I vow to taste the truth of the Togetos words. Good evening. I think we wanted to open the discussion this evening with any questions that might have been left over from last week's discussion for Mary. One of the reasons is that she's calling him a bodhisattva. She's asking him to show some special powers. No, I think she's just asking him to do what a bodhisattva does.

[01:04]

You know, for a bodhisattva. They're ordinary powers. Why do I say that? Intimacy. And that's what the feeling was, that break between the two of them.

[02:09]

And a comfort that they would be, you know, let me give a description. You know, people, when you talk to somebody that really knows you, you don't even know really, but often your talk is kind of shorthand. And it's because you know what you're talking about, but somebody listens to the conversation. You're done, and you just walk away. And with another person, it might seem rude, but somebody that you really care about doesn't feel rude. Because the connection is so strong, it doesn't matter. Yeah, thank you. And don't you need to communicate directly to people? It's a classic description of Zen.

[03:12]

The notion is that the first transmission was to Mahakasyapa, holding up a flower in Mahakasyapa's hand. And that was a direct knowing, a direct knowing of something. But the two of them understood it differently. One of the things it's about, as Grace pointed out, is also it's a made-up thing, really. I mean, in fact, it is for many reasons. Now, the only part that's not made up is the relationship. Well, but I mean, some of those people may not even have known each other. But they're supposed to know each other. And they're supposed to have had a being, mind to mind and heart to heart. And the Dharma transmitted. Right, we don't learn Zen from books. And the Living Zen is why we come to Zen Center, because otherwise we could just read a book and do it at home.

[04:24]

So I'm glad that we started talking about intimacy because I wanted to, before I talked about these specific women, show the connections that we have through our own lineage and our own form of intimacy. If someone could trace back on the Rinzai line behind you to Yuan Wu on the Ninji or Rinzai lineage while she's doing that and she'll find it on that I'm going to talk a little bit about it. A couple generations before Yuan Wu, which was about the year 1000, there was a teacher and that lineage split into two. They're both Lin Ji. You find him? Yup. Yup. Yep, that's where they are. And if you look down, there's a dotted line. Isn't there to ASI on that or not on that chart? Okay, but in some charts there are.

[05:40]

And if you understand that, because two or three generations before Yuan Wu, there was a teacher that shared both Oryo lineage and Yogi lineage in the Linji tradition. These are just sub-families. And Eisai, when he went, this was Dogen's teacher in Japan, Dogen's first teacher of Zen. When he went to China, he studied with an Oryo master. and he came back at Myoshinji or Keninji in Kyoto. This was Dogen's first exposure to Zen. So Yuan Wu, who was the Dharma teacher of Dahui, is someone that Dogen, in a certain way, was interconnected with. through Aesai. And Aesai's disciple was Myosin, who Dogen went to China with. And when they went to China, this was during the Sung Dynasty, during this very time that we're talking about for these women, Dogen came back.

[06:44]

totally with a very radical idea about women in Zen and about practicing Zen, because of the women that he had seen and heard about, and they were practicing in Dahui's tradition, even though there was some rivalry, you know. like some of the basketball teams, you know, between Dahua's lineage and Honjer's, which was the one that Dogen came through. That was Soto's lineage already establishing itself. There was a lot of sparring back and forth, particularly on Dahua's side, but there was The women that Dogen saw when he went to China were Dahui's disciples and others, but this was both Yuanwu and Dahui were very revolutionary in their encouragement of women and they're passing on Dharma transmission to women.

[07:51]

And this is what Dogen experienced. So when Dogen came back, he wrote about this in Raihai Tokuzui. Have any of you read that in Shobo Genso? Well, let's just, yes, yes. I'm sure we could pull it out, but he says in that, and I know that you've heard it at various times around here, he suggests some things that are very unusual and unheard of in Japanese culture at the time, which is that If a woman has the teaching, it doesn't matter if it's a woman, a little girl of 7, or an old man of 90. If a young woman has the teaching, then that's who you should bow down to. And if an old man does not have the teaching, he should become your student. and that Dogen encourages his students to, if Dogen is away and if the head monk is away, to please turn to the senior nuns.

[08:53]

And I wanted to make sure you saw the names of Dogen's lineage and senior nuns. You know, we have here just the vertical lineage. And of course, the horizontal lineage includes many nuns. And also, not only did Dogen pass on teaching to these women, I don't know exactly about the Dharmair, but he did certify them as students. But also, Dogen's students also did the same. And we're not, we don't have the space to go into Dogen's female students tonight. maybe in the fall when we do the Japanese women, we can talk about that some more. But I just wanted you to see that, and I didn't write on this. This is from the book by Paula Arai, Women Living Zen, who has gone to Japan and traced back the women teachers in the women's lineage through the only, really, the last vital training place for women in Japan.

[10:01]

In fact, The Rinzai, I was told by someone at Soto-shu that the Rinzai teachers, when they need a practice place for women, actually go to the Soto school in Nagoya, the convent, the nunnery there. So you could pass these around. And also, there's three other pages with Dogen's lineage that I'm passing to you about Dahua's interactions with women. So I want to take just a couple of minutes to talk about how unique Da Hui was as a teacher and Yuan Wu because of course nothing exists out of context. This is the teaching of the Buddha Dharma. Everything arising together. So if we think about women, we always think about men and women practicing together. And Da Hui was certainly a unique

[11:03]

teacher and he was a very revolutionary teacher and he was thought of by the time he was 37 as the second coming of Linji. His dharma was so skillful. On the other hand, because he was such a revolutionary teacher, he got into some trouble, probably not regarding the women so much as some of his political views. Because even for men to be here with us, this is a rare, unique situation that we're practicing with men and that men are practicing with us. And it was in Dahua's time. And he had a very open mind. And so he criticized the government as well. And this all went along together with being a revolutionary. And as a result, he supported someone who wanted to reform some of the cheating in the government. And because he supported them and they were defeated, this man was put to death and Dahua's robes were stripped away.

