Do you remember when you said, I will teach the truth until the end of the world? Good morning. Good morning. The other morning, I was chanting the genjo koan,

[01:00]

and the words popped out at me again, as they frequently do. It is Buddhas who are greatly enlightened about delusion. It is sentient beings who are greatly deluded about realization. No matter how many times we've heard those words, or had them said to us, or read them, we keep conjuring up ideas about enlightened, and about ourselves as being outside of it. So what I want to talk about today has something to do with this. It has something to do with the process of transmission,

[02:09]

which I don't know very much about, but a little bit I'm pointing out. As you know, one or two or three or four, I don't know how many people are preparing now for this process. My understanding is that it's not so much a person who is being recognized, as maybe the process of life itself that's going on, through one individual or another. What we're doing here is learning about how to live, free from our fears, free from our inhibitions, free from our delusions.

[03:20]

And to open ourselves to the play of life itself, the dark and the light, the joy and the sadness or sorrow, the reaching out, the reaching in, the male, the female. Everything that we think of as polar opposites or as oppositions, take the termially one circle, one pole, which is just a play of who we are, of our energy, our interaction with each other, with the universe. We've been talking a little about taking on the karma of Buddha's child. To me that means taking on the entire universe,

[04:32]

becoming a child of the whole universe. We're coming out from under our shells, letting the rain in, letting the birds in, letting our rage be, letting our confusion be, letting it all come in and stay and sit there, and some of it will cook, and when it's cooked, it will be ready to set out. And I think this way, I think of Sensei's words again, the thought that you can achieve enlightenment is just a false idea.

[05:36]

There is something beyond your own power. One throws away one's own effort, and at that time, the other power is working. And it reminded me of what Theravada Rishi was saying, that we put ourselves in a particular place, and we are allowed to live. We are allowed to live by everything. And the Lotus Sutra, I think it has its main message, something about the great compassionate heart.

[06:40]

You know, I like the idea of being a child of the universe. I think I like the idea of being a child. It implies to me some kind of openness or vulnerability. It implies being taken care of. And those of you who have studied the Lotus Sutra a little, can remember some of the parables. One of the early ones about the son who leaves his father early in his life, and wanders for many years, and becomes lost and destitute. And finally, after many, many years, in the meantime, the father has become very wealthy,

[07:48]

and has land, and jewels, and servants, and all kinds of possessions. And eventually, the son, in his wanders, comes back, and doesn't know he's in his father's domain, but the father recognizes him, and sends his servants up to bring him close. And the son is just overwhelmed by this attention, and collapses. And the father takes another attack, and realizes that the boy, his son, is afraid. So he invites him in, and gives him some manual work to do, manual labor, which he does for years and years. A little like robbing traveling ships. So he does this for a long time, and he does it well. And he's invited to take on more responsibility.

[08:56]

He takes on more responsibility, takes on the treasury, or the accounting of the possessions. And after many years of doing well, and getting to know the father's holdings, the father, one day, says, I'm getting old, and I want you to know that you are my son, you actually are my son, and all of this belongs to you. But it was always yours, he said, you don't know. And the son was quite surprised. It was unexpected. But his many, many years of labors were ready for him. So that sense of the universe belonging to us, being our own inheritance, that we are not really separate from it.

[10:03]

No matter how hard we try to separate ourselves from the universe. I think it's a simple and profound teaching about the compassionate side of our purpose. What is so truly great and compassionate about it? Which complements the wisdom, the insight, the emptiness side of our teaching. One of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra is that the Buddha is always clear. The Buddha cannot be defined by time or space, cannot be limited by time or space. And there are sections in the Lotus Sutra where the Tathagata says, it was just skillful means that I said I entered Nirvana.

