As they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain the world and let go of the attainment. Therefore, the child's master, when we are sick, the list of the past lives were not lightened. Well, now we are lightened in this life. Say the body, which is the fruit of many lives, before us were lightened there. The people of today are exactly as those of all of mine, and they explore the part of the streets and what he's taught in them. as this practice is the inside transmission level verified without witnessing and repenting in this way. I never fail to receive an help from all of us ancestors by repeating and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before that without only grounds away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. This is the real and simple color of true practice of the true mind of faith.

[01:04]

I'm going to shoot right here. Good morning, everyone. So here we are again, swimming along in Sashin. Maybe almost midway through, maybe not. Who's measuring how far we've gone and how far we have to go? So how's the water? Still, calm, quiet.

[02:05]

Can you see all the way to the bottom? Choppy, turbulent, agitated, full of mud and silt. So there's a sense of lots of waves that just keep rolling over you, splashing into you, waves of thoughts, emotions, body sensations. Maybe there's waves we call pain. How is that? How are you surfing those waves? How are you meeting them? How are they landing? Yesterday was sure getting tossed around a lot by lots of waves. Usually day two and three for me is choppy water day. So yesterday morning and afternoon was choppy water time. I expected it, but each time it shows up, it's a little bit like, oh, God, here we are again.

[03:09]

So it was kind of challenging. It was a pretty big tidal wave. Apparently there's these big waves that are coming into San Francisco, some of them two stories high. So I thought I had one of those yesterday when I was getting tossed around and sucked under and was even having trouble breathing at times. But I kept surfing as best I could. traveling along, and in time, about mid-afternoon, late in the afternoon, things seemed to quiet down a bit more and was a little bit more easeful. And, yeah, I found a little bit of calm and relief just in making the effort to be with the waves as they watched over them, over me, and not identifying with them, trying not to make a self out of them in some way. It's so habitual to take any thought, feeling, sensation and make a self out of it, to harden the waves into a person and then believe we are those hardened waves in some fashion.

[04:23]

So allow the waves to return to their liquid states. Allow them to be the fluid energy that they are. Don't fix them or reify them in some way. Simply observe that wave of energy passing through you as the ocean itself. The ocean doesn't grab onto them, it simply allows that current of energy to pass through, saying, oh, waves, okay, in the mind, in the body, in the heart. And in time, perhaps, the water will become still and quiet. And you will see the true water. You will see your true self, which was always there all the time. So good luck the rest of the week of surfing, whatever ocean or pond, wherever you find yourself in.

[05:33]

in any moment. It's really nice to be on the river with other people. So thank you for supporting each other in this way. And every now and then if you get tossed out of the boats, the raft. This happened to me in Nepal when I was surfing, not surfing, rafting in Nepal. I forget the name of the river, but we hit this giant rapid and we got tossed out. most of us, not all of us, but I was one of them, got tossed out, you know, and I was just like, ah, you know. And fortunately, there were people close by hand and we could help each other, you know, those who fell out to get back into their raft again. So this is what we're doing. We're helping each other. What are the ways we fall out of our raft? You know, talk to a practice leader or someone else who you're supportive to talk to at this time to help you get back into the raft and find your sense of composure again and stability. So we've been looking for the last while at the mountain way, the mountain style of practice, focusing on the journey that Dogen is offering us in San Suikyo.

[06:59]

And today we're going to start looking at the way of water. the waterway or the sour practice of water, which is a similar approach to the way of mountains. And we'll be looking at stories of sages living on the water, just as we did looking at stories of sages who lived in the mountains. So Gogan is saying there are wise ones and sages in both of these realms, the realms of mountains and the realms of water. Are they different? Is the way of navigating those realms different or the same? But first I thought I'd start with a brief segment from another Dharma talk by Suzuki Roshi in which he mentions Swansui Kyo. And this one is dated from August 3rd, 1969. And this is about water. So, you know, if water is here,

[08:04]

It means that mountains exist, and fish exist, and the stone exists, tree exists, frog exists, stars exist, moon and milky wind, everything exists. So we can say that water exists, you know? When water exists, everything is water now, you know? The water is representative of the whole world. So the whole world is water. Nothing can compare to the water, because the water is closely related to other things. So actually, water may not be water. But if we say, this is water, the rest of things can be the same thing. Maybe the water too. Just for Kvyen's sake, we name it water. That's all. When we reach this kind of understanding, even intellectually, It may be said we have understood what Dogen meant by water.

[09:06]

You exist here, you know, helping you. But actually, there is no borderline between you and I. For me, you are everything, you know? As long as I am here, you are everything. You know, like water. Like, for water, everything is just water. Water. Just for water. A husband is for your husband you are everything. And he laughs. This is in regard to he's speaking about himself and Okasan. There is nothing but you for your husband right now. When you reach this kind of understanding you know you will live in this moment in its true sense. As long as you understand things in terms of duality I am here and he is here and you are there, it is as if there is no relationship between you and others.

[10:10]

So water is not just water. The water I drink, if I drink a cup of water, the water is everything for us right now when as long as I am drinking it. With this kind of feeling and spirit, you have to drink water and you have to treat others. There is no separation between us. So this is intimacy. This is non-duality. This is water. We are water, and water is us. Everything is water. Not one, not two. We are water as water, being water for water. We are water as water, being water for water.

