I'm very happy to have a chance to share with this sangha. I moved to this building in June last year, so I have been living here for 7 months, but because I'm pretty busy, and I have a little pain on my lower back, so I don't have much time to share practice with you. So I feel kind of guilty. But it's really nice to have a chance to share the Dharma in this form. Yesterday, Brunchan asked me to give a lecture tonight.

[01:08]

She said, tonight or next Wednesday? I said, tonight. On Genjo Koan, I think that is what you are studying now. And since Valentine said she talked on the title, Genjo Kōan, so tonight I try to talk on the first three sentences. I know why you laughed. It's a very interesting poem. I mean, I became interested in Dogen Zen's teaching when I was a high school student. First, I read my teacher Uchiyama Koshoroshi's book. Until then, I had no idea what Dogen, or what Zen, or what Buddhism was.

[02:12]

But by reading my teacher's book, I found this is what I want to do. when I was 17. And I found some books on Dogen at the high school library. And I found only one book. And that was the commentary on Genjo Kōan and, I think, Shōji, or Life and Death chapter of Shōbō Genzo. by Yamada Reirin. Yamada Reirin, or Reirin Yamada, was a bishop of North America, I think, in the 60s. And after that he became the president of Komazawa University, and finally he became the abbot of Eheiji. So he was a very well-known teacher.

[03:17]

So, when I was 17, I read the commentary on Genjo Kōan by Yamada Reirin Zenji. And I remember that I didn't understand anything. It's completely... can I say, not understandable for me, especially these first three sentences. These seem contradicted. I mean, it's not really contradicted on the surface. In my translation, those first three sentences are something like, When all dharmas are the buddhadharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, life and death, buddhas and living beings.

[04:28]

This is the first sentence. And the second sentence he says, when all dharmas are not fixed self, there is no delusion, and no realization, no Buddhas and no living beings, no birth and no perishing. This is the second. And the third is, since the Buddha way, by nature, goes beyond the dichotomy of abundance and deficiency, there is arising and perishing. delusion and realization, living beings and Buddhas. So in the first sentence, he said, there are delusion and enlightenment. This is one kind of pair, delusion and enlightenment. And he said, practice. And there are also life and death.

[05:36]

This is also one pair. Life and death. And he again said, Buddhas and living beings. This is also another pair. So there are three pairs, or three dichotomies. And practice. And those three pairs are something positive in Buddhism and something negative. Delusion, of course, is something negative. We don't like it. We want to be free from it. And realization or enlightenment or satori or nirvana is something we want, something desirable, something positive. And the practice is the path which leads us from delusion to realization or enlightenment or nirvana.

[06:44]

And in the case of life and death, of course, life is something desirable, or positive, and death is, of course, something we don't want. So this is also positive, negative. And also, Buddhas and living beings, Buddhas are awakened people, or enlightened people. and living beings are transmigrating with the six realms of samsara. So, they are deluded. So, in the first sentence it said, when the dharmas are buddha dharma, when all dharmas, all dharmas here means all beings, when all beings are Buddha Dharma. The second Dharma is Buddha's teaching.

[07:47]

So when we see all beings from the point of Buddha's teaching, there is delusion and there is enlightenment. And of course, delusion is the cause of suffering. So we should become free from delusion through practice, and our goal is to become enlightened, or attain realization, or enter nirvana, and become Buddha. So this is really Buddha's teaching. That is what Buddha taught. And second sentence said, when all dharmas are not fixed self. Fixed self means all dharmas are not substantial.

[08:51]

It's impermanence and egoless. Everything is formed by many elements, changing of many elements. collection of all different elements. So nothing has self-nature. Everything is impermanent and egoless, and that means empty. Since everything is empty, he said, there is no delusion and no realization. There are no such things called realization, or no such things called delusion. If delusion is something fixed, and fixed is the nature of this being, there is no way we can be free from delusion. And there is no way we can become enlightened or attain realization.

