To surrender, to get yourself down to the ground, for us human beings to get down there on the ground is hard work. We don't naturally go down to the ground. It is our great humanity that we stand up. That's wonderful about us, that we're upstanding human creatures. That's our greatness. But we have to go down, and it's work, you have to use your body and your breath to get down there. But once you get down there, then you can see things first move, and when you see them first move, when the witnessing of the creation happens, you will understand what this form and emptiness stuff is about. You will understand what no object of thought is about. There is the great relief in witnessing creation, but the seat from which we sit, in which we

[01:05]

sit to watch this creation happen, we have to buy that seat with hard physical work. That's why this is a yogic sasheen, we have to be yogis, that's why we don't have snacks between meals, unless we're pregnant. Because if you're pregnant, you may be a yogi, but there's somebody else who isn't. So except for Eleanor or anybody else who might be pregnant here, if you're really hungry between meals, see a doctor. Anyway, otherwise, we don't eat between meals because the reason being that we want our stomachs full so we can do our yoga. If we have too much food in our tummy, we can't witness this creation, which we do,

[02:11]

we're not really the creators, but anyway, the creation happens constantly, right under our nose, somehow it happens, and if we can witness it, that's what's really important. Then we realize the empty, radiant mind, but this is effortless, you don't have to try to see it, just get down on the ground, and it'll happen right under your nose. If you're up too high, you can't see it, try to get down there, close to the ground, where the roots, where the sprouts come out. Lecture 4, Session 8, Session 9, Lecture 10, Session 10, Lecture 11, Lecture 12, Lecture

[03:55]

13, Lecture 14, Lecture 15, Lecture 16, Lecture 17, Lecture 18, Lecture 19, Lecture 20, Lecture 21, Lecture 22, Lecture 23, Lecture 24, Lecture 25, Lecture 26, Lecture 27, Lecture 28, Lecture 29, Lecture 30, Lecture 31, Lecture 32, Lecture 33, Lecture 34, Lecture 35, Lecture

[05:24]

36, Lecture 37, Lecture 38, Lecture 39, Lecture 40, Lecture 41, Lecture 42, Lecture 43, Lecture 44, Lecture 45, Lecture 46, Lecture 47, Lecture 48, Lecture 49, Lecture 50, Lecture 51, Lecture 52, Lecture 53, Lecture 54, Lecture 55, Lecture 56, Lecture 57, Lecture 58, Lecture 59, Lecture

[06:54]

60, Lecture 61, Lecture 62, Lecture 63, Lecture 64, Lecture 65, Lecture 66, Lecture 67, Lecture 68, Lecture 69, Lecture 70, Lecture 71, Lecture 72, Lecture 73, Lecture 74, Lecture 75, Lecture 76, Lecture 77, Lecture 78, Lecture 79, Lecture 80, Lecture 80, Lecture

[08:24]

90, Lecture 91, Lecture 92, Lecture 93, Lecture 94, Lecture 95, Lecture 96, Lecture 97, Lecture 98, Lecture 99, Lecture 100, Lecture 101, Lecture 102, Lecture 103, Lecture 104, Lecture 105, Lecture 106, Lecture 107, Lecture 108, Lecture 109, Lecture 110, Lecture

[09:54]

111, Lecture 112, Lecture 113, Lecture 114, Lecture 151, Lecture 152, Lecture 153, Lecture 154, Lecture 155, Lecture 156, Lecture 157, Lecture 158, Lecture 159, Lecture 1510, Lecture 1511, Lecture 1512, Lecture 1513, Lecture 1514, Lecture 1515, Lecture 1516, Lecture

[11:24]

1517, Lecture 1518, Lecture 1519, Lecture 1520, Lecture 1531, Lecture 1532, Lecture These stories are empty. These words are stories about how words don't reach. Words don't reach.

[12:54]

Can you say the first one? No more involvements. No more involvements. I'm always clear. I'm always clear.

[14:26]

I'm always clear and aware, and words can't reach it. Pretty good proof. As we say, you test water with a stick, you test people with words. You put it on the tested plate with words, and you did just fine. There's a story for you. And now what's the other one? Then the third comes, and there's the second, the leopard. What does he say? Absolved me of my sins. I'm diseased. Absolved me of my sins. And then what did Hoika say? That sounds a lot like the story I know. It's very similar. It was an old trick by me. It was already a cliché. That other story which we didn't tell, what's that other one?

