Good morning everyone. I want to share some teachings this morning from the 12th century Chinese Soto or Cao Dong teacher Hongzhe Zhongshui, predecessor to Dogen, the Japanese Soto founder in the 1200s. This is from a book I did a cultivating the empty field. I'll read this whole section and then I'm going to talk about it. All Buddhas and every ancestor without exception testified that they all arrive at this refuge where the three times cease and the ten thousand changes are silenced. Straight ahead unopposed by the smallest atom the inherently illumined Buddhist spirit subtly penetrates the

[01:02]

original source. When recognized and realized exhaustively this spirit shares itself and responds to situations. The gates sparkle and all beings behold the gleaming. Then they understand that from within this place fulfilled self flows out. The hundreds of grass tips all around never are imposed as my causes and conditioning. The whole body from head to foot proceeds smoothly. So I've been talking a lot about our response to the situations of the world and the difficulties and sadness of the world and some of the specifics of that of course to our own lives but also the situations in the world of suffering

[02:07]

climate damage and racism and sexism and all of that. But I want to come back to where that comes from in our practice in our sitting. So Hongzhe says and he's speaking from this place of deep settling. All Buddhas and every ancestor without exception testify that they all arrive at this refuge where the three times past present and future cease and the ten thousand changes are silenced. So he's talking about this place that we all touch in Zazen whether or not we recognize it or realize it or feel it. In some sense we are in communion with this place this refuge and there are various formal practices of taking refuge in the Dharma in this reality and in Buddha this awakening and in Sangha the

[03:15]

community of how this is shared. But he says this refuge where the three times that's past present and future cease and the ten thousand changes are silenced. So this is interesting. I've also been talking about time and thinking about time as I do all the time. And there's some sense in which when we touch this place time ceases. And I've been mostly talking about this in terms of inhabiting time. So it's not that there is no time there but it you know it feels like that. From this place we are not caught up in time. The changes are silenced. So the issue that Hongshu is raising here has to do with change and with self and the fulfilled self and so of course we you know basic to Buddhism

[04:22]

is this idea of emptiness and this idea of change and of course there's impermanence and everything. But none of these teachings are you know none of these teachings are absolute that we can hold on to. All of them are ways of seeing and the ultimate way of seeing goes beyond any particular way of seeing. But when we so Hongshu says here that all the Buddhas and all the ancestors all of those beings who have kept alive this practice so that we can do it here this morning have they've testified what they have seen what they have provided for us is this refuge this opportunity to sit upright to be

[05:24]

present to face the wall of our reality and when we do this it's as if the three times or the ten times or the movements of time of course are always going on but it's as if they're silence we can settle we can be present and there's a great refuge there there's a great relief there we have this opportunity to settle and calm and you know we might want to stop there in this silence and this meditation teaching that Hongshu is famous for sometimes it's called silent

[06:27]

illumination or serene illumination but he actually he doesn't stop there we take we take refuge there we are nourished in this settling and then he says straight ahead unopposed by the smallest atom the inherently illumined Buddha spirit subtly penetrates the original source what's that about so that in a lot of you know this is I don't know if Nagarjuna talks about the source ever this is something that comes into Chan and Chinese Zen and is influenced by Taoism and this idea of the source is appears in a lot of shine Chan Chinese Zen and in our lineage Shuto Sekito who wrote the Sando Kai the harmony of difference and sameness that we chant sometimes talks about the spiritual

[07:30]

source that shines clearly in the light and then the branching streams flow on in the dark and that's kind of what that's what Hongshu is talking about here that that rhythm that pattern what is this source well what it's not is some creator deity up there who started things at some point in the past historically this is not the source as we as is usually imagined in terms of Western religion this is he says the penetrates the original source this is well like in the old koan the recommendation to see your face before your parents were born what is your original source right now this is like the source actually my name Taigen the characters mean ultimate source and

[08:34]

that's the source like the source of a spring in the mountains there's this poem I've talked about often by the great Chinese poet Wang Wei that includes the line follow the stream back to the source and sit and wait for the time when clouds arise so our practice is to see thoughts and feelings arise and we can sometimes become quiet and silent enough to see oh here it comes there's a sensation a sound a feeling a twinge in my shoulder an ache in my lower back a thought of something that happened yesterday you can see these clouds arise how do we find this original source so this source is not

[09:37]

something that happened six thousand or six million years ago this source is happening right now straight ahead unopposed by the smallest atom the inherently illumined Buddha spirit subtly penetrates the original source when we settle this deeply we have the opportunity to see our life arising right now so you know most of the time in a period of zazen on a Sunday morning this isn't something we you know recognize particularly even though this is actually what's happening Hongshou is teaching telling us on some level maybe

