So I've been going through the Chinese ancestors leading up to Dongshan, the founder of the Caodong or Soto lineage, from the sixth ancestor. And tonight we're going to talk about Sekito Kisen, as he's known in Japanese, or Shichan, who lived from 700 to 790, and who wrote the two things that we just chanted, the harmony of difference and sameness in the Song of the Grass Hut. So we talked Two weeks ago, I guess, the last time about this, about his teacher, Chingyuan Xingshi, or Seigen Gyoshi, we say in Japanese. And the story about Shuto, again, I'm mostly using this teaching, the transmission of light from a Japanese teacher, Keizan, and he says that Shuto called on Zen Master Qingyuan and asked, who asked him, where have you come from?

[01:05]

And Shuto said, from Saoshi, which is where the sixth ancestor, Zen Master Huineng, taught. So Shuto also had studied when he was young with the sixth ancestor, but he was still very young when the sixth ancestor died. And then he went to study with Qingyuan, who was the successor of the sixth ancestor, one of them. Qingyuan held up a whisk and said, is there this at Xiaoxi? Shakyamuni Buddha said, not only at Xiaoxi, not even in India. Not only not at Xiaoxi, not even in India. So Qingyuan held up a whisk, which is one of the symbols of the teaching. And Sakyamuni Buddha said, not only is that not at Xiaoxi, it's not even in India. Cheng Yuan said, you haven't been to India, have you? Xiu De said, if I had, it would be there. Cheng Yuan said, that's not enough.

[02:07]

Say more. Xiu De said, you too should say a half. Don't rely entirely on me. Cheng Yuan, the teacher, said, I don't decline to speak to you, but I am afraid that later no one will get it. Xiu De said, it is not that they won't get it, but that no one can say it. Qingyuan hit Chitou with a whisk, whereupon Chitou experienced great enlightenment. So this is the basic story of Chitou's awakening. Chitou was a very interesting fellow. His name means rockhead. And it's actually, it could be translated, above the rock. He actually later on, when he became a teacher, he built a hut. He built a grass hut, like it says in the chants, on a rock, a big rock near his monastery.

[03:11]

And actually, so in the 8th century, in the later tradition, he's considered one of the two great masters, along with Master Ma, Mazu Baso. who was the ancestor of the Rinzai lineage. But actually, in his own time, Shuto was not very important. Mazu was very important. He had to, even during his lifetime and for a couple of generations after that, his lineage was very famous. Shuto was not so well known. But later on, after the Dongshan lineage came about, his teaching and this harmony of difference and sameness in Song of the Grass Hut and his story became well known. When he was young, Chateau was known for having stopped animal sacrifices. So when the area where he grew up, I think it was in Sichuan, sort of in the West. But anyway, there were, as part of the religion of the peoples there, the hill people, they did animal sacrifices.

[04:17]

And even as a young boy, he objected to that and he would go to where they were doing this and free the animals. So, Somehow he got away with that. He was only 14 when he went to and met Huineng, the sixth ancestor. He wasn't ordained there, but Huineng told him just before he passed away, shortly before that, that he should go study with Qigong. So then Khe Sanh talks about the story again. One day, Qingyuan held up a whisk and said, is there this at Shaoshi? And Shita said, not only is it not at Shaoshi, where the sixth ancestor was, but it's not even in India. Kezon says, in ancient as well as recent times, they have held up the whisk to show a clue or an introduction, to initiate an action, to make people abandon sidetracks or to give people immediate direction.

[05:18]

Qingyuan also did this as a test, but Shito didn't yet understand what Qingyuan was calling this, and still fixed his eyes on the raising of the whisk, saying, not only not at Zaoshi, not even in India. So I would say that Shito was pretty cocky, both as a young boy breaking up animal sacrifices, and then when he first went to Qingyuan. I'm not sure. Still a young man, maybe in his 20s. It took him a while. I forget the exact story, but he misunderstood when the sixth ancestor said, you should go study with Qingyuan. And he thought he was giving him a practice instruction. So he went and practiced meditation on his own and didn't realize he was referring to this teacher, Qingyuan. So there were some years in between.

