Good morning, everyone. First of all, I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for Branson and all the distance practitioners here for having us here. during your practice period. I hope this is not too much disturbance of their practice. Yesterday, Branti-san talked all the important points of Gakudo Yojinshu, so I feel I have nothing to say anymore. But somehow I have to say something. I'd like to talk on the ninth section of Gakudo Yojinshu this morning.

[01:06]

Gakudo Yojinshu is a very important text for me. I wanted to be my teacher, Uchiyama Roshi's student, when I was 17 years old, after I read his book. And I knew nothing about Zen or Buddhism, so first I decided to go to Komazawa University to study Buddhism and Dogen's teachings. And I was ordained when I was 22. So during the time I was studying at the university as a student and practicing with my teacher, Dogen's teaching is very difficult, especially his Shobo Genzo or Ehe Koroku.

[02:20]

No matter how many times I read, I couldn't really understand. It didn't make any sense at all. But his early writings, such as Fukanzazengi, that we recite every day, and Fateh's Dakudo Yojinshu, and Shōbōgen's Zuimonki. Zuimonki is a collection of Dogen's informal talk, right after he started his own monastery, Koshō-ji. And Tenzo-kyokun, that was also written when he was pretty young, maybe 36 or so. in order to give guidance to his own students. He was still very young.

[03:22]

He was in his thirties. So, when I was young, Gakudou Yojinshu was one of my main guidelines of my practice. So I read Gakudou Yojinshu many times. So this is very important text to me. So when I started to work on translation, I decided to translate those early writings of Dogen. So I translated Fukanzazengi in Shikantaza book and second I translated Zuimonki and this Dogenzen is third book I translated.

[04:29]

And Gakudo Yojinshu is included in this book. This was published, I think, in 1988. That was the year I first visited Tassahara. I think in May. This book wasn't published yet. This was published in the fall, maybe in October. But I remember I... talked on Gakudou Yojinshu at that time. So that was 13 years ago. So, you know, I read Gakudou Yojinshu many times and other sections of Gakudoryo Jinshu, except this one, 9th, are not so difficult for me to understand and to follow.

[05:37]

You know, I had some experience of impermanence, and I had no desire to gain fame and profit when I was a teenager. That's a problem for now. I need some income to support my family. And when I encounter Buddha's teaching, I really want to practice, study and practice it. And so I have no idea of gaining. And I thought I found a true teacher. So I think everything is OK. But this section, the ninth section, was a very difficult and problem for me to understand and to follow, and really practice following this section.

[06:53]

Do you hear me? OK. So first let me read this section. The title of this section is You Should Practice Toward the Way. A determined student of the way must first of all distinguish the right and wrong direction toward the way. Shakyamuni sat under the Bodhi tree, saw a bright star, and suddenly realized the way of the Supreme Vehicle. The way realized by the Buddha is far beyond the reach of Shravakas or Pratyekabuddhas. The Buddha realized the way by himself and transmitted his realization to the next Buddha and down the line without interruption until the present day.

[08:10]

Whoever gains this realization is nothing other than a Buddha. Heading towards the Way is to continue to clarify until you reach the full extent of the Buddha Way and understand the scenery of that Way. The Buddha Way is right under your feet. Being obstacled by the way, you clarify the way right here. Being obstacled by enlightenment, you completely become yourself. Therefore, even though you may have perfect understanding, you fall into half enlightenment. This is the manner of heading in the direction of the way. People practicing the Way these days have not yet understood what the Way is and yearn for reward that can be seen.

[09:22]

You are the one who is responsible for making this mistake, and you will be like a person who discards his father and his treasure and wanders here and there in poverty. Even though you are the only son of a millionaire, you are not aware of this and have been acting like a poor employee for a long time. This is a matter of course. Students of the way should desire to be obstructed by the way. To be obstructed by the way means to forget any trace of enlightenment. Practitioners of the Way must first of all have faith in the Way. Those who have faith in the Way, in the Buddha Way, must believe that One, the Self, is within the Way from the beginning.

