Good morning. This is the fourth day of our five-day sasheen, which ends our spring practice period. And for those of you who haven't been here, I've been I've been talking about Dogen Zenji's Genjo Koan and I've been actually commenting on Nishiyari Boku-san's commentary on Dogen Zenji's Genjo Koan. So, there are three of us talking here and I'm doing the selection. It's not difficult because of Dogen, actually.

[01:16]

Dogen's presentation is quite straightforward and clear. The problem is that our minds... It's hard for us to get our mind to open up to non-dualistic way of looking at things. because we are so steeped from childhood, later childhood maybe, into dividing the world into this and that. And Dogen is speaking, although Dogen doesn't ignore this and that, he's speaking from the point of view of non-duality. And it's very hard for us to logically understand from the point of view of non-duality, not because non-duality is not logical, it's just that our logic doesn't reach there.

[02:18]

So, when we listen to Dogen, what he's saying, we have to just be open. If we start arguing with it, we lose it. But then you might say, what about my view? Well, it's OK to have your view. But from ancient times, all the teachers have said, The only way to understand the Dharma is to let go of all views. Simply put aside all views and open your mind. Then you can hear the Dharma. Whether you accept it or take it in is another matter.

[03:27]

We say you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make him drink. This is not an admonition. I'm just saying that it's difficult. And why? So I've been talking or commenting on Nishihari Boku-san's commentary on Dogen Zenji's Genjou Koan. So if we look at Dogen's Genjou Koan, it has many sections. And depending on how many sections, it has 14 sections. And each section is looking at the same thing from a little different angle. It looks like disconnected sections.

[04:29]

So we just kind of arbitrarily adding up to one view. There's different aspects of one thing. So what is the one thing? Simply, the Buddha Dharma, as it's always been. Dogen is not adding anything. He's not taking anything away. He's simply explaining it from the point of view of non-duality. The non-duality is the essence of our life. The essence of our life is really non-dual. In other words, before one thing is divided into two, it's not dual.

[05:35]

So, when we have something called life, we're always talking about life. But life has no special shape or form. And no special shape or form. But we look at the shape and the form of life. My life has this shape and this form. Your life has this shape and this form. So life has shape and form. But actually life is formless. This is the fundamental understanding that life itself is formless. It's called emptiness. All aspects of life are empty of their own inherent nature, of their own being. Fundamental Mahayana understanding. But we divide life into many forms.

[06:37]

Fundamentally, we divide life into two forms, which are birth and death. And these are the two major forms that constitute dualistic understanding. But enlightenment is the realization that birth and death are just ways of looking at this formless thing called life. So we can look at birth and death from many points of view. And this is what Dogen is doing. He's looking at it from this point of view, from this point of view, and this point of view. To look at what is it really? What is it really? Everybody has a view. And some views are ridiculous, some views look like they may be right, depending on how we think about it, or how we want to think about it.

[07:54]

So, Dogen, in one way, is talking about the non-continuity of each moment. We think in terms of the continuity of each moment. Usually we think in terms of, today, what are you going to do? Well, I'm going to do what I did yesterday, but a little differently, and then tomorrow I'm going to do... This is all continuity. What we call our life is continuity. That's the way we think about our life. One day I was just sitting down on the couch, In particular, my wife said, what are you doing? What happened to the continuity of your life? So, you know, when the children of Zen students see their parents go to Zazen, they bring up this question, what are you doing?

[09:07]

You know, usually you're making dinner, you're going to work, What are you doing? You stopped the continuity of your life, apparently. And we don't like that. And we don't like it when the continuity of our life stops. Sometimes we'll be in a situation with a group of people, and everybody's having a hot conversation, you know, and for some reason the continuity of the conversation stops. And there's this embarrassing silence. Why are we embarrassed? We've lost the continuity up here and we've dropped down to the reality down here. And we can't stand the reality down here because we've lost the thread. So Zazen, of course,

[10:09]

taking each moment, living each moment as a total moment. Total moment. I don't want to say disconnected, but disconnected moments. Discrete moments. Discreet is the right word. Discreet moments of time. Dogen says, being is time and time is being. And so we don't say time is being, we say time slash being, because there's no division between time and existence. So when we talk about existence, existence is as existence. So when we talk about death, it looks like death is cut off from time.

