I was just thinking that there's, in a sense, there's two complementary approaches to studying these teachings, these stories. One way is what we might call a kind of networking way, or a kind of web weaving way, where you study the first case, the second case, the third case, and so on, and gradually you start to make a web of interconnections between the different stories, which some of you have been studying these cases for a while. Do you feel you're doing... Is that happening for you a little bit? You start to know the different characters and their relationship to each other and what they did in other stories. And you start to develop this web and it provides a context which gradually intensifies wherever you are in the web, whatever story you're studying, as you become more aware of the other stories, those lines start to come down to that story and the story develops more, gets richer and more intense.

[01:23]

Another way of approaching these koans is not to think of any other stories. As a matter of fact, not even to think of the whole story, but just to find where the point of the story is, or sometimes we say where the eye of the story is, and just focus on that eye. The Shobo Genzo, the treasury of true Dharma eyes, is a treasury of these eyes, of such eyes. Ninety-eight fascicles. Each fascicle has one or more eyes in it, which you focus on. But also the ninety-eight fascicles are all commenting on each other, so they form a web. So you need kind of a web, an eye of the web, Do webs have eyes? What do they call the center of a web? Huh? That sounds like a good term for it.

[02:27]

Indra's web has eyes. Yeah, Indra's web has eyes all over. So part of what's happening here is we've been going through this book, case one, case two, and so on, and now we're on case ten or eleven. And also part of this common language we're trying to develop here is this webbing. So you know what this, you know what, for example, the theme of a peasant, of a peasant style of life is one, is woven in throughout the text. Actually in the first text, you have the, in the verse on the text, you have this idea of creation working a loom and shuttle, creation weaving a fabric. So part of what we're doing in this class is weaving a fabric individually and together with this text.

[03:32]

And then also there's particular threads in the fabric that you work on at a particular time. So in terms of the kind of penetrating or highly concentrated way of working with koan, the new people don't need any background. But in order to really develop the full level of concentration on these points, it's good to have this background or this context. It's the context of the stories, the other stories, and it's the context of many Buddhist teachings around those stories, because around those stories are many sutras and other teachings. So there's, you know, there's a point, and the point has circles around it, and then each point, the circle around it, has circles around it. So the Aventam Saka Sutra class goes well with studying koans. It provides a kind of philosophical overview of what we're doing in terms of these little stories.

[04:42]

These little stories are like narrative versions of this grand, interconnected universe that's conveyed by the sutra. So some of the people in this class now don't have much of a net understanding or a network or a web to work with. And I would suggest that the people who have been developing a web continue to develop that web, that net, that interconnected net, and those who are starting now start to weave this net, weave this web. I recommend that if you can afford it, that you buy this book. It's the kind of book that you can use for as long as you want to study Buddhism. It's one of the great treasures of Buddhist literature, so I recommend it.

[05:47]

However, if you don't want to get the book or you can't afford it, we'll also pass out the handouts. but I'm not passing up the whole book in handout form, so if you had the whole book, you could look ahead, too, and see where these people appear, you know, in later parts of the book. So, recently... We've been studying the ninth case and the tenth case. The ninth case, I guess everybody knows that case, right? Just about? That's the case of non-chuan called non-chuan kills a cat. And the last two Sunday lectures I gave, I tried to show how that koan is an example of how, of course,

[06:50]

these stories are about, you know, social action and international politics and global peace or global war, whichever way it goes. To make clear to people that these sutras are about both our individual mind and also the total environment. And the character The leading character in case nine is Non-Chuan. And Non-Chuan is a Dharma brother of Baijuan Waihai, who is the main character in the eighth case. And The main character of the seventh case, Yaoshan, is one of direct ancestors in our lineage, and he's like a Dharma cousin to Bajang.

[08:03]

And case six has Matsu, and Matsu's disciples are Nanchuan and Bajang, and so on. So you can see that webbing there. And you can see then how these people look in a situation where they're playing the role of the student, and then later how they appear when they're playing the role of the teacher. So in the story of Nan Xuan and the cat, you have Nan Xuan pulling the cat up and cutting it in two, and later talking to Zhao Zhou, his student, who puts his sandal on his head and walks out. And then in the tenth case, Zhao Zhou is the teacher. And then in the eighteenth case, Zhao Zhou is the teacher. And in the eighteenth case, you have two koans by Zhao Zhou.

[09:08]

One koan, both koans are about Zhao Zhou being asked, does a dog have Buddha nature? And the first answer he gives is, Yes, it does. The second answer he gives is no, it doesn't. And the answer, no, it doesn't, is the first case in the Mumon Khan collection. That koan is chosen by a lot of Rinzai koan schools as the door, the entrance koan to koan studies. So this story about case 10, people may not understand what that has to do with enlightenment, and yet the teacher in the case is a teacher whose stories are some of the most essential stories for people training in enlightenment.

[10:16]

The story about him and the doggy is the primary entrance koan in the Japanese Rinzai Zen koan system. I'm not saying you should assume anything, But I'll suggest to you anyway, so you don't have to assume, that case 10 is about enlightenment. And that case 9 is also about enlightenment. And that therefore enlightenment has something to do with social action and saving the lives of cats. So does anybody here not know the case nine story? Everybody knows it? You don't know? Okay, so the case nine is the monks, it says the eastern and western halls were arguing over a calf.

[11:24]

Eastern and western halls means the monks living on the east side and the west side of the meditation hall. So like now, do you have assigned seats here? So now we have people sort of assigned to the right side. It's kind of a little bit the east side and the west side of the hall. The Green Gulf Zendo is not exactly oriented north-south, but it sort of is. People think it's oriented east-west, but it's not oriented east-west. It's actually pointed kind of southwest. So there's a kind of northeast and a southwest side of the zendo. So the people, the groups of monks on two sides of the zendo were arguing, having some kind of debate, and in some kind of argument about this cat. We don't know exactly what the argument was about. Nanchuan raises the cat up and says, if someone can speak, the cat's life will be spared.

