Another day in the Buddha way. Again, there is the expression, clean the temple, clear away any resistance, and sit. Let go of any doubts in the practice of sitting Buddha, and sit Buddha. Sit Buddha, sit with Buddha, sit. And then today I suggest, clean the temple and listen to the cries of the world. So I'm proposing, in case it wasn't clear, that just sitting is listening to the cries

[01:40]

of the world, that what we mean by just sitting is listening to the cries of the world, listening to all sentient beings, contemplating all living beings with eyes of compassion. And, you know, the name kanan or guanyin means contemplating the sounds, the cries, but the word for contemplation there is sometimes translated as regarding, but it's also the character that the Chinese use for insight. So it's observing, that character guan or kan, it means observing, so if you're observing sounds you would say, well, it's listening.

[02:41]

If you're observing sights, it would be looking. But the character also means, is used to translate vipassana or insight, so it means to listen or regard with insight the cries of all sentient beings. This is just sitting of the Zen school. So we sit, having given up everything, and practice great compassion. We listen to the cries of the world, so in some sense we receive the Buddha's compassion and we give the Buddha's compassion in both directions in our sitting. To be in a way that allows this giving and receiving of compassion, of course, to me it makes sense that I would let go of everything so that there would be no holding to interrupt

[03:47]

the process of giving and receiving compassion. Does that make sense to you? And then another way I would say it is clean the temple and practice good friendship. Just sitting, I propose, is good friendship. It's the kind of friendship that promotes perfect wisdom. The Buddha's friendship, the Buddha's good friendship, the good friendship of the Buddhas is a friendship which opens people to Buddha's wisdom, demonstrates Buddha's wisdom, helps them wake up to Buddha's wisdom, and helps them enter Buddha's wisdom. That's the kind of friendship that the Buddhas practice. That's the friendship which is the Buddha way.

[04:50]

But sometimes the friendship, you might not notice that it's friendly. So here are some examples of somebody who, I propose, gave up everything, observed sentient beings, and was good friends to people in such a way that the friendship opened people to Buddha's wisdom and demonstrated perfect wisdom and helped people wake up to it. So this person I'm talking about, this teacher, his name is Fa Yen, which means Dharma eye or Dharma eyes, Fa Yen. So one day a monk named Hui Chao asked Fa Yen, Hui Chao asks the teacher, what is Buddha?

[05:58]

The good friend, Fa Yen says, you are Hui Chao, or Hui Chao. That was his friendship. Here's another example of his friendship. The superintendent of his monastery, the director of his monastery, had been serving the monastery diligently, but had never asked to enter Fa Yen's room. Entering the room is a Zen term for going to the room to ask about the Dharma with

[07:03]

the teacher. You go in the room of friendliness, you go in the room of just sitting, you go in the room of listening to the cries of the world with the teacher. Going to the teacher's room for listening to the cries of the world and ask about the Dharma. The superintendent, the director of the temple, never went to see the teacher. So one day the teacher, Dharma eyes, said, you haven't come to enter my room. And the director replied, didn't you know teacher? When I was with Master Ching Lin, I had entry. The good friends of the Buddha way want to help people enter. Enter what? The Buddha way, enter Buddha's wisdom.

[08:08]

So he was with another Zen teacher and he had entry with him. So again, is that clear? Fa Yen says, how come you don't come to my room? He says, well, when I was with the other teacher, I entered Buddha's wisdom, so I don't need to come in your room anymore. And Fa Yen said, try to recall what happened for me. And the director said, I asked, what is the self of the student? And the Master Lin said, the fire god comes looking for fire. Fa Yen said, good words, but I'm afraid you didn't understand. Can you say some more for me?

[09:09]

And the director says, the fire god is in the province of fire and he is seeking fire with fire. Likewise, I am myself, yet I went searching for myself. Fa Yen said, that's what I thought, the superintendent does not understand. And this is his friendship, right? However even though this was his friendship, the superintendent had to contain his anger at the teacher saying that he didn't understand, after he thought he had entered Buddha's wisdom.

[10:11]

So he left the monastery, he walked out and went off across the river. Sometimes, when somebody is holding on to their understanding, their friends say to them, looks like you don't understand to me, looks like you're stuck. And sometimes people get really angry when their friends perhaps say something like that. Even if their friend is a great Zen master. So here we are, the director of the monastery thinks he has entry, the teacher says, I don't think you did. He gets angry and leaves the monastery. And after he left, Dharma-I, Master Dharma-I said, this man can be saved if he comes back.

