This morning I thought I come to take care of what is already complete. The dharma is already complete and perfect and yet we come here to take care of it. The inconceivable dharma is the truth that's free of our conceptions. Those who understand the Dharma or understand the truth that's free of our conceptions use conceptions to make designations to tell us about the Dharma that's free of our the way we are right now that is thoroughly established, the way we are right now and the way we always will be is that the way we are free of

[01:21]

our ideas about the way we are. And the way we are is that we have ideas about the way we are. But we are free of these ideas all the time. And everything else is too. This is our suchness. Bodhisattvas pay attention to this suchness and paying attention to this way we are all the time and become Buddhas. The teaching of suchness has been integrated from Buddhas to Buddhas. It is being transmitted from Buddhas to Buddhas.

[02:29]

Now you have it. but the ancestors ask you to take care of it. Now you have it and you always have had it, and yet the ancestors ask you to take care of it. An ancestor named Dungsan wrote a poem called, in English, Precious Mirror Samadhi, which starts out saying that the teaching of suchness has been intimately conveyed from Buddha to Buddha.

[04:15]

ancestor to ancestor. Now you have it. Please take care of it. Taking care of this teaching of suchness is the precious mirror samadhi. to be one-pointed, to be wholehearted about taking care of suchness. is the Samadhi.

[05:24]

When Dung Shan was leaving his teacher, he asked, many years from now, if someone asks me, what was your dharma, what was your teaching? And his teacher said, just this person is it. Ben Dung Shan left and walked a long time. For years I heard this story and I used to think he walked down the hill from his teacher's temple and he got to a little river and as he was crossing the river he saw his reflection in the water

[07:10]

And he woke up. In China, I went to this river where he saw his reflection. And I asked a Chinese scholar who was with us how far it was from this point in the river where his teacher's temple was. And he said it's about 150 miles. So he walked a long time before he got to this river, thinking about Just this person is it. Thinking about this instruction is the precious mirror samadhi.

[08:15]

And then he saw in the river his reflection and understood and said, earnestly avoid seeking outside lest it recede far from you. Now I walk alone but it is always with me. It is no other than myself and now I am not it.

[09:28]

Only when we understand this way do we accord with suchness. Then he wrote The Precious Mirror Samadhi. All the Buddhas together are transmitting this teaching of suchness

[10:46]

In order to accord with this teaching of suchness, one has to avoid seeking outside. Or if one seeks outside, One can confess it, confess that there is a lack of faith in the instructions. I confess that there is some trust in the teaching. Seek outside. Get it someplace.

[12:20]

It's not you. It's apart from this. It's not just this person. This is our teaching we believe in. According to this school, that's a false view. a view leading to unhappiness, the view that there's some truth apart from this person. There is the truth that when you think that there's a truth apart from this person, there is the truth that that's unhappiness. But that's not apart from this unhappy person who believes that.

[13:26]

In this session we have a person who is a descendant to Martin Luther. And I sometimes think of Martin Luther, or rather the thought of Martin Luther sometimes crosses my mind. The main things I think about Martin Luther was that he was awakened, I heard, sitting on the pot. I don't know how much time he spent there, but I heard that's where he had the big breakthrough. In a similar situation recently, I looked at a magazine.

[15:36]

It was a catalogue. And on top of the catalogue it said, Inside, colon, be true to your school. In the school of Dogen, it looks like no spiritual principle apart from the practice

[16:55]

of just this person. And also the practice is not the practice of just this person in the sense of just this person by herself. It is the practice of all the Buddhas together transmitting the inconceivable Dharma And this inconceivable dharma is not apart from this person. The instruction, just this person is it, means not separate from this person. And it's not this person. It's free of all conceptions, including this person, and it's not apart from this person.

[17:59]

The way this person really is, is called the inconceivable Dharma. The way you are is the wondrous Dharma. You've always had it. You have it now. Please take care of it. Taking care of it is the precious mirror samadhi. The Buddha Dharma is sometimes spoken of in such magnificent language or a language about such magnificence that one tends to think beyond this person, this poor little ordinary person.

