I love to face the truth without a doubt against the truth. Good evening. Good evening. So today, tonight, we're going to look at Well, I think we need to look at, finish up the fourth section, and then do the fifth section.

[01:01]

And the fourth section is where Shariputra says that all dharmas are marked with or by emptiness. In other words, their true mark is emptiness. And we talked about that. And they are not born, appear or disappear. But you can also say, are not born or die. And are not tainted nor pure. Do not increase nor decrease. There's a, you know, in Buddhism, one of the main principles of Buddhism is that fundamentally there is no such thing as birth and death. But we perceive the arising and falling of the integration and disintegration of things as birth and death.

[02:13]

So in it, we, I think we talked about that, didn't we? But, you know, we can talk about it some more. I talked about, yeah, I did, yeah. And then, are not tainted nor pure. Tainted and pure are a duality. And the Heart Sutra is talking from the point of view of Buddha. Our usual way of perceiving things is from the point of view of myself and my perceptions and my imputations. Imputation is a term that's used. I think I talked about that last time too. Let me, we give something a meaning. We impute a meaning to something.

[03:18]

And we assign names. And then we believe in the names. So we, through our mind, our mind creates our world through imputing, naming and imputing. So the baby comes into the world and it's not imputing a world. It's simply being taken care of and so forth. But as the baby grows up and the senses, the sense doors, through the sense doors perceives phenomena and begins to create a world. And it imputes various qualities to this world. So it's interesting, you know, we think that we see things as they are,

[04:21]

but actually we see things as we're conditioned to see them. For instance, you may have read about this man who was blind, I think from a very early age, either an early enough age that he hadn't imputed reality through sight, or he was born blind, but then his eyes were opened. But the way he saw things was not the way we see things. He didn't understand three-dimensionality. And what appears to us as a subject and object made very little sense to him. And he had to learn how to observe and how to make sense of what the eye is imputing, is receiving.

[05:25]

And I'm sure that he really did do that successfully, as we would approve of it. So all of our sense mechanisms are conditioned, are thinking and are perceiving in various ways, and we create a world out of that. People living in skyscrapers in New York don't have necessarily the same reality as the pygmy in the forest, because the conditions are different, the environment is different, the way of life is different, and we have different values and so forth. But we can learn to adapt, and people do.

[06:32]

So, we have this idea about purity and impurity. There's a duality. If we look at fruit and vegetables as an example, when we have a nice ripe fruit, a pear or a peach, we really value this wonderful thing, and it's like a pure nectar. But as it gets older, it starts to become a little too sweet, a little rotten, and then pretty soon it smells bad, and we don't like it, and it stinks.

[07:42]

So it's not pure, no longer pure. But actually, in every stage, there's purity and impurity. The garbage is wonderfully valuable as pure energy, just like the peach is a wonderful example of pure energy. Purity, from Buddha's point of view, means non-duality. You can't say that something is totally pure or totally impure. From one point of view, it's pure. From another point of view, it's impure. To a garbage, to our nostrils, to our sensibility, is impurity. But to a worm, it's pure nectar.

[08:50]

So, from the point of view of Buddha, which means from the point of view of non-duality, there's really no such thing as strictly pure or strictly impure. In other words, the purity or impurity of things has no inherent basis. It's only through comparative values and causes and conditions, and taking a certain standpoint, that we can say something is pure or impure. So it's simply from our point of view that something is pure or impure. And at the same time, there's purity and impurity. We definitely don't want to eat garbage. We do not want to do that. But the monk is supposed to eat whatever is given in the bowl.

[10:08]

The monk holds out the bowl. People put something in there to eat, so they have to eat it. I remember one time, Suzuki Roshi... We were having a banquet of some kind at Zen Center, and Suzuki Roshi and Kata Geri Roshi were there. And there was some kind of azuki beans, a Japanese dish. And I don't particularly like azuki beans. I like beans, but I don't particularly like azuki beans. They're kind of small and red. And I said to... Suzuki Roshi and Kata Geri were sitting next to each other. And I said, I really don't like eating azuki beans. And Suzuki Roshi said, Kata Geri Roshi will eat them. And he put them over in front of Kata Geri. And Kata Geri Roshi ate them. And I thought, that's very interesting. There's something about that whole thing that was loaded with all kinds of implications.

