But I should also warn you that you cannot start serious practice with impunity. You know the word impunity? It means without danger. If you start practice seriously it may churn up your life so much that you can never go back to the life you had. I think it's better to find that out early on than later. As I've said, to come up with two or three people during this koan seminar. And our culture wants to make use of us in a certain way.

[01:01]

It doesn't always want us to make use of ourself. And it often doesn't want spirit or soul to make use of us. So in general, your parents try to put a lid on you. And then the school tries to put a lid on you. And then they immediately say, you've got to go right from school into career. And then career keeps a lid on you. And then in mid-late, you suddenly remember your youth and it's too late and you have a crisis.

[02:03]

You remember all the hopes and dreams you had that kind of surreptitiously lived in the cracks of your life. Or you wait till you retire. And suddenly the lid is off. And you're 65. And you buy a sports car and chase young people. Or have a breakdown or anything. Now, as I mentioned to somebody, the Chinese had quite a good system. I forget whether it's one or two years, but when your parents died, your mother died or father died, you took one or two years off from your work.

[03:08]

And usually you retired and lived in the mountains pretty much on your own for a year or two. And one of the interesting medical statistics is that you're many, many times more likely to get cancer during the year after your parent dies than at any other time in your life. So anyway, Chinese culture seemed to know that You needed to give people sabbaticals or fallow time in their life. And some of us take it by, you know, working at nondescript jobs for a few years instead of starting our career and things like that.

[04:15]

Ordinary. Yeah. So, but I'm just, in a way, giving you a warning that when you start to practice, it sometimes, especially, it may be from two to four years, really all you can do is practice. You need to do that and then you can start your career or start something else. That's one thing that makes lay practice difficult. Because sometimes you have to step out of whatever your life is and just let yourself... give yourself a big feel to exist in. So that's part of this, you lose your life, you...

[05:24]

Once you get into practice a certain point, it starts to change you enough that you can't turn back. Okay, so that's where the next comment comes. The monk understands that and he says, but how about when you don't confront it? And Ching Ling says, that doesn't really help. There's actually in this situation, it's here. There's nowhere to escape to. Whether you deal with it or not, you deal with it. If you don't deal with it, you just deal with it differently. and it may look like when you don't deal with it it may look like you've made a good solution the outside world may say you've made a good decision but you may be slowly dying inside

[06:48]

And that happens to a lot of people. So still there's nowhere to escape. Just so the monk says, at just such a time, then what? And, um... It's lost here is the sense of this is a chance to find it. If you really know that there's nowhere to escape. And then you shift more toward into practice and enlightenment. Where has it gone? The grass is deep. There's no place to look for it. And this also has double and triple meanings.

[08:04]

The grass is deep means ordinary life, distractions, and so forth, the weeds. but the grass is deep also means the field of the bodhisattva because the bodhisattva is the one who goes back into the weeds back into the grass and doesn't just live in nirvana or in some special protected situation. Because you can achieve certain wonderful states of mind and then protect them by living very carefully. Surround yourself with an entourage and live in a monastery.

[09:12]

Or there's other ways to do it, live in a hut or play it safe. But the sense of the bodhisattva is the bodhisattva stops playing itself safe and is willing to leak. So, although you wouldn't know this, grass, for some reason, particularly in Dungsan's lineage, is a symbol for or represents a subtle way of understanding things. And it's used in images like to go to a place where there's not a blade of grass. Or to use grass to measure the sky.

[10:18]

Or to live on the tip of every blade of grass. Or to see the wind blow through the grass and know the meaning of your teacher. So then this shifts to there's no place to look for it. So when there's no place to look for it, where are you? You're already there. So there's no place to look for it is the shortcut. so this points out the shortcut again to have a state of mind which recognizes you're already there and that's to grab the snake by the head and to grab the snake by the head means to go to the source of everything

[11:34]

The head of a stream is the source of a stream. So to go to the head of a word or to the head of a phrase, is to go to the feeling out of which the words arose, which is to use language at a mantric level. And so there's no place to look for it. It's also expressed in these poems. On page 250, I think it was Belka pointed out, even in the ranks of Buddhas and patriarchs, Buddhas and ancestors, he didn't stay. That's where there's no place to live.

