at the beginning of the precious mirror samadhi, it used to say, the teaching of suchness. What does it say now? The dharma of thusness. The dharma of thusness, the dharma of suchness. So this is the central teaching of this school is the teaching about suchness. And the sutra says that by really thoroughly contemplating suchness, one moves along the bodhisattva path to Buddhahood.

[01:04]

First of all, we have to be able to actually get in touch with it. That's a big step, to actually contact it, see it. Then we can contemplate it all the way to Buddhahood. The siddha tells us things about suchness, but it also says how to get in touch with suchness. Independents are not strongly grasping dependent phenomena as being the imputational. Independents are not strongly clinging holding to the imagined character of things as being the other dependent, or grasping the other dependent as being the imagined nature.

[02:17]

The suchness is known. Thoroughly established character is known. And Bodhidharma came up with his way of teaching, of helping people give up grasping our life as our imagination of it by his teaching of mind like a wall. So we've been going through some of the ancestors in our blood vein, looking at how they also tried to help people.

[03:19]

Yesterday we saw how Master Ma, by talking to Bai Zhang and by twisting Bai Zhang's nose and then talking some more, how Bhajan was able to open to suchness, awaken to. Thoroughly established character of all phenomena. Bhajan continued to study with Matsu more and was his attendant some of that time. He saw Matsu's whisk sitting on its stand and said, If someone uses this whisk, can he also not use it?

[04:34]

And Matsu said, In the future, you, if you travel to some other place, how will you help people? Oops. Yeah, that's what Matsu said to Bajang. Bajang picked up the whisk and held it up straight. Matsu says, If you use it this way, what other way can it be used?" And Bai Zhang put it back in the stand. Matsu suddenly let out an earth-shaking shout, so loud that Bai Zhang was deaf for three days. This, from this thunderclap came a great vibration.

[06:05]

It's been vibrating now, it's still vibrating. 1200 years later. When I look at the lineage before Matsu, I don't see much physical interaction of the level that he introduced. Twisting people's noses and other kinds of very high energy impact between the teacher and the student verbally. high decibel and actually tactilely and visually strong physical impact.

[07:15]

Matsu seemed to have started in the Zen tradition. We do see the physical impact in the story of the sixth ancestor. and his teacher of tapping the sieve and stuff like that. But this is sort of very strong. And Matsu was very successful in helping people become wise. He had 139 successors. 139 successors. I think eighty-nine of them get, like, recorded in the history books. So anyway, that was his way, and so now we see some ramification of his way for a number of generations.

[08:26]

You'll see this way of enacting. Someone said to me that they feel like I'm restraining myself. I do feel the impulse in a kind of friendly way to swat people now and then, but I don't do it because of the grievance procedure. Because, you know, then if I go to the grievance procedure, do I have to restrain myself too? Like, not swat people during the grievance procedure? So, you know, I... But anyway, I encourage people to, if you feel like I'm restraining myself, at least say, you know, I feel like you'd like to swat somebody. Not me, but I feel like you'd like to swat somebody right now. You can call me on it and I can at least say, well, yeah, I do kind of feel like I'd like to, but you're right, I'm scared of what will happen to me. and you, if I should happen to do that.

[09:31]

Anyway, Wang Bo and Bai Jiang and Matsu, that little group there, those three generations, there's going to be quite a bit of hitting coming up here. Not to mention Lin Ji. So later, after this thunderclap that deafened Bai Zhang for three days, but then he recovered, I guess, a prominent layperson invited Bai Zhang to come to Xinhu District of Hangzhou and serve as abbot of a monastery on Mount Daxing. Adashiyong. This was a place of high and precipitous peaks.

[10:39]

So the place was called Bajong, which means, you know, a hundred, I think a hundred times ten feet tall, a hundred fathoms tall. Now, before Baijian had passed even a month at the temple, new students seeking spiritual guidance came from every quarter. Foremost among them were Wang Bo and Guishan. This is just my view, but I always kind of felt like if you saw Suzuki Roshi over in San Francisco when Zen Center was near Japantown, if you saw him walking down the street, or anyway, if I saw him walking down the street, I would probably think, even with his robes on, I'd probably think, oh, there's a little Japanese man.

