The same as we enlighten people of today are exactly as possible. Kindly as glorified. Reaching the deep thoughts and conditions. This is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Investing and repenting in this way that one ever fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors. I revealing and disclosing my lack of faith and practice before the Buddha. We mouth away the root of transgressions by a power Good morning, everyone. So first I want to start with an apology for not feeling well enough to give a talk yesterday. I thought I was getting the better of this bug or flu or whatever that's been going around.

[01:07]

And I was a little sick a few days before, and I thought I got over it. And then in the middle of the machine, it came back with a vengeance. But because of all the herbs and other supports that the Chisot gave me, I was able to kind of get through it fairly quickly. So thank you, Chisot. feeling much better. And I know, unfortunately, the tanto has also been down and a few other people. And so I just want to acknowledge that, that that can feel a little kind of, you know, like, what's the word? What's the word I'm thinking of here? Rudder. Rudderless abandonment. Yes, that's another word. Rudderless abandonment when I'm seeing the practice leaders are not in the Zendo for whatever reason. So I just want to acknowledge that and also appreciate your practice and your efforts in the midst of that as we really try to take care of each other and take care of ourselves.

[02:08]

Whatever the waves are in our own mind body, how do we take care of this one, this reality, and also the reality that we're creating together. So anyhow, we got through the waves and, or more or less, we're on day seven of a seven-day sashim. So you can maybe see the port in the distance. And so I hope the rest of the day is smooth enough sailing for you to appreciate the journey. And I just also want to, again, express gratitude to Shuso for her constant presence. She also has not been feeling well, but has been able to maintain uprightness in the midst of variations of mind and body. So thank you for setting a wonderful example for the others. I had also had planned to, yesterday, my Dharma talk finished San Sui Kyo. And...

[03:11]

and then focus today on the Buddha's enlightenment. But since yesterday's talk didn't happen, and I am determined to finish this sutra, what I'd like to do is actually finish the sutra today, and also at the very end, very briefly, just say a few things about Buddha's enlightenment. And because I really want to know what happens with the mountains and waters. Do they finally meet? Do they actually like each other? Does the mountain propose to the water? Does the water say yes? Do they live happily ever after? What is going to happen? Do they have little sky babies? What's going to happen at the end of this fascicle? Who knows with Dogen, right? All kinds of fantastical things have been happening here. So let's find out what's going to happen. So we're in the homestretch. We've got four more paragraphs to go.

[04:13]

And then we'll be at the end of the Mountains of Mata Sutra. Although, as Gary Snyder says, or reminds us, mountains and rivers are without end. So fear not. So every sashin is a journey. It's a journey through the inner landscapes of our own hearts and minds and bodies. And we've been sitting together for these last seven days like mountains, doing our best to be upright, steadfast, immovable. and at the same time allowing ourselves to be moved and touched by the inner work that's unfolding for each of us. So acknowledging that for yourself, the journey that you have been on and that we together have been on.

[05:18]

I want to offer, start with a poem by David White, appropriately titled, The Journey. Above the mountains, the geese turn into the light again, painting their black silhouettes on an open sky. Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you. Sometimes it takes a great sky to find that first bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart. Sometimes with the bones of the black sticks left when the fire has gone out, someone has written something new in the ashes of your life. You are not leaving.

[06:22]

Even as the light fades quickly now, you are arriving. Above the mountains, the geese turn into the light again. When I first read that line, I read it as the geese turned into light again, which I think is also appropriate. Painting their black silhouettes on an open sky. just as we paint our own silhouettes on the sky of the Zendo, our black silhouettes against the white walls. Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens, inscribed, engraved, tattooed on the rocks and trees in our hearts and bodies, inscribed across the heavens so you can

[07:24]

can find the one line, the one truth already written inside of you. Sometimes it takes a great sky, open, spacious mind, to find that first bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart, that liberation that is already in your heart. That is what your heart is made of. Sometimes the bones of the black sticks left when the fire has gone out. Nirvana, extinguishing the flames of craving. The fire of your own being burning up in your practice. Consumed completely in your efforts. What will be written in the ashes? You are not leaving.

[08:26]

Even as the light fades quickly now, you are arriving. You are not leaving, not flowing, and yet flowing. Not walking, and yet walking. Non-abiding, and yet abiding. No coming, no going. What is it that remains? What is it that never arrived? What is your journey? So now on to San Suikyo. On day two of Sushin, we started the section titled Mountains and Waters are Dwelling Places for Sages. This is according to Okamura's framing approach.

[09:29]

Dogen himself doesn't break it into these kind of categories or sections. And we looked at the mountain way and the sages and wise ones who invited this way, including Dongshan. And then the next day, Wednesday, we looked at the way of water, focusing on the story of the water stage, Bogman Deshan. and his hooking the monk, Jishan, and thus passing on his fishing rod and the Zen lineage to a disciple. And this morning, we're going to finish the last two paragraphs of this particular section, the one of dwelling places for sages, and then we'll move on to the final two paragraphs of the fascicle itself. So here then is the paragraph that follows where we left off three days ago, which continues to address the way of water. Is it not the case simply that there is water in the world?

