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. So, being in this seat and having me chant the chant that you just chanted, I feel like, what am I going to say? But then I think of all of the teachings I love that have supported and fed my practice. And so it's a joy to be able to share some of those things with you. And that makes it so much easier and welcome an opportunity. Today, I'll share with you a discourse, it's a little long, by Rayo Kahn, one of our Japanese ancestors.

[01:02]

Maybe a small poem again by Shide Pickup, who I read a poem of his on Wednesday. And then a koan that's in the collection that my teacher compiled of modern American koans called 49 Fingers. And I'd also like to offer some support for your thoughts and practice. So maybe instructions you have heard before or haven't heard before. But maybe we're adult learners, so hearing things a couple times helps us learn. It's always important for me to express my gratitude that I can be here, given all the myriad causes and conditions of the world and my life.

[02:05]

To be invited to be a leader of a Sangha here is always a blessing for me and for my Sangha members. So I want to express that first. And maybe it's assumed, but I want to express my gratitude to the abbot, to the staff who worked so hard, to the residents and students, to my SANGA members who made this long journey, 3,000-plus miles to be here for this week, and to other SANGA members and Seoul Village SANGA members who've come. the Sikh that enjoyed being some of you. And for just the curious. Maybe people who practice in other Sankos or are just a little Zen curious and are in the room today. Thank you for offering that time.

[03:16]

My name is Inryu. It was given to me by YA. Dharma teacher, Dairu. Dairu is a great dragon. Michael Mayer. And he is a resident at Enzo Village that somebody may have met or may get to meet. I hope we get to meet him. He's a maybe used to be a really big guy. And he's still a big presence. He's still a big guy in my heart and mind. But he gave me the name Infu, hidden dragon. So coming here to Tassajara, we drop into following a schedule, being with other people sometimes we know or don't know. Stepping our feet, our toes on the rocky path to the bathhouse.

[04:22]

Finding little spaces, our own little caves to sit in a nice chair in a breeze area in the back garden or in the lounge. Finding a little cave. Maybe to be in conversation with someone. I hope each of you has some sort of conversation with an individual that you take home with you. So here's Xie, our ancestor from China, who lived in the Tiantai Mountains, best friends with Cold Mountain, Han Shan. And he talks about that experience in his poem. We slip into the Tiantai Na Caves and visit people unseen. Me and my friend Cold Mountain eat magic mushrooms under the pines.

[05:31]

You can't do that here. We talk about the past and the present and sigh at the world going mad. Everyone going to hell and going for a long, long time. Feels like today, perhaps. Sometimes our reflection. So what can give us sustenance to face the state of affairs we wish was not the case? Perhaps is the truth, the history, the cases of those people who for not just hundreds of years but for centuries have been passing on and following this path.

[06:32]

And so Ryoken has a bit of a discourse about that in this collection that's translated by Kaz Takahashi. Ryoken was a practitioner, came to Zen, eventually was given some high office You know, kind of really a place maybe like Tassahara. Did that for a bit. Left. Went on to try to find some, in his wandering, a place where he could settle. And he had some different places over time. He was known for heading to the local village to ask for food. And he was known at that time from his renown, you know, as being a poet that people really saw. People would come to him and say, Ryokan, write me a poem.

[07:33]

And sometimes he would, but sometimes instead he'd turn away and the kids would tuck him under his sleeve and say, come play. I need to go play. And so I pictured him out in a dusty courtyard like Tassajara's work circle. picking up a stick and some rock to play stickball with the kids. And he'd do that for the horrors for most of the time. And then at the end of that, he'd be tired, his robes would be dusty, and his food bowl would have nothing in it. But he was very happy. Later, He had a caregiver in his elder years whom it said he fell in love with. And I was reflecting, wouldn't that be lovely for me and for all of you that in our final years, we really loved our caregiver?

[08:45]

Wouldn't that be a wonderful way to be in that experience of our lives. So Ryokan writes about these things and has had many stages in his life, as have all of we. Maybe more stages to come. Customs become diluted year after year, both the noble and the common decline. The human mind grows fragile with time. The ancestral way becomes fainter day by day. Teachers can't see the past, the name of the school. Students enable their teachers narrow-mindedness. They are glued to each other, unwilling to change. If the purpose of the Dharma were to establish schools, sages would have done so long ago.

