Good morning, everyone. So I want to talk this morning and this weekend about a koan case, a story from the great master Yunmen, who lived in the 900s. And, Angie, could you pass out those, those two different handouts. One of them is Case 14, Yunmen's Appropriate Statement, and one is Case 15, Yunmen's Upside-Down Statement. We may not get too much of the second one today. Usually during session, the guidelines are not to read, and you can ignore these. You don't have to look at these at all, but if you would like, on the breaks, to look at this. We'll be studying this material together this weekend, so you're welcome to look at these

[01:06]

two pages. Angie, could you pass them around? And actually, we have a couple for Aisha and Nick. So Yunmen lived in the 900s, as I said, and was founder of one of the five main lineages in China, in Shan. And just to say, for those of you who are not familiar with our approach to koans here, most of the time in our country, when people talk about koan practice, they refer to this one style, which is to pass through koans in consultation with the teacher and to give some correct response and so forth, and with a curriculum of hundreds of them.

[02:09]

So in the Soto tradition, in Dogon's tradition, we have more of a panoramic approach, just using these teaching stories as some way of informing our practice. So, we're going to look at this this weekend, and we'll see together what comes up. But the first story, the main story that I want to talk about, Yunmen is particularly noted for very short responses, usually very short stories, and the case itself is, a monk asked Yunmen, what are the teachings of a whole lifetime? Yunmen said, an appropriate statement. So, and then in the beginning of the commentary, the commentator to the group, I forget his

[03:15]

name, Yuan Wu, he says, members of the Chan family, if you want to know the meaning of Buddha nature, you must observe times and seasons, causes and conditions. This is called the special transmission outside the teachings, the soul transmission of the mind seal, directly pointing to the human mind for the perception of nature and realization of Buddhahood. So, what is the teaching of a whole lifetime, an appropriate statement. So one level of this just refers to the teaching and practice of skillful means. One of the practices of compassion in Bodhisattva practice. So teachings are directed to particular beings in particular situations. It's not like there's one dogma that one size fits all, and in some ways this refers to

[04:19]

the whole career of Shakyamuni Buddha, who taught for 45 years after his great awakening. How to meet different situations and different people. What is an appropriate statement? Or as I'll say a little more later, what is an appropriate response? So how do we meet the situation in front of us? In this period of Zazen, in this week, in this place, in time, in this lifetime. And of course it's shifting as everything is, but skillful means is about responding in a way that is particularly helpful, particularly useful to the people we're talking to. And so this skillful means partly means recognizing differences. So this is one context for applying discriminative consciousness.

[05:25]

How do we recognize different kinds of beings, different kinds of people with different needs? So an appropriate statement. What is the teaching of a whole lifetime? An appropriate statement. So on one level, this is referring to just the whole range of Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching and all of the different kinds of Buddha's teachings since then. So there are libraries and libraries full of different teachings by the Buddha, by other Buddhist teachers. And when Buddhism came to China, this was very puzzling, as it is for us as Americans, how to make sense of all the different aspects of the teaching.

[06:28]

Again, the point is that each one is useful for some people. So with Koans, I don't try and go through some curriculum for everyone. These teaching stories are resources about our practice. And some of them may not do much for you, and others may. And you can spend some time and hang out and see how it informs your practice body. And you can come and respond to me, and we can discuss them. And we'll have some group discussion later this afternoon as well. But in Shakyamuni's case, in all his time of teaching, the great Chinese master, Zhiyi, founded what's called the Chiantai school, and that became a Tendai school, very important in Japan. And he developed actually a number of different systems for classifying, and actually other Buddhist schools also developed systems of classifying the teachings based on various

[07:33]

ways. And one of them, this story, this question, this knock-ask, is a tricky, loaded question on lots of levels. But one reference to it is just that these five teachings, these five periods in the lifetime of Shakyamuni Buddha, according to Zhiyi. And so this is kind of useful as a way of looking at the different aspects of the teaching. And I would say the different aspects of Arzaza too, because they're all part of it. But the story about that is that when he first awakened, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke the Flower Ornament Sutra, the Avatamsaka, or Huayan in Chinese, Sutra, which is this vast, colorful, very psychedelic description of Bodhisattva activity, filled with all kinds of wonderful events and so forth.