[12:33]

Otherwise, I'll cut it in two. Why didn't he just say that? No, he just said, if someone can speak, the cat's life will be spared. And no one said anything. And Nan Chuang cut the cat in two. Nan Chuang walked around with... Apparently he walked around with farming implements quite a bit. One of the stories I like best about him is, well, he was out in the field one day with the monks and working, and a traveling monk came by and said to Nanchuan, where is Nanchuan's, in other words, where is Nanchuan's place? He said, where's non-chuan? And non-chuan said, this sickle cost me 30 bucks.

[13:44]

And the monk said, that's fine, but I asked you, where's non-chuan? And non-chuan said, it cuts very well. That kind of way of talking, that kind of logic, is sometimes called non-logical by some people. And they think that that means that Zen stories are illogical, that you're not supposed to use your mind to figure them out. But it's not true that they're illogical. They are logical, they're just a different kind of a logic. And you should use your mind, but you should use your mind in a different logic from the ordinary logic. You should use your mind in the logic of a Buddha. The logic of a Buddha is, if you're non-chuan and somebody asks you, where's non-chuans, you might raise your shovel or your sickle and say, this cost me thirty bucks.

[14:52]

Or you might take your shoe off and say, This has excellent arch supports. Or you might take your glasses off and say, these need to be repaired. Or you might say, put it there. I'm nonchalant. that kind of logic is the kind of penetrating logic which is at the center of these koans. And again, in order to understand that that logic is there, it sometimes helps to have a net. For example, to understand that he's just a guy out there in the fields. So you don't imagine some kind of strange thing where he's walking around, sort of out in the fields, kind of playing some kind of trick, waiting with a sickle for somebody asking a question like that. No, he's just cutting a straw or something, or cutting vegetables. And somebody walks by.

[15:57]

and expects and wants to see the big teacher up at the monastery. So he asks this old monk for some directions, and the old monk gives him directions, but the guy doesn't understand what he's saying, right? You see, this is very similar to the logic of case 10, which we'll get into. But anyway, that's case 9, right? You got it? Case 10 is... There was a woman who lived on the road to Taishan. Whenever a monk came by and asked her, what is the way to Taishan? She would say, straight ahead, go straight ahead, or go straight on. If the monk walked on, she would say, you look like a fine monk, but you go off like that too.

[17:05]

So one time she did that to a monk, and he went back and told Zhaozhou about this. Oh, I forgot to say the second part of the story about the case nine. Then after Nanchuan cut the cat in two, his disciple Jiaojiao came back and he told him the story. And he asked Jiaojiao what he would do under those circumstances. And Jiaojiao took his sandals off, put them on his head, and walked out. And Nanchuan said, if you had been here, the cat's life would have been spared. So now in this story, with this lady who was interacting with these monks this way. One of the monks goes back and tells Zhaozhou and Zhaozhou says, Wait, wait here. I'll go check her out for you. So then he went and he said to the woman, What's the way to Taishan?

[18:16]

And the woman said, go straight on. And Zhaozhou went straight on, just like, walked off just like the monks did, and she said, you look like a fine priest, but you go off like that too. And then Zhaozhou went back to the monastery, gathered his monks together and said, I checked out the woman for you. That's Keiskan. Okay? Do you all, can you remember that, can you remember that story now? Okay? Okay, good. So I would, I would point out to you that the logic of what the woman did is very similar to what Nanchuan did when the monk asked him, where is Nanchuan's? Do you see the similarity there? The logic of the interaction between Nanchuan, when he was standing by the road, and a monk walked by and asked him the way to him, or the way to his temple.

[19:27]

Somebody asked him, hey, Nanchuan, how do you get to Nanchuan's temple? And Nanchuan said, this sickle cost me 30 bucks. That's very similar to a monk saying to his lady, what's the way to Taishan? And she says, go straight ahead. See the similarity in the logic? Both stories tell the truth. I mean, want to find Nanchuan? He shows him Nanchuan. Want to know Taishan, what Taishan is? She shows him what Taishan is. What is Taishan? Go straight ahead. That's what Taishan is, right? Do you understand what I mean by that's what Taishan is? Do you know what I mean? Well, Taishan, what is Taishan? Why do people want to go to Taishan? Manjushri. Manjushri. Why do you think these monks want to go to Taishan?

[20:31]

Any idea? Regina? Do you have any idea why they've been going to Taishan? No? Well, do you have no idea? Is it kind of blank? Okay, this is an example of, you know, Nanchuan holds a cat up and says, if you can speak, the cat's life will be spared. And here I ask her now, I'm holding the cat up, I'm asking her what she thinks, and she can't speak, right? This is a typical situation in Buddhist practice. Somebody's put on the spot, they feel put on the spot, and their mind goes blank, right? Your mind's blank? Or do you have something to say now? Still blank? She doesn't know why, but you sitting over there, not being on the spot, you know why he's going to Taishan, right?

[21:33]

That's the guess. Yeah, what was the guess? To find some teaching. Yeah, so find some teaching. What teaching would you want to find? He doesn't know. No, but what teaching would you want to find? What's the best teaching? You have to try different teachings to find the one that you like best. Yeah, which one do you like best? Do you like go straight ahead? Do you like that one? No. You don't? So you want to go find a good teaching? I want to come here and maybe some other teacher. Yeah, right. So you look like a fine-sense student, but you go off like that too. Now who are you going to tell about that? Can I tell you so? Fine. Let's go straight ahead. Okay. That's what we mean by go straight ahead. Tell yourself.

