Beyond Words: Experiencing Dharmakaya Buddha
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AI Suggested Keywords:
The talk centers on the concept of Dharmakaya Buddha and the challenges of fully articulating its essence. It stresses that Dharmakaya Buddha transcends intellectual understanding, reaching beyond the six senses and five skandhas, and emphasizes the importance of direct, intuitive experience in Zen practice. Various anecdotes and teachings are shared to illustrate these points, including classic Zen stories and personal reflections.
Key References:
- Dharmakaya Buddha: Described as transcending six senses and five skandhas, emphasizing a direct, non-intellectual understanding.
- Five Skandhas (aggregates): Referenced as part of what Dharmakaya Buddha transcends.
- Asanga and Vasubandhu: Discussed in the context of the origin of the Yogacara teachings and their mother's story.
- Avalokiteshvara: Referenced in a story about being reborn due to a past criticism, leading to Avalokiteshvara's female rebirth.
- The Yogacara Texts of Maitreya: Mentioned as teachings brought down from Tushita Heaven by Asanga.
- Suzuki Roshi: Referenced as an example of dedication and patience in Zen practice.
Stories and Anecdotes:
- The Story of Dharmakaya Extending Directions: A Zen master’s humorous critique of another master’s description of Dharmakaya demonstrates the inadequacy of intellectual explanations.
- Asanga's Encounters: Stories highlighting the importance of persistence and compassion in spiritual practice, including encounters with an old man making needles and a dog with maggots.
- Koans and Zen Sayings: Various Zen sayings and koans, like the monk's response to autumn wind, which stress the themes of direct experience and profound self-trust.
- Philip's Bitter Perfume Experience: An anecdote used to illustrate the unexpected nature of direct experiences.
These references and stories underscore the talk’s main thesis: true understanding of Dharmakaya Buddha lies beyond intellectual grasp, accessed through deep, intuitive experience and persistent practice.
AI Suggested Title: Beyond Words: Experiencing Dharmakaya Buddha
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Side: A
Speaker: Richard Baker
Location: ZMC
Possible Title: One Side Only
Additional text: Original Tape
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I've been talking to you about a Dharmakaya Buddha, and I still feel I should say something more, but I don't know exactly what I can say. more than I've said. I can see many ways in which Dharmakaya Buddha or many problems you can get into. But if I talk about them, talking itself is a problem.
[01:02]
But it comes up so many times, dharmakaya buddha. A monk asks, what is dharmakaya buddha? Or asks, what is the body of reality? And Humman says, beyond six or not contained in six. Not contained in six, you know, you can say, means six senses or six elements or six sense objects or six consciousnesses and so forth. Or as I said, you know, the author who is saying, what is the gap between what I see or define and what's there? something beyond maybe five skandhas. So maybe umman means beyond five skandhas. This is, to say, beyond six senses or something, this is intellectual, pretty, you know, it's rather, it's okay to understand it that way, but it's too intellectual, and it's,
[03:00]
better to say no, like a sangha's five illusions, one of them is the illusion of number, to no, not even six, ten or any number. I remember Zen Shin's poem. I think Ron Lowenson is out shopping or his wife, his first wife is out shopping or something I haven't read the poem in years, but I always remember that something or something, and then suddenly Philip puts in the poem, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Isn't that right? You do? H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, [...] J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q who's alphabetized the alphabet in a poem before. Everybody's used all the letters, but no one's abandoned words and just put the letters. You can make your own words from that poem. He gives you all the letters. There's also a statement used in Zen, you know. I thought the yellow lily was as sweet as honey.
[04:30]
But I find that honey, but in fact I find that honey is as bitter as the yellow lily. That reminds me of Philip. I heard a story about Philip hearing that his mother showed him a bottle of perfume. And he, oh, you can't hear. I'm talking to Philip. His mother showed him a bottle of perfume. Do you all know this story? His mother showed him a bottle of perfume. He thought, What smells so good must taste good. So he drank something. Is that true? You tasted it. It was as bitter as the yellow lily. Or Sterling Bunnell deciding in the mountains to eat a banana slug. For days. This is Dharmakaya Buddha. I have never seen Tassajara so fragrant as it is now.