[12:09]

and he was sent in exile. First he was sent to the West in China, and then he was sent to the South, which was ridden with plague and famine. And half of the monks who followed him died because of the plague. And eventually, because of his compassionate work to help the victims of the plague, the government turned back around and brought him back, and it was Hondure who was on the Soto side who helped him get a temple again. And also, as Mary mentioned last time, even though they were Soto and Rinzai, as we call them now, He, Hongjer, at the time just before he wrote his death poem, turned his students over to Dahui. He was a very, very powerful teacher. And I'm really glad that in finding these women that I've begun to study Dahui some.

[13:12]

It's really a treasure. But I just wanted to read to you something that brings back the intimacy of the situation with Dahui and his students. This was when his robes were stripped. The monks were weeping like people who had lost their parents, lamenting sadly, unable to rest easy. Assembly Chief Yin went to the community quarters and said to them, the calamities and stresses of human life are something that cannot be arbitrarily avoided. If we had Da Hui be like a sissy all his life, submerged in the rank and file, keeping his mouth closed, not saying anything, surely this exile would not have happened. Reminding the monks of hardships that their Dharma forebears had survived, Yin urged them to do whatever it took to follow Da Hui. And the next day, they left in a continuous stream. A hundred monks joined, even in the second, more hazardous phase of Da Hui's exile, and half are said to have died in the epidemic.

[14:20]

So it is indeed a very intimate practice and a very passionate one. And I wondered if any of you had a chance to dive into some of the readings and had any thoughts and questions about what we might start with. Particularly, I wanted to start tonight talking a little bit about Da Hui's way as a teacher and the way he taught women, and then to specifically focus on some of Miao Dao's life, her awakening, and her sermons. So something along those lines, if you have any questions before we start. Anything you noticed in reading this? Do you think he taught women differently from how he taught men? No, I don't think he taught women differently except in his understanding of ways to encourage them because he did talk to women about other ways that he taught other women.

[15:31]

And the first koan that he used on Miao Dao was one that Yuan Wu had used also on a woman student. And he chose it because another woman had come to enlightenment through using it. often encouraged women, saying, you know, this is what Miao Tzung has done, or Ch'ing K'o, or Miao Dao, this is what they've done, this is the koan that they've worked with, and this is what they've accomplished. In that way, he encouraged women, but was also sort of chastising the men, you know, look at what the women have accomplished. So there was that little edge. Do you think he did teach them differently? Well, he was, except that he did make a point of encouraging them. And as Miriam Levering points out, he referred back when Miao Dao was stuck to the koan that his teacher had given to another woman and told her that, that another woman had.

[16:40]

So because there's no path, pointing out that even though the path isn't exactly formed, someone else has crossed this terrain, another woman has crossed this terrain, is very important and a big encouragement that he offered. Did you notice anything else as you were reading here? I mean, these are fairly scholarly, particularly the piece on Miao Dao and her teacher Da Hui. One of the things that strikes me is the laborious detail of nailing down this lecture at this place, and then this was said, and that and the other. Did you have any idea about what that was about? Well, first of all, none of these women are well known. So in order to establish that they exist, we have to really go through the history. And it reminded me as I went through of one of the first times I heard Suzuki Roshi lecture.

[17:43]

and I was only 20 at the time, and I'd come to Berkeley Zen Center for Zazen, and some of you may have heard me tell this already, but it's very applicable, and he, it was around the Buddha's birthday, so he was talking like this about, well, there was this sermon here, and then there was that, and then we, so we think his birthday was here, but no, it was there, all of this in broken English, and I was getting kind of pissed, you know, I'd come for Zazen, and who was this guy? Who did he think he was, taking all this time to establish, you know, what was the exact date of the Buddha's birthday? So this just, I mean, that was the whole lecture, truly. Just like this. And so, by the end, I couldn't wait to nail this guy, you know, so I raised my hand and I said, uh, why does it matter when the Buddha's birthday was? And he said, if there was a Buddha, then he was born on a certain day.

[18:45]

And if he was born on a certain day, we should know when it is, because otherwise we have no proof that there was a Buddha, and so what are you doing sitting here? So what are we doing sitting here if we can't truly establish that these women lived and, in fact, experienced enlightenment? We're here to study this very matter. So it is a little laborious, though. And in fact, we couldn't exactly establish a date of birth for Miao Dao. I thought maybe by the age of her father and so on, that it might have been... I think I wrote down... She might have died in about 1184. Well, I wrote it down somewhere. 1095. Oh, 1084, maybe, is what I thought. Perhaps about 1084. I have some various reasons for suggesting that, and we'll go through why.

[19:48]

But I think the first thing that struck me was on page 188, a census in 1021 reported 61,240 nuns and 397,615 monks. Yeah, they're on page 188 of the reading here. Oh, OK. 1021, the census reported 61,240 nuns and 397,615 monks, which would mean the nuns comprised slightly over 13% of the population. She goes on, but this doesn't say anything about all the lay women that were practicing. And women, particularly in this era, But I think throughout the history of Buddhism have found ways to practice outside of the establishment, which didn't always welcome them. So even today, we find much more variety in the ways women practice in China.

