OK. Just think when I see this, I feel like a snake charmer. This is my Cobra. Oh, I didn't give you my stuff. My material. And you know, just copies of what you distributed. No, no, no. I don't want that material. Cloth right on my desk. Sorry. So the subject of. is Hokyo Zamae, sometimes called Jewel Mirror Samadhi, sometimes called Precious Mirror Samadhi.

[01:12]

Jewel is a metaphor for precious, something valuable. And usually it's not taken literally. I'm sure. Says the whole universe is one bright pearl. But he doesn't. It's a gem. Right. So a gem is something very precious. So this Jewel Mirror Samadhi, sometimes we call it, it's called, it's translated as Jewel Mirror, sometimes translated as Precious Mirror. Sheng-Yin translated it as Precious Mirror. And when Gail Franzel and I did our translation, we called it Precious Mirror.

[02:19]

But I'm beginning to like Jewel Mirror better, or just as well. So five years ago when I did this class at Tassajara, I did it over a period of three months. So there's only two two days. So I don't know exactly how it's going to go. Like, you know, some food. It's the fried chicken. But we just go and today what I want to do is just go through the sutra and talk about the meaning and not talk about the five ranks just because that's a whole subject in itself.

[03:45]

what's called the five ranks, or five positions, maybe five positions is better, but I'm so used to calling it five ranks, because everyone does that, I've lapsed into that, which is a diagram of practice, which is illustrated by the text. So we have the text of the Jula-Mere Samadhi, And then sort of in the middle is where we come to this place that's sort of, huh? What does that mean? And that's referring to the, that's the trap door into the hole where you fall through and then all these diagrams become apparent. Um, so to begin with, I just want to use this preface.

[04:54]

This book was put together by. Charlie McCarty, who was a student at San Francisco Dent Center, who is very. talented, and he puts together all of these many commentaries. So it's very rich and full of commentary. And my commentary is in there as well. So I can look at that sometimes and think, how does that compare with the others? Not bad. But I didn't want to give this to you because it's too much. If somebody, if there are a number of people who at the end of this two days would like to really study this more thoroughly, we'll make some books for you like this.

[05:59]

So I just want to read the introduction. He says the Jewel Bearer Samadhi is an important Zen poem chanted as a sutra in so-called Zen monasteries. It is usually attributed to Dongshan Liangjie, whose name means Cave Mountain Good Servant, and he's the 38th ancestor from Shakyamuni in the Soto lineage, and the 10th generation after Bodhidharma. He is also known as Wupen Gohan Daishi, which is his posthumous title. He was a contemporary of Linji, or Rinzai, and his sayings and teachings were compiled in the Dunshan Myoko. He also originated the teaching of the five positions, or ranks, which are still studied as a set of koans in Rinzai Zen, but they do not chant the Jewel Mirror Samadhi in Rinzai monasteries.

[07:06]

He succeeded to Yuan Dongshen, or Ungan Dongzhou, and before training with Yunyan, he practiced under Nansen and Guixiang. Later, when he was about 30, he became abbot of a monastery on Mount Xunfeng. But it's interesting, though, that Hakuin and other Rinzai teachers before Hakuin really thought very highly of the five ranks for five positions of Dongshan. And in the Soto school, the five positions were also studied as a transmission document. But as time went on, because the five positions lend themselves to intellectual problems, entanglements. Go again, discourage the study of them.

[08:10]

You'd be too complex. Actually, the five ranks are really about how to practice. It's a kind of simple formula, or simple outline of practice, but it became a kind of intellectual game. So, but Dogen actually, although he rejected the study of the five renings, He made his own commentary without saying that that's what it was. And that appears as the heart of the gender. So. Dogen's most notable disciple is Saoshan, or Sozan, Benji, and Yunzhu, Daoyang, Ungodoyo.

[09:12]

In our lineage, we say Ungodoyo, after Dozan. But actually, Sozan was his most prominent disciple, or who most people consider his famous disciple, because Sozan And his he inherited the five ranks study from those and had his own commentaries. So there's some history here, but I don't want to get too much into history. But it does say that the song of the Jewel Bearer Samadhi, it's called a song in Chinese, consists of 94 lines of four characters each and arranged in 47 couplets.

