Good morning. This morning I'm going to talk about, make comment on a koan in the Blue Cliff Record of a hundred koans, koan number 87, which is called something like Master Yunmen's medicine and sickness cure each other. Master Yunmen was one of the late, probably the latest great Zen master of the Tang Dynasty in China. And there are many koans that are attributed to his teaching.

[01:02]

And this is one of them. He often talks about sickness. There's another koan where he talks about zen sickness, but that's another subject. Although, it's included here. Sometimes we say cure each other, or control each other, or subdue each other, or harmonize with each other. So the introduction to this koan is pretty long. but the subject itself is very short. So I'm going to comment on the introduction, because the introduction to this koan is talking about, of course, praising Master Yunmin by Ango, who does the commentary in the Blue Cliff Record.

[02:22]

But it's a kind of accounting or display of the attributes of a master. So it starts out, Master Engo starts out in his introduction and he says, the clear-eyed person knows no restriction. And I think that's a The rest is basically what he's talking about. Master Yunmin is talking about that the color-eyed person knows no restrictions. So at one time, he or she stands on the top of the mountain with the weeds thick around him. At another time, he is in the bustle of the marketplace, enjoying perfect ease of mind.

[03:31]

When he displays the wrath of Nada, he is three-faced and six-armed. When he shows the mercy of the sun-faced and moon-faced, he gives forth the all-embracing light of blessing. In every particle, he reveals all the bodies of the Buddha. Mixing with people, he trudges through the mire. When he performs a transcendent action, even Buddhists cannot follow him. And they are driven back thousands of miles. If there's anyone among you that can go with him and act with him, see the following. Or is there anyone that can, I'm sorry, is there anyone who can go with him and act with him? See the following. And then the following is the main subject. Master Uman said to his disciples, medicine and sickness cure each other. All the earth is medicine. Where do you find yourself? You know, in China, Chinese medicine, as far as I know, I don't know much about Chinese medicine.

[04:44]

But I do know that Chinese medicine is all about balance, and the balance of humors and winds and so forth, and harmony of all the bodily parts. That's the basis of Chinese medicine. And it's also the basis of Buddhist medicine. The basis of Buddhist medicine is how to find your balance moment by moment, not just, you know, how to find our balance and our harmony with our surroundings and with the universe moment by moment. That's medicine. Medicine to cure ego, basically is what he's talking about. So the clear-eyed person knows no restriction.

[05:48]

At one time, he stands on top of the mountain with the weeds thick. This is like the samadhi of, when we practice zazen, we stand on top of the mountain with the weeds thick around us. At another time, he is in the bustle of the marketplace, enjoying perfect ease of mind. So in the midst of turmoil, in the midst of the world's activity, enjoying perfect peace of mind. Peace of mind is maybe not such a great way to state that. Probably with calmness of mind. How do we face the world today?

[06:50]

This is the great problem that we have right now. The world is, as Buddha said 2,500 years ago, our head is on fire. It's as true today as it was 2,500 years ago. The only thing that changes are the circumstances. I remember the Second World War, maybe many of you don't, but at the end of the war we said, now finally peace. Yes. Nothing changes except the circumstances. War follows peace, follows war, follows peace. This is our dualistic world. As long as our world is a dualistic world, war follows peace, follows war, follows peace. So when we talk about lasting peace, peace lasts for a little bit.

[07:55]

Then war, and then peace, and then war, and then little pieces of war and peace going on at the same time. As long as there's greed, as long as there's ill will, as long as there's delusion, the world will be burning. So we live in the burning world. And how do we deal with it? How do we deal with the world that's burning up? How do we find composure? So when he talks about Sickness, the world is sick. It's out of balance. What is the cure? If you want to, I remember Suzuki Hiroshi saying something like, if you take on too much trying to save the world, people will, it will be like taking hold of a comet

[09:05]

people will pity you. But we have the urge to do this. We need to do this. So we need to always work for peace, even though it's an impossible task. So to study Buddhism is an impossible task. So our life is filled with impossible tasks, but we have to take on impossible tasks. That's what our life is about. So is there any way to do this? Well, a clear-eyed person knows no restrictions. At one time, he stands on the top of the mountain with the weeds thick around him. That's like retreating to find yourself.

