Good morning. And happy Enlightenment Day. Today is the day that's observed in East Asia and in American Zen as the anniversary of the great Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, complete perfect awakening of Shakyamuni Buddha, who this morning saw the morning star. Om Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. Om Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. Om Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. So he is the Buddha of our world sphere, of human history, of this Buddha field, this Buddha land. this world, whatever that is.

[01:04]

So, we've been sowing and planting and talking about case 12 of the Book of Serenity and related stories and bits of things. So I'll start by just reviewing it for everyone. De Zong asked, Shushan, where do you come from? Shushan said, from the South. Dezang said, how is Buddhism in the South these days? Shushan said, there's extensive discussion and deliberation. Dezang said, oh, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and eating rice? Shushan said, what can you do about the world? Dezang said. What is it that you call the world? So these two questions.

[02:16]

What can you do about the world? What is it you call the world? So the background to this story, and I've mentioned Dzong, is the Chinese word that in Japanese is Jizo. And so the temple he taught at was named after the great Jizo Bodhisattva, the Earth Womb, or Earth Matrix Bodhisattva. Very down to earth, helping people. helping farmers, helping people of the earth, helping people in difficult situations. The background of the story is that Xueshan, together with Fayan, who later became the founder of one of the Five Houses of Shan, and their farmer brothers, Wudong and Jinshan, were traveling around the lake region of East Central China,

[03:25]

And they were blocked by rain, snow, and swollen valley streams. There was a tumult before them. So they stopped at this Dzong temple west of the city. And they sat around the fire and basically ignored Dzong master. Dizong wanted to check them out, so he also drew near the fire and said, there's something I would like to ask about, may I? And Shishan said, oh, well, if there's something you want to ask, go ahead. And Dizong said, are the mountains, rivers, and earth identical or separate from you elders? So I say to you, are the mountains, rivers, and earth, and the great lake, and the prairies, separate from all of you? Shushan said separate. Zhizang held up two fingers.

[04:27]

Shushan hurriedly said, no, identical, identical. And Zhizang again held up two fingers. So true non-duality is, we've talked about true non-duality being beyond the duality of duality and non-duality. Anyway, they were all going to leave, but Falyan said to the others, go ahead, I'm going to stay here with Dzong. Maybe he has something to teach me. And eventually they all came back. And we talked about what happened later. But this basic story. What can you do about the world? What do you call the world? It meant one thing in China in the early 10th century.

[05:28]

So there was the late 9th and early 10th century was a time of great civil war. Many people were killed. It was a time of ends of dynasties and various dynasties and civil war through China. North against the south, this happens sometimes. And so, you know, that was one context for Shushan saying, what can you do about the world? But we have our context. So sometimes I hear that Zen teachers shouldn't talk about politics. I'm not going to talk about politics. This is not politics. You know, you should never yell fire in a crowded theater. But if there's actually a fire burning, fire, fire! Hopefully not in the kitchen, not in the Zendo, but in our world.

[06:37]

So the United Nations Committee on Climate Breakdown said last year that that we have 12 years to take care of this fire that's burning our world. So again, Shoshan asks, what do you do about the world? And in his time, there was great civil war. In our time, well, We have very short time to make the change that's needed. And already, there's going to be damage. There's floods and enhanced hurricanes in the southeast. There's fires where Paul lives in California. Arctic is melting at an increasing rate. There are droughts all over. And therefore, refugees fleeing from

[07:41]

not just terrorist governments and drug lords, but the effects of climate damage and drought. I saw, and I may have the numbers a little wrong, but I think this is right, 60% of species on this planet have died since, have gone extinct since 1970. So there's also this mass extinction. And we're all suffering from what one eco-psychologist calls climate trauma. We're numb, or we feel hopeless. You know, this should be on the front page of every newspaper every day, and it should be in the beginning of all news on all media. And yet, well, what do we do about it? What can we do about it? And we all have to take care of the fires in our own lives, on our own seats. But there's actually lots we can do.

[08:49]

There's a fire. At best, Many more species will go extinct. Civilization, if you want to call it that, as we've known it, is going to be very different. Joanna Macy said to me once, well, maybe they'll be reading Dogen in the back of caves in 50 years or 100 years. Anyway, we're trying to keep alive a great, wonderful ancient practice that started 2,500 years ago today. or whatever, you know, thereabouts with Shakyamuni Buddha and we venerate many ancestors through that time. There is something we can do, you know. There's lots we can do. Every day, you can make one phone call to one of your representatives, national or local, and say, do something. Stop this rampant destruction of our environment.