[10:34]

that you are free from delusive desires, upside-down way of seeing things, excesses or deficiencies, and mistakes. Allowing this kind of faith, clarifying the way, and practicing comprise the foundation of learning the way. You do this by sitting and cutting off the root of the discriminating mind. Turning away from the path of intellectual understanding. This is a skillful way to lead beginners. Next, drop off body and mind and throw away both delusion and enlightenment. This is the second stage. Truly, it is most difficult to find a person who believes that his self is within the Buddha Way.

[11:37]

Only if you believe that you are really inside the Way will you naturally clarify the scenery of the Great Way. and understand the origin of delusion and enlightenment. Try to sit, cut off the root of discriminating mind. Eight or nine out of ten will be able to immediately see the way. I was very lucky, I mean, happy. We had one day off before starting this session. Honestly speaking, I had no time to prepare for this lecture. So because I had one day off, I had time to read the three translations.

[12:42]

I have on the Gakutō Yōjinshū. One is my own, and another is as M. Blanchison introduced yesterday, translation in the book Moon in a Dew Drop. And another one is translation by Kenneth Roche. It's really interesting to read different translations. I'm pretty sure there's no perfect translation, so it's better to read as many translations as possible. Even when I work on translation, when I read my own translation, Often I feel sad because I know there are so many things missed or lost in the process of translation.

[13:44]

Anyway, there are two other translations on this section. The translation of the title of this section It's also kind of interesting to compare those three. My translation is, you should practice toward the way. And in the Mu in a dewdrop state, you should practice throughout the way. And Kenetoro's translation is, the necessity of training in order to attain the way of Buddhism. So different, in a sense. Very literal translation of this title is, actually the original title is something like,

[14:59]

koto is... thing or matter that you should practice shugyo is practice so you should practice mukau means to face or to direct toward something so in this case the way is our goal so and we should practice toward that goal I understand why Kazutanahashi translated throughout the way, not toward the way, because practice towards the way sounds contradicted with what Dogen said later in this section that we should believe that we are already in the way.

[16:03]

If we are already in the way, how we can face what practice towards the way as a goal? So it's a very understandable translation. But to me, this contradiction that we have to practice toward the way, and in a sense, as Keletaroshi translated, to attain the way. To me, this contradiction, it's really contradicting. if we are already in the way, how we can practice towards the way, or how we can attain the way. It's really a good koan. But, you know, in this text, I mean, section, what Dogen wants to say is we have to make, this is a guideline for beginners.

[17:05]

So when we first allowed body-mind, you know, first allowed body-mind, that is a very first section of Gakuto-yoji issue. You know, Suzuki Roshi's most well-known expression is beginner's mind. And beginner's mind is shoushin. More literal translation of beginner's mind, I think, is beginning mind. And because shoshin is, sho is begin, and shin is mind or heart. And in Japanese, beginner is shoshin, sha. Sha means a person. So person who has this shoshin is a beginner. So, actually, shoshin means beginning mind.

[18:07]

Anyway, shoshin is an abbreviation of shohoshin. I think that's why, you know, the city center is called Hoshinji. Shohoshin means first allows the mind. And shohoshin is an abbreviation of shohotsubodai-shin. longer and longer. Bodai-shin is body-mind, or bodhicitta in Sanskrit. So, shoshin is the abbreviation of first arising body-mind. And shokotsu bodai-shin is the abbreviation of shokotsu anokutara sammyaksam bodai-shin. Right? That means first arousing the mind of Anuttara Samyaksambodhi. Anuttara Samyaksambodhi is supreme awakening, unsurpassed awakening.

[19:15]

So if this mind, shoushin, or beginner's mind, or body-mind, is sometimes translated as a way-seeking mind, because Chinese translators use this word, dou, or way, as a translation of body, bodied awakening. So in this case, this way is awakening, especially anuttara-samyaksambodhi, supreme awakening. You know, the way is a very vague word, way or do, a very vague word, and it has so many different meanings and connotations. Do is, of course, the most important concept in Taoism. Taoism is called do-kyo.

[20:22]

Do-kyo means teaching of do or Tao. And 道 is also very important in Confucianism. And somehow Chinese translator, Buddhist translator, translated three, basically, not only three, but at least three Indian words into this Chinese word 道 or 道. I discuss this in the book of Wholehearted Way, but first is body awakening. And second is maruga. Maruga is the last, fourth truth of the Four Noble Truths, the path toward the cessation of suffering. So dao is used as a translation of maruga.