[11:13]

With this kind of feeling and spirit, we meet our lives and we meet each other. Speaking of... It tastes like all of you. I won't say what that tastes like. Cherry soda. So let's now turn to San Sui Kyo and Dogen's view on the way of water and people who live on the water. So this is paragraph 42 as Okamura has numbered it. Again, since ancient times, wise ones and sages have also lived by the water. When they live by the water, they hook fish, or they hook people, or they hook the way.

[12:18]

These are all water styles of old. And going further, there must be hooking the self, hooking the hook, being hooked by the hook, and being hooked by the way. There's a lot of hooking going on here. And here is Kaz Tanahashi's version of this paragraph. On the other hand, from ancient times, wise people have often lived near water. When they live near water, they catch fish, catch human beings, and catch the way. For long, these have been genuine activities in water. Furthermore, there is catching the self, catching, catching, being caught by catching, and being caught by the way. So this paragraph is a sort of preamble to a story about a Zen teacher known as Boatman De Chang, who is living near and working on the river.

[13:21]

And in the process, he hooks fish, hooks people, and hooks the way. And it seems that Dogen seemed to love this particular koan. about Bob Men Do Chang because he recites it about seven or eight times in his extensive record in various places. And then he also plunks it down here in the middle or near the end of San Suikyo. So I'll share this story in a little bit. So it's the case that since ancient times, wise ones and sages have often lived by water and they've been up to all kinds of activities that we might have some questions about. You might be familiar with the well-known Zen phrase, selling water by the river. Do you guys know that one? Yeah? So this is said to have been spoken by a Zen master to describe his 40 years of teaching. So Why would you buy water from someone standing beside the river?

[14:25]

You could just as well easily put the cup down and scoop up some for yourself. So this is basically what's happening in Zen. Furthermore, Zen maintains that there is absolutely nothing to attain and nothing to get. There's no real water for you to grab onto. So why would you pay for it? Why would you pay for anything that a Zen teacher is selling you? And who, when they hear this, absolutely nothing to be attained, would want to even go to the river? If you hear there's nothing to get at a Zen center, why would you go to a Zen center? Probably most of you didn't know that before you got here, huh? You know, someone said there's nothing at Zen center for you, don't go there. Anyhow, it's often the case that unless there is someone selling it or teaching it, We don't realize that we need it. So wise people who live near water catch fish, catch human beings, and catch the way.

[15:34]

And Carl Bielfeld, in his commentary, says that this phrase, catch fish, is a reference to a Chinese sage, Taikong Chu, who is said to have used to fish with a straight hook. So he also references a description of two kinds of Zen fishing. Koan Zen, which is the specialty of the Rinzai school, uses a curved hook. But the Soto Zen form of just sitting with Shikantaza, as practiced by Dogen, uses a straight hook. So with the latter, one does not get much to eat, but when he catches something, he sure... You know, it sure can be a whopper, right? So with Zen, with Sotho Zen, right, you're going to go hungry a lot, unless you're Tassajara, then you're going to be like, you know, eating all the time, you know?

[16:36]

But when something actually comes, you know, a true insight arrives, it's a whopper. It's a big one, right? And Rinzai has all these little ones who keep trying to get nibble, nibble, nibble, get. Every day you go in with your koan, nibble, nibble, a little bit more, right? And your teacher gives you another worm and another worm and another worm, right? Not insult to Zen. We're fishing with a straight hook. Good luck. So this is a puzzling expression, fishing with a straight hook. I'm not someone who particularly likes or actually understands the sport of fishing. I actually had this thing, I don't like to kill animals, so that's one. And number two, one time I did it, I thought it was really boring. Why would you do this? This is really boring. You could just be on the water, enjoy the water, and not actually be killing something in the process.

[17:38]

So just go sit in a zendo instead or sit by the river, it said. It just didn't seem very practical or helpful. And yes, I know, people need to eat and fishing can do that. Katagiri Roshi brought up this phrase many years ago in a lecture saying that Zen practice is fishing with a straight hook. And it's essentially saying that what it is we hope to catch has already been caught. Fishing and catching the Dharma in Zen is always and already happening because water is everywhere. There's nothing we can get because we are already in our life. So how can you catch someone or bring them into the water of the Dharma, or what Dogen calls true reality, when they are already in the water? We are already in the Dharma water. How can we bring someone into that?

[18:40]

It's just that they don't realize it. So when you tell them that they're in the water and you ask them, how's the water? They say, what the hell is water? So fishing with a straight hook is fishing when there's nothing to catch because it's already been hooked. So from the perspective of non-duality, the understanding of non-duality, you have the act of fishing or hooking. But it's empty of one who fishes, of the act of fishing, and of a hook. They are all empty. So the hooking and the hooked is all one activity. You can't separate them. And then this turns around and becomes hooking the self, hooking the hook, being hooked. This is the same then with the activity of fishing.

