I vow to taste the truth of the Tathāgata's words. Good evening, everybody. It's been a long day. I'll give you this. I'm sorry I didn't call you up. I'll give you this. Julia. Matt. Vivrett. Jeanette. Joe. Gregory Powell. Matt. Gordon, you here? Gordon Johnson. Mick. Rafael.

[01:03]

Maybe he's not coming. Emily, I saw Emily. Tom Vaughn. Eva. Eva. Rick? No. No? Stuart? Hi, Stuart. Shop? Shop? Shop. Greg Malloy. Dennis Riley. Barbara. Lynn Duffy. Mia Levitt. Melissa Fitzgerald. Yes. And Greg Elliott.

[02:09]

Mary Madison. Mary's not here. Digon. Yes, sir. Arlene. And I heard from... Michael, you here tonight? Yeah. All right. Al, I saw Al Tribe. Yvonne Shanks. Yes. Oh, yeah. Hi, Yvonne. Were you here last time? Yeah. This was the page that I... Somebody... Yeah. Yeah, it was on the back. Linda. Linda. And Karen Hamilton. No? And... Mark Blackburn. Hi, Mark. Jackie. Here. Hey, Robin. Here. Yep. Daniel. Rin. Lynn Forster. Yes. That's where you were sitting last time. Vernon. Yeah. Zoe. Everybody's got their same seats.

[03:15]

It's much easier to remember people's names. Although I know your names already. Kristen. That was one of my things as a school teacher. If they stayed in the same seat, you knew who they were. But if they moved, they disappeared. Matt. Gary Green. Vignesh. Is that how you say that? Vignesh. Jeff. Hi, Jeff. And Gwen. Here. Okay. And, uh, I think we're not meeting next week, right? But the week after that. We'll conclude, uh, at that time. Okay. So... This table... Uh... Yeah, no, that's fine. So we were, uh,

[04:16]

in the middle toward the end of our dream. Dream within a dream. What page is that on? 170? Yeah. Okay. As I recall, we, uh, we had, uh, sort of, we were discussing the text, not necessarily understanding it or anything, but we were trying to, trying to muddle through, to appreciate, uh, Dogen's words here, up to the, up to the... I think we ended at the time, at the part about the, uh, scale. Right? Uh-huh. And we were marveling at what a wonderful image that was. Achieving balance,

[05:21]

one of those scales with a pan on it where you put a weight on one side and the object could be weight on the other side. And the object to be weight, when you put it in the tail, it operates like anything else does in this world in gravity. It has weight, you know? But then when you put weight in the other pan, miraculously this object becomes weightless and flies up in the air. Right? So, um, achieving balance does not depend on the objects being weighed, nor on the balancing scale, nor on the activity of weighing. It depends on emptiness, on the emptiness of all of these things. Thus, deeply consider that without attaining balance, you do not experience solidity. So you... And we were saying, what a great metaphor for life. You know, you don't achieve solidity unless you achieve balance.

[06:23]

And you achieve balance by virtue of the fact that all things are empty. That's how there can be balance. There's balance because there's lightness and freedom. And there's lightness and freedom because you yourself and all things are empty. And with that freedom, there's balance in your life. And with that balance, there's a kind of sense of solidity. Paradoxically, your life can only be solid when you recognize the emptiness of your life. Just hanging on its own in emptiness. Expression of the dream within a dream allows our life to float free in emptiness. And within emptiness, and only within emptiness, is stable balance manifested. And stable balance is the great way of the scale, of the balance scale. While suspending emptiness

[07:23]

and suspending objects, whether as emptiness or as forms, expression of the dream within a dream joins settled balancing. So I would ordinarily kind of like skip a little bit, but Rin says we should read the whole text, and I think she's right. She really likes this, so we're going to do it. We're going to read every word. What am I not reading? Anything you say about it. It doesn't matter because it's kind of wonderful just to read it, as she said last time. There is no liberation other than expression of the dream within a dream. Expression. There is no liberation other than, and remember, this is like expressing the dream within a dream, is teaching dharma, talking about sutras and teaching and so on, but it also is manifesting of anything. In other words, life manifesting on the relative plane with all its confusions and all its entanglements

[08:24]

is expressing the dream within a dream. And there is no dream. No liberation, he says here. There's no liberation other than the expression of the dream within a dream. In other words, our living our lives in the relative world and all the messiness of that, that's the expression of the dream within a dream, and there's no liberation possible outside of that. The dream is the entire great earth, and the entire great earth is stable in the way that he was speaking a moment ago in relation to the scale. Thus, the inexhaustibility of turning the head and pivoting the brain, which is a little obscure there, but exactly. So the translator in brackets says that this means actualizing freedom. I'm not sure about that, but... Anyway, the inexhaustibility of our daily actions

[09:26]

and thoughts in freedom, when we're in stable balance with emptiness, then the inexhaustibility of our thoughts and our daily simple and complicated actions is your awakening of the dream within a dream. It's the way that you have of identifying with and actualizing the dream within a dream. So, it's like a little... It reminds me of a little practice that I do sometimes. I wish I did it more, but I forget to do it. But you could do this all the time, and there are times in my life when I've done it with some more faithfulness than others, but... This is the practice of entering or crossing over a space. It's like if you're leaving a room or walking into a room. Actually, in Judaism there's a wonderful practice that they have of...

[10:29]

They have a little box. They have a box that's attached to the door, and inside the box there's a prayer. And the idea is that every time you enter the door or leave it, you touch the box and kiss it and remember the prayer, which is about the unity of all being. It's kind of a wonderful practice. And what I'm speaking about is virtually the same practice, which is every time you walk in a door or out of a door, you remember that you have no idea what will happen now that you're entering this new space. As you leave a room, you're leaving this whole existence realm of this room, just like when I walked in here tonight. I was in a totally different world before I walked in this room, and when I walked in the room, it was a different world. And also, when I and the rest of you, and all of you, walk out of this room, we will be entering another realm. So, taking a moment, as you walk over a threshold,

