Well, this is the seventh day of our seven-day Sashi, commemorating Shakyamuni's enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. And I've been commenting on the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor, Huineng, or Daikon Eno, or Wei Long, or there are other names, but in Chinese we usually say Wei Nung. In Japanese we say Daikon Eno. This Sutra is the touchstone for Zen practice in China from the 8th century and its teaching comes down to us from China through Japan

[01:20]

and finally to us. So, as we know, there are parts of the sutra which seem somewhat authentic, and then there are parts which are added, and parts which are not so good, but the true reality is there in the sutra. So, when I start talking about it, I want to just keep on talking about it, but we only have limited time. So, this particular talk of his on prajna, which is the wisdom of, our intuitive wisdom,

[02:21]

which is free from all impediments. He has a poem, I guess it's a poem, we call it a poem, which epitomizes how an enlightened person behaves, that has prajna wisdom. This behavior is the expression of this wisdom. And I read it at the end of one of my talks, but I didn't talk about it. So today I will comment on the poem. The Sixth Ancestor's verse on how an enlightened person behaves in the world. One who is a master of the Buddha Dharma and has realized their essence of mind may be likened to the bright sun in an empty sky.

[03:39]

Such a one teaches nothing but the Dharma for realizing our self-nature, which is their purpose for being in this world and to make people aware of erroneous views. So one who has realization, who's realized the essence of mind, essence of mind that we call, is of course indescribable, but one term we use is dharmakaya, which is our essential nature, self-nature or essential nature. So a master of the Buddhadharma who has realized their essence of mind may be likened to the bright sun in an empty sky. So the sun, you know, is round and has no... only has one side.

[04:52]

So having one side means that there is no dualism. The sun is self-contained and manifests in all directions, manifests as light in all directions. Light and dark are two aspects of light. In the Sandokai, it says, Light and darkness are a pair, like the foot before and the foot behind and walking. Right in darkness there is light, and right in light there is darkness. So light and dark, of course, are comparative, right? We say it's light outside, and then when the earth turns, we say it's dark outside.

[05:55]

But darkness and light are just comparative values. If you're in a closet where there's no... in a dark closet and you go out at night, the night looks pretty light, pretty bright actually. So light and dark, what are they? They're really two aspects of one thing. There is no real darkness or no real light. They're just ideas. Ways we have of thinking. And of course they have their effect on the Earth. But this person who is a teacher doesn't have to do anything because the clouds are lifted and the light simply shines forth. This is a person who has realized Realized means simply free, free from all obstructions.

[07:03]

Satyawan teaches nothing but the dharma for realizing self-nature. In the Lotus Sutra, if you've ever read the Lotus Sutra, it might be confusing, but it says its purpose is to understand why a Buddha appears in the world. A Buddha appears in the world simply to help people to understand reality or their self-nature and doesn't have any other purpose. So a person who practices Dharma wholeheartedly Their main purpose being in the world is simply to do this. We may have various work that we do.

[08:13]

We maybe have a family or have a job somewhere and appear in the world, but nevertheless the main purpose of that person's appearance or life work is simply to bring the Dharma into the world. So, such a one teaches nothing but the Dharma for realizing our self-nature. which is their purpose for being in this world, and to make people aware of erroneous views. So we all have a path in life, and we may be searching for, what is our true path in life? That's really a good question. What is our true path in life? And we have various careers and so forth, but that's a kind of worldly path, on this side.

[09:19]

But what is our deeper path in life, and I think that everyone is looking for that in some way, and we look for it through various channels. But, you know, life is in a way kind of like a maze, and when you follow a maze, there are all these dead ends, and it's one way through. So how do you find that one way through, and what is that one way through? So a person who has realized the one way through, their purpose in life is to help people find that one way through. So we can hardly classify realization of the Dharma into sudden and gradual. Some will attain enlightenment more quickly than others. In Huineng's day, the 8th century, there was this controversy about sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment.

[10:26]

And a lot of people say, well, the Platform Sutra of the Six Ancestors is emphasizing sudden enlightenment, and that his school emphasized sudden enlightenment, and that the Northern Ancestors School advocate gradual enlightenment, step-by-step. You know, when you have a realization, the whole movie is right there in front of you. Rather than just going step-by-step, there are practices which are, you learn this, and you learn this, and then you learn that. That's our usual way. But with certain realization, the whole thing is presented at once. Is it on now?

