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. A question which we've returned to again and again during this practice period is what is the business activity under the patch robe? This is a question asked by our ancestors. And the answer to the question at that time was intimacy. Other answers could be given, which I think are in harmony with the original answer.

[01:13]

Today I'd like to say that the business under the patch robe is seated Buddha. he said that I would say the business end of the Pasharobh is the essential function of Buddha Dharma in a set up like this it looks like the essential function of Buddha Dharma is sitting Buddha seated Buddha. We have a practice which we sometimes call just sitting, shikantaza.

[02:26]

This shikantaza is the ritual performance of the essential activity, the essential function of Buddhadharma. This shikantaza is a ritual performance of seated Buddha. Along with the practice of the ritual performance, we also have the practice of what's called going to the teacher and listening to or asking about the teaching. Sanchimompo. And that part of the practice is to receive teaching and encouragement for the practice of ritually performing seated Buddha.

[03:42]

It's to receive teachings so we understand how to do the ceremony properly. To clear up any misunderstandings we might have about what seated Buddha is. Which is the same as clearing up understanding about what intimacy is. Shikantaza, just sitting could also be just intimacy. And you go to the teacher to talk about, well, what is intimacy? What is it to be intimate in this life together? Seated Buddha is an answer. What does that mean? So we talk about it for our whole life What is the essential function of the Buddha's teaching?

[04:46]

What is seated Buddha? I like to quote our dear teacher, saying the business of a Zen priest, the job of a Zen priest, the job of a person who wears the patch robe, is to encourage Zazen. The job of a Zen priest is to encourage Zazen. I heard him say that. And today I would say... that he was making it easy on us at that time. But now a little bit more startling thing to say is the job of a Zen priest is to encourage sitting Buddha.

[05:54]

I think he meant that, but, you know, things were different and he didn't want to scare people. He left that to his disciples. So I want to continue to talk to you about this sitting Buddha, this seated Buddha, this intimacy, which is the basic job of those who wear the robe. I also want to say that yesterday I took a risk and said something about Shakti Muni Buddha pretending to be a Buddha. I'm not saying you're pretending to be a Zen student, but I am.

[06:58]

I know people have trouble with that word because I want to be genuine. I want to be authentic. I do. But I think actually noticing that I'm pretending to be something helps me be authentic. You could say, well, it kind of acknowledges that I have a shadow. But it's more than that. So I look up the word pretend. I didn't look it up in lots of dictionaries, but I looked it up in one. And I wanted to say right away that pretend is very closely related to intend. good old intend, which is at the root of good old intention. The root of pretend is to stretch forth.

[07:58]

The root of intend is to stretch toward. And the root of the word tendon is to stretch. And also tend, the word tend means to stretch. Pretend means to stretch. Fourth. The first meaning is to affect, A-F-F-E-C-T, or feign, no pun intended. first meaning to simulate or imitate in order to make some desired impression I think that's appropriate I think that the Buddha simulates something

[09:27]

imitates something in order to make a desired impression. What's the desired impression? To stimulate people to practice zazen. To inspire them to respect the practice that the Buddha ancestors practiced. to simulate, to imitate. To imitate who? Well, for example, to imitate Shakyamuni Buddha. I admit, I imitate Shakyamuni Buddha. I imitate Matsu. I'm happy to imitate dear old Matsu sitting. I'm happy to imitate Suzuki Roshi.

[10:32]

I'm happy to imitate you. I see you sitting, I imitate you. But I imitate you to create a desired effect. And sometimes I imitate other things, like a stupid man. I pretend to be a stupid man. The desired effect is that you will, the next morning, say, he's so stupid, I'm just going to go sit. Sometimes after the classes that we have, you know, I wonder. And I look, the next morning, if there's a lot of people, I think, good class. Some classes people like, you know, then they don't get up in the morning. They say, that class settled everything. I don't need to practice anymore. I better go sit. That was a bad one. I need to calm down.

