Thank you. Ancestors in the ring We'll have to see an ancestor With a speed outline We'll have to see an ancestor With a speed outline We'll have to see an ancestor With a king, but we'll be mine We'll have to [...] be mine night and day, we're the same as we hear the mighty people up to bed and our disciples, the world wide, they explore the finest creatures, these causes and conditions, as they find this disease, that transition on the air, why would I invest in and repenting in this way, what never fails to receive our own help from all, would I say, so, [...]

[01:07]

So for the last two days, we had two assignment dates in each different words. No chatting. And no dark talk. And no practice discussions. Simply silence sitting together. How is that for you? I see a mixture of expression. I used to say that I appreciate we all have kind of a response to different forms of practice. some things where others work for us and that can look when the offerings that we have and other things, we can talk about it so much.

[02:14]

So fortunately, we have a variety of things that you have a chance to experience both join these with some things and practice a little bit more with things like talk with your join these stuff. Anyhow, I look forward to hearing a little bit more maybe a little sign of acquisition and how it was for you. I did have the thought that maybe someday I'll offer a five- or seven-day sign decision. And some of you will sign up, but there's a few you will not sign up for that. And I thought I'd start with a little decision. And this is a poem by Wilka, and it's from this Book of Hours. And in it, it expresses a passionate line for an inconceivable wholeness.

[03:16]

In this poem, it gives this inconceivable wholeness in a God. However, you're welcome to substitute another word that works for you if God doesn't resonate for you in some way as a particular term. So whatever for you, represents the inconceivable almost in your life. So that could be nature, the death within nature, maybe something else. When gold is in the mountain and we've ravaged the depths till we've given up to you, it will be brought forth in today for the river that lines the silences of stone. Even when we don't desire it, God is awakening. Again, when gold is in the mountain and we've ravaged the depths to be given up digging,

[04:30]

It will be brought forth in today by the river that mines the silences of stone. Even when we don't desire it, God is opening. So Wilco here has a directness of speech which awakens us to the divinity within Nishima, pointing to something that we're already deeply intimate with. Although we may not recognize it, you can see it as true. So we dig and dig and make effort trying to get something, trying to get somewhere until finally, perhaps exhausted or having used up all our different techniques and approaches, we just give up. And once we give up, then we might find the reality that the reality of being is already ripening.

[05:37]

Transformation is already happening, regardless of whether or not we want it. So just sitting here, transformation is happening. Do you have faith in that? Do you believe that? It could be that simple just to sit here and manifest. The goal will come forth on the river that mines the silences, stones. So all of you, stones sitting silently. And the river of life brings forth the transformation. So I know you've been missing Dogen these last two days. And I'd like to return to the Mountains of Water Sutra, continue our journey into this particular wealthiness that is beautiful and challenging possible.

[06:41]

And we're going to be doing a deep dive into Dogen today to make up for the last two days of talks. So since we missed basically two hours of talks, I think I'll go for three hours today. Chisot says, yes, whatever the Chisot wants. So we do that. So I might go a little longer than usual today. So please know that and take care of yourselves. So here, adjusting your postures. On the second day of Sashim, we walked through the section of the four views of mountains and considered how all of these views that we create on the Sita Mountains are done through karmic consciousness. And so that means they're made up both of shoho, or subjective karma, karma that's particular to a person, and aho.

[07:50]

but it's also called collective karma. That is the result of the environmental circumstances of which we are in or kind of came up through. And both of these views, however, are considered by Dogen to be narrow, one-sided views. So that they don't allow us to see the true form of the mountain. And how do we see the true form of the mountain is this question that Dogen is going to be responding and answering to throughout this classical. We also heard some criticism from Dogen, how unusual, in which he was criticizing other Buddhist teachings that he said he thinks misrepresent the true aim of practice. And tomorrow we're going to be hearing more criticism from Dogen, progress 14 and 15, and try to get to the Bible. Why is the habit of Dogen? Why is he doing all this criticism?

[08:51]

So stay tuned. Today, however, we're going to look at pregnant stones, gendered stones, wooden men singing, children giving birth to their parents, and how they get an electing with a broken foot. So, first we'll start with the next section of San Su Kyo, and this refers to stone woman giving birth to a child in the night. Here is Dogen. The stone woman gives birth to a child in the night. This means that the time when a stone woman gives birth to a child is the night. There are male stones, female stones, and stones neither male nor female. They declare heaven and they declare earth. There are stones of heaven and there are stones of earth. Though the stone This said in a circular world, it is rarely understood. We should understand the reason behind this giving birth to our child.

