From A. Koroku, Dogen's Extensive Record, Volume 9, Case 9, an ancient said, the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. The bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. Dogen's verse says, although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. Staying within the gate, do not wait for the brightness of others. Without your caring, it is easy to lose the path of active practice. Even the heart of hearing feel moved by the sound of evening rain. So this verse refers to a story that we talked about in last spring's practice period.

[01:11]

I'll come back to that. But just this first statement, an ancient said, the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. I don't think we know who the ancient was, but it was quoted by Laman Pang, and then repeated back to him by his daughter, who was equally awakened, if not more so. The bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the great Bodhisattva ancestral teachers. So the hundreds of grass tips refer to, the hundreds of grasses refer to the phenomenal world, refer to all, everything in nature, everything in the Dharmadhatu, everything that arises

[02:21]

and ceases in the world, and including, we could say, even the mental phenomena, all the thoughts and feelings that were all around in your head during zazen. So, Lament Pan was one of the great masters Well, he was a layman. He was notably a layman. He studied with the Shuto who wrote the Harmony of Difference and Sameness and the Song of the Grass Hut that we chant sometimes. And he also studied with Mazu, the great horse ancestor, ancestor of the Linji lineage. Great figure in Tang, Chan, or Zen. But he chose not to be ordained, but to be an example of someone in the world, a great layman.

[03:31]

So it's maybe appropriate that he said, the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips, all of the things of the world, are exactly the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers, all the ancestral teachers. So we emphasize in our practice that our awareness, our settling, our opening, the depths that we can unfold in sasheen are not separate from our life in the world, and that's very much The issue for us practicing here in this small non-residential storefront temple in the middle of Chicago, all of the stuff so-called out there,

[04:37]

It's exactly the mind of the ancestral teachers. That's what Layman Pang said, or he quoted an ancient. So this tradition of Chan that we, or Zen, that we are connected to through Suzuki Roshi, through other great teachers who came from Japan to America, through Do Gen, who cited this case, Go back to Chinese ancients, so I don't know if this was some Confucian ancient, I don't know if this was, the literature doesn't say if it was Zhuangzi or Laozi or somebody further back. So this ancient Chinese wisdom, part of Chinese culture is exactly to see that the world is just the world, is completely the world. And that's where our practice is.

[05:39]

So, Layman Pank famously said that his supernatural powers were chopping wood and carrying water. Of course, we don't do that anymore. We turn on the light switch. We turn on the faucet. But, you know, getting on the L, putting our shoes on, everyday stuff, taking care of our lives. How is this the mind of the ancestral teachers? How is this exactly the mind that makes these great utterances that are the subject of these stories that we study still? So, one of Laman Pag's teachers should have said, I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value after eating and relax and enjoy a nap.

[07:07]

So grass also means weeds. in Chinese. They didn't have grass lawns. The grasses were wild grasses. There are many wild grasses. So we could see them as weeds, or we could see them as the wonderful manifestation of the prairies all around Chicago, too. But they're exactly the bright, clear mind. Clear, luminous, of the ancestral teachers. So Dogen says about this, although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. So there's some impulse that some of us have anyway to want it all tied up. We want to have it all figured out. We want to know what this is about. Why are we doing this? What are we doing? What's it going to get us? What's it all about? So we have to confess, when we want it all tied up, that that's what we're doing here.

[08:09]

Why are we coming and sitting all day for five days or whatever? What's the point? What are we going to get out of this? So, Shato in his Song of the Grass Hut also says, buying grasses to build a hut and don't give up. So we want to have it all tied up. We want to have, you know, a nice space to practice in. But then, Shakyamuni says, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. So, you know, in some real way, the point of this sasana is just to relax completely. It doesn't feel that way, or sometime this afternoon it won't feel that way.

[09:10]

Although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. We can't hold onto it. We can't find it. We can't, you know, if we let our mind wander, and sometimes we should let our mind wander, sometimes we should focus our mind And sometimes we want it all tied up as to when we should do that which, but nothing holds. Maybe that's the time to let go. So holding and letting go is the dynamic that we will be talking about this week. But here, Dogen says, although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. We can't get a hold of it. Staying within the gate, do not wait for the brightness of others.

