The case we're studying is simple, two simple words, so that'll be easy for you. And also it's so profound that even though the people have been studying it for two weeks already, it doesn't really mean anything. So it's okay, I guess, that new people are here. I hope so. And I wanted the class in here. I like the Wheelwright Center. I like the impact in there. It's very nice. But I wanted to do it in here because this allows you freedom of physical movement. And I want you to be able to move. around the room if you feel it would be appropriate.

[01:03]

Sometimes you might want to move. You might want to come right up here and talk to me up close sometime. You might want to come up and get close in my face, look into my eyes, or show me yours. if they're dilated or something. You might want to come up close and show me your goose bumps so I won't kick you out. By the way, the new people, when you hear this, you get to hear this story now. When you hear this story, check to see if you have goose bumps or if you start crying. If you do, you're in the right class. If you don't, we'll let you stay for a little while until you get them. You can't stay too long without having some physical reaction to this story. Otherwise, you'd be wasting your time. You should go to some other class where you have a physical reaction.

[02:05]

We have a class like that, too. It's called the parking lot. So this story is a very simple story. A monk comes and asks a great Zen master, Zhao Zhou, what... is the meaning of the patriarch coming from the West. Now, do new people know what that is? Patriarch coming from the West? You know about that? Have you heard of Bodhidharma? Yeah, he's a patriarch. Ancestor. It says ancestor? What does it say in the book? Living meaning of charm. Living meaning of charm. literally it says, what's the meaning of the soul, Chinese character soul, which means it could be translated as ancestor, patriarch, founder, pioneer.

[03:09]

It's not just a regular ancestor like your uncle or grandfather, but it's a grandfather or uncle or grandmother or great-grandmother who actually was a founder in the lineage of your life practice. So, literally it says, what is the meaning of the ancestor or the founder coming from the West? Bodhidharma came from China. What is the meaning of the first Zen ancestor in China? What is the meaning of his coming from India to China? That's the question. And the translation you have is not wrong, it's an interpretation, right? which is correct. It means, what is the meaning of Zen? What is the meaning of Buddhism? What is the living meaning? Also, it doesn't say living, it says ultimate. It doesn't say actually living either, it just says meaning. But living is okay. And Zhao Zhou says, the cypress tree in the garden.

[04:17]

That's his answer. Okay, and so that's an abbreviation of the full story. The full story goes on. The monk says then, the monk says after that, he says, Teacher, you shouldn't guide people using some object. And Zhao Zhou says, I didn't. So in a way,

[05:19]

Gyojo gave an answer which may sound as though when being asked about what is the meaning of Buddhism, he spoke of some object outside himself or outside of you. It might sound like that. But, of course, He's indicating something that's not outside you and also something that's not inside you. Of course, the living meaning, the real, the ultimate meaning, just plain old meaning of Buddhism is something that's that has to do with the fact that there's no gap between inside and outside.

[06:29]

Has to do with that there's no gap between self and other. That's what Buddhism's about. Of course. You all know that, right? Any questions about that? And our practice, Zen practice, the actual practice, is simply devoted to realizing the fact that there's no gap between yourself and all other beings. You can sit right here if you like. This is Fusang. So there is Zhaozhou trying to practice his way and by his practice to realize the non-separation of himself and this monk, the non-separation of himself and all beings.

[07:47]

That's what he's practicing, and he's also trying to help this monk realize the non-separation between himself and all beings. So the monk asks him, well, what about this? And he says, the cypress tree in the garden. And again, It's nice that we have a little table there. Everybody has a table in front of their seat. This is the table section. Thank you for setting up the table and for the tea. So of course, we can talk about a cup of tea we must be able to talk about a cup of tea in order to realize that this cup of tea is not outside anybody.

[09:05]

Now, everybody knows this cup of tea is outside them, right? You already know that. How do you know that? You know it by virtue of your basic human perceptual equipment. If you don't know that, then you need neurological therapy, right? You need to be able to perceive that this is outside yourself in order to get along in this world, in order to feed yourself. Now, of course, it's not necessary to feed yourself. Other people can do it, but we'd rather have you feed yourself, if possible. And you need to be able to have the spoon and stuff outside in order to get it in. So that's how you know this is outside. How do you know this is outside? By your perceptual equipment. In other words, by the fact that you see it that way is the way you know it outside yourself. In other words, it's outside yourself only by your own perception.

[10:08]

It's not outside yourself in any other way except by other people who have the same process. All right? So that's all set, hopefully. What we need to realize is that it's not outside. And we say thank you for this, not for its outsideness only, but we're grateful for its outsideness. We're also saying thank you, not for its insideness, because it also has insideness, but we're grateful for the opportunity to use this cup to realize the meaning of Buddhism, which is that this cup is not inside or outside. So the living meaning of Buddhism is this cup in my hand, or the cypress tree in the parking lot. Did new people get goosebumps yet? Huh?

[11:09]

No? Yes? What? What? I'm not new to the class. Well, did you get the goosebumps? Yes. You're new to the class. This is the first time you've been in this. You're new to this koan. Anybody crying yet? No? You should drink liquids before you come to this class. Don't come dehydrated. It'll interfere with your practice. So he could have said anything, right? No. He could have said anything that was appropriate. Zhaozhou must give the appropriate response. He needs to say the appropriate thing. And not anything is appropriate. Only what is appropriate.

