great master Ma, Mazu, was unwell. The temple director asked him, teacher, how has your venerable health been in recent days? The great master Mazu said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. And how are you this morning? Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. The Sutra of the Buddha's Names tells us that a Sun-Face Buddha lives for 1,800 years. A Moon-Faced Buddha lives one day and one night.

[01:09]

Or maybe it's after their great enlightenment. Sun-Faced Buddha, 1800 years. Moon-Faced Buddha. One day, one night. Both give light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken. The great Dharmakaya, Vairochana Buddha in Japan is called Dainichi Nyorai, Great Sun Buddha. And yet in Zen and in East Asian poetry and painting, we often see pictures of the moon glowing, reflecting the light of the sun.

[02:15]

Sun face Buddha, moon face Buddha. And Yuan Wu's pointer to this case starts, one device, one object, one word, one phrase. The intent is that you will have a place to enter. Sun-faced Buddha or moon-faced Buddha? Still, this is gouging a wound in healthy flesh. It can become a nest or a den. The great function appears without abiding by fixed principles. covers the sky, covers the earth, it cannot be grasped. So it's not that there's either sun-faced Buddha or a moon-faced Buddha. Mazu had his sun-faced Buddha and his moon-faced Buddha.

[03:16]

But as I talked about yesterday, I particularly appreciate the verse commentary in the book The Frick or Quixote. Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha, what kind of people were the ancient emperors? For twenty years I have suffered bitterly. How many times I have gone down into the Green Dragon's cave for you. This distress is worth recounting. Clear-eyed Zen practitioners should not take it lightly. This distress is worth recounting. Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha. 20 years, 30 years, 40 years I've suffered bitterly. Can we face this distress, this suffering of the world?

[04:32]

And this question of the ancient emperors. What kind of people were the ancient emperors? How kind were the ancient emperors? So in China there's this sense of the ancient emperors as these great, great beings, these kind of mythic figures like Emperor Yao, who is supposed to have lived around 2300 BC. Great figures who took care of all people. Humble beings. Great, great beings, these great ancient emperors and Again, I think of our founding fathers in this country, who we look back on, who, with all its failings, set up a republic, if we could keep it, Benjamin Franklin said.

[05:45]

What kind of people were the founding fathers? Well, we know they were many of them slave owners and, of course, they only gave the vote to men. Anyway, this distress was recounted. Now, we have politicians trying to eliminate women from voting again. Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha. So Shweto says this about himself, not about Masu. It's kind of interesting. He says, he uses pronoun I, for 20 years I have suffered bitterly. How many times I have gone down into the green dragon's cave for you. This is a poem about sashin, about what we do when we go down into the ancient dragon's end gate and sit.

[06:56]

and sit again, and are willing to face the distress of our life and our world. For who? Well, for you. And, we say, for all beings. This distress is worth recounting. Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha. 1,800 years, a day and a night. And Masa seems quite calm about it. Can we just be present and calm and sit and face this distress? This distress is worth recounting, he says.

[08:11]

So I'm giving a review of yesterday's talk, and then I'm going to say some more. But I'm very honored to have with us as our visiting teacher, our Sato Shungudzo-Spring, and we talked yesterday about the Compassionate Earth Walk that she did. She was here four months ago talking about it before she walked along a long section of the Keystone XL pipeline trying to call attention to the way in which our whole species is facing sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, and again, the scientists announced this week that the Arctic ocean is the warmest it's been in 120,000 years. So it's not just Masa facing this distance, or you or me. Each of us

[09:24]

Many of us have friends or people we know facing serious illness. Someone here had a friend die two days ago. And our friend is on his... away on the West Coast with a family member who's in medical distress. And of course, with the Fukushima meltdown continuing, the whole planet is facing this distress. So, what's our practice here? Sun-face Buddha, Moon-face Buddha. going down into the ancient dragon zen gate cave. Sun face buddha, moon face buddha, there's light, there's light.

