It came to me to bring this story up about Lu Pu as he was about to die. The story of how he was practicing with his family of monks as he was about to die. I don't remember how it came up but I didn't really feel like I chose it. And it's about Lupu dying at this time of year. He died in the twelfth lunar month, the first day. And also now we are in the twelfth month and also our founder died in the twelfth month, the fourth day.

[01:05]

We can honor our founder and Lu Pu at this time of their passing away. And the way they taught in their final days and hours I don't remember exactly, but after Suzuki Roshi's diagnosis of cancer came, from that time on, I don't remember him giving any talks to the community as a whole or giving any formal doksan.

[02:29]

Even at the time of his diagnosis, it seemed that he thought he would live a few more years. But things happened much faster than that. It was just two months or so more. but he kept going to the zendo to sit with us. At a certain point he couldn't walk up and down the stairs so we made We made a little chair for him out of our arms, two of us at a time, and carried him up and down the stairs so he could still come to meals and go to the zendo.

[03:45]

Finally, he didn't come down anymore and just stayed on the same floor as his apartment. His apartment was on the busy side of the building. It has lots of traffic. And we set up a little room for him on the courtyard, which would get morning sun. That room is now the Founders Hall at Zen Center. But I don't remember him actually getting a chance to use it. I never felt any decline in the wholeheartedness of his practice as he approached the end of his birth.

[05:14]

And the same with Lu Pu, I feel how wonderful that his practice or the practice lived in right to the end. Although he's not directly in the lineage of this temple, his great-grandparent is one of the great teachers in our lineage, Master Yaoshan, Medicine Mountain. Yashan sitting practice is honored as one of the best examples of our practice.

[06:26]

After he met Shito, in the famous story of being like this won't do, not being like this won't do either, being like this and not like this won't do at all. After that story, after that awakening with Shito and Matsu, he continued to study with Shito for years and years. Once he was sitting and Shertou came to him and said, what are you doing? And Yashan said, I'm not doing anything at all. sitting, he was sitting calmly and his teacher asked him, what are you doing?

[07:41]

He said, I'm not doing anything at all. Then Shirtos said, then are you idly sitting? And Yashan said, if I were idly sitting, I would be doing something. Shetho said, you say you're not doing anything at all. What is this not doing anything at all? And Yashan said, even the 10,000 sages don't know. Yashan was enlightened by and then practice with his teacher after enlightenment, deepening the realization, deepening the realization, deepening the realization together with his teacher, studying the practice, dialoguing about the practice, celebrating the practice, questioning the practice,

[09:08]

after enlightenment, as enlightenment. And Shurto sings a poem to his disciples, something like, we've been traveling along, singing a song side by side. through all kinds of weather, it doesn't matter at all. We just accord with causes and conditions. But no one knows who my disciple is. Even the 10,000 sages don't know her. How could impatient, careless people possibly know?

[10:18]

Later when Yashan was sitting, a monk came and asked, what are you doing sitting there so calm and still? what are you thinking in this still sitting? And Yashan said, I'm thinking of not thinking. Monk said, how do you think of not thinking? Yashan said, non-thinking. Non-thinking. How can I say what thinking not thinking is?

[11:26]

It is thinking which is situated in conscious construction only. It is thinking which doesn't go beyond conscious construction. It is thinking which is intimate with conscious construction. It's totally just conscious construction. This is also called just sitting. Just sitting means just conscious construction of sitting. And in that, the thinking is not thinking. The sitting is not sitting. There is no clinging to thinking, no clinging to sitting. There is no sitting in front of the sitter or behind the sitter.

[12:31]

There's just sitting. And there's no sitter. Or there's just a sitter and no sitting. That's just sitting. There's just sitting, there's no sitter. Sitting. Or there's just sitter, no sitting. And there's no understanding of this out in front of the sitter. And the monk says, how do you think like that? And Yashan says, non-thinking. Non-thinking. How do you think like that? By practicing compassion towards your thinking, by practicing compassion towards your sitting, towards the sitter, towards everything. You come to reach the point of sitting which is not sitting, thinking which is not thinking.

