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 morning. Good morning. Can everybody hear? If you can't hear... There's a seat right here. Something out there. So this morning, we're going to start our study of what's commonly called the five master dungshan, tozans, five ranks. When I talk, I probably go back and forth between the Chinese and Japanese names of people. Because, you know, when you learn all the names in Japanese, all the Japanese... pronunciations, you really don't like going back to the Chinese and learning them all over again, but we do.

[01:06]

But I get stuck in the Japanese pronunciations. So, Dongshan, Master Dongshan, in Japanese, Tozan. His disciple, Sozan. So, in order to study the five ranks. The five ranks can be studied independently, but for us, we should study the Hokkyo Zamai, the Jewel Mirror Profound Samadhi, which contains the five ranks, but you wouldn't know it because it's mentioned only in code. this kind of code so to open up the code is to study the five ranks so today I want to I want us to study the Hokkyo Zamai and then we start opening up the five ranks okay thank you

[02:27]

So now, now I don't have to raise my voice, which I hear sometimes. Can you hear better? No. Okay. So I'm going to start with a kind of introduction. We have class materials, of course, and I'm going to hand out one of them, two of them to you today, I mean right now. The first one is going to be a translation, the one that you chant. So let's hand that out first. I think it's on top. So this is going to be our reference

[03:31]

The one that we chant here. But there are many translations. And commentaries are from various translations. So you have to adjust your, you know, be a little flexible when you hear a different translation. Don't think that's wrong. It's just different. So it's really hard to translate something perfectly. Almost impossible. So we like to use different translations because each translation gives us a little different picture of what the meaning can be because we don't always know exactly what the meaning is. And so the fun of translating and comparing translations is to kind of put together meaning. So now you have those translations. the second thing I'm going to hand out is Charles Look Charles Look's translation with some commentary and footnotes that appeared in Chan and Zen teaching body 2 and it's an old translation and maybe not the best but it's okay and it contains

[05:00]

the five ranks diagrams. That's it. So this will be one of your study... more of the other there should be enough so this could be your study reference until we do something else here you go There's an introduction.

[06:15]

I'm going to read. What I have here is a compendium of commentaries that was put together by Charlie Pokorny, one of our old students now, who patiently put this together. It's amazing. book there's some in the library but instead of giving you one of these books which cost 25 bucks we decided not to and there's so much in here that it might be confusing so it's not necessary but I will do my best to introduce there are commentaries by at least 10 people I am one of them unfortunately but I found myself being quoted in here Gil Franzdahl and I did a when we were working on diamond transmission we did a translation which appears in here so I'll be quoting from that because I like our translation actually so here's an interesting thing

[07:43]

I'm going to talk a little bit about your title. Because the Chinese goes like this. And there's a word here that's never put into it. So san, I mean, bao is like treasure or precious or jewel. That is a dual mirror. And yin means mirror, in this case. San is usually three, ijini, san, and jabami, but here it means samadhi. Sanme. Sanme. So sanme is a conjunction. Samadhi. And me means dark or obscure, but it means mysterious. But it also means profound. Sometimes we give people the name meh. Like maya.

[08:44]

And this... Well, isn't Sanmay a homophone for samadhi? Yeah, it means samadhi. That's right. So it means samadhi. And go is song. So this song, it's nice that it's a song because it's a poem. We think of it as a poem, but it's a song, a poetic song, which... illustrates, or we'll get to what it means. So, the jewel mirror samadhi is an important Zen poem chanted as a citra in Soto Monastery. It is usually attributed to Dongshan Myongjie, whose name means cave mountain, good servant, 807 to 869. He is the 38th ancestor in the Zolta lineage in the 10th generation of Bodhidharma, after Bodhidharma.

[09:50]

He's also known as Wu Pen Da Shir, his posthumous title. He was the contemporary of Lin Jin, Jin Wang, or Lin Zai. And his sayings and teachings were compiled in the Dung Shan. So he also originated the teaching of the five positions or ranks. I like to use the word positions more than ranks because ranks has the feeling of hierarchy. And when you look at the five ranks, it looks like a hierarchy, but actually it doesn't have to be seen in that way. You can see it both ways. Master Hakuin, whose poem I like, really well. And I hope we can get to that at the end. Expresses it as step-by-step. But in Soto again, we don't see it as step-by-step.

[10:51]

It's just like each position contains all of the others. So... He succeeded in Yunyang. So Tozan succeeded in Yunyang or Ungan Donjo. I'll explain that later. Before training with Yunya, he practiced under Nansen. When he was about 50, he became avid of a monastery at Mount Jingfeng. Later, he taught on Dongshan. Shan means mountain. Zan also means mountain. Dongshan's most notable disciples were Sao Shan and Minju Okay. Dongshan's most notable disciples were Saoshan, called Benji, and Yunju Daoyang, or Ungodoyo.

[11:55]

In the lineage, we say Ungodoyo after Tozan, I don't show. Ungo was carried on the lineage of Tozan, but he didn't care about the collaborate. Apparently he just wasn't interested. But he was the chief successor. Sozan developed the five ranks after Sozan. And he's more famous. Well known. So although some have argued that the Sao Dong House of Chan, Soto, derives its name from the Sao of Saoshan and the Dong of Dongshot.

