Good morning. So I want to talk today about our practice in terms of this old teaching poem by the founder of this tradition in China, Dongshan, from the 9th century, The Song of the Precious Mirror of Samadhi. We're going to be focusing on this in our upcoming practice commitment period, which starts a month from now, but I'm getting a head start. So you're welcome to... I'm going to be going over particular lines from this chant that we will be chanting in the day-to-day, and that we chant regularly. It's on page 10 and 11 of your chant book. And I've been involved in translating and retranslating it so many times that I hope the version I have in front of me is the same so it's a new chance, but that can be pretty close.

[01:13]

So whether or not you're formally going to be participating in that practice commitment period, we're going to be talking about this as a way of talking about our practice. So, what I want to do today is focus on particular lines, and since many of us are sitting here all day today, this is particularly appropriate. I like to talk during sashins, or all-day sittings, or longer sittings, about samadhi, the kind of settling that we can do when we're doing longer sittings. This teaching poem talks about a particular way of talking about samadhi. And it has a lot to say about zazen, but also about zazen in our everyday activity. So I want to go through a number of lines and talk about it.

[02:19]

It starts off by talking about the dharma of thusness or suchness. Those two words are used as synonyms in English. And suchness is a way of talking about reality. This is what our practice is about. How do we meet the reality of our lives and our world? How do we face the wall? How do we see how we are living. So the dharma, the teaching, the reality of suchness, also here has to do with the practice of suchness. How do we meet our lives? And so whenever it says it, throughout this text, it's talking about, it's referring back to this dharma of thusness or suchness. This is the topic for the rest of this song or verse.

[03:27]

So the first two lines are very important. We will be talking about all of these lines, or many of these lines again, and I've talked about them before, but again, today I want to talk about them in terms of, talk about selected lines in terms of what they have to do with our practice. So, the first two lines. The dharma of suchness is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. This is what the Buddha teaching is about. This is what the Zen ancestors conveyed and transmitted. How do we What is the reality of how it is that we meet just this? So, again, this is by the 9th century teacher Dongshan Liangjie, who's considered the founder of the Cao Dong or Soto school. And one of the many background stories to this poem is that he When he was leaving his teacher, Yunyan, he asked his teacher, if somebody asks me, what is the heart of your teaching, what should I say?

[04:36]

And Yunyan paused. And then he said, just this is it. So, what is that? How do we meet just this? As we face the wall, as we face our life, in the middle of the difficulties of how we engage this difficult world we live in. And so Dongshan didn't know what to say, and then Yongyan after a bit said, in effect, now you have it, preserve it well. Now I entrust this to you. Please be very careful taking care of it. And so when we chant this, I feel like all of us are saying, here, now you have it. You have it. Just by virtue of sitting zazen. Now you have it. Preserve it well. How do we take care of this zazen heart-mind?

[05:39]

So this is the topic for this two-page chant that we chant regularly, that we'll chant before lunch today. Now you have it, preserve it well. Well, what does that mean? How do we take care of this practice, this teaching, reality of justice, of suchness? Letting go of, well, everything extra. What is that? So this is a big question. How do we include everything that is right here? Maybe there's nothing that's extra. Maybe it's all just this. How do we meet the total reality of our life, of our hearts and minds right now? And in all of our activities, in the difficulties of our work, in the difficulties of our relationships, in the difficulties of family and friends.

[06:46]

This is what this practice conveys to us. And it takes a while to soak into what this is, what this suchness is. But the rest of this song, this Precious Mercy, gives us some insight. Some clues, some help, some guidance into how we take care of it well. So again, I'm going to take selected lines and talk about them some. So a few lines later, the meaning does not reside in the words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth. So just chanting this, and we chant these texts because when we chant this or if you want, care to try and memorize it, it enters, the teaching enters us in a different way. But also, it's, we can talk about it, what it means, and the Chinese characters involve, sometimes there are various meanings.

