Yeah, see you. It's been a good week. So section five on the handout that I gave you, it made me wrote your sermon for you. When one seeks the truth, one separates oneself far from its environment.

[01:05]

When one has already correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, one is one's original self at that time. So Suzuki Roshi said, I don't know if it's original, but he said it's wisdom seeking wisdom. Is that a similar comment to this or is this a contrary comment to this? I don't think it was just a typical city that one chance

[02:33]

We're just talking about the person. Oh, the person? Yeah. Well, I put that out there and said, is this a similar statement or a contrary statement? I don't know another statement. What is the other transition? They say... I'm sort of getting lost in what it says. When you first see dharma, you imagine you're far away from its environment. But dharma is already correctly transmitted. You're immediately your original self. So...

[03:34]

On the one hand, there's seeking dharma, which is subject object duality in the realm of delusion, but that's that. But then on the other side, there's dharma is already correctly transmitted, non-duality is happening. Good, right? But I kind of worry about that, because whenever it looks like there's some duality, So wisdom-seeking lives them to bring them together. So I don't know. That question comes up, like, when one seeks the animal, you imagine your bark with the body. Even the seeking is part of wisdom when you realize it. Even the seeking is part of wisdom when you realize it? Yes, wisdom is seeking wisdom, even though you're thinking that there is something outside of you, that it can never be outside of you.

[04:38]

That which you are seeking is causing you to seek. OK. Any other comments? In a small clip, I noticed that the translation of a chant says, you imagine you're far away from its environments. And thank you. Open it up a little for me. Maybe. Well, that's easier for me to get to. Oh, yeah, you imagine you're far away. You're not far away from its environments, but you imagine you are suffering. Because you're caught in quality. There's the thought that here I am and Dharma's over there. But you just imagine that.

[05:43]

So it sort of seems to keep saying what's going on. OK. Any other comments? Question? Yeah. This is the one we use in the Buddha Hall, I think. It says, is this the same line when Dharma does not fill your whole body? And the same one that... Am I looking in the wrong spot? Okay, it says, when Dharma does not fill your whole body and you think it's already... When you first seek Dharma... First page. Thank you. Got it. You're welcome. We're struggling with that. Okay. Translation. This is very similar to the koan, everyday mind is the way. Isn't it? Joshu asks, what is the way?

[06:47]

And Nansen says, everyday mind is the way. And Joshu says, well, how can I find it? Or how should I look for it? And he says, if you look for it, you only go in the wrong direction. Or you go in the opposite direction. And yet, we're looking for it. And yet here we are looking for it? Yeah. Like you said last night, we come through the front door. Or we come through the door. And yet we come, you know. And yet there is ways to keep in mind. But are we really seeking Dharma or are we seeking understanding? Maybe we don't know. Maybe we don't know. I'd say something like this.

[07:53]

You know, we're a peculiar mix. We have all sorts of agendas running through us. Some of them have a lot of wisdom and compassion and some of them are kind of nuts. And some of them, you know, are inspired by, you know, notions we have about ourself and about the world. You know, we're not good enough and we're here to be better. There's things to accomplish. There's a way to escape from this and we can... come to the Zen Center and find it. It's some transcendent reality that turns the human condition into just a delightful play, whatever it is. And often, as we start to enter the Dharma, there's this stew of these notions.

[09:01]

But they brought us here, which is pretty great. But if we keep clinging to them too tightly, then we just live out their karmic energy. We live out the consequence of basing our practice on greed, hate, and delusion. I think in one way it's not such a difficult thing, this first sentence, just simply saying, be careful with what attitude you practice. Study it carefully. If it's about me, if it's about me and what I want and what I don't want and what I want to get and what I want to get away from, well then, That creates its own kind of consequence.

[10:07]

Gets us further away. And yet, there's something there now. We all have the capacity and probably the experience. I would suggest touching deeply reality. You know, we all have our moments of being connected. So that's in there in the mix too. What is it that's guiding us or driving us at any particular time? Sit down to do Zazen, how fully can we return to... what you might call deepest intention. And to what degree in that period of zazen are we just going through the motions?

[11:12]

We're just thinking, oh yeah, I got to do this. Or are we filled with some kind of fervor that this will really fix everything in my life? What is it? But in the second sentence, it's even juicier. When one is already correctly transmitted, when one has already correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, one is one's original self at that moment. And then the translation we do here. In sentence reads this way. But Dharma is already correctly transmitted. you are immediately your original self. I'd like to read a little bit from another Dogen classical, Buddha and Buddha.

