This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. This morning we have an opportunity to explore further into the question what is the great business under the patch robe of the bodhisattva not all bodhisattvas wear patch robes but for those who do I'd like to look under the robe and see what they're up to.

[01:05]

This original question, which was raised at the beginning of this practice period and which I've been raising for almost a year now, started last spring at Green Gulch during the practice period there. One of the practice period people said, could we discuss or could you say something about intimacy? And this question popped to mind. And I've been looking at it since last spring with people all over I wanted to mention this morning that in the original story, the teacher asked the attendant that question.

[02:28]

It's a story about the teacher and the attendant. And there are several stories about attendants which come up now. for various reasons, which I think might help us investigate this business under the patch robe. Many of the stories I tell you are is when I was formally or informally an attendant to some teacher. Here at this monastery, when I'm playing the role of the doshi,

[03:45]

which I think means way teacher, teacher of the way, I wait by what we call the Doshi Han. I watch the monks go up to the hall and enter the hall. And standing there with me is an attendant. In this case, we say, attendant clerk, or the work leader, or guardian of wisdom. He's attending and he's guarding the wisdom.

[04:52]

And the attendant has the opportunity in attending a teacher to ask questions. Recently, attendant Clark said, Where does it say that when prostrations exist in the world, the Buddha Dharma exists? And when prostrations, or if prostrations exist, disappear in the world the Buddha Dharma disappears in the world and I said in Shobho Genzo Dharani in the Treasury of True Dharma Eyes chapter called Dharani

[06:18]

Later I said to the attendant, so if one person keeps bowing, that one person can keep the Buddha Dharma alive in the world. But it's hard to constantly do prostrations. So the person might need a successor. Afterwards I thought, why don't I check out the Treasure True Dharma Eyes Dharani chapter and see if I was accurate in my citation. And there it was. Frustrations remain in the world, Buddha Dharma remains.

[07:36]

When frustrations disappear, Buddha Dharma disappears. This image came to mind just a minute ago of some of those modern movies where, you know, about after the world's destroyed. Not the world, the world's not destroyed, but like The government is destroyed, the hospitals are destroyed, the universities are destroyed. And all this left is, you know, a few mechanic shops where people are like, you know, trying to build motorcycles or something. Or, you know, make a water purification system. You know, they're just barely getting by because most of civilization has been destroyed by civilization. And And people are, there's no dry cleaners left, so people are pretty dirty. Their clothes are kind of dirty usually. And they also often still have some guns left.

[08:41]

So they're often shooting each other. So, and I just thought, what if one person was there doing prostrations? Wouldn't that make the movie different? Like, you know, the Buddha Dharma would be there in the midst of all that. results of destruction. One person just over in the corner doing frustrations kind of like would change the quality of the situation. People would be kind of looking, what is he doing over there? She is really weird. Now, this chapter is called, you know, in Japanese they say, the Japanese pronunciation is Shobogenzo Durani.

[09:45]

That's the chapter of the Shobogenzo that's called Durani. But it becomes pretty clear, pretty quickly, as you look into the chapter, that the Shobogenzo is a Durani. Usually we say, you know, a jirani is like a chant that we do, a spell or incantation which has miraculous power. Or it has the power to kind of connect with reality. So Shobo Genzo Durrani is one chapter in the Shobo Genzo, but the whole Shobo Genzo is a Durrani. At the beginning of this treasure to Dharma I Durrani chapter, it says something like,

[11:01]

Well, actually, just let me tell you beforehand that it points out at the beginning the pivot of mind or the pivot of the heart. Or you could also say the essence of mind or the essence of heart. That's the first thing that's pointed to in the chapter. And this word essence, this Chinese character for essence, also means pivot. you know, our important point. So at the beginning of the chapter, the teacher is trying to get us to look at this essential, essential mind, or essential mind or essence of the mind, or essence of the heart, but also the pivot of the mind, the pivot of the heart.

[12:04]

Our translation sometimes says the hub of the hub that translates that character as hub. The hub of the heart. The hub of the mind. So he says when your eye of study is clear your eye of true Dharma is clear. When your eye, as your eye of true Dharma is clear, your eye of study is clear. Can you see the pivot? When your eye of practice or study is clear, your true Dharma eye is clear. When your true Dharma eye is clear, your eye of study is clear. When your eye is clear about the true Dharma, your eye is clear about the practice.

