But the sun-faced and moon-faced Buddha could be made into a nest, it's so lovely, but it's all the same expression, it's from the same place, just different opportunities. Last time we studied this case, somewhere or another, we got into the term, keep your eye on the ball, when was that, yes Mark? You know, the last time we visited this case, I wrote a verse, Pearl turns on itself, consciousness,

[01:08]

there is no pearl, there is no ball, filling the ball, the crevice of the mind, lose it or die, this would be good, letting go of the rope, keeping your eye on the ball, you cannot see, just this person, mirrors from the inside, nothing like that, wow, clap so hard and let go. Great thank you. Who wrote that? We all did. Thank you. Well, we're a success finally. Arlene? This is a stupid question.

[02:10]

A stupid question? Yes. Oh good, listen carefully. Why are we like this? Why are we like this? Why are we like this? Why aren't we? Why is it such a struggle to go down into the ground? Why don't we just do this naturally and easily and why haven't we been like this? What don't I answer? But probably somebody else will answer it. Because we're not trees. Because we're not trees? See what happens when you ask a why question? You can change it to how. I can say how did we get this way?

[03:17]

That's how you do it. Or how are we this way? Instead of why are we this way, how are we this way? That's what I've been talking about. Oh, you want to know how the causation that led to us being this way? Most religions talk about original sin. It's something that happened somewhere. We have that too. I told you that before, didn't I tell you about that? The original sin is the separation of making the mind into subject and object and then attributing reality to the externality.

[04:20]

That's the original sin. Imagining that something that's really you is not you and that that separation is real, that's the original sin. That's part of what we'll be studying this practice period is how the mind sets up this bifurcation, calls it external and projects. And then by making the separation, you have the possibility of something separate from something else or something by itself. And then you take this by itselfness or this integrity of a thing by itself and you project it on the object. This is the original sin process. That's how we did it. That's how we do it. And it's a good deal actually because it forces us to become Buddhas. Once we get into that trip, there's only one way out and that's to wake up to the process.

[05:23]

If we weren't doing that stuff to ourselves, we might be able just to sort of like get through the day and not know what we're missing out on but not really mind that much. We probably wouldn't do quite as cruel things to ourselves as we do now but we'd be kind of like... I guess we'd be sort of more medium level of cruel but we would hardly notice it. But because of this problem that we have, we're extremely cruel sometimes and almost no one can avoid noticing it. However, then once they notice it, a lot of people then do things to numb themselves. So that turns into a major problem, of course. Yes.

[06:33]

What? Pretty miserable. Miserable, yeah. Situation. Yeah, let's visit the miserable situation. Let's go there. Let's visit the miserable situation and let's find the fully drawn bow in the miserable situation and then let's express the blessings of this fullness. Let's express ourselves appropriately once we find the fullness of a moment of misery. Quiet, huh?

[07:53]

What's happening? Mind is completely... Mind is an object. Immersed in confusion. The path. The moon through the trees lights the path. Does the path light the moon through the trees? Complete. What's happening? What's happening?

[09:19]

I can't hear a thing I own. Thank you. Can I say something? Sure. I read this phrase in the last couple of days that there are chains of gold and chains of iron and chains of thinking that you're really virtuous and chains of thinking, well, I'm not sitting at home every day. But there are still chains. I kept everything that's been happening to me. Is that a Zen phrase? I don't know.

[10:22]

Sounds like one. Nice phrase, huh? It wasn't in a Zen book. Sounds like part of a Beatles song. Anyway, yes? Yeah, so I don't know if this reminds you of anything. Now that we're back on the screen. Yes. Well, I think, well, what's happening with me? You asked what's happening. Right, I did. And what's happening with me is that many of the things you're saying are striking a chord with me. So it's kind of like I'm having my own little mini trip here. Down. So it tends to make me silent. Okay.

[11:38]

I'm struck with the great generosity of Master Long's words. In the face of his suffering, he leaves nothing out. In the face of Buddha, nothing is left out. Yeah. And I feel a kind of... As I sit here and hear it, I have shame that in my own suffering I'm here. I can't see beyond my nose. This kind of expression that we see exemplified by this teacher

[12:57]

is what is called in Case 34. What? What do they call this in Case 34? I'm looking back in their books. Forgot the case. What? What? I heard what you said. What did you say? That's Case 32. Martha. Martha, by chance, said... What did you say? What did you say? Raising a speck of dust. This is an example of raising a speck of dust. This is an act of generosity. This is an act of granting something. And what do the elders do when that happens? They burrow their brows. Because this is going to cause, you know, an empire.