[11:19]

So if death is cut off from time, what is it that continues and how can something continue without time? But we think also that time moves. But that's just one way of thinking about time. Dogen has a whole fascicle about time in ways that never end in your mind. Time goes from present to past. We think that time just only goes from past to present. We think time is just passing by. These are just notions built on the way we orient our life. And we think that life becomes death. That's just a notion that we speculate on without really thinking it through. Dogen has thought it through, believe me, and brings up aspects of birth, death, time and being that never occurred to us.

[12:37]

but which ring true. Suzuki Roshi, in one of his talks, talked about the movie and the screen. I've talked about this before. Life is like a movie projected onto a screen. The screen, I would say, is called life. We have to divide these elements in order to talk about them. It's all one piece, but in order to talk about it, we have to divide it into pieces. So, there's the screen, and then there's our projection. What we call our life is really our projection. We think of something, and then we act it out. Sometimes we act out before we think, which can be either good or not good.

[13:42]

If we're stuck, it's good to just act. But sometimes we just act before we think. But we dream. Life for human beings is called the dream life, the realm of dreams. We even emphasize that. Follow your dream. This is the American way. Follow your dream. The American dream. What the heck is the American dream? Follow the American delusion, basically. Which means more and more and more. How can I get more and how can I get more? And if the economy drops, I can't get any more. And so I'm lost. Bad. Anyway, I don't want to go there. That's a whole other talk.

[14:47]

So we have this screen. And the screen is formless, so to speak. There's nothing on it. Just formless. Black screen. And we project our onto the screen, and we each have a different movie. And so, we are aware of the movie, and we live within the movie, but we're not aware of the screen, because the movie covers the whole screen. So, Dogen says, each moment, each activity covers the whole screen. Every sequence covers the whole screen. But we see it as a continuous story. But the continuous story is made up of little pieces. Little pieces called frames.

[15:50]

If we look at the movie, the movie is composed of discrete frames. And each frame has a little different move. little differently. But when it's running at a certain speed, it looks like continuity. So, this is what we call our life. Our life is made of discrete moments. And so, Dong En is saying, covers the whole screen. Each discrete moment of your life covers the absolute life of the universe. So we think, oh, this is just my movement.

[16:54]

But your movement, this my movement, is supported by the whole universe. This is a timeless act. because we think of time as just moving, but actually nothing goes anywhere. It's just an idea. If we look at time as moving, then time is moving on a screen of stillness. The screen totally still, and then we project the movie on a still screen, and we don't see the stillness of the screen, we only see the movement of the movie. Time stands still, but we divide it into various sections,

[17:58]

So this is made-up time in order for us to have some handle on the movement of life. So this is just one way of orienting our life around time, which is really not moving anywhere. This is called eternal time, time which is always just now. We say, now, now. At three o'clock we say, now. At four o'clock we say, just now. And it looks like now is moving. But now is just now. So we think, time is moving. But we're just moving on the face of time, which is not moving. Or maybe it is moving.

[19:05]

It's moving and it's not moving. It's going some place, but it's not going anywhere. The story you related about you and your wife in your house, is that an example of someone's conditioned response to another? that it drops, and you're sitting on the couch in stillness, which is a direct contrast to this conditioned... Yeah, well, that's what I'm talking about. So, how is it that people get conditioned to this continuousness and have discomfort around stillness? Because our life has to have meaning.