[09:56]

Now that people have declared their schools, whom on earth should I join? Everyone, shut your mouth and listen. A discourse should have a beginning. Let me begin with the one on Vulture Peak. The Buddha is the deva of devas. Who can criticize him? 500 years after the Buddha passed away, people gathered two or three volumes of his teaching. Bodhisattva Nargarjuna came to the world and wrote a treatise explaining emptiness. He said he was simply called to do so. Who was right and who was wrong? The Beng Monastery was first founded after the Buddha Dharma moved eastward Our master, Bodhidharma, our first ancestor in China, came from afar.

[10:56]

It was then that all teachings found their source. Zen flourished in the great tongue. Never had it been so magnificent, guiding the assembly and correcting the crowd. And each teacher was a lion in the Dharma. Although sudden and gradual teachings emerged, there were not yet southern and northern schools. In the later dynasty of Song, the White Jewel began to be marred, and five schools exposed their spearheads. The eight schools competed with one another. Their influences spread far and wide, unable to stop. Then came our first Japanese ancestor. A true pioneer in the ancestral domain. He carried Taibo's seal of approval. His voice resounded like thunder throughout the country. Vigorous was his work of spreading Dharma.

[12:00]

So vigorous that it overshadowed other dragons and elephants. So dragons and elephants are often other wealthy practitioners. Even hermits did not miss being illuminated. He also guided those living in remote islands. He eliminated what should be eliminated, offered what should be offered. Since the master left this land of Shinto deities, how many years have passed? Thorn bushes grow around high halls. Fragrant flowers wither in the weeds. Folker songs fill the days. Who will expound the luminous teaching? Ah, I, a humble one, have encountered this era. When a great house is about to crumble, a stick cannot keep it from falling. Unable to sleep on a clear night, I toss in bed, chanting this poem.

[13:07]

Day by day, day by day, day by day, quietly in the company of children I live. In my sleeves, tiny embroidered balls, two or three. Useless, intoxicated in this peaceful spring. Yesterday, or Wednesday, whatever day that was, We talked about Suzuki and Roshi offering some instruction about Mahamudra, or cosmic mudra, and practice. And I thought it might be useful, maybe a reminder, maybe new instruction to offer a couple of other clues to how one might approach Shazen to have a better experience of wall gazing, of seeing the mirror of the self.

[14:15]

One thing I offer is to think of, if you've ever seen a bird, when it calms down and its feet are on something stable, it's no longer flying. It takes time to kind of tuck its feathers a certain way and lay it both wings behind it. So I like to think in myself, or as I have other students, kind of lift and open the heart and allow your shoulders, which are your wings, to settle back and drop down, the rest against your back. So doing this may create some strength in your back, in your shoulders, to give you more good use of your shoulders, which are among the worst joints, or at least more tender joints of the body over time. But also, it may allow your digestion and your breathing to be better, to have your wings in this placement.

[15:31]

Another instruction I like is to think of the trees as we see these beautiful California tall straight trees reaching up. It doesn't require the rootedness of a tree. and also the reaching, the lifting. So it's sometimes helpful to change your zazen base to get back in touch with the roots. Even for those of you who sit in a chair, I would wonder if once in a while you try not leaning into the back of the chair, but instead have your bottom in the front third half. Add a quick cushion so your feet are flat and your body is holding up your body from your hips to your head rather than the chair back. So that might create, again, conditions for more open breathing, a better digestion, more flow of the fluid.

[16:48]

through your spinal column. So things aren't blocked or hampered. Just, you know, try it. And then if it doesn't work for you, go back to leaning back. Maybe go back to leaning forward the next period. Or those of you that sit at Ensel Village, I know you sit 30 minutes in the morning, so maybe Monday try a little forward. And then try it the next day a little back. And notice, do your own asana experiment. See what works best for you. And Dogen talks about the placement of the nose. I think that's really important. It says something about the nose over the navel. I think, oh, our nose is always over our navel. But when I look around the room, I have people doing zazen. I see what looks like a cobra, you know, the rounded kind of head of the cobra, and the nose is over here, really forward.

