I vow to face the truth without a target that is worse. So, we started on case number three and we didn't finish.

[01:07]

So, I think we came to... I can't remember exactly where. Buh-bye. The top? What I'm going to do is, yeah, we passed 13?

[02:16]

We did the top of page 13 because we talked about the six methods involved with counting, following, stopping. Oh yeah. And the rhino gazing at the moon. I don't know what it is, dropping in the spring. But did we talk about that? Yes. Yes. I'm also a law student. That's good. Excuse me. I'm going to go on. My experience of these tapes is that in my rather poor quality receiver, I can't hear them, especially when it's male talking. And I wonder if it's possible to turn up the recording. Yeah, they're barely audible. I wonder if it's possible to turn up the sound so that they are recorded in a louder way. The technologists have to. The technicians have to. The volume is maxed out. The microphone needs to be much closer to Bill.

[03:19]

That's the problem. Especially if the person at the recorder coughs. It blows the whole stereo out. Yeah, I don't think we got to the heroic power of smashing a double enclosure. No. No. Anyway, to begin with, I think I'll just read the case and bring us up to where we are. And I think that will be helpful in any case.

[04:23]

So the introduction, he says, the state before the beginning of time, a turtle heads for the fire, The one phrase especially transmitted outside of doctrine, the lip of a mortar bears flowers. Now tell me, is there any accepting and upholding, reading and reciting in this? We've talked about that in the case. A Raja of an East Indian country invited the 27th Buddhist patriarch, Prajnatara, to a feast. The Raja asked him, why don't you read the scriptures? The patriarch said, this poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of body or mind when breathing in, doesn't get involved in myriad circumstances when breathing out. I always reiterate such a scripture, hundreds, thousands, millions of scrolls. In the commentary, the twenty-seventh patriarch was first called Keyura as a boy. As it came to pass that the twenty-sixth patriarch, Punyamitra, was riding by in a chariot together with a king of eastern India, who was known as the Resolute, the patriarch asked the boy, Can you remember things of the past?

[05:41]

The boy, Keyura, replied, I remember that aeons ago I lived in the same place as you. Master, you were expounding Mahaprajna, great wisdom, and I was upholding the most profound scripture. I have been awaiting you here to assist you in the true teaching. The patriarch said to the Raja, this is not one of the lesser holy ones. This is a bodily reflection of Mahastamaprapta, the one who has arrived at great power. The raja had the boy get into the chariot, took him to the palace and made offerings to him. When the boy put on monastic robes and had his head shaved, the patriarch drew on the connection with the prajna or wisdom scripture to have him named Prajnatara, Jewel of Wisdom. The liang court took Bodhidharma to be Avalokiteshvara. In India, they considered his teacher, Prajnatara, to be Mahastamaprapta.

[06:45]

Only Amitabha Buddha hasn't come down here to earth so far. A long pause. Feng Gan talks too much. We talked about that. There's a long footnote about that, about Feng Gan talking too much. Later, as it happened that the royal family provided for an assembly, the Honorable Prajnatara presided. That's the background of where the case took place. This old fellow displayed wonders and fooled the crowd. At that time, he should have been knocked over or cut off the complications, to cut off the complications. If we wait for the question why the Honored One doesn't read scripture, after all, it can't be let go. And this old fellow Prajnatara had no signs of greatness either. He took a gored horse dipper and flipped it over once. The Raja bowed in respect at that.

[07:46]

What does he know? I say the king of a nation coveted one grain of another's rice. The reverend lost 10,000 years' provisions. He only knew his iron spine held up the sky. He didn't realize his brain had fallen to the ground. If you want to help him up, only Tian Tong can do it. And his verse says, a cloud rhino gazes at the moon, its light engulfing radiance. A wood horse romps in spring, swift and unbridled. Under the eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes. How can reading scriptures reach the piercing of oxide? The clear mind produces vast aeons. Heroic power smashes the double enclosure. In the subtle round mouth of the pivot turns the spiritual works. Hanshan forgot the road by which he came, and Shite led him back by the hand. And the commentary, the opening two lines eulogize not dwelling in the realms of body or mind.

[09:03]

The opening two lines, I think what he means is the patriarch's answer in the case. This poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of body or mind. I don't think it's the opening two lines, it's the two lines, see what I mean, on page 11 in the case, When the Raja asked him, why don't you read scriptures, the patriarch said, this poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of body or mind when breathing in. So those lines eulogize or, no, I guess the verse, yeah. A wood cloud rhino gazes at the moon. Light engulfing radiance of wood horse romps in spring, swift and unbridled. The opening two lines eulogize not dwelling in the realms of body or mind, not involved in myriad circumstances. So we talked about that. According to the analysis of the canonical teachings, five clusters, form, sensation, conception, conditioning, consciousness, 12 sense media, eye, form, ear, sound, nose, smell, tongue, taste, body, feel, mind, phenomena, and 18 elements, the 12 media plus six associated consciousnesses are called three groups.