[11:18]

Maybe I tried Kata Geri Roshi and never liked it. Maybe I tried Kata Geri Roshi and never liked it. Do you think you didn't? No. Maybe you were a pawn for his teaching or something. Maybe Suzuki Roshi didn't use it. It could be. It could be. So, in emptiness, given emptiness, we say in emptiness, but actually given emptiness, this is how we understand purity and impurity, given emptiness. So, then, do not increase or decrease. Increase and decrease are comparative values.

[12:36]

We say a mouse is small and an elephant is big. But an elephant is only big because we think an elephant is big. If we were a dinosaur, a huge dinosaur, we'd think that an elephant was small. Or if we were an ant, we'd think a mouse was big. So, everything has its own value. I think I talked about this not too long ago, virtue and value. In the realm of value, the realm of value is the realm of comparison, big and small, increase and decrease. But in the realm of virtue, everything is just what it is. So, no increase and no decrease is talking about the virtue of something's existence,

[13:51]

rather than the value of something's existence. And when we think about it, something cannot increase or decrease because a thing is just what it is. And we perceive increase and we perceive decrease, but this is simply just each step of an increase and each step of a decrease has its own virtue. And it's not comparable to anything else. So, basically, the underlying meaning here is that there is no self in things.

[15:06]

What we think of as our self is an imputed self, a self that we've given some value to. And all of our judgments are based usually on values, comparative values, on worth. Worth in connection with comparative values. When we think about, say, race or various colors of human beings, we tend to think about these factors in comparative values. This is the way the world thinks in comparative values.

[16:11]

I just read this little article in the paper that in India, the doctors were striking because the untouchable class, the government wanted the doctors to pay more attention to the untouchable class in India, and the doctors were striking. This is comparative values. Instead of going by virtue, they were going by value, comparative value, without paying attention to the virtue of each person, which is their inherent worth, not their comparative worth. So, it's very hard to free ourselves from the way we think, the way we evaluate things,

[17:21]

the way we evaluate things, the way we evaluate our lives and the things around us, and how we act out of that evaluation, which is in some way necessary, but we're forced into doing that because that's culture. All cultures are like that. But as a Buddhist, we should see the intrinsic value, the virtue, and this is the meaning of wisdom or prajna. Suzuki Roshi, my teacher, always addressed everyone as Buddha nature. He always addressed everyone as everyone's virtue rather than value,

[18:23]

and everyone felt acknowledged. There are a lot of Japanese teachers who address their students in terms of value rather than virtue, and so the students are put off. I've seen that happen from people who come here, and a lot of the teachers say, what is it that Suzuki Roshi had that made him such a popular teacher when so many other Japanese teachers haven't been able to do that? Well, because he addressed everyone as Buddha nature rather than as just ordinary beings.

[19:27]

Half Buddha and half ordinary. Subject and object are one. So, then the sutra goes into saying that the famous knows. Therefore, in emptiness, no form, no feelings, no perceptions, no formation, and so forth. At first it talks about the skandhas, no form, skandha, no feelings, skandha, no perceptions, skandha, no impulses, no mental formation, skandha, and no consciousness, skandha. This no has this negative feeling,

[20:30]

but this no, I like to think of the heart sutra as the sutra of Mu. Does the dog have Buddha nature? Mu. Of course, Suzuki said Wu, but Japanese, Mu. Wu. Mu. Of course, Mu means no. Does the dog have Buddha nature? Mu. This koan is not about a dog, even though a dog is mentioned. It's about non-duality, understanding non-duality, which is not easy to understand. So, Mu is not explaining non-duality,

[21:36]

it's expressing non-duality, because all words are dualistic, and all dualistic words are discriminatory. Whenever we talk, we're discriminating. In other words, we're compartmentalizing, we're cutting something in two. So, you know, Kadagirido used to say, just sit down and keep your mouth shut. That's non-discriminating. As soon as we start to talk, it's discriminating. So, the koans are using discriminating language in a non-discriminating way. That's why they're so mind-boggling. No means also yes.

