There's an old Chinese ghost story that I'll tell you. It turns out that in China, many, many years ago, there was a father and he had a very beautiful daughter. And her name was Seijo. And Sejo used to play with a little boy named Echu. And they got along very well. And they were like little soulmates. And so the father recognized this.

[01:02]

And just jokingly one day, he said, when you two grow up, you'll be married. Just a kind of comment at the moment. But children take things rather seriously sometimes. And so the kids believed it. And when they grew up, they were very close. And they actually thought that that was what was going to happen. But actually, the father had different plans for Sejo. And when it came time for her, when she actually grew up, he said, there's this other man that I really want you to marry because he's got this and that,

[02:06]

as he's wealthy and has some position. And she was extremely disappointed, as you can imagine. And Ochu was completely devastated and couldn't stand to stick around. So in the middle of the night, he took a boat, small boat, and started to sail down the river to another city. And as he was moving along in the boat, he saw a little figure on the shore, running and waving. So he pulled over and stopped the boat, and it was Sejo. So he pulled her aboard, and they sailed down the river to another city.

[03:15]

So they settled in this other city, and they got married, and they had two children. And they stayed there for about five years. or something like that, five or six years. And one day, Sejo said, you know, I'm feeling rather lonely for my father. And I'd really like to go back and make up. And Echu sympathized with that. He felt lonely, too. So they decided to go back, pay a visit to Daddy. They got in their boat and sailed back to town, to their old hometown. And when they got to the dock, Echu said, you stay here and I'll go talk to your father.

[04:21]

So Echu went and knocked on the door and the father opened the door. And he said, oh, Ei-Chu, how nice to see you. It's been a long time. I wondered how you've been doing, and you seem to have disappeared. And Ei-Chu said, well, you know, Se-Jo and I ran off together, and we got married, and we have two children, and we wanted to come back and see you and visit you. He said, the father said, what? I don't know quite what you're talking about. He had a puzzled look on his face. He said, what do you mean? Sejo has been with you. And they looked at each other again. And the father said, Sejo has been here for five years. She's been in bed, unable to talk and unable to get up.

[05:25]

And Echu said, scratched his head. And they had this little dialogue of misunderstanding going on, or what seemed to be misunderstanding. And finally, Echu said, well, why don't you come down to the dock and take a look and see for yourself? And so the father sent a servant down with ate you to the dock. And sure enough, the servant saw Seijo and their two children. So they went back to the house. And when they got to the door, the father saw Seijo. So he went back to the room where he felt that Seijo was sleeping, or lying in bed for five years, unable to speak, or get up, or unwilling. And he whispered in her ear that there was another Sejo at the door.

[06:32]

So Sejo, lying in bed, smiled, got up out of bed for the first time, went to the door, and the two Sejos went for each other and embraced and turned into one Sejo. And then, the father said to Sejo, he said, you've been staying in bed for five years, unable to speak or get up. And then Sejo said, yes, and at the same time, I ran away with Ochu. We stayed for five years in another city and had two children. She says, to tell you the truth, I really don't know which is the true me.

[07:34]

I can't figure out which is the true Sejo. That's the story. Master Mumon, in his collection of koans, uses this story as a koan for his students. And his koan is, which is the true Seijo? Which one is the true Seijo? And the name of this koan is Seijo and Her Soul Departed. This is case number 35 of the Mumon-Khan.

[09:04]

The koan is like this, Goso, Master Goso asked the monk, Seijo and her soul are departed, are separated, which is the true one? Which is the true Seijo? Master Mumon has a commentary on the koan, and he says, if you are enlightened in the truth of this koan, you will then know that coming out of one husk and getting into another is like a traveler's putting up in hotels. In case you are not yet enlightened, do not rush about blindly. When suddenly earth, water, fire, and air are decomposed, you will be like a crab fallen into boiling water, struggling with its seven arms and eight legs. Do not say then that I have not warned you." And then Master Mumon has a poem.

[10:17]

The poem goes, ever the same, the moon among the clouds, different from each other, the mountain and the valley. How wonderful, how blessed. Is this one or two? We can look at this koan in various ways. This is a koan about the oneness of duality or the duality of oneness. Is everything one or is everything two? Are we separate or are we one with everything? What is our true nature? And consequently, who are we?

[11:24]

Or basically, who am I? Or what am I? Or what is this? If you're asked, who are you? What will you say? If someone says, who are you? Where would you point to? Where is the real you that you will point to? Are we the body? Are we the mind? Are we spirit or soul? Soul here means persona. You know, we talk about soul and soul food, but there are different meanings to the word soul.

[12:37]

So in Buddhism, when we use the word soul, we have to clarify what we mean, because we don't mean some little spark that transmigrates from one body to another. That's not what we mean by soul in Buddhism. In Buddhism, according to Buddha Dharma, there's no such thing as a permanent entity or an everlasting spark or persona. So Master Muman says, if you are enlightened in the truth of this koan, you will know then that coming out of one husk and getting into another is like a traveler's putting up in hotels.

[13:41]

So superficially, this sounds like a soul transmigrating from one body to another, but that's not what he means here. This koan also can be seen from the point of view of life and death. Which is the true life? What we call life or what we call death? In Buddhadharma, We say that birth and death appear moment by moment. Past, present and future are very difficult to grasp.

[14:43]

The past is ungraspable. The future is just an idea and the present is always transforming. So where do each one of us, where does each one of us stand in past, present, or future? This escalator of past, present, and future. Each one of us is a part of the process of past, present, and future. But are we in the present? Are we in the past? Are we in the future? Where are we? And where are we is not different from who are we.

[15:51]

Which is the real me? So, coming out of one husk and getting into another is like a traveler going from one hotel to another. In our travels, Whether we're going someplace or not, our life is constantly changing. Our life and the life around us are constantly changing. The person of this moment is the person of this moment, the same person as the last moment or different? Each moment is a new embodiment.

