Good morning. So here we are, September 11th. So maybe sitting all day is a good thing to do on September 11th. And we will do a memorial service in memory of the casualties of that day and the ongoing casualties. but actually don't feel like talking about it as much. So I'm going to do it in all fashions. And except to say that I feel like in terms of the practices that all of the images and thoughts of this day come to bring forth, that what we need now, each of us in our own way, is the practice of patience. And part of that is the practice of resolve, to do what we can to bring peace and kindness to the world.

[01:26]

And also the practice of fearlessness, which means being afraid, but facing our fear. Not trying to hide from our fear, but just facing it. It's okay to be afraid. So in this koan that I'm going to talk about today, maybe we can find these practices of patience, and resolve, and just facing our fears. Oh, and then just to remind you all of the other Buddhist practice that we have the opportunity of coming up for, which is the traditional Buddhist practice of voting. If you're not registered to vote, please do so. So I finally, after four years, finished this translation of Dogan's extensive record. And the book is in the process of coming out. And I wanted to talk about one of the dharma hall discourses from Dogan.

[02:28]

And this is from 1250, 1249, 1251. And he told a story about an old Chinese Zen master and one of his students. So the story, first there's the story, and then there's Dogen's commentary, and then I'll talk about that. And I like this story, and I can't exactly say why, but I like it a lot. And it's about a teacher named Yaoshan, who's in our lineage, who He's famous for saying that he thought of that which didn't think. But anyway, one time he asked one of his students, whose referred to as novice gal, So Navascau, we don't know so much about him. He's in a few stories. He was not a monk. So usually in the old Zen koans, there's a teacher, and there's a monk.

[03:32]

And sometimes the monk later became a famous teacher, and they give the other person's name. But this is sort of unusual, because Navascau was not a monk. He was a play person. I guess maybe he was roughly like people who are lay ordained now. Anyway, Yaushan recognized that Navaskar had some attainment. So we call this story accepting the emptiness of attainment. So Dogen says, I can remember, Yaushan asked Navaskar, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. So maybe we should go home and not listen to the lecture. Anyway, he said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Then Yaushang said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures.

[04:35]

How come they have no attainment? Nowaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. That's the story. I'm going to read it again. Yakshan asked Navaskar, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? He might have asked, you know, is it from reading sutras or hearing lectures or doing meditation or, I don't know, there are many other things that maybe there could be attainment from. But anyway, he said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? So all of you have heard lectures and maybe at least a little bit, read teachings. Is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Now, I think that one version of the story where there's some dialogue that happened before that, and at the end of which, the Arshan recognized that the novice has really attained something, has really

[05:50]

realize something. And yet, Dogen doesn't even bother to mention that part of the story. And so, the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. The Arshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? That's a funny little question. So all the people who never practiced, never did spiritual practice, if that's not why you can enjoy your life, how come they don't enjoy their lives? How come you can be a person of peace, even though it's not because of your practice, or your meditation, or your hearing lectures, or your reading sutras? Where does this come from? Where does our ability to actually be ourselves come from? All of that is in this question. There are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures.

[06:54]

How come they have no attainment? Navaskar said, I do not say they do not have it. He's kind of disagreeing. Is there something that Maybe there is no one who doesn't have it. Or think of someone who you respect. In any context. A friend. Maybe some famous person. I do not say they do not have it. Think of someone who may have trouble respecting it. Can you say, I do not say they do not have it? Navaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. So this attainment that they're talking about here doesn't seem to be a matter of getting something.

[08:05]

It seems to be about willingness and acceptance. I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not going to accept it. So I've added some comments in retelling the story again. But in Dogen's sermon, he has some added comments, too. So I'll say something about that. He says, today, I, A.A. Dogen, will comment on each statement. Yaoshan said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures Dogen added a comment saying, attainment and non-attainment come only from this fist. Both attainment and non-attainment come from right here, right now. From our willingness to take a stand, to sit firmly, to be ourselves. Dogen goes on, the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures.

