Good evening. I just came back from Tassajara this afternoon. I was there on Monday. So I think I'm ready for this class, which is unless you want unless you want to study more the subject. This is the last class for the subject. And the reason for this class was because we wanted to study more. So, here we are. In my last talk in Zendo, I mean Saturday talk, I explained something about the different kinds of teaching that we have. I said, there may be four ways of teaching.

[01:06]

There are more, but four ways that we can identify. One is teaching through our actions, our being. And the other is called tesho. We usually, we kind of mix up tesho with lecture. Tesho is the teacher expressing their understanding of practice or a koan. But basically it's different than a lecture. A lecture is usually about a subject. So a teacher is also about a subject, but it's not So, a lecture is more like explaining something, explaining what is our practice, explaining some stories or something like that.

[02:18]

And then there's a class, which is like learning something. So, this is a class, and it's about learning something. So, it's not the Taisho. It's not exactly a lecture. It's more like we're studying something together. So we don't expect it to be anything more than that. So that's the atmosphere of study together. So what we're doing is studying Tozan's Hokyozan line. And we do that in various ways. So it's not so easy to understand. And if we don't understand it, it's good to just listen.

[03:24]

And if there's something you don't understand, we can talk about that which you don't understand. But if you don't understand anything, you don't understand anything. You have to go back to square one. And I don't want to do that. So please don't don't ask me to go back to square one. So before I start. I don't know if you know Takeda's Zen Training, a book he wrote called Zen Training. It's a very good book. He also gave annotated comments on the booklet record in the Roman column called Two Zen Classics, which most of us are familiar with. commentary on Dobin's five ranks, which actually is pretty easy to grasp.

[04:39]

So last time I talked, the last Saturday that I spoke, I outlined his way he understands it. And so, but what we have been studying is Master Hakuin's commentary. Now Master Hakuin's commentary, in Master Hakuin's commentary, of course, it's very freely, Hakuin comments very freely, and not necessarily systematically. But his comment is very full of life and very vital. Right. So that's why I like it so much. And he also brings in references. And mostly what I'm dealing with, I'm trying to communicate to you.

[05:45]

If you don't know the references, you miss them. So I'm trying to present the references and kind of fill out his talk, letting us know where the references come from and why he's using those references. So that's what I've been doing. He references Dogen and he references the Sixth Patriarch and he references, you know, all kinds of things. And he references the Eight Levels of Consciousness. the three bodies of Buddha, and the four wisdoms, which are this wonderful system, not a system, but an overlay of elements that, for me, they sparkle.

[06:59]

The best I can say about them is they sparkle. Can you. So to start to start where we left off, I think might be difficult. So what I would really like to do and I think I don't want to start from the beginning, but I'll have a synopsis and get into it and then go from where we left off. Yeah. Thanks for closing the door. And I'm happy to answer questions if they're specific questions. And I would hope you would ask questions.

[08:04]

I think everyone was here last time. So I'm just going to start from my synopsis. As you may remember, he talks about how he received his teaching from his teacher, Haakon, So you see this teaching from his teacher and how he doubted that when he talks about the rhinoceros of doubt. You remember that? No. Yes. Very nice. He says, I'll start from here. This is how it was presentation. OK, you see where it begins?

[09:20]

He begins with the five ranks of the apparent and the real. At the head, the orally transmitted secret teachings of the monk who lived on Mount Atoll. Page 89 on the companion. Page 63. Page 63 if you have the text. The Five Ranks of the Apparent and the Real, the orally transmitted secret teachings of the monk who lived on Mount To, that's Tozan. Actually, Tozan simply means Mount To. But the teachers were called after the name of the mountain. So, Mount To, Dungshan. Nyangche is his name. So we do not know by whom the Jūlniru Samadhi was composed, but we think it was Tōzan. We attribute it to Tōzan.

