Today I'm going to talk about case number 41 in the Blue Cliff Record called Nonsense, This Flower. And I'll start with Engo's introduction. He says, Engo introducing this subject says, when the action of the mind is stopped and swept away, the iron tree will bloom.

[02:31]

Can you demonstrate that? Even a crafty fellow will become a cropper here. Even if he excels in every way, he will have his nostrils pierced. Where are the complications? See the following. And then this is the main case. Riku, while talking with Nansen, said, Zhou Houshi, who is actually in Chinese, Seng Chao, famous Buddhist, said, heaven and earth and I are of the same root. All things and I are of one substance. Isn't that absolutely fantastic? Nansen pointed to a flower in the garden, called Taifu to him and said, people these days see this flower as though they were in a dream.

[03:43]

And then Setso has a verse. And his verse says, hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are not one and one. Mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror. The frosty sky, the setting moon at midnight, with whom will the serene waters of the lake reflect the shadows in the cold? Yesterday was Independence Day. I always thought that we should have, it's time to have an interdependence day.

[04:51]

We celebrate independence, which has become kind of a hallmark of American society. And it's very one-sided, because if you look around at most societies, there's a lot more interdependence than in our society. But as the world shrinks, becomes smaller, and the more we realize how everything is dependent, on everything else. We really need to have an Interdependence Day to celebrate that and make people aware of the reality instead of the dream.

[05:57]

We have this dream of independence, but we don't often see the reality of But this case is the opposite, where Rico sees the wonderfulness of emptiness and his nonsense fills him in on the reality of form. So in Engo's introduction, he says, when the action of the mind is stopped and swept away, the iron tree will bloom.

[06:59]

Action of the mind means measuring everything through the thinking mind. allowing the thinking mind to be a yardstick that everything has to come up to the measurement or the mark of thinking mind. is full of views and attachments and partialities. It only goes so far. So he says, when the action of mind is stopped, it means cutting off views and partiality.

[08:12]

It doesn't mean to stop thinking. exactly, but to stop thinking in terms of views and partiality and dualistic one-sidedness. When this kind of action of the mind is stopped, swept away, the iron tree will bloom. Iron tree We say iron person. We say iron man, but now it's iron person. One should be an iron person means an enlightened person. The iron tree is like the true you.

[09:16]

The true person. Rinzai says, the true person of no rank. The immovable aspect of yourself that nothing can move, actually. No circumstance can move this iron tree when it blooms. settle on in Zazen. When fuse and partiality are swept away, the iron tree blooms in Zazen. We don't practice Zazen to gain anything. It's because we're enlightened, we sit zazen, and let the iron tree bloom.

[10:29]

As Kali Giri Roshi used to say, let the flower of your life bloom. How do you just be yourself? show this, you should be able to show this iron tree. Even a crafty fellow will become a cropper here. A cropper is a funny word. It must be an archaic word. Sounds like something from before the 20s. But cropper means somebody who does, who works somebody else's field.

[11:37]

And so here it means not really taking, not And even if that person excels in every way, he will still have his nostrils pierced. Nostrils pierced means like a bull, you know. You have a ring in your nose. People like doing that these days, putting rings in their nose so they can be led around. It's strange. So, in other words, all your thinking, all your striving for accomplishment won't help.

[12:45]

The more you know, or the more you think you know, or the more levels you try to reach, the less So the hardest thing, not hardest, but how to be yourself, which means that you can't attach something else onto it. If we try to build up a self by adding things, by synthesizing or making a confection, which means putting things together in order to make something. It doesn't work. You just go farther away. How do you get rid of all, let go of everything so that the real thing will stand out?

[13:52]

So this is actually our Zen practice. how to clear the slate so that what's real will come forth and be recognized. So he says, then where are the complications? What's complicated? See the following. And that's the introduction to the main subject. Riku was the governor of the province who was Nonsense's student. And he was also a poet, a very famous poet. Riku, while talking with Nansen one day, the student and the teacher were talking one day, said, Jōhōshi, that's Japanese for Sengchō, said, heaven and earth and I are of the same root.

[15:22]

All things and I are of one substance. Isn't that fantastic? It is. He was right. It's a great statement. Zheng Chao was a student of Kumarajiva who translated the Indian texts into Chinese in the 5th century, 4th, 5th century. At that time, the emperor of China had a translating bureau to make the texts available to the Chinese from India. The languages were so different and the alphabet was totally different. Sanskrit is more like English and very different from Chinese characters. And Sankhya was one of Kumarajiva's disciples. enlightenment for several people.

[16:38]

I think Sagan or Sekito was enlightened on reading this statement. So Riku is not saying something bad, you know, but nonsense is Nansen stopped. He didn't say anything. He just said, come over here. And he pointed at this flower. And he said something like, people these days see this flower as though they were in a dream. Riku seems to be attached to the empty form of things, or oneness of things.

