Yeah, thank you for asking that, because it's a good, it's an important point. And we don't know so much, actually, about the Daruma school, and we mostly know about it from all of the critics, not just Dogen, but others who criticized it. So you know, there was Zen in Japan before Dogen and Eisai, and there was, Zen was part of Tendai, which was the main form of Buddhism, one of the two main schools of Buddhism in the period before Dogen, which included everything. It comes from the Chinese Chiantai school, and it included chanting the Nembutsu, it included Zazen, it was just this comprehensive school that developed in China to include all of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, and then in Japan it continued. And Dogen was actually originally a monk in that school, and all the other, and many of his students before they went to the Daruma, who were Tendai monks, Koen Ejo was, and all

[01:07]

of the other great innovators of the Kamakura period, Shinran and Honen and Nichiren and Eisai, all have been Tendai monks. So Zen and Zazen was part of Buddhism before the Zen as a formal, although Dogen hated the term Zen school, he didn't say, he wouldn't call, he has, I don't have it in this group, but he has one where he talks about that anyone, that it's just the Buddha way, and if you call it the Zen school you don't understand it all, and he goes on about that. But anyway, the Daruma Shu emphasized, you know, started to take some of this Zen literature from China, of these dialogues, and Danichi Nonin, who was the founder of it, himself didn't have a Zen teacher, he sent one of his disciples to China, who gave him transmission without meeting him, you know, sent him the paperwork, you know, through one of his students,

[02:11]

so you know, this kind of stuff happens. But anyway, it seems like they're teaching, and there's a branch of later Zen too that gets into what's called in religious studies antinomianism, which is misunderstanding of emptiness. So you've probably all heard of emptiness, but I'm sure you don't think that emptiness is nothing, or nothingness. So emptiness, you know, that's a confusion to think that, to hear about the emptiness teaching and think nothing matters. So part of, it seems like part of where they were at was that kind of feeling like, well, one part of it is if you just hear about the Buddha nature, or if you have some realization about Buddha nature, that that's enough, and then practice isn't important. So it seemed like they didn't emphasize practice enough for Dogen, for one thing, that you

[03:13]

have to keep practicing, that you have to keep going beyond Buddha. But also there's this, you know, as I said, one of the four diseases of practitioners to think that the practice is just to go along with things as they are, and it seemed like that was part of the problem too. So he emphasized part, in response to those Dharamshala students, the former Dharamshala students, he emphasized really paying attention, taking care of, really rigorously taking care of everyday things, and paying attention and appreciating and bringing your whole life to everyday activities. And he emphasized continuing practice. So, it's interesting because it seems like it's, it was part of the introduction to Zen in America too, that before Suzuki Ueshi and other real teachers of Zen practice came,

[04:19]

there was writing about Zen by D.T. Suzuki and Alan Watts and other people who thought that, who presented it, I mean, there weren't actual Zen practitioners then, there were, you know, artists and beatniks and, you know, people, intellectuals who were interested in Zen ideas. And then, you know, you had this whole beat and hippie movement that was sort of like go with the flow and whatever, man, and, you know, it's just that kind of attitude is part of the background of Americans then too, and now we've had good teachers come to teach us, you know, the actual practice, so it's sort of similar to that, I think. And so, it manifested in Dogen's emphasizing, you know, everyday practice and detailed attention to that, and also, you know, that you have to keep going with practice and it's not just some understanding. And so, there are a few places, and not so many really, but they're so striking that,

[05:22]

you know, it's, it may be why some of Dogen's writings were kind of banned in Soto Shu for a long time, but there are a few places where he's very critical of Dawei, who was the main Rinzai teacher in the generation before, I mean, he just uses really strong language. He's, I forget now, he says that Dawei was a scum-sucking dog or something like that. Maybe he was, I don't know, but anyway, he, it's just a, yeah, so, and he's very critical of Rinzai in a few places too, although other places he's very, he praises Rinzai very strongly, so it's not in the latest stuff, it's not in the latest writings that he does that, he also, you know, praises the Rinzai lineage a lot, so it's just, I think it's the period early on when he moved to Echizen where there's a few of these writings which are really, you know, kind of out there in terms of that, and it seems like he was trying to, you know,

[06:26]

pull the rug out from under these guys who were kind of complacent about practice, so that's, I'm sorry that may be more than you wanted to hear, but it's just a historical kind of, it's just a fact that that's the students he was dealing with, so. Other questions in general or comments or, you know, any, you can, if you want to go back to one of the ones we talked about this morning, if there's anything, or else we'll about the teacher's compassion and the disciple's determination, that it's not, you know, it's

[07:53]

not that these mean something else, they're just what they are, but what it evokes for me is, you know, this immediacy of the sound of the staff. Because I noticed at the very end, when the question, what is this matter, you know, Buddha's mantra, he drew the staff down, that was kind of to me a reiteration. That's a strange, it's a strange thing there, it's like, it's kind of, there's a kind of immediacy to it, but the staff and the whisk are symbols of the lineage and symbols of the teaching. So it's kind of strange from, in a way, from in that place for him to throw his staff down, but it's kind of also dramatizing it, you know. The fact that he can throw, that he has a staff to throw down, and anyway, there's a lot of, this kind of thing, by the way, the teacher descending from the platform, the pounding the staff, all of that, are very traditional, you know, it's not that Dogen

[08:54]

invented those kinds of things, they're part of the tradition. He was using, he was bringing this Chinese tradition of these Jodo, of these dharma hall discourses that are in the Chinese Tang and Song dynasty, Chan or Zen recorded sayings, he was bringing them to Japan, so he was interested. So in a way, this is really interesting for us, because here we are trying, I mean, even more than for Dogen, we're trying to, as, you know, Americans, as American barbarians, we're trying to kind of deal with what's this Zen practice in our life, you know, and what are all these forms, and you know, this is a tradition that's been given to us, right? And you know, it's not that it's a sacred tradition that you have to memorize Dogen or understand him or anything, it's just part, it's just food, it's just part of the tradition to use for your own practice. So all of these props, you know, are, you know, he's doing that, he's introducing that

[09:55]

into Japan. Now in Japan, they already had Buddhism, you know, for hundreds of years, and they already had people meditating, but he's bringing this particular form of this, this style of teaching from the Chinese Zen with the koans and with this form of talking. So he's, in a way, he's translating it for Japanese students. So you know, for us, it's even, you know, to look at this material, you know, we don't have the references that a lot of his students would have known from Buddhism and from Chuang Tzu and Daoism and filial piety, it's much, it's much more of a translation, still it's part of what we've been given. But I don't know, how many of you have parents who are Buddhists? Well, see, it's the, it's, this is, we're just starting, you know, we're just babies at this. So you know, maybe our grandchildren, you know, either biologically or in dharma, they can actually kind of come to this with kind of depth.

