Good evening. Welcome. I want to speak about a teaching from our founder in Japan, the 13th century, Monke Hei Dogen. This is from his collection of koans, our teaching stories. And this is related to the story I talked about Yesterday morning, several of you were here. So these koans, just to say something about that word, koans are not, as is sometimes said, riddles to solve or nonsense riddles. Teaching stories, sometimes challenging, and this one is, but they're not nonsense. They are stories that relate to our practice and life and have been studied for decades.

[01:10]

a thousand years or more, because they have something to do with our practice. So this is another story about Xuansha. So this is from Dogen's collection of 90 cases with his verse commentary from his extensive record. And the story is very short. Wolong Shuizhi asked Director Liao, my late teacher, Xuanzang, said that the entire universe in 10 directions is the true human body. Do you see the monk's hall? Director Liao said, master, do not create flowers in the eyes. Wolong said, although my late teacher has passed away, his flesh is still warm. So there's a lot going on in this short story.

[02:14]

In the story I talked about yesterday, Xuanzang, who was a great master in the 800s, and the teacher of this teacher, Wolong, said the entire universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl. And there's a long essay in Dogen Shobogenso about that saying. And I'll repeat some of the story I talked about yesterday. A student asked him, repeated that saying, that Xuanzang was known for the entire universe in the ten directions as one bright pearl, and said, how can a student understand this? And Xuanzang said, the entire universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What is the use of understanding? what is the point of understanding this, or how can you understand this, or what is there to understand? It could be read in all those ways.

[03:19]

So it has something to do with how we understand. But just this image of the entire universe in ten directions as one bright pearl was the first, this story in Duncan's commentary, was the first a Zen teaching I heard from my first teacher. The next day the monk, Xuanzang asked that monk, the entire universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl, how do you understand this? And the monk said, the entire universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl, what's the use of understanding? And Xuanzang said, oh now I know your Living in the Black Mountain Demon's Cave, he just repeated it and he didn't get the point that there's a question about how we understand. But that's yesterday's story. But also about Xuanzang talking about the entire universe in 10 directions.

[04:24]

So actually, Xuanzang had a number of sayings about the entire universe in 10 directions. And we don't usually talk about that or think about that. What is the entire universe in ten directions? Ten directions means the four directions and the intermediary directions and up and down. It just means everything. The entire universe or all the universes, if you think there are parallel universes or whatever, or multiple universes, as some modern physicists say. Anyway, everything. all the phenomena. Sri Lanka said, it's just one bright pearl. Imagine that. How do we understand this? What do we use such an understanding for? How do we make that pearl valuable in our life?

[05:25]

But again, that's yesterday's story. And the story I'm talking about today One of Xuanzang's students asked the director, so our director Douglas is sitting over there, but Xuanzang said, my late teacher Xuanzang said the entire universe in ten directions is the true human body. And in the song of the grass hut, we just chanted from Shuto, an earlier teacher, he said, although the hut is small, it includes the entire world. How do we, how can we see the true human body as the entire universe in 10 directions? But then, Wolong said, do you see the monk's hall? The monks' hall in monasteries was like the zendo.

[06:27]

That's where the monks meditated and slept and took their meals. So, you know, we might hear that as the teacher saying, as Wolong saying, my late teacher, Xuanzang, this great teacher, said the entire universe in ten directions is the true human body. Do you see the monks' hall? Do you see the monk's hall in the true human body? Or maybe, do you see the monk's hall over there? You better go sit. The entire universe and directions and the true human body. We'll come back to that. But the director said, Master, don't create flowers in the eyes. Flowers in the Eyes is an image for delusion. And it also references another teaching from, or another saying about flowers in the sky, which is an image for cataracts, obstructions to seeing clearly.

