The one thing that I have in common with my old teacher was forgetfulness. He was forgetful and I am forgetful. Occupation. Forgetting what you're doing because your mind is taken over with thinking. So, I think most of you probably know the story of the prodigal son in the Lotus Sutra.

[01:21]

This also appears in the Bible, somewhat parallel stories, they're a little different. In the Lotus Sutra, the story is about a young man who goes out to seek his fortune in the world, leaves his father, and goes out to seek his fortune. And unfortunately, he's not so successful. And he wanders around, he goes through all kinds of adventures, and ends up in rags and tatters, and he stumbles around.

[02:25]

And it says that I had 50 years, a long time. time, his father has accumulated an enormous amount of wealth. His father actually becomes the richest man in the world, and he's surrounded by pearls and diamonds and all those things that we associate with wealth. city, and so the son doesn't recognize that city. So he comes through, but his father sees him. Somehow, the father recognizes him, kind of like the way a mother would recognize a child.

[03:31]

And he says, that's my long-lost son. And he's in rags, tatters. the father sends out some of his servants to just apprehend him and talk to him. And you can see that the son is a little bit nervous. You know, he doesn't know what to make of this. And so they're not going to tell the son about the father. He said, don't tell him about me. But I want to So the servants say, we have a job for you. There are different versions of the story, but he says, if you like, we can give you a job. And so the servant says, OK, I'll go for a job. And they give him a job in the stables, shoveling shit.

[04:37]

Shoveling shit. this kind of metaphor actually runs all through Zen as well as the Lotus Sutra. So over time, in various back and forth, I don't want to go through the whole story that much, it turns out that the son stays around for 20 years and in that time the father kind of sometimes goes out and works with him just as a servant, but without revealing his identity. And they become close and friendly, and the father says, you know, you can just have the run of the house if you want, you know. But the son kind of likes it out in the stables. He doesn't feel comfortable in the house. And over a period of time, as the old man's ready to die,

[05:45]

he reveals to his son that he's really his son and that he inherits all the wealth of the father. So this is the kind of story that has interesting things. The father doesn't reveal to him that he's going to inherit The sun simply does the work. Sometimes in Buddhism, enlightenment is the carrot. In Soto Zen, there's no carrot. We don't say, if you work real hard, you'll get enlightened. If you practice hard, you'll get enlightened. The sun just works.

[06:47]

just does the work, without expecting the fortune. This is a very important part. Without expecting anything, he just does the work. He's very happy to have the job of shoveling the ship. There's a koan. What is Buddha? The monk asks the teacher, what is Buddha? And the teacher says, a ship-wiping stick. Shit wiping stick means something you use to clear the poop, to clear the dung from your body and mind. It's called practice. Practice is a shit wiping stick. We say Practice is not gradual.

[07:54]

Enlightenment is sudden. But gradually our enlightenment is sudden. Gradual and sudden are not the same thing. So this leads me to my main case. This is my introduction. The main case is in Mu Man's collection of koans. Mu Man collected 48 koans, called the Mu Man Khan. Case 35 is called Se Jo's Soul Separated. I've talked about this case This is the story of the prodigal daughter.

[08:54]

We always talk about the prodigal son, but this is about the prodigal daughter. Goso was an important Zen master in the Tang Dynasty, and much of his lineage is still alive today. So, Goso said to his monks, Seijo's soul is separated from her being. Which was the real Seijo? Seijo, I'll tell you this story. He doesn't tell you the story, but I will. Seijo was a young girl. And Shincho grew up with a young man named Uchu. And this is in China.

[10:01]

This is a Japanese name. And they grew up as kids and they just expected that they would be married someday. It was just like, what else could happen? That was their plan since childhood. But the father had a different idea. And when they were coming of age, the father said, I want you to marry so-and-so. And both Seijo and Ochu were devastated. Sejo decided that she was going to run away. So she hopped on a boat, and the boat was kind of leaving, I think it was going down a canal to the ocean.

