morning's class, so we don't have to be so formal. I just want to make sure that I'm not leveling on you. You have to level with me. Leveling with you. Now. Try now. How's that? Is that good? Go ahead, just see if you can hear. Okay, can you hear me? Yes. Can you not hear me? Yes. Do you want to hear me? Yes. Absolutely. You can hear well enough. Okay. So, there's a saying that it's a bird flying across the empty sky makes the sky.

[01:26]

The snow on the mountain makes the mountain. Sometimes we have the phrase, no time. Sometimes we feel like there's a whole period of time that we felt there was no time, right? Well, this is like the empty sky when you don't, when there's no movement. It looks like there's no sky. You don't notice the sky. You say, well, the sky is blue. But you don't really take in the sky as something. And the sky is used as a metaphor for emptiness. But actually, even though it's used as a metaphor for emptiness, you see the empty sky.

[02:31]

The sky is still the sky. But we don't take that in or feel it until something happens in the sky, then we notice the sky. So time is something like that. Time is a metaphor for the sky covers everything. Dogen, in his fastical Buddha Nature, which we'll study sometime, It's another difficult festival. It talks about the sixth ancestor, Weno, visiting the fifth ancestor, who was the patriarch. And he says to the patriarch, he's just a young boy, and he comes from the south of China. young boy, why?

[03:33]

What do you want to do? And he says, I wonder, why do you want to come here and practice? And he said, Well, I want to understand my Buddha nature. And the fifth ancestor says, Well, people from the south don't have Buddha nature. So this no buddha nature, Dogen takes up as buddha nature includes everything. No buddha nature includes everything. If you say, when you talk about everything has buddha nature, that's dualistic. So when he says no buddha nature, it means empty sky. Buddha-nature is omnipresent. So then he goes on with that scene.

[04:36]

So, Duncan has a lot to say about Buddha-nature and the non-duality of Buddha-nature, because he said everything is Buddha-nature rather than everything has Buddha-nature. So, we're on page 111 still, right? I'm going to go again. He talks to that little flower. Ross, do you have it with you? Do not look at the panel. Do not look upon time as something that just flies away. Do not teach yourself that flying away is simply how time functions.

[05:40]

Were we to endow time with the property of flying away, there would undoubtedly be a gap left by the time that had flown. Should anyone have not yet heard teaching upon the principle expressed by the phrase, just for the time being, he may still think of time only as something which has gone away. So the question is, when time flies away, does it leave a gap? Is there a gap there when time flies away? Or does it stretch itself out? from where, like bubble gum. But it doesn't go away. It can't go away. We talk about coming and going, but actually, even though things come and go, it's also not coming and going.

[06:49]

The Tathagata, means the one who goes that way, but actually it doesn't go anywhere. So this is the hard part to understand. Although we say time is flying, you know, that's an appearance because we contrast time with us as the center. I'm standing still. Because we're standing still, it's like time is moving. But time doesn't come or go, because it's just a concept. You can also think of time standing still, and we're moving. There's activity taking place within time, but we think

[07:59]

of time taking place within us. So you have to always look for the other side. If it's not a... If you don't include the other side, it's not the truth. The truth always has to include the other side. That's why, that's called the world of delusion, is the world where there's no, where there's only one, seems like there's only one side, our side. I can't remember the name of the teacher and student, but there's a student who sees these crows or birds flying, and where do they go? And they flew away. Where are they going?

[09:04]

Where are they going? Yes. They've flown away. That's what he said. What are those? They're ducks. What are they doing? They're flying away. He takes a note. So, where are they? He means right here. So this is the problem that we always have. It's the problem of one-sidedness or partiality. And that's what Dogen is trying to help us to understand. It's like to let go of our partiality. Partiality has two meanings, two shades of meaning. One is that we like something better than another. We're partial to it. But it also means we only understand one part. That's the main meaning of partiality. We only understand one part.

[10:05]

have the view of the whole, because we want to be right or wrong. It's really hard to stay in the middle. It's very hard to stay in the middle. We call it, in Zen, walking the edge of a knife blade sometimes. If you fall to one side or the other, That's maturity. Maturity. One aspect of maturity is to not fall into partiality. Liking and disliking. That's why we're always talking about, you know, with the food, you just eat it. And if it's good, okay. If it's not good, okay. It's equal. Which is the hardest thing, you know, because it's basically like food. So this is why zen is hard. People say, oh, zen, oh, difficult. That's why.

[11:07]

It's hard to, as Suzuki wishes to, it's not that zen is difficult because of the pain in your legs. It's because it's really hard to stay, to not fall into duality. That's the difficulty. That's the difficulty of our lives. If you only have Republicans on one side doing it, They need the Democrats. And the Democrats, unfortunately, need the Republicans. Otherwise, it's not balanced. And you really have to test them. Oh, Boris has something to say. When I went right, it went with the ducks. Which means it's still here, but I don't have access. And I pitched to both. I had a question. So let's turn the page.