[10:40]

How do we see the light in the middle of this? Don't stay in the cave. When the bell rings, get up. At the end of Sashin, go out and... Don't hide. We each have much to give. This distress is worth recounting. Don't run away from your life and the world. And so I also talked yesterday, and I'm talking about this this weekend, because of my friend and the official leader of our lineage, Nyogen Stevastopoulos, the central abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, and recently had this

[11:48]

Less than a month ago, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. In his notice about this, he mentioned this poem by Dogen, which is a commentary on, always part of Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. Dogen said, To what shall I liken this life? Moonlight reflected in dewdrops, shaken from a crange bill. Not even a whole day and night. Moonlight reflected in dewdrops. And yet here we are. We have, you know, all of you are here for a day or two or three to just settle into this ancient dragon cave. Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha, what kind of people were the ancient emperors?

[13:00]

What kind of people were the founding fathers and founding mothers of our practice? Somehow, somebody kept sitting through this distress. More than 1800 years, 2500 years since the Buddha, and long before that. facing the distress of this world, of this life and death. Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. Here we have this way of being that can recount this distress, can face this distress, can share the possibility of light. Sun-Face, Moon-Face. We can respond. in the middle of this great matter of life and death. And as I said yesterday, the great emperor of the Song dynasty, Shen Song,

[14:07]

who was on the throne from 1068 to 1085, thought that this verse, Mishuedo, ridiculed the state, so he wouldn't let it be included in the Buddhist canon, because it said what kind of people were the ancient emperors, and you know, hey. So, you know, they don't want us to talk about this stuff. You know, it's not polite to mention Fukushima or to mention, you know. what the politicians are really doing, and so forth. It's not polite to mention cancer. Actually, in Japan, I don't know if this is still the case, but when I lived there in the 90s, people wouldn't even put in the obituaries if someone died of cancer. I don't know if that's still the case, but it was considered an impurity. Somebody who died of cancer, you weren't supposed to say cancer, because it was like... Somehow it meant that they were defiled and it was kind of a blot on the family.

[15:13]

But Shwezo and I would say this distress is worth recounting. We can sit and uprightly face the sadness of the world. Shredda says, how many times have I gone down into the ancient dragon cave for you? Klear-eyed Zen practitioners should not take it lightly. So, it's okay to mention cancer. It's okay to mention climate change. It's okay to mention what's happening to our world. It's okay to mention people are dying. It's okay to mention that people are living. It's okay to mention that we can sing and dance.

[16:21]

It's okay to mention that we can sit upright and enjoy a wonderful lunch. I hope. Is it going to be a wonderful lunch, Princess? Well, it'll be a decent one. We'll see. Some yogin, Steve Suki, in his letter announcing his diagnosis, the doctor told him he had three to six months. Well, imagine that. He had plans for what he and his wife were going to do after he finished his term as administrator. Anyway, he just got out of the hospital. They're planning to start chemotherapy later next week, maybe. So he mentioned Dogen's poem, To what shall I liken this life? Moonlight reflected in dewdrops shaken from a crane's bill. He also mentioned a poem by Blind Lemon Jefferson.

[17:32]

I got trouble in my mind, Lord, I believe I'm fixin' to die. I got trouble in my mind, Lord, I believe I'm fixin' to die. Well, I don't mind dying, I just hate to leave my children crying. So, going back to Mazu, you know, the story about, the longer version of the story about Sun-Faced Buddha and Moon-Faced Buddha, And then there's another story that relates to Brian Henry Jefferson, but he told his attendant, Masa told his attendant, they were walking through the forest and he saw, Masa saw a cave which was very flat, and he told his attendant, next month my old and useless body should return to this place. Afterwards they returned to the monastery, not long after that, Masa became ill. The head monk asked him. So here's the head monk. It says in the booklet record of the superintendent, which I think is the director, but anyway. How is your venerable health?

[18:34]

How is the venerable feeling these days? And the master replied, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. On the first day of the second month after having taken a bath, he sat cross-legged and passed away. So this would have been in This was in 788, so he was born in 709, so I guess he was 79 years old by that count. But, you know, there are lots of famous stories about Maso. He's said to have had 139 enlightened disciples. Wow. Anyway, one of the famous stories about him is Well, various stories about what he said about mind and Buddha. So, sometimes he used to say, this very mind is Buddha. And a monk asked, why does the Venerable say that mind is Buddha? This very mind is Buddha.

