So yesterday, I talked about Dogen's Genjo Koan, and I'll read it up to where I want to talk today, just as a synopsis. To carry the self forward and realize the 10,000 dharmas is delusion. That the 10,000 dharmas advance and realize the self, sorry, when all dharmas are buddhadharma, there are enlightenment and delusion, practice, life and death, buddhas and creatures. When the 10,000 dharmas are without self, there are no delusion, no enlightenment, no Buddhas, no creatures, no life, and no death. The Buddha way transcends being a non-being.

[01:04]

Therefore, there are life and death, delusion and enlightenment, creatures and Buddhas. Nevertheless, flowers fall with our attachment and weeds spring up with our aversion. To carry the self forward and realize the 10,000 dharmas is delusion. That the 10,000 dharmas advance and realize the self is enlightenment. It is Buddhas who enlighten delusion. It is creatures who are deluded in enlightenment. Further, there are those who attain enlightenment above enlightenment, and there are those who are deluded within delusion. When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, one need not be aware of being Buddha. However, one is the realized Buddha and further advances in realizing Buddha. So Dogen seems to be writing this in couplets.

[02:23]

Each section is, of course he doesn't divide it into sections, but there are certain discernible sections. And he uses this couplet way of speaking. So Dogen has been talking about delusion and enlightenment and how both delusion and enlightenment are aspects of Buddha nature and that rather than eliminating delusion but delusion or we must establish our practice within our delusion.

[03:34]

If we wait till there's no delusion before we start to practice, no one would be practicing and it's not desirable to eliminate delusion the ground in which enlightenment flourishes. We say to be like a lotus in muddy water. The lotus only grows in muddy water. Although the lotus, the mud doesn't stick. But nevertheless, without the mud, there's no growth.

[04:39]

As Tsukiroshi used to say, or once said, our delusion is like compost. We just put it around the base of the tree. around the base of the plant in order to help the plant to grow. So then we come to this part of Genjo-Koan, which is really the heart of the Genjo-Koan. It's where Buddha, where Dogen expresses how the path of practice. He lays out the path of practice. He says, to study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.

[05:43]

To forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas. To be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever. You know that a dharma is called ho, And a monk is called a bo, which is a kind of Buddha. And so together the words are hobo, which is a kind of Dharma bum. It's a name for a homeless monk. So Dogen says, to study the Buddha way is to study the self.

[07:00]

This is the first line here. To study the Buddha way. But this word is not quite, study is not quite the right translation. I don't know what the right translation is exactly. Maezumi Roshi says that it's not, when he translated this word as study, it means more like practice. Means like when you do something over and over, day in and day out. It's not like studying a book or it's like to maybe like playing the piano over and over or like sitting zazen day after day.

[08:09]

That's what he means, really. To study the self is to practice zazen over and over and over and over. until you begin to realize your true self. And then to study the self is to forget the self. As Dogen says, to drop body and mind, let go of body and mind. So what, you know, to study the self, is in Buddhadharma we say there is no self. So how can you study something that's not there? So each line actually is a kind of koan. Of course, you know, there's the self, right?

[09:19]

But it's a self which is not a self. So we study this thing. And the only way to study it is to let go of it. The only way to practice with it is to let go of it. And then to forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas. the previous yesterday he said the 10,000 dharmas to carry the self forward and to carry the self forward is to to allow the 10,000 dharmas to come forward and verify the self is enlightenment.

[10:31]

So here he says, to forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas, to merge with everything, to see the universe as yourself, true self. And then He says, to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. As Shakyamuni said when he was enlightened, all sentient beings have the same nature as I have, which is the nature of the universe. And to free one's body and mind and those of others no trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever." He doesn't say that enlightenment doesn't remain, he just says the traces of it don't remain.

[11:40]

So these five sentences reflect Tozan's five ranks. If you're familiar with Tozan's five ranks, Tozan used the five ranks in different ways. And also his student, Sozan, together they used this kind of system. Dogen discouraged using the five ranks as a system, but Dogen absorbed Tozan's five ranks and re-presented them in his own way. And this is Dogen's presentation of Tozan's five ranks

[12:49]

presented as a kind of progression for practice. So in Tozan's five ranks, in this particular progression, the first one to study the self, to study the Buddha ways, to study the self is called the shift, which is the first rank. If you notice, we have this little diagram made out of bricks over there, which represents Tozan's five ranks, according to using hexagrams and trigrams from the I Ching, which he'd used. The first rank, second rank, third rank, fourth rank, and fifth rank. So the first one is called the shift.