[09:54]

At the time of birth, our parent and child transformed together. We should not only study that birth is realized in the child becoming the parent. We should also study and fully understand that the practice and verification of birth is realized when the parent becomes the parent. So in this paragraph, we have various expressions of stones. Stone woman, male, female, non-binary stones. And also various expressions of birth. A parent giving birth to a child. A child giving birth to a parents. And transformation happening as a result. So this paragraph starts with a reference to Preceptive Kai's statement that we looked at earlier. Mountains are constantly walking. A stone woman gives birth to a child in the night. And a stone woman, as we said before, where actually it gives birth to a child in the night.

[11:00]

And I'm going to repeat again now. Night here is a word used for non-discrimination or complete inseparability of subject. an object in the dark. In the dark here is the realm of the ultimate, the absolute, let me say. So all the branching streams, all phenomena, flow in the darkness, flow in the emptiness, flow on continually in non-separation, kind of like milk and water flowed together. Well, Gamora says that both Stone Woman and the night refer to the ultimate reality beyond discrimination and consciousness. You guys should call the stone woman reference in the . The phrase it found in is, the woman, the wooden man starts to sing, the stone woman gets up dancing.

[12:05]

It does not meet my feelings of consciousness. How could it involve deliberation? How could it involve thinking? In this verse, both the stone woman and the wooden man, the wooden man here represents a wooden figure or a puppet, are both made of inanimate materials and are usually considered without human feelings or sentiments and also without consciousness or discriminated mind. So these two inanimate objects, stone woman and the wooden iron, don't have karmic consciousness. That's being pointed here. And because they don't have karmic consciousness, they are free, because they are free of karmic consciousness, they are free to sing and dance and express themselves by living rigorously, free of karmic limitations. And in this way, they become...

[13:08]

being free of common consciousness. In other words, the reality of all beings, without being inherent discrimination, can reveal itself as either a man or a woman, or for that matter, as someone who's non-binary or transgender or beyond gender. That is to say, because it is not limited by discrimination, because the reality of all beings is not limited by discrimination, it can stand in the middle of any expression of discrimination and fully express itself as that form of discrimination, or particularly, without being limited by its appearance of form. So it takes the shape, reality takes the shape, man, woman, altar, glass of water, whatever, fully abiding. as that expression, fully manifesting as that, as that appearance, and yet is not limited, confined to, or fixed to that.

[14:19]

So this not being limited by is an unliked activity. It's unlikeness of all formal expression. And as such, it's dancing and singing. This cup is dancing and singing. Can you hear it? water is dancing and singing in my mouth. So it's dancing and singing and singing in the form of a stone woman and wooden man, as well as rocks and trees and garbage cans and toilets and other final expressions. But because of our limited in our community views, we think that stone women and wooden men and dead trees and garbage cans and toilets expressive dynamic forms of reality. Everyone looked at the toilet and said, ha, it's a dynamic form of reality. I'm so happy it's dancing right in front of you.

[15:23]

I think I'll dance with it. That's not the truth in reality. Let's just ignore that. So the stone woman giving birth in the night is beyond discrimination, beyond separation. And yet, she's functioning. And still a woman is giving birth. How is that possible? So there's this contrast between something that seems to me what it is and something that can't change, right? It's fixed. Still a woman, sometimes described as dying or lifeless. In a sense, in this case, though, it's kind of died, you could say, to human karmic dualistic separation. It's dead to dualism. And as such, it has returned to oneness. And this is getting birth. This is fully functioning.

[16:26]

So it's not a deadness, it's a fully functioning. And how it functions is in the night, in the dark, in the realm of non-discrimination. It's functioning and being responsive beyond separation. My most favorite koan is his case 89 in the book fifth record, which is about the Bodhisattva of compassion. And it goes as follows. Jungian asked Dawu, how does the Bodhisattva of great compassion use so many hands and eyes? Dawu said, it was like a person in the middle of the night reaching back in search of a pillow. Nyan said, I understand. Dawud asked, how do you understand it? Nyan said, all over the body are hands and eyes.