[19:43]

So the feeling for me here is one of a wise person or a sage or you could say a compassionate teacher who is trying to express a nando understanding of living out our particular way of life. of living and practicing together in this water we call Zen, we call Sangha. We can say this as a way of saying the unsayable, of using words and phrases that we don't really understand up front. What is all this hooking, hooking self, hooking thing, hooking, hooking? I don't get that. But in time, we might end up having some sense of kind of an ungraspable inconceivability that's found in the activity itself of living in the water. We understand the activity because we are ourselves doing the activity. And we get it through this embodied experience.

[20:46]

It's not an intellectual understanding. It's an embodied coming to knowing of living in this water, what it is to be in this water style. with his water sensibility. And going further, hooking the self, hooking the hook, this is hooking a Zen disciple. In his commentary, Oak Morris says that, to live by the water and hook fish means to hook people who would be able to become a Dharma successor and transmit the Dharma. Zen masters hook the way to keep the practice of the way. That is how this dharma has been transmitted from the Buddha to us all. You know Buddha was a fisher person? Is there a gender-neutral way of fishermen? Angor. Angor? Angor. Angor. Thank you. We can tell you how much I know about fishing.

[21:49]

How do you spell that? Angler. Angler. Okay. Thank you. All Zen masters in that sense are living by the water and fishing without bait. We can say that they are hooking themselves to live their own water star of life. Or they are hooking the hook, just enjoying hooking with no object to be hooked. This means they simply enjoy practice for their own sake, not for catching something valuable. Okamura goes on to mention how his teacher Uchiyama Roshi said that he never encouraged people to become a priest or a monk. He was not fishing for students or disciples. He was just practicing for himself, just fishing himself. And yet, while Uchiyama wasn't intending to hook Okamura as a disciple, somehow Okamura, he says, wanting to be hooked,

[22:52]

hooked himself. And he goes on to say that we are hooking the self in the way we practice within Sangha. We are fishing the self. Did you come wanting to be hooked? Did you know you wanted to be hooked? If you look at your way-seeking mind stories, where's the hooking? Where's the wanting to be hooked in your story? What were you fishing for? your whole life did you find it? but we've got to be careful that we don't imagine there's a me that's hooking myself because there is no separate self only an interdependently originated self what we have then is this entire world that is doing the hooking so hooking is the hook

[23:53]

Well, the hook is hooking the hook. So the activity of interdependent origination is hooking itself as an expression or manifestation of its own hooking or fishing. There is no separation between subject and object. Here's something by Tsubaki Roshi that speaks to the hooking of the self in Zazen. He says, in Zazen, the self does the self with the self, by the self, for the self. In Zazen, the self does the self with the self, by the self, for the self. So how I interpret this is, the big self does the small self with the small self by the big self for the small self. You got that? So this is hooking of the self.

[24:58]

And the Dharma way hooks the hook and the self being hooked by the way. You're all like spinning. I can see those little eddies going around and your eyes are kind of spinning around like eddies. That's okay. Just allow it to kind of wash over you. Allow the current to carry you. Suzuki Roshi once scolded Blanche when she got really excited because she was finally able to follow her breath for one whole period of zazen, right? And he yelled at her, kind of angrily said to her, you don't do zazen. Zazen does zazen. You don't do zazen. The small self doesn't do zazen. Zazen, as an expression of the big self, does zazen. does the small self, he said. How can you describe zazen sits zazen then? It's not the self caring for it, doing zazen, but zazen comes forward and does you.

[26:06]

Zazen as the big self does you. So zazen as the big self does the settling of the small self on the big self, by the self, for the self. The one self is simply selfing along in this way. So this is why we say, get out of your way. Let the universe sit zazen for you. You can't sit zazen. You, the small self, can't do it. You can't do it right. So allow the small self to rest, to let go of everything that it's hooking onto, the thoughts, feelings, body sensations, anything it hooks on to in order to make a self, let it rest. Just let it sink to the bottom of the cushion and rest there. Then the big self will take care of you.

[27:08]

So this way of life, the water style of living, is similar to the mountain way that was described earlier by Dogen. The water style of Zen living is living by the water and simply fishing as a way of expressing their service. These wise ones are hooking the hook or practicing the Dharma for the sake of the Dharma or enjoying the Dharma for its own sake without looking to get anything special. So when you can practice without expecting to attain anything or get anything out of your practice, you will truly be coursing in the Dharma. Okay. So that's the setup for a long story. It's story time. Are you ready for story time? All right. So let's look at this theme.

[28:18]

that's presented in the next paragraph, paragraph 43, which gives an example of a sage who lived by the water and hooked a disciple to whom he gives dharma transmission. So this account is from Annie Ferguson's book, terrible names, Zen Chinese, some Chinese heritage, I was going to say ancestors, Zen Chinese heritage. So here it is. Long ago, When the preceptor Dershang suddenly left Yuexuang and went to live on the river, he got the sage Huateng, he got the sage of Huateng River. Preceptor Dershang here is Chuwanzhu, Chuanzi Dursang, who lived from 805 to 881 in China. He was one of the disciples of Yalshan. Yalshan, that's in Chinese and Japanese. Weichan is Yakasan again. And Yakasan had three disciples, Yunyan, Dao Wu, and Dursang.

