Today is not the same as yesterday. Almost none of you were here yesterday. Yeah, today is not the same as yesterday. This is a very ordinary statement. Conventional statement. But it's also a profound statement. Today is not the same as yesterday. Today I'm facing all of you, each of you. Yeah, and we're facing each other. And what does this mean? I don't know, actually. I mean, I've done this a lot, but I still don't really know. Yeah, and you don't know. I mean... I hope you don't know.

[01:09]

So what is it that we're doing? Simon, were you listening to music earlier? No. Oh, my goodness. You listen to me and listen to me. Oh, my goodness. This is too much. Yeah. In that regard, how many of you weren't at the first Winter Branches meeting about Cullens? Yeah, half or so more. Okay. And how many of you who weren't here have listened to the tapes of the previous time? Some of you. Oh. So I have to start all over again.

[02:23]

Well, you think not, but I think so. Well, at least I should review a little, but not fully. Actually, I'm still in jet lag. I find when I fly from with the sun, into the sun, with the sun rather, the time zone I start from dissolves fairly quickly as I go with the sun. But I find when I fly toward the sun, into the sun, the time zone gets real tight around me and protects me from the sun. And I have trouble shaking it off.

[03:34]

So I'm still in the southwest. I'm in Colorado. Or I'm speaking to you from a deep sleep. Yeah. Something like that. What zone are we in? All right. Now, you'll remember, some of you, that we looked at the first koan of the Shoyuroku. And a very important... observation is that it's the first koan.

[04:37]

Yeah, we shouldn't overlook the obvious. Yeah. It's the first koan. And it... establishes us, establishes our practice in the views of early Buddhism. It's a way of locating our practice At this moment. And it locates our practice in relationship to the Mahayana. And it locates our practice in the sense of where it can go.

[05:47]

How it can develop. So in other words, you know, the first koan talks about where Zen practices come from and where Zen practice is going. Now when somebody... comes to Johanneshof, considers coming to Johanneshof. Yeah, they naturally ask, what's going on there? Zen practice, what's that, etc. And when they come here for the first time, they have some feeling. What we do here presents the way we practice.

[07:01]

And that first introduction should be, and is, paid attention to. And this first introduction Koan presents Koan practice. What the heck is Koan practice? And again, this simple question shouldn't be brushed over. So this first koan is asking... Well, let's go to the first koan in the Blue Cliff Records.

[08:09]

Now, during this winter branch's four or five, or what number are we? The tree is getting more branches. It might live. I think we're supposed to, in this winter branches, get to koan 53 in the blue cliff records. Is that right? Is that correct? Yeah, but not one after the other. He wants a big job translating. One to 53. So maybe we'll get there. But let's look at the first koan of the Blue Cliff Record. It asks... What is the truth?

[09:20]

It asks who we are. It asks what is our relationship to culture. To our inherited culture. Yeah, this is the emperor and the king meets Bodhidharma. Or the lineage meets the emperor. Now, this context is, of course, part of the koan.

[10:27]

The emperor or king illustrates the... epitomizes the ideal person or the most fully represented person of a culture. And Bodhidharma represents the lineage. And Bodhidharma represents the lineage. The lineage which recreates itself in each generation. So a koan like this assumes You walk in the door of this building.

[11:41]

And there's lots of rooms and activity, but it all surrounds this room, the Zendo. And it doesn't make any sense to be here in this building. Unless you have some relationship to the Zendo. Whether you want to sit or not. It doesn't make any sense to read, to study koans. Or to look at What does this first koan of Luke's records assume? Is it you're a person who asks yourself, what is the truth? And like Galileo or somebody, you're willing to stand up for what you think the truth is.

[13:01]

And if the church confines you to your under house arrest the rest of your life? as they did to Galileo. Yeah, you may think, this is rather impractical. I have a family to support. But you're somehow willing to do what truth asks you. But somehow you are ready to do what the truth asks of you or what the truth asks of you. If you don't have this willingness, there's no real reason you should practice koans. Sorry. That's just the way it is. I mean, it's the way it is if you really want to make sense of koans.

