Happy Easter. I think this is Easter. Jojo was asked, what is the meaning of the patriarch or Bodhidharma coming from the West? And Zhaozhou's very famous answer was, the oak tree ... you can't hear? Now you can hear. She can hear in the front, can you hear in the back? Now, Zhaozhou's very famous answer was, the oak tree in the front garden. Egan, who founded Mio Shinji Monastery, he is known for only one statement, only one statement is remembered, and he said, Zhaozhou's oak tree is a bandit, robbing us of everything we have.

[01:27]

I'm, you know, trying to talk to you about Buddhism. I'm also trying to get you to think about things differently. The many, in most religions, the miracles, Christ rising or some special occurrence, basically, I think, are getting you to think differently about things. Like Zhao Zhou's The Oak Tree in the Garden. Another monk asked Jaojo, the real way is not difficult, only avoid the true way or the path is not difficult, only avoid picking and choosing. And the monk adds, what is not picking and choosing?

[03:02]

And Zhaozhou said, under heaven and on earth I alone am the honored one. And the monk said, that's also picking and choosing. And Zhaozhou said, you stupid oaf. Where is the picking and choosing? another story of Joshu. There are so many koans about Joshu or Jaojo. The jisha or attendant noticed a new student came and as he was leaving, Joshu said, Jaojo said, here, before you go, have a cup of tea. And later, another

[04:10]

new student, he said the same thing, �Here, before you go, have another cup of tea.� And the jishya, trying to understand his teacher, said, �Why did you say the same thing to both of them?� And Jaojo said in a loud voice, �Hey, you, have another cup of tea.� If you're standing on top of a tall building, you may want to jump off. And I think we want to jump off because, you know, various reasons, but one is I think we're looking forward to the pain of not being able to turn back when we want to. You know you're falling and you think, and you know once you get out there you're going to want to turn back, but you can't and you look forward to such an irrevocable situation. You know, we want something irrevocable in our life. And also, maybe we want to be molecular or suspended.

[05:39]

in the absolute or in space. Sometimes when I am somewhere and in a taxi, the taxi drivers talk to me about playing the numbers. You know what the numbers are, all of you? you put down 50 cents. When I was a newsboy, it was a nickel, but I guess now, I don't know if you can play a nickel anymore. Anyway, this guy was talking to me about 50 cents. And it's great, you know, it gives him something. He was complaining how many millions of dollars they could build a hospital every day, he said, in New York City, with the money from the numbers. But He does it, he likes the feeling, maybe today something unexpected will happen, something unpredictable will happen, I will win $600 or $100. So all day long he likes that feeling of something unpredictable. And I think that desire for

[07:09]

to have something out of our control, something irrevocable or something unpredictable, is what we want it very badly, I think, and it makes people susceptible to fascism and spiritualism and various kinds of corruption of this desire to be out of control or forget yourself for a moment You know, last time I was talking about Gregory Bateson and the pattern that connects things. And that pattern that connects things is also, you know, a kind of topography. And that topography, you know, I don't know, talking about something like this is a little bit difficult, but I'm trying to give you some

[08:26]

some feeling for the oak tree in the garden. Anyway, there's some topography that connects things. And if we go to the atomic level, at the atomic level everything is the same. We are just atoms, you know. Very difficult to see much difference between you and me and air and table and everything. But there are minute differences and those minute differences at various levels of resolution become us. You can bring us into focus. And you could continue that focus to other levels of resolution and most of us You know, people who are boring are people who resolve things at only 1,500 feet, or everything occurs at one level of topography and you get so bored with it. Or a painter who, unless there's some wonderful sacred luminosity to the painting, a painter who just has one level of topography is usually rather boring.

[09:53]

By contrast, Cézanne, who joins different topographies. The edge of the sky is beginning of the leaf, both on the same plane. Or in many ways, he puts different topographies, different altitudes of this scenery, this thing we divide into foreground and background. And today I'm not just talking about no foreground and no background, like in a dream, but a wider view of topography than that, so that even past and future is here. A topography that includes, naturally, since time is involved or space is involved, past and future. So, we can resolve things at various levels of topography and Cézanne, you know, moving toward cubism, you know, puts things at different levels of resolution beside each other. So, this becomes noses sideways, but that's on one plane. I'm talking about something more subtle than that.