[14:00]

A Zen empire. And it did. I have... I remember this case from a very long time ago. And I've always had a very bad reaction to it. And I remember Philip Whaler used this case, and he was so certain. He was the only person I remember using a different case than Bode Dillinger's. Not knowing. And, for me, it's too good, it's too poetic. It's too much. And I feel very presumptuous to forgive something dingy like this for saying too much. But he was so sick. And there was so much that he maybe had in his life at that time. But to me it's excessive. I just have trouble with it. You see? And it's too good, it's too perfect.

[15:02]

Yeah, it's too much. It's too much. It's almost as though he's indulging. He's showing us too much of who he is. And he can be so sick. But I just feel I just feel almost a cloying. It's too perfect, it's too good. Don't you think when he's about to die he's especially presumptuous? Yeah, that's why I feel very presumptuous in making some comment about it. But I have that very strong... ...deeply growing problem. I can't even say it's setting something up. I just feel that. It reminds me of when when they executed Robert Alton Harris over at San Quentin. A woman wrote an article about the way we talked about that. And she said it's okay for the family of Robert Alton Harris to say that the reason why we're doing that is for justice

[16:02]

or something like that. In other words, it's okay for them to be deluded. But the rest of us aren't entitled to that. And we should realize that we're just murdering the guy. And we're just trying to get revenge. So I think it's okay. It is... I don't know what to say about you but anyway I think it is true maybe that the master Master Ma did raise a speck of dust and that's a mistake. That's a defilement that he did that. On the other hand if he had not raised a speck of dust that also would have been an error. However when you make the error of not raising a speck of dust the the elders do not furrow their brows they relax because no nests have been set up. So one side of the practice is not one side of the practice

[17:03]

there is a fully drawn bow from there things can be expressed if you express something it's raising a speck of dust the nation flourishes the Zen house will become famous there'll be lots of monasteries and people will flock from all over to see what's produced by this moon. Some elders however will furrow their brows and be disdainful. And if you say it just before you die they may not get too upset. However if you don't do anything that also is an error. And then you die of starvation in the hills. You're pure but the nation perishes. How can the how can the nation how can the practice how can the community thrive is our problem. And how can it thrive without lots of politics and struggle.

[18:04]

But the point is ladies and gentlemen how many choices you have. Raise a speck of dust or not. Anything else? Not really. In other words you make mistakes in both both cases. If you don't do anything from this place it's a mistake. If you do something from this place it's a mistake. If you don't do anything they can't make a nest out of it. If you do they will. But nonetheless the moon is full. The bow is can be fully drawn. There is this opportunity. And then you watch how you use it. If you're restless then also if you raise a speck of dust or you don't it will still be an error. However it will really be in both cases they won't build a nest out of what you make because it'll be no good. In the other case they won't you'd just be you'd simply be wasting your life in that case. So once you are actually engaged

[19:07]

with the fullness of the opportunity then you have these two kinds of errors to make. And again then you practice repentance of noticing I didn't do it. I'm not doing anything. And that's got problems. You're pure. You haven't moved. It's good. But people can't interact with you. They can't get a foothold. So as I was feeling that other day during that workshop I came back to myself. I was at peace but I had nothing to say and I couldn't interact with anybody. Is that the purpose? Hmm? Is that the purpose? No, that was an error. Because I did the workshop to interact with people. That's what I was there for to be with those people. But I did do the first part of my job I was doing. I was coming to be with me. I was with myself. I wasn't restless at a certain point. I recognized my restlessness and I settled back into myself and then I was ready to do something but I didn't. I didn't want to actually. And then I did. I did want to and I did

[20:07]

but then I made an empire. Then I made this empire during the weekend. This little empire that I told you about. Nice little empire. And then people left here with all these little nests that they got from what I did. You know, they're perfectly alright and I gouged out flesh by my contribution. You know, by this meditation practice which I gave them. But either way I would have been wrong and I was. I did both wrong things. Andy. A question directed at Paul. Master Ma had a big tongue and kept flapping till the end. Can you cut him some slack from that idea? I don't mean to say that I'm right. I just mean to express what I think. Carrie.

