Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Can you all hear me? Okay, so yesterday afternoon, I had a three and a half hour seminar about one of Dogen's major works, Dogen's extensive record, which is a big volume. Those of you who know something about Dogen probably know about his other masterwork, Shobo Genzo, to the Danmai Treasury. This one is, I translated it, it was shown at Kurokumaura, and it's different in style. Shobo Genzo has longer verses that elaborate on prologues of things or particular stories,

[01:02]

particular people, lineage, particular ancestors. In most of Shobo Genzo, the vast majority of it was written within a few years, from 1242 to 1245, while Dogen was moving his whole sangha from Kyoto, way up to the capital, way up to the mountains in northern Japan, where he founded the Eiji Temple. So, I think there's a couple of people here in the room, at least one person online who was here yesterday, that I'm going to try and just give a few selections from this text, most of which is Dharma Hall Discourses, Jodo, which were very different from the form of the long essays of Shobo Genzo. They were short, mostly very short, formal,

[02:02]

Dogen sitting up on the Dharma seat in the Dharma Hall, and the monks standing. So, this covers material from, first of all, this is from this period in Kyoto, 1233 to 1243, and then the rest of it is from the Eiji, from his monastery in the north. So, this is a record of his mature teachings. So, I'm just going to give some excerpts, short excerpts, and then we can have some discussion. The first two are kind of in honor of our Rohatsu Sesshin coming up in December, the first Rohatsu Sesshin since 2019, that Hokuso and I are going to read together, focused on an essay by Onodobin's great disciples, Koen Echo, his main disciple, amongst those who compiled the Eiko Roku, and

[03:07]

that essay that we will talk about is the Samadhi of the Treasury of Radiance. But there's a couple of short, relevant things from Eiko Roku. So, in 1242, before he moved to Kyoto, he said, well, everybody has their own radiance. The Buddha Hall and monk's hall can never be destroyed. Now I ask you, where do you all come from? Radiance allows the radiance to respond. So, as I said yesterday, this isn't about life, although it is about life, but it's also about sounds and smells and physical sensations and everything in the whole world. Everybody has their own radiance. The Buddha Hall and monk's hall can never be destroyed. Now I ask you,

[04:09]

where do you come from? And I see people here from many places. We're in autumn, but I see Pablo is here from spring, from Patagonia, and there are people here from Mexico and Michigan and Ohio. Anyway, so, in his poetry, so part of the Eiko Roku is the collection of his Chinese poetry going up to his very last years, but also including all the studies of his students, from his studies in China, 12.3 to 12.7. So, here's another, here's a poem. No wonder it's been astounded and mysteriously discussed, but who can reach them? Forgetting words and quietly sitting, the mouth is straight as a wire. A good teacher penetrates both essence and expression.

[05:10]

On the hot red grass tips, the radiance glistens. So, this radiance is every year, this radiance is talking about the Buddha lecture. So, now I'm just going to give some samples and then we can have some discussion. This is from a slightly longer Tathagata discourse, 12.52, last year teaching at the AGI. We should know that becoming a Buddha is not something new or ancient. How could practice realization be within any boundary? Do not say that from the beginning, not a single thing exists. And of course, that was the famous saying by the Sixth Axis. But Tathagata says, do not say that from the beginning, not a single thing exists. The causes are complete

[06:17]

and the results are fulfilled through time. Please don't. Why is it like this? After a pause, what then said? Opening flowers will unfailingly bear the genuine fruit. Green leaves meaning autumn immediately turn red. So, she's doing this outside now here in Chicago, although around me they're mostly turning yellow. I don't think I've seen any of that, but I'm sure that that's around as well. I'll read it again. You should know that becoming a Buddha is not something new or ancient. How could practice realization be within any boundary? Do not say that from the beginning, not a single thing exists. The causes are complete and the results are fulfilled through time.

