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. Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. Good. Okay. It's hot. I stayed at Green Garage for seven days for doing the seven-day genzoe retreat there. And it's almost cold. So I feel this is like real summer. Well, I'm happy being here. with you today. I think I first came to Tassara in 1988, so 27 years ago.

[01:10]

I was very young. And probably last time I came here was more than 10 years ago, while Branch Hartman was in the abyss. This looks new to me, very different. And it's nice to see so many new and young people working and practicing here. This afternoon, I'd like to talk on this book. Probably you've never seen this book. This is kind of a special book. Title of this book is Zen of Four Seasons, Dogen Zenji's Waka. Last few years, I have been translating each of Dogen Zenji's Waka from his collection of workpoints for San Shinden community newsletter.

[02:22]

And for the first time, I translated his Waka poems. Probably you know what Waka means. Waka is a kind of Japanese poem. I'm sure you know the word haiku. Haiku is the shortest form of the poem. Haku has only 17... What's the word? Syllables? Syllables, yes. Waka is a little longer, 31. So, 14 more syllables. And waka is much older than haiku. Haiku started around, I think, 17th or 18th century in Japan.

[03:24]

But waka is much older. It's... You know, the oldest collection of waka poem was made, I think, in eighth or ninth century, more than thousand years ago. So, waka is very traditional form of Japanese poem, and these are collections of Dogen's waka. Dogen was, of course, a great Zen master and a philosopher, And yet he was also a great poet. He wrote poems in Chinese and also in Japanese. So these are Japanese poems written by Dogen. And in the collection of his worker poems, we have about 60, 60 poems. And so far, I think I translated about 30. So...

[04:25]

about half of them. But the first year, I translated his worker poems, particularly on the seasons, fall seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter, because seasons, fall seasons is really important in Japanese poetry, not only the poetry, but Japanese culture. and also life for Japanese people living in that country. Not only in terms of the Japanese culture or literature, but when we read and study Dogen's poems, we read not only about the beauty of each seasons, but we try to interpret as the expression of his dharma.

[05:36]

So I have been making short poems, I mean short comments on each worker poem in each month. And so this is the collection of first 14 Waka poems I translated and all about the seasons. And probably the most well-known Dogen's poem, Waka poem about the seasons is this particular poem I put as an introductory poem. This is the first poem and this is as follows. So this has only 31 syllables, so very short. Let me read in Japanese first and my translation.

[06:39]

His Japanese original poem is Haru wa Hana Natsu hototogisu Aki wa Tsuki Fuyu yuki kiede These are 31 syllables. And my translation of this poem is Spring, flowers. Summer, cuckoos. Autumn, the moon. Winter, snow does not melt. All seasons, pure and upright. All seasons are pure and upright. So he simply listed the beauty of each season. And the title of this Waka poem is Honrai no Menmoku in Japanese. In English translation, Honrai no Menmoku is original face.

[07:42]

Original face is very important than expression. Original means this is my face. But in Zen, this is not original faith. This is a kind of a karmic faith. But he said original faith, not he, but in Zen literature and Zen teachings, original faith means true self. And true faith, self, refer to probably, you know, the Koan story. of six ancestors, Huynan. When Huynan received transmission from the fifth century, somehow fifth, I mean fifth ancestor, fifth ancestor, his teacher asked me to ask him to leave, to leave the monastery. So Huynan escaped.

[08:46]

But many people chased after him to get the loaves and the balls Huynan received from the fifth ancestor as a symbol of dermotransmission. So those people wanted to get back. That means they didn't want Huynan, at that time Huynan was still a layperson. So they didn't like layperson receive the transmission. and became the sixth ancestor. So some monks chased after him. But after a while, all the monks gave it up because she escaped so quickly. But only one person found him on the top of the mountains. That is kind of a border between south and north.