[17:27]

Dawud said, what you said is roughly all right, but it's only 8% of it. Nyan said, well, senior brother, how would you say it? And Dawud replied, throughout the body are hands and eyes. Throughout the body. the body, your hands and your eyes. So the night here, reaching back to a pillow in the middle of the night, is the time and place during which the Bodhisattva imagination reaches out to respond to an unspoken need. It's the same night as the time in which the stone woman gives birth. Both of these are expressions of someone or something just functioning in the dark, taking care of what's needed, responding with care and without hesitation, just operating and functioning each in their own way but without discrimination.

[18:32]

It's a time and place of non-discrimination where no distinction is made about whether the request or the one making a request is worthy of the response or not. There's just the responding without question. The profound impulse to reach out of the radiant darkness, it's itself the Dharmakaya, the whole body of awakening. In commenting on this koan says that, in the night is an expression of darkness, It's rather like the expression, seeing mountains in the daytime. We should investigate thinking of the nighttime from daytime. Unquote. Unquote. Being nighttime within nighttime. Unquote. We should investigate the time that is neither daytime nor nighttime. What is the time that is neither daytime nor nighttime?

[19:37]

What is the time that's beyond discrimination, beyond duality? What kind of time is that? It is that. So both Dalkai and Dobion are expressing this insight. The ultimate reality beyond duality is not bearing or stagnant, as we as humans with limited, narrow views might think it is. This ultimate reality is full of life. And Wilkmar comments on this saying that without any arising and perishing, It gives birth to the final beings that are rising and perishing, being born and dying. In other words, darkness is alive. Darkness is alive. Have you walked across the hard night in the dark? It's like, know and move and feel the alightness of the dark. I have practice, I don't do quite as much now because I lost my night vision.

[20:40]

meaning I used to walk through the Sahara and come to my cabin and move to my cabin with my eyes closed in some ways. Trying to feel through the darkness the space. So not relying on conventional light in order to know the space, but relying on inner light to know the space. And it's a wonderful practice to do. And if you feel inclined, you can make sure you don't harm yourself. You know, you might want to explore that in some way. Make yourself a safe place, you know, that doesn't have too many sharp objects or, you know, things you could fall into. It's really a wonderful experience to move through the dark. Someday I'll tell the story of Jacques Lucerne, who was a blind French activist. Resistance. Thank you. And how he was able to Once he became blind at the age of age, he could see the world despite his blindness.

[21:47]

He could actually, through an inner light, see objects that move to the world in that way. It's one of my favorite stories. Fascinating. Very zen. OK. So moving on. Moving on out to the milestones. The next part is a reference to stories about stones in Chinese culture. So there are male stones, female stones, and stones neither male nor female. They repair heaven and they repair earth. There are stones of heaven and there are stones of earth. There's actually a whole study in Chinese culture of stones and their apparent gender. which is also a maker in some ways in the creation of Japanese gardens. So there's something about Chinese and Japanese culture that sees these generalized stones in a particular way. And this reference, however, here is not of particular importance, but what he's trying to say is that the reality is beyond these stones are not dead and lifeless.

[23:01]

but active and alive. Suzuki Roshi, as you may know, liked to work their stones. And quite a number of the stones in the Abbot's garden, for example, were placed there by Suzuki Roshi. And you can have a circumstance, if you actually study the stones in the garden, you have a sense of how they have been placed. It just makes sense. They have this place up there, something that fits here. just right. And as they have, they've taken their dhamma's position and there's a likeness about how they're sitting there upright in relationship to the environment around them. And so this is part of that study of stones. How do we move stones and allow them to express themselves fully in relationship with the environment? So he also, who's a spiritual, also spoke about stones in some of his lectures. Here's one. Each stone has its own character. A long stone has a solid, profound feeling.

[24:02]

A round one expresses perfection. A square one expresses some rigidness or feeling of austerity. If it has moss on it, it has some deep, profound, mystical spirit to it. These are the characters of each material you use in your garden. So you could say it's about the same with all of us. We each have our own particular way of how it is we walk. and speak and how we move. Each is our particular uniqueness that's expressing something. And when we work together, in contrast, there seems to be a lot more conflict. So we have our uniqueness, we're in a position, but then we start rubbing against each other, like sharp stones maybe near each other, and the sharp edges get smoothed over time while it's tumbling in the creek. And we find a new way of being together. So this is challenging, but it's part of our practice. It also helps us to widen and appreciate and center ourselves more completely.