[07:21]

Later said, please tell me why is it like this? So, as I said yesterday, in his later years, especially, Tathagata emphasized the importance of causes and conditions, the importance of karma, the importance of allowing our ancient twisted karma to regularly change. The causes are complete, the results are fulfilled. So, this is about how do we bring our insight into suchness or emptiness or wholeness or whatever you want to call the ultimate into our everyday activity. This is our emphasis that comes in. How do we take care of the things of this world and their causes and conditions which are fulfilled through time? And after I closed it up and said, opening flowers will unveilingly bear genuine truth.

[08:23]

Green leaves meeting autumn immediately turn red. So, the opening flowers is certainly about the flowers that open in spring. Maybe more now where what probably is the southern hemisphere, but yeah, opening flowers unveilingly bear genuine truth. The silk green flowers also have to do with Arjasa, what's happening on your seat. Arsanga, flowering in the southwest. Opening flowers will unveilingly bear genuine truth. And green leaves meeting autumn immediately turn red. So, again, I'm just going to read some excerpts. This one is also from way up in the year 1251,

[09:30]

and it's one of my favorites, one of the most important things, and there's something that goes to school. This book is just a record of 800 pages. Anyway, in 1251, Dogen said, and for those who don't know, and I assume you all do, but Dogen was the founder of our tradition, who lived in 13th century Japan and went to China and brought back the central lineage to Japan. Anyway, in 1251, he said, 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. That's the starting point of our practice. First arouse the vow to save, to free all living beings, to remove suffering and provide joy.

[10:41]

Of course, this is very challenging in the world we live in now with difficulties of war and genocide and cleansing and terrorist attacks and climate catastrophes. Still, our practice is about freeing all beings, removing suffering, providing joy. Only this family style of ancestors is inexhaustibly brighter and clearer. In the lofty mountains, we see the moon for a long time. As clouds clear, we first recognize the sky. Cast loose down the precipice, the moonlight shares itself within the 10,000 forms. Even when climbing up the earth's path, taking good care of yourself is spiritual power. So, freeing all beings, removing suffering, bringing joy, doesn't mean ignoring your own

[11:44]

good care. So, we take care of ourselves, we have compassion for ourselves, we find our balance, we're sustaining our practice, whatever that is for you. And that we take on this vow. So, he says, in the lofty mountains, we've seen the moon for a long time. As clouds clear, we first recognize the sky. So, he was talking metaphorically, but also literally, because he was living up in mountains. But this also applies to being in the lofty mountains for a long time, means also sustaining our practice for a long time.

[12:53]

Or doing longer practices. So, I hope this is going to lead Walt Disney next month, and we're going to have this five-day relaxation session. You're all welcome to online or in person, getting one or two in five days. Taking the time to see the clouds clear, and to first recognize the sky is vital to our practice. But then, cast loose down the precipice. And that leads Brian to yesterday, and I appreciated that word precipice. Down, cast loose down, down and up, down from our lofty height, down from our glimmer chase of full awakening, almost. The moonlight shares itself with the 10,000 forms. So, this is about how do we practice

[14:02]

how do we extend our awareness from zazen into everyday activity. This is key practice. It's not just about getting high or having some wonderful, great experience, or having some great understanding of that, which is possible. But how do we then share it in this difficult troubled world? So, he says, it says, cast loose down the precipice, moonlight shares itself with the 10,000 forms. Even when climbing up the birth path, taking good care of yourself is spiritual power. So, the birth path goes back to Dongshan, the founder of our lineage in China. And it's an image for how, you know, how we practice and sustain our practice and continue our practice

[15:11]

without knowing exactly, you know, what the outcome is, where it's going, how to, you know, maybe we see the next step. Of course, birds, maybe birds see trails in the sky, we don't see the birds that they somehow know how to migrate. This is the same area for years and years and centuries anyway. So, the first step is an old image for that for our practice goes back to the first. So, taking good care of yourself is spiritual power. So, please take care of all beings and take care of yourself. This is the style, family style of all birds and ancestors. A few more, please. Oh, this is a good one. So, this refers to dropping off body and mind.

