Model subject number five in the Blue Cliff Records is about Seppo. Can't hear in the back? Okay. Is that better? Anyway. If you don't... Okay, there it is. Anyway, model subject number five in the Blue Cliff Records. Not too loud, though, right? It is about Seppo, who was the teacher of Oonmon, who I've talked about a lot. Anyway, Seppo said at the beginning of the lecture, he always started his talks,

[01:00]

attention, I don't know what the Chinese word is, but anyway, he said attention. And he said, if the world is the size of a seed, the world is the size of a seed, we can pick up the world as if it was the size of a seed. And then even if we throw it down in front of you, you can't see it. It's like a lacquered pail. I guess since we have electric lights all the time, it's hard for us to catch immediately when they say a lacquered pail. But if you live in a country without electric lights, if you have a black lacquered bowl in the dark, which is dark a good part of the time, you can't find it, you know, because you can't see. So often in Zen stories they talk about the black lacquered pail, which means something you can't see.

[02:06]

So maybe it has other meanings too. So anyway, he says the world is like a seed which you can pick up, but even if I throw it down in front of you, you can't see it. So then he says, go beat the work drum and hunt everywhere. Such a story means, I don't know, it's hard to say what it means, but anyway, partly it means don't hesitate. If you think about it, you know, you can't find anything. The Shingon sect, or in Japan it's called Shingon sect, in Tibet maybe it's almost the same as Vajrayana.

[03:26]

The Shingon sect is maybe closest to Zen of any other school of Buddhism. And in the Shingon sect in Japan it's based on a sutra or teaching which had no audience, which Buddha said to himself, they say. Because if you speak for a particular person, it's already some qualified teaching. So it's what Buddha said to himself. So for the same reason we practice Zazen, because our practice is what we say to ourself, you already are the supreme teaching. So don't hesitate, just accept that. But you always look around like there's a seed out there, some kind of seed you're going to find and take it and you'll become enlightened.

[04:27]

But you can't swallow the whole world. We talk about practice begins with three important factors. One is the thought of enlightenment. Partly you get the thought of enlightenment from seeing some great teacher like Suzuki Roshi. The thought of enlightenment maybe, it's like the sun rising, you know, or the moon spreading over everything. It has some physiological meaning too. But before we have the thought of enlightenment, you know, in most of the sutras they talk about, they introduce by saying, sons of good family or good breeding.

[05:51]

And this means the practice before enlightenment, or before the thought of enlightenment, when you still have what I talked about Tuesday night, evil desires. So although actually your evil desires are your enlightenment, when you first start practicing, if you think your evil desires are your enlightenment, you may get rather confused. So, or your ignorance. So at first, that phrase, you know, sons of good family, just means it's a shorthand way for those people, because they had a different culture than we did, so a good disposition or good opportunity to practice usually was only for people, sons of good family.

[06:57]

But actually it just means the conditions which allow you to be ready to hear, to ready to have the thought of enlightenment. And I think most of you are actually at that practice, that finding out and taking care of your disposition. So we have rules about trying to make some limitations, some strictness with yourself. As the famous Zen story about climbing to the top of the flagpole. Practicing Zen and Zen center may be like being sitting on the top of a flagpole.

[08:05]

You can't go anywhere and it's rather encumbering. But of course you have to, if you're at the top of the flagpole, you have to jump off. And at first we have to climb the flagpole. The second aspect which goes with the thought of enlightenment is vows. You find some way to make a resolution that's unwavering to practice. Enlightenment doesn't mean some special state, it means maybe helping others to be enlightened.

[09:08]

So right away we forget about our own enlightenment and just help others. And we take some vow, bodhisattva vow, some kind of vow. Or actually the vow is some turning around inside yourself where you feel yourself settling on yourself. Okay, I exclude everything but thought of enlightenment. And the third condition or third aspect is a prediction. A prediction that you will become Buddha, attain Buddhahood. Somebody, some teacher, you know, maybe, acknowledges you.