[12:14]

The idea that Buddha transmits Dharma to Buddha. Or you might say when we are clear and open and grounded we see what's happening. We see the nature of existence. You might say when one person who's clear and open and grinded intimately connects with another person who's clear and intimately connected, the Dharma is manifest in that connection. So in this facet of Dogen says, Although realization is not like any of the thoughts preceding it, it is not because such thoughts are actually bad and could not be realization. Past thoughts in themselves were already realization. But since you were seeking elsewhere, you thought and said that thoughts cannot be realization.

[13:23]

However, it's worth noticing that when you think one way or another, is not a help for realization. Excuse me. However, it is worth noticing that what you think one way or another is not a help for realization. Then you were cautious not to be small-minded. If realization came forth by the power of your prior thoughts, it would not be trustworthy. Realization does not depend on thoughts. that comes forth far beyond them. Realization is helped only by the power of realization itself. Know that then there is no delusion and there is no realization. Yeah, didn't that just straighten out everything? Although realization is not

[14:28]

like any of the thoughts preceding it this is not because such thoughts were actually bad or could not be realization past thoughts in themselves were already capable of realization but since you were seeking elsewhere you thought and said that those thoughts cannot be realization So we say, this is not it, and then we relate to it. We actualize that statement by relating to it in that way. And so we miss what it is, which is completely itself. So, when one has correctly transmitted the truth to oneself, The presence of the moment verifies itself.

[15:35]

The suchness of the moment is completely itself. Whatever kind of thoughts or judgments that qualify it and limit it, when they're set aside, that's immediately apparent. And so the previous sentence is talking about the ways in which we qualify that or limit that or separate from that. And in this sentence it's simply saying, but when we fully engage that, then it's just apparently so. Any comments on that? Does it relate back to the very first translation?

[16:43]

It was that same translation. It has all things up here. Yeah. Well, in a way, you could read the whole thing as relating back to that. And then an unpacking of that. What are the implications of that? What is the nature of effort that engages and actualizes that? And then what in this, you know, again, we're looking at reflecting on how we relate to our momentary spirit. So then what is it and how is it that we go beyond are the usual contrivances of mind. As I was mentioning before, Dogen Zenji talks about shikantaza, non-doing.

[17:53]

How do you go beyond the contrivances of mind? Don't do anything. Just sit. be whatever comes up. Don't grasp it, don't push it away. Isabel? What if Isabel needs that unimaginable guest that keeps coming? Would be doing that? Nothing. Even worse than that. You completely become it. Don't separate from it at all. Don't call it good or bad. Completely is what is.

[19:01]

This is Dogen Zenji's shikandaza. And in that context, dropping off body and mind is dropping off a lifetime of self-existence that wants to do something to that arising experience. Drop it. In a way, it's a very radical practice. And then, as I said before, the other methodology that can be called a methodology is wholehearted engagement. So on one hand, we could say, in non-doing, the original wholehearted activity of being is allowed to express itself.

[20:09]

And then in the activity of wholehearted engagement, it's completely giving over through activity to that non-separation. Does that make sense? Too abstract? Okay, let's dream up an example in your life that happened today. Anyone got an example that happened today? Where they were fully awakened? Well, I was actually thinking about a conversation. A friend of mine called me and asked Tani Pakaki. She was having a really rough time in her life. The conversation I had with her was one of those experiences where it was just really intimate and really connected and really just what it was in that moment.

[21:16]

You sat down and you had a tea together. And in leaving there, there wasn't any sort of, oh, I remember this or I remember that. It was just one of those situations where it was like the perfect moment. The intimacy was so strong, the connection was there. Neither of us were hiding in the game. And then they're just both really present for each other. And I was thinking about that because of the fact that to me, that's what finding your being, your true nature really is. It's just really, how do I connect with you? Can I do it wholeheartedly? Mm-hmm. I mean, I have other experiences like that where you just are with somebody and it's just one of those moments. Mm-hmm. I would say, as human beings, something about opening our heart, whatever the heck that means, something about being emotionally...