[22:35]

Tell yourself, go tell yourself. Okay? That's why we want to go to Taishan. We want to go to Taishan so we'll tell ourself what's happening, or so ourself will tell us what's happening. We don't want to go to Taishan and then when we get to Taishan have to go to Daishan and Maishan and Lishan. We don't want to have to just keep traveling around forever trying to get something. We're actually going to Taishan because we think maybe we'll get what we really want there. What do we want? We want enlightenment, right? That's what this story is about. These monks are going for enlightenment. That's why they're going to Taishan. They're going to Taishan because Manjushri Bodhisattva is there and they're hoping Manjushri Bodhisattva will help them become enlightened. But the woman is Manjushri Bodhisattva, of course, because she says, go straight ahead. But they don't get it because she says it like, she doesn't say, look, Sunny, why don't you just wake up right now and stop wasting your time traveling around?

[23:46]

Why are you going out through those dusty mountains, forsaking your body and mind that's right under your nose? Why don't you just wake up right now on the spot? Why didn't you say it that way? Because that way doesn't work. What works is to say, go straight ahead. And if he doesn't go straight ahead, then he understands. And in other words, if he doesn't go straight ahead, it means he doesn't walk off to some other place, but he really goes straight ahead, which means he stays where he is. And that's what going straight ahead means. Anyway, there's a hook in the story, just like there's a hook in Nanchuan's story, and they go back and tell Zhaozhou about it. Zhaozhou comes out and checks the woman out. I was talking to somebody the other night about a friend of his, who also was a friend of ours here, who went to mental hospital, and he said that he used to come to visit the guy and he used to go up to the mental hospital and check him out.

[24:49]

which means he used to check him out of the hospital for the weekend. He'd check out a friend for the weekend from Napa State. So we realized that that's maybe what Jojo did, he checked her out. And that she was with him there, and he was saying, look, I checked her out. I checked her out for you here she is well sort of that's what he did metaphorically I mean definitely yeah he brought her back and gave it right back to him here I checked her out now you got her again live with it you couldn't handle her before here now take her again figure it out yeah A couple of weeks ago, I think when we were talking about Case 9, I asked about two truths, conventional, ultimate truth.

[26:04]

And you said you talked about later that night. You never got to it. I'm sorry. I keep hearing it come up and what we're talking about right now. The later one? You know the later one? You want to talk about conventional and ultimate truth? Okay. What about anything in particular? Well, for myself, I keep seeing it in all these stories. For instance, I see that as symbolized by the Eastern Hall and the Western Hall and sort of being stuck between those two, not being able to say anything. And I've heard it come up in some things you've just been saying, the sickle. sort of logic that you're talking about. I sense it's somehow evolved in that also. Could you tell us what you mean by that? Well, not really, because it's just a sense. I mean, it sounds like... Are you talking about conventional or ultimate this time? I'm not sure.

[27:06]

I'm talking about... If I ask, who was the story of the sickle? Who was the teacher there? Nan Xuan. If I ask, where's Nan Xuan's place? And the answer is, the sickle cost $30. Sounds like we might be talking from two different places. And one might be conventional language, expressional truth, and the other might be pointing to something of ultimate nature, which is inexpressible? Well, they're both simultaneous, okay? So, non-chuan is... The guy asks, where's non-chuan, okay? So he says... The guy wants to know where non-chuan is, so non-chuan tells him, he's here. That's a conventional answer. You want to know where I am? I'm here. That makes sense, right? Mm-hmm. but he also gives him an ultimate answer.

[28:09]

What's the ultimate answer of where non-chuan is? It will cost thirty dollars. Well, yes, that's right. But also, non-chuan is always here. In this particular case, non-chuan happened to be there. So the conventional reality is non-chuan is right here. Namely, non-chuan is this... In this particular case, non-chuan has a sickle in his hand, and this sickle costs $30. That's conventional truth of where non-chuan is right now. But the ultimate truth is simultaneous, namely, it's always right here, not just coincidentally right here. So that both are there at the same time. For a Buddha, they're there at the same time. Conventional and ultimate are simultaneous. The story can make sense conventionally, although it's an unusual way of talking.

[29:13]

In fact, it's true, Nanchuan is there. And this is Nanchuan, he has this stick on his hand, so instead of saying, I'm Nanchuan, he just says something about his situation, which for him... To say I'm non-chuan or this is non-chuan or anything about non-chuan is the same as saying this sickle cost $30. It's just something to say about this situation here. But that's also an ultimate message. Namely, you want to know where non-chuan is? You came here to see non-chuan? You shouldn't have come here to see non-chuan. Now you want to go over there and see non-chuan? You shouldn't go over there to see non-chuan. Where's non-chuan? Where's the place you want to go? It's exactly what you are right now. And also, not non-chuan pointing at himself even. Not non-chuan saying, I'm non-chuan, like there's non-chuan and there's me talking about non-chuan. That doesn't make any sense. Like people sometimes introduce themselves, I'm not criticizing people, but I don't usually say, I'm Reb.

[30:15]

I say, my name is Reb. So people say, where's Reb? I say... You know, I can say anything. I could even say, this is red. But if I say, this is red, it may not be, it may be somewhat misleading. It may be better to say, I have black pants on tonight. So the person doesn't think that the place they're going is someplace else by me telling them that I'm somebody other than my name. Or you could say, somebody's saying, I'm looking for Reb, and I might say, my name is Reb. What, are you the Reb I'm looking for? You happen to have that name. So their ultimate, I don't know if that's what you want to talk about, but their ultimate, in that story, ultimate and conventional are the same.

[31:17]

The woman said, go straight ahead. That's a conventional answer. If you want to go to Taishan, well, go straight ahead. That's the conventional answer. It's also, you know, it's also a good instruction. But it's also exactly where the guy is going. But now, is that what you want to talk about? That's good enough. Okay, thanks. Red? You said that if the woman said something to the effect of, hey, Sunny, wake up, That would work. Why would that work? How do we know that that would work? Well, it almost never does. And in all the Zen stories, almost never does the teacher tell somebody directly to wake up. There's almost no stories like that. And if you tell somebody to wake up, you're like, you're doing the work for them.

