Good morning, everyone, and welcome. Can you hear me okay? So this morning, I'm going to talk about our school song, the song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. So I spoke about this this week, Wednesday and Thursday at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, where they're doing a practice period about this wonderful song. We did a practice period on the Jewel Marrow Samadhi here at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate back when we had a temple on Irving Park Road back in 2013. So we did our two-month practice period on the Jewel Mary Samadhi back then. I think A. Chanance Easton and Hoketsu Lori Belzer and Jerry were in that practice period, and Douglas and Kathy and Nathan were around, I think.

[01:02]

I want to talk about this important teaching for us. It's attributed to Dongshan Liangjie in Chinese, Tozan Ryokai in Japanese, who was the founder of the Soto School in China in the 800s. So I talk a lot about Dogen who brought that school to China. Japan in the 1200s and, of course, Suzuki Roshi brought it to San Francisco in the 1960s. Anyway, Dongshan is very important to us and So there's a lot to say about him. I wrote a book about Dongshan and the practice of suchness called Just This Is It. And one of the last chapters is about this song, Hokyo Zamai in Japanese, the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. So I want to talk about some of the main

[02:08]

main points in this song. So David, would you share the screen with the text for now? Let's talk about the first couple of lines to start. So it begins, the Dharma of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it, preserve it well. So the topic, the subject of this whole text, it's two pages and you can find it on our website in the chant section of teachings. The subject is the dharma of suchness. The dharma, the teaching, or the reality of suchness. Sometimes it's translated as thusness. Suchness is in a way, the focus of our whole practice and teaching. Sushnus tatata is how it's pronounced in Sanskrit, a lovely word, tatata.

[03:15]

And it has the same root as the Tathagata, a name for the Buddha, the thus come one, the one who comes and goes in Sushnus. So this teaching and this reality of Sushnus is about just meeting and paying attention to, as Suzuki Roshi called it, things as it is. This situation our Dharma position, each of us individually and collectively. So I'll talk about that. And I'm hoping to talk about this song, this text, a couple, two or three more times in the next couple of months or so. So, but suchness is in a sense, another way of talking about emptiness. It's the other side of emptiness. It's maybe the positive side of emptiness, although really they're talking about the same thing. They're talking about the reality of interconnectedness and wholeness and that everything is as such.

[04:24]

And as it says, this is what is intimately transmitted by Buddhism ancestors. All the Buddhism ancestors transmit, or actually the Chinese character there is not the same character as Dharma transmission. It's conveyed or imparted or entrusted. So it's intimately conveyed by Buddhism ancestors. So I want to talk about, this suchness, and the whole song is about this suchness, as I said, but also about what is the practice of that. But the next line is, now you have it, preserve it well, keep it well. This text, this Song of the Jewel Marrow Samadhi, in China was a kind of secret text. It was part of what was conveyed in the Dharma transmission ceremony. In Japan, starting with Dogen, there were other texts that were used.

[05:26]

And I think starting in the early 1600s with Menzon in Japan, this became part of the Soto liturgy. So now we say the Dharma of Sushnus is what is intimately conveyed by all Buddhas and ancestors. This reality of just this. Sugiroshi called it things as it is. Now you have it, preserve it well. So since we chant this, and we'll be chanting this at the end of the talk today, we'll chant the whole thing, but now you have it. Preserve it well. So in some ways, all of you have, possess, are completely connected with this Dharma, this teaching, this practice of suchness, of just meeting things as it is.

[06:27]

So we sit facing the wall. We sit facing ourselves. We sit facing all of reality. And how do we meet that? What is the fullness of the teaching of suchness? This connectedness with intimate connectedness with all things, with the wholeness of reality, just this, this suchness. So this, the top, the subject of this whole text is the dharma of suchness, but also preserve it well. How do you take care of this? How do we keep this? How do we sustain and maintain this? So this is the commitment of dharma teachers to do that. But it's also, since we all chant it now, you, each of you, has it, preserve it well. So our whole practice and this whole teaching song is about how we take care of this.

[07:32]

And, you know, we're here, here we are. a long time after this Dongshan created this text in the 800s. And we're still trying to take care of this teaching of this reality. And it has to be done differently in each context, in each time period, in each century and each place. So now we are trying to maintain and convey and take care of this reality of suchness. This is the heart of our practice. So, David, if you could scroll down a little bit. I want to talk about. Yeah, let's see. Yes. Okay, that's good enough. Yes. Thank you. So the other key lines in this whole teaching song, like facing a precious mirror in the middle of that page now, form and reflection behold each other.