[17:50]

It's a wonderful statement. But Nansen is supplying the other side. He's saying, although that's a great statement, look at this flower. This flower actually expresses something. Can you see what this flower is saying to you? Can you see Buddha nature in this flower? Can you see this flower as this flower? People criticize and say, Riku was one-sided, and Nansen was not accepting what he said, which may be true, but I tend to think of it more as Nansen expressing the other side, so that the statement is complete.

[18:58]

But this flower is very important. to see the flower as a flower. And not just to see the flower as a flower, but to see everything as this flower. To be able to see the Buddha nature in everything. It's true that all things are myself, but how do you see that? How do you see the flower as the flower? Independently. All things are totally interdependent and one, but how do you see the nature in each thing, in each existence? Suzuki Hiroshi had the ability to address everyone. with that quality.

[20:07]

You can see when he spoke to a person, or addressed a person, or met someone, he always seemed to be addressing the Buddha nature within that person. Not within, but expression of his own enlightenment, because he could recognize the enlightened nature of each person. When Buddha Shakyamuni was enlightened, he said, I am enlightened together with all beings. And an enlightened person should Realize that and be able to recognize the enlightened nature of each person, no matter who they are or what they are.

[21:21]

A beautiful rose is a beautiful rose. A daisy is a beautiful daisy, even though it may not be so beautiful according to the standard of your mind, the measurement of the yardstick of your mind. A weed is not a weed. We just call it a weed. every existence is beyond comparison. True practice is a practice beyond competition.

[22:31]

Sometimes people will come to the Zen Dojo and see how everybody accomplished student and compare themselves. I should be doing this. You should. But you should be doing what you're doing and not what so-and-so is doing. The point is not for me to be somebody else, but this person should be this person and I should be me. But that's very difficult. Very hard. Especially if we have some kind of standard. Sit up straight. Zazen. Let your mind follow your breath.

[23:36]

And so forth. That's the standard. But there's no way to judge exactly If you are actually just doing the best you can do on each moment, that's Zazen. Without comparing yourself to somebody else. I don't mean think you're doing the best you can do, but actually doing the best that you can do. Actually bringing your whole life force to each moment's situation. being self-centered. Actually, my note here says that Sekito composed to Sandokai after he had an experience where he read this line of Sengchow.

[25:24]

The line of Sengchow was not the one above, but this line. He had an experience when he read The ultimate person is empty and hollow, without form, yet none of the myriad things are not his own doing. Who can understand that the myriad things are his own self, only a sage? There is a kind of refinement of that, which is, An ordinary person sees himself as other. The sage sees others as himself. That's a kind of condensation of that.

[26:38]

So in this sense, our practice is not a practice of stages or a practice of even training. We do say there is training, Zen training, and there's some discipline involved, and there are certain things to learn. But basically, It's not a training to be something special. It's discipline to gather the mind, to allow the life force to be expressed in its pure sense. So we don't have a progressive koan study where you have a progressive advancement through answering questions.

[28:07]

It's not a progressive advancement toward an enlightened state. It's important to have faith in Zazen itself. Zazen is the expression of realization, of light. Radiant light. Just allowing this to happen. Finding your own treasure. Unlocking your own treasure. And using it. Seeing this flower

[29:13]

as real. What is the reality of this flower? When you see that in yourself, when you can recognize experience that flowering within yourself, then you can see it in everyone, good or bad, or whatever, without discriminating good or bad, or various colors, not being fooled by various colors, and not being fooled by various kinds of behavior. So in his verse, Sancho says, hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are not one and one.

[30:46]

One and one means distinct, but not separate. It's like one and one. It's a funny phrase. Hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are distinct, but not separate. In other words, each thing is what it is, and yet belongs to the whole. Mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror. should be seen directly, not as something that should be. It's a funny statement because what you see in the mirror, when you see the mirror, the mirror is an image of yourself.

[31:58]

At the same time, the mirror is clarity. But the meaning here is not as an object. The frosty sky, the setting moon at midnight, the feeling of unity. And with whom will the serene waters of the lake reflect the shadows of the cold? And I have this note here that says, this is the place. You must do the rest. I may have made it up. I hope so. But this whole poem has the feeling of Zazen, actually.

[33:00]

Nyogen Senzaki has his own kind of loose translation of it. And he says, six senses create six worlds. Your hearing creates the world of hearing. Your sight creates the world of seeing. Your ears create the world of hearing. And your fingers create the world of touch. And the world of taste and so forth. And these are distinct worlds, definitely. Now we're looking around and this is the world of sight. and you're listening, it's the world of hearing. And you can close your eyes, and there it is. The Great Mirror has nothing to do with that trick. The Great Mirror is beyond all these six senses.

