Strictly speaking, we should now chant the robe chant and put on our robes, if this is a formal lecture. And if we squeezed it in a shuso ceremony and shosan ceremony, we could have a whole practice period this morning. But let's consider just an informal lecture. By the way, the Gandharan Buddha is completely finished. And some people say the face is a little different. Front on, I'm quite familiar with the face since I sat so near it for so long, but front on the face is, as far as I can see, exactly the same. From the side, I think the profile may be a tiny bit different, a little nose and forehead a little straighter.

[01:22]

The perfect tip of the index finger is slightly broken off and he didn't replace it. I don't think it was broken before, but he only replaced those things which he had a piece for. He could have recreated several areas which were broken before the fire. but fairly simply, but he only rebuilt areas where he had the pieces. But it's virtually the same. And it's a little bit heavier. for the beginning of practice period. As I said last night, we will publish the Shoya Roku, which has been recently translated by Tom Cleary. There's another translation

[02:57]

I have... it's also not published. I have the manuscript of it for about a year or so now. But that translation, at least in English, doesn't hang together so well, I think. And the first... this... Shoya Roku, The cases are put together in a more fashion which relates to each other than Blue Cliff Records is. And the first one is, I don't think I've spoken about any of them here, but the first one is the World Honored One Takes His Seat. Manjushri says, here, and hits the gavels. The second one is, I'll talk about them this fall. The second one is, the first one in Hikigan Roku, the second one here is Bodhidharma and the emperor. You know, and the first two are concerned

[04:30]

the idea of a teacher. And the next two are concerned with the idea of teaching. And the one I'm talking about this morning is the third case, which is about breathing. about why is there teaching at all, which also the first two are about. You know, as you may know, I often say that there's no belief dogma in Buddhism, except the idea that everything changes. And in this case it says, if you cannot embrace the fundamental principles of Buddhism, how can you ever expect to conclude this mystic path, if you cannot

[06:04]

embrace the fundamental principles of Buddhism. So this case is about fundamental principles of Buddhism. And I think we have to go back to, for this case, as if we didn't know anything about Buddhism or if we were meeting someone who was quite sceptical or knew nothing about Buddhism. Now, Buddhism is for those people who, for anyone, but it's especially for those people who don't have that good luck of believing in God, or believing in, maybe I could say, a liturgical teaching. If you're a seeker,

[07:05]

ask yourself the question, what's going on at all, then you would either be one of those three, I think. Either you would believe in God by inheriting such a belief, or you'd have a conversion experience, some experience of God. If you don't have that, then you might just accept teaching. I guess we could say liturgically. In other words, some culture might say, you know, like, the earth was born from a rabbit or something like that. And they know the earth wasn't born from a rabbit, but they like saying it that way. even though the language literally doesn't make sense. In some way it makes sense as a myth or, well, maybe, again, liturgical sense. So the second way is, you may not believe exactly in God, but you may feel that Jewish or Christian or some explanation of our life

[08:33]

is actually the best way for people to live. So you take it as a myth which is the truth, that this description is the description which brings out our true life. If you don't happen to have that good fortune to either believe in God or to accept some teaching as not true, but true in the sense that it's the best way to describe how we should live. Then you're left with what, you know? Where do you start? And this case is, you know, that takes us back, you know, the case takes us back to before the scriptures, and to do that it also takes us back in the story to before Bodhidharma, to Prajnatara, a Bodhidharma's teacher, supposedly. So a raja in India asks Prajnatara,

[10:08]

Why don't you read the scriptures? So, here we have, if we don't start with Buddhism as a teaching and just follow it, If we go back before the scriptures, what will we do? It says in this story, you know, to read the scriptures – again, perhaps without embracing the fundamental principles of Buddhism – is like drawing a salary without service. uneasy sleeping and eating. To read the scriptures without understanding is like drawing a salary without service. You will feel uneasy sleeping and eating. So Prajñātara says to the raja when he asks him, why don't you read the scriptures?

