Morning I talked about two different teachings or traditions about enlightenment or satori. One is Rinzai, another is Soto. And this kind of dispute started in the 12th century, so it continues 800 years. And it's still known. ended, there's no conclusion, and that is fine. But in the end, I introduced in the Soto tradition, you know, our practice is really just sitting without expectation of to attain enlightenment or something. And yet, there is another part of the Soto Zen which says Dogen Zenji attained enlightenment.

[01:12]

So, I'd like to talk about this point and start to talk about the text. There is a story about Dogen Zenji's enlightenment. And the famous story appeared in one of Dogen Zenji's biographies, entitled Kenzeiki. This was written in the 15th century, so about 200 years after Dogen Zenji's death. And this biography was revised by one of the most greatest Sōtōzen scholars, whose name was Menzan, who lived in the 18th century, 17th to 18th. And until recently, recently means about 50 years ago, in Sōtō tradition we studied about Dōgen Zenji's life in

[02:29]

Menzan's version of Kenzeki. And two years ago, we studied Dogen Zenji's life, used Menzan's biography, and we found there are many made-up stories in order to make Dogen Zenji almost like a superhuman person. And the story of Dogen Zenji's enlightenment appeared part of this biography. This is kind of interesting, that biography with illustrations. In this illustration, this is Dogen Zenji. And the person sitting next to him is sleeping during the Zen. Nyojo Zenji was walking behind them. It's kind of funny, you know, Dogen Zenji was looking at the person who is sitting next to him during his Zazen.

[03:39]

It's not nice thing to do. Anyway, according to this story, during Zazen, the person who is sitting next to Dogen was sleeping. It often happens to everyone. And unfortunately, the abbot was walking behind those people. So the abbot, Nyojo Zenji, Dogen Zenji's teacher, called the monk who was sleeping. And what he said was, is dropping off body and mind. Right? And you should really just sitting or shikan taza. Why do you just sleep? According to the story, it said at that moment Dogen Zenji attained a great enlightenment.

[04:44]

That is And right after that, he, Dogen Zenji, visited Nyojo Zenji's room and they had some conversation. And part of the conversation, you know, there are more than one version of the story. I think the, you know, story in Keizan Zenji's Denkoroku, or the record of transmitting the light in Koroku. In this book, Keizan Zenji was a third generation from Dogen Zenji, and he was a founder of Sojiji. and he was considered the founder of Sōtō-shū together with Dōgen Zenji.

[05:52]

And in this text, Keizan Zenji introduced 52 ancestors from Shakyamuni to Ejo Zenji, Dogen Zenji's disciple. Maybe, that is not true, maybe. Until his own teacher. No, until Kōun Ejo. And he introduced the story or episode of each ancestor's enlightenment. And Keizan Zenji introduced this same story of Dogen Zenji's about dropping of Buoyan mind in this text. And Keizan Zenji lived, I think he was born about 20 or 30 years after Dogen Zenji's death.

[07:00]

And this Denkōroku was made or written about 50 years after Dogenzenji's death. So Keizan was much closer than this person, this biography. So I think Keizan's story is origin of this story and there is a little difference in the beginning. This is a translation by Francis Cook. The story is as follows. The 51st Patriarch, or ancestor, was Priest Eihei Dogen. He studied with Priest Tien-Tung Ju-Chin. Ju-Chin is or Rujin is a Chinese pronunciation of Dogen's teacher, Nyojo.

[08:07]

Nyojo is Japanese pronunciation. Rujin or Juchin is a Chinese translation, I mean pronunciation. And during late night Zazen, According to Dogen Zenji's informal talk in Zuimonki, it said, at Tenton Monastery, Juchin practiced Zazen until almost like 10 or 11 in the night. So during late night Zazen. Rujin, or Nyojo, told the monks, Studying Zen is the dropping off of body and mind. So that's it. It doesn't say someone is sleeping. So that's the difference. So I'm pretty sure, you know, that this story is kind of a new, revised version.

[09:13]

You know, the story becomes more and more interesting. and meaningful. Stories grow. So here, Keizan just said, five monks are sitting in the late night. Juchin just said, studying Zen, studying Zen is Sanzen. Sanzen. These days, Sanzen is used especially in the Rinzai tradition as same as dokusan, private interview with teacher. But san means to meet and also to practice. And in Shobo Genzo Zazen Gi, Dogen Zenji said sanzen is zazen. So in Dogen Zen's writings, sanzen doesn't mean to have a private interview with a teacher.