[08:34]

And this was his own experience, his own realization under the Bodhi tree. And some stories say he taught this, he spoke this for 49 days. There's different versions of what happened. We don't have the DVDs of Buddha's teachings, so we don't really know. But anyway, at some point, he realized that nobody, maybe there was somebody, I don't know, but nobody in India at that time could understand what the hell he was saying when he was speaking on the Flower Ornament Sutra. And you know, it's still pretty difficult. But so he shifted, and he taught to his companions as he was practicing, noticed that something had happened, and they asked for his teaching. And so he taught more practical, accessible teachings, like the Five Noble Truths, Four Noble Truths. There's Fours and Fives, and there's the Eightfold Path, and all these basic Buddhist teachings,

[09:39]

the Agamas, they're called in China. And so the early Buddhist teaching was the second part. The third part were starting to introduce the Bodhisattva ideas, so teachings like the Vimalakirti. And the fourth was the Perfection of Wisdom, like the Heart Sutra that we chant, teachings about emptiness, and how form is empty, and emptiness is form, in form. And then the fifth stage of his career, according to this idea, was the Lotus Sutra, towards the very end of his life. And also the Mahaprabhavana Sutra, which is finally just being translated into English. Anyway, so this is a system of classifying all of the different many Buddhist teachings, you know, and which was appropriate for who. And one of the ways to study these teachings, any bit of them, is to look and see, well, who would this be appropriate for? And in these teaching stories, too, why is Yen Man saying this to this monk, and why

[10:46]

is this monk asking this question? So it's not, these are not abstract philosophical positions, the Buddhist teaching is aimed at what is appropriate, what is helpful to you, and to each different being. So, you know, Juyi's founder of the Tiantai School, which took the Lotus Sutra as the highest, and there were other schools that had their own systems of classifying the teachings, and they always took their favorite sutra as the highest of the various different aspects of the Buddhist teaching. So they were sort of hierarchical. Sort of in response to that, I wrote Faces of Compassion about the Bodhisattva archetypes, which is sort of a non-hierarchical way of seeing how at least the Mahayana teachings fit together, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom and Compassion, the seven major Bodhisattvas in East Asia. Anyway, still, you know, there's this basic question.

[11:50]

We might have something like this monk's question, what is an appropriate teaching? He asked, what is an appropriate statement? I don't know the exact Chinese character, but it translates as statement, but it's also what is the appropriate response? What is the appropriate teaching in each situation? So to recognize a particular situation is a kind of art, that is, this practice of skillful However, it's also said commonly in Zen and in Mahayana that Shakyamuni Buddha, through his 45 years of teaching, never said a single word. So sometimes the appropriate response, the appropriate statement might be silence.

[12:51]

And when the question asks, what are the teachings of a whole lifetime, he's not asking young men to, you know, define his whole career of teaching. Young men, there are many, many stories about young men, almost, maybe more than almost any other classic Chan teacher, maybe Zhao Zhou has more, but lots and lots of stories about young men. And so, you know, this monk wasn't saying, oh, tell me all of your teachings. What are the teachings of a lifetime? It means, what are the teachings of right now? How do we hear that silent going by? What's happening in your knees and your shoulders and your hips right now? How is this inhale? How is this exhale? What is the teaching of your whole lifetime?

[14:00]

What is the joy? What is the meaning? What is the sadness? What is the insight and caring and kindness of a whole lifetime? In this next period of Zazen or in this next breath. So this is, these stories are challenges in a way, and a lot of the language, a lot of the rhetoric in the commentary is this kind of Dharma combat stuff where they're trying to decide whether the monk or the student or the teacher, you know, had a better response and you know, I don't know, I find that rather boring. But what is, you know, what is the guts of our practice and teaching of a whole lifetime

