In one sense, as I think I mentioned last time, this case is simple in the sense of just being a story of a teacher asking someone to bring it out in front. Like in the last case, it was only when one always returns the verse to oneself and brings it out in front. So this case is about trying to make him present it face to face and how to bring it out in front, even in the wind. of circumstances. So in this class, we're invited again and again to bring it out in front.

[01:16]

In our daily life, we're invited to bring it out in front. under various circumstances to present it. And it's hard for us to do that. It's hard for us to remember that. That's what we're being asked to do. And it's hard to do that without being stale and bringing some idea of what it is. In this case, it's that. like a lot of cases, the medication on how to bring it out in front and how some way that doesn't work to bring it out in front. One of the people in class said to me last week, but during the week, something about

[02:24]

But she wondered why she had trouble talking in class. And so she wondered what it is about the situation that she has trouble speaking. And last week, I remember Carol and Mark spoke. And that wasn't easy for them, I would guess. And I don't know if they felt successful in bringing it out under the circumstances of the wind of the room. But anyway, they did come forward and speak. But some other people didn't speak and wondered about their silence. There's a baffling of comprehension.

[04:02]

I mean, I think of the double meaning of the word comprehension. To comprehend means to somehow to have control, have a grasp on. And that's the point. This cannot be comprehended. It baffles comprehension. And therefore it tends to silence the speech. So then, you know, how... is what is going on does that break through our, not only our capacity to, but our desire to copy. So that's where I feel my silence. I feel it's an appropriate silence precisely to push me to the limits of my inability to comprehend. I can't grasp. And therefore, saying something, one is foolish, or one risks being foolish, like my words right now.

[05:11]

Yeah, but you are talking. Yeah, and maybe it's just being foolish, too. Well, even so, you're still talking, and some people aren't talking. So... So, anyway, you're talking, so I'm talking about the other people that aren't talking, not you who are able to speak. You can keep talking, but I'm talking about those who aren't talking, not about you. You're able to talk even without comprehension. Aren't you? I think I comprehend. And last week Carolyn spoke about her not comprehending, but she did talk right in the midst of not comprehending. But it seemed like she was... There was some, like, implication that you feel uncomfortable talking when you don't know what you're talking about or what you don't understand what's going on.

[06:13]

Maybe you... For a while then maybe you thought you understood or you could comprehend that you didn't comprehend. Maybe you were sure of that. I don't know. And Lloyd says something about fear, that maybe there's some fear. Fear is part of what's happening here. But also Lloyd says something about warmth. So there's a combination of warmth here. a warm feeling among us, and still some fear. Fear of perhaps being a fool. Fear of maybe not being afraid of being a fool, but maybe not being sure that being a fool should take up any space. Maybe a fool shouldn't be speaking. Maybe a fool should just be quietly foolish. I felt like I haven't had the proper vocabulary to speak, that if I've had ideas that I couldn't put them in the terms of the koan, express them that way, that it would be like speaking baby talk.

[07:33]

And that has kept me silent on occasion. You thought baby talk was not appropriate? No, it's exactly where I am right now, with these koans, in the beginning steps. But you thought that wouldn't be appropriate to speak about it? Yeah, it felt like it would be too inappropriate to express ideas in what essentially would be a different language than the language that's being used here in the school. Well, you have your ordinary language, you have baby talk, and then you have this more grown-up speaking of this new language which you're speaking of as like a baby speaks. Is that what you mean? What I mean is this is a new language that I am beginning to understand a little bit if it's explained to me, but not to understand it and not to use it comfortably. Yeah, I understand that. Would you sit up here, please? Would you sit up here, please? Yeah, I understand that.

[08:39]

But I was saying something different. I didn't understand. Right. You know, when a baby first, what's part of when a baby starts to speak, some people feel that if you listen to babies start to talk, when they first start talking, they actually have something that they want to say. They actually have a language back there that they're trying out. Some people feel that. You can see that there's something there. It's not like they're, it's not like, hey Grace, you want to sit up here? It's not like they're kind of like trying to say what our language, they're trying to say their language. So part of baby talk is trying to say their thing and then there's a point at which there's kind of like some melding between the way their language and this new language. And so in this koan class we're partly using our old language partly learning a new language, and there's some kind of groping there between still using our old structures to say these new things.

[09:44]

And then we have these examples here of these people who maybe have, I don't know what they've done, but maybe they're more proficient at speaking this new way. Or maybe they're more proficient, or not more proficient, but they can bring it out without the wind, maybe the wind, the main wind maybe, that makes it hard to bring it out, is the wind of our old language. That may be the main wind. What do you think? I'm talking about maybe how it's hard for people to talk in the class sometimes. even though there's this kind of warm feeling, too. I was talking to Taigen about, in Japan, they do not ask questions. They don't ask questions during lectures, they don't have discussions like this, and they don't ask questions about, you know, the forms and stuff, they just do it.

[10:56]

But there was a time when people were, in some sense, the early Chinese people were maybe more like what we're groping for. And Japan probably went through that stage too. But once you learn the language, then the language becomes a new thing, which then becomes a new kind of rigid, dead thing. So we're groping for this, you know, with our old language, we're groping for this new language, and we're kind of like fumbling around in the middle there someplace. And it's true for me, because I keep finding, I have a sense of what I want to say, but the old language, trying to put it in forms that I know aren't really quite getting to it, so I kind of stumble. It does feel like shedding that old language and not having it yet. And it also feels that you're so quick at jumping to the point where the fan is broken that the process also gets intimidating. So I kind of struggle with shedding my language, and you're right there at the spot.

