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 evening. Welcome. So happy to be here tonight. These are beautiful days. My name is Greg Fane, and I live here. I'm a resident monk, head of practice. Tanto is my title. And I guess I'd like to start by thanking and acknowledging my teacher. Sojin Mel Weitzman Roshi.

[01:02]

And to say that my talk tonight is just to encourage you in your practice. I never really have any other agenda in giving a talk. So tonight, I thought I'd like to share a story with you, a Zen story, called Koans. Koan, the meaning of the word is something like a public case. It's a teaching story in Zen. And there's various collections of koans in Zen tradition. Mostly they come from Tang Dynasty China. The stories, that is. The collections are more Song Dynasty. This is one of the most famous collections. It's called the Blue Cliff Record, translated into English by the Cleary Brothers.

[02:07]

Bless their hearts. And I'd like to talk about case number 52 in the Blue Cliff Record. Koan I quite enjoy, and I think kind of, for me, sort of a guest season koan, maybe. We'll see. See if you agree with that or not, or if anything I say makes any sense to you at all. If I can relate this Zen story to Tassahara and Tassahara guest season. So I'll start by reading you the case. Yuanwu did not write a pointer for this case. We just jumped right into it. Okay?

[03:09]

A monk asked Zhao Zhou, For a long time, I've heard of the stone bridge of Zhao Zhou. But now that I've come here, I just see a simple log bridge. Zhou said, You just see the log bridge. You don't see the stone bridge. The monk said, what is the stone bridge? Joe said, it lets donkeys cross. It lets horses cross. Some translations just say, donkeys cross, horses cross. Okay? That's the case. I'll read it again. I'm going to read it again later, so... Maybe that's good enough for now. So who is this guy, Zhao Zhao? Very famous Zen master.

[04:12]

Maybe the most famous. Maybe the most famous. In all these collections of koans, the Blue Cliff Record, the Book of Serenity, the Mumonkan, he's in all of them. He's in all of them. More than any other individual teacher. In Dogen Zenji's personal collection of koans, 301 koans, called the Shinji Shobogenzo, Zhao Zhou is in 23 of those koans. So he's major. He's a major luminary in the Zen tradition. And he really wasn't anything special. Well, yes he was. So, yeah, I'd like to talk a little bit about Zhaozhou and his style of teaching before I get back to the case.

[05:18]

Zhaozhou lived in the golden age of Zen, early Tang Dynasty China, 778 to 897. in the common area. Yes, he lived to be 120 years old. Yes. This was, I did the math, 1116 years ago that Zhao Zhou passed away. And that's like well over a millennium, right? We have all these stories about him and all these koan collections and the record of Zhao Zhou. actually, which still exists as a historical document. It's amazing. It really paints the picture of a real person after all this time. To me, he's like a living person.

[06:22]

He's like, oh yeah, I'd like to meet this guy. So... Zhao Zhou, when he was a boy, became interested, felt a calling to practice and to ordain as a Buddhist monk at a very early age. And I finally met with his teacher. His teacher was Nanquan when he was 18 years old. And when Zhao Zhou first met Nanquan, You know, he was, I don't know, maybe even younger than that. It's not clear to me. He was a kid. And, of course, he wasn't named Zhao Zhou then. Zhao Zhou is the name of the town he eventually settled down in. So when he first met Nanchuan, Nanchuan was either sick or taking a nap, but he was lying down, actually.

[07:28]

They let him into the... chambers to meet the teacher, but the teacher was lying down. And Nanchuan said, do you know the name of this monastery? And the young man said, this is Sacred Elephant Monastery. And Nanchuan said, well, did you see a sacred elephant? And the young man said, I don't see any sacred elephants, but I do see a reclining bodhisattva. And Nan Chuan sort of raised himself up on one arm, and he says, have you your own master now? And Zhao Zhou, or the boy who would become Zhao Zhou, the young man, he says, yes, I have. Who is he, says Nan Chuan. And then the young man made a full prostration, such as you would only do for your teacher. And then...

