It is the last class. This is the last class of this series. I mean, of this section. And there'll be three more classes during the practice period next month. Harkawin's commentary on the five ranks. There would be four classes except that Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday. So I want to finish the Hokyo Zamae, Precious Mirror Samadhi. I think where we are, where we ended, I'll read it up to where we ended to get in the mood.

[01:15]

The Dharma of thusness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it, preserve it well. A silver bowl filled with snow. A heron hidden in the moon. Taken as similar, they are not the same. Not distinguished, their places are known. The meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. Move and you are trapped. Miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation. Turning away and touching are both wrong, for it is like a massive fire. Just to portray it in literary form is to stain it with defilement. In darkest night, it is perfectly clear. In the light of dawn, it is hidden. It is a standard for all things. Its use removes all suffering. Although it is not constructed, it is not beyond words. Like facing a precious mirror, form and reflection behold each other.

[02:22]

You are not it, but in truth, it is you. Like a newborn child, it is fully endowed with five aspects. No going, no coming, no arising, no abiding. Ba-ba-wa-wa. Is there anything said or not? In the end, it says nothing, for the words are not yet right. In the illumination hexagram, apparent and real interact. Piled up, they become three. The permutations make five, like the taste of the five-flavored herb, like the five-pronged vajra. Wonderously embraced within the real, drumming and singing begin together. Penetrate the source and travel the pathways. Embrace the territory and treasure the roads. You would do well to respect this. Do not neglect it. Natural and wondrous, it is not a matter of delusion or enlightenment. Within causes and conditions, time and season, it is serene and illuminating.

[03:25]

So minute it enters where there is no gap. So vast it transcends dimension. A hair's breadth's deviation and you are out of tune. Now there are sudden and gradual in which teachings and approaches arise. When teachings and approaches are distinguished, Each has its standard. Whether teachings and approaches are mastered or not, reality constantly flows. Outside still and inside trembling, like tethered colts or cowering rats. The ancient sages grieved for them and offered them the Dharma. Led by their inverted views, they take black as white. When inverted thinking stops, the affirming mind naturally accords. I think that's where we ended. Now, he says, if you want to follow in the ancient tracks, please observe the sages in the past. I think from here on, he's giving examples.

[04:30]

The rest that follows up to the end is pretty much examples. So I'll talk about that. First he says, on the verge of realizing the Buddha way, I'm sorry, one on the verge of realizing the Buddha way contemplated a tree for ten kalpas. All of these examples are open to interpretation. but I'm pretty sure that the meaning is that he's alluding to Daitsu Chisho Buddha. Daitsu Chisho Butsu, who sat contemplating a tree for ten eons, for ten kalpas, there's a koan

[05:41]

about him. I think he appears in the Maha Parinirvana Sutra, or some Sutra, some Mahayana Sutra, and there's a koan in the Mumonkan, case number nine, and I'll read you the koan as it appears in the Mumonkan. A monk asked his teacher, Koyo Seijo, Daitsu Chisho Buddha sat in Zazen for ten kalpas and could not attain Buddhahood. He did not become a Buddha. How could this be? Seijo said, Your answer is self-explanatory. The answer is in the question. The monk asked, He meditated so long. Why could he not attain Buddhahood? and sage of sin, because he did not become Buddha, or he was a non-attained Buddha.

[06:50]

I like that better. He was a non-attained Buddha. And Mumon's comment is, I allow the barbarian's realization, but I do not allow his understanding. When an ignorant man realizes it, he is a sage. When a sage understands it, he is ignorant. When the mind is emancipated, the body is free. When body and mind are in both... I'm sorry. Move on to the verse. Better to emancipate your mind than your body. When the mind is emancipated, the body is free. When both body and mind are emancipated, even gods and spirits ignore worldly power." So, I don't want to go too far into the koan, but this is about one cannot attain Buddhahood.