[29:24]

Dur Chang and his two brothers, Dao Wu and Dur Chang, we come across them quite often in other Zen stories and koans. And the one that I think is my favorite is the one which Yunnan and Dao Wu are discussing what does the Bodhisattva compassion do with so many hands. Do you guys know that one? So those two are brothers to Dur Chang, who this story is about. After receiving Dharma transmission from his teacher, Yaka-san, Liu Chang left Mount Yao to live in relative seclusion in Huatang, the town of Huatang, on the bank of the Wu River. And this was during the Tang Dynasty. And it was a period in which there were lots of persecutions of Buddhism occurring. And so you might notice that actually throughout the history of Buddhism, there are kind of repeated persecutions, times when some political governments or other religious factions are trying to repress or wipe out Buddhism in some way.

[30:30]

I think this happens with any religion. It happens for a long time, but there are instances here throughout. and particularly in China, during the period of China. And so because of this, De Chang was trying to avoid drawing attention to himself after he left his master. He didn't want to be identified as a monk. So, however, before he left, he said the following to his Dharma brothers. You too must each go into the world your separate ways and uphold the essence of our teacher's path. My own nature is undisciplined. I delight in nature and in doing as I please. Does that sound like any of us here? I'm not fit to be the head of a monastery. But remember where I reside. And if you come upon a person of great ability, send one of them to me. Let me teach him and I'll pass on to him everything I've learned in this life.

[31:35]

In this way, I can repay the kindness of our late teacher. Then De Chang departed and went to a place called Flower Inn River in Shue Zhao. There he lived his life in disguise, rowing a small boat. I think it's been described somewhere as a small red boat. Transporting travelers across the river. People there didn't know that he possessed far-reaching knowledge and ability. They called him... The boat monk. Now, I've heard of fire monk. And my nephews call me uncle monk. But I've never heard of a boat monk. I'd like to meet one. Once at the boat landing at the side of the river, an official asked Dutong, what do you do each day? So remember, this is the time of persecution. So these officials are going around looking for... Buddhist monks and priests in order to catch them and imprison them.

[32:38]

So being a monk was a liability. So Dur Chang held up the boat oar straight in the air and said, do you understand? Do you understand? And the official said, I don't understand. Dur Chang said, if you only row in clear waters, it's hard to find the golden fish. Do you understand? I don't understand. If you only row in the clear waters, it's hard to find the golden fish. So this phrase, these words to golden fish, what he's referring to, this fish with golden scales is a metaphor for enlightenment. Okay? So in the Book of Serenity, Case 33, Goodbye, Kitchen. Please catch us a good lunch. Thank you. Case 33, Zongshin's Golden Fish.

[33:42]

Zongshin asks Wei Fang, The golden fish that's passed through... Is this kind of... Is this okay? It keeps hurting my ears every now and then. The golden fish that's passed through the net... what does it use for food? In other words, how does the fish practice once it's enlightened and has no problems? So how does an enlightened being practice if they don't have any problems? What do they use for food for their practice? Xue Feng said, when you come out of the net, then I will tell you. In other words, when you wake up, then I'll tell you. San Zhang replied, a teacher with 1,500 disciples, and yet you don't even know how to speak. In other words, hey, what kind of teacher are you if you're not going to give me an answer? And Sempo responded, my tasks as abbot are many, right?

[34:47]

Basically, I'm too busy with temple affairs to be bothered with your little question, so go away, right? So in other words, the golden fish, the one that's awake in all of us, is already free of any nets, of any snares or traps of delusion. And so Zappo is saying here to Shui Fang, you must recognize this for yourself. When you do, then you won't need to bother me with your pointless questions. There's this response that De Chang makes to the official, if we go back earlier to the exchange between the official and De Chang, about if only one rose in clear waters, it's hard to find a golden fish. And this is basically saying that one has to go through precipitous straits in order to become fully enlightened, to be fully awakened.

[35:47]

You can't find insight and compassion in clear waters where it's easy. You need to have difficult times. So don't resent your difficulties in practice. They are golden opportunities. So every palm that you have is an opportunity to awaken in some way. Are you meeting it in that way? Are you actually saying, oh, great, here's something that will help me to awake to the true nature of reality and to who I truly am. Can I go through this net? of self and see what's on the other side of that? Or am I going to find myself caught in the net of self and stuck there, struggling, right? Suffering until I get out, until someone else frees me. I'm the only one who can free myself, by the way. People can, you know, practice leaders, teachers, friends can say, you might try this kind of movement or you might try this kind of movement.

[36:55]

but they can actually help you get untangled. There's a Dogen poem titled On the Portrait of Myself in which he references this golden fish. For ten thousand fathoms, the cold lake is soaked in sky color. In the quiet night, a golden-scaled fish swims along the bottom. From the center to edge, the fishing poles are broken. On expansive water surface, bright moonlight. For 10,000 fathoms, the cold lake is soaked in sky color. All the way down, it's the same color. The water is the same as the sky. In the quiet night, a golden fish, scaled fish, swims along the bottom. From center to edge, the fishing poles are broken. On expansive water surface, bright moonlight. So this enlightened being swims in the quiet, brisk darkness of non-duality, which is deep and wide in the same color as the sky.

