I vow to face the truth of the stars at its worst. Good evening. Before we start studying, I'll just say a few words about the Shoryo Roku. which is translated as Book of Serenity, which is a collection of 100 koans by Master Wansong in around the 12th century, I think. And it's one of, it's in the same class as the Mumonkan and the Blue Cliff Record, Megigan Roku. The Mumon-Khan was a collection of cases compiled by Master Mumon.

[01:04]

And the Blue Cliff Record is 100 cases compiled by Master Yuan Wu, or Ngo. And this collection is a collection of 100 koans by Master, collected by Master Wansong. And each of these cases, some of them overlap with the Blue Cliff Record and the Moonlight Kong. Some appear in all, in the other two collections. There are many collections actually of koan cases. But these three are maybe the most well-known, most used. And Master Wansong built his commentary around a poem on each case by Master Tian Tong.

[02:22]

In the introduction, you can read all about it. But I'll read you a little bit about it. I gave people... You printed the last part of the introduction. which explains more about the book itself rather than the whole introduction which talks about Zen. So, if you have the book, you can read the whole introduction. But this last part explains just about how the book is put together. He talks about the overall structure of how each case is put together.

[03:59]

So he says, the overall structure of presentation of the Book of Serenity in this translation is as follows. First is the introduction by Wansong. In Wumankhan, the cases are presented without an introduction. there's always an introduction by one song. And the introduction generally alluding to particular perspectives, frames of mind, patterns of thought and action. It sounds a little abstruse. And then there's, he presents the case, which is, from Chan lore or Buddhist scriptures, a saying or an anecdote illustrating some aspect or aspects of Chan or Zen awareness and praxis.

[05:04]

And then, third, is a commentary by Wansong on the case, where he expounds upon the case. And that commentary usually is a commentary on the case and also on the introduction. And then there's a verse by Tian Tong, which is the original verse from which he builds his commentary on the case. So it's a commentary on a commentary. And a verse by Tian Tong reflecting the pattern of the case in poetic form. And then there's a commentary by Wansong on Tian Tong's verse. And then there are added sayings from the case by Wansong.

[06:08]

So Wansong does all the work. And Tian Tong has at the germ of the, his commentary is most expressive of the meaning, even though it's very, it may not be so apparent what the meaning is. So, in these cases, the meaning doesn't jump out at you, but you have to, what it does is brings forth your understanding. If you read a koan case in order to get information, you don't get much. So we say that the word education is not putting information into you, but drawing knowledge out of you. So you have to look behind the words for the meaning.

[07:14]

They have a saying, something like, you have to read the other side of the page. You have to get the meaning from the other side of the page. So anyway, during this, when we discuss the case, we'll go through, I'll read the whole case with all of the commentary, and then we'll go through it little by little in order to glean what is being said. And then we have discussion. So, even though we happen to be in a zendo, we shouldn't behave too formally, but feel free to ask questions and to discuss kicks.

[08:27]

So, Tian Tong, there's a book recently published called Cultivating the Empty Field, which I commented on a few times, which is a book of Tian Tong's prose and verse. And if you want to know more about Tian Tong's influence, he was very influential, actually, in the Soto school. The Book of Serenity is the for one thing, it was compiled by a Cao Dung Soto master. And it's more, what they say about it is it's very refined.

[09:33]

It has the very, kind of very refined Chinese poetic quality to it. And there are a lot of allusions to Chinese literature and Tang Dynasty literature and colloquial things that people understood in those times. And some of this we understand, some we don't. But it's surprising how we can understand, actually, what he's talking about. And there are a lot of seeming riddles. When we really look into it and concentrate on it, the riddles become apparent. And Quan Lam has a Chinese text.

[10:36]

Did you bring the Chinese text? And if we get stuck, we can... One interesting thing is, Kwong Nam said that the title is a little different. Could you say how you would read the title? The title is long, the original title. It says, this guy, Wang Shu, the old man of 10,000, Pines. Pines? Pines, yeah. Wansong. Wansong. It's Wansong. That's 10,000 pines. There's a little hermitage inside a big monastery compound in Beijing, present-day Beijing, in the Yuan Dynasty.

[11:42]

That's when he lived with Mongolians, took over China. his commentaries, and his singing commentaries. That's the first part of the title. And then the Tiantong, Tiantong is, Hongzi actually has got two names, Hongzi and Tiantong, it's the same person, Tiantong Jue, a monk, reciting the ancient. And then the last part is, Xiong'an is the name of the little hermitage where 10,000 pines lived in his old age. Xiong'an means, actually, serenity is a little forced translation of Xiong'an. Xiong'an is kind of meaning not forced.

