The teaching of vastness has been intimately communicated by Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it, so please keep it well. This vastness which has been transmitted, which now you have, is not transmitted to you in the realm of peace and self-cleaning. This to you is not transmitted to your selfishness. It is transmitted to your unselfishness. The

[01:10]

you that is referred to here is the unselfish you, the innocent childlike you. It is this you that I want to meet and that I will be talking to. Please excuse me if I leave anyone out. I don't mean to be disrespectful at all to anybody. Those of you who do not understand that the teaching of vastness has been transmitted to you may leave and leave behind the unselfish

[02:12]

self who has received it now. Okay, goodbye. Of course you can stay if you wish to. Maybe the two of you will get together eventually. When I gave Zazen instruction and gave an introduction to this meditation hall yesterday to the people who are doing the wilderness workshop here, and also there were some people, other guests who are here, all these people I think were over 21, in other words adults, some of whom have quite a bit of experience in the world.

[03:19]

And at the end of the instruction I was waiting outside the door there as they left, each one stepping out with their right foot next to the doorway. I thought to myself, my little chickens, it was so sweet that, I should say little chicks, so sweet that people can be so innocent and childlike to learn something like this practice. To just simply open their hearts and give it a try. Deeply impressed and encouraged to see that. It's this beginner's mind that I'd like to talk to. The funny thing about this childlike beginner's mind is it can eat, it can receive material that

[04:36]

a more sophisticated person will reject. It can receive very, well anyway, it can receive the truth. It can receive the inconceivable liberation of the Buddha. It doesn't know any better. So let me give you some inconceivable teachings that the ancestors have transmitted to you. This is a teaching from a Zen priest named Dogen, Ehe Dogen. He wrote an essay called The Mountains

[05:44]

and Rivers scripture. The mountains and rivers or the mountains and waters of the immediate present are the manifestation of the path of the ancient Buddhas abiding together in their normative position. They have consummated the qualities of thoroughness, exhaustiveness. Because they are events prior to the eon of emptiness, they are the livelihood of the immediate present. Because they are the self before the emergence of signs, they are the penetrating liberation

[06:47]

of immediate actuality. By the height and breadth of the qualities of the mountains, the virtue of riding the clouds is always mastered from the mountains. And the subtle work of following the wind as a rule penetrates through to the liberation from the mountains. Master Dokai said to the congregation, the green mountains are forever walking. A stone woman bears a child by night. I'll stop here. This week and all summer long,

[08:00]

we'll be doing quite a bit of walking. People at Tassajara in the summer walk a lot. In the winter we don't walk as much, we sit more. And also during this workshop we're going to be walking a lot. So I'd like to emphasize walking a little bit. And also remember and try to understand what it means that the mountains are walking. The ancestor says that the mountains walking is just like human walking. Please do not doubt the walking of the mountains, even though

[09:17]

it does not look the same as human walking. The Buddha ancestors' words point to walking. This is the fundamental understanding. You should penetrate these words. This suchness which has been transmitted to us beyond our conception, this fundamental ground

[10:55]

from which liberation emerges, how do we relate to it? How do you relate to it? Is it the same as you? Is it different? How do you talk to it? Which direction do you turn? We say that turning away from it and touching it are both wrong, for it is like a mass of fire. This thing which has been transmitted to us by the great compassionate ones, if you try to grasp it, you'll get burned. But if we turn away from it, we'll freeze to death. How do you relate to it? By walking. Walk

[12:22]

around it. And how do you walk around it? You live your life. Your life is actually already walking around it. She only sees the winding stream and the twisting path. She does not know she is in the land of suchness. She just walks step after step. Although she doesn't know, she does

[13:23]

it anyway. Or, you could say, because she doesn't know, she does it. If she knew, that would mean that she touches it. She grasps it. She reaches for the rose and cuts her fingers on the thorns. She has bloody fingers, which is good, but no rose. Roses are not for grasping. They're for living with. They have been transmitted to us by the Buddhas and ancestors. Do you see them? We have some very nice ones right here in this room. And all around

[14:24]

Tassajara there are roses. But you can't have them. Nobody can have them. But your life is the appreciation of them. And as we walk around this wonderful reality, which is complete freedom for us, we walk just like a Buddha walks. You walk around Tassajara and forever you always walk around Tassajara, even when you're in Berkeley or Santa Cruz, even in Monterey. You're always walking around Tassajara. You're always walking around these mountains.