[10:31]

Within the world of water, there is a world. And this is true not only within water. Within clouds as well, there is a world of sentient beings. Within wind, there is a world of sentient beings. Within fire, there is a world of sentient beings. Within earth, there is a world of sentient beings. Within the Dharma realm, there is a world of sentient beings. Within a blade of grass, there is a world of sentient beings. Within a single staff, there is a world of sentient beings. And wherever there is a world of sentient beings, there, inevitably, is the world of Buddhas and ancestors. The reason is so, we should study very carefully. So Dogen is playing here with the meaning of water. in this first line. He says, it is not the case simply that there is water in the world. Within the world of water, there is a world.

[11:35]

So if you recall, when we first turned to this section, the water section, the water Dogen is talking about is Hosho-sui, or Dharma Nature Water, the way of all beings really are. So Dharma, nature, water, the way all beings really are. So Dogen is saying that it's not simply the case there is water in the world, like water in a glass of water or in a creek or a lake, but that within this whole world of water, there is a world. So within this whole world of Dharma, nature, water, there are mirrored expressions of what we conventionally call water. such as dew drops, rain, rivers, and oceans, each of which is worlds unto themselves. And so Dogen is flipping things here when he says that there is a world within water rather than just there is water within this world.

[12:41]

Or another way to say this, according to Okamura, is that water is the true reality of all beings. As such, it is not a part of the world, but the world is a part of the reality of all beings. So all phenomena in the world is merely a modulation of this water, is a modulation of this true reality of all beings, of suchness. So can you taste it? Can you taste the suchness? You taste the true reality of all beings. What does that taste like? What is the taste of zazen for you? And Dogen goes on, and this is true not only within water, within clouds as well. There is a world of sent beings. Within wind, there is a world of sent beings.

[13:44]

Within fire, within earth, within the Dharma realm, within a single blade of grass. and a single staff, there is a world of Sandrine beings. So water, or the reality of all beings, can also be found in all these other forms and realms. Clouds, wind, fire, earth, blade of grass. A blade of grass here represents our work and daily lives. And the teaching staff is the kotsu here. And it also abides in the Dharma realm. So Dogen is saying that each of these expressions is its own particular world within the world. And that furthermore, each host of world of sentient beings within it. So it's not that you are in the world, but that the world is in you. And each phenomena has within it its own world.

[14:46]

It's in this way that the world of sentient beings is everywhere. Boundless sentience, or Buddha mind, pervades the entire universe in the ten directions. Boundless sentience pervades the entire universe in the ten directions. Everything is mind. Everything. And so there are echoes of this in Dogen's Genjo Koan, in which he writes, the whole moon and even the whole sky are reflected in a drop of dew on a blade of grass. Has anyone ever looked at a drop of dew or a drop of water on your microscope? And what did you notice? There's a lot of things in there, right? It's pretty amazing. You know, it's kind of like this whole metaphor comes alive about there being a whole world within water because there's all these life forms and organisms.

[15:53]

This water is just filled with all these things moving around in it. And you're like, whoa, I'm drinking that. I'm swimming in that. And it's really kind of in some of them, they're pretty otherworldly looking, kind of alien looking, some of the microorganisms that are in there. And scientists tell us that even with a stronger microscope, like an electron microscope, within these microcosmic worlds, there are even found more worlds. You go even further, there's like worlds within worlds, within worlds, within worlds. It's like worlds within worlds all the way down. So even on the somatomic particle level, there's more worlds. There's no end. So it's a marvel that Dogen is speaking in this way without the advantage of modern science. He's using these metaphors and he never had a microscope as far as I know.

[16:56]

Who knows what he had in his time but definitely was a microscope. He was using his understanding of practice realization to see this. And so each drop of dew or grain of sand there is a world and each thing interpenetrates everything else. I hear echoes of Williams Woodworth's poem, which includes the often-cited stanza, to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. We also find something similar. similar teachings in the Chinese Buddhist Huan Yan school, which essentially emphasizes interconnectedness, that each and every part of the universe is connected and includes each and every part of everything else. And out of this Buoyan school came the holographic metaphor of Injua's net, if you all remember that, the jeweled net in which each jewel or nexus reflects all the other jewels of the net.

[18:03]

So the world reflected in... or reflected worlds. And then the Avatama Saka Sutra also comes out of the Huayang school, and this echoes the concept using kind of mystical and visionary imagery. And so the focus of the Avatama Saka Sutra, has anyone read that? A few people? It's pretty trippy. You have to really read it. It's like, I've never done psychedelics. Is that true? Actually, I accidentally did something once in India that had that effect. And anyhow, it's pretty trippy, you know? And so in the Avatamsaka Sutra, if you read it, the main focus of the sutra is on Buddhabharachana, who is said to be the embodiment of shunyata, or emptiness. And he's said to pervade every atom...

