And before I forget it, I want to thank Alexandra for doing all the work of getting all this material to us and organizational skills. And then the next thing is regarding Jake's question. We were both thinking about he was thinking about what I was saying and I was thinking about what he was saying. So he came up with. Ryokan as an example of the fifth. If you know the monk Ryokan, he came up with that as an example of the fifth rank, someone in the fifth. Ryokan was this kind of independent monk who played with children and wrote poems and so forth. A kind of untraditional free spirit. And then I was thinking about Alzheimer's. And also not just Alzheimer's, but Down syndrome.

[01:06]

People who have a certain kind of. Restriction limited lifted. Sometimes people with Down's or with Down syndrome. They can be very happy and totally unaware of so many things. And they live in a kind of wonderful world, free of certain things. And of course, from our point of view, deprived. But there's a certain... I remember during Reagan's administration, there were a bunch of deaf people watching him. on the TV give a talk and they're all laughing and say, he's just lying. I remember when my brother had Alzheimer's and I hadn't seen him for 20 years or something and he wanted to see me.

[02:24]

And we made contact. And he'd always been rather mean to me. But when I visited him, he was totally lovely and warm and it was a complete reversal. So, it's hard to say what's good and what's bad. At any rate, I think Suzuki Roshi was operating somewhere between the fourth and the fifth rank. And, you know, there are two ways of thinking, at least two ways of thinking about the five ranks. One is as a progression of moving from one level to another. And the other way is to simply see each rank as. And actually, part of the jewel mirror, each one is like a facet of the jewel mirror and reflects all the other aspects of the jewel mirror and contains them.

[03:39]

So Suzuki Roshi acted out of the fifth rank. practice things literally. He didn't expect us to practice the precepts literally, and he didn't expect us to conform to any kind of program. You know, when a teacher like Shakyamuni appears, then the student's practice of that person in proximity. So it's kind of like apprenticeship in a sense. And you don't study texts or anything like that. You simply practice with this person, eat with them, and sit with them, and so forth. And that was the way we practiced with Suzuki Roshi.

[04:39]

But then when the teacher or the instigator is no longer there, then we make up rules and procedures for practice and formalize the practice in some way. So. And that's how, you know, formalizing practice, you were talking about He would sometimes walk out of his window just before it was over. What was his formality? His request to ask you not to move. What was that? How did that? Well, he was he was helping us to find how to find our center. What did he say? I don't want you to move. Don't move. That was just expected. It was.

[05:40]

Sometimes he would say that, don't move, but mostly it was just the expected thing, which is still there, still here. It's just the expected thing, don't move. Which doesn't mean you can't move. Doesn't mean you can't move. And what I always say to people is, new people, it's okay to move, but at some point in your practice, you won't want to move. At some point, you say, I'm not going to move. But when you begin, you don't know what to do. So you have to find out. But that's OK. Even if you have been practicing for 20 years, it's OK to move. But sometimes you say, I won't move. But this is always the expected thing in any Zen center. You said you don't move. and you become very still.

[06:44]

If you can't become very still, then it's very hard to sit down. So instead of moving out, you move in. You become very still. And then you just one breath after another. And you're living your life one breath after another, and all there is is that breath. That's how you learn to trust your Abilities. Not ability exactly. It's like you go beyond yourself. You go beyond what you think you can do. And then at some point you just have to let go. So it puts you in a position where you finally have to just let go. But ordinarily you don't want to do that. Dr. Roshi, is there a difference between self-centered moving and movement with don't move?

[07:56]

Because the way I heard you was that it's okay to move, but at some point you won't want to. But I also think in a fifth stage practitioner, they may be moving in the spirit of don't move, versus an acolyte who will be moving with a different sensibility, maybe a movement of, well, I'm uncomfortable with some separation. So we're not statues. So is there a way that you can help us understand movement and no movement with these two kind of expressions of the five positions? Usually we're trying to be comfortable. Everybody in the world wants to be comfortable, except a few others.

[08:58]

There's always some people who don't, but mostly people want to be comfortable. So we find various ways to be comfortable. We have cushions and couches and, you know, overstuff this and all that, and things to lean on and so forth. But in Zazen, we let go of anything to lean on. So that we're not using props. We're only depending on our Zen spirit. That's what we depend on. And then, how can I depend on that? So, if there's nothing to lean on, and no place to go, You make this effort to just, how can I be here? That's the question. How can I be where I am without anything to lean on and nothing to support me, nothing external to support me?

[10:00]

And everyone has to find out how to do that. You can say this and that, but everyone has to find it for themselves. We expect, mostly, that a novice would keep moving until they make a determination not to move. So it's not like we're forcing somebody to do something, but this is the way this is done, and so we help them to do this the way this is done. And then there's leeway, you know, kind of like, oh, you're bad. One thing that you never do is say, oh, I'm so bad because I moved. Just, oh, you moved. That's all. So, no judgment. It's the same from the beginning to the end. From beginner to the adept.

[11:06]

It's the same. So, is it accurate to say that the five positions are not a progression necessarily, and that at any given moment we may find ourselves in one of the positions where there's a vexation and a desire to move. And move, perhaps. It's really, it's your, it's about you. You're not trying to prove yourself to anybody else. It's just about you. So you have to deal with whatever you do. Right. I'm not blaming anybody else for my discomfort, but I'm just trying to understand and reinforce the idea that we're not in this progression where someone at the so-called fifth position is never moving. No, that's right. Yeah. No, that's right. Mostly that they don't. But that doesn't mean that they wouldn't. mind in the movement.