[12:11]

But what is appropriate could be anything. Theoretically. Theoretically. But in actual practice, it's not anything. It's very specific. That's why he had to say, he had to say the cypress tree. Rep, can we assume that there was a cypress tree in the yard? Can you assume it? I assume it. Pretty much. Yeah. Pretty much. That it was right there. It probably was. You know, you can take, you can generally assume with Zhaozhou that he was talking about very ordinary things in his life. Like, he was like a person, you know, who had eyes sort of up in the middle of the head and stuff like that, and he had eyebrows, as far as we know. And apparently they were white, as you can see from the verse. So... He was just a regular guy, except he wasn't.

[13:17]

The reason why he wasn't was because he was a servant, a completely aligned servant he was impelled always to the appropriate response. And some of us think we have some, I guess we think we have some alternative, some shakiness about this, some lack of faith. So in that way he was very unusual, but he was unusual in his complete willingness to be an ordinary person. He was exceptionally capable of being ordinary. What would make it appropriate or inappropriate? Pardon? What would make it appropriate or inappropriate? Generally speaking, it's, you know, appropriate means appropriate to what?

[14:20]

Appropriate is related to apropos, you know, to the purpose, apropos, to the purpose, appropriate to the purpose. If any of us resist our circumstances, I can't say that that's not appropriate that you're that way. I mean, nothing wrong with you being that way. Matter of fact, there is lawfulness, there is lawfulness and there are reasons and there are conditions for our lack of being present with our circumstances. Right? There are conditions for that. We have lots of conditions that have led us to be people who are not you know, steadfast in confidence with our experience moment by moment. All right? There's reasons for that. There's conditions for that. So in that way, it's Dharma.

[15:21]

When we're not present, when we hesitate to be ourselves, when we do not accept being ordinary, that is Dharma. There's a dharma in that. Okay? However, that way of behaving is not apropos of something. It's not apropos of what? Awakening. It's not apropos of awakening. It's not apropos of freedom. It's not apropos of happiness. It's not apropos of helping other people. It's not to the purpose. So, when we say appropriate for a Buddhist, we mean appropriate to Buddhist goals. We mean appropriate to liberation of beings. Yes. and resistance to your circumstance is not conducive to liberation. It is, in fact, conducive to bondage. The only thing that's conducive to bondage is not the only condition for bondage, but it's a very important one. By reversing that and being willing to be who you are is a condition for awakening.

[16:29]

And so responses that are very much in accord with your circumstances are responses which are appropriate. Responses where you resist your circumstances are not apropos of liberation. They are apropos of bondage. However, so, but when we say appropriate, we mean appropriate to you know, to the goal of helping all beings, right? In that context we say it's appropriate. When you're resisting your circumstances, what you're doing is apropos of karma. What you're doing is apropos of karmic bondage. You're perfectly coming right along with the program of karma. You're promoting the world of suffering, everything's going according to the usual mechanics of the world of suffering. If that was your goal, to promote the world of suffering, then resistance and trying to be special, trying to be other than what you are, then would be apropos of that goal.

[17:38]

But in the context of Buddhist practice, you know, almost no Buddhist really is sincerely trying to cause more trouble and more bondage. Now the monk then says, you know, teacher, you shouldn't guide people by using objects, by using something outside. And Jojo says, I didn't. And Dogen Zenji says that This monk talking like that, this monk saying, teacher, you shouldn't use an object to guide people. You shouldn't use some objective thing to guide people. But that statement, those words, are coming from the Cyprus Treaty,

[18:52]

which is not an object and not a subject. The cypress tree is an expression of the lack of separation between inside and outside. And the monk's statement that the teacher shouldn't be using an object is an expression of that same immediate non-separation of the sacristy. And when Zhao Zhou says, I didn't, it's coming from the same place as the monk's statement. Teacher, you shouldn't, I didn't, coming from the same place. What makes them different? What? I wonder what about the monk's statement We let Dogen to say that.

[19:58]

She said, what about the monk's statement, let Dogen to say that? Okay? Now, that's a very good question because it points to the idea that there's something about the monk's question that let Dogen to say that. Or that there's something about the Cypress Tree that let Dogen to say that. There's something about Dogen that let Dogen to say that. Yeah, there's something about Dogen that let Dogen to say that. Now, Dogen is not separated from all the conditions of Dogen. Cypress Tree is not separate from all its conditions and so on, right? But this speech, this way of talking, the authority of the Buddha way to be able to say this is not coming from something about the Cypress Tree. Because if it was something about the Cypress Tree, then if you change the Cypress Tree, Dogen wouldn't be able to tell us that. But he can tell us that about everything. So it's not something about discipleship.

[21:06]

It's not about discipleship. So generally speaking, in Buddhism, we do not talk about things. Of course, we talk about things like we say cypress tree. But when we say cypress tree in the Buddha way, we're not talking about the cypress tree. When we talk about Arlene, we're not talking about either Arlene, not to mention both. But even though we don't talk about Arlene, we can still say Arlene. And even though we're not talking about the cypress tree or about the Buddha way, the Buddha way can talk.

[22:22]

And the Buddha way can say Buddha way. Buddha way can say cypress tree. And it has to say cypress tree sometimes. And other times it has to say Buddhaway, if it's authentic. It just has to. There's no room for play, and yet it's not about anything. And Dogen's saying, also he's speaking from that place, and he's saying that monk is speaking from that place, and of course Zhaozhou is speaking from that place. And nobody could say what the monk said but the monk. And nobody could say what Zhaozhou said but Zhaozhou. Nobody could say Cypress Street but Zhaozhou. No one ever did say Cypress Street but Zhaozhou. He was the first one to do it. However, even though he was the first one to do it, and no one said it before, it was completely the working of all Buddhas through Zhaozhou to say that.

