Good morning and welcome. So we're expecting Shirako Kimura-Roshi later this morning. I will begin this weekend teaching on Kanon Bodhisattva's Great Compassion with some introduction. The three texts that Shirako is using this weekend are all about one story about Kanon. And the story is about how the working of great compassion, how great compassion works for this Bodhisattva. And it's a story, a dialogue based on three different commentaries on a dialogue between two great 9th century Chan and Zen masters, Yunyan and Daowu, very important in our Soto Zen lineage. So I want to talk about that a little bit, but first some background about this great bodhisattva of compassion.

[01:03]

Kanon is one Japanese name. Kanzeon, hearing sound, is Kanon. Hearing the sounds of the world is Kanzeon. In Sanskrit, avalokiteshvara. and in Tibetan Chenrezig or in Chinese Guanyin, the most popular bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, an enlightening being dedicated to saving all beings, but particularly the bodhisattva of compassion. And her name means hearing sounds, or as Kamsayon, hearing the sounds of the world. So compassion in Buddhism is, in one aspect, merely sympathetic listening, empathetic listening, hearing the suffering of the world, remaining opening to the suffering of the world. This is fundamental to what compassion is in Buddhism.

[02:06]

But also there's the principle of response of compassion for this bodhisattva. And that's really what we're talking about this weekend. How is it that compassion works? How is it that the bodhisattva of compassion responds and expresses compassion? This is very subtle. And part of that is that there are a great many different forms of this bodhisattva. So this story is based on one of those many forms. But actually, part of what this bodhisattva of compassion represents, along with empathetic listening, is skillful means, responding to beings in the particular way that they need and recognizing the diversity of beings in the world. So there are many different forms. And in my Faces of Compassion book, I talk about some of those different forms.

[03:16]

It'll be hard to see from the back, but there is this basic form of just the simple two-armed, one-headed gun on the goddess of mercy that you've all seen in Chinese restaurants. Very simple, sometimes holding a vase or a jar of nectar, just expressing compassion for the world. Sometimes there are multiple arms, like this one. That's the Tibetan version. This one also represents 11 heads, so sometimes one of the forms of the Bodhisattva of Compassion has 11 heads to see from different perspectives. And actually, we have two Canon Bodhisattvas in Arzendo. And there are many different forms. There's seven major forms, and then the Lotus Sutra talks about 33 forms, one of which is in the picture above Paula and Jerry there, sitting on a leaf floating on the ocean.

[04:21]

Another one, you'll have to look closely later, is on this iron plaque on the wall there, and that one has 11 heads. many different forms of this bodhisattva of compassion intentionally designed to provide different perspectives. This one is sitting in a relaxed pose and holding a tiny jewel in her hand, which is a wish-fulfilling gem, a jewel. So part of what Kannon sometimes does is just grant any wish that that someone asks for. So just to give, just to be generous and give what is asked for, kind of like a genie. There are other forms of canon in a relaxed pose. So this is, after sitting many hours, maybe just this relaxed kind of pose that sometimes canon takes. However, the form that is discussed in this story

[05:27]

is the thousand-armed form. I should say, first of all, that there's also various names in addition to the different translations in different cultures. There's kanzeon in Japanese, and also kanjizai, which is the name of the bodhisattva of compassion used in the heart sutra we sometimes chant. In Japanese, it's kanjizai. Shohaku translates this as freely seeing bodhisattva, various ways to translate that. So there are many different aspects of this bodhisattva, and that's part of the point of compassion, to respond in various different ways, to see and hear the suffering of beings in various different ways, to listen and regard the suffering of the world in all the different ways that beings are suffering. But in this story, that is the focus for this weekend, the main figure that's talked about is the thousand armed.

[06:48]

One of the major forms of the Bodhisattva's compassion is the thousand armed. Bodhisattva. So I'll come back to that. I'm going to just read the basic story. And we have three different texts that you all have. One is from the Book of Serenity, the Shoya Roku. It's case 54 in that Koan collection. Another is from the Blue Cliff Record, or case 89. And it's the same story, but different commentary. And then, Shōhaku has provided us, finally, with a commentary by Dōgen. I'll give a fuller introduction to Shōhaku later, but he and I have translated numbers of texts of Dōgen together and worked together in Japan and San Francisco. This is his new translation of one of the essays from one of Dogen's major works, Shobo Genzo, Chudarmai Treasury, called Kanon, about Avalokiteshvara.

[07:55]

And Dogen's main commentary on Kanon is simply this story. So this is a new translation of this essay by Dogen. And Dogen says some interesting things in here about this. In this introduction, I want to focus, and Dogen and Chalaka will say more about them, on these two koan commentaries. So just to say a little bit, the Book of Serenity The Shoya Roku in Japanese, in that case, the one that's number 54, case 54, is more in the Soto tradition that's based on the cases and verses from Hongzhe, who was a great 12th century, 1100s Chinese Soto teacher, great predecessor of Dogen.

[08:56]

So it has more of a kind of The book, Fifth Record, which is the format the Book of Serenity is based on, is a little bit earlier, and a little bit more of a Donna combat style. But anyway, both of these have this basic story. And so I want to start, I want to read, just read the basic story. I'll read the version in the, Both of these translations are by Thomas Cleary. The record one is by Thomas Cleary and his brother J.C. Cleary. But the Book of Serenity version, Yun-Yan asks Da Wu, what does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do with so many hands and eyes? Da Wu said, it's like someone reaching back for the pillow at night. Or you could read it as, it's like someone reaching back, groping for their pillow in the middle of the night. Yun-Yang said, ah, I understand.

[09:58]

Dao-Wu said, how do you understand? Yun-Yang said, all over the body is hands and eyes. Dao-Wu said, you said a lot there, but you only got 80%. Yun-Yang said, what about you, elder brother? Dao-Wu said, throughout the body is hands and eyes. So that's the basic story we're going to be talking about all weekend. And I'll come back to that and talk about who Yun-Yan and Dao-Wu are. But I don't know that any of the commentaries specifically, well, actually, no, one of them does talk about thousands of palms, hands, and eyes. But just so you know what this refers to, I brought some pictures, which I'm going to pass around. This is from a temple in Kyoto. called Sanjusangendo. It's a very long temple. The walkway on the outside of it used to be used for archery matches.

[11:02]

It's a very long, straight walkway. But inside, there's this amazing event where there's thousands of these standing bodhisattvas of compassion, each with I don't know if there's literally 1,000. Maybe there are literally 1,000, but there's some number that represents 1,000. And they each have 11 heads, including Amida Buddha on the top. So this Bodhisattva of Compassion is part of all the schools of Mahayana Buddhism. Very important in Zen, as you see from this Zen dialogue, but also in Pure Land Buddhism. This bodhisattva is one of the two main attendants to Amida Buddha, so always Amida Buddha is on the crown of the head. These look pretty similar, but each one is individually sculpted. They're not like machine-made out of a mold.

[12:04]

I'll pass this around so you can see. except for some of them that's marked here. And they're beautiful, beautiful statues. Each one of them, sometimes there'll be some annons, some of the museums in Japan, you can see one of them from the Zanji Zen Gendo. And they're really beautiful statues. And there's 1,000 of them. So there's 1,000, 1,000 annons, 500 on each side. And then in the middle, seated is this, seated on a lotus, pedestal is this thousand-armed, literally, Kannon, and with 11 heads and Amida, and then there's a kind of a nimbus or halo around it with many Buddhas around that. So I just wanted you to see what this is referring to. So people from Japan sort of take this for granted, this is what this Kannon is, but this, literally, this thousand-armed,

[13:11]

These 1,000 hands, they ask in the story, what does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do with so many hands and eyes? Literally, he has 1,000 hands. Actually, in China, the Bodhisattva of Compassion is almost always female, Guan Yin. In India and Tibet, it's male, but there's also the Tara. Tara is a female form that came from a tear from a Balakiteshvara. And we have a Tara right outside the door here, sitting on the table. And in Japan, it's kind of androgynous. There's a little mustache, but it's also kind of, the features are very soft. But the hands and eyes, there's the eyes in all of the heads above the main head, but also, each hand has an eye in the palm. So if there's a thousand hands, there's also a thousand eyes.