[09:52]

This fen, all dharmas are not fixed self, since nothing has no self-nature. This is what the Mahayana Buddhism teaches, especially in the Prajnaparamita Sutra, in the Prajnaparamita Hridaya or Heart Sutra. Of course it says, you know, fen, I'll talk about this later, but Avalokiteshvara deeply practiced the Prajnaparamita so clearly so that all five skandhas are empty and had to negate almost all Buddha's teachings. No five skandhas, no four noble truths, no twelve links of causation. This is, I think, this is what Dogen Zenji is saying in this second sentence.

[11:00]

So, I think, in my understanding, these three sentences are kind of a summary of his understanding of entire or essential teaching of Buddhism. Buddha's teaching and the Mahayana teaching. The reason why I started to think in that way is that I had the experience to give a series of lectures on Shobo Genzo to, when I was in Japan, to Japanese Catholic ladies. I gave a lecture once, twice a month. And since Genjo-Koan was the first chapter of 75 versions of Shobo Genzo, first I talked on Genjo-Koan. And second chapter of Shobo Genzo was, as probably you know, the Mahaprajna Paramita, Makahanya Haramitsu.

[12:14]

Since, you know, they are not Buddhist, they are Christian, they don't know much about Buddhist terms or Buddhist ideas. So in order to talk on Dogen Zenji's Wakahan ni Haramitsu, that is Dogen's comments, not a commentary, but comments on the Heart Sutra, in order to talk on Dogen's comment on the Heart Sutra, I had to first talk on the Heart Sutra. And in order to talk on the Heart Sutra, I had to explain what Buddha taught. So, I studied the original Buddha's teaching, and the teaching in the Heart Sutra, and teaching our Dogen Zen's comment on the Heart Sutra.

[13:18]

And these three, I think, exactly correspond with these three sentences. That was my basic understanding of these three sentences. You know, Buddha taught four noble truths. Suffering and cause of suffering. That is, clinging or ignorance. That is, delusion. and a cessation of suffering, that is nirvana or enlightenment. And the fourth truth is the path which leads us to the cessation of suffering. That is the basic teaching of Buddha. Buddha taught those four noble truths in his first discourse, right after he attained enlightenment. This is really the basis of Buddha's teaching.

[14:22]

So first we should see the reality that we are suffering. We have pain. And the cause of suffering is attachment. And attachment is based on our ignorance. Or basically the three poisonous minds. And Buddha said, it is possible, there is a possibility that we are free from suffering, or a cessation of suffering. That is nirvana. And he taught, Buddha taught the eightfold correct or right path, which leads us to the cessation of suffering. This is the very basis of Buddha's teaching. In whatever tradition, there are many traditions within Buddhism, and there are many different approaches, but this is really the basis of all Buddhist teachings.

[15:28]

And yet, in the Heart Sutra, it says, no suffering, no origination or no cause of suffering, and no cessation of suffering, and no path. So, in the Heart Sutra, at least put NO in front of each of the four Noble Truths. Five Mahayana Buddhists, at least people who made Prajnaparamita Sutra, put NO in front of each of Buddha's teachings. I think that is a very important point to understand Mahayana teachings. and tonight I cannot discuss about this point. Basically, in a very short, briefly speaking, this is because I believe, this is because they found that contradiction or paradox within the practice following the Four Noble Truths.

[16:36]

When we try to practice, eightfold correct path in order to become free from suffering or delusion. Free from suffering is kind of a good expression, but that means we have a desire to escape from suffering, to escape from samsara. to escape from this way of life, transmigrating with samsara, and we desire to reach nirvana. So, in the basis of our practice, there is a contradiction that to be enlightened or to enter nirvana, to be free from suffering, or illusion, or delusion, or ignorance, not a path, but another name of desire.

