I have not been here for the scene, but I think most of us have. So I'm continuing with Dogen Zenji's Tenzo Kyokun, instructions for the head cook in the monastery. We come to a part the meals and manages to make everything work in the monastery for who does what and how you put higher things, things that belong in a high place. everything has its place.

[01:11]

And I explained all that yesterday. So I'll go back just a little bit to ease us into this next part, which in a way is, again, having fun. So he's saying how the Tenzo calculates how much food to put on the table. How to calculate how much food to make for the number of people. This is not exactly the fun part, but it gets into it. When you return to your room after talking to the officers, you shut your eyes and count the number of people in the Sōdo.

[02:23]

The Sōdo is a little different than the Zendo, although the Sōdo includes the Zendo. Zendo is the place where people sit dazen, like this. Sōdo is where the monks live in the Zendo. So each monk has a tatami mat, like those tatami mats, and that's their home, six by three. They live in a home that's six feet by three feet. And that's their bed, and that's where they sit Zazen. And then they have a little cabinet in front where they keep their stuff. That's it. plus those living in single rooms, include those in the infirmary or any other elderly people.

[03:25]

In addition to those, any monks who are on leave and others who may have just arrived and are not yet living fully within the community should be taken into account. make sure that you include everybody in your counting when you decide how much food to serve the community for a meal. When you know the exact number in the community, then calculate the amount of food to be cooked. For every grain of rice to be eaten, supply one grain. In dividing one grain, the result may be two-half On the other hand, one grain might equal a half a grain, or perhaps two half grains. Then again, two half grains might be counted as one whole grain.

[04:30]

You must be able to see clearly how much of a surplus will be created if you add one unit of rice, or whether there will be enough if you take away one unit. Was that the fun part? The what part? Was that the fun part? No, the fun part is you have to come. So he says, when you eat a grain of loo-leaf rice, you may become the monk Guishan. When you add a grain, you may become the cow. Sometimes the cow eats Guishan. Sometimes Guishan pastures the cow. Consider whether you have thoroughly understood these matters and are able to make these calculations.

[05:31]

Go back over everything again, and when you have understood these details, be prepared to explain them to us. According to their capacity, Use ingenuity in your practice. See the cow and Guishan as one, not as two. Even though temporarily, they appear that way. In your day-to-day life, do not forget this, even for a moment. So this takes a little explanation, as you may assume. Guishan was a... Guishan and Yangshan were... Yangshan was Guishan's disciple, and Guishan, a very well-known Zen master in the Tang Dynasty, and they used to converse back and forth.

[06:36]

Their conversations were... a lot of them were recorded at koans, mandal. And Guishan taught sometimes through using circular forms. Like we have in Tenoch, certain pictures which are circular. We have Tozon's five ranks which are circular forms. So the circular form was a kind of device to help students understand things about the Dharma. And Guishan had 100 circles that he used to illustrate various points of dharma. And he used cows as an example. There's a circle, inside the circle is a cow eating patient's grass.

[07:40]

He used that as an example. And inside the circle is a cow doing this or doing that. So I think water buffalo is probably the right term. But cow is a female water buffalo. So here, Duncan is using Guishan and kind of using Guishan's cow, you know, Guishan and his cow. So one day Guishan said, a hundred years after my death, I will be reborn as a cow to a parishioner on this mountain. On the flank of this cow will be written, I am Guishan.

[08:47]

If you say that the cow is me, you will be wrong, because it is just a cow. And if you say it is just a cow, you will be wrong, because it will be me. So what should you call it? That's the story. That is space time. So we'll go back to where Dogen says, when you eat a grain of Luling rice, that's another story. There's a koan in the booklet record. What is the price So a monk asked Sagan Gyoshi, what is Buddhadharma? And Sagan said, what is the price of rice in Lüling? So this is getting dense.

[09:53]

Go on. What is the price of rice in Luling? So, Tolkien says when you eat a grain of lu-ling rice, you may become the monk Guishan. When you add a grain, you may become the cow. Sometimes the cow eats Guishan, sometimes Guishan pastures the cow. So let's go back to the grain of rice, lu-ling rice. Well, you know, when you go to buy an automobile, you say, what is the price of that Toyota over there? So this is comparative value. Made in Italy.

[11:10]

Both made in Italy. So you say, well, Toyota is cheap compared to the Rolls Royce. But actually, that's comparative value. So, when you're driving your Toyota, Toyota is the best car in the world. When you're driving your Rolls Royce, the Rolls Royce is the best car in the world. When you compare them, you say, well, the Rolls are better. But actually, when you're just doing it's incomparable.

[12:10]

So, the price of rice in Lüli, compared to the price of rice in Fuqiao, The price here means comparative value, but actual value is the true value of something. We have a store called True Value Hardware. judge each other through comparative value.