[07:38]

So there's a lot going on in this little story. And when the director said that, don't create, Don't create obstructions, don't create flowers in the eye." Wanglong said, ah, although my late teacher has passed away, his flesh is still warm. So he was praising the director. So there's much more to say about that story, but Dogen has a verse commentary about it, so I'll read that now. Within a flower before spring, an eye opens with fragrance. Within the eye appears a body, not two or three, Cold and warmth are entrusted to others as frost and dew. Intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart, like water and a deep pool." So Dogen is taking the story about the entire universe as the true human body

[08:41]

and this director not being fooled by the monks hall. And doing something more with it, he says, within a flower before spring, an eye opens with fragrance. Within the eye appears a body, not two or three, one body. Cold and warmth are entrusted to others as frost and dew. Intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart. like water and a deep pool. So there's a lot going on in Dogen's poem, too. And again, the point of these koans and these commentaries is not to figure out some, you know, some explanation, but Zen uses these images and these metaphors, often from nature like this one, as a way of saying something or giving us something to play with.

[09:57]

So the point is to play with these images and whatever comes up for you is now part of this story. Within a flower before spring, an eye opens with fragrance. So there's a flower before spring, just getting ready to open. But there's also an eye opening with that flower. Within the eye appears a body, not two or three. So the director had said to his teacher, Wolong, don't create flowers in the eyes. And yet, within the eye, there's a flower opening. Fragrantly. One time when I was at Tassajara, when I was Juso, I was sitting facing out and I think that most of the students were down in the dining room sewing or something. It was in the morning and I happened to be looking out, the doors were open and it was early spring when there was a bed of, some of you have been at Tassajara, there was a bed of irises that hadn't opened yet.

[11:12]

But there was one right in the doorway, and over the course of maybe three or four periods, interspersed with walking, I watched this one iris open. One petal, and then another, and then there. So I think you have to be sitting zazen to have the patience to watch a flower open like that. Anyway. Cold and warmth are entrusted to others as frost and dew. And then Dogen says, intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart, like water and a deep pool. So this is this key issue here. Many of us come to practice because we feel some estrangement. We feel separate from our life.

[12:17]

We feel separate from the world and all its cruelty. We feel separate from ourself. We feel separate from the entire universe in 10 directions. This estrangement from each other, from ourselves. And our society maybe encourages that. And our practice is about how do we find true intimacy? How do we find our true connection with each other, with the world, with ourselves? But Dogen here is saying intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart, like a water and a deep pool. When we look closely at that estrangement, there's some intimacy there. One of my favorite koans has a verse that talks about why, I'm not going to get it exactly right, but why is it that, or something about this intimacy is heart-rending, or true closeness is heart-rending.

[13:34]

Intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart, like water in a deep pool. the deep pool of intimacy is made up of water, but we may feel estranged. How do we see that we're not separate? So this goes back to the entire universe in ten directions is the true human body. What is the true human body? And the entire universe in the ten directions is also a definition of the true Dharma body, the Dharmakaya Buddha. So there's different ways to talk about the body of Buddha. There's the historical body of Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, who lived 2,500 years ago. There's the bliss body of Buddha, which is cosmic Buddhas who are floating around and actually come and help us sometimes.

[14:36]

And then there's Buddha as the whole universe, the true Buddha body, but here he talks about the true human body. We feel separate from the Dharmakaya Buddha, from the Buddha as everything. That's maybe the Buddha that we feel most separate from, but actually, here's, you know, Wancha saying that the true human body is the entire universe in 10 directions. There's a lot going on in this story and, you know, I couldn't explain it to you even if I wanted to, but there are these places in this story that are very suggestive about aspects of our practice, aspects of what it's like to be in this world, aspects of how do we find our way,

[15:45]

So I'm going to start over again, and just go through the case and the verse, and see what else comes up. So Hualong Cuiqiu asked Director Liao, my late teacher, Xuansha, said that the entire universe in ten directions is the true human body. Do you see the monk's hall? So in the entire universe in the ten directions, in the true human body, where do we find our place of practice, where do we find our place to sit and be upright and settle and find our deepest self that is not separate, not estranged from the whole universe in the ten directions. Where do we find our practice place? When this true human body is the entire universe in 10 directions.

