Well, it's nice to be back. I had to leave the first day because I had such a bad cold. And so I've been taking care of my cold with my Sashin practice. So the cold, I can breathe through my nose and it's pretty good. Actually, it never was clogged up. It was more of a sinus infection. It just kept flowing like a stream, constant stream of flow. So I think it drained everything.

[01:00]

Maybe some of my brain was So it's clearing up. And I don't think I'm contagious. Although I'm a little spaced. I don't know what my energy is exactly. So I appreciate everybody joining in with Sashim and mainly giving the talks. Sachine feels very good to me. I had wanted to talk about... My plan was to talk about the Platform Sutra for seven days, but I only have four left.

[02:04]

And so I still plan on doing that, but without the expectation of doing it as thoroughly as I planned on. So, I'm just going to start and then put it together in some way that makes sense. You know, the Platform Sutra is I'm sorry, the Heart Sutra. Did I say the Platform Sutra all along? Here I am. The Heart Sutra. Once in a while, I either give a class or talk about the Heart Sutra. I don't think I've done it here for quite some time. Although I did at Tassajara last few years.

[03:08]

And, you know, it's said that the first turning of the wheel was when Shakyamuni, after he became enlightened, he started to teach. And he taught about the Four Noble Truths, conditioned arising, and the Eightfold Path. And that was his first turning of the wheel. And then the second turning of the wheel was around the first century, when the Mahayana became very dominant. And Nagarjuna's philosophy, or his way of thinking, way of restating, Shakyamuni Buddha's statements became prominent.

[04:20]

This is called the second turning of the wheel and the Prajnaparamita Sutra became very prominent and became the cornerstone of Mahayana teaching. So the Prajnaparamita teaching was not considered some new teaching, but a restatement of the Buddha's original teaching. And this happens in Buddhism, that periodically there'll be a teaching which will seem like a new teaching in Buddhism, but will be a restatement of Buddhist teaching. So Buddhist teaching becomes restated periodically in order to bring out the understanding which sometimes becomes either

[05:35]

misguided, or has taken the wrong path, or becomes fossilized. So this is the good thing about Buddhism, is that although every new teaching becomes fossilized at some point, and then someone comes along and restates it. and makes it fresh. Kind of like digging up the ground. The ground becomes so compressed that there's no percolation. And then someone comes along, new farmers come along and dig up the earth and it becomes loose and friable and can breathe again. And it becomes useful. So this happened around the first century. And Nagarjuna's teaching influenced the Prajnaparamita Sutras, of which there are 600 fascicles, 600 books, whatever books, small books.

[06:51]

But it's quite a large teaching. And there are two books. One is the Heart Sutra and the other is the Diamond Sutra. And they're both sutras from the Prajnaparamita. And if you've ever read the 25,000 lines, there's also 100,000 lines, and there's an 8,000 line, and there's a Prajnaparamita sutra in one letter. So there's a whole range of Prajnaparamita Sutras all talking about the same thing. The Sanskrit letter A is the shortest version. If someone asks you if you can

[07:58]

what is the meaning of the Prajnaparamita Sutra, there are many things you can say. You can say, um, home, something. Or you can just sit down. So this Heart Sutra was a condensation of all of the meanings contained in the Sutra. And one reason why it's so difficult to understand is because everything is abbreviated. The Four Noble Truths are abbreviated. the condition. Co-production is abbreviated. Conditions arising. The paths are abbreviated.

[09:07]

Everything is an abbreviation. And so, no matter how many times you chant it, if you don't understand that, you get something, but you don't get that. So it's important to have it, to look into it and see what it's actually talking about. Although, strictly speaking, in practice, The meaning of the sutra is in the way we chant it. The way we put our whole body and mind into chanting the sutra expresses the meaning of the sutra. That's why we don't sit around discussing it.

[10:08]

We do the sutra. But sometimes it's important to discuss it and analyze it. So there are two versions of the Heart Sutra. There's the long version and the short version. And the one that we chant, the version we chant is the short version. It just starts out with, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, we're practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita. That's the short version. It doesn't give you any background. Whereas the long version, which is not very long, not much longer, gives you an introduction into the background, gives you the setting. Because the sutra is put into, it's a kind of play, a little production. And I'll give you the background.