[10:25]

But sitting, zazen practice is sanzen. Anyway, Nyojo said studying zen or sanzen is dropping off body and mind. Dropping off body and mind is, as you know, shin, jin, datsu, raku. Shin is body, and the next Shin or Jin is mind. And that means to take off, like to take off our clothing. And Raku is to fall down. And usually this Shin-Jin, that's Raku, is translated as body and mind So, Nyojo Zen said, Zazen, practice Zazen, practice Zen is dropping off body and mind. That's all he said. This version doesn't say someone is sleeping or not.

[11:28]

And, the story says, hearing this, the master was suddenly greatly awakened. This greatly awakened is Daigo, the title of this chapter of Shobo Genzo, so when, you know, no one is sleeping next to him, but when he heard, you know, Zazen is, or practice Zazen, practice Zen is dropping of body and mind, somehow he suddenly greatly awakened. Then he went at once to the abbot's room and burned incense. He offered the incense to the abbot, to Nyojo. Then Nyojo asked him, why are you burning incense?

[12:33]

Why do you offer incense to me? The master answered, Dogen Zenji said, body and mind have dropped off. He said, in this case, his body and mind. His body and mind has dropped off. Then, Nyojo said, body and mind have dropped off. The drop off body and mind, the drop off body and mind is just changing the order of the word. Datsuraku shinjin. So Dogen Zen said, you know, first Nyojo Zen said Zazen, practice Zen is Shinjin Natsuraku. Then somehow Dogen Zen attained great enlightenment and he visited his room and he said, I came with, you know, body and mind dropped off.

[13:36]

Then, Nyojo, his teacher, said, body and mind have dropped off Shinjin Datsuraku, and he repeated Datsuraku Shinjin with opposite order. That means he accepted Dogen's enlightenment. Then master said, Dogen said, This is a temporary ability. You must not approve me without reason. So Dogen then said, don't approve me. Then Nyojo Zenji replied, I am not approving you without reason. Then Dogen said, why are you not approving me without reason? Then Nyojo said, you dropped off body and mind.

[14:41]

Then Rogen Zenji bowed. Rogen Zenji made prostrations. Nyojo said, you have dropped off dropping off. You have dropped off, dropping off. This is, he just repeated, that's raku, that's raku twice. That means dropping off is dropped off. That is the end of their conversation. Then, Nyojo's attendant, Hsuan Ping of Fuchu, there was a jisha or attendant by the abbot, said, it is no small thing for a foreigner to experience this realm. And Nyojo said, how many here have gotten it?

[15:45]

That means Dogen got on it, and how many monks in his assembly got on it. Liberated, he is mild and peaceful, and the Thunder Lords, he was liberated. I mean, according, he's talking about Dogen. He is liberated. Dogen is liberated. And he is mild and peaceful. He's calm. And yet, he has the thunder roars. This is the story from the Genkoroku. And it's kind of interesting, you know. Until about 50 years ago, all Soto Zen practitioners thought this is historically true, this really happened. But, you know, these days, these days mean, after I graduated from Komazawa University, when I was a Komazawa student, all people, almost all people believe this is what happened.

[17:00]

But that was almost 40 years ago. But after I finished the university, you know, today's scholars are very skeptical. They doubt everything. That was their job. And today, even this version of Dogen's story of Dogen's enlightenment is made up story, probably made up by Keizan. One of the reasons today's scholars think in that way is, you know, scholars recently have been researching almost all the Sotozen temples and try to find all the versions of Shogo Genzo and other texts, and they found many from the storehouse or treasury of old temples.

[18:01]

And one of the oldest texts they found recently, recently means 20 years ago or so, was another version of Shobo Genzo Daigo. And because was found at the temple named Shinpuku-ji. Another version is called Shinpuku-ji-bon or Shinpuku-ji version. And scholars think this version of Shobo Genzo Daigo was drafted of the Daigo today we have within Shobo Genzo. You know, when we see the colophon of Shobo Genzo Daigo, the text we are going to read, says this chapter of Shobo Genzo was

[19:15]

The word is jishu, means to give or to present it to the assembly twice. And the first time was 1242, and the second time is 1244. Between 1242 and 1244, there is a big change in Dogen Zenji's life. That was in the year 1242, he was still in Kyoto, living, staying at Koshoji, where he founded in the year 1233. But next year, 1243, somehow we don't really know why, but Rogenzenji and his assembly you know, left the monastery Koshoji and Kyoto and moved into deep in the mountains in order to establish new monastery.