[08:06]

Trying to attain Buddhahood, one cannot attain Buddhahood. because one is already a non-attained Buddha. This is in accord with Suzuki Roshi's no gaining idea. When one practices one should have no gaining idea. Of course we all want something. In the old days people wanted Buddhahood. Nowadays You don't hear anybody say, I want Buddhahood. People say, I'd like to be enlightened. But they don't say, I would like to attain Buddhahood. I think Buddha doesn't have the meaning for us that it has for people in the East. Although it has some meaning. If you say God, everybody goes, oh. There's something about in the West, the word God has some deep,

[09:12]

penetrating meaning, but the word Buddha doesn't necessarily have that same penetrating meaning for us. So people don't usually say, I want to become Buddha, but in the East they used to say that. I think this applies more to that, but you can substitute the word enlightenment for Buddha, I think. That had some more meaning for people, I think. So, this particular example, one on the verge of realizing the Buddha way contemplated a tree for ten kalpas. This is like going beyond enlightenment, and it's also like the fifth rank of the host within the host.

[10:25]

Of course, you know, what's ten kalpas? When you're sitting zazen, ten kalpas or two minutes is all the same, right? 10 kalpas is just a number. Of course, after about 40 minutes, you might start screaming, or an hour and a half. But I think 10 kalpas can mean just a period of time, a long period of time. And then he says, like a battle-scarred tiger, like a horse with shanks gone gray. Well, I think like a battle-scarred tiger.

[11:32]

When you see someone who has been through a lot of a lot of difficulty, you know, someone who has maybe been through wars, a soldier type, or someone who's been through spiritual battles and crises, and they have some or even in political circles or explorers or people that have had engaged in difficult tasks and they come out with their scars and their marks but they have this noble quality so like a battle-scarred tiger

[12:44]

and like a horse with shanks gone gray. It's like, maybe like an old horse that has noble qualities. It has the feeling of someone who's been through a lot and has a kind of noble character. That's the way I read it. Someone said, indifferent to enlightenment. someone who has been through all of the stages and is really indifferent to enlightenment, no longer has any idea about enlightenment or getting something or because they embody the Dharma, they're not worried about the Dharma or concerned about it particularly. Concerned not concerned about gaining anything And then He says because some are vulgar jewel tables and ornate robes Cleary had translated that as a base because some are base jewel pedestals and

[14:11]

the base meaning, I think vulgar meaning, materialistic, right? Because some are, I think it's alluding to those people who have a materialistic relationship to practice and build fancy temples and have fancy ceremonies and expensive clothes, and jeweled tables and ornate, you know, and they make a big show of religion, but they actually have no spirituality. I think that's what it seems to be referring to, because some are vulgar, jeweled tables and ornate robes. And then, and because some are wide-eyed, cats and white oxen, I think maybe open-eyed might be better.

[15:24]

Some have open, whose eyes are open. And cats and white oxen. There's several interpretations, at least two. Cats have a certain presence, you know. I'm not even sure if cats is the right translation, but cats have a certain presence, which is they always seem to be contained, and whenever they, even if they have some flurry of confusion, they quickly resume their composure. So cats have this quality of always landing on their feet and assuming composure. And that's a wonderful example.

[16:32]

Zen students should be a little like a cat, always composed. and always finding their feet. And white oxen is purity, stands for purity, you know. There's a series of the ox-herding pictures where the little boy is looking for the ox, the boy is searching for the ox, and when he finds the ox, the ox is black, dark, and as he goes through the progressive stages, the ox keeps getting lighter and lighter, and in the last stage, the ox is white, Not all the ox-herding pictures have that progression, but there is a series that does.

[17:34]

They could be alluding to that, the white ox, meaning, and the ox, of course, is the boy, right, or the girl, who is pursuing the ox. So in the ox-herding pictures, I'm sure you're familiar with those, the boy is pursuing the ox, finding the traces, and then he's, you know, and in the end, he comes with bliss bestowing hands. So, the white ox is the boy himself, in his purified state. But, there's another interpretation. The other interpretation is, Nansen was fond of saying, patriarchs and buddhas do not know reality.

