I'm back from Tassajara for a short time, and I'm going back again next week to finish the practice period. At Tassajara, we've been studying the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor, Hui Nong, or Daikon Eino in Japanese. I thought that I would talk a little bit about the Platform Sutra in reference to the Trakaya. The Platform Sutra has Huineng talking about the meaning of the three bodies of Buddha called Trakaya, which is a Mahayana concept of who is Buddha.

[01:02]

And this kind of concept or doctrine can become very heady and intellectual. And the ancestor in the Platform Sutra always takes these intellectual concepts and makes them real. or makes them simple, or shows us how they are not concepts, but how they apply to our life. So, I thought I would talk about that. He says the Drakaya, or the three bodies of Buddha, are the three bodies of our own Buddha. Each one of us embodies the trakaya, or the three bodies of Buddha. In the meal chant, we always pay homage to the three bodies of Buddha.

[02:11]

We say homage to the Dharmakaya Vairojana Buddha, the Sambhogakaya Lojana Buddha, and the Nirmanakaya Shakyamuni Buddha. the other way around, Shakyamuni and Nirmanakaya. So the Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya Buddhas are the three bodies of Buddha. And Vairochana in the Buddhist, Buddhathon, Pantheon, Vairochana is represents the Dharmakaya. And Lochana may be a corruption of Rushana, who represents Sambhogakaya, and Shakyamuni represents Nirmalakaya.

[03:21]

So, Dharmakaya, as he says, our sixth ancestor says, Dharmakaya is our own essence, fundamental essence of everything. And Sambhogakaya is our own wisdom. and nirmanakaya are the numerous activities. So if we look at these three, all the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya are an expression of dharmakaya. Everything is an expression of dharmakaya.

[04:23]

Dharmakaya is ineffable and unthinkable and cannot be seen as its attributes. It has no special mark. The special mark, everything has a mark. Fire, the mark of fire is heat, and the mark of water is wetness. And the mark of everything has its own particular characteristic that marks it as to what it is. But Dharmakaya has no special mark. It can't be identified. But it's the source of all things. And so, But all things are its manifestation and lead to the essence.

[05:33]

So, if we want to understand dharmakaya, or essence of mind, we should concentrate on one thing thoroughly. Suzuki Hiroshi always said, just do one thing completely and thoroughly. If you want to know the essence of mind, rather than trying to lasso the world in order to understand it, just do one thing, one small activity, completely and thoroughly. So the Sixth Patriarch is always talking about essence of mind. To thoroughly understand our own essence of mind and to thoroughly be essence of mind and express it in all of our activity is to be enlightened.

[06:39]

So this is Vairochana. Vairochana Dharmadhatu, which is, I use Dharmadhatu rather than universe, the Dharma realm, which has no limit, and everything emanates from, it just sits there and emanates. But Dharmakaya is potential. In this sense, Dharmakaya is potential. And Sambhogakaya is manifestation of wisdom or spirit or truth in the world. So we see the sixth ancestors of

[07:52]

Sambhogakaya is your wisdom mind, which is Dharmakaya expressed as wisdom and spiritual capacity. And you can say it's our wisdom mind which seeks itself as Dharmakaya. So Sambhogakaya is always directing us toward Dharmakaya, essence of mind. So, of course, the sutras were not written by Shakyamuni Buddha. The sutras were written by Sambhogakaya Buddha, our wisdom mind, which manifests in everyone. And nirmanakaya is the personality, the person, the one who walks around and eats and talks.

[09:13]

Manifestation or called transformation body. The body which is in the realm of transformation. This is the world of transformation and our bodies fit this world of transformation because all of our bodies are continually transforming and there's no special body that we can hang on to. Suzuki Roshi used to talk about this old monk who had a pair of tabis. Tabis are these white socks that you wear with, they have a toe and the rest of the foot, so the thong of the sandal goes in between the toe and the rest of the foot. It's called a tabi. Japanese wear them all the time, a lot.

[10:18]

So, this one monk kept this pair of tabis for about 20 years. or 25 years, and every time, it's the only pair he had, and every time they would get a hole or start to wear out, he would put a patch on it pretty soon. The whole thing was nothing but patches. And if you looked at it, you'd say, well, he's had that pair of tobbies for 20 years, or 25 years, but is that the same pair of tobbies? or a different pair of tabi. This is the world of tabi, the tabi world of transformation. Is it the same or different? So we feel the same, you know. Our mother gave us a name, or our parents gave us a name, and we identify with that name. When we were a little baby, and then we grew,

[11:22]

into an adolescent, teenager, and on and on. And somehow we identify with that baby, but are we the same or different? The world of transformation, the same and yet different, but You can't say exactly. And no matter how much we try to stop old age, it doesn't work. So the transformation body is just being carried along as the dynamics or the dynamism of the dharmakaya as it expresses itself. as transformation. So, he says these three bodies are not some theoretical thing.

