I brought up the story about the Bodhisattva Ganjala, sitting there with the Bodhi tree and seeing the burning star and becoming a Buddha. And saying, I, now, together with all of our beings, attain the way. Looking at this I in relationship with all beings and the great earth, it doesn't seem like the I realizes the way or all beings realize the way, but rather I together with all beings realizes the way.

[01:42]

In this story and other stories of Buddha's great awakening, people see an opportunity to think maybe it's not necessary to have a teacher in order to awaken to the truth. They ask, do you need a teacher? And they cite that story, it looks like Buddha doesn't have a teacher. Looks like the person sitting under the tree doesn't have a teacher. Maybe the teacher is invisible. Maybe the teacher is the I together with all beings and the great earth. relationship, that face-to-face transmission.

[02:48]

Maybe that's the teacher meeting the student face-to-face. The living Buddha Dharma the living Buddha is not something by itself. The living Buddhadharma is not something in and of itself. It's I together with all beings in the great earth. It's that relationship and that's not something in and of itself. and everything is like that, therefore this is the truth, that nothing is in and of itself, and everything and each thing, not anything in and of itself, meaning other things not in and of themselves, that is the practice.

[04:10]

How can we be careful enough to enter this nothing in and of itself, or myself, nothing in and of it, myself, and you, nothing in and of yourself. In other words, Buddha me, nothing in and of itself, meaning nothing in itself Buddha of you. We need that teacher that's nothing in and of itself. We need the student in relationship to the teacher that's nothing in and of itself. Then there's a story about

[05:20]

Shakyamuni Buddha in a great assembly raising up a flower and either winking or blinking. In the translation of this story that I did with Kaz Tanahashi, we said, raised the flower and actually twirled it and winked. And then also another translation, of that fascicle says, raise the flower and winked.

[06:26]

But in the transmission of the light, by Kezan Zenji, most people in that case translate, raise the light, raise the flower, and blink. So there's winking or blinking. I don't have a copy of the Shobo Genzo to check to see if it's a different character. than in the transmission of the light I'll do that sometime there's a difference between blinking and winking but anyway either blinked or winked raised the flower held the flower up twirled it a knot and winked or blinked and then in the assembly everyone was quiet except for one person whose face broke, his face broke into a smile.

[07:37]

And again, one translation just says into a smile, another one says into a slight smile. So this is the story in the fascicle called face-to-face transmission of the Shobogenzo and it's the second story in the transmission of the light. Then the Buddha following the winking and the smiling said, I have the treasure house of true Dharma eyes, the wondrous mind of nirvana.

[08:40]

I now give it to Mahakashapa. So Buddha raises the flower blinks and Mahakashapa's face breaks into a smile and the Buddha says, I have the treasury of true Dharma eyes, that ineffable, wondrous mind of nirvana, I now transmit it, I now give it to Mahakashapa. So here's another prototypic case of the Buddha practice, the Buddha practice of face-to-face transmission.

[09:43]

The great teacher Dogen talks about this story, and you can read about that if you want to. And his great-grandson in Dharma, Kezan Zenji, he also analyzes this story. So it's possible for us to practice face-to-face transmission with this story. In analyzing this story, the ancestor Kezan Dayoasho encourages us to be very careful and says some surprising things.

[11:07]

Like, for example, in this case, there is no giving of a single thing and no receiving of a single thing. Or nothing is being presented, nothing is being received. In the practice of giving the face and receiving the face, of receiving a face and giving the face, in that practice, nothing is being given and nothing is being received. Not a single thing, it better be to say, not a single thing is being given and not a single thing is being received in the practice of giving the face and receiving the face.

[12:15]

This reminds me of the Diamond Sutra, which towards the end says, the Buddha, I think, says to Subuddhi, at the time of... attaining unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment, was there anything by which I attained unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment? And Sambuddhi said, no, Lord, there was no Dharma at all by which you attained unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment. Therefore, it's unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment. And then he says, well, at the time of unsurpassed awakening, did I receive anything? And Sabuni said, no, Lord, at the time of realizing complete, perfect enlightenment, you didn't receive a single thing.

[13:19]

In a way, when I hear about this wonderful face-to-face transmission, then I'm told that it's giving the face and receiving the face and nothing at all is being given and nothing received. I'm a little bit startled hearing about that. And then I feel somewhat soothed. Oh yeah, the Diamond Sutra talks like that too. It's teaching us that in giving the face and receiving the face, this is not something that the bodhisattva abides in. Or there's nothing to abide in in this face-to-face transmission. It's really wonderful, but there's nothing to abide in, even though it's wonderful. And then after I somewhat recover from the shock, I think, well, actually, this is really good.

[14:30]

that there's nothing that's given and nothing received, because then it could be going on all the time. And also, if nothing's given and received, you can't get away from it. You can't get away from nothing is given and nothing received. And yet, if we're... if we're not careful, in some sense we might miss it. Once again, the The suggestion is that there's not the slightest difference between your raising your eyebrows and blinking and Shakyamuni Buddhas holding up the flower.