[20:56]

For example, I'm told that currently in contemporary times, women will gather in a neighborhood without a teacher and form a Dharma group and practice meditation and chanting together. And so that even though they represent maybe 13% as ordained nuns, we can imagine that many more were practicing. Now, also, some of you may not be aware that during those times, women were confined to the inner quarters. So they were not encouraged to go outside of their home. And various times, there's the three servitudes or something that are referred to for women. This is that they are owned by their husbands until they marry, they're owned by their, I mean, owned by their fathers until they marry, owned by their husbands during the marriage, and owned by their sons when their husbands died. So there's very little freedom. So to see that there was even 13% was a very big number. But as it goes on to say, only one out of the 950 biographies was a woman, and that was Mushan Liaojun, the contemporary of Rinzai, of which Mount Mo and so on we have in the Blue Cliff Record.

[22:18]

So the first two women that made it to the Blue Cliff not necessarily lineage charts, but at least to the biography of eminent monks and nuns, the first two were these two women that I've spoken of, Miao Tsung and Miao Dao. And after that, there were many. They had disciples and also Da Hui had more Dharma heirs and so did some of his students. So it shows the number going up and then somehow they were erased. But actually it's kind of interesting that now as we go through the history we're learning much more about the Sung Dynasty because as it's been presented to us traditionally, Zen was really alive during the Tang Dynasty and that it was kind of deteriorating, we're told, during the Sung Dynasty.

[23:21]

But as the scholars, and this is a very good book by the way, Buddhism in the Sung say actually was very vital and very alive and great, great numbers of people practicing in the Sung. So maybe we should all look to that. We have the original teachers, you know, Matsu and so on all in the Tang Dynasty and Linji, but the variation and the numbers in the Sung Dynasty are very impressive. So there were two women and the one that I'm going to really focus on tonight is Miao Dao because you have quite a lot of literature to go through on her. She was also male, female or otherwise, Tao Hui's first, very first Dharma heir. She was the first one that he gave Dharma transmission to. So anyway, it's not on any of the charts I've looked.

[24:25]

But she, according to her life story, was a very special child and much is devoted to her father because there's much more in the history about her father than there is about her, even though in certain ways her attainment was greater. But anyway, they say when she was a child, she lost herself in worldly pleasures. At night, she sat and forgot herself. She lost interest in worldly pleasures. Her father carefully observed to see if there was even the slightest weakness. When she reached the age of 20, she received the Tantra and was able to enter the Sangha. So in her situation, by the time she found Da Hui, she had already been practicing at other monasteries.

[25:30]

Now, this situation of her father watching her very carefully, her father was a scholar and a poetry writer and supportive of Buddhism, but was not ordained himself. And there's some record of poems that he wrote for Buddhists. But clearly, his permission at this point in her life was required for her to go on and to become a nun. There is a kind of myth in Chinese literature about young women that one woman in particular and her mother is Mrs. Ma. She has a daughter and the daughter really swears and shows signs of being a devout Buddhist and the mother insists on marrying her anyway. And on the day of her wedding, she does what Lehman Pong's daughter did, which is she dies in the wedding carriage. So there's some evidence that this showing some devout practice will influence the family, which otherwise is very firm about marrying the daughter off.

[26:46]

So rather than have a repetition of this story, father agreed after he thoroughly tested her that she could become a nun. Now, we don't really have records of where she went and what her first practice places were. But we have a lot about the people that she practiced with, the men that she practiced with. Certainly she practiced at Mounts with a teacher, and if this is on, oh, my page numbers, let me get my book, are eliminated. So, she visited various Chan teachers before meeting Da Hui.

[27:50]

The only one of these who is named, see, we lose the man's name too, however, is Chen Xie, Chen Liao, 1088 to 1151, with whom Miao Dao was studying at the large Chan monastery on Mount Shuibang. Now, that's Mount Sepo, so we think that was a Soto temple. And it was to that temple, I believe, that Da Hui came and gave a lecture. And she was in a practice period at the time with that particular teacher. Now, it says Dahui began teaching in that area in 1134 and actually came and delivered a lecture in this Mount Sepo, as I'll call it more easily, area in 1134. At that time, she broke the ongo, she broke the practice period and jumped ship and went to study with Dahui.

[28:55]

So that was 1134. And Dahweh then refers to her as a senior nun. So she's either, yeah, so she was either 50 or I'm saying it was 1084 or that would have made her a little older than him. We're not sure why he refers to her as a senior nun. It's a very interesting word because see it's on page, 197 for those of you who haven't have page numbers at the bottom Paragraph you meow dow great master of the light of concentration asked me. Please point out the key Shenghua That's not the one But there's one word that he uses oh here it is let's find it I There's one word he uses when he calls her, ah, Shang Tso. And that one is on 195, yes, a little bit earlier.

[30:02]

And he praises her motivation. Recently, the senior Shang Tso nun, Miao Dao, if you look at that word Shang Tso, it's Shu Tso. So from Xu So, and when I looked up the note, which I didn't copy for you, but I have in the book, the note to that word is that Xiang So means Xu So. So it also, it's very hard to know. She had either been Xu So. Xu So refers to an advanced monk or nun. or her age. But clearly, if she started practicing when she was 20, usually, as that note on that particular word, Shang Tzu, says, you would use that term of senior on someone who had been practicing already for 20 years. So if she started practicing when she was 20, she may have been 40.