[12:05]

And then that also gets scary. So I had some ideas. Oh, another thing, Lois said to me something about, in terms of his language, she said, you know, why do they put, for example, the teacher says, you know, bring me the rhinoceros fan. He's really saying, please bring me Buddha nature, or bring me the enactment of Buddha Dharma. And she said, well, why don't you just say it that way? Well, why do they say it this way, like, bring me the Gyanasas van? And so I could say why they don't say, bring me the Buddha nature.

[13:12]

As a matter of fact, they do say, bring me the Buddha nature sometimes. And then monks have various responses to that. But this story, they didn't say, bring me the good nature. They said, bring me the rhinoceros fan. But in one sense, when she said that, when she said, why do they say it that way? I thought, well, in one sense, we do and we do not ask that same question in other situations. Like, for example, when we find out that we have cancer, we might say, We might not say. Why do they say it like this? Somebody says, you've got breast cancer. We might not say. Well, why do they say it like that? Why don't they just say, you know, this is your Buddha nature? Or put it the other way, we do say it. You know, why do they put it that way?

[14:14]

Why is it being phrased to me like that? Why is the universe saying it this way? Why are they saying it like, you've got breast cancer? Why are they saying it that way? So sometimes we say, why do they say it this way? And sometimes we don't say why. Sometimes we accept, this is the way it's being said. Or somebody, you know, really lets us down. Somebody we really trust and someone we really put a lot of... a lot of love and attention into, really lets us down. And sometimes we say, why is it being put this way? Why do they say it this way? Why don't they just say, okay, now ready? Here it comes. We're going to give this to you now. It's going to be a big one. And it's going to be in this form. This is the way it's going to come. Here it is. A friend who's going to disappoint you. Ready? Bring the disappointing friend in the room. We sometimes say, why don't they put it that way?

[15:16]

Why don't they signal us that this is the universe presenting itself to us and asking us if we can understand it? So it comes in these different varieties. This one is very popular. It somehow captured the imagination of a lot of people. Even though many, many times, I don't know how many times, Zen teachers have said to their attendant, please show me your Buddha nature. Please show me who you are. Please tell me what the truth is. Or the student says to the teacher, what's Buddhism? And the teacher says, you show me. That's been said too, and there are stories like that too. But this time the teacher said, bring me the rhinoceros fan. In this case, the student didn't say, why do you say it that way? The student said, it's broken. He's forgotten he has it?

[16:18]

What? He's forgotten he has it? No. I think the way I would interpret it is that he's saying to the teacher, if I bring it, it's already gone. I can't bring it to you. If I grab a hold of it, it's no use. And some of the comments which come later are sort of along those lines. And the teacher kind of basically says, okay, fine. Well, then bring me the rhinoceros. Now, he could have said something else then, too. And then we have the comments of these other people, right? But when the teacher said, bring me the rhinoceros, the attendant had nothing more to say. So then after that, you have a number of Zen teachers hearing about this story, and then they said what they would have said if they were the attendant.

[17:22]

Okay? This is the style, Chinese style. the teacher says to the attendant something, the attendant has a good response, the teacher comes back and says it again, goes a little deeper, and then the attendant comes back again and completes it, or comes back again, the teacher goes deeper, and they just keep going deeper and deeper into this situation. And as a matter of fact, it says that here. One day the master called to the attendant and said, bring me the rhinoceros fan. The attendant said, the fan is broken. And then the commentator says, still this is talk about ordinary reality between father and son. So you can say ordinary reality in the sense that I just said it, you know.

[18:25]

if I bring you this thing, it won't work. So I say it's broken. That's pretty good. This is still kind of an ordinary conversation, you might say. Then the teacher says, bring me the rhinoceros. And the commentator says, this is going into the weeds with his whole body. in a relationship with an adopted son. The attendant had no reply. After all, he hit upon the true by way of the false. The next phrase is just that he himself didn't know he had it.

[19:29]

He's not aware he had food in nature? He was unaware at the moment? Or that he was unaware that he found what he was looking for? Well, one interpretation could be that by having no reply, he hid upon the true by way of the false. That was the correct response, but he thought he had failed. In other words, if the teacher says, bring me the rhinoceros pen, he says, it's broken. It's broken. It's broken. Okay, bring me the rhinoceros. No response. That no response just happens to be the right response, but for him, it was a mistake.

[20:35]

He was stumped, but he got the right response. Given what he had just said, it was the right response. He just said, I can't bring it because it's broken. Bringing it doesn't make any sense. Stupid teacher. Stupid teacher. All the more so. He already used that line, I can't bring it because it's broken on the fan. Now, he certainly shouldn't say anything. But he felt like he had no reply. That was his mistake. That was his error. That was his falseness. But he stumbled upon the truth that way. It's just that he didn't realize it. In other words... Your sentientness, your deludedness, is the way you strike upon the true. But is it actually true if you don't... It's the true, it's the true, even if you don't... but you don't realize it, which means you're still in misery.

