Good evening. So tonight I'm starting a series of talks on the Book of Serenity. So I want to talk about case one of the Book of Serenity tonight. But I want to introduce the Book of Serenity, so I don't know if I'll get through case one. We'll see. I won't necessarily finish There's 100 cases, so I won't necessarily finish each case in one talk. But the Book of Serenity is the most important Koan collection in the Soto, Zao Dong tradition. It's patterned after the Blue Cliff Record, which is another important Kōan collection. So, to say a little bit about Kōans, first of all, there were many, many formal Kōan collections in China.

[01:02]

A few more were created in Japan. There are three primary Koan collections that are studied now. The Blue Cliff Record, the Book of Serenity, and the Gateless Barrier, which is much simpler in terms of how it's constructed. But the Book of Serenity is patterned after the Blue Cliff Record. I need to say something about the structure of it, because you can't just read through it from beginning to end, or one could, I guess, but it's not really the way to read it. So the Blue Cliff record was created by, initially, by a teacher named Shuedo from the Yunmen lineage, and then a great Linji or Rinzai teacher named Yuanwu Well, Shwedo wrote, picked 100 cases. stories and wrote verse commentaries on them, usually four-line verses, and then wrote an introduction to the whole thing, a commentary on the case and a commentary on the verse, and then kind of little one-line commentaries on the case and the verse.

[02:22]

So the Book of Serenity, or Shoya Roku, which I'm going to be talking about, is constructed, has the exact same structure. The cases and the verses were selected by Hongzhe Zhongshui, who is a very important Zhaodong, in Chinese, or Soto teacher, a century before Dogen, 1091 to 1157 in China, the most important teacher in our lineage in that period, who was very influential on Dogen. Dogen quotes him a lot, and I translated a book of his practice instructions called Cultivating the Empty Field, which we talked about last year in our practice commitment period. Hangzhou was very learned and poetic, but these cases and verses, Dogen knew the cases and verses, he didn't know the Book of Serenity as is, because later on another teacher named Wansong, who's pretty interesting also, was sort of contemporary with Dogen, but later.

[03:42]

did the same, patterned after the Blue Cliff Record, also wrote introductions to the whole case, commentaries on the case, and commentaries on the verses, and then added sayings. So the way to read each of these cases is really to read the case itself first, then Hongzhi's verse commentary, then go back and read Wansong's introduction, or you could read that after reading his commentaries, but then to read the commentary on the case and the commentary on the verse. Often, as in this case one, Hongzhe's verse is as important or as interesting as the case itself. So this is a complicated literary form. And the point of Koans is not to You know, sometimes they're considered paradoxical riddles to confuse your mind or something, or that you have to solve.

[04:48]

And that's not the point. These are all teaching stories about some aspect of our practice. So this is not some intellectual game. They're stories from our teaching tradition. And the point of looking at them is open up aspects of our own practice. That's why they've been studied for a thousand years. And I sometimes, so Dogen talked about a lot of these cases frequently in his writings, a lot of these old teaching stories. Usually, often the teaching stories are dialogues between a teacher and a student, or between two teachers, or anyway. But sometimes they go back further, like this one. But. So this is a kind of a literary event in a way.

[05:55]

But it contains elemental teachings from our tradition. So I'm going to go through them. We'll see how long it takes to get to the 100th case. I'm not going to talk about them in every Dharma talk. But in between other things, I'll be talking about them in sequence. Case one is called The World Honored One Ascends the Seat. And I think maybe these titles are from Tom Cleary, whose translation I'm using. So the case. One day, the World Honored One, that's Shakyamuni Buddha, ascended the seat. Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. We've been studying about these Bodhisattvas, including Manjushri. When Manjushri struck the gavel and said, clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma.

[07:04]

The dharma of the king of dharma is thus. The world honored one then got down from the seat. So that's the whole case. That's the basic story. And there's, you know, a lot I could say about it. In a way, he was like the Doan. I guess back then, instead of a bell, they would announce the the speaker, and actually this is done sometimes in the Shuso ceremony still in Japan where there's a big column and a wooden gavel and they pound it. But anyway, this is in some ways Manjushri announcing this preempted Buddha from speaking. I guess he could have said something. After hearing that, the World Honored One just got down from His seat and went back to His room.

[08:12]

So there's a lot to say about that. And there's a lot of commentary. And this is an introduction. And there's a verse comment, which is one of my favorite poems ever. including all of Dylan's poems. Hongzhe's poem, the unique breeze of reality do you see, continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring, but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. I'll read it again and then we'll come back to it later. The unique breeze of reality, do you see? Continuously, creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. So...