[10:59]

It doesn't mean we can't practice, but it's just, you know, we're just starting to play with this. Yes, Patty. This morning you talked about late practice and then after practice. The question is, back then, in government time, before he's alive, did he really have time to practice? Or was it part of his... Yes, but that's a really good question. But it's, the question, the question doesn't mean the same thing. It's, so traditionally, I mean, it's still that way in South Asian Buddhism, and actually in China and Japan too, traditionally, you know, especially in early Buddhism, you know, there were monk, monastic practitioners, and the practice was monastic, and you were supposed

[12:02]

to work on yourself. Mahayana opened that up. So there were, I've just been teaching with the Malakirti Sutra, where there was, he's an example of an enlightened layman, and that was very popular in China. So there was this idea of, it was actually more on the upper class level, though, of the literati, who were poets and government officials, but also did Zen practice part time. And some of them were very good at it, and were, you know, were accomplished and were, you know, really worked with very fine teachers. So there were lay practitioners all along. There wasn't, but there was, but Buddhism remained, you know, the core of it remained monastic. So, you know, one of the controversial things that Dogen says in one of the later writings is that only monks can get enlightened. Early on he makes a big point of saying everybody, lay people, monks, men, women, anybody can be enlightened. There's one writing later on, not one of the latest writings, but it's early at A.H.E. where he says only monks can get enlightened, he actually says that.

[13:05]

I disagree. Well, I don't think there was a change of heart, see, my opinion, so some people make a big deal out of that. I don't think that was the main, he still had lay students who were doing these talks, but it was, he was just, again, he was talking to this group of monks that he was trying to train, he was trying to encourage them. My own reading of that is that only monks can be, can fully accomplish carrying on the Buddha way, and it's true that actually until this generation that the lineage was transmitted only by ordained people, and that's actually changing, you know, in America now, and with people like Aitken Roshi and we have somebody at Zen Center now who has lay, has lay dharma transmission, but not precept transmission. So, but there was all along, in addition to that level of lay practice, there were, even the farmers who were, who were the backbone of Soto Zen and generations after Dogen, you

[14:15]

know, most of what, most of what lay people did was to make contributions to the monasteries and to the temples, and that was their practice, and they were doing that, and there was this understanding that they gained merit by doing that. So that was, there were also lay people who did go and do Zazen and do practice, but most of the people couldn't, you know, they didn't have all of the, well I don't know, the way things are going in our country, maybe there won't be anybody who can afford to actually come and, you know, take a Saturday off and come and hear about Zen or do a Zen sitting, but anyway, we have enough of a, our economy is at enough of a level such that, you know, lay people can actually do serious practice, and that's actually most of what's happening in America. So it's different, it's just, it doesn't mean the same thing. So Suzuki Roshi said that we're not exactly priests and we're not exactly lay people, and then in the Japanese tradition, priests are married priests, they're not monks the

[15:19]

way Dogen was, so it's just complicated, but there were lay people who practiced with Dogen, very much so, and early on he emphasized, you know, the universality of it. Later on, he's really trying to train this group of monks to continue it, so, but even then there were lay people who came. So I don't know if that answers your question. Okay, any, if there's one more comment or question before we go back to the text. Within that same line, could his question at the end be a satirical, rhetorical kind of question? Because he's already... What is the matter of going beyond Buddhism and ancestry? He's already said, all Buddhas in the past are thus, all Buddhas in the present are thus, all Buddhas in the future are thus, so everything is right here, right now. So what is this matter of going beyond? No, I don't think it's, well, I don't even think it's ironic.

[16:22]

I think the matter of going beyond is really important to him. That's keeping it alive. When he says, when he says all Buddhas in the past are thus, all Buddhas in the present are thus, and all Buddhas in the future are thus, he doesn't mean only that they're right here now. That's one, you know, that was the interpretation I gave, but I think he's talking about all Buddhas and ancestors are, you know, feel this relationship and feel this gratitude for the tradition and for the teachers and for, and feel this indebtedness to keep the, you know, so when we sit together, when we sit, you know, Sashim together or just a period of Zazen together, you know, you may come here sitting to sit because you need something in your own life, but actually, and that's okay, you know, but actually you're really just sitting for the other people in the room on another level. Or you're sitting for all the people in your life who don't sit. You know, I mean, we sit not just because we want to get something for ourselves.

[17:26]

I mean, that may be part of, we may need some stress reduction or, you know, some kind of calm or some settling or some clarity in our life. That may be part of our, what brings us to practice. But really this practice is not, you know, and the more we do it, it's goes beyond that. Of course it includes that because we have to, you know, be compassionate to ourselves as well. So all of that is to me implied in all Buddhas in the past are thus. So he's not saying going beyond being thus, but just going beyond for the sake of going beyond. How do we keep it alive? How do we go beyond whatever idea we have of Buddhas and ancestors, including this one? That's the point, that it's alive and dynamic. And the going beyond is what Buddhas and ancestors do. And we have to go beyond their going beyond. And the going beyond that we did, you know, the last period or whatever.

[18:27]

So going back to number 200, which is, you know, this one, this one's really, you know, dense and complicated and there's so much there. We could spend the rest of the day on it and that would be fine. Let me start from the beginning again to remind you. And then there's these two references that I need to elaborate. And then we can talk about it. So this, this, this actually is longer than the rest of it, this introduction. In studying the way, the mind of the way is primary. So I already talked about the mind of the way, at least in part, being a reference to Bodhicitta. The mind, but it's just also the mind of the way. It's the mind that seeks the way. It's anyway, that's primary, the mind of the way. This temple in the remote mountains and deep valleys is not easy to reach. People arrive only after sailing over oceans and climbing mountains. Without treading with the mind of the way, it's difficult to arrive at this field. So again, he's speaking both literally and metaphorically on many levels.

[19:34]

To refine the rice, first the bran must be removed. This is a good place in which to engage the way. And yet I'm sorry that the master, Dogen himself, does not readily attend to others by disposition. And again, I, you know, I can only imagine, you know, various ways, various possibilities of what that's, what that's about and whether he's being falsely modest or whether he's being ironic. And probably if you were a monk there listening to him, you would have understood, you would have a sense of, you know, how literally he meant that. However, by day or night, the voice of the valley stream happens to be conducive for carrying water. Also in spring and fall, the colors of the mountain managed to be conducive for gathering firewood. I hope that cloud and water monks will keep the way in mind. So again, there's this reference to this poem that he's written about in Shobo Genzo, the colors of the mountain are the body of Buddha.

