This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So, it's really nice to be here. Thank you. Thank you. Today we're going to talk about the self, no self, and a little taste of Dogen's teachings. But first, I thought I'd talk a little bit about how to study. If we had the time, I'd have everybody get up and walk outside.

[01:00]

And come back in. And on the way back in, I would ask you all to leave behind everything that you have on your mind as you enter the study hall. To engage the Dharma. So, we're not going to do that. But I would ask you to do it anyway. Just set it on the floor, would you? I know there's dinner to be cooked. cabins that need to be attended to, and running the monastery, and there's a ton of stuff. But just put it on the floor. Because right now, we're going to create a 60-minute practice period. A 60-minute Dharma intensive. Okay? Are you on? Yes. Okay, good. So... Dharma study is not about acquiring ideas.

[02:04]

So we're not here to kind of cram more information into our heads. That's not the point. You can do that in lots of venues, and it's not that there's anything wrong with having ideas. But ideas and not ideas, that's not what Dharma study is about. what Dharma study is about is about encountering Dharma directly with your life. Right? It's not abstract. It's never abstract. So I was thinking about this and I thought of four things that Dharma study rests on. The first is Bringing your intelligence clear. Dharma study should be intelligent. This is not about book learning intelligence. You don't need to be smart.

[03:06]

Dogen was very clear about that. It's not about being smart, even though when we struggle with Dogen, we might wish for a few more brain cells. It's about a thoughtful investigation of the Dharma. Thoughtful engagement. The second quality is kindness. So a harsh mind builds nothing in study or practice. Aggressive, harsh mind is a colossal waste of time. I can tell you that from personal experience. So to have the quality of kindness in your mind when you study is very important. Gentle mind. The third quality is a kind of ferocity, a kind of willingness to, a radical willingness to be honest with yourself when you're studying the Dharma.

[04:10]

Yamada Roshi said, honesty is the most important thing in the practice of Zaza. So there's a kind of grit to it. A willingness to be naked You don't have to walk around naked except with the boughs, but a willingness to be naked before the Dharma. Actually, how to not just float around like a bubble, you know, in a cartoon, but penetrate. And the last quality is discipline. So, when... When Chichu and I lived here, Brother David Stendelraft came down, and I think he's come down recently, hasn't he? Yes. Brother David Benedictine, really wonderful Benedictine, monk and old friend, Tassajara. And I don't know whether he shared this with you or not, but he shared with us the meaning of the word discipline. And the word discipline comes from the word disciple.

[05:15]

And the word disciple comes from the word pupil. And the idea is that discipline is following what you love so closely that you can see yourself in the pupil of your teacher. So you're like really close. Intimate, we say. Really close. So discipline is not about get out the whips. It's about returning. following closely identifying what you love in this case the Dharma and following closely so if we think about this in terms of intelligence kindness ferocity and discipline those are the qualities that I think are important in terms of encountering the teachings um

[06:20]

So now I'm going to talk a little bit about the teachings of emptiness and no self. Craig, I thought I'd talk for about 25 minutes or so, so why not have questions and answers, and then we can talk for more. Craig? Yeah. Okay. So the Dharma teaches us that we and all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. Does that sound familiar to any of you? No. We and all phenomena are what's called empty of inherent existence. Is that... It should be familiar to some of you. Is it unfamiliar to some of you? Yes. Yes. Please, come forward. Okay, empty of inherent existence. Now, people hear about emptiness, right? We hear about this. We chant, you chant it. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. Well, a lot of times we can get pretty odd ideas about what that means.

[07:27]

And what it means is empty of inherent existence. Empty. Whenever you hear the word empty, complete the phrase. Empty of inherent existence. Which is the same thing as saying empty of separateness. Empty of separateness. What that means is there's no permanent essence. That everything arises together and passes away. Dependent co-arising. Everything arises and passes away. Arises and passes away. Arises and passes away. John Muir said, the great Zen teacher John Muir said, when you pick up something, you'll find it's hitched to the rest of the universe. So that's what we mean. That's the basis of it. There's all these lofty teachings about it, which are true. We can investigate those. But fundamentally, what we're talking about is that everything, when we pick up one thing, it's hitched to the rest of the universe.