[11:19]

If he doesn't return, he can't be saved. This is an example of the sincere student, the teacher saying, get out! The student leaving, and if he comes back, he can be saved. If not, he cannot be saved. On the road, the former director thought to himself, well actually, he is the teacher of all those people, 500 monks, how could he deceive me?

[12:22]

Perhaps I should give him another try. So he returned, and called on Master Dharma-I again, and Pha-Yen said, okay, just ask me and I'll answer you. Master Pha-Yen said to the director, just ask me and I'll answer you. Thereupon the director said, what is the self of the student? And Pha-Yen said, the fire god comes looking for the fire god. At these words, the director had entry, great entry. This is the friendship of perfect wisdom.

[13:31]

This story is also told with changing the original question from what is the self of the student, to what is Buddha. You can say, what is Buddha? And the first teacher says, fire god comes seeking fire. Which of course doesn't make much sense, that fire god would be seeking fire. And then the director's understanding was, I'm already Buddha, and when I was asking about Buddha, the teacher said, it was like the fire god seeking fire, it's like Buddha seeking Buddha. And I woke up, and Pha-Yen said, I don't think so. Here's another example of friendship between Pha-Yen and more of a peer, and the peer's

[14:55]

name is Shun-Shu, no, Shu-Shan, so Pha-Yen says to Shu-Shan, if there's a hair's breadth difference, it's like the distance between heaven and earth. This is a way to start a friendly conversation. The previous story was about a hair's breadth difference. What is the self of the student? Fire god comes seeking fire, and he doesn't understand. Then what is the self of the student?

[16:00]

Fire god comes seeking fire god, and he understands. What's the difference? The difference was, the first time, when he was tested, there was resistance, and he ran away. Then he came back, this time there was no resistance, there was no separation. Same answer, same question, same answer, no difference. No difference between the first time and the second time, no difference between him and Pha-Yen, no difference between entering and not entering. So then this next case is talking about, for example, the first case. So Dharma-I says to his friend Shu-Shan, a hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. How would you test this in experience? How do you understand this? A hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth.

[17:07]

How do you understand this? You know what he said? He repeats that. Right. Shu-Shan says, a hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. And Pha-Yen says, pretty good, but how can you understand it that way? And Shu-Shan said, I'm just like this, how about you, teacher? And Pha-Yen says, a hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. And it doesn't say that in this case Shu-Shan woke up, it just says Shu-Shan bowed, because Shu-Shan was already awake, he was already a master. And yet, masters still can be friends with each other and still play the game of a hair's

[18:14]

breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. Why not?

[19:40]

Why not? Why not? Yes? Thank you. That's a good question. Did you hear the question? It says, she has a clear knowledge of the own being of all dharmas, and he thought dharmas had no own being, right?

[21:40]

Right. That is their own being. The own being of dharmas is the lack of own being. And Prajnaparamita knows their own being. She knows that they lack own being, and she does not stray from this lack of own being. She knows that they lack, that they're empty of own being, and she doesn't stray from their emptiness. However, even though she doesn't stray from their emptiness, from their lack of own being, she also doesn't stray from them. She doesn't like hold on to emptiness, just that when she's with dharmas, she also knows their emptiness. And because she's that way with everything, that way of being with things turns the wheel of dharmas. That's where the Buddhists turn the wheel from, is in the middle of that own being, which is that things don't have an own being.

[22:42]

Things do have an ultimate nature, and the ultimate nature is that they lack a nature. The lack of an own being is their own being. Any other responses? Yes, yes. Maybe you first, even though you actually were second. I just wonder about lack. The second shall be first. You're wondering about the lack? What do you want? Just the word lack. The lack of own being. Do you like absence better? I don't know. It's interesting. Things don't have an own being other than an absence of own being. They don't have an independent self. They don't have an inherent self.

[23:48]

Isn't that more like a superfluity? Is it a superfluity? It would be, except the superfluity doesn't have an own being either. So it's not really there, it's just there because it's been set up to be there. Thank you. You're welcome. Anytime. Yes? This hymn comes from where? This hymn is from where? Yeah. It's from... Do you want Sanskrit or English? Which way do you want first? It's from the Ashta Sahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, which is the Sutra on Perfect Wisdom in 8,000 lines. And it's from the chapter called Hell. What else? So it's a subheading called, Hymn to Perfection of Wisdom.

[24:49]

This is actually an excerpt. The hymn is a little longer in the Sutra. Can you tell us how it's connected to the chapter on Hell? How it's connected? There's no connection at all. Does it lack in connection? Does it lack in connection? No. That would be superfluous. Yes? I have a question. When you say that just sitting is to listen to the cries of the world, Yes. then can you stand or sing or study or... One action is listening. Isn't just listening? I'm confused why you have to do one thing in order to do another and why that has to be just sitting.

