gratitude for this, you know, causes and conditions that we can somehow encounter with such a kind of boundless teaching. So, we should humbly repay the profound debt of kindness. to the ancestral masters for their transmission of Dharma. Not only ancestral masters, but all people, and not only people, but all beings. Waters, air, flowers, trees, all make offerings to keep this network of interdependent origination. So we should be really grateful toward all beings.

[01:02]

And when we live in that attitude and try to repay the kindness of all beings, this world is the place to make offerings instead of to take something to me, for me, to make this person happy. That is the difference of kind of quality of life. Usually, because of the education in modern society, But I think, at least in Japanese society, when I was a teenager, I was expected to study hard, work hard, and go to a good school, and get a good job, and make a lot of money to make our desire fulfilled, to get satisfaction.

[02:15]

But this is kind of a taking by accomplishing things, by working hard. This is, you know, the final goal is to make this person happy, to fulfill this person's desire. And I felt when I was a teenager, I felt the entire Japanese society is one huge money-making machine. And the school is a factory to produce the part of that machine. And if we work hard and to be a good part, then we can be, you know, how can I say, get more income and spend a good life. But sooner or later we need to leave this machine, or when the part doesn't work anymore, the part is just thrown away, or replaced with other parts.

[03:29]

So we are really like a part of the machine, and I couldn't find any meaning to live in that way. So I wanted to escape. And that's why, you know, I started to search the way. And that was the time I read my teacher's book, and I found he had the same question, same problems, and he tried to find the answer to his original question, what is the meaning of life? how we can live a truly meaningful life. And he dedicated his life to find the answer. And after he found the answer, that was, of course, in his case, Dazen practice, he continued to practice and share the practice with people who are looking for the way.

[04:36]

To me, no, because I read many books on religions, I knew many spiritual teachers lived in such a way, but Uchiyama was the first actual teacher, actual person I encountered. I think that was why I was stuck to his way of life. Do you have something to say? Well, this is a long story, but make it short. I had a friend, classmate, at my high school, and he knew someone who practiced with Uchiyama Roshi and Sawakido Shatan Taiji. So during the summer vacation, he went to Antais.

[05:40]

And he, my friend, had the same question as I had. And that was the year which Yamaroshi published his first book. So Sawaki Roshi was still alive. That was 1965. I was 17 years old. So Uchiyama gave a copy of the book to my friend. And when he returned home, he allowed me to read the book. That's how I encountered his book. And somehow I wanted to become his student. I didn't know what this means. My classmate and myself wanted to visit Taiji to do a Sesshin, 70 years old. But fortunately we couldn't go.

[06:40]

If I went there at that time, maybe... No, I have no desire to go there. But fortunately, I couldn't. And that was the fall of 1965. And in December of that year, Sawakiroshi died. So, fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to meet Sawakiroshi. And next year, in February, that friend had some pain on his stomach, and he had surgery, and he died. In six months, he had cancer. That was really a kind of decisive experience to me. I really find impermanence and importance of living this moment.

[07:50]

I felt, you know, this friend is really talented person, very good person, and smart. And yet, when he died, I found that there was no reason he had to die, and I don't need to die. Of course, there's a cause, but not a reason. So I thought, you know, that means I have to die any time. And I cannot complain, because he already died. That means, that teaching taught me that I have to live moment by moment in a, how can I say, most fulfilled way.

[08:52]

Fulfilled way? Or free. Without, otherwise I need to regret. If I wanted to do something I really want to do in the future, and I do something else, then I have to die before I reach that time, that occasion. But still I have to accept the death. That was what I thought when I was 17. So I had to make a decision of what I really wanted to do. And because I couldn't find any meaning to live in a kind of a... living as a part of a money-making machine, I left that kind of world. In a sense, I escaped. And, you know, that was... you know, second half of the 60s.

[09:58]

During that time, so many people, even in this country, kind of escaped from that kind of, you know, money-making machine. And in this case, those people are called hippies. Well, I'm kind of a same dog. But I'm talking. So, anyway, we have to repay the profound debt of kindness to the people who maintain that tradition, or lineage, or teaching and practice the way of life. Otherwise, it's so difficult if I have to find this kind of life. taught by Buddha or Dogen or my teacher, I think it took me my entire life. And I found it, it's too late.

