I doubt it's the truth of the day. Tonight I'm going to continue where I left off last night, where he's talking about idealistness.

[01:04]

So he says, learned audience, let me explain more fully why we take idealistness as our object. It is because there is a type of person under delusion who boasts of the realization of the essence of mind or self nature, but being carried away by circumstances, ideas arise in mind. followed by erroneous views, which are the source of all sorts of false notions and defilements. In the essence of mind, which is the embodiment of emptiness, there is intrinsically nothing to be attained. To say that there is attainment and to talk thoughtlessly on merits or demerits are erroneous views and defilements. For this reason, we take idealistness as the object of our school.

[02:17]

It is because there is a type of person under delusion who boasts of the realization of the essence of mind. This is someone who claims to be enlightened. I am enlightened. But even so, they say that, being carried away by circumstances, ideas arise in the mind. In other words, ideas arise in the mind, I think means attachment to ideas in a dualistic sense, followed by erroneous views which are the source of all sorts of false notions and defilements. Erroneous views are sometimes called idle talk. So then he qualifies it by saying, in the essence of mind, which is the embodiment of emptiness, there is intrinsically nothing to be attained.

[03:39]

So someone who boasts of attainment in this way is talking about something that is not realistic. In the Heart Sutra it says, with nothing to attain, a bodhisattva depends on prajnaparamita. There's nothing to attain. With nothing to attain, bodhisattva depends on prajnaparamita. So attainment is a kind of non-attainment. Attainment is a kind of non-attainment. When one has attainment, one has nothing. So to boast of having attainment as if you had something is an erroneous way of speaking.

[04:53]

We have to be very careful about enlightenment and attainment. people who proclaim themselves as having attained. So in the essence of mind, which is the embodiment of emptiness, there is intrinsically nothing to be attained. To say there is attainment, and to talk thoughtlessly on merits or demerits, are erroneous views and defilements. For this reason, we take idealistness as the object of our school. Idealistness, or mindlessness, actually.

[06:09]

You can say idealistness or mindlessness. No mind, wu nian. Nen is a mind of this moment. Actually, it means essence of mind at this moment. But no mind means total mind. This word, Wu, is always a colon in Zen. Emptiness means totality, total mind.

[07:16]

Empty mind means total mind. nothing left out. If you have the mind in which nothing is left out, then you have enlightenment. But you can't attain this mind any more than you can attain your nose. If you attain Realization, actually, you will attain your nose. And you will attain your eyes. Dogen, when he came back from China, people said, what did you bring back? And he said, well, not much.

[08:20]

He said, all I know is that The nose is vertical and the eyes are horizontal. This is... Everything is the same. And this is... Everything is different. All phenomena are different. And everything is exactly the same. And right here is where they meet. In time and space. Moment by moment. Big mind and small mind meet right here.

[09:23]

Then he says, learn an audience in idealistness or mind, no mind, mindlessness. What should we get rid of? And what should we fix our mind on? And then he says, we should get rid of the pairs of opposites and all defiling conceptions. we should fix our mind, what we should get rid of is the pair of opposites. And what we should fix our mind on or pay attention to is the true nature of ta-ta-ta, or bhuta-ta-ta-ta, or suchness. For suchness is the quintessence, the very essential essence of idea or mind. idea is the result of the activity of ta-ta-ta.

[10:41]

So, in plain language, Suzuki Roshi used to always talk about big mind and small mind. Ta-ta-ta is big mind, suchness, or Buddha nature, but in short, big mind. So, big mind and small mind. Fix our mind, meaning small mind, on big mind. In other words, direct small mind toward big mind and let small mind reside within big mind. So that small mind is not just acting on its own. Small mind we call ego.

[11:42]

And in the system of Yogacara, it's the seventh consciousness. It's located. There's a location for it. Mano Vijnana. Ego consciousness. Consciousness of separation or individuality or self. This seventh consciousness takes the position at the center of our existence and says, I am it. But it's a kind of imposter.

