Good morning. So the text that's starting point for my talks this weekend is the Song of the Jewelmare Samadhi. And many of you were here when I started last night, but not all of you. So I'll start with a little bit of a review. But actually, any time I talk about this, we have to start with the first two lines. The point of this song is that the teaching or the reality of bestness, of suchness, is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. This is what is transmitted, this engagement with suchness, this possibility of meeting reality, the reality of our life, this clearly observing the awareness in front of us. So this is the point of our practice.

[01:05]

How can we face reality? How can we engage reality? How do we see the reality of just this? This is the point of our Zazen and this is the point of our expression of Zazen heart when we get up from formal sitting and go into our worlds. And this is what is conveyed by Buddhists and ancestors. And it's not just done by some Dharma talk, but actually in how we sit and walk and talk and the sound of the heat pipes and the fans and the traffic outside. How do we engage with reality? So this is what the Buddhas and ancestors are concerned with. This is what our practice is concerned with. And the good news at the very beginning of this song is, now you have it.

[02:07]

So our, you've all chanted that this morning, now you have it. So now you have it. This is not something that we need to figure out or do some extraordinary spiritual exercise to achieve or attain or obtain. Now you have it. This is always available right in front of us. This reality of suchness, this, this and this, as we sit facing the wall or the floor in front of us, it's right here. It's in our face all the time. How do we take care of it? So now you have it. preserve it well. So the point of our practice life is, how do we take care of this, which we already are totally endowed with? So I, as I said last night, and there were some people who were here for the first time, maybe hearing their first Zen talk, or maybe hadn't even satsang Zen before.

[03:17]

But still, just the fact that they were in the room and the fact that you're in the room now, to me, means that now you have it. in some way, that which first brought you to engage in this practice of trying to take care of your life, of trying to meet yourself, of trying to live in a way that feels clean, wholesome, helpful, aware. Somehow all of you have a taste of that, have had a taste of that, It might be more or less dramatic. It might be more or less developed. But the point is, now you have it. How do we take care of it? So this is this dharma, this reality or teaching of suchness and this practice of suchness is what this song of the Jewel Marrow Samadhi is about. And then how do we take care of it? So, as I said last night, there are several major themes

[04:24]

in this song. One is just how we talk about it, or how talking about it doesn't quite get it and still we talk about it. So Dong Shan, who wrote this, the founder of the Soto Zen lineage in China back in the 9th century, said, the meaning does not reside in the words. The words never quite get it. Anything I say up here today, or any other teacher who comes and sits up here and talks to you, in some way misses the mark in their words. And yet, we do engage in words because it does respond. So a pivotal moment brings it forth. And I talked last night about this line. It could be translated in many ways. It could be translated as it responds to the inquiring impulse.

[05:29]

This pivotal moment, this turning moment, this way in which we can actually turn the Dharma of suchness to make it work in the world, happens with our inquiry. It responds to the impulse of inquiry. It responds to the inquiring student. No teacher can tell you how you are going to take care of suchness. So being a Zen student is a big responsibility. How will you bring forth this pivotal moment? And how will you find your settledness in the fact that maybe we're missing it anyway? So there's more to say about how we talk about this. Later on, he says, well, I talked last night about it.

[06:34]

In the end, it says nothing for the words are not yet completely true. And yet also, he says, although it's not fabricated, although it's not constructed, it's not beyond words. So suchness includes these words, suchness includes the words that we say when we're sitting silently. Zazen is a form of creative expression in which we are speaking to ourselves and to each other as we each sit silently, finding our own connection to suchness. Something comes forth. We support each other sitting silently, just facing the floor or the wall. We support each other to meet this reality of suchness. So aside from this theme of language, another theme that's very much involved in this song is the relationship between teacher and student.

[07:35]

So I hope I'll say a little more about that, get to a little more of that today. How do we meet the teacher? How do we meet each other? How is this intimately transmitted or conveyed? It's not beyond words, but it's not exactly in the words either. How do we find this in our body? This is a physical practice. How is this possibility of really taking care of suchness? How is this conveyed to us? How is this shared and turned? This is our practice and training. Then another theme is which I talked about more at length last night, is this interplay of the ultimate or universal reality and this particular situation. So I talked last night about the five ranks and where they appear in this text. I'm not going to go into so much detail on that today.