[21:30]

Maruga is the path of practice. And another one is gatei. That means, in Chinese or Japanese, we say rokudo. In English translation, six realms of samsara. was also translated as door. It's really confusing. Enlightenment or awakening and the realms of delusion and the way or path from delusion to enlightenment, all those are translated as door. It's kind of a strange thing to me. And the most strange thing is when Chinese people translated from Indian to Chinese, they forget about Indian scriptures.

[22:33]

So they only read Buddhist texts in Chinese. So the usage of the word 道 is so... how can I say, has so many meanings. So it's very confusing. So in each time when we encounter this expression do, we have to think what this means. Even in this short section, to me, Dogen used this do in at least two meanings. One is, as I said, Anuttara Sambodhi, supreme awakening. And another is, I think, this is my interpretation, so you don't need to believe me. Another is the way Buddha walked.

[23:38]

Before he became Buddha, he was a bodhisattva. He allowed the body-mind and started to practice as a bodhisattva. And he accomplished the Anuttara Samyaksam Bodhi. And he started to teach until his death. This entire way he walked, Buddha walked, is called Buddha Way, the way Buddha walked. Fendogen said, the Buddha way is right under our feet. I think that is that way, that Buddha way, is the way Buddha walked. Of course, the way Buddha walked is based on Buddha's anuttarasamyaksa body, so it has connection. But if we are not careful, we, you know, mix everything up and we really don't understand what Dogen is saying.

[24:55]

Anyway, so in the first sentence he says, determined student of the way, in this case this way is Buddha way, the person, student who studies Buddha's way, what this way, what we study. It also has many meanings. We study Buddha's awakening, or we study and practice maruka, the path from samsara to nirvana. Or we also study how Buddha walked his own way. So there are many things, many possible interpretations. So he said, a student of the way must first of all distinguish the right and wrong direction toward the way.

[26:06]

So, you know, our motivation is way-seeking mind. And this way is anuttarasamyaksambodhi. So anuttarasamyaksambodhi, that is Buddha's way, Buddha body. That is our goal. So we have to be very clear which direction we are going. Otherwise, you know, if our direction is even slightly different from that goal, the more we go, the more we separate, depart or deviate from the way. So from the time you start to practice, you have to be very careful that this is the way. I mean, this is the goal of our practice, and that is anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

[27:09]

But often we practice for something else. Sawakiroshi is my teacher's teacher. One of my favorite books of Sawakiroshi. Sawakiroshi never written any book, but somehow more than 20 books were published with his name. That means those are all the record or transcription of his lectures. Anyway, one of my favorite books of Sawaki Roshi was his Teisho on Gakudoyo Jinshiro. And he is very strict about this. What is your goal when you practice? What do you want? And he said, some people practice in order to become the abbot of a hedge, or sojiji.

[28:17]

You know, to be a part of the San Francisco Zen Center is not a big deal. But to be a part of the Heijou Association is really a big thing. And some people... practice in order to become the head of those big religious institutions. Actually, Asian soldiers today are not so big a deal actually, in comparison with the abode of Mount Hiei when Dogen was ordained. the monastery of Tendai School in Japan has really big power. It has not only religious power, religious authority, but the monastery has political and economical power. So at the time of Dogen,

[29:23]

very kind of common that people who want to become the kind of upper part of that hierarchy become a priest. And they study and practice hard in order to climb that hierarchy. Dogen himself said in the Monkey that when he was very young, he studied at Mount Hiei. His teacher taught him that you should study hard, practice hard, and become a prominent, excellent, well-known teacher. And he said later he read biographies of Chinese eminent priests. And he found that the motivation to study and practice the way in order to become a well-known teacher and getting high to that hierarchy

[30:40]

is very against the spirit of Buddha way. So he found that about our famous teachers in Japan at that time seemed like a broken tile. That means useless, valueless. And he started to find the way. So for Dogen, this sentence, I think, is really important. Why we practice? For what we study Buddha way? Because, you know, you know, many priests at the time of Dogen practiced for something else, for actually fame and profit.

