I don't chase the truth Sorry that I was sick last Thursday, but I'm okay today.

[01:01]

I hope you are. Does someone have a question? Muffet? A question of something practical. Would it be possible for us to stand out there for 45 minutes and just take a half-time break? Half-time break? because now I have to sit as well in a long time. OK. Would you take a few minutes? Just stand up and finish. OK. So somebody tell me when that time is. I have a question. I still have a lot of problem with the word emptiness.

[02:07]

And I was wondering if you had any other definitions of shunyata. Well, one way you could think of emptiness, emptiness of course is an indefinable term. So we use the word emptiness. and understand that what we mean by emptiness is not without something. So one way to put your mind at ease is to think of emptiness as interdependence. So in the Heart Sutra, We say all five skandhas in their own being are empty. The five skandhas are form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. They're all empty in their own being, meaning none of the constituents of being has inherent existence, but everything is made up of everything else.

[03:17]

So there's no But no existent thing, from the smallest to the largest, that has inherent existence is a thing in itself. So everything is dependent on everything else where it's existent. And this is what we call emptiness. Everything is empty. There's nothing that is complete in itself that doesn't include everything else. So when you are complete, that means that you realize that everything that is not you is what you are. You are all the things that you think you're not. So all the objects in the world are yourself, are part of yourself.

[04:28]

So that's emptiness. Without emptiness, there is no transformation. So existence is nothing but transformations. And if everything wasn't empty, there would be no room for transformations. you would not be born, you would not exist, you could not eat, you could not eliminate, and so forth. So emptiness is the fullness of life. I'm trying to remember where I left off last time. I know it was right after the Bodhi tree incident.

[05:38]

Okay. We talked about the Bodhi tree. We talked about those two poems fairly thoroughly. I think. Yeah. But we didn't talk about what happened after that. So I think that my page 19 is not your page 19, but... 72? I don't know. I can't tell you. But there is no... There is no Bodhi tree nor stand of the mirror bright since all is void. Where can the dust alight? That's at the bottom of your page. Page... 72. 72. Or top of 18. Yeah, top of 18. The bottom of 18, remember. Where we are is the paragraph after that. Where, seeing that the crowd was overwhelmed with amazement.

[06:43]

Does everybody have that? Did anybody not have that? Okay. I think that's where we are. Seeing that the crowd... Oh yeah, I did talk about that. I remember I said crowd. It's not crowd. Assembly. Substitute assembly for crowd. Crowd is a funny word to use here. I did talk about that. But I think that's about where I stopped. Seeing that the assembly was overwhelmed with amazement, The patriarch rubbed off the stanza with his shoe, lest jealous ones should do me injury. He expressed the opinion which they took for granted, that the author of this stanza had also not yet realized the essence of mind. Next day, the patriarch came secretly to the room where the rice was pounded. So he's back in the back of the monastery, in the kitchen, beyond the kitchen, pounding rice.

[07:47]

In the monasteries, they used to have a mill. Often, large monasteries had a mill. Of course, this is a very old monastery, but often they had a mill and they ground their own cereals and rice. So he was probably working in the mill. Seeing that I was I came secretly to the room where the rice was pounded, and seeing that I was working there with a stone pestle, he said to me, a seeker of the path risks his life for the Dharma. Should he not do so? Then he asked, is the rice ready? It's a kind of a weedy question. Ready long ago, I said, only waiting for the sieve. he knocked the mortar three times with his stick and left. Knowing what his message meant, in the third watch of the night, I went to his room.

[08:51]

Now, in the Six Patriarchs Temple in China, they have what they say is the mortar that he used. Did I write one wrong? or the weight that he used to hold him down. Oh yeah, yeah. He had to jump up and down all day. Yeah. He was kind of a slight person. Yeah, he was very light, so he needed a weight to hold him down. So knowing what his message meant, in the third watch of the night, I went to his room. Using the robe as a screen so that none could see us, he expounded the Diamond Sutra to me. Now there are different versions of this, and actually this is added, you know, this whole section has been added, and every time I see a different translation, someone's added something to it, you know.

[09:54]

So this thing about they're holding the robe, it's kind of, it's a little bit metaphorical, you know. Using the robe as a screen so no one can see it, well no one can see it in their room anyway, right? But it's a kind of, It's like using the robe as a kind of symbol of privacy and being encased in this kind of purity of the robe. I think that's more the meaning, rather than that nobody could see us. It makes more sense to me. Using the robe as a screen so that none could see us, he expounded the Diamond Sutra to me. Another version says, he questioned me about my understanding of dharma. And then when he found that it was very good, he expounded the Diamond Sutra to me. That makes more sense too.