[09:15]

And Dogen comments, even before arriving at Zhaozhou's place, having drank Zhaozhou's tea. So this is a comment on a story that refers to another story, which is often what happens in the Zen story. So there's five or six stories that are part of this story. This story is about a great teacher named Zhaozhou, a doshu. greatest zen master of all time. Wonderful, wonderful. Many, many stories of that. One time he asked his teacher, what is the way in the future, sir? Just ordinary, everything happens. But anyway, this story is about a visiting zen student coming to see Jazo. And he was sitting there, and he received his new student. And he asked the student, have you been here before? And the student said, yes.

[10:17]

And the judge said, oh, please have some tea. And then another student came another time. And the judge said, have you been here before? And the student said, no. And the judge said, oh, please have some tea. And the judge gave him tea. Both times, the students answered differently, but you had them have some tea. You had to ask them to have some tea. Why is that? And the judge said to you, please pick up some tea. So whether you've been here before or not, please have some tea. And if you have a question about it, please have some tea. Please refresh yourself. So we'll have tea later this afternoon. That's that story. And Dogen's comment about, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures, this statement by Namaskaro, is even before arriving at Jadojo's place, having drank Jadojo's tea.

[11:29]

So please don't worry about understanding this. Not the point, I guess. The point is just to have some tears. How do we find, in the middle of this life, in the middle of the craziness and cruelty of the world that we are actually living in, in the middle of the wonderful things in the world we're living in, how do we find this space where, even before we ever heard of Jatra, Or in hearing models, everyday models, the way the teacher taught. So the novice girl said, I did not attain either from reading supers or from hearing lectures. So it's not that there isn't something that we have to do in our practice, actually.

[12:31]

It's not that there's no attainment. It's not that there is no work to do in this life. It's not that we don't have some responsibility for the world and for all beings. And yet, even before you thought about doing spiritual practice, even before you thought about coming to hear a Zen lecture, what is that? What's refreshing? What is it that allowed you to find some space of refreshment and relaxation that you could share with your friends, with someone else that you care about? Can you really appreciate the student, the challenging result?

[13:33]

So Yashen said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? So all the people who have never encountered the teaching of awakening, how come they have no attainment? Hi, come on in. There are chairs here, or use a cushion. We're in the middle of a talk about a complicated koan, so I want to try it. Maybe we'll end up going back to the beginning, but I can't promise. So again, Yangshun said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen's comment on this is that all living beings have no Buddha nature.

[14:47]

All living beings have no Buddha nature. So this is, we're getting to what this story is really about. And I'll read the next one first and then talk about it together. So when Yaoshan said there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures, how come they have no attainment? Novus Gauss said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. Dogen's comment to that is, all living beings have good intentions. So let me go back and just read the whole story again, and then talk about it. This also has to do with Jasmine. So it's a little complicated, so maybe I need to go over it a few times. And we can talk about it if you have questions. But the basic story again. Great Master Yaoshan asked Navaskar, a lay student of his, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures?

[15:51]

Navaskar said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Yaoshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? And novice Gao said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they're not willing to accept it. A wonderful story. Anyway, Dogen's comment on this last part, again, is Yaoshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen's added comment is, all living beings have no Buddha nature. Novice Gao said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. And Dogen commented, all living beings have root image. This also has to do with the story about Zhaozhou. There's a further comment by Dogen, and then I'll come back to this.

[16:56]

So after commenting on the lines, Dogen further said, suppose someone suddenly asked me, Dogen, When I spoke like this, I would say to him, originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So I'll come back to that. I want to go back to this Buddha nature business. There are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen said, all living beings have no attainment. That could also be read as, all living beings do not have buddha nature. So this relates to a story of Zhao Zhou that you probably heard. One time a monk came to Zhao Zhou, or Zhou Shu, as he's known in Japanese, and said, does a dog have buddha nature? And he said, no. Or in a Japanese book.

[17:59]

So this is maybe the most famous, but there's another part of the story. Another time, a monk came to Dogen and said, does a dog have buddha nature? And Jaojao said, yes, I have buddha nature. So when Yaoshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures, how come they have no attainment? Dogen just said, all living beings have no buddha nature. So maybe it's easy for us to see that today. If we think of all of the cruelty of the world, if we think of suicide bombers, if we think of wars and aggression and all of the things that September 11th calls up, maybe it's pretty easy to see no good in nature. There's some people who we can't feel pretty clear. I mean, it's possible.

