Good morning, welcome. For some of us, this is the fourth day of Sesshin. Some of you are just joining us. I want to review for all of us what we are talking about. We're using for this Sesshin the Song of the Jewel Mirror of Samadhi. which I believe you all have a copy of. This is one of the major texts of our Soto, in Chinese, Zao Dong lineage, attributed to the 9th century teacher Dongshan. And we're using it as a kind of koan text for this session. There are many lines. in this text which one could use in Zazen as turning phrases, as lines in which to allow Zazen to turn us or to turn Zazen.

[01:22]

So I've talked about many of them, and I want to review some of those. I've also talked about these lines as Zazen instructions. So I'll talk about that some more. And this song, this ancient song, is also about the process of integration of the ultimate awareness that we glimpse or sometimes dive into in Zexin or in Zazen and our everyday activity. So, and then I want to say something new about this today also. So, again, the two primary lines or turning phrases in this song. The very first line, the dharma of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors.

[02:29]

Now you have it, preserve it well. So this dharma of suchness, this teaching, this reality of suchness is the topic, the subject of this whole song and is referred to throughout the song, throughout the lines of the song. in many ways. This is what this teaching is about. And we're told that it is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. This is the single thing that is intimately, tenderly, subtly specifically closely transmitted, passed along by all the Buddhas and ancestors.

[03:35]

And when Dongshan received this from his teacher, Yunyan, was the occasion when he asked his teacher, as he was departing, what should I, if somebody asked, what should I say was your teaching, what was your dharma? And Yun-Yans paused and then said, just this is it. So this is also a Zazen instruction, just this, as we sit upright and face the wall. This is our Zazen practice, just this, this upright, Buddha Mudra. We sit like Buddha, upright and calm, enjoying our inhale and exhale, facing the wall, facing ourselves, facing all beings. Just this. Dong Xuan didn't know what to say, so Yun Yan said, you are now in charge of this.

[04:44]

Now you have it. Please take good care of it. Preserve it well. Now you have it. Preserve it well. And this song was a primary transmission text throughout the lineage in China. We have new transmission texts since Dogen brought this lineage to Japan. But this is still an important text for us. And since we chant it, I say to you, now you have it. Preserve it well. What does that mean? How do we take care of it? While you're sitting in sasen, it's here. It's not something, some special experience or understanding that you need to acquire. by reading lots of books or coming to lots of sessions or through lots of deliberations and philosophical thought.

[05:46]

It's right here. Preserve it well, take care of it. So I'm gonna come back to that because we, a koan came up yesterday having to do with one of the, with part of the end of this song that, We're involved in figuring out how to preserve it well. But the other line that's a key line for all of this is in the middle of the first page. Like facing a precious mirror, form and reflection behold each other. You are not it, but in truth, it is you. This is a great turning line. You are not it, but in truth, it is you. So we face this jewel mirror. Form and reflection behold each other. You're not it. It's not that you are the jewel mirror, or when we face the wall, that you are the wall.

[06:52]

But in truth, it is you. The wall is you. And the wall is not just the wall. The wall is facing you. The wall sees you. And the wall is, it's you, but it's all beings. Dogen later commented, to carry yourself forward and put that onto all myriad beings as objects, that's delusion. But when everything arises together, including you, that's awakening. You are not it, but in truth it is you. So those two lines are the centers, the pivots for this whole song. But there's so many other lines that serve as koans. Again, not koans in the sense of riddles to solve or things you have to pass through.

[07:54]

Koans are not something you solve and then you're finished with them. including all the traditional koans in the koan collections. You never finish with these stories or these lines. They keep drumming and singing together. So the meaning does not reside in the words. It's not about the words. But a pivotal moment brings it forth. This pivotal moment is very complicated. It can be translated in many ways, this compound of pivotal moment. It's the arrival of energy. It's the working mechanism of the world. It's an opportunity to see. It's your energetic inquiry. All of that is the pivotal moment. It's the loom on which we weave our lives and the meaning

[08:56]

the import of the Dharma of suchness arises, comes forth from that. Turning away and touching are both wrong, because it's a massive fire. And there's another old saying that all Buddhas sit in the midst of flames. Turning away from that, turning away from the fire, Ignoring it doesn't work. It'll burn the planet down. This is what's happened. We're turning away from the fire of the Buddhas. But trying to get a hold of it and grab it and figure it out and understand it and control it, that doesn't work either. Turning away and touching are both wrong. wondrously embraced within the real.