[17:43]

That is the cause of suffering. So as far as we are practicing on that basis, we create samsara within our practice. Sometimes, not often, no matter how hard we practice, we feel we are not free from suffering yet. Even though we put a lot of energy and time to practice in order to become free from suffering, when we really continuously practice in this way, we find the motivation which makes us practice in that way is our desire to become free from suffering. be enlightened. So within this kind of practice, there's a basic contradiction.

[18:49]

And we create samsara within our practice. Sometimes we feel like we are liberated, so we feel like heavenly beings. And sometimes, or more often, we feel, you know, no matter how hard we practice, we are still deluded living beings. You know? So, that kind of practice is really... How can I say? When we really practice, devote ourselves into that kind of practice, we have to face the dead end within this kind of practice. So what Mahayana Buddhists found is even the delusions are empty. Even ignorance is empty. So our practice is not escape from suffering, but samsara and nirvana are one.

[20:04]

because neither of them have self-nature. They are empty. Once we see the emptiness of everything as the Heart Sutra, our practice is not a method to escape from suffering or to attain some kind of enlightenment. That is why I think the Mahayana Buddhists put NO in front of each of Buddha's teachings. That means freedom even from Buddha's teachings. Freedom from even the concept taught by Buddha. But we see clearly the reality of emptiness. I think that is what Mahayana Buddhists found through their own practice when they really faced this paradox.

[21:09]

So in the Mahayana Sutra, especially the Prajnaparamita, almost everything is negated. To use the negative expression is the way they liberated themselves from the clinging to practice or to Buddha's teaching. So we have to open our hand. I think this is what our second sentence is saying. So those two are two sides of Buddha Dharma. Neither of them are good or bad. These two, as Dogen said, in the first sentence he said, when all dharmas are buddhadharma, this means there is some time when all dharmas are buddhadharma and sometimes are not.

[22:14]

This doesn't mean that, but this means always, always all dharmas are buddhadharma. And in the second sentence, when all dharmas are not fixed self, that means always all dharmas are not fixed self, have no fixed self, empty. So those two are always true. On the surface, those two are contradicted. But those two are always true, always true. So those are two sides of Buddha Dharma. And in the third sentence, Rogen said, since the Buddha way, by nature, goes beyond the dichotomy of abundance and deficiency,

[23:17]

Abundance and deficiency means something positive and negative. The first one is a positive expression of Dharma. And the second sentence is a negative expression of Dharma. And he said, the Buddha way. In the first two sentences, he used the word Buddha Dharma. And in the third sentence, he used the expression Buddha way. The difference between Buddha Dharma and Buddha Way is Buddha Way, in the case of Dogen Zen's teaching or writings, Buddha Way means that in practice we have to walk the way with our own legs. with our both body and mind. So it's very concrete. It's not a view, it's not a concept, it's not a philosophy, but it is life, day-to-day lives.

[24:22]

It's very concrete day-to-day actions. So he said, our practice, Buddha way, is beyond dichotomies. Dichotomies of something positive and something negative. And this is a kind of a difficult point, but he said the Buddha way is beyond dichotomies. But he said, beyond dichotomies, there is arising and perishing. This is the same as life and death. delusion and realization, living beings and Buddhas. He said the same thing with the first sentence. But in this case, he said, in our concrete practice, day-to-day practice, these are not dichotomy.

[25:28]

These are beyond abundance and deficiency, beyond positive or negative. These are not dichotomies. Delusion and enlightenment are dichotomies. Life and death are not dichotomies. Buddhas and living beings are not dichotomies. It's a kind of strange thing. If we transcend and go beyond the dichotomies, As the second sentence says, there is no enlightenment and delusion. But he said there is delusion and enlightenment or realization. And he said there is life and death. And there is Buddhas and living beings. And yet, these are not dichotomy. These go beyond dichotomy. What this means I think it's kind of a strange thing to say.