[12:08]

This is short. In short, everything whatsoever that exists in the whole universe is a series of instants of time. Since everything is for the time being, we too are for the time being. Okay, so, will you continue? Oh, you don't have your... What did you want to do? I thought it was short, and then I thought I was trying to help. And when I was putting together the acts, I gave my copy to Nick. It all goes around. And I remembered my And I just scared it away. No, we don't make a choice to go on one side of the knife with the other, but we always do.

[13:16]

And so, when we're in the Zen practice, being open, it seems like then we cling to the practice itself as something that's absolutely one way. Right. So duality ... I mean, non-duality makes the choice. the discrimination and non-discrimination. How do we maintain the practice? Because we always have to make a decision. And a decision is a discrimination. A decision discriminates one from another. When you choose this, you don't choose that. So, you have to make a decision based on non-duality. That's called a koan for you, which means it appears every moment of your life, in every situation. That's called genjokoan.

[14:19]

It's called a koan of daily life. Every moment you're making a decision, what is that decision based on, fundamentally? Time. Yes, it's time. So is it based on self-centeredness? Selfishness? Partiality? Or is it based on non-duality? That's our practice, in a nutshell. That's a good question. Well, you asked me about, do I have my notes? And I said, I gave them to Nitya. Oh, your notes. Did I say that? Or the copy of the text. So I said, I responded, I gave them to Nitya today when I went back to the kitchen to work. So that sounds a little bit like the dust fly away. It's like it's a story about something happening, when in fact actually I should admit, I wouldn't say I don't have it.

[15:21]

Yes. Can I borrow yours? Yes. It's that easy. And self-analysis is really good. It comes and goes. So just read it. It says, Time has the virtue of continuity. Thank you. Time has the virtue of continuity. It continuously flows from the today that we are talking about to a tomorrow, from a today to a yesterday, from a yesterday to a today. It flows from a today to a today and from a tomorrow to a tomorrow. Because continuous flow is a function of time, past and present times do not pile atop each other, nor do they form a cumulative line. They don't stand in line. Yet, even so, Seigen, too, represents the time, as does Obaku, and likewise Basso and Sekito represent time.

[16:34]

Because we ourselves and others, as previously stated, are already beings for a time, our training and practice are time, and is also our awakening to truth. Our entering the mud or going into deep water is likewise a time. So, I think we should refer to the footnote 17. Sengen, Sekito's master, was already dead before Yakusan was born, and therefore represents a time that Yakusan did not know through direct experience. Obaku, whose master was Baso Dolitshi, was a contemporary of Yakusan, and therefore a time simultaneous with Yakusan's time. Baso was contemporary with Sekito. both together representing a time that included a past that Yakusan did not know directly, a past that he did, a present that was also his time, and a future time that was not theirs.

[17:47]

Although Yakusan was Sekito's disciple and ultimately his transmission heir, at one point Sekito sent Yakusan to train Andrabasso, You triggered Yakutsan's realization of the truth. These relationships represent various ways in which the time of a particular sentient being, Yakutsan, relates to the times of other sentient beings. So, this kind of gives us a... I mean, you can figure all this out, right? But the gist of it is that these people have different relationships coming and going and in different times to each other. So this kind of represents, talking about a flow from today to today, from today to a yesterday, from a yesterday to a today, from a today to a today, and from a tomorrow to tomorrow.

[18:52]

It represents. Do you have any questions about that? It's hard to follow the names. That's what I'm saying. Could you maybe liken this footnote to you and Suzuki Roshi and us? Most of us have never met him directly. Right. Okay, so my relationship with Suzuki Roshi was from today to today. And my relationship to you with Suzuki Roshi is from today to yesterday. even though it's still today to today. My relation, my talking to you is today to today, but my talking to you in relation to the Vipi Roshi and me, is today to yesterday. So time flowing that way. To be, again, Dr. Abhi's notes are good.

[19:54]

He points out, these are not, the names are not in Krama-lantra work. No. And that's, I think that's, that's the point. That they're influenced In those direst directions. Right. So, you know, in the dharma transmission document, there's a circle. There's a circle of all of the ancestors, that we can't name. And then there's the teacher and disciple, their relationship. So it's a relationship of all of them on a horizontal level, which is beyond time. It's not chronological, it's like they all share the same time and the same place, no matter what their temporal relationships have been. It's beyond our usual understanding of time. So you can't say it's in no time, but it's in horizontal time.

[21:01]

even though the relationships are vertical. And that's because they're working on the same thing? Is there something like that? Yes. So everyone is equal to everyone else, no matter how unequal they may be, in a dualistic way. Because they're related through their understanding, not through their activity. Perhaps we could say, more simply, the flow of the teachings on his end is the flow of time, and the flow of time is the flow of the teachings, of course. Well, you could say that. That's kind of what I would get out of that. I don't know. I'm just trying to get something on the right track here. I'm not saying right or wrong, but... No, but I mean, it seems like that's what Dogen's saying. This is what unites us. Yeah, that's what... This is what unites us with Dogen.

