And then I talked about the quality wisdom. Then I was going to talk about the marvelous you went from the Wisdoms to the Eight Consciousnesses, and then you went back, showing correspondences between the Eight Consciousnesses and the Four Wisdoms.

[01:54]

But you only got to the Seventh Consciousness becomes the Equality Wisdom, and the Eight Consciousness becomes the Mirror Wisdom. Stop. I didn't say anything. Right. the eight consciousnesses.

[03:31]

Actually, as someone said, there are eight levels, or eight aspects of consciousness. They're not actually eight separate consciousnesses, but in a sense they are, but in another sense they're not. Because alaya-jnana, which is the storehouse consciousness consciousness, although it's kind of like the earth, which is passive, but the seeds and the plants are all actively growing. Something like receptors, right? This alaya consciousness is also called storehouse, it's also called permanent.

[04:46]

Even though in Buddhism nothing's permanent. This is the consciousness that doesn't, when someone is born, with the person. And it's also said that this consciousness, manas, both of these two consciousnesses are not subject to birth and death. But these other consciousnesses, the other six, are like aspects which are just picked up with the birth and death of a person. When a person is born, they're born with eyes, ears, nose, and the five senses and thinking mind.

[05:48]

And that is not... that's just ephemeral. But alaya is not... Apparently not ephemeral. Yes? It sounds suspiciously like a soul or something. Yes, it sounds suspiciously like that. It does sound suspiciously like that. But you have to remember that a soul is, well, I don't want to go too far into it, This is as close as Buddhism gets to that. And you can argue that it is or not. I don't want to get into that argument. But it's not considered a soul. Well, there are many different theories about what a soul is also, you know, in Indian religions.

[06:56]

in Western religions. It's only something permanent. So I think we have to be careful about when we say about permanent or not permanent. But it's not... Well, let me just say, this is what is said about this. Do they have a substance? For example, with all of the others you point to, a place, a substance. Are they manifest physically in a substance? Well, consciousness, we're talking about consciousness. So you're asking, how does consciousness benefit?

[08:01]

What kind of body does consciousness have? Well, consciousness is embodied, the senses are doorways to consciousness. But in order for consciousness to arise, according to Buddhism, there has to be an organ of consciousness, or a receptor of consciousness, or a receptor of an object. So these are the receptors. And then there has to be an object that's received. And then there has to be a consciousness which arises in order to cognize or have awareness of the object.

[09:01]

And so they say that consciousness arises with the object. In other words, all three arise together. So if you have an I and an object, the object isn't seen unless there's consciousness. And if you have consciousness and an object, it's not seen without the eye. In other words, all three have to be present in order for there to be something seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, or thought. There has to be a thought object. The seat of consciousness is here. But the seat of consciousness for manas, or the mind, is in the alaya. And manas is the

[10:05]

conveyor of information between the two. So this is basic consciousness and this is manifested consciousness seat, which our mind thinks, individual mind thinks. Of course, this is a model, right? So we have to remember, what we're talking about is a model of consciousness. I guess what I'm trying to understand is how seven and eight would not be born or die. Oh, well, according to Buddhism, none of us are born or die. actual, real life. In real life, nothing is born or dies.

[11:09]

So, there are two kinds of birth and death. One is the birth and death from when we, as a person, enter the world, you know, and we grow up and middle-aged and and then we die. So we call that birth and death. But that is just a period of time. That's just a kind of sequence in a long sequence of activity. That's just one sequence in a continuous saga of activity. So when we say, I was born and I died, that's true. for a certain sequence of activity. Another way to look at birth and death is that each moment is a moment of birth and death. On each moment, everything in the world springs into being and dies.

[12:19]

And then it springs into being again in the next moment and dies, so to speak. But we don't see those sequences as birth and death. We just see it as time goes by and we change. You know, we're changing. I was young and now I'm old, right? But actually, we go through countless births and deaths, or countless births and deaths take place through this lifetime. So there are cycles of birth and death, and sequences of birth and death, which we only see this one that we're interested in. The only reason that we think about our birth and our death is because we're interested in it. But we're not so interested in the minutia of birth and death, which is continuously happening. So when you look into the minutia of birth and death, which is happening on each moment,

[13:23]

and realize that there actually is no solid thing that's born or dies. Except momentarily, we can say, this sprang into being. So, when we talk about birth and death, we're talking about something that we perceive or feel, or that's important for us from a human point of view. But in the larger flux of life, there's continuous rising and ceasing of phenomena. we say there's just flux, there's just a flowing, there's no actual demarcation between birth and death, but you can make that demarcation anytime, anyplace.