[08:30]

He said some famous words, which are translated variously. But one translation is, spring cold is still here. Please take good care of yourself. Please take good care of yourself. And that's where we get, you know, that's the line that the head monk, the Shuso, says in the Shuso invitation ceremony. That's where that comes from. The head monk says, these are beautiful days. May your good health continue. So that's where we get that from. So Chaozhou studied with Nanquan for some time. And very early in their practice together, they had the very famous exchange, which is case number 19 in the Muangangang.

[09:31]

The Master asked Nanquan, what is the way? Very serious question. Nanquan said, ordinary mind is the way. And the Master says, Cao Zhou says, then can I direct myself towards it or not? And Nanquan says, to seek it is to deviate from it. If you go towards it, you're going away from it. To seek it, to grasp after it, is to go away from it. Yeah, okay. And so Joshua says a very reasonable response. He says, if I do not seek, how can I know about the way? Yeah. How can I know if I don't try? How can I know if I don't try? That's a really good question.

[10:32]

I'd been there, frankly, I think I would have said, maybe you should try for a while. Maybe it's all right if you try. Maybe we all have to try, after all. Some. But Nanchuan's response was kind of something that almost never happens in these Zen stories. This thing almost never happens. Because what did he do? He explained it That almost never happens. Nan Quan, in his great compassion, actually explains it to Zhao Zhou. His response is, anyway, this translation, ah, the way does not belong to knowing or not knowing it. To know is to have a concept. To not know is to be ignorant. If you truly realize the way of no doubt, it is just like the sky, wide open, vast emptiness.

[11:45]

How can you say yes or no to it? At these words, the master had sudden enlightenment. His mind became like the clear moon. Aw. Sweet. I love that story. You know? I love Zhao Zhao's earnestness. How will I know if I don't try? Yeah. Right? And Nanquan's great compassion. You know? Very kindly, kindly explaining the idea of attaining the truth is just that. Something floating around in your brain. That's not the truth. It's an idea. So, good old Zhajo, he stayed studying with Nanchuan for about 40 years until Nanchuan died.

[12:56]

And then he decided to go out on pilgrimage. And when he went on pilgrimage, he said very famously before he set out, he said, If I meet an elder of 80 or 90 years on this pilgrimage, well-versed in the Dharma, who can learn something from me, I will teach him. And if I meet a young girl of seven years old who's got something to teach me, I will sit down at her feet and learn. That, I think, is true humility. And he pilgrimaged about for around 20 years, testing his understanding with various other Zen luminaries of the time, which you can read about in some of these koans that he's featured in. And finally settled down to teach at the age of 80. 80 years old, he settled down.

[14:02]

He said, well, maybe it's a good time for me to start teaching. Maybe I'm okay. Maybe I'm mature enough in my practice at 80. I can start to teach. So he settled in a place called Guan Yin Temple in the town of Zhaozhou. So that's how he got his name. Lots of Zen masters are named after place names, like famous mountains. In this case, it's a kind of, I wouldn't say urban exactly, but it was a town. It was, you know... a population center where he lived, not some remote mountain. And the town of Zhaozhou was famous for this stone bridge. I think at the time there were three famous stone bridges in China, you know, like tourist attractions. And it might be as if you call the Zen master Golden Gate, you know? So that's where this...

[15:05]

story comes from, you know, the story about the bridge. Jiaojou was not flashy. He was not exciting, you know. A lot of Zen masters around that time, like Linji with his shouting and Dushan with the blows and the fists and the, you know, kind of drama. There's a lot of stories like that where you're like, now I'm really getting some Zen here. Yeah, something's happening here. Zhao Zhou wasn't like that. He was very, very kind of chill, I think you would say. Zhao Zhou was pretty chill. He would just offer a few turning words. Not even especially poetic. I'm newly arrived here. Well, have you had breakfast? Yeah. Well, go wash your bowl. he was said to the kind of teaching Zhao Zhao did they called it lip chan because they said when he spoke light came from his lips there's some great anyway I recommend you read the record of Zhao Zhao I've just been having so much fun a monk asked

[16:40]

What is the most important principle of Zen? What is the most important principle of Zen? Zhao Zhao replied, Excuse me, but I have to pee. Just imagine, even such a trivial thing as that I have to do in person. Face 52. A monk asked Zhao Zhou, For a long time I've heard of the stone bridge of Zhao Zhou, but now that I've come here, I just see a simple log bridge. Zhou said, You just see the log bridge. You don't see the stone bridge. The monk said, What is the stone bridge? Zhou said, Donkeys cross.