[12:43]

like loose clothing, that's kind of Xiongrong. Serenity is of course, and then the record of this Xiongrong on hermitage. So that's where he got his name, the name of the hermitage, where he spent his last days, and his disciples recorded all his sayings for the second time. When Tom Cleary first was translating, the original name was going to be, I thought it was going to be the Book of Equanimity, and then it came out as the Book of Serenity. So somewhere, loose, hanging loose. OK, so we're going to study the first case, which is called the World Honored One, meaning Shakyamuni Buddha ascending the seat.

[14:09]

So I'll read through the case first, just so we're all familiar with it. So the introduction by Wansong, he says, Closing the door and sleeping is the best way to receive those of highest potential. Looking, reflecting, and stretching is a roundabout way for the middling and lesser. In other words, for those who aren't quite of the highest order. How can it bear sitting on the carved wooden seat, sporting devil eyes? If there is any bystander who doesn't agree, come forward. You can't blame him either. So here's the case, the main case. One day, the World Honored One ascended the seat.

[15:27]

Manjushri struck the gavel and said, clearly observe, 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. So, you know, when we have shusa ceremony or shusa entering ceremony, We have the switching. That's what he's using. So anyway, I'll come back to this. And then there's the commentary by Wang Tsong. Completely embodying the ten epithets of Buddhas, 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. Before you people come to this teaching hall and before I leave my room, when will you attain realization?

[16:35]

This is already falling into three and four. Haven't you read Zui Du's saying, 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? When you bring it up to careful examination, Zui Du shouldn't ask for salt. Saindhava. I'll explain that. How could I present a horse? Sighed Dala. Even Monjushri, the ancestral teacher of seven Buddhas of antiquity, saying, clearly observed the dharma of the king of dharmas, the dharma of the king of dharmas 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 it. Even up till now, even up till now,

[17:39]

At the conclusion of the opening of the teaching hall, we strike the gavel on the sounding board and say, clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King. The Dharma of the Dharma King is thus bringing up this precedent. The World Honored One immediately got down from his seat at that. He saved a half and imparted a half to Tian Tong, whose verse says, so this is introducing Tian Tong's verse, So here's Tian Tong's verse. The unique breeze of reality. Do you see? Continuously, creation runs her lumen shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Mount Jushri's leaking. Then the commentary of Wansong on this verse. Tian Tong says, The unique breeze of reality, do you see?

[18:42]

Is it the world-honored ones ascending the seat that is the unique breeze of reality? Is Tian Tong 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 lumen shuttle. Mother of evolution and creator are different names for the creation of beings. Confucianism and Taoism are based on one energy. The Buddhist tradition is based on one mind. Guifeng said, that the original energy still is created by mind and is all contained in the imagery field of the repository consciousness.

[19:42]

I'm talking about that too. I, Wansong, say this is the very source of the Saodong school, Soto school, the lifeline of the Buddhas and ancestors. 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? After this, the verse eulogizes the World Honored One's easygoing abundance, saying, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring, Although this is like insects living on wood, happening to make patterns." That's a very common comment. Nevertheless, though he makes his cart behind closed doors, when he brings it out, it fits the grooves.

[20:44]

Finally, to Monjushri, he gives a cutting put-down, retorting, nothing can be done about Monjushri's leaking. Manjushri struck the gavel and the world honored one thereupon got down from the platform. When Kasyapa struck a gavel, a million Manjushris appeared. All are the same kind of situation. Why are gathering in and letting go not the same? You tell me, where is it the Manjushri has leaked? And there's a little poem here. Carefully to open the spice carefully to open the spice tree buds, he lets out the fire, the free spring on the branches." And then there are these added sayings that are kind of like comments, further comments, as if he couldn't leave it alone. So he adds some comments which

[21:51]

kind of give it a different, you know, it comes in from a little different angle. And these, there's some added sayings to the case. So in the case, the world-honored one ascended the seat, right? And then his little comment is, today he's not at rest. And then Monjushri struck the gavel and said, the dharma of the dharma king is thus. And the comment is, I don't know what's going on in his mind. Turn the lights up as far as they'll go. They are. Thanks. The World Honored One got down from the seat, and the comment is, deal again another day. And then added sayings to Tian Tong's verse, the unique breeze of reality. And the commentary is, don't let it blow in your eyes. It's especially hard to get out. Continuously, creation runs her lumen shuttle.

[22:54]

And the comment is, various differences mix in the woof. Weaving the ancient brocade, a great adept is as though inept. Nothing can be done about monjushri's leaking. Yin and yang have no irregular succession. Seasons do not overlap. Do you have a question? Well, let's take it from the beginning. So in the monastery's introduction, he introduces the case. He says, closing the door and sleeping is the way to receive those of highest potential. Usually there are three kinds of students.

