Morning. So this morning I'm going to present a koan from the Blue Cliff Record, case number nine. I may have talked about this recently, presented this recently. This is about Joshu, Master Joshu, who was one of the great teachers, Zen teachers in the Tang Dynasty. And he came from the town of Zhouzhou. That's Chinese. We usually use Japanese pronunciations or both or something like that. It's a little confusing, but we used to always use the Japanese pronunciation because our study was from the Japanese. And then we started using the Chinese pronunciations because all the ancestors from China were Chinese.

[01:08]

So sometimes we say it one way and sometimes the other. Joe Shu, we usually say Joe Shu. People say, oh yeah, Joe Shu. We say Joe Joe. We say who? So, can you hear me okay? Don't say that. I can think of all kinds of things. So, Jojo, or Joshu, came from the town of Joshu. He lived to be apparently 120. Some people say 119, but… And so he stayed with Nansen, his teacher, for 40 or 50 years, and then he went out on his own to teach.

[02:30]

He said, and he went visiting other teachers, and he said, if I run into a little girl, nine years old, who has the Dharma, I'll listen to her and learn from her. And if I run into an old man who doesn't know what he's talking about, I'll just dismiss it. So he was very open and broad-minded. And of course, he was probably the most famous Zen master in the Tang Dynasty. So he went back to live in the town of Zhoushu. He kind of retired there, I guess, and he lived there for another 40 years. Never mind the numbers, but it was a long time. And so, they were often traveling monks who would come and ask him questions to see if they could trick him into stumbling.

[03:50]

Of course, Joshua is famous for never stumbling, but always being able to turn himself in a way that raised the question to a different level. So, there are two Koans, number nine and number 53. that deal with a monk asking him a question about himself, maybe, an ambiguous question. So in one story, the monk came to Joshu, and he said, well, I want to explain a little bit before that. There was a famous bridge in the town of Joshu, But it was not an ordinary bridge.

[04:54]

It was a bunch of stepping stones. It was not an obvious, humanly built bridge, but a natural bridge. And it was very famous because it's very beautiful. You couldn't build a bridge as beautiful as the natural bridge that already existed. The monk said to Joshu, I've arrived here in Joshu to see the bridge, the famous bridge of Joshu, but all I see is a bunch of stepping stones. And Joshu said, it's true, you only see a bunch of stepping stones, but you don't see the true bridge of Joshu. And the monk said, Where is the true bridge? What is the true bridge of Joshu?

[05:56]

And Joshu said, horses cross, donkeys cross. Let's go on. So, is he talking about the bridge or is he talking about Joshu? So Joshua has a way of not denying what the monk is saying, but using what the monk is saying to raise it to a different level. You may not understand the koan yet, but that's not the koan I'm going to talk about. The koan I'm going to talk about is a different a monk who came to Joshu. And there's an introduction to this koan. The end goes introduction.

[07:00]

This is the book of record. He says, in a bright mirror on its stand, beauty and ugliness are revealed. With the baku-ya sword in hand, killing and sparing are brought under control. A handsome fellow appearing, an ugly one comes. An ugly fellow disappearing, a handsome one comes. Life is found in death, death is found in life. If you have no eye to penetrate the barrier, no freedom to turn around, you'll be lost on the way. So tell me, what is the eye that penetrates the barrier? What is the freedom to turn about? So that's the introduction. See the following. So here's the main subject.

[08:02]

A monk asked Joshu, what is Joshu? Joshu said, east gate, the west gate, the south gate, the north gate. And then Sitcho, the compiler of the bluecliff record, has a verse. He says, its intention concealed, the question came. The diamond king's eye was as clear as a jewel. There stood the gates, north, south, east, and west, but the heaviest hammer blow could not open them. So I'm going to go back to the introduction. Then goes introduction. In the bright mirror on its stand, beauty and ugliness are revealed. A mirror, of course, reveals things as they really are.

[09:06]

The mirror doesn't distort unless you have a distortion mirror, which we used to have at the funhouse. when we had fun houses at the beach, a mirror simply sees things as it is. So a mirror, I remember at one point when we used to go to Sokoji Temple, the original Zen temple in San Francisco, At one point, Suzuki Roshi put up a mirror at the entrance to the zendo. And so when you passed by the mirror, you would see yourself before you made a comment or before you changed the idea of your appearance. You saw your appearance.