[09:22]

So Manjushri struck the gavel and said, clearly observe, clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. Shakyamuni was the king of dharma. Clearly observe, clearly observe, clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus, is such, is just this. So maybe just to see the Buddha is enough. Just to see the teacher is enough. Maybe not even to see the teacher, just to see the teaching is enough. Just to see, to clearly observe. And thinking about this as I was thinking about this story this time.

[10:32]

I was reminded of this story I like about Silas Ambrosi, who was a great Russian Orthodox priest Does anybody know? Has anybody heard of him? They say he was the model for... Has anybody read Brothers Karamazov? He was the model for Fathers Asamo, who was the great priest and teacher and that. But anyway, there's a story that a... There was a student in St. Petersburg who had a question. I mean, he really had a question. Some of you had questions for the Shuso the other night, but this guy really had a steep question. He had heard of Silas Ambrosius being this great wise man, so he walked a hundred miles to the village where supposedly Silas Ambrosius lived.

[11:38]

And he got to the village, and he asked somebody, where does this great man, Silas Ambrose, this great wise man, Silas Ambrose, live? And the townsperson, he asked, said, oh, well, I don't know. There's a guy. I think he might be that guy who lives down that road, about a mile on the left. Anyway, whatever. And so the student walked to where he'd been directed, and he saw somebody sleeping in a field. And suddenly his question was resolved, and he walked back to St. Peter. So he never said anything to him. He didn't, he wasn't, you know, he may not, that may not have even been Silas Ambrosi, but seeing his teacher was enough. Clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus. What is it like to see the King of Dharma?

[12:47]

So now I'll read Wansong's introduction to the whole case, which is tricky. So these introductions are like pointers. They're like ways of getting into the story. And these stories are about, in a way, how is the teaching conveyed? How is the teaching transmitted? What, what is, how, how, how do the, how does the dharma, how did the dharma get to us? So the, Wansong's introduction to this case. Closing the door and sleeping is the way to receive those of highest potential. Looking, reflecting, and stretching is a roundabout way for the middling and lesser. How can it bear sitting on the carved wood seat, sporting devil eyes?

[13:53]

If there is any bystander who doesn't agree, come forward. You can't blame him either." So that's Wansong's introduction to that story. Yes, Aisha? Devil eyes. So, there's a lot going on here. And then later on, Hongshu says, nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Leaking. Leaking, which means outflows, that's a technical term. Some emotional, some, So it kind of refers to defilements. That's an Abhidharma term.

[14:58]

And yet, we wouldn't have heard the story without Manjushri's leaking. Nothing can be done about it. I can read Wansong's commentary, but does anybody have any comment before I read Wansong's commentary? Does anybody need me to read the case or the verse again? Yeah? Okay, the case. One day, the World Honored One ascended the seat. Manjushri struck the gavel and said, clearly observed the dharma of the King of Dharma. The dharma of the King of Dharma is thus. The World Honored One then got down from the seat. Tiantong Hongzhe, so in this, Hongzhe Zhangshui is called Tiantong, because he was abbot of Tiantong Monastery, where later, Dogen met his teacher, Tiantong Rujing, or Tendon Yojo.

[16:09]

So later, Dogen's teacher was the abbot of the same monastery that Hongzhe was at. His verse says, the unique breeze of reality. Do you see? Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. So these koans, you know, I studied this book of Serenity with my teacher many years ago. This book has been studied for a long time and one can come back to it again and again and again. These stories, it's not that one ever finishes with them.

[17:10]

So to pass through them and be through with them is not the point. But, you know, I may talk about them for one talk and then go on to another one, but each of these stories is worthy of study again and again and again. But I can go on to Won Sung's commentary on the case, if anyone wants to hear that. Okay, so Wansong, I'll say more about Wansong as I keep going into the Book of Serenity because he's really interesting also, but he says completely about the case, completely embodying the ten epithets of Buddha appearing in the world as the sole honored one, raising the eyebrows, becoming animated, In the teaching shops, this is called ascending the seat. And in the meditation forests, they call this going up in the hall.

[18:15]

So this is about the Buddha, the one day the world honored, one ascended the seat. Meditation forest is a word for monasteries. So ascending the seat or going up in the hall means the teacher going to give a talk. Before you people come to this teaching hall, and before I leave my room to come give this talk, when will you attain realization on success? Then he says, this is already falling into three and four. Something extra. Haven't you read Shwedho's saying? Shwedho was the guy who picked the cases and verses for the Blue Cliff Record. Haven't you read Shwedho's saying?