[10:15]

And it is the song in which the end of each couplet rhymes with all the others. So translating this is really tricky, translating it. is such a highly sophisticated Chinese way of expression. It's really hard to translate. And I notice in our what was given to you as the text I wanted to give to you is a text that you could write in the margins. It is kind of laid out as a page. And not laid out in the couplets. But when I think when we chant instead of the couplets, you know, what is it? I don't know. Anyway, it is in couplets and I'll emphasize that as we go along. And so he also says that with significant overlaps of ideas and images, the Song of the Jewel-Mirrored Samadhi seems in part to be based on the Sandokai of Sekitokishin.

[11:43]

So we see various overlaps between the Sandokai and the Halkyosamae. And although these are originating with Byunchan, They actually have their origination way back in the lineage. I want to mention the mirror, the jewel mirror. And I just want to give some references in the lineage, the history of our lineage, which refers to the jewel. And this first one is Nagarjuna, the ancestor who brought forth the teaching of the Madhyamaka school. And Kapimala, Kapimora, was his teacher.

[12:48]

So when Kapimora Answered the invitation of the Naga King. Yet I want you to understand this book is called The Transmission of Light and it was written by. Keizan, Mr. Keizan, who was the third generation after Dogen, and actually promoted the Soto school from Dogen. Keizan took all of the stories, mythical stories of their ancestors and commented on them as to the meaning of their lives and of their teaching.

[13:51]

they come out as mythical because they involved Nagas and things like that. Nagas were like serpent types of beings who inhabited the ancient world of India and protected the Buddha at one time. So, and the Naga kings had the sutras at the bottom of the ocean. which Nagarjuna dove down and picked up from the Nagas who were protecting these Mahayana sutras. So, please see it as a story, but the story carries the meaning. So, when Kamimala answered the invitation of the Naga king, he received a wish-fulfilling jewel, which is called citta-matra. Cittamata. Nargajuna asked, this is the ultimate jewel of the world.

[15:01]

Does it have form or is it formless? Kapimala said, you only know of having form or not. You do not know that this jewel neither has form nor is formless. And you do not yet know that this jewel is not a jewel. Not a jewel means it's empty. It does not function as an ordinary... A wish-fulfilling jewel means that when you have this wish-fulfilling jewel, it's your wish for enlightenment. It doesn't function as a wish for material things. So and so the wish fulfilling gem actually is a has come down in history and takes various forms.

[16:07]

And one of the forms is the staff of a gem master. So. That's one story about Jewel. And here's another one. The Buddhist master Shishibodai Daisho says to Vasistha, I now hand over to you the treasury am I, starts out. Now you have it, so please keep it well. So this is kind of a stereotypical saying when talking about transmission of one ancestor to another in the past.

[17:16]

So Shishibo died and personally inherited the mind seal. And Vajashita was from Kashmir, born to a family of the priestly caste. His mother dreamed she had gotten a magical sword and found she was pregnant. When the Buddhist master Shishivodai came to Kashmir on his teaching travels, there were five groups of seekers. those who practiced meditation, those who cultivated knowledge, those who clung to forms, those who rejected forms, and those who did not speak. Simha, or Shishi Bodai, unified these groups and his fame spread far and wide. When Shishibodai was looking for a successor, he met a householder who brought his son to the Buddhist master and said, this boy's name is Bacchusita or Sita.

[18:32]

When he was born, his left hand was closed in a fist. And though he is now grown, he still cannot open his hand. Please tell us the underlying cause. Shishabodai looked at the youth and took him by the hand and said, give me back the jewel. The youth immediately opened his hand and gave him a jewel. Everyone was amazed. And Shishabodai said, in a past life I was a monk and had a boy attendant named Vasha. I went to a feast and on a western seaboard once, and received a jewel as a gift. I entrusted the jewel to the boy, so it is reasonable that he now return to me." The man then gave up his son and allowed him to leave home and become a mendicant. The Buddhist master then ordained him and invested him with the precepts, because the boy's past condition for

[19:38]

Because of the boy's past condition, he named him Vajashita. He combined the two names. So finally, in making his bequest to Vajashita, Shishipo Dai said to him, I now hand over to you the treasury of the I of the true teaching of the Buddha. You should guard it well and pass it on in the future. Vajashita's discovery of his former condition refers to as having been the boy in a past life entrusted with a jewel by the Buddhist master. Now, having entered a womb and have been born in another family, he still kept the jewel. comes down as transmission, way of expressing transmission.