[22:39]

In non-discrimination, no includes yes, and yes includes no. We say no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind, and so forth. When Tozan, Master Tozan was a little boy, he said to his priest, he said, the Heart Sutra says no eyes, no ears, no nose, but I have an eye, I have an ear, I have a nose. Why does it say no eyes, no ears, no nose? And his teacher said, you should go find a Zen master, because I can't tell you about this. So, Koan Mu is a basic koan about non-discrimination. When you pass Mu,

[23:45]

you express somehow your understanding of non-discriminating mind. So, yes and no are opposites, but that's a comparative value. But the virtue of no includes yes. The essence of no includes yes. One time a monk asked Joshu, does the dog have a Buddha nature? He said, of course. It doesn't matter what he says. You can say it either way. This is where subject and object

[24:49]

are no longer separate. So, yes? When we were talking about well, I had this experience this afternoon I was walking down Shatty Avenue and there was this kind of crazy street person in the middle of the sidewalk kind of swearing and trying to put a sweater on. And I was like, literally. And it's like, I walked past her and I noticed how I wanted to avoid her and just pay attention to other people. Then I realized I was going in the wrong direction on the street looking for some store. So, I turned back and there she was again. And I said, well, don't discriminate. Just look who all is judging. And just, you know, walk past her.

[25:51]

Not saying that she's bad and other people are good. And it felt like it was just much easier to walk down the sidewalk just dropping that. Yes. Well, yes. That happens all the time. Just dropping your discriminating mind and doing something. That opening yourself up. And this is what, you know, Abbot Oborah talks about in the Heart Sutra. He says, this is the power of Kanaan, the power of Avalokiteśvara, is to be able to have these feelings come up, have this aversion come up, or have this attachment come up, and at the same time to realize what that is and let go of it and move into a different space,

[26:52]

given all the feelings that you have, the negative feelings, the positive feelings. Very interesting. Being able to actually move into a situation with aversion and not let the aversion take you over and find the freedom within that movement to be able to face whatever is present. And there are examples of that. There's a Japanese monk, can't remember his name, can't remember his name,

[27:56]

but he was, he left all of his disciples because he felt that he was just wandering and doing his own, what he had to do, which was take care of anybody who had any problem, any physical problem or any kind of problem and just deal with that, whatever he ran into. And this one disciple kept following him and he said, I'm tired. Leave me alone. But the guy was following him anyway and they came upon this beggar who was almost dying, almost dead, and he was vomiting. The monk, I'm trying to remember exactly what he did,

[28:58]

but this guy said, oh that's so ugly, so awful. And the priest scooped it up and ate it. You still want to follow me? True story. So if we look at no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, in another way, you can see that where does the eye begin and end? The eye is dependent on the face. The face is dependent on the rest of, all the parts are dependent on each other. There's no part that's independent. So you have to remember, in emptiness,

[29:59]

given emptiness, there is no eye, no ears, no nose, no tongue, because everything is emptiness. Everything is interdependent. Nothing has its own, no eye, no ear, no nose, has its own inherent existence. And then it goes to no realm of eyes and to no realm of mind consciousness. But before we get to there, this is about the 18 elements. There's six subjective, six objective, and six consciousnesses. The six subjective are the eye, the ear, the nose, tongue, and the touch, and

[31:00]

the six senses, including the mind sense. And then those are the six organs of perception. But the organs of perception are only organs of perception when they're seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching, and so forth. Otherwise, they are not. But, so, in order for them to be, there has to be objects. So, the objects of the six senses. But then, still, that's not enough. In order for the objects and the organs to have any validity, there has to be consciousness. So it takes all three. So if we see something, the eye sees the page,

[32:00]

and consciousness cognizes it. If there's no eye and no page, there's no consciousness. Consciousness arises with the other two. And if there's no consciousness, the other two. So all three are necessary. If any one or two are missing, it doesn't work. The dependent, the eye is dependent on what is seen and consciousness. So everything is the same way. So, when we say, no eye, no ears, no nose, independently, they don't exist. They only exist dependently when they're working in conjunction with insight outside and consciousness. So there is a nose, there are eyes, and so forth.