[15:52]

There's not the slightest bit of difference between You're smiling in daily life and talking with people, and Ma Ka Shippa's smile. Of course, there's some differences between your face and his face, but his smile and your smile. His smile is nothing in and of itself and neither is yours. So there's no way for your smile to be any different from Mahakashapa's smile. Because there's no way that your smile is anything by itself to be different from his smile. And similarly, your blinking and the Buddha's blinking

[16:58]

there's not the slightest bit of difference in this not being anything of itself Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha says, I have, but there's no Shakyamuni Buddha in and of himself to have anything, and there's no I have in and of itself to be found. But he does say, I have. And he does say, I now give to Mahakashapa. This way of meeting wholeheartedly and giving your face and receiving a face and not being the slightest bit different from Shakyamuni Buddha and Mahakashapa.

[18:00]

This is the warm blood of face-to-face transmission. So here's this wonderful warm blood transfusion where nothing is given, nothing received among beings that are nothing in themselves and yet they can't avoid this meeting. We have, in this meditation hall, we have what I call an abundance of walls. The dividing walls are nice and high. The green gods are a little lower. Some people like

[19:01]

Their heads are above the walls. We have nice high walls here in the center and around the room for you to have face-to-face transmission with. And most people, I guess that most of you are not looking at the wall and getting something from it. Maybe you are, but if you are, no, no, naughty, naughty. You're not supposed to be getting stuff from the wall. And the wall is not getting anything from you. However, you are facing the wall. And the wall has a face to you. This face-to-face transmission between you and the wall is ungraspable. And because it's ungraspable, It's unavoidable.

[20:02]

You cannot notice it. You can look for something more interesting than face-to-face transmission with a wall, but it's there. And in it, Mahakashapa is not the slightest bit different from you. You're sitting, being with the wall, intimately communicating with the wall, intimately communicating with the wall and the wall intimately communicating with you is nothing in and of itself you can't do it you can't not do it you can't get away from it I often mention you know that years ago I don't know what's going on at Green's restaurant now But it used to be at greens that they had on the dessert menu, one of the desserts was called a bodhidharma.

[21:10]

Do they still have it? No, it used to be. One of the desserts was called a bodhidharma, and it was a walnut cake. Because bodhidharma was a walnut. At first, you know, Before Burma Dharma came to China, when he lived back in India, when he was young, he actually tried to get something from the wall. And he thought he did. But his teacher worked with him and helped him realize that in his relationship with the walls of his cave, he did not give anything and he did not get anything. And then he had face-to-face transmission with the wall. And he brought the wall-facing practice to China. And when he met the emperor face-to-face, he did not get anything from the emperor, and he did not give anything to the emperor, and there was face-to-face transmission.

[22:27]

which nobody saw, including Bodhidharma. He didn't see it either. He practiced it with the emperor. What did they practice? They practiced Buddha meeting Buddha. Nothing in and of itself meeting nothing in and of itself. It was invisible. Bodhidharma practiced it. The emperor also couldn't see it, but the emperor did not enter it. He did not enter this meeting with Bodhidharma. Can you imagine if you heard Bodhidharma was going to come to visit you? Wouldn't you pay close attention? But you might be looking for something visible. It's not something visible. And invisible things are not

[23:28]

other from visible things excuse me visible things are other from invisible things but they're not separate they're right there it sounds like there's an encouragement here to consider that your blinking and winking is not the slightest bit different from Buddhas and also being we're also being told kind of on the negative side if you think that your blinking and winking are different from Shakyamuni Buddhas then Shakyamuni Buddhas over in India and you're over here

[24:28]

is not a good thing. We want Shakyamuni Buddha here, sitting in our zendo. And we're being told Shakyamuni Buddha is practicing in this zendo. Not just this zendo, but this is one of the zendos where Shakyamuni Buddha is practicing. Shakyamuni Buddha is also practicing in the kitchen, but right now nobody's in the kitchen, as you can see. But there is somebody there. Shakyamun Buddha is there practicing. Right now. And so the kitchen workers can soon go and join him. By realizing that your eyebrows and your blinking are not the slightest bit different from his, then the face-to-face transmission is alive in the kitchen.

[25:33]

And in the Zendo it's the same. Nothing can stop the realization that your practice is the same as the Buddhas and Mahakashatpas. Nothing can interfere with that. But you can get distracted and miss it. You can get excited and miss it. You can try to get it and miss it. You can try to avoid it and miss it. But even though you try to avoid it, that's the way... you're avoiding is exactly the same as Shakyamuni Buddha's practice. And Shakyamuni Buddha sees that you're missing the meeting, but it's like you're missing the meeting, but I'm still looking at you and you're just like me.

[26:34]

You're not the least bit different from me, even though you think you're missing the meeting. This is the way we're having the meeting. And you're not getting anything, and you don't think you're getting anything, and in that way you're more right than the people who think they are getting something and are very happy about it. But even though they think they're getting something, they're still not getting anything. And that's still the face-to-face transmission. We don't get anything. All we get is our actual life, and that's not something we get. It's what we are. We are the whole universe in this way, meeting the whole universe in that way all day long. It's just a question of being careful and remembering it. and I've heard that the ancestors had a hard time remembering it.