[12:49]

It's an imposter in that it imposes itself, interposes itself and obscures big mind, covers big mind. Even though it's small, even though it's really small, it can cover the whole thing. Because when we see, we can see quite a panorama with our eyes. But when we take the tip of our finger and hold it over our eye, even though that tip of the finger is very small, it obscures the whole view. If I go like this, it obscures the whole view, even though that's very small. So that's like ego. Even though the ego is very small, it obscures the whole view. And we can't see Big Mind.

[13:59]

We don't recognize Big Mind. And at some point, if we do see a big mind for a moment, it's like, oh yeah, I remember that, when I was little. When I was a little kid, I remember that feeling. Because when we're born into the world, our ego is very small and we haven't learned to defend ourself or to gain position or arrange ourselves around other phenomena in a hierarchical way.

[15:02]

We're not trying to gain position. That comes later. As we become self-conscious and get some sense of our individuality, we build an ego, a sense of self, and maintain that ego. separate ourselves more and more, depending on how frightened we are and insecure. The more insecure we are, the more defensive we become, and the stronger our ego defense becomes. And it's very hard to break it down. Mind, big mind, has no particular shape or form. But our small mind takes a certain shape and becomes more and more reinforced by our fears, anxieties and desires, wants and delusions.

[16:33]

And then at some point, we feel the pinch. And some need to crack it open. And the harder it is, the harder to crack open. The more firm it is, the harder it is to crack open. So, we hear the cries of the world. Let me out of here. But it's hard to do anything about it. And each one of us has to get out by ourselves. We each have to find our own release. That's kind of like the rules of the game. No one can get you out. we can't help each other.

[17:42]

So he says, in idealistness we should get rid, we should fix our mind, we should get rid of the pairs of opposites. and all defiling conceptions. Pairs of opposites are, actually later, back in the latter part of the sutra, he talks about the 36 pairs of opposites to get rid of, or to, I guess, get rid of is okay. I don't know if we can get rid of anything, but to stop perpetuating. I'll read you the 36 opposites. He says, this is just kind of in the middle.

[18:58]

He says, since the essence of mind or the self-nature is the embodiment of all dharmas, all things, it is called the repository consciousness, or alaya, the alaya vijnana, which is the eighth level of consciousness in which all the seeds and memories of our actions are stored. This alaya consciousness is pictured as a torrential river, which is continually flowing, and it contains all the mind stuff. When we sit in zazen, we watch this mind stuff, the torrent of mind stuff, Russian

[20:05]

My mind is so full of thoughts. We can just look right at it. But as soon as the process of thinking or reasoning has started, the essence of mind is transmuted into various vijnanas or levels of consciousness. When the six recipient vijnanas come into being, they perceive the six sense objects through the six sense doors, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, and thinking. Thus, the functioning of the 18 dhatus, which are hearing dhatus, are the fields of sense. derive their impetus from the essence of mind. Whether they function with a good tendency or a bad one depends upon, this is funny, what mood, good or evil, the essence of mind is in.

[21:18]

That's a funny statement. I don't know if the essence of mind has a mood. Evil functioning is that of a common person or an evil person. Well, good functioning is that of a Buddha. It is because there are pairs of opposites inherent in the essence of mind that the functioning of the 18 realms of sense derive their impetus. Anyway, these are the 36 pairs of opposites. Five external, inanimate ones, which are heaven and earth, sun and moon, light and darkness, positive element and negative element, fire and water. Sun and the moon are not opposites, but in those days one could think of sun and moon as opposites. After all, this is a long time ago.

