Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to the new year, 2020. Today, I want to give a poetry reading. I want to read from Ehei Dogen, the founder of Japanese Soto Zen, who lived in the early 1200s, 1200 to 1253. I want to read from Dogen's extensive record volume 10, Dogen's extensive record, Ehe Koroku, was written in Chinese, as opposed to his other masterwork, Shobo Genzo, True Dharma, I, Treasury, which was written in Japanese. And volume 10 is all of Dogen's Chinese poetry. So these are It's called kanji in Japanese, Chinese poems, as opposed to waka in Japanese poems.

[01:03]

And actually in volume 10 includes poems from his whole life, including early poems from when he was a student in China. 1223 to 27, but I want to read poems from the end of his life. Poems from his six verses on snow, assorted verses number 87 to 92, and from his 15 verses on dwelling in the mountains. 99 to 113. So we'll see how many I get to, and a few others, but also from this later period. So here we are in this non-residential temple in the big city. Dogen, right in the middle of his teaching career, 1243, moved his whole assembly to the deep snowy mountains in northern Japan.

[02:11]

his response to the tumultuous times of his lifetime. But somehow I think that these verses are relevant to us even though we live in this big city without mountains. And it's been a fairly mild winter relatively so far. Being Chicago, I think we may see some more snow. We'll see. But somehow I think these verses have something for us. So again, I just want to read poems today. And I'll have something to say about some of them. These are from his six verses on snow.

[03:21]

Deepening dusk in early winter, dense snow keeps falling. On mountains in all directions, we see no cypress or pines. Stop discussing snow depths and the sinking gloom. I want this to be like Saochi Peak on Mount Song. And that was the mountain where Bodhidharma sat for nine years. So deepening dusk in early winter. Dense snow keeps falling on mountains in all directions. We see no cypress or pines. So it was all just white snow. Whatever, as far as they can see in the distance. Stop discussing snow depths and the sinking gloom. So don't worry about how deep the snow is. Also, how gloomy it feels. I want this to be like Sao Chi Peak on Mount Song.

[04:27]

So again, wanted his congregation to be sitting like Bodhidharma, to be like Bodhidharma, determined to sit, to meditate, to find and express deep truth, Bodhidharma, who's standing on our altar on this side, is the founder of Chan, founder of Zen in China. So he wanted his students to sit like Bodhidharma. And they feel like that too. Number 88, the five petal flower opens, a sixth snowflake petals added, Though daytime with blue sky, it's as if there were no light. If someone asks what color I see, these are Gautama's old eyes."

[05:30]

So the five-petal flower opens. And this we might see as a reference to plum blossoms, which have five petals and open in the snow, the first flower that blossoms. But then he says, a sixth petal's added. of the snow falling on the flower. It's like a snowflake, it's like a sixth petal. But we can also see this as the five first ancestors in China and the sixth is Huainan. So often they talk about the five and then the sixth. Though daytime with blue sky, it's as if there were no light. If someone asks what color I see amidst all the white and the white plum blossoms, these are Gautama's old eyes." So his teacher, Rujing, had said, when Gautama's eyeball vanishes, plum blossoms in snow.

[06:39]

And later Dogen added, we correctly transmit and accept that plum blossoms and snow are truly the Jatagata's eyeball. So this sense of plum blossoms and snow and the Buddha's eyes amidst all of that. With frosting on snow, number 89, it's difficult to say more. December plum blossoms gradually covering the ground become spotless. Although there are three kinds of conduct for patch road monks, in my assembly, we all avoid falling into the Black Mountain. There's three kinds of conduct. There's a teacher who talked about the three kinds of conduct of monks as superior monks practicing zazen, middling monks composing verses about snow, and then there's the inferior monks who sit around the fire and talk about food.

[07:54]

So Dogen himself here is one of the middling monks because he's writing poems about snow. Then he says, in my assembly, we all avoid falling into the black mountains. So the black mountains refers to attachment to emptiness, attachment to emptiness. enjoyment of the bliss of meditation. And maybe that's easier when you're up in the mountains. I know some of you have, even though you live in Chicago where there's no mountains, some of you have seen mountains, I know. Some of you have seen snowy mountains. But sitting for a long time in intense meditation in that kind of situation, one can find deep enjoyment in meditation. But don't settle there. This is called traditionally the Black Mountain, the trap of meditation.