[20:35]

The voice of the valley stream is the voice of Buddha, the voice of the Dharma. There's also the reference there about carrying water and gathering firewood, which layman Pang, another great famous lay adept, was asked in response to what are his miraculous powers. He said, carrying water and gathering firewood. So again, just every day, taking care of everyday stuff. So I hope that cloud and water monks will keep the way in mind. So this is this, this is in a way a kind of like the structure of the blue cliff record of the Koan literature, there's a pointer, usually it's not this long. But this is kind of some context that he's giving that relates to, and I haven't finished studying this. I mean, there's a lot in this particular Dharma Hall discourse. So all of the things he's saying in this first part relate to the rest of it too. So some of you may have some ideas.

[21:36]

Anyway, then he says, I remember a monk asked Shoshan, all the Buddhas come from this sutra. What is this sutra? Shoshan responded, speak softly, speak softly. I love that answer. Then the monk asked, how should we receive and maintain it? And Shoshan said, it can never be defiled. So receive and maintain is one of the names for an abbot of a temple, an abbot of a monastery, the one who receives and maintains or who dwells in and maintains. So this is a fundamental question. Remember I was talking about, it's not about understanding, it's about how do we continue. So how do you receive and maintain this? It's like, so this monk, I'm really impressed with this monk. He says, all the Buddhas come from this sutra. What is this sutra? Which is already a complete statement. And then Shoshan says this wonderful thing, speak softly, speak softly. And it's like the monk gets it and says, how should we receive and maintain it? And Shoshan said, it can never be defiled. And that's a reference to a story about Nanyue Huirong who became,

[22:43]

Nangaku in Japanese, became a great teacher later on. But when he was a student, he went to visit the famous sixth ancestor. And the sixth ancestor, so I guess one of the times when there were these dialogues was when a new monk came to the monastery, it seems like there was this practice of going to meet the teacher. And that still goes on, you know, in Japanese monasteries. And so Nanyue came to the sixth ancestor and the sixth ancestor said, what is this that thus comes? It's kind of a funny way of saying, who are you or where are you from? What is this that thus comes? And Nanyue didn't know what to say. So, you know, sometimes in these stories, it looks like they just say this, they're saying this back and forth. But sometimes there's actually a space of time. Like Shoshan may have said, speak softly, speak softly. And a couple of days later, the monk might have come back and said,

[23:45]

how should we receive and maintain that? We don't know. Often it just doesn't say, you know. And it may be just, you know, it might have happened just, you know, back and forth immediately. In this story about Nanyue and the sixth ancestor, they say that after the sixth ancestor asked him, what is this that thus comes? Nanyue went and sat and considered this in the meditation hall for eight years. Eight years later, after considering this question deeply, he came back to the sixth ancestor and said, remember when I first came, you asked me, what is this that thus comes? Now I can say something. And so the sixth ancestor said, what is this that thus comes? And Nanyue said, anything I say will miss the mark. It took him eight years to get that. To really be able to say that completely.

[24:49]

To really know that anything he would say would miss the mark. And then the sixth ancestor said, well then is there practice realization or not? So this is the thing that Dogen talks about all the time. Practice enlightenment. This practice that is the practice of our enlightenment. This enlightenment that is actually practiced. Not some idea of enlightenment up in the sky in California or Tibet or whatever. So the sixth ancestor said, well then is there, if anything you would say would miss the mark, is there practice enlightenment or not? And Nanyue proved that he didn't waste his eight years. He said, it's not that there's no practice enlightenment. It's just that it cannot be defiled. So that's the reference from Shoshan here. And then the sixth ancestor said, just this is what all the Buddhist ancestors take care of. I am thus you and you are thus too.

[25:52]

And all the Buddhist ancestors are thus. So that's the story that this is a reference to. So how should we receive and maintain it? Shoshan said, it can never be defiled. This is really good news if you think about it. No matter how bad your practice is, no matter how bad your Zazen is, no matter how bad a Zen teacher I am, no matter what terrible things I say, practice enlightenment can never be defiled. Anyway, this is what Shoshan said in response to how should we receive and maintain it. Speak softly, speak softly. Okay, so that's the story that Dogen is telling. Then Dogen says, suppose someone asked me, Eihei, what is this sutra? I would say to him, if you call it this sutra, your eyebrows will fall out. You'll be lying. So again, all the Buddhas come from the sutra.

[26:54]

What is the sutra? Even to call it the sutra misses the mark. As to how should we receive and maintain it, I would say, reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. Do any of you know that story? Oh, some of you do. Some... Could you tell the story? No. I heard. Okay, I'll do it. This is a story, actually, about her. The Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kanon, in Japanese, Guanyin in Chinese, Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit. Chenrezig in Tibetan, who is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. His name means to listen to the sounds of the world, to hear sounds, to listen. So compassion in Buddhism just means to listen,

[27:55]

to really hear, to listen empathetically, to really be open to hear the suffering. This Bodhisattva has many forms. That's just one of them. That's one of the simpler forms. Sometimes she has eleven heads. Sometimes there's wrathful versions. There are many versions. That's because compassion in Buddhism means to recognize the particularity of particular students, of particular problems, of particular situations. So there's wisdom, which is to see the emptiness that cuts through everything, and then there's compassion that balances that, is to respond, to hear, you know, the particular differences of each of us suffering beings. One of the forms of this Bodhisattva has a thousand hands. Have any of you seen images like this? Sometimes there are other versions with not quite as many hands. But anyway, one version has literally a thousand hands,

[28:55]

a thousand arms and a thousand hands, often holding different implements, all kinds of different tools and weapons, just to be used, to have whatever, to use whatever is in hand to help. And then also, each of the hands has an eye on it, to see from all those different perspectives, in addition to the eleven faces, to see all the different forms and manifestations of the world. So this is the Bodhisattva of Compassion, the great Bodhisattva. And there's a story about Yun-Yun. Did we have him in one of the other ones? Maybe not. Yun-Yun is... Oh, we had his two generations after Sao-Shan. Yun-Yun is the teacher of the Chinese founder of Soto Zen Dongshan. And he and his brother, there's so many stories about them, so I'll try not to get started, but Yun-Yun and Dao-Wu were actually biological brothers as well as Dharma brothers. Anyway, there's one of the many stories