[19:04]

of the entire universe with his magical creations and emanations. And he does this as a way to help all beings. So here's a stanza of this particular sutra, just to give you a taste of it. In each dust mote of these worlds are countless worlds and Buddhas. From the tip of each hair of Buddha's body are revealed the indescribable pure lands, the indescribable infinite lands, all assembled in the hair's tip of Buddha. From each decimote of these worlds are countless worlds and Buddhas. From the tip of each hair of Buddha's body are revealed the indescribable pure lands, the indescribable infinite lands, all assembled in a hair's tip of Buddha. So what's on your hair tip? Buddha's got all these worlds on his. How about you?

[20:05]

So moving on to the final sentence of the paragraph, 44, says that wherever there's a world of sentient beings, there inevitably is the world of Buddhas and ancestors. The reason this is so, we should study very carefully. So wherever there are sentient beings, that's exactly where Buddhas and ancestors are. And we should not imagine that these are two separate worlds, that sentient beings in one world and Buddhas in a separate world, right? What this means is that in this world of sentient beings, the world that we think of as samsara, is also nirvana. So samsara and nirvana are not two separate places. Rather, it's a matter of how we meet this world that determines our experience of samsara and nirvana. It's a matter of how it is that we meet each other that determines this. It's a matter of our practice attitude that makes all the difference.

[21:12]

So we can study this. We can study the way that we create our own suffering and also our own joy and ease for ourselves and others by the way that we meet this world and meet our experience and meet each other. And this is basically where the choicefulness comes from. You get to choose how you're going to see and relate to this world of experience. That is your place of liberation. It's not changing the world, it's changing your perspective and how you relate to it. All this in the end is about our human lives, how it is that we live our human lives, and what is our place in the world, how do we navigate this world. And how is it we can truly live this life completely? So now on to the next paragraph, which has a lot packed into it, including one of the Shouse's most favorite beings, dragons.

[22:17]

So, 45. In this way, water is the palace of the true dragon. It is not flowing away. If we regard it only as flowing, the word flowing is an insult to water. It's like imposing not flowing. Water is nothing but water's real form just as it is. Water is the virtue of water. It is not flowing. In the thorough study of the flowing or the not flowing of a single drop of water, the entirety of the 10,000 things is instantly realized. Among mountains as well, there are mountains hidden in jewels. There are... Mountains hidden in marshes, mountains hidden in the sky. There are mountains hidden in mountains. There is a study of mountains hidden in hiddenness. So the water is the palace of the true dragon, and it's not flowing away.

[23:19]

So you're probably all familiar with the fable of the true dragon. I think that Shuso mentioned it as part of one of her encouraging words one night in an earlier sushin. And the story goes that in China there was a man named Seiko who loved dragons very, very much, kind of like the Shiseo. And his house was filled with all kinds of dragon-related stuff. Shiseo, do you have dragon-related stuff in your house? Yes. So all his scrolls were painted dragons, and he designed his house like a dragon house. The house itself looked like a dragon. And he had many figurines of dragons in his house. Now, a real dragon, hearing of Seiko's love of dragons, thought to herself, if I appear in his house, he will be very pleased. So one day, the dragon appeared in Seiko's room. And... Rather than being delighted, Seko was very, very afraid.

[24:21]

And he almost drew his sword out to cut her. And the dragon said, oh my. And she hurriedly left the room and fled. So in Dogen's Fukan's Azangi, he says, please, honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to groping for the elephant, do not be suspicious of the true dragon. So in other words, don't be like Seiko. That's what Dogen is saying. So if the true dragon ever shows up at the Shusou's door, we'll find out the true metal of her practice. Is she fearless in the face of the true dragon? I don't know. You tell me. I think she's sitting next to you all the time in your lap. Sometimes she looks like Kinu. So, Carl Billfield, in his commentary on Sanskrit, says that in Dogen's classical, The Sounds of the Valley Streams, he criticizes those who, though they meet the true teacher, they do not love the true dragon.

[25:35]

Such people, because they do not seek the Dharma for the Dharma's sake, when they see the true Dharma, they doubt the true dragon. The true dragon is all the Buddhas and ancestors. So this true dragon is a metaphor for practice. The true dragon is the real zazen practice. And people have all kinds of ideas and practice about practice and Zen before they come to Zen. Did you guys have any ideas about Zen before you came to Zen? No ideas at all. Oh, Burke did. Yeah. Did you go, ooh, zen. Oh, that looks really cool. I want to do some zen, right? And then you actually come and you start practicing and you start sitting zazen and doing oryoki and following the schedule. And soon after, you're like, I'm not so sure about this, you know? And, you know, some people get frightened away when they come in contact with the real thing, you know?