[10:56]

When he came to the sentence, one should use one's mind in such a way that it will be free of any attachment I at once became thoroughly enlightened and realized that all things in the universe are the essence of mind itself. Do you have any questions? Yes. Well, what is your question? And it seems like throughout, he uses mind in a way that is meant to be confusing or meant to kind of catch you, but sometimes he's using it and you think he's referring to what we sometimes call big mind, but sometimes we refer to small mind. And I get confused.

[12:01]

So I'm back at one should use one's mind in such a way that it will be free from any How do you get there? It's not in order to be free of attachment, but use the mind in such a way that the mind will be free of attachment. Yeah. How? How do you do that? Without desire. But how do you get there? Well, if you want the natural order of mind more than anything else, then you won't want anything.

[13:01]

So, you know, This word, to be without attachments, non-attachment, is also somewhat misleading. Because one should be attached to something. But with proper attachment, one is not attached. So the mind of attachment is the mind of desire. So when we desire something outside of ourselves, this is called attachment. When we desire something outside of ourselves and become needy for it, then this is called attachment.

[14:09]

something we want and revulsion of something we don't want. Both are attachments. We become attached to what we don't like and we become attached to what we do like. But when desire is turned toward dharma, then there's nothing for it to hold on to. So attachment, I mean desire, is turned in the direction of non-attachment. And so it doesn't become attached to things or objects or false dharmas. It becomes attached to truth, to reality, which is really non-attachment. Because in reality there's nothing to be attached to. That's a little explanation.

[15:15]

There's a footnote in my translation, right after the quote, where there's an elaboration from a national teacher. Do you have it in your translation? Yeah, I do. So it's kind of a nice elaboration of the point. Yes, he says, to be free from any attachment means not to abide in form or matter. not to abide in sound, not to abide in delusion, not to abide in enlightenment, not to abide in the quintessence, not to abide in the attribute. To use the mind means to let the one mind, that is, universal mind, big mind, manifest itself everywhere, Buddha mind. When we let our mind dwell on piety or on evil, piety or evil manifests itself, but our essence of mind or primordial mind is thereby obscured.

[16:18]

But when our mind dwells on nothing, no particular place, we realize that all the worlds of the ten quarters are nothing but the manifestation of one mind." Which is really what we've been talking about, right? The above commentary is most accurate and to the point. Scholastic Buddhist scholars can never give an explanation as satisfactory as this. For this reason, Dhyanamaster's national teacher Aum, Aum being one of them, are superior to the so-called scriptural well-expounded... Well, that's extra. It's true, but it's not necessary to say it. Okay? What's a national teacher? Oh, a national teacher. Well, in those times, the emperor would always choose somebody to be the national teacher. And he would choose some prominent teacher to be the so-called national teacher.

[17:24]

And sometimes they'd ask somebody, they'd find an old, well-known hermit in the mountains or something, Abbott, one on Abbott, and they would ask him to be the national teacher, and sometimes they would refuse. And then sometimes they couldn't refuse. But that's the national teacher. Yes, one on? I have a little different take on the last sentence. Oh, the last sentence? About the footnotes. Yeah. I at once became thoroughly enlightened and realized that all things in the universe are no different from self-nature. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. But both mean the same thing. Yeah.

[18:25]

All things in the universe are no different than self-nature. All things in the universe are self-nature, essence of mind, same thing. Self-nature, he usually uses the word essence of mind, but sometimes he uses the term self-nature, I think. Yeah. This is a more literal translation. Yeah. Yes, sir. The whole thought of letting go of attachment, always something that remains for me is effort. That if you let go of all attachment except for truth or the

[19:28]

It's like this one put effort, or is that attachment? I mean, I realize effort can be attachment, but... Well, effort is always necessary. Especially in the beginning of any endeavor, you have to stretch yourself to the limit. And once you stretch yourself to the limit, then you find your stride. And then you know how to run. So in the beginning, it's always great effort, total effort. And then in the end, it's effortless effort. So effortless effort is that there's nothing outside of your effort. And you can run easily. You can do something easily because it's part of you. But in the beginning, it takes that effort. I don't think of effort as attachment.

[20:38]

I don't either, it's just one of those things that sometimes... Like striving, or the attachment towards striving? Yeah, or even, you know, am I striving? Sometimes I think, well, am I striving anymore? Or is that in there? Well, the only problem comes when it's effort to accomplish something, right? The effort, pure effort, is effort to just do what you're doing. So if your effort in Zazen is to attain enlightenment, then that's attachment. But if your effort in Zazen is simply to do the best you can to sit still, then it's just pure effort. Because your effort is just to do what you're doing. Well, yeah.