[13:52]

And shift means to turn from ordinary way of living your life or the ordinary way of seeing things to making the effort to really penetrate what the self is. Usually we kind of go along with life. And sometimes we think, well, who am I? Or what's really going on here? We want to look underneath, go deeper than our usual view of things. So this is called the shift, the turn from our ordinary way of seeing things to investigating. investigating the Dharma. So this is also called aspiration, to raise up an aspiration to penetrate reality.

[15:06]

Then the second rank is called willing submission. In other words, submitting yourself to practice, letting go of your resistances, letting go of your opinions. letting go of your fears, letting go of your securities, and allowing yourself to, submitting to, following the practice. putting yourself under, in that position. And that's called renunciation.

[16:19]

Letting go of self-centeredness and changing instead of being centered on self, to be centered on Buddha. As I say, Buddha-centric instead of self-centric or eccentric. So it's also putting yourself into the service of Buddhadharma. making an effort to find your Buddha nature, studying the Dharma, and joining the saga. And then the third rank is called achievement.

[17:30]

To forget the self is to be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas. Once you've really let go, dropped body and mind, then the 10,000 dharmas, the 10,000 things, verify your enlightenment. The universe will verify your enlightenment. The 10,000 things come forward to acknowledge you, to affirm your realization. This is called fruition of virtue.

[18:34]

In the other system of five ranks, the usual system of five ranks that I usually talk about, this is called coming from within the real, the third rank. This is also called the 10,000 dharmas advance and realize the self. So after achievement, the first two ranks are like what you do. And then the third is like your achievement. And then the fourth is, well, what do we do now? That's called collective achievement. It means you are no longer just practicing for yourself. To be enlightened by the 10,000 dharmas is to free one's body and mind and those of others. So your work is actually for the benefit of not only yourself but others as well.

[19:47]

This is called combined virtue or collective achievement. So working, this is also an aspect of samadhi. Say, ji ju yu zamai. Ji ju yu zamai and ta ju yu zamai. I've talked about this before. Jijuyu Samadhi is the samadhi of self self-joyous or self-fulfilling samadhi. Tajuyu is other fulfillment samadhi. So Jijuyu means

[20:52]

that you receive and enjoy your true nature. Taju-yu means that you use that achievement to bring others to realization. If you don't use that realization to help others or to bring others to realization, then it's really useless and will not sustain itself. So one is turning the light inward, the other is turning the light outward. And then the final rank is called integration of achievement.

[22:17]

This is no trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever. I talked about this yesterday too. where one is no longer concerned about enlightenment or delusion. This is like when one embodies enlightenment or realization totally, one doesn't need to do anything special. but is always working for the benefit of all beings without any effort. It's called effortless practice.

[23:19]

So there's no clinging to enlightenment or delusion. One has perfect freedom in all aspects of life. This is like, When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, one need not be aware of being Buddha. However, one is the realized Buddha and further advances in realizing Buddha. So then, Dogen goes on.

[25:00]

He says, when one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself far from its environs. When one has already correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, one is one's original self at that moment. When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself, or one feels separate, you could say. It's like enlightenment and seeking move together at the same pace. kind of like a shadow play.

[26:03]

When you sink it, it goes away kind of like your shadow. And you cannot really catch it because it stays exactly the same distance from you all the time. And so you're kind of chasing this thing around, which you're actually pushing. So he says, when one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself far from its environs by chasing after it. I remember one time we had a cat in the Zendo at Dwight Way upstairs and somebody wanted to take the cat out of the zendo, and so he innocently started grasping for the cat, and the cat kept going just a little bit, and he was going all over the zendo, stumbling all over the cushions, and it was quite a scene, and the cat just stayed just exactly the same distance ahead of him.

[27:26]

Then he says, when one has already correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, one is one's original self at that moment. So what Dogen is saying is you cannot get it by trying to get something. Only when you sit down and let it come to you will you receive it. But this is called zazen. You just have to sit down in the midst of it because it's always right where you are. But when you sit down, it's not out there. It's right here. Then he says, when riding in a boat, one watches the shore.