[20:49]

So, when we look at the Hokyo Samadhi, the Song of the Precious Mirror, samadhi, samadhi I have various meanings, but it means being one with basically literally concentration. Thank you. This samadhi is not something that one enters into or leaves.

[22:22]

So Jhulmira samadhi, once one has entered the Jhulmira samadhi, there's no backsliding. One is totally one with the practice. And so samadhi is always present. Um, suppose I lived between eight or seven and eight. Sixty nine. Mirror, of course, is the jewel in the mirror. Actually are not two things. You talk about a jewel. I remember when I was a little boy, I would go to the museum in Los Angeles, and even after that, and we would look at the Egyptian artifacts.

[23:32]

And then there was a kind of funny looking thing, and it said, the caption was, mirror. And I looked at it, and it was made out of bronze, and it was dull as could be. And what do you mean by maybe the class is on the other side? I didn't realize that the mirror was made of bronze. And when it was a mirror, it was polished to a high polish. And so you can see yourself in it because the class wasn't that prevalent in that world. And maybe. But they made mirrors out of bronze and polished them. I thought that was interesting. So precious mirror. So my mirror is something which reflects without distortion, except at the final.

[24:36]

So there is. for seeing things as they are, or as it is, without distortion. And of course, when we look at things, we're always seeing everything distorted, because our minds are creating a sign or an image in our imagination. It's actually creating how we receive it. So it's very hard to see something as it is with bare attention. So then when we act, we create our world through our imagination.

[25:39]

So this is what is called mind only, which we become trapped in our own perceptions. So the precious mirror, or the jewel mirror, sees, reflects everything just as it is. So this is the samadhi. Samadhi of seeing everything just as it is. So this Hokyo Samadhi begins by saying, the dharma of thusness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it, preserve it well." So this is what we just talked about. The dharma of thusness means seeing everything as it is.

[26:46]

The dharma of thusness is perceiving as it is. Ta ta ta. The Tathagata, the Tathagata, is the one who sees that way. And thusness means as it is. So the dharma of as it is is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it. So who is he talking to? He's talking to somebody. He's talking to his disciple, Xiao Zhan, Xiao Zhan, Chinese. There is a story. The you may be referring to Sakshan, probably is.

[28:18]

In the record of Dongshan, there is this preface to the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. Because Sakshan was taking his leave, the Master transmitted this teaching to him. When I was at Master Yunyun's, he secretly entrusted me with the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, thoroughly conveying its essence. Now I am giving it to you, and it goes as follows. And this is what follows. So this is Dushan's transmission of the teaching to his disciple Sarasvati. But, you know, I don't know who created all this, exactly, but this is it. Anyways, this is the teaching.

[29:20]

So, Douzhen receded from Yunyan, and now Yunyan is passing it on to Caoshan. And then here's how he describes the relative and the absolute, which is the main teaching, or the teaching of dasanas. A silver bowl filled with snow. A heron hidden in the moon. Taken as similar, they are not the same. Not distinguished, their places are known. So this is the first couplet. Silver bowl filled with snow. A heron hidden in the moon. taken as similar, they are not the same, not distinguished, their places are known. So what does this bring up for you? How do you see this? James, can you?

[30:30]

Yeah. It explains something to me a little bit that I never understood, which was, if everything is empty, if everything is empty, if all forms are empty, then why in zazen or in samadhi do we talk about just this? How do we get single, specific things that are just as they are out of this universal emptiness? A silver bowl and snow are both clear or white, so to speak. Maybe a white bowl and snow might be better. But silver is good because although they seem the same, they are distinguished. So they're the same and not the same at the same time. So then he gives us another example, a heron hidden in the moon. So a heron, he means a white heron, although there are blue ones.

[31:32]

a white heron hidden in the moon. So, when you see them, they seem the same, but you know that they're different. So, taken as similar, they are not the same. Not distinguished, their places are known. So, it's like form and emptiness. or the absolute and the relative. This is what he's talking about all the time. So although each one of us is an expression of Buddha nature, each expression is different. You and I are the same, but we're also distinguished by our characteristics.