[13:00]

So we say Sao Dong or So-to in Japanese. So-to. But we say so of sozan before tozan, even though to was the teacher. But because it sounds better. It's a better combination. But also some people say, well, it means the so of the sixth ancestor. So anyway, it's a little, you know, nobody knows exactly. but it seems that it's just so-to, so-zon-to-zon. Although some have argued that the sow comes from the sows, sowshi, which refers to the sixth ancestor, Da-juan, or no, Da-kari-no. Sowshi Creek ran behind his temple. Anyway, from the Book of Serenity and so forth to Case 52,

[14:05]

To emulate Saoshi wherever he lived, the master Saoshan named the place Sao. The school of Dongshan became most flourishing with Saoshan. Therefore, it was called Saodong, even though Ungodoyo was the one that actually carried that on. So Saoshan was esteemed for his teachings, especially concerning the five positions. But all current Saodong Soto-sen lineages trace back to Yunju, who is Ungo. and said to have received the true essence of Dongshan's Dharma, but not his teaching of five ranks. Anyway, so this Song of the Jewel Mare Samadhi consists of 94 lines of four characters each, arranged in 17 couplets. It is a song in which the end of each couplet rhymes with all the others. Unfortunately, in the translation, you can't do that. So there's a certain kind of rhythm and... poetry that is missing.

[15:07]

Yeah. Yeah. So we'd have to do the best we can. So it's also true that the Song of the Jewel Meru Samadhi seems in part to be based on the Sandau Kai. So there's a kind of progression of Tozan didn't just kind of make this up out of thin air. There's a progression in the Soto lineage from the sixth ancestor down of developing this kind of way of teaching and understanding. And it kind of culminates in Tozan. The Sandokai contains the kind of germ of what Tozan developed in the Hokyo Zanai.

[16:16]

So we'll get to that when we get to it. So that's kind of a little introduction. So I just want to talk a little bit about title some more. Jewel. We can call it various things. Sometimes it's called the precious mirror samadhi. The jewel, in Dogen's One Bright Pearl, pearl means jewel. or it means bright, or it means precious. Jim, like a pearl, has the meaning of something precious. So it can be used either literally or figuratively.

[17:17]

And here, a bow can be treasure, it can be jewel. So we say jewel mirror, but it's also precious mirror. I think Shingyan translates it as precious mirror. We translated it as this tongue of the bright mirror, somebody. So bright is also, I don't know if that's best, but it's also translated as most excellent. So you can use, there's so many different ways of saying this. But Cleary, of course, is jewel mirror. And Samadhi... I read this commentary and then looked up to see who said that, and it was me. So I read it.

[18:22]

Samadhi is being one with. Be one with. A jewel has many facets. Buddhism is like a gem with many sides. The mirror is like the source. It reflects reality. It is reality. The mirror is wholeness without partiality. The mirror has no mind. It makes no discriminations. It simply reflects things, seeing things as it is. The mirror is precious and we should be one with it. Mirror is wisdom, actually. What is wisdom? There's many meanings of the word wisdom, but basically wisdom is seeing things as it is. Suzuki Roshi talked about that all the time. He talked about seeing things, and people said, no, no, seeing things as they are.

[19:25]

He said, no, seeing things as it is. Yes. mixing up the singular and the plural. Our practice is to see things as it is. You may think you're seeing things as it is, but maybe not. To really know what something actually really is. So this is the mirror. Wisdom is to see everything as it is. And wisdom means to have no thoughts. To simply see as it is. Beyond thinking. And then thinking can become wisdom. But first we have to see things as it is before we start thinking. Because thinking doesn't take us there. That's why we said Zazek.

[20:26]

Beyond thinking. So Jewel Mirror, one with Jewel Mirror Samadhi. Yes? Yeah, you can ask questions, of course. You say the mirror is like the source? The mirror? The mirror is like the source? Well, it is the source, you know. I would have cleaned that up if I had... Okay. The mirror... is like the source. Yeah, that's right. It is the source. Yeah. So it says Jomir Samadhi. Is it saying Mir Samadhi is one kind of Samadhi or is all Samadhi Mir Samadhi? It's the King Samadhi. So there are other kinds of Samadhi. Yes, there are millions of Samadhi. But this is Jomir... This is the sound of a specific kind of Samadhi.

[21:31]

Well, this is the the song of the unspecific samadhi. Because you can't put your finger, you can't say, oh, it's this. It's the samadhi that, it's the samadhi of no self. It's the samadhi of no ego. It's the samadhi actually of no self. It's the samadhi of no self-consciousness. It's the samadhi which has no desire whatsoever. It's totally desireless. It simply reflects everything in its true sense. So I guess just for contrast, what's a samadhi that's not well-mirror samadhi? What's that? What's an example of a samadhi that's not dual-mirror samadhi? So just for context. Well...

[22:31]

Samadhi basically means to be one with. To be... Basically, it's samadhi if there's no self. That's true. Driving a race car and you're trying to win. And that's a kind of samadhi, but it's not a selfless samadhi. There's a lot of self in it. And the person, like when you're running a race, and you're just totally one with the activity, it's good concentration. It's not supreme samadhi. Because in supreme samadhi, there's really nobody there. But you can't, you know, when you started to compare these things, then you're rid of the problems.

[23:47]

Well, when we talk about it, we're already into a problem. Yes, well, of course. So we have to give each other some leverage. Yes, just talking about it is to defile it, right, which is what it says in the text. Just to picture it and talk about it is to defile it. But we do it on purpose. So as Suzuki Roshi used to say, we make a mistake on purpose. We talk about it. But we have to talk about it, even though we know that talking about it is to stand up with defilement. But that's a good book. It's said that there's many jhanas. But that jhana that Shakyamuni often would give as the supreme would be neither perception nor non-perception, is that comparable to this dual-nurisamari?

[24:51]

Yeah, there are the eight jhanas. And the jhanas come from Hinduism, but they were taken up by some Buddhists. fact is that they're not really really buddhists but a lot of buddhists practice that and so there are various stages of samadhi basically and even the last stage because the last stage is like complete annihilation But even though that's so, when the karma of that runs out, you come back. So they say that Shakyamuni passed away in the fourth jhana, which is, I can't remember what that is exactly.