[26:37]

And, you know, it's like, wow, this true dragon is kind of hard. It's kind of ferocious, it's kind of painful, and sometimes it's even boring. I don't know if I like this true dragon. So the point is, rather than coming with your ideas about what Zen practice is or what Zazen should be, what your life should be, simply come with no ideas. Can we just meet the true practice that shows up, the true Zazen experience that shows up? discover what it is right in the middle of our sitting upright, with a beginner's mind, with compassion, and with a single-minded practice. What is our true home? What is the dragon's true home within us already? Can we abide there, not frightened of what it is that we meet? So Dogen, now Dogen says, dragons and Dharma practitioners... live the water style or practice, and make water their palace in true dwelling place.

[27:43]

So in other words, they make water, the abode of the reality of all things, their dwelling place. Reality, just as it is, is the abode of the true dragon, of the true person of the way, of the true practitioner of zazen. However, this water is not flowing away. To this point, Okamura notes that up until this point, Dogen has been discussing the flowing of water, the way water moves. He hasn't really said anything about the way water doesn't move or about no flowing. But here he says that as a palace of the true dragon, the water doesn't flow. The fish or the dragon sees the water as their home. In permanence, is the stable dwelling or the home of the bodhisattva. And so Dogen says that if we regard it only as flowing, the word flowing is an insult to water.

[28:51]

It's like imposing not flowing on it. So if we say water flows so that it's flowing and that that's the only way to regard water, then that's an insult because it's a tight, fixed view. And you know what happens when you have a tight, fixed view? you suffer. Suffering arises. So it's an insult to say water only flows because water has both the virtues of flowing and not flowing as we studied. It's both constantly moving and peacefully abiding in its Dharma position. So just as we would insult the Blue Mountains and the East Mountain by denying that they walk on water or that they're non-flowing, so would we insult water by limiting it to flowing. So this is a warning of sorts against imposing dualistic limitations on the true water beyond flowing and non-flowing. In other words, posing our conceptual views or limitations on Dharma nature water or on the true reality of all beings.

[29:58]

then we are told that water is nothing but water's real form just as it is. And in Japanese, this phrase, the phrase real form just as it is, is nyoze jiso, nyoze jiso, the true reality of thusness, or the true form of reality which is thus. And Ogamora says that this term points to the primary teaching in the Lotus Sutra, that the only reason Buddhas appear in this world is to show their true form and allow all beings to see. So this phrase comes from a story of when Buddha was on Vulture Peak and he gave Dharma transmission to Mahagashapa. And if you remember, he was there and he twirled a flower. That was his Dharma talk. He twirled a flower and he winked. And Mahagashapa smiled. And that was the essence of their Dharma transmission.

[31:05]

And this is the first recorded Dharma transmission in our lineage. And the Buddha said at that point when he realized that Mahakashapa got it, he said, I have the true form of the formless. In other words, the real form just as it is. And I have the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of nirvana, the subtle Dharma gate that shows the true form of the formless. the true form of all existence or the reality of all existence, independent of words and letters and transmitted outside of verbal teachings, I now entrust it to Mahakashapa. So this is what is transmitted, nothing other than thusness, the true form of existence just as it is. And so water just being water is nyoze jiso, the real form just as it is. next line says that water is the virtue of water.

[32:14]

It is not flowing. Water is just water, just being water simply as it is. It's flowing and not flowing. And in the thorough study of the flowing or not flowing of a single drop of water, the entirety of the 10,000 things is instantly realized. So through our practice and Dharma study, we can see how it is that water is True form is both flowing and not flowing. And in this way, we realize that each and everything, all the 10,000 mirrored things, are both flowing and not flowing, manifesting completely the entirety of existence. And this is what this phrase, a single drop of water, points to, how it is that everything, including us, appears as a singular, particle of a hole stays for a while and then goes away. So you'll recall perhaps in one of our classes when we first began the water section of Sansui Kyo, Taishin offered a wonderful one-word summation as a part of his group's presentation that encapsulated water's nature of flowing and non-flowing.

[33:36]

Do you remember what you said, Taishin? What did you say? Remember waterfall? Waterfall. So that was his one word summation of flowing and not flowing. And as you may recall in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Roshi talks about Nirvana, the waterfall. And I thought I'd share this with you again because it really beautifully encapsulates this. So he goes to Yosemite National Park, and he saw the huge waterfall. Maybe it was bridal, bridal falls. And so it's so high, it's 1,340 feet. And when the water comes down, it comes down like a curtain thrown from the top of the mountain. Beautiful image. So, and it... does not seem, he says, it does not seem to come down swiftly as you might expect.

[34:37]

It seems to come down very slowly because of the distance. And the water does not come down as one stream, but is separated into many tiny streams. From a distance, it looks like a curtain. And I thought it must be a very difficult experience for each drop of water to come down from the top of such a high mountain. It takes time, you know, a long time, for the water finally to reach the bottom of the waterfall. And it seems to me that our human life may be like this. We have many difficult experiences in our life, but at the same time, I thought, the water has not originally separated, but was one whole river. Only when it is separated does it have some difficulty in falling. It is as if the water does not have any feeling when it is one whole river. Only when separated into many drops can it begin to have or to express some feeling.

