Good morning. So in addition to this being an all-day sitting, the first all-day sitting of spring, is it snowing out there yet? This is also for not all but many of us the beginning of our practice commitment period. And for those who are not formally participating in that, you're also supporting this eight-week practice commitment period just by being here. So even if you're not formally participating, you're participating in terms of our discussions and study and practice during this period. So I wanna say a little bit first about uh... the tradition of practice period uh... traditionally in japanese called ango or peaceful abiding so uh... this goes back to the monastic practice of uh... not leaving the monastery usually for three months in residential practice and uh... people practicing together in intense schedule of

[01:20]

meditation but also some study and work taking care of the monastery in our non-residential urban context and in many places non-residential Zen centers and Zen temples in America and in the West. This has been adapted as we're doing it here. in our practice commitment period to a kind of intensified time of practice. So those who are formally participating in this have all committed to somewhat more intensified practice schedule, schedule of Zazen during the week at home, but also participating in practice here at Ancient Dragon's End Gate a little bit more than they would otherwise.

[02:23]

Also committed to some help with work taking care of the temple, to some particular stated intention to focus on some aspect of practice during time here. So we're doing this together and supporting each other in it. each in our own way, and I think this is appropriate for our context of lay practice, non-residential practice, but to do this together, to kind of mark some time, so as a non-residential temple, of course, we're all also involved in complicated, busy lives out in the world, but also to be in some way marking this time as a way of and focusing and intensifying, noting our intention to practice together. And that involves also four discussion groups that people who are participating will participate in at least some of, and also interviews with the teacher, with me, during this time.

[03:41]

and coming to these all-day sittings, coming to two or three or more of them. There'll be five during this time. And also, we're studying a particular text. And so there's a focus, a practice focused based on this text, but also what it represents. And that's what I want to kind of talk about today and introduce, although we've been talking about it actually for a month or two, a fair amount. But I want to formally introduce it today. This is the Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi, Hokyo Zamai in Japanese, and we'll be chanting that for our midday service and chanting it through this practice period. And there are copies available out on the shelves out front, and if we run out of copies, more will be printed. And again, we've been talking about it, but I want to introduce it and say more about it today and why we're focusing on it and what it means in terms of a practice focus.

[04:55]

So this two-page teaching verse is attributed to the founder of this lineage and tradition in China, Dongshan Liangjie. who lived 807 to 869. He's considered the founder of Saodong in Chinese, or Soto Zen in Japanese. So I talk a lot about the Japanese founder of this tradition, Dogen, in the 13th century, and we talk about Suzuki Roshi, my teacher's teacher, who brought this to California in the 1960s. But in many ways Dongshan and the stories about Dongshan, I see this as a kind of continuum in terms of a particular style of practice and teaching. So this is the study focus for this.

[06:06]

And actually, each of the people who are formally participating in this practice commitment period has been asked to take a line or several lines from this teaching poem as focus for study or sitting with during this time. But you're also welcome. those of you who are not formally doing this to practice with this material, and those of you who are, are welcome to look at various lines. And during this time, these two weeks, in addition to talking about things from this teaching poem, I may talk about some of the stories about Dongshan. The actual history going back to ninth century China is kind of murky. But anyway, there's lots of stories attributed to him and this teaching poem. And if you want to get out your chant book and look at it as I talk about it, you're welcome to.

[07:06]

What page is it on, Douglas? Page 10. You don't need to. I'm going to focus on the main story that's the starting point, really, for this teaching poem and talk about the first couple of lines. And this main story about Dongshan really is the heart and focus. And I want to talk about the practice involved in this. So the first two lines, the dharma of thusness we chant. Thusness or suchness is interchangeable in English. And I've mostly been using the term suchness. The dharma of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors Now you have it, preserve it well. So this is the subject and the topic of this whole teaching poem and really the focus for this practice commitment period.

[08:09]

And everything else in this two-page verse is commentary on this dharma of suchness and these first two lines. So suchness is a way in Buddhism of talking about reality, of what is. Just this, when you face the wall, as many of us are doing today, through the day, what is it? What's in front of us? We're also, of course, facing ourselves. What is this reality we sit with? Dharma, One of the three treasures along with Buddha and Sangha is the teaching, truth or reality. And here, you know, what I want to emphasize is it also implies a practice. And that actually goes back to Hindus and the Hindu meaning of Dharma, which is a little bit different than Buddhist meaning.

