who's actually nothing I can teach you. It's the real thing you have to find out for yourself. I can tell you many things about Buddhism and many things Buddhism is not. But you already are the real thing we're talking about. I can help to create situations for you of which there's no way out, except to realize yourself.

[01:03]

This Blue Cliff Records number six, which I've been talking about, actually, the last couple lectures, is about this problem. That maybe the only thing I can teach, or anyone can teach, is that you can't teach about the real thing. Anyway, the story is about Uman. And Uman's quite famous for his three-word answers and one-word answers. Often he would just say one word. People said it was like putting down an iron post. His one word was like an iron post.

[02:14]

And many questions he just answered with three words, careful, observe, understand. No matter what people asked, he would just say, careful, observe, understand. Suzuki Yoshi, when he talked about his office doesn't face on the main street, he was talking about Oman's way. Oman's way was also said to be like a sheer cliff where you can't find any place to tie up your boat. Along the Japan Sea coast of Japan facing China and Korea has sheer cliffs like Big Sur and when I've been along that coast it always makes me think of Oman's sheer cliff where there's no place to tie up your boat

[03:48]

Actually, what they do along those coasts sometimes is, while there's no place to get up the cliff, there will be a small place where you can tie up your boat, and they'll make a rice paddy there, which you get by coming down the coast and tying up your boat on this ledge of a cliff. And they'll grow rice, two or three paddies, and they have to harvest it by boat And that used to make me think of Tassajara or Nyobin spending 18 years with Uman. He spent 18 years with Uman as his attendant. And Uman never taught him anything except, he'd say to Nyobin,

[04:54]

And Nyoban would say, yes. And he'd say, what is the meaning of that? For 18 years he said that to him. And one day Nyoban understood. And Umang said, I will never ask you that again in the future. From Nyoban came the lineage which Setso, who compiled, helped compile, the Blue Cliff Records. Setso is a disciple of a disciple of a disciple of Nyobin. Anyway, Nyobin reminded me of those little rice paddies in the face of the cliff for 18 years, just on the edge. No place to go or anything to do except just take care of that little place. That was the spirit I tried to practice with Suzuki Yoshi, too. I didn't care whether he was a good teacher or a bad teacher, or whether I should go to Japan or anything. I just decided to stay with him.

[06:31]

He forced me to go to Japan. I was walking along Page Street, Bush Street, and someone said to me, I hear you're going to Japan. I said, oh, God. Suzuki Yoshi had told this person that. So I went across the street. He said it was true. Anyway, several of you asked directly and indirectly, Nagasaki sensei, about shamanism since it was such an important ingredient in Indian religion. And shamanism is rather an important part, actually, of Zen practice, but only by default or as some stage of ecstasy, which you get rid of.

[08:07]

Shamanism involves flight and review of many worlds, and Zen is the opposite. Like that poem, the cup falls to the ground and the sound of its breaking is clear and space is polarized. The mad mind comes to a stop. So this story, someone comes to lecture of Geshe and he says, I don't ask you about the last 15 days. Never mind the last 15 days, but what about the next 15 days? And no one says anything. And he says, every day is a good day.

[09:22]

That's all, he said. This is very simple, and there are no handholds on it. There's nothing you can make of it. Why did he say, good day? And not just every day is a day, you might ask. where do the qualities of a day come from? But anyway, it doesn't lend itself to much figuring out. Just every day is a good day, said Umar. I think I told you already about Umran going to see Bokushu, didn't I, just before I left for the city? Bokushu was a fellow disciple of Rinzai under Huang Po, and he was also the example for Etan.

[11:00]

Eitan is Hakuin Zenji's, one of Hakuin Zenji's teachers. Do you know about Eitan and Hakuin Zenji's visiting him? I have some feeling for Eitan. I would like to visit his temple sometime, which is just a run-down country temple. Even in his time, that's what it was. in Shimano Prefecture. Anyway, Eitan was an admirer of bokushu, and Hakun visited Eitan. And it was customary from Tang Dynasty times on till today to present a teacher with your understanding in a verse or some kind of statement. And he went to see Eitan and presented some paper. And Eitan took it and just crunched it up and said, what about this?

[12:16]

and Hakuin. Then he asked Hakuin, what about Joshu's move? And Hakuin said something like, no hands, no room for hands and feet, or something like that. And Eitan grabbed him by the nose and said, there's room for hands and feet. And threw him down. And Hakuin stayed with him for some time. maybe about three years, I think. I forget. And during that time, Etan gave him the teaching of Tozan's five ranks, Tozan's ryokai, who we chant every morning.

[13:54]

Sandokai, and his five ranks. Bokkyo Zama. That lineage, Tozan and Sozan, study of the five ranks was given to Bhaktinda Ittham. One interesting thing in those poems, if you've ever looked at them in Chinese characters, is the middle of the first line is always center, this kanji. Anyway, Bokshu was

[15:23]

lived in a similar, rather deserted place, and when Munman came to visit, two or three times he just, when he came in, when someone would come, he would just say, immediately, speak and throw them out. before they had a chance to say anything. And the third time, Uman jumped into the room, and Bhagavad-gita grabbed him, and as he was about to speak, Bhagavad-gita threw him out and shut the door on his leg, and Uman was crippled all his life. someone also has some spiritual relationship to Daito Kokushi, who also was crippled, and both of them died, you know, pulling their crippled leg into Zazen posture. Daito Kokushi was the founder of Daito-Kuji in Kyoto, where Gary Snyder studied for about eight years and where I studied for a couple of years.