[14:15]

So to see the suffering of the world, to hear the suffering of the world. But also, one of the things that comes up in the commentaries is, What is this reaching back for the pillow in the middle of the night? And how do we see? And how do we hear? And hearing with your eyes, and seeing with your nose, and tongue, and anyway, so that's part of the story too. In addition to having an eye in each hand, Many of the hands, and you'll see this, you can see this in the standing thousand, thousand-armed, hand-armors, they have implements in their hands. That's not part of this particular koan or story, but each of the hands has various implements All kinds of things. There's lassos. There's jars with nectar.

[15:18]

There's beads. There's arrows. There's Buddhas. There's sun and moon. There's many, many different kinds of implements. And there's a whole iconography about that. There's bells. There's a skull in one. There's a whisk. There's a lotus. So there's a dharma wheel. So I want to pass this around. so that you can see these thousand hands and eyes of this Bodhisattva of Compassion. So again, there are many, many different forms of this Bodhisattva of Compassion, but in this story, they're referring to this very colorful thousand-armed, thousand-handed Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. So again, the Bodhisattva of Compassion just hears the sounds, hears sounds.

[16:22]

And actually, there's one in the Surangama Sutra sometimes recommends students to, as a focusing tool in zazen, to focus on breath, but also sometimes to focus on sound. And that's also part of the Bodhisattva of Compassion in the Surangama Sutra, which It turns out it was actually written in China, not India, but it was very popular in China. And the Bodhisattva of Compassion recommends listening to sound as a meditation focus. And I would recommend it too. It's very helpful as a settling tool when you need to settle in zazen. So, again, there's this side of the bodhisattva of compassion, which is just to hear the sounds, and just to be open to the suffering of the world, and just to listen.

[17:23]

Actually listen, to listen to your own suffering and the suffering of others, and to not shut yourself off from your own suffering and the suffering of others. But this bodhisattva of compassion is receptive but also is not passive. So how does the bodhisattva of compassion respond? So Jungian's question, what does the bodhisattva of compassion do with so many hands and eyes? Or the version in the lupus record, what does the bodhisattva of Great Compassion used so many hands and eyes for it. How do you use all of those hands? So the version in the translation of the Shobo Genzo, the question is, what does the Great Compassion Bodhisattva do with innumerable hands and eyes?

[18:34]

So this is the basic question. How does the Bodhisattva of Compassion use all these hands and arms? So again, this weekend, Sharp is going to comment on three different sets of commentaries about this question. And I'll say a little bit about this. But I want to talk a little bit about I've talked a little bit about the Book of Serenity, the Book of Record. Maybe I should say a little bit about Dogen. Maybe you all know who Dogen is. But the Shobo Genzo, True Dharma, High Treasury, this is the one that Shobak, who has given us this new translation of. And Satogan is the founder in the 13th century of Soto Zen, the grand Soto Zen that we do. He was a Japanese monk who went to China and brought back this tradition of Soto Zen from China to Japan and established what's now called Soto Zen.

[19:52]

He didn't call it that. He didn't even call it Zen. He just said, this is the Buddha way. But he wrote quite a lot. He wrote, well, Shobo Genzo is his most famous writing. And there are various different versions of that. The full modern version, there are 95 different essays. poetic and philosophical and elaborate, and they usually, like this one, start with one story or one theme or one teacher and then go off in different directions, and very playful and difficult, challenging, but also in some ways very comforting. And they were his teachings to his monks. Shouhaku and I translated one of those, Ben Doua, in the book The Whole-Hearted Way, one of the earliest of Dogen's writings about the basic meaning of zazen.

[20:59]

But Dogen had many other writings. He also wrote another book that Shouhaku and I translated. Japan, when I was living there in Kyoto, was the Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community, which presents and talks about the different positions, many of which we have here even in our small non-residential temple, like the Tenzo and the Ino and the Director and the Work Leader. And also various forms for the monastic practice, and some of those we use, again, even in modern American non-residential temples. And then the other major work besides Shobogenzo that Dogen did was the Eikoroko Extensive Record, which Shohaku and I translated in San Francisco, a very thick work with very short little talks. Anyway, Dogen was very important in bringing this tradition to

[22:00]

Japan from China and bringing the Koan tradition, these teaching stories to Japan, and founding this lineage of Sojo Zen in Japan. And his writings are now important in translation in the West. So anyway, I could start talking about Dogen and go on and on, but we have this wonderful new translation by Shoak Hiroshi about Kannon that he'll be talking about. But one of the things about This tradition of Soto is the Japanese for Saodong, Chinese. And this Saodong tradition is very ancient. And it goes back to, well, there are many, many wonderful figures in the Chinese Saodong tradition. I mentioned Hongzhe a century before Dogen. The founder of that tradition is Dongshan, who we've talked about earlier this year a lot.

[23:04]

He wrote or is considered the writer of the, Song of the Jewel-Bearer Samadhi we talked about a lot in the spring, and his teacher is this Yunyan we're talking about this weekend. So Yunyan and Daowu, or their Japanese names, Oingan and Doko, are very important in our tradition too. So they were actually, apparently, as well as Dahmer brothers, they were actually biological brothers. And there are many, many, many stories where there are dialogues between them. So this is just one of them that we're going to focus on this weekend. One of the others I've talked about a lot is about Yun Yan saying you should know there's one who's not busy when he was cleaning the temple and Da Wu challenged him about him being too busy.

[24:09]

Anyway, in this story, though, they're talking about compassion and how does compassion work. So all this has been sort of a background to this story. How does the Bodhisattva of Compassion use all these hands and eyes? What is that image that is going around of this kind of weird image of this Bodhisattva of Compassion with all these different hands, It's kind of this, I don't know what, far out science fiction-y image, mythological image. What does this mean about us and about compassion and about our practice? This is the point of these stories and the point of these images. So again, Jung-hyun asked Dabu, what does the Bodhisattva's great compassion do with so many hands and eyes?

[25:17]

And Dao said, it's like someone reaching back for their pillow in the middle of the night. So just that response is so interesting. I love that response as an image for... I mean, there's more to the story. And... I'm not sure I've ever understood the rest of the story, so I'm looking forward to hearing what Kimura Roshi has to say about it. But just that image of someone reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. So skillful means is something that the Bodhisattva of Compassion specializes in, in responding skillfully to the needs and to the suffering of beings, responding compassionately. What does it mean to respond compassionately? What is the active aspect of compassion? There's this aspect of compassion that is just listening.

[26:25]

Carefully. Respectfully. Really listen. So we know how wonderful that is we actually feel hurt ourselves. And we have many members of our sangha who are counselors or therapists or psychologists whose vocation is to listen well and respond from that. So here in this great bodhisattva of compassion, what is the principle of response? What does the bodhisattva with compassion do with so many hands and eyes? So I don't know. Would it be helpful to a therapist to have many hands and eyes?

[27:29]

Maybe it would be helpful to have many ears. So this question of hands and eyes and ears is also part of this. Reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. So in the middle of the night when you're, you know, you're asleep or just groggy or the pillow has been dislodged or you need another pillow. So maybe many of you have had this experience. You reach back with your hand and your fingers touch something. Maybe your hand is actually seeing something. What is this reaching?

[28:31]

What is this grouping? What is this searching? And then what is this? We have the actual Chinese characters here, at least the version. And that Dogen uses in the Shobo Genzo. Yeah, it just says, Yeah, in the night. You can read it as in the middle of the night. But it's in darkness, in night. And that has a kind of, on one level that's just, you know, it's dark. But in terms of light and dark and how that's used as an image in

[29:36]

Actually, Yun Yun's teacher, Shuto, wrote the Harmony of Difference and Sameness, which we chant sometimes. He talks about dark and light. In that teaching poem, dark is an image for, well, you could say emptiness, but more like sameness. When it's totally dark, you can't really see things. There's no distinction. How long was this? Is this fancy over here? What? You can't, there's no, it's all one. So in the middle of the night, what can we see? What can we touch? What can we feel? Anyway, this is what Dao says is how the Bodhisattva of Compassion uses all of these hands and eyes.