[16:23]

And this is a phrase that Dogen uses regularly for complete letting go, dropping off body and mind. It's a synonym for Zazen for Dogen. It's also a synonym for complete unsurpassed, complete awakening. Dropping off body and mind doesn't mean to get too snark about, you know, that old. Maybe we're past that. I don't know if there's still some places that practice the body and mind. But anyway, dropping off body and mind doesn't mean destroying body and mind. It's not being corrupt. So, you say, we've got to cut through them, cutting through our delusions of body and mind. Anyway, dropping body and mind is something we've talked about a lot, that and Buddha going beyond Buddha. So, when if you, when you have some great realization of emptiness, or calmness, or

[17:29]

Buddha, or whatever you want to call it, that's just the beginning of your practice. Please continue. Chakyamuni Buddha in northeastern, what's now northeastern India, had this great awakening and became Buddha, and he kept sitting and awakening every day. So, we're going beyond the dropping off body and mind. Dogen talks about those more than he talks about. Chika and Tadzo are just sitting. Okay, that's a long introduction to this short Dogma of Discourse. Dropping off body and mind, he says, is good practice. So, in, in Heiko Ogutsu-ryo, that sense of human, in this person world, much more than in Shravakamsa, dropping off body and mind is good practice. Yes, it is. Make a vigorous effort to pierce your nostrils. Karmic consciousness is

[18:34]

endless, with nothing fundamental to rely on, including not others, not self, not sentient beings, and not causes and conditions. Although this is so, he continues, eating breakfast comes first. So, we take care of ourselves. Enjoying breakfast is a great Zen tradition. So, um, yeah, how do we take care of all of this? And in the middle of this, it says, karmic consciousness, endless, with nothing fundamental to rely on, including not others. Oh no, before that, make a vigorous effort to pierce your nostrils. And when I first saw that, I thought that meant, referred to, you know, breathing fully, enjoying what may all next come. And yes, it can also equivalent to that, but it's also an image of Zen tradition of,

[19:37]

some of you know about the ox-herding pictures. The ox has, this is an earth picture, there's a rope or a line too, that the ox tamer leaves. So, this is an image following the teaching. Let yourself be a good student, which means to listen to teachers and be led by teachers, and be led by the teacher, and let, be led by the Dharma, be led by the Sangha. So, just as an aside announcement, which I'll go through a bit later, here at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, we have numbers of teachers and practice leaders, and you can get the coordinates to talk with us about your practice system, if you want to go to ancientdragon.org. Anyway, although all this is eating breakfast, come search.

[20:40]

Let's see, I'm trying to put a few more. So, as I mentioned, there are lots of these short Chinese verses that Dobian threw out, some of them from when he was a student, and that is the Chant of Religion in China. There's also many verses from his late years and ageing. So, Heikuo is, you know, the text for Dobian's Chuguo-related teachings, and some scholars who don't know about Heikuo, just want to know, you know, how Heikuo's Chuguo-based works, that he was finished teaching

[21:42]

when he moved to an ageing, but there's wonderful books from later on. So, I'm just going to read a couple. So, this one's a little bit earlier, and refers to previous times from his verses at the time of Nichiren seclusion. So, this is a phrase, Nichiren seclusion, that refers to not being in a residential monastery. So, the time going after Dobian came back to China, and before he set up this temple and monastery in southern Kyoto, this refers back to that temple, which is an area at that time, a suburb of Kyoto. In birth and death, we sympathize with ceasing and arising.

[22:45]

Both deluded and awakened paths proceed within a dream, and yet, there's something difficult to forget. Nichiren seclusion refers to the sound of evil rain. So, any of you who have sat in the evening and heard the rain falling outside or on the roof can feel what Dobian is talking about. There's something difficult to forget. Nichiren seclusion, sound of evil rain. So, in birth and death, we sympathize with ceasing and arising. So, this is, you know, change, time, and prevalence, ceasing and arising, and we sympathize. We sympathize with those who passed the bill, and next Sunday, we're going to talk about the ceremony,

[23:57]

including honoring the people who have passed in the last year. In birth and death, we sympathize with ceasing and arising. Both deluded and awakened paths proceed within a dream. I could give a whole wrap on this, but okay. So, first of all, Dobian talks about the point of our practice is not to get rid of delusion and get a hold, a hold, a tight grasp on awakening. We are in delusion throughout delusion. We are in awakening throughout awakening. So, both deluded and awakening paths proceed within a dream. Expressing the dream within a dream. So, and back in Hideogo Japan, Dobian's time, they had a great respect for dreams.

