Okay, sometimes it looks like it's on but it's not. Well, last month a number of us went to China. I talked about it one time since we've been back. And I want to talk about it a little bit more, some of the things that happened in China. We were in the city of Hangzhou and just outside the city of Hangzhou on a mountain is Jingshan Temple or Monastery.

[01:28]

Jingshan was a very old monastery and when Monks from China, from Japan, went to China in the 13th century. They always went to Jingshan. It was the place to go at that time. And Dogen, Master Dogen, went to Jingshan when he arrived in China in 12… 24, something like that. And he stayed there for about three months before he started wandering around. And subsequently, during the Cultural Revolution, the ten years of the Cultural Revolution in China, a lot of the monasteries were destroyed, and a lot of the images were destroyed, and you can see where some of the Buddhas are chipped off of some of the rock buildings.

[02:47]

But in the last five years or so, or maybe a little longer, this great restoration project And Qing Shan has been completely restored. It was devastated during the Cultural Revolution, but it's been completely restored. And it looks probably just like it did 700 years ago. And so when we went there, there was an abbot, and he had eight or so monks. And he was a very sweet man and very accommodating. And the place is very quiet, you know, and so we were, being Americans, we were kind of an attraction in a way. And people were happy to accommodate us.

[03:52]

And, you know, in the Zen Do, only the monks sit in the Zen Do. But he invited us, we were a mixture of priests and lay people, but he invited us all in and sat Zazen with us in the Zen Do, and that was very nice. And so we asked him if he would give us, you know, his understanding of the teaching. What would he say to us as a statement of his teaching? So he gave us his statement and we wrote it down. And so I'm going to read it to you. His name was Dean Kong. He said, the standard of our samadhi wisdom is observing our true nature with a clear mind.

[04:55]

This can also be called the standard of sitting zazen. The standard of our words and actions are the precepts. Our meditation is lively and dynamic. while in our words and actions we attain stillness and are not disorderly. In this way we can bring forth wisdom." So, the interesting thing about this statement, which I think is the center of the teaching, of course, you know, we want to have observe our true nature with a clear mind and so forth and act in accordance with the precepts. But I think that the pith of this statement is, in our words, our meditation is lively and active and dynamic, lively and dynamic.

[05:58]

We tend to think meditation is stillness and tranquility and so forth. But he says, it's lively and dynamic. And with our words and actions, we attain stillness and are not disorderly. You know, we often say, I often say, that Sazen is great dynamic activity. Sitting still is great dynamic activity. The whole body-mind is totally involved in this great dynamic activity. And the image is like a spinning top.

[07:03]

When you spin a top, it looks like it's standing still. But it's spinning with great speed. This is a perfect image of Zazen. So we have to be careful, you know. Zazen is not laziness. It's not just sitting down and feeling peaceful or sitting down and relaxing. It's putting the whole body and mind into great dynamic activity so that there's nothing left out. It's probably the most dynamic activity that we can do. if we do it well and correctly, then it's very peaceful. So, his teaching is quite non-dualistic.

[08:16]

Then he says, in our words and actions, we attain stillness. That means that our words and actions come out of the still place of Zazen. So there's no anxiety in our words and actions. There's no fear in our words and actions. There's no anticipation. in our words and actions. Our words and actions come out, are actually zazen, and come out from that still place. So within our daily activity, in the center of our daily activity is total stillness. And in the midst of our sitting still in zazen is total dynamic activity.

[09:26]

This is a non-dualistic way to live your life, called Zen practice. Very wonderful statement. He says, in this way we can bring forth wisdom. So, that was very nice teaching, and he served us a very nice vegetarian meal after that. And the temple meals are probably the best meals in China. But we were not scheduled to eat in the temple, so we didn't. But this was a great meal. Then when we went to Tiantongshan, which was the temple that Dogen met his teacher, Ruijing. and attained realization. In the library, or I guess it's the library, they had a little store where they sold calligraphy.

[10:41]

And the man that did a lot of the calligraphy, a very vibrant older man, He was a wonderful calligrapher. I was selling calligraphy, so people bought calligraphy and scrolls, and there was one scroll that seemed to fit the zendo. And so we bought this scroll for the zendo, and I just hung it up today. It's this one. And it's about the plum tree. Since Arzindo is, you know, the name of Arzindo, the mountain name is Old Plum Mountain. And people associate it with a plum tree out there. And plum, you know, it's very... plum trees and plum blossoms.