[06:20]

Might have been in his late teens or early 20s, something like that. So Quezon says, in the raising of the whisk, what South Shia India can you establish? Such a view is still a verbal understanding of the objective environment. So Ching-Yuan Preston saying, you haven't been to India, have you? Shitta still did not understand this remark, and without forgetting himself, he said, if I had, it would be there. Khe Sanh says, even though you have spoken of it, if you don't know it exists, you are not suitable. Therefore, Ching Yuan said, that's not enough, say more. Ching Yuan really acted with great kindness and compassion, giving detailed indications in this way. So it's not enough for Shinto to have said, if I had been there in India, it would be there. He still didn't quite have it.

[07:28]

Here Chateau had no place to put himself, so he said, you too should say half, don't rely entirely on me. So in the dialogue, it sounds like Chateau is actually the one who's leading the way and he really understands. But it's not complete what Chateau is saying. Khe Sanh says, having met and talked thus, if they both transmitted a half, how could the whole thing be said? Even if the universe crumbles and the whole essence is exposed alone, this is still only halfway. Even this point is arrived at on one's own, without depending on the arts of another. Needless to say, advancing a step beyond the halfway point, subtly conveying a secret message, doesn't depend on anything at all. How can someone else know? So it's not just himself, and it's not just the teacher. Khe San said, it is simply that it has always been inherent in oneself. There Ching-Yuan said, I don't decline to say it to you, but I'm afraid that later on, no one will get it.

[08:38]

So Chateau had to understand this, not just from himself, but also beyond himself, but not relying on anyone else. Keizan says, even if you speak of pain and bitterness, if the other has no experience of pain, piercing his bones, or a bitterness splitting his tongue, in the end there is no way to convey it. Therefore, there will be no way to get it through words. So I can't tell you what Buddha is for you. I can't give you some instruction that will give you some clear understanding of this. But there's something already here that you need to keep paying greater and greater attention to. So I'm waiting for all of you to tell me what this is.

[09:43]

And I've also heard you all speak of it. Sometimes you speak of it in words. Sometimes you speak of it in your zazen posture. Sometimes you speak of it in your laziness. But can you actually say it? It doesn't depend on words. So we support each other as Sangha to come together and sit. But each of you has something that you alone can see. and you alone can say. And baby talk is okay. And actually, as you sit, whether your posture is good or bad, whether your eyes are open or closed, you are expressing it.

[10:47]

But can you really see it? Can you really say it? This is what this story is about. Khe Sanh says, because this is so, teachers do not speak at random and do not act arbitrarily. They are careful in this way. But Shakyamuni still did not know there was a subtle point conveyed, something that is not a partner of things. Unable to perceive subtly, he said, it is not that they won't get it, but no one can say it. So this is what Shakyamuni said just before Ching Ron hit him. Shuto may say so, Keizan says, but upon reaching this realm, how can someone have nothing to say? If you reach this realm, what will you get? He was still looking outside, estranged from inner realization. Therefore, in order to make him speedily realize such a thing exists, to get him to know his original head right away, Qingyuan hit him with a whisk.

[11:51]

He, as the phrase goes, he beat the grass to frighten the snakes. Thus, Sita was greatly awakened. So, you know, these stories where the student, or who later is the teacher, is greatly awakened, don't misunderstand this. This is not about having some experience. or some understanding that happens at one time. Of course it happens at one time. But Shito's awakening goes back to the boy freeing the animal. Shito's awakening continues and happens later on when students meet him. So don't be confused by this. And yet, There's something for you each to say, and you may say it in words or not. And you're saying it right now.

[12:58]

And yet, can you say it? This is not about somebody else. It's just about you. And yet, this you is not the you you think of. So Kezan goes on to say, by way of this story, you should thoroughly examine learned knowledge and true realization in order to arrive at the point where you can discern exactly which is which. When Shito said, not only not at Zaoshi, not even in India, he succeeded in breaking open heaven and earth and revealing the whole unique being. But he still had the affliction of self-consciousness. It was because of this that he could speak so grandiosely. But in the end, having perceived the revealing of the whole being at the raising of the whisk, at the blow of the whisk, he knew it exists.

[13:59]

You know, even Shakyamuni Buddha had this problem. When Shakyamuni Buddha was born, he took seven steps forward and pointed up and pointed down and said, below the heavens and above the earth, I alone am the world-honored one." So it's pretty great that he could say that, you know, right out of the womb and all. But still, he had to leave the palace and do some hard work before he could really know it. So Keizan, who was speaking in 1400s in Japan, Zen students, maybe it was 1300s anyway, Zen students of recent times fruitlessly run around in the midst of sound and form, searching and seeing and hearing. Even if they have memorized the words of the Buddhas and the Zen masters and have formulated some way of understanding to cling to, even if they say, not at Cao Xi, not even in India, still they have realized nothing.

