But we've been spared the difficult part of the snow, so we can just enjoy the light white. Before I start my talk, I just want to say something about Dogasan. There's not a lot of time for Dogasan because There are a good number of people who want to have it. So I want to limit it to five minutes. Now, in order to have dokasan in five minutes, you have to really distill your question, distill your whatever it is that you want to present to something very succinct. And then we can get to the essence quickly. That's really the nature of Dokusan, is to do something to find that place, the vital place in your question, and deal with that.

[01:17]

I don't say that I will answer your question, but I will respond to it. So that's the idea. Even if I say five minutes, you know, it will still take ten minutes. But we should keep in mind that understanding. Also, you know, my way of doing it is a little different than the way we do it here. Not much different, but a little. And when you come into the Dogasan room, there's the Buddhist statue. And it's okay to bow to the Buddha statue, but it's not necessary to prostrate to the Buddha statue. When we pass a Buddha figure, we usually bow to it. So then when you come in front of my seat, I don't try to tell you how you should bow, because that's your offering to me.

[02:28]

So I'm not going to tell you what kind of offer you should make to me. But it's customary for people to do a prostration. But it's not necessary. So if you feel like doing that as it's customary, it's fine. If you don't feel like doing that, it's also fine. I won't judge you by whichever way you do it. But we should at least bow to each other, one way or another, and then sit down. So today, my talk, or this weekend, I'm going to talk about Dogen, Zen Master Dogen's Eihei Shingi. Eihei Shingi, Shingi, is like procedures, a way of doing things.

[03:35]

You can call it formal practice or custom, actually, customary ways of doing things. I don't like to use the word rules, but it's actually called the rules for pure practice. When we talk about rules, you know, then everybody gets kind of, uh-huh. But I don't think of them as rules. I think of them as procedures which help us create a harmonious practice together, a harmonious, mindful practice together, which really helps us to actualize So practice realization, which is our practice. According to Dogen, practice is realization and realization is practice. We're not practicing to attain some special experience.

[04:46]

So our practice mode is the enlightened practice. We also say sometimes five minutes of practice is five minutes of enlightenment. One hour of practice is one hour of enlightenment, if it's real practice, if it's total devotion to practice. So that's why our way of practice is really based on a daily practice. That's why we emphasize daily practice. It's possible, I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, although everyone is very busy, it's still possible to practice.

[05:56]

If you really want to practice, it's possible. So, Dogen's Ehe Shingi, Ehe is like Ehechi, Dogen's temple. And Shingi means, as I said, procedures for practice. And Dogen wrote various fascicles called Shobogenzo, which most of you know about. And that's more like the philosophical or deep expression of his understanding. Shingi is more like the practical side. So sometimes in the Soto school, they say that the Shingi is more important than the Shobo Genzo. You can read the Shobo Ganza without ever having to practice.

[07:00]

But Shingi, although it seems very practical, is the way to do things. So Dogen, although Dogen wrote these Shingi pieces, there are six of them. each one pertaining to a certain aspect of practice, relating to a certain aspect of practice, he didn't put it together as one piece. These pieces were put together by other people in around the 17th century, 18th century, as a comprehensive notebook for practice. Although, you know, after Dogen passed away in the 13th century, his writings were totally neglected until around the 17th century, 18th century, when they were resurrected by Manzan and Menzan, two very prominent Soto Zen monks.

[08:24]

And it hasn't been until really the 20th century that Dogon has become popular. Isn't that amazing? And then in the 18th century, there was a kind of revival, Dogon revival in Japan. Because there were these Chinese monks who came to Japan And people were very much taken by their practice. But a lot of the Soto monks said, well, wait a minute. I think there was somebody who came with a Soto practice. I think his name was Dogen. And so they read a little bit of Dogen's practice and started practicing Dogen's practice again. So Eihe Shingi is kind of connected with that.

[09:27]

And of course, this is what is always referred to where there is practice in Japan, where there is actual practical practice in Japan. So these pieces are divided into procedures on the one hand and examples on the other. So the procedures are like how you do things, you know, very practical. Like, what does the Kanyan do? What does the director do? And what does the work meter do? And then there are these stories, like koans, which illustrate so-and-so, when he was a Tenzo, encountered this, you know, so it's a kind of example, simplery, conduct. So, For monastic practice, it's very interesting to read the practical stuff.

[10:32]

For lay practice, I think it's more interesting to read the examples. But I think we should read both. We should study both. Because even though the monastic procedures are for a monastic practice, you know, our practice is quasi-monastic. It's based on a monastic model and filtered or, you know, adjusted to fit a lay practice. It's very unique, this practice. No one else in the world practices this way. And, you know, in Asia, especially in Japan, whatever a person's occupation is, that's what they do. We have multiple occupations, you know, we change from one occupation to another, one job to another, one interest to another, but that's not unusual of anybody else.