[13:19]

When your eye is clear about the practice, your eye is clear about the true Dharma. The essence of mind is being gestured toward here. The pivot of the essential mind is kind of being offered here. And there's several translations of this fascicle. I looked at two, and I was not dismayed by them being quite different. As a matter of fact, I was really encouraged and assisted by their difference. The differences were complementary, not... oppositional or contradictory. That's how I feel.

[14:19]

See if you can pick up on how they help each other. After pointing to the way that the eye of practice or the eye of study and the eye of dharma, how they work together in this pivoting way, in this intimate way, then our great ancestor says, the authentic transformation of this pivot is inevitably due to the influence of paying respect to a great, good counselor, a great, good teacher. the transmission of this essential pivot of mind is inevitably due to the influence of paying respect to a great good teacher.

[15:34]

This is the great purpose itself. This is the great dharani itself. The other translation, which in this case isn't different, really. What authentically transmits this essential matter is none other than the power to see or it is different the power to see the teacher to see the great teacher or see a great teacher so in one case the thing that transmits this pivotal mind this essential heart the thing that transmits it is the influence

[16:43]

of paying respect to a great teacher. And the other is, the thing that transmits is the power of being able to see the teacher. So in one case, it's paying respect to the teacher. The other case is, it's being able to see the teacher. So I think that those two different translations show that the ability to see the teacher is connected to the ability to pay respects to the teacher. And they kind of go together. Paying respects to the teacher and seeing the teacher. In that situation, this essence of mind is transmitted. Paying respects to the teacher, the great teacher, and seeing, or seeing, maybe it makes more sense, you see a great teacher, so then you want to pay your respects.

[17:44]

but how about paying your respects and then seeing the teacher? Or paying your respects kind of half-heartedly at first because you don't really see the teacher, and then paying your respects wholeheartedly and then seeing the teacher? Or seeing the teacher and paying your respects half-heartedly and seeing, well, that doesn't make sense. So the two translations are nice because they show that seeing the great teacher and paying respects are also pivoting on each other. In the essential heart here, the paying the respects and the seeing are intimate. And there's many ways to pay respects. The focus of this chapter is paying respects by prostration. But there's other ways which will be discussed. Matter of fact, right now. Then Dogen says always serve the Buddha ancestors by bringing a towel and a basin of water.

[19:03]

I would expand that to say always and serve the Buddha ancestors by bringing a towel and a basin of water. This is a way of serving a person. It's bringing them water and a towel to wash their face. Bring a Buddha ancestor to some water and a towel so she can wash her face. This refers to a story which, if I live longer, I'll tell you. It is a great story. Some of you are going to love it. The other translation is, without fail, we should...

[20:10]

sincerely serve towel and water basin. To who? To the great teacher. Thus, Dogen says, bringing tea and making tea the pivot of mind is realized to the translation thus the disciple bringing tea and making tea realizes the essential Because of reading this chapter, what comes to mind is this pivot of mind.

[21:24]

And therefore, I asked that we chant at noon service the Zazen Xin, which is a meditation on this pivot. It says at the beginning, the essential function of all Buddhas, the functioning essence of all Buddhas. The essential function, the functioning essence. But also, that word essence or essential could be pivot. The pivotal function of all Buddhas, the functioning pivot of all Buddhas. the same character. So this meditation is meditation on the same thing in this text. Now, there's two main stories.

[22:51]

The first story is a story about bringing the tea, about an attendant bringing the tea. The main characters of this story are the teacher. His name is Tianhuan. hen huang da wu and the student is lung tan chung xin da wu probably means way awakening or awakening of the way that's the teacher And Lung Tan means dragon pond or dragon swamp.

[23:55]

And the next part of his name is respect faith. It could be respectful faith or respect and faith. Lung Tan, dragon pond. I'm always happy to be thinking of Dragon Pond. So he's a disciple of Tianhuang Da Wu. And his family members were cake sellers. I didn't know that until just a few days ago. And you'll soon see how important this is.

[25:00]

His family members were cake sellers. And, uh, the kind of cakes that I think we're talking about here are what we call in Cantonese dim sun. And, uh, And in Mandarin, it's more like tian shin, which means dot heart. Tian, in this case, means a dot, a black dot. And shin means mind. So it's dotting the heart. And dotting the heart means to refresh. Refresh your heart. That's the name of those pastries, dim sun. So his family sold these refreshments, these cakes. Now, the teacher, Da Wu, lived near the entrance of Tianhuang Monastery.

