Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning, people. I'm Taigan Leighton, the guiding teacher at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. I want to speak today about one of our primary texts, the Song of the Grass Hut. The last couple of weeks, we spoke about the harmony of difference and the sameness, the Song of the Grass Hut. 700 to 790, and is one of the major ancestors, you know, of lineage cults of Japan and America. And this text, Song of the Grass Hut, many of you know very well, but for you people, I'd like to start by just chanting it. So it's on page nine of our chat book, and Boahitin would We chatted with people online. So we're just going to chat.

[01:05]

We will be chatting this later as part of our service with offerings at 2,000. And I just want to chat it now for information. So I'll announce it. And, yeah, we'll just chat. Song of the Grasshopper. I had built a grass hut, later nothing of value. After eating, now to relax and enjoy the nap. When it was unneeded, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lived in, covered by weeds. The person in the hut lives here calmly, not stuck to the inside, outside, or in between. When it's his world, he'll live. He doesn't live. Groundsworldly people love. She doesn't love. Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. In ten feet square, an old man of living forms in the nature of my island would have sought the trust without doubt. Admittingly, although they can't help wondering, will this hut perish or not?

[02:10]

Perishable or not, the original master is present. Not dwelling south or north, east or west Firmly based on steadiness it can be surpassed A shining window below the green pine Jade palaces over a million towers can't compare with it Just sitting with head covered all things are at rest Thus this mountain monk doesn't understand at all Living here he no longer works to get freed who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests, turn around the light to shine within, and then just return. That's an insensible source you can't be faced or turned away from. Meet the ancestral teachers. Be familiar with their instructions. Buying grass is to build a hut and don't give up. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk in a sense.

[03:12]

Thousands of words, mirrored interpretations are only to free you from instructions. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, don't separate from this skin bag here and now. Thank you all. And I meant to say this before we started chatting, but our forum for this is for people here in Zendo, but also the people online. Our forum for using our chat books is to hold it like this with three fingers. Great. On the outside and through inside, please don't bend it back. And also, please don't just lay it on the ground. So anyway, this is the form. I just wanted to mention that. So all of our forms are just to help us . So again, the harmony of difference and sameness, we talked about the last couple of weeks.

[04:15]

And both that and this song we just chanted are by a very important, one of our important ancestors, a few generations before the formal founder of the So I want to talk about just a few parts of this with chance. So actually, the idea of a grass hut on the Japanese is part of the Zen tradition for people who were hermits, but also often the abbot has a hermitage.

[05:19]

It's called an odd hermitage, a grass hut, even though sometimes they're very elaborate. Le Chateau himself had a large monastery where he instructed many people, but he also, it's hard to see in this picture, but somebody from San Francisco went to where his I'll hold it up for the online people to pass it around. This is actually the big rock where his hut was away from his main monastery, a kind of retreat space he passed it around. Not much to see now, it's overgrown. As he says, Now it's been covered by leaves for a long time, but the rock is still there. His name could be translated as on the rock. So he was made for this time. So again, I just want to focus on a few lines in this chat.

[06:22]

I'll just start at the beginning. I built a grass hut where there's nothing of value after eating and relaxing through the night. So there's a feeling of regular, everyday, casual, almost practice. Of course, Chiteau was a strict Zen teacher also in many of his huddles. And so he built this hut practiced there. And there's a tradition of many great social ancestors, Ryokan in the 19th century, from back to Hanshan in China, who lived in hermitages, and practiced on their own, so to speak, or had connections with a nearby monastery, but lived in some of the recluse. And as I said, sometimes in Japan, there are these ponds or whatever, which are quite elaborate.

[07:29]

Anyway, he says, when it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lifted and covered by weeds. So, again, this informal feeling is actual. You can see in China and Japan that still buildings with thatched grass, roofs, hard to do that now because it's too expensive to build them. They're not kept up so well. But anyway, he says the person in the hotlands are common, not structured inside, outside, and in places where people live, he doesn't live. So part of this, part of the energy of this chant is, this comes in later, to turn within, to turn away from The Values of the World. To take the backward step that turns the light inwardly to illuminate the self, as one phrase described.

