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. Although it's been said many times, many ways, there is a Jurani. and its name is The Treasury of True Dharma Eyes. In the Treasury of True Dharma Eyes chapter called Durrani, the ancestor says that when the eye of practice, when the eye of study is clear, The eye of true Dharma is clear.

[01:01]

This little five-day gathering of the mind has been hard for some of us. One senior member of the community said, I think this is the hardest session of my life. Maybe. A thought crossed my mind. It's a little bit like a shakedown tour, a shakedown cruise. We took the ship out on the water, and we found out that it has leaks. Broken, various broken parts have appeared.

[02:18]

Many people, or anyway, I don't know if there's many people here, but many people had a hard time. And you might be one of them. We don't try to make Zen students have a hard time, but somehow they find out how to do it. And when they find their difficulty, especially if it's really difficult, the eye of study becomes clear. Because obviously they have to take care of this problem, this pain that they would rather be thinking of something else, like practicing Zen, for example. I'm in so much pain, I can't practice. I'm in so much pain, I can't concentrate.

[03:21]

And they're totally concentrated on the pain. So when the difficulty is very clear, then it's pretty clear what needs attention what needs graciousness and welcoming what needs what do we need to be careful of and vigilant of and what do we need to be patient with when the pain isn't so great we not clear exactly what we need to be patient with or what we need to be gracious with everything's okay with us we don't have to welcome anything we don't have to be careful everything's fine but when When every step you take could be a catastrophe, it tends to make you a little more careful. So some people here have been walking around quite carefully because they sense one false move and it's big trouble.

[04:23]

I'm one of those people. I've been very careful. Lots of times during session I enjoy a swim during the lunch break. But this time I didn't dare. I thought it would be catastrophic. But the eye of practice, the eye of study became clear. And the eye of Dharma becomes clear. So in a way, I'm a little sorry it's only five days because the eye of practice has become clear in the sangha. More clear anyway. And so, if we could just keep going, we could really penetrate this amazing sutra. Now, we do have Narasim coming up in a week.

[05:35]

So, we'll see. Yeah, isn't that amazing? We have a session in a week? A little bit more. But amazingly close. We actually may be setting the record for the closeness of Sashin's Edson Center. Later, alligator. Later. Later. What? I can't see you with the sunlight behind you. Well, come sit here then. I can't see you. There's too much light coming off you. No. You're too dark because there's too much light around you. You sit right.

[06:38]

right here to have a nice fresh air. Sit over there so you don't get your feet cold. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And if this is too cold for you in the front there, I'll close it. One of the things that wanted to say again more clearly perhaps is that the sutra starts talking about in this chapter what are the characteristics of the Dharmakaya of the reality body of the Tathagata and kind of the first point it makes is that it's really it's really pure it's free of any kind of elaboration like it doesn't get involved with coming and going birth and death existence and non-existence neither existence or non-existence both existence and non-existence it's really like it's totally committed to the welfare of beings and not

[08:05]

elaborated in terms of the things that suffering beings are into. But this is what makes it. This is one of the main things. It's not only wonderful in the sense that it is the completion of all the bodhisattva practices. Not just that. It also, because it's so pure, it can... manifest, it can respond in whatever way is appropriate to the welfare of beings. It's not caught up in any, it's not like, would you please come here? I'm sorry, I can't come, I'm going. Would you please die? I'm sorry, I can't die, I'm being born. No. If you wanted to die, it'd die with you. If you wanted to be born with you, if you wanted to go with you, it can go with you. It doesn't really go, it doesn't really with you, but it sends a manifestation. which is its transformation body.

[09:11]

It gives you a transformation body. So it's because of this purity that it's so adaptable, that it can be whatever will help beings. I think I said yesterday I actually would like you to ask questions later and come up here and ask them. But I'd like to talk about the sutra. If you can remember that question, or somebody who has a memory, remind you of what it is, and ask it later. Okay? Unless you need to come closer or something like that. No questions for a little while, okay? I think I mentioned yesterday or the day before that the Bodhisattva Manjushri asks the Buddha about what are the different ways that you...