[09:03]

So he's warning against that. And he's confessing to be a middling kind of monk because he writes poems about snow. And then the next one, number 90, I could spend the whole talk about, but I'll say some things. But anyway, in our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. While playing with the moon, scorning winds, and listening to birds, for many years, I merely saw that mountains had snow. This winter, suddenly I realized that snow completes mountains, or it could be read that snow fulfills or creates the mountains. Again, in our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. while playing with the moon, scorning winds, and listening to birds, as they would have done up in the mountains in the monastery.

[10:05]

For many years, I merely saw that mountains had snow. This winter, suddenly, I realized that snow fulfills mountains, or snow is the mountains. So many, many things to say about this poem. In our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. So in Dogen's lifetime, there were civil wars. There were earthquakes and famine. There was false and true, good and bad are confused. It was a confusing time. And of course, in our lifetime, too, False and true, good and bad are confused. So I mentioned in a talk sometime this last year about my own background that it's actually 40 years ago, maybe this week or last week, that I

[11:13]

gave up my career as a documentary film editor, which actually then meant working in TV and news a lot. And I went to work full time at San Francisco Zen Center's Tazahara Bakery in San Francisco. And I mentioned to, I told one of the producers at the TV news station what I was gonna do. He was a guy who had been a producer at the New York station where I'd also worked before I moved to San Francisco, again, 40 years ago this week or last week. And he said, that's wrong. I thought you had news in your bones, he said to me. And I confess he was right about that. And as some of you know from some of my talks, but one of my New Year's resolutions this year is to not reactively give talks about the current news.

[12:17]

So I'm giving it, I'm reading Dogen's poems today. Although I'll just mention that, you know, the president's attack on Iran. This weekend seems to me even more misguided and dangerous than our 2003 attack on invasion of Iraq. But anyway, I'll leave that and go back to the poem. In my opinion, in our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. And in our lifetime too, there's lots of confusion. while playing with the moon, scorning winds, and listening to birds. And I like this playing with the moon, playing with, and the full moon is an image for traditionalians and for awakening. Scorning winds, the winds here and there, and listening to birds. For many years, I merely saw that mountains had snow.

[13:25]

Suddenly, this winter, I realized that snow fulfills mountains, or snow is the mountains. And Kaz Tanahashi talked about this poem when he was here, one of the times he was here. Kaz is an old friend and a well-known calligrapher and artist, and also has spent many, many, many years working on translations of Dogen, and there are a number of paintings that he left us in this temple, including the one behind Brian, which is one of his one-stroke paintings, which is The Snow Within, he called it. So this is a reminder of the inner snow, When there's snow outside, or just our inner cool. So he's, and actually, behind Eric, he also later left this other painting, which is the desert within.

[14:29]

So we have a hot and cold side of his endo, at least in terms of the graphics. Kaz said that this poem was the thing that turned him on to Dogen when he first read them in Japanese. And then he ended up studying Dogen and eventually did translations of Dogen from Dogen's ancient Japanese into modern Japanese. So again, In our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused while playing with the moon, scorning winds, and listening to birds. For many years, I merely saw that mountains had snow. This winter, suddenly, I realized that snow completes mountains. Snow is the mountains.

[15:31]

Snow fulfills mountains. There's so many things to say about that, and nothing that I say actually gets to just this verse from Dogen. But the snow fulfills the mountains. Sometimes we want to look at some inner meaning. We want to look at what is beneath the snow. What is the inner meaning of a mountain or a poem or an image or a picture? But the snow is the mountain. It's the snow fulfilling the mountain. Just the surface is it completely. The snow completes the mountain. So that's a one-stroke painting of, you know, you might see it as a wave on the ocean, but it's the snow on the mountain too. This winter, suddenly I realized snow fulfills the mountain.