[35:41]

When we see one whole river, we do not feel the living activity of the water. But when we dip a part of the water into a dipper, we experience some feeling of the water. And we also feel the value of the person who uses the water. Feeling ourselves and the water in this way, we cannot use it in just a material way. It is a living thing. Because we were born, we had no feeling. We were one before we were born. We had no feeling. We were one with the universe. This is called mind only or essence of mind or big mind. After we are separated by birth from this oneness, As the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have a feeling. You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how it is this kind of feeling is created.

[36:48]

When you do not realize that you are one with the river or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life. When the water returns to its original oneness with the river, it no longer has any individual feelings to it. It resumes its own nature and finds composure. How very glad the water must be to come back to the original river. So a single drop of water, the entirety of existence, beginning with oneness, separating or individuating for a period of time, and then once again returning to your original source.

[37:54]

And how difficult, Suzuki Roshi says, It must be for us and the water to feel those moments of separation, to experience some kind of individuation. The feeling that we have is one of dukkha. There's some form of dissatisfaction, suffering, because we experience this not being at one with our original being. And then we fall through this space called our life. thinking, this is an endless waterfall. When is it going to end? And then at the end, we realize, over an instant, vanish in a flash. And even though the drop of water will vanish, each drop of water takes its Dharma position during its time of falling. It is its particular Dharma position during that time. And then at the end, it dissolves. once more back into this ocean of being from which it came.

[39:01]

And all that's a metaphor because we're never really separate. The water never really separates from the ocean of being. The water never separates. It's just a metaphor. So we have to be careful about thinking that, oh, we are separate in this life. Because we're not. And you are. Simultaneously, both are true. So now the last two sentences of the paragraph. Among mountains as well, there are mountains hidden in jewels. There are mountains hidden in Martians. Mountains hidden in, not Martians, marshes. There could be mountains hidden in Martians. I bet there are. Mountains hidden in the sky. There are mountains hidden in mountains. There is a study of mountains hidden in hiddenness. This word hidden is a translation of the word zo in Japanese, as in Shobo Genzo. And in the case of Shobo Genzo, the zo means storehouse or treasury.

[40:05]

So in different translators, translate this word in different ways. It can be containment, like mountains contain jewels, for example. It can be conceal. It can be hidden. And hidden could mean that something is stored. So just like there are worlds within worlds of water, so there are mountains hidden within mountains. And just as mountain is hidden within the mountain, meaning that within the mountain of conventional form is the mountain that is interdependent origination. So too are we hidden in ourselves. When we are really one with the mountain, we are hidden within the mountain. The mountain is hidden within the mountain, and the mountain is hidden within ourselves. So right here in this interconnected life of all beings, we are it.

[41:08]

Each of us is this, hidden right within us, is this true reality. Okamura says, within our practice, Buddha is hidden. This means Buddha is hidden treasured and stored within us, but not as an idea, as a practice. So as we sit sasana, slowly what is hidden becomes revealed to us. And it may be difficult at first to experience this unveiling and to recognize it. But in time, this true expression of Buddha nature becomes known to us. Okay. The last two paragraphs of Sansuikyo. It's hard to imagine we've gotten here already. An old Buddha has said, Mountains are mountains and waters are waters. These words do not say that mountains are mountains.

[42:11]

They say that mountains are mountains. Okay. Therefore, we should thoroughly study these mountains. When we thoroughly study the mountains, this is the mountain training. Such mountains and waters themselves become wise ones and sages. I appreciate Okamura's quip in his commentary here. He says, after all these discussions about mountains and waters, Dogen is now saying that mountains are just mountains and waters are just water. He's an outrageous Zen master. And I remember this point when I was at the Genzo Way, the first... that Okamura gave, 2002, where he was doing this particular fascicle. And the very last day, the very last class, he gets to the end of the fascicle and basically says, Dogen's whole point was that mountains are mountains and waters are waters. And there was a collective groan in the room. It's like, really?

[43:11]

After all this? Really? The sutra and Dogen are still impenetrable? So it's kind of funny. So Koro Bielfeld says that there are two possible sources to this phrase, mountains are mountains and waters are waters. The first one is from a Cohen collection of Yunman's teachings in which he says, monks do not have deluded notions. Heaven is heaven. Earth is earth. Mountains are mountains. Rivers are rivers. Monks are monks. Lay people are lay people. Okay? So, young man's saying to his monks, don't be delusional. Don't be ignorant. Mountains are mountains. People are people, etc. So, in other words, each phenomenal expression has its own particular relative Dharma position. It can be none other than what it is at this moment.

[44:13]

So, don't get up. Don't get caught up in... karmic delusions and imagine it to be otherwise, right? Just notice that each thing is just, just each thing. And don't put an overlay on it in some way. Just see and study each thing completely as it is, appearing and manifesting right here, right now. Don't get lost in confusion. And the other source who used this was Zen Master Ching-Zhuang Wei-Shi. Shi? Wei-Shi. Who in Japanese is Sagan Ishin. And his saying is probably a lot more well-known. This is probably the one you've heard before, if you've heard it. Before I had studied Zen for 30 years, I saw mountains as mountains and waters as waters. When I arrived at the more infinite knowledge, intimate knowledge, I had deep insights.