[10:48]

what are the different ways that you teach? How many expressions of the teaching are there? And the Buddha says, well, there's threefold, threefold sutras, vinya, and abhidharma. Here it says matrika, which again, as I said, meant mother, the origin means mothers. But matrika are actually the... the memorization formulas of the theory that coordinates all the Buddhist teachings. And then Manjishi says, Bhagavan, what are the sutra teachings? What are the vinya? What are the matrika? And then he says, as I said, the sutras are my teachings gathered together in categories of the teaching. classifying them into four nine and twenty nine so then the sutra tells you these different classifications and then also with the Vinaya I told you a little bit about that and then with the Matrika or the or the Abhidharma goes into even more detail so there's a nice analysis of all the different ways that the Buddha presents the teachings in this chapter but

[12:20]

I don't think that the... I get the feeling like the eye of study is not quite clear enough yet for this presentation. So maybe later. So I'm going to go ahead beyond that fairly detailed analysis, which is really hard to follow, even if you can see it. But just to hear it, I would have to say it over and over and over and over and over and over and over until you memorized it. then you would start to understand it. But, you know, there's just not time in this sashi to say it enough times so you'd memorize it. So I think, actually, if you want to discuss that part of the sutra, you should memorize it and come and talk to me. Do you understand? This is not something you can just read and understand. You have to memorize it. And so these are memorization formula that he's telling in this section of the sutra. that's an important point for this whole sutra is that a lot of this material cannot be penetrated until the bodhisattvas memorize it but the parts that's coming up I don't think well I think would be easier for you to memorize it's quite a bit shorter it's only like three or four pages rather than what I mentioned before so I'm going to go now and bring up

[13:54]

what Manjushri says to Buddha after he kind of finishes this analysis of the three kinds of teaching. Are you ready? I also want to mention just that in 1970 I was here at Tassajara and I mentioned that that summer was the summer that my Dharma brother, my ordination partner, Paul Disko, and his crew moved Ziegler Eshi's cabin from the garden over there down to where Cabin 20 is. Cabin 20 was his cabin. And also that summer, the Zen Center officers asked me if I would stay at Tatsahara, if I would commit to stay at Tatsahara for two years, and I said yes. The next day they came and they said, would you move to the city center?

[14:57]

And I said, did you ask Suzuki Roshi? And they said, yes. I said, okay. And so I went to the city center and the job they gave me was the director of the city center. And one of the responsibilities of the director is to assign rooms. So... I assigned myself a room. Quite a nice room. You can still see it. It's still there. It has a view of the courtyard. It's Blanche's room now, her office. So that was my room when I was director. But I assigned myself to the room not just because it was a nice room, but because it was next to Suzuki Rush's room. So whenever he went to his room, his apartment, He had to walk by my door, my room. Whenever he left to get out of the building, unless he was a fire escape, he had to go by my room. So that way I could keep track of him.

[16:02]

And I left my door open a lot so he could see me if he wanted to. And so I was studying my room one time and he looked in and he saw the way I was studying. I had a little lectern like this. Matter of fact, this is my lectern. I had a little lectern like this and I was sitting like this, kind of like this, except I wasn't there. Somebody else was there. A young guy who has unfortunately passed away. So this young guy was sitting there studying the Lotus Sutra And Suzuki Roshi went by and he said, that's the way Zen priest studies. So that clarified the I of study for me. That the I of study means that you're clear about how to study.

[17:09]

We all know that. We all know that when we study teachings, we should sit upright. We should be still. We should put the sutra where we can see it and not have lots of coffee cups on top of it and stuff. We all know that. But when we're clear and we study clearly, then we can see the Dharma. Now we come to the place in the chapter, the final chapter of the sutra. of unraveling or understanding the deep intimacy of the Buddha's teaching. And the bodhisattva, Manjushri, again spoke to the Bhagavan. Bhagavan, please teach the quintessential meaning by which bodhisattvas enter into the indirect thought of the profound doctrine.