[19:05]

But there isn't something beyond this poor little ordinary person. And this poor little ordinary person is not it. And the Buddhas are transmitting the inconceivable Dharma to Buddhas right now. And Buddhas who transmit are seeing each of us as fully possessing the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha. part of the one could tell about this emphasis on there being no spiritual reality apart from the person practicing is that

[20:42]

during the time that the Zen teacher Dogen lived, Buddhist ancestor Dogen lived, during that time there was another school, the Daruma school, and it looks like some of the people in that school got that just by faith alone you could realize salvation by just trusting in the vast, inconceivable, infinite Buddha nature. then everything would be okay.

[21:44]

And that whatever you did would be included in the Buddha way. Of course, Buddha nature does characterize everything. But the Buddha way from the practice of the Buddha way. And the practice of the Buddha way is that this person, whatever this person is at this time, whatever this person is doing or whatever activity there is of this person, that this person's present activity

[22:51]

is the Buddha way. Without that practice, it's not the Buddha way. There is a subtle distinction between everything and making everything you do and offering to Buddhism. There is a subtle distinction between everything you do is the Buddha way and making everything you do the practice of the Buddha way, seeing everything you do as the Buddha way, seeing everything you do as practice for the Buddha way.

[24:06]

So some people, important people at the time of Dogen, seem to have thought that the mere lifting of the arm or lifting of the leg embodied the Buddha way. And the other way to put it is the mere moving of the leg or lifting of the arm within one's Buddha way. One side is whatever I do is okay as long as I believe in Buddha.

[25:16]

The other is this lifting of this paper is the Buddha way. I lift this paper for all the Buddhas. I lift this paper to manifest the transmission of all the Buddhas. I'm going here for the Buddha way, rather than, I go here and it's the Buddha way. At the time that Dogen lived, he had a number of students who came to him who had a background of believing in salvation by faith alone.

[29:08]

And his teaching was somewhat a response to these people. And some of these people lived on after Dogen died and had continued to influence the school he set up, which was in some sense threatened by who misunderstood their teacher. And one prime example of this is the ancestors whose name we say in our morning service, Tetsugikai Dayosho. So we say, Ehe Dogen Dayosho, Koun Ejo Dayosho, Tetsugikai Dayosho.

[30:18]

Keizan Jokin Daisho. Tetsugikai was Keizan's teacher. I think he was about 20 years younger than Dogen. So when Dogen died he was about 30 to 33. But even by that time he had already become a leader of the monastic community. Now this year we remember that it has been 750 years since Dogen died. Apparently he died on August 1253, which doesn't quite make 750 somehow.

[31:34]

But maybe you count differently in China, in Japan. We're going to have the 750th ceremony this year. And on July 8th, Gikai heard that his teacher, Dogen, was getting sicker. He had been sick for some time, but that his disease had come back strongly. So he was very alarmed and went to see him. He went to see Dogen. Zen Master, future Zen Master, Gikai went to see Zen Master Dogen.

[32:48]

And Dogen said to him, come close to me. And Gikai said, I approached his right side and he said, I believe that my current life is coming to an end with this sickness. in spite of everyone's care, I am receiving. Don't be alarmed by this. Human life is limited and we should not be overwhelmed by illness. Even though there are ten million things, I have not yet clarified concerning the Buddha Dharma, the inconceivable Buddha Dharma. Still, I have the extreme joy of not having formed mistaken views and having genuinely faith in the true Dharma.

[34:03]

The essentials of all this are not any different from what I have spoken of every day." If I may comment, he did not form the mistaken view that there's any Buddha Dharma apart from the practice. I think that's part of what he was trying to tell Tetsugikai. It's a joy to not have the view that there's some inconceivably wonderful Buddhadharma apart from the practice of this person.

[35:08]

Or put it, it's a joy to understand that this practice is not apart from it. This monastery is an excellent place. We may be attached to it, but with the temporal and worldly conditions. In the Buddha Dharma, any place is an excellent place for practice. When the nation is peaceful, the monastery supporters live in peace. … are peaceful, the monastery will be certainly at ease. You, Ikkai, have lived here for many years and you have become a monastery leader.

[36:19]

After I die, Stay in the monastery. Cooperate with the monks and laity and protect the Buddha Dharma I have taught. If you go traveling, always return to this monastery. If you wish, you can stay in the hermitage. Shedding tears, I wept and said in gratitude, I will not neglect anything you have said to me, both for the monastery and myself. I will never disobey your wishes. Then Dogen, shedding tears and holding his palms together, said, I am deeply satisfied

[37:24]

For many years I have noticed that you are familiar with worldly matters and that within the Buddha Dharma you have a very strong way-seeking, a very strong aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the welfare of the world. Everyone knows your deep intention But you have not elevated a grandmotherly heart. As you grow older, I'm sure you will develop it. Restraining my tears, I thanked him. At that time, the headmaster said, Koonejo Daisho was also present and heard this conversation.