[29:57]

about them in which one asked the other, why does the Bodhisattva of Compassion have so many hands and eyes? And the other one says, it's like reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. And the story goes on a little bit when the other one says, oh, that's pretty good, but that's only 80%. And then he says, oh, how do you understand their brother? And he says, it's not throughout the body your hands and eyes. No, hang on a second, I got it a little bit wrong. After he says reaching back for the pillow in the middle of the night, then Yun-Yun says, oh yeah, that's like throughout the body your hands and eyes. And the other one says, that's only 80%. And then he says, it's actually throughout the body your hands and eyes. But anyway, the point is just this reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night as the kind of you know, why does the Bodhisattva have

[30:58]

so many hands and eyes? So there's the listening of the Bodhisattva, but then there's also the response. And the response isn't, skillful means is not a matter of having lots of techniques. I mean, studying techniques and trying to figure out how I'm going to do this. It's just this immediate response. Reaching back for comfort, reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night without knowing. But there's an eye in the hand there too. So it's just this image of this kind of unmediated response which is the response of compassion. There are other forms of compassion, other Bodhisattvas like Samantabhadra who takes on programs of social change and things like that, and Jizo who goes to be with those in hell realms and anyway, but the Bodhisattva of compassion is just her principle of response is just reaching back in the middle of the night for your pillow. So Dogen has this incredible

[32:00]

mastery again of this huge body of stories and dialogues that are part of the Chinese and some dynasties where he visited. So he really he just throws off lines from this all the time. So that's kind of the background. So going back to Dogen's response, suppose someone asked me what is the sutra? I would say to him, if you call it the sutra your eyebrows will fall out. As to how should we receive and maintain it? I would say reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. So that's kind of a classic story about in a way how to receive and maintain it. It's not that we know what to do. We respond, we see what's in front of us, we offer a hand, we use whatever is at hand, we don't know what we're doing, but we still respond with whatever

[33:02]

tool is available and just looking for comfort for oneself but also for all beings. So that's this Dharma Halka's question. So now we can start talking about it. Comments, responses, questions? This one for me seems absolutely consistent all the way through the beginning, the koan, and the end all the same, the same, the same. What is it saying to you? In a way, it's the Dharma Halka whatever it is and the voices about this tree that happens to be carrying the sound that it's carrying

[34:03]

and the colors of the mountain that it produces it's flawed vehicle that she considers herself to be the Dharma Halka. It's the same message in all three parts and it's all, whatever it is is absolutely natural and it just comes right to her. It doesn't have to be something intellectual or what have you. This is actually very direct and simple. There's a lot of elaborate images and resonances and allusions and there's a lot actually to chew in this. But what you say is good, yes. The valley stream the sound of the valley stream also the bodhisattva of compassion Kanon

[35:03]

hears the sounds of the suffering but also just to listen to sound is part of the practice of this bodhisattva. As I recommend as do other sutras the practice while you're sitting, just listening allow the vehicles going by the sound of the vehicles and the sound of the birds and the sound of the lawn mower whatever comes to be your teacher just sit upright immersing yourself in sound focusing on sound. This is one practice. So anyway there's a lot that can be said about that. Other comments? Responses? Get done. I'm getting way ahead of myself.

[36:05]

So suddenly this is such a striking use of the two-factor control and some of the nature of this I feel the suddenness itself is a way of communicating almost beyond logic and I'm not quite sure how to describe it because it's not logic but the nature of it is so beautiful and I think the beauty of suddenly entering the dialogue is also there's something about the suddenness and the way it shifts from question to English. Yeah part of the thing is that this language this koan language that Dogen is spouting is not about something else so

[37:07]

I wouldn't say it's illogical but it's certainly not our usual logic but it's not about something what it's about is what it evokes so it's like Dharani in a way which has no meaning but has an effect so the point of a lot of these stories is they do they impact us in a certain way so in terms of working with this kind of material yourself it's not about trying to understand it, it's about feeling how does it feel, what does it do to you how do you respond to it and what is that and looking at it really getting into it so there is a logic to it actually there's a logic to all of it it's not irrational that's a misunderstanding of koans they're not irrational they're not to get you out of your they are not our usual linear western rationality but there is there are principles

[38:09]

and there's a kind of logic to it it's the logic of awakening but what's important is the impact and your response so again to feel it the same is true of many sutras a lot of the Mahayana sutras it's not about something else it's just feeling it it's like reading you can read it like listening to music so when you listen to a symphony you're not trying to figure out what does that note mean you know and there can be a kind of logic there's a pattern to a symphony or to jazz it's the same way so yeah to notice how it impacts you is a primary way of working with the material and then to feel that and again to look at it from different angles so what's going on with this monk

[39:11]

what's going on with Shoshan why is Dogen what's going on with his students that he's saying these things these are not some kind of philosophy that's written down as a way of presenting some position this is living talk between teachers and students working out how do we find our way comments on speak softly I just feel like there's so much there that I barely started to see and I just wonder what anyone feels about that how you respond to that what is this sutra speak softly his response to anxiety asking a very particular

[40:13]

question which I guess you explained before that this sutra means the teacher he's not referring to the lotus sutra and then confusion is getting making a lot of noise well it's interesting all the buddhas come from this sutra what is this sutra it could be read as which sutra is it that all the buddhas come from the way you said it maybe he's saying maybe you could read that the question is which is the best sutra for me to read to become a buddha I mean that's one way to read it and so the lotus sutra is a good guess so Shushan could be saying speak softly, don't worry about that it could be just saying but also I think that he's answering the question it works on all those levels

[41:14]

and it's not that he's thinking about what is the meaning what am I going to say that it's going to have all these meanings it's actually alive but when you translated it you had to have put in the rift because it wouldn't have been there no this is there it would be there in the Japanese yeah it's in the Chinese we wouldn't have said we would have said all the buddhas come from a sutra there's the word for this it's funny that my question is this question what is the sutra I mean that's kind of my question to you what is the sutra and it keeps going around ask me again what is the sutra it's your rubbing the back of your neck it's

[42:22]

that car there is this is what the sutra is what is anyway the point isn't some answer the point is can we play with can we speak softly the word patient and how all because we can't go casting about for answers it slows because we're in other senses besides that just thinking sense like visual or listening it quiets us enough so that we can hear what's now it slows the whole process which is why I think people say