[08:30]

This is a meditation poem. He says, though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. It's at feet square in all matter, limits, forms, and nature. So this song, this poem, is about the space of practice. whether it's a formal zendo like this, or a large temple, or a space where you do sitting practice in your home, just a place where you can put a cushion, a chair, a face, the wall. This is an instruction, truly, about the space of plaza, space of meditation, space of practice. It's not stuff to the inside, outside, or in the key. It's not part of one of those categories. And it's not about worldly values. You know, with worldly people, she doesn't want.

[09:35]

But this is important. Remember, HUD is small and includes the entire world. So, here's Avatar, you know, with his small armchair. And yet, as we sit, Upright one of us said the whole world is here. Each of us. As we are sitting. Are the product of many costs and conditions? Everybody we. I've never met this part of what is sitting on the sheet. We don't we don't remember that long. People we may be met casually or who we didn't even meet a part of how we are, who we really is. So, yeah, the entire world is here. And that's an important part of our practice. We sit upright, we emphasize posture, we sit in this natural grip, and everything is here.

[10:42]

So, our Actors' body is inclusive. All of our experiences are part of how we work. So he says, Mahayana bodhisattva trusts without doubt. We're all doing this bodhisattva practice, practicing to help awaken all beings. It's just the middle and the low that can't help wondering whether it's perishable or not. Perishable or not, the original master is present. So I want to talk about that line. That line didn't, that's not being that important to me when I talked about this text many times, but I want to emphasize that line, perishable or not, the original master is present. We can't actually a hold of our identity i think there was more identity we are a product of everything and you know perishable or not so we take care of our software and our space and try and keep it maintain it

[12:04]

But another important text says, turning away and touching are both wrong. We can't get a hold of it, and we can't avoid it. So this original master is present. He is, in some ways, the heart of our practice. So the original master might refer to Chakyamuni Buddha, who started this practice years ago, and now knows this gene. The original has to refer to, may refer to Shakyamuni, but it's something deeper. When we set up a place to practice, Buddha is there. And not just Shakyamuni, but Buddhas before Buddha. And Yankai Vairochana, the The Buddha, that is the awakened aspect of everything in the world.

[13:11]

Everybody we know, even people who we don't like, have a few less difficulties. And not just the people. The trees, the lake, the grasses, the carpet, pushing your chairs. The original master is present when we set up a practice place, whether it's a formal example like this, or just a space that you're using to do this practice. Every day, or at least several times a week, the original master is present. This original master, you know, There are aspects of the word master in English that nobody would question. But fundamental feature, fundamental teaching, the awakening of everything is present in our practice and in our practice place.

[14:21]

This is what a practice place example is about. So we have particular ways. One of the things that priests do is to know how to set up a particular form. There's a particular structure, and it has to adapt to the various spaces we're in. So this room, as I said, has a little recess back there. So we want to leave that space. The main point, the original T-shirt, the original T-shirt, the fundamental reality, the truth is present. Whether things are, everything is perishable. We lost our capital space at the beginning of COVID. I think it didn't work.

[15:24]

So we're still, you know, in recovery in some ways from the pandemic. Perishable or not, everything is in some ways perishable and in some ways not. Something remains. As far as capital is here, talking about seeds, and all of our practice is about planted seeds. So we're not just practicing. It's not a self-help technique. Of course, it does benefit us to do this practice, but it's not about us. It's about how do we maintain this basic practice? How do we maintain the fundamental teaching? The original master has this perfect translation. It's a perfect translation, I think, myself. Anyway. is here when we sit upright.