[25:02]

There were a number of great teachers, somewhat relevant, but especially Keizar, who was the second founder of Sentozen, two generations after Dobian, who had many dreams, and he moved his temples and ordained people based on things that happened in dreams. And Dobian talks about, kind of says that, to express the dream within a dream, and there's an old saying, poem, Maryland, [...] life is but a dream. So, anyway, and yeah, there's something difficult to do, unleash your delusion, get that separate sound of you from them. One more poem, this is much later on, this is one of his verses on snow.

[26:04]

In our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. He was saying that then. I think we might say it too, in our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. Just look at the politicians. Anyway, while playing with the moon, scorning the wind, and listening to birds for many years, I nearly saw that mountains had snow. This winter, suddenly, I realized that snow makes the mountains. And this, also, that last part could also be read as, snow proceeds the mountains, it goes the mountains. So, he was sitting in the Aegean area, Aegean, looking at all the mountains because of the snow. And, in many years, she says, I nearly saw that mountains had snow.

[27:13]

Mountains had snow on them. Suddenly, this winter, I realized, snow makes the mountains. So, when you see, so, this is not something common for people in China. Chicago. How many of you, so all the people in the room, are living in Chicago, but they're about, how many of you have ever seen mountains? Quite a few. Okay. So, maybe you know about mountains being made from snow. So, there's one more I was going to read, but I want to, but let's get the responses finished. The one I was going to read is about, well, the essential meaning of the Dharma, and it suggests to one of the great disciples, but I don't know, we can just have a discussion now.

[28:14]

Okay, somebody wants to. So, this was addressed to Rianglan, who was one of his main disciples. There's no record of her being up at age, so maybe she stayed behind, but there were a lot of people who moved up to the Aegean. Maybe she was older, we don't really know. Maybe she was up there, too old to go up. She'd trek up to the mountains. And this is from one of, not from his Dharma Talks, but one of his Dharma Words, Volume 8, a little bit longer. And there are a few of his Dharma Talks in that section that are addressed to her. So, she was an important disciple. And again, before I read this, just to note that at most of these stations, Buddhism, the culture around them was very patriarchal.

[29:20]

So, you have to seize the pressure from early on, like, intently aspiring to the great way of Buddha, Buddha ancestors. Although you are a woman, you have strong, robust aspiration, so this is the patriarchal culture. Without begrudging any effort in nurturing the way for you, I will demonstrate the precise meaning of coming from the West. So, that's a phrase in the Bodhidharma, coming to China from India, but it also needs the essential meaning of the Dharma, the precise meaning of coming from the West. So, that is, if you do not hold on to a single phrase, or half a verse, a bit of talk, or a small expression, in this lump of red flesh, you will have some court with a clear, cool ground.

[30:26]

If you hold on to a single word, or half a phrase, the Buddha ancestors say, or the koans from the ancestral gate, they will become dangerous poisons. If you want to understand this mountain monk's activity, do not remember these comments. Truly avoid being caught up in thinking. So, please don't remember anything about Dianne, these wonderful teachings. And there's a little bit of a twist here, because he's still remembering this, but is she going to remember it? Anyway, okay, back some up, please don't remember I'm doing this, but you can go back and read the censored record if you want. The point of studying the Dharma in our tradition, the point of studying sutras, or studying old Zen sayings, or studying koans, is not to get some

[31:34]

understanding of something, not to reach some exalted state, but simply to support your ongoing practice. So, whatever inspires you to continue practicing, that's the point, the purpose of Dharma study. So, comments, questions, I can go back and review any of those if you'd like, or any question or comments about it, or anything else. And David, David, please don't move. Okay, go on. Why is it so important to drop off body and mind? Isn't body and mind necessary to express Buddha? I don't understand. Yeah, drop off body and mind doesn't mean to get rid of your body, to get rid of your mind. Use your mind, use your body to express Buddha.