[45:20]

I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest. Another version of that line is, but after having attained the abode of final rest, that is awakening. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains and waters once again as waters. So we could say that prior to the first stage of practice, mountains are mountains. Mountains are just things among things. And they appear to us just as namarupa or name forms or mere objects. And we assume that we know what they are. Okay, that's a mountain, I know that. And likewise, we might assume that we know what Zen is, or what practice is. And then, in the second stage of practice, mountains are not mountains.

[46:23]

Meaning, at that point, we have some insight, we have some wisdom or prajna, that mountains and other things are not as they appear, but are in fact empty. So we realize them emptied of their self-being, or svabhava, That is, they are seen against the horizon of their lack of intrinsic, self-standing, independent, discrete being. But we shouldn't get stuck there in emptiness. We should proceed on with our study. And when we do, the point of final realization, the final turning, mountains really are mountains, and mountains really are waters, because they show themselves elementally, in their dynamically evolving independence, interdependence, and fragile impermanence. So in other words, we recognize them as Buddha in nature itself, which expresses itself in the temporary, impermanent, elemental parent forms that we call mountains and waters.

[47:36]

Jason Wirth, he has his book, Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth. And it's a study of Dogen and Gary Snyder and environmentalism. And he says that the Buddha nature or the elemental Buddha sea of things is not a remote ontological reality underlying appearances. It is things in their suchness. the way of things just as they elementarily are. And as Dogana circulates it in the Shobha-Genzer fascicle, mind right now is Buddha. The mind, or consciousness, or shin, we could say, of mountains, rivers, and earth is not aware of something besides mountains, rivers, and earth. Mind is the mountains, rivers, and earth. And Tobin writes, Thus, we know that the mind is mountains, rivers, and the earth.

[48:42]

The mind is the sun, the moon, and the stars. What is said here is not more, not less. Mountains and rivers and earth mind are just mountains, rivers, and the earth. There are no extra waves or sprays. The sun, the moon, the stars mind is just the sun, the moon, and stars. There is no extra fog or mist. So mind is the elemental aspect. Mountains and waters are all Buddha mind. And so is all phenomenon. And it's in you and all beings. Mind is everything. So Through practice, in time, we are able to see and understand mountains and waters both conventionally and also simultaneously through emptiness to see them as the reality of our existence.

[49:47]

So we don't get stuck in our view of mountains and waters, nor do we get stuck in emptiness. We see their true form that includes both the virtues of constantly walking and constantly at rest. that they are both form and formless simultaneously, both flowing and flowing. And having attained this insight, we also let go of the insight. We go beyond this insight. Where is the place that Buddhas go? Shushin, emancipation, they go beyond the attainment. We don't stay there. We don't fix it. We don't make it into a thing to hold on to. We let go of our insights by living them. And now the last line, the fascicle. Thus, we should thoroughly study these mountains. When we thoroughly study the mountains, this is the mountain training.

[50:50]

Such mountains and rivers themselves, spontaneous, become wise ones and sages. So when Dogen says, thoroughly study the mountains, he means to take these mountains and rivers as the koans of our lives. They are constantly proclaiming the dharma. Can you hear it? Can you see it? When we go deep into ourselves, when we engage Zen practice fully, that practice becomes the practice of all sages and all Buddhas, past, present, and future. In fact, it is the verification and actualization of the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha and all the subsequent Buddhas. It is also the practice and verification of these mountains and rivers and of your life and my life and of the life of the wise ones, sages, and ordinary beings. I love the phrase, this is mountain training.

[51:56]

The Japanese for this is yama ni kufu nari. Yama ni kufu nari. According to Carl Bueffel, the word translated as training in this is kufu and is used in the sense of devotion to study and practice of the Dharma. So, therefore, this sentence can be interpreted either as training in the mountains or as the training of the mountains. So we are sentient beings, human beings, training here in these awesome mountains of Tassajara. And we're devoting our time and energy and concentration to study an embodied expression of the Dharma while we're here in these mountains. And we do this in the form of sitting Zazen, reading Dogen, chanting Sutras, doing work practice, and cultivating harmonious Sangha relationships. And we are also studying the Dharma that is these mountains, observing and experiencing the various forms and expressions the mountains take in terms of their color, shape, height, breath, hardness, softness, stillness, movement, flowing and non-flowing and so forth.

[53:17]

The study of the Dharma is the study of the true reality of all beings by which the Blue Mountains walk. and the east mountain moves over water. And in turn, these Tassahara mountains are themselves also training. You ever think about that? The mountains of Tassahara are also training alongside of us. The mountains are making diligent and devoted effort to study and express their own understanding and embodiment of the Dharma. So the Tassajara Mountains have contributed and encouraged our study of the Dharma and likewise we have contributed to and encouraged their study and expression of the Dharma and their study of human beings and their study of what it is to be mountains. This is a mutual and interdependent study which gives rise to the mountains and which also gives rise to us. Our mutual study gives rise to each of us mutually.

