Can you hear me? Yeah. This morning, I'm going to present this koan from the Blue Cliff record, which is case number 28. The title of this varies according to who translates it, but here it's called, What the Holy Ones Have Not Preached. And there are a number of... There's no introduction to this koan, but I will give you an introduction. This case concerns Master Nansen and Master Hyakujo. Nansen was the teacher of, well he was the student of Baso and the teacher of Joshu.

[01:24]

So these are three very significant teachers in China in the Tang Dynasty in the ninth century. So as an introduction, I'm going to briefly refer to two other cases in the Mumon-Khan, Master Mumon's collection of cases. It's called Baso's This Very Mind is Buddha. So Dai Bai asked Baso, what is the Buddha? And Baso answered, this very mind is Buddha." So that was a very famous saying.

[02:26]

And then a monk asked Baso, what is Buddha? Baso answered, no mind, no Buddha. So these are contradictory statements of course. This was then contradictory statements, seemingly contradictory statements. So Nansen was enlightened by this statement from Baso. When Nansen asked Baso, Baso said, no mind, no Buddha, no things. And then he gave a great shout. He gathered up all of his energy and gave a great shout.

[03:34]

So the combination of the statement and the shout awakened Nansen. So this was, although this was Baso's statement, it also belonged to Nansen. So Nansen could use this without quoting someone else's words. Because he and Baso and Nansen became one at that point. And this was Baso's great gift to Nansen. The shant was like a catalyst that It was like the two sides of the question, actually. The question was, Nansen wanted something, an ice cream cone. And then Basso blew everything away.

[04:43]

But the statement is a correct statement, but it's a statement which expresses the second principle, and the shout expresses the first principle. The second principle is teaching, or literature, words that are what come down to us, the Dharma. Baso's shout was essence of mind that expressed without words the meaning. So earlier Baso had said, This very mind is the Buddha, and Dai Bai, who was a different teacher, a different monk at the time, reached an understanding.

[05:57]

But now Baso is denying his former words. Many elaborate explanations have been given to this problem. But to put it briefly, this very mind is the Buddha, is the thesis, and no mind, no Buddha, is the antithesis. so to speak. That's kind of what I said, but in a different way. So, he once said, to say this very mind is Buddha is to stop a baby from crying. Someone asked him, what do you mean by this very mind is Buddha? You keep saying that. He said, well, I say that in order to stop a child from crying, which means his monks, giving him something to hold on to. giving them a grasp, something to grasp, like a baby needs something, right? And you give them a rattle, or something they can put in their mouth to stop them from crying. And then a monk said, then what do you do when the baby stops crying?

[07:11]

He says, then you say, no mind, no Buddha, because then they can take it. And then what do you say when a person comes who has finished these two, who has gotten it? And then I would say to him, no things. There is no thing. Nothing. How about when a person comes who has finished all these? Then Damsen said, or Dukpa also said, I will make him understand the Great Way. So then, what is the great way? This very mind is the Buddha, and again, onto no mind, no Buddha.

[08:19]

And the second was also stopped by Baso. He sent a monk to ask Daibai. I remember Daibai asked this question. He sent a monk to ask Daibai. who had now retired to live the life of a hermit, he was on his mountain. What did you get under Baso? asked the messenger. Now what makes you live on this mountain? And Daibai answered, Baso said to me, this very mind is the Buddha, and that made me live a life of seclusion on this mountain. But lately, Baso's Buddhism is different. Different how? He says, now he says, no mind, no Buddha. That old dotard bewilders others. Let him say what he likes. I say nothing but this very mind is Buddha.

[09:21]

The monk returned and informed Baso of this. And Baso said, the plum is ripened. Dai bai means great plum. Like Vaika, his plum blossom. The plum is ripened. So, it's very interesting. Vaibhai doesn't buy no-mind, no-Buddha. He understands no-mind, no-Buddha as mindless Buddha. No mind, no Buddha doesn't negate mind is Buddha. These are two aspects of the same thing. Mind is Buddha. No mind, no Buddha, no things. And when we say mind, mind means essence of mind.