[38:06]

There is no nothing, including no fishing pole, that can fathom or grasp it. It's beyond measure. And yet, on the boundless surface of the water, the moonlight of the illuminated mind shines bright. Back to the story of Dur Chang. So while Dur Chang is living in disguise as a boatman and ferrying people across the river, in another part of the country, elsewhere, Dao Wu, Dur Chang's Dharma brother, is having an important exchange with a monk who in the future will become Dur Chang's Dharma disciple. At a later time, Dao Wu went to Jinkau where he happened to see Jiao Shan, Shan Hui, give a lecture. Another monk attending the talk asked Jiao Shan, what is the Dharmakaya?

[39:11]

Jiao Shan said, the Dharmakaya is formless. And the monk asked, what is the Dharma I? Jiao Shan said, the Dharma I is without defect. When he heard this, Dawu laughed out loud in spite of himself. So this is like being up here, giving a Dharma talk, a student asks a question, and elsewhere this other person just laughs out loud, you know, to what was apparently a serious response to a serious question. So Jiaxin got down off the lecture platform and said to Dao, you know, he walks up to the guy and says, something I said in my answer to that monk was not correct, and it caused you to laugh out loud. Please. don't withhold your compassionate instruction about this. So Dao Wu said, you have gone into the world to teach, but have you not had a teacher? Jia Shan said, I've had none. May I ask you to clarify these matters for me?

[40:15]

Dao Wu said, I can't speak of it. I invite you, however, to go see the boatman at Hua Tong. Jia Shan said, who's he? And Dawu said, above him, there's not a single rooftop. Below him, there's no ground to plant, to hold. If you want to see him, you must change into your traveling clothes. In other words, you must go on pilgrimage and find him. So the unnamed monk, this unnamed monk in the audience, asked Yashan, who is Dershang's future disciple, what is the Dharmakaya? The Dharmakaya is typically translated as truth body or reality body. And it's one of the three bodies of a Buddha according to Mahayana Buddhism. So the other two bodies are the Namanakaya, or transformation body, the actual physical body, and the Samokakaya, or the bliss body, or the enjoyment body.

[41:19]

So the Dharmakaya constitutes the unmanifested body. inconceivable aspect of a Buddha, out of which Buddhas arise and to which they return to after their dissolution. And Reginald Ray describes it as the body of reality itself, sometimes we can say the ocean of reality itself, without specific delimited form. no specific form, wherein the Buddha is identified with the spiritually charged nature of everything that is. So the Buddha, awake mind, is this energetic quality of all, everything, just manifesting. Dharmakai is formless, and yet it takes form in response to beings. It appears in this world to teach.

[42:22]

So it's formless and it takes form for the benefit of all beings. So this goes back to the Shuso's talk the other day, call and response. Cries are heard and the response and the cry comes up simultaneously. It's the same thing, responding to its own expression. Something calls it forward, out of itself. So regarding this line, a dharma eye is without defect. The word defect, or you could say obscurations, is often used with reference to cataracts, which known in Japan are flowers, right? Flowers in the eye. Sometimes also it's said flowers in the sky, or the sky of the eye. And Dogen has a fascicle actually titled kuge, which means flowers of space or flowers of emptiness, right?

[43:27]

And he turns that around because usually these flowers in the eye are negative, but he's actually saying this is a positive thing in kuge. So Jayashan responds to the monk's question about the dharmakai by saying his dharma eye, his own understanding of the dharma, has no defect. which causes Dao Wu to burst out laughing. Now, Jishan has humility. He's humble. He's humble enough to realize that something is missing from his understanding. And so he comes down from the lectern, the dharma seat, and asks Dao Wu, what is missing in my understanding? And this shows that he's got beginner's mind, enough to realize that he has more to learn. And he therefore asks, is there a teacher who can instruct me? Would you be that person, perhaps? And Daoist says, no. But because of this, he realizes that Jiashan is worthy to send to his brother, Dur Chang, for further training.

[44:29]

So remember, Dur Chang said when he left his two brothers, if you find someone worthy, send them to me. And this is what's happening. After the meeting with Dao was over, Jiashan packs his bag and sets out for Huatang. When Dershang saw Jiashan coming, he said, Your reverence, in what temple do you reside? And Jiashan said, I don't abide in a temple. Where I abide is not like... Dershang said, it's not like... It's not like what? And then Zhejiang said, where did you learn this teaching? And Zhejiang said, not in a place which the ears or eyes can perceive. Not in a place in which the ears or eyes can perceive. And then Zhejiang responded, a single phrase and you fall into the path of principle.

[45:31]

Then you're like a donkey tethered to a post for countless eons. Then Zhang Zhechang said, you've let down a thousand foot line. You're fishing very deep, but your hook is still shy by three inches. Why don't you say something? As Zhechang was about to speak, Zhechang knocked him into the water with the oar. When Zhechang clambered back into the boat, Zhechang yelled at him, speak, speak. Jia Shan tried to speak, but before he could do so, De Chang struck him again. Suddenly, De Chang attained great enlightenment, right? And then he nodded his head three times. And then De Chang, Chuan Zhe is also his name, Chuan Zhe De Chang, said, now you're the one with the pole and line.