[11:03]

And she sees a little figure running after the boat. She told the oarsman, she said, wait a minute, wait a minute. And it turns out to be Ochu. And Ochu jumps on the boat, and they go down the stream. And they end up in the city down some distance away. And they set up a house. And they have a couple of kids in time. And they're happy. Sanjo says one day to Obuchu, he says, you know, I really feel bad for my father. You know, he brought me up in filial piety China, and I should go visit him. Let's go visit my father and kind of make amends.

[12:04]

And so he said, okay, so they take a boat and they go back to the father. And they land the boatmans at the dock. And Ochu says, well, I'll pave the way. So he says, you stay here in the boat with the kids. And so he goes up the path, knocks on the door, and the father opens the door. Well, she says, hi. And the brother says, hi, I haven't seen you for five years. What have you been doing? He says, I married your daughter. And we ran away. And we've come back, you know, to pay our respects. And he says, what are you talking about? Seijo has been in bed.

[13:06]

not able to wake up for five years. And she said, are you kidding? She's been with me for five years. We have raised two kids. And at that point, Saja was coming up the path. And she comes up the path and says, Daddy! And as soon as that happens, The other Seijo, who has been lying dormant for five years, comes out and they look at each other and embrace. So the question is, which one is the real Seijo? That's the koan. Which one is the real Seijo? So here is Mumon's comment. Uman says, when you realize what the real is, you will see that we pass from one husk to another, like travelers stopping for a night's lodging.

[14:25]

But if you do not realize it yet, I earnestly advise you not to rush about wildly. When earth, water, fire, and air suddenly separate, you will be like a crab struggling in boiling But it's seven or eight arms and legs. When that happens, don't say I didn't warn you. So I'm going to say a little bit about Mumon's comment. He says, when you realize what the real is, you will see that we pass from one husk to another. One husk. But I want to talk about what sage of soul means and also about what the husk means. They're sort of related. Soul here doesn't mean an eternal soul which continues forever and

[15:33]

but it always stays the same. That's what soul means in most religions, but not here. It simply means the separate self, what we consider the separate self. So you could say Sejo's self is separated from her being. And husk here means something like states of mind, We go from one state of mind to another continuously. Our mind is continuously changing. The states of mind are infinitesimally being transformed. So this is called mental space travel. opinions, delusions, and so forth.

[16:51]

It's called the scenery of our life. It travels through the space of our mind continuously. So when you realize what the real is, what is the real? You will see that we pass from one like travelers stopping for a night's lodging. But if you don't realize it yet, I earnestly advise you not to rush about wildly. In other words, sit down. Sit down and do Zazen. If you want to know what the real is, sit down and do Zazen. That's what Zazen is. It's embracing the real. embracing the real, Sejo embracing herself, you embracing yourself, you connecting with your true self, the wild monkey sitting down and embracing the true self, which is, which is, so when earth

[18:10]

In other words, when you think, when your body-mind comes apart, basically, you will be like a crab struggling in boiling water with its seven or eight arms and legs because you may not be connected to your true self. When that happens, don't say, I didn't warn you. Buddha, you know, is like a matchmaker. Buddha matches you up with yourself. When we sit Zazen, we match up with ourself. We come into focus with ourself.

[19:18]

So often we're out of focus without realizing that we're out of focus. The old cameras, you know, the lens, you would turn the lens, remember that, until the crosshairs line up and then it's in focus. But often our crosshairs are not lining up because we're trying to figure out our ephemeral life. the activities of our ephemeral life without being based on our big mind. True life. Big. You know, we say that the true human body who are not separate. Our true body is shared by all of us.

[20:23]

One body with many characteristics called each other. Also saying, the Bodhisattva's halo is the whole universe, illuminates the whole universe. Master Mulan has a comment in his verse. After the comment, he has a verse. He says, the moon above the clouds is ever the same. Valleys and mountains are separate from each other. All are blessed. All are blessed. Are they one? Or are they two? If you say, they're one, That's only half right. If you say there are two, that's only half right.