[11:37]

He said, this poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of body and mind breathing in and is not involved in myriad circumstances breathing out. And this scripture, hundreds of thousands, of millions of scrolls, I read continuously. So this, you know, the Prajnaparamita maybe in 25,000 lines and sometimes in 8,000 lines, sometimes in 64, sometimes in one syllable, just breathing, ah. So this is also one-syllable scripture. I talked about this

[13:04]

point, breathing, in the city, in Green Gulch. Recently, because, you know, we start out as beginners, we think counting our breath, following our breath, eventually. And we tend to think of it as too simple a practice. but it's limitless practice. All of Prajnaparamita literature is on one syllable. And this is not just a simple idea, but fundamental principles of Buddhism. But I think we have to see in this case that We can say, everything is changing, but please note that you are pointing out that everything is changing. That's a very important point. You are not just saying… Well, we take the whole thing. When we say everything is changing, we are not just noticing that everything is changing, we should also notice

[14:38]

if you're going to understand Buddhism, that we're noticing that everything's changing. Do you see? Maybe that's a little slips by, but everything is changing and we're noticing that everything's changing. But before we notice everything is changing, everything is still changing. But the fact that we need to notice it, that our ego, that our greed, hate and delusion so much want things not to change, or we want to get things into some relationship where we can predict them, or project our life circumstances into them, that we tend not to notice that everything's changing, and we tend not to notice, deal with, consider the ramifications extension of everything changing. So there's unidentified change or unnoticed change and then change, the word change. And on this need, the fact that we point out changing, is all of Buddhism, all of the need for a teacher or instruction or scripture.

[16:07]

If we didn't have to point out that everything changes, there'd be no need for Buddhism. So all of Buddhism is encapsulated, is found in this need to point it out. So Buddhism is about unnoticed change, and then that we need to point it out. and then that we return it to unnoticed change. Change is always there, like our Buddha nature is always there, but we don't notice it. So we point out everything is change, we point out Buddha nature. the intention to be complete. So we have four things here. Unnoticed change, and then that we notice change. So this is the beginning of the seeking. And where do we first notice change is this case.

[17:42]

And first thing we notice is that we ourselves are changing. So here you can embrace the fundamental principles of Buddhism, that we ourselves are changing. And as we add the word change to breathing, to changing, as we add the word changing to changing, We have to consider, are we doing any fundamental damage to changing by calling it changing? Maybe it's not just changing. This is the study of our practice, too. So then we're breathing, and Tsukiyoshi would say, in the I think maybe second story of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, he talks about breathing, and he says, I is just a swinging door, that when we breathe in and breathe out. This story, lecture of his in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is based on Shoyu Roku, on this case, number three in Shoyu Roku, which talks about this hinge.

[19:07]

Nori Suzuki, as she said, used to say, on your exhale, please die. And if some other breath doesn't come, it's okay. You know, you started on an inhale when you were born, and you will end on an exhale when you die. So this practice lasts quite a long time. So to be able, if you can practice right now, starting, just breathing out and dying, it will be actually easier for you when you die. You may have some second thoughts on that last exhale, some hesitations, not wanting to finish it quite, but you can start practicing just now.

[20:17]

Some of you are exhaling right now. Then, if inhale comes in, the nominal world reappears. So, this is one way of understanding it. And, is this adding this idea to breathing? Breathing is just everything changing, but then we add to breathing. We see on breathing the fundamental principles of Buddhism. Everything is changing. And also form and emptiness, dying and everything reappears. We give everything away, we renounce everything, and we accept everything. We give everything away and we accept everything. Accepting and renouncing or giving away. And that practice is with us all our life. We are always doing it. Are we doing some damage to the breathing by naming it now?

[21:47]

receiving and giving. Again, this is study of our practice. What damage do you do by this naming? But this naming is Buddhism or instruction or teaching. So this case, Ado says, expresses it, not dwelling. This poor wayfarer does not dwell in the realms of body and mind breathing in. Here, instead of saying phenomenal world reappears, this naming of breath emphasizes samadhi.