[11:32]

to recognize this. So, this means that this very mundane, everyday action that we do all the time, that we don't think anything of, it's really the truth, that when you walk in or out of a room, that you really don't know what's going to happen, that you really are entering a new life. That's really the truth, actually. I mean, you don't have to be a genius to think about this and say, yeah, that's really true. I don't really know what will happen. So, to remember that and live that way, you can actually, in a way, it's the paradox that to do that is an act of the imagination, in a way. You can say, oh, you're making this up. But it's also very true, you have to use your imagination somehow to project yourself into reality, right? Because usually your mind is occupied with this and that, and who's like... If someone says, you know, are you really real right now? Are you living in the real world? You say, what? Real? What are you talking about? And just, you know, you don't think that way, right? So, but it's an act of the imagination

[12:35]

to just project yourself into the reality of your life. And when you do that, then this is what he's talking about. Then every moment of your living is an expression of a dream within a dream, and it's your liberation. Every moment of your living is your liberation and your expression of this deep teaching that he's talking about. Where else could it be? What other expression could there be other than the profundity of your existing, right? Your being in existence, which is the most unlikely thing going. Right? How unlikely is it that you would be, you know, alive in this body and so forth and so on? Think of the space, big space. Last time, didn't we talk about the Eames? Did we? Yes. Yeah. So all that huge space out there. How many human beings are there named Joe, you know, in that thing? Not very many. How many moments do you have, right? So everyone has this tremendous density and weight of decisiveness, right?

[13:36]

Every moment of your life has that, and that's expressing a dream within a dream. And there is no other liberation. We're looking for something, you know, but there it is, you know, in every moment that's real in our lives. So he says that. Then, after that, he quotes... Remember in the beginning, he said... So what I was just talking about is one of the things he's saying, that existentially, to use that word, existentially, our life has that density, that weight of reality. So that's one of the things he's saying in this passage. And the other thing he's saying is that an expression, a way of talking about, a way of looking at, a way of understanding and appreciating and even accessing that is the story of Buddha, the feeling of Buddha as a person, the mythology of Buddha, the teachings about Buddha, all that, are analogues for that. So now he quotes the Lotus Sutra,

[14:37]

where Buddha in the Lotus Sutra is saying the following verses. All Buddhas, with bodies of golden hue, splendidly adorned with a hundred auspicious marks, hear the Dharma and expound it for others. Such is the fine dream that ever occurs. In other words, this dream of Buddhas expounding the Dharma is a dream that is occurring every moment, always, always has been dreamed and always will be dreamed. In the dream, you, each one of us, is the Buddha in this dream, and we become the Dharma King. No, we become King, worldly King, and then we give that up. We forsake palace and household entourage, along with utmost satisfaction of the five sense desires, and instead we travel to the site of practice

[15:38]

under the Bodhi tree, on the lion's seat in search of the way after seven days. You, each one of you, in the dream of your life, attain the wisdom of the Buddhas. And every year, you know, when we have Rohatsu, if I leave Rohatsu Sashin, I really get into this. Those of you who sat with me last, I really get into it about how every day, you know, of the seven-day Sashin is the enactment of the Buddhas sitting under the enlightenment tree, and every one of us is the Buddha. And on the enlightenment day, we get enlightened, you know. It's guaranteed. Just like Buddha, we repeat that. We all get enlightened, and we have a big party, and we throw flowers and everything, and we celebrate, you know, how enlightened we are. And it's really kind of wonderful. So, that's what he's saying here. You attain the wisdom of the Buddhas after the seven days. You complete the unsurpassable way. Arising and turning the Dharma wheel, you expound the Dharma for the four groups of practitioners throughout thousands of millions of kalpas. You do this.

[16:39]

You express the wondrous Dharma free of flaws and liberating innumerable sentient beings. Finally, you enter Parinirvana, like the smoke dispersing as the lamp is extinguished. If, later in the wicked world, one expounds this foremost Dharma, one will produce great benefit like the merit just described. So, that, in short, is the career of a Buddha from the time of leaving the palace to sitting under the tree to attaining awakening, to expounding the Dharma to countless beings through millions of kalpas. And this is the dream of our lives. This is the dream, and according to Mayana Buddhism, the destiny, the certain destiny of all of our lives. So, when you see, like, somebody on the street, like I saw the other day, you know, like, sleeping in the doorway, and the custodian of the building came by and had his big key,

[17:42]

you know, custodians always have a lot of keys, you know, rattle the keys over this poor fellow sleeping in the doorway, woke him up. Well, that person sleeping in the doorway, that person's destiny is to be a Buddha and expound the Dharma. Actually, that is who that person really is. That's the dream of that person's life. See, that actually is true. That's why, when you see the person, you have to be somewhat awestruck rather than thinking, you know, what a bum, you know, you have to think, well, you know, what a funny way to be a Buddha, but, well, that's the way they're doing it, you know, this time. You know, this is like, it's a roundabout way, but they're getting there, you know. Everybody, that's everybody's dream, to take on this form and to be a Buddha. So, you should study this discourse of the Buddha and thoroughly investigate this Buddha assembly of the Buddhas in the Lotus Sutra. And then he says, wonderfully, this dream of Buddhas is not an analogy. This is not a metaphor, you know.

[18:43]

So, see, sometimes I say, like I'll talk about, I'll say, I'll speak of the metaphor of reincarnation. And when I say that, I always, I'm saying that because I want to indicate that if you believe in reincarnation, rebirth, or any of these teachings in some literal way, limited literal sense, it's not really that way. Because all these teachings are empty. They're not literal in the way that we usually mean things literal. On the other hand, it's not right to say they're metaphors either, because that reduces them to some nice little story that stands for something else. The story of the Buddha is not a metaphor and an analogy. It's a real dream. It's a dream, so it's not real in the sense of literal. On the other hand, it's not a metaphor either. It's a real as a dream. So, he says, this story, this dream of Buddhas

[19:47]

that is the dream of our lives, it's not an analogy. As the wondrous Dharma of all Buddhas is mastered only by a Buddha, together with a Buddha, and as many of you know, that is the title of another fascicle of Dogan, which comes from another line in the Lotus Sutra, where it says, only a Buddha and a Buddha attain the way. There's no such thing as... I was just editing a talk of mine that I gave at Tassajara, which is all about unenlightenment, the virtues of unenlightenment, because no one can get enlightened. There's a quotation I had in there from the Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra, which says, enlightenment is impossible. No one can get enlightened, and that's true. No one, no one, no one can be awakened. Only a Buddha and a Buddha can be awakened. In other words, in the connection