[11:53]

are a symbol of wisdom or enlightenment or Buddha nature. And so, plum means something wonderful in Japan, in China, in Japan. So this scroll says, the plum tree withstands the harsh winter cold. and still retains its fragrance." So, kind of a wonderful statement of endurance and characterizes the practice of a Zen student. No matter how difficult life or practice is, The plum tree doesn't lose its fragrance.

[12:54]

The student doesn't lose the fragrance. And difficulty is an avenue for practice. It really strikes home. If you've ever been to a monastery without heat in the winter, And then you feel the warmth of spring when the sun comes out. This poem strikes you very dearly. I remember at Tassajara, before we had any heat, I don't know, maybe we still don't. Some people do and some people don't. Nobody had heat in the first years of Tassajara. And then, you know, it gets very cold in the mountains. And then in the morning, after breakfast, have a work meeting, and the sun is just coming up over the mountains, and then everybody walks over to the sunspot and smiles.

[14:09]

That's what this poem means to me. So we were all touched by this poem and bought it for the Zendo. Very nice calligraphy. So I want to, you know, Ru Jing, who was Dogen's teacher and who was the abbot of the monastery where this calligraphy came from, made several poems about plums and plum blossoms, and Dogen wrote a fascicle called Baika, which means plum blossoms, and he used some of Ru Jing's poems in this fascicle, and he kind of commented on his poems.

[15:13]

So I'm going to read you this first poem. He says, my late master Tian Tong, that's the name of the mountain, but the teacher's name is Ru Jing. They call the teacher after the mountain name. So he calls his teacher Tian Tong, but that's just the name of the temple, the mountain. He was the 13th abbot of Tian Tong Jing De Monastery. renowned Mount Daibo in Jingguan Prefecture in the Great Song Dynasty. He ascended the seat and he taught the assembly this way. Tian Tong's first phrase of midwinter, old plum tree bent and gnarled, all at once opens One blossom. Two blossoms.

[16:15]

Three. Four. Five blossoms. Unaccountable blossoms. Uncountable blossoms. Not proud of purity. Not proud of fragrance. Spreading. Becoming spring. Blowing over grass and trees. Balding the head of a patchwork monk. Whirling. changing into wind, wild rain, falling, snow, all over the earth. The old plum tree is boundless. A hard cold rubs the nostrils. Baika, or plum blossom, plum tree, plum blossom, is like essence, uses it as the essence, like buddha nature.

[17:25]

But it's buddha nature, but it's also things that appear out of buddha nature. It's the essence and it's the roots and the trunk as well as the branches, leaves and petals. It's said that, it's like Dogen says, it's the eyeball of the Buddhas. the eyeballs, or the eyeball of the Buddhas, the wisdom of the Buddhas and ancestors. So this plum blossom is associated with wisdom. But he uses the term, he says, the old plum tree bent and gnarled. So it refers to something really old, something that has survived for a long, long time.

[18:31]

And some age and gnarledness bring forth pain and suffering and coming through all that with and attaining wisdom and seeing reality. When we look at old gnarled trees, there's something that resonates with us. We love those old things that have survived through all this, through hardships and as well as good times, happy times. And this gnarled old tree is putting forth one blossom, two blossoms, three, four, exploding with life.

[19:41]

There's an old story of the dragon singing in a dead tree. It's very similar. There's a dragon singing in a dead tree. What's the sound of a dragon singing in a dead tree? Like the wind, when it blows through the branches, makes this song. So, even something that seems dead is really quite alive when in relation to everything else. Is there anything that's truly dead or truly alive? In February, our plum tree blossoms in the middle of the winter, at just the beginning of spring, calling fourth spring. And over the years, I've watched this tree

[20:48]

It's old and old. And there's this huge mushroom growing on it. And someone said, well, you know, that huge mushroom is going to suck the life out of the tree. And so there's some people who think that it will, and some people who think that it won't. But the tree and the mushroom seem to have some kind of relationship. And I would hate to remove the mushroom from the tree. Every once in a while, it breaks off. It's huge. But then it starts growing back again. But the tree seems to take it all right. But I watch these petals, little by little, and in a matter of four or five days, it's all exploded. and the petals are flying around like snow.

[21:52]

So he says, the old plum tree, Tian Tong's first phrase of winter, old plum tree bent and gnarled, all at once opens one blossom, two blossoms, three, four, five, uncountable blossoms, not proud of purity, Not, it doesn't think. This is purity. If you think, I have pure practice, it's no longer pure. Not proud of fragrance. Spreading, becoming spring. over grass and trees. It also has the feeling of, there's a statement by Suzuki Roshi, he talked about the snow covers the ground in spring, in early spring, the snow covers the ground.

