Good morning. So here we are again, unfolding the meaning of the Tākata's truth. So hopefully whatever words come out of my mouth will help us all to do that. This is not something that I do up here alone. Each of us on our cushion does it together. So we've been hanging out in the mountains and water. So, to repeat, this sutra that He Dogen left us begins, the mountains and waters of the immediate present are the expression of the path of the ancient Buddhas. Together, abiding in their dharma positions, they have consummated the qualities of thorough exhaustiveness.

[01:04]

Because these mountains and waters are events prior to the kalpa of emptiness, they are the livelihood of the immediate present. Because they are the self before the emergence of signs, they are the penetrating liberation of immediate actuality. And then he says, mountains lack none of the qualities or virtues proper to them. So these mountains and waters are the terrain and topography of our practice, of our Buddha heart. And as I said yesterday, as part of this landscape, there's this mountain side, which is The ascetic, hard practice side, the first three days of Sashin, or maybe the first twenty Sashins, or anyway, the austerity of practice, this dark mountain face, the wisdom side of our practice.

[02:22]

By sitting in the mountains, the mountains in sight, can arise and we can settle into it. And mountains are tough and craggy. Then there's the water side, the side of compassion, the refreshing waters, the soft waters. the waters of listening to the pain of the world, of really listening to the pain on your cushion. So, as I said yesterday, Buddha is a practice by which we realize our pain. To not ignore the tears of the world, to not ignore the tears on your cushion,

[03:24]

This is the side of the waters. And together, samsui, the mountains and waters, are the landscape of our life. So what does that have to do with us? What does that have to do with the real world? With the practical adventures that we undergo in our everyday activity? So I would say our job as Zen practitioners, our bodhisattva task, is to integrate these two sides of the mountains and waters. So our name here is the Mountain Source Sangha. And that name, in some ways, integrates that. So this word source comes from my name, Taigen.

[04:29]

The gen of Taigen is a source, but source in the sense of a source of a spring in the mountains. That's what it means literally. It's a source of water and refreshment. There are different characters for source. So Dogen is a different gen. That also means origin or source. But anyway, the mountain source is the source of mountains and the waters that come from the mountains. How can we bring these together? How can we not ignore either side? How can we be willing to be the walking of the mountains and the settledness of the water? So I want to read some from the conclusion of this sutra written by someone who lived 1,700 years after Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha.

[05:39]

Still, it's a sutra. There are several good translations, and feel free to meander through it more after this session. I'm just picking out little bits for you. He says, in the time of gazing at the mountains while being in the world, the crown and eyes are far different from the time of meeting the mountains in the mountains. So, you know, when you look at the mountains from a distance, so someone mentioned Mount Tamalpais, which is kind of the Great Mountain of the Bay Area can be seen from many, many places in the Bay Area. I imagine modern Hiroshige writing the various views of Mount Tamalpais, like the various views of Mount Fuji in the old Japanese woodblocks. And yet, from a distance it looks one way, but if you're actually up on Mount Tamalpais, it doesn't look that like that.

[06:44]

It's trees and brooks and Maybe a deer walks by. So in the time of gazing at the mountains while being in the world, the crowns and eyes are far different from the time of meeting the mountains in the mountains. The idea of not flowing and the cognition and view of not flowing as well could not be equal to the cognition and views of dragons and fish. So we think that water flows. Dragons and fish who live in the water see it completely differently. What is flowing for them? One of the things I like about living in San Francisco and Marin is that you can see the air flowing sometimes when the fog comes in. The water helps us to see the air. So usually we just take for granted the air. We don't think about the air. We just take another breath.

[07:48]

We totally take it for granted that we can take another breath. So for fish, I imagine, as a human, that fish swimming in the water don't see the water flow. They just, you know, take another breath in the way they do. Humans and celestials find palaces in their own worlds. Other species doubt this or may not even get to the point of doubting. Thus you should learn about the saying, mountains flow from Buddhas and ancestors. You should not give free reign to surprise and doubt. So we've been settling into the mountain and I think all of you have had a little taste of the mountains flowing, the mountains walking on the water. What are these mountains? How do we find our true settledness? He goes on, though mountains belong to the territory of the nation, they are entrusted to people who love the mountains.

