Dogen's Fukanzazengi and Practice Realization

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BZ-00043A
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Saturday Lecture

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last is it true the jazz vs
sounds like we're your competition is a natural manner i think they just dropped a dumpster
in case you're wondering
hey this morning i want to
tucker about
duggan's for cans as mg
with
started that too
recited on friday mornings
so i thought it would talk a bit about it
this a for kansas mg is
one of the first
things that dogan wrote when he came back from china
and
where he talks about
zazen and
talks about why we sit zazen and the meanings as in and what are you do it
one
it's kind of a simple text actually it's not one of billions more philosophical
ah
writings but
three more practical but still there are a lot of ah
obscurities and references which
you may
no understand or not be aware of
am
so this is an er doctor are these translation
and he began
cause it the universal promotion
oh the principles and and and so he translated food is universal
khan is like a promotion or
something like that and
zazen his zen zen and doesn't and ghee is like principles so universal promotion and the principles of zazen when the dog was
came back from china he didn't start to teach right away but he
wanted to inform people of what he'd learned and he wanted to
get people interested in zion
so that's where he wrote this
so the first paragraph so to speak well they didn't write paragraphs
says we translated be translated in sentences and paragraphs
and the first paragraph is the main idea
how is the presentation of what the whole things about this is usually true if anything that dogan rights and it's usually true of a suture
first you state the question
and then you talk about on
in time systematically talked about
break it down and discussed various parts
so i
he starts out by saying
the way
this perfectly is basically perfect and all pervading
how could it be contingent upon practice and realization
the dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled what need is there for concentrated effort indeed the whole bodies far beyond the world's dust who could believe in it means to brush it clean
it is never a part for one right where one is
so what is the use of going off here and there to practice
ha
doug in you know i had an original doubt or even though he was a monk at the age of thirteen leave
and studied very hard and
it's very own as
i'd understand in buddhism still he had some doubt and his doubt took the form of
the kind of
question and a lot of people have
on his understanding because he understood buddhism pretty well
i was if
everyone is basically
enlightened
if everything is basically perfect as it is
why do we have to practice
if oh
we all have to nature everything is very nature
ah in the universe and and folds itself
in a kind of perfect it wouldn't need is of practice
there on question comes up very likely for everyone
ha
the so he says the way is basically perfect in all pervading that's first statement
and the way here views
the perfect way
the way of enlightenment
dough down the path
there's no place where ah the way doesn't exist actually
if there's no way that there were no place at the way doesn't exist
why do we have to do something
how could it be contingent upon practice and realization
the dharma vehicle is free and i'm
without
cages
what need is there for concentrated effort
indeed the whole body is far behind it beyond the world's dust who could believe in a sense in a means to brush clean this is a reference to the kind of platform sutra the six pitcher
and it marked up for been about the plan for such a nice week
amen
and i've talked about it before the famous
gotten by shinshu and i'm going on
de carnaval and is a problem in the m
lineage
since you wrote upon for the fifth pitcher and to goes something like
the body is the bodhi tree
the mind is a mirror of bright mirror hour by hour like to dust ah clean
wipe the dust service to keep americans
that was his i understand that that it kind of understanding is ah
i'm a little bit like traditional practice
you know in traditional practice
we take very careful with care of things and we take care of them
i'm a body mind i stay pure don't get em
soil by the tests to the world
this is usual understanding a good understanding the usual way
but we know that when he wrote his gotta he said
there are originally there is no bodhi tree or a bright mirror
if everything is completely void what is it what need is to went to dust
what is there to keep clean
and so this is supposed to be more advanced understand it
originally everything is ah without substance
but i'm
these two palms you know rather than being opposed to each other they actually compliment each other
ah
this
now there's a lot of controversy know that the time from section of the six patriarch
we seem and we know pretty much that
shin
and bump him shinshu it was it it ah
i would very late disciple with his six patriarch
pretty much put that such as together and i'm biased toward the way know or die finance and
i pretty much slandered they're ashamed we do
was the older disciple the fifth bedroom
and
you know when sekitar in his sand okay talks about
there is no picture of north or south in the sand okay
he's talking about this same thing
and he sang my these two patriarchs compliment each other rather than being opposed to each other
ah
and this kind of understandings you know just wiping school and
school of a perfect wisdom
non duality
when there is no
bodhi tree there is no bright mirror originally since all is void where it can destiny that kind of understanding is more pure wisdom
and shin ways understanding
is
more from the side of your practice
even though there is no originally there is no
bodhi tree or bright merits and everything is void yet at the same time
ha
there is something that has to be taken care of
