One is both Japanese, original, and English. I don't think many people need the one with English and Japanese. I made this for myself. I thought maybe some people are interested in seeing original Japanese. If you want to keep, OK, but I don't think many people are not so much interested in Japanese language. So, please. Well, the first two pages of the English version is together with Japanese.

[01:27]

This is not the text. This is something additional I'm going to talk today. I'm sorry for the confusion. So do all people have the copy?

[02:44]

So all people have the copy? Good. Well, so during this Genzo SSC, we study Shobo Genzo. Do you hear? Do you hear me? OK. We study Shobo Genzo Gyoji. As I said, I made two versions of the text. One is only English. Another is English and Japanese together. Originally, I made a translation. I put the English and Japanese original and make the English translation for each sentence. And I take the Japanese out. And that's the way I made the English text. So this is basically for my own, but I thought there might be some people who can read Japanese and who are interested in comparing the Japanese original and English translation.

[04:31]

That's why I made these two versions. Anyway, In the first two pages of the English version is my translation of, how can I say, Yun's verse and Menzan's summary. He has a type mistake here. Summary is S-U-M-M-R. So please make correction and phrase verse. This afternoon, I'd like to talk on the title of Shobo Genzo Gyoji and these two verses as a kind of introduction to Togen's text of Shobo Genzo Gyoji. First of all, I'd like to talk, maybe, without mentioning that

[05:42]

If you are interested in other translations, there are three, as far as I know, three translations. One is in How to Raise a Nox by Francis Cook, and another one is in this Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo, book two, by Udo Nishijima and Chodo Kurosu. And the third one is Enlightenment Unfold by Kazu Tanahashi and other people. So if you want to compare my translation with these other translations, please find these books. My translation is still a very rough draft.

[06:44]

This is not the final one, still a working draft. Judith Gilbert helped me to correct grammatical mistakes, but still this is not a refined English. So, any comments or suggestions? from any of you would be appreciated. So, I don't think this is still good English, but I try to make the translation as literal as possible, so it might not be understandable English. And that is what I want to talk Let's see... First, I'd like to talk about Shobo Genzo Gyoji. Probably I talked on what Shobo Genzo means, I think, last year.

[08:10]

But I think it's important. So, I repeat what Shobo Genzo means. And... I think you already know what these words mean. Shobo means true. Ho is Dharma. GEN is AI, and DO is treasury. So, TRU, DHARMA, AI, TREASURY. And, since we are very familiar with Dogen's writing, I have been very familiar with this one, SHO, DO, GEN, DO. But when I try to talk what this really means, It's really not clear. In the other Zen term, or term, this shobo genzo is not so old expression.

[09:18]

This appeared, I think, in the 11th century. The context or the story, the expression, Shobo Genza Appia, is a very famous story, a dharma transmission from Buddha to Mahakasyapa. Then Buddha was sitting with all his assemblies on the Vajra Peak, he picked up a stalk of flower and he didn't say anything. There are many people in the assembly, only Mahakasyapa and Mahakasyapa didn't say anything.

[10:25]

With, you know, holding a And the story said, I don't know if this is true or not, the story is from Buddha to Ohaka Shabba. And at that time, Buddha said, I have Shobo Genzo, and this is very kind of a And that's Shobo Genzo, Nehan Myoshin, and Nehan Myoshin, So... Mimyou no houmon.

[11:48]

Mimyou no houmon. This is one word. This is one word. Shobo Gendo, Nehan Myoshin, Jisso Muso, Mimyo no Homon. This is one word. And this is the name of the Dharma which was transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa. And so I try to explain what this means. Shobo Genzo is true Dharma, I, treasury. Nehan is Nirvana. Myoho is wondrous, or excellent, marvelous. And Shin is mind or heart. So, wondrous heart or wondrous mind in Nirvana, or as Nirvana.

[12:59]

And Jisso is true, form, true form. And Muso is no form, no form. Jisso, true form, no form. And Mimyo means subtle. And Ho is Dharma. Mon is gate, so Dharma gate. So, if I translate this into English, something like, true Dharma I treasure in, and a wondrous mind or heart in nirvana. That is the Dharma gate or gate of subtle Dharma with or of

[14:06]

Jitso, true form, is no form. Do you understand? This is fact. This is fact is transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa. I prove Dharma, I treasure it. wondrous mind or heart in nirvana. The gate of subtle dharma, that is, true form is no form. This is one word. So this is was transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa, and Mahakasyapa to Ananda, and through Bodhidharma, Dogen, and from Dogen to us.

