So I had a lovely time yesterday sitting, leading a one-day sitting at Green Gulch, which I haven't done in quite a long time and which we haven't had for quite a long time, allowing people to just come in. We had about 20 people from outside, the residential community, and without wearing masks, and it was wonderful. It's been quite a long time since we've been able to really see each other and be so quiet together. It was just a lovely day. I had also been ill. I had gotten this cold when I went down to Los Angeles to be with my daughter for her 30th birthday celebration. And she had a cold, so that's what I brought home. And spent quite a few weeks, actually, not going to the Zendo. because we were coughing so much. So I was able to go back a few days ago and not cough.

[01:16]

That was great. So anyway, that old saying about absence makes the heart grow fonder is certainly true. I've just been enjoying so much sitting there in that room, that big old barn. Such an amazing space. I hope all of you have either been in the old barn at Gringold, or will someday be able to do that. So what we're looking at still, and going kind of slowly as I think of it as savoring this amazing teaching by Dogenzenji of the Genjo Koan, as we've been hearing and I've been reading, is basically reality itself. our big mind, what Suzuki Rishi is called, Ri. We've been using those terms, Ri and Ji. So this is Ri, but also is Ji. It's both. So Genjo Koan is all-inclusive reality in all sides. So this week I want to finish discussing the comments on the third segment by Nichiara Bokusan, who, as you may remember, was a teacher of Kishizawa Ion,

[02:28]

who in turn was the teacher of Suzuki Roshi. So this is really family for us and I've been enjoying Bokasam Roshi's teachings quite a lot. He has a good sense of humor which certainly is something Suzuki Roshi also had and I think a lot of the folks who inherited Suzuki Roshi's style do enjoy the lightness of it, the joy of it, the humor. So I'm also going to add a few comments by Suzuki Roshi about these three segments after I finish with Boksan's comments. So last Sunday I introduced some important vocabulary words that appear often in Dogen's writings, as well as in other Mahayana sutras, which of course is where Dogen has learned his dharma, is from the Mahayana sutras. Along with everything else he read, he read quite extensively as a young boy and also as a young monk.

[03:29]

So he was very well educated, both in Chinese and Japanese. And he was well-versed in all of the Buddhist teachings, you know, first, second and third turning teachings. In particular, he is influenced by the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Flower Garland, meaning the Flower Garland Sutra, and by the Lotus Sutra. A lot of flowers, a lot of flowers in the Mahayana. So vocabulary words like existence and non-existence and transcendence of existence and non-existence show up in the Genjo Koan. And there's also the Dharmadhatu, which I talked about last time, which is the sphere or the realm of ultimate reality itself. And other words for the Dharmadhatu or Tathagata, which is personified in the person of the Buddha, the thus come, or thus gone one, an epithet for the Buddha. And then there was emptiness and dependent core rising, which are pretty much synonymous with one another.

[04:33]

Dependent core rising of form is emptiness, and emptiness is the dependent core rising of form. It's from the Heart Sutra. And then I showed you a picture of the gigantic, golden, pure Dharmakaya Buddha Vairochana in this huge figure that is somewhere in China. One of these days, I'd love to go see some of these giant Buddhist figures that apparently are throughout the countryside in China. So Vairochana Buddha is the embodiment that completely fills the Dharma Datu. So you have the giant, the complete reality is the Dharma Datu, the place is the place, and the person that lives in the place and completely fills it. is Bhairachana Buddha, the Cosmic Buddha. So all of this is essentialized in Zen by the word thus. You can kind of just boil it all down to thus. Or just this is it. The one reality that includes everything.

[05:36]

You know, the many as the one. So Boksan Roshi then tells us that what Dogen has expressed in all three of these segments hits the bullseye. of Genjo Kwan. He misses nothing as this arrow of Dogen's luminous understanding just passes right through the past and the present of the entire world, all three times, at a single glance. So I love this kind of imagery. We can't quite grok it, but you sort of get the poetic feeling of it. So therefore, as Dogen says, shallow and deep, high and low are not to be discussed. There's no comparison. Each thing in itself is complete and is part of reality itself. No one is left out. No thing is left out. And furthermore, the Buddha way is nothing but the Genjo Koan. And the Genjo Koan is nothing but the entire world.

[06:39]

So this is just kind of reminding us. I think the spinning around of these words, these vocabulary words, are really partly because that's how we need to learn. We really I don't know if we thrive on repetition, but we require it in order to learn. We need to be in a habit. We have to have a habit of mind to repeat things again and again, like folk songs. You learn them over time. Much like most of us learn the liturgy that we chant in the mornings, I'm always amazed at myself for knowing the Dahi Shandarani. I can just zip right through it along with everybody else. And I certainly did not learn it by sitting down and trying to learn it. Just every time, you know, for many, many days, after many years, there it is. It's still there somewhere in here. Some of my cells are holding the Dahi Shindirani, along with a number of other of these teachings. So, at this point in the Genjo Kwan, we are leaping clear of the many and the one.