[26:33]

But I think it means when we think, when we think with our intellection, life and death, delusion and enlightenment, Buddha and all beings, deluded beings, are dichotomies, two different concepts. But when we actually practice with this body and mind, delusion and enlightenment are not two things, like objects in front of ourselves. But within our actual daily practice, when we are deluded, we are 100% deluded. It's not half and half. 100% deluded. And when we open our hands, Let's go over our egocentric thought and just practice.

[27:36]

Then this practice is, according to Dogen, 100% enlightenment. So, it's moment by moment. It's not a matter of the stage or condition of delusion. It's starting point. And enlightenment is goal. And practice is the way. which lead us from starting point to the goal. But delusion and enlightenment are moment by moment. When we take action according to our egocentric desire, our action, forever action, is 100% delusion. But when we let go of our egocentricity and practice or do something for the sake of Dharma, then this action, even though we are still deluded living beings, but this action is 100% manifestation of reality, real life, or Buddha nature, or Buddha mind, or Buddha's life.

[28:58]

So both delusion and enlightenment are a matter of moment by moment, depending upon our attitude. And life and death is not also a dichotomy. When we are living, we are 100% living. When we are dead, we are 100% dead. We cannot see both life and death as like an object. Even death, as far as we are living, death is just a concept or just a kind of... other people's death. It's not this person's death. I can see other people are dying.

[30:00]

Other people's death or other people's dead body. But we cannot see our death. We cannot see our own dead body. Of course, we may have a near-death experience, but near-death experience is not death. It's still this side, I think. So, life and death is not a dichotomy within our actual life. No matter how sick we are, and how aging we are, and even when we are dying, still we are 100% alive. And when we are actually dead, when we die, we are 100% dead. That is what Dogen meant when he said, life is a total dynamic function.

[31:02]

And death is also a total dynamic function. So life and death is not a dichotomy like a positive and negative. In our actual living, in our actual life, when we start to think, you know, we want to live, we don't want to die. So life is something desirable and death is something not desirable. And we try, you know, to avoid or escape from death and cling to life. And that is caused by our thinking. But when we open our hands and let go of our thoughts, no matter how sick we are, we are 100% living. So life and death are not a dichotomy. And Buddhas and living beings are also the same as delusion and enlightenment.

[32:07]

And from section 4 to section 7, he discussed about Father's delusion and Father's enlightenment. Father is Buddha and Father is living beings. on the definition of life, of delusion, enlightenment, Buddha, and living beings. And in the section 8, in Genjokuan, he discussed life and death, or arising and perishing. In the sense, those are not dichotomy. And after section 9, he discussed then how we live, how we practice on the basis of that understanding of practice, day-to-day activity beyond dichotomies.

[33:10]

I think that is basically what Dogen is discussing within this Genjo-Koan. His conclusion is very simple and clear. In the final section, he quotes a question and answer between one monk and one Chinese Zen master about the wind nature. The Zen master is fanning. I think it was hot. And the monk asks, The wind nature is universal and ever-present. Why do we use a fan? The wind should be always there. Wind nature here means Buddha nature. We are Buddha nature. We have Buddha nature. All beings have Buddha nature.

[34:13]

Then why do we have to make a fan? Then the master said, you don't know. You know only the Buddha nature, I mean, the wind nature is universal, but you don't know it permeates everywhere. Then the monk asked, what is the principle or truth of wind nature permeates everywhere? the Zen Master just keeps fanning himself using fan. That's the end of the story. So that means, you know, using fan is our practice. Through our practice, the universal Buddha nature, or koan, manifests itself. When we don't use the fan, that means when we don't practice,

[35:16]

the buddha nature or wind nature doesn't manifest itself. So it's not a matter of we have buddha nature or not. It's a matter of whether we practice or not. So his conclusion of the Genjo Koan is very simple. We should keep practice. We should continue to practice moment by moment, endlessly. But that's what he wanted to say. I think the reason why he, in the first three sentences of Genjo Koan, he, I think, on purpose made a statement which contradicted because the first and second sentences are two sides of one dharma.

