Good morning, everyone. Welcome. A few weeks from today, we're going to be starting our two-month spring practice period. And the background text for that is going to be the Mountains and Waters Sutra by Ehei Dogen, the 13th century Japanese master who founded our branch of Zen. And I've already started talking about that text a little, and I'm going to again today with a little bit of St. Patrick in it for the weekend. And so this text is about mountains and waters, but it's also about how we're all interconnected with everything. So sansui in Japanese, mountains and waters, is a common term for landscape.

[01:04]

So this is about the, well, this is the sutra, the scripture about the world, the landscape we live in, and how we are connected, how we are part of that. And Dogen talks about mountains, and he talks about waters, and he talks about our activity. He talks specifically about walking, but character for walking also means conduct in Chinese and Japanese. So how we take care of ourselves and conduct ourselves as part of the landscape of our world is the issue here. And I'm going to refer to a little bit of the text and talk about some of this this morning. I am not going to resist reading the first paragraph. Dogen, in his essays in this, which is considered part of Shobo Genzo, the Two Dharma I Treasury, one of Dogen's masterworks, and often he'll take a theme or a particular koan and talk about it, and often the first paragraph is sort of

[02:19]

aside from the main issue, but has something interesting to say, and this one particularly I really like. So he says, the mountains and waters of the immediate present are the manifestation of the path of the ancient Buddhas, together abiding in their Dharma position. They have consummated the qualities of thorough exhaustiveness, or they have realized the completeness of their own qualities. Because they are events prior to the empty eon, in our terms we could say, because they are events prior to the Big Bang, they are the livelihood of the immediate present. So some of us are here today sitting all day and And this practice of sitting all day or just sitting for one period, this practice of zazen, is about realizing completely the livelihood of the immediate present.

[03:27]

He goes on to say, because they are the self before the emergence of signs, before any forms arise, They are the penetrating liberation of immediate actuality. So as we sit, whether or not we have some realization of this, we are one with the mountains and waters that are the self, the... Self is an interesting word. They are the experience before the emergence of signs or forms or signifiers, and therefore they are the penetrating liberation of immediate actuality. What is our immediate actuality as we inhale? What is our immediate actuality as we exhale?

[04:35]

Or in walking meditation, as we lift our foot from the floor, What is the immediate actuality of placing our foot down on the floorboards? By the height and breadth of the qualities of the mountains, the virtue of riding the clouds is always mastered from the mountains, and the subtle work of following the wind as a rule penetrates through to liberation from the mountains. So that's Dogen's kind of preamble to this mountains and waters sutra. Realizing this liberation that is immediate actuality. Breathing into this self that's before the emergence of signs. The self is not a self because there's no stories about it. There's no signs to, there's no, you know, there's no,

[05:39]

stories, there's no, there's not even a social security number or an address or an email, you know, there's nothing to indicate a self. What is that self? What is yourself before the big bang? How do we breathe into that? So, this Sutra of Mountains and Waters then takes off from an old saying by a Chinese master in our lineage, Furong Daokai, Fuyu Daokai in Japanese, once said to his assembly, the green mountains are constantly walking, a stone woman bears a child by night. So this is the basic case, the basic story, the basic issue that he starts off from anyway.

[06:47]

And actually, I want to talk more today about the waters than the mountains, but I'm going to say a little bit about the mountains. The Green Mountains are constantly walking. A lot of what Dogen does is to upset our usual way of seeing things. Our usual way of defining and seeing the world is part of what gets us caught up in our own patterns of self-grasping, of greed, and of anger, and frustration, and of confusion. And so how do we get unstuck from our own habits of grasping? Well, we think of mountains as very solid, right? Mountains are permanent. And yet, actually, truly, really, green mountains are constantly, constantly, forever walking.