[07:42]

of form and emptiness without abiding anywhere. So this is the meaning of practice, you know, and that it's the pivotal point of practice, is leaping clear of freedom. The whole point of all of this language is to help us to become free. And just as the Buddha said, that's one of the sayings that I remember and very fond of, that he said to the monks, just as the ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, my teaching has one taste, the taste of liberation. Just as the ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, my teaching has one taste, the taste of liberation. So then I, last week again, I shared with you a brief sample from the Avatamsaka Sutra, which is reported to be the way that Bhairo Chana, the gigantic golden Buddha, views what each of us is seeing right now. you know, the whole thing, the whole of reality.

[08:45]

So Vairachana has a pretty big viewing station with which to see reality because he is the personification of reality. So then this week, as I said, I want to spend this time looking at the third segment which, in Dogen's own words, is a somersault in which all of the three segments leap and pivot and spin and land firmly on the ground of the relative truth. So here are the three segments of altogether, one, two, and three. As all things, segment one, as all things are Buddhadharma, this is the lens of Buddhadharma, the teachings, there are delusion, realization, practice, birth and death, there are Buddhas and sentient beings. So that's the basic vocabulary of the Buddhadharma. And then the second paragraph, second segment, as myriad things are without an abiding self, no separation, nothing outside, nothing separate from anything else.

[09:47]

So in that situation, there is no delusion. There is no realization. There is no Buddha. There is no sentient being. There is no birth and death. So this is the segment that has to do with the teaching of emptiness. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no path, no suffering, no cause of suffering, and so on. So this is another part of our liturgy that we chant daily and I think is very impactful for those who first arrive at Zen Center to hear the Heart Sutras. I can remember in those first months of coming to Zen Center and reading that and just being absolutely I guess stunned comes to mind, kind of stunned. It's like, what is this? You know, I'd been to church. I'd read certain segments and heard sermons of the Bible and had some sense of kind of rational thinking or, you know, things that made sense to me.

[10:48]

This did not make any sense at all. I had the power of it. You know, it's got it pounding. We chant the Heart Sutra with the Mukugyo. The Mukugyo is the wooden, means the fish, the wooden fish. And the makugyo is being struck at a very high pace, a very rapid pace. And we did it this morning, yeah. Ava lo kiteshvara bodhisattva, when deeply practicing prajnaparamita, wisdom beyond wisdom, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus, thus relieved all suffering and so on. So this is the big no, the big emptiness teaching. That's segment number two. And then, segment number three, the Buddha way, in essence, is leaping clear of abundance and lack of the many and the one. And thus, big word thus, probably the most important of all the vocabulary words, thus, there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and Buddhists.

[11:51]

So everything comes back again in this third segment. So what's going on here? and then the final little uh sentence at the end there and yet an attachment blossoms fall and in aversion weeds spread so in segment three dogon tells us that the essence of the buddha way is leaping clear of dualistic concepts such as abundance and lack you know such as me and you such as right and wrong you know all these dualistic concepts, light and dark. And then he says, thus, you know, once you've left clear of dualistic concepts, you're free of them. Thus, at that time, there are birth and death. There is delusion and realization. There are sentient beings and Buddhas. But it's a different kind of experience in that after you've gone through the negation, then you come back to an acceptance or an affirmation, which has changed.

[12:56]

by having passed through negation. Something has changed. You know, in the image of the Yogacara teachings, they use a mountain, climbing a mountain. So in the beginning, you know, you're just driven, you're craving some relief from your suffering. And so someone tells you, well, if you climb this mountain, you know, this Buddhist teaching mountain, and you sit a lot of zazen, and eventually you'll get to the top, and you'll see that there's nothing there. There's nothing here, and that you'll be free. So you go to the top of the mountain and you have this experience of non-imagination, meaning you're not dreaming, you've stopped dreaming, you've stopped imagining things, you've stopped projecting what you imagine on the world and on the people around you. You know, and there's a tremendous relief, like this is dropping body and mind, like Dogen had that experience of dropping, like at the top of the mountain everything drops away. Nothing holds, just all falls away. But, You can't live there. You know, I often say to people, there is no snack bar at the top of the mountain.

[14:00]

You know, we humans can't live there where there are no things. So we, out of compassion, we come back down. From the top of the mountain, we come back down to the village. But there's something's changed in us. Something's happened to us. You know, we've sort of seen through the illusory nature of reality. And with that knowing, knowing that what we're seeing is an illusion, but still seeing it, not like it went away, it's still there. We come back to the village to express that and to hopefully to offer those teachings or that insight experience to others who then are encouraged to take the journey up the mountain and so on. So wisdom takes us up the mountain and then compassion brings us back to the other side. So this third segment is about the compassionate, the return to where there are things, there are birth and death, there is suffering, there are sentient beings, there are delusions and enlightenment and so on, you know, that we've returned, returned to the marketplace with gift-bestowing hands.