[08:46]

You are not it. But truly or in truth, it is you. That line, you are not it, but actually it is you, in truth it is you, yet it is you. That's, along with the first line or two, that's the most important line in this text. And it's, you know, it's enough for you to remember just this. You are not it, but in truth it is you. So this goes back to a story about Dongsheng and his teacher Yunyan. So maybe for now we can take off the screen share, David. So the story is about Dongshan and his teacher Yunyan. And when Dongshan had finished his training with Yunyan or had done a lot of training with Yun Yan.

[09:46]

He went to Yun Yan and as he was going to leave and he asked a very important question. He asked Yun Yan, if somebody should ask me later on, what is your, what was your teaching? What was your reality? What was your Dharma? What should I say? And hold on a second. Sorry for that interruption. So again, Dongshan went to his teacher Yunyan and said, if someone asks me later on, what was your teaching?

[10:47]

What was your reality? What was your Dharma? What should I say? And the story goes that Yunyan said, just this is it. Just this. And Dongshan was, you know, kind of didn't know what to say about that. And then without saying anything, he left. And as he was walking away, I mean, back then when Zen students went to travel to different places, to visit different teachers. They didn't take a car or a train or an airplane. They walked. And as he was walking along, he came to a stream. And as he was wading across the stream, Dongshan looked down and he saw his reflection like a jeweled mirror and suddenly realized what Yunyan was referring to.

[12:01]

And Dong Shan wrote a verse, a poem about it. He said, just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. So this Dharma of suchness is not something that somebody else can give you. I can't tell any of you how to be Buddha. Each of you has your own way of expressing Buddha. So he said, just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. I now go on alone everywhere I meet it. This reality of suchness is everywhere. All things, every place is connected. This is something that we have deep teaching about now here in our world. Thanks to the pandemic, first of all, we are all connected by that. Variants of the COVID pandemic that happened in India or South Africa or Rwanda or wherever, because they don't have vaccines there.

[13:15]

as we are fortunate to have, they come back and now we have another surge. So we're connected with the whole world through this pandemic in a very radical way. This teaching of interconnectedness, which is deeply related to this dharma of suchness is in our face in a way, and it's in our face on this Zoom screen. So through Zoom, we are connected to many, many people. So right now I can see people on our screen who are in Michigan and California and St. Louis, I believe, and probably many other places. And Cleveland is here too. So we're connected geographically. to many places through Zoom.

[14:17]

So Zoom is a wonderful teaching on interconnectedness. I know I've gotten used to Zoom. A lot of people don't like it because it's not the same as sitting in the same room in person, but here we are anyway. And we have a chance to talk to each other over great distances and hear each other. So again, Dongshan looked down on the stream and he said, just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. We can't get it from all the other windows on Zoom, but we're connected in that way. I now go on alone, but everywhere I meet it, this reality of suchness. Then he said this wonderful line, it now is me, I now am not it. So in the Jalomare Samadhi, it's put it as you instead of I. You are not it, but it truly is you.

[15:19]

One must understand in this way to merge with suchness. So to really connect with the practice of suchness, we have to hear, we have to understand, we have to feel that I am not it, but it truly is me. So each of us is a particular expression of suchness, of wholeness, of the universal. And yet we are not it. The wholeness of suchness is far beyond our particular, you know, conditioned personal reality. but it actually is you. So, um, Dogen later in Genjo Koan talked about this in another way, but it's the sort of the same thing.

[16:23]

He said, uh, if, when, when you carry yourself, when this self projects itself forward to experience the myriad things, that's delusion, that's how Dogen defines solution. When you carry yourself forward, to experience myriad things when you, and this is what, this is what we all do. Of course, this is how we live. We see the whole world and the whole zoom screen and all the, everything in our life and everything in our world, uh, through the sense of ourself, we have our own personal way of seeing everything. but you are not it. When you carry yourself forward to experience the myriad things, that's the delusion. However, Tolkien continues, when you, when all things arise together and experience themselves, that's awakening. That's the side of it truly is you because we are part of that. So this this gets to a key teaching in one of the one of the key teachings in this Joel Maris Amati, you are not it but in truth it is you.

[17:35]

there's this, and later on in the song, there's all these discussions of five-ness and this, this dual merit Samadhi teaching is considered the starting point of the teaching in Soto Zen and Tsao-tung in China, as it's called, of the five degrees. This teaching of the, of how we are, how we integrate. So it actually is you, this wholeness, this suchness includes each one of us, each particular box in this foam screen. We are, we are all part of that, but when we carry ourselves forward to experience it, that's not it. that's delusion or, or, you know, maybe that is it. Cause we, Dogen also talks about being in delusion throughout delusion, being in awakening throughout awakening.