[08:29]

And that means us, too. This one. So there's no permanent essence. We don't have a soul. We don't have something that's going to go someplace. We don't have a something, some essence that's separate. We are, as are all phenomena, completely co-created, co-emergent with everything else. Impermanent, intimate, empty, dependently arisen. This reality is who we are. This dependent or co-arisen reality is who we are. If we sit down and pay attention to our lives, our moment-to-moment experience, that's what we'll find. When we sit in Zazen, that's what we find.

[09:31]

When we move together in this valley, that's what we find. Does that make sense to you? So our self this self that we are, arises moment by moment out of the raw material of our existence. And this raw material of existence is filtered through our perceptual habits, the habits of our heart and mind. We actually create the world that we experience. There was a wonderful television program that was on, I don't know, about a year ago, about perception, about the nature of perception. And as a part of this experiment, they had a group of people watching a video, and on the video was some people playing basketball.

[10:40]

And they asked the people in the experiment, to count the number of times, there were two teams, one was blue and one was black or green and yellow or something, anyway. The people in the experiment, their job was to count the number of times that one team passed the ball to the other team. Okay? And so they showed this video and everybody dutifully counted the number of times and some people said five and some people said seven, but they were all pretty much in the ballpark. And so then they said, did you notice anything else? Probably 15 people in the experimental group. Did you notice anything else? And one person had this kind of little grin on their face. And the other person looked a little puzzled. But they said, no, basically. What they saw was this basketball team. So then they said, well, would you have noticed if there was a gorilla?

[11:43]

in the video. Well, who wouldn't have noticed a gorilla? So they played this video, and lo and behold, right in the middle of the video, there's this gorilla walking across the screen like this. Nobody saw it. One person out of 15 saw it. A man in a gorilla suit going like this. Nobody saw it. This is what we do all the time. So, Since you and I are sitting there watching this program, I think secretly to myself, surely I would have noticed. I would have been one of the ones that noticed the gorilla. And then they said, just in case you think you're one of the ones that would have noticed the gorilla, let's go back and show you some of the scenes from earlier in the program. Gorillas. I never saw it. all these little tricks that they played throughout the program that I never saw.

[12:47]

So this is what we do. This is how our minds work. The way our minds work is there's this raw perceptual data and we have biases. We have habits of thought. We focus our intention in certain ways. And so we create the world that we live in through selectively attending to some things and not to others. This causes us major problems. It causes us problems in racism, it causes us problems in social unrest, it causes us problems, all kinds of problems, because we have biases of the mind that then color the way we perceive them. So, yes, dependently arisen, and there's this twist that happens. So, let's, I mean, I'm going to, advantage of this, a right one. So we've had perception. And then we take that raw perception and we have, let's call it basic awareness.

[14:03]

We start to notice colors, that kind of thing. And then, this is where the magic happens on the province. We create fingers. So right here are like dogs. People, tables, trees. So we go raw perception, fundamental kind of awareness, and then we create this. And immediately right here, lots of stories. Lots and lots of stories. So this is where dogs, I don't like big dogs. I don't like little dogs.

[15:14]

Oh, that table's ugly. It's dirty. Oh, that kind of person. They're lazy. Oh, boy, I love that. Mmm, ice cream. Whatever. Lots and lots and lots of soups. They stuck. The image that's often used here is bird poop. Do you know how bird poop sticks to a rock? Have you ever been to the seashore and seen bird poop on a rock? You basically have to take a chisel to get it off. It won't wash off. That's how stuffed this gets. These designations and our opinions and stories. And all of that happened before we even know it. So this place, for those of you that are interested, there's a system of Buddhist philosophy and psychology called Novachal. This, if you're interested, is the Mono Ajnava.

[16:27]

And this is Modus. And then it is. What is the first Manas? And this is Manas. This is where we get into big trouble. What was the last one? Manas. M-A-N-A-S. That's where we get into what? That's where we get into trouble. This is where we create our world. This is where we... And this, by the way, is also what is transformed in practice. in this way of looking at things. This manas moves from, the power of manas is unbelievable. It's like the eye of a hurricane. It sucks everything into it and it is profoundly self-centered. This eluded manas places us habitually in the center of the world.