[15:05]

So, this word thus, for Zen Buddhists, is shorthand for the all-inclusive universe as it is manifesting in the present moment. You know, just this is it. Just this is it. Elusive. very hard to hold on to the present moment, you know. Very hard, very tricky, very tricky. So you might also recall that this word thus is from, is used as kind of pivotal in the first koan in the Book of Serenity, for those of you familiar with the koans. That's a wonderful koan. That first one is somewhat accessible, like many of them I just kind of skip over, but there are some that I feel like, oh, I think I kind of understand. This one. So the first koan is called, you know, the world-honored one ascends the seat. So the scene is, the Buddha is going to give a talk, and so he gets up on the Dharma seat. And then the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, points at him.

[16:10]

And he says to the congregation, Behold, the Dharma, the king of the Dharma, the Dharma of the king of the Dharma is thus. Okay, there's that big word, thus. And when Manjushri says that, the Buddha gets down from the seat. So most likely what's going on here is the Buddha is teaching all of us through this intimacy he has with the Bodhisattva of wisdom that no one, not even Manjushri, can point at the Buddha sitting on a chair and say thus. You know, thus cannot be pointed at. It's everywhere and it's everything. So, no, that is not, that is not thus. Thus is, you know, we don't have enough fingers to point to thus. All things are just this, just this. So therefore, in this third segment of the Genjo Koan, in which we are instructed to leap clear of dualistic concepts, leaping clear itself has to be understood as non-dualistic.

[17:18]

It sounds like leaping clear would free you from duality. Think a little deeper, as Dogen does in everything he says. Well, leaping clear, that sounds like separation. So think more of a frog. A frog goes up and then comes back down. So leaping is more like an exercise that we do to get a better perspective on things, to get a better look at that. dualistic proposition that we've just been stuck inside of. So leaping can't be separated from the one who leaps or from what the one is leaping from. And that is because leaping clear doesn't make any sense except in relationship to all other things. So in the case of these first segments of the Genjo Koan, one is leaping clear of the duality of existence in segment one and non-existence in segment two. That's the leap from segment one, segment two. And yet leaping clear doesn't separate one from anything.

[18:20]

It merely gives us, as I said, a better view of what's going on down there. What have I been doing? What have I been thinking? Was that dualistic? Was I separating things? Was I separating myself from others? What was I dreaming just then? The leaping is perspective, is to get perspective. So therefore, in the way that Dogen sees it, the word thus allows what appears from the vantage point of leaping to be seen in a purified form. So this wisdom that comes from the non-imagination at the top of the mountain is able to see both the base of the mountain on both sides, the side that was based in the ignorance of not understanding reality but wishing and therefore climbing the mountain. And the other side, which out of compassion has an understanding of reality and wants to share that understanding with suffering beings who don't understand why they're suffering or what's causing their suffering. They don't understand that it's caused by ignorance and desire for things.

[19:25]

So what's been purified is that the illusion, such as this illusion of birth and death, is seen as an illusion. And the illusion of delusion itself and realization are illusions. And the illusion of sentient beings and Buddhas are illusions. So they don't go away. The illusions don't vanish because we see them for what they are. But we can smile and say, oh my gosh, that's an illusion. That's amazing, that trick that's being played on my perceptions, you know, almost all the time. So you probably remember this well-worn saying in which, as a beginning student, we first see mountains as mountains, and that they're way over there. And then upon realization of the emptiness of mountains and the true nature of reality, the mountains are no longer mountains. They're much more complicated, much more interesting, and not subject to naming

[20:28]

just call it a mountain and that's be done with it soon as you start climbing you know it's not just a mountain like holy cow you know you can't find the mountain when you're on it so mountains are no longer mountains and then once again after realization after this insight one has into the true nature of reality there's an even deeper realization that mountains are mountains again it's okay and we can go for hike with our friends to the summit So we're back in a kind of normal, everyday world with a really deepened sense of what the true nature of the everyday world is. You know, this form and emptiness, Ri and Ji. You're beginning to weave together. You know, like the last step, if you remember from Dongshan's five ranks, the last of the five ranks is when these two, the ultimate truth, Ri, and the relative truth, Ji, are woven together as one weave. Just one weave, reality itself. Really, I mean, I think you may be getting the hang of it, that this is all the teachers are talking about all the time.

[21:35]

You know, how to bring ultimate realization together into language, which is in the form of relative truth. How do we bring these together in order to help us understand and experience this transformation? It's experiential. The words are just basically fingers. The words are fingers pointing at the Moon of Realization. So what kind of words do we need to help us to really have an experience of what we really are, where we are, and what we're here to do? Buddha was a physician. He was a healer. And he was basically offering these teachings as a way of healing us from the split of being separate, seeing ourselves as separate. So Nishi Araboko-san uses the example of a lotus flower, which lotus flowers, you know, the seeds blow out of the lotus pods and then they go back into the water and they're buried, they're buried into the mud at the bottom of the pond.