[31:42]

And Dogen really wanted to make his Sangha as the place where people who have genuine spirit, genuine body-mind, way-seeking mind, So this is very important. And next he described Fapi's way. And he said, Sakyamuni sat under the Bodhi tree throw a bright star and suddenly realize the way of the Supreme Veku. Here I see, how can I say, for Dogen, not only Zen, but also what he studied

[32:54]

When he was a Tendai priest, Tendai monk, also very important for Dogen. I mean, I can see the influence of the Lotus Sutra here. You know, it said Shakyamuni Buddha awakened to accomplish the anuttara samyaksam body when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree and saw the bright stars. This is a kind of expression used in Zen. But he said, when he says, the way of the Supreme Vehicle, the way here means, of course, Anuttara Samyaksambodhi. And Supreme Vehicle came from the Lotus Sutra, you know. In the Lotus Sutra, there's a story that when a father went somewhere, the children played in a big house, and the house started to burn.

[34:14]

But the children were playing with some toys. and they didn't want to get out of the burning house. So the father told them, you know, get out of here. Then you will find much more better toys. I mean, it said there are three kinds of toys the kids are playing in the burning house. One is a cart of deer, another is, I think, cart of dog or something, and another is cart of ox. And then those children, heard the father was calling, there are much better toys outside of the burning house. They get out of the house and they found only one white ox cart.

[35:22]

Those three toys the kids playing with are a symbol of three vehicles. Shravaka, Pratikabuddha, and Bodhisattva. Those three vehicles. And before the Lotus Sutra, Bodhisattva vehicle is one of three vehicles. That means, you know, Mahayana was called Bodhisattvayana. And those three are different toys. But the Lotus Sutra says those three are toys, just toys. Monks, not monks, but children praying in the burning house.

[36:27]

When they get out of this burning house of samsara, they only find one white ox cart. This is a real toy. This is called a mujojo, or ichijo, or one vehicle, or ekayana. Or another word is mujojo, that is unsupportable, or here I translate as supreme vehicle. So Buddha's awakening, Buddha's supreme awakening, anuttara sambodhi, is the supreme vehicle. This is an inference from the Lotus Sutra. And next Dogen says this awakening has been translated from Buddha to Buddha.

[37:30]

And all people who awaken to this body or awakening are Buddhas. This was written when he was 34 years old. But I think it seems he changed his mind later when he was old. He said, the ancestors who had been transmitted the Dharma from generation to generation are all bodhisattvas. They said, not Buddhas. So he changed his mind. I mean, when he getting old, he seems he become more and more kind of a humble. you know, when he was 30s, he was really, he thought he was really enlightened.

[38:35]

And people who have been transmitting this enlightenment have been Buddhas. But I think when he getting older, he said, we are all Bodhisattva. We are still a children of Buddha. We are not Buddha yet. And I think this is very important. You know, usually when we become old, we become more kind of arrogant than humble. Anyway, so for Dogen, this is the goal, this supreme, the awakening of the supreme vehicle, one vehicle. And this is our goal. And the problem for me, I don't have enough time to talk all this section sentence by sentence, but problem for me when I was young was the part he discussed about belief or faith.

[39:54]

That is, he says, children of the way should desire to be obstructed by the way. This way is anutarasamyaksambodhi. And to be obstructed by the way is very kind of a... paradoxical expression but Dogen used like this expression to be abstract he used the same expression in Fukanzazengi I think, too. And this, to be abstracted, is the same as 芸 in Japanese. And this 芸 is the same 芸 as in the Hata Sutra it said, 無形芸. Which part is it? 無形芸古無苦符. When bodhisattva rely on this prajna parameter, being free from perverted view or upside-down view, this pervert or obstacle or hindrance is gay.

[41:23]

And Dogen used here, Dogen used this same expression, being hindered, being obstructed in a very positive way. That means he tried to express the same meaning as he said in Genjo Koan. That is, to carry... convey ourselves toward medial dharma and carry out practice enlightenment is delusion. But medial dharma coming toward the self and carry out practice enlightenment through the self is enlightenment. So the direction is opposite. If we try to carry, convey this person, shohaku, and try to see that reality or truth or whatever, and make this person awakened or enlightened person.

[42:35]

If we practice in that way, Dogen said, that is delusion. But immediately things, all dharmas came toward this state. So we are not, this shohaku is not the subject of this practice. But the subject of this practice is all dharmas. All dharmas come toward this person and allow this person to sit in this way. So this is not Shohaku's sitting, but all dharmas, all myriad dharmas allow this body and mind to sit. carry out practice. So there's no separation between subject who is practicing and object, the reality or truth or whatever.