[05:44]
Anyway, you know, one of the parts of this koan is they tell a story. This is Luke, the records, number 47. They tell a story of some dharma master named Fu, I believe, is talking, and he says the dharmakaya extends vertically in three directions. No, in three times and horizontally in ten directions or something like that. And some Zen guy is in the audience and he laughs. And so Fu comes afterwards, comes down to him and says, what was wrong with what I said? And the Zen guy says, you know the extent you described, the extent of dharmakaya, but you don't see it. Actually, you know, that description is not so bad. So again, this koan plays at the edge of what we might come to with some understanding, you know, beyond six or extends through ten directions and three times. So he says, Fu says, what shall I do?
[07:34]
He says, well, go. You should sit. Of course, being a Zen teacher, he says, go do Zazen. So he goes and does Zazen. And during the night, he hears a bell and realizes what was meant by the Zen guy. And so he goes to his room and says, thank you very much. I understand what you meant. Please, none of you interrupt me in the middle of the night. And he says, the Zen guy says, well, tell me, say something to indicate that you understand. And so he says, never again will I twist my parents, this nose of my parents, It means there's no external world. There's not a thing from outside. A sangha who delivered, supposedly, gave us the Yogacara teachings. You know I told you about
[09:15]
that Fox and Snowball, I mean Sundy, were bodhisattvas reborn as dogs, as bodhisattvas covered with hair. And Fox and Snowball enjoyed your attention. But do you know the story of a sangha and the dog? Anyway, Asanga, you know, and his brother Vasubandhu, their mother decided, actually the story is somebody criticized this monk saying, this monk criticized someone saying, you have a female brain. So, Avalokiteshvara said, okay for you, you're going to be born as a female for many years. So he was born as a female for many years. And this is a rather chauvinistic story, excuse me. And so she decided she would give birth because she wanted to teach the world Buddhism, but she realized, you know, what a stupid thing to say.
[10:41]
to have said, but there was no opportunity for her at that time, as there is now, for her to teach Buddhism as a woman. So she decided she better give birth to two sons. So she gave birth to two sons, and this is Asanga and Vasubandhu, and she wrote the letter A on their tongue so that they wouldn't be concerned with their father's business and would teach Buddhism and so forth. Can you hear it all right in the back? A sangha went out to practice and his protector was, or his aspect of Buddhism that he felt most close to was Maitreya. And I believe Maitreya means love or compassion or something. So he is meditating to meet with Maitreya, you know, or to realize compassion. And he meditates and meditates, and after three years, he's pretty disappointed. He's had no luck. So he gives up and leaves, and he's walking along, and he meets this old man who's rubbing an iron bar with cotton. He asks what he's doing. He says, oh, I'm making needles.
[12:08]
Well, the sangha was wiped out by that idea. And the old man said, you know, that if you, a person of true intention and patience, can split mountains with the palm of their hands, who has moral confidence? Suzuki Roshi was like that, you know. Really, he, I think I've told you before, I used to keep getting His intention was to reform America and Japan. And he told me this was my job. I said, America's enough, I can't take on Japan. His idea how to do it was just to do Zazen and nothing else. But he felt each one of us, not just me or him, can take on splitting mountains. You can take on anything if you have that attitude of making needles from iron pull. Your patience and intention doesn't waver. So Asanga was encouraged and he went back and meditated for six years in a cave.