[10:13]

And when you find yourself, you go into the marketplace enjoying, I don't know if enjoying is the right word, calmness of mind. This is what we call Jijuyu Zamae. Dogen talks about this. He says our practice is called Jijuyu Zamae, Samadhi of self-fulfilling or self-joyous Samadhi through Zazen, through our practice. transmitting that to other people. So fulfilling, you're retreating to the mountain and then coming down the mountain to help people. So at another time, he's in the bustle of the marketplace, that's the marketplace, enjoying perfect ease of mind.

[11:21]

When he displays the wrath of Nada, he is three-faced and six-armed. In other words, when you're angry, just be angry. You should be angry at the right things, but you shouldn't be controlled by anger. Having ease of mind means you express anger when it's necessary and when it's meaningful, but we don't get caught by the anger. Angers, we get caught by anger all the time. So we have to be very careful when we, there's so much to be angry about, and consistently be angry about. We have to be able to not get caught by that, but to act out of the calmness of our mind. When he shows the mercy of the sun-faced and moon-faced, he gives forth the all-embracing light and blessing."

[12:26]

Well, this refers to Master Matsu, Master Ma, Baso in Chinese, the horse-faced one. His attendant asked him, he was sick. Master Ma was unwell, and his attendant came and he said, Master Ma, what is ailing you? And Master Ma said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. That's a koan. Sun-faced, it's a sutra that talks about various Buddhas, lists the whole litany of Buddhas. One is called the Sun-Faced and the Moon-Faced. The Sun-Faced Buddha lives a very, very long, long time, and the Moon-Faced Buddha lives just a very short time, like flies and little insects.

[13:33]

So Master Ma is expressing whatever it is, live it to the full. If your life is long, live a full life. If your life is short, live a short life completely, but who knows what is short and what is long. In every particle, he reveals all the bodies of the Buddha. Mixing with people, he trudges through the mire. This is a reference to Avalokiteshvara. who has the ability, whenever meeting, whoever Avalokiteshvara meets, he merges with that person. When he meets a king, he has the bearing of a king. When he meets a merchant, he has the bearing of a merchant. In other words, he can transform.

[14:36]

He has no fixed persona, but it merges and transforms with each meeting, with whatever he meets. This is very important. I remember Suzuki Roshi talking about, we should be able to act, to be actors and without losing ourselves, but expressing ourselves through that role, whatever role we need to take. And so Avalokiteshvara saves people by mixing with them. And so trailing mud and water is a Zen phrase. Dripping mud and water, in other words, trudging through the mud with people. When you're with poor people, you become a poor person.

[15:41]

When you're with wealthy people, you become a wealthy person. Of course, you're always wealthy, whether you have anything or not. But you are not attached to any particular role. This is your perfect freedom. You're not attached to any particular role, but you can act out in any role, sincerely. So when you meet a criminal, you can enter the heart of the criminal. So you enter the heart of whoever it is that you're dealing with or whatever situation you're dealing with in order to merge and somehow help people. You know, in the six worlds, there's always a bodhisattva in each world.

[16:42]

So you don't stick to any particular form or shape. And this is what actually is medicine. The whole earth is medicine. So mixing with people, he trudges through the mire. When he performs a transcendent action, even Buddhas cannot follow him. Transcendent action is epitomized by Vimalakirti. When he was asked, what is the gateway to non-duality, he didn't say anything. This is called the thundering silence of Vimalakirti. So, they are driven back thousands of miles. Is there anyone among you who can go with him and act like this?

[17:45]

See the following. So, main subject. Master Uman said to his disciples, medicine and sickness cure each other. All the earth is medicine. Where do you find yourself? So there's a story. Manjushri once asked Zenzai, Zenzai Doshi, Zenzai, Zenzai, Anyway, Senzai was in the Avatamsaka Sutra, he visits 52 teachers and each one gives him some kind of a task to do. So, when he visits Manjushri, Manjushri wants that Senzai in earnest.

[18:54]

Zen student, an earnest Zen student, to bring him something that was not a medicine. And Zenzai could find nothing that could not work as a medicine. Zenzai could find nothing. Manjushri then asked him to bring something that was definitely a medicine. And Zenzai handed Manjushri a blade of grass. Manjushri held it up and said to his assembly, the single blade of grass can give life to a man and also bring death to a man. Used as medicine, everything is medicine. Used as poison, everything is poison. So actually, medicine is poison, but it's just the right amount of poison to cure something. The earth is neither good nor evil. There is no fixed right or wrong.

