I might have a little competition from the air and the land, so if people in the back want to sit up closer, I think it's okay. Today I want to talk about case number 12 in the Mumon-Kong, a case which most of us are already familiar with.

[01:31]

Zui Gong calls Master. This case is, I think, is very important for us. And if we can penetrate the meaning of Zuigan calls Master, we have some very good insight into our own everyday practice. Zuigan was a student of Ganto. in China, and was a very highly acclaimed Zen master. And he was very famous for his talking to himself. Usually when people talk to themselves, we think that, oh, he's a little loco. But Zuigan's talking to himself was a little different than that.

[02:38]

Most people, when they talk to themselves, aren't aware that they're talking to themselves. That's why we think they're a little loco. But Zui Gan is very much aware of the fact that he was talking to himself. And this is the virtue of Zui Gan's talking to himself. So the koan goes like this. Every day, Master Zuigan Shigen used to call out to himself, O Master, and would answer himself, Yes? Are you awake? He would ask, and he would answer, Yes, I am. Never be deceived by others. Any day or any time?

[03:44]

No, I won't." That was Zui Gan's dialogue with himself. Or was it a monologue? Mu Man's commentary, Mu Man says, Old Zui Gan himself sells and buys himself. Old Zuigan himself sells and himself buys. Zuigan sells and he also buys. He has a lot of masks of goblins and demons to play with. Why? A calling one, an answering one, an awake one, and one who will not be deceived by others. If you take these different appearances as really existing, you are altogether mistaken. If, however, you would imitate Zuigan, your understanding is that of a fox."

[04:49]

Fox is someone who we say just imitates someone else. Maybe does the right, what seems to be the right thing, but just imitates someone else. And then Mumon has a poem. And he says, those who search for the way do not realize the truth. They only know their old discriminating consciousness. This is the cause of the endless cycle of birth and death, yet ignorant people take it for the original person." Suzuki Roshi said that the second abbot of his temple, Rinzai, in Japan, studied this koan for six years. And when he finally penetrated it, after six years of studying it, that's when the real practice at that temple started.

[05:56]

And he said that there were times when there were very few students, and times when there were quite a number of students. But whether there were a few or not so many, there was real practice at that time after he penetrated this koan. So he urges us to understand this koan. I read a talk by Joshu Sasaki Roshi from Simran Zen Center, where he was talking about how we train children. He says, usually we

[07:02]

when we train children, or when little children are growing up, if they say, when they learn how to say things, you know, they learn how to say one, two, three, or mommy, daddy, or some nice intelligent thing, we think, oh, that's wonderful. Little Junior is really on top of it. And we're very pleased with that. He says, that's okay, that's good. But people don't teach the child, when he says moon, to manifest as moon. Or when he says flower, to manifest as a flower, as that flower. Children are actually pretty good at manifesting themselves.

[08:05]

But as we grow older, we learn to separate ourself from things. By naming something, we separate ourself from it, instead of joining it, becoming it. or manifesting as that. So our education tends to draw us away from manifesting as that and objectifying everything that we see. We name things, and when we name them, we make them into objects. And the more we name them, and the more we discriminate them, the more we withdraw from everything.

[09:24]

until finally we get to a place where we need to become one with things again. So we start to sit zazen. But when we start to sit zazen, we don't know what it is. We think that we sit zazen in order to gain something. But actually we sit zazen just to become ourself again, just to resume ourself again. And to manifest as what we truly are. So that's why we say, just sitting. Shikantaza. Just sitting. Just manifesting ourself as ourself. When we're completely sitting Zazen, completely manifesting ourself as ourself, there's no self.

[10:42]

But until we manifest ourself as ourself in Zazen, then we have a self and there are objects which are in opposition to that Self. So old Zui Gang, every day, would say, Master, and they would say, Yes? Who is the Master? Who is this Master? And who is Zui Gang? How can Zui Gon answer himself as the master? There's a very popular koan which is, Who is the master? Who is the master?

[11:48]

It's a very well-used koan which can be reduced to, Who is the? And then it can be reduced to, who is? And then it can be reduced to, who? You don't need to go any further than who? So we say, There are a lot of koans related to this koan. We say Buddha seeks Buddha. Buddha nature seeks Buddha nature. Is Zui gone separate from himself when he's calling?

[12:57]

Or how can Zui Gan call himself? And how can he call Master and answer for the Master? Are there two Zui Gans? Mumon says in his commentary, Old Zuigan himself sells and himself buys. He calls himself and answers himself. He has a lot of masks of goblins and demons to play with. One mask says, Master, and then he puts on another mask. Yes. And then he puts on another mask and says, are you awake? And then he puts on another mask and says, yes, I am. And so forth.

[14:01]

So Luban says in his commentary, a calling one, an answering one, an awake one, and one who will not be deceived by others. If you take these different appearances as really existing, you are altogether mistaken. If you take these appearances as really existing, on each moment we are manifesting, being manifested in this universe. Each one of us is manifesting as ourself on each moment. We tend to think or we feel as if there's an ourself, which is a kind of continuous being.

