I vow to chase the spirits of the darkness. Yesterday I talked on the first section of Dogen's Kakudoyo Jinshu, Guidelines for Practicing the Way. And so I'm going to continue today with section number four. foundation for all of us to study Dogen's Gakkai-do Yujinshu.

[01:11]

Even though some of his attitudes are archaic, given that the circumstances of his time and his place, Nevertheless, what he says is really applicable completely today, and especially for our practice. It's not necessary for us to be Dogon scholars or to read the whole Shobo Ginzo, but we should understand something about Dogon's, we should understand Dogon's attitude and because it's very important for our practice. This kind of work is, I think, important for us. In this fourth section,

[02:21]

You should not practice Buddha's teaching with the idea of gain. This was Suzuki Roshi's fundamental attitude, no gaining idea, which has baffled many and has put off more and always presents a challenge to our self-centeredness. So Dogen says, the practice of Buddha's teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions of the master, not by following your own ideas. In fact, Buddha's teaching cannot be attained by either having ideas or not having ideas.

[03:28]

Only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way, will body and mind be calm. If body and mind are not yet calm, they will not be at ease. When body and mind are not at ease, thorns grow on the path of realization. So, that's the first paragraph. He says, the practice of Buddhist teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions of a master and not following your own ideas. We talked about this a little bit yesterday in the opening section, of course, touched on all of the other parts, contained a little bit about all the other parts.

[04:37]

And this part expands on the part of no gaining mind. And Dogen was very adamant about having a teacher so that the practice that we do would be authentic practice and not practice which was diluted or strained from what we feel is the true Buddhist understanding. So that's why he always says you should find a good teacher. And it doesn't matter so much what the teacher's character is like, because all teachers are good and bad, both good and bad.

[05:39]

But you should just learn the Dharma. Sometimes the teacher is so bad that you can't practice with that teacher. But there is a kind of leeway. The boat tips this way, then the boat tips this way. But if the boat tips too far over, you should probably leave. But each one of us has some leeway. We go this way, very good. We go this way, oh this is where he's very bad. But if the teacher, if the true Dharma is being transmitted through the teacher, then you can just pay attention to the Dharma.

[06:49]

You can learn the Dharma. And you can actually learn something from the teacher's faults. It's possible. So rather than idolize a teacher, you should, through your own discernment, be able to tell which are the good points of a teacher and which are the teacher's faults. If you don't see that, then you have a problem. Even if the teacher is Buddha, we have to remember that Buddha was a human being. So, Dogen Zenji, when you read Dogen Zenji, you can see Dogen's wonderful Dharma. and you can see Dogen's wonderful personality and you can see Dogen's faults. If you don't see Dogen's faults, you're not seeing Dogen. Fortunately, Dogen's dharma, Dogen's good side far outweighs his faults.

[08:00]

So you can study with Dogen. But we should also see where Dogen's faults are and try not to emulate those faults. It's kind of like with your parents. Parents have a good side and they have a bad side. And so when we grow up, we say, well, I'm going to emulate the good things of my parents, but I try not to pass on the bad things to my kids. But if they're too bad, then it's not so good. You might have to run away from home. And also, So we have to be able to assess and evaluate, you know, not just on the basis of our own self-centeredness, but to be able to see who we are in the picture.

[09:14]

So he says, nevertheless, the practice of Buddhist teaching is always done by receiving the essential instructions of a master, not by following your own ideas. because our own ideas are usually partial. And in order to understand Buddhism, we really have to lay down our own ideas and our own ambitions. Ambition is part of what he's talking about here, and I'll talk about that. If we say no gaining mind or not to seek something, what is the place of ambition or seeking? So he says, in fact, Buddhist teaching cannot be attained by having ideas or not having ideas.

[10:19]

Or another way of translating that is either with mind or with no mind. Ordinary people, it's said that ordinary people practice with mind. And Shravakas and Pachekas Buddhas practice with no mind. And these are the two sides, you know, mind and no mind. Buddhadharma is no mind. If you say no mind, what about mind? And if you say mind, what about no mind? So middle way is neither mind nor no mind. It's just like saying thinking, not thinking. Only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind be calm or harmonized.

[11:45]

Very important point. Dogen over and over again talks about the purpose of practice is to harmonize body and mind with the way. If you can harmonize body and mind with the way, you don't have to worry about anything else. Sounds very simple, but not so simple. Only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind become. So pure practice means non-dualistic practice, practice of non-duality. In the very first section of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Roshi talks about pure practice.

[12:53]

He says, practice is difficult, but not because you sit for long hours with your legs hurting. That's not the difficulty of practice. The difficult part of practice is keeping our mind pure, which means to keep our mind from falling into a dualistic state. Keep our mind from clinging to duality of good and bad, right and wrong, rejecting and grasping. Only when the mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind be calm. If body and mind are not yet calm, they will not be at ease. When body and mind are not at ease, thorns grow on the path of realization.

