So this is the day that is, actually the 15th yesterday, is the day that is celebrated in East Asia as the anniversary of the passing away into nirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha who lived, the historical Buddha who lived in what's now northeastern India. somewhere around 500 BC and counting. So, what this means is kind of, I don't know, controversial. There's various different interpretations, obviously. In early Buddhism, nirvana was, nirvana literally means cessation. In early Buddhism, the ideal was to escape from the rat race world of samsara, the world of fame and gain and seeking and trying to manipulate reality or ourselves or the world to get what we want, to be happy and to get rid of, well, to get rid of our desires and so forth.

[01:11]

So the ultimate of nirvana was when the Buddha passed away into nirvana and would never more be reborn into this world. It's the end of rebirth. I remember asking my first teacher, a little while after I started practicing, how I could get to Nirvana, and he said, just die. And in Japan, whenever anyone dies, they're called Hotoke, which means Buddha. But in Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddhism of the Bodhisattvas, which we follow here, the practice of universal liberation and awakening beings, nirvana is understood as being right in the middle of samsara in terms of our working for the liberation and awakening and relief of suffering of all beings. And then in the Lotus Sutra, which we just chanted, there's this kind of a very radical revelation in terms of all previous Buddhism, that the Buddha says in that sutra, and we just chanted a part of that revelation, that actually the Buddha only appears to have been born and lived in the palace and left and awakened and passed away in nirvana, but actually has this not infinite, not eternal, but very, very, very, very, very, very,

[02:40]

Very, very, very, very, and I can keep saying varies, but long lifespan. And practically speaking, the Buddha is present always. What does that mean? So, and yet also, the Buddha passed away as a human being under the twin solitaries in Kushinagara. So, to talk about that, I wanted to read And to talk about the tension around this event today, it's a kind of event of, well, for the disciples of Buddha, it was an event of great sadness and grieving. And whenever a teacher passes away, as the central abbot of San Francisco Zen Center recently did, Steve Stuckey, it's an event of great sadness. And yet, the Buddha way goes beyond in some way.

[03:42]

So, the image which we use once a year that's on our altar this morning of Buddha Shakyamuni passing away into nirvana, the traditional image is of him reclining on his right side. and very composed and doing various meditation techniques and calmly passing away. And actually in monasteries in Asia still where monks sleep in the meditation hall, they sleep on the right side like that. And there are various... anatomical reasons why that's a healthy position to sleep in. But anyway, so you can take a look later more closely at that image. But later, our founder in Japan, Ehei Doge, commented on this. And I'm going to read selections from several of his talks on this occasion, the passing away, the Parinirvana Day of Shakyamuni.

[04:45]

So Ehei Dogen lived in the 1200s in Japan and brought the Saldong or Soto tradition back from China to Japan that we follow. And I talk about him a lot and translated his writings. This is from his extensive record. So I'll start with Well, you know, again, the question is, the issue is, what does it mean that he's, that the Buddha is present in our world here today, even? So this was the talk, this is from the talk that Dogen gave to his monks in 1251 at Eheiji, way up in the mountains in northern Japan. He said, today the prime teacher of this Saha world, the great master, the Tathagata, means Buddha, Shakyamuni, entered nirvana between the twin solitaries in the town of Kushinagara.

[05:50]

So he says, this Saha world, this is the old Indian way of describing this world that we live in. The Saha world is the world of endurance. It's difficult to practice in this world. There's a lot of suffering. They knew this all the way back then, and they still do. He entered nirvana between the twin solitaries in the town of Kushinagara. Since then, 2,200 years have passed. So actually, their idea of history is different from ours. Anyway, although this is so, our Buddha once said, if you say I perish, you are not disciples belonging to my clan, my family. If you say I do not perish, you are also not disciples in my family. If you say I both perish and do not perish, you are all not disciples in my family. So this is based on this idea of this long lifespan. Dogen says, already we are not disciples of this family. So finally, what are we called? Aren't we all practicing together alongside Shakyamuni Buddha?

[06:56]

If we are practicing alongside him, then whom are we practicing under? Tell me, Great Assembly. I inquire and will see what you say. If you cannot speak for your sake, I speak. And then he says, I'll read it in part, if we meet in practice under Shakyamuni Buddha, if we meet in practice under Shakyamuni, we are Shakyamuni Buddha's disciple and among his kinfolk. So part of a very traditional idea about following the Buddha way, whether in this branch of Buddhist practice or others, is that we're all children of Buddha. We're all part of the family of Buddha, whatever school or approach of Buddhism. We're all following the way that Buddha established in this world, although actually it goes back before him. We're all following, you know,

[08:00]

way of paying attention, of caring about our life, of, you know, in our tradition of sitting upright and developing patience and calm and settling and paying attention to our life and the world around us and trying to act beneficially for all beings, including ourselves, but for all beings. So how is it that Buddha is still alive? This is a key question. And today this tension is something that's called to us. So I'm going to read a few more of Dogen's talks. This one is from earlier in 1246 on this day. He says, now, our original teacher, great master Shakyamuni, is passing away. Now, entering nirvana, under the solitrees of the Ajitavati River in Kushinagar.