[23:57]

How do you meet three kinds of students? The highest type of student You close the door. Closing the door and sleeping is the way to receive those of highest potential. In other words, you just ignore them. You don't have to do anything. And reflecting and stretching is a roundabout way for the middling and lesser. In other words, you have to do something. You have to think of some way to teach people, you know, by expedient means. So for those at the highest time, you don't really have to do anything. They're already, you know, you can just relax and go to sleep. But for the middling and lesser, you have to do something. You have to give a talk. You have to teach them something. They go to school. They need something, and you give them something.

[25:00]

So reflecting and stretching means doing something, thinking and doing. Reflecting means thinking, how you're going to do something. And stretching means extending yourself. Reflecting and stretching is a roundabout way for the middling and lesser. So how can it bear sitting on the carved wooden seat, sporting devil's eyes? What do you think that means? and teaching the throne. The devils, I've been telling, it's not teaching the true Dharma? No, no, no. I think it means teaching.

[26:02]

It means, you know, supporting devils, it means really getting in there and doing something. Because So the case is really that it's about Shakyamuni going up and then stepping down. He didn't do anything, right? So how can it bear sitting on the curved wooden seat sporting devil's eyes? In other words, really putting out, acting like a fierce teacher. That's what I think it means. If there is any bystander who doesn't agree, come on forward. Anyone who doesn't agree, come on forward.

[27:04]

You can't blame him either. There might be someone who contests this. I don't know if that's a good translation or not. If he doesn't do anything, how can they protest? Well, someone can say, why didn't you do something? If you read K7, you don't have K7, but K7 is very similar to this case. Yaoshan ascending the seat. And Yaoshan hadn't ascended the seat to lecture for a long time. The temple superintendent said to him, everybody's been waiting instruction for a long time.

[28:14]

Please, master, expound the teaching for us. Yaoshan had him ring the bell to get everybody together. When the congregation had gathered, Yaoshan ascended the seat. After a while, he got right back down from the seat and returned to his room. The superintendent followed after him and asked, a while ago you agreed to expound the teaching for the congregation. Why didn't you utter a single word? Yao Shan said, for scriptures, there are teachers of scriptures. For the treatises, there are teachers of treatises. How can you question this old monk? So the superintendent questioned the old monk. How come you didn't do it? That's the challenge. That's the... Disagreement. Okay, so... This kind of introduces the case, sets the stage.

[29:25]

So do you have any further questions about the introduction? OK, here's the main case. One day, the World Honored One, that's Shakyamuni Buddha, ascended the seat, the teaching seat, the carved seat, although I don't know what it looked like. Manjushri is the Bodhisattva of wisdom who represents Prajna. But it's also said that Manjushri is also the teacher of the seven Buddhas. But Manjushri is the Bodhisattva, the embodiment of wisdom. This is mythological lore, OK?

[30:34]

So, Monjushri struck the gavel. In those days, when the Buddha would get up to speak, or someone, even nowadays, in certain circumstances, the gavel, the sui ching, the block of wood, whatever, Usually, they say there's something said before, and then there's something said after. So there's something to introduce the talk and something to end the talk, or after the talk is over, to say, this has happened. This is going to happen. This happened. Very formal. And so usually, Monjushri would have said, illustrious disciples assembled here, listen to the first principle of the dharma.

[31:37]

And then the speaker speaks. And then after the speaker has spoken, he says, clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus. But he didn't introduce them. He just finished him. So that's significant here. There was no introduction, only the ending part. So the World Honored One ascended the seat. Manjushri struck the gavel and said, clearly observe the Dharma of the King of Dharma. The Dharma of the King of Dharma is like this. He walked up, sat down, got up and walked down again. What did he usually say if he was introducing it? I just said, illustrious disciples assembled here. Listen to the first principle of the Dharma.

[32:43]

That's what he would say. I've probably seen it in print, but haven't heard it. Yeah. And the World Honored One then got down from the seat. So that's the case. So what did he say? Really? It's very much in the spirit of the Lovas Sutra. But the whole beginning of the Lovas Sutra and throughout, it's this kind of announcement that now you're going to hear the most important, world-shaking event. I never hear anything.

[33:47]

And you don't hear anything. And then it's said again, now you're going to hear it three times and three times and three times. So it's a continual kind of, it's just about to happen. Yes, it's just about to happen. There's something about that. Well, you know, when you ask, usually, formally, if you want somebody to give a talk, you ask them three times. So the introduction is supposed to be very formal. So I'll read you the commentary. We'll go over the commentary. Wansong's commentary on the case. He says, completely embodying the ten epithets of Buddha, the ten names of Buddha.