[20:47]

that is what life really is. There's no one anyway, apart from anything. There is no person apart from anything. There's only, moment after moment, a web of connections. That web of connections can be awakened, but not anyone. So he says, only a Buddha and a Buddha, only through the recognition of our absolutely being connected is there awakening arising in this world, only a Buddha and a Buddha. All dharmas awakened in the dream are genuine forms when they are awakened in that way. In awakening there are aspiration, practice, enlightenment and nirvana. Those are the sort of, what do you call it, watershed moments in the course of our practice. The moment of raising the aspiration to practice, the doing of the practice,

[21:48]

the moment of attaining enlightenment and then the moment of attaining nirvana, passing into another form. These are the watershed moments. Within the dream there are aspiration, practice, enlightenment and nirvana. It's all a dream. Every awakening within a dream is the genuine form without regard for large or small, superior or inferior. Every Buddha, no matter how it may seem, from the outside there are lesser Buddhas and greater Buddhas, like big high Dalai Lamas and ordinary practitioners like us, but actually that's not really true. That in this dream, when there's awakening within the dream, not from the dream, but within the dream, because awakening is another dream, when there's awakening within the dream then it's really genuine, authentic, real life and there's no bigger or smaller or lesser or greater, even though we persist in having those thoughts and so forth, it's not really true. However, on hearing the words in the passage

[22:51]

In the dream you are made king, people in the past and present mistakenly think that thanks to the power of expounding this foremost Dharma, mere night dreams may become like this dream of Buddha's. So that's kind of a funny thing. In other words, by night dreams he means like this dream. That's what he means by that. In other words, people mistakenly think when they read these words that somehow they're going to get enlightened and entering into another state and that other state, which is going to be real and different from this state, that other state is merely a night dream. It doesn't exist. It's merely a night dream. That's what people think. Thinking like this, one has not yet clarified the Buddha's discourse. Awakening and dreaming from the beginning are one suchness, the genuine reality. The Buddha Dharma, even if it were an analogy, which it's not, is the genuine reality.

[23:51]

Even if it is an analogy, it's the only analogy that there is. It's an analogy that is reality. As it is not an analogy, made king in the dream is the genuine truth of the Buddha Dharma. Shakyamuni Buddha and all the Buddhas and ancestors each arouse mind, cultivate practice and attain universal, true awakening within a dream. This being so, the Buddha's path of transforming the Saha world throughout this lifetime, his lifetime, is indeed created in a dream. In search of the way after seven days, and these are, I think, quotations from the Lotus Sutra verse, just quoted, in search of the way after seven days is the measure of attained Buddha wisdom. As for what is described, turning the Dharma wheel throughout thousands of millions of kalpas, liberating innumerable sentient beings, these fluctuations within a dream

[24:53]

cannot be traced. So, you know, liberating beings and all this turning the Dharma wheel in millions of kalpas, these are fluctuations within a dream, transformations and just like, you know, how things can transform in a dream and move, the reality is not fixed in a dream. So that's what these things are. Fluctuations within a dream that cannot be, you know, identified or too mysterious, too wondrous to be traced and defined. All Buddhas with bodies of golden hue, splendidly adorned with a hundred auspicious marks, hear the Dharma and expound it for others. Such is the fine dream that ever occurs. These words, and again, that's from the Lotus Sutra quote, these words clearly show that this fine dream is illuminated as all Buddhas. There is the ever occurring of the Tathagata's words.

[25:53]

It is not only hundreds of years of dreaming. Expounding it for others, quoting again, is manifesting the body. So when the Dharma is taught and expounded for others, this is called manifesting the Buddha's body. And hearing the Dharma means hearing sounds with the eye and with the mind, and I would say with the whole body, like hearing, the practice of hearing sounds, fully entering into each sound and throwing away your whole life. It's a beautiful practice. And like today, I was on Page Street over in the city there, and I heard this bird. I was going to the garage, you know, where the car was, and there was this bird, the most beautiful, gorgeous, liquid bird sound, you know, that you would never hear, usually, if you weren't just lucky enough to pay attention for a moment by mistake, you know, which is how it is.

[26:54]

You hear this, and then, and you just, everything disappears, right? It's just a wonderful sound. So that kind of hearing. So hearing the Dharma, you see, isn't only limited to hearing the words of the Buddha's teaching. It's hearing anything in that way, with just completely entering it, completely giving yourselves to it. It is hearing sounds in the old nest and before the empty kapa. As it is said, all Buddhas with bodies of golden hue are splendidly adorned with a hundred auspicious marks. Now we can directly realize, beyond any doubt, that this fine dream is itself all Buddhas with bodies. Although within awakening the Buddha's transformations never cease, the Buddha ancestor's emergence is invariably the creation of a dream within a dream. You should be mindful of not slandering the Buddha Dharma,

[27:54]

meaning, don't think otherwise. Don't think it's not a dream within a dream. When we practice not slandering the Buddha Dharma, this path of the Tathagatas is immediately actualized. Immediately, meaning, in a literal sense, without mediation, without any sense of like later it will be actualized or with the following tools I will actualize it. But immediately, right here and now, in this moment of existence, as it is really real for us, knowing it to be a dream within a dream, our life is actualized. So that was nice, don't you think? Dream within a dream. It's one of the more beautiful poetic haunting of Dogen's writings. Is the brushstroke his signature? I see it all over. All over this book? Yes. No, I don't know where they got that from.

[28:55]

That's the ornament they chose. It might be Cos did that. I don't know where it comes from. But it's the ornament that they used. I don't know. It's a good question actually. I don't have to ask Cos where it comes from. So now, moving right along here in our job of amassing ever more quantities of understanding in four pages of Dogen. So this next text I wanted to study because this is one that I worked on with Cos and so it's very dear to my heart. It's quite different, you'll see. It's not a fascicle of Shobo Genzo. This text is apparently an informal journal, just notes that Dogen took when he was about

[29:57]

maybe 23, 24 years old, studying with his teacher Rujin in China. And then the notes were I think by Eijo, his disciple, I think it may be after Dogen's death. It says in the colophon, I'm sure. He was collected by Eijo and then edited and published. We don't know how much of this is exactly Dogen's words, although you wouldn't think that Eijo would have put words into Dogen's mouth. He would have had a sense of respect for Dogen's words and wouldn't have messed with them too much, I would think. So it's probably mostly Dogen. But it's very interesting because in this text I find most of the points of view, opinions, attitudes, and important themes of Dogen's teaching that he worked on and in different ways played out in his teaching throughout his life are already found here in this text. Either Rujin really taught