[10:38]

sitting for a day or a few days or or if we do regular you know if we sit regularly every day or several days a week we start to feel this if we do this over time this settling the sparkling at the source but then Hongshou goes further he says when recognized and realized exhaustively the spirit shares itself and responds to situations so this is not about figuring out or understanding some description of the ultimate or of reality or of you know enlightenment or you know one of those words this is some process that is ongoing in our practice but it includes this arriving at this refuge where it

[11:49]

seems like all these three times for the ten times for the various ways of describing the changes are silenced you know and this requires some some some devotions of this practice of settling of sitting facing the wall facing ourselves facing the world facing our stories about the world and about ourselves when recognized and realized exhaustively so it takes it takes some time to recognize and realize this and there's no end to recognizing and realizing this but then this spirit shares itself and responds to situations the point of this is not you know again to figure out some understanding but to

[12:53]

respond to the situations of our life of the world and then he goes on to say the gate sparkle on all beings behold the gleaming so many people here have had the experience of you know sitting regularly and then even if you don't notice some difference in your life you know your friends may your family may other people around you might notice oh what what are you doing how come you know you seem a little different so we're not we don't exactly sit for ourselves of course that too but we respond to situations we are connected with everything and everyone we've ever known or will know we respond to situations the gate sparkle and all beings behold the gleaming and then

[13:58]

Hong just says then they understand that from within this place fulfilled self out fulfilled self the hundred grass hundreds of grass tips that means just everything grass tips is a is a common Chinese metaphor for all phenomena the hundreds of grass tips all around never are imposed as my causes and conditioning it's not about me it's we're all in this together the whole body from head to foot proceeds smoothly so what is this fulfilled self sometimes in Buddhism we hear about no self well that's not exactly it of course each of you sitting on your seat here has it is a self in your own way as the self expresses a we each have our particular position in the room from which Buddha the center

[15:11]

sees us or vice versa so this fulfilled self this self-fulfillment we have a teaching about self-fulfillment Samadhi that's related to what puncture is saying here this way of connecting with all things so our ego self the self we hold on to and cherish our story about ourself the self that we you know that we try and validate and we want everybody to think how great ourself is and you know we all have this idea of ourself and you know we all do that that's part of you know I guess we need to develop that self that ego just to survive adolescence or something you know and our in our society you know

[16:12]

encourages us to to have this nice shiny self and have all kinds of credentials and you know and it's not that that's you know that's okay but how do we use that self to be part of this fulfilled self what is he talking about then they understand that from within this place fulfilled self flows out what is this fulfilled self that has seen how the changes are silenced has heard that that has subtly penetrated the original source that feels each inhale and appreciates the exhale and the space at the end of and that then can share itself and respond to situations so Dogen later

[17:18]

says to carry ourself forward and experience myriad things that's delusion and of course we do that we project ourself on to the world but he then he says when when the myriad things come forth and experience themselves that's awakening so everything comes forth together this is a hint at this fulfilled self we're all in it together the whole body from head to foot proceeds smoothly so I could just keep talking about that paragraph but I'll I'll say something about the next one too because it sort of follows and it does fall and then I want to leave some time to for responses but he then says emptiness is without characteristics of

[18:24]

course that's what it means emptiness is without characteristic characteristics illumination has no emotional afflictions with piercing quietly profound radiance it mysteriously eliminates all disgrace when we go beyond holding on to particular qualities or characteristics when we allow this original source to dispel all our emotional afflictions first we have to recognize them and you know that's part of the work of our practice is to forgive ourselves for our emotional afflictions to not be caught by emotional afflictions but then this quietly proof quietly profound radiance mysteriously eliminates all disgrace we can let go of all of our regrets and feelings of shame and so forth thus one can know oneself thus the self is

[19:26]

completed so again this fulfilled self we all have the clear wondrously bright field from the beginning many lifetimes of misunderstanding come only from distrust hindrance and screens of confusion that we create in the scenario of isolation so yeah this is our life we create scenarios of isolation we see we create various ways of seeing ourselves as separate this is the fundamental affliction of ignorance we do this this is this is our human situation and we imagine ourselves separate from various other people various kinds of people various other you know other things in the world we think we're separate from certain kinds of being this is what this is how we think this is we have to admit this we have to confess this to ourselves so that's a lot of work yes

