Good evening. I've been doing some of the time talks on cases from the Book of Serenity Koan collection. And I want tonight to talk about case 11, which is rather intricate. So we'll see how it goes. I'll just read the case first. And in this one, the cases are from Hongzhe, along with diverse comments. And the commentary is from Wansong. And Wansong's commentary is, I think, especially helpful for this one. But the case goes like this. Great Master Yunmen said, when the light does not penetrate freely, there are two kinds of sickness. and the case is called Yunmen's Two Sicknesses. One is when all places are not clear and there is something before you.

[01:05]

Having penetrated the emptiness of all things, subtly it seems like there's something. This too is the light not penetrating freely. Then the Dharma body, the Dharmakaya, the ultimate body of Buddha, has two kinds of sickness. One is when you manage to reach the Dharma body, But because your clinging to dharma is not forgotten, your sense of self still remains, and you fall into the realm of the dharma body. Even if you can pass through, if you let go, that won't do. Examining carefully to think what breath is there, this too is sickness. So Yunmen is founder of one of the Five Houses of Chan, of Zen in China, and there are many, many stories about him. And also there are a number of different

[02:06]

systems of where he has two sicknesses or three phrases. So I'll talk some more about that. But just to start, I'm going to read some of Wansong's and maybe most of Wansong's commentary. Master John Fang was a successor of Dongshan, the founder of Zao Dong, or Shoto Zen. While he was traveling around, Yun Men saw this teacher, as well as Cao Shan and Xu Shan, two more better-known important teachers, successors of Dongshan. This public case, this koan, came from a preceding one. John Fung said to his congregation, the Dharma body has three kinds of illness and two kinds of light. You must pass through them all, one by one, and realize, furthermore, that there is still an opening going beyond. So these are not exactly phases that one needs to accomplish.

[03:15]

Even thereafter, there's still something at opening that goes beyond. Yun Men came forward from the assembly and said to John Feng, why does the man inside the hermitage not know what is outside the hermitage? Excuse me. We might have chanted the song of the grass hut and the grass roof hermitage. Why does the man inside the hermitage not know what is outside the hermitage? So the issue in this case has to do with inside and outside and turning within and going without, and actually is a good lead-in to the next case, which is the one we're going to be focusing on in the five-day session coming up, so I'll mention that, too. Anyway, John Feng laughed aloud, and Yunmin said, so this is after Yunmin says, why does the man inside the hermitage not know what is outside the hermitage?

[04:24]

Then after the laugh, Yunmin said, this is still what the student doubts. John Feng said, what's going on in your mind? Yunmin said, I want the teacher to comprehend thoroughly. Sweet. John Feng said, only thus can one sit in peace. Yunmin said, yes, yes. So there's a section where he talks about various different kinds of illness and compares them to the two in the case. And again, this is kind of intricate, but I'm going to skip ahead. I'll come back. But what may be helpful, according to the fundamental way of the Dongshan succession, of the Dongshan lineage, which we are part of, if you are still, you sink into stagnant water. If you move, you are limited to the present. Thus, when going outward, do not react.

[05:28]

When going inward, do not dwell in emptiness." So this is kind of the key issue here. How do we go out into the world? How do we, as I've been talking about expressing this inner awareness in the world, he says, when going outward, do not react. when going inward do not dwell on emptiness. So part of this story is a caution against this dwelling or this being stuck in the dharma body, being stuck in inner awareness. So these issues are very relevant to Sashin, to extensive sitting like we're going to be doing for five days starting Wednesday. He goes on to say, outwardly not pursuing ramifications, inwardly not abiding in trance. Naturally, you will get beyond the three sicknesses and two lights all at once.

[06:33]

After that, putting penetrating or not penetrating to one side, examine carefully what breath is there? And then he says, this too is an illness. So in a way, this is about cure and medicine and illness. In a way, this is about the nature of maybe the first noble truth of the illness everywhere. I'm going to go back and fill in some of the other things that Wansong, the commentator, says about about these two sicknesses. John Feng said the dharma body has three kinds of illness. So John Feng is the one who was a successor of Dongshan that Yunmen first questioned. Yunmen said the dharma body has two kinds of illness. When I was traveling, Wansong says, everywhere they were discussing this, saying that the three illnesses are going away before arrival,

[07:42]

Attachment after arrival, and penetrating through having no basis to rely on. So these are described as three illnesses. Going away, giving up before arriving at the deeper communion for arrival. Attachment after arrival, so attachment to emptiness or ultimate reality. And then finally, penetrating through having no basis to rely on, which is actually kind of a paraphrase of the sixth ancestor, Huining, said, realized, first had an initial awakening when he heard in the Diamond Sutra, there's nothing to rely on. There's no basis to rely on. So that led him to the fifth ancestor. So again, the issue is about getting caught in deeper awareness or being caught in, turning within, then what to do when going without.

