Good evening. Before I start, I just wanted to clarify something about our practice period attendance. We made this list of people's schedules. And then when I looked at the schedules, I went down the list to see what everybody had done, and then I made my comments, which were just my personal comments to myself. And then I decided to let people know, kind of put that up there so that people could see, you know, if, remind people what they were, said they were going to do.

[01:14]

That's all. But, you know, because I put my comments on there, people thought I was judging them. sometimes, but I wasn't really judging anybody. It was just simply my own way of checking off in my mind. So it looks judgmental, but I think not everybody understood what the requirements were. And so I was kind of looking at that, you know, to see who understood and who didn't. So, don't take it personally if you see something that you felt was not fair or something like that. So, tonight is the last night of the class and I want to finish up Zenki

[02:19]

and quickly go through Shoji. Shoji really covers in a more succinct way what Zenki covers, but it's a little bit different and adds something. So, does anybody have any questions about what's, before we start? I have to leave for just a minute. You have to leave for a minute? Yeah, sorry. Should we wait for you? No. Okay. I'm taking him for Howard. What? I'm taking him for Howard. That's not what it is. Okay.

[03:22]

So, if we don't have any questions, Yes? I have a question about what you're about to go into, which is the perception of a judgment. Okay. What can people do to see an observation as clearly an observation and not a judgment? What catches people? How should they look at it objectively? Yeah, and not take it personally. Well, you have to take it personally because it's about, you have to take it personally. You have to take it personally. Is this on? Yeah.

[04:24]

Okay. But not as a criticism. Because sometimes it's okay or, you know, a little checkmark or not enough or something like that. But it's simply about the requirements. It's just in relation to the requirements. It has nothing to do with you being good or bad. Right? It's simply whether or not I felt that the people were paying attention to the requirements. That's all. And if you were, no problem. If you weren't, well, you can just see that. That's all. It's okay to take it personally. Yeah, each one of us should take it personally. But no, personally here means as a person, as it applies to you.

[05:29]

As it applies to you, but not as a criticism of you. I think that in order to get into the end here, I have to start somewhere. Oh yeah, okay, I see. I think I'll just read the whole thing because it's so short and then get to where we left off.

[06:35]

In the culmination of its quest, the great way of all Buddhas is emancipation and realization. Emancipation means that life emancipates life and that death emancipates death. For this reason, there is deliverance from birth and death and immersion in birth and death. Both are the great way totally culminated. There is discarding of birth and death and there is crossing of birth and death. Both are the great way totally culminated. Realization is life. Life is realization. When the great way is realized, it is nothing but life's total realization. It is nothing but death's total realization. This dynamic working, or Zenki, readily brings about life and readily brings about death. At the very time this dynamic working is thus realized, it is not necessarily large, it is not necessarily small. It is not limitless.

[07:38]

It is not limited. It is not long or far, short or near. One's present life exists within this dynamic working. This dynamic working exists within this present life. Life is not a coming and it is not a going. It is not an existing and it is not a becoming. Nevertheless, life is the manifestation of the total dynamic working. Death is the manifestation of the total dynamic working. You should know that within the incalculable dharmas that are in you, there is life and there is death. You must quietly reflect whether your present life and all the dharmas existing with this life share a common life or not. In fact, there can be nothing, not one instant of time or a single dharma, that does not share life in common. For a thing, as well as for a mind, there is nothing but sharing life in common. Life is like a person riding a boat. Aboard the boat, the person uses a sail, takes the tiller, pulls the boat along.

[08:40]

Yet the boat carries the person, and without the boat, the person is not there. By riding in the boat, the person makes it a boat. You must concentrate yourself to studying and penetrating this very time. At this time, all is the world of the boat. The heavens, the water, the shore, all become the boat's time, and they are not the same as time which is not the boat's. It is for this reason that life is what I make to exist, and I is what life makes me. Boarding the boat, one's body and mind, and the entire surrounding environment are all the boat's dynamic working. Both the entire earth and all space are the boat's dynamic working. The I that is living, the life that is I, is just like this. Zen Master Yuanwu Kochin said, Life is the manifestation of the total dynamism. Death is the manifestation of the total dynamism. You should clarify and penetrate this utterance in practice. What you must penetrate is this.