[14:05]

If you want... If you can imagine koans as a catalytic, transformative... center of your life. So this is set up theatrically with an emperor meeting Bodhidharma. Which one represents the truth? Well, we wrote this story, so we know who represents the truth. Bodhidharma represents the truth. But even though we wrote this story, our lineage wrote this story, we all know, I hope, that we wrote this story. Wissen wir alle, hoffe ich doch, dass wir diese Geschichte eben geschrieben haben.

[15:15]

But that doesn't mean it isn't true. Aber das heißt nicht, dass sie nicht auch wahr ist. Yeah. It's asking us the question, is it true? Das heißt, sie fragt uns auch, stellt uns auch die Frage, stimmt das denn? So this first poem in the Blue Cliff Records, Hickey on Roku, This is a kind of dramatic presentation of the two truths. A conventional truth and a fundamental truth. And when can we ask ourselves fundamental questions? It can't be done at a cocktail party. You ask somebody you're standing next to with your drink, what is the meaning of life?

[16:17]

I mean, this is the end of the conversation. But it doesn't mean the questions aren't real. We ask them when we are suffering or ill. Wir fragen uns das, wenn wir leiden oder wenn wir krank sind. We ask them when we face the Buddha or face the Zendo or our practice. Wir fragen uns das, wenn wir den Buddha ansehen oder den Zendo oder unsere Praxis. So this Goan, this first Goan asks, who are we in relationship to the lineage? So stellt uns das Goan diese Frage, wer sind wir in Beziehung zur Lehrlinie? Who are we in relationship to the truth? Who are we in relationship to our inherited culture? Represented by the emperor. Now these have to be real questions for you.

[17:33]

Or you can't really practice Zen fully. It's your intention and your deep inner request that makes these questions real. Now, if you suddenly are ill, you have cancer or something like that, you may ask yourself these questions. And we know, I know, people do this, of course. What Buddhism says, don't wait for the crisis or when you have a death sentence.

[18:40]

It sharpens the mind to have a death sentence, as someone said. But Buddhism assumes it doesn't. is probably more powerful to ask yourself these questions out of wisdom and out of your intention. And not wait until you're pushed into it by... some suffering or crisis or old age. So during this week, our zazen, our discussions, ought to be rooted in these fundamental questions. And to make these fundamental questions our own.

[19:48]

And at first they won't be. Or not so much. You know, your mind, our attention slips away from it. We turn into the emperor. We begin thinking like the emperor. Well, it would be nice if we owned this and controlled that and so forth. And then we kind of, well, really, really, that's not going to happen and that's probably not what we want. So we bring ourselves back to these fundamental questions. And we could say Zazen is to sit in the midst of whatever you are.

[20:49]

But also to sit in the midst of these fundamental questions. Bodhidharma, after his encounter with the emperor, went and sat for nine years without moving or something like that. But the koan doesn't start with his sitting for nine years. The koan starts with these fundamental questions. Mm-hmm. When you see smoke on the other side of the mountain, you know there's a fire. When you see horns on the other side of a fence, you know there's probably an ox there.

[22:05]

Yeah, this thinking by inference is, nowadays we say that's a no-brainer. We don't have that. No brainer. No brainer. It takes no brains to... Yeah. Most of the U.S. government thinks that. Et cetera. It's... Can you look at the obvious and draw conclusions? And stick with those conclusions, not what you desire, this or that, and sliding into self-referential thinking.

[23:12]

And then it says, when one is lifted up to know three, this is the introduction to the koan. And to judge at a glance. These are the food and drink of a pastoral monk, of an adept practitioner. But what about when it comes to cutting off myriad streams? Cutting off myriad streams means something like the way you define yourself through your culture. Doesn't mean you don't live in your culture.

[24:28]

The two truths assumes you also live in your culture. But the two truths also assume that you're able to cut off the myriad streams through which you define yourself within your inherited culture. Even adept practitioners, pastoral monks, keep some little place where their secret little self is still hoping for realization in conventional terms. And they think, well, I know this, but I keep it carefully controlled and it's okay because, I don't know, I like it.

[25:42]

This is not cutting off myriad streams. If you cut off myriad streams, then you can practice the conventional truth. What about when it comes to cutting off myriad streams? Free to arise in the East and set in the West. Do you realize how far out that statement is? Free to arise In the east and set in the west. That means you are equal to the sun.

