Good morning, everyone. This is Julia Konrosaki. I'm delighted to be with you this morning and to be here with Taigan Leighton, who is presenting for us Dogen and the Lotus Sutra in a three-week series. Taigan, good morning. We're also joined by Diana Mitchell-Hamilton, Sensei, who's our co-host for this program. Good morning, Sensei. Good morning. Happy to be here. Hello, everyone. Good morning, everyone. This is Taigen. And so last week, I talked about Dogen's influences and which are many and including very, very much the Lotus Sutra. And I did some introduction to the Lotus Sutra and its many stories. And next week, I will be talking more about how Dogen used uh, creatively used the Lotus Sutra, um, uh, in his, particularly in his world, very creative and lively worldview about the nature of space and time.

[01:11]

Um, I find all of these teachings very relevant to our own situation in the world today. Uh, part of the point of all this is that, um, uh, you know, Dogen was translating, um, Chan, Chinese Zen, particularly from the Tsao Tung or Soto teachings to Japan. And so he was reinterpreting that. For us as American practitioners, I don't know if anybody on the phone on this telecourses Japanese or Chinese, but for most of us as Westerners, we have to find out how to, we have to find for ourselves how to use this practice in our own situation, and part of what Dogen emphasizes very much is creative reinterpretation of these teachings in our own situation. And what I'm gonna focus on today is the way that Dogen used material from the Lotus Sutra and the Mahayana teachings and sutras in general in his own style of teaching, in his own style of presentation.

[02:24]

So this has to do with the self-referential aspect of the Lotus Sutra, which I talked about some last week and more, and then also the way that imagination and vision and the fantastic are important, both in the Lotus Sutra and in other Mahayana Bodhisattva teachings, and also very much in Dogen's teaching. So Dogen, in his writing, can seem very difficult and obscure at first, but part of the point is he's not giving kind of didactic instructions or philosophy. He's encouraging us to play with the teachings that he's playing with. So, I was just saying to Diane that compared to my previous telecourses at Two Arrows, I have a lot of material to present. There'll be some time for discussion at the end of this second week and even more next week, but I want to just present some of what Dogen, how Dogen used the Mahayana principles in his style of presentation of discourse and rhetoric, particularly in terms of enactment of the practice, performance of the practice of the teaching, proclamation, and this aspect of the self-referential.

[03:50]

which he borrowed explicitly from the Lotus Sutra. So one point is that given that the historical Buddha Shakyamuni taught for about 45 years, there's a great diversity of teachings that he presented. He had a great diversity of students he addressed. So, you know, compared to Jesus having taught for three years, there's just a huge amount of material of scriptures that are part of Buddhism. And the production of new scriptures for nearly a millennium after his life, or you could say the recovery according to the Mahayana tradition of these teachings, gives us a wide range and diversity of sutras. So, theories of understanding or interpreting all this material have been an integral part of Buddhist philosophy and practice. In religious studies, the word is hermeneutics, in terms of interpreting all these teachings.

[04:55]

So this was very important in China as they tried to understand all of these teachings in terms of systems of classification. So the Chantai school, which became Tendai in Japan, and that was the school that Dogen first was ordained in, where he was first trained, I mentioned this last time, held the Lotus Sutra as the highest, of all the scriptures, but they included all of them. So, um, the Mahayana Sutras and Zen Koans and Zen Teachings, including Dogen's, are usually, again, usually not didactic works presenting some systematic doctrines. Occasionally they are, but usually they are, we could say, instrumental texts. They're aimed at inciting particular meditative states or particular insights. And the primary interpretive principle for Mahayana teachings is called skillful means, which I talked about last week as one of the primary teachings in the Lotus Sutra.

[06:05]

The first half of the Lotus Sutra is focused on this teaching of skillful means and various colorful parables about skillful means. Skillful means sees the range and diversity of the practices and teachings as appropriate responses to all the diversity of suffering beings, and honors the practical requirements of various methods, various techniques. There's no single technique that addresses all the whole variety of individual obstacles to healing and liberation, which is of course the point. So again, as I mentioned last week, Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra talks about skillful means and the one great vehicle that the single reason for Buddhas, and we can say Bodhisattvas, appearing in the world is to help beings enter into the path of awakening, to respond to suffering, to help relieve suffering and lead beings into awakening, into the paths of awakening.

[07:12]

I think this is particularly useful in our modern pluralistic world of many religions, many spiritualities, to see that all of them can be useful in terms of relieving suffering and helping awakening, liberation, however you want to say that. So an essential part of spiritual work in Buddhism is to understand how to assess and use all the different variety of teachings and practices and how to interpret them. And then to see that all the skillful means ultimately cooperate in this one vehicle aimed at universal liberation. So this allows for the possibility of a non-competitive, cooperative approach to interpreting teachings and practices. and all the many different viewpoints and approaches might be seen as compatible and even mutually informing.

[08:19]

You know, we can do, so I've done a lot of interfaith work and part of interfaith study is to try to enter into, without, you know, while, you know, so I've been grounded in Soto Zen practice for many decades, but I've studied other, practice traditions and religious traditions, and take it on to practice, and I learn about my own tradition that way. So we can see that the value of other traditions, and then even use them as part of our own tradition, or borrow things from them. But the other side, the Jada side of this kind of idea of skillful means, is that sometimes historically this can be used hierarchically well, will include these teachings, but they're really inferior. So, you know, this is kind of subtle and difficult. But again, the line from the Lotus Sutra that Dogen probably cites most often is that the single great cause for a Buddha appearing in the world is to help diverse suffering beings to enter into and open up, disclose, and fully realize awakening.

[09:36]

this basic principle of recognizing different practices, this skillful means. Again, skillful means does not mean that there is some instruction manual about how to act skillfully. So as a practice from the point of view of the Buddha, who in some sense is omniscient and knows how to apply skillful means, that's one thing. But even the Buddha in applying skillful means in the parables In the Lotus Sutra, like the burning house, it makes mistakes, but especially as a Bodhisattva practice, skillful means is about, as I was saying last week, patience and paying attention, and trial and error and making mistakes. It's important to make mistakes. It's important to keep paying attention and learn, and sometimes do nothing when we see some situation of harmfulness. to pay attention and then try something when there is, to be ready and willing to try something when there is an opportunity to help someone who's causing harm to themselves or others.

