This is the purest of all the true practice of the true mind of faith of the true body of the dead. Homage to Great Compassion. Homage to Great Compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Homage to Great Compassion, Bodhidharma Dayosha.

[01:07]

Homage to our entire lineage of bodhisattvas who practice Great Compassion. There's a certain section of our family tree, you could say, zeroing in on a certain part of the family tree, starting with Sakito Gisen Daisho, the ancestor who gave us the the song of merging harmony of difference and equality, whose words were, the mind of the great sage of India intimately transmitted from west to east.

[02:26]

And his main disciple is Medicine Mountain. And Medicine Mountain did not successfully transmit any poetry to us. about this mind of the ancient sage of India, except in some dialogues. And those dialogues are very important, but they're not like literary offerings.

[03:41]

But they're still very important family jewels. So again, we have Sekito Gisen wrote this wonderful poem, The Harmony of Difference and Equality. And then his disciple, had some wonderful conversations with his teacher and with his students. And these teachings, these stories, help us understand the workings of great compassion and great wisdom in our tradition. For example, one time Yashang was sitting, like us, and his teacher came by and said, What are you doing?

[04:51]

Sujit Yerushala used to say quite frequently, fortunately or unfortunately, fortunately or unfortunately, nobody's been coming up to you while you're sitting and saying, what are you doing? Are you practicing great compassion sitting at your seat? Is great compassion... I won't go on. But anyway, back to the story. What are you doing? And so the ancestor gave you a tip of what to say if you're ever asked. What are you doing, Sekito Gisan Daisho said to Yaku-san Igen Daisho. What are you doing sitting there? And Yaku-san said, Medicine Mountain said, I'm not doing anything at all." And the teacher, Sekhito Gisan, said, Well, then are you sitting idly?

[06:31]

Again, nobody's been coming up to you saying, are you sitting idly? Fortunately or unfortunately, you have not been questioned in that way. But the ancestor was questioned in that way. Then are you sitting idly? What are you doing? Then are you sitting idly? Question after question in the womb of great compassion. Questioning goes on. Intimate questioning in the womb of great compassion. What are you doing? I'm not doing anything at all. Then are you idly sitting? And Yagya-san said, if I were idly sitting, I would be doing something. Then Sekhita says, you say you're not doing anything at all.

[07:44]

What is this, not doing anything at all? And Yakuson said, even the 10,000 sages don't know. How could common people like me know? What is this not doing anything at all that we practice? Even the 10,000 sages don't know. How could ordinary humans And then Sekito Gisen was filled with joy of practicing with her disciple and said, and sang, we're just traveling along side by side, according with circumstances, moment by moment,

[09:05]

Even the 10,000 sages don't know what we're up to. How could hasty, impatient people know? This is a story from our family. Then Yaoshan was successful and found some wonderful successors. Two of them are called ungan dongyo, and the other one's called do-yo, in Chinese, yin-yang, and da-wu. So, one day, these Dharma siblings were together in the cauldron. great compassion, and Yuen Yen was sweeping the ground.

[10:12]

Just like us. Sweeping the ground. And the Dharma sibling came by, Da Wu came by and said, too busy. And Yanyan said, you should know that there's one who is not busy. And Dabu said, well, then are there two moons? And Yanyan lifted his broom and said, which moon is this? and his sibling walked off. One view of this story is that Yuen Yen was sweeping the ground of the temple where he practiced with his sibling.

[12:05]

He was practicing compassion. like, I sweep the ground for the welfare of all beings. I sweep the ground to make this wonderful temple where we can practice together. That kind of practice might have been going on. So, if it was, or if it might have been, it might not have been, but If it had been, his brother could then question him by saying, too busy doing compassion. But he also could have been using an insubstantial body with an insubstantial... He could have been viewing that he's using his insubstantial, I should say non-substantial body with a non-substantial broom to sweep non-substantial ground for the non-substantial welfare of non-substantial beings.

[13:32]

He could have been doing that. But if he had been, his sibling still could say, too busy. Even that lofty practice of emptiness is still maybe, could be questioned as too busy. And he didn't then get into the busyness of refuting the question or the indictment. He did not say, I'm not too busy. I'm not doing anything at all." He didn't say that. He said, you should know there is one who is not busy. No matter how busy we get, there is one who is not busy. And even if we're not busy, somebody could question our not-busyness, and we can respond to the question.

[14:38]

the accusation that we're busy, that we're involved in dualistic activity by paying homage to the one who is not busy. The great compassion that's not busy. Then are there two modes? The busy kinds of compassion and the not busy type of compassion? And again, when questioned, Yanyan did not say, yes, there are two moons. He didn't say, no, there aren't two moons. He just raised his magical broom and said, which moon is this? Is this the moon of not doing anything at all? Or is this the moon of being busy doing things?

[15:44]

Which is it? And there's no answer given. There's just a broom rest. I've got a broom. You've got a broom. Everybody's got to have a broom. But there's only one broom. That's for me. Good old, which moon is this broom? Which moon is this broom? Which moon is this broom?

[16:45]

This is a conversation in the midst of great compassion. I propose where enlightenment and delusion have been released, where ordinary and holy are dropped off, and yet there's still a conversation going on to manifest this inconceivable, omnipresent, world-liberating great compassion. They're still talking to each other for the sake of paying homage and realizing great compassion. In this temple we question, we We measure, we evaluate each other to figure out our position in the mandala.

[18:00]

But the context is to realize what has no position of left or right or high or low, and then to offer job assignments in this great compassion. How are you feeling?