[19:56]

Too much medicine is poison. But poison can also be medicine. Temple bells can be turned into armaments. Armaments can be turned into temple bells. Religion can be salvation or it can be poison. I think of religion as necessary evil. You can't live without it. You can, but it keeps popping up. But People use it for their own devices. Yes, that's why it's losing. Sentient beings can be beneficial.

[21:03]

These are my notes. Oh, scientific discovery can be beneficial or destructive. Having purified your activity, having purified your active faculties, the Buddha made you clean and free. Faith and doubt cure each other. Birth and death cure each other. And then here's a note by the translator. Medicine and sickness cure each other. Buddhism is necessary like medicine because people are sick. When the sickness is cured, Buddhism can be discarded. That's what Suzuki Roshi used to say. He said when

[22:07]

When the world is no longer a place of madness, we can take off our robes and let go of all the Buddhism and all that. So, medicine is a kind of poison. It acts as a medicine only to a sick person. When the sickness is gone, the medicine must go too. If not, it turns into a poison. There's really a so-called sickness of Buddhism, but there are two sicknesses of Buddhism, of Zen, two sicknesses. One is when you're too successful, that becomes a sickness, and when you're a failure, that also becomes a sickness. But there is a cure.

[23:20]

And the cure is... Let go of your ego. The ego is poison. But we use poison, you know, snake bites and stuff like that. In vaccinations, we use the medicine, I mean, the illness to cure the sickness, right? That's what vaccinations, I think, are mostly about, using the sickness to cure the illness. So, Master Setsho has a verse, and he says, all the earth is medicine. Ancient and modern men make a great mistake. In other words, they don't recognize this. Since they shut the gate but did not build the cart, Shut the gate, but do not build the cart. It said that, I think it was Chuang Tzu that said something like, you can build the cart inside the gate.

[24:32]

You don't have to build it right there at the road. You measure things and then you build the cart, right? And then the cart fits on the road. But here, Master Setso is saying, don't set up some structure that you think is the right structure for following to cure the illness. In other words, don't set up something like Buddhism. Don't set up some structure that you think is infallible, because all structures are fallible. Buddhism is fallible. Yes, if you don't understand that, then you get attached to it. Buddhism is always something that's in progress. That's why it's so truthful, because it's not setting up something, a belief system.

[25:39]

Don't set up a belief system that you think is infallible, because it will always have a flaw. So it's important to what Master Yunmin is telling us is not to get attached to the Dharma. By the Dharma, I mean that there are formulas. Don't get attached to formulas. Every moment, we have to find the right way. We have to find our balance. every moment. We have to find the harmony and balance of ourself with the universe moment by moment. And if we get stuck in some infallible way, we can't do that because we don't have the flexibility to see things as they really are. So the Dharma is great.

[26:43]

Buddha Dharma is wonderful for helping us but it's not infallible. And the problem that people have with infallibility is that we're right and everybody else is wrong. And then we have big problems. So he says, shut the gate, but don't build the cart. Don't set up some special program. And then he says, all is mistaken. Mistaken, all is mistaken. Mistaken, you know, when Daikon Eno, who became the sixth ancestor, the sixth patriarch, someone asked him, what is your understanding of Buddhism?"

[27:50]

And he said, I don't understand Buddhism. And then he says, though their noses are stuck up to heaven, they will still be pierced for a rope. In other words, Those who study and think they know what Buddhism is, when I was a kid we used to call people stuck up. We used to say, the English are stuck up. That was back in the 30s. The English are stuck up. And of course they're not, but that was, you know, stuck up. So here you're using this term, stuck up. I haven't heard that for years. They will be pierced by, in other words, by being attached to their knowledge,

[28:54]

is like a rope around their, stuck through their nose and they can be pulled around like a cow. Tethered or restricted, it's a restriction. So religion can benefit but also harm you. And there is actually a sutra called Something About a Snake. Thich Nhat Hanh translated this sutra. It's about don't be caught by the dharma. If you take it all literally, it's like holding a snake and you can easily be bitten by it. So this is why the Zen people back in the Tang Dynasty, you know, they didn't reject Buddhist scholarship, but they didn't depend on it.

[30:02]

Scholarship is very important to help us navigate. Nevertheless, if we depend on it too much, it becomes a poison. And it can bite you. And you get stuck there. So, this is, there are many, actually many, because the Dharma in Japan, the present, is fossilized. They can't move. It's really hard for Japanese to move because their buddhadharma is fossilized, and they're stuck in it, and they need something to really move them.