[22:05]

You know, it's... We don't have to be there with him. We're getting this. Yes, because it's like... With our understanding, it's like pouring one cup into another. It's the ocean of understanding, the ocean of realization. rather than just individuals. Individuals are important, but it's the unity of the understanding that is horizontal, even though each person is in a vertical relationship as well. So there's some people in this footnote, It seems like we've been talking a lot about time and not so much about being and beings.

[23:05]

Oh, I see. Well, your time seems to be the subject. It seems to overshadow being, right? Yes. In a certain sense, yes, but maybe not. It seems that way, but I don't think it is that way. It does seem that way. He's not emphasizing that way, but if you think about it, it seems to come out that way. Let's see, where are we? In deep water. Oh, yeah. Well, the actual phrase here, where exactly did we stop? pain before the flower. Before the flower, because we ourselves and others as previously stated, are already beings, living for time.

[24:12]

Our training and practice, which is activity, is also our awakening to truth, our entering the mud, our going, that's a phrase he explains, expresses that below. alluding to the actions of a bodhisattva who's willing to go anywhere to help ferry sentient beings to the other shore. So it's like treading through mud and water. Yeah. And I think that's Joshu's saying, maybe not, but he also said about his students, he said, I allow you to drool on me and spit on me or whatever, and it's okay. I understand. So, opinions. I wanted to say what this is.

[25:18]

It says the opinions of ordinary, everyday people. Well, I take that out. The opinions of people today is enough. You don't have to say ordinary, everyday people. I don't know what an ordinary, everyday person is. So the opinions of people today, as well as the source of those opinions, are based on what they perceive, instead of these people. But this is not what people ordinarily consider. I just switched those words around. This is not what people ordinarily consider as being how things operate. So this is not saying this stuff is not what people ordinarily consider as being how things operate. For them, the way things operate is that they have simply come about for a while. because people have convinced themselves that this time and this existence of theirs is not related to the way things really operate, and they conclude that a golden body, 16 feet tall, could not possibly be theirs.

[26:26]

And the footnotes are, that is, they think, I am no more than what I am right now, so I could not possibly be a Buddha, and being what I am now, I cannot see how I could possibly become a Buddha. Suzuki Roshi talks about this, I'll tell you about that. I'm nothing but a nothing. Remember that song? No, you don't, because you're not old enough. But during the Depression, there was, I'm nothing but a nothing. I'm nothing but a nothing. I'm nothing but a nothing. I'm not listening at all. That was a popular song around 1935. Yeah, I mean, it really expresses it. Perfectly. You could give a whole sermon on that one. So, this is short. So, trying to free oneself from this opinion that the golden body of a Buddha cannot be mine is also a bit of what the phrase, just for the time being, implies.

[27:32]

And it's something about which a trainee who has not yet reached spiritual certainty may say, oh, I see it. I get it. I talked about this a lot, actually, Suzuki Roshi's talk, which was printed in Not Always So, about we're half Buddha and half ordinary. And the ordinary person says, me, Buddha? I can't believe it. So that's what he's saying. Ordinarily, a person would never think that he'd would be a Buddha, right, and that would be impossible. And so they don't realize their Buddha nature, they don't realize. I don't know why he sticks that in there exactly, but he does. I think partly because when people read Buddhist literature, it's so lofty and

[28:34]

Idealistic. The thing about the sixth ancestor, which is so wonderful, is that he brings all that idealistic stuff down to just what's happening now. He says about the three natures, about the dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya, which, if you read the literature, it's all very, you know, heady. He says, Dharmakaya is your nature, Sambhogakaya is your wisdom, Nirmanakaya is your activities. Oh, it's my activities. I thought it was all Buddha's activities. I get it. I get it. It's my activities. So that's what he's saying, is they can't, people don't, realize that it's actually about them and not about some celestial Buddha in the sky. Because that's what the literature would have you believe. That's why Zen distanced itself from the literature and just practiced practical life.

[29:58]

Good question about that. Was there like a reformation schism or whatever at Dogen's time? Oh yeah, well Dogen deserted the prevailing, I mean he escaped from prevailing practices at the time. And was there a fuss about it? I mean were people saying... There was a fuss when he came back. He said, you know, because when Esai, who was his first Dharma teacher we think, went to Japan, to China, and brought back the Rinzai school. The Tendai school said, who needs a Zen practice? We teach that too. So he was actually not able to establish, he did establish his Zen practice, but he had to do it not so independently. But Dogen, Went to China, came back a little later, and he established his Zen practice.

[31:05]

But the other schools came and intimidated him. I think it burned down in the first place. Yeah. Yeah. So they had their wars, actually. They had our armies. So when Ren Zai came back from China, they didn't bring a Zen practice? He did. He did. But the Tendai school said we already... That preceded Dogen, right? No. What? That preceded Dogen? Preceded Dogen. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yes, that's what I said. Okay, okay. I didn't know if there was conflict there. Well, the conflict... Well, Rinzai was Chinese. Yeah, well... Yeah, Rinzai was Chinese. But the Rinzai... That's not what I said, though. He said Rinzai. I know, but he was talking about... He didn't say Rinzai. He was talking about Rinzai practice. Yeah. I was just looking, talking about the history of it. I was just trying to clarify that you didn't say that Rinzai didn't bring practice with it. Because in my understanding it did.