[16:51]

Then Unmon stayed... he stayed with some lay disciple of Bokushu for about three years, and then Bokushu sent him to Setpo. Setpo is, again, in our lineage, from Seigen Gyoshi. And when he went to see Seppo. Before he went, he sent someone ahead. He met a priest. He said, when you go to Seppo's lecture, I want you to go up to him and say, who put the shackles on your head? So, I don't know why this priest would do this for him. Anyway, he went to the lecture and when Sepo came in the room, he went up to him and seized him and said, �Who put the shackles on your head?� Sepo looked at him and said, �That's not your question. Who told you to say that?� He said, �No, no, that's my question.�

[18:52]

He said to someone, get the rope and stick, you know, and we'll bind this fellow. He said, oh no, it's not my question. So-and-so came to my temple and told me to do this. What an idiot. And so, Serpo said, oh, let's all go out and greet him. So they went out and waited. Umon came and Umon asked him, Umon asked Sepo, what is the secret of Buddha nature? And Sepo said, you are speaking in a dream, you are speaking in a dream. Anyway, then he went to And he stayed there three years with Seppo. Numon's interesting because he studied with so many people. Tsukiyoshi said that in those days, everyone's, there was no sectarianism. Everyone's door, the good teacher's doors, all were off the main street and faced, you know, the religious way.

[20:22]

So there was some sharing of taking care of people. So he stayed with Sepo for three years and received transmission from Sepo. At the end of his stay, Sepo said, what is your understanding now to Umman? And Umman said, not an iota different from the ancient Anyway, he received transmission from... Then he went to see... I'm sorry, Nyobin or Ryobin, one of his disciples had almost similar names, so I have them mixed up. Anyway, he went to see this man and he used to say to his disciples, My head monk has just been born. My head monk is...

[22:01]

leading a water buffalo now. My head monk is such and such." And supposedly, the day U Mon arrived, he said to everyone, my head monk is coming today. And he went out and U Mon came. And he greeted him and led him to the head monk's quarters and said, you are head monk. So after that, he was known as the diviner, this man. And U Mon stayed there until he died, until his teacher died. And his teacher died in a rather interesting way. the king of the area was going to come to see him, to ask him about some war plans he had. He was quite old and he knew the king was on the way. So, before the king got there, he folded his legs in Zazen and died, and left word to give the king some bucks.

[23:22]

When the king got there he was quite angry. He said, was he ill before? How long was he ill? No, he just died while you were coming. So he gave him the monk, a monk gave him the box which said, all men and divine beings pay homage to my head monk. So the king understood that to mean that he shouldn't go to war, and so he appointed Umon, head of this temple, called, at that time the name of it was Miracle Tree Temple. And in the first lecture, somebody asked him, Has the fruit of the miracle tree ripened yet? And Uman said, When was it ever not ripe? Anyway, Uman said many famous things. What is Buddha? A toilet stick. Toilet paper.

[24:50]

and other one word or very brief statements like that. But all these stories and background come down to U Mon just saying, you know, maybe his most famous statement, every day is a good day, you know. As Lee Po said, even a child knows that. There's not much to teach, Just practice zazen and come to your own consideration of your physical and social laws. Come to your own creativity, to your own center. The center is where creation begins. You are the center of everything.

[26:30]

you can find out the center of human nature. Your own quirky personal laws and our own more fundamental social and physical laws. Sangha I was speaking about. Sangha can just be two people. I can express it like one and one equals three. One and one are more than the sum of one and one. Mumin Roshi's disciple who's in Mexico. What is his name? Aja. He said, he gave a lecture on one and one equals three. Do you remember? San Francisco. One and one equals three. Three and three equals zero.

[28:01]

Anxiety, when two people create anxiety for each other, that's one and one equals minus one. So sangha is one and one equals three. Every day is a good day. You have some... Every day is a good day. You have some... Every day is a good day. You have some... have found out how your mind and body exist, how names and outer form exist, how you perceive things by your six senses, by touch of your senses, by

[29:51]

perceptions of subject and object, and by the five skandhas, and by what we call, the sutras call, the indeterminate dharma, which Bill was speaking about in the shuso ceremony. We can come to know these things or observe, carefully observe. But realization is when you take possession of your own time and space. Every day is a good day. When you climb in, in Suzuki Roshi's window, when you've given up externals,

[31:18]

when you don't compare anymore. As soon as you compare, you're off center. When you find everything the center, you have stopped comparing, and realization comes up in you. the last 15 days and the next 15 days. I'm already too late. Just relax and take a vacation on your cushion. Nothing to do, just sit there, no problems. Nothing can hurt you. If it does, you can just offer it a good meal.

[33:10]

You can watch the movies for a while until you see everything is a movie. And you can turn up the volume or turn on the color, off the color. Everything you see is like a movie screen in your head. It exists by your movie screen. You're looking straight into yourself, straight into the centre all the time. It's an illusion to think you're not. When you have that confidence, you don't get disturbed by things. You don't try to control things anymore. Whatever happens is okay.

[34:58]

How could it be otherwise? There's no way some small part of you can develop the rest of you. all of you, all at once develops all of you. This practice period, you've gotten more feeling for hara, than I expected. But don't push it too much. Now you have some feeling for it, it will develop.

[36:19]

Just sit and letting yourself feel completely settled. Not trying to do anything. Except to sit straight as you can and still as you can. And let everything Go away. Let everything wash you. You'll feel washed and clean when everything goes away. There's no time for anything else.

[37:40]

breathing is so easy and even the pain in your legs or back is contained. When you're no longer ambiguous or ambivalent about what you're doing, Every day is a good day, every moment, every zazen. Every situation can be accepted this way, by the power of your zazen. This way you understand the mysterious center of everything. Is there anything you want to talk about?

[39:56]

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