[15:14]

So if we have already received Dharma transmission, we already have this one. And even if we don't receive Dharma transmission, reality of all beings, you know, to which Buddha awakened. That is what Dharma means. The way all beings are is reality of all beings. So even when we are not awakened to, you know, we are already have this, or we are already, we were born within this reality, I'm living within this reality, and we're going to die within this reality. That is the name of this reality we are living. So, this mind, or heart,

[16:24]

And that is myo, important point. Gisso muso is a kind of a description of this mind. Gisso is abbreviation of choho gisso. Shofo means all dharmas. The reality, the true form of all dharmas. True form of all dharmas. So no exception, everything. True form of everything. And true form of all dharmas, everything, is no form. We have really no form. We have form. This body is a form. And, you know, the word is a form.

[17:30]

And each character that I wrote is a form. So each and everything has form. But true form of each and everything has no form. That is basically taught in the almost every Mahayana sutra, especially like a sutra, a Heart Sutra, or the Diamond Sutra. The true form of this being, in this case, Shohaku Okumura, this has a form. But actually, this form is a collection of all different elements. And it's always changing. When I was born, I was not like this. I have been changing. My form, my body has been changing.

[18:32]

My mind was changing. So, actually, we think the shohag has some form, but this form is always changing. Never stays even one moment. Always going, always changing, always moving. But our mind, our concept, we kind of definition. That is Shōhaku. I'm a man. I was born in Japan. I became a Buddhist priest. And now, because this is my responsibility, I'm talking Dōgen's writing. Collecting those informations and maybe this form, you create the form of shohaku. But that is only the collection of information and the form at this moment.

[19:34]

Next moment, different. Maybe shohaku disappears. So, actually, the true form of each and every, not only Shobhagavata, but everything in here might change, not might, but really change at any time. So, there is no fixed form. And there is no fixed form that is the true form of this being. And so this shin is not our mind, or psychology, or our heart as a part of our body. But this... Uchiyama-tachi might say that this mind is our life. It has form.

[20:36]

But that form is always changing. So there is no fixed form. That is the meaning of jishso and muso. It's always there. Here is a form of shohaku, but there is no such form. It's kind of contradictory, but that is what the Heart Sutra is saying. You know, form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Both are there, both are true. And within our life, both are included. So it's kind of difficult to create a certain fixed image, or definition, or concept. That's why we call this a myoho, mandala, or image. That is what this myo, wa-myo-shin, wa-myo-ho-sa-dharma means. So it's very subtle, it's not such a coarse thing, very subtle.

[21:45]

We need to be really careful, otherwise we miss this reality. And that is itself nirvana, the way everything is. It's two-form, no-form, is itself nirvana. So nirvana is not something beyond this world called samsara. But the way everything truly is, is nirvana. At least according to me. With nirvana. And with nirvana we create so many problems. Anyway... Shobo is true dharma, or sad dharma. Myoho are the same word in Sanskrit.

[22:48]

Sad dharma. True dharma. Sad dharma is translated as true dharma or myoho, wondrous dharma. And, then is Ai. And Ai refers to wisdom. Zou. Zou is difficult to understand to me. Zou is, of course, treasury. And as a Buddhist term, this zou could mean at least two. One is a translation of Sanskrit. That means, you know, triptaka, or sons of three treasures, means three categories of Buddhist scriptures.

[23:51]

That is sutra, the record of Buddha's teachings, and the shastra, or commentary of Buddha's teachings, or commentary of the sutra. And the third is vinaya, the collection of precepts. Those are called three baskets, baskets of dharma. That is called shihō-tsō, dharma treasury. So, shihō and tsō. And another, meaning might be... this used... this Chinese character can be used as a translation of another Sanskrit word.