[09:53]

stop the fossil fuel companies from increasing that, help change to sustainable energy. Or you could call the media and tell them to start covering this story. Or you can call institutions and ask them to divest from fossil fuel companies. If you want to know how to do that, you can check with Beau, who works with 350.org. Anyway, one can do that. And yeah, it's what can we do about the world? Today means that the world is on the edge. And of course, something will survive. Maybe not large animals, but you know. Or, you know, I think some humans will survive. But what will their life be like? So what can you do about the world? And of course, that's not just the world as you know, the world that's suffering climate breakdown.

[11:06]

It's also the world on your seat, each of our seats. Each of us faces the urgency of now. It's the world that's burning and it's also You know, all of the sadness and loss and difficulty and pain. We'll see in a couple of days. Okay. Yeah, we each have a whole world of sadness and fear and people who are in trouble and loss. So what do we do about the sadness? Well, the first noble truth is that there is this, whether you want to call it distress or just dissatisfaction, things aren't the way they might be.

[12:15]

It's actually pretty important and good that we see how they might be. that we see some possibility, that we see the world as whole. So I'm gonna get to that. But this is, as I said yesterday, this is a noble truth because we can do this practice. We can sit upright and still and express Buddha and awakening in our body, mind, in our lives. with the situations of the whole world and with the situations of the world on your seat, and the world's on your seat, the many worlds, and the world is on your seat, we can just be present and upright and settled and calm. So that's half. The other side is, What do you call the world?

[13:18]

So this side of the practice is also urgent. So going back to the case, the Wansong's wonderful commentary, he talks about to review for those of you who've been here. Communion with the source is one's own practice. Communion by speech is showing it to those who are not yet awakened to it. And then he quotes from the Lankavatara Sutra. There are two kinds of communion. Communion with the source opens by way of the quality of transcendent progress, of transcending progress, getting over our idea of progress. getting over our idea of fixing things, getting over all the deliberations, just settling, utterly detached from false conceptions, from speech and symbols, and go to the realm of non-indulgence. It's a fascinating phrase. You might just sit with, what is the realm of non-indulgence?

[14:28]

Not indulging in. whatever, or not even some object, just to be non-intelligent. By the process of self-awakening, light shines forth. This is called the quality of communion with the source. There's also, and this is maybe the realm of what do you call, well, what do you do about the world, communion by speech. teaching and expressing the various inductive doctrines of the branches of teachings of self-awakening, self-purification. Avoiding signs of difference or non-difference, being caught in that. Avoiding existence or non-existence and the like. Using skillful means to express the teaching as needed. And he says more about that. in the partialist fourfold aspect, communion by speech or expression without communion with the sources like the sun being hidden by clouds.

[15:37]

So if we run around trying to fix the world and deal with the climate catastrophe without being settled, we're not going to be so helpful. Communion with the source without communion by expression is like a snake in a bamboo tube. So we talked about that image a lot, being constricted, not being able to wiggle. This is an image for what we're doing here in this session, settling, settling, going deeper. So I talked about calling every day to your representatives, or at least once a week. Don't do it today. Today's Sashim, OK? Wait till after Sashim. Now we're settling our snakes into bamboo tubes. We're sitting on our seats. We're diving down into that great wellspring of creativity and energy.

[16:40]

How do we find this deep connection in which the mountains, rivers, and the great earths, and the great lakes are right on your seat now. This is not some fantasy or some idea. Really, there are I don't know how many millions of microorganisms on your seat right now. There is the breath from the oxygen from the forests that are left in this world. There is the water from the great lake. All of this is on your seat right now, really. In that fourfold aspect, he goes on to say, communion with the source and communion by expression together is like the sun in the open sky.

[17:44]

So how do we bring it all together? How do we integrate? Also, communion neither with the source nor by speech is like a dog howling in a thicket of reeds. And sometimes that's how we are. Howl. All we can do is howl. Both sides are urgent. Responding to climate and other catastrophes facing our world and finding your way to really forgive yourself for being a human being.

[18:47]

To see the depths of the worlds and the world on your seat right now, here, today, to settle, to keep breathing, to enjoy your inhale and exhale. And please then, inhale again for as long as you can, and exhale. Yeah, later on, Wong Tsung says, even though planting seeds, planting the fields, cooking the rice, eating the rice, it's ordinary everyday stuff.