[07:54]

He says, mountains lack none of the qualities proper to them. For this reason, they constantly remain settled, they constantly abide, and they forever walk. That quality of walking should be investigated in detail, he says. The teaching of the Buddhas and Zen adepts has already pointed out walking. This is the attainment of the fundamental. You should thoroughly examine and be sure about this indication. Though the walking of the Green Mountains is fast as wind and even faster, people in the mountains are unaware. They do not recognize it. In the mountains, there is blooming of flowers that is inside the world. Well, of course.

[09:01]

The mountains are inside the world. The flowers blooming are inside the world. The fading of the flowers is inside the world. We are all inside the world. The sky is inside the world. The stars are inside the world. What is it that is outside the world? Well, we can imagine such a thing. People outside the mountains are unaware and don't recognize that which is the mountains. If one doubts the walking of the mountains, one does not even yet know one's own walking either. It's not that one's own walking doesn't exist, it's just that one does not yet know or understand one's own walking. We are not separate from the mountains. And of course, here in the Midwest, we feel distant from the mountains.

[10:05]

So this is a new page in the history of Zen. Zen started in China and Japan and moved to California. And mountains are part of all of that. But now we have prairies and lakes. So we need to rewrite the sutra maybe, but it's okay to talk about mountains. So I've talked about this before. How many people here have never seen a mountain? Sometimes people have raised their hands. Okay, so you all know about mountains. You've all been inside the mountains. Oh, you've never seen a mountain, Scott? Or it's okay if you haven't. Still, we are inside the mountains. We can be inside the mountains. So he says, who knows by the measure of how many phenomenal realms the Green Mountains may be perceived?

[11:13]

Who knows by how by the measure of how many phenomenal realms the Green Mountains may be perceived. This is important for us to realize that our idea, our perception of the mountains and waters is, that is our perception, that is our idea, and that's fine. And yet, that's not all of reality. Can we accept that there is something we don't know? We sometimes call this beginner's mind. Can we accept that there is something more to see? Can we accept that we don't know everything there is to know about our own walking? So we do walking meditation in between periods of sitting, and here we walk very, very slowly.

[12:27]

But there's all kinds of walking meditation. Sometimes we walk quickly. Sometimes you can do walking meditation just walking at a normal pace outside, connecting your walking to your breathing. Feeling, actually, what it feels like to lift your foot from the ground and place it on the ground. Who knows by the measure of how many phenomenal realms the Green Mountains may be perceived. So there are many different kinds of mountains. And we can say this is because the Green Mountains are constantly walking. Or maybe the Blue Mountains are constantly walking.

[13:30]

Sometimes you'll see translations where it talks about the Blue Mountains. The Chinese character here can be translated as either green or blue. And there are blue mountains in some places. I grew up near the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania. So I'm just going to skip through little bits of this. This is a very long essay, and we'll be talking about it more in the practice period. And I'm not going to go to the part about the stoneman giving birth at night. But there's one section here Dogen talks about, even though a time may manifest when it is seen by seeing as arrays of treasures, this is not the true ultimate. So talking about how we see the mountains and the plants and trees and the earth and stones, even though a time may manifest when it is seen as arrays of treasures, it's not yet the true ultimate.

[14:36]

Even if there is manifestation of being seen as the realm of the Buddhist practice of the way, it is not necessarily something to love. Even though, of course, we love the Buddhist practice, the way. Even if we attain the summit of seeing manifestation of beings as the inconceivable qualities of the Buddhas, reality as it is, is not only like this. So, we must also recognize our limitation. we can appreciate not Buddha as well as Buddha right in front of us. Reality as it is, is not only just this. Individual views of being are individual objects and subjects.

[15:39]

This is not to say, Dogen goes on, that they are to be considered the work on the way of Buddhists and adepts. They are limited views of one corner. And he says this strange thing, which I sometimes have trouble with, this part. Transforming the circumstances, transforming the mind is something scorned by great sages. Well, of course, awareness is transformative, but also there's just letting it be. So there are many sides, many facets to the jewel of the mountains and waters. Speaking of mind, speaking of nature is something not approved by Buddhists and adepts. And this one, speaking of mind and speaking of nature, the speaking of nature is, well, Sometimes we can say, we can try and explain, we can try and express something, and yet all of our words are just words.