[12:37]

They're not something outside of ourself. But they are our deepest self. They express ourself in three ways. three different bodies being expressed as myself. Sambhogakaya is also called, that's the one in the middle, called enjoyment body sometimes, and sometimes it's called reward body. And as enjoyment body, When wisdom is seeking enlightenment, or I say seeking enlightenment, it's okay, then the joy of practice, actually,

[13:50]

is deeply turned toward practice, then the reward is this enjoyment. And Dogen talks about it as ji-ju-yu-zamai, self-enjoyment samadhi, or self-fulfilling samadhi, the joy of self-fulfillment, the samadhi of self-fulfillment. And I think that's an expression of Sambhogakaya. The wisdom mind of Sambhogakaya, he expresses it as GGU Samadhi. Self-enjoyment or self-fulfillment, which includes the joy of others' attainment. But then he says, but without the four wisdoms, the three bodies are bodies without wisdom.

[15:20]

So the three bodies need the four prajnas in order to be complete. In order to have bodies with wisdom, one has to recognize the four wisdoms. So, the four wisdoms are the Great Round Mirror Wisdom, which corresponds to Dharmakaya, and this is the wisdom which sees everything just as it is. Mirror doesn't change anything, or modify, or color. I mean a straight mirror, but merely reflects as it is. This is Dharmakaya, the cold truth.

[16:24]

the great equality wisdom, which sees everything as rooted in Dharmakaya. Dharmakaya is like, as a model, the way to think about Dharmakaya as a model, is as the source of everything. and all things are its manifestation. So what we see is this, maybe it's like a root with flowers, and long stems and flowers, and the flowers are like the faces of everyone, but the stems go down to the same root. So all things are manifested or can be traced down to the same root, and this is where everything meets.

[17:47]

We also meet at the face, but all the faces are different, and so we get confused. When we see all the different faces, we get confused, and we think that we only We get carried away by the differences. You can say, you're different to me. It's just true. But wisdom, or equality, realizes that even though you're different from me, you're also the same, and we all come from the same root. we have realization or enlightenment. Enlightenment is to realize that all things come from the same root. And sometimes we say one person with myriad faces

[18:50]

So this is the wisdom of equality, the wisdom that sees or realizes that everything comes from the same root and is equal in that sense. All things are equal in that sense. And the third wisdom is the discerning wisdom, wisdom of discernment, which realizes that even though all things come from the same root, each manifestation is different and is to be respected for the difference. So, one is horizontal. You know, equality wisdom is maybe horizontal wisdom, like this. And the all-discerning wisdom is hierarchical, vertical.

[20:04]

Each thing has its own place. And no two things are standing in the same place. This is hierarchy. We don't like the term hierarchy. It sounds anti-American or anti-democratic, but hierarchy is, whether you like it or not. In the plant world, hierarchy is just considered a term for how one thing relates to another and where the place of each thing is in the scheme of its composition. So in that sense, we can talk about hierarchy. Everything has its place in the scheme of composition. And we talk about above and below. Above and below are judgments. So judgment enters into hierarchy and gives its problem.

[21:11]

But if you just see where everything is, clearly, without judging as high and low, then you can see very clearly. And then everything becomes equal because everything is different. Because everything is different and is a manifestation of itself completely, everything is equal. If you really have confidence in who you actually are, then you will see that you are completely equal with everything. If you completely know your place in this world from moment to moment, you realize that you are equal to everything. No need to be

[22:13]

The fourth wisdom is wisdom of correct action, right activity, which means that understanding the other wisdoms, one acts correctly according to circumstances. Sometimes the third wisdom is called the wisdom which understands without having to think. And this wisdom applies also to the wisdom of correct activity. knowing how to respond to circumstances in the correct way, whatever that is.

[23:33]

So, when the three bodies are connected are one with the four Wisdoms, then these are bodies with Wisdom and Wisdom embodied. So the bodies need the Wisdoms and the Wisdoms need the bodies in order to have correct understanding and correct response. And the third element is the eight levels of consciousness. I hope I'm not giving you too many things to think about. But according to one model, which Buddhists accept, there are eight levels of consciousness.