[34:07]

This is very important. We measure those six sense fields. We measure through that and the thinking mind, but the mirror has nothing to do with those. The true person is beyond the six senses, but includes them. When the moon full And behind the mountain, when the moon is full, behind the mountain, in the cold winter season, a Zen monk sits near the lake, watching his own shadow. Who is it? Where is he? Where is he? Who is it? Where is he? This is Zazen.

[35:12]

a poem of zazen, a poem of expressing when the iron tree blooms. It's an expression of pure existence. What do we need? Just to be. Just to be is enough. To be with the mystery.

[36:16]

To have some faith in our existence as pure existence. without knowing where we're coming from, without knowing where we're going. And that's knowing where we're going. Just this moment. The six senses create six worlds. The great mirror has nothing to do with that trick. When the moon full and behind the mountains in the cold winter season, a Zen monk sits near the lake watching his own shadow.

[37:32]

Who is it? Where is he? When you were speaking, it sort of reminds me of, I think it was five minutes, he said that everything is unique. comes from the same root.

[39:30]

And at the same time, each thing is everything. It seems paradoxical, but that's only because our thinking takes a paradoxical route. Is there something particular why, when Masters talk about interdependence and independence, that they say, I mean, and Dungsang says this too in that poem, they are me, or he is me, or the other is me, but I am not him, as a way to express, instead of the reverse, is there something important about saying, you are me, but I am not now you, as the way of talking about interdependence and independence, as opposed to saying, I'm you, but you are not me. Is there some reason why it's always done the first way?

[40:39]

It's not always done the first way. It's just in that poem. But also in this poem, too. Not in the poem, in the case, but the thing you read, is it extra? The same as the sage. It depends on where you're standing. It seems to me that it has something to do with practicing a little bit of selflessness in perspective. I'll be independent, I'll be the flower expressing, you know, and I won't insult you by saying, I'm you, but in you I can see self rising. And you can say it any way you want, depending on where you're standing. Sometimes you express it from the point of view of totality, and sometimes you express it from the point of view of singularity.

[41:51]

Did Nansen then mean when he said people look at this flower as if they're in a dream, the dream of all is one and that's all there is? Yeah. Or that's enough? Yeah. Not, you know, from that point of view. Right. You can fall into the same dream as if We think that people don't see, the dream is that you don't see that all is one. So he's coming from the other side. Well, Buddha holding up a flower expresses both sides.

[43:10]

When Buddha held up a flower, it's expressing, this flower contains the whole universe, and the whole universe is this flower. That's all. That's enough. The scientific formula, like Einstein's formula, very simple. The simpler the formula, the more it includes. There is a me.

[44:23]

There is a self. Well, that's right. Which you is the right one? Well, sit more with us then. Don't conceive of buddhanature. Don't try to see buddhanature as if it's something that you're seeing in somebody. I know it's hard not to be open to people the way you think they are, because your mind always makes a judgment every time we have an encounter.

[45:38]

But make some effort to get beyond your judgment. And when you're arguing with somebody or quarreling or get angry or something, covers our ability to see. So to be able to mirror means to not distort. So there are people that, you know, really we don't like. even though we don't like it. So buddhanature is not always something that we like. And it's not always something good. But our mind should be able to mirror it as buddhanature which is beyond good and bad, like and dislike.

[46:50]

So that is complicated. The more open we are, the more we can accept, and the bigger we become. So this is a career issue called big mind. We should be operating from big mind and not shut down by small mind. Well, all these flowers and blooms we're talking about flower shrivels and the petals fall off and what happens? Is the universe still here? Is there still pure existence?

[47:55]

The problem we have, you know, is we identify ourselves with the measure of comfort of consciousness. And you think, I'm not going to be around, so that's the extent of my life. But actually, life is life. And this person is just an expression of life. Before you were born, you were just an expression of life. You didn't worry about it. But you only worry about it because you identify yourself as this person. But if you identify yourself as life itself, it's a lot easier.

[49:02]

That's hard to do. But that's as life itself, not just this person. This person is life, an expression of life. But what will happen to the flower? Flowers fall. even though we don't like it. We'd screw up. So the flower creates something else that's created out of that energy. That's life. Life doesn't disappear. Maybe it doesn't go away. Life is just totally recreated.

[50:05]

But you don't know how it will be recreated. That's the problem. Well, when you say, um, what Katiciri said, settle yourself on the self and let your life force bloom, is that life force permanent? Is that what... Life force is indestructible. My force is indestructible. And when you sit Zazen, you should sit on that pillar. Yes. So we're always this deficit that we're inadequate.

[51:30]

We're never given strokes told that we are part of a beautiful power, that we ultimately can do anything we want. And when we make a mistake, it's disciplined, but it's still given the assurance that And so with that kind of programming, all we're doing right now is trying to get back to when we were children and feel that power. And if we could feel that power, we'd be liberated right now. Because then you feel the joy. You have to mature in that place.

[53:00]

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