[12:10]

But basically, basically the person in the fifth position is not, does not, is not motivated by discriminating mind. So the thing that makes us, that causes us to move is our discriminating mind. And until we know how to let go of our discriminating mind, we will move. And then sometimes we struggle with our discriminating mind over and over until we just realize, hey, I'm just making things hard for myself. Let go of the discriminating mind and just accept everything as it is. So this is the person in the fifth position who would just say, well, this is just the way it is. Nothing special. Just my everyday walking around, called sitting down. But I think that a person in fifth position, in fifth rank, could just stand up and walk around.

[13:22]

It's OK. But for someone who's really learning how to sit, it's not a good idea. But they return to the marketplace, right? They return to the marketplace at the right time. Yeah, the marketplace is like number four. But it's also, it's like number four, but number five is like the freedom to do anything. It's a step above the marketplace. And Tozan, you know, what people say about Tozan is that he just keeps going further. There's no place where he's rest, to stand still. He's always going further. And that's the notable thing about Tozo. I don't want to talk about this anymore because we have to get going. But I'll answer your question, I hope.

[14:25]

Andrea? So a person in the fifth rank, a person in the fifth rank, still being a human, will still have their habits. They'll still have their habit energy. It just doesn't go anywhere. So we all can write beautiful poetry about feeling loneliness, but it just stays right there. And that expression. Right. Now, when a person in the fifth rank goes by the ice cream store, you still feel like you want to have chocolate and vanilla and a sugar cone. And sometimes does he have it? And sometimes does he have it? Yeah, of course. Who wouldn't have someone in the second race who thinks it's bad for them? Although we didn't finish the Hokyo Zamae completely, I want to go to Hakuin, because I really love Hakuin's commentary, which is very freeing, and I really enjoyed his sources, which I will annotate for you.

[16:06]

So this translation is from And Zen Dust, which is a wonderful book that's been on print for 25 years. And then there are numbers, page numbers, page 62 and page 63 on the cover on the front. So P63, P62 and then 63. So we go on. OK. And then down to the two thirds down the pages is the five ranks of a parent and real page. I don't know. Well, yes, it's page six. P6 to a piece is three pages. Yeah. Paragraphs. Paragraphs. The last gardens of recent times are desolate and barren.

[17:15]

But alas, the Zen gardens of recent times are just desolate. But I don't think that's the first page. I want to be at. Well, it starts where it says V2 to the go eco on the top of the page. Read the first line. But the thing is, I don't want to start at the top. No, no, [...] the orally transmitted secret teachings of the monk who lived on Mount To.

[18:16]

Mount To is where To-Zan. Zan is mountain, and To is To-Mountain. So they called the teachers after their mountain. There's the mountain To-Zan just in the To-Mountain. So Liang-Che is his name, and To-Mountain is his mountain. So, you know, Mountain Joe or Tenel Pious Joe. Tenel Pious Joe. You're going to be called Cal. Cal Mel. Cal Mel. Berkeley Mel. So. But this is not where I want to start. I want to go to the next page. Well, no, let's start there, because it's a kind of introduction and the subject.

[19:28]

So this introduction. We do not know by whom the Jewel-Bearer Samadhi was composed. We know, but we don't know. I mean, yes, Tozan, but it could be somebody else. Probably not those. From Sekito, Osho, Yakusan, Osho, and Ungan, Osho. These are the successors. Tozan had transmission from Ungan, and Ungan from Yakusan, and Yakusan from Sekito. And Sekito wrote the Asando Kai. So this is the succession. from Sekito to Tozan. It was transmitted from master to master and handed down within the secret room. Never have its teachings been willingly disclosed until now. 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.

[20:29]

in order to bring out the main principle of Buddhism. Surely the five ranks is a torch on a midnight road, a ferryboat at the riverside, when one has lost one's way." So this is by Hakuin. Hakuin, as you may know, lived from 1689 to 1769. And he was the very powerful monk who revived the Rinzai school in Japan. Rinzai school was in decline. He revived the Rinzai school. And there's a lot of literature by him, which keeps coming out all the time. And he's a great painter. So he's very famous for his paintings and drawings, as well as for his literature. And he was very iconoclastic. And he criticized everybody. When we read Dogen, we say, Dogen's criticizing people. They're calling them dogs and this and that.

[21:32]

But I really am. I mean, it's like 10 times more critical than Dogen ever was. So I'm a very famous monk. And he has a lot of good humor and a lot of sarcastic, wonderful sarcasm. So, then he says, but alas, the Zen gardens of recent times, this is in the 17th century, 18th century, are desolate and barren. Directly pointing to the ultimate, Zen, is regarded as nothing but benightedness and foolishness, and as supreme treasure of the Mahayana, The jeweled 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, meaning Tozan's house.

[22:38]

But Tozan, of course, was the figurehead of the Soto school to which we belong. So the Rinzai and Soto are this kind of competition. Hakuin is seeing Taoism's teaching of the Five Ranks as really superb, and he also quotes Belgian in here. But Hakuin also created the Koan system that's practiced in the Rinzai school. So, he says, today's students are like blind people who have thrown away their staffs, calling them useless baggage. In other words, they really stop practicing as they should. Of themselves, they stumble and fall into the mud of heterodox views and can't get out until death overtakes them.