[14:31]

It's somewhat arbitrary, but it's not arbitrary. So there's various levels at which we perceive what is birth and death. This is basic Buddhism, actually. In the law of karma, each one of these separate existences is creating its own life. Each one of us is creating our own life. when this collection of five skandhas, forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. That's what the human being, according to Buddhism, roughly speaking, there's form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.

[15:42]

And we call that the human being. In the Heart Sutra, That's what the Heart Sutra is saying. We chant it every day. But it's no eyes, no ears, no nose. But it's talking about the five skandhas. Five skandhas in their own being are empty. So own being means each of the five rivers of existence that go up to create our existence it does not have any substantiality in itself. Human beings don't have inherent existence, because human beings are not some solid thing. That's why we say, no soul. There's no... When you peel away all of the layers, there's no soul.

[16:42]

There's no... Soul means one, right? Our indestructible peace. There's no indestructible peace, but there is consciousness, which, when it's purified, is pure consciousness, which is Buddha nature, right? So, when we say alaya-vijnana doesn't come or go, isn't born or dying, it means that. It means it has Buddha nature. There's no place for it to come or go to. But everything springs from that. So would it be fair to say as a temporal manifestation, as a human being.

[17:52]

So, when we talk about Buddha nature, you can say each manifestation is one face of one big being, called Buddha nature. And consciousness is the way it manifests. fundamentally, through causes and conditions. So we have the still pond, right? That's alaya vijnana, hopefully. When it's in its purified state, it doesn't come or go. It's very still. But as soon as there's something, a ripple, then movement starts, and then the world springs into being.

[18:55]

And it keeps perpetuating itself, because one movement creates another, and then you have the whole matrix of movement and disturbance. The nature of wind. The nature of wind, yeah. It does. Yeah, in a way it does. Remember the poem? Yeah. Well basically it's about that monk saying that he doesn't need to to fan himself because the wind is constant. Then Mike asks the Master, why are you fanning yourself?

[20:00]

And the Master says... He says, if the nature of wind is permanent, if there's no place it doesn't reach, why are you fanning yourself? And that was Dogen's question when he went to China. He said, if Buddha nature is everywhere and all-pervading, why do we need to practice? Isn't that a good question? Why do we have to sit zazen? Why do we have to do anything when Buddha nature is everywhere and manifested everywhere? When the nature of wind is permanent, it reaches everywhere. And so the teacher says, you may understand the nature of wind being permanent, but you don't know the meaning of it reaching everywhere.

[21:07]

What's the meaning of it reaching everywhere? Ask a silly question. Is that a silly answer? Well, don't you have to be careful because someone might come along and chop off your hand? Oh, we didn't want anybody to do that. The guy who copied the other guy's lecture by holding up one finger got his hand chopped off. No, but he wasn't asked to do that. Did someone ask you to? Yeah, he just asked me to tell the story. I'm an accessory to the chronicle. That's right. See, if he hadn't asked me to tell the story, I wouldn't have told it. So I'm just doing him a favor. So, in the case of the Four Wisdoms, The round mirror wisdom, I'll use that circle.

[22:23]

Oh yeah, I was saying that these are called consciousnesses, but when consciousness When consciousnesses are controlled, they become the four wisdoms. No, it's transformed. Transformed. Transformed. Oh. By desire. Not controlled. Well, that's what I have a bit later on, on perfecting of action, the fourth wisdom, it says, transforming data into wisdom, which is intention, not just following desire. Data. Well, I don't remember using the word data. You have data? Maybe I did use the word data.

[23:29]

That was last week. This week I won't use the word data. Data. So the alaya vijnana, when it's in the sense of prajna, not mundane wisdom, but Buddha nature. So, the mirror wisdom is the consciousness, alaya consciousness, vijnanas consciousness. I just figured that out. is like a mirror, which just reflects everything as it is. I talked about that last time.