[21:56]

I think that that also could be translated a little bit differently, too. Risk life. Risk life. Puts his life on the line for the Dharma, I think. In other words, I think that's appropriate. The person puts their life on the line for the Dharma. Yes? What do you think it meant when you said the rice has been ready a long time, only waiting for the siddha? Oh yeah, okay. The sieve is like refinement, right? So in this little exchange, seeing I was working with a stone pestle, he said to me, a seeker of the path puts his life on the line for the Dharma, or is willing to risk his life for the Dharma.

[23:08]

Should he not do so? And then he asked, is the rice ready, which means, Are you ready? Is your understanding complete? And then he said, well, ready a long time. It's been ready for a while. And then only waiting for the sieve, just waiting for, to be put to the test or put through the, you know, waiting for you to test me. And then he knocked on the mortar thrice, three times with the stick. That means, I'll meet you at three, the third watch of the night. So knowing what his message meant, and the third watch of the night, I went to his room. And using the robe as a screen, he expounded the Diamond Sutra to me. And when he came to the sentence, one should use one's mind in such a way that it will be free of any attachment,

[24:13]

I at once became thoroughly enlightened and realized that all things in the universe are the essence of mind itself, or self-nature. Self-nature and essence of mind. This is where the tradition of doing dharma transmission at night comes from? Probably. Dharma transmission at midnight. Yeah, I think so. I'll be dead. And the room is surrounded with... it's actually a room inside of a room. It's made of cloth. Red cloth. In Japan it's red silk. And here it's tablecloth. But actually, when the person who is doing the work for Dharma Transmission, we make a room out of old okesas, old brocade robes, actually.

[25:38]

that are antiques. Somehow we have this collection of antique brocade robes. And so we put them around the walls, and then the person works in that room. So I think that there's a lot of influence from this. What kind of work? Huh? What kind of work? Work? Yeah. Making their documents. I apologize for my questions. I'm very new to Buddhism, so I don't understand a whole lot. But last night I was reading the Diamond Sutra, and it seemed to me that for every time that anything was postulated, he said, Subuddhi would say, yes, but the Buddha has said, There is no such thing.

[26:43]

It's just the Word. Yes. You know, and so, you know, like, if you could take a universe and mash it into particles, would you have a million of them? Yes, I thought it was a Word. Right. So, I don't understand, what is self-nature? What is essence of mind? I mean, if everything is just a Word, what is it? It's that which is beyond the Word. So that's what essence of mind is? Yeah. And that's only the experience. But it's what supports everything. Supports everything. Has that also been understood as what physics calls energy? Well, it's not definable. You cannot define it and say it's this or it's that, right? But everything you point to is this, is it. Because it has that as the ground. It's the ground of being.

[27:45]

You can say, it's the ground of being. So if you say, it, it doesn't refer to anything in particular, right? It is just it, right? But everything you point to, you can say it, right? You can point to anything there is, and you say it. Well, if you don't get confused. If you don't get confused... Yeah, if you don't get confused at seeing it as an object separate from... Or if you're looking at the thing that moves it or creates it or whatever, then you could say, it's there, it's there, it's there. It's everywhere. Or you could say, just simply, table, and then you lost it. As soon as you start naming, you start discriminating. But it's also discrimination. But when you discriminate, you lose the essence.

[28:52]

So let's go on. And then he talks about the five characteristics in a kind of dramatic way, kind of naive way. Who would have thought? It's a kind of naivety. Who would have thought? Who would have thought, I said to the patriarch, that the essence of mind is intrinsically pure? Self-nature, right? Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically free from becoming or annihilation? Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically self-sufficient? Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically free from change? Who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the essence of mind? Do you have any questions?

[30:05]

Well, this is just what you've been saying, right? Knowing that I had realized the essence of mind, the patriarch said, for one who does not know his own mind, there's no use learning Buddhism. On the other hand, if one knows her own mind and sees intuitively her own nature, he is a hero. I don't know about a hero, a teacher of gods and men, a Buddha. Thus, to the knowledge of no one, the Dharma was transmitted to me at midnight, and consequently I became the inheritor of the teaching of the Sutton School, as well as of the robe and the begging bowl." So here we have the first mention of the Sutton School. And this whole autobiography, of course, is a kind of Zen

[31:13]

I want to say fairytale. But it's a story concocted to convey certain meanings. One of the compilers of the Platform Sutra, of course, is pinning the sudden school of the South against the gradual school of the North. So he's talking about sudden realization all the time. And it's a kind of polemic against gradual understanding. And gradual understanding is sometimes called stepladder. You learn this, and then you learn this, and then you learn this.

