We've been meditating on stories, stories all of enlightenment, enlightenment stories. Something like that. I don't think it said stories about enlightenment. Did it? I don't think so. Because the stories aren't really about enlightenment. Enlightenment is, and here's a story, enlightenment is beyond stories. But in the tradition of enlightenment, stories are used to realize what is beyond stories.

[01:02]

One of the, I guess, principles of the enlightenment school, also sometimes called the Zen school, one of the principles of the school is not depending on words and letters. Words and letters, or words and phrases, words and sentences, not depending on, that's kind of a principle of enlightenment. Normally people are more or less confined by language.

[02:12]

Our consciousness, the medium of exchange, or the currency of consciousness is words and phrases. So being kind of confined by our conscious mind is similar to being confined by words and phrases. And words and phrases can be used to realize not depending on words and phrases. Words and phrases can be used to demonstrate not depending on words and phrases. The way of using, there's a way of using them which doesn't depend on them. And so this fall, by asking you to write poems, I'm kind of encouraging you to use words to

[03:21]

demonstrate not depending on them. And you've been doing that, thank you. And the stories and the poetry can be used in that way. And the, yeah, so we cannot realize wordless wisdom with words. But we can realize, and we do realize wordless wisdom by the way we don't get attached to words. But in order to demonstrate non-attachment to words, in order to demonstrate not depending on them, you sort of have to use them to demonstrate that you're not being caught. So, it isn't by using the words, it's by using the words without depending on them.

[04:25]

And also not using words or avoiding words would be a kind of dependence. So, there is a wordless enlightenment, a wordless wisdom that does not avoid words. And so the spontaneous person of freedom in the Zen enlightenment school sometimes uses lots of words, and in particular uses words of telling stories, but also uses poetry. But not just to write poetry, but to demonstrate this special way of using them, which doesn't depend on them. Just like enlightenment doesn't depend on words, but it's also not running away from them.

[05:38]

It's not abiding in them or abiding outside of them. It totally includes them and is included in them. Enlightenment pervades words without relying on them. And words pervade awakening without being stuck in themselves or being stuck in enlightenment. So, some of the leaders of transmitting a wisdom that's beyond words, of transmitting a wordless wisdom are people who actually write a lot and talk a lot.

[06:40]

Maybe you've heard of the founder of the tradition, Shakyamuni. He was actually quite a talkative person. He may have said much more than we have records of. And some of his disciples have actually produced records of their teachings which are more voluminous than the Buddha. Anyway, the Buddha did say quite a bit that got recorded, and he may have said some other stuff too that people just didn't write down. Like when he gave a Dharma talk, supposedly his attendant, who had a very good memory, remembered them all. And then at a certain point in history, he actually then recited all the talks that he

[07:47]

remembered the Buddha gave. But he didn't recite all the things Buddha said as they're walking along the road or eating lunch. Some of the stuff. But mostly it's when Buddha formally said, okay, here's going to be a talk. Okay, Ananda, remember this. By the way, Ananda also joined the Buddha's community after the Buddha had been teaching for quite a while. And after he had been with the Buddha for quite a while, the Buddha asked him to be his attendant. And Ananda said, okay, I'll be your attendant. And one of the conditions for me to be your attendant is that you tell me all the talks that you've given that I didn't hear. Wow. And also, if you give any talks someplace where I'm not, then later you tell me again.

[08:47]

In other words, I want to, as part of being your attendant, I want to remember all your talks. And the Buddha said, okay. So, it's hard to believe, but the story is he had this kind of mind, and that may be one of the reasons Buddha asked him to be the attendant, was to have somebody who could remember them all. And the various senior students had various things that they were best at. Like one was best at... Yes? I can't help noticing something that I don't know. There's a audio archive of your teachings, which also includes all of the talks that you gave before I was keeping track of them. And I never... Sorry, excuse me. I just noticed there's a parallel between Ananda's devotion and the work I'm attempting

[09:54]

to do this year. So, also in the past I have suggested that enlightenment actually is genuine, wholehearted conversation. And remember me saying that? Now, I don't know if I mentioned this, but sort of implied it if I haven't mentioned it. Enlightenment liberates living beings from delusion.