[20:38]

but anyway he says with boundless wisdom journey beyond this forgetting accomplishments this is again going beyond our personal credentials forget accomplishments straightforwardly abandoned stratagems and take on responsibility of course our ego self has various strategies for how we're gonna how we're going to improve the ego self and improve our situation and improve you know this is our way of being in the world we all do this instead he says take on responsibility we have the ability to respond to the world we have their ability to be helpful rather than harmful having turned yourself around except accepting your situation if you set foot on the path spiritual energy will marvelously transport you contact phenomena with total sincerity not a single atom of dust outside

[21:41]

yourself really there's nothing outside anything that you can see imagine connect with whatever you think is outside of you Mexicans Muslims Republicans Democrats if you can imagine it they're part of you contact phenomena with total sincerity this is Hong's practice instructions this is challenging and yet this is something that's possible having turned yourself around and we and one instruction for is up for zazen is take the backwards step the churches that turns the light inwardly to illuminate

[22:43]

yourself so part of this practice is turning the light within so seeing this original source seeing seeing this process and then of course we have to come back out and graciously share ourselves respond to situations so Hong's saying this again and again this rhythm of practice turning within seeing with changes all silence just stop take some breaths and then we go back out and respond to the world contact phenomena with total sincerity but right in here in this last part there's this place where I would suggest he's talking about what we might call faith or trust or confidence not faith in some belief or some super being or something but if you set foot on the path once we start taking on this practice spiritual energy

[23:50]

will marvelously transport you having turned yourself around accepting your situation we have to first see we are caught in this situation of stratagems and and many lifetimes of misunderstanding hindrances and screens of confusion that we've created created in this scenario of isolation and yet we can turn ourselves around we can start to trust our situation we can start to open up to this deeper reality and he says when we do that when we set foot on the path spiritual energy will marvelously transport you so there's an element of I don't know if the word faith is actually you know works there because because in English we think of that as belief so I'm not asking you to

[24:55]

believe this on faith but when we start to trust the practice when we start to trust that just sitting down and facing the wall and facing ourselves something happens and then we can then we have this ability to respond we can take on responsibility we can actually be helpful in the world which is the point of all this for ourselves and all the so-called others we're connected with so I wanted to share a little Hong's I've been going back and looking at this this wonderful teaching from our 12th century Chinese ancestor so comments

[25:56]

responses reflections please feel free questions Carla thank you for your talks very good what comes to mind for me is these notions of separateness and connectedness so when you're in your everyday life and working and all this stuff and you're really kind of in the world of separateness yep and it's almost like you in order to function in that world you have to think in terms of separateness or you know and it's a huge effort at least for me then to switch gears and think in terms of connectedness because you're so caught in the world of like

[27:03]

separate beings and especially like competition and all this stuff and then then to have to think of in terms of connectedness it's just a huge leap and it's very difficult to make that transition and especially like if you're in say like a everyday work situation how do you think of it in terms of this you know this is we're really in an interconnected world because it's just like so disparate you know and so what are your thoughts about that yeah thank you yes that puts the question very well and what we're doing here in this little storefront temple in Chicago is extremely advanced practice and we have

[28:04]

a couple people who came here for Zazen instruction the first time so you know we're beginners and we're also doing very advanced practice in some ways you know so this is these teachings that Hongzhe gave were teachings he gave to his monks in his monastery in China and you know there are places where where some of us have been and some people and people can go where it's the setup is where you residential and you and you have a chance to be with other people or just focusing on trying to be this way and it's wonderful to take some time to do that but we can't but not everybody can do that in their lives and yet I think these teachings are maybe even more relevant in the context that most of us are in of being in the world working in you know corporate situations

[29:04]

where the main context is competitive and as you say thinking in terms of separateness so I don't so I don't have answers just the questions you ask is the point but I would say about it it's not that you have to have two minds that you're thinking in terms of you know connected you're thinking you're thinking in terms of the separateness and then you have this other thought process going on this this connectedness but still having the practice background of feeling connectedness and then having the tools of precepts where we you know we're think we try and be helpful rather than harmful even in the context of competition and trying to do that your job where there is competition involved or the precept about not speaking of

[30:08]

faults of others how can you be helpful in the situation of competitiveness and not be you know blaming others how do you bring that kind of sense of sensibility that background sensibility into taking care of doing a job well it's challenging so and it's not about being perfect it's not about doing it's it's about making mistakes and learning skillful means is there you know the Buddha's teaching about this how do you go into that situation but you have but but still I know you have this background sense of connectedness of touching the source of touching the sense of quietness and then okay here you are in this work situation so it's let yourself be challenged by that learn by mistakes