[33:01]

But there are eyes that are not eyes, independently. It's very easy to understand. Ross? When I raised my hand, you were just finishing up that story about the... Yeah. When you told the story of the Tengu Hiroshi and Suzuki Hiroshi and you, I couldn't help but think there was something there for us to learn from. Yeah. You shared it, you alluded to it in a subtle way. And then, a few minutes later, you shared the story about the priest and the Bahamut and all that. I'm wondering if you could put the two stories together for us as a teaching for how to deal with situations as they arise. Well, I think it has to do with several things that arise for me. One is doing something

[34:08]

that is not what you want to do, but having to do it. Accepting the fact that you have to do something even though it's not your idea. It's not what you want. Which I think is a big teaching. I think also part of it is the relationship of the teacher and the student in the case of Katagiri and Shizuki Roshi in trusting someone and so the teacher,

[35:23]

I mean the student trusting the teacher enough so that they can do something like that. Because the teacher is not making them do that all the time. But it's like a certain kind of level I think of relationship and hierarchy. There was a hierarchy involved in it which is somewhat extreme but that kind of situation it's like

[36:26]

my teacher asked me to do something and I'll do it. Okay, I don't like it. It's not what I want to do. I don't like it but I'll do it. So we can think of it in various ways. It brings up all kinds of stuff for us to deal with but I think that it had to do with that. Well, I mean it's like who would want to do that? That's pretty extreme. At least the beans were really good. You know, they were edible. No.

[37:34]

Not an easy thing to do. It's you know, the whole I think we think that we may think that we have compassion and non-discriminating mind but for this guy he didn't expect his students to have that. He was doing this for himself. He was this was his practice. He wasn't expecting his students to do that. So he didn't want his students to follow him. He just left them all. You can do all these things that you do but I have to do this. Boy, it's smart to make sense of these

[38:45]

because we can back-translate any meaning we want from these stories. Yes, that's right. Probably he didn't want students but who knows? And you know in the case of Suzuki and Tanabiroshi Tanabiroshi was not Suzuki's student. He was and he wasn't but there was a hierarchical relationship. Right. On the other hand probably Suzuki and Tanabiroshi knew Tanabiroshi wasn't like Suzuki's. They're very hasty and unique. So there was a teaching for you but we don't know whether there was any teaching for Tanabiroshi. But we're here in this room telling these stories twenty or thirty or more years later so what's relevant is what does it mean for us. We can't figure out what it means here. He did it for me. He didn't do it for Kanagiri.

[39:46]

He did it for... He did it as a lesson for you. He did it as a lesson for me. And I think partly it was like eat what's on your plate. You know? It's just what's on your plate and you don't like it and you don't want to eat it. Well, okay, he'll eat it. It makes me... When we were in Japan for the training a year and a half ago you know, we were fed all these things and one time we were fed these you know what's the mountain yams? Mountain yams Tori knows what it is that's kind of gelatinous Oh, you mean Natto? No, not natto. It's yams. Oh yeah, the yams. You put on top and they look really good and when you did it when you ate it you couldn't eat it. You know? Your mouth would get stuck on it. And, you know but it was our job we ate it all. Yes. Except for one person who didn't and his noodles came in

[40:49]

and completely complete alarm and consternation because you know because he didn't finish what was in front of him. Yeah. Whether he liked it or not. They have a different kind of training. Okay. Mary? What's interesting about this story is how side by side of Suzuki Roshi and the way he taught he would put that story side by side of his telling the story of how his teacher taught him when he was a student and how his teacher made him as a boy eat the food that they tried to hide over and over again and he would the teacher would find it and resurrect it from the garbage and feed it to the boys and they'd go again until they'd find it. Right.