[22:36]

empathetically available has a stimulus for us. And then when the other person's the same way, I mean, it makes me think of when two Buddhas meet, you know, both people are intimately themselves in that moment, and they meet. I think that's really amazing. And that to me is what this is talking about, is that moment. I'm not sure how to manifest that again, because it never happens when I try to do that. You know, it's just one of those things where it just sort of happens. Yeah. They just sort of happen. And the way the Dharma is saying that every moment intrinsically has that capacity. It's not that we manufacture the capacity and inject it into the moment.

[23:42]

The moment has it. We're not separate from the moment, so we're part of it. And still this phrase is like a coin, you know, when it's correctly transmitted. What does it beget it? What is it to? cut through, to have the moment, have a clarity, a potency, that it cuts through all the ramblings that go on in our minds. And something goes, oh yeah. Or maybe something deeper than, oh yeah, because sometimes, oh yeah, it's just some kind of intellectual acknowledgement, but something more visceral that Our being sort of melts and opens and connects. You know, what is it that enables that? What is that?

[24:44]

That's dirty the way. Ideas can point this, but then it's the very engagement. It's the actualizing. That's the dirty. That's the teaching. That's the learning. That's what all dharmas are buddhagas. that involvement. To the phrase, what is that transmission? It's like an invitation to delve in completely and discover directly. And sometimes we can reflect on our day and Even if we pick up a notion, a moment in our day, and part of us knows, well, I was somewhat connected. You know, it didn't vibrate with energy. It was somewhat connected.

[25:47]

Even there, often we can learn something. The translation we chant here says that Dharma is already correctly transmitted. You are immediately your original self. Yeah. implies that there's some there's not really about deciding it's about recognizing more than it is about anything else it's about recognizing that it's already transmitted that it's already that you already are your original self yep recognizing realizing actualizing we're all in the same territory And there's something other than, or maybe there's something more than understanding. Something more than just an idea. Okay?

[26:51]

Got all that? And then of course, so... is a coin. And then original self is a coin. What is that? What is it to let that state of verification register? Is it possible to have it as a gyroscope? as a way to come back into balance and to have it as a reference point, a touchstone that helps illuminate us when we're going off into our usual ramblings and thoughts.

[27:54]

What is original self? So what is it to enable while actualized, realized moments of connection. And then what is to let it register? What is it to let it register in a way that it can be a guide? So this is another coin, because if we turn that into some kind of fixed idea, well then... Now we've put ourselves back in the box. So often it's about some way your body releases, some way your mind releases, some way your sense of openness and connection is more vibrant or evident.

[28:57]

This is yoga. to join with, to connect to. And in a way, we could say, all the spiritual paths are offering up a discipline or a practice to enable them. And of course, as long as there's nothing more than some mechanical form of relation that we think we can go through and at the same time start to stay separate from They're infinite. It means they're all asking us to completely become the path, completely become the activity. Okay, and then the next part, Dogen develops that idea, to be completely become the activity. So the translation will use it. Oh, any comments on that last part? this spiritual path could be Broadway.

[30:06]

It seems like there's more of an emphasis on finding something or finding a presence, like in God or something like that. As opposed to this, this seems more like absence. This seems much more challenging, but easy to look for something grasp, grab, okay, that's what that is, instead of stopping yourself from looking and just letting go of a need to find something. It seems simpler, but it's so much harder. It's so much easier to grasp onto something, like a presence or a thing, instead of just to let that thing, let it not be there. But if you think, think of wholehearted activity, you know, which is another paradigm that Dogen presents for realization.

[31:09]

And then think of, were you raised in your religion? No. No. Think of nothing. But I did go to Sunday school with a friend. I had always felt to me like there was a search for something. Trying to get yourself within the presence of God. Fill yourself with something that was outside of you. Bring it in like it was going to go inside your face. And this, what we're talking about, food, like, complete opposite. In a way.

[32:11]

I mean, I can, well, it feels that way. I mean, maybe they end up being the same. They do, yeah. But. In that language, I was just thinking, maybe this proposition is saying, you're already filled with God, everything else is already filled with God. Let those fulfillments fill each other and stop separating. But I guess it seems like that's not what people are often doing or saying, at least that I've experienced. Well, that's right. Look at that! Look at me! We have the teaching.