[16:51]

They might be helpful sometimes. In fact, you're all here to hear something of the Dharma. But it's your hearing of it, not my words, that is the point. So elsewhere, Dogon says that Buddhas sit and speak the Dharma, but Buddhas also sit and listen to the Dharma. So it's your listening that is Buddha, or can be Buddha. Then he says, seeing the mind, seeing nature, is the livelihood of heretics, of those outside the way. And this is actually a powerful statement. He says, seeing the mind and seeing nature. Seeing nature is, in Japanese, Kensho. So this is, in some branches of Zen, there's an emphasis on seeing nature, on having some experience of some dramatic experience of awakening to seeing through, seeing Buddha nature, having some experience of that.

[17:58]

And Dogen emphasizes, not just in this sentence, but elsewhere, that our practice is not about reaching some special experience or getting some particular understanding. He says, sticking to words and phrases is not this expression of liberation. There are words which have passed through and shed such realms. And that is exactly that the Green Mountains are constantly walking. It is the Eastern Mountains travel on waters. Please examine this thoroughly. So this Green Mountains constantly walking is not about something special that you need to figure out or have some dramatic experience of. This is already happening. This is the reality that we are breathing and sitting and walking here today. This is nothing special that you have to get or figure out or might experience in the future.

[19:05]

So, you know, you hear some statement like green mountains are constantly walking and you might think that's something, some special thing that you have to figure out again. And he's saying very strongly, this causes the livelihood of heretics. He's not talking about something special that you have to get. Again, I want to emphasize this. This is just about expressing that which is already right here, already. Our walking, our sitting, that which is going on on your cushion and chair is Green Mountains constantly walking. I want to talk about this in terms of what he says about water.

[20:10]

So this is the Mountains and Water Sutra, and he talks about mountains and he talks about water. He says, water is not strong or weak, not wet or dry, not moving or still, not cool or warm, not existent or nonexistent, not delusion or enlightenment. When frozen, water is hard as diamond. Who can break it? When melted, it is softer than whey. Who can break it? Thus one cannot doubt the qualities it manifestly has. For this time being, you should study the time when you must look upon the waters of the ten directions, in the ten directions. This is not the study of only when humans or celestials see water. There's also the study of water seeing water. So how does Lake Michigan see Lake Michigan? What is it like for water to see water? This is also, of course, about how is it that we see ourselves?

[21:16]

How is it that we enjoy ourselves? Because, of course, we're, what is it, 70%, 90% water, sitting on your cushion or chair? There is the study of water seeing water. Because water cultivates and realizes water, there is the investigation of water expressing water. One should actualize the way through where self meets self. One should advance on the living road where other meets other and should leap forth and leap out. So how do we see water? How does water see us? How does water see water? How do we see ourselves? Seeing mountains and waters has differences depending on the species.

[22:24]

That is to say, there are those who see water as jewel necklaces. Nevertheless, there is not seeing jewel necklaces as water. So, some beings appreciate water as wonderful jewels, and yet not all jewels are water. As what forms would we see that which they take to be water? There are jewel necklaces we see as water. There are those who see water as beautiful flowers, but they don't use flowers as water. Then there are hungry ghosts. Do you all know about hungry ghosts? One of the six, we do an annual ceremony to appease the hungry ghosts. These are the beings who are very sad. Well, he says here, hungry ghosts see water as raging fire, as pus and blood. Hungry ghosts are never satisfied. They have tiny necks and big stomachs, and they're just insatiable.