[24:32]

And manas, which is ego consciousness, becomes wisdom of I said discerning, but I used another word, too. Observing. And then, of course, I used this and this, right? This horizontal is equality, seeing everything on the same level. And marvelous observing listens and sees everything according to its different characteristics, very clearly.

[25:38]

So great observing wisdom is the same as discerning wisdom? Yeah. And this is actually discriminating mind. So, we include discriminating mind in the wisdom of non-discrimination. point, because this is like non-discrimination, right? Non-discrimination. Both Manas and Manavijnana are discriminating wisdoms. They both have the quality of discrimination, whereas alaya doesn't have the quality of discrimination, because it just sees everything as it is. It doesn't make any judgments. consciousness of truth, because it just tells you exactly what's what, whether you like it or not.

[26:45]

And Manas is the distorter of the truth, because it tells you what you like to know. It's called ego. And Manu Visnana is also discriminating, but it's a different kind of discrimination. Because it discriminates the messages from the senses without mixing them up. Keeps them separate. And then thinks on the basis of what it discerns. Yeah? How... I'm a little confused about how Equality wisdom is linked to Manas, because it seems like equality wisdom is that which sees the horizontal dimensions, which doesn't rank things. Yeah, because we're talking about Manas as a wisdom, not as a consciousness.

[27:53]

I said, when it's turned, the Vijnanas, the consciousnesses are no longer called consciousness, they're called wisdom. So, the eight consciousnesses become the four Wisdoms. So, let's go for four. Yes. So, the observing Wisdom is Mano Vijnana, which is a purified discrimination. In other words, when it's purified, it's no longer discriminating on the basis of manas. You understand? It's discriminating on the basis of alaya. In other words, it's using alaya for a basis.

[28:57]

It's using the mere wisdom as a base instead of ego. So, when we discriminate, On the basis of ego, there's good and bad, right and wrong, I like this and I don't like that, and I hate you, and blah, blah, blah. This is discriminating consciousness, which divides the world into little pieces. But when the purification of consciousness takes place, mano vijnana, which is constantly discriminating, discriminates on the basis of non-discrimination. So it is no longer ego discrimination, but it's discrimination according to... which has reality or truth as its basis. So the ego is taken out of the discriminating picture. Because we always have to decide something.

[29:59]

But what do we decide it on? What basis do we make choices on? How does that happen? Practice. So can you have one wisdom without the others or do they all come together? Well, that's a good question. Well, in the seventh consciousness, this is what we're dealing with. This is what we're always dealing with, the seventh consciousness. So, practice is making an effort to turn manas.

[31:12]

Because what are we dealing with all the time? Ego. Ego. That's what we're dealing with all the time. And when ego finds its rightful place just as a messenger or as a communicator, then the whole system flows easily. So manas actually just blocks the working of the system. What do you mean by turn? Well, transform. In other words, when Manas is no longer independent and takes its rightful place in the system. All you have to do is get rid of ego, and you'll be enlightened.

[32:21]

But you can't get rid of ego, because it's not a thing to get rid of. It's a function that's not working, doing its proper functioning. So how do we get that function to do its rightful thing? In other words, how do we become egoless? non-selfish or non-self-centered. See, when manas is in the ascendancy, so to speak, or in the foreground, then we become manas-centered. When manas takes over, then we become self-centered. things that's there without being born. It doesn't born and die. It doesn't.

[33:27]

Right. In its proper form. I don't know. This is a little bit tricky. I don't understand it so well. I don't either. But I don't understand it so well. But the thing about Buddhism is that Buddhism and the law of karma is always talking about process, which means although there's no birth and death, there's continuous process, which is called action influence. So the action the actions of this body. This is karma. This is the karmic consciousness. So, karmic consciousness continues endlessly until it comes to a stop, until there are no more seeds being produced to create karmic consciousness or karmic activity.

[34:37]

So, our karmic activity creates the seeds that are deposited in the alaya. But the manas, or the ego, or the karmic consciousness is continually creating these seeds which are deposited. So these two guys go hand in hand in creating the ongoing process of individuation. So, you know, when we talk about rebirth, it's not reincarnation. because there's nobody that was then who springs again to life again like they were, right? But there is action influence, so that if you light a candle from another candle, is it the same light or different? Well, it's just light.