[15:06]

If you are this way, then even if you have shaved your heads and put on robes so that outwardly you resemble the Buddha in appearance, you'll never escape the bonds of the prison of this world. How will you be able to halt the routines of mundane life? What a pity it is that people like this have vainly hung the monastic robe on a piece of wood. As Buddha said, they are not Buddhists. They have no name. They are no different from pieces of wood. That's what this means. So Keizan gave these lectures to his monks in his monastery during a practice period. And so I can feel him sort of chastising his monks to be more serious. But there's a point here too. So having thoroughly investigated and penetrated through, if you reach the point where the whole being is revealed alone, As Shito did when he first arrived, you will realize the non-existence of either Sao Siro or India.

[16:12]

So there was this realization by Shito even in the beginning of the story. Where can one come or go? At this stage of vision, one does not wear the patchwork robe in vain. All the more so was this true of Shito when at the blow of the whisk, he realized the fact of being and both forgot himself and also knew himself. He came to life in the midst of death. in the dark as Chu-Wai was illumined. This is the inner reality. So one time, and this is, I think this is after the story with Jingyuan, Chateau was reading a famous Buddhist treatise by Seng Chau, or early Chinese philosopher, Buddhist philosopher. And Chateau was reading it and came to the point where it said, It seems that only a sage can understand that myriad things are oneself. Only a sage can understand that the myriad things are exactly oneself.

[17:15]

It's what Seng Cho said. And the story is that at that point, Chateau hit the desk and said, a sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not himself. The body of reality is formless. Who speaks of self and other? The round mirror is marvelously bright. All things and the mysteries of their being appear in it spontaneously. Objects and knowledge are not one. Who says they come or go to one another? How true are these words of Zheng Zhao? Let me read that again. Shito said, a sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not herself. The body of reality is formless. How can you speak of self and other? So this body of reality is the Dharmakaya, the Buddha of reality, the body of reality, the reality of the body of all things in the universe.

[18:22]

How can you speak of self and other? A sage has no self, yet there's nothing that is not himself. The round mirror is marvelously bright. All things and the mysteries of their beings appear in it spontaneously. Objects and knowledge are not one. So we know things and the way we usually know is that we set up an object that we know. This is a fundamental problem. This is how our minds work, and yet, they're not one. Who says that they come or go to one another? So, myriad things, all the objects of the world are oneself, is what Seng Chau said. And Shinto said, a sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not this self.

[19:28]

How can you speak of self and other? So, Shito, after saying this, after reading this, and then, I don't know if he wrote it down or just said it, then he rolled up the scroll and unexpectedly fell asleep. He dreamed he was writing with Zen Master Huining, the sixth ancestor, on a turtle swimming around in a deep lake. When he awoke, he realized what it meant. The miraculous turtle was knowledge. The lake was the ocean of essence. And he said, Huining, the sixth ancestor, and I were riding on spiritual knowledge, floating on the ocean of essence. And after that, he wrote The Harmony of Difference and Sameness. So Khe Sanh particularly is interesting. He lived in 13 or 1400s in Japan.

[20:33]

And more than most people in Zen, he talked about dreams and visions. He paid a lot of attention to his dreams. So he likes these stories about dreams of the ancestors. And he says that this dream occurred to Shuto because his spiritual knowledge was already equal to that of the sixth ancestor. He also quotes Shatoh said one time, my teaching is the bequest of the enlightened ones of the past. So this is after he became a teacher. To arrive at the knowledge and insight of Buddhahood without making an issue of meditation or effort. The body itself is Buddha. Mind, Buddha, sentient beings, enlightenment, affliction are different in name, but one in essence. Pay attention to that mind and Buddha, sentient beings, enlightenment, misery.

[21:35]

They're different names, but they're one in essence. You should know that your own mind essence is in substance beyond annihilation and eternity. Its nature is neither defiled nor pure. Profoundly still, complete, it is equal in ordinary people and in saints. It functions freely apart from intellection, cognition, and so forth. All realms of being are just mind revealing itself. How could there be any real origination or destruction of mere reflections? If you can realize this, you will be complete." So that's what Chita said. Khezan says, if he had not had an independent view that dissolved the universe, he could not have spoken thus. Having attained realization at a blow and succeeded in seeing clearly, he ranked as one of the Zen masters. So I've been reading a lot from what Kazan says as a way of talking about Shoto.

