Good morning. Good morning. So welcome to day four of Rohatsu. Is it recording? Yes. And today I'd like to talk about a text by Dogen called Ehe Kosu Hotsuganmon. It's one that we chant regularly at Tassajara. And it's short. It's about a page or so. And because it's short, we chanted it regularly. I memorized it and didn't know that I had memorized it. But when I was taking care of my mom in 2008, Fall of 2003 when she was having some real health and change difficulties and I was down with her for a couple months.

[01:08]

I would go for walks in my old neighborhood and this started coming back to me piece by piece until I realized that I could reconstruct the entire thing and just like every day a little bit more would come. I just find it really beautiful, so I'd like to share it with all of you. And my understanding is that it's not a Dogen fascicle, and it doesn't appear as a whole... He didn't write it as a whole piece. It was kind of a mash-up later of different things, including a passage from Valley Sounds, Mountain Colors. And the title of it, Ehe, and it's from Ehe Dogen, is his dharma name. And so it's the vows of old ancestor Ehe. So Ehe's vows. And it begins, we vow with all beings from this life on throughout countless lives to hear the true dharma, that upon hearing it no doubt will arise in us.

[02:25]

nor will we lack in faith. That upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma. And that in doing so, the great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. So these countless lives we vow from this life on throughout countless lives. And you can take that as different rebirths from one body to another. Or you can take it as the self that we are being reborn moment to moment. We keep renewing our vows. We keep coming back over and over again. And this is It's just how it is. That it's not that we vow once.

[03:29]

It's that we keep renewing our vows. We keep renewing our relationship with practice. Our relationship with the present moment. We keep coming back again and again to reaffirming the most important thing. No doubt will arise in us. Well, that's what we keep vowing. That no doubt will arise in us. And we do need to keep reaffirming that because doubt tends to keep arising for us. And I would guess that Dogen wrote that because he experienced that. I remember At some point, I had the deep sense that Dogen was not writing analogies when he wrote.

[04:36]

They weren't metaphors, they weren't analogies, they weren't even necessarily, some of them were not even necessarily references to the old masters. They were just his experience. He was writing from the heart of his faith, from what he knew into it. And that's all any of us can do, really. The great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. This is literally true. When we wake up, there's nothing left out. We see the truth that has always been there. which is that we're already awake. Everything is shining with enlightenment. So nothing is left out, including the pain in our knees, the ache in our hearts, and that really annoying person that we just can't get past, whether we know them or not.

[05:50]

I'll just read that paragraph again. We vow with all beings, from this life on throughout countless lives, to hear the true Dharma, that upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith, that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma, and that in doing so, the great Earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha wife. Reading this again, I think that, you know, to hear the true Dharma and then upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith. And of course, Dogon was a huge faith type. that profound faith in the Buddha Dharma.

[06:55]

And Sojun also, very much a faith type. He said he never doubted the Buddha Dharma, but he did doubt his own capacity to practice thoroughly. So whether the focus of our doubt, or you could say our... our lack of manifestation we locate outside of us or inside of us, you are coming back again and again to letting that go, letting it go, just showing up for what is again and again. Going on. Although our past unwholesome karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way. May all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and free us from karmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance.

[08:09]

May they share with us their compassion which fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. Although our past evil, old translation was evil karma, I much prefer unwholesome karma. Although our past unwholesome karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way. So Hong Xiu in the Record of Homsher Cultivating an Empty Field is the title of it in the collection of his writings in English. He opens with saying, the field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated

[09:19]

into apparent habits. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. The boundless field of emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. And I love that because it makes sort of a karma sandwich. I've felt it that way before. Use the way, use, you know, brightness, you know. field of boundless emptiness.

[10:21]

And then there's our karma, which is all that stands between us and realizing it, and what to do about it, too. Oh, here's our practice. We must purify, cure, grind down or brush away all the apparent habits, our karmic habits, karmic effects that are obstacles in practice in the way. So we have fabricated these into these. They're not just tendencies, they're not just like grabbing at it. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness that was already there. has never gone away. So Dogen goes on to ask the Buddhas and ancestors for help with this.

[11:40]

May all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way, who have walked this path, may attain the Buddha way. Be compassionate to us and free us from karmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. Take the second arrow out of my heart and allow me to practice the way without hindrance. May they share with us their compassion which fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. So, I don't know what all of your relationship is to the Buddhas and ancestors, or the Bodhisattvas, or asking Avila Piteshvara or Kamsayam for help.