in order to
understand or know to manifest arm
void nature
i'm not existence nature
we have to practice with are non-existent body and with are non-existent mind
wiping the test actually
so i'm i'm gonna go on and read little bit more that with logan says so he says so read as the use he said who can believe in it indeed the whole body is far behind beyond the world's dust that's why i understanding
who could believe in a means to brush it clean
it has never apart from one right where one is
so what is the use of going off here and near to practice
and is is but yet
this is the second paragraph but yet if there's the slightest discrepancy the way is as distance as distant as heaven is from earth
this slight discrepancy ah means that if you see
ah
these two has been different
ha
you set up and duality in your mind
so whenever anything has talked about in our
a buddhist terms
whenever we talk about one side the other side is always implying
so if
when i'm
shin shoe
talks about
keeping the mirror clean
ah it doesn't mean that the mirror is not
originally is not void
for the bodhi tree is region in that boy
and when way knowing is talking about originally there is no bodhi tree no mirror he's not excluding the fact that there is a mirror or bodhi tree
if you only if you can only see what each one says from ah once one point of view then this is dualistic understand it
so if you study buddhism
you may intellectually get the understanding that nothing exists
and think that you have wisdom
and if
it's very easy to fall into that and i kind of understanding
some people feel that buddhism sometimes and skeptical are
from negative kind of religion
that they don't pay attention to existence
how but this this kind of statement is talking about
existence and non-existence
and i we have to always understand that otherwise our understanding
and we think we understand that we don't
so he says if there's the slightest discrepancy
meaning if you don't understand that you fall into dualistic thinking
you fall into the realm of duality
hey if there is the slightest discrepancy the way as as distant as heaven from earth
if the least like or dislike arises the mind is lost in confusion
suppose one gains pride of understanding and inflates one's own enlightenment
glimpsing the wisdom that runs through all things attaining the way and clarifying the mind and raising an aspiration to escalate the very sky one is making the initial partial excursions about the frontiers but is still somewhat deficient in the vital way of total emancipation
if you only have good understanding of emptiness
it's not really enough it's really saying
even though you you understand all the wisdom of buddhism it's not enough
it still just getting there
just skirting around the frontier
and then he talks about the practice of buddha and the practice of bodhidharma he says need i mention the buddha who was possessed of inborn knowledge
it's interesting statement actually the various stories about buddha
i guess he was possessed of in bern knowledge
the influence of his six years of upright sitting is noticeable still
means even though he was possessed have been born knowledge
he had to practice doesn't
and or bodhi dharma transmission of the mind seal the fame of his nine years of while sitting is celebrated to this day
since this was the case with the saints of old how can people today dispense with negotiation in the way
so even though your understanding is
as good as buddhists
our body diamonds
ah it's not enough
no matter how good your understanding is
it's no substitute for isn't it or say
but he's really like signs and lot
you should drink for cease from practice based on intellectual understanding pursuing words and following after speech and learned this the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate yourself his language is kind of clumsy here but
we have to bear with it
body and mind of themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest if you want to attain such as you should practice such as without delay
hum
her body and mind dropping a ways duggan's on that
turning work for enlightenment or realization
we know about ah
duggan's
yeah i
realization experience with his master routing ten don't yoga
china
when dog in
he was practicing in
no joe's monastery
there was a marker and sleeping next to target
and then
no joe i came up to the market hitting with a slipper them you know in
when we have walked barefoot in her
and are nice forest that a lot of monasteries the far as are made of mud not
weapon
that a polished dirt floors
and if you look at a photograph of the floor you think well gee that's are like a marble floored are some very hard surface which it is that it's just dirt actually and ag
the zendo forest man on dirt mud and polished very hard and they were their slippers and
to present them
so
sometimes for teacher was walking around and take off his slipper and hit one of the monks are sleeping
that's not unusual
so
ha
when he hit the monkey said something about won't be
ah
wasting why are you wasting your time here
i'm
acting like that your body and mind will never drop off
and i at that point dog and bodied mine dropped off he was any makes them again so he went to
ah see no joe in his room and i know joe confirmed his ah realization
so body and my dropped off which has a big
point of realization for dogan turning were sent to speak
so he says
if you learned the backward step that turns your light inward to eliminate yourself body and minded themselves with drop away and your original face with the manifest original face is something that was an expression of the sixth patriarch
hum
do
manifest original face so original face vs enlightenment
beyond personality
beyond the veil and for our ego on our ideas or thoughts and feelings or anything
ah
that which is behind everything
but
which is everything the same time
buddha nature original face many names for this ah original pure nature