[20:08]

And the meaning is in what we do and how we connect the dots of our past with our present and our future. And sitting still seems like doing nothing. Yeah, it seems like disconnection. So we put a lot of people in institutions. don't want. We're driven by continuity instead of driving continuity. This is an important point. Once we get into the step on the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round just keeps going around. Sometimes we can reach up and grab the little gold thing, the brass. And we think, oh boy, now I get a free ride.

[21:16]

But it's just still going around and around. And somebody said, well, stop this world and let me off. Stop the merry-go-round and let me off. This is called ordination. It's good. The meaning of ordination is let me get off the merry-go-round. If there is no time, how is it that you... I didn't say there was no time. Oh, okay. I said there was total time. Oh, total time. Time is not necessarily movement. Right. Time is being, but time is not necessarily movement. There is, well, what did you say there? Well, never mind. I had a question, but never mind. I'll ask it another time. OK. Can you talk about Dogen's different ways of describing time?

[22:23]

Describing? Time. Well, I don't have that with me. But it's very, I can't do that in my head. I'd have to kind of look at his vesicle. Where do I find it? in Shobo Genzo. Being time. Being time. Is not continuity implied in the idea of karma? Say that again. Is continuity not implied in the idea of karma? What is karma? Cause and effect. Yeah. Yes. Continuity is karmic activity. Karma simply means a volitional action. And then you say cause and effect. Karma is an action which creates a cause, which has an effect, which is called phala.

[23:24]

So karma phala, cause and effect. But our life is the karmic life. So we say Do you live a life of karma or a life of vow? A life of karma is volitional action which is the action of a self. Usually it means self-centeredness. It doesn't mean bad, it just means an action is based on the notion of self. The life of vow is actions which are based on practice or Buddha-centered orientation. There's karma there, but it's not the same as ordinary karma. You look puzzled.

[24:30]

So I think what Nina was pointing at was, well, she thinks, I think she's hearing you say that there's no such thing as continuity, really, so that how can karma work? How can karma results work? I don't think you're saying there's no such thing as continuity. No, I'm not. Is that what you're saying? I think maybe Ron's thinking in a certain way, but how are you thinking? Sorry? How are you thinking? How was I thinking? Well, I guess I'm thinking in very simplistic ways. If there is no continuity, then an action will not result in another action. That's true, but there is continuity. This is an interesting question. There are discrete moments which follow each other called continuity, past and present and future. But at the same time, past, present and future are discrete moments.

[25:42]

So continuity is our way of putting it all together. But the moments themselves are discrete. And cutting off karma means not allowing past, present and future to line up in a series. In other words, on any one moment, you can stop the momentum of karma and turn in a different direction. If there were not discrete moments, there would be no change. The only thing that keeps driving the momentum is habit, so-called. We don't have to follow the next one. You can just stay here.

[26:44]

When the bell rings, you can just stay here. But we say, no, you have to leave, because we want to continue in a certain manner. But there's nothing stopping you from just staying here, because moments are discrete. You can decide anything you want. and change it. But I can't change it because I'm driven by karma. That's right. The reason you can't change is because you're driven by karma. But you can change. Every moment is discreet and independent and does not have to line up with the next so-called moment of thought. Okay, so that's in the realm of human behavior. Of course. Nature is not, karma is not is only human. Karma only applies to human thoughts, not to nature. Cause and effect are natural.

[27:45]

Cause and effect is within nature. But karma is a different kind of cause and effect, which is caused by our way of thinking and acting. It only applies to humans. It doesn't apply to dogs. So in nature, there's a continuity and within that continuity there's also discrete moments? Yes. The tree, you know, Dogen talks about this when he talks about firewood and ash. Firewood is in the dharma position of firewood. Ash is in the dharma position of ash. We say ash Firewood, when it burns, turns into ash. But firewood is firewood, and ash is ash. So let me explain that to you. Let's let Dogen explain that to you. He says, go where there is ash and ask.