[15:36]

like a Buddha. Just like Buddha. Not different from Buddha. The way you put your feet down is just like Buddha. Again, I'm talking to somebody who believes me. I'm talking to somebody who actually, when I say you walk like Buddha, I'm talking to the one who says, Yes, sir. I walk like Buddha. I talk like Buddha. I sit like Buddha. I lie down like Buddha. The mountains and waters of the immediate present are the manifestation of the path of the ancient Buddhas. The mountains and waters of the immediate present, abiding together in their enormative state, in their phenomenal expression,

[17:13]

they have the consummated qualities of thorough exhaustiveness. Where are these mountains? What are these mountains of the immediate present? They are events prior to the eon of emptiness. In other words, they are events prior to conception. They are direct experience before you conceive it, before you know it. I'm talking about these mountains, and I'm also talking to somebody just like these mountains. I'm talking about mountains that are before you even conceive of anything. I'm talking about mountains that are there in a presence that is in a present that's before you even know it. And I'm talking to the person who's there at that time. Who is that? Who are you?

[18:38]

Who are you that walks around this place like Buddha? They are events prior to the empty eon. They are the livelihood of the immediate present. These mountains I'm talking about, they are the livelihood of the immediate present. The person I'm talking about and the person I'm talking to does the work of the present. They work for the immediate present. Because they are the self before the emergence of signs, it's not that there's not a self. I have to talk to you, but the you I'm talking to is a you before you even get a hold of yourself, before you know how to tell the self.

[20:05]

Because they, the mountains and the waters, are the self. The mountains and waters of the immediate present are the self before the emergence of subtle signs. Because of that, they are the penetrating liberation of immediate actuality. By the height and breadth of these mountains and waters, the qualities of these mountains, by them, the virtue of riding the clouds, in other words, the virtues of complete freedom, is always mastered from these mountains.

[21:12]

These mountains are the self that's walking around here, the self before the emergence of subtle signs. The self masters the virtues of complete freedom through these mountains. We should know the walking of these mountains that are forever walking. And this walking of the mountains is just like the walking that we do. We shouldn't doubt the walking of the mountains just because it doesn't look like the walking of humans. Please study the walking mountains.

[22:20]

Master Dokai said to the congregation, the green mountains are forever walking. A stone woman bears a child by night. I must confess to you that although I'm saying these things to you, my selfish self, my impulse to grab myself, my self that emerges after, my self that's formed after the emergence of signs, tries to get a hold of what's going on here in this valley. But the mountains keep walking and I can't get a hold of what's going on here. The mountains and the people and the roses are walking. I'm losing control.

[24:01]

I'm trying to get a hold of myself and I'm trying to get a hold of the self of the practice here too and try to figure out who's practicing and who's not. I'm looking to see right now who is practicing and who's not. See right now you're all sitting there very nicely so I can get a hold of you. You're all practicing and I can see. When you start moving around, I'm not so sure what you're doing or what I'm doing. This person is pretty miserable unless everybody's behaving just like he wants them to or just like he thinks they should. But if I watch my own walking and I see the mountains walking, I can let you be what you are.

[25:14]

Later in the text, Dogen quotes another Zen teacher named Unmon. Unmon said, the eastern mountains move over the water. Why do Chinese people talk like that? The eastern mountains travel over the water. What does that mean? I'll tell you later. I'll explain it to you. For now, I leave you with such kindness from this Chinese person named Yunmen or Unmon.

[26:32]

Cloud Gate. The eastern mountains move over the water. What is this mountain? What is this water? Why do you talk like that? Could he think of anything better to say? Not at that time he couldn't. That's the best he could come up with. Do you know what else he said? They said, what's Buddha? And he said, it's a turd. They said, what's the teaching of Buddha's lifetime? He said, an appropriate statement. Literally, he said, each meets each. What's the teaching of Buddhism? Each meets each.