[33:13]

They lay in front of us a request. And what Jogen's trying to do here is he's trying to clarify the request and make it so close that It's your next breath, it's your next thought. The thought has you rather than you have the thought. But if it were equal, I don't think you had it. I know, so it's the leisure state, I don't know. Yeah. So we call it Genjo-Kan because it's something, it's for their, just to marvel at that. If it's so easy, if it's so direct, if it's so available, why are we caught up in all the stuff we're caught up in all the time?

[34:24]

And how exactly do we catch ourselves up? How exactly do we initiate separation? And when we're non-separate, how can we let that register? How can we let it sink into our bones, into our marrow? How can we let it become the driving expression, the animating expression of our existence? So next piece. You're not going to answer it? I didn't hear you, Devin. He said, am I not going to answer that? That's a good question. Well, you know, honestly, I thought I'd been given all sorts of answers and just, and also primarily saying the activity of your life, the genjo khan, is where the answer is fine.

[35:42]

Actually, the answer is not fine, the answer is real. To me, it's exhilarating to realize that the only limitations put on practice are the ones we impose on. and that all the difficulties of practice are the ones we create. When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see it's at the boat that moves. So what Dogen's talking about here, and really, from my mind, it's pretty straightforward.

[36:47]

When you study physics, you're taught that motion is relative. that something's only seen moving in relationship to something else. If there's nothing to reference it to, it's impossible to see motion. So the reference point that you're using in life contributes intimately to how life is experienced. So if you're saying, I'm still, then everything else is moving. If you're studying the movement of self, if you study self, then you see the movement of self. This is quantum physics. The observer participates in the co-creation of the moment.

[37:52]

And so then, will we let that sink in? we immediately see that all the perceptions we have are relative. They're not absolute, because we're just coming from some fixed point of view. So if you come from a point of view, you're participating in a co-creation. So this is even better news than before, and the moment is always available for realization. We're never separate from the moment, even when we try our darndest to be We're just experiencing the current version of its creation that then we choose to call it separate. But it's just what it is. It's like Dogen says here, you know, those moments that happened before are not part of this realization, but they were in themselves. They were moments of realization. They were moments of complete codependent origination.

[38:53]

Past thoughts in themselves were already realization, but since you were seeking elsewhere, you thought and said that those thoughts cannot be realization. In a very tangible way, Dogen's just pointing out the relative nature of each perception. Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self. So when you relate to reality from fixed view, that have been nurtured from your own struggle to have what you want and avoid what you don't want.

[40:12]

When you relate to reality from that, well, then that affects the consequence because everything's codependent. How can it not? Not only does it affect it, it's part of the consequence. Similarly, if you examine things with a confused body and mind, you might suppose your mind and nature are prevalent. I often marvel at different people coming in the front door. And one person will come in and they'll say, oh, everybody here is so friendly. And then someone else will come in and they'll say, wow, these people here are so solid. Or angry. I remember when someone came here, and I'd all learned it was just after morning service, and she said, it's so impressive that you're all celibate.

[41:19]

That must be such a difficult practice. And I said to her, well, you know, actually, we're not all celibate. Some people are celibate and a lot of people not. And then the next day she came back to me and she said, I really am impressed the way you're all celibate. Okay. You know, if you have a fixed view, it will influence the reality you see. So the first couple of sentences in this paragraph, you know, Dogen was disappointing that I took it, you know. Fixed view, everything moves around it, you know. But it's only an illusion that, you know, you can have a fixed view, but that does not mean reality is fixed. But isn't that exactly what you think? What's the difference between that, a fixed view, and, say, insanity?

[42:22]

I would say it's a matter of degree. Actually, I take that back. You know, I think that's a little bit of a relative point of view. You know, we have to agree. We have to discuss what is insanity. If you think about it, there are many things that the people in this room agree upon. Certain values, certain definitions about reality, about life. And because we agree upon them, Then we think, okay, well, that's... No, they're not fixed views.

[43:26]

They're real things. They're real things. Because we all believe them. So we all can't be wrong. Why not? I mean, look, I remember reading an article once about the environment. And it was written by a Buddhist teacher. And it was poking at the environmental movement. And it was saying, well, what can we say is natural? Surely anything in a way you could say anything human beings do is natural. So if we pollute the atmosphere, create a big hole in the ozone layer and cause global warming that destroys the planet, well then, that's what we did. It's natural. How do we recognize right thinking? How do we recognize right mind?

