This is the second day of our sasheen, and as sasheen progresses, we're sitting in pretty much the same seat, three meals a day, servers come and go. We're looking across the aisle. We see the same people and pretty soon we start judging their habits. I feel a little funny about the way this person is walking or the way that person is scratching their nose or, you know, these little things come up. And then because we can't go someplace and think about something else, we dwell. There's a tendency to dwell on these little irritations. So I want to bring this up and to be aware that not to be caught

[01:14]

by our irritations or those things that can make us feel uncomfortable. So best is to just swallow it. Or just allow for that to happen. It's okay for that to happen. It's okay if this person scratches their nose that way or puts their finger in their ear or whatever. It's okay. That's their business. This is my business. So I'm going to continue with the autobiography of the Sixth Ancestor.

[02:36]

And we got to the place in this autobiography where, before that, I want to continue with what I was saying. If there's someone who's sitting next to you, if you have been here for a bit of time and you can do oryoki pretty well and so forth. If the person sitting next to you doesn't know very much, then silently, tacitly, please help them. You should be aware of the people on either side of you. So if you kind of know what you're doing and you see the person next to you fumbling or confused, Don't let them continue that way. You can help that person. So it's called on-the-job training. Ross. So you're not correcting, you're simply helping.

[04:04]

That's the difference. You're not saying, you're doing this wrong. You're simply saying, this is the way we hold our mudra. This is the way we bow to the cushion first and then bow away. Instead of bowing away and then confusingly bowing to the cushion, and not realizing the meaning of this. So you can show people these things without being critical. And then if they're fumbling with their oriolki, you can just have them watch you. So this is helping. It's not criticizing. That's the difference. And you do what you can. Don't try to do it all. But what's easy to do, you do. So, we've come to the point where Daimon Kōnen, the fifth patriarch, is giving Dharma transmission to Huineng in the middle of the night.

[05:17]

So, I want to go back a little bit where he said, the next day, well, let's see, Knowing what, the next day the ancestor, the patriarch, came secretly to the room where the rice was pounded, and seeing that I was working there with a stone pestle, he said to me, a seeker of the path risks their life for the Dharma. Should that person not do so? And then he asked, is the rice ready? Remember this? And ready long ago. I replied, only waiting for the sieve. He knocked on the motor three times with his stick and left. And knowing what that message meant, in the third watch of the night, I went to his room. That's midnight, somewhere between 11 and 12. Using the web as a screen so that no one could see us, he expanded the Diamond Sutra to me.

[06:21]

When he came to the sentence, one should use one's mind in such a way that it will be free from any attachment, I at once became thoroughly enlightened and realized that all things in the universe are the essence of mind itself. This is like I don't know about before Huineng, but I think that the Soto school takes its basis for Dharma transmission from that part of the sutra. because dharma transmission is given between 11 and 12 midnight. I mean, the completion of dharma transmission is between 11 and 12 at midnight. So it has that same flavor. And it has all the strange things as well.

[07:23]

Who would have thought, I said to the ancestor, that the essence of mind is intrinsically pure. meaning non-dual. Purity means non-dual. I think we have to really understand when we're talking about purity, and he talks about purity also later on, that there are people who are always talking about a state of purity but not really understanding what that means. Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically free from becoming or annihilation? In other words, it's not subject to becoming or annihilation. It's the source of becoming and annihilation, but it's not subject to becoming and annihilation. Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically self-sufficient?

[08:31]

Who would have thought that the essence of mind is intrinsically free from change? Free from change doesn't mean no change. It simply means free from change, or free within change, or is change itself, which is its freedom. If we realize that change itself is actually freedom, then we have no problem. And who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the essence of mind? So knowing that, I have realized the essence of mind. The ancestor said, for one who does not know his own mind, there is no use learning Buddhism. That's a bit of an exaggeration, I think. On the other hand, if that person knows their own mind and sees intuitively their own nature, they can be a teacher of gods and men, a Buddha. Thus, to the knowledge of no one, the Dharma was transmitted to me at midnight, and consequently I became the inheritor of the teaching of the seventh school as well as the robe and the begging bowl.

[09:40]

You are now the sixth ancestor, he said. Take good care of yourself and deliver as many sentient beings as possible. Spread and preserve the teaching and don't let it come to an end. Take note of my stanza. Sentient beings who sow the seeds of enlightenment in the field of causation will reap the fruit of Buddhahood. Innate objects void of Buddha nature sow not and reap not. So this is, you know, also when Dharma transmission is given, this is to preserve the teaching and don't let it come to an end. So this is the entrustment to someone who has Dharma transmission, to never let the teaching come to an end. And that's their purpose in life. They have no other purpose in life except that. That's why...