[24:52]

That is, Garba. Garba means womb. You know, Tathagata Garba. Garba is called Nyorai. Zou Neolites, Tathagata and Zou in this case means womb or embryo. That is the same with Buddha nature. So this Zou can be Buddha nature. So, in that case, this Shobo Genzo is the... It's very difficult to explain. It's the embryo or womb of true Dharma-I. But that doesn't sound, you know, true to me.

[26:00]

I think this is Pitapa, the treasure house. of true Dharma, of true Dharma, Shobo-Zo. So, I think this Shobo-Gen-Zo is a kind of a combination of Shobo-Gen, true Dharma, I, and Shobo-Zo. two different names, I mean nouns. Shobo-gen is, as I said, gen means eye. The dharma eye, the eye which sees the dharma, true dharma, as it is. That is wisdom or prajna. And Shobo-zo is the treasure house of true dharma.

[27:03]

But when Shobo Genzo becomes one noun, I don't really understand what this is. And as I said, this expression is quite new. It doesn't appear until 11th century. Even the story of Dharma transmission, for example, in Keitoku-Dentoroku. Keitoku-Dentoroku is the record of transmission of Dharma lamp. That was compiled in the year 1004, I think. So, very beginning of 11th century. In Keitoku-Dentoroku, the story of Dharma transmission appeared. But there's no expression such as Shobo Genzo.

[28:12]

Instead of Shobo Genzo, it's called Shojo Hogen. Shojo Hogen. Both shō and jō means clean, clear, undefiled. And hōgen is dharma, I. So there is no zō, no treasure. And as a meaning, I think this is more simple and understandable. Dharma, the thing which was transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa and to us, is this clear Dharma eye, which sees the wondrous mind or heart in nirvana.

[29:20]

And that is the reality of true form. That is no form. And that teaching... has been transmitted from Buddha to us. So, this is an older expression of Shobo Gendo. So, I'm not really 100% clear what Shobo Gendo means. Another meaning of Zou is the treasure hunt, is araya. And we araya in araya consciousness. Chinese expression or translation of araya consciousness is Zou Shiki.

[30:23]

Shiki is Vijnana or consciousness. But I don't think in the case of Shobo Genzo, no, araya consciousness. Because araya consciousness is kind of another aspect of Buddha nature, or Tathagatagarbha. That is, create samsara, create delusion. That's a function of the same thing. the function of the same myōshin, or wondrous dharma, but within one life can create a completely different world. If we are moved by this araya consciousness, it is karmic consciousness, which creates illusion or delusion. And we don't... which prevent us from seeing the reality of no form.

[31:34]

So we bring to this form as Ni or Shohaku. And in order to make this Shohaku more important and powerful and so on and so on, bring to this thing and create karma, samsara. So, araya consciousness is actually the same thing, but different name of Tathagatagarbha, according to Daijo Kishin-ron, or the awakening of faith in Mahayana. But, so, anyway, I'm not clear what Shobo Gendo means, but we should remember this is the name of Dharma, which was transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa and through each generation to us.

[32:35]

And that is the name of the true reality of life. And the next one is Gyoji. Gyo and Ji. This Chinese character, Gyo, means to go, or to do, do or carry out something.

[33:42]

And as a noun, this is practice. And ji literally means to have or hold, grasp. And traditional interpretation of this word, gyo-ji, is an abbreviation of shu-gyo, go-ji. Shugyo Goji. Shugyo as a compound practice. And Go means to protect. And Ji is maintain. Maintain and protect and maintain the practice.

[34:48]

Protect and maintain the practice means we You know, when we start to study Bodhidharma with teacher, we receive some instruction and some way of practice. And when we receive such instruction, we try to keep it. In order to keep it, we should do it. Just memorize it is not a good way to protect and maintain with our practice, with our actual activities, that Buddha's teaching can be protected and maintained and manifested. That is the meaning of gyō-ji. But in this translation, Nishijiba's translation,

[35:55]

His interpretation is kind of unique. Instead of Shugyo Goji, he interprets it as Kai-Gyo. Kai-Gyo and Ji-Sai. Kai-Gyo, Ji, and Sai. This is kind of unusual, a unique interpretation of this expression, gyō-ji. Kai is precept, a sealer. Kai-gyō is a compound as a practice keeping the precept. And sai is a regulation of eating.