[11:42]

And so we have this very flexible lifestyle and the world of possibilities. that is very unusual. So when our teachers came to America, people who have careers and jobs and schooling and housewives and, you know, were all able to start practicing. And so the teachers just opened up the practice to everybody. And being a monastic model, which fits a temple model, or is adapted to a temple model, and then adapted to the lifestyle of housewives and career people and students, we can take

[12:51]

the spirit of this monastic practice and apply it to our everyday lives and our everyday practice without incorporating all of the procedures, because that's not possible, even in a monastic situation. It's not always possible. But anyway, I think the main thrust of the monastic procedures that we study here is about compassion. How to open up the practice in a compassionate way. and a compassionate and harmonious way of life.

[13:58]

That's really what it's about. Sometimes people think of formal practice as oppressive. But actually formal practice is a form of compassion and harmonious way of life if you just allow yourself to let go of what we think of as our freedom. So, I'm going to start here by... I just want to say that there's a book called Pure Rules for the Monastic Community. standards. Now, I went to a translation of the Eiheichin by Taigen, Dan Layton, and Shohaku Mura, and Kaz Tanahashi and I, about the same time that they were doing their translation, were also doing a translation of just the

[15:15]

Chi Chi Shingi. Chi Chi Shingi is one of the sections. Chi Chi means the offices of the monastery. The Chi Chi is like the director, and the Tenzo, and the work leader, and the assistant director, and who else? And the work leader. Why did you say that? The eno. Yeah, the eno, the person who takes care of the monks, and so forth. So these are the officers. And Dong-In talks about, in the Chiji Shingi, that part, gives examples of how officers, or the people who hold the office, conduct themselves. So Kaz Tanahashi and I did that translation, and so I'm going to read from our translation and comment on it.

[16:32]

And I'm going to start with the headbanger, which is one of my favorite sections here. He talks about the head gardener. You know, in Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen, Rinzai Zen is sometimes characterized as a general, a teacher is like the general leading his troops. And Soto Zen is characterized as the farmer growing his crops. bringing up everybody. So this is the head gardener. So the position of head gardener is most difficult and toilsome, and should be served by someone who has the way mind, doshin, way mind means way-seeking mind, which is

[17:46]

a prerequisite for practice. Way-mind is like, you know, I think in Tibetan Buddhism they talk a lot about the thought of enlightenment. We don't use so much the term thought of enlightenment, we use the term a way-seeking mind. This position should not be filled by someone who does not have the way mind. This person is always in the garden, sowing and cultivating according to the seasons. In this position, Buddha face, ancestor face, donkey feet, horse feet are manifest. It's like being a farmer or a peasant all day long plowing and hoeing, all day long carrying excrement and urine for fertilizing, free from self-concern, awaiting the right moment of ripening for harvesting, careful not to miss the right time.

[18:55]

So there's so much in that paragraph. This person's always in the garden, sowing and cultivating according to the seasons. Sometimes we think of practice as this garden, the place of cultivation. We don't always think of our practice as self-cultivation, although in Buddhism self-cultivation is a big subject. Cultivation has the feeling of doing something in order to get something. We cultivate the ground in order for the plants to grow. But in our practice, we cultivate the ground just to cultivate the ground.

[20:02]

And then, surprisingly, the flowers grow. So the person is always in the garden, sowing and cultivating according to the seasons. In this position, Buddha face, ancestor face, donkey feet, and horse feet are manifest. Buddha face, you know, is like our original face, right? And ancestor face is like Each one of us, when we're totally immersed in practice, is an ancestor. You know, we look back at the people who came before us and we say, those are the ancestors. But the people who haven't been born yet will look back at whoever is here now and say, well, these are the ancestors.

[21:05]

So Buddha face, ancestor face, it's all here. And horse feet and donkey feet are like, you know, Buddha faith and ancestor faith are like higher. And donkey feet and horse feet are, you know, the grunt work, right? The actual doing, getting your feet, getting your clothes and your feet dirty, getting your hands dirty, doing the work. So donkey feet and horse feet are manifest. It's like being a farmer or a peasant. Just doing the work, you know. Not thinking of it as anything special. All day long plowing and hoeing. All day long he carries excrement and urine for fertilizing, free from self-concern. It's free from self-concern is the most important thing, actually.

[22:13]

Sometimes we talk about, you know, people say, or we read in the books, no self. There is no self. And then we get all worried about that. And we ask questions like, what will happen when I don't have a self? Nothing. You don't have a self right now. What will it be like if I don't have a self? You'll be just like you are right now. Just exactly the way you are now, when you have no self. As long as you're free from self-concern, you have no self. When you start to be overly concerned and self-conscious and worried about yourself, then you have a self.