[23:44]

They never know that the five ranks is the ship that carries them across the poisonous sea surrounding the rank of the real. This is a direct quote from the Platform Sutra, where Huineng has a poem. At the end of the poem, he says, if you continue in this way, you just keep on making mistakes until death overtakes you. And then he says, this is the big ship that carries you across the sea of birth and death. He's he's quoting the sixth ancestor here. He says they stumble and fall into the mud of heterodox views and cannot get out until death overtakes them. And they never know that the fight is the ship that carries them across the poisonous sea surrounding the wreck of the real, the precious wheel that demolishes the impregnable prison house of the two boys.

[24:46]

The two boys are. are the voids of atman and dharmas. Atman means self, and dharmas are the constituents of self. So atman and dharmas, the Heart Sutra says, both atman and dharmas are empty of their own being. So atman is a term that we don't usually use, but the five skandhas is atman altogether, is self. So self and dharmas are the two voids. They're both empty. And this is the message of the Heart Sutra. They do not know the important road of progressive practice.

[25:51]

So this is Hakuen's idea, progressive practice, which is not the same as the Soto school. They are not versed in the secret meaning within this teaching. Therefore, they sink into the stagnant water of Srivaka, Srivaka-hood, or Prachenka-buddhahood. Srivaka-hood are those arhats, and Prachenka-buddhas are self-enlightened people. They fall into the black difficult to say that. So here's this, you know, right off, Huckabee is being very critical. Critical. Oh, yeah. And people who are, you know, who feels are outside of the way. I'm referring to most of the day students. Yeah.

[26:52]

I just wonder what. Oh, there's some particularity. Today's students means those in the 17th century. And Dougie says the same thing. You know, someone who has such a highly sophisticated and idealistic sense of practice that nobody can really come up. Very few people can come up to. Joe's criticized, you know, their their wallowing in that. heterotox views. They're not really, you know, practicing the true dharma. And in particular, he's referring to people who are caught in the idea of emptiness. Either emptiness or form. One way or the other. The two voids, yes. They're in the prison house of the two voids, which means that they're not free from self and dormant. No, but the two boys, I mean, it would be not free, not being able to realize that the Atman is empty.

[28:05]

That could be. It could be that they don't realize it. But also Manjushri has a different teaching on the two boys. One is in the emptiness that we understand that we can turn an object, turn emptiness into an object. So that emptiness becomes a kind of hindrance. Yes. It's not empty. And then the other one is a nothingness of absence of an object. Like when people get depressed, for example, they feel empty. Oh, that's a different kind of emptiness. Right. But that's that's those are the two boys that are Jewish. He talks about it. I think it's a sort of gospel. Could be. Yeah, it's a different reference. It's a different reference, but it might be different. But in the Yogacara school, Atman and Dharman, the first opening statement of the thirty verses of Vasubandhu, Atman and Dharman are empty of their own being.

[29:12]

That's the opening statement. So, here's where Hakuen actually starts his presentation. He says, that into which I was initiated forty years ago in the room of Shouju, Shouju Rojin, was his teacher, was Hakuen's 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 a great death, I shall give this secret transmission to him, since it was not designed for people of medium and lesser ability. So take heed, and do not treat it lightly." Very interesting. Harkuin holds this up in such a wonderful way. And there are others who feel that this is nothing but a preliminary study for beginners.

[30:15]

So it has this whole range. of how you see this. So then he says, how vast is the expanse of the sea of the doctrine, how manifold are the gates of the teaching. So there are many The third vow, bodhisattva vow, is Dharma gates are endless. So among these, to be sure, are a number of doctrines and orally transmitted secret teachings, yet never have I seen anything to equal the perversion of the five ranks. So he's talking about how people pervert the five ranks, which is one reason why it became dormant for a long time. The carping criticism, the tortuous explanations, the adding of branch to branch, the piling up of entanglement upon entanglement.

[31:21]

The truth is that the teachers who are guilty of this did not know for what principle the five ranks was instituted. Hence, they continue and bewilder their students to the point that even a Shariputra or an Ananda would find it difficult to judge correctly. So he's talking about what is the purpose? according to him. Or, could it be that our patriarchs delivered themselves of these absurdities in order to harass their posterity unnecessarily? For a long time I wondered about this. But when I came to enter the room of Shoju, his teacher, the rhinoceros of my previous stout suddenly fell down dead. Boom. do not look with suspicion upon the five ranks, saying that it is not the directly transmitted oral teaching of the Tozan line. You should note that it was only after he had completed his investigation of Tozan's verses that Shouju, Hakuin's teacher, gave his acknowledgement to the five ranks.

[32:33]

So he's trusting his teacher to approve of the five ranks, which he did. After I had entered Shoju's room and received the transmission from him, I was quite satisfied. 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. This is what the Five Ranks are about, right? The understanding of the reciprocal interpenetration of the apparent and the real. They seem to have discarded the words reciprocal interpenetration and to pay no attention whatever to them. Thereupon, the renaissance of doubt once more raised its head in the summer of the first year of the content era, 1748. In the midst of my meditation, suddenly the mystery of the reciprocal interpenetration of the apparent and the real became perfectly clear.

[33:39]

It was just like looking at the palm of my own hand, which it was. 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. Self-deprecation. All of you who wish to plumb this depth, deep, I'm sorry, I'm looking at my note. All of you who wish to plumb this deep source must make the investigation in secret with your entire body. My own toil has extended over these 30 years. Do not take this as an easy task. Even if you should happen to break up the family and scatter the household, do not consider this enough. He was vowed to pass through seven or eight or even nine thickets of brambles. And when he would pass through the thickets of brambles, do not consider this to be enough.