[20:02]

Unless you investigate to the full, you don't know their meaning, their importance. So facing The sadness of the world on your seat is how we find strength and energy and sustainability to respond to a great matter of life and death in our own lives, family and friends, and in our home world. this fragile world system that Shakyamuni Buddha awakened. So I'm gonna throw in another story today, which I've mentioned.

[21:02]

Case 15 in the Book of Serenity. Guishan asked Yongshan, where are you coming from? Yongshan said, from the fields. So he was taking care of the fields like the song. Guishan said, how many people are there in the fields? Yangshan planted his hoe on the ground, clasped his hands, and stood there. Guishan, his teacher, said, oh, on South Mountain, there are a lot of people cutting thatch. Yangshan took up his hoe and went, so how do we take on Planting seeds. So I don't know if any of you here are gardeners or farmers or urban gardeners, but you know, we have other kinds of fields to plant in the skyscrapers and avenues of Chicago. All of you are planting seeds in some way or other.

[22:04]

In the world's on your own seat. and out there when you go out from here. So a little bit of the commentary from Wansung about this. Guixiang asked Yangshan where you're coming from. It repeats the story, basically. But it says that Guixiang was just using this question to have a meeting, to meet with Yangshan. So we've been talking about intimacy and how This is a practice of relationship. How do we relate to each other and to the teaching and to Shakyamuni Buddha and to the whole world? Yangshan didn't turn away from the question, simply saying from the fields, I've come from working. So on a Monday night, I could say to people, where are you coming from?

[23:11]

Most of them would say, from work, from planting seeds one way or another. Huan Zong says, now tell me, is there any Buddhist principle here or not? Guishan entered deeply into the tiger's cave, going on to ask, how many people are there in the fields? Are there lots of people? where you're planting seeds on your seat during Sashin. How many people are there? Yangshan just planted his hoe in the ground, on the soil, and stood with clasped hands in Shashu, immediately meeting as a Petra monk. Oh, and I'll read, Wansung's introduction to the whole story. Knowing before speech is called silent discernment or silent discourse.

[24:17]

Spontaneous revelation without clarification is called hidden activity. Saluting in front of the gate, walking down the hallway, this has a reason. What about dancing in the garden or wagging the head out the back door? I've seen some of you doing that, this one. Knowing before speech is called silent discourse. So we've been talking about talking and not talking. And we'll have more discussion later this afternoon. But yeah, knowing and not knowing. We talked about the story about not knowing being most intimate yesterday. But knowing before speech, before you even say anything to yourself. Knowing before any thought arises.

[25:21]

Hearing a dog bark and knowing dog before the word dog appears anywhere. This is, according to Wansong, silent discourse. Spontaneous revelation. You know, I've heard that this has happened in this room this week. Spontaneous revelation, something appears, something is revealed. Where does it come from? We don't know. Spontaneous revelation without clarification is called hidden activity. So Sashin is about hidden activity. We go down into the ground under our seat. And what we think is happening is just what we think. And how does the bumper sticker go? Don't believe everything you think. Hidden activity. saluting in front of the door, bowing when you enter the zendo, walking down the hall.

[26:32]

This has a reason. There is some reason, some rightfulness for why each of you is here today. Some caring, some combination of causes and conditions that allow you to be here. with this wonderful opportunity to settle more deeply into the burning worlds of our lives. What about dancing in the garden? What about romping and playing in Samadhi? What about that playful feel? What about wagging your head out the back door, checking it all out? Seeing what's out there, because it's not separate from what's in here. So on breaks, if you want to go out for a walk, you can. Maybe there's a little more in this case.

[27:41]

Enjoy. Well, there's a couple more poems, and one of them is from Tozi Yiching, one of our great, great ancestors in China, Tosu Gisei Daisho. We say, when we chant it in Japanese, he's the guy who, I can start rambling about Tosu Yiching. He was a Huayen student before he became a Zen ancestor, and he's the one who, never met the teacher in the lineage before him because there was this Rinzai guy, Hsuan Hu. Dai Yang had outlived all of his students. How sad. And the Cao Dong lineage was going to die out. Da Yong had a friend who was a... There's stories about him in the Heihei Shingi, Dogen's Pure Standards, because he'd been a great tenzo before.