[10:26]

Not necessarily thinking mind, although thinking mind is included. The Zen school has always been known as the Buddha Mind School. And the sixth ancestor, Hui Nung, repeatedly says, don't stray from your essence of mind. That's his basic message. Don't stray from your essence of mind. So essence of mind is what Mind is Buddha. Mind is Buddha. Essence of mind is Buddha. And Buddha is essence of mind. But no mind, no Buddha, no things. This is emptiness of things. Buddha is empty. Mind is empty. Things are empty. But yet, there's Buddha, there's mind, and there's things. So here's our koan.

[11:39]

The main subject. Nansen came to see Hyakujo Neihan. We now know who Nansen is, maybe. And Hyakujo, of course, was another student of Baso, very famous for clarifying the Zen monastic code and having his own wonderful students. These are all famous and well-known, significant teachers. But Nansen was rather young at this time. So Nansen came to see Hyakujo Nehan. Now, Nehan was actually Hyakujo Ekai's disciple. So he wasn't the Hyakujo that we usually associate with, but his disciple, Yakujo Nehan Osho. Osho means priest. Yakujo said to Nansen, is there any Dharma that the holy ones have not preached to the people?

[12:54]

So like if we have all these sutras tons of sutras and commentaries and philosophy and so forth. Is that enough? Is there something that hasn't been said by somebody, taught by somebody? Nansen said, there is. And Yakujo said, Nansen said, it is not mine, it is not Buddha, it is not things. So Hyakujo said, you have just preached. And Nansen said, that's all I can say. And Hyakujo said, I am not a person of great wisdom.

[13:55]

How can I tell if there is preaching or not preaching? So, as I said, preaching is the second principle. So Yakujo is saying, this is something that is not preaching. And Yakujo says, well, you know, I'm not learned it enough or advanced enough to know whether it's preaching or not. And this is a very humble statement, which actually is a very mature statement. I don't know is the essence of mind. So Nansen said, well, I don't know either. So he's associating himself with the same level as Hyakujo. instead of taking a higher position of knowing something.

[14:59]

Yakujo's response brought Nansen down to the correct level. And then Yakujo says, then I have preached for you So, Shakyamuni Buddha is reported to have said, in my 40 years as a teacher, I haven't said a word of preaching. And then Sencho has a verse Patriarchs and Buddhas have not preached, yet monks run after preachers.

[16:04]

So, and clear mirror on the stand, sharply imaging, looking eastward, I'm sorry, looking southward to see the great bear in the sky. The shaft hangs down, of the constellation, where do you find it? Shaving your nostrils gives lust your mouth. So, as we know, not knowing is the highest. When Bodhidharma was asked by the Emperor, Who are you? He said, I don't know. Don't know. But Suzuki Roshi, I remember him saying, if you know who you are, you really don't know.

[17:17]

If you say, I know who I am, you really don't know. If you say, I don't know, then you have some way to know who you are. preachers, people are, you know, they go to this lecture and that lecture, this lecture, that teacher, this teacher, people running after knowledge. But it doesn't help. It helps very little. It's important. The second principle is really important. We should study the Dharma, study Buddhism, listen to lecture, Try to understand, but it's still only the second principle. First principle is dropping everything and just being one with essence of mind. This is why we sit in zazen today.

[18:20]

Just let go of everything and express essence of mind. I don't know. I'm not advanced enough really to be able to tell. I just sit on tip. And then something comes forth. Whenever we say, whenever we come across a problem that's really difficult, that is maybe like a crossroads or a contradiction, to just say, I don't know. When you say, I don't know, the mind is seeking stops, is dropped, and then something comes forth from our essence of mind. Some pure thought comes forth from our essence of mind, which is not tainted by seeking. So the clear mirror on the stand is like looking into your own mind.