[32:21]

You're reminding them of what they came for. But if you tell them what they came for in such a way that they have to remember by themselves, then they wake up. So if you go straight ahead, the person has a chance to remember, oh, wait a minute, the reason why I'm going to Nanchuan or Kaishan is not to go to some mountain, but to wake up. And now you're telling me to do what I actually am going there to do. But he has to figure it out. So you don't directly tell a person to do what they want to do. You tell them directly to do what they want to do in such a way that they have to figure it out, so they have to wake up to it. So if there's another story, somebody said, I think says, what's Buddha? And the teacher says, your name is Eichel. He didn't say, you're Buddha. He said, your name is Eichel. But the monk got it. He didn't say, what are you looking for Buddha for, you fool?

[33:25]

Don't you know what it is? It's what you are, really. He didn't say that. He said, your name is Eicho, and the monk said, my name is Eicho. Wait a minute. Or, this cycle cost 30 bucks. This cycle cost 30 bucks. That's what you came here for. I'm not telling you that. I tell you this cycle cost 30 bucks. That's true. But telling you that simple fact that this thing costs 30 bucks tells you something about what you came here for. And you see that. And when you see that, it wasn't because I told you. It's because you woke up. I don't tell you to wake up. I just tell you some simple fact. Like your name or your address or my name. And you figure it out. Or like, go straight ahead. Where would you go to get enlightened? To Taishan?

[34:27]

Okay, sure, that's all right. But really, the place to go to get enlightened is straight ahead. That's always the way an enlightened person goes. Enlightened people are always going straight ahead. So does that mean they always go like this? Yes, it does. They go straight ahead. What about if they go like this? That's straight ahead. Hey, hi! Oh my God, straight ahead. Wherever you go, it's like that thing I told you about, Gabby Hayes, right? Remember? Remember? You didn't hear that. Oh, I understand, I understand. You didn't hear it either? No. No. Well, when I was a kid, I used to watch this Gabby Hayes show, right? And he had this cannon there, right? Pointing up there. And he put this rice in the cannon and light the cannon and it would explode and all the rice would shoot out at you, you know? Because the heat of the explosion would cause the rice to, you know, increase its size so it would be forced out of the cannon and spray all over the camera, right?

[35:29]

And the kids would get this rice, puffed rice at him. So one day I was sitting over on the side of the TV and I saw the cannon bent over sideways and shot this way too. So then I walked over to the other side and I noticed the cannon followed me. It bent, the cannon was a wobbly cannon. And it would bend and follow you to the other side of the room. And it would shoot you that way too. Do you know what I'm talking about? It does that. That's the way TVs work. They don't, it isn't like you look at, they don't have, they didn't have holographic TVs in those days. So you're looking from the side of the TV and you shoot to see, you don't see the cannons shooting people on the other side of the room, right? It always shoots you. Wherever you're sitting in the room, except if it's behind the TV, you can't see anything. But, do you know what I mean? It's like that. That's the way Buddha is. No matter what direction Buddha's going, it's always going straight ahead. Huh? We said it probably before their time. Now TVs don't do that anymore.

[36:30]

Yeah, they don't do it as much as they do anymore. See, that's it. It got better. Dharma is getting worse. TVs are getting better. And because Dharma is getting worse, people have to be more enlightened. That's why I tell you, of the ancient days when TVs were more obviously showing the Dharma, The dharma of what is Buddha? Buddha is go straight ahead. He said, how do you go to Taishan? In other words, how do you become enlightened? Go straight ahead. So then the guy walks off. He doesn't realize she just told him, right? So they missed their chance, but she gave him a chance. Doesn't mean you always get it, but she gave him a chance. In other words, she told him what Buddha is. She told him the point of Manjushri's teaching. And they missed it. And so because they missed it, she says, you look like a fine priest, but oh my God, there you go. However, that's the conventional level of the story, okay?

[37:34]

The absolute level of the story is that they completely realized Buddhahood before they came, while they're talking to her, and when they walk off, and when they go back to Jiaojiao too, they're still perfectly realizing it. They just don't get it. And so what does Jiaojiao, the great Buddha, do? Does exactly the same thing, except the difference is that when he does it, he's checking her out. And they weren't checking her out, they were being And they say that the monks helped the woman and the woman helped Gyo-gyo. The woman knew what was happening. She was enjoying the show. It was Buddha-ville. When Gyo-gyo came to visit, he enjoyed the show too. That's why he took the woman back with him, checked her out from the snack stand and brought her back to the monastery.

[38:34]

This is about enlightenment, this story, okay? The previous story is also about enlightenment, but different aspects. In one case, I propose that the pressure is being put on you to respond and to speak and to act and realize that's your responsibility. The next story is, you're already acting, now how do you act? Well, the structure of the story is telling you that Buddhism is not telling you, definitely not telling you anything about how to do it. Except, completely useless, go straight ahead. Or, I checked her out. But how did he check her out? Nobody knows anything about that, including him. He does not know how he checked her out. As a matter of fact, the difference between him going to see her... And ordinary people like us going to see her is that he knew that Taishan is go straight ahead.

[39:45]

He knew that Buddha is go straight ahead. He knew that. He was a Buddha himself. He's always practicing go straight ahead. Do you understand? You don't? What don't you understand? I mean, I guess I... I mean, logically that kind of excites me. What I mean is, do you understand that's what I mean? That I'm telling you that Jaojo is a Buddha and that he practiced go straight ahead all the time. That's what I mean. Do you understand I mean that? Yes. Do you believe it? Yeah. Okay, good. Monk said to Jaojo, what's the difference between me and you? Or is there a difference between me and you?" And Jiaojiao said, �Yeah, there is.� The monk said, �What's the difference?� He said, �You get used by the 24 hours, I use the 24 hours.� If you're used by the 24 hours, then you think, �Now, how do I be Buddha? What do I do to be Buddha?