[16:33]

What is the snow on the mountains of our heart? Is it cold? Is it white? So we could just talk about this verse all day, but I'll give you some more. 91, how can the three realms and 10 directions be all one color? Who would discuss the difference between human and heavenly beings? Do not convey the talk of birds suffering in the cold. The lake with no heat of anxiety is on the snowy mountains. And that lake with no heat of anxiety is a translation of the Sanskrit word for a lake in the Himalayas. So, this refers to complaining. Who would discuss the difference between human and heavenly beings?

[17:41]

Do not convey talk of birds suffering in the cold. You know, in some ways he's saying to his monks in the cold, snowy mountains of northern Japan, just appreciate the mountains. The lake with no heat of anxiety is on the snowy mountains. The last one, an Udumbara flower naturally opens on an old tree. Early plum blossoms erect a sanctuary, a bright tower in the night. The silvery pearl net hangs over the entire world. The ground becomes pure as lapis lazuli. An Udumbara flower naturally opens on an old tree. So Udumbara flowers are said to blossom every 3,000 years on the occasion of a Chakravartin wheel-turning king being born or a Buddha being born. Nudambara flower naturally opens on an old tree.

[18:45]

Early plum blossoms erect a sanctuary. So this image of plum blossoms is very prevalent in Dogen's writing and in his teacher's writing, too. A bright tower in the night. A silvery pearl net hangs over the entire world. The ground becomes pure as lapis lazuli. So thinking of the snow-covered ground up in the mountains. So I'm going to read some of the verses about dwelling in the snowy mountains. And again, these verses kind of give a spirit that may be useful to us living in the busy city.

[19:58]

How delightful mountain dwelling is so solitary and tranquil. Because of this, I always read the Lotus Blossom Sutra. And we've talked about the Lotus Sutra here. With wholehearted vigor under trees, what is there to love or hate? How enviable sound of evening rains in deep autumn. Again, how delightful mountain dwelling, so solitary and tranquil. Because of this, I always read the Lotus Blossom Sutra. With wholehearted vigor under trees, what is there to love or hate? How enviable. The sound of evening rains in deep autumn. So there's something of the deep spirit of zazen in these verses. Number 100.

[21:06]

The ancestral way comes from the west, I transmit east. Polishing the moon, cultivating clouds, I long for the ancient wind. How could red dusts from the mundane world fly up to here? Snowy night in the deep mountains in my grass hut. so we sometimes chant the song of the grass hut. But he's, Dogen chose to leave the capital of Kyoto and live up in the mountains and train his close disciple monks up in that kind of atmosphere. The ancestral way, again, come from west, I transmit east, polishing the moon, cultivating clouds, And clouds represents monks, unsweet clouds and water.

[22:07]

So polishing the moon, polishing awakening, cultivating clouds, cultivating the students. I long for the ancient wind and the wind is also the teaching, the style of teaching. How could red dust from the mundane world fly up to here? Snowy night in the deep mountains in my grass hut. So that spirit, we can remember sitting zazen, sitting daylong sittings. This is the other side from our busy life in Chicago. Again, the ancestral way come from the west, I transmit east. Polishing the moon, cultivating clouds, I long for the ancient wind. How could red dust from the mundane world fly up to here? Let go of all the mundane problems.

[23:09]

Snowy night in the deep mountains in my grass hut. There's time to read all of these, in fact. There's not, but somebody wanted to get to, yeah. Sitting as the night gets late, sleep not yet arrived, ever more I realize engaging the way is best in mountain forests. Sound of valley streams enters my ears. Moonlight pierces my eyes. Other than this, not a thought's in my mind. Sound of valley streams enters my ears. Moonlight pierces my eyes.

[24:10]

Other than this, not a thought's in my mind. Evermore I realize engaging the way is best. So that's the spirit that Dogen is conveying in these poems towards the end of his life. And this image, Sound of Valley Streams, enters my ears. There's a verse that Dogen writes of in one of his showbook Enzo essays from a great Chinese poet, poet and lay Zen adept, part of which goes, the sound of the valley streams is the Buddha's tongue. The forms of the mountain are the Buddha's body. This is from Sutongbo, Sotoba in Japanese.