[10:00]

So I'm going through some of these lines that are koans and zazen instructions. Drumming and singing begin together. Comment and response. Drumming and singing begin together. It's immediate. And inclined and upright interact. Inclined is the partial, the particular, the phenomenal world, our ordinary world. And upright, the ultimate, the universal, ultimate reality, interact. Our practice is not about finding The ultimate, it's about bringing our sense of the ultimate right into the everyday conventional reality. It's right within, at the top of the second page, right within causes and conditions, time and season.

[11:11]

It's serene and illuminating. The illumination happens right within, even a Chicago winter. This reality constantly flows. So these lines serve as koans, and they also are zazen instructions. So I talked about, now you have it, preserve it well. How do we take care of this? How do we take care of this dharma of suchness in our own lives, in our own world? And as, and you know, in terms of the teachings and approaches in which reality constantly flows, we're reading this ninth century Chinese song and it's got particular, in places, references to ancient Chan stories and

[12:25]

Chinese cultural artifacts. So someone noted a couple of days ago that they had trouble with ministers serve their lords, children obey their parents near the end. Not obeying is not filial. Failure to serve is no help. And of course this is, you know, we might say this is about feudal China or, you know, we could say feudal Europe too. Feudalism lasted a lot longer in East Asia. Ministers serving lords. Children obeying, actually in the original it was children obeying their fathers because it was a very patriarchal society, even more than our patriarchal society. So do we want to chant that?

[13:29]

So I opined that we could see this as, we could translate that for our context as bodhisattva practice, serving, helping. Failure to serve is no help. How do we obey? How do we follow the Buddhas and ancestors? How do we serve? You've got to serve somebody. As a Minnesota dharma teacher once said. And yet, the harmony of difference and sameness says don't make up standards of your own. And Confucianism was about social harmony, as someone pointed out. But, you know, this preserve it well includes, how do we preserve the heart of this jewel, Meru Samadhi, as it passes, you know, from culture to culture, from China to Japan, from Japan to California, from California to Chicago?

[14:56]

So the filial piety of children obeying their fathers, maybe that was part of Indian culture, too, in a way. But this is particularly a Chinese way of talking about it. Somehow, this preserve it well that Dongshan Liangzhe is talking about in the ninth century in China, that yuanyuan passed along to Dongshan has to work even when the Dharma of suchness leaps across oceans, or across ponds, or across prairies and mountains. So this is a big koan for us. So I just want to acknowledge that, that we We don't make up standards on our own, but we see the standards of the Buddhists and ancestors, and we see how they work in this difficult time, in these causes and conditions, in this time and season.

[16:15]

So all of that's a review of the last few days. I want to focus today on another turning word, another Zazen instruction. So, well, one of the great references to Zazen in here, among many others, it talks about reality constantly flowing, but then outside still and inside trembling like tethered colts are cowering rats. So we sit, you know, outwardly still in our Zazen posture, not moving, trying not to move. And yet, outside still and inside trembling. Some of us have experienced that. Inner trembling. Like tethered colts or cowering rats.

[17:23]

Any cowering rats here? I only have a few hands raised. Ah, the ancient sages grieved for them and offered them the dharma. Here it is, for you. Led by their inverted views, they take black for white, those cowering rats. When inverted thinking stops, when topsy-turvy thinking stops, the affirming mind naturally accords. This is a wonderful line. The affirming mind naturally accords. There is a secret chord. Leonard Cohen sang about it. The affirming mind naturally accords. The affirming mind, the mind that just says yes to all the cowering, to the pain in your knee, to the trembling in your heart,

[18:29]

The affirming mind naturally accords. What does it mean to accord? What does it mean to be in tune with the Buddhas and ancestors, with the Dharma of suchness? So that's what I want to talk about today. All of the commentary about the affirming mind naturally accords, which is in the last part of this song. It starts with another Zazen instruction, which I've been talking about. One on the verge of realizing the Buddha way contemplated a tree for 10 kalpas. This is a reference from the Lotus Sutra about a Buddha who was just on the edge of full Buddhahood. and paused and faced the wall. Well, faced a tree, because in India they didn't have zendos like this, as I've said. They wandered around and they stopped and paused and faced trees.

