Good morning, everyone. Can you all hear me? Okay, so yesterday afternoon, I'm at 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, Shogo Gezo, to the Dharma Eye Treasury. This one is, I translated it as Shodaku Okamura, and It's different in the style. Dotshepogenzo has longer verses that are elaborating on koans or things or particular stories, particular people in the lineage, particular ancestors.

[01:08]

In Hikoroku, and most of Dotshepogenzo, the vast majority of it was written within a few years, 1242 to 1245, while Dovenward's moving his whole sangha from Kyoto way up to the capital and way up to the mountains, from the capital way up to the mountains of northern Japan, where he founded the Eiji Temple. So I think there's a couple of people here in the room, and there's one person online who was here yesterday, but I'm going to try and just give a few selections from this text, most of which is Dharma Hall Discourses journal, which were very different from The form of the long essays in Shogo Geza are short, mostly very short, formal, dove in, sitting up on the Dharma seat in the Dharma Hall, and the book standing. So this covers material from, the first volume is from this period in Kyoto, 1233 to 1243.

[02:16]

And then The rest of it is from a hedging from his monastery in the north. So this is a record of his mature teaching. So I'm just going to give some excerpts. wrote excerpts, and then we can have some discussion. The first two are kind of in honor of our Rohatza Sashin coming up in December, the first Rohatza Sashin since 2019, that Ogesu and I are going to read together, focused on the, an essay by Onetogin's great disciples, Kohen Ejo, his main disciple, amongst those who compiled the Ahikoroku. And that essay that we will talk about is the Samadhi, the treasury of radiance. There's a couple of short relevant things about Ahikoroku.

[03:19]

So in 1242, before he moved to Kyoto, he said the following, 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. As I said yesterday, this isn't about light. It's about light, but it's also about sounds and smells and physical sensations and everything in the world. Everybody has their own radiance. can never be destroyed. Now I ask you, where do you come from? And I see people here from many places. We're in autumn, but I see buffaloes here from the spring in the Mediterranean.

[04:21]

And there are people here from New Mexico and Michigan and Ohio and England. So, In his poetry, so part of the epilogue is the collection of his Chinese poetry going up to his very last years, but also including all of his students from his studies in China, 1243 to 1247. So here's another, here's a poem. The wonder has been expounded and the mystery discussed, but who can reach them? Forgetting words and quietly sitting, mouth, straight as a wire. A good teacher penetrates both essence and expression. On the hundred grass tips, radiance glistens. So this radiance is everywhere. This radiance is talking about the human mixture for the school.

[05:26]

So now I'm just going to give some Samples, and then we can have some discussion. This is from a slightly longer talk. We'll hold this course at 1252, the last year of teaching. I think 18. You should know that becoming a Buddha is not something new or ancient. How could practice realization be within any doubt to it? Do not say that from the beginning, not a single thing exists. And of course, that was the famous saying by the Sixth Act system. But Tolkien says, do not say that from the beginning, not a single thing exists. The causes are complete, and the results are fulfilled through telling. Great assembly, please tell me, why is it like this? After a pause,

[06:30]

Logan said, opening flowers will unfailingly bear the genuine fruit. Green leaves meaning autumn immediately turned red. So we're seeing this outside now here in Chicago. Although around me, they're mostly turning yellow. I don't think that's anything red, 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. So as I said yesterday, in his later years, especially to again emphasize the importance of causes and conditions, the importance of karma, the importance of allowing our ancient, twisted karma to regularly change.

[07:42]

The causes are complete, the results are fulfilled. So this is about how do we bring our insight into suchness or emptiness or oneness or whatever you want to call the ultimate into our everyday activity. This is our F persistent symptoms. How do we take care of the things of this world and their causes and conditions? Which are fulfilled through time. After a positive instead, opening flowers will unveilingly bear genuine truth. Green leaves meeting autumn immediately turn red. So here, opening flowers is certainly about the flowers that open in spring. Maybe more now where Pueblo is in the Southern Hemisphere, but yeah, opening flowers unveiling a little bit of genuine truth.