[30:38]

It's like reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. So there's this reaching, there's this nighttime, there's this dark. And there's also the pillow. The pillow is kind of comfortable. Something soft. Actually, in Japan, they use these very hard pillows. You know those pillows, Caleb, and you put them on. They're actually quite comfortable. They're not the kind of pillows we use, I don't know. I think in China they used to use ceramic pillows. Anyway, so I don't know. But for me, when I think of pillow, I think of something soft and gentle. So this is the basic question. here that we're going to be considering this weekend.

[31:43]

What is the response? How does the bodhisattva of compassion function? What is this compassion? How do we use the tools we have? So probably most of us only have two hands and two eyes. How do we use them? How do we respond to the suffering of the world? It's like someone who is reaching his hand behind, groping for the pillow in the night. That would be sick. Yunyan said, I understand. Dao said, how do you understand? And Yunyan said, all over the body is Hansen eyes. So Hansen eyes are not just Hansen eyes.

[32:47]

Hansen eyes are everything. Dao said, you said a lot, but you only got 80%. Yunyan said, what about you, elder brother? And Dao said, throughout the body is Hansen eyes. And, you know, in Dogen's commentary, he wonders if there's really a difference there. Again, we'll hear what Shovak has to say about this. I thought I would go into the introductions to the Book of Serenity and the Book of Record and talk about that a little bit, go into the cases a little bit, but maybe I'll pause there and just See if any of you have questions or comments or responses about hands and eyes at this point. Or about the Bodhisattva of Compassion, or questions about this Bodhisattva of Compassion.

[33:53]

So the visual aid is still going around. What do you think of those images of the 1,000 hands in the right face? I wasn't going to comment on the images, but I was just noticing the difference across the three texts. You know, the books surrounding it, The Bluefoot Record, have sort of a similar thing that are saying. They're saying at first, all over the body is hands and eyes, and then the next one is throughout the body is hands and eyes. And then in Dogen's version, the first time they say, throughout the body there are hands and eyes. So he's actually taking you know, a step further. Because that's the second thing that is said. And he's saying the entire body is hands and eyes. And I wonder if you could even go a step further and say the whole world is hands and eyes. Aha. Is that the whole world is hands and eyes?

[35:10]

Yeah. Right. So how do we see? Where is the Bodhisattva of Compassion? How is the Bodhisattva of Compassion working? It's like each statement breaks down a level of discrimination or distance. Yeah, good, good, yeah. Yes, Tyler. I think it has its translation of the Shuddha Mantra, that it says, this culminates with everywhere in the sanskaras. Yeah, I didn't look at that. Good, thank you. Everywhere is Hansel and Gretel. So that's probably how his translations are a little more, a little less literal, a little more interpretive, but also gets the feeling. Are there comments or questions about

[36:12]

this particular image of the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva, or just about the Bodhisattva's compassion, or anything else. Again, these images are kind of strange, you know, There are other images of Bodhisattvas that are kind of strange. This one is maybe the strangest. And, you know, we might feel this as, in some ways, distancing. Well, that's kind of some supernatural super being or something, you know, maybe in Marvel comics, but not in reality. But all of these teachings are about something about How do we practice?

[37:14]

In this case, how do we practice compassion? What is it like? And one of the main points here is that this skillful means, this function of compassion is not something that's calculated. There's not, at least according to this story, there's not some instruction manual about how to fulfill bodhisattva compassion. Well, I was thinking about that immediacy, that the hand is the eye. They're not separate. As you are reaching with your hand, there's an eye seeing. Yes. So how we know things. We say, oh, I see it now, as a way of saying that I know something.

[38:16]

But how we see is, I sometimes say I can reach in my pocket, and I don't have a pocket. Well, I can reach in my sleeve and feel the difference between, I've got a pen in there, and I've got a handkerchief, and I can tell the difference with my hand. So I'm seeing with my hand. I think I was studying on the basis of compassion, to familiarize myself with the territory within. There was one story in which the goddess had brought people out of samsara, and she turned and saw those places that were vacant. immediately back with more bodies, more sensual beings, and it broke her heart in a way. And in that moment, it was cathartic, and she was immediately amitabha. It gave her these amazing skillful means to be even more empowered and more enabled.

[39:20]

And I thought at our own moment that when we pay attention to compassion, it brings more to open to receiving and seeing. Yeah, I think that's, is that the story about how the 11 heads come about? Yeah, that she looked into, she rescued all beings from samsara. But the way you told it, I like too, is that it broke her heart and there was this empowerment. One version of that story is that the 11 heads come from having looked into Samsara after she saved all beings, and more beings are filling it up into the world of Samsara. Her head splits apart, and that happens 11 times, so finally Amida puts the head on top and says, okay, proceed. So yeah, how do we allow our hearts to be broken, or our heads to split open, however you want to see it.

[40:22]

And actually, in Japanese, kokoro means heart or mind. It's not separate. So yeah, how to allow our hearts to be broken. And so yeah, all of that points to this immediacy of response, this immediacy of helpfulness. Any other comments before we dive further into these cases? Well, just as starting points, rather than do, and I don't know, I don't know exactly how Shohar Qureshi will proceed when he gets here, but I thought looking at the Book of Serenity and the Book of Reckon a little bit together, I would start with

[41:51]

So, the way these are structured, just for your information, the cases and verses in both of them, in the glucose record, the cases and then the main verse. were done by a man named Xue Dou, who's a great teacher in the yin and yang lineage. And then the, what is called here, the pointer and all the other commentary is done by a great yinzhai teacher named Yuan Wu. And then the same format for the Book of Serenity, the cases The main cases were selected and the sequence chosen. And then the verses, the main verse, on page 231 and page 234, where the cases and verses were selected by Hongzhe, the great Chinese Zoto teacher who

[43:01]

1100s, some of his stuff I translated from Cultivating Empty Fields. Wonderful teacher. And then later, another set of teaching at Wansong, which I've been finding out more about, interesting fellow, wrote all the different commentary around it. So this structure of these two, Commentaries are the same. And I taught Paula since she's a Qigong teacher. It turns out, I just found this out this week, Wansong, who wrote the Book of Serenity Commentary, one of his students is the one who's responsible for Shaolin Monastery becoming a center of martial arts in the 1200s, and also a center of Shaodong. Okay, so we have this story.

[44:10]

Again, I'll just read it again. Yun-Yan asked Dao-Wu, what does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do with so many hands and eyes? Dao-Wu said, it's like someone reaching back for the pillow in the middle of the night. Yun-Yan said, I understand. Dao-Wu said, how do you understand? And according to these versions, Yun-Yan said, all over the body is hands and eyes. And as was pointed out, Yongyan in the Dogen version says, throughout the body are hands and eyes. Anyway, in both cases, Dao said, that's pretty good, but you only got 80%. And Yongyan said, what about you, elder brother? And he says, throughout the body is hands and eyes, or in Dogen's version, the entire body is hands and eyes. So in the Book of Serenity, a booklet record, Wong, Song, and Nguyen, amongst their various other commentaries, have introductions to the cases.

[45:11]

So I thought we'd start there. So for the Book of Serenity, It's shorter, even though this is later. Sometimes the Book of Serenity sort of reflects these things in the Blue Cliff Record, particularly the commentaries, but I'll just start with the Book of Serenity. Crystal clear on all sides, open and unobstructed in all directions, emanating light and making the earth tremble in all places, subtly exercising spiritual powers at all times. Tell me, how is this manifested? So this is Wansong's kind of introduction to this story. And he's celebrating this openness, this clarity, this light, making the earth tremble in all places, subtly exercising spiritual powers at all times. How is this manifested?