[21:50]

So it doesn't say the monk was enlightened, even though he struck upon the truth by way of his mistake, but he didn't realize it. However, later generations realized that the monk had done this, so they say these things. So now the later generations are speaking on behalf, they're taught, they're like, they're there, okay? So this guy named Yang Guan is a disciple of Matsu. Now later, sometime later, another monk comes along whose name is Tozu. And Tozu says, as though he were there, the teacher says, bring me the rhinoceros. And Tozu says, I don't decline to bring it out, but I'm afraid the horn and head will be lacking. That's pretty much the same spirit as it's broken.

[22:54]

I'll bring it out if you want to, but if I bring it out, it's going to be kind of like a stubby old... Even the hard, wonderful... Oh, by the way, you guys, you missed this. Can you see that? Do you see this? Oh, he already showed you this. Don said, this is a rhino fanny. That is if he brings it up. It's only dangerous if he doesn't bring it up. So Toad's response is kind of in line with the first thing that the student said.

[24:08]

But in other words, he would have said that when the guy said, bring the rhinoceros, he would have said, I don't refuse to bring it out. It's just that I'm afraid the horn and whatever would be like, the horn and head would be lacking. Okay, this, by the way, I forgot to tell you that this is also case 91 in the Blue Cliff record. And after Tozu says, on behalf of the attendant, I don't decline to bring it out, but I'm afraid the horn and head will be lacking. Ten Thousand Pines says... I say, or 10,000 Pines says, he can repair it. And Suedu says at this time, I want the lacking horn.

[25:09]

So in this class, too, you know, we want the lacking horn. Even though it's all... Even so, please bring the lacking horn. We want the rhino even though it's horn is left or we want the horn itself is left? Once again. We want the rhino even though it doesn't have a horn or we want the horn itself? If you bring it out, if you bring anything in here, the horn and head... may be lacking. Okay? Suedu says, in the Blue Cliff Record, he says, I want that lacking horn. In other words, if you people bring something, what you bring, your Buddha nature, if you bring your Buddha nature, your Buddha nature will be wounded, will be lacking, because you brought it. Something missing. Something missing and why you sought mountain.

[26:22]

Okay? But Suedu says, I want that lacking horn. Bring it. And 10,000 pines says, you can repair it. You bring that lacking horn and head. We can repair it. Bring the cart that you left behind? Bring the damaged Buddha nature, which you damaged because you brought it. If I say bring your Buddha nature and you don't do anything, really, it's not damaged. And if you realize that, you're in fine shape and if we force you to talk you can speak but you don't have to think you're bringing anything which is perfect and you can also refuse to bring it on the grounds that to do so may tend to incriminate you do you understand? your gesture made me think you didn't get we now have the fifth amendment which they didn't have then

[27:27]

If the teacher says, bring the Buddha nature, you can say, I take the fifth. Because to bring the Buddha nature will tend to incriminate you and the Buddha nature. However, they say, we can fix it. We can fix the incrimination. I want that incriminated Buddha nature. Bring it. We can fix it. Is that because the present moment is perfect? Well, it's because of that, but it's also to bring the present moment kills it. But we invite you to bring killed moments. We can resuscitate them here. That's what Ten Thousand Pines says. That's what Tozu says. No, no, that's what Suedu says. Suedu says, I want the lacking horn. I want your response. I want you to bring this this lacking thing, and the other guy says we can repair it.

[28:33]

Well, let's try it right now. Okay? Ready? Yeah. Bring us the rhino. Well, it's not going to have a head or a horn. You know what I mean, Mike? Yeah, bring it. Okay. There it is. Okay, that was pretty wrecked, wasn't it? You're back. So, is it repaired? Yeah. And you didn't have to do anything. I had to sit here. Well, you did it. I got you to do it for me. Repaired it pretty well, I'd say.

[29:37]

We can do a go-around again later. That was a nice repair job, wasn't it? See? Not that difficult to repair these things. The difficult part is to bring it forth in its damaged form, expose it to the assembly and let you or somebody else repair it. We can use it. We can use damaged goods here. But not if you don't bring them out and let them either bring them out and present them somehow without damaging them, if that's possible, and this guy did it by not saying anything, but he didn't know it, or bring them out in some other way, or bring them out and let them be damaged, but we can repair them. Okay, and then the next guy says it, okay? The next guy is another famous Zen teacher named Shushuang. Where are we?

[30:39]

Oh, yeah. He said, if he was the attendant, he would say, if I give it back to you, Master, then I'll have none. Can you see that? Does that make sense? No? I don't get it. He just gave you his right. He didn't give it away. That's all we do. Can you give away your good nature? Can you give your Buddha nature away? Well, I don't give it away.

[31:41]

You can give it. That's called, that's the first parameter of the Bodhisattva. It's called giving. That's what you give. You give Buddha nature. You can give. I don't give it away. You give it. Yes. But he was afraid that if he gave it, that there would be, he would give it, he wouldn't have any left for himself. He was afraid of that. That's what he would have said if he had been the attendant to the teacher. I think that at that time in China, that they didn't regard the rhinoceros like we do now. I think that at that time, they were unaware of the rhinoceros. But there was a mythical animal which what we sometimes think of as a unicorn or rhinoceros in Chinese mythology. I'm not sure what it was, and I'm not sure the Chinese knew what it was either.