[54:21]

And this is how such mountains and waters themselves become wise ones and sages. So we made it. We come to the end of the journey of San Sui Kyo through this most beautiful and challenging fascicle of dogens on mountains and waters. And this is only our first recommandulation. Some of you may have gone around this Korah before. Some of you are probably already looking forward to doing another round. And some of you are wanting to move on. Maybe never to do this Korah again. I don't know. You can't escape it though. It keeps coming around. So please continue the study in your life as you proceed with whatever, through whatever mountains and waters. that appear before you and are in you. We're going to end the class on Thursday, our last class.

[55:25]

I'll make a few further concluding remarks. And then we're going to share what it is that we're taking away from our study of the mountains and waters. So we'll have time to kind of share that before we go. So in closing, I know I'm going a little... Of course, my rule of thumb is, since we didn't have any Dharma talks for the last three days, I'm going to go until lunchtime. I hope that's okay with you. I know other people have gone that long for Dharma talks. No, I'm just kidding. But I do want to say a few things about Buddha's enlightenment, share a few thoughts, and then we'll go for a walk in the mountains. So do not fear. It will happen. So please make yourself comfortable just as you need to sit a little bit longer. And tomorrow we're going to conclude Rahatsu Sushin with a special ceremony in honor of Buddha's awakening, celebration of it.

[56:33]

And I like to think that Rahatsu, in case you don't know, Rahatsu translates as the eighth day of the twelfth month. So eighth day of the twelfth month. And this sushin is, I think of it as commemorating the awakening of the whole universe through Buddha's awakening and through ours. And so to sushin, we in the Zen tradition, even though it happens on the 8th, it's identified as the 8th, usually we wait to do the ceremony until the last day of the sushin itself. So to sushin, which can be... Sashin has been translated in different ways, to gather the mind, gather heart, mind, and so on. Also, you can translate it as encountering the heart. So during Sashin, you have encountered your own heart, and the heart of your own being, which is also the taste, the reality of awakening for ourselves, and to taste our true nature beyond our ideas and concepts.

[57:39]

And I think you're probably all familiar with the story of Buddha's life, his life journey. From being born Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago as an Indian prince among a clan of warriors and how he was raised in luxury and comfort and shielded from pain and suffering by his father until the age of 29. And then he kind of escaped the walls of the palace And in doing so, he encountered what's traditionally called the four messengers, old age, sickness, and death, as well as the messenger in the form of a mendicant or a monk. And being profoundly troubled by each of their implications, he finally left the palace, seeking to understand and find a resolution to suffering through the form of renunciation. And so he practiced and excelled at various meditation techniques of his time.

[58:40]

And he spent a number of years in practicing extreme forms of asceticism to free himself of clinging to the body, which was a particular thought at the time in Hindu tradition. If you were free of the body, you would be truly liberated. However, after five, six years of these practices, he was on the verge of death. And he came at that point to the realization that there was a middle way between these two extremes of unbridled pleasure and extreme self-denial. So it's said that nourished by a bowl of rice porridge that was generously offered to him by Sujata, he found afterwards, he got up and found a pipel or bow tree. and vowed to sit steadfast and unmoving until he realized liberation. And despite Mara's efforts to distract and unseat him, Buddha remained unmoved.

[59:45]

And then in the morning, upon seeing the morning star, he awakened to his true original nature. And it's said that he exclaimed at that moment, how wonderful, how wonderful I and all beings have awakened together. How wonderful, how wonderful. I and all beings have awakened together. Dogen kind of rephrases this a little bit. He says, when the morning star appeared, I and the sentient beings of earth simultaneously attained enlightenment. When the morning star appeared, I and the sentient beings of earth simultaneously attained enlightenment. And in time, the Buddha began to teach and share what he discovered about the path of ultimate liberation. So, Buddhism teaches that nothing exists independently. Instead, all phenomena and all beings are caused to exist by other phenomena or other beings.

[60:47]

And the existence of all things, therefore, is interdependent. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, we inter-are. Our existence as human beings depends on earth, air, water, and other forms of life. Just as our existence depends on, is conditioned by those things, they are also conditioned by our existence. The way we think of ourselves as being separate from the earth and air and nature is part of our essential ignorance, according to Buddhist teachings. The many different things, rocks, flowers, babies, asphalt, car exhaust, are expressions of us and we are expressions of them. And she saw in her talk on refuge at the beginning of the week, in it she mentioned that in the face of Mara's penultimate challenge, the Buddha touched the earth, calling on the earth to be witness to his right and capacity to awaken to his true self, to his interconnected self.