[19:16]

If there had been someone there who could understand the multiplicity of meanings according to situations, as in the Sanskrit word saindhava, what would have been the need for Manjushri to strike a beat? So this word Sandhava is very important. There's an essay by Dogen about it. Do any of you know Sandhava? It's a Sanskrit word. When you bring it up in careful examination, Shwedo shouldn't ask for saindava, salt. How could I present saindava or horse? So saindava is a word that means, so clearly translates it as salt and horse. But saindava is a word that means salt or horse or water.

[20:22]

And the point is, when the teacher asks for sandhava, the students should know what they want. So, Ben, this applies to the Jisha particularly, traditionally. The attendant of the teacher in a monastery is someone who studies with them for a long time. So if I ask Ben to get me Sahadava, he should know what I want. Do I want salt? Do I want water? Do I want a horse? Or whatever. So to know what is needed in a situation is something Yeah, salty water, I don't know, you know. What? Well, yeah, which do I want, yeah. So, Cleary says, Shwedo shouldn't ask for salt, how could I present a horse?

[21:26]

So, how do you know what is needed in the situation? So Wansung brings up this word sandava here. If there had been someone there who could understand the multiplicity of meanings according to situations, as in the Sanskrit word sandava, what would have been the need for Manjushri to strike a beat, to hit the gavel? How to understand the situation when you see the truth. This is the kind of implied assignment for the Zen student. Question? Well, that's, yes, that may be the case. Did Manjushri interfere with Saindhava?

[22:37]

That's one possibility. That's one interpretation. So that's maybe what's going on here. What was the Buddha doing and what was Manjushri doing? And was Manjushri leaking or what? So this is why we can spend some time with such a story. Wansong goes on in his commentary to the case, even Manjushri, the ancestral teacher of seven Buddhas of antiquity, saying, clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus still, needs to pull the nails out of his eyes and wrench the wedges out of the back of his brain before he will realize. So that's kind of Koan rhetoric.

[23:42]

It's even worse than the Blue Cliff record where there's all these put-downs and stuff. But yeah, so that's Wan Song putting down Manjushri. Even up till now, at the conclusion of the opening of the teaching hall, we strike the gavel on the sounding board and say. So apparently this was something that in the tradition there that Wansong was observing. Clearly observed the dharma of the dharma king, the dharma of the king of dharma is thus, bringing up this precedent. So maybe there was a tradition of actually doing this at the opening of the practice period, or the opening of the teaching hall. The World Honored One immediately got down from the seat at that. He saved a half and imparted a half to Chantam, whose verse says, so the other half, Fonsang is saying, is in this verse.

[24:42]

So again, the verse says, the unique breeze of reality, do you see? Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring, but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. I just love this verse. So, okay, I'll read you what, well, does anyone have something to say, anything to say about this verse? Yes, Dennis. Yeah, that's true. The unique breeze of reality, do you see?

[25:50]

The unique breeze of reality, do you see? Oh, say, can you see? In the dawn's early breeze, the answer is blowing in the wind. Question that. Well, I'm just wondering, is the breeze of reality sending the throne, or descending the throne, or maybe both. Manjushri doesn't see it because he's trying to talk about it so much. He's trying to show us everything, like he's trying to introduce it for us, where all we have to do is see the breeze. The unique breeze of reality. We miss it when it's right before our eyes. Okay, good, thank you. Yeah. Yes, Suzanne. So when I first heard Manjushri saying, it's thus, I was thinking thus has been thusless.

[26:59]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then, when the commentary on the poem says, Manjushri is leaking, that made me go back and question that view of thus. I'm thinking Manjushri. Manjushri is the cutting through, right? Manjushri carries a sword sometimes. Right, so... Except this time he's carrying a gavel. But that gavel, like that sound, can serve that cutting through, that weakening. So I'm, you know, blessedness and weakening. So yeah, so why are they saying it's leaking when he's pointing out dustness? Right, good question. Yeah, I think he's leaking because it was fine to cut through, you could say, the ultimate reality of what it is, dust.

[28:11]

That's fine, but even that was actually, let's say, it's dust, and catch a little to create a view out of dust. the Buddha got up and left. He didn't say, well, the Buddha said it. He said, yeah, he said it. I don't care what he has to say. Or he could say, no, that was actually too... It wasn't wrong for him to say it to us, but he said that it would become us. But is there anything wrong at all in any of this? And anything you say is a mistake. And this is patterned after the Blue Cliff Record, and Yuan Wu, who created the Blue Cliff Record, his prized student, Dawei, burned all of the plates for all of the wood blocks of the Blue Cliff Record.