[22:24]

But the twelve dharmalakshana, or phenomenal objects, are speech, and dharma, affirmation and negation, matter and non-matter, form and without form, taints and absence of taints, matter and void, motion and quiescence, purity and foulness, ordinary people and sages, the sangha and the laity. That's an interesting one. The aged and the young, the big and the small. 19 pairs denoting the functioning of the essence of mind. Long and short, good and evil, infatuated and enlightened, ignorant and wise, perturbed and calm, merciful and wicked, abstinent and indulgent, straight and crooked, full and empty, steep and level, klesha and bodhi, klesha is defilement,

[23:32]

and Bodhi is enlightenment, permanent and transient, compassionate and cruel, happy and angry, generous and mean, forward and backward, existent and non-existent, dharmakaya and physical body, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. They're not exactly opposites, they are complementary, but those last ones. He who knows or one who knows how to use these 36 pairs realizes the all-pervading principle which grows through the teaching of all sutras. Whether coming or going, one is able to avoid the two extremes." So getting rid of pairs of opposites means to avoid the two extremes, to not get caught in dualistic thinking, in other words. In the functioning of the essence of mind, and in conversation with others, outwardly we should free ourselves from attachment to objects, when in contact with objects.

[24:46]

And inwardly, with regard to the teaching of emptiness, we should free ourselves from the idea of nihilism. to believe in the reality of objects or in nihilism would result in deep-rooted fallacious views or intensified ignorance and respectability. So, it's easy for us to think in terms of emptiness as nothing or as annihilation. But it's hard for us to think of things as empty. That's difficult. Because we think that objects are solid. We really have that notion, that objects are solid. And we say, the real world. When we're referring to the illusion, we say the real world.

[25:50]

That's interesting. That's called topsy-turvy views, upside-down views. We see the illusory world and call it real. And we see the real world and call it... prove it. Where is that? So, when we speak of emptiness, or void. It's another word, void or empty. But if you think of, when we say empty, it means empty of its own inherent nature. So everything is in the realm of transformation.

[26:53]

All things are in the realm of transformation with each other. interdependently with each other, that's empty. If it wasn't empty, we would be sitting here forever, just like this, without blinking an eye. We'd all be here forever, if the nature was not empty. So we should be very thankful for emptiness. which allows us to transform into the next shape, whatever that is. And all the shapes are empty. That's why if we become attached to objects, we're hanging on to phantoms.

[27:55]

We're left holding a phantom. because the object will change and leave us crying. What happened to my ice cream cone? A bigoted believer in nihilism with blaspheme against the sutras on the ground that the Buddhist scriptures are unnecessary for the study of Buddhism. Why do we need to study the scripture if everything is empty? If that were so, then neither would it be right for us to speak, since speech forms the substance of literature. That person would also argue that in the direct method, literally the straight path, literature is discarded.

[28:58]

Straight path being the first principle. And the first principle is just activity. And study, of course, is the second principle. But that person does not appreciate that the two words, is discarded, are also literature. Upon hearing others speak of sutras, such a person would criticize the speakers as addicted to scriptural authority. It is bad enough for that person to confine this mistaken notion to himself. But in addition, he blasphemes against the Buddhist scriptures. You people should know that it is a serious offense to speak ill of the sutras for the consequences is very grave. Anyway, that's a kind of digression from where I was, although it does illustrate what he means by pairs of opposites, to not be attached to the pairs of opposites, not to fall into one side or the other.

[30:11]

And eternalism and nihilism are the two big ones. To think that there is eternal on one hand, that everything goes on forever. And on the other hand, that once this life is over, there's nothing. Those are the two heretical views. Reality is somewhere in between. Things are neither eternal nor non-eternal. They're neither eternal nor extinct. For a thing to be eternal, it would have to have its own being.

[31:17]

And nothing has its own being. Nothing has inherent existence. For a thing to be eternal, self-nature would have to be inherent. And for extinction, It would mean that there is no interconnectedness, that things are not interdependent, and that something which exists or energy which falls off into nowhere.

[32:44]

So middle way in Buddhadharma is that everything is continually appearing in a new form. Continuously appearing in a new form. Even though yesterday we were here, and today we're here, and we all know each other's names, we're actually appearing in a new form. but it's very subtle according to our speed. But it's just a flash of lightning. So we should fix our

[34:04]

get rid of the pairs of opposites and all defiling conceptions, and we should fix our mind on the true nature of suchness, or Buddha nature. For ta-ta-ta is the quintessence of idea, and idea or mind, and mind is the result of the activity of ta-ta-ta. So big mind and small mind. Big mind, we talk about big mind and small mind. as if they were two different things, but they're not two different things. Big mind, small mind is the activity of big mind. Our thinking mind and our individuality is an expression of suchness, the ground of being, tatata. So, it's always there with us. This is what we are.