[31:08]

So, and we have to be careful that our dharma doesn't become fossilized as well. You know, it's all improvisation. It's like responding to circumstances, and this is the message of Zen. responding to circumstances with an open mind, without preconceptions. And this is what Zazen is. So this is being on top of the mountain. In Zazen, to open yourself, have a completely open mind, open body, open mind. without preconceptions, with no past and no future, and just responding on each moment to what's here. And then we can enter the marketplace with that same composure.

[32:23]

Someone asked me the other day, there's a person who doesn't really practice here but comes here a lot, has been taught various things and says, do I have to know Sanskrit in order to practice Zazen? Do I have to search for emptiness? And all these ideas that we read about and hear about People think often that they have to think about these things when they're sitting zazen. Zazen is simply to empty yourself out. That's all it is. When you empty yourself out, moment by moment, and then when you empty yourself out, something fills that space. You know, when you have a table, It doesn't have nothing on it.

[33:28]

In a couple of days, it's all full of crap. So you have to keep emptying your mind all the time. Of course, the mind is always empty, whether it's full or not. This is ultimate emptiness. Relative emptiness, there's relative emptiness and ultimate emptiness. In relative emptiness, you wipe the mirror. In ultimate emptiness, the mirror's already clean. But we have to understand both sides. Both sides is important. If you only think that ultimate emptiness, if you get attached to ultimate emptiness, that's what he's talking about. You should not get attached to ultimate emptiness. That's a Zen sickness. And getting attached to relative emptiness is also a sickness. So we should be able to move freely wherever we are, between one and the other.

[34:33]

On top of the mountain or in the marketplace, it's all the same. When Zazen is no different than being in the marketplace, and the marketplace is no different being in Zazen, then you have your practice. but we tend to divide. The hardest thing is to not fall into the sickness of duality. So we have to be vigilant all the time, not to fall into duality, even though duality is where we live. But if we reject duality, that's also a sickness. And if we reject ultimate reality, that's also a sickness. So it's really hard to stay well. But human beings only live a short time on this earth.

[35:35]

So we don't really, by the time we figure it out, it's too late. That's why we have to repeat over and over again the same story. Yes. Could you say a little about how all of this connects to something I've heard you say, which is that sometimes we need to betray anger. Betray anger? Yeah, I've heard you say that some of the ways that we get caught is that when anger arises... Oh, I see what you're saying. It's not that we betray anger. it's that we betray our loyalty to anger. Yes, so righteousness, we betray our righteousness because I'm righteously angry, right?

[36:37]

And if we don't get, by remaining loyal to our anger, In other words, I can't let go of my anger because otherwise I'm betraying my loyalty to my righteousness. Yeah, so that's a problem. What's the fear that drives that pattern? Well, we feel that we're giving in. And that's what you're angry at. wins. Yeah, so it's really hard. So that's why forgiveness is so important. There's got to be a way out. See, there has to be a cure. And the cure for anger is forgiveness.

[37:42]

Because that forgiveness means that you're no longer attached to the past. And you can go on. It doesn't mean that everything is still okay. It means that your attachment is no longer binding you. It sounds like seeing it as it is. My experience of that in body, you know, because forgiveness, you get very caught up in ideas of what that is, and, oh, I can't forget it, so what am I going to do? If that's the medicine, then I can't take it. I can't swallow it. But this thing of just forgiveness as, this is what it is. Yeah, this is what it is. Yes. And so it's unhitching you from the boxcars that are pulling you along the track.

[38:46]

This is leading me to the place I always find most interesting and challenging about this koan, which is, where do you find yourself? Yes, where do you find yourself? And I can think of one place is right here, right now, in this breath. That's one answer. Another one would be in everything. Well, yes, but right here is where everything is. That's right here, in my breath, right? That's it, right? Yeah, yes. In other words, you know, when asked a question, Gutei always raised one finger, right? So, one finger, well, it takes, for him to raise one finger, the whole universe has to participate. So, whatever you do, whatever we, what our response is, includes the whole universe. So how do we harmonize with the universe in our actions?

[40:00]

How do we act out on the cosmic stage? So right here, right now, in this breath. Right here, right now. In this breath. Covers the whole earth. I just wanted to comment that because we go to Zazen, or go to some place to the weeds, and let them grow around us while we find who we are, we can go to the more constant place, which is the market, and interact with our composure, and go back to the mountain and say, now who am I, and what do I bring to the marketplace, and return, and go back and forth, always finding a new changed in constant self, but finding the marketplace to be more constant than the self? Well, you know, the marketplace is our self. And we don't bring anything to it. In the sense of, what do I have to offer?