[10:49]

The Honored One, Prajnatara, just brought up the head and tail, implicitly including what is in between. The Sanskrit word anapana is translated as breathing out and breathing in. There are six methods involved with this counting, following, stopping, contemplating, returning, purification. The details are, as in the great treatise on cessation and contemplation, by the master of Tiantai, those whose preparation is not sufficient should not fail to be acquainted with this. Guishan's admonitions says, if you have not yet embraced the principles of the teachings, you have no basis to attain understanding of the mystic path. The jewel-mine treatise of Tseng Tsao is beautiful. A priceless jewel is hidden within the pit of the clusters of being.

[11:53]

That means within the five skandhas. When will you find the spiritual light shining alone, far transcending the senses? A priceless jewel. So this is Buddha nature hidden within or apparent within the five skandhas. And in the Blue Cliff Record, Case 62, Master Uman uses not this particular phrase, but this idea, which is presented as a koan. Everyone has their own light. That's the name of that koan. So, Then Tian Tong says, a cloud rhino, he's referring to the first couplet of the verse.

[13:08]

Tian Tong says, a cloud rhino gazes at the moon, its light engulfing radiance. In an ancient song, it says that the rhino grew his horn while gazing at the pattern of the moon. Good words are to be treasured, but in the final analysis they tend toward feelings and thoughts based on literary content. And a wood horse romps in spring, swift and unbridled. This eulogizes breathing out, not involved in myriad circumstances. One might say that skillful action has no tracks. No Tracks is Tozan, Master Tozan Dungshan called this the bird's path. That was his expression for leaving no trace.

[14:10]

A bird flies through the air, but You can't track its path. And a fish swims in the water, but leaves no trail. Under the eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes. I just want to talk about the wooden horse. Also, talk about the rhino, too. Oh, I didn't talk about that? Not enough. Okay. Well, I think that this rhino is also sometimes called the ox. And in the ox herding pictures, it's called the ox, even though it's a water buffalo.

[15:14]

So, any of these animals, bovines? What are they? Oh, undulates. Maybe so, yeah. But ox really, I think, refers to water buffalo. Because water buffaloes are more prevalent in China. Very prevalent in China. And India. And India. Although there are also oxen. So it could be ox, could be water buffalo. Here it's rhino. And... Actually in ancient times rhinoceroses were even in England. Very long time ago.

[16:21]

When there was land between England and the continent. So a cloud rhino is like the idea of a rhino. I talked about the rhinoceros fan, didn't I? But if you look at it, there's a cloud city, a cloud anything, right? A cloud elephant, a cloud castle. So it's an ephemeral kind of image. And a rhino is like the real thing. Sometimes people talk about the rhinoceros in the middle of the room.

[17:23]

When you have a meeting with a lot of people and you're not talking about the thing you're supposed to be talking about, but everybody knows it's there. It's called the rhinoceros in the middle of the room, but nobody sees it, or nobody's willing to recognize it. So rhinoceros is like Buddha nature, you know, it's like your true nature. In the ox herding pictures, the boy is always, or the girl, is always looking for the ox. And then he sees traces of the ox and chases after the ox, finally captures the ox and then rides the ox and comes home whistling and playing the flute and riding backwards on the ox. And then the ox disappears and both the boy and the ox disappear.

[18:28]

Hotei comes back into the world with bliss-bestowing hands, drinking wine, but not getting drunk. Observing the preset. Drinking wine and observing the preset. So anyway, a cloud rhino gazes at the moon, its light engulfing radiance. So on the rhinoceros fan, there was a painting of a rhino gazing at the moon. And the teacher says to the attendant, please bring me my rhinoceros, the rhinoceros fan. And the attendant says, well, I can't bring, you know, the fan is broken. He said, well, then bring me the rhinoceros. So fan, you know, the rhinoceros fan means a picture of a rhinoceros, right?

[19:50]

And since this case is talking about Getting beyond the scriptures, right? Getting beyond a picture of the real thing. That's what the case is about. He says, I am continually, you know, the scriptures are continually flowing out of my lips, but I'm not reciting the scriptures that you're talking about. So the rhinoceros fan kind of stands for the picture of reality. He said, then bring me the rhinoceros. Show me reality. So a cloud rhino gazes at the moon is a picture of reality. It's light engulfing radiance.

