I brought this to impress upon you, this word, and also to show you that I'm holding it. I'm holding this piece of paper with this word on it. Now, I could have some other... Maybe I should bring some other words sometime, too. Some other pieces of paper with other words written on it. But I'm holding this because people sometimes say that in Sokto Zen, whatever that is, They don't do koans. It's like my daughter, you know, she meets some new guy and she would say, what's happening? And she says, I don't do him. There's some she does and some she doesn't. Anyway, some people say Soto Zen doesn't do koans.

[01:04]

Have you heard that? Doesn't do koans? They sometimes say Soto Zen doesn't study koans. That's actually going way too far. Sometimes they say Soto Zen doesn't have any koans. Heard that one? Most common is Soto Zen doesn't do koans, right? Doesn't practice koans, doesn't have koans, whatever, you know. I just want to clarify that... who knows what Soto Zen is anyway, but anyway, people who are in the lineage coming down from the founder of Soto Zen, whatever that is, like me, I'm a descendant of that lineage, they have koans, right? See, there it is, I have one. But there's... Each, every Zen student... has to deal with koans.

[02:05]

I mean, you can't avoid it because koans are about Zen. There are main, there are most unique aspect in some ways of our tradition is these koans, right? Sitting is not totally unique to Soto Zen or any kind of Zen. Ceremonies, practicing compassion, patience, all that stuff, but the koans are really unique so you can't avoid them. and be in a Zen lineage. However, avoiding them, I should say, I take it back, you can avoid them, but avoiding them is the way you have them. If you avoided koans, that would be your position on koans. Now, there's a lot of people walking around San Francisco or Berkeley or Chicago or New York or Chinatown in Buenos Aires, and people don't say they're avoiding koans. But when you're a Zen student, you have a position on it. You study them or you don't. And each, actually, each lineage, each teacher, each student has their own way of dealing with the koans.

[03:11]

So what distinguishes, in some ways, lineages is how, one of the things that distinguishes is how they deal with koans. And one of the ways you deal with koans is a new way, you have to do it a new, fresh way. And yet, some tradition. So you look at the way tradition has dealt with these stories, and you also deal with them in a fresh way, which we do in this class. We look at the tradition, and we also deal with them in a fresh way. Now you could say, Quite commonly among Rinzai Zen in Japan today, quite commonly, the way that they deal with koans is they have a system of koans that they study, a certain list, a certain list, and they go through them in a certain order, and they have certain answers to the koans, and you're supposed to get those answers, and then if you get the answers, the teacher, depending on how busy the teacher is, has a systematic way of testing and checking koans,

[04:22]

your answer to the koans, and those questions are standard, and the answers to the questions are standard. And they've been worked out, good answers and good checking, and good answers to the checking. So that if you study with one teacher, you can go to study with another teacher, and if this teacher tested you, their teacher can test you with the same system. So they have the same koans, the same way of checking. Soto Zen... generally speaking, does not use a systematic approach to the koans, but some Soto Zen teachers have gone and studied Rinzai and learned the system and used the system. So you can't say for sure. But anyway, it is the case that all the schools of Zen deal with cons, practice with cons, relate to cons, there's no way out of it. And no matter what you do, whether you ignore them, whether you think about them all the time, whether you have a system, whether you reject a system, no matter what you do, that's how you do, whatever you do is the way you deal with cons.

[05:31]

So we do deal with cons in all schools of Zen. And each teacher how they relate to koans will be one of the ways that you can characterize that particular teacher, that particular student. I would say, generally speaking, the majority of Soto Zen people do not systematically approach the koans, don't have a fixed way, a fixed order How do you want to say that? Not quite thick enough. There. So, this book is a book that was put together in the Sung Dynasty.

[06:31]

The Sung Dynasty goes from about, you know, the 10th century, beginning of the 10th century, to the 13th century, to the beginning of the 13th century. from about 900 to 1200. During that time, the stories, the Zen stories, which were generally, most of them happened in the Tang Dynasty from like 600 to 900. Most of those stories happened during that time and they were written down and collected. They were repeated word to word, mouth to mouth, so on, all over China. as the in-house esoteric transmission of teaching. And in the Sung Dynasty, they were collected, and people made different collections, and then they wrote verses on them, and then later those collections of cases with verses got commentaries, and then the Sung Dynasty there became these different collections with different verses and different commentaries, and that became

[07:39]

the literature that they studied. They didn't study just the stories anymore too much. They tended to study the collections and with the commentaries. And this is one of the most important collections, this Book of Serenity. It's studied in both Rinzai and Soto. But again, the Rinzai way of studying it is, and systematically Soto way of studying it is, whatever you say. Sometimes, again, people generally stereotype the Rinzai and Soto as the Rinzai approach is more sometimes more dramatic and more military. The Rinzai tradition in general was more closely associated with the warlords, and the warlords usually, if they were practicing Zen, were Rinzai Zen. Rinzai Zen had more direct imperial patronage in the capital, and or warlord patronage in Kyoto and Kamakura.

[08:46]

Soto Zen tends sometimes, as opposed to being sort of military, is sometimes characterized as more poetic. On the other hand, Eiheiji Monastery, which is in Soto lineage, became the model for the Japanese army in this century. The way they trained their monks became the training model for the Japanese army. So these stereotypes don't really hold up. So I just wanted to say that to you so you can defend yourself against some other stereotypes. It's my collection holder. It's like from the long time ago. You see, I think the Blue Cliff record is older than the Book of Serenity, and the Moon Monk Han is younger than either one. There's other collections of collections of cases with commentaries also. Vacant Hall collection. What are some of the other ones?

