve into the ocean and watching it sink. It's not like failure, I'm a bad person. Failure is that there is always aspiration and intention. He sometimes talked about an artist. An artist who is so fussy and finicky about being perfect. Because whatever he does is never as perfect as his ideal. He drives himself crazy and commits suicide. This is one of the problems in Japan about students.

[56:12]

Students who have to pass these exams that are so difficult. And there is so much pressure to pass the exam. And if a Japanese person doesn't speak English absolutely perfectly, they feel embarrassed. So to fail the exam is excruciating. And they commit suicide all the time. They commit suicide all the time. And the great challenge for a Zen student is to be nobody. That's hard. That's really hard. Because we always want to be somebody. And that's what we're trying, you know.

[57:17]

Zen teachers get caught in this all the time. Because you have to know something. If you're a Zen teacher, you should know everything. It's expectation. And then you put yourself in a position where you can't back out without embarrassing yourself. And so you just keep putting your foot in making yourself more and more grandiose. I really like David Chadwick's book, A Zen Failure. Very good. So it's much better to be a zen failure than to be a success. Because actually that is success. But you shouldn't be proud of it. Oh, I'm a more successful you are. So anyway, the Tejo.

[58:39]

Here we are with the Five Deadly Sins of Hisataka. So, if someone without Buddha nature commits the five unforgivable sins, how could he take care of his parents? And the Master said, he absorbs feelings of piety for the first time at that then. that's a con. So, filial piety actually here means being self-reliant. The way you take care of your parents, taking care, I don't know, Tozan was terrible at taking care of his parents. I have to tell you, there's a story, a famous story of Tozan's mother. Tozan wouldn't see his mother.

[59:40]

She wanted to see him, and he said, I cannot see you until I really reach the zenith of practice. I'm just going to go out and be self-reliant. I don't want to rely on you. And so he kind of abandoned his mother, and his mother kind of died at his doorstep, according to the story. So this is a great controversial story. It's a controversial story. And it's a call. Because you can say, well, you know what? One side says, well, he's such a bad person. Badly, his mother, she died of divorce. That's so awful. And the other side is like, he made a vow, and he kept his vow. So everybody has some kind of opinion on it.

[60:45]

Most people think he's pretty bad. And it is pretty bad. It's terrible. But it's a kind of like... It's like compassion and... Idealism. A kind of story of compassion and idealism. Yeah. One of the first things I remember you teaching me in the present was someone asked about when someone wants their time, how much time do you give them? People like nagging you for your time. And you said, well, you can have some of my time, but you can't have all of my time. To me that feels like a middle way, if it's a mother or somebody that is needing our attention. Right. That we should offer up some bit of us.

[61:49]

Well, yeah, I think Tozan should have, you know, said hi mom, you know, said hi to our mother, you know, and taken care of her. I think that's what he should have done. His idealism, he was very idealistic. So, I think this is the fault of idealism. The same thing happened when Dong En went to China. And he went to China with Miao Zhen and some other monks. And one of the monks' teacher was dying. And he had a choice of should he stay with his dying teacher Who wanted him to stay? Or should he go to China? So he decided that he would go to China. And so that was a similar kind of controversial decision. And only that person can answer it.

[62:53]

We can have our opinions about it, but only that person. It's their karma, their decision. And no matter what our opinions are about it, It's up to that person to decide what they're doing. That's what I think. But, you know, should he stay with his dying teacher or should he go to China? Staying with his teacher would have helped him develop his practice as well as going to China. But going to China in those days, it's not like, well, I'm taking this moat. It was like, you know, this is the opportunity to go with, you know, this group and probably never come again, or at least not for a long time, or maybe never, you know. So he made that decision. So maybe he was a great ichantika, you know.

[64:00]

So, after this, Dongshan gave his approval and made him the head monk in the monastery. The master stated some feng at first, but his teaching did not spread. But later, he established the Dharma on Mount Yunchu, and four groups of male and female monastics and lay people gathered in droves. So people came to see him there. After the master, you know, here's the Taichung. Keizan's commentary. After the master met Sun Wei, that is, after Mungo Dorje met Sun Wei, he studied with Dongshan and with the elder Dharma brother of Samshan, in other words, Sozan. Through the above questions and answers, the doubts of master and disciple were completely settled, and Dongshan predicted, thanks to you, my Dharma will continue endlessly into the future. So his words were not meaningless for his dharma had been passed on generation after generation down to the day.