[08:40]

But just to mention again that part of what this text is about is this interplay that's always going on between the universal reality that appears as such. And then, how do we preserve it well? How do we take good care of this? How do we express it in our life, in this body and mind that already has it? So, how to preserve it well in this world, in the situation of the problems that each of you has as you are sitting there on your cushion or chair? Each of us has a whole complex of worlds, 3,000 worlds in one thought. Tendai teaching says, how are you going to share, how are you going to share this reality of suchness that you have, that you have glimpsed, that you have some taste of?

[09:47]

How are you going to express that in this world? with all the problems of your friends and family members and in your own heart, your own confusion and grasping and aversion. And in this culture that is so geared towards consumerism and petty accumulation of thingsness rather than suchness in this world of war and corruption, how are we going to help all beings? So as no matter how wonderful any particular Sangha institution is, and the wonderful facilities you have here, and all of the good work that you've all done to keep this space available, this space of Sangha is endless and boundless. And we help each other, and yet we're also, we have a responsibility to respond to the difficulties of the world, each in our own way.

[10:51]

So all of this is about preserving it well. So the universal truth appears in each situation. They're not separate. And of course, there's a fiveness of how this works. There's the phenomenal that appears within the real, the particular situation. There's the reality which is in each particular situation. There's this coming forth from reality, from many periods of Zazen maybe, settling into openness and spaciousness, and then we walk out on the street. How do we come forth from that? And then the fourth is both the universal and the particular are working together. And then the fifth is that actually there's no separation between them. The universal truth does not exist in some abstract realm and some mountaintop somewhere, and some ultimate, perfect sangha somewhere, the universe will only exist in a particular situation, with particular causes and conditions.

[12:03]

Within causes and conditions, time and season, it is serene and illuminating. Each of you has your own personal history and histories of histories and mysteries in the histories, and here you are, somehow, thanks to sponsored by Causes and Conditions. Here you are, practicing the way. How wonderful. And yet, each of us, with those same causes and conditions, has hang-ups and problems and we can't ignore our own habits and how they can cause harm for ourselves and others. So, the universe will always exist in some particular, but each particular, each situation, each problem, is a way of seeing the ultimate, the universal. Anyway, this is still a little bit of a review of last night and the interfolding of universal in particular. What I want to emphasize today is another theme that's in this text, which is practical instructions about zazen.

[13:12]

So maybe we'll touch back to some of the other themes. But there's a lot of real good nourishing practice practical advice about how we might engage in this dharma of suchness, in this experience of suchness, in our taking care of this teaching of suchness. And coming together and sitting for a period or a day or seven days is an opportunity to deepen our experience of connection with suchness. So I want to start again with the story, one of the stories I told about Dongshan last night, because it's at the core of one of the central practices mentioned here.

[14:15]

So again, when Dongshan was leaving his teacher, Yunyan, on Gandanjo, we say in Japanese. He asked Yunyan, if someone asks later on how I can describe your teaching, someone asked me, what was your teacher's dharma? What should I say? And Yunyan paused a while, and then he said, just this is it. Just this. Just this. Just this is it. Really, it is. Anyway, he didn't say that, the last part. He just said, just this is it. And maybe he said it in a quiet voice. And Dongshan couldn't quite hear it or it sank into him in some other way because he didn't know what to say and he was, he kind of fell into

[15:16]

thought, and he left, and, oh, before he left, Yon Yon said one translation, you are in charge of this great matter. You must be most thorough going, which is another way of saying, preserve it well. Now you have it. Just this is it. Now you have it. Preserve it well. So Dongshan, again, left without saying anything more. Later on, As he was on his pilgrimage, and we're fortunate to have a snapshot of it, he was wading across a stream, and he looked down, and he saw his reflection. And something happened. And he wrote a verse about this, as people are wont to do sometimes when such a thing happens. And he said, just do not seek from others. or you will be far estranged from self.

