Good morning, everyone. Welcome. So next month, we're going to start our two-month spring practice period. And we're going to be focusing on teachings from Hongzhe, a great Chinese Soto teacher from the 1100s, a century before Dogen, who brought this lineage to Japan. This book, Cultivating the Empty Field, that I translated 30 years ago, and it's dipped into from time to time, and wonderful teachings about the practice of what Hongzhi called serene illumination, a way of talking about this zazen we do. So whether you're formally involved in doing this practice commitment period, will be doing, or not, if you're going to be around, you'll be hearing these teachings, and I thought I'd preview them today by talking about one of them.

[01:09]

So there's practice instructions, there's 56 paragraphs, there's a series of little teachings that he gave. They're kind of holographic. Each one, in some ways, contains all of them, but they have some different emphases. So these are about this experience of deep settling and deep illumination. You know, I feel some challenge to how is this relevant for our practice here, now in these times. But somehow, I find how Hongshuo presents this inspiring, and many others seem to as well.

[02:18]

So we'll be playing with them, and I want to take one of them today and talk about it. Hongshuo lived up in a monastery, way up in Mount Qiantang, up in the mountains. But he also lived in turbulent times. There was civil war going on in China, as there seems to be here now. They say that he stayed up in the monastery for, I don't know, 30 years. But he also sent food down to people who were suffering famine down in the towns at the bottom of the mountain. Anyway. I'm going to read just one of these talks today and talk about it some as a preview.

[03:29]

So I'll just read through the whole thing first, and then go back and talk about what this description of our practice has to say to us, or how I hear it. And we'll have a little bit of time for discussion this morning, and then for people, most of us are here for the day. We'll have a discussion period in the afternoon. So he says, separate yourself from disturbance and face whatever appears before you. And actually that first sentence, I looked over the characters. Separate yourself from disturbance, or he says, inner trouble. So he's talking more about the inner turmoil that some of you may have felt in the few periods we've had so far today. And face whatever appears before you and the character there, whatever Whatever difficulty, whatever offense even, or insult appears before you.

[04:37]

Separate yourself from disturbance and face whatever appears before you. Not one iota seeps through from outside. The two forms, which refers to yin and yang, which can be interpreted in lots of ways, the two forms have the same root. And the 10,000 images have one substance. following change and going along with transformation. The whole is not clouded over by previous conditions. Then you reach the foundation of the great freedom. Wind blows and moon shines and beings do not obstruct each other. Afterwards, settle back within and take responsibility. Wisdom returns and the principle is consummated. When you forget about merit, your position is fulfilled. Do not fall for occupying honorable stations, but enter the current of the world and join with the delusion.

[05:42]

Transcendent, solitary, and glorious, directly know that transmitting is merit, but having transmitted is not your own merit. So that's the whole talk, the whole practice instruction there. and there's a lot going on, and in some ways it includes the whole rhythm of practice. This basic rhythm of our practice. So I want to go back over it. Separate yourself from disturbance and face whatever appears before you. Not one iota seeps through from outside. basic aspect of our practice, what we're doing today, is kind of turning away from our usual way of being in the world. So some of you are here very often on Sunday mornings, but for most people in the world, I don't know what you might be doing.

[06:55]

You might be sleeping in, you might be, I don't know. all kinds of things you could be doing out there in the world. Maybe in our culture, I don't know how many people still go to church on Sunday mornings, but, you know, this is, just sitting Zazen, whenever it is, is turning away, turning from usual worldly activity. Separate yourself from disturbance. Face whatever appears before you. This is sometimes called taking the backward step to turn the light inwardly. So this is the first step, the basic step of zazen, is we face the wall, we face ourselves, we turn away from worldly pursuits. We turn away from the usual karmic activity of trying to get something, or get rid of something, or manipulate the world for our own purposes, for our own private purposes.

[08:12]

We take the backward step. We turn away. He says here, separate yourself from disturbance. So we could say, separate yourself from the disturbance of samsara, from the world. But the character that he uses there also implies inner trouble. Separate yourself from your own personal disturbance. Put it aside. So one of Dogen's instructions says, put aside affairs. Put aside your usual disturbance, your usual activity. Just stop. Take your seat. Face the wall. Face yourself. Enjoy your breathing. take the backward step to turn the light within. So, this practice that Hongxia talks about, from a very kind of lofty perspective, I mean, he's been doing this for a long time, and he's up there in the mountains, and he uses all these beautiful nature metaphors to describe.