[11:20]

So, by your actions, by your activity, you activate or engage various levels of this topography which we are, which goes from the void to fullness or emptiness, you know, to pleroma or void to vairachana. Various ways we have of expressing this scale. this topography of various kinds of resolution which you, by your creativity, by your intention and vision, resolve and engage or bring into activity. This koan, you know, the real way is without difficulty. It doesn't mean it's without difficulty exactly. It means something more

[12:30]

more a some jump or synapse. Ivan Illich, you know, Ivan Illich when he was here, as I've told you before, he said, Catholicism, he said, is falling apart all over the world because they've lost monastic tradition. because monasticism is no longer strong. And he said, monasticism is no longer strong because, I love it, you know, he said, because monks, the monastic life has lost the importance of trivia. And I think that trivia, it's not trivial that trivia means, excuse me, three roads meeting. an intersection or node or a nodule or maybe synapse, this pattern that connects or this topography in which there's no foreground and background, so there's nothing which is more important than something else. So, trivia means to touch every surface, to have that kind of mind which touches every surface.

[14:02]

Christ said to Peter, I believe, he announces he is the Messiah. maybe like I am the whole honored one. He announces he is the Messiah and says that the sign of this will be his, something like this he says, the sign of it will be his dying on the cross. And Peter says, you're crazy, or something to that effect, and Christ supposedly says, Get away from me, you Satan! You think like a man and not like God. You don't know how God thinks." So, introduction to this story. Real way is not difficult. Only avoid picking and choosing. Introduction says,

[15:12]

the silver mountain is impenetrable, the iron wall is impenetrable. But once you penetrate, you find you are nothing but silver wall, silver mountain and iron wall. If you say, so what? I will say, can you I will say, if you can by your activity show an environment, if you can by your activity show an environment, and take the essential bridge, and take the essential bridge, not letting profane or holy to cross, this is then your inherent nature. So, in this kind of story, you know, Joshu is not pointing out nouns, Bodhidharma coming from the West, or the oak tree in the garden, or something like the particularity of everything is oneness, but he means the vivid working of the oak tree.

[16:47]

I think the commentary actually says, when you become the essential, when you grasp the essential bridge, like that, you know, but it means to, Choshu means to, how can I say, to grasp the essential oak tree, or some you know, some penetration. So that you, or vision. Vision usually means you have a view of, wide view of the topography, selfless view of the topography. So your activity shows an environment and you grasp the essential bridge. Anyway, this is what this kind of story is always pointing out. To resolve your topography, this topography which actually joins us,

[18:35]

that level of resolution through your activity so you, as Joshu says, commentary says, show an environment. By your activity you show an environment. Or oak tree in the front garden. And you know, I don't mean of course to induce some special state of mind. This topography, this silver mountain is always you. You don't need to induce some special state of mind. We want to find the absolute to be suspended, you know. I think Christ's transfiguration, you know. I believe it's August 6th that's celebrated. His transfiguration, where he is shown as a world-honored one, is to me the same as his rising from tomb. I don't know Christian meaning, you know, exactly, but in Buddhism this kind of statement would mean

[20:06]

The same thing, to see wide, to give you some jolt so you see wide topography. You know, I can say from molecular level or atomic level to various levels of resolution. And that doesn't mean much except to encourage you to know there are various levels of resolution. And we get stuck on, by our culture and habit and fears, on one or another level of resolution. So I've been suggesting, when you are with somebody or meeting some situation, you remind yourself, give up and meet. to have that feeling, give up and meet. So to stop, you know, to stop to just, as I said last Sunday, you know, like lying on the beach where you feel completely, completely there. You don't want to go anywhere else.

[21:30]

or sitting on the cushion, you feel not only completely here, but completely connected, and you don't feel any need to do anything else. This, on the one hand, seems like stopping time and space, and like being in control, but actually it's the opposite. It's to recognize an environment or to give up completely. It comes through acceptance, not through control. And we see it in our lives, how often we The average person has some taste for something irrevocable by the way they drive, you know, or cliffhanger, or something unpredictable, something out of our control. So, in practice, if you're practicing zazen, you may find

[22:53]

Of course, if you don't practice zazen you may also find it so, but zazen seems to encourage this likelihood to happen. Suddenly you won't know where you are or if your legs will hold you up or if room is going to spin away. Maybe you're going crazy, you know, but it's some experience of letting go for a moment of trying to keep a spell, the spell of our personality and spell of the scenery at one level of topography. And by practice, by constantly letting go, effort to let go, at some point you release the topography. Like in a dream or vision, you know, this activity this intensified activity comes alive in everything we do. So, Joshua is not talking about nouns, the oak tree in the garden, and there is no way for us to see it on a written page to understand what he means. But if you're practicing, you know, you find out.