[36:22]

But if we cling to one side, we create a problem on either side. I mean, When we came to the first sight that there is delusion and enlightenment, so we have to practice in order to eliminate delusion and attain realization or enlightenment and become a Buddha. If our practice is a method or means to attain enlightenment, then what after we attain enlightenment? And if we cling to the second point, second side, you know, there's no delusion and no enlightenment, then why we have to practice at all?

[37:38]

if we understand either side mistakenly, we get in a pitfall. And that is a fact I think Dogen Zenji himself experienced in his bend over. Dogen Zenji made 18 questions by himself about Dazen practice, and he made answers by himself. Question 6. Question 6 in Bendowa.

[38:43]

As for the practice of Zazen, people who have not yet realized Buddha Dharma should attain enlightenment through practicing the way of Zazen. But what could those who have already clarified the true Buddha Dharma expect from doing Zazen? So until you attain enlightenment or you attain realization, you have to practice. But once you attain realization, why do we have to practice? If attaining enlightenment is the goal of our practice, this is one question made by himself, Dogen himself. And I think this is a question many practitioners at his time had.

[39:45]

You know, practice is to attain enlightenment. Then, in order to attain enlightenment, we have to practice very hard. But after we reach the goal, what we should do? We don't know. I mean, we don't need to practice anymore. Often, we may have this kind of idea about practice. Practice is a method to reach enlightenment or nirvana. But this is not what the Buddha taught. Buddha's practice is, as you know, the Eightfold Right Path. And Buddha himself, Shakyamuni Buddha himself didn't practice the Eightfold Right Path before he attained enlightenment.

[40:48]

But he found the Eightfold Right Path, or Middle Path, When he attained Buddhahood, when he was enlightened, he found the way, the Eightfold Right Path. And after that, he practiced the Eightfold Right Path. Before that, he practiced asceticism. So the Eightfold Right Path is not a method to become enlightened by Shakyamuni Buddha. He found that practice. within his enlightenment. And after he attained enlightenment, he practiced that way. He practiced the middle way. He found the middle path when he attained enlightenment. And he practiced the middle path after he attained enlightenment. So, for him, practice of eightfold correct or right path is not really a method to attain enlightenment.

[41:53]

But when he taught to the people who were still in samsara, or who were kind of sick, he taught the Eightfold Correct Path as a method to heal the sickness and to become healthy, to restore a healthy condition. But after we become healthy, what we should do? We continue to practice the Eightfold Right Path, as Buddha did. So, in that sense, our practice is not a medicine, but it's a practice as a kind of healthy activity. But when we are sick, this becomes medicine.

[42:57]

And we are healed. And after we become healthy, we continue to practice. So practice is really endless. As far as we are living, we should practice as Buddha did. I think that is what Dogen meant when he said practice and enlightenment are one. Shusho Ichinyo, practice and enlightenment are one. It means practice is not a medicine or method or treatment to be healthy. But practice is an activity of healthy people. I think that is what Dogen Zenji meant when he said practice and enlightenment are one. And another mistake based on our clinging to the second aspect is that we are already enlightened.

[43:58]

All beings are Buddha nature. Then why do we have to practice? We don't need to practice because we are already enlightened. This is a kind of a trap by created by clinging to emptiness or sickness caused by the mistaken understanding of emptiness. Nagarjuna said this is a sickness of emptiness and he said emptiness, seeing emptiness is a medicine to be healed from the sickness of ego attachment. But if you cling to emptiness and have a disease or sickness of emptiness, there is no medicine to heal from this sickness.

[45:00]

And when Dogen was ordained as a Tendai priest when he was 13 years old. In that Tendai monastery, this idea, you know, we are all ordinarily enlightened. So everything happening in this world is an explanation or manifestation of Buddha's enlightenment. So we shouldn't negate anything. Then why do we have to practice? We don't need to practice. This kind of attitude was kind of popular. That's why Dogen had a question, if all beings are from the beginning enlightened, why do we have to practice? That was Dogen's original question when he was 15 years old.