[08:49]

When mountains definitely love the owners, saints, sages, and those of exalted virtue are in the mountains. When saints and sages live in the mountains, because the mountains belong to them, trees and rocks are abundant, birds and beasts are holy. When we settle into the mountain, we appreciate the sacredness of the song of the birds, of the sightings of deer or bat or raccoon traces even. This is because the saints and sages affect them with their virtue. You should know that the fact exists that mountains like sages and saints. So mountains have attracted practitioners from ancient times, long before Buddhism, in all the native traditions. Mountains is a place where people get in touch with the sacred. So a number of people have said that. Ron was talking about that.

[09:52]

George was talking about it. Mountains are where we get a sense of something outside our usual sense of the world. And Dogen goes on to talk about some events in Chinese lore about emperors going to find sages in the mountains and bowing to them and calling on them for advice about how to take care of the country. So I don't know if George Bush has gone to any mountain sages for advice. Anyway, this was an ancient tradition in China and Japan. And he goes on to talk about Buddha's awakening in the mountains. Know that the mountains, he says, are not the realm of human society, not the realm of heavens. one cannot know or see the mountains by the measurement of human thought. So this is something I've been trying to say again and again, that the real settledness, the real uprightness, the real flowing of our practice life is not something that we can exactly understand with our usual human cognition.

[11:08]

It doesn't mean that we should get rid of our It doesn't mean that that's not a useful tool. It just means that there's something more for us to see in the mountains and in the waters. If they did not take the flowing of the human world as the standard of comparison, who would doubt the flowing of the mountains or the non-flowing of mountains? So our usual idea of society, of our life, of our world, our world as human beings, is different from the world that we can taste, even in a few days, up in the mountains. And the point of this is not just to run off to the mountains. That happens, so I will say some more about Dugan's going to the mountains.

[12:10]

It's about how we see our own life and our own world, too. So a little more. Dogen says, it is not just that there is water in the world. There are worlds in the realm of water. This is so not only in water. There are also worlds of sentient beings in clouds. There are worlds of sentient beings in wind. There are worlds of sentient beings in fire. There are worlds of sentient beings in earth. There are whole worlds of sentient beings in phenomena. There are worlds of sentient beings in a single blade of grass, and there are worlds of sentient beings in a single staff. Where there are worlds of sentient beings, there must be the world of Buddhas and ancestors. You should meditate on this principle very thoroughly. So again, the point of this is how we take care of the human world.

[13:17]

But as I've been saying, I think we can have a better sense of how to take care of the human world when we stop thinking that it's the only world. Wherever there are beings, there's pain. Wherever there are beings, there's confusion and greed and anger of various kinds. in all of the worlds, in the staff, in the grasses, in the oak trees, in the little beings burrowing in the earth, and the beings floating through the wind. So again, we respond to the pain of our lives by taking on the path of awakening. And it's hard work. So I want to very deeply salute each one of you for being willing to come here and take on the work of facing your pain, facing the worlds, the many worlds on your own cushion.

[14:26]

Facing all of the sentient beings, known and unknown, that are part of each of us and all of us together. And when we have this perspective of seeing human society as just one of the many worlds, we can realize that the problems we have are not just what we think that is. The problems of our world and the problems of our own life and heart are more and deeper and more complicated than our idea of the problems of the world. Many things can happen that we don't understand. Of course, we should use our understanding, but many things happen.

[15:30]

So we usually think of water as flowing. Yet water moves in many ways. Water sits still in many ways. If we regard water only as flowing, the word flowing is an insult to water. So, maybe if you want to insult water, that's okay. You know, if you want to say that water is just flowing, fine. Water won't mind so much if you insult it. Probably there'll still be more for you to drink. Or if you want to insult the earth by saying that it is only solid, you know, probably the earth can stand it and still continue to support you.