[19:22]

Are you okay? You okay? I'm okay. There's a chair there if you need it. In February of 1971, before we, just a month before, we found out, or at Suzuki Roshi found out, that he had cancer. We had a sesshin in San Francisco. And at the beginning of the sesshin, Suzuki Roshi said, let's do this sesshin together. And if we need to turn the heat on, Or if you need a chair, we'll get through this together." And we did.

[20:29]

And he did too, even though he had undiagnosed cancer. This great compassion is crystal clear on all sides, unobstructed in all directions, giving off great light that shakes the world into freedom. How does it manifest? So these two siblings On another occasion, we're together. And... And... Yuen Yen asked Da Wu, what does Avalokiteshvara do with all those eyes and all those hands?

[22:09]

Or how does Avalokiteshvara of great compassion. Work with all these eyes and hands." And Dago said, it's like reaching for a pillow, reaching back for a pillow in the middle of the night. the conversation about great compassion goes on. How is it? It's like reaching back for a pillow in the middle of the night. before there's any adding or subtracting, a hand comes out and reaches into the world and gets a hold of a pillow.

[23:45]

And then Yuen Yuen says, Oh, I see. Yeah, right. And Dabu said, How do you understand? Yeah, right. And he said, Hands and eyes all over the body. And Dabu said, That's pretty good. You got 80%. And Yuen Yuen said, Well, how about you, brother? And he said, Throughout the whole body, hands and eyes. And the human mind, when it hears these two, might say, What's the difference? And there we have a difference. What's the difference between all over and throughout?

[25:03]

What's the difference? And also, what's the same? And also, how do they harmonize? In this story, they harmonize by the conversation, the ongoing conversation. How do these hands and eyes work? How does the great compassion manifest? Is that question the busy one or the un-busy one? Is my question the busy one or the un-busy one? Do you have a microphone on you?

[26:09]

Anybody in the Great Assembly wishing to offer any questions is welcome to do so. Again, I'm laughing because I just thought of a song. You don't know the song yet, but you're going to hear about it shortly. Do you want to hear the song, Patrick? How does it go? Oh, here it is. This is from another century where I used to live. or where, I shouldn't say I didn't live there, but there was a person who had my name who lived there. And the song goes like this.

[27:14]

Enjoy yourself while you're still in the pink. Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself while you're still in the pink. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. That was from a different time. But anyway, we used to have pink people back in those days. And I'm so happy that in this session we don't just have pink people, that we have a rainbow in the session. I just thought of another funny thing, which you don't know I'm laughing at yet, do you?

[28:17]

So, when I said we have a rainbow here, I thought of a kind of ice cream cone made with this ice cream called Rainbow Ice Cream. And I used to work at a state fair and I delivered ice to the ice cream cone stands where they sold rainbow ice cream. And one of the stands was operated by This Zen teacher. Snow cones. Snow cones. You weren't a rainbow ice cream stand? No. Okay. So there was two stands. One is a snow cone and the other one is a rainbow ice cream. I delivered ice to both. And she worked in the snow cones. And so did your sister. Okay, so anyway, while you're still in the pink or green or whatever,

[29:20]

black, brown, yellow, white, pink, red. Enjoy yourself. Within the ritual of great compassion, enjoy yourself. Stir it up, the great compassion called. If you wish, Please come up here. Welcome.

[30:28]

Thank you. I was just going to ask if that was where you worked at the fair. I was just curious. Say again? I was going to ask where the fair was. It was in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was at the Minnesota State Fair. That's so cool. Is that all? Thank you so much for coming, Bob. And I also worked at that fair a few years before shoveling animal manure after the fair was over. So that's another very dear experience for me, shoveling that dung.

[31:33]

Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. I have some difficulty telling the difference between too busy and the one who's not busy. And I wonder if the separation or I'll say separation is the difference between trying to get something or just because. Thank you for that offering. I would say very simply, the difference is the busy one.

[32:43]

And then once there's difference, then there's risk of trying to get something. If there's no difference, there's no trying to get anything. Once there's difference, we are at risk of trying to get something. The unbusy one, there's no difference. But also, again, you could say, is there a difference between one who makes difference and the one who doesn't make difference? And the difference between them is made by the one who makes differences. But is there a difference between those two? That's another question. Is there really a difference? No. Are they the same? No. Are they in harmony? That's what we're trying to realize. Great compassion is the harmony between difference-making and not difference-making.

[33:52]

Between being busy making differences and trying to get stuff and not making differences. The harmony between us two is what we're wondering about. Is what we're wondering about. Yeah, that's what you're wondering. And if the bell rings and I just come to the zendo, the should I or shouldn't I, then that's kind of not busy? Well... Maybe? Actually, you could say... How does this great compassion manifest? And one answer would be, when the bell rings, the Great Assembly goes to the Senate. With or without measure. With or without trying to get something. I think a lot of people do, actually. When the bell rings, they come, and they're not trying to get anything. They're on the verge of trying to not get something, like stay in bed.

[34:57]

But they just come. When the bell rings and they come, in that moment of bell rings coming? No, that's not doing anything. It's just a response, like the hand reaching in the light. But as we're once this great compassion is manifested by the Great Assembly responding to the bell, then the Great Assembly can have members who start calculating and it can happen. One of the first questions I asked Suzuki Roshi was, what is right effort? And he said, it's getting up when the bell rings with no hesitation. Thank you. Thank you.

[35:57]

Thank you Great Assembly.

[36:04]

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