[11:36]

I'm upset. The root of the word affect, A-F-F-E-C-T, is to strive after. To strive after making an impression. which will have a desired effect. I have a story about that which I'll just mention to you the title of it and you can remind me if you want to hear about it. It's a story about a great person named Pukasati and his friend Shakyamuni Buddha. Now I'd like to talk about Fein. Different spelling. Fein means defined as to give a false appearance of pretend to represent falsely.

[12:46]

I think that's appropriate. I think Shakyamuni Buddha willingly represented the Dharmakaya, his boss, falsely. He said, hey, This is a Buddha. A false representation in order to make a desired impression. So when he did this, gave this false impression, here's Buddha. This is a human. This is a Buddha. This is a false impression of Buddha. This is a phantom Buddha. This is a fantasy Buddha. This is a... transformation Buddha. But people need fantasies. They need phantoms. They need transformation. So here it is. And the effect is the desired impression is an impression which will inspire people to practice the way.

[13:47]

Maybe giving some Dharma talks would help too. So that's part of it. Second meaning of fein is to invent, make up, fabricate. Remember that one, fabricate? The Buddhas fabricate bodies to convey the unfabricated truth. Because beings live and are strongly concerned with fabrications. You want fabrications? Okay, here's a fabrication. How's that? I feel inspired. Great. Inspired to open to the unfabricated activity in stillness. So feign and effect as definitions of... The first definitions of pretend are feign and effect. I think they totally apply to what the Dharmakaya Buddha is.

[14:52]

And Dharmakaya Buddha... after getting people's attention, by doing this nice simulation, by making up this fabrication, then the nirmanakaya tells people, you know, this is a fabrication. I've told you this story, too. I'll tell it again. Suzuki Rashi, one week, he says, this is like... when we're still over at Sokoji, this is before 1969, he says, when he says, you know, in a lecture, there were quite a few people there, he said, I'm not enlightened. That's a fabrication too. I'm not enlightened is a fabrication. But that was the one he thought of offering that day. And it had... I don't know if it had a desired effect on me, but it made an impression.

[15:58]

The impression it made was, oh, that's too bad. I made this big move out here to live with this teacher, and he tells me he's not enlightened. But then I thought, right after that, I thought, still he's the best teacher I've ever met. So I'm staying with this unenlightened Zen priest. The next week he said, I am Buddha. And I thought, hmm, that's more like it. Thanks for laughing at my funny stories on repeated performance. That's a simulation, in both cases, to encourage us to practice zazen. Like, even if he's not enlightened, I still want to practice with him.

[17:03]

Practice what? Practice zazen. That's what I came for in the first place. I came to practice and get somebody to help me to practice. Maybe he's not enlightened, but he still can be a teacher to me, and then I don't have to make him into this big thing. Well, next week he's a big thing. Well, I got a Buddha. Great. Did I believe him when he said he was a Buddha? Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know. Especially since the week before, he said he wasn't enlightened. It's kind of like, I'm not enlightened. The next week I'm going to tell you something, but you have to remember this part. I never really thought that he was or wasn't enlightened. All I knew was I wanted to be with him. I wanted to practice with him. That's all I really knew. I wanted to be kind of like him. I wanted to be like him. That's what I want. If he's not so good, then I won't be so good. But still, I want to be like that. That's my bet.

[18:05]

I'm not going to be like him, but I'm going to try. I don't mind failing. That's the first meaning. That's the second meaning. The second meaning of pretend is to claim or allege insincerely or falsely. So again, I think the Buddha claims falsely but not insincerely. That's the one difference. I'm not insincere in my pretense. I'm sincere about my pretense. I am. That's my name. Tenshin means sincerely naive, like a child. I'm a Zen student. Yeah. I'm sincerely pretending to be a Zen student.

[19:10]

And it's a false, it's false. I'm not really a Zen student, and neither are you. Number three for pretend is to represent fictitiously. I'm totally into that. And so are you. You're all fictitious representations of yourself. And you can't really avoid it. All of us are oceans. All of us are boundless beings. There's no limits on us. There's no beginning or end. We are beyond all fabrication, but we also are into fabrication. And our fabrications are fictions of us, which we are into.

