I doubt it's the truth of us. This morning I'm going to comment on a very familiar case from a booklef record, case number three, called Bosso's Sun-Faced Buddha, Sun-Faced Buddha's Moon-Faced Buddhas.

[01:12]

Some of you may be familiar with this. This case involves Baso and his attendant. Master Baso was a descendant of the sixth patriarch, Hui Nung. And from his line, descendants of his line Soto school of Zen descends from Seigen. But all schools of Zen are just Zen, so we don't make any distinction, but it's interesting to know.

[02:21]

At that time, there were no distinctions. There were no schools of Zen, matter of fact. Tang Dynasty and the Golden Age of Zen teachers and students freely passed among each other and later people said, oh, these are the schools of Zen when they saw how certain students or certain teachers had certain ways. And they said, these seem to be the schools of Zen. Five schools. So Baso was very famous. And it was said that he was quite a huge man.

[03:30]

He said he could cover his whole face with his tongue. This is a kind of compliment. So the introductory word to this Koan goes like this. One gesture, one posture. One word, one verse. Now, if one plans such an approach in teaching, that is like gouging out wounds in good flesh, making holes and cavities in it. The great activity is before us manifest. There are no regulations in it. If you plan to make known to people that there is an absolute throughout the whole heaven and the whole earth, the search for it will not succeed.

[04:40]

Supposing one does attain, and what if one does not attain? An extremely small matter. Supposing one does not attain, and what if one does attain? An extremely critical matter. And if you don't pass along either of these roads, what is the right thing to do? I ask you, I will tentatively put the matter before you and ponder it. This is the introduction to the case. The main subject, attention. Baso, or Matsu, the great teacher, was unwell. The temple chief's accountant visited him. Sir, during these recent days, how was your health? The great teacher said, sun-faced Buddhas, moon-faced Buddhas.

[05:43]

And then Setjo gives us a appreciatory word. He says, sun-faced Buddhas, moon-faced Buddhas. the five sovereigns, the three emperors. What are these? For 20 years, I have had bitter experiences. Often, on account of these old fellows, I have descended into the green dragon's cave. I cannot tell the depth of it. You enlightened robed monks, don't be careless about this." So I must give you some explanation. Introducing Setcho says, one gesture, one posture, one word, one verse. Gesture or posture is like teaching methods. The old Zen masters had various teaching methods. Someone would raise a finger, or raise a fist, or raise their stick.

[06:56]

or point to something, point to a flower. Shakyamuni held up a flower. These are gestures and postures, teaching devices, something, some way that a teacher has. There are some teachers who had just one thing that they would say to everybody, like, So Setcho says, one gesture, one posture, one word, one verse. Now, if one plans such an approach in teaching disciples, that is like gouging out wounds in good meat, making holes and cavities in it, like saying. if you use these methods.

[08:08]

This is a kind of criticism. If you follow these methods as if they were your own, then you do more damage than good. Or if you're attached to some way or some particular method miss the boat, because every circumstance is different. Every question is different, even though they may seem the same. When we sit in zazen, you may say, every day I sit in zazen and I do the same thing. But actually, we never do the same thing. Nothing is ever repeated. So to have some answer for something doesn't make sense, because the answer you had yesterday is not the answer for today, even though the circumstances look the same.

[09:26]

So he says, the great activity is before us manifest, and there are no regulations in it. existence. All existing things are the expression of buddha nature. Buddha nature is one and existing things are uncountable billions and trillions. So one and many. The one expresses itself as the many. This is its great function. So how do we express ourselves as the great function of buddha nature?

[10:40]

Or how does buddha nature express itself through us? This is the question. So, he says, if you plan to make known to people that there is an Absolute, of a good nature, throughout the whole heaven and the whole earth, the search for it will not succeed. Supposing one does attain, and what if one does not attain? It's an extremely small matter. So what? Supposing one does not attain, and what if one does attain? It is an extremely important matter.

[11:42]

But these are just two sides. So what? It's very important. And if you don't pass along either of these roads, what is the right thing to do? So please ponder this matter. Last week I talked about nonsense, ordinary mind is the way. Joshu was nonsense disciple. And he, I said, nonsense, What is the way? Nonsense and ordinary mind. That's the way. And Joshu said, well, shall I seek after it? Shall I take the path of seeking?