[31:01]

this stuff, Dogen and Dogen adapted Rujin's attitudes and teachings, or Dogen put them in Rujin's mouth. In his diary, imagine that he heard them or interpreted it that way, who knows? Or maybe this is what of Rujin he heard and really took in? Who knows? But anyway, what's remarkable is how consistent the perspectives of this text are with Dogen's work throughout his life. We didn't talk at all, I think, about Dogen's biography and so on, but it's maybe relevant to bring up a little bit here because the background of the text, Dogen was born from a... I know many of you know this, but for those of you who haven't heard about this before, Dogen was born in a royal family in Japan at a time when there was enormous

[32:02]

intrigue and, you know, you think that the machinations of Washington D.C. are complicated and corrupt. It's a peanut compared to the Heian court, you know, during Dogen's time and during other periods of Japanese history. So, it was not politically feasible for Dogen to be recognized as a member of the royal family. So everybody knew he was, but he was actually like the son of a concubine and so forth. So, he was taken care of but had no status in the secular world. But he lost his parents quite early. So, he was an orphan and the story goes that when he went to the funeral of, I forget which one of his parents, he watched the incense stick, the smoke curling up from the incense stick and he had a deep feeling for impermanence.

[33:03]

And from that early age, maybe eight years old or so, resolved that he wanted to practice the way. Something, by the way, that is not at all uncommon, I find that many people who practice, sometimes they don't even remember themselves until later they remember. You know what? It's really true. I totally forgot about this, but when I was young, when I was like six or seven years old, I had this feeling or whatever it was, something happened or something. It's not uncommon. A lot of people have that. So, that happened to him. And when he was about thirteen years old, he ordained in the Tendai tradition. He had an uncle who was high up in the Tendai school, so he got a very good education in Buddhism and was very faithful to Buddhism and a real believer kind of guy. And also, very smart. He was apparently a really brilliant guy. They say always,

[34:06]

these biographies are very exaggerated. And they always say, by the time he was seven years old, he had memorized the entire Abhidharmakosha and could recite all the Chinese classics by heart. They say about him and many other people. Maybe that's true, I don't know. But anyway, it's probably not. But anyway, he's pretty smart. He read a lot. But, he had this big crisis of faith in a way. Not that he didn't have faith in Buddhism anymore, but there was this sort of thing, this contradiction that appeared to him in the middle of the Buddhist teachings which struck him as sort of really something that really bothered him. It really bothered him, and he really wanted to get to the bottom of this. And nobody in the Tendai school could help him. And the conflict, the paradox was, or the contradiction was, that he said, well, it says in the sutras, and he was very faithful,

[35:10]

he really believed that the sutras were really the true word of the Buddha. And what it said in there was really the truth. And it said in the sutras that all sentient beings are, by nature, Buddhists. That that is the fundamental nature of all beings. And that's like a big point, you know, in Mahayana Buddhist thought. And he said, that's really the truth. I know that's true. But then he said, so then how come we need to practice? What's the point of practice if we're already Buddhists? It's a good question, you know. Our practice actually depends on the faith that we are Buddhists, and that everyone is a Buddha. So if that's the case, then how come we need to practice to get what we already have? What's the point of that? So this appeared to him as a real question that he felt he had to experientially understand. So he, you know, asked everybody around, and nobody could... So the Zen practice was something new that was just coming into Japan through the Tendai school. And he studied Zen,

[36:11]

and he attained all that he could receive from his master. He received Dharma Transmission and was teaching Zen, but still wasn't satisfied that he had answered this question. And so he decided to take the very drastic step of going to China, which was a really arduous journey, and many people didn't return. But he did go to China. And he had a hard time finding... He was actually pretty disgusted with the state of Zen in China in many ways that come out in his text. And couldn't find a teacher that he thought was worthy. And ultimately, by chance, discovered this teacher, Rujing, who became his teacher, and with whom he felt immediate rapport and immediate acknowledgement. And for two years, he hung around Rujing's monastery, which was very, very intense. And then came home. And after that, never saw Rujing again, and

[37:11]

continued teaching in Japan for the rest of his life. I think he went to China when he was like 23, something like that, and returned when he was 26 or 28. Just he was there a couple of years. I don't know how long the journey took, a long time. And then came back, and then from his late 20s up until his death at the age of 54, he taught these things that are essentially contained in this journal. So we'll look at this and hit some of the high points. So in the beginning, he just says, if you ask permission of Rujing, could I please be a room-entering disciple? In other words, could I ask you questions? Could I have permission to hang around and pick your brain? Yeah. I just have a question. You mentioned that his father was something royalty, and his mother was an Indian. When it says his parents died,

[38:14]

were those his biological parents, or were these his adult parents? His biological parents, yeah. So it was, some of these monasteries would have many, many monks in them, maybe 1,000 monks was not unusual. So, it was kind of a big thing, and most of the monks would have very little contact with the teacher. So it was kind of very special that he had that opportunity to hang around with Rujing, and he was grateful for it and made good use of it. So, on the second day of the seventh month of the first year of the Baojing era, 1225, Dogen is 25 years old, I entered the abbot's room and asked, nowadays in many places they talk about transmission outside the teaching. And you remember this is one of the

[39:17]

sort of slogans of Zen, transmission outside the teaching, pointing directly to the human mind without any mediating agency. Direct seeing. So, nowadays in many places they talk about transmission outside the teaching, and they call this the essence of Bodhidharma's coming from India, which is a kind of a code phrase that means the essence of Dharma itself, the essence of Buddhadharma. They say that the essential, so this is the Zen school, says the essential thing about Buddhism is not what it says in the sutras, but this sort of ineffable understanding outside the scriptures that's passed on from teacher to disciple. So, that's what they say. So, what do you think about that? Obviously, Dogen was somewhat troubled

[40:18]

by this saying. Why was he troubled by it? Because, as I said before, he was a very faithful Buddhist. He read the sutras and knew Buddhism inside and out, and he really thought that Buddhism was a valuable, valid teaching. So, here comes these Zen guys along and they say, well, no, we're transmitting the real mind of the Buddha outside of those teachings, as if it's something else other than those teachings. So, that's like, wow, that disturbs me. I don't know what to make of that. What do you think about that? And Ruji's answer is very interesting, and I remember well, translating this and trying to think through, you know, what is Ruji saying and how to translate it. Ruji says, The great road of Buddha ancestors is not concerned with inside or outside. It's beyond questions of inside the teachings or outside the teachings. And even though that saying is a

[41:21]

transmission outside the teachings, don't understand by that that it means outside the teachings. It doesn't mean outside. It means a realm that is, has nothing to do with any idea of inside or outside. Already you're limiting it when you say inside or outside. The reason they call it transmission outside the teachings is this. Although Kashapa, Matanga and others had transmitted the teaching to China previously, in coming here from India, Bodhidharma brought the teaching to life and showed the craft of the way. This is why they call it transmission outside the teaching. But there aren't two Buddhadharmas like the Zen Buddhadharma and this other Buddhadharma of the scriptures and the teachings. There aren't two Buddhadharmas. Before Bodhidharma arrived in China, there were practices but no master to enliven them.