[11:08]

Because I thought that if I were around forever, people would get lazy and it would be no special big deal if there was a Tathagata around, and they wouldn't make effort. But if I said I was leaving, I was going away, people would feel urgent and make special effort. But the Tathagata is always there, when we are in the beginning of time. And that's a very different sense of the universe, that the Tathagata, the Buddha, is always there. This isn't a degenerate age, this isn't the age of Nirvana. This isn't the age for after Buddhas. So what I want to bring up today is one of the fascicles in the section,

[12:16]

one of Dobin's fascicles from the transmission section, the fascicle on only a Buddha and a Buddha. It's one of the fascicles we've been studying. When we say only a Buddha and a Buddha, this means this is taken from the Lotus Sutra. In the second chapter where it says only a Buddha and a Buddha can thoroughly exhaust the darkness, can thoroughly penetrate and exhaust the reality of the darkness. In a way this is a presentation about the Bodhisattva path as compared to the Shravaka and the Pratyekabuddha paths,

[13:20]

both of which had as their goal the salvation of the self, and just realizing salvation for myself. And because this tendency developed in the early years after Jatayini's Mahayana arose, counteract the tendency of the monks to separate themselves from people and to simply work on their own perfection, their own realization. So the Shravaka path and the Pratyekabuddha path refer to the Shravaka path as voice hearers or monitors, those who listen to the teaching and seek for their own perfection through listening. Pratyekabuddhas are described as the self-enlightened ones,

[14:25]

those who see into the causes and conditions of their own being, themselves, without a teacher. But in any case, both of these have as their objective and goal taking care of themselves, freedom for themselves, transcendence from samsara for themselves. And the Bodhisattva path and the Bodhisattva ideal arose to counteract this separation. The Bodhisattva ideal realizes its own liberation with everyone, not separate from anyone or anything in the universe. So the Bodhisattva delays his or her own enlightenment until everyone is awakened.

[15:26]

So this title, Only a Buddha and a Buddha, comes from that Pratyekabuddha sutra. But in the beginning he says, realization is not like your conception of it. Sentient beings are greatly deluded of that enlightenment. So Dogen says, realization is not like your conception of it. Accordingly, realization cannot take place as previously conceived. When you realize Buddhadharma, you do not consider how realization came about. You should reflect on this. What you think one way or another before realization is not a help for realization. If realization came forth by the power of your prior thoughts,

[16:32]

it would not be trustworthy. Realization does not depend on thoughts, but comes forth far beyond them. Realization is held only by the power of realization itself. Know that then there is no delusion and there is no realization. When we realize it, that's the end of it. I can't explain, because I'll discuss this last line. When we are in a state of realization, at that time, there is no delusion and there is no realization. Those are concepts which we attribute to reality. When we are free of the concepts present in the flow of reality, there is no delusion, there is no realization,

[17:36]

there is just the Dharmas arising and falling, just the Dharmas breaking. Not to know what it is like on this path is foolish. What it is like is to be unstained. To be unstained does not mean that you try to exclude intention or discrimination, or that you establish a state of non-intention. Being unstained cannot be intended or discriminated at all. Being unstained is like meeting a person and not considering what she looks like. Also it is like not wishing for more color or brightness

[18:41]

when viewing flowers or the moon. Spring has the tone of spring, and autumn has the scene of autumn. There is no escaping it. So when you want spring or autumn to be different from what it is, notice that it can only be as it is. Or when you want to keep spring or autumn as it is, reflect that it has no unchanging nature. To be unstained is to be without discrimination. We are afraid to be without discrimination. So we take on various colorations, various points of view.

[19:46]

To be unstained looks to me like being transparent. Even though we all are transparent, nothing in the world is hidden. We only have to try to cover up our transparency. It's something that moves you, it's something that keeps you. It makes us feel good, make it, okay? That heart, we long to be naked and lonely.

[20:53]

To be just as we are without having to cover up our heart. It takes a lot of time. It's really late. I'm going to take my time to talk about what I'd like you to talk about, for example, seeing a cloud in a piece of paper. Ever since then I've been trying to see the cloud every time I use a piece of paper.