[21:14]

In my interpretation of Master Ma I was kind of half joking about the bombing. Half joking? Yeah. That wasn't a full joke? I couldn't admit it. He's not a healthy person. A cow. Excuse me. And look, there's something here about Henry. Excuse me. No, go ahead. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Do you? He's not a healthy person. He's saying Sun-Face Buddha Moon-Face Buddha It's an old man about to die. And he says Sun-Face Buddha Moon-Face Buddha Recently

[22:18]

he saw The Seven Samurai for the first time in many years. And there's a scene in the movie where an old man is roaming and really related to this groaning that he's doing. And when he started talking about this cake he reminded me of that groaning. I think that it it makes it more illumined and more understandable sometimes. What makes The groaning. What helped you. Yeah, it helped me. Good. Yeah. Which reminds me in addition to directly you know enacting these stories like verbatim then it's also good to do something in the, you know to make some personal expression too like a groan like that.

[23:21]

That's good. Or do something physical like reach out and touch somebody. Or not. Or not. Or with track or withdraw your tentacles. Reminds me of a joke that I told my some friends of mine recently. I don't know why I told them this but when I was a little boy there was a show on TV called Art Linkletter. And one day when I was 12 before I went outside to be a juvenile delinquent I watched the show and at the end of the show he used to have these about four kids sit up on little chairs and he interviewed them. Was it at the end of the show? Yeah. Are you that old? Yeah. I thought you were just

[24:26]

a young whippersnapper. Anyway. So he interviewed these kids these school-age kids and stay concentrated. So one day he interviewed this little boy and he was interviewing all the kids and he said what animal would you like to be? So he interviewed this little boy and he said what animal would you like to be? And he said I want to be an octopus. And he said well what do you want to be an octopus for? And he said so I can grab people with my testicles. He ended up in the same center. There was one

[25:32]

this is what I tried to avoid saying there was one little boy on that show and I think it might have been this same guy. His name was George and he had a voice like this. Good morning Mr. Linkletter. Remember that guy? He had a real low voice and he was so interesting and his voice was so interesting that he had got his own TV show. This amazing voice and he was so intelligent. Anybody remember George? How many people do not have not seen the Art Linkletter show? How far did you know? Did this impel you

[26:35]

to be a juvenile delinquent? It supported me to be a juvenile delinquent. It was like a wholesome way to start the day. We also used to ask them what did your mother tell you not to say? Are we ready to move on to case 37 next week? You can study it now if you want to and in the beginning class I would like everybody to go act it out with somebody and then we can get together to discuss it. And I will probably discuss it for quite a few weeks and parallel I will be discussing it on Wednesday night from the psychology behind it. So you can

[27:37]

deal with it in these two different ways. I am going to Any last minute comments or questions? I thought it was more No. There is an imperative there. It says should not. Should not. Don't. Don't take this lightly. Don't take this work lightly. In other words please do this work. Don't think that you have to don't think there is a Zen practice is difficult. Don't think that you can skip over the difficulty of Zen practice because same thing

[28:42]

don't think you can skip over the difficulty of settling with your own restlessness and recognizing your own and being patient with your own pain. You can't like skip over that in practice Zen just like you can't in any kind of Buddhism. You have to live with your you have to live with yourself. It's bitter work. And your friends do things that they are help you. You know help focus you on this difficult task by being their unpredictable selves offering you their daily face to respond to be afraid of. And also I just want to mention I think I mentioned before but I thought it'd be nice

[29:43]

to have a couple days not couple days but have some days of where we sit do a combination of sitting and koan study some classes and back and forth so there's there's two days being offered where we can where we can sit and study koans together one at the end of May and one at the end of July in case you didn't look at the brochure. And if you have any suggestions about how to organize that day I'm open to it. I was thinking basically of alternating sitting and classes or other kinds of discussions of some stories or a story throughout the day from nine to five. Of course you can start earlier if you want. So you might look ahead and check your schedule if you want to come to that before you commit yourself to something else if you want to attend that. Thank you very much. May our attention be to how we penetrate

[30:44]

every being and place with the true merit of the Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Is this from you, Cynthia? Is this from you? No? No. It says Henry,

[31:49]

but it's not from you, is it? Oh, it is from you. Well, because it was printed this way, I didn't, I thought maybe it was something from someone. From what? Oh, oh, I see. No, I, uh... I'm sorry. Thank you very much. Dharma is very Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the

[32:55]

Tathagata's words. This next period of practice here coming up is about six or seven weeks and the theme for this time will be Buddhist psychology, study of consciousness and how it comes up and develops and turns into trouble and how it can be seen and understood and liberated from its troubles. Case 37 just turns out is quite apropos of this study because it's about karmic consciousness. However, before getting to case 37, there's case 36, which is a ... the actual dialogue

[33:58]

of the case is simpler and also I didn't have a feeling like ... I don't have the feeling yet of where you're at on that case, so I have to check on you now, okay? See how you're doing on case 36? So let's see, do two people know the story pretty well? Two people? Two people want to know it, raise your hands please. Oh good, I'm glad we didn't skip over it. Well then, would two people be willing to come up here and sit here and act out the case or stay where they are and act out the case?