[13:40]
and did janitorial service in a monastery, things like that. And finally, after six years, he was again pretty disappointed. Still, he'd received no confirmation from external world or any sign or just, you know, but that's pretty patient. It had been nine years now. So he went out again. very discouraged, and he saw near his cave a rock worn away by raindrops and by the wings of a bird, which every morning would leave the rock and brush the stone with its wings, and every night return. And just by Its wings brushing it in the morning and brushing it at night. This is the Indian type story. Rock was worn away. So he thought again. Bird can do it, I can do it. So he went back and meditated another three years. Now it's 12 years and still no encouragement and no
[15:00]
sign. So he decides, this is to hell with it. This is too much. Zen practice is like this. So he left and he goes along and he sees this poor dog who's quite healthy, you know, it's barking and things, but its anus is covered with maggots. Its whole back end is all full of worms. And he is overcome with sympathy for this dog, and he wants to take the maggots out, but he is afraid he will kill them if he takes them out, and they will have nothing to eat. This story really is too much. Anyway, so he gets a knife, you know, has to bargain for a knife, and gets a knife, and he cuts off flesh from his own thigh, and he puts it near the anus of the dog, so the maggots can eat his own flesh. I don't know why he didn't buy some meat instead, or something, instead of getting a knife, but anyway. Cut off his own butt, I guess. And then he was going to take the maggots off with his fingers, but he thought he would crush them.
[16:29]
And so he decides to do it with his tongue. But as he approaches the anus of the dog, the stench and the filth is just too much. So he closes his eyes with his tongue out, you know, to get the maggots. And then there's no dog there. When he opens his eyes, there's Maitreya, of course, appearing from the anus of this dog. And still having some of the arrogance of the scholar, he says, I've been trying for 12 years, where have you been?' And Maitreya said, I've always been here, but you were, you know, your compassionate eye was not open. Until you really were overcome by this dog, you couldn't see me. You know, a seed can't sprout, even with rain if it's not ready to germinate. So he said, if you don't believe me, carry me into town and show me to the townspeople. So he did and of course no one, everyone just saw this old ragged monk and a filthy dog and they threw stones at him.
[18:00]
So anyway, the rest of the story is that Maitreya said, come with me to Tushita Heaven. So he grabbed his robes and he took them to Tushita Heaven. And in a period of 50 or 53 years by one standard and one moment by another standard, he was given the five texts of Maitreya and came down, came back and taught Yogacara, Buddhism. That there is nothing external. That in a profound, total sense, you cannot seek outside yourself. There's not a thing from outside. This is again Gutei's finger raised in a world without foreground and background, or like the world of a dream where everything is one medium. This is not
[19:23]
as Francis Cook says, pan-Buddhism, or some idea or equation, but very warm human world. Why we call it Dharmakaya Buddhism? Because very warm, compassionate world. What happens? A monk asks a woman, the trees wither and the leaves fall down. Dungon says, the body emits the autumn wind. Again, it means to profoundly trust yourself. to let things alone, to open yourself to yourself, to give permission to everyone. So that you are completely here,
[21:24]
in the sense that you know there's no external. And you can find how fragrant, how particular everything is. you can open your body to yourself and to each other. So it's not just sambhogakaya buddha but dharmakaya buddha because there's nothing external. You can't find some
[22:25]
confirmation of your practice or sign of your practice. Outside, sign of progress. When you need that, you know, you're always unbalanced. So Dharmakaya, pure body emits autumn wind. A, B, C. One, two, three. Commentary says, What does the sky say? And yet it has four seasons. What does the sky say? It means the sky doesn't say anything. What does the sky say? And yet it has four seasons. What does the earth say? This is introductory word. What does the earth say? And yet everything is born.
[24:18]
to see activity of four seasons and maybe function of birth. It says later, as soon as you see a sign, you've fallen into the realm of six. So as soon as you've seen form or sign, you've fallen into the realm of six. So what does the sky say? And yet it has four seasons. And what does the earth say? And yet everything is born. To see activity of four seasons and activity of birth. And how to see the monk, the monk, this patch road monk, this patch road monk means Omon or Bodhidharma or Sagan Gyoshi or Buddha. But how to see this patch road monk when you cease activity, mental and physical activity and stop up your throat
[25:49]
We can say beyond six might mean to awaken some more intuitive faculty. It's true, it helps if you more and more trust some intuitive or spontaneous faculty. But really, umman means everything is sense, everything is intuitive faculty. Not some specific faculty beyond six senses or five skandhas. But dog, maggot-ridden dog, Dharmakaya Buddha is this warm Buddha realm, sentient realm.
[27:02]
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