[21:27]

If we talk about oneness, or get stuck in oneness, that's a disease. If we get stuck in separation, that's also a disease. So is it one, or is it two? The moon above the clouds is never the same. You know, when we look at the moon's various phases, we say, oh, that's a new moon. No, that's a half moon. But even though we say that's a half moon, or that's a quarter moon, or that's a sliver of a moon, the moon is just the moon. The moon doesn't care what you think. It's just a total whole moon. This is like our discriminating world.

[22:35]

We look at all the parts in a partial way. Parts is partial. We see things in a partial way, but we don't see the whole moon. We only see the aspects of the moon. aspects of the Moon, we have to know that, to realize the aspects of the whole Moon. And the aspects of our mind, our opinions, our partiality, our ego, are just parts of the Moon. What is the whole Moon? How do we access the whole We can do many wonderful things in the world, or not, but it's all partiality. Valleys and mountains are separate from each other.

[23:42]

Yes, they are. This is the valley. That's the mountain. And that's the valley. and we can appreciate the mountain, we can appreciate the valley, but it's all one piece. It's all one piece. This is the United States and then Mexico and Canada. It's all one piece. So, wherever we stand, we cover the whole world. Even though we say, this is Berkeley. Wherever we stand, we cover the whole world. It's just these arbitrary divisions that we make up in order to get wealthy. Whatever. I'm separate from you, and then we believe that. I'm separate from you.

[24:45]

And in our delusion, we believe it. It's true. We are separate, but we're not separate. It's not two. Are they one or are they two? Master Sekito says, the absolute and the relative fit together like a box and it's lit. Perfect fit. when the absolute and the relative fit together like a box in its lid. That's focus, perfect focus, nothing left out. That's big mind and small mind perfectly matching. It's like two arrows, two arrow points meeting in mid-air.

[25:51]

You know that story. There were two archers And one was the... There are different versions of the story, of course. But one was the student of the other. And somehow they got into a fight. And they started shooting arrows at each other. But one of them shot the arrow, and the other one shot his arrow, and the two arrows points met in midair. So how can we be an integrated person? You know, we say that Zazen is the channel for Buddhist teaching.

[26:57]

We always go back to Zazen. No matter how much you want to talk about it, it's all about Zazen. Because Zazen is where we get Buddhist teaching. I can sit and lecture. Somebody else can lecture. We can read books. But Zazen is the teacher. Everything we have to know is there in Zazen. Why? It's simply about connecting body and mind with the universe. It's cosmic activity where our nature is both cosmic and personal. Personal, you know, what is personal? Our body-mind is changing moment by moment. We talk about reincarnation.

[28:00]

How can there be reincarnation? Which one of us, which one of you is being reincarnated? Last moment's person? Next moment's person? Baby person? Miserable person? Which one of you will reappear? It's impossible. But that doesn't mean there's not birth. I don't know about rebirth. But there is birth, moment by moment. Moment by moment. Everything is being born. looks like it. When we have a friend for 30, 40 years, and we relate to them daily, they look like the same person. But if you were away from that person for 30 years, you would look at that person and say, wow, you have really changed. But you don't see that. You don't see yourself. Moment by moment, there is

[29:05]

birth, rebirth, because that person that we think is there has died. The last moment is gone, never to be resurrected. The next moment is birth, death, birth, death, moment by moment by moment. That's our life. Life includes birth and death. It's not like life and death. We talk about life and death, but actually they're not opposites. Birth and death, becoming and ceasing, are opposites. Life includes both becoming and ceasing. So, Suzuki Roshi used to say, and others, this is our Soto Zen understanding, Life and death are the same thing.

[30:09]

Unless we can understand that they are the same thing. When earth, water, fire, and air suddenly separate, you'll be like a crab struggling in boiling water with its seven or eight arms in length. Master Goso has another koan.