[22:49]

the bliss body not phenomenal world breathing in but breathing in that ecstatic breathing of concentration where there is no thoughts not dwelling in body and mind silver breath But he says, you know, this is something. And it says in this case, when are you going to realize spiritual life far transcending the senses? So here, already, although we started out without any God or without any patriarchal teaching and just looked at this material world changing, and our physical body changing and breathing, already in this case we are not caught

[24:11]

not limited to just this material world, already something transcending. And here spiritual really means breath, transcending the senses. It says in this case, Prajñātara means wisdom jewel, you know, Prajñātara, the 27th patriarch's name. And it says, when will you recognize this? How will you find this priceless jewel hidden in the pit of the senses or hidden in the pit of the clusters of being? When will you find this priceless jewel hidden in the pit of the clusters of being? This priceless jewel hidden in the pit of the clusters of being is your breathing. on which you can find vast eons, clear mind and body. So he says, even in breath, which is sambhogakaya,

[25:37]

I do not dwell, this poor wayfarer doesn't read the scriptures and does not dwell in the realm of body and mind. Breathing in. And to breathing out is not involved in myriad circumstances. So if you're caught by your breath, then you will find some, if you dwell in the realms of body and mind, then when you breathe out you will, this means activity, you will act in this world, believing in existence of this world. As he says, not dwelling in body and mind and not involved in myriad circumstances. So the poem of this The beginning of the poem of this case is, Cloud Rhinoceros, Cloud Rhino gazes at the moon. It's said that the rhinoceros got his horn by looking at the pattern of the moon. Cloud Rhino gazes at the moon, light engulfing radiance.

[27:11]

Cloud Rhino gazes at the moon. Light engulfing radiance. This means breathing in. And then it says, I would A wooden horse romps in the spring, swift and unbridled. A wooden horse romps in the spring, swift and unbridled. This is breathing out, not caught by myriad circumstances. A wooden horse romps in the spring, swift and unbridled. It also says, the lip of a mortar bursts into flower. Now then, it goes on in this case to say, to understand this you must hang the sun and moon in shadowless forest.

[28:40]

And implicitly, no. Spring and autumn on the budless branches. Implicitly, no. Spring and autumn on the budless branches. So in the poem, the third line after the horse is, under the eyebrows, two gray eyes, cold gray eyes. It means detachment. You know, Ikkyu, a famous Japanese Zen master, Ikkyu, he said, a returning from the world of passions to the world beyond passions, a pause. His name, Ikkyu, means this pause, a pause. Returning from the world of passions to the world beyond passions, a pause. If it rains, let it rain. If the wind blows, let it blow. 31 side is how long? So I should stop. 30 minutes? Half an hour. So what time is the second period supposed to start so the kitchen can go away? I have to be practical here. 6.10?

[30:11]

That's when the second period starts? Should have started. Oh my goodness. I'll stop in a moment. Stop. Anyway, that's maybe pretty much enough. You've got the idea. And on breathing, you know, there is counting your breath, following your breath to the tips of your body, and actually, it doesn't stop. Tsukiyoshi says in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Breathing in to limitless world, breathing out to limitless world. So again, it says in this case, if you only understand yourself and

[31:34]

body and mind and circumstances, what's called the double enclosure, the world of you can't bend your elbow backwards. Now Jim Carroll has a poem and song which is, there are no, how does it go, there are no, nothing is prohibited, something like that. Nothing is, everything is permitted, yes it is. He says it's not, we're not, it's not what is true, but everything is permitted. But your elbow doesn't bend backwards. And we're very involved nowadays in what is permitted. What is man and woman? What is this life?

[32:39]

We are always finding, testing the edges of this. But the elbow doesn't bend backwards. So the double enclosure is circumstances and body and mind. But this case is how, by your heroic posture, can you be free of this double enclosure, realizing the limitations So there's following your breath, and stopping when you are very concentrated, and merging, or just being one with your breath, without any identification. So this fourth, or detachment, we start out with unnoticed change, and then noticed change, and then change, noticed on our breathing, and all the teaching of Buddhism on breathing.