[10:20]

From Sekito, who Ōshō, and Yakusan Ōshō, and Ungan Ōshō. Ōshō means priest, or teacher, priest. So Sekito, Yakusan, and Ungan. Those are all ancestors, right? In the line of Tozan. The six ancestors. Daikan Eno, Sekito Kisen, Daiyosho. Nakusan Igen, Daiyosho. Ungodoyo, Daiyosho. So these are the ancestors. And then Tozan Yokai, Daiyosho. So he's talking about Tozan's lineage and how the elements of the Hokyo Zanmai were developed through these ancestors and that Tozan in his Hokyo Zanmai kind of completed that

[11:29]

development of the apparent and the real. So Dogen can really put it all together more. But it started with Sekito, and what is it that we chant of Sekito? The Sandokai. So the Sandokai has all the basic elements of the Hogyo Zamae. And then through Yakusan and Ungan, both of them were Tozan's teachers, Tozan developed, was kind of handed down to Tozan, and he developed what he called the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. That's the best we can do. So, we don't know by whom the Julmir Samadhi was composed.

[12:46]

From Sekheto to Yakasan to Ungan, it was transmitted from master to master and handed down within the secret room. So, never has its teachings been willingly disclosed until now. I think we talked about that last time, about the Bible. was that common folk were not allowed to read the Bible until about the 17th century or something. It was the province of the monks. And in the same way, there were a lot of secret teachings that were not disclosed to common folks in Buddhism, in Zen teaching. So, there were esoteric teachings. And there still are esoteric teachings. The esoteric school, which is... But the esoteric school is already revealed now.

[13:48]

So, never has its teachings been willingly disclosed until now. So this is the 17th century. Now, for him, is the 17th century. And after it had been transmitted to Tozan, Osho, he made clear the gradations of the five ranks within it, and composed a verse for each rank. In order to bring out the main principle of Buddhism, surely the five ranks is a torch in the midnight road, a ferryboat at the riverside when one has lost one's way. So is there anything there that you don't understand? Or that you would like explicated more? This is just kind of like the introduction. But alas, the Zen gardens of recent times, that is 17th century in Japan, are desolate and barren.

[15:00]

So Hakuen, you know, was the He resurrected the Rinzai school from decay in his time and organized the koan system that the Rinzai school practices today, more or less. So that's what he's mostly well known for. So the Zen gardens of recent times are desolate and barren, directly pointing to Zen is regarded as nothing but benightedness and foolishness, and that supreme treasure of the Mahayana, the dual mirror of Samadhi's five ranks of the apparent and the real, is considered to be only the old and broken vessel of an antiquated house. No one pays any attention to it. So the old antiquated house is the Sokyo school of that time. And so, you know, the schools were very separate in Japan.

[16:09]

Soto school, the Rinzai school, and the various schools were very independent and didn't mix very much. So, this is somewhat unusual in that Hakuin is praising this Soto school doctrine. which contains the five ranks. So today's students are like blind people who have thrown away their staffs, calling them useless baggage. Of themselves, they stumble and fall into the mud of heterodox views and cannot get out until death overtakes them. And they never know that the five ranks is a ship that carries them across the poisonous sea surrounding the rank of the real, the precious wheel that demonstrates the impregnable prison house of the two forces.

[17:15]

So I want to explain that. They stumble and fall into the mud of heterodox views and cannot get out until death. This is a kind of quote from the Platform Sutra. I don't know if you remember, but I've often commented on the Sixth Ancestor's poem where he talks about fault-finding is not acceptable. I don't know if you remember that or not. He talks about we should not indulge ourselves in fault-finding, because if we indulge ourselves in fault-finding, we ourselves are in the wrong. And then he says at the end of that poem that even if we don't have the right dharma,

[18:18]

When death overtakes us, we don't know what to do. And then he talks about the Dharma being the big ship that carries us across the sea of birth and death. So he says, they never know that the five ranks are the ship, is the ship that carries them across the poisonous sea surrounding the rank of the real. That's where he leaves off of. But he's using that reference in here. The poisonous sea surrounding the rank of the real. the precious wheel that demonstrates the impregnable prison house, demolishes, I'm sorry, the impregnable prison house of the two voids. So what are the two voids? Dharmas and Atman. Dharmas and Atman. Right. Dharmas are Atman and Dharmas. Atman means what?

[19:31]

Self. So, it demolishes the prison house of the two voids. So, two voids means the emptiness of Self and Dharmas, basically. Are you talking Dharmas with a little d? Yes. Yes, a little d. Because this is Mahayana teaching that self and dharmas are both void, have no inherent, as we chant every day, all dharmas have no self-nature, no inherent self-nature. Self and dharmas are empty of self-nature, inherent self-nature.