[23:25]

But similarly, it was the working of all Buddhas for the monk to say, teacher, you shouldn't use an object to instruct people. And of course, that's true. You shouldn't. It doesn't mean you did. The monk had to say that. And then the verse, a very nice verse, it says... So again, you have this picture. The Zen teacher, Tien Tung, is drawing a picture of Jiao Jiao in it, right? A picture of Jiao Jiao. Eyebrows... Eyebrows... Eyebrow banks. Eyebrow banks. Okay. Snow-tipped.

[24:28]

Another image is eyebrows that are like reed flowers. Reed flowers are white. So it's like a bank of white flowers. A bank of white flowers. So you can meditate on this. Just imagine a bank of white flowers. And under the bank of white flowers there is a stream of blue eyes. Blue eyes. They're like a river, a blue river. I don't know where they got this Chinese monk with blue eyes, but anyway, there they were. Somehow, yeah, you know, most Chinese people have brown eyes, right? Generally speaking, kind of dark brown eyes. But these Zen monks got blue eyes. Where'd they come from? Well, you say, well, because they're Shakyamuni Buddha's disciples, right? In Shakyamuni Buddha, Indian people sometimes have blue eyes. Shakyamuni Buddha had blue eyes, they say.

[25:30]

But we don't know exactly what, I don't know what color his eyes were to the, what do you call it, to the non-believers. I don't know what color they would have thought his eyes are. Blue eyes means enlightened eyes. This means you look blue, nothing against brown, brown is lovely, but blue is the color of enlightenment, not brown. It's like blue like the sky, right? You look in the eyes and you just see blueness under these white, under the bank of white reed flowers. And this blue, this blue, watery, enlightened eyes, okay? Okay? This is Jiaojiao then, now that, but he's got a mouth, an ocean mouth. He opens his mouth, and when he opens his mouth, he stirs up the waves of the ocean. Actually, when everybody talks, the waves of the ocean are stirred up, but Jiaojiao does that too in a big way.

[26:39]

He's got a tongue in the mouth, but his tongue can ride the waves. He's got a boat tongue or a surfboard tongue that can ride the waves created by his own speech and the speech of others. So this is a picture of Zhaozhou, this beautiful bank of white eyebrows and beautiful blue eyes, ocean mouth stirring up the waves of the world. and a tongue that can stay with the words. The words usually disturb us, but his tongue, in other words, not only his mind doesn't get disturbed, his mind can stay with the waves, but then his tongue can also speak with the waves. So when the monk says, what is the meaning of your ancestor coming from the west?

[27:41]

He says, cypress tree in the garden. This is the tongue riding the waves. A tango. Cypress tree in the garden. Like that. This is a picture of Zhaozhou. This is the kind of person he was. All day long. Like the monk said to Zhaozhou, are you and me the same? Some other time. Are you and me the same? Zhaozhou said. No. What's the difference? He said, you're used by the 24 hours. I use them. When the waves push you around, you're different from Zhaozhou. But if you can go with the waves, then you can use the waves as an occasion to express yourself. It's not easy, but that's how you can be like Zhaozhou.

[28:50]

And this is 24 hours a day, right? 24 hours a day you're getting pushed around, or 24 hours a day you can be appropriate to the way. But it's moment by moment, so don't worry about the next moment. Okay, that's the picture. Then they say, Riot quelling ability. The ability to quell disorder. Okay? The ability to quell disorder. That's what King Tom says. This person, this person like this, can quell disorder. How do you quell disorder? How do you quell with YLC? In the Buddha way, you don't come in and flatten.

[29:53]

You quell it by writing skillfully. And writing it skillfully, he quelled the disaster. His boat tongue quelled the disaster. He has strategies for great peace. Again, in the case, what is it, case number... Is it five? Case number five. Accomplishing the work of great peace has no sign. You can't tell beforehand what's going to be the way to stay upright and present and alert and wise in the middle of a storm. You can't say what the move will be that will keep you present. So he has a strategy, but the strategy is not like a set strategy, like a fixed strategy. That won't work.

[30:57]

If you tense up out in the storm, you get flipped. You have to be relaxed. But also, they do have these surfer shoes, right? They have a little bit of... They aren't Velcro, but they have a little bit of roughness on the bottom, don't they? You don't have to put Vaseline on the bottom of your feet when you're on the surfboard. It's okay to have a little... a little roughness there to get a little footing on the board. So they have to have their feet well planted, but then they have to be flexible. They have to be steadfast and flexible. Right? Flexible means no fixed agenda about how to respond to the next change. That's his strategy for peace. So what's his strategy for peace in this case? What's his strategy for peace? Let's hear it. Cypress tree in the garden.

[32:00]

That's his strategy? Can you see that's his strategy for peace? Never before was that a strategy for peace. That's what it was that day. A cypress tree in the garden. Some other days a strategy for peace might be, I'm sorry, or excuse me, or good morning. Okay, the strategy for peace doesn't always have to be words, but it's pretty important that your words be strategy for peace because If you have other strategies for peace besides words, fine. But still, the words, as it says in the commentary, if the words aren't strategies for peace, the words can cause a war. You can cause a war with one word. Like, for example, press the button to start a war. Pull the trigger. Kill.