[32:41]

It's different, yeah. To me, in this couplet, and I think Master Chen Yan talks about this as well, the bowl has the capacity to contain the smoke as well. The moon, also the moonlight contains, the whiteness of the moonlight is a container for the visage of the heron. So it's not just kind of lining up these comparisons, but actually the way they work together, are coming together, right? Right. So the bowl and the snow, I mean, the bowl and the moon, the bowl is like a container.

[33:43]

That's right. And the moon is like enlightenment. And, you know, this is a very sophisticated poem and we don't catch all the nuances through our translation. But there's probably also a kind of meaning between snow and bull and some sophisticated meaning between moon and heron. Something about the heron flying across the moon. And there's also a saying that the bird flying across the sky, the bird flying across the empty sky makes the sky. Dogen says, there's no on the mountain. It's the mountain. Today, I see the snow on the mountain.

[34:45]

The snow makes the mountain. So form. Emptiness, form is an expression of emptiness, and emptiness is the basis of form. So, this is the meaning of these images. Suzuki Roshi said, You should be like a white bird in the snow. And when he was giving a I think it was the first lay ordination center that he did. And he said, you should be like a white bird in the snow. And he's talking to people so that you shouldn't stand out in some way separate from things.

[35:51]

But you should use this ordination to. Only he's only giving this so that to kind of power, but encourage us to help everyone else. should be a sign of encouragement and not something that is especially for you. You think of the text on faith that we studied by a Korean teacher where he talks about essence and function? Yes, essence and function. And as a way to understand faith. Well, yeah. Essence is like the ball and the moon and the function is like the bird.

[36:54]

Yeah. The dynamic nature between the two is also in Dogen's poem that it goes something like the white hair and hiding itself in the snow. Right. Right. Well, this is this. In general, there's a lot of poetry. And Suzuki also says, Zazen is like sitting in your mother's lap. Returning to sitting in your mother's lap. That reminds me of my first response to this was that there's no effort in knowing which is which. You know, there's no different. You don't have to. You don't have to do anything to.

[37:56]

In a previous translation that we use, they say filling a silver bowl, hiding. And that seems to bring up the. The sense of doing not doing. You know, we have to be careful about people's translations because they can lead us in various ways. Hidden, I think, is the meaning rather than hiding. We've got hiding, coming out, doing something. I think it's hidden. Yeah. And we got through a lot of different nuances of translation.

[39:00]

And I think there is still more to go. OK. I want. I don't really. I feel confused by. The kind of their places are known to sort of like to understand. OK. Yes. But is that how it's sort of. You know, they're just a way of saying something like, you know, where they are. Just one other connotation of those two images. that there's no way it's going to melt. It's passing. It's going to go. The Heron could take it, take off at any moment. That's right. The sulfur and the moon are returned, so to speak. Yes. Yeah. That's right. And yet the phenomenal and I don't want to say eternal, but I'll say it.

[40:06]

And the phenomenal. Yeah, that's that's the image. So we're going to take a few minutes to stand up without saying a word. Thank you very much.

[41:26]

Well, then, of course, they're similar, but not identical. So. So these lines concern the phenomenal and the real and the relationship. So this sets the tone for the whole piece. Although two, they are one of the two. So then we have to start talking about words. So the meaning does not reside in the words, but the pivotal moment brings it forth. Now, this seems to be a sentence which stands by itself to me. And I think there are four. Interesting. When I was analyzing this. The meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth.

[43:37]

And then three lines down, just portrayed in literary form as distinct defilement. And then three lines down, although it is not constructed, it is not beyond words. And then further down, it says, baba wawa. Is there anything said or not? So these sentences all are related to each other, but they're separated by the other couplets. They don't seem to belong to the other couplets. So the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. A pivotal moment, we also used to say, Inquiring impulse. Inquiring or the inquiring student.

[44:39]

That's the way we translate it. It is the inquiring student. It's kind of like I get the feeling of when you are doing sincere practice, even though you don't exactly know what you're doing or know where you're going or know what's in front of you or know what's meeting you. But you're simply totally giving yourself to practice. Something meets you halfway. The universe meets you halfway and verifies you. This is what this is kind of the way I see this, although there are other ways to see it. I think a pivotal moment.