[34:58]

One volunteer? Is this 36 you're talking about? Yes. 36. Two, okay. Let's see. You're a senior to Pitra, so you'd be Master Ma, okay? And Pitra, you'd be the superintendent of the monastery, okay, the lord of the monastery. And the background on this case is that Master Ma is not feeling well, and this is an understatement. He's feeling, he's on the verge of death. And literally it says he's not at peace, you know, or not feeling at ease. He's having a hard time. A great master, but he's still kind of not really all that relaxed at the present moment. So the superintendent comes to check him out, to see how he's doing, and so they have this

[36:05]

dialogue. How is your level of state these days, sun phase pura, moon phase pura? Okay. That's the case. Whoa. I didn't know about that. Okay. And next week, if we do get to case 37 next week, I don't think we'll get there this week because of the sound that Carrie made. I'd like to, I thought it'd be good to split up into about 30 small groups and have everybody dialogue back and forth with this story so you have a feeling for it, play both parts. And that's one way to act out a story is simply to act out the story, you know, to say the

[37:10]

words and to imagine, to get to how you'd feel saying these words and hearing these words. Next case. This case also appears in the Blue Cliff Record, as most of you probably know. It's case three in the Blue Cliff Record. And the verse celebrating that case is one of my favorite verses. But before we get to that verse, I'd like to read you the introduction to that case. How many of you have read the introduction to that case? Please raise your hands. Quite a few. Anybody memorize it? Okay, well, Clarie's translation is, one device, one object. One word, one phrase.

[38:14]

The intent is that you'll have a place to enter, but still this is gouging out a wound in healthy flesh. It can become a nest or a den. The great function appears without abiding by fixed principles. The intent is that you will realize there is something beyond. Beyond. It covers the sky and covers the earth, yet it cannot be grasped. This way will do. Not this way will do too. This is too diffuse. This way won't do. Not this way won't do either. This is also cut off.

[39:25]

Without treading these two paths, what would be right? Please test. I thought that the first four words of this introduction are very important. It says, one device, one object. The word for device there is this word that is in my name, zenki, the word ki. It says, one ki. One object is a word which we've seen, we saw it when we were studying case 32, mind and environment. It's that character for environment. It's a word that they use to translate the Sanskrit artha, which means an object, it

[40:27]

also means an objective field, it also means the realm where we project substantial existence onto things. So, object is okay, but it's not just object, it's object that you project some objective reality onto. So one ki, in this word ki in this case could mean device, the device of this teacher, right? So, as soon as Matsu does anything, then there's something in the world that people have to deal with. And this word ki, it's sometimes translated as activity, opportunity, energy, occasion.

[41:34]

It's kind of a transparent word in a sense. So, as I mentioned to some people this morning, if you're talking about consciousness, then the opportunity of consciousness is thinking or intellect. If you're talking about wind, it's movement, if you're talking about fire, it's a perfecting power of heat. In other words, it's the opportunity of a particular situation. So one opportunity or one ki, and there's one expression from that ki, one expression from that device, from that opportunity, from that energy. Now, they sometimes use the image to express this ki or this opportunity as like drawing

[42:40]

a bow. If a bow is just sitting there on the ground, it has some potential energy just by being something in the world to use. But when you pull the bow a little bit, its potential energy increases. And the idea is that when you pull the bow all the way, it makes a moon. It reaches its optimum potential, and that's called zenki, the complete opportunity or the completion of the opportunity, the complete full function of this bow. And now it's ready to do its job, and then something can arise from that, something good. So this is like the positive potential of concentration or of samadhi.

[43:50]

This weekend we had a workshop where we were hiking, and at the beginning of the workshop one of the people said that he was going to either watch or that he hoped he was either going to watch himself or hope that he wouldn't manage himself into not being present. And so I took that cue, I thought that was a good thing to look for, and I watched my own body and I noticed that this strange thing of, you know, you can be sitting here or wherever, like you could be sitting here right now, and notice, you know, that somehow you may not be completely present, you may not really feel like your knees are in line with your knees and your abdomen is in line with your abdomen, and your heart and your breath is like right on top of the breath, and your thinking is right with your thinking.