[33:04]

Charge. No. These are words that have started wars. Those words could also bring peace. Same words could bring peace. No could bring peace. How are you going to tell the difference? How are you going to tell the difference? How are you going to tell what's appropriate? Sit still. That's a start. Then what? What? Okay. That's sitting still still, though. Relax and keep your knees bent. Bowtongue rides the current.

[34:08]

Pardon? Bowtongue rides the current. Yeah, right. Go with the current. Enter the space of this current. In other words, enter the place where the self and the other are not fixed and separate from each other, but where they play off each other. Enter that place where the self and the other are in harmony, where they're not locked into sameness, and they're not locked into separateness. That's why we don't eliminate the separateness, we realize the sameness. Sameness has no meaning aside from separateness. Sameness depends on separateness. The lack of separation between self and other depends on the conditions of self and other.

[35:08]

So when self and other are dancing with each other and are dependently co-arising with each other, You enter that space by sitting still. And in that place, you come forth with the speech, which is expressing a strategy for peace. You speak in a way that will quell the Reich. OK? That's Georgia. All right, so that we can take a break now at that point. There's two more lines in the poem, which are very important, but that's anything you'd like to do now about this, or any questions or comments that you'd like to express? Did you understand that part about the freedom of movement, that you have freedom of movement now?

[36:23]

You can move in the space if you like to? The freedom of movement, yes. I wasn't taking into account the part of the unconscious reactions that we all have. that doesn't, did you say does not take into account, or how does it, did you say? Yeah, well, where, where does it, where do you feel that are, that people will feel with all these unconscious? Well, I would say, yeah, for example, the Zen, the Zen teacher's response is, you know, immediate, all right? Unmediated. It isn't like the monk says, uh, You know, what is the meaning of the ancestor coming from the West? And then he goes, hmm, let's see now. Probably doesn't do that. Maybe he did. I can't say for sure he didn't. But even if he did say, even if he did say, well, let me think now.

[37:24]

What is the meaning? You know, look in his book or something. He might have done that. Just a second. I had that written down here in case anybody asked me. Okay. Oh, the Cyprus tree and the garden. He might have done it that way, but even if he did, even if he did, every step of the way, everything he did there would be totally unmediated. Now, he wouldn't say it. He wouldn't be stopped by the thought of Zen teachers don't look in the book to get the answer. He would go right ahead and look in the book to get an answer. The greatest Zen master of all time. He could do that. So they've completely undeliberated Immediate response is totally spontaneous according to the circumstances. That's the way they respond. And then his question is, Rafael's question is, what's the difference between that and unconscious reaction? Right? Like somebody kind of like pokes you or insults you and you immediately get angry. That's pretty, it's almost like immediate, right?

[38:26]

I would say, for example, that that's not immediate. There's an mediation there. There's a deliberation. Somebody pokes you, and you conclude this is not an affectionate poke, or it's an affectionate poke, but it's not an appropriate affectionate poke. You go through, it can be very quick, but you go through some evaluation that there's something wrong with this, and it's appropriate for you to get angry. It's not immediate, even though it's super fast. Also, that kind of response is coming from, even though very fast, very habitual... almost immediate, it is based on the belief that that person you're getting angry at is not you. So the difference is a number of things. One is that ordinary habitual response is not immediate. It's mediated at least by a little bit. Second of all, it's based on the delusion that we're separate. That's the difference. Now, it is also possible that you're somewhat enlightened.

[39:30]

In other words, that you've had a vision which has crashed through your belief in your separation from other people. You actually have seen that, and you dropped your belief that it's possible. And at that time, you are enlightened. This is called, at that point, from then on, you're really a Buddhist practitioner, because at that point, you no longer believe anymore in your separation from others. However, you can still have this huge stockpile of habits which were developed based on the idea of separation. And those can still be, I don't know if this is the right word, but downloaded according to circumstances, even though you do not any longer think in the way that generated those habits. So those can come down too. But those are still not the reaction of Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou is such a developed person at this time in the story that he not only understands his lack of separation from all beings, but his responses are no longer habits built on

[40:31]

belief in separation. So they're immediate, and they're expressions of his non-separation. They're celebrations of non-separation. Whereas his other habits are, you could say, celebration of the belief that we're separate. And sometimes those separations are very pleasant, you know, like, I love you, you're great, but still you think this person's separate from you, or I hate you, But it's not immediate, it's habitual, and it's based on belief in separation. Or, even if the belief is dropped, it's based on a habit. That's the difference. And you could be conscious, too. You could also be conscious that it's based on the belief in separation. You could also be conscious that it's a habit. It still can happen. And, of course, you could be unconscious, too. So it's all these different possibilities. And how do you tell the difference? By meditating on yourself. Now, of course, a teacher sometimes can guess, you know, a friend can sometimes guess that maybe that was coming from blah, blah, blah, blah.

[41:41]

But they usually don't tell you unless you ask. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm taking too much time. Is that that way, when you... This, I understand that it is something that people can This is something that's theoretical for us, wondering the future, sometimes the future, to be able to put it in practice, because sometimes we can't really put it back now that we know it. Or it's a little bit different, so maybe we put it one day, and the next day, and the next year. Okay, so are you asking me if it's possible for us to actually enter into... the non-separation between us and all beings and lived there quite a bit? Definitely for a moment.