[31:06]

So that was why I was guessing, kind of guessing at her age, you know, might be 1184, maybe 1190, I mean, 1084, 1094 was maybe when she was born because they don't have it here. But we have this idea that in 1134, he was already referring to her as a senior nun. So she'd already done a lot of practice. We don't know if she was Shuso anywhere or whether he just is acknowledging her long practice. So you kind of have to dig through this a little bit. Well, he talks about on page, my page 196, that she broke the summer retreat and she came to study with him because she had doubts.

[32:11]

So what do you think was going on with her when you hear of someone who has really been so strict with herself to take a chance like that and go against her teacher and break with him. What do you think went on with her? I mean, this is about a woman, an ordinary person who was having some strong doubts about the direction of her practice for many years. and kept searching and it sounds like when she went that way, it was like, oh, that's it, forget this. It was just so strong that she broke everything that she had committed to because she wanted this to be the most important thing in her life. I think that's a really important something for us to realize. And as Mary said, it's not in the, you know, the liturgy, it's outside of the scriptures.

[33:19]

You need to find it for yourself and only your way-seeking mind is the, that's the only thing you could put your real faith in. And so here she took a real chance. And clearly she was, I don't use the word expression, hell-bent on enlightenment, but in a certain way, she was really going after it. And to such a degree that she went against the current and broke it. That's a very courageous move. And is recorded and noted as such by Da Hui that she had doubts and that her practice was so sincere that because she had these doubts, she had to come and follow her bodhicitta, her way-seeking mind. Soto and Rinzai, essentially. Right, and Dahui uses her as an example to talk about silent illumination.

[34:22]

He goes on a rant quite a bit about silent illumination. Sometimes Hakuin does that too, it's kind of funny. Silent Illumination is the teaching of Hunger. We have it here as Cultivating the Empty Field, his book that Daniel Leighton translated, and he refers to the original mind. And he actually refers to a kind of dynamic, brilliant quality, but It's almost like the same question, it's a really good question, it's almost like the same question that Domen had. If we have this originally, then why do we practice? So that some of the schools of silent illumination were kind of, oh yeah, well, I've already got Buddha nature, I'll just sit here and enjoy it. So, but that didn't happen to be the case with Han Ger.

[35:26]

And I remember this one piece of his which describes that teaching. empty and desireless, cold and thin, simple and genuine. This is the way to strike down and put away the habits of many lifetimes. And when the stains from these old habits are removed, the original light appears blazing through your skull, not admitting any other matters." So he was quite poetic, and it's a really wonderful book to read. cultivating the empty field. So this is the silent illumination in its strongest iteration. Okay, so there was this, it's almost like the same question that Dogen went to China with, you know, and that she came to Da Hui with, which is, I don't understand about this moment of awakening. I thought we all had it already.

[36:27]

So Andrew's telling me we should take a break. the Soto in China where she was. So she, apparently one of the things that used to be done was the sponsoring of sermons So the sponsoring of the sermon probably meant that, you know, you paid for the food for many, many people to come, and the teacher would give a special talk. And so on page 196, today the senior nun, Miao Dao, came to me, lit incense, performed a prostration and said, when I study supreme wisdom, Prajna, I encounter many demonic obstacles. I want to invite you to raise up supreme wisdom this evening before all the assemblies of humans and gods as an act of repentance. So this was her in first, okay, she left her teacher.

[37:35]

This was a big move. Now she came to this teacher and she felt she was blocked. And what do you think of this notion of demons? That's my point, is that in those times, nowadays we call our demons complexes, psychological complexes. We objectify difficulties that we have with ourselves and we categorize them as actually they're things, but it's more popular nowadays to call them complexes or neuroses. In those days, they were demons. They were referred to as there's something blocking my path, you know, someone from a past life or some ancestor who's not resting easy. And so this is why I'm locked. Actually, it could save a lot of money on therapy. But then you have to sponsor sermons, so I don't know. So, He, this is, to me, one of the things that I really have enjoyed as I've come to know Dahua through studying how he taught, particularly how he taught women has been what I've been studying, is how articulate he is.

[38:48]

and how compassionate and yet how clear. So the first thing he said, giving rise to a mind that fears doing wrong is difficult. Manifesting goodness in the heart is difficult. So already the fact that you're worrying about doing something wrong is already quite marvelous. So let it go already. You fear wrong, this is already good. So he reframes her fear and guilt as a conscience, which is a very skillful move for a therapist to make. Then he goes further than that and he says, but besides that, everything that you think is empty and insubstantial. But he takes the final thing, but as long as you have that delusion, there's still the need for confession. So this really broad, compassionate, I understand you're really suffering. I want to say that the fact you're suffering, the fact that you're suffering tells me, you know, what a strong conscience you have, what a strong seeker you are.

[39:58]

But don't forget that all of this suffering is just empty, but okay, we'll do it anyway because you are suffering. So, I think this is a really wonderful example of a big, big teacher, not only in his compassion, but his ability to articulate all sides of it. So, on the top of the next page, which is 197, he says, today the senior nun, Miao Dao, has put forth a thought that she wants to obtain directly the peerless Buddha fruit, bodhi. As soon as one raises this aspiration, all the wrong acts that one has committed are like dry grasses piled as high as Mount Sumer. So he's doing this in front of everyone. And she's really, you know, quite senior and he's holding her up, you know, as a wonderful example of practice. So all this wrong acts can be burned up without any remainder.