[09:26]

But for him, it's this very natural way of being. apart from the usual way of the world. And it's the basic thing we do when we come in satsang. And we may be caught up in, our mind may be caught up in thoughts about, you know, the things we have to do in the world and all the things we want to get. But on some level, separate yourself from disturbance and face whatever appears before you just to look at how we are. So maybe we could see those as two things. Separate ourselves, take the backward step, and turn the light within. Look at what is happening. Face your own thoughts and feelings and sensations, just to be present and pay attention.

[10:28]

And he says, not once iota seeps through from outside, actually just be present on your seat. There is no outside. It's just this. Just this. So that's the starting point. In some ways, that's complete. That's full, serene illumination. But the rhythm of practice continues. The two forms have the same root. So this is technically, in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang, but we could see this as all the dualities, day and night, gain and loss, male and female. So yin and yang, active and receptive. the two forms have the same root. And the 10,000 images have one substance.

[11:31]

So all of the different scenery that appear on the wall in front of you, as you sit, form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. It's all one substance. In Chinese philosophy, they talk about substance rather than emptiness. One substance. 10,000 images have one substance. So our discriminating consciousness, how it works is it makes distinctions. This is what our mind is doing all the time. We are discerning, we're discriminating, we're just dividing things into this and that. But actually, this and that have the same root. One substance. And we can start to notice that all of these distinctions we make, including, well, whatever, they come from the same place.

[12:39]

So he says, following change and going along with transformation, the whole is not clouded over by previous conditions. When you just settle into being present and upright, and witnessing the changes in the ten thousand images, we can see this wholeness. not clouded over by previous conditions. So, you know, we may see many thought clouds floating by, but the wholeness of the blue sky is still there. It's not clouded over. All of the situations and conditions that appear in our mind Don't interfere with this basic wholeness.

[13:46]

The sky is still there. It doesn't mean the different thought forms aren't there. It doesn't mean there aren't clouds. It doesn't mean there aren't conditions. It doesn't mean there's not greed, hate and delusion and various discriminations that we make. But we start to see that there's this fundamental substance, this root, this basic wholeness somehow we're in communion with. So sometimes, you know, I think for me, when the first time I had sasana instruction, I felt this. It's what brought me back to sit every day since. But sometimes it takes a while of doing this regularly until we start to feel this. And sometimes you don't even realize that we're feeling this, this wholeness.

[14:51]

Anyway, he says, following change, going along with transformation, seeing all the different forms and transformations. The whole is not clouded over by previous conditions. Then you reach the foundation of the great freedom. So there are various kinds of great freedom. and we're losing many of our great freedoms in our country today. But still, there is this possibility of seeing, and this doesn't negate, so I'll come back to that, that it doesn't negate our responsibility to the world around us, but there's this possibility of seeing this foundation is fundamental reality. So this is what Hongzhe is talking about all the time.

[15:59]

And I would venture to say that you've all at least glimpsed this. That's why you're here today. You have some sense of it. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Anyway, he says, wind blows and the moon shines. And beings do not obstruct each other. So in this space, everything just is moving freely. So he uses these nature metaphors, the wind is blowing, the moon shines. The moon shines on everything. So when they talk about the moon in Chinese poetry or in Zen rhetoric, you know, they're referring to the full moon of wholeness and it's just shining, shines everywhere, shines on everything.

[17:00]

And beings do not obstruct each other fundamentally. Afterwards, so having seen this, settle back within and take responsibility So each of us have our own way of being responsible for this. Each of us have our own way of expressing and enacting this. So it's not just about some description of wholeness and fundamental freedom on some screen out there. This involves each of us. It actually is you. Afterwards, settle back within and take responsibility. Wisdom returns and the principle is consummated. How do we, when we feel this communion with something, some possibility of something, of some wholeness, some inner freedom, how do we consummate that?

[18:07]

How do we take care of that? Well, he says, when you forget about merit, your position is fulfilled. So it's just part of our conditioning in the world. So Hongxue was talking about this in the 1100s in China. We can talk about our acquisitive consumerist culture, but it's part of what has been in human societies for a long time. this idea of gaining merit. Oh, look at me. We all have our idea of some accomplishment or status or whatever, something Some merit we can, some position, some, you know. Hongxin says, when you forget about merit, your position is fulfilled.