[09:12]

But what is the practice of suchness? So that's what I want to explore with you all through the next two months. How do we practice with reality? How do we engage reality? The reality of this body-mind, reality of our meditation, the reality of our engagement with the world, with the difficulties of the world, and of our own lives, and of our work lives, and our family lives. What is the suchness of this? Suchness also implies a practice of bare attention. So there are various practices. The practices have a particular way of engaging with what is this reality and how do we meet this? So there are various technical aspects of how to practice with bare attention, just this. So this first line says, this is what has been intimately, closely, conveyed and transmitted by all the Buddhas and all the ancestral teachers.

[10:22]

And then it says, now you have it, preserve it well. So when we chant that, I have this feeling that, oh, now all of you, all of us, we have this in some way. By virtue of your being here and sitting with us, and now you have it. Take good care of it. So this goes back to a story which I want to focus on today. about Dongshan, and maybe it's the most important story about Dongshan, this guy who lived in the 9th century. So, Dongshan's teacher was another teacher named Yunyan. His name is Cloudcliff. Yunyan, Dongshan studied with Yunyan for some time, we don't know how long. And when Dongshan was ready to leave Yunnan and go off and walk around China and visit other teachers and test his practice, which is what Chinese monks did then, and what many of you have done, because many of you have practiced elsewhere before finding yourself here at Ancient Dragon's Edge, when Dongshan was leaving, he asked Yunnan,

[11:39]

Ah, after your death, if someone asks me if I can describe your reality, your dharma, your teaching, what should I say? And Yun-Yan sat there for a while and then he said, just this is it. And Dongshan, it says, sank in thought. He didn't have, he didn't, maybe there was nothing really to say at that point, and he didn't. And then Yunyan said, you are in charge of this great matter now. You must be most thorough going. Please be careful. So that's reflected, all of that's reflected in these first two lines.

[12:45]

Just This Is It is this reality of suchness. Just this. Just this. Now you have it. Preserve it well. You are in charge of this great matter. You must be most thoroughgoing. So what is this Just This Is It? Well, this is the question. And for each of us to explore, And as you sit facing the wall, as you walk down the street on your way to the L, as you are driving on the freeway, or as you are eating your meal, or on your way to work, or whatever you're doing, just this is it. But what did this mean in this story? The story is interesting, because when Dongshan asked, how should I describe your dharma?

[13:58]

Maybe when Yongnyuan said, just this is it, maybe he was referring to this question. Maybe Yongnyuan was saying, just you are asking me that question, just that's it. Or maybe Yun-Yan was saying, just this, our sitting here together, inquiring into this great matter. Just this is it. And also maybe he was saying, just this, this suchness. So when, you know, as many of us are doing today, we're sitting, being present and upright on our cushions or chairs, facing the wall, just this. What is this reality we experience as we sit upright? Inhaling and exhaling.

[15:02]

What is the suchness of the moment? What is the suchness as we rearrange our posture? What is the suchness as we take another breath? And, you know, asking this question is not about getting some answer. It's about paying attention. It's about this inquiry. Later on, I've talked about this line before, the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. This pivotal moment is this inquiry, this inquiring and responding. So I meant to mention, let me say this now before I forget, particularly for people formally taking the practice commitment period. I did another talk that's on, thanks to Nathan, is on our website, number 213 on February 24th, in which I talk about various lines. So those of you taking the practice commitment period or not, please listen to that talk if you weren't here, because it gives some comment on various lines in this precious Mara Samadhi.

[16:06]

But anyway, this question, Just this is it. What is that? What is this suchness? The question is part of the dharma of suchness. Anyway, so this is the starting point for this whole Precious Mara Samadhi text. After you're gone, or after I leave you, If someone asks me after I leave here, what was your teaching? What was your reality? What was your dharma? What should I say? Just this is it. You are in charge of this great matter. You must be most thorough going. So Dongshan left, the next part of the story.