[09:47]

And the monk, and the story said, the monk was a soldier who was very tough and strong person and violent person. So Huynan put his robe and balls on the stone and hide himself. And when the monk came, he appeared. and said, if we want to take this rope and the ball, please take them back. But the monk said, I didn't come for those balls and ropes, but I came for Dharma. So please teach me the Dharma. At that time, Hyo Inan said to this monk, without thinking about it, good or bad.

[10:49]

So, don't think good or bad. Thinking good and bad means think in a dualistic, discriminating way. So, Hyuna said, without thinking good and bad, what is your original face? That means the original face is true reality, before dualistic, discriminative thinking. That is the origin of this expression, original faith. Since then, original faith means true reality of all beings. In our case, who is this? Who this really is? But this title, true reality. true face or original face means and so fact basically Dogen is saying those beauty of each seasons is itself original face of our life and also original or true reality of all beings do you understand?

[12:13]

I'm glad so I don't need to explain but you know, this season, beauty of seasons. Seasons is referred to impermanence. You know, seasons are changing. Spring, summer, fall, and winter. You know, things in the beginning of spring, you know, plants sprout and grow little by little. and bloom flowers and in the fall the plants bear fruits so each seasons are different phases so one side of four seasons is changing and impermanence but another side of four seasons

[13:15]

is you know even though things are changing within the cycle of four seasons but each year the same things repeatedly happen so each year when spring comes snow melts and plants start to grow and we have many flowers not only things in the nature but in the winter and in the spring and in the summer you know our way of life our life changes and therefore our psychological condition also changing with the changes of the seasons but each year it repeats the same thing So within the seasons we feel impermanence and continuity.

[14:16]

That is a point of how to read when we study Dogen's poem. Not only the beauty of each season but also we try to learn the changing or impermanence and continuity. That is true or original phase of our life and also true reality of all beings. That is the expression appeared in the Lotus Sutra until yesterday we studied Lotus Sutra and Dogen's comment on the Lotus Sutra. So I talk a lot about this expression, true reality of all beings, but true reality of beings has two sides. One is impermanence and another is, you know, as it is said in the heart sutra, you know, no arising and no perishing.

[15:28]

This is a continuity. and beyond discrimination or separation but each things in each seasons are different and they changes so you know our understanding of Dharma is a kind of a combination or integration or in the intersection of impermanence and continuity. And so this is an introductory poem. And I selected three poems of each season. That makes 12. Because I feel today is real summer, after Greenwich.

[16:29]

I'd like to talk about the poems about the summer. And when we read Japanese poetry, either haiku or waka or other Japanese poetry, traditional poems, I think it's kind of important to know the difference of a sense of seasons in this country and in Japan, especially in California. You know, I went to Minnesota in 1993. I lived in Minneapolis for four years. They didn't have four seasons. They only had two seasons long summer, I mean long winter, almost half a year is winter, and short summer, and very short, almost one week spring and one week autumn.

[17:40]

So I didn't like that. And I moved to Los Angeles from Minneapolis, and there's no four seasons over there neither. Almost the entire year is hot. Only a short time is relatively cold. But there's no such, you know, change of seasons. And from Los Angeles, I moved to San Francisco. Again, there's no seasons. So for about 10 years, from 1993 to 2003... I lived without seasons. That was very kind of difficult to me. I've always felt something is lacking. That was one of the reasons I made decision to move to Indiana. Now I live in Bloomington, Indiana.

[18:44]

And there we have four seasons. Pretty cold winter. and hot and humid summer, and a beautiful spring and fall. So I really like four seasons in Indiana. Anyway, what I'm going to say is the difference about the sense of the seasons in Japanese culture, especially in the literature. Sorry. when we take four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. We still even now think of the seasons

[19:51]

in the lunar calendar. Now we use a solar calendar in Japan too, but when we study or read poems, especially traditional poems, it refers to the four seasons within the lunar calendar. In the lunar calendar, I call 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 12th months instead of January, February, March. And in the solar calendar, in Japanese culture, 1st, 2nd, 3rd is spring. And four, five, six is summer.