[11:16]

See in the, The long sutra, Ananda, who always introduces sutras, usually, says, thus have I heard. So thus have I heard means someone is saying, this is what I heard about this. And it's usually Ananda, but not always. Actually, modern scholarship attributes the heart sutra to Chinese origin rather than Indian. And the theory is that it was concocted in China and then went back to India and became an Indian sutra and then came back to China as an Indian piece. Anyway, the way these things flow, nobody knows exactly, but thus have I heard at one time, the Lord dwelled at Rajagriha on the vulture peak, where he usually talks, together with a large gathering of both monks and bodhisattvas.

[12:36]

At that time, the Lord, Buddha, after he had taught the discourse on dharma called deep splendor, had entered into concentration. At that time also the Holy Lord Avalokita, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, coursed in the course of the deep perfection of wisdom. He looked down from on high and he saw the five skandhas and he surveyed them as empty in their own being. Then the venerable Shariputra, through the Buddha's might, said to the Holy Lord Avalokita, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, How should a son or daughter of good family train themselves if they want a course in the course of this deep perfection of wisdom? And the Holy Lord, Avalokita, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, then said to the venerable Shariputra, the son or daughter of good family who wants to course in the course of this deep perfection of wisdom should thus consider.

[13:41]

So here we have this stage setting. of the Buddha having an assembly on Vulture Peak. And his disciple, Shariputra, who was considered the foremost in analytical knowledge, is asking this question. There was the 16 arhats, you know, we say 16 in our new service, dedicated to the 16 arhats and their followers who attained the supreme attainment of arhatship. And Shariputra was the foremost. Each one of these 16 had some special attribute. And Shariputra's special attribute was analytical knowledge.

[14:46]

So he is the one who seems to have put together the Abhidhamma, the analytical way of studying Buddhism. And you have to remember that this is a little bit political, this sutra, because it It's a little bit critical of the Abhidharmas, the analytical Buddhists, whose study of Dharma was very precise and very analytical and very cold. somewhat dualistic. And the Prajnaparamita literature is a kind of response or reaction to this cold analytical way of studying Buddhism or understanding Buddhism.

[16:08]

above all. So the Prajnaparamita is the literature or the sutra of non-duality. So Shariputra is being set up as the fall guy for Avalokiteshvara to come and tell him what Actually, if you've ever read The Life of Shariputra, it's quite wonderful. He was quite a wonderful person. And his behavior is to be emulated by all practitioners. So it's not really a put-down. It shouldn't be thought of as a put-down of Shariputra. Shariputra is asking for the higher knowledge, the higher understanding.

[17:23]

And so, Buddha is asking Avalokiteshvara to explain it to him. Rather than explaining it himself, he's asking Avalokiteshvara to explain it. And Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of compassion. So it's really Buddha's, through his compassion, he's explaining it. In our sutra we say, in the Japanese, kanjizai. And kanjizai is means the one who sees things as it is. The one who sees reality just as it is.

[18:26]

And... Qanon or Kanzayan is the one who hears the cries of the world. They're both the same being. They're both Avalokitesvara. But these are two aspects of Avalokitesvara. And they're both present in the sutra, both these aspects. The Lord dwelt at Rajagriha on a vulture peak together with a large gathering of both monks and Bodhisattvas. At that time, the Lord, after he had taught the discourse on Dharma, called Deep Splendor.

[19:27]

This is also, this was Kansa's translation a long time ago, Deep Splendor. It's also, it can be translated as Self-fulfilling Splendor. Profound Illumination is another way of translating it. Self-Illumination. So, Meili has been talking, I think, about Bendoha, where Dogen talks about GGU Zamae, Self-Fulfilling Samadhi. So there's Self-Fulfilling Samadhi, which is GGU Zamae,

[20:31]

and Komyozo Zamae, which is Samadhi of radiant light. So there are a lot of Samadhis, you know, but this Samadhi that is Buddha's Samadhi here, is samadhi of, if we look at it as ji-ju-yu-samai, self-fulfilling samadhi, or self-joyous samadhi, which, you know, there's also ta-ju-yu samais. Ta-ju-yu means, ji-ju-yu means self-fulfilling, and ta-ju-yu means other, samadhi of others. But this Dogan's Ji-Ju-Yu-Za-Mai includes others.