[10:52]

So, again, knowing about the various practices and techniques can be helpful in this. Okay, so, in terms of the different aspects of how DOGAN uses approaches from the Lotus Sutra. I want to talk first about enactment and performance. So Zen has a particular experiential approach to enactment. It takes priority even over its own literature. So there's this saying attributed to Bodhidharma, of course long after Bodhidharma, of direct pointing to mind beyond words and letters. This doesn't mean not reading sutras, and Dogen talks in a lot of his writings, some of his writings, I talked about this last time, about how not to be caught by, for example, caught by, to turn the Lotus Sutra instead of being turned by it, to not be caught by particular formulations or reify particular dogmas based on scriptures, but to

[12:05]

not to be fundamentalist or literalistic about teachings, but to use them creatively. But in Zen particularly, the emphasis is on direct meditative experience, not to be confused by elegant but non-practical expressions of reality. Zen shares this with the Vajrayana tradition, the esoteric tradition. which we think of as Tibetan Buddhism, but actually it was very important in Japan. It very much influenced the Tendai school, which was Dogen's background. So Tendai in Japan was based on the Chiantai in China that synthesized all of those different teachings and emphasized the Lotus Sutra, but in Japan, the Tendai incorporated the Shingon, Vajrayana, or esoteric tantric traditions, so there will not be a test again. I'm trying to present this material in the context of seeing the relationship of Dogon and Lotus Sutra, and I know I'm presenting a lot of material, but anyway, this, but it's important to hear that this Vajrayana background that was incorporated into Dogon's Tendai background has this approach

[13:29]

that the heart of spiritual activity and practice is the enactment of Buddha awareness and physical presence, rather than aiming at some perfected, formulated understanding. So the point of our practice and the point of this teaching is not to reach some perfect understanding. Understanding is, you know, it's possible to understand this stuff. It's okay if you understand it, but that's not the point. point is to actually express and enact it, and Dogen emphasizes that very much so. But this, you know, this actually is shared with Vajrayana. So I'm going to quote some things from that. So Robert Thurman, the great teacher and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, who now is an academic, but was a translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, speaks of the main thrust of Vajrayana practice as physical rather than merely mental.

[14:32]

So Thurman says, quote, when we think of the goal of Buddhism as enlightenment, we think of it as mainly, we usually think of it mainly as an attainment of some kind of higher understanding. But Buddhahood is a physical transformation as much as a mental transcendence, unquote. The Buddhahood is about physical transformation. Enacting Buddha's awareness is about a physical transformation, and Dogen speaks of practice as creating Buddha's body. That's some understanding. Similarly, Tom Kasulis, who teaches at Ohio State and is a scholar of both Dogen and Japanese Vajrayana, says, quote, the truth of a statement depends not on the status of its referent, but on how it affects us. So, Dogen, in one of his first writings, the Dengdua talk on Wholehearted Practice of the Way, directly emphasizes the priority of the actualization of practice over some doctrinal theory.

[15:39]

Dogen says, quote, Buddhist practitioners should know not to argue about the superiority or inferiority of teachings, and not to discriminate between superficial or profound dharma. but you only know whether the practice is genuine or false. So again, Dogen, like in Vajrayana practice, emphasizes how do we actually enact Buddha's body, how do we actually express the practice. The point of all this study, whether it's the Lotus Sutra or any other sutra, whether it's studying Dogen himself, is not about getting some understanding, perfecting some understanding It's possible to do that, but the point is, how do we actually use it to express Buddha, to physically express Buddha, to enact Buddha in our practice, in our everyday practice? Okay, so, that's one important point, that this is about enactment rather than some kind

[16:51]

philosophical understanding. So, another point is about the self-referential. So, I talked about this again last week, talking about in my introduction to the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra itself frequently emphasizes the importance of and the rewards for the proclamation of the Lotus Sutra through reading, copying, reciting it. So, This happens in the numbers of Mahayana Sutras, but especially in the Lotus Sutra, it refers to itself a lot, and it's a kind of strange thing. Various important figures in the Sutra appear within the text of the Lotus Sutra, because they've heard that the Lotus Sutra is currently being preached by Shakyamuni Buddha on Vulture Peak. And the story is that Shakyamuni Buddha, this is one of the last teachings that Shakyamuni Buddha will give, so it's You know, one of his final teachings. And my favorite example is in chapter 11.

[17:57]

The stupa of the ancient Buddha Prabhutaratna, many treasures, springs forth from the earth and floats in midair. And it's this magnificent jeweled stupa and it floats in midair. And from the stupa, many treasures Buddha says, well done, well done Shakyamuni. This Buddha is from an ancient age, maybe several big bangs ago or whatever, appears because he has vowed always to appear whenever Lotus Sutra is taught. It says so right in the Lotus Sutra. So this is very mind-bending, okay? What is that? Also, numerous bodhisattvas arrived from world systems in all directions. So I don't know if that's distant solar systems, or galaxies, or other dimensions, or space and time, or whatever. Anyway, they also appear, these different bodhisattvas, in various points in the Sutra, in order to praise Shakyamuni Buddha for preaching the Sutra, in which they themselves are appearing.

[19:04]

So this is kind of very strange, that the Sutra is talking about it. There's stuff in the Sutra about the Sutra, and talking about itself. This sutra has the quality of talking about the sutra, and also has many references to the Lotus Sutra as something that was expounded many, many long ages ago. I mean, there are lots of stories in the sutra about this, and also as something that's about to be expounded. So, at the very beginning of the sutra, there's a beam of light from Shakyamuni Buddha's third eye, forehead, and Manjushri says, oh, I know what that means. I was around a long time ago and the Buddha had a beam of light like that, and that meant the Lotus Sutra was about to be taught. So this is, you know, I keep waiting for George Lucas or one of these directors to do the film of the Lotus Sutra, but the special effects haven't caught up with it yet.

