The road crew is here, and they are doing very dangerous work for us, and every year, and I think Don's been on the road 17 years, and Richard 19 years. Can you imagine every year? And since we've been here, they have been working. They do extra work, and they've made it much wider. Until we came, it was a pretty narrow road. In fact, there used to be a telephone, but you had to telephone up to the ridge. Now, of course, as they were saying, the phone would be stolen or something. To get a telephone, you'd phone up and say, no one's coming up, and then people would come down, because it's so narrow, no one could pass it away. But it was the last stretch, he's now trying to widen, and he's got...

[01:09]

he tried to widen. There's a wide stretch, I don't know if you've seen. He climbs up the cliff, you know, on his dozer. Did I tell you how he does that before? No? Some of you. At lunch, oh yeah. Say this is a big cliff here, right? He pushes into it, his dozer, and he pushes down some of the hill in front of him, and he drives right up on what he's pushing, and he goes up and up and up and up. And maybe he turns around? I don't know. Anyway, he gets way up. He's now up... how high is he up, Lucy? 30 or 40 feet? Up. On this fill he's put down, and he has a pickup truck watching, and they turn the lights on, is that right? If it starts to slide? They turn the lights on. They've got a... he's got a spotlight on him. So if it starts to slide, he flashes the light on, so the guy on the dozer can't see it sliding, and then I don't know what he's going to do. Jump

[02:10]

across himself, yeah. No, not in this valley. And anyway, he... I went up last time I went out, no, anyway, sort of the last time I went out. I saw him, and he was completely covered with dust and quite shaken, and he nearly rolled the dozer. And he'd done it once before some years ago in a dozer situation, just the same type of situation. So he's perched up maybe 40 feet on this thing, and then there's the road way down here, and then there's the thousand feet or whatever it is below that. But he's... not only do they make it much easier and safer for us, I think they're saving lives, because that's such a dangerous part, the part they're widening now. And he's quite frustrated, because he's gone almost a thousand

[03:15]

feet. He wanted to connect where he widened last year, and instead of using the money to put in cribbing, that stuff on the side, he said, just leave me alone with my dozer and I'll widen it. With the same amount of money, I'll widen it instead of putting cribbing. So anyway, he's got down to the last 30 feet, and most of the rock gives way as he goes. But he's perched on top of this huge boulder, which is enormous, stretching the whole length of the way down. And he can't move it. Yesterday he worked on it all day, and he got about six feet off it, or something like that, by hitting it over and over again with the bulldozer. So he may have to give up, so the road's going to come down like this freeway, and then suddenly whoop, it'll narrow a little bit, and he can go around this huge stone. And then he says, can you guys paint it with some flowers? Maybe we can carve a big Buddha in it. Anyway, they're

[04:27]

perched up on top of this big stone. Once he comes down, he can't go back up, because you can't, there's no more fill to climb back up with. So if he comes down, it's all over for the boulder, I mean, for the width of the road, anyway. He'll try to chop at it from the bottom. That's dangerous, because some chunk may fall off. If he's working at the bottom, sometimes trees and other stuff come down. Anyway, in Salinas, road department, they have people say to them, what are you doing in Tassajara? All those Japs? A few years ago they used to say, those long hairs using Buddhism as an excuse for drugs, that's what

[05:32]

they used to say. Now we've switched to shaven-headed Japs. One of them, an old guy named Richard, not the one we know as Richard, but an old guy who's retiring, and his retirement present, he retires April 30th, and his retirement present is to work on this road. I guess they think it's fun to come in here, even though it's dangerous. Anyway, he's here, and he said, last night to Diane, he said, you know, you guys are industrious, and I like the feeling down here and everything, and why do you get up at 2.30 in the morning? And sit till 10.30 at night, he said, or whatever we sit till. He said, how can a man do it? How can a person