[12:46]

Because if I take the path of seeking, that means it takes on some importance. And Nansen said, well, if you do, you'll be separated from it. And Joshi said, well, how can I know it unless I go after it? And Nansen says, well, if you go after it, if you know it, that's delusion. And if you don't know it, That's confusion. He said, it's not a matter of knowing or not knowing. He says, when you know it, it is just boundless like space.

[13:51]

Don't talk about whether it's right or wrong. So what do you do? So here's the case. Attention. Baso, the great teacher, was unwell. The temple chief's accountant visited him. Sir, during these days, how is your health? The great teacher said. Sun Face Buddha and Moon Face Buddha appeared in a sutra in China. This sutra was strictly the names of maybe 20,000 Buddhists and Bodhisattvas, each one having a different name. And if you look at some of the sutras,

[14:54]

If you read some of the Mahayana sutras, you'll see there are lists of names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and each one has a different name. And the names are quite interesting. And people used to chant this sutra sometimes because they felt it brought some good fortune to them. A kind of superstitious way of practicing. sun-faced buddha the sun-faced buddhas were buddhas who lived 1,800 years and the moon-faced buddhas were buddhas that lived a day and a night so vaso says sun-faced buddha moon-faced buddha that's a little condensed he maybe said something like well you know I feel like the moon-faced buddhas in that sutra and the sun-faced buddhas in that sutra that they mentioned in that sutra.

[16:11]

1800 years or a day and a half. How do we measure? How do we compare? One version of this story is that the attendant was the treasurer and he was worried about how the temple would fare after Baso died. So Baso apparently died, this was his last word, and he died the next day. How are you feeling today? So this is his response and also his last teaching. But maybe he wasn't trying to teach anything. He was just expressing himself.

[17:13]

And some people say, well, since the treasurer was asking him, He was giving the treasurer some teaching, like, don't worry about how the temple will survive. If we do our practice correctly, we don't have to worry about whether or not the temple will survive. If we're doing our practice correctly, everything will take care of itself. How do you compare? Engo, the commentator, says, I studied, I pondered over this sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha for a long time, not knowing when I was going to die.

[18:32]

Always worrying about whether I'd live a long time or a short time. And I descended into the Green Dragon's Cave in order to find out. The Green Dragon's Cave has the jewel in it. And in order to get the jewel from the Green Dragon's Cave, you have to go through many adventures. called My Life, until we find the jewel in the green dragon's cave. Actually, he says, I myself, Setcho, suffered bitterly for more than 20 years because I had heard of the long and short lives of these wretched fellows.

[19:39]

They kept me worrying about the length of my own life. They were the reason that I often descended into the green dragon's mouth, and oh, how deep that was. But with enlightenment, I realized that long life is not necessarily long, nor is short life necessarily short. Let no one be careless in their meditation on this matter, even those who are enlightened. We may think that 80 years is a long life, and that a day and a half is a short life. But there is no long or short, unless we compare. You may feel that after 80 years, your life has been very short. Or you may feel after a day and a half that your life has been very long. There's no way that something is fixed.

[20:46]

So, how do we live our life with this question? We always have this question. When am I going to die? Whether this question is in the foreground or the background, it's always there. How long will this last? and given this question, how long will this last, then what shall I do? Shall I wait? Shall I be anxious? What's the meaning of all this? So, somehow we have to reconcile not solve it, but how do we live our life given these limitations?

[22:00]

And are these limitations really limitations? Is something that is a limitation something that restricts us or something that frees us? Since nothing is fixed, what is good and what is bad and what is right and what is wrong. We may feel that if we're old that we'll suffer because we get closer to death and our body doesn't function so well. Getting old is also approaching getting younger at the same time.

[23:04]

Death holds within itself the seed of life and life holds within itself the seed of death. So life has two sides and death has two sides. Pain has two sides. Suffering has two sides. Joy has two sides. Contentment has two sides. Everything has the seed of its opposite within it. So, when we have whatever we have, this is our life. Right now, whatever we have, wherever we are, this is it. It can't be anything else. Next moment, it's something else. But right now, this is it. Moon-Faced Buddha, Sun-Faced Buddha.

