This morning, I want to continue with Ginjo Koan. And we're at the place where it says, Dogon says, enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle wide. The whole moon and the whole entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass or even in one drop of water. Enlightenment does not divide you just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.

[01:33]

There are other translations, but, and if I need to, I'll refer to my Zuni Roshis translation. But, Dogen is now talking about the non-duality of enlightenment, whereas before he was talking about enlightenment in its dualistic aspect. Before he said, enlightenment is not like the moon reflected in the water. When one side is revealed, the other side is dark. So that's the dualistic side of enlightenment. This time he's talking about the non-dualistic aspect of enlightenment. He says, enlightenment is like the moon reflected in the water. The moon doesn't get wet and the water isn't broken.

[02:45]

Here, moon means enlightenment and water means the person. The moon is always used in Zen, as you know, as a metaphor of enlightenment. The moon is a cool light. The sun is light. Sometimes the sun is used as a metaphor. We say, as a Zen student, you should have warm feet and a cool head. From the waist down, cool. Warm, I mean. Warm feet.

[03:52]

And up here, cool, cool head, cool light. tranquil light, not excited light, not flames shooting out, but cool, brilliant, even kind of light. And sometimes we talk about a hazy light. There's a poem about the hazy moon of enlightenment. Hazy is like seeing through a veil or seeing through mist or some kind of filter. century, silent illumination, Zen, was popularized by Wanshi Shodoku, who compiled what we call the Book of Equanimity, a collection of a hundred koans, which is soon to be published.

[05:25]

Wangshi Shogaku was a very famous Zen master and he was a wonderful poet and he had a way of expressing his Zen through words. Someday we'll look at some of his poems and writings. but he was an advocate of so-called silent illumination Zen. And in silent illumination Zen, the mind becomes very still. And when thoughts and discursive thinking drop away in zazen, the naturally illuminated mind shines forth.

[06:35]

And silent illumination, as taught by Wang Chi Shogaku, plays a big part in Dogen's Dogen was an admirer of Wanshi Shogaku and Wanshi was, of course, a Soto Saodong teacher. So this is a manifestation of Saodong or Soto practice. One of the problems with silent illumination is that it tends toward immobility, because it emphasizes samadhi.

[07:46]

And when we practice this kind of practice, we have to be very careful that we don't become inactive. And one of the criticisms of silent illumination by the Rinzai school was, and one of Wang Chi's critics, although they were very good friends in the end, was that silent illumination led to a quietism. Zen practice has two sides. One side is the quiet side and the other side is the loud side. And one side is stillness and the other side is activity.

[08:55]

And if you neglect one or the other, If you neglect activity, then you fall into lethargy. So always in Zen, in our practice and in our life, balance of two sides and meeting in the middle is always our practice. And I was talking about this the other day when I talked about the six qualities, qualitative factors. Always how to balance our life so that we don't fall into either overactivity or quietism. And also within

[09:57]

Our quiet, still activity, we should always be manifesting dynamic activity. And always within our dynamic activity, it should be based on stillness. This is enlightened activity. This is the moon. reflecting in the water without getting wet or without disturbing the water. That's why when we sit in zazen, I'm always telling you to put all of your energy into sitting, not just to sit like a lump. If you just sit like a lump, all caved in, without exerting yourself, then you fall into quietism.

[11:03]

So when you sit zazen, you should be exerting all your effort, total dynamic effort. You should make a big effort to sit up straight. And be aware and involve all of your bones. Don't leave anything out. This is total dynamism within stillness. And when you're doing your work, your work is within, based on tranquility. No matter how hurried you are, no matter how much you have to do, you're never in a hurry. This is the characteristic of Suzuki Rinpoche.

[12:11]

It was the most amazing thing. But no matter how busy Zen Center got, and Zen Center got very busy. while he was alive, he was never in a hurry. Never in a hurry. And he always walked at a certain pace which was attentive and within the activity, but it was never hurried. And even when he was in a hurry, he was never in a hurry. Always completely present and contained. and settled and at peace, no matter how busy anything ever got. And although he became sleepy in Zazen, as we all do, still his intention was to be dynamically alive, dynamically present.