[20:54]

And seven, eight, nine is fall or autumn. And 10, 11, 20 is winter. And the seasons are different from solar character. The difference is, you know, Winter solstice is now in solar system around December 20 or 21. And spring equinox is March around 20, 21, 22. And summer solstice is June, June around 21 or 22. and it go back, right? One, two, three.

[21:57]

Autumn is from September, around 20th. In Japanese culture, spring start in the middle of our center between winter solstice and spring equinox. And this is the new year. And as you know, Chinese New Year today is around February 10th. So this is around the middle or center between So this is the beginning of spring.

[22:58]

That means, you know, around February 10th is the most coldest time of the year. So beginning of the spring is very cold and end of the spring is halfway between spring equinox and summer solides. That is four, five, six in the solar calendar. But that in solar calendar, that is about beginning of May. May 10th. and August 10th Warsaw. This is the summer. So in the lunar calendar, today is already in the fall.

[24:06]

But it's very hard. Anyway, so when we read Dogen's poems about the summer, it's about the May, June, and July, and early summer, midsummer, and late summer. And I try to choose one of each, the poems, one of each, early, middle, and late summer. So the first one is about the early summer. Actually, this is the very beginning of the summer in Japanese culture. The beginning of summer, that is around the beginning of June today. But in the solar and lunar calendar, it is the beginning of the fourth month.

[25:14]

changed the clothes. This custom happened, started in the emperor's court. Each season, they, all people working at the emperor's court changed the clothes. And around the time of Dogen, not only those aristocrats or government officers, Common people also started to do same kind of things. So this is a time of changing the clothes from the winter clothing to the summer clothing. In the summer in Japan, it's very hot and humid. If you go to Japan in July or August, it's like the entire world is like a sauna bus. It's really hot and humid. So this first poem about the early summer in Dogen's worker collection is about changing the clothes.

[26:23]

It's first in Japanese. English translation reads as follows. Grass hermitage. At the beginning of summer. Time of changing clothings. Only a cool bamboo blind hangs. Only a cool bamboo blind hangs. So when he composed this poem, he didn't live in a big monastery or a temple. but he lived in a small hermitage. You know, in the big monastery, even today, in Japanese monasteries, in the beginning of summer, they changed many things.

[27:33]

For example, in the monk's hall, or Zendo, during winter, they put a thick cotton carton to keep the warm air within the zendo. But on this day, they change, they take out the cotton, thick cotton cotton cotton cotton, and put a bamboo blind. Then the cool wind can come in from outside. So not only the blind, but, Almost everything is changed from the winter to the summer. But because Dogen lives in a small hauntage, not in a big temple, the change was very simple. Because it's hot in the summer, we even keep opening, keep opening.

[28:39]

the, you know, shoji, the paper door, shoji of smug. But as a kind of a separation between inside and outside, we put the bamboo grind. That is only kind of a separation between inside and outside. And, excuse me. This bamboo grind that makes a separation between inside and outside, but there's not actually, there's not such separation. The air can come in freely and go away. You know, that bamboo grind only show the, how can I say, border, but anyone can come in.

[29:41]

So I think when Dogen says, only a cool bamboo blind hangs, means there's no real separation between inside the room or house he is living and rest of the world. There's only kind of a sign of there is a separation. And I think this as a dharma, As a Dharma poem, this means, you know, we have some individuality. You know, we have, this is the five skandas, and we think my five skandas go to shohaku. And each one of us has different shape of body and different capability, different personality.

[30:48]

So there is some boundary between people and between the inside of me and the rest of the world. But this separation or boundary is not really there. It's there and yet it's not there. That is, that is, this is, this, you know, That is there, and yet it's not there. It's a kind of expression by Nishiri Voksan. You know, not only the border, but all types of cameras, you know, form, sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness that form this body and mind, that means me. And there is boundary. but this boundary is not really there. And yet we cannot say there is no boundary.

