I bow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Evening. If anybody sitting on the floor is sitting behind somebody and wants to move over into the aisle, that's okay. You don't have to necessarily sit in rows. So, that's up to you. So tonight, we're going to talk about the sixth section, which is called, What You Should Know for Practicing Zen. And this is an interesting, this is on page 36. Right?

[01:07]

Some of you look puzzled, I don't know why. Page 36. So this is an interesting section because Dogen starts out talking about, you know, practicing real hard and, you know, and then you think that what he means by practicing real hard is one thing, but then what he means by it He clarifies what he means by that, and you think, oh, whew. So we'll see if you get that when we get there. So he says, practicing Zen, studying the way, is the great matter of a lifetime. You should not belittle it or be hasty with it. But this is what Suzuki Roshi always talked about, that practice is not something that you, like when you go to school, you take classes, and then you spend four years in college, and then you graduate.

[02:28]

Not like that. It's like there's no graduation. And it's not a school. It's this continuous practice forever. So, we don't try to get someplace. I remember Chino Sensei, Kofun Chino, his attitude was, It's okay, you know, the way your life is going. Next life or next two or three lifetimes, you know, you have many opportunities over a long period of time to develop yourself. So he wasn't worried about any of that at all. And this is a kind of attitude in Buddhism of lifetime after lifetime, you know. But in Zen, you're supposed to be able to and in Mahayana, but especially in Zen, you're supposed to be able to find complete, perfect enlightenment in one lifetime.

[03:38]

That's, you know, sometimes, sometimes seems like the goal, to find perfect Samyak Sambodhi in one lifetime. That's possible. But usually in Buddhism, they talk about after many, many lifetimes. So, you know, a place like India, people are very relaxed. In China, they work harder. So, you know, let's do it in one lifetime. But there are different attitudes in Zen as well as in Buddhism. And there is an attitude in Zen, certain schools of Zen, where you really work really hard to get Kensho and enlightenment in this one lifetime. And you just really work hard. And then there's the other school, which is you simply practice over a lifetime.

[04:41]

And what you get is not as important as what you do. So this is the school of doing. It's not the school of getting. So this is why Dogen talks about no gaining idea. It's not the school of getting something, it's the school of letting go and continuous practice forever. So the practice is the most important thing, not what you get. Enlightenment is fine. Enlightenment is not so difficult. What's difficult is continuous practice. And what's difficult is pure practice. And Dogen will talk about that. So he says, practicing Zen, studying the way, is the great matter of a lifetime. You should not belittle it or be hasty with it. A master of old cut off his arm. That's Bodhidharma. I mean, that's Eka, Taiso Eka.

[05:42]

And another cut off his fingers. Yangshan Huiji cut off two fingers in front of his parents. Your mother would flip out. You know, this kind of, I think that the example of Taiso Eka really had an impact on Chinese Zen, really did. And you know, when you practice something like Zen, you become very focused and the energy becomes very focused. And when the energy becomes very focused, it becomes very extreme and very high-pitched. And unless there's some control, there's a tendency to be very extreme in your effort

[06:46]

So in the Rinzai monasteries, they have the keisaku. In the Soto monasteries, they have the kyusaku. Kyusaku is what we use. Well, we used to use it a lot more, but we don't use it so much anymore. It's our stick, right? Keisaku is a big stick. And the monks take turns hitting each other, being jungko, and they hit each other as hard as they can, you know, and beat each other up and see how many sticks they can break over each other. That's a kind of extreme way of, when there's no, when they don't have enough control, they just go completely into something like, into that kind of extreme exertion. So in China, the Chinese became very extreme in their Chan, their Zen.

[07:55]

And there are monks who would sit up, never sleep sitting up. I mean, never sleep laying down. They would doze off sitting up. And they had meditation chin rest. So that when they were sitting, and I put the chin rest, it's a stick. It holds a stick. I have one. I was given one of those, but I've never used it. Maybe I should, though. Well, I don't fall asleep anymore. I used to fall asleep all the time. Anyway, but I don't fall asleep anymore. So, just kind of extreme to see who can endure the most extreme way of doing things. So, it's sometimes called breaking your bones, you know.

[09:02]

So the Chinese, would take the example of Taiso Eka. And in order to prove their sincerity, they would cut off one of their fingers at the first joint. Or if they were really sincere, the second joint, little finger. And some Japanese monks do that, but mostly the Chinese monks, not everybody, but people who wanted to show their extreme dedication. And I remember, you know, I used to practice in the 50s, 60s, when we first started sitting with Suzuki Roshi at Sokoji. on Bush Street, the master Hua, who was called To Lun at the time, he was the master of the city of 10,000 Buddhas. But before that, he was on Sutter Street, and we were on Bush Street, just a block away.