[10:08]

It's like when you're walking down the street downtown and you pass a window and you see your reflection in the mirror and you say, that looks familiar. Oh yeah, that's me. Oh my God. That's what I look like. So you see everything as it is. The mirror sees just as it is without distortion, without the opinion or wishful thinking. So, beauty and ugliness are revealed. And there's a reference to this. There were two Chinese towns, and in one Chinese town, everybody was beautiful, and in the other town, everybody was ugly. So, I don't know if that's really true. It's legendary, right? So, beauty and ugliness are revealed.

[11:09]

So, with the Bakugyu sword in hand, killing and sparing are brought under control. This is like famous, this is very famous in Chinese literature. The sword that kills and the sword that brings to life. And sometimes the sword that kills is the sword that brings it to life. So, in Zen parlance, it's used to mean to destroy, the sword that cuts off your ego, kills you, means killing or killing your ego, and it brings you to life. So this is actually what Zen practice is about. You enter Zen practice in order to commit suicide.

[12:14]

You don't know it, but the purpose of Zen practice is to not be dominated by ego. So this is Monjushri's sword, sword of wisdom, that's used by the Zen master to help the student to get beyond egotistical activity, being controlled by self-centeredness, basically. So, a handsome fellow disappearing, an ugly one comes. An ugly fellow disappearing, a handsome one comes. So, life is found in death, and death is found in life. So, how do we deal with that?

[13:21]

Is that true? We have life and we have death. Actually, I usually use the words birth and death, rather than life and death. Because life, in our understanding, includes both birth and death. If we say life and death, they are not really opposites. Birth is the opposite of death. So if you don't have the I to penetrate the barrier, no freedom to turn about, you will be lost on the way. If you have no I to penetrate the barrier, well, what is the barrier?

[14:24]

The barrier is our self-centeredness, our ego, our the root of our desire to be attached to either birth or death. So, you know, it's very interesting. We don't think of attachment to death or attachment. We think of attachment to life, but we don't usually think about attachment to death. It's the same with pain and pleasure. We don't realize We think, well, it's easy to be attached to pleasure, but actually, we are also attached to pain. And this is what we find out in Zazen. This is what we discover at some point in Zazen, that we're really attached to pain, or attached to difficulties, or discomfort.

[15:29]

Because if you were not attached to discomfort, it wouldn't bother us. So if you have no I to penetrate the barrier, which is our self-centeredness, our ego, our false sense of self, you don't have any freedom to turn around. So you will be lost on the way. So tell me, what is the I that penetrates this barrier? What is the freedom to turn about? So here's the case. a monk asked Joshu, what is Joshu?

[16:32]

And Joshu said, the East Gate, the West Gate, the North Gate, the South Gate. So, this is Joshu responding from his deepest place. The monk is trying to catch him, and which is, you know, What is joshu? If joshu says, well, joshu is me, the monk could say, well, I was just talking about the city of joshu. And if joshu says, well, it's just the city, the monk would say, what I'm really talking about is you. So joshu uses the city to incorporates one to express himself and the other side. So he says East Gate, South Gate, North Gate, West Gate, or however it is.

[17:35]

So a city has four gates, and each one of us is like a city. We have four gates, East Gate, West Gate, South Gate, North Gate. Inside the city is a, the old cities, you know, had a, it's a square. And when you go to a city, the city had a wall, and inside the wall was a square. And inside the square was a, the heart of the city, which was usually a temple or a church. So, the outer wall and the inner wall and the Holy of Holies.

[18:40]

In the old temple, Solomon's temple, They had a holy of holies, which the head priest would enter once a year, and there was nothing in it, totally an empty room. Interesting. So, Joshua was speaking from that place. Joshu could, before thinking, or thinking and speaking were not separate. Joshu made this statement which is beyond thinking and includes thinking. But he didn't think about what to say, he just said what he had to say, which was the most accurate thing.