[34:50]

There is, in the back of the book, if you have this book, there is a glossary that has some words, meanings of words, and then there's notes. And the notes are a few notes on each case. So the note on this case says, it's on page 431, the 10 epithets of Buddha are one who has come from thusness or gone to thusness, realized thusness. We say the thus come one, the Tathagata. Tathagata means thus come or thus gone. the one who lives in reality. And two, one who is worthy of offerings. That means arhat. Arhat means one who is worthy of offerings.

[35:54]

The perfectly enlightened, the complete in knowledge and action, the one who has gone the right way, the knower of the world, the unexcelled, the human tamer, the teacher of humans and divines, and the enlightened one honored by the world. So those are 10 epithets of Buddha. So completely embodying the 10 epithets of Buddha, appearing in the world as the sole honored one, raising his eyebrows. Raising eyebrows means, you find this in some cases in the booklet record, it means when you raise your eyebrows, Who's raising, what's happening? Question. Question? You're questioning, I mean, can you raise your eyebrows? Well, see, they say one raising their eyebrows means the whole universe is involved in raising their eyebrows.

[37:00]

So for one who has complete understanding, When they raise their eyebrows, they realize that the whole universe is involved in raising the eyebrows. So raising eyebrows is not just raising eyebrows only, but it's a universal act. So, appearing in the world as a soul and raising the eyebrows, becoming animated, In the teaching shops, that's kind of a neat... In the teaching shops, this is called ascending the seat. So, you know, when Buddha ascended the seat at Gurdakuta, he raised his eyebrows. Some texts say he winked or blinked or raised his eyebrows and twirled a flower. And in the meditation forests, the meditation forests, that's where the monks meditate, right?

[38:15]

In the forest. They call this going up in the hall, going to the front of the hall and sitting. Same thing. There's different names for the same thing. Before you people come to this teaching hall, and before I leave my room, when will you attain realization? So it sounds like he's talking to his students. So that's maybe a koan in itself. Before you people come to this teaching hall and before I leave my room, when will you attain realization? So then he says, this is already falling into 3 and 4. 3 and 4 means coming out from zero, right? It means complications already. 2, 3, 4 is already getting into the realm of complications.

[39:17]

Discrimination. The realm of discrimination. Discrimination, yeah. Haven't you read Zui Du's saying, Zui Du is Setso, who's compiled the Blue Cliff Record. Haven't you read Zui Du's saying, if there had been someone there who could understand the multiplicity of meanings according to situations, as in the Sanskrit word, sayandabha, what would have been the need for Monjushri to strike a beat? When you bring it up to careful examination, Zui Du shouldn't ask for salt." Sayandaba. How could I present a horse? Sayandaba. Well, this word sayandaba alludes to a king who had a retainer. And when he would say to this retainer, sayandaba, the retainer would know what he wanted.

[40:26]

He would bring him a horse, or he would bring him salt, or he would bring him, what? A drink of water. Water. And the fourth one was... Draw a bath. His bath. Maybe his bath. Something. A cup. A cup and water. So anyway, these four things. the king would just think what he wanted, and he'd say, sayonara, and then the retainer would know what he meant. This is, Dogen has a fascicle on this, and it alludes to the intuitive or close understanding between a teacher and a student. And there are some teachers, you know, who teach without saying very much.

[41:38]

And they expect the student to understand what's in their mind. And they judge their disciples on how deep their intuition is and how how open they are to defining or understanding the teacher's mind. Sainbaba. Sainbaba. In Japanese, it's Sendaba. Sanskrit, Sainbaba. So, This is an important part of this case. This is an important commentary on this case. Because the world honored one is ascending the seat and then he comes down again and you're supposed to understand his mind.

[42:44]

So, you know, and he says, before I leave my room, when will you attain realization? Well, that's also part of this. So I'll read that again. He said, this is already falling into complications three and four. Haven't you read Zui Du's saying, if there had been someone there who could understand the multiplicity of meanings according to situations. In other words, you see a situation and you understand the meaning. In the Blue Cliff Record commentary to the first case on Bodhidharma and the Emperor, the introduction says, when you see horns behind a fence, you know there's a bull. When you pull one corner of a piece of cloth, you know that the other corners are there.

[43:50]

You know that there's a whole club. So, you know, by seeing one part of something, you can judge the whole. You know what the whole thing is. And it also means when you see one particle of Earth, you understand the whole cosmos. Because when you pick up a speck of dust or when you pick up a rock, the whole universe comes up with it. So, this is how he's beginning to give you some way to understand the case. So,

[44:55]

If there had been someone there who could understand the multiplicity of meanings, according to the situation, as in the Sanskrit word sayandava, what would have been the need for Manjushri to strike a beat? None of this. He wouldn't have had to say anything. Maybe that's his leaking. That refers to when Jushu is leaking. Really, maybe he didn't have to do anything at all. So when you bring it up to careful examination, Zui Du shouldn't ask for salt, which is one of the four things. How could I present a horse? Horse is another one of the four things. This is like Shakyamuni Buddha holding up a flower and Manjushri, I mean, not Manjushri, Mahakasyapa smiling.