[36:56]

Like in India, monks, Buddhist monks, could only eat before noon. That is called... to keep such a regulation about eating is called jisai. So he, Nishijima, interpreted jōji as maintain the precinct. and also holding or keeping the eating regulation. I think it's very strange. Because in Gyōji, Dōgen never, almost never discussed about precept or eating regulation. So I'm pretty sure what Dōgen meant about using our expression, Gyōji, to keep and protect and keep or maintain this practice.

[37:59]

And that's why I accept this one. Two of them, Francis Cook and Tanahashi translate this Gyoji as continuous practice. Continuous or unceasing practice. Constant practice. And I think that's what Gyoji means, to practice continuously, without end, without cessation. But this practice, which should be protected and maintained, should be Shobo Genzo. It's not a different kind of practice. But this Shobo Genzo and this practice, which should be maintained by us, is what has been transmitted from Buddha to us through, you know, ancestors in each generation.

[39:12]

That is Shobo Genzo. So, Shobo Genzo Gyoji means we should maintain this practice which has been transmitted from Buddha to us within the history of Dharma. And yet, you know, the concrete style of practice has been changed. you know, from India to China and China to Japan or other Asian countries, you know, the culture and the nature or circumstance, climate, are all different. So, in each country and also in each tradition, the style, actual style, form, or practice which should be maintained are different. Japanese practice, and Chinese, or Korean, or Vietnamese, all are Zen, but somehow different.

[40:20]

But the other essence, our practice, that we should maintain, protect and maintain, is Shogo Genbu. That is what was transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa. I think that is what Rogen meant when he wrote this chapter of Shogogenzo, Gyoji. Basically, as I said this morning, this Gyoji is a collection of stories of different Zen masters, Chinese Zen masters, about 30 Zen masters. But it's kind of a unique collection. There are many other collections of koan stories of the masters. Those collections, basically, the main point is enlightenment.

[41:22]

How people attain enlightenment. And practice is a kind of method or preparation to attain enlightenment. But in this Dogen's collection of these stories, emphasis is on practice. He didn't talk so much about how these people attained enlightenment, but he described how these people continued practice, even after enlightenment. So for Dogen, enlightenment is one stage. It's not the goal. But the continuous practice, even before enlightenment and after enlightenment, is one continuous practice.

[42:24]

There are no two kinds of separation between practice before enlightenment and practice after enlightenment. That is something to do with what Gion is saying, so I start to talk with Gion first. Gion was the fifth abbot of Eheiji. Eheiji was the name of the monastery founded by Dogen. And this person, Gyum, composed a verse on each chapter of Shobo Genzo. Actually, 60 volume versions of Shobo Genzo. There are several different versions. And when Sawaki Kodoroshi, my teacher, gave

[43:32]

lectures on Teisho, on Shobo Genzo, he always first talked on the birth by Gion and another one, birth by Menzan. Menzan was the very famous, great Soto Zen scholar in the 18th century, 17th to 18th century. These two are kind of a summary show us the essential point of each chapter of Shogo Gendo. Giun, maybe I said the same thing last year, made Jakugo, I don't know what to say in English.

[44:36]

What is jakugo? Jaku means to put or to stick something. And go is word. So jakugo is very short phrase, which express the very essential point of certain writings or stories. I don't know, do you have any idea? Just to express with one frame what the person experienced. Pardon me? Chapping. Chapping phrase. That one. Chapping phrase. Okay. That is one.

[45:38]

And, chapping... Chapping. Chapping? Oh, I see. Chapping... Thank you. Capping words. So Gion's capping word on this Shobo Genbo Gyoji is Chobutsu Osso. That is what I wrote with bold. Chobutsu Osso means transcending Buddha, going beyond ancestor. capping word or phrase of Shobo Genzo Gyoji by Giun. So, Cho and Otsu both mean to go beyond or transcend.

[46:42]

And he said the point, essential point of this Gyoji, Shobo Genzo Gyoji is go beyond, transcend Buddha and transcend ancestors. And I think this is very difficult for us. How can we transcend Buddha and ancestors? You know, as an individual person, Buddha and ancestors are such great people. How can we go beyond Buddha, and go beyond ancestors, like Bodhidharma, or Hsuinan, or Dogen? We are far beyond. And I try to compare myself to those great people, even with my teacher.