[35:39]

But yet, you can't say it's not the same, and you can't say it's not different. Whatever you say is kind of right, but not right completely. So, there's some imprint according to, although I know nothing about physics, according to the law of physics. no energy is lost. Right. Conservation. Right. So conscious energy and life energy of each person makes an imprint in a continuous way. And the alaya is known as basic consciousness. And our karmic activity continues to create disturbance. for some time. And there are many theories about how rebirth is continued.

[36:43]

But I don't want to get into speculating, although I could explain it to you. I don't want to get into doing that. Although it's very interesting. Perfecting of action. Can you have one wisdom without the other? Well, not completely, because it all depends on manas. It's either in the realm of alaya, I mean, it's either in the realm of consciousness or in the realm of wisdom. It's still consciousness, but it's consciousness based on, informed by prajna.

[37:53]

But they say that, you know, the way it's stated is that prajna, the eight vijnanas, to transform into the Four Wisdoms, and they're no longer called the Eight Consciousnesses. But you can also see it as a grid, or an overlay. And so, the information that's perceived by the five senses is purified through Madhu-Vijnana, which is based on pure consciousness. rather than being distorted by karmic consciousness or ego consciousness. So it all depends on this. It's possible to have a high level of one area of consciousness or another, but it's still not complete.

[39:01]

It would be very unusual to have I don't think it would be possible, actually, because each one of these wisdoms is dependent on not having ego, or not having ego consciousness be self-centered. So you can have a high degree of development of consciousness or wisdom, but it's not enlightened wisdom because a manas isn't taken care of. But it's very hard to have that completely pure

[40:05]

completely pure place. So, you know, there's a phrase, the hazy moon. The moon stands for enlightenment and sometimes it shines very brightly and then sometimes the clouds are drifting over, you know, and then sometimes you can't see it at all and then the clouds clear and you see it again. So our life is kind of like Even though we try not to be, make an effort not to be self-centered or egotistical, it's very hard not to be. It's almost impossible to be, to not have any egotistical, self-centeredness. So sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. We kind of go in and out. And someone who's very developed will go in and out less.

[41:10]

to get to not be self-centered because, as we know why, we all like ourselves. I mean, we like what we like. So, you know, Hakuin, in his commentary, says, The reason the ancient masters devised such things as the five ranks was in order to help us to realize the four wisdoms. Well, some of you may be offended by this, but if you look at it this way, this is the horizontal equality wisdom, and this is the marvelous observing wisdom.

[42:53]

This is the great leveler, the wisdom of seeing everything the same. And this is the wisdom of seeing, observing everything as it's different. And where they meet is in the mirror mind. There's a character, mind, in the middle. You do it like this. That's the character for mind. Here it means alaya, or buddha nature. And this is the equality wisdom. This is the marvelous observing wisdom. And instead of using this kind of vertical way, the line is in the middle, in the center of everything.

[44:03]

And these are the two axes of mind. And then we have Yes, yes. That's it. Then, this is Well, it is. You can do it the other way around. But actually, in Buddhism it goes both ways.

[45:14]

It does. It does. Because this way, this is the perfecting of action which turns the wheel. Right? So, this way, this way is entering the mountain and leaving behind the world. This way is coming down from the mountain and entering the world to its bliss, right? With goodies for the people. Yes? It seems to me that the or that you're making tonight is that there's some sort of teaching of discrimination that leads to consciousness or transforming consciousness? It seems like that's the process that's happening. Well, how do you see that?

[46:22]

all these distinctions for us, and that knowing of this will lead to transformation, or assist in that? The knowing of this will assist in our practice. Okay. In other words, This is a kind of digression, in a way. It's not a real digression, but it's a kind of side, you know, side of information, which, in order to understand the five ranks, discriminated into ultimate reality and temporal reality. So in order to show how that division operates in consciousness, which is what we're concerned with, we're not so concerned about the world.

