This is the first day of our three-day labor-day sasheen. Every year we have this three-day labor-day sasheen over the weekend, and so we're sitting all day and up until the night, and so I thought it was appropriate to talk about zazen and why we sit, because at some point during sasheen, in almost everyone's mind, the thought will pass, why am I doing this? So, this is a well-known case from the Mu'man Khan.

[01:10]

Ching John's Non-Attained Buddha, in Japanese they say, Daitsu Chisho Buddha, and this story comes from the Lotus Sutra. It's not a story exactly, but Daitsu Chisho Buddha was mentioned in the Lotus Sutra, as the story unfolds. A monk asked a priest, Ching John of Xinjiang, the Buddha of supremely pervading, surpassing wisdom did zazen on the Buddha seat for ten kalpas, but the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself, and he could not attain Buddhahood.

[02:21]

Why is this? Ching John said, your question is exactly to the point. The monk said, but he did zazen on the Bodhi seat, why couldn't he attain Buddhahood? Ching John said, because he is a non-attained Buddha. And then Master Mu'man has a comment, he says, I approve the old barbarian's realization, but I don't approve his understanding. If an ordinary person realizes, he or she is thus a sage. If a sage understands, he or she is thus an ordinary person. And then in his verse, Mu'man says, better than knowing the body is knowing the mind in peace. When the mind is realized, the body

[03:24]

is no longer anxious. When body and mind are both fully realized, a saintly hermit declines to become someone special. There are various ways to say that, but I'll talk about that later. So that's the case. So the monk asked priest Ching John of Xiangyang, the Buddha of supremely pervading, surpassing wisdom, did zazen on the Bodhi seat for ten kalpas, but the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself, and he could not attain Buddhahood. Why is this? Well, why do you think? I'll put this question out.

[04:31]

Why couldn't he attain Buddhahood? You already know. Don't we chant, whenever we chant the Heart Sutra, no attainment? You have to speak louder so people can hear you. We chant the Heart Sutra, we chant no attainment, and it means? It means no attainment. Yeah. But what does no attainment mean? It sounds like you're questioning it. Is that Mark? Because it's already here, right now. Where? Right here, right now. So there's nothing to attain. Trying to get something is a false idea. Why is there nothing to attain? Because the realization is already happening at the present moment.

[05:44]

It's an illusion that there's something to attain. It's an illusion that attainment hasn't already happened. Well, I think all of you are saying the right thing. But we can't attain something, we can't get something that we already have. But how do we know that we have it? So, he couldn't attain, he didn't attain Buddhahood because Buddhahood is not something outside of himself, not something that he could get. We can't get it, even though people are always looking for it. It's also called seeking. So, what about seeking?

[06:58]

Well, there's a way of seeking mind. There's the way of seeking mind and there's the mind-seeking way. There's curds in it. But don't throw away the way. Don't throw away the way. This is getting very weak. So, Qing Zhang said, your question is exactly to the point. And the monk said, but he did zazen on the Bodhi seat, why couldn't he attain Buddhahood? Because he has not attained Buddha. So, then Mumon's comment, I approve the old barbarian's realization, but I don't approve his understanding. Realization and understanding are not the same thing. They can be the same thing, but they're not.

[08:04]

Realization should always be beyond understanding. If your understanding matches your realization, then your realization is not very deep. Realization is what we know or what we have, but we can't understand it. This is why we can practice. Anyone can practice. You don't have to understand it. It's not necessary to understand it. This is the value of practice. We start from realization. Practice starts from realization. Enlightenment first.

[09:07]

Practice next. And then study. And then teaching. More in that order. Usually we go from study to practice to realization. That's the usual way. But in our practice, we go from enlightenment to practice. From practice to study to teaching. So first comes enlightenment. When we raise the thought of enlightenment, called bodhicitta, that's an enlightened thought. Raising the thought of enlightenment is an enlightened thought. And this enlightened thought comes from your realization. So when we have the enlightened thought and we take up the way-seeking mind,

[10:20]

it looks like we're going somewhere. But we're not really going anywhere. We have to go in a big circle to get back to where we are. Way-seeking mind leads to where we are, even though there's sometimes this circuitous long trail that goes around, but it always ends up where we are. So I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, Usually, in spiritual practice, there's a road leading out there, leading away from us to something, to some wonderful place. But in dharma practice, the way leads here.