[45:40]

You know, I think that's that's good. But also the inquiry impulse is good. But there's two ways of expressing the same thing. The inquiry student. This is translated in so many different ways. It's really something. And it's done. OK. It says hearing the words, understand the meaning. Principle responds with our points. So that's further down. So I don't want to get into that now. And then I said, we have to get beyond the words, meaning the other side of the page. We do not need to use words, even though reality is beyond words. We do need to use words, even though reality I think that's correct. So.

[46:47]

The meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings forth a response to your inquiry, actually. So he's encouraging us to have trust, actually, or faith in what you're doing. If we go forth and practice with some sense of trust and faith, the practice will meet us. And that's what will And please feel free to ask a question any time. I'm wondering if that's just to make an analogy, not an explanation.

[47:59]

When you see a clue for a crossword puzzle and then you go, oh, so the meaning doesn't reside in the clue, but then something happens to bring it. That's the pivotal moment. Yeah. Yeah, that's the turning. We call it the turning word, right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, there's even also a personal thing when somebody is in Hasidism, they say that you experience the turning. Oh, yes. Yes, well, and Buddhism is called Parvati, turning around on the basis, a revelation, revolution, a revelatory revolution.

[49:05]

Now, this is what transfers, transforms consciousness into wisdom. Well, it's maybe worth noting that linguistically, words actually don't have meanings. There are arbitrary sounds which we have. We give meaning to them. To give a certain meaning. I think this this actually goes back to the Diamond Sutra, which constantly keeps coming back to saying enlightenment, form, emptiness. These are just words. But words are. I mean, I think it's underscored and emphasized so many ways here because that's the meaning in which this is being expressed. Right. That's right.

[50:08]

So to remind us that, yeah, there's there's a utility to this not to be stuck on it. And also it keeps pointing to other forms of other ways in which it This is kind of the fun of it. How do we do this? How do we use these words? Because we have to play with them. There's a great Shakespeare couplet. But words are words. I never yet did hear that the wounded heart was pierced by the ear. So then can we come to the sentence, if you're excited or move when you are trapped, miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation.

[51:12]

That's the translation. Well, there are other translations. If you're excited, this is the old query translation. If you're excited, it becomes a pitfall. If you miss it, you fall into retrospective hesitation. That's what we're used to. Someone else says there is a tendency to create cliches, slipping into retrospection at a standstill. Doesn't make my translation. Translation with hasty action creates a pitfall to this is to linger in consideration. And moving is a trap, and your mistake plunges you into static self-conscious reflection. That's two. But I like the pitfall rather than trapped.

[52:17]

I don't like trapped. I see it just as like a reflection of the koan. Joshu and Nansen, like ordinary mind is the way. Ordinary mind is the way. Nansen said, if you try to... And then Joshu asked, should I try to direct myself toward it? And Nansen said, if you try to go toward it, you stumble past it. That's my translation. And Joshu asked, how can I know it? How can I know the Tao if I don't direct myself? Nonsense. The Tao is not subject to knowing or not knowing. So, this koan, I think, reflects this line. Sheng Yen says, this stanza explains the action of an enlightened master.

[53:24]

A master does not teach in any specific form. or methods. There's no fixed method or instruction. Once the master acts, offers instruction, gives a method, presents a koan, the act is dead. A master must consider the varying attainments of each disciple. I'm totally acquiesce to that. But hasty action creates a pitfall. It's like, if you try too hard, you get bogged down. That's a pitfall. And if you don't try, you know, nothing happens. That's lingering in consideration, so to speak, or just thinking about it too much. You have to go forward without thinking too much. But if you go too fast,

[54:25]

If you want something too much, you go past it. It eludes you. And if you don't go after it, then you're just kind of there in a kind of quandary of speculation. So this is a sentence here from somebody who says, don't remain where the Buddha is, and run quickly past where the Buddha isn't. I want you to read that again. Don't remain where the Buddha is, and run quickly past where the Buddha isn't. Where is that from? Well, let's see. Somebody said it, but it doesn't say where it's from. Sentence is turning away and touching are both wrong for it is like a massive fire.

