I think some of you may be familiar with the work of Master Hongzhi. Master Hongzhi is in Japanese, Tendo Sogaku, the 49th ancestor in our lineage. And he lived from 1098 to 1157 in China. And he was well known for being the advocate for what's called silent illumination, the Zen of silent illumination, which is a continuation of Buddha's Shakyamuni Buddha's practice through Seigen Gyoshi and Tozan Ryokai and the various ancestors.

[01:10]

And one of his He put a lot of emphasis, or I would say, silent illumination has to do with light, with radiant light, and sometimes translated as divine light, but radiant light And in all of his writings, he wrote very eloquently, in a very poetic style, what are called practice instructions. And he's always talking about this light at the center of our existence. and in a way that most people don't.

[02:15]

Although various Zen masters allude to this, and U Mon was one of them, Hongzi really uses this as a sort of central theme of his teaching. So, in these practice instructions, they're rather short, but they're not instructions like, do this and do that, not that kind of instruction. It's more like, I'll read to you and then I'll comment. With the depths clear, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source, empty and spirited, vast and bright.

[03:32]

Even though you have lucidly scrutinized your image and no shadow or echo meets it, Searching throughout, you see that you still have distinguished between the merits of a hundred undertakings. Then you must take the backward step and directly reach the middle of the circle from where light issues forth. Outstanding and independent, still you must abandon pretexts for merit. carefully discern that naming engenders beings, and that these rise and fall with intricacy. When you can share yourself, then you may manage affairs, and you have the pure seal that stamps the ten thousand forms. Traveling the world, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters samadhi in all delusions and accepts its function, which is to empty out the self so as not to be full of itself.

[04:48]

The empty valley receives the cloud. The cold stream cleanses the moon. Not departing and not remaining, far beyond all the changes you can give teachings without attainment or expectation. Everything everywhere comes back to the ancient ground. Not a hair has been shifted, bent, or raised up. Despite a hundred uglinesses or a thousand stupidities, the upright cauldron is naturally beneficent. Zhao Zhou's answers, wash out your bowl and drink your tea, do not require making arrangements. From the beginning, they have always been perfectly apparent. Thoroughly observing each thing with the whole eye is a patch-robed monk's spontaneous conduct."

[05:53]

So he says, with the depths clear, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source, empty and spirited, vast and bright. Well, here he's talking about zazen, about clarity, and beyond thinking, beyond our usual activity. So this is the way he introduces his subject. with the depths clear, meaning maybe being able to see all the way down to the bottom. One of the ways of expressing clarity through zazen is like a glass, a glass of water, or a container of water that

[07:07]

that's mixed with soil and when you let it sit the soil settles and pretty soon the water is clear. So the water is always clear even when it's dirty or mixed. And when the mixture settles, you have clear water. So this is like the mind. The mind is always intrinsically clear and pure. And when we allow the mind to settle, the heavy stuff floats or goes to the bottom and the mind becomes very clear. This is sansen. So, he says, with the depths clear, utterly silent, thoroughly illuminate the source, empty and spirited, vast and bright.

[08:16]

Intrinsically, it's vast and bright and empty. Even though But he says, but even though you have lucidly scrutinized your image, even though you have done this, and even though you have scrutinized, lucidly scrutinized your image, and no shadow or echo meets it, searching throughout, you see that you still have distinguished between the merits of a hundred undertakings. No shadow or echo means there's nothing for things to bounce off of. It means that you're completely transparent and one with everything. That's the usual meaning of no echo, right? Nothing to, and no shadow.

[09:20]

There's nothing solid that can be distinguished. That means egoless. But even so, you're still in the realm of discrimination. Even though you have this kind of purity, one has to be very careful. Searching throughout, you see that you still have distinguished between the merits of a hundred undertakings. You still have discriminating mind. Then you must take the backward step and directly reach the middle of the circle from where light issues forth. Even though we think that we have accomplished something, still, if we think we have accomplished something, our mind is still discriminating.

[10:27]

Take the backward step. This is, of course, expressed in the Sandokai. Take the backward step that illuminates the self. And also, Dogen picks up on this kind of phrase. take the backward, the step back, that illuminates, that allows illumination to come forth, actually. So, outstanding and independent, even though you may be outstanding and independent, Even though people may feel that you have something and you may feel that you have something, still you must abandon pretexts for merit.