[09:42]

Although the principle of life is the manifestation of the total dynamism covers all the world and all space without concern for beginnings or endings, not only does it not hinder life as the manifestation of the total dynamism, it does not even hinder death as the manifestation of the total dynamism. Although when death is the manifestation of the total dynamism, it covers all the world and all space, not only does it not impede death as the manifestation of the total dynamism, it does not even impede life as the manifestation of the total dynamism. That sounds like a very complicated talk. But in a simple way, things don't impede each other. Life doesn't impede life, death doesn't impede death, life doesn't impede death, and death doesn't impede life.

[10:44]

And everything is just as it is. Therefore, life does not impede death, death does not impede life. All the world and all space exist equally within life and within death. This does not mean, however, that one fixed world or one single space is totally dynamically worked within life and within death. Though this is not oneness, it is not difference. Though it is not difference, it is not sameness. Though it is not sameness, it is not multifariousness. Therefore, within life, there are multitudinous dharmas manifesting their total dynamic working. And within death, there are multitudinous dharmas manifesting their total dynamic working. And the manifestation of their total dynamic working exists within what is neither life or death.

[11:56]

In the manifestation of the total dynamic working, there is life and there is death. So, you know, it's like there is and there isn't. And as soon as you try to grasp what is and pin it down to something, it eludes you. Even though there is life and there is death, you can't grasp either one. And yet, in the realm of life, there's just total life.

[12:58]

And within the realm of death, there's just total death. But everything has a tendency to be. And as soon as you try to pin something down, it's already out of your grasp. So he says, therefore, the total dynamic working of birth and death could be likened to the bending and extending of a young man's arm. Or it doesn't have to be a young man, just anybody's arm. It's like this. This is life, and this is death, but it's one arm, and when it's extended, it's this, and when it's folded, it's this.

[13:59]

So when we, you know, I think birth and death, is maybe a better way to talk about the extremes. Because when you want to use a term to fit both, a non-dualistic term that includes both, then you can use the word life. It's the life of birth and the life of death, which encompasses or includes both sides. There has to be an encompassing of both sides. This is like extending the arm and folding the arm. Therefore, the total dynamic working of birth and death could be likened to the bending and extending of a young man's arm or to a person reaching back for his pillow in the night.

[15:18]

You've heard that expression before. It is manifested by means of the great many all-pervading powers and radiant brightnesses within it. So the footnote says, the first simile, which is extending and bending of the arm, derives from the Kamuryojo Kyo, or meditation sutra. Bending and extending are both total activities of the same arm, which do not hinder each other. Just as birth and death, the two great movements of the universe are each total, mutually unhindered activities of that universe. And the second one is an utterance of the Zen master Dao Wu. That's the subject of Dogen's commentary in Shobo Genzo Kanon, Reaching for the Pillow in the Night.

[16:23]

Reaching for the Pillow in the Night is Like, you know where something is, but you can't see it. It's kind of like, it's there, but you can't see it, although you can feel it. You know it's there, and you reach for it, but you can't see it. So with all pervading powers, jinsu and radiant brightness is komyo. Komyo means radiant light. As a matter of fact, Dogen has a fascicle called Jintsu and one called Komyo.

[17:33]

These two terms, frequently encountered in Buddhist literature, are given detailed treatment by Dogen in separate fascicles of Shobogenzo, Jintsu and Komyo. Here he uses them as representatives of the individual entities or dharmas manifested within the total working of birth and the total working of death. So he said, it is manifested, the total dynamic working of birth and death, which is Zenki, is manifested by means of the great many all-pervading powers and radiant brightnesses within it. So this radiant brightness is like Vairochana. Vairochana Buddha, you know, is a Buddha of radiant light. who sits in the center of the universe and in total stillness, but all manifestations emanate from Vairojana.

[18:40]

This is just a kind of model, right, a way of helping us think. So, Barochana represents big mind or oneness, and this radiant light pervades the universe So, both birth and death are manifestations of Vairocana, and the recycling of the manifestations of life go on within.