[10:10]

in a house, so a number of us went to, four of us, we said, let's sit, he invited us to do a sashin with him, because we did all the sitting, but he opened his robe and showed me where he had, you know, he wore these beads, where he had burned the beads on his chest, and there's this big scar on his chest. You know what beads are? Wooden beads. And he burned them. While they were on him. And there's a big scar. So, you know, that's, and when they ordain people, they burn little holes in their head, in their skin. Sometimes one or two or three or four. That's normal for ordaining monks in China. So it brings up some kind of sincerity.

[11:19]

But it's an extreme way of doing things. And Dogen kind of admires this. He says, a master of old cut off his arm and another cut off his fingers. These are excellent models from China. Dogen likes extremity. Long ago, Shakyamuni abandoned his home and left his country. This is an excellent precedent for practicing the way. So it's very interesting. Baika gave a talk about Master Tozan on a Saturday. And she talked about how Tozan's mother collapsed at his doorstep while he refused to see her. And the story is about Tozan. It's not about his mother. But everybody focused on the mother, that he was being cruel to the mother.

[12:24]

But this story is a Chinese story, and it's a story about an extreme example of doing something that extreme. in order to show your sincerity in the way. That's what the story is about. It's not about being cruel to his mother. It's about going to that extent. He loved his mother, right? Going to the extent of abandoning his mother in order to practice. So whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, the point is that it's like cutting off his arm or cutting off his finger. It's cutting off his mother. And so you can ponder that in any way you like. So people of the present say you should practice what is easy to practice. These words are quite mistaken.

[13:26]

Shouldn't practice what's easy to practice. I always thought if you want the most precious thing, you have to pay the most for it. If you want the most valuable thing, if you want the most valuable thing, what are you willing to pay for it? So that's kind of what Tolkien's talking about. If you want something of value, you have to pay something for it. If you want something that's not so much, not so valuable, you don't pay so much for it. In other words, you get what you pay for. So that's kind of what he's talking about. So people of the present say, you should practice what is easy to practice. These words are quite mistaken. I think when he's saying they practice what is easy to practice, he's also, you know, at that time in Japan, as I was saying before, was the era of Mapo, 1500 years after Buddha.

[14:32]

which was about the three times, I'll say it again, there was this prediction that's attributed to Buddha. I don't know whether Buddha actually said this or not, but who knows. Somebody said that the first 500 years after Buddha would be the period when people could actually practice the Dharma, because Buddha's influence direct influence would continue for 500 years. Then the second 500 years would be the kind of imitation where, you know, because people were so far from Buddha, they couldn't really practice Buddhism very well. And then the third 500 years, they couldn't practice it at all. That was the age of Mapo, which came about just about the time of Dogen. And Nichiren and Shinran and Dogen were the three leading figures at that time in Buddhism, Japan.

[15:49]

And Shinran said, there's no way in the age of Mapo that we can practice. So we just chant the name of Buddha. Amitabha Buddha, you know. If you chant the name of Buddha, you'll be reborn in the pure land of the West. All you have to do is chant. And Dogen calls this the croaking of frogs. And then Nichiren said, all you have to do is chant the name of the Lotus Sutra. But Dogen said, we can practice Buddhist practice, don't worry about it. Never mind Ma Po. If you want to believe in Ma Po, go ahead. But there's no need to do that. Just practice. So Dogen saying, people of present day say you should practice what is easy to practice.

[16:55]

That's what he's referring to. These words are quite mistaken. They are not at all in accord with the Buddha way. If this alone is what you regard as practice, then even lying down will be wearisome. If you find one thing wearisome, you'll find everything wearisome. It's obvious that people who are fond of easy practice are not capable of the way. So in fact, the Dharma spread and is now present in the world because our great teacher Shakyamuni practiced with difficulty and pain for immeasurable aeons and finally attained this Dharma. If the original source is like this, how could the later streams be easy? So Shakyamuni Buddha practiced for aeons. I don't know what he means by that exactly. he could be just exaggerating, or he could just mean that Shakyamuni's Buddhist practice has been going on for countless kalpas.

[18:06]

And he finally matured. So, And then Bodhidharma's nine years of facing the wall is another example that he uses. So, students who would like to study the way must not wish for easy practice. If you seek easy practice, you will for certain never reach the ground of truth or dig down to the place of treasure. Even teachers of old who had great capacity said that practice is difficult. You should know that the Buddha way is vast and profound. Well, sometimes we say practice is difficult, and then sometimes we say, well, practice is easy. And then sometimes we say, practice is neither difficult nor easy. And I think, you know, if you, when you look at practice as difficult, then you have a certain standpoint, and from that standpoint, it's difficult.