[13:45]

This compassionate care of the dharmas before you brings you to the place where there's no dharmas before you. The compassionate care of beings which seem to, which are constructed in such a way that they seem to be in front of you brings you to the place where there's no beings in front of you. This is our sitting practice. Yashan is a model of this practice. His great-grandchild, one of his great-grandchildren, is Lupu. sometimes out of loyalty and sincerity, denying oneself, the pain in the gut is hard to express.

[15:03]

By the way, There's a typo in the published version of the Book of Serenity. So the text as you have it for chanting here is correct. Sometimes calamity extends to other people but one doesn't accept responsibility. Sometimes because we do not understand conscious construction only, when calamity extends to other people, we do not or cannot accept responsibility. When we understand that all is mere ideas, then the calamity of other people is accepted as our responsibility.

[16:24]

And we accept this responsibility for the calamity of other people impartially. How amazing that would be if we could practice that way. How amazing if grandparents could accept responsibility for other people's children the way they accept responsibility for their own grandchildren. When about to pass away, her last moments are utterly kind. At the very end, tears flowing forth from tender heart are still impossible to hide or escape. Is there anyone who has cool eyes

[17:40]

On the first day of the twelfth month, the twelfth lunar month, Lupu said to the monks, If I don't die tomorrow, then it will be soon after. Today, I have one thing to ask you people. If this is so, This is adding a head on top of your head. If this is not so, this is seeking life by cutting off your head. At that time, the head monk said, now, did he ask his question? Did Lupu ask his question? Was his statement his question?

[18:47]

Did the head monk interrupt him before he had a chance to ask his question? And what does the head monk say? The head monk says, the green mountains are always walking, always lifting their feet, moving their feet. The green mountains, what are they? They're the practice. They're the practice of the lineage that Lu Pu lives in. They're always moving their feet. The head monk, the Shusso, is quoting the teacher, back to the teacher.

[20:02]

And then he says, you don't hang a lamp in broad daylight. And Lu Pu said, what time is this to make such a speech? It looks like he's scolding the head monk. Is the head monk's statement inappropriate to the moment? The elder Yansong comes forth and says, setting aside these two paths of this and not this,

[21:13]

I request the teacher not to ask. Maybe he didn't ask his question yet because Yonsang's asking him not to ask it. Or is he asking him not to ask it again? And Lu Pu said, not quite. Speak again. Speak again. And Nyan Song says, I can't say it all. Lu Pu says, I don't care if you can say it all or not. And Nyan Song says, as your attendant, it's hard to answer the teacher. As your attendant, I feel I should answer your question.

[22:35]

I feel I should do as you say, but it's hard for me to do what you say. Luke Pruitt. requests the elder to come and see him later that night and says, your answer to the question, your answer today was most reasonable. Now you should understand in experience or experientially realize the saying of my teacher.

[23:38]

Now they're going to try now to experientially realize this teaching of jasyam, which was recorded before. I read it to you before. And Lu Pu heard it. And now he's going to give this teaching to Yon Song and see if they can experientially realize it. See if they can enact it together. Each of them working with their conscious construction of this teaching. Can they meet and realize this teaching in their experience now. So he says the teaching is before the eyes there are no things

[24:49]

And the word that's translated as things is a word which means, is a word that, Chinese word that's used to translate the Sanskrit word Dharma. And Dharma means things. It's used to mean things or phenomena. So you can translate it as there's no things before the eyes. There's no phenomena before the eyes, but Dharma also could be capitalized and mean the law, the Buddha's teaching. You could also say the Buddha's teaching. The Dharma, the Dharma is not before the eyes. The Dharma is not out there in front of you. Right now, the Dharma is not in front of you. And that's short for it's not behind you either or on top of you or inside you or to your right or to your left.