[19:32]

Sat in front of a tree and faced a tree instead of a wall. But this guy, he stopped and faced a tree for 10 kalpas. It's just on the edge of full Buddhahood. But he paused. This is wonderful. This is our Zazen instruction, to stay in this world, to not check out into Buddhahood, to just contemplate a tree, just contemplate the wall, to let the wall see you. For 10 kalpas, that's a long time. That's more than five days. like a battle-scarred tiger, like a horse with shanks gone gray, an old war horse. He goes on to talk about archery. With his archer skill, Yi hit the mark at 100 paces.

[20:33]

It's a famous old archer from Chinese lore. But when arrows meet head-on, how could it be a matter of skill? So some of you think you need to develop some special skill and means to get something that you think you don't already have. The story about arrows meeting head on is another old Chinese story. There was a great archer, the greatest archer in the world, and he had a student who was really good. And this student one day thought, oh, I'm better than that teacher of mine. And he thought, OK, well, if I kill him, then I'll be the best archer in the world. So he took his bow and arrow, and he shot towards the teacher. But the teacher knew, and he took his bow and arrow and shot. And the arrows met in midair. So they agreed that they were both the greatest teacher in the world.

[21:36]

What's that about, when arrows meet in midair? This is intimate transmission. This is true meeting. So this song is really about intimacy and relationship, as somebody mentioned earlier this week. When arrows meet head on, when that happens, the wooden man starts to sing. And the stone woman gets up to dance. And Goliath's poor Kaliya gets up and starts singing. The stone woman gets up dancing. How does that happen? How does, from stillness, from ... It's like a dragon howling in a withered tree.

[22:45]

How does this happen? It's not reached by feelings or consciousness. How could it involve deliberation? This is not something that you can figure out with philosophy and logic in your linear thinking mind. So this is the affirming mind, which naturally accords just to say yes to something Dogen says the plum blossoms on the same wither branch as last year. Plums are the first flowering tree to blossom and they have white blossoms and

[23:49]

Often they blossom when the ground is covered with snow, or the trees are covered with snow. So there's white blossoms on the snow, like a heron hidden in the moon. So from our stillness, from just sitting still, upright, How does affirming mind arise? How does our topsy-turvy thinking settle down? How does this true vitality, this natural accord, arise.

[24:55]

This has something to do with serving and helping and functioning secretly. And can you do this continuously? Just to witness this affirming mind, this natural accord. So this is both Koan and Zazen instruction. How could it be a matter of skill? How could it involve to liberation? You are not it, but in truth it is you.

[26:02]

And I talked yesterday about you would do well to respect this, do not neglect it. How do you respect this whole process? Radical respect. beyond your ideas, beyond your calculations, beyond who you think you are. You are not it. But in truth, it is you. Now you have it. How are you going to take care of it? So the meaning is not about all these words. How do we find some pivotal energy?

[27:19]

And yet, here I am, blabbering. So I don't think I have anything else to say. Does anyone want to offer a verse or an image or an utterance or anything else? Matt. And then today, for some reason, wondrously embraced within the wheel, I'm not sure what that means. I'm not telling you what to do, I'm listening to their call.

[28:42]

Yes. And embracing that, whatever is happening, whatever our teachers are in that moment. And then I was wondering too, like, sometimes like emptiness, I see that as kind of a whole place in civics. This is a more positive way of saying it. Suchness. So how do we embrace suchness and how does suchness embrace us? Yes, how do we embrace? Does it answer? Is there that mutual response? It responds to the inquiring impulse, to the pivotal moment, yes. It responds to your energy. But yes, yes, yes to, so embracing the territory and treasure the roads is the affirming mind. and wondrously embraced within the real, yes, that is naturally accords.

[30:27]

So yes, how do we embrace suchness? How does suchness embrace us? So suchness is just, yes, another way of talking about the same thing that emptiness talks about. But some people relate more to talking about it as emptiness. Some people relate more to talking about it as suchness. But same difference. Thank you. Yes, it's the affirming mind. And yes, this is all about This isn't about figuring out something. This is about response and functioning. This is a song about how it functions, how it works, how this functions in our lives and in the world and in our practice. Cherry, were you raising your hand?