[41:01]

And then he goes on with his talk. Do you believe this? When this one thought has arisen, the thought of enlightenment or following the way, at that moment, becoming a Buddha is already complete. Throughout all future time, you will never retreat from it or lose it. This one thought is equal to all the Buddhas of the three worlds. Also, in that same page later on, on 197, I think her name means Great Master of the Light of Concentration. Now, the two nuns, Miao Dao and Miao Tsung, I don't know what Miao Tsung's name means, but I have an email going to Miriam Levering to ask about it and see if we can get an answer back by next time. But of the two, Miao Dao, who's been following the way since 20 who never marries is quite scholarly and Strong but but known for her ability to talk about the Dharma in a very poetic and beautiful way and I

[42:14]

Miao Tsung, who you, if you did the readings, that was a lot of reading, but I thought I would leave you for something after the class is over, is rather forceful and direct and rather outrageous. Also comes from a very aristocratic family, so she's also very scholarly. But I think the two of them show different aspects of the practice. I wanted to, so when she first joins on page, I think this is on page 197, when she first joins him, she brings up the question, she asks Da Wei, please point out the key to this mind and this nature, to delusion and awakening, to facing towards and turning away. He's talking about the conversation now. This is not in direct conversation with her. He refers to her a lot in his lectures because she was the first student to reach enlightenment under him.

[43:21]

So it really confirmed his teaching style. So he talks about her a lot to other students. I didn't answer for a long time. When you asked again, I laughed and said, as for the key, it cannot be pointed out to people. If it could be pointed out, it would not be the key. You said, how can it be that you have no expedient means to enable me to make progress toward the goal of awakening? Well, I'm sure it sounds like many of the exchanges we've had with Sojourn Roshi. Like, give it to me now. I want it directly. And how can you say it's there if you can't give it to me now? So she's quite strong with him and challenging. And he keeps working with her to put her onto a koan. He talks a lot in this article of Dawei and Miao.

[44:25]

There's a lot of talk about the difference between the two practices, but he's really overemphasizing that. He is trying to find his own way as a teacher, and he's trying to encourage her to begin the study of koans. So actually, you know, I've started some koan studies. This was another thing about that chart that occurred to me. When I go to Japan to do Koan study, I go to a male monastery, and I stay in the abbot's quarters, which is, the abbot there, even though he's breaking all the rules, is following the deeper tradition of Dao Hui. When I did the research, I found out that the founder of Tofuguji, which is this temple that I've been studying Koans at, is in the same lineage as Dao Hui. So it was very intimate to me to find, well, this is why, you know, as far as I know, it's the only formal training temple, formal training temple, which in Japan that allows women to sit next to the monks in the Sodo, in the monk's training hall.

[45:40]

And then I think that it comes from the connection to this lineage. So I was very tickled to learn that. So he's trying to encourage her to study koans. And there were some words that they use here, wato and kangan, I think, for koan. And do you know what that H-U-A-T, apostrophe, O-U, is in Japanese? It's wato. Do you know what that is? That's the part of the koan, does the dog, you know, the whole buildup, does the dog have Buddha nature or not, mu? That's the wato, the mu, the turning word, the one that you really have to work with. So he's trying to encourage her to practice with a koan. And so I raised for her Matsu's koan. This is on page 201. It's not mine.

[46:44]

It's not Buddha. It's not a thing. And instructed her to look at it. Moreover, I gave her an explanation. This is another. These five explanations actually could very well be applied to the kind of zazen we do. even though they're particularly for working with koans. These are original to Da Hui and have, I think I brought with me, Chinuo, a Korean teacher, is the only one who, there are copies of the other five that Da Hui added to these, but at least we have these five here. So these are five ways of practicing with koans, but I think they can be applied to our practice. You must not take it as a statement of truth. You must not take it to be something you do not need to do anything about. This is kind of that dead state you get in where, okay, okay, it's just Zazen, it's just Zazen, it's just the truth, right? There's nothing I need to do about this.

[47:45]

So there needs to be some dynamic force in this practice of Zazen. Do not take it as a flintstruck spark or a lightning flash. You're not looking for the flash. Do not try to divine the meaning of it. Don't try to figure it out. Do not try to figure it out from the context in which I brought it up. So if you've heard something in a lecture and you start thinking about it in your zazen, that won't work either. So these are instructions for practicing with koans. So it's the earliest example of very explicit practice for how to work with your mind in meditation and Actually became quite the standard in the industry So yes in the Zen tradition Okay

[48:50]

Okay, so I'm going to find this page. Okay, but so how does one study? One has to awaken suddenly and directly, have no mind. Only then can you be joyful and at peace. If you do not awaken, then all you will be doing is mouthing a few phrases about emptiness, non-being, and quoting a few places where the ancients talk about non-being. In a mistaken fashion, on the basis of this, you will say I've obtained rest. And here is the koan in our koanless zazen. I want to ask you, can you succeed in resting or not? Using the mind to make the mind not exist. He was a very powerful teacher and When we talk about Miao Tzung a little bit, you'll see some other examples of his very explicit instructions for teaching.

[49:59]

Yeah, there was a period actually. I want to ask you, Dash Dash, can you succeed in resting or not? Yes. Question mark. Next sentence. That is using the mind to make the mind not exist. That's our Shikantaza. So, but they use a koan. It's a similar approach. You know, we might another time talk about what is it that people do in this resting zazen that he has so much issue with. Anyway, on page 203 he describes her awakening experience and how he worked with her. I have a little time to do this. He instructed her to look at, it's not mind, it's not Buddha, it's not a thing.