[19:37]

And the ancestor, Masa, Masa means horse ancestor, the horse ancestor said, to stop small children crying. But also, I'll say to you, this very mind is Buddha. Just ordinary, you know. His Dharma brother, or actually one of his students, Lan Chuan, once said, ordinary mind is the way. Anyway, to stop small children crying, he said, this mind is Buddha. And then the monk asked, well, what do you say when they have stopped crying? And Masa said, it's no mind, no Buddha. And then the monk asked, when you have someone who does not belong to either of those two, how do you instruct them? And Masa said, I tell them there's not a single thing. And then the monk asked, how about when you suddenly meet someone who's there? And Masa said, I teach them to directly realize the great way.

[20:40]

So there's different versions of these responses by Masa. So he said, this very mind is Buddha. And then he said, no mind, no Buddha. Same guy. And sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. Can you see? This very mind is Buddha. Shines. No mind, no Buddha. That also shines in another way. So, I don't know which one of them can stop you from crying. This very mind is Buddha. So, one of Masa's great disciples was named Dhamme, which means literally great plumb.

[21:44]

And Dhamme was around when Masa was teaching this very mind as Buddha. And that stopped Dhamme from crying. He was very happy when he heard that. And he sat with that. And I invite you to spend the rest of your time today and tomorrow, if you're here, just this very mind is Buddha. So, you know, this very mind is Buddha. There's a side of that that's sun-faced Buddha. There's a side of that that's moon-faced Buddha. So you can look at both sides of this very mind as Buddha. Sun-faced Buddha. Moon-faced Buddha. Siddhalaya was very happy, and he left, and he wandered off, and he found a mountain to practice on.

[22:50]

And he stayed there, and he sat, and he enjoyed the mountain. And I think eventually, people came and sat and practiced with him, and he became a teacher. But for a while, he just practiced there on his own, maybe with the birds and the berries, and I don't know. He just, you know, he had a good time. This, for my mind, is Buddha. And he knew it. And I'll leave it to you to decide for yourself. This very mind is good. Is that sun face good or am I face good? Yes. And you may have different responses during different periods. And some of you may feel You can consider this. But anyway, the story goes on. Masa, after a while, he started teaching, no mind, no Buddha. Just no.

[23:54]

No mind, no Buddha. Forget about it. Forget about it. No mind, no Buddha. What are you doing, this Buddha business? We're doing this mind business. Forget about it. No mind, no Buddha. So you might try that too. No mind, no Buddha. Just say it. No mind, no Buddha. Is that sun-faced Buddha or is that moon-faced Buddha? You have to decide for yourself. No mind, no Buddha. Anyway, Mazu wondered about Dhamme, how he was doing, and he asked one of his monks to go and check on him. So one of his monks went and called on Dhamme. I guess they had tea together or something, and the monk said, oh, by the way, Mazu has a different teaching now.

[25:04]

Now he's saying, no mind, no Buddha. And Dhamma said, I don't care. For me, it's this very Manjushri Buddha. And the monk went back and told Manjushri. Manjushri said, ah, the plum is ripe. Sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. So, ah. You have to decide for yourself. Or maybe you don't. Maybe you can just sit. Sun face Buddha, Moon face Buddha. Maybe they're not different. Maybe it's just enough to ask the question. So the Buddha work means that we do respond to this distress.

[26:12]

It's worth recounting. So all of you are here because you have seen that there is some problem, there's some question. Despite the unwillingness of Japanese people to admit that cancer happens. I don't know if that's still the case. That was a while ago, but maybe they still do that. And despite the unwillingness of the American media to admit that nuclear power is a problem for the whole world, And despite the fossil fuel industry's willingness to admit that there's climate change, that they have been causing, or we have all been causing by supporting that, whatever, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha.