[20:26]

That was the summer of 1243 and Dogenzenji probably rewrite Daigo in the first month of 1244. This was done about half a year after they moved to Echizen. That means at that time they didn't have a monastery yet. They stayed in a very small, tiny, old temple, almost abandoned, named Yoshimune-dera. So it is clear there are two versions. One is the original draft version and another is the final version. And probably, this is a guess, we don't know, but not my guess, but scholars guess, probably this Shinfukuji version was the original version written in 1242.

[21:35]

And Dogen Zenji revised, rewrite the same chapter in the year 1244. And in the older, or original version of Shobo Genzo Daigo, Dogen Zenji quote Nyojo Zenji's saying of practice Zen is dropping off body and mind. In the version we study this time, it is dropped off. I mean, disappeared. But in the older version, he wrote, he quoted this saying of Nyojo Zenji, and in his comment on this Nyojo Zenji's saying, he says something like, Shinjin Datsuraku is Datsuraku Shinjin. Shinjin Datsuraku is dropping off body and mind.

[22:40]

And he said Shinjin Datsuraku is Datsuraku Shinjin, dropped off body and mind. And because dropping off is dropped off, this is called body and mind dropping off. So the expression used in the conversation between Dogen and Nyojo in this story appeared in Dogen Zenji's writing. And scholars guess probably people or persons who made this story used this sentence, these two sentences from the original or older version of Daigo. And I think that is true. I agree with those modern scholars. So I think this story about Dogen Zenji's enlightenment

[23:46]

And Nyojo Zen, Dogen and Nyojo's conversation after that experience was a made-up story because Dogen Zenji himself didn't record that story, that experience. Instead, Dogen Zenji himself recorded his conversation between with his own teacher, Nyojo Zenji, about dropping of body and mind, in the text named Houkyouki. And I don't have enough time to talk about what is recorded, but within Houkyouki, this is Nogen Zenji's own record about his conversation with his teacher. At least three times, Dogen and Nyojo had a discussion about dropping off body and mind.

[24:58]

Nyojo said, the Zen, or practice Zen, or San Zen, is dropping off body and mind. Then Dogen Renji asked, what is dropping off body and mind? And Nyojo Renji said, dropping of body and mind is Zazen. You know, usually when we think, you know, practice and enlightenment as cause and result, Zazen is a cause or method or means and dropping of body and mind is enlightenment. So, you know, this is cause and result. Zazen and in this conversation is, Nyojo Zen said, dropping off body and mind is Zazen. So it's not the result of Zazen, but Zazen is itself dropping off body and mind.

[26:01]

Within those three conversations, Dogen Zenji really appreciated Nyojo Zen's teaching and he accepted, he thoroughly understood and accepted and made, it said, made six vows. So that was the time Dogen Zenji understood the meaning of Nyojo Zenji's saying, dropping off body and mind. So his own record of discussion about dropping off body and mind, and this story doesn't get along. You know, according to this story, when he heard Nyojo said to someone sleeping, dropping off body and mind, he attained enlightenment. Was that before this conversation or not? If it before,

[27:06]

This conversation, when they had discussed about dropping of body and mind, he had already attained enlightenment. That means he attained enlightenment without understanding what this means. So that's strange. And if we think he had that experience after these conversations, that is also strange. It doesn't make sense. Because during these conversations, Dogen Zenji fully understood and made six vows. So he doesn't need to attain enlightenment after these conversations. That is why. scholars and I'm pretty sure this is a made-up story. So even though traditionally it is said Dogen Zenji had the experience of great realization or Daigo, but the story is fiction, I think.

[28:18]

And yet that doesn't mean he didn't have, you know, because he didn't talk about his own enlightenment experience. We couldn't say he had no such experience. So we don't know. There must be something. He was looking for some dharma. That's why he went to China. And he, when he went back to Japan, he said, I, you know, I, in Bendowa, he said, my, the Japanese expression is, Isshō Sangaku no Daiji. Daiji is great matter, great matter of studying or practice.

