This morning, I'm going to talk about a koan from the booklef record. Koan case number 40, called Nansen's This Flower. Nansen was a, as you know, was a very famous Zen master in China. And he's famous for cutting the cat in two. First, there's the introduction. Ingo, the commentator, supplies an introduction to the case. And he says, when the action of the mind is stopped and swept away, the iron tree will bloom. Can you demonstrate it?

[01:03]

Even a crafty fellow will become a cropper here. Even if he excels in every way, he will have his nostrils pierced. Where are the complications? Look at the following, which is our case and the main subject. Riku was talking with nonsense And he said sing chao said Heaven and earth and I are of the same root All things and I are of one substance Isn't that fantastic? Nonsense pointed to a flower in the garden He called Taifu over and said, people of these days see this flower as though they were in a dream.

[02:10]

And then Setcho, who compiled this record, says, hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are not one and one. Mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror. The frosty sky, the setting moon at midnight. With whom will the serene waters of the lake reflect the shadows in the cold? Well, first, I want to start with the introduction. Ingo, in his introduction, says, when the action of the mind is stopped and swept away, the iron tree will bloom. Iron tree is a kind of metaphor for wisdom or prajna or reality.

[03:28]

the reality of non-duality. He says, when all the complications of mind are swept away, the iron tree will bloom. We say, you know, that prajna or reality is always present True reality is always present, but it's clouded by our imagination, our views, our thinking mind, which discriminates. And instead of seeing all things as one, we only see separation. If the little separators are removed, we only see the totality.

[04:43]

When we remove the separators in our mind, there's only one ocean of reality. And what keeps us all at a distance is the boundaries that we set up in our mind. Not that the boundaries are not necessary. Of course they're necessary. All the shapes of division are the creations of our world. and of our own mind. But as Tseng Chau says, and Rico quotes him, everything is, the whole universe, everything in the universe is one and comes from the same root.

[05:58]

So, how do we understand? How do we touch this one root? That's the point of this koan. How do we really touch it? And then Ngo says, can you demonstrate it? He's talking to his students and he's giving them a little challenge. And he says, even a crafty fellow will become a cropper. I don't know what that is exactly. That's some kind of term. But even a crafty fellow will not be able to come across here. No matter how much you know, intellectually, it's not enough.

[07:03]

Even if he excels in every way, he will have his nostrils pierced. Nostrils pierced means that he can be led around like a cow or a bull. No matter how much he knows, it's not enough. And then he says, what are the complications? And then look at the following. So here's the case. Riku Taifu was talking with Nansen and said, Tseng Chau said, heaven and earth and I are of the same root. All things and I are of one substance. Isn't that absolutely fantastic? Riku was an official, a government official, and he was a student of Nansen. Very good student.

[08:07]

actually. But his understanding was book learning. He had a really good intellectual understanding of Seng Chow. And Seng Chow was one of the early Chinese Buddhist philosophers. a monk who worked with Kumara Jiva translating the sutras from Indian language into Chinese. And he wrote some important documents, treatises. One of his treatises is called Prajna is not learning, is not knowledge. Prajna is not knowledge. And so Rico is quoting Seng Chau.

[09:09]

Seng Chau, incidentally, was a monk who, when he was studying with Kumara Jiva, was very handsome. And the emperor wanted him to marry one of his daughters. And Seng Chau didn't want to break his vows. as a monk. Fortunately today, Buddhist priests can be married. But in those days, they couldn't. And if you disobeyed the emperor's edict or command, then you had to be beheaded. So he said, well, I don't want to marry your daughter, and it's OK to be beheaded, but just give me seven days to write what I have in my mind.

[10:09]

So he wrote down what he had in his mind, and seven days later, he was beheaded. And actually, we have his writings. They're in our library. Anyway, This quote from Sengchow is very expressive of reality. Wonderful. And Riku was really inspired by Sengchow's verse. It's the same verse, actually, as Shakyamuni when he was on Vulture Peak and he held up a flower without saying anything. and Maha Kashapa smiled. This kind of action and response, direct response, this is actually the essence of Zen.

[11:13]

This action and response is the essence of Zen. And the same drama is being played out, similar drama is being played out between Rikku and Nansen. But Rikku is not Mahakasyapa. Rikku, it's a little bit backwards, but Rikku doesn't quite understand even though he's inspired So Nansen brings him over and he says, look at this flower. The people of today see this flower as if in a dream. What is a dream?

