May it be easier in sashim, too, since there's less of us for everyone to sit more on this side. Don't move. Now, I have to keep... I'm sorry I'm not joining you so far on services and chanting and meals. It's still a little difficult to eat and I can't put my head down lower than my body so easily, and chanting especially. I can chant by myself, but with everyone the vibration is so strong on that thin membrane. It's a rather interesting feeling. I think all of us must be practicing Zazen because we've found, maybe I could say that it polishes our jewel, but at least it helps us to bring out, to act on,

[01:33]

nature, what we find to be our nature. And to act on is important, I think. Someone asked me yesterday at the Green Gulch about memory. They were afraid of... This isn't exactly what they meant, but maybe partly. They were afraid of losing their memory if they stopped thinking. And actually Zen practice, when you can see things from many points of view, maybe reaches into the most remote corners of our memory, bringing up many associations. difference is probably that memory becomes... the associations become something we can act on. So one of the most noticeable things, I think, for someone who practices doesn't, is while many things come up

[02:55]

in our meditation and while we notice many things about ourselves or about something we can't quite call ourself, it becomes possible to act on or act with that which we notice. Can you hear me okay in this room? So first, of course, we notice what kind of particular person we are, having such and such a tendency or habit, attitude. And then you notice some universal nature,

[04:01]

some nature that's joined to everything. And some people, of course, decide or find themselves devoting themselves entirely, completely to that nature which you can't name as particular. Some people don't see that side so much and it's difficult for them to understand why some people practice the way they do. But actually, even if you are a person who finds through your meditation and through your life conduct your particular nature, on everything. To the extent that you can act on it and that you notice it in the way I'm speaking about, actually you are noticing the particular and the universal.

[05:39]

and and and the teaching of Buddhism or Koans, Zen stories, are to introduce some stone maybe into the stream, some first principle, some clear point or example of where our universal and particular natures are joined. where our activity extends to everything. So this stone in the stream or this koan is as Suzuki Roshi said meant to be understood by you through your experience through your thorough experience of yourself and others and your

[07:12]

especially through your practice, from many points of view. So the story I'm talking about is about Tokusan and Issan. And I may have... I've been talking about other stories about Tokusan, but the main story, which some of you don't know, is... Tokusan comes to Issan's temple. Issan is a very, very famous Zen master. living on Kueishan Mountain. His name is Kueishan Isan Singh, Chinese and Japanese. And he's, Tokson is coming with his

[08:31]

Again, traveling with his pilgrim's robes, bowing cloth, zangu, nishidana, and some kind of backpack. He comes to Hisan's temple where maybe 1,500 monks are living. And he goes into the zendo and paces from east to west and west to east, and he says, nothing, nothing, and he leaves. But he gets to the gate about to leave the temple, the monastery, and he, maybe he thinks, I should enter this monastery more formally. My visit should be more appropriate. I was too hasty, perhaps." So he turns around and makes a formal announcement. When you visit, perhaps someone hits the Han and

[09:48]

He must have seemed like more than just an ordinary visitor because he came to pay his respects to Hisan and the temple and Hisan came to greet him. And so he came into the room and said, teacher, master, or something, and spread his bowing cloth. And as he started to bow, Isan, who was sitting in front of him, picked up his whisk, his yak-tail whisk, you know, and he started to pick up his whisk, and Toksan said, Kvass, and picked up his bowing cloth, and shook his sleeve, and went out. And Setsho, Setsho commented on when he came and went east and west, you know, and said, nothing, nothing. Setsho said, seen right through. And then when

[11:23]

Toksana shouted, quats, and left. Setso again says, seen right through. And in the evening of that day, Isan turned to his Ajisha and said, that young man who came here this afternoon, this morning, where is he? And Vajisha said, he put on his sandal and he left immediately. Hengo. Hengo comments, drawing the bow after the thief has left at this point in the story. And Isan says to Ajisha, that young man, he will go to some precipitous mountain and build himself a solitary hut and abuse the patriarchs and Buddhists.

[12:51]

and sexual comments, a piling frost on snow. Now, in a story like this, you already know something about Toksan and his encounter with the rice cake lady, and his encounter with Ryutan in person. And I think you know about his blowing out Lantern being blown out by Ryuten. Do you know that story? Some of you don't. Well, anyway, I'll tell you eventually. This story is a little bit... These teachers are all so famous that there's many, many, many stories. Maybe 20 or so that directly relate to this story. I don't know if I can tell you all of them. You'd have too many stories. What was going on here? If you did this, what would you be doing? Is this just a foolish story or is it realistic? Can you imagine it happening? What could their motivation be? Did somebody win or lose this

[14:46]

encounter. How did these two men, Issan and Tok-san, understand each other or not understand each other? What was happening is the question. Can you put yourselves in Tok-san's shoes and Issan's shoes and would you act the same way? Hisan, you should know, was no pushover. He was Hyakujo's Pai-chan disciple, Hyakujo who founded our then monastic life. And some old... How Hyakujo, how Hisan got to Hisan Mountain is some old hermit came to visit Hyakujo

[15:54]

and said, there's this wonderful wild mountain which needs some Buddhist teacher there. Is there anyone in your community who can take this responsibility? And Yakujo said, what about me? And the hermit said, no, Yakujo, you are a bony skinny man. This is a fleshy, grand mountain. If you went there, you would only have 1,000 disciples. This mountain is suited for 1,500 disciples, a large community. Yakucho said, there might be someone here. And the hermit said, let me meet them one by one. So first the head monk came in. And the hermit asked the head monk to cough and walk across the room. And so he did so. And the hermit said, no.