[19:17]

And if you're standing over here and look at it from this standpoint, it's not so difficult. But if you're standing in the middle, it's neither difficult nor easy. It's simply practice. It's just practice. So he says, if the Buddha way were originally easy to practice, then teachers of great capacity from olden times would not have said that practice is difficult and understanding is difficult. I think understanding is difficult. Understanding is really difficult. It's not that what there is to understand is difficult. It's just that because of the way we think and because of our conditioning, it's difficult to get beyond that. So compared with people of old, those of today do not amount to even one hair from nine cows.

[20:29]

With their small capacity and shallow knowledge, even if people of today strive diligently and regard this as difficult and excellent practice, still it does not amount to even the easiest practice and easiest understanding of the teachers of old." Oh, he's really giving people the business. The sixth patriarch, when he gave a lecture, he would say, learn an audience. He didn't discriminate. He's just a learned audience. He boosted everybody up, made them really feel, oh yeah. So Dogen has this way sometimes. So what is this teaching of easy understanding and easy practice, which people nowadays like? It is neither a secular teaching nor a Buddhist teaching, and it does not come up to the practice of Papyas, the demon king. Papyas is kind of like the devil in, I don't know if it's just Buddhist practice, maybe Indian lore, probably comes from Indian lore, Papyas.

[21:43]

But it's the demon king. Nor does it come up with practice of those outside the way or the two lesser vehicles. We should regard it, you know what I mean by the two lesser vehicles? Huh? Please explain. What is the vehicle? Well, there's the Bodhisattva vehicle, the Pancetka Buddha vehicle, and the Sravaka vehicle, the Mahayana vehicle, and the so-called Hinayana vehicle. we should regard it as the product of ordinary people's extreme delusion. Even though they try to attain liberation, they find nothing but endless rounds of suffering. On the other hand, we can see that breaking bones or crushing marrow is not difficult. That's not difficult. But to harmonize the mind is most difficult.

[22:48]

So when he talks about hard practice, he's not talking about crushing the bones. He's talking about harmonizing the mind. Again, the practice of prolonged austerities is not difficult, but to harmonize bodily activities is most difficult. Do you think that crushing bones is of value? Although many endured such practice, few of them attained realization. So this is where Dogen kind of turns. All along, we're thinking crushing the bones is what he's talking about. Do you think people practicing austerities are to be respected? Although there have been many, few of them have realized the way, for they still have difficulty in harmonizing the mind. So when Shakyamuni Buddha left home, he became an ascetic and practiced crushing the bones.

[24:03]

He went through all of the ascetic practices. living on one grain of rice a day sometimes, letting people defecate on him and pee on him. And he just, you know, totally mistreating the body, totally punishing the body. Because there's a kind of practice in India of castigating the body in order to free the spirit. which Buddha finally said, this is not the way. These kinds of austerities and asceticism is not the way. So Dogen is kind of reiterating this, that that's not really the way. So he says, brilliance is not primary.

[25:06]

Understanding is not primary. Conscious endeavor toward enlightenment is not primary. Introspection or analysis is not primary. Without using any of these, just harmonize body and mind and enter the Buddha way. Old man Shakyamuni said, Avalokiteshvara turns the stream inward and disregards knowing objects. So he said brilliance is, you don't have to be brilliant. You don't have to have a lot of understanding. You don't have to be introspective, meaning an analytical introspection, like the Hinayana, or the, you know, introspecting yourself, taking the self apart in order to see the selflessness.

[26:22]

That's not primary, without using any of these methods. So, you know, Dogen says, Zazen is not one of the 37 practices of meditation. Zazen is not just one of the 37 Buddhist meditation practices, but Zazen encompasses all the 37 meditation practices of Buddhism. And he says, zazen is not meditation. Simply harmonizing body and mind and sitting comfortably. But what does the word comfortably mean?

[27:27]

And so, without using any methods, don't try to become Buddha. Don't try to get enlightenment. Don't try to get Kensho. Just sit with a dropping body and mind. Just totally drop body and mind. You know, when we talk about shikantaza and koan practice, shikantaza means just doing. That's the practice of, the main practice of Soto Zen is shikantaza, just doing, just sitting, without engaging in, gaining anything. just sitting, dropping off body-mind. And sitting in pure existence.

[28:41]

Koan study is often, geared toward driving you to some kind of opening experience. Not always. Koans are used in various ways, but the koan of Dogen's practice is Genjo Koan, Ko means something, it has various meanings, but something like existing on this moment, manifesting on this moment. And an means level. So from this level field, something appears.

