Yesterday, the priests had a meeting and we usually discuss some Dharma question and one of the things that came up that we discussed was from this passage of Dogen where he's talking about the kind of altruism of the Bodhisattva and it's in historical Buddhism Shakyamuni Buddha what makes a Buddha like Shakyamuni is that he's used up all of his karma and no longer has any rebirth in this world That's historical story.

[01:02]

But Bodhisattvas, who are on their way to becoming Buddhas, postpone that kind of consummation to help beings and making sure that everyone has salvation before they become a Buddha. So this is the story that what is a Buddha and what is a Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is on the way to becoming a Buddha through their practice, through their actions. And a Buddha is one who is no longer, who has used up all their karma. and their karma is no longer leading them to any kind of rebirth. But a later understanding is, it's not that the Buddha is becoming extinct, it's more like they've used up all their karma of creating suffering, and they're no longer subject, they're no longer, their worldly activities are no longer

[02:26]

creating the karma that creates suffering for themselves or others. So, that's a different sense of non-returning. Not getting off the cycle, the habit cycle of creating suffering. So, it means a total awareness of what it is that creates suffering. and what is the purpose of life, and so forth. In the Lotus Sutra, it says the purpose of a Buddha's life is to simply help sentient beings. There's no other purpose. And of course, this is what the Bodhisattva is striving toward. So, this term, postponement, the bodhisattva doesn't enter Buddhahood until all sentient beings are saved, which means right now or it means never, depending on how you want to see it.

[03:40]

Either never or right now. So, this is an interesting question, you know, and what it brought to mind was this koan in the Luman Khan. Dai Tsu Chi Sho, that's Japanese, Dai Tsu Chi Sho Buddha sat for ten kalpas without moving, but he did not attain Buddhahood. So, it's an interesting koan. So here's the case. A monk asked the priest Qin Jin of Xingyang,

[04:44]

The Buddha of supremely pervading, surpassing wisdom, that's what his name means, did zazen on the Buddha seat for ten kalpas, but the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself, and he could not attain Buddhahood. Why was this? And Qing Zhang said, your question is exactly to the point. The monk said, but he did zazen on the buddha seat. Why couldn't he attain buddhahood? And Qing Zhang said, because he is a non-attained buddha. And then Mr. Mumon, Mumon has a commentary. He says, I approve of the old barbarian's realization, but I don't appreciate, I mean, I don't approve his understanding.

[05:46]

If an ordinary person realizes, he or she is a sage. If a sage understands, he or she is an ordinary person. So, a moonman has a verse, and he says, better than knowing the body is knowing the mind in peace. When the mind is realized, the body is no longer anxious. When body and mind are fully realized, a saintly hermit declines to become a noble. So, I'll go back to the case. A monk asked the priest Qing Zhang, or Xing Zhang, The Buddha, who is named Daizutsu Sho, which means pervading, supremely pervading, surpassing wisdom, did Zazen in the Bodhi seat for ten kalpas. But the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself, and he could not attain Buddhahood.

[06:54]

And why was this? The Bodhi seat, of course, is like the center of the universe, which is You have a question. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought everybody knew that. I'll say what it is. Kappa is a long period of time. It can be one second. Have you ever experienced that? One second is a couple of number of cases on the case number nine. No. Or it can be forever. So, whatever forever is. Can you tell me the Indian technical definition? I can do that. I was just about to do that. There are several technical definitions, but they're all the same. It's like, there's this huge mountain, and once every 300 million years,

[07:59]

Or whatever space of time you want to say. A heavenly maiden comes down with a piece of gossamer and brushes the top of the mountain. And when the mountain is totally disappears, that's the space of one kelpa. Is that right? Never mind. It's however you want to just write. But that's pretty close. So that's a long time. So he was sent on the seat for ten Calpas. In other words, you know, life just went on and on. So. So this is the question, why? You know, He did not attain Buddhahood.

[09:04]

So the center of the circle, center, you know, he's sitting in the center of the universe, which is where each one of us is sitting. And the center of the circle, you know, if you look at us from the top, you see that we're a circle. And we sit in the center. of our circle, which has its ring around us. And each one of us actually has a Buddha field, because each one of us is really Daitsu Kisho, Buddha. And we each have our circle. And the circle can be small, or the circle can be large. The circle can include the whole universe. And this is what we call big mind or essence of mind. And our circles intersect in an interesting way.