[46:12]

How is it that this great compassion of the Bodhisattva Kanon is manifested. So this is his kind of introduction to this story, to this dialogue. Each of these teaching stories have particular turning words or turning phrases, sometimes many of them. In this case, we could look at just the question itself, is worth considering, just yin-yang asking. You might see this image of all these hands and eyes, but to actually ask, what does the Bodhisattva of Compassion do with so many hands and eyes? How does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use them?

[47:13]

That question itself, before you go any further, that's pretty good, asking that question. How to use all these hands and eyes? How to use these abilities, this awareness, these possibilities that we have? But then, really, Dao's response is, in a lot of ways, the key to the story, or the juice of the story. It's like someone reaching back for their pillow in the middle of the night. So that image, just reaching, again, reaching back for your pillow in the middle of the night. It's so commonplace on some level. Big deal, you know, okay. But how is that the workings of all of the hands and eyes of the great Bodhisattva of Compassion?

[48:20]

So, Wansung introduces us by saying, tell me, how is this manifested? And by celebrating it, crystal clear on all sides, open, unobstructed in all directions, emanating light, making the earth tremble in all places, subtly exercising spiritual power at all times, even in the middle of the night. The Blue Cliff Record version, Yuan Lu's introduction is longer and a little trickier. Same story. Yuan Lu's pointer or introduction. If your whole body were an eye, you still would not be able to see it. If your whole body were an ear, you still wouldn't be able to hear it. If your whole body were a mouth, you still would not be able to speak of it.

[49:26]

If your whole body were mind, you still would not be able to perceive it. Now, leaving aside whole body for the moment, if suddenly you had no eyes, how would you see? Without ears, how would you hear? Without a mouth, how would you speak? Without a mind, how would you perceive? Here, if you can unfurl a single pathway, then you'd be a fellow student with the ancient Buddhists. But leaving aside studying for the moment, under whom would you study? This is great. If your whole body were an eye, you still would not be able to see it. Have any of you ever seen your own eyeball? From the inside out? Well, is there an inside, is there an outside?

[50:32]

That's the issue here. This is about subject and object. Is there a hand? Is there a pillow? Are they separate? If your whole body were an eye, you still would not be able to see it. If your whole body were an ear, you wouldn't be able to hear it. So listening to sound, can you hear your ear? What is it you hear? Once when I was pretty young, maybe 10, maybe younger, somehow it came to me to try and hear the sound of sound. If your whole body were a mouth, you still wouldn't be able to speak of it. If your whole body were a mind, you still wouldn't be able to perceive it. It says just seeing, is there something else to see?

[51:41]

How do we get unstuck from speaker and that which is spoken of? So these koans, these teaching stories, they're not something to figure out. They're not riddles that you need to find some answer to. They're not nonsense. Sometimes that's how they're described in Zen books by people who don't know what they're talking about. You know, riddles to solve, there's not one answer to them. Anyway, what's going on here? This is a wonderful introduction. This first half of the introduction is worth just hanging out with, spending some time with, memorizing and sitting with.

[52:53]

If your whole body were an eye, you still wouldn't be able to see it. If your whole body were mine, you still would not be able to perceive it. Who would it be perceiving? And what would it be perceiving? Then he says, now leaving aside the whole body for the mind. Uh-oh. If suddenly you had no eyes, how would you see? Without ears, how would you hear? Without a mouth, how would you speak? Without a mind, how would you perceive? And I would add, if suddenly you had no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body or mind, how would you see? Here, if you can unfurl a single pathway, then you'd be a fellow student with the ancient Buddhas.

[53:59]

But leaving aside studying for the moment, under whom would you study? So in some ways, getting into these stories... Spending time hanging out with what's going on with the story. I mean, it's so simple in some ways. Why does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes for? Oh, it's just like someone reaching back, groping for their pillow. What is true compassion?

[55:02]

How do we respond to the suffering of the world? There's lots of suffering. There's lots of need. So comments or responses to either or both of these introductions or any piece of them? I think they're a little different from the main difference, at least in the beginning of the case, in talking about justice and, or at least starting out with the general emptiness. the inability of the eye to see itself. I think the case certainly moves that way, especially as it gets toward the end.

[56:07]

But I think the beginning is a little different with the bodhisattva with the hands on the eyes, and for that matter the tools on the hands. It's like Maitreya said, there's this non-separation. groggy, you're not going to think about it, you know, you're going to adjust the pillow. But that's also an interesting image of magnanimity because it's how does Avalokiteshvara help the world? The image is of someone taking care of their own discomfort. It's almost as if The cries of the world and the pain of the world are perceived by Amrit Desai as his or her own. Yes, good. And so, in one way, it really is talking about action of form in a directional way.

[57:18]

I think later on, there's more of a game of form Yeah, and for a long time I, and I'm still not sure about this, you know, throughout the, all over the body or throughout the body, and one seem maybe is deeper, but... Yeah, hands and arms, hands and arms. But I think that maybe the brush is here, so I think... Well, are there other comments before we take our mid-morning break?

[58:26]

Yes, Paula. What I was saying is a little more simplistic in that we use the senses as the primary way to make judgments about everything around us. And then to reach real compassion, that's why there's this interplay of juxtapositions with senses and all this stuff that you almost have to go either beyond it or below it. It has to go deeper. than just ears, eyes, nose, mouth, touch. It has to go either combining it all or separating it all, but it has to go much deeper than that so that initially we're not making judgments about what is going on around us to access true compassion for what is going on around us. We have to not make judgments in order to access real compassion.

[59:31]

And the senses are the primary way that we make judgments. As human beings, we can't help it almost. Through the senses, we see different colors, we hear different sounds. There's judgments, which is evaluations where we judge good or bad and that kind of thing. And so I wasn't sure what you meant by judgments. We do, through the senses, we see differences. We don't have to necessarily say this, you know, This kind of thing is better than that kind of thing. So I think there's a question in what you said.

[60:32]

How do we see differences? So one question, anyway. So maybe I'm missing the main point that you made. But one question is, can we see differences without making judgments? But then also, how do we not get caught in the differences at all, which I think is more what you were getting at? Or do we have to make judgments in order to have compassion? So then it goes right back to that. Is something good or bad? I don't know that we have to make judgments, but I think part of what the Bodhisattva of Compassion is about is seeing differences. So knowing how to respond. So part of the different forms and part of all the different hands and the different tools and the different eyes is seeing how to respond compassionately with the different tools to different kinds of beings. how to respond to suffering of people in different realms, how to see the difference between the suffering of beings in hell realms and animal realms and respond in an appropriate way.

[61:47]

So part of skillful means is exactly noticing and hearing differences, but then finding the immediacy of response in either case. So it's an interesting, it's an important question. The difference between discerning differences and then how do you not reify them, not make them something that you make evaluations about. So yeah, thank you for bringing that as a topic. Yes, Jerry. I guess my question is, If you can't see your own mind, how do you see suffering at all? How does one respond to something you don't see? Good. So yeah, that's a wonderful question.

[62:48]

Thank you. So sit with that, please. So welcome. We'll resume, and I'm very happy to have Shohaku Okamura-Roshi here. And just to say a little bit, an introduction. I spoke about him this morning, but Shohaku is the teacher at Sanshin Zen Community, based in Bloomington, Indiana, but with many other groups. translated many, many texts and written many books, translated texts about Dogen. We've done a few workshops together. He was here once before, and I'm very, very happy that he finally arrived in Chicago after various

[63:49]

trials and tribulations, but very happy to have you here. So we will continue with discussing Yunyan and Dao and the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Kano. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm very happy to be here again. Unfortunately, I was late. Yesterday, I stayed at the Indianapolis airport for more than 10 hours, and I finally arrived at the hotel around 10 o'clock and woke up at 4 o'clock to get a taxi to the Amtrak station by 5.30. At 4 o'clock in Indianapolis, it was 3 in Chicago. Well, I appreciate Taigen-san that he gave introduction about this retreat, study retreat, and he told me, he talked about who Kannon or Avalokiteshvara is, and Yunyan or Ungan and Dao or Doko.