[10:41]

We like to give Dharma transmission to people who have that vow or capacity. He further said, when the ancestor of Bodhidharma first came to China, most Chinese had no confidence in him, and so this robe was handed down as a testimony from one ancestor to another. Yes. Can you go back a line, because there's this point where we've heard it both ways. The one after, the second line of his stanza. The inanimate object? Yes. The word of Buddha nature, yeah. It's a kind of questionable, kind of questionable sentence. void of buddhism, because all things that have buddhism are aspects of buddhism.

[11:49]

They're kind of contradictory. So I don't know how good this sentence is, really. We have to remember, this is not an accurate thing. This is not what the sixth ancestor said. This is a story based on certain facts that people remember. from the 8th century, and it's woven into a story that has meaning as a myth, Buddhist mythology. And it's the mythology that's important, more important than the facts. So in translation, things get construed in a certain way. So if you have a good understanding then you can see kind of where things get misspoken or in translation questionable.

[12:52]

So I didn't dwell on that one. I just kind of read it, but I didn't say anything about it, because to me it's also questionable, that sentence. Yeah. I thought I was accepting it in the context of your kind of transmitting this mission to go help people who are subject to karma, which means who can take volitional action. And so you're making a distinction between the sentient being that can take volitional action and generate karma versus... Inanimate object. Inanimate object. I think that's right. It wasn't an absolute statement, but was more in the context. Right. So I think you have to see it in the context. Right. I agree with that. Is there actually a danger that the Sixth Ancestor would go around trying to save rocks? Well, we should be doing that.

[13:54]

We should be going around saving rocks. The rocks can't generate their own... That's right, we have to save the rocks, because they can't save themselves. But anyway, rocks are subject to birth and death. He said you have to save the rocks from your own head, right? You're welcome any further along. I remember when we were having our kitchen remodeled, and we said, oh, they have all these marble kitchen tabletops that are really the big thing now. And then we went and looked at some of those, and they're beautiful. But on the wall, this was a Chinese place, there was a poster. not a kind of calendar poster, that had this mountain of marble that was being disassembled.

[14:58]

Being disassembled. And we looked at that and said, sorry, we can't do that. It just went against our grain to participate in the disassembly of this beautiful marble mountain. So we did something else. Anyway, we have to save the rocks. But sentient beings, people can be saved in a different way. Anyway, so he further said, when the ancestor Bodhidharma first came to China, most Chinese had no confidence in him. And so this robe was handed down as a testimony from one ancestor to another. As to the Dharma, this is transmitted from heart to heart or mind to mind, and the recipient must realize it through their own efforts. So that one should realize through their own efforts.

[16:04]

From time immemorial, it has been the practice for one Buddha to pass to his successor the quintessence of the Dharma, and for one ancestor to transmit to another the esoteric teaching from heart to heart. As the robe may give cause for dispute, you are the last one to inherit it. Should you hand it down to your successor, your life would be in imminent danger. Now, leave this place as quickly as you can, lest someone should do you harm." Now, this is interesting because the symbol of the transmission is the robe and the bowl. And in those days, so people say, well, how come they're still doing this? In those days, there was one transmission to one ancestor. Like if you look at the successions. But after Huineng, there were various, more than one handing down the transmission to more than one disciple.

[17:10]

So, the succession continues, but it continues in a multiple way rather than in a single line. So, Seigen Gyoshi and Nagaku Eijo were two of Huineng's main disciples who received the But he also had more than that. So from Huineng, the multiplicity of lines developed. So the transmission still continues that way. Hung Nung asks, well, where should I go? And the ancestor says, at we, you stop, and at wu, you seclude yourself. Well, where is we and wu? Wu wei means no self, or emptiness.

[18:23]

So I think it's a kind of play on words. Upon receiving the robe in the begging bowl in the middle of the night, I told the ancestor that being a southerner, I did not know the mountain tracks, and that it was impossible for me to get to the mouth of the river to catch a boat. You need not worry, he said. I'll go with you. So he then accompanied me to Kyukyong. I don't know if he ordered him or not, but get into the boat. We boarded the boat. As he did the rowing himself, I asked him to sit down and let me handle the oar. It's only right for me to carry you across, he said. This is like symbolic, you know, of the teacher taking the student across.