[18:44]

Dogs and cats do know reality. Patriarchs and Buddhas do not know reality. Wild cats and white oxen do know reality. So that relates directly. Wild cats and white oxen do know reality because they do not have discriminating consciousness. They don't have ego consciousness. And because they don't have ego consciousness, they know reality directly. Yes?

[19:46]

That doesn't explain to me. I'm not sure. That means Buddha's ancestors? Yeah. Ancestors of Buddha do not know reality. You know, just don't take it literally. Don't take it literally. Read the other side of the page. And it's not literal, okay? It's not to be taken literally. Almost anything in Buddhism is not to be taken literally. And especially in Zen. Everything it said is pointing to something.

[20:53]

It's not a statement that you take on the face of it. It always means something, but not what's exactly being said. What's it pointing to? What do you think? Understanding that's beyond understanding. Buddha's ancestors and Buddhas, right? What he's really talking about is people with discriminating consciousness. Or people. Even Buddha's ancestors don't know reality. It's a play of contrasts. He's making a statement about extreme contrasts. So, even Buddhist ancestors don't know reality.

[22:02]

That's like, you know, even Buddhist ancestors don't know. That's a common thing to say in Buddhism when you're trying to make a point. Very common thing to say when you're trying to make a point. It's a gross exaggeration, but Wild cats and oxen do know reality. And even the explanation should not be there. That's just to feed, you know, make you happy. You should just leave it alone and think, huh. Okay.

[23:03]

Because starting where? About being low. Being low? Yeah. The one before the poker face. Oh. Jeweled tables. Like Battle-Scarred Tiger? No, no. Because some are vulgar. Because there's a lobe or something? Because some are vulgar jewel tables and ornate ropes. Oh, okay. Well, yeah. Because some are vulgar. That's what I said. Because some are vulgar. Is that where you want to start? Okay. Because some are vulgar jewel tables and ornate ropes. Because some are wide-eyed. are open-eyed. Cats and white oxen. White-eyed should be, could be astonished.

[24:12]

Yeah, could be astonished. Or frightened. And they react like a cat or an oxen. When frightened. When frightened? Frightened. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. That's a possibility. But what is the white oxen like when it's frightened? Have you read the original? Is it in Chinese? We read the original in Chinese. Okay, so, is that what it says in... Well, I have to look up that word in the dictionary and see if it's really an ox. Usually, that's no gender in Chinese at all. No gender, yeah. Oh. Is there gender here? But what... That's what I want to look up in this particular word.

[25:16]

It's no gender, but an ox is a male, right? Yeah, there's gender. But what would it be if it was no gender? Yeah, we still have such a word. Yeah, some people use cow and some people use ox. And I think it's water buffalo. Because in China we have water buffalo. Yeah, right? Yeah, and so I think that's the literal meaning is water buffalo, but nobody translates it as water buffalo. It's too long a word, you know. So, a white water buffalo, you know. I think it would be too much, a little too long, but I think, and water buffalo has no gender. Yeah. So, but ox does, and so they usually translate it as ox.

[26:21]

What you said is there, it's like, because some revolver jewel tables, it's like, so what? Oh, well, right. So what he's, you know, he's kind of like talks about examples of, good examples and bad examples. So the good examples are Taizutsu Shoshō Buddha and the battle-scarred tiger and the horse. Although some commentary says the battle-scarred tiger and the horse are like scared or frightened or something. But I don't like that interpretation. I like the other one. because some are vulgar. It's comparing the vulgar one, the vulgar jewel table on a rope with the wide-eyed and white oxen.