[29:19]

is done, is completed. So, and he transmitted Dharma, that means he received Dharma transmission from Nyojo Zenji and went back to Japan and started to teach. So, you know, there must be something happened, but we don't know what happened. And in the case of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment, written after Shakyamuni Buddha's death. And, you know, there are tons of, you know, that kind of enlightenment stories. But if we, you know, studied carefully, many of them are made-up stories by their students. It's kind of very rare that the person himself recorded or just talked about

[30:34]

I introduced this morning, was very rare exceptions. He really wrote, according to D.T. Suzuki, he really wrote, recorded what he experienced. You know, I think this has something to do with the precept. I mean, you know, one of the major precepts we receive and also in the Vinaya precept, you know, especially in the Vinaya precept about false speech. In the precept in Vinaya, false speech is not any kind of false speech, but one special kind of false speech. That is, even if you don't have enlightenment, the person says, I have enlightened.

[31:44]

I am enlightened. And there is such a story, within Buddha's lifetime, when someone, when they had some kind of natural disaster, and the monks couldn't receive enough food from lay society. At that time, certain monks, certain Buddhist monks, went to a rich person's house and said, I'm enlightened. And I have a supernatural power, so if you make an offering to me, you will really receive some benefit. At that time Buddha said, you should never make a false speech, whether you attain enlightenment or not. Probably that is why not many people said, I had enlightenment. So I think Buddha never spoke about his own experience of enlightenment.

[32:55]

But we have to guess from what he taught after he became Buddha, after he became a teacher. So in the case of Dogen Zenji, we have to guess what happened, or at least what was the meaning from his own teaching he gave after he became a teacher. That was the only thing we can do. That's why, you know, we are studying this chapter of Shobo Genzo, Daigo Great Enlightened Realization, what he taught, and what he wrote from our kind of a common understanding of so-called enlightenment experience, or great enlightenment. That is an introduction.

[34:00]

And now I'd like to start to talk on the text. I already talked about the meaning of this title, Daigo, or Great Realization. So I start to read the text. The Great Way of the Buddhas has been transmitted intimately without interruption diligent activities of the ancestors have been manifested extensively in ordinary lives. Therefore, the great realization is manifested. The way is reached through no realization. Reflecting realization and free utilize the realization.

[35:05]

Losing realization and letting the practice go. This is the day-to-day activities in the household of the Buddha ancestors. There are 12 hours that Buddha ancestors hold up and utilize and there are 12 hours Buddha ancestors let go and are utilized. Furthermore, their love playing with mud balls and playing with spirit that jumps over this pivotal point. From their great realization onward, without fail, Buddhas and ancestors have been completing the practice and study in which thusness is manifesting itself.

[36:16]

And yet, here is a missing word, here and yet, they do not, please add, do not, they do not consider the entire realization of the Great Realization as the Buddhas and Ancestors. They do not consider that the entire Buddhas and Ancestors of the Buddhas and Ancestors to be the entirety of the Great Realization. The true face of Buddhas and ancestors go beyond the boundary of the Great Realization and the true face of the Great Realization is jumping upward beyond Buddhas and ancestors. This is the first section and of course this is the introduction of this writing of Dogen's

[37:28]

you know, Dogen Zenji's insight about great realization or daigo. And I think not many people can understand what this means. You know, this seems, especially in English translation, this doesn't make sense. So I think I, need to explain each expression, what it means. So, I'll go sentence by sentence. Usually, Dogenzen wrote the most important thing in the beginning of each chapter. Unless we understand what he wrote, In the introduction, we don't really understand what he wants to say.

[38:31]

So, to understand the introduction is really important when we study Dogen Zenji. The first sentence, the great way of the Buddhas have been transmitted intimately without interruption. So, in the first half of the first sentence, Dogen talks about Buddha's way, or great way of Buddha's. That is, butsu butsu no dai do. Butsu butsu, so he repeats Buddha twice. That means, this is not singular, this is plural. Butsu butsu, no is of. Dai is great. Do is way. So great way of Buddhas.