[32:21]

The usual way of learning things, right? When you go to school, it's stepladder. And then you have a diploma after 12 years, or four years, or whatever. And that's usual. But in the Sutton School, you either understand completely or you don't understand. And when you see, you see all at once. It's like everything falls into place. So this is the seventh school is what the sixth ancestor is presenting to people. present. So Zen, after the Sixth Patriarch, is always the sudden school.

[33:27]

But we'll come to this later on and talk about it more. I don't want to talk about it now. I just want to introduce you to that. You are now the Sixth Patriarch, he said. Take good care of yourself and deliver as many sentient beings as possible. Spread and preserve the teaching and don't let it come to an end. Take note of my stanza. Sentient beings who sow the seeds of enlightenment in the field of causation will reap the fruit of Buddhahood. inanimate objects void of Buddha nature, sow not and reap not. I have a little trouble with this gatha. Because he says inanimate objects void of Buddha nature. If everything is Buddha nature, how can inanimate objects be void of Buddha nature?

[34:31]

I think originally the poem probably said, inanimate objects, sow not and reap not. But actually, what are inanimate objects? I don't know if there is such a thing. Yes? This translation has a little different, and it leaves out most of that. It leaves out that verse, but it has My Dharma must be transmitted from mind to mind. You must make people awaken to themselves. So that sort of emphasizes the part of the verse that has to do with if to sow, if you're going to reap. The one who sows will reap. Yeah, the one who sows will reap. Yeah, I think that makes more sense. from a different manuscript, I think. Well, Jan Polski worked from several earlier editions.

[35:42]

Yeah. The Koshoji in Japan, and also the Dunhuang version that was the oldest found, which is about one third the size of this one. Right. But that makes it probably better. This is a later edition, which somebody So I'm not too fond of the poem myself. I don't think it's that good a poem. But he is saying, sentient beings sowed the seeds of enlightenment in the field of causation and were reaped the fruit of Buddhahood. In other words, if you sow the seeds of in practice, they will have some fruition. Apples come from apple seeds, and oranges come from orange seeds.

[36:50]

So, depending on what kind of activity you perform, there will be some result, according to the kind. The sentient beings would be beings in the human realm, which is traditionally thought of as the realm where we can reach enlightenment, and the other realms we can't. So, if you think of it that way, then inanimate objects would just be, collectively, those objects not in the human realm. Right. Well, I think here inanimate objects mean those who don't reproduce themselves, like cups and tables. But corn reproduces itself, but it's not an inanimate object. What does sentient mean? Does sentient mean having a capacity to feel, like a nervous system or emotion?

[37:54]

Well, there are two kinds of sentient beings. One is what you just said, you know, those who feel, sentients, right? And the other aspect, way of thinking about sentient beings is, all dharmas are sentient beings. There's nothing that is in this world that's not a sentient being. I would think of things that don't have feelings or awareness as having a problem. Right, that's it. When you want to break down, into categories, then you can say this is sentient and that's not sentient. But this is uncategorical, non-categorical sentience, where everything in the universe is one being, one sentient being. So nothing is void of Buddha nature? Nothing is more Buddha nature than anything else. Well, but he is.

[39:05]

In this one, he's saying, inanimate objects void of Buddha nature. Well, it's not Buddha nature. It's not an original text. I'm sorry. Well, there is no original text. There are only these texts. There are only these texts. The original text, nobody knows what is the original text. There's the older texts and the newer texts. And the newer text has stuff added to them. So if we want to study the oldest text, we can do that. But that's not what we're studying. We're studying the new text, and we know that these things are additions. Do you have another translation? Let's do a far fetch. Very far indeed. Go ahead, Al. Excuse me, now. I read it differently, too. I think the translation that You'll see when I judge them.

[40:07]

Yin di, guo, hai sheng, wu ting, yi wu zhong, wu ting, wu xing, yi wu, wu sheng. It says here, if somebody with feeling or passion comes, plant a seed. The earth of the cause will then reap the fruit. If somebody without passion comes, then don't plant a seed. And wu xing, and no nature, will give no birth to anything. That's literally what it says. It said, if somebody comes who has passion, plant the seed. This is what it is, 5th Patrick saying, plant the seed. yin-di, the ground of cause, the ground of cause will then have a fruit or a result, will be born of that.

[41:13]

wu-jin, without any feeling of passion, yi-wu-zhong, if they don't come to you with any feeling of passion, don't plant a seed. wu-xin, no nature, yi-wu-shang, and they will be out of the something much more awesome. It's the last sentence. It's the last sentence. The last piece says, wu xin. And he's talking a lot about, early on, si xin. OK, it's the same xin, nature. And he's talking about si xin, self nature, early on. Here he's talking about wu xin, no nature. Wu xin is complete, without whatsoever any nature, yi. And then yi, wu shang. As a consequence, there will be no trouble of giving a rise to... So, can you please... I'm confused by the mixing of the Chinese because I don't know the Chinese, so if you could just say the last sentence in English, that would be very helpful.