[32:36]

But he's talking about dropping off our attachments, dropping off, you know, we may have a wonderful physical experiences, or walking down the street of openness, of seeing, feeling whole, or whatever, however you want to say it. And also, with your mind, it's not that you should get rid of your mind, it's just that this is not a part of Zen. Use your mind, use your thinking mind to express and share this wonderful teaching. So dropping body and mind means letting go of our attachments and our being caught by body and mind. Does that help? It helps, but if you're, how is attachment different or the same from relationship,

[33:37]

if everything's interrelated? Yeah, honor your attachments. So we have attachments, we have in the Heart Sutra, we say forms, feelings, perceptions, word translations, anyway. The second one, the second of those is feelings, and that doesn't mean emotions. That's a technical term, it means positive, negative, or neutral responses. So we always have either positive, negative, or neutral responses to whatever shows up in front of us. So we have aversion, we have attachments, and to pretend that we don't have any of those, to just kind of, you know, to escape into emptiness or something. That's not the practice. The practice is to acknowledge our intricacies, development, talks about that, a couple of things I've read. We honor the causes

[34:43]

and conditions of our life. So whatever attachments you have, honor them, but don't let them get in the way of moments. And we also honor our aversions. So right now, in this world, there are terrible things happening, and we, you know, we want to help or respond, and how do we do that without getting caught up in rage and hatred? This is a challenging practice. That's what, that's, that's some of what Tropic Blood Advice refers to. Yes, did you have something? So I wanted to know more about that term family style. Sure. Hogetsu uses that term a lot, and yeah, and yeah, and it's a, like, what's it a translation of? So it literally is, it could be translated as house-ridden, but it means the family style, or it means, so in our lineage of Shoto Zen,

[35:47]

there's a particular family style. It goes back to the Okinawan Shoto Zen teachers, expressing our awakeness, our wokeness, as it's now called, to in the everyday, in our everyday activity. That's part of the family style. But the way Doga uses it, that's what I read, is the family style of all Buddhist ancestors. So what is our, what is our practice as we follow awakening, awakening, and awakened being? So other people, any other questions, comments? Brian. Just some thoughts that arose due to Dylan's question. It occurs to me that another key

[36:47]

passage from Dogan that everyone knows by heart is, to study the way is to study the self, to study the self is to lose the self, or let go of the self, and dropping body and mind, to me, has always been an analogous metaphor to that aspect of losing or dropping the self, and you don't disappear. What happens is you lose the self-referentiality that we're all conditioned to have, and so you're still in conditions, but now you're not in conditions, you are conditions, you know, and so that opens you up to transcendent compassion of the bodhisattva that doesn't think about himself first before going to help. There's just helping hands. Right, right. So yeah, the translation we use is to study the way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self. Yeah, either way. Yeah, right. Yeah, what you said also works. So to let go of our self-attachments.

[37:49]

And it really points back beyond Dogan to the Buddha's first discourse, where he says dukkha, in short, is the five aggregates subject to clinging. Right, so if we cling to our opinions, or our perceptions, and so forth, or to particular forms, yes. But he says to study the way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self. And, you know, I think some certain students skip over studying the self, and they want to forget the self. So studying the self is forgetting the self. Actually, no one's own stuff. I don't know, maybe another psychological term for that. But what's that? Pretty good. Okay. To study all of our congregate consciousness and all of our preferences, and opinions, and aversions, and so forth, to actually become intimate with who this

[38:51]

body-mind is, is to forget the self. But we have to actually do the work of studying the self. And then he says to forget the self is to be awakened by all things. So this is, this is, you know, he talks about that, and all is impossible. So, thank you. Brian, I'm looking for another comment or question. Not that I know of. Okay, good. So, yeah, if there's no other comments, we could stop, but if you have a response or question, please do. So, taking care of yourself is good practice. Eating breakfast comes first. So please enjoy the practice. Enjoy your inhale and exhale. Enjoying this wonderful opportunity

[39:56]

we have in this world to just sit upright, be present, and do our best to respond to everything that's happening around us. So, thank you all very much.

[40:09]

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