[40:46]

Which way do I go to Buddha?� That's being used by 24 hours. That's being used by your brain, your heart, your guts, You know, whatever. Using 24 hours is, no matter what happens, hey, this is going straight ahead. This is happening, this is going straight ahead. This is happening, this is going straight ahead. This is happening, this is going straight ahead. This is enlightened. That's the way Zhaozhou lived. Okay? He knew about what enlightenment was. He knew it was go straight ahead. He knew it was checking out this woman. So he went and checked her out. But the one difference between Zhaozhou and us, because even if we know that, not to mention if we don't know that, we remember, and he forgot. When he got to the woman, he forgot about checking, about that enlightenment was go straight ahead. He forgot that Taishan was go straight ahead. And he just got there, and there was the woman and he just said, what's the way to Taishan?

[41:47]

He didn't remember anything about, you know, what Buddhism was. But what is going straight ahead in that case? What was going straight ahead in that case? Yeah. Being open? That's too general. Being open to a different... Too general. Too general. Meeting that woman on her ground. Meeting that woman on her ground. What was her ground? The question, what is the way to Taisha? No, before that. Huh? Before he said anything, what was her ground? Well, where he was. He was standing there looking at the woman. There he was. There was the woman. Wow. Look at the woman. That was going straight ahead at the time. He forgot about what straight ahead was going. And what happened after he forgot? There he was standing on the ground with the woman. Specific, okay?

[42:51]

Then he says, oh, I remember what I was supposed to say. Why did he remember, do you think? How could he remember that? Huh? Maybe, maybe he was some kind of a dork and he wanted to know. He was so stupid he even forgot where Taishan was and he really wanted to know where Taishan was. Even though he probably went there millions of times, you know. He didn't need to ask the woman, but he was so stupid he forgot what he knew so he thought, maybe she knows. That's a possibility, maybe he wanted to know where Taishan was. But the other reason why he might have wanted to know was that he didn't really want to know. He just wanted to say the same thing that guy said to him a little while before. He got there and he said, now what am I doing here with this woman? Oh, yeah. I'm going to ask her the same question those people did. Oh, I don't know what to do, so maybe I'll say the thing my monk said. That seems like a good thing to say. There's Taishan up there. He was keeping his word. Yeah, he said he was going to check her out, so he checked her out the way they did, so he said that. I would suggest that he forgot about Buddhism and all he could remember was what people had been saying to him recently.

[43:55]

Again, I'm not praising myself, but lots of times when I come in to give a lecture... It really does, you know, this funny thing happened to me on the way to the lecture hall, really is true. You know, as you go to the lecture hall and you got a lecture, right? Maybe written out or it's in a book, you lecture on a book, but on the way to the lecture hall, something happens and you kind of forget your lecture. Or you get into the lecture hall and the funny thing happened to me when I sat down in this lecture hall, I saw you people. My God, what can I say? It seems so silly to bring in Buddhism, but here are the people, right? But lecturers sometimes get scared walking in there with no lecture and then meeting the people and say, funny thing happened to me when I sat down here. I saw you people and I thought, my God, what are we doing here? But most lecturers would be afraid to say that because they think they're supposed to tell people something they thought of before they came in. I don't think Buddha did that. I don't think Buddha taught people what he thought about before he got there.

[45:00]

He was Buddhist, so all he had to do was start talking. Now it's Buddhism, right? And what did he say? Well, he said he talked to the people who were there. And what did he talk about? He talked about them and what was happening with them, right? So that's the way Jojo was. He got there and he sort of said, oh yeah, funny thing, I know these guys told me about you, so what's the way to Taishan? And then she says, go straight ahead, so he walks off. And then she yells at him and he feels something which we don't know what he felt. But that process is called checking the woman out. And maybe he turned around and put his arm out like this and said... come to my monastery. I don't know exactly what happened. All I know is that I feel really good about the question, how did he check her out? Number one, you're on the spot.

[46:04]

If you don't do something, this world's going to have big problems and it's going to be a lot of suffering. You've got to speak up. Number two, Check this woman out. How does he check her out? Enter that mystery. How did he check her out? These stories are about enlightenment, about how to realize enlightenment. The next story is about sicknesses which happen in conjunction with enlightenment. And we don't talk... mind so that new information can go in. It's almost a way of confusing you, it seems, right? Yeah, right. Do you think this is what's happening? Oh, yeah, sure. Because it definitely, almost case by case, you find that what seems illogical, there is some basis in logic, but it's really so unusual, right? That you're not used to it, therefore your mind sort of like just opens up and then if you're lucky, something comes in and it's the right thing.

[47:09]

It's the right thing? Well, that's the enlightened view. Excuse me. Enlightened view. Yeah, well, go ahead. That's your job. No, it's not so much it opens up and then the enlightened thing comes in. It's more like it just opens up. The enlightened thing's already there, but you're kind of like a little bit too narrow on it. He's just doing what comes natural. Huh? He's just doing what comes natural. Right. Well, I mean, but I think it's a great skillful means as a teacher. Maybe it comes natural to him and that's why he's a great teacher. I agree with that. But don't you think that it just doesn't come natural to... Everyone. There are sort of special people who haven't come back. Most people think they're supposed to do something. Right. Teach something, something like that. So again, in terms of what Lara's question, why doesn't it work just to sort of say to somebody, why don't you just wake up? Because if you say that to them, then they think, okay, and they go... Whatever they do, you know, they got this wake up.

[48:19]

Here's wake up, right? So then they go and they grab wake up and they go... The teacher, they already know that thing about waking up. All you got to do is go like this. And then they do it. Or they don't do it, or they walk off. Well, I mean, if it works, if they open it up, they do it. So, again, in Zen, there's these two aspects of Zen study. One aspect is, you know, just do it. Just do it. That's case nine. Just do it. Just do something now. And case 10 is, don't have some limited idea about what you just did or how to do just do it. The two together, I think, are kind of like, one is about the teacher telling you what to do.