[32:05]

Aesai is not Rinzai. Aesai brought the practice. It's a Rinzai practice. Right. Anyway, we're getting mixed up with words, but I understand. No, I understand what you're saying too. Okay, so let's talk about somebody reading. Who wants to? Jerry. I know, but anybody that mumbles gets it. This is what I was trying to say to you today. Oh, good. In the world today, we structure time by segments which we name. For instance, the hours of the horse, or the hours of the sheep. And that has a... Well, these are simply the zodiacal time. There are 12 of them, and the Chinese at that time had the 12 hours of the day and 12 hours of the night.

[33:09]

Be that as it may, these segments are merely persistent fluctuations in the here and now of thoughts and things which arise and fall. So time is, could we say that time, segments of time are merely persistent fluctuations in the here and now of thoughts and things which arise and fall? Of course. It is the same with the hours of the rat and the hours of the tiger, which are also for And being an ordinary creature also, for a time, has this being of Buddha. At such times as these, one will swear that being three-headed and eight-armed is the whole universe, or that being a golden body six feet tall is the whole universe. To universally penetrate the whole universe by means of the whole universe is called complete realization. For us to give proof of a golden body six feet tall, by our attaining a golden body six feet tall, is to manifest our initial spiritual intention, our training and practice, our realizing of enlightenment, and our experiencing the freedom of nirvana, all of which comprises that existence is, and what time is.

[34:38]

Oh, I shouldn't do that sentence again. body, 16 feet tall, by our training, by our attaining a golden body, 16 feet tall, is to manifest our initial spiritual intention, our training and practice, our realizing of enlightenment, and our experiencing the freedom of nirvana, all of which proposes what existence is and what time is. So he's basically saying our effort to practice and realize, to give proof of a golden body is to practice. By attaining a golden body is to manifest our intention, our training and practice, our realization of enlightenment, our experiencing the freedom of nirvana, all of which comprise

[35:45]

comprises what existence is and what time is, is a complete realization that the whole of time is what the whole of existence is. That's what I was trying to say. Yeah. The whole of time is what the whole of existence is. And that there is nothing more than this. So what does that mean? The whole of time is what the whole of existence is. The whole of everything. Yeah. Well, let's see what he says after that. Anything else would be a time when there was a partial, complete realization, which would be a full realization of a part of what, just for the time being, it was. Okay. Anything else would be a time when there was a partial, complete realization, instead of a complete, complete realization. Anything else would be partial.

[36:47]

That's what he's saying. Anything else would be a partial. Anything else would be a time when there was a partial complete realization. So the center of this means that when we are manifesting the golden body, we're experiencing the freedom of nirvana. And he says, this comprises, and we do that through our practice. Yes. Okay, so we're practicing, we're practicing enlightenment, whatever. All of which comprises what existence is and what time is. So, is existence being It's just being. Yeah, being, existence, being. Yeah, same, same. The translator uses the word manifesting.

[37:47]

Yeah. It seems like, excuse me, it feels like he sort of seems to be pointing that however we think about time is a metaphor. Like we have to realize the only way we think about time are metaphors. We think it's traveling, it's coming. And that we might have a metaphor that makes us think we can't become a Buddha. Like, we should examine our metaphors, because we could be operating under a metaphor of time that cuts us off from the possibility of waking up for some reason. So he's kind of like asking us to play with and be aware of what our actual metaphor, whatever it is. Like, if you have a metaphor that you can't be a Buddha, think about that. Why do you have that metaphor? But we get stuck in words. Yes, we get stuck in concepts and words. That's trying to get us beyond getting stuck in concepts and words by using concepts and words in ways that baffle us and present us with a... We come up against a wall when our thinking doesn't match what he's saying.

[39:04]

So he's putting up these walls, which you can walk right through. They're not walls, really, but they're walls to our concepts. I remember Suzuki once saying, Buddha is an obstacle to you. Yeah, Dogen is an obstacle. And if we try to to make it work with our usual way of thinking, then we are always puzzled. But it doesn't make sense to my rational mind, right? Well, rational mind can be anybody's rational mind. Rational minds are not all the same. Rationality is important. But rationality is only making something rational to ourselves. And there are some things that we can't make rational to ourselves through our ordinary way of thinking.

[40:08]

We say, well, that's just a rationale. Rationale is a kind of a false rational thinking. But the true rationality is not dependent on rationality. It goes beyond rationality because rationality is just a way of explaining something to ourselves. Because thoughts go in like sentences. Right, and so we have certain ways of rationalizing things and thinking about things and this tosses a lot of those out the window because those ways of thinking is what keeps us from realization. because there's gotta be, you know, and we think that only the things that we think are true are enough, you know.

[41:12]

There was a, back in the early turn of the 20th century, I probably remember this, there was a patent company that went out of business because they said there's nothing else to be Invented. It's true, I think. So, basically he's saying And he continues this thread of thought, which we'll never get to, but it's really great. He's saying every step of the way is complete. The whole thing is complete every step of the way.