[47:44]

What we're really talking about is the world of human beings. So we're not concerned about physics. we're concerned with human consciousness. So in order to show how those two aspects operate in human consciousness, which is what the five positions are talking about, we have to make some model of consciousness. So, yes, it's a lot of discrimination. Because as soon as you say anything, you're discriminated. Anyway, so it's a kind of What do you call it? You know, when you take a car and show all the parts? Exploded view. Exploded view. An exploded view of consciousness. So now, now, now this,

[48:53]

I heard a story about how that happened that I think when Hitler, this story as I recall it, when Hitler was in prison. one of the cellmates, who was rather mystic and knew the symbol, and introduced it to Hitler. And, you know, he took it on. Of course, it's very ancient, it's very Well, known in India, I think. That's where it was originated, I think. But it's also around the world, other places. Right. Well, yes, most cultures use it. Yeah, it's... Most cultures use it. Yes. Somewhere. It's universal. Right. So... It became famous, unfortunately. Well... Tragically. You see, the Indians, the Aryans invaded India. Right. And so, we have an Aryan culture, which is not Germanic. But it's the Aryan culture which mingled with the Indian culture.

[50:06]

Hitler probably thought, well, this is a symbol of the Aryans, and we're the Aryan race. He probably liked the symbolism too. Well, I don't know if he did. It really has nothing to do with what he thought. There are several German archaeological things in the museums that are quite famous there that you can see in Vienna and also within Germany. The symbol on actual cartwheels. So that it was part of the Aryan symbol of a wheel. But it still has nothing to do with what Hitler's are. No, but I mean it was part of his roots too. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It is part of the European root. That's right. So this, going this way, means leaving behind the world.

[51:12]

It's like, this means getting up in the morning and going to Zazen. We knew we didn't like that symbol. Or it means, you know, it means leaving behind the world and going to the monastery. Or leaving the town and going to the mountain in order to practice. And this means leaving the monastery, leaving the mountain. This is Shakyamuni Buddha coming down from the mountain and giving the goodies. It also means going out into the world, after zazen. I mean, you can apply it any way you want. But those are the two meanings. When it's pointed in one direction. If it's pointed in that direction, it means solitude. And when it's pointed in this direction, it means entering the world. The Japanese terms for the absolute and the relative are

[53:02]

So it means the relative concealed within the absolute. And the poem says, at dead of night, with no moon, meeting, yet not knowing each other, we have a vague memory of old days. There are various ways to translate this, but this is pretty good. In the midnight, in the middle of the night with no moon, the middle of the night is like you can't see with no moon. This is like the dark side. And the dark side, of course, is show, or absolute, or dharmakaya, or the first position. And it's a yet meeting, yet not knowing each other.

[54:43]

So meeting has the feeling here of, you know, your conscious mind, our conscious mind, meets the Absolute, and yet doesn't really, it's like some vague memory. we find ourselves in that position. It's like some vague memory, an old ancient memory that we had. And Koen Ejo, in something he wrote, talking about light, he said, when you meet this, it's like meeting your grandfather at the crossroads. In other words, looking at your original face. So, meeting, yet not knowing each other.

[55:46]

You know, it's like, is that you? Who are you? You have a vague memory of old days. So, it's that when you actually meet yourself face to face, when you meet your original face, face to face, So this is the feeling. It's like you have some vague feeling of some ancient time, and you recognize his face, but you're familiar and you're unfamiliar. So it's that feeling of touching your ground of being. at dead of night with no moon, meeting, yet not knowing each other. We have a vague memory of old days. So this is where the first position where everything's in the dark.

[56:50]

The darkness or the non-differentiation covers the relative world, our relative world. But still there's a glimmer. But there's still, right, there's a glimmer. So that's why it's like this. And there's the glimmer. And the next one is like this. Our position is where we begin to... the beginning of enlightenment, actually. So that's why we say our practice begins from enlightenment.

[57:59]

It begins from this place where we touch the original face, touch our original nature, recognize ourself. face-to-face. He says, our existence must necessarily combine both the relative and the absolute. However, in Absolute Samadhi, it is the latter that occupies the central position, while the former is subsidiary. So this is a kind of unity, right? From a certain point of view, unity and diversity are the two aspects that we're using now. So this is the realm of unity, where diversity meets unity.

