the various Bodhisattvas to go and question the Mallikirti about the non-dual Dharma door, the door to, entrance to the non-duality. Malakirti was in his fojo, in his ten-foot-square room, which accommodated thousands of people. And all the bodhisattvas, although they didn't like going to see him, because he always put them in their place.

[01:33]

Nevertheless, I asked him a question and Manjushri's question was the last. When Manjushri asked Vimalakirti what his how to express the non-duality. Malakirti didn't say anything. And this, of course, is known as the thundering silence of Vimalakirti. But this silence, we have to be careful not to get hooked by this silence. Vimalakirti was silent. Silence was not the point. This is where people get hooked on this case.

[02:36]

What was important is what Vimalakirti said, or what he expressed, not that he was silent. So, in the last part, the appreciatory word by Setsho, who compiled the Blue Cliff Record, which is interpreted by Suzuki Roshi. So, when all is said and done, Setsho says, foolish old Yuima, who is Sumala Kirti, grieving for the people who suffer in vain. He helplessly laid himself in the sink bed at Vaishali. His whole body was withered and exhausted."

[03:42]

This is a kind of ironic eulogy, as is usual with Secho. He always says the opposite. As we know, Malakirti was suffering, the suffering of all beings for their own sake. So that's what he was doing in his room. What are you doing? Well, since sentient beings are all suffering, I figured I'd better suffer too. When the teachers of the seven Buddhas came, he tidied up his room thoroughly. So tidying up his room means getting rid of all dualistic notions and stopping the comparative mind.

[04:53]

the defiled mind, the mind that is ruled by vexations. Actually, the mind which is ruled by the kleshas. The kleshas are the vexations You know, all kinds of feelings and emotions come up in the mind. These feelings and emotions which appear in the mind are just feelings and emotions and thoughts. Thoughts, feelings and emotions.

[06:00]

But as soon as we grasp them, they are called kleshas or defilements because the mind gets stuck or defiled by our attachment to these various mental states, emotional states. So Vimalakirti was cleaning his room, making sure that there was nothing stuck in his mind, emotionally, mentally, or feeling-wise. Even though we may feel at times rather free of emotional states or mental states, when something comes up, when we meet something disagreeable or agreeable, immediately we latch on to it.

[07:39]

We latch on with anger. or with lust, or with greed, or with some state. So defilement isn't necessarily the arising of mental states or states, but it's the grasping or the rejecting. Because grasping and rejecting are two sides of attachment. you become very attached to your pain.

[08:45]

And what we're thinking is, I'm not attached to my pain. I want to get rid of it. But the wanting, the desire to get rid of it is attachment through aversion. But that's really difficult for us. We can understand more easily attachment through grasping. wanting, but it's harder to see attachment through aversion. We become attached to the thing that we are adverse to, and then anger arises, and we become attached to the anger. We're very much attached to vengeance. Revenge, you know, is sweet.

[09:46]

Retribution is sweet. But it's a form of defilement and attachment. And it's the one thing that's hardest to shake, because we want that person to know So we wanted to turn the tables in some way. In its extreme form, it's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And what we're dealing with constantly in zazen is this attachment to grasping and aversion.

[11:01]

We want nice, pleasant, comfortable states of mind and body in zazen. And as soon as we want that, we get painful, disturbing, undesirable states of body and mind. As soon as we start to desire, as soon as we start to grasp one, the other side appears. So how to remain without grasping or aversion is the trick of Zazen. how to swallow everything as it comes and let it go as it goes. It's so difficult. And when we think we have it, then something happens and we don't have it.

[12:12]

So it's a constant, constant watchfulness, constant awareness what's necessary. And we really, even though we can rest, when things are going well, so to speak, eventually things will change. So today is the fourth day of Sashin, the middle, middle day. So everything's downhill from here. Not really. But this is a kind of wonderful midsection. And during Sashin, Rohatsu Sashin, it starts out with more people and then in the middle,

[13:19]

There are more people. So this middle part, sometimes we feel a little deserted. You know, if we're sitting all day, the whole session, we may feel a little abandoned by some of our friends. And, where's so-and-so? Gee, how come there are less people than there were yesterday? It looks like people are draining away, you know? But they'll be back, starting tomorrow. But it's nice, this is nice, this few of us continuing this little part of Sashimi together. Intimate. And actually, in Japan, less than this, maybe seven or eight people, or ten.