[41:51]

And there was a kind of seriousness in that in that and I don't the way he tells it doesn't exactly reveal a strictness or unkindness but there's a healing almost of that and there's a kindness in the story Yes. It doesn't do to you what was left of it. This brings up the whole question of kindness. You know, what is kindness? You know? And what is compassion? And sometimes kindness and compassion look like something else. At the Heiji there was this Ino the director the monk the teacher of the monks and he was really fierce and everybody disliked him a lot because he was so mean you know and always pushing him

[42:54]

you know and when he died everybody fell into tears you know they all it was like they all were crying because there's something about that there's you know as much as as much as they didn't like what was going on in the end it was they really appreciated it and difficulty creates bonding as well as easy easily easy relationships and has meaning deep meaning Anyway I think I'm getting off of our subject but maybe not We'll stand up for a minute So in Tiger's Cave

[43:56]

which is our text I haven't talked about it from it yet he talks about living in emptiness what does actually living in emptiness mean the experience of emptiness so he says when the opposition of subject and object disappears that is the condition of real emptiness they have become one hitherto at each step in life a great imprint was left behind while there are hear and heard at every sound arises the three passions of greed anger and folly the translator used folly instead of delusion while there are

[44:58]

seer and seen our mind sets them in opposition and the different passions arise so in other words subject and object have to do with what is seen and cognized seeing and cognizing is subjective and what is seen is the object so we think of the object as an object over and against a subject which is myself but we have to remember that the object what we call the object is only an object dependent on our seeing it or our feeling it or our sensing it or being in contact with it so all three are really one thing

[45:59]

with three parts so when I see when consciousness sees through the eye the organ this object called the paper we think of it as three things but actually it's one thing because in the absence of a self there's only consciousness the organ and the seeing which is one piece because seeing and consciousness don't arise without something that we call the paper so in the absence of a of a real self all of the elements

[47:01]

together are creating this event so paper organ and consciousness without a self are one thing it's all subjective so we say mind everything is simply mind so what I'm looking at when I look at the paper is myself it's myself reading myself and experiencing myself as paper as reading as little black dots which we call words which are words which are not words

[48:01]

it's really interesting but the mind creates words out of saying little black dots on a what we call a page but there's really no self involved in it so everything is subjective even though we can see the objectivity of a page it's both objective and subjective so he says while there are hear and heard at every sound arise the three passions of greed, anger and folly in other words something arises when we hear something or see something which is emotional and mental and it can be we make a picture in our mind and we separate all the elements

[49:01]

because of the picture in our mind while there are seer and seen our mind sets them in opposition and the different passions arise while the two confront each other while they have not become completely one we are always leaving at each step a track which is the root of evil but for one who has actually realized emptiness both seer and seen hearer and heard disappear and that person can walk life without treading without his tread or her tread leaving any trace to leave no trace is emptiness so often is mentioned this nothing, nothing and we have to understand what it really means to laugh without leaving behind any trace of the laughter to weep

[50:04]

without leaving any trace of the tears to rejoice without anything of that rejoicing remaining behind this is the state of lightness and to be able to live in it is the life of emptiness this life with nothing as a heart he talks about nothing at the heart as very fundamental nothing at the heart means no self in other words there's no wanting in it there's no gaining in it you know when we when something is humorous we should put all our energy into laughing when something is when we're sad we should put all our energy into being sad when life is painful we should totally feel the painfulness

[51:04]

but then let it go this is called leaving no trace yes, everything comes up for us we have we have clinging we have anger we have all kinds of emotions and feelings and thoughts when they arise we let them we are totally into them but then we don't cling to them it's like a little a kid you know when you laugh ha ha ha and the next minute they're crying and then the next minute they're laughing or running around but they're not hanging on to anything there's no clinging to feelings and emotions so yes, everything comes up and everything is experienced totally you know

[52:06]

Suzuki Roshi says whatever experience you have you should totally burn yourself up totally let it be in total flame so there's no smoke no you know like a kerosene lamp you don't if you turn it too high it starts to smoke and get black so in total combustion and then poof it's over but we leave things we leave our feelings smoking and smoldering and and hang and we chew on the bone and just keep it going for you know and worry it and so forth and so we're caught by our feelings and emotions and so there's no lightness there's no emptiness there's no we're simply caught by our state of mind this is what he's talking about

[53:07]

to not be caught by our state of mind so that we can free ourselves on each moment we totally enter and take responsibility for our feelings but at the same time we don't carry anything around with us so you can go to sleep at night without worrying about things Michael? right no thank you next topic yeah what's next? [...] that's right so he said