[16:47]

If we regard the water only as flowing, the word flowing is an insult to water. It is like imposing not flowing. Water is nothing but water's real form just as it is. Water is the virtue of water. It is not flowing. Each of us have the qualities proper to being on your cushion. In the thorough study of the flowing or the non-flowing, of a single drop of water, the entirety of the 10,000 things is instantly realized." So he's pointing out that which we take for granted. If we really stop to appreciate the complexity and the wonder of the air that we inhale, in one inhale, it's an endless study. Among mountains as well, there are mountains hidden in jewels.

[18:02]

So, usually we think of jewels as being hidden in mountains. People, mining companies, go up into the mountains and try and dig them out, but there are also mountains hidden in jewels. There are mountains hidden in marshes, mountains hidden in the sky. There are mountains hidden in mountains. There is a study of mountains hidden in hiddenness. So right in that which you don't see, there are mountains. And of course, we've heard that mountains are mountains and waters are waters. But maybe not always. What is the water we drink? Can we really appreciate it? So as it happens, we now have Wars over oil. We have a war president who is carrying on wars for the sake of oil and for, you know, in a wider sense.

[19:12]

Many scientists and historians think that in 50 years, the war presidents will be having wars for water. Maybe even sooner, maybe in 20 years. So there are big corporations buying up the water tables in major continents. And at some point, we will have to pay a lot of money for our water, just like we pay for our gasoline. And they will fight wars over that. That may be. What does all this business of mountains and waters have to do with how we take care of the world? So a few years after he wrote this Mountains and Water Sutra, while he was still living in the suburbs of Kyoto, a few years later, Dogen took his monks up into the deep mountains. And he managed to train some people who spread this practice and teaching throughout Japan.

[20:21]

So we might ask, was Dogen abandoning the human world by going up to the mountains? Well, you know, it's funny because here we have this mountains and water sutra that we can consider and he left that for us. And do any of you know about Tibetan Buddhism? There's a kind of teaching in Tibetan Buddhism I think called termas that are buried deep underground that are recovered much later, and the dragons, the Nagas, actually discover teachings later that were not used for a long time, and the Garjanas, the great Indian philosophers said to have done that. And in a way this is like that, this Mountains and Waters Sutra. A very fine scholar, Will Bradford, was saying at this conference I was at recently in New York, the Sherbrooke Enzo was basically not read until the 20th century. Just a very few Soto monks over the centuries.

[21:29]

And there was a period in which it was even banned by the Soto school. You're not allowed to print copies of Sherbrooke Enzo. You're not allowed to have copies of Sherbrooke Enzo because It was, there were so many different versions, and nobody knew which was the right version, and people were using, citing Shobo Genzo to argue various causes, and scholars who had access to some version of it. Anyway, finally it got, they checked all the versions, and now we sort of know what the Shobo Genzo was. But it's really, was not something that was studied by even most Soto monks. until the 20th century, and then it became popularized. So, by the way, the tapes from that conference are going to be available, and I will have a couple of copies, so if people are interested in hearing a lot about Tolkien, they can borrow them. I'll let you know when I have them. So, you know, what happens in the mountain world affects what happens in the human world.

[22:36]

What happens in the mountain world, you know, 700 years ago can affect what happens in our world now. The way the mountains and waters work, and in fact the way even that the human world works, is not something that we can easily track and figure out. So how do we find our seat? How do we find our way of settling into a life of practice? both in formal practice like this, when we come to an event like a sasheen, or sit at home, or come and join with others occasionally to sit, and also in our everyday activity. What is the teaching of the mountains and waters for us? How do we use it? So again, I think we need to study the flowing of the mountains.

[23:39]

We need to study how the Earth itself moves and shakes and what that island of, who was saying Point Reyes is gonna be in Canada someday? LA's gonna be in Canada? Oh, Point Reyes is moving south, okay. And then, no? Point Reyes is going north? Okay, Point Reiss is going north, and anyway. So, you know, the whole world is moving in ways we can't see and can't understand. At the same time, the waters are flowing in ways that we... and sitting still in ways that we don't necessarily understand. Now, that doesn't mean we should just ignore them because we can't understand them. In fact, whatever understanding we have of them, we should use. So we need to integrate in our own lives, on our own cushions, these two sides, the strong, tough waters and the gentle mountains, or the other way around, whichever.