[07:58]

This is one of those lines where there's a rich set, a combination of meanings. So, first, the first part, the meaning does not reside in the words. So anything I say about it isn't the total meaning. But first of all, just to say, there is a meaning. This teaching, this practice of suchness is not meaningless. It's not frivolous. It's not... This word, I'm looking at the Chinese characters here too, the meaning, the character there for meaning also means mind, but it also means intention. the intention, and the mind, and the heart, and the meaning of the dharma of suchness, of the teaching of suchness, there is a meaning. But we can't find it in the words.

[08:59]

So one of the themes of this teaching poem is language, and how we use language, and the difficulties of using language. But here it says, we can't get it in the words exactly. And yet, a pivotal moment brings it forth. This is a wonderful phrase, and it's a very rich phrase and has a number of meanings. And it's been translated appropriately in various ways. So it could also be translated as, It responds to the inquiring impulse. It responds to the arrival of energy. Literally, in Japanese, Raiki, the coming of Ki. Ki means many things. It means the function, the energy, the capacity, the activity, the workings. Literally, we could understand this as this Dharma of suchness responds, comes forth with the inquiry of the student, with the energetic questioning and sitting.

[10:12]

So there is a meaning, and it does come forth. It does respond. And it responds to this deep, energetic, functioning and inquiry. So there's a lot in this line. Pivot is also one of the meanings of this character. So there's a kind of pivot in our practice. And as we settle, as we breathe, as we let ourselves be present in this upright body and mind, this pivotal moment, allows the response of this heart of suchness, this dharma of suchness. So it's not something that we can figure out in words. This isn't about something that we can kind of try and figure out or look for. And yet, reality, another way to say this, reality actually responds to our needs.

[11:22]

When we are willing to... A modern interpretation of this line is that you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need. So, there's some meaning to this. And yet, it's mysterious. There is a pivot there. And it comes forth, this dharma of suchness. So each of these lines I'm going to talk about this morning, I could spend the whole dharma talk on. But what I want to do today is kind of through talking about a bunch of them, give you a sense of what the texture of this dharma of suchness. So even though some part of me wants to keep talking about that line, I'm not going to. So next I'll talk about turning away and touching are both wrong.

[12:33]

For it is like a massive fire. So again, this has to do with how do we, what do we do with, how do we meet, how do we engage this reality of suchness, of thusness, of just this? How do we meet this? Can't live with it, can't live without it. Turning away and touching are both wrong. And that's an accurate translation, but those characters also mean, can mean turning your back on. And the character for touching also means to grab or grasp.

[13:35]

grope even. So we can't grasp it. We can't get a hold of it. And yet you can't ignore it. You can't turn away from it. How do we live in a situation where, how do we relate to something that we can't get a hold of and yet we can't ignore? That's the situation of, that's the study of this dharma, this reality of suchness that is right here. It's already here. Now you have it. It's right, you know, right there, right beneath and around your cushion and chairs, right, you know. It's not something that you have to figure out. It's not something that you have to acquire or attain. It's just this. And it's not something you can figure out in words. You can't get a hold of it.

[14:40]

So this is challenging. And it says it's like a massive fire. So, you know, in a way, I'm sorry that you're here. I feel bad for you. You've started this path of Zen. All of you are here. Now, of course, your life brought you to that. Each of you is here because you care about the quality of your life. Each of you is here because you've already, in some deep way, or else you wouldn't be here, felt some concern about how will you live your life? How will you meet reality? This is a difficult world. How can you find a way to live that is... This is a world that's burning up on so many levels.

[15:46]

Climate change is only one of them. How do we respond? We can't get a hold of it, and yet we can't ignore it. Samsara, the world of suffering that we live in, is painful. And yet, this practice of suchness is about finding our way to settle and be present and upright and bring joy and caring. and even calm and peace in some measure to our lives and to the lives of those around us and to the world. It doesn't mean that we're going to fix everything. It's probably not going to happen in this century anyway. How can we live in this fire?