[16:28]

Enjoy our breath. Allow thoughts and feelings to pass by We don't have to try and grab a hold of them. We don't have to push them away. So I'll talk more about that in another teaching from Chateau's after talking about this song. But it's great that we still have the lyrics. The melody has been lost, but... Uh, I've said this before about some of the grass hut and it's on the jewelry. Some other positions here and you want to put the music to the slot. Please let us tomorrow. Fundamental teaching the original master is present in any practice, but that's what it means here. If you practice this and every place we go, not just the presenter, but as we leave and walk around and take care of our lives, and our families, and friends, and our work, and all of that here in Chicago, or I see people in Michigan, and in various places.

[17:43]

Come on. When we are breathing, In conforming with our experience of this practice, the original teaching, the original teaching, the fundamental teaching is present in this space where it formed by . It goes on to say, firmly based on steadiness, it can't be surpassed. Shining window below the green pines, great palaces and normal towers can't compare with it. That's a kind of classical Chinese reference to a . The next line is also one of the very important lines there. Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest, lest this mountain monk doesn't understand at all.

[18:46]

So this just sitting with head covered Actually, literally, that image is of Bodhidharma, the Indian master who came to China and is considered the founder of Chan. He had a conversation with the emperor and then went up to this cave in northern China, where it was pretty cold. And images of him often, there's this quilt. covering his head. So there's this literal reference. And actually, when I was practicing in the monastery in Japan, they have a quilt and you can put it over your head and everyone can see. But the point is, just sitting, head covered. The practice is not about, no, what you're thinking is. But head covered metaphorically is, Letting go of your idea or your thoughts. Doesn't mean you try to get rid of thoughts, but that's not what's important.

[19:51]

Just seeing that all things are at rest. So one aspect of this practice, of course, is just calm, steadiness. Letting all things be at rest. Letting all things be as they are. That's one side. The other side is that we try and respond when we're helpful and have a sense for the spaciousness of everything. But first, we take the backwards step, the eternal way. That's coming up in a few lines. But thus this Nahumah should so revert to himself. He doesn't understand it all. It's not about this practice. And these teachings are not about getting something particular understanding. There's some particular special state of mind. Actually, it's okay if you have some good understanding of the teaching. And, you know, what happens is that people have experiences of kind of altered states of mind beyond our usual conventional way of being and thinking.

[21:01]

So that happens. But the point isn't to get a hold of some understanding. The point is just to keep just to continue this practice regularly over time, day after day, or more than several days a week. And just sit. Get covered. And allow all things to be the best. So a couple lines later, this is another key line. Turn around the light to shine the band, and just return. In some ways, this is the entire, this single line encompasses all of the facts. Turn around the light to shine with it. That's a traditional meditation instruction. One of his essays, Dogen says, take the backwards step, turn the light inwardly to illuminate yourself. Shito's version here is a little bit much later.

[22:04]

Well, it was in Japan, but Shigo just says it very concisely there. Turn around and I'll show you again. But then just return. So the point of our practice is not to reach some special state of mind or experience. Even though that happens, then just return. We come back to our ordinary conventional life. our practice in the world, our relationship with partners, with family, with children, with parents, with our work situation, with neighbors, with Chicago, wherever we are living, and just our return. So our whole practice is about this turning around the light to shine within. And then returning, rock-sharing pictures with movies, for example.

[23:07]

We come back to our everyday lives in the world. So this dynamic of turning within, facing ourselves, seeing all our interested fun, seeing something deeper, its original nature, its original fundamental teaching that is always present. Getting glimpses of it, but you can't get a hold of it. We can't defy it. It's beyond our powers of conceptualization of this code. But then, just return. We live in this world, and we respect this world, and we take care of this world. So, very important line. One of the wonderful lines in all of the texts. Turn around, watch, and just return. But, I would go back and add, perishable or not, the fundamental teaching is present. Buddha is here.

[24:09]

Once we come into this realm, they can see, face the world, they see each other as they are now. Buddha is here. Oh, and then after, then just return, it says, it explicitly should have said, the vast inconceivable force, can't be spaced or tried to work from. We can't get a hold of it and we can't avoid it. Can't be spaced or tried to work from. And this fast and conceivable source, this is, Shitou uses this metaphor of a source. And a lot of that text talk about the source. And it doesn't mean like the source of creation, back, or something like that, or some. You know, it's right now. The source is always right now. As we travel within, face ourselves, face our own self, and enjoy what we're doing here.