[12:04]

Want some feedback? Want some feedback? Way over to the what? That's right. So if I saw him, I would think, oh, there's a little Japanese man with no hair. I wouldn't think, oh, look at the Zen master. Maybe you would, because sometimes you have really good vision. But I don't think I would have. But if you saw Suzuki Roshi at Zen Center with the group of people that practiced with him around that time, you'd think, who is that guy? How come all these really big young American people are around him? Not only that, but that particular group of American people. Like one of his students was...

[13:07]

voted the most inspirational player on the Stanford football team and was one of the leading apes in Planet of the Apes. If I was asked to characterize Suzuki Roshi's students at that time, I wouldn't say that they were exactly nice people But they, generally speaking, they're very high energy, very passionate people. So if you see this little Japanese guy and all these big passionate Americans around him, you might think, what is that? So the students make the teacher sometimes. So imagine if Wang Bo came to study with you, what would happen to you? Wang Bo sort of came, Wang Bo came pretty much as Wang Bo. He wasn't, you know, in the stories of Wang Bo, I tell you beforehand, there's very little, nobody's hitting Wang Bo.

[14:19]

Huh? Lin Xi hit him. Yeah, but not so far. Not until he's, not until... not until after he's the teacher. Nobody, no teachers are beating up on him. He doesn't have any big enlightenment experiences that I know of. He sort of came enlightened. Wang Bo did. Pretty much. As a matter of fact, Guishan asked Yangshan, or Yangshan asked Guishan, well, do you think Wang Bo just came that way naturally? And one of them said, well, I think... Half he came that way and the other half he got from his teacher. But he's kind of a naturally, he's one of these kind of people that make you think reincarnation, rebirth does make sense. Because he sort of, he was kind of naturally amazing. A function, great function, he had a great function. Anyway, so he comes to study and Guishan, another great one, they come to study with this new teacher.

[15:34]

So this new teacher has to grow up fast. And then Bajang teaches his congregation and says, the Buddha Dharma is not a trifling matter. Formerly, the great master Ma shouted so loudly I was deaf for three days. When Wang Bo heard this, he stuck out his tongue, you know, in shock. Dajang said to him, in the future, you will carry on. Oh, in the future, will you carry on Master Ma's Dharma? And Wang Bo says, there's no way I could do so. Today, because of what you said, I've seen Master Ma's function. But still, I haven't glimpsed Master Ma. If I carry on Matsu's teaching, then our descendants will be cut off.

[16:39]

If I carry on Master Ma's teaching, our descendants will be cut off. And Bhaijaan said, just so. Just so. The one who is her teacher's equal has diminished the teacher by half. Only a student who surpasses her teacher can transmit the teacher's dharma. So, how does this student surpass the teacher? Without refraining from hitting his teacher, Wang Bo Bao. yeah didn't hit him i added that part well like right now i'm not refraining from hitting you you're hitting me no i'm just not refraining myself from hitting you

[17:57]

I'm not really. I'm not... I'm just like this, okay? So a monk asked Bhaijaan, how does a person attain freedom? And he says, if you want, if at this moment You attain this moment, you've attained it. If you can instantly cut off emotions from the self with the mind like wood or stone, thoughts spared from worldly entrapment, like An elephant crossing a river engulfed in the rapids but taking no misstep.

[19:08]

Like an elephant walking through the swiftly churning conceptual imputations without getting caught. Like a lotus in the muddy water of conceptual thought, growing on mistaken conceptions that are not being grasped. Every day when Bhaijaan gave a talk in the hall, there was an old man who would attend along with the assembly of monks and sit in the back. One day when the congregation had departed, the old man remained.

[20:18]

Bhaijaan asked him, Who are you? The old man said, I'm not a person. Formerly, in the age of Kashyapa Buddha, I was abbot of a monastery on this mountain. I always, you know, just like recently, like today or yesterday, when I read that line, I thought, well, maybe so, more than ever before. I always thought, well, this is just mythology, you know, that on this mountain in China where Baijiang was, that at the time of a former Buddha, there was a monastery there,

[21:26]

We don't think that there was Buddhism in China at the time of the Kashyapa Buddha, do we? But what do we know? Maybe at the time of Kashyapa Buddha there was the Buddha Dharma in monasteries being practiced on Chinese mountains. This guy said it was. Where did this story come from? Who told this story first? Did Bajan tell this story? Did the monks tell this story? It's kind of amazing, you know, that we have this story. We have Bajan saying that somebody's coming to talk to him like that, or somebody's saying that, and now the story goes on. At that time, a student asked me, does the great adept fall into cause and effect or not?