[16:54]

Of course, we know about our own limited human body and our own limited human self. And actually, the word for body sometimes is used for self. So it's also talking about our true self. And we all have some idea of ourself. And we all have limited self, a limited self. We all have some, you know, some sense of, you know, we all have some way we identify, some story about ourself and our limitations. But here is this true human, human self that is the whole universe. And somehow I just flashed on the, if any of you have seen 2001, the star baby at the end.

[17:58]

What is it like to become our true self, to see that? Director Liao said, Master, do not create flowers in the eyes. Don't fool me. So this director wasn't going to be misled by all these fancy images. And Wolong said, ah, my late teacher may have passed away, but his flesh is still warm. So how do we see our life right in front of us as it is? and this true human body. How do we see our vastness, our true self, our unlimited self, right in our limitations? Anyway, these are all questions about this that come up for me in the middle of looking at this.

[19:13]

And then there's Dogen's comment. Within a flower before spring, an eye opens with fragrance. What is it like when our eyes open in spring after a long winter or when we wake up in the morning after a muddled, dreamy evening of sleep? Within the eye appears a body, not two or three. It's one body. We feel separate. We feel sometimes like, you know, there's this part of me and that part of me and we all feel fragmented. This is our modern dis-ease and, you know, as a community of human beings, we feel fragmented. We all have our separate interests and avocations and so forth.

[20:15]

But what is this one body, not two or three? Cold and warmth are entrusted to others as frost and dew. So cold and warmth are also related. We know cold only in terms of warmth. We know warmth in terms of cold. Intimacy and estrangement are hard to tell apart, like water in a deep pool. How do we find our intimacy? amid estrangement and face our estrangement with intimacy. So I can keep babbling about some of the material in this story, but I'll stop and hope for responses or further clues or reflections about any of this from any of you. Please feel free. And whatever comes up for you from any pieces of this is part of the story.

[21:28]

It's not about finding some perfect answer. It's about what do these images, what do these questions inspire for you. Director. So the whole idea that... The questioner, you see, amongst all of us, is very interesting. An interesting test. Or it could be showing this particular thing, can you see this particular thing here?

[22:47]

Challenging to see it. What is that? Part of the community would love to know what it's all about. What I want to say is that this body is not a part of the process of realizations. Yeah. It's not just general.

[23:50]

It's an expression of the truth. So that would be Dogen's response to that. He said, yeah, that's a very nice button. And so Dogen's response would be, yeah, flowers of guidance are also a great button. And sitting in the meditation hall is an expression of the truth. So you can't just ignore it. Thank you for offering that perspective on it. There are many flowers in the Naked City. Other comments or perspectives? Amaru? You're here every week, huh?

[25:23]

That was so beautiful. I did not get it when you said it the first time, and the interpretation of it was very illuminating. The flower in my eye is definitely jumped out at me. Personally, you're talking about some of those things, like the strength Thank you. Yeah, it's... Yes, and it's hard to get a hold of, because, I mean, it is slippery, but there's a lot going on.

[26:29]

But just, yeah, just the part about the intimacy and estrangement and how they're related, and that's very poignant, yeah. Yes, Nielsen? dead, but his body is still warm. And I think back to a part of the story from what Brent Pearl did not mention tonight, and actually comes before the part that he did mention, where Chuan set up a priceless monastery and injured his foot and comes back.

[27:33]

whatever it is. Yeah, well, maybe I'll repeat that story that you're referring to. This is in the longer essay about the version about the one bright pearl. Just to repeat, to go over the story that Niazan mentioned, Xuanzhou, when he was with his teacher and left after studying with him, left in his, he struck his toe hard on a rock and blood appeared and amid intense pain, he had an abrupt self-realization.