[24:10]

Whatever it is, this is it. Sun-Faced Buddhas are content as Sun-Faced Buddhas. Moon-Faced Buddhas are content as Moon-Faced Buddhas. Right now, this is it. Next moment, that's it. So we long for something that we don't have. This is okay, but in order to live our life completely, this is it. There is nothing else. So whatever our situation is, good or bad, is our opportunity. If we sacrifice this moment for some other moment, we lose our opportunity.

[25:15]

But it's hard to see, because we're always seeking something. We're always seeking something comfortable, or something pleasant, or something right. So we divide our world between right and wrong, good and bad. This is strictly our own invention. Good and bad is strictly our own invention. I don't say that it's not okay, But it's how we divide our world. And then we wonder, why are things bad? Why is there always bad in the world? There's always bad in the world because there's always good. Bad only exists because pretty hard to stay where we are, given that.

[26:45]

You know, Buddhism is not fatalism. In Buddha's time, there were a lot of people who believed that fate was what controlled their lives. And fate means some preordained direction for our life that no matter what you do, you can't get out of that path. But Buddha was against this kind of understanding. He said there's always that our life is actually unrestricted. And we have great freedom in our life. And our life is not preordained. And our life is self-made. Through our actions, we create our life. Forever. Over and over.

[27:53]

We're creating causes for the next result in our life. So if we go this way, we create this kind of result. And if we go that way, we create that kind of result. A result that goes this way. So we always have the opportunity to create our life in some direction. But it isn't always so easy. And it may look impossible, but it's always within the realm of possibility. that we can change our life. But even though that's so, whatever direction we take, this is what we have to accept. So we usually choose to do something that will lead to something good.

[28:58]

But even though we go in the direction of something good, The something good always contains something bad. Good always contains the seed of something bad. So we go in a good direction, but we find that even that contains something bad. So it's kind of puzzling, because we want the good. So if we want the good, we also have to accept whatever comes with it. This is hard. And usually when we choose something, we're kind of blinded by what we like, by our preference. We choose something through our preference, and we tend to overlook the other side of what we like. Because inevitably, when you get married, you look at your spouse, and this is wonderful, because even though you know that that person is not perfect, we tend to favor the good side, the side we like.

[30:22]

And then pretty soon, something else surfaces. And so we have to accept that side also and deal with that. That's why in a Christian marriage ceremony it says, for better or worse, right? Because both sides are there. But this goes also for whatever we undertake, not just marriage. Because whatever we undertake is a kind of marriage. If we're sincere, that's us. and for worse. So when worse comes, that's our life. Our life is just worse. And when better comes, our life is just better. It's not that one is good and the other is bad. It's just, this is this and this is this. They're actually quite equal.

[31:24]

But we tend to unequalize them through our preference. The roots of suffering is that life does not accord with our preference. Our preference is sometimes called desire. I want to have it this way, but even though I want to have it this way, it's this way. It's never right. Never quite right. Sometimes it's right, but then So, how to live our life in accordance with the way, that's a big question. How do we live our life in accordance with the way? Because the way is not good or bad, although within it is good and bad.

[32:34]

We have to say, this is good and this is bad, and we have to choose between the good and the bad, in order to go some way. We have to do that. But even though we do that, we still get good and bad. So we should not avoid the unavoidable. The way we avoid the unavoidable is by thinking that there's a way out. There is a way out. But the way out is called acceptance. To be one with whatever it is. So, to be one with whatever it is, we have to have composure.

[33:36]

Composure means together, being together with, being composed or being not losing ourself. And to be part of the composition is ourself and our situation. Moment by moment. And this is also called Zazen. Zazen is how to be ourself in our situation as ourself. And without trying to change the circumstances, to accept the circumstances, as someone called it, the scenery of our life,

[34:42]

When we know how to do this, then our life is very constant. There's a constancy in our life, and a thread that runs through all of our activity, which is composed and calm, and doesn't get upset through circumstances. The core of our life is stillness, and the activity is the movement of that stillness. The motion of that stillness is our activity. And when we get divorced from the stillness, then we only have the activity.