[29:54]

But when something appears, sometimes the level field disappears and sometimes when the level field disappears the manifestation when the level field appears the manifestation disappears but to harmonize the manifestation with the level field of zazen, to manifest your existence with the level field, harmonizing body, mind, and breath with emptiness. And if you study koans, that's what the koans are all about.

[31:04]

So Shikantaza is the goal of koan study. But we just go right to Shikantaza. They say, people say, well, Shikantaza is a very difficult practice because there's nothing to grasp, nothing to hold on to. It seems vague. So if you have something like a koan, you've got something to grab, to hold on to. But Shikantaza, there's nothing to hold on to. You're just out at sea, so to speak. but you have to swim, or float, or find out how to maneuver in this ocean. So genjo koan is the koan of practice, and its manifestation is shikantaza.

[32:12]

And it's method, not method, but zazen is not a method. It's just stepping into non-duality. It's just stepping into wholeness. Everything is complete. So Dogen says, old man Shakyamuni said, avalokiteshvara turns the stream, the stream of discriminating consciousness, I think is what he means, turns the stream of discriminating consciousness inward and disregards knowing objects. In other words, letting go of objects. Even though we are surrounded by objects, we should not see objects as objects.

[33:29]

Master Tozan, in his poem, In Suzuki Roshi's free translation of the poem, do not see yourself or the world as an object. You as an object, the way seeing yourself as an object is not you yourself. So we tend to treat things as objects, and we even tend to treat each other in a kind of objective way. there is an objective characteristic to things. But basically, everything is ourself. There's no, you know, we say no separation, but there is some separation, but at the same time, there is no separation between myself and whatever I meet. Everywhere, as Tozan says, every place I turn, I meet myself.

[34:38]

When I turn toward you, I see myself. What does that mean? If you look in the mirror, you say, oh, that's me. But you're only looking at the reflection. The mirror itself is you. When Tozan looked into the stream and saw his reflection, it's not like the image of his face that he saw, The stream itself was his face. So everything is a reflection, but it's not a reflection on a smooth surface. So Dogen says, this is the meaning.

[35:51]

Separation between the two aspects of activity and stillness simply do not arise. And this is harmonizing. The separation between the two aspects of activity and stillness do not arise. This is zazen. When we sit still in zazen, it's great activity within stillness. Total dynamic activity within stillness. And when we are doing something, moving around in activity, it's stillness within dynamic activity. So people say, well. I'm sorry, that's what you mean by it's not as smooth as a mirror. It's the activity. Right, it's not as, right. Flux.

[36:54]

So, when we sit in the zendo, it's dynamic activity of stillness. And when we leave the zendo, it's stillness within dynamic activity. If you don't have that stillness within the dynamic activity, then you don't know where you are. So you should always know where you are. By where you are, it doesn't mean some place. It means you're always here, wherever you are. Wherever you are, you know where you are. This is how you practice, the fundamental of practice. Within activity, there's this stillness. Like in a whirlwind, the center of the whirlwind is great calmness.

[38:03]

No matter what's going on, there's that calm center. This is when nothing can overturn you. This is what Suzuki Roshi means when he says, you should be the boss wherever you are. But the boss, he doesn't mean bossing people around. He means you can't be overturned. So when you have difficulty in zazen, You know, it helps you to find that calm center. If you avoid having the difficulty, then it's harder to find the calm center. So then, you know, sometimes you say, well, I'm bored in Zazen. Zazen's boring. If Zazen is boring, you're not working hard enough.

[39:09]

You're not present enough. When you're totally present, there's no boredom. Boredom is like a gap between your activity and your desire. So when the whole body and mind is focused in that one activity, totally, no boredom. because there's no place for that to enter. It looks like it's time to make our break. We stand up and stretch. Okay, so then Dogen says, if anyone could enter the Buddha way, oh I'm sorry, If anyone could enter the Buddha Way by means of brilliance or broad knowledge, then the senior monk Hsuan Hsu would have been the one.

[40:33]

If anyone of ordinary appearance or humble position were excluded from the Buddha Way, how could Hui Nang become the sixth ancestor? So, in the story of the sixth ancestor, Hui Nang, or Daikan Eno, He was, according to the legend, he was illiterate. He didn't have any education and really knew nothing about quote unquote Buddhism. Except when people would ask me questions, he would say, well, I've never read these sutras and so forth, but why don't you read, and I can't read, so why don't you read the sutra for me? People would want to know what the meaning of the sutra was. So he would say, well, read it to me and I'll see if I can tell you the meaning. So they'd read it to him and he would tell them the meaning.