[25:54]

I don't know. Beyond pleasure and pain. Well, beyond pleasure and pain, yeah. That's called Zazen. Actually, Zazen is called King Samadhi. Zanmayo Zanmayo. Dogen has a classic word called Zanmayo Zanmayo. King Samadhi. Which includes all the other Samadhi, actually. All the others of mine are included in that. But it's not, it's beyond all of those samadhis. It's simply, you know, to see the mirror has no self. And so it doesn't make judgments. And that's how we can see everything clearly and completely. Because there's no judgment.

[26:55]

There's no opinion. It's simply, you know, you just see it. Seeing is not that I see, it's the seeing scenes. When we sit in Zazen, seeing sees, hearing hears, smelling smells, tasting tastes, feeling feels, but there is no I in it. When you look at the wall, you don't try to see something. So there are two kinds of concentration. One is one-pointed concentration, and the other is broad concentration. In Zazen, sometimes we use one-pointed concentration, which is... So if you're concentrating on your posture, that's like one-pointed concentration because you're eliminating all the periphery and simply zeroing in on one point.

[27:59]

But... After you've done that, then you let go and have broad concentration in which there's no specific point of concentration. It's simply eyes are open, eyes see, ears here, smelling, smell, tasting, taste, feeling, feels. And there's no I there. It's not my Zaten. It's simply sitting. So that's broad concentration. So Suzuki Roshi talked about that. He said, when I sit up here and I look, there's broad concentration and I'm not looking at anything in particular. Eyes are just open and there's this thing. When somebody moves over here, I can see that. Somebody moves over there, I can see that. But I'm not trying to see anything in particular.

[29:02]

broad concentration which is how we should the concentration we have which is in Zazen but there's also narrow concentration which is sit up straight concentrate on breath concentrate on posture and then broad concentration is letting go of clinging to thoughts So when a thought comes, it's totally observed. This is what's there. It's that thought. And then that thought moves over for the next one. The next one is pushing that thought away. You don't have to push your thoughts away. The next thought will do that for you. The train just keeps moving. And then every once in a while we want to put the brakes on the train. Or slow down. I want to see that a little more. It's okay. But everything just keeps moving.

[30:07]

Don't blame yourself for the mind, which is automatically producing thoughts. Don't blame the train. So these are various kinds of concentration, various kinds of some aspects of samadhi. They're not kinds of samadhi, they're aspects of samadhi. So we don't try to create a special state of mind. So this is, I think, one difference between king samadhi and various samadhis is we're trying to do something to create some special state of mind called the samadhi mind in various samadhis. But this samadhi, you're not trying to do anything. You're simply letting go. So it's called king samadhi because there's no desire in it.

[31:12]

It's simply the mind as like a clear mirror. And so the mirror doesn't reflect. We'll study mirror here as we go along. There's a lot of good stuff about mirrors. Okay? Can I open the window, please? Yes, please open a window or two. Yeah, I think we should close the door because the sound will all go out.

[32:32]

But there are some windows that have opened, aren't there? Yeah, just opened. Yeah, okay, a couple. Okay, so the teaching of Vesemoths, this is how it starts out. The teaching of Vesemoths has been intimately communicated by Thodians and ancestors. So, Vesemoths you can say various things you can say the teaching of being as is or you can say, we said the teaching of just this has been inherited from Buddhists and patriarchs the Dharma of just this or the Dharma of this or the Dharma of Suchness means same as it is, things as it is, or as they are.

[33:34]

So this is a kind of, my take on this is that this is a transmission document which Tozan is giving to Sozan. He's saying, but I'll talk about that when we get past the first few sentences. He says, the teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated from Buddhists and ancestors. Now you have it. So keep it well. So these two sentences go together a couple of So the teaching of things as it is, the mirror, has been handed down from Buddhas and ancestors, and now I'm handing this down to you.

[34:47]

So keep it well. This is what, in Zen, we don't have a special sutra, or a special teaching, the teaching is handed down from one person to another. Even though we do sit around, we read sutras and commentaries and all that, the teaching is handed from one person to another. That's why transmission is so important in our lineage. And so when someone has... you know, when we give, when someone receives transmission in our lineage, Dharma transmission, we say that person should find someone else to hand it to. So that the lineage continues. And the lineage has continued for a long, long time.

[35:47]

That way, there has been time actually when it was lost. And there was no one to hand it to. And, you know, the patriarch who had the lineage couldn't find someone that he felt was worthy of handing it to. So he handed it to a Rinzai teacher to keep until he found someone worthy of receiving it. So this is kind of like the history of the lineage actually is in what's his name? Kezan. Kezan, who was the fourth ancestor after Dogen, wrote this book, The Transmission of the Light, in which he has these hippocryphal or historical stories of the ancestors handing down the lineage one to another.

[36:50]

And so that's like the history, not always accurately, but... of our lineage and of course it keeps going and that's why we chant the lineage in our circus we chant the names of all the Indian ancestors the Chinese ancestors the Japanese ancestors and the women that's a long list of people but that's because this is the lineage of transmission and So we honor all those people every day. Pretty amazing, actually. And it always keeps growing. So there are all these generations of transmission. Now you have it, so keep it well.

[37:52]

And that's the kind of key note of transmission. I've just bestowed this on you. Now you have it, so keep it well. And this is the teaching that I want you to that I want transmitted which I know that you can do because I wouldn't give you the transmission if you didn't already have it so when we give transmission to someone it's because they already have it it's simply a confirmation you don't give somebody something because anything you can give somebody If they don't already have it, it doesn't mean anything. There's a question. I can't see anybody's hand. So if you have a question, stand up because your voice can float. Yeah, I'd like to ask you. It looks like in the past, it was harder to get Dharma Translation.

[38:56]

And it looks like in the present, maybe it starts in Japan, I don't know. I have seen pictures of Japanese temples where there are like 60 transmitted people. It looks like it's easier. Do you know why? Do you have any thought on why? Yes. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder. You know, in America, like in Japan, maybe a teacher will have one disciple. And the reason for that is because nobody's been practicing in Japan. In America, we seem to be getting more and more transmitted priests. The reason for that is because there's a lot of dharma and a lot of practice going on. And we're able, there have been people here practicing 40, 50 years.