[19:42]

the big universe. And when things disappear, things disappear and something else appears, and things disappear. So we call this the undulation of, or the entering and weaving of birth and death. the universe is always producing itself in some way. So when we leave this particular form of life, life itself will manifest, continue to manifest. within the great dynamic activity.

[20:51]

But whether you will be reborn as so-and-so, I wouldn't count on it. You'll be reborn as something, maybe a bird or a tree, but I wouldn't count on that either. So then he says, when it is thus manifested, When it is thus manifested, since the total dynamic working is being activated by the manifestation, the manifestation means, like you're a manifestation, right? And a tree is a manifestation. Things manifesting. When it is thus manifested,

[21:55]

since the total dynamic working is being activated by the manifestation. In other words, the total dynamic working is activated as you. It is thought that there has not been manifestation, it has not been manifest prior to the present manifestation. However, prior to its present manifestation was the previous manifestation of the total dynamic working. Although there was a previous manifestation of the total dynamic working, it does not impede the present manifestation of the total dynamic working. That is the reason for cooperating manifestations of such thoughts." Everybody translates that differently. In his footnote he says, such thoughts refers to the above. It is thought that it has not been manifested prior to the present manifestation. This paragraph gains from being read in light of the previous paragraph beginning, therefore life does not impede death, death does not impede life.

[23:06]

So, in other words, things don't impede each other. What happened before does not impede what's happening now. It makes space for what's happening now, right? If things didn't make space for what was happening now, if things didn't disappear, then everything would be just as it was when it was conceived. Everything would be frozen in space and time. Would you say that this is creation, moment by moment? Yeah, creation, of course. Without any hindrance? Yes, without any hindrance. What came before doesn't hinder what's coming now, and what's coming now won't hinder what's going to come next. When it's put in abstract forms like that, when it's put in that form, that sounds really obvious.

[24:13]

I'm very attached to what happened yesterday, and I think that, you know, it's like what's going on today I think should be related to what happened yesterday, and I'm hooked on that. I get hung up on it. He's not saying that they're not related. No, but I'm saying when I think about how it plays out in my life, I see that I do get attached to those, and what's happening now, it feels like it impedes, like what happened before impedes what's happening now. I was mad at you yesterday. How can I let go of that today? Oh yes, I see. Well that's, yeah, that's how we build a self. Yeah. Charles. Well, the boat simile is that life, you know, we say,

[25:19]

just practice zazen and go along with circumstances. Going along with circumstances means meeting whatever confronts you. And whatever confronts you, when you meet whatever confronts you, you bring that to life. and whatever confronts you brings you to life. So it looks like we're alive and then there's this world of objects. But actually the world of objects is continually creating us. We're being created by what we meet and how we interact with what we encounter. So By interacting with what we encounter, we bring that to life, and it brings us to life.

[26:48]

So it's a system, it's an interaction. There's not you and the boat, or you-boat. It's the you-boat. I mean, he says a boat isn't a boat until you get in it and sail it. That's right. Okay. Well, what is it we're getting in and sailing? Your life. Oh, thank you. Whatever you encounter is the boat. But not only do you make it a boat, the boat also makes you. So it's a you boat. It's you slash boat.

[27:54]

So then when you're one with the boat, there's no duality. you know, when you're sailing, you know, and you're there with the wind and the ocean and so on, and there's no space to think about anything else. And there's just this oneness of you, the boat, the sky, the ocean, and there's no self there. Why he's not talking about what's happening in the moment, just like you described. The boat, you know, the sky, the wind, you know, there's no person.

[28:58]

It's just everything happening at once, you know, all the cells there. It's still curious to me why Dogen is emphasizing what's happening from one moment to the next, because it seems like what's critical is what's happening in this moment. Yeah, well, that's what he's saying. Is that what he's saying? Yeah. I don't get that from him. What he's talking about, you know, this moment doesn't repeat the next moment, the last moment doesn't repeat this moment. Uh-huh. Well, he's saying that, too. Because, you know, his point is that one thing doesn't become another. Oh, OK. OK. So he's just looking at it from... I see. OK. This moment is this moment. Yeah. OK. Okay. So basically, that's what he's talking about.