[41:35]

But he had never read it and he had no, he wasn't educated. But he was called the Chinese Buddha, the Buddha who emerged from China, which was the beginning of actually Buddhism originating in China. So he was an original Buddha for China. And Hsuan Hsu was, if you remember the story, Hsuan Hsu was the head student, the head monk at the monastery of the fifth ancestor. And everyone thought that Hsuan Hsu would surely inherit the Dharma from

[42:38]

the robe and the bowl from the fifth patriarch. But the patriarch gave the robe and the bowl to Huy Nhung, the young, uneducated, illiterate student who pounded rice in the kitchen. So that's what he's talking about. He says, if anyone could enter the Buddha way by means of brilliance or broad knowledge, then the senior monk, Shen Tzu, who was a very brilliant scholar, would have been the one. If anyone of ordinary appearance or humble position were excluded from the Buddha way, how could Huineng, or Daikon Eno, become the sixth ancestor? It is clear that the Buddha way's transmission lies outside of brilliance and broad knowledge. Search and find out. Reflect and practice. Being old or decrepit does not exclude you. Thank goodness. Being quite young or in your prime does not exclude you.

[43:55]

Although Zhou Zhou first studied when he was over 60. Now this is a kind of error, I think, according to tradition. Dogen somehow thinks that Zhou Xu started practicing when he was over 60. Everybody has a little different date as to when Joshu started practicing, but he lived to be 120, so 60, you know, pretty long time anyway. But he's probably the most famous Zen Buddhist, Joshu, because one thing is his longevity and his wonderful way of teaching. So although Zhao Zhou first studied when he was over 60, he became a person of excellence in the ancestral lineage. And Zheng's daughter, I'm not sure who Zheng is, but Zheng's daughter had already studied long by the time she was 13.

[45:04]

So this young lady, and she was outstanding in the monastery. The power of Buddhadharma is revealed depending on whether or not there is effort and is distinguished depending on whether or not it is practice. So effort and practice, right, those are the two things. Doesn't matter whether you're smart or dumb or, you know. Everyone has Buddha nature and has the potential for realization. no matter, and it doesn't depend on being smart or learn it. So this is what's wonderful because that makes it universal. The only hindrance to making it universal is that people have to sit Zazen. But you know, In Japanese practice, sitting Zazen means, as far as I know, means sitting up with your legs crossed.

[46:15]

And if you can't sit with your legs crossed, it's not Zazen. But in America, there are many ways of sitting Zazen, and we honor all of them. So lying down or whatever, you know, it's always possible to sit zazen, which makes it a universal practice. And I think in America, we are more attuned to a universal practice, to wanting to make our practice accessible to everyone and universal. Dogen also, you know, So we have, we make great allowances and include whatever anyone can do as a way to practice. Well, it's something that, practice is what you do all the time.

[47:25]

And the way you do that all the time is in whatever it is you're doing. So walking, Of course, it's not just walking, it's everything you do is an aspect of practice, if you practice, if you're practicing. So this is the hardest part. This is what makes practice difficult. It's not crushing your bones, it's how do you harmonize body and mind with whatever it is that you're doing in a way that is not self-centered. Because self-centeredness is the opposite of harmonizing. The way to harmonize is to let go of self-centeredness. Because if there's, as long as there's selfishness, there's something withheld. And there's something to, there's the desire to stand apart.

[48:33]

So in generosity, dana is the first of the six paramitas. Dana means giving. But it doesn't mean just giving material things. It means when you give, you don't withhold anything. You don't say, what's in it for me? Or maybe I'll just take this part. Or you can have all this, but I'll take this. I'll take this little part that doesn't work. So dana is what we practice all the time. It's practice. It means letting go of things. And we can see, we can always see just where we are by how we hang on to things. That really tells us where we're at as far as self-centeredness goes. You know, we should keep something for ourself in order to, you know, like I remember Akin Roshi saying,

[49:45]

Well, you know, Donna, we should let go of things, but I need this typewriter in order to do my work. So I'm not going to let you have it, because I need it to do my work. That's not self-centered. Ryokan, when somebody broke into his hut and took something, he said, geez, this beautiful moon here, if the thief had come in when I was here, I would have given him the moon. That's all I have is the moon. What's that French play where the priest gives the thief the candlesticks? Yeah, I mean, it's a rub.

