I think most of you have heard about the ancient Zen masters insisting that the students not write down or remember their talks. Heard about that? one of Suzuki Roshi's kind of Dharma brothers, a person he studied together with under Kishizao Iyan Roshi. Kishizao Iyan Roshi was the teacher of Suzuki Roshi and many other people, and one of them was Noiri Roshi, who actually Suzuki Roshi wanted me to go study with, but just about the time I was...

[01:02]

going to go, Suzuki Roshi got more sick, so I never went. Anyway, Nairi Roshi was invited to AAG to give talks on the Shobo Genzo, and they put a tape recorder out to tape his talks. But he wouldn't let him. He said, take it away. Whereas here, I'm letting myself. I'm not attached to that excellent example I'm going along with this degenerate way. Soon I'll be covered with tapes and stickers all over my body. I have a special occasion with plug-ins. I can do heart monitors too. Thank you. You know, I can't think of an example where they say, Buddha was listening to the monks.

[02:36]

But if I watch Buddha's response, it looks like he was listening. He listened to the cries of the world and responded. So one time the Zen teacher Bai Jiang said, I've heard that he said, take up words in order to manifest meaning. and you'll obtain, quotes, meaning, unquote. Take up words to manifest meaning, and you'll get a word meaning. Cut off words, cutting off words, cut off words, and meaning is emptiness.

[03:51]

Emptiness is the Tao. And I told you before, the word Tao means understanding and it also means the path. So emptiness is the path and emptiness is understanding. The path and the understanding is cutting off words. cutting off words means you don't use them to get something you use them to respond so the meaning is emptiness and emptiness itself is the path or is understanding

[05:25]

So meaning is cutting off words. Meaning is relinquishing words. The meaning of the Buddha Dharma is to let go of your views. There's not something to obtain. The meaning is to let go of your view, to cut off words, and to respond appropriately. The meaning of Buddha Dharma is that the way you act changes. so that you can respond appropriately to your partner, to your partner on the path.

[06:46]

So Wang Bo says, there is no Dharma that can be attained. And the Diamond Sutra says, oh, and the Daoshin says, the Buddha never preached Dharma. And the Diamond Sutra says, the Buddha asked the Buddha is there any Dharma by which I obtained unsurpassed complete and correct awakening and the Buddha said no Lord there is no Dharma by which you realized you obtained unsurpassed complete and correct awakening and the Buddha said so it is the Buddha so it is and not only that But I didn't get a single thing upon attaining unsurpassed complete and correct awakening.

[08:09]

I didn't acquire anything. And the meaning of this enlightenment was his whole life of responding to the cries of the world. Each time he heard a cry, the way he responded, that was the meaning. But he didn't have anything. He didn't have anything that he attained, not one single thing did he have, so he could respond. the meaning was empty. Because the meaning is empty, it is able to respond, or it is the ability to respond. So when we look at the Buddha's teachings, we could always look to see how are those teachings showing us

[09:22]

more and more sensitive and flexible ways to respond to others. How do the teachings show us that? Not what do they give us so that we'll have something, but how do they teach us to practice emptiness of letting go of what we have so that we can respond? Just in the right way. Relinquishing our hold on ourselves as the focus of our experience. Relinquishing our hold on nifty views of how to be helpful. Coming empty-handed to each meeting.

[10:32]

In the ceremony of Dharma transmission in Soto Zen, there's certain secret things that happen. But giving up privacy, I'm going to tell you about it. Don't remember what I'm saying. At a certain point in the ceremony, the teacher is touching the head of the disciple. And the teacher says, in the blank generation, for me, I'm the 91st generation from the Tathagata, so the next generation is 92nd. In the 92nd generation from the Tathagata. And the way it was translated originally was, I obtain you.

[11:36]

I obtain you. Or maybe I acquire you. Or I get you. But I changed this originally to I attain you. And then recently I changed it to I touch you. The root of the word attain is touch, is to touch. In the 92nd generation from the Tathagata, I touch you. I don't attain a disciple, I touch a disciple. And this is just like Shakyamuni Buddha originally attaining Mahakashapa but it's actually just like Shakyamuni Buddha touching Mahakashapa so someone crawls over to you on her knees and you touch her head just like Buddha did you don't attain anything but you respond to this person who does not practice the way of Mary Oliver

[13:07]

who crawls a hundred miles on her knees through the desert to reach the teacher and the teacher touches the head. Teacher has nothing in her hands so she can touch the head. Poor baby, now you have to practice and deal with all these people. relinquish those views and touch those heads. I wonder if when the Buddha attained unsurpassed complete and authentic awakening and didn't get anything at all,

[14:17]

Does that mean that if you don't get anything at all, you have realized unsurpassed complete and authentic awakening? If the Buddha didn't rely on anything to realize the awakening, if you're not relying on anything, is that realizing awakening? Could it be the same? It could be. So there it is. There's the practice. It's the practice that doesn't rely on any dharma and doesn't get any dharma. And then the test to see if you've realized it is the appropriate response. Are there appropriate responses coming out of this practice?

[15:18]

coming out of this practice, not out of this person, not out of this person, out of this practice. Does the appropriate response come out of this practice? Person crawls over. Does the appropriate response come out of the practice of having nothing and using nothing? Not using words, not having words, not using meditation, not using anything to attain the way of appropriate response? Does the appropriate response come? Well, you can see. You can't get anything. If you want to have the Buddha's awakening, you can't get anything, but you still get to see what's happening. You don't get to get what's happening. You don't get to use what's happening, but you can see. Does this, is this response?

[16:19]

Is it appropriate? By the way, I thought that was really great yesterday when I asked our two French monks, you know, if in France they say, you know, you know, challenge and slap people in the face, you know, with their gloves, and they said, well, they used to do that. We don't do that anymore. Long time ago they did that. You guys thought I was saying you do that now, right? No, I know you don't do that anymore. It's a passé, right? They used to do that, now. Huh? It's an American word, right? Right. So it comes. So first it was, grew up with the Three Musketeers and then it went over to America and came back to France with a different accent. That's not a French word.

[17:24]

And we don't do that anymore. We don't duel anymore. Yeah, now the dueling is in America, right? That's where the dueling is. French people don't go around shooting each other on the streets the way we do. practice of emptiness.

[18:09]

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