[22:39]

So in our studies now, what does fall into cause and effect mean? Well, we live in cause and effect. What does fall into it mean? Yeah, grasping. It means grasping cause and effect as your idea of cause and effect. Then you fall into it. And you get churned around in it. Yes? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I won't go on. At the time a student asked me, does a great adept fall into cause and effect or not?

[24:04]

I answered saying, the great adept does not fall into cause and effect. Okay? What's this? What's that called? Hmm? Hmm? What? Yeah, but what type of story? Nihilism. It's nihilism. You don't fall into cause and effect if you're greatly enlightened. Thereafter, for 500 lifetimes, I'd been reborn in the body of a fox. Now I ask the master to turn this phrase about cause and effect on my behalf so that I may shed the fox's body." Bhai Jan said, asked the question.

[25:15]

The old man said, does a great adept fall into cause and effect or not? Bhai Jan said, The great adept is not blind to cause and effect. Upon hearing these words, the man experienced unsurpassed enlightenment. This is how Bhai John helped him. Now I have shed the body of a fox. I've been living behind your mountain. Please go there later and provide funeral services for a monk who has died." Bhai Jan then instructed the temple director to tell the monks to assemble after the next meal for a formal service. The monks were all mystified by this because there was no one who was ill in the temple.

[26:21]

infirmary, so how could this be? After the meal, Baijian instructed the monks to assemble beneath a grotto behind the mountain. He then brought out the body of a dead fox with his staff and proceeded to cremate it according to the established ritual for monks. In the evening, Baijian entered the hall and brought up or discussion, what had transpired. Wang Bo said, when the ancient spoke of a single phrase incorrectly, he fell into rebirth 500 times in the body of a fox. Originally, had he answered correctly, what would have happened? Bai Zhan said, come closer and I'll tell you."

[27:23]

Wang Bo did come closer and then Wang Bo hit Bai Zhang. Bai Zhang laughed and clapped his hand saying, it is said that the barbarian's beard is red but there's yet another barbarian and there's yet another red-bearded barbarian and that's where Guishan says later do you think Wang Bo had this naturally or did he get it from somebody else and Yangshan said he got some of it from his teacher but the rest was his natural ability And Guizhong said, just so, just so. Bai Zhang, trying to help people, went up to the hall to give a talk.

[28:40]

When the monks had assembled, he suddenly leaped off the Dharma seat and started chasing them with a big stick. They stampeded towards the door. And when most of them were on the verge of going out, he yelled at them. When they turned around, he said, what is it? You've already heard that Wang Bo taught, basically he taught over and over, very simply, give up conceptual grasping, give up conceptuality, give up conceptual thought.

[29:45]

Stop. No grasping, no seeking. Over and over. And again, this is, you see this starting with his ancestors. No seeking, no seeking. Students come seeking the Dharma and they get taught no seeking. Students come to gain enlightenment and they get taught no gaining mind. Ong Boat said, seeking is birth Grasping is death. No seeking is birthless. No grasping is deathless. Still, Wang Bo did things like bow to the ground to Buddhist statues.

[30:59]

when he was head monk at somebody else's temple, not Bai Jiang's. It turned out that the future emperor of China came to practice at that temple incognito because his older brother was trying to kill him. So he was practicing Zen in the same temple as Bai Jiang, I mean as Wang Bo. And one day he saw Wang Bo, the head monk, prostrating himself to the Buddha. And he knew Wang Bo taught not to seek anything, not to seek anything from Buddha, not to seek anything from Dharma, not to seek anything from Sangha. Of course we need Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Of course we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. But we take refuge without seeking, according to Wang Bo. So there he is bowing to the Buddha, and the future emperor says to him, not seeking Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha, how come you're bowing to Buddha?