[11:01]

It liberates them from the delusion, not tonight, the delusion of depending on words and phrases. If you are free of delusion, you don't get stuck in words. And then being free, we're free of suffering. However, being free of suffering doesn't mean you're a millimeter away from it. Does or does not? Does not. Freedom of suffering, one of the great things about being free of suffering is you don't have to get away from it. And also you don't have to get away from suffering beings. Before I was in enlightenment, there were a lot of suffering beings around me, and afterwards they were like nowhere in sight. I got a major, like, vacation from suffering people.

[12:06]

No, it's not like that. Again, as I've often said, Buddhas sit in the middle of all beings. When they get enlightened, they don't like jump out of the middle and go to a better neighborhood. So if there's any distance between Buddha and suffering being A or suffering being B, that distance does not separate them. The Buddha's teaching is pervading the person, and that person's life is the Buddha's life. So conversation is using, for example, words without abiding in them, without clinging to them. And as Charlie just mentioned, he does quite a bit of work recording words and taking care

[13:09]

of the recordings. And then he has the opportunity to do all that work without depending on his work. That's his opportunity, to take care of all those records of all those teachings without depending on them. And even if he does depend on them, you can still thank him. But the Buddhas did not want us to depend on the Buddha's words. However, in order to not depend on them, we have to listen to them. And we do. So that's fine. Yes, Paul? Oh, I see.

[14:17]

In order to realize that we don't depend on them, we have to listen to them. And not only listen to them, but maybe also remember them. And like Ananda, he listened, he remembered, and then he actually expounded the Buddha's teaching. After the Buddha died, he told people what the Buddha said. The listening, the remembering, and the recitation could all be opportunities to demonstrate non-reliance, which is already there. And in fact, when Buddha died, Ananda had not yet learned how to do that. So, you know, if I die soon, some of you might not have yet learned how to do that. But eventually, Ananda learned how to, well, he couldn't listen anymore because the Buddha died. He learned some things after the Buddha died that he didn't learn when the Buddha was alive.

[15:20]

He had this great capacity and this great devotion, but he was still somewhat depending. He hadn't really realized what the Buddha was teaching him, even though what the Buddha was teaching him was already the case. We do not actually depend on anything in a sense of, you know, attaching to it. Or you could say, we don't depend on any one thing, we depend on everything. But to think we depend on one thing or 75 things, that's our suffering. But we don't. But if we don't practice that, we don't realize it. You're already you, but you have to do the job of being you in order to realize that you're already you. Like we said last week, you understand the idea of pecking and tapping, but you haven't understood the function. So you understand the idea of Gale and Nila and Paul, right?

[16:27]

But in order to understand the function of Paul, you have to not rely and depend on the word or the idea of Paul. And in order to realize that you don't, you have to practice that. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. You have to walk the path with lots of secondary in order to demonstrate that you don't fall into it. Excuse the expression, but it's kind of like a minefield. The secondary is kind of like a minefield. You have to walk through it in order to demonstrate that you're not falling into it. Oh, there's another one. There's another one. Hi. Yeah. We do not have to fall into it. But again, avoiding it, you just fell.

[17:29]

When you avoid the devil, the devil goes, gotcha. So what's the test then for not depending on words? The test? Every word's a test. The verification is wordless. It's beyond words. And it then can use words in such a way that the way it uses them is demonstrating the freedom of them. So that's why I wanted you to start writing poetry in response to these teachings because part of the Zen tradition is to use poetry as a way to express freedom from words. It doesn't mean you avoid trying to explain things, but you do it in a way that you're

[18:36]

really trying to demonstrate the wordless by the words. The wordless can talk. Words don't reach it, but it can talk. And the way it talks is the... and the words are the test of the way of talking. So the words are the thing that test whether the talking's coming from beyond words. So it isn't just good poetry, it's poetry which teaches Zen. And the words that are teaching Zen don't reach Zen. They express it. They come from it. And then the way they're used seems to encourage people to see, oh yeah, these are wonderful words not to attach to. They're beautiful words not to be possessive of. Yes?