[19:02]

people who would do a terrible, vicious, cruel thing. So, Zaboskow, somehow, even without the sutras and the lectures, he understood something. Or, I don't know if he understood it, but he realized how to be himself. How come everybody has to be that, automatically? What is the point of coming to hear a Zen lecture, or meditating, or trying to attend to the quality of our life, trying to find our kindness? Dogen says, all living beings have no buddha nature. Not just dogs. And actually, buddha nature is not something that you can get a hold of. So this issue of Buddha nature is fundamental to our practice. In some ways, just sitting silently, upright, quietly, paying attention to our experience, thoughts, feelings, sounds, sensations.

[20:14]

The point of this is that as we quiet down, we can see this possibility of being awake and aware of time, which we traditionally referred to sometimes as Buddha nature. And yet, there's no thing called Buddha nature that you can get. So, you know, this practice is so simple, and yet, at the heart of what it means to be alive, to be a human being, there's this problem. All human beings have no Buddha nature. Any of us are capable the wrong circumstances of being torturers. I'm sorry to say that. There have been experiments at Stanford that show that even ordinary good people, like all of us, in the wrong situation might be terrible.

[21:22]

But Navaskel, you know, he had attained something. He said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they're not willing to accept it. And Doggett commented on all that was being said. If we're willing to accept it, we can actually express the wisdom and virtue and kindness of awakening. This is what the Buddha saw when he awakened 2,500 years ago. Just that. All living beings have Buddhism. Yeah, so, Navaskaras said they're not willing to accept it, and yet, So I guess that's all living beings.

[22:27]

Could he possibly have been including Islamic fundamentalists? Or Texas Christian fundamentalists? Anyway, all living beings have a religion. So this is the pivot place in our practice. We don't need to go to some Zen talk I thank you for coming anyway. But we're not doing this to get something. This is the big problem in Zen practice. People think that they're supposed to get enlightened. You will think that there's some, you know, some magic, then elixir, I don't know what, you know. You all got these weird ideas. I don't know what to do about it. But anyway. Here we are in a land of consumerist sin.

[23:32]

And you think you're supposed to get something from it. You think you're supposed to get something from your life. It's a big problem. Because as Dogen said about Namaskar saying, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Even before you arrived at Jaojo's place, you had drank Jaojo's tea. So Dogen's final comments. Suppose someone suddenly asked me why I spoke like this. I would say to him or her, Originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So this kind of sums up the reason. Originally, we need all of emptiness, or we could read that as all of the different emptinesses, to break through existence.

[24:37]

I mean, we all started out by getting born. Maybe there was stuff before that too, but we want to talk about that today. Here we are, existing as God-natures and Buddha-natures and holiness-natures and people-natures and whatever, you know, whatever identity you're willing to cop to. Originally, we need all of that to break through this existence. We start out, babies, they need emptiness. First they need to develop an ego, I guess. They need to learn how to talk and walk and figure out how to get stuff from their mommy and go and learn to read and write and do arithmetic and so forth. Eventually, you know, A lot of the time they get to be adults, but then usually there's something we might call an ego.

[25:45]

And our culture teaches us to get ahead and develop our resumes and get a nice car or whatever to acquire things. So originally we need all of emptiness to break through existence. We have the solution of a real world. We have this existence. It's here. And of course our existence includes suffering old age and death. Our existence includes sadness and loss and frustration and not getting the things we want and in some ways sometimes having terrible things happen as we are mindful of our mistakes. Our ideas of existence can suddenly shatter.