[20:11]

Anyway, So, the Lotus Sutra has been taught many ages ago, it's about to be expounded, and hopefully it will be expounded in the distant future, and we'll talk about that more next week. Between the lines, the Lotus Sutra functions within itself, both as a sacred text or scripture, but also as a commentary and guidebook to its own use, beyond the literal confines of its own written text. So, within its own written text, there's here are all these beings who in the written text say that they're coming to hear, they always come to hear the Lotus Sutra. So this is a little bit like that drawing of Escher of two hands drawing each other. There's all kinds of strange things that go on in this text. Okay, for Dogen, the self-proclamation of the Dharma and the Lotus Sutra becomes an aspect of his rhetorical style. So, the Lotus Sutra itself, you know, some scholars say that there's no teaching in it, that it's an empty sutra, that it's just talking about something, some teaching that never happens.

[21:24]

I don't agree with that, but I understand why they think that, because they never say what the Lotus Sutra teaching is exactly. And yet, you know, it's based on all the other teachings, you know, it sort of assumes all the other teachings that Buddha has given previously. But this Lotus Sutra becomes a kind of, it becomes Buddha's body in a way. And for Nichiren, who was a little later than Dogen, but in the same century, the Lotus Sutra becomes this sacred object. And in Nichiren Buddhism, they chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo homage to the Wondrous Dharma Flower Sutra, Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra, and it becomes a sacred object. And Nichiren Buddhism is an important part of Japanese Buddhism and very interesting in a lot of ways. And they also study the whole Lotus Sutra as well as having it as the sacred object on their altar and chanting to it. Anyway, but for Dogen, it's much subtler.

[22:29]

It becomes an aspect of his style of teaching. So this idea of proclamation of the Dharma is central for both the Lotus Sutra and for Dogen. So, Dogen is, I think, difficult for us as Westerners, partly because often he doesn't, you know, he talks around, he talks creatively, he talks around what the teaching is. Sometimes he expresses the teaching very clearly, but he uses stories, he uses poetry, he uses nature metaphors to poetically, metaphorically, imaginatively inspire us to use our imagination to express Buddha's body for ourselves. This way, Dogen has this style of proclamation himself. So, we have to read and interpret Dogen creatively, in our own terms.

[23:34]

I find useful, in terms of thinking about this, the French philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, R-I-C-O-E-U-R, who died in 2005, recurses among other things, that all of the connotations which are suitable must be attributed. The poem means all that it can mean. So, he talks about literary interpretation, but also about interpretation of spiritual teachings. So, in a way that's similar to the Sutra's proclamation of the wondrous qualities of the Lotus Dharma itself, Dogen in his writings commonly proclaims the wondrous nature of the Dharma, the Buddha, the many Buddha ancestors, previous proclamations or utterances by ancestral teachers, as in the Koan literature, and of course the Lotus Sutra itself. Dogen's style of discourse or teaching is usually not explanatory, or discursive, or

[24:39]

linear manner of modern rationality or cognition. Instead, Dogen free associates. He makes illuminating connections based on doctrinal themes or imagistic motifs that are aimed at proclaiming the non-dual reality of the present phenomenal world, fully saturated with the presence of the Buddha. ongoing possibility of awakening. So this is something I talked about some last week, that is part of Japanese Buddhist aesthetics and part of the Mahayana idea of nirvana right in samsara, and that to see the present phenomenal world, the world of impermanence, as the place of Buddha's awakening, and the place of Buddha nature is very important for Dogen.

[25:46]

So I'm gonna give some examples of Dogen's style of proclamation, totally based on the Lotus Sutra, from Ehe Koroku, which Dogen's extensive record that I translated with Shohaku Okamura, But it's also in his writings in Shobo Genzo, this style of proclamation. In Ehe Koroku Dogen's extensive record, his very short, we call them Dharma Hall Discourses in Japanese Jodo, they're very formal talks that he gave in the Dharma Hall. And there, he was seated up on the, on the altar in the Dharma Hall, and the monks were standing. They're very short, mostly, and it's kind of a formal style of teaching that Dogen got from China. It's the style of teaching in a lot of the recorded sayings from the Chinese Zen Tron Masters' recorded sayings.

[26:54]

So they're very formal, but paradoxically, they show more than Shobo Genzo, I think, Dogen's kind of warmth and sense of humor and style of really teaching to his monks. So, most of what we know about Dogen's later teachings to his monks at Eheji is from this Dogen's extensive record. Anyway, I'm going to quote a few of them actually from just before he moved up to Eheji. And they show this self-proclaiming strategy of teaching. So, here are two of them from 1241. These are in the handouts that were sent out, by the way, if you want to try and follow along. So, I'll just read them. They're very short, so I'll read them in their entirety.

[27:57]

First one. says, today this mountain monk, that's Dogen, gives a dharma hall discourse for the assembly. What I have just said, I offer to all the three treasures in the ten directions, to the twenty-eight ancestors in India, to the six ancestors in China, to all the nostrils under heaven, to the eyeballs throughout the past and present, to dried shit sticks, to three pounds of sesame, to zen boards, and to zafus, Previously, we offered incense for the limitless excellent causal conditions and we dedicate it so that toads may leap up to Brahma's heaven, earthworms may traverse the eastern ocean, and clouds and water monks may become horses and cows. All Buddhas, ten directions, three times, all honored ones, Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, Maha Prajnaparamita." That's the whole sermon. playing with a form, obviously, but he states that he's proclaiming a dharma hall discourse.

[29:07]

But then immediately, without saying anything more about the dharma, he dedicates that statement itself to the Three Jewels, Buddhadharma Sangha, to the ancestral teachers, to various meditation paraphernalia, and to famed Chan iconoclastic expressions for Buddha, the dried shit-stick or dried turd that Yunmen, great teacher Yunmen, said was, in a famous koan, said was Buddha, and so three pounds of sesame or flax that Goodman's disciple Dongshan Chochu said was Buddha, and then he further dedicates the incense offering, which had preceded the statement, that he was now making a statement to toads and to earthworms, so it's not just about human beings, and to monks who manifest as horses and cows, followed by the traditional concluding liturgical dedication, all Buddhas ten directions three times, and so forth. By doing this, he declares the intention of the dedication for all beings, no matter how humble. So, like in the Lotus Sutra, there's no visible dharma expressed except for the celebration by way of proclamation of a non-explicit dharma.