[17:05]

So in our journey from birth to death, in this space of time, we go from one form to another. like a traveler in hotels, but who is it that's traveling? Who's doing the traveling? At 60, you may feel the same as you felt at 25, but who is it that feels? Who is it that sees? Who is it that understands? So Master Mumon goes on to say, in case you are not yet enlightened, don't rush around blindly. His implication is, if you don't understand, sit down and do Zazen.

[18:16]

If you want to understand, you should sit down and do Zazen. If you want to unify body and mind with yourself, you should find out how to do that. Don't rush around blindly trying to figure it out. We can't figure out who am I. We can only be ourself. Suzuki Roshi used to say, when you are you, then Zen is Zen. But how do we become ourself? In Buddhist philosophy, there is no self.

[19:22]

And this no self is ourself. We have no real individual self, even though we act as if we do. There is no permanent self. Our self is always constantly changing with everything else. One whole being, which is constantly changing, is our true self. And each one of us is a manifestation of our true self. It's like the ocean and the waves. The nature of each one of us is water. And each wave

[20:28]

is a different expression of the water. So, even though I am me and you are you, at the same time, we're just one being. But this is just philosophy, good philosophy. and easy to understand. But how do we express it? How do we know it? How do we live from it? How do we become one with our true Self? This is what Master Moo Man is talking about. How do we become one with who we really are? Master Tozan, when he was traveling, looked in the stream.

[21:36]

When he was crossing a stream, he looked down in the stream and saw his reflection and became enlightened. He said, everywhere I go, everywhere I turn, I see myself. This is the life of pure subjectivity. For Tozan, everything he saw, everything he met, was a manifestation of himself. Not his ego, not his idea, but his true self. There was nothing outside of his true self. Everywhere I go, I see myself, or I meet myself.

[22:39]

Tozan was immersed in the great ocean. so he could understand that all the waves were part of his own nature, not something separate from himself. Master Mumon says, when suddenly Earth Water, fire, and air are decomposed. When all the elements that compose our body, mind, decompose, you will be like a crab falling into boiling water, struggling with its seven arms and eight legs. Do not say then that I have not warned you.

[23:48]

Don't say that I didn't tell you you should find out who you are before you die. Otherwise, you have a difficult time coming and going. Which is the true Seijo? Which is the true me? The one that's alive, seemingly alive, or the one that's dead, dying? How do we go easily and willingly into the next stage of total life? Master Dogen says, within birth and death, we find Buddha. What is our preference?

[25:03]

Well, when alive, our preference is to be alive. Good. When dead, our preference is to be dead. Why should we have some preference outside of reality? Why should we want something outside of reality. And what do we trust in? Big question. What kind of trust do we have in this universe that we're part of, that is ourself? And when we know through and through who we are, even though we have a problem, it's not a problem.

[26:09]

There was a great Zen master who said, when he was about ready to die, he said, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. That's very real. We don't want to die, but please die. So this question touches all of us. which is more real for us, life or death. You know, life and death alternate with each other moment by moment. When we inhale, this is coming to life.

[27:20]

When we exhale, this is dying. But after we exhale, We inhale again, come back to life. And then we exhale again, and die. And then we inhale again, and come back to life. Life and death are a constant process on each moment. If we want to study life and death, it's right here in front of us, on each breath. But in this process of birth and death on each moment, there is a total life which encompasses both. This birth and death on each moment takes place within the realm of total life.

[28:31]

So which side of life do you prefer? Inhaling or exhaling? In order to inhale, we have to exhale. And in order to exhale, we have to inhale. Which is the true life? Inhaling or exhaling? So here is Master Mumon's koan. Which one is the true Sejo? Which one is the true me or you? Our life is always split in duality. This realm of this world is the world of duality.

[29:38]

good and bad, right and wrong, life and death, spirit and body, and so forth. If we know how to be one with our true Self, then we can understand our activity in the realm of true suchness, in pure subjectivity. Sometimes, you know, we see that we have a kind of persona that we present to the world.

[30:46]

Each one of us has a built-up persona that faces the world and deals with the world. But underneath, there's a different feeling. of myself. What will I do? And how will I face this world? So sometimes we feel, which is the real me? The one that has to do all these things or the one inside that would like to do something? or like to express itself in some way. The one who says, I should do such and such, and the one who says, I want to do such and such.

[31:54]

So each one of us is caught by should do and want to do. What should I do and what do I want to do? And when should do and want to do are one thing, then we know who we are. When we want to do what we should do and should do what we want to do, then we come together with the universe, with our universal nature. So in Mumon's poem he says, ever the same the moon among the clouds. The moon, you know, even though the clouds come and go and sometimes obscure the moon, the moon is always present as itself.

[33:06]

And even though the shadow of the earth causes the moon to look different ways, the moon itself has not really changed. Half moon, quarter moon, it's still the whole moon. Different from each other are the mountain and the valley. The mountain is the mountain and the valley is the valley, and they're very different. different waves of the earth. Mountains and valleys are actually frozen earth waves, and the earth is like a big sea. That's like saying each wave is different, wave upon wave. How wonderful, how blessed In other words, everything, just as it is, is reality, if we understand it.

[34:11]

And then he says, is this one or two? Is it one or two? If you say it's one, then you ignore all the differences. And if you say it's two, you ignore the sameness of everything. So which is it, one or two? Are we connected with everything or are we separate from everything? You can't quite say one or the other. If you fall into one side or the other, you lose your life. Which is the true Sejo?

[35:34]

Which is the true you? This is not an easy koan. It's the koan that everyone has to work with for our entire life. Thank you.

[36:18]

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