[10:20]

It's up to you. Nobody can tell you how to be Buddha. Staying within the gate, do not wait for the brightness of others. Sitting on your cushion, sitting on your chair. It's not about, so others aren't, you know, there's this instruction, take the backward step and turn the light inwardly to illuminate the self. This is the first step. The first degree. The first aspect of our practice. Turn the light within. Stay within the gate. Do not wait for some other to come along and shine the light on you.

[11:29]

turn the light within. The bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. This phenomenal situation, the ache in your knee or your back, the confusion in your thoughts, the fear, the anger, the unsettledness of our world around us, is the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. Dharma gates are everywhere. Do not wait for the brightness of others. It's up to you. Without your caring, it is easy to lose the path of active practice. So, you know, it's possible to sit for a day or for five days or whatever and just feel, you know, and just settle and feel a little sleepy, a little quiet.

[12:48]

And that can be nice, actually. And... To feel peaceful and calm. And that's OK. in a way, but also, always, even when you're settled, even when you're feeling calm and peaceful, what's going on? Where's the path of active practice, of paying attention, of being ready to respond to the situation in your own heart-mind, the bell when it rings to get up to walk or whatever is next in the schedule. So Dogen says, without your caring it is easy to lose the path of active practice. All of you are here because you care.

[13:51]

You care about the quality of your own lives. You care about the people around you. You care about the suffering in the world, or the situation of the world, or the situation of loved ones, or something. It's very important that you care. So we keep paying attention as we sit, inhale, exhale. And part of this practice is settling and just enjoying being whatever it is that's on your seat now.

[15:09]

You don't have to be somewhere else. It's okay to actually be the person on your seat right now. Just the bright, clear hundreds of thoughts and feelings and sensations and cells and so forth, on your seat right now are the bright clear mind of the ancestral teachers. And part of saschina is settling into that. Settling into the depths of that. Enjoying it, appreciating it. But without your caring, it is easy to lose the path of active practice.

[16:20]

What is it you care about? Suzuki Roshi used to say, what is the most important thing? So you should know what you care about. Even the heart of hearing feel moved by the sound of evening rain. Dogen says, So the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kanon, Kanzeon, hears the sounds of the world. You care and you're here because you've heard something. And, you know, some people feel now that there are people who haven't heard things in our country and that people don't hear the suffering and that there's, you know, and all the hate speech and all of that.

[17:37]

But even the hard of hearing feel moved by something. What is it we care about? Evening rain, so there are Seemingly volumes of old East Asian poems about the sound of evening rain. Written by hermits in thatched huts. Grass huts. Maybe uncorrugated tin huts, I don't know. The sound of evening rain. The end of the day.

[18:44]

The end of the year. Winter is coming. We haven't had any real snow yet. Still, there's the sounds of evening rain. What is it that we feel moved by? How do we find this path of active practice where we are ready and willing to respond when there's something to respond to? And it seems like right now there's lots to respond to in the world. But just sitting here for a day, how do we settle, open up to this settling? and then respond when there's time to respond. So, when the server comes around with lunch, how do we hold out our bowl so that they can reach it?

[19:53]

When the bell rings, how do we bow to the wall? How do we respond? So I want to talk about the story that's referred to in the first two lines of Dogen's verse. But there's a question, actually, in the case, or this case refers to an issue in our practice. The bright, or in East Asian Dharma, actually, the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers. You know, sometimes we talk about returning to the source. So is there something under, is there some, so this is a question that you might explore as you sit, if you wish. Layman Pank said, the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips are the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teachers.

[21:07]

But some East Asian Buddhist teachers said that beneath all of the phenomenal world, beneath all the Dharma gates, there's something, some foundation, some source that we can get to the bottom of, from which all of the grasses arise. So maybe this is just a philosophical issue, I don't know, that it matters in our practice so much. But I just offer that to you as a question. Are the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips expressions of the bright, clear mind of the ancestral teacher and teachers? Or are they exactly this bright, clear mind.

[22:16]

So, if you want something to ponder, you can look at that. Where do these bright, clear hundreds of grass tips come from? Where does this bright, clear mind come from? Where does your caring come from? Although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. Staying within the gate, do not wait for the brightness of others." There's a story that we studied last spring, amongst others, from Dong Shan, who was a little bit after Shih Tzu, but is considered the founder of Tso Tso, or Tso Tso, and his jewel mare Samadhi will be chanting later.