[18:39]

So the point is to see the dynamic relationship between what we might call the particular or phenomenal, this conditioned self and the ultimate, the universal. wholeness. We get a, we get a taste of that. We get a sense of that in our Zazen practice. For me, it's what keeps, keeps me coming back to Zazen. We can't, you know, totally explain or understand it fully as the Jewel Marrow Samadhi talks about later on. But there's this dynamic of, the relationship between each particular bit of phenomena and the ultimate universal reality. And suchness includes both.

[19:40]

So in the Dharma of suchness includes both. So the practice of the Dharma of suchness, first of all, involves just being present in this reality, seeing things, seeing circumstances, seeing conditions, Plainly, not turning away, facing the reality of our world, of our troubled world, of our own situation, of our own conditioning, of our own particular greed, anger, and confusion. But just being present in this reality of suchness. but also this reality of suchness, the practice of it includes this process of integration. So this is one of the main teachings in this song of the Jewel Marrow Samadhi that there is integration between this ultimate universal

[20:50]

reality that we get a sense of maybe just out of the corner of our eye. But if, when we, when we continue to do Zazen and continue this Zazen practice and sustain it, we start to settle into it. Not necessarily that we completely realize it. In fact, we can't, it's not that we can fully understand it, but we, it's part of us. But then the point of practice is not just to settle into that. The point of practice is what happens when we get up from our cushion, get up from our seat, go out in the world and express this deeper reality in our lives and the particularities of our lives. This is the Dharma, the teaching, the practice of sessions. How do we include both our sense of wholeness of the universal reality that we are all part of and our particular way of being in the world?

[22:04]

Each of us has a particular what Tolkien calls a Dharma position. We each have our own personal circumstances, karmic situations, and how do we use that situation? How do we express that situation to benefit all beings, as the precept says, and also to express our sense of wholeness? So this is the process the lifelong process of practicing and intimately convey the Dharma of suchness. You are not it, but truly it is you. So, What is this about? How do we see this? How do we express this?

[23:05]

How do we connect with this wonderful process of expressing our personal particular situation in the context of everything? of interconnectedness, of the Dharmakaya Buddha, the Buddha that is everything, all phenomena in this solar system and in all other galaxies. So this is the problem. And this Hokyo Zamae in Japanese, this Hokyo Zamaika, because it's originally called the Song of the Jewel of Meru Samadhi. How do we take care of that? So David, would you please post the text again? And I want to talk about a few of the particular lines. Go back to the top, please. Yeah, actually, you're almost there.

[24:06]

Yeah, starting, yeah. Well, let's say, OK, so the Dharma of suchness is intimately conveyed or transmitted by Buddhism ancestors. Now you have it. Take good care of it, preserve it well. So how do we do that? I may come back to these two lines, but to the third and fourth line, but I want to start with the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. So again, our words, our language, our utterances about this are not it. We cannot fully convey this deep meaning through our language. However, it does come forth. It does reveal itself as this brings it forth in a pivotal moment. The Chinese characters for what's translated here as a pivotal moment are deep.

[25:13]

And as is true of Chinese characters, often there could be many different ways to translate it. But it's a pivotal moment. It's a moment of the arising of energy. It's also the inquiry of the student. So one of the key characters there that's translated here as pivotal is ki in Sino-Japanese. My teacher, Tenshin Senki, that's the last character of his name, Tenshin Senki. Ki, this ki means many things. It means the whole operation of the universe. It also means pivot. It also means a loom, like you're weaving. like the particulars weave the loom of the universal. So it means opportunity also. So when we inquire, when energy arises, when our concern comes forth about how do we take care of this reality of suchness, this dharma of suchness that all of us have some sense of.

[26:36]

Even those of you who are fairly new to Zazen, just what brought you here is part of this dharma of suchness. So a pivotal moment, the arrival of energy, our inquiry brings it forth, brings forth the meaning of this. So we can't pin it down in words or deliberations as it says later on. However, this meaning does come forth. It does arise. We can interact with it and engage it. So I want to also mention the next couple of lines. Move and you are trapped, miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation. So this is also a particularly, could be a Zazen instruction. So we say not to move.

[27:37]

But if we move or shake in our commitment to express the wholeness of the Dharma of Suchness, we fall into a trap. It could be translated as we fall into a pit. So how do we actually meet this Dharma of Suchness? Miss it and you fall into doubt and vacillation. Oh no, I can't do this. Oh no, it's not real. Oh, what am I going to do? You know, we all at times have been subject or are subject to such doubt and vacillation. So the point is to stay steady in our expression and interaction and meeting with this intimate meeting with this reality, this Dharma of suchness. How do we stay with it?