[25:54]

It couldn't be anything else. Well, I'm just saying that in our little school we have this practice we call just sitting. Have you heard about it? Yes. So it's kind of like people say, Oh, that's one of the practices of the Soto Zen school, right? So I'm just telling you that that practice that we're doing here in Soto Zen called just sitting, I'm just telling you, it just happens to be the practice of Avalokiteshvara. And so, is it also used in a metaphorical sense, that just sitting, that that's also every aspect of your life, every action of your life, that is listening to the cries of the world? In other words, you can be just sitting. If you are tap dancing, and while you're tap dancing, you are listening to the cries of the world, then you are just sitting.

[26:55]

Follow up? Sure. Is there something specific about the sitting practice, as opposed to tap dancing? Yes, there is. Buddha was not tap dancing under the Bodhi tree. As far as we know. Buddha was sitting under the Bodhi tree. And under the Bodhi tree, Buddha was listening to the cries of the world. And immovably, and the cries of the world, some of the cries of the world were saying, Move, big boy! Come over here, sweetheart! Get out of there! Those were some of the cries he was listening to. Or, what were some of the other ones I heard this morning? Anyway, there are lots of cries, and the Buddha was listening to them all, but the Buddha was not moved.

[28:06]

Avalokiteshvara is not like getting knocked off her seat, when she listens to these people. She's like upright, and responding to all the cries by listening to them. It just so happens that she wasn't tap dancing, that she was sitting immovably. Now, could she have been tap dancing and been sitting immovably? Sure. Was she? That's not the story. So is there an element of reverence in the actual act of sitting? I hope so. I hope when you're sitting that that's an act of reverence, that you're sitting in reverence to the great sitters in history, and also in reverence to the great tap dancers. When the Buddha sat, the Buddha was sitting in reverence to Buddhas, was sitting in reverence to sitting still, was sitting in reverence to not being reactive to threats

[29:11]

and charms of the cries of the world. But, if you start a Zen center, and the practice is tap dancing, if the people can learn to listen to the cries of the world while tap dancing, great. That's possible. But, so far, I don't know of anybody that's been successful at that. Whereas if you have a Zen center where people sit, like here, you're sitting, people seem to be willing to, while they're sitting, since there's not much else going on, we might as well listen to the cries of the world. Why not? I don't have to play with my electronic equipment right now. If you're suggesting for me to follow my breathing, no problem. I mean, I am breathing, I might as well follow it.

[30:13]

I don't have a lot of other things to do. And listen to the cries of the world at the same time, fine. But if you're tap dancing, I can't listen to the cries of the world while I'm tap dancing. I have enough challenges to try to do that. But I think it would be great if you could listen to the cries of the world while you're tap dancing. Does that make sense? Yes, I think I understand what you're saying. But I think, anyway, if you're singing or dancing, if whatever you're doing, if you're listening to the cries of the world, is just sitting. Robert asked this morning about the first case of this book, Blue Cliff Record. It's about Bodhidharma. Going to see the emperor. And they had a little talk, and then afterwards Bodhidharma left. And went and sat for nine years. And after he left, the imperial, the teacher of the emperor said to the emperor,

[31:14]

does your majesty know who that was that was just here? And the emperor said, I don't know. He said, that was Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. So Avalokiteshvara went up and sat for nine years. So our founder in China is Avalokiteshvara in the form of Bodhidharma. This is the Bodhidharma to the... On the Buddha's right is Bodhidharma. On the Buddha's left is Avalokiteshvara. But really it's Avalokiteshvara on both sides. This guy is just sitting. She is just tap dancing. Get the picture? Everybody is just sitting. That's the basic program. Everybody is just listening to the cries of the world. Everyone is just opening beings to Buddha's wisdom.

[32:14]

But if you don't listen to the cries of the world, you can't open people to perfect wisdom. You can't be open. If you're not open to all beings' cries, then you're not open to perfect wisdom. So here we have these different styles. So we have the Buddha, and we have Bodhidharma, we have Guanyin, and then we have this statue, smaller one, which is Prajnaparamita. The lady, the colorful lady. Okay? Anything else that you'd like to bring up? Yes? Kind of a clarification. When you were talking about Payan, and the interchange about the fire god, the first instance I heard you say several times, the fire god seeks fire, and the second one was the fire god seeks fire god.