[31:09]

trial and error try and be helpful rather than harmful try and not be caught up in internal name-calling and blame even though that's easy and that's gonna happen that's my my response I don't know if that's helpful at all yeah good luck other comments questions responses yes Brian spirit yeah I don't think it's talking about spirits like you know spirit you know like ghosts or spirits wandering around in this room although you know

[32:12]

then maybe that it's relevant sometime but it's just the the spirit of something that be like team spirit or something like that you know it's just the energy of or or yeah yeah just energy that allows you to have good spirits good good spiritual energy to have a good outlook to have positive feeling

[33:12]

and energy it's not it doesn't have to be you don't have to take it to some mystical sense I mean if you want to you can but it's not that's not it's not necessary I think there there's so I don't I don't have the characters with me I actually dug them out this weekend but there it's it I'm not sure if it's Ray which is spirit like us like a it could be interpreters like a ghost but so we're gonna we're gonna be looking at this this text in the practice period next spring and I'll dig out the the characters for that but I think you know team spirit is a good way of putting it Douglas well yeah you could put it you could understand it that way loosely sure so cheat what he cheated means that

[34:12]

the mind or there's a character for mind that also means intention and resolve and those words are part of it too yes Asian supported in a different way by doing walking meditation and then we're feeling ourselves sort of moving around with what's happening and then thinking about that in terms of you know our work practice here and not cleaning this endo because you know this endo means cleaning but cleaning it as part of a different way of you know then going a little bit deeper getting a little bit more practice and support when we're bringing our that that feeling of connection to our activities and then I was thinking about you know then

[35:21]

you know then you go out into the world and you get to practice it for the week and nobody can tell you what it is or you know how to do it but we we come back here on whatever day gets more you know some practice with that and how you know that just unfolds for everybody that even though I've given zazen lots of got a zazen instruction lots of times this was the first time I ever thought about it in terms of that progression too so you know there's always ways in which we're getting support for being more connected to things and then learning how to bring that to different contexts here and elsewhere. good thank you very much for that yes so all of the different forms that we do in the temple are expressions of zazen. Zazen is a kind of form of expression we sit not to figure out something it's not about it's not some mental exercise we sit as an expression of Buddha and walking meditation is a slightly more

[36:24]

active it's not real active slightly more active very slow meditative walking a slightly more active way of expressing Buddha expressing awareness allowing Buddha to express herself in us and then we will later on do temple cleaning which is not about just you know utilitarianly kind of cleaning that you know getting the temple clean it's that but it's also a practice how do we express our zazen awareness in that mode and then we're gonna when we do our all-day sittings we eat mindfully in the zendo and and then how do we how do we you know bring the food from the take the food in the spoon and take it to our mouths and chew and you know being mindful in all activities and for the servers how to how to bring the food into each person's bowl and for the

[37:28]

people hitting the bells or taking care of the altar or hitting the Han outside all of the all of the temple activities and it's even more so in a residential kind of temple are extensions of zazen extensions of this practice that Hong's just talking about and so ultimately then how to without you know being precious about it or beings any about it or something how to you know be at your workplace and express your feeling of zazen in the work that you do and in the your interactions with the situation that you're in that's the challenge of our practice so thank you for that other questions or comments yes

[38:29]

a lot of my faith in practice I feel that I can see change in me by exerting others particularly it seems like my parents marriage has gotten a lot more healthy during the time that I have some real faith with that they seem it's not just a coincidence at the summer minor extent it might be me taking some responsibility you know when I'm seeing it manifests erotically like part of this to actually present with them so I've changed my sense but there's also I'm taking credit for that. That means we can see each other. That's very cool yeah we don't

[39:42]

always you know we don't always know part of you know Suki Roshi talks about non gaining attitude and that's partly that we don't know the outcome of all of our efforts and sometimes but sometimes we see them but sometimes the sometimes our efforts and our practice has that kind of outcome that you know so Huck shows practice he thinks helped his parents and that you know I believe you and that might happen in lots of cases and we don't necessarily see it so yeah and but that's kind of the point that just being involved in this process of settling and responding and trying to respond as Carla was pointing out and the difficulties of that but but being aware of the difficulties and the effort involved something happens in the process of you know the spirit subtly

[40:49]

penetrating the original source and then responding and it's we don't know we don't always see it it's not we don't always know the outcome it's not it's kind of organic and alchemical and but sometimes we have a sense of something happening and even if even if nothing's happening maybe it'll happen sometime sometime you know later on we don't know you

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