[19:38]

No, I'm just stretching your hands. So is it like when a word evokes an image, like we're not attached to the word anymore but the image, we're not attached to that either because it's just an image. Is that similar? Yeah, similar. Yes? It's something that's helpful and it has to do with enlightenment. I think in my mind it was like this place I was trying to get to. You thought... you were thinking of enlightenment as some place you're going? Yeah. Whatever the words talked about how this secondary enlightenment right there. So it's not like secondary, secondary, secondary.

[20:44]

Enlightenment! It's more like it's all mixed together. And the way I kind of interpret it is that that is like flashes of, you see it, you might be in it, then you're out of it, you're in it, then you're out of it. It's a fluid thing as opposed to a road that has an end point that you get to. Well, so it is fluid. It's reciprocal. The function is reciprocal. So the secondary and the primary are in a reciprocal relationship. A goal down the road is in a reciprocal relationship with no goal. And the idea that there's not a goal down the road is another thing which is in a reciprocal

[21:50]

relationship with the goal that's not down the road. So the idea of a goal down the road is here right now. A goal and not a goal, but also a goal of some other place is actually here right now. That idea is here. And the function, well it depends on the goal. So if the goal is freedom, then the function of that freedom is to work with that goal, the idea of a goal, to work with it and use the idea of a goal in a reciprocal way. That you're really, you know, because of the reciprocal of goal and no goal,

[22:53]

you're not more interested in no goal or goal. So again, you're not caught by words. Say again. Once again. Yeah. Yeah. And... Yeah. But also, listen to people tell stories. Even yourself. Honor the stories that you're telling. Like I just said, honor the stories you're telling. That was the story, in a way. And I think it would be appropriate, if I wish to not fall into the secondary, if I wish to not fall into trying to get enlightenment,

[23:57]

then I should honor my stories about these situations. And I should equally honor yours. And I should equally be interested in you honoring yours and you honoring mine. In the thoroughgoing process, I need all of you to honor my stories and honor your stories. And you need me to honor mine and yours. We need that. But again, it's already the case. So we need, in fact, we need reality. And we've got it. But we not just need it, we need to realize it. Because there's something about it that when it's not realized, we suffer. Because it's not just accidental that we don't realize it, we don't realize it because we're not practicing it.

[24:58]

And somehow we have to practice it. Even though it's already the case. Well, to see that, they can't take their students further. Well, in some cases, the teacher is immobile. Well, they have some spaces, so they aren't... It's hard to explain, but I've seen this in a number of examples both in sort of client... I'm trying to think of a way to put this. Relationships of healing. You have one person who's static, and the other person is...

[26:05]

Say the person is static and is actually a quote healer. They actually... It prevents the... further mobility in a way. No, it doesn't actually prevent it. It's just that unless we realize that with the static, which seems to prevent, there is also a dynamic which makes this static not prevent. Yeah, but all I'm saying is that what I've noticed is that both ends end up in motion in terms of... If one end is not growing, the other end might not grow further to a certain extent. That's just something I've noticed in part because... Right, so what you just described is words. And so now, is anybody attached to the words which were just said? Could be.

[27:06]

Yeah, it could be. And who might that be? Could be anybody. Who might be attached to the words? Anybody. Anybody, yeah. So, if anybody is attached to the words, all right, are we ready now to give up attachment to the words? If anybody is attached. Yes, you just arrived. Are you already ready? I'm ready. Okay. My serendipity follows. I was having a conversation with a student who feels the gender binary that they need to be referred as they. Yes. They are non-binary. And they do not feel the language used in the classroom curriculum.