[51:13]

So that's the one that we sometimes use here. What is it? It's not mind, it's not Buddha, it's not a thing. And with the instructions. Don't take it as a statement of truth. Don't take it as something you don't need to do anything about. Don't take it as some spark. Don't try to figure it out and don't try to figure it out from the story that it came in. Then she comes into him and he sees that she's had some kind of breakthrough. So he says to her, how do you understand? And he knows that she's had some breakthrough, but that she's not as far as he can push her. So he's tough on her. She says, I just understand this way. Before she had finished speaking, I shouted, ho! And then said, there's one too many I just understand this way.

[52:16]

That was still self. When she made the statement, I just understand this way, he felt there was some self she was still clinging to. So he sent her back in. She comes back to him and she says, this is at the bottom of page 204, after a while she came back and said, I really do have an entrance. At that time, you could say that I coddled her like a beloved child. I think that Sojin Roshi talks about this grasping and granting way. There's time to be really tough and say, push back against the student, and then time to say, oh, yes, it's okay, you know, you've got it. So this was his doing that. So the second time when she came back, he felt that she'd had the breakthrough. And after that, he became very clear that this was going to be his teaching method. She was his first disciple that had awakened in this way, and he had had success in teaching her in this way, and he really became confirmed in his style of teaching because of her.

[53:26]

So later, I stayed at Yongwu Monastery between the fifth day of the third month and the 21st day of the third month of 1135. I brought to awakening in succession 13 people. Further, I received an 84-year-old monk whose name was Elder of Great Compassion. I asked him, the one who is not a companion of the myriad things, what person is that? He said, I can't call him by name. So then I asked him, the one who can't call him, what person is this? Hurry, hurry and tell me right now. He suddenly understood completely. Sweat poured off his back. Someone who from the beginning had absolutely no faith in awakening, suddenly, all at once, awakened. So, this is some realization. I can't call him by name, but what is it? What is it?

[54:29]

Step back again. What is it that can't call out? Go back further, further. Let go, let go deeper. So, this confirmed Dao Hui's teaching method and he gave Miao Dao, Dharma Transmission, and she went off to become an abbess in various, in her tradition, and taught women at very many, I think she was at several monasteries. And I wanted to go over just one of her talks because it's very interesting. I'm going to find that page for you. Okay. Apparently, men and women were studying with her. A monk asked, when words neither extend to the matter nor connect with the hearer, what then? The teacher, Miao Dao, said, before you have defecated, you've already fallen into the hole.

[55:36]

Did you say that again? I think I'll flush instead. So her own lineage head here, Linji, said, you know, the Buddha is nothing special. He's just a hole in the privy. But she pushed the monk all the way inside. So then she continued, well, what did you think that means when the monk asked the question, when words neither extend to the matter nor connect with the hearer, what then? And her response, what do you think that means? A monk asked, when words neither extend to the matter nor connect with the hearer, what then? The teacher, Miao Dao, said, before you have defecated, you have fallen into the hole.

[56:41]

So we can gather from her answer that it probably wasn't a very good question. It was probably full of shit. and that he hadn't really gotten to the heart of the matter and he'd already fallen into the shit. So he was really, in my opinion, trying to, and this was one of the first questions that was asked her, she stepped up to be Abbott, Abbess, be pushing. So then she said, Do not ask too many questions, even if it were true that you are very fluent at arguing and that you have wit enough to overturn mountains within the gates of the Sangha. You will have no use for such skills. This is what Mary talked about earlier when she said it's outside the words. So stop trying to be so clever and witty to figure it out. It's no use here. You're already in the shithole. So, don't start.

[57:50]

Before the Buddha appeared, there was originally nothing whatsoever to be done. When our patriarch came from the West, then there came to be many establishments. There were many monasteries facing one another, spread out on the famous mountains as thickly as pieces in a board game. And she's talking about the board game of Go. This is all the political jockey and different schools arguing with each other. This has continued to the present, generation after generation. Finally, it causes me to stand in front of the great assembly of gods and humans and make waves when there is no wind, communicating some bits of information about second-level truths. So already, if we're going to talk about it, it's not the same as it. And so many Zen teachers have said, you know, you can't eat a painting of a rice cake right. So this is her way of saying that. Making and making waves when there is no wind.

[58:56]

Communicating some bits of information about second level truths. What is not covered by speech or silence is everywhere. That which cannot be expressed in words and commentaries pervades all the worlds. It's here right now. You're breathing it in and you're breathing it out. There are eyes all over your body. You are face to face with the mechanism. Lightning and stars curl and run away. How can you grab them? So, how is it you become your true self with no separation and no intellectualization, no ideas, the one who can't call the one with no name? Go back, go back, where there's no separation between you and it.

[59:58]

Sometimes with a shout, ho, you cannot distinguish the Buddhas and the patriarchs. Sometimes with a shout, ho, you are attacked by enemies in all directions. Sometimes with a shout, ho, you can't save yourself. But tell me, in which ho is the extinction of life and killing? What transcends life and death? What was there before life and death? These are my words. In which ho are Buddhas and patriarchs not distinguished? In which ho are you being attacked by enemies on all sides? And in which ho is it that you cannot rescue yourself? If you can understand this, then you can repay the unrepayable favor. If it is not so, then I am speaking of dreams I haven't even seen. So each of us needs to find this ho for ourselves, and if it isn't so, then she's just making it up.