[13:21]

This is how we have to practice. And if we're not practicing this way, we're wasting our time. I don't normally reflect it in the water. The water does not get wet. And the moon doesn't get wet. and the water is not divided. The water maintains its integrity. The moon maintains its integrity. One of the problems that we run into is that we feel that we want the moon to shine very serenely. When the water is very calm, and the moon reflects on the water, then you can see the moon all the way down to the bottom.

[14:32]

One time I went to a lake in Oregon, and the lake was so clean, I couldn't believe it. You could see all the way down to the bottom. And it was really deep, and there were no ripples on the lake. And I was just amazed that I could see through all that water all the way down to the bottom. And when the moon reflects on the water, and the water is very calm, the moon will reflect all the way down to the bottom. This is our ideal. But when this is not happening, we feel unsatisfied. But when the water is rippling and wavy and the wind is blowing over the water and there are waves, even though there are waves, you can still see the moon reflected on the water.

[15:40]

And in each wave, you can see the moon reflected on the water. The water is broken up into little pieces. But if you were to catch the reflection on each wave, or each little choppy piece of water, you would see the whole moon and the whole sky reflected. So Dogon says, although the moon is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle in age wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass. or even in one drop of water. This is stillness within activity, or enlightenment within activity. No matter how broken up the water is, in each little broken piece

[16:51]

the whole moon and the whole sky have reflected. Now, there's a koan, if I can remember it. I can't remember it exactly, but I'll Talk about it again. Each piece of a broken wave, each drop of water. I remember a few years ago, on the cover of the weekly section of the Chronicle on a Sunday, there was a photograph of water on a windshield of a car. It had rained. And the water was in big drops, small and large drops on the windshield of a car.

[18:02]

And in each drop of water was reflected the Golden Gate Bridge in various shapes, like funny mirrors, all kinds of weird shapes. But each drop and each shape, you could see the Golden Gate Bridge. So I cut that out and hung it in my dhoksan room. It's a wonderful statement, reflecting dogma. And so when we sit in zazen, we really want our mind to be still and have no thoughts. But the fact of the matter is that no matter how much we try to keep our minds still and clear of thoughts, there are always thoughts in the mind.

[19:04]

The nature of the mind is that thoughts will continually arise, whether called on or not, whether called forth or not. And it's kind of like gas bubbles, gas bubbles bubbling up. Little ones and then big ones. Moment after moment, something coming out. And each little bubble holds a dream. That's how the cereal cooks in the morning. It was very clear this morning. The whole pot, if you've got a small flame, the whole pot doesn't just kind of do a regular thing. It's quite a timed release. Timed release. So all these little green bubbles come up and expose themselves in consciousness, just like cereal.

[20:16]

Actually, our mind is cooking away. And there's a flame under our pot and we keep adjusting the flame. And sometimes we turn the flame up and we get lots of bubbles and they all have outrageous dreams. Each one has an outrageous dream in it, especially during sasheen. During sasheen, the bubbles, especially in the long sasheen, the bubbles can get rather large, and the contents can be somewhat outrageous. And we say, where did that come from? I never thought a thought like that in my life before now. So the bubbles become rather interesting sometimes, the contents.

[21:22]

And we say, well that's obscuring this light. What I really want is no bubbles. If there's no bubbles, then light comes shining forth. Empty mind. But this is a dualistic idea. If I don't have any thoughts, if I eliminate all the impurity of my mind, then the only thing that will be there is purity. It's very logical. If I just take out all the impurities, then the only thing that's left will be purity. But unfortunately, life is not pure. Life is both pure and impure.