[10:08]

You know, you can say that each one of us has an aura, which sounds... but actually it's so. Each one of us is a vehicle for light, and this light is always projected out, shining, and some of us it's shining brightly and some of us it's shining dimly. And when our light is shining brilliantly, it includes the whole universe. When it's shining just a little bit, it doesn't illuminate very much. But anyway, we all have our aura. There's a saying, the bodhisattva's halo is the whole universe. our circles intersect and this is how we relate to each other.

[11:14]

There's a photograph of a frog. I remember this is the 70s or 80s. Somebody took a photograph of a frog and there was an outline of the frog around the frog, which was the frog's halo, the frog's light. So we kind of grow into ourself in a way. Interesting. So, the Buddha of supremely pervading means the light is pervading everywhere. Surpassing wisdom, that's an interesting point you should remember, surpassing wisdom. because that's what he's talking about in his poem. I did zazen on the Buddha seat for ten kalpas, but the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself, and he could not attain Buddhahood.

[12:19]

Now, why was this? And Ching Chong said, your question, which is his question, is to the point. In other words, your question, the answer is in your question, in a sense. If you think about any kind of koan, usually the answer is in the question. And the answer to all of our problems is in the question of ourself. Suzuki Roshi says, when somebody answers your question, when you go for help with your question, you're going to the wrong place. Because you should find the answer in yourself. That's hard practice. Sometimes people think Suzuki Roshi's practice was easy practice, but it was hard practice, because he always sent you back to yourself to answer the question. I used to go to him with my questions, and then he would give me some other koan.

[13:25]

He'd turn my question into a koan for myself, and then he'd say, you came to me with a question and I just gave you a more difficult question, I'm sorry, please. And then he laughed. And then I laughed. So then I would go away and I knew I had something but he didn't give me anything, he just turned me toward myself. So this has always been my practice is to go to myself to find the answer. to my difficulties, to always keep dealing with, not seeking the help from outside. So you notice I'm a kind of recluse, right? So, Duryodhana said, but if he did Zazen, or the Bodhi Seat, why couldn't he attain Buddhahood? And Ching Chung said,

[14:27]

because he is a non-attained Buddha. Non-attained Buddha. He is a Buddha, but he's simply a Buddha of non-attainment. So what does that mean? He's simply a Buddha of non-attainment, but he is a Buddha. Of course, it's a very simple answer, right? We all know the answer. we all have Buddha nature. So what is there to attain? Right? But at the same time, it's like, yes, we all have Buddha nature. This was Dogen's question when he went to China. If we all have Buddha nature, why practice? Why do you have to do anything? Why put yourself into this place where you have all this difficulty? So, Master Wuman in his commentary says, I approve of the old barbarian's realization, but I don't approve of his understanding.

[15:44]

Barbarian, of course, in China, everybody outside of China was a barbarian. This is the Chinese attitude. They built a great wall to keep out the barbarians. Not that it did a lot of good. They built a Maginot Line, first of all, to keep out the Germans, and of course they flew over it. So walls don't help you. There's no way to protect yourself, actually. But the barbarians are always after us. But he's saying the barbarian, he's using that in a confidential way, you know, like it's a compliment rather than anything else. So they call Bodhidharma the old barbarian because he came from India, right?

[16:47]

nice way of talking about him. I approve the old barbarians, talking about here, in this case, Bodhidharma. I appreciate the old barbarians' realization, but I don't appreciate his understanding. So there's a difference between realization and understanding. Realization is opening up to something. Understanding is more intellectual. So you may not understand. You may be Buddha, but you don't understand what Buddha is. But not understanding what Buddha is, is not a bad thing. You know, if realization is We say, we usually use the term enlightenment and realization interchangeably, but enlightenment is our true nature, and realization is how we realize our true nature.