[19:50]

Because, Joshua was speaking from the center of that place. When you're at the center of that place, whatever you say is meaningful. It's beyond thinking, actually. but the statement is accurate and includes everything. This statement gives us a lot of interesting play. It opens up a lot of teaching. In our Zen practice, we have what's called the Four Wisdoms, the Four Gates, you could say. The Mirror Wisdom, which the introduction has been talking about, the Equality Wisdom, the Subtle Observing Wisdom,

[21:06]

and the perfection of action wisdom. So these are the four gates of Joshua. These are Joshua's four gates. The mirror wisdom is the gate of accurate perception. Without, as I explained, the gate of equality is to see everything as equal. Everything has the same nature. Every dharma or every entity has the same nature, which is Buddha nature, as we say. So this is the gate of equality.

[22:08]

We're all the same. Then there's the gate of subtle observation, which is to see each entity separately. Everyone has a different face. Everything has a different function and a shape and a form. And to understand or to see what each entity is in its true sense is the gate of subtle observation. And then the gate of appropriate action is the result. Appropriate action is the activity informed by these three wisdoms. So when we can see everything as it is, without distortion, and when we can realize the equality of everything, the fundamental equality, and a subtle observation, which is the hierarchy of each thing.

[23:25]

compared to other things, then we know how to act according to wisdom instead of according to self-centeredness or partiality. Because instead of using ourself as a measuring stick we measure everything according to reality or the way it really is. It's really hard because we're so prone to seeing everything through the eyes of partiality. So this is the sword that cuts through and cuts off our partiality and reveals our wisdom. It's called wholeness instead of partiality.

[24:36]

So, Setso has a verse, and in the verse he says, its intention concealed, the question came. In other words, he's talking about the monk. His intention wasn't revealed until he opened his mouth. And then Joshu perceived his intention, right? So its intention concealed, the question came. The Diamond King, who is Joshu, his eye was as clear as a jewel. So this is the observing wisdom. He could see right through the monk. He could see who he was. When you have this, just what kind of wisdom, you can see who people are. You can see into the heart of people just by the way somebody holds themselves, talks,

[25:45]

acts, and so forth. I wanted, you know, when the teacher has Dōkasan. Dōkasan, of course, most of you know, is our teacher-student dialogue. So the teacher knows something about the student, The teacher has no idea about what is going to happen, and no preconceptions. Should have no preconceptions. Just the student walks in the door, and when the teacher hears the knock on the door, he knows something about the student. Is this a ding-ding? Or is this a bam-bam? Or is... What... That the knock itself It is how the student presents themselves.

[26:50]

And that's a clue or a key for the teacher in understanding where that student is at the time. So the teacher knows something about the student just hearing the knock. Then the student opens the door and walks in. Sometimes the student starts talking before they sit down. or while they're sitting down, then that's another clue about seeing into the heart of what's going on with the student, fundamentally. The teacher is not so much interested in the particulars of the student's question, although that's important, but where the student is, fundamentally, So then the student sits down, and then the teacher discerns how the student holds themselves when they're sitting down.

[27:59]

And then the student maybe speaks, says something, and then the teacher says something, and so forth. They have a dialogue, or they don't do anything at all. Sometimes the student just sits down and doesn't say anything. And then after five minutes, they get up and walk out. That also happens. That's okay. But, so the teacher, because the teacher has no preconception and nothing in their mind at all, they can see right through the student. Before the student opens their mouth, even, but then when the student opens their mouth, that's another level. and then whatever happens, happens. But the student's not trying to help, trying to, the teacher is not trying to answer the student's questions like he would answer, what are we having for dinner?

[29:02]

It's helping the student to bring their question up to a level that meets the teacher's inquiry, even though the teacher's not asking the question. The teacher is not asking the question. Sometimes the teacher does ask the question in order to, you know, bring something out of the student. So this dialogue is like that. Joshu is helping the student, which is a good student actually, to open their mind up to the empty room.

