So, guess what? We've had a request for translation. So, Albrecht is going to translate from English into Hindi. So, Albrecht is going to translate from English into Hindi. But I will only be talking half as much as last night.

[01:13]

So, let's get started. Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about various things. One of them is teacher and student.

[02:52]

Suzuki Roshi one morning said, You think that I am the teacher and you are the student, and I will explain things to you. You think that I know things that you don't know, and that I will tell you about them. That's a mistake. You think that I have wisdom that you don't have. That's wrong understanding. You think that I have wisdom that you don't have. At that point, I thought, uh oh, we're in trouble. Because it sure didn't seem like I knew much.

[04:16]

So, I thought, uh oh, we're in trouble. I listened to a lot of lectures over the years. Many, many lectures. And a lot of the time, the lectures didn't really speak to me. And I decided, if I am to give lectures, I'm going to give them.

[05:24]

I want to speak to you. I want my voice to be inside you, as though it was your voice. I think the teacher's job is to awaken the teacher in you. The teacher's job is to awaken the teacher in us. To help you meet the teacher in your own being. In 1985, I was the head resident teacher at Green Goat's Farm, Senn Center.

[06:52]

In 1985, I was the head resident teacher at Green Goat's Farm, Senn Center. And at that time, in 1985, Kadagiri Roshi was the interim abbot of the Senn Center, and he came to visit us. In 1985, Kadagiri Roshi was the interim abbot of the Senn Center, and he came to visit us.

[08:00]

And one morning we had tea with him, and then he said, does anyone have any questions? And one morning we had tea with him, and then he said, does anyone have any questions? And there was a student there who raised his hand and very energetically said, Kadagiri Roshi, what do we do when there's no teacher around? Kadagiri Roshi, what do we do when there's no teacher around? Kadagiri Roshi, what do we do when there's no teacher around?

[09:20]

Kadagiri Roshi was a person who was very simple, bad, and very weak. What is the warm spot in your heart for the teacher? What is the warm spot in your heart for the teacher? And if you think about it, you know right away, the warm spot in your heart is the teacher. When you have a warm spot in your heart, many, or in a myriad, many things will be your teacher.

[10:46]

Moment after moment. When you have a warm spot in your heart, many, or in a myriad, many things will be your teacher. When you have a warm spot in your heart, many, or in a myriad, many things will be your teacher. I've been telling you a passage from Dogen's Genjo Koan. I've been telling you a passage from Dogen's Genjo Koan. To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by myriad things.

[11:55]

To forget the self is to be enlightened by myriad things. To be enlightened by myriad things is to have your body and mind, and the bodies and minds of others, drop away. To be enlightened by myriad things is to have your body and mind, and the bodies and minds of others, drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains. No trace of enlightenment remains. And this no trace continues endlessly. And this no trace continues endlessly. When you have a warm spot in your heart, you know, the teaching is there.

[13:17]

It's just not, you know, very articulate. When you have a warm spot in your heart, you know, the teaching is there. It's just not, you know, very articulate. You know, it moves mysteriously, and it's not so obvious or clear. The teaching of the heart is not always clear and clear, and sometimes hidden, or not visible.

[14:22]

But over time, we begin to know the voice of our heart. Some Buddhist teachers call it your true heart's desire. Some Buddhist teachers call it your true heart's desire. And they say true heart's desire, so you, you know, to try to distinguish from the fact that it feels like our heart goes all kinds of places, sometimes. You know, to simplify things, the heart can be, you know, hijacked or usurped by the mental thinking.

[15:56]

The heart can also be in the grip of, you know, our lower chakras. The heart can be in the grip of certain unforeseen consequences. So, there's that too, yes. To, and you know, when Dogen says to study Buddhism is to study the self, we study this.

[17:34]

When is the heart, you know, truly our heart, and when is it in the grip of something else, or hijacked by the mental body. When Dogen says to study the heart, then we do that, and we see what happens. So, when it's in the grip, let's say, of the chakras, in the grip of the lower chakras, then, yes, then, and when we study enough, we know already, we can forget about ourself, and we know what's in our heart. And when we study enough, we know already, we can forget about ourself, and we know what's in our heart.

[18:49]

Sometimes, of course, people want to take the shortcut and just assume that whatever is going on must be their heart. Sometimes, of course, people want to take the shortcut and just assume that whatever is going on must be their heart. This is Zen. They haven't actually done the work. They haven't actually done the work. The work at the heart is Zen. And I want to make sure you understand that this work is happening while we sit sitting,

[19:54]

and it's not like you know how it's going on, or whether it's working or not, or how it's happening. There's, and there's various, let's see, I have to think about how to say something about this. First of all, I want to explain to you that, you know, realization or enlightenment cannot be discriminated.

[21:03]

Enlightenment cannot be discriminated means, this is a watch. You know, this is my belly mat. This is my stick. So go ahead and point out enlightenment. How would you know it when you saw it? I don't know. [...] You can find translations.