[50:49]

Priest gives the thief the candlesticks. But that's also happening in Buddhist, you know. There's Zen stories that are very much like that, where the priest gives the bum, you know, the candlesticks. So then he says, the power of Buddhadharma is revealed whether or not, depending on whether or not there is effort, and is distinguished depending on whether or not it is practiced. So this is the practice. Those who have studied sutras a long time and those who are accomplished in secular texts all should study at a Zen monastery. He's pushing Zen monastic practice. There have been many examples of this. Huisi of Nanyue was a very learned man, but still he practiced with Bodhidharma.

[51:51]

Xuandre of Yongzha was an excellent scholar, and still he practiced with Dajang. So he's given these examples of scholars who actually practiced, and that the practice became the dominant practice rather than the scholarship. But the scholarship, if you have the scholarship and practice, that's wonderful. But sometimes scholarship can be a hindrance because you depend on the scholarship. But if you can incorporate the scholarship so that it's an enhancement to practice, then that's wonderful. So I think a good teacher, it's nice when a teacher has the background and uses it to express their own understanding. We say even though a person has

[52:53]

a lot of knowledge, and as a teacher, unless they're speaking from their own understanding, it doesn't mean much. So you can use the knowledge as a vehicle for your own understanding. And so a teacher should use the knowledge as a vehicle for their own understanding, and not just as information. So to understand Dharma, and attain the way can only be the result of studying with a teacher. Here he's talking about teacher again. He talks about studying with a teacher in every one of these sections. However, when practicing and inquiring of a teacher, listen to the teacher's words without matching them with your previous views or your opinions.

[54:02]

If you understand the words in terms of your own views, you will not be able to grasp the teaching. So it's important. when you listen to the teaching, just listen, but we can't help but think about it, right? And when we think about it, we're matching it with our own views. But there is thinking about it, and then there is hanging on to your own view and not allowing A lot of the questions, when you read the koans, often the student is asking the teacher some question which comes from not really allowing the teacher's words to get to them, but using their previous opinions to counter the words as a kind of challenge, and then the teacher

[55:05]

will upset their seat in some way. That happens quite a lot in Koan. So, when you practice with a teacher and inquire about Dharma, you clear your body and mind and still the eyes and ears and just listen and accept the teaching without mixing in any other thoughts. Your body and mind will be one, a receptacle ready to be filled with water. So in other words, you know the story about, it appeared in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. This scholar came to, teacher of some kind, came to the Zen master to inquire of the Dharma. And the teacher could see who he was, you know. So when they sat down, the teacher started pouring him tea. And he just kept pouring and pouring, and pretty soon the scholar said, what are you doing?

[56:14]

The cup is overflowing. And the teacher said, the Zen master said, just like your mind, unless your mind is empty, There's nothing they can go into, there's no more they can go into. It's overflowing with your own stuff, yeah. There's a quote from Saint John of the Cross that illustrates the same thing, where he says something like, to come by the knowledge you have not, you must go by a way that you know not. That's good. Yeah, very much like that. So, then you will certainly receive the teaching. Nowadays, there are foolish people who memorize the words of texts or accumulate sayings and try to match these words with the teacher's explanation.

[57:18]

In this case, they have only their own views and old words and have not yet merged with the teacher's words. For some people, their own views are primary. They open a sutra, memorize a word or two, and consider this to be Buddhadharma. Later, when they visit an awakened teacher or a skilled master and hear the teaching, If it agrees with their own view, they consider the teaching right. And if it does not agree with their old fixed standards, they consider the words wrong. They don't know how to abandon their mistaken tendencies. So how could they ascend and return to the true way? For ages, numberless as particles of dust and sand, they will remain deluded. It is most pitiable. Is it not sad? So students should know that the Buddha way lies outside of thinking and analysis, prophecy, introspection, knowledge, and wise explanation.

[58:23]

Boy, there's a lot of highly considered things there. The Buddha way lies outside of thinking, analysis, prophecy, introspection, knowledge, and wise explanation. If the Buddha way were in these activities, why would you not have realized the Buddha way by now? Since from birth, you have perpetually been in the midst of those activities. Well, you know, it's always said that when you come to a Zen practice place, you should let go of everything. Just let go of everything you know, everything you've learned, everything you, all of your opinions and ideas, and just open your mind and enter.

[59:27]

That's the fastest way to realization. Yeah. Well, there are many teachers that have this intuition Does intuition fit into this? Well, that's what it's about. It's about intuition. Sometimes it feels right, and sometimes it doesn't. Well, if it's really intuition, it's right. Because intuition means directly touching. So in order to have direct touching, you don't want to have anything in the way. So that's the problem. So it's intuition, that's right. So when there's no mind, what are they called? Mind coverings, they're called. No mind coverings, no background, no structures, mental structures or emotional structures, then there's direct touching.