[61:51]

And in a sense, when the earth confirmed the Buddha's enlightenment, the earth was confirming itself. And the Buddha was confirming himself and the earth. And the light of the earth as well as the mountains and waters affirmed the light of Siddhartha Gautama through their elemental natures. In Bendawa, Dogen says that the Zen mind realizes that trees, grasses, and land involved in all emit, all emit a bright and shining light, preaching the profound and incomprehensible Dharma, and it is endless. So trees, grasses, and land evolved in this, all emit a bright and shining light, preaching the profound and incomprehensible Dharma, and it is endless. So trees, grass, walls and fences expound and exalt the Dharma for the sake of ordinary people and sages and all living beings.

[62:59]

Ordinary people and sages and all living things in turn preach and exalt the Dharma for the sake of trees, grasses, walls and fences. So we could say that the light that the Buddha saw as the morning star saw as the morning star was this same bright and shining light that Dogen speaks of, endlessly preaching the profound and incomprehensible Dharma. The Buddha saw the star and he saw his mind and saw that they were the same illuminated nature, which is the light of all experience. To quote Dogen describing his own awakening, I came to realize clearly that mine is nothing other than rivers and mountains and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and the stars.

[64:01]

Given this, we can say that then that Buddha touching the earth and the earth touching Buddha are both practice realization. Shusho. It is mutual practice realization happening. Both are verifying each other. Our sitting in Zazen, among the mountains and rivers, verifies mountains and rivers. And their turn, sitting and walking within us, verify us and our place in the world. When we are verified by all things, that is, when we experience ourselves as belonging, to the interpenetrating rhythms and ways of the earth itself, Dogen tells us, we are awakening. Belonging is awakening. To know your belonging is to awaken. However, when we seek to verify things and subject the earth entirely to our ways, our individual separate ways, that is delusion, Dogen says.

[65:11]

When we see ourselves as not belonging and other things and people as not belonging, that is delusion. So Siddhartha awoke and we and the great earth awoke simultaneously. All being was realized as being already Buddha. And our work and practice now is to keep transmitting this unfolding of awakening. Gary Snyder has a lovely parable regarding newly minted Buddhas and how it is that they then proceed after realizing great awakening. What do you do after you realize great awakening? So he writes, all the beings of the universe are already realized. That is, with the exception of one or two beings. I wonder which ones those are. In those rare cases, the cities and villages, meadows and forests, with all their birds, flowers, animals, rivers, trees and humans that surround such a person, that is such a person who is not yet awake and doesn't realize they're already awake, they all collaborate to educate, serve, challenge and instruct such a one until that person

[66:43]

also becomes a new beginner enlightened being. I think we should rename City Center New Beginner Enlightened Being Temple. Recently realized beings are enthusiastic to teach and train and start schools and practices. Being able to do this develops their confidence and insight up to the point that they are fully ready to join the seamless world of interdependent play. Such new enlightened beginners are called Buddhas, and they like to say things like, I am enlightened together with the whole universe, and so forth. That's sweet. I like that. Okay, so I'm going to end with a poem, a Dogen poem, that celebrates both the mountains and waters, as well as the mutual awakening of all beings. In terms of the Gary Snyder thing, we are all awakened, enlightened beginners.

[67:58]

We're all bodhisattvas. And our work ahead is to help all beings realize and verify and transmit the Buddha mind for the benefit of all beings. So that's our work as bodhisattvas. So here's Dogen, concluding remarks. Sounds of streams and shapes of mountains. The sounds never stop and the shapes never cease. Was it Su who woke? Or was it the mountains and streams? Billions of beings see the morning star and all become Buddhas. If you, who are valley streams and looming mountains, can't throw some light on the nature of ridges and rivers, who can? So if you remember Sue, it's a reference to the poem that he had wrote that inspired Dogen's fascicle, in which he talks about seeing that mountains and waters are the awakening.

[69:03]

How, once he awoke, how could he express this? Again, sounds of streams and shapes of mountains. The sounds never stop, and the shapes never cease. Was it Su who woke? Or was it the mountains and streams? Billions of beings see the morning star and all become Buddhas. If you, who are valley streams and looming mountains, can't throw some light on the nature of ridges and rivers, who can? Okay. That's the end. But before we end, I just want to put a plug in for Yaza. late night sitting. It's something that we're invited to do during Sashin, and tonight is an especially auspicious opportunity to extend your sitting if you feel so moved, just as the Buddha did until late morning, or early morning, I should say, until he saw the morning star.

[70:05]

So if you haven't had an opportunity to do that, maybe tonight you will consider it with all that extra energy that you have cultivated through Sashin. And I just want to thank you again for your great kindness, your kind attention, and your patience. And thank you for our practice together. And now we will go for a walk in the mountains and experience once again directly what it is that the mountains and waters have to teach us about our own lives. They're calling out to us, wake up, wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Our intention evilly extends to every being a place where the true merit of Buddha's way.

[71:16]

Bon Bon Mujan Segan Dan Bon Brio Segan Yaku Mucido Mujo Segan Jo Gingsa

[71:39]

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