[20:10]

We are fictional. We are fictionizers. We are novelists. We are poets. We're making up new selves. with everybody's support all the time. So yeah, to represent fictitiously, and then I didn't finish the sentence, in play. I don't just represent fictitiously, I do it playfully, with confidence that that's the bodhisattva life. To come and play with people. To play with suffering people. Fictitiously. To make believe. That's what it says in the dictionary. To make believe. And you know when you make believe that you're just making believe. You know it's a fiction. And you can be sincere and wholehearted about it. If you're a Zen student without this element, you're missing the point.

[21:19]

You're not getting the joke. You don't understand why the Buddha winked. Number four, to take upon oneself or venture, pretend to the throne. Venture to the throne. Pretend to Buddhahood. To venture towards Buddhahood is another meaning of pretend. To stretch forth. So I'm actually suggesting that we need to be aware that we're pretending in order to be genuine, in order to be authentic,

[22:22]

We need to pretend, because we do pretend. We are representing ourselves fictionally, fictitiously. We see ourselves fictitiously. We see others fictitiously. But particularly by ourself, we should realize, I'm just offering this for the time being, and if you ask me, are you really a Zen priest? Are you really a Zen blank? We can talk about it, whatever the question is about. I don't know. To look at the story of one of these people that I'm imitating, that I'm simulating, it's possible...

[23:25]

The one I'm referring to is Matsu. And indirectly also, I would like also to imitate his teacher, Nanyue Huirang. I'm happy to try to imitate him too. Although there's not many sittings about... Actually... No, I don't know many stories about him sitting. But... I'll go check. Maybe I can find some. But anyway, his great student is practicing sitting. I'm happy to copy him, imitate him, mimic him, simulate him, practicing sitting. Now, his teacher says, what are you intending, what are you stretching towards in... in this sitting and he said, I'm intending to make a Buddha.

[24:28]

And his teacher plays with him. Picks up the tile, starts polishing it on a rock and so on. And then they have this conversation and Matsu's teacher Nan Yue says, before I say it, I I hope this is encouraging the sitting. Now that I'm about to talk about it, I think, well, maybe just if the people here just hear that Suzuki Roshi said the job of a Zen priest is to encourage people to practice Zazen, maybe that's enough. Now that you know that that's what his life was about, do him a favor. Be encouraged. Don't make him a flop. Do what he wanted his life to help you to do.

[25:33]

So maybe that's enough about that. Maybe I don't have to talk anymore about these ancestors. Who said that? Oh, who said that? Who said that? By the way, who are you? Oh, you think you're convincing, do you? Okay. Anyway, one person wants a story. You want a story? Just a cute little one? Okay. Here's a cute little story. So Nanyue is talking to Matsu and he says... In the first translation he says... Are you studying seated meditation or are you studying seated Buddha?

[26:49]

This is a translation by... our dear friend Carl Bielfeld, who Suzuki Roshi asked to become a Dogen scholar. And he did. We didn't see him in the Zendo much after that, but some people sacrificed their life for us, in a way. So that was his translation. Matsu is asked by his teacher, are you studying seated meditation or are you studying seated Buddha? Now, this is one of the cases where the other translations are different. They look different. So I think another translation is you're learning. So the word, he says, studying and learning. So you translate that character, studying, learning, practicing.

[27:58]

So these three translations chose the three different English words to translate. Also could be meeting, I believe. That's the character here. Are you studying seated meditation or are you studying seated Buddha? Second translation, your... learning seated Zen, your learning seated meditation is learning sitting Buddha. First he says, are you doing one or the other? The second one says, the first one of studying seated meditation, that is studying and learning seated Buddha. Next translation, when you practice seated sitting Zen, you practice sitting Buddha.

[29:07]

So one is telling you that, one's asking you, which one are you doing? The other one's saying, when you do one, you're doing the other. So they're different, but they're kind of complementary too. So you can turn it around both ways. When you're practicing seated Buddha, when you practice seated Buddha, you practice seated meditation. Sounds like a big statement of ritual performance. If you're studying seated Buddha, you do it like we're doing. Seated meditation. When we sit in seated meditation, we could be just studying seated meditation, or we could be just studying seated Buddha, or we could be doing both.