[11:01]

But because of this, you know, people have been transmitting, continuing this way of life, even as a small teenage, small, how can I say, within a small community. Because of that, you know, I could find there is such a positive way to live. being free from self-attachment, not to, for the sake of fulfilling my personal desire, living the way of life, being together with all beings. You know, it's very difficult to live in such a way, especially how we, even we have such an idea, we don't know how we can live in such a way. But because of the concrete kind of tradition, somehow I could just join or participate to that kind of wave.

[12:11]

And I was really, I feel very fortunate about that opportunity. So, My activity or my vow is how can I repay that kindness, that kindness to the tradition and also my teacher and all the people who have been supporting my practice. Twenty-five. Well, I'm still in the introduction. So the virtue of this Buddha robe and Buddha Dharma cannot be qualified or known by anyone but an ancestral master who has succeeded to the Buddha's true Dharma.

[13:19]

So Buddha's Dharma has been succeeded, transmitted by ancestors. It's opposite. People who have been succeeded in that tradition are called ancestors. But we should really respect and appreciate those people's life and practice. And Dogen's wish is even 100,000 million generations later, we should appreciate this authentic transmission as the authentic transmission. That means we should not change, twist, but we should transmit in the way we receive from the Buddha. This must be the Buddha Dharma, the verified efficacy. It should be always miraculous.

[14:22]

He continued to tell us that we should venerate the tradition, or people who have been transmitting this tradition. and we need to make some contribution, participate to that movement and make certain contribution. In this paragraph, he referred to a kind of a story about mixing water and milk. This is from the Mahayana Parinibbana Sutra. In that sutra, there's a story about a kind of a degenerate age. You know, the Dharma,

[15:27]

is kind of diluted, watered down. The story is, you know, a farmer, you know, got milk with a cow, and then the farmer sell the milk to someone, you know, that they get more income, put some water to, you know, get more money. And that person sell to the next person and put some water. And that person brought the milk to the city and add more water. And one person was trying to buy milk for some kind of party. to prepare some delicious food.

[16:29]

But the person could not find any milk other than that very thin, watery milk. So the person bought that milk and cooked, but it doesn't taste like milk. But Narottama said, still the milk the mixture of milk and water is better than something bitter. There is still some milk. And the sutra is saying that in the degenerative age, you know, when people put more water to the Dharma, and make kind of a dharma and practice weak. But still, water is permissible.

[17:32]

This mixture of water and milk is okay, even though it's weak and thin. But we cannot use another thing, like he said, He said, yes, something different from you. Uchiyama Roshi often said, you know, Sawaki Roshi was a really great teacher. And he was a really strong, tough person. He was always scolding his students. And all people respect this person, Sawaki Roshi. And people called Sawaki Roshi as the last real Zen master.

[18:34]

And Uchiyama Roshi was a very gentle and physically very weak person. He had TB, so he was very weak. So he was not really like a traditional stereotype Zen master. So, Uchiyama Roshi always said, Sarutaro Roshi was like a rose flower. big, beautiful flower, but he said it was like a violet. Violet flower, shiny flower. And violet has no market place, so no one really appreciates the violet. Still violet is small and has no market place, still it's pretty. And if we make judgments as a kind of yardstick of marketplace, you know, rose is valuable and violet has no value.

[19:42]

But Uchiyama-dono said, for a violet, to bloom the flower of violet is enough. we don't need to compare violets with roses. But violets should bloom real violet flowers. If violets want to pretend to be roses, violets cannot bloom their own flowers. And I think I'm smaller than Uchiyama Roshi, so I'm smaller than violet. It seems getting smaller and smaller. But still, flower is flower. I don't need to compare with myself, with my teacher or my... grandfather, or with Dogen Zenji, or with Shakyamuni Buddha, or Bodhidharma.

[20:50]

But my practice is to really bloom the flower of myself. So even though I am kind of a mixture of a lot of water and a little milk, But that is who I am, so I have to practice, accept that condition and keep practicing. And people who practice with me have to drink that watery milk. But, you know, those people might be much greater than me. I mean, Uchamaloshi, I really respect that point of Uchamaloshi. He respected and valued young people like us. And he always said, you might be greater than me. If we practice wholeheartedly for many years, that means you are still not so good.