[25:17]

Paying attention. We're not trying to figure anything out. It's always right here. That's an inconceivable source. So the source is not something historical. The source is, you know, it happens. So this is one kind of meditation instruction. Sometimes you can follow a school of thought back to its source. Oh, where did I start thinking about that? You can spend time during long meditation retreats doing that. But the source is always here. And the fundamental teaching we're wishing all teachers is always good. This is our understanding. So Chateau goes on to say, meet the ancestral teachers. We can all hear their instructions. Buying grasses to build a hut and don't give up. So buying grasses to build a hut and make a space to practice. So we've done that here. So what gets good? This is our grass hut.

[26:19]

I don't give up. And sometimes it's boring and sometimes we have pain in our knees or back or shoulders or something. Sometimes there's something in our heart, some problem in our life or some problem this week that haunts us. It was difficult. But don't give up. Once we build this space of practice, once you take on this practice of being upright and present, enjoying your inhale and exhale, Fundamental teaching, original master, original teaching is present. So, just don't give up. And just let go. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. We've been talking about that something. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. It's a reference to, you know, which we will chat during our regular service, all our ancient twisted common from the beginning once we ate delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, are now full of narrow.

[27:27]

A big part of our practice is just to acknowledge and witness to all of the stuff, all of our habits, all of our particular, we should have our own particular pattern of grasping or angle of confusion. Wow. The more we see it, it comes up sometimes, and it's not about getting rid of it. It's about witnessing it and becoming intimate with ourselves, studying ourselves, finding the space where the rational teaching is present. So, the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instructions, find grasses to grow the hut, don't give up, let go of hundreds of years, relax completely. So, you know, when people walk into a Zen meditation hall, people are sitting up, they look like they're still sitting up praying, straight, especially during the long retreat.

[28:32]

People don't realize that what this practice is about is to relax, How do we relax our minds? How do we relax all of the difficulties in our life and in our troubled world and in our collapsing civilization and all of that? How do we just leave this experience? And then we return and respond when we can see some way to respond. And many people here are doing work, responding to the governments of the world. But we do a strong in this place of settling, of turning the light to shine within. Not giving up. So it's like he says, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Let go, oh, and let open your hands and walk innocently.

[29:37]

What's the name of Mishima Roshi's book, Opening the Hand of Thought? Yeah. So, you know, it was not that we get rid of thinking and thoughts. That's part of Mishima Roshi, a great Japanese teacher in the last century, said, as we're sitting, our stomach continues to secrete digestive juices. As we're sitting, our brain continues to secrete thoughts. So it's not about having a blank mind. It's not the point. But how do we sit calm in the midst of the whirlpool of sometimes monkey-minded, lots of thoughts? Just enjoy and inhale and exhale. Open your hands and walk. Relax completely. Open your hands and walk and listen. And then Shito concludes, thousands of words, varied interpretations are only to free you from disruptions. So as I've said many times, all of these wonderful Dharma teachings, all of these great sutras and great dialogues and stories and great practice texts like this one, it's not about

[30:59]

studying them so you have some great understanding. It's about training from instruction, encouraging practice. So each of these texts that we study, and there are many Bible texts, truth texts, teaching texts that we can't study and they can be helpful, but the point of them is to just Let go and relax completely to encourage our practice. The end is, if you want to know the undying person in the hut, the person on your seat, the person in the center, the person that is supposed to be you, the person with whom the original teacher, the fundamental teaching teacher is present, whether it's perishable or not, undying person.

[32:14]

He says, just don't separate from this skin bag here and now. Skin bag, it's a funny expression. Or remember one of our Great early practitioner shared ancient dragon mythic got very upset when she heard this. I'm not a skin bag. She really had a problem with this word. We ended up talking about it a lot in talks. Anyway, it's just a slang slogan for this bottom line. So separate from it here and now. present with our experience, with our life, with our world, and its struggles, and the pains in our knees, our shoulders, or wherever, or our heart. Just step away from yourself. A great Zen artist and translator just had his 98th birthday, Kaz Takahashi.