[19:27]

And in Zazen, Zazen is like exposing the mirror mind because it's not seeking anything and it's not distorting what is seen or heard or felt but just directly perceives. So mirror means a true mirror reflects just what's there. And if we have mirror mind all the time, then it simply reflects just what's there, without the distortion of views and partiality. So in order to realize that mind is Buddha,

[20:35]

Buddha is mind. We have to drop Buddha is mind, mind is Buddha, in order for essence of mind and Buddha to actually materialize. In other words, don't get stuck in the second principle. We say also, when you have an enlightenment experience, just let it go. because that enlightenment experience will become the second principle. Enlightenment experience is like opening up the first principle, but if you hold on to it, it becomes the second principle. So you can only be just open without preserving anything. When we get something that we want, we want to preserve it. But we can't preserve it. We can only establish it moment by moment.

[21:38]

So there's no end to establishing ourself on the essence of mind by letting go. Letting the mind be free. And not knowing doesn't mean that we don't know. Not knowing means truly knowing. When Bodhidharma said to the emperor, I don't know, it also has the meaning of knowing those. So the clear mirror on the stand sharply imaging means letting go. It's very common for people to look in the wrong way, in the wrong direction. In other words, you want to go east, but you're going west.

[22:41]

We think west is east, and we think east is west. That's looking southward at the constellation. We think it's in the southern sky, but we're looking at the northern sky for what's in the southern sky. We're looking in the wrong direction. So looking in the wrong direction, depending on reasoning instead of intuition, you've just lost your way. So when we let go, we hang on to our reasoning, which is important. We should have reasoning. But when we depend too much on reasoning, we lose our intuition, or cloud over our intuition. This is why it's very hard to think our way out of things. When you get into a situation, we always try to think our way out of things. In politics, in religion, in all kinds of endeavors.

[23:49]

There are some endeavors, of course, where logic is very important. But when we depend on it too much, we lose our intuition. And to unveil or unfold our sense of self, we have to depend on intuition. That's why in Zen practice, what we develop is our intuition. In other words, our directly touching. And directly touching is stimulated by not knowing. because knowing and reason become a block. In case 34, Nansen said, reason is not the way. Nansen said, mind is not the Buddha, reason is not the way. This is just a variant of the other go-ons.

[24:53]

And Mumon commented, he says, Nansen, growing old, had no shame. Just opening his stinking mouth, he let slip the family secrets. Yet there are very few who are grateful for his kindness. And then Mumon's verse, he says, the sky clears and the sun shines bright. Total openness. The rain comes and the earth gets wet. So these are two sides of our life, right? The sun shining and the rain getting the earth wet. He opens his heart and expounds the whole secret. But I fear he is a little appreciated. So Suzuki Roshi also has a very nice lecture in Not Always So, where he says, find out for yourself.

[26:24]

No matter how much we talk about Zen or Buddhism or whatever, it's important that you find out for yourself. And when we depend too much on the word or even on your teacher, it can become a hindrance. So, you know, we have various problems in our lives. Our lives are we're always creating through our karma. But how do we resolve? Or how do we approach or understand these problems?

[27:28]

When we try to figure out too much, we've been too much on reasoning and logic. There are various kinds of logic. which contradict each other, but we have to realize that problems are what creates our life. So how do we approach problems and find the essence of, you know, a problem usually involves a positive and a negative. positive side and a negative side. So, how do we resolve the positive and the negative? How do we resolve the positive side and the negative side of every moment of our life? Where is that center?

[28:37]

Where do they come together as a resolution which doesn't necessarily mean a resolution that we like? but a resolution and reality. So, no mind, no Buddha. Mind is Buddha, no mind, no Buddha. This is a positive and negative Where do you find the center? How do you bring them together? How do you understand the oneness of that duality? That's our practice. And you can't resolve it. You can resolve it by thinking. You can. It's easy to explain. But how do you practice it? If you think about, mind is Buddha, no mind, no Buddha, no faith.