[20:33]

So, they do not know the important road of progressive practice. And they are versed in the secret meaning within this teaching, not versed in the secret meaning of this teaching. Therefore, they sink into the stagnant water of sralakahan or prajekabuddhahood. They fall into the black pit of withered sprouts and decayed seeds. even the hand of Buddha would find it difficult to say them. So, you know, Hakuen likes to exaggerate and likes to make a point, dramatic points. So that's kind of interesting. So, what is Srivaka Hut? solitary realizes and they... Well, if a chick of Buddha is one who has realization but doesn't continue to help other beings... Yeah, like a hermit.

[21:51]

Being has realization and yet doesn't help other beings. Yeah, that's what Charlie said. I know, I'm just saying, isn't that a sort of nonsense statement? Isn't that what? Well, I'm challenging the concept of somebody who has realization but doesn't help other beings. What kind of realization is that? Oh, it's still realization. It's just not complete. So we have a big realization and a small realization or something? No, the realization is the same. You know, in the coronation ceremony, both lay and priest, you're asked to take this vow that after realization you will continue to practice. And so far, twenty years of practice, no one has ever said no.

[22:58]

But I'm sure there's a few Pachaika Buddhas around here. Yeah, you can have realizations without and be a hermit, if possible. And Shravaka is like someone who follows the teaching. someone who follows the teaching, but it's often applied to Arhats. So I don't want to get too far into that. So he says, when I was initiated, that into which I was initiated 40 years ago, in the room of Shoju, his teacher, I shall now dispense as the almsgiving of Dharma. When I find a superior person who is studying the true and profound teaching and has experienced the great death, I shall call this secret transmission to him, give it to him, since it was not designed for people of medium or lesser ability.

[24:12]

So take heed and don't treat it lightly." So great death is like dropping body and mind. Don't even call it dropping body and mind. It means death of the ego, of the self. So how vast is the expanse of the sea of the doctrine? How many-fold are the gates of the teaching? Among these, to be sure, are a number of doctrines and orally transmitted of the way people approach the five ranks. The carping criticism, the tortuous explanation, the adding of branch to branch, the piling up of... In other words, a kind of intellectualization. The truth is that the teachers who are guilty of this do not know for what principle the five ranks was instituted.

[25:13]

Hence, they confuse and bewilder their students to the point that even as Shaliputra or Ananda would find it difficult to judge correctly. Apparently, this teaching was misunderstood by so many people, and that's why it has lost favor for a long time. Or should it be that our patriarchs delivered themselves of these absurdities in order to harass their posterity? For a long time I wondered about this, but when I came to enter the room of Shilju, The rhinoceros of my previous doubts suddenly fell down dead. Do not look with suspicion upon the five ranks, saying it is not the directly transmitted oral teaching of the Tozan line. You should know that it was only after he had completed his investigation of Tozan verses, five verses, that Shouju, his teacher, Hakuin's teacher, gave his acknowledgment of the five ranks.

[26:18]

After I had entered Shouju's room and received But, though I was satisfied, I still regretted that all teachers had not yet clearly explained the meaning of the reciprocal interpenetration of the apparent and the real. They seem to have discarded the words reciprocal interpenetration and pay no attention whatsoever to them. Thereupon the rhinoceros of doubt once more raised its head. So what's your understanding of the reciprocal interpenetration of the apparent and the real. They are within each other? They are within each other, of course. Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form, system, part, in the heart sutra. That's the interpenetration of the apparent and the real. It seems somewhat redundant though.

[27:21]

Isn't interpenetration already Express that. Express that they are within each other. Reciprocal. Reciprocal. How does reciprocal add to our understanding of interpenetration? Well, you can just say interpenetration. But to say reciprocal means one answer the other. simply interpenetrates, but reciprocal has a flowing feeling. When we say form is emptiness and emptiness is form, is that what that is? Well, what do you think? I think reciprocal is not redundant because it's alive. It's not just interpenetrating now and forever. That's right. realizes emptiness, and emptiness realizes forms reciprocally, if you don't get that dynamic thing happening, then you again got lost.