[23:15]

But don't be discouraged by that, because even under the snow, just popping up, you can see something green coming. So things will not stay the same. Under the stillness of the snow is this dynamic, burgeoning life that's just ready to pop up, take over. And then he says, it's balding, the head of a patched-robe monk, taken off his hair. whirling, and then changing into wind.

[24:17]

Wild rain, falling, snow all over the earth. The old plum tree is boundless, and a hard cold rubs the nostrils." And Dogen's comment is, this old plum tree is boundless, All at once its blossoms open, and of itself the fruit is born." This is a reference to the five schools of Zen, Bodhidharma's statement. The blossom opens with five petals. It forms spring, it forms winter, it arouses wind and wild rain.

[25:22]

The head of a patchwork monk, it is the eyeball of an ancient Buddha. It becomes grass and trees, it becomes pure fragrance. Its whirling miraculous transformation has no limit. Furthermore, the tree-ness of the great earth High sky, bright sun, and clear moon derives from the tree-ness of the old plum tree. They have always been entangled vine with vine." Tangled vine with vine, you know, it usually means karma. Kato means twining vines. It's like wisteria. If you watch Wisteria, you see how the vines get all tangled up with each other. And that usually means karmic entanglements. We said in our Bodhisattva ceremony, all my ancient tangled up karma, twisted, all my ancient entanglements.

[26:34]

But Dogen uses this to mean the relationship between teacher and disciple. tangled karma, the connection, the entanglement of branches which actually come from the same root. So, he uses it in a positive way. and the tree-ness of the great earth. You know, the plum tree is spring. We say spring has come, but spring comes with the appearance. The trunk, the branches, the blossoms are spring itself.

[27:41]

In other words, the activity of enlightenment is enlightenment itself. What is enlightenment? People say, well, what is enlightenment? Enlightenment is the activity of an enlightened person. You can't describe it or characterize it. It's simply there in a person's actions. So, what Dogen is talking about, what Ruijing is talking about, is our practice. Using spring, using plum blossoms. using plum tree to describe our practice and our realization.

[28:51]

And then he says, when the old plum tree suddenly opens, the world of blossoming flowers arises. When you open up, the world of blossoming flowers arises. At the moment when the world of blossoming flowers arises, spring arrives. Blossoming flowers create spring, bring spring on. There is a single blossom that opens five blossoms. At this moment of a single blossom, there are three, four, and five blossoms, hundreds, thousands, myriad billions of blossoms, countless blossoms. These blossomings are not being proud of one, two, or countless branches of the old plum tree. An Udumbara flower and blue lotus blossoms are also one or two branches of the old plum tree's blossoms. Blossoming is the old plum tree's offering.

[30:04]

Udumbara flower is a kind of mythical Buddhist flower, kind of like the century plant, that blossoms once every 300 years. And he says, the old plum tree is within the human world and the heavenly world. The old plum tree manifests both human and heavenly worlds in its treeness, Everything is there in the tree-ness of a tree. The whole universe is there in the tree-ness of a tree. Therefore, hundreds and thousands of blossoms are called both human and heavenly blossoms. Millions and billions of blossoms are Buddha ancestor blossoms. In such a moment, all the Buddhas have appeared in the world is shouted. The ancestor was originally in this land, is shouted.

[31:09]

And then he said, my late master, old Buddha, meaning Rujing, ascended the seat and taught the assembly. When Gautama Buddha's, when Gautama's eyeball vanishes, plum blossoms and snow, just one branch, become thorn bushes here, everywhere, right now, laughing, spring wind blowing madly. Thorn bushes are like roses, but it means all things. When Gautama's eyeball vanishes... Gautama's eyeball is like plum blossoms. When Gautama's eyeball vanishes, plum blossoms in snow appear. Just one branch, from one branch, everything appears, become thorn bushes here, everywhere, right now, laughing, spring wind blowing madly.

[32:30]

So we were very happy to get this scroll about the old plum tree. Maybe you have some questions? Russ? The Abbot's teaching was something about in our words there is stillness, but in our thoughts then there is activity. I wonder if when we sit, the activity that we are experiencing of all the ruminations and dreams and failures and all of that kind of busyness, is that the same activity or is it different activity than what he's speaking to? No, that's not the same activity. That's included. Everything is included, of course. You know, in Zazen, You don't judge.