[42:22]

After Bodhidharma came to China, it was as if an aimless people acquired a strong king who brought the land, people and property of the kingdom into order. So, what this is saying is very interesting. It's like, in this analogy of the king, I don't know, we tried to make it clear but because we're so far from, I mean, the sensibilities of the 12th century Japanese person who would think of a metaphor like this is very far removed from our understanding. In the sensibilities of those times, not only in Japan but anywhere in the world, the idea of a realm without a king or royalty, without a king or queen was an unthinkable idea. It was a place that just was not a real place. It was disordered. So, what the king brought and conferred was a sense of empowerment and

[43:24]

making things come to life. So, in other words, in the kingdom, everything that you needed to operate was there. There were lands and horses and equipment and people and merchants. It was all there. It's not like the king showed up and brought the land and brought the people and brought the merchants. No, it was all there. But when the king shows up, now the world can operate now. Another analogy is like the official seal. You send a letter, an official letter to someone, but unless you put the official seal on it, the letter is not empowered. It cannot be enacted as law. So, the seal doesn't do anything to the contents of the letter, right? The same thing that you write in the letter are there without the seal and with the seal. But only when the seal is put on the letter does it become empowered. Only when the king enters the kingdom does the kingdom come to life. This is the idea. So, it's not that there's two Buddhadharmas, that there's one kingdom and then this other king comes

[44:27]

and creates another kingdom. It's the same kingdom. It's the same world. But what Bodhidharma did was... So, yes, of course, as you know, there had been Buddhism in China for hundreds and hundreds of years before Bodhidharma came to China. But what Rujing is saying is that when Bodhidharma came to China, he brought with him the elixir of life that took those teachings which were kind of laying there. They were all true, the teachings. They were all true. They were all real. But they weren't able to be enacted in a lively way and transform people's lives until Bodhidharma came, he's saying. So, in other words, this essential, what can we call it, essential authentic feeling for life, lively reality that came when Bodhidharma brought to China, that represents the Zen, in this case, he doesn't mean

[45:28]

like our school, our sect. He means the liveliness of the Dharma itself. Because as we all know, there can be perfectly good religious teachings, but without inspiration and enlivening, they're just kind of laying there, as my friend Phil Whalen says about a bad poem, it's just kind of laying there on the page. It's just laying there on the page. It has to come to life. And so those sutras are laying there on the page until somebody brings them to life. That means you and me. Everybody. We have to bring them to life. We make them come alive. Otherwise, it's relics. Nothing useful. So, Dogen, I guess, I'm reading between the lines. Dogen hears that and says, I can understand that. That's really good. But let me ask further. Let me go into this a little bit more.

[46:29]

Nowadays, elders of different monasteries say that only direct experience without discrimination, hearing the unhearable and seeing the unseeable, this kind of Zen experience of like, you know, all of a sudden, hearing the sound of the bell, or like I was saying earlier, hearing the bird, this kind of powerful experience of immediacy, where there's no discrimination. People say nowadays that that kind of direct experience is the way of the Buddha ancestors. So, they hold up a fist or a whisk, they shout at people, or they beat people up with sticks, and they think that, and they say, you know, that's Buddhism. This kind of teaching, I think, really is baloney. What do you think? Because he saw that. This is why he couldn't find a teacher that he believed in in China,

[47:31]

because he would go to these places. And I remember, you know, I feel, you know, I shouldn't say this, I suppose, but I know that I have gone to hear Korean Zen masters teach sometimes. Now, not hundreds of Korean Zen masters, not even fifty, or even twenty-five, two or three Korean Zen masters, who were really, I mean, you could see that they were really good people, and really good Zen masters, and their practice was deep and everything like that. But, it was so theatrical, and so, what's the word, canned, you know, like they would go and they would hit their stick and say, you know, what is it, or something like that, you know. And then, of course, everybody would be terrified, like, oh, let's say anything. But to me, it seemed like, you know, wow, I mean, so give me a stick, I'll hit one too. And

[48:33]

it's very formalized, and this is a tradition, you know, it's an Asian way of doing things, like, and I know, and I have friends, you know, this is one of the things, you learn a lot from your friends. I have a lot of buddies, you know, or Dharma teachers, in the Korean tradition. And they say, yeah, that's right, you have to say the right answer, at the right time, in the right way, with the right intonation, and the right, you know, shouting, you got to shout the right way, and so forth and so on. Well, I mean, not to say that that's nothing, you know, shouting the right way at the right time, I mean, after all, why not? There's a way to hit a baseball too, right? So I don't mean to denigrate that. But, to me, it's not the greatest thing. That's not what I'm interested in. Exactly. I'm too old now. There you go again. There I go again. But anyway, this is what Dogen saw. Because even in China, in those days, where did the Koreans get it? The Koreans got it from the Chinese. The Koreans actually have probably preserved,

[49:35]

better than the Japanese, some of the styles of Tang and Sung dynasties in. So, I have a feeling for what it was that Dogen experienced, by experiencing some of these contemporary Korean Zen masters. So Dogen, having steeped himself in Buddhism, which is so richly, you know, the teachings of the Buddha Dharma are richly complex and intelligent and many dimensional. So, yes, this shouting is nice, but, you know, come on, there's more to Buddhism than that, right? He says to Ryujin. What do you think about this? So, further, and then he also says, furthermore, this is Dogen still, furthermore, these teachers don't allow students to inquire about the essentials of Buddhist guidance. And they discourage practices that aim to bear fruit in future birth. Are these

[50:35]

teachers really teaching the way of Buddha ancestors or not? So, in other words, in those places they shout, and you have to shout in the right way and everything. And then when you say, well, but, you know, I was reading this sutra and I'm wondering about how to work with anger and I'm thinking about, you know, ethical conduct and they say, forget it. You know, like, never mind. So then, Dogen says, but wait a minute, you know, like, what about all these things in Buddhism, you know, about ethical... and all these things about cultivating the mind of awakening and letting go of afflictive emotion and all these things that go on and on. Buddha's talking about all these sutras and everything. They're telling us to ignore all that. That doesn't sound right to me. What do you think? So, and also, you know, even in our own wonderful lineage, which is perfect in almost every way, even in our own lineage, one of the things that one of our mantras is, like Suzuki Roshi was, this was his thing that he always talked about, no gaining idea.