[11:28]

OK. I'm just stumbling around anyway. So, suddenly gradual is simply, he says, some people are slower and some people are more quick. That's all. It's not like there is, one aspect is better than the other. As a matter of fact, within gradual enlightenment is sudden enlightenment. You can say, what is suddenly? What is a moment? the snap of the fingers, but the snap of the fingers can take a lifetime. And what looks like something very slow can be a moment. So sometimes we talk about sudden enlightenment and gradual practice, or gradual practice and sudden enlightenment.

[12:39]

or practice and enlightenment are not different. That's our actual path. Practice and enlightenment are not different. Enlightenment brings us to practice, and practice stimulates enlightenment. Sudden enlightenment and gradual practice has that feeling of, OK, now you're enlightened. Big deal. Practice. Just practice. Suzuki Roshi used to say, enlightenment isn't so difficult to attain. We always have this idea that enlightenment is really difficult to attain. Enlightenment is not difficult to attain. What's difficult is continuous practice. Don't worry about your enlightenment, whether it's going to be sudden or gradual or whatever.

[13:48]

As a matter of fact, if you worry about it at all, it's a problem. The more you try to go after it, the further away it goes. So our idea actually is what hinders us. Just drop the idea and practice. Enjoy practice. If you don't enjoy practice, enlightenment is impossible. We don't practice for enlightenment. We practice to enjoy practice and to enjoy our life. And at some point we realize, oh, I see. So we can hardly classify realization of the Dharma into sudden and gradual. Some will attain enlightenment more quickly than others.

[14:51]

Some will have realization more quickly than others. This way of realizing the essence of mind is beyond the comprehension of the ignorant This is the word ignorant. Ignorant here means difficult to comprehend. Or maybe we ignore something that we shouldn't ignore. We may explain it in 10,000 ways, but all those explanations may be traced back to one principle. That sounds a little difficult. May be traced back to one... all those explanations No matter how much you explain it, there's simply just the one thing. That we actually, our real existence is Dharmakaya, the whole universe, beyond our conceptualization. As much as we conceptualize and talk and explain, it's only pointing to something which can't be explained.

[16:02]

But all those explanations may be traced back to just the one principle. So what is this one principle? In order to illuminate the dark dwelling place of the afflictions, we should constantly set up the light of wisdom. Afflictions are mental hindrances. Mental hindrances. We live in this realm of afflictions. We may feel sometimes life is going well, but nothing is certain. And we get caught by our karmic activity.

[17:07]

These are all afflictions. We get caught up in love and hate and all these opposites, which are constantly confusing us. So constantly set up the light of wisdom, which is prajna. which is to free ourself from attachments. We know it says attachments are the dwelling place of afflictions. You know, he talks about mindlessness as being one of the basic elements of practice.

[18:23]

Usually in Buddhism we talk about mindfulness. He talks about mindlessness. Mindlessness means that There's no place that in mindlessness, there's no place that our mind sticks. That there's only movement. But we tend to get stuck on these moments of movement and stay in certain places and obstruct the flow of the mind, which is always in motion. when we can not stop the flow of the motion of the mind but when we're not hindered by the motion of the mind.

[19:26]

Some people sometimes people think that meditation is stopping the mind, making the mind blank. But that's simply, it's not really possible to do that. Because even if you stop the mind from working for a few moments before you know it, you're already in a dream. So it's good to try to do that. Try to stop your mind from moving. While you're trying to stop your mind from moving, the dream is already appearing and you're already in it. So, allowing your mind to flow without getting hung up. You know, it's like mind, as we say, is deep.

[20:32]

Down at the bottom of the mind there's no movement. Everything is completely still. On top of the water, there's all this turbulence. This is the nature of the model of our mind. And when we are sitting in Zazen, we allow the mind to settle down to this place where there's very little movement. But still, on top, it's all flowing. So this flowing is the nature of thinking. And it just continues without our having to do anything about it. It's just the nature of the mind to produce thoughts. And we think they're very interesting. And this interest is where we get hung up. if we can just allow the mind to flow, but dwell down in the depths of our mind, which is very still, we don't have to eliminate thinking in order to be peaceful, because no matter how much

[21:58]

And in thinking, our mind is completely still at the same time. Usually, we're just on the top. We operate on the top, the turbulence, and we don't access the depths of our calm mind. When we access the depth of our calm mind, they're not two things, calm mind and turbulent mind. There's always stillness within all of the activity. You say dwell and access. Are those different than looking at it? Not looking at it. Access means to find it. To allow yourself to go down to the bottom of your mind, which is endless, boundless mind. Not like something in a tank. Not like water in a tank.