[32:18]

Or you don't seek Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha, so why are you bowing to Buddha? or actually I'd said it wrong, not seeking Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha. When you bow like this, what are you seeking? And Wang Bo said, not seeking Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is how I bow. Or I bowed to Buddha

[33:23]

as my way of not seeking Buddha. And then the young future emperor says, then why Bao and Wang Bo hit him? And the future emperor said, you're really too crude. And Wang Bo said, what place is this we're in for such idle chatter? And hit him again. And this story is called The Future Emperor is Hit Three Times. But I only see two. Somebody see a third one in there someplace? One's missing. You see the missing one? Where is it? Really?

[34:25]

Really? I wanted to say something that I forgot to say, and that is today's etymological revelation. Some of you may already know this because I told some people already, but anyway, do you know what the word host, what the root of the word host is? Go ahead. Even those of you who know it can say it. Huh? What? It's guest. The root of host is guest. The word host originally meant guest. The Greek word for guest is host. So, the people who took care of the guests came to be called the hosts.

[35:26]

The people who took care of the hosts came to be called the hosts. Host means guest or stranger or enemy in Greek. So it's a good word for Zen, don't you think? Guest and host thing. So anyway, playing in the role of the host, I just wanted to say before this talk started, which I forgot, is that this suchness that we need to meditate on for liberation must be based on an unadulterated moral commitment. Because as we meditate on suchness, as we transcend concepts, we can slip into

[36:32]

losing track of moral commitment, unless it's very strong. For example, if you're practicing giving up conceptual clinging, you need to be committed to the precept of not slandering. and the precept of not praising self at the expense of others. Because as you start to explore transcending concepts like that, you might feel certain words coming into your mind which have been allowed to come up because of letting go of conceptual grasping.

[37:39]

And you might feel the vitality of that function. So you have to be committed to, you know, not praising your own vitality at the expense of other people's vitality. You have to be committed to not taking the opportunity that's not given in this process. The other side of the story, in other words, the other lineage across the landscape, the parallel lineage to Wang Bo emerging with the assistance of Baizhang is Xun Yan emerging with the assistance of Baizhang.

[38:53]

and Yaoshan. So our ancestor in the Soto lineage, Yun-Yin, actually is a student of both lineages. When he was apparently very young, he went to Baizhang and was Baizhang's attendant, they say, for 20 years. But again, we see that attendance doesn't necessarily mean that you're the only attendant, but that anyway, he was in attendance upon the teacher for 20 years, apparently from the time of 14 years old until 34, when Baijian died. However, they say that even though he studied with the great teacher for twenty years, he didn't attain realization. And then later he went to study with Yashin.

[40:00]

So he studied with Bhaijan and then later went to study with Yashan. And in the record of his interactions with Yashan, starts out by Yashan trying to find out from this young man about this great teacher who is, again, his relative in Dharma. So he asked this young man about, well, what did Baizhang teach? What did you learn from Baizhang? And Yuen Yuen said, he often said, I have an expression which contains a hundred flavors

[41:05]

And Yashan said, something salty tastes salty, something bland tastes bland. What is neither salty or bland has a normal taste. What is meant by a phrase, by the phrase, 100 tastes are contained in one taste? And Yunyan couldn't answer. There's a lot of stories about yin-yang not being able to answer. This is our ancestor. Didn't get enlightened with Bhajan and then comes to see Yashan, asks him about Bhajan's teachings, and he doesn't have much to say. On another occasion,

[42:08]

Yashan said, what did Bhaijaan say about birth and death right before our eyes? And Yuen Yuen said, he said, there's no birth and death before our eyes. And Yashan said, how long were you with Bhaijaan? And Yuen Yuen says, 20 years. And Yashan says, you spent 20 years with Bhaijaan but you're still like this. Somebody spends 20 years with one of the greatest Zen masters of all time and they're still like this. Could that happen?

[43:12]

Well, it's right here in the history books. Is that encouraging? Not to mention 40 years with low-quality teachers. And yet the story goes on. That's the main point. Zen enlightenment is the story going on. Misery is the story stops. It's this. It's this. Even wonderful story, it's this. This misses the point. This tradition's about, it keeps going. It doesn't stop. It does not stop at this story. On another occasion, Yao Shan asked Yuen Yen about Bajang's teaching, and Yuen Yen said, once, in an attempt to help people, he went up to the hall

[44:36]

to give a talk. And when the monks had assembled, he jumped off his seat and chased them with a big stick. They stampeded to the door, at which time he yelled at them. When they turned and looked back, he said, what is it? Bhajan said, why didn't you say this before? Today, thanks to you, I finally see my elder brother. Hi. Bye, John. Upon hearing these words, Yunyan attained enlightenment. Now, we have some scenes from heaven.