[31:51]

Boundary is there, but it's not really there. That is one meaning of form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Form, in the case of our life, is despotic, and other false skandhas are a function of our mind. And as the Heart Sutra says, form is emptiness. That means there is no such thing called form. And yet, the Heart Sutra says the opposite. Emptiness is form. So there is a form. There is a form, but there is not a form. That is what form is emptiness, and emptiness is form, means. One meaning is there is a individuality as me or each one of us and we are different and we have unique quality, unique personality and yet we are not really separate individual beings or independent beings because everything stay here now is

[33:14]

doesn't stay forever. It's coming from outside, like the water I drank, come to my body and stay within body as a part of my body and go out. Not only the water or air or food, but our thinking is the same thing. Coming and go. Nothing stays forever. You know, when I was a kid, my way of thinking is very different. Something very important when I was 10 years old is not important to me now, when I was 67 years old. So our mind is also changing. So everything is changing, and yet there is some continuity. So I can say when I was a baby or when I was a teenager, or when I was a young adult, or when I was a middle-aged person, and then now I am an aged person.

[34:22]

In each stages, or even each moment, these five scandals, my body and mind are always changing. Like everything within the seasons, it's always changing. Nothing stays forever. And yet there is some continuity. So that's why I can say when I was a baby, and when I was a teenager, when I was a middle-aged person, and now when I'm an old-aged person, there is some continuity. That's why I can say, this is me. identity of this person and yet actuality of this person is always changing so this is like the change of everything within four seasons and yet there is some continuity that is how we understand the Dharma and we also understand what is happening using the scenery of

[35:39]

I was wondering, can you tell me some more about the continuity? What do you think in Buddhism supports the continuity? Is there a substratum that does that? Continuity is possible in Buddhist teaching as karma. When we do something, some experiences, some energy of what we did stay within these five circumstances. And it continues. For example, in one of the important Mahayana Buddhist school called Yohachara, said, deeper than our consciousness, our conscious or thinking mind, there are two more layers.

[36:41]

First, sixth and seventh and eighth. And eighth, the deepest layer of our consciousness is called Alaya, Alaya consciousness. And according to the teaching of that school, everything we experience, everything we did is stored. in this deepest layer of consciousness. And this means, in Sanskrit word, alaya means storage or storehouse. So in English, this is called storehouse consciousness. So everything is stored in the deepest layer of our consciousness. Not only what we remember, but everything is there as a sea. So, That is the basis of continuation. Would you say that all schools of Buddhism agree to that? No, each school has different opinion.

[37:46]

This is only in Yovachara school. Thank you. Anyway, that is how we use the analogy of change of a season and continuity to express our understanding of dharma, impermanence, and yet there is some continuity. Anyway, it's already four, five. Second poem, I think this is about the midsummer, by Dogen is as follows. My English translation is the moon.

[39:05]

begins to rise above the mountain's brow. In the glimmering evening moonlight, fireflies take wings, glowing dimly. Do I understand? Let me repeat. The moon begins to rise above the mountain's brow. In the glimmering evening moonlight, fireflies take wings, glowing dimly. So this is a scenery of summer evening. You know, summer has a long day, and even when sunset, the sky is not dark. And this is the time the moon just arrives. from the mountain blow.

[40:07]

Mountain blow. Mountain blow means, you know, this kind of shape of the mountain, like a blow. Brow. Brow, I'm sorry. Brow, okay. So, from the mountain blow, brown. Moon. the sky is not dark not only the sky but this world is not in the dark but the moon starts to rise and illuminate but it's not so bright because sunlight is still there in that scenery this is the scenery of evening in the Long summer day, he saw some fireflies is flying.

