One of the Buddha ancestors whose name we say every morning is Manara Dayosho, Manarhita Dayosho. He went to study with Vasubandhu and he asked Vasubandhu, what is the enlightenment of all the Buddhas? Vasubandhu said, it is the fundamental nature of mind. What is the enlightenment of all the Buddhas? Vasubandhu said, it is the fundamental nature of mind. Manarhita said, what is the fundamental nature of mind?

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Vasubandhu said, it is the emptiness of the six sense organs, the six sense fields and the six sense consciousnesses. Hearing this, Manarhita awakened and the enlightenment of all Buddhas was realized. The fundamental nature of the mind, Vasubandhu said, was the emptiness of the six sense organs and the six sense fields and the six sense consciousnesses. We can also say that the fundamental nature of the mind is the dependent co-arising of

[02:24]

these eighteen realms, how they appear and disappear together. So Vasubandhu wanted to teach the insubstantiality of these elements and thereby teach the fundamental nature of the mind and the enlightenment of all Buddhas. In the thirty verses he says that he teaches the insubstantiality of all elements in order to establish the three-fold insubstantiality of the three types of substances. I hope to open this up for you, open up these three types of substances and their insubstantiality,

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help you understand what Vasubandhu was trying to show. So now I want to tune in again with you to this mind which has no involvements.

[05:33]

Which doesn't dwell in body or mind. In order, if I try to convey to you Vasubandhu's teaching, since we're here alive listening to this teaching, whatever we hear, whatever comes in, gets interpreted through our dispositions. And if our dispositions are active as we listen to the teaching, we will not be able to understand. And so I must always come back to this fundamental method of Zen so that we have the right seat, the right attitude, the right practice to receive the teaching.

[06:48]

So I remind you and ask you to listen again to the teachings of uprightness. Upright sitting can save us from our dispositions. Dispositions are coming up every moment into how we interpret what's happening. Or, to put it another way, dispositions cause us to always interpret what's happening rather than just directly experience.

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Our dispositions are always coloring and influencing what we think is happening. Dispositions are our habitual leanings, our habitual emotional responses to what's happening. Uprightness gives us a way to be free of these inclinations even though they do mature right around us anyway. So Bodhidharma says, externally externally, still all conditions, all objects that are appearing, all the objects you're

[09:18]

aware of, still the conditions. Find the mind that's not excited in relationship to these objects. Inside, no coughing or sighing in the mind, no gasping in the mind. The mind becomes like a wall and with the mind like a wall you enter the way. With the mind like a wall you are saved from your dispositions which are externally appearing and internally appearing, which are these 16 elements, these are 18 elements.

[10:26]

Being upright is your mind being like a wall. Bodhidharma's teaching was sometimes called mind, I mean a wall gazing, mempeki, face and wall, facing the wall, but it doesn't mean looking at the wall or gazing at the wall. It means the way the wall gazes, it's wall gazing, not human gazing at walls, it's the gazing of the wall that he taught. He sat in front of the wall of his cave and learned from the wall in the cave how to be free from the dispositions of mind. He gave this teaching to Huay Ka who in the end said, I'm always clearly aware and no

[11:50]

words can reach this, no words can reach the mind of a wall. The place where no words can reach is saved from all of our habitual emotional responses. In the realm that is empty and bright, in the realm of dependent co-arising and brightness, in the realm where there are no things by themselves, where there is only dependent co-arising and light, thoughts and conditions are exhausted. It's clear, alert and always luminous.

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Hakuin Zenji's disciple, Torei Zenji said, wall gazing in the back, a spring flower opens. When you hear the teaching of wall gazing, when you hear the teaching of outside no involvements, inside no gasping in the mind, when you hear that teaching, does it reach your body and where in your body does it reach? He said in the back a spring flower blossoms. Where is there some place in your back that you feel this teaching?

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Some place in your spine where you feel the teaching of clearly aware and no words can reach it. One yogi told me that the teaching was received in the spine behind the heart chakra. Where in your spine, is there some place in your spine this teaching reaches and you can feel this teaching in your body, in your spine? Where? Is there some place behind your heart chakra, behind your neck chakra, your throat chakra, behind your hara, in the back of your head? Can you feel the teaching, this teaching which is conveyed to you, these words penetrate your body? Is there some place in your body that's receiving this teaching?