[16:53]

with some sense of calm and peace and ease and even joy. So, excuse me for saying that. That might be too disturbing to even think of such a thing, but anyway. Again, each line in this has many things to teach, but I'll jump ahead a few lines. Although it is not constructed, it is not beyond words. So, it is not constructive means it's not conditioned, it's not fabricated, it's not something, it's not yet another story of something that's been put together by our conditioning. This dharma of suchness is beyond Well, you know, in medieval East Asian theory, there was this suchness that is the ultimate suchness, and there was this suchness of phenomenal conditions, and they got into all kinds of ways of describing this.

[18:01]

But ultimately, anyway, it's not constructive. This is talking about something that goes beyond all of the conditioning. of our lives, all of the phenomenal situations of the world. It's something that's about universal ultimate truth. And yet, also, at the same time, it's not beyond words. So you just heard that the meaning does not reside in the words, and yet, here we are, you know, chanting these words, talking, and so I'm talking, and anything I say isn't quite it, but we can't get a hold of it in words, and yet, you know, we use words to point to something that goes beyond words. So in some ways, I find this line kind of encouraging. It's not constructive, yet it's not beyond words. And this also means even though we can't figure it out, even though we can't get a hold of it, still, we can have some relationship to it.

[19:11]

We can hang out with it. We can engage it. We have something to do with it. So it doesn't necessarily mean that we should talk about it. In fact, maybe it's more effective to just express it by sitting upright or eating mindfully when we have lunch later or being kind to the people around you in your daily life. when you can. Sometimes it's difficult. Not being unkind to the people who are giving you a hard time, as much as possible. It's not beyond words. It's not beyond our limited human apparatuses. We're part of it. the dharma of suchness, the reality of suchness is not somewhere else.

[20:18]

And what this practice is about, this, you know, somebody walked into the room in the middle of a period of zazen and they didn't know anything about this. What's going on? All these people sitting, still, facing the wall. What is this? Some cult or something, anyway. And yet, this practice is about actually being willing to just be present and meet all the stuff that is in our body and mind that arises with each inhale and with each exhale. And to do that with some dignity, to do that in the middle of the difficult stuff. And sometimes there's some spaces where we feel settled and enjoy it, just be it. It's like, so the next two lines, like facing a precious mirror, form and reflection behold each other.

[21:19]

You are not it, but in truth it is you. So, you know, I could spend two months or much more talking just about these lines, but there's a story. So I told you the story about Dongshan leaving his teacher, Yunyan, who says just this is it. The story goes after that, Dongshan, you know, Yongyan said, you are in charge of this great matter, you must be most thorough going, or in other words, now you haven't preserved it well. Dongshan left, didn't know what to say. As he was crossing a stream, he looked down at his reflection in the stream, and something happened, and he wrote a verse, just don't seek from others, or you'll be far estranged from self. Now I go on alone, everywhere I meet it. It now is me, I now am not it. One must understand in this way to merge with Blessedness. So this you are not it, but in truth it is you is same as it now is me, I now am not it.

[22:24]

It's like facing a precious mirror. And this is kind of this pivot right here. It's like facing a jewel mirror or a precious mirror, either word works there as a translation. Form and reflection behold each other. So when you look in a mirror, well, what you see is you, but you're not it. You're more than what you see in the mirror, right? But that's you. That's one way of seeing it. But this line, you are not it, but in truth it is you. Actually, it's you. So, you know, you might get hung up on this line and disturbed by it, but also if you feel, if you're so inclined, if you want to spend the rest of the day sitting just with this line, you are not it, but actually it is you. This is, to me, in some ways, the heart of our tradition.

[23:27]

This has to do with self and suchness. This self that we imagine sitting on our cushion or chair, this self that is the actual self that is sitting on a cushion or chair, or the conventional self or whatever kind of self you think you might have, is not it. And yet, it, this dharma of suchness, actually there's this complicated relationship between that inhale and exhale and this reality of suchness. So we know that from basic Buddhist teaching of non-self, that there's not some essential kernel of self, there's not some fixed, substantial, essential self. Our ideas and stories about ourself are conditioned fabrications. Now, of course, conventionally, we have to take care of that self.