[27:34]

Exactly. Literally. That's been true for some time. So one day he said this about the mountains, eastern mountains, not just the mountains, the eastern mountains moving over the water. That's similar to the green mountains walking, in case you couldn't tell. It's the same teaching. So although I will explain this to you later, I want to tell you a story about what happened to me. It's the same story as when I just told you about me trying to figure out whether you guys are practicing or not. It's the same story of trying to figure out whether, whether, you know, people are according with my grasping of what they're supposed to be. Whether people are following along with my idea of what practice is. And therefore, relieving me from my suffering, from my self-clinging, by lining up exactly with my self-clinging.

[28:43]

But then, that only lasts for a second and people start being themselves. And I have to give up my self-clinging or I have to suffer. I have to let you do what you do and walk where you walk. So I was giving, I was teaching, so-called teaching, in a session one time, four years ago, a little bit more than four years ago, four years and a month ago, at Green Gulch. And guess what I was lecturing on? Just take a guess. Right. Were you there? Were they good lecturers? You didn't understand it? Yeah, that's when it got good. So I thought I understood them pretty well by then too, myself. So I walked out of that session, well, and I got some news from my wife.

[29:52]

This will be over soon, don't worry. Before the session started, do you know what a session, everybody know what a session is? Seven days of intense sitting. And so I was lecturing on this very scripture here, this mountains and rivers scripture. Because Green Gulch has mountains and water too. Mountains aren't quite as high but the water is bigger. So we were talking about that there and then, before session, my wife told me that she needed to get her transmission fixed. This is the same transmission I've been talking about earlier. Okay? And she needed, the guy said it would cost $1100 to fix his transmission. So I said, okay, and I gave her my, I've been saving some money,

[30:58]

little by little, in my little savings account, and I gave her all my money. Then I heard, during the session I got a message that it was going to cost $1700 to fix the transmission. So she had to borrow some money from her father. When the session was over she told me that actually it cost more than that. It cost $3100. So I came out of the session where I heard about the teaching of the mountains walking. And particularly about these eastern mountains moving over the water. And I thought I understood pretty well. And I thought I was pretty calm.

[32:01]

But I got kind of irritated when I got that news. And I looked very carefully, I looked. I looked this way. I looked that way. I looked up and I looked down for somebody to blame. And then I noticed that I didn't understand what the green mountains walking over the waters meant anyway. And I was ashamed of myself. But I was still looking for somebody to blame. Who could I blame? I didn't feel like I could blame my wife. I didn't feel like I could blame me. I thought maybe I could blame the mechanic. I tried. But it didn't quite work. It didn't work. Now also during this session it just happened that my wife's sister had a baby.

[33:03]

A little girl. A little girl. And this little girl was born with a kind of a problem. I think, I don't exactly know what happens. But I think when you're born, when you're first born or just before you're born, the blood is circulated. There's a kind of valve or something above the pulmonary. Some kind of pulmonary valve or something that is supposed to close off. And another one is supposed to open so you can start breathing air or something. I don't know exactly what it was. But anyway, something didn't close that was supposed to close. And blood was squirting someplace it wasn't supposed to go. And she was turning blue or something. So they did a big operation and cut her open from, you know, all the way, opened her up and fixed this thing. So I went to see her right after I heard about the car thing. Feeling kind of irritated. Feeling very irritated. Plus feeling very irritated that I was irritated.

[34:04]

I wasn't supposed to get irritated about this kind of stuff. Not me. Right? Not me. Somebody else. I'm beyond this stuff. Right? I should be. If I understand this teaching here. So I went to see this baby. And on the way up in the elevator in this UC Medical Center, it occurred to me, by the way, that this big building, all these buildings around that whole area were just there to help people, supposedly. I thought, gee, a lot of stuff people do is to help people. Even mechanics are there to help people, indirectly. At least themselves. So there I was going up the elevator and we went to see this little baby,

[35:11]

this girl, okay? And she had come out of the operation not too long before that. And she was lying down. She was strapped down, right? So she would move around and pull out the tubes and stuff, right? This little girl strapped down with this big long thing on her stomach, across her torso. Still under the sedation, right? Just starting to come out a little bit and feel her pain. She's lying like that. And she's... And you look at her and she's... You see, she's starting to feel the pain and she wants to cry. But because she is still under the sedation a little bit, she can't really exactly cry. But she tries to cry. You can see, she's trying. And her eyes are bulging out, trying to cry, but can't quite pull it off. When she gets a little bit, you know, more awake, she'll be able to cry, but she's trying to cry. Her whole body is trying to cry.