[28:30]

That's a good point. Reciprocal is the dynamism, the dynamic in a penetration. It doesn't bring up any doubt for me. It seems to make it flow. Reciprocal interpenetration. Interpenetration, yes, but it goes back and forth. And I think that going back and forth, you know, later on he talks about The coming from within the going to the going to within the coming from. That's reciprocal interpenetration. The coming from the going to the going to within the coming from. So it's a flow without a beginning or an end.

[29:39]

And also, coming and going, It has a feeling of coming and going, but there's no place that anything comes from or goes to. So it's in the summer of the first year of the Khan-N era, 1748 to 1781. This is actually in the 18th century. In the midst of my meditation, suddenly the mystery of the reciprocal inner penetration of the apparent and the real became perfectly clear. It was just like looking at the palm of my own hand. The rhinoceros of doubt instantly fell down dead, and I could scarcely bear the joy of it. Though I wished to hand it on to others, I was ashamed to squeeze out my old woman's stinking milk and soil the monk's mouth with it." That's, you know, his humility. He's expressing his humility. real, is like the six lines of that double-split hexagram.

[30:54]

The relative and absolute integrate like five-flavored herbs, like the five-flavored herb, like the five-pronged vajra, wonderfully embodied within the real. Drumming and singing come up together. So it uses this, in the Hokyo Zamae, Tozan uses this drumming and singing. So drumming and singing is like reciprocal interpenetration. So all of you who wish to plumb this deep source must make the investigation in secret. I don't know if I'm in secret. I think he means making it your private practice or your Intimate practice, yeah. Intimate, I think, is good.

[31:55]

Even if you should... My own toil extended over these 30 years. Do not take it to be an easy task. Even if you should happen to break up the family and scatter the household, do not consider this to be enough. You must vow to pass through seven or eight or even nine thickets of brambles, and when you have passed through the thickets of brambles, still do not consider this to be enough, vow to investigate the secret teachings and the intimate teachings of the five ranks to the end. So for the past eight or nine years or more, I have been trying to incite all of you who boil your daily gruel over the same fire with me to study this great matter thoroughly. But more often than not, you have taken it to be the the doctrine of another house, which is the Soto school, and remained indifferent to it. Only a few among you have attained understanding of it. How deeply this grieves me.

[32:58]

Have you never heard, the gates of Dharma are manifold, I vow to enter them all? This is Saikyo for Bodhisattva vows, right? So how much more should this be? So Shogun Roshi, his teacher, said, in order to provide a means whereby students might directly experience the four wisdoms, the ancestors, in their compassion and with their skill in devising expedience, first instituted the five ranks. What are the so-called four wisdoms? They are the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Universal Nature Wisdom, the marvelous observing wisdom, and the perfecting of action wisdom. So these are the four wisdoms, and I've talked about them many times, and we talked about them last time.

[33:59]

The four wisdoms, he says what they are, but they are intimately connected to the eight levels of consciousness, which I've talked about Can anybody say what the eight levels of consciousness are? The first five are body, sight, smell, sound, taste, touch. The first five are body-related, sight, hearing, consciousness. and the mind is the sixth, and the ego is the differentiating mind, the mind that discriminates. Don't use the word mind, just use the word consciousness. I'm thinking when an object of the organ of consciousness meets, then you have the consciousness of those eight.

[35:15]

or the first five, and then the sixth being the mind that meets with the object of the mind and becomes mind consciousness. Right? Well, more or less. And then what's the last one? Ego. Manas. Which I think of as being like a misunderstanding, and the eighth being the alay of consciousness, and the ego derives itself from the eighth? Okay, that's a good attempt. No, I thank you for that. The first five consciousnesses are the sense consciousnesses, I, you're not talking about, right? And then those are differentiated by the sixth consciousness, which is the consciousness which identifies and distinguishes between the sense consciousnesses.

[36:28]

So the sixth consciousness says, this is seeing, this is hearing, this is feeling, this is sensing. So that's the consciousness which recognizes what comes in through the sense gates. I see, I hear, and it also thinks, but it's not, it's a sixth consciousness is a discriminating consciousness, but it's not discriminating on the level of ego. It's awareness. It's just a bare awareness. Why did you not want her to use the word mind? What's that? Why did you not want her to use the word mind? Because we're talking about consciousness. And if you use the word mind, it mixes things up. Mind is chitta.