[61:00]

So this has always been the teaching, you know, as the Buddha said, be a lamp unto yourself. No one can give it to you. You have to keep turning over and over again in your zazen to be with it, to become it. She picked up her whisk and said, do you see it? If you see it, then you are obstructed by the thorns of sight. She struck the platform and said, do you hear it? If you hear it, then you are confused by the objects of sound. What was there before sound? What, as we say in the Heart Sutra, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, what's there before those things? Do you hear it? If you hear it, then you're confused by the objects of sound. But if you can distance yourself from seeing and hearing, then that truly is only the small fruit of the two lesser vehicles. Jump out of it one pace and you will cover and ride form and sound.

[62:04]

You're free. There's so many examples of this sense of freedom. I just freed myself of my microphone. This sense of freedom that one encounters in letting go of all conditioning and finding one's original self or becoming that. So her example of this freedom is, jump out of it one pace and you will cover and ride form and sound. Let everything go and gather everything in and host and guest will change places freely. Therefore, it is said, if you want to know the meaning of the Buddha nature, you should observe the causes and conditions of the moment. That's within yourself. I dare to ask all of you, what moment is it right now? The benevolent wind blows all over, helping good government.

[63:05]

Oh, she didn't want to go into exile. She had to put in a plug for the emperor. The harmonious atmosphere helps the peaceful world. So, any comments about her teaching? And some other... The second, oh. Uh-huh. Yes, I'll have to find it again. Oh, second level truths. Is that what you're talking about? Oh, I don't know. But if you can distance yourself from seeing it, then that truly is only the small fruit of the two lesser vehicles.

[64:09]

Yeah, she's talking about... Yeah, or she's talking about just the stages of awakening. What is distancing? Just tuning out? Distancing? If you can distance yourself from seeing and hearing, from being attached to the objects of sight and sound, when they come through, we don't deny that they're there, but we don't make anything out of them either. So that's the distance. The distance is, the distance from, I like that sound, I don't like that sound, that's the sound of this, this, this, I like that one, and so on. So all of the attachment we have to the phenomenal world. So, it's not that we go into some zombie-like state, that's not it, but there's a letting go of the attachment so that your position with the phenomenal world is not divided between subject and object.

[65:10]

And when you let go of attachment to object, then it takes on a different relationship, the true relationship that you have. But the subject and object are not still there. So this is the distancing. The method is to let go, to keep letting go of the thoughts and attachments that arise to each sound and sight. One of the talks that I was trying to find was that she used specific words that The first one in the collated essentials of the five flame records. These are the biographies that were kept with her sermon. Notes, this was her inaugural sermon when she begins to be abbess. And it begins with a question from a monk. So this was her first inaugural sermon when she became an abbess.

[66:15]

Any other questions? What do you think? Hmm good So then there's um Several other sermons. Oh Particularly, I'm interested in having you take a look at since our time is somewhat limited on page 209 It's in the middle of a sermon, but she says Moreover, each person is complete in every way. Each thing is perfect.

[67:21]

And that which is totally complete and perfect covers the earth and reaches to heaven." Maybe she'd say that. Eyes are horizontal and noses are vertical. Now, have you heard that line before? Where have we heard that line? That's what Dogen said when he came back from China. That was after this sermon. So we can only assume that her sermon became part of historical talk about how is it when you have become your true self or that she was using poetic language from that she had seen around town and that he was too, but he definitely came after her but I thought that was kind of interesting that and also part of the Genjo Koan is in here on page 208 Yes Covering the covering covers the earth and reaches to heaven.

[68:31]

You know what Mel says? This guy starts here. So where's the separation? So this is one of the talking about interdependency and the true nature of our relationship. So Is that sufficient? 208. One, two, three. Three paragraphs up. Then I can churn the Yangtze River into curds and transform the great earth into gold. Pluck a blade of grass and make it into the 16-foot golden body of Shakyamuni. Take the 16-foot golden body and make it into a blade of grass. So she talks about the curds in here. Churn the Yangtze River into curds, which he talks about in the Genjo Koan. Yes, fragrant, yeah. Yeah, those are the same curds, the fragrant cheese. Yeah, yeah.

[69:33]

I thought it was interesting just to find, because this all was before Dogen's time, to find that she was speaking in the literary. There's a couple of quick dialogues, something like our show song ceremony. A nun asked, what is the Buddha? Miao Tao replied, not a Buddha. The nun asked, what is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma? The master, Miao Tao said, kuti kutung, or an antique. or something probably more like a tiki-taki. You know, I mean, it was something that meant antique, but it had a kind of a rhythmic, poetic sound in Chinese, which, of course, we lose. So I thought that was kind of interesting. Anybody have any comments? I'll read it again. What is the Buddha? Not a Buddha.

[70:34]

What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma? The master, Miao Tao, said, an antique. Let's not get it to be too precious. This is along the lines of, if you see the Buddha, kill him. It's like, don't hold anything up beyond your own awareness. And yet, she uses the word antique, which suggests that it's something of value. There's something there to be valued, but it's already old. What's new? Someone asked, an ancient said that as for the 50 kinds of demonic states that troubled jhāna meditation, in other words, enumerated in the Śraṇa-gama-sūtra, if today all the people on the earth studied Chan and had even higher attainments, they would not be able to get out of their realm.

[71:49]

They'd still be stuck in the mokkha. Have you, Reverend, been able to get out of it yet or not? And she says, I don't consort with either group. So what do you think she means? Well, if she said she had, then she knew what she said. If she hadn't, she wouldn't. Right. She would be taking a dualistic question and jumping into dualism. So this is always the skill, you know, and I'm sure you've seen Mel demonstrate it well, you know, is it this or is it that or can you, you know, you try to catch him and he finds a way to transcend the dualistic trap. I don't consort with those kinds of questions.