[26:13]

Each day... Tong Xin would present small cakes as an offering to Da Wu. This is before he actually became a monk. He used to bring offerings to the teacher. Each time he gave the offering, Da Wu would set aside I guess he gave him 10. He usually gave him 10. And each time Da Wu would set aside one cake saying, this is for the sake of your descendants. One day, Chong Xin said, Chong Xin is Dragon Pond. He's not Dragon Pond yet.

[27:17]

He has his name. He said, I have many cakes and I take them everywhere. So why do you leave one for me? Does this have some special meaning? And Davui said, you bring cakes. So, the harm if I return one to you at this Chong Xin the future dragon pond grasped the deep meaning and so he left home to study with Da Wu Da Wu later said

[28:23]

Previously, you have been respectful to virtue and good, and now you've placed your faith in what I teach. So the name I give you is Chongxin, Respect Faith. Thereafter, Chongxin remained close to Da Wu as his attendant. day in his practice as attendant he asked his teacher Da Wu since I came here I have not received any instruction about the pivot of mind you haven't taught me anything about the essential heart Da Wu said

[29:28]

Since you came, I have done nothing but demonstrate the pivot of mind, the essence of the heart to you. The student said, How did you demonstrate it? Dao Wu said, You came bringing tea. I received it for you. You came serving food, cakes. I received them for you. When you paid your respects by bowing, I lowered my head. Where did I not demonstrate the pivot of mind?

[30:37]

The essence of the heart. Changshin lowered his head for a while. A long while. Da Wu said, look at it directly. If you try to think about it, you'll miss it. This is also instruction for you at noon service when you chant this Zazen Xin. Look at it directly.

[31:40]

which makes sense because you're going to be reading it. Look at it directly. Look right at it, but don't try to figure it out. Just look and become intimate with it. You will feel, I think, yourself being spun around by this chant. It's very pivotal. It goes back and forth and round and round. It throws you all over the place. If you can pay attention to it, that would be good. If you try to figure it out, you'll get sick. I think, unless you're smart or something. Anyway, the instruction from quite a few centuries ago, about 12, is look at it. Look at this pivot. Look at where the mind practice is clear and the Dharma eye is clear. Look at where you bring the offering to the teacher and the teacher responds. And there's the essence of mind.

[32:43]

Look at that without thinking about it. Look at it directly. If you try to think about it, you'll miss it. Upon these words, Chong Xin woke up. Chong Xin then asked Dao Wu, how does one uphold it? just by looking at it without trying to think about it, Dawu said, live in an unfettered manner in accord with circumstances. Give yourself over to everyday mind. For there is nothing sacred to be realized outside of this. of this pivot of mind, which you can look at directly anytime, but you can't get a hold of it, because it's a pivot.

[33:58]

It's constantly turning and flipping the entire universe with it. This is the business under the patch robe. This is the great Durrani. This is realized by prostration to a great teacher. So... Dragon Pond.

[35:08]

After... Chongqing completes his studies with Da Wu. He goes off and sets up shop someplace in the mountains of China. And now what I've realized is that he got all of his family members to set up shops all around the monastery, so that if any Buddhist pilgrims were going in the mountains and wanted to buy some cakes, when they come to the cake stand, his family members would test them, test their understanding. If their understanding was good, they'd just let the person proceed on their merry way.

[36:11]

If there was something incomplete in their understanding, they would send them to Dragon Pond. So I heard the stories about this before, but I didn't realize that these people who were sending students to him were in his family business. So there was once an intense... Buddhist scholar who was a specialist on the Diamond Sutra. And he heard rumors about this school that was becoming very influential in China that had a transmission. transmission of the pivoted mind of the essence of heart that they transmitted without depending on scriptures and he got what do you call it exercised about that he got upset and he got the idea that he would go

[37:41]

and visit some of the... He would travel around where these Zen people were, these special transmission people were, and he would meet them, interact with them, and refute them. So he headed to the places where there was a high density of these... special transmission people. And as he was going along the road, he saw an old cake stand where there was an old woman selling these refreshments. Now, I understand it was probably Dragon Pond's sister or aunt, maybe his mother, maybe his girlfriend. Who knows? But anyway, She was in the same business as him. Selling cakes as a way to transmit the Dharma.

[38:48]

So the man says, I'd like some refreshments, some cakes. And the woman said, excuse me, may I ask Reverend Sir, what's that on your back? And he said, it's a pack full of Diamond Sutra commentaries. I'm a specialist in this study. And she said, oh, I've heard of that scripture from my brother. I understand it says that past mind cannot be grasped and future mind cannot be grasped, and present mind cannot be grasped. With which mind will you refresh yourself, venerable sir? Oh, excuse me, before she asked the question, she said, I have a question for you about the sutra, and if you can answer it, I'll give you the cakes for free.