[17:18]

And then they asked the chief cook, the head cook, Tenzo, to come in. Tommy came in. And he took one look at Tommy and said, he's the one to go to Isan Mountain. What if I did that to you, Tommy? Sent you to some wild mountain. Asked you, anyway, to go. So, He, at the evening, Hyakujo called the tenzo, the head cook, to his room and said, you should go to this mountain and live and establish a practice place. And the next day the head monk heard about it and he was rather perturbed. wondering, I'm head monk and first in seniority in this monastery, why was I not chosen? That's maybe a reasonable thing to feel, not just ambition. So

[18:38]

he asked, and Yakujo about it. And Yakujo said, if you can say something directly, accurately, appropriately in front of everyone, let's see. So, there was a water jug. Perhaps it's used for washing your hands before you handle sutras or something like that. I don't know exactly. He said, if you don't call this a water jug, what will you call it? And the head monk said, it cannot be called a wooden hinge or a wooden shoe. I don't know exactly. There are different versions. And that answer wasn't so good. And he asked Potenzo. And Tommy came over and just kicked it over and walked out.

[20:06]

So anyway, Isan was sent to Kuei Shan, to Isan Mountain, which was quite a wild mountain, I guess. Nobody lived there at all. And he lived there more or less by himself for nearly twenty years, I think. He built a small, simple hut. Thatched hut. But by the time he was an old man, there were maybe 1,500 people practicing in his community. Anyway, those stories I'll leave with you. Saturday I spoke about conduct, the second paramita, and maybe conduct

[21:43]

for us as a practice is how to join your motivation with your action, how to act on your motivation. So practicing Zazen, as I said in the beginning, you come to know your nature. and you find various motivations which you try to sort out or find being sorted out. And it's maybe a rather cooperative process. You don't do it yourself exactly. It's rather like starting to practice Buddhism. You're born and you have a body. parents and some life situation, circumstances. And what you accept and adjust to, pretty much. And then at some point you come in contact with Buddhism and you find something being called out of you, called forth from you by Buddhism. And you don't quite understand why.

[23:04]

And you didn't exactly make the decision to practice Buddhism. Buddhism is making the decision for you sometimes, seems like. And you draw back a little and go forward a little. Wondering why this ancient practice has this mysterious hold on us, some sort of marriage. We didn't invite it in. Practice is much like that. You're actually not sorting out your motivation so much as practice sorts things out and you see when you're fearful or possessive or trying to add something or subtract something and when you feel your motivation is rather pure or complete and you try to

[24:30]

act on the motivations you feel are less involved with fear or possessiveness and other motivations you try to not kill or turn away from but to find out what's really going on. So how to act on your motivation? how to sustain some action on your motivations, not to be pushed about. I talked about the precepts on Saturday. The point of view I was talking about the precepts is Taking them and in their simplest form do not kill do not steal etc. We can add the Do not think We say always do not don't think so much So you can say do not think you can kill something Do not think you can steal something Do not think you can

[25:53]

commit adultery. Do not think you can tell a lie. Actually, you can't tell a lie. Everything you do just reveals you. It doesn't fool anybody. But you can think you can tell a lie, and you can try, you know, to tell a lie, to fool someone. So these precepts cover our tendencies. Do not kill or do not think you can kill, trying to remove something. Do not think you can steal, add something. Do not commit adultery. I talked about in some detail, I think, Saturday. Do not think you are creating karma. Do not think you can lie. Do not think you can sell liquor. Selling liquor, you know, is understood as a power.

[27:25]

being caught by something or trying to catch others by something. You know, most extreme example maybe is how a crazy person tries to make everyone else crazy. Craziness is maybe a person who tries to adjust the world to them rather than willing to adjust to others and the world. Or some trying to get some power is to try to be able to make the world adjust to you. So they say don't just take liquor but don't sell liquor means don't try to make people adjust to you. Don't try to force Buddhism. Don't try to sell Buddhism. Buddhism is wonderful. Come join. This is to try to get the world to adjust to you. Don't sell something. Don't sell anything. All we do is we offer something freely. Somebody may pay us for it, but selling in the sense of adjusting power is what's meant in this, do not sell liquor.

[28:55]

So this way of looking at the precepts is to look at our motivation and how to work with our motivation, not in a Dostoevskian sense of, if you think you're going to kill someone, it's just as bad as killing somebody, but rather how do we act on our various motivations to kill or not to kill, to steal or not to steal. to understand something or not, to accumulate something or not. So what was the toksan after? What was his motivation in meeting Isang? To criticize Isang? So was Toksan holding on to something and Isan letting go or was Isan holding on to something? Anyway, to understand our motivation in some encounter like this, basic encounter between teacher and disciple, between practicing and

[30:45]

not practice, the two are unique. Even if someone knocks down his seat in his monastery, he doesn't mind at all. So if you can sit the sasheen in this way, not minding anything, not unconscious, not asleep and not conscious exactly either in the sense of figuring out or controlling pain or moods or bizarre thoughts or experiences just like so much weather around a great mountain

[32:14]

Please try to sit in this way.

[32:39]

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