[09:54]

Yeah, but that's a couple hundred years later. And anyway, these are the main ones. Where is the Chan period? Pardon? Isn't it Chan? Chan is Zen, same word. Oh, so it's a period of time or something. The Chan period? Yeah, I thought that's what they were saying, but I must have read it wrong. No, not really. The golden age of Chan is said to be the Tang Dynasty. and then during the Sun it got more systematized, and by the end of the Sun, Zen had lost its tremendous vitality. So, I don't know if we've come to our golden period yet in America. I don't think so. We're maybe on the verge of the golden period here. The golden period will be, you know,

[10:56]

Well, I'll let you know when it happens. And that'll last for a while, and it'll be so swell that people will start marketing it, and then it'll get systematized. But we're still in a creative, you know, we're still very young and creative, have a lot of energy, we're still growing, we haven't yet, you know, hit our mature phase yet. So, that's our advantages, that we're young. That's also something we have to be careful of. And remember, we're still really young and molting and changing all the time in terms of what we are. Okay, so we're studying Case 52. And the story is the great master, Saoshan, asked Elder Te... Huh? Are we still working on 52? Yes, uh-huh. We're still on 52, right.

[12:00]

I hope to work on it again tonight. Case 52. And, uh, so, Sao Shan has held it, uh, The Buddha's true reality body is like space. And in the text, in the Chinese, after that line, a monk, the monk who writes the commentary here, he makes a short comment on the first line. The Buddha's true reality body is like space. And this monk's name is Ten Thousand Pines, or Myriad Pines. So Myriad Pines says right after that, Officially, not even a needle gets in. The Buddha's true reality body is like space.

[13:05]

Officially, not even a needle gets in. It manifests in form, it takes form in response to beings, like the moon in the water. The comment there is, unofficially, even horse and carriage can get in. Does anybody else know where the statement is? I've seen it in other places, the statement goes. Yes, sir? Oh, I've just seen it in the introduction to the Bible. Where? Do you know? Thank you. Please tell me when you find it. So if it's in a blue cliff record, that means that Won Sung borrowed it from that book to put in here. But still, it's an interesting comment. Do you understand? Officially, the Dharma body, officially you can't get a needle in. It doesn't admit anything.

[14:07]

Do you understand? What does that mean? It means there's nothing you can say about it. But also it means you can say anything you want about it. Whatever you say doesn't really do anything to it. You talk for a million years, it's like nothing. Don't say anything, it's like nothing. Say one tiny little bit, say something very brilliant, nothing gets in, nothing gets out. You can't touch the reality body of Buddha in any way. There's no way to characterize it or de-characterize it or deconstruct it or construct it. Unofficially, however, when the reality body is in an unofficial mood, Anything can characterize it perfectly. Huge, you know, piles of stuff. Okay, so then the question comes, how do you characterize, how would you explain, how would you demonstrate the principle of response, this principle of the response, of how the reality body responds to living beings?

[15:15]

And then Elder De brilliantly says, it's like a donkey looking or seeing a well. Like donkey looking at the well. That's what he said. Also, I mentioned this to you before, but I'll say it again. This is the first time in the history of China, someone said, that what people said got written down and became literature. Before that, people said things, but the people didn't write down what they said. People wrote things, then it was written. But what people said, actually the way people talked, was not written down. You know, actually speaking, colloquial speech, wasn't written down. If somebody, if somebody, if somebody, minister got up and talked to the emperor, the minister wasn't chatting with the emperor like, well, how are you today?

[16:27]

You know, you look not so well. The minister would address the emperor in, you know, non-colloquial, formal, poetic speech. It would be written beforehand and read or presented on a tablet. And that stuff would be then, it's already written down. But people actually talking was not part of Chinese literature before. They didn't write down what people said. No colloquial language was written down. I've heard this. It may not be true, but it's probably got something to it. But when Zen people started talking, actually, just chatting back and forth in their daily speech, it became written down. First time. So this is, he's actually just saying that, this monk's just saying, very simply, like a donkey looking in the well. And then Salchon says, that's pretty good, but you only said 80%. So how about you, teacher? And then he says, it's like the whale looking at the donkey. Can you see it? Like donkey looking in the whale, like whale looking in donkey.

[17:31]

Isn't that pretty? And then, This is one of the nicest... A lot of times the stuff between the lines is kind of smarty pants, you know. But what he wrote between the lines this time I thought was really helpful, what you brought up last week. Okay? So, he says, it's like the donkey looking into the well. And then he writes the short comment, Falling flowers go along with the flowing stream. Donkey looking into the well. Falling flowers consciously go along with the flowing stream. Donkey looking in the well. Me, Zen monk, looks into the well. Falling flowers consciously go along with the flowing stream. Pretty good.

[18:34]

80%. How about you, teacher? The flowing stream mindlessly carries the falling flowers. I didn't say it. How about you, teacher? The well... The well looks at me. The well looks at me. The flowing stream mindlessly carries the fallen flowers. So, on Kamala and Lena's rocks, I wrote half of it on one and half of it on the other. half of those, I wrote on one. The falling flowers consciously go along with the flowing stream, and the other one I wrote, the flowing stream mindlessly carries the falling flowers.

[19:38]

So the two, the two Roxas make a set. So, the first one's a very good comment about how how the true body of awakening, the reality body of awakening, how that manifests, how that responds to beings. How does it respond to beings? Like falling flowers consciously going along with the flowing stream. That's how. So it's like, something drops, something drops, some phenomena drops with consciousness and it goes along with change, goes along with what's happening, goes along with the constantly changing circumstances. That's very good. But the other side is that the constantly changing circumstances, which have no mind at all, carry the Fallen Flower's And the question is, can you ever have one of these without the other?

[20:42]

They're always together. That's part of what to look at. And I think people have been working on this this week, and I appreciate that. People who weren't here last week probably, I don't know if you've been working on this without even hearing about it, but people who heard about it have been meditating on this. And by the way, if you want to, I wrote that out too. Charlie made copies for you, so if you want copies of this, you can have it. Falling flowers, having consciousness or having thought, go along with the flowing stream. Flowing stream, without mind, without thought, carry along the fallen flowers. So you can have these if you want. And I also wanted to say that I think it's very nice to also remember Sao Shan's name. Sao Shan's a very important teacher in our lineage. He's in this lineage called Soto Zen.

