I vow to taste the truth and not to touch the words. Good morning. Good morning. This morning, This morning I am going to finish our study of Genjo Goan, which we studied during our practice period. And so the last, the tail end, the last part is what I'm going to talk about today. I'm not going to, can you hear me? I'm not going to go through the whole Genjokoan to catch us up, but I think this part stands independently.

[01:10]

And it's very well known. He says, Dogen says, Priest Paochei of Makushan was fanning himself. A monk approached and asked, Sir, the nature of the wind is permanent, and there's no place it does not reach. Why then must you still fan yourself? Although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, the master replied, you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere? asked the monk. The master just fanned himself. The monk bowed with deep respect. So, priest Paoche was a Dharma heir, disciple of Matsu, famous Chinese Zen master Matsu.

[02:15]

And Chinese summers are very hot. So everybody has a fan. In Japan, too, everybody has a fan. I remember Suzuki Roshi's wife, Oksan, Oksan means wife, Mitsu, was always fanning herself in the summer. That was her habit. So a priest, Paochei of Makushan, was fanning himself on a hot summer day, probably. And the monk approached, and he asked, sir, the nature of the wind is permanent, and there's no place it does not reach. Why then must you still fan yourself? If the nature of the wind is permanent, why do you fan yourself in a wind, right? Why do you build a fire in the summer to warm yourself?

[03:21]

It's kind of silly, isn't it? But we have to understand what the meaning of fanning and the meaning of wind means here. Wind, of course, is Buddha nature. If Buddha nature is all-pervading and reaches everywhere, why do you have to do something called practice? Usually people practice, usual idea of practice is that you start from delusion and work toward enlightenment. This is a usual, not completely usual, but this is one aspect, one way that people think about practice is that you step by step You practice and you learn something, and then you go to the next stage and you learn something.

[04:26]

And little by little, you work your way toward enlightenment. And this is usual in any kind of study. You start at the bottom and work your way to the top. And in the end, you get something. This is why it's so hard to understand, for many people, Zen practice. because we don't start from delusion to enlightenment. We don't work our way from delusion to enlightenment. The nature of Buddha nature, the nature of enlightenment is everywhere and all-pervading. So the monk says, if this nature is Permanent. Permanent is a little funny word here, but all-pervading and reaches everywhere.

[05:30]

What are you doing? Fanning yourself. Fanning yourself means practicing. Why do you have to practice? In order to attained enlightenment? This was Dogen's question. So Dogen is actually revealing his own path to understanding. So Genjo Koan, in a way, was Dogen's Koan. And the way he resolved his understanding is expressed as Genjo Koan.

[06:34]

And all the rest of the fascicles of Shobo Genzo are expansions of the ideas expressed in Genjo Koan. So Genjo Koan is like the touchstone for all of Dogen's writing. And this part in the end is Dogen's conclusion. So when Dogen went to China, he had this question. Dogen practiced on Mount Hiei in Kyoto when he was young, when he was about 15. we think, and absorb this kind of teaching about Buddha nature and so forth. But he had this question and he felt that he really wanted to meet a Zen master to clarify his understanding.

[07:42]

or to clarify his doubts, help him clarify his doubts, because Dogen's doubt was the monk, the monk's question. So in a sense, Dogen is the monk before his realization. So Dogen's questions, according to what people understand, It was, if everyone has Buddha nature, why do we have to practice? If we have everything we need, what's the sense? Why do we have to do something extra? So Dogen went to China with this question. And this question was resolved when he met his teacher, Ruijing. So when he met his teacher, Rujing, most of you know this story.

[08:50]

He was sitting in the zendo, and Rujing used to go around and wake up the monks with his slipper, hit them with a slipper. Bam, wake up. Keep them alert and focused. So Dogen was sitting next to this monk, and the teacher, Runchen, came up, and the monk was dozing off, or he could see he was not focused, and he hit him with his slipper, and he said, Something like, I don't know what he said, but I wasn't there. But it's like, why are you wasting your time on the cushion when the vital matter of being one with Buddha nature is what you're actually striving for?

[10:07]

when your actual practice is the most important thing. So that woke up Doge, and he realized something about practice, that realization and practice are one thing. The realization doesn't come about except through practice. The master answered, although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, that Buddha nature is always there. The master replied, you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. Suzuki Roshi in his comment says, Paoche is just being kind to the,

[11:15]

to the monk by saying, you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, but you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere? asked the monk. The master just fanned himself. The monk bowed with deep respect. So Dogen based his whole practice on one moment of practice is one moment of enlightenment. One hour of practice is one hour of enlightenment, even though you may not understand that. As I said before, And as Dogen says, of course, throughout the Genjo Koan, it's not necessary to know everything in order to have enlightenment, to realize enlightenment.