[29:58]

Now in Shoji, Shoji is something like birth and death, You mean like now? Yeah, that's what I've been saying. But the one moment is broken into many moments. If you only see one moment, then that's still one side. You also have to see the other side of discontinuous, discrete moments.

[31:04]

I'm looking for this. Oh, Okamura says, life and death is an English translation of the Japanese expression shoji. The Japanese word shō as a verb means to live and also to be born, so you can say life or birth. This expression can be translated into English as birth and death. But shōji is the process of our life in which we are born, live and die. As a Buddhist term, shoji, life or birth and death, is used as the equivalent of two Sanskrit words. One is jati marana. That means the process of birth and death.

[32:18]

This is also used as an abbreviation of birth, aging, sickness, and death. That is the four kinds of suffering, or dukkha. In Buddhist philosophy, there are two kinds of life. are birth and death. One is life and death of an ordinary living being who is transmigrating within the six realms in the three worlds, the world of desire, form, and formlessness, and being pulled by karma. This life and death is called bundan shoji, separating life and death, that is, separating life from death. It's the usual way that we view life and death as separate. Another is the birth, life and death of bodhisattvas who practice within the three worlds to save all beings. although they are free from transmigrating based on three poisonous minds, which is greed, hate, and delusion.

[33:25]

They continue this practice life after life toward accomplishment of Buddhahood all the way through the 52 steps of Bodhisattva practice. This kind of life and death, based on the Bodhisattva vow, is called henyaku shoji, transforming life and death. There are two other kinds of life and death. One is called Ichigo Shoji, life and death as one period, that is the lifespan between birth and death as we usually understand it. Another is called Setsuna Shoji, moment by moment life and death. Satsuma, or ksana, that means a moment in Sanskrit, means the slightest moment, much shorter than a second. Our body and mind are born, or arising and dying, moment by moment. Dogen discusses this in Shobu Gensu Hotsubo Daishin. So there are various ways of thinking about birth and death.

[34:31]

And I think I've talked about most of those anyway. The birth and death moment by moment. arising, and then there's the birth and death of a lifetime, then there's the birth and death of the ego, and so forth. So here's the text of Shoji. Since there is a Buddha within birth and death, there is no birth and death. It is also said, since there is no Buddha within birth and death, one is not deluded by birth and death. These ideas were uttered by two Zen masters, Cha Shan and Ding Shan. Being the words of those who have attained the Way, they cannot have been uttered in vain. Those who would be free from birth and death must clearly realize their meaning.

[35:36]

For a person to seek Buddha, apart from birth and death, would be like pointing the cart tills northward when you wish to go south to Yue, or like facing south to see Ursa Major in the northern skies. The cause of birth and death would increase all the more, and one would leave completely the way of deliverance. Now these two monks, Dingshan and Chashan, were walking one day. He says, Dingshan, here's the full dialogue, as it appears, in a little different wording. in the Qingdao Chuan Deng Lu. While walking together, Chao Shan and Ding Shan were talking. And Ding Shan said, no Buddha within birth and death is in itself no birth and death. And Chao Shan said, Buddha within birth and death means no illusion about birth and death.

[36:38]

They went up to the mountain to see the master, Dhamme. Choshan asked him, we are unable to decide which of our views is closer to the truth. Dhamme said, one is close and one is far. Choshan asked him, which is closest? Dhamme answered, you should leave and come again tomorrow. Then he had to think it over. The next day, Chaoshan went once more and put the same question to the master. Dhamme said, the one who is close does not ask. The one who asks is not close. After he had become a temple master himself, Chaoshan said, at that time I lacked the eye. While both Chazhan and Dingshan refer to the idea that samsara is nirvana and nirvana is samsara, the former speaks of liberation from birth and death, emphasizing that Buddha is not apart from birth and death. The latter indicates the same liberation more clearly, emphasizing that birth and death is absolutely birth and death, without respect to Buddha or anything else.

[37:45]

In the full episode quoted above, Dhamme says that one is close and one is far, but Dogen judges them as equal, emphasizing the non-duality of samsara and nirvana, and especially to show that not hating samsara and not desiring nirvana is the attainment of Buddha." This is Dogen's point in this classical shoji, which is Middle Way. Then Dogen says, Just understand that birth and death itself is nirvana, and you will neither hate one as being birth and death, nor cherish the other as being nirvana.

