Good morning, everyone. This is Julia Konrosaki, and I'm pleased to be with you this morning from beautiful Torrey, Utah, with Musho Sensei. And we have, again, we're in our third and final week of Doven and the Logosutra with Tigon Leighton. Good morning, Tigon. Thank you so much for being with us. Well, you're very welcome. I'm very happy to be here. So today I want to talk about Dogen's view and vision of time and space and earth and how they're very much connected to the Lotus Sutra and his use of the story of the Bodhisattvas springing from the earth and the inconceivable lifespan of the Buddha from the Lotus Sutra as encouragements for ongoing practice. So, just to do some background, In the first week, I did a kind of introduction to the many different sources and influences for Dogen's teaching and to the Lotus Sutra and the different, just a quick introduction to the different chapters and the main teachings from the Lotus Sutra.

[01:18]

Last week, I talked about how Dogen uses the style and presentation style of the Lotus Sutra and the self-referential strange way of talking of the Lotus Sutra in his own teaching to proclaim the Dharma rather than trying to explain it and to celebrate the Dharma and the wonder of the Dharma. So today, again, I want to talk about Dogen's view of time and space and earth. So he again uses the Lotus Sutra teachings of the underground bodhisattvas and the inconceivable lifespans. So just to review that briefly, in the Lotus Sutra, in the first half of the Sutra, among many other things, he asks his disciples and bodhisattvas, who will come back in the future evil age to keep alive the dharma of the

[02:20]

Dharma Flower Sutra, and at some point, some of the Bodhisattvas who've come from distant dimensions, distant world systems say, okay, we'll come back and keep alive the Lotus Sutra, the Lotus Teachings, and Buddha says, well, no, you don't really need to do that, and suddenly from out of the open, the earth cracks open from out of the open space under the ground, myriad ancient venerable, wonderful, quiet bodhisattvas who love to study the Dharma, spring forth. And of course, many of their attendants and just huge numbers of bodhisattvas spring forth. The regular disciples and bodhisattvas of the Buddha say, well, where did they come from? We never saw them. Who taught them? And the Buddha says, well, I did. And they say, and the regular disciples say, well, that's not possible. We know you left the palace and awakened and have been teaching for 45 years, and how did you have time to teach all of them?

[03:26]

And then the Buddha reveals this, kind of punctuates the Lotus Sutra, this story that, well, you know, because I tell people, as skillful means, that I was born and left the palace and awakened and have been teaching, and I'm about to pass away, because if you knew that, actually, I've been around for a very, very long time, extremely long time, and will be around for twice that long, and have this inconceivably long lifespan, people would kind of slack off, and some people would slack off and think that they didn't need to practice. But actually, I'm around for a very long time. So what does that mean? interprets that in terms of our own practice. So, these two stories support Dogen's own subtle awakened view of Earth, space, and time.

[04:28]

That's what I want to talk about today. For Dogen, space is not some abstraction. It is not outer space. It is not empty space. The Chinese character that Dogen uses for space also means emptiness as in form and emptiness in the Heart Sutra. It also means just the sky, but it's also concretely physical. It's not separate from the physical world, the phenomenal world we've talked about, and it's not apart or separate from our own dynamic effort and aspiration to practice. So, giving life to space and to the earth involves, first of all, recognizing the omnipresence and potential impact for awakening right in the forms that we engage. So, space and earth as a support for awakening, you know, is implied in this story.

[05:30]

These stories are not, are encouragements to us to practice. So, the story of the bodhisattvas springing out of the ground, out of the earth, under our seats, out of the earth that is now imperiled, of course, in our own present evil age of climate damage and species going extinct and so forth. These stories are not, you know, kind of ancient parables. The point of the practice is how do we bring them alive now? How do we keep the Lotus Sutra teachings and the Dharma alive now? And how do we interpret this for our own lives? And this is what Dogen is doing in his time and encouraging us to do in ours. This goes back to the, so I'm gonna be using various essays from Shobo Genzo today, Chu Dharma, his main, one of his main collections of works, Chu Dharma, I Treasury, Shobo Genzo, and various of the essays are there, and I talked in the first week about

[06:39]

One of them, Hoka Ted Hoka, the Dharma Flower, turns the Dharma Flower, which is specifically about the Lotus Sutra, and just to review briefly, he talks about how to study, which is important for Dogon, how to study sutras, how to study, this also applies to how to study Dogon, how to study koans, how to study the Dharma, which is, and he refers to a story about the sixth ancestor, and there's a fellow who's memorized the Lotus Sutra, comes to the Sixth Ancestor, and the Sixth Ancestor tells him, you don't understand the Lotus Sutra, and you've been, you were turned by the Dharma flower rather than turning the Dharma flower. And so, the Dogan interpreting that story ends up saying that whether you're being turned by the dharma flower, which is delusion, or whether you're turning the dharma flower, whether you're using the sutra and the dharma in your practice.

[07:46]

Either way, it's the dharma flower turning the dharma flower. It's this kind of non-dual reality that Dogen is always coming back to. So, in that essay, Hokuten Hoka, the Dharma Flower Turns the Dharma Flower, after talking about Earth and space as the source from where the Bodhisattvas emerged, Dogen adds, quote, we should know with the Buddha's wisdom not only Earth and space, but also springing out of the flower of Dharma itself. So how do we come forth from, from Earth, from space, and from the Sutra itself to express these teachings? So he's correlating Earth and space and describing that as the context for emergence from the Lotus Sutra itself. So he's, you know, he refers to the Lotus Sutra a lot, as I talked about in the first week, that the Lotus Sutra is the most important sutra for Dogen.

[08:49]

This isn't, you know, part of what is talked about so much in American Zen. We don't understand enough the Bodhisattva basis for Zen, but it's critical for Dogen So, this correspondence of Earth and space represents for Doga and the awakened realm as non-dualistically present right in the ground of this conditioned phenomenal world. So, awakening doesn't exist somewhere else in some abstract transcendent realm somewhere else. It's right here in this space, in this, you know, conditions and phenomena of this Earth. So, Dogen suggests the grounding of space through time, by way of a leap out of our usual sense of time, and the traditional Mahayana lifetimes of practice.