[47:50]

There's no way to go beyond. But according to Dogen, I don't think not as an individual person, but our practice should go beyond Buddha and go beyond ancestors. And I think we need to understand what this means. Another expression of Cho is Dogen Zenji of youth is Butsu Koji.

[48:54]

Buddha Ko means to face. to face and jo is upward and ji is a thing or matter so the matter of going upward from buddhahood so we should go beyond the buddhahood how can we do that? We haven't, until, unless we have already reached to the Buddhahood, there is no way to go beyond Buddhahood. But Dogen, again, Dogen said, our practice should be the matter of going beyond Buddha. We should transcend Buddha. It sounds crazy. And I think, this is my personal understanding, but our practice, in the case of Buddha's teaching, Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching, our practice is eightfold right path.

[50:10]

That is our practice. After Buddha attained enlightenment, or Buddhahood, and became Buddha, he stood up from sitting under the Bodhi tree and went to Bodhgaya to teach the five monks. And the first thing Buddha Shakyamuni said to those five monks was, I found the Middle Way. He said, I found the Middle Way. And that Middle Way is the Eightfold Right or Correct Path. So Buddha found the Middle Way when he attained enlightenment, or Buddhahood.

[51:14]

So for Buddha, those Eightfold Correct Paths, he practiced before he attained Buddhahood. But he found those paths within his enlightenment. When he was enlightened, he found the Mizuru Path. And after he attained Buddhahood, he really practiced the Eightfold Correct Path. And later, to those five monks, he taught the Four Noble Truths. I think all of you know the Four Noble Truths. The Truth of Suffering, and Cause of Suffering, and Cessation of Suffering, and the Path to Cessation of Suffering. and as a path to cessation of suffering.

[52:22]

Again, he taught the Eightfold Correct Path. And in the system of Four Noble Truths, those Eightfold Correct Paths is a path, method, to be free from suffering. It's a path we should go through in order to be free from suffering. free from delusion, free from samsara. So, the same thing was taught in two different ways. And when Buddha taught to the people who are suffering, who are still in the problem, he taught the Eightfold Correct Path as a kind of therapy, treatment, to become healthy. But, you know, for Buddha himself, you know, eightfold correct path is not a therapy.

[53:30]

You know, he was already healthy. But when he teached the sick people, he teach the same practice as a treatment to become healthy. So, to become healthy is not the goal for us. To attain enlightenment, buddhahood, is not the goal. But that's the starting point, as Shakyamuni Buddha did. When we are sick, we need to have some treatment. And this middle path, middle way, Buddha found, could be a treatment. But when we become healthy, what we should do? If to become healthy or to recover from sickness is the only purpose of this practice, then we can quit.

[54:31]

But when we become healthy, what we should do? As Buddha did, we practice it for the correct path. So after we become healthy, Eightfold correct path is not the path to cessation of suffering, but this is a practice after the suffering is ceased, or the practice after we become healthy, after we become free from suffering, free from samsara. Buddha's practice. Buddha practiced meditation or all other practices even after he was enlightened. And teaching is part of it.

[55:33]

So, Fen Dogen used this kind of expression, going beyond Buddha. This means the model of Dogen's practice is not eightfold correct path as a part of honorable truth. Of course, it's included. But, you know, from the time we allowed body-mind or aspiration, we allowed aspiration to study Dharma, then we find we are sick. Somehow we are not healthy. We try to find the right path. a better way of life, a healthy way of life. And we start to practice. But, you know, to really reach the Buddhahood is almost impossible.

[56:37]

That's why, you know, in the Mahayana teachings, As Ryun said in his verse, there are 52 steps. And from the point we arrive at the body-mind, until the Buddhahood, the goal, it takes more than forever. So, as a part of the Four Noble Truths, as a kind of enlightenment of Buddhahood, as a personal thing, personal goal. You know, we cannot reach it. So, Phap Dogen is saying it is not practiced as each one of us, individually. But he is discussing about the quality of practice. So when he said, going beyond Buddha, or transcending Buddha and ancestors, that means we should become greater than Buddhas or ancestors as individuals.