[33:57]

There's no way to judge Zazen. It includes everything that's there. You don't cut off this. You don't try to fit yourself into a box by cutting off your feet. You just find a way to include everything in your big mind. This is the total dynamic activity, to include everything in big mind. That's the dynamic activity of Zazen. But at the same time, you're making an effort. Sometimes, you know, we say, well, shikantaza. Shikantaza means just sitting.

[35:00]

So people construe that in various ways. Someone will say, well, just sitting means to not think and just kind of sit there. There's a word for that, which is called rice bag. You know, people used to complain about silent illumination. Master Hong Zhe was the teacher of silent illumination, and some people who didn't understand silent illumination described it as dead tree stumps, you know, or rice bags just kind of sitting there without moving. But that's not zazen. That's not shikantaza.

[36:03]

Just sitting means totally being putting all your energy into doing this one thing thoroughly. So, when you sit Zazen, in Zazen, you make this effort to keep your back straight, that in itself is dynamic. because you're using, you know, you're stretching your waist and stretching, pushing your lower back forward, lifting up your sternum, keeping a posture which is energetic. Your body becomes full of energy. You're inducing energy into your body. And if you can do that continuously, When Zazen is over, you will leap up full of energy. And your attention is focused on that activity.

[37:18]

But all these things come into your mind because the activity of the mind is to think. The thought that you think is the thought of Zazen, when you're typing your thesis, then it's the thought of typing thesis, right? It's not the thought of something else. But when you're sitting Zazen, your mind is concentrated on the thought of sitting Zazen. But all these other things come into your mind because the mind is used to having interesting things to think about. It's not an interesting thing. So we just let the mind bring up, let consciousness bring up thoughts. It's like bubbles coming up from a hole in the earth, you know. Or if you've ever watched a fish tank,

[38:24]

There's this air coming in, you know, in bubbles. It's constant. But you don't pay much attention to it. You know, you just watch the fish. As Dogen says, the fish swim lazily at the bottom of the water. Fish fly. I mean, birds fly in the air far, far away. But the bubbling just keeps coming up. And so the thought will come and you look at that thought and then let it go. You just keep coming back, coming back. That's part of the dynamic activity is that you're awake. Zazen is called waking up. Moment after moment, waking up. And then you start to fall asleep, start to dream. and then you recognize that you've fallen asleep, and then you wake up, and then you fall asleep, and then you wake up, and your mind drifts around, and you call it back.

[39:32]

So it's continually regrouping called recollection. It's called the practice of recollection. Over and over, you keep, and that's part of the awakeness. You keep waking up all the time to just this. That's shikantaza. means just this, waking up to just this over and over and over again. And then reasserting, reestablishing the dynamic activity. And so you're in constant activity, but you're sitting still. Yeah. When we were at Tian Hong, young monk who took us around, he gave another slant on Zazen, which was, I mean, it wasn't exactly a teaching, but I think we asked, because he was kind of a young monk, but we asked him what, what, what do you guys do?

[40:40]

And he said that they sort of concentrate on Who is sitting? When they're sitting, they think, who is sitting? When they're chanting, they think, who is chanting? And that was sort of the theme of their practice at Tian Tong. Well, they had, at Tian Tong, they had both Soto style and Rinzai style. And Rinzai style usually, you know, involves working with koan. He said, in the 30s, they stopped doing koan study in the Rinzai school in China. But they had, they used these two things that you mentioned as koans. One is, who's, those are the only two koans that they retained. Who is sitting and who is chanting.

[41:42]

In other words, who's doing this? which has various forms. One is, who's doing this? Another is, what is this? Which, and in Korea, they usually use the same koan, like, what is it? Or what is this, is their main koan. So it's very different than Japanese practice, because in Japan, Rinzai style is often a systematic koan study where you pass through all these koans. So, the Rinzai and Soto styles in China are not so different. So, yeah, it's true that they did, the Rinzai side of The practice at Tian Tong was to use those two koans.

[42:44]

The Soto side he didn't mention. It could be shikantaza. They had a lot of sitting. And they had quite a strong sitting schedule. I was surprised because in the During the Cultural Revolution, I mean up to the time of the end of the Cultural Revolution, Buddhism was kaput. And then, little by little, they started re-allowing the monks to come back in the monasteries, but it was for political purposes. And it was said that The monks that were there were like policemen, you know, like Chinese undercover agents. But actually, in the last five years or so, they've been rebuilding the monasteries and actual real monks are there.