[39:36]

Sendo Genzenji used this expression, Dai, is big, large, or great. This means This doesn't mean relatively larger than something. You know, Nogen Zenji used this dai, or great, in Tenzoku Kyokun as daishin. I translate this as as a mind of a mountain, a great mountain, and a mind of a great ocean. And both mountains and oceans make no discrimination. The mountains allow all

[40:40]

plants, larger or smaller, larger, very large plants, like, you know, trees, and small plants, or large animals and small animals, or not even tiny, you know, living beings. Just mountain allow all those living beings to stay existing there, support them. discrimination and mountain don't move that is what Dai means and also he said a great mind this Daishin is like like a great ocean great ocean accept any water from any different rivers and make all different kinds of waters from different various rivers into one ocean without any discrimination.

[41:50]

So this Dai means beyond discrimination or beyond comparison or separation. And this Do As you know, Do or Dao in Chinese is a very important word, not only in Buddhism, but also in almost all aspects of Chinese culture. Dao is really important. In Buddhism, this Do is used with different connotations, but basically, This Dao is used as a translation of Sanskrit or Indian word, Bodhi, means awakening. So, Great Way of Buddhas means Great Awakening of Buddhas.

[42:58]

That is Anuttara Samyaksa Bodhi. And that is, of course, this Great Realization or Daigo means. But the difficult, not difficult, but complicated point is this do is also used with other connotations. You know, in the Four Noble Truths, the third is maruga. In English, we translate this maruga as a path. The first word is the cessation of suffering. That is the third of the Four Noble Truths. And this Maruga is also translated as Tao or Way. And another Sanskrit word that was translated into using this word Way is Gate.

[44:08]

is a name for six realms. Six realms of samsara is also called the way. So way has many different connotations. you know, awakening, and maruga means path of practice, actually eightfold correct path as Buddhist practice, that allow us to reach the cessation of suffering. It's called the way. And also, the realms we transmigrate within six, within our, you know, life. is also called the Way, Roku-Do, or Six Ways. So this is the way we are, the way we are as deluded human beings.

[45:16]

And awakening, Buddha's awakening, and also the path from samsara to awakening or nirvana. is also called the way. So way has, you know, has many different meanings. And once, you know, Sanskrit words, Indian words were translated into Chinese, Chinese people are kind of interesting people. They forget about original Sanskrit. They only read Chinese translation. They don't study Sanskrit, but when Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese, they just read Chinese translation and make their own interpretation or understanding of Buddhism through the translations.

[46:18]

So unless they are scholars, they don't care about the original Sanskrit meaning. So the way is way, or Dao is Dao. So now this word becomes kind of very vague. It could mean any of those three. So we must be very careful. You know, in the Four Bodhisattva Vows, we say, 仏道無常成願成, You know, Buddha's way is unsurpassable. We vow to realize it. That way is also butsu, dou. What is this dou, or Buddha way? Is that Buddha's awakening? Or the maruga? Or gate? Of course there is no possibility that it refers to gate.

[47:19]

And I don't think it's a maruga. So Buddha's way is unsurpassable. That means Buddha's awakening is unsurpassable. So I think here it is the same. This great way of Buddha's means great awakening of Buddha's. So what is great awakening of Buddha's? is the issue Dogen Zenji discusses in this writing of Daigo. But he says, this great way, or Daido, has been transmitted intimately without interruption. This intimately without interruption is a translation of Chinese expression, Menmitsu,

[48:21]

And mitsu can mean secret. Secret or intimacy. And when Dogenzenji used this word mitsu in his writings, he usually used this bit as intimacy. And this men means is, you know, cotton ball. When we try to make it into two pieces, it's difficult because the fabric of cotton is very, how can I say, dense and like vines. intermingled. So we cannot cut it into two easily.

[49:35]

All the different parts are connected with all other different parts. That is what this men or cotton means. And that is an expression or example of this intimacy. That means this great way or great awakening has been transmitted from Buddha to Mahakasyapa and Mahakasyapa to Ananda, like cotton balls. So we cannot say Buddha's enlightenment is this. Mahakasyapa's enlightenment is this. And Ananda's enlightenment is this, as like a separate thing. But, you know, enlightenment continues like cotton. And he used another kind of analogy. has two names of two plants.