[38:46]

Only then can you be free from birth and death. Only when you don't cling to birth or life and don't Don't grasp it and don't avoid dying. Don't grasp birth and don't avoid dying. make dying desirable or push away life. When living, totally be alive. When dying, totally die.

[39:48]

But don't wish for either one. Just be where you are. Just do what you're doing. Just be totally as you're supposed to be. Is there a correspondence between life as light and death as dark? Well, there are different ways of expression. You remember the Sandokai? In the Sandokai expresses oneness as dark and the world of comparative values as light. But you can also, in a different system, you say Bhairavachana is the Buddha of radiant light, which has a different meaning. So it depends on the context you're talking about.

[40:54]

Yes, yes, but you can do that. Yeah, but within darkness is light, and within light is darkness. total expiration of breath. Right. And I think there's a difference. Is there a difference? Yes. Remember I was talking about the various levels on which we talk about birth and death.

[42:14]

One way of talking, expressing, talking about birth and death or viewing birth and death is the life cycle of a person. Another way of talking about life and death is the life and death, the birth and death on each moment. Another way of talking about life and death is the birth and death of the self as it arises and falls away. There are many different ways to talk about life and death. Yes, exactly. So when you let go of each breath, you don't know what's going to happen next, except that we think we do.

[43:19]

We think that another breath will come because we're so used to that. We take it for granted. We take our breathing for granted. We think, well, oh yeah. So we don't even think about it, which is okay. But if you think about it, you realize that may not happen again. It may go out but not come back in. But in each moment, inhaling is called inspiration and exhaling is called expiration. So we inspire and then we expire. and then we inspire, moment to moment. And it's not just the breath, it's all the cells in the body. In seven years, they're all replaced. So who is this? Sometimes I think about, you know, there's various ways to think about our bodies. There's this body, and then there's the body of the people that live in Berkeley as one body with many parts.

[44:34]

And I'm thinking about all the houses, you know. Somebody built this house 100 years ago, so to speak, and they expired, and now somebody else lives in the house, you know, and then they expire, and there's this kind of inspiration and expiration that's going on all the time with not this body, but the larger body, and then the world body, and, you know, And then you can think of each body as a cell inside of some huge being. You know, like we walk down the street and we step on a microscopic insect without even noticing it.

[45:38]

But within that microscopic insect is a universe. And within this world, we have this sense of proportion because of our size and our way of thinking about relating to the world. And things that are bigger than we are, are big. And things that are smaller than we are are small. That's just in relation to us, right? But things aren't big or small at all. It's only big or small in relation to us. So a microscopic being, from the point of view of a microscopic being, we're too big to even contemplate. And then something smaller than a microscopic being is also too small to contemplate.

[46:46]

If you, you know, on a sunny, on a certain kind of day, you see the light streaming in the window, and there are all these dust motes floating in the air, which you don't see until the light is shining on them, coming through the window. And you see all the billions and countless dust motes, each one of which is a universe, you know, being created and destroyed and interacting. And so, as I think it was Sir James Jeans said, everything in the end, all of us Dogen's statement in Shoji actually scrambles what's said according to the story in the footnote.

[48:01]

He takes the beginning of one man's statement and appends it to the end of the other man's statement and vice versa. Yeah. That's how he non-dualizes it. So he scrambles it and then he says they're the same. Actually, they're equally good. Well, they're not the same, but they're equally... Yes, there is a Buddha within birth and death. There is no Buddha within birth and death. No Buddha is one of Dogen's favorite expressions. You know, does the dog have Buddha nature? No. So we have to know Buddha includes Buddha. Buddha includes no Buddha.