[23:32]

And it's very sad. It's one of the six realms that beings can be in in this world. along with humans and animals and heavenly beings and hell beings. So for hungry ghosts, water is horrible. But then again, dragons and fish see water as palaces and pavilions. Some may see water as precious substances and jewels, or as forests and walls, or as the natural state of pure liberation, or as the real human body, or as the characteristics of the body and nature of the mind. People see it as water. It is an interdependency of killing and enlivening. So, of course, if we went to the bottom of Lake Michigan, we would drown. For fish, if they came out of the water, they would drown. How do we see our lives? It depends, of course, on the species.

[24:38]

The world is not what we think it is. So he says, Sadovan says, it is established that what is seen differs according to the species. For the moment, we should question this. Do you say that in viewing one object, the views are varied? Do you say it is misapprehending multiple forms as one object? At the peak of effort, one should exert further effort. Thus, cultivation and experience, clarification of the way, cannot be either one or two. The ultimate sphere must be a thousandfold, ten thousandfold. So part of our practice is just shifting our perspective or being open to other perspectives to be able to see any situation, our situation, this present situation.

[25:48]

And it's not that we can see it from all perspectives. That would be, well, they sometimes say that the Buddha has this omniscient eye and can see everything. He has this infinite hard drive that knows everything. But just to know that we cannot see, from all perspectives, allows us the kind of flexibility, allows us to imagine more options, allows us to see some other person who maybe is acting in a way that we don't understand or that is difficult for us, you know, and imagine, oh, wait a second, maybe I just don't see how it is for them. Gives us a kind of flexibility and a capacity to see something new, see something different. And that maybe the person who is giving us a hard time, or who we don't understand, may have some other point of view that is real for them.

[26:57]

And of course, this applies on a wider scale. So diplomacy is about seeing the other person's point of view. And then when there are problems in the world, you know, how can, you know, all the different perspectives on the Ukraine, you know, it's so confusing. How can we look at all the different things that are going on there? Can we respect all the different perspectives? Maybe we can't make sense of it, but can we at least try to see that there are other perspectives? Buddha said, all things ultimately liberated have no abode. You should know that although they are liberated and have no bondage, all things dwell in their own dharma position. This being so, when humans see water, there is a way of seeing it as flowing incessantly. That flowing has many kinds. This is one aspect of people's perceptions.

[28:01]

There's an old Confucian text that says, the path of water is to become rain and dew. when it goes up into the sky, to become rivers and streams when it descends to Earth. What this says is that while the path of water is not yet consciously known by water, yet water does actualize it. While it is not that water is unaware, water does actualize its course. This text says, ascending to the sky, it becomes rain and dew. You should know that water ascends to any number of skies in upper regions and makes rain and dew. Rain and dew are various according to the world. So he goes on like this. So part of the point of this is to see that There are many aspects to reality.

[29:04]

He says rivers and oceans are made within water. Therefore, there is water even in places where there are no rivers or seas. When water descends to earth, it performs the function of rivers and seas. That's all. So... talks about water being constantly abiding and still also, whereas mountains are constantly walking. Can we see our life freshly? Can we see the world around us with new perspectives? Can we appreciate the richness of the landscape of our life? Can we see that we are connected to the mountains and waters, the prairies and lakes, the rivers and the skyscrapers?

[30:13]

That we are part of that. We are an expression of all of that. And, of course, of each other. So as I've been talking about and reading parts of Mountains and Waters Sutra, I've been reading commentaries by great American Zen poet Gary Snyder, who actually has written commentaries on this sutra, his wonderful masterpiece, Practice in the Wild, and his long poem, Mountains and Waters Without End. But I'm going to read a couple of things from a more recent collection, Danger on Peaks, So the danger of the mountains. And I'm gonna read this one in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I see mountains constantly walking. And he says this is for Seamus Heaney.