[26:55]

Our ideas of safety and security, personal or national security, can suddenly shatter. Suddenly we can see that our ideas of who we are and what the world is are actually just bubbles in the universe, or sea clouds floating through the air. Now, Zen practice emphasizes taking care of this phenomenal world, taking care of resistance. And yet, we do need all of emptiness to break through resistance, to break through the ways in which we're caught by our ideas of who we are and what the world is. So there's this teaching of emptiness, that any particular thing, any particular idea, any particular notion of

[27:58]

security, and safety, and something we can ultimately rely on. Emptiness. This is very sad, but it's, you know. So we need to study emptiness. And emptiness actually just means connectedness. It means that we're all connected. That what happens in the media affects us. That what happens to our friends affects us. That what we do affects our friends, family, and people around us. So originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. However, already having no existence, what emptiness is? So, when our lives are shattered, or maybe that's too melodramatic, when we see that the world is not what we think it is, when we see that our life is not what we thought it was,

[29:00]

when we see the transiency and ephemerality of existence, when we see that we're not who we thought we were, our ideas of ourselves, but just our ideas of ourselves. And actually, you know, we can, something can happen, and we, our life changes dramatically. A war starts, or we change our name, or we get a new job, or we move to a new place. And suddenly, our existence is not our existence anymore. Well, Dogen said that when Namaskar said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. This is like even before arriving at Zhaozhou's place, having drank Zhaozhou's tea. Already having no existence, what emptiness is there? So I said at the beginning when I was not particularly trying to talk about September 11th that I wanted to talk about this Zen story.

[30:05]

But you know, when we say what emptiness is needed, this is exactly what I was saying about resolve and patience and facing fear. We don't need to hold on to emptiness either. In fact, we can take off being where we are in this dharma position. And not holding on to it, not making it into a thing. Because we know there's no existence. There's no Buddha nature to hold on to. And yet, everything has Buddha nature. This doesn't make sense according to our logical left brain, anyway. For my right brain, I can't remember which one is which. But anyway. What? Left brain. So, already having no existence, what emptiness is it?

[31:13]

We don't need to hold on to emptiness either. In fact, it's important that we don't. If we're not holding on to our idea of who the good guys and who the bad guys are, if we're not making somebody else into the evil other, if we're not trying to manipulate our experience to get some attainment that is here from the very beginning, whether or not we go to Ebbingham lectures, then we can just be as we are and take care of each other. So this is going to be a difficult story with all these references in it. I don't know. I should read it again. Maybe I will. I'll read the whole thing. And then I'm interested in your comments. So this is from Dogen's extensive record, this new book that I spent four years translating.

[32:20]

Yashan asked Navaskar, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? And the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Then Master Yashan then said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? And Navaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. So this willingness to accept, you know, I'm sorry I'm interrupting the reading of it to just add more comments on top of comments on top of comments. But this is what Dogen's talking about when he says, originally we need all of emptiness to break through existence, already having no existence. What emptiness is? Can we be willing to accept who we are and to accept the emptiness of who we are? Can we be willing to accept the world as it is? and face our fears about the difficulties of the world, and take responsibility, and even, you know, decide who we're going to vote for, and do all that stuff.

[33:33]

Can we be willing to accept both emptiness of existence, and the existence just as it is, without needing any emptiness? Can we be willing to accept this life, this situation, So Dogen commented on each statement. Since today, IAEA will comment on each statement. Yaoshan said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? And Dogen said, attainment and non-attainment come only from this. The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Dogen commented, even before arriving at Jado's place, having drank Jado's tea, So as I said before, whenever anybody showed up at Yadav's place, he would ask them, have you been here before? And whether they said yes or no, he would say, go have some tea. And when his attendant asked him about that, Yadav said, go have some tea. So Yashan said, there are a great many people who do not read sukhas and do not hear lectures.

[34:42]

How come they have no attainment? And Dogen commented, all living beings have no buddhahood. So, you know, there's that side of it, you know. The novice said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. And Doge commented, all living beings have buddha-nature. There's also that side of that. And even if buddha-nature is not something we can have or not have, it's just living beings completely with buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is the possibility of being present and clear. And then Dogen further says, suppose someone suddenly asked me, hey, hey, why I spoke like this? Well, I would say to him or her, originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed?