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Is there some place in your spine where a flower opens in response to the mind being like a wall? When you hear the teaching of breathing in not dwelling in body and mind, breathing out not getting entangled, does that strike your body some place? Now listen, see something will resonate in your body when you hear this teaching. Where does it, where does it, where in your body do you feel it? This poor wayfarer, when breathing in, does not dwell in the realm of body-mind.

[16:28]

Breathing out does not get entangled in myriad circumstances. What part of your body received that teaching? What part of your body vibrated with that teaching? Since I said that, of course I was very close to the vibration, the emitting vibration, so I have it in me in that close way.

[17:36]

If you say this teaching out loud, you can also then also feel where does it, where does it happen in your body if you say it out loud to yourself on your breaks? Now I asked a yogi, a yogini, how's thinking when you're still? How's thinking when sitting still? And how's thinking when not sitting still? This is a homework assignment. So then the yogi came back, yogini came back and said, told me how thinking was when not

[18:40]

sitting still. And she said, it's like a story or a feeling about myself connecting with something. I would say elements, like a story of myself connecting to elements and there's something special about me or some juice in that connection. I hear some juice between me and what I'm connecting with.

[19:45]

And the type of juice between this, that end of quote. And when I heard that I thought, this is a vision of what, this is a vision of the working of Manas. This is a vision of the working of Manas. This is not a vision of Manas because, why? You can't see it, you can't see the mirror. But you can see the working of the mirror and in the mirror there's these pictures and you can see the work of the picture because in association with this picture is a sense of self and the self connects with what's in the mirror, but it also has some pride

[20:55]

in itself. There's something special about itself and there's some juice for itself. And the patterns of this self-cleaning in association with the elements that are connected to is the pattern of the juicing. The pattern of the juicing are these habitual emotional patterns, the dispositions. Someone told me that, what is it, I don't know if I got it straight but anyway, for someone with the relation habit they hold on, for someone with the sex habit they come on, for someone with the romantic habit they move on.

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These are three types of dispositions which relate, tell you how you relate, what kind of juice you have. You have the come on juice, the hold on juice or the move on juice. Uprightness will save you. If you can be upright in the midst of these dispositions, and some of you may be all three types of addicts, if you can be upright you can see these patterns come up and gradually find the person who is like a wall, who's so stupid that she can't get involved in any of these scenarios or a combination of all of them. In other words, it's the way to enter the way in the midst of this pollution, in the

[23:05]

midst of these outflows, in the midst of this juicing, gain and loss of juice in your relationships. There is a way. Vastu Bandhu also says in the Abhidharmakosha, what are the dharmas that have inflow, what are the dharmas that have influxes and outflows which have juice in them, gain and loss, birth and death? What are they? He said 72 dharmas have outflows and there are 75 dharmas. What are the three that don't have outflows? Space and two kinds of nirvana. All other experience has outflow, all other experience leaks and floods the system, but there is a path, a Buddha way in the midst of all these leaking phenomena, the Buddha

[24:05]

path. And the Buddha path is not separate from these realms of outflow and inflow, but it does not have outflow or inflow. It's a way right in the midst of it that just cuts right through it. How do you enter it? By uprightness. Then you enter the same realm where these same dispositions are functioning but you become free of them because you're always clearly aware and none of those words, which means none of those dispositions can reach it. They don't reach the way because the way does not wish to reach anything. I know we're not supposed to read during satsang but I confess I did, I mean I do in

[25:09]

preparing for my lectures, and I get to read not just scriptures but I get to read anything because I'm getting material for you, I'm doing research for you so you don't have to. So I read those farsighted things, and one of them I thought was particularly relevant, which I think some of you have seen, it has a picture of a lake of water and under the water is two fish and one fish is a doctor fish and the other one is a sick fish and the doctor says to the sick fish who has a hook in his mouth, he says, the bad news is you are definitely hooked, that's what he says, and you look up above the water and

[26:17]