[06:34]

just sit there? He's right. I blame it on them that every morning I hear that wake-up bell and say, who told Jerome to go around 2.30 in the morning? Must be the director. Anyway, we're here again today, and to consider a little further this profound, elusive, simple, simple and elusive teaching. You may think that you don't have the right history for

[07:49]

becoming a Buddha, or achieving enlightenment. As I was saying yesterday, our practice starts very early. But last night, I said, this Buddha is 1700 years old, about, made to represent our practice. Some 800 years after Buddha, the statue was made. And I said, you know, we, and we, and I said, we, what did I say? We have many histories, thousand histories

[09:00]

included in us. So this point I want to talk about, the sustaining power of a Bodhisattva. The power to move toward the truth. There are various powers a Bodhisattva is supposed to have. The power, the first one is the power to move toward the truth. The power to, not the goal or the achievement of enlightenment, but the power to move toward the truth, the power to sustain one's intention, the power to sustain one's intention, the power to sustain

[10:00]

one's desire, or sustain one's path, the power to sustain one's path. There are other powers, the power to receive people. That's an interesting one, the power to receive people. Not so different. The power of illuminated faith, or illuminated trust, the power of illuminated trust, the ability to cut through, to drop your pride, to cut through, to drop your individuality, and beseech your teacher, beseech each person you meet. The power of, I don't know, the power of the power of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit

[11:13]

of clarity, or intelligence. It means stable, a stable, untinged state of mind, which just receives things. There's a poem, a famous story, the commentary is something like, dragons, and the spirit and snakes, to discern dragons and snakes, jewels and ordinary stones. Truth and false, something like that.

[12:19]

Middle part, I forget. Then it ends, black, is it black or white, straight or crooked, true or false, something like that. And then it's, Wu Zhou asks, Manjushree, supposedly, Manjushree. Asks Wu Zhou, how is it in the South, or where are you from, he says, the South. And Manjushree asks, how is Buddhism in those parts? And Wu Zhou says, in this time of the decay of the law, there is little discipline. And Manjushree says, how about the congregations? And Wu Zhou says, three hundred, some three hundred, some five hundred.

[13:53]

And Manjushree, so then Wu Zhou asks Manjushree, how about in these parts, is the Buddhist Buddhism going on? And Manjushree says, dragons and snakes intermingled, sage and holy men practiced together. Dragons and snakes intermingled, sage and holy men practiced together. And Wu Zhou says, how about the congregations? And Manjushree says, front three and three, back three and three. Anyway, this is a very famous statement, front three and three, back three and three. Now, Manjushree in this, you know, is some illusion, and the temple he creates where

[15:25]

Wu Zhou stays in his travels is an illusion, and it all disappears at the end of the story. So, this is a very famous statement, and it all disappears at the end of the story. I don't know how to tell you about this, because I'm not...it's very simple, but I'm not sure you'll understand. It means that you are an incredible, wonderful person, that's what it means, and that you

[16:32]

include all histories, you include an infinite number of histories, you include also a sage, also a Buddha. So Buddha becomes a Buddha. And by your awakened moment, by your concentrated consciousness, energy, intention, penetration, you awaken that part of your history which is the history of a Buddha. So it means that concentration of intention, concentration of energy, concentration of consciousness, concentration of penetration, are not enough. So, in the sutras it says sometimes, so-and-so got up and by his power of abhava, or some

[17:46]

word, there are several words that mean the same thing, went over and asked the Buddha a question. This power, to ask the Buddha a question, is the power I'm talking about. And it's something that's already there, there's no origin, in Buddhism we say no origin. So, we're not talking about, you know, I've been talking about man-made, it's man-made, but your decision to practice is man-made, your vow is man-made, and to sustain your vow is man-made. But there's also an original vow, sense of, that Mahayana Buddhism talks of, that you uncover, or original intention, or original history, or this is also the sense of you

[18:53]

have accumulated merit. So, as you know, you're a particular person who has had a particular history, but what about if you become enlightened? And your particular history did not lead to that. Some other history led to that, and if you wrote your biography, you wouldn't be interested in doing it, but if you did, you would describe different events. You have millions and millions of moments, billions of moments in your life. Of which you've experienced many things. Those moments, which you call your history, are a teeny fraction of your total moments. So within you, you have the history, thousands of histories.