[28:52]

He said, this body does not exist, where's the pain coming from? And he returned to Xue Feng and his teacher. And Xuefeng asked him, who are you? Who is this mendicant in front of me? And Xuansha, who was the original teacher who said the entire universe in ten directions is the true human body, or the one bright pearl, said, I will never deceive others. I don't dare deceive others. And just to follow up on that, then Xue Feng said, those words could, anyone could have said that, but nobody but you has said it, something like that. And then he asked, and again, why haven't you left on your pilgrimage? He actually had. And Xuanzang said this other thing, which is pretty cool, which is that Bodhidharma did not come to the east and the second ancestor did not go to the west. which of course, you know, Bodhidharma did come and meet the second ancestor, but this thing about meeting...

[29:55]

and connecting, which goes back to intimacy and estrangement, is also part of the story. What does it mean when the entire universe is the true human body, and how do we meet that ourselves, and how do we meet that with another? And that's part of what's going on in the story, too, when the director says, don't create flowers in the eyes. So yeah, thank you for bringing up that part of that, that relationality. Yeah, so this is ancestral Zen, yeah. This is the story being carried down, yeah. And again, the flower opening and the eye opening again, yeah. Please, Elizabeth.

[30:59]

A little louder so they can hear. Yeah, first I was thinking of regarding intimacy in a strange way that they seem just the opposite. But then it kind of came to me that when you have intimacy with somebody or something, I suppose, there is a part of you that and having that intimacy. Interesting, yeah. Yeah, you have to give up your sense of separation, which sometimes we cherish, you know? Our sense of our little enclosure, you know? We have to give that up. And there's a giving up of safety. There's a lot of giving up. There's even giving up of maybe routines or There's a vulnerability in intimacy.

[32:03]

And also in intimacy with oneself. We are vulnerable to our ancient twisted karma which we were chanting about, you know. We start to see, you know, that the true human body includes all of, you know, includes greed, hate and delusion, our own and our societies and the world's, and how do we face that? And then how do we meet each other as fellow members of the true human body? Yeah, yeah. So that points, so it occurs to me that then, you know, we might look at the value of estrangement. Oh, you know, maybe we, you know, so there's hermit practice too. There are some people who like to go off by themselves. And maybe for some people that's valuable.

[33:10]

Maybe that's how they find their intimacy. But you know, the idea of monastic practice, or going off and practicing intensely in Zen, is that then you come out and graciously share yourself, as Hongshu says, with the world. So our practice is not to hide from the world, ignore the difficulties of the world, but how do we face ourselves and the whole world? Anyway, yeah, so there's a lot, yeah, there's a lot to say about this dance between intimacy and estrangement. Thank you. Yes, Jen. It's so literally true. You know, I'm not much into trying to

[34:12]

We are stardust, as the song goes. Dylan, did you have a comment? There is no question, sort of, like... Yes, yes.

[35:55]

Yeah, the non-duality between duality and non-duality. Yeah, yeah. So it's not like an explanation, but it's like to play with the bright pearl or the entire universe without, I forget the way you said it, but without the mind that kind of comes forward and tries to explain it or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, Ruben. Yeah, I've been reading a lot about what you said, too, in the relationship of intimacy and expangement.

[36:57]

And the light bulb office that I had with the other co-authors, Robert Lawson, I've heard it explained, I've heard it told in a slightly different way. I heard him add, he said it in kind of a sad voice. I could no longer be asleep. As if to say there is some sort of loss behind that. being estranged from

[37:59]

as if now our only choice that we know is our responsibility. Good, yes, yes, yes. So part of this is that in a society where the values are so screwed up, of course we get estranged from business as usual or however you want to describe it. So yeah, that's hopefully what Sangha is about, is that this is a place to go against the grain of usual social values that are defined by billionaires or whatever, and to try and find a way to live together based on the entire universe in 10 directions.

[40:01]

So that's what we're here for.

[40:02]

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