[51:36]

Right? You practice just for the practice. You don't practice because there's going to be any results in the future. Right? So, here he's saying, but what about, you know, practices that aim to bear fruit in future births? What about the practices that we should do so that we can get better, you know, better karma, you know, better results in future births? What about those practices? I mean, I learned that we're supposed to do all those practices. And now these guys are shouting and hitting, and they're throwing all this out? So, Van Rujing's answer is really interesting, I think. And again, you have to think about it for a minute. Van Rujing said, to deny that there are future births is nihilism. Buddha ancestors do not hold to the nihilistic views of those who are outside the way. Then he says,

[52:38]

if there is no rebirth, then there cannot be any present birth. We know that the present birth exists. How could it be that the next birth doesn't also exist? We have been followers of the Buddha for a long time. How can we hold views that are outside the way of the Buddha? To teach students the power of the present moment as the only moment is a skillful teaching of the Buddha ancestors. But this doesn't mean that there is no future result from practice. If you believe there is no future result of practice, then you won't study with teachers, and Buddhas won't emerge in the world. Just listen to what I'm saying here and realize it for yourself. If we do not have trust in future results, and so do not practice the way of enlightenment, we would be like the people from the world of Uttarakura. In that world, no one can ever receive

[53:39]

the Buddha's guidance, and no one is ever awakened. That's by definition a world in which practice is not possible. So this is interesting. So he's saying, yes, we should practice in the traditional way, cultivating what's wholesome and eliminating or trying our best to let go of what's unwholesome so that we can have a happier mind in future births. Now, you have to hear, not get hung up on the question of rebirth and reincarnation and future births and in a past life I was such and so and so and so. I think that, not to say that that's not all useful and true, but that's not the point really here. The point is that what is meant by past and future births is simply the reality of karma. He's saying that you must acknowledge the

[54:39]

reality of the realm of karma and practice within that realm. That is what Buddha taught. In other words, you must acknowledge that the actions that you do in this present moment have effects. Future birth might mean the next moment of your life or five years from now or ten years from now or ten lifetimes from now. The point is, right now your actions are not gratuitous actions that go up in smoke and disappear. Your actions are indelibly decisive actions that have results and therefore it's important that you consider how you act. Buddhism is a teaching that discusses in many ways, skillfully, how to take care of mind and body and speech in such a way that you can, as much as possible, do acts that are positive and have positive results and let go of acts that are negative and have negative results.

[55:40]

You need to do that. Anybody who tells you that Buddhist practice has nothing to do with that and it's only about being in the immediate present moment without anything, without this dimension, they're wrong. Instead of saying being in the immediate present moment and practicing that is good. It's not that there's something wrong with that. That's a good skillful means and that's actually the powerful tool of the Zen school as a separate sect of Buddhism. The Zen school kind of like invented this method of intense, intense, intense sitting practice to the point where you could have an immediate turning experience of reality. So that's really important, he's saying. That's skillful means, skillful teachings of Buddha's ancestors. But that doesn't mean that this other dimension of action and result and karma is not important. It's very, very important and you can

[56:41]

never forget about that, never deny that. So, do not ever believe for a minute that one's actions are not effective in operating on the relative world of time and space. Take care of that. That is a big part of Buddhist practice. And furthermore, if you don't believe in that, if you don't practice in that way, then eventually there won't be any beneficial Buddhism, Buddhadharma, emerging in the world and helping people. So, in Dogen, really, this was, for the rest of his life, a crucial theme of Dogen. This is what makes Dogen Zen to some extent different from other schools of Japanese Zen. Because in other schools of Japanese Zen, even other Soto schools that don't emphasize Dogen so much, there is this kind of emphasis on a turning experience in the present moment

[57:42]

at the expense of the rest, the fullness of the teaching of Buddhadharma. So, here at Zen Center we made a very, from the very beginning, Suzuki Roshi taught all kinds of Buddhist texts and so on. And when we, in some places, in Zen places, they don't allow you to study the Dharma, to sutras and everything. They say, forget about it. No books are allowed here. There's monasteries in Japan where you can't bring a book in. It's like contraband, you know. You can't bring a book because you're not allowed to study there. But here we have determined that study is a part of our practice, a part of our life. And the more we know about the Buddhadharma, the more sutras we read and the more we reflect on the teachings of Buddha, the better it is. And that our practice is not just the Zen trip, but it's really the Buddhadharma trip. It's all of the teachings of Buddha. And this, Rujing says that very thing in this text. And so many of Dogen's writings

[58:44]

are highly critical of the typical Zen way of doing things, the way of understanding things. He's always taking typical Zen sayings and turning them upside down. And saying that it's just the opposite of the conventional wisdom of Zen. Because this point about karma and really and truly when you think about it in the long run for your life, it's those are the teachings. Those are the teachings. The teachings of the so-called gradual way or the Hinayana way. Those are the teachings that in the long run we really need for our lives. Because it's great to do one or one hundred intensive sessions and give yourself to intensive Zazen. That's really wonderful. And have many experiences. Awakening experiences and all kinds of deep experiences of the mind. That's essential and very very important.