[34:42]

Vow to investigate the secret teachings of the five ranks to the end." So this is like, whoa, strong admonition, right? Someone said, you know, when people study this, they feel like discouraged because they can't come up to this, you know. So we have to remember that Haakon is very idealistic and also he has very strong emotional charge. And yes, what he's saying is true, but that shouldn't be discouraging. He's saying In order to come up to where my practice is, this is what you have to do. But you don't have to come up to his practice.

[35:43]

Just be yourself. If you can just be yourself, you're coming up to his practice. But how do you be yourself? For the past eight years or nine years or more, I've been trying to invite all of you who boil your daily gruel over the same fire with me to study this great matter thoroughly. I can get the picture of a couple of hobos. But there I know a hobo is a Dharma monk. A hobo is a Dharma priest. A monk is a hobo. Ho is dharma, and bo is monk. And this hobo is a dharma bum, growing, cooking their gruel over the same stove.

[36:47]

I love it. But more often than not, you have taken it to be the doctrine of another house, meaning the Soto school, and remained indifferent to it. Only a few among you have maintained understanding of it. How deeply this grieves me. Have you never heard that gates of dharma are manifold and ought to enter them all? You forget. I say it all the time. How much the more should this be true for the main principle of Buddhism and the essential root of Sanzen. Sanzen has several meanings depending on who it is that's... In Rinzai school it means going to the teacher for koan practice, koan study. And in Soto school it means Sanzen. So here's his first teaching. Shoji Rochin has said, in order to provide a means where students might directly experience the Four Wisdoms, the patriarchs, in their compassion and with their skill in devising expedience, first instituted the Five Ranks.

[38:05]

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. Now, some of you know this pretty well, and I talk about it a lot, even though you probably don't hear it so much. But, the four wisdoms are connected with the eight levels of consciousness. The alaya-vijñāna, the manas, the mano-vijñāna, and the five sense consciousnesses. The five sense consciousnesses, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, and mano-vijñāna. Vijñāna means consciousness. The sixth consciousness which discriminates between

[39:11]

the sense consciousnesses, so that you can say, I see, I hear, I smell, I taste, and I touch. The sixth level of consciousness discriminates between those. Otherwise, you would say, I hear the microphone, or I hear this. But you can do that. Tozan says, when you can hear through your eyes, then you really have got it. But ordinarily, This sixth level of consciousness discriminates without having an ego. And it also thinks. When there's thinking and collecting and discriminating the information that comes through the senses, that level of consciousness is active. So when you say, I see the cup, it means that the sixth level of consciousness is discriminating that.

[40:22]

Recognizing that the cup, the I, and the consciousness all together create, I saw, I see the cup. Without either one of those, there's no seeing. and there's no thinking about it, because it has to be all three in order for the consciousness to arise. So I'll leave you with that for a few minutes, and then come back to the rest. So I'm going to go through this rather quickly, It's something that we should really understand, this model of consciousness. And Hakuin refers to it as it goes along. The next level of consciousness, the seventh level, is called manas.

[41:32]

And this is the subconsciousness which or self-consciousness. And this self-consciousness is what creates the separation. And then the eighth level of consciousness is called the alaya. consciousness, vijnana. And this is where the seeds of all of our actions and thoughts are deposited, which create our habit energy and our memory and so forth.

[42:34]

And the seventh level of consciousness thinks that the alaya is the true self. the steams of our karma are stored there, and then when they're watered, they recreate themselves. Those seeds sprout. And that's where our karmic activity takes place. So, somehow, the seventh level of consciousness has to be subsumed, so that it's not taking over. It has a function. The problem is that because it's self-consciousness, and because it has leadership qualities, it tends to think of itself as the self, as the center of the human universe.

[43:35]

So when we say get rid of ego, it means get rid of manas. But you can't get rid of manas. If you try to get rid of manas, it's like Medusa. It just grows more heads. But manas can be tamed and can be used rather than using. And it has a function as a coordinator between the alaya vijnana and the sixth consciousness. But unfortunately it has a bigger head. You search the position and it creates an imbalance in the hierarchy of consciousness by getting too big. And it's really dangerous when it's connected with intellect.

[44:40]

The hara, the heart and the intellect should be working in harmony but what usually happens is the head takes over and we become too intellectually stimulated and the ego consciousness grows really big and then we don't know how to control it and then we have wars and we have meltdowns and greed So the Manas is the instigator of greed, ill-will, and delusion. So, that's at the bottom of the 66th paragraph, when he says, Sojan Roshi said... What did I say? Rogen has said, in order to provide a means whereby students might directly experience the four, oh, I didn't mention the four wisdoms. So, the four wisdoms are the result of these, ah, ah, when, the eight, there are actually nine levels of consciousness, but I'm not going to talk about the ninth.

[46:02]

The ninth is like Buddha nature. And all of the eight are actually expressions of the ninth one. But, the eight consciousnesses are controlled by the seventh, which is the ego. And when we talked about turning, Parivrtti, when the eight consciousnesses are turned around, and let go of manas, then manas becomes the wisdom of equality. The alaya-vijnana becomes the wisdom, the round mirror wisdom, the jewel mirror. And the sixth consciousness becomes the wisdom of discernment of phenomena, discerns phenomena as it is, without discrimination.