[20:54]

See in ancient song it says that the rhino grew his horn while gazing at the pattern of the moon Good words are to be treasured Referring to The cloud rhino gazing at the moon But in the final analysis they tend toward feelings and thoughts based on literary content So that's Dogen talks about eating a picture of a rice cake. You can't eat the picture of a rice cake. But he goes on to say, but you have to eat a picture of a rice cake in order to see reality. But I won't get into that. A wood horse romps in spring, swift and unbridled. Well, in the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, The wooden man gets up to sing, and the stone woman gets up to dance.

[22:05]

So, wooden man is like someone who is completely free. In other words, is not hindered by emotion thought. I think that's the meaning of wooden man. A wooden horse romps in spring, swift and unbridled. This usually eulogizes breathing out, not involved in myriad circumstances. And one might say, skillful action has no tracks. So the wooden horse is like freedom, you know. It has, yes. Why, after all this elaborate discussion above about breathing out and breathing in, why does he only talk about breathing out? He says also, yeah, he may have left out breathing in.

[23:09]

But he did. So he does say, well, body and mind when breathing in, doesn't get involved in various circumstances when breathing out. Breathing in is the five lines and breathing out is the word for it. But didn't we have an alternate translation of swift and unbridled being not moving at the end last class in the Chinese? And the bridal really should be concentrated by not moving in the one horse without Julie? Well, that's right, yeah, it has the meaning of without going anywhere or without, you know, complete freedom without moving.

[24:27]

Like Zazen. So I don't know what happened to breathing in. There's nothing more fundamental about breathing out in this context. Well, there's nothing more fundamental about breathing out than there is about breathing in. Tofu Roshi says, you have to be careful you don't breathe out more times than you breathe in. The beginning of the commentary says that the opening two lines eulogize not dwelling in the realms of body or mind.

[25:38]

Isn't it implying that the Cloud Rhino is the not dwelling in the realms of body or mind, which is also breathing? He just said maybe he doesn't make it explicit. Well, um... Yeah, it's, you know, who knows? It's hard to say. I don't know. We think that the two lines are talking about breathing in and breathing out.

[26:45]

But this first one, the CloudRider doesn't mention that. So anyway. I heard Raja Tara's breathing explained once that when I breathe in, I breathe in the whole universe, like all the myriad things, and when I breathe out, I breathe out one. So perhaps it could be likened to all these myriad things that this Raja wants the teacher to, or ancestor to expound, or sort of synthesize and put together. Well, you could say something like that. That you breathe in.

[27:50]

Breathing in is taking in all the imperfections of the world. Or taking in, not imperfections, but all phenomena. And breathing out is transformation. So you can say that the bodhisattva takes in all the suffering of the world and transforms it and then breathing out, breathes out compassion. I think you can also And he sort of says, inside, you know, I don't abide with what's inside the skandhas and everything related.

[29:00]

And outside, I leave no trace. But the point, to me, seems to be, where he says, if you've not yet embraced the principles of the teachings, you have no basis to attain understanding, is that He doesn't abide in the skandhas, which is what we use to read, to learn the teachings. But they're necessary. That's where... Relating that to the teachings, he seems to be saying, you know, the scriptures, In the end, maybe they're not necessary, but you can't do without them. Well, yes, that's what he's saying. But abiding, not abiding within the five skandhas doesn't mean that there are no five skandhas.

[30:05]

It just means not being attached to anything. But it's not a literary attachment. It's not an attachment to an idea of five skandhas. It's not abiding, not being attached to the actual five skandhas, forms, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness. Is that? Yeah. So you can't get around? No. So anyway, under the eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes, well, Bodhidharma was called the blue-eyed barbarian, right? Under the eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes, Lu Opu said, one who has only understood himself

[31:11]

And it's not yet clarified the I of objective reality is someone who has only one I, that's subjectiveness, right? When one can see subjectively but not objectively. But it also could mean, subjective, I think, could mean oneness. And objective could be the myriad things. I think that's probably what he's saying. When he says, understood himself, how do you understand yourself? There's no self. That's how you understand yourself. So, no self and emptiness. All dharmas are empty. That's understanding oneself. But I think he's saying one who abides in emptiness but not yet steps out of the hundred foot pole into the realm of phenomena has only one eye.

[32:35]

I think that's what he means by objective reality and oneself. If you want both eyes to be perfectly clear, you must not dwell in the realms of the body or mind and not get involved in myriad circumstances. And to realize this, you must hang the sun and the moon in the shadowless forest. We talked about that last time quite a bit. Implicitly discern the spring and autumn of the budless branches. And we talked about that quite a bit. That there's no shadow when the sun and the moon are hung up high in the shadowless forest.