so in the way this isn't an answer to
the first paragraph
i'm
if original nature or original face
is always present actually why do we need to pick how can we make it manifest
that's already started about
we all have this original nature is what he's saying
how do we make it manifest
that's the big question
so then he says if you want to attain such this you should practice such this without delay session this is another word for things as they are
the reality of things
hum
it's another word for reality or truth
thanks away they really are
so if you want to
attain such as you want to attain to the way
it is
you have to practice the way it is
where have you want to return attain to it you have to practice it
if you want to attain it you have to be it
so there's no separation between
you in it
it is you and you are it
four sons in because i i hear sounds in the you know it usually means
the meeting with the teacher
but he uses it here to means zazi actually
four sons in reserves him that it tells us how to do it
a quiet room is suitable
oh he's not saying that he should sit with other marks or other people he's just saying how to do it
i eat and drink moderately cast aside all involvements and cease all affairs do not think good or bad
do not administer pros and cons cease all the movements of the conscious mind the gauging of all thoughts and views have no designs on becoming a buddha sons and has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down
regular sitting spread out thick matting and place a cushion above it
sit either in the full lotus or half lotus position in the followed his position you place first place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh in the half lotus you simply place your left foot against you're right time he only talks about these two positions but actually we sit in many different positions
you should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order then place your right hand on your left leg and your left palm facing upwards and your right palm with the thumb tips touching this sit upright in an incorrect bodily posture neither inclining to the left nor the right neither leh
leaning forward and backward be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel place your tongue against the roof the front roof of your mouth with teeth and lips both shut your eyes should always remain open and you should breathe gently through your nose once you have adjusted your posture take
deep breath inhale and exhale rock your body right and left and settle into a steady and mobile sitting position
think of not thinking
how do you think of not thinking now i'm thinking this in itself is the essential of this a non thinking is a kind of interesting in for us
the art of
zazen is ah
not to think not thinking
doesn't really mean to stop thinking that would be in if if so you just say will start thinking
but it's think not thinking
how do you think not thinking non thinking it's not not thinking of non thinking
the subtle difference
hum
and ah to suppress thoughts is also a kind of act or thinking
so ah suppressing fox is not non thinking in this sense
but to go beyond thinking and not thinking
ah if you just suppress bad that's dualistic actually an issue
i'm just allow yourself to
be carried away by thinking or to try to to make an effort to think that's the other side
so
i'm thinking is needed thinking are not thinking
ah whether or not their thoughts prison or not is not the point
there are times it doesn't really have very few thoughts very few extraneous thoughts
basically when we sit in are we
cease all affairs and he says and
leave everything behind
we don't take our laundry list design
our daily affairs doesn't
when we sit zazen would just sit zazen
but still the laundry list is there you know and am
the your affairs are still ah
somewhere in your conscious subconscious mind
get everything is coming up
ha and passes through
consciousness
all the can pass through consciousness but the fact that the thoughts come pass through consciousness is not what we call thinking
but it am
because our attention is really i'm sitting in our attention is i'm not thinking
nah i'm thinking
so thoughts which come
and go are
if someone in the same category as breathing bread comes and goes
plaid grants ah
the mind and a conscious mind is
thinking blinking
like a light may be blinking
but a blinking doesn't have any particular significance
the thoughts that we have ins as in the aren't aren't really significant for us at that time
later when were active the world our thoughts are has more significant for us but the facts they come up and zazi or not so significant for us
they may be significant for us later or they may have been significant for hours earlier but they're not significant for us right now
you may think
ha ha ha i have to get gas in the car and i cause very low on gas
that's a significant thought
but when you're sitting as us and it's not significant
sony significant
ah for some other time
so
but it's hard to forget thoughts that seems significant
something significant since to be always coming up
that's why it's a shame when we sit for seven days
you know that the thoughts that you think are significant you're not going to take up at all
so less and less significant thoughts come out and you can just be ah with a clean slate so to speak
but when we sit in zazen and even for when period we should still have a clean slate
it's not like wiping their desk from the mind trying to keep the mind clear of thoughts we you know there's a phrase the hazy moon of enlightenment
look i'm writing them
we may think of was some very clear move
but actually even
i don't want to explain it that it's very it's more like this
it's a hazy been
there's always something is always some kind of cloud you know to keep your mind completely clear
ha without any thoughts is that would be remarkable
you can try it
please
but the fact of this world is that ah
it's hazy mum
and ah
to stay you know with a clear moon
how to always try and stay with them we are moon is
important in some way bets
the reality of our life is more like hazy moon
ah the moon is there and the clouds or the haze of the fog is also there
ah
so without trying to get rid of the fog or the haze
ah just to realize the moon in its various phases various
you know when when they will come out and we a beautiful clear bright moon the next day we commanded in raining now
well
just let it ring
he can't stop it from reading
ah and the next day it's may be cloudy next day's something else the next moment you know the next moment it's like this man it's like this then like this
but if we try to keep wiping at all the time
to make it clean completely thing
hits are kind of feudal few tile
so
the moon when on says the moon is always there
where do you see it or not it's always there
when someone said
we have a bright mirror what should we do with it
someone else said he should shattered and a thousand pieces
and ah
then the other person said but what will happen when it's in a thousand pieces
and the other one said
each piece reflects everything