[43:38]

And this person awaken to the reality of all beings and become enlightened. That idea is really based on delusion. There is a separation between subject, practitioner, and object, all beings, and reality or truth. But we are kind of a, how can I say, all myriad of things. The way or the reality of all beings actually is anottara samyaksam body. usually awakening is awakening our wisdom. We understand awakening our wisdom kind of a tool. We, or Buddha, see the truth or reality. But that is not real true understanding.

[44:46]

You know, if Buddha, when Buddha really awaken to the reality, He said, stars and mountains and rivers and grasses and trees all become awakened. That means the reality of all beings itself is awakening. That itself is wisdom because everything shows impermanence and egolessness. everything is always changing and everything has really no clinging to itself. So each and everything is really awakening or wisdom which show us the reality of all beings. And this body and mind is not the exception.

[45:48]

This body and mind is also impermanent and no substance you know, always changing. So when we see really ourselves, we see reality of all beings. Actually, this body and mind itself is reality. So reality and awakening to the reality or wisdom which sees the reality, it's the same thing. So, Fendogen said, you know, we, the true practitioner, wanted to be obstructed by the way in we let go of our thought, let go of even our own motivation to practice, but allow all beings practice using this body and mind.

[46:58]

Actually, this body and mind is part of all beings. So, you know, actually using this body and mind, all beings are practicing, all beings are sitting, That is the meaning of being obstructed by the way. And to be obstructed by the way means to forget any trace of enlightenment. So there is no enlightenment we can attain or we can get. So the trace of enlightenment is forgotten. practitioners of the way must first of all have faith in the way. This is a point I had a problem, a faith. You know, in Zen, faith is not so much emphasized. But here Dogen said, faith is really important.

[48:02]

In the translation, in Moon and Dewdrop, Tanahashi uses trust instead of faith. And in Kenneth Roshi's translation, she uses belief, but I use faith. I think this is very important when we practice following Dogen's teachings. we need a faith. And this faith is kind of a very strange faith, to me, at least. The fact we have to believe is those who have faith in the Buddha Way must believe that, one, the self is within the Way from the beginning. So he said, we have to believe that we are already in the way.

[49:06]

Again, this way is anuttara samyaksambodhi. And that you are free from delusive desires, upside-down way of seeing things, excess or deficiencies, and mistakes. We have to believe that we are already in the supreme awakening and we are free from any delusions or mistaken view or anything which creates samsara. Basically that is just three poisonous minds. To me this is really kind of a strange thing to believe. I mean, he talks about ourselves.

[50:09]

So I knew, at least when I first read this, I knew who I was. I knew what the condition of my life. I was deluded. I had upside-down way of doing things. I have delusive, ego-centered desires. That's why I wanted to practice. But Dogen asked me to believe that there's no such thing. We are perfect. It's very difficult things to believe. If so, why we have to practice? Why we have to study? This is really, to me, difficult things to believe. It's more difficult for me than to believe in the existence of God. Because God may exist.

[51:12]

We don't know. But I'm pretty sure I'm deluded. So how I can believe such a thing? It's already time to stop talking, but it's really difficult to me to accept this kind of belief. But I think this is very important to accept this faith, take this faith, this belief, in the beginning of our practice. First, we have to face this, we are really free from three-poisonous mind.

[52:14]

And he said, and based on that faith, we have to practice. It's a really difficult thing because no matter how hard and how long we practice, we are still deluded. We are still self-centered. So we feel, you know, even though I have this faith, I feel I'm always against this faith. So I always feel small and we need to be very humble. So we have to always practice repentance. And when we really practice like this, as we are doing right now.

[53:18]

And especially when we sit in this strange posture, I mean upright posture, and let go of whatever is coming up from our karmic consciousness, I really feel, you know, Within the reality of all beings, there's no problem, no delusion. Reality is just reality. It's very bright, calm, peaceful, and free of any problems. But within this reality, all different kinds of problems arise, stay for a while, and go away. Nothing stays forever.