[19:28]

It's only right for me to carry you across, he said, an illusion of the sea of birth and death, which one has to go across before the shore of Nirvana can be reached. And to this I asked, I replied, while I am under illusion, It is for you to get me across. But after enlightenment, I should cross it by myself. Although the term to go across is the same, it is used differently in each case. As I happen to be born on the frontier, like in southern China, the barbaric land. Since I haven't been born on the frontier, even my speaking is incorrect in pronunciation. But in spite of this, I've had the honor to inherit the Dharma from you. Since I am now enlightened, it is only right for me to cross the sea of birth and death myself by realizing my own essence of mind." I just want to say something. You know, in the Sandokai,

[20:44]

You know, Sekito composed, Sekito was a disciple of Nangaku, of Seigen Gyoshi, who was a disciple of the sixth ancestor. So, Sekito was a grandson of Hoinan in Dharma, and he composed the Sando Kai. And the Sando Kai is based on, there's no ancestor of North or South. There's no particular ancestor, and this is what he's referring to. He's referring to, there's no one ancestor of North or South. In other words, he's saying that the sixth ancestor, Huineng and Shenshu, who wrote the Gata on the wall, are equal. That's what he's saying. We shouldn't quarrel over who is the right ancestor.

[21:49]

Yeah? Is this the Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness? Say that again, please. The Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness? Is that... The harm... There's another name for the song of kai. Oh, the Harmony of Difference and Unity, yes. That's right. Yeah. So, I am now enlightened that it is only right for me to cross the sea of birth and death myself by realizing my own essence of mind. So, quite so, he agreed. And beginning for me, Buddhism, meaning the Dhyana school, Dhyana school is the meditation school, will become very popular. Three years after your departure from me, I shall leave this world, and you may start on your journey now. So go as fast as you can toward the south.

[22:51]

Do not preach too soon, as Buddhism of the Dhyana school is not so easily spread, which is quite true. Three years after your departure, I shall leave this world. It was somewhat popular, I think, in China for the masters to predict their own demise, but it's a little more mythical than that. Actually, I think it probably did happen sometimes, but I think it's an exaggeration. But sometimes that's true. There's a great story of how Tozan left, but it's too much to talk about now. You want to know about that? Well, Master Tozan, Tungshan, said to his disciples, I'm going to go now in a few days.

[24:08]

And then when he finally, they were all standing around him and he said goodbye and sat up and left. And they all started crying and moaning, and he opened his eyes, and he said, you foolish guys, what are you doing? If you don't understand what's happening, you just don't understand what's happening. You think something bad is happening or something, you know? And he said, just for that, I'm going to wait another week. I'm going to wait another week, and at the end of that week, we'll have a stupidity-eliminating meal. A banquet. So, a week later, they had this huge banquet, and then he sat up in Zazen and said, now it's time for me to say goodbye.

[25:16]

And he died, so to speak. He left. I was remembering a story about Zen Master Sung San who, since the anniversary of his death, he was sick for many years and, you know, deteriorating and at one point he was being rushed to the hospital and all his monks were following him and he opened his eyes and said, don't worry, not dying time, just rehearsing. Okay. So, after saying goodbye, I left him and walked towards the south. In about two months' time, I reached the Taiyu Mountains.

[26:18]

There, I noticed that several men... It says here several hundred, but... And I don't know how he noticed it, but he got wonder of it, that several... a number, I'd say a number of men were in pursuit of me with the intention of robbing me of my robe and begging bowl. So you'd say, the question always comes into your mind, what kind of a monastery did this fifth patriarch have? But I think in those days, they probably just let anybody in who wanted to practice. And there are all kinds of people who would want to practice. Some people would just want food. want to eat every day. That was common, and there were people that were sincerely wanting to practice, but they were there for all kinds of reasons. So, among them, there was a monk named Wei Ming, whose lay surname was Chen, and he was a general of the fourth rank in lay life.

[27:33]

His manner was rough and his temper hot. Of all the pursuers, he was the most vigilant in search of me. When he was about to overtake me, I threw the robe and the begging bowl on the rock." I think he just kind of put it there. I don't think he threw it there. That's like, you know, in a hurry, he put it there. When he was about to overtake me, I hurriedly put the robe and begging bowl on a rock, saying, this robe is nothing but a symbol. What's the use of taking it away by force? And then hid myself behind a rock. And when he got to the rock, he tried to pick them up, but found he could not. Then he shouted out, lay brother, lay brother, for the patriarch had not yet formally joined the order.