[14:36]

So, earnestly, he says, when the teachers of the seven Buddhas came, he tidied up his room thoroughly. Earnestly, he asked them about the doctrine of non-duality. He asked them questions. But when he was asked about it, When he was asked about it, he seems to have collapsed. This is Setsho's ironic praise continued. He seems to have fallen apart, right? He couldn't say anything. Poor guy. However, he was not broken down. Even the golden-maned lion, who is Monjishri, he's called the golden-maned lion, could not follow in Yerima's tracks. In the old illustrations of Manjushri, sometimes he's pictured riding on a lion, and sometimes pictured not riding on a lion.

[15:42]

But usually, in China, he was pictured as a youth with long hair. of Manjushri, he has long hair down to his shoulders, shoulder length there. In China, he had black hair, and in India, he had gold hair, golden hair. But that's just, we won't quibble about the color of his hair. But it's interesting. not always, not usually presented as a monk. Sometimes, though, he is, but usually presented as a youth with long shoulder length hair. And in his footnotes, Suzuki Roshi has his little comments, and he says, when Monjushri

[16:55]

was asked about the doctrine of obtaining non-duality, he said, no words, no verses, no interpretations. But Malakirti didn't say anything when he was asked back about it, just as if he had collapsed. But this no answer, in this case, was the best relish ever given by any disciple of Buddha to the eternal teaching of non-duality. Later, even Zen students became attached to his silence without knowing that we should realize the same truth even in the prattle of an old man. In other words, don't be attached to the silence of Imolgit, because in the realm of non-duality, It's there in idle chatter.

[17:55]

But not everyone's idle chatter. Setso is said to be very kind in that he did not say anything about Vimalakirti's silence so that his students would not be attached to the practice of silence alone. When Manjushri was talking about the ultimate teaching, the whole world was nothing but Manjushri and there was no Vimalakirti. And when Manjushri and the other disciples of Buddha were listening to Vimalakirti. The whole universe was Vimalakirti and there were no disciples of Buddha. For this reason, you should say that before Manjushri disappears, Vimalakirti appears, expressing one whole universe in different connotations.

[19:04]

This is called the oneness of the duality or the doctrine of non-duality. The Bodhisattva's way of life is supported by this truth. He says when Manjushri was speaking, there was no Vimalakirti. Vimalakirti was completely absorbed in Manjushri. And when Manjushri was not speaking his non-speaking, or non-speaking his speaking, there was no Manjushri or the other disciples. There was just Vimalakirti, covering the whole universe. This, you know, Gauguin says in Genjo Koan, when he's talking about the moon in the water, he said, when one side is illuminated, the other side is dark, even though the whole moon is present.

[20:11]

the side that is present dominates the whole thing, the side that is illuminated. So, it also means we're not comparing the disciples with Vimalakirti. Even though the disciples are the disciples, Vimalakirti is Vimalakirti. What they say is what they say, and what he says is what he says. Nevertheless, there's no comparison. And it looks like what they said wasn't as good as what he said. But that's not so. Everything that they said and everything that Manjushri said was correct, and everything that Imali Kirti said was correct, and covered the whole universe.

[21:29]

When I say something here, everyone else is silent. But my saying something covers this whole universe. When you say something, I'm silent and your presence covers the whole universe. the oneness of duality. So he says, after all, Vimalakirti's silence and his illness should be understood not just as the finger pointing to the moon. Not just, you know, we say, don't mistake the finger for the moon.

[22:56]

Vimalakirti's silence is not the finger pointing to the moon. It covers the moon. The finger is the moon. Don't mistake the finger for the moon. Don't mistake the illustration for the thing itself. You can't eat. That painting of a rice cake is an old saying. But in this case, you must eat a painting of a rice cake. The finger itself is the moon. The finger pointing to the moon is the moon itself. So he says, after all, Vimalakirti's silence and his illness should be understood not just as the finger pointing to the moon, but also as the actual practice of the ultimate teaching of Buddha This is the bodhisattva's way, which is neither for yourself nor for others, but for Buddhadharma.