[57:50]

But our practice is beyond the kind of idea of starting point and goal, or to practice in order to attain certain desirable stage. But when we just practice without seeking mind, without gaining mind, then that quality of that practice, even though we ourselves are still ego-centered, deluded people, but this practice itself is beyond Buddhahood. And we cannot stay there. We have to always go beyond, go beyond, go beyond. And that is how, you know, living beings grow.

[58:52]

Like a baby. Baby is perfectly a baby. Baby is in the perfect babyhood. But within this perfect babyhood, baby has a energy or power to negate babyhood and grow and become a boy or a girl. And the boy or a girl has the energy to negate that stage and become a teenager. And the teenager becomes a young adult. And the young adult becomes a middle-aged person like me. We have a life which negates the middle age and becomes aging. And our life has a quality to negate life. So we disappear. Our reality of life is always growing, going beyond, changing.

[60:00]

That is our life. The wondrous mind, or heart, or life means really wondrous. It starts at any stage, but always going on, always changing, always moving. And as an expression or manifestation of this ever-changing, ever-moving life force is our practice. about continuous practice. That is my understanding of going beyond Buddhas and Ancestors. So we cannot stay in any state or any condition. We have to keep going. Whatever difficulty we have, or whatever fantastic experience we have, that is not the goal.

[61:06]

We have to keep going. So there is no time we can stop practice. That is what this continuous practice means. So this continuous practice is not a method to make this deluded person into enlightened person. No matter how long we practice, at least in my experience, I have been practicing, you know, a little bit more than 30 years, still I'm really a delicate person. I have to accept that reality. But I try to let go of my delusive thoughts. I try to see the things as clearly as possible by letting go. In our gazen, at least in my gazen, I try to Let go of whatever is coming up from my consciousness, or arya consciousness.

[62:11]

By sitting, just let go. Try to let everything come up freely. We don't try to push them away, or try to kill them. It's a function of our life. We try to, you know, let everything come up freely. But if we grasp it and think, this is me, or this is my idea, my opinion, my philosophy, then we are dead. But if we don't grasp it, just let them come up and let them go away. Our thought, no matter how delicate, our thought is just a ground. appear in the blue sky and stay for a while, and disappear. Like ourselves, our thoughts are like ourselves, somehow appear, stay, and keep changing, and disappear.

[63:18]

That is the wonder of time. So, in that sense, our Daze is really going beyond Buddha, going beyond ancestors, going beyond who we are. Keep going. Nothing stays. Nothing stops. Just going. This is continuous practice. So, in that sense, there is no beginning and no end. No starting point. Well, I think that is my understanding already of going beyond Buddha and ancestor. That is a happy word by Ryun of this Gyojin.

[64:24]

And his verse is like, before the progressing term is ceased, The reverse conduct has arrived. I don't think this is a good English. But I think this means, in Gyoji, Shobo Genzo Gyoji, Dogen says, where is it? Dogen says in the first page, Anyway, he said, therefore, because of Buddha's and ancestors' continuous practice, our continuous practice is actualized, and our own great way is penetrated.

[65:38]

That means Buddha's and ancestors' practice as a teaching and example, allow us to practice following their way. And we try to practice as we are taught directly by our teachers. That is the way, our way, our great way unfolds. But at the same time, when we practice following Buddha's and the ancestors of our teachers' teachings, at the same time, Dogen says, because of our own continuous practice, because of our own continuous practice, the continuous practice of all Buddha is actualized. And the great way of Buddha is penetrated.

[66:39]

So, you know, we are like a child to study things, you know, from our parents, our teachers, and do things, try to do things. That is what we do in our practice. But that is the way, you know, Buddha's teachings can be actualized without our own continuous practice, Buddha's enlightenment is just a record, you know, written in the scripture. It's already gone. You know, without our own practice, there's no Buddha's way. And all ancestors are already gone, no matter how tiny our practice, our effort may be. This practice, at this moment, is only actual practice, only actual expression or manifestation of Buddha's enlightenment, Buddha's teaching.

[67:50]

Otherwise, all Buddha's teachings or teachings of Buddha is just a written thing. So, we try to follow Buddha and the ancestors, and our way unfolds. But at the same time, Buddha's way can be manifested through our tiny practice. Not so great. We are so weak, shaky. But still, at this moment, at this one moment, this one moment is real reality, only real reality. Otherwise, everything is just an idea or a concept or a record. So, you know, this kind of a direction, we follow Buddha. And by this action of following Buddha, Buddha manifests himself through our practice.