[25:15]

And this is actually from an essay in Shobogenzo, Keisei Sanshoku, named after this sound of the valley streams and the form or the shape of the mountains as the Buddha's body, which is the essay from Shobogenzo that we will be using for our spring practice period this April and May. There's a lot in that essay. So I'll read this again. Sitting as the night gets late, sleep not yet arrived, evermore I realize engaging the way is best in mountain forests. Sound of valley streams enters my ears, moonlight pierces my eyes. Other than this, not a thought's in my mind. So again, we are here in this non-residential, urban, temple in Chicago, but this is the other side. This is deep Zazen, as practiced in monastic mountain, deep mountain temples.

[26:25]

And it's part of our practice, even here in Chicago. So I wanted to start the year by reading some of these poems. 102, when I love mountains, mountains love their master. For rocks big and small, how can the way cease? White clouds and yellow leaves await their time and season. Already discarded are the nine mundane streams. This refers to nine mundane philosophies and teachings. So rocks, for even rocks, How can the way cease? The way permeates the mountains, permeates nature, permeates here in Chicago where there are no mountains, prairies and lakes and the Great Lake. It permeates all of nature.

[27:33]

103, grasping source of clouds and passing through water barriers, My face opens in reverence as the mountain face displays flowers, clearly realizing the promise from beginningless Kalpas. Mountains love the master, and I enter the mountains. grasping, again, grasping source of clouds and passing through water barriers, my face opens in reverence as the mountain face displays flowers." And here maybe he's looking at a distant mountain and seeing flowers on the mountainside. Clearly realizing the promise from beginningless Kalpas, mountains love the master and I enter the mountains. So this relationship between the person, the Sazen person, and the natural space around.

[28:35]

And even in the city, there is nature, of course. One more. Staying in mountains, I gradually awaken to mountain sounds and colors. Fruit growing and flowers open. I question release from this emptiness. For a while I've wondered, what is the original color? Blue, yellow, red, and white are all in the painting. I like this one. Staying in mountains, I gradually awaken to mountains, sounds, and colors. Again, this references the sound of the Buddha's voice and the color or form of the Buddha's body. Staying in mountains, I gradually awaken to mountain sounds and colors, fruit growing and flowers open, the practice fulfilling.

[29:42]

I question release from this emptiness. What is the release from emptiness? as the practice flowers. For a while, I've wondered, what is the original color? Interesting question. What is the original color? Blue, yellow, and red, and white are all in the painting. So there's the painting. It looks like it's just white and burlap. What are the colors in the painting? And he's seeing the whole world around him as a painting. It's the surface. So there are more of these, number of more of these mountain, deep mountain poems. There's some others I want to read too.

[30:45]

I'll read a few more of the mountain poems. The evening bell rings in moonlight and lanterns are raised. Training monks sit in the hall and quietly observe emptiness. Having fortunately attained the three robes, or this is the rice patty robes. There are three robes that are given in transmission, but it means the patch robes. Having fortunately attained the three robes, now they plant seeds.

[31:46]

How heartwarming their ripening liberation in the one mind. I'll read it again. The evening bell rings in moonlight and lanterns are raised. Training monks sit in the hall and quietly observe emptiness. Having fortunately attained the patched robes, now they plant seeds. How heartwarming, their ripening liberation in the one mind. So planting seeds is what we're all doing. Planting seeds of awakening. Sharing this possibility of practice. In a grass hut in the deep mountains and valleys, contemplation and zazen cannot be exhausted. Add even a speck of dust to the high peak of merit. The Tathagata's disciples wish for divine power. So again, this grass hut image, like in the Song of the Grass Hut.

[32:54]

In a grass hut in the deep mountains and valleys, contemplation and zazen cannot be exhausted. And I would offer in a storefront temple in the urban avenues, and lakeside. Contemplation and zazen cannot be exhausted. Add even a speck of dust to the high peak of merit." So this echoes something that's in the instructions for the cook by Dogen, where he talks about adding even as he says, not to just measure ingredients, but also to increase the merit and virtue of practice by adding to the people sitting. So it talks about the ingredients for cooking. So that line sort of echoes that.