[47:09]

And then the sense consciousnesses become the wisdom of appropriate action. So the consciousnesses turn and become the four wisdoms. And we don't speak of consciousness exactly, we speak of wisdom. So that's what he's talking about here. He's also, in the next page, he'll talk about it some more. So, what are the four so-called wisdoms? There are the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Alaya Vijnana, the Universal Nature or Great Equality Wisdom, which is Manas, the Marvelous Observing Wisdom, and the Perfection of Action Wisdom. So follow it of the way, even though you may have pursued your studies in the threefold learning that is śīla, samādhi, and paññā, prajñā.

[48:11]

Śīla is precepts, samādhi is meditation, and prajñā or paññā is wisdom. Those are the three, the three learnings that Plastic Buddhism. Continuously through many kalpas, if you have not directly experienced the Four Wisdoms, you are not permitted to call yourself true children of Buddha. Followers of the Way, if your investigation has been correct and complete, at the moment you smash open, here's his drama, the moment you smash open the dark cave of the Eighth Oralaya Consciousness, That's the seed consciousness, the age consciousness. The precious light of the great perfect mirror, wisdom, instantly shines forth. But strange to say, the light of the great perfect mirror, wisdom, is black like lacquer.

[49:18]

This is what is called the rank of the apparent within the real. This is the first rank, the apparent within the real. The great mirror of wisdom shines, but it's dark, dark. So that's why the circle is mostly dark in the first rank. Having attained the perfect mirror of wisdom, you now enter the rank of the real within the apparent. This is the second rank. When you have accomplished your long practice of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, you directly realize the universal nature wisdom, that is, the equality wisdom of the manas, the ego, and for the first time enter the state of the unobstructed interpenetration of noumenon and phenomena, which is what this is all about. The disciple must not be satisfied here.

[50:26]

but must enter into intimate acquaintance with the rank of the coming from within the real, that's the third rank. After that, by depending upon the rank of the arrival at mutual integration, that's the fourth rank, will completely prove the marvelous observing wisdom and the perfecting of action wisdom. At last, reaching the rank of unity attained, and after all coming back to sit among the cold and ashes, So this is the fifth rank is just sitting among the coal and ashes, which means no attachment to anything. Is that what we were discussing yesterday? Sitting among the coals and ashes is cool. It's extinction. I don't like the word extinction. Actually, the word nirvana, the root of the word nirvana, it comes from the act of actually thanking the coals.

[51:35]

Nirvana is the cool state. Right. So sitting among them is sitting. So we've gone from heat when we get to this. Well, yes, that's right. It's letting go of the hot head. You know, we say When you sit zazen, you should have cool head and warm feet. Cool head and warm feet. So, it's kind of like that. I don't like the term extinction. It smacks too much of extremes, of annihilation and eternalism, which are the two extremes to be avoided. something becomes extinct. But to talk about extinction, it's like flaming out, you know? Like coals and ashes. It's like something that's used has all been burned through.

[52:39]

Yeah, that's right. It's like no longer... There's no fuel being provided. Desire has been... because it talks about old man. The images of an old man. who no longer has desire. I don't know how old you have to get to be there. I still have my struggles. There was a debate about this etymology in the 90s in Japan with Masumoto Shiro and some of his colleagues. And he favored this etymology of cooling or blowing out. rather than the alternative, which was to liberate. And as he says, to translate nirvana as to liberate or liberation implies that there's something to liberate or something to be liberated from. So it's this sort of substantialist, Atman, old Hindu idea that he argued some of his Buddhist colleagues had tried to revive.

[53:41]

And he said that you should blow it out. There are controversies going on in Japan about original Buddhism and the original meaning of the original statements and so forth. But I, you know, I'm very wary of roots, I mean words and roots of words, because although we derive statements and understanding with certain roots of words, the way they're used is not necessarily exactly what the root is, right? So, you know, that's okay, I can accept what that is, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's what I want. It's really open to question. You know, these kinds of questions are so... bring one to such a rarefied place, when really, you know, what we need to do is just live our life in a way that's reasonable.

[54:45]

This is a home. It's not an instruction. It's not an instruction book. That's right. Well, he he acts like an instructor. But anyway, he's saying you can't stop any place. His message is you can't stop anywhere. There's this rank. And he's using the race as a stepping stone from one to the other. This is his, you know, Rinzai way, which is fine. It's different than our way, but I really appreciate his taking the five ranks on and such. And after he took this on, it became, this is one of the, these five ranks have become, in Rinzai school, some of the last koans, along with the precepts.

[55:52]

So I think sitting among the coal and ashes means no longer subject to desire. Not turned around by desire, not pulled around by desire. So do you know why? pure gold that has gone through a thousand smeltings does not become ore a second time. My only fear is that a little gain will suffice you. How priceless is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the five ranks of the apparent and the real? By this practice you not only attain the four wisdoms, but you personally prove that the three bodies are also wholly embraced within your own body. So the three bodies are dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya. Dharmakaya is your nature, sambhogakaya is your wisdom, and nirmanakaya is your activity. This is the way that 6th Ancestor in the Platform Sutra, which both Ellen and I have taught you, describes it.

[57:08]

So, how precious is the Meri-Gangchen step-by-step? So we tend to, you know, see a lot of these teachings of the Mahayana as way beyond our reach. You know, if you read the ten Bhumis of the Bodhisattva and the celestial Bodhisattvas and Buddhas and so forth, it all looks like it's up there in the sky, you know, like Mount Olympus. But it's really about you. And this is what the Platform Sutra, the Sixth Ancestor, does, is bring all this stuff down to, no, no, no, it's about you. You are the Three Treasures. You are the Dharma, the Three Bodies of Buddha. The Three Bodies of Buddha is your body, not some god up in Mount Olympus. This is all about you. So, he's saying, By this practice, you not only attain the Four Wisdoms, but you personally prove that the Three Bodies also are wholly embraced within your own body.