[21:44]

He's the he's the so of Soto. He's the so. His name's the so. And the to is a later story in this case, Dung Shan. So it's Sao Dung in Chinese or Soto in Japanese. So this person together with Dung Shan are the two people who made the name of this school, of this lineage. And I thought it was very nice to point out here how he came up with this name, Saushan. He didn't call himself Saushan. His name was Bunji. He invented the bunji cord. Back in the Tang Dynasty, they used to jump off the cliffs. during kini, if he'd be walking to meditation or jump off the cliffs to wake up between meditations. So his name was Bunji. But wherever he went, you know, he traveled around, you know, he'd be traveling in the mountains and then he'd settle someplace for a little while and practice with people.

[22:45]

And then they'd say, what should we call this place? He'd say, let's call it Sao. In other words, they named it after the sixth patriarch, the sixth ancestor of Zen. He so appreciated the teachings of the sixth ancestor, whose temple was at Tsao Chi, that he named every temple, everywhere he practiced, wherever it was, he always named it Tsao. Tsao, [...] every place. And he had various places, so they called him Tsaoshan. Isn't that nice? What year was this? He lived, like, you know, from about... 840 to 901. And Dung Shan lived from 807 to 869. I'm just curious about the second part of his name, the Shan part, where did that come from? It's mountain. So they'd be out in the mountains, right? So what should we call this temple? Let's call it Sao. It's called this place Sao.

[23:46]

In other words, they named every place after the sixth ancestor. And they always put the name mountain after the name of the temple, right? All the places were called Sao Mountain, Sao Mountain. Sao Shan. Shan is Chinese way of saying mountain. Or mountain is the English way of saying Shan. It is San. Yes. And Cao Xi is the... Cao Kui is the name applied to the sixth ancestor. So his actual name, when you read about him in the book, it says Hui Nong. That's his famous name. That's his Buddhist name. His temple was at Cao Xi, which was Cao Kui. Which is still, you know, there's still a temple there in southern China you can go visit. They have a mummified version of the sixth ancestor there. He's quite a good-looking guy. Very small in his complexion. Someone tried to steal the head once, though, didn't they?

[24:50]

Yeah. I think they did steal the head, but they got it back and laminated it back on. Now... In the commentary there, this monk named Jao Phan praised the venerable Kanadeva. Kanadeva is another person in our lineage who lived in India. He's the main disciple of Nagarjuna. And when Kanadeva came to visit Nagarjuna, walking along, Actually, his name at that time was Aryadeva. He was walking along, approaching Nagarjuna's monastery.

[25:52]

Nagarjuna saw him coming and he sent his attendant out to meet him. He gave his attendant a bowl of water. He said, take this over to that monk. So the attendant came out. to meet Nagarjuna, I mean to meet Kanadeva. Kanadeva saw the attendant coming and when the attendant arrived with the bowl of water, Kanadeva put a needle in it. I don't know what kind of needles they had in those days. I think they had bamboo needles or something. I don't think the monks had stainless steel needles. Oh, here's a picture of Nagarjuna. This is kind of David down here? Could be. Looks like him. Is this in Cloud Hall?

[26:55]

Yeah. There's some debate about whether it's really Nagarjuna or just a picture of him. Anyway, this is a picture of those guys, Nagarjuna and Kanadeva. They lived a long time ago in India. Anyway, the thing here is bringing up this interaction, bringing up the water, putting the needle in the water. And then Elder Does said, it's like an ass looking in a well. And then the commentator says, how can this be reached by intellectual judgments? Unless you've gone through long refinement and have the grip of a patch-robed monk, like this, you can't reach this realm. Someone of lesser ability, without the key of transcendence, would fully approve this.

[27:57]

Okay, now I don't know why he says this, but he did say it. He said, this guy, this man, this monk named Elder Does asked this question and he says, like an ass looking into a well. And then the commentator says, how can you reach this by intellectual judgment? How can you reach this way of interacting by intellectual judgment? So I guess he's telling us, Be careful. Don't try to, like, get in here into this interaction here by intellectual judgment. But also, don't try to, like, put your brain on ice either. Just leave your brain alone. Got a brain? Fine. It's not really about your brain power that you're going to get into this game. But it's not without your brain power because without your brain power you'd collapse into an unconsciousness and you wouldn't be able to play either. Right? Do you understand? It's more like jumping rope, you know, with somebody, they've got the rope going.

[29:04]

So you have to have some brain power to jump in there, you know, but it's not by kind of like intellectual judgment exactly, like, but it's somewhat by intellectual judgment, because you've got to say, now, which way is the rope going? Is it going clockwise or counterclockwise? Okay, one, two, three, this is intellectual judgment, right? This is intellectual judgment. So he says, how can it be reached by intellectual judgment? Well, this is how. Like this. One, two, three. One, two, three. Round and round it's going. Like this, okay? Can you see the rhythm of the thing? The reality body of the Buddha is vast and empty. You can't get a hold of it. It manifests in response to beings. Like the moon and the water, how do you demonstrate the principle of response?

[30:07]

So you've got to use your intellect to hear this. Your intellect's hearing this. He isn't saying, now I'm going to leave the room. I have to go to the toilet. He isn't saying that. He's talking about the reality body Buddha. Are you listening? Your intellect is working, but your intellect doesn't reach it. But you have to use your intellect to get to the place, to get to the game. You have to use your intellect to get into the jump roping. But the jump roping isn't your intellect. Right? But you have to use your intellect to get into it, but it doesn't reach it somehow. You know what I mean? You can sit there and watch and think about it, and it's another thing to jump in and start dancing. Right? Once you start jumping rope, things are going to be different. Right? It's not going to be like just watching and thinking about, what is this about? How do I respond? So it's both not reached by judgment, but yet you have to use your judgment.