[17:10]

And the story goes, as he was crossing a stream, and again, these monks walked a lot. They walked all around China visiting different teachers. So he was walking across the stream, waiting across the stream. And he looked down and he saw his reflection in the stream. And one version of the story says, for the first time, when he saw his reflection, he was thoroughly awakened. And then, as often happens at such a time, Dongsheng wrote a verse. And one translation of the verse goes, just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. Now I go on alone, everywhere I meet it. It now is me, I now am not it.

[18:16]

One must understand in this way to merge with suchness or to engage with suchness. So amongst the various themes, and there are a number of major themes in this Song of the Precious Mary Samadhi, that's first of all just what is this suchness, this dharma of suchness? And then also there's the theme of how is it intimately conveyed or transmitted? How do we get this? How do we learn this? And that has to do then with a relationship of teacher and student, or the dharma and student. How does that work? So that's another theme that runs all through this. And then other themes include language. How do we talk about it? So here's this teaching verse, this long poem that says in the middle of it somewhere, just to portray it in literary form is to stand it with defilement.

[19:20]

And here's this, you know, this literary two-page verse. Is this defiled? Well, it also says, although it is not constructed, it is not beyond words. So here we are talking about it. But there's this problem about how is it conveyed? And this goes back to Dongshan's verse. Just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. So how to convey this, how teachers and students work together, how you get it is pretty tricky, slippery business. As I sometimes say, I can't tell you how to be Buddha. Nobody can. So don't seek from outside. Don't seek from others. This is the beginning of the Soto lineage.

[20:23]

So you're not going to get it from reading books, you're not going to get it from listening to Dharma talks like this, and yet We do, you know, listen to Dharma talks, we do read some texts sometimes, but what is that, how does, so another issue that's very much involved in this whole teaching poem is, what is the nature of self? How is it that we see our self, or what is that self? And this is also very slippery because, of course, one of the main teachings of Buddhism is that there is no self. That doesn't mean there's not a self. It means that the self we think is the self is not the self. So just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self, Dongshun says. So then he says, now I go on alone and yet everywhere I meet it.

[21:30]

Everywhere this suchness is, just this. Then he says, it now is me. I now am not it. And in the Precious Mary Samadhi poem that we're focusing on, it says, you are not it, but in truth it is you. And I'll talk more later in the practice commitment period about the slipperiness of these pronouns, because it also refers to the student and teacher. These can be personal pronouns too, but I'm not going to get into that today. Just it now is me, I now am not it. Or in the Precious Mary Samadhi, you are not it, but in truth it is you. This one sentence is one of those sentences that contains all of the teaching. You are not it, but it actually is you.

[22:36]

One must understand in this way, Doshan says, to merge with suchness. So let me say a little bit more about that, because this is extremely slippery. and don't worry about understanding it. But you might, you know, during the, so some of you have mentioned this as the line that you're gonna focus on this practice commitment period. You don't need to, you can forget about it. There are other good lines to talk about. But when we talk about the starting point, the story, which is the starting point of the Precious Mirror Samadhi, I need to say a little bit about it to start. So in the Precious Mirror Samadhi, he says, it's like facing a precious mirror. Form and reflection behold each other. You are not it, but actually it is you. In truth, it is you. So, one way to talk about it. Well, this has to do with the relationship of self and other.

[23:47]

So he looks down into the stream and he sees his reflection. Or if you look in a mirror and see your reflection. It's like facing a precious mirror, a jeweled mirror. Form and reflection behold each other. Maybe it's kind of, it might help to think of it as looking down into a stream because the reflection in the stream is a little wavy, right? It's not as clear as a mirror maybe. But form and reflection behold each other. When you see that reflection in the stream, imagine yourself looking at this reflection of the person sitting on your cushion or chair now and seeing that reflection in the stream. Well, of course, you're not that reflection. But in some ways, that's you. or any image you see of yourself.

[24:53]

If you look at an old photograph, or even a recent photograph of yourself, you're not that, but it's actually you. Or if you look at some description of yourself, or some, I don't know, some story you might write about yourself or some account of the person sitting on your cushion or chair right now. You're not that. That doesn't encompass all of the stuff that's going on on your cushion or chair right now. Can't possibly. All of the possible thoughts and feelings and itches and twitches and inhales and exhales that happened in the last period of Zazen can't be encompassed in any story you tell somebody about yourself or that somebody else says about you or that is in some photograph.