[42:45]

Definitely. I've met quite a few people who have been there at least for a moment. And visited that kind of way of living and even saw themselves act from that place. And of course this is called a kind of enlightenment for those people. And they feel very encouraged and happy to have had such a moment. This does happen to people, and it does happen in a moment. It doesn't happen in two moments or three. It happens only in a moment. Because that's where everything happens. Nothing happens in two moments, just in one moment. Maybe another one, but not two at once. So it does happen to people. And also the proposal is that you can develop your practice so that this will happen quite a few times. But even if it were based on the delusion which this insight broke through, all those habits will now, as they appear, you will now realize you do not, you do not, this is not what you want.

[43:56]

This is the old bad habit manifesting. And it happens now in the light of a new understanding. So your understanding changes and never changes back. Never changes back. That's the teaching. And somebody sent me a letter recently about the fact that some biologists are pointing out that a lot of biologists agree that if you look at the evolution of the human species, not even human species, if you look at the evolution of life, Most of them agree that there was, you can see in the early phases of life, the trajectory which led to beings like humans. Not like humans the way like people with upright posture and stuff like that, or some violent qualities, or even being mammoths, but led to people who developed the ability to have a knowledge of external objects,

[44:59]

and give rise to some sense of individuality. This is like, people can see that that's like a natural implication. It's like a, what do you call it? It's an imperative in all forms of life that they would move in this direction. So there's a very deep reason for us to have a sense of self and be separate from others. It's part of the wonder of this planet, anyway, that it happened this way. But even if there is life on another planet, although the beings wouldn't necessarily look like us, but in this particular way, they would be similar, that they would be the implication eventually to develop a sense of separation, that this is a natural imperative of biological processes. And you can also see, well, there's also cosmological aspects of that, too. And so this person says, well, if it's that deeply embedded in us, not just that we're not just that we're that way now, but that all evolution has been moving in this direction, what chance do we have?

[46:12]

And I gave a workshop in Sacramento, I guess, not last weekend, but the weekend before last, and somebody asked me, you know, I gave some examples of self and other, you know, Like all of you have some saliva in your mouth now, right? I suppose. And if you spit in your hand, some of you wouldn't mind putting the saliva back right away, I guess. Like if you cough, some of you wouldn't mind licking your hand. But some of you would, I think. Or if you had a glass, a nice clean glass of water, you don't mind pouring the water in and mixing it with your saliva, right? But if you spit into the cup, some of you might hesitate to drink the cup of water with the stuff floating in it, right? Some of you would, some of you wouldn't. Depends on how highly evolved you are. I myself am, you know, I can drink a glass of straight saliva pretty easily.

[47:25]

Then, that's even for your own saliva. Your own saliva, right? When it's in your mouth, most people don't mind. Now, there are some people who go around kind of like, all day long. They can't stand the saliva in their own mouth. It just annoys them, you know. They keep trying to clean their mouth up. This is real sick, right? Most people, however, can stand their own saliva in their own mouth. And if they really like somebody, they can stand somebody else's saliva in their mouth. But there's a certain way of transmitting it that they like, right? And even people you like, even somebody you like, if they come up and spit in your glass, you still might not want to break their saliva, right? There's this funny thing. This is self-other, you know? And like, you know, some people are more sensitive to this self-other thing. Some people with one little tiny little flick of their own saliva in the glass, they can't finish it. one little fleck of somebody else's saliva that I can't finish. Some people can stand quite a bit of the other person's saliva, but everybody finally gets to the point.

[48:44]

If you get enough people's saliva, a large enough one, most people will kind of go, I can't stand it. This is outside, I don't want it inside. And this woman said to me when I came in, she said, it's visceral. The sense of other and self, the problem around that is visceral. How can you work with that? And the point is that that's what Buddhism is about. It's about visceral stuff. It's about visceral transformation. It's about so that you don't, it isn't just in your head that you're not separate from others. In your gut you feel that way. In your gut. You feel oneness with all beings. All your whole body, you feel oneness. And that's, the proposal is, by practicing, we can arrive at that kind of visceral transformation so that we can feel one. And then finally we can do, you know, if necessary, we could do amazing things.

[49:49]

Like this woman who was trapped under the freeway in Oakland, you know, cut her arm up and gave her baby her blow, right? And her baby lived, I think. You know about that? They were trapped, you know, on the freeway. They were trapped. And the baby was saying, Mommy, Mommy, I'm starving or whatever. I don't think the baby said, Give me your blood. But the baby said, Give me something to drink. And she cut herself open. There was something to cut herself open. And she gave the baby her blood. And the baby drank it. And the baby lived. And she died. This is what a mother can do for the baby, all right? But can a mother do it for other people's babies? Well, maybe. Eventually, you can do it for other people's babies. And fathers can do it, too. Or maybe harder, they can learn it. So you can get over this visceral thing. And you can also take other people's blood if you need it, too, if it's appropriate. It's possible to get in there and become free of this profound evolutionary programming

[50:57]

That's the proposal. Starting with little bits and gradually increasing it to become this thing called a Buddha, which is totally free of the visceral and the mental and physical sense of separation, of self-knowledge. Okay. Anything else? Before we go on, yes? What's the difference between the sense of separation of oneself and other and the sense of no-self at all? The sense of no-self at all? The sense of no-self at all. I don't know about the sense of no-self at all. Did you hear about that someplace? Where? If you study the brain, you realize that there is no-self. Yes. I think in Buddhism there is a no-self idea.