[44:27]

Yeah. Even in ourselves. How do we not delude ourselves about right mind? And so here Dogen is going right to the heart of it. He's simply saying every point of view is a relative point of view. And if you cling to it, it becomes pernicious. What does pernicious mean? It means it's corrosive. It means it's, you know, as he says right here, if you examine various things with confused body and mind, the conclusion you get out of that is not going to be helpful. If you're anti-Semitic and you have a strong fixed point of view, the actions you take are going to express your anti-Semitism.

[45:32]

They're going to go out and cause the harms that that creates. Even if you have a religious point of view. And now we look back at how Christianity was introduced to the indigenous cultures of America, you know, north and south. And it's kind of embarrassing. Things that were done in the nature of goodness. And then he said, if you don't hold to a fixed view, If you practice that everything is interdependent, that nothing is independent, and you allow what arises to manifest that, you start to see that fixed view, the fixed sense of self just doesn't hold.

[46:44]

It doesn't make sense. It isn't the registering experience. If you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all ties on changing self. And then he goes on and he takes... Can we explain that one more? I find this is paradoxical. We practice intimately and return to where you are. And there's, of course, nothing where you can return to. Because nothing has an unchanging self. There is no abode. I find that again and again very scary.

[47:45]

Like it says in the early sutras, when it talks about this as a state of concentration, and it says, the human experience of it is, it's like taking a fish out of water. It's like being lifted out of your element. Well, when you lift a fish out of water, it just sort of quivers and flaps, because it doesn't know what the hell to do. So it's a little bit similar. When you lift us out of our fixed set of ideas, What are we supposed to do? I mean, sometimes we return to our habitual way of being, not because it's pleasant, or not because we endorse it so fully with our thinking, but because it's familiar. We can't quite imagine what else we'd do. What would I do if I didn't do this? Go crazy. Go crazy? Yeah. What would I be if I wasn't being the way I am? Yeah. Well, it's also safe, I think, sometimes. Yeah. The familiar has its own kind of safety.

[48:51]

And then in a way we could say practice is to create an alternative kind of stability so that a kind of existential anxiety that has us cling to something is alleviated to the point where we can tolerate that everything changes. So when you're doing deep concentration practice, you bring in two qualities. One is stabilization, and then the other one is opening up to complete unbinded interconnectedness that leaves nothing to grasp. so they go hand to paint.

[49:58]

Okay? Feel better now? Because it's dynamic. It's dynamic. When you look at it carefully, you see nothing at all has an unchanging self. It's constantly in flux. It's like looking at the stream. If you try to hold on to fixed image of the stream, you can't. The only way to look carefully at a stream is to let it flow.

[51:04]

Take a great practice. And you watch your eyes keep constantly trying to fix the image. And it keeps constantly changing. So then Dogen takes an example from our life, our common life, that illustrates this. And he says, firewood becomes ash and it does not become firewood again. Okay? Not too many of us are going to argue that. Yet, yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood is past. Okay, well, I think we might start to argue that. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future and is independent of past and future. I'm reading from the one that we commonly do.

[52:11]

Sorry, I'm confusing you, right, because you're reading the one I handed out? Yeah. Okay. I was reading the one, people seem to be referring to the one we use in service. So to go to chapter 6. Firewood turns into ash and does not turn into firewood again. We do not suppose that the ash is after and the firewood is before. We must realize that firewood is in the state of being firewood and has its before and after. Yet having this before and after, it is independent of them. You should understand that firewood abides. So let's take the first part. I think we'd all agree that when firewood turns into ash, it does not become firewood, right?

[53:16]

Anyone want to argue for the reincarnation of firewood? The ash goes into the soil, fertilizes the soil, sucked up by the roots of a tree, and it becomes wood. It's cut down and becomes firewood again. Okay. Granted, they stick on fire and set things. The ash actually has chemically changed by the time that the soil is nurtured and it's no longer ash. But you can't cover your mouth when you talk to me. Sorry. Is it the same firewood as it was before? No. It's a different firewood. Oh. Completely different. Completely different. Okay. Is it the same carbon now? Carbon? He went right into that one, didn't he? Okay. Yet, do not suppose that ash is future and firewood is past.