[38:27]

I have not forgotten the admonitions that I did not have a grandmotherly heart. However, I don't know why Dogen said this. Some years earlier, When I had returned to Eheji Monastery and gone to see him, he had given me the same admonition during a private discourse. So this was the second time he told me this. On the 23rd day of the seventh month of that year, Before I went to visit my hometown, Dogen told me, you should return quickly from this trip. There are many things I have to tell you. On the 28th day of the same month, July,

[39:36]

I returned to the monastery and paid my respects to him. He said, while you were gone, I thought I was going to die, but I am still here alive. I have received several requests from the Lord at the government's office in Rokuhara, which is in Kyoto, to come to the capital for medical treatment. At this point, I had many last instructions, but for Kyoto on the fifth day of the eighth month, Although you would be very well suited to accompany me on the trip, there is no one else to attend to all the affairs of the monastery.

[40:43]

I want you to stay and take care of the administration. Sincerely, take care of the monastery affairs." This time I am certain that my life will last forever. Even if my death is slow in coming, I will stay in Kyoto this year. Do not think that the monastery belongs to others, but consider it your own. Presently you have no position, but have served repeatedly on the senior staff. You should consult with others on all matters and not make decisions on your own. Since I am very busy now, I cannot tell you the details.

[41:45]

Perhaps there are many things that I will have to tell you later from Kyoto. If I return from Kyoto, then next time we meet, I will certainly teach you the secret procedures for Dharma transmission. However, when someone starts these procedures, small-minded people may be jealous. So you should not tell others of this. I know that you have an outstanding spirit for both mundane and super-mundane worlds. However, you still lack a grandmotherly heart." Dogen had wanted me to return quickly from my trip so that he could tell me these things.

[42:51]

and I am not recording further details here." Separated by a sliding door, the senior nun, Egi, heard this conversation. On the third day of the eighth month, Dogen gave me a woodblock printing for the eight prohibitory precepts. On the sixth day of the month, Dogen farewell at the inn of Wakimoto, I respectfully asked, I deeply wish to accompany you on this trip, but I will return to the monastery according to your instructions. If your return is delayed, I would like to go to Kyoto to see you. I have your permission." Dogen said, of course you do.

[43:53]

So you don't need to ask any further about it. I'm having you stay behind only in consideration of the monastery. I want you to attentively manage the affairs of the monastery. Because you are a native of this area and because you are a disciple of the late Master Many people in the province know your trustworthiness. I am asking you to stay because you are familiar with matters both inside and outside the monastery. I accepted this respectfully. It was the last time I saw Dogen and it was his final instructions to me. Taking it to heart, I have never forgotten it. So Gikai walked with Dogen part of the way to Kyoto, to this Wakimoto place, and there they parted, and Dogen went to Kyoto and he went back to Eheiji.

[45:14]

And then sometime after that he wrote what you just And then for about a year and a half, or during, after he wrote this, finally changed in a certain way. And he said to his teacher, Eijo, so Eijo was Dogen's successor. Gikai was not. And it is said that the reason why Dogen had waited to make Gikai his successor was because Gikai lacked this grandmotherly heart. He was, after Dogen died, taking care of the monastery.

[46:25]

Eijo was the successor and Eijo was the abbot. But Gikai was really taking care of it. as per Dogen's instructions. And Eijo knew that Dogen wanted a monastery, considered him the best person to take care of the community. I think I was thinking about, what is this grandmotherly mind? And I've heard this story for a long time. About seven years ago, we had a special sesshin here at Green Gulch, and the topic of the sesshin was the topic of the lectures about the documents for transmitting Dharma, the secret procedures for Dharma transmission that Dogen was going to teach Ikkai.

[47:31]

And during one of the talks, a visiting teacher, Hiroshi, brought up the story of Gikai again. And again, it really struck me that he was such an excellent person, so talented, so enthusiastic, so hard. particularly as Tenzo, he did astounding things. He made, he got things for the monks that they didn't think were possible. And yet Dogen said he didn't have grandmotherly heart. I wondered for years, what did he mean? So part of it maybe is that he lacked the kindness, the kindness of the grandmotherly heart. I'm not sure about that, but that's possible.