[16:20]

Don't seek from others. No teacher is going to give you what you can find right on your cushion or chair. You can't get it from, even the greatest teacher in the world is not, can't give you your experience of just this is it. Don't seek from others or you'll get further away from yourself. Then the next line he says, now I go on alone, yet everywhere I meet it. Everywhere. Just this is in our face. Then he said, it now is me. I now am not it. Or you are not it, but truly it is you, as he wrote later in the song of the jewel Marissa money. And he said, one must understand in this way to really merge with suchness. So, I talked about this line a fair amount last night, and I want to talk about it a little bit more today.

[17:26]

But I want to talk about it in the context of zazen and samadhi. You are not it, but truly it is you. And as I said last night, this pronoun it could also be a personal pronoun like him or her. So there's some part of this, and this may be confusing now, but I'll do it anyway, that you should know is about his relationship with his teacher. So one way to read this verse is, now I go on alone, yet everywhere I meet him. He now is me, but I'm not him. Now, this was obvious to me when I, as I worked with my own teacher, some of you know, Reb Anderson, who's my teacher. And I knew from pretty early on that I wasn't going to be him.

[18:33]

I was never going to be a boxer like he had been, and so forth. And yet, he helped me see how to be me. This is the point. I am not him, yet he actually is me in some way. And how we meet with suchness also, with just this, that which you face when you face the wall, when you face the floor, when you sit upright and return to your breathing and feel your mudra, and come back again and again from whatever wanderings the mind may take, whatever sensations, an ache in your knee or the sound of the heat pipes or, anyway, you return to just this is it. This is taking refuge in Buddha and Dharma and Sangha.

[19:36]

And it is you, what you see on the wall, what you see on the floor, that is you. Everything that can appear on the floor, everything that can appear, all the wandering thoughts, that is you. And yet, you're not it. So this relationship between this lump of red flesh and suchness is intricate, and how we find it and how we engage it and how we take care of it for the whole world is the point of our practice. So in the commentary to a case about this, well, I will repeat some of the stories about Dongshan and Yunyang before I get into Hongzhe's commentary one time after

[20:44]

Dongshan became a teacher. He was making offerings before the image of his teacher, Yunyan, and told the story about just this is it and his looking into the stream. And one of his students said, when Yunyan said, just this is it, what did he mean? And Dongshan said, at that time I nearly misunderstood my late teacher's meaning. This is important. Even Dongshan almost misunderstood Maybe partly he misunderstood. And yet, he saw something in the stream. And then the monk asks this interesting question. Did Yunyan himself know it is or not? Did Yunyan himself know just this is it or not? And Dongshan said, if he didn't know it is, how could he be able to say it? But if he did know it is, how could he be willing to say this? So we have this problem with language. And please, as I said last night, don't worry about getting all the words.

[21:49]

I know this talk is being taped, and so if you want to, you can listen again and again and again to these words. The meaning's not in the words. So don't worry about understanding these old stories. Don't worry about figuring something out. Don't worry about getting some understanding. If you understand, it's all right. So there's nothing wrong with understanding, but that's not the point. How are you going to take care of suchness? How are you going to meet suchness in each situation on your cushion? And when you're meeting with your partner or your children or your coworkers or neighbors, how are you going to express this reality of suchness? And when you really see it, it's a little funny to be willing to say it.

[22:54]

And yet, this is part of the shame of our school, that we talk about this stuff. So here we are. And each of you has your own relationship to suchness. And I can't tell you what it is. But you can come, and we can talk about it. So, oh, another time, another one of Dongshan's students asked Dongshan, you know, you're making offerings before this image of Yunyan. And, you know, he was a nobody. He wasn't a famous teacher. Nobody ever heard of him except you. Why are you, you know, why do you honor Yunyan? You studied with Nanchuan and Guishan and these great famous teachers. Why do you honor Yunyan? And Dongshan said, it's only because he never explained anything to me completely. So, this is a problem, you know, for the Soto School in America, because we have this lineage of not explaining.