[54:18]

But do not suppose that the ash is after and the firewood is before. Surely that doesn't make sense. Doesn't ash always come after firewood? Isn't the potential of the ash in the firewood? The firewood always has the potential of being that. Is that that it becomes ash? Uh-huh. It means that it had ashness. Does it? Ashness. Ashnessnesses. What exactly? What exactly? What exactly? Ashnessness. It doesn't become... Chickens. Yeah. It's not... Is ashlessness the same as furniturelessness? Because the wood can become furniture. Just say some weird words flying around. What was that? But I think that firewood, even on its way to being furniture, furniture then becomes ash.

[55:25]

It can. That ash came from that firewood, not from that firewood, or that firewood. Are you talking about potentiality of the subject? Yeah, I'm talking about potentiality. Here's Dogen's statement on the subject. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future. That sounds like Right now, you are completely who you are right now.

[56:31]

And you have memories. and you have imaginings of the future. So the right now you has its own past and future. But all of that is completely right now. There's no part of the right now you that somewhere in another room or in yesterday or in tomorrow The right now view is completely right now, right here. You're not anywhere else. You're independent of yesterday and tomorrow. That's what he's saying. First of all, he creates in the previous paragraph, interconnectedness, complete interconnectedness. And now he complete creates the

[57:32]

the unique expression of the moment. So even though everything's interconnected, the momentary creation is completely itself. Yeah. We could truly integrate that, and that could become our marrow. We would never be agonizing over where we came from, nor would we be afraid of death. That would be really cool if we could just somehow get that. Any suggestions as to how that could be? Sign language, that means practice, practice, practice. That's what that means. Keep practicing. And then, oh, practice. That means practice. Can you do it the other way or the other? Or is it just one way or the other? Oh, this way? Yeah, I guess there's a couple. Good, but when you read the instructions, they say the left index pointing finger makes practice.

[58:34]

Okay. Is it universal or just America? American Sign Language. So each moment, all existence is is completely interconnected and each moment is completely itself in a way goes beyond notion of time so in interconnectedness there is no now as Anna was getting at in the uniqueness of each moment there is nothing but now and now has its own past and future.

[59:37]

Hey, can you say that all again? Hey, that's my line. It's recorded, but I'm here now. It will be on the web later. In the previous paragraph, we have interconnected existence. But any perspective It just comes out of the reference point from which it's being related to. There is no substantial independent existence. It's just completely dynamic. And yet, each momentary existence is completely itself. The now you is completely the now you. to be amazing, including past and future. Can I ask about what you just said?

[60:45]

In total interconnectedness, there is no now, because realizing Japan and co-arising will not enlighten it yet. Well, strictly speaking, there's no realization, because that would be a fixed view. So in immersion, in codependent arising, there's just a dynamic existence. No. Shakyamuni sits down, immerses in codependent to rising. Doesn't realize a damn thing.

[61:46]

He's just in an edge stuff. It doesn't even exist anymore. Dropped off body and mind. Then sees the morning stuff. Creates a point of reference. But having the background, having soaked to the bones in the marrow, non-existent, he sees the nature of a rising existence. And he sees that particular arising existence so clearly that he sees it has the intrinsic nature of all arising existence. So then the Dharma unfolds. Then he's got something to say. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, it fully includes future and past.

[62:49]

So even though our conventional mind says, well, there's yesterday, today, and tomorrow, you know? You have the tree, the wood, the furniture. You have the baby, the person, the middle-aged person, the old person. The dead person. The dead person. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes the future and past. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death. What about that? It answers that question. That life does not become death is a confirmed teaching of the Buddha Dharma. For this reason, life, excuse me, just as firewood does not become firewood again after a disease, so after one's death, one does not return to life again.

[63:55]

Each moment completely itself. Then the next moment is completely co-created. And it doesn't go backwards. So how do we... I don't even know how to ask the question. I think there's no question there. So, you know, in some of the stories they talk about the Buddha's past lives, etc. So if after death we are reborn into life, or is it we're not reborn into this life? I mean, what carries over after death? And why is karma that important, the karma that we generate in this life, why is it important? If in fact it doesn't, if we're not rewarded, will we incur? Why is it important?

[65:00]

If we're not, if there's no, after we die, we don't, have reincarnation, then why is the karma that we generate in this life important? Because you have this life. Right, but karma is supposedly supposed to carry over into even who want to reams in it. That's all that you want. That's right? Yeah, that's everything. That was good. I remember my document that he wanted to lecture that. Thank you. What's the question?