[48:34]

But the other part of the grandmotherly heart, the part that's a little bit surprising, is not just total devotion and surrender to the grandchild, which is part of it, but a sense of responsibility, which is not necessarily sweet sounding. When Dogen was speaking of grandmotherly mind to this monk, to this monk, to practice your daily life in such a way that you make your daily life into the Buddha way.

[49:54]

And the grandmotherly part that you do not allow that you're responsible to make sure that there's no false view, that the things you're doing in your daily life are apart from the inconceivable Buddhadharma. Now that might not be so obvious, it wasn't to me, but Gikai finally said to, a year and a half after Dogen died, Gikai said to, this past year or so, I have been reflecting on the lectures I heard given by our former teacher. Even though I heard all of them from our former teacher, now they are different in meaning than the first.

[51:01]

The difference concerns the assertion that the Buddha way transmitted by our teacher is the correct performance of one's present monastic tasks. Even though I heard that the Buddha way is Buddhist ritual, and Buddhist ritual is the Buddha way, In my heart, I privately... that Buddhism must be something apart from this. In other words, privately, I was still thinking outside. Recently, however, I've changed my views. I now know

[52:04]

that the monastic rituals and conduct are themselves the true Buddha way. Even if there is also an infinite Buddha way of all the Buddha ancestors, still it is the same Buddha way. I have attained true confidence in this profound principle that apart from lifting one's arm and lifting one's leg within one's Buddhist conduct or Buddha conduct, there can be no other reality. One time Suzuki Roshi asked me to come into his room and he said that he wanted to tell me something.

[53:22]

And he said that sometimes the talks he gives on certain topics don't go into certain details. So he gave me a talk about the merging of difference and unity, the Sandokai. He sat right in front of me and gave me this special instruction, but I couldn't stay awake for this special instruction. I don't remember anything he said. I think this is a pretty tough point.

[54:30]

We don't like the idea, I don't like the idea to think, you know, these people walking around here in some formal ritual posture think that what they're doing is true Buddha practice. doing Buddha deportment is Buddha practice. That what they think they're doing, they think that that's Buddhism. I don't like that. That people who aren't doing that aren't doing true Buddhist practice. This is a little different from that. That's very close.

[55:39]

So it's not, you know, usually considered to be a Buddhist ritual to say to somebody, come close to me. Anybody can say that. But Dogen's view is that he says come close to me as Buddhism and for Buddhism. We don't even like Buddhism for the Buddha way. And also that we can also understand that the Buddhas together are transmitting the Dharma.

[57:16]

That we are here together and you are lifting your arm. You're lifting your arm together with the Buddhas. But do you feel on one feel that adjusting your robe, are you adjusting your robe with the same feeling that a grandmother jacket in the blizzard and puts it on her grandchild? Do you feel like you're taking care of something that you care that much for in everything you do?

[58:22]

When you pick up a cup or adjust your robe, or brush your teeth, do you have this grandmotherly spirit? This is the way Buddhas are transmitting this inconceivable Dharma. This is what they actually care about. And everything they do, like say, come close to me, or here or please come with me or oh whatever they say is an act of grandmotherly kindness and do you think that there's something else that's important besides this.

[59:31]

And if you do, don't be mean to yourself, but remember these. Before Buddhas were Buddhas, they were just like us. Before Tetsugikai was a Buddha, he also thought, there must be something more. There must be something more than this. There must be something apart from And he took care of the monastery in some ways more energetically than anybody, but still, even though he did, he still thought there was something else. didn't take care of the monastery as well as him, also thought there was something else. There was quite a few like that, probably, because that was that group that he came from that was in the monastery. They were working in the monastery, but they thought that actually there was something, something apart.

[60:36]

So we probably share that. It is a worldly thing, you know, to be unhappy when we're in pain. That's quite common. And it's a worldly thing to be happy when we have pleasure. But it's not a worldly thing to have pleasure. And it's not a worldly thing to have pain. It's the being happy for the pleasure in being. And that's the worldly part. The spiritual part is, the Buddhism part is, that the inconceivable Dharma is not apart from this pain and not apart from this pleasure. Can we make our feelings of pain, can we

[61:47]

Make those, dedicate those, devote those, donate those. Can we take care of them? Can we take care of them as taking care of the teaching of suchness? The answer might be, of course, not right now, I confess. I can't take care of this pain like, okay, I'm going to take care of this pain. I'm going to take responsibility for this pain, to take care of it for Buddhism. I can't do it, okay? Before Buddhas were Buddhas, they were just like you. So it's not that you have to put your hands together in the proper Soto Zen mudra.