[24:03]

It's really up to each of us to meet suchness for ourselves. And yet, you know, as you develop in your relationship this intimate receiving of the teaching of suchness, you know, it's okay to go to a teacher and talk about it. And we can see, oh, is that how you see it? What about this? Or anyway, we can talk about it. And again, then what are you going to do about it? How are you going to take good care of it? Each of you has your own particular abilities and interests and realms in which you can move. And in each of those realms, you are the one who's taking care of this dharma of suchness. How are you going to take care of it and share it? This is the point. So all of that is sort of a review of last night. Now I want to talk about, well, one more thing that I mentioned last night, but I want to talk about it in a different way.

[25:11]

Hongzhe's commentary on this story about whether or not Yuanyuan knew it. I won't read the whole thing again, but there's two lines. He says, the jewel mirror, clear and bright, shows absolute and relative. The jade machine revolves. See them both show up at once. This jade machine, or the jade workings, this kind of the character that The theory translated there as machine also means opportunity, or mechanism, or workings, or function. And it's jade or it's crystal, it's a jewel. There is this dynamic turning workings that's happening, and I want to talk about how that happens in our zazen. Of course it happens in all of our activities, but this jade machine, revolves, see them both show up at once.

[26:12]

So the both he's talking about, he says the jewel mirror clear and bright shows the ultimate in the particular. How do we see them both show up at once? So this funny practice we do of just sitting upright and facing the wall or the floor, this just sitting. There's some way in which there's a turning that is happening there all the time, actually. Can we give ourselves to this revolution, to this transformation, to this dynamic functioning of this jewel mirror? Can we use this opportunity? It's there in each inhale and in each exhale. And this is called the jewel mirror samadhi because this is where we can settle. So this is a way of, one way, one of the many ways of talking about zazen.

[27:15]

But it's, I keep coming back to it, because it's just, it's just real juicy, and it has a way of turning us and helping us see how we can turn our life. So it's not about getting something. Already, this suchness is in front of you, and in you, and under your cushion or chair, popping up in your zazen. And yet, there's this relationship There's this intimacy between you and the wall or whatever is in front of you. You are not it, but actually, in truth, it is you. So this is this jewel mirror, mirror on the wall. What is the suchness right here? So how do we see that wall in front of us?

[28:18]

How do we see the reality of suchness that's always there in front of us? So one very traditional Buddhist practice is just to clearly observe, not to breathe in any special way, but just see, inhale, as inhale. Deep inhale, shallow inhale. Just really see our inhale. And then, of course, there's an exhale. So this is also a mirror on the wall. Then there is our posture we come back to, feeling our uprightness in our lower back, in our shoulders, between our shoulder blades, in our throat and chest. in our head top. You are not it, but it actually is you. But this it, you know, is mysterious.

[29:25]

It actually is you, and usually what the human mind does is to actually violate the first precept and kill the world. We see the world as so many wooden boards or zabutons or pillars or electric lights. We see the world as dead objects. We've been conditioned to do that. And as I was saying last night, maybe on some level we need to see the world as objects that we can manipulate. This is our usual karmic life. This is the usual life of the world. How do we manipulate our experience to get the things we think will bring happiness or to get rid of the things we think of as problems? This is our usual relationship to the world of suchness.

[30:27]

This is the deluded karmic relationship of the world of suchness. But we should be kind to the world of delusion. and forgive ourselves for being human beings. So admit it. You don't think it actually is you. Somebody did that last night. It was great. So we don't really think it's us. I mean, I'm not that bell over there. Well, I'm not that bell, but it really is me. So there's this working here. There's this turning here. And when we're sitting, we have an opportunity to explore that, to explore this wall we're facing. And the same time that you are not it, please look at it and let it see you too. There's this, he says, it's like facing a jewel mirror form and reflection. Behold each other. So your reflection on the wall, or on the floor, or in some other person you're having a hard time with, or whatever, for them, you are not it.

