Good morning. I've been talking some of the time about the stories from the Book of Serenity Koan collection. This session, I want to focus on case 12. I'll start by reading the case. Zhizong asks Shishan, where do you come from? Shishun said, from the South. Duzong said, how is Buddhism in the South these days? Shishun said, there's extensive discussion. Duzong said, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and making rice to eat? Shishun said, what can you do about the world? Zhizhong said, what do you call the world?

[01:04]

So those last two questions are real questions, and there's a lot to say about this story. The people in the story are sort of cousins of us in terms of lineage. They're descended from Deshan, who was descended from Shito, who wrote the Song of the Grass Hut and the Harmony of Difference and Sameness. Dezong died back in 928. Anyway, I'll read the story again. Zhuzhong asked Shishan, who was one of a group of visitors, where do you come from? Shishan said, from the West Coast. Zhuzhong said, how is Buddhism out there these days? And Shishan said, there's extensive discussion. Zhuzhong said, how can that compare to me here planting seeds and eating rice?

[02:08]

Shishan said, what? What do you do about the world? This song said. What do you call the world? So one song's wonderful commentary. Oh, just to say about Duzong, his name is from a temple he taught at. And Duzong is Chinese for Jizo, which is the name of the Earth Womb Bodhisattva. There's a big picture of him in the kitchen and some other images around here of Jizo Bodhisattva. So this teacher is referred to by the name of that Earth Womb Bodhisattva. very down to earth. So Duzang asked, where do you come from? Shishun said, from the south. Duzang said, how's Buddhism in the south these days? And Shishun said, there's extensive discussion. De Zong said, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and making rice to eat? And some of the versions say just eating rice.

[03:12]

And then these two questions, what can you do about the world? And De Zong said, what do you call the world? So just to give the longer version of the story, The master of Shishan joined with Fa Yan, Wu Dong, and Jin Shan to travel beyond the lake regions of East Central China. Coming to Zhang province, they were blocked by rain, snow, and swollen valley streams. They put up a Dzong temple west of the city. There they circled around the brazier, around the fire, and ignored the master, Dzong. Dzong wanted to test them. So he also drew near the fire and said, there's something I would ask about.

[04:16]

May I? Shishan said. If there's some matter, please ask if you have some question. Duzhang said, are the mountains, rivers, and earth identical or separate from you elders? Zhishan said, separate. Duzhang held up two fingers. Zhishan hurriedly said, identical, identical. So one or two, and we could ask ourselves, too, or we could be asked by Dzong, are the mountains, rivers, and the earth identical or separate from you? Are the plains and rivers and Great Lake identical or separate from you? Zhishan said, separate. And Dzong held up two fingers.

[05:19]

And Zhishan hurriedly said, identical, identical. Zhizeng again held up two fingers and then left. Fayan said, what was the meaning of the abbot holding up two fingers? And I think he was referring to the last time. Shishan said, he did that arbitrarily. Fayan said, don't crudely insult him. Shishan said, are there any elephant tusks in a rat's mouth? The next day, they took leave and departed. But first, they went to the house of Dezong. Fayan said, you brothers go ahead. I'll stay with Dezong. He may have some strong point. If not, I'll come and find you later. After Feiyan had studied there for a long time, the other three, including even Zhishan, also came back to Dezang and studied with him.

[06:21]

So Feiyan, as mentioned in this story, is the founder of one of the Five Houses of Zhan. Feiyan states are 885 to 958, so one of the last of the main Five Houses of Zhan. including Tsao Tung or Soto and Lin Ji or Rinzai. And then, you know, so it was after this that Duzong asked, how's Buddhism in the South these days? At that point, they just should have said, according to Wan Song, the commentator, always the same as here. But instead, Xueshan said, there's lots of discussion going on. He doesn't even know how to come forth on his own. De Zong said, how can that compare to me here, planting the fields and eating rice? At that moment, Xueshan should have said, according to Wan Zong, if so, then it is not just the South.

[07:25]

But instead, he said, how about the world? What will you do about the world? Dragging in the meditating travelers of the South, the mundane was not yet gone. Out of compassion, De Zong had a discussion in the weeds, saying, what do you call the world? It would have been better just to say, I'm busy planting the fields so as to avoid Tian Tong, Hongxia, who wrote the verse, repicked the cases and wrote the verse commentary. And I'll just, I'll come back to it, but I'll read Hongxia's verse first. Source and explanation variously all made up. Passing to ear from mouth, it comes again. Planting fields, making rice, ordinary household matters. only those who have investigated to the full would know. Having investigated to the full, you clearly know there's nothing to seek.