[37:30]

It's all mind. But we're not talking, we're talking specifically about consciousness. So, the seventh level of consciousness is what we call the ego, or self-consciousness. I see, I like, I don't like, I want, and so forth. So we've identified the ego, and it's the seventh consciousness. Then the eighth consciousness is the alaya-vijnana, the storehouse consciousness. that is the repository of all of our thoughts and actions from beginningless time. Did that become memory? Memory, yes. It includes memory. And when we perform an action or a thought, it deposits a seed in the Alaya Vijnana.

[38:41]

Every time we do something out of habit or repeat some action, it waters the seeds and they sprout. And so this is how we create conditioned activity. Manas has a function, the 7th consciousness has a function of communicating between the 6th consciousness and the 8th. But since it thinks that, because it has this information, it thinks that it's the information. it identifies with the 8th consciousness and thinks that, that is myself.

[39:45]

So, then we start building a self out of this information. And this is called the problem. So, when the 8 consciousnesses are transformed, they become the Four Wisdoms. The Elijah Wisdom becomes the Great Round Mirror Wisdom, which sees everything as it is. The Seventh Consciousness becomes the Wisdom of Equality. The Sixth Consciousness becomes the Wisdom of accurate perception. And it's called various things. And the five sense consciousnesses become the wisdom of appropriate action, beneficial action.

[40:54]

So, I'll read it again. In order to provide a means whereby students might ancestors in their compassion and with their skill and devising expedience first instituted the five ranks. So then he talks about what are the four wisdoms. What are the four wisdoms? They are the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Universal Nature Wisdom, that's usually called the Equality Wisdom, the Marvelous Observing Wisdom, and the Perfecting of Action Wisdom. What was the last one? Perfecting of action wisdom. So the three bodies of Buddha, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya are also related to this, but it's more than I want to talk about right now.

[42:04]

I want to get to where we left off last time. I know we need a little break. We don't, actually. Let's not take a break. So, followers of the way, even though you have pursued your studies in the threefold learning, so what is the threefold learning? Just basic Buddhism. Discipline, meditation, wisdom. I really can't hear you. Discipline, meditation, wisdom. Yes. Good. So even though you have pursued your studies in three-fold learning continuously through many kalpas, if you have not directly experienced the Four Wisdoms, you are not permitted to call yourselves true sons of Buddha. Followers of the Way, if your investigation has been correct and complete, at the moment you smash open the dark cave of the eighth or lie of consciousness

[43:13]

the precious light of the Great Perfect Mirror of Wisdom instantly shines forth. OK? I'll talk about that a little bit. But strange to say, the light of the Great Perfect Mirror of Wisdom is black like lacquer. This is what is called the rank of the apparent within the real. And that's where we got blasted last time. We cut it in further than that. I've just mentioned the line of Vijnana, right? He says, the moment you smash open the dark cave of the eight or of lying consciousness, that's the consciousness, the seed consciousness, right? It holds all the seeds of our performance. The moment you smash open the dark cave of the 8th or the Illini Consciousness, the precious light of the Great Mirror of Wisdom instantly shines forth.

[44:21]

So he says smash open, right? Usually it's like Parivrtti. Parivrtti means turning. So he makes a dramatic thing out of it by saying smashing open. And so I can see that, you know, smashing open and all the light from their life shines forth. But the alive Yada is not a discriminating consciousness. Discriminating consciousness is the seventh and sixth. They're thinking, but the alive Yada doesn't think. It's like, it just responds. So because it responds, it responds not mechanically, but it responds without, it doesn't have a brain, so to speak.

[45:23]

It just responds to conditions. But it has no, it's no like or dislike or anything, it just, it holds these seeds. Yes, but it's not just potential. It holds all the possibilities, but it's also activated, right? So it's activated, but it doesn't care what happens. So that's why it's because the mirror doesn't care. The mirror doesn't care. When a Chinaman walks across the mirror, it's a Chinaman. When you walk across the mirror, it's you, without your preferences.

[46:30]

It has no preferences. It simply sees things just the way, it reflects everything just as it is. So that's the mirror mind. And the mirror mind is, you know, Suzuki Goshi says, our practice is just to see things as it is. He doesn't say anything about mirror mind, but that's where he's coming from. And what's the dark cave? That's just a habit? Well, yeah, the dark cave is our being caught in our habit energy. So that, you know, it's like the cherubim is the 12-fold chain. You can't get off the chain, right? How do you get off the chain? of causation. But instead of describing it that way, it's described as the transformation of consciousness. Is there some reason why the order is important?