[54:08]

to laugh without leaving behind any trace of the laughter to weep without leaving any trace of the tears to rejoice without anything that rejoicing remaining behind so no attachment to the feelings but allowing the feelings to come up totally experiencing them and doing what's necessary to be done so so this is emptiness this is the life of emptiness with nothing at its heart then not one of the five skanda aggregates leaves any trace their forms are all the forms of emptiness in emptiness there is neither form nor any of the others though speaking and doing no trace remains of speech and action the other four are mental functions and of these mental functions also no trace is left so the text continues no eye ear nose

[55:08]

tongue body nor mind no form sound smell taste touch the technical meaning of the word root is life-bearing it in it I'm sorry in us is the sixfold subject and therefrom arise the thoughts of right and wrong and good and bad and so on vis-a-vis the six roots are the six fields the six roots are subjectivity and the six fields

[56:08]

are the objectivity it is when there is a mingling a confusion between them that the delusive ideas and wrong thoughts arise this mingling and mutual confusion are called the twelve entrances supposing I have only just heard of this teaching before that I was one who did not realize my delusive thoughts to be what they are I was confounding subject and object and so delusive ideas and wrong thoughts were appearing with the clinging attachment to self the delusive ideas were arising through this confusion and they were painting a world of right and wrong and good and bad in which I was living in delusion Zen master Dogen speaks of it days and months for a hundred years I was enjoying only meanness of sound and form the hundred years is the wrong life up to the present sound and form here typify the whole

[57:09]

six of the regions until now I was living just drawn by sound as I heard it by form as I saw it a long life indeed pulled willy nilly along as the impulses came if the sound was unpleasant I was angry if pleasant I was delighted so I have been living just as the poles came in confusion of subject and object a hundred years of days and months I have been enjoying only meanness of sound and form yet in this state if I perform even one day of spiritual practice if I realize the character of these illusions and continue to meditate on it then though still pulled along at each step I can experience the world of emptiness and find the world of liberation of Kanan Bodhisattva and know the feeling of holding nothing in the heart how is it to be done it is by the power of spiritual discipline and the discipline of Zazen go sit more Zazen

[58:10]

what is this anger which arises what is this complaining what is this greed in this way we directly confront the wrong thoughts and ideas which arise day and night if on them we perform our spiritual discipline we become able to have a little taste of the world of emptiness emptiness is not to be a concept in our heads a sort of content contentless void it is something to be realized an actual experience to have nothing at the bottom of the heart is to experience emptiness then we see but it leaves no trace hear and it leaves no trace from the confusion of sixfold subject and object we have been pulled along but now our steps have no track and we know the experience of being light nothingness means lightness in this sense the joy of leaving no track behind and he gives

[59:13]

an interesting example he says when I first came to my precept my present temple I found I was getting a bad reputation as uncivil and unsociable I tried to think of what it might be but I could not see that I was uncivil I took a lot of trouble over being civil if an old lady came with a radish to offer to the temple I used to say it really is an extraordinarily good of you to have brought such a fine radish and please accept my gratitude and may I inquire after your health and that of your family and yet the reputation remained how awkward he is to get along with I used to say not civil at all I gradually began to understand it is quite inappropriate to say to an old woman with a cloth around her head may I inquire after your health that's interesting people come in to my office all the time the first thing they say is how are you?

[60:14]

why do you ask? and when I was saying it is extraordinarily good of you to have brought such a fine radish I had something in the back of my mind something in the back of my mind I was trying trying too hard to do something well I changed and when I met an old lady on the way I didn't say madam may I inquire whether you are bound but instead hi ma'am where are you going to? okay? you okay? and gradually things changed and I had a good reputation for being very civil one may repeat elegant phrases a thousand times but if there is something in the back of the mind there is the opposition of hearer and the one who is heard if there is nothing in the heart and complete unity then the simplest phrase doesn't have any opposition in it there is just one