[39:59]

who are just getting Dharma transmission. When you look back from the future to here, you see that it's not a big deal. It's not like something easy. Our practice here is much more difficult. I don't want to say difficult, but much more intense than in Japan. During the history of Buddhism, during the history of Zen, especially since the 8th century, the 7th century, 6th century in China, there's been so much change and distortions. You can't really compare one generation with another because there's so many variables. So I think we're doing pretty well here.

[41:04]

And Japan, the Dharma is getting lost because I think that the biggest reason is because after the Second World War, people lost faith in Buddhism. Because... There's an aspect of Japanese Buddhism, which is to protect the country. People, they look at it, they say, oh, all those Japanese priests, you know, were involved in the war, the Second World War. Isn't that terrible that they're priests and they're Buddhists and they do that? Well, part of Japanese Buddhism was to protect the country. That's the reason why the aristocracy back there in the 9th century, 10th century, accepted Buddhism, because they felt that the Spiritually, Buddhism was a protector of the country. So they let this foreign religion in.

[42:07]

It was foreign. So Buddhism is a kind of orphan, in a way. Because it's accepted into a country and then at some point it reaches a high and then You know, it kind of, people get tired of it or something, or it's replaced with something else. And then it goes on to another country. Now it's here, right? And so now we have it. Okay, well, plunk. And so it's building to, it's on the ascendancy. Everything is like this. Everything in the world is like this. This is called change. There's the initiation, there's the seed, the growth, the initiation, the golden age, the Tang Dynasty, the golden age of Zen in China. And then in Japan, there were several ages where it was prominent, but now it's on the descendancy.

[43:14]

And so it's been handed to us to have a new growth, a new tree. That's what's happening here. Yeah. I was wondering with the list of the names of the ancestors that we are chanting, at one point there will be a name added in the end? Yes. And whose name it would be? Well, when we have a lineage chart, when we have Dharma transmission, or actually, you know, you have Yuratsu, right? Yeah. Your name was added to the Ketchumyaku. Already. Already. Not so much as a patriarch. LAUGHTER So your name was added to the ancestry. I mean, maybe more concrete. So Suzuki Roshi gave transmission to Zendatsu Richard Baker. And I was just, at one point, this question just came out because he's also pretty old.

[44:18]

I mean, if he... Suzuki? No, no, Richard Baker. No. Yeah, he's getting there. Yeah. He was young. That happened. Suzuki Roshi, don't even stay. Anyway. No, I was just wondering, at one point in the far future, if he dies, and he gave transmission to other people who are teaching in Green Gulch, if his name would be added in the names of the ancestors that we are chanting, or at one point, a name... is added to this list. Yeah, if Richard Baker died, his name would be added to the list. Probably. Yeah. Richard Baker died also. Yeah, Richard Baker died also. But, you know, any priest who, from our lineage,

[45:22]

who has dharma transmission and has a practice place and has shusos and dharma and angos. It's called dayosho. It's not the posthumous thing. So a priest is an osho. And a priest with... That responsibility is called a dayosha. That's all. Yeah. At Aheji, they just chant through Dogen because he was the founder. Would it be at Green Gulch? Because Suzuki Roshi didn't actually start Green Gulch. That was in Richard Baker's time, that Richard Baker would be the one at Green Gulch? Well, that's local, yeah. Richard Baker started Green Gulch. But not Tassara. I don't know.

[46:24]

We'll see. So, this is Tozan's handing down to Sozan. And then comes the... comparison between the absolute and the relative. So there's the filling a silver bowl with snow hiding a heron in the moonlight. So silver bowl and moonlight, heron and snow. So the silver bowl and the moon are like

[47:28]

Buddha nature, or the absolute, or Dharmakaya, which is dustness. And the heron in the moonlight, heron is white. A white heron and moonlight are the same color, right? But when the heron travels across the moon, you can see it. Because even though they're the same color, they're not the same thing. And with snow in a silver bowl, the snow, it's the same color as the bowl. But when you put it in the bowl, you can see that they're not the same, even though they're the same color. So the same color means that they're really one, metaphorically. But actually, they're two. So the essence

[48:29]

and the function. So there are various combinations essential and the real and the seeming sometimes those two terms are used. So the real is the bowl or the moon and the seeming is like the heron or the snow. They seem to be different, but they're really the same, but they're different. It's not so much a difference in kind as it is in value. We use the term dark and light, but dark and light are really the same thing. But when we look at the dark side, we say that's dark.

[49:37]

When we look at the light side, we say that's light. But light is dark and dark is light. So our ordinary life is an aspect of our How could you say? The ordinary is it. Throughout the Sandokai, I mean, throughout the Hukyo Zamai, there's always the word it, [...] it. It is like this, it is like this, it is like this, and it is like this. So it stands for anything. There's no particular thing that it is, right? So we point to anything, we say, that's it. This is it. So it is like the fundamental.

[50:40]

It is like the moon. It is like the silver ball. But whatever you point to, it doesn't fit. Every trinominal thing is also it. So we don't make it, even though the two, the two are one. That's the point. Yes? My understanding of tozon is that You can't point to something and say, that's it, but you can point to something and say, it is that. Well, yes, that comes later. You can say it either way. Is the relationship like, that's an elephant? Like, Yeah, it is an elephant. Yeah, or that. You can say it or that, because it or that stands for the absolute.

[51:45]

Buddha nature. Buddha nature. You can say, let me find something here. Um... It is bright, just admit it. Well, I want to just be too far ahead. Okay. Um... It is like a mess of fire. So ordinarily we think that the mind of an enlightened person is unmoving. However, it cannot be said that there is no thought in his mind. The silver bowl and the bright moon are moving, unmoving. They signify wisdom. The snow, which is placed in the bowl, is something moving in the sense that it is transitory. By containing the snow, the object, the bowl, the subject, manifests a function, namely to contain something. In a similar sense, the moon illuminates the egret. The snow and egret symbolize phenomena.