[32:44]

And so when we read that he called for him to bring a rhinoceros horn, I think that that might have a different meaning to the Chinese at the time, because that mythological creature may have been something no one was sure of what it was. It wasn't until recent times that the character for rhinoceros came to be applied to the animal we know now. Well, I'm not sure about that. The first character, that character, were you here last week? That first character means this one-horned being, this one-horned creature, that first character. But when you combine the first character with the character for ox, that means a rhinoceros. And that's the character here, that compound. Actually, there were rhinoceros in China. They were indigenous to the western provinces of China. During the Shang Dynasty, though, which they were extinct by then. But also, the rhinoceros was used in medicine. But I also understand that when Zheng He took his people's voyages to Africa in the Ming Dynasty, he discovered rhinoceros.

[33:51]

And he brought back to China as a great prize for the emperors hadn't found it, the mythical . That was in the 15th century. The 15th? 14th. 14th-something is when it was sold out. Yeah, well, the Chinese also lost the Buddhist canon. The only point I guess I'm trying to make, I didn't want you to get into a discussion. Want to get into what kind of a discussion? I don't know, kind of didactic. It's as good as the other syllabus. The point I was trying to make is that perhaps, I mean, when I first read this case, bringing me the rhinoceros man really didn't do much for me. But until you explained it this evening, I didn't really connect it with Mother Nature. I was just thinking maybe to the Chinese at the time, it had a little bit more of a mythical implication than it does to us. When we think about the rhinoceros man, I felt a fan of the rhinoceros man.

[34:54]

Basically, I couldn't get beyond it. Yeah, well, again, I mentioned to Fu also today that, you know, in case 37 of the Book of Serenity, the teacher says, you know, trying to demonstrate the difference between the basic affliction of ignorance and the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas, he says, see that boy over there sweeping? And the monk says, yeah, he said, watch this. He yells at the boy, hey you, and the boy turns his head. He said, is that not the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas? And he says to the boy, what's your Buddha nature? Or bring me your Buddha nature. And the boy goes, he wanders off. So, in the case of that boy, when you say to him, you know, hey you, he responds, you know, Just like a Buddha. What does a Buddha do if he says, hey you?

[35:57]

Or hey you Buddha? Hey you Buddha? But these Zen monks, these monks here, if you say, show me your Buddha nature, maybe they've practiced longer than that boy and they know how to respond to that without getting caught. But you say, bring me a rhinoceros fan, maybe that catches them. So maybe the mythical, maybe the little twist there caught that attendant. But it didn't catch him the first time, actually. See, that's the thing about it. When the teacher said, bring me the rhinoceros fan, I think he did pretty well the first time. He said, I can't. Then he said, bring the rhinoceros. He took the word rhinoceros fan and he turned it once. And the monk could handle it. He turned it again. The monk couldn't handle it. So it's like, when you turn these words, can you stay with the first turn? Yeah, maybe. Can you stay with the second turn? Well, maybe. Can you stay with the third turn? Just keep turning and turning until the turning word gets you.

[37:01]

And if it never gets you, eventually, well, that's the point. This is turning words, right? And if there can be some spirit of staying with the turning and then responding to the turning, even, well, you're responding to the turning. That's what's hard to do in this class. Respond to the turning. How do we know the monk didn't get it and there was no response? Well, we don't know, but it just said he didn't say he woke up. That's the story that was spread around. The story was not the story of the monk waking up. The story was the story of the monk having no reply and apparently feeling at a loss. Like the boy who was at a loss and wandered off. In fact, he gave the right response and didn't understand it.

[38:09]

That seems to be the story. Which then, part of the reason why we think that happened is because then generations of Zen teachers come to his aid to say what they would say. So Tozu comes, then Shershuang comes, then, and I'm not sure of the order here, but then Baofu comes. And says, oh, excuse me. So Shirsvang says, if I brought it to you, Master, I would have none. And then Ten Thousand Pines says, he avoids it, though face to face. He also does it, or it feels to me that

[39:12]

When he says, and then I'll have none, a couple of things. First, that he's sort of showing where he himself clings. There's a kind of greediness in there. But then my second feeling about it is that it... It's kind of like he's trying to enter the game, but he doesn't quite get there. He's face to face. He's not walking away from the situation, but he's also not really moving it. Well, that's fine. See, he presents it as though he were a deluded person. Namely, I don't want to bring it because then I'll have none if I bring it. But another way he could simultaneously mean it, if I bring it to you, teacher... then there'll be no way to see Buddha nature anymore as an object. So then I won't have it. And you won't have it either. So, in fact, that's fine. I'm happy to do that.

[40:14]

I'm happy to enter the realm where I can't have Buddha nature anymore. And therefore, that's another reason why you should bring Buddha nature so that it won't be something you can have. Bring it out face to face and then nobody can have it. Can't you only have it if it gives it away? That's fine too, yeah. But you can't have it, even if you give it away, you can never have it, really, because if it's an object, you lose it. But face-to-face, in face-to-faceness... you avoid it. You avoid... That's the nice thing about face-to-face, is you avoid making it into an object. It's not over there. It's not over here. It's in this unknown space called face-to-face. That's the place we live. That's the place where it happens. It happens in this face-to-faceness.