[22:36]

And then when they sprout, the stalk of the lotus grows up to the surface of the pond where it flowers, these beautiful lotus flowers that are in the top of the pond. If the lotus seed were stuck in the mud, if it didn't flower, then it couldn't grow. Or if it were completely freed from the mud and from the pond, it would dry out and it would perish. So in other words, for us, just like the lotus flower, being attached to the world is no good. And being separated from the world is no good. So not being separate and not being attached is what Dogen means by going beyond, leaping beyond. You're not attached and you're not separate. This is our dual citizenship in the ultimate and in the relative truth. And it's because of going beyond, because of leaping clear, that all dharmas are true dharmas. So he also says that this truth can only be understood by those who have departed from all views and attained

[23:43]

true liberation. It cannot be seen with the eyes of those who are striving to be enlightened." I thought that was an interesting point, which I've heard before, but I thought every time I read it I go, yeah, that's right. It cannot be seen with the eyes of those who are striving to be enlightened. The Genjo Kuang comes forth when this eagerness for enlightenment is removed. So he then adds about the fundamental nature of both enlightenment and delusion that enlightenment I thought this was really interesting. I'd never thought of this before, but it really seems like an important point. Enlightenment does not heat water. You can't heat water with enlightenment. And delusion does not lower mountains. And so maybe we humans get a little carried away about ideas we have of the kind of power that comes along with awakening. You know, whoa, it's like a superpower. Well, you can't even heat water with enlightenment. I mean, it's not much of a superpower, is it? It might make you a little nicer. That would be good.

[24:44]

A little more understanding of why your friends are suffering or why you've been suffering. But it won't heat water. So I think most of us were hoping for something a little more remarkable that would happen if we were to become enlightened, some kind of miraculous appearance. And then Boksan has this to say to his monks about that. When one gets enlightened, you might think that you can eat five bowls of rice and have a luxurious time sitting on top of the altar where the flowers are being offered. However, even if you get enlightened, you would still be criticized if you did something wrong. And you wouldn't be given anything to eat if you were too lazy. You should know that there are delusion and enlightenment even within enlightenment. There are enlightenment and delusion even when we are deluded. So they keep mixing. Everything gets mixed back in. I like the image of making bread. If you ever bake bread, it's just a wonderful, wonderful thing to do.

[25:45]

You know, you get this big, soft, gooey blob of dough that you... you press in and you you need it and so on and so forth then sometimes some of the dough goes out different directions and you just bring it back into the center and you keep pulling it back into the center and so on and you keep working with it so it's basically this practice of just bring it all but whatever way you go just bring it back into the middle and just keep going keep bringing things back to the middle so that you can get your hands there and you can be centered in the work that you're doing So enlightenment and delusion are two of those things. Just bring them both back in to the middle of the dough. Whichever way you're tending to drift or lean, come back to upright, come back to straight up. So the point that Boksan is making here about this last segment of the Genjo Koan is that freedom takes place within and because of the dynamic working of going beyond.

[26:45]

So this is the twin foci that we've been talking about. You know, right there in the middle of the two foci of delusion and enlightenment without making either one of them disappear. You know, these are two points of view. Being and non-being naturally drop off right from where they are. They don't need to be pushed. They're already gone. Things already drop away. We just don't see it. You know, we're not looking carefully enough. All things drop off right from where they are. And each and every moment, gone, gone, gone. Making room for the next, right? Everything makes room for everything that's coming. We're pretty good at navigating this change, this continuous change. But we're not very good at noticing it. We think there's continuity. Or we think that yesterday, oh, there was yesterday, where is it? There will be tomorrow, but where is it? So we have stories, we have language about before and after, but we have no experience of it.

[27:50]

Because really, we only live right now. We're only here in the present. And that's both the good news and it's also frustrating. The nice thing about the body, having a body, which is something I've noticed in being a sitter all these years and sitting in my body, is that your body is always in the present. You know, it can't get out. It can't go anywhere else but right here. And its demands are right here, with the things that are here, like water and food and friends and so on, and a place to sit. It's just the mind that loves to zoom around, you know, all kinds of ideas about what's happening or what happened and that sort of thing. So all things drop off, right from where they are, in each and every moment. The Buddha's eye, the eye of wisdom, sees the all-inclusive Dharmadhatu, the abode of Vairacana Buddha, beyond a dualistic view of delusion and enlightenment. Genjo koan does not sort out or choose delusion over enlightenment.