[39:57]

If you can't, you're not going to get any cakes. And he said, okay, go ahead, ask me. And she asked him that question. With which mind will you refresh your heart? With which mind will your heart be touched? And he couldn't answer. You can answer, but he couldn't. Because you are hanging out where this special transmission is occurring. So she said, I'm sorry, I can't give you any refreshment. However, I can send you someplace where you can get some refreshment. His name is Dragon Pond, and he lives over there. Check him out. So this person, whose name was Dushan, goes to visit Dragon Pond.

[41:04]

And he goes into the temple. And he comes into the temple and he says, I've heard of Dragon Pond. And now that I'm here, I don't see the pond and I don't see the dragon. And then Dragon Pond came out from behind the screen and said, now you have really arrived at Dragon Pond. And then Dishan, the scholar of the Diamond Sutra, was allowed to stand in attendance of Dragon Pond till late at night. He paid his respects by attending the teacher. And when it got late, the story says that Dragon Pond said,

[42:07]

It's late. You should go rest, or you should leave. So Dragon Pound escorted Deshawn, the scholar, to the door, raised the folding screen, gave him a lantern. Oh, no, raised the folding screen, and then Deshawn was stepping outside. He said, it's dark. So then... Dragon Pon gave him a paper lantern. And as he stepped out into the dark, Dragon Pon blew it out. And Dushan realized the essential mind, the pivot of mind. The next morning, he burned all his diamond sutra commentaries.

[43:15]

But he kept his diamond suit. And he said, never again will I doubt these. special transmission weirdos. And so he became Dragon Pond's successor. And then his successor was Shui Feng. And the Yunmen school and the Fa Yun school come from there. So this lineage Most people don't know too much about Dragon Pond, but this guy from the cake-selling family was well-prepared for the practice of intimacy because his family made cakes, made refreshments to help touch people's heart.

[44:31]

So he was well-suited even before he met his teacher, he was already serving his teacher. And he just kept serving his teacher, and they became more and more intimate. And then he transmitted this simple intimacy of daily life, which is the great Durrani, which is the treasury of true Dharma eyes. He transmitted this to the scholar. And the scholar transmitted it to the wonderful monk, Shui Feng. And Shui Feng had these many disciples, but these two, Fa Yin and Yun Min, who made these wonderful schools of transmitting the pivot of mind through what? through intimacy.

[45:34]

In the intimacy of our exchanges, of our respectful serving of each other, of the student offering the tea and the teacher receiving the tea, and the student offering the cake and the teacher receiving the cake, there the pivot is demonstrated and transmitted. The old lady selling the cakes who sent Deshan to Dragon Pond. Deshan, by the way, means a virtue mountain. The old lady who sent Virtue Mountain to Dragon Pond, she was also cooking up the intimacy. But in this story, Dragon Pond completed the story by having a special paper lantern that he could blow out.

[46:47]

So somehow we work together to realize the place where the transmission occurs and the serving the great teacher and the seeing the great teacher, the bringing of the tea and the bringing of the cakes, the offering of the prostrations. And as you see in the next story, which I'll tell tomorrow maybe, the bringing of the water and the bringing of the towel the bringing of your words the bringing of your thoughts the bringing of your questions where does it say that when there's frustrations in the world there's Buddha Dharma in the world how are you feeling today? bringing your questions In these interactions is where the special transmission occurs.

[47:55]

You can look at it directly. If you think about it, you'll miss it. But you can look at it directly. It's right there all the time. It doesn't say there is a great teacher exactly, but somebody has to see it. And in order to see it, you have to serve it. And in order to serve it, you have to see it. They work closely together. So this is a mystery of, you know, this is the, yeah, kind of mysterious. I don't know if scholars will verify my sense that The mountains were filled with Dungshan's family members serving the Dharma. But that's what I kind of think now.

[49:00]

I didn't know before, a few days ago, that his family business was selling cakes. I didn't know that that lady, that wonderful lady who sent Virtue Mountain to him was in the same business as his family. But you know, in a way, some people feel that everybody's in the same business here. We're all in the same business. We're all working together to send people to the Buddha for special transmission. That's what we're doing here in this world. Frustration is part of it. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[50:07]

Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, Visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[50:29]

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