[65:28]

This year, in May, at Sanshin-ji, we had a five-day Genzo-e. Genzo-e is a retreat study, a retreat to focus. comments on certain koans, certain famous koans. If I can find others in text, I try to study those texts. And I also try to find all possible versions of the story. And I found the story or the comments on this koan in both Hekigan-roku, or Blue Cliff Record, and Shouyou-roku, or the Book of Serenity.

[66:42]

You talked about those two techniques? Great. Hekigan-roku has been used in Rinzai tradition, and Shouyou-roku, or Book of Serenity, is made in Soto tradition. in China, both are made in China. And of course, Dogen Zenji is from Soto Zen tradition. But Dogen Zenji was very kind of a unique person, unique Zen master. Traditionally, he was considered Soto Zen from the Sotozen tradition. Therefore, his teaching and practice is exactly with the Chinese Sotozen teachings, especially Wanshi or Honji, the Silent Illumination Zen. And Hekigamoku or Blue Cliff Record was compiled by Engo Kokugon or Iwagun,

[67:53]

And his student, his main disciple was Da Hui, or Daiei. And Daiei and Wanshi, or Onji, are the contemporaries. And they were good friends. But Daiei let me use Japanese pronunciation because I really don't, I can't pronounce Chinese. as Dai-e. Dai-e means great wisdom. Kusutai is Soto-zen style, so-called Mokusho-zen, or silent illumination-zen. So, the verses in the Book of Serenity, or Shoryuroku, was composed by one shi of Hon-ji. So these two techniques have something to do with this kind of a conflict between two lineages, Rinzai and Soto.

[69:05]

But Dogen, Dogen Zenji, respectively, in one But his disciple, Daihei, burned Hekigarumoku. He had something a little bit like about Hekigarumoku, or about people's addiction to Hekigarumoku kind of teaching. So he burned Hekigarumoku. And Daihei criticized Fancy's Silent Elimination Zen. So here is a kind of a conflict. Two different types of Zen teaching in China. Traditionally, we thought Dogen came from Wanshi's Bokusho Zen.

[70:08]

But these days, especially the last 20 to 30 years in Japan, Dogen scholars they started to discuss whether Dōgen's teaching and Chinese Sōtō Zen or silent illumination Zen are exactly the same or not. So this is kind of a hot point in contemporary Dōgen study. But it's interesting and curious about if there is some difference between Dogen's teaching and Chinese Soto Zen or not. So whenever I studied those two texts, Hikigan Roku and Shoyo Roku, and when Dogen discussed about the same koans appeared in both texts.

[71:13]

So I studied Hekiganroku and Shoryoroku on this koan about Unkan and Dogo's discussion. So my focus is to study Dogen, but Dogen is a very unique person. unique he was. To do so, to compare with other people, kind of an interesting point. One of the, you know, points he was so unique was about his Zazen manual. You know, we read Fukanza Zengi, our universal recommendation of Zazen, as our basic

[72:21]

And before Dogen, there was only one Zazen-gi or manual of Zazen in the entire Zen tradition in China. That was written, let's see, 11th century. That means Bodhidharma came to China 6th century. So until 6th century to 11th century, 500 years or more. Zazen is a basic practice of a Zen school, and yet no one wrote the manual of Zazen. To me, that is an interesting point. Not this person, called Zenren Shingi, wrote a short, very precise manual of Zazen, and that was called Zazen-gi.

[73:29]

Gi means form, so Zazen-gi literally means form of Zazen. And as far as I know, Dogen was the only person who wrote his own Zazen-gi. In Rinzai tradition, even today, basic manual of Zazen practice. But somehow Dogen had some criticism against this Chinese Zazen gi. That's why he wrote his own. And no Zen master did such a thing. Both Chinese Zen masters and Japanese Zen masters who went to China had no but somehow Dogen didn't like at a certain point of the teaching, so he wrote his own zazengi, and he continued to revise his own zazengi.

[74:39]

First, he wrote Fukan Zazengi in 1227. That was the year he came back from China, so he was Revised in 1233, that was the year he established his own monastery, Koshoji, in Fukakusa, near Kyoto. Probably that was, he intended to make that is a very basic text for his student to practice Zazen. But after around 10 years, In 1243, he left Kyoto, left the monastery, and moved to Echizen to establish another monastery, later named Eheiji. Around that time, he wrote, he revised Fukanza Zengi.

[75:43]

So he wrote at least three versions. And the first version is not available today, but it's compare the second version and the third final version. Anyway, so no other Zen master did such a thing. Only Dogen had some criticism against Chinese Zen, even about this very basic practice in Zen tradition. So, I think it's important to understand the nature of Dogen's Zazen, not only Zazen, Zazen and practice as a whole. That means our practice, even today, we practice Zazen based on Dogen's teaching. So to me it's important to understand how and why Dogen is so unique,

[76:48]

That's the reason I, whenever I studied Dogen's Shobo Genzo, about the Chinese Koga, and I compare, you know, usually Hekigan Roku and Shoyo Roku and Dogen's comments. And this is a very good example. So that's why I decided to study Yanruk, on 89 cases of Yanruk, and case 54 in Shoyanruk. And after that, I talked about Shoto Genzo Kannon. Those three are about the very same to talk, first of all, to talk about Dogen's poems.

[77:58]

On his visit to a very famous sacred place in China, as a place where Avalokiteshvara appeared. That was, that is called Mount Potaraka, and Potaraka is Sanskrit. I don't know Chinese pronunciation, but in Japanese we pronounce as Hoda Raku, Hoda Raku-san. That is a little south from the Tendon Monastery. It's near from Shanghai. So Dogen, Father Dogen lived in China. He visited this very famous sacred place as a pilgrimage. So he was about 25 years old. He stayed in China from since he was 23 until 27, so around that, I don't know exactly when, but he visited this sacred place for Avalokiteshvara, and he wrote a few poems, and two of them appeared in the record, so it's a part of Dogen's extensive record.

[79:23]

The final volume, Volume 10, is a collection of Dogen's work, Chinese poems. Among those Chinese poems, there are two poems about his visit to this place. And what he wrote in these poems has something to do with what he wrote in Shobo Genzo Kannon, also the very basic understanding of what Avalokiteshvara is. That is common ground of all those three texts. I think Taigen-san will Avalokiteshvara is considered as a symbol of Buddha's compassion.

[80:27]

And originally in India, Avalokiteshvara was a female, but at a certain time in China, it became a female. If you are interested in how and why Avalokiteshvara became a female goddess, There is a book entitled something like Kwan Yin Chronicle, an English book, something like that. In that book, they explain why Chinese people change Avalokiteshvara from male to female goddess of compassion. So I don't need to talk about that. But when we read Zen, this Goan story and Dogen's and other Zen masters' comments on Avalokiteshvara, we have to forget about that image, goddess of compassion.

[81:40]

I think that is his same in these two verses. So let me introduce these two verses from Eihei Koroku, or Dogen's extensive record. If you want to check in that book, the first poem or verse appears on page 16. continuing the previous line from Mount Potaraka. Potaraka is the name of the place. People believe Avalokiteshvara appeared and stayed in that place, Potaraka. And in Tibetan Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara is also very important.

[82:51]

and Dalai Lama is considered to be the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. That's why his palace in Lhasa, Tibet is called Potaraka or Potara. Anyway, he wrote this poem when he visited this sacred place. Let me read the verse first. The ocean, the ocean waves, Crash like thunder below the cliff. I strain my ears and see the face of Kanjizai. Kanjizai is Avalokiteshvara. Upholding this, who could measure the ocean of merit? Just turn your eyes and see the blue mountain.

[83:55]

Let me read it again. The ocean waves crash like thunder below the cliff. I strain my ears and see the face of Kanji Zai, Avalokiteshvara, upholding this Who could measure the ocean of merit? Just turn your eyes and see the Blue Mountain. This Mount Potawaka is in the island. It's very close to the continent, but it's in the island. So there are many caves, rocky coast. And it is said Avalokiteshvara appeared in one of the caves. So this is about the cave where Avalokiteshvara appeared, and that is what people believe.