[33:43]

There's no shadow. So I want to look at this a little bit more. Under the eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes. That kind of has a feeling of seeing something very clearly, you know, without bias or without discrimination. Cold blue eyes means just to like Occam's razor, you know, to look and everything without bias. And one who has only understood himself and not yet clarified the eye of objective reality is someone who has only one eye.

[34:48]

If you want both eyes to be perfectly clear, you must not dwell in the realms of the body and mind and not get involved in myriad circumstances. So not be attached to self or circumstances. Yeah. Now this seems to bring up this really fundamental issue of duality. Yeah. You know, subject and object, self and world. Right. Self and other. Right. I have no idea what to say, but... I would have to take my best shot at that. I would have to, you know, they're saying, you know, the author or the commentator seems to be saying that, you know, he seems to be acknowledging duality for one, which I think is like, you know, different, you know.

[35:51]

Different? Different from the usual, you know. Not different from the usual. Not one, not two. Yes. And which is like, so it's not two, you know, then, but it's not one. It's like trying to completely transcend the question of duality. And what I think, at first it seems to be taking a really conventional approach, saying, we only see subject, but we wanna, and you know, like, even in Western thinking, you know, there's kind of an idealism, or subjectivism, in which we think everything is just our mind. And then there's realism, or, you know, where we think, well, everything is just outside of our mind.

[36:56]

And I think in our culture, we constantly, thinkers have constantly wrestled with this, seemingly insoluble problem of how does the mind recognize the world and are they separate or whatever. And I think that what this thing is, you know, trying to say, okay, if you want both eyes to be perfectly clear, you can't attach any significance to or mind, or self, and other? Well, no, I don't think so. I think body-mind. When he says body or mind, it could be just body-mind. Okay. And not get involved in myriad circumstances. Myriad circumstances is the other side. Okay. But myriad circumstances, like from what I'm getting from the previous discussion, myriad circumstances is always like

[38:00]

things that are completely transient, or like in the previous discussion about, or in the following discussion actually, about implicitly discern spring and autumn above those branches, it's almost like saying, don't worry about whether it's spring or autumn, or what the circumstances are. Recognize it all, regardless of season. And I think that that's sort of like telling us This looks this way now, that looked that way then, forget about that. It's sort of like almost everything that is contingent, we have to completely disregard. Well, it sounds like saying disregard, but don't get caught by You can't ignore the myriad things.

[39:08]

Even though it sounds like he's saying you should not get involved in the myriad things, that's true. You don't get involved in the myriad things. That doesn't mean that you don't live in the world. It means that knowing how things, how people get caught in emotion, thought, and circumstances, to live within, to not be caught by emotion, thought, within circumstances. By leading a life in which you're not putting yourself in jeopardy by creating karmic bad karma which produces uncomfortable results.

[40:21]

So this is more like a moral or ethical advice? Well, I'm just kind of explaining it to you. Well, it's not, it's not, I don't know what you mean by, everybody means something different by moral and ethical, but it means don't get caught by things, that's all. It's just, don't put your foot in the door, you know, when it's closing. That's not moral or ethical, it's just sound advice. It's the notion of don't get hung up on it. Don't get captured by all the little dramas that are going on around you so that you're adding to them and feeding off of them and all of the conflicts keep going because nobody will let it go and all of that stuff that we live through every day.

[41:34]

That's what he's saying. Just let it. Right, and don't create stuff that gets others caught. It brings up for me though also the implicitly discern the spring and autumn on the budless branch which seems like something about, but also do really open your eyes. And I was thinking about What is it? You see only what your eye of practice can see at this time, and so you want to open your eye of practice to the extent you can, and know that even though the ocean looks round when you're out in the middle of it, really its features are infinite. So the rancher looks budless now. That's just one aspect. There's a lot more going on than you can see necessarily right this second. So really open your eyes and really look.

[42:36]

Right, look beneath the surface. Well, this sounds a little bit to me like just say no. I mean, I'm going to say this and you're probably going to tell me to sit more There's two sides, well, of course there's two sides, and there's this knowing myself. In fact, the way I know myself is by dwelling in the realms of body-mind and getting involved in myriad circumstances. This is how I know who I am. That's right. And it changes, and so there's no fixed self. But not dwelling and not getting stuck may be the same thing and may be different. And I may get caught, but getting... I don't think I can not get caught. I'm in a body-mind. I have this whole set of karma. I'm not going to not get caught. I'm just going to be able to see getting caught and disentangle, maybe.