[25:56]

That's why you should sit up straight. That's why we don't move. We don't go this way to get it or that way to get it. It's not inside or outside. That's the way things are too. That's the way everything is and that's the way the Dharma is. The Dharma is the way everything is. The Dharma, the dharmas are not in front of your eyes. Now when Lupu is saying that, is Lupu realizing that experientially? Can he say this? and realize it as he speaks it? Before the eyes there are no dharmas.

[27:11]

Before the eyes there is no dharma. It's not that there's no dharma. There's no dharma before the eyes. The mind is before the eyes. Of course, the mind isn't before the eyes. But the kind of thing the mind is, is the mind is generated in such a way that it appears to be before itself. The mind is constructed, not by the mind, but by innumerable minds, innumerable conditions construct minds that arise in such a way that they see themselves as outside themselves, as before themselves. That's the kind of mind, that's the kind of deceptive mind sentient beings have. The mind is before the eyes.

[28:15]

That is not something before the eyes. The mind is something before the eyes. That is not something before the eyes. It's not within the reach of eyes and ears. Now, Lupu says after that, quote, which phrase are guest and which phrase are host? Host. I moved to mention that the word host originally meant guest. The word host originally meant, you know, an invading army. And host was then turned into guest, as in hospitality, a hotel.

[29:20]

the guest was turned into host. And now we're supposed to find out which is guest and which is host. Which is guest and which is host? Are they all guests? All hosts? Are there no guests and no hosts? Where are the guests and hosts? Lupu says, if you can pick out which is which, I'll give you the robe and bowl.

[30:39]

Jansan says, I don't understand. I can't realize this teaching with you. I can't realize this teaching with you. I can't do this. I don't understand. And Lupu says, you should understand. And Yon Song says, I really don't. And Lu Po said, shouted, it tough, isn't it? Tough, isn't it? How awful. There's no record of Lupu saying, anybody who's listening, and by the way, who is listening?

[31:44]

Who recorded this story? Did Lupu tell someone? Did he have witnesses there? Did Yonsang tell people? How do we know about this story? Probably there was someone there who witnessed it and spread the word of this talk. We have this story. And because of this story people say that Jansong was Lupu's successor.

[32:48]

But this is a matter of opinion, maybe. Then the next day, Lu Pu was still alive, and at the noon session with the monks, he says, excuse me, a monk comes to him and asks him about the previous day's conversation, and it doesn't say in the record whether he's asking about public session or the public in the nighttime session. I don't know what he's talking about. But Lupu says, the boat of compassion is not rowed over pure waters.

[34:05]

over the precipitous straits, its wasted effort to set out a wooden duck. I feel, you know, that this conversation, the whole conversation, seems to me precipitous straits or or the name of that music group, Dire Straits. It seems like the whole conversation is precipitous straits. And one would like to find a wooden duck to figure out what's going on. So you could chart a course through this conversation. It seems to be hard to see what's out there and what's in there.

[35:10]

It's hard to not want to understand and grasp. What led Lu Pu to say that the elders' comments were quite reasonable? What was so good about asking the teacher not to ask? And when it's tough, is that... What is that tough? Is that intimacy? Is that the struggle to realize the subtle Dharma? There's a poem which was written approximately 250 years later celebrating this conversation, celebrating this discussion to realize the teaching of nothing is actually out there in front of us.

[36:33]

to celebrate the realization of enlightenment where there's nothing separate from us, where all beings are our life. But I'm going to discuss that poem later. I think this is enough, more than enough. The precipitous straits have been have been gestured towards. I don't know if you are all living in the precipitous straits where the boat of compassion is plunging forth and forward, trying to steer it in a safe way, looking for some way for guidance, but looking outside

[37:35]

inside for the guide is not according to the teaching, doesn't accord with the teaching, and yet we must be kind to the one who would like to know what's going on. Yashan's not doing anything at all. He's thinking of not thinking. I have one thing to ask you today.

[38:57]

Do you have any response? In the ancient way, the monks come forth with their responses.