[09:07]

These solitrees, these twin solitrees, there's pictures of him. We don't have videotapes, but there were paintings. stretched like this, reclining peacefully, between these two solid trees. And those solid trees are a kind of tree, I don't know, I don't know what the, if there's a Western name for them, but they're trees that kind of split apart into two from the lower trunk. Anyway, Dogen goes on to say, why is this only about Shakyamuni Buddha? All Buddhas in the ten directions, in the past, future, and present, enter nirvana tonight at midnight." So there's this historical Buddha, but we also talk about various Buddhas. And in the Bodhisattva practice, there have been many Buddhas in the past and in the future, and in many dimensions, coming to here, these sutras spoken of by Shakyamuni Buddha.

[10:13]

So he says, all Buddhas in the ten directions, in the past, future, and present, enter nirvana tonight at midnight. Not only all Buddhas, but the 28 ancestors in India and the 6 ancestors in China, who have noses and head tops, all without exception enter nirvana at midnight tonight. There is no before and after, no self and others. Those who do not enter nirvana tonight at midnight are not Buddha and are not capable of maintaining the teaching. Those who have already entered nirvana tonight at midnight are capable of maintaining the teaching. Those who are already capable of maintaining the teaching are in the same family business. Whether a tripod kettle has a broken leg or no legs, whether a ladle has a short or long handle, whether a nose is either broken and flat or long and straight.

[11:17]

Someone has one eye bulging and the other eye sunken. They all discern the monk's staff and complete the matter of a lifetime. This thing about one eye bulging and the other eye sunken, I don't know. They say that all Zen teachers have one eye looking out and one eye looking in. If you look at the picture of Suzuki Roshi on the back of Zen Mind Beginners, you might notice that. He's looking out, he's looking at you, and he's also kind of turned within. And our practice is to turn the light within, so we sit facing the wall, facing ourselves. But we also, you know, we're open to, we keep our eyes open in satsang, because we're open to the suffering of the world, of others, as well as ourselves. They all discern the monk's death and complete the matter of a lifetime. And then he says, stagnant water hides a dragon. In the entire earth there is no person.

[12:18]

So, you know, some descriptions, so, you know, we're sort of interested in dragons here. That's part of the name of our temple. They say that in the life, in the normal, Lifespan of dragons, they kind of hide out in the marshy, stagnant waters for a while, but then they kind of come to life and spring out of such marshes. Anyway, clods of mud or lumps of earth may break someone's front teeth or sever one's left arm. And that may be a reference to Bodhidharma and his first disciple. Anyway, today we exist, tomorrow there's nothing. At midnight, holding this with empty hands is called practice for three immeasurable kalpas, or long eons, and another hundred kalpas. With full exertion, lift up this single stone and call it the lifespan of as many ages as the atoms in 500 worlds.

[13:24]

The Great Assembly has already seen such a principle. However, there is a more essential point. Would you like to thoroughly experience it? After a pause, Dogen said, on various people's faces hang Gautama's eyes. That's the Buddha's name before he became the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. But still they beat their breasts with fists in empty grieving. I cannot bear the heavenly demon or the demon of life and death who roll around on the floor with laughter seven or eight times at seeing Buddha dying. Dogen put down his whisk and descended from his seat. So, you know, there's a tension about this. There are many people who grieve at the passing of Buddha, and so today is a day of sadness. And Dogen says that, you know, the heavenly demons, or the demons of life and death, laugh at the people grieving, because they know that Buddha's still alive.

[14:38]

And Dogen says he can't bear this, so he's sad. Suzuki Roshi's gone. He died too early. Shakyamuni Buddha died a long time ago, even before Dogen, even before Steve Suzuki. What is this matter of life and death? This calls to us today. How do we take care of this world and all the... There's so many problems in the world. There's so many calamities. This euphemism, extreme weather for climate damage is causing such distress all over the world.

[15:43]

What do we do to take care of this? How do we take care of our own lives amid all the confusion? of human beings. So, in some ways, Buddha is alive. What does this mean? In some ways, Buddha's passed away. What does that mean? This is our great koan today. So I'm going to read a couple more of these. This one was from... So that one was from 1246. This one is from the next year, 1247. So Dogen said, the twin sala trees under which Shakyamuni passed away did not receive the power of the spirit of spring.