[10:13]

And it may be difficult for you to recognize the acknowledgement. I know an interesting story about Suzuki Roshi's teacher's teacher's teacher. I think that's right, let's see. Kichizawa Roshi was Suzuki Roshi's second teacher, who was the great expert on Dogen. And his teacher was a famous teacher that Suzuki Roshi admired very much. And that man went out hunting for a teacher. And he was crossing Hakone Mountain from his own temple. And he'd walked about 25 miles, I guess. And he came to a temple in a town called Ohara or Odara, I can't remember which.

[11:15]

And he entered and asked to spend the night and some food. And in those days, there weren't so many traveling monks or so many people. And it was quite common to give hospitality to traveling monks. So they had a meal together. And then he said, let me show you upstairs. So in that kind of house or temple, often they don't have real stairs. It's almost either very steep steps or a ladder. Anyway, he showed him upstairs. And then he pulled the ladder away and said, don't worry, I'll give you everything you need, just stay there and practice. So he passed food up, you know, things like that.

[12:23]

That was his prediction. So maybe he recognized predictions, so he stayed up in that upstairs loft and sat. And this man was pretty strict. And almost nobody stayed with him. Many came to stay with him because he was quite famous Zen Master. But actually, after two or three months, they would leave. But this person, Kichizawa Roshi's teacher, stayed for many years and then finally went back to his own temple and took charge of it. But still, every two weeks or so, he walked 25 miles over the mountain and visited his teacher and then 25 miles back. And some of you get some opportunity to practice.

[13:31]

Someone, maybe Suzuki Roshi says, gives you some opportunity to practice. So at first, you're quite excited. Ah, now I have the opportunity to practice. But you're not sure, you know. You don't trust your own sense that you've had some prediction. So then you go and see Suzuki Roshi. And you say something. You ask him to confirm what you felt. And at that moment, he acts very foolish. Or he says, Oh no, I don't know what you're talking about. Or he makes a face. Anyway. But he does something which confuses you.

[14:32]

So you're not sure even. Or he makes you doubt him. Then you have some big problem. But actually, you shouldn't hesitate. Right now, you are the supreme teaching. But most of you don't believe it. So as long as you don't believe it, you have to worry about your disposition. Until the sun rises and the moon comes up. This kind of story we call the second principle.

[15:51]

First principle is emptiness. But we can't, if we discard the second principle, if we discard stories or some kind of belief, aid, none of us can practice Buddhism. So we set aside the first principle and practice, trying to understand this kind of story. And it's very important to have a good friend to practice with. Really important to have a good friend to practice with. In the stage of what your disposition is.

[16:51]

You know, it's, you know, it's very helpful, especially to have a friend who's practicing with you. Who also is trying to limit himself in some way. But at every stage, it's important to have a good friend to practice with. It's so much easier to share a friend's world, you know, at first than to feel familiar with everything. And that's why teacher and student relationship is emphasized so strongly. Sangha relationship in Zen. Because of the need to have a good friend. Actually, your teacher should be your best friend. So you want somebody, actually, who you feel quite comfortable with.

[18:05]

But maybe a little uneasy. Hmm. That story of Suzuki Roshi's teacher's teacher's teacher

[19:07]

is the same kind of story as I told once before about Seppo. Because Seppo who said this, you know, about world is like seed. This story is about Seppo. Seppo is the same person who was camping at the summit of the mountain with Ganto. And who had visited Tozan Ryokai, the founder of Soto school in China, nine times. And still, even though he'd been acknowledged, he still felt some doubt or some confusion, some depression. He couldn't understand why he still felt that. And Ganto was sound asleep. And Seppo was up, sitting all night.