[20:04]

So it's a matter of circumstances, your life circumstances. We can say, in Buddhism, in Mahayana Buddhism, we say those histories are infinite, so numerous we can say infinite. And because they're infinite, they include the history of every person, past, present and future. Nagarjuna and Buddhas and et cetera, bad people, good people, mixed up people. So he says, sages and holy men mixed, dragons and snakes intermingle, front three, back three. It means you are the entire congregation. It also means this vision I was trying to give you a feeling of yesterday by talking

[21:07]

about Cezanne, front three, back three. In all directions, our history is unfolding. This isn't the usual idea of time and space. So there's no need to put yourself down. By your illuminated conscious moment, you will awaken the history of Buddha. And so there's no need to put anyone else down. If you think such and such a person is not worthy of the practice, such and such a person is undeveloped, I will only receive teaching from this person and not from that person.

[22:11]

Or I will trouble myself with this one and not that one. You lose yourself by such thinking. For by our Buddhist experience, our meditation experience, each person includes everyone and their circumstances. The differences in, you know, ears and noses and brains and things are very small. Their circumstances have brought out one history or another history. But in Buddhism, we do this kind of life and we meditate as much as we do, from 2.30 till 10.30, to bring out the circumstances of a Buddha, to change the circumstances of our

[23:17]

life, so another history is awakened, and it will actually happen. You'll find events in your life that you had no idea were events in your life. Which plotted a history that was unknown to you? So dragons and snakes are intermingled, as you find in your own zazen. Sage and mundane person, I should have said, are mixed. So, it says, to distinguish jewels from ordinary stones, or dragons and snakes, holy and profane. It means that each one of us, you know, without regard to our particular history that has

[24:36]

been emphasized, include Buddha. And without this power, no matter what you do, what you add, whether you concentrate consciousness, energy, etc., this power is not enough. Without this initial power, this is the, we're talking about the various powers, six powers, this initial power in which you are already Buddha. So our practice is... most basically to awaken this, what Suzuki Yoshi called, inmost request. In the Prajnaparamita literature, it's talked about as awakening the thought of enlightenment,

[25:57]

for all beings. In the Lankavatara Sutra, it's talked about as receiving the hand anointment of the Buddhas. You awaken in your own history, the Buddhas, the patriarchs, the Tathagata. The presence of Buddha sustains your practice. And you don't do it by searching through your past, but by this illuminated moment, which awakens your accumulated merit. And not just the merit of this lifetime, but the merit of all lifetimes. For we are, front three, back three, we are extraordinary people, or Buddhas.

[27:12]

We are extraordinary creatures. And what people do, and what people go through, and the various possibilities of lives are included in us. You know, you may say this isn't exactly true, but when you think about it, it's true to such a degree, at least that much we can say, that you can say it's true. So you don't have to worry. You know, I don't have the proper conditions or history. They have lost the discipline, you know. Congregations are three hundred and five hundred, some limited number. But Manjushri says there is no limit.

[28:14]

Dragons and snakes are intermingled. Front three, back three. Front three and three, back three and three. Each of you includes whole being. The fourth patriarch said to somebody, you do not have Buddha nature. And Dogen said, there's also a koan, you know, about Daitsu Jisho, I believe his name is. Funny name. Daitsu Jisho, who sat for one hundred kalpas on his cushion and did not achieve Buddhahood. So, the question is, why did Daitsu Jisho, who sat for one hundred kalpas on his cushion,