[08:50]

Because opening flowers also have to do with Arzaza, what's happening on your seat, Arzonga. flowers of suffering, opening flowers on fatal and fair, genuine fruit. Reading on immediately turned red. No, again, I'm just going to read some excerpts. This one is also from right up in the year 1251, One of my favorites, one of the most important things, and there's so many of those this fall. Just for the record, 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,

[10:00]

who lived in 13th century Japan and went to China and brought back the Soto lineage to Japan. Anyway, in 1251, he said, 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. That's the starting point of our practice. first arouse the battle to save, to free all living beings, to remove suffering and provide joy. Of course, this is very challenging in the world we live in now, the difficulties of war and genocide and cleansing and terrorist attacks and climate catastrophe. Still, our practice is about freeing all beings, removing them, providing joy.

[11:03]

Only this family style is inexhaustibly brighter and clearer. In the lofty mountains, we see the moon for a long time as clouds clearly first recognize the star. Cast loose down on 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 and joy doesn't mean ignoring your own good care. So we take care of ourselves. We have compassion for ourselves. We find a balanced way of sustaining our practice, whatever that is for you. And then we take on this vow.

[12:06]

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 about metaphorically, but also literally, because he was living up in the mountains in northern Japan, the mountainous area. You can see for miles and [...] miles. But this also applies, you know, to being in the lofty mountains for a long time means also Sustaining a practice for a long time. Or doing longer practices. So I guess it's been a leap all day sitting next month. And we want to add this five-day Rahatsukashim. You know, we're up to online or in person getting one or two in five days.

[13:10]

Taking the time to see clouds clear. And to first recognize the sky is vital to our practice. But then, cast loose down the precipice. I know it was Brian yesterday, and I appreciated that word precipice. Cast loose down down the mountain, down from our lofty height, down from our glimmering taste of full awakening, and wholeness. The moonlight shares itself with the 10,000 forms. So this is about how do we crack this off the question? How do we extend our awareness from Zaza into everyday activity? This is He grabbed us and said to us, it's not just about getting high or having some wonderful experience of radiance or having some great understanding of that, which is possible.

[14:31]

But how do we then share it in this difficult, troubled world? So he says, the dogma says, cast loose down the precipice, and 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 the earth's 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 without knowing exactly what the outcome is, where it's going. Maybe we see the next step. Of course, birds, maybe birds see trails in the sky. We don't see the bird's path. They somehow know how to migrate. This is the same area for years and years and centuries anyway.

[15:37]

So the first step is an old image for our practice goes back to the question. So take good care of yourself with spiritual power. So please take care of all beings and take care of yourself. This is the style, family style of all roots and ancestors and of all beings. A few more at least. Oh, this is a good, this is, this is, so this refers to dropping out a lot of art. And this is a phrase that Dogen uses regularly for Complete letting go. Dropping off body and mind. It's a synonym for sasana. It's also a synonym for complete unsuccess, complete awakening.

[16:41]

Dropping off body and mind. Dropping off body and mind. It doesn't mean to get to. It's not about that old. Maybe we're past that. I don't know if there's still places to practice the body and mind. But anyway, dropping off body and mind doesn't mean Destroying body and mind is not being caught. So you say, the losers aren't renewable. We've got to cut through them. Cutting through our delusions of body and mind. Anyway, dropping body and mind is something that's talked about a lot. That and Buddha going beyond Buddha. So when you have some great realization of emptiness, or calmness, or sushness, or Buddha, or whatever you want to call it, That's just the beginning of your practice. Please continue. Shakyamuni Buddha in Northeastern, what's now Northeastern India had this great awakening when he became Buddha.

[17:45]

And he kept sitting and awakening every day. So we're going beyond Buddha. No one talks about those more than he talks about Shikantanza or just sitting. Okay, that's a long introduction to this short Dogma law discourse. Dropping off body and mind, you know, is good practice. So, in Hekola Gutsu, they'll get sense of humor. It's much more than Shabba Vanzala. Dropping off body and mind is good practice. Yes, it is. Make a vigorous effort to pierce your nostrils. Karmic consciousness is endless with nothing fundamental to rely on, including not others, not self, not sentient beings, and not causes and conditions.