[46:07]

So, you know, this is the first Dharma transmission, right? Shakyamuni Buddha holds up a smile and raises his eyebrows or winks, blinks, and Mahakasyapa smiles. So then he says, even Monjushri, 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, so he can see, and wrench the wedges out of the back of his brain before he realizes. This is just a kind of way of speaking, right? Not literally. I don't mean about the males, I mean about Manjushri. He's criticizing, he's saying even Manjushri, you know, has to do all this before he can really see.

[47:13]

And he's the teacher himself. Even up till now, at the conclusion of the opening of the teaching hall, we strike the gavel on the sounding board and say, clearly observe the dharma of the dharma king. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus. In other words, he's saying, even now we do the same thing. And it's true. At Tassajara, we do the same thing. Only we don't say the king of dharma. We say the dharma is thus. After we do shosan, At Tansahara, we strike this sweet change. It's a little more formal than here. But the dharma is thus. The dharma is thus? Isn't that right? This place sounds more like, the dharma is thus? Thank you. It is?

[48:21]

Bringing up this precedent, So the World Honored One immediately got down from the seat of that. He saved a half and imparted a half. He saved a half and imparted a half to Chantam, whose verse says. So that's how he introduces the verse. I think it's a way of saying, He said his bid, and now Tian Tong is going to comment on it. That's just a way of saying that. Yes? So what it's saying up to now is it's the part about in Manjushri has to take the nails out of his eyes means this is difficult, this is not easy, but that's it.

[49:34]

And so in a sense the teacher doesn't have to say anything because it's either there and you get it or you don't. Or, I mean, you can say things to help along, but ultimately... Right, but you can say all kinds of things. I remember once Suzuki Roshi saying, in Zen practice, we make a mistake on purpose, which is called giving a lecture. So this is what I think he means by Manjushri's leaking. Manjushri's the only one sitting. So, you know, Shakyamuni didn't say anything. He just got up and got down. But Manjushri said something. He said, this is it, you know. Do you see that? So that's his kind of leaking. But he's leaking on purpose. Charlie?

[50:37]

I was going to say, if you're on the same bill with Shakyamuni, it's pretty hard not to get straight, man. Yeah, that's right. Well, they play these different parts for each other. This is very common in these little dramas. and the other will take that part, and then you see the little drama work out. It's a simple enganto. We're acting out this little play with Togasan.

[51:39]

Right, but it's interesting as far as the ascending the steps and descending and he didn't say anything. He just turned around and went back and the teaching was there for whoever was present. Right, to get. Get or not get. Right. Well, when I was reading this, the more I learned, the more immediately I got down from the seat and saved it up and parted it up. Mahakasyapa. Yeah, that's right. Tiantong is, you could say, is playing the part of Mahakasyapa. The teacher didn't, in fact, do nothing. He manifested. Yeah, of course. Doing nothing is also manifesting. So he saved a half and imparted a half to Tian Tong, whose verse says, and this is Tian Tong's verse, the unique breeze of reality.

[52:51]

Do you see? Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. Beautiful poem. But nothing can be done about Moun Joucheri's leaking. So then the commentary takes each one of these lines and comments on it. Can we ask Kwan-Lam to read how he would read that verse? Sure. A true wind. Can you see this true wind continuously between the comb and the loom? weaving an old fabric of a springtime phenomenon.

[54:15]

No wonder my jewelry had to leak. So then Tian Tong says, this is the commentary, the unique breeze of reality. Here he's commenting on the first line. The unique breeze of reality, do you see? Is it the world honored ones ascending the seat that is the unique breeze of reality? Is Tian Tong'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. The World Honored Ones. This is my commentary. The World Honored Ones, Tian Tongs, and Wansongs. Those are the three levels. What is the unique breeze of reality? Indeed, you people each have a share, but you should investigate it thoroughly.

[55:22]

Is one or two right and one wrong, or is one right and two are wrong, or are they all right? It seems that everything in the case, including these questions about You were talking about the teacher expecting the student, by intuition, to completely understand and to select the right meaning. That brought to mind, in the Genjo Koan, Dogen talks about when you sail out in the ocean, the ocean looks round. So, that seems to me a direct contradiction to the idea that by picking up a single speck of dust, or a single part of the universe, you understand the whole.

[56:54]

The whole comes with it. You may not understand it, but the whole thing comes up with it, if you can see that. And so it's the same with any part or parcel of experience. It's not, you know, there's hidden and revealed. And so, like with the ocean, you know, Dogen, the ocean looks circular, but it isn't circular.