[21:38]

So it's samadhi of only one side, which is the samadhi of non-duality. And this is what the sutra is talking about, samadhi of non-duality. Samadhi not being some esoteric state of mind, but dwelling in reality of non-duality. There's also an ending to the long version of the sutra, which is something like, then everybody was very happy and so forth.

[22:43]

So it's not so important. So this is the background. or the stage of this Heart Sutra. Stage setting for the Heart Sutra. So then we have, Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, perceived that all the five skandhas in their own being are empty and was saved from all suffering. That's the first part of the sutra. So, I already talked a little bit about Avalokiteśvara. Avalokiteśvara, you can also say, is the perfect balance between wisdom and compassion.

[23:54]

Usually, if we want someone If we talk about wisdom, we don't talk about Avalokiteshvara, we talk about Manjushri. Manjushri is the embodiment of prajna, or wisdom. And Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of compassion. But wisdom and compassion are not two different things. And so it's very nice to have Avalokiteshvara be the embodiment of wisdom. Because wisdom, compassion is the expression of wisdom. And wisdom is the basis of compassion. So Avalokiteshvara is the balance, the equanimity

[24:58]

wisdom and compassion. And Manjushri is also, but each one expresses a different side. So when he was practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, so this explains what he does. He sees that when he practices, he sees that all the five skandhas in their own being are empty. and he becomes saved from all suffering. It's that easy to be saved from all suffering. All you have to do is realize that the five skandhas are all empty. Since we don't realize that right away, we have to study some more.

[26:04]

So, skandhas literally means heaps. You know, the word skandha means heaps, but... I remember when I first heard heaps. Skandhas, as we know, are form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. So these are the five, rather than calling them heaps, I think we also call them streams. It's a little bit better. Heaps may be a literal translation, but I don't know if that's the actual meaning. So a lot of times these archaic words have literal meanings, you know, which we look at through the dust of 2,000 years and try to understand what they actually meant by them. But actually, streams is nicer, more understandable.

[27:14]

They also had a kind of derogatory feeling about the human body. But five streams is very descriptive because these five skandhas, these five streams of organized existence that organize our existence, are continually flowing and not really anything that we can grasp or hold on to. And they do come together. And as they come together, they produce this so-called human form, human being, which is continually transforming.

[28:16]

And we try to hold on to this thing, which never really stable or steady. And yesterday's person is different than today's person. You know, there's kind of subtle There's the gross person and the subtle person. And the gross person is the one that we perceive as this person. And the subtle person is not the same person as yesterday's person.

[29:23]

The gross person, we say, oh yeah, I know that person. I saw him yesterday. I've known you all your life, you know, I know what you're like. That's the gross person. But the subtle person is the person who you don't know, who you think you know, but you don't know, because that's not the same person as yesterday's person. That's today's person, which is not the same as yesterday's person, but because we change the five skandhas change so subtly, sometimes imperceptibly, we don't see those changes or notice those changes. And so we form an opinion about who everyone is. And of course, you know,

[30:26]

we notice the gross person, and that's what comes in our face. But at the same time, the subtle person is continually changing, and the gross person is more of an idea about who we are and who each other is. And the subtle person the one that we don't see so much, or don't notice so much. It's not as perceptible, but it's more real than the gross one, because the gross one is associated with our ideas about it more. So form, feelings, any kind of feeling, whether it's a mental feeling or a physical feeling.

[31:42]

Perceptions, the way we see things, our views about things. And mental formations, our ideas, all the karmic ideas, the karmic thoughts that we have, thoughts which keep recreating our life. And consciousness, which is awareness. And each one of these is a vast subject. But these five forces come together And you can say they reside in the gross form, or the body. So the body is more tangible, and the other form belongs to the mind. So we don't usually talk so much about the body, but mostly about the mind.

[32:48]

And the Abhidhammas studied this. So when Avalokiteśvara was practicing in the Prajnaparamita, we know what Prajnaparamita means. It means wisdom which is beyond wisdom. We say the great wisdom But prajna, prajna, wisdom, is wisdom of intuition, wisdom of directly knowing something. Intuition means to directly perceive without an intermediary, without something in between.