[12:28]

What we realize is our self. So Buddha nature reaches everywhere. Buddha nature is all-pervasive. Dogen says it's not that we have Buddha nature, it's that we are Buddha nature. The fish is an expression of Buddha nature. The bird is an expression of Buddha nature. The bird flies through the sky. The sky is Buddha nature. The bird flies through the sky, and no matter how vast the sky is, the bird can never leave the sky. And the fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how vast the water, the fish can never leave the water. So, we don't come in and out of Buddha nature. Buddha nature is all-pervasive, so there's no way to get lost.

[13:34]

But the fish leaves no trace, and the bird leaves no trace. You can't find the path of the bird, and you can't find the path of the fish. And this traceless enlightenment continues on forever, is what Dogen says. So, what is practice and what is enlightenment? What is Buddha nature? Buddha nature is all pervasive, but unless we fan, it doesn't come forth. It doesn't manifest as realization. Even though everything is coursing in Buddha nature, as Buddha nature, and is an expression of Buddha nature, Unless we fan, we don't realize. Unless we investigate, unless we put ourselves into practice, we don't have the realization.

[14:47]

So, Dogen illustrates this in various ways. in his fascicle Shoji. Shoji is his fascicle on birth and death. Very short fascicle. But in the end he says, there is a simple way to become Buddha. When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a Buddha. So this is the practice that brings forth enlightenment.

[15:56]

It's very simple. It's not the only practice that brings forth enlightenment. But this is a very basic attitude a practice which manifests Buddha nature. A simple way to become Buddha, when you refrain from unwholesome actions. Unwholesome means selfish, self-centered, selfish actions. And the most difficult thing for all of us is to refrain from unselfish, unwholesome actions because we all want to satisfy ourselves. We all want to satisfy our desires. So our desires become very big and take us over. And we're always feeding our desires.

[16:59]

So, and when we feed our desires, this is what he calls unwholesome actions. So we're always working in this realm of self-control, in a sense, or until our understanding becomes, when we have good understanding, we don't need so much self-control, but the awareness is what's important. And then he says, not attached to birth and death, meaning having the realization that birth and death is occurring on each moment and freely letting go and freely entering.

[18:05]

Freely entering birth and death on each moment and freely letting go of birth and death on each moment. So not desiring one or the other. and yet on each moment letting go of birth, taking up birth. So this is how to be free from birth and death at the same time as being completely one with birth and death. This is Dogen's understanding To be free of something is to be one with something. When you're one with something, you're free of something. To struggle against something means you're caught by something. And this is demonstrated by the pain in your legs in Zazen.

[19:09]

To struggle against means to create. To be one with is to be free. When there's only one thing, you have freedom. When there are two things, you can be caught, because you're caught between two things. So how we manifest fanning, how we manifest being one with our nature, and not making a division between our fundamental mind and our phenomenal mind, is to be one with our phenomenal mind. To be one with our activity. This is what our practice is about.

[20:14]

And then he says to be compassionate toward all sentient beings, no matter how they treat us. Respecting seniors, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors. So we're respectful to those who are our seniors, and we help those who are our juniors. We also help those who are our seniors. And we're also respectful to those who are our juniors. Sometimes we think, well, are there seniors and juniors? Everyone's the same, aren't they? Yes, true. We're all the same, and at the same time, there are seniors and juniors. So you help those people who need your help, and you receive help from those people who can give you help.

[21:21]

So then he says, not excluding or desiring anything. Not excluding or desiring is not being attached to what we want and not being adverse to what we get. This is Zazen. So, with no designing thoughts or worries. Designing thoughts? Trying to create something. you know, trying to create some special thing or being cunning or bringing others down, raising yourself up. Sometimes we raise ourself up by bringing others down. If we can't get up, then we get up by leveling the field.

[22:37]

or putting the others down here, which puts us up here. It's all a matter of positioning. So we have to be very careful about that. These are designing thoughts. So with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a Buddha. Do not seek anything else. So this is basic attitudes toward practice, which stimulates our buddha nature. Then, it is Dogen's fascicle called Tsenki.

[24:08]

Tsenki is like undivided activity. activity which is totally one. Dogen talks about how we become one with our activity, what that means in the sense of buddha nature and fanning. He says birth is like riding in a boat You raise the sails and row with the oar. I don't know if you do both at the same time, but you either raise the sails or row with the oar. Although you row, the boat gives you a ride. And without the boat, no one could ride. But you ride in the boat, and your riding makes the boat what it is.