[28:56]

It's just that from the point of view of the Genjo koan, those who are deluded are deluded. And those who are enlightened are delighted, are enlightened. A flower is a flower, a fish is a fish, delusion is delusion, enlightenment is enlightenment. There's no argument. It's just what it is. Just as it is. There's no comparison. There's no contrast. And all of those things include each other. Enlightenment includes delusion, and delusion includes enlightenment. So, What if anything, we might ask, is the difference between delusion and enlightenment? Why bother if it's already all included and it's the all inclusiveness of these two things? What is it that's driving us to try and make some distinction there? Try to accomplish something in our practice? Well, the next line is sort of the answer to that. It's just that, in attachment blossoms just fall, and in aversion weeds just spread.

[29:58]

So then Boksang goes on to play with us a little bit about this last line that follows segment three. And he asks his monks, you know, this was probably a lecture he gave that's been written out here. So he's asking his monks, so for what reasons do blossoms fall? And for what reason do weeds spread? Is it for our human preferences? And do grasshoppers object when weeds spread and make a bigger home for them to hop around in? Or does a dog object to blossoms falling as they lie sleeping under a cherry tree in the spring? It's the humans for whom the blossoms are falling when we're attached to them. You know, oh no, it's the end of spring. And it's for the humans that the plants that we call weeds are spreading all over our beloved gardens. Falling blossoms and spreading weeds arise from our loving and our hating. So these are the ordinary views of this human life. And yet falling and spreading, if we look closely, are the true nature of flowers and weeds.

[31:05]

They're just doing the thing that they are born here to do, just like us. So they and we are Genjal Koan without the tiniest bit of a separate self. Books on Roshi suggest we consider flowers as a symbol for enlightenment and weeds as a symbol for delusion. And that ordinary beings dislike the weeds of delusion and they run after the flowers of enlightenment. So this view of grasping and rejecting creates a false reality that then turns around and runs after you. So all the more you try to get rid of it, the faster it runs. I don't know if you all remember the story of Angulimala, which comes to mind right now in saying that about being chased. But Angulimala had been a very lovely young child who had a bad prediction that he would become a mass murderer when he grew up. And his parents, being horrified by that prediction, sent him to a sage to be raised and trained.

[32:10]

And he became his top student. And at some point, the other students became jealous of this. His name was, actually his parents also named him Ahimsa, which means non-harming. Again, to try and counteract this prediction. So Ahimsa, who is the best student, creates this jealousy among the other students. So they start gossiping among themselves and spreading the rumor that Ahimsa was flirting with the teacher's wife. The teacher called them liars. He said, you're lying. He would never do that. But it ate at him. And how that does when somebody gossips with you about somebody and you kind of can't forget it. Anyway, the teacher couldn't forget it until he started to believe it. And so then he gives a test to Ahimsa. He tells him, you need to bring me a necklace with a thousand fingers in order for me to confirm your enlightenment. You know, and Ahimsa faints when he hears this assignment. But then he wakes up and he fails the test because he goes off into the forest and begins

[33:15]

taking fingers not not that were not volunteered given to him voluntarily until he's got 999 fingers on his necklace so he only needs one more his name now is Angulimala which means a thousand fingers and the Buddha hears about this madman so he is utterly mad at this point and he goes into the forest to try and talk with him to meet with him Although everyone warns him, you know, don't go in there. And Angulimala sees the Buddha and he thinks, ah, my last finger. So he starts chasing after the Buddha. And he chases him and he chases him. And the Buddha just keeps walking slowly. And Angulimala is running as fast as he can and he can't catch the Buddha. He can't close the distance between himself and the Buddha. There's still this gap, right, the familiar gap between the self and the other, delusional. So finally Angulimala falls to the ground, he's exhausted, and he yells out, stop, stop. And the Buddha turns around and says to him, you stop.

[34:19]

Which he does. He regains his sanity, and he becomes a disciple of the Buddha, and the conclusion of the story, and this is, you know, this is the story. I'm not going to change the ending, because it's... Terrible. But anyway, the conclusion of the story is when they go to the village where Angulimala had... Fu's computer just shut off. And she's going to... Try to come straight back. Hold on. You're going to take my computer. Hold on. Thank you. I have no pride. Much better. Are you on? No, I'm not on. I'm not on there. So you can't get on. Oh, how can I? Can you hear me? You guys hear me? Yeah, it's right at the end of the story.

[35:23]

Let's start the video and see what we can see here. Wow, that's a great magic. Okay, so where was I? Oh, Angulimala. So thank you, Karina. Okay. Did the story crash the computer? So, anyway, what's happening? So on Ghulimala, oh, they go to the village where he had taken some fingers from some of those people, and they recognize him, and they stone him to death. But while he's... dying, he doesn't have any remorse, or he has remorse, but he doesn't have any bad feeling about the villagers. He accepts that this is the karma of his actions, and he understands that this is what he has come to, you know, as the result of his delusions. So, that's going to be all I can say, because... Oh, wait a minute, maybe I can say more.