[33:57]

So it means to directly know. If you want to know the prajna, of water, you dive into the water. Rather than talking about water, you dive into the water so that you know what it is. So if you want to know what Prajna is, Prajna is non-dualistic understanding. So if you want to know what Prajna is, you dive into Zazen. And Zazen is Qi, Zhu, Yu, Zamad. Non-dualistic Samadhi of understanding. And he was saved from all suffering.

[34:59]

He saw that all the skandhas and their own being are empty. We used to say, that perceive that all the five skandhas are empty. That's what we used to say when we used to chant the sutra. And then we put in, in their own being, to qualify it. Because in their own being they're empty. That's an important thing to understand. that otherwise you don't understand what it means. So the whole sutra is posited on the understanding that emptiness means there is no own being. Nothing has its own inherent existence. That's the whole meaning of the sutra. The basic meaning of the sutra is that nothing, no thing has its own inherent existence.

[36:03]

And that everything is dependent on everything else. So when the sutra says, when Avalokiteshvara says, he saw that all these five skandhas are empty in their own being. He was saved from all suffering because he saw who he really was. He no longer had any illusions as to who he was. So if we want to end our suffering, we have to be able to see through the illusions of what we think is going on. in our life. To be able to really see our life as it is, without inherent existence.

[37:26]

Inherent existence means that a thing, any created thing, exists independently. If a thing exists independently, it has its own being. And of course, I sit here, and you sit there, and the post is over there, and so it looks like we all exist independently. And there is a kind of independence that everything has. Each thing seems to have its own independent existence. But that's just an illusion. It's the illusion of subject and object. Sariputra's realization is nothing exists independent of anything else, and everything that exists depends on everything else.

[38:41]

So everything is everything. I hate to say it, because it sounds so like a cliché, you know. Everything is everything, and yet everything is itself. So there's independence and dependence. And this is what the Sandokai is talking about. And Suzuki Roshi coined the word, independency. When he gave his lectures on the Sandokai, he coined the word, independency. That's not a word. Independency. Do you mean independence? Or what do you mean? It's not independency. He said, independent, but not quite. So we have this feeling of independence.

[39:48]

But as soon as we go off on our own, something goes. What? We can't quite make it because we're connected to everything else. As soon as we start to make a move in some independent direction, where everything is pulling at us because we belong to everything. So, our suffering comes from not realizing that We're just a part of everything else. When we realize that we're a part of everything else and don't have an independent existence per se, an own being, then we can realize what our true independence is. And we know how to move independently. But moving independently means to move

[40:51]

with, in harmony with everything else, because everything else is who we really are. That which we are not is what we think we are. And that which we think we are is what we're not, strangely enough. It's called, in the Heart Sutra, it's called Topsy-Turvy Views, Perverted Views. It's translated as Perverted View, later on in the Sutra. It's all perverted views. Perverted views mean saying things as they're not, and thinking that that's what they are. So this is to see things as they're not and think that's the way they are. And we all do it.

[41:53]

We're stuck there. And we go, why is that? Why is that? How come everything isn't just clear? That's the koan of this world. That's what it is. So we have to figure it out. We have to confront the koan of our existence. And for some reason, we fall into this trap. There are the four profundities, where Avalokiteshvara is talking, addressing Shariputra.

[43:02]

He says, O Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness. And that which is emptiness is form. The same is true of your feelings. The same is true of your perceptions. The same is true of your mental formations. And the same is true of your consciousness. So he names the five skandhas. But he doesn't say that. He doesn't say skandhas again. He just says the same is true. of all the other skandhas besides form. Form is the example. He uses form as the example. Form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. So you just substitute the other skandhas. Feelings do not differ from emptiness.

[44:06]

Emptiness does not differ from feelings. Perceptions does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from perceptions. Mental formations does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from mental formations. Consciousness does not differ from emptiness, and blah, blah, blah. So each one of these skandhas is the same as form. My feelings are all empty of their own being. My perceptions are all empty of their own being. Consciousness is empty of its own being. All these five streams coming together, each one is the same, is empty in its own being. See, the Abhidharmas thought that, they knew that things were empty, but they thought that the Dharmas They knew that there was no being, no self, but they thought that all the constituents of being were something.