[17:41]

Horses cross. So, you know, these... These monks in those days, they didn't play around. They were very straightforward. They were very forthright. You know, maybe this guy came on pilgrimage a long time. Jojo, very old, very famous, in his own lifetime, well-known. You know, oh, I want to meet this guy. Come, you know, for a long way. And I meet someone who's like, I don't know, probably looks like Mel Weitzman. You're, you? You're not so hot, you know. Who are you? In Yuan Wu's comments, he says, notes rather, he says, here's another man who comes to grab the tiger's whiskers. This is the proper business of patch robe monks. That's true, you know. So it's good that he's challenging Zhao Zhou. And Zhao Zhou is, you know, he's cool with it.

[18:48]

a monk was telling me here in Tazahara, they were studying the Soto Zen Buddhist Association's guidelines for formations of priests in the West. And one of the guidelines was a priest should have the ability to respond positively to criticism. And they were like, oh no. Then they said, but then I found out that referred to brown robes. So they thought, okay, Might be all right, for now. So yeah, you know, Zhao Zhou, he's not phased, and he's also not smug. He's not trying to front like he knows the real practice or the real deal. He just says, well, you just see the log bridge, but you don't see the stone bridge. And then the monk says, well, what is the stone bridge? And I like his earnestness there, you know.

[19:52]

He says, oh, it's kind of a little bit deflated, you know. Kind of like, okay, fair enough. What is the stone bridge? And Zhao Zhao says, donkeys cross, horses cross. Everything crosses. And get the Dharma. You can get it right here, right now. There's nothing hindering you. Nothing hindering anybody. The Dharma is not being held back. It's not a secret. Donkeys cross, horses cross. So why does this make me think of guest seasons? Because I think sometimes people come to Tassajara in the summer and they think, this is a Zen monastery?

[20:59]

This place? Come on. What is this, a summer camp? You're running a spa? It's a nice business. Years ago, somebody said to me, oh, It's a Zen theme park. Ow! Yeah. You see the log bridge. You don't see the stone bridge. What is the stone bridge? What is the stone bridge? Donkeys cross. Horses cross. So, sometimes when I give a talk, I say, I have an overt bias towards the students.

[21:59]

Because, after all, the students are, well, kind of my first responsibility. This is a Zen training monastery all year round. But, Tonight, I feel like this talk is for everybody. What I love most about guest season is the many, many different ways of being at Tassajara, the many ways you can be at Tassajara. You can be a continuing monk. You can be a first-time summer student here for the whole summer. You can be a work practice student for part of the summer. any part of the summer, even as little as five days. You can come here as a guest practice person. You can come here as a body worker. You can come here as a guest of a student. You can come here as a visiting teacher.

[23:02]

You can come here as an honored guest, great benefactors of Zen Center. Many, many different ways to be here. A day guest, just passing through. just hiking from one mountain to another, passing through Tassajara. Everybody gets something from Tassajara. Everybody brings something to Tassajara. There's a lot of traffic in guest season, and it's all meaningful. Donkeys cross. Horses cross. And what people bring to Tassajara along with their preconceptions, their fears, their joy, misgivings, delight, apprehension, longings, stories, partialities, languor, enthusiasm, indifference, bias, boredom.

[24:15]

Did I mention fear? It's all grist for the mill. It's all welcome. It's all part of the practice. There's no way of knowing what another person is practicing with in Tazahara. And that's a beautiful thing. We accept that. Donkeys cross, horses cross. And in your zazen, Don't grasp anything. Don't push anything away. Thoughts, feelings, sensations. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Donkeys cross, horses cross. Also, blue jays, squirrels, foxes, grosbeak, owls, pregnant deer.