[12:28]

What does he mean by, see this flower, people see this flower as if in a dream? Ordinarily, our ordinary kind of seeing of a flower or anything is as an object. But how often do we see a flower as ourself? We may know many things about a flower. A flower has petals, stem, and we can dissect the flower. But flower is always something outside of ourself. How do we bring the flower and our consciousness together to see the flower as it really is?

[13:42]

To see things as they really are is not to see them as objects. To see them as objects, but not as objects. to see objects as not objects. There's a kind of dual way of seeing. One is to see a flower as an object, and the other way is to see the flower as myself, at the same time. When the mind stops chattering, when the mind stops moving, things are seen more completely, without separation. In our busy life of survival, we stop the action of consciousness or we cover over the action of consciousness which sees

[15:03]

the world as ourself. Have you ever noticed sometimes when children will sometimes just stop and stare into space? And, you know, you go in front of their face because their eyes are not... their eyes are open but they're not seeing particularly something. There's only seeing, but it's not seeing particulars, not seeing separation. And we say, that's not so good. Wake up and move around and connect again, you know. It's not that they're not connected. Matter of fact, they're really connected. But what we want them to do is to become disconnected. which we think is being connected.

[16:06]

And it's kind of spacing out. Spacing out, if you space out too long, it's not so good, because we should be connected in that way. But to just be able to stop everything. To stop the world, actually, and be the world. Pretty simple, but hard to do. Hard to allow ourself to just be the world. how to be the flower, how to be ourself.

[17:11]

Why we sit zazen is just for this purpose, to let go of the conscious separation of mind. doesn't mean not to be alert and aware and awake. It means to be completely, absolutely aware and awake. Sasaki Roshi, I read something of his one time. It was quite wonderful. He was talking about children, and he said in the temples in Japan, They used to bring up children a lot in the temples, which they don't do anymore. They send them to school now. But when he was young, a lot of the children were sent to the temples for education.

[18:17]

And what they would teach them in the temples is not that the moon is so many miles away, or that we can send astronauts to the moon to touch it, but when you look at the moon to realize you are the moon and the moon is yourself. Usually we feel very good if our children know statistics about something if they can count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 is how we separate ourselves from everything. As soon as we say 1, 2, 3, there's separation.

[19:25]

As soon as we say this, this, and this, there's separation. and the more we divide, the more separation there is. Not that separation is wrong, but when we separate, we lose sight of the fact of zero. It's okay to separate as much as you want, as long as you don't lose sight of the fact that what you're separating is one piece. But we get lost in this world. We can't find our way because life becomes a maze of separations, of walls, categories. And the more we separate,

[20:36]

the less we feel a part of things. So Nansen says, people today, this is a long time ago, this is in China, in about the 9th century, people of today, when they look at this flower, look at it as if in a dream. no matter how they take it apart or deal with it, it's not real. How can we relate to a flower for it to be real?

[21:40]

How do we relate to each other in order for us to see each other as real. Do we relate to each other as real? Sometimes I see us go through the motions of relating. But how often do we really connect with ourself in each other? How much can we find a rhythm in which we can relate to everything completely, just in an instant, on each instant, on each moment? When we sit in the zendo, during Sashin, there's nothing we have to do except to let the categories fall away.

[22:51]

Just one act at a time. One thing at a time. There's no yesterday and there's no tomorrow. There's no last moment and there's no next moment. There's just this moment. Right now. All you have to do is keep your back straight. Follow your breath. Let go of your thoughts. And just be real. No dreaming. Just let go of the dream of separation. So when we go outside after Day of Sashin, a blade of grass becomes a real blade of grass.

[24:07]

A flower becomes a real flower. a person becomes a real person. What is it other than myself? But to keep this mind moment after moment is what our actual work is. It's what our life is really about. There are two functions in our life. One function in our life is

[25:11]

to be able to accomplish something, to have a goal. One goal is to drive from Zindo to your house. That's a goal. purpose. We have some purpose. And so we get, we want to accomplish that purpose. So we do everything that we can to accomplish that purpose. But we get very caught up in that kind of purpose. Purpose of supporting our life or our work or our study and so forth.