[23:23]

Because the self arises with grasping. The self arises with attachment. When there's no grasping and no attachment, There's no self. That sounds very simplistic. And it is. But... It's so. Sometimes we think getting rid of the self is like destroying the body or destroying the mind. Getting rid of the ego, you know. How can you get... You can't get rid of the ego. You can't get rid of something by trying to throw it away. It's like Medusa. You cut off the head of the snakes, more snakes go out. So, actually, letting go of self means totally accepting self.

[24:28]

Yourself. Totally accepting yourself. And, when we sit in Zazen, we worry about all the thoughts are going on our head. As if, when the thoughts are gone, they will be sitting in pure practice with no self. And that's another delusion. The fact is that we sit in the midst of delusion. We say, settle the self on the self. to sit in the midst of delusion and accept our delusion and know, this is delusion. It's wonderful. Don't we love our delusion? We'd be bored to tears if we didn't. But we know this is delusion. We know what it is. When you know this is illusion, that's enlightenment.

[25:39]

If you say, I'm not crazy, that's illusion. We're all a little bit nuts. We're all, every one of us, a little bit nuts. So, enjoy it. But don't grasp it. That's the trick, is not grasping our delusion, getting caught by our delusion, being attached to our delusion. But even so, I am attached to my delusion. That's a form of enlightenment. Then we're totally honest and open, and it's a great relief. We're not, you know, suppressing something or putting on a good face.

[26:43]

So, all day long, the gardener carries excrement and urine for fertilizing. Excrement and urine, you know, is our solution. We're carrying it around all day long. But we're free from it. Because within the practice we can be free from our delusions, even though they're there. Within dhatu, we sit down with our delusions, in the midst of our delusions, but we're free of our delusions at the same time. You can't be free of them by trying to get rid of them. But they will drop away. they can drop away. When, you know, practice, the wheel of practice is turning, then it listens up, or clings, and then things drop away.

[27:59]

So, all day long carrying excrement and urine for fertilizing, free from self-concern, awaiting the right moment of ripening for harvesting, careful not to miss the right time. This is really important. Not to force something. We can't force awakening, we can't force realization, or freedom, or whatever. within the cycle of practice, the ring, we call it the ring, the way ring, actually, the ring of practice, we wait for the right moment to make a move. So it's having lots of patience. This is like the teacher has a lot of patience with the students. As soon as the student, teacher gets impatient, then it can really make things

[29:03]

make difficulties. So the relationship between a teacher and a student, if it's a real relationship, it's forever. And the teacher waits forever, or very patiently. And then at the right moment, makes the right move. There's a koan about that. It's called picking and tapping. At the right moment, the mother hen taps the egg, taps the egg from outside while the chick taps the egg from inside. And then at just the right moment, they break the egg together. I don't know if that actually happens in chickens,

[30:06]

But it's a great simile. So this is an example of the head gardener as a teacher. And the nice thing about this is that you don't have to be in the position of being the head person. The head gardener is kind of a humble position, but Dogen saying this person, he's saying this person should be this, right? Should be is a very tricky term. We would like it if... has this kind of good understanding, and it's wonderful when they're in that position.

[31:28]

And then, just through their activity, they teach. Teaching isn't necessarily by word of mouth, or through lectures, or whatever. Teaching is how you embody the teaching. How you embody the practice is how you transmit the teaching. That's the best way. That's why it's nice when everybody's practicing together. It's easier to have the practice transmitted just through association. That's the nice thing about monastic practice. Everybody's practicing together in the same place every day. And through association, maturity happens. But at the same time, wherever we are, we can set an example for practice.

[32:35]

And when a practice place is working well, and people come, just entering into that atmosphere uplifts people. I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, when you meet a mature, enlightened person, you are uplifted naturally. I think that's true. So then Dogon says, when he plows the ground and sows the seeds, not wearing formal dharma robes or okesa, but only wearing white under robes and a work robe.

[33:41]

However, at the time when the community gathers to chant the Buddha's names or the sutras or zazen, listen to talks or have interviews, the gardener always puts on the robe and joins the community and is not supposed to miss these activities. So, how do we translate that to lay practice? You know, here we are, most everybody going to work, doing whatever we do, and then When the bell rings, somewhere, wherever you are, oh, it's time for dharma. That's ideal. It's not impossible to have a lay practice where we have, where there's a schedule,

[34:45]

time to do practice. Not impossible. But one has to have the way mind to do it. That's got to be, has to be something that is really important to you. When in the garden every morning, the gardener, or every morning and evening, offers incense, bows and chants the name of Buddha and makes a dedication to the dragon spirit and to the ground spirit. You know, this is the ancient world. Dogen lived in the 13th century and even in China today, you know, Chinese people have a spirit for every part of the house, for every part of the ground, every part of the landscape. The place is full of spirits, you know.