[42:15]

Your practice is complete no matter where you are in your practice. If your practice is sincere, it's complete every step of the way. When you reach the goal, you have to give up the goal and keep going on. So we see, you know, this is also realized, brought forth in the Lotus Sutra. Buddha leads these Dharahasan, and he promises them various things, you know, oh, this wonderful city, you know, And if you keep practicing, you'll reach this and that. And every time they reach it, he says, well, that's not it. But it's just helping them, you know, kind of pushing them to keep practicing, and you will have this goal. But as soon as they reach this goal, no, that's not it. And 500 arhats walked out one time when they said, you know, this is enough. You can't keep goading us on any more than this, it's true.

[43:15]

You read that in the Lotus Sutra, to have the assembly of 500 arhats, and he said, I'm sorry, you know, but what you thought was nirvana, and it's my fault, you know, I led you on to this, it's really not nirvana. And they said, oh my God, and they walked out. This is kind of reassuring. Well, of course it's reassuring. That's what he's trying to do. It's okay. Unless you think about it too much. So, Sam, you have it there? Yeah. Well, you see where the flower is, the second flower? Yeah. At the bottom of the page?

[44:17]

Yeah. Even at a stage? Yeah, even at a stage. Okay. You want me to read it? Yeah, I do. Even at a stage where it would seem that you have taken a false step, this condition will be a state of being. Further, should you leave the matter at this, your condition will still continue to constitute a persistence of a time being, which will include both a before and an after to this having taken a false step dealing with Thoughts and things, while they persist, like a fish darting about through the water, is indeed what being just for the time being is about.

[45:19]

So do not be upset over what is not, and do not be pressured by what is. Sorry, I didn't have my glass. No, that's good. You did well. Bobby has a footnote for this. Yes. Which is about the fish. There's a name for that. I can't remember what it is. It's a great little name. A fish darting about through the water. Yeah. Well this, go ahead, I know, I'm asking, but this 12, a traditional Zen simile applied to a person who engages in the practice of all acceptance and non-attachment. It has to do with the energy of a fish, maybe when you take the fish out of water and he's

[46:24]

struggling. Very deep, I know. OK. Sharp, vital, quick. Kapatsubachi. Say that again. Kapatsubachi. Kapatsubachi. Kapatsubachi. It's the fish, the energy of the fish that's struggling or playing, you know, like. Right, so he says, an anamara-poetic description of the lively movement of a leaping fish. It is often used to describe outstanding Zen activity. Here, it stands for what is utterly ungraspable and unclassifiable into distinctions, such as nothingness in being, impermanence, impermanence. Can you say it again? When I read this, I had maybe a completely different take.

[47:40]

I imagined the fish being hyper-alert and aware of everything and moving in response to everything without expectation or plan. That's kind of a positive thing. It is. It's not that you're wrong. It's not that you're wrong. So that's also an attribute of the fish in calm waters. Suzuki Roshi actually talks about the fish. In that way, he says, he talked about the frog, you know, who sits totally still, like in Zazen, you know, and when the fly goes by, he goes, gets the fly. He also talks about the fish, who doesn't have anything, is not really looking for anything, apparently, but he's going, swimming around, going, and the little fish swims into his mouth.

[48:44]

That's kind of like that, in a way. It's a little fish that swims in your mouth. It doesn't have to try to get it. Whatever comes. You know, I never got it before. I'm trying to figure this out. Someone gave me an image that I have in my office of Quan Yin seated on a fish. Oh, yes. And it's not a human being. It's a story, it illustrates a story of some kind. Yeah, but I think it probably has to do with resting on the enlightened activity and being carried by the enlightened activity of the fish. Yes, could be. Like Manjushri is sitting on a lion. Yeah, right. And Samantabhadra is sitting on an elephant. And Avalokiteshvara is sitting on the fish. They talk about the great salmon.

[49:52]

We think of salmon as something to eat. But a salmon is, in many cultures, considered a really fantastic fish with all its great quality. And the salmon will go up a stream and leap over the waterfall. Incredibly determined. Right, but they're incredible energy and willpower. And they use themselves up completely in their personality. Yes, that's right. They have to use themselves. Exactly. So, but this particular part that we just read is, even at a stage where it would seem that you've taken a false step, This condition will be a state of being.

[50:55]

Further, should you leave the matter at this, your condition will still constitute a persistence of a time being, which will include both before and after. to this, having taken a false step and dealing with thoughts and things while they persist, like a fish darting about through the water, ka-pa-pa, is indeed what being just for the time being is about. So don't be upset over what is not, and don't be pressured by what is. In other words, you can still continue even if you take a false step. A false step is it. A false step is to recognize the false step and keep going. But that false step can really be painful. Well, the more painful, the better. I don't know if I agree with that. It definitely can be more painful. The more painful, the more, you know. And that ain't a metaphor. This is like, you know, the four horses.