[08:30]

Zifeng, after all, didn't care to be enfifed as a marquis, that is, to receive estates and have a province to rule over. And there's a reference to this explanation of that story. Forgetting his state, he returned, same as fish and birds, washing his feet in the sun long and hazy waters of autumn. So I'll come back to that. This basic story feels very relevant. So this great teacher, Zhizhong, asked, where do you come from? Zhizhong said, from the south. He might have said from the west, whatever. There was a division in Chan history between the northern and southern schools.

[09:36]

And actually, at this time, more than that, there was a political division. It was not an easy time. There was civil war and there was the new Southern Song Dynasty, which broke off from the north where the various northern invaders were taking control. So there was a kind of division politically too. Anyway, Shishun said there's extensive discussion Tsung said, how can that compare to me here, planting fields, planting seeds, eating rice? So ordinary, everyday stuff. And we all know the story about everyday mind is the way. Tzong was saying, was implying, what's the point of all this discussion?

[10:36]

Here I am just planting seeds, planting the fields, eating rice or making rice. And then Xu Sheng said, well, what can you do about the world? So even back then, the world was troubled. And Du Song said, what do you call the world? So for us, this story is a key issue in our practice. What can we do about the world? And of course, we're living in a world of climate breakdown and various calamities. And the UN Commission just talked about how we only have a dozen years to change,

[11:40]

Well, already there's damage in terms of mass extinctions and in terms of climate breakdown. You were affected probably by the fires in the air in the Bay Area. I also know people in the Southeast are affected by the floods. Apparently, there's droughts in the Midwest where so food, rice to eat is going to be, or bread to eat is going to be scarce or more expensive. You know, in the extremes of climate breakdown, we might get polar vortexes and Chicago will become even colder. Who knows? Anyway, it's not clear yet how all of this will manifest. So this is a real question for us. What can we do about the world? How can we respond gently and carefully and effectively to

[12:46]

the damage in the world. This is a question that we, at least some of us have. But Duzong said, what do you call the world? What is the world? So this is a good question for Sasheng. What do you call the world? Is there something called the world that's beyond your seat here today? Or the world that's on your seat here today is intimately connected to the world of trouble, so-called out there. So there are lots of aspects to this. How do we, what is it that we call the world?

[13:49]

What is it that, you know, part of the, part of practice is to get us unstuck from our ideas of this person, this, this, whatever this is on your seat. We have lots of ideas. There's lots of discussion, even internally. We have all kinds of ideas about who we are and what the world is. So what do we call the world? Is it just Chicago? Is it just North America? Does it extend beyond this planet? How do we include all beings? And is that just some idea too? the numberless beings we vow to free. What do you call sentient beings?

[14:56]

So, some of us here today and some of us here for five days will be in the process of just sitting, breathing, inhaling, exhaling, returning to awareness of our uprightness. And some of us, today or for five days, will have thoughts about our particular worlds out there, so-called. So all of you have, each of you has brought a whole world into this room. There are many worlds. What is it we call the world?

[16:04]

How is it? And so Shoshan asking, what can you do about it? Well, you know, we have this ethical responsibility in the bodhisattva practice to express something, to respond. How do we respond carefully, gently, kindly, and yet respond to the difficulties of the suffering beings around us? Or maybe the suffering beings even on your seat right now. This is not a theoretical question. The story is not, you know, I talk about how koans are about our practice, not about something that happened in the 9th century or 10th century, although they start there.

[17:09]

So, you know, I actually, as far as I know, each one of you is doing something about the world. in helpful, careful ways. But what do we call the world? How do we see all beings in this whole world? So on one level, this story seems to be discouraging looking beyond just everyday activities. theorizing about something going on out there. Wansung's introduction says, scholars plow with the pen, orators plow with their tongue. We patchroad mendicants lazily watch a white ox on open ground, not paying attention to the rootless, auspicious grass.

[18:20]

How to pass the days. So just sitting period after period, breathing, paying attention, we can see maybe from some point of view something happening. The image of the white ox, complicated image in Zen, but sometimes in the ox herding pictures, the ox is pictured getting more and more white. less black, more and more, not to reify black and white, but that there's a kind of purification that happens. And maybe just asking the question, what can you do about the world? And what do you call the world? There's a kind of, I don't know, purification is a little too strong maybe. Something can happen.

[19:23]

period after period. Our practice involves a kind of transformation, a subtle transformation. Our practice is not meaningless. It's not about some particular goal or reaching some super state, super being awareness. But how do we, you know, we All of you are here because you know that doing this, you've experienced that doing this practice has some effect. Doing this regularly, there's some calming, there's some opening, there's some, I don't know, various names for it, and what do we call that? We know something's happening, but we don't know what it is. And how does that affect the world?