[43:28]

it's so beautiful because we can see it yeah it's this kind of material the koans themselves and then Dogen's way of playing with them I think to read over and over to memorize some of them is another way to work with them to find one line that really resonates you can spend a lot of time on speak softly you can spend a lot of time on your eyebrows falling out or on to refine the rice first the bran must be removed I mean each of those lines you know different lines may have something to say to different ones of us at different times but yeah it does stop us in a way from our usual mode of processing the world from our usual malvita life and then the other thing

[44:30]

is you know I apologize for coming here and giving you like already so far we've done 6 of these Dogen's students would have heard maybe one of these a week occasionally more but certainly not more than one a day maybe a few a week at most I see the question as maybe not having to do with a suture but really the question is where do all the buddhas come from right well that's there too all the buddhas come from it what is it? what? you yeah and that so you know I've translated how Dogen said it but

[45:30]

but the way to work with this material the way to use it for yourself is to read it and translate it for yourself and play with it just the way you did so all the buddhas come from you so now read the suture you've seen the movie just anything that strikes anybody that you want to say something about or ask something about did you have a question? if the response speak softly to not be passive to take on responsibility yourself where do buddhas come from? speak softly he doesn't say be quiet

[46:31]

he says speak softly speak softly good right very good thank you so you know another misconception popular misconception about koans is that there is one right answer and actually in some teaching curriculums and some branches of in some branches of Rinzai and other branches of Zen there is a particular teaching curriculum where one answer is looked for but really in terms of your working with us it's not about finding a right answer it's not that kind of thing but it is about speaking softly it is about bringing forth some response for yourself and another misconception about koans in the teaching curriculums that you pass a koan and go to the next one and even in Rinzai Zen

[47:33]

that's not what it's about you have to actually completely become the teaching in that story and allow it to inform you completely and then you may work on another one but in some koan teachers just one koan per student for their whole life that's enough so I use koans in my teaching myself but in a very informal way not in a systematic way not with all students but with some students let's look at this drawing we'll talk about it together for a while but you don't have to do that either this is material to use to consider how do you speak it's also interesting that you say speak softly because in so many other koans and stories here you can say a word or the shouts

[48:34]

this monk is really good because he gets it and then he has a good follow up question how do we receive and maintain it that's the question how do we take care of our practice how do we take care of our life we receive it and then we take care of it and receiving it is not just where does receiving it come from well maybe it comes from the sutra but it actually just comes from it's not the sutra out there it's the sutra in your lower back as you're sitting or in your knee or in the tilt of your chin or in a thought that comes up it's not it's not outside or inside I think it's kind of weird that one response is speak softly and the other response is

[49:39]

your eyebrows fall out from mine and one is very soothing and one is kind of aggressive and I really don't get that whole eyebrow falling out well you don't have to you don't have to like Dogen's version you might like the original version more that's ok you don't have to agree with Dogen well why is he having such a strong response he's just saying even to call it the sutra misses the mark what is this that thus comes what is this from which the Buddha's come forth anything you say even to call it the sutra is too much it's not it and yet we have to say something and Dogen you know

[50:39]

comments on the same koans in many different ways in different places you know in Chogogenzo and Heikuroku so he'll say different kinds of things about the same story sometimes in different times it's not that there's again it's not that there's one right answer or position or teaching about some line of a koan it's what is this that thus comes I still don't understand it can never be defiled does that mean that there's nothing you can do to receive and maintain it because there's nothing you can do to defile it no you can receive and maintain it but it can never be defiled but your question is thank you we couldn't have gone on if you didn't ask that question because it doesn't mean because it says it can never be defiled

[51:41]

doesn't mean that so going back to the original story with the six ancestries he asks what is this that thus comes and he says eventually anything that I say will miss the mark is there practice enlightenment or not and he says it's not that there is not practice enlightenment only that it cannot be defiled this cannot be defiled doesn't mean that whatever anything you do is ok it doesn't mean you don't have responsibility so this is a tricky point and this was the point I was getting at before there was a problem with the jeruma shu and I want to go back to this other thing I've been using which is if I can find it it was here maybe I've lost it oh no here it is this is from a later piece in one of those dharma letters

[52:41]

that I mentioned and I read part of it before but I'll just this isn't I don't know if I should this isn't going to help maybe because it's he's playing with language a lot but let me read a little bit anyway and then I'll say something within the true dharma there is practice teaching and verification verification means enlightenment this practice is the effort of zazen it is customary that such practice is not abandoned even after reaching buddhahood so that it is still practiced by buddha teaching and verification that is dharma and enlightenment expounding and enlightenment should be examined in the same way this zazen was transmitted from buddha to buddha directly pointed out by ancestors and transmitted by legitimate successors even when others hear of its name it is not the same as the zazen of buddha ancestors we could say that

[53:41]

the situation of buddha's house is the oneness in which the essence which is the enlightenment the practice and the expounding are one and the same even up to now these have been studied together the point is that there is not a practice of enlightenment that's not expounded or that's not expressed so and as I said before even the first time you were sitting you were completely expressing your practice of enlightenment right then but it doesn't mean that that's static and it doesn't mean that it's not passive so expression is not something that happens somewhere else you have to express it so even though we're already expressing something in our posture each one of us right now the enlightenment

[54:43]

of practice is that you have a responsibility to express it in the most beautiful way you can not in the way Dulci would because you're done but each of us in our own way expresses the practice of enlightenment of our enlightenment practice right now and we actually there's actually a responsibility to do that that's not something that happens on channel 5 if we turn on the TV it happens it might be there too depending on how you're watching it and whether you're actually looking to see how does it feel as you're watching it but it's something that we bring to Buddha it's how we so this whole thing talking about it like we're doing today but also just the sitting and the bowing and the eating and walking meditation and getting up and going home

[55:45]

and how we relate to the other drivers on the freeway and everything you have the responsibility for expressing your practice realization right now now it can never be defiled means that practice enlightenment is practice enlightenment but how we it's not like well then anything you do is practice enlightenment you actually have to express it it's not that there's one right way to express it either so this is really subtle and I don't I feel bad because I don't feel like I can say it in a way that that maybe you're really going to get but I have to say something and I know that even as poorly as I try and express this somehow it won't be defiled so he goes on in the same passage

[56:46]

he's playing with this idea of of practice expounding and enlightenment or verification he says if practice is not the practice of expounding and is not the practice of verification of enlightenment how can we say it is the practice of buddhadharma if expounding is not the expounding of practice and is not the expounding of verification it is difficult to call it the expounding of buddhadharma if verification or enlightenment is not the enlightenment of practice and is not the enlightenment of expounding How can we name it the enlightenment of the Buddha Dharma? Just know that Buddha Dharma is one, in the beginning, middle, and end. It is good in the beginning, middle, and end. It is nothing in the beginning, middle, and end. And it's empty in the beginning, middle, and end. So this is Dogen at his most outrageously funny, anyway. This single matter never comes from the forceful activity of people, but from the beginning

[57:49]

is the expression and activity of Dharma. When he says this single matter, that's a reference, I think, to the Lotus Sutra, which says that the single matter of Buddha's appearing in the world, of our practice coming forth in the world, is to awaken suffering beings and lead them into, demonstrate, lead them into and express this way of Buddha Dharma. So it starts with the first noble truth of awakening to suffering, that none of this, we wouldn't need Dogen, there never would have been Dogen, or we wouldn't have to come and cross our legs and do all this stuff if there was no suffering in the world. We're responding to the pain that we each feel in our own way, or that we see in others. So this matter of it can never be defraud is very subtle.