[16:44]

And there's a story that after he entered Parinirvana, those trees withered. So the trees themselves were sad and grieved and withered away. It's one story. After a snowfall, how can we know the midnight frost? And again, in 1247, Dogen lived up in the mountains at Eheji. Snow is much deeper than anything in Chicago this winter. Every winter it's like five or six feet. Buddha held up and turned the empty sky and laid himself down in the world. The Jatagata emitted light twice from the curled hair on his forehead. So that was a signal that he was beginning the Lotus Sutra, beginning to speak that sutra. Although it is the case that he was lying down, who would say that when he lost his physical life, he would not also have liked dying while sitting or standing?

[17:48]

So, you know, this image that we have on our altar of the Buddha passing away, he's lying peacefully. It's very serene. There's a statue in Bangkok, It's huge, it's a long, has anyone else seen it? This, yeah, it's a long reclining Buddha like this, but it's, I don't know how long it is, but it's longer than this temple. It's a very beautiful big statue, but it's reclining and just very peacefully passing away. And in Zen particularly, there's this kind of idea of Zen teachers passing away while they're sitting up. One of the great teachers who couldn't get into full lotus, just as he was dying, broke his leg. He was a little macho anyway. So he died sitting in full lotus. And then I was mentioning that Masa, the horse ancestor, who I talked about Monday, amongst his 139 disciples, there was one who died standing on his head, which is really showing off.

[19:01]

Anyway, Dogen says, although it is the case that he was lying down, who would say that when he lost his physical life, he would not also have liked dying while sitting or standing? The eating bowls of the seven Buddhas are bottomless, but for sentient beings, disaster was awful. So this is interesting. The eating bowls of the seven Buddhas. We say there were seven Buddhas before Buddha. There were actually seven Buddhas leading up to Shakyamuni Buddha. So in the Bodhisattva idea of Buddhism, there are many Buddhas. He wasn't the first. Going back in other world systems, I don't know, maybe in previous big banks, I don't know how you want to think about it, but there have always been Buddhas. And there will always be Buddhas, whatever happens to this planet. Buddha just means the awakened one. And this is something that's just natural for us to do. So it may seem, to us Westerners, it seems very funny to come and sit cross-legged on the ground and sit still and face the wall for 30 minutes or 40 minutes.

[20:18]

It seems very strange. But actually, it's a natural thing to do. They have found little figures from pre-Columbia, from before Columbus in South America, figures sitting cross-legged, like the Buddha. It's a natural thing to do. Some people think that one theory is that This practice came from pre-agricultural human beings, hunters and gatherers. And hunters would sit still, waiting for game to come. This was how they lived, how they got their food. They would wait for animals to come and offer themselves. And they would sit still, very quiet, upright, attentive. They'd have to pay attention so they'd know when the animal came. Anyway, the eating bowls of the seven Buddhas are bottomless.

[21:23]

Don't make sense. But for sentient beings, for us ordinary beings, this disaster of the Buddhas passing away was awful. If you say Shakyamuni is extinguished, you are not his disciple. He's here in the Lotus Sutra. His lifespan is a very long time. He's still around. If you say he's not extinguished, your words do not hit the mark. How can he say that he didn't pass away? Having reached this day, how do you respond? Then Dogen says, do you want to see the Tathagata's life vein, his blood vein? Do you want to see how the Buddha is alive? Do you want to? Then he says, offer incense, make prostrations, and return to the meditation hall. So this is it. Here it is, folks. The Buddha is alive here as we sit, as we offer incense, as we make prostrations, as we come back to our seat.

[22:28]

Buddha is here in Chicago this morning, this room. That's what Dogen is telling us. One more. This is the last talk that Dogen gave on this occasion in 1252. He passed away in 1253, and basically we don't have any teachings from 1253. So this is a little bit longer, and there's some references to some other teachers, but I'll just read it anyway. 2,000 years ago today, and actually from our accounting of history. We're still changing, you know, the scholars are still changing the date when Buddha lived. You know, when I first started practicing he lived

[23:31]

Anyway, he lived in the 500s B.C. and now they say he lived in the 400s B.C. So, you know, back in Dogen's time, they thought it was a few centuries before that. So, anyway. He says, 2,000 years ago today, our original teacher, the Tathagata, Tathagata means, another word for Buddha, it means the one who comes and goes in suchness, who just is present in reality all the time. the Tathagata Shakyamuni entered nirvana under the Bodhi tree in India in the Saha world. So usually we say that he awakened under the Bodhi tree and that he passed away under the Sala tree. So Doge is playing with these stories. And that's okay. Every year when we encounter this day, the branches lower and the leaves become withered, saddened by the Tathagatas passing away into nirvana. The meaning of this nirvana is that we are not seeing the place where the first ancestor, Mahatma Sampa, broke into a smile.