[24:47]

We need to find a way to sit still like mountains and flow like mountains, to sit still like waters and flow like waters, to bring Our subtleness and toughness right there together with our kindness and our ability to listen to the pain of others and the pain of ourselves and the pain of all the others on your cushion. This is a big job. How do we do this? So we have to be very patient. More and more I feel like The heart of our practice is patience. The most important part of our practice is patience. Being willing to wait. Maybe not till point arises in Canada. Some of us may go to Canada sooner than that. What? Well, we might be wrong.

[25:52]

It's true. We might be wrong. That's also possible. Things move in various ways. Just to watch and wait. Patience doesn't mean kind of going to sleep and forgetting about it. It means not ignoring what's going on around us and in front of us. Looking at it, responding to it. Patience is not passive. Patience means we watch and we see. And when there's something to say, we say it. When there's something to do, we lend a hand. But it also means sometimes, a lot of times, just sitting. So how do we express that? How do we share that with others? How can we speak of that? So we've been talking about this saying that's in the Mountains and Waters Sutra by Fuyō Dōkai, Fuyō Dōkai Daishō in Japanese, and he said,

[26:55]

The green mountains, or maybe they're blue, but anyway, the blue-green mountains are constantly walking. A stone woman gives birth to a child by night. One of Furong Dalkai's students was named Donshaozhen, or Tankashijendaiyosho. So I want to tell you a story about him. And this is in the comment by Dogen. And he says that he heard that the teacher, Dansha, brought up a story about another teacher who was named Deshan. And he made a comment. So it's a little complicated, so see if you can follow along. So there's a few different people here. There's Dansha, who was the student of one of the students of Furang Daokai. And then there's this guy, Deshan, who's very important in Zen. He's sort of in, not exactly in the Rinzai lineage, but he's sort of more on that side. He's very famous for being one of those tough guys who used his fist in his teaching.

[28:02]

He would be put in jail in America for being abusive. Anyway, but he's a very famous Zen teacher. And so Dansha is telling a story about Deshan. And one time Deshan said to his assembly, there are no words or phrases in my school and also not a single Dharma to give to people. In our school there are no words and phrases. This is a phrase that's been quoted very often. In our school there are no words and phrases. And also, there's not a single thing, not a single dharma, to give to anyone. So this is really true. There's nothing to give to anyone. There's not a single dharma. There's nothing, really nothing, to turn off. No words or phrases in our school, and not a single dharma to give to anyone." So Dansha comments on this. He says, Deshan said such a thing, only he did not awaken to entering the grasses and searching for people with his whole body soaked in muddy water.

[29:12]

Having observed him closely, he was endowed with only one single eye. On the other hand, I, Dansha, he says, would not have spoken like this. In my school, in our school, there are words and phrases. They cannot be cut open even with a golden sword. The mysterious, profound, wondrous meaning is that the jade woman becomes pregnant in the middle of the night. So that's what Densha said in response to Desha, that in my school there are words and phrases, and these words and phrases cannot be cut open even with a golden sword. The deep, marvelous, wondrous meaning is a jade woman becomes pregnant in the night. So that's what Densha said. Then Devin had something to say about that.

[30:16]

So Dogen said about his ancestor Dansha, Dansha could say it like this. His eyes shined through the imposing coarseness of Deshan. And Deshan killed with laughter the lazy, worthless Buddha ancestors of the past and present, even me. Although it is like this, I, Dogen, would not have spoken like this. Great assembly, would you like to hear what I have to say, Dogen said. After a pause, Dogen said, in my school, there are only words and phrases. Eyes and mouths open one after another. Pick up and express it for the sake of other people, both from donkey wombs and horse wombs. Sadashan said, there are no words and phrases. Dansha said, in my school, there are some words and phrases. And Dogen said, all we have is words and phrases.

[31:24]

Words and phrases? I would copy the Great Deshan and say, ah! That's just another word and phrase. But don't ignore that Dogen said, use these words and phrases. Use these eyes and mouths, one after another, for the sake of other people. This is not just some abstract, you know, kind of theoretical, pointless endeavor we're engaged in here. So one of Danchao's students was the great teacher Hongzhe, who I translated in Cultivating the Empty Field, and I just opened it at random because I thought I should read something from Hongzhe to honor Danchao, who talked about how there were words and phrases and about the jade woman giving birth at night.