[42:21]

I'd follow you up to that part. If there is no nature, then, as a result, there will be absolutely nothing born. Thank you. Now, there are two parts, you know. The one is, for him who does not know his own mind, there's no use learning Buddhism. But that's not the one that you're quoting. Well, it's interesting. If that's the translation of the saying gatha, It makes an awful lot more sense. It does make a lot more sense. Because this one in here is just kind of abstract, kind of gobbledygook. It's just five nice words. But that one, following after the paragraph, take good care of yourself and deal with as many sentient beings as possible, this is restating it.

[43:24]

Take good care of yourself. In a way, it seems what I'm hearing and saying is, Yeah, work with the people who have a way-seeking mind, and take care of yourself. Don't bother working with people who don't have a way-seeking mind. There's not enough of you, perhaps, to go around. So you work with who has the energy to meet you. He just translated it. From what, though? Oh, the Chinese. Yes, but the Polsky text has the Chinese version. No, this is from the Yuan edition, which is the one that Wulong Wang translated into his book. Oh. He took a lot of liberty. Pardon? He took a lot of liberty in that translation.

[44:25]

Yeah, he does. There's a little bit here and there everywhere. See, this is factualism within factualism. We're reading the text, which is kind of a polemic about factualism. We should be careful. But now we have the wu bang and the ending wu bang of factualism. OK, those who wish may I just came about 15 minutes ago, but it seems to be singing along marvelously. Speak directly into the microphone. And last one.

[46:07]

All right. This is the 5th patriarch's poem, right?

[47:17]

I'm sorry, I'm talking about the 5th patriarch's poem. Oh, okay. There's a major conflict between this poem and these very positive statements, if you want to look at it literally. Oh, I see. Well, let's see, where is the conflict? Well, to say there is no bodhichitta means that there's, to say that the essence of mind is intrinsically pure means purity means non-duality.

[48:22]

So it's the same as saying it's intrinsically non-dual. Even though the word pure implies impure. Well, it does, but in order to express non-duality in words, you have to use dualistic words. So you use them non-dualistically. Like, does the dog have Buddha nature? No. Which doesn't mean it doesn't. That's why. So, the essence of mind is intrinsically pure. is the same as there is no Bodhi tree. Just a moment. And is intrinsically free from becoming or annihilation is also non-duality. Is intrinsically self-sufficient means that non-duality.

[49:31]

intrinsically free from change, even though it's at the basis of all change. And all things are its manifestation. So it's not inconsistent. Somebody over here had their hand up. It was kind of funny to me, because considering what had just happened, that he had once became enlightened. I almost saw that paragraph as a pun. You know, who would have thought? Yeah, well it's a funny way to express yourself because he would have thought it. I agree. Yeah. It's a little bit of a funny expression to say, who would have thought? So I don't know if that is literally the translation or not. It probably is, because it's usually expressed that way. But usually not as naively.

[50:37]

I had a thought about this piece, who would have thought by whoever has written this down to show that something has occurred in this Dharma transmission, in this encounter, something that wasn't there before. Although he had it before, yet there was this something that comes that's with the emotional impact and this sort of astonished recognition, sort of reinforced, and it's a kind of formula, you know, to say this five times in five different ways. To me it expresses this joy. Right. I think that's the way it's meant to be. It's presented in that way that it's meant to be a kind of joyful expression, you know, but the way it comes out is kind of naive, right?

[51:49]

But I think you're right, absolutely. But if you just said, who would think that? It's different than who would have thought that. If you say, who would have thought that? It means, I wouldn't have. But if you say, who would think that? Then it comes out a little bit differently, the feeling. Martha's question sort of Leads me to another question, which actually relates to the following paragraph. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah. So it's a little funny, the way that the sutra talks about it, because the sutra will never express the way the thing actually is, because it's a little bit scholarly.

[53:03]

So to say he transmitted the Dharma at midnight doesn't mean that he told him something he didn't know. verified as understanding. They verify each other's understanding. There's more to the point. So it's described as transmitted the Dharma to me at midnight. It seems like there's a real then you might verify somebody else's delusion, because then you're having the same delusion that you're laboring under. Well, as long as you verify the other person's delusion, it's delusion. It's okay. Well, it was interesting to me when his patriarch

[54:08]

and told everybody, this person hasn't penetrated the way. He might be trying to protect his life, but he could be steering a lot of people wrong. Right. Well, he rubbed out, right, he rubbed it and... It seems like violating one of those precepts. Well, sometimes you have to violate the precept in order to keep it. But at the same time, one should be willing to risk one's life for the Dharma. So it's a little funny to rub out the stanza, but he didn't want people to, he didn't want to throw attention on, to this kid. Right, by rubbing out the gata, he was actually protecting the Dharma.