[23:03]

It's like boundless mind. It has no restrictions. And it includes this stuff on the top. It's always... And we become very engaged with the turbulence on the top, which is important. That's why we don't try to eliminate it. It's important to live our life in the turbulence, but with calmness in mind. But what is the connection with that and, for example, following breath? If we follow our breath, are we down there? No. That's different. Breath, you know. Breath, blood, mucus. pus, fingers, they're not yours. This is all big mind.

[24:09]

This is the Dharmakaya's activity. It's not my activity. This thinking stuff that we get involved in, that's my activity. But when we access, or when we let go, and access our big mind, which is boundless, That's the most vital activity. Breath just goes. We don't have anything to do with breathing. We don't have anything to do with blood flowing through our veins. We have very little to do with... We can control this body, but it's not my body. It's not my breath. It's not my blood. It's just universal activity. When we understand this is just universal activity, just the activity of the Dharmakaya expressing itself in these various ways.

[25:15]

All this electricity is not my electricity. So, when we let go of self, then we realize Dhammakaya. We realize that it's not my little self, it's my big self. So, this is what he means, I think. Big self manifests when small self is included, but not in a deluded way. Our small self is just another expression of the universe. So this is the realization. Realization that this existence is simply not me.

[26:18]

It's bigger than me. And we're all, you know, compassion means to realize that everything in the universe is myself, but not me. This is my true body. My true body's mind is the universal body, universal mind. And this is just a manifestation. So how do we deal with that? I would say, because I feel that there's a me that's independent of that, which is not, I have to cooperate. My small self has to cooperate with my big self. This is why sometimes, I got this from Suzuki Roshi, we're half Buddha, half ordinary.

[27:25]

Ordinary means ego. Buddha means universal. So when we practice, my ego self and my Buddha self are one. that therefore practice my universal self, my ego self, and my Buddha self come together. And this is practice and this is enlightenment. So we give ourself over to our bigger self. That's what practice is. Practice means giving our small self over to our big self. You lay your ego down at the altar of Buddha and say, use me. So you give yourself away. This is the meaning of practice, how you give yourself away.

[28:26]

It's called generosity. which is the first of the six... what are they called? Paramitas. The first of the six paramitas is generosity, giving yourself away, basically, until you have nothing left. And when you have nothing left, you have everything. Did you want to say something, Ron? I think what Kim was getting at, or wondering about, was how does the practice of concentrating on breath help us to do that? Is that what you meant? The practice, it helps to calm your mind. And while you're doing zazen,

[29:27]

And it focuses you on the universal activity, which is not yours. I mean, it is yours, but it's not you. Breath is independent of you. And it's the combination, it's the meeting of so-called inside and outside. But there is no inside and outside, it's just comparative. But in that sense, in the comparative sense, it's the connection between inside and outside. So you breathe in the whole universe, actually, and breathe out the whole universe. So as Suzuki says, it's just a sliding, just a swinging door. Yes. I'll tell you something about a sliding door. We have a sliding door in between our kitchen and the hallway, and when the alarm goes off, the smoke alarm goes off, we close that sliding door.

[30:41]

And then when it goes off, my dog, grabs hold of it with his teeth and tries to close the sliding door. That's breathing. Yes. We are one in one perspective. We breathe in. Well, of course, yes. So, we are being breathed. We do? I guess I'm not completely clear.

[31:45]

It seems like you're saying that self-centered thinking is natural. You're saying the small self, so when we're sitting, it's natural for the small self to manifest, right? So that would include self-centered thinking, right? No. No, I'm saying that thoughts continue to manifest. Okay. Thoughts continue to manifest, but they're not, we don't, the ego doesn't grab them, doesn't attach to them. as it usually does when we think. So, when the thoughts come, we just allow them to come and then allow them to go. You're not trying to put yourself in a place where things don't come and go. You're not retreating. You're simply allowing

[32:47]

everything to be as it is. But you're not grasping anything. You're not attaching to anything. And you're not discriminating between what's good and bad and right and wrong. That's all. But isn't it part of our nature as human beings to grasp and attach? Yes, it is. That's right. So our nature needs to do that. And why is that? In terms of the dharmakaya manifesting in our bodies, in terms of our bodies just being prone to attachment, how is it that the manifestation of dharmakaya could produce or induce delusion and attachment? Well, delusion is what we manifest in our ignorance. The dharmakaya doesn't induce that. So, the problem is our suffering, our unsatisfactoriness is produced by our not understanding that even though grasping and attaching is human nature, it's what causes our suffering.