[49:22]

The other one is about the teacher Widening it. The second part of the story, in the first, in case nine, is Zhaozhou did something. He just did it. That's all he did. That was all that's necessary. And then, once you're doing things, if I didn't say that Zhaozhou was awakened, he could have been, but I didn't say that. So the teacher's function is to, once you're just doing it, once you're wholeheartedly doing it, once you're working hard at what? Working hard at what? What do you work at? Straight ahead. Straight ahead, yeah. Work hard at straight ahead. Or work hard at old lady in front of me, or old man in front of me, or young woman in front of me. Work hard at that. Why work hard at that? That's what's happening. What's the difference between... How do you work hard at old lady in front of you versus just seeing an old lady in front of you? Well, versus...

[50:23]

You have verses, I say. How do you work hard at it? Yeah. How did Nan Chuan, how did Zhao Jiu see through the woman? That's how you do it. I don't know how he did it. I know. I don't know how you work hard either. But working hard is really the way you do things. That's the way you really do things. What's working hard? That's not digging a lot of ditches. Working hard is completely doing what you're doing. That's all. And that's exactly what you're always doing. You're always completely doing what you're doing. You're never doing like 92%. You're always doing 100% of what you're doing. But is everybody always working hard? Yes. Does that mean everybody's using it 24 hours? Does that mean everybody's using it 24 hours? Yes. That means a puff fry is going to get you no matter where you go.

[51:25]

That's right. What, the illusions? And everybody gets used by 24 hours too. What's the difference between Zhaozhou and the monk? Zhaozhou uses it, the monk gets used by it. What's really happening? Zhaozhou and the monk is what's happening. If the monk can see that and Zhaozhou can see that, then you've got two Buddhas. When Zhaozhou says, I use the 24 hours and you get used by him, that's true. It's also true if the monk could say, and you get used by 24 hours and I'm using him right now, boss. Then you've got two Buddhas maybe. But before the monk says that, he was, what do you say, cooking on four burners. He was 100% lit up, and so was Zhao Zhou. Zhao Zhou knows that.

[52:27]

He's certain of that, and he forgets it. The monk remembers it, but doesn't quite believe it. If Jojo pushes him and insults him and says, I use the 24 hours, you get used by it. If the monk says, hey, wait a minute. I want to be your friend. I think you're getting used by it, and I'm part of what's using you. Then maybe the teacher says, sorry, sorry, you're right. I give up. That's two Buddhas. That's what Dharma is. Dharma is when there's two. But everybody always really, truly is operating 100% and people are truly effortful creatures. That's our true nature. We are effortful. We aren't... But it's effortless to be effortful because that's the way we are.

[53:31]

So it's natural for us to work hard at being what we're doing. That's natural for us. It's unnatural to operate to be half where you are. That's unnatural. That's out of balance. And we can pretend to be that way. We can do that show. That's our drama. That's what drama's about. Drama's about either the ideals people uphold in the way they act or the way they really are, and what they think of themselves. And people think they're better or worse than they are. And that's part of the enlightenment sickness, too. Maybe I'll just tell you that's part of the enlightenment sickness. In other words, a lot of people in this Zen Center, a lot of people that come to this Zen Center, they come and they tell certain people, they say, you know, I'm not that interested in enlightenment.

[54:37]

And they also sometimes say, you know, I know this is a kind of a place for bodhisattvas, but I'm actually not that interested in helping people. I'm just interested in getting enlightened myself. And I say, sure, it's okay. And some people say, you know, I'm not that interested in enlightenment, I just want to get through the day. Fine, it's okay. It's okay. But still, you should actually without trying to go someplace, you should actually have the purpose or the goal to attain enlightenment. If you don't, you're kind of copping out. And a lot of people have heard that you can't attain enlightenment, or that it's really ridiculous to try, and nobody really does, and Buddhists said you're not supposed to, and a lot of Zen teachers say so, and my teacher says so too.

[55:40]

But actually, Buddhism is about attaining enlightenment, you attaining enlightenment. That's what it's about. It's about individual people attaining enlightenment. And you actually... should actually mean and make a vow to attain enlightenment and we actually do and most people around here really don't take that seriously they think well yes i'm not actually thinking about being enlightened i mean that's too that's you know we don't talk like that around here we just say it during that vow part but people don't actually sit down there and say you know i want to get enlightened Sometimes people say, I want to be a teacher, but they don't say, I want to be an enlightened teacher. Almost never did they say that. And I think that's because they don't want to. But I suggest that you start wanting to. But isn't it also because, you know, it's like you were saying in the first story, You realize you have to do something. The second story, you realize that you should get trapped by it.

[56:48]

Oh, yeah, definitely. It seems really easy to actually use the word enlightenment to get trapped by something. Yeah, or wisdom, or awakening. In some ways, it's better to make up a new word or something. Yeah, let's make up a new word. Yeah, just get through the day, or be happy, or... So enlightenment has all this stuff. Yeah, right, so what should we say? How about Buddha? Doesn't go straight ahead, I've lost it. It will. They never talk about enlightenment. They all talk about practice and go straight ahead. Freedom.

[57:51]

Freedom. Compassion. That's okay. Compassion. How about perfect compassion? Infinite compassion. Infinite compassion. How about infinite, perfect and effective compassion? That's good, that's Buddha. We can use that word for a few weeks. But do you actually want to obtain infinite and completely effective compassion? That's good enough. And of course you have to have perfect wisdom to have perfect compassion, so we can practice that. We have to have perfect practice too, but we can just say, infinite and completely effective compassion. Sounds real good, but how about not right now? Yeah, it's okay. Just as long as that's your goal for now. And it's also said, don't aim at it. Like at the beginning of the practice period the other day, I made a circle and I said, you know, transcend this.