[33:24]

He was at an urban park. Can you sum up that in one word? I just said non-separation. So that's pretty good. Don't run away from yourself. My Dharma transmission. the ceremony where my teacher said as I was in the liquid and then to get back over the road and say, don't run away from yourself. Don't separate from the skin right here and now. So there's a, so this is companion piece to the Harmony of Difference of Things, which we've been speaking of some last couple of weeks, Sando Kai, Sino-Japanese, which we also chant a lot, which is more like the dialectical philosophy of our tradition of Soto Zen.

[34:35]

But this is about, this is basic practice. On your seat, in your room, in our Zendo. How do we make this space? How do we not separate from the skin bag we are in now? The fundamental teaching, the fundamental future is present. Whether our particular Zendo characters are not, it's changed in one conventional world. We're no longer at Zendo as we once were before. Fundamental teaching is person. So that's a little bit of the Song of the Grass Hut. I wanted to add something. Another, just a short dialogue by Kishan, who wrote the Song of the Grass Hut in the 8th century. So, you know, one of the things about that is that we have this wide view of time.

[35:43]

I think it's really helpful. want to be stuck in thinking about quarter of the profit margin just to the next election cycle. But to see a wide range of time and space. So we got teachers that report from the 8th century and the 9th century, 13th century, and even back in the 20th century. Anyway, Shih Tzu once was asked by one of the students, what is the essential meaning of Buddha Dharma? Great question. Usually it's not asked so boldly. Sometimes they ask things like, why did Bodhidharma come from the West? There's lots of ways of asking this question. Anyway, somebody asked Shuto, what is the essential meaning of Bodhidharma? And Shuto said, not to attain, not to know. That's really deep.

[36:47]

Not to get a whole, not to get something, not to acquire something. It's difficult for us in our, you know, commodity society where we're taught in an early age to try and get all the things on the TV or whatever. Not to attain, not to acquire, and not to know. And we're also trained to, you know, get through each grade and to college, you know, to know stuff. It's okay if something comes around and you look at all of it. It's okay that we have nice Buddhas and stuff. And it's okay if you have knowledge. But the point is, how do you use the knowledge for all beings? And you shall. For all beings. So that's just the first line of the story. She does it not to attain, not to know. The student, Tao, was pretty persistent. He said, oh, beyond that, is there any other pivotal point or not?

[37:51]

Very encouraging. Shirato said, I love this, the wide sky does not obstruct the white clouds. The wide sky does not obstruct the white clouds. The wise guy? No, I didn't say wise guy. I said wide sky. Oh, the wide sky. Sorry, a little way to get that now. It's not the wise guy. It's the wide sky. It does not obstruct the white clouds drifting. This is a meditation instruction. This fundamental occasion, original master. It doesn't obstruct the clouds of thoughts and feelings and sensations that are drifting by. And they don't obstruct the white sky either. The sky doesn't bother us by our thoughts.

[38:53]

The white sky does not obstruct the white clouds too much. Maybe he was thinking of Buddha as a wise guy. He doesn't obstruct the white clouds shifting either. Okay, so that's the story. That's the whole story. And, you know, there's this not to attain, not to know, and then the wise guy does not obstruct the white cloud drifting by. And then this is quoted in Dogen's extensive record later this coming month. Saturday, I forget the date, it's on our schedule. I'm going to be doing an afternoon seminar on Dogen's extensive record. Dogen was the wise guy who brought from China to Japan all of this tradition of wisdom and practice. In the 13th century, one of his huge epitome of text is Dogen's Extensive Record, which I translated to show up a little more.