[36:28]

Oh, great. Life is... Moving forward here. I think what happened is my battery was dead. So now I've got my thing back again. I'm going to go back on Zoom. Karina, you can have your computer back. Thank you. Where are you? I'm here. There you are. Right here. There we are. It wasn't painful, but it was quite strange. Okay.

[37:30]

Why did I say that? Oh, because running after. We run after this. You know, we're running after Buddha. We're going to get enlightened. And meanwhile, you know, we have neglected, you know, there's another good saying, like, you say you're innocent while clutching the loot, you know, the bag of money. You say you're innocent while clutching the loot. So we're not looking at where we need to look. We need to look at ourselves, at our delusional patterns. That's where our awakening is going to come. It's going to come from delusion. It's not going to come from getting a hold of the Buddha. It's like, well, now I got you, then you can do it for me. You know, there's no Buddha outside there. There's no Buddha anywhere other than inside of you, each of you, right? So the more that we seek for enlightenment, the further away it seems to be. And yet on the other hand, if we're not bound by love or hate, awakening by itself will become bright and clear. You know, just unbind from love and hate, from preferences. For those who do not fall into the duality of love and hate, there is no blooming or falling.

[38:35]

So now that's only possible because it's already so. Because in truth, in reality itself, there are no defilements. There are no weeds to bind us. And there is no enlightenment. There are no flowers to depart from us. And there's no despair over birth and death for those who see birth and death as the life of the Buddha, of an awakened life. That's how our life is. It has birth and it has death. You know, all the time, every moment, coming and going. And when we don't despair of that, when we actually accept that without complaint, I wish it was otherwise, we actually rest in what's called nirvana, utter contentment with the way things are. So at the time of enlightenment, weeds are weeds. And at the time of delusion, flowers are flowers. And then Suzuki Roshi says, he asks us in his commentary on this section, the secret of all the teachings of Buddhism is how to live in each moment. How to be absolutely free, moment after moment, in all the activities of our daily life.

[39:42]

This is the theme of the Genjo Koan, he says. And then he says, who is Buddha? Buddha is someone who understands delusion. And who are people? People are deluded about enlightenment. In fact, there's nothing to understand but delusion for an enlightened person. There is nowhere else to go. The only way we have is to share our joy of deeper understanding with other people and to join in a worldly life with a sincere effort. Feet on the ground. And then he says, I will be very glad, says to his students, I will be very glad if you have some joy in practicing together here. So this is actually Buddhism. It is not a matter of enlightenment or understanding. So as long as you try to find your true nature by practice, you cannot find it. But if you find your true nature in practice, or if you think that practice itself is your true nature, that is awakening.

[40:48]

You cannot escape from ignorance to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is not somewhere else. To know what ignorance is, is enlightenment. So this is Suzuki Rishi again. We should not be disturbed by the words ignorance or enlightenment. If we understand ourselves completely, there is no special thing called enlightenment or called ignorance. Ignorance is enlightenment. Enlightenment is ignorance. And then he says, you should be absorbed in practice until you become one with practice, until you build up your character by practice, until you become Zen practice itself, like a rock. That is enlightenment. A rock doesn't know what it is. I like that. So next week I'm going to move on to the second paragraph of the Genjo Koan that begins with, to carry the self forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.

[41:51]

This is a really powerful and important teaching by Dogen Senji. So that's it for now. And I would really enjoy hearing from any of you any comments or questions or offerings that you have for this afternoon. Hi, Phu. Good to see you. Good to see everyone. I'm very taken with the power of no in a million different ways because of all the things that come up that pretty much are no, don't go there.

[43:02]

You know, it's not like there's an answer to the question. It's just like, don't ask the question. It's kind of like the koan with, does the dog have Buddha nature? Yeah. It's kind of like the question is... No, don't ask that question because that, you know. So I'm really, I'm really happy about that in my questioning and meandering because I just get to the point where I just say, no, no, just like, no. Yeah. No, no, no. No, thank you. No, thank you is good.

[44:02]

Yeah. You know, so I really appreciate. It's kind of. It's very liberating. Yeah, it is because there are just all of these things that we just hang on to. And it. It's just all these details that just kind of are there all the time. And I guess the idea that I have is just the overall picture and how we are part of it, but we're not separate from it. everything just kind of keeps moving. I mean, it's almost like a reflection of like looking under a microscope and watching an amoeba, you know, just kind of doing its nebulous thing, but it's still.