[33:55]

Add even a speck of dust to the high peaks of merit. The Buddha's disciples wish for divine power. So, and in many places, in Dogen and Zen, they talk about divine power as being just ordinary, everyday activity. So, anyway, there's more of these, but I wanted to go back and read a few of the somewhat earlier verses. They're still fairly late in this career. Clouds disappearing in the blue sky. This is number 59. Clouds disappearing in the blue sky. A crane's mind at ease. Waves constant on the ancient shore. A fish swim slowly. Who can focus their eyes on this vague edge?

[34:57]

From the hundred foot pole, take another step. So this is like in Genjo Kōan where he talks about birds and fish. Clouds disappearing in the blue sky, a crane's mind at ease. Waves constant on the ancient shore, a fish swims slowly. So this sort of is an image of the other shore, the shore of liberation. Who can focus their eyes on this vague edge? So this edge could be the boundary between ocean and sky, or also between the one and the many. So these verses, they're not, again, it's the surface, it's not about. finding one interpretation. But I'll read that again. Clouds disappearing in the blue sky, a crane's mind at ease. Waves constant on the ancient shore, a fish swim slowly.

[36:01]

Who can focus their eye on this vague edge from the 100-foot pole? Take another step. So Dogan often talks about going beyond. What does it mean to go beyond? Wherever we have reached in our practice, just keep going. Okay, this one is, there's a background story to this. I'll read it first and then tell the story. This mind itself is Buddha, practice is difficult, expounding is easy. No mind, no Buddha, expounding is difficult, practice is easy. So there's a story about Masa, one of the great teachers in the 700s, the horse ancestor, his name means. And he was a contemporary of Shito who was the Sekito who wrote the Song of the Grass Hut and the Harmony of Difference and Sameness. They were the two great teachers of that time.

[37:04]

And for a long time, Amazu taught his students this very mind, or this mind itself, as Buddha. And one of his students, whose name Damme means great plum, was awakened hearing this and went off and lived on a mountain a little ways away and eventually became a great teacher himself. This mind itself is Buddha. Wonderful teacher. This mind itself is Buddha. Hard to believe, right? When we sit in Zazen and there's all these cardboard thoughts. Anyway, this mind itself is Buddha. Later on though, Masa started teaching, no mind, no Buddha. That's all I'm doing, no mind, no Buddha. Forget about Buddha. No mind, no Buddha. And he sent one of his disciples to go see Dame.

[38:05]

This disciple, this monk, told Dalai, you know, the master has changed his teachings. Now he says, no mind, no Buddha. And Dalai said, I don't care. For me, this very mind is Buddha. And he went back and told Maso. And Maso said, ah, the plum is ripe. So anyway, there's these two teachings that Maso used. This mind is Buddha. This mind itself is Buddha. And no mind, no Buddha. Dogen's commentary on it in this verse is really interesting. So these are two sides of our practice, of our understanding. This mind itself is Buddha. No mind, no Buddha. Dogen says, this mind itself is Buddha. Practice is difficult. Expounding is easy. No mind, no Buddha. Expounding is difficult. Practice is easy. I'll say that again. This mind itself is Buddha. Practice is difficult.

[39:10]

Expounding is easy. No mind, no Buddha. Expounding is difficult, but practice is easy. So we could spend a whole Dharma talk just talking about that. I'll read it again. This mind itself is Buddha. Practice is difficult. Expounding is easy. It's difficult to practice this mind itself as Buddha, but it's easy to talk about. No mind, no Buddha. Expounding is difficult. Hard to say anything. Practice is easy. No mind, no Buddha. OK, just one or two more. Encountering whatever meets the eye, all is intimate.

[40:18]

In sitting, lying, or walking meditation, the body is completely real. When someone asks the meaning of this, a speck of dust appears within the dharma eye treasury. Encountering whatever meets the eye, all is intimate. Just seeing whatever meets the eye. This is like the snow on the mountain. All is intimate. In sitting, lying, or walking meditation, the body is completely real. When someone asks the meaning of this, a speck of dust. appears within the Dharma I treasury. This is true I treasury, which is like Shobogenzo, a translation of Shobogenzo. A speck of dust appears. So you may ask the meaning, but it's adding dust, Dogen says.