[46:37]

Just act by your own nature and don't defile the clear waters. And Jia Shan asked, what do you mean by throw off the line and cast down the pole? And De Chang said, the fishing line hangs in the green water, drifting without intention. Jia Shan said, there is no path whereby words may gain entry to the essence. The tongue speaks but cannot speak it. De Chang said, when the hope disappears into the river raves, then the golden fish is encountered. Jia Shan then covered his ears. And De Chang said, that's it, that's it. You got it. He then enjoyed Jia Shan saying, hereafter, consider yourself in a place without any trace. If the place has any sign,

[47:40]

Don't stay there. I stayed with the Alshan for 30 years, and what I learned there, I'll pass to you today. Now you have it. Stay away from crowded cities. Instead, plant your hoe deep in the mountains. Find one person, or one half a person, who won't let it die. Jiashan then bid Dangshir goodbye, and as he walked away, he looked back. at Dang Shen. Suddenly, Dang Shen yelled, your reverence. And as Ye Shen turned around, stopped and turned around, Du Chang held up the oar and said, do you say there's anything else? And then he tipped the boat over and disappeared into the waves, never to be seen again. That's a fun story, huh?

[48:45]

Very typical Zen-chan Chinese story, yeah? There's a lot going on in here. So, Jia-shang gets to the boatman, right? And De-shang, I have trouble. My verbal dyslexia kicks in when I try to say all these pronunciations, so please bear with me. De-shang asks him, where do you reside? Right? So even before Jiesang says anything, Dersang says, where do you reside? Right? Where do you come from? Or this is code basically for what is the nature of your understanding? Or in what place does your mind dwell? Where is the abode of your mind? And Jiesang, getting the drift of the question, says, where I abide, It's not like... It's not like... In other words, where my mind dwells, there's nothing fixed.

[49:55]

It's a no abode, which is not a place that can be reached. So everything is moving, everything is walking, swimming, right? There's no way to describe it, really. So all you can say is... It's not like anything. It's not like using the negative to say what it isn't. And when Dershang asks where it was, he came to this understanding. How did you come to that understanding? Dershang essentially says, in the realm of emptiness, or the darkness of the Absolute, not in a place which the ears or eyes can perceive. In other words, he learned this beyond the realm in which our normal, conventional ears and eyes see and hear objects, things. So not in the realm of our karmic consciousness, beyond our habits of imputing objectification and meaning onto appearances.

[51:02]

It's the realm of non-duality, which we might at times touch during zazen. It's a place beyond the reach of eyes and ears and before meaning. What is that place before objectification and before meaning? Before your mind makes a thing out of something and applies evaluation or significance to it in any way. It's not like. What it is that you see in that place is not like anything. So don't make a thing out of it. It's undefinable. You can't say anything about it that's definitive or meaningful. Hence, silence. And yet, it speaks. Something is conveyed. So Dan Cheng approves, but with a caveat.

[52:06]

He says, okay, okay. However, A single phrase and you fall into the path of principle. Then you're like a donkey tethered to a post for countless eons. So what Jiashan says is right. He understands the basic principle here. He has hit the mark. But De Chang can tell he's attached to it. He's attached to his understanding. Like a donkey tethered to a post for countless eons. This is what I was kind of warning yesterday. Don't be attached to your insights, regardless of how small or great they are. Let them go. So Jiyoshang is at risk of holding on to it, of going around and around in circles, attached to this one insight, this one true taste of the truth. And as Okamura says in his commentary, even if the pull of a particular Dharma teaching is a true teaching,

[53:09]

A post is just a post, right? This is the idea of the golden chain or tether or fishing line. So De Chang says, you're fishing very deep. In other words, you've got deep understanding, but your hook is still shy by three inches. You're not quite there yet. Why don't you say something and see if you can go all the way to the bottom? In other words, let go. Let go even further. Let go completely. Then, just as Jiashan is about to speak, always a mistaken Zen. Do Chang knocks him into the water with his oar. And then again, a second time, after Jiashan gets out and tries to say something again when Do Chang eggs him on, speak, speak. But the second time, Jie Shan gets knocked out of the boat, he awakens in the water.

[54:12]

And rather than trying to put his understanding into words this time, he simply nods his head three times in a wordless response. So all you need is for someone to knock you into the Tashara Creek a few times, and then you'll wake up. Any volunteers? No. Here's a verse by Chan Master Miao Zhang that marks the occasion of Jiao Shan's awakening. On the limitless misty waves, a leaf of a boat, the line at the end of the pole bobs up and down. If the hook is three inches short, what will you say? The golden-scaled fish will secretly nod their head. And with that, Jiashan's Dharma transmission is complete.

[55:21]

Do Chang then says to him, Now you're the one with the pole and line. Just act by your own nature and don't defile the clear waves. So Do Chang was the boatman, and now he has a disciple, a golden-scaled fish. So he gives his fishing pole and line to Jiashan and says to him, He is now the fisher. person, angler. And Dir Chang then plans to retire, drifting in the water with nothing more to do. He's done his job. I just want to say, when you receive Dharma transmission, the understanding is you're going to pass on the lineage. That's an obligation that you have when you receive Dharma transmission. And if you don't do that, you somehow have failed your teacher, and failed the lineage in some way. So that's an understanding that those of us who've gone through that initiation receive.