[12:42]

Or you rest in the reed flowers, which in this case is the grass and the weeds. And if there's no place to look for it, then up at the verse at the top, in the middle, you're turning the rudder in the dark. It's so dark there's no place to look. And then you're like a lone boat. And you're feeling your way in the dark of your night. Okay, so this khan is attempting to describe a potential life for you. How to look at each problem in your life, each situation in your life.

[14:02]

And how to relate to a practice with each situation in your life. And now you can take hold of each problem in your life and transform it and it can be the cause of enlightenment. Including how to make use of enlightenment and not get stuck in enlightenment. And this takes constant awareness. And so you should be on your guard. And the word awareness means to guard, to be wary. We should all be on our guard. And this one's equally poisoned.

[15:07]

And this has the sense of, this is the last thing I'll mention at lunch, of, yeah, in this book, Koan 87, young men, young men teaching his community, Yanmen said, medicine and disease subdue each other. The whole earth is medicine. What is yourself? So that is also a con very similar to this one. The whole earth is medicine. What is yourself? Can you live your life in this way, recognizing the whole earth is medicine?

[16:19]

And recognizing itself as both the poison and the medicine. Anyway, this is practice. Thank you very much. Now, I think we should probably go on to, if we're going to, between today and tomorrow, go on to this next koan. But first, Lenny, let me say that the first koan we... we looked at was about the lineage, the vertical lineage. And emphasized not only your relationship to your teacher and to wisdom, but your relationship to any other person. And this koan, this 59, emphasizes almost entirely your relationship to yourself.

[17:29]

And it's in the context of... of lineage because they're talking about that this is the third generation Dung Shan and so forth. And as usual it's not portrayed as Chin Ling, Ching Ling, Lin or the monk kind of musing to himself. It's presented as two parts of a person talking with each other as two separate people. And one thing I like about this portrait seminar is that we're studying the vertical lineage and practicing the horizontal lineage.

[18:54]

Because the horizontal lineage is each of you's friendship with each other. And while it's wonderful to sit in the sashin and feel the people around you, it's also wonderful to have some conversation, other kinds of ways to get to know each other. And at the same time recognize in each other how each of us is to some extent practicing the vertical lineage. And breathing through many worlds in our own states of being. So, I mean, this koan clearly of the Xing Ming's dead snake is a koan about the many worlds of being that turn simultaneously within us.

[20:20]

So that... And it's nice for many of us, I think, this corn has begun to fit in with this weather changing into fall and winter. And we really feel the hazy water and autumn on the ponds and so forth. And that means the koan is working in us when the weather starts coming into the koan and the feeling and so forth. But from the weather to moonlit flowers reflecting deep into the water, to the many problems we have that lie across our paths.

[21:28]

All of these things are simultaneously being threaded through us by our breath. So to peer under our own surface and see these, feel more this, the many worlds that we breathe, is one of the fruits of this con, I think. Okay, so now the question is, what is this next koan about? So let's read it. And it's number 53. Okay. Oh, no.

[22:41]

It's in... Do you have the... Can someone give Ulrike a copy? Okay, now. Many of you have heard... I've talked about this koan in many lectures. And I thought that we should look more formally at a koan that I've presented to you a number of times. And also, this is such a lovely koan. And a very much simpler story. And it's also a wonderful story because so many of us can take a walk and see wild ducks.

[23:48]

We hear them on the ponds. And also, if I were going to make a list of ten or... 20 koans that I would like everyone to know, think everyone should know. This would certainly be on the list. OK. We don't have to read the translator's notes. Now, it's also useful to read the verses in an intact way. In this book, the Book of Serenity, I happened to do the layout of this book, organize it. So I had the poems. done separately and then a second time with the inner linear. So at some point you should take a moment and read them. You know, I'll read it just for the heck of it. Wild ducks.