[15:08]

which was born at a certain time and is living and will pass away out of this world, disintegrate, become unintegrated at some point. But our understanding, Buddhist understanding is on each moment we're manifesting as a different person, as a different being. It looks the same, it feels the same, but if you really look, you know, it's not the same. It's the same and not the same. Each moment we manifest, this moment, is the same and not the same.

[16:14]

So this This is called a kind of illusory life. This manifested life is kind of illusory because it looks like one thing, but it's not exactly what we see or what we think it is or what we imagine or what we create. Our life manifests from moment to moment. depending on causes and conditions. And we create with our mind what we call our life out of it. This is not bad, it's just what we do. But creating our life with mind we tend to believe too much in it.

[17:38]

After we make our life into something, we tend to believe in it a little too much. And we lose sight of what our life actually is. So On the surface, our life looks like one thing, looks like some real thing that's going on. We look like real people. We are real people. Our life underneath, or in the middle, in the midst, our life takes place in the midst of emptiness. Always changing in the midst of emptiness. Always appearing in the midst of emptiness.

[18:42]

Appearing and disappearing in the midst of emptiness. And emptiness is the space in which our life can appear and disappear, moment after moment. So if we only understand how our life is manifesting on the surface, we see ourself as some kind of permanent continuous entity. But if we, when we understand our life as manifesting in emptiness, as emptiness, we no longer suffer in the same way.

[19:52]

We're no longer, even though our life is going on in the midst of delusion, we're not deluded about our life of delusion. So enlightenment Our enlightenment is to live our life of delusion within enlightenment. You can't get rid of your life of delusion. We see ourself as people. We see ourself as, in a kind of normal way, whatever that is. But we see it through the eyes of enlightenment. So we're not fooled by our appearance. We accept appearance, things as they appear, but we're not fooled by them. This is our enlightened understanding. A deluded understanding is just to see things as they appear and to believe in them as they appear.

[21:01]

as they appear to be. So he says, if you take these different appearances as really existing, you are altogether mistaken. If, however, you would imitate Zui Gon, your understanding is that of a fox. If you just imitate Zui Gon without penetrating to your own real understanding, that's called being a fox. So it's necessary for each one of us to penetrate by ourself. No one can, even though I give some lecture or someone gives a lecture and you read about Buddhism, it's not enough. So then, in his poem, he says, those who search for the way do not realize the truth.

[22:33]

They only know their old, discriminating consciousness. This is the cause of the endless cycle of birth and death, yet ignorant people take it for the original person. He's admonishing the students. to practice hard. Every time I give a talk, it's always about the same thing. And it's always about how to use our daily life.

[23:35]

How to use and be used by our daily life. And how to manifest our daily life activity as emptiness. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. And koan, our koan, lies at this crossroads. What is it that's always changing? In our daily life we have many activities and Everything is constantly changing. From moment to moment, everything is constantly changing. And we assume one activity after another. Moment after moment, we assume one activity after another.

[24:37]

Going to work, studying, taking care of things, taking care of people, taking care of your family, changing the diapers, making food, talking on the telephone, selling real estate, I don't know, whatever it is that you do. Constantly changing. Every moment is something new. What is that that's always changing? If we only have a self-centered idea about life, we can never understand what it is that's always changing. When we resist, resisting is okay.

[25:49]

Everything is changing and we're resisting. That's okay. It creates a kind of good tension for us. Resistance. If you understand the nature of resistance, you can use it. If you understand the nature of stubbornness, you can use it. Akadagiri Roshi always used to talk about stubbornness of ego in his quaint way. Stubbornness of ego. It's like testing our strength against life. We want to test our strength against life. So we find something to resist and we pit our strength against it.

[26:54]

And it's a wonderful kind of play if you know how to do it. But if you take your ego too seriously, you find that you can't get out of your stubbornness. And you're always in a lot of pain. And you create a gap between yourself and what it is that you resist. So the more you build up ego in a stubborn way, the more everything else becomes an object against you, over against you. And we find that you're always fighting everything. There are people who are always fighting everything.

[27:56]

And we find that stubbornness or anger or various dharmas that arise in us, various emotions and feelings, become an obstacle, because we don't know. All of our activity, our actions, come out of those dharmas, come forth out of those dharmas, and we use those dharmas as a platform. We use anger as a platform from which we meet everything in the world. That's our place. Anger is a kind of secure place for people. Greed is a kind of secure place for people. They meet the world and interact with the world through that platform, from that platform.

[29:00]

And delusion is another. These are three major platforms. which can be broken down into smaller platforms. But these three unwholesome dharmas become our castles, our impenetrable homes, and we fight the world or meet the world through those forms, those platforms. But Bodhisattva steps off of those platforms and plunges down to the bottom of the ocean, which is endless and has no special platform, no special place to meet things with.