[11:23]

So we take the backward step. Always take the backward step. Backward step means to settle on self, to find or to release or to realize your own Buddha nature. So I proved the old barbarian. Old barbarian means, it's usually a reference to Bodhidharma, the old barbarian. The Chinese called the Indians barbarians, as they called everyone barbarians. But it refers to Bodhidharma specifically as the old barbarian. That's the Chinese way of addressing, one way of addressing Bodhidharma, as the old barbarian. But it's a kind of intimate way of speaking about him,

[12:26]

kind of a nice compliment. But I don't approve his understanding. His understanding may be good or bad, but it can never reach his realization. So when the emperor asked Bodhidharma, Who are you? He said, I don't know. He was addressing Bodhidharma's understanding. He wasn't addressing his realization. So if an ordinary person realizes he or she is a sage, yes, when an ordinary person realizes they are a sage, because they haven't acquired anything, is that an ordinary person can be a sage,

[13:27]

because they have the sage nature. When a sage has realization, the sage becomes an ordinary person, because the sage has ordinary person nature. So ordinary person and Buddha are not two. Sage, ordinary person, it doesn't matter. When a sage has realization, they have to become an ordinary person. This is one way that you can tell a true sage. When Dashan climbed the mountain to meet Lungtan, Lungtan means dragon pool. So Lungtan was on his way to defeat the Zen, the Chan master,

[14:33]

and he went up the mountain to meet Lungtan. And when he saw Lungtan, he said, That's funny, I don't see any deep dragon pool here. Lungtan said, Well, what you see is what you get. He just saw an ordinary little old man. But when Lungtan invited him in, they spent the night talking, and Dashan really admired Lungtan's understanding. And when they were ready to go to bed, Lungtan handed Dashan a lantern. And as he was handing him the lantern, as Dashan was reaching out to get the lantern, Lungtan blew it out, and everything was in total darkness.

[15:34]

And Dashan woke up. He had realization of who he was. So you cannot tell always who is a good teacher and who is not, but one characteristic of a good teacher is nothing special, not putting on some kind of dramatic air. Although when we read the books, there's a lot of drama. There's always a lot of drama. So if you're going to write a book, you want to write a book with drama, right? Otherwise nobody's going to read it. But it doesn't include all the non-dramatic things, which is mostly what happens. So we don't see that side. So study comes later. Practice first, study later. Then, you know, there's another story,

[16:42]

which is very, most of you know, the story of Nangaku and Baso and polishing the tile. One day, you know, Nangaku was Baso's teacher, and Nangaku was a disciple of the sixth ancestor. And these both were very archetypal Zen teachers, but Baso was Nangaku's student. And one day, when Baso was doing Zazen, his teacher Nangaku came up and said, What are you doing? What do you do there when you sit Zazen? And Baso said, Well, I sit Zazen to become a Buddha. This story is very much related to this other one.

[17:44]

And Nangaku said, Oh, and so he picked up a tile, and he started rubbing it. And Baso said, What are you doing, rubbing a tile? Why are you doing that? And Nangaku said, I'm trying to make a mirror out of this tile by rubbing it. And then Baso said, How can you make a mirror out of a tile by rubbing it, polishing it? And Nangaku said, How can you make a Buddha by sitting Zazen? Usually, this story, people usually understand this story in the past as meaning that Nangaku was trying to put Zazen in a certain place.

[18:49]

But Dogen says, and then the rest of the story is that Nangaku said to Baso, When you want to make a cart go, do you whip the ox or do you whip the cart? Most people would say, Of course you whip the ox. You want to make the cart go. But Dogen says, whipping the cart and whipping the ox is all the same. You can whip the horse or you can whip the cart. It doesn't matter because the cart and the horse are one piece. So what he's talking about is the body is the cart and the ox is the mind. So usually the mind leads and the cart follows.

[19:54]

But in practice, in Zazen, you can whip the cart. Whip the cart or the horse. It doesn't matter. Any place you whip moves the cart. So the body, Zazen is a practice of the body, but a practice of the body is also a practice of the mind. And a practice of the mind is a practice of the body. Because they're one piece, even though we speak of mind and we speak of body. So Zazen practices body-mind practice, whipping the cart or whipping the horse. So when we whip the cart, it influences the mind. The discipline of the body practice straightens out the mind. And the practice of the mind

[21:01]

straightens out the body. But practice of the body is realization. Practice of the mind is like understanding. Although it's important to practice with the mind, with understanding, the most important part is to practice realization, which is practice of the body. So we worry a lot about our mind in Zazen. My mind is running around like a crazy monkey, blah, blah, blah. But actually, the body is studying Zazen. You don't have to worry about the monkey mind so much. When the body really settles, it settles the mind,

[22:04]

even though it looks like the mind is running around in circles, as long as you don't get caught by the circles. But usually in our daily life, we're caught by the circles, we're caught by the dynamics of our mental activity. In Zazen, we let go of being caught by the dynamics of our mental activity, so that body and mind become one and settle. And this is called realization, even though we may not realize what realization is. So practice and realization, practice and enlightenment are one thing. If we have some idea about what enlightenment is,

[23:08]

then we can't see the enlightenment that we have. This is the biggest problem in realization, because we have an idea of what realization or understanding is. That idea blocks realization and understanding. Realization and enlightenment. So understanding is good, but it's limited. It has its limitations, and realization cannot be held by that limitation. You know, everybody says, if they've ever been enlightened, that enlightenment is nothing special. It's right there in front of us all the time. It's like the ox that won't go away. You know, I've lived on Mount Isan for 30 years.