[30:14]

So, like in the Lotus Sutra, he doesn't say what the teaching is, he just proclaims it. The very next dharma hall discourse, Dogen explicitly comments on his own use of self-referential dharma, again while engaging even further in celebrating a non-expressed dharma. So again, this is in the handouts. Dogen said, and here's the whole thing, as this mountain monk, Dogen, today gives a dharma hall discourse, all Buddhas in the three times also today give a dharma hall discourse. The ancestral teachers in all generations also today give a dharma hall discourse. All generations, including past, present, and future. The one who bears the 16-foot golden body gives a dharma hall discourse. The one endowed with the wondrous function of the hundred grasses, or all things, gives a dharma hall discourse. Already together, having given a dharma hall discourse, what dharma has been expounded?

[31:19]

No other dharma is expressed, but this very dharma is expressed. What is this dharma? It is upheld within Shanglan Temple. It is upheld within Guanyin Temple. It is upheld within the Mong Sol. It is upheld within the Buddha Hall. The entire Dharma Hall discourse. And Dogen never talks about the content of his Dharma Hall discourse, but he proclaims that his own act of proclaiming this self-referencing Dharma is echoed simultaneously in the discourses of the ancestral teachers and the Buddhas, just like the proclamation of the Lotus Sutra is echoed in various Buddha realms and times. Dogen even asks, what Dharma has been expounded? And he answers unabashedly, no other Dharma is expressed. This very Dharma is expressed. What is this Dharma? Dogen asks. He emphasizes that this is not some abstraction. This is not some philosophical teaching.

[32:22]

But he talks about the concreteness of this particular reality as the realm of dharma. He declares and affirms that this non-explicit teaching is upheld in the context of the temples and the buildings where the practice is carried on. And I believe that Xianglan Temple and Guanyin Temple that he mentions were temples where Zhaozhou or Zhoushu practiced. So, again, he's talking about the Dharma as being expressed, having been expressed, and he's talking about it as that which is expressed specifically right the places where it's practiced. So this kind of, uh, rhetorical posture of, uh, expressing the Dharma without giving any specific teaching, which is the whole thing of the self-referential aspect of the Lotus Sutra, Dogen is adapting this directly from the Lotus Sutra.

[33:23]

This is clear in another early discourse in Ehe Koroku. This is number 24 from 1240, the year before, and this is also in your handout. So in this one he says, In the entire universe in ten directions, there is no Dharma at all that has not yet been expounded by all Buddhists in the three times." So there's no teaching. There's no new teaching, right? In the entire universe in ten directions, there is no Dharma at all that has not yet been expounded by all Buddhists in the three times. Therefore, all Buddhists say, quote, In the same manner that all Buddhas in the three times expound the Dharma, so now I also will expound the Dharma without differentiation." This great assembly present before me also is practicing in the way in the manner of all Buddhas.

[34:29]

Each movement, each stillness is not other than the Dharma of all Buddhas. Do not act carelessly or casually. Although this is the case, I have an expression that has not yet been expounded by any Buddha. Everyone, do you want to discern it? After a pause, and Dogen often does this incorrectly, he says something and then he pauses. So after a pause. This is his... This is his expression that has not yet been expounded by any Buddha. After a pause, Dogen says, in the same manner that all Buddhas in the three times expound the Dharma, so now I also will expound the Dharma without differentiation. Which is exactly the same sentence that he has said, all Buddhas say, and have said in all three times.

[35:32]

So again, Dogen does not elaborate on the content of the Dharma expounded by all the Buddhas. the Three Times, except to proclaim that it is no other than every movement and every stillness and is practiced by the monks at Eheji." That the statement that Dogen uses to express the inexplicit Dharma proclaimed by all Buddhas is a direct quote from the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 2 of Skillful Means. He repeats it verbatim as his own expression and as the expression that all Buddhas say in all Three Times. but by his saying that it has not previously been expounded is equal to Dogen himself preaching the original Lotus Sutra. So that's Dogen there on Vulture Preak, being Shakyamuni. Or to his own manifestation as the Buddha in the Lotus Text, in which it is first expounded. So these are examples from Dogen's extensive record of Dogen

[36:35]

using the style of this self-referential aspect of the Lotus Sutra to proclaim the Dharma, and this aspect of proclamation that is so important in the Lotus Sutra, and this is part of, and this is an important part of Dogen's teaching, and it's there in Shobo Genzo, too, in many places, in many ways. So, I think one of the difficulties that we as Westerners have with Dogen, in reading Dogen, that we look for some particular teaching to understand and figure out some philosophy. But Dogen is not often, sometimes he gives teachings, but often he's not interested in that. He's proclaiming the Dharma. He wants us to hear that, and he wants us to proclaim the Dharma, or he wants us to express the Dharma, or to enact Buddha's body. So there's a book that I highly recommend called The Karma of Words by William LaFleur, who is a very fine Buddhist scholar.

[37:45]

He passed away a few years ago. He taught at Penn. And he actually, later in his life, did very interesting work on bioethics in Japanese Buddhism. Very interesting stuff. But anyway, in The Karma of Words, he discusses the sophisticated nature of the Lotus Sutra as literature and its strong impact in medieval Japanese poetics. before Dogon. So I talked about this a little last week and how one of Dogon's main influences was the Japanese poetic tradition, which itself was very strongly influenced by Lotus Sutra. Lefleur sees the Sutra's primary liberative purpose and its various skillful modes expressed non-dualistically as exactly the reason for the Sutra's self-referential discourse style. So, LeFleur says, quote, the narratives of the Lotus Sutra are not a means to an end beyond themselves.

[38:48]

Their concrete modes of expression is not chaff to be dispensed with in order to attain a more abstract, rational, or spiritual truth, philosophical truth. The Lotus Sutra is unequivocal on this point. It says, quote, one may seek in every one of the ten directions, but will find no mode, no skillful mode, other than the Buddhas, unquote. So, of course, this accounts for what may seem to be an inordinate amount of praise directed by the Sutra toward itself, which is very off-putting to many Westerners when they first start reading the Lotus Sutra. Of course, this also implies that within the Sutra, there is an unmistakable philosophical move opposite to that in Plato's Republic, a move to affirm the complete reality of the world of concrete phenomena in spite of the fact that they are impermanent." This is a really interesting point that LaFleur is making.