[72:54]

So maybe we have questions that we should go further with. We still have a few minutes. Maybe we should talk about what's left to do in the class. Somebody asked maybe for a lineage chart so we could establish this a little better. In terms of time, maybe just draw out that with Daoist disciples under it. Some of you who read will talk about the main exciting poem of Miao Tzung, who was a housewife, who later... This is upside down. Who later... Oh, I've got it in the book. who later went to study Zen with the great teachers, and when she first met Yuan Lu, he said, you who've been brought up so well, what do you have to do with this business of the great hero, which was, as Mary Malebring explained, was always masculine.

[74:09]

And she said, when did the Buddha Dharma ever distinguish between male and female forms? So she set Yuan Wu back a few steps, and they have a little Dharma encounter. But the koan that she's most famous for, at least at this Zen Center, I will find for you. So you can think about it. Ah, you can think about it, and we can talk about it next week. When she went to stay with Yuan Wu in the abbot's quarters, this was highly unconventional, and his senior monk had a hissy fit over this. So this is the talk about that. He suspected that, you know, of course, Zen masters and Chan masters maybe have a long tradition of having cleaning ladies, you know, that come into the monastery, and maybe he thought she was one of those.

[75:13]

These cleaning ladies later bare their children and so on, so they definitely cleaned up. So he might have thought that she was in that category. And so one of the times she came to the monastery, the monk Tao Yen, Tao Yen, was chief seat, shuso, in Daohui's monastery. Miaozong then known as Dao Jin, because she was a follower, Dao Jin was follower of the way, she had not been ordained yet. She was still seeking the Dharma as a housewife, actually she was still married at this time. And, but he had, Daohui had given her the name Wuzhou, She had not yet joined the monastic order, but was staying in the abbot's quarters for which Daoyuan often criticized her. Although Dawei tried to convince Daoyuan not to look down on her, saying that she, though a woman, has many outstanding merits, Daoyuan refused to give up his disapproval.

[76:17]

Urged by Daohui, however, Daoyan finally agreed to go see her and have Dharma combat, as a result of which the following dialogue supposedly ensued. Wuzhou asked, Chief Seat, do you want us to meet in a Buddhist way or in a secular manner? Daoyan said, in a Buddhist way. Wuzhou said, let me first dismiss the attendance. She then invited the master, Tao Yen, into her inner chamber. This was a woman who had been confined to the inner chamber, who had been well brought up, we remember. As the master stood in front of a curtain, he found Wu Zhou lying on the bed naked, and in other accounts, spread-eagle. The master pointed to her private parts and asked, what is this place leading to?

[77:21]

Wu Zhou said, the Buddhas of the three worlds, the patriarchs of the six generations, and the venerable monks in the world, all have come out of here. The master said, yet, do you allow me to enter? And she says, this place does not let asses cross, but lets horses cross. Now, for those of you who know a little bit about Joshu, this is a famous Joshu koan, and it really shows her spirit. Because someone came to Joshu and said, you know, I've heard so much about this great Joshu, you know, this great bridge of Joshu, you know, the one that takes people across to enlightenment. I've heard about this great stone bridge of Joshu, but I've come here and all I see is an old log bridge. And Joshu says, Well, you may think you've seen the Great Bridge of Joshu, but you haven't.

[78:26]

And he says, well, what is the Great Bridge of Joshu? And Joshu says, it ferries across horses and asses. So in that case, putting the guy in his place says, oh, guess which one you are. and not falling into, as Andrea was talking about, the bragging, but it takes everything across, horses and asses. So she's referring to this koan. It's very interesting that she doesn't fall into the trap, and actually we can't tell so well from this translation, that she changes the verb when he says enter, she changes it to this bodhisattva, fairies. You know, it takes across horses, but not asses. She doesn't use enter. This place does not let asses cross, but lets horses cross. And really, in Chinese, she's saying this place ferries across horses, but not asses.

[79:28]

The master had nothing to say. This is not Da Hui, but his shuso. Wu Zhou said, I've already met you, Chief Seat. She then turned her back on him and faced the wall. Taoyuan withdrew, feeling ashamed of himself, and of course went back and reported in to Dahui about what had happened in this transaction. And Dahui said, you can't say that the beast lacks insight. It was a very interesting statement. I wonder what you think of that statement. What is he referring to? It can't be said that the beast is without insight. Now, beast in this case is anything that's unrefined and, you know, in Chinese, what isn't civilized.

[80:36]

I think so. I must say that I've shared this koan with a few men who have said, well, you know, you can't put the guy down. I mean, this was such a mind blowing experience to walk in, to have your dokes on or practice discussion and find this woman laying spread eagle there naked. He held his own and realized he had something to be ashamed about. He hung in there. Well, let's talk a little bit. Yes, what was it? It's referring, Mary said, it's referring to her because... Because she bested the Penn student in that exchange. Even though she did it in a crude way. Yeah, but he's talking about her. That's, you know, there's a lot of these references that are, you know, sound Yeah, I think so too.

[82:03]

And what were you going to say, Nancy, and then we should end? I still don't understand. You don't understand the cause. Well, this is what we're going to do next week. among other things, study Miaozong and go over this koan and what the meaning might be, but it would be good for you to have a chance to do that privately in your own quarters. We should do the refuges now. Let's do the Minpali again.

[82:33]

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