[24:05]

Dogen Zenji says, when you practice right practice, your inner treasure house will open by itself, and the treasures will offer themselves for you for your free use. The oneness of duality. This is what Dogen says at the end of Fukanza Zengi. your treasure house will open by itself and you will be able to use it as well. What is your treasure house? Where is this treasure house he's talking about? By the awakening of the wisdom heart is meant the earnest desire to save all beings even before we ourselves, laymen and priests, have attained enlightenment. anyone who cherishes this desire is the great teacher of all living beings. Even a little girl seven years old may be the teacher of four classes of men.

[25:10]

This spirituality has nothing to do with sex or age in the law of the supreme teaching of Buddha. This is the duality of oneness." That means oneness is expressed as everyone's effort. The Buddha Shakyamuni is to be found in one's own mind. Find out what this one mind is, and by so doing, you will show your gratitude to the Buddha. This is Dogen's quote from Dogen. So where is the treasure within our own mind? How do we open the treasure? Do you have anything that you'd like to talk about?

[26:27]

Well, what is the oneness of duality? Duality of oneness is our thinking mind. Our turning the wheel of activity is the duality of oneness. As soon as you start thinking, there's duality. The mind and its object originally are not two things, because mind expresses itself as self and other. through the activity of discrimination.

[28:34]

That's called, and when the mind starts to working, that's called discrimination right away, because thinking is divisive. The nature of a thought is division, divisiveness. I don't mean in a pejorative sense. It just divides. an object. A thought is an object for the mind. Does non-duality that the case is about, non-duality include duality? includes duality. But that's why we shouldn't get hung up on Vimalakirti's silence.

[29:40]

Because the silence doesn't mean specifically not to say something. It means that there is nothing divisive in the mind of Vimalakirti. Nothing that's dividing reality into subject and object. Nothing that's dividing mind into subject and object. Mind does not mean our thinking faculty in Buddhism. Citta means dharmakaya, alaya-vijnana. It means the big mind of which everything is an expression. as distinct from mano vijnana, which is the discriminating mind. So, the oneness of duality means that even though discrimination is taking place, regardless of that, the basic ground is oneness.

[31:00]

And the duality of oneness means that the basic ground seems to be dividing itself into parts. This is the illusion, actually. This is what is called delusion in Buddhism. Delusion is the illusionary aspect of And illusion doesn't mean that things are not real in a phenomenal sense. It just means that the real things in a phenomenal sense have no substantial reality. Well, isn't our session bringing us to oneness and duality?

[32:22]

Yes. I know when I start out, I start with a certain resolution and kind of sharp effort and resolve to watch what lives in my mind and let it go and all that stuff. And that lasts for a while. And then as the days go on, there's a kind of, as well as if the landscape is just covered with a light, gentle snow, that things take on more and more just of a whole quality. And that what comes, there's always things going in and out, but they're not so, is less defined, and they just come and go with increasing gentleness. That's right.

[33:22]

That's what we're practicing in Sashin, is the oneness of duality, but also not overlooking the duality of oneness. We can't get caught by either side, but Sashin does of the dynamic is the energy, life energy. And then when we start moving out into the world,

[34:23]

So that no matter how busy, this is like, no matter how, you know, in the marketplace, we're always... The ground of non-duality is within the dualistic activity. No matter how divided No matter how much we divide the universe, how many little pieces we divide it into, we still don't lose our grounding in the reality of oneness. This is why it's so hard to... It's difficult because when we start moving around, that's all we see. And that's also when duality just covers the whole world.

[35:43]

Nevertheless, it's still one piece. And so going back and forth between activity and zazen, activity and zazen for 20, 30 years, It all comes together as one. Duality in oneness and oneness of duality. It's called maturity practice. To be able to go back and forth without any problem. Not to get hung up in stillness and not to get hung up in activity. carried away by activity. But within activity, the grounding stillness is the base, is the center. It's like the eye of the storm.

[36:47]

The stillness is like the center of all the activity. And it becomes very clear in zazen. Because when the difficulty is there, when the storm is raging in your zazen, which it does, it will, if it has no rain, there is this, we become more and more still. I mean, inside. The only way you can really deal with it is to become more still, more still. There's no end. to the depth of stillness. This is called the stillness at the eye of the hurricane. in our daily lives, people say, well, how can I practice in my daily life?