[09:53]

So this is, in terms of, I talked about this I think in the first week, the usual Mahayana view before the Lotus Sutra, actually, in terms of the history of Bodhisattva practice and the Mahayana, that there was this idea, and this is in the first half of the Lotus Sutra, too, that Bodhisattva practice involves many, many, many lifetimes of practice, and eventually, in the first half of the Lotus Sutra, that Shakyamuni tells his disciples, and other Bodhisattvas, and even the Arhats, that eventually you will be such and such, and also Mahapajapati, founder of the Order of Nuns, eventually you will be a Buddha, the Buddha so-and-so in the Buddha field, such and such. And anyway, in the Lotus Sutra, there's this, enacted this sense of going beyond lifetimes of practice, that right in this world, so this is sort of beyond,

[10:59]

the focus of what I'm talking about in these three weeks, but the Lotus Sutra is the place where this happens, that right in this life, in this world, in this body, awakening is actually present. And we can see this through the Bodhisattvas coming out of the ground, through this lifespan of Buddha, and through how we respond to that in practice. uh, the ultimate non-duality of being turned by the dharma flower, or turning the dharma flower, Dogen says, quote, is really just the flower of dharma turning the flower of dharma. The dharma flower is turning. Whether we are in delusion or in awakening, it's the dharma flower turning. So, Dogen expresses that conclusion right after clarifying that the reality of the Lotus Sutra teaching is not bound by the traditional lifetimes and stages of practice. So, uh, this is again, uh, this is the basis for kind of faith practice in East Asian Buddhism.

[12:06]

It's the basis for Zen sudden awakening, uh, which can be understood in a lot of different ways, not as some particular sudden experience in the future, but as actually our Zazen right now. Okay. So Dogen says, quote, do not see this turning the flower of Dharma only as the Bodhisattva way practiced in the past. How joyful it is, from Kalpa to Kalpa, from Kalpa to Kalpa, from age to age, is the Dharma flower, and from noon to night is the Dharma flower. Because the Dharma flower is from noon to night, even though our own body and mind grows strong and grows weak, it is just the Dharma flower itself. So this body-mind, you know, and sometimes we feel strong, sometimes we feel weak, But this is the Dharma Flower itself, Dogen is saying. And he says how joyful this is. So this is Dogen's view of our reality and our practice.

[13:14]

That this is, and he bases this in his way of talking about Dharma Flower Sutra, Lotus Sutra. Chinese and Japanese, it's just called the Hokekyo, literally the Dharma Flower Sutra. In English, we're used to calling it the Lotus Sutra. So, that's, again, we can see that as a way of talking about the sutra, studying the sutra and the teachings of the Lotus Sutra that accord with how Dogen talks about Zazen. is not about something that, you know, we do for the sake of something that will happen in the future. So, I want to talk about another essay in Shobo Genzo, and this is called, this essay is called, Gyo Butsu Igi. It's one of my favorite essays in Shobo Genzo.

[14:16]

Kaz Tanahashi and I translated it and called, and the title we used for it is, The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas. And in it, uh, is one of my favorite lines from all of Dogen. And it goes, quote, Dogen says, "...know that Buddhas in the Buddha way do not wait for awakening. Active Buddhas, practicing Buddhas, alone fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha." So, I've sometimes asked my students to memorize this or even use it as a, that last sentence as a mantra. Active Buddhas simply fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So Buddha remaining in the world, like in the inconceivable lifespan, does not wait passively for some future experience of Buddhahood, but engages in awakening as an active process.

[15:24]

So this act of Buddha's in the in the title, Gyobutsu means practicing Buddhas, or active Buddhas, or actual Buddhas. He says, just before this, near the beginning of this long essay, actually, he says, the only Buddha is an actual Buddha, a practicing Buddha. This isn't about dead Buddhas, Buddhas somewhere in the past or future, but actual practicing, active Buddhas. And he says, you should know that Buddhas in the Buddha way do not wait for awakening. So they're actually actively practicing. And this thing about Buddha going beyond Buddha, Buddha's fully experienced, the vital process and the path of going beyond Buddha, is an expression that Dogen uses frequently to describe the vitality of ongoing awakening. The Buddha is not looking back to some, and Buddha's practice is not about looking back to some past experience, remembrance of a previous awakened state or being.

[16:28]

So, you know, if you have some dynamic experience or Kensho or something, or if you have some understanding in the past, that's, you know, that's great, but that's not the point of practice. It's not about some future experience. So, going beyond Buddha is, you know, in some ways, a way of describing, or maybe even a definition of Buddha. Buddha is always going beyond Buddha. So Buddha, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, didn't stop practicing and didn't stop awakening when he became the Buddha, when he sat under the Bodhi tree and saw the morning star and was called the Buddha. He continued the sitting zazen every day, he continued awakening every day. So Buddha is always going beyond Buddha. Buddha is awakening in each new situation. with each new, um, you know, when he wandered around for, you know, teaching different students, he was awakening in terms of expressing that to new students.

[17:43]

So, Buddha is always Buddha going beyond Buddha. So again, that sentence, and I'll come back to it, is, uh, Buddha, um, Buddha, active Buddhas, practicing Buddhas simply fully experience the vital process on the path going beyond Buddha. This is a useful description of zazen, too. It's a vital process. We don't always know, you know, we might think that our zazen is, we had a good period or a bad period or whatever. We don't always really know what's going on in our zazen. It's a vital, organic, alchemical process. Anyway, shortly after this passage in this essay, Dogen quotes Shakyamuni Buddha in chapter 16, of the Lotus Sutra describing his long lifespan, quote, in the past I practiced Bodhisattva way and so have attained this long lifespan, still now unexhausted, covering vast numbers of years. So that's from, uh, Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra.

[18:47]

And Dogen comments on that, referring to some of the phrases in it. Quote, Dogen says, you should know that it is not that the lifespan of the Bodhisattva has continued without end, only until now. And not that the lifespan of the Buddha has prevailed only in the past, but that what is called vast numbers is a total inclusive attainment. What is called still now is the total lifespan. Even if in the past I practiced is one solid piece of iron, 10,000 miles long, that hurls away hundreds of years vertically and horizontally. This being so, Dogen continues, practice realization is neither existence nor beyond existence. Practice realization is not defiled. Although there are hundreds, thousands, and myriads of practice realizations in a place where there is no Buddha and no person, practice realization does not defile active Buddhas.

[19:55]

I'll read that quote from Dogen again. Although I think you have this in, some of this anyway, in the handout that I sent out, but I'll read it again. Dogen says, referring to this quote from the Lotus Sutra, you should know that it is not that the lifespan of the Bodhisattva has continued without end only until now, and not that the lifespan of the Buddha has prevailed only in the past, but what is called vast numbers is a total inclusive attainment. What is called still now is the total lifespan. Even if in the past I practiced as one solid piece of iron 10,000 miles long, it hurls away hundreds of years vertically and horizontally. This being so, practice realization, one way Dogen talks about Zazen, is neither existence nor beyond existence. Practice realization is not defiled, Although there are hundreds, thousands, and myriads of practice realizations in a place where there is no Buddha and no person, practice realization does not defile these active Buddhas.

