It's quite an honor to be practicing Buddha's Way with you here today. My home temple is very small, so our group is few in number. Oh, louder, oh sorry. Because I'm used to speaking to a much smaller group, I don't speak very loudly. But the honor of practicing with others is the same. It's an important aspect of our teaching that although there seems to be personal work involved, our Dharma practice and realization isn't our

[01:29]

individual project. So our practice, the effort that we make in practice is all of the effort that we make touches each other. This is why they say, Dogen reminds us that, well, he doesn't say that a particular Buddha's understanding is not significant, but only when Buddha meets Buddha is the circle whole.

[02:35]

So although there may be a quiet cave someplace with a solitary Buddha in it, enjoying her vision of the universe, the real jewel, the real Buddha treasure is between Buddha and Buddha, which is to say among us, This is maybe not such a familiar way of thinking, but then much of Dogen is not very familiar. We tend to think perhaps that we're on the path to Buddhahood

[03:47]

And like fixing up an old house, now it looks pretty terrible, but then once the new roof is on and has some coats of paint and the very best decorator is brought in, then it will be a place to be proud of. So this is sometimes known as the path of purification and accumulation. And it's a very old way of looking at Buddha's path. But nowadays, and for some time now, I think the exigencies have been different. There are a great many

[04:54]

tumble down buildings with leaky roofs and uncertain foundations. And our practice can't really wait for the entire neighborhood to be upgraded and gentrified so that we can say, yes, this is where the Buddhas live. Whereas before, It was just a dreadful slum. So in the Buddha's real neighborhood, some of the houses may look kind of nice and some not really that great, but they all lean against one another. This is the difference between a neighborhood and a solitary dwelling.

[06:08]

So in the Mahayana, so-called, the focus tends to be more on neighborhoods. And when Dogen says, really, it's Buddha and Buddha that turn the wheel. They're inviting us to notice where we already live. A neighborhood where Buddha meets Buddha all the time. So we might say, well, I don't think that. My neighborhood's kind of, my neighborhood's gnarly and crummy and my house is a wreck and so are my neighbors.

[07:16]

And I don't like me and I don't like my neighbors either. So where's the Buddha in that? And then Dr. Dogen comes along and reminds us, you know, I hate to disappoint you But all that stuff you're thinking has nothing to do with it. Whether you think you live in a palace or a hovel has nothing to do with whether Buddha lives there. And you'll find that out for yourself. In fact, You must, because that's keeping Buddha Dharma alive. You'll find out for yourself that, as Dogen says, what you thought about realization, immaterial.

[08:20]

You don't get to say. Dogen goes on. Oh, look, here's realization, just like I wanted, just like I thought it would be. You won't be able to say that, or if you do say that, you're in trouble. This Buddha and Buddha realization really has nothing to do with what you think about it. And eventually, your practice, you'll be able to see your practice as in perfect harmony with that truth.

[09:38]

And that thought won't matter either, but you might get a little lift. And you might give a little prayer of gratitude for your neighborhood. Kind of autumn is upon us now. It's my favorite season. I tend to look for poems in literature.

[10:53]

with this bittersweet quality of autumn, bittersweet quality of birth and death. But autumn doesn't care what I think about it. Autumn is just as it is. Now that, we're told, that is the real body. The real self, not the made-up one. Autumn, entirely autumn. Spring, nothing other than spring. There is your body, your body-mind.

[12:01]

These are the teachings of freedom, believe it or not. They teach that the self is not folded in. like a, you know, coffer, a coffin, but opens out to everything. Now, of course, certain karmic influences make it easy to forget that. And then we might catch ourselves feeling like, you know, The autumns of my youth, which are long fled, I think it rained more. Why isn't it raining more? Sometimes a little baggage of suffering accumulates.

[13:17]

Because we just forget that it opens out, not in. This crumbled, crumpled, gnarly thing we take to be the self as a vast body. Therefore, the song of autumn is sad and sweet. Because, well, it's a little sad because what I call me, conventionally speaking, will eventually open into

[14:38]

Nothingness. Or anyway, it won't be visible anymore. Paraphrasing, maybe, it was my Izumi Roshi. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here. But don't ask me any questions. because I won't answer. So it might be a little sad, but the other face of that is opening and opening and opening. No one is trapped. No one is bound. When you think about that, you will see it doesn't really matter.

[15:46]

When these Buddhas get together, you know, they sometimes, they horse around. Well, you guys do that, so we know that. You ever horse around? Yeah. Sometimes the horsing around, of course, gets written about for one reason or another, some of them sectarian. our great ancestor, Hoi Nung. A lot of you Zenies, I know, you know all this story, so. He once received a visit from a character who'd wandered in off the road there. And this fellow came in and stood in front of Wainang and then walked around him three times and stood in front of him again with his staff.

[17:46]

Wainang goggled at him a bit and then said, This monk, this person of the way, possesses the thousand excellent deportments and the 80,000 subtle refinements. Oh, monk, whence come you? And how do you come by such self-possession? And the visitor, whose name was Yongja, says, birth and death tarries not. So Wei Nang says, yes? Well, why not embody what is unborn and attain what is unhurried?

[18:52]

And Josh says, what is embodied is not subject to birth, and what is attained does not move. And Hoi Nang was delighted and said, just so, just so. And the other monks who were hanging around marveled at this and said, who is this character fresh off the boat? dialoguing with our master. So as far as Yongja was concerned, that was the end of it. So he does his prostrations. And Wei Nung makes to leave and Wei Nung says, oh, must you go so quickly? And Yongja turns back and says, fundamentally, nothing stirs.

[19:58]

How could something be too quick? Weinang says, and how do we know that nothing stirs? Yongjia says, the distinction is entirely of the master's making. Weinang says, you have entirely understood the meaning of the unborn. Yang Jha says, oh, does the unborn have meaning? Wei Yang says, okay, now who's making distinctions? Yang Jha says, Extinctions are without meaning.

[21:06]

Wayne Young says, excellent, excellent. Stay with us just one night. And he does. Ever after, Yongjao is known as the overnight guest. So this is a rather flowery example of Buddha and Buddha turning the wheel. And you might leave this hall thinking that that's nothing to do with you. Or you might think, that's me all right, that's me all over. In either case, it won't matter. Because as they say,

[22:13]

the truth is undefiled. In spite of our most frantic efforts, nothing sticks to it. So we're constantly tripping each other up with the question, how do I save all sentient beings again? How am I supposed to do that? Well, you see all sentient beings saved as they are in their suchness, and then you get to work. Some people make muffins, some sweep floors, some set broken bones, some total up columns of figures.

[23:23]

But that's the arena of Buddha and Buddha. So if you didn't know that's where you were, now you do. And just don't let that thought trip you up. That's all I had to say this morning. And I think I'm supposed to answer questions later. So, quiet. But I think last time I was here, it was quite a while ago, I think I had a death poem to share. And I think I have a new one. So, let me see if I remember it.

[24:36]

Okay, so this supplants the last one. just in case. This one goes, birth and death are clear. From the head top to the toe tips, the body landscape is unobstructed. In the mountains, the sound of running water. Out on the plains, the drumming of hooves. Try to seize what's been lost and you grasp only empty air. Myomyaku chooses the turned down bed and chocolates on the pillow. That's it for me.

[25:42]

Thank you very much.

[25:44]

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