[25:06]

So what are your sharp edges? And how is it that they're bare? And why are they bare? And how are you working with those sharp edges? And even so, your sharp edges are a part of your aliveness. It doesn't mean that they're... necessarily don't belong there. They're part of your express and your focus. It's only because of our one-sided limited contact views and human views that we don't see the aliveness in the stones and also in each other. Moving beyond stones to talk now about children giving birth to parents. Though he continues, we should understand the reason behind this giving birth to a child. At the time of birth, our parent and child transformed together. We should not only study that birth is realized when the child becomes the parent, we should also study and fully understand that the practice and verification of birth is realized when the parent becomes the child.

[26:13]

So we touched upon this briefly in the last class when initially looking at preceptor Kai's statements You can only become a mother by giving birth. Does anyone ever become a mother by giving birth? That's true. That's true. But technically speaking, one might say, you need to give birth. But at the same time, you become a mother, you also give birth to a child. And we might ask ourselves, therefore, does the mother and the child truly become separated? And it's interesting, scientific studies show that babies literally have the cells of their mothers in them, which makes sense. And mothers actually have the cells of babies in them. So the baby is giving something to the mother that's unique to the child that the mother didn't have before.

[27:19]

She was a mother. And so they are both carrying aspects of the other within them and remain in that sense completely related and connected. But you're still connected to your mother even if she's not merely a character of it. There are many teachers that have commentaries on this section and there are different ways to turn this. And I think that one way to understand this section is that Dogen is saying giving birth is an expression of spiritual transformation. A model for transformation in our practice is that of giving birth, of being a mother. And it's just like to become a mother, you identify, your identity becomes oriented around the identity and the well-being of a child. And it's hardwired in us as humans.

[28:22]

Without this telos, this kind of aspect that mothers feel like mothers, meaning they feel like they need to take care of this offspring, our species wouldn't go on. They would have a child and go, okay, what was that? And then walk on, and then we wouldn't continue to assume species. So we have motherhood here as a model for spiritual development. And there's a parallel between motherhood, Buddhahood, and practice. And this transformation doesn't have to have some special experience that makes me smarter and better in some way. It simply means my heart is open now. And I am no longer myself. But when I get birth, I identify with others. And this is my life. And they're like, this is my life. So my spiritual practice, giving birth, identifying with others is not separate, being bodhisattvas in that way. Their life, others' lives, become my life.

[29:26]

I am now a mother, which means I'm not only myself, it means I have kindness and concern for others as well. So every time our life goes deeper, it's because we're going deeper into the concern for others. The depth of your life only exists because of your profound intimacy and connection to others. Consider that. Consider that deeply. You want to deepen in your scriptural practice, you need to deepen in your relationship to others. And this relatedness and connectedness often also happens with the Zen teachers and their students or disciples. Okamura says that the section on the parent and child transformed together is about German transmission, about succession, about giving birth through German transmission.

[30:32]

So when the German transmission ceremony, the child or the disciple of the teacher becomes the parent, they become the teacher. That is, the one who is now able to give transmission and pass on lineage, just like when they can erect a child, and that child can pass on the lineage of that human age. So you could say that the parent is not a parent because the child comes. So you could say that the parent is not a parent before the child comes. And so the child gives birth to the parent. And the child also gives birth to the people becoming parents. They can't be parents without the child. Likewise, a student can't be a student without a teacher. And a teacher can't be a teacher without a student to teach.

[31:33]

So you are, I think I'll leave you on some expression of a teacher. by giving birth to your teachers, just as you were engaging with them. The teacher gives birth to a student or disciple, and a student disciple gives birth to the teacher. So there's a simultaneous activity. Each of us starts as children in a way, and then, as our practice matures, we become parents. So each of us becomes parents as we go into our practice. in time, because then, once again, children will be married by kids. Babies, children, will be continued around ensuring our practice eventually become parents.

[32:37]

make that connection so here's a golden poem about that relationship the mother is the blue mountain and the children are white clouds all day long they are together yet they do not know who is the mother and who are the children the mother is the blue mountain and the children are white clouds all day long they are together Yet they do not know who is the mother and who are the children. As Zikuroshi commenting on this poem, Hidoso Masangurukai says that the mountain is the mountain and the white clouds are white clouds floating around the mountain are white children. There is the blue mountain and there are white clouds, but they don't know that there are white clouds of good mountain. Even though they don't know, They know very well, so well, that they don't know.

