Happy Holidays to all of you! One of the important things to understand in our practice is that sentient beings and Buddhas are not different.

[01:34]

in order to understand our practice and to actually have faith in what we're doing, it's important to have faith in our nature as Buddha, or so-called Buddha nature. And so Dogen is very explicit about this How is it experienced and how is it expressed? And how do we approach it? When Dogen went to China, his question was, if all sentient beings have Buddha nature, as it is expressed,

[02:55]

Why do we have to do anything? Why do we have to seek enlightenment? Why do we have to search out Buddha nature if it's present everywhere? So that was his question. When he came back from China, his understanding, as he expressed it, was, yes, all beings are Buddha nature, but unless there's practice, it doesn't manifest. And so Dogen actually says, Buddha nature arises with enlightenment.

[04:12]

With enlightenment, Buddha nature manifests. So he talks of Buddha nature or practice enlightenment. It doesn't separate practice from enlightenment or enlightenment from practice. In order to see Buddha nature, Buddha nature arises with practice and practice is enlightenment itself. And also Nogin says the most important thing is to clarify the problem of birth and death. The problem of being a non-being.

[05:20]

The problem of The problem of yes and no. The problem of existence, non-existence. So... One time, Dougian wrote a... fascicle of his Shambhogenzo called Busho, or Buddha Nature, in which he used many examples in order to clarify his understanding to us. And he uses a lot of the usual stories that most of us know.

[06:34]

historical stories and gives them his own non-dualistic understanding. Actually, a lot of the stories that come down to us are come down to us in a dualistic form. And Duggan clarifies the stories by expressing them in their more fundamental understanding. one fascicle, in this one part, Dogen is talking about the 14th ancestor, Nagarjuna, manifesting as the full moon.

[07:59]

This is an old story that Dogen gives his own understanding to. So he's talking about this story of the 14th ancestor, Nagarjuna. The sage Ryuju, that's his name, the 14th ancestor, he has many names, actually. The sage Ryuju, the 14th ancestor, is called in Sanskrit Nagarjuna. In China, he is called Longshu, Longsheng, and also Longmeng. A native of western India, he went to southern India where many of the people believed that man's deeds could bring him good fortune. Nargajuna preached the wondrous dharma to them and those who heard it said to one another, having good fortune is for a person the greatest thing in the world.

[09:04]

And this person, Nagarjuna, speaks emptily of a Buddha nature. Who has ever seen it? Nagarjuna said, if you want to see the Buddha nature, first you must eliminate your self-egoism. They asked, is the Buddha nature large or is it small? Nagarjuna said, the Buddha nature is neither large nor small. broad nor narrow. It is not happiness or reward for something. It is undying and unborn. Learning the preeminence of the truth embodied in his teaching, all of them turned from their original belief. At another time, Nagarjuna manifested a body of absolute freedom while sitting. It was just like the round full moon. The whole assembly heard only the dharma sound. They did not see the master's form. Among the gathering was Kanadeva.

[10:09]

He spoke to them. Do you discern his form or not? They answered, now our eyes do not see it. Our ears hear nothing. Our minds discern nothing. Our bodies experience nothing. Kanadeva said, that itself is the form of the sage, Nagarjuna, manifesting the Buddha nature. With it, he is teaching us. How do I know this? Because the form of formless samadhi is like the full moon. The meaning of the Buddha nature is vast emptiness, open, clear, and bright. When Kanadeva finished speaking, This round shape disappeared, and Nagarjuna was sitting on his seat as before, and he recited a verse. My body manifests a round moon shape, expressing thereby the original body of Buddha, of Buddhas.

[11:13]

Preaching the Dharma, no form. Expounding it, no sight, no sound. So in this assembly, well first, Nagarjuna preached the wondrous Dharma to them. And those who heard it said to one another, having good fortune is for a person the greatest thing in the world. So normally people feel that having good fortune is the greatest thing in the world, meaning worldly success. Worldly success, of course, is what most people think is, feel is the true goal of life.

[12:15]

Most people, not everyone, But most people, and for many people at some point in their life, we feel that worldly success is the most important thing. And if we do the right thing in a worldly way, we'll become very successful. And this is very satisfying. And maybe that's enough. And then someone said of Nagarjuna, and this fellow speaks emptily of Buddha nature. Who has ever seen it? I mean, what kind of, what tangibility does this have? So Nagarjuna said, if you want to see the So maybe Buddha nature is not so hard, not so difficult to see, because actually everyone is Buddha nature.

[13:36]

Buddha nature is expressing itself continuously. But what does he mean? You have to eliminate self-egoism. So then they asked, is the Buddha nature large or is it small? And Nargajuna said, the Buddha nature is neither large nor small. It's not broad or narrow. It's not happiness and it's not reward for something. So usually we're looking for something, for happiness, and we're looking for a reward for something. These are the two things that really drive people, looking for happiness and some kind of reward for something. And if we think about it, why not?

[14:41]

It's only natural, normal, human. We can seek happiness, and we can seek happiness in religious practice. If we find the world not such a happy place, maybe we look to religious practice for happiness. And for our practice, we may want some reward. I remember hearing someone one time say, I've invested 10 years of my life in practice.

[15:46]

Where's the reward? So I think the things that we look for are happiness, reward, and love. only comes through receiving love, only comes through giving love. And happiness is not something that we can seek.

[16:49]

It's the result of our actions, maybe a reward. Not a reward for our actions, but happiness is beyond our idea about it. Because we may find happiness here or happiness there, but happiness doesn't come by eliminating all unhappy things or all difficulties. Happiness is very elusive, but it's also... There may be happiness and unhappiness

[17:55]

as contrasting values. But true happiness doesn't depend on happiness or unhappiness. True happiness includes all states, all emotions, all feelings. runs through every moment of our life. And it's possible to see it. But just like Buddha nature, you might say, Buddha nature, happiness. Buddha nature is happiness. But it has nothing to do with how we feel. And reward, there is reward.