[66:08]

So we hear stories of the Buddha's past lives, et cetera, et cetera, and hear Dugan is saying that there isn't a future life, that we aren't reincarnated, but after that, we're not born into life again. So how are those two? How do you sort of justify that? That's the first part of the question. If you read that part again, Okay, I'll read the translation. It says here. It says, Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, so after one's death, one does not return to life again. That's different. That's different? What is the opposite?

[67:11]

So how are you understanding? Not so clearly of you. You could interpret it this way. He's not even addressing the subject of revival. He's saying that after Vince dies, Vince can't come back. to this life and be insignificant. Right, thank you. I mean, I understand now. I understand it this way, Vince. I personally have a slight problem with the translation that sets up life as counterpart of death. My understanding is birth and death are aspects of life. And when I see it that way, Less confusion.

[68:13]

Then that can include incarnation. That can include firewood. You better be very careful with that understanding because in a few sentences we're going to come across a sentence that says death is an expression complete in this moment. Yeah. Birth is an expression complete in this moment. Death is part of life. An expression complete in this moment. Earth is an expression. Complete in this moment. It's part of life. Death is part of life. What I said is I got a little bit of a problem with translation that sets up life as the counterpart of death. Okay. Well, let's do this. Let's continue as closely as we can with looking at these two translations. What do you think? translation seems to be saying.

[69:15]

So after one's death, one does not return to life again. You do not return to birth after death. Anybody have Shohaku's translation handy? As thyroid never becomes thyroid again after it is burned and becomes ash. After a person dies,

[70:17]

There is no returns to living. And here's my, please. But isn't, I mean, to me the important part here is Buddhists do not speak of life becoming death. They speak of being unborn, being unborn. And then the next sentence. Since it is a confirmed Buddhist teaching that death does not become life, Buddhists speak of being undying. Yeah. I think as we see, as we develop, as Durban continues to express himself, he's saying, this is completely itself. This is completely itself. This is completely itself. That's the nature of codependent arising.

[71:19]

What is the point? So then he goes on. What is the what? I just want to make sure I understand that all his points. The point seems to me that it's the ego that is born and done. For example, we don't remember that we were born, right? Nobody remembers that they were born. Right. And I've also heard said, too, that nobody will know that they're dead. I don't know that as in front of his head, so. But you can just really talk about what you said. I was in a minute ago. Carolyn is complete, at this moment now, with her past, her memories of the past and priorities, but the future, and the next moment, about five minutes from now, it's not the same terrible.

[72:28]

Difficultness about the past. Completely difficult. In the same way, death a whole other deal. So it's not the same thing. Right. Okay. So let's just take that statement and digest it and then go on to the next one which Jack just quoted. Thus, that life does not become death is a confirmed teaching of the Buddha Dharma. Each thing is completely itself. Each moment was the product of the codependent, which means that all the factors that go into creating it, it's like the traffic jam on the freeway is the traffic jam on the freeway. And then all those cars that create traffic jam go to Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco, and

[73:36]

And the next moment becomes completely itself with the factors that are present within it. And if you look within it for traffic jam, you don't find it because the codependent arising of traffic jam no longer exists. And even if another traffic jam happens, It's not the same traffic jam, it's the product of a whole new set of factors. Is he talking about moments of experience? What is the length of this present moment? What is the length of it? Why does he come up with a present moment? It's a concept. I mean, neurology proves that obviously we experience that way, you know, in these kind of... Just the same way as motion is relative.

[74:55]

As I was saying earlier, you can't have motion unless something is moving in relationship to something else. Time is relative. So, in the uniqueness of the moment, it's a self-referential moment. And so, it's timeless. It's completely now. How about that? And because it's completely now, it's unborn. It doesn't have a reference outside of itself. That's its unborn nature. So, you know, one way you can say, like the phrase I like to coin is do it as if it's gonna last forever, as if you're gonna do it forever.

[76:19]

Because so much of the time we're doing this thinking, well, after this, I'm gonna do that. You know, we're not completely invested in this because already we've created some something else no so in a way the Dharma is just saying this is the only place you exist this is the only life you have in this moment all of you is you don't is anywhere else age is age is I is you don't is anywhere else yeah thank you just here But, well, listen, I mean, the Genshu Koan for me is that there is only the moment now. Yes. But that it's not possible for us to perceive the moment now. Because once we perceive it, it's already gone.