[31:27]

It's pretty similar. He says, when you meet a person of the way, or a wayfarer, when you meet a person of the way on the path, do not meet him with words or with silence. Tell me, how will you meet him? So this is also a koan about meeting. Who is this person that you meet on the path? It's you. When you meet yourself, how will you meet yourself? Not using words. Not using silence. with him or her, it will certainly be gratifying, but if you cannot be watchful.

[32:47]

And then he says, meeting a person, he uses the word man, meeting a man as a way on the road, who is that? Meeting with neither words nor silence, a punch on the jaw, A punch on a giant, you know, it sounds violent, but it means shaking to wake up. without any contrivances. I like to use one of my favorite phrases is unassuming mind.

[33:55]

Unassuming means no contrivances. You don't have anything. You have nothing. Meet yourself with nothing. It's called reality. If you have no plot or scheme, you can act freely and innocently. But we have so many defenses. ways to support ourselves, or crutches to support ourselves. It's hard to actually approach and meet ourselves in a guileless way without anything.

[35:05]

You know, Zazen is an offering. I have no idea about anything. Nothing to gain. This is the most important thing, is nothing to get. Deshi Maru was talking about one time he had a scholar or professor or something, Siddhi Sachin, and the professor got up suddenly and said, I'm not getting anything out of this at all. He got it, but he didn't realize it. Sudhukhi Roshi used to say, when you get enlightened, Because we're not willing to give up anything.

[36:27]

I'm not talking about you. It's hard to give up. Really hard to give up. But if you want enlightenment, you have to let go of everything. That's all. I mean, it's simple. Enlightenment is not so hard. What's really difficult is practice. Our practice starts from enlightenment. Because when we start giving up, Practice means we get an idea, and here's the people doing this funny thing, and we want to do that, and then we start doing it. And that set an enlightened mind, which brings us to practice. And then, through practice, we keep letting go. And as we keep letting go, our enlightenment becomes more visible. Practice is counterintuitive, so to speak, because what we really want to do is collect a lot of stuff, add more and more, add some, add some.

[37:42]

And practice is let go, [...] let go. But there's a balance. The point is, renunciation doesn't mean to throw all of your goods into the creek or into the ocean, because what will the ocean do with it? You have to take care of your stuff so that you don't spread it around too much and somebody else has to deal with it. It simply means just keep letting go all the time. So even though, I remember Eikenroshi used to say, I don't really own this typewriter, but since I need to use it for my work, I'm not going to let you have it. And Suzuki Roshi would say, these are my glasses.

[38:45]

I wear these glasses. They don't really belong to me. He says, when I hear my name, Suzuki, I feel funny. Because I'm not Suzuki. That's just something that somebody pinned on me. I don't feel that one with that name. And I don't feel one with my name either. It feels funny. Because that's not who I am. me wear them. So it's not so much what we have or what we take care of, it's not so much ownership but how we take care of what comes to us and how we share that with everybody else. So money is not bad.

[39:47]

how we interact with each other and support each other. And some people take all of it, and other people are scrambling for some of it, and even spreading it around. Who knows if that would be good? We don't know, because it has nothing to do with equality in that sense. Equality is in our mind. so much, we will naturally act in a way that benefits all of us. So we have the wisdom of equality and the wisdom of differentiation. The wisdom of equality is horizontal. We're all the same. We're all exact. the same nature.

[40:59]

But yet we're all different. That's the wisdom of differentiation. We recognize where we are as related to each other. That's the wisdom of relationship. And both of those are necessary. The horizontal and the vertical. And where we meet on the scale is where we are. Where the horizontal and vertical meet, that's where we are. So the horizontal is the foundation and the vertical is the activity. Sejo is lying in bed vertically, I mean horizontally. Sejo is lying down horizontally and then Sejo is meeting the other Sejo And what the two mean is the balance of activity and stillness.

[42:03]

Zazen and activity, activity within Zazen, stillness within stillness within activity, and to balance that every moment is called practice.

[42:15]

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