[39:57]

This represents a crucial step toward what another American Buddhist scholar calls the profound valorization or celebration of empirical reality in the medieval Tendai, original enlightenment thought. So this is, and in medieval Japanese aesthetic generally, this is this great appreciation of physical reality, of phenomenal reality, of impermanence itself. So again, I talked about this a little bit last week, this poetic aesthetics that is very much influenced by the Lotus Sutra, which was the primary teaching of Tendai Buddhism, which was the most prominent form of Buddhism in the period from 800 to 1200 before Dogen, very much influenced all of Japanese culture before Dogen. There's this appreciation of the phenomenal world.

[41:02]

that nirvana is not the escape from the phenomenal world, from samsara. So all of the volumes of poetry in Japan about the beauty of the cherry blossoms emphasize that its peak beauty is right after they start to fade. There's this appreciation of impermanence and the poignancy of that. So, in terms of what LeFleur is talking about, that the Sutra is not about something else, pointing to itself, and Dogen pointing and using this to talk about, um, claim the Dharma without talking about something else, that the Dharma is not about something else, is exactly like Dogen's Zazen, and the Zazen we do, which is not about something else. Dogen's asana is not about waiting for Buddha.

[42:04]

It's not about some future attainment or about some past understanding. It's just sitting, it's self-training in radical presence. So, one of my favorite lines from Dogen is, Buddhists do not wait for awakening, just experience the vital present, the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. going beyond Buddha, this radical presence, which is this process of awakening right now. It's not about waiting for something, some future experience, some future dramatic experience. It's not about some past understanding that we can enshrine. It's about the radical, Dogen Zazen is about the radical presence of this awakening right now. and appreciating and enjoying that right in our zazen. And this is like the Lotus Sutra talking about itself.

[43:07]

So, the Lotus Sutra itself becomes an embodiment of the awakening aspect of the phenomenal world, always present, at least in potentiality, in all the concrete particulars. This self-referential or self-reflective aspect of the Sutra demonstrates the non-separation of liberative goals from the Buddha's skillful modes or skillful means. We talked last week about skillful means and how, uh, that can be, sometimes that's called expedient means, and that's kind of a manipulative aspect of it. Uh, LeFleur talks, likes to translate upaya or, or hopan not as expedient means, but as modes that we can see it kind of more democratically or non-hierarchically as all the different modes. So, given the non-duality of purpose and context of the Lotus Sutra as a text that itself represents and enacts veneration of the world's liberative potential, um, this is, um, so the Lotus Sutra is celebrating the Lotus Sutra itself as an expression of liberation.

[44:23]

and liberative potential, that is always right here. And I'll talk about that more next week in terms of the story I mentioned last time about the Bodhisattvas springing out from underneath the ground and Buddha's lifespan and what that means in terms of our understanding about the earth and about space and about time. And Dogen uses these Bodhisattva stories in his understanding, very lively understanding, the world and the cosmology. So, Dogen's use of this Lotus Sutra style of self-preferential discourse is directed at affirming the non-dualism of means and end. It repeatedly affirms the concrete realm of particulars as the arena of non-dual practice realization. Practice is not about practice to get some awakening sometime in the future. Awakening is the awakening of our practice right now. Dogen is very clear about again and again and again.

[45:24]

Another expression of this is from another hall discourse in Dogen's extensive record from 1241. He says, this mountain monk, Dogen himself, has not lectured for the sake of the assembly for a long time. Why is this? On my behalf, the Buddha Hall, the Monks Hall, the Valley Streams, the Pine, and the bamboo, every moment, endlessly speak fully for the sake of all people. Have you all heard it or not? If you say you heard it, what did you hear? If you say you have not heard it, you do not keep the precepts. So, in closing, I want to, before discussion, I want to talk about The importance both in the Lotus Sutra and in Dogen's teaching of vision and imagination is fantastic.

[46:29]

So, one of the literary aspects of the Lotus Sutra that is disconcerting to us and disconcerting to any conventional analysis is the extent to which its stories and teachings are rooted in images and even fantasies. the internal expression of vision or fantasy expresses the human experience of Mahayana practice, much more than its philosophical content. So, not just the Lotus Sutra, but a lot of Mahayana sutras can be a little disconcerting. There's also, for example, the Flower Ornament Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, which is this vast, 1,600 pages, in Tom Cleary's translation, sutra, very flowery sutra, with lots of expressions of bodhisattva activity. It's 1,600 pages, but it's said to be a bridge version of what Buddha said when he first awakened, and what he taught, which nobody could understand at the time, and it's still pretty difficult, partly because it's so flowery, and because it's

[47:48]

There's all these images and descriptions of different Samadhis and different pages and pages and names of different Buddhas and so forth. It's the most psychedelic text I know of. Anyway, a lot of the Mahayana Sutras don't give basic, literal, doctrinal teachings. They give these visions, these fantasies, Dogen follows this approach in many places, in his Discourses in Ehekoroku, his extensive record, but also in his Shobogenzo. One example from Shobogenzo, there are many, but Dogen uses wordplay to invert conventional thinking often. In one of his Shobogenzo essays, Muchu Setsumu, Within a Dream, Expressing the Dream, Dogen extensively elaborates on

[48:50]

statement, all Buddhas express the dream within a dream. So usually, you know, in conventional Buddhism, we think of awakening Buddhahood as opposite to a dream, that we're trying to awaken from the dream, our usual dream of reality. But Dogen is saying that dreams is the realm of Buddhas. All Buddhas express the dream within a dream. He says, for example, every dew drop manifested in every realm is a dream. This dream is the glowing clarity of the hundred grasses, or all reality. Do not mistake them as merely dreamy." The awakening of Buddhists is itself described as a dream by Dogen. He says, quote, without expressing dreams there are no Buddhas. Being within a dream, Buddhas do not emerge and turn the wondrous dharma wheel.