[11:33]

This is maybe the most difficult. Once you have accomplished something to let go of your feeling of accomplishment or the merit or Merit is a good word. We say merit, you know, may the merit of this practice or this chanting, giving away merit is one of our practices. And that's, you know, in the service, echo, E-K-O, is not E-C-H-O, but echo means Dedication. We say dedication, but basically it means giving away merit. So that whatever merit is accrued or whatever we have accomplished, we unload it.

[12:43]

Unload the feeling of having accomplished anything and give that energy back to the universe, so that we're not holding something, for one thing, and also that whatever we do benefits everyone else. So our chanting is for the benefit of everyone, and our zazen is for the benefit of everyone. We don't do zazen for ourselves. At first we do. When we come to practice, you know, we want to accomplish something. We have some idea that maybe it will help us, you know, be good for us. We come for various reasons. Everybody has their own reason why they come to sit. But after you have maturity, you realize that zazen is not something that you do for yourself. is something you do to let go of yourself.

[13:46]

And you do it for the benefit of all beings. So, this is a very difficult and tricky part of practice. Not to be able to let go of self-benefit. It's not that there is no self-benefit because, you know, Zazen is pretty good for us. But still, we don't do it for our own sake. The benefit comes back to us. Whatever we give away always comes around back around to us. So generosity, of course, is the most accomplished practice. And that's why I always say that Zazen is an offering.

[14:55]

People, you know, often think, they talk to me all the time, what's the benefit of Zazen? I've been sitting Zazen for so long and I don't feel any benefit from Zazen, you know. All it does is, I just have pain in my legs. Lots of pain in my legs. This is when people forget what Zazen is about. Somebody could be practicing for 15 years and they forget what Zazen is about at some point. You know, for various reasons. And they'll come and say, I don't know, been 15 years and I just feel lots of pain in my legs. That's all, you know. What happens is you forget why you're sitting. You think that you're doing it to get something. And then you're disappointed, of course. Naturally disappointed. So we always have to remember that Zazen is our offering.

[16:04]

and our daily life that they're offering as well. And there are other things involved besides that. But basically, our attitude is that Zazen is just offering our whole body and mind to the benefit of the universe or all sentient beings, whatever. soon as you start thinking about your own benefit, you lose it. And then you can't figure out why you're doing it. So he says, still, even though you may be a great yogi, you may be a great Zen master or mistress, whatever.

[17:07]

Still, you must abandon pretexts for merit. You have to give away all the merit. You can't hold it. Carefully discern that naming engenders beings and that these rise and fall with intricacy. I don't know about the translation, but naming discriminates, engenders beings. Engenders beings means that there's one whole being without distinctions. And as soon as we start naming, then we start creating, we start discriminating and creating beings out of this one being. So discrimination means to divide. So we start dividing this one whole being into littler beings, which is okay.

[18:15]

That's our life. But we have to remember that it's one whole being. And what we do is forget. Everybody forgets that it's one whole being. And we only focus on the parts. Nobody sees the whole. Very few people see the whole. All we see is the parts. And then we start fighting because we think that the parts are separate from us. This is called the dream of separation. And then he says, when you can share yourself, then you may manage affairs. That's an interesting statement. When you can share yourself means that you're taking responsibility. And when you can take responsibility, then you can manage affairs. So mark of maturity is to share yourself and to be able to manage affairs, to take responsibility.

[19:32]

And then you have the pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms. The pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms. 10,000 means infinite. The pure seal is the Buddha seal. It's that which is common to everything. The common denominator is the Buddha seal. That which everyone shares as reality. And numerically you could say zero. Zero is the Buddha seal because it has no special characteristics and is common to everything. And then there's a line and above the line is one, two, three, four, five, ten thousand. So the 10,000 things are the divisions of zero.

[20:36]

And the Buddha seal is zero, but it also is the 10,000 things. And the 10,000 things are the manifestations of the Buddha seal. When you can share yourself, then you may manage affairs and you have the pure seal that stamps the 10,000 forms. Traveling the world, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters samadhi." So here he's saying, leaving zazen and entering the world, traveling through the 10,000 conditions, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters into samadhi. He's talking about chi-ju-yu-samadhi, the self joyous samadhi, which is this being in touch with our true nature.