[31:08]

If you don't use your judgment, you're going to trip on your judgment. If you don't use your judgment, you're not going to time yourself right to answer. So, you see, you've got to use it and not depend on it. You've got to use it and realize that the game is not actually the intellectual judgment. So he's saying that, but I think he didn't say the other part very well. I did. So now you heard it. So what's the grasp? This is the grasp of a patch-robed monk. You understand what the grasp of a patch-robed monk is? That's what I'm talking about. When you meet somebody, what's the grasp of a patch-robed monk? Do you understand now what the grasp of a patch-robed monk is? Yes, Ken? None, yes. What's none? So, that's the thing. It's none, but how does none respond? What's the principle of none responding?

[32:11]

Yes, Ken? See? It's like that. Did you see the response? Did you see the response? Are you seeing the response? Are you responding? Is this your response? Is that your response? Yes. Okay. Do you see? What's the principle? Maybe hard. You were responding. Can you see the principle? There's a principle in the responding. What's the principle? Well, there's one good example here. Could you see the ass looking in the well just then? It was not intellectual. What was yours just now? Intellectual. How about now? Do you see what the principle of response is? Do you see the response first of all? Do you see the response? Yeah. Okay, what's the principle?

[33:16]

No, no, don't look there. Try again. Action. Huh? Action. Action is the principle? Yeah. In action. In action. Right? You reflect. You reflect that. Well, uh, well, uh, this is, this, you, if you say, of course what you're, everybody's saying is right. Of course you're right. But you didn't, what, you know, show the principle. Mm-hmm. Show the principle. How are you? Good. Yes? No, it's not. This is showing the principle. Showing the principle time. This is showing the principle. You got the idea. Show the principle. Good. Anybody want to show the principle? Who's going to show the principle? Show the principle of response. Good. Show the principle of response. No.

[34:21]

Show the principle of response. We are. Show the principle of response. What? Show the principle of response. Thank you, thank you. Show the principle of response. Hi. Okay. We're ready now? Yeah. Show the principal a response. Okay, that's 80%. Show the principal a response. Okay, now. Now you're ready for the verse? This is a nice thing, this verse. Ready?

[35:23]

The verse is, ass looks at the well. Well looks at the ass. Okay? Got it? That's the response? Is that the response? I don't understand response. You don't? No. That's a response. Okay, that was your response. Did you feel you made a response? What's the principle of that response? I don't get it at all. I'm totally lost. I thought I understood it last week. Well, first of all, can you spot a response? Do you see my responses now? I mean, did you see the response? Are you seeing the responding that I'm doing here?

[36:24]

The verbal response? Well, I have a body too. My body's here. Look, I'm sitting here next to you. That's my body. Yes, I see the response. Do you? This is the response. This is the response of the true body of Buddha. Right? Now what's the principle of my responding? What's the principle of my responding? How does it happen? To me, to me. Yeah, to you. It happens to you. Right. So that's the principle. That's the principle. You just told us the principle, yeah. But you could tell me another way, too. Are you watching the responding going on? Are you experiencing this responding, this response? Yes. What's the principle? Me trying to understand what you're saying is the principle.

[37:29]

No, it's your response. It's my response? You're trying to figure it out. That's your response, perfectly good one. Well, that's what I said, didn't I? No, I asked you what the principle was. You told me that you're trying to understand. That's your response. But you also said that was the principle. No. No? I don't think so. We can put the tape back. I think I better just observe. Well, would this be the donkey looking at the world? Moi. And you're the well. Is that the idea? That's part of the idea, is that donkey's looking at the well. You're saying I'm looking at myself, is that what you're saying? We're seeing, we're mirroring each other, is that part of that whole interaction?

[38:35]

Yes. So you have some resources here. Right. So you don't have to worry. So I did understand it. Yes, of course you understand. What's the principle of your understanding? See, that's where I lose you, the principle of understanding. Or the principle of your understanding, your understanding is your response, you know. What's the principle? How does it work? Well, I see my, you know, it's the ass looking in the well. What about the other side? Do you see that side? Yes. You do? It's the stream, the flower carrying the stream. The flower is carrying the stream now? I mean the other way around. It's okay. Who said that? Okay?

[39:49]

So, the comment here is, after the ass looks at the well, the well looks at the ass. Wisdom is all-embracing. Purity pervades with abundance. Okay, where's the wisdom? Ass looks at the well. Is the wisdom there? Is wisdom there? Huh? Huh? Yeah. Well looks at the ass. Is wisdom there? Is wisdom the ass looking in the well? Or the well looking at the ass? It's both. It's not just both. It's everywhere. It goes in both processes. It's pure. It's completely pure. If there's thinking... it penetrates that thinking.

[40:51]

If there's awareness of our contribution to what's happening, to the constantly changing world, it's there. If there's mindless support for the arising of things, it's there. And it's penetrating both arenas simultaneously. So the comment down below is, wisdom has no knowledge. but there's nothing it doesn't know. So, wisdom has no knowledge, in other words, it's mindlessly carrying along. It doesn't, like, have knowledge. And yet, it doesn't reject knowledge either. There's nothing, there's no kind of knowledge that doesn't penetrate. It's completely pure and sufficient everywhere. What is this that's completely pure and sufficient everywhere? If you look a little bit away, some other place for it, you're kind of like, look over there.

[41:58]

Or if you say, well, I'm going to be over here as a way to find it. No, no, no. You can't look for it someplace else because that means you don't believe it pervades. If you don't believe it pervades, then wherever you look, you won't find it there. You've got to trust what's happening now. And you have to sometimes notice that it's the ass looking in the well and sometimes it's the well looking at the ass. And you have to wait, or be careful, and not try to, like, you know, evenly distribute, you know, how much of each should be happening. How do you know?