[24:35]

So this is the Zen story of the first transmission where Shakyamuni on Vulture Peak held up a flower. And Mahakasyapa back there smiled. And the Buddha said, ah, Mahakasyapa, you have the wondrous mind of Nirvana, of the true Dharma I, and so forth. And that's the story. And historically, excuse me for the scholarly footnote, that story wasn't actually told until like around 1100. So it's an apocryphal story, but it's a good story anyway. Dogen seems to have believed it literally, and that's fine. Anyway, we are not able to recognize the time of the second ancestor, Dogen continues. Daza Wike doing prostration, so he's referring to the various stories of the ancestors.

[25:39]

How could we assess a Zen practitioner drawing a circle? How could we deliberate about a capable person striking the sitting platform? These all refer to various old Zen stories. Then he talks about the sixth ancestor. Huineng, who I've talked about recently, who was this illiterate woodcutter from the South who became the sixth ancestor of Huineng. The sixth ancestor of the ancestral teacher, Huineng, instructed Zen teacher Guangjiao Jidao, saying, unsurpassed great nirvana is perfectly bright and always serenely illuminated. Common people think it is death, and those outside the way cling to it as annihilation. So he's countering the previous view that nirvana means just death and cessation from the round of life and death. So he says those views that nirvana is just their own non-doing, these are examples of sentimental calculations and are the roots of the 62 mistaken views of the self.

[26:52]

Dogen goes on, therefore, so that's all from the sixth ancestor. Therefore, nirvana is neither departing nor entering the world, nor hiding in despair, nor is it birth or extinction, nor going or coming. And yet, Dogen says, simply when the opportunity and conditions join together, power nirvana is manifest, like today. This night, Buddha entered nirvana under the Twin Solitrees, and yet it is said that he always abides on Vulture Peak. So that's from the Lotus Sutra that we just chanted. When can we meet our compassionate father? Alone and poor, we vainly remain in this world. Although it is like this, his remote descendants in this thousandfold world of suffering at this very time, what can we say? And then after a pause, Dogen recited a poem and stopped.

[27:56]

In crane forest with the moon fallen, how could dawn appear? In Kushinagara, flowers wither and spring is not spring. Amid love and yearning, what can this confused son do? This child of Buddha. And then he says, I wish to stop these red tears and join in wholesome action. So the point is, we can be sad that... You know, it's okay to... There is crime in Buddhism. It's okay to be sad that Buddha passed away. It's okay to be sad that Sistu died early. It's okay that Suzuki Roshi didn't live longer. It's okay to grieve for all who passed away.

[29:00]

And yet, Dogen says, I want to join in wholesome action. How is it that Buddha is still alive in the world today? Dogen elsewhere talks about doing the Buddha work. So all of you, some of you have sat Zazen this morning for the first time, came for Zazen instruction. all of you, just by virtue of showing up here this morning, are doing the Buddha work. Of course, Sasen, it's not just about doing some spiritual exercise, sitting in a funny position on a cushion or a chair, but how do we join in wholesome action?

[30:01]

I know many of you do all kinds of things when you leave here and go out into Chicago to take care of people, take care of yourselves, to try to do the Buddha work. So how is it that Buddha is still alive in the world? So this is our responsibility. Of course, this also means that there are other beings out there in the world who are also, and other beings in this room who are also doing the Buddha work, and who we can call on for support. There are many suffering beings in the world. There's all kinds of suffering in the world. And there are many suffering beings on your own cushion or chair, and we have to listen to them, too.

[31:06]

How do we take care of doing the Buddha work? How is Buddha alive in this world? So in the Lotus Sutra, he says that he sometimes seems to be gone and to have passed away. And Dogen says that all Buddhas in the future, as well as in the past, as well as in the present, pass away into nirvana tonight at midnight. And all Buddhas who do the Buddha work have already passed away into parinirvana at midnight tonight. We're all dead now. And yet, Buddha's alive. So this is what we celebrate today on Parinirvana Day, that we can keep alive something that goes way back and way into the future too. And how we do that practically with all the difficulties, it's pretty challenging.

[32:12]

So this is the world of endurance. It's difficult. We need to learn patience. So Dogen says, he wishes to join in wholesome action. And there's no one right way to do that. Each of you has your own special gift. Each of you has your own way of being helpful. But Buddha is alive. In our practice, this zazen is about finding our own way to see how Buddha is alive and how we can do the Buddha work and take responsibility for Shakyamuni Buddha 2,500 years ago, or whenever he was alive, being in the world here in, is it 2014 now?

[33:09]

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