[58:25]

Have you not read the Dai-Jo Shogokyo-Ron? No, you haven't. When the Eight Consciousnesses are inverted, Right? That's what I was just talking about. Turned, when he says inverted, or turned around, the four Wisdoms are produced. When the four Wisdoms are bound together, the three bodies are perfected. In other words, when you have the four Wisdoms, then the three bodies, naturally, are your true bodies. The Dharmakaya is your an essential body. The dharmakaya is the dark. Nirmanakaya is the light. The unity attained is between your nirmanakaya and your dharmakaya.

[59:29]

Your dharmakaya is your essential nature. Nirmanakaya is your world, or phenomenal nature. And this is what it's all about. The two are, how do you interplay, how do you interconvert between your dharmakaya and your nirmanakaya? And it all happens through your sambhogakaya. Because the sambhogakaya is your wisdom body. It's not some body. It's your wisdom. Your wisdom, non-discriminating wisdom mind. Which creates this interconversion between your original mind and your temporal mind. What does it mean when it says that a consciousness is already inverted?

[60:40]

I just we use the word Harvard to use. Turn it around. Rotate. The image is turning on the basis that it's like a revolving something revolves like a revolving door. When the right moment comes around, it opens. And then you get in. If you don't get in in time, you go boom. Next lifetime. So, I'll read that again. So, how priceless is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the five ranks of the apparent and the real. The apparent is your nirmanakaya, and the real is your dharmakaya. And sambhogakaya is your true body, actually.

[61:45]

That's your body, that wisdom mind that leads you to practice and guides you. And so by this practice, you not only attain the four wisdoms, but you personally prove that the three bodies also are wholly embraced within your own body. Have you not read in the Daijo Shogun Ryo-Rom, when the eight consciousnesses are inverted or turned around in the base to become the four wisdoms, the four wisdoms are produced. When the four wisdoms are bound together, the three bodies are perfected. Therefore, Soke Daishi, Soke His sixth ancestor, Daikarena, composed this verse. Your own nature is provided with the three bodies. When its brightness is manifested, the four wisdoms are attained.

[62:46]

He also said, the pure dharmakaya is your nature. The perfect sambhogakaya is your wisdom. The myriad nirmanakayas are your activities. So, in each of these five ranks, Tomzan Ryokai, founder, had a poem that goes with them, which is variously translated. I'm just going to read the poem as we go along, but I don't know if I will say much about it. So in the apparent within the real. In the third watch of the night, before the moon appears, no wonder when we meet there's no recognition. Still cherished in my heart is the beauty of earlier days." So it's a feeling of longing, and the jewel mirror is veiled in darkness.

[63:54]

It has that feeling, but actually it's not a bad feeling. The rank of the apparent within the real, he says, denotes the rank of the absolute. The rank in which one experiences the great depth shall cease down and enters into the principle. When the true practitioner, filled with power from his secret study, meritorious achievements, and hidden practices, suddenly bursts through into this rank, the empty sky vanishes And the iron mountain crumbles. That means there's nothing to rely on. We don't have to go into what those mean. Simply means nothing to rely on. Above, there's not a tile to cover his head. And below, there's not an inch of ground for him to stand on. The delusive passions are non-existent. That's sitting among the colonnades. Enlightenment is non-existent. Samsara is non-existent.

[65:00]

Nirvana is non-existent. This is the state of total empty solidity, without sound, without odor, like a bottomless clear pool. It is as if every fleck of cloud has been wiped from the vast sky." So you might call this annihilation, but it's not, because it's simply latent. It's simply night. It's simply dark. So he says that this is the rank of the absolute. Yeah. So which one? One. One. One percent. I'm forgetting what the discussion was about ranks. Those on purses are not in. They're not necessarily in ranks there, but Huffman is using this as. a kind of quantification of an electron, right?

[66:02]

Well, don't... I'm not saying we should do this, are you? No, I'm saying that the verses are ptosons for each one of the ranks. Right, but they're not hierarchical in the same way that Hawkwing is kind of training them. Well, it's ambiguous. It could go either way. And it depends on how you want to go. But it wouldn't be hierarchical if he's saying that the first rank is the absolute. Right. Yeah. But right. The intrinsic meaning of the poem is his take on it. This is. Yeah. This is Huckabee's interpretation. So he makes the first rank actually the lowest rank. It's not hierarchically ordered. The first rank is the absolute. Right. The first thing. The first rank is the absolute, which is pretty high. Except that's. In the Rinzai tradition, that's the starting place. That's the starting place, because in this particular guide, this is starting with enlightenment.

[67:09]

This is how an enlightened person acts from beginning to end. But, we say that we start our practice from enlightenment. Enlightenment is what leads us to practice. We don't know that. We're in the dark, actually. And gradual practice. So in practice we have enlightenment. So could we describe the practice of Zazen as the absolute? Writing the practice of Zazen is we immerse ourselves in could be the absolute. Well that's why what we don't do is try to point out what the enlightenment is. We say practice enlightenment and then let it go.

[68:13]

So we put our attention on practice. of no hierarchy between the ranks, as simply less practicalization. So you can read it in both ways. Yes, there are different ways you can read it. That's true. But I'm wondering if it's sort of, in the beginning is our end, but we see it for the first time in five, say, but it's there in the beginning. So it's the stages, the stages of practice.