[24:14]

All I've done was attended... I've lived on Mount Isan for 30 years. I've eaten Isan's rice, and I shit Isan's shit, and all I've done is tended to a water buffalo. And when he wandered in other people's fields, I pulled him back. When he trampled all over the place, I whipped him back. What a charming fellow he is. But he would always just run after everything. Whenever anybody called him, he'd just run after them. But now, over a long period of time, he's kind of tame, and he just stands in front of me all the time, and just wags his tail. And even if we try to chase him away, he doesn't do it. He doesn't go anywhere. He just stays there. This is like just seeing what's in front of us.

[25:18]

We go trampling, running all over the place, trampling over people's fields, and eating the flowers, and making a big mess of things. Everything is right there in front of us. When we actually have realization, it doesn't go away. It's right there in front of us in everything we do. The ordinary contains the extraordinary. There's nothing extraordinary except the simplest, most common thing. That's extraordinary, but we don't see it, because we're always looking for something extraordinary. So,

[26:25]

we start from enlightenment. It's right there, and it leads us to practice. And the path to practice is every step is realization itself, if we are awake. So, the goal is wherever we wake up at. The moment that we wake up is the goal. But it can be any moment, because it's just what's in front of us. During sasheen we have a work period, and in work period we assign everyone to a position. You do the toilets, you work in the kitchen, you sweep the grounds, you pick weeds, and whatever we ask you to do,

[27:27]

if you're enlightened, you say, OK, I'll just do whatever you ask. No problem. Well, it's easy, you know, you asked me to do the toilets last time, you know. Well, little by little we learn. Little by little we wake up. So, in Mumon's verse he says, better than knowing the body is knowing the mind in peace. When the mind is realized, or free, the body is no longer anxious, and vice versa, he didn't say that, but it's got to be vice versa. When the body is realized, the mind is free.

[28:28]

When body and mind are both fully realized, the saintly hermit declines to become someone special. Akin Roshi says, the saintly hermit declines to become a noble. I don't like that very much. Why should he decline to become noble? Noble is OK. Noble means humble, not self-conscious. And also, another translation is, when body and mind are fully realized, the saintly hermit ignores worldly power. I like that translation. No need to gain power in the world, or dominate others, or collect students, or do something special,

[29:33]

because you're totally secure. You don't need anything. This is called security, within total insecurity. Nothing is determined. There's nothing determined. So, if things were determined, we'd have more security. But nothing is determined. We try to make things determined. We make our life habitual, and we have our protective devices, and we try to make some security. But in the midst of insecurity, boom! Right? But the sage is always secure, within insecurity,

[30:37]

because the sage knows there's nothing to hang on to, and freely flows. So, in tsazen, we freely flow. If we can freely flow, no problem, even when there's a problem, we can enjoy our problem. Do you have a question? If you were a Buddhist dictionary, could you redefine realization? Because in my mind, there are several meanings of the word, and I'm not sure which one you're talking about. Well, realization, in a sense, would be

[31:44]

to realize your nature. Realize your true nature. To become aware of it. Become aware of who you really are. Beyond your ability to picture it. It's got to be beyond your understanding, because understanding is limited. Understanding, in this sense, means intellect. There is understanding that's not intellect. That's called intuition. In that first koan you read,

[32:49]

where the Buddha of unsurpassed enlightenment didn't attain Buddhahood, you mentioned something about seeking. I was wondering if that was a part of this that was not brought out. The idea that he didn't attain it because he was seeking? No, he didn't attain it because he was already Buddha. Okay, but I got the impression that he did not attain realization. He didn't have realization after sitting for so long. Attain is the key word here. But seeking is important. Seeking is also enlightenment. Seeking enlightenment is enlightenment itself. But when we seek, it can get in our way. Because we think that there is something we don't have. But you have to seek it.

[33:49]

You have to seek, but you can't peek. Seeking with no peeking. Because peeking means self-conscious. As soon as you peek, you're standing outside. So seeking means to be inside. In other words, it's purely subjective. As soon as you step outside, it becomes an object. Your seeking becomes an object. But when your seeking is true, then it's internal and it's creative. And it's driven by enlightenment. Enlightenment seeks enlightenment. Buddha seeks Buddha. Buddha nature seeks Buddha nature. As soon as you step outside, then you have a picture of it.

[34:57]

The picture is okay, but you have to let go of the picture and step back inside. But the picture can distort it. We always have a picture. You can't not have a picture. A picture of a rice cake is also nourishment. beings are numbers. Beings are numbers.

[35:43]

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