[58:50]

It can never be defraud doesn't mean that everything is okay. We still have to respond to all the problems in the world around us, and in ourselves, and with our friends and so forth, but still, how we receive and maintain it is, it can never be defraud. So in a way this is about faith, but it's not our usual idea of faith. Yes? Something keeps coming up for me, and I'm not sure quite how it connects, but in some ways, after practicing for a while I saw my relationship with things change a lot, the way I was in contact with the stuff that was around me, the doors and objects, and how I held them, and placed them, and took care of them.

[59:55]

For a while I was, and sometimes still do, I would say, it's too bad that that expressed itself with things and not with people. It would be nice if that could happen to people in my life in the same way. And at points it was kind of disappointing that that's where I saw it, and not somewhere else. It's very advanced practice, to practice that with other people. It's not easy. That's why we have Sangha, so that we have a place where we can struggle to practice together with people. And so it just came up that, hey, that's kind of a great thing to come up to learn from. It might not be my interactions with people, but it's providing a great space to learn from the way those interactions are coming in, and perhaps move them in that direction. Yeah, a lot of Zen training in Japanese monasteries is about that exactly.

[61:01]

It's about taking care of things. In all of the arts of tea ceremony, all of that Japanese Zen culture is about, on one level, taking care of things. But then it's also, how do we meet each other? So that's also what these stories are about. And that is advanced practice, but of course that's the practice and the enlightenment expression that we need to do every day. Susan, do you have any comments on anything? Okay. This temple on the remote mountains and deep valleys is not easy to reach.

[62:07]

People arrive only after sailing over oceans and climbing mountains. This is a good place in which to engage the way, and yet I'm sorry that the Master does not readily attend to others by disposition. Any thoughts on that, on what Dogen is saying about the teacher there at this temple in the deep mountains? Just how you imagine that. What does by disposition mean? Does that mean his disposition is not to readily attend to others? Yeah. His tendencies. Well, what just came up that time you read it was that the practice is difficult, but

[63:08]

that the teacher can't teach it through their own personality and doing what they do. It can only be done through the practice. That just popped out. Very good, yeah. So, you know, here he's talking, when he says the Master, he's talking about himself, but maybe he's also just talking about the teacher, anywhere. That we actually have to see it for ourselves. Nobody's going to, you know, I can't tell you how to be Buddha. You have to find out how to, you know, your way of being Buddha. And maybe he's sorry because he'd like to be able to do it for you. Oh, sure. But sorry I can't do that because I'm not the same disposition you are. Good. Yes, certainly.

[64:08]

But it's sort of implied there. I mean, I like it that he's sort of, you know, in a way I feel like he's sort of saying something personal about himself. But also, yes, he's talking about the way the teaching is. Both. So, you know, it's interesting to read this. If you read it, you know, aloud to yourself and read it different ways, you know, you can feel it different ways, too. But yeah, good, Jay. Thank you. Yes. That's right. I'm trying now. Now the temple is in a remote mountain. Why is it there? Why are you...

[65:14]

Dogen, you know, there's a phrase, you know, there's a lot of question in Dogen's studies about why Dogen left Kyoto. And some people think he was harassed by the Tendai, the establishment that was already there, and that he was doing this new thing and they didn't like it and they maybe threatened him. And there was also a new... Actually, when Dogen moved, he was in Fukakusa, his temple Koshoji, which is very close to Tofukuji. And just before he moved, Tofukuji was built. And one of the emperors was... And Tofukuji is a temple that Susan just visited in Kyoto and met with Fukushima Roshi, this wonderful teacher in the Rinzai lineage. And at the time, just before Dogen was moving, they established Tofukuji, very close to where his temple was. And so some people think that he was... He didn't... That either he was afraid of the competition because they brought this other Japanese monk and Iben then, who had been to China there, and they were going to give him all this patronage

[66:17]

and build this beautiful temple for him and that Dogen was afraid of the competition or maybe Dogen felt bad that he wasn't offered the temple or all of those theories, some scholars say. But actually, Dogen early on talks about how he wished he could be... About... He calls himself this mountain monk often. And his teacher talked to him about practicing in the remote mountains and having lived at Tassajara for three years, it is wonderful if you can find time in your life to practice way up in the mountains. So it's not easy to reach and it's not easy to arrange a time in your life, in an ordinary life to go and do that kind of practice at a place like that. So all of that's true and Eheji was way back in the mountains and it wasn't easy to reach and some people maybe have sailed from other parts of Japan and landed on the north coast

[67:20]

by the Japan Sea. But I'd also say this temple in the remoteness of Rai and in the deep valley of the meeting house is not easy to reach. People arrive only after crossing rivers and traversing freeways and riding trains and without treading with the mind of the way it's difficult to arrive at this field. But basically this is our temple. This life is open. You know, Wednesday nights Jane and I, Patty too, have the privilege of seeing people finding this place. Every week somebody new finds this place and they have been swimming oceans and climbing mountains and then they come to a place and it feels exactly like this, even though in

[68:25]

a technical way it's totally different. In another sense they have had a huge journey before they walked here. Metaphorically. Metaphorically and really? No, really, really in their life struggle to come in the door to practice. Yeah, all of you. Yes? The part that does stick out for me though is to refine the words, first the brand must be removed. And so far everything else we've said about this passage is that Dharma comes through no matter what happens. Don't try to improve on things. Don't try to make it happen. And here it's talking about refining something. It sounds like improving it. Yes, it does. And to take the brand off, the way I heard it was that those who have come to this field

[69:33]

are the right. But you still, you have to express it. You still have to practice. Our expression of enlightenment is something we actually have to practice. I'm glad you brought that up because it's not just that here we are so we can all go to sleep. We have to keep paying attention. And it's not that there's anything wrong with the brand. So Suzuki Roshi said, you're already perfect just as you are, so therefore you have to keep working harder. And is this an allusion to the six patriarchs having been sent to mill the rice and that whole wonderful dialogue? Absolutely. One comes down and says, is the rice ready? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so I'm not even mentioning all of the allusions to other Zen stories in here.