[33:44]

Have you ever known so well that you don't know, you know, knowing? Did you know that you don't know that you know, if you knew that well? That is the experience you will have in your Zazen practice. The experience in your Zazen practice, I don't know. That experience you will have in your Zazen practice. You will hear insects at the stream. You're sitting, and the stream is running, and you hear it. Even though you hear it, you have no idea of stream and no idea of zazen. You're just on the black cushion. You're just like Blue Mountain with white clouds. How about that? So have you had this experience in zazen and sushi? mountains, white clouds, no separation, no idea that something is happening. There's just the experience itself.

[34:47]

Just experiencing the experience we are experiencing. All day long, the mother is the mountains and the children are the clouds all day long and all night long in the dark. We are together. Who is making who? When you hear the blue jay and you hear the creak, who is making who? You think you're making the blue jay. Well, maybe the blue jay is making you. Maybe you don't exist until the blue jay sings. So what are you going to do? That is it. Okay. There could be more. Set up a section while I wrap up. The stone woman giving birth in the night. And move on to the east mountain who is already over the water.

[35:52]

And I want to cover these next two paragraphs before we wrap up today. These two paragraphs now lead into the second half of the chapter portion of the Possible. That focuses on the mountain. So the mountain section of Oklahoma splits it into two sections. This moves it into the second one, and by the end of it, we'll complete the second mountain section and get ready to dive into the water section. I know you can't wait to go swimming. So the great master union, Quan Tzu, has said that the East Mountain moves up into water. The important of this expression is that all mountains are the East Mountain. and all these East Mountains are moving over the water. Therefore, Mount Suguru and the other nine mountains are all appearing, are all practicing and verifying the Buddhadharma. This is called the East Mountain. But how could Jungba himself be liberated from skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the East Mountain and its life of practice and verification?

[37:01]

The great Chinese... Cha master, Yung-man Kueng, also known as Un-man, was born in 1860, in the East of China, and it's said he lived to be 90 years old. And he was founder of the Yung-man School of Zen, which is one of the five schools of Zen. He was the former heir of Shui-fang, but he was unadmited under his former teacher, former master Mu-chou. And Jungman's enlightenment story is a classic. Here it is. One day, Jungman went to visit Mujo. When Mujo heard Jungman coming, he closed the door to his room. Teacher is that? Jungman knocked on the door. Mujo said, who is it? Jungman said, it's me. Mujo said, what do you want? Jungman said, I'm not clear about my life. I'd like to ask him to give me some instructions, please.

[38:04]

Mujo then opened the door, took one look at Yungle and came close again. Yungle knocked on the door like this for three days in a row. The same thing happened again and again. I'm not clear about my life. What do you want? I'm not clear about my life. Please give me some instructions. Slam. On the third day, when Mujo opened the door, Jungman stuck his foot in the door. Ha ha, I'll be clever. Right? Mujo grabbed Jungman and yelled, speak, speak. When Jungman began to speak, Mujo gave him a push and said, too late. Mujo slammed the door on Jungman's foot that was still in the door. And the slamming door broke Jungman's foot. And at that moment, Jim, I was grishky. Enlightened. So anyone care for a little bit quote in exchange for sudden enlightenment?

[39:05]

Yes? Okay, you can come to the office cabin and I'll be slamming feet at the door. Okay. It was only that easy, right? It only was that easy. But how much sincerity Yeoman showed, right? He kept coming back again and again to inquire. And to have his teacher just close the door again and again, and yet Yeoman still persisted. He would not be deterred. But Yeoman was marked indelibly, indelibly, as a result. He lived for the rest of his life. He paid a cost for that blow, the wisdom of that blow. What would you sacrifice to wake up? You would wake up, you know, the second Dain Chani census, to cut up his arms, to prove his sincerity to Bodhidharma, so Bodhidharma would accept him.

[40:09]

It's all a bit extreme. I wouldn't suggest that. Please don't do that. Now, I really try not to stand the door in your foot. But there is the expression of what of yourself are you willing to get up to? All right. Let's get up. So the great Master Jungman has said, the East Mountain rules over the water. Now, there's not much context behind this, so I'm going to flesh it out a little bit. And this quote is from a koan that's found in Yon-man's record, in which a monk asks Yon-man, what is the place but whence all the Buddhists come? And Yon-man replies, where the East Mountains walk in the river. So where is the place but whence all the Buddhists come? Where the East Mountains walk in the river. So the East Mountains' name is Ashanda, and it's a place where Yon-man was practicing.