[46:02]

And he left the monastery and started to find the true way of practice. In Bendowa, he made two questions, I think, regarding this attitude, you know, why we need to practice. Let's see. The first one is question 10 in Bendowa. He said, someone has said, do not we understand the principle that mind nature is permanent? And he explained this idea that our body is impermanent, but our mind is permanent. So when this body died, the mind, the permanent mind nature,

[47:04]

get into the ocean of the Buddha nature. So, we don't need to practice. What we have to do is just die. Consequently, you need to comprehend only the permanence of mind nature. What can you expect from vainly spending your whole life doing quiet sitting? This is one question from that side, and another is question 16. Someone said, in Buddha Dharma, those who thoroughly understand the principle that mind itself is Buddha, or our mind itself is Buddha, it's often said in there. Even if they do not chant sutras with their mouth or practice the Buddha way with their bodies, even if we don't practice, still lack nothing at all of Buddhadharma.

[48:12]

Simply knowing that the Buddhadharma exists in the self from the beginning is the perfect accomplishment of the way. So just know that. Outside of this, you should not seek from other people, much less take the trouble to engage the way in the Zen. I think the reason why Dogen Zenji did in this way in the very beginning of Genjo-Koan, that one side is there are enlightenment and delusion, life and death, and the Buddha and living beings. And in the second sentence he said they learned those things to show the two sides of the Buddha dharma. And in the third sentence he showed the Buddha way.

[49:20]

the concrete practice in our day-to-day lives, based on those two sides of the Buddha dharma. So, there is delusion and enlightenment, so we need to practice. But this practice is not a method to make this deluded person into enlightened Buddha. But according to him, this sitting, not only sitting, but our practice is Buddha. It's not a matter of this person becoming a Buddha. But this person's practice, based on Bodhisattva vows, is itself Buddha. That's why he created a kind of a term such as Gyo-Butsu. Gyo-Butsu means, Gyo means practice, and Butsu is Buddha.

[50:23]

So practice. There is a Buddha whose name is Gyo-Butsu. That means practice. So our practice is Buddha. If our practice is done with letting go of our egocentricity. If we practice in order to make this person enlightened, or important, or powerful, or stronger, then that practice, no matter how hard or how sincere it is, is still based on our egocentricity. And that is our practice. And so, I think in section 4, he made a definition of delusion and enlightenment as follows. He says, Conveying oneself toward all things to carry out practice enlightenment is delusion.

[51:26]

And all things coming and carrying out practice enlightenment through the self is realization. Dogen's definition of fat is delusion and fat is enlightenment. Both are within our practice of enlightenment. And depending upon our attitude, whether we convey ourselves toward all beings, and try to see the truth or reality of all beings, and make this person wise and enlightened. He said, according to Dogen, that practice is delusion. But all beings come towards this person. And all beings practice through using this body and mind of this person. It's enlightenment. So it depends on... Even if we do the same practice, depending upon our attitude,

[52:33]

We practice in order to make this for the sake of this person, or for the sake of all beings. That is the pivotal point of our practice, whether our practice becomes Gyōbutsu or practice Buddha. It's a matter of this person's private attempt to make this person more wise or important, powerful person. I think that is what I have to say about those three sentences. Maybe I talk too much. Do you have questions? Since the Buddha way, by nature, goes beyond the dichotomy of abundance and deficiency, there is arising and perishing, delusion and realization.

[53:58]

living beings and Buddhas. Okay? Could you say a word about why you chose there to use arriving and perishing rather than birth and death? In the first sentence, he used the words shou and shi. Shou is birth or life, and shi is death. And in the second sentence, he uses the expression 生 and 滅. 生 is to be born or to arise, and 滅 is to perish. In the case of death or死, it's only for human beings, but 滅 can be any beings, all beings. Thank you very much for listening.

[54:59]

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