[28:56]

Right now, you have a very fluffy body. But you used to be called firewood, which was very solid and flammable when put into a fire. You got burned little by little and got yourself to where you are now. Do you think the ash will agree with this? It will certainly reply, nonsense. I have never met anyone called firewood. So in this way, the view that firewood is before and ash is after is from the perspective of being outside. In other words, outside means viewing it, rather than being it. So, the ash itself is not concerned with it. So also, there was something once called a tree, and then somebody came along and cut it down, and then put it in a mill, and it was called lumber. And then somebody cut it into smaller pieces and said, this is firewood.

[30:03]

And then somebody put it in the oven and said, this is a fuel for fire. And then later, looking in the fireplace, oh, that's ash. There's no more. And on and on and on. So each one of those activities is totally discrete, even though there is continuity. Yes, there is a continuity from one thing to another, but within that continuity, each moment is totally discrete. So, if I say, you were once an ape, you say, are you kidding? I'm a human being, I'm not an ape. But when we really look at it, you were once an ape. But you don't know. There's a continuity of this and that and all that. Do you understand?

[31:06]

So it's discreteness but not separateness. It's not separate. It's discrete. That's right. It's discrete but not separate. But not separate from what? That's right. Everything is one piece. That's all one piece. That's the screen. But when we put the movie on, it all looks like different things. But it's all the different expressions of one thing. And that's called discrimination. Discrimination means taking one thing and dividing it into little pieces, which is OK. That's how things exist, discriminated. But we lose the sense of the oneness of things because of the discrimination. That's the point. That's the whole point. We lose our bearings because of discrimination. So that's why we say, non-discrimination, stop discriminating.

[32:10]

We lose the sense of the wholeness of existence because we're stuck in discrimination. Peter? So I'm wondering if one way to think That's right. Or if we go on the other side, like the back side of the moon, and we don't see the front side, then we lose ourselves. OK. So let me read to you Dogen Zenji's beginning of the Angel Poem. He says, when all dharmas, all things, basically, are Buddhadharma, there are delusion, realization,

[33:12]

Practice birth and death, Buddhas and sentient beings, just as we see them. Continuity, and discrimination, and dualism, duality. When we have enlightenment, we see it that way. That's one way that we see it. Just like this. When the myriad dharmas are without self, that's the screen. That's when no self. When myriad arms are without self, there is no delusion, no realization, no Buddhas, no sentient beings, no birth, no death. Those are the two sides that you're talking about. One side is the side of continuity, the other is the side of discontinuity. But the Buddha way is leaping clear of both of those. Abundance and lack. Abundance means continuity.

[34:15]

Lack means discontinuity. Thus, there is birth and death, delusion and realization, and things just as you see them. But the way you see them is different than just being stuck on one side. You see the warp and the woof. The screen and the movie are the warp and the woof. If you just have the warp, it all falls down. If you just have the woof, it doesn't work. When you have the horizontal, the horizontal is good. That's equality. And when you have the vertical, that's differentiation. So equality and differentiation, that's genjou koan, basically. The oneness of equality and differentiation is Kenjo Kōan. That's what he's talking about throughout the whole piece. The equality of oneness and differentiation.

[35:20]

The screen is oneness, the movie is differentiation. If you're only stuck on one side, that's called delusion. So we live in delusion. But to realize it is to have enlightenment within delusion. What does genjo mean in English? It means just what I said. What's it all about, Koan? It's about being present in reality. Being present in reality without falling into illusions about delusions.

[36:23]

The real question for me is, I mean, I get very perplexed with Dogen because I don't have that experience that he has had of seeing both of these aspects. And that just sort of makes me suffer a little bit in the head and heart. And I'm wondering, so what has this to do with suffering? That's the point. Yes. Do you want that experience? Would you like to have that experience? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? Say yes or no. Why don't you know? Say yes. Say yes. Yes. I've been coached. Yes. Then sit zazen. That's the meaning of zazen. Just talking about it. That's the meaning of sitting zazen. That's why we do it.