[26:16]

And in that purpose, we forget that the other real basic purpose of life is to come alive in a true sense. How to establish ourself on each moment in reality. But that purpose in life gets really obscured by the other purpose the one that wants to accomplish or needs to accomplish something. So we have both things going on at the same time. The need to accomplish something becomes so strong that it obscures the real need to accomplish, which is just to let our life arise in reality, moment by moment. So when we sit zazen, we just put the other one aside and just let our life arise in reality, moment by moment, without any other purpose.

[27:31]

when we... to be able to accomplish both of these at the same time when in our busy life to be aware enough to allow our real life to arise moment by moment is a great accomplishment So that we're never behind or ahead of ourself, but always firmly planted in reality. Moving fast, yet completely still. Completely still, yet in dynamic activity. Completely involved in dynamic activity. We may look at a flower as a flower, but each one of us is also a flower.

[29:11]

How do we see each one of us as a flower? How do we allow ourselves and each other to flower? And what is flowering anyway? What is our maturity? I think our maturity is to allow ourselves to really flower as our true self. Even though our lives are busy, we should be able to see through our busy accomplishments and stay within the root of our true life.

[30:21]

Even though we may have some idea about that, it doesn't work unless we practice it. So, and when we, in Sashin today, I want us to practice how we see, how we relate to everything as our self. When we're serving food to each other, how do we serve food to everyone as ourself, not as objects? When we eat food, not to see the food as an object.

[31:26]

When you cook in the kitchen, or chopping vegetables in the kitchen, not to see the vegetables as objects, only as objects. When we walk on the floor, not to feel the floor just as an object, So when we sit tzazen, to really be concentrated, everything we do in this sasheen should be concentrated in that way. So then Master Sitcho says, hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are not one and one, not one against one, but just one.

[33:17]

He's urging us to, in his poem, saying, it's not one and one. And then he says, mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror. Mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror refers to thinking about things. First of all, we touch something, and there's just touching, just the sensation of touching. And then we say, I touched the book. And then we start thinking about what that means. So each thought is further and further removed from just

[34:29]

this so to be able to experience just this and that's all that's no separation to be able to experience a thing just as it is without thinking about it thinking about it is important very important But if we don't allow ourself to just be, then thinking about it is just living in a dream. So to experience non-separation, And then to understand it goes together.

[35:37]

But just to try to understand it is not enough. So we say sometimes that zazen is to give our mind a rest. And I think that that applies very well right here. To allow ourself to give our mind a rest. When we lay down at night, we give our body a rest. But our mind, you know, we dream. And as soon as we wake up, our mind is spinning again. We always encourage people, Zen students, when you drink a cup of tea to pick up the cup with both hands and then drink tea.

[37:14]

And when you pick up the cup, if you pick up a cup with one hand, it's okay, you know, you're doing it, you can do it that way. And you can actually drink the tea and it's no problem. I mean, anybody can pick up a cup with one hand. But picking up the cup with both hands is picking up yourself. Quite different. When you pick up the cup, pick up the cup as yourself. Pick up yourself and drink yourself. So, the point here is how can you see the flower as yourself?

[38:17]

How can you see the flower as a flower? This is what I want us to concentrate on today, all day long. in our sashimi. Don't try too hard though. Just Be completely one with whatever you're doing. That's all you need to do. Don't think too much about it.

[39:19]

When you sit, completely sit. When you walk, completely walk. When you rest, completely rest. When you eat, completely eat. When you chant, completely chant. Just be it. If you want to see it, you have to be it. When you catch yourself thinking about something else, or wishing you were someplace else, or wishing the pain in your legs would go away, you're just separating yourself Just be the pain in your legs. Don't be outside of anything.

[40:38]

And just let your flower open. Do you have a question? I'm wondering about... I'm meditating, you see?

[41:52]

Meditating on thinking. Seeing that things go in a loop. Meditating on thinking. Being a thinker, myself as being a thinker, kind of become one. I can't tell if it's true. What were you wondering about it? I would call it a confusion. If we trust enough to let go of things, thinking will take its natural place.

[43:21]

Thinking is wonderful. If we just let go, it will appear in the right way. Sometimes we wonder what will happen if our mind stops thinking. thinking mind will go its own way quite naturally.

[44:27]

When a thinking mind is balanced with emotions and feelings and perception, It finds a very good balance and works for everything rather than against. Works together with and for everything. I think the basic thing here is if we know how to let go. And this is what Nansen is saying to Riko.

[45:36]

He's saying, let go. Just let go. And everything you need to know will fill your mind and body. And you'll be complete. Stop trying to figure it out. Thank you.

[46:42]

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