[08:54]

I'll read a couple more. of these kinds of descriptions. Now, as for when everywhere is not illuminated, there is something in front of you, is one illness, Dongshan said. Clearly, she sees her face. There is no other reality. But unavoidably, she mistakes the reflection for the head. And then Wansong says, if you have the eye to settle heaven and earth and are most thoroughgoing without letting so much as a thread slip out, only then will you attain someone. Also he said, Monson continues, penetrating the emptiness of all things, subtly there seems to be something. This too is because the light does not penetrate freely. So this is kind of subtle teaching here. Penetrating the emptiness of all things, subtly there seems to be something. This too is because the light does not fully penetrate.

[10:01]

As Guaixon said, when there is nothing that can strike the feelings, the view is still in the objective. Even when one gets rid of feelings, there's still this subject and object duality going on. Even if you extinguish all perceptions and discernment and keep to inner hidden tranquility, this is still a reflection of the discrimination of conceptual objects. This too is also the light not penetrating freely. So again, this is pretty intricate. If you haven't read Hongzhe's first comment yet, maybe I'll read that and a little bit of Wansun's comment, but then go to some other things. The full verse by Hongzhe, who picked the cases and wrote the verses, The dense web of myriad forms is so precipitous, passing through beyond location, locks the eyes.

[11:06]

So this is about how we relate to or are aware of all the various forms. Sweeping out his garden, who has the strength? Hidden in a person's heart, it naturally produces feelings. A boat crosses a rustic, then it gets poetic. A boat crosses a rustic ford, wet with autumn's aquamarine, sailing into the reed flowers, shining on the snow, bright. With a bolt of silk, an old fisherman takes it to market. Floating in the wind, a single leaf travels on the waves. But the key line for me there is, hidden in a person's heart, it naturally produces feelings. So one of the points that is made in Wong Tsung's commentary is that trying to get rid of feelings or thinking is not how one settles into the deepest awareness.

[12:09]

And even though they're talking about it in terms of sickness, these sicknesses are our life and our practice. Just one more piece of Won Sung's commentary. Well, Wansong says, what is Yunmen's essential meaning? Didn't you see how he said, examining carefully, what breath is there? This, too, is an illness, unquote. Yunmen just points out the sickness, but doesn't tell how to cure it. What is Qiantong, or Hongxue's eye? He tells Yunmen's cure, where the bolt of silk an old fisherman takes it to market, floating in the wind. A single leaf travels on the waves. So being in the marketplace, being in the world, being aware of each single leaf. Yunmen's meaning, Wansun goes on, is entering the marketplace, extending his hands, not avoiding the wind and waves.

[13:16]

It could be said that with his own sickness cured, he pities other sickness. So this is about the process of communing deeply with the source and then reaching out beyond to the world. And it's relevant. So I'm going to just read the case that we're going to talk about during the five-day session coming up. And it's relevant. The one I've just been talking about is a background for that. It's about a teacher named Duzong, which is Chinese for Jizo, like the Bodhisattva, but that's the mountain he lived on. Duzong asked Zhishan, where do you come from? Zhishan said, from the south. Duzong said, how is Buddhism in the south these days? Zhishan said, there's extensive discussion. Duzong said, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and making rice to eat?

[14:18]

Or in another version, it says, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and eating rice? Zhushan said, what can you do about the world? De Zhang said, what do you call the world? So we're going to be talking about that during the five days. But this question, what can you do about the world? And what do you call the world? And so these illnesses of young men have something to do with ways in which when we go deeply within, we can get stuck. And also when we try and come out from going deeply within, we can get stuck. I have no answers or explanations for you about this case. There's a deep question that's posed. And it has to do with the process of turning within, taking a backward step that turns the light inwardly, deeply communing with ultimate reality.

[15:23]

And then also, how is that when one's reaches outward, going out from the gate. So I thought I'd, maybe I'll stop with reading another description of a teaching from Yunmen. This is called Yunmen's three, not three illnesses, but three phrases. And it said that all of Yunmin's stories and all of Yunmin's responses have these three aspects, these three phrases. Yunmin is famous for many, many great koans. For example, what is the, I think Alan mentioned this one, what is the teaching of a Buddha's whole lifetime, and Yunmin said, an appropriate response. So,

[16:26]

There are many stories, many, many koans about Yun Men. Again, he was founder of one of the five houses. But the three phrases are containing the whole world, cutting off the myriad streams, and going along with the ripples, following the waves. There's a longer poem by one of Yunmen's successors, which includes those three, which maybe I'll read. But just to say, this containing the whole world is like our precept of benefiting all beings, including everything. So when it talks about, in the other story, when Yunmen talks about the dharma body and the sicknesses of the dharma body, the dharma body is that which is everything, includes the whole world. Then the second one is cutting off the myriad streams. This is like the practice of just sitting and focusing and concentrating and cutting away thoughts and feelings, which is not the ultimate practice, but is part of the process.

[17:36]

And then the third is, after that, going along with the waves, going along with the ripples, following the waves. Maybe we could say listening to all with compassion. Maybe I'll skip the verse on that. But anyway, so this is, again, as I said, this is a rather intricate story, the basic story that I read to begin with. But it relates to these key issues. What can you do about the world and what do you call the world? And how is the world, when we turn within, how is the world when we commune with deepest reality, the world? And how is the ripples and waves of suffering beings the world? And what do we do about that? What can you do about the world? I'll end with the introduction to this basic story from one song.