[44:57]

You may feel a little holding, I felt a little holding in my thighs and around the muscles in my knee, I felt a little holding. I was a little bit holding myself away from there, and then I let go of that and I felt like I came back to my legs. So we have this, I mean, the bow has got energy, potential at various points, you know, but there is a fullness of the potential of the bow, there is a fullness of the potential of your legs, there is a fullness of the potential of your consciousness. And I suggested to the people in that workshop that they try to discern between action which is restlessness and action which is coming from that you really want to do something. Rather than action which is kind of like a little bit ahead of when you've actually settled, which is really an expression of unwillingness to be here, and action which is, I'm really

[46:03]

here and I really want to do this, I really want to say something. To discern between action which is an expression of not waiting long enough until the bow is drawn all the way, action which is an expression of nervousness and unwillingness to be settled with this restlessness, this uneasiness, that's one thing, and the other thing is you're settled with, even maybe settled with the uneasiness and you still want to do something. Sometimes when, if I do settle, I don't want to do anything, and just before I settled I thought maybe I did, but when I settled I realized it was nervousness, so I watched that, the difference between this fullness and the actions which arise from resistance

[47:07]

to the situation, resistance to this opportunity. Now it's interesting that in the Chinese, as I said, for this Master Ma was not well, he wasn't at ease, maybe he was having trouble being completely settled in his final illness. But when the superintendent came, I guess the proposal of the Zen school is that Master Ma settled, and when he spoke that was an expression that came from this fully drawn bow, and what he spoke was this phrase, Sun-Face Moon-Face Buddha, which has become, for some reason or other, this phrase which has this tremendous creative opportunity, which I don't know how much he'd been working with it. I myself have been thinking about the image of the Sun-Face Buddha and Moon-Face Buddha

[48:19]

a little bit, and the more I think about it, the more I respect what he said, and the more I realize what an amazing thing it is that he said that. This expression, Sun-Face Buddha, and the expression Moon-Face Buddha, existed prior to him. You can find it in some sutras where they have lists of names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. He didn't make up the name, but he pulled it out at that time of that question, and for some reason or other it stands like this monument in the history of our school. So I guess what I'm pointing to at this time is the work of drawing the bow and experiencing

[49:20]

the fullness of an opportunity, and then watching to see when the action emerges, and look at what kind of an opportunity that is, what kind of a fruit or object that will be in the world. And then notice, however, it says right after that, that the point of doing this, the point of doing this case, is to provide, the intent is to provide a place to enter. When you're settled, I shouldn't say when you're settled, when I'm settled, I guess the main thing I want to share with people is access to being settled, and somehow it is possible to speak from there and then provide a door to your own state, not to your own state, but to your own practice. And there is an interest in doing that, however, when you do that, it's like gouging out flesh,

[50:24]

healthy flesh, it can turn into that, it can turn into a nest. You don't mean it to be a nest, you mean it to be a point of access to this zenki, to this total opportunity, to this whole works, that's what you mean it to be. Especially when you are the whole works, you mean it to be that. When birth is the whole works, when death is the whole works, and you're with that, then your expression is to provide access to that world. But then it can become a problem for people, as this case has become a problem for us to some extent. But we don't have to make it a problem, we can just remember what it's trying to show us the entry into. Okay, now, before we go into discussion, I just want to read this wonderful verse, Sun-Faced

[51:29]

Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha, how can the ancient emperors compare to this? For 20 years, I've struggled bitterly, how many times have I gone down into the green dragon cave for you? Clear-eyed, patch-coat monks, do not take this lightly. There is a dragon cave deep in the ocean, and there's a jewel there, and a dragon guards it. We have to go down to the depths of the ocean, and go up to the dragon, and retrieve this

[52:38]

jewel from under his chin, and bring it back to provide a way for people to enter the way. Okay, for you can mean that this monk did this for you, or Matsu, Master Matsu did this for the superintendent, but also you could read it as for himself, for the superintendent, and for all of us. And everybody has to find their own way down there, and I don't mean to look down upon you, I don't mean it that way, and I also don't mean to take responsibility for your practice, but anyway, I wonder sometimes if we're going down into that cave here.