[17:30]

We are the center of the world. And everything is seen for what it can do for us. Right? So this is where we designate things, and the way we designate things has to do always with us. Us, us, us, us. But, the good news is, manas can be transformed. When it's transformed, it moves into equality wisdom. Quality wisdom does not rank things according to what it can do for me. Quality wisdom sees things evenly, places us in reality, not above reality. It's not like sucking the world into the black hole of the ego, the deluded ego.

[18:32]

This is the reality that we live in. We live in delusion. This is the reality that we live in. Every day, all the time. So, our effort in Soto Zen is not to get rid of the ego. Not to get rid of the self. You may hear about no self, right? You all heard about no self? No self does not mean there's no self. This is really important. It does not mean that we do not have a self. We have a self. We're individuals. We have histories and stories. We have a self. To think that the teachings of no self negate the existence of a self is very dangerous. We're not negating the existence of the self.

[19:40]

We're negating the existence of a separate self. A self that can register what's good for it as the ultimate meaning. Individuality, creativity, dynamic, vitality is completely welcome. This equality wisdom is dynamic. It's active. This process is a process of clarification and transformation, not negation in the usual sense. If you're interested in a really good discussion of this, I highly recommend a book by Anne Klein called Meeting the Great Bliss Queen. Buddhism, Feminism, and the Art of the Self. got a very unfortunate title in some ways.

[20:43]

It's probably one of the best books I've ever read on the teachings of Nyesha. And she's a brilliant Buddhist scholar. So our effort in Soto Zen is not to get rid of the South, even if it were possible. It's to clarify and transform It's to allow ourselves to be transformed by the Dharma. There's a phrase in Japanese, a word in Japanese, it's kind of one of my... I get these favorites sometimes. And my latest favorite is Jinen. This is actually used often in the teachings of Shinra, who was a very powerful Jodoshin teacher. Jinen. G, this character G, this part, is the self, and then is kind of the moment-to-moment arising.

[21:48]

The feeling of the demon is to be made so. To be made so. That the self is made so. Not in a passive way of kind of, oh well, I'm just here. Just... Tell me who I am. It's a dynamic engagement. There's a quality of not knowing in Jinin that Dogen talks a lot about. It means not knowing. We say not knowing is most intimate. Not knowing. This kind of knowing is a dynamic curiosity. A not knowing that has to do with alertness. You know, when you're sitting zazen, you know, it's just, well, I don't know. You know, sometimes that's what happens, right?

[22:53]

No, I've never done that. But it's an alert not knowing. It's like, oh, what's this? Oh, oh, oh. It's not, you know, pooping on reality. Sticky. reality with our ideas about it. It's allowing reality to arrive, to attend, to tell us what this moment is, and this moment, and this moment, and this moment, and this moment. So, this Fu-e, this quality of not knowing, has curiosity and engagement and fluidity and creativity, and it's to be made so with all beings. This is very important because to be made so with all beings means that we're not trying to extricate ourselves from this world of birth and death.

[23:54]

We say Dogen's teachings liberate us to the world, not from the world. And Soto said we're liberated to the world. So the whole dynamic The sense of this practice is the awakened self is enacting the practice. The more I study Dogen, the more aware I am of how it's about activity, it's about enactment. We hear about practice realization, right? That one moment of practice is one moment of realization, whether you know it or not. We don't know. We want to know. We always want to know. Human beings, we want to know. We want to say, tell me what it is. Give me something.

[24:55]

Let me know. I want to know. I want to know the climate. But Dogen's really clear. You may not know. When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, they do not necessarily notice that they are Buddhas. However, they are actualized Buddhas. So what does that mean? It means when you're walking across the courtyard with a tray in your hand and you notice that somebody else is coming the other way with a tray, you get out of the way. This is enlightened activity. When you're waiting on tables and you notice that somebody needs coffee, you give them coffee. This is enlightened activity. When you're cleaning the toilet, you do a good job. You clean the toilet. When you're sitting zazen, you sit. This is enlightened activity. We want to make enlightened activity something with fireworks. And sometimes there are fireworks. Fireworks can be very encouraging. That's fine. But enlightened activity is what we say the dignified activity of a woman.