[43:41]

I just think that one can be also very objective and not be subjective enough and err on that. I mean, that's life. Right. Don't get caught in subjectivity or objectivity. Would you say like it? I mean, you get to know yourself continuously, and then you just let it go. Well, but you're always knowing yourself. But don't think that there's some fixed thing that is yourself. and don't get attached to the idea that you have about who you are. And then like with objective reality, if you see one thing and you attach to it, you miss the rest.

[44:42]

Yes. Well, you miss the flow. I had something I wanted to say. I think that the corollary would be the observed type of observer. And so, I mean, it's this interrelationship that's a very complex experience that we have. So I think the law really absolves the notion of objectivity. That's the point. I mean, it refers to, I think, our experience very well. The observer affects what's happening out there, and what's happening out there is affecting the observer.

[45:49]

So there's this continual interaction at an unconscious level with what is conscious. Mind, you know, doesn't mean just thinking mind. When we talk about mind, there are two minds. One is thinking mind, but that's different from mind. And mind is a term that's used to... another name for Buddha nature, which is all-encompassing. consciousness and in complete total subjectivity everything is myself when there's no self-centeredness.

[46:52]

So then he says, how can reading scripture reached the piercing of ox hide. That's like the mosquito biting the iron bull. It's the same metaphor. How can reading scripture pierce the ox's hide? It won't get through. It's like the mosquito biting the iron bull. Chongqing said, What fault is there in the eye? In the heroic march scripture, which I believe is the Surangama Sutra, it says, now as you look over this assembly of sages, using the eyes to look around, those eyes see everywhere just like a mirror, in which there is no special discrimination. If you miss it here, as Yao Shan said, you must even pierce through oxhide.

[48:13]

I say, after all, he had the adamantine eye. So this eye is like a mirror, you know, the eye of the mirror wisdom. How can reading scripture pierce the oxhide? Chong King said, well, what fault is there in the eye? And then to illustrate that in the heroic march scripture, it says now as you look over this assembly of sages Using the eyes to look around those eyes see everywhere just like a mirror in which there is no discrimination, so It's just saying as it is saying everything without Partiality You know usually One eye is the eye of non-discrimination. And here, he keeps talking about two eyes. The two eyes, that's okay to speak in that way, but usually the eye of non-discrimination is like Cyclops.

[49:27]

The one eye which is the eye of non-duality. And when we see, you know, we have two eyes, but we only see one thing. So he says, what fault is there in the eye? As you look over this assembly of sages, using the eyes to look around, those eyes see everywhere, just like a mirror in which there is no special discrimination. If you miss it here, as Yao Shan said, you must even pierce through oxide. I say, after all, he had the adamantine eye, which is the mirror eye.

[50:31]

Yes? Adam and Eve means hard, very, very hard. Hard, yeah. Diamond, the diamond. Yeah, or the blue eye. The cool blue eyes. And that's the general question. In this sort of thing, are we assuming that he's talking metaphorically, or could he be just talking about direct perception? Well, direct perception, yeah. You're just talking about direct... That's direct perception. Seeing as it is, is direct perception. Without... The mirror just sees. A direct perception. I mean, just reflects what's real. And there are trick mirrors, but that's not what... That's not this mirror. This mirror just reflects everything without partiality or changing anything or...

[51:33]

judging anything or just see as clearly as it is hard and cold the clear mind produces vast aeons that's the fourth refers to the fourth line of the poem the third patriarch said just do not hate or love and all will be clear that's the non-discriminating mind. In the Xin Xin Ming, right, the third patriarch, the Xin Xin Ming is attributed to the third patriarch. The way is, well, how does that go? not difficult for those who do not pick and choose. Yeah, the Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose. Only don't hate and don't fall into hate and love and you won't have any problem.

[52:42]

It doesn't mean not to hate or not to love. It just means don't fall into them. Don't set up a duality where you oscillate between hate and love. Don't become attached to hate and love. But these are just examples. You know, we want to, we want something. We want to fall into one side or the other. But hate and love, you know, the same thing, only differently expressed. You don't think he's talking about the extremes of hate and love as being different from the adamantine, straight out in the middle, the hardness? The extremes are different from?

[53:47]

From just observing and not getting to the extreme level Well, not seeing them as a duality. Not falling into the duality of love and hate. Even if one moment of thought is 10,000 years, this cannot be fully upheld. Lumen said, the whole earth is a student's volume of scripture. The whole world is a student's eye. That's sometimes translated as, the whole world is the eye of a monk. Where will you defecate? So that's a kind of decoy, right?