[41:21]

OK, last one. This is number 69 in this collection. In birth and death we sympathize with ceasing, then arising. Both deluded and awakened paths proceed within a dream. And yet, there's something difficult to forget. In leisurely seclusion at Fukakusa, sound of evening rain. So Fukakusa was the place where he had his first temple south of Kyoto, or maybe even before he set up his first temple. So he's remembering something. In birth and death, we sympathize with ceasing, then arising. Both deluded and awakened paths proceed within a dream. And yet there's something difficult to forget. In leisurely seclusion at Spokoksa, sound of evening rain." So both delusion and awakening are just a dream, and yet

[42:28]

Difficult to forget the sound of evening rain. So I'm sorry I gave you so many poems. But maybe there's some feeling of these, of Togan's mature teaching, just sitting up in the mountains, Maybe one other side of our sitting here in this storefront temple. So comments, questions, responses, anyone? Please feel free. Yes, Alex. Do you have any sense of whether it is harder to practice or discount what is your view?

[43:33]

Well, it depends on whether you're practicing with this very mind as Buddha or practicing no mind, no Buddha. Practicing with emptiness or practicing with just this. And that's what Dogen was saying. But sometimes it's difficult to say anything Sometimes it's difficult to practice. Sometimes it's easy to sit up here babbling. Sometimes it's difficult to say anything. And the point is, though, how do we just continue? How do we find something that supports us to continue to settle, and inhale, and exhale, and find our way. And wherever we practice, however we practice, for me there's something inspiring about these three poems of Dogon.

[45:00]

Yes, Kathy. One thing that it reminded me of, all of the focus on the mountains, is that mountains represent the millennia. They've been here longer than cities and places. They move slowly. They do change. Right, there's something that's deeper, wider, vaster. Yeah. Longer. Seeing this wider sense of time and space. Yeah. I just, there's a card I have that I have to forget the exact title.

[46:08]

There's a haiku on the back. I thought it was a painting of snow covering a Japanese village in a mountain. Yeah. And also there's a, that's right, and then also like the, there are verses or lines about being in the mountains, we can't see the mountains, when from a distance you see the mountains. Yeah. And Gary Snyder talks very eloquently about Nature in the city. Of course, nature isn't something that's out there, outside of the city. Right in the city, there are trees and birds and lakes and we have wonderful parks. But even on a city street, it's the natural world and we can find grasses growing up out of concrete.

[47:17]

How do we appreciate that? And we have this great lake to look at and sit by. Any other comments or responses? Yes, Belinda. Yes. And it's related to also when we sit in satsang, how we sometimes think, if I'm not sitting, if there's a lot of thoughts or more sad thoughts, that's not bad.

[48:52]

Yes. And there's no good or bad. Just like we might think, heaven is good, hell is bad, but is it? So if we can kind of let go and just be accepting and open to whatever's happening, then there can be at least a little bit of humanity. Yeah, and our ideas about good and bad are just that. There's also, you know, this is a tricky place because there is just seeing what is. around us and accepting it, as you say. And there's also the precepts, which we try and be helpful and not harmful. So that's part of that. But then how that works is not necessarily our worldly ideas, right? We have to step back from that.

[50:04]

Part of the idea of the mountains, as Cathy was saying, is that we, to take a wider view, beyond our usual ideas is part of the practice. To see from this wider view of the mountains is to help us with that. So, yeah, it's a tricky place, but it's, yeah, it's an important point. Things fall, things rise. We live in this world. It's confusing often. Hoketsu. Yes. Yes.

[51:14]

Right. How do we meet the 10,000 floors and 10,000 stars? Good. Yeah, it's challenging. But yes, this background of the mountains and snow, this place that Dogen's speaking of is where we can most From that settling is where perhaps we can best respond when there are things that we want to respond to.

[52:20]

Thank you. So thank you all very much.

[52:30]

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