[56:24]

However, before he leaves, before Danshan leaves, he offers Zieshan some parting advice on how to proceed. Hereafter, conceal yourself in a place without any trace. If the place has any sign, don't stay there. So again, Become one with the mountain. Remember we were talking about entering the mountain and leaving no trace, disappearing without any trace? I stayed with the Alshan for 30 years and what I learned there I'd pass to you today. Now that you have it, stay away from crowded cities like San Francisco where the rent is high. Instead, plant your hoe deep in the mountains. Come to Tassajara. So live in the mountains away from society. Find one person or half a person, one half of a person. I want to see what one half a person looks like. Maybe can you? She is a whole person.

[57:30]

That's right. That's not fair. One person or one half a person who won't let it die. So find a disciple yourself to whom to pass on the Dharma lineage. And the story has it that at that point, De Chong tips over the boat and disappears into the water and is never seen again. Notice that he disappears. He enters into the water. He enters into the mountain and disappeared into the water. He became one with the water, just as other sages became one with the mountain. And his work is done. He did not let the teaching be cut off or die because he transmitted to a disciple. Now, 500 years later, Wu Jing, Dogen's teacher in China, also gave Dogen some instructions after he gave Dogen Dharma transmission and was about to return to Japan. He said, after returning to your country, do not associate closely with emperors and ministers.

[58:37]

Do not live in a city, town, or village. Live in a deep mountain or quiet valley. You don't have to collect many people like clouds. Having many fake practitioners is inferior to having a few genuine practitioners. Ouch! Choose a small number of true persons of the way and become friends with them. Teach one person, or even half a person, and continue the wisdom of the Buddhists and ancestors. Then Rujing gave Dogen the monk's robe of Furong Daokai. Remember Furong Daokai? It's interesting to note that Dogen received from his teacher Rujing, upon his departure back to Japan, the robe that previously belonged to old preceptor Kai. Remember him? From paragraph number two, In the sutra, we're going back to the beginning, folks.

[59:40]

Right? He was the one Dogen quotes as saying, the blue mountains are constantly walking. The stone woman gives birth to a child in the nights. The ends are meeting here. So in time, Dogen did, as Rujing's, followed Rujing's advice. And he actually moved away from... the capital, which was, he was living near Kyoto at the time, and established a Heiji in remote mountain area. So he took us to teach his advice. We're almost there. I figured because we're going to have two silent days coming up, I get to go a few minutes over. This is the rule we have for silent days, right? At least it's my rule. No. So, now all that, all that in service of unpacking the first sentence in paragraph 43.

[60:49]

You're like, what? We only got to the one sentence? And which is about Dersong. how Dursang got the sage of Huantong River. So Diasang becomes the sage of Huantong River. So this overall paragraph is about the joys and dangers and pitfalls of passing on the Dharma and Dharma transmission. And it seems to me that it's safe to say that Dogen is choosing this story to include here in the Mountains and Rivers Water Sutra because it reverberates in another way with his own history. So he's teaching from his own experience key points in his own life that were monumental for him. Dogen then continues in his paragraph, Is this not hooking a fish? Is it not hooking a person? Is it not hooking water? Is it not hooking himself? That the person got to see Dershang is because he was Dershang.

[61:50]

And Dershang... Accepting the person and his meaning the person. So, Du Chang hooked a true disciple. He hooked a person. Is this not hooking a fish? Is this not hooking a person? But he also hooked more. Is it not hooking water? Is it not hooking himself? That is, he hooked the water himself. of dharma-nature reality, the true reality of all beings. Given that he is himself the true reality of all beings, he therefore hooked himself. Do you get that? So all beings, everything is true reality of all beings. Everything is dharma-nature. So dharma-nature, you know, he as dharma-nature hooked

[62:52]

himself as Dhamma Nature. That the person got to see Dir Chang is because he was Dir Chang. And Dir Chang, accepting the person, is his meeting the person. So Dir Chang is accepting the person, meaning in this case, the person Diyashan is meeting the person, and that person he's meeting is Dir Chang, is himself. So when we truly see and meet another person as ourselves, as the same Dharma and nature, water, as the same true reality of all beings, then there is a true transmission between self and other. Or rather, between self and self. Not one, not two. So this process is of dharma transmission is meeting the self. This is the nature of a genuine relationship between a teacher and a student, and it's what makes dharma transmission possible.

[64:01]

By the way, I want to suggest you might try this practice. When you see another person, simply say, not one, not two. So not one, meaning we're not only just this one thing called water. but we're also not two separate things, distinct from each other. So it helps to kind of undermine this objective way that we relate and see each other. At the same time, we don't get fixed on the subjective side, on the emptiness side. So we are already that which is being transmitted or conveyed or verified in dharma transmission. We are already that. And it is because we finally recognize this truth through our sincere practice that a genuine exchange between the teacher and the students, in other words, between water and water, can happen. So one dharma is being transmitted between two people.

[65:09]

And at the same time, nothing is being transmitted. Jiashan was darshan. Dershang was jieshang. There was no separation, just water. I think it's also helpful to note that the meaning of the name Dershang, which this isn't so apparent in English, is virtue and sincerity. So in Japanese it's tokujo. Toku means virtue. and Zhou means sincerity. That the person Dir Chang got to see Dir Chang is because he was Dir Chang. He was Dir Chang meaning virtuous and sincere. He got to see himself because he was him in duality. He was himself in duality and got to see him because he was Dir Chang. He was virtuous and sincere.