[84:58]

And so he, Rogen, visited that cave, and he heard the sound of the waves crashing the rock. That is what he said in the first line. The ocean waves crash like thunder below the cliff. I strain my ears, I strain my ears very carefully, hear that sound of the waves hitting the rocks, and see the face of Kan Jinzai. This is an interesting point. He strained his ear. The ear is to hear the sound. But when he strained his ear and heard the sound, the loud sound of water, waves, then he saw the Avalokiteshvara.

[86:06]

Usually we see something with our eyes. But it seems he is seeing Avalokiteshvara with ear. I think you sometimes read this kind of strange things. The name of Avalokiteshvara or Kanze-on. is seeing the sound of the world. So Avalokiteshvara sees with his or her eyes the sound of the world. It means the world of people's cry, the sound of people's cry in the world. It means people are suffering in this world. cry, make a sound of sadness and pain, then Avalokiteshvara sees, Avalokiteshvara sees the sound, but his name comes their own, means seeing or contemplating the sound of the world.

[87:25]

That is his name. I'm not sure he or her name. So here's a kind of a twist. Usually we hear the sound with our ears, but Avalokiteshvara sees the sound. And here Dogen says he sees Avalokiteshvara with his ears. When he hears the sound of the waves crashing the rock, This is a kind of a strange thing from our common way of using words and thinking. But this is an important point. Not only in this poem, but in our koan about Avalokiteshvara. In Heart Sutra, it says, sense organs and objects of those six sense organs.

[88:36]

Eye and color, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, and body and touch, and mind and object to mind. match each other. So eye and color or shape is connected, bound. And when we encounter a certain object, we automatically create a certain idea or judgment or evaluation. That is what is called karmic consciousness. Depending upon where we are born, how we are educated, and what kind of experience we have been through our lives about certain objects.

[89:44]

We have a certain image, like I'm this guy, and evaluation. So there are some kind of a karmic connection. So when we encounter certain things, often we automatically react certain way. That is how we create our karma. We continue our karma and we create new karma by reacting certain object. And that is how we live within samsara. And often this way of life makes our life suffering. How can we free ourselves from this kind of binding between subject, our sense organs, and object, and when these two

[90:51]

happened in our mind. Those are called six consciousnesses. Eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. In fact, the Heart Sutra says all those 18 elements, six sense organs, encountering of these two, those 18 elements, called 18 dots, are empty. That is the five, it is said, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no color, no sound, no sweat, no touch, no object of mind. This is, you know, the same point, when we use anything, All those 18 elements are really there, independently and separately.

[91:59]

And when we encounter certain things, we react a certain way. So here is a separation between subject and object. And by doing something, we try to connect this person with that thing. That's how we usually live in this world as human beings. And often, that is a cause, not often, almost always, that is a cause of suffering in samsara. Because of our karmic way of doing things, we are not free from the object. and from a ready-made perception of the object. So how we can become free, liberated from this binding between subject and object is a really important point, not only Zen, but in entire Buddhism.

[93:17]

How can we liberate from this karmic wave And that is also what our Zazen is about. When we sit in this upright posture and breathe deeply from our nose as if the air goes down to our stomach. So we breathe deeply and quietly. of thought means, you know, when we sit, we sit facing the wall. And fortunately, there's no good and bad wall. We don't have like and dislike about this wall and that wall. Wall is always wall, you know, especially this kind of wall.

[94:21]

Only exception is wall of zendo is wood. There are certain patterns in the wood, and certain things look like something, some person's face or something. Then we start to make the story, and I think I like this. I hate that, but usually the wall And we usually sit in a quiet room, so there's not much stimulation from outside in our ear. So it's quiet. And we don't eat, so there's no tongue. Tongue has no object.

[95:31]

But somehow, only our mind continues. And we create so many things, like a movie. And sometimes, or often, with no thought, our ideas or images become the object of the mind. And if we sit for many years, appears so often, so regularly. You know, during Sesshin, Sesshin is an interesting thing. First, first, first of the two days, you know, the things we experienced before Sesshin appeared often, and we think, you know,

[96:33]

kind of things happened, or why that person said such a thing, or why did I say that kind of thing. But after second or third days, we become tired of thinking that kind of things, and it kind of goes away. But after that, the thought or image of day-to-day things appear, and those things become the object of our mind. And often we think, I like this idea, or I hate that, or this is like a hell, or this is like a heaven, that kind of things happening. In that case, within our mind, even though there's no object, our mind is divided into two sides. One is the person sitting, and another is those thoughts.

[97:40]

So those thoughts became the object of this person sitting. So there is a separation between our mind and we interact, like what is like power, then we make a separation and interact, then that is not okay. That is, when we do such a thing, we are thinking, and thinking is not certain. If we sit in the same posture, if we, within our mind, if our mind is separated into two sides and interact, then we are thinking. But when we let go, this letting go means stop this interaction.

[98:46]

Then thoughts are just coming and going. It's not both thoughts and my object. Thoughts are just happening. It's really important to see this difference. I'm thinking about some thoughts, and thoughts are just coming and going, but I don't think. Those thoughts are not my thinking. It's happening in our mind, but my mind doesn't see it. It doesn't evaluate or make judgment. Thoughts are just coming and going. Life is fat. It's a very important point. So letting go of thought does not mean we kill the thought or we eliminate the thought coming and going. Thoughts are coming and going almost always. But once those thoughts become object of this person, then we are thinking it's not the other at all.

[99:52]

So whenever we found we are doing such an interaction between subject, this person sitting, and object, just sitting, somehow thought comes up, next moment, but we keep letting go. That is very important point of our practice in Jazen. In this case, both subject and object are our mind. And there is separation and interaction. our karma. But at least when we sit facing the wall, we make determination not to take any action based on this thought coming and going.

[100:57]

That is a really important point. That means at least when we are sitting facing the wall and letting go, we don't create new karma. We are liberating. from karmic way of doing things, even though karmic consciousness is still working and all different kinds of thoughts are coming and going. Thoughts are there, but I don't think. This is kind of a strange thing. drive a car and put the gear into neutral, the engine is still moving. Our heart is working and all the things in my body are still working.

[102:27]

There is no reason, only our brain stops working. And the function of our brain is creating thought. So there is no way, no reason. Only our thought assists to be. So thoughts are coming and going. natural function of our mind, same as stomach is digesting and heart is beating. But at least when we are sitting, because the gear is in neutral, we don't make any action, take any action based on those thoughts coming and going. And those thoughts are not the object of this person. But actually those thoughts coming and going is not a part. It's this person.

[103:29]

The content of this person. The content of this person. In fact, this person has been experienced. So... make those thought as object and we take action based on them, then we make evaluation. I like this idea, I hate that idea, so I make choice and I do this and I don't do that. Or sometimes, more often, even though I don't like that, I do it. That's a problem. But at least during Zazen, we stop doing such interaction between me and myself. So during this sitting, we are liberated from this karmic, habitual way of thinking and doing things.

[104:33]

To me, this is really important point of our Zazen practice. And when, you know, in Zen literature, this kind of things, you know, hearing something with our eye, or seeing the sound, that kind of strange expression appeared, that means this habitual karmic bondage between subject and object, So Avalokiteshvara, when Avalokiteshvara sees the sound of the world, the sound of the world is not the object of this person, nor of Avalokiteshvara, but that is Avalokiteshvara, the content of Avalokiteshvara, that fire Avalokiteshvara.

[105:45]

without making discrimination. That is one of the points of this story. So that is my understanding of the first two lines of this Dogen's poem. And the third line is upholding this. Upholding this means seeing Avalokiteshvara with the eye. way of life. Upholding this, who could measure the ocean of merit? That means, the merit of this ocean means... In this poem, this ocean of course means the ocean surround the island, but this ocean is Buddha's compassion.