[28:41]

How do we come back to it? Because of course we, we do, you know, we do lean to the left or to the right sometimes. But And in our everyday activity, of course, we forget this, or it's not that you have to hold onto it and remember it through the day, but it's there in our life, in the circumstances of our life. So how do we stay with it? How do we come back to it when we do fall into doubt and vacillation? So there's a line later on in this long poem about making mistakes. And it's important to make mistakes. That's how we learn. But then we have to get up. So Dogen has an essay where he talks about when you fall to the ground, get up from the ground. But then he also says, when you fall to the ground, get up from the sky.

[29:43]

How do we stay open to when we miss it? when we move and get trapped. So this is challenging practice to take good care of the Dharma, the reality, the teaching and practice of just this is it, suchness. So again, Yunyan said, just this is it. And that sent Dongshun on his way to look into the reflection, the jewel mirror of the stream. I'm not it, but it actually is me. So again, this is the song of our school, the song of our family style. Move and you are trapped. Miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation. And then further, it says, turning away and touching are both wrong for it is like a massive fire.

[30:48]

So we can't try and escape it. We can't turn away from it. All of you here, having done Zazen, having engaged with the Dharma of Suchness, with the teaching and reality of just this, in a way you are trapped. You're part of this Dharma of Suchness. So congratulations. It now is you, but you're not it. You can't turn away from it. And touching, touching it, trying to get ahold of it, grabbing it, that character that is translated here as touching also could be groping or grabbing. There's a meaning for that character. So trying to get ahold of it and running away from it are both wrong. When I finished dharma transmission with my teacher at Tassajara, three-week ceremony, as I was about to leave, he said to me, don't run away from yourself.

[31:57]

So that's, turning away is wrong. Turning away and touching are both wrong, because it's like a massive fire, this dharma of suchness. It's a beacon for all of us. It brought us to Zazen practice. It brought us to engage in the Dharma of Suchness. But, you know, fires are dangerous. If we don't tend them and pay attention to them, they can spread. And we see, you know, in the advent of climate breakdown, massive fires in so many places. In my old home of California, in the West Coast particularly, but elsewhere too. It's like a massive fire. So we can't turn away from it, but we can't get ahold of it either. If you try and put your hand in the fire, it burns. So here's this advice, this instruction, this guidance.

[33:03]

from Dongshan in this Jalmer Samadhi song. Turning away and touching are both wrong, for it is like a massive fire. So how do we stay near, not try and get a hold of it, but not ignore it either? This is like the massive fire of karma. We can't control it, we can't change it. The causes and conditions of the Second Noble Truth are there communally for our country now and for our world now, but also for us individually. It's like a massive fire. And as the Fox Co-op says, we can't ignore it. It's like a massive fire. But there's also the saying in Zen that all Buddhas sit in the middle of fire.

[34:11]

So part of this practice is to connect with the ultimate, to connect with the universal reality. And then the other side of it, as I was saying, is how do we express it ourselves? And part of that is being willing to meet the difficulties of the world, sit in the flames of suffering. And that's a practice that's very available now in so many ways. How do we meet the suffering of the world, the suffering of the pandemic? 800,000 plus people in our country dead from this pandemic. It's a massive fire, but Buddhists sit right in the middle of it too. So maybe as Bodhisattva practitioners, we shouldn't try and touch it, but Buddhists are willing to just be in the middle of the flames of suffering of the world. So these two, this,

[35:16]

dynamic of the ultimate or universal and the conditioned or provisional or phenomenal or the particular, and that dynamic unfolds in a five-fold process which this song opens with. So we have to, you know, Suzuki Roshi talked about losing our balance against the background of perfect balance. That background of perfect balance is just this is it, the dharma of suchness, all things, the wholeness of all things. And our constantly losing our balance is that we are. engaged in hearing the cries of the world, hearing the suffering of the world, hearing the difficulties of our society and our own lives.

[36:22]

So there's this dynamic relationship. And Dongshan continues, just to portray it in literary form is to stain it with defilement. So here's this, you know, wonderful literary poem or song that is our school song. And yet, We can't get a hold of it in words. So to try and explain it, to try and figure it out, to try and get a hold of some understanding of this dynamic of the Dharma of suchness, you know, that's not it. That's kind of, we fall into defilement. So David, maybe we can leave this screen share for now. I may come back to it, but maybe that's enough for today. There's so much in this poem, there's so much in this song that guides, that helps us see how to take care of this reality of suchness, this wonderful dharma and challenging dharma in our time.