[36:12]

But can't even cry. Then I understood what the green mountains moving across the water meant. And then I stopped trying to find somebody to blame for the car bill. Then I understood you can't control car bills. Repair bill. But until we understand what it means for the green mountains to move over the water, sure enough, we try to control. We think, well, we can certainly control a repair bill. Or, you know... I frequently use the example of, you know, we certainly should be able to control

[37:15]

and we should be able to pick a telephone up and get an operator and ask her to place a call. And then if we ask her to place a call, she should be able to place a call. If she doesn't, we can hang up and get somebody else to place the call. We can control these things at least. But that's not true. That's just laziness. And sometimes you have to get a big car bill to get a little help. But even then sometimes you don't get it. You say, well, it's going to cost $1,100,000. Oh, okay. What's it going to cost $1,700,000? It's going to cost $31,000,000. Oh, no. What's it going to cost $40,000,000? Oh, I get it. It's going to cost $300,000,000,000. It's going to cost your life. We're taking your life for this car. Oh, I get it.

[38:16]

Now I see what you mean. Do you understand? We're going to take your life for this car. You can't afford to pay for this car. You're going to die. That's what the price of this car is. Now I understand what you mean by the Green Mountains. By the Green Mountains walking. Now I understand what they mean when they say he only sees the winding stream and the twisting path. So again, you know,

[39:21]

if it's a car bill that's $1.95, I can fool around. If it's $1,700, I can still fool around. If it's $3,100, then I can really fool around. And I can start getting angry, too, on top of that. And I can blame some other people and punch somebody out. But when it gets to be my life or my niece's life and not even hardly her life, then I realize I can't fool around anymore. I can't resist. I can't not see the Green Mountains moving anymore. I can't say anymore what do you mean Green Mountains moving? I don't see any Green Mountains moving. You show me a Green Mountain moving. They're not moving. They're sitting still. Yes.

[40:23]

So are you. But you're also moving out of control. Out of your control. I'm moving out of my control. I'm moving under your control. You all are controlling me. Do you understand? Yes, you do. The one I'm talking to does. So why should I talk to such a person? That person knows everything already anyway. I'm just doing it because I want to talk to her or him. I need to talk to her. And actually although she or he already knows what I'm talking about, she still likes to hear it. I believe that. The meaning is not in my words

[41:28]

and my words cannot reach her or him. But he or she is responding. I believe responding to this Bible. Can you hear the response? So this week I will be working on myself hopefully and with you to study walking. Not ordinary walking but the walking you're really doing all the time which is the same walking that these mountains are doing. Which is the constant change of our life. Brought to us by everything. Totally out of control from the point of view of our selfish motivation. But if we can study this walking, if we can see this walking,

[42:29]

if we can join this walking, then we'll get it. And we'll stop trying to blame somebody else. By the way my niece is now four years old and a little champ. She's living in Taiwan right now. She is in good health. But she's got a big scar. Just like we do. So my next lecture will be much more interesting than this one. So please come. It's going to be about this stone woman

[43:35]

bearing a child at midnight. And also it's going to be about when the wooden man gives up when the wooden man sings the stone woman gives up the dance. Since it's going to be such a kind of racy lecture I'm going to give it real early in the morning. So only the real, you know I don't know what people will come. I could give it now but it's getting late. So I'll stop while before things get more out of control. Don't you think that's a good idea? With our intention

[44:37]

we believe that trade and breeding can place where the true and the helpless play to children and take your unknown. Thank you.

[45:04]

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