[15:07]

right now? So everything, everything in your life, everybody you've ever known is on your cushion or chair right now in some way. So this, in some ways, this question has to do with interconnectedness of in time. We maybe have a sense of interconnectedness in space as well. So what's going on? What is the practice and meaning and expression of your whole lifetime? And Yunmen just said an appropriate statement. So Dongshan, the Chinese Soto founder, asked his teacher as he was about to leave, if somebody

[16:08]

asks me what was your teaching, what would you say? It's a little bit of a similar question. And Yunyan just paused and after a while said, just this is it. So there's lots to say about that too. My next book is just about that response, but an appropriate statement, Yunmen said. And again, this isn't just about talking, although it is about that. So there's some commentaries on this question of questions and statements on page 96. In this case, Yuan quotes an ancient, he doesn't mention its name. If you want to attain intimacy, don't use a question to ask a question. Question is in the answer. And the answer is in the point of the question.

[17:09]

So what's going on with these questions and answers? Who's asking what to who and what is the response there? To attain intimacy, to really know yourself and each other, don't use a question to ask a question. Question is in the answer and the answer is in the point of the question. It's also said sometimes that statements can be a question. And questions can be a statement, an utterance. So how, you know, what is this appropriate statement? Again, it could be silence, like Buddha not saying a single word. Yuan goes on to comment, of course it's solitary and steep, but tell me, where is it that it's solitary and steep? No one on earth can do anything about it. So you know, we have this chance to sit, some of you for today, some of you for three days.

[18:15]

As we sit, we can settle into this intimacy, this tenderness, this rawness of our experience. We can feel the next breath as a whole lifetime. We become sensitized or tenderized to appreciate each breath, to appreciate the tension in our knee or our back or wherever. He repeats this statement about intimate understanding and questions and answers in the next case, the upside down statement, and comments, since when have the sages from past times ever had anything to give to people? So you know, there's some idea that, oh, I'm going to go find a teacher and she'll tell

[19:22]

me what I need to know. And I get that less than I used to, where people come in like they want to know what to do, you know, and they have, sometimes people have a choice to make in their life. Always we have a choice to make in our life, actually. Many choices to make in our life, but sometimes they, you know, should I take this job or that job? Should I stay with my partner or break up? You know, all kinds of questions come up. And usually there's this idea that there's one or the other is the right thing. And then the corollary, you know, that he's addressing here, I guess it happened in China too, although I sometimes associate it with our Western Judeo-Christian sense of things, is that there's somebody up there in a long white robe and long white beard, sometimes it's who knows the answer, or somebody knows the answer, some guru on a mountaintop or

[20:23]

something. And if I could only get to do the right thing, you know, then I can make the right choice and everything would be fine. But actually this intimacy is about, there's always a question and there's always some statement and there's always this silence. And there's never just two choices. And all of them might be correct. All of them might be interesting and useful and lead to something wonderful. And all of them might be terrible. All of them might, you know, create problems, and probably both. So okay. So when he asks what is an appropriate statement, it's not just about some verbal utterance. What is an appropriate response? How do we respond to the situation, this situation, this situation, your life, your causes and

[21:25]

conditions, your karma, all the problems and causes and conditions and times and seasons that are happening in you this week. So this question, what is an appropriate statement, I like to turn it to what is an appropriate response? How do we respond to the difficulties and the joys of the world? And I've been talking a lot about, you know, how do we find some helpful response to difficulties in the world like climate damage and racism and all of the terrible things that are the inequalities and all of the injustices in our society and the way women are mistreated and what's happening in our politics and all of that.

[22:26]

What's an appropriate response? This is what Lin-Man is pointing us to. What is your appropriate response? So I think this story in some fundamental way is about Buddhist ethics. So I want to talk about it a little bit in those terms. This is a story about the precepts. What are the teachings of your whole lifetime? An appropriate statement, an appropriate response. So the story that follows this right immediately in the Blue Cliff Record, Case 15, which you also have, and again, you don't need to look at all of these, all of these words about these stories, but you're welcome to if you want to. A monk asked Yun-Man, when it's not the present intellect or the present discriminations and