[55:18]

It was very practical. Practical, yes. And it seems like the risking one's life that we all do to practice the way That's true. We put at risk our self-centeredness. There you go. Yes? Well, you know, if it had been... If it had been Shinshu, who everyone expected, that probably wouldn't have happened. Shinshu was the other one, the one that wrote the Eleganta, the old, you know, the head monk.

[56:27]

If actually it had been Shinshu that had the according to the story. Actually, he probably did give the diamond to Hsinchu, but the monks wouldn't have had such a problem. But giving it to nobody, they probably thought he made a big mistake. The patriarch made a big mistake. What's he doing? Giving the rub of the bow to this nobody? Right? It's even conceivable that they thought he stole them because it seemed like the Patriarch wasn't going to reveal much about this. I think that they felt that he just made a mistake. That somehow he just, you know, they couldn't understand how this could happen.

[57:29]

Because he was of a lower caste. Well, he was just nobody. Not only the lower caste, he was just nobody. He was illiterate, he was from the South, and he wasn't very old, and he never, he wasn't even a member of the monastery. He was just working like a laborer. He didn't even have a union card. Just kind of wandered in the monastery, you know, and people didn't even know he was there. Is that talking about a thought that's production is not based on cause and effect?

[59:13]

Well, it produces a thought. It's not saying think a certain kind of thought. Produce a thought. But it's not produced from cause and effect? Right. The thought that is not produced from cause and effect is the primal thought. You don't get it from causing the death. No, it doesn't arise. What's this whole thing about sowing seeds? It sounds like in the field of causation and reaping fruit. That's back to the gradual school, isn't it? Well, sowing seeds, yes it is. That's why we're talking about the poem. It's not been such a good poem. It doesn't quite make any sense. You can make sense out of it, but it doesn't, as Alan was just translating it, did you remember that?

[60:21]

He just re-translated it from the Chinese. I heard what they said, but how does it make sense in terms of talking about cause and effect? Don't we practice order? creating causes that lead to some kind of effect. Well, it sounds gradual, right? But gradual and sudden go together. In other words, what practices gradually And after a long time of gradual practice, one has sudden realization. So it's not like, you know, you don't do anything. You know, because of suddenness doesn't mean that there's nothing gradual.

[61:25]

Well, something is a cause. There is a cause for enlightenment. It's like a stone hitting a bamboo is a cause for enlightenment. A peach tree blooming is like a cause for enlightenment. Somebody hitting you with a head can be a cause for enlightenment. It's not something that you caused to have happen. The primal cause is your practice. The secondary cause is the incident. So, the cause of enlightenment is practice.

[62:38]

Barbara? Is the primal thought preserved without the school? Without the what? Without a school. And what happens if the school loses it? Has the school ever lost it? And can it regain it? And does it move in the world without school? Of course. Of course it doesn't. It's not dependent on anything, on any school. But without the school and without the impetus to practice, it's not easy to find it. So the school is so that you can find it. The school is guidance. The school is for guidance. But that doesn't mean that everyone is the Sixth Patriarch.

[64:06]

Everyone is the Sixth Patriarch. Everyone is the Sixth Patriarch, in a sense, because we are all able to do this. So therefore we are the same as He, except that not everyone is a genius. Not everyone is a genius. So, you know, Einstein says E equals mc squared, right? And so, all the scientists in the world suddenly can go to work. Right? Big bombs. Whatever they make, they can go to work because of that. So, But, you know, all that stuff is present in the universe, right? It's just that somebody has to recognize it. So, when one person recognizes it, then other people are taught how to recognize it.

[65:19]

And it's called the school. And if people didn't go to medical school, maybe you'd be all the better off. No. One more question. Yes? I don't know if it's a question, but the whole thing about cause, you know? I read in many texts, you know, when it's an apparent coincidence. Nobody can really explain why it happens, when it happens, or whether you just happened to notice that event in the moment that you were becoming enlightened. You know, did that really cause the enlightenment, or was it just happening, you know, as it was happening to you?

[66:21]

Well, just because something happens doesn't mean that But once it's involved with the event, then it's part of the event. It's part of the event. So a coincidence, it just means two things are incidentally co-happening. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the rock was waiting there. That the rock was waiting there. And because that person got involved. it was cause and effect, the rock and the bamboo and a kill against the lightning.