[13:37]

on that relative value. So, it's important to compare relative values. The problem is, we forget that each being has its own incomparable virtue, which is the most important aspect. And we often forget that, or leave it out, or don't even think about it. beyond compare. So this is how we can appreciate ourself without comparing ourself to something else. When we sit Zazen in the Zen Dome, and somebody says very beautifully,

[15:14]

And you said, like, your aching legs, and you want to move, and you do move, and you scratch your head, and that one's so good and that's so bad. That's comparative value. And when you're simply sitting on the cushion, dealing with all your problems, and still being there, you're expressing your virtue, which doesn't mean good. You can't compare yourself with someone else. You can, but it doesn't help. As a matter of fact, it's not a good idea, even though we encourage each other by expressing our effort to the utmost. And the person who is having We love to have people like that in the Zen Dojo.

[16:27]

It's not like a beauty contest. The Guishan is expressing virtue, absolute value. The Tao is kind of like, not comparative value, but mundane life. When you eat a grain of rice, of Lu Ling rice, which has no comparative value, beyond comparative value, you may become the monk Guishan. When you add a grain, you may become the Tao. So adding something is the Tao. The Tao means kind of like mundane. Sometimes the Tao eats Guishan. Sometimes Guishan pastures the Tao. The cow eating Guishan is like a stillness within activity.

[17:40]

The cow eating Guishan is inside the cow. side, realizing the incomparable value of the cow, of yourself, of everything around you, you appreciate everything around you, towards intrinsic virtue. and stillness of activity.

[18:45]

use ingenuity in your practice. Now, I like that. Practice, although it's very formal, it's really informal. Improvisation. Most of our life, 99% of our activity is improvisation. So, we have improvisation within structure. Without structure, So, the form of zazen, when you walk into the zendo, the zendo has a certain structure, and we conform to the structure. We give ourselves over to the structure. And we leave our ego outside the door. That's what makes practice so hard, is leaving our ego outside the door.

[20:16]

As soon as we walk through the gate, we should leave our ego hanging on one of those. And then we pick it up again, and we walk out of it. Don't do that. So use ingenuity in your practice. He's talking about the Tenzo. The Tenzo has free reign to decide how to, what kind of ingredients to use, and how to cook the meals, and what to present, but it's always consulting with everybody else, not just doing something by themselves. That's called free reign. That's called ingenuity. We use the resources around us to help produce the result.

[21:23]

So using ingenuity, you do have your idea, but you share your idea with somebody else. We always get in trouble when we decide we want to do something, even if it's a good thing, and then without asking, we go ahead and do it. Like we make something, or we produce something, and then we hang it on the wall, and somebody complains. for one reason or another. So without consulting and without including others, if we don't include others, then the person who is excluded will always cause a problem. This is the rules. I mean, it's the law. I didn't make it up. When you bypass somebody who nothing else.

[22:26]

So when we make decisions and we have using ingenuity, we should share that with others so that we come up with a correct result. So this is monastic practice, it's also temple practice, it's also family practice, work practice, wherever you are. This is how you practice in the world. So use ingenuity in your practice, he says. See the cow and Guishan as one. See the cow and Guishan as one, not as two. Even though temporarily they appear that way. So, it appears, you know, we talk about essence and function. Essence is our essential nature, and function is our activity in the dualistic world.

[23:35]

So, essential nature is not dualistic. But its function seems dualistic. The function of the essence of mind is to act out of life in the dualistic world. But even though the essential mind and the dualistic mind seem like two things, they're really one. Even though it seems like two, it's really one. Not as two. Even though temporarily, or through appearance, they appear that way. In your day-to-day life, do not forget this, even for a moment. So what Dogen realized when he went to China was that practice and realization are not two.

[24:41]

Realization is in the dualistic world. So when you enter into practice, you're entering into the non-dualistic world of duality. You can't separate them, even though we try real hard to do that. We don't try to do that, we just forget that everything is really one. So we have to be reminded over and over again that it's not just two. It's not just dualistic. That's why we sit zazen every day. So, we should be very careful when we're relating to each other and to the things around us, that although we are all separate, we're really all one.

[25:52]

And we should treat each other, given that understanding. Did we ever get to the funny part yet? Have we gotten to the funny part yet? What did Guishan do that he's going to be born as a cow?

[26:55]

I'm just partly kidding. Well, it means he's born into the dualistic world. This is where we have our life. And how to live out our life with an enlightened attitude, basically, is what he's talking about. Not to get caught by, in the dualistic world. Suzuki Roshi always used to like to use the word caught by, you know. And if you think about it, we get hooked, usually, in duality. At the earlier part of the talk, you spoke of the tens of making sure everybody was accountable. Accounted for. Accounted for, right, for each grain of rice.