[52:52]

The snow and the bowl are the same color, but they are not the same thing. The same is true of the egret and the moon. Enlightened beings see everything at once, but they can make distinctions. Well, the absolute and the relative. Don't lose those terms. The snow and the egret are relative. It's phenomena. Phenomena are simply aspects of the absolute. which is the non-envol. The absolute is like, and you can't describe it, right? It's like, if you look at the hard search of form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

[53:52]

It's basically form and emptiness. Emptiness is the fundamental of everything. It's the fundamental of forms. So, Even though the bowl and the moon are formed, they stand for emptiness in the metaphor. So the snow and the egret are phenomena. Phenomena is not different than emptiness. The absolute. Emptiness means the absolute. Emptiness means... that which holds everything. It's like the mirror. The mirror holds everything without getting tired, without having any boundaries. And so the mirror is the same as the moon.

[54:53]

It's the same as the wall. It's the same as emptiness. Emptiness holds everything. Everything is being held in emptiness. And everything is a thing. But emptiness is not a thing. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to hold everything. But when you say, hold, that's just a metaphor too. Embraces everything. Everything is embraced by emptiness. But that means, that's the way, that way of talking means there are two things. Emptiness and form. But the form is the emptiness. The emptiness is the form. Form is form, emptiness is emptiness, but emptiness is form, and form is emptiness. It's really the Heart Sutra. All forms are empty of their own being.

[55:53]

All dharmas have the mark of emptiness. The mark means characteristic. Usually we say, The mark of water is wet. The mark of fire is heat. Right? And so forth. The mark of all dharmas is emptiness. All dharmas are marked by emptiness. Means the true form of all things is no form. That's what we're talking about. That's the mirror. The mirror has no special form. Therefore, it reflects all forms. And reflect is just a metaphor too. Contain is also a kind of metaphor. Is is better. That's why is is a good word. Form is emptiness. All forms are empty. But empty means full. Complete. Because all forms are incomplete.

[57:01]

Everything is incomplete. That's why we all feel somewhat incomplete. Because we're just pieces of things. We're complete pieces. But we're pieces. And so there's oneness and diversity. That's another way of talking about it. Oneness and diversity. So we're all pieces of diversity. Everything in our world is diversity. But all the diversity is The true form of all the diversity is oneness. And beyond oneness. Beyond oneness and diversity, actually. That's the mirror. I just don't understand why all forms are incomplete. Why a form is incomplete. Well, because it's dependent. You, as a form...

[58:02]

are dependent on everything around you. On all the other forms. Yeah, you're dependent on everything. So that's why you're not complete. You're only complete when you realize that there's something missing. So when the wave realizes the whole ocean, or it's not really the wave that's realized. Yeah, the wave realizes it's the whole ocean. Right. Yeah. It is complete, yes, because it's the whole ocean. But unless we understand that, then we feel incomplete. Something is missing. Yeah. Okay. So we're going slower than I would like, but you have to. So, when you array them, they are not the same, and when you mix them, you know where they are.

[59:06]

These lines concern the phenomenal, and the real, and their relationship. This sets the tone for the whole piece. Although two, they are one, and although one, they are two. So... They are similar, but they're not the same. Mixed together, the uniqueness is known. Then, the meaning is not in the words, yet it responds to the inquiring impulse. That's what Cleary said. It's also possible to say, its meaning does not abide in the words, yet it meets the inquiring student. So, I like to think of this as, you know, the meaning, we use words, But the meaning is beyond the words. But it responds when you use words, not just words, but actions. When you work hard and put your whole body-mind into study or into practice, then Buddha meets you halfway.

[60:26]

I think that's really true. Sometimes you don't know why you're practicing necessarily. Often people don't know why. They get here and they say, I thought I knew why it was coming, but when I got here, I forgot. So it's important to just put yourself into practice totally. And then Buddha meets you halfway. And then... you are sustained in your practice you feel sustained in your practice practice meets you and sustains you and you sustain the practice so although although you may study but it's not in the study It's in your practice. But the study is important.

[61:31]

The meaning is not in the words. The words are important, even though they're not the thing itself. But they can be the thing itself. Sekito got enlightened when he was studying. He was studying the words of Seng Chao. Seng Chao was Kumarajiva's Chinese disciple. Kumarajiva was a great translator, a great Indian translator, who brought the... who translated most of the texts that we read into Chinese. And he had this great school, which was someone once said was comparable to the atomic energy... gatherings of scientists, you know, translating these texts, these Indian texts into Chinese.

[62:35]

Anyway, it was on that level. And Seng Chao was his leading disciple, Chinese disciple. And Seng Chao said something like, wisdom is not knowledge. And that... Sekito read that. He had an enlightened experience. And Dogen wrote tons of stuff. He wrote a lot of stuff. They're all koans. So the meaning is there are always exceptions. You can't get it. This is talking about if you're a scholar, you can't get it that way. That's helpful. It keeps you focused. The thing about study is that it keeps you focused and it helps your mind to orient itself.

[63:42]

So I think it's important. But the meaning is not in words. But it responds. It resonates. There's something called resonation. It resonates with the dharma. And so that's why I think it's really important to study. But if you think to study is it, then it's a mistake. But when you study, you resonate with the Dharma. And that resonance has an important impact. So the meaning does not lie in the words yet. Those who are white must be taught. We said, this meaning does not abide in the words, yet it meets the inquiring people. Buddha meets us and we make a big effort. We study. So there's a response called, the word's called Kanno.

[64:46]

It means sympathetic resonance or stimulus in response. or spiritual communion or mirror imagery or drumming and singing. This is later on. Drumming and singing come up together. It means that our activity sets the wheel of motion. And then our essence of mind and our activity have become totally integrated. So it's one thing. So devotion and response is another way of saying that. Two arrows meeting an arrow is another way of saying that.