[49:03]

So Dogen is using dualistic words to express a non-dualistic understanding. This is always the case. words are always dualistic. So how do you express non-duality using dualistic words? Well, you use the word but you use it as a non-dualistic term, which I just was doing. I was saying life, birth and death are the opposites, are the polarities. Life includes birth and death. So life is a dualistic term if you equate it with death. But if you just say life, and understanding the context for the expression,

[50:15]

then it's a non-dualistic term, which includes its opposite. So when the monk says, does the dog have Buddha nature? He says, no. But this no, he's using a dualistic term in a non-dualistic way, because this no includes its opposite. Another time a monk asked Joshu, does the dog have Buddha nature? He said, yes. He can say either yes or no, doesn't matter, because yes includes no, and no includes yes. So nirvana includes samsara, samsara includes nirvana. So in a dualistic sense, if you say samsara, then it has its opposite, which is nirvana.

[51:23]

But in a non-dualistic sense, if you say nirvana, it includes samsara. And if you say samsara, it includes nirvana. It depends on how you understand it. So this is the nature of koan. If you understand this much, it's much easier to understand what the koans are talking about. If you don't understand it, you'll always be in the dark, no reference to what you're talking about. So the thing is that it's very difficult to express non-duality. in words. Because language is necessarily dualistic, and we're always thinking in dualistic terms.

[52:27]

So, also, birth and death, you know, is a duality. But Dogen is using it as a koan. when you say birth, or life, or birth. For Dogon, you're also including death. When you say death, you're also including life. I think they're more easily understood in Russian. Well, what makes you think the Japanese understand them? Well, it may be that the Japanese do, but they're Chinese.

[53:36]

The book, the old Blue Cliff Record, the Mumangkan, they're all from China. Well, you know, they live on the other side of the world. Although they live on the other side of the world, it's just the world. So the world is round, right? I would have been happy to have been elected.

[54:42]

I think I would have done a good job, but you know, nobody wanted me. So Dogen says, just understand that birth and death itself is nirvana, and you will neither hate one as being birth and death, nor cherish the other as being nirvana. Only then can you be free from birth and death. It's a mistake to think you pass from birth to death. Being one stage of total time, birth is already possessed of before and after. For this reason, in the Buddha Dharma it is said that birth itself is no birth. Being one stage of total time as well, cessation of life also is possessed of before and after. Thus it is said, extinction itself is non-extinction.

[55:44]

When one speaks of birth, there is nothing at all apart from birth. When one speaks of death, there is nothing at all apart from death. Therefore, when birth comes, you should just give yourself to birth. When death comes, you should just give yourself to death. Do not hate them. Don't desire them. Don't hate it and don't desire it. Don't push it away and don't grasp it. Just be. When we breathe, We come to life when we inhale, and we let go of life when we exhale. And when you inhale, the whole world comes to life with you. Your breath, the inhale covers the whole world. And when you exhale, everything fades with you, and your breath covers the whole world.

[56:48]

So when you inhale, inhaling covers the whole world of birth. When you exhale, exhale covers the whole realm of death. But it's like this. As Suzuki Roshi said, like a swinging door. Like a swinging door. There's nobody there. There's simply the swinging door. We say, I breathe. But you don't breathe. Breathing just happens. Try to breathe. Try not to breathe. Breathing happens to you. It's just something that happens. The blood runs through the body. All of the functions of the body take care of themselves. But it's nature taking care of itself. But then there's the thinking faculty, and the thinking faculty creates various scenarios and ideas about what's going on.

[57:56]

And there is a will, a personal will, but it's still zinky. My understanding was one-dimensional or flat universe. And occasionally it opens up into the non-dualistic three-dimensional. It's as if I'm living on a piece of paper and then sometimes that turns into a cube. Well, you know, This understanding is not mysterious.

[59:31]

And it's not something outside of our perception. And it's not something different than what we see in front of us is it. Problem is we don't see what's in front of us. We see what's in front of us, but we don't know what it is that we're seeing in front of us. So practice is to just really be with what you're doing and see really what's in front of you. It's mysterious in that When you see it, you say, oh, it was there all the time. Anyway, that's my response.