[26:01]

You're not that, but it actually is you. I mean, it's not somebody else. Well, or maybe it is. What's the relationship there? Form and reflection behold each other. What is the relationship of the person who sits a period of zazen, or even five minutes of a period of zazen? some image of that person. Some story about that person. You know, even if you could spend I saw a movie last night which talked about an obituary writer, somebody who encapsulated a whole life of somebody in whatever, a paragraph or a page.

[27:09]

How could you even encapsulate everything that happened in one period of Zazen in an encyclopedia. This reality of suchness is so rich, there's so much going on. Can you meet this dharma of suchness? Can you enjoy this dharma of suchness, this reality of justice? So it says, it's like facing a precious mirror, form and reflection, behold each other. You are not it, but in truth it is you, actually it's you. So this also has to do with, you know, so there's the it that's the reflection, but it's also the it that is not just your whole life, but everything that's happening in the world.

[28:21]

in 2013? Oh, forget about the world, just Chicago. You're not it, but it actually is you. Well, we have people from beyond Chicago here today, so let's include Michigan. So another way of talking about this, Dogen gives us in Genja Koan, which some of you know, he says, to carry the self forward, and some of you were here yesterday when Steve Weintraub was talking about Zen and psychotherapy, and he referred to this line, different translation, but to carry the self forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience the self is awakening. Actually, I was referring to a different line here, sorry.

[29:25]

Anyway, so carrying the self forward, projecting the self onto reality, onto suchness, onto the world, that's delusion. That everything comes forth and experiences itself, including you, That's awakening. So, Steve was talking about... Awakened people are awakened to their delusions. Deluded people have delusions about awakening. But anyway, you are not it is the same as the self carrying forward or projecting some constructed self onto one's experience, or what Dogen calls delusion. You are not it. That's like the self carrying itself forward and projecting itself onto everything. You're not it. But it actually is you, or it now is you, or it now is me in Dongshan's poem.

[30:38]

That's like... The second half of what Dogen says, that the myriad things come forth and experience themselves. It now is me. So this is a very complicated relationship. Anyway, it's here in this one line. You are not suchness, but suchness actually is you. What is our relationship to reality? How is it that we engage? How is it that we practice suchness? What do we do? And then all of the other, you know, all of the other lines in this precious merit samadhi are practical guidance to, well, okay, how do we do this?

[31:42]

engage in suchness? How do we practice with suchness? It's very slippery, but how is it that we become ourselves, informed by suchness, without imposing our idea of ourself onto suchness? So there are lots of practical things. Turning away and touching are both wrong. We can't ignore it, and we can't get a hold of it either. Just this is it. So there's this reality of suchness, and then there's this complicated relationship that is about how it is that we are involved, how it is that we are expressing suchness, how it is that we are... It's so hard to talk about this.

[33:02]

How is it that we are examples of suchness? How is it that we are expressions of suchness? How is it that we can express suchness? How is it that we can share suchness reality in the world? How is it that we can find a way to express suchness that it is beneficial to the world? It's not about just, this isn't some abstract academic kind of issue. This is about, you know, He says, at the end, failure to serve is no help, towards the end. How do we do this continuously? How do we serve and be helpful to suffering beings? So... We're taking eight weeks to study this and practice with this and just to kind of enter into this teaching.

[34:11]

And don't worry about figuring it all out or getting it all. I've been studying this for 30 years and I'm still exploring it. And yet, this is a way of meeting ourselves and getting into this way of practicing where we actually have some relationship to reality and allow reality to have some relationship to us. And again, it's very slippery, and there's this other story about this. So later on, after Dong Xuan became an important teacher in China, He was doing a memorial service for his teacher, Yunyan. And a monk came forward, let's say a kind of impudent, sassy monk, and asked Dongshan,

[35:26]

Did Yun-Yan know it is or not? There are eight immortalities, he said. When Yun-Yan said... Well, there's a longer story to it. I'll tell the longer version. When Yonyan said, just this is it, what did he mean? Dongshun said, at that time, I nearly misunderstood my late teacher's meaning. And yeah, it's pretty hard not to. nearly misunderstand, or did he really? So I'll ask, did Dongshan actually understand Yunnan? Anyway, the monk said to Dongshan, did Yunnan himself know it is, just this is it or not?