[21:06]

So here Dogen is using the story of the Buddha's lifespan to support his often expressed view of the always present pure unity of practice and realization. The inconceivable lifespan becomes a symbol for Dogen or an expression for Dogen. of the ongoing present being-time. So this relates to his, um, very well-known essay, Uji, on being-time. This is not some abstract timeframe belonging to an esoteric realm of Buddhas, but a way of Dogen's, of expressing Dogen's view of time as the actuality of non-dual awakening and active practice in the concrete present context. So Dogen is using this, uh, story of the uh, lifespan, the inconceivable lifespan of the Buddha, to talk about the reality of time. Dogen's, um, view of time, that he also talks about in this, uh, Being Time essay in Sherbo Genzo, is not a- is to see time as interfolding, that, uh, time has

[22:21]

many dimensions and moves in many directions. So there's the story I mentioned of the stupa of this ancient Buddha that appears in the middle of the Lotus Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra says that it appears whenever the Lotus Sutra is taught. And it says so right in the Lotus Sutra. So there's this interfolding of time. that Dogen talks about in a variety of places. And so, the Lotus Sutra and Dogen and Shakyamuni Buddha are right here, now, according to Dogen. And wherever you are, and we have people here from different countries and different places, from, just looking from Argentina and Vancouver and Boulder and Nova Scotia and Brazil and Germany, all here now. Calgary and the Netherlands, anyway, Ireland, it's very cool.

[23:26]

So wherever you are, whatever was happening in the 13th century when Dogen was alive, right outside where you're sitting, and whatever was happening in Shakyamuni's time, right outside where you're sitting, and whatever will be happening 500 years from now, or 50 years from now, right there, is also part of what's happening now. Anyway, Dogen also proclaims in The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas, in that essay, although the everyday activities of active Buddhas invariably allow Buddhas to practice Active Buddhas allow everyday activities to practice. Really interesting idea that the activities themselves are practicing.

[24:27]

He continues, this is to abandon your body for Dharma, to abandon Dharma for your body. This is to give up holding back your life, to hold on fully to your life. So I would encourage you all to give up holding back your life. hold back. You're alive. You have a chance to hold on fully to your life by not holding back from expressing your life. Anyway, this phrase, though, give up holding back your life, is from the closing verse of chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, when Shakyamuni says that for beings who are intent on seeing Buddha, not holding back or hesitating to even give their lives, then the Buddha and his assembly appear on Vulture Peak. So that's in the handout that's, um, the closing verse of Chapter 16 on the Inconceivable Lifespan that was part of what is in the PDFs that were sent out. So for Dogen, the enduring life of Shakyamuni is realized by those who fully give their vitality and don't hold back from the everyday activities of Buddha's practice.

[25:36]

So just in, you know, taking care of the space around you, just in terms of not holding back from Just the everyday activities, brushing your teeth and washing the dishes, as well as all your creative practice activities. This is what Dovin is saying is, allow the Buddhas to practice. So continuing, and from this essay, The Awesome Practice of Actors for Practicing Buddhas. Dogen again quotes from chapter 16 on the lifespan of Buddha, where the Buddha says, after I pass away, to listen to and accept this sutra and to inquire into its meaning will be quite difficult. So many places in the Lotus Sutra, and this happens in other Mahayana sutras too, it talks about how difficult it will be to

[26:46]

to hear and to accept the Sutra, especially in the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra talks about itself a lot, and I talked about that last week, and the implications of that as connected with accepting this phenomenal situation. But Dogen turns this quote to indicate that simply listening to and accepting the Sutra is sustaining Buddha's lifespan right now, that we're doing it, equally to expounding the Dharma. So Dogen says, know that it is equally difficult to listen to and accept this sutra. Then Dogen says, expounding and listening are not a matter of superior or inferior. All Buddhas of the three times remain and listen to Dharma. As the fruit of Buddhahood is already present, they do not listen to Dharma to achieve Buddhahood, but are already Buddhas. So again, remember, uh,

[27:51]

of the quote that Buddhists do not wait for awakening. So Buddhists who are listening to the Dharma also do not wait for awakening. So also Dogen is saying here that Buddhists are not just the ones who, you know, sit up in the front of the room or speak into the telephone and share the Dharma. Buddhists are the ones who are listening to the Dharma. And they're not listening to the Dharma. uh, to, you know, wait for some future awakening. They're listening to the Dharma as, and you are listening to the Dharma, as an expression of your awakening right now. This is what Buddhas do. Listen to the Dharma. Thank you all, all of you Buddhists. So again, this is from, uh, this is from Dogen's, um, Gilbert E. Ege, The Awesome Presence, or that could be translated as The Dignified Manner of Active Buddhas or Practicing Buddhas.

[28:55]

Near the end of this essay, and it's really a wonderful essay, it's available in, the translation is available in his full Shabogenzo translation, and also in his book, one of his previous books, uh, enlightenment unfolds. Anyway, near the end of this essay, Dogen offers a really striking and important image with the persistence of the Buddha's teaching through time. So, Dogen says, although this moment is distant from the sages, they have encountered the transforming guidance of the spreading sky that can still be heard. So, you know, many of us may feel this now. Dogen and people in Japan certainly felt this then. You know, Dogen went to China because he felt he needed to go back closer to the source of the Zen teachings.

[30:07]

This is, you know, studying Dogen is interesting for us as one example of somebody who imported the teachings from across culture, from China to Japan, although Japan already had very developed Buddhist teachings. For us, you know, we're doing this really amazing, courageous thing, taking on Buddhist practice in the West and, you know, I can't say just America, because there are people here from South America and from Europe and, you know, listening to this. kind of amazing, but we are bringing Buddhism into our Western cultures, and that's a huge, huge leap, you know, uh, in terms of our cultural context. So, um, so, you know, we might feel like we're distant from the sages, you know, we're distant from, um, you know, Shakyamuni in India, we're distant from

[31:12]

Sunmi, and Huining, and Bodhidharma, and so forth in China. We're distant from Dogen, and Youwei, and Saicho, and all the wonderful Japanese Buddhist teachers. We are. And how do we find our way of expressing this in our culture with all of the different cultural contexts that we have from Western faith traditions and Western psychology and Western views of social engagement. Anyway, there's so much that's different. And yet, the reality is that all of you are doing this Buddhist practice. So, it's really interesting. So, Dogen is saying about this, although this moment is distant from the sages, you have encountered the transforming guidance of the spreading sky that can still be heard.