[30:12]

This is being resolved in Zazen. How do you express that when you get up to Krishna? Do you have a question? I have a question. I'm not quite sure how to... The essence of the mind is... like the Absolute One, right? And is there, you know, consciousness arises through contact, right?

[31:15]

So Essence of Life seems like it would come into contact with everything. And what does it give rise to in terms of consciousness? Well, essence of mind is also another word for, another term for buddha nature. Bodhichitta? Well, buddha nature. Bodhichitta is buddha mind. Yeah. Yeah, buddha consciousness. So buddha nature is, how is it distinguished from buddha mind? Buddha mind, Buddha consciousness, bodhicitta. Citta is consciousness, which is a generic term for mind. Right. So what's nature? What's nature?

[32:18]

Nature is not so much what's natural in our usual sense of thinking, but it's The essence of mind. That's nature. The very quintessence of mind. Big mind. Which we can't express it. We can't explain it. That's why there's a point where here you are on dry land and then there's this. You come to the edge and then that's where you start letting go. There's no place to go. The only way to go anywhere is to just let go.

[33:22]

So this is the land of knowing, the land of knowledge. This is the land of being off the edge. And it's unknowing. Not knowing. Intuition? Yes. Having taught school, I felt that my students often were very intuitive. Yes. And they don't desire that. I don't think any of them desire that. So what is it, do you think, that allows children to be so intuitive and yet they grow out of it, isn't it? Well yes, that's exactly right. We're born with intuitions because we're directly touching, right? The baby only knows through directly touching without going through the process of thinking. That's what intuition means.

[34:27]

It means directly touching without going through the process of thinking as an intermediary. directly knowing. That's intuition. So children are born with that, of course, because it's our nature. But as we keep learning how to operate in the world through reasoning and so forth, our intuition easily gets covered over because we're not depending on it. We want something dependable. So we teach all of our children how to do certain things in order to get along in society. And a lot of that just gets dumbed down. We get dumbed down because we depend on knowledge. And we feel that the more we know, the more secure we are.

[35:32]

And in some ways that's true. But in some ways, it just gets us more and more into trouble. So, it's a combination of intuition and reason, actually. Because intuition is the generator, or the genius. Genius is intuition. And then we check it out through reason. So reason is important, but intuition is the genie, and reason is the bottle. I think that's a good description. And then I left the genie out of the bottle. So we unlearn, actually,

[36:37]

We learn, and then actually when we get older, we realize we're trapped in the bottle. And then we start to practice. So practice is for adults. So I'm taking all those heroes I've taught and just leaving them. I agree. No, they need to learn that. So we need to go through this process. We're born with, you know, out of the bottle and then we encapsulate ourselves in the bottle and then we find a way to get out of the bottle with the magic words or rubbing it or something. But that's the process. It's the natural process. And so, you know, we're born childish and then we go through the process and we become childlike. Childlike meaning that you have this freedom, this innocent freedom that's not constricted by the bottle.

[37:54]

Freedom means letting the genie out of the bottle. I've been here for 500 Years, you know. And I give you any wish. Don't put me back in the bottle. Yes. Practicing with this mind is good. It's hard to fathom. It's easy when you feel relaxed and good, but if you were in a very unpleasant state of mind. It's very difficult for me to... If I say I couldn't try it, I always get caught because actually I'm doing it to try to get rid of that state of mind. That's right. Can you help?

[38:58]

Just set up an opposition. Set up what? Opposition. A position. An A position. I want to get rid of it. So you set up an opposition. That sort of works this very well. So then, don't set up an opposition, right? You know those little Chinese finger things? Yeah. You know, you put it in a little basket. It looks like a cooking roll. Then you put your fingers in, and when you try to get them out, you can't get it. The more you try to get them out, the more you get trapped. My reason is getting that. Is there some magic word at all? Yes, it's called... In that very moment, help me to not... Help me with practicing this very mind as Buddha?