[52:02]

The Buddha taught has a teaching called no-self. But that doesn't mean no idea of self. I don't mean an idea of self, I mean no-self, a realization of no-self. There is no self, no sector. No, that's not what Buddha's teaching means. The teaching of no-self doesn't mean that there isn't a self. The teaching of no-self means that there's not an independent self. So, whenever the idea or sense of a self appears, it always appears dependent on various circumstances. For example, your sense of self depends on certain circumstances, which are different from the circumstances for Miriam's sense of self. You could not have those two selves independent of things. There would be no meaning to this. There would be just no discussion. Except that when you bring together certain circumstances, suddenly this thing called self appears.

[53:07]

There is the appearance of a self. The Buddha didn't say that there wasn't. He just said that the self depended on many things. For example, it depends on consciousness. It depends on karmic formations. It depends on ignoring, dependent co-arising of everything, and so on. It depends on having a sense of packaging around it, so it can tell where it ends and where something else starts. It depends on these various things. And each self depends on different things to be its unique and different self. This kind of discussion and meditating on that leads to the understanding of Buddha's teaching of no-self. He didn't say there wasn't one. If there wasn't one, he wouldn't have talked about it.

[54:07]

But there is one, and it appears in the world by various conjurings of the universe. Is there no separation of the appearances of self? It's no separation of the appearances of self and also no separation of the appearances of self from his conditions. So we can't pull our lean out of the conditions through which our lean dependent co-arises with those conditions. We can't get her out. Also, those conditions are all the other selves. Okay? For example, you're not any of the other people in this room. That's also part of the conditions. Okay? And then also, your conditions are not separate from all the other people. So all our conditions are swimming around in complete, total inner penetration and mutual dependent co-arising.

[55:13]

So it's really quite a intimate situation actually. And that intimacy is called no-self. And realizing that intimacy is realizing no-self. And realizing no-self, your tongue starts responding appropriately to the current wave situation. And you speak, you speak no-self. You speak no-self. Your speech becomes the realization of no-self. But, we do have to do, like it says in this thing here, what does it say? It's... But anyway, oh, I hear this.

[56:31]

This work is done in free time. Put to use in busy time. Okay? This work... This work of realizing no self is done in free time. In other words, you have to do part of this work by yourself. Just what we call just sitting. You have to do the work. Nobody else is going to do this for you. Nobody's going to come here and flip it. I sort of do it. You be fool, you be fool, you be fool, all day long, you be fool, you be... Nobody else is going to do that, really, except once in a while I give it a kind of little jump start. But basically, most of the day, that's your work. It's free time. Free time means in your free time. When's free time? Free time is between busy time. When's that? It's when somebody's not in your face, if that ever happens. It's in those myriad times during the day when actually you're just handling your own stuff. Nobody else knows what's going on.

[57:33]

You're coping. You know, somebody says something to you. You feel what that's like. That's your free time. Busy time is when you have to respond. You interact. So in your free time, you realize this knowing self. You realize this presence with your ordinary circumstances. That's your free time. That busy time is when you bring that out. You bring it out. And then things get busy, dynamic, to see if other people can work with you. If you say, Cypress Street, can they then come back and say, teacher, you shouldn't, you know. And can they come back not like talking about it, but the way you said it. That's putting it into action in busy time. Now, this work is done in leisure time, in busy time.

[58:40]

It's applied in busy time. OK? Yeah, this is a busy time now. Busy time. Busy, busy, busy, busy. The question, what is the ultimate meaning of Buddhism? The cypress tree in the yard? the monk's response to the human object, all are equal, all the quality is equal, like... Yes. Each is being itself, and that's the quality that's equal, where it's going to come from.

[59:49]

Well, strictly speaking, in terms of the tradition, There has been no comment that I know of about the monk's first question. But anyway, Zhaozhou's cypress tree and the monk's response at that point, from then on, we're at this intimate love that's being proposed. And that's the equality of the cypress tree being the cypress tree, the monk being the monk, and Zhaozhou being Zhaozhou. And the cypress tree, also the cypress tree can't be the cypress tree without everybody helping the cypress tree be the cypress tree. However, only the cypress tree can be the cypress tree. And only Jaojo can be Jaojo, and only the monk can be the monk, and only you can be you. You have no choice. And that's the ultimate union. No.

[60:51]

That's the work you do in your leisure time. The ultimate meaning of the Chan Buddhism is that from that place, when someone calls you, you can meet them. And together, you can do it. It's not enough that you are willing to be yourself. That's not enough. That's not the ultimate meaning. That's necessary. You must do that. You can't get into the world of really helping people if you won't be yourself. You can't. You must be yourself. That's your job. And you do that in your free time. You do that when nobody's asking you to dance. But the meaning, the ultimate meaning is that when you're invited to dance, you can dance. And if you're not dancing about dancing, this isn't a dance about dancing. This is a dance which comes from the

[61:56]

non-separation of dancing and not dancing. That's the dance. Your job is, the job you do by yourself, is you settle into the world where dance and not dance are not two. That's your job. Which is where you and yourself are not two. That's your job. That's a prerequisite. That's what we call sitting upright. And that's the way you enter into the realm where the ultimate meaning is realized. The ultimate meaning is not realized by yourself. You could be dreaming. You could be dreaming that you are being yourself. You could be dreaming that you're doing the job of being yourself. And not really being yourself even. That's why you need to test whether you're really being yourself by going beyond yourself and entering into this dynamic interaction. So you need to realize not-self. by just being yourself as a dependently co-arisen thing, and then you need to demonstrate it. You need to bring it out in the world.