[28:42]

I come for the dharma, not for the robe. So, this is interesting, you know, that he couldn't pick them up. Well, why couldn't he pick them up? they weren't stuck on the rock, they weren't heavy, but he just realized that he just couldn't pick them up, because he realized just when he went to pick them up, he realized who he was and where he was at, and picking them up would not have been the thing to do. So, this reminds me of the story of the sword in the rock, that only one person can take it out and then it comes out easily. And also, you know, going back to the gatha on the wall, like the handwriting on the wall.

[29:43]

It kind of parallels, in a way, Western mythology. Both of those do. So, whereupon I came out from my hiding place and squandered on the rock. I don't think squandered is the right word. I think he did zazen. on the rock. You know, when cross-legged sitting is translated from the Asian, sometimes it's translated as squatting. And sometimes putting your hands together is translated as clasping. So I came out from my hiding place and sat down on the rock and crossed my legs. This is my interpretation. And he made obeisance and said, lay brother, please preach to me.

[30:47]

Since the object of your coming is the Dharma, said I, sit down with me in Zazen. and refrain from thinking of anything and keep your mind clear. It says blank, but clear. I will then teach you. Keep your mind open. I will then teach you. When he had done this for a considerable time, I said, when you are thinking of neither good nor evil, what is at that particular moment, Venerable Sir, your true nature? or original face, when you are thinking neither good nor evil. Also, when you're not thinking dualistically, when you're rising above duality, what is your original face at that moment?

[31:51]

So he was teaching him through Zazen. As soon as he heard this, he at once became enlightened. But he further asked, apart from these esoteric sayings and esoteric ideas handed down by the ancestors from generation to generation, are there any other esoteric teachings? What I can tell you is not esoteric, I replied. If you turn your light inwardly, you will find what is esoteric within you. So, this is the essence of the Dhyana school, right? There's nothing esoteric about it, although people seem to think that Zen has some esoteric teaching. It's all quite simple and aboveboard. So this is kind of like when Dogen says, turn the light inward, to take the backward step and turn the light inward.

[33:14]

And this is what he's referring to. And it comes from this sutra. So it's like when you light a match in the closet, or if you light, when you turn on the light, And on your lamp, the light is reflected off of the shade and shines down. But if you take off the shade, it goes everywhere. That's also necessary. But this is, actually, this is called, what Dogen calls, Ji-Ji-Yu-Za-Mai. joyous or self-fulfilling samadhi when the light is turned inward, and tanjuyu samadhi when the light is turned outward.

[34:16]

So, the light is focused in zazen, the light is focused inward, And when you leave, the light is focused outward. People say, how do I practice in the world? Well, by shining your light outward. That's all that's necessary. All the rest is commentary. In spite of my staying in Wang Bu Yi, said he, I did not realize my self-nature. Now, thanks to your guidance, I know it as a water drinker knows how hot or how cold the water is. Lay brother, you are now my teacher. I replied, if that is so, then you and I are fellow disciples of the sixth ancestor. Take good care of yourself. So that's, he's not,

[35:19]

He's not exaggerating his competence. When he's actually referring this person who says, you are now my teacher, he's referring him to his teacher, their teacher. He said, he's the teacher of both of us. You should go back to the monastery and help him clear things up back there. That's what he's saying to him. So I replied, if that is so, then you and I are fellow disciples of the fifth ancestor. Take good care of yourself. In answering his question, whether he should go thereafter, I told him to stop at Yu'en and take up his abode in Hmong, whatever that means. He paid homage and departed. Sometime after I reached Cao Cai, there were evildoers. There the Uyghurs again persecuted me, and I had to take refuge in Zerui, where I stayed with a party of hunters for a period of as long as 15 years, which would make him, I don't know, the dates, how old he is, nobody knows.

[36:45]

So he stayed with these hunters, you know, The fifth ancestor told him to go out and mature his understanding for a long time. This is common, but it's hard to do. In China, then, it was easier. Okay, so occasionally I preached to them in a way that befitted their understanding. Incidentally, this incident of being pursued by Huining and the incident of the robe and the bowl on the rock is a koan in the Mumonkan, which you can study. I can't remember what number it is, but you'll find it.