[65:51]

There are all these metaphors that keep popping up that are really just talking about the same thing from different points. It's like this, it's like this, it's like this, it's like this. And so it's about the absolute and the relative and how they integrate. How you integrate with your self-mature, basically. It's all about how you integrate with your self-mature. And as the sixth ancestor says, don't stray from the essence of mind. So I like to use essence of mind. That's essential nature. Essential nature is we all share the same essential nature. That's why we say when we practice at Tassajara, we're one monk with different activities. One monk with totally different faces.

[66:52]

But each face stands out. So then he says, if you're excited, it becomes a pitfall. Or you could say, hasty action creates a pitfall. To miss is to linger in consideration. So, you know, there's the, sometimes people get into, well, shall I do this? Shall I not do that? Is this right? And you keep going. You know, ambivalence. And that's a pitfall. It may be better to make a big mistake. To go ahead and make a big mistake. Just go ahead and make a big mistake. So the going ahead and making a big mistake actually allows you to correct your mistake. And if you don't do something, you never know which is right and which is wrong.

[67:56]

So just go ahead. And so think about that. Ambivalence might help. So Shen Yen says, this stanza explains the actions of an enlightened master. A master does not teach in any specific form with any specific words or methods. There's no fixed method of instruction. Once the master acts, offers instruction, gives a method, presents a koan, the act is dead. A master must consider the varying attainments of each disciple. That's true. And then there's also this koan, which many of you probably know.

[68:58]

Case 19 in the Muman Khan, Joshu asked his teacher, Nansen, what is the Tao? Nansen said, ordinary mind is the Tao. Joshu asked, should I try to direct myself toward it? Nansen said, if you try to go toward it, you stumble past it. Joshua asked, how can I know the Tao if I don't direct myself? Nansen said, the Tao is not subject to knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion, and not knowing is blankness. I don't like that blankness, but if you truly reach the genuine Tao, you will find that it is vast and boundless as outer space. How can this be discussed at the level of affirmation and indication that these words Joshua had some kind of experience? They call it enlightenment.

[70:02]

So, then, turning away and touching are both wrong. Port is like a massive fire. This is a kind of follow-up. Turning away, a big fire, you know, you're drawn toward it, and yet you can't quite get there. turning away and touching are both wrong for it is like a massive fire. Confronted with a great fire, turning away and touching are both wrong. So, to approach the fire, you need to be fire. Fire, of course, is the Dharma. It's the Dharma. If you go after it, That's not quite right. And if you don't go after it, that's not quite right. The only thing you can do is be it. You have to be the Dharma. Going after it means that there are two things, you and Dharma.

[71:13]

And not going after it means that there are two things, you and Dharma. But if you just be the Dharma, you don't have to go after it. Just be the Dharma. Just practice. That's called just practicing. I am practicing in order to attain the da-da-da. No. It's called no gaining. That's probably the most important thing about our practice. We say Buddha is an obstacle. Buddha is an obstacle to you. Because as long as you want something, Buddha won't let you have it. But if you jump into the fire, you can get all burned up and you will have it. You will be fire. You have to be fire in order to touch fire. So just be the Dharma. Just practice.

[72:15]

Just do what you're supposed to do. Don't worry about what's next. Don't worry about what's next. One breath at a time. If we get down to one breath at a time, that's really good. That's Zazen. Just this breath. Just this breath. Just this breath. Forget about anything else. And you're totally in the fire. One with the fire. So in Zazen, pain is called fire. One with the pain. Then there's no pain. There may be sensation. Of course. And you can call it whatever you like. You can call it pain. You can call it suffering. Suffering is when you don't like it. Think about that. As soon as you don't like it, it becomes suffering. As soon as you don't want it, it becomes suffering. As soon as you do want it, it becomes suffering.

[73:20]

That's called masochism. You just have to just let everything be as it is. That's the mirror mind. So just depicted in literary form, it's relegated to defilement. In other words, all of this stuff that's written down is defilement. But we live in a defiled world, so we accept that. We want everything to be pure, but unfortunately, Purity is found only within what is impure. There's no purity aside from what is impure. Purity in our dharmavini means non-duality. With purity and impurity.

[74:21]

Of course, you know, when you want to eat pure food and not impure food, and you know, but basically, purity and it means non-duality so if you can act in a non-dual way that's pure practice which means you just accept everything as it is then It is bright just at midnight, and it doesn't appear at dawn. So here we have dark and light. Let's see what time it is. Does anybody have any questions, by the way? Is this all making sense? Do you have any doubts?

[75:21]

So it is bright just as in it. Oh, here we've got about it again, right? It. As you notice, we've been talking about it. Yes. But in Chinese, there's no it. Well, that's true. But in English, there is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. In English, we use it. So I don't know what's Chinese. Well, there was a bit, like, way back. Yeah. At the very beginning. Oh, yeah. No, there's no it, but it's just a different thing. Not everything can be translated exactly, so, yeah. Well, that's the expression in Chinese, then. Well, I mean, it just says, bright or light. A lot of curing at dawn.

[76:28]

But you know it's continuing talking about Ecclesi. Yeah, we have those connecting wounds, which you don't have in Chinese. So we have to supply the connecting wounds, which makes it more clumsy. Sometimes you have to eye you. That's why it all of a sudden becomes modern. Yeah, you don't have those. No. So in Chinese, it's much more simple. And... That's why we can chant and it sounds great. It doesn't move. The rhythm is interrupted by all the connecting words that we have. But they don't have all those connecting words. You just understand. Because you go up with the language and you understand the meaning without using all these connecting words. Also, you know, Lucy's saying it shows up in the beginning, this character, je, it.