[40:02]

It's called relax. My example, a new example, of when I was fishing off the end of the forge at Richardson Bay, and my cat was in back of me, and I had the bait on the hook, but it was kind of behind me. And when I looked around, the line, I told you this story before, The fishing line was coming out of the cat's mouth. And I couldn't, you know, this is beyond thinking. What do I do? No thinking. I put my hands on the cat. And the cat... This was my message to the cat. Stay still. And I took the line and I just took it out of his mouth.

[41:09]

And if I'd struggled with the cat, the cat would have gone berserk or whatever. I don't know. But it would not have been that easy. The way to extricate it is to just let go. We compound our difficulties by hanging on, by grabbing them. or letting them grab us, however you want to say it. The point of practice is to continuously let go. Not just when you have a problem, but all the time. Just continuously letting go, so that you're always standing there with nothing. and then you take this on, and you take that on, but you just kind of letting things pass through.

[42:21]

And you have terrible, you know, emotions and feelings and so forth, but you also just let them pass through. But we really hang on to them because we want to solve them. We want to solve these problems. But lots of problems just get solved by letting them come and go. We engage with our problems, but without being attached to our problems. And then, we can say, well, I won't do this again, which causes that, which causes that, and which causes that. So we get stuck, you know. This is not a formula. It's just an attitude. You know, we also get stuck. Even though I keep doing, I do that, I still get stuck. But it's not the same. So, you know, how do you always maintain an open attitude?

[43:31]

Or an attitude of openness? Even if you have your own problems, you're still open to other people's problems. And your problem isn't any more important than someone else's problem. So you're always able to take on people's problems and deal, you know, and then, yeah, I have my problem too. But it's not any more important than anything else. So Jim, just briefly, I think that also what you're saying is just don't do anything. Because if we have some feeling, if I'm upset about something, then we want to do something. And to just don't do anything. Because just don't do anything. Yeah. Don't do something, just sit there. Russ?

[44:33]

How is your being stuck different? He said just a second ago. Oh, it's not different being stuck than just being stuck. But when I get stuck, I usually just sit still. In other words, if I say I don't know how to get unstuck, then something will come up. There's always a, you know, the request for how is to let go and let the request come up and let some response come up from the question of how instead of trying to figure something out. And then that something comes up and then you move in that direction.

[45:36]

That's the way I usually do. If I give a talk, it's not like I know something. I just let something come up. And, oh, I get it. I get it. Sometimes I'm just thinking about it that way. One thing leads to another and then pretty soon knowing appears. But it doesn't mean that I know anything. So why do we study? Why do we study? Study focuses our mind. Study is really important because it focuses our mind on the Dharma. It's not just remembering.

[46:37]

It's like investigating. If you just read novels, it won't lead you to the Dharma. It won't help you with the Dharma. I mean, if you're totally embedded in the Dharma, then you can read novels. It's okay. And they can help you. But if you only read novels, it's not pointing in the direction of Dharma. When you study Dharma, It focuses your mind and keeps you on the path. But that doesn't mean that the study is the thing itself. Although, when you're totally immersed in study, the one with study then is the first principle. It can be the first principle. So both second principle and first principle are important. They complement each other. So I always encourage people to study, but if you depend too much on study, then you're unbalanced.

[47:37]

So the balance of study and the first principle and the second principle, how do I apply this, or not apply it, but how do I let this come forth in my life? You're doing it anyway. You study a lot. I mean, even though you don't think so, you have a very studious mind, curious mind. When I answer somebody's question, I don't have anything at all in my mind. When I do shosan, I don't have anything at all in my mind. The person sits there, says something, and then I respond.

[48:42]

If I have something in my mind, I just tangle myself up.

[48:47]

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