[24:31]

But ultimately, there's no fixed eternal self. And yet, you can all touch your noses. Dale did it. So, you are not it, but in truth it is you. So, a very complicated sentence, very wonderful sentence. This is about this relationship of this complex non-self that is sitting on your kushina chair, and this it, this dharma of suchness. So again, I could... speak about this for the rest of the day and really wouldn't get to anything. Except that it's worth spending some time with. And I will be talking about this during the practice commitment period more.

[25:35]

But I want to keep going. I'll say just a little bit about the next few lines. Like a newborn child fully endowed with five aspects, no going, no coming, no arising, no abiding, Baba Wawa, as they consider not. Just to say a little bit about that. If any of you have met infants, some of you, there are some parents here. Infants have not yet produced a discriminative consciousness that's dividing up the world into this and that. you know, up and down, male and female, old and young, and all those distinctions that we are constantly making. There's a sense in which infants are in the midst of wholeness right away. In some ways, this dynamic, you are not it, but in truth it is you, is like a newborn child.

[26:45]

to really meet this, the work that we're doing by sitting here is about how do we see that from the perspective of having also seen all these distinctions. So it's like a newborn child or not. So again, another way of considering all this, and I won't say any more about that right now. So again, I'm throwing out from this text, a variety of ways to explore and hang out with and practice with what is this dharma, this teaching, this practice of Sushmita. How do we meet just this is it? So I want to keep going a little bit more with some of the lines in this text. Wondrously embraced within the real, drumming and singing begin together. This is one of my favorite lines here.

[27:50]

It's a wondrously embraced, kind of held in the arms of reality, of truth. wondrously embraced within the true. This drumming and singing could be translated in lots of ways. Drumming and singing is one way, but the characters there also mean question and response. They begin together. It also means hitting and yelling. So if I slap Nancy, she'll go, And it's immediate. The point is the immediacy of it. Drumming and singing, you know, it's not like... The beat isn't separate from the song. They come together. So this inquiry and response, this drumming and singing, this, let me see, there's other synonyms.

[28:57]

So again, with Chinese characters, there's often lots of ways of translating the same characters, which is why translation is so difficult sometimes. Well, maybe those are the main ones. But question and answer, or inquiry and response, wondrously embraced within this reality of the dharma of suchness. There's this immediate response. So this goes back to the line about a pivotal moment brings it forth. It responds to the arisal of energy, but this is more about that. Embraced within reality, this question and answer, but also there's a musical reference there, this drumming and singing come up together.

[30:04]

And there's later references to singing and dancing. So the sense of the response of reality, it doesn't happen sometime later. So sometimes people think that if they do this practice that later on, because they practice really hard, they'll have some wonderful experience. It's never later on. It's always right now. We are totally, wondrously embraced within reality. Reality doesn't happen later, or before, or somewhere else. Reality is right now. It has to be, or else it wouldn't be reality. If reality was only somewhere else or some other time, what kind of reality would that be? So, anyway, drumming and singing begin together.

[31:09]

The next line I want to mention is, within causes and conditions, time and season, it is serene and illuminating. And this sort of follows on what I was just saying, that the dharma of suchness, the reality of suchness, illumination and serenity, happens Within causes and conditions, it happens in the midst of karma. It happens at particular times, in particular situations, in particular seasons. Winter, or later in winter, or spring, or early spring, or late spring. It happens at a particular time. It doesn't happen, again, in some abstraction. Illumination is not some abstract idea. Serenity is not some abstraction. It happens in the middle of our lives, in the middle of difficulties, in the middle of conditioning.

[32:20]

Whatever problem you have in your life, whatever problem you're dealing with this month or this week, is a condition within which we can be serene, we can feel illumination. We don't always, of course, we might try and fight it and fix it and change it and, you know, that's our usual way of dealing with causes and conditions. And sometimes, you know, maybe that's what we have to do. But Illumination, again, illumination and serenity doesn't happen in some perfect world outside of the difficulties of causes and conditions, outside of karma, outside of the problems of our society and the problems of our lives. Whether teachings and approaches are mastered or not, reality constantly flows.