[36:36]

And then Dongshan said this wonderful thing. Or maybe you might think it's a terrible thing, I don't know. Dongshan said, if Yunyan did not know it is, how could he be able to say this? Well, of course, if Yunyan didn't know just this is it, how could he have said it? But then Dongshan said, if he did know it is, if he did know this is it, just this is it, how would he be willing to say it? So I don't know, how am I going to tell you about this? And yet this is the style of this Soto lineage, going back to Dongshan, and Dogen did more with it, and Suki Roshi did more of it. And it's our job, not just mine, but all of us, to kind of find a way to express this here in this very different culture of 21st century Chicago.

[37:49]

So for people who are sitting here all day, we're going to have some time for discussion of this later this afternoon, but I'll take a little bit of time now if anyone has any comments, responses, questions, please feel free. Carla. So in that line you are not yet, but it actually is you. Isn't it So, I mean, isn't it more, in a blind way to me, it would make more sense if it said something like, you are not your reflection, but your reflection is part of you. So is that one way to interpret it? I mean, your reflection is not all of you, but it's still a part of you.

[38:53]

Okay, that's one way to interpret it, and that's a way of interpreting it that I suggested. That's not the only way to interpret it. So you are not suchness. The other way to say it, which is sort of in a way the opposite of what you said or what I said, you are just a limited part of suchness, of all of reality. But suchness, all of reality actually is you. So you're saying that you encompass all of what is ultimate reality? The opposite. We can't encompass all of what is, all of reality. We're here in Chicago, so we don't include Montana. Any of us right now. How many of you have ever been to Montana? Quite a few. I never have myself. So Montana is just an abstract idea to me. Some of you have an actual image of some piece of something that is Montana, but even that is not all of Montana.

[40:01]

So we can't encompass it. But actually, each of us is a unique and particular part of not just Montana, but the whole universe. The whole universe wouldn't be what it is without each one of us. The whole universe would not be the same as it is right now without Carla. Impossible. But you can also say though that I don't contain the whole universe. Some people think they do. Sorry, I wasn't thinking of you. I'm sorry, what were you going to say? I was going to say that I have heard of you.

[41:02]

Yeah, you're a very, very important part of the whole universe, each one of us is. Yes, Ben. Good. Yeah. It's like we can't sit Zazen, but Zazen does us or something. Yeah. Steve. Yeah, I don't know why I've always sort of taken it. Maybe it's an egotistic side, but I've always felt in some ways that I do contain the whole universe. Oh, good for you. No, but if it weren't for everything that went before and what's coming after, I wouldn't be this. That's true. That's quite right. Not to be dictated. And that's true for everything in the whole universe then? Yeah. Okay.

[42:03]

One more. Douglas. Well, my favorite lines are more like, you know, penetrate the source and travel the pathways and raise the territory and treasure the roads. So, you know, we are aware of the territory, but the pathways and roads eating lunch, chopping vegetables, whatever. So, you know, the pathway and the source are not different. They're not the same. You look at them differently. And the roads are not separate from the territory. the entire territory. Good, yeah, that points to the part of all of this that is, you know, territory and roads, that we each have our own range within all of suchness, and there's a process involved.

[43:15]

So there's the way, there's, we each are a piece of, so it's not, suchness is not static. This suchness is a dynamic process that each of us is a total engagement with, a total expression with, and involved with. Yeah, so treasure the pathways, yes. Good, that's an important piece of it. So it's not, it's alive. And what suchness is, When Dongshan talked about, or when Yuanyuan said justice is it, I don't want to go so far as to say that the Suchness then was different from the Suchness now, but how we engage it, of course, how we practice it, it's got to be different in 21st century Chicago than in 9th century, whatever part of China he was in.

[44:24]

You can reach it someday, you have it now. We have a little piece of it, but it's alive and it's growing and it's up to us to support its flowering, each one of us.

[44:51]

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