[31:40]

They are not, how does it go? It gets tricky, but for them, you know, when Liz is looking at me, she's not me, but I'm actually her. When I'm looking at her, I'm not her, but she actually is me. How do we see this relationship? And it's how we are related to all things. And there's a turning in there. And you know, I've been studying this for almost 30 years and I can't put it in words and I, and I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. And that's fine. Right in the middle of that is this reality of suchness. So this is a kind of meditation instruction. This is a way of, looking at your experience and letting your experience look at you. So when you feel that ache in your knee, you're not it, but it actually is you. And how does it see you? How does the wall see you? How do we meet the reality of this dharma of suchness?

[32:44]

So again, this is one meditation instruction that's in this song, and you can take it as a koan or a mantra I am not it, but actually it is me. And use that in your zazen. So that's one possibility. But I want to say some other things about, you know, in this one weekend we're not going to exhaust by a long stretch the song of the Jomar Samadhi, but I wanted to point out some other places, some other lines in here that I feel are helpful in our zazen particularly. So there's this line, move and you're trapped, missing, you fall into doubt and vacillation. So when we get excited, we get caught up, we get caught up and this is going to happen in our Zazen. Some question or some problem or, or maybe some sensation in our knee or our back, we get trapped by it.

[33:46]

Or we miss and we fall into doubt and vacillation to regret, Oh no, I didn't do that period right at all. I forgot all about you are not it, or whatever it is you think you should be doing. That was a terrible period of Zaza. You get up and you start doing Kinnunen. Where was I? You can do that. You can miss. And so I want to talk about this missing, because it's not what you think it is. But anyway, we do fall into doubt and vacillation. But the point of this is the next line. Turning away and touching are both wrong. It's like a massive fire. Our head's on fire. Our world's on fire. There is suffering. There is cruelty. There is wars and corruption. There is sadness and loss in our own lives. There is conflict. This is the world we live in. This is the Saha world, the world of endurance, the difficult world that we have the wonderful opportunity to do the Bodhisattva practice in.

[34:54]

it's a wonderful opportunity because we can make a difference, a big difference just by being kind first to ourselves and then to others and responding to the problems of the world. But it's because it's like a massive fire turning away and touching both don't work. So In one sense, the point of our practice is simply not to run away from yourself, not to turn away from the situation in front of you. But also you try and touch it, you try and grab a hold of it, you try and fix it. Well, you know, sometimes there are things we can fix. Sometimes there are things we can take care of. Sometimes if we just stop and wait and watch and don't try and bring our ideas onto the situation, we can look and allow something to emerge that's deeper than our ideas.

[35:58]

But yet, turning away and touching are both wrong. So, you know, you could try and reach out and touch the mirror on the wall and figure out what it is, but it doesn't work that way. We can't get a hold of it. We can't really touch it. It's beyond that. It's beyond our ideas. It's beyond our sense of touch, even. We can't get a hold of it with our vision or our hearing or our smell or our taste or our touch or our thinking. And yet, can you still stay there and be upright and not turn away? Can you be in your life completely? Can you meet this opportunity of suchness that's in each situation? Can we meet? The whole works right in each particular face that appears in front of us, right in each particular way we see patterns on the wall or the floor, right in each particular breath, there is this opportunity.

[37:07]

So turning away and touching are both wrong. And of course, a lot of what we do in our zazen or in our life is to try and turn away or try and touch. So when you realize, oh, I'm trying to turn away from that ache in my knee or whatever, or I don't want to have to actually think about that person or whatever it is. Oh yeah, I'm turning away, okay. Come back, meet the suchness in front of you. Or when we try and touch it, when we try and, okay, if I just, if I can move my posture in this way, that'll take care of that ache over there. You know, we try and get a hold of it and figure out how to take care of it, how to manage it, how to manipulate reality to get rid of all the bad stuff or get a hold of the good stuff. Anyway, turning away and touching her, they both miss. So there's this line, this very interesting line in here, a little further down.

[38:23]

Penetrate the source and travel the pathways. Embrace the territory. I think your translation says the connection, but it's the realm, which includes connections. But embrace the territory and treasure the roads. Treasure the pathways. This is an instruction in how to not turn away and not touch. Actually get interested in your own process and in the process of it, that is, as whatever it is sees you. Actually to be interested in the situation of suchness, of just this, as it is right now. Penetrate the source and travel the pathways. Get into it. Here you are. You have this opportunity to spend a day with fellow wayfarers, gazing into this jewel mirror of suchness.