[31:35]

Sorry, louder please. When I was cooking yesterday, the attitude that you have when you cook affects the attitude of the place. So if I'm all nervous and scared that I'm going to burn this meal, the whole place gets nervous and scared. And if I'm calm and thinking, oh, this is the best meal we're ever going to have, everybody thinks, wow, that's the best meal we're ever going to eat. It's not about us. That's how the universe works. When you're nervous and scared, the universe is nervous and scared with you. It reflects back, and you reflect, you know, you're nervous and scared, so it's probably safe. Come on. Because then, the universe is calm. And when we sit and get together, And that's all the perks!

[32:50]

And frankly, I wonder if I deserve the serene and calm in the midst of the suffering. So it's this constant sort of, I enjoy the serene and calm when it happens, but it's this constant Well, I want to add something to what Jerry said, and I agree with everything you said completely. And so how does that, what does that mean in terms of facing the wall, facing the world, facing the world we're in, where, you know, we have, or I have friends in California who've had to evacuate because of climate fires, and we know that the world's a mess.

[34:41]

You know, the world's also beautiful. There are wonderful, beautiful places. There are prairies and lakes and, you know, both. So how do we, so I think, So I want to add to what you said by saying we also have to face the sadness. We also have to have to grieve for the suffering of the world and the suffering we know is coming that's already in the world and the more that's coming. And yet that doesn't mean succumbing to that. So I think what you said is right. So our koan in this time and season, in this place, how do we preserve it well in the middle of grieving for the people who are forced into mass migration because of climate damage and so forth.

[35:47]

For example, the species that are going extinct, the oceans that are in trouble and so forth. How do we grieve for that and really face that sadness? And at the same time, in the middle of that, feel the joy that we can practice in the middle of that. I think it's kind of wonderful to be alive and doing Bodhisattva practice at such a time. We have the chance to find our own inner personal and communal calm and settling and aliveness and respond and act at the same time that we can feel the sadness. This is to take this a step further, but I'm agreeing with what you said. And how do we express and enact that uprightness?

[36:52]

So I think that those are not mutually exclusive. Exactly what you said, and also not to ignore or turn away. Turning away and touching are both wrong. We can't get a hold of it. And there's a massive fire going on. We can't turn away from that. So our sessin is not to wallow in grief. And our life is not to wallow in grief. And feeling helpless is not the practice. It's not real. How do we actually enjoy that we can respond, we can make a difference? We're very lucky to be living in such difficult times. Yes, Ching-Yi. So I remember I had a teacher in Philadelphia, a medicine teacher.

[37:54]

And for a while, I felt really desperate on something in my life. And I feel like nothing is going right. And also, I feel like that feeling was somehow strengthened by my practice that helps me realize I was searching this this other Which are the best moments? The moments when you feel the energy. Well, practically speaking, of course, sometimes it happens that people in Sashin feel like, oh, that was a great period of Zazen.

[39:08]

Or, oh, this morning was lousy. I had a terrible Zazen. I was thinking all the time, or I was sleepy all the time. People tell me this. So we do have these prejudices, or we do have these ideas. And yet, it's all part of the process. It's all part of this. So I was talking about this yesterday, that there's this process of how this works, and we need to respect this and not neglect it. So how do we take care of this, sitting on the verge of realizing the Buddha way? So, yeah. But, you know, if you feel like you had a good period of success, then enjoy it. If you feel like you're having, you know, you feel energy, great. And then I was thinking about that being... So you haven't done levitation practice yet?

[40:36]

I have not. So how do I come into accord with the past extinction? And that might be to respond to that and try to help save some species. I don't know. there are ways to act to try and mitigate the damage.

[41:38]

Not just to passively accept what's happening, but to look and see what can we do to make it a little less worse. But, you know, the law of gravity is part of what supports us to respond. We sit on the ground or, you know, on the floor. We imagine the floor is solid, you know, that it's going to hold us up and when we take a step and we imagine there'll be a floor there for our foot to land on. And that... Buddhism is an earth religion all the way back to Buddha touching the ground to witness. So we trust the earth, we trust the planet to have some wisdom to respond, that something will remain and something will survive.

[42:46]

And how do we encourage that? It's not just passively watching it, like it's happening on some TV screen somewhere. you know, each in our own way, respond to be helpful. That's serving the Lords and obeying our ancestors. So maybe on that note,

[43:15]

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