[41:16]

And shongdang means literally cloud gate mountain. Now, Okumori's commentary takes issue with the translation of this month's particular question, which is phrased here again, what is the place from whence all the Buddhists come? And in Japanese is shirupusu shushin no tokuro. Forgive me, Taishin. But Mark goes on to give a detailed explanation of why he thinks that Dovian didn't mean the modern usage of the word Shushin, which has the connotation of where are you from? Like, I'm from San Francisco. Or where are Buddhists from? Where did they come from? They come from New York. Rather, he thinks Dovian uses Shushin to mean where are Buddhists right now? So not where did Buddhists come, but where do they exist right now?

[42:18]

I mean, Baogumara does not explain that the original Japanese combination of the words here placed on whence all Buddhists come is shushin, which combines two characters. Character shutsu, which means to exit or get out, and the character for shin, which here means body. So the combination, however, is one of being in an entryway. or pain on the border with only one part of the body in and one part of the body out. So in other words, you're stuck. Let me ask you, wait, you're stuck in the doorway. And you're not fully full there. You're not, in other words, a dharma position, context. You're not fully enlightened. You're having it fully released. You're not fully emancipated from your climate condition. So if you recall the line from the Fukanza Zen gate, You're playing in the entrance way, but you still are short of the vital path of emancipation.

[43:19]

So rather than the way that this line was initially translated, meaning the form of line that I have read, which gives the volume connotation of where you're from, or where a Buddhist problem, Book of Mars says that the meaning of Shushan is more along the lines of getting the body out, to get the body out until you're free. liberated and emancipated. So Shushin here is total emancipation. Total emancipation. Bokumara comments that the vital path of emancipation means our entire body should transcend the Ludwig, freeing ourselves even from Ludwig. You can't hang out on Ludwig. You have to be free of even Ludwig. This is what Darwin calls GOG, the matter of going beyond Buddha. We cannot abide in Buddhahood. You can't stay fixed.

[44:21]

You can't stay there or be fixed in Buddhahood. We have to go beyond it as a Bodhisattva working in this world. This is how Buddha continues to walk. So the original question, according to Dr. Moran, should be translated as, where is the place right now where all the Buddhas are walking and are free of Buddhahood. Where is the place right now where all Buddhas are walking and are free of Buddhahood? Another way to say this is, where do all the Buddhas work right now? Where are they doing their work? In the dining room, in the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom. At this point, This point it made here points back to walking backward and then walking forward. What we also phrase as the backward step and the forward step. Remember that from earlier?

[45:22]

So, in other words, going up to the mountain to be awakened. That's the backward step. Backing up the mountain, becoming a way to realize. And then, forward step, going down the mountain, coming back down to express and it manifests this awakening in the world in myriad ways. This is operating and practicing and walking and going beyond Buddha, like just functioning in the world. According to Okamura, Yunnan's response with East Mountains' walk in the water is that Buddhas are walking liberated at this moment. right here, right now. And again, right here right now, Mikan, the present moment. They are liberated, right here right now, from Buddhahood and they're walking. And this refers, Dr. once more, to the opening sentence of Nisan Suikyo, which includes the phrase, these mountains of love is of the present, meaning right here, right now.

[46:33]

The mountain is Buddha and the mountain is walking. So the mountain as go down, you could say all the way into being is walking. All the way into being, all the dependent origination, the whole thing is walking. Right here, right now. Within the mountains walking. Within the practice, activity, engagement. Do you know how the mountains are practicing? What is the practice of the mountains? Right now, they are walking. and they are going beyond Buddha-hood, and they're walking. This is the expression of Buddha-mind and Buddha-activity. And this is an essential point in this classical. This is what Damien keeps pointing back to. Buddha walks as rivers and mountains, together with all Damien beings. In other words, this world right here, in which all mountains in the East and West are walking, is the genuine place of emancipation.