[59:17]

But diversity is, this is like the swastika going that way. And unity is These are all stages of cutting down ego. So in this stage, ego is subsumed into total darkness or complete unity. The ego kind of disappears. in unity. This is where you realize that you and all beings are same.

[60:20]

But this mirror, this is actually the mirror, which is a black mirror, but it reflects everything completely as it is. And the reflection happens over here. But, Hofgren calls this the position where you, everything falls away. The black lacquer bucket, the bottom of the black lacquer bucket falls away and you shout the ka, ah, and die the great death. He has great metaphors. Shh. I would like to have studied that with you, Hockwin's commentary, but it takes too long.

[61:29]

So then the second poem on the next page shows him, the absolute. The old woman finds the ancient mirror, immediate and intimate, but nothing particular. There's no need to search for your own face. Well, this comes from a kind of story, several stories, but I think the story comes from an old Indian story or Chinese story where this old lady gets up in the morning and every morning she gets up and looks at herself in the mirror. But one morning she woke up and the mirror got turned around and she looked in the mirror and didn't see anything. She couldn't find her face. And she looked all over, you know, for a long time trying to find her face. And then she walked around the other side, you know, and there it was.

[62:32]

So this is kind of the basis of the story. It says, at dawn, the old woman finds the ancient mirror. Immediate and intimate. As soon as she sees, as soon as she goes around to the other side, she sees it very clearly. Her face is reflected by the mirror because the mirror doesn't lie. Well, nothing special. There's no need to search for your own face. Hey, there's no need. There it is. I finally found my own face. Of course, if she'd felt around, she probably would have found it, but you know how stories are. So at dawn, the old woman finds the ancient mirror. And he says, at the dawning of the activity of consciousness, the activity of consciousness is this rank, called diversity.

[63:40]

Consciousness is becoming active. Here, consciousness is becoming inactive. This is where there's no thinking, no speculation, no ideas, just pure existence. But now consciousness, the eight consciousnesses are coming into the foreground. So at the dawning of the activity of consciousness again, the old woman comes across the mirror that she had used to reflect her face when young. That is to say, she emerges from the darkness of the absolute, which is show, into the light of the ordinary phenomenal world, and finds the mirror, which she had been provided with from birth, but which, as she grew up, she had gradually lost under the influence of the habitual way of consciousness. She suddenly finds this mirror again, sees her reflection in it, and discovers once again her own original face.

[64:46]

When reflected, there she is. just as she is, and she is nothing but this herself, who has appeared in the world as an individual among others. There is no herself apart from this present herself. There is no mode of being, or no mode of her being, other than the fact that she is just as she is now. So he says, he says many things, but So, if we want to look at the Swarovski helium. Actually, this is this one. And. Oops. What am I doing?

[65:49]

There's that one, yeah. Okay. This is going into seclusion and this is coming out into the world of activity where just diversity is the most. Driving a car, partnering with kids, drinking, eating, various manifold activities. But at the same time, it doesn't preclude this, which is this.

[66:55]

So, going back and forth, between seclusion and between unity and diversity, as a daily practice, over and over and over again, is the activity of these two sides, produces this, which is the third rank, the third position. So the perfection of this, or the unity of these two, in other words, when there's no difference between being in the zendo and being in the marketplace, then this is where you are. It doesn't make any difference in the sense of You know, it's all the same.

[67:59]

Whether you're in Zendo or in a busy marketplace, it's all the same. Is that like when you were staying up at Tassajara, the coming and going was the same for you? Yeah, that's right, coming and going, you know. You go to Tassajara, you spend three months at Tassajara, or six months at Tassajara, or a year, or two years. Then you come out. And you walk into the marketplace, and it's a very different experience than you've ever had in the marketplace before, since you were maybe five years old. And then you realize what you've been doing. Sometimes you don't realize what you've been doing when you are in the monastery, secluded and practicing away from the marketplace. But as soon as you enter the marketplace, then you know what you've been doing. And practice is going back and forth. But when these two are completely integrated, these two sides of our activity, then this is where we are.