[27:58]

So on the practical side, it's just doing the practical, making sure you don't have wasted food and whatnot. subtle side it's taking into account everybody in the universe that you just kind of unfolded for us that there's this practical side of the job or the position and then it's like be aware of everybody it's beyond measuring the rights just be aware of everybody as you said if you miss somebody they're gonna they're gonna make a trouble if you overlook yeah if you overlook something which is what I'm inferring from Dogen's teaching there. So my question is, some people tend to err on the side of the practical and the literal. Like, what can I get out of this? And some people feel that's really dry and boring. I'm more interested in the philosophical and the subtleties. And I'm wondering, how can we nurture both sides?

[29:07]

Like, a person who has a practical benefit how can they cultivate the larger view of the teaching, and how can people with the larger, or the more philosophical propensities, get back down to earth and take care of the practical so there's a balance? Yeah. When you eat a grain of looming rice, you may become the monk Guishan. When you eat a grain, you may become the cow. Sometimes the cow eats Guishan. How do we balance so that you don't get stuck in one side? So, an example of that is when we sit in the zendo, and the bell rings, everybody gets up and does kinyin. You don't stay sitting on the tan, because you feel good.

[30:10]

Just get up, let go of that, and do kinyin. So when you can submit yourself to doing the practice of everyone, which seems impossible, then you find your balance. So we narrow our world down because we can't do the practice of everyone. Even though each one of us is an individual, it's the individual's practice as one person. Suzuki Roshi used to talk about the monks all wearing black robes, all the same clothes, but when we all wear the same clothes, each face stands out as an individual.

[31:29]

true character of each person when we're all wearing the same clothes. I'm not saying we all have to wear the same clothes. I'm not advocating that. So wearing the same clothes means doing the same practice. And each person stands out in their individuality. Not ego, individuality, the true individual. You have a true personality and a confection personality. Confection means like a cake, you know, you put it together. We create a personality with various ingredients. But a true personality is when we let go of the construction. Pure means non-dual.

[32:43]

Pure activity means selfless, basically. So if we do selfless practice, then we reap the benefit of selfless practice, which is enjoyment, true enjoyment. We don't need to entertain ourselves in order to be joyful. So, you don't sit zazen all the time. We have periods when we sit like 7 days, 5 days, sashin. We just do zazen. But it's not just sitting zazen. We also do, we cook for each other, we serve each other, we work. This is the kind of practice. or monotheism, whatever. All those aspects are included in practice, so it becomes a well-balanced practice.

[33:51]

I don't want to compare it to other practices, but there are other practices where people only do zazen, only do sitting. cook for each other and we serve each other and we work together to maintain the practice place. And all of those practices are imbued with samadhi. listening to somebody, speaking to somebody.

[35:07]

So that way you don't put too much, lean too much on one aspect or another. When we started Tassajara, when Suzuki Roshi was still alive, we only sat one seven-day session for practice. The rest is just all work, work and study. So the importance of work is that you have the enjoyment of interacting with your surroundings and appreciating every aspect of the world around you. or the world that you're involved with. And when we go out and leave the temple of the monastery, we can have a greater understanding and practice of how we interact with the world.

[36:22]

So it shouldn't be just Nizenda. It should be our whole life. our whole life's practice. So how to balance that is really important. It's a good question. If we work too much and don't sit, that's over-balanced on one side. If we sit too much and don't engage, that's over-balancing on the other side. So this is my The people just like to sit Zazen all the time without doing anything else.

[37:26]

So, could you comment on Zazen practice? Has that interaction between... Well, yes, that's... Because it's not... you can be stuck in form. Yeah, you can be stuck in form. That's where most people are. This is what we always talk about. Zazen is not just sitting on a cushion. When I say Samadhi, Samadhi means Zazen in your daily life. Zazen means being one with. Samadhi is moment by moment to express activity with whatever you're engaged with without self-centeredness. Just doing.

[38:32]

So Dogen calls it shikantaza. Shikantaza means just doing. Just this. Just this. There are many, many names for those kinds of Buddhas and Samadhis, but it's not some kind of a trance. It means non-separation. Even non-separation within separation. of duality, to see the oneness of two things. When I'm holding this book, that's just my perception, but actually the book is telling me what to do.

[39:36]

The book is talking to me, saying, in order for you in this way. So it's telling me what to do. And so the book and I are not two things, even though the book is the book and I am myself. When we're driving down the road, there's the road, and the car, and the people, and the environment, and the white line, and the double line, and everybody's moving this way and that. And it's all these individual parts moving in unison. it's not. So all these cars are just one piece. They're all individuals, that's all one piece.