[39:57]

The kitchen monks go to the kitchen Do you know how to operate that machine? Tough, isn't it? Yeah. Does it need to be tough? No. That's part of what's tough about it.

[41:31]

Sometimes it's not. If it was always tough, we could just accept that as reality. But it's not. That makes it tougher. How do we stay compassionate when it isn't tough? I don't think we can stay anything. And that could be called tough, or that could be called reality. But even though we can't stay and we have to keep moving forward through the precipitous straits, we are being told that we can learn to find anew in each moment the kindness of the Buddhas and bring it to the current situation. And part of the kindness is to give away the kindness

[42:38]

and get ready for the next kindness not to hold on to this kindness and if it's tough not to hold on to tough and be ready for easy and if it's easy not to get ready and hold on to easy but give easy away generously pass easy on and get ready for the next moment not knowing what the name of the game will be and saying welcome Welcome. Welcome, stranger. It's tough. It's tough. It's tough. And it doesn't have to be. But it is. Now. and we're here to support each other to face tough when tough is here it's not always birth and death sometimes it's nirvana but when it's birth and death we're encouraged to face it with no guide with not knowing how and if we can face birth and death in that generous

[44:04]

open-hearted way we can face nirvana in the same way. If we can face birth and death without reaching for nirvana, nirvana will be realized. Nirvana is realized in that moment. of bodhisattvas joyfully give up nirvana, which they easily realize by their wholehearted acceptance in embracing and sustaining birth and death. When it's tough, when it's trickly easy, whatever. I keep thinking I'm seeing in front of me a fishing hook dangling aimlessly.

[45:56]

I think that was the word, aimlessly. Aimlessly. Could you move that microphone a little farther away from your mouth? So you keep thinking you see a hook dangling in front of your face? A fishing hook. And I think it's dangling aimlessly. The hook's dangling aimlessly. And I think this was in the story of the boatman. The hook drops below the water and catches the golden fish. and I think of Yaoshan not doing anything when he's sitting. And then the question comes up, what about intention? Because I hear a lot about intention, the intention to save all beings, the intention to make a Buddha,

[46:58]

Well, if, for example, there's the intention to save all beings, then we practice compassion towards the intention to save all beings. Compassion, when Yaoshan's sitting, not doing anything, the intention to save all beings is probably walking back and forth in front of him. But he doesn't do anything about that intention. He just loves it. Loving is not doing anything. Being generous and welcoming is not doing anything. Practicing ethics is not doing anything. Being patient is not doing anything. It's being intimate. with, for example, the intention to save all beings.

[48:05]

It's not holding on to the intention. It's not promoting the intention. It's not squashing down the intention. It's being intimate with the intention. It's being compassionate with the intention so that the intention finally isn't out there in front of us anymore. It's walking back and forth. It's walking up and down, and it's not out there. It's nothing other than our life, that intention. And to realize that, we do nothing with it. And nothing with it means be close to it. And being close to it means embrace and sustain it. It means be compassionate. And the fruit of that compassion is to realize that intention isn't out there external to our life. And that's not doing anything. And that's using the moon as the hook.

[49:12]

Now we've got this big, fat moon. It's harder to use the full moon as a hook than a crescent moon And now we use the moon as a hook and the clouds as the bait. We're fishing without trying to get anything. And that's difficult for us to do. We're used to fishing to get something. So we're fishing for supreme enlightenment without trying to get it. We're fishing for supreme enlightenment with a straight hook, we say. I'm fishing for supreme enlightenment by sitting, but really the moon is my hook and the clouds are my bait.

[50:19]

Or the bait. I'm giving myself, I'm donating myself carefully and patiently to realizing this without trying to get it. It's tough to dangle aimlessly. Pardon? It's tough to dangle aimlessly. It's tough to dangle aimlessly, yeah. One time we were studying this case where there was a discussion about the famous story of fishing with a straight hook. And after that, I went to Minnesota and I thought, I'm going to go there and fish with a straight hook. It's hard to fish at the beach here. So I actually got a fishing, borrowed some fishing equipment and got a hook and bent it straight and went down to a lake in Minneapolis called Lake Harriet and went out on a dock and dropped... Nobody knew that my hook was straight.