[58:56]

And I made a circle and I said, investigate and clarify this. But when I say clarify this, I don't mean that this is it. Okay? If somebody says, what is it? What is thusness? What is Buddha? Don't say this is Buddha. That's not correct. That's turning away from it. All right? But to say investigate this is not pointing at anything. Investigate this. Clarify this. And transcend this. So that's not the same as if you ask me what Buddha is, I say this is it. It's not the same. If you say, what is Buddha, I could say, clarify this. In other words, how did Zhaozhou check the woman out? Which is the same as, how did the woman check Zhaozhou out? Same. But let's start with Zhaozhou. Because we know more about what he did than what the woman did.

[60:04]

It's clearer in his case. that he's not telling us anything about how he did it. I feel more certain that he's not going to tell us anything about how he did it. And yet, obviously, when he went to all that trouble to do those things so that he clearly is saying, I'm living my life and I'm doing all this stuff for you and I'm doing all of it and the sum total of what I'm doing is I'm not telling you how to live your life. That's my teaching to you, that I'm not telling you how to live your life. And yet, I'm living my life for you, so you should be looking at my life to see that I'm not telling you how to live your life. In other words, I'm walking with you through birth and death, and I'm not doing your practice for you, and I'm not telling you how to do your practice, but I'm certainly concerned with how you do your practice, and I hope you are too, and I hope you don't have any idea of how to do it. Or if you do have an idea of how to do it, I hope you forgot it. because I forgot it and that's how I wound up acting this way with you.

[61:10]

This is the way Buddhas act. Now, that's what I would like to act like. That's my goal. It's not easy to act like that because you think, you think you have to know something when you arrive in town. You think that people won't be able to accept somebody who doesn't even remember why they're there. who says, opens their eyes, he says, I'm, oh wow, what do you do now? You think people won't accept that, that they want more, well, some people do. And so you're gonna get in trouble with them. But with those people, you get in trouble anyway. No matter how much you bring with you, they'll say, not good enough, this isn't what I want, try again. In fact, people do not wanna practice Buddhism, today, anyway. What is the difference between doing or not doing something?

[62:18]

You mean what is the difference between saying to people, just do it, and saying to people, just don't do it? Those are equally good instructions. Except we don't usually give the second one. Like, for example, we don't have up at the top of the street, up at the top of the road there, we don't have a sign saying, not Zen Center. But that's true. That's the meaning of this place. That's the meaning of this place. But we don't say that. But if they want to know and they get down here, they say, what is this place? You say, it's not Zen Center. There's many stories like that. Many stories like that. They get down there and they say, I'm looking for Zen Center.

[63:21]

You say, this ain't it. Whatever you came for, this ain't what you came for. Not only that, but you deserve to be beaten before you came here. You should have stayed where you were. Okay? That's the way we should talk to people. But if the guest manager found out about that, don't tell her I said that. If the treasurer knew I said that. But that's true. And the Diamond Sutra says that's what it means when we say zen center. When we say do it, it means don't do it. That's what it means. That's why we say do it. But we could go around saying, Don't do it. Don't do it. And then people say, well, what do you mean? And you say, well, I mean, do it. Or we mean, don't not do it. But that gets so complicated, people start getting nervous.

[64:22]

So we just say, okay, do it. You know? And then people say, how? And then we say, I forgot. Or ask Jojo. And they say, well, where's Zhaozhou? And you say, he's checking out the lady. How did he check out the lady? You know as much about how, and some people say, Zhaozhou's dead. He lived in the Tang Dynasty. How do we know anything about him? They didn't know about him in the Tang Dynasty either. When he came back, when he told the monks I checked her out, they didn't know what he was talking about. He didn't even tell them what he did. Or even if you did tell him what he did, that's equally informative. Namely, he leaves them alone. They've got all the information. The lady told him what to do, right? The lady gave him the teaching. Now he's just coming back and saying, yes, that's actually true. And I checked her out.

[65:25]

I get a sense they've been reading like that since the beginning of this time. Well, yeah, since the beginning, since the same time that our greed, hate, and delusion started, they've been meeting like that. That's when they started meeting like that. Because as soon as people get greedy and confused and angry, Buddhas appear. And then Buddhas, when Buddhas appear, they start working for another Buddha. And then there's two Buddhas, and then you've got two Buddhas, and you have a whole bunch of sentient beings come too. The world we live in is a world where there's sentient beings, where there's deluded people who evoke Buddhas. And the more deluded the people, the greater the Buddhas. And we're getting more deluded people every day. And people are getting more deluded.

[66:25]

And therefore, there's more enlightenment possible. So what's the difference between a Buddha and a, you know, a regular old deluded saint? What's the difference? Uh... Well, I shouldn't say this, but weeds grow when you don't like them, and flowers fall when you grab them. That's the difference. Ah, good. But that's the difference. Why shouldn't you have something? Ah, because I was copying Dogen. You should. Greed. Huh? What did you say? Aversion and greed and hate. What? Did I miss what you were saying? It seems like what you were talking about was the difference being our attachment for aversion.

[67:29]

Yeah, that's a difference, our version is a difference, that's right. Or another way to put it is the difference between Buddhas and sentient beings is the way you think. Because you never have a Buddha without a sentient being, and you never have a sentient being without a Buddha. But when people look at sentient beings and Buddhas, they say, oh, there's a sentient being and there's a Buddha, and they're different. We look at reality and we say, this part of reality is different from that part of reality. Or some people see sentient beings and don't see any Buddhas. So we should close our eyes and open them with eyes that see Buddhas as soon as you see sentient beings. Do I see the Buddhas in the room?

[68:32]

How could you miss them? Thank you. We hate meeting in this dark black and white place. I don't like it when I'm not able to say it back to you. I don't like it when I'm not able to say it back to you. And I know that I'm not the only one in the game that gave me so many wild words. And I know that I'm the only one in the game that gave me so many wild words.