[37:40]

So I've been repeating this news that I've heard about our situation now, you know, with COVID, with the white supremacy terrorist party trying to destroy democracy in our country, with climate breakdown affecting people all over the world. glaciers are melting and so forth, and the problems of injustice and cruelty in the world. How do we deal with that? And so I've been repeating this message I've heard, which is that bodhisattvas in all the realms in the 10 directions, in different solar systems and galaxies and dimensions of time and space are all getting in line to be reborn in this world, in this place in time.

[38:57]

For Bodhisattva practitioners, each of you in your own way, this is the most wonderful place to be, this difficult time and place. Because everything we do to express and share this reality or dharma of suchness, of just this is it, everything we do can make a big difference now. The world needs our practice now. This is not a time to kind of give up and feel like, well, there's nothing, you know, there's nothing we can do because, you know, the whole world is going, you know, the whole human race is going to pass away because of climate breakdown. Things are gonna be difficult, but actually, This is the best place to be. Everything we do, each of us and together, communally as Sangha and various Sanghas can make a big difference.

[40:01]

So just to express the reality of interconnectedness, the possibility of kindness and caring, The clear seeing of all of the problems and dilemmas of our world, doing that now is so important. It can make a big difference. So Sangha now, each Sangha and all Sanghas are kind of islands of sanity and a world that is burning up in various ways. And yet our practice, our caring, in whatever way you engage that is very helpful now. So I could keep babbling about this Joel Marisomatti song, and there's a lot more in it that I could talk about, but maybe I'll just stop now for today and invite you all to express comments, questions, reflections on any of what I've been talking about.

[41:19]

or if you have questions about any other lines in the song, you're welcome to bring those forward too. So thank you for being here. Those of you who are visible on screen, you can just raise your hands. Those of you who are not visible, except by your name, you can go to the participants box. And at the bottom, there's a raise hand function. So David Ray, would you help me call on people And please, your response or reflection or question about this samadhi or practice, this concentration on this jewel mirror of suchness. Eric has a question or comment. Hello, Taigan. I just wonder that the Dharma response or the Dharma inquiry of what is it?

[42:24]

What is it? Could you could you say just this is it? Just this is it, but just this is it is, just to say just this is it, just to have heard that is not enough. In some ways, maybe it's enough, but it's only enough if you keep inquiring, what is this dharma of suchness here now? What is this dharma of suchness in this relationship, in this interaction, in this situation? How do I respond from a place that is connected with the wholeness, but responding in the particular situation. So it's a statement and a question. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments, questions, responses? David Ray. Thank you, Taigan. I have a question about mirrors or why the mirror.

[43:29]

I've been thinking about mirrors, I guess, more in Western culture. I know that there's also the Hui Nang story, but mirrors are weird and scary in addition to being mysterious and wonderful. You know, there's Narcissus, and there's Alice in the Looking Glass. And I know a lot of people who finally admitted to me, or a few friends who said, the reason that I don't want to Zoom with you, like I don't want to have a Zoom meal, is that it's painful to look at myself. I'm looking at myself in the mirror the whole time. I remember being scared of mirrors as a child, in addition to being fascinated by them. And they're so intimate. So I just wonder if, Like what the East Asian, if there is an East Asian correlate to that, if that's part of the reason why it's a mirror, I mean, I get it that it comes from the story of Dong Shan seeing himself in the water, but why mirrors? Thank you. Yeah, well, I don't think there's one version of what a mirror is in East Asia, but all the things you said are applicable.

[44:36]

So, you know, and on this Zoom screen, I see all of you and you see me differently than I see me because in each one of you is rotated left and right. So this is my right hand, but I see it anyway. So there's this funny thing that happens in Zoom anyway. Yeah, looking into the mirror, of course, Dongshan looking at the stream, he was, you know, even if the stream was flowing fairly, you know, was deep at that, it couldn't have been that deep because he was waiting across. But even if it wasn't too ripply, there's a distortion there. So maybe all mirrors distort in some way. But that can be useful. How do we see different ways of seeing what's in the mirror? I know in Japan, and I think in China too, mirrors are sometimes

[45:41]

Well, they have a very decorated back. So there's the mirror and there's the back of the mirror. And the back of the mirror often is a relief sculpture of who knows what cranes or turtles or various nature scenes. But sometimes there's no, there's just that and there's no reflective surface and they call that a mirror. So sometimes the moon is called a mirror. When we look into the, look at the full moon, that's a reflection of ourselves. So we can, we can, so I appreciate your question and I don't, I I'm responding, but I don't really have a, an answer. I just, of course, but just that mirrors show us ourselves, but in a funny way. And of course, there are those very distorted mirrors of fun houses. Anyway, but there's also mirrors as a way of seeing interconnectedness. So,