[58:02]

Not round or square. It's neither round nor square. Right, right. So, okay. Being self-evident and at the same time not all understood. No. That's right. Being self-evident but not understood. So, what's right in front of us is reality. And it is the truth.

[59:08]

It's whole and complete as it is, but we must complete it. I don't understand. Well, you know, Dogen says, when you step on a boat, and you pull out the sail, and you take out the rudder, and you sail on the boat. And you stepping on the boat and lifting up the sail is what makes the boat the boat. Right? This is what makes sailing the boat, sailing the boat. And the boat makes you, and you make the boat. And this is called sailing. But the boat is not... is not the boat until it's sailing, and you are not you until you are sailing the boat.

[60:12]

So, although everything is right here and complete, or everything is right here and completely, We have to complete that completion. In other words, do you understand? We have to make it complete by our presence. Participation. Yeah, by our participation. Well, put him in that continuum.

[61:16]

Even if there was no comment, like if you were there, you would know, even if it were the Buddha, something had happened. Right. Yes. But this is what Zazen is. Zazen is being completely engaged. Totally, body and mind totally engaged. Completing the presence, your presence. Yeah, total. Yeah, total existence. Totally present. Yeah. And it's also the matter of consciousness. If a six-month-old baby gets on the bow, the baby completes the bow.

[63:11]

But there's no awareness. Well, the metaphor has to fit the... We're all continuously completing something just by our presence. The baby completes by screaming or milk or something, right? We're participating and we're responding in whatever way we're responding. And we may be conscious of our participation and we may not be. Right. Well, okay, but there are two kinds of consciousness, self-consciousness. One is the self-consciousness in which you feel isolated. And the other is the self-consciousness where you realize everything is yourself, in which you feel completely at ease. And they both, there's the two sides of the word alone.

[64:16]

the two meanings of the word alone. One is isolated and the other is complete. So what is the exact, what is the complete disciple of the universe? Well, you know, what is your life? You're completing your life by engaging with life. We say, well, I am alive, you know. And people say, well, since I'm alive, I deserve to be fed. You know? But actually, you do deserve to be fed. But when you engage in life, you become fed. Right? In various ways. So you're living when you're dying. Well, life goes on. Life is continuous, but its forms come and go.

[65:21]

Does the completion come and go? Well, we must remain engaged. We can become engaged and we can and we can become not engaged, disengaged. But even though we become engaged and disengaged, within the realm of practice, engagement and disengagement are not falling into and falling out of. because it's all within the realm of practice, which is total engagement. I don't know if that means anything to you. We're always falling off and getting on, right?

[66:25]

We're always wandering and getting back, wandering and getting back. Wandering off. And when you sit in Zazen, you can see that happening because your mind is always wandering off. and then you pull it back. So this is disengaged, and this is engaged. Disengaged, and this is what we're doing all the time, disengaging and re-engaging. And within the realm of practice, even though you become disengaged, it's still practice, it's still within the realm of realization, because you understand, now I'm wandering off, and then you come back. but before you realize that you're wandering off. It's just wandering. So the question was, do you always know whether you're on or off? I think. Wasn't that the question? Sure. When you realize that you're off, then you're on.

[67:34]

But if it doesn't occur to you that you're off, then you're in the realm of ignorance. So within the realm of practice, you can get off, but it's still within the realm of realization. Because you know that off is off, and you know that on is on. And you know that when you realize it, Well, it had to do with the notion of the person in the boat and the idea of completion and what you had said earlier about

[68:47]

When you pick up one corner, you see everything else. But it's not just that everything is connected. It's that everything implies everything else. The existence of one thing implies the existence of another thing. Like the existence of flowers implies that there would be birds or insects or something that would see them and have a function. And so, in that sense, the existence of the whole thing implies a consciousness of it that's big enough to see it all. And that would be our act of completion in the boat, is to see, not to see this as an individual, but to participate in the seeing of the whole. That's right, so that one loses oneself in the whole. One becomes part of the whole. But losing oneself, it means that you become part of the whole. You become an element of the whole. You become an element of the whole.

[69:48]

You become an element of the whole. [...] You become an That's the commentary on the first line. And then, he also says, there's a commentary on the second line, he also says, continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle. Mother of evolution, quote, and creator are two different names for the creation of beings. Mother of evolution. It could also be mother of all Buddhas. You say Prajnaparamita is the mother of the Buddhas. He says mother of evolution and creator are different names for the creation of beings.

[70:55]

Confucianism and Taoism are based on one energy. I'm not sure exactly what he means there by one energy, but I think that the Taoists and the Confucianists say that everything comes from one energy. is a source. The Buddhist tradition is based on one mind. So Buddhists say, all things come from one mind, or big mind, daishin. So in Buddhism, mind means not just thinking mind, but universal mind. It's interesting that Buddhists think of the creative matrix or nexus or source as mind.