[12:47]

For some of you, that may be a very familiar and generative nourishing practice. And for others, it may not resonate so much at all. I'm feeling more like Christianity or, you know, what is this thing outside myself that I'm asking for help for? They're actually not around. I don't connect. I think there's really different ways to connect with that, as there is for everything. The ancestors were real human beings who lived, and they walked the path, and they awakened. And crucially, they transmitted the path to their disciples who went on to transmit the path.

[13:55]

So it's possible. And by opening ourselves to the spirit of Buddhas and ancestors, yes, even this one small person sitting right here, as the Buddha nature has the capacity, and if you're even just inspired by their example, that they did this, that they awakened, that can greatly enliven our practice. I also thought, you know, this is going beyond space and time. Buddhas and ancestors are here now with all of us. We just did our founders ceremony yesterday for Suzuki Roshi, Sojin Roshi.

[14:59]

And I'm not sure any of us actually knew, none of us actually knew Suzuki Roshi. But many, many of us knew Sojin Roshi. Did you? Ken has a new Suzuki Roshi. Is he still with you? No. And I think for many of us, Sojin is still very much with us. So you can invite all the Buddhist ancestors in to support you in your practice, to nourish and sustain you. And I think it's partly also I know that when I'm having a hard time in my practice, not much exists beyond my own little world of suffering or struggle or however it's showing up or mindlessness or thoughtlessness or just distraction. It gets small. But by bringing in the Buddhist ancestors, we open up a larger field from which to receive support and nourishment.

[16:11]

It's like staying in your house all day and it's kind of dark and stuffy and then you go outside and it's bright and there's fresh air and there's other possibilities. So it's a way to open our hearts and our minds by calling on the Buddhas and ancestors. Buddhas and ancestors Dogen goes on. Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we. We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. So we're no different from them, fundamentally.

[17:18]

All human beings, we've had the enormous good fortune to be in contact, deep contact, with the Buddha Dharma. We have teachers to be able to practice in community. This is a rare, rare gift. There's an old image that to meet the Buddha Dharma is as rare as a turtle that only comes up once every thousand years to the surface of the ocean and pokes its head through this little tiny ring that's floating somewhere on the ocean. And the chances of the turtle popping his head up once in a thousand years and getting his head up through that little ring, that's what your chances are of encountering the Buddha Dharma. So it's this precious opportunity in this very life to be able to practice.

[18:21]

So having encountered the Dharma, we have the capacity to practice, and we do practice, and we are practicing. That's no different from the Buddha's ancestors. We're all here together. I think it might be easier for me anyway. It says, you know, awaken in Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. I can conceive of that, but it's still a stretch some days to think, We are one Buddha and one ancestor, and we are no different. And yet, it is so. Because they extend to us freely and without limit, because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment.

[19:37]

All that they have done, all that Sojin Roshi and Suzuki Roshi have done in their practice, in their lives, to make it possible for us to practice. All the Buddhist ancestors have done this. For you, for me, for all of us, what a gift. Therefore, Godin says, therefore, the Chan master Lumya said, those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened. In this life save the body which is the fruit of many lives. So those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened. This references the Lotus Sutra when there was one prediction after another of who would be enlightened in the future. It started with Maha Kasyapa and just kept going.

[20:45]

one prediction after another. And it included not only monks, but lay people, and women, and children, and the naga princess, the princess of the nagas, the snakes, snake people. And so nobody's left out. Everybody will awaken. Stokhan says, before Buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we. Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old. So, Stokhan's really hammering down on this point. Same as we. That includes our doubt, our lack of faith, our difficulty, our struggles, resentments,

[21:50]

anger, jealousy, greed, all of it. All of it. It's all human stuff. We're all human. They have it. We have it. And it's possible to have a different relationship with it. So in the... Commentary to Case 3 of the Blue Cliff Record, Master Ma is Unwell, also called Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha. Commentary says, For 20 years I have struggled greatly. How many times have I gone down for you into the green dragon's cave? I cannot tell the depth of it. Clear-eyed monks do not make light of this suffering.

[22:53]

For 20 years I have struggled greatly. How many times have I gone down for you into the green dragon's cave? I cannot tell the depth of it. Clear-eyed monks do not make light of this suffering. So these struggles, one translation says bitter experiences. I've had bitter experiences for 20 years. This is talking about practice. You know, being willing to go down into the cave, the cave of our aching bodies, the cave of our aching hearts, the cave of our restless minds. Whatever it is that's arising this moment, it's what it's talking about. Going down there to the green dragon's cave.

