This is the first morning of Sashi. Looks like it will be warm today. Usually more difficult to sit when it's hot, but we'll do whatever we need to do. So I want to present a talk, a story. from the Ehe Shingi, Dogen's Ehe Shingi. As I said before, Dogen's Shingi is a collection of his talks on how to practice

[01:14]

and he uses a lot of examples from old Zen teachers and their students. Kās, Tanahashi and I translated part of this shingyi, the chījī. Chījī means the officers of the monastery and examples of their practice. I'm going to talk about Master Xuan and Master Foyan.

[02:27]

So Bögen gives examples of, like someone was serving as the Tenzo, or when someone was serving as the director, or someone was serving as the Eno, Eno is the head of the practice hall. So this is an example of great awakening while serving as Eno. the head of the meditation hall. Zen master Xuantui of Longxiang in Wen province, was an heir of priest Foyan Qinyuan. He went up to Longmen Foyan and expressed his understanding of everyday matters. So I'm just going to use the words Shouyan, who is a teacher, and Zuan, who is a student.

[03:39]

It gets a little complicated when you hear all these Chinese names. It's a little bit like reading Dostoyevsky. So I'm just going to read the little story and then go back. So Zuan went up to Foyan and expressed his understanding of everyday matters. Foyan said, you have reached the limit of your discriminating mind through study. What you lack is exerting effort in Tugui was then put in charge of the meditation hall. One day when he was standing, waiting on the master, he asked, what about the moment when going beyond duality?

[04:42]

Foyan said, it's like making a sound with a mallet in the hall. Tugui did not stop pursuing his inquiry. In the evening, Fo Yon came to the hall, and Tu Gui asked the same question again. Fo Yon said, playing with words. At that, Tu Gui attained a great awakening. Fo Yon said, there is nothing more to say." That's the end of the story. So to start at the beginning, this is an example of Great Awakening while serving as Eno. Zen Master, well the question is what is Great Awakening? What does he mean by Great Awakening? realizing who you are, realizing your true body or your true mind.

[05:59]

Zen Master Zuon was an heir of Foyan. So Zuwan went up to Foyan and expressed his understanding of everyday matters. So what are everyday matters? We live our life and we create a a life out of bits and pieces of conditioning and the objects around us and our habits and our perceptions and our thoughts and feelings.

[07:11]

and altogether we use this raw material to establish what we call our life and then we call it everyday matters. So there are ordinary everyday matters and then there are everyday matters of the Buddhas and ancestors. Are those the same or are they different? Dogen says, everyday matters, eating rice, drinking tea. Are those ordinary matters or are they ordinary matters?

[08:19]

Nothing special. And yet, what does it mean, nothing special? Every opportunity or every moment's activity is an opportunity. every ordinary moment's activity is an opportunity for awakening. So this is ordinary. For the Buddhists and ancestors, eating rice and drinking tea is awakened activity. we usually or often become so mired in our habitual activity that we lose sight of the actual vitality of ordinary activity, the true vitality and the true meaning of ordinary activity.

[09:40]

everyday matters. Zen practice is a little bit unique among Buddhist practitioners, Buddhist practice, because of the emphasis on ordinary activity. putting aside learning, not that we don't learn and not that we don't honor that, but that's the secondary. The primary is attending to ordinary activity in an unrepeatable universe. We say sometimes, well I did that yesterday and I'm doing it again today and we'll do the same thing tomorrow. But that never happens.

[10:47]

Never happens. Today is totally today. This moment is totally this moment. Never to be repeated. So taking care of ordinary affairs is how we take care of each moment's life. Suzuki Roshi, when asked what is Zen, he said, just living your life a little bit at a time, moment by moment. Thoroughly living your life, moment by moment. Very difficult. He said, if you think that you are repeating the Heart Sutra over and over again, that's a mistake.

[11:56]

If you don't have the attitude that each time you chant the Heart Sutra, it's a Each time you bow, it's a totally new experience. It's a totally independent act which is related to the act before and the act in the future which hasn't arrived. But it's its own life. So to bring to life, to bring life to life or to bring life to each moment's experience is taking care of ordinary everyday affairs. Is it independent or interdependent?

[13:01]

Independent. Yeah, but independent also is interdependent. Everything is independent. This moment is independent and at the same time interdependent. So, he went up to Longman, Foyan, and expressed his understanding of everyday matters. Foyan said, you have reached the through study or just you've come to the end, he apparently explained to him what his understanding was, but Foyan wouldn't accept that. He says, you've come to the end of thinking about it, you've come to the end of the second principle, now you must find the first principle, you have to

[14:08]

And then he said, what you lack is exerting effort in practice and the open eye. What you lack is actually engaging, not just engaging, but trusting your life. we have sometimes some hesitation in trusting our life, so we have to think about it. And it's good to think about it, but then we get to where we think too much about it, and then the thinking takes the place of the action. was then put in charge of the meditation hall.