[43:01]

Hmm? How do you know? How do you know? How do you... How do you know? Sometimes I'm sure, I'm not sure I know which is which. Well... Well... You certainly couldn't know how the changing circumstances of your life mindlessly support your experience. You can't know that. You can't know how your digestion of your food and the people working in the bakery right now making your bread and whatever they're talking about. You can't know how what I'm doing is mindlessly... supporting your life, your constantly changing experience. You can't know that. That's impossible for you to know. It's not in the realm of your knowing. But in the realm where you do know things, you say, how do I know?

[44:05]

However you know whatever you know, while you're knowing, that is part of it too. But you don't look to that to figure out how you know. You're just knowing all the time. You're constantly knowing things. In other words, you're constantly deluded because you're constantly looking at part of the story. You can't help it. You have to do that. You can't know the other side. And wisdom doesn't have your knowing, but it's not the slightest bit away from your knowing. Therefore, whatever knowing you're involved in is your responsibility to be involved in that knowing. Not just her, me too, and also everybody in this class, you are involved in knowing, moment by moment, it is your responsibility to be mindful of how you're knowing.

[45:10]

And that's pretty hard by itself. to constantly be aware of the knowing you're doing, the knowing you're involved in. That requires real, consistent, steady mindfulness. It's not that you know, then, that wisdom knows, it's just that wisdom grows out of you being responsible and mindful of your knowing. You're constantly falling flowers of knowing. Constantly falling flowers of knowing. The donkey looks at the well. The donkey's knowing is not wisdom. Wisdom is understanding that a donkey is looking at the well. But this understanding is not another version of knowing, not another donkey looking up from above the donkey and watching the donkey, not a smart donkey, not a human donkey looking down at the donkey looking at the well.

[46:22]

No, there's not that. There's just mindfulness of the donkey looking at the well. All day long, donkey looking at the well. It's going on non-stop, non-stop. So you should check into that. It's your responsibility. But it's not all your responsibility. You also have to be aware of the other side. The other side. But this is not knowing. The other side is not knowing. And it's a constantly changing circumstance in your life. They don't have mind. They don't have consciousness. All those things together. They don't have mind consciousness. They don't think. All those things together. But they completely support and carry along everything that happens. How do you be mindful of that? By being conscious of going along with it. By being conscious of going along with it. Right. You be mindful of what you can be mindful of, and you can't be mindful of that.

[47:26]

You can remember it, but then when you remember it, it's the donkey looking at the well again. So why bring up the other side? So you can turn off the light when you're done. So you can turn off the light when you're done. Turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, something like that. Is that part of what you're talking about? Well, I don't know if what you said, I mean, I don't know if what you meant was what I've heard, but I think that's right. Is that where you actually practice it? No. Again, it's not like it's just in one side. It's not like all the donkey, the well looking at the donkey is really where it's at. No. It's not just that side. It's not just that the stream mindlessly carries along your constantly changing life that you're aware of. It's not just that. But, in fact, you go into the bathroom or whatever to brush your teeth and you turn the thing and water comes out.

[48:30]

But also your hand reaches out and gets a hold of the faucet. The faucet comes up and meets your hand. The faucet carries your hand, supports your hand, which you know about and you can feel your hand touch the faucet. The faucet comes up and... looks at your hand you look at your hand the faucet looks at your hand but the faucet looks at your hand mindlessly but you're looking at it mindfully through your sense organs is not better than the faucet looking at it without sense organs the world's looking at you and you're looking at you are you there? Yes. And again and again, to be at this dynamic interaction here between these two views, these two views of what?

[49:33]

Of how the awakening reality of the universe is manifesting in our lives, moment by moment, without it never stopping. Never stopping. It's not like, oh, we practice and then it happens. No, it's always going on. Practice is how you tune into this. And again, you can't just tune into it from one side, just from the conscious side, but you also can't skip over that side. You have to do it from both sides. But the one side you don't do consciously. And you don't do it at all. And it's supporting you moment by moment. So that's why it's so pure and all-pervading. Now, we have some stories. Ready? And these are Chinese stories, and it's going to be a little tough here. So when you read these stories, or when you hear me talk about these stories, there's going to be some conscious experience going on.

[50:36]

I can open it. Is it okay if I open this one? Is that right? Okay. Alright, so here's this rather complicated thing, you know. So help me, I don't understand this. So, there's this general, right? His name is Wang Dong. And, uh, He's going to attack the Imperial Palace. Yes? What does his name mean? What is his name? I don't know. I didn't look up both characters. Wang means king, though. Wang is like the most common Chinese name. It means king. But I didn't look up what the Dong is. Anyway, he's of the Wang family, and there's a lot of people in the Wang family. And his name is Dong. He's a commander, and he's going to attack the Imperial Palace. Okay? Okay. Then one of the emperor's ministers said, hears that he's coming and says, bring his whole family in.

[51:49]

Bring his brother in and his brother's family in. So they bring his brother in to see if his brother's part of this attack plan. Okay? Then there's this other guy named Zhou Yi. And Zhou Yi comes into the palace and and walks by Wang Dao, who is Wang Deng's brother. And he doesn't talk to him. You following this? So, Wang Dao calls out to Wang Yi, to Zhao Yi, and says, you know, they're accusing everybody, you know. They're indicting everybody, implicating everybody. Watch out. And... Zhao Yi doesn't pay attention to his friend. Just walked right by. But then Zhao Yi goes and talks to some people and tries to explain to them that Wang Dao is actually innocent and not involved in this attack plot at all.

[52:59]

So, you know, really tries to talk it up for him. Then he leaves and goes back out and he walks by Wang Dao again and Wang Dao calls out to him and he doesn't answer him. So Wang Dao thinks, oh, my friend is not recognizing me, trying to divorce himself from me, abandoning me. At this time when I'm in debt, he's trying to keep himself separate from me and gets really angry at him. So Jiao Yi just keeps working for his friend's benefit and writes to the emperor some more letters and some more statements to try to clear Wang Dao and finally succeeds in getting Wang Dao released from suspicion. But Wang Dao doesn't know what Jiao Yi did for him all this time.