[50:56]

Katsu is kuzu. Do you know kuzu? Kuzu has a bad name in this country, in the south. It's a very strong vine. And トウ is also, トウ is wisteria. So カット and トウ both are vines. And this expression カット is usually used in a negative meaning. That means within the human relationships. like parents and children. They have many different experiences. Some are very lovely, but some might be painful. all different parts are entwined each other and sometimes they want to separate but it's not possible to separate because even if they live separately they are entwined and they have some love

[52:16]

this complicated relationship. Not only parents and children, but also couples, friends, and also teachers and students have this complicated relationship. That is called kato. And so one of the Zen expressions is cut off the kato. is one of the meanings of attaining liberation or freedom. So this word, kato, has negative meaning. But Dogen Zenji wrote one chapter of Shobo Genzo entitled Kato, or Entanglement. And he used this image of, you know, vines You know, the roots are different, but all vines are entangled with each other and we don't see, we don't tell which is which.

[53:26]

And Dogen Zenji used this image as a transmission of Dharma. You know, in the beginning, Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment and taught using his words, and people from other routes entwined to Shakyamuni's enlightenment. And so we cannot tell if this Shakyamuni's enlightenment all, you know, connected. And this is how, you know, Buddha's awakening or great way has been, you know, transmitted. So it's not like a, you know, teacher has something called enlightenment and teacher can give this enlightenment to the next person or next person,

[54:41]

person thinks, I don't like, you know, my teacher's enlightenment. So I can, you know, create my own. So my enlightenment is different from my teacher's. We cannot say in such a way. Enlightenment is really, really, you know, entanglement. So there's no individuality. This comes from Shakyamuni through many generations to Dogen, and through Dogen it continues to us. So this is the image of transmission of great awakening. This is the first thing Dogen said. So this daigo, this daido and daigo is the same thing.

[55:43]

That means for him this daigo, great enlightenment or great realization is not a personal thing. You know, from Shakyamuni it has been intimately transmitted. without interruption. So there's no cutting off. And the second part of this sentence is, the diligent activities of the ancestors have been manifested extensively in ordinary lives. So this is about ancestors. That means from Mahakasyapa to Dogen or Dogen's teacher. And this expression, extensively in ordinary lives, is Heiten.

[56:55]

Hei is the same Chinese character used in the expression ordinary mind. Ordinary mind is hei jōu shin, that hei. This hei also means peaceful and also means even or flat. That means nothing special. And ten means ten is like an unfold, unfold or evolve. Unfold is like a, you know, a roll of carpet is, you know, unfold. that kind of image. So, this great way, or ancestors, you know, diligent activity means their practice, including their activity of teaching, is ordinary and extensive.

[58:14]

That means nothing special. So, what he wants to say is, you know, the Great Way, Great Daigo, Great Awakening, has been transmitted from Buddha to, going through each and every generation of ancestors. And it's not something special. And it's extensively, means not only in certain particular activities, not only sitting in the zendo, but all the activities all those ancestors did were expression or manifestation of this great way or great awakening. That is the very first sentence of Dogen's writings about great enlightenment or great realization.

[59:17]

So, this great doesn't mean something special. But this great means absolute. Absolute means include everything. Nothing is excluded. And next sentence, this is kind of strange, I think, for many of us. who has a common understanding of enlightenment or realization. He said, therefore, the great realization is manifested. This great realization is manifested in the translation of Daigo Genjo. Daigo and Genjo in same as Genjo in Genjo Kōan.

[60:21]

So Daigo is manifesting. In this case, it seems Dogen Zenji used this Daigo as an equivalent of Kōan. Kōan manifest and Daigo manifest is the same thing. So Daigo is manifesting through our activities. And the way is reached through no realization. It's a strange, I think, expression. But this is Fugo, Shido, who is not Go is same go, realization or awakening, and shi is to reach, and do is a way, of course. So, not or no realization, reach the way.

[61:30]

Kind of, you know, strange expression. But this is the main point of Dogen's discussion about Great Realization. And this Fu is the same Fu in like a Fushi-Ryo. In Fukanza Zengi, Dogen Zenji, quote Yakusan's saying, you know, in the, what do you think in the immovable sitting? And that is a question from a monk. Yakusan said, I think of not thinking. think is a fushiryō and not thinking is fushiryō, same fū. And so this fugo, no realization or no enlightenment, is not a negative word.

[62:37]

So we have to think what this no realization means. And also the next expression, reflecting realization and freely utilize the realization. Oh, another thing is this shido, I said reach to the way, reach the way, but another possible way of reading this shido is is a supreme way. Supreme way, you know, in the very beginning of Shin-Jin-Mei, or Shin-Shin-Min, this is a Zen poem, long poem, attributed to the third ancestor, So-San. It said, the supreme way is no difficulty.