[25:06]

Who knows where they are? Matsu saw them coming and they had words with each other. He told all about the scene of the clouds and the mountains and the moon over the sea. As before, Chang didn't understand but said, they've flown away. Bai Zhang wanted to fly away, but Matsu held him fast. Speak, speak. And it's good also... Let's go back to the beginning. To read the case with the feeling of really being in that situation. Yesterday, I and a few people walked on the beach for, I don't know, two or three hours in a long time. And... Um, so you have to sort of feel Ma and Bai Zhang walking along.

[26:09]

You know, once when Great Master Ma and Bai Zhang were walking together, they saw some wild ducks fly by. And the Great Master asked, what is that? Zhang said, wild ducks. The Great Master said, where have they gone? Zhang said, they have flown away. Great Master then twisted... By Chang's nose. And Chang cried out in pain. And Master Ma said, When have they ever flown away? In the introduction, there is a statement, by saying the end... In the introduction, there is a statement, by saying the end... Sir, I couldn't understand your English either. You have to speak a little more slowly. In the introduction, there's a statement, but then in the end, there was an ancient point of this question. And as I understand the case, I get the feeling that it's important to be in the moment and be in both the outer and inner reality.

[27:20]

If I'm there, why do I have to actually go to this world consisting in an author? Good question. I want to say it in... Yeah, I think Mahakali's right also in pointing out this Question, where have the ancients... Where do the ancients go to rest? Because it's one of the fulcrums of the koan. Fulcrum, what is...

[28:26]

It was in the last koan they go to the wheat. There was one who went to the wheat in this text. I don't see people going somewhere else. I understand. Better say that in Deutsch. That kind of question we should ask. And that kind of question is very fertile. And I don't think you should go too quickly to your own understanding of the way it should be.

[29:48]

I don't mean just you, I mean everyone when you ask yourself a question like this. When a question comes up either through you from the koan or is directly presented in the koan, The best is to keep the question in a sustained state of not knowing and keep asking the text of the koan to answer the question. Don't ask your understanding, but ask the text of the koan to... because then you might be surprised. Because this is really always trying to refine our understanding. Make it more subtle and more functional.

[30:59]

And I don't want to respond to the question because I'd like to keep it open for now. There seem to me to be three phrases that have the same feeling about them. The one which we've just had, where do the ancients go to rest? There's when have they ever flown away? The third one is reversed. He told all about the scene of the clouds on the mountain. There are three sentences that give me the same feeling. The first is, where did the Alps go to rest? The second is, where did they fly to? And the third was in verse. Er hat alles über die Szene der Wolken in den Bergen und dem Mond über der See gesagt.

[32:10]

Okay. Good. Let me ask you then, I'll just ask a question too. What are the three interacting scenes in this koan? Dann möchte ich auch eine Frage stellen. Was sind diese drei interagierenden Szenen in dem koan? We could say four even, but at least three. Okay, something else? I wonder what Martin means with this question. Is it a question of danger at the moment? Yeah. [...] That's the question, isn't it? What is he really asking? You want... You cut.

[33:18]

She's completely involved in the case now. Faster than a speeding translator. Yeah. This what is that? What is that? Anyway, that's the question. What is he really asking? And what is the practice of this question? And it's good to look at the question at the simplest level first. Then add the situation to the question. What is it? And of course, what is it, or just what is one of the practices? And emo or thusness means is really whatness. There's a fascicle of Dogen called emo, I-M-M-O, a section of this. So this what-ness is also thus-ness.

[34:35]

Yeah. Another practice, naming things. Like when he says white ducks, just naming them. Yes, could be. Could be, sure. But it's also a question of... you're wondering what Ma is really pointing out. Yes, Eric. I guess if I would be in that situation, if somebody asks me, then maybe just to say wild ducks, it's just an excuse for dreaming and just talking with somebody else.