[49:52]

The dharma wheel is no other than a Buddha together with a Buddha, and a dream expressed within a dream. Simply expressing the dream within a dream is itself the Buddha's ancestors, the assembly of unsurpassable enlightenment. And towards the end of that Shobo Genzo essay, he directly refers to something in the Lotus Sutra where it talks about a dream that uh, someone sees in the Lotus Sutra. So he's referencing that there too. But if you think about it, that's, um, also, you know, in terms of the single great cause, um, there, there is, um, you know, that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas only appear because of, um, because of suffering, because they're suffering beings, and for the purpose of awakening beings.

[50:57]

So, without the dream, there'd be no reason for Buddhas to appear. So, it's only because of the dream cause of the dream, Buddhas appear. So Buddhas are only expressing the dream within a dream, and again, it's about expression. How do we express this dream within a dream? So, really, this is basic Mahayana, but it goes against our usual way of thinking about what awakening is. We usually think awakening is awakening from a dream. There are many examples in Dogen and Shobogenzo, too, where he turns conventional Buddhist views on their head. So anyway, I can go on with some other examples of how Dogen uses vision and the fantastic and some other kind of wild parables that Dogen gives.

[52:01]

I want to leave time for some discussion too. Should I continue with some other examples of Dogan's vision in Fantastic, or should we stop for some discussion? My sense is that I like, you might say, just kind of being poised on this inquiry into vision and imagination in Fantastic, and maybe we can depart, knowing that there's more to explore there. and maybe move to some questions. There's a lot actually in medieval Japanese Buddhism about dreams. Heizan, who was an important successor to Dogen and considered the second founder of Japanese Soto, actually used dreams to make decisions about where his temples would be and things like that.

[53:07]

There's a lot more to say though about the use of imagination and fantasy even in the Mahayana and in Dogon, too. But yeah, let's pause for discussion. Howard. Good morning, Teigen. Thank you. I am curious about what you might say about just letting the mind in Zazen, if it's going toward some sort of vision of a bodhisattva? Just following it. Is this something that you would call part of this arising dream? Yeah. Well, you know, partly this is why it's important to consult with teachers, because there are different things that can happen in Zazen. You know, there's one... and talking about honoring all the different approaches is also part of this.

[54:14]

So there are different aspects to Zazen. Zazen is just sitting for Dogen and Soto-sen. So whatever arises, to pay attention to it. So it's not being sleepy, but if you're sleepy, to pay attention to that. You know, what is sleepy, what is, you know, if your mind is groggy, pay attention to that, what's going on. But, you know, in Mahayana meditation practice, visions of bodhisattvas arise. Pay attention to it, what's going on. And not in Zen so much, but in other Mahayana traditions, visualization of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, that's very much part of Vajrayana practice. So, in terms of, practically in terms of Zazen, I would say one aspect is focusing, paying sharp attention. And, you know, in some forms of Buddhist meditation, focusing on a koan or focusing on a mantra, for example, there's a kind of, there's a discipline of focusing on the breath, sometimes can be very, you know, about a kind of

[55:30]

very focused, intense practice. And that can help in terms of calming and settling. But the other side of Zazen is a kind of opening and expansiveness and spaciousness. And that's also very important. Both are important. And so Suzuki Roshi said to give the cow a wide pasture. I think that would include the side of allowing, you know, not, so, So thoughts arise, feelings arise as you're sitting, paying attention. And so we don't do anything with those thoughts and feelings, but we don't try and stop them from coming either. So the mind wanders and we pay attention and come back to breath and posture. So there's the focusing and the expansive side. But in the middle of that, if you see, if a bodhisattva appears, for you, I'll pay attention to that.

[56:32]

The other part of Zazen is intention. What's important? What's the most important thing or what is important to you? What do you care about? So non-attachment doesn't mean indifference. It means, what do you care about? So part of Zazen is to see that. What's important to you? What is it that you want to express in your practice? So again, this idea of enactment and proclamation and performance. I didn't talk so much about performance, but part of this whole thing about this physical transformation is that you're performing the practice. uh, when you're sitting zazen, you're performing Buddha's body. So, um, how do you do that?

[57:37]

Um, sit like Buddha. Sit upright. And I, you know, I don't know, uh, at Two Arrows, but in Maizendo, I, you know, we have people who sit in chairs and, you know, I, um, I don't, I tell people if they have to move in the middle of a period, just do it quietly and not casually. Pay attention to what's going on. So we sit upright and pay attention and notice our posture. And by sitting like Buddha, by sitting uprightly, we perform Buddha's body in our body. So that's what Dogen means by, and what Vajrayana means by expressing, creating Buddha's body.

[58:39]

Anyway, I'm not sure if that, I hope that was helpful. It was helpful, thank you. I've had more exposure, maybe, to Vajrayana from trips to Nepal. than some people, and it's just part of what my experience is. Well, I would say that Vajrayana is part of all Japanese Buddhism. It's very much, in some ways, an aspect of Soto Zen and of Dogen's teaching. But, you know, the devotional apparatus is very different. Although, actually, the forms of the ritual forms of, you know, making offerings and so forth in Soto-sen came somewhat directly from Shingon in terms of how we do offerings at the altar and so forth. So there's a lot of relationship, not so obvious always. Mugaku, did you have your hand up?

[59:40]

Yeah, I did. I was, you were talking about the dream within a dream. Yes. And I've always been fascinated by the steel yard metaphor in that piece as an imaginative sort of embodiment of the Bodhisattva in action. I wondered if you had thoughts about that and whether there was a source for it other than simply Dogon. Probably. I don't know offhand. You know, Dogen, I mentioned last week that one of Dogen's sources is the whole Koan lexicon, and he had this incredible mastery of not just the Koan text that we commonly know, but many that have been lost, even in Chinese and Japanese.

[60:48]

So probably there's somewhere a reference to that. But I think that particular image represents kind of iron determination, that kind of firm determination to practice. Yeah, I was thinking of the suspended in emptiness trying to bring things into equanimity. I've always seen it as sort of an appreciation of what is, but then firmly resolving to act as a bodhisattva. Yeah. Yeah. So resolution. Yeah. [...] Thank you. Shelby. I just wanted to thank you for something you said, kind of right towards the beginning about the importance of making mistakes and, you know, just trying things and, you know, trying creatively to do things.