[56:06]

Clearly, originally translated that as it's like a mass of fire. And then later, when we had our conference, we translated it as a massive mass, a massive fire instead of a mass of fire. I think probably a massive fire is better than a mass of fire. Neither ignore nor confront what is like a great ball of flame. Turning away and touching are both wrong, what is like a massive fire." He said, confronted with a great fire, turning away and touching are both wrong. So, pretty much, it speaks for itself. Commentary on K6 of the Book of Serenity says, The great master Nagarjuna said, wisdom is like a mass of fire. It cannot be entered from any side. Yet he also said, wisdom is like a clear, cool pool.

[57:11]

It can be entered from any side. So one song said, the four propositions, the four repudiations are like a mass of fire which cannot be entered from any side. The four prepositions for gates are like pure cool pool, which can be entered from any side. So. And I said to approach fire, you need to be fire. I like that one. So, you know, this continues. the couplet. It's like a massive fire. You can't get too close or you get burned. And you can't go away unless you cool off. So what do you do? So this couplet is like a koan, a wonderful koan, about how do you approach it?

[58:19]

How do you approach the Dharma? If you try too hard, you get burned out. If you don't try hard, you pull off. So how do you keep Suzuki Roshi compared to a lamp? Said Smokey. We used to have these kerosene lamps at Tassajara. We still do have some. And so we were always dealing with these kerosene lamps. And then when you turned them up too high, they'd flame out, you know, and the chimney get all black. So I use that as a metaphor for how we take care of how we approach the Dharma. Fortunately there's this little round button that you turn to pull the wick down or turn it up. And you have to keep it adjusted just right so that the lamp produces light.

[59:21]

but doesn't get too dim and doesn't flame out. So this is how we practice. That's the meaning here, actually. This is what you practice. It's like your stove. If you turn it up too high, you're going to get burned. And if you turn it down too low, it doesn't cook. So we want it to cook, but we want it to cook nicely. Just the right flame for whatever it is you're cooking. Which is the secret of practice. Yes. I guess my question is, so this is fine. Is it. Is it. Do we need to keep it constant. Yeah. Or does it tend to go back. Is it OK to sort of vacillate. So sort of read it and it's too hot. OK. the situation.

[60:30]

It's not like there's the right temperature that's good for everything. But the attempt, because our life was like a roller coaster. And that's OK. Well, yeah. You can't expect it to stay. It's not like this. No. This is this is like the precepts by Roque. So that being awake in a way is like it's just being awake by moment. It's like, as Dickerson said, everything is continually falling out of balance and finding its balance. And if you think about that, that's a great statement. Continuously falling out of balance and finding balance. But we kind of cling to things because we don't want to fall out of balance. But we have to let go in order to renew ourselves. So we let go of the old and go with the new moment.

[61:37]

So instead of clinging to some comfortable position, which gets uncomfortable if we cling to it, we adjust ourselves. Moment by moment, finding our balance, because what seems right now is not, you know, when you sit down, then it feels nice and comfortable. But then toward the end. So we have to adjust our flame inside moment by moment. Because, you know, in listening to this and reading it, I'm wondering also if there's not something in there that says, let's say, just make yourself available and what will happen will happen. Like the ones where it says, you've got to move in your craft. But if Temple Moments brings it, or Missing Epology, Doubt and Fascination, Turn Away and Touching are both wrong, it's that you don't do any of those things.

[62:47]

Can we just make oneself available, kind of like sitting frozen? Well, two things. I think that's, yeah, I think that's right. But you also have to do something. You can't, it's, you know, to let things, to receive and let things happen and go along with them is one side. And to move things is the other side. So what's the balance right there between passivity and activity? If we only let things happen, that's too passive. And if we're only acting out, that's too active. So how do you find the balance between, as Doge says, turning and being turned? Let the Dharma and the Dharma's turning you, you are in the passive mode.

[63:56]

And when you are turning the Dharma, you are in the active mode. So turning and riding the wave and driving the wave at the same time, that's the perfect balance. So how to act and at the same time receive. It's like doing the Maccubio, driving the chant and following the chant. If you're only driving the chant, you get way ahead of everybody and you don't chill out. And if you're only following, you're not leading. So you have to lead and follow at the same time. That's the trick. Without getting overbearing and without being too passive. You make things work and you follow at the same time. So you can't complain about anything. And sitting positive is doing something.