[28:08]

Yes. In conversation. And so, they, because I'm trying to not fix it, but give it this... Something about what you said before does seem like that's what I wish for. The words are there, and we react. Yeah. But if they didn't react, we wouldn't have the knowledge of what's necessary. Yeah. They are giving us the word they for us to listen to and not dwell in. And if they, if they or he or she are dwelling in they or he or she, then we have an opportunity

[29:09]

to not dwell in the words that they're dwelling. But it seems to me if somebody says, let's try this they thing. But again, it would be good for me to listen to their story and respect their story, but not to abide in their story, but to support me and them together becoming free of their story and my story, but by listening to them and also being patient and not rushing them to not abide in they or he or she. Listen to the he's, listen to the she's, listen to the they's. These are all perfectly good stories to be free of. And free of, again, doesn't mean...

[30:14]

I put it positively. Free means be diligent with these stories. Be diligent. Practice due diligence with the stories. You know, call the stories into question. Call they into question. Invite they to call he into question and she into question. Invite them, call them to account to help me be called into account. How can I be more accountable to you who are asking for this new use of they? The conversation again. And as a result, you might, you know, of listening, you might be late for the yoga room. And then you can come and tell us why you're late. And we say, yeah, that's the work we're doing here.

[31:17]

And sometimes they're not done talking at the time so you can come on time. But you know that we want you to do a good job there. That we want you to be thorough and respectful of what they're asking from you. And also, we want you to be thorough and respectful in the form of telling them what you want from them. And how they need to listen to your needs in order to become mature. And did you notice I said they? They need this. We need this. We need this accountability. But it's okay to start with you being accountable to them. But it's fine to start there. Because maybe they don't feel like their teachers have been accountable. So we can start with that. And then get more confidence. And then...

[32:20]

Thank you. And then, when they're more mature, they say, well, how about now, may I call you into account? And you say, yeah, now you can. I'm ready to have you question me. I have a couple questions. One is, how can you tell when you're not wrong? And does it affect the process to notice that? Okay. Those are kind of like two questions that they asked. Could you repeat the question, please? How can you know when you're not dwelling? Question one. Now, right there, are you by any chance dwelling in knowing that you're not dwelling? Probably, yeah. Probably. When you're not dwelling in knowing that you're not dwelling,

[33:26]

usually you don't ask that question. Usually you're just a happy camper. So, when you want to know, it probably means that you're still dwelling in knowing that you're not dwelling. But although you... And you want to. You kind of a little bit want to know, I'm not dwelling. Which would be similar to, I'm free. How do you know that you're free? When you're free, you're free of knowing that you're free. It's one of the best things about being free, is you're free of knowing that you're free. However, you might know that you're free. So, really knowing that you're free actually kind of goes with being free of caring whether you know or not and actually being free of thinking that you're free.

[34:28]

However, you might still think, I'm free. Oh, well, by the way, I'm free. Even the Buddha did say it here and there. He'd say, oh, by the way, I'm free. But the Buddha didn't go walk around thinking, I'm free. But if you ask the Buddha, are you free? The Buddha would say, well, yes. But the Buddha wasn't like wondering, when will I know I'm free? But when you ask the Buddha, the Buddha says, they say, yeah. When you think you're not free, again, it's your thinking that, you think you're not free or you feel you're not free. Actually, you are free, but you kind of think you're not. And you would like to be. And then you would also like to know when you are, what are the signs of being free. But again, when you're free, like we said in the first, I think second class, the path of peace has no sign.