[33:39]

So you can study these teachings, you can practice really hard or really soft, or you can be very sincere, and that's great. apart from whether or not you distinguish and understand these teachings. So don't worry about figuring out anything I'm saying today. Don't even worry about remembering it. Just chant the Tum-mer-samadhi and allow this dharma of suchness to respond. Because reality constantly flows. So reality is not something static. Everything is changing.

[34:50]

We can't change that. So, in spite of all of our efforts to get a hold of whatever, to figure out something, to fix something, whatever, reality is, you know, gonna happen anyway. It's happening. Continuously, ongoingly. It's flowing. It's moving. From here to there, from past to present, from present to past, in all kinds of directions. And you can't get a hold of it. Turning away and touching are both wrong. You can't grab it, but you can't ignore it either. Reality is here. This suchness, this suchness. Just this. And it's alive. It's constantly flowing. Can we enjoy it? Can we go with the flow, so to speak? Or can we work with the flow? Maybe we need to make adjustments to things, but how do we work with the flow?

[36:02]

So, a little ways down, one on the verge of realizing the Buddha way contemplated a tree for ten kalpas. So there's a story. Hal's translation cites something in the Flower Ornament Sutra, but there's also, so there may be various different stories about this, but there's also Chapter 7 of the Lotus Sutra, a story about a Buddha who was sitting under the Bodhi tree, and so there are many Buddhas in all kinds of dimensions, and past and future, and different galaxies. Anyway, there's this Buddha from the ancient past who was sitting under the Bodhi tree, just like Shakyamuni, and was just at the point of becoming a Buddha. But he didn't do it, and he sat there, right there, just this close to total, perfect, complete, total awakening. And he kept sitting there for 10 kalpas. Do you all know what a kalpa is?

[37:06]

A couple people don't, okay. So there are various descriptions. It's a long time. It's a very long time. It's such a long time that, so one, the various descriptions of it. It's the, if you have a football field covered with mustard seeds. Mustard seeds are really tiny. You all seen mustard seeds? So, and once every, I sometimes say a hundred years. Let's just say ten years. Somebody comes and takes one of the mustard seeds out of the football field. The time it would take to clear all of the mustard seeds out of that football field. That's one kelp. Another description is that there's a bird flying over the top of Mount Everest every hundred years and she's holding a piece of silk in her talons and she brushes the top of Mount Everest with that silk once every hundred years. The time it would take to wear down Mount Everest. That's one kelp. Anyway, this Buddha sat under the tree, Bodhi tree, just short of becoming a Buddha.

[38:17]

He was just right there, for 10 calves. So, why would it mention that here? Well, some of you might think that you're not Buddha. Some of you might realize you're not Buddha. However you want to see that. Some of you might feel like it's a long time till the next bell. But remember, this Buddha, Dan Galpus, just sitting. I don't think he even got up for walking meditation. So, you know, the Bodhisattva way, you know, is for all being, so somehow we're talking about him still. This was a long time ago. This was, you know, 10 kalpas may seem like a long time ago, but this was like 10,000 kalpas ago that he did this, or maybe it's 100,000 kalpas, I don't know, anyway.

[39:23]

So it's not about reaching some state of perfect whateverness. Just to be willing to consider this reality of just this is it. Just to be on the verge of realizing something. Just to hang out there and enjoy it. Again, I'm just trying to go through some of these lines and talk about them. After that, and again, I'm skipping some, all the lines, I'm skipping also, you know, kind of juicy, but because some are vulgar jeweled tables and ornate robes. The word vulgar there, that's a way of translating it, but it also means just low or a base or, you know, kind of... Let me find the character.