[65:08]

Truly the waters of Mount Dome have flowed onward and continue to bubble and sparkle today. So do you remember he talked about the river, the Dome River, right? So this is a reading to that. Passed on in the school and has preserved the purity of Doshan's teaching. Its source is not dried up, even now, and it remains cool and clear. So when Umkho asked the question, the question is, if there is no Maitreya on earth or in heaven, what does the name mean? So when Maitreya asked that question, he put the great function into notion. So the great function would be not just what does the name mean.

[66:12]

The name means loving kindness. So that's the great function. The great function of Maitreya. The essence of Maitreya. is Buddha nature, and the function is loving kindness. This is his great function, isn't that referring to Unga? Well, I think it's referring to Maitreya. It seems to me that it would be referring to him, with his name being Okay, yeah, when Ngo asked the question, he put his group in front of that group, so that's the function of Ngo, that's right. As a consequence, not only did Dongshan sleep rock, his whole body was dripping sweat, something that is rare now or in the past.

[67:16]

However, since Ungo lived in a hut on Sanfeng and received food offerings from his spirit, Dongshan said, I thought you were enlightened in person, but you still have these kinds of views. The one who answered was the one who should not take food from the spirit. To settle it, Dongchang said, without thinking good or without thinking evil, what is it? When you arrive in this realm fully and see it like this, spirits have no way to spread flowers. And demons and outsiders secretly seeking you cannot find you. On such an occasion, many of the Buddhas and ancestors are resentful. So, it's like, I think, you know, he went to Siddhāsa, right? Saying, when you're Siddhāsa, nothing can touch you. Basically, that's what he's saying. Nothing can sway you. Except your own mind, of course. Which is the only thing that sways you anyway.

[68:17]

But, if you really, you know, Right. So, when you arrive in this realm fully and see it like this, spirits like nobodies, spread flowers, and demons and outsiders secretly seeking, you cannot find you. On such an occasion, even the beings of the ancestors are resentful. Even the eye of a weirdo cannot spy on you. When you two experienced it in this way, you may be at peace, and that is just an assault, self-reliant and sufficiently capable by itself. Therefore, he who acts the Buddha nature, kills his father, kills his mother, kills the Buddha, and kills patriarchs, committing the five unpardonable sins over and over, there is no thought at such a time of reverence toward parents. Trying to get Yunchu to be intimately aware of this realm, Dongshan asked, how can he care for his parents? And Yunchu replied, he cares for his parents for the first time, at that.

[69:23]

So, Xiaoshan said the same thing. You did that? No. Therefore, so it's about when you self-reliant, that's when you're really caring for your parents. According to the legend, after Tosan, you won't like this, but after Tosan's mother died on his doorstep, he had a funeral for her and a service and I don't know, kind of fixed it up that his mother ascended to the Tushita heaven or something like that.

[70:26]

Doesn't sound like a good compensation. I mean, this is kind of like a cover-up or something, or a rationalization. Kind of a rationalization, yeah. Kind of like that. If you have children, the best thing that they can do for you is be self-reliant and take care of themselves. That's what satisfies the parent. When you see the child mature and being able to mature to the extent that they can take care of themselves and take care of others and so forth, that is more satisfying than what they do for themselves, or than the child doing for themselves, doing for the parent, directly.

[71:30]

So, if my child was doing something that was really wonderful in the world, and wasn't paying much attention, and not paying much attention to me, I would feel fine. It totally ignored him. Not ignoring, it was rejecting. Actively rejecting. Actively, in Tozan's case, yes. That feels different. It would be nice if his mother had taken care of herself. That's a good point. But she needed him with Mother's due. It's really an interesting case. And it will be thought about by everybody who knows about it for a long, long time and never really resolved.

[72:39]

Well, so before he really realizes Was that the opposite extreme then? That he was going to commit the five heinous sins over and over and over again? You know, that's just a metaphor. There's a saying, kill the Buddha. When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. And people say, oh my God, you're not supposed to do that. But it means, kill the Buddha means You would become the Buddha without relying on some other Buddha. Right? So independent means you don't need to rely on some other Buddha because you realize the Buddha within yourself. That's what that means. Kill the Buddha, kill the Arhat, kill the mother and father.

[73:44]

It doesn't mean that literally. No. But you're supposed to do that. Metaphor. Yeah, I mean, of course. But, yeah. It's an extreme expression. You know, it kind of brings you up to thinking about it. But not literally. So that's the great achyantaka, when you can, or you commit the five deadly sins. by becoming independent. You cut the umbilical cords. And then you respect all the Buddhas. And you, you know, pay homage to all the Buddhas and their parents and not all of it. Because you're independent. And you can do that.