[26:02]

Dignified activity of a woman. Ordinary life. Ordinary. So, Joe Quebec, wonderful Soto Zen teacher, used to say, there are no enlightened people, there are only enlightened moments. Okay, so we need to drop this idea of, if you have it, maybe you don't. Oftentimes we get this idea that we're going to get enlightened, and that usually comes along with a sense of everything's going to be okay and I'm going to be happy for the rest of my life. Any of you have ever had that fantasy? Thank you for being honest. But that's not how it works. That's not Dovinsenji's way. Maybe another way, there are lots of wonderful ways, lots of great ways to practice the Dharma or to live a wholesome life. Buddha Dharma is not the only one. You know, I teach at a Buddhist seminary, but we have students from the Franciscan school and the Jesuit school and the

[27:10]

Unitarian Universalists and Baptists they all come with their wonderful ways and we study the Dharma together so we don't have a corner on the market but this is our way our way is to let go even of clinging to some idea of awakening to allow ourselves to be made so to be able to move in 360 degrees in this moment and let it go and then this moment That's equality wisdom. So, we enact the Buddha Dharma in this moment. We enact Dogen Senjizu. And then we do it again, and again, and again. Dogen calls this Dosan, non-dual participation in the enlightenment of the Buddhas and ancestors.

[28:11]

non-dual participation in the enlightenment of the Buddhists and ancestors. So this is intimacy with the Buddhists and ancestors. So, the key to all of this is to make the teachings not abstract, but personal. Because if they remain abstract, they don't alleviate your suffering or the suffering of anybody else. And that's our vow, right? So we become increasingly aware of this process. How we end up here. Oh my gosh, I'm here again, I'm here again, I'm here again, I'm here again. Let go, let go, let go. Be made so. When we do this, it challenges not just our ideas of who we are, but also what we are. I had, I brought some copies of a quote from Dogen.

[29:20]

Maybe some of you would like to. I didn't bring very many copies, but maybe you can look at them if you want. I'm looking on page 161. This is from a fascicle that's in English called... only a Buddha together with a Buddha. So the idea is that only a Buddha and a Buddha can make the practice happen. So which one of those two Buddhas are you? We say you already are Buddha. Well, what in heaven's name does that mean? It means what I've been talking about. It means that it's very important That you don't denigrate yourself nor elevate yourself. It's very important that you remember who you are. So Dogen says, the mind of a sentient being is destined to desire to know its own self.

[30:28]

However, those whose eyes see their true selves are exceedingly rare indeed. Buddha alone sees it. Buddha alone sees it. What Buddha means by the self is precisely the entire universe. It's called Jindai-ji. Thus, whether one is aware of it or not, there is no universe that is not the self. Okay? So let's look at this. The mind of a sentient being is destined to desire to know its own self. This is a deep longing, I think, that all of us share. Wouldn't you say? A deep longing to know what is this? What is this true self? What is liberation? What is enactment? What does it actually mean to enact? Do I actually believe that I can do this? That I can actually enact a good way that I'm actually walking as a dignified Buddha, that when I'm serving coffee, this is the activity of a dignified Buddha?

[31:33]

Do you actually believe that? Glory, hallelujah, I hope so. And we don't become some other kind of creature. We stay a human being. Which means cranky Buddha, deluded Buddha, happy Buddha, awakened Buddha, sleepy Buddha. All of those. It's all included. It's all embraced in the Dharma. So our effort is to presence ourselves, to live this longing. Living this longing is the enlightened way. It doesn't get you to the enlightened way. It is the enlightened way. This is, we say, we vow to save all beings.

[32:36]

But Shantideva, the great Tibetan teachings, the great saint, Shantideva. It's really clear that it is not by fulfilling the vow ultimately that we are released. It's by living the vow. So this longing or this desire to know ourselves is an enactment. It allows us to presence ourselves and to take care of ourselves in this world. Those who see their true selves are exceedingly rare. Only Buddha can see it. But... Since you're Buddha, you can see it. And Buddha means the entire universe. So we say this is Buddha studying Buddha's way. This is the world worlding the world. This is Das-ness. Further on down,

[33:41]

Here he says, how should we understand this oneness of Buddha and the self? Observe the activities of Buddha for a while. Buddha's activities take place with the entire earth and with all sentient beings. If they are not with all existence, they are not yet the activities of Buddha. So when you see somebody with a tray moving out of the way of somebody else with a tray, that's the activity of a Buddha. We have the opportunity in this valley to see the activity of a Buddha all the time. All the time. Each of you enacting this with your sincere heart. Enacting this falling down, getting up, falling down, clearing, cranking, whatever. This is the activity of a Buddha. So let me read you one short more quote, and then we'll have a few minutes for questions and answers.