[20:25]

And our responsibility is to express some of this communion with something deeper, as I've been talking about, in our everyday activity, in just planting the fields and making rice, just doing our work and eating our bread. So I want to talk about this story through this week and hear what you have to say and explore what it is we call the world. How do we see that? How do we take care of that? And is there some way to take care of the suffering beings in the world just right on your seat here today. How is it that our own awareness and gentleness with ourselves and responsiveness and uprightness

[21:42]

does something about the world, or does it? These are questions. So we're going to be going over this story, and I may bring in another story or two during the week. But a little bit of the commentary on Hongzhe's verse. Source and explanation variously are all made up. Passing to ear from mouth, it comes apart. So there's communing with the source, and then there's all the explanations. Or maybe the expressions. I think that character could be read as explanation, and Cleary reads it that way, and there's a certain effect of that. But it's also about expression. Planting fields, making rice, ordinary household matters.

[22:49]

So our ordinary everyday activities are pointed out here, both by De Zong and by Hongzhe. Then Hongzhe says, only those who have investigated to the full would know. Having investigated to the full, you clearly know there's nothing to seek. And does that mean we shouldn't do anything about the world? What is this nothing to seek? The world is busy trying to become, I don't know, something else. And we're trained in some ways to try and Well, maybe it's a natural human function to grasp after something, to seek something. People come to practice seeking some, I don't know what, some magical enlightenment or whatever.

[23:51]

Anyway, a little bit of Wansong's commentary on this. Qingyang said, communion with the source is one's own practice. Communion by speech is showing it to those who are not yet enlightened. So that's one version. Communion with a source. And as we sit, period after period, inhale after exhale, after inhale, there is a communion with, I was talking Monday about Dylan talking about, that deep wellspring of creativity. So there's a kind of going down into, I guess that was last Sunday, going down into that space, that source of our creative energy, our creative awareness.

[24:57]

So there's a kind of communion there. And there's also, this guy says communion by speech, showing it. to those not yet enlightened, or maybe all of us are not yet enlightened, or maybe all of us are enlightened, but reminding us. So reading these stories to remind us of what's at stake. Wansung goes on. This originally comes from the Sutra on the Descent of the Great Vehicle into Lanka. known as the Lankavatara Sutra for short, which was the, originally went for Bodhidharma and his immediate successors, that was the key sutra in Zen, in Chan. There, and one song says, then the Buddha in that sutra said to Mahamati, one of the Bodhisattvas or disciples questioning him, there are two kinds of communion.

[26:00]

Communion with the source means, by way of the character of transcending progress, one attains to utterly detach from false conceptions, from speech and symbols, and go to the realm of non-indulgence by the process of self-awakening. Light shines forth. This is called the character or quality of communion with the source. Transcending progress. That's a little strange. We all want progress in our lives and in the world, right? So transcending progress, we commune with the source that's always here. And Buddha there calls it the realm of non-indulgence. Interesting.

[27:10]

Through the process. So maybe there's no progress, but there is process. Through the process of self-awakening, light shines forth. This is communion with a source. What is character of communion by speech? So again, this is quoting from the Lankavatara. It says, it means teaching the various inductive doctrines of the nine branches, which are aspects of teachings of self-awakening, avoiding signs of difference or non-difference. So we will be chanting this week the harmony of difference and sameness. avoiding signs of difference or non-difference, existence or non-existence, and the like, using skillful techniques to explain the truth or to express the truth as it is needed. This is the character of communion by speech. So both are important, I would say. Communion with a source.

[28:14]

is what is available in our regular practice, and maybe especially sitting all day or sitting for five days, communion with a source. But there's also communion through expression. Then, Wansong goes on to say, and, you know, It's clear in the context that he's kind of emphasizing communion with the source somewhat. But he says, students of lecture say communion by speech without communion with the source is like the sun being hidden by clouds. This next part is a little bit like the song of serene illumination. We sometimes chant about awareness and wasted dharma anyway. Communion by speech or expression without communion with the source is like the sun being hidden by clouds.

[29:17]

Communion with the source without communion by speech is like a snake gone into a bamboo tube. So I want to come back to that. Communion with the source and communion by speech together It's like the sun in the open sky. Communion neither with the source nor by speech. It's like a dog howling in a thicket of reeds." So some of you may recognize the echo of Nagarjuna there. There's one, then the other, then there's both, then there's neither. So there's so much more in this commentary to talk about. But I want to spend some time on this image of communion with the source.

[30:19]

It says here, communion with the source without communion by speech is like a snake in a bamboo tube. This is a traditional image for Zazen, maybe especially Sashin. A snake in a bamboo tube. So we are all, maybe I could say constrained, we're all in Sashin, kind of like in a bamboo tube. like a snake in a bamboo tube. What happens to a snake in a bamboo tube? It gets straightened out. It can't wriggle around. Sitting upright, it's like our spine is in a bamboo tube. We may want to dance around.

[31:24]

We all have that, those impulses, but a snake in a bamboo tube Taking some time to be like a snake in a bamboo tube has its meaning, has its worthiness. Just following the schedule. just sitting upright in zazen posture, just not moving. He says this is like communion with a source.