[25:09]

Investigate a moment such as this. So the boat is potentially a boat, but it's not actualized as a boat until you enter the boat, raise the sail, or use the oars, grab the tiller, and sail off. Then you and the boat are one thing. The boat is not a boat without you. And you are not you at that moment without the boat. You and the boat are one thing. You make the boat, and the boat makes the sailor. Without the boat, there's no sailor. Without the sailor, there's no boat. So, this is the monk, this is the teacher fanning himself. And this, fanning yourself is to step into the boat, raise the sails, and make things work.

[26:13]

then Buddha nature works, manifests. So it's a very nice illustration. He says, at such, just such a moment, there is nothing but the world of the boat. The sky, the water, and the shore are all the boat's world, which is not the same as the world that is not the boat's. When you ride in a boat, your body and mind and the environs together are the undivided activity of the boat. The entire earth and the entire sky are both the undivided activity of the boat. Thus birth is nothing but you, and you are nothing but birth. So, then he goes on, he says, Zen Master Yuan Wu, Engo, Priest K. Kin said, birth is the undivided activity, death is the undivided activity.

[27:20]

Clarify and investigate these words. So, how do we bring life to life? When we, are on the side which we call life. How do we bring life to life? And the side which we call death, how do we bring life to death? Because life and death are not opposites. Birth and death are opposites. Because birth is movement and death is a movement. But life itself is Buddha nature. And birth and death are aspects of Buddha nature. The nature of the wind is permanent. Buddha nature doesn't come or go.

[28:26]

Tathagata is the one who doesn't come or go, or thus comes, or thus goes. meaning just as it is, which means doesn't come or go. But birth and death are the movements of life or Buddha nature. So when we view life as birth, how do we bring birth to life? How do we bring death to life? When engaged in birth, we're totally birth.

[29:33]

When we're engaged in death, we're totally death. But within birth is death, and within death is birth. One moment of birth is a moment of death. One moment of death is a moment of birth. So it just keeps going round and round. So within birth and death, how do we find our place? How do we find our essential nature, which is called the Buddha nature, which is not restricted by birth and death? Do you have a question?

[30:52]

Birth and death. Is that synonymous with the word change? Yeah. Change happens within the realm of birth and death. I don't know about synonymous, but yes. Actually change, yes, that's synonymous with change. Ken. There's a final paragraph, if I could just reiterate what you were saying. It comments on the one that you did read. That's right. This is in the enlightened experience of Buddhadharma and the vital way of its correct transmission.

[31:57]

Those who say we should not use a fan because wind is permanent, and so we should know the existence of wind without using a fan, know neither permanency nor the nature of wind. Because the nature of wind is eternally present, The wind of Buddhism, or Buddhadharma, actualizes the gold of the earth and ripens the cheese of the long river. Well, that was very hard to translate. Because the word is gi. Ghee is a kind of honey-like drink, Indian drink. It's considered very tasty and mellow. G-E-E. G-H-E-E.

[32:58]

Clarified butter. Anyway, just translation information. Yeah. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that gi is the word, is the term, but translating that, we didn't want to say butter. Actually, This is my zoomies translation. When Kaz and I translated, we said, I said cream. I said, now cream sounds better because it's like the creme de la creme, rather than milk or something like that. The creme de la creme is the cream, meaning the top, what comes to the top. So, Priest Pao Che of Makwa Shan was fanning himself.

[34:04]

No, I'm sorry, that's the wrong page. This is the enlightened experience of Buddhadharma and the vital way of its correct transmission. Those who say we should not use a fan because wind is permanent and so we should know the existence of wind without using a fan, in other words we don't need to practice, all we need to do is understand. Know neither permanency nor the nature of the wind. Oh yeah, Master Goso said, to change the earth into gold and to churn the long river into a milky way. Long river, actually, Chinese term for milky way. That's the long river. And we call it the milky way, but I think that's nice. Nice way to change the earth into gold and to churn the long river into a milky way.

[35:09]

Nice. And then, the radiance of our original nature manifests only when practice and, ah. The radiance of our original nature manifests only when we practice and actualize the Buddha nature. What did you have to say? So, because the wind, wind is like the teaching, or the wind of Buddhadharma is the truth, or the dharma of Buddhadharma.