[45:16]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. That's why I picked a jellyfish from my retirement image. Okay, let's just get real soft bodied here and, you know, float. It's just upside down. My jellyfish floats upside down. So, you know, whatever we need, whatever we need to bring ourselves back, you know, from sinking. I think we naturally float, but I think sometimes we get weighted down with the sorts of things you're talking about, these concepts of these negative energies. You know, no isn't negative. It's more like powerful, just like, oof. It's really energizing. It's not really negative. It's more like kind of feels like don't bother. we could talk about that a little bit. I think we should bother. I think we should not go too far. I mean, that's why the rescue remedy of the Yogacara came along because there was a tendency for the monks, the students to get a little bit in the don't bother side of no, like, well, then why bother?

[46:31]

Why bother to go to this end? Why bother to practice? You know, I didn't mean it that way. Don't know. Not at all. No. I meant the don't bother of getting involved with those thoughts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's kind of like they are going nowhere. There you go. Don't get bothered. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's really, that's really good. And it's a really powerful practice for a long time. I think that was really just what was the most healing was that Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. Just so satisfying. And then at some point you need a little more explanation. You know, no's great. You know, the second, the first koan in the Blue Cliff Record, I think it is, is does the dog have Buddha nature? No, bad question. And the second one is when the teacher tells the students that a person of the way is not subject to cause and effect, you know, which is that going too far.

[47:36]

uh and so then he's reincarnated as a fox for 500 lifetimes right right right so that's the corollary to know it's like well what about no is it all no it's like well actually no it really means there's an affirmation there which is you have to pay attention to your behavior and the consequences of your actions they really matter the relative world matters so that's the relative truth side the no is the ultimate truth side helps you break that door down. And then the other one is, right, you got to come back in now. Okay, that was good. You did good. Now come back over here and deal with your behavior and the impact that it has on others. So, you know, the old fox monk asked the new abbot, well, how would you say it? I said, a person of the way is not subject to cause and effect. And the new abbot, the new Yakujo says, the person of the way does not ignore cause and effect. He's not ignorant. of the causes and the effects of their actions so that's a really different that's really different than no you know that's like you're aware of how things work and you are in alignment with that you're in harmony with that so you're not again separating yourself using no as a separating device you're actually you know invited to stay in the you got to stay in the in the game with with your loved ones with

[49:01]

people you don't like, you know, with everybody, you got to stay in the game because that's our vow. And so this is all good stuff, you know, really is. And I'm happy to hear you're finding some really relief with that practice. Alicia, nice to see you. Hi, Fu. How are you? It's good to see you. Good to see you. The Sangha, our Sangha here. You know, Fu, listening to you, it's such a profound experience listening to you discuss the Genjo Koan. It's so infinitely subtle. So I find myself at a loss of trying to find words because, well, that's what I want to bring up. I feel like I want to acknowledge the trap of the words themselves. I really get caught by that.

[50:05]

I was just writing some thoughts down and it's really easy for me to get caught by the words. And we need the words at the same time. And using the words itself creates the illusionary distinction of relative and absolute, where there is none. So it's so tricky for me. The words themselves are the delusion, in a way. Yes, and they're also the illumination. They're the light, right? So if Buddha hadn't said anything, if he just sat there in a tree, utterly content, and just, well, at the end of that yogi, nobody would have heard a thing about what he saw or how he... So he tried really hard to use words to express his understanding or his experience. And he knew it was limited. He hesitated to say anything. And he tried to enlighten people.

[51:06]

And, you know, he tried really hard. And he couldn't enlighten anybody. They had to enlighten themselves. They had to get it. You know, so he just kept talking and he kept talking. And eventually one of the ascetics... the one who was named Kandana, the one who knows, he kind of got it in the Buddha. You got it. That's it. You got it. And so then he and the Buddha would go to town and get food for the other ones and bring it back until, over time, all five of them woke up. And so, you know... If the Buddha had some magic trick for waking other people up for Dharma transmission, sometimes people think, oh, you didn't give me Dharma transmission. You didn't get it. You didn't wake me up and say, yeah, I wish I could. But each person has to figure out how to use the words to liberate themselves from the words to not leaping. I like that leaping. I think that's really helpful. Whenever you see yourself getting kind of stuck, then jump. Take a break. Go eat some ice cream.

[52:07]

Do something. Close the book. Because I totally recognize that we have to use the words. We have to use words. And at the same time, I feel like it's simultaneously creating a distinction where there is none. There is no delusion and nirvana. It's so weird for me because I feel like we're creating it and we're Also have to pull it apart at the same time. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. That's what makes it more fun. Oh, really? It's a somersault, right? It's the play of the mind, you know, the playfulness. In fact, one of the last images when you see the Dharma Transmission documents, you know, the last image is the playground. Like where you just are playing. You're just there and you're in play. You love kids. You like to hang out and eat ice cream. And you're just sort of like done with it.