[41:07]

Just nothing. I mean, we let our boxcars go before Yes, that's right. That's what we bring, yeah. We let the baggage, let go of the baggage and just appear fresh. And that's what you're saying. Constantly, but arriving in our city, it's like, what the heck, like myself, I'm always like, So I've been understanding that medicine cures the illness as a way of saying our problems are our teacher. Yes. And our response generate our response. That's right. Our problems are our teacher. And that's right. And then, so I'm trying to understand that they cure each other. They cure, yeah. So illness cures the medicine.

[42:11]

by freeing us up of our fixed views of response? Is that what you mean? I think here's where it's, you get it, but it's not explicable. You know, when you try to explicate it, And it gets too logical, but I think we can understand it. Yeah, they rise and fall. That's right, they interact with each other. And they're one thing. They become one thing. When the medicine and sickness become one thing, then the cure happens, right?

[43:30]

Your problem is your treasure. Yes, stay with your problem, because your problem will cure you. if you stay with it. If you change it, then you just have another problem to deal with. You know, we think if I only had a better this or a better that or so forth, and so people keep changing their equipment. And when you keep changing your equipment, but the problem is still the same. You know, you go through one partner after another, but the problem is still the same because you're always who you are. So, yeah, your problem is good medicine. Sometimes, you know, people tell us something,

[44:32]

And we don't like it, but it's good medicine. And it doesn't taste good, and hard to swallow. But if we take the medicine, it cures us. And our wellness cures the medicine. Yes. I don't like it. You don't like a challenge? Well, I don't like the medicine, or the question. Oh. It's a hard question. So what's wrong with that? I guess it's hard to stay with it. There are different, actually, there are different translations of that ending.

[45:35]

That's the one. It's a little bit like the question, what do you call the world? Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, it's like that. It's on that level. Well, where do you find yourself? In other words, you have to find yourself on each moment, because everything is falling out of balance. That's the whole problem. The sickness is everything is falling out of balance and the cure is how do you find your balance? On each moment. Each moment is a moment of falling out of balance and finding your balance. And the fewer props we have, Zen practice is like reducing the props. So we're not leaning on so much, you know, because we're always leaning on so much.

[46:38]

And so you lean on less and less and less. You know, we sit up, in Zazen, we sit up straight. We don't lean on the wall, you know. We sit up straight and find our balance. And Zazen is basically finding your balance. Keep maintaining, because you're always falling out of balance, and you're maintaining it, maintaining balance, balance, balance. Yes. That's right. That's exactly what Uman's talking about.

[47:42]

Yeah, we want the answer, the answer that answers every question. But there is an answer that answers every question. It's just let go. That's the answer to every question. Yes, Dean? Thank you. This is a serious question. What is the big deal or what does it matter if we change it and we say, you know, lean against the wall when you say Zazen or, I mean, because I'm challenged by that. And why is that a problem? I mean, maybe it's not, but that's, I get challenged by

[48:42]

Okay, this is what we say is ominous, but why not let it be that? That's a good question for you to answer. Yeah. Well, it's a good question. I'm not sure that there's an answer. Tell me. You know, the reason why you do that is because that's what we do. You can always go out and lean against the wall anytime you want, but in here, you don't do that. So you came here in order to not lean against the wall. Can you say something about the Blue Clip record and how it, before I ask the question, sometimes really leaves you dangling in all different directions.

[49:52]

Yes. Can you say something about, is there a form there? Or is it more random on each case? It has a structure in a way, but it's an unstructured structure. The koans are collections of what the teachers and their students basically interact, their interactions, and it's about getting beyond our logic, communication beyond our usual sense of logic, of duality, so the koans are always about rising above the level of duality. That's why they seem incomprehensible, because they're rising above the level of duality, which was where we're always, you know, this and that, right and wrong, good and bad, they're rising above, it's a reconciliation of opposites.

[51:09]

And we're not used to the reconciliation of opposites, or we're stuck in opposition. So because we're stuck in opposition, we can't, you have to, They're meant to open your mind to a level which is an intuitive level that goes beyond duality. So people study a koan for years. And because it goes in here, it's not up here, it's in here.

[52:17]

There are various ways of studying koans. they always leave you dangling. Dangling means, I talk about it, but I'm talking around it. The colon itself has to open your mind. It's like getting pregnant. and you let it grow and finally it pops out, but it may hurt. Ouch!

[53:16]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