[70:37]

It's just like kind of every line is. Yes. So the sixth ancestor, before he became the sixth ancestor, was a layman who was, so there's a whole story about that. He came to see this, before Nanyue came to him and the sixth ancestor said, what is this that thus comes? Well, the sixth ancestor himself was an illiterate woodcutter, a layman from the boondocks of Canton, from the south. He came to the fifth ancestor and the fifth ancestor said, where are you from? He didn't say, what is this that thus comes? He just was more direct. He said, where are you from? And he said, I'm from Canton, from the south. And the fifth ancestor said, what do you come here for? And he said, I came to become a Buddha. And the fifth ancestor said, people from the south don't have Buddha nature. So anyway, there's more to the story. But are there any southerners here? This is always a problem. Yeah. Where are you from?

[71:38]

I'm from Virginia. The capital of the Confederacy. The layman's home. Confederates don't have Buddha nature. Nor do Yankees. OK, let her in. And the point is that Buddha nature is not something you can have. There was Buddha nature before the Confederacy. And before the Yankees. And the British are coming. Anyway, I won't go there. So I think we have a few minutes before the next break. And so I'm glad that we spent some time on one of them. And so you can see that, you know, so please, you know, you get to take home this and, you know, kind of take any of them and chew them. But let's do one more.

[72:40]

Let's do one really quick. OK. 2.13. And then we'll do more after the break. But 2.13 is one of those for Enlightenment Day. This was in 1246. So Enlightenment Day is on the seventh day of the twelfth month. And on that day in 1246, Dogen said, The old bandit Gotama entered the temptations of the demon Mara. When Gotama afflicted the human and heavenly realms with confusion, stirring up disturbance, people lost their eyes and so could not look for them. The plum blossom opens afresh on the same branch as last year. Questions, comments, responses? Why the old bandit? Because he was an old bandit. He afflicted the human and heavenly realms. He stirred up disturbance.

[73:41]

I mean, look at you all. People lost their eyes and so could not look for them. Somebody told me when they read that, that they had this image of kind of a field covered with eyeballs. It's a marvel. So, you know, there's a story that I heard first through Gary Snyder. Maybe you've heard this about a time when everybody in the whole universe was enlightened except for one person. You know that story? You know that story? No? Anyway, so this person at some point realized that he was not enlightened and he got very upset and he left his home and he wandered around and a lot of things happened and finally he sat down under a tree and he awakened and he became a Buddha. So, anyway, this is kind of, you know, also typical Zen rhetoric,

[74:44]

you know, book of records says things like this. The old bandit, Gautama. He entered the temptations of Mara. And to me the main point of this one is the last line. I mean, yeah, Buddha made a lot of trouble. Here we are. The plum blossom opens afresh on the same branch as last year. Yeah, Jane. The quince. Good. No matter what. Even if we're not here. The quince will open on the same branch as last year. What I just thought of, because I didn't think we'd be here this spring. No, but right, we didn't think we'd be here this spring. No, we were moving, we did. Our plum is the quince. Sitting together. Wow. Good. Part of the particularity where he mentions plum, and he talks about plum a lot,

[75:45]

and his teacher, Chiantang Lujing, liked plums, and there's lots of references to plums in Dogen. Because the plum blossoms in the winter. So often there's white plum blossoms. It's the first flowering tree. Yeah, in Japan and in Asia. The plum in China too. The white plum blossoms you see against the snow. But when they blossom, they blossom in the snow. They blossom the first. So this is an image for... There's a lot of sayings like this in Zen, like a dragon howls in a withered tree, or when the wooden man begins to sing, the stone woman gets up to dance. This is about how our life comes forth. The plum blossom opens afresh. The plum blossoms again on the same branch as last year. So it's true, it does.

[76:45]

But there's also... In one of the early Rinzai teachers, his Zendo was called the dead stump hall, because all the monks sat like stumps. But part of our practice is that we find our real life through being willing to just stop, still, stumps. That line there that says, people lost their eyes, so could not look. That, to me, seems like I reached the bottom. This is it. I can't go anymore. I can't see anymore. And then plum blossom opens afresh in the same branch as last year. Good. Yes, yes, yes. Excellent. Thank you. I just wanted to say to Carol

[77:58]

that any teacher with their soul is a robber, not just a monk. That's right. She knows. So I think it's time for tea, coffee, refreshment. But I just wanted to point out number 379. And I was mentioning to somebody in the kitchen that Dogen was, as I said, Dogen wasn't best known for his writings until modern times, although certainly there were some set of teachers and priests who appreciated his writings occasionally through the centuries. But he was known as a magic maker. And this is an example. He gave a dharma hall discourse to clear the skies when there was a lot of rain. So I don't know. Do you want the rain to go away? Should I do this one? Yes. OK. We're not going to talk about it much. I just want you to get it going for it. But it's funny because he does it by quoting

[79:00]

another dharma hall discourse by his teacher, Chanthang Rujing, who also did it to to get rid of the rain. So this was in 1250 in the sixth month that Dogen did this. And we don't really know what the, we don't have weather reports recorded. So we don't know what the effect was. But anyway, last year and this year, through spring, summer, autumn and winter, below the heavens, the rains have fallen without cease. The whole populace laments as the five grains do not ripen. Now Elder Ehe, for the sake of saving our land from lamentation, will again make supplication by lifting up the dharma hall discourse, praying for clear skies. That was given by my late teacher, Chanthang Rujing, when he resided at Qingyang Temple. What's the reason? What can we do if the Buddha Dharma does not relieve the suffering of human and heavenly beings? That's the point, right? Great Assembly, do you clearly understand Ehe's intention? When my late teacher, that's Chanthang Rujing,

[80:03]

had not yet given a dharma hall discourse, all Buddhas and ancestors had not yet given a dharma hall discourse. When my late teacher gave a dharma hall discourse, all Buddhas of the three times, past, present and future, the ancestral teachers of the six generations, and all nostrils and the ten thousand eyeballs of all teachers, at the same time all gave a dharma hall discourse. They could not have been an hour earlier or half an hour later. Today's dharma hall discourse by Ehe is also like this. Then after a pause, Dogen just quoted, this whole next last part is verbatim, quoting the dharma hall discourse that Chanthang Rujing gave some previous time in the 12, probably in the 1210s or something, to clear the skies when there had been rain. So that's, so Dogen gives this as his way of, he reads what Chanthang Rujing had given as his Jodo.