[22:17]

You can find better translations for discriminate. Enlightenment cannot be discriminated. It cannot be pointed out. It cannot be distinguished from anything else. So . . . You cannot describe it, you cannot name it, you cannot talk about it. But we get to talk about it anyway, because we have a word for it. We're talking about something that cannot be distinguished from anything else. So, you know, one name for what can't be distinguished from anything else is enlightenment, realization. But if you have an idea, you have an idea about what enlightenment might be, and that's what we have in our language.

[23:18]

Yeah, we have ideas. But we cannot describe, we cannot tell what it is. Never. Yes, we cannot tell. What was he saying? That's not quite what I was trying to say. We can point out certain things. Here's the thing. Now, because we think, well, there's enlightenment and there's delusion. And these are two different things. So you should know that if you spot something that looks like enlightenment... Enlightenment. Then you say, I got it. I have it. So, you know, this is...

[24:27]

You know, I thought I would go into this a little bit. I don't want to go too far, because it's a whole talk. But Dogen, in another chapter, for instance, Dogen says, When you attain realization, you don't say, Aha! Realization! Just like I expected. Dogen has said, when you have the enlightenment, you say, Oh! Enlightenment. Ah! Just like I expected. Enlightenment always differs from the expectations we have. So what you think one way or another about realization is not a help for realization.

[25:30]

Each moment, you know, things are appearing by the power of your realization, by the power of your realization. Otherwise, this moment would not be trustworthy. But don't be small-minded and think that realization will take place according to your thinking. At the end of this passage, Dogen says, Know then that there is no delusion and no realization.

[27:15]

At the end of this passage, Dogen says, Know then that there is no delusion and no realization. The point would be, you know, to receive the teaching of this moment, the warm place in your heart. The point would be, you know, to receive the teaching of this moment, the warm place in your heart. We think, if I'm good and not bad, if I'm right and not wrong, I will gain approval.

[28:31]

I will gain, you know, people will like me. They will be okay with who I am. Yesterday he talked about wanting to be good and not bad. So this is, you know, your heart has been taken over by your thinking. You can't hear the teaching of the warm place in your heart because, you know, it might not be right.

[29:43]

It might be bad. Who knows what it will be? And just to be on the safe side, I better not listen to what's in there. Okay. So as we said, you know, little by little, you know, we begin to know and sometimes we know very clearly something. You know, there's a knowing that comes that's not like, not from our thinking, and it's from our heart. Yes, that we should listen attentively to our heart and that it speaks very clearly to us.

[30:51]

The longer we try to do this, there is no doubt about it. So to be able to trust your own experience, and to know the teaching, the truth in your experience, this is, you know, an act of courage. An act of courage to know in this way is courageous. And it's also an act of liberation.

[32:00]

You're liberated from being caught in the good and bad, right and wrong, what and how to try to make everything come out the way it's supposed to. You're liberated from being caught in the good and bad, what and how to try to make everything come out the way it's supposed to. You're liberated from being caught in the good and bad, what and how to try to make everything come out the way it's supposed to.

[33:16]

This has to do with seeing how your thinking goes off, and to know when your thinking has gone away from your heart and is taking you away from your true heart. This has to do with seeing how your thinking goes away from your true heart. There's another kind of transformation that takes place in our life and also in sitting. There's another kind of transformation that takes place in our life and also in sitting. I mentioned this morning, when we were outside doing Edgung, I mentioned this morning, when we were outside doing Edgung,

[34:23]

we'd gone to a place in Sechine where we'd gone into the underworld, we'd gone under the surface of our usual everyday life. we'd gone under the surface of our usual everyday life. There are mythological connections that exist in every culture around the world.

[35:34]

It always has to do with the hero who goes into the underworld and has to die for it, but is rewarded for his heroic deed, for his courage, with the rebirth. But this also has something to do with purification. In Christian mythology, the dark night of the soul, before the light comes, is the darkest night. Suzuki Roshi said, Zen is to feel your way along in the dark.

[36:37]

Suzuki Roshi said, Zen is to feel your way along in the dark. So today we've been in this dark and we keep going through the dark. So today we've been in this dark and we keep going through the dark. And when you're in this darkness, you're not in charge. You're not in control. It's not up to you to figure anything out. All you need to do is complete the journey. Keep going.

[37:46]

Because in the dark, you don't know the way. You don't know where to turn. And don't go ahead and get in the darkness. Don't get in the darkness. Don't get in the dark. One of the valuable points of the practice is to be able to satiate. Sit until the bell rings. Walk. Sit. Chant. Eat. And you know, whether it's a Buddhist or Zen or Christian or mythological, this is a transformation.

[39:05]

that's taking place and it's not up to us to figure it out. It's just up to us to undergo it. Interestingly enough, you see, when we do Sashin, it's obvious that, you know, we chose I will go there, I will go down into the dark. We choose this when we decide to do Sashin, and I will go into the dark.

[40:18]

And it's, you know, reassuring to have friends, companions on the journey. And even after we finish the scene, you may not be able to say what you learned This is like you may not be able to say, I got this realization, I got this insight. No, you just undertook the journey and now you're back. That's about it.