[47:37]

Sometimes it seems to me like it would make more sense if 7 and 8 were reversed. because if you have the sixth consciousness, which is a sort of elementary discriminating, but that could be just for one instant or one happening or something, and then the alias seems like it would be a sum of an infinite number of all this stuff that would be feeding into it and channeling back and so on. It seems like it would directly connect with the sixth one, the eighth one. Well, the sentence is there to connect it. Well, maybe so. But I don't want to get into speculation about how it would be better or different that you can write a letter to me about that. It's one deal with the way it's laid out.

[48:49]

OK. So this is that's the parent within the real. That's the first right. Which is the parent within the real. The first right. We're just starting to talk about the five ranks now. That's the first rank is the parent. So the real. So what's the parent within the real. What does that look like. And when you look at a circle that has both dark and light, what does that look like as the apparent within the real? The apparent hidden within the real, what does that look like as a circle? Well, it's just dark on top and light on the bottom.

[49:50]

Equally? No. What's the significance? I mean, what is significant about the dark and the light in relationship? Relative and absolute. Relative and the absolute. But what's significant about the proportion? When you say the dark, the one hidden within the other, what proportion is that? Mostly dark. Yeah, mostly dark. The dark will be little and the real will be big. Because the light is hidden within the dark. The dark being the ordinary? The apparent within the real. So the apparent is the light and the real is the dark. Oh, I thought you said... No. Yeah, so the real is the dark, which is expressed in the Sandokan.

[50:53]

Just like the real would be emptiness. Yeah, you could say the real is emptiness, and the light is momentariness. So this is the first rank. The apparent within the real. We call them real and apparent throughout this treatise. We call them various things. So the real is dominant. And it's like night time. the phase of the moon, where everything is dark, except there is a little sliver of light. So the light, the apparent is hidden within the real.

[51:56]

So this is kind of like Zazen, right? Zazen is like that. The activity is all absorbed into the dark. We're not trying to do something. So having attained that great perfect mirror wisdom, you now enter the rank of the real within the apparent. When you have accomplished your long practice of the dual mirror samadhi, you directly realize the universal nature wisdom. I think it's usually you realize that great equality wisdom should be and for the first time enter the state of the unobstructed interpenetration of noumenon and phenomena. So the real within the apparent is the second rank, right? So it's mostly light with a little bit dark, the circle, because the apparent is what's apparent.

[53:01]

And so the real is hidden. Because you're totally engaged in activity and everything's lit up. The apparent hidden within the real is in the dark. Would it be appropriate to say, for example, if somebody is looking at a person doing Zazen, that's like the first one because it looks like They're basically in the absolute, although there may be a little sliver of their breathing. And if somebody looked at somebody in the kitchen, being the tenso, they would think it's kind of the opposite. Here's somebody just all action. But if you looked a little carefully, you would perceive there was a little sliver of emptiness that was somehow in there, reinforcing it.

[54:09]

Not so apparent, right? What is apparent is just the activity. And then the other one, what is apparent is the darkness, not the light part. So that's why, it's not, you can say a person looking at somebody, but actually just sitting, that's where you are, right? Because you're not creating something. So you just let it go. I think his cup has a hole. So another way maybe of putting it is sort of like, you know, the stillness within activity. Activity within stillness. Right. That's another way of saying it. So the disciple must not be satisfied here. He himself must enter the intimate acquaintance of the rank of the coming from within the real. That's the third rank.

[55:16]

Remember that when we look at the five ranks, there's the middle circle and two circles at the bottom and two circles at the top. So we've talked about two circles at the bottom and we're talking about the circle in the middle called coming from within the real and the black circle. Little black dot in the real. And that's OK. Just water. Thank you. And I'm fine. No problem. No. And so. But this is big. So it's a balance between. It's like the energy. that's produced the actualization of perfect balance of activities, so that all the activity is motivated or has as its basis the absolute.