[27:38]

It's a kind of comparison. It's kind of like they're getting a consolation prize? No. No, no. Prize? Huh? He was saying it's not a test. Well, I see it as a contrast. I don't see it as any prize. What prize, anyway? That's why I was trying to understand it, because it's the same. Because some are based, Jewel Tables and Red Ropes, it's the same. Because there are some people who are based, we have the concept of riches and wealth. Yeah. And because people want them, and that's why they're there. Right. It doesn't say people. What? It doesn't say people. Well, it says, it implies people. It's not talking about Hanson. Yeah, I don't know. Well, it's talking about people. Because some people are vulgar.

[28:41]

And because some are wide-eyed or open-eyed or quick, have quick ability, cats. The thing is, the connecting words you have to put in yourself. I think the translator is trying to leave it as much in the original as possible without interpreting too many connecting words. So it looks awkward. It comes out kind of awkward. And you have to make the connection with a kind of mental leap. Yeah, I think these three couplets do have a train of thought in these three couplets. Like the tigers with the foot and the horse without the shoe. That implies damage, injury.

[29:43]

And that leads to the next one. This kind of injury leads to people needed to have these treasures around them. Like all these horn ornaments and embellishment. They need that because they damaged some part of them. Just like the tiger and the horse. At least these two couples have that train of thought there. Yeah, well that makes sense. Cleary has a... This is Bill Powell's commentary.

[30:59]

In popular lore, the tiger is noted for eating all of its prey but the ears. The significance of this, as well as of the whitened left hind leg of a charger, is not entirely clear. Nobody can figure that out. But Yanagida suggests that they are indicative of venerability, not vulnerability, but venerability, and power. The tiger is the master of the mountain beasts, and the spirited horse is one whose hind leg has whitened with age. So in line with that, Charles Lux says something pretty similar. He says that, you know, it's the thing about a tiger not eating its prey.

[32:00]

And the horse is indifferent to its white left hind legs. It's a sense of experience. But he says specifically, they are cited to show that a man A Roman quest of enlightenment should never grasp this illusion of enlightenment but should cast it aside with the same indifference as the tiger and the horse. Indifference to enlightenment? Yeah. I kind of courted him on that. I courted him on that. But I just said indifference to enlightenment. I'm not sure Well, I'm kind of getting a connection, and I don't know if I'm just making it up, but the vulgar and the wide-eyed, this is coming after the place where he's talking about teachings and approaches arising.

[33:03]

All this stuff comes along. one approach is, you know, cosplaying a tree, and one approach is, you know, just going until your battle scar is gray. And then you have these other examples, and this is something that, I guess from personal experience, maybe that he's trying to say something about. you know, ornate things. You know, we have fancy statues and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, and then also we have cat around, and maybe in a temple in the mountains they had oxen around. Kind of the simple and the ornate, but there's kind of both there. And in a way it sounds like he might be saying, well,

[34:10]

and they're going to be attracted to the mormainness. But don't worry about that. Some people are going to be attracted to the vulgarity. He's kind of giving us a way of making peace with the fact that some people need that. That's a nice thought. I don't know if that's what he means. It's an interesting thought. Well, it could be that he's saying that That's a possibility.

[35:19]

But if he's going to say, some are vulgar, it's one thing to say, for some, jewel tables and ornate robes, right? But he says, because some are vulgar. So that's a kind of put down, I think. It's a kind of judgment. Do you, well, we don't use it anymore, but they used to, in America and in the West, they used to have terms like, oh, he's common, or he's bloody. Like bloody meant like having blood, like having a bloodline or whatever. And so we don't, we don't really have, we translate things and they're kind of, Could that be just a way of... Well, everything is... And this is pretty old. So it might be just kind of a way of saying, you know, like we take it as vulgar, it's like a judgment, like, because this person is bad or low or base, but it could also be because this person, you know, some people are calm and some people are...

[36:40]

Yeah, I think common may be a good word, actually, for vulgar, because some are common. But anyway, the word literally means low and base, like Rick said. It means what? Low and base. Yeah, base. It's low quality. Yeah, low quality, yeah. Right, like you think there's somebody Well, it could be that there's no judgment there. But simply, it's possible. Yeah. So as you're reading it in your original Chinese now, does it really say because? No. What does it say? Which line? The line with the because. Because some are bolder. I don't see that. I'm just curious as I'm reading the actual original Chinese, I've heard the language is very different, and because of the very sort of arrow word in English, and I've just heard that Chinese doesn't quite read like that.