[46:42]

this five-fold dynamic of the five degrees that start, that comes in the Jewel Mary Samadhi and there are various fives, various kinds of fives in this, in this song has to do with this five-fold integration of the ultimate and the particular, and there's different aspects of it. And so the last chapter of my book, Just This Is It, is about that five-fold thing. But, Where was I going with that? Yeah, so we see different aspects of ourselves in different mirrors. Oh, I remember, Fa Song, yes. So this teaching of five degrees is a development in Cao Dong or Soto Zen, starting with Dong Shan. And it was these five degrees were talked about a lot, discussed and studied a lot in Chinese Cao Dong tradition and in Japanese Soto Zen.

[47:51]

But they come out of the Huayen Avatamsaka School in China, which has a fourfold interrelationship. Some of us do a monthly reading of the Flower Ornament Sutra the first Friday evening of the month. on our Ancient Dragon Zoom. But the Huayen school that developed from that very psychedelic sutra had a way of describing the different processes of this. And one story about that is about Fazong, who was one of the great ancestors, patriarchs of the Huayen school in China. There's, I don't think there's any, there's a Kagon school that's a minor school now in Japan. I don't think there's a Huayan school in America particularly, but it's very much part of the background of Soto Zen. So Empress Wu, who was the ruler then, and who's also a Buddhist patron and a Buddhist practitioner, and one of the most powerful women in world history.

[49:00]

She was friends with a patron of Fazang, this teacher in the Huayan school. And she asked him, how do you, how can you I don't understand this interconnectedness, she said. What do you mean by saying that everything is interconnected? How do you, how can you express that? And Fa Zang gave a few answers, but one of them was that he constructed a room with mirrors on all sides and top and bottom. And he put a Buddha statue in the middle of it. I'm sure it was a lovely Buddha. And he brought Empress Wu into the room. And she saw that in all the mirrors all around, there were Buddhas, and they were reflecting Buddhas all around too. And so it's this dynamic reality of interconnectedness, this holographic sense of reality that Fa Zang demonstrated with mirrors.

[50:04]

And I once had the opportunity in Ukiah in Northern California, at the city of 10,000 Buddhas, which is the center of one of the Chinese American Chan lineages, they actually have a room like that. And you can see Buddhas all around in all directions. So this is an image of this. So using mirrors, Bazin created an image of how, of this interconnectedness that's, very basic to this Dharma of suchness that we're all interconnected in so many intricate ways. So that's a little bit about mirrors. Other questions, comments, responses, reflections in your own mirror. Please feel free. There's a comment in chat, which I'll read.

[51:12]

Excellent. Thank you. Let's see. It says, You mentioned today, this is from, sorry, I'm having trouble with the chat. It's from Engyoku, and it says, you mentioned today the dialogue between Dongshan and Yunyan, and you mentioned in one of your articles two answers, just this is it, and just this person. I didn't understand if they were two different translations of the same dialogue. Could you talk a little bit about the differences between these answers? Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes, I meant to get to that. So one of the themes in the Song of the Jewel Marrow Samadhi is the relationship between teachers and students. And so in that, in Dongshan's response, just this is it, the pronoun that,

[52:18]

that is translated as it, in just this is it, or in the you are not it, but in truth, it is you, the personal pronoun you could be translated, it could be translated as a personal, it could be translated as suchness, or no, the it, just this, could be just this as it could be translated just this person. So that's also part of this teaching. In all of these dialogues that have been collected and transmitted or saved for us, There could be various translations of Chinese characters, which is why sometimes you find very different translations.

[53:22]

Sometimes in good translations, you find different translations. Of course, there are bad translations here and there. just this person is another way of translating the characters that are in the story for what Yuanyuan said to Dongshan, just this person. And that's a different side of the teaching and it's important. So both versions are important. It could be, it's about suchness, just this is it, or it's about, are the interaction of teachers and students. So just this person, and in a way it doesn't matter which one Yun Yan intended when he said this back in whatever, 1850 or whenever it was. I mean, 850, a thousand years before 1850. What, what Jungian actually intended is less the point than how we hear it and how we practice with it.