[45:10]

And the sutra is negating everything. This negation is actually a positive. We tend to think of it as You know, we always speak in the negative. No this, no that. No self, right? But no self is positing a self. There is a self, but that self is not a self. So we have to understand both sides. There are actually two truths. One truth is the truth of the way things seem to be. And the other is the truth of the way they actually are.

[46:16]

So we say, you know, some people think that in Buddhism we say, oh, this is just an illusion. No, it's not just an illusion. It's illusory. It's like an illusion. But it has its reality. But it's not what we think it is. That's why it's illusory. But it's very real. If you don't think it's real, how does it feel to be hit or to sit on your legs all day? It's pretty real. But it's illusory. It's not an illusion. There's the ultimate form and the conventional form.

[47:38]

O shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. You know, a mark of a thing means it's characteristic. By the way, why don't you relax? I mean, don't lean against the wall. It's okay to take a comfortable position. A mark of fire is heat. A mark of water is wet. Everything has its mark or characteristic. The characteristic of all dharmas is empty. No self-nature. No specific form.

[48:49]

So, you see, true form is no special form. But the characteristic of things, you know, characteristic of Rahul is I can recognize this person even though, you know, he has no specific nature, no self-nature. I can recognize him every time. He has certain characteristics which are him. And yet, his true nature has no specific shape or form. At some point, I won't see him anymore. But where did he go? Where would he go? And where did he come from? You can also say, he's always been here.

[49:59]

In order for us to be here, we have to always have been here. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. So it's not that there's something called form. It's something called emptiness that are two different things. Like this cup has water in it. If I say it's full of water, that's its conventional form.

[51:23]

But actually the cup is quite empty, even if it's full of water. Matter of fact, the water has no special shape, but it takes its shape from the cup. So we say I have a cup of water. But if I throw out the water, it takes some other shape. So water is really a good example of emptiness. Everything is like this. It takes its shape from its container. So Buddha nature, emptiness, takes its shape from its container. And we say, there's Raul. Buddha nature. We just call him Raul, but he's really Mr. Buddha nature.

[52:27]

So we should treat each other as Buddha nature. But we get caught up in the gross, the gross elements of life. because we get very attached to our gross nature. We get very attached to our self, of which there is none. But at the same time, I will not say there is no ego, but we sure love it. So that which is form is empty of its own being, is emptiness. And that which is emptiness is this form, this cup, this person.

[53:38]

The same is true of all the elements. So there is no person. There are only these elements. And these elements, we call the person. respect that. We do have to respect that. And we have to play out the drama of our lives because it's the conventional truth. So the play is on the stage of conventional truth. And we have to be able to see through the stage of conventional truth to reality. And when we do that, we can see that the stage of conventional truth has its reality as conventional truth. But if we don't see the reality, we don't see through it to the reality, then we end up in suffering, because that's all we see.

[54:53]

You only see one side. So when we sit in Zazen, we see the one reality, which is, my legs hurt like hell. But we also have the other side, which is, if we don't attach to that, we stop, let go, then everything flows together. And when everything flows together, we can sit still in reality. And pain is pain. It's not suffering. It's only suffering when you grasp it. It's only suffering when you don't like it. Or I don't want it. Or I want it to be something else. Or I wish or it's so good out there, or I wish I had something nice.

[56:10]

So we just sit until we settle down, not wanting anything anymore, not wanting anything else but this, whatever it is, and just completely accept. as it is. And then we can see. Then we become kanjizai. We see things clearly as they are. And we also become kanan. We identify with the suffering of the world. But we have some freedom from one-sided understanding. So it may take you 25 years. Or it may take you 10 minutes.

[57:15]

There's no telling. So to have some enlightenment is to realize this. But it's very painful. And life is like that. You know, we spend a lot of time escaping from the painful facts of life. But Zazen puts us right there. And so it's painful, but it's also very joyful. Sometimes people say, well, I know it's painful, but I don't think it's very joyful.

[58:18]

Of course. But that's because you expect something. If you don't expect anything, you'll feel the joyfulness of your pain through your pain. But if you expect something, you'll never get. what it is that you expect, and you'll always be disappointed. So... I've done as deeply into Sashin as you have. So...

[59:05]

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