[69:21]

So you say these are the positions of an enlightened person in actual condition. They're not necessarily the phases of practice. Well, no, they are the phases of practice. They are the phases of practice. Because there's no enlightenment without practice. They're the stages of practice and enlightenment. or the stages of enlightened practice. Right, but you said before, you said that these are the starting point is of a realized person already. Yes. So that's different than saying these are the phase of practice. Well, the starting point is practice. I'm not quite sure what you're saying. Phase of practice is to say you enter practice, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Right? There's only a beginning. But I'm talking about, I don't see how many enters practice in their first year of practice, or the second, or whatever, right?

[70:26]

That's different than talking about the different positions of somebody who's already realized. Well, there's realization. Yeah, that's different. Practice, you know, we use different terms for, there's practice you know, practice realization, you might say, and then there's awakening. Because we can have practice realization as a sort of a practice, but we don't realize it. We don't realize or necessarily have a realization or an awakening to it. So that's different. So Hakuin is talking about awakening. In some way, comparing all this gets a little sticky, so we can compare it to a certain extent, but Hakuin has a little different way of

[71:38]

presenting his teaching, then Dogen would, although he appreciates Dogen's wife. Time to what? Okay, it's twenty minutes to five. So what we were going to do is what? I would rather continue doing this until we finish. Because otherwise we're just kind of starting. Do you want a signal at ten minutes? We should do the refuges at five. Yeah, that's OK. OK. So do you want a signal? I get five minutes before five. Two minutes. I don't want to get hung up on talking about like that. I just want to get through it. So I mean, we can have this kind of controversy as this week. But if we talk too much, then we forget we're talking about getting back to the right.

[72:50]

It's this first grade aligned with the Dharmakaya. Yeah. Yes. So the apparent hiding within the real, so to speak. the Absolute, which is the Dhammakaya, the rank in which one experiences the Great Death, and so forth. So the empty sky vanishes and the iron mountain crumbles, which means there's nothing to rely on, there's not even an inch of ground for him to stand on. The delusive passions are non-existent, enlightenment is non-existent, everything is gone. So too often the disciple, considering this attainment of this rank, is the end of the great matter, and the discernment of the Buddha Way complete, clings to it, to the death, and will not let go of it. So we think, well, if I, you know, I'm no longer thinking, I let go of everything, my mind is a blank, and I'm, you know, living in this state.

[73:59]

That's what he's talking about. There are people who just want to sit dazen all the time. Suzuki Roshi never let us sit dazen all the time. Sometimes we'd have kin-hin, And somebody would want to sit through kīnyan, and yank him off the tongue. When we do kīnyan, everybody does kīnyan. When we sit, everybody sits. So too often a disciple, considering that attainment of this rank is the end of the great matter, and his discernment of the Buddha way complete, clings to it to the death and will not let go of it. Such as this is called stagnant water Zen. Such a person is called an evil spirit who keeps watch over the corpse in the coffin. Even though he remains absorbed in this state for thirty or forty years, she will never get out of the cave of the self-complacency and inferior fruits of Pachinka Buddhahood. Therefore, it is said, one whose activity does not leave this rank sinks into the poisonous sea.

[75:06]

That person whom Buddha called the fool who gets He is called the fool who gets his realization in the rank of the real. Therefore, though, as long as one remains in this hiding place of quietude, passivity, and vacantness, inside and outside are transparent, and his understanding perfectly clear, the moment the bright insight he has thus far gained through his practice comes into contact differentiations, defiling conditions of turmoil and confusion, agitation and vexation, love and hate, he will find himself utterly helpless before them, and all the miseries of existence will press in upon that person. It was in order to save that person from mysterious illness that the rank of the real within the apparent was established as an expedient. So, you know, like the person who is in that corpse in the coffin is like a hothouse flower.

[76:14]

A hothouse flower is in, just doing all your practice in the zindo. So, the second rank is the real root of the apparent. A sleepy-eyed grandma at dawn encounters herself in an old mirror. Clearly, she sees a face, but it doesn't resemble hers at all. Too bad for the muddled head she tries to recognize in her reflection. This is sometimes called looking into the wrong side of the mirror. I don't want to explain that. If the disciple had remained in the rank of the apparent within the real, his judgment would always have been vacillating in his view of prejudice. Therefore, the bodhisattva of superior capacity invariably leads his daily life in the realm of the six dusts. In other words, get off your cushion and go out there and do something. The realm of all kinds of ever-changing differentiation, all the myriad phenomena before his eyes, the old, the young, the honorable, the base, half-wholesome pavilions, verandas and corridors, plants and trees, mountains and rivers, he regards as his own original true and pure aspect.

[77:30]

So this is what we were talking about. It is just like looking into a bright mirror and seeing his own face. If he continues for a long time to observe everything everywhere with this radiant insight, all appearances of themselves become the jeweled mirror of his own house. And he becomes the jeweled mirror of their houses as well. Ehe, meaning Dogon, has said, The experiencing of the manifold dharmas through using oneself is delusion. That's in the Ginja Koan. The experiencing of oneself through the coming of the manifold dharmas is satori. This is just what I have been saying. This is the state of mind and body discarded. Discarded body to drop. This book is Body-Mind-Dropped. It is like two mirrors mutually reflecting one another. without even the shadow of an image between. Mind and the objects of mind are one and the same.