[18:16]

spoken by the Tathagata. Teach all the infinitesimally, quintessentially meaningful things Bodhisattvas need to know about these sutras and the Vinaya and the Matrika that are distinct from those of non-Buddhists. Manjushri, listen, and I will explain to you all the quintessential meanings so that bodhisattvas may engage in that which I have spoken indirectly. Manjushri, all afflicted phenomena and all purified phenomena are unmoving and without personhood the chinese translation says all afflicted and purified phenomena lack any purposeful activity and are without personality

[19:44]

Therefore, I teach that phenomena are without activity in all their aspects. Further, it is not the case that afflicted phenomena are previously afflicted and subsequently purified. Nor is it the case that purified phenomena have been subsequently purified after having been previously afflicted. Childish beings relying on views that predispose them towards exaggerated adherence to phenomena within the collection of errant tendencies and to which an own being and to an own being of persons.

[21:13]

So they... because of predispositions, because of latent tendencies, they're predisposed to have an exaggerated adherence to phenomena as having an own being, that a person's having an own being. And then they grasp I and mine. Due to this, they mistakenly conceive, I see, I hear, I smell, I experience, I touch, I know, I eat, I am afflicted, I am purified. Childish beings cling to things. and are passionate with regard to false views distinguishing the essence of personalities and one and another this is like Dogen Zenji's definition to practice and confirm all things while carrying a self is delusion

[22:40]

to adhere to a self of the person and then eat, to hold on to I while you eat, to hold on to I while you practice Zen. This is the definition of delusion. And here the sutra says the same thing. Those who understand reality just as it is abandon such a collection of errant tendencies and have no basis for any affliction. They attain a body that is very pure, free from elaboration, uncompounded, free from manifest activity.

[23:46]

The Dharmakaya. you should know that this is the entire quintessential meaning then the Bhagavan spoke the verse afflicted phenomena and pure phenomena are all without activity and personhood thus I explain that they are without activity not purified or afflicted in past or future. Relying on views that predispose one to the collection of errant tendencies, one grasps I and mine. One thinks, I see, I eat, I act. I am afflicted. I am purified. Knowing reality as it is,

[24:53]

Abandoning the collection of errant tendencies, one attains a pure body with no basis for afflictions, free from elaborations and uncompounded. how should one know the characteristics of the Tathagata's mental factors? Or you could say the Tathagata's thinking or the arising of the Tathagata's thinking. How should we know the characteristics of the Tathagata's mental factors? thinking or arising of thinking.

[25:55]

Manjushri, Tathagatas are not distinguished by mind, thought or consciousness. Indeed, you should know that a Tathagata's mind arises free from manifest activity. It's like an emanation. earlier part of the sutra, they talk about three transformations of consciousness. One is called here mind, and that refers to what's called alaya vijnana, or the storehouse consciousness, that's mind. And then what is called here as thought, That refers to what we call, that's thinking.

[27:09]

And in Sanskrit, it's called manas, which means thinking. But it's also called klistamanas, which is defiled thinking. Thinking, which is characterized by grasping a self. And then the third transformation of consciousness, which is called here consciousness, are the six consciousnesses. The six sense consciousness and mind consciousness. So these are the people then draw out a theory of eight consciousnesses from this sutra. Now, the Buddha here says that the Tathagatas are not distinguished by Tathagatas. these three transformations which make eight consciousnesses? They're not. Sentient beings are distinguished by that. We have these eight consciousnesses.

[28:16]

But it also says, indeed, you should know that the Tathagata's mind arises. It still arises even though it's unencumbered by elaborations like arising and ceasing. But how does it arise? It arises as the transformation body of Buddha. It arises as a response to beings. It arises like an emanation. So you've got this Buddha body, free of elaboration, not characterized by thinking, consciousness, or mind, not characterized by anything except purity and freedom from elaboration and freedom from manifest activity.