[35:35]

The path of freedom from abiding in words has no sign. Including, it doesn't have the sign of you don't think you're free. It doesn't have that sign. So you could go around thinking, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And be free. In fact, you are free and you can think you're free. And you could also go, I want to be free. And you could also go, I don't think I'm free. But if you don't attach to, I think I'm not free, then you realize that you're not caught by that thought, I'm not free or I'm free. What's the second question? Well, it was that sometimes my monkey mind drives me crazy. And sometimes I'm able to just turn toward it and accept it. And I suddenly feel in accord

[36:37]

and quite alive and then I say something like, hey, I think I'm free. And that can happen. So when your monkey mind's doing its thing and also, in addition to its doing its thing, you're feeling crazy. When there's a turning towards that, not just turning towards it, but kind of like really letting it be, that's freedom. Yeah, then you do, but you might not sometime. You might just be free and just period. However, if you're free of the monkey mind, one of the nice things about being free of monkey mind is that freedom from monkey mind does not prohibit the monkey mind coming back.

[37:39]

Is that clear? When you're free of monkey mind, you're not saying, no more monkey mind. And you're not saying more monkey mind. But anyway, it can happen. You realize freedom and then the next moment you think, oh, freedom was realized or even I realized freedom. And you can do the same thing with that again and then you're free again. When you're free, you don't have to think you're free, but it's not prohibited. When you're Buddha, you do not have to think, I'm Buddha. But it's okay, you can do it, it's just usually you don't. How many times today did any of you think you were Buddha? Did anybody?

[38:41]

Anybody? There's a football player, there's a football player and they call him Buddha. His name is Buddha something. They call him Buddha. Anyway, if you went through the day today and didn't think you were Buddha, it might be that a Buddha who went through the same number of hours of the day also did not. But again, sometimes people go up to Buddhas and they say, hello, you know, I think you're a Buddha and the Buddha goes, oh, uh-huh, you're right. But before the person said it, they didn't think it. And then they're kind of, if you use expression, they're over that. They're not like, hey, let's stay here for a while with me being Buddha. No, it's just like, oh, okay, I'm Buddha.

[39:43]

And a lot of Zen students, when they have a taste or a feel of like facing their monkey mind with compassion and being free through that compassion, as that compassion, for that compassion, by that compassion, there it is. This is the life they want. Then they have a habit of like coming in and here's the freedom. It's okay if that happens. It's just another thing to do the same thing with. In other words, be kind to it and then freedom is refreshed. And it might be that if you do that over and over fast enough, you won't have time to keep saying, this is freedom. Did you follow that? So here it is, not freedom. You're like totally like honor it, let it be,

[40:48]

and then you're free. And then you think, oh, I'm free. And then you say, oh, I think I'm free, and that's okay, and now I'm free again. And you do it again, and pretty soon you just do it without having time to say, oh, I'm free. That can happen. And then you're just practicing all day without any kind of like, what do you call it, certifications going on verbally. But you are certifying by living the way that you want to live, and you're perfectly happy to live that way. And again, when you're living that way, you can think you are. It's okay. You can feel you are. It's okay. But living that way isn't thinking that you're living that way, and it's not feeling that you're living that way, even though you can think and feel that you're living that way. That part's optional. But when those options arise, those are just more opportunities for the practice.

[41:50]

Yes? Yes, I've had experience a number of times where I've been off on long hikes, just by myself, with a group that I'm by myself, and I've had these moments, numerous times, where I totally feel like I'm free of all of it, just immersed in whatever I'm being. But then I've always, within seconds, I think, or minutes, kind of thought, oh, I thought about that fact, and then I didn't, and then I lost the whole feeling completely. As opposed to being engaged to practice and just say it was okay to recognize that. I wasn't practicing Zen or anything. Yeah, but now you can. So now when those things come, you can do the same thing to them that you do with the trees and your feet. Same thing. And you don't have to prohibit these proclamations in the woods.

[42:56]

So when it happens, it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, God, I ruined it. The thing about this thing is, it's okay to ruin it. It's fine to ruin it. It's so wonderful that you can ruin it. And it says, hey, thanks for ruining me. Thanks for not making me like solid gold, you know, rigid, you know. It's not rigid. It's flowing. It's reciprocal. Yes. So can... What if someone says to the Buddha, oh, you're a Buddha, and the Buddha says, no, I'm not? Oh, well, the Buddha might do that. But, you know, it probably would be to help the person not abide in this being the Buddha. But the Buddha might say, yeah, it's just what can I do for you?