so when we sit says him
we shouldn't dwell on our thoughts
but on the other hand we shouldn't
try to make our mind completely blank
we should have some
composure no matter what is happening this is the point is as if you know to have a complete composure
no matter what's going on in your mind
for your body
think not thinking now i'm thinking

so then he says desires and and i speak of is not learning meditation
it is simply the dharma gate every pose and bliss
the practice realization leave his practice religious practice python realization not practice and realization but practice realization as won't turn of totally culminated enlightenment
it is the manifestation of ultimate reality and traps and snares can never reach it once it's heart is grasped you were like the dragon entering the water like a tiger entering the mountain for you know that just there and doesn't the right dharma is manifesting itself and that from the
first dullness and distraction nurse or set aside
ah
in buddhism there are many meditation practices
and ah
but he says two thousand and i speak up is not one of the meditation practices of buddhism
he's trying to express
that
zazen is not just another meditation practice but it's the whole combination of buddhist practice
it simply the dharma gate every pose and bliss
it's not
meditation to
for further or advance your an understanding
or to gain some insight into dense but it did thousand itself is it is listen
it's the manifestation of ultimate reality
so he says once it's heart is grasped you were like the dragon entering the water like a tiger and region mountain in other words you're in your element
for you know that just there doesn't the right dharma is manifesting itself
and met from the first donors and distraction or said inside when we we really have reassessing our mind is very clear
when you admit it tells you how to get up from sitting when you arise from sitting move slowly and quietly calmly and deliberately do not rise suddenly and abruptly in surveying the past we find it transcendence above and enlightenment and enlightenment and dying will either sitting or standing have all depended entirely on
the strength of doesn't
transcending enlightenment and and enlightenment and enlightenment and enlightenment is pretty important town
subject here
we usually think
usual way of thinking is that we go from an enlightenment to enlightenment
i am but this is a dualistic way of understanding anything
ha
to go from an enlightenment to enlightenment
so
as we said before
we don't start from
ah an enlightenment and to get to enlightenment actually in are practicing start from enlightenment
and we go from enlightenment to practice to realization
but it's all in within each moment of practice so each moment or practice is a moment of practice realization
we don't do
our make a dualism out amount of practice and realization
so whenever we talk about practice owner would think about practice
our enlightenment were always very careful how is what can we say something what kind of turns we use and how we use our language that's why our language and families carefully ah
presented
so that we don't fall into thinking or speaking dualistic ugly
and usually within buddhism it's why we used negative statements rather than positive statements because positive statements are always falling into duality
and negative statement is
helps to keep you from falling into ah the duality
the dualism
so he says so enlightenment itself you know chai is not enlightenment
enlightenment has to include and enlightenment as well as enlightenment
where we think of his enlightenment delusion and enlightenment
are both factors of enlightenment
so when we are
see ourselves sitting here like this are we sitting in delusion or every sitting in enlightenment
we can just as easily say i'm sitting intuition that's actually for good
if you understand what enlightenment is and say i'm sitting in here a delusion if you don't understand than you're sitting here division doesn't mean the same thing
so when we are
really have realization
i'm an enlightenment of enlightenment or not to parts of duality
delusion and enlightenment are no longer two parts of a duality
enlightenment is to be enlightened about our division within our delusion
so our delusion is very important for us
don't get rid of your delusion
if you see someone who has enlightened without division
is i suspect that person some siblings
how so that's why we always put emphasis on ordinary life
an ordinary lashes the way the life of delusion
is where we find our enlightenment
so many talks about various people's ways of
enlightening he says in addition they're bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided by your finger a banner and needle or malad and the affecting a realization with the aid of a hustler which is a whisk a fist staff or a shout cannot be fully understood by ones discriminated thinking
these are all means you know
how far famous names are turning on
means they have enlightened days people
a figure is like is referring to good days one finger
and a banner is referring to our our ananda was enlightened by a hacker shopper
needle he's talking about
nagarjuna and kind of diamonds ah relationship
this it just hitting it he just saying
this means which people who have a good background in buddhism it and i know about his various incidents
you read down the book fracking in the middle of about seven incidents and
and if you studied them
various means of face teachers in the past you know about these incidents
and the the various ah
i don't like to say our techniques they're not techniques they're just fun spontaneous means
admins i shout turkey sons big stick
ten damage suffered these means cannot be fully understood by ones discriminated thinking they're like cohen's they used this coins they can't be understood by you're discriminated mind that's why they're gone
indeed it cannot be fully known by the practicing or real is a realizing have supernatural powers either you can understand them to supernatural policy will
it must be department beyond hearing and seeing
ah is it not a principal at his prior to knowledge and perception
this being the case in intelligence or lack of it does not matter between the dough and the sharp witted there's no distinction
if you concentrate your efforts single mindedly that in itself is negotiating the way it sounds like a simple statement but he's saying this is how you practice
if you concentrate your efforts single mindedly that in itself is negotiating away practice realization is naturally undefiled going forward in practice as a matter of every game is
to concentrate your efforts single mindedly
miss
that everything he do
should be considered your practice
he should be one a practice one would whatever you do
and going forward and practice as a matter of few days
not just some special thing did you do but everything you do
should be considered for this point of view