[22:02]

moment by moment. And no matter what the conditions are, there's always the joy of that samadhi. Not some magical thing, but it's just being in our true, unperturbable mind. This is how we meet conditions. Somebody who's been practicing for 15 years says, But when I get out there in the world, I just get shattered. But what is our practice? You know, when we sit in Sashin, we sit period after period, and there's lots of painfulness and distraction, and yet, Within that difficulty, we become more and more still and silent and one with our imperturbable nature.

[23:15]

So that's what we do in every circumstance. That's what our practice is, to be able to have that imperturbable Imperturbability doesn't mean that we don't feel what's happening and don't cry and laugh. But within our crying and within our laughter and within our pain and within our joy, we're always centered on this self-joyous samadhi. But joy may be a misleading term. fulfilling, self-fulfilled, meaning fully filled. Nothing lacking. Settled. Settled on our true self in every circumstance. So in Zazen, in Sashin, you know, when things get difficult, all you can do is take one breath after another.

[24:27]

It's just this breath, now this breath, and everything becomes very still. And you know where you're centered. You have to keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. Rather than running around in confusion, you go deeper and deeper and deeper and find that root, which is endless root. This is how we practice in every circumstance. That's the basis of our practice. And our daily life is where it's tested out. So each circumstance for us is a test of our practice. a test of our ability to practice, and a test of our awareness, that we don't get lost when something comes up, when some difficulty comes up.

[25:42]

We don't get lost, we get thrown back onto our practice. And we see every circumstance as a way to practice. But life is very difficult. and some things will throw us, you know, and slam us against the wall, and we won't know where our practice is. But, the more we practice, the more we have the ability to do that. That's why Cixin is important, because Cixin throws us back on ourself into our deepest self. So, he says, Traveling the world, meeting conditions, the self joyfully enters samadhi in all delusions and accepts its function, which is to empty out the self so as not to be full of itself.

[27:07]

This is the practice of a Zen student, to always keep emptying the self so as not to be full of yourself. And the more we can empty the self, the more we can receive. So, the more pain we can receive, unfortunately, the more difficulty we can encompass. The more mature we are, the more we're able to encompass difficulty. And so we get more difficulty because we accept more difficulty and we accept more responsibility. So a busy person, not busy, but a person who is full of responsibilities, is always taking on another responsibility. And people who have difficulty taking responsibility You often are only concerned with themselves and can't take on things so much.

[28:11]

And sometimes you wonder, you know. So the people who take on a lot of responsibility usually take care of the ones that can't. That's the way it turns out. So, if you are a Zen student, it's nice to come and speak to the director and say, what can I do around here that will help? That's very nice, you know. It's good for all of us when we do that. And if you're a person that's not used to taking responsibility, it's good to step out that way and to enter into the practice. That's the step into practice, is to be able to take some responsibility.

[29:14]

Then he says, the empty valley receives the cloud. We'll receive empty valleys like Buddha nature or like our stillness of our depths and we'll accept anything that comes in. The clouds are always changing their forms. One time it's an elephant, the next it's a bird, castle, city, mountains. Everything comes in in a cloud form. and moves off. So the empty valley receives the changing, transforming picture of the clouds. And the cold stream washes over the moon. That's very nice. The moon is reflected in the water. The cold stream is constantly washing it

[30:23]

but the moon doesn't get wet. Not departing and not remaining, far beyond all the changes, you can give teachings without attainment or expectation. Yeah. You should always give teachings without attainment or expectation. Every week someone gives a talk here, but it's just a talk without expecting anything. Every week we give Zaza an instruction, but we don't expect anybody to come back. We just do it. It's just something to do. And if there's nobody here, then the speaker comes and talks to an empty hall. It's okay. It's the same as whether the place is empty or full. It doesn't matter. You just speak the Dharma because the Dharma should be spoken.