[22:41]

The story here, I think, is many, many aspects. And there's all these other quotes from him. And there's also the harmony of difference and sameness and the song of the grass hut. So Shoto or Sekito is a very important ancestor for us, very important in the Soto lineage. So this may not, going through these teachers may not be the time to talk about the harmony of difference and sameness in detail. At some point I want to do that. But there's a number of important points here, but maybe I should just stop first at this point and you all look a little bit lost. Are there any questions or comments at this point? He's so impressive. He's very impressive. But a young person to challenge his teacher like that and to... You said it, that when he was touched with the wisdom, it was his awakening, but his awakening has been happening all along.

[23:54]

And there's nothing... There's resemblance of that in his comments to his teacher and in challenging his teacher. That's right, but you also should see how his challenge was off. That's part of the main point of the story that Kazan's emphasizing. That he saw something, but it wasn't really, it wasn't complete. Because there was still this idea that he saw something. So, as soon as you see something, if you set it up as An experience, if you set it up as seeing, you're missing it. It's very slippery. This is very subtle. You do have this experience. As Dong Shan will say in the Song of the Precious Mary Samadhi, which kind of builds on what Shinto said in Harmony of Difference and Sameness,

[25:01]

the Dharma of suchness is intimately communicated by the Buddhist ancestors. Now you have it, preserve it well. He starts off with, now you have it, preserve it well. And yet, even though there's this fundamental endowment of the Buddhist wisdom and kindness that we all have tasted just from sitting zazen once, How will you actually express it in your life? This is the question. How will you take care of it? The point isn't to get some experience of awakening. The point is, how will you take care of that? So Dongshan later says, now you have it, preserve it well, take care of it. So how do we take care of this? How do we see this? And of course, we all see it and yet, you know, it's like seeing it through a veil. So I know some of you don't believe that you've seen it.

[26:05]

Maybe none of you believe that you've seen it, actually. That's okay. You do have it. So our practice isn't to get something that we don't have already. And there's a little bit in Chateau's cockiness that's like, you know, he's grabbing at something. to assert himself that strongly is a kind of grabbing. If he really knew that, you know, what does he say in the story? If I was there in India, it would be there. If I had it, it would be. If I had been to India, it would be there. For him to say that, it's a little too much. You hear that? He's very impressive. Yeah. It's not that cockiness is bad.

[27:10]

In fact, you know, to actually aspire to express the wisdom and virtue of Buddha, even if you already have it, that's kind of ambitious. You know, that's kind of, there's a way in which you need to have, you know, pride is not a bad thing. You need to have some, assurance in your sitting. You need to be able to sit and feel that you are carrying on, you know, the Buddha's and ancestors' teaching. You know, here tonight, you know, the seven of us are the ones who are doing that. Nobody else. So you should feel that in your sitting, you know. It's okay to feel like Shatofeld. In fact, you need some of that. You need to feel like, I don't know if you need it. Maybe you don't. Maybe some people need to feel like, I don't have anything. There are different ways.

[28:11]

That's why there's these different teachers. But you might feel like you're a total wreck, a total wretch, and there's nothing at all in your practice that's worthwhile. You might feel that. If you really completely feel that, that's pretty good, too. But it's also okay to feel good in your zazen. And I don't mean to feel good about you, but to just appreciate that you're alive. That you can inhale and exhale and sit upright and do this noble practice that you can't quite understand. Oh, I love that. Me too, actually.

[29:38]

And it makes me laugh every time I look at it. You see these guys trying to go across a long bridge, and then you think about them and go, why? You should laugh at them trying to go across the bridge. And then my thoughts go beyond that and think, well, that's how we all really are going through life. We don't know what's in front of us. We can't go backwards. And we have to slowly look at the world Very good. Good, yeah. That's my favorite picture in that show, too. I've loved it. I've liked that picture for many years. Have you all seen that? I actually have it in the back of my car. I should put it up. But anyway, it's just this breaststroke across emptiness and there's these two little stick figures with canes and they're blind and one of them is kind of on his hands and knees feeling for the next place, the next step.