[28:55]

But anyway, he had this friend who was a lunji teacher who he had total communion with. But he didn't want to take on Cao Dong lineage himself. But he passed it to one of his students who was named Tozu Iching. So how this stuff is carried out, how the practice continues is very mysterious. Anyway, Tozu Iching said in verse, few really understand the point of Guishan's questions to Yangshan in the story. When Yangshan answered him by planting the hoe, Buddha's ancestors disappeared. Xuansha kicking it over as a bystander doesn't agree to avoid letting the blue-yellow-green deepen with spring. So blue-yellow-green may also refer to I Ching's name, anyway.

[29:58]

So I'll just lay that out there. Anyway, Wansung said in response, I say when the grass is withered, the hawk's eye is swift. So something's happening and we don't really know what it is. Then he has another, another verse from Chan Master Ping of Falun. He said, meeting on a narrow road, escape is impossible. When planting the hoe, standing with folded hands, Guishan just couldn't get past Yangshan. Having come across the bridge, he walks on the shore for the first time, realizing his whole body is muddy and wet. So even though we think we're getting through this situation, it permeates our body and mind, our whole body.

[31:02]

Okay, just a little bit more on this case. Hongshu's verse, the old enlightened one's feelings are many. He thinks of his descendants. Now he repeats, repents of setting up a household. So yeah, maybe it's a mistake to start a Zen center or a Zen gate, I don't know. We must remember the saying about South Mountain, engraved on the bones, inscribed on the skin, together requiting the blessing. So I said last night that you are all making yourselves vulnerable to zazen. This process is period after period becoming engraved on your bones, inscribed on the skin. Tom Cleary once said, written on your liver.

[32:13]

And then Wanseng's commentary to that verse, he says this verse is like a biography of, he mentions somebody from the Han Dynasty. Real and conventional come up together. So that's the whole point of this. Real and conventional come up together. The harmony of difference and sameness. The universal, the ultimate. The whole world and the particular. The world on your seat. Totally connected. No separation. Just a little bit more. A monk asked Tiger Sen of Changsha, does the original person attain Buddhahood? Sen said, you tell me. Does the emperor of Chan cut thatch?

[33:19]

Buddha doesn't need to attain Buddhahood. Buddha's already Buddha. Thus we know that cutting thatch is the business of the minister or the servant, the official helping out. But now he repents of setting up a household. Then a thousand years shadowless tree, the bottomless shoe of the present, finding, abiding master of the moon over a thousand peaks, robe and bowl, valley and clouds. So again, I've mentioned this earlier in session, when you're doing walking meditation, check it out. Can you step into the bottom shoe of the present? I'll just, the conclusion of Wadding's commentary, I'll read some of it.

[34:32]

The old peasants return with bundles of firewood, urging their wives to spin through the night, see how busy they are at home. But tell me, by whom are they empowered? Where is the source of your creative energy? When you ask them, they don't know, and suddenly give rise to doubt and confusion. They don't know that not knowing is most intimate. You've heard that now. How do we, what is this intimacy? How many people of past and present know the virtue of gratitude? I'll just leave it there. Please recognize, appreciate the virtue and power of gratitude. Here we are, we have this wonderful opportunity in this difficult time to respond, to be whole, to find the fire of our world in the world so-called out there and in the world on your own seat.

[35:50]

How can we face this uprightly? What can you do about the world? And what is it you're calling the world? This is a real question. Please look and see what you're calling the world. There are many worlds, but maybe there's also the world. So we'll have discussion this afternoon, but if anyone wants to raise a point, respond a little, a little more than a little, we have a little bit of time. of gratitude.

[37:19]

Yeah. Those are related, right? Yes, good, good. Part of how we take care of this planet is changing the way that we all, humans, think. We can just take advantage of it and kill off all the other species, for example. But also seeing how wonderful This opportunity is being grateful, but please go ahead. I interrupted. I know. I think it was as simple as that. I think of gratitude a lot. And it's very much connected for me to sitting. That kind of feeling comes more readily in this practice than it does in enhancing it. I feel thankful. Yeah.

[38:45]

Yeah, there's lots of beauty and wonder out there on the lakefront. And I'm grateful to each one of you for showing up for being willing to be here. That takes a lot of caring and kindness. So, we'll continue. We'll close with our theme song.

[39:30]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_91.52