[15:29]

Calm my mind. Hoika went to Bodhidharma on another occasion and said, Master, please calm my mind. And then what did Bodhidharma say? Bring me your mind. Show me your mind. And Hoika looked and said, I can't find it. And Bodhidharma said, I calm your mind. So you see in that story, this is what I've been talking about. Bring the mind that needs to be calmed. When you can't find it, when there's no object of mind that you can find, the mind is calmed. So these stories have some similarity. Anyway, back to the third. He says, I'm diseased, please absolve me of my sins. And Hoika says, bring me your sins. And the third ancestor waits and looks for a long time.

[16:34]

He didn't know how long. Maybe a minute, maybe a year. Anyway, he comes back and says, I can't find my sins. And Hoika says, what? I've absolved your sins. Now, continue to practice according to the three treasures. And then Daoshin comes to the third. The fourth comes to the third and says, Show me the way to liberation. What? Show me the way to liberation. Yeah, please, I beg you, be compassionate. Show me the way or give me the way of liberation. And Sun Tzu-Hsuan says, Is there someone who binds you? What? Is there someone who binds you? Is there someone who binds you? And Daoshin says, No. And Sun Tzu-Hsuan says, Sun Tzu-Hsuan says,

[17:38]

Why do you seek liberation? There are some stories. Now, I'm a little bit betwixt because I didn't want to talk about this right now. Okay, so, Daoshin says, Students of Buddhism, Zen students know, Bodhisattvas know, that the most essential thing is emptiness and tranquility. And you need to understand what this business about form is emptiness. What? You have to understand form itself is emptiness. Daoshin says that.

[18:46]

You should understand form itself is emptiness. Do you like that teaching? Form itself is emptiness? Huh? Yeah. You do? Anybody else? Anybody not like it? It's scary. It's scary. What? You guys are really Zen students. It's on behalf of the picture. What? It's on behalf of the picture. It's on behalf of the picture, yeah. Anyway, Daoshin says you should understand this. Form itself is emptiness. And, his descendants, more than a thousand years have been continuing to say that.

[19:48]

Please understand form itself is emptiness. Form, immediately, emptiness. I remember one time I was reading, I think it was, the Haight-Ashbury Oracle, or something like that. Had a little article about Suzuki Roshi in there. Do you know the Haight-Ashbury Oracle? You know Haight-Ashbury days? Well, in those days there was a newspaper, sort of produced by that, you know, what was the name? Chet Atkins or Chet Helms? Chet Helms, yeah. Chet Helms produced this newspaper called Oracle. It was a hippie newspaper. And one issue they had this, this lady with her arms like this, sort of, like this, sort of, with wings hanging down from her arms. And in her wings, was the Heart Sutra. And the Heart Sutra was a copy of the Heart Sutra

[20:54]

that we used at Sokoji. It had a Chinese character with an English translation under it. It was directly Xeroxed off from the Zen Center, the sutra cards. And then they had this thing about Suzuki Roshi. And what is Suzuki Roshi's teaching? Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. And I thought, geez, that's such a, how strange to tell hippies that that's your teaching. I thought, you know, how aloof, how remote. Because he is, you know, Suzuki Roshi is such a warm, accessible person. And when I asked him what his teaching was, he says, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. I'm always teaching that. I was really impressed. It seemed such a strange thing to say. Among all the things he could have said,

[21:56]

I chose that. Anyway, that's what Chet Helms said. I saw Chet Helms a year or so ago at the Hay Street Grill to become a yuppie. He had a really nice nude leather jacket on. You know, those ones that cost about $600. So, from Daoistian on, this is a strong recommendation to understand that, teaching from the heart Sutra. Let's see, you know, you have, we have these clichés. Let's see.

[23:06]

A cliché means a stereotype. And one idea about the meaning, where that word came from, it's a French word, that it comes from, when you're making a stereotype, you take the matrix and set it down into the molten, the molten metal. When you set it down into the molten metal, it goes, and makes a stereotype. So, we live in a world of clichés, in a world of forms, feelings, conceptions, compositional formations and consciousness.

[24:07]

These are stereotypes. These are fixed, institutional forms of samsara. And, we have to understand their emptiness. For example, hand is a cliché. Body. Clichés. Mountain. See those mountains up there? Those are clichés. Hear that river? That's a cliché. And, we're fools if we think we don't

[25:12]

see those clichés. Because, we have to deal with those stereotypes, those mountains, and those rivers. and, then, somehow, we have to settle down with them, and go down with these clichés. And, use these clichés to go down, to go down with them or to them, to be humble enough to admit that we are, we live in a world of stereotypes, of fixed, rigid forms. And, being willing to accept that and live with that stiffness, stiffness, and going down with it and living with it, we have a chance to,