[47:39]

is the place of freedom. The place of liberation for each of us right here in our walking in this workplace. In our walking we are free. Because our walking allows us to go beyond ourselves and to go beyond Buddha. So what does this have to do with our Sashim practice? When you're just sitting here. So we need Keep in mind that there is no goal that we're sitting and trying to get to. If we practice in the way of goal-seeking, we'll go straight from right here, right now. We'll go straight from what's right before us. Where do all the doors go where they are free? They go right here. They abide constantly in this moment. right here in this present moment, among our daily announcements, among our various struggles, among our various delusions and fires, and it's all of our making effort at non-efforts, we are getting birth right now to Buddhists.

[49:00]

And because of that, because we are getting birth to Buddhists right now, their practice is alive right now. because we are practicing right now. Suzuki Roshi's practice is alive right now because we are practicing right now. You are giving birth to Suzuki Roshi's practice. I want to quickly walk to the final cutback for today so we can finish this particular thought. Dogen goes on to say in the next slide, the end part of this expression is that all mountains are east mountain and the east mountains are moving over the water. So actually there is no fixed place called east. As Okamori knows, we say in Asia, we say Asia is east.

[50:05]

and America and Europe are west. But actually, America is east of Japan if you go the shortest way. Wherever you are is the center of the world. So whatever mountain you are, that's conventionally called the East Mountain or the North Mountain or West or South Mountain, just there is the case of emancipation. But Dobin is saying that all mountains are the East Mountain. Another He takes up this term East. He says that everywhere is East. If you go on and on, you'll end up in the West. So East, North, West, and South are all conceptual designations. It only exists. We made it up. By the way, we can see things. All places are the center of the world. Our city is the center.

[51:05]

Right where you are is the center of the world, right? See, right there, right there, that's the center of the world. Where Shavin is, that's the center of the world. The Tesitaim is, that's the center of the world. The Kriya is, that's the center of the world. Each of you sitting in the center of the world. Wherever we go is the center. Every place is practicing, walking, moving, arising, vanishing, including us as we sit. So the reminder here is not to be caught by the terms east, north, west, south, or by our concepts of place. All places are the center. There's no place else you need to go. Right where you are is the center. The teaching is always don't get caught by or fixed by our conceptual designations. So anytime you have the idea that you're going east to west and you're fixed to that, you are caught.

[52:10]

Any idea you have of a particular place is still conceptual designation, something you can get caught by if you hold onto it. While there's more commentary on this point, I'm gonna move on to the next slide. Therefore, Mount Sumeru and the other nine mountains are all appearing and are all practicing and verifying the Buddha Dharma. This is called the East Mountain. But how could one one be liberated in the skin, flesh, bones and burlap, the practice and experience, the vigorous activity of the East Mountain? In Indian Buddhist cosmology, Mount Sumeru is the center of the universe, the entire universe. And Lhasa Gandhi describes it basically about worldless flats. And Mount Sumeru is like a cylinder in the center. And there are nine mountains, and they're like a square of mountains around the cylinder in the center.

[53:14]

And then there are seven mountain ranges around that in concentric circles. Our continents, the continent that we're on, Jungle Deepa, is the south of Mount Sumeru. So imagine if I have to get into this visual context of the map, where are we? I have this, you know, talking image in my head of a map of, what's that land called again? Middle Earth, right? Buddhist version of Middle Earth, right? So, underneath Junquit Deepa, the continent we're on, there is an ocean, and there are food, and we know there is a Underneath this ocean of Earth, we know there is a golden circle layer. So beneath that, a golden circle layer. Below this Earth, there is a water circle, and below that, a wind circle. So all these circles are beneath circles, different layers. Earth, water, wind.

[54:15]

And the wind circle is that which ultimately supports the world. So the world is kind of supported by wind, by air, by space. Essentially here, the point that Dōgen is making is that all mountains in this universe are the East Mountain, including the mountains in Uru. And their walking and our walking are all practicing and verifying the Great Dwarven. So everywhere you are is the center of the universe. This phrase, practice and verification, in Japanese it's shusho. It's also translated as practice realization. is one of Dobin's most unique offerings and perhaps the most insightful of his teachings, which is that realization or enlightenment is within practice. It's not elsewhere. Dobin's basic teaching is that this shu and this shou are together as a contract with one thing.

[55:18]

but usually shu and shu are two separate things in our common sense, in our common understanding of Buddhism. So shu is practice, and shu, practice being the cause, and shu is verification or realization, is a result. So shu, shu, practice, the cause, and realization or verification, the result. And as the result was, we arouse, Godimai, we start to practice. And through our practice, we attain enlightenment or awakening and become Buddhas. That's our usual way of thinking. In a million years, if I practice hard enough, I will become a Buddha. This becoming Buddha is show or awakening. And this show literally means verification or proof or evidence. But Dogen, on the other hand, said... show our practice and show the result of our practice of one thing, they're not separate.