[22:27]

And purity is found within the impure. And the impurity is found within the pure. So, life is a mixed bag. And if we try to put aside, to divide it, we try to take the impure, we can do that actually, it's possible. But it's like digging sand. If you dig a hole in the sand, you can get a hole. But as you're digging, the sand is already falling back in. And the hole is filling up again. So, as you try to purify your mind, the mind is already becoming impure. At the same time, as you try to still the thoughts in your mind, the idea of stilling your mind is itself a thought.

[23:35]

So, as you try to become pure, impurity is chasing right after you. to fill up the hole. So we open our mind. When we sit in zazen, we open our mind. No thoughts. And when you have a hole, something's going to fill it. Something's going to come in there and fill it up. You can't keep that hole very light. It's like the ocean. You can take a glass of water out of the ocean, but it doesn't really matter. It fills right up. It's just a little blip. on the surface of the water. So, in order to have a pure zazen and find the purity of our own mind, we have to respect thinking mind, not try to eliminate thinking mind.

[24:45]

If you read the books, sometimes they say Stop all the thoughts. Dogen says it. Stop all the thoughts of the conscious mind. But it doesn't mean to stop thinking. So there's a distinction. To stop all the thoughts of the conscious mind really does not mean not to think. It means to not be caught by thinking mind, to not be attached or led around by the thoughts that are there. So when thoughts come into the mind, when the bubbles come up, we just let the bubble come. We don't try to get rid of the bubble. And then you see what's in the bubble, some thought, some idea, and you just

[25:47]

Look at it. And just keep looking at it. And then pretty soon, some other thought will appear. And that one will disappear. And then a thought will come and you say, oh. And then you start dreaming about this thought. You use this thought as a basis for your dream. And sometimes you think, this is really important. I must think about this. I will figure out my life. If I can just carry this to the end, I will have my life figured out. But actually, you should resist that temptation. If you can resist that temptation and just watch that thought, Just let it be there, and then let it go.

[26:50]

Instead of chasing away thoughts, you can just tell yourself, thank you, I'm supposed to be sitting zazen. And you let go of it. It's the difference between chasing away and letting go. Suzuki Roshi, as you know, used to always say, invite the thought in. But don't serve tea. Don't entertain your thought. This is the room with only one zafir. This is the room with only one zafir. And whoever wants to come in, can come in. But they do so at their own risk. And when they get tired, they leave, because there's no place for them to sit down. So all you're doing is minding your own business.

[27:59]

You're not getting angry at anybody. You're not getting angry at yourself. You're not getting angry at your thoughts. You're just tranquilly minding your own business. When you start getting involved in somebody else's business, or some other business, then you should realize, uh-oh, I'm getting caught. This is too interesting. I should sit down and just mind my own business. Take care of my business. Take care of the business at hand. And then you get back to posture. Dynamic sitting. Total dynamic sitting.

[29:07]

So the body and the mind are one piece. As soon as you start getting carried away, then the mind is divided. So we keep bringing that mind back. So the point here is not to be bothered. It's not that you want or not want thoughts, but when something comes into the room, you don't let yourself get bothered by it. When a big spider walks across the floor, just let it go. Don't let it bother you. When the big rain cloud thunders overhead, don't let it bother you. Don't be bothered by anything. And within this zazen, nothing can hurt you, except your legs.

[30:11]

Don't let your legs bother you either. This is very difficult. Don't let anything bother you. And if you don't let anything bother you, then your samadhi gets deeper and deeper and deeper. And the same thing goes for our work, our activity, our relationships. We let ourself be offended. in our relationships, we allow ourselves to be offended. It's very natural, but this is the stuff that we have to work with. When you come to Tassajara, when we come to Tassajara in practice,

[31:21]

It challenges our ego. The point of practicing is to allow our ego to be challenged and worn down. Now if you take the ego out completely, the light will shine through because the ego blocks the door. Enlightenment is always there. Enlightenment is not something you can get. is our nature. But so-called ego, or a sense of self, blocks the doorway, blocks the light. If you take the ego out, then the light just shines through. No problem. But it's hard to take ego out. Ego has no place in our life. through practice. If you really practice, if you really know how to practice, the ego gets worn very thin.