[35:50]

And so, Dogen talks about the dragon spirit. The dragon spirit is the spirit of, is like creating rain. And the spirit of the ground is like the spirit which takes care of bringing up the crops. So those two working together, make things happen. So, it's like, you know, an anthropomorphic way of focusing on these powers. And then, without ever being negligent, so at night, sleeping in a cottage in the garden, And assistants and workers often change at the direction of the work leader.

[36:52]

That little passage means he's always given new people to work with. So the head gardener has to always train new people. and you know when you're working with people you get to where over a period of time where you don't have to say much you know and everybody's working in harmony and then suddenly somebody new comes in and you have to train them so this is another thing that one has to be able to be open and accept that and and be very kindly and training people. So indeed, the position of gardener has been served by renowned people who have the way mind. Those who have a small capacity or are ill-suited have not been put in this position.

[37:58]

In the community of my late master, Tien-Tung Rui-Ching, Old Man Poo of Western Shoe District was first appointed to this position when he was over 60 years old. During this time, the positions in the community were stable for almost three years, and the monks were joyful. My late master was deeply pleased. If we compare this old man Pooh with the abbots of many monasteries, they cannot come up to the practice of his head gardener." Well, there's two things here. When there is one person who is really mature in the practice, that person can be put anywhere. Dishwasher, head gardener, whatever. And that will stabilize the whole community. Doesn't matter where they're working, what position they have.

[39:02]

They will stabilize the whole community. You know, in Zen Center, in San Francisco, there's a kind of... the idea of, well, what do we do with people who have been practicing 20 years, you know, 25 years, and they're advanced students, and they have Darwin transmission, what do we do with them? What's their advanced practice? Well, their advanced practice is to be the head gardener, be the dishwasher, cycle back into the community. If you feel that you're losing something, losing status, and you're not mature. And the other thing is that Dogen is always talking about the ideal, you know, he should be this way. But actually, when it comes to practice, there are two ways of choosing people for positions. I don't like to use the term jobs. Job means

[40:03]

To me, it means something that you get paid for doing. But a position is more like the place where you are, given the duties that you have, you relate to the whole community from that position. So the position of, sometimes we think, well, so-and-so is really talented so we'll give her this position as against so-and-so is not very talented so we'll give her this position this position so sometimes it's for the sake of the position and sometimes it's for the sake of the person it's usually better to do something for the sake of the person rather than for the sake of the position. But sometimes, like when you need a builder, you need work done.

[41:12]

So you use a good carpenter and you put him in that position, reluctantly, because you need to get the work done. But it's better to put somebody else in, because there's nothing about carpentry. So in the monastic life, you usually give someone who has no talent, a position that they know nothing about. And then they have to scramble and really work at dealing with that. It's a great problem. And the work may not get done the way you like it. But it's for the person. The person comes first, and the place comes second. But often, because we have, you know, our minds shift and we think the place is the most important thing. And the people are just kind of working to keep up the place. That's when things get reversed. Suzuki Roshi often said we should not be chauvinistic about Zen Center.

[42:22]

If Zen Center gets too big and too interesting as a place and we start building big buildings putting a lot of big Buddha statues in, that will be the decline of the practice. The practice should serve the people. And even if we lose Tassajara, we can always find some other place to practice. So we shouldn't be so attached to a place, or try to make something wonderful, too wonderful, So, although Dogen says physicians of head gardeners' difficulty should be given to a person with a way mind, I think it should be given to a person with a way mind.

[43:28]

But it doesn't necessarily have to be given to someone who's very talented. And people can learn how to do things. And when you give a position to someone who knows how to do it, you're not helping them. They just feel more huffed up. Not necessarily, but... attitude is very important. You know, Thich Nhat Hanh, I remember saying, as you probably know this very well, the Vietnamese boat people, when they got out in the ocean, you know, they were in these little boats, many, many people in a small boat, and there's only about this much, two or three inches of

[44:31]

above the water. And people rocking the boat could easily capsize it. And if there was someone who was very calm sitting in the middle of the boat, that would help stabilize the boat. So this is our practice. There's also the question of taking practice into the world. As lay practitioners, we come to Zazen and we take our practice into the world. But it's not like a model or a grid that you superimpose on your world. It's basically the attitude of stability. in all of your activities. What we learn or discover in practice is this amazing stability, calmness, stability, and composure.

[46:00]

You don't have to do anything special. You simply be yourself. That's called being yourself. Sometimes we say, well, asking a person to be themselves is the worst thing you can ask them to do. But when we say be ourselves, we mean this stability, and this composure, and this calmness, stillness within all of our activity. You don't have to do anything special. During my talks, if you have a question, you can feel free to ask about it.

[46:38]

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