[77:33]

Now you have it. And then subsequently, it's alluding to that. It's alluding to that key word. You have to understand, it's still alluding to that. Yes, that's good. Still alluding to that. That's right. Or is it referring to the teaching of thusness? Can you have to speak up? Oh, it says in the first... line which is the teaching of bestness has been intimately communicated and it says now you have it. So it sounds to me like it's referring to the teaching of bestness throughout it. The same character is there as well. Same character, zhi. So may I explain? So the character zhi sometimes is used as it, sometimes is used as a connecting word. Of. So, yes. Yes, sometimes it is. So, it is bright just at midnight, and it doesn't appear at dawn.

[78:37]

So, that sounds like a contradiction, right? So, darkness and light are different in degree, but not in kind. So the absence of light is dark, and the absence of dark can be light. So it's really one thing. But Suzuki Roshi explained it as when you... are in a dark place and you gradually come out and you see a dark place that's still, like at night, you know, your eyes get used to the dark and then you begin to see.

[79:39]

So then it's not as dark as you thought it was. It's just that you see it in a lighter because your eyes are getting used to it, you see it more light. So the rotation of dark and light is simply gradual, but it's not two different things. Light recedes and gives way to dark, and dark recedes and gives way to light, but it's really just in degrees. It's not... two different kinds of things. But we think of it as, we say this is night time and that's day time, but night time and day time are really the same thing. It's just, there's just degrees of light and degrees of darkness. Also, when you are in a closet and you light a match,

[80:50]

the whole closet lights up brightly. But if you light the match outside, it doesn't mean anything. I mean, there's no particular change in the atmosphere. So it just depends on the situation, whether something is dark or whether something is light. You open the door and the closet is light. and then you see all your clothes and everything. Then you close the door, and it's dark, and you don't feel anything. But it's really the same thing. It's just degrees of light and dark. So at midnight, it is bright, and at dark, it is dark. Darkness, dark is oneness with no boundaries. Purity and light, I'm sorry, Dark is oneness without any boundaries.

[81:54]

In other words, when you go into the closet, you don't see any boundaries. It's all one. So there are two ways to talk about dark and light in the Dharma. One way is that good and evil, right? Good and bad, the dark side and the light side. This is usual. way of talking about dark and light. But in the Dharma, we also talk about dark and light if dark being the absolute and light being the phenomenal. So all things exist. You can see all these phenomenal existences in the light. But when the lights go off, you don't see anything. That's the dark. And the dark is the absolute. That's the foundation. So dark is not evil or bad. Dark is the mirror.

[82:56]

We see. Dark is what everything depends on. Dark is like emptiness. And that's the fundamental. Fundamental is dark. And light is when everything is differentiated. So when we turn on the lights, we see all these different phenomena. And different phenomena are dependent on the dark. Dark is one with no boundaries, purity. And light is phenomena, various existences, individual pieces, the relative world. They are like opposites, but they do not negate each other. They are two aspects of the mirror. Light is revealed in darkness, but don't try to see it in some idea of light. So the Sandokai says this, right?

[84:00]

In Ruchansa Sandokai. Light in darkness, there is light, but don't see it as light. Light in light, there is darkness, but don't see it as light. There is light, but don't see it as light. Right in light is darkness, but don't see it as dark. So the dark is in light, and light is in darkness. So at midnight, truly is as moonlight, and by daylight it cannot be seen. As Shen Yan says, the mirror does not darken in samsara or delusion, and it does not brighten in enlightenment. You do not practice in order to make self-nature manifest.

[85:04]

You practice to eliminate vexations. When vexations disappear, self-nature naturally manifests. Then, it acts as a guide for beings. It's used to remove all things. Or, as it creates a standard for all beings, its use approves all suffering. So the mirror is like a guide, and you can follow it like a beacon. So we need to have some kind of a goal, even though the goal may not be complete. In the Lotus Sutra, there is the story of the Arhats who thought that they had reached the final goal.

[86:13]

The Arhats were Shakyamuni's disciples who felt that they had the Dharma understood. But in the Mahayana Sutra, the Loda Sutra, Jackie Muni says to the arhats that were assembled, that they hadn't quite reached the goal yet. And half of them left. They could walk out. But also, he had the parable of the magic city. And he said, you know, there's this magic city. And if you continue to practice, you will reach the magic city. And the Arhas felt that they had reached the magic city. But he said, no, that's not it.

[87:16]

I'm getting two stories kind of like this. But... The Magic City was a kind of carrot. If you continue to practice, you reach this. And so he kept raising the bar. The Magic City was a bar from here, but the bar's up here. And so he kept raising the bar. So he thought that he'd reached nirvana. And also, you know, the parable of the carts in the fire, you know, burning house. In order to get the children out of the burning house, he promised them all kinds of, you know, toys. So sometimes there are little tricks like that to keep people moving, you know.

[88:21]

they're discouraged so to create the standards is a kind of tool because basically you can't say what the goal is but you use these kind of and I think a lot of Buddhism A lot of Buddhist goals are simply to entice people to practice. A lot of the stuff that you read in literature is kind of like carrots to keep people practicing. All these wonderful enlightenment stories and stuff like that. I remember Suzuki Roshi talking about Tozan, and Tozan apparently had a lot of different enlightenment experiences.

[89:41]

And Suzuki Roshi said, yeah, he had so many enlightenment experiences that you can't really count them, meaning every moment was an enlightenment experience from Tozan. Because he valued every moment. When you value every moment, then every moment becomes an enlightenment experience. But we say, no, the value of the moment is over there, not over here. This is just ordinary. We don't know how to value the ordinary. We just value something over there that looks better than over here, called enlightenment. Although it is not fabricated, it is not without speech. Although it is not produced, it is not without speech. So here we come into the speechy things.