[53:38]

So I'm not complaining, really, you know, like Galen told this story about this monastery where she was at, where everybody had their own code that the teacher would use to call them. You'd hit these sticks together, and you know, one hit meant the director, is that right? The Jisha. The Jisha. Two hits meant the Anja, or what? Two hits meant the director. Two hits meant the director, three hits the cook, or something, or Eno. Is Eno three hits? Tenzo, yeah, Eno was three hits. Eno was three hits, Tenzo four hits, you know, and then all the main officers had, you know, they had hits from one to nine. So as soon as you heard one of those hits, you had the Jisha, you had it easy, just listen for a second, and if it was one, you'd go. But the other people, like the ninth officer, had to listen for nine hits, and you couldn't like wait for a couple of hits to start listening, right, you had to start listening right away. So as soon as that thing went off, these people had to do this thing, hard thing of listen,

[54:49]

and then the people who were less senior, then there was an art symbol where they had a sort of introductory thing, and then they went from one to nine, so they had to listen for all that. And the most junior monk, which was Galen, had to listen to the whole thing. But by the time it got there, by the time it had been going for a long time, she knew she was possible. If it was only one hit, she could stop, everybody could stop after one hit. But anyway, everybody had to listen to that stuff, right? I guess if he missed the first time, then he'd get another try, right? If nobody came, if the person he was calling didn't come, then he'd get another chance. But anyway, you know, I mean, I hate to bring this up, but around here, even if somebody could figure out you're calling them, they'd say, well, it doesn't work for my schedule. Which is fine, you know, that's difficult too, it's a kind of difficulty.

[55:55]

But what is the difficulty? In what way, what opportunities do we have here? What opportunities are we providing each other? Are you drawing the bow of your own state to its fullness and then offering it to people? It isn't just the old master that's doing this. Everybody has this opportunity, moment by moment, and that's also what the sun face Buddha, moon face Buddha is about. You know, one image of the sun face Buddha is, there's a sun, right? The Buddha's face is like the sun, and the sun's up in the sky, and then the sun's setting. Even at that last moment, just before it sinks, you know, it's a wonderful thing, that last moment, just before it sinks, just before it starts to die. So Master Ma is dying, and there's this wonderful radiance of his last moments.

[57:05]

And his last moments, in one sense, the sun face of his last moments, is that it's like 18,000 years the sun face Buddha lives, in other words, eternity. And you can see that side of the Buddha's face. And there is that, in every moment, there is that presentation. And then the other side is the sun face Buddha, the moon face Buddha, which is ... we don't usually watch the glory of the moon setting, it's more like the moon up in the sky, not necessarily at the highest point, but the moon's up in the sky, and it's not there forever. It has its own short-lived quality, which is also characteristic of our moment-by-moment

[58:10]

expressions, that it's short-lived, that we have a short life. So Master Ma actually demonstrates, in fact, just like we all do, the fleeting quality of him and the eternal quality of him, for him as a Buddha is an eternal and a fleeting thing simultaneously. And this was his expression for us. But it says, you know, this sun face Buddha, this moon face Buddha, it's extremely difficult to see this sun face Buddha and moon face Buddha. So we're being offered something by this ancestor and by this story, we're being offered something

[59:21]

which is extremely difficult to see. And this is how he was at that time. So part of Zen concentration practice is to concentrate on this, on the fullness of this expression, the fullness of the moment, to try to find some way to feel, is the bow drawn a little bit? Is the bow drawn all the way? Have you reached at this moment, and now this moment, and now this moment, have you reached the full potential? Are you living with this kind of samadhi? Are you going down, getting down to that work?

[60:29]

Are we getting down to that complete work? And, if not, then we practice confession for our partial efforts, for our resistance, for our lack of faith, and hopefully that makes us a little bit more serious so we can get a little better traction and be more thorough in this samadhi. And again, I'm talking about this now, but the point, it's to offer a point of entry, it's not to make this into a nest or a den. So, that's part of the difficulty, is you can't get too heavy either and start camping out and make some kind of fixed principle here. And I've seen some very sincere people respond to this kind of gesture, you know, and resist

[61:36]

by being too enthusiastic in a sense, by putting too much energy into it. Most people don't put enough in, but some people overdo it, which in some ways is more irritating, but still endearing. Just like when we were studying case 32, people trying to think of the mind which thinks, you know, I'm getting various kinds of headaches and so on, it's endearing because you know they're trying, you don't get the headache from not trying, you can tell they're trying by their stories. So, they misunderstood the instruction, but you could tell that they made the effort by what they reported. Some other people didn't even try, it's not really... They're both kinds of resistances. So that's my kind of review of this case, and I wondered if you have any, what do you