[27:24]

So this is worth recounting. How do we respond? Well, I think that Shweta is on to something here. This distress is worth recounting. Theorists and practitioners should not take it lightly. So we don't have to... We can hear this very mindless Buddha and stop crying. But we can also talk about it. In fact, Shveto is asking us, please, recount this. Talk about it. Ask the question. We may have 1800 years, or we may have a night and a day.

[28:34]

And yet, here we have this day to just be present, to be upright, to face the wall, to face ourselves, to support each other to do that. So we each have our own version of this distress. We each have our own realms of knowing about the great matter of life and death. Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha. And awareness itself is transformative.

[30:04]

Pretending something doesn't exist allows it to fester. Knowing about something allows some possibility of change, of transformation, Well, we don't know. How will the consciousness of Western civilization transform? Well, we don't know. And yet, that's what we're doing right here in this room today. Not to be grandiose, you know. We're each doing our part. Each of us has our own position and place in the room in which to support each other to just be upright and face this distress.

[31:08]

And bring our whole heart to, you know, here we are. Can we testify to being alive? Can we witness through taking, displaying the Buddha and mudra with our whole body and mind on our cushion or chair? displaying Buddha for each other and for all beings. So the historical Buddha himself wasn't able to fix everything. That's not the point. There's a story about him. You know, he was going to be, you know, there's different versions of this.

[32:19]

Some old stories say he was going to become the king of a kingdom. A friend, there's a Theravada monk says that actually, historically, he probably was more like a small, not quite a king, but anyway. His kingdom was... His former kingdom was going to be invaded by the army of a rival warlord, and the story goes that the Buddha just went and sat under a tree at the border, and the invading army came, and they saw that everybody, all of the different warlords or kings or whatever they were, respected the Buddha, of course, because he was the Buddha. And the invading king saw the Buddha sitting under a tree and said, oh, what are you doing there?

[33:19]

And he said, oh, I always feel so peaceful sitting in my homeland. And the invading king stopped and thought, well, maybe I shouldn't. And he took his army back. So he actually stopped the invasion. And some of us tried, some of us sat, peacefully amongst a large group of demonstrators, hundreds of thousands. This was in San Francisco, but it happened all over the world to try and stop our king from invading Iraq about a while back, and that didn't work. But anyway... But the Buddha said the Buddha prevented an invasion at that point, and... Yet, because of whatever geopolitical tensions there were, another invasion was going to happen and Buddha couldn't stop. So, you know, it's not like we can fix everything. But we, you know, displaying the Buddha Mudra with our whole body and mind does express something.

[34:27]

As the Song of the Grasshuts says, study the first half part of the line. Our very ancestor, Shotaro Shikito, says, as we will chant later, line grass is to build a hut. So we've done that. We've put together, well, ears and relax completely. So, relax completely and display Buddha Mudra with your whole body and mind. And then see, how can you respond? What is helpful to say or do to change the consciousness of Western civilization?

[35:37]

How do we change the hearts and minds of all of us around so that we change hatred of whomever, whatever group, African Americans or women or Hispanics, all of the diseases of the hearts and minds around us. So as I mentioned yesterday, there's also a version of this story, the same story, in the Book of Serenity.

[37:05]

And Hongshu's verse says, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, stars fall, thunder rolls. So Hongshu is also impressed by this statement by Manjushri. The mirror of faces forms without subjectivity. the pearl on a bowl rolls of itself. Don't you see before the hammer gold refined a hundred times, under the scissors silk from one loom? The mirror faces forms without subjectivity. How can we face the world and each of the situations of the world without seeing them as separate. The pearl on a bowl rolls of itself. So this jewel of sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, not separate from the world, not separate from how we meet

[38:20]

the world and its distresses and its joys. This very heart, this very mind, is Buddha and you. No Maya, no Buddha. Let it all go. Just relax completely. So if you find any of these images or phrases useful in your zazen, great. If not, please just forget about it. Just enjoy this time of being present together, facing the wall, facing yourself.

[39:26]

Please support each other to enjoy this opportunity.

[39:40]

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