[106:54]

So the merit or virtue of Buddha's compassion is boundless. There's no way we can measure it. So the merit or virtue of our zazen, just letting go, is as boundless as our practice for our compassion. And finally, he says, just turn your eyes and see the blue mountain. So when he turns his eyes, he sees the mountains instead of the ocean. Here, he sees the mountains with his eyes, I think. So when he hears the sound of waves crashing the rock, and he sees the mountains, fearing the Avalokiteshvara.

[108:03]

Did he really encounter with Avalokiteshvara or not? He doesn't say, you know. When he hears the sound of the waves, he sees the Avalokiteshvara. But does he really see as objects? I don't think so. And when he sees with his eyes, Where is abrogation? Is abrogation such a kind of a person, or a personalized symbol of

[109:11]

what he's saying is this, you know, world in which ocean waves are moving and the mountain looks immovable. These are themselves abracadabra. Abracadabra is not a person or not a Nothing else. Well, this is my understanding of this poem. And next poem, he more clearly says about his understanding of what is Avalokiteshvara.

[110:37]

This verse from Ehe-Korok, or Dogen's extensive record, page 261. The previous one is Chinese verse number The title of this Chinese poem is written on the occasion of visiting Mount Potaraka in Changhua district. So he composed this verse and he visited this sacred place named Mount Potaraka, the same place So, again, this is Taigen and my translation.

[111:45]

In the bracket, it says, one in, or can know, is found. Can know is found, in bracket. Amid hearing, considering, practicing, and truly verifying the mind. Why seek appearances of her sacred face within a cave? I proclaim that pilgrims must themselves awaken. Guan Yin, or Kannon, does not abide on Let me read this again. Let me use Kannon in Japanese. Kannon is found amid hearing, considering, practicing, and truly verifying the mind.

[112:55]

Why seek appearances of her sacred face within a cave? I proclaim the pilgrims must themselves awaken. Kanyun Kannon does not abide on Potaraka Mountain. When he wrote this poem, he was around 25 years old. He was still a very young Japanese monk visiting a Chinese monastery to practice Chinese Zen. But this young Japanese monk said, Kannon is not here. I think for many Chinese people, this is a strange young Japanese monk.

[114:07]

But here, he more clearly said, that is a practitioner. The first line, Kannon is found amid hearing, considering, practicing, and truly verifying the mind. This hearing, considering, or thinking. Hearing, thinking, practicing, and verifying. Those four is a kind of a force Dharma. You know, first we hear some teaching. In our case, teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, or Chinese Zen, or Dogen, and other Zen masters. We hear the teachings and we think about the teaching, whether this teaching makes sense or not.

[115:19]

or whether this practice is doable for me. So first we think about the teaching and try to understand intellectually. And when we think this teaching might be true or make sense to me or this can be interesting or can be doable for me, practice, we found that teaching is really true. That is what verification means. So verification, for sure, sometimes translated as enlightenment. But in this case, this is enlightenment as the evidence, the proof of the truth of the teaching.

[116:27]

And when Dogen says this very important point of Dogen's teaching, when he said, practice and enlightenment are one, the word he uses, shu and sho, That means our practice and verification are the evidence or proof of the truth of that teaching. These two are not two separate things, but one thing. That is what Dogen meant when he said, shusho ichinyo, practice and verification are one. That means you don't need to wait until you practice a certain period of time and reach a certain point to see the evidence of the truth of the teaching. But in this practice, verification is already there.

[117:33]

This practice is itself verification. This is kind of a process of studying and practicing. First we hear, think, and intellectually understand what this teaching means and put it into actual practice. And practice in Dogen's teaching, practice is itself verification. verify this teaching is true through our practice, through our experience. So we don't need intellectual understanding anymore. Because teaching and understanding is included within our experience or practice.

[118:44]

So not only show and show, or practice and verification, but all those four processes are actually one thing. That is what I think Dogen meant when he said practice and verification, or shoe and show, are one reality. in our practice. So why we need to see after Avalokiteshvara in the cave, in this mountain or island. Avalokiteshvara is not something outside ourselves, but Avalokiteshvara appeared within our practice, within our life.

[119:46]

in the sutra of Buddha's last teaching. In Japanese we call it the Butsu Yui Kyo Gyo. This sutra is the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha right before or when he was dying. So this was really a final teaching of Shakyamuni. Around the end of this sutra, it is said, after his death, Buddha is dying. So, Buddhist sangha knows a Buddha, one of the Three Treasures. And Buddha was really important person among his disciples. Of course, disciples were very sad and they didn't know what to do. After Buddha died, Buddha's death, then Buddha said, after my death, you should continue to practice my teaching.

[121:03]

And within your teaching, it said, undestructive dharma body, Tathagata's undestructive within our practice. So, in this case, this dharma body means Buddha's teaching, or the truth Buddha taught, appeared from monk's practice. But later, especially in Mahayana Buddhism, this dharma body grows bigger and bigger, and it becomes this universe itself. We practice following Buddha's teaching. Buddha's Dharma body, eternal and universal Dharma body appears within our practice. No matter how short and weak and shallow, the Buddha's Dharma body appears within our practice, within our life.

[122:19]

That is Avalokiteshvara in here. Avalokiteshvara appears within our practice. Something power, something universal, something formless appears within this very concrete action, activities, using our concrete body and mind. Look for the sacred face of Avalokiteshvara in a certain fixed place in China or within this special cave. That pilgrims, all people who visit that sacred place, I think including himself, awaken, demonstrate awakening.

[123:36]

Kannon does not abide on Potaraka Mountain. So, he said, Kannon is not here. Kannon is where we are, where we practice, where and when we practice. This is my understanding This second verse, almost the same verse appeared in a different text of Dogen. It is said, you know, Ehekorok, or Dogen's extensive record, has 10 volumes, and it's a big book. But that was too big for some people. It is said one of Dogen's disciples, whose name was Kangan Gi'in, he took the entire manuscript of Ehe Korok to China and asked Dogen's Dharma brother, one of Tendo Nyojo's disciples, to

[124:51]

and make it smaller. And the person did. And it became maybe about 10% tiny. And that text is called Eihei Genzenji Goroku. And we don't know who did it. Probably not the Chinese master, but some of Dogen's expression is changed. There is a difference between Ehei Koryoku and this modified version. And in this second has a little difference.

[126:00]

The meaning is not so different, but because this difference is interesting, I'd like to introduce. Interesting means, who made this change? And we don't know. Maybe Dogen devised, or maybe that Chinese Zen master did, or maybe someone else in the later age did. Another interesting point is our translation of Ehe Koroku is based on the older version, called the Mongkaku version. But in the 17th, 18th century, a very well-known Japanese Soto Zen master, Manzan Dohaku, revised, not revised, correct word, Anyway, he said that all the manuscript are not so good, not in good shape, so he made corrections.

[127:08]

Corrected, okay. Yeah. Mandan was a really great scholar, scholar man. So he made, he corrected mistakes from his point of view as a scholar. But now, today, we are not sure if Manzanite was the right thing or not. So, that's why, you know, Japanese scholars today, and also we translated the older version. The older version, as a text, is a little rough. There are some points we don't really understand what this meant. But Manzanite version is more kind of... So when we study Dōgen, even in our translation, I don't really understand what this means.

[128:14]

I try to translate in the way I understand it. That's why it's kind of dangerous to read only one translation. The version of the same verse or poem in this second text is really different. So let me introduce. Entering Samadhi, entering Samadhi through hearing, thinking and practicing. Being in the Samadhi, The self becomes solemn and immaculate, and the sacred face appears. Therefore, I would like to tell people who visit here and enable them to clarify this meaning.

[129:24]

If this change was made by Dogen himself, he clearly said, thus said, Jikko. So, Avalokiteshvara is the way we really are. That means we are often deceived by ourselves, but then we awaken to the real, actual, real way to we were, how we are. then that is Avalokiteshvara. So, again he said, don't think Avalokiteshvara live in this mountain. Anyway, this is two verses of Dogen, by Dogen, about Avalokiteshvara. When he visited that famous sacred place in China,

[130:42]

about Avalokiteshvara. And these poems are pointing to the aspect of the discussion both, not both, of all Hikigan-Roku, Shoya-Roku, and Dogen's Kannon. That is, Kannon is not a symbol of sound of waves crashing on the rock, or the scenery of the mountains, that means this world itself. Before, in Uchanga's expression, before being processed within our mind, that means the world as it is, the way things really are.