[32:32]

So I'm going to read you something from Hongzhi, too, because I like words and phrases, you might have noticed. And the one that I opened up to happens to be very relevant to the Mountains and Waters Sutra, just by coincidence. So Hongzhi said, study the Buddha, research his lineage's subtlety. You must clarify your heart Dive into the spirit and silently wander in contemplation, apprehending the Dharma's source. Without pettiness or weaving hairs to create an obstacle, be magnanimous beyond appearances. Splendid and lustrous like the water's moistening autumn, noble like the moon's overwhelming darkness. From the beginning. Just beam through all the gloom, profoundly free from stain. Constantly still and constantly glorious, the stillness is not extinguished by causes.

[33:43]

The glory is not marred by shadows. Vacant, round, pure, the empty capital will not shift, shake, or obscure this source. able to be serene and able to know, here you can walk securely, just like the mountains. The Jade Vessel turns over on its side, at once dispensing energy for you to return, show yourself, and respond to the world. I'll say it again. The Jade Vessel turns over on its side, at once dispensing energy for you to return, show yourself, and respond to the world. in that realm are separate, limited forms, but all are only what the self establishes, arising along with our own four elements. How could there be an obstruction? Since this is entirely without obstruction, there's no difference between that one and me.

[34:47]

Self and other are not separated by their names. Sounds and colors crowd in together, carefree and transcendent, directly leaping into each other. So it is said that mountains and rivers are not separated." So Hongxiu gives us the inner meaning of the Mountains and Waters Sutra. So it is said that mountains and rivers are not separated. Actually, it's true. Rivers flow out of the mountains. Salmon flow back upstream into the mountains. And then he says, you should enact this like the brightness apparent everywhere. So, in talking about the limitations of our own awareness of mountains and waters, of our own awareness of our will, of our own limited awareness of ourself, of our own limited ability and limitations, I am not recommending befuddlement.

[35:58]

Please use your gifts. Use your intuitive mind and use your literal mind. Use words and phrases. Silence is also sometimes a wonderful word and phrase. The mountains and waters totally depend on each one of you. And also the mountains and waters are supporting each one of you. Each one of us is here thanks to the sponsorship of the mountains and waters. And the mountains and waters flow in many directions.

[37:01]

One thing about giving those Zen shouts is that they leave a trace in your throat sometimes. Yes, I would. But wait till. Thank you. I'm almost finished. And then it'll be your turn. So anyway, here we are in the mountains and waters, settling into the mountains and waters. And after today, sometime today, all of us will be going back into the so-called ordinary world. First of all, don't believe it. The so-called ordinary world is not ordinary. There are mountains and waters there too. But the world needs you now. the world needs bodhisattvas to graciously show yourself now.

[38:07]

Just as you are, with the confusion and frustration and grasping and anger that you have now, still, you are connected to the mountains and waters. So, as Hongxue says, please graciously show yourself. So I wanted to close with another one of these poems that Dogen wrote late in his life, after he'd actually moved up into the deep mountains and waters of the Heiji. He said, when I love mountains, mountains love their master. For rocks, big and small, how can the way cease? White clouds and yellow leaves await their time and season. Already discarded are the various mundane streams. When I love mountains, mountains love their master. When you give yourself completely to this slow, patient flowing of the mountains, mountains will love you as sages and wise ones.

[39:18]

For rocks big and small, how can the way cease? Whatever the size of the pile of rocks on your cushion right now, how can the way cease? You're all deeply in the way. This path of mountains flowing is endless. White clouds and yellow leaves await their time and season. So please be patient and watch and wait for the time when clouds arise. And there's something, some way for you to respond to help in the world. Already discarded are the various mundane streams. So already you have let go of your mundane ways of seeing the flowing streams. Already you have seen the waters in the mountains in some way. This is not about understanding Dogon or understanding mountains and waters, just to drink the water.

[40:24]

So the next time you have a glass of water, please really enjoy it and remember this sutra of Dogon's. Thank you all for your practice.

[40:38]

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