[51:30]

Nobody checked my hook. And I sat there, you know, with this straight hook and it was really tough to sit there and fish with a straight hook. Now, if I told people around the lake that I was doing it, you know, and a lot of people were watching me and saying, wow, look at that, it would have been easier. But just me all by myself fishing there with a straight hook, it was tough. It would have been easy just to sit there, you know, sit in meditation on the dock, look at the water. But I was actually like fishing with a straight hook. It was really tough. I actually tried it. And it was hard. I was amazed how hard it was. It was harder than sitting because when I was sitting, I secretly have a curved hook. You know, since I was in, I might get something. I'm not trying to get anything, but I might.

[52:38]

I must confess, I do confess, I couldn't fish for very long. It's tough to fish with a straight hook and have the hook dangle aimlessly. But that's what catches the golden fish. Other kinds of fish are caught with straight, curved hooks. As a matter of fact, the story goes that there was a fisherman who fished with a straight hook. And people asked him, you know, why he fished that way, and he wouldn't tell them. But he was much better at it than me. He could stand it. I couldn't stand it. He did it day after day. And word got out finally. People noticed. Eventually he got famous. And the emperor of China found out.

[53:46]

And the emperor, I think maybe the emperor sent some ministers to ask him and he wouldn't tell them. So then the emperor had to go and ask this fisherman, why are you fishing with a straight hook? And he said, to catch you. Actually, he did say something before the emperor came. He said, use a curved hook to catch beings who are turning away from life. Use a straight hook to turn beings who are turning towards life. I use a straight hook. The emperor came. So, The Zen priest uses a straight hook to catch good fish, to catch good practitioners.

[55:03]

Not trying to get them, just fishing. But it's tough. Pity is accepted. Another part of the difficulty is having a straight hook without any bait on it. That's really tough. Just a moment. One person's coming. It's all right. I'm wondering how I can practice kindness and generosity with or when violence is presented.

[56:31]

You're wondering how? Yes. Mm-hmm. Well, I suggest, I know you're busy, but I suggest you start studying martial arts, and I'm willing to give you some instruction. What time? Talk to Timo. You know, when I walk around the world, young men particularly come up to me and say, you study martial arts? And I say, yes. They say, what kind? I say, Zen. And then I tell them stories about the Buddha.

[57:33]

So I'm happy to practice martial arts with you. But I hesitate to do it with these people watching because they might be frightened by what you do to me. I might be frightened. If I am truly compassionate, how can I stop crying? There's a one great bodhisattva called Always Crying.

[58:37]

So bodhisattvas do not necessarily stop crying. And Suzuki Roshi said, in such cases, Keep drinking fluids. So it's not a problem to cry as part of compassion. Then your tears are gifts to all beings because all your secretions are gifts. And so you've just got to keep eating rice and drinking tea and vegetables and stuff and then just keep crying as part of your compassion. And then if the crying stops, that's okay too. You don't have to cry, but bodhisattvas do cry sometimes. But it's part of the joy of their compassion, so it's joyful.

[59:41]

Thank you. If there's no trying and no craving, is it still tough? If there's no craving, is it tough?

[60:47]

If there's no craving and there's no trying, is it still tough? It could be, but it would be a joyful tough. It would be a tough where tough doesn't interfere, where tough is not discouraging, where tough is just more food for, did you say not trying, not craving? So it would be more food for not craving. It would be nourishment. Tough would be nourishment for not craving. when there's not craving. Not craving then grows on tough and not tough. So bodhisattvas who are on this path of not craving, of not seeking anything, they meet people who are, you know, really tough to, you know, tough to get them to play.