[39:28]

And then there's this line, which is kind of controversial, because it could be translated in various ways. And all of those are some part of the meaning of this. This is a poem, a song, and these Chinese characters, some of the implications, there are many overtones. Anyway, my translation, we say, you would do well to respect this, do not neglect it. I think you have the same, yeah. So you would do well to respect this, the whole process, the whole, engagement with the Dharma of suchness, please be respectful. Respectful is another way of saying, don't turn away. Don't try and get a hold of it either. Just face the fire. Sit right in the middle of fire, which is what all Buddhists do. You would do well to respect this.

[40:31]

Do not neglect it. The character, so that line, the character that's translated as Respectfulness also can be translated as missing it or mistake. So I think cause is translation. He says mistakes are auspicious. Do not neglect them. So something important there. We've already heard that if you miss, you can fall into regret and doubt and vacillation and, oh no, what happened? Oh, no, no. But actually, mistakes are auspicious. Don't neglect them. Pay attention. There's something, some great teaching, some way of seeing

[41:32]

the universal in each particular mistake. So, of course, in the realm in which you are not it, maybe we're always constantly making mistakes. We can't get a hold of it completely. So part of this whole process, it also means being respectful of it, but also we miss it. And it's okay to miss it. And it's okay to not understand, and it's okay to, oh my gosh, I've been doing this thing which actually misses the whole point of meeting suchness. I've been turning away from some situation, or I've been trying to grab a hold of some situation. We do this, this is our human life. So even though now you have it, even though you are sons and daughters of suchness right now, we miss it a little bit. this way or that way. So our practice is not about being perfect Zen students.

[42:34]

Our practice is about coming back to balance. As Zuki Roshi said, our practice is finding, losing our balance against the background of perfect balance. So we return, we take refuge in uprightness. We take refuge in suchness and in Buddha and in Dharma and Sangha. Our Zazen practice too, we realize we're a little tilted this way, or we're leaning forward a little bit, or we're holding back a little bit, or, you know, returning to what feels like uprightness. So sometimes in sittings I'll go around and make postural suggestions. So maybe there'll be a chance to do that sometime today. But it's not like a correction. It's not that there's anything wrong about the way you're sitting. And yet, some little suggestion, when you're sitting, as I said last night, I'm sitting in a chair now, which is interesting.

[43:36]

I'm recovering from knee surgery a few weeks ago, and I thought by now I'd be back to my half lotus and 30 years of half lotus. I'm still not quite doing it, and it's still a little bit swollen and a little bit stiff, and the prognosis is great. It was cartilage rather than meniscus, and it should be fine. But still, I'm sitting in a chair today, and I can't do full prostration. And it's sort of sad. But I'm learning to sit in a chair and learning to actually feel, oh, yeah, this is what sadness is like in a chair. It's quite wonderful. But so sitting, trying to sit upright, the difference between this and this may seem very small, and yet Those adjustments can make a big difference. So this missing it, we can miss it by a lot, or we can miss it by just a little, and they're both just missing it. And that happens. So making mistakes is auspicious.

[44:40]

This is how we learn. So just because now you have it doesn't mean that you're always taking care of it as well as you could for any of us. How do we, so this practice of preserving it well is a lifelong practice. Because in each particular situation, even if you're doing it really well, even if you're taking care of the process of suchness very well and you're responding to the difficulties of the world and you're really making a difference in your life, that happens, it's possible. But also then some new situation will come. You know, it's not that you can ever settle into this perfect realm of wondrous enlightenment where everything is just glorious. Of course, that's going on, too, in the background. But here we are. We're human beings. How do we preserve it well in the context of real human difficulties? So mistaking it is auspicious. Do not neglect it. Then there's another way to read that line, too.