[30:05]

I ran across an interesting poem I don't know who wrote this exactly, but it says, through the east gate, you'll find a desert. Through the west gate, there is a field of wheat. Through the north gate rise jagged mountains. Through the south gate lies the deep blue sea. Who knows for sure where Joshu has gone? In the abandoned courtyard, hens and chickens scratch the earth. In the abandoned courtyard, chickens, hens and chickens scratch the earth. Maybe it should be hens and roosters, I don't know. You want me to read that again? Through the east gate, you'll find a desert.

[31:10]

Through the west gate is the field of wheat. Through the north gate rise jagged mountains. And through the south gate lies the deep blue sea. So this is the world, right? Who knows for sure where Joshu has gone? In the abandoned courtyard, hens and chickens scratch the earth. So, The teacher should be helping the student to find the abandoned courtyard where chickens are scratching the earth. Where is Joshu? It's a wonderful picture of the world surrounding the courtyard. Where's Joshu?

[32:13]

Hens and chickens are scratching the earth. So Joshu, you know, it's a wonderful teacher. He's not trying to do anything, but people come to see him and he addresses them. He responds to them. He just responds to them. But where he responds from is remarkable. In our daily life, trying to figure out how to live our life moment to moment, given all the circumstances that appear before us.

[33:23]

So where is the place that we come from to do that? How do we figure out what to do? So there's a big question here about birth and death, where he says, life is found in death and death in life. If you have no eye to penetrate the barrier, no freedom to turn about, you'll be lost on the way. So why would we be lost on the way? Everybody has to deal with this question. So this is definitely the deep question in our Zen practice, the question of—this is called the fundamental thing—the question of birth and death.

[34:36]

How will you handle this? Where will you find the place to turn? Where will you find a place to see the reality and act according to what's really happening? Underlying the sentiments and the fears and the anxieties, where is that place, the comfortable place? It's like in Zazen, where do you find the comfortable place? Because Zazen, when you sit Zazen, there's always a place where you don't want to stay and you can't leave.

[35:42]

And that's the question of birth and death. You want to stay, but you have to leave. It's the opposite. You want to stay, but you have to leave. And in Zazen, you want to leave, but you have to stay. But it's the same thing. So that's the place, that's the koan. That's the, so, Joshua's coming from that place. He's coming from that place of everything is the way it's supposed to be. Everything is just as it's supposed to be. It's beyond liking and disliking. It's beyond wanting and not wanting. It's beyond I wish or don't wish.

[36:47]

It's like, this is the place to be right now, even though it's not, it has nothing to do with wanting and not wanting, liking and not liking. Then, you can't leave and you can't stay. You have to leave, but you want to stay. It's called acceptance. People don't like it. Sometimes we talk about acceptance and people, oh, what about this and what about that? Sorry. I'm sorry. So we have to be able to, once we can accept that, I think when we talk about how to hospice, how to deal with people that are dying in hospice. And I remember Kino-sensei saying, when someone is dying, and you know that that's the path, you help them to do that.

[38:03]

Rather than trying to pull them back, you help them to go. But you can only help them to go when you feel that you can also do that. That's comfort, is to go with what's going on. I asked a hoitsu one time, I said, you know, we don't have much of a written down clue as to how you deal with people that are dying and help them. And I said, oh, well, when you talk to people that are dying, you can say, don't worry, everything in the world is going along with you. The whole world is going right along with you. You're not leaving something behind because everything that is present is going with you, which is so.

[39:05]

So you allow yourself to be carried along into the great mysterious thing called death, which is not the opposite of life, the opposite of birth. But birth and death are the same thing. So, East Gate, South Gate, North Gate, there really are no gates. The gates are closed when we are closed, and the gates are open when we are open. So Joshu is at the center of light, if you want to call it that, and he simply radiates light.

[40:18]

And people are attracted to that light because it's their own light. They're attracted to something in Joshu which matches their own light. So when Joshu's light and the student's light are one light, that's called transmission. transmitting the Dharma. There's nothing to transmit. There's simply one thing. And the one thing is the mother of all things. So I know that it's time to stop. But if somebody has a question, Charlie, Yes, yeah. Well, that's true, but at the same time, we're alive at the same time.