[62:58]

You need to be able to talk. You need to talk. You need to teach. You have to teach. And not just because other people need you to teach, but you need to teach in order to find out that you're being yourself, really. Now, when you first start teaching, maybe you call a student when you're first teaching because your student is saying, is this teaching that I'm, is this talk teaching? And the teacher says, you know, yeah, that talk that you're doing, student, is teacher talk. Or sometimes, no, this is not as a way to, as the way the dance works out. But first of all, you have to get on the surfboard before you can have a conversation with another surfer or with a wave. But it's not just surfing. It's surfing and then from the surfing realizing that you're in this intimacy and you can talk to the waves.

[64:07]

And the waves will talk back. They have to talk back to you. You have to start singing. You need that. Otherwise, you could be just dreaming that you're stably standing on a surfboard. OK? But being able to stand on a surfboard is prerequisite for advanced surfboard activity, of surfing with others. And finally, with all beings surfing with you and demonstrating Not just that they can stay on a surfboard, but that they can interact with you. All right? So that's, of course, quite well ordered, but that's it. That's two stories about it. And if they can't? Pardon? And if they can't? If they can't? If they can't what? If a statement is made and an appropriate one will not be provided. You mean, if you make a statement and there's not an appropriate response from another one, or you just can't... If the response by the monk wasn't the response that it is, then... Try again.

[65:24]

Keep trying. Learn by mistake. But is it the responsibility of someone to point out that mistake? Yes. And it is the responsibility of someone to say, not only am I pointing it out, but I need you to keep trying. I need you to be successful. Because if you're not successful, neither am I. And I have to be successful. But after all this time, I need you to do this work. And as part of needing you to do this work, I need to tell you that you've got more work to do. I need to tell you that. But this speech should be coming from me feeling non-separation. But I don't yet know my non-separation deeply enough. If I know it deeply enough, you will be able to respond.

[66:27]

Jeanette? I can't imagine I think my life, all the mistakes that I've made, told me that my life, with all the inappropriate instances, helps me recognize the hard work that others have helped me. I believe that more if they have made a lot of inappropriate Did you say you trust or believe somebody more if they're aware that they've made lots of mistakes? Me too. Me too. But if you can't imagine doing something inappropriate, I would say, imagine more. You're an artist, right?

[67:35]

Imagine more. You should do an artwork called Imagining Inappropriateness. Let's have it by next Tuesday. Don't be so sure. Just before the class, on my way to the class, as they say, my wife brought me some of the I didn't go to dinner, because I was meditating on you-know-what. But she brought me some dinner, because she thought I would like it, and she was glad I did. I love spinach. So she brought me the spinach, it had a synthetic cheese on it, right? So I didn't eat the whole thing. And I took some of the feta cheese that I didn't eat and put it on top of some broccoli, which I had been saving for a few days.

[68:44]

And she came in and she says, what did you do? I said, what did I do? She said, you put the feta on top of the broccoli. I said, was that wrong? And she said, Of course!" And I said, I'm sorry that I forgot for a moment that anything I do could be wrong. She said, Good. Is that visceral? Well, the nice thing is that when you're at this level of intercourse, you're, you know, it's visceral enlightenment. If you know that anything you could do could be wrong, then you've basically, you're enlightened. But I forgot, you know. But I think you should consider that worry might be okay.

[69:51]

But once you know that everything you're going to do probably is wrong, then you can stop it. And just be the worst person. Not the worst, that would be too good. Be a person who's not better than anyone else. And Take full responsibility for that too. Don't do it half-hearted. Wholeheartedly be this person. Okay. So we don't have much time left. Anything else you want to do? Because there's two more in line that are really killers. Linda, Linda, Linda, Linda. It seems like... We're talking about not picking and choosing.

[70:55]

Yes. And we're also talking about picking and choosing. Yes. We're talking about both and meditating on how the two ways work. You should know. You should know both. You should know both. You should be familiar with how picking and choosing work and how not picking and choosing works. Of course you try one. You should try the other. But none of that, but when you try either one of them, you should, you should, you should study. So, like Dogen Sanji says, we do not, we should not esteem or despise the near. The near. What's near? What's near? You know, it's near. Picking and choosing is pretty near, right? If it's not, pick again.

[71:57]

You just did it by saying it wasn't. But what about not picking and choosing? Where is that? Huh? Yeah. It's nowhere. Or you could say not picking and choosing is kind of far. Okay. So Dogi says, neither despise nor esteem the near. Don't despise or esteem picking and choosing. There's different ways to translate this, but one way to translate it is become adept at picking and choosing. Become adept at the near. Or become fulfilled in the near. Or become accomplished in the near. Do not esteem or despise the far. Become adept in the far. Don't esteem or despise not choosing, not picking and choosing.

[73:02]

Become adept at them. Whatever it is, become adept about it, in it. In other words, be intimate about it. We even want to become liberated, even though the ultimate path is not difficult if you don't pick and choose. And therefore we want to become intimate with not picking and choosing. We also want to be liberated from not picking and choosing. I should speak for you, but I want to be liberated from picking and choosing, and I want to be liberated from not picking and choosing. I want to be liberated from the path which is difficult, and I want to be liberated from the path that's not difficult. But you should know both kinds of paths. You should know the difficult one, which you're already somewhat familiar with.