[20:11]

So Ganto woke up and said, why can't you sleep? And Seppo said, I have some confusion. I don't feel comfortable. Even though I visited Tozan nine times and some other teacher three times. And as you remember, I can't remember story exactly, but they were one time with, I think, Tozan who sent him away. He was sorting rice, cleaning rice. And he asked him, which is rice and which is stone? I can't remember what he said. But anyway, then he turned over all the rice and threw him out. Anyway, he had many stories about Seppo because he was pretty extraordinary person.

[21:17]

Anyway, Ganto, his friend, told him, in effect, you should see yourself, you should know yourself subjectively, not objectively. It has to, you are the supreme teaching. It has to come out from you. Anyway, Seppo practiced some 30 years, I think, and he started rather late in life. So, how are each of you going to recognize

[22:48]

your self completely? Do you have any questions or anything we should talk about? Yes. Yeah. You mean the blocks of ordinary life or the blocks I'm throwing? Yes.

[23:48]

I don't know. It's not... We have a pretty hard time, you know. There's a famous story about a practice, it's like throwing a yoke or a board with a knot hole into the ocean. And every hundred years, maybe every hundred years, a blind turtle or one-eyed turtle comes up from the ocean. And what chance has that turtle got to hit the yoke and fasten himself to the board, maybe, and look out with one eye? That kind of...

[25:04]

We practice in that way. So, if you say to the turtle, Oh, it's over there, it's over there, you know. Turtle will have a terrible time. Turtle must just come up from the bottom of the ocean, right to the hole. So, it's up to you to find your yoke. Same kind of story is about... Two people are walking along, one is teacher, one is student, you know, as usual. And some wild ducks fly overhead. And teacher says, What was that?

[26:08]

And student says, Oh, those are wild ducks. And teacher said, Where are they going? And student says, They've gone away. He was quite honest student. He just said, Oh, they've gone away. He didn't even say where they're going. He just said, They've gone away. But the teacher grabbed him by the nose and said, Now, where are they? If you have a good friend that you practice with, he's never away from you. Your nose is wild duck. Dogen said that our practice,

[27:16]

our sukhumvit practice, our secluded world, our cave, you know, which includes worldly life and unworldly life, is like the moon reflected in a drop of water on a duck's nose. It's pretty ephemeral kind of thing, but moon is there. The thought of enlightenment is there. And your opportunity to recognize prediction is there. And your opportunity to make your resolution firm is there. But can you take that opportunity? So don't hesitate. Even if the world is thrown down in front of you and we beat the work drum, you won't be able to find it. Our practice is to be completely human.

[28:27]

Some practices want to add something, want to give you something, but Zen practice wants to take everything away from you. You should just be ready for each moment, ready for enlightenment, ready for thought of enlightenment, ready to take vow. When you feel that turning, you just go with it. Ready to hear each moment of prediction. Ready to help others in their practice. Ready to be good friend of each one of us. You don't have to make any effort to be close to people.

[29:33]

You're already included in each one of you. But if you're always seeking comfort, you know, you can't be ready. Because at the moment when things are there, it's very clear and very quick. So, if always you are seeking comfort, each time you won't see anything, you know. You won't see things as they are. We practice in two ways. One is to observe everything as it is, which means enlightenment. And the other is to practice with everything just as it is, just as we are, whatever our desires are, or difficulties are, or problems are.

[30:34]

And those, on the one hand, sound like separate practices, and the other hand they're same. Depends on your standpoint, whether your standpoint is first principle or second principle. Actually there's not two principles, just it's a matter of your standpoint. So, we make our practice quite boring, so that you will try to go away. And a little bit painful, also so you try to find some comfort. But if you can stay through it and find your comfort each moment, how can this incredible thing you are be boring? Except when your mind is seeking something.

[31:36]

If you're bored, it means you're seeking something. You're chasing a wild goose. As I said before, you know, coming back from the East Coast, it's such a pleasure to practice with you. Now I have to go away Sunday, you know, tomorrow. Anyway, I'll miss you all very much. Namaste.

[32:19]

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