[18:42]

A bodiless man suffers illness. A handless man compounds medicine. A mouthless man ingests it. A senseless man is well, but tell me. How do you treat a mortal disease? So again, this is an intricate Zen story. But I'll stop there. Does anyone have any responses or questions or reflections from any of this, any part of anything I talked about? Jason, you look like you have something to say. the last line of the introduction.

[20:04]

So that was, I might have read that first, but I didn't. Tell me, how do you treat a mortal disease? So in this story, he's talking about all this in terms of illness. And the Buddha is considered the great healer. And our practice is about trying to take care of or respond to the mortal disease of this world, which is pretty obvious, but also it's right here on our seats. It's not just out there. Douglas. Yes.

[21:11]

Yes. Attachment to emptiness. And there's this subtle attachment to self, even when we realize wholeness.

[22:19]

And that's true and still. So this is tricky. This is a tough one. And yet, do you see how the dynamics of this have to do with our practice and with the process and flow and rhythms of our caring and attention to what is this? Ed? Yes. Okay, how so? Is it one or the other?

[23:24]

I mean, partly this seems to be talking about, well, like turning away and touching are both wrong. You can't just do one or the other. There's the relationship. Yeah. Yes, good. Uncomfortably, right. There's a creative tension to this uncomfortableness. Right. Yes, and vice versa.

[24:24]

Yes, good. Yeah. The session is Wednesday through Sunday, and you're all welcome to come to any of the talks in the morning. Well, yeah. I mean, Hegel, I don't know so much, but he talks about dialectic and that's exactly what's at issue here with Dongshan's teaching. I mean, this is all going back to Dongshan's Just This Is It and the Five Degrees and the process of realizing

[25:31]

we could say the ultimate and the particular or the universal and the phenomenal and their interactions. So we've talked about that a little while ago. But yeah, that's what this is about. And I'm really tempted to start quoting from the from the Duzong Plants to Fields story that we're going to be talking about, because you almost referred to something that's—well, okay, this is again a preview of next week, but let me see if I can find it, because you almost directly referred to it. No, I'm in the wrong case. Here it is.

[26:44]

Communion by speech without communion with the source is like the sun being hidden by clouds. This is from Wansong's commentary. Communion with the source without communion by speech is like a snake gone into a bamboo tube. So I'll talk a lot more about that image during Sashin. Communion with the source and communion by speech together is like the sun in the open sky. Communion neither with the source nor by speech is like a dog howling in a thicket of reeds." So that's just a little preview. So any other comments or questions or responses or reflections? Matt? Right.

[27:50]

That's right. That's the question. Yeah. Oh, that's a better question. So it's not exactly that you, that On some level, anyway, it's not exactly about curing the sickness. These are not exactly stages either. They're parts of a process that is the process of our practice. And so just recognizing these as sicknesses is part of the point. And yet, there is this talk of pulling out the pegs from your brain or various images for opening beyond these.

[28:59]

And then there's a beyond the beyond. So it's not like reaching some ultimate, you know, cure and yet how do we meet the reality of Again, as the case says, well, or as the three phrases of Yudman say, how do we meet the reality of containing the whole world, including all beings, including everything, then cutting off the myriad streams, cutting through all of the stuff, and then going along with situation we're in, and how do we, so I can only offer questions here. How do we, what do we do about the world? What do you mean by the world?

[30:01]

So, any last, yeah, please. Yes, that's right. Yes, that's right. Any day now we shall be released. And part of what Yunmin is saying is that if you do reach the dharmakaya and you hold on to it, that's one of the sicknesses.

[31:28]

What are we not in the dharmakaya? Right. Exactly. What is a dharmakaya? Is it something separate from human experience? It specifically says not to separate from all of the phenomena of the world. The poems are about that. Yeah, we want to get, yeah, we want to find something that is more wonderful than how wonderful this is. Jason. Huh? That's what sashimi is about.

[32:52]

Sashimi is to gather the mind. So that's about, and whether, you know, I think this is part of the process of our regular every day or week, you know, several times a week sitting too. Part of the process is that we cut through our ideas of all of this and the different myriad thoughts and feelings. How do we stop, come to just being present here? But that's not the end of it. Then we, so there's churning within and there's coming without. There's churning within and the point of that is eventually then how do we express that in the world? But part of the process of the practice is going against the grain of the conventional world.

[33:57]

And it's kind of easy to see that we need to do that. If we just follow along with what the politicians tell us, that's not going to bring us joy and happiness. and what our society says. So part of the practice is cutting through the various dreams, cutting through all the ideas of how things are that we've absorbed in our time in this body-mind. But then, what are you going to do about the world? And what do you call the world? So, we're called to do something. The world is burning up. Literally. So... Ed, you have something else? Yes.

[35:12]

Truly. But it's the world somewhere else than on your seat. It's a very big place in the world. Yeah. And there's a lot of space on your seat. That's a wonderful, wonderful story. Good. I find it very perplexing. Thank you. So let's close with the Four Bodhisattva Vows.

[35:40]

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