[17:56]

But the power of the cobra, right, is when it pulls its head back, and it can see very clearly what its aim is. So for most of us, moving the flat of the nose toward the back of the head a little bit, will reposition the nose over the navel. And again, create a different kind of breath, a different kind of open suchness. And poised, ready energy to be awake. So they say perfect asana is to be an effortless effort. And then we take some time to build into that effortless sensation of it. But there should be a little effort, I think, to have clarity, to see your aim, to see that blank wall in front of you.

[19:10]

Ryokin, I think, talks about the mirror of practice a little bit in this little poem. I don't tell the murky world to turn pure. I purify myself and check my reflection in the water of the valley brook. I'll offer that again. I don't tell the murky world to turn pure. I purify myself and check my reflection in the water of the valley brook. Remember earlier, or in the discourse, he talked about the ebbs and flows over the course of time of practice. And Shide talked about, in his time, feeling that things were going to help for a very long time.

[20:14]

But we can, as individuals, look at our own selves. And that's what this practice is a strength to help us with. If the wall is sometimes a mirror, it is the practice sometimes to dust it off and to see. who I am today, to feel my body as it really is today. Sometimes the practice is to make some effort to not just dust it off, but to wipe it off. And there are some old cases that talk about the dispute between, is there even a mirror to clean off? But I think we have to go through some stages before perhaps the mirror disappears.

[21:26]

It's not really there. So I invite you in your final period today, to maybe check your wings, get in touch with your tree essence, get that sap flowing up and down. check in with your, I don't know, Cobra essence, and see what the mirror of that experience of setting yourself up in that way, what it should, what it eliminates, what it magnifies for you. That will change, but today it's good to see it. This is a good place to see it, a safe place to see it in these walls in this temple. I think when there's an opportunity to be in a space where

[22:46]

that is happening, it helps our aim to be more true. And sometimes we still miss the mark and then come back and try. to settle into a place where the next time we meet, we're closer. This is from 49 Fingers, a collection of modern American koans by the great dragon. The case.

[23:51]

Usually in a case, or sorry, in a koan, there's a case. There's the original observation of some interaction between practitioners or some statement by a great teacher. Then there's a commentary. And then there's a verse. So these are all done in that same fashion. So the case is probably the most important part. You could read that alone and try to kind of Let it saturate yourself and figure out what it means or says or doesn't say. Commentary can be opening, can be helpful sometimes. Somebody who's studying it before you can unlock something you didn't see. And then poems, of course, always are meant to unlock our brains and help us see a little bit of what is hidden or mysterious. So this is done in the same fashion. There's a case, there's a commentary, and there's a verse. This is case 49. Kobincino Roshi was at Esalen with Shibata sensei, his Kyoto archery teacher.

[25:02]

Shibata sensei shot a target and then handed the bow and arrow to Kobin, inviting him to demonstrate his skill. Kobin took the arrow and bow, turned, and with a complete attention and care, shot the arrow into the ocean. When it hit the water, he said, bullseye. The un-aimed arrow never misses. Here's the commentary. Sorry, that was my little commentary, but I stole it from somebody. Here's the commentary of diabetes. What is the point of your practice? What are you aiming for? Do you hit the mark? The clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you will hit the mark, or even know whether you hit it or not. What grip do you give your practice?

[26:05]

One mark? Zero marks? Groucho marks? Do you have the score to settle? Kolben's arrow reaches Everywhere. Here's the verbs. Don't stop at the bullseye. Keep going. Gone. Gone. Gone. Beyond. Gone beyond going. So that's a fun one. So as I said on Wednesday, this is our way. This is what it takes. Two hands to ask the bell to sound.

[27:12]

To bake and deliver the bread. Two feet to stand on the mountain. the space for our tender eggs to rest without breaking. To take the body you have and do the best and most in this moment that you can. to greet the wall like a friend, helping you to see who and what you are and where you are and what to aim for. To have this not-so-easy zazen practice to make us stronger, to pull us out of the lethargy forward instead

[28:23]

up and proud and tall and ready for whatever comes next. May we, with all beings, engage fully in our lives with whatever body, whatever history we come to this moment in. May we come to be at peace with the reflection and the embodiment of what is.

[29:34]

To come to love the truth and to love the mystery of what's not easy to comprehend. Keep going. Enjoy the splash. Thank you for listening. 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.

[30:23]

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