[43:58]

And they might say, well, please give me some teaching. The Buddha might say, I just did. Yeah, the Buddha might say that. I just did. And the person might say, wow, thanks. Wow, that's great. You don't really have to do anything to teach me, do you? No. You're like just being there, that's teaching me, right? Yes. And I can ask you to do more, right? Yes. So the second piece of that question kind of goes down to the next level. For me, in my work, looking at this, maybe it's monkey mind, or I want to do something that I'm not doing, and then I spend a lot of my time arguing with myself about not doing, or sitting and not doing what I just have to stand up to do, like this, that kind of work. And so that is actually

[45:01]

the conversation that I'm having. Yeah, that was a conversation. And there could have been like just an awareness of the conversation and some feeling of, kind of like, this is the job, this is the work, is to watch this conversation with these various remarks being batted back and forth. But the real job is just to watch this, to realize, oh, a conversation is going on. And there's a possibility for clearly observing it. Not even I'm clearly observing, but just there is clear observing of this conversation, maybe between me and somebody else, or between me and my values, or between my values and me, or between your values and my values. These are conversations. They're all available for clear observation. So when I was talking about,

[46:02]

somebody says to the Buddha, would you give a teaching? And the Buddha says, I just did. The first case of the Book of Serenity is called, I think it's called, The World Honored One Ascends the Seat. The World Honored One. That's an epithet for Buddha. The World Honored One Ascends the Seat. Gets up on the seat. So the story goes, one day the World Honored One ascended the seat. Period. And then, a great Bodhisattva nearby thought, I don't know if the people realized that the Buddha just gave the teaching. Now, it doesn't say, one day the assembly asked the Buddha to ascend the seat.

[47:05]

So in Zen monasteries, ascending the seat means the teacher goes and gets up on the seat and gives a talk. Or anyway, not necessarily a talk, gives a teaching. The teaching may be verbal, or it could be auditory in the sense of, you know, they often do it that way, you know, the teacher gets up on the seat and goes, and then sometimes leaves. But sometimes the Buddha talks. Anyway, the Buddha gets up on the seat and teaches. So the Buddha got up on the seat and taught. But it doesn't say got up on the seat and taught, it just said the Buddha got up on the seat. But a Buddha on the seat is a Buddha. And the Buddha cannot avoid teaching. Because the look on their face is a teaching. Their posture is a teaching. Their breathing is a teaching. And of course, if they talk, that's included too. Or they can go,

[48:07]

like that. Do you see that? They can go like this. And then there's another story, the Buddha raised a flower and twirled it. So in this case, the Buddha got up on the seat, that's all we're here. And then Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom says, clearly observe. That's the meditation instruction. But then he goes on, clearly observe the teaching of the king of teaching. The king of teaching clearly observed the teaching of this teacher. And then he says, the teaching of the king of teaching is thus. And that's, I would say today,

[49:13]

that's always the case. The teaching of the king of teaching is thus. Your example, this conversation. The instruction is, clearly observe the conversation. Then we can stop right there. Clearly observe, period. And in this case, Barbara Jones in the middle of a conversation. And there's clear observing of that conversation. But then he goes on saying, the teaching that you will see when you clearly observe, the teaching will be thus. It's always like that. It's always what's going on. The teaching is thus. The teaching is thus. And you're being invited to clearly observe moment by moment. Thus, thus, [...] thus.

[50:14]

It's always thus. Things cannot be otherwise. We're being invited to clearly observe. What? Thus. Not this. Thus. Which includes this and that. Which includes, not just this conversation, not just this feeling, not just this idea. Thus. Which includes this idea and not this idea. So that's the first case. And then there's a poem that goes with the first case. Which is, The Unique Breeze of Reality. Again, this poem is not about enlightenment.