[78:33]

Things in oneself are not two. A white horse enters the green flowers. Snow is piled up in a silver bowl." This is what is known as the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. This is what the Nirvana Sutra is speaking about when it says, the Tathagata sees the Buddha nature with his own eyes. When you have entered this Samadhi, though you push the great white ox, he does not go away. the universal nature wisdom manifests before your very eyes. So now we've got a universal nature wisdom. This refers to a story about a monk who lived on Mount Esau. He said, I lived with Esau more than 30 years. I ate Esau's food and I shipped Esau's ship, but I didn't study was look after an ox. If he got off the road, I dragged him back. If he trampled flowers in other gardens, in other fields, I trained him with a whip.

[79:37]

For a long time, how pitiful he was at the mercy of everyone's words. Now, he has changed into the white ox on bare ground and always stays in front of me at my face. All day long. And even if and clearly reveals himself. And even though I chased him away, he won't go. This is like you. This is training me. He's been training me for a long time. One of my favorite stories. So, if the student, having reached this state, were to be satisfied with it, then as before... I'm going to use the word you instead of the student. But if you, having reached this state, were to be satisfied with it, then as before, you would be living in a deep pit of fixation in a lesser rank of bodhisattvahood. Why is this so? Because you are neither conversant with the deportment of the bodhisattva, nor do you understand the causal conditions where Buddha lands.

[80:47]

Although you have a clear understanding of the universal and true wisdom, you cannot cause to shine forth a marvelous wisdom that comprehends the unobstructed inner penetration of the manifold dharmas. The patriarchs, in order to save you from this calamity, have provided the rank of the coming from within the real. That's the third rank. The coming from within the real, the pivot point, what I call the pivot point. Tozan's verse, within nothingness there is a path, and within emptiness there is a path, leading away from the dusts of the world. Even if you observe the taboo on the present emperor's name, you will surpass that eloquent one of yours who is silenced every time. So don't limit reality by naming it, is what he means, and don't boast of enlightenment or your attainment So in this raga, the Mahayana bodhisattva does not remain in the state of attainment that he has realized, but from the midst of the sea of effortlessness he lets his great, uncaused compassion shine forth.

[82:03]

Standing upon the four pure and great universal vows, which we chant, he lashes forward the dharma wheel of seeking bodhi above and saving sentient beings below, so wisdom and compassion. This is the so-called, my favorite line, coming from within the going to, the going to within the coming from. I think that's a stroke of genius. The coming from within the to, the coming from. The coming from within the going to, the going to within the coming from. It's just like the, kind of like the eternal symbol. Like what? You can have the internal symbols like a lot and a line at a time. Infinity symbol. Yeah. So this is called this is the so-called coming from within the going to the going to within the coming from or over. He must know the moment of the meeting of the paired opposites, brightness and darkness.

[83:08]

Therefore, the rank of the arrival of mutual integration has been set up. The arrival at mutual integration, this is the poem. When two blades cross points, there's no need to withdraw. The master swordsman is like the lotus blooming in the fire. Such a person has in and of themselves a heaven-soaring spirit. This is also the wisdom of the great observation wisdom. So, in this rank, the bodhisattva of indomitable spirit turns the dharma wheel of the non-duality of brightness and darkness. You stand in the midst of the filth of the world, your head covered with dust and your face streaked with dirt. You move through the confusion of sound and sensual pleasure, buffeted this way and buffeted

[84:10]

You are like the fire-blooming lotus that, on encountering the flames, becomes still brighter in color and pure in fragrance. You enter the marketplace with empty hands, yet others receive benefits from you. This is what is called to be on the road, yet not to have left the house. To have left the house, yet not to be on the road. You are an ordinary person. Is this an ordinary person? or a sage. The evil ones and their heretics cannot discern you. Even the Buddhas and ancestors cannot lay their hands upon you. For anyone who tried to indicate your mind, it would be no more than the horns of a rabbit or the hairs of a tortoise, which, of course, are nonexistent, that have gone beyond the farthest mountain. Still, you must not consider this state to be your final rest in place. Therefore, it is said, such a one has in and of themselves a heaven-soaring spirit. What must you do in the end?

[85:12]

You must know that there is one more rank, the rank of unity attained. Unity attained. Who dares to equal that person who falls into neither being nor not being? Who are you or who? All folks want to lead the current of ordinary life or rise above the common level. But he, after all, comes back to sit among the coals and ashes. In other words, this is like the Bodhisattva not extincting, like Alan says, but staying in the world, in the mud and the muck and the ashes and all the stuff. So this is the great verse. Now, this master is not I don't know. It seems to actually be somebody else.

[86:13]

Secho. This verse is by Secho, but not Hakumen. Anyway, the verse says, how many times has Tokugun, his first teacher, how many times has Tokugun, the old giblet, The Old Gimlet not come down from the marvelous peak. He hires foolish wise men to bring snow, and he and they together fill up the well. This is how you be a fool, because how can you fill up the well with snow? It just keeps melting. So you're just doing useless activity, totally useless activity. should first study this verse and completely be one with the flow of life, is my addition.

[87:19]

But just doing effort without being attached to the result. This is called practice like a fool or an idiot. How many times has Togo-un, the idle old gimlet, not come down from the marvelous peak He hires foolish wise men to bring snow, and he and they together fill up the well. That's such a great ending. That is, yeah. Toku-un was, I think, one of the first teachers. So this is a kind of overview. Thanks. What would I call it? Introduction. And if people want to really study it, you can do that.

[88:28]

You want to teach a class on it? You want to teach a class on it sometime? What? I hate to say class. I like to say run. Yeah, class. Yeah, I can do a class on it.

[89:02]

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