[56:22]

So within our practice, in this moment, show, or the result, is already here. Because show is the seed of our practice. Remember the lover's seed? It's a symbol of a wonder star. So the wonder star, the awakening, is already here in the seed itself. Right here in practice, the Buddhist practice is being lived out. And this comes up over and over again. We catch ourselves in this usual way of thinking, right? That we're gonna practice and practice and we're gonna get somewhere and we're gonna get something. Rather than thinking right here in this practice, the practice is being lived out. And this lived out aspect is realization. So the practice realization, all the mountains, including us as mountains, is our practice verifying the Buddhist way.

[57:27]

Almost there. A few words to the ending paragraph. Ending sentence. I promise. Hang in. There's no way to go right now. This is called the beast's mountains. But how could one man be liberated in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, the practice and experience, and the vigorous activity of the East Mountain? So this reference to skin, flesh, bones, and marrow comes from the story of Bori Dharma's Dharma transmission to his disciples, particularly to the second Chinese ancestor, Rika. Are you guys familiar with this story? Most of you have heard it. So when it was time for Bodhi Dharma to identify a Dharma heir, And when they carry forth the lineage, Bodhidharma asked for his disciples to demonstrate their understanding of the Dharma. And the first three offered very stillful words, much, much wisdom there.

[58:29]

And they all said something. And then Wicca, the fourth, simply prostrated. He didn't say anything. He just demonstrated his understanding by prostrating. Bodhidharma then affirmed all his four disciples, saying that the first had attained his skin, the second his flesh, the third his bones, and finally rika attained his marrow. And commonly, these four interpretive progressions on the path, right? So one is going from shallowness to depth. The first one, the skin being... the most shallow surface, you could say, to the narrow being the deepest understanding. And therefore, when you wake up, if you have this interpretation, attain the essence of his teacher, of his teacher, and therefore became his second ancestor. But Dogen flips things as Dogen wants to do.

[59:35]

He says, all of these are people. All of these are people. And so Okamura comments, here, the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the East Mountains means each and every aspect of practice and movement within the network of interdependent origination. So not only Jungian, no one can be liberated from the walking of the East Mountains because the mountain's walking is itself the path of liberation. Practice verification is the path of liberation. So in other words, there is no other way to be liberated than by walking, by practicing. You can only be liberated by practicing. The vital path of emancipation, of liberation of freedom, this moving over the water, he's not to move over the water, he's not to practicing. We are this, and we are practicing this.

[60:38]

And this is our life. So how can we be liberated from it? We are already in that sense. So how can we be separated from the interdependent co-originature of the reality? Just come to know your own walking. You come to know your own walking. You'll wake up to the walking of the nonsense and to all reality. And you'll wake up to the fact that you are already free in your walking. There's nowhere you need to go. There's nothing you need to obtain. Can you feel the truth of that? Not up here, but in the body. As the blood courses through your veins, as your heart pops. As the river flows within you. When your mountain baby sits here, you are ready for it.

[61:40]

been there and i know that was a lot to take in after two days of silence but your mind was clear with all that silence it made room for all these words i hope it offers you something to study in terms of uh the study of mountains of waters and practice of realization in our own self-study transition here study how it is that we are already mountains how it is that we are not separate from the reality of all things. You are deeply intimate with everything. So, let's go practice some walking. And in the process, we're gonna bury ourselves among the blue mountain, the blue mother mountains and the white cloud children. And maybe you will discern or not which is which, which gives rise certainly. Does the universe, do you get rise to the universe?

[62:53]

Does the universe get rise to you? Does it matter? Can you just enjoy the experience of being born from this moment? In all the mountains, in all the waters, with each call of the blue jet. You just chirp up a squirrel, with each stone that you see. Can you enjoy your life just as it is? but we have patience and cognitive attention. You did pretty good. It only went three minutes up there. Yay. In the hour of the day, I should have been really a saint, that I really need to be in that place, where I should remember how to put up this way.

[64:02]

I should have been really a saint, that I really need to be in that place, where I should remember how to put up this way.

[64:09]

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