[41:09]

So in the glimmering evening moonlight, fireflies take wings. So fireflies are flying. Glowing dimly. So fireflies are flying. And there is a few big mountains and a boundless moonlight. So, you know, this is like a photo of that scenery of the evening in the summer day. And in here, the moonlight, as Dogen wrote in Genjo-Kohan, this boundless moonlight is not yet so... So this is the time halfway between daytime and nighttime.

[42:14]

And I think you all know the Sandokai, or merging of difference and unity. Darkness means no discrimination, and brightness or light means discrimination. And during daytime, we have to make discrimination to make distinction which is good, which is bad, or what is best. And we have to always make choice, otherwise we cannot do anything. So during daytime, when we work with things, we have to think and make distinction. and make choice. This is how we live in the daytime when we work. Because we have to make choice. Sometimes we are successful. Sometimes it doesn't work so we feel, you know, I made a failure.

[43:19]

That is the way we live in Sansala. Sometimes we feel like as happy as heavenly beings. But Next time we could feel like hell dwellers. And between hell and heaven, there are not only six realms, but numberless realms between hell and heaven. And we are transmigrating within this change of the situation and what we are doing, how we are doing, how we make choice. That is how we live in Daytime. In the nighttime, we stopped all such work, especially in the ancient times, you know, they didn't have electricity. So night is really dark. And they couldn't see things. So they cannot make discrimination.

[44:21]

And what they could do is sleep. Restore sleep. So that is a kind of a opposition of daytime and... night time. But what Dogen describes here is halfway between. Day time when we have to work, making choice, and night time we rest without making any discrimination. You know, this is a really beautiful time and restful time. And yet our mind is still working. It's not completely dark. And it's not daytime, so we don't need to work. We can rest, but still our mind is working. So this is a peaceful time. And if I'm sure you all know Ofkanza Zengi. Dogenzenji, in Ofkanza Zengi, Dogenzenji used the expression, ekou henshou no tai.

[45:31]

In my English translation, this is translated not literally, but as something like, turn the light inward and illuminate the self. That is a part of the Fukanza Zengi. But the original expression Dogen used for this phrase is, E ko hen shou. E ko hen shou. And here add this tai ho. E means to turn. Ko is light.

[46:35]

So turn the light. And Hen is return. Return. And Sho is to illuminate. So turn the light and illuminate. That is the meaning of this expression. And this is expression. expression of the scenery in exactly the same time Dogen is describing in this Waka training. That is, sun is already set. So light is already below, the source of the light, that is sun, is already below the horizon. But at that time, you know, that sun, which is already gone, illuminate the return and illuminate the entire sky. And this is a really bright, beautiful scenery.

[47:39]

You know, all the clouds are illuminate by sunlight and all different colors. That is the imagination of this expression. Eko Hensho no Taiho. Eko Hensho. And Taiho means Backward step. Tai Po is the opposition of Shin Po. Shin Po is progress, to go forward. Shin Po is usually used as a positive word. We need to go forward to progress. to improve. But Taiho, as a common word, means backsliding. So this is usually, commonly, negative words.

[48:45]

So we commonly say we should go forward instead of backsliding. Or another possible English translation is withdraw. going forward or will throw. But here Dogen uses this Taiho, backward step, in a very positive meaning. That is why this is translated as turned light inward and eliminate the self. Usually our light goes outside and try to find what are these. and we make discrimination or definition and evaluate them. And we make judgment. I like this or I hate that, or this is variable or this is not variable or meaningful or not. That kind of activity is done in a daytime.

[49:48]

And in the night, we stop doing such a thing. But, you know, This is halfway between daytime and nighttime. That means our discriminating mind stops working, and yet some discrimination are there, or distinction are there. So our mind is still working, functioning. And that means we are not completely in the darkness. But we don't need to take action based on our thinking or discrimination. But we can rest, and yet discrimination is still there. And I think this is a description of others there. When we are sitting, all different kinds of discriminating thinking, so turning and going.