[74:02]

You should become more familiar with the difficult path, but also you should become familiar with the not difficult path. But in both cases, familiarity does not mean you esteem the easy way and hate the difficult way, or love the difficult way and hate the easy way, you don't hate or esteem either one of them. You're adept at both and therefore you're liberated from both. You're liberated from the world and you're liberated from freedom from the world. Therefore you can live in the world like you are. And you can talk like you do. And we need you to talk But we need you to do more than just talk. We need you to be completely present. Linda? Linda? The other Linda.

[75:06]

The other Linda. Would you say that if you understood non-separation more deeply, then we would understand? Yeah. Well, more deeply, a lot more deeply, maybe. But I need for my understanding to be realized. I need your understanding to be realized. And the way I develop my understanding is through you. And if you don't understand, My understanding is not as good as it needs to be. It might be somewhat good, but I need it to be so good, so deep, so thorough, you understand too.

[76:10]

I need that, I want that, from my own understanding. Otherwise I might be just like totally deluding myself. And then it's good if you could, but that isn't enough. Then we need to get everybody else to, too, because we could just have this kind of like, what is it, falling to whatever it is that I do, you know? So we can't do... But we start with that, and then we see if we can expand. And if it does, you know, even to the limits of all beings, then that's our best way to make sure that we have Buddha mind rather than just like dream of Buddha mind. But there's only five minutes more, and there's two more lines of verse, you know.

[77:12]

But I'll just tell you what I offer to you as a little bit of a twist on this, okay? Which is right here in the book. And that is that the commentator says... And right after the part where it says, this work is done in free time, and then it's put to use in busy time. And right after that it says, unless you're someone who has suffered hardship, you won't know that, quote, the lying wheel has talent. It can cut off a hundred tongues. Oh, thoughts. Confronting situations, mind is not aroused. Day by day, enlightenment grows.

[78:16]

Okay? Now this is good. This is part of your work, right? You need to be able to confront situations without your mind getting aroused. You need to be able to hit the wave. and go with it without you getting excited. Be so intimate with the changes, right? That's part of the work. So that's part of it. But then the sixth patriarch says, I have no talent. I don't cut off hundred thoughts. Confronting situations, my mind is repeatedly aroused. How can enlightenment grow? Okay? When you look at it in this way, What about that which fills ravines and gullies? How is it thrown into the West Lake? The clear wind of liberation unburdening. To whom is it imparted?

[79:17]

So that's like the final twist on the story, this last big part here. So please think about that. Meditate on that part as a kind of, what do you call it? another kind of like twist of the current in this story, okay? So I don't know. So I don't know how you've been following what's been happening so far, but if you have been, this is another twist. If you haven't been, probably don't care. But... So I think we need to spend a little bit more time next week on this story. But... Case 48 is available. You can start studying Case 48. It won't... You know, these last two lines, the last two lines of the poem I'm referring to, right?

[80:18]

The last three. Stirring up the monasteries, never yet stopped. Endlessly using expedient effort, still the cart is made to fit the groove. Pardon? Uselessly expending effort, still the cart is made to fit the groove. I don't exactly... I should find out about this. Maybe somebody knows. There's an illusion, you know, that... They make these chariots or these carts in a carpenter shop. And they put the wheels on the cart. And it fits in the groove. Now, there's two kinds of groove. One groove would be it fits in the groove on the cart. But another groove is it fits in the groove to go over the bridge or to go down the street. And they don't go out and measure it beforehand to see if it's going to work.

[81:28]

It works even before it meets the situation. You do some work in your own little carpenter shop, and then you take it out on the road, and it works. You didn't go out beforehand to check to see if it would, but it does. So that's this kind of image here of the cart. And this wheel lying on the ground, you know, still has talent even before it's put in operation. It's got talent. Your abilities that you haven't even tested yet will come into play. But it says, again, originally without ability, still, it fills the ravines and gullies. So these last three lines are additional information additional nuance here to this story. I'd like to discuss them next time. You can also start studying case 48.

[82:32]

And also you can study the Malakirti Sutra. This case is taken from the Malakirti Sutra, which is the chapter, if you look in the sutra, it's a chapter called the Nondual Dharmador. Dharmador of non-duality, various translations. You might want to read that chapter. This is like the climax of that chapter. Any other comments for tonight? I can't hear you. I can't hear you still. Try to say a thing. When are you going to cry? When am I going to crack? Cry. Cry? When are you going to cry? Well, I'm more of a goosebumps type of guy. I don't stop. You know, I get goosebumps when I read this stuff. Like right now, I got them again. I do cry, though, sometimes when I read this material.

[83:34]

But I mostly like goosebumps. When I read these stories in class, I usually get goosebumps when I read. But it wasn't just that I got them when I said you should have them. It actually says in the scriptures you're supposed to give them. Case 5 says you can't see. What? Case 5 says you can't see. Yeah, well, these goosebumps have no particular sign. They might be able to see, but your goosebumps might look like 60 people. It's pretty good, pretty good. Big goose. Is it okay to meet in here like this? Please use the space. Feel free to move around the room like Linda did. You don't have to stay in your seats. All right? This is your space to... Yeah, definitely not me.

[84:43]

I don't stay in my seat. So I'm going to be coming to visit people. I visited Phu if she was right here. So I can move too, yeah. It's what you call, it's a free country.

[84:57]

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