[56:42]

I see the middle part as being the center of the mandala. It's like the center of your hara, where the pure energy is flowing. It's like the fountain from which our energy the source of our energy. So he just kind of goes over these. The disciple must not be satisfied here, but he himself must enter into the intimate acquaintance within the rank of the coming from within the real. And then after that, by depending upon the rank of the arrival at mutual integration, He will completely prove the marvelous observing wisdom and the performing of action wisdom.

[57:47]

And at last he reaches the rank of the unity attained and after all comes back to sit among the golden ashes. So there's a lot of stuff impressed in there that has to be unpacked a little bit. I'm just wondering if I can... He kind of unpacks it. So I'll not unpack it. I'll go on. So he says, do you know why? You got that part? The pure gold that has gone through a thousand smeltings does not become ore a second time. Physics. Yeah, well this is your physics. Very much like Dogen actually. Dogen Citizen. Yeah. Firewood and ash. Well, it's kind of like firewood and ash, yeah.

[58:51]

But you're right. And once you leave, you don't come back again. So my only fear is that a little gain will suffice you. How precious is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the five ranks of the apparent within the real and the real? So he's using this as a step-by-step process. So the Five Ranks sometimes can be used that way, and sometimes used in different ways. But he's doing this as a step-by-step process. How priceless is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the Five Ranks? By this practice he not only attained the Four Wisdoms, but he personally proved that the Three Bodies also are wholly embraced within your own body. So what are the three bodies? Right.

[59:53]

So as the Sixth Ancestor says, maybe he tells us here. Yes, he does. So. So you have you not read. In the Daijo Shogun Gyo-Ron, when the eight consciousnesses are inverted, the four Wisdoms are produced. That's what I've been saying. When the four Wisdoms are bound together, the three bodies are perfected. Thereby, Soke Daishi composed this verse. Soke Daishi is Daikan Eno. And Daikan Eno is who? Sixth Ancestor. Sixth Ancestor. And the Platform Sutra. So, he gives us the Platform Sutra.

[60:59]

A monk asked the Sixth Ancestor, I don't understand the Three Bodies and the Four Wisdoms and the Eight Consciousnesses. Dharmakaya explains it to him. He says, your own nature is provided with the three bodies. When its brightness is manifested, the four wisdoms are attained. He also said, the pure Dharmakaya is your nature. The perfect Sambhogakaya is your wisdom. And the meri-dharmakayas are your activities. And you can see how that corresponds to the eight levels of consciousness in the Four Wisdoms. Because dharmakaya is your nature. It's your pure nature which you cannot possibly describe, but it's the basis of everything.

[62:16]

And the perfect Sambhogakaya is your wisdom, whereas the Manas and Madhavajjana, the seventh and sixth consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom. into what we call our wisdom body. And the Nirmanakaya is like the sense consciousnesses, right? And they become the consciousness, the activity of, the consciousness of the wisdom of beneficial action. So the beneficial action is the result of, or the activity of, your wisdom mind and your buddha nature. So it's a beautiful system, a beautiful way, a model of description.

[63:25]

I have a question about the first rank and the second rank. I was wondering if you could say that the first rank is non-being and the second rank is being? No, it's all being. There's really no division, you know. It's just that in order to describe something, we talk about It's just one thing, right? So it's not like there are two things. It's all being and non-being. Being is non-being and non-being is being. So I'm not sure exactly. Maybe I'm missing a point. Well I guess, well I know this couplet, non-being and being, becomes somewhat controversial in terms of discussing the philosophy and I was just trying to understand it and I guess in my own mind I saw non-being as being the equivalent of emptiness and being as being the equivalent of form, but maybe I'm mistaken.

[64:57]

We can't say that emptiness is not the absence of being. Emptiness is the nature of being. And its expression is in producing phenomena. But phenomena and emptiness are not two different things. It doesn't mean non-being. Of course, when we talk about being, we talk about phenomena, right? But phenomena are simply an expression of something. Because there's no phenomena, no dharma, that exists as a separate entity. So they're only transformations of emptiness called things. So if we want to We think that this glass is full, even though it's dripping.

[66:11]

It's emptying itself. But even though it's full of water, it's still empty. Is there emptiness with a big E and a little E? No. Well, yes. Provisionally, I say, when I've drunk all the water, I say, well, the cup is empty. But the cup is empty whether there's something in it or not. So I'm drinking the emptiness that we call water. So when you just now said, it's one thing, there's no difference, I guess anybody that's been practicing is going on that intuition that wisdom is action.