[35:40]

And then, yes, I'm dreaming and thinking about something, and then somebody asks me, what is it? And then my reaction would be just to excuse that wild duck. Why ducks? Because of course the person who asked this knows that this is why ducks. Maybe the question is more what you are doing now. Where are you now? Yeah. When I imagine myself in the situation where I am with someone and I can imagine that I want to dream about something and then suddenly someone asks me, what is that? Of course, as a kind of excuse to say, yes, they are geese, because I really, so to speak, yes, as a kind of flight, that I am not there, so to speak, that I say, yes, I have just left, and that you are back to where you are now.

[36:41]

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to discuss this in the seminar, in the meetings together this afternoon. Because in some ways this is somewhat less discussable than the other koans we looked at. This is something you couldn't experience, I hope, but... a little hard to discuss. But as in any koan that's trying to teach something, there are quite a few points here that are worth discussing. And to really understand this situation. And what, again, let me remind you that what kind of, what phrases stuck with you or what points stuck with you?

[37:48]

I mean, it could be the question, what is it? What's that? It could be, you know, the pointer. I like the pointer a lot. The whole world does not hide it. Like we can go back to, you don't have to open the book, it's fine, but in 59, the introduction of the pointer starts out with, try to get rid of it, and it stays. Try to keep it and it leaves. What are they talking about? It's like the bird doesn't hide. It's the same place where the angels go to rest. And Matsushita is this place where this point is.

[38:58]

And there's a difference between those named Kaishan. He's not at this point. In German. Okay, that's Hermann's response. Anybody else? Try to get rid of it and it stays. What's that? Okay. Anybody else? Awareness. Awareness? Yeah. Yeah. I would give it a name. But you're being very philosophical. What about in your own life?

[40:11]

Problems. Problems. You try to get rid of your problems and they stay. Well, problems particularly love, like if you try to keep somebody, they go away, and if you let them go, they come back. Does that work always? I'll have to try that. All right, so try to get rid of it and it stays.

[41:14]

We know that's problems. Try to keep it and it leaves. What's that? Joy. Joy? Yeah, why not? Sure. What else? Hijack state. Yeah. Yeah, and what, Kurali? A good state of mind. A good state of mind, again. Yeah. Yeah, most specifically, since we're talking about Zen, when you try to keep something that leads, it's samadhi. So it's the feeling dimension, the non-graspable feeling dimension. If you try to grasp it, of course, it goes away. Okay. So this koan right here states what's happening right in that first line. You have the problem and you have the non-graspable feeling level which allows you to practice with it.

[42:26]

And that's the dead snake, live snake. And not leaving, not staying, it has no country. Yeah, there's no country. This has to be describing the Dharmakaya. Where will you meet it? Everywhere, every place. Tell me, what can be so special? So this is, you know, somebody might say, you know, what is the Dharmakaya? And to say it has no form, as we discussed, is dead words. You might say instead, the moon is at the door, the baby is crying. Or you might say, I wonder sometimes.

[43:26]

You know, there's various responses that show a different entry to or practice or use of the Dharmakaya, not just the space or absoluteness of the Dharmakaya. So this koan is trying to, you know, really bring it home to you so it's not so special. It has no country, it's present in your life. You can't say it stays, you can't say it leaves. It's that accompanying state of mind that's always with you but you may not have it on a leash or know it's there. So here we have a similar kind of thing, but is it really pointing out the same thing? The whole world does not hide it. What doesn't the whole world? What isn't hidden by the whole world?

[44:43]

And then this links it immediately to Matsu or Baicheng. His entire capacity stands revealed. And here we're talking about ducks and two guys walking along, but we've got his entire capacity stands alone revealed. And then it opens this up a little, unpacks this a little further in the next sentence. Gives you a sense of its manifestations and its practice. Gives you a sense of its manifestations and its practice.

[45:40]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_76.64