Aki-san could you understand? I'll show you the cartoon later. You're hooked but what's hooking you is dead, it's gone. The bad news is you're hooked, the good news is you're hooked to nothing, there's nothing out there hooking you, there's no delusion out there hooking you, there's not even any enlightenment out there hooking you, but you're hooked to that too, if you're a Buddhist, that's the bad news. The good news is also that since it's dead, if you'd be dead, if you were dead too, the hooking wouldn't matter, as a matter of fact since you are dead, the hooking doesn't matter, the way is when you're dead, when you're like a wall, part of you is just not supporting

[27:30]

this whole thing, it's just simply clearly aware and nothing can reach it and it can't reach anything, it's totally useless and therefore it's free and it's in your body right now, where is it? Use it. So can you see how when you're moving there's you and others and there's some juice, can you see that? Can you see how the self gets in there and wants to get some credit for everything that happens and therefore also gets demerit for everything that happens, gets pain for everything and seeking pleasure for everything? Somebody's in there messing around, but it's simply because of movement and that movement will continue and in that realm there will continue to be somebody trying to get something

[28:35]

out of the situation. You don't have to worry about that person, she'll always be there getting something out of it. If you ever forgot about her, it wouldn't be a problem, she'd come back in the next minute, don't worry, but let's try to find out about what kind of thinking there would be when there isn't movement, when the mind is like a wall and you don't do anything to make your mind not involved in these external things. You don't go in there and try to squash the activity down around objects, like you don't look at a person and notice the activity around there and squash that activity down, that's another activity. If you look at something and you notice your mind jumping up and down about it, then you're just seeing the way the mind thinks when it's moving. Let it be, uprightness lets that be. The activity, the one who's not activating the mind around externals and not coughing

[29:46]

and sighing inside, that one isn't something you do. So, please look for what kind of thinking there is in stillness, and I've given you a hint now of what kind of thinking there is in movement, so you'll probably see plenty of that too. So, yes, admit, okay, this is thinking that happens in movement. This is this coming on, moving on, and holding on kind of thinking that happens because there's a little movement or a lot of movement. To not be concerned about that is very close to not activating the mind. Somebody's not concerned with these scenarios coming down.

[30:47]

The one who's not concerned is the one that's clearly aware, sees the stuff, and is clearly aware but doesn't try to change it and doesn't get changed by it. So this mirror, you know, this mirror, it's got things out there for you to connect with. The things you're connecting with are things that are external, which is the third transformation of consciousness that Vasubandhu taught. They're external so you can know them, and they're in a mirror that you can't see, and some kind of messing around is happening because of self-relating to them.

[31:52]

Some style, some disposition, some inclination of relating to this mirror is happening. If it's one kind of image, there's one kind of juice. There's another kind of image, there's another kind of juice. And they're habitual, these patterns. So the story of the sixth ancestor of Zen, Hui Neng, is about this. Okay, so his teacher said, okay, I'm retiring, I want a successor, would you people please write a poem expressing your understanding of the three transformations of consciousness? So the head monk of the monastery, the most senior and learned of all the monks, the greatest

[32:58]

meditator, wrote a poem, and no one else dared to write a poem, and he posted it, and the poem said, enlightenment, no, what did he say, he said, the body, the body, okay, the body is the tree of enlightenment, the mind is a bright mirror stand. Again and again, diligently wipe the mirror, don't let any dust gather. So he's saying, it's not a heretical teaching, it's just a teaching of what do you call it, it's a teaching of what? Of the moving mind. In other words, if any kind of distortion occurs in these stories of your relationship to what's

[34:01]

in the mirror, then go in there and wipe the mirror clear, get rid of the distortions, get rid of the dispositions, wipe the dispositions away. Well, it's good if you can do it, as a matter of fact, that would be great if you could wipe the dispositions away and just have direct to see. I don't recommend that, that would just smear it over in another way, but you wouldn't even notice it anymore. You'd think it was enlightenment. So then the sixth ancestor read that poem and thought, no, no, and he got somebody else to write him a poem, and his poem was, Bodhi is fundamentally not a tree, enlightenment is fundamentally not a tree. And the clear mirror is not a stand.