[24:48]

And the first five levels are consciousness of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, feeling, the five senses, and thinking. Thinking is the sixth sense, the thinking mind, which is a discriminating mind. discriminating mind discriminates between the various sense consciousnesses. So discriminating mind says, I see this, or I hear this, or I taste this, or I touch this. And then also makes decisions based on that information. It's thinking mind.

[25:51]

And it also imagines. It has its own quality of imagination. And then the seventh consciousness conveys messages between the sixth consciousness and the eighth. The eighth consciousness is called alaya, vijnana, which means the storehouse of memory and see the seeds of memory. And it also is infinite consciousness. And the seventh consciousness takes messages back and forth between the alaya and the other consciousnesses. It's the messenger. But the problem is that the messenger, getting all this information, begins to use it in its own way, and becomes inflated, thinking that... and it assumes the identity, the main identity for the rest.

[27:19]

And it's called ego. When it becomes perverted, it's called ego or self-centered consciousness. And almost everyone goes through the phase of self-centered, egotistical consciousness. I think most everyone does. It's very rare to find people who don't. everyone has some trace of egotistical consciousness, which creates the idea of self-centeredness. And so substitutes, it becomes a substitute for big mind. So this little area of consciousness kind of gums up the works.

[28:26]

And this self-consciousness which gives us the sense of individuation also obscures our view of who we are. who are not, and gives us the sense of a self, which hinders the free flow of transformation. Transformation happens anyway, but it doesn't flow so freely and openly when the seventh consciousness assumes the central role. So, when Seventh Consciousness is there, sitting on the throne, we say, I don't want to die.

[29:35]

I want to just continue this life as long as possible. It's not true, is it? We do die. We do transform. that this process is going on regardless of what I want. So seventh consciousness grabs hold and pushes away in order to create a world out of imagination. and it's called the source of suffering. This little area of consciousness is what creates suffering for ourselves. There are other ways of creating suffering, but self-suffering, the attitude which creates suffering,

[30:45]

So, when self-consciousness realizes its falsity and lets go, gives itself up, Dogen calls it, dropping body and mind, and allows the layalaya, or the big mind, to give the directions, and takes its place as just a conveyor of information, then transformation takes place. In other words, when we drop ego, simply speaking, transformation takes place. And the eight consciousnesses transform into the four wisdoms.

[31:55]

And so, consciousness is called wisdom instead of consciousness. And the alaya, or the eighth consciousness, becomes the great mirror, round mirror wisdom. And the seventh consciousness, which is ego consciousness, self-centeredness, becomes the great equality wisdom. And the discriminating consciousness, called mind consciousness, becomes the all-discerning wisdom. And the sense consciousnesses become the perfecting of action wisdom. So when there's enlightenment, the vijnanas or the consciousnesses are called wisdom.

[33:12]

Nothing really changes, but Life flows freely and correctly. And dharmakaya is not hindered. Essence of mind is not hindered. And one feels freedom. And one is no longer hindered by transformation. and transformation becomes the joyous life rather than the hindrance to self-centeredness. So, when one is no longer

[34:22]

hanging on to everything, hanging on to things. It's just as easy to give up as it is to receive. Giving and receiving, same thing. And we have to start facing these things in a true way. What's to become of me? You know, the sixth patriarch says, this body, he says, what will we take refuge in? This body, you cannot take refuge in this body, because this body is just a temporary abode, just like an inn, where you sleep one night, then you go someplace else.

[35:27]

So you cannot really take refuge in this body because the body is not stable. It's always transforming. So one has to take refuge in essence of mind. He says, you should take refuge in the trikaya, the three bodies of Buddha, which are your own three bodies. They're not some Buddha out there, this Buddha. The dharmakaya is your true body and wisdom mind or prajna mind is your true body. And this body is also your true body. Who are we?

[36:35]

Where am I going? What will become of me? What is my true home? So And he says, we should never stray from our essence of mind. The main thing about our life is not to stray from essence of mind. Big mind, which includes everything. So dharmakaya is big mind.

[37:40]

Sambhogakaya is our practice, I would say. And nirmanakaya is our activity. And when all three are in accord with each other, our essence of mind shines forth. don't lose our way, no matter what happens. So in Zen practice, a Zen practice boils down to whatever happens You don't lose your way. You always know where you are. And the world of transformation becomes a joyful place, not in spite of transformation, but because of transformation.

[39:03]

You know, we're always resisting, resisting the transformation. But the transformation is our life. The most constant thing in our life is transformation. So we better enjoy it while we can. How do you enjoy the transformation? How do you enjoy the constant change? So, I'll leave you with that. That's the question.

[39:52]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