[26:57]

It's a whole world view. It means we don't get up in the morning for Zazen because the sun gets up. We get up because we get up. The sun gets up because it gets up. Each thing is independent. Of course the sun is a lot bigger than us and far away. So it has an influence. but each thing is independent independent in its interdependence there's no one center that controls everything the sun is also interdependent And it gets up because there's smoke on the other side of the mountain.

[28:21]

And we get up because we get up for our interdependent reasons. One of the main reasons is a tradition that we get up before the sun gets up to do so. So we sit, maybe the sun will come up, maybe it won't. Around here it often doesn't, it's dark all day. And around here it's often not so. It's dark all day and it rains. In Crestone it almost always gets up. But do you see the feeling? We're not in the emperor's world. We're in the world we generate at this moment.

[29:28]

Our meeting at this moment. Free to rise in the east and set in the west. Yeah, to... what it says next, to come and to go or something like that. Freely in all directions. Free to give and to take. What kind of person is this? This is the person of the lineage or of Bodhidharma. Or who renews the lineage in each generation?

[30:35]

Or who renews the lineage in each generation? So, I mean, I feel being jet-lagged, I feel a little bit like, I don't know, whether I arose in the East or the West. But perhaps... You know, it's a little like not being in the emperor's world. I feel free to sleep when I want and free to get up when I want. Perhaps jet lag is something like a little bit of wisdom. Okay, now what is this? This first koan of the Luke Cliff Records asks who we are. in our society and in regard to the lineage.

[31:45]

And in relationship to the truth. Now, that's the second koan of the Shoyoroku, the Book of Serenity. The first koan of the Book of Serenity, as I said, establishes in a way the location of our practice in early Buddhism, and the location of our practice in relationship to koans. And each of the succeeding koans in this book.

[32:55]

The first koan tries to establish us so we can practice with this book and this Dharma lineage. No, our kind of organization, we call ourselves the Dharma Sangha. Which means something like those who study the Dharma. Or those who study the truth. Are we doing that? Let's do it. I think we're doing it. Let's continue to do it. Sometimes we're walking directly into it. Sometimes we're sneaking up on it. Both are good approaches.

[33:58]

So what is this first step? koan asking well they don't even say it's the buddha as you know they say it's the world honored one which in english spells out who which is very convenient because the koan is asking who is mr. who And as we know from earliest Buddhism, Buddha's time, the Buddha said, don't look at me. But see the Dharma. So this first question Cohen is asking, what is it to see the Dharma?

[35:00]

Cohen says, clearly observe the Dharma. So this is the question this koan is asking us if we're going to enter into practice fully. Clearly observe the Dharma. What is the Dharma? Well, let's call it today activity. It's not seeing the world as entities, it's seeing the world as activity. So what activity is Dharma activity? So this, because I want to stop, because it's getting long for your legs.

[36:11]

So this koan is asking, what is the Buddha? What is the world-honored one? Is that the same as the Buddha? Mm-hmm. And thus it's also asking, can you imagine yourself as the Buddha? Now, oh, about ten years ago, the Dalai Lama, His Holiness, gave an interview in which Atisha was asked that Tibetans by his time understood Buddhism very well. Tibetans by his time understood Buddhism very well.

[37:22]

But the teaching wasn't entering into the culture Why? And Atisha said, because no one has realized the truth of the practice. And why can't they? Because they can't see their lamas as Buddhas. Now this first koan is asking, making nearly the same request. It's asking, rather than just seeing your teacher as the Buddha, can you see yourself as the Buddha?

[38:24]

And I guarantee you, Buddhism will not come into this Western world until you can see yourself as the Buddha. Can you deal with that? How do you deal with it? What does it mean to see yourself as the Buddha? To see your teacher, to see your neighbor, to see the waitress at the restaurant? Yeah. Well, let's make it simple. It's to see the activity of a Buddha. How do we practice the activity of a Buddha? So for your discussion today, I would like... Probably a good question is, what is the activity of a Buddha?

[39:29]

If we can enter into the activity of a Buddha... Buddhism will enter our culture and our own life. That's enough for today. Speaking from a deep sleep.

[39:49]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_73.16