[33:16]

I made some mistake. Okay. Fire god comes seeking fire. It's correct. Okay, so it's the same in both cases. Yes, sorry. And Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhisattva who's in the Heart Sutra. The one who's listening to the cries of the world is the one who's practicing deeply the perfection of wisdom. Listening is the basic practice, and then based on that we enter into perfect wisdom. And entering perfect wisdom is what liberates beings. And who liberates beings? The perfection of wisdom liberates them. Avalokiteshvara practices the perfection of wisdom. The Buddhas are born from the perfection of wisdom. And the context for perfection of wisdom

[34:17]

is the good friendship. Listening to the cries of the world, the monk says, My name is Huichao. What is Buddha? You are Huichao. Listening to the cries, the monk Huichao asks, What is Buddha? You are Huichao. And the teacher is listening to the student, but the student is also listening to the cries of the world, so when the teacher says, You are Huichao, he enters. Is there a comma after you are? Is it you are Huichao or you are Huichao? Let me check to see what they did here. No comma.

[35:23]

You are Huichao. No comma. But there are quotation marks. Quotation marks. Jane and Vajra. Vlada, I mean. Vlada and Jane. What did you say? Vlada is behind Jane. I just said her name wrong first time, so I said it again. Vlada and Jane. Did I say Jane right? Janey. We are changing. So, the Prisoner, the TV series, that iconic, does anybody remember this? Yes. So, the question... There is a TV series called The Prisoner? A long, long time ago. Before your parents were born?

[36:24]

Not that long. And the Prisoner, he wakes up, he is in this strange place, and he is number 6? He is number 6. And he goes to see number 2 every episode. And he asks, who is number 1? And the answer comes back, you are number 6. Did anybody get goosebumps? And so, this is a cultist show. But there is more, because every episode, there is a new number 2. But who is number 1? And his name is Simon Temple. His name is Simon Temple. Were you thinking about that when you asked the question about the comic?

[37:26]

No. Anyway. Number 2 is always Simon Temple? Or number 6 is Simon Temple? Number 6. Did he clean it? Yes. Every episode is an attempt to clean the temple. And it isn't like you clean the temple and sit once, you do it over and over, until all sentient beings join the process, right? It's a little like Groundhog Day. It's a little like Groundhog Day. And Groundhog Day is a little like Zen practice. And that was quite a friendship, wasn't it? She was a good friend to him.

[38:30]

Whack! [...] He kept whacking until he gave up everything. And then he reciprocated her friendship. Finally. Right? Lada? So, another way to say perfect wisdom is acceptance? Another way to say it is acceptance. Or to be Buddha? Another way is to say acceptance or accept. You can say accept. And to the extent that... And not be attached to that acceptance. And not be attached to the concept accept. Accept without attaching to accept. Then it's perfect wisdom.

[39:31]

Also reject without attaching to reject. So another word for perfect wisdom is to not accept and not attach to not accept. Not abide and not accepting. But not abiding and not accepting we sometimes call accepting. We could also say therefore we say not accepting. To the extent that accepting is just a word it is the perfection of wisdom. To the extent that the perfection of wisdom is just a word, it is the perfection of wisdom. To the extent that anything is just a word, it is the perfection of wisdom. But we tend to think that things are a little bit more than just a word. So then we think there is some justification to abide in them. And then we resist

[40:34]

we resist the goose bumps of you are number one. And it's not so much you could say you are Buddha but really it's you are Donna. You are Buddha might get a little heady but you are Romi. You are Simon Temple. Yes. Yes. I would like to ask about the practice of sitting. Sitting and listening to the cries of the world and literally sitting is that not then the practice of doing that

[41:42]

is that not then to be applied to our other situations? I don't think that I could I like to work and do other things besides sitting. So is it correct to think that my sitting is basically giving me preparation supporting what I might do the rest of the time as I live the rest of my life? Yes. The sitting is not an extension of our daily life. The sitting is to sit and regard the cries of the world but we would like to extend that sitting into our daily life where we kind of are going to try to answer the telephone or write a report. But while you are writing a report if you are listening to the cries of the world you are just sitting. You are pointing back to the just sitting. If you are

[42:43]

continuing that practice while you are doing your work then the practice of just sitting, the practice of regarding the cries of the world, the practices of Avalokiteśvara who is practicing perfect wisdom are being extended to your work. But you don't have to answer the telephone back to the sitting. But we would like to bring the sitting to answering the telephone to calling a friend. Like last night I called a friend whose husband just died and her husband was somebody that I ordained as a priest and I also ordained her as a priest. So I called her but it wasn't just me calling her but it was just sitting calling her. So she was very happy to hear from just sitting. I could be her friend in other ways