[68:58]

So, this is kind of a We follow Buddha, and by our practice of following Buddha's ancestors, Buddha's ancestors manifest themselves. This is an original expression. Gion used in June 10, turning this way. I don't know which is June. This way is turning reverse way. So our practice is turning one way. And within this turning one way, before our practice as a person, as a student, is ceased, the practice that is manifestation of Buddha's enlightenment is actualized.

[70:04]

So both sides. This kind of idea is really strange. If we think our own practice, unless, you know, a person like Dogen, you know, like this way, I don't think we can get such an idea. You know, we think, I am sick, I have a problem, so I want to find some way to get out of this problem. That is such an idea I just want. That's how we practice. And when we feel we are, you know, become free from this particular problem, you know, I can, you know, feel better. Then we start to do something else. But Dogen's idea about practice is completely different from our

[71:06]

But this person, including the desire of this person, making this person better, that is how we start to practice and keep practicing. But through this practice by individual self-centered person's practice, Buddha's enlightenment, universal enlightenment, is actualized, manifested. That is Dogen's idea of Practice and enlightenment are one. I think this is really a great idea. Unless we are taught in this way, we never think that way. So, before the progressing term is ceased, the reverse conduct, reverse practice or direction has arrived.

[72:27]

I don't think this is a good English. I hope we can find some better way. And Gion continued, prior to the regulations, the way is fresh each moment. Regulation means man-made, you know, not only the precept or rules, but man-made idea. I want to do this, or we should do this one, do that. But the way, way here means Buddha's awakening. is always fresh. Prior to the regulations. Prior to the regulations. And the awakened one cut off the plaque. Plaque or frame. Some kind of framework. Frame. Outside the smoky village.

[73:34]

Smoky villages. samsara, fear within, as karmic people. Within this realm of samsara, we create many frames, and we think we are in samsara. This is another one frame, and we want to go to nirvana. That is another frame. But what Gion is saying is, The Buddha cut off those frames, frameworks created by our mind, our thinking. That's the way the Buddha's awakening is always fresh. And so, no way to compare with the stages, in the ten stages, and the stage of three wives.

[74:39]

These are referred to the 42 stages of Bodhisattva. The stage of three wives refers to the first 30 stages. This is the first stage of the English version. And the first ten stages mean 40 to 50. So, what Gion is saying is our practice as continuous practice, or Gyoji, that transcends Buddha and ancestors, has no way to compare with this step-by-step kind of a stage of practice from when we allowed body-mind and started practice.

[75:58]

and until we attain the Buddhahood, after going through 52 stages. And if we want to go through that way, it takes more than forever. But even this one moment, we really just practice without gaining mind, without the desire to get something. then that practice, at least at this moment, is a practice going beyond Buddhas and Ancestors, or going beyond any of those stages. It's almost 4.30. I wanted to finish both gyuns and menzans, but I cannot, so I'll continue tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure you have many questions.

[77:06]

If you don't understand my English, or something is not clear, or if you have some counter-arguments, or any comments, Yes. Yes. But it's not actually... Dogen was the first person. But, you know... One of the famous Zen... One of the most famous Zen phrase is... What is that? Iccho-jiki-nyu-nyo-rai-chi. What is that?

[78:09]

Iccho-jiki-nyu... It is one. Cho is to really go beyond, transcend, or jump, jump over, and directly enter Tathagata's nyoraichi, the ground of Tathagata. That is, you know, I think Chinese people couldn't stand the idea to become a Buddha after long practice, life after life, longer than forever. So they want to find some way to jump into nirvana or Tathagata-hood within this lifetime.

[79:11]

And that is one of the main points of Zen teaching. So from Mahāyāna viewpoint of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Zen is, in a sense, heretic. But, wrong view. Mistaken view. We try to cheat. But at least Dogen's idea is not we become Buddha. But in each moment, if we practice without defilement by our desire to become something or to attain something, or gaining mind, then the Buddhahood is there. And we keep practicing, you know,

[80:15]

Forever. So, basically the same thing. There is no end. OK. Thank you very much.

[80:25]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