[61:16]

and words where there is neither hearer nor heard are the world of emptiness so neither hearer nor heard means there's only what's going on there's not some hidden thing or some desire in it or some something that you want or something that is simply connected simply being one with that's why in monastic practice we don't talk a lot but when you pass when you pass someone you bow to each other and the bowing to each other is actually if you do it without anything in the bottom of the heart it's connection it's like subject and object disappear and there's simply oneness of acting together and it's like dancing also you know when when people are in ballet

[62:18]

or dancing or whatever there's just this movement together which and there's nothing extra it's just simple that's why we like that so much it's just nothing extra it's just one one action with these various parts and music is the same way that's why we like music one of the reasons why we like music because it always has a good outcome laughter subject and object don't apply so the patriarch Dogen quotes a poem by his own teacher Ru Jin which we know which he estimates as unique

[63:18]

in spiritual illumination the whole body like a mouth hanging in emptiness not asking whether the breeze be from north or south east or west for all alike declaring the prajna wisdom ding dong ding dong ding dong he saw a little bell hanging in a mountain temple hanging in the emptiness hanging in emptiness means not to set oneself in some permanent position whatever comes along he eats like the beans laughter no matter what direction he's always but he's always singing prajnaparamita we often use the phrase to settle down people say your reverence and one settles down in your reverence laughter and then replies when they ask him something as a prime minister

[64:18]

he first settles himself as prime minister but with the buddhist sermons the whole body is a mouth namely it is a unity and so he speaks he has no fixed form whereas with me if I'm going along the road and someone asks your reverence may I inquire where you are going I say why I am going to such and such a meeting I have been addressed as your reverence and my answer is extremely polite but suppose someone shouts unexpectedly hey Baldy where are you going laughter then what I do not find a reply if my head is shaved it's for your sake laughter he's very good what is this Baldy to a reverence I am stuck in your reverence and cannot make a real reply so good example is himself I remember one time I had shaved my head and

[65:19]

we were on Dwight Way and I went into a liquor store to get something I don't remember what it was and there was some little kids there and you know when you shave your head there's oil on your head at least my head you know I've got oily skin the oil on my head is really shiny makes my hair shiny and and the kid said hey mister you want to shine laughter oh that's an interesting thing to say what is this what is this mister laughter so when the whole body becomes a mouth so to speak no I'm sorry when the whole body becomes a mouth to speak negatively emptiness and to speak affirmatively unity without being fixed to anything then if a word comes it is the form of the holy Buddha the Buddha is one

[66:19]

who puts himself in the condition of tathagata thus gone he never boasts of himself as tathagata the Buddha forgets Buddhahood and acts for the release of all beings he who settles himself in Buddhahood is no Buddha Buddha forgets Buddhahood and then teaches not asking whether the breeze comes from north or south east or west it's all the same he never goes against it and so he can speak when a beggar comes he can speak to the beggar when a noble comes he can speak to the noble however high an elder may come he enters the feeling of an elder and speaks to him he will never be reluctant and they are all absolute sameness whoever they are it's the same there is not the slightest bias no reluctance for the welfare of all he speaks of the wisdom of ultimate emptiness the wisdom of holding nothing in the heart so treat everybody the same you cannot discriminate

[67:23]

between people but some people are more difficult than others but that's simply a comparative value even though some people are more difficult than others everyone has their virtue so we have to relate to everyone according to their virtue and this is when you are arguing with somebody or when you are angry with somebody or when you are at odds with somebody or when you are upsetting everything according to our point of view you cannot abandon you still have

[68:23]

to recognize the virtue of that person which is called compassion actually so so that you don't really abandon anyone but that's that's how we practice our bodhisattva spirit even though you're really at odds you can't abandon that person so you appreciate you respect the virtue of that person even though you don't respect the value what is the source of virtue? the source of virtue is the source so the source of virtue is that everyone you have to have faith that everyone has Buddha nature which is

[69:25]

their virtue so if you know when you come down to what's what's the most precious thing what's the most valuable thing in the world? money position fame clothes cars horses Buddha nature is is the most fundamental valuable the most fundamental thing the most valuable thing because it's the most fundamental thing and it's the one thing that connects all of us or that if we're always if we're always aware of Buddha nature even if we're not aware of Buddha nature but have faith in Buddha nature then we're always addressing everything or each other as their Buddha nature