[27:49]

I think I already said, but maybe I didn't. I imagine that Shakyamuni Buddha, sitting under the Bodhi tree, was practicing Bodhisattva Samadhi. And then he woke up and practiced Buddha Samadhi, which we call Zazen. So we have a written schedule here, which is posted around the temple. and it says at various points on the piece of paper, it says Zazen. So it doesn't say Buddha Zazen. It says Zazen. It doesn't say Buddha's sitting meditation. It doesn't say, for example, at the beginning of the day, 420, unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment. It doesn't say that. And I'm not encouraging you to go and, you know, like,

[29:12]

cross out zazen. You can live zazen, but you could, you know, maybe write after zazen. There's an acronym, A-S-S-B, right? Anyatara Samyak Sambodhi, after zazen. And you can write after that. Menju, you can write after that. Buddha's practice. This is what we're allowing time for here. If you're doing Buddha's practice, then the practice you're doing at 420, is the same practice as the Buddha's. Right? It's Buddha's practice, so then that's the time for Buddha's practice. You're welcome to come here and do Buddha's practice, which it turns out is exactly the same as whatever you're doing. Not the slightest bit different. But are you performing that? Yeah, you're welcome to do so, to perform, This practice is not the slightest bit different from Buddha's practice.

[30:16]

This practice is the performance of face-to-face transmission of me, which is the whole universe, with everything in the universe, which is the whole universe. With each being in the universe, which is the whole universe as that being, which is that person as Buddha. Me, that's the whole universe being me, is me, Buddha, meeting you, Buddha. That's Buddha's practice. Buddha meeting Buddha. Buddha in this way means in this way not being anything in and of myself. Meeting Buddha the way you are, which is the way you're not anything of yourself. That way of meeting is our life. We can do that here.

[31:18]

We have special times set up for that. It's also okay to do it during walking meditation. The word kinheen, one way to translate it is circulate the thread. The thread, you know, of the teaching, the thread, which also means sutras. So it means circulate the thread of the sutras. Circulate the sutras. Kinhin means circulate the sutras. Circulate the teaching. What teaching? The teaching of Buddha's practice. Get up from your seat and bring Buddha's practice around the room and back. Around the room and back. Circulate the teaching of I together with all beings. Realize the way.

[32:21]

Circulate that teaching when you're walking. Bring it back to the seat and sit in that face-to-face transmission. From the first time you meet a teacher, from the first time there is face-to-face transmission, just wholeheartedly sit. in that face-to-face transmission and thus drop off body and mind. But also from the second time you meet, from the second face-to-face transmission, just wholeheartedly sit in that face-to-face transmission. And the third time you have face-to-face transmission, wholeheartedly sit in that face-to-face transmission. Again, the language is like, from the time of meeting the teacher, and I would say, in the time of meeting the teacher, just wholeheartedly sit.

[34:26]

In other words, don't wholeheartedly sit all by yourself. Sit in the meeting the teacher. Sit in the meeting the wall. Sit in the wall meeting you. Sit in face-to-face transmission. And sitting in this face-to-face transmission, body and mind drop off. And towards the end of the main part of the essay on face-to-face transmission, Dogen says something like, because of dropping off body and mind, I was able to have face-to-face transmission with my teacher. But I would say yes, but you can turn it around.

[35:32]

Because of having face-to-face transmission with your teacher, there can be dropping off body and mind. I cannot drop off body and mind myself. I do it together with all beings. My together with all beings is dropping off body and mind. So because of dropping off body and mind, there can be manju, there can be face-to-face transmission. Because of face-to-face transmission, there is dropping off body and mind. Being willing to be nothing in myself, nothing in and of myself, nothing by myself, and meet others as nothing by themselves in that way, in such a meeting, that is dropping off body and mind. I'm laughing because it's kind of funny.

[36:35]

In traditional Zen style, I tell you that I'm not going to talk about something. I'm not going to talk about how difficult it is to accept being nothing in and of myself moment by moment and accept you being nothing in and of yourself moment by moment. I'm not going to talk about how difficult that is. I'm not going to stress how really hard that is. But I just did. But I could do it more, and I'm not going to. But you can take over and talk about how difficult it is. I was in Minnesota earlier this year, and I wasn't, I didn't, maybe I had this, I'm not sure. Anyway, I had some kind of a stick. And one of the people in the retreat came in and said to me, what is that thing you're carrying in your hand? What is that baton?

[37:37]

And I thought, oh yeah, it is kind of like a baton. It's something that you use to conduct some kind of event. But also it's something like that you pass to somebody. And then they take it into the next generation. The next, what do you call it, the next leg of the race. So it is kind of like a baton. So maybe I've talked enough about what I'm not going to talk about. Thank you very much. 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.

[38:42]

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