[59:47]

But in the end you can do a lot of that and then walk out of the meditation hall and you don't know how to live. You don't know how to be with yourself or with others in a way that reflects the truth and reality of our lives. So that's the craft of the way that was referred to earlier. That's the craft of the way. The craft of the way is right now how do I conduct myself? How do I know how to live? How do I speak? How do I act? How do I work with the thoughts of my own mind? Who thinks about this? Working with the thoughts in your own mind. You have to work with the thoughts in your own mind. You have to be skillful. You have to understand how are you going to know how to relate intelligently to the thoughts in your own mind. Well you know that by your own experience and experimentation guided by the teachings of Buddhadharma which are very incredibly sophisticated and skillful on this point. So not every little thing that flies into your mind is gorgeous and wonderful, right? There's plenty of things that fly into your mind

[60:49]

that like, you know, where did that come from? Am I going to believe that or what? No way. No. Where did that come from? Let me study that thought, but let me not be like a victim of it. Boy, you know, my wife is a student of science, you know, and she says that it turns out that in evolution, in human evolution, one of the great advances in evolution was that human beings became really, really good at self-deception. Because in order to lie to others and dissemble with others, you need to be able to be convincing. And that's how you survive. You dissemble. And the best way to convince others that something is true is if you believe it yourself. And if that takes self-deception, then that's useful. So human beings have a tremendous capacity

[61:52]

for self-deception. So how are we going to know? So that means plenty of stuff that goes on in our minds is like confusion and self-deception. So, otherwise, why would we make so much trouble for ourselves? Why is it that people are constantly getting into trouble, you know? I mean like real trouble with their own minds because of confusion and self-deception. Who wants that? The people say, yeah, boy, I think I'm going to have a life that's really a mess. Because I think that would really be good. Nobody thinks that, right? Everybody thinks, well, who knows what they think. But there are messes, and they're not intentionally happening, right? Because of confusion and self-deception. So, therefore, it's obvious that we have to know how to work with our mind and understand our mind and have some sense of cultivation, right? And I feel that Buddhadharma is full of very good slogans and good advice and good

[62:53]

techniques, and then, of course, we have to make those alive. We have to be Bodhidharma in our own lives. Otherwise, so what? But if we do that, we can. And those are the practices that are really essential. And in the end, like I say, will matter more to us in our lives than other things. So, for my money, I'll take one person who reflects on the teaching and practices it in that way, and I'll... And, you know, if you... How do I mean to say? I'll give you ten enlightened Zen guys, and you give me one of those people, and I'll get a better deal. I think. That's my opinion. So that's why unenlightenment is better. The Zen draft. The Zen draft. Like football draft. Oh, the draft, right. That's right. Like, when you were a kid, did they still do this today, choosing up sides? Of course.

[63:54]

They still do that? They still do that. One guy picks the other guys to be on the team. So we have a draft. Trading. Trades, yeah. We have cards. There's cards. There's trading cards. I found this out. For the mounted police in the city of Oakland. Kids trade, like, cards, you know. There's ones for rabbis, too. Are there? Maybe it's not Zen cards. Yeah. Yeah. Trading cards. I've seen a Filipino card. Have you really? No. I think it was, I don't know if it was B. Nick Coy cards or Zen cards. Somebody should do this thing. Zen. We need Zen master cards. Zen cards. Anyway. Yeah, and then we could trade.

[64:55]

Well, I used to collect cards when I was a kid. Oh, I'm so nostalgic for that. With or without bubble gum. Yeah, that's right. In Zen, with the Zen cards, they would all be zero, you know. Okay. So, wasn't that a good answer on the part of Ruchi? So, where are we? Okay, I asked. So he's continuing with this. This is on the same line of questioning. I asked, teachers in the past and present talk about inherent knowledge. They liken it to a fish drinking water and immediately knowing whether it's warm or cold. So this is along the same lines of the emphasis on the immediate experience of Zen. Awakening is this kind of knowledge, they say, and this is itself enlightenment. I don't get that. If inherent knowledge is correct awakening, then all sentient beings will automatically

[65:57]

become completely enlightened, because all sentient beings already do have this kind of knowledge. Some people say, this is how it is, that all sentient beings really are beginningless, original Tathagatas. They say that only those sentient beings who become aware of their inherent wisdom, in other words, only those who become aware of it, right, are Buddhas, and those who are not aware of it are not. So are any of these things correct or what? I'm confused. And this is very much like his original question, right, that I mentioned a minute ago. If all sentient beings are Buddhas and they already have this innate knowledge, then everybody's already a Buddha and why do they have to practice? On the other hand, some people say, well, okay, they're all, everybody's already a Buddha, but only those who are aware of it, who become aware of their being Buddhas are really Buddhas and the rest of them aren't. So it's confusing. What do you think? Henry Jing says, those who say that sentient beings are already Buddhas

[66:58]

without practicing, are professing a belief in spontaneous enlightenment, enlightenment that doesn't depend on practice. This view is not at all in accord with the way. Wrong, wrong. To equate I with Buddha is to mistake unattainment for attainment and unattainment and unenlightenment for enlightenment. So the trouble with, so this is a very subtle matter here, right, he's saying that yes, it's true that sentient beings are already Buddhas, but when sentient beings profess that, the sentient being that they're speaking of is their

[68:01]

conceptual, isolated, atomized, egotistical self, which they're now saying is Buddha. That's exactly what Buddha isn't. So the person in the being of the person is Buddha, but in the manifestation of the person through the conceptual confusion, that's not Buddha. And if you validate that conceptual Buddha, that conceptual confusion as Buddha, you're making a big mess in the world. So let's be clear on this point. You have to practice the way, and you have to purify your life. You really do have to gain some purchase on the egotistical self and recognize it for what it is and work with it skillfully and as much as you can in this lifetime, really let it go and live based on another sense of who you are. When you can do that, then I'll give you your Buddha

[69:02]

diploma. Until then, just keep working on it and don't think that you can get away with murder by equating I with Buddha. So it's kind of a subtle point. So he's saying, yes, we are all Buddhas. That's really the truth. But if we think so, if we depend on that and plan on that, we can be sure that we're confused. Because we are all really and truly Buddhas is exactly why it's necessary that we do spiritual cultivation. And I'm really convinced, personally, that it is a necessity for every person in their life to do serious, committed spiritual cultivation. Now, everybody doesn't have to be Zen or do the things that we do here, or

[70:02]

even go to church every day or whatever it is. But I think that people really do need to turn the life of their lives in that direction, in whatever way they do. Otherwise, what hope is there for the world? Right? Which is getting so increasingly confusing and mixed up. And what hope is there for the individual life? Because, after all, if you're going to place your bets on this body and mind and ego, you will lose. Right? Definitely. Because life is a downhill journey. Right? It doesn't get better, it only gets worse. However, if you turn your light in the other direction, then it's a different story. You can live your life and everything can be useful to you, even