[63:40]

So I am not sure whether this is reaching the way or supreme way. Either is possible I think. That means no enlightenment or no realization is supreme way. It's kind of strange things to say. shō-gō, rō-gō. Shō, I translate this shō as reflect, to reflect, reflect, to reflect, gō, realization. And rō, rō means to play with, with, gō, or realization. So, I translate reflecting realization and freely utilize the realization.

[64:50]

Because this word has some meaning of play with, to have a fun. I put the word freely, freely utilize this realization. But another possible way of reading this show is to abbreviate. abbreviate, shorten, or eliminate. So by, you know, eliminating or realization, we really utilize realization. And fourth phrase is Shitsugo. shitsu-go-hou-gyo shitsu literally means to lose lose something so losing enlightenment or losing realization and hou is let go this hou is used

[66:10]

you know, letting go of thought. Atama no tebanashi. Letting go. And gyo is practice. So, let go of practice. Losing realization and let go of practice. Practice or activities. So, these four... The first one is not strange. You know, the great realization manifests itself, or the great realization is manifested. But the other three are kind of a strange phrase, very kind of paradoxical. So we need to understand what this kind of negative expression, fu and fushitsu, no realization or not realization, and losing realization.

[67:21]

And this can be also negative, eliminating realization. Unless we understand those four phrases, we don't... the fact Dogen Zenji discusses in this entire writing doesn't make sense at all. That means Dogen Zenji doesn't think attaining great realization is the goal of our practice. That is the difference. At least Dogen's insight and also teaching about great realization is different from this word is used in Rinzai Zen tradition as something we need to attain it. He said, you know, when great realization is manifested, we have to, he said, we have to lose

[68:33]

than realization. So realization or satori or awakening or enlightenment is not something we can or we need to, we should get. And if we get that thing, you know, our practice is over or completed. But what Dogen Zenji is saying is we have to lose enlightenment. and let go of our practice. To present my understanding of these strange phrases, I think it's helpful to something we studied in the Diamond Sutra. This year we have been studying Diamond Sutra since April.

[69:38]

And in the 18th chapter of the Diamond Sutra, this sutra mentions five eyes. I think people living in Bloomington remember those five eyes. Those five eyes are flesh-like. fresh eye, and divine eye, and wisdom eye. One, two, three, four, five.

[70:48]

Fresh eye is our eyes of human beings. And divine eye is Tengen. Tengen literally means heavenly eye or eye of heavenly beings. And Wisdom Ai is Ei Gen. And this Ei, or Wisdom, refers to Prajna. And Dharma Ai is Hou Gen. Hou Gen is in the middle of the title of Shou Bou Gen Zou. Shou Bou Gen Zou, that is the title of you know, of Dogen's, collection of Dogen's writings. So, Shobo Genzo referred to this dharma eye. And Buddha eye is, of course, Buddha's eye.

[71:56]

And in the Diamond Sutra, there is a question, does Tathagata have this eye? And Buddha, Shakyamuni said, yes. And the same question repeated five times, and it said, you know, Buddha, Watta Tagata, have all those five eyes. And when we studied this part of the Diamond Sutra, I introduced Nagarjuna's comments on each of the eyes. Let me start. About the fresh eye, Nagarjuna said, the physical eye, fresh eye is physical eye, the physical eye, our eyes, sees the near, sees things close to us, but not the far.

[73:09]

We can see things near from us, but we cannot see things far away. The front, but not the back. We can see the front side, and we cannot see the back side. And the outside, but not the inside. When there's something outside and inside, we can see only the outside. We cannot see the inside until we open it. The light, but not the dark. We can see things when we have light. We cannot see anything when it's dark. and the top but not the bottom.

[74:11]

It's like a pond. We can see from outside, we can see only the shallow, only the shore face of the pond. And we cannot see the bottom deep places. Because it is obstructed, a bodhisattva seeks the divine eye. So this fresh eye or physical eye can only see certain part and it has limitation. So Nagarjuna says, Bodhisattva needs to seek a divine eye and divine eye can see better. The divine eye sees both the near and the far, the front and the back, the outside and the inside, the light and the dark, the top and the bottom, all without obstructions.