[74:46]

And you can even rely on them. You can rely on them after that, you say? Yeah. After he's become completely independent? Yeah. Straight away. Because they're as equals? Yeah, as friends. Yeah. That's unexplained. Yeah. But that's believable. Yeah. Yeah, because then they become more equal. That's what doughnut transmission is. It's becoming equal. That's what it's about. Exactly. You become equal. Even if you don't feel equal, you become equal. You do. Because the Dharma Transition Ceremony is creating hierarchy and equality. The teacher is always the teacher. The student is always the student. But it's equal. There's equality. That's why Dogya can say that any of the ancestors are the teachers of the Buddhas of the past.

[76:03]

Because it's all equal. So, that's what independence means. It means you're now independent. which means you're equal and all the ancestors are your support and your friends. So we can't take any of this, you know, literally. As soon as you start taking any of this literally, you're lost. Even to a son's mother, you know, you can't take it literally or you're lost. It has some meaning, you know, the literal meaning. So, entered the Ancestors' room as the top candidate for the transmission and received the Dharma intact.

[77:19]

Dongshan made a point of asking him, what is your name? In a meeting between master and disciple, you don't proceed on the basis of former circumstances. So Dongshan asked him, what is your name? You must realize that Dongshan knew the master's name, but he had a reason for asking like this. The Master answered, Daoyin. Even if asked over and over in countless ways, it would still have to be Daoyin. He made no excuses. Even though Dongshan did not deny such a notion, still, in order to get him to say whether or not he had the capacity to pass through barriers and escape limitations, he asked, say it from beyond, and the Master oddly lacked the six senses and seven forms of consciousness. He kept saying, what is your name?

[78:21]

Even though he said it from beyond, he kept saying, my name is Daoyang. He didn't think, my name is buddhanature or something like that. He said, my name is Daoyang. My name is Ongal. In other words, he didn't get caught into Tozan's trap of thinking of some fancy name like buddhanature. or essence of mind, or something like that. He just said, ta ye, which is the same thing as saying essence of mind. He didn't make a distinction between essence and function. So he used the function to express the essence, which we all have to do in our everyday life. A practice is how you use the function to express the essence.

[79:21]

It's very easy. Whenever you bow, that's the function that expresses the essence. Because you let go of everything and simply make a pure act of expressing the function by bowing. The teacher raises his eyebrows up and down. That's expressing the essence through the function. He wiggles his ears. That's expressing the essence through the function. What is the gateless gate? Every activity is the gateway. If you understand what practice is, it's expressing the essence through the function.

[80:28]

We're thinking about functioning, but we don't think about essence. So that's dualistic activity. But the activity is the same. Whatever we do is expressing the function, but we don't always realize that the essence is the essence of the function. We think, well, my thinking is the essence of the function. It is, but what is the essence of the thinking? So, our very nature pervades the universe. and the functioning of the universe. The whole universe is practicing Shikantaza. Just this. It's not some special practice of Soto school. The whole universe is continuously practicing Shikantaza. That's why we say that our practice is not something that we do for ourself.

[81:36]

It is something we do for ourself, but ourself is the whole universe. So, what is innate, in essence, is downyane. Even if asked over and over in countless ways, it would still have to be downyane. He made no excuses. Even though Dongshan did not deny such a notion, still, and under division to say whether or not he has the capacity to pass through barriers, and escape limitations, he escaped from beyond. Escaped from the essence. The Master already lacked the six senses and the seven forms of consciousness. These are the eight levels of consciousness. To say he lacked them means that he went beyond them. Beyond consciousness. Enlightenment is something beyond consciousness. He looked like someone whose face was missing. or like a straw dog, so he said, or a wooden man, or a stone woman.

[82:44]

So he said, if I say it from beyond, then I cannot say that I am Daoyi. It is extremely difficult to reach this realm. If a student had not reached this realm, he lacks the power to proceed. He will still be confused by false views, because Munchu guarded this realm carefully. The two of them had this dialogue about the person utterly lacking the buddha nature. So, utterly lacking in buddhanature means total buddhanature. So there was no violation of Dongshan's teaching. If you monks become fully aware in awakening, you will be true actual monks who have completely resolved the one great matter. And so here's the verse. What can I say today so that you will fully understand this story? So after a pause he said, Never has it been bound to names and forms. How can you speak of it as beyond a relative?

[83:47]

How can you speak of it as absolute or relative? Or essence and function? They're not two things. So I think if someone else has Name or form it has never had. What transcendence or innocence did they speak of? Eminence. He was an eminence. I didn't include his translation because we have enough translations, and we can work with each other. That's the end of the story. And it's 5 after 5, and we have a little kitten, and a little dachshund.

[84:48]

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