[131:56]

So we are not biased by our karmic consciousness through this bondage between subject and object. That is itself Avalokiteshvara. And the second aspect is Avalokiteshvara appears within our practice, within our way of life. So Avalokiteshvara is, or there, there, there means Ongan and Dogon's discussion. It's not how we are, living together with all beings. person, how can we practice in the way we manifest or actualize this reality using this body and mind.

[133:03]

This is two aspects of Avalokiteshvara in Zen tradition. This is not only Dogel, but also the discussion in Hekigan-Roku and also Shoyo-Roku. ground is the same within those three texts, but their approach is a little different. We stopped at 12.30.

[134:06]

It could be a little earlier. If we have time, I would like to introduce an older version of this story. It doesn't take long. Is there some question? Any question about those two poems by Dogen? Is it clear? Do you understand? Do you agree with what I'm saying? I hope so. There's a copy of Dogen's extensive record in the library, in the back, so I can put that out so you can look at that during the break. the thoughts, and then, I guess I would say, like the thought realm, where we create that sort of distance between the thought and our self. So that's sort of a, are you saying, then it's the discrimination between those two, and it's sort of almost like we create a second self?

[135:13]

Yes. We create our own versions of the self and the world, of our object. And we think that is reality. That is a problem. This problem is almost how we live as human beings. So, that's a problem, really deep problem. It's not a matter of if we understand this we can make change. That's why Dogen says we have to announce bodhicitta billions of times. It's not a matter of when I understand that we can make complete change and become a very different person or we can live a complete enlightened life.

[136:23]

But we have to live with this condition until the end of our life. So how can we become friends with this kind of delusion. I don't understand. I'm sorry, I didn't understand. You said we must arouse Kodenshita... Billions of times. Billions of times. But as Fattōgen said in Shōbōgenzō Kotsubodai-shin, when I or Shōyōfuku, these are the tekis, then tekis, made, produced in the Song dynasty, China. Song dynasty means end of 10th century. Tang dynasties continue about 300 years, from 7th to beginning of 10th.

[137:27]

50 years, China didn't have, after Tong dynasty declined, disappeared. About 50 years, China didn't have one stable government, but small dynasties appear and disappear and appear and disappear. That means they had a very much Zen and Song Dynasty Zen are very different. And today, the way we understand Zen is actually produced within Song Dynasty Zen people. And the way, the text, we understand what we think of Tong dynasty Zen, those very famous Zen masters, such as Six Ancestors, or Mazu, or in our lineage, Sekito, or including these people, Ungan and Dogo, within Tang dynasty.

[138:50]

And between Tang and Song, within this very short disordered period, one very important thing happened. That was, they started to collect all of those masters' sayings. And first, that kind of text was called So-Do-Shu. So means ancestor, and Do means whole, and Shu is collection. So So-Do-Shu the collection of ancestral hope. And this text was made in 950. 950 is in the middle of this disordered period. But somehow this collection, this first collection of Zen masters' biographies and their sayings disappeared from China.

[139:56]

and somehow it was sold in Korea until the 20th century. So no one knew the existence of this text until the 20th century. This is the oldest text, Sodoshi, the oldest a collection of Zen masters' biographies and sayings. And the next one was made about 50 years later, in 1004. That was already in the Song Dynasty, China. The text was called the Kei-toku-den-to-rok, or usually called a record of transmission of Dharma lamp. These two are the earliest texts in that group of the collection of Chinese Zen master biographies and sayings.

[141:17]

After Keitoku Dentoku era, Five, that kind of collection was made, and those are called Toshi, what is Toshi? The History of Dharma Lamp. Of course, later the text become bigger and bigger because later people are adding them. Anyway, so older than other well-known popular Zen texts. And those Hekiganroku and Shouyoroku were made in the 12th century. Actually, Hekiganroku was made in the 12th century. And Shouyoroku was collected by Wanshi or Honji in the 12th century. But the commentary

[142:23]

was made by another Zen master, who was a contemporary of Dogen. So Shoryuken was made in 13th century. So there are at least 100-year gap between those two older texts and other so-called poem collections. in the older version, older text, and famous, well-known, Zen-Makon collection text made in Song Dynasty China. And after Hekigan-roku, this story, as a conversation of do, un-gan, and do-go as a koan is almost the same. A little tiny difference of terms, but basically the same, same conversation.

[143:32]

But two older versions are a little more difficult. And there are many this kind of examples. So I thought we can see how those koan stories grow, grew. First, it's kind of simple. Then, I think people try to make the story more and more interesting and meaningful. And the story became longer and longer. The Unga and Dogo's conversation in both Sodoshu and Keitoku Dentoroku are very simple, much shorter. This is my translation.

[144:35]

In Sodoshu, their conversation is as follows. Dao or Dogo asked Ungan. So in this case, the person who asked was Dogo, not Ungan. So questioner and the person who made question different. Dao asked Ungan, what are the fervent hands and eyes like? What are the southern hands and eyes like? That's all. It doesn't say, have great compassion for the sattva. But of course this refers to Avalokiteshvara. Ungan said, Ungan's answer,

[145:39]

It is like, so this is Ungan, it is like grabbing the pillow in the night without light. It is like grabbing the pillow in the night without light. Ungan asked, do you also know it? So then Ungan asked to Dogo, do you know this? Then Dōgo said, Dōgo said, I understand, I understand. So this I understand is Dōgo's saying in this. Then Hinyan or Ungan asked, how do you understand it? Then Dōgo says, the entire body is the I. The entire body is the I. So here only, about the eye.

[146:42]

The hand doesn't appear. That's the end of this conversation. So, let me read it again. Dōgo asked him, what are the thousand hands and eyes like? Dōgo said, it is like grabbing the pillow in the night without light. I'm sorry, Ungan said. And then Ungan asked Dogo, do you also know it? Dogo said, I understand, I understand. Ungan asked, how do you understand it? Dogo said, the entire body is the eye. So much shorter and simple. a chapter of Daogu in Sodo-shu.

[147:49]

And in Keitoku de Toyoku, or Record of Tonshashin-san, this appeared in the chapter of Ungan, Volume 14. Here, also Daogu asks, Which eye of the Great Compassion Bodhisattva with a thousand hands and eyes is the true eye? So the question is really different. Which eye or which one of the Great Compassion Bodhisattva with a thousand hands and eyes is the true eye? And the question is, which is his true identity? Then, Dogo, I'm sorry, Ungan said, Ungan said, what about grabbing the pillow when there is no light?

[149:05]

What about grabbing the pillow when there is no light? Then Ungang asked, how do you understand? Dogo said, the entire body is the I. Let me read it again. Dogo asked, A woman said, what about grabbing a pillow when there is no light? Dogo said, I understand, I understand. Woman asked, how do you understand? Dogo said, the entire body is the eye.

[150:07]

This entire body is the eye. Hongwan's Henshin Koreshugen and Dogo's Tsushin Koreshugen. What's the difference between Henshin and Tsushin? That point is created by someone who made the Song Dynasty version. And later, all the masters adopted that version. I like the question in the later versions better. Yeah, later version is more meaningful. Earlier version is simple and not so meaningful sometimes. Sometimes we don't understand the meaning. So they changed, those people who revised this story made change in the way it makes sense to them, I guess.

[151:17]

And the important point is As I said, this text, Sodoshi, was made in 1970. I'm sorry, exactly speaking, 1952. You know, Ungan lived 780 to 841, and Dogo lived 769 to 835. So even this oldest version is made about 100 years after they died. So there's no guarantee whether they had really this conversation or not. There's 100 years. And I think you already know that later This is the Shogunate.

[152:22]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_84.23