[19:11]

Do not fall for occupying honorable stations, but enter the current of the world and join with the delusion. Hey, we're all part of this deluded world. We're all part of the problem, as well as the solution. So, I gave titles to each of these paragraphs, and I called this one, Forgetting about Merit is Fulfillment. So he ends this, transcendent, solitary, and glorious, directly know that Transmitting is merit, but having transmitted is not your own merit. This word that I translated as transmitting is not the word for dharma transmission. It means just to continue, to share it, to transmit it, to convey it. Transcendent, solitary, and glorious, directly know that continuing, just to continue this, just to share this, is merit, but having

[20:16]

sustained it, we could say, is not your own merit. It's not about me. It's not about you. This is something that is beyond us personally. It's not personal. This taking responsibility is something, you know, this is a Sangha practice. This is something we do together. So this paragraph includes the fullness of the basic rhythm of practice, this turning within, separate from disturbance, put aside the affairs of the world, take the backward step, face whatever appears before you, just see. all the stuff that comes up. All our ancient twisted karma, individually and collectively, it all comes from this one substance.

[21:29]

But the whole is not clouded over by all these conditions. So, you know, he says this in one paragraph, but this could be, you know, this could happen in one day of sitting or in one period of zazen maybe even. Or this could be a life's work, what he's describing in this one paragraph. Or all of the above. This rhythm happens in various levels, in various cycles. reach the foundation of the great freedom. Wind blows and moon shines. Beings do not obstruct each other. So how do we allow each other to express and sustain this without making it personal? Each of us has our own way of sharing this and expressing it.

[22:39]

And beyond not obstructing each other, you know, there's also supporting each other. But that's subtle. It's not about, you know, I mean, sometimes it might be going out and, you know, helping people who are having a hard time actively, you know, listening to people who are struggling. Sometimes it's just sitting next to someone. quietly, like we're doing today. So not obstructing each other means also, you know, how do we support each other to reach the foundation of the great freedom? Afterwards, settle back within. and take responsibility.

[23:56]

So this taking responsibility is also subtle. How do we take responsibility for our own practice? Each one of you, each one of us, has our own way of taking on how to practice in the world. So Hongzhi was talking about this to a bunch of monks in a monastery way up in the mountains. And there are places like that, you know, in our world. Some of you have been to such places. In some ways it's more challenging and maybe more lively and kind of more wonderful doing it here in this big city. Settle back within and take responsibility. It doesn't say go out there and take responsibility. It's okay. There's still this settling back within. And then take responsibility.

[25:00]

What does that mean? How do we take responsibility for our own practice and for each other's practice and for this world? How do we find our way to do that? And it's not like we find it and that's it. This is an ongoing dynamic process, but again, this is something we can do. This cycle of the fulfillment of letting go of merit is something that can happen in a day or in a month or in a year of practice. It's this description of this process this rhythm of practice. Wisdom returns and the principle is consummated. Well, I guess you could say they're Buddhist, but they're more kind of Chinese philosophical terms like substance and principle.

[26:12]

Wisdom returns and the principle is consummated. The ultimate is consummated. Wisdom or insight returns. So, you know, we drift along. Maybe this is a description of one period of Zazen too. As we sit, as we reach the foundation, as we settle back within and take responsibility, insight returns. As we're settling, insight arises. Samadhi and prajna are one, the six ancestors said. So as we're sitting, insights arise. as we're taking responsibility, insights arise. Insights arise and help us take responsibility. But he says our position, our dharma position, as Tolkien calls it, is fulfilled when we forget about all this merit business, when we forget about our situation, our station, we forget about our personal merit, when we just

[27:27]

enter the world, enter the current of the world, and join with delusion. Maybe this is the hardest part of practice, that even after taking responsibility, even after reaching the foundation of the great wisdom, even after, you know, going along with the transformations in this process, we have to join with delusion. We go back out on the street, and there we are in the middle of Chicago. We join with delusion. Our own delusion, as well as the world's delusion. Again and again, our own ancient twisted karma comes up. And some of it, you know, we let go of. But these previous conditions, maybe they don't cloud over the fundamental wholeness, but we have to face that.

[28:36]

We have to face these previous conditions. We join with delusion. And yet, transcendence, glorious, just straightforwardly know that continuing, sustaining this, is merit, is wonderful. But it's not personal. It's not your own merit. It's Buddha's, it's Sangha's, it's Dharma's. We do this together. So, you know, I feel again this challenge to look at Hongxia in terms of what's happening in the world and the challenges to our country now and the various ways of resisting that.