[25:19]

House cats, bobcats, lizards, snakes, a gopher snake as long as this straw-bowing mat. That's the biggest snake I ever saw. God! Crickets, carpenter bees, pack rats, crayfish, trout, turtles, cross. We practice with all beings. All are welcome. All are welcome. You know, there's another version of this story in the record of Zhaozhou. Same story. Both versions appear. Interesting. It's another scenario, another time. A monk asked, For a long time, I've heard about the famous stone bridge of Zhaozhou. But coming here, I see only a common wooden bridge. The master said, You saw only the wooden bridge, but have not seen the stone bridge of Zhaozhou.

[26:23]

The monk said, What is the stone bridge of Zhaozhou? The master said, Cross over! Cross over! Cross! What's holding you back? So there's some time for some questions. If anybody wants to ask any questions about, well, actually, anything at all. Hello over there, Emily. Yeah. I think the Stone Bridge is where you meet the practice. So anything can be a stone bridge. I think anything can potentially be the stone bridge for crossing over if that's where you're meeting the practice, if that's where you're meeting your heart.

[27:38]

Does that make any sense? Even if what? Even if you're an ass. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because S is cross. That's the lesson here. It's not exclusive. This is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, actually. All of us, whether we know it or not, are undeniably bound for unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment. Every being. But we have to find it. We do have to find it. We have to discover the jewel in this leaf. We have to not miss the stone bridge because we think we see a common log bridge.

[28:50]

well what is bridging the gap say to you where's the gap And how do you make the connection? Through practice and just in a way seeing that the beginning and the end of the bridge are the same.

[30:03]

In-breath, out-breath. might be a good time to give a shout out to the practice of upright sitting because when I think of making the connection when I think of Zen Jnana cultivating Jnana Paramita cultivating Samadhi kind of My idea about that, what we're doing when we're sitting upright in silence, is practicing integration, being present with everything, being present with thoughts, feelings, like I said, fears, misgivings, apprehensions, stories, all of it, not to mention

[31:06]

Blue jays, squirrels, crayfish, turtles, red-tailed hawk. Skunks! Ants. No, no more sentient beings? Kingsnake. Kingsnake. Just an idea. Well, you can have idea of awakening. You can have the thought of enlightenment. And we call that bodhicitta. So I want to be careful about dismissing just an idea.

[32:16]

I don't want to be too quick to be dismissive about you might be having the thought of awakening. You might be having genuine call to your rising mind is the mind of awakening. I wouldn't rule that out. But can you make a story about it too? Yes. Yes, you can. So I think what we have to do is be scrupulous and listen very carefully and listen to our hearts and talk to teachers. John's coming tomorrow. How exciting! Yeah. Yeah, and I'm going on a... little road trip tomorrow afternoon.

[33:21]

So, ciao. Director and I are going to drive down the coast and we thought it was an opportune time because in the next five or six days we're going to have like a Walt of all practice leaders in Tassajara. By the way, welcome Leanne Shutt. Hey, Leanne. Leanne made this kotsu. She'll probably spend some time in the shop today. I mean, while she's here. Not today. But while she's here, she'll probably be in the shop. Just know that, shop people. And also, Joan Amaral is coming, and Charlie Picourney, and Jiryu Rochman-Beiler, and David Simmerman, and Shundo David Hay. We'll all be here over the course of the next five or six days while Linda and I are on our little road trip.

[34:29]

So take advantage of that, OU students. The teachers, the practice leaders, are there to be used. I mean that. Use them. Take advantage of them. Bug them. You know? Really. Teacher might say, oh, upadavana, or, you know, oh my gosh. All right, that's fine. They're entitled. And also, use them. Use them. You know? What did Yuan Wu say? What did he say? Oh, I lost the place. Oh, maybe I didn't. He said, this is the proper business of patch-rubbed monks. Yeah, that's right. So do that. And then I also wanted to say, be kind. Okay? Everybody be kind.

[35:31]

That's the way to practice in Tassajara. That's the way to practice in Sangha. Please be kind. And just meet whatever arises. And I want to finish with One of my favorite stories from the record of Zhaozhou, that also for me, it could have been another Dharma talk, to me also relates to guest season, but especially for the students. A monk asks Zhaozhou, when great difficulties come upon us, how can they be avoided? The master said, bring them on. 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.

[36:36]

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

[36:46]

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