[70:26]

not just what we see on the surface so that's how we connect we don't always do that that's our effort that really is the effort is to meet everyone in that place even if they're not aware of it but when you do people recognize something even though they don't know what it is they're recognizing I want to propose the virtue of asking how someone is doing of asking how someone is doing I really appreciate to give a vow within a monastery or practice ground because it's a silent connection between self and other and acknowledgement but much of our life is outside of this environment and

[71:27]

for me at least anyway saying how are you doing is really a inquiry about how is one doing and then depending on the situation will we go a lot or a little and sometimes actually outside the monastery I vow when I can't connect with someone that's often like someone like Ko was talking on the street where I just can't I don't want to ask I'm too busy or something and I'll do it either in my heart or express as I will find someone like that that's I think that's really good practice bring those little kids to the liquor store you know it's like that was trying to connect with you as funny and cute as it was and you know it had a very warm feeling it had a very warm yeah I felt I really connected with them I understand

[72:29]

what you're saying about appreciating people they have Buddha nature I have Buddha nature but in a sense really they don't have Buddha nature I don't have Buddha nature Buddha nature yeah that's right none of us have it we are it but at the same time no Buddha nature yes no yeah I can yes no He just didn't know subject and object. It's like, I can't say he wasn't, but he wasn't a perfect Buddhist because of that.

[73:31]

There is no such thing as a perfect Buddhist anyway. But a baby is innocent. And so, as we grow older, we become, we lose our innocence, so to speak, and we start protecting ourselves and creating a world of subject and object, and we develop the passions and the greed and the ill will and delusion and so forth. And then, at some point, we realize there's a problem, and then we start to practice. And so, when we practice, we can reach a position which is similar to the child's, but it's not the same. We don't go back to being a child.

[74:35]

And so, in the same way, just because he has a certain condition in which he doesn't see things in a certain way, doesn't necessarily mean that that makes him a Buddhist, because we should be able to see the world that we make up and live in that world. We definitely have to live in the world that we make up. We live in this dualistic world. So we live in the dualistic world with an attitude of non-duality. So, you don't leave the dualistic. The whole point here is that we don't leave the dualistic world in order to become empty. The dualistic world itself is empty, and that's where we find our release.

[75:36]

This is where we find our freedom within our delusion. Knowing that we have these feelings, we have this greed, we have ill-will, we have delusion, but in greed, ill-will, and delusion, that's where we find it, emptiness. So we say, big passion, big Buddha. So, it's not like, you know, we don't hate the passions, we don't criticize the passions. We know that we get caught by them. That's the problem. It's not that we have them that's the problem, because we allow ourselves to be caught. That's our problem. And you can see how we're constantly being caught by things. So the point is to acknowledge how, when emotions come up, when feelings come up, when

[76:40]

thoughts come up, that are subject to binding, to attachment, and we work with those feelings so that when we have a certain feeling like that, we acknowledge it and experience it, let it go and go on. But the problem is that our habit energy keeps tying us in. So big problem, it's a big problem. But through practice, we can find how to let go, how to find our freedom, yes. In practice, we learn to allow and be with those feelings. Yes, yes, yes. So it is in allowing and being with, which is not necessarily expressing.

[77:40]

That's right, it's not necessarily expressing. So, you know, the mindfulness is to know, here's that feeling that I'm feeling. Do I want to act out this feeling, or shall I let it go? I think in the beginning, he says, he asks, what is this anger? Yeah, what is this anger? So investigation. That's right, what is this anger? Is this necessary? Is it necessary? If I continue with this anger, what will happen? Is this how I want to feel? Do I want to? We make choices. We have loyalties. We especially have loyalties to our anger.

[78:44]

Because if I'm not loyal to my anger, then I'm not being true to myself. And so, this gives way to revenge. And revenge is the destroyer of the world. Very dangerous. Vengeance is like an eye for an eye, pretty soon, you know. There's no way to stop it. So when there's a vendetta going on, you know, Martin's and McCoy's, you shoot me, I'll shoot you, you shoot me, I'll shoot you, there's no end to that. Somebody has to stop. And that means you have to let go of your loyalty to your anger.

[79:34]

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