[72:02]

And thinking mind is small mind. The source is like big mind. And so each individual mind is an expression of big mind. What would be the difference between mind and emptiness? Well, emptiness is that, you know, there are a lot of words, a lot of terms for the source of nature, of our nature. And depending on how you want to talk about it, you use these different terms. So if you want to talk about it in one way, you use the term emptiness. If you want to talk about it in another way, you use buddhanature. If you want to talk about it in another way, you say thusness. So there are lots of different terms, depending on how you want to steer your thinking about it. And each one is a way of thinking about it in a different way.

[73:11]

But all the leaves come from the same root. They're all talking about the same thing, same source. Yeah. But there's an interesting distinction here, right here between energy and time. Yeah, that's right. Because energy, you don't need to do anything about energy. Things were just energy in a pure sense. there are, whatever we do with mind, there is some action

[74:15]

So we talk about mind as empty, emptiness, or dharmakaya. And then from emptiness comes form, which is thinking, feeling, and so forth. Zazen is to touch with pure mind, not thinking mind, but pure mind. So it's possible to get beyond thinking mind, deeper than thinking mind, and touch pure mind, which is not thinking, beyond thinking, and not thinking. And some people think we should eliminate thoughts in order to get to the pure mind.

[75:39]

But the pure mind is also the thoughts. So it's not necessary to eliminate all the thoughts in order to touch pure mind. But we touch pure mind and then we realize the thoughts are like clouds passing over the the ocean of pure mind. Mind is an interesting word, the way we use the word mind. And when we get larger, we're just talking about thinking mind. When we get larger and talk about big mind, it seems like if I had to think, well, what's the quality? Why would we use the word mind? I think of the word awareness. Awareness doesn't necessarily depend on thought.

[76:43]

Consciousness, actually. Consciousness is the term for mind. But pure consciousness is the term that's translated. It's translated consciousness, and consciousness is awareness. It's hard to imagine. Well, that's discriminating consciousness. So consciousness has many levels. The various levels of discrimination are what we usually think of as mind, but then it's a level of non-discriminating mind.

[77:47]

So discrimination brings forth thinking. And so there's a level of touching pure mind which is beyond thinking. So non-discriminating consciousness. That's unlimited consciousness. The standard makes sense, the repository of consciousness. Yeah, the alaya. Well, you're talking about mind, and mind is something that is solely human, too. Well, human mind. Right, yeah. But in a sense, that separates us from the rest of it. Right. The ability to discriminate and imagine. It's uniquely human. Yeah, that's right. So that's the uniquely human quality, which gives us the ability to

[78:55]

investigate and also gives us a lot of trouble. But buddhanature comes from mind. Yeah, mind is an expression of buddhanature. Everything is an expression of buddhanature. So that's why it's important to touch pure mind. But we have to live in the world of discrimination. But in order to live, to understand the world, the reality of the world of discrimination, it's necessary to touch pure mind, which is beyond the realm of discriminating. So that, because we can see, you know, the differences, but it's hard to see the root of oneness. The qi and the energy and the mind is not the same, but different names.

[80:21]

The qi is really the life that we have to deal with, the forces, and so is the heart and the mind. So Taoist expression and Buddhist expression are sometimes the same. At Suzuki University, people asked, well, aren't Taoism and Buddhism the same? When I read a certain text, you know, is it Taoist or Buddhist? And he said, well, when you read it as a Taoist, you read it from a Taoist point of view. And when you read it as a Buddhist, you read it from a Buddhist point of view. In a way, they're saying the same thing, but they're not always understood in the same way, necessarily, exactly. How do we know they're saying the same thing?

[81:28]

When you read it, you'll discuss it. You mean these two, or you mean...? Well, just, I mean, what Juan Lama's saying and what you're saying, You're saying that basically they're the same thing. It sounds like what you're saying. I'm not alluding to this. I was talking about Buddhist terms and the way Buddhists understand something and the way Taoists understand the same thing. You can say this is Buddhist or you can say it's Taoist. So Buddhists read it as a Buddhist text and Taoists read it as a Taoist text. Okay, but they might have a different... They might have. It may be different. It might be different, yeah. Those that are different are different. And they might be different, yeah. But we're talking about something so abstract that... Yeah, they are.

[82:34]

Well, I mean, it's not abstract. A Taoist understanding of the universe might be different than a Buddhist understanding. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It is. It's the same universe. Yeah. Right. I'm not a baby. I'm a baby. You're not a baby. Just the understanding is different, that's all. It could be different. Yeah, the understanding, of course. It is different. So he says, this is still part two. He also says, continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle. Mother of Evolution and Creator are different names for the creation of beings.