[45:52]

I heard that some people think, you know, some people of the Western religious traditions think that heaven is where you get to go and, like, work out with God. It isn't like you go to heaven like, oh, I'm in heaven. It's there is when you really start to live it up. You don't use God just to get to heaven. You use spiritual practice to get to heaven to be with God. And in the Buddha way, enlightenment isn't really the end of the story. It's the beginning of the story. So, now Yunyun is enlightened. So, one day, Yaoshan says, I heard that you can tame lions. Is that so? I didn't know he could tame lions. I thought he was kind of a mediocre student. And so I was surprised to hear that Yao Shan, that Yun Yan said, yes, I do know how to tame lions.

[47:12]

Yeah, maybe. That would solve the problem. Yao Shan said, how many can you tame? And Yun Yan said, six. Six. And Yaoshan said, can I tame them too? And Yunyan said, oh, no, excuse me. That's better, but anyway. Yaoshan said, I can tame them too. And Yunyan said, how many does the master tame? And Yaoshan said, one. Yunyan said, one is six, six is one. Later, Yunyan visited Mount Gui, and Guishan said to him, I've heard it on the grapevine that when you were with Yaoshan, you did some lion taming.

[48:26]

Is that so? And Yunyan said, Yep. Guishan said, Were they always under control, or just sometimes? Yin-Yen said, when I wanted them under control, they were under control. When I wanted to let them loose, they ran loose. Guishan said, when they ran loose, where were they? Yin-Yen said, they were loose. They were loose. And, of course, you all know the story of Yin-Yan's friend, Da Wu, who, when Yin-Yan was sweeping the ground of the monastery, Da Wu said, too busy.

[49:27]

And Yin-Yan said, you should know there's one who's not busy. And Da Wu said, Then there's two moons. And Yanyan said, raised up his broom and said, which moon is this? And Da Wu left. But then later they had tea. And Da Wu said, who are you making the tea for? And Yen Yen said, there's someone who wants it. And Da Wu said, why don't you let him make it for himself? And Yen Yen said, fortunately, I'm here to do it.

[50:27]

So far, no hitting seen on this side of the lineage. It's safer over here. Pardon? A lot of talking. The next two generations are the generations where the school starts. The next generation on this side is the generation of Dongshan. And the next generation on the other side is the generation of Linji. This is the two people where the character of the school seems to be like...

[51:40]

sets in place. These aren't the two greatest teachers. Their ancestors are equal to them, of course. But by the time you come to the next generation, you kind of see the quality of the two schools. The difference becomes kind of like well realized. But I'm showing you, I'm trying to show you how they're really very closely related. and are coming from two brothers who really have very similar teaching but whose personalities are a little different. So then the lineages vary a little bit as they get four generations away. So we'll see when we look at how Dungsan was trained and how he taught. It's quite different than the way Linji was trained and the way he taught. But still, you know, it's wonderfully connected, the two different ways.

[52:45]

So that's probably as far as we need to go during the session. So sometime later, I'll discuss with you Dongshan and Linji. Is that okay? So maybe if you now are in classes, if you want to think about how and talk about how, contemplate how these Zen lineages work with this teaching that we're studying, please do so. I myself, part of the reason why I'm offering these teachings about the sutras, I think they help us understand sort of the subtle inner workings of the minds of the ancestors.

[53:55]

Just like the sutras about what was going on in Buddha's mind when Buddha taught certain ways, I think the sutra also helps us understand what the ancestors were actually doing when they made these creative responses to beings, where the real pivotal opportunity is, what it is about the mind that can turn toward affliction or turn towards liberation. Where's the point that it sticks or comes loose? I think these stories show ways to help people in daily life and the sutra shows, clarifies what it is to be stuck and what it is not to be stuck. And the infinite subtleties of how we can get stuck and how we can get released. The bigger the blockage,

[55:04]

bigger the release.

[55:07]

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