[69:38]

And I know that I'm the only one in the game that gave me so many wild words. And I know that I'm the only one in the game that gave me so many wild words. and prerequisites. Buddha's way is uncivilizable. I was to become it. You trying to turn the class a little early there, Josh? Yes. Homework assignment, OK? Please find out what enlightenment is, OK? Because the next case is about some kind of misunderstandings about what enlightenment is. So please study the Buddhist scriptures during the next week and find out about what enlightenment is. Find out what the Buddhist teaching says enlightenment is. This is your homework assignment.

[70:40]

You probably won't necessarily... you know, thoroughly exhaust that study in one week. But I'm actually suggesting that you study and find out what enlightenment is. Okay? And then we, in class, we can, maybe we can open your mind up a little bit to what it is. Okay? But I'd like you to actually do that. Now, we have a practice period here, a residential practice period, but also the people who aren't here, I'd like you to, in the next 49 days, actually, I'm not telling you not to read Time magazine and so on, okay? But I would like you to actually concentrate on your studies. I would like you to study and try to study about what enlightenment is. Now, the Avatamsaka Sutra class is about what enlightenment is. It's about, it's a description of Buddha's mind. Okay? That's one thing you can read about what enlightenment is. But you can also read Zen texts about it, like Dogen Zenji.

[71:45]

You can read Genjo Koan, tells you what enlightenment is. And various other fascicles tell you what enlightenment's about. Like, for example, there's a fascicle called Great Enlightenment. Please study wherever you want about enlightenment. Try to find out what enlightenment is. Also try to find out what a Buddha is. What are Buddhas like? Please study that and find out about that. Okay? For the next 49 days, please have an ongoing study of what is enlightenment. The next thing I'd like you to do... is to concentrate on this book, the Book of Serenity. I'd like you to study it. This is a book about enlightenment too. And the next case, Case 11, is called Zen Sickness. And it's about, again, various misunderstandings about what enlightenment is, both from the point of view of your thinking and your experience. Okay? I'd like you to start to talk about how one would tell if one were enlightened and how one would tell if one thought one was enlightened that there wasn't enlightenment, and so on.

[72:52]

Okay, that's what the next case is about. The next case is kind of difficult. It's about a difficult topic called enlightenment. Or it's about a difficult topic, namely, when you start to understand a little bit, or a lot, or get some sense of affirmation or confirmation. What do you do with that? It could be just illusion. That's why it'd be good if you knew what the scriptures say and what the scriptures have taught about what enlightenment is. So I would like you to do that, please. Okay? Yes? Are you suggesting I'm suggesting that I'm not telling you to stop reading Time magazine, but I'm suggesting that you specifically try to concentrate on trying to find out what enlightenment is. And if you want to study Time magazine for that purpose, then you're doing the homework assignment. If you're studying Time magazine for some other reason, I'm not forbidding you to study Time magazine for some subsidiary topic, but I would like you to concentrate on actually trying to find out what enlightenment is, according to the tradition.

[73:59]

If you can do that by studying Time Magazine, fine. And then I'd like to use that study to help us study Case 11. Yes. Would you make some specific scriptural recommendation beside the Hwa-Yin? Yeah, I would recommend Zen Dogen. Those two fascicles I just mentioned would be a good place to start. Genjo Koan. And Great Enlightenment, Daigo. Okay. And also another one that's very good is what is called Makahanya Haramita by Dogen, where he talks about also what, you know, Avalokiteshvara's mind is. what's involved there. The Heart Sutra is also about what enlightenment is. We chant that every day.

[75:01]

But that's enough to start. Also, the case number eight is about enlightenment. Did you notice? Case number eight is about enlightenment. Case number one is about enlightenment. Case number three is about enlightenment. Case number two is about enlightenment. Case number seven is about enlightenment. Case number six is about enlightenment. Case number five is about enlightenment. And case number four is about enlightenment. All the cases we study are about enlightenment. In that order? That's the way, that's the order that you study them if you want to study them from the point of view of what's enlightenment. If you want to study from the point of view of what's the teaching presentation, then you go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Does that make sense?

[76:04]

This is from the point of view of the emphasis that I'm making, which we don't usually do here. And I'd like us to actually make this emphasis during this practice period to actually study this forbidden taboo topic, which I'll try not to say anymore. Okay? And the next case, Case 11, which I have copies out here, starts to open up the sicknesses and the misunderstandings and misinterpretations and false understandings that we have of enlightenment. It's a very condensed presentation of it. And also, I would also suggest to you that you make a chart of Case 11. where you make a chart where you line up the different versions of Zen sickness. Okay? There's three versions of Zen sickness and two versions of Zen sickness and two versions of Zen sickness. There's three sets of presentations about Zen sickness or sicknesses of the Buddha body.

[77:11]

And they're not the same, they're not the same presentation, but they match up with each other. Please line them up and make a chart of the different presentations so that you can um so those three presentations can in the commentary in the commentary there's there's three dip in in the case and the commentary there's three different presentations about Zen sickness. So you put the phrases together on this chart? Is that what you do? Yeah, match up the phrases. They tell you how to do it. Just make a little chart for yourself. That'll help you. There are infinite number of Zen sicknesses, of course. That's just kind of like Zen sicknesses in three styles or Zen sicknesses in two styles. And you can tell that the two styles are not are related to the three styles, and the two styles overlap. You can see, and it explains. So just make a little chart for yourself about that to help you understand the commentary, OK? I'd like you to do this work. You can do it if you concentrate on it.

[78:16]

If you don't concentrate on it, it may seem kind of hard, but it actually won't take you that long. And so is that OK? Do you understand? And also, I'd like to thank you people for doing your homework in the past. I really appreciated it. And I'll try to bring what you've done into... Oh, darn it, I forgot the thing that he gave me. Oh, no. I'm sorry, Michael.

[78:53]

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