[60:45]

So he says, this present birth and death itself is the life of Buddha. In other words, Buddha is within this birth. Whatever we do is Buddha's activity. Whatever we do within practice is Buddha's activity. It's no longer my activity. We say me and my and so forth, but it's Buddha's activity. Practice is Buddha's activity. And Buddha's activity is totally within birth and totally within death. If you attempt to reject it with distaste, you are losing thereby the life of Buddha. If you abide in it, attaching to birth and death, you also lose the life of Buddha and leave yourself with only the appearance of Buddha. You only attain the mind of Buddha when there is no hating of birth and death and no desiring of nirvana. But don't try to gauge it with your mind or speak it with words.

[61:55]

When you simply release and forget both your body and your mind and throw yourself into the house of Buddha, and when functioning comes from the direction of Buddha, and you go in accord with it, then with no strength needed and no thought expended, freed from birth and death, you become Buddha. Then there can be no obstacle in any person's mind. Then he says, there's an extremely way, an extremely easy way to become Buddha. Refraining from all evils, not clinging to birth and death, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those over you and being kind to those below you, pitying, I don't think pitying is the right word, but having compassion for those who don't quite understand.

[62:58]

And without any detesting or desiring, worrying or lamentation, this is what is called Buddha. Don't search beyond it. So, you know, he's saying Buddha emerges through your Bodhisattva activity. And when there's this, kind of, when you live this kind of life, as he describes, this is the life of no self. Self doesn't arise in this kind of life. In other words, there's no attaching and no grasping. There's simply refraining from all evil actions, not clinging to birth and death, In other words, freeing yourself from this worry, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those who know more than you, and having compassion for those who don't know as much.

[64:10]

And without any detesting or desiring, worrying or lamentation, this is what is called Buddha. This is how to live in nirvana, within samsara. It's called practice. Not separating from samsara to be in nirvana, but within birth, within death, within samsara, within nirvana. don't don't seek nirvana and don't push away samsara just practice sincerely this is non-dualistic activity an activity where the self is you know we have some ego we have some well every one of us will have some self arising right and that's inevitable but it's not the self that's

[65:18]

dangerous or that is deluded and each one of us has our karma from beginningless beginning and no matter how much we try to perfect our life, there's always the residual karma that's working itself out in us. So even, you know, some highly evolved or advanced teacher or student will always have something that is difficult to deal with. Difficult to, you know, that's a problem. And that's there from ancient karma. But it's how you practice in the present moment, and what your sincerity is, and how you recognize what the problems are that you have, and recognize how you're working, you know, dealing with it, that is what makes selfless practice.

[66:35]

So you kind of let go, and he says, don't try to gauge it with your body, your mind, or speak it with words. When you simply release and forget both body and mind, and throw yourself into the house of Buddha, in Genjo Koan he says, to drop body and mind. Throw yourself into the house of Buddha means to practice. to have faith in your nature. What is Buddha? In Zen, you know, Buddha is your basic nature, your fundamental nature, Buddha nature, not some Buddha in the sky, not even Vairochana, but your basic nature, which is being expressed as you. Buddha nature which is expressing itself as you.

[68:03]

So we have to have some faith in Buddha nature. In order to practice correctly, you have to have faith in Buddha nature, which is the basis of enlightenment. It's impossible to have enlightenment without faith in Buddha nature. Because what you're enlightened about is your true nature. Wait a minute. Peter? Well, I knew a Buddhist. I actually lived with him who didn't believe in Buddha nature. Who didn't? A roommate of mine. Oh, your roommate? Yeah. Well, you know, not everyone is ready, but arguing doesn't help.

[69:17]

You have to reveal your Buddha nature. Is it perfect time, Ing? It is, yeah, it's time. We did get through it to the end, the last two minutes. Pretty good, huh? I also gave you this excerpt. from Nishihari Bokosan's commentary on these lines of the Genjo Koan, which Kaz Hatanahashi and I translated. We translated Nishihari Bokosan's commentary on Genjo Koan. which hasn't been published yet, but it talks about, this is from the lines about firewood becoming ash, and it doesn't become firewood again, those famous lines.

[70:41]

And about birth as an expression, complete this moment, and death as an expression, complete this moment. And this commentary, it may be a little thick. I would love to have gone through it with you, but we didn't have time. But I think the whole thing, all that insight is right here in this commentary, in what we've been studying. So I encourage you to further pursue the study. by reading that.

[71:21]

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