[34:46]

This, by the way, if you're interested in studying Dogen, this is an old copy, you can see it's used. I think the most brilliant text on Dogen that I've read, by an author named Hee-ji Kim. and it's called Dogen Keegan Mystical Realist. So I've read this probably six times, at least, and each time I discover something. So let me read you this. You should see the truth that as all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future are awakened and practiced the way, they do not leave out our bodies and minds. They do not leave out our bodies and minds. Our. This one. This one that you get to know and you see.

[35:49]

This one? To doubt this is already to slander them. As we reflect quietly upon this matter, It seems quite reasonable that our bodies and minds enact the Way and our desire for enlightenment is awakened truly with Buddhas of the Three Periods. You want to hear that again? You should see the truth that as all the Buddhas of the past, present and future are awakened and practiced the Way, they do not leave out our bodies and minds. To doubt this is already to slander them. As we reflect quietly upon this matter, and I would encourage you to take time to reflect on the teachings, not in Zaza, but this is a different event.

[36:50]

To doubt this already is to slander them. As we reflect quietly upon this matter, it seems quite reasonable that our bodies and mind enact the way and our desire for enlightenment is awakened truly with Buddhas of the three periods. Okay, let's have some questions and comments. We have 20 minutes left. Great, we go till 4.30? Yeah. So, questions, comments. Yes. You were talking about how it's all Buddha, right? Like cranky Buddha and sleepy Buddha. But there are also these images, and maybe these images don't exist in Soto, of demons and embodiments, like figures that contain some of the things that are really hard to imagine as being part of.

[37:57]

Yeah, this is a good question. This is not something that's focused on In Soto Zen. However, there are images that can be pretty scary, right? Like this. These are usually, like if you see images of Fudo. I went to Koyasan, which is this mountain in Japan that's the seat of Shingon Buddhism. And the deity that they practice with is Fudo. And Fudo is like... fire all around him, and he's really fierce looking, and he has this rope. And if you try and get away, he lassies you and brings you back. So he's really fierce, really fierce. The thing that's interesting about this is these are considered to be kind of really dynamic, fierce, emanations of compassion. It's not something, we don't usually talk about it much in Soto Zen, but you'll see images of, you know, fierce dudes usually.

[39:05]

But that's Buddhist. Huh? But it is still Buddhist. It's Buddhist, and it's really the idea of, the way I think of it is like Monjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, right, can be fierce. So if your child was about to step out in front of a car, you wouldn't be nice, necessarily. You'd, like, grab them by the back of the neck and pull them back, right? You'd be like, get back, right? No hatred there. This is really important. There's no hatred or anger. It's not that, but there's a kind of, there can be a ferocity to it. So that's what those, it's good to think about those images in that way. Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah. What is the purpose of the distinction between the first and the second if you cannot affect the second or this sort of thing very intimate? Well, this is, you know, eyes, nose, tongue.

[40:07]

This is raw perception. So this is like the sense gates, right, where the raw material is coming in. This way, when you think about this, is kind of like the staging area where things kind of get sorted out in a very basic way. Perception. Sorting out, is that not possible to affect? Is that what? Is it not possible to affect? And even like the perception, if you improve your hearing or your eyesight, for instance, are you changing your perception? No, no, no, no, no. This is not about changing. This is a description of how we work. It's not a description. Where we have, where the rubber hits the road is here at Monarchs. This is where we're working to transform this into a non-ecocentric world. Yeah, I see it. I just didn't see the sense of making the distinction to diversity. Yeah, this is just a description of our perceptual processes, the way our minds work. And in some practices, in some dharma teaching, the idea is to slow the mind down to such an extent that you can actually see a thought arrive.

[41:12]

You can actually really... And there are many Zen teachers who focus on, especially on the sense of hearing, You'll hear many stories about hearing. Because sight, we tend to make into objects very easily. Hearing, it's more difficult. It's like, is that bird in my head or out of my head? Is that sound? Right? And we can, it's a very interesting sense to see this process evolve from raw sound to a kind of, oh, bird, blue jays. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. But I think the point is, why? What difference does it make? Kind of a follow-up question also about that. I'm trying to map that onto what I already know, which the most similar thing that I know is the five advocates.