[35:48]

And it's called fear, frantic, nervous, upset. It has no basis. So how we practice is through our activity, moment by moment. If we only see practice as some certain set of activities, then we're not really there yet. Our practice is moment by moment, through every activity, to accept every moment of our life as our life. This is Zen practice.

[36:52]

This is enlightened practice. To accept all the conditions of our life as they appear without avoiding and without being turned over by anything. To practice Zazen moment by moment. And Suzuki Roshi has an interesting comment commentary on this, short commentary on this koan says, although you are looking forward to the bliss of the teaching, you do not know that you are always in the midst of the teaching. Although you look forward to, someday I will have the bliss of the teaching, you don't realize that you are always in the midst of the teaching. So your practice does not accord with your teacher's. Once you realize Buddha nature within and without, there is no special way for a student to follow or any specific suggestion for a teacher to give.

[38:04]

Because your teacher is doing his own practice. And when you are practicing in the same way, you are doing your own practice. There's no specific suggestion. There's nothing to say. And you and your teacher accord. You're doing you, and your teacher is doing your teacher. Your activities are different, but place. You can be 10 million miles away and you know each other. You always know each other. When you meet after 50 years, you know each other. There's no gap.

[39:07]

He says, where there is a problem, there is the way to go. Actually, you continuously go over the great path of the Buddha with your teacher, who is always with you. Negative and positive methods, or the first principle and the second principle, are nothing but the great activities of such a character. The Buddha nature is quite personal to you and essential to all existence. that you see around you is your personal life. Reality should be your personal life, not something, not some object in your mind. He says the first

[40:20]

Negative and positive methods are the first principle and the second principle. First principle is life itself is your teacher. Your activity, right, in every moment is your teacher. This is Kenjo Koan. Second principle is learning, reading, listening to lectures. when you immerse yourself in reality. It's not a matter of understanding or not understanding. It's a matter of how you be. How you be doesn't necessarily mean that you understand. That's why if you had to wait until you understand before you practice, nobody would practice.

[41:24]

So we have the opportunity to actually practice before we understand. That's the great advantage of practice. You said that we can live our lives with constancy. If we sit thousand, is that a reason to sit thousand? Yeah. To gain this. Well, it's not something you gain.

[42:28]

Constancy is not something that you gain. You can't gain constancy. You may acquire, like acquiring constancy, in a constant way. But it's not something that you gain because you're already able to do it. It's something that we can do. But it's something that you seek. Well, it's something that you do. You don't seek constancy. You do constancy. Don't seek it. I thought you don't seek Zazen, you just do Zazen. Yeah, you just do it. That's right. And if you do it, if you just do Zazen every day, then you don't need to seek constancy. Because you will already be doing it. that means being.

[43:55]

In other words, in the Satipatthana Sutta it says to observe feelings in the feelings, to observe the body in the body. It means not to stand outside and observe, but to be one with, to be aware of your situation. So in that sense, but not to observe objectively. Does that mean sort of intensifying as opposed to detaching? No, it means to be one with. In other words, when you're sitting, you observe the body. But it's not an objective observation. Although there is an object and a subject, they're not two things.

[45:02]

So you don't observe it as something outside of yourself. Sort of like keeping a commandment or something. Observing precepts. Yeah, maybe. That's a little different. Observing a precept, a precept is not an object. But it means, maybe you could say to observe the body without standing outside of the body. To observe the feeling without standing outside of the feeling. So when we observe something, then it has the connotation of dividing, right?

[46:07]

A subject and an object. But even though we divide, even though we observe and we see it as an object, we're not outside of it as a subject and an object. To say that subject and object are one doesn't mean that there's no thing there that is seen by a subject, is that the subject and the object are not two, even though there is a subject and an object. Usually we see it in a dualistic way. I am the subject and everything around me is an object. These are just the manifestations, and not the reality. Not just the manifestations. So, in other words, we see everything from our side, which includes everything in our mind, as ourselves.

[47:24]

The usual way of dividing is, I am the subject and everything else is an object. That's when we've lost our base of stillness. But above that, beyond that, consciousness of subject and object is where everything is the same. Everything meets. So it's beyond personality.

[48:02]

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