[29:52]

So I've talked about that plenty, but I think we have to keep mentioning it. Dave and I and a couple of other Sangha people were at a, what's it called, Dave, the thing, indivisible meeting yesterday, and people were lobbying for, lobbying our congressperson to face this horrible government. You know, there's this stupid Twitter stuff, but beneath the surface, just terrible things are going on. I mean, aside from this health care plan that is a giveaway of huge money to the very wealthy and is going to take millions of people off health care, they passed a resolution that banks no longer need to be honest with people about what's happening with their investments. I mean, really. And that coal companies are allowed to pollute, to drop pollutants in the water and on and on and on.

[31:03]

Just terrible things are going on. So, you know, some part of me feels like I should just be you know, doing that full time. But then here's this wonderful teaching and practice that I committed to sustaining. And I continue to be inspired by teachings like Hong Xiu's, and I continue to be inspired by this room full of people just sitting today. So somehow they're not separate. This sustains us to be able to face the difficulties of our world. And I think it makes a difference. And keeping alive traditions that are of responsibility and great freedom are important. So we separate ourselves from disturbance and face whatever appears before us.

[32:13]

So we'll have time to talk about this for most of us who are sitting here all day today. We'll have time this afternoon over tea, but does anyone have any comments or responses? This morning we have time for a couple of responses if anyone has any questions or comments or responses to Hongxia. Yes, Nicholas. They're not personal. They're personal in the sense that we each have particular delusions, but they're, yeah, karma is personal and collective. You know, we, our personal hangups come from, you know,

[33:27]

everybody in the world, you know, family dynamics, genetics, our culture, and we have a particular version of all of that. So yeah, in some ways it's not personal, and yet we have to take responsibility for the way the not personal sits on our seat. And we can. Yes, Dave. I feel some responsibility out of respect to my friends and my family to talk about gender for a moment.

[34:45]

It's a vast field of experience and expression. And I hope for my friends and family that if they wanted to come here to practice, if they didn't express themselves as male or female, that they would be welcome here. Thank you for saying that, and I feel the same way. And I want everyone to feel welcome here. Patience.

[36:23]

I just want to echo that. I think about that a lot. I was not prepared to say anything, but since it's coming up, I do want to echo that. to be able to come here and be themselves. And to be welcomed as the person that they are. To also be educated at times when there's something that feels off about that. Yes, Chris?

[37:51]

But at the same time, he had this sort of funny way of, these big temples for political affiliations, which at that time temples and political alignment were so separate. He kept requesting him to come and teach there and be the advocate. He just kept saying no, no, trying to run farther and farther away. in life where there were these really bloody overthrows the whole time that he was practicing, and he didn't... So, you know, it didn't seem like Yeah, he was very skillful, very important figure.

[40:25]

Yeah, it's hard to know how to talk about everything that's going on. Yeah, just to go back to what Dave brought up, I just, and to what Aishan said, we're each totally particular, and part of this practice is to be, to take responsibility means to be the person on our seat, and that's so complicated. We're each totally unique, amazing beings. And to try and define ourselves and to define people in binary or whatever terms just misses the point of how wonderful each one of us is.

[41:31]

So yeah, how to be the wonderful human being, Buddha being, whatever we are, bodhisattva, we are. So we have to allow everyone in to our world, to our idea of sangha. I was going to mention it in announcements, but there's Wednesday, this Wednesday, I think 6.30, there's an interfaith ceremony up at Giddings Park up on Lincoln, just south of Lawrence. I'll guess who lives for interfaith. partly for all the Jewish temples that are being desecrated now, but just to recognize interfaith support, and I think it's interbeing support too, and that this isn't just about Zen or Buddhism or, you know,

[42:49]

We have to support Muslims and everyone who's... As I've said, we don't face the wall to keep anybody out. We face the wall to see everyone through ourselves. Any last comments before we close? Yes, Sid. I remember myself reading Gandhi a while ago and being kind of disappointed in some of his perspectives on gender and marriage and a few other things. Just feeling a little disenchanted as someone who obviously didn't read that for a long time.

[43:58]

You know, I really appreciate, um, Tongsha, and I think that we need the Dao Nang, and I also think that the Dao Nang is possible. Yes, thank you Sid. We are the ones who are continuing this now and that means we have to bring it to these questions. And yes, we're all subject to our culture that's seeped in racism and misogyny and we need to, so that affects all of us. So, we aren't, you know, well, this educational process will need to continue.

[45:39]

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