[14:02]

Another way of translating that is to say they become obstacles to realizing enlightenment. When body and mind are not harmonized with the way. the body and mind become obstacles to realizing enlightenment. So that pure practice and the way coincide or harmonize, how should we proceed? So, okay, so how should we do this? Proceed with a mind which neither grasps nor rejects. the mind unconcerned with name or gain. Do not practice Buddhadharma with the thought that it is to benefit others or for the sake of others. Maybe a better way. Don't practice it for the sake of others. And another way of translating it could be, don't practice in order to gain a good reputation.

[15:11]

or in order to gain something from others. That's another way of hearing that. But, literally, it's, don't do it to benefit others. But that benefit has different connotations. And it sounds startling. Don't do it to benefit. But I thought that you were supposed to do it for all sentient beings. Actually, the point of practice, the vow, is to practice for the sake of all beings, not just for your own sake. But, Do again goes on to expand on this understanding, which is, if we We just practice for the sake of practice.

[16:14]

Ultimately, when you reason it out, you realize that the only way you can practice is for the sake of practice. Any other kind of practice is just egotistical, even practicing just for the sake of others. People in the present world, even those practicing the Buddha Dharma, have a mind which is far apart from the way. They practice what others praise and admire, even though they know it does not accord with the way. So this is difficult. If you know what true practice is, and then someone starts doing something which is very and people are attracted to it and then you kind of, well maybe I should do that too.

[17:23]

It's easy to be drawn in to some worldly way or way that's not so strong or direct. And because everybody does it, you feel you should do it too. Otherwise, you won't be part of the mainstream. So he says, they practice what others praise and admire, even though they know it does not accord with the way. If no one repeats, if no one respects or flatters then they reject and do not practice what others fail to honor and praise, even though they know it is the true way. In other words, if no one praises you or flatters you on what you're doing, you may feel that maybe this is not right, maybe you shouldn't be doing it.

[18:30]

How painful. You should try to quiet your mind and investigate whether these attitudes are buddhadharma or not. You may be completely ashamed. Actually, literally, it's shame on you. Shame on you. The eye of the sage illuminates this. The eye of the sage means Buddha is always watching. Or in this time, They used to say things like, the devas and the sages, the eyes are on you. You can't escape from being seen, no matter what you do. But actually, we can't escape being seen by ourself. This is the eye of the sage, or the Buddha's eye is our own true eye, our own true seeing.

[19:38]

Whatever we do is seen by that true eye, and we can't really escape that, even though no one else is looking. So whatever our attitudes are, whether they're hidden or revealed, are seen by the eye of truth. So in this paragraph, he says, people in the present world, even those practicing the Buddhadharma, have a mind which is far apart from the way. They practice what others praise and admire, even though they know it does not accord with the way. They reject and do not practice what others fail to honor and praise, even though they know it is the true way. How painful. You should try to quiet your mind and investigate whether these attitudes are Buddhadharma or not. You may be completely ashamed.

[20:41]

The eye of the sage illuminates this." He's also talking to people of his own time. not be intimidated by the opinions of others. And not to be drawn off by feeling that because others don't admire what you do or believe in it, that what you do is wrong. It's really hard sometimes to stay have faith in what you're doing when people are either criticizing it or don't believe in it. Clearly, Buddhadharma is not just practiced, it's not practiced for one's own sake, even less for the sake of fame and profit.

[22:00]

Just for the sake of Buddhadharma you should practice. Actually, we should never expect any reward for practicing. And this is one of the hardest things to accept for a lot of people. Because in our ordinary life, when we do something, we expect some result or some reward. Especially, you know, if you practice religion, your reward should be you go to heaven. But how do you do something without expecting anything?

[23:04]

This is actually called liberation. To do something without expectation or being attached to result is called liberation. And it's called enlightenment. When we sit zazen, you can't sit zazen if you expect something. If you expect something, you just get anxious and start wiggling, and you won't be able to accept where you are. So non-expectation is the same as dropping body and mind. Anticipation and expectation create a self. These are maybe two of the main factors in creating the self.

[24:12]

Expectation and restlessness, desire, wanting something. wanting people to recognize us, wanting recognition, and getting some position. And being able to manipulate and to do something that people will admire. But these qualities are natural for us human beings. So we can't just do away with them, all of them. There has to be some desire, and there has to be some

[25:22]

But, you know, to just do something for its own sake, out of freedom, is an enlightened way. To just do something and let it go. Just do and let go. Over and over. Do and let go. Do and let go. Do and let go. So a person who has realization has nothing to do, is not driven to do anything, is not driven to do anything for personal gain, but turns over this drive that we have

[26:35]

to Dharma. Just offers it up to Dharma for the benefit of all beings. But not necessarily for the sake of others. Just for the benefit of the Dharma. If we take care of the Dharma, the Dharma takes care of all beings. I don't take care of all beings. I just take care of the Dharma. There's somebody in the boiler room of the ship Stoking it. But the ship takes the people across. So whatever reward we have or whatever merit there is, just turn back over to Dharma. It's just... We don't keep it. If we keep it, then we have a big problem. We have a problem of keeping something that doesn't belong to us.