[60:34]

But all that rest is a hindrance, even though wonderful as those things are, they're all wonderful accomplishments, but they're all a hindrance. So that's why zazen is the entrance, because you can let go of everything. Opinions will not help you. Knowledge will not help you in Zazen. Nothing will help you except pure activity. It's just pure activity. And anything that comes up, like thoughts and ideas and, you know, it's like when you're sitting in Zazen on the fourth day and your legs are killing you and you can only take one breath at a time and you think, oh God, you know, or whatever, nothing you call on will help you. No mind structure, no emotional thing.

[61:38]

And you go through the whole litany of things which you have depended on all your life to grasp onto, and nothing works. The only thing you can do is to totally let go. That's all you can do. Just let go. And then, it's like stepping off the pole. You find yourself. But as long as you have those hindrances or those constructs, you can't find yourself. Because there's something to hold onto which stops you from falling all the way down. You know, when someone has a enlightenment experience or an opening experience or a Kensho, it means that everything is gone that you're holding on to. As long as there's a twig or something to hang on to, you can't do it.

[62:39]

It's like the man in a tree, holding on with his teeth to a branch with his teeth. And someone says, what's the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West? And if he answers, he'll fall. And if he doesn't answer, he'll fail. It's a great go on. So, So he says, for some people, their own views are primary. They open a sutra, memorize a word or two, and consider this to be the Buddhadharma. Later, when they visit with an awakened teacher or a skilled master and hear the teaching, if it agrees with their own view, they consider the teaching right. And if it does not agree with their old fixed standards, they consider his words wrong. They do not know how to abandon their mistaken tendencies. So how could they ascend and return to the true way?

[63:46]

For ages, numberless as particles of dust and sand, they will remain deluded. It is most pitiful." Is it not sad? So students should know that the Buddha way lies outside of thinking, analysis, prophecy, introspection, knowledge, and wise explanation. None of this will help you. If the Buddha way were in these activities, why would you have not realized the Buddha way by now. Since from birth you have been perpetually, you have perpetually been in the midst of these activities. So students of the way should not employ thinking, analysis, or any such thing. Though thinking and other activities perpetually beset you, if you examine them as you go, your clarity will be like a mirror. The way to enter the gate is mastered only by a teacher who has attained dharma. It cannot be reached by priests who have studied letters. So this portion was written on the clear and bright day of the third month, second year of Tempuku, 1234.

[64:54]

So we have 15 minutes. Yeah, well, if you've ever read Bendoa, this is exactly the questions that people ask Dogen. And then he answers these questions. So Dogen's answer is something like, this is the way that all the Buddhas have done this, right? So what he means by awakening is what Buddha did.

[66:06]

That's his criterion for awakening is what Buddha did in order to find his awakening. That's Dogen's reason or excuse or whatever you want to call it. So, you know, we always want to defend people and say, well, what about all these other people? I think that we have to understand what Dogen is trying to do is, in 13th century Japan, is to establish his understanding and sazen. So, when he's presenting his teaching in that period of time, given the circumstances of that period, which he calls the lowest period, and that people are not accessing true dharma.

[67:10]

He's saying, this is how we access the true dharma. And Dogen started out by talking in Fukan Zazengi about the universal way for everybody. But later, he really concentrated on monk's practice. And so, he gets more and more kind of narrow in his way of presenting the Dharma. When he says, this is the only way, Nichiren said, this is the only way. And everybody says, this is the only way, according to their practice. So I think we have to take that into account.

[68:12]

But then there's also, what do we mean by zazen? What is zazen? Is zazen just some narrow practice? So if Zazen is just some narrow practice, then it can't be the practice. So although Zazen is characterized by sitting as a visible activity, the whole universe is practicing Zazen. The understanding of Zazen is not just you guys are sitting Zazen. The whole universe is practicing Zazen together. And when you are practicing Zazen, you and the whole universe are practicing the same practice. So this is the absolute, you have to understand this as what Dogen's talking about. You're not just talking about doing your thing on the cushion by yourself.

[69:17]

It's not self-practice. It's practice of unloading the self. The self unloading the self. The self settling on the self. So the small self settling on big self. And big self means everything in the universe is practicing zazen. And if you think about, well, what's the practice of the universe then? We don't usually think about what's the practice of the universe. But we have to think in those terms. Dogen is practicing, zazen is the practice of practicing the practice of the universe. Everything, when you sit zazen, you're practicing the practice of the universe. The universe is practicing you. Yeah.