[15:17]

He became the Eno. One day, when he was standing, waiting for the Master, he asked, what about the moment when going beyond duality? He had read about non-duality, but he hadn't experienced this. So what about the moment of going Foyan said, it's like making a sound with a mallet in the hall. If you've been to Tassajara or the city center or Green Gulch, or Japan, you know that there's the Han which is the signal for coming to Zazen or some other or a lecture, lecture is usually the bell, but there's this call hitting the mallet, hitting the Han with a mallet

[16:22]

Or also, you know, when we have a shuso ceremony, we have the tsui ching, you know, this tall log, and we hit it. Now the shuso, enter the shuso, boom. So he says, it's like making a sound with a mallet in the hall. In the evening, Foyan came to the hall and Tugui asked the same question again, and Foyan said, playing with words, he could see that the student was really kind of ripe for awakening, so he was very careful. It was a very critical moment for the teacher of the student. So Foyan said, playing with words.

[17:31]

At that Tuguli attained a great awakening. Foyan said, there's nothing to say, there's nothing I can say, there's no more to say. In other words, now you're in the realm of it instead of in the realm of So what does this mean? How do we do this? What does it mean to us? What it means is that we go beyond the duality of subject and object, which is still an idea. So what does it mean to go beyond the idea of subject and object? Sometimes we say, oh, everything is my teacher.

[18:38]

That's a great concept. But what does that really mean? If you go beyond the idea of non-discrimination, non-duality, everything will be your teacher. For instance, when we're the Doan and we make a sound on the bell, the striker, the bell, yourself, are all one piece, even though you have three pieces. You say, well, this is the striker, this is the bell, and this is me. Three things. But actually, three things are one thing.

[19:44]

Three things, actually it's more than three things. The whole universe is engaged in making a sound on this bell. There's no separation between the striker, the bell, and the person. When you see the bell as an object, that's called hitting the bell, but we don't hit the bell. We bring the voice of the bell out of the bell. We bring forth the voice of the bell. The bell itself has a voice and you have to find what the voice is of the Just like when you are the Kokyo, you have to find the true voice of yourself.

[20:55]

So you have to become one with yourself in order to find the true voice of yourself. And some people can do that right away, but almost nobody can. So you have to have some training. So the training is not to get you to do something a certain way, but the training is to find the true voice of yourself. And when you're training with the bell, to find the true voice of the bell. So the bell is your teacher. The bell becomes your teacher. And every time you do something, every time you strike the bell, the bell is either saying, not yet, or almost, or just a little different, try again. But you have to have some standard.

[22:02]

If you don't have a standard then you don't know what you're looking for. So you have to know what it is that you're looking for. And what you're looking for is the voice of the bell, the voice that inspires everyone to practice. That's what the sound of the bell is. They make these bells. They're handmade, and they're made in a very special way. And each one is different. Every bell is different. apply the technique of one bell onto another, you have to find the voice of each individual bell. But there's also a conception because the bell has various voices.

[23:03]

So it's a combination of your conception and the natural sound that the bell So what is the most inspiring sound that you can get on the bell? Well, it comes back to what inspires me. So working with the bell is a two-way thing, and the bell is not an object, it's a living presence. If you just treat it as an object, that's called subject and object split. That's called duality. So to merge with the bell, the person, this weight, you're bearing this weight onto this bell.

[24:08]

So if you hit the bell, the bell will say, hey man, what are you doing? You don't have to do that. I'll perform for you, but you don't have to hit me. Treat me nicely. Treat me nicely. So it's an act of love, which means bringing everything together as one piece. So the bell expresses your deep practice and at the same time the bell informs your deep practice, it brings the depth of your practice out of yourself. So it's circular, it's marvelous, it's great fun.

[25:15]

It's sort of like Zen and the art of archery. You know, you don't shoot to hit the bullseye, but if you let go of everything, you'll hit it. So it teaches you how to be yourself. So the same thing goes for the clappers. The clappers are two pieces of wood. And so they're a pair. So you treat them as a pair. You don't separate them and put them down like that. You put them down together because they're one piece divided in two. But until you use them, they're one piece.

[26:23]

So you bring them apart and then what kind of sound do you want? What kind of sound? Are you just announcing something or are you actually saying something? What kind of sound is pleasant or brings out the voice of these two pieces of wood? All the clappers have a different sound. They're all made out of different kinds of wood. Some are a little bit oval, some are square. But each one has its own character, characteristics, each pair. So, tick, tick, or bang, bang, or clop, clop. What is the voice of these clappers? So how do you bring them together so that they say what they need to say without being overly stated or underly stated?

[27:33]

So this is you and the clappers are one. When you pay attention to this, there's no duality. when we carry the Kyusaku, which we don't do much anymore but it's a wonderful thing to carry and use, to be able to hit the person just right so that the sound, you and the person that's one piece, and then everything disappears. When it's done just right, you disappear, the stick disappears, and the hitter disappears.