[41:15]

And nobody owns it there. Nobody brings it there. Nobody takes it from there. But, I can talk as though, when I bring it to that place, I can talk as though if I bring it, there will be none left for me. So, yes, bring it. And even talk as though you were a greedy person, which you are. Because you're a greedy person, you bring it into the space of face-to-face. And in that space, there's none left for you. There's none left for me. It is the face-to-face-ness. That's what it is. So then they say, the rhino is still there. In that place where I brought it, gave it away, and none left for me, the rhino is still there. And then it's in its real vividness, its real brightness, its real stinkiness. But none left for me, none left for you.

[42:23]

It's really just our face-to-faceness that is the rhino. Does that mean face-to-face, two people face-to-face? Pardon? Face-to-face, these two people. You've got to have two people to have face-to-face, yes. But it's not the two people, it's the face-to-faceness. It's the fact that nobody knows what to do there because I can't, you can't decide what face-to-face is. Neither one of us are in charge of the relationship. But it takes two to create this, that's true. There's no expert, there's no teacher, there's no student. But you have to have that dimension there to fully enact face-to-faceness to make sure that if the dimension was there you wouldn't be caught by that either.

[43:26]

The hierarchy doesn't catch you, the Buddha nature doesn't catch you, you bring everything to this face-to-faceness and then it's still there. Even though you lose it in terms of your own possession and having control over it, it's still there. And you bring it. You bring it. President Pines says, a clear eye is hard to fool. Balfour says, Balfour would be a fan who would say, Teacher, you're getting kind of old. Why don't you ask somebody else those questions? Ask somebody else to get to it right now.

[44:32]

Who would have said? And 10,000 Pines says, much indebtedness leads to deep resentment. That's true. That's true. That's one of the criticisms of the welfare system. And then a similar statement, Sway Du says, what a pity to work so hard without accomplishing anything. And 10,000 clients said, a good intention doesn't receive a good reward. This is one of the kind of, from a human point of view, this is one of the sad things about practicing Zen.

[45:46]

Even though this point is, again, another aspect of this face-to-faceness, it's very difficult to find people who can stand this aspect. See, if the teacher does something really great for the student, then the student will be resentful. If the teacher does something that's not much, and almost no recognition or appreciation for it, this is the actual ideal situation. . Well, yeah, you serve that function, but then in that face-to-faceness, neither party feels particularly indebted to the other one, particularly the student doesn't feel indebted to the teacher.

[46:55]

Now, there is a great discussion in Zen about great indebtedness to your teacher. And yet, when it's really working, there's no indebtedness. And the teacher, at the limit, of the teacher's function, the student does not feel indebted. At the outskirts of that place, the student feels more indebted, and the teacher has more job security. At some point, too, it's very helpful for the student to bring something to the teacher. because it allows the student to receive without the . Well, in this case of face-to-face, there's not a one-sided thing. The student has to be working there to make it face-to-face. Both of them are bringing this rhino to this place, and both of them are losing it.

[47:57]

Nobody's in control. Everybody's staying in this place, but they don't know what's going to happen next. And they don't know where to go from here. And they don't even think about that they don't know where to go from here. Or if they do think about it, that thought of where to go from here doesn't reach the center of this face-to-faceness. Therefore, the teacher doesn't get any credit for this wonderful moment. And this is the most important moment. but it's still kind of sad from the human point of view, getting no credit for this great work. Fortunately, we don't get that part very often, so... No problem. People are saying thank you all the time. Thank you. But I don't see why the student should pay for it.

[49:01]

Anyway, even if the teacher does give the student their gift, because the teacher wouldn't be called a teacher if the teacher wasn't the brand of the same experience. And the student wouldn't be called a student if that wasn't the role they're playing. So why should the student pay on the budget if he's getting the gift as the teacher? Why should the student feel indebted? I'm not saying they should. They just often do when they see the teacher over there bringing the rhino. You say, oh my god, thank you for the rhino. Where's the horn? Well, you could... Rhino, you know, this rhino, you could call it a... You can also make it a beautiful white oxen, you know, with a fantastic cart behind it. Very nicely decorated. You know, with a... You know, a real limo.

[50:03]

Isn't that the... with all the most wonderful toys and other things. I'm not saying you need to be a billionaire, but people often do. And that's in this case where it seems like it's not face-to-face, and where the student doesn't feel like the student is bringing it out there. Or the student brings it out there, and the teacher fixes it for the student, rather than the student realizing that bringing it out there, even in damaged form, the student fixes it, like you fixed it by yourself. And you didn't feel particularly indebted to me. And that's like you say, you didn't do anything. Sorry, I was so rude.

[51:04]

This rudeness, you see, this is very sad. The funny thing is, all this time I didn't need you. It's years of devotion. And after all, I didn't need you for anything. What a shuck. And the teacher says, thank you. Yeah, thank you. And look what I did. So that's kind of like, you know, that's the end of that. That's sort of the end of the comments. And then this kid comes along. He says, according to this bunch of old guys, now here's the kicker, right? According to this bunch of old guys, kept the explanations of the principle. This is the principle that they've been telling you about. the fan and the rhino ultimately can't be brought out. Right? Because as soon as you really bring it out, it disappears in face-to-faceness.