[32:21]

So, Dogen is indicating the persistence of the Dharma in time as integrating with the pervading of the spreading sky. So, for Dogen, the Buddha nature of the sky or space itself, again, the character for sky also is the same character for space or for emptiness. Sky or space itself offers transforming guidance throughout the vastness of time. Space and time have extended from the Buddha's time and Dogen's time and so forth to us. Although this moment, now, here, now, what is this, uh, it's still May 2016, according to our conventional view of time. So, um, the, you have encountered, although this moment is distant from the sages, you have encountered the transforming guidance

[33:31]

spreading sky that can still be heard. We've heard the Dharma. We've received from teachers who've received it from other teachers guidance in how to practice the way. So this moment is distant from the sages. You have encountered the transforming guidance of the spreading sky that can still be heard. But Dogen is putting this in terms, well, of course, there's the traditional teachers who are giving this guidance, but there's also something about this that is, he's saying that this has been transmitted through guidance of the spreading sky that is still heard across time, across space. So, all of that is from this essay of The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas, Gyobu Tsuigi. I want to talk about some other essays from Shobo Genzo, also which use the stories of the emerging bodhisattvas and the lifespan of Buddha as encouragements for ongoing practice.

[34:47]

The next one I want to talk about is called, in Japanese, Nyorai Zenshin, the Tathagata's entire body. from 1244, soon after he moved up to the area of A. Heijing. And the whole essay is basically references to Baloda Sutra. It's a much shorter essay than Gilbert's Iggy, and it describes the wholeness of Buddha's body. So, that Sonyo Risenshin is the Tathagata or Buddha's entire body. So Dogen mentions the Buddha's lifespan, conceivable lifespan, after equating the Sutra itself and the entire phenomenal world with the totality of the Buddha's body. He says, quote, the Sutra is the whole body of the Tathagata. The mark of reality of all things in the present time is the Sutra.

[35:52]

So, Dogen is relating the Sutra and the whole of reality itself to this enduring, long-lived Shakyamuni whose, quote, lifespan resulting from the merits of the original Bodhisattva practices is not limited in size by even such things as the size of the universe. It transcends this limit. It is limitless. This is the whole body of the Tathagata. It is this Sutra. So, Dogen is... celebrates the Lotus Sutra and I've... I mentioned uh... last time the time before that about me nichi rand who was uh... slightly later contemporary of dog and they didn't know about each other even but nature and is the one who founded nature and buddhism where they take the lotus sutra itself as uh... the object of veneration and chant nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the lotus sutra and uh... study the lotus sutra that's a different way of uh... celebrating the sutra but uh... but dogan is doing that too and you know we people who study Dogen don't really think about this so much.

[37:01]

Anyway, Nyorai Zenshin, this essay concludes with Dogen quoting from a different chapter, Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, quote, For countless eons, Shakyamuni has practiced difficult and painful practices, accumulated merits, and sought the way of the Bodhisattva. And even though he is now a Buddha, he still practices diligently. So that's what I was talking about before, that Dogen continued to practice. And then Dogen comments, the long eons of difficult and painful practices are the activity of the womb of the Buddha. When it is said that these practices have not ceased even for a second, it means that even though he is perfectly enlightened, he still practices vigorously and he continues forever, even though he converts the whole universe. This activity is the whole body of the Tathagata. So this is about Buddha going beyond Buddha, continuing to practice. And he uses this phrase, which I want to say something about.

[38:03]

This is the activity of the womb of the Buddha. This is Tathagatagarbha. This is a really interesting phrase. This word, garbha, which is used in various contexts, means both womb and embryo, and it's kind of important. term in East Asian Buddhism. It's the basis for talking about Buddha and nature, but it means, it implies, so it's strange because it means, it can mean both womb and embryo, and it implies that the Buddha is a womb of a Buddha land, so I talked about Buddha Kshetra, Buddha field, that a Buddha when a Buddha awakens, they produce a Buddha field of pure land, that the whole world, the world around them becomes a Buddha field. And also, that the world, and this goes back to the bodhisattvas coming out of the ground, the world itself is a womb for the embryo of Buddhas arising.

[39:19]

So, it's a complicated idea, but it's very fertile and rich in terms of thinking about, you know, the environment and how the world itself is a source and potential for awakening and for our awakening. Anyway, for Dogen, the significance of the enduring Shakyamuni, of the long life Shakyamuni Buddha is not merely that Buddha is present, always present in the world, but that his vigorous, inspiring practice continues and quote-unquote, converts the whole universe. So this is a description, but it's also kind of a prescription, a practice instruction. So Dogen is saying that it is incumbent on Buddhist descendants. It's required and a responsibility for Buddhist descendants and for Dogen's students, and that means for us, to continue Buddha's practice.

[40:20]

He doesn't exactly say it, but it's pretty clearly implied in a lot of Dogen's commentary on this idea of the lifespan, that this lifespan continues because of us. Buddha is alive in the world, in his long life, because we're practicing here today. I want to talk about a couple more essays from Shobo Genzo. Another one is Hotsubo Daishin, Awakening the Bodhi Mind, from 1244. And he quotes, he quotes the Buddhist statement at the very end of Chapter 16. This is at the end of the verse comment, end of Chapter 16. This is in your handout. This is something that's chanted in Soto Zen in Japan regularly. And at the end it says, I have always given thought to how I could cause all creatures to enter the highest, or all beings to enter the highest supreme way and quickly become Buddhas.

[41:27]

And this is kind of like in Chapter 2 where it talks about the single cause for Buddhas appearing to help beings enter the way, become Buddhas. So he quotes that from the Lifespans chapter, and then Dogen comments, quote, this statement is the Tathagata's lifetime itself. Buddha's establishment of the mind, training, and experience of the effect, the result of this, are all like this. Benefiting living beings means causing living beings to establish the will to deliver others before they attain their own deliverance. So this is, bringing forth the bodhisattva intention in others. And so, you know, we chant the bodhisattva vows, and this is, so this is our practice, and we are continuing Buddha's life through that. So for Dogen, the inconceivable lifespan is exactly our intention to help all beings awaken, which mysteriously creates the ongoing life of the Buddha, as long as this vow and direction to universal awakening, to helping relieve suffering and helping others awaken,

[42:36]

As long as that persists in the world and has potential to spring forth in current practitioners, Shogun sees that the Buddha is alive. So, the last essay from Shobo Genzo I want to talk about is called, Kenbutsu in Japanese, Meeting Buddha or Seeing Buddha. And this includes several references to the Lotus Sutra. Dogen cites from chapter 16, um, um, Buddha's statement that when, when beings with unified or, quote, undivided mind desire to meet Buddha without attaching to their own body and life, unquote, at that time, he appears with the assembly at Vulture Peak and expounds the Lotus Sutra. Dogen comments Quote, when each present individual secretly arouses the desire to meet Buddha, we are desiring to meet Buddha through concentration of the vulture peak mind, so the undivided or unified mind is vulture peak itself.