[69:08]

This is the diversity of activity. But the stillness or the unity is that calmness is always there, no matter what's going on. So a mature student can come and go from Tathagatagarbha without having any effect, particularly. You go in and out, back and forth, without it being a shock or being thrown off. I remember the first time I came out of Tassajar after being there for a long time. The cars going by on the highway were really frightening, really something. And people's faces looked like There's an expression in Zen where they call people old skin bags.

[70:21]

And everybody looks like a skin bag. If you think about it. Ain't no way. No, it's just that, you know, this is a skin bag. Bags are mostly what? Mostly what? But people in Tassajara don't look like that to you? People have a different look, actually. A certain look. They also have skin packs. There's different skin packs. But they do have a different, you know, mountain life. It's like that. That's not derogatory to me, it's just the way it is. You know, going into the grocery store to get a candy bar or something, you know.

[71:23]

And then, you're using money, you know, which feels very strange. And then, when the clerk gives you back the change, you bow to the clerk. So the third position is called synthesis, or coming from show. In other words, emerging from reality, not away from it. An emptiness is the way found, pure and clear. Don't mention the name of the emperor. You could say, without mentioning the name of the emperor, we have the universe under your soil.

[72:30]

In the olden times, in China, but elsewhere too, the name of the emperor was not to be mentioned. It was kind of something that nobody was supposed to say. In Judaism, you're not supposed to say the name of God. It's a secret name. And there are various names that they use as substitutes. But the real name is not mentioned. So it's a similar feeling. And I think that's very also peculiar to lots of cultures. Because there's something that's, you know, so sacred that you're not supposed to say what it is. And so he's using it here in the sense of kind of turning it in a different way and saying, don't talk about Buddhism.

[73:34]

Don't mention Buddha. When you do something, just talk about it in an ordinary way, without talking about it, without quoting Buddha all the time. You understand? In other words, don't stink of Buddhism. Don't smell of Zen. Just, you know, use ordinary, everyday language and ordinary, everyday activity. So, don't mention the name of the Emperor. Without mentioning the name of the Emperor, without having to do that, you know, without having to be backed up by Buddha, you have the universe under your sway. form is emptiness and emptiness is form. So, without making a differentiation here, even though this is emptiness and this is form, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. It's one unit. So this is, all three of these are the same, actually, in that sense.

[74:39]

But here, we have it emphasized. And this is the pivotal point. between the two other sets, which is this one and this one. This is completely black. This is completely black. So this is the plunger, right? Did I point that out before? No. Oh, no. But that comes in the Jewel Mirror Samadhi. The Hokyo Zamae, which is Tozan's poem, which is called Jewel Mirror Samadhi, we chant that at Zen Center, in the city in Tassajara.

[75:41]

And this is Tozan's poem, when he entrusted his teaching to his master, I mean his disciple, Sozang. And the Five Positions is the heart of that poem. I think we'd like to chant that here. So one day a week we can chant Tathagat Samadhi, Jewel Mirror Samadhi. And in the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, it's mentioned that it's like a Bhajra. Bhajra is a thunderbolt, Tibetan thunderbolt, you know.

[76:43]

Bhajra looks like this. Five points. Anyway, I don't want to get into that. You just keep going with this, you know. All this stuff we can talk about forever. That's right. So, this is like the eye of the... D.T. Suzuki likes to call this the eye of the storm, the eye of the... hurricane, the quiet place. In the eye of the hurricane, it's completely calm. So this is the way we should always be. When in the midst of all this different diversity, we should always be here, inside.

[77:44]

This is called zazen. No matter what's happening, we don't lose that place. And then the fourth one is called Perfection in Hand, which means diversity. So that's on page 244. And the poem is like, two swords are crossed, the spirits of the warrior, like a lotus flower shining in the fire, soar high, penetrating through space. So he says the fourth rank is reached when you require maturity in both understanding and demonstrating Zen truth. So this is understanding, and this is the pivotal point, and this is the demonstration.