[54:01]

So then Wang Dao's brother comes finally, actually conquers the palace, and he says, well, you know, who should I kill and who shouldn't I? Should Zhao Yi be killed or not? And Wang Dao, since he was angry, didn't speak up for his friend, so his brother killed Zhao Yi. And then later, Wang Dao found the memorial tablets where his friend was trying to protect him and realized that his friend had been working secretly to protect him and he had let his friend be killed so he felt very bad. Now a key line here is that Zhao Yi said, this year I'm going to kill a brigand and I'm going to take a golden seal as big as a ladle and put it behind my elbow. So I don't quite know what this imagery is of putting the golden seal behind the label.

[55:08]

I guess it's kind of like you're putting something valuable in hiding, right? Behind some kind of bent area in your robes. So I guess he's doing this thing to help his friend. He's like going to get rid of this brigand and secretly protect his friend. Is that what it's about? What do you think? Is that what it seems to you, what he's saying? Is the seal kind of who you are, in a sense? Because with that seal you can stamp something and show that it comes from your hand? Well, it's who you are, or it's like the, you know, it's a real story. It's a reality. But you put it back here. Because under these circumstances, it has to be hidden. I don't know. Let's go on. So then, the next story is... that, what's his name, Zhao Jianzhi of Zhao said to his children, on top of Mount John, I have hidden a precious talisman for behind the elbow.

[56:29]

What do you have? For behind the elbow. For behind the elbow. so this idea of there's a talisman which a behind the elbow talisman that is hidden so the one who gets there first will be rewarded so then all the kids run up the hill try to find this talisman for behind the elbow everyone rushed up the mountain looking for it but none found it only Wu Shi returned and said, I've gotten the talisman. The others cannot discern it. And Janja asked him to present it. Wushu said, If you look down from the top of Mount Jung, a replacement can be gotten. Janja said, Wushu is wise and made him crown prince.

[57:30]

What's that about? Is Mark Chong like Mark Sumeru? Is Mark Chong like Mark Sumeru? If it was, how would that help? Don't worry. Don't worry. It's just a story. Is anything helpful here? The talisman is the experience of looking. The talisman is the experience of looking. The talisman can't be seen. It's like the well looking at... I mean, no matter how... You'd have to keep turning around and turning around and you couldn't see it. The talisman is like the well looking. And you said it was the other way around, kind of.

[58:32]

You said it's like looking at the well. And she's saying it's like the well... can't be known. So, generally speaking, not specific to either of these stories, but generally, a seal is a... seal is the mark of authority and stamps the stamp of the seal testifies his testimony to the truth so in this case there is the basis of authority is hidden away the And what I thought of in terms of this is not exactly in the stories, but sometimes in the Bodhisattvas, I think particularly in statuary and pictures of Amalokiteshvara, there's a talismanic flower that winds around the arm and blooms just behind the elbow.

[59:50]

Mm-hmm. Behind the elbow is the one that you can't see by yourself. So it has to be seized by another. Also, another line I like is in the verse where it says, the ass looks at the well, and he says, even getting up at dawn, the well looks at the ass, there's already someone who's gone by night. Even if you get up at dawn, there's already somebody who's gone by night. Yes. that behind the elbow you can't see, but of course it's always there. So it's that thing that's just always right with you, like that friend that works for you in secret with the emperor. And that is, to me, that was like the beauty of the story was the way it, in me, sort of...

[60:55]

kind of opened up some faith. There was the faith to say, you know, have faith in Buddha right now. There's that well looking at you. There's that well looking at you. Just practice with that. This story was real opening for me in that way. That thing is like right there. And that brings to mind that Wushu says, I've got the talisman. Others cannot discern it. And so he says, present it. He says, if you look down from the top of Mount Jiang, a replacement can be gotten. Yes, Ferb? It's like what comes up for me is that the seal between the ass looking at the well and the well looking back is so tight and so simultaneous that there's nothing left over to look for elsewhere. And so it's always been... There's no edge left.

[61:59]

So you can, whether you're looking up for a seal on the mountain, and to get that simultaneous experience, you can look down the mountain and also have the same experience. Yeah, looking down from the mountains can be like donkey looking in the well. A replacement can be gotten. He didn't say if you look down from the mountain, you can see it. He said if you look down from the mountain, a replacement can be gotten. A replacement for what? For the talisman that the guy put up in the mountain. He said, go find it. He comes back down and says, I've got it. He says, but no one can discern it. We'll present it. If you look down, a replacement can be gotten. You can get your own. You can't discern it. Either way you can't discern it. Either way you can't discern it, right. But we have to work with our part, and our part is look down from the mountain, look into the well.

[63:07]

What? And climb the mountain. And climb the mountain, right. And go over to the well and be a donkey. You've got the donkey part down. But when you look at the well, you also have to know that you're seeing yourself there. Yeah, that's part of it too. But, again, you get to see, you get to know that you see yourself according to your own, what your own way is. Like, where the donkey knows that she's seeing herself is not the same way that you know you're seeing yourself. So, now you see yourself, but you see yourself in your own terms, in your own way. Not the way somebody else would see yourself. In a sense, I think that donkey looking in the well isn't necessarily knowing that you're seeing yourself. Knowing that you're seeing yourself seems more like the well looking back at the donkey. It seems more like that. Except, what is it that teaches us that we're looking at ourself?

[64:14]

The well. Yeah, well, something teaches us, something has taught us that we've been looking at ourself all this time. Here's another story, which is related, right? Yunyan said to his group, there is a person, a son, anyway, of someone's house who can answer any question. Dengshan came forth and said, how many books does he have in the house? Yunyan said, not even a single letter. Dengshan said, how can he be so knowledgeable? Yunyan said, night and day he never sleeps. There's someone who can answer every question.