[37:30]

That's why we do it. We don't have to talk about it. Sorry. Thank you. This is my mistake on purpose. Just sits us in. That's what it's about. It's about one moment, one dharma, one time. So being totally one with time and this moment without any interference. Giving up suffering. Thanks for the question. Great question. Helen? You had mentioned early on that the reason that the... See, I have to speak up really loud. So you said that in our late childhood, that's when duality sort of emerges? Well, before, yeah. There's a time, you know, when we're born, we're not yet in the world. So we haven't yet formed our discriminating mind.

[38:37]

My question is, is there a way to raise children to cultivate so that they don't end up like we have? I hope so. Keep trying. Keep trying. That's called maturing the world. We also say, let go of hope and just do something. But even though that's so secretly, we should not give up hope. It's a serious question. Is there a way to cultivate or help a child hang on to this? Yes, the best way is to cultivate your own mind, cultivate your own maturity, And that's what children will respond to. You can tell them this, and you can tell them that. But what they respond to is who you are.

[39:43]

Just like a dog. Now, the dog knows you. You know this person. But because... sensitivity. And children have the same mind, actually, because it's a kind of... there's nothing interfering with it. directly perceiving. So, up to a certain point, children are just directly perceiving. They know you better than you know yourself. So, you better be careful about how you take care of yourself, how you raise yourself. You're raising yourself all the time, and you're raising yourself. That's why, in some ways, it's nice to have children when you're young, because you're all growing up together. And you have more flexibility in your mind. You're not so formed. So anyway, it's really up to the parent to take care of their own life.

[40:53]

And then the child will grow up with them. Of course, there are things you tell them. You tell them what you think is the truth. But you have to let children make their own mistakes. There are three stages. There are more than that, but there are three stages. One is the child grows up, and then the child has to leave and say, I'm ready to get out of here, and then make their own way without interference. And then they go through the hard knocks, and then they come back. Hopefully. There are probably a lot of people here who probably know how to raise children better than me, you know. But the Sanakis did a great job.

[41:54]

There's a lot of great children in this community. and thinking, and just, there are a lot of really mature children. Because they're mature people. They're wonderful. Well, also because the parents have not stopped maturing. They have not reached a level where they think, well, this is good enough. And they're willing to learn from their children. And from their elders. Nishari also talks about beans and tofu.

[43:03]

He says, the principle of thoroughly experiencing one dharma can be understood through the example of beans and tofu. From the tofu maker's point of view, beans are boiled. and turned into tofu. It appears that beans are before and tofu after. Because Dogen mixes up firewood and ash. He says, it looks like firewood is before and ash is after, but you can just say ash is before and firewood is after. We say, well, that's crazy. It's only crazy because of the orientation we have and the way we think and our experience. From the tofu maker's point of view, beans are boiled and turned into tofu, right? It appears that beans are before and tofu is afterward. But this is a perspective from outside. That's not the way tofu thinks.

[44:09]

If you say to tofu, your former body was a hard material called beans, which I boiled, and strained and hardened with nigiri. Nigiri is something that makes the hard. And now you have a soft body with a rectangular face. So different from your former body. Then Tofu would say, this is nonsense. Tofu can never meet beans again. Beans are beans. Tofu is tofu. It is not that this turns into that. But there is only one direction at one time. There is only one undivided activity at one time. So the life of beings is just beings with its own experience, its own before, and its own future. The life of tofu is totally independent and different, with its own past and its own future.

[45:12]

So beings are beings, tofu is tofu. In the same manner, It's not that the eighth son in the former life is now born as the ninth son, although sometimes I think that my son is the reincarnation of my father. I know it's not so, but I can't help thinking that way. All dharmas are like that. This is the actualization of undivided activity. Birth is just birth. Death is just death. Birth and death never oppose each other. Apply this principle to the realm of our daily activity. You may be calculating how to do this this year. And next year, you become head of the school at 60. But what's the use of it? However hard you scheme, this may not come true. We would rather endeavor moment to moment, just acknowledging that today is the only day. Just today is the only day.