[27:47]

Because even if we do something good, it's not really myself that's doing something good. If we say, I did this wonderful thing. That's just a delusion. Something wonderful was done, but if you say, I did this wonderful thing, that's just a delusion. So the merit is turned over to Buddhadharma. The reward is turned over to Buddhadharma. The result is turned over to Buddhadharma. And then Buddhadharma directs our actions. And we just flow in accord with Buddhadharma, harmonizing body and mind with the way. Then we don't have to worry about, am I doing the right thing?

[28:55]

What's the result of all my practice? It's practice, moment by moment. There's nothing to expect. There's nothing to gain. And then there's no question about who am I. Who am I is, who I am is what I do. If you try to take who am I out of the context of what I do, you just keep searching and searching forever. So Dogen says,

[30:04]

Then he says, all Buddha's compassion and sympathy for sentient beings, this is a clumsy sentence, all Buddha's compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither for their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of Buddhadharma. Isn't it apparent that insects and animals nurture their offspring? exhausting themselves with painful labors, yet in the end have no reward when their offspring are grown. In this way, the compassion of small creatures for their offspring naturally resembles the thoughts of all Buddhas for sentient beings. This inconceivable or subtle dharma of all Buddhas is not compassion alone, but Compassion is the basis of the various gates or teachings that appear universally. Already we are children of the Buddhas. Why not follow their lead?

[31:25]

Students, do not practice Buddhadharma for your own sake. Do not practice Buddhadharma for name and gain. Do not practice Buddhadharma to attain blissful reward. Do not practice Buddhadharma to attain miraculous effects. Practice Buddhadharma solely for the sake of Buddhadharma. This is the way. But when we come to practice, actually, we're thinking about sometimes some kind of blissful reward. And especially when we think about meditation, What most people seek in meditation is a blissful reward. When will I have that wonderful, promised, great feeling of delight going on in meditation?

[32:40]

or the miraculous effects, blissful rewards and miraculous effects of our practice. Blissful rewards might happen, and miraculous effects might happen, but if you expect them, they won't happen. And what if they do happen? If they do happen, they'll disappear. And then you'd be even more dejected. Where did it go? And then you keep trying to get it back. You keep working for another miraculous effect or another blissful reward. And we just go round and round. cocaine.

[33:52]

Why work so hard? But it's hard to just practice for the sake of practice. To not anticipate anything is really hard. You know, when we do the bell, the Doan watches and goes like this with the bell, with the beater ready to hit the bell, a long, long time before the Doshi does any bows or anything. And this kind of anticipation really puts you on edge. And then when you actually do it,

[34:56]

you're so keyed up that the sound reflects the anticipation and tenseness. But if you learn to just be settled inside, then at just the right moment, pick up the beater in a very relaxed way, you sound the bell, and the bell reflects that subtleness, and the sound of a Buddha enters the room. Japanese practice, they always think about the sound of the bell as being, creating a Buddha. When you hit the sound of the bell, or when the bell sounds, the sound of the bell, a Buddha is created. It means that the person sounding the bell, the reflection of the sound is a reflection of the person hitting the bell, the person's subtleness or nature.

[36:18]

It's very much like calligraphy. Calligraphy expresses the person. And if you can read calligraphy, you can see which calligraphies are done by Buddhas because they're done without anticipation in a settled way that's very different than most writing. So our actions can also express our buddhanature. The sound of the bell can express buddhanature. And our actions can express buddhanature.

[37:22]

And certainly our unselfish mind expresses buddhanature. And Zazen, in Zazen we become very settled and Buddha nature is expressed from that settledness, that deep place of neither grasping or rejecting and without anticipation. When something comes up, just take care of it. But it's not always easy to be there.

[38:29]

Anyway, this is how we should practice. When we're settled, we don't need so much. And we don't need to be so much. Deeply settled. When we're deeply settled, we don't need to be so much. We don't need to have so much. And we can give a lot. This is the nature of dana, the first paramita. Dana is the expression of prajna. Dhana is the first of the six paramitas. Prajna, or wisdom, is the sixth. But the expression of this prajna is dhana, which means generosity. Giving of things is one thing, but giving yourself over is true dhana, letting go.

[39:39]

Just let go. then it makes no difference if I'm here with people or if I'm alone somewhere. Is that true? Well, sometimes you should be alone, sometimes you should be with people.