[30:03]

So when Bodhisattva meets someone, Bodhisattva manifests as that person who you meet. Or when Bodhisattva meets a situation, Bodhisattva manifests as that situation. If the bodhisattva sees a flower, bodhisattva manifests as the flower. Or when the bodhisattva sees the moon, bodhisattva manifests as the moon. This is enlightened life. where there's no separation between yourself and your activity.

[31:15]

Without hesitation, you know what to do, or you accept. Zui Gan says, Master." And then he answers himself right away. He says, yes. This immediate yes is Zuigan's enlightenment. It's how Zuigan manifests his enlightened mind. Yes. There's another very good koan in this Lumenkan, number 17, where the national teacher

[32:28]

I was sitting with his disciple, and he called out the disciple's name. The disciple said, yes. And then he called again his name. And the disciple said, yes. And he called again his name. And the disciple said, yes, three times. Without being disturbed, the disciple didn't say, I wonder what he wants. What does he really want? He just said, every time he called, the disciple just said, yes, yes, yes. This kind of activity, you know, without any called activity of no mind, just a complete openness.

[33:38]

We say, Suzuki Roshi always used to talk about to have nothing in your mind and to always be ready. to have no preconceptions, no particular idea about things, but to always be completely open and completely ready for what happens in the next moment. This is actually our practice, to have no preconceptions, no special idea about things, but just to be ready for What happens? What would you do in the next moment? He used to talk about the frog, the frog's practice.

[34:48]

The frog sits on the rock, completely motionless. If you look at a pond for a few minutes, maybe you see this frog sitting there. But he looks just like the rock. And your eye sees the frog. The frog doesn't move. He doesn't even blink. Maybe sometimes he'll blink, but really motionless. And he looks like he's asleep. But when the bug comes along, When the bug comes to a certain place, his tongue goes... And he doesn't even move, just the tongue. And he's still sitting there. And if it's something good, if the bug is tasty, then the bug goes this way.

[35:53]

And if it's bug isn't so tasty, then he goes, spits it out and just still sits there. So the frog, you know, is completely at home in the universe. His consciousness covers the whole universe. Not just some small consciousness, you know, which is thinking about his problems. He's just sitting there. I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know what frogs think. Maybe he's not thinking anything. Just completely open. No particular idea about things. but ready, completely open, alert, and ready. So, without even having to think, he just responds to the situation.

[36:57]

And one moment at a time. So our Zen practice is just to live our life one moment at a time. It's okay, you know, we have the future and we have the past. but the future and the past are included in this moment of time and space and activity and in this emptiness. This is called Genjo Koan and it's the koan that manifests itself as our life, moment after moment, and is concerned with form and emptiness. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

[38:01]

And form is form. Form is just form. Things are just what they are. And emptiness is emptiness. Nothing really exists except for our moment. And form is always arising within emptiness. And emptiness is always the emptiness of form. Always form is the form of emptiness. If you want to know what emptiness is, just look at the forms. All forms are the form of emptiness. If you want to see what emptiness looks like, just look around you. All the forms are the form of emptiness.

[39:04]

But this emptiness is also what we call Buddha nature. Not just nothingness, but our true nature. And what we appreciate, what we really appreciate is our true nature. To penetrate to our true nature is our practice, which we call various things. Sometimes we call it emptiness. Sometimes we call it Buddha nature. Sometimes we call it all forms. So when we realize our Buddha nature, then we can flow freely with all forms, because all forms is what we are. We are emptiness, and we are all forms, and we don't have anything special to do.

[40:18]

We can just do what we do. When it's time to change the baby, we change the baby. When it's time to cook the dinner, we cook the dinner. When it's time to wash the dishes, we wash the dishes. When it's time to clean the room, we clean the room. Without any resistance. We may have some resistance, you know, but that's part of our life too. And we also have to discriminate. we may want to resist something. But that resistance is different than the stubbornness of ego. So all the forms that we meet on each moment, every form that we meet on each moment is an opportunity for us to practice, to just do without some preconception, without some idea about things, to allow buddha nature to manifest, allow the master to come forth.

[41:50]

Buddha nature is the master. When Zuigan calls himself, calls master, he's talking to Buddha nature. And Buddha nature is responding to Buddha nature. And there's no Zuigan apart from Buddha nature. No Zuigan apart from emptiness. And Zuigan's life is very deep. As Dogen says, even though his head and shoulders are swimming on the surface of the ocean, his feet are walking on the moon. So every day Master Zunigan used to call out to himself, Oh Master, and he would answer himself.

[43:19]

Yes. Are you awake? Yes. Yes, I am. Never be deceived by others. Any day, any time. No, I won't. What is others? Somebody else? Don't be deceived by others. Don't fool yourself. Don't allow yourself to be fooled. So in our Zazen, when you practice Zazen, just sit and manifest as yourself, as Buddha nature.

[44:25]

And to become, let your consciousness be one with your breathing. This is, you know, we say one, two, we count our breath. This is not different than Zui Gon calling, Master. One. Two. Three. Are you there? Every time we count our breath, it's the same as, are you there? Are you there? And then nobody's home. And then when you find yourself again, are you there? Are you there?

[45:26]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