[35:02]

Fundamentally, there is not one thing. Where could dust collect? Right in the causes and conditions of creating this twisted, distorted, juicy mess, right in that situation, rather than try to clean it up, right in that situation you can realize that actually, fundamentally, in this very situation, there's not one thing. There's not a thing. There's not self and other, there's not mind, consciousness, and object and organ, and there's also not the distortions which come from making all those things into substantial realities. But, to then sort of forget about all that and go off with some idea that nothing matters

[36:11]

wouldn't be right either. You have to stay right in that realm with a dirty mirror, with a dirty, twisted mirror, with juice squirting all over the place, and you caring about it, and wishing the juice would be reprogrammed and re-plumbed, you know? Like Stephen yesterday, very nicely, trying to get the plumbing to work here. But even while he was working on the plumbing, he could have been upright, and maybe he was. He confessed a little bit that he wasn't, because he said he had his fingers crossed. But even in crossing your fingers, that old disposition of finger-crossing, you could be upright. There's somebody who's not getting excited about these crossed fingers, about clearing

[37:20]

up the plumbing, about getting the juices to flow in the proper places, okay? You got to find that one. Where in your body is that one? Where in your body are you receiving the teaching of somebody who's not concerned with this? The teaching of Bodhidharma is wall-gazing. Where is it? That one can be right in the midst of all this intense plumbing activity, this intense electrical activity, this intense mechanical wave activity, this intense touch activity, this intense smell and taste activity, in the midst of all these activities of mind consciousness and objects and organ, all that stuff that's happening, in all this hubbub,

[38:20]

there's some clear mirror that's not a thing, and nothing can alight to. No dust can alight to it. No words can reach it. Where is it? It's right in the middle of this mess. It's uprightness in this mess of self and other in juice. If you just sit upright in the middle of this mess, you will see how all this stuff dependently co-arises together, how all these things cause each other, and there is no one thing. There's nothing. Everything's in a constant, dynamic, mutual brightness.

[39:27]

Hakuin Zenji says, Don't think your mind is so crowded and confused with wild thoughts that you are incapable of devoting yourself single-mindedly to real upright sitting. No matter how confused you are, don't think you're incapable of finding the one who's too stupid to be confused in the middle of all that, who's just calling it like it is without even any words. He says, Suppose that some person was in a busy marketplace pushing her way through crowds of dense customers and some gold coins dropped out of her purse into the dirt. Do you think she would just sort of like keep walking through the crowds and say, Well,

[40:35]

too many people around here and besides that, I don't want to be embarrassed by people catching me looking for coins in a mess like this. Do you think she'd just walk on or do you think she'd stop and fall down in the dirt and start looking for those coins? Maybe with tears streaming from her cheeks, pulling her hair out in case it was on fire. Finding those coins, even in these difficult situations with people crawling all over her, she keeps looking. What about something that's worth much more even than the coins? What about that? What is this? It's that uprightness, that radiant presence in the midst of every situation, that studying

[41:45]

how situations come up and go away. All these teachers talking about the same thing, Vasubandhu, his teacher, Jayata, Prajnaparamita, Vinatara, Bodhidharma, Hakuin, Torezenji, Huika, they're all talking about the same mind which will save you from these dispositions which seem to be dirtying and defiling what's going on.

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So I have not yet opened up the nest of teachings about the three kinds of substantiality which Vasubandhu teaches the three kinds of non-substantiality to match. I didn't do that today. But I'm still warming up to this study because you see what we're going to teach, me and my boss, Vasubandhu, what we're going to teach is we're going to teach you three kinds of substantiality. We're going to teach you three solid things. So you've got to protect yourself because you're going to get teachings about three substantialities. You're going to get taught about three untrue things that people believe in. So you have to really be up for this, it's going to be horrendous. I don't know if I dare teach such horrible things but anyway, if you can stand to deal

[43:56]

with what you're already dealing with, you have a chance to deal with what's coming. The wind blows through the great sky. Clouds loom up from Bodhidharma's cave. Feelings for the way and for worldly affairs are all of no concern.

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