[62:52]

call it, any vows here that you wish to express concerning this samadhi of this case? The Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha samadhi? Yes? Do you think it would make any difference if you said it the other way around? If you said Moon-Face Buddha, Sun-Face Buddha? I think it would make a difference, yeah. So the order is very important? Yep. Linda? I'm listening to you cross-translate. You mean the Sanskrit root? Well, when you say Venerable Subhutir, translated into English, it actually is this Sanskrit word, Ayus, which means full of life. So, I was wondering if in Japanese, this Venerable carries that thing about life.

[63:57]

I don't know. I don't remember what the character is. I can't remember the character. I'll check it. Venerable, by the way, in English, is etymologically related to Venus. It's related to love. I used to think of Venerable as kind of a cold word. I was happy to find out that it has this association with Venus, Aphrodite. In 7th century England, the Venerable Bede was much beloved. Right. Here's the character. Thank you. It's a word which has more to do, when they say the world-honored one, it has more to

[65:05]

do, I think, usually translated as honor. But, you know, honor, veneration is a kind of very high, intense form of honor or honoring or respecting. When you say world-honored one, that's the character they use. They use the word for world and then this character here. And then the next character means his position or his standing. Miriam? I'd like to talk more about this business of confessing, because it seems I'm confessing all the time. Good. In a way, I'm not in doubt so much of guilt, I think, or how I'm not pulling the bow as far as I can. I know that all the time. I mean, I love the Dharma. Would you care to vocalize an example of your confession? Well, I should be sitting more.

[66:06]

It comes across pretty... Okay, that's... I should. Well, there you go. That does not necessarily have to be guilty that you said that. You can also drop the should and say, I'm not sitting fully. You can just say that. I'm not fully sitting. That's a kind of confession of the lack of rounding out your effort. You can just let it go at that. Or you can say, I'm not sitting fully and I feel regretful or some sadness around that. It's okay. But then there's also this kind of a gaining idea, oh, if I sat more, I would... Well, then you confess that too. And I have a gaining idea about this. Right. And I don't trust myself when I have a gaining idea. Maybe you might feel that too.

[67:07]

This doesn't sound too bad, this particular type of talk, this particular type of confession. And then another part of it is that I actually... You know, you work yourself up to being able to actually say, and I'm not... In the future, I'm not going to make partial efforts anymore. But I don't believe that. I don't even say the future, just say, I'm not going to make partial efforts anymore. And then if you say, and I don't believe that, then you say, and you see, I don't have faith. I lack... I have some faith, but I lack in faith that I could say that. In yourself, yes, exactly. Your mind then reflexes over to the future, which is another example of lack of faith,

[68:11]

that you don't trust that you can say something right now. Just like when we say to people at the ordination ceremony, we say, will you receive these precepts? And they say, yes. And then we say after we're finished giving them, and then we cite them, and then we say, even after, from now on, like from now, will you continually observe this precept? From now, will you continually observe this precept? They say, yes. From now on, will you continually observe this precept? They say, yes. You said, yes. Even until achieving Buddhahood, and even after attaining Buddhahood, will you continually observe the precept? You said, yes. Now, maybe there was a flicker in your mind when you said yes, thinking, well, I don't know if I'm really going to do this. But anyway, that's just another thing to confess and go back to start again. All my ancient twisted karma, an example of twisted karma is, I can't do that, or I can do that.

[69:13]

Thinking that you can't do it is karma. They're both karma. You confess, I've been thinking that I can and cannot do things for a long time. I confess that. Now, I confess that, I'm ready to say yes. Now, maybe between my confession and when I get asked, even before I say yes, I may commit more karma. So, if you get asked, if there's a gap between your confession and when you get asked, you may have to say, just a second, and clear the decks again. The proposal here is that the practice we're doing here actually clears away all your karma. Now, karmic thinking, case 37, karmic thinking is, how could that clear away all my karma? That's another example of karmic thinking. That thought is another act of karma. Hesitation is karma. Okay, so then you confess, oh, there's hesitation.