[34:15]

and our delusions and keeps us from actually realizing our true nature. That's the whole thing about Buddhism is how we cause our own suffering and how we cause our own delusions and get caught and trapped in our attachment to things. But attachment is natural, right? So how do you find your freedom within attachment? How do you find non-attachment within attachment? This is our great koan. I read the book, Bonkai Zen, and talking about it, and Bonkai was saying, if you're able to sit for a good 30 days and continually let go, let go, let go, not suppressed, not cling.

[35:21]

He said, then we can reach a state of being permanently without delusions. And I was wondering, would you be willing to have a 30 day Well, you know, your whole life is a lifetime session. From here on is a lifetime session. Just think of it that way. totally accept everything in front of you without attachment. He says, erroneous views keep us in defilement, while right views remove us from it.

[36:35]

So erroneous views, you know, are like, there's a self, we think there's a self when there is actually no self. We think that things are permanent when they're actually not permanent. We think that the things that cause us pleasure, We don't realize that the things that cause us pleasure are actually causing us suffering. We don't realize these four realizations. We think that what is bondage is actually freedom. We set up our bondage all the time and call it freedom. Whatever we have also has us. Whatever we engage in and take up also takes us up.

[37:40]

So it's kind of a co-creation. If I'm talking to somebody on the telephone, The person that I'm talking to also has me. I may call up that person, but that person also has me. Sometimes someone will call on the telephone that you don't want to talk to. Yes, yes, how am I going to get away? So everything that we take up has a connection. But we are always thinking from the point of view of ourself. So, many things we get caught by, and even though they give us pleasure, they also bind us, because we want to just keep doing them over and over. And then, that's called captivation.

[38:45]

So, we become enslaved to our television, to our automobiles, to our money, to our, you know, we don't realize until something goes awry that that's the case. And so, you know, we've been floating on this economy for a long time, thinking, you know, I can get this, I can get that, I can get this, I can buy a house. then boom, the bottom is out and we realize we're hanging by all this stuff that we invested in. We tied ourselves up and then we can't, you know, how many people actually feel, okay, the economy is no good, you know, everything's going downhill.

[39:46]

How many people actually feel, I'm not some more than others. Anyway, we get caught by our attachments. And, you know, it's important to have some safety and some security and so forth. But actually, there's no such thing. There really is no such thing as security. There's some secure places that we find ourselves, you know. We jump to this rock, you know, that rock, and we think, ah, I'm safe now. But actually, we're not. In the end, where do you find it? So anyway, this is what, you know, like the deeper things, deeper stuff, that I'm sorry that I can't

[40:55]

go all the way through this, but not enough time. One question. The only security is in insecurity. Yeah. Well, realizing that nothing is secure. And the less outer security we have, the more inner security we have to find. That's actually practice. The more outer security that we can let go of, the more inner security we have to find. And so this leads us to realization. The less we rely on outer securities, the more we have to rely on inner security. And in the end, what's that? Linda. Linda. When you were talking about suffering, how we make ourselves suffer with our speaking of things, with the way our mind speaks to things, I thought of a picture I saw in the New York Times recently, just yesterday, of a child in Zimbabwe,

[42:21]

He's being led away by the hand, and you can only see the hand of the other person. The caption said, this four-year-old child is leaving the place where they just buried his mother who died of cholera. And the picture is really haunting. It shows this little four-year-old child kind of looking to the side in the depths of dejection and being led away by the hand. I'm asking you, is this child deluded for suffering, or what is compassion in a world where there is no self? Something around that. Yeah. You know, if there were only selfless people, then everybody would be working for the benefit of everybody else. But because there is so much selfishness in the world, that child has to suffer like that. The child is suffering the results of the selfishness of the rest of the world.

[43:30]

So, that's the victim of our selfishness. Because it's possible for the world to take care of itself, for everybody in the world to take care of each other. That's possible, but it doesn't happen because of our selfishness. Is there a difference between suffering which you're a victim and suffering which you cause yourself? Let me say something. This little child is not the victim of their own karma. You know, there's this idea that karma is ours, the result of our actions and can only be... we receive the result of our own actions, but actually we receive the results of the world's karma as well.

[44:40]

It's not through our own actions, we're all connected, and so the karma that I create can also affect someone else, because we're all one person, even though we're individuals. We can't talk anymore because we have to do this. We have to continue our schedule, which the next thing is Buddha's enlightenment ceremony, which will be explained by tomorrow when I leave.

[45:38]

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