[61:58]

It's very challenging. But it's like they love that. They love that challenge, to meet somebody who has their own subtle ways of avoiding life. But it's tough, in a way, to catch this fish with a straight hook. But they love this. They love it. When they become free of craving, they're still craving. Fishing with a straight hook is really tough. It's craving. When there's craving, there's craving. So if we're kind to craving, we get to a place where there's no craving because there's nothing to crave. There's no objects out there to crave. But then we continue the same practice. So after there's no craving, when there's no objects to crave, and there's no objects to reach for, we continue the same practice. And it's still tough, but there's no craving.

[63:00]

And then the tough doesn't interrupt the practice or delay it or obstruct it. That's the amazing story of the Bodhisattva Path. I'm thinking in reference to this, back to Skylar's question, and it strikes me, but what keeps coming up for me is it seems like this is so simple, but we're marvelously skillful at making it much more complicated. I wonder how that can really be. But it seems to be the case. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Yeah. We are marvelously skillful magicians. And we need to be kind to that so that we don't trick ourselves. We can still see the show, but we're not taken in by it anymore.

[64:07]

If we're really kind to it, we get intimate with it, like martial arts. Thank you.

[65:21]

Lots of movies on the screen. It's tough to keep the eyes on the screen. It's tough to keep the eyes on the screen? Sometimes it's not tough. Sometimes it's not tough. Can people hear? They say yes. May I repeat what you say? You may. A while ago I spoke and I invited people to repeat what I said.

[67:45]

And someone came and told me that she felt uncomfortable with that exercise. because she felt okay about listening to my voice. But when she spoke, she wanted to speak from inward, from her own voice. And later I thought I should have her speak. And we can repeat what she says. And now we're doing it. But I said too much.

[68:45]

This monk's ears are tired, and I couldn't quite make out what you said. Now can you hear me? I can't. Would you say that again please? There is no one to whom I am more grateful.

[70:07]

Would you say that again please? There is no one to whom I am more grateful. There is no one to whom I am more grateful. If you can pick out the host and the guest from those phrases, Lupu will give you a probe and a bowl. How about fishing fish without a hook?

[71:33]

Without any hook? Mm-hmm. That's good, too, but if you try it, the line won't just float on top of the surface. Mm-hmm. So if you put a hook, you can just put a weight on the end of the string. So if you wanted to go down in the water where the fish are... Mm-hmm. So the hook is useful to sort of help the string go into the water. So there is a purpose for the hook. Yeah. The hook is to catch fish. But the kind of fish you catch with a straight hook is different from the ones with a curved hook. The straight hook, you know what the curved hook does, the straight hook has a different way of functioning, but it does help the string get down in the water for the fishes. But when I was listening to your story, your talk, maybe

[72:42]

you can fish without a hook. I thought that you can fish without a hook too. No? You said I don't fish with the hook? When I hear you talk, I thought you can fish without a hook. That I can't fish without a hook? Yeah. I think that's right. I can't fish without a hook. And I was imagining... So I'm a hook. Oh. I can't meet you without me, but me can be a straight hook or a curved hook. I can be trying to get something or not. Maybe even though you may not try to get something, but sometimes you want a golden fish. What do you do? I want to meet the fish.

[73:44]

and practice with the fish. That won't be the hindrance? Is it a hindrance? Could be. If I think that wanting is out there in front of me, then it's a hindrance. Not that the wanting is a hindrance. My understanding of my wanting could be a hindrance. The wanting is good. It's necessary. It's normal. It's compassion. Compassion is wanting. But it's not wanting to get something for oneself. It's wanting happiness for others. But it doesn't have to be out there, separate from us. And when it's not, then it functions without a hindrance. But we can even attach to compassion if we put it out there. That is the part I don't understand yet.

[74:48]

If the golden fish you want leave, like what you do, the golden fish you want is kind of leaving? The golden fish you want? Yes. What about it? That fish is leaving. It's a little fish, yeah. No, it doesn't run away. The golden fish that you want is the fish that turns towards life. You want that fish. I see. You want the happy fish. You're looking for the happy fish. You want all fish to be happy. Mm-hmm. It's just for now.

[76:02]

I'm very happy. Thank you.

[76:06]

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