[43:51]

How could the undivided body not appear together with this mind? So, the whole of the Lotus Sutra and the inconceivable lifespan of Shakyamuni is also an embodiment for Dogen of the wholehearted, single-minded, uh, lifespan of Shakyamuni. Uh, uh, no, I'm sorry. The whole of the Lotus Sutra and the Inconceivable Lifespan of Shakyamuni is also an embodiment for Dogen of the wholehearted, single-minded practice that he's advocating as in his instructions for Zazen, sitting meditation. So what, how Dogen sees Zazen is, um, as an embodiment, you know, in our full, wholehearted zazen is an embodiment of Shakyamuni and his lifespan. Throughout his references to the enduring Shakyamuni, Dogen uses the story of this lifespan as an encouragement to celebrate the importance of ongoing dedicated practice.

[44:56]

This essay, Seeing Buddha and Meeting Buddha, he equates Buddha's extraordinary lifespan with the undivided wholeheartedness of single-minded practice. So, Dogen often emphasizes that practice is not in order to obtain some future acquisition of awakening, but is the practice of enlightenment already present in the continuing presence of the living Buddha. Dogen's practice approach of embodiment of awakening in this very body and mind, in Japanese that's called Sokujin Zenbutsu, can be linked to a description of the enduring Shakyamuni as reality itself. Our practice becomes the necessary ritual performance or enactment of an act of faith in this awakened reality as already and ongoingly being expressed and present in this conditioned world. And just as a kind of historical footnote, this Sokushin Zebutsu of Dogen might be contrasted with what Kukai, the founder of the Shingon, or the Vajrayana, Japanese Vajrayana Buddhism in the 800s, called Sokushin Jobutsu, which is close, but is instead of awakening Buddha in this very mind, is

[46:20]

attaining Buddha in this very mind, in this very body and mind. So that's kind of more like acquiring Buddha. This is, so Dogen changes that to this, that Buddha is already here in this very body and mind. So, in terms of this, of Dogen's teaching about time and space and how they're connected to the Lotus Sutra, So again, it indicates that study with the ancient Buddhas and full penetration of their teaching allows the students to dwell in the Buddha land. Again, talking about the space of this earth and space itself. Where Buddhas awaken, the earth must be a land of ancient Buddhas. So in the places where we practice, we're creating this space. He's also encouraging the students to believe that their practice place is a site of awakening. You probably all know the word Jodo used in martial arts for a place of practice.

[47:48]

But that comes from this site of awakening, Bodhimandala, where the Buddha awakened. So where we practice, part of what then priests are trained to do is to create a space that is conducive to practice. So, Dogen emphasizes the indispensable active role of the earth and its lands for Buddha's activities. He says, that which allows one corner of a Buddha's awesome presence is the entire universe, the entire earth, as well as the entirety of birth and death, coming and going. of innumerable lands and lotus blossoms." Read that again. Quote, "...that which allows one corner of a Buddha's awesome presence," this is from Gilbert Saigi, "...is the entire universe, the entire earth, as well as the entirety of birth and death, coming and going, of innumerable lands and lotus blossoms." So, he uses the lotus as a significant symbol for this active role of earth.

[48:54]

"...grows up and blossoms into beauty from out of the swampy mud of earth." Um, maybe I mentioned this before, but in a couple of his, uh, dharma hall discourses in Ehekoloku, Dogen's extensive record, Dogen uses a colorful line, which is also in the Blue Cliff Record, and it may be older, I don't know, but, uh, the line is, the more mud, the greater the Buddha. I like that, the more mud, the greater the Buddha. It indicates the fertility of the earth, but also, you know, the karmic obstructions and suffering that help activate Buddhist practice. So the more mud, the greater the Buddha, you know, in a literal way, you know, if you think of a clay Buddha, the more mud that's piled on, the bigger the Buddha. But also, you know, each of us, each of you may feel, you know, your own karmic stuff. You can call it mud if you want.

[49:56]

And, um, how working through that, you know, helps develop, um, your Buddha practice. So, um, this is also, you know, the lotus is a symbol of that. So, in closing, I want to, um, well, first of all, go back to this, this, um, sentence that I like from The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas. Um, Dogen says, know that Buddhas and the Buddha way do not wait for awakening. And you could also say that you do not look back for awakening. The awakening is just here. It's not something that'll happen if you, you know, sit Zazen enough or go to enough sessions or listen to enough Dharma talks or read enough Dogen or read enough Sutras. Actually listening to the Dharma is Buddha's practice. This is what active Buddhas do. and is what active Buddhas do.

[50:57]

And then he says, active Buddhas or actual Buddhas or practicing Buddhas alone or simply fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So don't get stuck in Buddha. You know, there's a more aggressive expression in Rinzai, if you see the Buddha on the path, kill the Buddha. This is a little, you know, more So just die a little gentler. Just don't get stuck in some image of Buddha, some experience of Buddha even, some understanding of Buddha. It's possible to understand, you know, the Dharma, but the point isn't, as I said, I think last time, or maybe in the first week, the point is not to get, to gain some particular explanation or understanding of Buddha's practice. The point is to practice, to express it, to enact it, to express Buddha's body with your body. Dogen is very clear about this, and this is, I talked about this, I think, in the first week, this is also what, this is how Zen, Dogen Zen, is very much like Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism.

[52:11]

The point is not about some understanding, although, you know, it's fine if you understand, but fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha. So I want to close with two excerpts from Ehe Koroku, Dogen's extensive record, both from 1251. These are from, you know, his last period, next to last year of his actual teaching. And I'll just mention, by the way, I've talked about how he cites the Lotus Sutra very frequently. one of his, I can dig that out in the discussion period if you would like, but that one of his last poems is about how he, you know, likes to chant things from the Lotus Sutra. So he talks about the Lotus Sutra from early on in his career and when he was a Tendai monk till the end.