[36:21]

It's called the wind, because the nature of wind is eternally present. The wind of Buddhadharma actualizes the gold of the earth and ripens the cream. of the Long River, or the Milky Way. Thanks for reminding me of that, Ken. Yeah, that's right, to clarify the butter. So yes, everything exists as potential, but until it's churned and clarified, until it's churned it doesn't get clarified. I like that a lot. Until it's churned it doesn't get clarified. Even though it's there, unless it's churned, it doesn't get clarified.

[37:27]

So... So we sit for five days and this is a sheen, this is the fourth day, clarifying. Yes, churning, but with this churning. The churning and the clarity come together, but we don't always, even though the clarity's there, sometimes our eyes are shut. I don't know if this adds anything to the butter discussion. In Nepal, in Tibet, there's a melted butter drink. It's nice, but I think that it's used ritually, and I believe it's offered on the altar. I don't know if that's the same thing. That's the gi, yeah. Yeah. Okay. When you pull away,

[38:31]

Let's put it this way. When like and dislike arises, this is straight out of Buddhadharma, when like and dislike arises, then you create a problem. Not that we don't like and dislike, we always do. I like this, I don't like that. But when we get caught by like and dislike, then we create a duality. we create, that discriminating mind creates that duality. And then we have the problem of the tension between liking and disliking. So to just stay in the center, even though there are two sides, to stay in the center without getting pulled by one or the other, allows you to see clearly and allows you to not create.

[39:58]

It's the tension that creates the problem, that creates the pain. It's right there in your legs. You may have some feeling that you don't like. Soon as you don't like it, you create a discriminating tension. because you don't like it means that you want something else. As soon as you want it to be something else, you create your own suffering. As long as you can just let it be because it's not what you say it is. It's not what you think it is. It's just what it is. And when you create something out of it, like, oh, this is something I don't like, then you've created a split. because you're going towards something that you do like and you can't have it. And the more you can't have it, the more pain you feel.

[40:59]

So it just keeps escalating itself. If you just allow every feeling to be what it is, just allow every feeling to be what it is, You can accept everything as it comes and as it goes without grasping or aversion. That's exactly what it's about. Then, there's no opposite. When there's an opposite, you create the problem. If there's no opposite, how can there be a problem? Because problems come through the tension between opposites or between distinctions. I know that there's a lot to say about that. A week ago or so, you were talking about when I'm here, I'm also in San Francisco. Oh, yeah. Is it like that?

[42:04]

I mean, is it like the opposites of liking and not liking? Are they really on the same There's San Francisco and there's Berkeley, right? But they're all on the same ground. We'd say, well that's San Francisco ground, this is Berkeley ground, that's just our idea. But really, it's all the same ground. So we can think of it as two different places, or we can think of it as just one place. We can think of China as being on the other side of the world, But the world is round, and there are no sides, except the sides that we distinguish for our own purposes. And I'm standing on the same ground as China right now. I mean, even though I'm sitting. I'm sitting on the same ground as China right now.

[43:06]

So, in a sense, I don't have to go to China to be in China. But it's a different experience. When Linda talked about refining the earth to bring forth gold, I thought about the gold country and I was thinking, sometimes it's not so good to refine. You can create a lot of problems when you refine something. Yes. And sometimes it seems like if we practice like it's something special, it creates a problem.

[44:08]

Yeah, so the refining is not the problem, it's the people that are the problem. I think we have to remember that. It's the same as, which is the best political system? Doesn't make any difference. They're all the same. There are differences, but it's the people that's the problem, not the systems. Systems work, but people don't work the system. Anyway, I don't want to get into that. But we have to be careful. Well, don't refine anything, right? Within the process, we have to find the solutions. Otherwise, we don't do, well, let's just stay in our primitive state. There's something to that. There is something to that. So at the same time that gold is refined, it doesn't lose its character.

[45:14]

you can make it into any object, and it doesn't lose its character. So that's the kind of refinement that Dogen is talking about. It's okay to refine as long as you don't think it's any better than the earth. Well, it is still earth. Yeah, as long as you know that it's still earth, right? And you know that you can't steal it. There's no way it can be stolen because what somebody else's gold is not yours. This is also very, you have to have your own gold because somebody else's gold is only valuable to them. It's not, it's worthless to you. Can you give it away? No, you can't give it away. We say, may the merit of this practice pervade all existence.