[37:54]

So, I mean, we could be reading a lot into that word. Well, yeah. No, there's no because in this. This is a poem, and I think it's intended by the poet to have your own interpretation. on top of Chinese being so poetic. Every word has so many meanings anyway. And each line is just four words. So what are the four words for that line? I don't know how Chinese works. We're doing two areas of interpretation. Translator already did something. And then we're just going off on that. Well, it's true. But most of the translators translate it that way. That's why we look at different translations. Where's because in which? It's the line with face. Because of our borders? Yeah. No, no, because... Like... Like being low down is really how literal it was that started in those four words.

[39:03]

Like being low down. There's no because there. But whether it's like or because is not terribly significant. But what if it was like? Because I had Richard's interpretation, which is like, as I think Rhett would say, dependent co-arising. Like if vulgar arises, then ornateness and the opposite arises with it. That's sort of how I read it. That the opposites arise together. But if there's no because there, then that's just me making that up. Well, for the reason that jewel tables and ornate ropes arise is due to the vulgarity, has something to do with vulgarity.

[40:07]

Or you can say, like, you have these low-down people who need this ornate Then it's a very different relationship with wide-eyed means. Innocent or astonished. Then it's a different kind of relationship. House cats and cows are just a common thing. They're common things. They're not there to entertain the wide-eyed. Although maybe they, you know, little wide-eyed kids loving cats and cows. But it's a different religion. Well, I think it has to do with people who practice. I don't mean just ordinary people. I think it has to do with people who are practicing. So some are vulgar, and they need jewel tables, or they have jewel tables, nor do they have robes.

[41:18]

And they promote that, right? They focus on that. Some, whether because or whatever, just take because out. Some are white-eyed. And cats and white oxen. And like. You can say like, or you can say a lot of different things. And. Yeah. Because. Oh. But, um... Uh... It's urgent. It's about time for a break. What? It's about time for a break. Okay. You can take a few minutes. But I just want to say that it's open to interpretations. Both couplets start with the same two words.

[42:25]

Like you have this little dam, like you have frightened and surprised. Like you have, yeah. So it's definitely making two parallel comparisons. I think that's the main point, anyway. On the one hand you have this, and on the other hand you have this. Can they relate to each other as a contrast? And whether it's a criticism as a contrast or just a statement of contrast, it's up for grabs. I think the first one pertains more to human values. Yeah. All this dual stuff. And the other one that's more basic.

[43:27]

That's right. That's right. Yeah. Right. That we still have in human beings. Right. Okay. Take a few minutes. Yi hit the mark at a hundred paces. But when arrows meet head-on, how can it be a matter of skill? With his archer skill, Yi hit the mark at a hundred paces. But when arrows meet head-on, how could it be a matter of skill?

[44:29]

Yi was a very famous archer, and he could hit the mark at a hundred paces. He could hit a leaf. And so there was a very famous incident with Yi and his disciple, and I'll read you that so that you get the story straight. Yi is noted in traditional Chinese mythology as the skilled archer who at the command of the legendary Yao, a long time ago, 2000 BC, shot nine of the ten suns from the sky in order to save the cross. And he is hitting the the mark. This refers to an unnamed archer in the Jiao-Pan-Chi section, blah blah blah, who was able to pierce a willow leaf at a hundred paces.

[45:35]

And that two arrow points meeting head-on was a popular image that has its origin in the Tang-Wen chapter of the Lie-Tzu. A famous archer named Fei Wei taught his technique to his students, I'm sorry, to his student, Jer Chong. Jer Chong decided that were he to kill his teacher, no one would compete with him. Oh, that's pretty good. However, in attempting this, he unknowingly failed. Later, the two men met on a small country road. Jer Chong shot at Fei Wei, who in turn shot his own arrow. The two arrows met in mid-flight and fell harmlessly to the ground. As a result, Jurcheng was enlightened to his own selfishness and developed a more profound relationship with his teacher. Sandokai also uses this image in his poem Sandokai.