[23:43]

So after a practice period, a summer practice period, Dong Shan spoke to the assembly and said, it's the beginning of autumn, the end of summer. All of you, some will go, a few will go to the east, some west. Please go where there's not an inch of grass for 10,000 miles. So this is what's referred to in this first line of this verse by Dogan. Although wanting it all tied up for tens of thousands of miles, nothing holds. talking about the bright, clear hundreds of grass tips. Dongshan also said, in this same story, where there's not an inch of grass for 10,000 miles, how can you go? So what is our relationship to the phenomenal world? What happens when we practice for a day or five days, when we go out into the world, into the phenomenal world?

[24:46]

Later, Xishuang, another teacher in the lineage, said, going out the gate, immediately there's grass. How could you possibly find a place where there's no grass for 10,000 miles? It's silly. Right away, as soon as you step out onto Irving Park, there's the whole phenomenal world there. Millions of Dharma gates. And then Dayang, Tayo Kyogen added, I'd say, not even going out the gate, still the grass is boundless. So Kyogen refers to that in the second line. Staying within the gates, do not wait for the brightness of others. So you can't, you know, sometimes when you're walking around in Chicago, you might see grass growing out of the cracks in the concrete. I don't see any grass growing out from the floorboards here. I guess the work leader has done their job, and we've done a good job of cleaning, but still, the phenomenal world is even here, in the meditation hall.

[26:05]

So, you know, we sit with our eyes open. We sit with our ears open. I don't know if it's going to be raining this week, but we might hear some sounds of evening rain. We might hear some sounds of Chicago traffic. How do we bring our awareness of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, thoughts, these hundreds of grass tips, even within the doors of the temple.

[27:19]

How do we use this food? How do we see that all the Dharma gates are possible entries to awareness? without waiting for the brightness of others. How do we use each situation, each breath, as an opportunity? So again, you might want it all tied up. You might want to know what your practice is, to know how to do it. Of course, it's natural to want it all tied up, to have it all figured out.

[28:27]

But even for 10,000 miles, you can't find a space a clear space without the wild grasses of your confusion and your desire and your aversion. Our humanity is everywhere. Our confusion is everywhere. So Tilghen encourages active practice, active expression of practice in all of our everyday activities, as well as in our meditative awareness. So, Dogen says, do not wait for the brightness of others. When Dongshan left Yunnan and saw his reflection in the stream, he said, just don't seek from others or you'll be far estranged from self. It's up to you. Turn the light within. Find your own brightness.

[29:37]

And listen, listen to the sounds of the world, listen to the sounds of your own confusion, listen to the sounds of your own desire, listen to the sounds of your own frustration. And see what it is you care about, and turn that, this act of practice, this caring about quality of your uprightness, the quality of your inner dignity, the quality of your responsiveness to your life and the world. So this first case I'm talking about today is kind of straightforward. Just pay attention.

[30:53]

We'll have a chance to talk more during tea this afternoon, but if anyone has something to say now, please feel free. Yes, Jenny. Within the gates are, as in, within this room, within the gates are within your sense gates, your eyes, your seeing, your hearing, your smelling, your tasting. It means turn within. But it also means, in the context of the story about Dongshan, within the retreat, within the confines of the schedule, with your seat, your responsibilities, your position in the meditation hall,

[32:07]

Yeah. Dogen also says, when the need is large, the field is large. So what is it that you care about? Even within the gates, Dayang said, there's grass everywhere. So trying to avoid, so there's the story, the original Dongshan story that this, that Dogen's verse refers to is about trying to avoid the hundred grass tips, trying to, you know, what Dongshan says kind of as a,

[33:17]

I won't presume to say what Dong Shan was getting at, but he says, go where there's no grass for 10,000 miles. Go where there's no speck of the phenomenal world, where it's totally unconditioned. What's that like? Yes, Brian. I guess in light of your question, you invited us to sit with Martin O'Keefe back in his Rochester days. He wrote on for the people from New Zealand about the deep flowing source radiating and responding to the interior of the Christ house. Yeah. How is that expression related to

[34:19]

Yes, how is that related? So, we talk about the source. But is the source separate from, or what is the relationship of the source to the hundreds of grass tips? Yeah, exactly. And is it separate from the grass tops or is it exactly the grass tops themselves that are the source as they wave in the wind? So how do we respond to the problems of the world? How do we respond to the problems in our lives? Where does that come from? And Dogen says, without your caring, it is easy to lose the path of active practice.

[35:28]

How do you take care of your caring?

[35:32]

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