[77:20]

It already counts. And we live in a world of perception. I think Dogen is taking those two notions. Time is a relative factor and that the notion of time is created in the context just the same way motion is created. And so this moment has its own past and future. When nothing's being referenced, there is no now. When this moment being completely referenced, There's nothing but this. So that's the, it's the contrast, it's the dynamic tension between the two. And it's the first one allows the second one to be so.

[78:24]

If everything wasn't interactive, then motion wouldn't be relative, time wouldn't be relative, and this moment wouldn't be, I mean, when you look at Uji, maybe it would have been good to have bring Uji. Maybe I did. I just looked at my watch thinking we're running out of time. It's a good thing you have forever left. Yeah, it is a good thing we have forever. Think of it when people say, you know, when people have a traumatic experience and they say time slowed down or time stood still. It's completely committing to what is the notion of time ship. I have it here too. Things do not hinder one and each other, just as moments do not hinder one another.

[79:47]

Like that. Sorry, I will conquer part next week. But in Uji, Dogen's talking about the relative nature of time. Is it relative just because of our perception? Of course. Of course it is. Because I was sitting in the courtyard yesterday and I was talking to someone. And as I was sitting there two days ago, the shadow of the sun was moving across the ground. So it gave me a reference. And of course, I don't have that. I don't think, oh, six inches of shadow movement, you know, I think in minutes and hours.

[80:53]

But it was even so, it was a reference point. So if you imagine, if there's no reference, there's no time. Or in another way to think about it, all references are relative. And that's what creates time. That's really true, because, you know, for a 10-year-old, a year is a really, really long time. And for, you know, a 30-year-old, a year is, you know, built by . Yep. There's an exhibition on time, I think. Time in art. Right. A birthday at RBQ. That life does not become death is a confirmed teaching of the Buddha Dharma.

[82:16]

For this reason, life is called non-born. The death does not become life is a confirmed teaching of Buddha Dharma. Therefore, death is called non-extinguished. Life is a period of itself. Death is a period of itself. We exist in a relative way. But when we hold on to the perceptions that our relative world creates, then we were living in the consequence of our fixed ideas and the fixed experiences they create and our responses to our fixed ideas and experiences.

[83:23]

So when we don't allow each thing to be completely itself, then we're sort of disconnecting from the nature of what is and we're setting up a reality because things are relative that confines the nature of what is. So Dogen offers us this basic Buddhist teaching as a way to remind us and encourages us not to hold on to fixed ideas, even something as fundamental as our idea of time. And that would be my suggestion to play with that. Especially when you find yourself in a circumstance in the next week and you're kind of waiting for it to be open, you just pause and think, this is my whole life and this is going to go on for us.

[84:48]

That scream will be me. Remember, you showed me to do it. Well, it's true, if you think, I don't have to experience this, I can just hold my barat and soon it'll end. That's very different from thinking, this is my whole life. And there's no escaping. There's no avoiding it. except by making other choices. Hmm? Except by making other choices. Then that becomes your whole life. Right. I understand. I'm just saying that, you know, there is a way out and it's called making a different choice. And... It's like, uh...

[85:57]

It's like we say, okay, I'm going to deny reality and then things will be better. Well, Dogen's simply saying, if you deny reality, then you will live through the codependent arising. Now denying reality will be a participant in the next codependent arising. But what he's saying is, we live completely living, and then we die completely dying. If each moment is your whole life, then you're going to make choices in which those moments matter to you, I would hope. Exactly. I mean, there's a reason I don't want to go back to my own job. Because you can't go back to your own job. What? No, you can't. You can't go backward. You can only go forward.

[87:02]

You can go forward... Into my own life. To... They would hire me back, and I would, you know... And you would be the person you are now. Right. And I would... In that situation, that similarly has changed to whatever degree it has changed, and it would be whatever it will be. Right. And it would be excruciating. And right now, the future of now is excruciating. What would it be when you got there? It would be wherever it would be. But the future of now is excruciating. And the past of now, but the nowness of old job is exactly itself right now. It has its own past and future. See, see what this stuff can do to you.

[88:06]

That's what it does. So anyway, that's my thought, is just experiment. When you find yourself resisting the moment, just pause and think, this is it forever. This moment. The moment, you know, where, I don't know. You're just thinking, oh, thank God this will soon be over. Just pause right there. And think, this is it. Forever. Is there another class? There is. You can't... Thank you very much.

[89:07]

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