[18:03]

So we may be enlightened, we may have enlightenment, we do have enlightenment underneath that cloud, but when the cloud is as removed, then we have realization. In other words, we can see, oh yeah, I see. That's realization. Understanding comes later. So he says, I approve his realization, but I don't approve his understanding. In other words, it's not necessary. There's this... Dogen wrote this fantasy called One Bright Pearl. And in it, Gensha, Master Gensha, says, he's always saying, the whole universe is one bright pearl. Great statement. A monk came up to him and he said, you know, you're always saying this, the whole universe is one bright pearl.

[19:06]

How do you understand that? And Densha says, the whole universe is one bright pearl. There's no need to understand it. And so, if an ordinary person realizes, he or she is thus a sage. When an ordinary person realizes their Buddha nature, they're a sage. When a sage understands he or she is thus an ordinary person. So when a sage understands they're an ordinary person, which means they understand that there's no place to go, that there's nothing to gain, and they just act in an ordinary way. Before we have realization, we think that enlightenment is something extraordinary. But when one has enlightenment, they realize that it's just ordinary.

[20:15]

So people strive for this enlightenment, which is good. So they can get to the point where they realize that enlightenment is ordinary. We have to get to the top of the mountain before we can come back down. So Shakyamuni goes to the top of the mountain and realizes, and then he comes back and lives in the world. So this is also part of this koan. Daitsu Shisho is sitting in Zazen for ten kalpas. He has realization, but And he has understanding. But the realization and understanding are not different. So, Mulan's verse, he says, better than knowing the body is knowing the mind in peace.

[21:23]

When the mind is realized, the body is no longer anxious. The body and mind here is not just body-mind. There are various levels of what that means. Of course we take care of the body. Body and mind are not separate. But here body means our dualistic understanding, our life in the waves, and mind means the water itself. for the depth of our understanding, the depth of our being. Better than knowing the body is knowing the mind in peace. In other words, being settled on our true self. That's the water. When the mind is realized, in other words, when we are sitting

[22:29]

in the depths of our ocean samadhi, as it's called, then the body is at peace, even though there are problems. When the body and mind are fully realized, which means not different, the saintly hermit declines to become a noble, or actually declines to become a Buddha. So, a real Buddha is a not-Buddha. So we say, well, the Bodhisattva, you know, how does the Bodhisattva postpone becoming a Buddha? The Bodhisattva postpones becoming a Buddha in order to save all beings, and will not enter Buddhahood until all beings are saved. But when the Bodhisattva does that, the Bodhisattva is a Buddha, of course.

[23:37]

So, he doesn't strive to become a Buddha. He simply does the work. This is why, you know, Tsukiroshi never, didn't emphasize, he talked about enlightenment all the time, but he didn't emphasize, you should try to get enlightenment, or you should try to become a Buddha. He always emphasized, just do the work. Just do the zazen, just do your practice. Never mind about trying to become a Buddha. You're already a Buddha, but it doesn't manifest until you do the work. And when you do the work, you don't think about it. If you start thinking about, I'm now a Buddha, you're not. So you can do it, but you can't see it. You can be it, but you can't see it. If you peek, it's all over.

[24:42]

Peek is like manifesting ego. I am. When you say, I am Buddha, it's okay if you forget about it. You can say that once. But you can't dwell there. So, Daito Shisho is simply doing his practice without thinking about anything. When you sit in Zazen, there's no Buddha, there's no enlightenment, there's no delusion, there's no concept of anything. Simply, this is it. And when you're doing your activity, same thing. This is it. What is it? That's another koan, wonderful koan. What is it? Well, the answer is very obvious.

[25:46]

This is it. This is where the answer is in the question. You just turn the question around. What is it? This is it. It is this. This, it is. You can say it any way you want. So, as we say, nothing special. Nothing special. Just do the work. You're right, I did say that. And I still say that.

[26:48]

What is it? But anyway, you say it, depending on how you want to emphasize. What is it? It's a question. But what is not always a question. You can say, what is it? But what is not necessarily a question. What can also be a declaration, declamation, acclamation. What kind of Asian? In other words, it's a statement. The what, it is, Dogen uses this kind of language. It's the what, it's the who, it's the how. It's the how is doing. It's the it. It's a kind of statement which when you take out all of the self proclamations and it just stands in the place of the self or I. It's the how or the who or the what.