[53:07]

You've stopped striving. You've stopped trying to get enlightened. You know, like Angulimala. You've basically given up seeking. And you're willing to, what the next paragraph is, that all things come forth and realize themselves through you. You've stopped doing that and you start receiving the word. And allowing it to impact you, allowing it to, you know, it's not about you understanding. It's about understanding is arriving and you're welcoming. You're the welcoming committee for wisdom and compassion. Now use me, please. You promise this will happen? Use me. I promise, I promise. Okay. I'll trust you. Oh, dear. Well, it says in one of the sutras, don't trust anything. I think that's very good advice. Before you sit on a chair, make sure it's going to hold your weight.

[54:09]

So I think that's wise, too. But anyway. Okay. Thank you. Okay. You're welcome. Marianne. Hello. Oh, Carmina, you tricked me. Finally got it down. You're getting good there. Yeah, well. No deluding you. Yeah, well, I don't be sure. I'm very struck by the fact that this lesson that we're learning is just another manifestation of the, how to put it, the foundation of world mysticism in each of the great religions. The fact that when something takes us to the top of the mountain, the insights there, and when we want to put the coronet of laurels on our head, we have a ride.

[55:17]

What we have to do then is go back down, put our feet on the ground, and share as we will by example and practice what our compassion brings us to do. That's right. And so it's nice that in some of these great religions, you know, besides Zen, there is that concept. But that happens, can happen to people. Yeah. Yeah. As they move, you know, beyond illusion, so to speak, that they will have their time on the mountain. But it's all to take you down again. Right. To use, to share what it is, you know, that.

[56:20]

That you had this brief insight into, you know, well, you know, as Marianne is pointing out here, you know, the whole business of John of the Cross and his nada, you know, the nothing and the nothing and more of the nothing. Yeah. And yet it's the way of our being, becoming bodhisattvas. So this is just an observation. Well, it's vocabulary, you know. I've been studying. We're going to be living with the Quakers up at Enso Village. Our project is a joint project with the Quakers. And I have been doing some research into their values. And they're beautiful. I mean, just like, okay, I'm with you. We don't have to call it Quaker and Zen and Catholic. We don't have to give it all these names. That's just more confusion. But it's about this experiential... knowing and the wish to help others. It's like, I remember when I was on the interfaith council in Marin, which I really enjoyed so much with the rabbis and the nuns and the, you know, imams and stuff.

[57:29]

And we were such good friends. And, you know, they would give, everyone would introduce something every month. Somebody would give a reading. And, you know, I said at one point, I said, we are not like-minded, but we are like-hearted. There's no doubt about it. We really do share this great compassion for the world, for the suffering of others. And there's just absolutely no question that all of us wanted the same things for the immigrants, for the children, for the homeless. I mean, it was just like, no question about it. Why are we separate? We're not going to get together here. We'd be much more powerful if we were a unity. You know, we fully had a sense of our... Our likeheartedness is the most important thing. So I love reading about the Christian mystics. I started there. I'm sure you did. I loved it. I love those girls. Thank you.

[58:33]

Thank you, Carmina. Nice to see you. Amir. Back in the little screen after seeing you in person yesterday. I think you might, you're not audible. Maybe you need to unmute. Sorry. I mean, yeah, I'm back here. Yeah. Yeah. They sat me like right there. I was like, what does this mean? I'm like important or just random? I think so. I think so. I can see you like right over here. No, that was great. Yeah. So. Tying a little bit with what you and Alicia were saying. I mean, like Suzuki Roshi and Dogen, you know, we were reading self-fulfilling samadhi. I mean, at the end of the day, it's all about sitting. Like, just sit. So, I mean, why are we even talking about any of this? Why are we just sitting? I'm with you on that.

[59:35]

Because, as one abbot said... If I just say, just sit, there's going to be weeds growing at the monastery gate. Nobody will come in, you know. So you have to kind of be a bit of a shell. Come on in. You know what's going to get in here. If you come in here, you're going to get a little bit of the ginjo, whatever. So we do a dance. We do a little entertainment, you know, for the kids. I was entertained. I was very entertained by the Zen teachers that I saw, by what they wore and by, you know, what they said and their humor and the ritual. So, you know, it's smoke and magic. But really, sitting is what they're all, where they all come from and where they all suggest we all go. It's just be with yourself, with others, and just you'll find it. It's all there. It's all right there, you know. But the Buddha talked. He said things because he could see people weren't going to just figure it out.

[60:39]

It took him a long time to figure that out by himself. He spent long years suffering his fear of aging and death. So when he finally became free, then he was kind enough to share that. Well, thank you. Yeah, nice sitting with you. All right, maybe that's good. 607, an auspicious number. I wish you all the best and good health and a lovely, lovely week. And I'll be back on Sunday. So with the next paragraph of the Genjo koan. Okay, if you'd like to unmute and say goodbye. Please welcome to do that. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Sandra. Have a good evening, everybody. Thank you so much.

[61:40]

Thank you. You are a gift. Thank you. Have a great week, everyone. Yeah, really, really, really, really treasure. Treasure your life. Bye. Bye-bye. See you next Sunday.

[61:58]

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