[45:42]

Tom Cleary's, the first translation I memorized of this, said, merging is auspicious. So that this character, shakunen, which this translation translates as respect or respectfulness, also means to immerse. Being immersed in it is auspicious, to really get into this process, to really respect this dynamic activity of engaging with suchness, of taking care of suchness and its teaching and its reality, of meeting things as it is. And yet also, you know, the precepts are in there. How do we, how do we take care of it for the benefit of everyone to see this suchness? How do we take care of ourselves when we have some loss? How do we, not ignore the sadness of our life. How do we practice the homeworks, this dynamic practice and engagement with this reality of suchness?

[46:52]

This is the practice instruction, the kind Be respectful means get into it, get curious about it. What's going on? So whatever, however wonderful your ideas and opinions about reality are, they're just your ideas and opinions and you're not it, but it actually is you. So there's something to see out there. There's something to see in here. How can we meet this reality of suchness? and really get into it, and really respect it, and really miss it, and then come back, return to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, return to uprightness. It is natural and wondrous, but it's not a matter of delusion or enlightenment.

[47:58]

So in Genjo Koan, Dogen says, be in delusion throughout delusion. Be completely enlightened when you're enlightened. It's not about getting rid of one and grabbing a hold of the other. How can we really get into the process of this dance with suchness that is our life? So we have another period for me to talk and to discuss this afternoon, and there's a whole second page. There's a whole second half of this with some practice instructions. But I want to take a little time now. Just if any of you have any comments or questions or responses, please offer them for us. Carol. I can't quite hear you.

[49:11]

Yeah, so just to respect the possibilities that the world or the wall offers us. Thank you. Yes, Ed. Maybe I'm mistaken on this, but it seems in our condition and the way we I've never heard of anything like that.

[51:41]

Really? I've wondered if there is. Oh, sure. We don't have to look far. Dongshan's teacher, Yunyan, is one of the great classic Zen failures. He spent 20 years as the personal attendant, the jisha, of the great Baizhang, and he didn't get it. This is what it says in the books. He was a particularly obtuse Zen student. Maybe this is why later one of Dongshan's students said, did he know it is or not? But there's a story about, so Dongshan, Yunyan, onkadonjo, we say in Japanese, he had a brother named Dawu, who was both his brother and his Dharma brother. And he was also studying with Baizhang. And Dawu understood and was totally immersed in the process of suchness and just felt so bad about his brother.

[52:43]

And they eventually went back to, they went, after 20 years at Baizhang's, they went and studied with Yaoshan, Yaksan Igen. I forget the exact story, but there's one story where Yaoshan is talking with the two of them, and Daowu leaves, because he understood what Yaoshan was saying. And Yunyan just didn't get it, and he was asking Yaoshan. And the story goes that Daowu was kind of standing outside the Doksan room listening, And he was so upset at how obtuse and stupid Yun-Yan was that he bit his finger until it was bleeding. He was just... Anyway, finally, Yun-Yan received the transmission from Yao-Shan. But anyway, he's the teacher of our founder, Dong-Shan. So we are in a tradition of great Zen failures.

[53:46]

There's lots of other stories like that, by the way. So, important to say, you all know what this is. We talk about the moon, we talk about the roundness. One of you has a name, round mind. There is this idea of perfection or roundness or wholeness. And yet it doesn't mean being perfect like being right. It actually means in each situation there is perfection. Right in Yun Yan's endless failure. They weren't endless, but in 20 years of failure. The wholeness is there whether we miss it or not. And if you realize you've been turning away or you realize you've been trying to grab a hold of it, still there is roundness. How can we settle?

[54:50]

So the practice, the samadhi of the dual mirror is really just settling into it, respecting it, getting into the process of this jade machine revolving, this jade function working, this dual mirror turning, turning, bringing us into interaction with suchness so that we can take care of it and it can take care of us. And yet the way we do that is sometimes, lots of times, most of the time, as human beings, we miss it. So just when you miss it, it's okay. You don't have to fall into regret and doubt and vacillation. Oh, I missed it again. Okay, well, how can you continue to pay attention and be upright in the middle of it? Yes. Yeah, well jade, that could be translated as jewel too.