[31:28]

But you don't expect anything. Everything everywhere comes back to the ancient ground. Not a hair has been shifted, bent, or raised up. Despite a hundred uglinesses or a thousand stupidities, the upright cauldron is naturally beneficent. The upright cauldron is actually the subject of this little talk. It's a term used in the I Ching. It's a big pot, and it's associated with alchemy in China. And here's what the I Ching has to say about it. It says, to transform things, nothing compares to the cauldron. This is the vessel used to refine the wise, to forge sages, to cook Buddhas,

[32:38]

and purify adepts, how could it not be very auspicious and developmental? So the cauldron, of course, is our practice. And our body and mind are the cauldron. Each one of us is our own cauldron where all the elements are put in and stirred up and transformed. You know, one aspect of the cauldron is, for a Zen student, is that anger, greed, hate and delusion come in and beneficial action and metta and generosity go out. So the cauldron receives the garbage and turns it into flowers or something beneficial.

[33:46]

But for most people, or for a lot of people, garbage comes in and poison comes out. So we have to be very careful in our practice that we don't react with the same elements that come in, but use all those elements to transform ourselves. This is bodhisattva practice. The cauldron is also the place of practice. The practice itself is the cauldron, that each one of us are elements of that inside this cauldron, and we transform ourselves and each other through our practice. I want to remind us that practice period is starting May 7th, and this was the cauldron of our practice.

[34:59]

is this practice period, six weeks of practice period, which will end in five days of Shin. And I want to really urge all of you, if you can, to participate in practice period. I want to also remind you that each one of us decides what our involvement in practice period is. Making this decision, deciding how we will participate, is very important because we're always doing that. When somebody says, well, how shall I practice? I start from You should look at what all the elements of your life are and decide how much zazen you'll sit so that you can actually do something realistically and have it be part of your daily life.

[36:25]

That's the basis of our practice here, in this kind of practice with laypeople. So when we have a practice period, you very carefully decide what your level of involvement is, as far as how often you will sit, and what days that is, and what the other activities are that you can actually take part in. And that becomes the parameters of practice period for each person. So it puts us into the cauldron of practice for six weeks. And we don't say that everybody should sit zazen every day and all this. But according to your ability, everyone can practice together.

[37:31]

So, practice period involves all of us anyway, but it really makes a big difference if you decide that you are participating and you do it. consciously and make out the application which commits you. So that commitment is very important because it's your commitment to yourself. And through a committed activity, the practice takes on a reality and becomes part of your life. So I really urge you to, encourage you to join the practice period. Just doing a little more than you do now, you know, makes it, for most people, puts an edge on the practice.

[38:45]

You don't have to be heroic. If you commit to too much, then you fail and that doesn't feel good. So it's good to know consciously how much you can practice and to do it in a way that ups the ante on your practice a little bit. and gives it some form, good form for, intensified form for six weeks without straining you too much. But it's good, you know, to have an edge on your practice. It's good to have that because it intensifies things for you. And that's a big help. So once a year we do this. And so anyway, I urge you to do that. So get in the pot, you know, and cook together.

[39:54]

And then he says, Zhaozhou, that's Zhaozhou's answers, wash out your bowl and drink your tea, do not require making arrangements. Those are two koans, you know, one about Zhaozhou. A monk came to the monastery and had an interview with Zhaozhou. And Zhaozhou said, well, have you eaten your Meal? And the monk said, yes. Jaya said, wash your bowls. Go wash your bowls. Eating your meal means, in this language means, have you really digested the practice? Are you, you know, are you really, do you really have right understanding? Are you enlightened? Have you eaten your meal? Have you really digested the whole thing?" The monk said, yes.

[40:59]

Joshu says, go wash your bowls. The other refers to, there were two monks who came to visit Joshu, and Joshu said to one monk, Have you been here before? The monk said, no, I haven't. Joshu said, have a cup of tea. And then he said to the other monk, have you been here before? The monk said, oh yes, I've been here before. Joshu said, have a cup of tea. The head monk said to Joshu, one monk said he hadn't been here and you gave him a cup of tea. The other monk said, He had been, you gave him a cup of tea. Joshu said, director? Director said, yes. He said, have a cup of tea. That's the poem.

[42:01]

He says, Joshu's answers, wash your bowl or drink your tea, do not require making arrangements. I think deliberation better, that's my, From the beginning, they have always been perfectly apparent. Thoroughly observing each thing with a whole eye, observing each thing with a whole eye, means not just seeing the parts, but seeing the whole thing and the parts. What the whole is a patch road monk's spontaneous conduct. So this is the nature of Hongzi's practice instructions.

[43:06]

And there are many of them, and they're all very poetic. Thank you very much.

[43:17]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