[43:53]

and they're actually practicing Zazen. Before I went to China, the last I heard was that there are monks there, but nobody's sitting Zazen. And now, they are sitting Zazen. And with with us, not all the monks do, because in China they have all the different practices in one monastery. They have Pure Land practice, they have Tiantai practice, and Shingon maybe, and Zen. And the monks can kind of go from one to another also. But for the monks who are doing Zazen in Zen style, they get up at 3.30 or something, and they sit Zazen pretty much throughout the day, go to bed about 8.30. And they had a very strict schedule.

[44:58]

And yes. Did you have a translator? Oh yeah, we had. We had really good leaders. Chinese tour leaders. And they all learned their Chinese by themselves. The last one we had, they all spoke really good English. Most of them spoke really good English. The last one we had, he said he was a Christian. But he said he was, you know, his family was kind of persecuted or looked down on for a long time. But now, you know, things have opened up a lot. But he said that when he was made to work in a factory, he used to write the English phrases on his, and put them on his sleeve so that he would study it while he was working. That's the kind, and all of them learned English on their own. and speak really well and understand everything, speak really well and know all about American colloquialisms and slang and rock stars.

[46:03]

You said quite a while ago that the palm tree is Buddha nature, out of which arise branches and petals and stuff. And way back then, I can see that I wish to ask, is there some Buddha nature? Is there something you could call Buddha nature that is other than petals and branches? No. The tree is all in peace. Buddha nature is the tree, is the petals and branches and the debris. It's all in peace. Not an entity then, just... No, it's not an entity. There's not... We say Buddha nature, but it's not a thing. Why do we say it? We like to. Why do we say it? To keep you from crying.

[47:10]

Okay. Alan? That key shake is really... We could spend a lot of time on that. What we do. One way that I'm hearing it, if you can correct me, is there's something unceasing about the activity of our mind. practice of the precepts is so you have mind and then you have speech and action those are the next two things that you refer to that there while we can't control the unceasing nature of our mind we have some measure of positive control over our words and actions and that's where that when we apply ourselves there that's a wisdom yeah that's the wisdom comes out of it it just is built

[48:31]

It's very rich, yeah. Well, the stillness itself is great dynamic activity. And then all of the manifestations of that stillness are what we think of as activity. But all those manifestations are themselves totally empty. Peter. I was thinking about Dogen's article you read, and when he mentions Gautama's eyeball, is that a metaphor for practice? Wisdom. Seeing through Gautama's eyeball. This morning reminds me of another story from China. We were in another temple, Pianta, which dates to the 4th century, and there was a plum tree that dates almost to that time in the world, that had withered almost to unrecognizable during the Cultural Revolution, and was now growing and bearing fruit again.

[49:51]

It reminds me of the intuitive wisdom of all sentient beings, even plants, and how much they have to teach us. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it was a little pavilion, a little courtyard, and then there was this old, old, old, darl tree from the 4th century. Okay, Poland's the last one. No, I guess we could go all the way. Appear. Oh, they appear. The eyeball disappears and the blossoms appear. I retract my question. Is the inscription on the scroll related to the reading that you gave, or is it something different?

[50:56]

No. They're cousins, but they're not. It's not directly related to that. Oh, that's what I said. I read that. I did read that, yeah. That was the first thing I read, was that the old plum tree withstands the winter and comes out smelling like a rose. I don't think I understand it better because of that. I just think that it's nice to just get a feeling for that place. I don't know why I would understand it better being there. But I wouldn't say that it improved my understanding.

[52:06]

I would just say that it improved my, or not improved, but put me in touch with actual places that Dogon went. And to just get a feeling for, you know, for But I don't know if it improved my understanding. Maybe. It might have. We'll see. One thing I found encouraging about the trip was the reading you gave, the teaching that we received at Jingshan, and the other teachings we received there.

[53:11]

In addition to the Zazen practice, I felt there was a real consonance of what our teaching here and the teaching that's going on there. So I don't know if it improved my understanding, but I certainly felt the teaching goes generations, centuries back in China and even today that is still on consequence with what we're doing and our teaching. Yeah, it kind of resonated. Well, I was thinking of your, just the whole lecture and how we're feeling the seasons and watching winter come and spring come and I guess I, this morning I'm feeling kind of, not because of the lecture, before the lecture, and for there, for a long time now I've been feeling, I'm battling these elements.

[54:13]

Like I have this house that it's deteriorating exponentially and, you know, should I just under the house and let the cracks come and let the rain come in and let the roof fall in and just let it all happen. It feels so good to say that. But instead it's like, I have to get out. I have a list of things. Right. I think it's really great to say that and to feel it and then put it aside and fix up your house. back to work but, you know, one thing at a time with some joy.

[55:14]

Right.

[55:15]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