[31:15]

I may not be pronouncing that right. This was written in 1995. So Gary Snyder says, work took me to Ireland, a 12 hour flight. The river Liffey, ale and a bar. So many stories of passions and wars. A hilltop stone tomb with the wind across the door. Peach swamps go by, people of the ice age. Endless fields and farms the last 2,000 years. I read my poems in Galway, just the chirp of a bug. and flew home thinking of literature and time. The rows of books in the long hall at Trinity, the ranks of stony ranges above the ice of Greenland. So here's another view of mountains constantly walking.

[32:16]

Of course, in time, mountains are constantly walking. The glaciers, the stony ranges, the ice above Greenland. the peach swamps go by, people of the Ice Age, all of the wonderful literature of Ireland, mountains constantly walking. And the old mountains, in the East and the rugged high mountains, the newer mountains in the Rockies in the West. So, mountains are constantly walking through time, as we are, in a narrower frame of time, a very ephemeral frame of time. I see mountains constantly walking. and sometimes in the midst of the mountains and waters. The waters turn green. This may even happen to some waters near you.

[33:20]

So, I'm going to read one more from this collection, Danger on Peaks, and this is in the page opposite, and it's titled, For Philip Zenshin Whelan, died 26 June 2002. And so I have to say something about Philip, who was an old beat poet and friend of Gary Snyder's. He's in the book that introduced me to them, actually, Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. It's about Gary Snyder, and Philip is also in there. And Philip is also a friend of mine. He was a Zen teacher in our lineage, in the Sugi Roshi lineage, and was the abbot for a while of the Isanji Hartford Street Zen Center, where I was recently for the mountain seat abbot installation of my dharma brother, Mio Lehi, who is now the abbot after Philip passed away. And actually, Gary and I were both at Philip's funeral at Green Gulch in 2002.

[34:27]

Anyways, so this is for Philip, then Jim Whalen died 26 June 2002. And then underneath that in parenthesis, in italics, Gary says, and for 33 pine trees. Load of logs on, chains cinched down and double-checked, the truck heads slowly up the hill. I bow, namaste, and farewell, these ponderosa pine whose air and rain and sun we shared for thirty years, struck by beetles, needles, turning rusty brown and moving on, decking, shelving, siding, stringers, studs, and joists. I will think of you, pines from this mountain, as you shelter people in the valley years to come. So that's the poem by Gary. And he says it's for 33 pine trees.

[35:29]

So I don't know if it actually on this truck that he refers to, if that holds 33 pine trees. 33 is also the number of manifestations of Kanon Bodhisattva. So I don't know. But this is also about the mountains walking. Well, maybe they were being walked by truck. And also, Philip and Gary were both forest rangers up in the Northwest. They both went to Reed College and grew up in Washington and were forest rangers up at the top of mountains. Spent summers looking over these mountains and these forests. So mountains are... rock, mountains are also trees. Mountains include, Dogen says in Mountains and Water Sutra, mountains love the people who live in them.

[36:35]

Mountains are places where sages live. Mountains are also snow, so Coslift does this painting called The Snow Within, behind Dave over here, and Dogen, and it's based, it refers to, well, it's the snow within, there's also snow without this morning, I don't know if it's still snowing. was this morning. And this is from a, refers to a poem by Dogen. I'm paraphrasing, but he says, for years I thought there was snow on the mountain. Now I see snow is the mountain. And that was the poem by Dogen that got Cos started studying Dogen. So snow is the mountain, trees are the mountain. What's going on in this poem for Philip? He's talking about these ponderosa pines, and they end up decking, shelving, siding, stringing, stringers, studs, and joists.

[37:48]

I will think of you, pines from this mountain. as you shelter people in the valley years to come. So, mountains constantly walking, and it occurs to me, these floorboards that we've been walking on this morning, where do they come from? Here in Chicago, maybe they don't come from mountains, maybe they come from forests, that it was constant or somewhere. But maybe they come from mountains. Maybe we are mountains constantly walking on mountains constantly walking. Anyway. Somehow these mountains continue. And we continue.

[38:47]

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