[71:02]

falling apart, even bad things happening. You can work with them and find a way to transform. So I'm convinced. This is my idea. I'm convinced that we all have to practice. And furthermore, I'm convinced that we all, in our way, are practicing one way or the other. And we have to help each other. We really have to help each other to practice and encourage each other. So, that's far enough, I think, in the text for today. Any last minutes? Once again, I'm going to become notorious for showing up late and talking the whole time and not letting anybody else talk. Sorry. Thank you. But we have a few minutes, yeah. The text we read before this, much more in Dogen's sort of poetic style, is part of our problem due to let's say a possibility that when he wrote this, he

[72:03]

wrote it in such a way that it depended upon the Japanese language itself, the games with Japanese languages, the innuendos of the Japanese language, the puns of the Japanese language, to get a lot of his ideas. Oh, sure. Yeah. Oh, sure. I mean, it would have been difficult for them too, but we have many more barriers to the text than they do. Yes, I have a lecture that I used to give where I go into details about Dogen's use of language and how he constructs his text and what those kinds of issues are. Somewhere in my files I forget it all now. Yeah. In what sense are we to understand Dogen when he says the dream, it's clear that the dream, within the dream, we all know what the first dream is, but why the second dream,

[73:03]

which is usually called reality, should be called a dream? In what sense does he mean it is a dream? Well, we think we know what reality is. And we think that things are separate, permanent, and hard and fast. And they're not. They really aren't. And because we look at things in that way, that's where we force all of our guesses. You're making a graceful exit there. Graceful exit. What did I say? Disappointment. Things aren't clear. That was it. That was the thing about they're not hard. That's right. That was upsetting to him. See, even at that early age, it's already too late.

[74:04]

That could be Dogen right there. Yeah, it probably is. It's probably like Dogen reborn. So, yes, it's vital that we recognize the real nature of reality. That it's not, things are not separate, they're not hard and fast, and they're not permanent. And we need to recognize that in order to be free of reality. And Dogen is calling that way of looking at reality a dream. And really, it is a dream. Because that's, a dream is like that, right? A dream is not permanent, not hard and fast, and things aren't separate. One thing flows into another in a dream, right? So, truly, the dreams that we have at night are the structure of them and the feeling of them is also in a different, slightly different realm.

[75:09]

The structure and reality of this world. And we don't know that. We have to know that. And so, basically, he's calling all of reality a dream, because all of reality is empty of any substantial thing that you can grasp. You know, I think we maybe discussed last time or the time before, that when you look at something close enough up, like that film, when you look at something close enough, it's just space. There's nothing there. Literally true in the physical world. And in the emotional world as well. When you look at something close up, it disappears. Because, fundamentally, you can't find it. And that is the nature of reality. That it's, in that sense, a dream. So, that's why he... I mean, it's a poetic use of language, but it's a very effective one, I think. Because it does express,

[76:11]

you know... Many things. Yeah. Many layers and levels to that. So, we awaken from a dream in a dream. And I was saying that I had, not so long ago, one of those dreams that, I don't know if I was discussing it in here, that... I don't know when it was, a couple months ago or something. One of those dreams when something, like, really difficult is going on and you're struggling with it in your dream. I can't remember what it was now, but I remember the experience of, oh, God, this is really... Oh, man, am I going to be able to... And then you wake up and all of a sudden... And the dream is so real that when you first wake up, you think, that's really what's... Then all of a sudden you realize, oh, that was a dream. I don't have to worry about that. It's completely a dream. And what a feeling of freedom and liberation. Whoa! It turned out it was just a dream. I don't really have to worry about that. I can get up and have breakfast and forget it.

[77:11]

Well, that's how it is in our lives. You see, if we're going to wake up within the middle of our dream, all the things that are weighing on our minds and so troublesome and so difficult, we can see as, I don't really need to worry about that. It's okay. And I remind myself of that many times a day when I get all overwrought and upset about, oh, no, I'm going to be late. Then I think, what's the difference? It's just a dream. I don't have to worry about it. I mean, I'll try to be on time, but why do I need to worry about that? That's self-deception. Yeah, I know. See, that's why we need each other. Did you ever have a dream, though, where you dreamed you woke up? I don't know. And then you woke up again? I don't think I ever did. Did you? You did. You are a very good dreamer. You have other people's dreams. I had some health.

[78:13]

You had a dream like that? Yeah, but I had, well, chemical health. Oh, chemical health. So, anyway, I hope that you're appreciating studying Dogen and getting a good feeling for him. He's a very wonderful, profound thinker when he's not being narrow-minded and sectarian. And we forgive him for that because we know that he didn't mean it. Was he an effective speaker also when he would read this Dream Within a Dream? Was he dramatic in his presentation? Is that known about him? I don't know, but it is. I would think so because there's a Japanese style of speaking and reciting which is highly theatrical and, what's the word,

[79:14]

stylized. Very stylized. And I think it's very likely that Dogen would have mastered that style and would have spoken in that way. The funny thing, I have some of my American Zen master friends who had Japanese teachers. I didn't have a Japanese teacher to any great extent, but people who have spent many years studying with a Japanese teacher. Suzuki Roshi didn't do that. He had his own little mannerisms which, when you know people who study with him, they also mimic his mannerisms, but they're not like that. But the theatrical, sort of no-play-like way of speaking, some American Zen teachers do that who study with Japanese teachers. So you can still hear it even now in contemporary times in America. And I'm sure that in Dogen's time it was even more formalized and stylized. So that's my guess. But I've never read anything about how he spoke or how he appeared personally. It's interesting. There wouldn't have been anything written about it because all writing about Dogen

[80:16]

would have been only hagiography. In other words, they would only write about him in the most... Nowadays we have an idea of writing about people in a very frank way, but it would have seemed completely unthinkable to write about a figure like Dogen in a very frank way, like Dogen farted. No way. No way. No such thing. Obviously, Dogen didn't even have an anus or genitals. This kind of thing. So that's why we don't know anything by writing. But that's my guess. I think we should quit this class. Laughter Here while we're behind. Laughter [...] They are in detention. Laughter Laughter

[81:12]

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