[42:16]

Uh-huh, yeah. So form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness. But it seems like a flip of the order of that. If that is the order. I'm so curious if you could talk about how they map onto each other? You could... This is forms. Right. Okay? And this is the creation of forms. This is sense perception. Right? Does that make sense? The initial contact of the form. Initial contact. Yeah. So you have here, you have eye organ and contact and then object, right? Which arise together. Right. So maybe in the aggregates, you might say that that is form. Like they might call it form. Yeah. Yeah.

[43:16]

That's okay. Got it. Okay. I'm looking at the quality of wisdom. I want to use the word idea because I want to help people. Go ahead. We have to use language. And I like to use graphs, but I'm thinking there's the self and then there's everything else that exists. And that the quality of wisdom is realizing sort of where you fit into that picture. You know, a contribution that's... the most valuable to reducing sorrow or suffering and the reality of it the equality of it is that all else that exists is letting that as it's probably yes I think that's a good way of saying it the idea is that this is a way of understanding how we work that hopefully we can wake up

[44:23]

this delusion of self-centeredness which causes suffering for ourselves and others and be a participant and a dimension of reality because that's what we are already that's all we are is a dimension of the Buddha way that's it so when we when we wake up to that for a moment there's joy there's a sensitivity towards moving with others, engaging with others in a very ordinary way. And, you know, so we are there, and everything else has its place or its power as well. Yeah? Yeah. I have a question about language. Language, yeah. Language. You use this for self, yourself. Yeah. Also, you get this teaching that there is no soul, like, absolute soul, everlasting.

[45:31]

And self is created by interdependence. The self, I find that this word is very hard, the English word self, is very hard to do translation into my language. Which is? Which is Russian. Russian, yeah. Is the self and soul the same words? Or are there any definitions of self that we use? Or are there synonyms? That's a really good question because the word self gets used in a lot of different ways. You know, you look at, for example, Jungian psychology, they have a big self and a little self and then you throw in ego and you get in all of these different words, it can be like crazy. So, What we're talking about here, one within itself, is this constructed location of reality that we identify as personal.

[46:34]

Soul also has many meanings. For example, soul music, right? What does that mean? But a lot of times the idea is that a soul or... what we often use soul, but Atman, right? There's Atman and An-Atman, you can't use those more practical terms. So both soul and self are Atman? Well, the deluded self, no, there is no Atman, according to what it's teaching. But Atman and soul have perhaps more similarity. I'm not a... scholar in that way I'm not sure that I could tell you but I can tell you from for example the Christian students that I teach that soul has a sense of essence and that there's a linear progression and there's a sense of eternity to it a sense of prominence to soul there's a sense that if you look down in yourself what you'll find is this personal essence

[47:49]

that is eternal. And that I'm using the word soul. And I think that's a pretty good word as it's used in pop culture too. Excuse me. So their personalities, are they the same? No, they're not the same. Personality would be like the personal characteristics. But self, they can overlap, but there is a personal characteristic, but there's the sense of a It's a co-constitute itself that is both real and empty of inherent existence. Yes? So, languages, you have my complete sympathy. Okay. Yes? Yes, sir. Just put on a self question again. When you said the teaching of no self does not engage the existence of self, So, and you said no-self, I remember that it was the actual negation of a semi-parent testament.

[48:56]

Yes. So that would be, in that same fact, the no-self, I read the self, which we kind of talked about before, I guess. Yes, negation of the soul. Yeah, yeah. But what I see happens is that the teachings of no-self get subverted. to deny the existence of a self. And that's a real problem. It's a particular, Anne Klein talks about this, it's a particularly favorite for women. A particular favorite of misunderstanding the teachings for women. It's like, oh, I shouldn't exist, I don't exist, or something like that. And it's a big problem. And, yeah, it's a big problem. Because we do exist, you know? It's like, if I eat, your stomach doesn't get full. Or, as Red once said, we have to know which mouth to put our fork in. So, we have to know that.