[22:06]

Being transparent is like walking up a path, and seeing, I forget the name of the flowers that are planted, the nasturtiums I think, the bright orange ones? Nasturtiums. Nasturtiums planted in one of those rock circles. And when you see the pattern of how they're planted, and how they're coming up, Can you hear me? My voice projecting? You can easily see the pattern of shadow and sun, and warmth and coldness that's produced, the abundance on one side, and the kind of skimpy plants over here. You can see that the tree shaded this part of the soil.

[23:13]

So you can easily see the whole pattern of interaction of the elements that created the growth as it happened. When we see each other with that same eye, it's beautiful. Discrimination. You can see the whole pattern of our lives and each other, our parenting, our upbringing, our society, our hopes, our delusions, our fears. Thank you. The Buddha says,

[24:37]

The form of the flowers or moon in your mind should not be understood as being self, even though you think it is self. Whatever arises in our minds and bodies, especially if it's exciting to us, or it's creative, or it's novel in some way, makes us feel enhanced by our particular unique qualities. Like I saw, or maybe some of the rest of you did, the rock face on this mountain we ran earlier today. It was just beautiful to see that rock face with the rain glistening on it, and the mountain looked to me like a creature, alive. And I remember I said, Oh, I'm so proud to have seen that mountain today,

[25:40]

when I thought of it that way. That's just the way all of us in the world are. It's not self. It's just this mind and body producing the mind for this configuration. I think because we're alive, we're not alive so much of the time, that when we do find ourselves alive in the rain, when the rain brings forth the life of the mountain, or the plants, or the grass, or the trees, or what's happening around the trees, when we see that, it just makes us feel so alive, because that doesn't happen so often anymore. So, free from our own preoccupations,

[26:49]

to notice what's happening around us. So to be a child of the universe, to notice. The way is to recognize that we're all children, and that we're all needing each other, and we're with the same fears, the same vulnerabilities. If somebody arises in front of you, the last person you want to see, the person that triggers your nervous system, the person you want to get away from, that you feel you can't leave. That's the time for you to practice some kind of concentration, one breath, in your chest,

[27:52]

some kind of stabilization practice, so that we can see, something in that situation, which will free us from our intense emotional response, which is just another state. To see, if we can concentrate and calm ourselves with the breath, so, we might let something in the situation arise, we might see or hear something, that otherwise would have been blocked out by our emotional response. And that will be just proof that the situation is not as threatening, it's not as frightening, it's not as difficult, so, just do the breathing. A Buddhist practice is to practice in the same manner

[29:18]

as the entire universe and all beings. If it is not practiced with all beings, it is not a Buddhist practice. This being so, all Buddhas, from the moment of attainment, realization, realize and practice the way together with the entire universe and all beings. You may have doubts about this, but the ancient Buddha's word was expanded in order to clarify your confused thinking. Do not think that Buddhas are other than we. According to this teaching, when all Buddhas of the three worlds arouse the thought of enlightenment in practice, they never exclude our body and mind. You should understand this. To doubt this is to slander the Buddhas of the three worlds. When we reflect quietly, it appears that our body and mind has practiced together with all Buddhas of the three worlds

[30:22]

and has together with them aroused the thought of enlightenment. When we reflect on the past and future of our body and mind, we cannot find the boundary of self or others. By what delusion do we believe that our body and mind is apart from all Buddhas? Such delusion is groundless. How then can delusion hinder the arousing of the thought of enlightenment and the practicing of the way by all Buddhas of the three worlds? Thus understand that the way is not a matter of your knowing or not knowing. As we said earlier, realization comes forth by the power of realization. So, what this brought up for me was again this commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh

[31:26]

on how we have existed from the beginningless beginning. We just weren't born on the day of our emergence from our mother's body. But we existed in our parents, and in their parents, and in their parents, their parents, all the way back to the beginning and the end. And we will continue for the endless future. So there is no boundary in realization of self or others. When we reflect on the past and future of our body and mind, we cannot find the boundary of self or others. By what delusion do we believe that our body and mind is apart from all Buddhas?

[32:31]

So some part of us is participating beyond our discriminating thoughts. Some part of us is participating beyond our discriminating thoughts. In a free play, a free flow, a free interaction with everything. Everything is continuously becoming free from its own flow. Everything is continuously becoming free from its own flow. And Buddhas are those who see and have practiced continuously becoming free from our own flow, continuously going beyond the limits of our understanding.