[78:48]

This fourth rank, fourth position, It's called demonstrating. That's good. This is where you actually put your actions where your mouth is. Your feet. Yeah, you put your feet where your mouth is. Hopefully not. you actually put your understanding into practice. So this is the realm of where, if you're a teacher, your whole life is just teaching, just acting out the four vows,

[79:52]

and working for the benefit of all beings and setting up the Dharma banner. Looking at it, it looks like it should be in a kind of separate category almost because you don't have the absolute. That's right. It's a separate category. In other words, these two show that one is contained within the other. And this is the complete perfection of that. And this is the activity. And so, it's like the melon is like this, right? And here's the sun over here, even though it's bigger than that. The sun is shining on the moon, but the back side is dark, but you don't see it at all. Here, it's shining in a way that you do not quite full. Here, it's fully bright. and just complete diversity.

[81:13]

You don't think about anything else. Just think about your activity, your actions in the world. It's kind of absolute in that sense. Yeah, it's kind of absolute in that sense. That's intentional. But the unity is presupposed. What is? The unity is understood. That's why, it's back, you know, the backside is unity, but you don't, it's not visible. It's, but you have to read the actions. You have to read the actions of the person in order to realize this, see this side. So this is like, if you want to see emptiness, you have to see it within form. You have to see it as form.

[82:14]

In other words, this is empty. But we see it as form. It's just another form of emptiness. Well, yeah, we say lack of desire, but it's desire which has become wisdom. In other words, it's desire which has become intention. Because intention is also a kind of desire. Right? If I intend to do something, it means I desire to do something. But intentional is the technical term that we're using. When manas, or self-centered desire, is put to the service of the dharma, then it's called intention, right intention.

[83:39]

In the Eightfold Path it's the second. link of the Eightfold Path, Right Intention. Volition. Can you say something about the difference between volition and intention? Well, I will, but I only have two minutes. Then don't. This is the fifth rank, the fifth position, which is Falling into either u or mu. U is existence and mu is emptiness. Mu is no, right? But mu here means emptiness. And u is existence. U and mu. Does the dog have the buddha nature? Mu. Falling into either u or neither u. Sometimes, does the dog have buddha nature?

[84:40]

U. falling into neither u or mu. That's the person that solved the koan for mu. That's this person. This person understands mu. Because he falls into neither u nor mu. Who can join this person? The master. While others strive to rise above the common level, he just unites everything by sitting quietly by a fire. Everybody's struggling to find a way to get about it. And he's just sitting by the fire, you know, with a runny nose. He looks like the fool, actually. He doesn't look like anybody special. This is called The Fool, actually, in the Hokyo Zamae. At the end of the Hokyo Zamae, it says, just go about your business like a fool or an idiot.

[85:44]

If you can be like this, then everything will be okay. This is called the rank of unity attained, the host within the host. So Sakhita says, the fair is over. As a great river empties itself at last into the ocean, leaving no trace behind, so the mature Zen master forgets all his merits and achievements and seems to return to the old state of blessed ignorance, pot-bellied Osho. Depicted at the end of the search for the missing ox, he comes barefooted into the marketplace, showing his chest. His appearance symbolizes his spiritual nakedness. However, to your surprise, you may find that he is carrying some wine in that basket, and perhaps something more. Then he says, you might call it neither u or mu.

[86:52]

Who can join the master? U here means form, or in, and mu means emptiness, show. He is in neither form nor emptiness. However, while active in an ordinary world of phenomena, he does not leave the real. He unites everything sitting quietly by the fire. Everything is integrated to maturity. The struggle is over. He is not dispirited, but is above it. He sits quietly by the fireside, an old man with a running nose. He has forgotten Zen and everything like that. But if you observe him carefully, looking at his casual and seemingly trivial actions, his carriage, his manner, his words, you will discover how wonderfully harmonious and mellow they are. You reach this state of mellow maturity by repeating the cycle from the first rank to the second, third, the fourth, the fifth, and then coming back again once more to the first. And each rank gains in profundity and becomes increasingly mellow with each repetition.

[87:52]

The third rank, which can be regarded as the base camp for the ordinary life, is enriched by experience of the fourth and fifth ranks, as well as of the first and second. Training is done by repetition, and each rank is independent of the others and has its own individual character. So that will end. And next time is the last time. And I'll hand you some material then, or maybe before. And it would be a different set of five positions of Tozan. And the poems are different. It's the same, it has a different emphasis. And then, when I talk about that next time, I'll talk about it in comparison to Tozan with Dogen's five lines that I've been talking about from Shinjo-Koma.

[88:59]

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