[38:18]

You know, it's busy and my mind gets blah blah blah. And so, they say, in our heart. At any point in a day or night, if someone says, where is your breath? You should be able to say, right here. If someone says, where is your breath? You might say, Sometimes in Dogasan, I'll ask the student, where's your breath? You should know.

[39:24]

You should practice. Just sitting through a sesshin, knowing that your breath is here, should prepare you for the rest of your life, as far as knowing where your breathing is. You should always maintain the breath here. And when it starts to get up here, you know there's anxiety or fear or something. And start to relax and let the breath come down. Controlling the body is also a way of dealing with the mind. And in Zen practice, we deal with the mind through the body. It's like, do you whip the horse or do you whip the cart? If you want to make the cart go, you whip the horse or you whip the cart. Sometimes we whip the cart.

[40:28]

You deal with the body. If you want to, the mind, and body are not two different things. So when your body and mind are unified, you can unify the mind through dealing with the body, and you can unify the body with the mind also. It works both ways. And in Zazen, and our activity, We use both. And especially in Zazen, right posture, right attention, that balance, body-mind. It's just think, not thinking. What is think, not thinking? Non-thinking. Non-thinking means when there's no gap between the body and the mind.

[41:42]

The thought is the activity, and the activity is the thought. You're not thinking about something. I'm not thinking about my body, or about this body in Zazen. The thought is the thought of the body, and the body is the body of the thought. It's one activity. So this is how we should direct our attention in zazen, unless we're falling asleep. But even when we fall asleep, the body's still sitting up in its position. And the body reminds the mind, oh yeah, sit up straight. So even if our mind is wandering, and even if we're sleeping, the body is still doing zazen.

[42:53]

We pay a lot of attention to our mind, our thinking mind, and our discriminating mind. I think it was two days ago, you talked about babies. not discriminating. I've been discriminating a lot about that idea, thinking that babies very early discriminate, spit out the rubber nipple and want the breast, or scream when they're getting their diapers changed. But in a deeper way, there is something about the baby, even though it's very apparent that they like and dislike. So they do discriminate. That there's something in what you were just saying about not being a gap. There isn't a gap between the time they object to something.

[43:59]

No gap on the body. That's right, there's no gap. Because there's no thinking. It's not that there isn't a the sixth consciousness is not present. That's not what it means. It means it's not developed. So even though the baby knows the difference between the nipple and the rubber, the sixth consciousness is there, but it's not developed enough to be able to think. It doesn't think, I don't like this. It just doesn't like it. That's right. It doesn't think, I don't like this. It just doesn't like it. It seems like first we learn the word, don't like, baby says no very soon, and then pretty soon, no. Spend our lives learning how to say, no thank you, I've had enough rubber nipples this week. That's right. So we think in terms of words and concepts. That's called conceptual thinking. So that's the function of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, that they reinforce each other in conceptual thinking.

[45:05]

Well, aversion and attraction are qualities of the sixth consciousness or the seventh? Well, mostly the seventh. Mostly the seventh. So the sixth is merely just understanding that you're speaking and I'm hearing. But it's not saying, I like what I hear, I don't like what I hear. So how is the karma attached to How is the karma attached to that? That seems quite pure. That's right. Karmic consciousness is brought about through the activity of the seventh consciousness. The one that discriminates. They both discriminate. But one just discriminates between spheres of activity and his thinking.

[46:07]

creates thinking on a basic level. But seventh consciousness is that it makes judgments and is connected with wrong views about reality and false view about ego, about and self-love and, in other words, the various discriminations which are carved out through the false belief in a self. That's the system of consciousness.

[47:11]

And creates a kind of false personality on the basis of that kind of discrimination. Whereas the sixth consciousness is just discriminating on the basis of non-discrimination. It's not yet corrupted. But the discrimination of the seventh consciousness is self-centered discrimination. That's the difference. Selfish discrimination, self-centered discrimination. Which, instead of being Buddha-centric, the sixth consciousness, sixth consciousnesses are rather innocent. They're just doorways of perception. and they're Buddha-centric, based on wholeness.

[48:20]

Whereas the seventh consciousness is self-centered, which means instead of being based on wholeness, it's based on itself as usurping the position of the center, taking over the center. taking over central stage. The Seventh Consciousness leaps up on the stage and says, ta-da! I am it. It does its little dance, not realizing what its dance is based on. What its stance is based on leads to suffering.

[49:25]

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