[33:33]

I guess it was Richard who asked why we practice the Buddha. And Thay the other day at the staff meeting said, there have been some occasions in the staff meetings in San Francisco that several people have recognized, oh, this is exactly the kind of conversation that we can present to him. My understanding of what he meant, he said that people were willing to say what was on their mind and in their heart. And they weren't afraid, they weren't intimidated, they weren't limited by each other. But the situation enhanced everybody. The situation allowed everyone to bring forth his clearest feeling.

[34:38]

Or his confusion, in a way, bringing it out, bringing out everyone else's clear feeling to find some clearer feeling in the group. You know, last spring I talked about the staff meeting here where the staff dealt with the problem of a dog. Somebody offered us a dying dog. And the staff was in trouble by the offer because they didn't know, didn't feel that Casa Barra was so well equipped to take care of a dying dog. You know, who would do it and how would it affect the community and how would it affect Sashimi. And once everybody had their, got their complaint out, their criticism, then the conversation shifted and we began to talk about how can we take care of the situation.

[35:43]

What's the best thing to do with the situation that's in front of us. I think it was just a very obvious, clear change in the feeling and the level of the dialogue that we were trying to place there. That resentment was something that we wanted to take care of. And prior to that, there were little resentments that led into the air. And you feel like that's maybe the path. We air our resentments as we go until we can just feel what's in front of us. Appropriating that resentment. And the last part of this text book I want to share with you.

[36:47]

So I thought it was very deeply different. Not something many should think about. So I thought it might be interesting to read it to you. This is section eight. There has been a saying since old times, no one except a fish knows a fish's heart. No one except a bird follows a bird's trace. Yet those who really understand this principle are rare. To think that no one knows a fish's heart or a bird's trace is mistaken. You should know that fish always know one another's heart. Unlike people who do not know one another's heart. But when the fish try to go up to the dragon lake, they know one another's intention and have the same hope. Or they share the heart of breaking through the nine great beds. Those who are not fish hardly know this.

[37:57]

Again, when a bird flies in the sky, beasts do not even dream of finding or following its trace. Beasts mean four-legged creatures. As beasts do not know that there is such a thing, they cannot even imagine this. However, a bird can see traces of hundreds and thousands of small birds having passed in flocks. Or traces of so many lines of large birds having flown south or north. Those traces may be even more evident than the carriage tracks left on the road or the hoof prints of a horse standing in the grass. In this way, a bird sees birds' traces. Buddhas are like this. You may wonder how many lifetime Buddhas have been practicing. Buddhas, large or small, all know their own traces.

[39:04]

You never know a Buddha's trace when you are not a Buddha. While Buddhas see these traces with a Buddha's eye, those who are not Buddhas do not have a Buddha's eye and just notice the Buddha's attributes. To me, that meant, to see with the eye of a Buddha is to see at the heart of the effort. Not to see from the outside the behavior, but to see the effort to transcend one's own delusion. We are Buddha. Each of us are Buddha nature. We are always working with our own greed. We are always working with our own delusion. Always working with our own greed, with our own effort.

[40:12]

The heart of a Buddha is always cleansing one's own heart, wiping away the stains, trying always to be transparent, primarily to ourselves, to know our own delusions, to know our own hidden agendas, to know our own pride. When we are not looking with that eye, we just see, oh that person looks so good, or that person doesn't look so good, that person isn't true. That person's taking advantage of the situation, that person's looking at me, when we put ourselves in the heart of the person, and really understand, really understand that there is hope in you,

[41:18]

then you can join their efforts, and you can ascend their level, and you can take what you need. There may be, on that note, if there are birds and fish, or you just talk to them. Does anyone have any observations? Fac buildings, Caves, Monks, creators, Buddha classes,

[42:21]

This is Vāsanatha's concept, Now you can imagine, during exhalation, if you do not breathe in from theём,

[42:33]

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