[67:16]

So this model, the beautiful system, is kind of a dance with words, but actually I can't But think, I mean, that wisdom is action and Buddha nature itself is wisdom, is action? Yeah. That's Buddha nature, yeah. So when you say, your wisdom mind... Buddha's, you know, when we talk about, when we say all beings that have Buddha nature or are manifestations of Buddha and so forth. It's Sambhogakaya that we're talking about.

[68:17]

How is it useful to distinguish? I keep going on this intuition that in that reciprocal interpenetration in any living moment of that, there's no way to distinguish among these. The way to distinguish is when there's self-centeredness, that's called vijnana. And when there's no self-centeredness, that is called Buddha or Sambhogakaya. So, you know, you don't have to think about it that way. But this is the way... Between the three bodies is what I meant, or the different types of wisdom.

[69:26]

Dharmakaya is a way of talking about our nature, Buddha nature, our basic nature, which is emptiness. The true mark of everything is emptiness. All dharmas are marked with emptiness, means that everything has the main characteristic of something fire is heat. The main characteristic, the mark of... and that's called the mark. So the mark of water is wet. But the true mark of all dharmas is emptiness, dharmakaya. So we use that term, dharmakaya is your nature. Your nature is emptiness, even though Which does not mean that you're not there.

[70:38]

Does not mean that you're not there. And your wisdom, which is your wisdom body, is your selfless body. When you're no longer acting out of... This is why when... Manas, or your ego consciousness, is termed, then it's your wisdom body, instead of just your ego body. And then your actions are informed by your wisdom, rather than by your ego. Now, I know you came in late, so I'm not going to ask you that question. Well, when he says, how priceless is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the five rings, does that mean to study them, or is there some other practice?

[71:47]

I mean, what does he mean by the practice of the five rings? Or is that another class? We haven't gotten there yet. But he actually talks about the step-by-step practice. Yes, it would be great if we could actually get there. because he then starts to talk about how to do that. So we run more time? Let's see what time it is. It's quarter to nine, right? That's time to quit? Yes, it'd be quarter to nine, about six minutes. Yes. Well, if you wanted to continue doing that, we can make an extension. And next time, we can study that, if you want to do it next time. But if you do want to do it next time, you should show up. So think about it for four minutes. I'm really happy to get through it because the most interesting part is yet to be studied because then he's talking about each one.

[72:59]

Talks about the poem. And. Anyway, what I would recommend if we're going to do that, that I don't know if this is in the workbook or not. Yes. Takita's commentaries in the workbook. I don't know if it is, but I wouldn't recall. I don't know if the key to this commentary is in here or not. Is it in Zen Training? Zen Training. Is it in Zen Training? It is. But I would like everybody to study it before we... I can make a copy and send it up. Yeah. But it might be in here. So why do you do that?

[74:12]

Because I don't see it here. Well, wherever it is. Yeah. You know, tell us where it is. No, I hope I'll find it and send it up. Good. When we're here. Thank you. When we're going to have another meeting. So we understand that I can talk to you on Sunday. is where it is in this book. And how long is it? Oh, it's not very long. So if we had another class, you'd want to read that and the rest of it. Well, no, I would want you to read this before we get into the class. But then we'll study the rest. This is background. So that when I say what is what, you know, you don't send everybody mouth open. was having you write your own gatha for each rank.

[75:22]

That would be interesting, wouldn't it? Without speculating. Without speculating. Well, I don't know. You can do whatever you want. What's a gatha? A verse. A what? A verse. A verse. Or gatha. I didn't know what a gatha was. G-A-T-H-A. As in Tathagata. No, not as in Tathagata. Actually, it's a totally different word. Anyway, I won't let you do that. Unless you want to. If anybody wants to do that, it might be fun. You'd have to just look at it and see what's going on there. So, yeah, let's do that. Writing katha. There is one already written for each one. Yeah. Right? Right. Right. You're wrong. I've been inspired by the guy. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Or anything else. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That will help you read instead.

[76:28]

Three zero zero. You win. Can we have a winner like the six? Yes. That's right. On the wall. You will promise to praise the worst. A little enlightened figure. Non-judgmental enlightened figure. Empty star.

[76:54]

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