[62:00]

Like, you know, if you see someone harming themselves or others, you know, and I feel like I've heard people say things like that before, but it just really clicked this morning. And I really appreciated, I just felt very grateful for hearing that way this morning. And I guess that sort of speaks to what you wrote, you know, we were talking about, you know, not waiting for some future experience or, you know, not waiting for, I don't know, I guess like not waiting to, in my interpretation, not waiting to be some perfect, you know, enlightened being before you try to try to help alleviate suffering. I just wanted to thank you for saying that. Yeah. Well, yeah, skillful means is really about the practice of patience, which is a very dynamic practice and paying attention, but also being willing, being ready to respond. But sometimes we don't know what... Sometimes responses... Sometimes the most skillful response is

[63:06]

being quiet, being silent, not physically responding, but just watching, paying attention, and our attention also has an effect. Sometimes it can. Awareness itself can be transformative, but then also sometimes we have to act, and sometimes there's not one right way to act or respond. We don't always know, but um, paying attention is, you know, is required. But then the other part of that is that we need to pace ourselves, uh, in terms of how to, um, you know, to pay attention to our own, uh, needs and to our own, uh, you know, there's self-care side as well as taking care of, of, uh, the people around us and the problems of the world and so forth. Uh, how do we, pay attention to that, too, and take a break when we need it.

[64:11]

So, it's a very dynamic practice to pay attention and take care, and it's not about being perfect, because that's not real. My favorite koan in all of Zen literature is from the great American yogi, and maybe I've mentioned this before, Yogi Berra, who said, if the world were perfect, it wouldn't be. Anyway, we, you know, if we try, if we think we're going to reach some perfect state in the future, that's the biggest delusion. So, to paraphrase Genjo Koan, Dogen says, people have delusions about enlightenment, enlightened people are enlightened about their delusions. So, you know, it's not about some past or future state, and waiting for a Ken show or something is, you know, that's a huge delusion.

[65:14]

Just, you know, what is happening right now? That's the point. So, and then how do you pay attention to that? How do you respond? We do have the ability to respond. We do have a responsibility. to be helpful rather than harmful. And there's no instruction manual, because what is helpful is different in each situation, in each place and time, and it changes with the situation. So, good luck. Anything else, Shelby? No, that's all. Thank you very much. Julian? Hi, Taigan. Thank you for the teaching. It's amazing how I've read Dogen for a few years, and I always struggle a lot with Dogen, and hearing you providing the context of the teaching helps me bring him more alive.

[66:21]

So I was wondering if you could... Just one thing, please don't try and understand Dogen. Play with Dogen. Well, that's where my question was going, I think. So what is an instruction? I noticed you spoke about the difference between... I think there's a bit of... So I'm trained as an engineer, a very linear thinker. And today I heard you speak a lot about it, and I feel like not only Dogen, but also the cultural difference is more circular, the way, the more metaphorical way of the Japanese culture and Dogen very specifically. So what is maybe an instruction, what would be a pointing out instruction on how to relate with Dogen? As I read Dogen, what would be an instruction of how to engage with him in a way that would be more fruitful for my practice? Yeah, thank you for the question. First of all, your linear analytical engineering mind can be very useful. It's not that that's wrong, but how to use that in the service of what is helpful rather than harmful is great, but then what Dogen offers towards that is a context of

[67:41]

something more playful, something more poetic or metaphoric. And there are times when Dogen is very direct and straightforward too, and when the Sutras may be. So that's not totally absent. So the way to read Dogen, whether it's something in Shobo Genzo or whether it's in the extensive record, but also the way to read something like the Lotus Sutra or some of the other Mahayana Sutras that are filled with all this imagery that's kind of far out or whatever, is just to read it and to read through it and not try and understand it. Just read it like you would read poetry. Maybe read it aloud. But then notice the places that strike you, whether they strike you positively or negatively. Notice the places that have that seem strange, or that seem interesting, or that seem intriguing, and then read it through, and then come back, and then focus on those places, and just read around the parts that interest you.

[68:53]

And then you can come back, and after you've spent time in those passages that speak to you, maybe read the wider context. So how to study and how to read this material is itself a kind of skill or art or a way of learning. So there are Buddhist texts that you can read as philosophy or as doctrine or as meditative instruction or practice instruction in a more linear way, but Dogen and most of the Mahayana Sutras are not like that. Just read it like a poem or read it like taking a hot bath or shower. Just soak in it and don't worry about figuring it out or understanding it. Just feel it and then come back to the parts that are interesting for you.

[70:03]

Try that. Thank you. Yeah, I'm going to try that. And it's helped me a lot also reading your books and your interpretation as a way of how to engage with Dogon. So thank you very much for your practice. You're welcome. Yeah, and everything that I'm talking about in this telecourse are parts of my book, Visions of Awakening, Space and Time. I was taken from there, so that's another source. And I also give interpretations of Dogon in my book, Zen Questions. Other questions at this point, or comments? There are no specific questions, then, without questioning and asking questions. Uh, tie-in, this is Mishel. So, I do have a question. Who is this?

[71:06]

Oh, Mishel. Yes. Yeah, so the role of vision and imagination, and I know that in my own practice part of what I think appealed to me originally is that the emphasis on kind of here and now and the immediacy of reality and the trustability of this. And so there's a funny way that including vision and the fantastic, I do feel like I need instruction about how to work with that. So, that would be my question. How to work with vision, with dreaming, and with imagination. I'm not sure what to say. It's not It's not necessarily how to work with it.

[72:08]

It's more like how to let it work with you. Okay. It's... So... But it's kind of like playing with it. Re-associating, so what do you imagine when you're looking at something, you know, give another example. There's some much more far out examples of Dogen playing with some of this material than the ones that I read, but the point is just, you know, free associating.

[73:16]

And just looking at what comes up for you and looking at the material of, you know, sutras and the teachings that you're working with, and how do you find ways of seeing it differently? And associating it with things in our culture. So, you know, in my book on the Bodhisattvas, I imagine modern Western culture figures and how they how they seem to express various bodhisattva figures, archetypal figures. So that's kind of an example of playing with material from our own cultural context.