[55:10]

Better hurry up and figure it out. Read this scripture for countless aeons without interruption. I say it is not easy to read. The Xin Xin Ming is a very famous Zen poem by the Third Patriarch. There are four koans in the Blue Cliff Record. where Joshu is dealing with this problem of picking and choosing.

[56:13]

Just don't pick and choose. That's the poem. The great way is perfect and all-pervading. No, the great way... It's something else. It's without difficulty. It just dislikes picking and choosing. Sin is picking and choosing, or love and hate. One falls into discrimination, discriminating mind. One falls into either clarity or confusion. as the koan goes. One falls either into which, and then Joshua says, I don't choose either clarity or confusion. And then the student says, well, how do you, you know, teacher, you know, how do you know that you don't It sounds to me like you're picking and choosing.

[57:16]

When he says, I don't fall into clarity or confusion. Teacher, it sounds to me like you're just picking and choosing. And then the koan goes on. Being free from love and hate is like clarity, and falling into love and hate is confusion. And Joshu says, I don't distinguish between the two. I don't pick and choose between the two. Sometimes I'm in confusion and sometimes I'm in clarity. But even when I'm in confusion, I'm still in clarity. Because his clarity covers both clarity and confusion.

[58:20]

And his confusion covers both clarity and confusion. That's non-discrimination. It's the non-discrimination of discrimination. So he says, the mind, the clear mind produces vast aeons, the clarity of mind. The third patriarch said, just do not hate or love and all will be clear, right? If you don't fall into hate and love, you will have clarity of mind. Joshi says, I don't know. I don't discriminate between clarity of mind and confusion, or love and hate. Even if one moment of thought is 10,000 years, this cannot be fully upheld.

[59:23]

What does he mean by that? It isn't easy to do, but it's not easy to do with the third picture up. That's right. Then we go on. Lumen said, the whole earth is a student's volume of scripture. The whole world is a student's eye. With this eye, read this scripture. For countless aeons without interruption, I say it is not easy to read. A Korean, Dr. Seo, used to come. He used to be around about 25 years ago. 20 years, 25, 20 years ago. And he was a very nice guy. He wrote me, he made a scroll for me, and he wrote something like, the vast sky and the clouds are the Zen Sutra, continually being created

[60:45]

So the next line says, heroic power smashes the double enclosure. Well, you know what the double enclosure is? Body, mind, and circumstances. Body, mind is one, enclosure, and circumstances is the other, as we've been talking about. Heroic power smashes the double enclosure of body, mind, and circumstances. During the Han Dynasty, Wang Meng sent his brothers Wang Zun. Oh, this is a nice little story. I have a note here that says C Case 5. but I will let it go.

[61:58]

So we'll read this little story. During the later Han dynasty, Wang Meng sent his brothers, Wang Zun, Wang Yi, and Wang Yi to Kunyang. Wang is the family name, where they surrounded Guangwu with dozens of rows of soldiers. Guangwu's army was weak, and he wanted to surrender to Zun Yi. But Yi refused. Thereupon, Guang Wu made his generals more determined. They marshaled their troops out to fight back and routed Zun and Yi. The Honorable Prajnatara was complete in both respects, cultural and military. Out, he is a general. In, he is a minister. Out means in circumstances, right? I think in means within himself.

[62:58]

He is a minister. The elements of being, body and mind, and the myriad circumstances are more than a double enclosure. Okay. Do you get what all that means? Heroic power smashes the double enclosure. I think he's talking about heroic power. The illustration is about heroic power. Right. During the latter Han dynasty, Wang Meng sent his brothers, Wang Zun and Wang Yi, to Kunyang, where they surrounded Guangwu with dozens of rows of soldiers. Guang Wu's army was weak and he wanted to surrender to Zun and Yi, but Yi refused. You can't surrender. Thereupon, Guang Wu made his generals more determined.

[64:00]

That's the heroic power. They marshaled their troops out to fight back and rooted Zun and Yi. The Honorable Prajnatara was complete in both respects, cultural and military. In other words, he had the culture, the sophistication, but he also had the kind of power, a heroic power. Outwardly, he is a general. Outwardly, his heroic power is like a general. And inward, his heroic power is like a minister. The elements of being, a body and mind, and the myriad circumstances, as I explained, are more than a double enclosure. So, when you get back to the case, it says, the patriarch said, this poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of body or mind when breathing in, and doesn't get involved in myriad circumstances when breathing out.