[32:25]

And then the light shines through the ego because it's very thin. And as it gets thinner and thinner, it becomes more and more transparent, translucent. And the light becomes wonderfully, beautifully filtered through ego. you begin to see it more and more. And rather than being like a big explosion, enlightenment is more like walking in a fog, and you touch your clothes and realize that they're wet. practice at Tassajara is like stones rubbing up against each other in the river.

[33:30]

After a winter storm and the water recedes, then you look in the river and you see all these beautiful stones that have tumbled together, worn off all their rough edges and have tremendous character. One thing that we like about the stones of Tassajara, the ones in the river that have been tumbling in the river, is that anything that's going to be lost is gone. And only the essence of the stone remains. And they're all very beautiful. They all have wonderful character because they've been through this raging storm which has proven their worth. So if you come to Dasa Hara and don't allow yourself to be exposed to the problems that will arise, then

[34:46]

you're missing something. Because the problem that we have is that our ego stands up and gets beat up. I remember Tatsugami Roshi saying that Zazen or Sushin is the battleground of the mind and the heart. The battle is the battle of our ego. And this is where we confront it. This should be the stopping place. This is not just some other place on your journey. This is the end.

[35:47]

There is a place I heard in the early 60s in Japan. Please take a comfortable position, by the way. Feel free to change your position. There is some kind of practice place in Japan. where when the younger monks would sit zazen, the older monks would come behind them and shout all kinds of obscenities at them, insulting their mother and, you know, just giving them everything they could possibly think of. And the monks just had to sit there without moving. That's a little bit extreme. Our practice is very gentle. We don't even try to do anything.

[37:06]

As a matter of fact, we go out of our way to be really kind and considerate to everybody. It's true. We go out of our way to be as kindly, thoughtful and considerate as possible. And yet, in the midst of that, it all comes up. Even in the midst of that, our ego gets better. So when something happens, when your ego feels challenged, instead of crawling in your hole, pulling out your handkerchief, have a good cry. But realize, right there is the point of your practice. Right there is where your work is. Right there is the genja koan, your koan.

[38:13]

And it's just like sitting in the oven. How do you mind your own business? How do you take care of your business? When something comes in to make you uncomfortable, what do you do with it? So, the practice is the practice of self-examination. When we feel hurt, we should examine ourself. What is this? How do I accept something? Now, I know there will be all kinds of reactions to that statement. All kinds of defenses. As soon as I say that, your defenses will come up and you'll say, but what about me?

[39:24]

Right there, where you watch your defenses come up, is where you have to start investigating. As soon as you start to defend yourself, that's where you have to start investigating. It's not like normal life, where we feel we have righteousness. The point is, how to get your ego thin. Stop blocking. We don't see ourselves as we are. We have a certain perspective from which we see ourselves. And if we want to have some enlightenment, we have to see ourselves in a bigger sense, not just from the small perspective of ouch. So as long as we're here, we're going to be hurting.

[40:32]

Something will hurt us. Something will insult us. Something will give us, make our hackles rise and make our ego soar. And we all walk around with some kinds of bandages, licking our wounds and so forth, but this is what it's about. Wearing down our ego. And if you don't realize that, then it becomes really hard. When you realize it, at least you know what you're doing. And we should all know what we're doing, even though it may be hard to take. It doesn't matter whether it's easy or hard, as long as we know what we're doing. I don't even think when I get enlightened it'll be easier or I won't have all my bad habits or something like that.

[41:50]

I hope that's not so. You may get enlightened and still But as we continue to practice, knowing how to practice, knowing what that is, being able to continue, even though it hurts, enlightenment will shine. That's what makes enlightenment shine, actually. When you really face who you are, And even though it's difficult, you let it grind you down.

[42:54]

Then enlightenment is right there. And that's the end of my talk. Thank you.

[43:26]

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