[19:04]

You can't deny that there's reward. But if we seek reward, it's always elusive. When do we get paid? When is the payoff? Actually, we're being paid constantly. We're continually reaping the payoff from something. But we don't easily recognize that. We're being repaid for our old karma, for our old actions, and sometimes right away, sometimes a little in the future, and sometimes way in the future. And sometimes we receive something, some reward, but we don't understand why.

[20:08]

Because it's the result of something that happened so far in the past that we don't see the connection. So practice, you know, is to just practice for the sake of practice. And this is the hardest thing, you know. True practice and fulfillment in life is to be able to just practice for the sake of itself. If you are an artist, you just do your art for the sake of the art. When you start thinking about having a show, making money, being famous, getting recognition, then it all has an effect on what you do.

[21:16]

It's very hard to maintain that kind of purity in our activity, which is to do the thing for its own sake. and to express that kind of purity. And the same goes for many other things, activities in our life. How can we just do something? Let's do the right thing for its own sake, without expectations. of fame or money or gain of any kind. So he says, it is not happiness or reward for something. It is undying and unborn. Buddha nature is undying and unborn.

[22:19]

important concept in Buddhism, that the nature is undying and unborn. When the sixth ancestor, Hoi Ngan, went to visit the fifth ancestor, Hung Rin, And he, but he was, his nature was very developed. And so when he went to visit him, the fifth ancestor received him and he said, where are you from? And he said, well, I'm from the south of China. The south of China was considered by the northerners to be barbaric. The barbarians lived in the south, and the cultured people lived in the north, in China.

[23:32]

And so that when he said, I'm from the south, he named his city from the south, his fifth ancestor said, people of Rainan have no buddha nature. No, I'm sorry. The Fifth Ancestor, the Hoi Nong said, he said, why are you here? And the Sixth Ancestor said, I come to become Buddha, to find my Buddha, and to find my Buddha nature. And Fifth Ancestor said, people from Rinan, nature has nothing to do with South or North, North and South.

[24:47]

When Fifth Ancestor said people from Rhinan have no buddha nature, according to Dogen, the meaning was not that there are people from the South or the North who have or don't have buddha nature. No buddha nature means has nothing to do with having or not having buddhanature. No buddhanature is what they have. If you say they have buddhanature, that implies existence. So in order to eliminate this kind of duality, he says, no buddha nature.

[25:54]

Buddha nature is no buddha nature. Buddha nature implies existence. No buddha nature. Impermanence. The definition of buddhanature is... One definition of buddhanature is impermanence. Impermanence is buddhanature. But buddhanature is also something that manifests. So he says, people from the South have no buddhanature, or are no buddhanature. So, like Arjuna says, it is undying and unborn.

[27:10]

It is yet north or south. Unborn and undying forms come and go. Everything comes and goes as buddha-nature. So there is no And yet, there is Buddha nature. Buddha nature not. Haudenosaunee is not.

[28:32]

Haudenosaunee is Moo, actually. Moo Haudenosaunee. This is why Moo is such a popular term. So, learning the preeminence of the It was just like the round full moon. In other words, he was sitting like this and he manifested a body which was like the round full moon. The whole assembly heard only the Dharma sound. They did not see the Master's form. Among the gathering was Do you see its form or not?

[29:38]

And he said, Right now, our eyes don't see it. Our ears hear nothing. Our minds discern nothing. And our bodies experience nothing. And Kanadeva said, That itself is the form of the sage Nagarjuna, manifesting the Buddha nature and no-Buddha nature. With it, he is teaching us. How do I know this? Because the form of formless Samadhi is like the full moon. The meaning of the Buddha nature is vast emptiness, open, clear, and bright. I'm going to go on to say how people think that what they saw Nagarjuna's body disappeared and a full moon appeared.

[30:43]

But that's not the meaning of the story. The meaning of the story is that Nagarjuna, just as he appeared, as you or me, was manifesting a form of a full moon. And the form of the full moon is not round or square or has any particular shape. Full moon is another word for buddhanature. It's a metaphor for buddhanature. But the people said, I don't see Nagarjuna. I only see the buddhanature. All we saw was the round full moon. Actually, when we put a dove in, each one of us manifests the form of the round full moon. Just like Nagarjuna.

[31:51]

And the round full moon has no particular shape. It's a formless form, a formless sonati. which form of Samadhi takes any shape. This is Samadhi. I am sitting doggone, my legs hurt when I sit doggone, or I am bleeding, or I am doing this and I am doing that. Doggone is talking from the side of Buddha.

[32:57]

discrimination appears. As soon as the word arises, discrimination appears. As soon as naming comes into being, discrimination. So, we're continually discriminating and naming things and giving everything separate names. But, you can just as easily call anything you see, Buddha. without discriminating. Whatever you see, you can just address as Buddha. Buddha nature. Everything is Buddha nature. So, everything has a name. So when you sit and drive in it, no need to say, I feel it.

[34:36]

have both sides in one. If I am angry, but I am angry, beat it. I am happy, but I am happy, beat it. I am unhappy, beat it. That way, you don't get I believe that family life is good, good and okay.

[36:35]

Not underneath, but within. The various forms are, the various feelings, inner realms are good and okay. So, And he said to the group, my body manifests a round moon shape, especially made by the original body of Buddha. When you put God in it, it's just to express goodness. That's all.

[37:37]

That's the grand expectation. I hope you can make it. But I don't need expectations. A lot of people say, well how do I tell people about the Dharma? You're constantly being So I came here to call on my faith and my faith in God.

[39:52]

I eat bread and I drink milk and I drink water.

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