[51:59]

The first horse, the good horse. runs when he sees the shadow of the whip. The next horse runs when the whip touches his behind. The third horse runs when he feels the impact. And the fourth horse just kind of struggles along as best he can. So the fourth horse is the one that has the hardest time. But when the fourth horse really makes that effort, everybody loves the fourth horse. It looks like the first horse is the leader and the fourth horse is the follower, or is barely following behind. But the fourth horse, who is barely following behind, is really using all its effort and energy, is really leading.

[53:02]

So don't worry. Don't try to figure out who you are. Read. Well, you know where the flower is. Should you reckon one-sidedly that time only goes by, you will not comprehend time as something that has not yet arrived. Although we can say that comprehending something also constitutes a time, there is no connection that can link the one to the other. with a human carcass, who looks on time merely as something that rolls on by me, can have any insight into the time being that persists just for a while, not even mention the time when the barrier gate to realizing enlightenment is penetrated.

[54:27]

Should you reckon one side of the lake? that time only goes by. You won't comprehend time as something that has not yet arrived, because you think of it as coming and going. Although we can say that comprehending something also constitutes a time, there is no connection that can link the one to the other, which is to say, We can't predict when someone will comprehend something. Yeah, for instance, one cannot predict the precise moment when someone will comprehend something. Yeah, so my little footnote here says, is it time or is it being which flows? But actually, as we said long ago this morning, there's nothing that stands still.

[55:38]

That was last night. Peter was saying, well, you only know you're flowing if it's against something that's standing still, if you contrast it with something which is in a way is so. That's like the bird flying across the sky, right? Neither time nor being stands still. So that's one reason why it's hard to see the being in time and the time in being, because they're both working together at the same time. But there's time and being, right, which is a contrast. But actually, the being time and the time being is the non-duality of those two things. So it's not two things, it's only one thing. But it's also, it's not one and it's not two.

[56:41]

As soon as you say it's one, it's two, and as soon as you say it's two, it's one. That's the understanding of non-duality and the non-duality of duality. Unless it's a contradiction, it's not truth. So we have to be able to deal with the contradiction. It's a contra only in diction. Sweet. Very sweet. Can you just come up with that right now? Even if we comprehend that it is what persists, who can express it in words that this is that that we have realized?

[57:51]

It seems like he's like really saying we can't really interpret experience that easily. Who can express it in words? Even if over a long time we have found ways to express it in words, there is no one yet who has not groped for the ways to make it be manifest before your very eyes. Were we to leave the matter of what being for the time being means, to the way in which ordinary persons understand the phrase, it would be a being for the time being, in which enlightenment and nirvana were, at best, merely passing characteristics. The ever-present time being of which I'm speaking cannot be snared like some bird in a net or a cage.

[58:56]

It is what is manifested before us. It is a time when the heavenly Lords and the other celestial inhabitants are now manifested right and left of us, and are making every effort to do so, even at this very moment. In addition, it is a time when beings of water and land are making every effort to manifest, beings of all sorts. who are visible or invisible for the time being, are all making every effort to manifest, making every effort to flow on. If they did not make every effort to flow on, not even a single thought or thing would ever manifest. Nothing would continue on. You would do well to consider this point. It's very interesting. There's a lot in here.

[59:58]

No, an awful lot easier. You said that this morning, this last part, that if they did not make every effort to flow on, not even a single thought or thing would ever manifest. Nothing would continue on. Yes. It also kind of brings up the heavenly lords and the other celestial inhabitants, which is a kind of mystical thing, which Dogon always says, don't pay attention to, but he always does it. But it occurred to me, I got this little epiphanet, epiphanet, mini epiphanet, God is still growing and has not yet reached maturity. And so we and God are co-creating each other.

[61:01]

That's why there's so much problem in the world, right? whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, it's a word that we use to give us some perspective. But when we're small, if we have a happy childhood, we see the mother and father as God, right? I mean, before language and before. And then later we see them, yes. And later, and they are like, you know, what we look up to as the progenitor and the director, and everything comes from them, the food and sleep and the housing, and they control our lives.

[62:01]

And we look up to them for that. But as we get older, we begin to see who they are from a different perspective. And we see their frailties and their faults and their problems and all this, right? So in the same way, similar way, As you begin to mature in the world, you realize that God is imperfect. But we attribute perfection. We attribute perfection. God is great. God is perfection. And in a way, you can't deny that, but at the same time, I think from my perspective, from my epiphany, It's not perfect. But God's in the process, too. God's in the process, too. He's not finished. He's of this being time. We only experience him in this being time. Yes.

[63:01]

Yes, in that sense, imperfect. Yes. And so, you know, Holocaust survivors say, oh, my God, you know. How did you let this happen? If you're omnipotent, how did you let this happen? Perhaps we just have the wrong vocabulary. It's a different language. That's what I think. In other words, we can't really speak to God because we've got a different dictionary. The language ain't the same, so we're trying to put things in there that don't exist in God's world. It can't happen. Well, but God's world is not some special place. But I mean, even the Buddhists talk about paradise. I mean, there is no paradise. No, not in Buddhism. There are paradises. Not in Buddhism on Earth, but maybe there's another level of consciousness where there's another Buddhism. That's not Buddhism. There is no God in Buddhism. I didn't say that. No, no, I'm not talking about what you said.