[37:50]

So, they used to, the hunters, so occasionally I preached to them in a way that befitted their understanding, so he could talk to them, he could preach the Dharma without saying that he was the sixth ancestor or anything else, just through his way of speaking to them or relating to them. They used to put me to watch their nets, but whenever I found living creatures in them, I set them free. For 15 years. And they never caught on. At meal times, I put vegetables in the pan in which they cooked their meat. Some of them questioned me, and I explained to them that I would eat the vegetables only after they had been cooked with the meat. One day, I bethought myself that I ought not to pass a secluded life all the time, and that it was high time for me to propagate the law.

[39:02]

Accordingly, I left there and went to the Fat Tat Ching temple in Canton. At that time, Bhikkhu Yin Chung, master of the Dharma, was lecturing on the Maha Parinirvana Sutra in the temple. There are two Parinirvana Sutras. One is the Pali Parinirvana, which is short, and the other is the Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra, which is very long. So, at that time, Bhikkhu Yonchong, master of Dharma, was lecturing on the Mahaparinirvana Sutra in the temple. It happened that one day, when a pennant was blowing about by the wind, this is a famous story, you all know it, but by the wind, two bhikkhus entered into a dispute as to what it was that was in motion, the wind or the pennant. As they could not settle their difference, I submitted to them that it was neither, and that what actually moved was their own mind.

[40:10]

The whole assembly was startled by what I said, and Bhikkhu Yin Chung invited me to take a seat of honor and questioned me about various naughty points in the sutras." So this is also a koan, presented as a koan in the Mumonkan. Mr. Mumon says, the pennant is not moving, the wind is not moving, your mind is not moving. No. It's neither the pennant, nor the wind, nor the mind. Everything is in complete stillness. That's like one upping. But it's not, if we understand the ancestors' meaning. Of course, when you look at the wind and the flag or the pennant, they're both moving, right?

[41:25]

But it means, which one are we focusing on as moving? Is the wind moving the flag or is the flag moving the wind? Well, that's an interesting concept. But it's your mind that's moving. It's neither the wind or the flag nor the mind. Everything is in complete stillness. Well, that's right, yeah, that's a good point. Good point. So there's something deeper, what he means by mind, what the sixth ancestor means by mind is something deeper, although

[42:36]

Thinking mind, yes, he's saying thinking mind, but actually there's something that's beneath thinking mind that is actually doing the thinking and the moving. So anyway, this is considered a koan in a sense. Seeing that my answers were precise and accurate, and that they showed something more than book knowledge, he said to me, hey brother, you must be an extraordinary person. I was told long ago that the inheritor of the fifth ancestor's robe and dharma had come to the south. Very likely, you are that person. To this I politely assented. He immediately made obeisance and asked me to show the assembly the robe and the begging bowl, which I had inherited. He further asked what instructions I had when the fifth ancestor transmitted me the Dharma.

[43:42]

And I said, apart from a discussion on the realization of the essence of mind, I replied, he gave me no other instruction, nor did he refer to dhyana and emancipation. Why not, he asked, because that would mean two ways, and there cannot be two ways in the dharma. There is one way only. So if you say, dhyana means meditation, and emancipation means freedom. So the wording's a little funny, When you say dharma and emancipation, those are two things. So that's what he means by, Dhyana is emancipation. And emancipation is Dhyana. They're not two things. So this is kind of foreshadowing where I suspect you can go talking about Samadhi and Prajna.

[44:51]

Yeah, that's right. But that's Samadhi and Prajna. That's what he's actually saying. But he's saying it in that way. There's a whole couple of chapters on prajna which come after this. So, that's right. Dhyana, which is basically samadhi, And emancipation, in that sense, is prajna, or freedom of mind, are not two things. It's like the lamp and its light. The lamp is like dhyana or samadhi, and the light is prajna of the lamp. So the lamp and its light, you can see them as two things, but they're really one thing. So when we sit in dhyana or samadhi, we're lit up with prajna.

[46:09]

So he asked, what was the only way? Well, what is this one way? And I replied, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which you expound, explains, so he's telling him the true meaning of that sutra that he's expounding. which you expound, explains that Buddha nature is the only way. For example, in that sutra, King Kokwai Thak, a bodhisattva, asked Buddha whether or not those who commit the four parajika offenses, I'll explain those, four parajika acts of misconduct, or the five deadly sins, and those who are achantika would eradicate the defilement of goodness and their buddha nature. And Buddha replied, there are two kinds of element of goodness, the eternal and the non-eternal.