[24:21]

monk was probably quite alert and ready to see connection between Bodhidharma coming from the West and oak tree in the garden by some jump in topography, I can say. So when you meet someone, you know, don't limit your relationship to the topography which you can control. But for most of us it's too scary because it turns into sexuality. If we don't control it, it goes to a different obvious level of connectiveness. So we're a little bit scared. Or it goes to aggression. or some other level which we, you know, must contain in ourself. So, some continual process of release and forgiveness and accepting others, forgiving us. Not just forgiving other people,

[25:52]

but what is more difficult, assuming they're forgiving us, putting us in the position, recognizing us needing forgiveness. Now, forgiveness, you know, I don't mean anything more than, I don't mean some religious idea, I mean just opening up the topography of our relationship with others by making conscious or noting or locating such the thing as forgiveness, or cheerfulness, or friendliness, or some feeling which requires no response. You don't need any response from the person or any acknowledgement of what you've done or said. These are kinds of topographies we can name and experiment with.

[27:11]

So what happens to us, whether we die on a cross or in whatever manner our life occurs? I don't know how to say it, but the topography of Human life, you know, is our life. What has happened to humans, happens to us. And what has happened to humans, we are ready for. And what happens to others, to our friends, happens to us. And it's very matter-of-fact, you know, not some big deal. We live and we die, we get sick and have good things happen to us. It's very matter-of-fact.

[28:46]

Heisenberg, you know, at 1932, his principle of uncertainty. At the atomic level there is no certainty, just possibilities. There are no facts, nothing you can make certain. But at our, you know, at our various levels of resolution we turn everything into facts. But practice, we should be So see, like Blake said, see through your eye, not with your eye. See the oak tree. So this koan is to see the oak tree through your eye, to see Bodhidharma coming from the West. This is another kind of vision which I cannot give to you,

[29:49]

But I can give you some confidence to let go, you know, to see world as this fluid or many possible layered thing, you know. Layered because we separate, can't make the jump. But the more confidence you can have, or fearlessness, or knowing you can't get hurt, what can happen to you? You can only die. you'll be able to meet this vast body, you know, Vairochana Buddha, that in so many ways we always are speaking of, always wishing we could forget ourselves a moment.

[31:09]

When you draw something, you can draw, you know, I can draw this bench, an outline. Gregory Bateson asks, why do things have outlines? Or his daughter asks, I forget which. That's a very interesting question. Where is the outline? Like, if you draw that, but also outline goes like that. and like that, and over Teresa, and over that, and right, there are many outlines. A very interesting outline goes this way, and over Paul, and over you, which is, we tend to think that is a separate object, but this is also a separate object. So, anyway, this Zen practice is about, and all religions are about, letting this visionary mind free, finding some way in Zen, by your Zazen practice, to let your visionary mind free, to trust your visionary mind.

[33:23]

to see, to view, whole topography. So we say form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Or we say third eye, third eye means to see, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. The act which shows an environment or to grasp the essential bridge and stop foreground and or profane and holy. And it's not something separated from us. Silver Mountain or Iron Wall is you yourself. You hear that and you get bored with hearing that, but your actions don't show it. You don't walk in the world like world was utterly familiar to you, utterly friendly to you, utterly one with you.

[34:51]

completely light or completely dark. Same thing. And we want to enter some kind of darkness, so nighttime or nightlife or sexuality or something that shakes us, we want to let go like that or be out of control like that. But this desire is basis of wide topography or spiritual life or transfiguration or resurrection or oak tree, the oak tree in the front garden, the oak tree in the front garden. Our stomachs, you know, are all so similar. Is your consciousness in your stomach? Please, stop thinking with your mind for a while and think with your stomach. You'll find new topography. You are too limited, you know.

[36:46]

So walk around with your stomach, see through your stomach. I'm bored with your mind. You may think I'm crazy, but try it out. It's something interesting. Here we are on this big sailboat. So I could start having a conversation with you at various levels of topography. Just trust yourself, please.

[38:21]

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