[55:55]

So jade as it was. But that character also means jade. And so this is from the commentary by Hongzhe. That reminds me of something else I wanted to say. So I'm sorry, this drama talk's going to go on a little bit longer. You know, it's going to have to figure out how to deal with that. But the jade machine revolves. See them both show up at once. there is this working this again this character that clearly translated as machine means functioning, working, means opportunity, mechanism. There's this jade mirror that's somehow working in our relationship with it and with us. And I reminded myself particular Dharma and practice instruction from Hongzhi who wrote that verse. Thank you for pointing me back to that. I used to see as two different expressions of the same thing.

[56:59]

This is from a book I translated, Cultivating the Empty Field, by Hongzhi, who was a later descendant of Dongshan, a century before Dogen, and a very, very important influence for Dogen. In one place in his practice instructions he says, The deep source, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. He's talking about how we meet this suchness. So he's saying not to become its partner. And yet, this is just like the meaning is not in the words, yet it responds at a pivotal moment. the deep source transparent down to the bottom can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. So this is like, you are not it, it actually is you. We don't have to, there's another side of you are not it, which is you don't have to grab a hold of it, you can't actually.

[58:10]

So each position in this relationship has its own integrity. There's you, and there's the mirror, and there's the suchness, and there's... Anyway, there's this complicated process that goes on when we're facing reality, when we're facing ourselves on our cushion. Then he says that right after that, the subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. So this is a particular Zazen instruction. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. When you really respect your seeing and hearing, you don't need to get caught up in particular colors or shapes, particular sounds. Just here we are in the midst of this whole subtlety of seeing and hearing. Beyond objects of seeing, objects of sounds, we don't have to try and figure out what kind of truck that is that just went by. We don't have to grab a hold of some

[59:13]

and analyze some particular vision on the wall. The whole affair functions without leaving traces and mirrors without obscuration. Very naturally, mind and dharmas emerge and harmonize. This is, I am not it. It actually is me. Mind and dharmas emerge and harmonize. This is a process of harmonization that I'm talking about. So I'll come back to this this afternoon, because I'm throwing this in at the very end. That's very early in these practice instructions by Hongzhe, where he says, the subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. So I translated this like almost 20 years ago, but only recently I saw that there was a difference between that and something he says near the very end. And maybe there's a difference, and maybe there's not a difference. But towards the end of these practice instructions, he says, with a hundred grass tips in the busy marketplace, graciously share yourself.

[60:20]

This is like the 10th oxherding picture. This is how we preserve it well when we get out from our cushion. We share this process of engagement with suchness with just this. family, friends, the world around us, our corrupt government, whatever. With a hundred grass tips in the busy marketplace, graciously share yourself. Then he says, wide open and accessible, walking along, casually mount the sounds and straddle the colors while you transcend listening and surpass watching. And I kind of used to think those were sort of really the same as what he says in the beginning. And then I thought, well, there's some different relationship about subject and object going on there. Wide open and accessible, walking along, which the character for walking also means practice. So as you're practicing, wide open and accessible, casually mount the sounds and straddle the colors while you transcend listening and surpass watching.

[61:24]

Perfectly unifying in this manner is simply a Zen practitioner's appropriate activity. So we don't have to kind of pin it down as to which is which and whether they're different or the same. But I offer that to you as a way of getting into the process of immersing yourself in this respectful process of our relationship with suchness. Do we see and hear and not be concerned with the objects of seeing and hearing, or do we just meet the sounds and meet the colors and not worry about listening or seeing? This is part of the jade machine revolving. So thank you for your question, because it reminded me of that. Again, that's almost too much to give you in one sitting. So I apologize for all the extra words. But I want to just encourage you, you can forget everything I've said.

[62:28]

Just settle into your city. Settle into this jewel mirror and see how it is. You are not it, but actually it is you. Truly it is you. How do we meet the wall? How do we meet our life? How do we meet our friends and family? How do we meet all the different beings on your cushion or chair right now? So this is a hard job, but somebody's got to do it. And the fact each of you has been doing it for a long time. Now you have it. Please take care of it and enjoy it and get into it. Thank you. Do we have a closing chant?

[63:29]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