[52:09]

Okay? Only Zifu drew a circle and wrote the character for such a beast. The fan, the rhino are utterly new. Immutable. Immutable. Suedu says, why didn't you bring it out before? So all this discussion we just had is just fine, but then this guy brings it out. And there's no face-to-faceness. It looks like he did it, and he's clever. So even the wonderful principle we just discussed has just been destroyed. by this wonderful fresh act of this newcomer. Really, he says, the fan is broken.

[53:12]

When has so much as a bit of hair been moved? Before, when he didn't bring it out, when had it ever been lacking either? And now that it's brought out, it's still never increased. Tiantong praises Zifu for being able to bring out and use it knowingly, elevating the name and seeking out one who knows, especially boiling some tea for him. Now, I was talking to Fu about this, as I mentioned today, and I said the first two lines of this verse is coming by Tien Tung, celebrating Tzu Fu. I thought the first two lines were pretty clear. As the fan is broken, he seeks the rhino. The word in the circle has a reason or has prior significance.

[54:21]

The reason being, all these stories, the story happened, and then these comments of these Zen teachers have happened down through time. He's heard about all this. And also, Zifu is a disciple of Yangshan and Guishan. He's in that line. He's Yangshan, he's Guishan's grandson, great-grandson. He's Yangshan's grandson. So it's Guishan, Yangshan, and then a guy named Western Pagoda, Radiant Wonder. And then comes this Zifu. And in the Yangshan, Guishan lineage, they draw circles as a way of teaching. And they had 97 circles 97 different kinds of circles that they used to teach people. So the reason, there's a reason for him drawing this circle and putting the character in the middle of it. This is his tradition of his family. Plus the story, okay?

[55:25]

And now comes this part which I told you that can be, you're having trouble translating. And the translation here is, who would have known the thousand years light of the full moon would subtly make a pervasive luminous spot of autumn? And as I mentioned, our translation was, break the fan and look for the rhino. The word within the hoop has prior significance. Who knows the thousand years' darkness of the new moon? It subtly turns into autumn's harvest moon. So the other day, Kaigen and I worked with Kanahashi to look up all these characters in this line, this third line here. And... So let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven characters in this third line.

[56:27]

First character means who. Second character, knows. Third character is a character for a tree, which in Japanese is called katsura. And Lloyd gave me this thing about showing that these goal boards are made of katsura wood. Second best wood. Second best wood. Okay. So his third word is this tree, this katsura tree. The fourth word is a word which means hub, like a hub of a wheel. But it's a cylindrical hub. I'll go into more detail on all these things later. The next character is 1000. The next character is year. And the next character means spirit or a demon. It particularly means the spirit, animal spirit, or the spirit of animation. It's the spirit that resides in the body. But some other nuances here are The who knows stands.

[57:34]

This katsura tree is a tree which in Chinese legend grows in the moon. And the next character, which means a hub, a cylindrical hub, it's a hub at the center of a circle, but it's a cylinder. And this cylinder is a big, long cylinder. It's an axial cylinder. It's a cylinder which goes from the earth up to the moon. And inside of the cylinder, a tree grows, which goes from Earth to the moon. And I think that the, if I remember the compound, is that this character for cylinder, or is it the character for tree together with the character for spirit, means the moon. The third character for tree this Katsura tree, in combination with the seventh character, so the middle character in the line, in combination with the end character in the line, they're echoing each other.

[58:41]

And those two characters together mean the moon. Tree and the spirit mean the moon. And then the next character, the next line is... First character means subtly or wonderfully. Then the next character means to make. The next character means pervade. The next character means luminous. Then the character means one. Next character means spot or dot. And the next character means autumn. So that line could be translated as wonderfully or subtly or mysteriously creating a pervasive or penetrating bright one dot of autumn. So one way to see this image here is that this cylinder, which has this tree growing in it,

[59:49]

which grows up through the cylinder from the earth and connects the earth to the moon, this tree, this cylinder, which is the center of this wheel, comes down and creates this spot, this luminous spot of autumn, right on that circle where he drew the ox. So part of what's going on here is the fan's broken, we're seeking the rhino. In other words, the Buddha nature, in any form that you want to bring it, is broken and lost. Still we seek it. And now what this guy does, there's some reason for this, there's some cause and effect here. And This is a picture of the cause and effect that leads him to enact the impossible.

[60:55]

What all these teachers have said can't happen is happening. And again, as I mentioned, the comments between the lines are who would have known that this tree again contained in this cylinder, a thousand years' spirit. And after that it says, burying the root 10,000 feet. Burying the root 10,000 feet. In some sense, the root of the tree that grows in the moon, burying the root of the moon. And then who would have would suddenly make a pervasive spot of autumn. In the present age, or in this world, it produces a sprout, or a young plant is growing. You see the direction is downward, so I thought that the image is kind of pointing up to the moon.

[62:08]

Yeah, well, both ways. The moon planting a root deep into this world. From the point of this world, a little sprout comes up in the form of this activity of this guy drawing a circle and putting the character of the ox in the middle of it. When you say the point in this world, when the sprout comes up, I have an image of where the tree actually meets the earth. It's sort of right here in this spot where you stand, or it stands. Then out of that meeting, this world, you generate the growth. Or, not you, self-growth is generated. So that's the research on that verse.