[28:09]

Just using those terms to de-egoize the statement. Is it dangerous or deluded or wrong of us to declare ourselves to be Buddhas? Is it more salutary to acknowledge or to declare that other people are all Buddhas? Well, you can say, I'm Buddha, as long as you realize that everyone else is the same. Everyone else is also Buddha. So as long as you're not standing out in a self-centered way, then yes, I am Buddha along with everyone else. As a matter of fact, that's Buddha's exclamation. I am the Buddha along with all sentient beings. That's his classic statement.

[29:11]

I am enlightened along with all sentient beings. Not I am enlightened apart from all sentient beings. but to encourage other people maybe that they are Buddhas. That's right. That's a kind of way of not proclaiming that you are Buddha, but seeing the Buddha in everyone. That's right. And when you see the Buddha in everyone, then you realize it in yourself, of course. You can't see it unless you Because everyone is a mirror reflecting you. Let it shine. You don't shine it, but you let it. In other words, you're not even aware of that. If you become too aware of your shining, then it's a little bit tricky.

[30:18]

You always have to keep letting go. So, when we attain the non-attainment of enlightenment, let it go. Oh, that's interesting. So, you're always coming back down to non-attainment. Well, I'm sure there's another version of this. But, honestly, several times a week I think about Orpheus and Eurydice because The prize for bringing her back from hell was that he never looked back to make sure that she was there, which I think of in terms of looking at myself and thinking, how am I doing? Yes. And of course, he looked and of course, he lost her. But I get to do it every day all over. Well, I don't know if I want to get into that, but. I don't know the story well enough to be able to comment on it.

[31:26]

Alan. Well, I was just going to say, Orpheus was a legendary musician and somehow, I don't remember how, Eurydice got spirited off to Hades. But he got the opportunity to bring her back on his great love. But the condition was that he played his lute and lead her out of Hades with her following, but he was not allowed to look back to see if she was there. Did she come and she wasn't there? She was there, but not for long because he's broken the deal by looking. Oh, yeah, of course, I see what you're saying now. Right, it's exactly the same thing. That's right, you lose it by looking back, by peeking. Yes. Same. Exactly. Ellen, I'm going back to the case thinking about one of the things we were studying in class.

[32:34]

This Thursday, looking at one of the schools. And I don't know if this is on the mark or not. Seems to me the student is saying, here's this Buddha who's sitting there for ten kalpas and he didn't become a Buddha. He did not attain Buddha. Or he didn't attain Buddhahood. There's something that just is suggestive to me about this question that we have about great, potentiality and great function. And maybe what I'm hearing, and I don't know if this is correct or if it's in this column, but I'm hearing from his teacher when this monk asked the question and said, don't worry about whether he attained or not attained.

[33:43]

You can't get there by just sitting zazen silently. That's a question that I hear in this. Right. So that's the question of. Yeah. Yes. That's. I wrote that down in my. No. It's a bustle. And I'm not cool. And Basu is sitting. That's in one of Suzuki. She's favorite. koans. Baso is sitting Zazen and Nansen, his teacher, comes along and says, what are you doing? Baso says, I'm sitting Zazen. He says, why are you doing that? To become a Buddha. And then Nansen picks up a tile and starts polishing it. You know this story. And Baso says, why are you doing that?

[34:48]

Why are you rubbing a tile with a stone? Nan says, to make it into a mirror. And Baso says, how can you make a tile into a mirror by rubbing it with a stone? And Baso says, well how can you become a Buddha by sitting Zazen? And then the teacher says, asks him a question, he says, do you, when you want to make the cart go, do you whip the horse or the cart? And Dogen says, of course you whip the cart. So the horse is like trying to get something, enlightenment. The cart means practice. So if you want to make the cart go, you whip the practice, not the horse.

[35:53]

You have to practice. In other words, you go for the practice instead of going for the treasure. In order to get the treasure, you have to do the practice. If you want the most precious thing, you have to do the work. But what people try to do is grab the thing, you know, without having to do the work. But if you do the work, the cart goes, because the cart and the horse are the same thing. As soon as you whip the cart, the horse goes, the heart, because you're also whipping the horse. Anyway, you can make it go anyway. Yes. I think maybe another side to the koan is, I think people, we tend to try to be very good. Yes. Rather than being ourselves. Yes. Yes, so I'm going to end that with your statement, because I'm going to quote Suzuki Roshi here.