[29:42]

He thought it was too much. It survived somehow. We've got a problem. But emptiness is also form. Ah, yes, you were paying attention to the chants. He's not presenting a view of what's empty and what's form. He's saying it's thus. Yeah. What is he stepping beyond? He's not saying Manjushri's wrong, but he's saying, OK, He slept, he just slept. Well, if you go back a bit about the course of the water and the, what was the other one? Salt. Salt. That in whatever context, so it's something that shifts, it's fluid, so it's not set.

[30:43]

So, it wasn't so much the leaking of the dustness as that And then, the very other one, there's this ascent and descent. That's right. That's good. And then going down is like just, there's like movement and it's changing the position of it. That's right. So, it's almost time that we often stop, but shall I read one song's commentary or should I save that for a different talk? Do you want to hear what Wansong has to say? Angie does. OK. Just for Angie. The unique breeze of reality do you see, continuously creation, runs her lumen shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring.

[31:44]

But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. So Wansong says, Tiantong says, the unique breeze of reality do you see. Is it the world, honored ones ascending the seat that is the unique breeze of reality? That's what Suzanne was saying. Is Chiantong's reciting his verse the unique breeze of reality? Is my further inquiry the unique breeze of reality? This way it's become three levels. What is the unique breeze of reality? Indeed, you people each have a share, but you should investigate it thoroughly. He also says, continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle. Mother of evolution and creator. are different names for the creation of beings. Confucianism and Daoism are based on one energy. The Buddhist tradition is based on one mind. Guifang said that the original energy still is created by mind and is all contained in the imagery field of the storehouse consciousness.

[32:56]

So referring to Yogacara, alaya-vijnana. Ai Wansong say, This is the very source of the caodong, or soto school, the lifeline of the Buddhas and ancestors. So there you go. As the wolf goes through the warp, the weave is dense and fine. A continuous thread comes from the shuttle, making every detail. How could this be even spoken of on the same day as false cause or no cause? So, is there anybody here who's done weaving? I know there's some people in Asanga who have. Weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of string. Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle. The loom and shuttle is the warp and the woof that weaves this together. After this, the verse eulogizes the world-honored one's easy-going abundance, saying, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring.

[34:06]

I love that line. Although this is like insects living on wood, happening to make patterns. Nevertheless, though he makes his cart behind closed doors, when he brings it out, it fits in the grooves. This thing about insects living on wood happening to make patterns is like insects on wood eating parts of the wood. It's sort of similar to talking about monkeys typing and eventually creating Hamlet. It's like the insects are digging in the wood and eventually they make patterns that create the dao de jing or something like that. So nevertheless, though, he makes his cart behind closed doors. When he brings it out, it fits in the grooves. So it's talking about this weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring.

[35:10]

The ancient brocades create this form of spring. Finally, to Manjushri. He gives a cutting put-down, talking about Chiantung, retorting, nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. So do you want to hear what Manjushri says about that? Manjushri struck the gavel, and the world honored one thereupon, got down from the platform. When Kshapa struck a gavel, a billion Manjushris appeared. So this is a reference to a different story. All are this same kind of situation. Why are gathering in and letting go not the same? You tell me, where is it that Manjushri has leaked? And then he has a couple-line poem. Carefully to open the spice tree buds, he lets out the freeze spring on the branches.

[36:15]

So are we finished with case one? Yes, Ayshan, comments. At the time, I heard you talk about the end of the piece, they're continuously pulling it out. So it's continuously unraveling at the other end. Is that autumn, or is that just the process of spring? It doesn't have to be that any of these were right or wrong. It's just you emerge, you say something. Okay. Yes, Dylan, last word. Continuously creation runs her lumen shuttle.

[37:20]

And the rhythm of all that. But it says continuously, creation. Creation is here, not something that happened whenever, 6,000 years ago. Creation is what is arising in the middle of whatever's going on now, somehow, and devolving now. And they do talk about the mother of evolution. So there's, so in Chinese, in Chinese lore, there's the mother of creation, who's, I don't know if it's right to call her a goddess, but anyway, she's an important figure.

[38:51]

But it's not, she's not somebody from the past exactly, she's like present. Anyway. So that's the first case of the Book of Serenity. So now you can actually start to study the first case of the Book of Serenity. And I don't know how we do this. We could keep coming back and I could talk about it again and again, but maybe it's enough to just introduce each case.

[39:20]

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