[75:29]

So this divine eye can see everything. So there's no such limitations. as our physical eyes have but the divine eye sees only those provisionally named things provisionally named things means conditioned things that result from the combination of causes and conditions and not their true appearances, true appearances same as true reality. Divine eye can see everything and yet it can only see the conditioned form. It doesn't see, it cannot see the true reality of all beings. That means emptiness.

[76:30]

And not their true appearance, and not their emptiness or their formlessness. This divine eye cannot see emptiness or formlessness, no form. And their non-existence. Non-existence is the same as emptiness. Their birthlessness or their deathlessness. Birthlessness or deathness means no coming and no going, no arising and no perishing. This divine I can see arising and perishing, arising and stay for a while and perishing. That means this divine I can see the phenomena. the way things are, appear, stay for a while, and disappear, but cannot see the true essence of each and every being that is empty and formless or no form, and no arising and no perishing.

[77:46]

The same holds for their past, their present, or their future. And this eye doesn't see the past, present, and future. I think it sees the present, but doesn't see the past or the future. Hence, a bodhisattva seeks the prajna eye. That's why a bodhisattva needs a prajna eye. And Prajna-I is the eye which sees emptiness of all beings. Nagarjuna said, The Prajna-I does not see beings, for all common and differentiating characteristics are extinguished. So Prajna-I doesn't see the difference of each and every being, only sees emptiness and equality of all beings. It is free of all attachments and immune to all dharmas, including Prajna itself.

[79:04]

So this Wisdom-I is free from self-clinging. but because it does not distinguish thing, it does not distinguish anything. So this wisdom eye sees emptiness and equality of all beings, but because it only sees emptiness and equality, the Prajna eye cannot liberate other beings. The prajna eye is liberated, but with only this eye, you know, the person cannot liberate others, because there's no discrimination, no distinction. In order to help others, we need to understand what is the problem of this person.

[80:08]

To do so, we need discrimination. So, a bodhisattva gives rise to the Dharma-I. And about the Dharma-I, Nagarjuna said, The Dharma-I enables a bodhisattva to cultivate a Dharma and to realize a path, as well as to know the expedient means by which other beings can do so. So, Dharma-I and Wisdom-I are different. Dharma-I can see the difference of each and every being. The Dharma-I, however, is not omniscient in its awareness

[81:09]

beings. Hence, our Bodhisattva seeks the Buddha-I. And the Buddha-I is the final perfect I. And Nagarjuna said, There is nothing unknown to the Buddha-I. Though it might be completely obstructed, it can see everything. Far to others is distant. To a Buddha is near. What to others is dark. To a Buddha is bright. What to others is confused. To a Buddha is distinct. What to others is fine. To a Buddha is coarse. What to others is profound. To a Buddha is shallow. There is nothing of which the Buddha eye does not learn, nothing it does not see, nothing it does not know, nothing that is difficult, and yet nothing that is perceived.

[82:24]

The Buddha eye shines forever upon all dharmas. Those are explanations of those five eyes by Nagarjuna. Well, it's time, so I continue from here. My understanding of these five eyes and connection with Dogen's teaching about Great Realization. Any questions? Please. This is a translation and commentary by Red Pine. on the Diamond Sutra. Is there a consensus about Nagarjuna being Nagarjuna then? This comment by Nagarjuna is from Daichi Doron or the Mahaprajna Paramita Shastra.

[83:33]

Conventionally, This text is a commentary on the large Mahaprajna Paramita Sutras that has 600 volumes. It's considered written by Nagarjuna. But of course, there's no evidence. OK. As I always say, to understand the beginning of each chapter of Shobo Genzo is really important. That's why I take so much time to explain what this means. Of course, that is my understanding. But in order to understand what he's writing, it seems we need to, you know, understand the entire system of Buddhist teachings.

[84:38]

If we have, you know, an overall understanding of Buddhist teachings and how, you know, in the history of Buddhist philosophy, how, you know, various masters interpret certain teachings. then Dogen is talking becomes make sense. Otherwise, just reading, you know, this translation doesn't make sense, even in Japanese, not only in English. That's why I try to explain, you know, as much as possible, especially in the beginning. If we understand the introduction, The rest of the writing is, I cannot say easy, but understandable.

[85:40]

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