[29:16]

But this thing, it radiates light. A great emanation of dharma comes from it. But this emanation, the source doesn't have to work to get the emanation. The sun actually seems to be working pretty hard. But still, its emanation is not its work. The light it makes, it does not work to make the light. The light just emanates from it. So in that way... in that way. Another way to say it is, a Tathagata is not described by having arisen from mind, thinking, and consciousness.

[30:23]

Rather, all Tathagatas arise from a mental state of effortlessness. Understand them, them being the arising, of these minds to be like magical creations or you could say like magical apparitions but these apparitions although they're just apparitions they are what help sentient beings we'll talk about that more soon in the sutra they're illusions they're phantoms they're apparitions they're just emanations And there's emanations which tell you how to take care of the emanations. There's emanations which say, don't take the emanation as anything more than an emanation. This is just for you, to help you. And what I just said is too. So emanations are coming off for beings to relate to and to practice with so that they can see and realize the Dharma body.

[31:34]

this unconstructedness also unconstructedly emanates dharma just in response, just for the sake of beings. Tathagatas do not have conceptual mental activity, but due to the power of wisdom, from previous causal periods, mental phenomena arise without exertion. Like emanations, the tagatas manifest whatever is suitable in accord with their thoughts due to the power of samadhi and not due to the power of conceptual mental activity.

[32:42]

The Tathagatas are practicing this self-receiving and employing samadhi. They're enjoying being free of elaboration and any kind of manifest activity. They're enjoying that. They're in that samadhi and due to that thoughts arise in response to beings. So this very pure Dharmakaya can emanate, can exude thoughts, can exude speech. Although it's not fabricated, it's not without speech. Although no words reach it, light comes out of it.

[33:53]

To any kind of attempt to get at it, it's like a black hole. But in its basic nature, it's like the sun. it's giving off light. But if you try to get it, it turns into a black hole. Now, there's several more points here that I think are kind of interesting. Maybe you could stand one more. So Manjush is a little puzzled, it sounds like. He says... Bhagavan, if the Dharmakaya of the Tathagatas is free of all manifest activity, in that case, how could there be mental factors in the absence of mental activity? If the Dharma body is beyond all deliberation, deliberate effort, how can mental events occur without effort?

[35:08]

If the Dharma body of all Tathagatas is apart from all effort, is it apart from all such effort? If it is apart from all such effort, then how does it engender any thinking at all? The Buddha says, Manjishri, this is due to the previous manifest activity. of cultivating skillful method and wisdom this pure unhindered by elaboration and manifest activity Buddha previously was a bodhisattva like some of us would like to be and practiced and practiced all kinds of skillful methods and wisdom.

[36:16]

Due to that action, without effort now, their thinking arises. Manjishi, for example, even though during mindless sleep there is no manifest activity for awakening, nevertheless, due to the force of former manifest activity, like drinking a lot of water, one will awaken. There's no manifest activity, but one awakens. And one says, Zazen! Don't you? even though absorbed in cessation, this is a very profound level of concentration that's possible for yogis, where you're so absorbed that there's almost no sign of any mental activity at all.

[37:34]

Even though absorbed in cessation, where there is no manifest activity for rising from absorption, due to the force of former mental activity, one will arise. So when you go into these states, you do come out of them. Some people say maximum one week. Seems kind of convenient. But maybe these states are kind of in resonance with planetary activity. So just as the mind emerges from sleep and absorption in cessation, without mental activity, without effort, know that to target his mental factors from previous manifest activities of cultivating method and wisdom arise. Because of the force of effort whereby they have cultivated previously wisdom and skillful means, they do give rise to thinking, I add, effortlessly.

[38:48]

Arousing the mind occurs because of the power of concerted action in skillful means and insight previously cultivated. Now, I have before me several more pages of this chapter But it seems to be probably you already feel that that's a lot. So perhaps I should stop. 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.

[39:50]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[40:04]

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