[29:22]

not achieve Buddhahood? What is this not achieve Buddhahood? So the same thing comes up with Dogen. Dogen quotes the fourth patriarch who said to a young boy, you do not have Buddhahood. You do not include the Buddha. And Dogen says, you should ask yourself, when are you not Buddha? What time are you not Buddha? Are you not Buddha after enlightenment? Are you not Buddha before enlightenment? Are you not Buddha at this moment? He said, you should ask Buddha, your Buddha nature itself, what is not Buddhahood. You should ask the pillars of the temple, Dogen said. Again, he's talking about this power of investigation, of inquiry. That I've been talking about, and Dogen says, you should even ask the temple pillar,

[30:28]

what is this not Buddhahood? Again, you can only ask this kind of question out of the power of trust. If you don't trust, you know, you can't try out something thoroughly. What is this not Buddhahood? You underestimate the people around you. By underestimating the people around you, you underestimate yourself. If you don't know, then you also include Buddha. In your thousands of histories, you include the sage. So this practice is possible because we are already Buddha. If we had to create Buddha from scratch, it would be an uphill battle.

[31:32]

But everyone includes Buddha, and everyone altogether is Buddha. Literally. So your teacher, in this sense, is not a model. One kind of... I talked about various aspects of the teacher yesterday, but one aspect is the teacher as a model. And it's true in many ways. We try to understand our teacher, try to anticipate what's going on. But also we can try to understand anybody. Can you understand someone well enough to anticipate what they do? Then you can actually help somebody.

[32:33]

Before they know they need something, you hand them a glass of water. And doing this, there's a tendency to enter the mode of the person, taking on the mode of the person who you're helping, who you're anticipating. This is quite natural. In this sense, everyone is a model or a mode we take on. But fundamentally, the teacher is not a model. The teacher helps you awaken, this illuminated moment, which brings out your own sage, your own Buddha, which you already include. So in this way, a teacher, a good teacher, can have many different kinds of disciples

[33:36]

who are very different, each from the other and from the teacher. Because what we realise is, you know, included in everything... He's talking, front three, back three, again means internalisation, not externalised practice. Internalised congregations, sages and profane people, snakes and dragons. So the effort in your practice,

[34:53]

I guess the best way to say it, is to let this power, this history, this merit, already there, come out. So on the one hand, you're practising in the mode of the Abhidharma in which you are, for example, consciously creating wholesome thought, as the Abhidharma says, to counteract unwholesome thought, or creating some intention. And you can't, as I've said to some people, you can't create that intention or some wholesome thought unless you have the desire to do it in some way. So even though it's fabricated, so is the unwholesome thought fabricated. And you awaken the source of this.

[35:58]

But in the midst of this effort, where you're concentrating your energy and consciousness and intention and penetration, questioning even the pillars, you're also allowing, knowing, have faith that this history of the sage is in you. Each of us includes all of the ingredients in this life of Buddhahood. You saw a sick man. And you saw a dead person. And you saw a beggar, etc. And you had the same realisation of Buddha, but conditions have not allowed you to act on it in the same way. But just the decision to practise is really the big decision,

[37:05]

the big step. It's like... so sometimes ordination, even transmission can be given the instant a person starts to meditate. It's like maybe the rain comes down and everything is prepared. But one drop of rain falls and we can say there will be a garden. We don't have to wait until we harvest the crop. So if you practise and you make right effort, right views, etc., you surely will realise the sage within you. And the sage within everyone. And we don't limit ourselves even to helping someone

[38:12]

because their grandchild will start to practise. There's no limit to the number of lives. Three hundred and five hundred we don't need. Front three and three, back three and three. No origin. There is no beginning of Buddha. Buddha is already there. But out of the many fronts and backs and threes and threes, if you realise your original intention, original vow,

[39:16]

out of the numerous possibilities, you can realise the possibility of all of them, which is Buddha, awakening to all of them. Anyway, this is the understanding of Mahayana Buddhism and more than that, it's the practical way we address ourselves and our friends, receiving people, to realise enlightenment. And the wide truth of this, so wide we call it emptiness,

[40:44]

which exists in every form, is also ascertained by our practice. It's not just Mahayana philosophy, but something you find to be true, instant, instance after instance, instant after instant. So don't slight anyone. You can be sure they include Buddha, which can be awakened.