[23:57]

And this for you, I'm not exactly sure who that's referring to, but my sense of it is for our teachers. the ancestors, for all beings, our own teacher, for our true self, for the sake of the true self that's wanting to shine out, wanting to be born, that drags us into sashimi. I have to do it. Before I ever started singing Sushi, I went on extended solo desert trips, and I had no idea what I was doing. Sorry.

[25:04]

Some sort of emergency alert. Tsunami? Yeah. This goes through people's, even if they've silenced their devices. Carry on, I know. I guess solo desert trips. I got back from the first one and it was really, it was so emotionally excruciating because I didn't know how to sit down. So I was just out there. alone and vastness and interesting stuff came up mostly below the surface but it was very agitated on the surface and it was hard about two weeks and I got back and the first thing I did was go back to REI and get a sleeping bag that went down to

[26:13]

five degrees because this was in January in the northern New Mexico, Arizona desert, and I was really freezing. And I was like, no, I have to go back. I'm just going to get a better sleeping bag this time. And I just kept going. And it was like, I just felt like I'm a dog eating bitter herbs. Just have to heal. Have to heal. Don't know how. Don't know what I'm doing. Can't say why I'm doing this. I will say that eventually I noticed that the more I practiced, the happier I got. So I just kept going. I wasn't being dragged anymore. It was something I was like, yeah, that. Yes, it involves some discomfort. I'm downed. Because now I know what's on the other side of that. I know what the possibility is. Yeah, that would be more accurate to say I know what the possibility is. Clear-eyed monks do not make light of this suffering.

[27:22]

Clear-eyed monks is referring to those who have awakened. It's like when you're in a good place, when you're all bright, don't make light of your own or anyone else's suffering. It's not, oh yeah, it's just pain. No. He can often be just, you know, sometimes just brought to our knees by whatever's arising. Don't make light of it. And don't make it heavy either. Just don't make anything of it. You know, the Buddha had back pain. He actually had back pain. And I don't think... He was like, oh, I'm enlightened, so I'm not in pain. But he had a different relationship with his pain. He was not trapped by his pain.

[28:27]

He was not reactive with his pain. I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes he was impatient with his pain and with others. But he had a base to return to. This is sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. Some days it's like this and some days it's like this. It changes. But we do our best not to leave any part of it out. Dogen goes on, quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions. as this practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. This practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha, and that is the practice of overcoming our karmic tendencies, of becoming free from our karmic habits, most fundamentally,

[29:37]

of grasping toward what we think will make us comfortable or safe and trying to get away from what feels uncomfortable. And there's nothing wrong with that. But when we're trapped in it, it can keep us in the small mind, small self. The Buddha said many times, clearly observe how states of mind and body arise, how they are sustained, and how they pass away. This is our practice, just to clearly observe this, just to stay present. They arise, they have some duration, and they pass away. And can we just stay clearly observing, just present with all of it, kind open heart and some spaciousness.

[30:43]

Confessing and repenting in this way, one never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors. By revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. So confessing and repenting, you know, all my ancient tangled karma, I now fully avow. So first and foremost, the request of practice is that we just avow to ourselves. We're just upright, present with what's actually arising. I'm not trying to manage it in some way, but just to meet it as well as we're able in the moment. And if we're not able to meet it fully in the moment, then just I acknowledge that I'm not able to fully meet this in the moment, just to be with whatever arises.

[32:08]

So I also want to say that going down into the cave does not mean taking up residence there, or maybe even having a cup of tea. It means that we turn toward what is. We don't go seek stuff out, but We're with what arises. When we're with what arises, it can feel like going down into a dark cave. But down in that cave, for just any moment, any present moment, there is the jewel, the pearl that the dragon is guarding. So we come back again and again. Touching and letting go. Touching and letting go. Moment by moment. And Doga ends with this.

[33:16]

This is the pure and simple color of true practice of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. This practice, zazen, shikantaza, is so pure and so simple, it can be really hard to have faith in it because it's hard to see. It can feel so clear, so transparent that we trip over it, we miss what's actually happening, what's actually arising, what this moment contains. what is arising in our experience on the breath, in the body, and whatever else is passing through. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith.