[35:43]

So as I said at the beginning, I really like this story. I can't say why I like it so much. Maybe if I could say, I wouldn't. But anyway, something about it and this struggle with the paradox of our life feels like good medicine for the sadness and the fear. So, any comments or questions? Well, the point of

[36:53]

So commenting on, the point of koans is just to play with them. So here's a story, actually a story about stories, with references to other stories. So commenting on them means just to play with them. So you might have some comment that maybe doesn't necessarily relate exactly to the story. Or maybe it does, but not directly. this story brings forth is part of the plaid of this story. So these koans are kind of like performance pieces. They're little theatrical events. And in this case, this is the theatrical events that happened in the 800s in China when Yaoshan, the student novice gao, got together. There's the later event when Dogen was commenting on it to his students at AG 1251, and now there's this other event talking about it together in Golenus on September 11th.

[38:03]

And so anything that comes up is part of our response. And the response is a better word than comment. It's to respond. this problem of human nature and existence. Gary, it feels like you have a response. Tickle, tickle. I was just thinking that Alan Watts, a couple of years ago, a recent psychotherapist, said the point is to try and spend a lot of time looking at questions without answers. Well, you could say it's neuroses, but you know, we live in this crazy world. What's the answer to how we bring peace to the Middle East?

[39:11]

What's the answer to how we recognize how Islamic people and American people can find peace and comfort with each other? What's the answer to the fear that our government wants us to have? There's no answer to that. But yet, this is our life. And, of course, taking it outside of that context, just in each of us in our own life have, you know, oh, well, I won't speak for anyone else, but, you know, some of you maybe, and I certainly, you know, have problems and questions and things that don't work for us. And maybe some of you feel that way, too. Gina? I don't know that they have no answer, but that doesn't mean that there's not an answer. I think that there are many answers. How do we play in this world?

[40:16]

Did you get it or not get it based on hearing the lecture or based on reading some... So that's the koan that you had before you came here today. This day is dedicated to a koan. I'm trying not to talk about September 11th, but I know people who think that, who can make convincing arguments that Anyway, we don't know what happened on September 11th. Who actually was behind the event?

[41:22]

What actually happened? There's so many unanswered questions in the official version of the story that the official version is not really credible. And yet, we have these media presenting the official story anyway. And we have various politicians using it for various purposes. And it's a tragedy. Not just an abstraction. Many people killed on that day. And there have been even many, many, many more killed as a result of these responses. So, you know, it's like a koan. There's no answer to it. We have responses. And as Jesus said, we have many responses, there's not one right response.

[42:25]

I don't know what happened. I haven't read all these very intricate theories about it. So this is the world we live in. It's fine to say, well, some unsolvable problem is neurotic. But actually, this is the world we live in. And I wonder sometimes if it's possible or if it wouldn't be irresponsible to be sane in such a crazy world. So I don't know. Clarity and sanity are not necessarily I'm sorry to say that, Gary, but your job is to promote sanity, right? And yet, how can we be willing to accept it?

[43:59]

How can we not run from the room, run from the burning building, screaming in terror? How can we? I just want to see a baby, and when the baby dies, that's the only thing that I can say about it. Good. I have problems with cars. Me too. I mean, look, see, that's it. When the fence goes up when I hear those stories, it's like mindfuck, you know? And what does that have to do with ordinary mind? They're all the same. You know, ordinary mind is where it's at. I mean, it seems like this is some extraordinary mind that they're screwing around with. I don't like that. Yeah, it feels like a word game to play with. You spend too much time on that.

[45:02]

I don't know. It does. It's like, just like. OK. Well, Colin, when I was looking at the quote, she touched on it. It was just something that I first felt in the traditional, logical way of thinking, because you can't just start thinking about it and figure it out. It's not that. Yeah, please don't try to figure this out. So that, yeah, it's not about... Yes, I agree with you. So, I don't know, maybe we have too much time on our hands, coming and sitting and spending the day or part of the day listening to these old stories, but, you know, These stories are kind of, they're like acupuncture needles.

[46:07]

They're kind of like probes. They're kind of like little reminders of something. This problem, you know, that life gives us. So don't worry about understanding and figuring out. This is about looking at what's What is our willingness to accept? What is our letting go and our taking up? When is it that we can allow ourselves to just have a cup of tea?

[46:42]

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