[65:16]

Doesn't have a single letter in his house. How can he be so knowledgeable? He never sleeps, day or night. So there's that, you know. What's his never sleeping business? He's got something. What? Constantly aware. Now, then Dung Shan says, can I ask him, I would say, he says, can I ask, can I ask, can I ask something? Can I ask about something? And then, does clearly say, if, if I could say, I wouldn't answer. Is that what you have? I wouldn't. If I could say, I wouldn't. If I could say, I wouldn't. Another translation could be, can I ask him or her a question about it, something about it?

[66:19]

Can I ask about something? Can I ask her about something? If you did, she wouldn't answer, or he wouldn't answer. Anyway, can I ask about something? Can I ask you about something? Can I ask him about something? If you ask, I won't answer, or I wouldn't answer, or he wouldn't answer. Now, how does that work with this constantly aware business? What's this not answering? Not very helpful. It's like the well. It's like there's no way of telling? Because there's no way of telling, so you can't have Because there's no way of telling... I just think that might get back to the idea that it can't be explained in words. You know, that's what we kind of keep saying, that it's sort of beyond conceptual... conceptualization. Yeah, but beyond conceptualization doesn't mean you can't respond with words.

[67:27]

But if you did respond with words, you'd fall short. But falling short doesn't mean that that's not the response of the reality body. The reality body can respond and fall short. they're talking about is that this guy knows everything without books. So the kind of knowledge that he has doesn't have knowledge he'd have before. The kind of knowledge that can't be explained, and I understand what you're saying, but I'm just saying perhaps that's... Now, is what you're saying, is that about what's happening, or is you talking? No, for me, a surmising of what this story is trying to say. I know what you're surmising. I got that part, but the words you're saying, you've been surmising over there, I guess, okay? And now you're talking, right? Those words that are coming out of your mouth, okay? They're not expressing anything about the meaning of this story or anything, are they? Yeah, I was trying to. Well, you just said you couldn't do that, though. So how come you're trying? No, I didn't say I couldn't.

[68:32]

Oh, you can, but nobody else can. What I was trying to address was the idea of why doesn't he answer in the story? Yeah, right. And you said, I thought you said, the reason why he doesn't answer is because he can't, because his words can't express the meaning, can't explain it, right? You know what you said? Yes. But you can, right? I can talk about what the story is saying, but I can't be in the story. and the person in the story is trying to say something. What can you talk about? I can just talk about my observations of the story and the process of trying to understand it. What's that got to do with the story? Just trying to understand what the story is saying. Right, but if you tell me about what the story is saying from your observation, then you tell me the story can't... no one can tell us what the story is about. What are you doing? That's a good question. I mean, you got me there. Basically, I was just trying to understand the story, not to say what my thoughts were about what can and can't be said.

[69:38]

But you did. Yeah. You went right ahead. That's okay, though, isn't it? It's fine. It's fine, definitely. This is one place where you can say basically anything. For starters, anyway. So anyway, it's fine what you said. And what I said is that what you said, okay, you're coming forward talking, this is, I'm saying this now. No, I'm in the story. You're in the story, right. No, you're not, right. And what I'm saying to you and what you're saying to me, this isn't explaining the story, this is the story. This is the story, okay. The meaning of the story is not in what I'm saying to you right now. Me saying that is not the meaning of the story. Me saying that what I'm saying to you is the meaning of the story also is not the meaning of the story. But it is me talking. It is me responding to you.

[70:42]

And even if my talking to you is falling short, which it isn't anymore, but even if it kept falling short, it would still be the responding of the reality body. The reality body can answer your questions and all your people say, boy, he just never, I don't understand one thing he said, he kept missing and nothing ever came across the whole night, you know. Or, you know, everything he said I could relate to and blah, blah, blah. That's not the issue. Someone say, oh yeah, you could relate to it, but the meaning was not in what he said anyway. You know, that didn't capture the meaning of this reality body. He can't explain it. You say, oh, okay. And I can't either, even though I just did. But you can't, this can, this drama can go on, even if we fall short, or if we don't fall short anyway, that's not the issue. The issue is, what's the issue? The issue is, what's the issue?

[71:46]

What's the issue? You get to say what the issue is. It's responding. It's that the reality body can come into form in response. And it does that all over the place, and it does it through the knowing dimension, through the unknowing dimension. And, in every case, it's doing both directions at once. There's no exceptions. There's no experiences, we don't have any experiences where there's not conscious participation in our changing life. We don't have experiences like that. There's no experiences like that. There's no non-conscious experiences. That's not an experience. For us, there's the well being looked at by the ass, and simultaneously these other things happening. We're never looking at anything that doesn't look back at us. Because all that's going on, we have to learn how to participate in this.

[72:48]

So if there was no dog here, would there still be a vow? Even if he knew, he wouldn't say. What? The sound of the tree falling. Exactly. So you guys can figure that out later. It seems to me, like, I keep hearing from this whole thing that intention and vow would be really... Complicated or intricate or something. Attention and vow are intricately implicated. Yes, definitely. What is the vow? What vow applies to this story? What? Yeah. That's the vow. So how does it apply to this story? Could you say a little bit more, applying it to the story? It can't equally penetrate everything in place without the vow of being penetrated by the vow.

[73:56]

Say it again louder, please. It can't equally penetrate everything in place without the vow of being penetrated by the vow. Would you say it louder, please? I think you've got quite a lot there. It cannot equally penetrate every being and place without the vow-order being penetrated by the vow-order. Right. Right. And what else? Let's apply a little bit more. Apply the vow a little bit more. Now, you got that part. A little bit more. And it goes with the true merit. No, no, no. Before God. We know what's going to be penetrating. So you got you saying there can't be the penetration of every being in place without the vow penetrating back to the vower, right?

[75:00]

Okay. What's the rest of the process in terms of this story of this vow? The vow, the vow, the vow, the vow speaks. The vows? Turn around in the vows speaking. The vows speaks? The voice. And the voice speaks and somebody hears it? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, yes, but does somebody hear what doesn't matter? The vow must hear. No, the vow is hearing it. The vow is like coming back into the vow-ee, the vow-er, right? You made that point. That's right. I agree. The vow can't function.