and then he says in general this world and other worlds as well both in india and china equally hold the buddha ceo and overall prevails the character of the school
this is written the person in the fifteenth century so you know he'd just come back from china and japan and he's talking about the authentic donald they also in china and india
in general this world and and other worlds as well both in india and china equally hold the buddha ceo and over all prevails the character of this school which is simply devotion to city total engagement in inaugural seven

although it is said that there are many minds as our people still they all negotiate the way solely in zazen he seems like a a broad statement today
why leave behind to seek that exists in your home and go aimlessly off the dusty rounds of other lands if you make one mistake you go astray from the way directed before you
important thing here is
why why why go somewhere else looking for what you're looking for when it's right in front of you and by practicing what's right in front of you
we can find listed with the country
you have gained a pivotal opportunity of human form do not use your time in vain you are maintaining the essential working in the boot away who would take wasteful delight in a spark from the flintstone eating human life
besides form and substance or like to do on the grass destiny like the dart of lightning emptied it an instant vanished in a flash
please don't followers of zen
long accustomed to grow up into the elephant do not be suspicious of the true dragon
that the two stories that go along with that but i didn't have time to talk about them devote your energies to away the directly indicates the absolute
devote your energies to away that directly indicates the absolute
this is a statement

he's very important because
devote yourself to away
the your energies to a way that directly indicates the ashley's time about thousand but he sang in such a way that in all of your activities you can realize the absolute but then your relative existence
you can recognize the relative existence as an expression of absolute be
beyond
form an emptiness
revere the person of attainment who is beyond our human agency gain accord with the enlightenment of the buddha's succeeds in the legitimate lineage of the ancestors somebody constantly perform in such a manner and you are assured of being a person such as day your treasure store which is
your buddha-nature will open of itself and you will use it it will you can use your understanding to help by the control himself
so that sounds
bruh
short commentary on

so dog in the same devote your energy to what
to this high a pursuit
and if you devote your energy wholeheartedly you realize the fruit of your devotion in which is true of anything you do you know that's why we always say
we say find out which you really want to do and do it
find out when when do you really want to do and do that if you devote yourself to what you really want to do
then you won't have any problem
ah if you devote yourself to various things
wholeheartedly those things where you will get your the fruit is seen to fruit or ah
result of that devotion
and if you devote yourself to size zen practice single mindedly you will receive the food of their devotion says without a doubt
but it all depends on your a single minded devotion
and you sincere activity

so everything is up to us
whatever it is that we do is completely up to us
the have a question

this is
who's that person who some
a person of attainment beyond human agency if that person is also diluted or then enlightenment

buddha

he could you could say bruner to anything to try his shift

hey dinner business story
buddha is attaining enlightenment and so when buddha attained enlightenment he said i along with all sentient beings have attained enlightenment
all sentient beings and contain lame and just validity
how can he say that
how can do to say i along with all sentient beings have attained enlightenment
and so i'll leave you with that one
thank you
sencha mean