[64:59]

Yes, that's what satan is. Not doing. It's not just being passive. This is referring to a different page, but it is stuff we were going to read. And I found it very interesting, the business, the Masumi Roshi thing, where he said that study means to learn, but to learn in a very repetitious way, just to read over and over and over, just like how kids learn something from their parents or from school. Day after day, the pattern of life is the same. That's what we were doing in Sat-Ten, which is Sat-Ten over and over and over. I thought that was very, very interesting. And I was thinking about how, when I was a kid, I learned things like multiplication tables, and how to do arithmetic, and parts of speech, how to diagram a sentence.

[66:08]

probably not have learned that if I would have said, what is an integer? And what does it mean to add and subtract? And then having done all that, you can later say, what is an integer? What does it mean? And that's kind of interesting, too. But at some point, I don't think those things, at least from my experience, I can hardly imagine that it would have been possible to learn things like price of speech and how to diagram sentences and what a preposition is and all that kind of stuff. If you really just got all hung up on what does it mean, you know, you just kind of have to do it. And when you're, at least when I was that age, I was willing to just do it and keep practicing and keep doing the same things over and over and over. I think it's very interesting. That's a very good point because You know, it's the university was teaching people and asking questions.

[67:12]

But why are we doing that? And say, I don't know. I would never answer you, answer your question to give you information about what you are asking. practice the reports and your bones. That's what it's all about. And then you absorb it through your bones and through your poor bones. And then after you get that fundamental foundation, then you can start studying and getting, you know, oh, this is I see this comes back in history. And there is a value, I think, anyway, to developing habits. Because we have habits, whether we're conscious of having developed them or not, that get in our way of doing other things, or opening something up.

[68:23]

And so if you just habitual, you know, you just train yourself to have a certain kind of habit, such as whatever you're doing in suffering, that can potentially be useful in ways that you can't consciously, you know, you can't deductively figure out in advance. Well, that's right. The foundation gives you the ability to do anything. If you ever have a good foundation, then you can grow. And it's hard to grow without it. So that's really, yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, sometimes there's always a tendency to want to systematize the practice. You know, like at school, when the Japanese are falling into this. But I don't like that. I like what Shinyan said about there's no specific way, you know. And it was very interesting when we had this conference, two-day conference last weekend at Cal and at the San Francisco Zen Center.

[69:36]

It was scholars and practitioners, you know. And at one point, an American who worked with a Japanese priest, Well, I don't think that Zen has been transmitted to America yet. And it's a tiny kind of silence. And I thought about it later and I thought, that's right. This has not been brought here because you can't bring it here. You can only bring it out here because if we didn't already have it, no matter how much you bring, doesn't help. So that's right. Thank goodness Zen has not been brought to America. There has been someone who brought himself to America and awoke us up to our own Zen.

[70:37]

It's not like something has to be brought. Matter of fact, he didn't want to be brought. He wanted us to wake up to ourselves. So. And this is the way he thought. Go back to this topic. Yes. Just it occurred to me as we've been reading this. So the thrust here is there's a lot of expression of light. And we were saying, I think that's a kind of alchemical metaphor. It's not a metaphor. It's a reality. But it's really different than the early Buddhist emphasis where everything is on cooling. On what? Cooling. Oh, cooling. Cooling. Cooling, even by thinking about the saying of the Buddhist,

[71:43]

Patience is the incinerator of defilements. The object there is to turn your defilements into these cool ashes. That's either here or there. But the emphasis in early Buddhism is so much on cooling, and that's not what's happening. That's not what's being talked about here. Yeah, that's good. Interesting point. But Nirvana is the cool state, which refers to the passions. And that carries through all of Zen as well. But it is a different. You don't find the Theravada school talking about fire. But I think it would say it would if you wanted to treat it that way. Indulgent of passions and extinguishing passions are helpful. Yes.