[67:22]

How is it not a coincidence? Coincidence just means two things happening. Two things performing an operation together. That's all a coincidence is. So it's a broom and the rock. It's a coincidence. Right. But as far as cause and effect goes, the rock hitting the bamboo caused something to open in his mind. That's cause having an effect. They're not mutually exclusive. But we think of a coincidence as something that, when we say coincidence, we think, oh, that happened for no reason at all. There's no such thing as no reason at all. Chaos is just a certain kind of order. Everything happens because of a reason.

[68:33]

That's Buddhism. We're all subject to it. No foxes. So, he further said, when the patriarch Bodhidharma first came to China, most Chinese had no confidence in him. And so this robe was handed down as a testimony from one patriarch to another. That doesn't make sense either. As to the Dharma, this is transmitted from heart to heart, or mind to mind, usually. But the character for heart and mind is the same character.

[69:35]

And the recipient must realize it by his own efforts. From time immemorial, it has been the practice for one Buddha to pass to his successor the quintessence of the Dharma, and for one patriarch to transmit to another the esoteric teaching from heart to heart. As the robe may give cause for dispute, you are the last one to inherit it. Should you hand it down to your successor, your life would be in imminent danger. Now leave this place as quickly as you can. harm. Whither should I go? I asked. At Wei you stop, and at Wuyi you seclude yourself, he replied. Well, this whole thing about handing down the robe and the bowl, we know that even though this is said in the Sutra, that there has always been succession in the Dharma.

[70:37]

Every ancestor had Dharma successors, and there's always been one patriarch after another. And Hsien-Hui claimed to be the seventh patriarch after the sixth patriarch. So, this Actually, the Platform Sutra, at one time, in the early days, was printed and given to the successors as a sign of succession. And those people that had the copy, the early copy, not this extended one,

[71:44]

I don't think anyone has a copy of one of those. At least we haven't found one, I don't think. But I think the robe was supposed to still be at Cao Chi, right? And Quan Lam has a picture of it, what's supposed to have been Wing Nung's robe, which is still at Cao Chi. Is this supposed to have been floating down from Sui Ho? Well, that's the story. It's kind of like the Shroud of Turin. Like the what? Shroud of Turin. Oh yeah, yeah. Sort of like that. What's the Japanese name that we chant for this ancestor? What is the what? Japanese name that we chant when we chant the ancestors. How do we call this person in Japanese when we chant the ancestors? I really can't hear you so well. I have to put on my glasses.

[72:54]

When we chant... When we chant... The rope chant? No, when we chant the Buddhas and Ancestors, which one, which name, which Japanese name is referring to... Daikon Ino. Daikon Ino. So it's the sixth after Bodhidharma. Yeah, Daikon Ino. Eka, Sosan, Doshin, Konin. Konin is the 5th, Daikan Edo is the 6th, and Seigen is the 7th. So anyway, there's still succession, and always has been. But the robe, apparently, and the bowl stayed at Tsao Chi, and wasn't handed down to anyone. So, upon receiving the robe and the begging bowl, in the middle of the night, I told the patriarch that, being a southerner, I did not know the mountain tracks, and that it was impossible for me to get to the mouth of the river to catch a boat.

[74:13]

You need not worry, he said, I will go with you. Also, interesting thing is that he is still a layperson and he receives Bodhidharma's robe and the begging bowl, which are symbols of the patriarchy. But he is not yet ordained. Later, he comes back and he becomes ordained. So then he accompanied me to Kyukyong, and there ordered me into a boat, or took me aboard a boat. As he did the rowing himself, I asked him to sit down and let me handle the oar. It is only right for me to carry you across, he said. That is an allusion to the sea of birth and death, which one has to go across before the shore of Nirvana can be reached. according to the parentheses.

[75:16]

That is an illusion, to carry one across. The teacher carries the student across. To this I replied, while I am under illusion or delusion, it is for you to get me across. But after enlightenment, I should cross it by myself. Although the term to go across is the same, it is used differently in each case. As I happen to be born on the frontier, even my speaking is incorrect in pronunciation. But in spite of this, I have had the honor to inherit the Dharma from you. Since I am now enlightened, it is only right for me to cross the sea of birth and death myself by realizing my own essence of mind. So he's completely independent and is carrying Quite so, quite so, he agreed.

[76:22]

And beginning from you, Buddhism, meaning the Dhyana school and the Zen school, will become very popular. Three years after your departure from me, I shall leave this world. You may start on your journey now. Go as fast as you can toward the south and don't preach too soon as Buddhism of the Three years after your departure from me, I shall leave this world. That's often the old patriarch predicted their own demise, whenever be. But another version says, you can start teaching after three years. But I don't think that's quite right. I think this is more accurate, because it took him 15 years before he actually came back, according to this version.