[30:49]

Yeah. The other one just has a cane and is kind of feeling. Yeah. So that is the cockiness of Shih Tzu. That's really where he was. And that is the way I practice this, and that's the way faith is. So part of the story is that he had this great trust in his own, in what he had seen. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, so it's the actual whisk, it's not just some idea of the whisk.

[32:06]

Even though the whisk symbolizes the authority of Buddha's teaching. It's not just a symbol, it's he saw the whisk before it hit him. So there's just this move where, I'm sorry I don't have a whisk or a staff with me. I have all those ceremonial props, but I'll bring them to the lay ordination and you can see them anyway. I'll use my whisk then on you. But yeah, he held it up. And that's like a piece of ice in the middle of a lake. It's like an umbrella in the desert, just seeing that. Yes, as you say, then Shinto really did see it, but he needed to be hit with it too.

[33:07]

Khezan's ending verse to the story, all at once he raises infinity, never has he clung to anything beyond him. So this, you know, one, I think there's a, this line by Chateau, in response to only a sage can understand that myriad things are the self, Chateau said, a sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not himself. That's a good one too, that's a good line to sit with. A sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not herself. So when we get to Dongshan, so we're gonna, I'll spend another week on Zhito, this is just, he's so important. And I'll say a little bit about this, about the harmony of difference and sameness in the Song on the Grass Hut too. But, A sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not himself.

[34:35]

Dongshan later said in the Song of the Precious Mare Samadhi, you are not it, but in truth it is you. It's much related. Dogen later said in the Genjo Koan, When you carry yourself forward and experience myriad things, that's delusion. When myriad things come forth and experience themselves, that's awakening. So this is, the issue here has something to do with how do we take care of the world? And what do you call the world? How do you allow the self to be awakened by the myriad things? So whatever happens, there's a teaching there for you. The sound of the rain has something to tell you. It's potential.

[35:57]

I almost have a feeling that they'll want to do it. So I'm wondering, what is it about practice that has that kind of jarring possibility that shifts and that can simply be practiced? First you have to be in the place where you're ready to be hit. Don't worry about getting hit. You can't plan to be hit. Can you be ready? readiness has to be right now.

[37:05]

It's not some other time. It's not being ready to be ready later. Can you be present and thoroughly just be Ken? It's not separate from anything else. So when we're sitting, you know, It's there. It's really close and we can't, you know, we're also always kind of losing our balance. We're always a little bit off, but you're right. It's right there. It's right. It's kind of in the peripheral vision. It's in the sound, it's in the sound of the rain. It's, and if you can settle into that, if you can be willing to just be that stupid, to just be there and actually just be yourself, without trying to get something out of it. Then whether you're hit or not doesn't really matter, actually.

[38:07]

It's not that you need to get hit. Just that experience allows you to meet the universe. And maybe you'll get So again, I'm not talking about something you don't, you haven't already experienced and yet, don't give up. The point isn't some experience. The point is how can you take care of this mind without trying to get anything out of it? Don't worry about becoming a Buddha. trying to become a Buddha is defilement. Right. That's not giving up. is to totally surrender to just being yourself.

[39:27]

Trangpa Rinpoche said that Bodhisattva is willing to have her heart broken again and again and again and again. Chitra says in the Song of the Grass Hut, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. So this practice is about just relaxing completely. Yeah, let's find that quote exactly, because that's an important point. I'm not sure I'm going to find it, but he does say, during that first dialogue, you too should say half, don't rely entirely on me, he says that to his teacher.

[40:39]

And that's actually, we could spend a while talking about that. It's really important that, this is after, Shukla says, if I had been in India, I would be there. And Chinggong said, that's not enough, say more. And Shukla said, you too should say half, don't rely entirely on me. So Khazan kind of criticizes that, but that's actually a wonderful thing, that he knows that he can't say it himself, even having spoken so in such a cocky way. So it's not that you can't say it, but saying it is always a little bit off.

[41:52]

So partly this is a kind of language. And again, it's not always verbal. You can totally express this without saying a word. It just so happens that we usually talk in words. But there are other ways to do this. It's okay to be silent. Anyway, we'll talk about this more next time. And we'll talk about Chautauqua, and I'll say some things about the harmony of difference and sameness. But this sage, This line by Chateau is enough to remember for tonight, if you just remember this. A sage has no self, yet there is nothing that is not himself or herself. Just to remember that is enough for tonight.

[42:59]

So let's chant the Bodhisattva Four vows and then this, we'll have time for announcements. Beings are numberless.

[43:19]

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