[37:05]

He's talking about wherever you are, enlightenment is there. And he says, you think you can only establish true practice after you attain enlightenment, but it's not so. True practice is established in delusion. in frustration. If you make some mistake, that is where to establish your practice. There is no other place for you to establish your practice. We talk about enlightenment, but in its true sense, perfect enlightenment is beyond our understanding, beyond our experience. Even in our imperfect practice, enlightenment is there. We just don't know it. So the point is to find the true meaning of practice before we attain enlightenment. Wherever you are, enlightenment is there. If you stand up right where you are, that is enlightenment. This is called, I don't know Zazen. We don't know what Zazen is anymore.

[38:08]

I don't know who I am. To find complete composure when you don't know who you are or where you are, that is to accept things as it is. It's also called great patience. Even though you don't know who you are, you accept yourself. This is you in its true sense. When you know who you are, that you will not be real for you. You may overestimate yourself quite easily, but when you say, I don't know, then you are you, and you know yourself completely. That is enlightenment. So, you always have a way to go. There's no excuse. Because we want to be perfect.

[39:10]

And we think that Buddha is perfection. And Buddha is perfection. Because Buddha is full of flaws. Sorry. Yes? How does Buddha... Buddha is awake. How does all this fit with being awake? How can you be awake and unenlightened? How can you be awake and unenlightened at the same time? I believe in delusions. Well, because... That's a good question. How can you be awake and deluded at the same time? Is that what your question is? Unattained, yes. Well, you can be.

[40:14]

You can be. Because enlightenment includes not being awake. as a statement, the main thing about being enlightened is that you realize 80 or 90% of the time you're deluded. Yes. And I mentioned that to my sister, and she said, only 80 or 90%? I think that's correct. If you realize your shortcomings, that's a form of enlightenment. So, we find our way, as he says, in our delusion.

[41:22]

So, we have to, you know, most of the problems we have are not because we have problems. most of the problems we have is because we have a hard time accepting our problems as ourself, as the way to go, our shortcomings. We have to see things as it is and not simply in some idealized way. So there's the idealized Buddha, which is this wonderful, perfect being, And then there's the real Buddha, which is the one with all the warts. That's the real Buddha. Not the idea of Buddha in our mind, the idealized Buddha, but the real Buddha, with all the shortcomings, and yet, totally involved with the practice.

[42:31]

So the difference between realization and understanding And the fact that this person could go for ten kalpas and realize the magnitude of, you know, he understood change, he understood, but he didn't have it yet in him. No, it's just that it's beyond our understanding. Yeah. It's just simply that it's all beyond our understanding. So we can be it, but it's beyond our understanding. Even though we can be it, it's beyond our understanding. That's what it is. Not about belief. Not about belief. I'm just searching for words now. If we can go on another minute or two. I've just come back from being on the road two weeks with these Kabir singers from India. And I sit on the stage and translate their songs.

[43:37]

And there's one song that I've translated so many times, and just the refrain, the repeated refrain, I always wondered, it seemed a little off to me, but I just got it from you. The song goes, the repeated lines go, tukatu, which means you, only you, which is just like this, only this. And then it's a very amusing song, goes through a lot of examples, like where there are thieves, you're the thief. When the thief robs somebody and runs away, that's you. The police guy who runs after and catches the thief, that's you. Elephant is a big you. Ant is a little you. But the chorus that I didn't get goes like this. Hey, hey, Mr. or Mrs. Sage, tell me the secret. And the next line is, just do the good work. And then the next line of the chorus is, branches, flowers, everything in the world, wherever I look, is you, only you.

[44:45]

And it has all these funny verses. Just do the work. I always wondered why that came in. So I would like you all to know that the Kabir singers will be in Berklee in a minute. In late April, early May, please see me for details. I knew there was a trick to that. But just one more thing before we... and that is, you know, when we see the Buddha nature in everyone, it doesn't mean to see something perfect. It means to see all the imperfections as perfect. Otherwise we can't relate to people in a true way. Difficult.

[45:39]

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