[81:05]

Presumably it worked when Chanthang Rujing said it, or else maybe Dogen wouldn't have said it. But anyway, Dogen paused and then said, quoting. Again, the whole rest of it is a quote from Chanthang Rujing. Without ceasing, one, two and three raindrops, drop after drop, fall continuously, morning to night, transformed into torrents so that we can do nothing. The winds and waves overflow throughout the mountains, rivers and the great earth. Then Rujing sneezed once and said, before one sneeze of this patch road monk is finished, the clouds part and the sun appears. Rujing then raised his whisk and said, great assembly, look here, the bright clear sky swallows the eight directions. If the waters continue to fall as before, all the houses will float away to the country of demons. Make prostrations to Shakyamuni, take refuge in Maitreya on the altar over here. Capable of saving the world from its sufferings, wondrous wisdom power of Valakishvara appear.

[82:06]

I call on you. So that's the end of that and presumably the sky is clear. Whether they will now remains to be seen. Maybe you haven't had enough rain yet, I don't know. But anyway, that's not what we usually think of as old Zen teachers doing, but that's actually a lot of what they did. What are the eight directions? The eight directions? Usually they say the ten directions. Did they say eight directions here? Yes. Really? Well, okay, that's unusual. Usually they say the ten, but that's the four directions, north, east, south, west and then the intermediary. And then usually they add up and down, which is the ninth and tenth. Sorry, I forgot. I didn't realize that he says eight directions. Where is that? Oh, the last paragraph. Sky is the eighth direction. Oh, because the sky is the ninth direction. Anyway. So we had a request

[83:14]

for... Are you talking about prayer here? Before you flip to another page? I mean, it's a supplication. What's going on? He's asking for clear skies. Who's asking what? How do you deal with separation? Dogen's quoting his teacher who had cleared the skies before because people were suffering because there was too much rain. That's the setting. I want some discussion about how you see... Dogen quotes Rujing sneezing. In the end he says... Where is it now? You know, he calls on the wondrous wisdom power of Malik Dishwara. He makes prostrations to Shakyamuni. He takes refuge to Maitreya. You were in Koryuga. You saw Maitreya. Maitreya's here now.

[84:17]

She came back. So are we calling on something outside? You listen to her, but you won't answer my question. What's your question? I thought I answered your question. Sorry. Playing, playing. Playing but not playing. Okay. Where in here do we see the hint of no inside, no outside? Because it reads very... Is that what you were trying to say? Exactly. No, well, because if you take that all very literally then they're asking for the little gods to take away the rain. No, they're not. He's not gods. It's take refuge in Maitreya. Just take refuge in Maitreya. That's all. Maitreya's in the future. Maitreya will come and be the next Buddha in the future. Maitreya's waiting. Maitreya's practicing patience, like you said before. Waiting to know what, you know, to figure out, to study the mind,

[85:20]

to see how to save all the suffering beings. Hear him? Yeah, he's really calling on... He's trying to... He's doing this to relieve suffering of all the peasants who are suffering from the rain. And as I was telling somebody, one of the times, there were lay people who also came to these, and there was one of these at least, when all the lay people who had come testified that as Dogen was speaking and giving this dharma hall discourse, we don't know which one it was, but they saw colored lights rising in the sky from the dharma hall. So, I don't know. What's your question? Is your question inside or outside? We should call on... We should take refuge in Maitreya, and we should call on Avalokiteshvara,

[86:21]

and we should make prostrations to Shakyamuni, and may all beings be happy, and may we respond to the suffering of beings in all countries and in all places, and this is the point of our practice. And how to do it, it's different. Different times and places. It might be writing letters to your congressman. It might be sitting very hard. It might be being kind to your neighbor. I don't know. But I think we called forth the rain. Would somebody like to say something else besides me? About 280 or something different of his verses.

[87:29]

The first batch of them are from when he was a student in China. So those are interesting, because they're amongst the earliest things we have. But this is one of the later ones, when he's at Heiji. So he says, In our lifetime, false and true, good and bad are confused. While playing with the moon, scorning winds, and listening to birds for many years, I merely saw that mountains had snow. This winter, suddenly I realized that snow completes mountains. Lots of them have stuff about mountains. And snow. There's a lot of snow and mountains at Heiji. Any comments on that? It's a lovely poem. Literally, For many years I merely saw that mountains had snow. Could be also read as,

[88:30]

For many years I merely saw that there was snow on mountains. This winter, suddenly I realized that snow accomplishes the mountains, fulfills the mountains, completes the mountains. I just think the last two lines are so beautiful. I agree. I think your translation is also beautiful, because there are so few words. It really accomplishes a lot, just a few words at the end of each sentence. Thank you very much. I'm not sure whether there's any metaphor in the first, or rather the second line. I have a feeling it's forming words, but it doesn't mean words. I immediately, the last line,

[89:59]

immediately thought of the hands and eyes again, because the first line is like the younger brother saying, hands and eyes all over the body, and the last line is like saying whole body, hands and eyes. All through the body, yes. Yes, yes, yes. I agree. Any other requests? Actually, before I do that, I want to do another one that, let's see if I can find it now, that in a certain way is related maybe, that's short, if I can find it. Where is it? Yeah, let's look first at number 210.

[91:05]

This is sort of like some of the ones we've had, we've already talked about, so maybe it won't be so hard, but Dogen says, last night all the Buddhas of the three times fell into the dwelling of Eihei, and they all brought rice and put it in the storehouse. So there's a number of them like that, where he says last night and then something happened, and the one we're going to read, that's the first one in this, is kind of like a dream story. Anyway, I don't know how to take these when he says this. It's like, in this one, he just says, last night all the Buddhas of the three times, future two, fell into the dwelling of Eihei, came to Eiheiji, and they all brought rice and put it in the storehouse. The Tenzo took the rice, made gruel, and brought it to the monk's hall. Brothers, have you eaten the gruel or not? So this is, you know, it's like the wonderful food we've had today comes from all the Buddhas of the three times. And there's a story about Shakyamuni Buddha

[92:12]

that he, his, Shakyamuni's allotted lifespan was 100 years. Of course, in the Lotus Sutra he says he's still alive, but he only lived 80 years so that, to give the extra time for his descendants, so that they would have...

[92:28]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