[30:16]

And then Dogenesanji says, investigating these words, your learning seated meditation is learning seated Buddha, investigating these words, we should grasp them as just the pivotal working of the ancestral ancestors. we should know indeed that the seated meditation of the beginner's mind is the first seated meditation.

[31:54]

And the first seated meditation is the first seated Buddha. The zazen of beginner's mind is the beginning of zazen. And the beginning of zazen is the beginning of sitting Buddha. Here's another place where the translations are different.

[33:06]

Professor Bielefeld's translation is, in speaking of this seated meditation, Nanyue said, if you're studying seated meditation, meditation is not sitting still. But he notes in a footnote that he translates sitting still for what literally is sitting and lying down. But he thinks it's better to say not sitting still. The other translations say when you are learning sitting meditation, the meditation is beyond sitting and lying down. When you are sitting Zen, you know that Zen is not about sitting or lying down.

[34:14]

The point of what he says here is that seated meditation is seated meditation and is not sitting still. What he is saying now is that zazen is zazen and not sitting or lying down. From the time, the fact, that it is not sitting still has been singly transmitted to us, our unlimited sitting still is our own self. After we have received one-to-one transmission that is beyond

[35:35]

sitting and lying down. Unlimited instances of sitting and lying down are ourselves. After we have received one-to-one transmission that is beyond sitting and lying down, Unlimited instances of sitting and lying down are our self. This teaching has been transmitted person to person. This boundless sitting and lying down are our self. Once again,

[36:35]

slightly differently, when you receive a transmission which is beyond sitting and lying down, then all the kinds of sitting and lying down that you do are yourself. In brackets, beyond yourself. Closed bracket. This transmission has been offered to you. I don't know if you've received it. If you've received it, then all the different forms, all the different sittings and lying downs, all the different sittings that you do in this room, all the different lying downs that you do other places, all the sittings you do in your office or in your living room, all those sittings, seated Buddha are your true self so you see why Suzuki Roshi would like to encourage this practice because then wherever people go there is then cliche so that was that was a little story maybe that was enough

[38:10]

There's more, but that was a little story. Shall I conclude now? Who said that? Who are you? Yeah, who are you? Well, thank you. So, because of this person, I shall go on. If you're studying seated Buddha, Buddha has no fixed marks. If you practice sitting Buddha, Buddha has no fixed form. And Professor Bielfeld translates Dogen by saying, Such is to say what is to be said.

[39:14]

I like that. What is that again? If you're studying seated Buddha, Buddha has no fixed mark. The path, the great work of peace has no fixed sign. The reason the seated Buddha is one or two Buddhas is that she adorns herself with no fixed marks. The Buddha says, doesn't he? If you see me by my marks, you do not see me.

[40:15]

See me by seeing my having no marks. That's how you see me. Again, this is getting more intimate with the seated Buddha who adorns herself with no marks so that beings can be intimate with her. Since I adorn myself with no marks, you can be with me no matter where you are. Ah, yes. Which is part of the Zen style. We're kind of literal. Do you notice the marks I put on today? I'm just following the examples of the seated Buddha.

[41:20]

They put on these marks of no marks, just like me, or me like them. And it's a lot of work to put on no marks. It takes a whole moment. Buddha has no fixed characteristics, no fixed marks. And then Nanyue instructs Matsu, in the non-abiding Dharma, there should be no grasping or rejecting.

[42:26]

That's a really good instruction. But again, if it's okay, I'd like to talk about that tomorrow. Is that okay, Malfred? Is that okay, Miu Yu? Okay. But you didn't ask me about Pukasati, and that I cannot wait on. Good. So Pukasati is this, I don't know, he's another person who I would be happy to mimic. I would be happy to mimic him. He was a wonderful person. He was like a spiritual teacher in India. He lived during the time of the historical Buddha. Had a lot of students. But in his meditation, he wondered, he questioned whether his understanding was really authentic. And... There was a deity who happened to be tuning in to his question and the deity said to him, actually your understanding is not yet complete.

[44:22]

However, there is a teacher who can help you. His name is Gautama Shakyamuni Buddha and he is in... Varanasi now. If you go there, he can help you. So Pukkasati starts traveling towards Varanasi to meet the Buddha. There's a... There's a sutta, a scripture, about this meeting, which the early Eno wrote out it by hand and gave to me once.