[70:15]

So, I just confessed and now I'm hesitating about my confession. Well, they just confessed again. Now, when you first confess by that formula, you confess more than you can talk about, more than you can even identify. You confess it all, even though you don't know about it, you confess. Then, right after that, you may start noticing some karmas come up. Confess those as they happen. Yeah, the proposal here is they have a practice. The practice that's being proposed here is a practice which is called repentance or confession and it actually wipes it all away. It doesn't mean that it doesn't have any effects. It means that it wipes it away. And then you say, yes, I will. So, I am not practicing fully. I am not completely present. That's my opinion. That's my thoughts. Or, I think I am practicing fully. That's my opinion. That's my thoughts. I confess both of those things. Now, I am ready to be present. Thinking that you've drawn the bow completely,

[71:19]

is not drawing the bow completely. Thinking that you haven't drawn the bow completely, is not drawing the bow completely. Thinking that you haven't drawn the bow completely can be a bow that is drawn completely. In the thought, I have not completely become present. and that thought is another opportunity that can be fully drawn. There's no opportunity that is not full. Liberation is the fullness of every opportunity including the opportunity of my practice is not so good, my practice is very good, my practice is medium. No matter what you think about your practice, your practice is always actually a fully drawn bow. It's always a full moon. Any thought is actually completely round and full. That's the opportunity of that thought. Any muscle, any muscular expression, any sensation you have is a fully drawn bow.

[72:26]

And the bow can stay drawn in a sense for eternity or it can go off right away. Now it may be that you have to confess in order to be sincere enough to enter into this samadhi that I'm describing. You may have to say, I can't do this samadhi, in other words, I'm lazy. I'm now expressing my laziness by saying this is too hard for me. That's called laziness of self-disparagement. So you say that and then you confess that you talk that way about yourself. I don't have much faith also if you can see by what I just said in myself. Okay, confess that. Pretty soon you're ready to practice this samadhi, if you are willing to be one of these fully drawn opportunities.

[73:33]

But it's hard to get down there and to swim through all this entanglement of these thoughts, I'm not so good, I'm fairly good, I'm really bad, I'm better than her but not as good as him. All this stuff, I'm really great, this is just more opportunities. But you have to confess that you don't believe that there are opportunities if you don't. But it says again, it's extremely difficult to see this sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha and even the great poet who wrote that wonderful verse had a hard time writing it. Did you hear him say? It's a beautiful verse, isn't it? So beautiful. But he also says, what he happened to say, 20 years of bitter struggle. He had to go down to the dragon cave to write that poem. Don't take this lightly, this trouble I've been going through.

[74:42]

Does the dragon's cave have any marks by which it can be known? No. It can't be known, actually. Even this sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, I just told you some marks to imagine it, I just told you some, I imagined it in certain ways but that's not it. That's just my effort. Whenever you go down in the cave, you always go through some marks. Marks are flying at you constantly, characteristics are constantly coming to your consciousness. But the path is not one of the marks. All the marks are, you know, biased. But the pattern of the marks that includes the relationship of all of them is not a mark,

[75:44]

but that's the path. Is this clear? Could be. She said, does the way down in the green dragon's cave can be recognized by any marks? Are there any marks by which you can recognize it? The Diamond Citrus says, the Buddha asked Subuddhi, are there any marks by which you can recognize the Buddha? And Subuddhi says, no. There's no mark by which you can recognize the Buddha. He said, were there any particular characteristics by which I attained complete perfect enlightenment? No. There were no dharmas by which you attain enlightenment. That's why it is unsurpassable enlightenment. There's other enlightenments which are pretty good, that are attained by means of some mark, by means of some dharma. But the unsurpassable perfect enlightenment is the one that is attained by not using anything to attain it.

[76:55]

That's why it's unsurpassable. Because you don't use anything. It's totally immediate. And every step of the way is like that too. Is that an intuition, or something like the ah-ha experience of the gestalt psychology? No. It's not like anything. It's not like anything. But, it can be anything, because there's no marks by which it's like something. Therefore, enlightenment is all-pervasive. Because it's not like gestalt, or ah-ha, or uh-uh. That's why it's all-pervading. Because it's not the least bit defiled by any characteristic. Including if not defiled by the characteristic. Upright sitting.

[77:59]

That's why some people express it that way. That's why they use upright sitting to express it. That's why Nagarjuna talks the way he does. Because he's coming from that place. So he says, there's nothing that comes from itself, there's nothing that comes from another, there's nothing that comes from neither, I mean, there's nothing that comes from both, and there's nothing that comes without a cause.

[78:21]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