[40:41]

But it's hard to practice Buddhadharma by yourself. It's much easier to practice Buddhadharma with others And also, when you practice Buddhadharma with others, you're not caught by selfish practice. Practicing by yourself can only be done by an enlightened person. So in that case it wouldn't matter? In that case it doesn't matter. But until you have enlightenment, it's good to practice with other people. I had a question about practicing with other people. There's always criticism. When practicing with other people, there's always criticism. You shouldn't be influenced by people's criticism. You should just do what you know is right. I misinterpreted that one.

[41:49]

There's willfulness, which is just doing what you think is right. And then there's carefulness, which is doing what is right and being checked by others. It's very different being checked by others than just being swayed by everyone's opinion. Those are two very different things. The difference is that it's not that someone's telling you, you know, what Dogen was talking about was, you know that the practice is right. And what we're talking about is whether or not your behavior is right. So how we know whether or not our behavior is right is usually known to us, but not necessarily discerned by us.

[42:58]

So we need others to give us feedback. So practicing with others, we learn through association how to act in this world. Also, we help others to practice. By putting ourselves into the practice, we encourage others to practice. If everybody was just practicing by themselves, I would just all fall away. Because we practice together, people believe in it. And it maintains, like, you know, we don't always maintain our faith. It takes an enlightened person to continue to actually have the faith to practice by themselves. But our faith waxes and wanes, just like our feelings wax and wane.

[44:04]

Some days you're feeling good and some days you're feeling bad. And a steady person can encourage people. That's why the priest's function is to maintain that steadiness. I have a question. How can we reconcile or put together this idea of not gaining or not When you have jobs, when you work in the world, and you are encouraged in your job to do better and get more and be recognized and gain and be promoted, it really is hard. It feels really separate sometimes. It is separate.

[45:06]

Kind of separate. Does it really need to be separate? No, it doesn't need to be. It just depends on, you always have to keep reflecting on whether or not you're doing what you're doing for selfish motives. There may be a time when you'd do something that would be self-promoting for the benefit of others. as long as it's not egotistical. Sometimes we just have to do something that doesn't accord with the Dharma. When you're working in the world, you're doing all kinds of things that don't accord with the Dharma, but you have to understand what your own attitude toward everything is. The main thing is not to be fooled and to know I'm doing this, but I know it's not right.

[46:09]

Or, even though this is not the best way to be doing something, I have to do it. So, we have sympathy for people in the world who have to do things they don't want to do, that they know is not the best way. We also have to have sympathy for ourself, in the same way, that we're sometimes in situations where it's not our ideal way, but we have to do it. So how can we do it in a way that accords best with dharma? Not ideally, but best, given the situation. So we're always in situations like that. Otherwise, there'd just only be this pure, perfect dharma, right? Which doesn't exist. the mud of the world, but how do you keep your head out of the mud? And your feet are in the mud, but how do you keep your head out of it?

[47:13]

We have to think about that all the time. So we get into compromising situations in the world, but within the compromising situation to keep our head up and do it the best way we can. Susan. At the end of your lecture you talked a little bit about generosity. How can one be generous without getting lost in giving? Get lost. It's okay to get lost. In love you consume. You know, you have to also take care of yourself. You have to take care of yourself.

[48:19]

And someone who, you know, gives too much, you have to say, take care of yourself. Someone who doesn't give enough, you have to say, give it away. So you have to know what's reasonable in life. You also have to count yourself. But the main thing about generosity is your attitude. It means giving yourself over to being unselfish. and not self-centered, then you always know. If you're truly not self-centered, then you always know what's enough. If I feel that I need to do something for someone, because if I don't do it, who will?

[49:22]

Is that self-centered? Is that a failure to trust in the normal? That's normal. Be careful not to get mixed up with words. Words are pointing the way. They're not formulas. Don't get mixed up with the words. After you give, just forget about it, and you'll be all right. Well, I think generosity is something that I need to work on. And one thing I've seen with myself is that the more I feel I'm content for myself and satisfied and calm, the more generous I feel towards other people. So what you said about Prajna leading to Dhana really makes sense to me.

[50:26]

It's very hard for me to get into Dhana without Prajna. I'm Donna's expression project. How do you know how much to give to your students? Well, I don't have anything, so I don't have to worry. That's not true. Is that really true? I'm not so kind, actually. I'm really not so kind. It's not true. I mean, if you look at it in a certain way, it seems like that, but it's not so true. And I do a lot of selfish things, a lot of self-centered things.

[51:36]

And I have some bad habits. But I just try to do the Dharma, that's all. Even though I have all these faults, I still just try to do the Dharma. I just don't let all that stuff hold me back. He's the Star-Lord Emperorless!

[52:37]

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