[41:27]

We're dead and alive at the same time. So if you fall into one side or the other, you have a long way to go. Within birth is death, and within death is birth. Each moment is a moment of birth and death. That's how we understand it. What? It kills the, I'm not talking about killing yourself, killing, you know, cutting your throat. I'm talking, this is about letting go of ego. That's, there's a koan of Joshu's called, that says, one who has died the great death come back to life again. So, the two extremes of death and life are extremes.

[42:31]

And if you are attached to one or the other, you make a big mistake. to totally live your life when you're alive. I'm using that term. And to totally be dead when you're dead. But what is it that is alive and dead? It's the ego. So killing the ego doesn't kill the person. it brings the person to life. John. Of course. Of course. Yeah. That's also a barrier, but it's natural, normal. It's normal to be afraid.

[43:49]

It's like sometimes you feel underwater. People can feel underwater because we're afraid to take a breath of fresh air. Fresh air is like, you know, when you're released from something, you take a breath of fresh air, right? But that can be, the breath of fresh air can be scary. So often we live in a kind of haze, you know, and it's comfortable. The haze is comfortable. The smog that we live in is comfortable. Yeah, he's totally clear. There's no Joshu. There's no Joshu.

[44:52]

Clear air. Yes. Four gates. When you, the chickens are pecking. When you get inside the center of the circle, There's no Joshu. Joshu is everywhere. Everywhere is Joshu. And yet Joshu is a specific person. But Joshu's true body is the whole universe. That's called fresh air. Linda. Let's not be getting into chickens. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, okay.

[45:55]

Please continue. Yes, I understand. He said, well, what about it? What about it? You mean that he's molesting her? What do you mean? He said, if I, if... Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. But what was your question going to be? You know, I'm feeling a little discouraged right now.

[47:31]

About what? Because what I thought I was conveying was received in a way that shocked me and not in a good way. Yeah, that's what I felt from your question. It shocked me in a way that... Yeah, well I apologize. Because my mind, because I had a preconceived notion about what you were going to say. Yeah, which was contrary to what I was teaching. Yeah, yeah. My question is, in the modern world, we do all sorts of things which is sort of egotistical.

[48:40]

In the modern world, we have to do things that are sort of egotistical. You apply for a job, you send in your resume, and the students at college are currently worrying about their GPA. Sure, yes, yes. And many things like this. Yes. Yes, how do I do that? Yes, how do I present myself in a world which is full of compromise, right, in a way that's uncompromising?

[49:40]

That's your go-on, and I can't answer it for you. But it's a great go-on. We all have it. How do I, you know, how do I approach everything I meet in a way that would be compromising without compromising. It's a great go-on. That's the go-on we all have, all the time. You apply for a job, and you want a job, and you hope for the job, and you've got the expectations, and blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, boom, you know, how do you deal with that? How do you deal with disappointments? How do you deal with frustrations? That's our life. I can't answer for you, but that's your go-on. Great go-on. This is the last one. This lady who I don't know. Speak up.

[50:42]

Rebecca. Rebecca. Can you hear me? Rebecca is her name. Your name? Oh, hi Rebecca. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so in Zen parlance, ego means a false sense of self. It's a confection. We build up through experience and desire a false sense of self and act out through that false sense of self, which is not complete.

[51:46]

We're acting from a sense of falsehood. So it's not, the ego is not based on essence of mind. It's based on ideas and partiality. And it's a construction. So that's what we mean by ego. And psychology has different, you know. And I will, myself, I think of, I don't think of killing ego. Because I think we need some ego. So instead of killing it, we train it. Because it has a function. And so we train the ego so that it's not the boss. And so we can, it's like, you know, you train a dog or a horse, right?

[52:56]

And when you train the horse, you can teach it to do wonderful things rather than just letting it, you know, letting it run through town with a cart and turning over everybody's apples. Something like that. It's a big study, but that basically, That's it. It's always fun to talk about this when you get deep into it. So I'm going to read the story, this little poem, once more. Through the East Gate, you'll find a desert. Through the West Gate, there's a field of wheat. Through the North Gate, rice-jagged mountains. And through the South Gate lies the deep blue sea. Who knows for sure where Joshua has gone? In the abandoned courtyard. That means no ego.

[54:00]

Hens and chickens scratch the earth. To explain it would be terrible.

[54:11]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