[65:10]

That's the double enclosure. Enclosure. I mean, is there more than a double enclosure? It's more than... well, it's like saying it's even more than a double enclosure. Right? Is there a dharma gate? Dharma gate? It's everywhere. Gateless gate is the dharma gate. Is there an opportunity? Every moment is an opportunity. Yeah, it's a gateless gate. There's no barriers anywhere. So that's how I understand what he's saying. Yeah. Body and mind in myriad circumstances. Their enclosure, which seems to me sort of like saying that they're sort of a hindrance, but they're also enlightenment. Yeah, they're also transcendable. They're also gates. Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

[66:11]

Oh, I see. When you say more than a double enclosure, meaning the more being also a door. Is that what you mean? Yes. Gate. Could be. That's a challenge. He literally doesn't say double. His truth is surrounded entirely. Uh-huh. make it out of the surrounding. It doesn't really see double perception. In the subtle round mouth of the pivot turns the spiritual works. A very famous line by Confucius where Confucius talks about the unwobbling pivot

[67:16]

which reminds me of this. It's like the unwobbling pivot is always turning on its axis. And when it turns, it's perfectly balanced and doesn't turn over, doesn't get turned over. And I think somewhere, that may be a subtle illusion or background of this, In the subtle round mouth of the pivot turns the spiritual works. Sounds like it. In the ancient classic Irya, I don't know what that is, but it could be, I don't know if it's Confucius, the pivot is called the hinge nest. Guopu's annotation says that it is a door hinge. Flowing water doesn't go stale, and a door hinge is not worm-eaten. This means it is active.

[68:18]

So when something is active, it doesn't get eaten up like that. The honored one acted before being directed, turned spontaneously without being pushed. Whether on this side or that side, he was beyond right and wrong. What is this side and that side? Acted before being directed means responding to things, I believe, and turned spontaneously without being pushed.

[69:30]

This is like flowing, riding the wave and following the wave, being in perfect accord with the turning of things. Now all of these images have that that sense, you know, the pivot turning and the door hinge acting, responding to back and forth, this side and that side, and flowing water not going stale. So the honored one acted before being directed, turned spontaneously. So we're talking about, well, the honored one is usually Buddha. But here, I think it's referring to Prajnatara. The honored one acted before being directed, turned spontaneously without being pushed. Whether on this side or that side, he was beyond right and wrong.

[70:34]

That means beyond right and wrong, yes. Well, is it again that idea of appropriated your actions are appropriate to the circumstances. Actions are appropriate to the circumstances, right, without before. It also has the feeling of, you know, beyond the precepts, or not beyond the precepts, but creating the precepts, or acting spontaneously as precepts. When your heart is pure, you know what to do. Right. So Tian Tong separates the sand, picks out the gold, distinguishes the marks, and divides the ounces. He has judged the fine points. And in the last two lines, he still has extra talent.

[71:39]

It's got something there left over and says, when Hanshan forgets the road once he came, Shite will lead him by the hand to return. Remember we talked about Hanshan and Shite, the two eccentric monks. They're usually depicted with brooms, you know, big smiles, toothy grins on their faces. When Hanshan forgets the road whence he came, Chitte will lead him by the hand to return." So they kind of interchange, you know, they're so in tune with each other that they act as each other's eyes and ears, maybe. This eulogizes the oceanic congregation of the National Assembly boring through paper, piercing windows, This is kind of Chinese imagery. The honored one is so kind, he holds forth in brief, lifting the blind to return the baby sparrow.

[72:49]

From the paper full of holes comes a silly fly. I don't understand it, but I can't explain. I understand something, but I don't know if I can say anything about it. I don't know what I understand. But it's great, you know. Lifting the blind to return the baby sparrow, from the paper full of holes comes a silly fly. But I think windows are made out of paper, for one thing. His use of Hanschan's poem is like joining complementary tokens. which I think refers to, you know, when Hanshan forgets the road, Shite leads him back. That's complementary. Right? And the Ocean Congregation of the National Assembly boring through paper, piercing windows.

[73:57]

The Honored One is so kind, he holds forth in brief. lifting the blind to return the baby sparrow. So that's a kind of kindness. But from the paper full of holes comes a silly fly. And the National Assembly boring through paper, piercing windows. So all that's kind of connected in some way. Anyway, the poem says, if you want a place to rest your body, cold mountain is good for long preservation. This is Hanshan poem, cold mountain poems. Gary Schneider translated some cold mountain poems of Hanshan. If you want a place to rest your body, cold mountain is good for long preservation. A subtle breeze blows in the dense pines. Heard from close by, the sound is even finer.

[74:59]

Underneath the trees is a graying man, furiously reading Daoist books. Ten years I couldn't return. Now I've forgotten the road once I came." I think furiously reading Daoist books is like trying to get the answer. Right? Gray hair, he's in the desert. Yeah, gray hair and still trying to get the answer. It reminds me of this cartoon I saw once where these two guys are in the foreign legion, and the one guy is tramping over the sand, and the one guy says to the other guy, you know, I came here to forget something, but I forgot what it was. I came here to forget. We better hurry up. So after Liu Guilin came to call, he went back together with Shite.