[39:57]

I'll do a second on that in October. This is just one little piece from it. It's got lots of little, little things. Anyway, Dogen says about this dialogue, not to attain, not to know, is Buddha's essential meaning. Wind blows into the depths, and more winds blow. So wind is an energy of teaching, culture, and awareness of awakening. And further winds blow. So this is about Buddha going beyond Buddha, which is something Durga talks about all the time. It's not enough to just become Buddha. You have to keep practicing. Keep reawakening. Buddha just knows awakening work. So we awaken and move. It continues rolling. So Delvin said, the wind blows into the depths and further winds blow. The white sky does not obstruct the white clouds drifting.

[40:57]

And then Delvin said, at this time, why do you take the trouble to ask ship though? While this is going on, why bother asking about it, for instance? We're asking the teacher. So I want to stop and have time for discussion or questions. But my first teacher had stuck with me to ask this question. And I got a couple of different answers. But I'm going to stop for now. So comments, questions, responses, people here in the room or people online, Bo, you can help me with that. And please keep your response or question or statement somewhat brief. Please give time for other people to ask questions. So thank you. Comments, questions?

[42:02]

The bell had a question. Yes, Jen. It seems to me that this Dharma talk came up this week. Something happened to me 82 years ago that I've never forgotten, and it had come up in my mind periodically. I was in nursery school, and there was a little girl in the nursery school with me, and we were having art. And she started painting circles on her piece of paper. As far as I know, I didn't have any ideas. I didn't have any idea what to do. with a piece of paper and things. I said, mess around with my fingers.

[43:10]

And I looked at that and I thought, that looks terrible. And I said, do you think that's beautiful? And she said, yes, I do. And this has puzzled me all this time. And so it The other day, I didn't take my car because I didn't want to lose my parking place, so I took the bus to an errand. And I was standing waiting for the bus, and there was a light rain and a gutter puddle where I was standing. And I was looking at that gutter puddle, and the raindrops were falling in it. And each of them formed a circle And then another one would fall and it would be a littler circle because the other one had expanded and disappeared. And as I was looking at this, with the raindrops falling in the puddle and the circle getting bigger and then little circles and the circles disappearing, I thought, that must have been what she saw.

[44:21]

And I just, I feel so good about having finally resolved this problem. This is co-op practice. This is exactly what Ben talks about. Something happens. Somebody says something. Maybe you see a circle. You don't recognize that it's full moon or whatever. 22 years, you said, and you've been struggling with this colon? I mean, yes. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Jen, for sharing that with us. And, you know, sometimes it takes a while to realize something. But congratulations. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions? Oh, good. Asian. Thank you for the talk, Tegan. I had a similar phenomenon happen just now as you were talking, which was I have heard that instruction about tracing your thoughts back to the source.

[45:32]

And it always seemed so esoteric to me and something that I just couldn't do. And that was because I had a concept about what that was. Like I thought I was going to get to some, you know, vast source of emptiness. But my concept was really faulty because what I realized when you were talking is that I often do in Zazen sort of trace a thought back to the source. And what I realized is the thought actually is triggered by something that you know, maybe inside me, but maybe outside me. It's like, you know how much I love to get songs stuck in my head and then trace them back. And I realized that like, yeah, you know, that an acorn fell off a tree and it made me think of, you know, And I think maybe that's it. It's that it's the interconnection that I'm actually tracing the thoughts back to the interconnection.

[46:39]

And it just made me kind of realize that, you know, all this stuff is just it's just swirling around through the universe and it kind of passes through and everything. And then it's gone. And actually even something inspired the person who wrote the song to write it. And so, yeah, I really appreciated the opportunity to kind of see that today. Yeah, like the nursery school circle. Or when you started talking about that, about the acorn, suddenly I heard raindrops keep falling on my head. Yeah. THANK YOU. OTHER COMMENTS, RESPONSES, QUESTIONS? I'M JUST FOLLOWING, REMIND ME. HI. Nice to be here, everyone.