[46:49]

In the case of phenomena, the lid must fit the box. Compliance with principle is like arrowheads meeting head-on. So here we have, we're back to the relation between the absolute and the relative, again, between the dark and the light. When his archer's skill, Yi, hit the mark at a hundred paces, but when Arrowhead's meat hit on, how could it be a matter of skill? It's interesting, how could it be a matter of skill when There's such a fine... Could they do this through skill? Could he meet that arrowhead head-on through skill?

[47:53]

That would be skillful. So it's a kind of... more than skill, right? It's... kind of inevitability or kind of it's out of his hands in a way. It's like spirit meeting spirit or Buddha meeting Buddha. It's beyond skill. But it really has the feeling of the box in the lid in the Sandokai is like the phenomenal side and the absolute side, the dark side and the light side meeting so closely that they fit like a box and its lid. And the two arrows meeting head on has the same feeling.

[48:58]

It's so precise a fit that it's beyond skill. And then, he says, the wooden man starts to sing, the stone woman gets up dancing. A wooden man is like a puppet. And puppet has no ego. So it's like an egoless person. A wooden man is like an egoless person. and the strings are played, and the wooden man gets up.

[50:11]

The wooden man starts to sing, and the stone woman gets up dancing. The stone woman is like Buddha nature, or the absolute side, or the host side. The wooden man is like the guest side, and the stone woman is like the host side. So, it's like a harmonious relationship, or the harmonious merging of a person with Buddha nature, or a big mind. they get up dancing. In other words, it's harmonious merging and movement. The wooden man starts to sing, the stone woman gets up dancing, so it's a song and dance.

[51:19]

It's the song and dance of of total harmony, perfect harmony, without ego, without self-centeredness, without self. It's also a body and mind dropped. It means without imagination. I know we love imagination, but imagination here means seeing things.

[52:23]

Imagination means to see something as an idea rather than as a reality. It is not reached by feelings or consciousness. How could it involve deliberation? Deliberation means thought. It means thought process, right? It is not reached by feelings. It means the precious mirror is not reached by feelings. It's not reached by consciousness. How could it evolve? In other words, how can you... you can't get at it by thinking. You can't get at it by ideas. It's beyond our ideas, or our feeling, or our consciousness.

[53:26]

Yes? Or volition? Volition? You see, deliberation has that suggestion of volition. Well, it doesn't say volition. Will, you mean? Yeah, well... We can't will it. You know, it's like the stone woman moves the wooden man to sing, actually. So... The interesting thing about practice is that you don't have to know much, and you can actually practice the practice of reality without knowing anything, because you can sit zazen without knowing anything.

[54:39]

You don't really have to know anything. All you have to do is sit zazen. and let go of everything. So volition or will is to just direct you to practice. So you have volition or will directing you to practice. Usually volition is creating karma. Karma means a volitional action. That's what it means. Karmic action means a volitional action. But there's a volitional action which is in the realm of karma and there's a volitional action which is in the realm of practice. So volitional action in the realm of karma creates karma. And volitional action in the realm of practice creates practice.

[55:44]

So it's like, do you live by karma or do you live by vow? So volitional action in the direction of karma creates karma. And volitional action in the realm of practice is called vow. It's no longer called karma. I mean, it's no longer called volitional action. It's called vow. What's the difference between throwing your scraps outside and throwing them in the compost pile? Throwing them in the trash and throwing them in the compost pile? Well, if you're throwing them in the compost pile, is that vow? Yeah. Yeah. That's more like, yeah. It goes out and it does something, but it doesn't feed into it. You're not harmonizing with your surroundings by throwing the banana peel on the sidewalk.