[40:39]

And everybody is telling everybody else what to do. You can't move, you have to move in concert. So it's just all one piece. It's a great activity. I loved driving in traffic. Because I was a taxi driver for six years. And finding the holes, you know. It's like playing football. You're running down, everybody's trying to catch you. People kind of hang on when I drive. What are they hanging on to?

[41:41]

I used to have a 64 Volkswagen and Mrs. Suzuki would come over once in a while and I drove her back to the Zen Center and it had a handle right there on the dashboard. Can you talk about comparative value and absolute value in the student-teacher relationship, or how you experienced it? Yes. Yeah. Well, in my case, I can only talk about myself. I don't have a presupposition, I may have a little presupposition, but I let go of that.

[42:43]

I'm sitting near the docus on her, and somebody walks in, knock on the door. It's one of the crossing legs. I'm already talking. And I'm just sitting here. So to me, this is the perception. I get the whole thing. They're not handing me the whole thing all at once. It doesn't matter what they're talking about so much. It's how you act. You think, gee, I don't have a question. Or my question. The question's often not that good. It's how you relate.

[43:49]

That's what it's about. It's body language to begin with. You walk in, and you bow to the cushion, and then you walk over. The reason you bow to the cushion, you're bowing to the cushion. You're bowing to me when you come in. When we put our hands together and bow, that's non-duality. We're becoming one when we do that. And not two people yet at that point. You walk in, you're one person. I'm sitting here, I'm one person. When we bow, we're one person. That's it. So sometimes we what? We're not one person. But when we actually meet, we're one person. Nothing has to be said. Sometimes you bow sincerely and walk out. That's OK. That's good, actually. Nobody's done that yet. Although, sometimes a person will sit down and just sit together, and you look at them and go, that's okay, that's good.

[45:03]

But don't do that every time. Sometimes you do that every time. And then, you bow to the cushion. we settle down for a minute. And then, when we settle down for a minute, it's two people, but because we're not saying anything, and we're simply... that communication is potent. just facing each other. That's potent. And then, you could say something.

[46:06]

You could say, hi, good morning, or something. And then, you could say, did you have something to say? Sometimes the person will sit there not knowing quite what to say. I'll help you out. Did you have a question? Well, you know, he came for some reason. Did you have a question? Well, I did when I signed up, but I forgot what it was. That's OK, actually. That's good, because the question is OK. But not having a question, gee, I don't have a question, is very good. The reason why it's very good is because it's better, you need some prompting in order to find what your question is. Sometimes you have a superficial question. And so that's a reason for signing up. But often we don't know what our deeper question is.

[47:08]

And just to be confronted with that allows a deeper question to come up. So I'm not expecting anything. I'm not expecting anything. If you say something, that's fine. If you don't say something, that's okay. If you don't show up, that's okay, too. I just sit there. People say, oh, I'm sorry. I've had it in trouble for not being there myself sometimes. I just expect the person to say, okay, I showed up. You weren't there. I feel the same way. Somebody says, gee, I did that twice in a row. I said, OK, it's OK. But you feel the guilt, so I don't have to wing it on you. So anyway, I listen and respond.

[48:14]

I don't have any agenda. I really don't. Sometimes I have a little agenda, because maybe she didn't know something. Most of the time, I don't really have an agenda. I just help you to think about what you're thinking about, basically. I don't want to give you answers. So, it's not me against you or something like that. It's like, I try to be one with you. And the way to be one with you is to lay aside my ideas. place and my judgment. Thank you, Sojiroshi. I'm reminded of a quote or two to your exchange with Suzuki Roshi when he said, sometimes, if I remember correctly, sometimes just being alive is enough. And I'm thinking that, I'm asking now, can you give an example when that might not

[49:20]

Yes, when you're dead. I'm thinking of a person who doesn't have a question, and maybe just being there is enough. Just being alive is enough. That's the bottom line. You have to have a bottom line. It's like, what do you go back to when you respond to somebody? The purpose of zazen is to teach your student together you find the deepest place. You find the truest place. That's the whole thing. It's not like about your superficial questions.

[50:23]

Most questions are superficial. Not all, but there are a lot of superficial. So a good teacher will take a superficial question and help the student to see the profundity of it. So in a sense, there's no such thing as a stupid question. It's the same as in Shosan. People go, oh, that's a superficial, stupid question, or something like that. And it continues to take the question and take it to a deeper place. I don't know if this is superficial or profound, but I love that phrase about the patient's grasp.

[51:24]

Where does that stuff grow? Where does that stuff grow? It grows under your seat. Sometimes I do have a number of Nissan's Kueishon's circles were lost, pretty much, but not all of them. And I do have examples of them, which I always wanted to present them at some point. It's hard to do in a lecture because they're circles. Characters. But I think it's possible. Are you saying you have a stash of that grass? And you put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[52:32]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