[72:45]

In the context of this issue. Right. Yeah. But you notice in the previous got the commentary of Nagarjuna was like a massive fire. And then you can't enter because it's too hot. Then you can enter anywhere because it's cool. So both are there. What Chang-Yen says about this, which is interesting, his transition is, it's like a massive fire, useful but dangerous. Yes, useful but dangerous. That's right. That's our desire. Useful but dangerous. That's why Suzuki Roshi talked about just turning down, adjusting the light, adjusting the fire so that you get light in just the right amount of heat, but not too much of anything. You don't want to get blinded, and you don't want to, and you want to be able to see, and you want to feel comfortable, but you don't want to get too hot.

[73:47]

So then, He says, just to depict it in literary form is to relegate it to defilement. Only to express it in ornate language is to approach it with defilement. So this is pretty. Someone said, if it is only expressed in language, the precious mirror will be stained. So there are various ways of saying this. But it's pretty clear, I think, that if you try to describe it too much, this is why we, in Zen, we depend on, our literature is mostly in the koan form, because it's not a description. So when we start getting into a descriptive form of literature, we're trying to we're removing ourselves once or twice from the reality.

[75:09]

And then we only have a picture. So it's hard to get away from the picture, but the picture should help us not interest. But here's the other. So he says that the way the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. And then he says just to portray it in literary form is to stand it with defilement. So this is the second sentence about words. Then he says it is bright at midnight and it doesn't appear at dawn. Midnight is truly bright at dawn. Nothing appears at midnight.

[76:12]

It is truly bright at dawn. It is not apparent. So what is he talking about? I don't know what he's talking about. metaphor, but I find it very interesting. It just occurred to me a while ago, probably everybody thinks this all the time, but right now the stars are out, but we can't see them because there's so much light. So we can only see them when it's dark, but they're there. Yes. Yeah, that's good. Could I add, a friend of mine recently said that about her ego. She said you don't need to repress your ego because it's like a star in the sky, it's always there. But when the sun comes out, you don't need it. I like that. It's always there. The ego is always there somewhere. But it's not necessarily activated.

[77:14]

So my commentary is dark is oneness. This is the way we think of dark and light. our Zen understanding, the darkness means all is one. This is what the Sun Dukkha is saying. In the darkness, everything is included, but there are no boundaries. You can't see the boundaries. So this is oneness. And in the light, you see all the boundaries and all the individual pieces. So it's kind of the opposite. Sometimes we use darkness to describe So in the dark, everything is one, and in the light, everything is differentiated. And of course, this is another way of talking about these two aspects of our life. So dark is oneness and no boundaries.

[78:19]

Purity and light is phenomena, various existences, individual pieces in the relative world. They are like opposites, but they do not negate each other. There are two aspects of the mirror. Light is revealed in darkness, but don't try to see it in some idea of light. So Clary says. Clearly, fairly liberal translation of this comment from Fen Yang on the first position, the apparent within the real resonates with this couplet. And then, of course, the famous case number 86, the book of Dr. Jungman imparted some words saying, as we talked about last time, everyone has a light.

[79:20]

When you look at it, you don't see it, and it's dark and dim. He also said, a good thing isn't as good as no thing. And then, an excerpt from Yuan Yu's commentary on this verse, he says, spontaneously shining, ranged in solitary light. Originally, right where you stand, there's this beam of light. It's just that your use of it is dark. That way, great Master Yunmen set out his light for you right in front of your faces. But say, what is everyone's light? the kitchen pantry, and the main gate. This is where Yunlin raised the solitary light. So, Shunyin says, the mirror does not darken in samsara, or delusion, and it does not brighten in enlightenment.

[80:23]

It's always the same. You do not practice in order to make yourself, to make your self-nature manifest, You practice to eliminate vexations and vexations disappear. So nature naturally manifests. Yes. Time for what? Who uses the word vexation is that vexation is the actual Chinese meaning of what we call to me that I was always wondering why wasn't it exactly suffering, and apparently it's a little bit more like dissatisfaction or vexation. It's not just being in pain, but it's some kind of pull there, like, you know, you're not getting what you want. Right.

[81:24]

So suffering, you know, is one aspect, and so it seems to cover things, but vexation is actually more the Chinese and it's trouble things that, you know, are vexing. So, yeah. And when you read translations in Chinese, they almost always talk about vexation.

[81:51]

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