[77:28]

So after saying goodbye, I left him and walked towards the south. In about two months' time, I reached the Taiyu Mountain. There I noticed that several hundred men were in pursuit of me. That's a lot of people. With the intention of robbing me of my robe and begging bowl. Among them was a monk named Hui Ming, whose lay surname was Chen. He was a general of the fourth rank in lay life. His manner was rough and his temper was hot. Of all the pursuers, he was the most vigilant in search of me. When he was about to overtake me, I put the robe and the begging bowl on a rock, saying, this robe is nothing but a symbol. What is the use of taking it away by force? I then hid myself. When he got to the rock, he tried to pick them up, but found that he couldn't. Then he shouted out, lay brother, lay brother, for the patriarch had not yet formally joined the order.

[78:35]

I come for the dharma, not for the robe. Whereupon I came out from my hiding place and squatted on the rock. He made obeisance and said, lay brother, preach to me. One version says, all right, sit down. And they both sat down in the squatting position, which means dive in. Since the object of your coming is the dharma, said I, refrain from thinking of anything and keep your mind open. It's blank. I think you'd better. Refrain from thinking of anything and keep your mind open. I will then teach you." And when he had done this for a considerable time, I said, when you are thinking of neither good nor evil, what is at that particular moment, venerable sir, your real, true nature?

[79:40]

Originally, literally, original face. What at that time is your original face? As soon as he heard this, he at once became enlightened. But he further asked, becoming enlightened doesn't necessarily mean that he became thoroughly and totally enlightened. It means that he had this enlightened experience, or an opening experience. But he further asked, apart from those esoteric sayings and esoteric ideas handed down by the patriarch from generation to generation, are there any other esoteric teachings? See, this is a questioning of the esoteric teachings. People think, well, there's this esoteric teaching that's being handed down. What I tell you is not esoteric, I replied. If you turn your light inwardly, you will find what is esoteric within you. That's like the Dharma transmission is not something that is taught, some esoteric thing that's taught, but it's recognizing a recognition.

[80:58]

Yes? I think it's interesting that he was a layperson Akin Roshi's situation in Japan, especially among some Rinzai teachers, they felt that they wanted to extend Dharma outside of the priesthood. the priesthood, to lay followers who were, they felt maybe in some way more sincere. In Soto school, well, Ekinosh is kind of half

[82:07]

Soto and half Rinzai are kind of neither. And the Dharma transmission that he has is not Soto Zen Dharma transmission. And what he does for people in Dharma transmission is not what we do. It's something that he just does. Which I'm not in a position to judge. But it's possible to do some kind of recognition, which I keep thinking about, and it's actually something that is coming up for me, for us. But you have to remember, this happened to, we know,

[83:12]

He was not ordained, but later he became ordained. So, if he had remained a layperson, that would have been a whole different thing in the lineage, or in the history of Zen. It would have been an entirely different thing in the history of Zen. In spite of my staying in Wang Wu Yi, said he, I did not realize, in other words, even though I was at the monastery, the fifth patriarch, I didn't realize my self-nature. Now, thanks to your guidance, I know it as a water drinker knows how hot or cold the water is. Lay Brother, you are now my teacher. I replied, if that is so, then you and I are fellow disciples of the fifth patriarch. Take good care of yourself. So he's not yet ready to teach. And so he's saying, wait a minute, both you and I are disciples of Homerun.

[84:21]

Take good care of yourself. In answering his question where he should go, thereafter. I told him to stop at Yuen and take up his abode in Mong. These places have no particular meaning that I know of. He paid homage and departed. Sometime after I reached Cao Cai, sometime after that I reached Cao Cai. They're the evildoers again persecuted me, and I had to take refuge in Zoui, where I stayed with a party of hunters for a period as long as 15 years. So I stayed with these hunters for 15 years. Occasionally, I preached to them in a way that befitted their understanding. They used to put me to watch their nets, but whenever I found living creatures in them, I set them free. At mealtimes, I put vegetables in the pan in which they cooked their meat.

[85:28]

He was the cook, apparently. Some of them questioned me, and I explained to them that I would eat the vegetables only after they had been cooked with the meat. I'm going to stop here, because the next part is a whole new section. I mean, a whole new subject. Saturday, there are two koans that come from this autobiography that are both in the Mumangkong. The one about Hui Ming chasing him and catching up with him in the row of the book, that's case number 23 in the Mumangkong. And I'll talk about that on Saturday. What's the other?

[86:34]

Well, the other we haven't come to yet. That's a case about the flag and the wind moving, which is also in Hong Kong. But I forget what number that case is. You can read the book. Just look up the wind and the flag in Hong Kong.

[86:58]

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