[43:49]

but the main thing I had to give her was just sitting is calling. His name is Reb but he is bringing just sitting to you. So it's very nice for her to hear from just sitting. To hear from the practice of listening to the cries of the world. We extend that to everything. We want to. But we don't have to bring everything to just sitting. But we can. But it's not an extension of it. It's an opportunity for it. So you don't have to bring type writing or type dancing to your sitting. But it would be good to bring your sitting to type writing and type dancing and type setting and type casting. Right? That's our effort. And then by doing that you open beings to Buddha's wisdom. And you demonstrate it because it can go anywhere.

[44:49]

But you have to be careful. A hair's breadth difference, right? A hair's breadth difference. We can miss it. So part of extending it is to be very careful. To listen to the cries of the world carefully. What did you say again? Well, we have a few more seconds. Anything else you'd like to bring up today? I think... I'm not sure which way to begin this. I think I'm hearing about giving up ideas about even trying so hard to be a better person or a good person or a kind person. It's giving up all those ideas about what is kindness, what is a kind person.

[45:52]

Yes. Exactly. Give up them and give up any ideas about other people not being kind people. Wow. That's good. Give that all up and after you give it up, then just sit. And now that you've given it up, you're ready to just sit. And now again I'll listen to ideas of being a good person, of ideas that other people aren't good people, then now you listen to it. Now you're really getting into just sitting. But you have to sort of warm up to it by cleaning the temple. And I want to say because this is like the first time I've had some letting go in something that's been going on for a while which is, I didn't have words for it, but a real resistance to any more loss and death at this point this year. And so today I feel like somehow when you just said about you offered her just sitting, that was finally

[46:55]

something in me you could let go because I've just been slammed against that. Yeah. To be able to look at Tashfara, you have to let go. If you hold on, then you're going to have trouble being compassionate in this world. And I often also have mentioned that usually Avalokiteshvara is like standing up, like bestowing things on the world, like often holding a vase and a flower. Kind of like sometimes sitting, but oftentimes with one leg down and making a gesture of openness to the suffering listening. I don't know of any pictures where she has her hand up to her ear, but she's kind of out there. And I went to the Mizegime in Paris. In 1987

[47:55]

I went to that museum and I went in and I saw this picture, this statue of Avalokiteshvara sitting in a cave. And in the cave there was like little shelves in the rock and on one shelf there was her lotus flower and on the other shelf was her vase, which she's often holding. And her hands were in this meditation mudra. And I thought, oh yeah, she has to just sit. She needs to let go of everything so she can do this inconceivable listening. So that side is sometimes not mentioned, but it's there. You have to let go in order to then be of the best service we can be. So this kind of fierce dude named Bodhidharma

[48:56]

was another form of Avalokiteshvara in the form of somebody who sat still for a long time facing a wall. So this is a model of great compassion and great wisdom. He's teaching the perfection of wisdom to the emperor. Just like Avalokiteshvara is teaching the perfection of wisdom to... to Shariputra and us. And again, the Heart Sutra is the only perfection of wisdom scripture where Avalokiteshvara is the teaching. The only one. He's in other ones, but he's not the teacher. He's just sort of in the group. Yes? You said something very much like this

[49:57]

just a few seconds ago, but I find it much easier to listen to someone who has something to say, who's in difficulty, when I don't try to help. Give up trying to help so you can listen to them. And then when you give up trying to help and listen to them, then you have a chance to teach wisdom. Which will help them. Again, clean the temple so that you can stop trying to clean the temple. Turn off the gas on the stove so you can feel like, OK, now I can just listen. If you're sloppy, if you don't practice ethics on your way to the temple, or when you get to the temple, if we don't take care of things, like if we don't take care of how we park, you know, if we park in front of people's driveway, if we're not careful, then when we sit down here, some of us will

[50:59]

have trouble just listening, because we're going to be kind of like, well, did I park in the right spot? I can't let go of that. So you have to take care of cleaning the temple and cleaning the parking area enough so you feel like, now I can really, now I can let go. And just listen. And just follow the breathing. And now I can just not abide. In no abode. But we have to take care of the environment in order to really be able to relax and listen. Does that make sense? So, this time we didn't have a lot of cleaning, just a little bit. Thank you for those of you who cleaned the decks and the walkways so we could sit. Rose, Karen,

[52:06]

Elizabeth, Avalokiteshvara, thank you. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way, beings are innumerous. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[53:02]

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