[64:04]

It's not what I said. I just said maybe there's parallel planes of existence where Buddha exists. There are heavenly heavens, right? There are heavens and hells in Buddhist literature. Heavens and hells. 32 heavens and hells. And you can see them illustrated. But heaven is just a place. It's not the place where you finally end up. I'm not saying that either. It's not about what you said, it's about what I'm saying. Okay. There's something, you know, it's a good way to think about God, because I was thinking about this earlier sentence, even if for over a long time we have found ways to express it. Yes, it's, that's right. Which, you know, we can be sort of good at from moment to moment. There is no one yet who has not groped for ways to make it manifest

[65:08]

before your very eyes, that's the religious, that's often the project of religion. It's like, yeah, I'm going to show you what it is, and you say, that does not work. No, that's right, because wherever you get to, you have to let it go and keep going. Also, you can't discover it for someone else. You can discover it for someone else, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to drink it. Right. You may not be able to show it. You can lead the horse to water. But we do try to help each other, right? So we draw on history. We draw on, basically, we have to match that ourself. We have to find it for ourself. So I didn't want to bring all this into it. the conversation, but there it is. Everything goes.

[66:10]

But it's interesting, so when we talk about, use the word God in this assembly, people's ears pick up. Yeah, true, because we come from the God culture. It's like if you brought a cape in this room. But so did Buddha. Buddha came from a God-filled culture, too. He did. He never denied it. He just transformed it. Well, that's true. That seems to be so. He didn't say explicitly there is or isn't. He said that's the question that's not worth dealing with. Well, supposedly in the Vajrayana teachings, Buddha took certain people aside Well, esoteric teachings. So there's even that, you know what I mean? I do know what you mean. There's different levels of Buddhism. There are many schools of Buddhism. This is why Zen is like the Buddhism on the ground. Of course, the middle way.

[67:16]

The middle way. Yeah, I agree. Zen is really the foundation. Foundation. Even the Vajrayana promote Zen. So, I mean, Zen cannot be denied by anybody. I have a question about this second last sentence. If they did not make every effort to flow on, not even a single thought or thing would ever manifest. Let me look at that. If they did not make every effort to flow on, beings of all sorts, who are visible or invisible for the time being, are all making every effort to manifest, making every effort to flow. I think he's talking about The whole universe is practicing Zen. Zazen. It's not like we sit in the kendo and practice Zazen. The whole universe is practicing. I guess what was hanging me up is that, make every effort.

[68:19]

Because I liked what you said in your lecture yesterday, which was that we're not the engine. We maybe get to steer? Yes, but the energy, we have to be open. We have to open ourselves so the energy will flow. And we're the vehicle. But we're not the vehicle if we don't allow that to happen. So that's our part. We cooperate. We cooperate with the universe. The universe produces this, what we call our life. But it gives us also a choice. And our choice has to be to cooperate with the universe in order to find fulfillment. Because we're always looking for fulfillment in some ways, but we're not cooperating with the universe to find it. So that's why people are half-hearted.

[69:20]

It's like a maze. It really is like a maze. this little path and there's a dead end. You go this path and there's a dead end. The maze is full of dead ends. And the dharma is the path that avoids all the dead ends. And that means being totally open and not partial, and not stuck in partiality or desire or whatever that leads us into these dead ends. We get one question. Okay, I just wanted to say, you know, so what you were saying, we come into harmony with nature, or we come into harmony with time. We come into harmony with time. There's nothing magical. We just come into harmony and then it opens up. And that's the magic. Yeah, that is the magic. Because magic is not magic, it's natural. It's there. Yeah.

[70:24]

Could it be Ruman throwing down his staff? Yes. The snake? Well, the staff is the snake. Yeah, but he's making, he's making the, he's coining. Yes, that this snake and the staff is the snake. So, but snake and staff stand for buddha nature. It, so it in the capital IT means, the highest thing, or the Buddha nature. In the West, we might say God. Sometimes, Buddhist literature, some people use the word God in a way that it's understood by the speaker.

[71:25]

not in general, to mean something like Buddha nature, and Suzuki Goshi used it too. So sometimes the Japanese Zen teachers will use the word God in the West to equate it with Buddha nature. So I don't think it's something to be afraid of. You can use it, but without being partial to it, it's a way of expressing which has, anyway. So the transiting of time, who would like to read?

[72:36]

Would you? Oh, you did. Go ahead. Transiting of time and being is not to be thought of as wind blowing the rain from east to west. And it would be inaccurate to say that the whole world is The flow of time in a being is like spring, for instance. The spring has an appearance of being abundant. In its version, they refer to this as its passage. We should consider well that the spring passes without excluding anything within it. In other words, the passing of spring is, to be sure, the passing of what we humans call spring. passing is not what spring is. It refers to the passage of the springtime.