[54:32]

So there's also just this person. And if that's the translation, then you could, you are not it, yet in truth it is you, could be read as you are not her, she actually is you, or you are not him, he actually is you. So this is about the teacher-student relationship, which is another one of the central themes of this song of the Jomar Samadhi. And there are various other things about that, but, you know, I feel that way about my teacher. I am not him, but he actually is me. There's some way in which this relationship with a teacher is, you know, also has a five-fold character and is tricky. So just to point to other lines that in this that are about the teacher-student relationship.

[55:36]

Well, one of them is, and you don't have to put the text up, David, but there's later on towards the end, it says, with his archer's skill, ye hit the market a hundred paces, but when arrows meet head on, how could it be a matter of skill? And, later on it talks about or somewhere around there. It is not, is it not reached by feelings or consciousness? How could it involve deliberations? So we can't meet this suchness and we can't meet our teacher or our students through calculations. You know, it's not, that's not the point. How do we intimately respond and convey to each other this, this Dharma of suchness. So this story, Yi was a famous archer from ancient times in China.

[56:43]

And it says with his archer skill, Yi hit the mark at a hundred paces. But then it says when arrows meet head on, how could it be a matter of skill? This is to point to something that goes beyond skill or deliberation or our calculations. So this is a story about a teacher and student. the teacher was the greatest archer in all of China. So this is a classical story from probably from some Taoist or Confucian text, but this teacher was the greatest archer in the world known as such. And his student who was got to be very, very good archer, decided, oh, if I kill my teacher, I'll be the greatest archer in the world. So he got his bow and arrow and he was at some distance away and he let loose an arrow. But of course his teacher knew what was happening and he fired an arrow and these arrows met head on.

[57:46]

So they both realized that they both were the greatest teacher. But these arrows meeting head on is, An image for, we sometimes say mind-to-mind transmission, face-to-face transmission, for that total connection of teacher and student. There's other lines in here that are about teacher and student too, but that's one of the contexts, and that comes up from the translation, just this person, and you are not him, he actually is you. So there's a whole lot going on in this teaching poem, in our school song. So that's a little bit about that question. I see Rihanna has her hand up. Hi, Rihanna. Hi, Taigen-sensei. Speaking of teacher-student, thank you for inviting me here today. Nice to be with you. You know, you mentioned this line, speaking of your teacher,

[58:51]

that Rev had said to you, don't run away from yourself. And I'd love to hear if you could share over the years and decades how that's shown up for you. Well, we each have our own personal karma. By the way, Rihanna took a class with me at Graduate Theological Union a long while ago, and she's also part of the Upaya practice period on this text. But yeah, My teacher, Tenshin Reb Anderson, I've been actually studied with him closely for 22 years before he gave me Dharma transmission. And he saw me at my very worst and at my very best. But all of our ancient twisted karma is what brought us here. It's what brings us to practice. So part of the practice of suchness, the Dharma of suchness, is facing the personal karma of greed, hate, and delusion, which we all have from ancient times, from, you know, our genetic karma, our cultural karma,

[60:12]

the lineage of teachers in various ways and our own patterns of greed and anger and confusion and fear and so forth. So a big part of Zazen is becoming intimate with that, going through times when they get, when those things get in the way and getting to know ourselves becoming intimate with ourselves. So this is I've said this is the difficult part of Zazen practice, of sustained Zazen practice. It's not, you know, some pain in our knees or some sleepiness in Zazen or some confusion. It's seeing our own patterns of reacting, our own habits of reacting to different situations, to different contexts and becoming really intimate with them.

[61:17]

And then when We do that. Sometimes they go away. Things go away. Sometimes some patterns go away. Sometimes they're very, very deep and they never go away. But because we have become intimate with ourselves and been willing to sit and do periods of Zazen and see this arising and this too, we don't need to react to them, to those things as we might have done habitually or earlier, we can gradually be willing to see this, our stuff to use the technical term and not react. Maybe we can respond based on it, but it's, so this is part of the process of Zen practice and Zen training. But what Reb was saying to me is don't run away from that.

[62:20]

Don't try and be somebody other than just this person. So that's a little bit of a response. Thank you, Rian. Other questions, comments, reflections, responses? Yes, Randy, hi. Hi, Taigan. I want to go back to this sentence. You are not it, but in truth, it is you. And I'm wondering if we can draw a circle around it in the sense that that's a timeless moment, that it's not like at this moment, you're not it. So you better work very hard until in truth, it is you. But if that's like together as one thing, that's no, that's not, that's part of suchness. the the the you're not it is just as much suchness as but in truth it is you and um and in terms of zazen maybe sometimes do we come to the cushion and sit down and at that moment we're not it and we're going to work real hard you know and follow our breathing and our body and come back and then

[63:38]

in truth it is you after a little while. And so, I don't know, I just had that thought when you were speaking earlier that maybe there's no time there. Maybe it's like one time. Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you for that question. Yes, exactly. It's not that you are not in and after a good while of practice in truth it is you. As you say, so it's not, these are not stages. Dongshan, as I talk about extensively in the book, Justice Is It, Dongshan cut through stages. He was not talking about stages of accomplishment or stages of practice. You are not it. That's true, now and forever. This personal you, the person in the particular Zoom box, you're not the whole of the dharma of suchness. And yet, at the same time, exactly. it actually is you because it includes the ultimate, the universal includes all of the particular and the phenomenal.