[63:16]

It's not that you have to salute in the Soto Zen way. It's not that you have to bow, prostrate yourself in the proper Soto Zen way. It's not that you have to eat your meals in the proper Soto Zen way. Whatever way you eat, and whatever way you bow, and whatever way you walk, and whatever way you talk, that whatever it is, you understand that that activity is not from the inconceivable Buddha Dharma, and that you and that you give yourself as fully as a grandmother does to this activity. You don't grasp this activity, actually.

[64:23]

You don't grasp it. You give it rather than hold it. So you don't make decisions on your own. You do this together with others. The criterion by which you check to see if you're giving this rather than holding it is the self-fulfilling samadhi, that you're doing it together. So when you people arrived here on Sunday, and having dinner, I took my grandson for a walk. I took my grandson for a walk. No. He took me for a walk.

[65:24]

He said, let's go to the garden together. So, of course, we go. In what way do I go? Am I grandfatherly towards him? And am I grandfatherly towards the inconceivable dharma? Being grandfatherly to the inconceivable dharma, I go with him more wholeheartedly. If I think there's an inconceivable dharma apart from going with him, I have just betrayed the inconceivable Dharma. But it also requires that I give myself to the inconceivable Dharma when I go with him for Buddhism to live.

[66:26]

So I go with him to the garden and he wants to see the sunflowers. And then he wants to see some other sunflowers. They were in more than one location. So we go to the other sunflowers. And then he says he wants to hear songs about sunflowers. So I sing him a song about sunflowers. My sunflower, my only sunflower, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunflower away. And then he says... So then we do the poppy song. And then the sunflower song.

[67:29]

And then he carries a baseball bat with him most places. Oh, and then he goes over to a tree and starts to get ready to hit the tree with a baseball bat. And I say, don't hit the tree, you'll hurt the tree. And he swings at it anyway. And I said, don't, you'll hurt the tree. And he says, tree is crying. And I say, yeah, tree is crying. And then he says, you hit the tree, he says to me. And I said, I'm sorry. He said, you hit the bush. And I said, I'm sorry. He said, you hit the ground. And I said, I'm sorry. And we go through the rest of the garden.

[68:37]

He's telling me all the things I'm hitting. I disagree with him. I just say I'm sorry. 28, 29 years ago and before, I thought there was some Buddhism apart from what I was doing. Still today, there's a flicker of that. Is there an opportunity here, walking with your grandson, is there an opportunity here to notice that you think Buddhism's apart

[69:41]

from this monastic activity of taking a walk with your grandson? Can walking with your grandson be a monastic activity? The person who is inheriting the Dharma which the Buddhas are transmitting constantly. The person who inherits the Dharma is in that process and it isn't that when they start taking care of their grandson that the transmission stops. But this person must practice while taking care of the grandson. You must not on this person at this moment must not make an exception just like you don't make an exception well I'm not gonna take care of my grandchild now now I'll let them hit the tree I don't care now I'll let them fall into the pond I don't care no no exception of course

[71:09]

But how about the grandmotherly mind of the Buddhas that takes care of you as much as you take care of your grandchild? And how do you take care of Buddhism? I made an agreement to give a class in Berkeley tonight.

[72:40]

I'm sorry. But I feel I should go because it might not be helpful to those people if I don't show up. I request you to allow me to go give the class. You won't see me here for a few hours. But I'll come back to the monastery and continue being led together with you in the Buddha way. I want to learn this grandmotherly heart. I want you to learn it too, so that you can plunge into this process of all the Buddhas together transmitting the inconceivable Dharma.

[73:55]

And again, to forgive yourself if you slip off this grandmotherly heart and understand that your ancestors also slipped off sometimes. and that they got over it and had the great joy of... Forget about getting over it, but anyway, the great joy of once in a while being present, once in a while being wholeheartedly devoted Inconceivable Dharma and this wonderful practice which is not apart from it.

[75:09]

Now you have it. Please take care of it.

[75:17]

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