[51:15]

It's an expression of thus. So from thus comes the unique breeze of reality. Creation, constantly working her loom and shuttle. Or maybe I should say, constantly working their loom and shuttle. Literally it says in Chinese, the mother principle. That's the literal character, the mother principle, which has been translated as creation is working her loom and shuttle. Working the universal and the particular to incorporate the patterns of spring. Whatever is happening now. The fresh moment.

[52:15]

This thing. To incorporate the patterns of spring into the ancient brocade. And then the final comment is, but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Manjushri is the bodhisattva of wisdom who has pointed out, who has said, the bodhisattva of wisdom. The Buddha is sitting there and Manjushri comes and tells people, clearly observe. Observe the Buddha, but also observe thus. And then the poet who wrote some of those other poems I told you about, his name is Hung Jer, he said, but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Manjushri comes in and tells people, look at the Buddha. And then he tells people, the teaching of the Buddha is thus.

[53:18]

That's similar to I'm free. So again, you can't stop Manjushri from coming in and making a comment. That's fine. But still, the story could have gone. The Buddha ascended the seat, period. And I think the final line was, and then the Buddha got down from the seat. And there are stories like that. So one of the Zen ancestors is Bai Zhang. Bai Zhang means thousand feet, like a thousand foot. That's the name of the cliff that his monastery was on. No, no, excuse me. Bai is a hundred and Zhang is ten. Ten Chinese feet.

[54:21]

So Bai Zhang means a thousand feet. It's a monastery on top of a thousand feet. So Bai Zhang was an abbot of the monastery, Bai Zhang, and he's also called Bai Zhang. And so he hadn't given a talk for a long time. So the superintendent, the director of the monastery went and said, teacher, you haven't given a talk for a long time. Please come and give a talk. So he went in and ascended the seat. And after he ascended the seat, he got down from the seat and went back to his room. So case one is the World Honored One ascended the seat. And he gets down. And the other case is Bai Zhang ascended the seat and before anybody could say anything, he left. In both cases, they're teaching. They are teaching. They are always teaching.

[55:24]

The teaching is they are always teaching. Don't forget that. Remember that. They are always teaching. And since they are always teaching, we should respect them. We should listen to them. We should observe them with compassion and clear awareness. That would be a very kind thing to do for them who are giving us the teaching. And that poem celebrating this case I think was trying to help us again not abide in the case. So Manjushri explained everything really nicely. First Buddha explained everything really nicely by not explaining anything. His explanation was getting on the seat. That was his explanation of everything.

[56:26]

How did he explain the whole universe? Getting up on the seat. And then after you get on the seat, how can you explain the whole universe? Get down. But sometimes you get up there and somebody starts talking about what you're doing. That can happen too. Meantime, everybody has a chance to clearly observe. And in that way, we do not miss out on the unique breeze of reality. There's one breeze of reality. It's always flowing into everything. And that reality is incorporating new life into the ancient brocade. And still somebody has to say something like, clearly observe. That's okay. We can work with that.

[57:30]

We are working with it. So that's case number one. So now, I didn't mean to, but now you have case number one. It's not very long, so you probably remember it. Right? One day the World Honored One ascended the seat. And it doesn't say, by the way, that he sat there for two years or ten seconds. Just ascended the seat. We don't know how long after that Manjushri struck the gavel and announced, clearly observe the Dharma of the King of Dharma. The Dharma of the King of Dharma is thus. The World Honored One got down from the seat. By the way, in the Zen tradition, I don't know if all the Zen people do this,

[58:31]

but San Francisco Zen Center and most other Zen centers in Japan and China, when an abbot first gives a teach and get up from the seat, sometimes I play the role of Manjushri and go, clearly observe. That's the case. You heard the verse. Now I invite you to write a verse about that case. Okay? Maybe somebody will send you the case, but you kind of already got it, right? Not only do you have it, but you can actually practice it, because it's the case where it has an instruction in it. And then, I would suggest that you... I would instruct that you practice the instruction and practice the instruction. Maybe wait a while before...