[54:21]

So, to me, the importance of having this kind of faith that reality is perfect, reality is enlightenment, reality is wisdom as it is. But we create problems, we create difficulties, we create miserable things in this society. Because of this face we see how deluded we are and this awakening to the fact how deluded we are and how much we defile this perfect reality. That is awakening, I think. Next, that is what Dogen said in the last part of this section, drop off body and mind.

[55:37]

That means when we really let go of our thought, whatever coming up from our conscious, karmic consciousness, we are really one with everything. Not because of our effort, not because our quality of ourselves getting better or improved, but because we are part of everything, part of the network of all interdependent origination. We are, from the beginning, part of this perfect reality. But by our egocentric desire and incompleteness of viewing things upside down, we are viewing things and judgment.

[56:49]

we make this perfect reality or Buddha's way, Buddha's awakening into, how can I say, distorted, how can I say, distorted and narrow real life, and we create so many problems. So then we sit and let go of our egocentricity, our egocentric thought. then the Buddha's way, anuttarasamyaksambodhi, manifests itself through this body and mind. I think that is the point, a very important point, of Dogen's teaching.

[57:54]

So we are perfect from the very beginning, but we are imperfect till the end. You know, this is kind of a strange thing to believe, to say. But this strange thing, I think, is our life. So we need to take a vow to awaken to that reality. And because of this vow and this practice, we always see how incomplete we are. So we make repentance, practice repentance. So taking a vow and make practice repentance are two sides of, I think, one reality based on our practice. Well, I think I talk too much.

[58:59]

Thank you for listening. Any questions? No question. Good. Thank you. Will you have something? Please. I think, you know, repentance is what we do in the monastery. We recite or chant the verse of repentance every morning. You know, I forget the verse. Yeah, that's one. I think repentance is, I know American people don't like the word repentance because of the, I think, Christian connotation. In Japanese or Chinese, repentance is san-ge.

[60:09]

So I use the English word repentance as a translation of the Buddhist word san-ge. Actually, when Japanese Christians translate the Bible or Christian texts into Japanese, they use the Buddhist term san-ge as a translation of the Christian word repentance. So when I use this word, repentance, I mean sangha. So I don't know if you like this or not. But the origin of sangha in Buddhism is, in order to become a Buddhist, we all take a precept. And in Indian Sangha, they have kind of a meeting twice a month.

[61:20]

And the leader of the Sangha did the precept. And whoever who think they did something against the precept make a kind of a confession. And depending upon how serious is the mistakes, there's some, not a punishment or a penalty, but there's something the person should do. That is the origin of repentance or sangha in Buddhism. So in that sense, there's certain concrete regulation or rules and certain concrete misdeeds or mistakes. And I say, I'm sorry I did such and such mistakes and I try not to do it again. That is the original meaning of Sangha in Buddhism.

[62:25]

But in China, I think, when Mahayana Buddhism transmitted to China, originally Mahayana Buddhism has no precept or Vinaya. But somehow Chinese Buddhists accept Vinaya, too. But Chinese Buddhists thought to say, I'm sorry because of such and such concrete misdeed is not a perfect, complete sangha. But... There's one verse from a sutra that says, if you want to repent, you have to sit upright and see deeply, see the reality of all beings.

[63:38]

And that is Samgye. So actually our practice of sitting, our zazen practice is sangha, is repentance. Because we make mistakes or misdeeds because of selfish desire or selfish idea. We can be selfish because we are blind of the reality of all beings. So to really clearly see the reality of all beings, that means impermanence and egolessness and interdependent origination, we can see how deluded we are. And this awakening to the delusion or incompleteness of our practice or ourselves, I think, is repentance. So in that sense, repentance is not saying, I'm sorry I made such and such mistakes, but I think repentance is awakening to that incompleteness

[64:50]

of our self or our practice. And we can see awakened to the incompleteness of our practice because we take a vow. Four Bodhisattva vows. We take a vow to put an end to all delusions. Even though we take this vow, still we are deluded. That's how we can see and awake to the incompleteness of ourselves. And that becomes a kind of energy to practice more. So repentance in Buddhism is not something negative, but it's kind of two sides of one practice, one life, our life, taking a vow and making repentance.

[65:57]

So if you don't like the English word repentance, find something else. Or we can use the Japanese word, sange. Okay? Thank you very much.

[66:14]

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