[76:00]

A person can't vow without the vow coming back through you. But you missed something on the other side that she said doesn't matter. But if anybody hears the vow, I didn't hear you mention anything about paying attention to what you're saying and doing. I didn't hear you talking about paying attention to the vower. I didn't hear you mention that, that's all. I wanted you to say that, too. I want you to mention awareness of the vower, of the one vowing, of the vowing being done that you can consciously do. I want you to mention that, too, that's all. that you bring your that you you made the point now I just want you to make the other side to apply how you apply a vow Sonia brought up this thing about vow you came in you did half of it I want you to do the other half that's all to apply a vow to make this to bring a vow into this story how are you going to bring vow into this story

[77:16]

How are you going to vow into the story? How are you going to make a vow about the story? How can you bring the story into your life? Do you understand how to get the story into your life? Yes. Aren't you asking Dongshan's question? Who discerns the seal behind the elbow? Am I asking that question? And how are you going to bring a vow into that? By taking the backward step. Who said yeah? She wasn't marked. It was Grace. Grace said yeah. Mindfulness. Mindfulness and backward step. What's mindfulness?

[78:19]

What's the relationship between mindfulness and backward step? Paying attention. Paying attention, mindfulness, and backward step. And vow. Knowing that you're vowing. Huh? What? Knowing that you're vowing. Knowing that you're vowing. And what are you vowing in this case? What's your vow? To be mindful. To be mindful. Is that your vow? Anything more? There's nothing else. There's nothing else. There's nothing else. But you said that. He said there's nothing else. So there's a nothing else that goes with your effort. Stepping back, turning around. There's a stepping back, turning around, nothing else that goes with everything you're doing.

[79:21]

If you lose sight of that, you're going to only have half the picture, namely the half of, well, I'm mindful. I'm practicing mindful. But you have to practice mindfulness. I vow to be mindful. But also, there's nothing else. You have to remember that too. You have to understand that. Otherwise your practice turns into karma. So what does nothing else look like in your life? It looks like the universe. It looks like the universe that you're aware of. Everything you're aware of is what nothing else looks like. So you're walking around all day long vowing to be mindful of every experience you have. Okay? That's your vow. You may slip, but you have the vow.

[80:23]

Maybe that's almost everybody's vow here. Maybe everybody feels comfortable with that vow. Maybe so. I vow to be mindful of every experience I have. Every experience. I vow to be mindful in the midst of every experience. Okay? But then there's nothing else. Nothing else is part of the vow. Like Carol says, you need that nothing else so you can really do this. If you think there's something else, then you can think, oh, well, my vow is to be mindful. But there's something else to do besides mindful, so I might slip off. Yeah, right. But how do you not slip off? By remembering that not only am I vowing to be mindful, but there's no alternative to this. There's nothing else. And you want to know, well, what is this nothing else? She asks. It's everything in the universe that's facing back at you, saying there's nothing else but paying attention. But it's not sitting there thinking, no, it's nothing else. There's not something over there telling you that there's nothing over there.

[81:25]

It's not like the world's out there consciously saying, we're now something in addition to you. It really isn't something in addition to you. That will help you realize the practice. If you forget that, then you're going to think that you're going to be inattentive, because you forgot the other side. You need this other side that's supporting you, which is nothing else, which is the entire universe. You want to know what it looks like? It looks like this. There it is. There it is. Everywhere you look, you see it. That's what nothing else means. That means, wherever you look, you always see mindfulness practice. So you mean there's no other place to go? I'm happy to say that. So everything reflects you. See, you said that to me. You're part of the nothing else for me. I go around, people say to me, you mean there's nothing else, no place to go?

[82:31]

You said that to me. You're part of the nothing else for me. Were you part of the nothing else for yourself when you said it to me? Yeah. Well, good. You need to be that. When I talk to you, my voice has to be part of the nothing else for my mindfulness practice. You said, where does the vow come from? I don't think I said, where does the vow come from? I said, how does the vow function in this story? I think it's out there now. The vow functions in this story by you vow to be mindful, but also, somebody comes up to you and says... there's nothing else. You cannot do anything but be mindful because I'm here talking to you. Do you hear people saying that to you? Every person who meets you is saying, what is your vow? If your vow is not to be mindful, they're telling you some other vow that you have. But if your practice, if your vow is to be mindful, it's very nice because then everybody comes up to you all day long and says, do you remember your vow to be mindful?

[83:33]

That's what they're saying to you. They're saying there's nothing else. He said that to help us. You're saying that to help me. Everything's helping you this way. And the way it's helping you is not somebody they're thinking to help you. The way they are helps you. If they're thinking of helping you, fine. But the unthinking aspect of their thinking that they're helping you is really helps you. I hope they're applying it to themselves, too. That's also part of my mindfulness and also part of, but there's nothing else. Everybody has to do this. That's also part of my mindfulness. And that's also the way you remind me of that. And I have nothing else but that. Okay? So it seems like you got it. For a second there, you lost it. But now you got it, right? Everybody's got it? Now see if you can practice it now. And if you want to, you can start studying Case 53.

[84:39]

It fits perfectly with this. No problem. Case 53 is up here. Help yourself. And the Xerox copy of my calligraphy is up here. Thanks to the work of Charlie... We're going to try to put together a co-on database, and we have a couple of functions, like if you just remembered one word from a co-on, you could use this to find it, or cross-referencing the co-ons. So as part of this, Anyone who's interested in typing stories up, maybe you can just meet after class right over here somewhere and we can talk about it. Thanks. We're going to have a meeting now. Do you want to say something? Oh, yes. You want to? Actually, I wanted to sing a song about a donkey. Oh, okay, go ahead.

[85:41]

I don't know if I do. Let's hear it. Happy is the doggy. We can join you. Happy is the doggy as he eats his hay. If you do not feed him, he will run away. Hee-haw. Thank you. Maybe next week we can do it. She can teach us. You're back in the story now, Dave.

[86:13]

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