[66:11]

He was a virtuous and sincere practitioner. So he got to see himself. And he also got to see the other, and thereby by seeing the other, which is water, water got to see water, he got to see himself. And he got and saw and met himself because there was no separation. So we can ascertain then that Dogen is also saying this about Soto Zen and Dharma Transmission. He's saying that in the virtue and possibility of Dharma Transmission, of going through this process with another human being, there is a transformation that happens. We can say that before Dharma Transmission, there's a dimension in a student's life that hasn't been yet realized. It's there, but it isn't recognized in oneself. It needs the deep and intimate and mysterious kind of relationship that's possible between a Zen student and a teacher for it to be realized.

[67:15]

When there's this accord and relationship in the Dharma of disciple to teacher, then it is the same relationship as a sage entering the mountain. When a sage enters the mountain, mountain loves the sage. And the sage loves the mountain. And the mountain wakes up and the sage disappears. And this same thing occurs in a relationship between a disciple and a teacher and the intimacy of that relationship as we understand it in Zen. We wake each other up. And in order for the teacher to meet the student, the teacher must meet herself The student must meet himself. The teacher must meet the student and the student must meet the teacher. And we can also say that the teacher hasn't been fully realized as herself until the disciple facilitates that and vice versa.

[68:23]

A disciple can't wake up without a teacher and a teacher can't fully wake up without a student and realize that that that which wakes up is not different than each other. And then there's a degree of trust and merging that goes beyond the personal and the personalities. It's not about Buddhism per se, but something about human beings and the nature of human relationships. Human beings can do this. We can transcend our separateness through our relationship with others. And I know some people here have kind of a distaste for this idea of dharma transmission. And they think it's kind of an institutional thing, right? And they don't understand it. And it doesn't seem quite, well, why does that person get a brown robe? And what kind of authority do they have? And so on. And why do they need the institution to give them this authority?

[69:27]

And it's not about the institution or power. It's about intimacy, right? Dharma transmission is about intimacy. And yet we need these relative forms, such as Dharma lineage and great places of practice and these student-teacher forms, right? We need them to help us to see the intimacy as something that's alive and already present and already meaningful. So we have to take on these relative forms in order to see ourselves. That's why we do ritual. That's why we have this bamboo tube called a container. It points out to us the ways in which we're caught and also the ways in which we can be free and liberated, go beyond the net. We need the forms to wake up within the forms. Just a little bit more. There's this wonderful story

[70:29]

about Suzuki Roshi and Ed Brown that I'm sure many of you have heard before, and it kind of points to this again. He goes by Edward now. Edward was Tenzo, I think it was at City Center, and he was having a difficult time with his crew, which happens. So he went to Suzuki Roshi to complain that all these people in the kitchen weren't doing things right. the usual kvetching that a crewhead might do about how it is that people aren't doing things right. So Suzuki Roshi very patiently listened to him with lots of intent. And then he finally said to Ed, if you want to see virtue, you have to have a calm mind. If you want to see virtue, you have to have a calm mind. The water of your mind needs to be calm. Then you will see virtue in everything.

[71:31]

So when we see with virtue and sincerity, then we see the person in front of us because we are not two. We are not two separate waves. So meeting each other with virtue and sincerity is the way. It's the Dharma way. Here's a final poem by Dogen about Dirtong. This is in his extensive record. Letting down the line ten thousand feet, a single breaking wave makes ten thousand ripples. At night in still water, the cold fish won't bite. An empty boat filled with moonlight returns. Letting down the line ten thousand feet, meaning endlessly. A single breaking wave makes 10,000 ripples. At night, in still water, in the absolute, in the calm mind, the cold fish won't grab on to objective appearances.

[72:40]

An empty boat filled with moonlight returns. Just illumination filling this vessel of being Awareness filling awareness. Floating on the ocean of awareness. So I'll stop there. You're all kind of like puppies hanging on to the side of the pool. Okay, get us out now, please. So for the next two days, we're going to be in silence. And those of you who were here before, I think you'll remember the forums, and the Ina will go over them again for our benefits, and for anyone who hasn't been here for the last sushin at Work Circle today. And the schedule will be slightly different, so it will be posted. And also tonight, we're going to partake in the Uyaku Fusatsu full moon ceremony.

[73:50]

And alas, even though we've done the last two outside in the work circle, I think because of the rain and the dampness and the coldness, and that a number of us have been sick recently, I think we're going to do it here in this pond of Zendo. So you'll get a different experience this time, what it is to do it here. So I hope you enjoy your next two days of silence, resting in your empty boat filled with moonlight, One wave, a thousand waves, fishing with no aim to catch a fish, just letting go completely until you reach the bottomless bottom of the ocean of reality. And then, maybe, on the day after the two silent days, we'll finish up the Mountains and Waters Sutra, maybe. Maybe we'll get to that shore of the other side.

[74:51]

And on the final day, we'll touch upon Buddha's enlightenment. So thank you all again for your kind patience and attention. I greatly appreciate it. It encourages me to do my best to encourage you. Thank you for swimming together with me in these waters. a fishing pole. What is it? May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way.

[75:51]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_96.23