[74:24]

So yeah, how do you see things in our cultural context that seem to accord with material in Dogon and material in the Buddhist context. How do we, so, you know, a big part of what we have to do in terms of making this real for us, in terms of keeping Buddha alive in our time, and I'll talk more about that next week, is what does it mean in terms of our world, you know? 2016 and the US of A and all the craziness that we have around us. How do we apply the stuff that, you know, and it's not always easy, and maybe sometimes it doesn't apply, but what would be our expression of that? So, yeah, and it's not necessarily, you know, I mean, it's different in Utah and Chicago, you know, and how do you find your own way of expressing it?

[75:26]

And it's not about right and wrong. It's about what's helpful and what's harmful. Yeah, and you know, I think my own, you could say fundamental fear of insanity is probably the reason why I'm more threatened by the visionary in a way. But the three phrases that you said, the first of letting the visionary or the imaginative play with me and the quality of free association, even that word free association feels like a word that I understand. and that, you know, translating into what is in, you know, how is Bob Dylan a bodhisattva, what archetype is that. So those are all very helpful. But also, don't be afraid to be afraid, you know. And don't be afraid to acknowledge fear, you know. Courage is not a matter of not having fear, it's a matter of facing fear. So, there's another hand up.

[76:29]

I'm not sure how to say it, German or German? Hello. My question and comment was related to what Muxo just said. So, the more I advanced in my years of training, and I experienced all those of being dreamy and sleepiness during the training, I feel that I can be very wakeful even when I am dreaming. I'm very alert even when I am very sleepy. Both during Fasen and during actual sleeping time when in bed. And while in Fasen I can be very wakeful to the space around me the physical sensations. And while in bed, I can be in a very dense dreaming state, but sometimes it's very strange because while I'm dreaming, I'm feeling my breath, or sometimes I just, I don't know how my mind does it, but sometimes there are some things that I apply while dreaming

[77:58]

that I learned during Sasen. It's very strange. And maybe because of the way I've been taught how to do Sasen and how I've been trained, when I'm having those, while in Sasen I mean, while I'm having those kind of very high imaginary moments I'm always instructed to, it's okay to have these wild dreams and wild visions, but are you actually feeling your surrounding? Are you actually feeling your body, your breath, what you're having? And I feel that the more I go into that direction, the more my dreaming states are affected also. Yes, staying in touch with breath is very helpful, I find, too, particularly.

[79:03]

So if you, just whatever's going on, you know, not just in dreams, but in, you know, the dream of walking around and acting in the world, to be, to come back to, you know, we have relationship to our breathing and zazen, so to just, remember our, you know, to feel our inhale, to feel our exhale, to be aware of that. It's very helpful. It comes, we come back to being present. So this thing about, that Dogen says about, you know, creating Buddha's body, in our body, this actual physical expression of Buddha, rather than some, you know, theoretical, philosophical or whatever understanding is very much about how do we, what we're saying, feel our surroundings, feel our sensations, be aware of our breathing in whatever situation we're in.

[80:11]

So the practice is not about creating some ideal, serene, silent, perfect situation. The practice is about in whatever situation, whatever chaotic situation, whatever difficult situation we're in, as we are in our society this year, how to be present in that and helpful as best we can. And that means being Buddha's body in our body, and what you just described is exactly that. be present in this dynamic way with our breath, with our posture, with our, you know, even while dreaming. So yeah, in medieval Japan, that was very much a practice.

[81:16]

You know, I don't know how much, but it was certainly part of medieval Japanese Buddhist discourse, this thing about paying attention to dreams, and they did not make such a differentiation between, so it's about consciousness, right? And there's a range of consciousness, the range of consciousness from being at your desk working at a computer, for example, or walking around, or driving your car, and being in the zendo and zazen, or being asleep and dreaming. There's consciousness, there's awareness going on in various ways in all those times, and they did not differentiate so much between dreams and visions in meditation, like the vision that Howard talked about of bodhisattvas arising in meditation. So this is all part of awareness. And so, visions in Zazen and visions in dreams were all part of what they refer to as dream awareness.

[82:27]

So, I think we tend to think of our life as segmented, but awareness is part of what I think what sustained regular Zazen practice develops is a sense of that separation of our presence and presencing. Well, let me just say that next week we will be looking at really what I want to talk about in this course, the way that Dogen uses the stories that I introduced last time from chapters 15 and 16, particularly about the bodhisattvas arising from the earth in chapter 15 and the lifespan of the Buddha, but particularly how he uses these Lotus Sutra stories to talk about space and time and earth and how

[83:44]

and his cosmology or vision of what that is for us in our life and to find very lively and helpful and relevant. So that's what I will be focusing on next week. Michael Mugaku. Yes, I just wanted to thank you for, I think, one of the things Julian addressed, which is the context in which Dogen presented. You did this last week as well, too, the context in which Dogen presented his teaching as essentially, maybe I'm misphrasing this, but it feels as though it's almost evocative of a of a mind state between Dogen and those Tawunis talking rather than any kind of didactic quality.

[84:52]

And I think we tend to read probably more looking for logic than poetry or illusion. So I think that's really helpful. Yes. Now I think that's important in looking at all the koans as well, all those teaching stories. I always think of, I always talk about them as kind of theater pieces and you have to see who was talking and who was he or sometimes she talking to and what was going on and to imagine them as, you know, they're always about particular people. They're not some abstracted teaching. They're, of particular teachers and students talking to each other and what was going on for each student and what was going on for each teacher and why was that teacher talking to that student in that way and vice versa. And I encourage people to imagine, you know, if they were directing that film, who would you cast in those parts?

[86:02]

And so it's not These are not, you know, kind of abstract and philosophical presentations. They're in a particular situation, and I think that's also true for Dogen. All of his writings, I mean, Shobugenzo essays, almost all of them are based on talks he gave to his students, and there were particular students, and certainly the extensive record in Hikorok was the same way. The sutras, you know, also, there was a particular assembly that Buddha was speaking to. And we have particular issues that we are hearing these teachings from. So, yeah, right. Well, thank you. Yeah, of course, in Koans, the big obstacle is always trying to reason through the thing. I think we don't think necessarily of Dogen as being something you should see the same way, and I think you've been very helpful that way.

[87:05]

Good. Well, if nobody else has anything, then I will talk with you all next week. Have a good week. Thank you, Ty, again.

[87:19]

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