[41:29]

It would be very nice if you could say, oh, I had this or that realization, or this or that, but you took the experience out of me. We went through it, and that's it. Interestingly enough, you know, we have, aside from our friends and companions, in the Sashin with us, in the room with us that appears to be above the surface,

[42:31]

we also have, you know, friends and companions who come when we're underground. We have friends who are there to accompany us. We're not alone when we're underground in the dark. We also have friends who are together with the people in the room. And, again, you know, depending on your spiritual orientation, but at the, when you hit bottom, when you hit bottom, helping hands, there's hands to help you.

[43:45]

You know, you have a new body, you have a new head. You're given another body, another head, another mind, another heart that will see you through. That's it. That's all. Come. Because the inner body, mind that you brought to the Sashin won't survive.

[44:56]

It drops away. That's it. That's it. But, you know, the body-mind that you came with drops away. Then there's a new body, a new mind, one you never met before. The body-mind that you came with drops away from us. We get a new body. After that, it's different. And it's like, you know, meeting yourself for the first time.

[46:18]

Someone you didn't know that you were. That's it. There's a short poem by Juan Ramon Jimenez that describes this. He says, sometimes my ship has struck something deep beneath the surface. Sometimes my ship has struck something deep beneath the surface. And nothing happens.

[47:29]

Silence. Waves. Nothing happens. Or, has everything happened? And we sit here, calmly, in the new life. One moment, the body-mind that can't get anywhere. Next moment, a new body-mind. The old body-mind that can't get anywhere has dropped away. New body-mind, sitting calmly in the new life.

[48:31]

Silence. One moment, the body-mind that can't get anywhere has dropped away. And the next moment, a new body-mind. Once you get into the underworld, you can't go back the way you came. Silence. Yes, as I said before, when we get into the underworld, into the lower layers,

[49:36]

when we get into this transformation process, then we can go back the way we came. And, funnily enough, this is exactly the point where we say, oh, I can't go on anymore, I give it up. And we sit quietly, in the new life. Okay, thank you.

[50:39]

Tonight, as we've been doing, we're going to walk for a few minutes. I want to sit for a few minutes, and then, before we chant, I'd like to invite you to share the names of people you would like to, in particular, honor with, and share our prayers and blessings with. These may be people, you know, sometimes it's people who have died. You want us to speak? Well, yes, so when we, so we'll take a few minutes where I will invite you, if you have anyone you would like to share prayers and blessings with, you're welcome to mention their names into the room. No, no, it's just, you know, as you're ready to share names, you mention names. Usually it seems to work. If a couple people are speaking at once, someone will be quiet, and so it usually works.

[51:47]

So, sometimes it's, I know, the people who come to mind are loved ones. You know, family and friends, and sometimes it's, you know, ancestors, people who have died. Sometimes it's people we know are having a difficult time. And Buddhist practice, this is considered to be extremely important. We don't just practice for our own benefit, we practice and share the merit of our practice with everyone. So we'll mention, so we'll take a few minutes tonight, anyone who would, chooses to, you can mention,

[53:31]

as you're ready to mention some names. So we'll take a few minutes tonight, anyone who would, chooses to, you can mention. Okay. Okay.

[54:35]

Okay. Okay. Let's pause for another minute or two. Thank you. Thank you.

[56:20]

Thank you. [...]

[57:48]

Thank you. [...] I don't know why I'm doing this, [...] I don't

[59:03]

know why I'm doing this, I don't [...] know why I

[60:33]

I don't know why I'm doing this, [...] I don t know why I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know why [...] I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't

[62:03]

know why I'm doing this, I don't [...] know why I

[63:33]

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[65:03]

know why I'm doing this, I don't [...] know why I

[66:33]

I don't know why I'm doing this, [...] I don t know why I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know why [...] I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't

[68:03]

know why I'm doing this, I don't [...] know why I

[69:32]

I don't know why I'm doing this, [...] I don't know why I'm doing this." And so I'd like to mention my friends Carl and Marie and their children, also another friend of mine Carolyn her son Aaron and Aaron's daughter Melody. And I'd like to invite anyone who would like to offer names, are welcome to do so. And, as we said earlier, we'll just do it as your move to offer some names, you're welcome

[70:33]

to do so. I'd like to mention, ladies and gentlemen, my poor, I'd like to mention, first, my husband,

[72:32]

I'm sorry, [...]

[74:31]

I'm sorry, [...]

[76:00]

I'm sorry, [...] I I'm sorry, [...] I I'm sorry, [...] I

[77:29]

It's the same as it was here, isn't it? Now it's green. Inside here. Helium. Phenol and iron. Bush. Hydrogen. Nitric acid. Phosphorus.

[78:34]

Phosphorus. Do you think we're the same thing? That we're separate? That we're stronger? That we're the same thing? No. I've seen it all. I've loved you. I've given you my heart and face and joy. Let's go ahead and chant now. Where do we hit the bell? And we'll send our blessings and prayers to everyone mentioned and to all beings. Om.

[79:37]

Om. [...]

[80:55]

Om. [...]

[81:55]

So I have another passage for you tonight. It's called Enlightenment. Dogen says, Enlightenment is like the moon reflected in the water. The moon does not get wet. The water is not broken. However, although the light of the moon is bright, the whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dew drops on the grass or a puddle an inch wide.

[83:00]

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