[47:11]

Since buddha nature is neither eternal nor non-eternal, therefore the element of goodness is not eradicated. So, and I don't know if that makes sense to you, but it's kind of a logical trick. In other words, all sentient beings are Buddha nature, and everyone can be saved. Icchantika means one who holds a heretical view, basically, and the heretical view means the belief in a soul. that there's a soul that transmigrates eternally. That's eternalism. And then the annihilationism is like, at the end, there's nothing. So those two extremes are avoided in Buddhism. Eternalism and annihilationism are non-Buddhist concepts.

[48:14]

So he says there are two kinds of element of goodness, the eternal and the non-eternal. So these are not Buddhist concepts. Since Buddha nature is neither eternal nor non-eternal, therefore the element of goodness is not eradicated, because it doesn't exist in the first place. Now Buddhism is known as having no two ways. there are good ways and evil ways. But since Buddha nature is neither, therefore Buddhism is known as having no two ways. From the point of view of ordinary folks, the component parts of a personality, the skandhas and the factors of consciousness, the dhatus, are two separate things. But enlightened people understand that they are not dual in nature, because Buddha nature is non-duality. So, he's letting, you know, explaining that all these dualities are not mortal nature.

[49:25]

So Bhikkhu Yen Chung was highly pleased with my answer. Putting his two palms together as a sign of respect, he said, my interpretation of the sutra is as worthless as a heap of debris, while your discourse is as valuable as genuine gold. Subsequently, he conducted the ceremony of haircutting for me, that is, He made him, ordained him as a monk. The ceremony of initiation into the order and asked me to accept him as my pupil. The four, the chantika, you know, in the Theravada ordination, there are 300 and 250 precepts And they're divided into major and minor. And the four most major, which begin, are called prajnaka, offenses.

[50:30]

If you make these offenses, the offenses are categorized. They're minor offenses and major offenses. And each has a different consequence. But the major offenses, are called parajikas, and that means that you're expelled from the sangha. So, the first one is having any kind of sex. Sorry. The second one is stealing. And the third one is killing, but basically it's killing a Buddha, killing your mother, killing your father, are killing and are hotter, just killing people. And the fourth one is false speaking. In other words, claiming enlightenment when you're not enlightened. So all those are puragic offenses, as a bhikkhu, as a monk.

[51:31]

So therefore, under the Bodhi tree, That's interesting. He's in China. Therefore, under the Bodhi tree, I preach the teaching of the Dungshan school, the school of the fourth and fifth ancestors who lived in Dungshan. So Dungshan is a mountain. We could call Dungshan Conan if we wanted to. But we say Dungshan as Tosan Ryokai, right? Dongshan Liangjie. By the mountain, these ancestors were mostly called by the mountain name, where they taught. So Dongshan Liangjie. So, since the time when the Dharma was transmitted to me in Dungshan, I have gone through many hardships, and my life often seemed to be hanging by a thread.

[52:42]

Today I've had the honor of meeting you in this assembly, and I must ascribe this to our good connection in previous kalpas, or cyclical periods, as well as to our common accumulated merits in taking offerings, in making offerings to various Buddhas in our past incarnations. Otherwise, we should have had no chance of hearing the above teaching of a sudden school, and thereby laying the foundation of our future success in understanding the dharma. So, you know, whether you believe in these cyclical events or not, and affinities in past lives and so forth, people did believe in this. You may or may not believe in this. But there are affinities for one reason or another. So the reason that we're all sitting in this room is because there are certain affinities which we all have based on our past karma.

[53:44]

I don't know about past lives exactly, but past karma. We all have these affinities and we all have separate personalities, but there's something that's common. a common affinity that we all share. Otherwise, you'd be out watching a movie or something, a different movie. This teaching was handed down from the past and ancestors, and it is not a system of my own invention. Those who wish to hear the teaching should purify their own mind. And after hearing it, they should each clear up their own doubts in the same way as the sages did in the past. At the end of the address, the assembly felt rejoiced and made obeisance and departed. So yes, clearing your own mind through purifying.

[54:52]

How do we purify our own mind? If we use non-duality as a touchstone, it won't be so difficult to understand. Suzuki Roshi used to say, when you hear, and other people, when you listen to a Dharma talk, you should not think about your mental responses or opinions, but simply let your mind be totally open. without thinking right or wrong or good or bad, and just let it in. Later you can think about good or bad, right or wrong. But basically, of course you can do whatever you want, but basically to actually hear it, to just leave your mind totally open. But if you didn't, you'd have questions.

[55:56]

which we don't have time for. So that's the end of the autobiography. And next he talks about prajna, and then he talks about, later, the repentance, which is the ordination ceremony, which is the actual central point of the sutra, central part of the sutra.

[56:27]

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