[49:58]

And we need to contribute that to the world. Because otherwise, you know, the world's in big trouble. It eats us. Yes? From the Buddhist point of view... Who is it that has a social security number? Who is it? You. You have one, right? I have one. The self you're referring to. Yeah. I exist. If I tried to walk through that door without opening it, I would hurt. I'm here. I have a social security number. I have a house. I go to the Zendo. Somebody else doesn't go for me. I go to the Zendo. I teach my job. I, you know... I go to the bank. I eat. I have friends. I'm here. So, yes, but I have no inherent existence. I am co-constituted moment by moment with all reality.

[51:04]

And I am Buddha. Not me, but I am an enactment of reality. That's where our joint comes in. That's where practice comes in. What does the word enactment mean? Enactment means when the bell rings, you go to the zendo. Enactment means when somebody needs a cup of coffee and you're a server, you pour it. Enactment means if your mother's sick, you call her on the phone. That's enactment. That's the practice. This is, you know, you study the Buddha way, you study Dogen's teachings, and you do your best to enact them. Enactment is beings are numberless. I vow to say them. I know that doesn't mean I run around from one being to the next, like a neurotic, like nutty buddy. It means I live my life according to vow. That's enactment. But it's very ordinary. We have to keep it really ordinary. And your job changes here, you know, or you come for a while and then you leave and you go home and you do something else.

[52:08]

That's enactment. To be curious about enactment is really important. So that's a koan. What is enactment? What is enactment? Do we know why there's so much confusion about the teaching of no-self comes up, or like the wording? Why is the wording the way it is? Oh, yeah. You know, in my opinion, the translation of sunyata to emptiness is the worst bit of translation that's ever been done in the history of humanity. Because especially for an educated Westerner, you have the association with existentialist terms, you have the association with empty cups, you have all of these associations. So our first job when we hear the teachings or no-self is to clear up that level of confusion.

[53:09]

And, you know, I spend a fair amount of my time... clearing up that level of confusion. Then when we get a sense of what the term actually means, then we can engage with the teachings and have them actually impact us and not be just batting away all these goofy ideas. But I think it was poorly done movement of the teachings into this language and it caused a whole lot of problems, especially in the beginning, because people thought that they had They thought Buddhist was nihilistic, that it's about eradicating the South. Not like that. You know this. Yeah, there's a big problem, but we're stuck with it now. What would you translate it into, Sunyatta? Probably something, I think, focusing on dependent co-arising is better. Because if we focus on the meaning, it's like Dogen says, you know, there's...

[54:10]

empty, you know, using Nagarjuna's teachings, empty and inherent existence, and then using Buddha nature teachings, which is fullness, which is a positive language. But the problem is that can be reified, right? So I always say we need to keep Nagarjuna on our shoulder, but engage with the Buddha nature teachings. And so I usually focus on dependent co-arising. And I think that's a better way to go. I think it's clear. And Buddha nature teachings are problematic because they tend to be re-applied. So it's a mess, you know? And the problem is we're just beginning to translate this tradition into this culture, into this language. And how long did it take when it went from India to China? Like 800 years? Something like that? Or about 300 years? I mean, we're just like... So maybe somebody else will come up with a better translation and get us all off the hook. Yeah?

[55:12]

How about changeability? Changeability? That's a good one. I can see problems with it because this is the problem that I see with a lot of these teachings and it's one of the reasons I harp all the time on It is not about the fact that there's no self. If we don't have some guts in the practice, some dynamic, some coming forward, some joy, some engagement, we can get really kind of depressed and passive. And I see that happen, and it concerns me. So changeability, you know, this is the thing, is we have to adapt the teachings, right? You know this. to each person. We give the teachings, and then everybody walks away confused, and we have to ask more questions, and that's when the teacher comes in, right?

[56:13]

Say, well, I heard this. Well, little to the left, little to the right, you know. And after some years, you get a feel for it. So changeability's good, and then people will say, well, does that mean I just change all the time and I don't have to do anything? No. No, does that mean the schedule's going to change every day? No. now so okay any last question slightly confused about the difference between dependent self arising and independent self arising it's dependent co arising dependent co arising that means that if you pick up one thing it's hitched to the rest of the universe There isn't anything you will ever find that is independent and separate. Never. Whatever you look at, you will find that it is completely connected with everything else.

[57:17]

And in fact, that is the nature of reality. It's a verb. That's why I liked enactment so much. And I really see it more and more as I studied Dogen more and more over the years. It's all about, it's all a verb. It's all about enactment. Okay. Great. 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.

[57:59]

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