[76:06]

So Liu Guilin is somebody's, you know, they keep introducing newer characters all the time without warning you, without any preparation. But Liu Guilin came to call and he went back together with Shite. After going out the Pine Gate, he never returned to the monastery. So maybe Lu Kui Ling was Hanshan, before he was Hanshan. That's what I think. When he was still Lu Kui Ling, he went out of the gate with Hanshan, with Shite, and never returned. One book says, volubly reading Taoist books, This versifies a child lost, forgetting how to return, and a lost man pointing the way." It goes both ways. Emperor Zhuangzong of the latter Tang dynasty invited Chan master Zui Zheng of Huayan temple into the palace for a feast.

[77:10]

This is kind of an analogy. The great teachers and great worthies were all reading scriptures. Only Master Zhu Jing's group was silent. The emperor asked, why don't you read scriptures? Zhu Jing said, when the way is easy, we don't pass along the imperial command. Sounds very Taoist. During the halcyon days, we stopped singing the song of great peace. When everything is just fine, you don't need to talk about peace, right? And, uh, So what do you want me to do this for? And the emperor said, for you not to read scriptures may be all right, master, but why don't your followers read them either? And Xu Jing said, in a lion's den there are no other kinds of animals. Where the elephant walks, there are no fox tracks. The emperor said, why do the great teachers and great worthies all read scriptures then? And Ziyu Jing said, jellyfish have no eyes.

[78:18]

In seeking food, they must depend on prawns. The emperor was delighted. At that, the honored ancestor Prajnatara has been called Mahasthamaprabdha for long eons. And because he recited the profoundest scriptures, he was named Prajnatara by his teacher. but really had not yet got rid of habit energy and was bested by that of Ziyu Jing in the latter story, who, after all, has the nose of a patch-robed monk. At this point, I consciously let out a laugh. What was I laughing at? What was I laughing at? When the statues of Yun Zhu bear their chests, when the pictures of Gong Xian close their mouths, So where the statues of Yun Zhu bear their chests is like open. And where the pictures of Gong Xiang close their mouths is like closed, right?

[79:28]

Open and closed. So he says, you know, that Prajñātara was bested by Xu Jing. But I think what he really means is this is the same story. He's kind of comparing, you know, one with the other. But I don't think he means that one was better than the other.

[80:35]

Maybe that's what he means by, I unconsciously, I don't know if unconsciously is the right word, but I unconsciously let her to laugh. What was I laughing at? My joke, maybe. Laughing at my little joke. So, open and closed. Sometimes open, sometimes closed. Sometimes one says something, sometimes one says nothing. But either way, the scriptures are expounded. Maybe that's what it means. I think the last line is something like, the teacup touches one's lips, Uh-huh.

[81:44]

Huh. I see. The pitcher, it's kind of like a teacup. Yeah. Tea pitcher. When he holds the teacup up to his lips, tea goes in. Sometimes expounding, sometimes receiving. That's a new gem of the ancestors? Uh, yeah, uh... Here it's called wǒ hǎn, here it's ǎo hǎn. Uh, yu, yu, yu, who? Yǔ jīng? Yǔ jīng. [...] How do you say that? Huh? Is he asking about the fifth? Pardon me? Are you asking about Hèng Zhè? The fifth of the ancestors? No. No, no. Where the statues in Yǔ jīng bear their chests. Uh-huh, yeah. Yeah, Yǔ jīng. Could be. Maybe.

[82:48]

I don't know. So, we have two minutes. What can we say about, without reading the added sayings, what's going on here? But what can you say about this? Well, it seems to me, there was a note at the back that talked about the line about, in the Halcyon days, we stopped singing the song of great peace. When you get to the other side of the river, you let go of the raft. But you need the raft to get to the other side of the river. And it's the same thing with the scriptures. And it's what you were saying last time, that you need to pay attention to all of the doctrine, but don't mistake the doctrine for the reality.

[83:49]

And you need to be able to look at the reality, but in order to be able to do that, you have to benefit from what's been said before that's in the scriptures. Yeah, that's good. And each one of us is continually creating our own scripture. But if you say, I'm creating my own scripture, that's egotistical. So that's a kind of koan in itself. What is your, what are you expounding? What are we all, what are all of us expounding? What are we all expressing? Each one of us. With our lives.

[84:56]

So next time, it's case number 12. Di Zong planting the field. What do you call the world? That's the punchline.

[85:29]

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