[73:39]

Hence, it is a transition that is now being actualized during the time of spring. You would do well to consider and reflect on this very carefully. When speaking of transiting, some may think of it in reference to by traveling past myriad worlds over millions and millions of eons. But such people are not concentrating simply on the study of the Guru as well. So, we have to go over this a bit. We should consider well that the spring passes, in other words, everything that we that we associate with spring is passing as spring, because spring is only what its constituents are. And we call it spring.

[74:43]

When we see, as Dogen said, when we see a leaf in the spring, the leaf carries the whole spring. So passing is not what spring, is what refers to the passage of the springtime. Well, that's normal. That's logical. It is a transition that is now being actualized during the time of spring. You would do well to consider and reflect on this carefully. Or in speaking of transiting, some may think of it in reference to some place physically apart from themselves. There's me and then there's the spring. So I and the spring are not two different things because I am part of springtime. Spring is not something that's happening while I stand there and watch it.

[75:50]

It looks like Dr. Avni is using in a slightly different way. Using spring as a metaphor, or springtime as a metaphor for I, or for oneself. Yeah. Well, yes. I think I was saying, what I was saying was related to that. Yeah, I think it was. I just think that what he's emphasizing is, here he's emphasizing being, not time, but using time. What he's really talking about is he's expressing I as brain. I like that. That's good. Isn't it also true that you could reify transiting? You can do it with almost anything, any concept.

[76:55]

I sort of read it initially that way. that transiting, that we can, I'm on my way. I'm going somewhere. Spring is... Yeah, spring is springing. Yeah. Right, and I am, and spring is springing in me. But another thing that I, passing is not what spring is, refers to the passage of the springtime, it's like standing still while moving. Because movement, the movement of spring, you know, Dogen also says, summer does not, fall, or let's see, Winter does not turn into spring. Spring does not become summer. Spring is what it is in itself.

[78:01]

It has its own past and its own future, but doesn't become something else. So when I say it's standing still, it means it looks like something's moving, but actually there's simply changes going on all the time. And the spring is not a thing that's moving and becoming something else. But all the elements and constituents, just like person, basically, when it talks about what just the dharmas are rolling on, and there's no person, no substantial person within the dharmas. There's no spring within the movement, but the time of spring expresses the spring. It's like the energy that drives a wave, right? The wind creates the energy that drives the wave. And it looks like the wave is moving to the shore, or it'll be up and down. But actually, it's the energy that's going on, and the water's going up and down.

[79:06]

It's the same way. There's some movement of the water, but basically, the wave is going up and down, and the water and the energy is moving on. And what we see is the energy that's moving on, and it appears that the waves are moving. The same water is moving on. So spring is like opening up and doing its thing, but it's simply dharmas that are coalescing and letting go according to the wind. which means the season. You know, you use the same thing like spring, fall, with like humans and buddhas, like humans don't turn into buddhas, buddhas don't turn into humans, but like there's something underlying. Yeah, yeah, because a person has, we say is already buddha, meaning potentiality, right?

[80:13]

So, and then when the ordinary, what we call ordinary activity, but in other words, when we step over from being ego-driven, self-centered, to being Buddha-centric, we just kind of step over. Because we can do that because we also already have the Buddha nature in us. So we just step over and act like Buddha instead of acting like a dummy. I was just thinking that we talk about incentive beings preaching the Dharma, that actually if we watch a tree going through the seasons, it's in being time. Yes, everything is being time. It's in being time and all we have to do is study Inception Buddhism and hit it.

[81:14]

Yeah, everything is preaching its time. We miss being time because we're trying to make a story out of it. Yes, so when we simply allow everything to be as it is, everything is trying to teach us something. This is why I've always thought this, that when we elect a president, never mind the present one, but they're like a child and we elect them into this position so they can grow up and mature. And it seems like they always do something big. Yeah, it's always a big change for them if they continue to live. Yeah. Yeah. Not to speak of the rest of us. I just wanted to say, you know, it's not like we can just become a buddhist and we practice and follow all the rules and that.

[82:22]

It's somehow, it's like we have to shed our animalism. It has to become a reaction like we rat-mouth a horned lamb. When I'm hungry, I've got to eat. And I'm going to do anything I have to. I'll listen to the boss's stupidity. I'll do whatever. You know what I mean? Like that. That Buddha nature has to become that spontaneous. So we practice hoping that that just begins to start reacting like that. The heart begins to react like that instead of reacting like an animal. Correct? Yeah, it responds instead of reacts. Excuse me? It responds. Oh, OK. Instead of reacts. Oh, I see. Oh, OK. OK. A good clarification. Stop reacting and respond. Because the heart's always there. Right, right. Okay. Good. Yeah. Thank you. So it's really been good studying this. Everybody's been interested. So I encourage us all to study it ourselves and to discuss it with each other.

[83:40]

I always think of the purpose of this kind of study is to encourage us to study. We rarely get finished with something. I think we could put a light on it. Putting a light on it. Just those few pages. I got so much in that one paragraph.

[84:04]

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