[90:46]

And I said, the language is dualistic by nature. So that's why it's a problem. Language is discriminating. Everything you ever say is discriminating, almost. But the dialogues with the ancestors is using discriminating language in a non-discriminating way. When you read the koans, the language sounds crazy. Because the language doesn't go that way. Language is always dualistic when we think in dualistic terms. But the teacher will say his response will be non-dualistic. And he has to use dualistic words because those are the only words you have to express non-duality.

[91:50]

And so it's like the koan mu. I like to use that. Does the dog have the Buddha nature? Because we said, well, all human beings, I mean, all things are an aspect of Buddha nature. Does the dog have the Buddha nature? He said, no. He actually said, woo. Japanese, woo. Which means, no. But... It can also mean other things, but we take it as meaning no. And everybody goes, oh my gosh, how come the dog doesn't have Buddha nature? And so then another monk asked, does the dog have the Buddha nature? And he said, of course, yes. So which is it, yes or no? So in order for Joshu's move to be understood, it has to include

[92:54]

It's opposite. In order to be non-dualistic. Does the dog have a Buddha nature? No. Which also includes yes. Yes includes no. Light includes dark. Dark includes light. But no, no, it's not like that. Because our thinking is dualistic. Because our language is dualistic. Oh yeah, language is too realistic because their thinking is too realistic. So... I'm not going to explain the column, but that's as far as I'm going to get. Can we ask for a moment, Lucic, maybe to say, although it's not fabricated, it is not without speech. It is not without speech, for me, is double negative. and also not fabricated. I'm curious how it was in Chinese.

[93:58]

There were three different characters that mean negation. Oh, okay. Yeah. Double negatives are popular. Kind of like this. Even triple negatives. What is the translation of fabricated in your version? Produced. Oh, put together. Conditioned. All conditioned things are fabricated. Something put together. Although it is not fabricated. I kind of see what you're saying. So it's talking about the mirror.

[95:05]

So the mirror is unconstructed. They're unmade. And this is in seal expressis. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm trying to find out. In the handout, it says, though not of the worldly plane. It says what? In the handout that you gave to us, the words are, though not of the worldly plane, it is not altogether dumb. Well, that's... Charles, look. Look. So here's Xun Yang. He says, even though the precious mirror is not a Dharma with construction, it is wrong to say that it is separate from it.

[96:13]

Therefore, it is wrong to say that it is necessary to explain the precious mirror. Previously, the song said that speaking about enlightenment staining the precious mirror. Here, the song suggests more. In reality, the precious mirror is not stained by language. However, it is also not separate from language. So we have this thing about, you know, covering. The mirror has to collect dust. I just thought about, in the Bible it says, we are all dust. Dust to dust. But we're dust on the mirror. We're mirror dust. So the mirror is not stained by our activity. It never gets stained by our activity. In other words, the mirror is the total reality.

[97:19]

And the total reality doesn't get hurt by what we do. It's not affected. Only each other is affected in the world. But it is not it. is not stained. It is not. But we're always, you know, showering down dust on the mirror. So it is like facing a jewel mirror. Form and image behold each other. Maybe we should stop there and start to the next pack. What do you think? We're getting there. What do you mean by getting there? Time-wise, yeah. Yeah. You should probably stop by 11. Yeah, which is five minutes. Yeah. I want to talk about the mirror a little bit more. Okay. And then next time we can start talking about we'll get actually to the

[98:31]

The five rings. Yep. I will talk about it. This will be the end. So it is like facing a dual mirror forming and they behold each other. So when you stand in front of a mirror, you see the form. But here it says form and image behold each other. So it didn't say I'm looking in the mirror. It says I look at the mirror. The mirror also looks at me. It is like facing a precious jewel mirror. Form and image behold each other. When coming upon a bright mirror, one's form and reflection gaze at each other.

[99:41]

So, there's a very interesting... I like Shen Ning's comment. He says, one might think that if there is no water, then there can be no reflection. No water meaning when toes are on him. was crossing the stream after leaving Yunyan, his teacher, he was crossing the stream. There's a famous picture of this. Actually, it's on the cover. He saw his reflection in the water. And he realized, one big realization, that he saw his image reflected in the water. And he wrote a poem about that. And so, Seng Yen is saying, one might think that if there was no water, then there can be no reflection. But this is not really the case. In other words, if there's no, what we call a mirror, then there's no reflection. But this is really not the case.

[100:42]

The reflection is always present. It is just that without the water, it simply can't be seen. If you have a body, you have a reflection. If you have no reflection, you have no body. The proper attitude is this. I need to practice... to attain the precious mirror, although the precious mirror is not something I attain through practice. I think that's a great statement. The simile of the mirror-like mind was used in at least two different senses.

[101:54]

It often implied the inherently pure mind that existed beneath what for most beings is the disturbed surface of consciousness. And most Chinese Buddhist thinkers held that pure mind existed in all beings and could no more be defiled than a mirror could be defiled by the images reflected on its surface. So this particular additive was probably shaped by most early 8th century Chan Buddhists. So I think that's... It's also like the water and the waves. You could say the water is the mirrors, and the waves are the activity of the mirrors. So then anyone idea, it actually is you. It clearly is you.

[103:00]

Dongshan saw his reflection in the string, but instead of saying that he meets himself everywhere, which is what I usually say, he says, everywhere I meet him. He then clarifies him. He is now no other than myself, but I am not now him. Like the snow in the silver bowl, the light in the dark, the seeming in the real, and the five positions, drumming and singing, we get to that end of death. The wooden man singing in the stone room and dancing, the minister and the Lord. We see here a relationship between the relative and the ultimate that is intimate and dialectical. In other words, it's... When Toton saw his reflection in the stream, he saw the stream as himself. That's the mirror. Or he could look at a rock, and he could see himself in a rock or a stone wall.

[104:13]

He could see himself reflected. Because... We say the true human body is the whole universe. You have to understand that. Then it's easier to understand what's being talked about here. The true human body is the whole universe. And it's time to 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. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving.

[104:57]

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