[18:47]

Although this is so, eating breakfast comes first. So we take care of ourselves. Enjoying breakfast is a great Zen tradition. So, yeah, how do we take care of all of this? In the middle of this, it says, Karma consciousness and wisdom, 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 breathing fully, joining inhale and exhale. And yes, it could also include that, but it's also an image of that tradition of some of the Oxford pictures. The ox has his nose pierced and there's a rope or a line to it. the ox tainter who leaves.

[19:54]

So this is an image for follow-up 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 be led by the government, be led by the government. So just as an aside announcement, which I'll talk about a little bit later, here at Ancient Dragon's Endgate, we have members of teachers and practice leaders, and you can make appointments to talk with us about your practice system. You can log on to dragon.org. Anyway, although all this is eating breakfast comes first. Let's see. We have time for a few more. So as I mentioned, there are lots of these short Chinese verses that Dogen, throughout Heikou, some of them from when he was a student in China, but then there's also many verses from his late years that are aging.

[21:15]

you know, the text for Dogen's mutual related teachings. And some scholars who don't know a lot about it go up with just one, you know, one of the Shogogen's or something, but it was finished teaching when it moved to A.H.U. 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 leisure and seclusion. So this is the phrase, leisure and seclusion, that refers to not being in their residential monastery. So the time going after Doge came back from China, and before he set up his temple and monastery in the southern Kyoto.

[22:27]

This refers back to that. on that temple which is an area at that time. In birth and death, we sympathize with ceasing that horizon. Both diluted and awakened paths proceed within a dream. And yet there's something difficult to forget. It leaves your race occlusion with the cops that sound. So. Maybe any of you who have Saturday evening heard that great bowling outside or on. You look. Can feel what they're always talking about? Is something difficult to forget? We need sufficient. Soundly rain. We sympathize with ceasing on the horizon.

[23:33]

So this is, you know, change on the prevalence of ceasing on the horizon. And we sympathize. We sympathize with those who asked for the bill. And next Sunday, we'll have a sabbath ceremony, including honoring the people who have passed in the last year. The birth and death we sympathize with ceasing their horizon. Both diluted and awakened paths proceed within a dream. I could give a whole wrap on this, but okay. So first of all, Dogen talks about the point of our practice is not to get rid of dilution and get a whole, hold a tight grasp on awakening, we are in delusion throughout tradition. We are in awakening throughout awakening.

[24:37]

So, both the word and awakening proceed within a dream. So, And back in medieval Japan, Dōgen's time, they had a great respect for dreams. There were a number of great teachers, somewhat Dōgen, but especially Keizan, who was the second founder of sentos and two generations after Dōgen, who had many dreams. And he moved his temples and ordained people based on things that happened in dreams. And they'll get talks about to express the dream of inner dream. And there's an all of a sudden, oh, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland.

[25:40]

Life is better. So anyway. And yeah, there's something difficult to forget. Malaysia was a fusion. Jumped in suburbs. Sounded even better. One more poem. This is much later on. This is one of his verses on snow. 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 that it's snow can seize the mountains if it goes in there.

[26:50]

So he was sitting in the AG you're aging and looking at all the mountains covered with snow. And in the years, she says, I nearly saw that mountains had snow. Mountains had snow on them. Suddenly, the stranger realized, snow makes the mountains. So this is not something common for people in Chicago. How many of you, so all the people in the room, are living in Chicago or thereabouts? 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 respond to this.

[27:58]

The one I was going to read is about, well, the sanction of the law through the Dharma. And it suggests, why is this great disciples? But I don't know. We can just have a discussion now. Somebody wants to. So this was addressed to Rihanna, who was one of his main disciples. She Kiyoto, there's no record of her being up at age, so maybe she stayed behind with Dr. Wong. A lot of these have been moved up to aging. Maybe she was older. I don't really know. Maybe she was older than Dr. Warren, too old to go up, to track up to the mountains area. And this is from one of, not from the Stata Horta's course, but one of those Darla Wars, probably eight, a little bit longer, not that long. And there are a few of his Dharma talks in that section where they're addressed to her.