[46:17]

That's giving away merit. That's giving away gold. But it's different because you're really not giving anything away. It's simply expressing your... There was a time when people transferred merit. That was a kind of practice. It's kind of the way that in Christians, you know, back in the Middle Ages, transfer, I mean, I can't remember what it was. Yeah, so, you know, that kind of practice was also giving away merit, but it was not selling it, it was simply giving it away. So, But the way our attitude toward giving away merit means that whatever we accrue doesn't really belong to us. It belongs to everyone. So it's simply sending out your compassion to the world.

[47:21]

you transform it into compassion, then yes, then you can give it away. But you don't give it away as compassionate action. So it's a motivator rather than a thing. he says, actualizes the gold and ripens the cheese. It feels like gold is a little bit more to the enlightened place. It's already there, so there's not really a necessity of refining it. It's already there, but the Buddha wind actually sort of brings that forth, but there is also this ripening, this churning of practice. Right, that's right. So the ripening, it's like you take the raw material and you, but in practice, you take the raw material and turn it into yourself. So it's like, you know, when you are you,

[48:27]

Zen is zen. So what does it mean when you are you? That's a good koan. Well, when am I, when does it mean? When I am me. So we don't try to attain something, we train. And Dogen says, I attain myself, yourself. You attain yourself, myself. I attain myself, myself. You attain yourself, yourself. So that's what we attain ourself. So we really don't attain anything. It's a non-attainment attainment. A non-attaining attainment. Can you say more about the practice of fanning or churning once Well, I think we, you know, First of all, we have to be able to see things clearly.

[50:01]

So we go to a place where we can see things clearly, not just motivated by my own desire to have it a certain way, but just really see things clearly. Like and dislike means on the basis of self-centeredness. We do like things, there are things we don't like, but not necessarily based on self-centeredness. I mean, if I eat a raw persimmon, I mean an unripe persimmon, I don't like it, right? But it's not based on self-centeredness. But if I don't like what you're doing, and just because I think that's not what I would do, that's based on self-centeredness. So I have to be able to appreciate what you're doing even though I don't like it. At least see clearly that it's not a matter of preference, personal preference.

[51:08]

I'm not... You know, I have to be careful not to denigrate you because you're doing something that I don't particularly feel is my preference. So we have to take personal preference out of the way to be able to see clearly. Try to understand something. Because like and dislike brings up personal preference. It's hard to stay in the realm of just seeing things as it is. Because personal preference, I know we do have personal preference, but to be, when we see how we cause a problem through it, then we should be able to see that. But once things start escalating in a certain direction, it's hard to pull ourself back.

[52:14]

So, as the old master said, oh, is that so? Oh, is that so? So it's like unassuming, not assuming something. Ambition comes out of personal preference. What's really the hardest thing to change is ambition, which leads to a kind of arrogance, the hardest thing to deal with. So, as Bob was saying, when we get into a position where there's a process of refinement, then there's a process of higher and lower or getting somewhere.

[53:22]

We have to be very careful that position doesn't necessarily mean high or low. In our practice, we have various positions. And some look high, some look low. But actually, they're not high or low. Sometimes you can say, well, geez, you know, I'm always washing the dishes while somebody else is doing something in the clean area. Not the cleaning area. But we always ask the shusos job is to clean the toilets. That's the shusos job. So that's the highest position But we make these comparisons, you know, I've been high and low and this person's high, you know, how come they're in that position, you know, when I could be doing that or, you know, some things, it gets sticky. So we have to be very careful about how we judge and criticize and make a problem for ourself.

[54:32]

Just washing the toilets is a great position. Washing the dishes is a great position. You don't have to think. All you have to do is do it, and that's the practice. I remember Suzuki Roshi was up in his room when he was sick at Page Street, and in the morning, students go out and they sweep the sidewalk. At least they did. And Sugiyoshi said, I always love hearing the broom sweeping the sidewalk. You know, it's like everybody's sweeping their mind. Great practice. As I said, told you this many times, or it's like several times, when I went to Ryu Takuji, the Rinzai Monastery in Japan, all day long the monks just sweep and rake, like sweeping the mind, just cleaning out the mind, making the mind clear and clean, no stuff.

[55:48]

So the director, you know, all the monks, everybody from the novice to the, we were all doing the same practice. Peter? I think as much as those divisions cause us problems, preferences, I wouldn't even admit to myself that I felt anything about being washing dishes versus being director because it's not good practice. But, so my feelings push me all over the place. And I think for me to really admit, oh yeah, I really wish I was the director. Yeah, right. I remember Maylee, when she had a very high position, she always washing the dishes, always cleaning up after everybody, always serving everyone, you know.

[57:11]

It's like, no problem, you know. Great example. Okay, it's 11.20, no problem. To be continued.

[57:24]

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