[53:14]

Anyway, this is from the Dharma Hall Discourse in 1251. He says, quote, Bodhisattva studying the way, should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature. So, the Lotus Sutra doesn't talk about Buddha nature particularly, Dogen does, but how does this quality of awakening produce the conditions, support the conditions for Buddha nature? It's really interesting for our practice. How does our own engagement in this practice of experiencing the vital process of going beyond Buddha, how does that produce conditions for more Buddha nature? How does our practice of celebrating joy, of communing with awakening, help support

[54:17]

ourselves and others to continue further developing Buddha nature. This is something, you know, that we should study. He says that we should know how this works. We should look at this. We should explore this. We should see how our practice supports more practice. Ourselves and those around us, and in the world. The world needs it. So, in another Dharma Hall discourse, from around the same time, actually just before the last one, Dogen stresses the importance of bodhisattva vow, and I think this is really important and not, you know, well enough understood in American and Western Buddhism and Western Zen. But he says, the family style of all Buddhas and ancestors is to first arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy.

[55:27]

Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear. So, the family style is a common Zen expression for the teaching style of a particular lineage. So, you know, there's we could say there's Suzuki Roshi lineage family style and Maezumi Roshi lineage family style, but here he's talking about the family style of all Buddhas and ancestors. Dogen didn't even, you know, he didn't say, he didn't even use the word zen. In fact, he says he's not zen, he's just, you know, the Buddha way. So he says here very clearly, the family style of all Buddhas and ancestors. is first, arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. So this goes back to, uh, you know, what he's, what Lotus Sutra says in chapter two, um, and again, it echoes at the end of chapter 16 about, uh, the point of all this practice is to help relieve suffering and to provide joy and to help beings enter into the way.

[56:33]

That's the point of all of this, period. Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear." So, uh, that's what's primary in our practice, this Bodhisattva vow to save all living beings, to alleviate their suffering. So, you know, in the context of seeing this, um, the depth of how, uh, you know, Dogen Earth and space and time itself as supporting our awakening, uh, how do we use this to, uh, help, uh, relieve suffering? We certainly have plenty of that in the world today. Maybe it's always here, but, uh, we're living in a critical age where, uh, masses of species are going extinct every day. Um, anyway.

[57:33]

We can talk about that, but this way of seeing reality itself, and particularly time itself and space itself and the Earth as sources of awakening, I think is very encouraging. So, again, I've talked, there's a lot of material that I've talked about in these three weeks, and I will pause now and uh, invite your comments and responses and questions about, um, any parts of this, uh, or anything else from the past two weeks because we didn't, you know, have so much time for discussion. So, um, comments, questions, responses, uh, please feel free. And you can use the handset of your telephone or the keypad on your computer to press one.

[58:36]

And I can open up your mic so that you can press your question or observation. So, go ahead, anyone who would like to press one. So, Meinrad in Germany. Yeah, hi. Thank you very much for all your introduction into the Lotus Sutra. And my question is with regard to the phrase from today, Buddhists do not wait for awakening. So let's say if waiting somehow isn't good to come closer to awakening, what else will bring you closer then to awakening if it is not waiting? Well, you know, there's the famous story from Zhaozhou, when he asks his teacher, Nanshuang or Nanshan, Zhaozhou asks, you know, what is the way, he says, ordinary mind is the way, and Zhaozhou says, how do I approach it?

[59:38]

And he says, the more you try and approach it, the further away you get. So don't try and bring yourself to awakening. However, the awakening that you have right now, whatever that is, you can deepen. So our practice of Buddha going beyond Buddha is simply to, you know, there's many ways to say it, to deepen, to open, to expand, to allow it to flower more. So rather than thinking about getting to awakening, how do you deepen We can talk about very specific aspects of it. How do you deepen your samadhi? How do you develop more space in terms of your capacity to express it in the context of your everyday practice and your activities in the world? How do you open up more options for your skillful means?

[60:42]

It's not about getting awakening that you don't have now. It's about opening up and deepening your practice, the practice Awakening that you have right now. So, yeah. Please continue. Yeah, thank you. So, there is something which is noticing, something like Awakening, which would be... Don't worry about, don't try and figure out what your Awakening is. Don't try to understand it. Don't try and even notice it. Just keep going with your practice and allow it to express itself. It's there. It's right under your seat. The underground bodhisattvas in your life are there. You don't have to figure it out. Don't try and notice it. The more you try and notice it, the further away it gets.

[61:43]

Just trust Trust in Buddha, trust in yourself, trust in that which, so my teacher's teacher Suzuki Roshi said, what is the most important thing? Look and see what's important to you. What do you care about? Try and express that. So zazen is related to our own creative activities. Look at what you care about, what you're good at, what is of interest to you, and then um, the Bodhisattva, uh, expression is about how to be helpful rather than harmful. How can, in your activities, how can you, it's not about fixing things, but how, what is it you, you know, skillful means is about trying to be helpful. So how can you, uh, open up your capacity, deepen your capacity to be helpful to yourself and to everything around you? So keep, keep looking at that. Good luck.

[62:43]

I think Michael in Texas was next. Yes, thank you very much for your teachings these last few days. They've really given me a different point of view and greater understanding. There was one thing that's come up several times that I'm confused about, and that's about the word practice. Ah. So my association with practice is, you know, the repeated kind of exercise or performance of some activity so that I can either acquire it or I can maintain my proficiency. But obviously, that really doesn't fit here. That's not unrelated. It's not unrelated. But it's not about... So as I was saying to Munrod, there is acquiring proficiency, I guess.

[63:48]

That happens, but it's not like practicing the violin or something. You do it more and more, and there may be ways of measuring or noticing, as Munrod was saying, your development. You know, so mostly I'm talking about, you know, in the context of Dogen's and Zazen as the exercise in which we, you know, so Zazen's very important. It's the kind of starting point model and sustaining it is what's important. It's not about some dramatic experience. It's about the everydayness or regular practice of coming back to just being present and paying attention. So it's about paying attention and just practicing, sustaining the practice, however your practice expression is, whatever it is you're doing in your everyday activities, to be helpful rather than harmful, to express Zazen mind and heart in the world, to be helpful, including Zazen.

[65:00]

to be helpful to yourself, to deepen your own awareness, and your own capacity, and to express that in the world. So, you know, it may involve acquiring proficiency, but it's sustaining that, and deepening that, and unfolding that, and opening that up, and finding new ways to express it, and finding new options in terms of how it's expressed. So it's a creative activity. Practice is a creative expression. Zazen is a creative expression, it's a performance art. You're celebrating this practice realization. Does any of that make sense to you? Yes, I think so. But would it be true to say that to take the sitting practice of Zazen into all activities would be a way of sustaining it? Yeah, but you don't have to carry it into. It's there. So in Zazen, we develop a relationship to our breath, to our inhale and exhale.