[23:35]

reasoning and calculation, and it's not the present phenomena, what is it? So again, this goes with this appropriate response. When it's not this present thought field and it's not this present phenomenal situation, what is it? And Yun-Man said, an upside-down statement, or a topsy-turvy or an inverted statement. So on some level, what he thought the precepts and ethics are not about guilt or evil or, you know, it's just how do we act appropriately? What does that mean? Well, that's a huge con right there, but what does it mean to act? So our precepts include things like, Disciple of Buddha does not kill, to not harm but to

[24:37]

support life. Well, how do we do that appropriately in each situation? And you know, people have various responses to that, but what's the appropriate response here, now, for you? Disciple of Buddha does not take what is not given, Disciple of Buddha does not lie, Disciple of Buddha does not misuse sexuality, Disciple of Buddha does not praise self at the expense of others or disgust others in terms of their faults and so forth, Disciple of Buddha does not hold on to anger. All of these bodhisattva precepts are ways of healing upside down statements or upside down thinking or upside down activities. So, in the Jewel Marrow Samadhi by Dongshan, which we studied earlier in the year, it

[26:03]

says, the ancient sages grieved for them, the ghosts and suffering, and offered them the dharma, led by their inverted views, they take black for white. This is upside down statements for thinking. When inverted thinking stops, the affirming mind naturally abhors. So, that would be one kind of description of what is an appropriate statement. The affirming mind, the mind that says yes to the situation we're in, that says yes to the other people involved, and that is willing to be present in the situation, however complicated it might be, or simple. And then there's a natural accord, there's a natural meeting, there's a way in which we meet each other and ourselves.

[27:04]

So, again, I think this story as a model for precepts is interesting, again, it's not about, you know, we don't have some force of evil and it's not guilt in the way there is in the West, in Buddhist ethics, just to act appropriately, just to, and the one way to read the appropriate statement is to meet each other, to meet the other, to meet what is in front of you, in front of us. To actually be present with the discomfort in my knee, or, you know, when we have our meal later, to meet the person who's serving, to help the process of a ladle full of soup or whatever it is entering into your cup, and how do we cooperate? So one of the things we need in this world most now is a sense of cooperation, a sense

[28:16]

of how we collaborate together, how we work together, you know, all the different kinds of people and beings who are actually interconnected, but we've developed a culture of competition and aggression and this kind of contesting, and so, okay, what is an appropriate response? How does each thing meet? So one way to translate an appropriate statement is the teaching meets each, how does the teaching meet each? So this is, this appropriate response, this appropriate statement, or this appropriate question also has to do with our zazen, so this is a side of this that I want to emphasize since we're having this opportunity this weekend to just sit for a while.

[29:21]

And part of this, the stories about Yunmen is that it's said that within one sentence of Yunmen, three sentences are bound to be present, so this has been described in various ways, three aspects of each appropriate statement by Yunmen. And I want to suggest that there, these three aspects are a part of the, are present in each period of zazen, or in each one of our practices. So it's an interesting teaching. So these three, first there's the sentence or statement or response that includes, encloses heaven and earth, then the sentence that follows the waves, and finally the sentence that cuts off the myriad streams.

[30:25]

So these three aspects of Yunmen's teaching are discussed in various places in the literature about Yunmen, and I think they're, I think it's kind of interesting and useful. So there's a poetic description of these from one of Yunmen's disciples, these three. The first, again, the three are that which encompasses or includes the whole world, like in the Song of the Grass Hut we'll chat later where he says that the hut includes the entire world in ten feet square. And then there's the cutting off the myriad streams, and then there's going along with the waves, following the waves, following the current. So here's a poetic description of them.

[31:28]

Fundamental reality, fundamental emptiness, one form, one flavor. It is not that a subtle entity does not exist, it is not a matter for hesitating over, clear and lucid, this contains the whole world. So I tend to emphasize this side of these three, and I think Yangyang's response to Dongzha, just this is it, kind of has that sense that everything in the entire world is right here, in some way. Everything in your whole life is on your Kushner chair right now. And we can respond to, appropriately, from that place of including the entire world, including our whole life. So this is the aspect of a whole lifetime in this next thread. So, next is a kind of classic meditation teaching, cutting off the myriad streams.