[33:42]

giving and receiving. And then unidentified change. Now we have no longer noticed change. This is detachment, real detachment. So that Buddha can say, when Kalinga cut the flesh from my body, I felt no perception of ill will. And why did I feel no? This is Diamond Sutra. Why did I feel no perception of ill-will? Because I had no idea of self or soul or a being. If I'd had some idea of a self or a soul or a being, I would have felt some ill-will. This patience which knows past, present and future can implicitly discern the spring and autumn on the budless branches. Now this is detachment. Where you are, one now with unidentified change. You don't need to identify, but it's a strange factor of human life that unnoticed change and unidentified change, if I make the distinction in language that way, are different.

[35:09]

So to have noticed and forgotten, merging completely. And there's purification too, or returning everything. Or when you breathe in, purifying everything and returning it. Purifying it and returning it. These are all aspects of our Buddhism that we find on our breathing, that we can notice on our breathing. Our actual aspects, if we notice. And this breathing... You know, I... have told you this before, but I'll mention it again. Some of you don't know the story. Some years, many years ago, 1960, I don't know, three or somewhere in there, I'd been practicing a couple of years, and I was at Berkeley,

[36:37]

I heard some Indian fellow was going to be talking, and so I thought, I should find out about Indian or Hindu practice too. This was before he was famous, just was going from campus to campus. So I went and the building was quite crowded and I had to climb in a window. knew the building well because I'd used it. Since I worked for the university, I'd used the building quite a bit. And so I went to the window and here was this little Indian fellow sitting there with all these leis, flowers, you know, around his neck. And it was the Maharishi. And he was smiling. I don't remember if he said much. I came right at the end. And then I left. with everyone and was standing around outside watching them get ready. I guess he was going to Canada by car or to the airport or something. And they were talking about Next Step. And suddenly it occurred to me, he's pretty good. And I thought to myself, why did I think he's pretty good? And then I

[38:13]

I noticed I'd coordinated my breathing unconsciously with him and was breathing right with him, and his breathing was very, very stable. And at that point I realized that from zazen practice we unconsciously begin to breathe with everything, breathe with our friend, you know, and this is a conspiracy. The word conspiracy literally means to breathe together, and it's very suspicious to do it. It's why sexuality is so powerful for us, why we get caught by conditioned world and think it's unconditioned world, because it's such a powerful breathing together. But when you know that we are always breathing together, various ways, this is then limitless world of breathing out and breathing in. Two gray, two cold gray eyes underneath the brows,

[39:42]

When it rains, let it rain. The wind blows, let it blow. Not dwelling in body or mind, not caught by myriad circumstances, even though breathing embraces the fundamental principles of Buddhism. And if you want to understand Buddhism, on your breath every moment when you're eating and working and practicing and walking around and sleeping and bathing and so forth. This jewel of hidden in the pit of the clusters of being is always there with all the teaching of Buddhism. And this is where you can embrace your teaching, embrace Buddhism. first and last two. It's a practice you can do because you'll always be breathing.

[40:55]

So we have this jewel. This is, as I said last night, students, I is the I of the world, and scripture is the whole earth. So we have, this is our way of practicing, we have tassar and green gulch in San Francisco, and the restaurant and bakery. and sashins. Everything is our scripture and for countless eons we read it and you are always breathing and this is your one syllable, the guardian of the temple in Japan and China. are two great figures, fierce figures, standing like that. And one has his mouth open and the other has his mouth closed. And one is going, ah. So this is sutra of one's own, breathing in and out. And the other, his mouth is closed. This is unidentified. Identified and unidentified.

[42:41]

And these two guardians of Buddhism, of the temple. Fourth case is about the temple. But it's on our breathing we embrace, always through our lifetime, express fundamental principles and teaching of Buddhism. So since you are breathing, please continue.

[43:22]

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