[66:06]

And in the middle of your activities, because you have that relationship to your breath, you can pause and take a breath and allow yourself to be reminded of that settledness openness that is part of your zazen, and that will be helpful. So it's not that you can, it's not about, you can't, it's not about controlling anything. I mean, there are times when we can control things, but it's more about opening up and allowing the practice, allowing Buddha to be there. Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you very much. Welcome very much. Anita or someone in the Netherlands? I want to express my gratitude for the explanation that you're giving us and the information and I'm trying to take it in and here and there something really hits home like

[67:19]

It's not a grasping, but it's living our life, and it is allowing the realization to be that really touches me, and something I'm taking with me during my day. Good. Well, thank you for listening. Thank you for... So that's what Buddhas do. They listen and allow something to get home, and they take it in. So, thank you very much. So, anybody else, comments, responses, questions, please feel free. Julia. Yes. Thank you, Tigon. I find just gratitude, deep gratitude for this teaching. I probably would never have opened the Lotus Sutra on my own without this beautiful teaching. And I really appreciate really feeling Dogen's deep connection to this text.

[68:27]

It feels like it will enliven my appreciation of Dogen even more. And I think I have Musho Sensei here who also would like to make a comment. Hi. People on the line know that We have this small piece of land in this beautiful location down in southern Utah, so I think what I've been really moved by is hearing the descriptions of the Buddha fields and the kind of arising of Dharma and Bodhisattvas directly out of the earth, and I feel encouraged to, in terms of my embodiment of practice, to work and to be with this emerging center as an opportunity for people to deepen their realization of Buddha nature. So I just feel very encouraged and appreciative of those parts of what you've delivered because of what I'm doing right now. So thank you. What we're doing, I should say. What it's doing. You're very welcome.

[69:30]

So I have a couple things to say just in response to Julia. When you, for any of you who, if you are moved to open the Lotus Sutra and read it, There are parts of the Lotus Sutra, if you read the text, that are off-putting to a lot of people. It's very flowery, as the name would imply. There's a particular context for a lot of the Mahayana Sutras, and then there's the stuff about the Lotus Sutra talking about itself all the time and how wonderful it is. And there's the, you know, there are various things in the Lotus Sutra that turn people off. I don't like all of it myself. There's the chapter about the Medicine Buddha and self-immolation, which really turns me off. So I don't want to leave you with some, you know, blanket endorsement, oh, please read the Lotus Sutra. But there's lots of good stuff in it.

[70:31]

So, you know, you have to, part of reading the Lotus Sutra, reading Dogen, reading Koans, is to read creatively and to play with it and to find what's useful to you in this. Because, you know, we have to take responsibility for our own practice. We have to find our own way to play with the Dharma materials, to turn the Dharma rather than be turned by it, and that's part of what Dogen is saying. So, yeah, so, and then what, to Musho, yeah, so you give a good example to find in this material about the Buddha fields and the relationship that, you know, is one of the central things. So again, all the material that I talked about today is based on parts of stuff in my book on Visions of Awakening Space and Time, Dogon and the Lotus Sutra, so you can find more in there. if you want, but the material about how Dogen sees the earth and space and time, and the earth as a resource.

[71:37]

Yeah, so I think Zen practice and Buddhist practice in general in Asia is very much about the relationship to the earth, and that's very important for us. You know, I feel like, and maybe you have, you know, I think you probably have some experience of this in Utah. It's challenging for all of us in the West, but I think for those of us in America, and maybe there are ways to see this in Europe, and I'm sure in South America too, I think for us to see the connection of the land and how eventually Buddhism will have to integrate with Native American lore and wisdom because those are the people of this land, you know, going back for many, many centuries. But, you know, Buddhism is kind of Earth-based, you know.

[72:41]

Buddha touched the ground to confirm his awakening. You know, there's this practice in Buddhism about trees and planting trees, and he awakened under the Bodhi tree, and this goes through. So our connection to the earth is really important, as you were saying, Michel. And so this is part of what Dogen is playing with in his, how he uses and interprets things of the Lotus Sutra. The other side of that though is, and then the bodhisattva's coming out of the open space under the earth. I just love that story and the image of that. And again, reading about it in the sutra itself, you know, is one thing, but then it's up to us to kind of, well, what does that mean for us? And one of the things about it clearly for Dogen is it's not enough to just leave this, but then we have a responsibility.

[73:46]

This is really clear, Dogen. It's not just about... It's about how do we... Dogen talks again and again about expressing the practice. So we have a responsibility to the Earth. So it's not enough to benefit from the bodhisattvas under the Earth. How do we take care of the Earth? The specific place we're in and the planet as a whole. And this is the challenge for... our generation, and so how do we respond to climate and so forth. This is, you know, anyway, so these are descriptions of the way in which the Earth is an agent for awakening, and they're also a kind of practice instruction of our responsibility to the Earth that we are part of. So, yeah, just to say all of that. So, thank you for sharing. Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much, Tygan.

[74:48]

Pilar in Texas? Yes. Hello, Tygan. I do have a cold today, and I'm including all of the microbiome that lives in my body. Oh, welcome! But I love that you included the universal getaway of Kamsayam Bodhisattva. I was reading it last night, and it blended, it melted my heart. In all of this time and space, to include compassion, it's just lovely, lovely for me. Thank you. Yes. Well, this is... Yeah. So, I didn't get into this so much in this... I mentioned some of it in terms of the overall description of the... chapters in the Lotus Sutra in the first week, but in the first half of the Sutra is about skillful means mostly and about the different bodhisattvas and arhats and predictions of their Buddhahood and the Buddha asking about who will come back in our future evil age and so forth.

[76:04]

The second half of the Sutra, after the story of the lifespan, is kind of the effect of the practice, and there's many different stories about different Bodhisattvas, including Kanon, Kanzeon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and, you know, yeah, so the Bodhisattva practice, you know, what I read from Dogen's saying that the family style of all Buddhism ancestors is to arouse the vow to save all living beings, to remove suffering and provide joy, that's primary. So how do we find compassion to help all beings, to remove suffering? And Kannon, who comes in response to, we can understand that in a variety of ways, very literally, in terms of calling on bodhisattva compassion, or just recalling

[77:05]

on whenever there is some difficulty, but there's other Bodhisattvas, Samantabhadra in the last chapter of the Bodhisattva of devotion and vow, and I think of Samantabhadra in terms of social action, and also other Bodhisattvas never disrespecting Bodhisattva, who's this interesting character who goes around and He says, I will never disrespect you to all the other people, all the other monks in the monastery, and sees Buddha nature in all the other, even in the monks who give him a hard time. Yeah, so there's many different Bodhisattva expressions, and I think this is important that we see that there's not one right way to do this. of us have our own particular way of expressing this Bodhisattva practice of expressing compassion.