[46:14]

Your endeavor and endeavorer You endeavor and endeavor, and when you are exhausted, you can go ahead and die. As long as you endeavor completely, within your endeavor, you will shine without trying to shine. In other words, if you just do what you have to do, without worrying about where it's going, who you're going to be, how you're going to get this, you just do it, you will shine. And everyone will just appreciate you like crazy. a sweet cake, a painting by Okyoho, some famous painter who would be invaluable, even if it is left alone on the shelf, a painting by a mediocre artist who would be worth This is like the president's next term, second term, would be to work on what his legacy is.

[47:29]

That's bullshit. He should just do what he has to do. And that's one of the problems we have. Anyway. A sweet cake does not fall down from heaven, no matter how much you wish for it. New Year's Eve. In this way, normal everyday behavior is essential. As long as your daily behavior is correct, you will receive a good result. on each moment without ignoring or obscuring each moment. This is the dharmagate of the mind of great ease. If you look for the mind of ease outside of this, it is not the Buddha way.

[48:33]

To talk about before and after is the view of someone outside the way. Neither firewood nor ash has before and after. We just say, as it is. Just do. In the just do it, it seems to me something's missing. Maybe skillful means, compassion. I see a lot of people just doing it. Oh no, that's not what he means. Well, that's right. So, what's the other piece? It means not doing something to make yourself famous. Not doing something to gain some kind of recognition. Just doing the task for the sake of the task. Just be compassionate for the sake of compassion, not to get something from it.

[49:38]

If you want to get something from it, that's called thievery. Or gaining money. Just do the thing for the sake of the thing. Be compassionate. When you give to charity, just give and forget. No string attached. You gave a hundred, oh I did? Well, where's the connection with compassion and just doing the thing for the sake of doing it? That's total compassion. Just there is total compassion. And behind that is Big Mind. Nothing behind it. Nothing behind it. It's the screen. Yeah, it's the screen. He said the screen.

[50:41]

The screen. Oh, the screen. Well, it's not one or the other. It's because your action is based on the screen. Because the screen doesn't want anything. To me it makes sense that if I am aware of the completeness of each moment, then compassion will arise, hopefully. Yes. Because I'm aware of all the pieces. That's right. So just doing it for myself or because I have a particular goal is a different kind of guidance. That's correct. It's not for me, and it's not for you. It's just compassion. Then it's safe.

[51:42]

Barbara? Roberta? Roberta, I mean. Thank you, Subjunct. I notice that when I'm wanting to compel, or impose, or demand of something within, without, I miss the mark. And I recently discovered this in trying to process something that's been a long time on a tape for me. I recently retired, so I have a lot of time on my hands, so-called. So I'm wanting to be constructive and do things in a productive way. But I noticed that when I just give up having to do something or really fix something, demand of something, even of myself. And basically, true to my nature, true to my own natural goodness, I think, like Shambhala Buddhism talks about.

[52:44]

But just being present to everything has its own accord. And the compassion, as someone just said, will arise. And I don't have to do anything. And I like that. It's just so much more freedom. Yeah. That doesn't happen all the time. Just let it arise. I like that. Yeah. This is the last question. Everybody. Legs are hurting. Yes. Nishyari says, when the tofu is tofu and the bean is bean, he called it undivided activity, not discontinuity. I was trying to get into it.

[53:49]

So one thing like bean fills all space and time. One thing called beans covers the whole universe. And within that whole space and time is also continuity and everything. Everything is included. So, leaping clear. Teach us that. Teach us what? Leaping clear. Oh, leaping clear. Leaping clear means not to get stuck in one place or another. Not to get stuck on one side or another. Leaping clear means of duality. Not to get stuck in eternalism, not to get stuck in annihilation. Or even discontinuity. Yes, not to get stuck anywhere. Only one side. But freely use those two sides without getting stuck.

[54:54]

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