[50:55]

But in our jazen, we open our hand, open our hand with my teacher's Uchama Roshif expression, letting go of thought. We let go of thought, even though all different kind of thinking are coming and going, we don't take any action based on this thought coming and going. So there are some thinking. thinking mind is still working and yet the sun is already set but we don't take we don't need to take action based on those discriminated things so we are in rest you know this is most beautiful one of the most beautiful time of the day and this is that description of our Zen, according to Dogen.

[52:01]

So this is the same meaning with Yuskanda Zen, Dogen, for the core story of Yakusan again. Yakusan said, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking beyond thinking? So thinking and not thinking are there. But both are there, and yet both didn't fight or contradict each other. But within this beyond the thinking, both Shiryu and Fushiryu are included. And what we do is just sitting. In here, you know, difference and unity. while faking and not sinking are both there. And it's very peaceful. Sometimes not so peaceful. Sometimes we feel like daytime still continues in our city, but we don't need to deal with it.

[53:11]

So this Very short Waka poem is a description of beauty of the day, daytime, and time, between daytime and nighttime, or darkness and light. And I think he described, not described, but pointed out the nature of other than practice. The next one, I think, is about the Great Summer. In Japanese, it says, Then I'll read it again.

[54:22]

In my English translation, deep in the mountain, both on the peak and in the valley, raising loud voices, scared us, scared us, This day is already ending. This day is already ending. In Japan we have many shiketas and this particular kind of shiketas is called higurashi. Higurashi. Hi means day and grass means to day is ending.

[55:23]

So as a literal translation, this Higurashi means day closer. That means these skaters chirping in the evening. When it's hot during the daytime, they don't make sound. But from the evening, when it's cool down, they start to make sounds. Chicadas? Chicadas, yes. A kind of chicadas. That is called higurashi. So this is still in the summer day. So the summer day is long. But this... Shikada or Semi in Japanese is a symbol of impermanence.

[56:26]

Shikadas stay underground for several years. But when they come out and start to sink, they can stay in this world after they become the matured shikadas. They could live about a week or so. Their life is very short. So we hear their singing as impermanence. Life is short. That means we hear the song of Shiketas as a kind of teaching. Life is short. We don't have time to waste. But the final line does seem like a day is ending.

[57:27]

This day is ending. So we must be mindful. And we have to reflect how we lived this particular day. Because it's almost ending. So this is the teaching. of impermanence. Seeing impermanence is really important in our practice. Dogen Venji said in Gakudo Yojinshu. Gakudo Yojinshu is a collection of his short essays. In my translation the title is something like point to watch for in practicing the way. This is a collection of 10 independent short essays by Dogen. He wrote around when he was 35. That is a few years after he established his own monastery, his first monastery named Koshouji in Kyoto.

[58:33]

So those 10 essays is about things should be kept in mind. when the monks wanted to pray with Dogon in his monastery. And in the very first essay, he wrote about the impermanence of arising bodhicitta, body-mind, way-seeking mind. And he said, this bodhicitta or way-seeking mind, or bodhishing, what's bodhishing? and the mind that sees impermanence of all beings. When we clearly and deeply see the impermanence, we understand that we don't have time to waste because impermanence is very swift.

[59:37]

Things are changing so quickly and we don't know when we need to live this life or this world. So when we see there's no time to waste, we need to focus on what is most important. And of course for the Buddhist monks who came to practice at the monastery, studying the Dharma and practicing the Dharma. is most important. So Dogen's teaching was don't, you know, focus on one thing. That is most essential study and practice in the monastic practice for the monks. And don't, how can I say, chase after something else. That is a lifestyle.

[60:38]

So he requested his monks to focus on studying Dharma and perhaps without losing any time. And this work-up poem is a kind of a same kind of a caution. Even though summer day is long, especially when we are young, we don't think so much about impermanence unless we have some experiences. such as someone close to us died, or some very painful things happened. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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 sfcc.org and click Giving.

[61:39]

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