[29:03]

So she was an important disciple. And again, before I read this, just to note that most of these Asian Buddhists and the culture around them was very patriarchal. So anyway, I'll just do this. Wayfarer of Rwanda, you have deceased a prisoner from early on in life, intently aspiring to the great way of Buddha ancestors. Although you are a woman, you have strong, robust aspiration, so it's supposed to take to your culture. Without begrudging any effort in returning the way for you, I will demonstrate the precise meaning of coming from the West. So that's a phrase coming to China from Asia, but it also means the essential meaning of . So that is what it says.

[30:13]

If you do not hold on to a single phrase or after verse, a bit of talk or a small expression, in this lump of red flesh, you will have still to the clear, cool ground. If you hold on to a single word or half a phrase of the ancestors' sayings 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 a woman being caught up in thinking. So please don't remember about Diana and these wonderful teachings. And there's a little bit of a twist here because he's telling her this, but is she going to remember it? Anyway, okay, that's enough.

[31:18]

Please don't remember anything else, but you can go back and Breathe in and feel the sense of record if you want. The point of studying the Dharma in our tradition, the point of studying sutras or studying all of the sayings, is not to get some 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. So, John? Why is it so important to drop off body and mind? Isn't body and mind necessary to express Buddha?

[32:26]

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. But he's talking about dropping off our attachments, dropping off, you know, we may have wonderful physical experiences, or more down the street, of openness, of seeing, feeling whole, or whatever the hell you want to say it. And also with your mind, it's not that you should get rid of your mind, as I said, this is not the bottom line. Use your mind, use your thinking mind to express and share this point of completion. So drop the loving mind with letting go of our attachments and our being caught by love.

[33:30]

Does that help? It helps, but if you're how is attachment different or the same from relationship? If everything's interrelated. Yeah. Honor your attachments. So we have attachments. We have In the heart sutra, we say, forms, feelings, perceptions. What are 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 add aversions and we add attentions. And to pretend that we don't have any of those, we just kind of, you know, skate into emptiness or something.

[34:33]

That's not the practice. The practice is to acknowledge our intricacies. So Dogen talks about that in a couple of books I've read. We honor the causes and conditions of our life. So whatever attachments you have, honor them. But don't let them get in the way of all this. And we also honor our aversion. So right now, in this world, there are terrible things happening. And we want to help or respond. And how do we do that without getting caught up in rage and hatred? This is the challenging practice. That's what, that's, that's some of what Drop of Body and Mind refers to. Yes, if you have something. So I wanted to know more about that term family style. Sure. Hogetsu uses that term a lot. Yeah. And, yeah, and it's a, like, what's it a translation of?

[35:36]

It literally is, it could be translated as house ring. It means the family style. It means, so, in our particular family style. It goes back to Dogen and the symptoms that teachers have to do with expressing our awakeness, our wokeness, as it's now called, to in our everyday activity. That's part of a family style. But the way Dogen uses it in the passage that I read is the family style of all Buddhism ancestors. So what is our practice as we follow awakening and awakening? So other people, any other questions, comments? Brian.

[36:39]

Just some thoughts that arose due to Dylan's question. It occurs to me that another key passage from Dogen that everyone knows by heart is 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 growing the stuff 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? 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 says, but to study the ways of certain stuff, certain stuff to forget the stuff.

[37:43]

Yeah, either way. Yeah. Yeah. So to let go of our self-detections. And it really points back beyond Dogen to the Buddha's first discourse where he says, Duga, in short, is the final aggregate subject to clinging. Right. So if we cling to our opinions or our perceptions and so forth, to particular forms, yes. But he says, to study the ways of studying the self, to study the self is to forget the self. And, you know, I think some 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 self Maybe another psychological term for that. What's that? Pretty good. Okay. To study all of our common consciousness and all of our preferences and opinions and aversions and so forth, to actually become intimate with who this body-mind is, is to forget the self.

[38:55]

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 of a sudden. So thank you. Brian, what do you want to comment? Not that I don't know. Okay, good. So, yeah, if there's no other comments, we could stop. But we have a question. In response to the question. So taking care of yourself is good practice. Eating breakfast comes first. So please enjoy the practice. Enjoy your inhale and exhale. Enjoy this wonderful opportunity we have in this world to just sit upright and

[39:59]

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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