[26:13]

see them move, see them change, see them dissolve. See them melt. We don't have to actually get down there and melt them. We don't have to melt these stories. Because, again, if we try to melt these stories, or take these stories apart ourselves, we just make more stereotypes. But, if we become the stereotype, and stop resisting, then we stop resisting,

[27:22]

then we start flowing. So, you don't have to go in there and try to take the, the story apart, just be the story, or even be just a section of the story, or just be your body, or just a part of your body, like your hand or your spine. And, naturally, the spine will not be the spine, the mountains will not be the mountains anymore. And then, emptiness is born. Then,

[28:24]

the mountains will be mountains again. And, you'll be free. Hear that, again, you'll make the cliché again. But this will be a new cliché, one that you make. This won't be an old, dead cliché, this will be a new one. This will be new mountains, new rivers, new body, new hand, new you. Understanding form as emptiness means that you get into that, you get in there with the form, and you melt it down by just being there with it.

[29:26]

And then, make a new stereotype, a new life. And if you're like me, you would like to know how to do that. How do you get in there between form and emptiness? How do you get in there between conceptions and emptiness? Between feelings and emptiness? Between emotions and emptiness? Where is that place where they meet? What's it like there? The bodhisattva's life

[30:38]

is right in that intense place where form and emptiness seem to meet, where they seem to play. There's a threshold there at the edge of your house. Go hang out on that threshold. Go hang out on that threshold. The threshold of the house of your seeing, you're hearing, you're smelling, you're touching, you're tasting. The house of taste.

[31:41]

The threshold of the house of taste. Right outside there is vast emptiness. The household of feeling, the household of conception. Each of these stereotypes is surrounded by vast emptiness. And clearly, clearly having a hand and feeling your hand as it is, the limits of your hand is a threshold. The threshold of being pegged where you are. There's the threshold of emptiness.

[32:46]

It's right there, but don't confront it as emptiness. Just stay pegged in form, feeling, conceptions and so on. Okay. Okay.

[34:17]

Okay. The ancestor Daoxin says, be constantly mindful of the six sense faculties as empty and tranquil and that you have no hearing or seeing. Be constantly mindful that the six sense faculties

[35:46]

are empty and still and that you have no hearing and seeing. This time is the middle of the night, still and soundless. You must know that the Dharma preached by the Tathagata takes empty stillness as a basis. Be ever mindful that the six senses are empty and still. Be constantly as if in the middle of night. What is seen and heard by day

[37:06]

are all things external to the body. Let it be always empty and pure within the body, preserving unity without stirring. With this eye of emptiness, focus the attention and observe one thing. No matter whether it is day or night, focus the energy so that it touches the body and it does not move. Now,

[38:55]

focus the energy so that it touches the body and it does not move. Now,

[40:01]

focus the energy and it does not move. focus the energy so that it touches the body and it does not move. Now,

[41:24]

focus the energy and it does not move. Now, focus the energy so that it touches the body and it does not move. and it does not move. Now, so that it touches the body and it does not move. There is just one thing. All buddhas are riding it. Can you see it?

[42:31]

Even the buddhas can't see it. Can you hear it? Even the buddhas can't hear it. Can you ride it? Yes. Yes. It is your life. It is my life. There is just one life. There is just one life. We can go along with it. We can accord with it.

[43:36]

But it is beyond hearing and seeing. Now, focus the energy and it does not move. A brilliance that you can't see. An exquisite song that you can't hear.

[44:44]

A boundless love that you can't own. A profound love that you can't feel. A profound gratitude for nothing. Now, just going along and according, identifying with the natural rhythms

[45:54]

of your body and the day. Now, according with the natural rhythms of things, harmonizing body and mind. Now,

[47:10]

it is a good title for that book, Zen Dawn. Zen Dawn. Don't ever go to sleep. Never go to sleep. Never go to sleep. Can you vow right now to never go to sleep

[49:34]

the rest of your life? Don't even forget about the rest of your life. Just never go to sleep. Your body rhythms always changing. Your mind rhythms always changing. Flowing up and down. But your life never sleeps. Your life never sleeps. The one thing never sleeps. This stupid person maybe sleeps and wakes up. But the one thing of this life never sleeps. I think you all believe that. So can we commit ourselves to this one thing?

[50:35]

This unified activity of all life that never sleeps. The sun never sets on the British Empire. Or the sun is always rising on the Buddhist Empire. It's always dawn. We're always waking up. Yeah. Clear and aware. Words can't reach it. Nonetheless

[51:39]

it's just like that. I'm so happy I'm never going to go to sleep. I vow to learn them.

[53:15]

The gates are boundless. I vow to come to them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become him.

[53:34]

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