[70:24]

Karen had her hand up first. Recently I've been in contact with people doing Vipassana, and one man complained about Zazen because it seemed to have no structure, no form, too advanced, too vague. And then we've been talking about the sutras, looking at the collection of Buddha's discourses on how we should practice, and a lot of them are very rigorous and prescribed and, you know, like the four foundations of mindfulness and all the different breath practices and the different jhanas and all that. So how should we consider those? How should we relate to those? If you practice Zazen strictly, the way Zazen is presented to be practiced, you will be practicing all those practices. You'll be practicing the four foundations of mindfulness. You'll be practicing the seven factors of enlightenment. You'll be practicing the four noble truths.

[71:25]

You'll be practicing all those practices. If you really practice as in, as the way, as it should be practiced. So those sorts of practices arise within the context of what we're doing when we sit in this harmonized body? That's right. They're all included. And that may be what Buddha was teaching is that it came out of what he knew, but it got, I mean, I don't know enough about it, but it got transmitted as a piece of practice. Well, here's the thing, you know. When you do something, you just do it, right? And when you talk about it, you analyze it. And when you analyze it, you break it down into all its parts. So vipassana is the practice of breaking everything down into all those little parts, little pieces, right, and then looking at all of them. The practice of zazen is taking all those things and putting them together in one act. So you can talk about all of them.

[72:28]

I talk about the seven factors of enlightenment. I give long, boring lectures on the seven factors of enlightenment and on I've talked about the Four Noble Truths and all those things. I talk about them. They're fun to talk about, but they're not a substitute for zazen. Because they're knowledge. That's good. Knowledge is fine. But if you depend on those, zazen is the practice of intuition, of just touching, jumping in the fire, jumping in the ocean. And when you're swimming, you know, everything's working. Right. But if you break it down and try to explain each and every motion... Yeah, when you get self-conscious, then, you know, it's harder to maneuver. Well, it's helpful because if we are to look at a sutra and study it, it's good to know from which... It's fine.

[73:30]

It's fine to study all those things, but not as a substitute for practice. Right. Or not as a way to apply some techniques. Yeah, sometimes it's helpful. It can be helpful. I like to talk about the seven factors of enlightenment because when I do, I say, each one of them is an expression of what we do in Zazen. So I'm always relating it to Zazen. Suffering, the Four Noble Truths, it's all related to Zazen. I mean, the 37, meditation practices and all their breakdowns are all really, you know, really fun to talk about because you can see how they all appear in Zazen. I find this sentence encouraging where it says, the thinking and other activities perpetually beset you.

[74:32]

If you examine them as you go, your clarity will be like a mirror. what you think he means by examine them, or more specifically, how do we examine them to get that, what does he mean? Yeah, examine them means, when you see how something comes up, you see it for what it is. Whatever comes up, you see it for what it is. I don't know what examine, examine may not be the right term, it's a translation, but to acknowledge, I think, you know, One of the seven factors of enlightenment is to investigate. Investigate the dharmas. And what are the dharmas? The dharmas are emotions and feelings and thoughts. And so when they come up, you acknowledge them. When a feeling comes up in zazen, that becomes the subject of zazen at that moment.

[75:32]

But you don't, So that's examining. You don't take it apart and what is this? You simply let it be there. And it's bare attention on that. It's just like a bare noting. But we don't say, this is a feeling, blank. You just notice the feeling. It's not even notice. The feeling becomes the subject of your attention at that moment. And then something else takes its place. And then something else takes its place. And so, you know, forever things are coming up. And the state of mind is always changing. No, constantly changing. Yeah, right. The power of Buddha Dharma is revealed depending on whether or not there is effort.

[76:38]

Yes. What is that effort? Well, effort means being focused on the Dharma. Being focused, you know, not straying outside of the Dharma. The more focused you are on the Dharma, the more clarity there is. So it's not like, put a zazen every day? Yeah, it is. It's like, do a zazen every day. Exactly right. That's what he means. When he talks so much about effort, it almost sounds muscular. And you start thinking about pianists who, like in the 19th century, you start to cut the webs between your fingers and... No, effort means... You want to kind of refine the... That's right.

[77:41]

Effort means to stay in balance. It means, effort means to not fall into duality, dualistic thinking. Effort means to keep your practice pure. That's exactly what he said. He said, effort does not mean to crush your bones. Ever means to keep your practice pure by not falling into discriminative thinking, and dualistic thinking, and opinionated thinking, and that's what he said. So it's keeping your mind focused on the Dharma. That's what I mean by keeping your mind focused on the Dharma. And effort can also be, effort is mental, it's also physical. So physical effort, you know, when you begin to practice, you really stretch yourself as far as you can go. Then you find out, you know, what practice is through stretching yourself as far as you can go.

[78:43]

Really engaging.

[78:45]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