[28:46]

If one watches the shore, one may assume that the shore is moving. But watching the boat directly, one knows that it is the boat that moves. Riding in a boat, the boat is like the self. And the shore is like, um, things outside the self. It looks like things are moving outside of you and you're standing still. We always assume this, that we're standing still and the world is moving around us. But watching the boat directly, one knows that it is the boat that moves. Actually, it's the boat and the shore that are moving. Everything's moving. There's nothing that's really fixed.

[29:47]

So where is the center? Is it the shore that's moving or the boat that's moving? The sixth patriarch came upon two monks who were arguing about the flag or the wind. Is it the flag that's moving or the wind that's moving? And so he came up and he said, well, it's neither the flag nor the wind. It's your mind that's moving. If one examines the 10,000 dharmas with a deluded body and mind, one might suppose that one's mind and nature are permanent or fixed.

[30:50]

But if one practices intimately and returns to the true self, it will be clear that the 10,000 dharmas are without a fixed self. So there is a self. But the self is not a fixed self. There is a self here. I do have a nose and ears and stuff. It is a self. But it's not a fixed self. And it's not the same self from moment to moment. It's the same and not the same. As Suzuki Roshi used to say, yes, but. The secret of Soto Zen is yes, but.

[31:54]

It seems like a self, and it is. But the self that is is not a self. It's a self that's not a self. Everything is a thing that's not a thing. Therefore, we call it a thing. We tend to designate things as real that are not real. They are real, but their reality is in the fact that they're not real. This is a real book. but it's real because it's impermanent, not because it's substantial.

[33:05]

We see things upside down. We tend to see things upside down. It has a certain reality as a substantial thing, but it's true reality is that it's not substantial, that it is not a book. So he says, but if one practices intimately, intimately means intimate with reality, and returns to the true self, which is with body and mind dropped, it will be clear that the 10,000 dharmas are without a substantial self, a fixed self.

[34:11]

So to posit the idea that there is a fixed self or that there is a solo, a individuality or soul, is a kind of heretical idea in Buddhism. and Dogen talks about the Shrenika heresy, which is this Shrenika was a monk who insisted that there's something permanent, that he misinterpreted Buddhism as that there's something permanent that transmigrates from life to life, even though the body falls away.

[35:50]

Body and mind fall away. This solo is permanent and keeps transmigrating from life to life, which is not a Buddhist understanding, but it sometimes gets mixed up with Buddhism. and gives us the impression of a permanent self. But where does one find one's security? This is the big question. If there is no self and no soul,

[36:55]

and no deity, where do we find our security? So there are the three marks of existence. Impermanence, no self, and in the Theravada, they say suffering. In the Mahayana, they say nirvana. That's the third mark of existence.

[38:00]

impermanence, no self, and nirvana slash suffering. But suffering and nirvana go hand in hand. Nirvana looks more optimistic than suffering. Oh, nirvana. Good, what is that? When there is no, when we let go of self, when self drops away, and when we see the universe as our self, that's nirvana. That is our security. in the midst of insecurity.

[39:05]

The only security is our insecurity. We want to find security in something fixed. So we feel that security is something we can hang on to. But our security is really in our insecurity. The problem with security is that we want to hang on to this body. We want to hang on to this body and mind. But we can't do that. Not possible. So we have to find our security in letting go. That's the only way.

[40:11]

You can make up stories about where you go after you die. People do, and I don't blame them. I don't blame them at all. And I always honor those, stories because people need that. They need something. It's hard to just let go and without any thought of where that will be. But if we can let go here, if we die before we die, then we don't have so much of a problem.

[41:14]

If we realize that we're already dead, then we can live our life and enjoy it without worrying too much about it. There is no self in the sage, because there is no self, there is nothing which is not the self. Because we identify with the body and mind, we limit our life. But if we identify with life itself, then there's no problem. wherever we are, in whatever form, is okay. The deluded person sees herself as other.

[42:21]

The sage sees others as herself. And somehow I wrote down here, if you do not make mental struggle, the darkness itself becomes the self-illumination of the light. to be continued.

[43:31]

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