[40:48]

Because some are, you know, kind of feeling bad about themselves, you know. So sometimes people come to, you know, places like Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, or, yeah, the character literally means inferior, degraded, low-quality, low-class, something like that. And sometimes, you know, people come to a fancy temple. This isn't very fancy here, actually, but, you know, it may look like it with people with robes and, you know, stuff on the altar and whatever. But sometimes, you know, we use pretty stuff to kind of impress people. It's okay. Jewel tables and ornate robes sometimes will help just because sometimes people appreciate that kind of aesthetic. So it has its use. The other side, because some are wide-eyed, cats and white oxen,

[42:03]

And this is a reference to a particular story. So all through this poem, there are lots of references to particular stories and things from Chinese culture. And literally, wide-eyed is because some are capable of wonder. or able to be surprised, cats and white oxen is a reference to a story about the great Chan master Nanchuan, or Nansen in Japanese. There are many stories about him, and he was the teacher of Zhaozhou or Zhoushu. But anyway, he once said, the Buddhas and ancestors don't know what it is. Cats and white cows know what it is. Do any of you live with cats? I have it many times. So cats seem to know what's going on at some real level. And cows also, they're kind of peaceful and just seem to enjoy themselves, unless they're being mistreated.

[43:12]

So even Buddhist ancestors don't know just this is it, but cast it. So anyway, that's the reference in that line. I want to finish up with just a few more. When arrows meet head on, how can it be a matter of skill? This is a reference to a story about an archery student in ancient China who thought he was really, you know, he was really, really good, and he knew he was really good, and he thought he was even better than his teacher. And so he thought, oh, okay, if I kill my teacher, then I'm going to be the best archer in the whole world. So he took his bow and fired an arrow at his teacher. And his teacher, of course, was pretty good, too, and knew that, and so he fired back at an arrow, and they met in midair, head on. So the student realized there was no point in competing or any of that.

[44:22]

But this line says, well, how could that be a matter of skill? And so this has to do also with meeting this matter of suchness, this dharma of suchness. This isn't a matter of skill. So there are many people here in this room who are extremely skillful in particular areas. We have many, many talented people in this sangha. And that's great. You know, skill is a good thing. And we talk about skill and means in terms of bodhisattva practices. But meeting suchness head on, nothing to do with skill. How do we do this? How do we actually meet our lives? How do we actually meet this reality? And then he says, the wooden man starts to sing and the stone woman gets up dancing.

[45:24]

So, you know, we sit very still like wooden men and stone women. We may feel like, sometimes we feel like, you know, our life is duller. dead or, I don't know, we may feel that way. And yet, we sit still in order to find this vitality, in order to find a time when we can rise up singing, when we can Sing and dance when we can. And I encourage you to, silently, without moving, sing and dance on your cushions the rest of the day. So you don't want to disturb anybody else in their practice. Where does this energy come from? How does that happen? How do we meet this reality of suchness and allow that?

[46:33]

So, and then it says, it's not reached by feelings or consciousness, how could it involve deliberation? Well, you know, how, that's like, you know. How could it be a matter of skill? So I've been going over these lines and talking about them, kind of trying to be somewhat coherent and talking about them in terms of various references. And I feel like I sort of owe that to you since we've been chanting this for so long. And this may help you to consider them and to enjoy these lines. But it's not... Basically, it can't be reached by consciousness or even feelings. How could it involve to liberation? So this matter of suchness, this dharma of suchness, this practice of suchness, of reality, of blessedness, of justice, our practice is to settle into that and to allow it to express itself through us in all kinds of ways.

[47:40]

and to appreciate it. It's not, you know, a pivotal moment brings it forth. It's not that it's, you know, it's not that we can't recognize it sometimes, but it doesn't involve deliberation. We can't, you know, deliberately figure it out. So finally, just to do this continuously is called the host within the host. And, you know, this is kind of like the host within the host is kind of the ultimate, you know, in Buddhist practice or something. The ultimate. But the aim is to engage this to engage and express this reality of suchness ongoingly, continuously.

[48:52]

And part of that might be taking a break and forgetting about it and just taking it easy sometimes. The Dharma of Suchness includes that. So it's not about So how we do that, you know, anything I say about it isn't it exactly. So this isn't about some, you know, huge continuous effort. It's about how do we keep paying attention to this? Without necessarily thinking about it or remembering it or, you know,

[49:30]

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