[83:40]

Confucianism and Taoism are based on one energy. The Buddhist tradition is based on one mind. So this is, you know, one energy and one mind, you know, it's not different. It's different, but not different. And yet this is the way Buddhists, Taoists read it as one energy. Buddhists read it as one mind. But it's, as Grace said, it's the same thing. Gui Feng said that the original energy still is created by mind and is all contained in the imagery field of the repository consciousness, which is called the alaya-vijnana in Sanskrit.

[84:42]

I say, I, Wansong, say, this is the very source of the Saodong school. Saodong means, in Japanese, sokuto, school. The lifeline of the Buddhas and ancestors. 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? Is false cause and no cause... Where did I have a note on that? What do you think he's talking about? Well, first I'll say the energy is created by mind and is all contained in the imagery fields of the repository consciousness.

[85:55]

I've talked about the eight levels of consciousness a lot. The five sense consciousnesses and then the mind consciousness are the six senses. And the mind consciousness, which is the sixth consciousness, discriminates between the various fields of the senses. I hear this, I see that, I smell this, I taste this, and I think this. The sixth consciousness discriminates between the various fields of consciousness. And then the seventh consciousness, the Manas, is the ego consciousness. The consciousness that isolates ourself and thinks of ourself as a separate being.

[87:01]

Consciousness of our individuality. and thinks of ourself as permanent. And then there's the eighth consciousness, which is the alaya vijnana, which is the repository of all thoughts and experiences and includes memory and collects the seeds of all of our thoughts and activities And when we do some action, volitional action, or some kind of action, the seeds are perfumed, or watered, and then they sprout, and then we're continually creating habit energy, which, from the collection in the Laya Vijnana,

[88:06]

from the seeds that are collected. The seeds continually sprout and keep creating the cycle of our life, the various cycles that our life orbits in. When the eight consciousnesses are purified, then they transform into the four wisdoms. And they're no longer called consciousnesses, but they're called wisdoms. The round mirror wisdom, the equality wisdom, The third one is the ability to know the difference between everything and the perfecting of action wisdom.

[89:28]

And all of our actions come from mind. Our whole life, we're continually creating our life. Alaya Vijnana, the repository consciousness, is like a torrent. a stream, a running stream. And you can see that, because when you sit in zazen, you see the running stream of your mind. And then when we act out our thoughts, put our thoughts into action, we're creating our life from the root or from the foundation of these seeds, which are continually sprouting. And it's very hard to get out of our way of thinking about things.

[90:44]

So when the alaya is turned over and is purified, and when the ego consciousness is no longer in command, then the information that is gathered through the senses is processed in a different way. Then it's no longer processed with ego as the center. And Big Mind becomes the director, which is flowing through the alaya consciousness. So the alaya, there's the information coming in through the senses, and the seed sprouting from the other end, from the open end, or from the garden of seeds in the alaya.

[91:54]

something makes these two come together, discriminating consciousness. And when the ego consciousness is no longer dominant, then we're acting more in accord with nature or big mind. But so ego consciousness filters to the extent that big mind is, you know, we get lost. We're no longer in touch with ourself. You see, I'm out of touch with myself, right? And we're out of touch with Buddha nature, even though we are Buddha nature, whether we're in touch or out of touch. So he says, I say that this is the very source of the Tsao-tung school. No, I'm sorry. Gui Fung said that the original energy still is created by mind, and it's all contained in the imagery field of the repository consciousness, the eighth consciousness.

[93:06]

I, Wan Tsang, say that this is the very source of the Tsao-tung school, the lifeline of the Buddhas and ancestors. As the wolf goes through the warps, the weave is dense and fine. Continuously, something is continuously being created. And continuous thread comes from the shuttle, making every detail. How could this even be spoken of on the same day as false cause or no cause? I think we may come to that. And what strikes me about that believing, in contrast to false cause and no cause, is understanding the interconnectedness of every event in all of us. And false cause is when we think we did something ourselves, or no cause, it just happened. So that's what I see as the contrast of understanding how we exist harmoniously,

[94:12]

talk about denial of cosmic, so obviously there is. Right. So then the next one talks about the third line, the line waving the ancient brocade. After this, the verse eulogizes the world-honored one's easygoing abundance. That kind of refers to the title of the book, right? easygoing abundance, saying, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. Although this is like insects living on wood, happening to make patterns. Looks arbitrary, right? Nevertheless, though he makes his cart behind closed doors, when he brings it out, it fits the groove. They're these people that make boats in their garages, you know, when they bring them out.

[95:32]

They hope that it floats. So, things look arbitrary, but there's a cause behind everything. There's a reason and a cause behind everything. And even though he makes his cart behind closed doors, when he brings it out, it fits right into the grooves.

[95:53]

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