[35:07]

So when we attain something, what we attain is what we already have. But this ego obscures it. So we talk about getting rid of ego, reducing the signs of ego, so that we can... so that ego is not the centerpiece of our life. to be always coming from big mind, means that big mind is the centerpiece of our life, rather than setting up a separate self, which is called ego, as the centerpiece of our life. So we take this and shape it up really nicely and present it, this is who I am. but it gets cut down, whereas a big mind does not get cut down.

[36:14]

So, when we take this ego out of the picture as the centerpiece of our life, then big mind does the thinking. That's why he said mindlessness. Mindlessness is taking the ego out of the picture as the centerpiece and allowing big mind to do the thinking. The non-thinking. The non-thinking. It is the positive essence of suchness, not the sense organs which give rise to ideas. Tathata bears its own attribute and therefore it can give rise to idea. In other words, tathata or suchness bears its own attribute, means that it doesn't depend on anything.

[37:22]

Self-nature does not depend on me, although I depend on it. It is me, yet I am not it. That's what Tozan says in his poem. It is me, yet I am not it. Without ta-ta-ta, the sense organs and the sense objects would perish immediately. Learn an audience, because it is the attribute of ta-ta-ta which gives rise to idea, Our sense organs, in spite of their functioning, in seeing, hearing, touching, knowing, etc., need not be tainted or defiled in all circumstances. And our true nature may be self-manifested all the time. In other words, it's not necessary to see in a deluded way or hear in a deluded way.

[38:29]

or thinking in a diluted way. That's not necessary. The more we allow thinking to think, or seeing to see. In Zazen, sometimes I say, let seeing see, let hearing hear. When we let hearing hear, in the morning, the bird goes, Peep, peep, peep. And it's right inside our head. Without... You don't feel that it's out there. You... It's direct. It's... The bird is not different than myself. Peep, peep, peep is not something outside of myself. When we hear the sound going by, The airplane is not something outside of myself.

[39:37]

When we don't name things, it's easier to see what they are. But as soon as we start distinguishing and naming and identifying Imagination is at work. And pretty soon we get further and further away from the direct reality and we're creating a picture of life. So we're continually creating a picture of life. And then we act out of this picture. And it's called dreaming. There's dreaming and sleep, and there's dreaming while we think we're awake. It's two sides of dreaming. When we create a dream and then we act out from our dream.

[40:47]

And we do this all the time. And I think it's necessary to do this, but at the same time, Who is the actor? Who is the actress? Who is the boss? Who's directing the play? And as Mr. Shakespeare says, we are all actors on this stage. But we don't see the stage. Or we see the stage, but there's this ground under our feet that we act out this play on. But we don't pay so much attention to that.

[41:54]

Suzuki Roshi has this wonderful little talk that I really like a lot, where he says, Zen students should take care of the ground. Not so much worry about the plants or what comes up. If we take care of the ground, really take care of the ground, and nurture the ground, then We don't have to worry about the plants. The plants will take care of themselves. But taking care of the ground is the most important thing. Paying attention to how we do that. Which is like staying within Big Mind and letting Big Mind, you know, taking care of Buddha, We take care of Buddha, and Buddha takes care of everything else.

[43:02]

So he says, learned audience, because it is the attribute of tathata which gives rise to idea, our sense organs, in spite of their functioning in seeing, hearing, touching, knowing, et cetera, need not be tainted or defiled in all circumstances. And our true nature may be self-manifested all the time. Therefore, the sutra says, one who is an adept in the discrimination of various dharmalakshana, which means things, phenomena, will be immovably installed in the first principle. The first principle is directly knowing through our intuition. The blissful abiding place of the holy, or nirvana, cool-headed, the cool-headed place.

[44:05]

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