[34:30]

to bring the mind back again and again, the body back again and again, trusting, trusting that just this is it. I want to thank you all so much for your practice, for coming back, and for your tremendous effort. Because together we can do this. We are doing this. So we have time for just a couple questions. Yesterday we did a big ceremony honoring Suzuki Roshi.

[35:35]

So did his name throughout a number of times. If they were just people, just like us, why did we spend so much time and energy venerating them? Because it's going to be really weird if someone does that to me in the future. So... Oh, that warms my heart so much that you have the faith and confidence in yourself to be an ancestor. Truly, that people would, you know, that you would have disciples and students who would venerate you and be deeply grateful for your teaching. Thank you for your practice. Why do we venerate them? Because, oh God. because they change our lives, because they shine a light.

[36:39]

Somebody said yesterday, and I've heard so many of Suzuki Roshi's disciples say, what he's got, I want. And I've heard that many times about various people. Somebody, I forget it, anyway, one of Gary Roshi's students, she hadn't met him yet. She kind of wandered into the place where the zendo was, and she saw this person from the back arranging flowers. And in one gesture, she went, that's it. That's my teacher, I don't even know who that is. It turned out he was the teacher, but she had no idea. And it might happen that way, and it might not happen. It might take time. It wasn't immediate. for me, with Sojin, I'm congratulating. But he taught me to trust my practice and to trust myself.

[37:44]

That has transformed my life, and that's why we, I don't think it's, it's like, I think that's an innate human urge. You know, thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, people do much less for us than we thank them profusely. I don't think we can help it, really. And it's just sharing it. It's just sharing it around and celebrating together. Two things. First, just complete information. That was a National Weather Service morning. that there are powerful currents and big waves potentially going to reach the shore, so we are safe here, we are inland. No need to worry. And I just want to say, I love what you said about realizing that you knew, I can never pronounce it either, but Eh He Saos.

[38:50]

I've had that experience with many of them, the chance, including the Sandokai, which I didn't have a chant book last night and so much of it was just right there. And I find that a very wonderful thing when you realize that something has implanted itself, you didn't make the effort, you didn't try to memorize. I've tried to memorize things and then failed. But these chants, it's like they take resonance and you find out you know them. So I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you. I do want to put in a plug for memorization. And it can be just a short phrase or something that moves you because it can pop up at random moments when it's appropriate. Like song lyrics. How many of us have song lyrics pop up at, like, there's a moment and, you know, it's like... But this can also happen with teachings.

[39:53]

So, yeah, it's a wonderful practice and it can be very short. And that's the last one, yeah. Thank you so much for your talk. And we can keep this very short, and hopefully this is helpful, but what comes up for me with Dogen's vow of great faith. It's my understanding that other schools of Buddhism don't have this same understanding there's the idea that we're in the age of the Dharma decline where you can't really practice anymore or that ancestors and Buddhas are way beyond what we might be and I find it so powerful that Dogen tells us there's no difference and I trusted faith in it but

[40:59]

How do we know or can you say something about these other schools of Buddhism that have this different understanding? I can't say anything about their understanding because I haven't practiced in that school. Usually schools are a very integrated hall of teachings and practice. And some things come forward, you know, it's like a... I think of it as like a... a collage where everybody has the same basic pieces, but some are forward and some are background. So it's kind of moving around. So where does faith come in? Is it forward? Is it backward? Is it esoteric or exoteric? What comes to the fore and what comes back? But I do not know. I would say that, but my guess is that The separation comes from our own felt experience of separation, this very human experience that we are separate and alone from other people, from God or Buddha, whatever, you know, from the universe.

[42:16]

And the Zen school is based on there is no separation. This is delusion. to the extent that we believe it, you know, and we experience this, I mean, this is also the relative world, which we have to live in day to day. You know, I would not survive crossing Adeline, up at the corner of the street, if I just thought, we're all one. See, we're not coming far, we're all one. Yes, we're one, but, you know. So this is our survival stuff, but can we go through? going beyond that. So, yeah, I don't know. I think we can always bring in what inspires us, but I think people like Dogen teach what they know.

[43:22]

He's not reaching for anything else. You know, all of what he wrote was after he awakened. And you can feel that he's just tapping into that over and over again. You know, the tricks he's trying to turn with language to make a dualistic thing into something that expresses more. Well, thank you very much. I find it very inspiring. Thank you for your talk.

[43:49]

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