[21:59]

But you have hope or possibility. But he really respected young people. because of the possibility. So, even in this age, we don't have such a great teacher like Buddha or Dogen, but still, we have so many teachers, and it's really fortunate to encounter those teachers who I've been trying to transmit this tradition, so we should be really grateful for that. Let me go to page 8, paragraph 8.

[23:15]

The Tathagata Shakyamuni entrusted the true Dharma I treasured unsurpassable awakening to Mahakasyapa. And Maha Kasyapa received it together with the Kasyaya or Okesa, authentically transmitted from Kasyapa Buddha. Kasyapa Buddha is from the very early stage of Buddhist history, even before the first division. the separation of Buddhist Sangha into two kinds of schools called Theravada and Mahasangha. There is a kind of a belief that Buddha, Sakyamuni, was not the first Buddha. And Sakyamuni Buddha himself said he didn't create anything new.

[24:27]

But what he awakened to is like an old castle, hidden and forgotten within the forest. And Shakyamuni was the person who rediscovered that. castle, that's all. So Buddhism, or Buddhist teaching, is not Shakyamuni's personal creation or production, but he awakened to the reality, same reality as many of his so-called predecessors already found. Buddhist thought there are six Buddhas before Shakyamuni. And including Shakyamuni, there are seven Buddhas in the past.

[25:32]

And this Kasaya Buddha, I'm sorry, Kasyapa Buddha was the sixth. When we recite our lineage, we start from Vipashibutsu Daigosho. Vipashibuddha or Vipasha, Vipashibuddha is the first of the seven. Vipashibutsu, Shikibutsu. and Shakyamuni Buddha. Those are seven buddhas in the past. And here it says, you know, Shakyamuni Buddha received his okesa from Kashyapa Buddha. We don't know how long. they passed from the last Buddha to Shakyamuni and Kasyapa Buddha and Shakyamuni.

[26:39]

It said in the time of Vipassi Buddha, people lived in the 80,000 years. People's longevity was 80,000 years. And the longevity gets shorter and shorter. And at the time of Shakyamuni, we only live at most 100 years. So getting shrink and shrink. and said the body in the time of past Buddhas might be much bigger than our body, but somehow getting smaller and smaller. And as a history, you know, this orchestra was invented, created by Shakyamuni and his disciple Ananda. Okesa could transmit from Kashapa Buddha to Shakyamuni.

[27:41]

And how could he put on Okesa when he attained enlightenment before it was made? This is a really interesting question. And I think Dogen Zenji has the same question. And he asked to Yojo Zenji, It said, Shakyamuni Buddha received transmission from Kasyapa Buddha. And was it true? Kasyapa Buddha was already gone before Shakyamuni was born. How such transmission was possible? So, Dogen Zen was a very kind of a critical person. And Nagarjuna's teaching is you should believe it. You should have faith in it. So I think it means if we think in a logical way, it's a kind of nonsense.

[28:51]

Of course it's nonsense. So here, I think, this is my interpretation, that here, this orchestra transmitted from Kashyapa Buddha, or even from Vipassana Buddha, for six or seven Buddhas, is, you know, this orchestra as a network of interdependent ordination, or that reality of all beings, or shobo jisto in Japanese, And in Mahayana Sutra it says, the reality of all beings, or Shokho Jisho, is the teacher of all Buddhas. So all Buddhas awaken to the reality of all beings. And that is Dharma. And this Dharma is called Kashaya, or Okesa.

[29:56]

And that was transmitted from all the Buddhas from the past. So I don't think we need to believe that a piece of cloth or fabric has been transmitted so many years. So, finally, in the last sentence of the instruction, he says, the method of washing the kashaya and the method of receiving and maintaining the kashaya cannot be known without studying the innermost room of the tradition. of the face-to-face transmission from a legitimate master to a legitimate disciple. So we don't really understand what kashaya means.

[31:02]

Of course, Togen Rinpoche talks about this particular style of clothing. And this is a tradition from Shakyamuni Buddha. is in the Buddhist communities. But this is not simply a piece of, you know, fabric. But this is a symbol of the reality of all beings. That is really Okesa. That is Kashaya. And the important point is that reality of all beings And also this okesa is free from attachment, free from desire, free from clinging, and it has no value. Later, Dogen Zen discusses why okesa has no value.

[32:03]

It has virtue, but no market value. I think that means prices, but prices, we cannot measure that value. I think it's time to stop.

[32:26]

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