[28:36]

There's just one act. And then the sound is what wakes everyone up. And then all the thoughts drop out of your mind. It's like Rinzai's shout. the discriminating mind just pow, and in that moment there's only unity. When you're carrying the pots for serving, we bow to the pot. Bowing to the pot means unity, means non-duality. you and the pot are one, then you pick up the pot and carry it and then your feet are walking on the floor and the feeling, you should not neglect the feeling of your foot on the floor, that's why it's nice to walk without shoes, but

[29:52]

to feel your feet on the floor and how your feet are actually walking on the floor. So the floor, you, the pot, are one piece. And the floor is determining how you walk. The floor is telling you something about walking. The floor at that moment is the basis, the foundation, and is your teacher at that point. So being grounded, being grounded here and being grounded with your feet. And then you bow, but you don't bow the pot. You leave the pot here and then you bow so that you're not going like this. But just this way, it shows respect for the pot.

[30:57]

you have great respect for this pot of food. So we hold the pot up and simply bow the head. And then when we take the bowl or offer the food, your whole body is involved in scooping. you and the scooper and the cereal or whatever it is, one thing. And then the bowl is a complicated, very complex thing. Someone else is holding the bowl. You are scooping it up. You want to get it all in there. You don't want to spill it. You don't want to get it over the side of the, roll over the side of the bowl. And then you bow to each other as one. No subject, no object, just the bowl is showing you what to do.

[32:04]

The bowl is directing you at that point. And holding the pot is directing you, telling you what to do. You have to pay attention to what it's saying. I've told you the story many times about Morita Zenji when he was a little boy. His father was an old man, I guess he didn't have a mother, and his father was an old man and he couldn't take care of him. So he wanted the monks in the monastery to take care of him, which often happened in Japan.

[33:08]

So he took his son to the monastery and the abbot accepted him and he was maybe 12 or 13. The monks, the young monks, all learned how to sound the bell. That was one of their positions. So one day the abbot was in his quarters talking with somebody and he heard the sound of this bell. And it was a great sound. He said, who did that? Who's hitting the bell? Who's sounding the bell? Bring that person here, I want to see who it is. So they brought in little Morita, a little boy, and he said, hmm, that was a wonderful sound, what do you attribute that to?

[34:22]

And he said, well, my father, before he they're going to ask you to hit the bell, so when you hit the bell, every time you hit the bell a Buddha is produced, a Buddha comes out of the bell as the sound, so I just kept that in mind and when I hit the bell that's my attitude. You later grew up to be a great Zen master, as the story goes, but this is a there was another story about him when he was a boy. The monks sent him, he was working in the kitchen and they sent him to get some tofu and so he went to the tofu maker and got the tofu and then on the way back he saw something going on, it was a construction project or something you know and he was fascinated with that

[35:29]

And then he realized, oh my gosh, I'm going to be late for dinner. And then he thought, where's my hat? I must have left my hat at the tofu makers. So he ran back to the tofu maker. And he said, my hat, my hat, where's my hat? And the tofu maker said, well, it's on top of your head. So one more example is when you're holding something and you're in the zendo, you come into the zendo and you're holding something,

[36:50]

and you come to your seat, maybe it's your bowls or something, and then you put them down first, and then you bow to the seat. Rather than wondering what to do with the thing in your hand, you just put it down. Then, when you have something in your hand, and you're bowing, You hold what you have in your hands in a way that is respectful, so that you include this article in your hands and then you bow with whatever is in your hands. If you have a book, you can hold it like this and bow. sometimes we have an article of clothing.

[37:57]

So how do you bow and include the article of clothing in a respectful way that does not treat it as an object? The way to act in a non-dualistic way is to not treat anything as an object. Everything has its own life. Every object has its own life. So you include the object as subject. everything, you know, pieces of wood and so forth are objects, but when we relate, we relate to them as subject.

[39:02]

Somebody asked me when I was on this trip to Pine Valley a couple of weeks ago, What does that mean? Does that give you some kind of a special power? The stick is something that I don't treat as an object. The stick is not giving me power. The stick expresses my nature. I treat the stick as, not as a stick, we call it a stick, that's good, but it's not just a stick, it's just a piece of wood, believe it or not, just a piece of wood, but there's something about it.

[40:05]

And what's something about it is that it's something that I carry that I do not treat as an object, I never treat it as an object. I'm always aware of how I hold it and how I use it. And it's my teaching stick, but it's not that I use it to teach, it teaches me. It always keeps me aware that it's not an object. And inasmuch as it's teaching me, I use it to teach. So in the same way, we sit zazen.

[41:14]

Zazen brings out our true nature. When we sit Zazen without discriminating, accepting everything as it is, as subject, then there's no way we can get lost. There's nothing outside of Zazen. The whole universe and more is included. So carrying the attitude of Zazen into our activity. Zazen is the activity of non-duality. and our practice in activity is the same.

[42:31]

It's called Ginjo Goan, actualizing the fundamental point all the time. realizing that everything is independent and at the same time interconnected.

[43:03]

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