[78:10]

There's not, you know, one right mold or one right way to practice this. We have to respect the different styles. But thank you, Pilar. Thank you. There are questions, comments, responses. Uh, feel free, anything that you want to say about Dogan, or practice, or, uh, passion, or Lotus Sutra, or Bodhisattva activity, or birth, or time, or space, or anything else. Heh. Shelby? Okay. I was wondering, did you say that Dogen said that the... Or maybe it wasn't Dogen. Maybe you just... That the most... Something like the most important thing of Buddhism was to rouse the vow of alleviating suffering.

[79:23]

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yes, I did say that, and Dogen did say that. So this is from the... This is what I said in the conclusion, so let me say it again. That's from Dogen's extensive record. So I'll just read the quote again from Dogen. The family style of all Buddhists and ancestors is to first arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear." So yeah, and I said that this is, so this is primary, this is the basis for our practice, you know, this is that, you know, with all the other aspects of practice, Buddhist practice, uh, Dharma and Dharma study and, and, uh, and meditative, uh, practice expression and, and all the wonderful aspects of Sangha practice.

[80:36]

Uh, the basis, uh, of that, the point of that is this, um, uh, you know, this, um, Bodhicitta, this commitment to helping, to being helpful rather than harmful, as I put it, to trying to leave suffering, to try to help beings enter into the path. So the Lotus Sutra says this in a number of places, in a number of ways, in terms of uh, the, the Buddhas appear and Bodhisattvas appear in the world for one, for one reason only, for one single cause, which is to, uh, help beings enter into the path to awakening and to relieve suffering. And then in, uh, uh, the end of chapter 16, let me see if I can find that, uh, where, where, um, um,

[81:46]

where Shakyamuni Buddha says, I always give thought, I always think about how I can cause all beings to enter into the supreme way and quickly become Buddhists, how to help beings become Buddhists, which is to say, to how to awaken. So, yeah. So, what's your question about that, Shelby, or comment, or response? Well, I guess when I first heard it, my first thought was of perhaps, I mean like obviously there would be a rousing of that vow within yourself, but perhaps, I don't know, just something came to mind about rousing that vow perhaps in others. Yes. You know, at least just inviting other people, or just doing something perhaps to call some attention.

[82:57]

I'm sorry, I'm not expressing myself very well. You know, occasionally I see others, you know, who clearly don't necessarily have that feeling of seeing the pain of others or seeing the suffering of others. Sure. And, yeah, occasionally. And seeing, you know, the many things that can result from that. Yes, of course. So, let me say, yeah, two things to say. Sorry to interrupt. I just, but just to say, of course, this also means to to help relieve ourselves of suffering and help, you know, develop our own awakening. So it's not at the exclusion of ourselves. It's not about not taking care of ourselves.

[83:59]

So we are included in all the beings. So that's just to say that, and that's important. We have to take care of ourselves. And then, you know, in terms of seeing, so in terms of helping and not hurting, Yeah, of course, obviously there is a lot of harm and suffering in the world, and we see many beings in society and in politics and in the world who are causing a lot of suffering. And the practice then is, it's not about blaming, but it's about how do we help? And we have precepts about this. You know, I think the main practice... So, skillful means is the whole first part of the Sutra is, how do we be helpful? And this isn't... And this is, I think, the main practice about that is patience and attention.

[84:59]

And often there is not some way... Sometimes it means just being, uh... Sometimes it's just being still and not doing anything, because we don't see what to do. But it's about being ready and willing to try things if we think they might be helpful. It's about paying attention and helping when we can. And so we can't fix it. It doesn't mean that we're going to go out and fix everything. It doesn't mean just running around But because we see that we are connected with everything, we are, we take care of ourselves and we try and be helpful. And not, you know, not be name-calling or hateful, because when we see people causing harm, but how can we help them to stop that? How can we help to help in situations? So, yeah, it's a huge job. But part of, you know, one of the things I want to say is,

[86:03]

This thing about space and time, I think one of the things that's most helpful as a tool for all of this is to have this sense of bodhisattva time and to see that all times are present now, but we have to be working at this with the horrible things that are happening to the planet now. And I could go into detail, but some of you know about this. that it's urgent, but also we have to enjoy that which can be enjoyed and celebrate the wonders of our world and see time from this Bodhisattva context where all time is now, the future as well as the past, and we can change all of that through our And so being hopeless is not helpful.

[87:10]

Feeling overwhelmed is not helpful, even though it's very easy to feel that. And we have to take care of ourselves so we don't succumb to that. But, you know, just to try and stay present with how to be helpful in whatever the situation is. And that's not easy. uh, give yourself whatever nourishment you can to sustain yourself. Creation, uh, can be a tremendous nourishment, but whatever nourishes your practice is really important. So, uh, other comments, Shelby? You were going to say something else. Oh, um, I didn't have a very well formulated question when I, when I raised my hand, but OK. I do appreciate your comments on that and feeling a little commiserating, especially the feeling of being overwhelmed, which I occasionally get at times.

[88:11]

Yeah, well, we all do. It's easy. And that being completely, you can't do anything if you're paralyzed. But feeling overwhelmed is a kind of self-clinging. It's kind of self-concern. And we should forgive ourselves for that, because it's easy. But, you know, then, okay, how do we realize that everybody else in some real way is depending on us, just as we are depending on everybody else? So, how do we take another breath and do our best? What you've given us this morning is just tremendous. both from just familiarizing ourselves with the Lotus Sutra and then also, maybe even more importantly, is Master Dogen's comments and his relationship and the kind of, you know, just the consistent kind of reframe from, you know, explaining the Dharma to proclaiming the Dharma.

[89:17]

Just, you know, this kind of non-dual quality that really comes through. And so, you've done an exceptional job for us and we're all really, really grateful. So, thank you so much. Well, I'm grateful for your listening. This is what Buddhists do, is they listen to the Dharma. Exactly. Exactly. So, we joked, everyone, before you got on the line. Saigon said that he was... That the first and second sessions were preparation for today, and that he'd done... He was thinking that we needed six hours to cover what we were going to cover today. So, that was... But he compressed it, and so, we got all that in an hour and a half. So, thanks, everybody, for your time. It's wonderful to be with you, and we'll see you soon. And, Tygen, again, thank you very much. You're welcome, very much.

[90:03]

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