[45:29]

I still have that, thank you. It's a scripture about their meeting. And the scripture starts with the Buddha coming into a city called Raja Griha, and looking for a place to stay. So the scripture starts at that point. But the background story is that Pukasati was heading to Varanasi to meet the Buddha. And the Buddha knew that Pukasati was coming to see him and the Buddha wanted to meet him. But the Buddha wanted to meet him excuse the expression, halfway. And the Buddha wanted to meet him not in the assembly where the Buddha is pretending to be a Buddha. I'm adding that. But the Buddha chose to leave his group where everybody was asking him to pretend to be Buddha and that pretense was making...

[46:40]

desired impressions upon the students. They were impressed. They were really enthusiastic, getting enlightened left and right by practicing seated Buddha. But in this case, he wanted to go away from the group and meet somebody with no pretense. Buddha's not always pretending. This is one of those cases. Actually, yeah. So he said to his group, okay, keep sitting, see you later. And they said, do you need an entourage, master? Nope, I'm going myself. Can you imagine the Buddha taking a walk by himself, a long walk? Apparently he did. Long walk, all by himself. I was impressed by that. And the monks let him do it.

[47:41]

So he walks quite a ways from the Varanasi area to the area of Rajagriha. And when he arrives there, Phukasati got there before him. When he arrives there, he goes to the place. Somehow he goes to the place. where Pukasati is. And the place where Pukasati is, is he's in the pottery shed of a potter. So the Buddha goes to the potter. But the Buddha is not pretending to be Buddha. He's taking a Buddha pretending break. So, yeah, so... When he went to the door of the potter, knock, knock, yes, oh, a wandering monk, hello, venerable sir, may I help you?

[48:53]

Yes, I was wondering if you have a place where I could stay for the night. And the potter says, I do have a place, but there's already somebody staying in it. It's my pottery shed. But if it's okay with that person, it's fine with me. So then the Buddha, who's not pretending to be Buddha, who's not appearing to be a Buddha, but this looks like, you know, one of these people wanders around India doing spiritual practice, asks Pukasati if he can stay in the pottery shed, and Pukasati says, yes, you may. But it says in the background story he took off his glamour. He adorned himself with no marks.

[49:55]

Just like he was a good Zen practitioner supposed to do. Take off your and put on Buddha marks. The true Buddha marks, no marks. And then go meet your friend. So they meet and they sit together and the Buddha thinks, I'm glad I came. This is a good practitioner. And they sit silently together. And then... In the morning, maybe, or after a long time, the Buddha says, maybe he would like to hear a little talk. So he says to Pukasati, would you like to hear a little talk about the truth? And Pukasati says, okay. And the Buddha delivers this teaching.

[51:04]

And when the Buddha is about... I would say more than three-quarters of the way through the talk, Phukasati understood who was talking to him. But out of respect to who he saw was talking to him, he let the person finish the talk. But to himself he said, oh, I forgot an important part, sorry. When Buddha met the person, he said, under whom are you studying? And Pukasati said, I'm studying under Gautama Buddha. And the Buddha says, have you ever met him? And Pukasati said, no, I haven't met him. Would you recognize him if you saw him? And Pukasati said, no, I wouldn't. But then he didn't recognize him. He saw that his teacher had come. And his teacher had come.

[52:07]

He saw that his teacher came. In this case, the teacher did not have to, in a way, present anything other than an ordinary monk to encourage Bhukasati to be a seated Buddha. Being a seated Buddha, suddenly the Buddha appeared to him. Buddha talked to him. And he became a seated Buddha. The Buddha talked to him and encouraged him to be a seated Buddha by his words. And becoming a seated Buddha, he saw the seated Buddha. Just like Zika Rishi saying, hey, I'm an ordinary guy. Can I stay here tonight? I'm not enlightened.

[53:13]

Sure, I'll stay. You can stay here. You can stay at Sokoji. I'll keep studying with you even though you're not enlightened. And then the Buddhists can meet later. 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.

[53:49]

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