[47:47]

You're welcome. So I'm just following the thread, and it takes me back to, first of all, I was looking at this first line that keeps striking me. I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value. It's so interesting that that's where we're starting. And then the thread that came through here is in my early 20s, being at a lake with friends and kind of having a celebratory weekend and seeing some adults out in their donut-shaped energy. And I had what I called at that time an epiphany. But it was just like when the scene just struck me so strongly that I didn't really have any... But really, I knew nothing. Like, I really had no idea what's going on. And even just adults floating in the lake in these donut-shaped inner tubes was somehow everything.

[48:48]

That's the only way I can express it. But in this line standing out, I felt like there was nothing of value. Somehow in that moment, this scene, which I would have maybe at the moment in some ways that was nothing of value, suddenly, absurdly became, you know, it held everything. Everything, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yes, it, as you say, the entire, you know, the entire world is presently in this. Yeah, those experiences like that can point us towards this. When there's raindrops in a gutter or something dropped in a circle. When I was, you said you were 20? Yeah. I was four years old sitting by a lake in Hampshire, as it happens, and had what I now recognize as a great smutty experience.

[49:57]

I was just sitting there and I was... It was awful. It was disgusting. And it just, you know, pine needles on the ground. It was just all luminous. And I remember that many years later, I think those things happen. Other people have these experiences. And... Yeah. Yes. So thank you for sharing that. Other people, other questions, experiences, comments, responses? Oh, and just thinking that line you focused on, where there's nothing of value, of course, but this is, the word value is interesting because there's the usual worldly value of things based on dollar signs or whatever.

[51:04]

And then there's what's really of value, which is seeing people there to acknowledge I mentioned this question that was asked. I've told this story before, but what is the essential meaning of Unidana? My first teacher was a Japanese, I was going to move to San Francisco. But I knew what the San Francisco Zen Center called it. So even if she was gone, even if she was the teacher. And the genius sensei said to me, when you get there, ask the teacher, what is the essential meaning of the book?

[52:15]

So I got there. I didn't get to see Ben-Guroshi for a long time. But I started... back single, Anderson, who is my teacher. And so I asked him first. His answer was, don't you already know? We already know. The original master is present. Fundamental teaching is everywhere all the time. from there all the time, all at once. So, later on, I got to ask what is the fundamental who should be Buddhist? Did you have Buddhist or was there no Buddhist? She thought I could answer. Does anybody have any other answers?

[53:17]

Or questions? Comments? How would you answer that now? After all these years of crisis? I don't know. I'll ask you. Where is the space where there's room for everything? Yes, here is the space where there's room for everything. Thank you. I think Ashton has her hand up. Okay, Ashton. This is a little bit of an aside, but if I have a moment to share. The last camping, Sashin, when we talked about the Song of the Grass Hut, Jerry alerted me to the fact that there is an episode of Star Trek where the Enterprise encounters some more advanced life form out there in the universe.

[54:33]

Pardon? There are many of them. Well, and they're trying to communicate with us. And what they say to the crew is, hello, big, ugly sacks of mostly water. So, yeah. So when you think about not wanting to be a skin bag, you could try to look for the Star Trek episode. Thank you. go ahead maybe people read Viktor Frankl when he was running away from the Nazis and he was in a forest running away by himself and he sat down and there was a beam of light that illuminated a little plant that was by him that he had this kind of an experience and then another one that I read was you know your basic dick in a Russian prison

[55:39]

He went out to take a pee. And all of a sudden, the world was just illuminated for him. And he was actually not getting enough to eat and was enslaved in a camp. And yet this appreciation or this love of life suddenly fluttered over him. Yeah. It's always here. And now And sometimes we get adults. So, yeah, I want to wrap up. I mean, I'll write that last slide. Last two slides. So, yeah. So that separation of the skin back here and now. So that's about appreciating the value of life and being sexual. Thank you. No.

[56:41]

Appreciation. But sometimes, even if we're not appreciating it, still, we're going to separate them. We're going to leave them some ridiculous and ugly insult. Big ugly saps of water. Or aches and pains. Yeah, right. How do we say? Good.

[57:06]

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