[32:33]

It is fundamentally not a matter of interpretation or understanding. So sometimes people get really hung up on wanting to understand. Okay, we can do that, but it is fundamentally not a matter of interpretation or understanding. When you sum it all up, it is not worth a single letter. When myriad activities abruptly cease, this is cutting off the myriad streams. So this is not the aspect of meditation I usually emphasize, but it is an aspect of our practice, cutting through. The Bodhisattva wisdom has this sword that can kill or give life. In each moment of dzazen, of each breath, just cut through whatever babbling is going on in your thought stream. Just this practice, I think, is not so helpful because then we can get caught up in emptiness

[33:55]

or even the bliss of emptiness and non-attachment and get attached to that. But as an aspect of your sitting, yeah, sometimes just... So I usually say to let go of thoughts as they come up, but you can just sometimes swim maybe more actively. Right now, what is this? And it's not so hard to get to cut off the myriad streams, sustaining that is pretty difficult to actually stay with that awareness. Because right away, the third one comes up, following the waves. When you allow the presence of another, follow the sprouts to spy the ground, see the ground, understand the person by means of his words or her words. This is going along with the ripples following the waves. So these are also three instructions that Yen Man is giving to teachers, three ways of

[34:59]

responding, or to Bodhisattvas, three ways of responding to include the entire world, to cut off all the whatever, and then just to go along with all the waves, follow the stream. So this is a teaching about three kinds of statements, or three aspects of... It's said that each story, each statement, each brief response by Yen Man has all three of these in them. But you're welcome to try on. How is your shastra and also these three? Or to see what is now in terms of these three. To encapsulate, enclose, accept the entire world here.

[36:10]

And then to cut off the streams. And then to follow the current. Just go along with what is happening. So there are various permutations actually on these three, but these three are a pretty good description of what are the aspects of just being presence, just sitting upright, relaxed, here, now. And then to see that, I think even in following the precepts, there are these three. How do we respond appropriately to whatever the situation is that is in front of us? Sometimes there's not much to do.

[37:16]

Sometimes just silence, just sitting still, just cutting off the streams. And observing the difficulty we're having with a friend or some particular situation in the world, or some friend who's having a hard time. Sometimes all you can do is just stop and watch. Sometimes you can go along with the waves and join that person, or join that situation. Sometimes to see the whole world in each situation, to allow it to be an expression of everything. When you do that, some appropriate response may come up. What is the teaching of a whole lifetime?

[38:22]

There are so many stories about young men. There's one other one that I made, and there's a lot more material on these commentaries, but there's also the story that I'll maybe talk more about later this weekend. This one is just young men speaking to his assembly. I don't ask you about before the 15th day. Try to say something about after the 15th day. So the 15th day is full moon in the traditional Chinese calendar. So this has lots of overtones. He's talking about the periods of the moon, periods of the month, the season, time of the season. He's also talking about our experience of awakeness and confusion as our practice.

[39:30]

Wings and waxes. But right at the peak. I don't ask you about before the full moon. Try to say something about after it. Nobody said anything, so young man himself answered for everyone. Every day is a good day. I don't know if that's the same as saying every response is an appropriate response. We should consider that. I was saying before this note that in bodhisattva ethics it's not about guilt or evil. But we can't do harm.

[40:34]

So one of the basic Buddhist teachings, maybe from that second period, was just ahimsa, not harming. But also that means how do we help others to not harm? How do we help to heal the world? Ourselves, our friends and family. Many of the people in this room are healers in various ways. And all of us, by doing this practice, are involved in this finding what is appropriate. What is an appropriate response? And it changes. The ground is shifting under us. So we'll have some time for discussion this afternoon over tea. But if anybody has something they want to say or some appropriate response or comment or question or statement.

[41:41]

Now, please feel free. The oil is lasting. Anybody else? Question or comment? So when we go along with the waves, that aspect of the three, everything is included. And at the same time, everything is cut off. So you might see how that is in your zazen. You're welcome to. Of course, always you can just forget about everything I say. But you're welcome to consider this.

[42:40]

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