[32:26]

Or when we are willing to take that on, there is something that we might become aware of. So we've all turned away from the world in some sense, the world of fame and gain and greed and progress and loss, and we see the emptiness of that. or at least we're willing to show up for a session and just sit for a while and not be caught in that. So turning away from the world, turning away from the corruption of greed and consumerism and whatever, all of the difficulties, to just stop.

[33:31]

and keep breathing, but just to be like a snake in a bamboo tube. What happens then? Now, of course, we're advised that just to do that without the expression is not the practice, but we do need to, or we can benefit by stopping and just not wiggling around. And then what do we do? How do we express whatever we have seen by communing with this source? How does that get expressed in our lives? in our lives of planting the fields and eating rice, in our lives of doing our work and paying the rent. How do we take care of the world?

[34:37]

And how do we take care of the suffering beings in the world? We vow to free, bodhisattva vows. But there is this side of just stopping. So maybe I'll just read a little bit more from Wansung's commentary. If we distinguish the source and speech, these already are two pathways. How can Chan be divided into five branches and the teachings arranged in three vehicles? Not even one can stand up then, all are artificial. It is not just in the South that there is a lot of debate going on.

[35:39]

If you are someone who can speak of fire without burning your mouth, your eloquence is like a torrent. But basically, there is not so much as a letter. Even though planting the fields and making rice is ordinary, unless you investigate to the full, you don't know their import. So we do need to express something in the world. This question, what can you do about the world, is a real question for us. And yet, what is it that you call the world? When you face the wall, do you see the world?

[36:43]

When you feel the pain in your shoulders or knees or butt or wherever, where is the world? What is the world? So for those of us here for the day, we'll have some time for discussion of this this afternoon. But if anybody has any immediate response or comments or questions, please feel free to take a little time. No one? What can you do about the world? Anyone? Paula? Bamboo is a wood though that's known for being flexible within its strength. That can bend in the wind. Right. With deep roots. That's right. So yes, bamboo is a wonderful example of flexibility, bending in the wind, sturdiness.

[37:53]

even though it seems fragile. Yes, it is. Thank you. Tom. The beginning continues with rootless grass, is that correct? Yeah. What is that? He says something about- Grass is still cut. Let me find that. Thank you.

[38:55]

Yeah, that's interesting. You know, I mean, these stories are all about these images that we can play with, that evoke things. Let's see if I can find that. Well, I can't find that reference right now. Wait a second. Maybe it's right here. No, I'm not sure. But anyway, yeah, it mentions rootless grass. And part of our practice is to become rooted, to become settled in this body-mind, this situation, this karmic combination of whatever this life So I'm not sure, I'll see if I can find that again.

[40:04]

But yeah, it's an interesting image too. There's another story that I'm going to get to later in the session about, it has an image of a thousand year shadowless tree, a tree with no shadows. And I don't know if bamboo makes shadows, but maybe thin ones. And then also it talks about, and I'll come back to this later in the week, a thousand year shadowless tree or the bottomless shoe of the present. Anyway, Brian. the bottomless shoe of the presence. So when you're doing walking meditation, you might consider if you can step into that bottomless shoe. Yeah, and well, I don't know if there's no difference, but the difference is not a difference.

[42:08]

And part of our practice is to Joanna Macy talking about the great turning in response to the troubles of nuclear waste and climate and the possibility or impossibility of a future talks about one of the three main modes is just changing how we see. And that's what we're doing here. and our changing how we see has an impact beyond your own seat, maybe. Dylan? my life experiences, everything I'm bringing to the scene.

[43:16]

When I look out on the world, that's my world. And then there's also the conception of, in that same word, everything that is the planner. So everything that's going on beyond your perception here. Right. that's useful for a human perspective. Like, the Earth is only an idea that matters to humans. The Earth is part of a galaxy, which is part of a larger, bigger thing that's beyond the galaxy, and the universe, and other universes, whatever, but it's only, that word, the world, is only, it's designed for a human,

[44:23]

is part of, is actually, you know, part of the universe. And, you know, that's, the world was included in that, too. So, the word the world has, each of those layers. Yes. Yes, thank you. And then I'll just, in closing, I'll just add that, again, Zhizhong, who's, planting seeds, planting the fields and eating rice. His name is the earth womb or earth storehouse. So the Bodhisattva Jizo is concerned with down to earth, helping farmers, helping children and helping women, helping just ordinary down-to-earth stuff. And yet, we also call the earth the world.

[45:33]

So, last thing. Right, right, right, good. So, Dzong is present in all the six realms, especially in the hell realms, but in liminal spaces, in marginal spaces, and particularly takes care of people on the margins. So, yeah, this story is about the world and what is it that goes beyond the world. So on that note, let's close with our old song. And we'll have a chance for discussion later, too.

[46:30]

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