[56:53]

That's karma. You might slip on it and break your neck. There is the guy who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. And he was walking down the streets in New York and he slipped on a banana peel and it killed him. So then he says, ministers serve their lords, children obey their parents. This sounds very Confucian. You know, the father, I'm not sure, you probably know how this goes going on, but the minister serves the Lord, the wife serves the minister, the children serve the wife, the mother, and so forth. And there's this hierarchy of relationships.

[57:58]

I think that's probably partly here, a little confusion. arrangement. Ministers serve their Lords, children obey their parents, not obeying is not filial, and failure to serve is no help. I don't like exactly the way that says, but ministers serve the Lord is like guest and host, right, in the five ranks. So, kind of using the Confucian arrangement to illustrate the five ranks. The minister serving the Lord is like the guest or the phenomenal and the absolute or the way a person actually serves Buddha nature.

[59:07]

I like that. Children obey the parent. That's another example of a guest harmonizing with the host. And not obeying is not filial. I don't like the term obeying so much. You could also say, even though that may be literal, but not engaging or not responding is not filial. It probably says not obeying, you know, being that, you know, obedience. But obedience is good if one should be obedient to true nature. Not obeying is not filial, and failure to serve or without service is no virtue. So, failure to serve.

[60:11]

Failure to serve is like being, you know what a Prachika Buddha is according to Mahayana, is a self-enlightened Buddha who doesn't serve. who doesn't consummate their Buddhahood by serving others. So it's important This is like, you know, guest uniting with the host. It's like always being whatever you do, you do it with big mind.

[61:24]

And you're always obeying the law of big mind. And not obeying is not filial. and without service there is no virtue. And then he says, with practice hidden, function secretly like a fool or like an idiot. So a hidden practice means that you do things, you do harmonious activity, without showing off or without letting people, if you don't let, if you keep your true practice hidden, which is very hard to do, people might think you're a fool or an idiot, kind of act like, you know, aw shucks, kind of like a hick.

[62:34]

without trying to stand out in some way. I remember when we first started Tassajara, people would want to sit up after everybody went to bed, or they would want to study after everybody went to bed. Suzuki Roshi said, when it's time to go to bed, everybody goes to bed. But there are people who wanted to sit Zazen while everybody else is doing Kinhin. And he said, when we're doing Zazen, everybody does Zazen. When we do Kinhin, everybody does Kinhin. He would never let anybody stand out by doing something extra. you know, some extra practice which looks like practice beyond the call of duty, but it's simply egotistical practice.

[63:47]

This is why, one reason why the form is so important. When you have the form, everybody follows the form. And then you let go of your desire to stand out or your desire to be special. And that irks a lot of people because, you know, I kind of like to stand out or be special or get ahead. Also, practicing secretly is like if you have some, like if you're working on some problem, you know, like, or you have a certain practice that you want to develop,

[65:00]

You shouldn't tell anybody for nine months. You give it a chance to gestate and not advertise the fact that you're working on something important. And then he says, just to do this continuously or persistently is called the host within the host, which is the fifth rank. So to practice hidden, with practice hidden, function secretly like a fool or like an idiot and just do this continuously is called the host within the host, which is the fifth rank, the black dot. This is consummated practice. in which there is no attempt to do something special, but everything one does is beneficial.

[66:24]

And Hakuin has this wonderful poem, not poem, but little gatha, says, oh, the old gimlet, gimlet is, you know, a gimlet is something that pierces leather, you know, makes a little hole in leather or wood. And he said, the old gimlet, He and all the foolish wise men just all day long filled the well with snow. In other words, they just do a lot of useless activity. All day long they're just doing totally useless activity. But their useless activity is...

[67:33]

He says, how many times has Toku-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. He says, the student who wishes to pass through Tozan's rank of unity attained, the fifth rank, should first study this verse. This is a wonderful commentary. What's his name? Hocklin. It's a great commentary and he brings so many things into it. So, thank you for being so patient.

[69:06]

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