[63:44]

The Chinese has got so much going on in that one line. All these words, you can go through it like this, but then these words are kind of jumping across each other, across the line, and making all kinds of other combinations which are happening. You could spice it with the cinnamon. It's also a cinnamon pick. That's right. It's a cinnamon tree, too. This katsura is also called katsuya cinnamon. You were talking about the cylinder. Is it also referring to the tree trunk itself? Pardon? Well, I was wondering if the cylinder was actually just the tree trunk itself. I mean, you can say that. Well, it could be the tree trunk and that the spirit is growing up through it, the spirit of the tree. The character for tree and the character for spirit together mean the moon.

[64:51]

Oh, and there's one other combination, too, that this character, the end character, means the dark portion of the moon, and it also means the contour of the moon that you can't see. And, you know, like, when you look at the moon and part of it's lit and part of it's dark, you can actually see the dark part, you can see the edge of it, right? Even though it's dark, you can still see the edge of the darkness against, because some light's coming around the backs, this part's being lit, and the part you can't see is also lit, and light's coming around the corner and lighting the edge of the dark part. But also, if you look at a full moon, look at a full moon and check it out, is it possible that when you look at the full moon, around the edge of the full moon, there's a part of the shape of the moon that you can't see, because it's so bright, it darkens the edge. I don't know, look at it, see what you see.

[65:56]

Which character is that? This character, the last character in the line, the one which means spirit, it also means a demon, or it means a spirit which animates the body or inheres in the body. And in combination with that character for tree, it means the moon. And the character for tree is a character which in Chinese mythology is a tree that grows in the moon. I don't understand the meaning of the luminous, of the pervasive luminous spot of all the... Well, one interpretation is it's the image of the moon, the harvest moon.

[67:03]

Okay? But another ramification of it is that this guy drawing this circle and this character, that is a luminous spot of autumn. he drew this circle. In that circle, he wrote that character, and that is a luminous spot. This wondrously or miraculously or subtly created and penetrating spot. In fact, it has penetrated quite nicely through time and space. It's gone all the way across the world through time and space, this spot that he drew there. And it's a spot of autumn because it is the end of this story. It is the autumn of this story. And he made it fresh and new by his activity.

[68:11]

So the story is over. The light of the moon shines everywhere, but you can't see it because it's everywhere. You can see a spot. A spot at the time, and we find it by bringing it forth and so on. And then now we can see it. Right, and that's another part of what's going on here, is you can't bring the moonlight. As soon as you bring the moonlight, you break it. But you also can bring the moonlight, and he brought it. He violated the principle which the previous people were talking about. or, you know, I don't know, violated anyway. He did it. He did what they said couldn't be done. In various places they say the fan was drawn, on the fan was drawn a rhinoceros gazing at the moon. Some say the fan was a rhinoceros horn. Some say it had a rhinoceros handle. Stewart also did some research on fans and found out that the

[69:16]

Folding fan was imported from Japan to China. They didn't have folding fans at the time of the stories. So probably it was a one-piece fan. It might have even been a rhino skin fan with a rhino horn handle. All of these could be called rhino fans. Yan Guan at the time, opened a shop and everyone brought out a handle. Only Tzu-Fu handled it intimately, in a refreshing way. The whole thing is totally distinct. Master Tzu-Fu once said to his congregation, after returning immediately, Upon seeing the banner pole at Zifu's monastery from across the river, right where you are, you deserve 30 blows of the cane.

[70:27]

How much more so since coming across the river? At this point, a monk started to come forth. But as soon as he did, the master said, not worthy talking with. In general, the lecturing shops esteemed attainment in explanation. The fundamental schools esteemed attainment in application. Therefore, the word in the circle has a reason. So these are family styles that we're seeing? Yeah. And the Soto Zen commentator here seems to like this Zifu style more. Yeah, he's the attainment in application, rather than attainment in explanation.

[71:33]

That's true in the snake, too, right? I mean, he likes the action. So, you know, what is it, this famous story by Matsu, right? He once was asked, you know, what's the Buddha mind? And he said, mind itself is Buddha. And then later a monk said to him, something that the monk said, what about you saying that mind itself is a Buddha and is Buddha? And Matsya says, I say that to get children to stop crying. And the monk said, well, what if they're not crying, what would you say? He said, no mind, no Buddha. And then Dogen says, mind itself is Buddha. Explanation is not difficult.

[72:37]

Practice or application is difficult. No mind, no Buddha. No Buddha. Practice or application is not difficult. Explanation is difficult. So Soto Zen emphasizes, at least up front we emphasize, no mind, no Buddha. Therefore application is not difficult. It can even be like this. Because of no mind, no Buddha, this can be the application. Therefore you don't have to move. As a matter of fact, you should not move. Otherwise you show you don't really believe in no mind, no Buddha. But explanation is very difficult. That's why we have this koan class. Now there's other schools where the explanation is not so difficult, but the practice is horrendous and nobody can do it. But at least they feel comfortable because they can explain it.