[41:46]

And they may be the one, by some irony, which we can't explain, who awakens the Buddha in you. So the fundamental power of a bodhisattva is to sustain this awareness, to sustain this power of turning toward Buddhism, of asking pillars, questions, of acknowledging the presence of Buddhas and patriarchs in ourselves. Every Buddha and patriarch, it's the same. You know, Joshu had some history of his parents, but at enlightenment, his history is the history of a patriarch.

[43:02]

Patriarch achieves enlightenment. The particular person is dropped off like a snake sheds its skin, and your personal history is not important anymore. So you can drop your personal history any time. Out of the thousands, thousands and thousands of moments of our life, we have all the recognitions of a sage, but conditions have not allowed us to reap this merit. But now you have been lucky enough to find conditions which will help you reap this merit, and from which this original vow, everything else comes from.

[44:20]

The sustaining, sustained concentration I talked about yesterday, the non-discrimination, all come from this original vow or recognition that we are already Buddha. It's not possible by yourself alone to have sustained concentration or to not discriminate. You, your personal history, the accumulation of your personal history cannot non-discriminate. Only a sage can non-discriminate. So when you don't discriminate, it's not you that doesn't discriminate. Your non-discrimination is dropping your personal history,

[45:22]

and Buddha is not discriminating. No, Buddha is not discriminating. This is such a much better world to live in when you don't slight people, when you recognize dragons and snakes, holy and profane. When you recognize the holy and profane, together. Every situation is an illuminated garden, refreshing breeze, as I said. San Francisco, New York, Tassajara Mountains,

[46:29]

wherever it is, Green Gulch, on your cushion. The commentary says on this koan about front three and three, back three and three, Right now, hearing is not obscured, seeing is not obscured. Wherever you are, this garden of sounds, and wind, and the internal complexity of our space of leaves and branches and water is always present.

[47:31]

Supported by Buddha, supported by the sustaining power of the Bodhisattva. The Sheesha takes Wujo to the gate of Manjushri's temple, and Wujo says, How many is three and three and three and three? And the boy says, Wujo? Wujo says, Yes. And the attendant says,

[48:58]

How many is that? And he turns around and the temple and the attendant are gone. This is not just a story. This means how you'll find this sustaining power of Buddha, how Buddha and Manjushri themselves will anoint you, hand-anointed. So the commentary says, If you don't have the eye, it says, hand-anointed means the Buddha will touch you with his hand

[50:08]

on your forehead. If you don't have the eye of Buddha or a talisman under your arm or on your elbow or something, how will you understand this dragons and snakes mixed? If you don't understand already, everything has no origin. There's some Zen story. I think it goes something about having a cake, and the teacher says,

[51:28]

Where does the sweetness come from? And I don't remember what the monk says, but the teacher then says, Ask me. And the monk says, Where does the sweetness come from? And the teacher says, That's right. He means it comes from where? And Jerome said to Bill, Did you say where? And he said, Where? Where? Patriarch Jerome. Watch out Jerome. He's sustaining power for me. Where? Where? Where? Where is it?

[52:36]

On this moment, you don't need anything else. You include all the histories. And your friend includes all the histories. And your job as a Buddhist, as a member of the Sangha, is to meet all the histories of your friend. This is where the power for enlightenment comes from. This is the sustaining power of the Bodhisattva. The very person the Bodhisattva

[54:26]

is saving, is the sustaining power for the saving. Who is saving whom? Buddha meets Buddha. When Manjushri's temple disappears, when Tassajara disappears, you'll realize the 1700-year-old stone Buddha come to life.

[55:05]

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