[64:46]

They're not separate. And there's, again, as I said, there's this process of interact of how they interact, but it's not like, you know, if you, if you practice long enough, you get to the point where, you know, it truly is you. It truly is you right now. It truly, suchness truly is you. Before you started practicing, before you even thought of practicing, it includes you. It includes everything. It includes everyone, which is why, you know, I talked last week about the practice of radical respect, respecting all beings. It doesn't mean you have to agree with all beings. It doesn't mean that beings who do terrible things shouldn't be held accountable. And of course, feel the consequences, but we don't have to disrespect anyone. We can respect the whole thing because in truth it is you. The wholeness of the Dharmakaya includes everything and everyone, including each of you.

[65:51]

And of course, the process, there is a process perhaps I could say of practice and sustained practice. Sometimes people feel like they're not getting anywhere. They're not progressing in their Zazen practice. That's not exactly the point, but you know, we do get to plateaus in our practice. I've quoted one of my favorite sentences from Dogen. People who've been here a while have heard me say this, just experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So this is a sentence about the process of not that first you're not it and it is you, but deepening our sense and our expression of how that is. We can more fully express the wonders of suchness. in our particular situation, because of this alchemical quality of zazen, just experience the vital process.

[67:00]

It's a process of going beyond Buddha, which is to say, not being stuck in some version of Buddha. So Shakyamuni Buddha, when he had his total full awakening and became the Buddha, he didn't stop practicing. He continued practicing every day and he continued awakening every day. So just experience the vital process. It's not about, you know, people naturally, we make judgments about, oh, that was a good period of Zazen, or that was a lousy period of Zazen, or I'm not doing it right, or that was wonderful. Or, you know, we can make those judgments, but don't believe everything you think. Apart from those judgments, sometimes, even when things, when your Zazen seems dull and nothing's happening, underneath the surface in this vital process, in this chemical process that we are unfolding and developing this reality, just this is it.

[68:03]

So thank you for your question, Randy. So we have time for maybe one or two. Hey, Ed, how are you? Hey, is it okay if I share a screen of the Hall of Mirrors? Sure. Sure. If you can do that. Yeah. Is this at Fasan's place or at Ukiah? Is that visible? Yes. So you said this is Versailles? This is outside of Paris. Yes, yes. When you see your own reflection in each one of these mirrors, you're also seeing a part of the world outside in the window opposing the mirror that's uniquely directed so that your physical body is always outside the world, but in different parts of the world, depending on where you are in the hall. And this is the room that the Europeans chose to conclude the treaty of World War I in. And so in this, I'm just a bit of a reflection on David Ray's query on the nature of mirroring and the miracle of being placed in more than one location at a time by virtue of this, of the mirror and the window and the glass.

[69:29]

Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's very cool. Of course, it's different from Fadzong's room that he constructed for the Empress Wu, which was round, circular. So each of those mirrors would have reflected each of the other mirrors, not just the one across from it. But that's very cool. That's a starting point. So thank you. So any more, another comment or question? Please feel free. Oketsu. So just to add a psychological twist to mirroring in the practice of psychotherapy and theories on psychology, which some of you may remember, there's a process, and I don't know if Ko's still here with her baby, but of humans, and especially parents and children, having a process of mirroring, of reflecting each other, that's essential for their

[70:45]

development and also that relationality in this mirroring calms everybody down and creates a really deep and generative bond. So I noticed when Ko with her baby, and certainly we do this with each other here almost, but there's this process of reflecting each other that's a very intimate and almost cellular nourishing process. So I was just reflecting on that aspect of mirroring. Thank you very much. Thank you, Hogetsu. And I've been talking today about our school song, the song of our Soto Zen family. Tomorrow evening, Hogetsu Lori is going to give a talk on family style. So that will be related to this. So thank you very much, Hogetsu.

[71:47]

Yes. in parenting and mother and child, and also a teacher and student. The teacher mirrors the student and the student mirrors the teacher, and a good teacher is always learning from his students or her students. So, thank you.

[72:04]

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