[73:44]

And they can also explain why they can't do it. So here, too, they explain why you can't do it. They explain why you can't bring it out. But a fool brings it out very freshly. Because no man, no Buddha. She said, pretty good. Is that like saying no thank you? Is it like saying no thank you? What do you mean? Are you saying no thank you? In the Blue Cliff record, it Sway Du says, after the verse, he has this nice verse, which I won't say.

[74:48]

I will say it. The rhinoceros fan has long been in use. The rhinoceros fan has long been in use. Do you believe that? No mind, no Buddha makes that possible. But when asked, actually nobody knows. the boundless pure breeze and the horn on the head. Just like the clouds and rain when gone are difficult to pursue. So again, no mind, no Buddha. Practice is not difficult. When you practice, The fan has long been in use, but nobody knows. When you practice the boundless pure breeze, the horns on the head, the horns are well installed.

[76:01]

The head is prominent and ugly. Even though practice is not difficult, and there is wonderful clouds and rain, still, if you try to get it, you can't. However, everything you do can come from this wonderful practice. And then Suedu says again, after that's over, he says, if you want the pure breeze to return and the horns to grow again, I ask you, Zen followers, for a turning word, or to each turn a word. In other words, please, each of you turn a word. At that time, a monk came forward and said, OK, everybody go back to the zendo and sit.

[77:09]

And Suedu said, I cast my hook fishing for giant whales. and I caught a frog. He then got down from the seat and left. He doesn't usually do this in the Blue Cliff record. Usually he gives his verse, right? But here he said something after he gave the verse. He said, if you want this pure breeze... Do you want to realize this pure breeze and want these horns to grow anew? Please give a turning phrase. So a monk came up and gave a turning phrase. And he said, OK, everybody go back to zendo. Usually, we do that here too sometimes. The teacher gives a talk. And then the teacher said, OK, now you guys go back and sit. So he said, if you want the pure breeze to return and the horns to regrow, please give me a turning phrase.

[78:21]

The monk gave him a turning phrase. And the monk said what the teacher said, usually. The monk came forward and said what the teacher said. And the teacher said, I fished for a great whale and I got a frog. But again, we ought to be careful here because, as I mentioned before, this could just be ironic. Yeah, I hope you don't. What? Was that a frog noise? That was a good frog noise. Did any whale sounds out there in the audience? In addition to that case 91, there's an interesting case 33, where Zipfer draws a circle and is criticized for it.

[79:36]

Yeah, case 33 of the book lift record. Zifu also draws a circle. I understand if you fan a rhinoceros and make a whale sound. I thought that contemplating discussing this case, I thought it would take a long time. I don't know. Oftentimes in these classes I feel okay at the end of the class, but then later in the week I think, oh no, there's much more to do. So I don't know. According to scheduling and so on, I think this is the last class of this class. Are you going to be gone?

[80:55]

I think so. I think I'm going to go to somewhere. So, anyway, I appreciate you studying these koans. I know that... It's like being diagnosed with cancer sometimes. But this is just a little room where the universe, you know, knocks on us and says, here it is, what are you going to do about it? So how about some turning phrases from you people? Turning some words. Sound. The horns of the dilemma.

[82:08]

What's the fix? Just to refer to the breeding taxes of case three, I was wondering what you meant by that. Are you talking about these six methods of anathana? You never touched on that. It's like, what was that called? Well, the breathing practices, the fundamental breathing practices are breathing in, not dwelling in body and mind, breathing out, not becoming entangled in myriad circumstances. This is the basic breathing practice. It can be taught in terms of six subtle dharmagates. That's one other way to teach this. It's also just a cloud rhino staring at the moonlight, staring at the moon.

[83:12]

It's engulfing radiance. A wood horse romping in the springtime, free and unbridled. OK? See this? See this? You know what this is? This is a cloud rhino staring at the moon. Do you think, do you think, do you think? This is the club rhino. What's happening? I was just wondering if that was what you wanted us to understand when you referred us to this. What's the point?

[84:18]

The point is that this is a breathing practice that we're doing right here. Which one of these six? Which one of the six are we doing right now? That's not really my question, because it's more than where we're not doing any of these six. That could be wrong there, but which... You're not exactly wrong. I didn't tell you yet that you're doing the final of the six right now. And you haven't even started the first. If you want some kind of like rhino riding lessons, then you can take those six and you can start one, two, three, four, five, six. First you go over to the rhino and you say, hello, I'm going to climb up on you now. Where should I get a hold of this rhino?

[85:22]

Should you walk clockwise around the rhino or counterclockwise? How do you ride a rhino? So if you want to do that. But also, you can just be the rhino right now. If you don't want to be the rhino right now, OK. We have a sixth level course in becoming the rhino. But you can also not get involved in the myriad circumstances of your life. It's like I have nothing else left in me. Then what? To be involved in my myriad circumstances. Well, I'm not saying anybody has anything better to do. I'm not saying it's better. I'm saying the rhino...

[86:25]

is not in the realm of better and worse. That's why you're admitted there already. And even as a damaged person, you're welcome. We'll accept your lack of norms. will accept you getting all untangled and we can repair you okay there was a long bunch of turning words Did any words turn there?

[87:27]

So this is case 25 and there's 75 to go. So you take care of this rhino, okay? Through the cold winter hours. See if this rhino can grow. See if this little sprout, this little growing plant can grow. I hope you take good care of it. Unless you have something better to do. May our intention

[88:22]

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