[59:31]

If you can't stop your poem, it's okay. If it's coming up already, okay, write it down. But then do the practice and then see what poem comes from the practice. Because that's what happened with Hung Jer, the person who raised the case. He raised the case and then his poem came to him to help him and us not abide in the words of the story. Yes? The poem. The unique breeze of reality. Creation constantly works or is constantly working her loom and shuttle. Incorporating the patterns of spring

[60:33]

into the ancient brocade. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. You know, like, we have this thing called Wikileaks, right? The same thing. Manjushri was an ancient Wikileak. Yes? Let's ask about the story that you told last week about the monk who said you are lost and he was whacked. I want to know who decides that maybe the person who said you are lost was lost and he was actually right. But the scribes wrote down well, no, no, he was not right. Who decides this? So you remember the story from last week? I'll just expand it slightly, right?

[61:42]

The teacher says, I think, you understand the idea of pecking and tapping but you haven't yet realized the function of pecking and tapping. And then this monk says, what's the function of pecking and tapping? And the teacher says, as soon as there's pecking and tapping, the function is lost. And the monk says, I have doubt about that. And the teacher says, what are you in doubt of? And the monk says, literally monk says lost but some people suggest translating it as, you're lost, teacher. Okay? But then the teacher hits him. Now, and it says, the monk did not accord. In other words, he didn't say,

[62:44]

oh yeah, that was like the perfect thing to do. I said to you, you lost it, teacher. Or you lost it, bracket teacher. And now you hit me and this is a perfect meeting. He didn't feel that way. He didn't accord. Okay? But it wasn't like he thought, well, I did accord. He didn't think, oh, I do agree with the teacher. But also he didn't feel like, oh, if he had felt when he got hit, oh, my doubt has been resolved. He didn't feel that either. He had doubt. However, when the teacher said, what do you doubt about? He felt like the teacher got off. That was his feeling. And when the teacher hit him, the teacher wasn't saying, how dare you say I'm off. It's more like, oh, if you say I'm off,

[63:47]

how about this? Can you work with this? And again, he said, in a way, he doubted again. So I think he felt like he doubted, probably. And the teacher said what he said and then he doubted again. And then the teacher hit him and he doubted again. And then the teacher said, okay, go away. Then he went to this other place and he told somebody the story and the person said, did Nan Yiran, which means assault temple, did Nan Yiran break his stick for you? One way to translate it is, did he break his stick for you? Did he give his utmost for you? And when he said that, then the monk accorded. So nobody's, I think people are saying, the monk did not feel, when the teacher said, as soon as there's pecking and tapping,

[64:50]

the function is lost, the monk had doubt. Then when the teacher said that, the monk had doubt in what the teacher said, like, what don't you understand? Then the teacher hit him and the monk had doubt again. Then he went away and this other monk said, did he break his stick for you? And then his doubt was resolved. So it wasn't somebody else was saying that he didn't understand. He himself, his doubt was not resolved. So first of all, I think maybe some of you had doubt when you hear, pecking and tapping sounds good, right? It has this great function. However, if you abide in it, it loses its function. And you might have some doubt about that. Well, how does that work? And so he said, I have doubt about that. And then the way the teacher pecked back or tapped back was,

[65:54]

what are you in doubt about? And again, he had doubt. So then he felt like, maybe he felt like, I have doubt and you're the one who kind of like didn't give me a good answer. And the teacher, no, no. Yeah, and then the teacher hits him. And again he doubts that that hitting was really the function. That hitting was not falling into pecking or tapping. But when he talked to the other guy at the other monastery, he understood the function of pecking and tapping. He understood. He clearly saw what the function of pecking and tapping is. But who makes that interpretation? As opposed to somebody saying,

[66:58]

well, I think the monk himself at the second monastery, the monk himself I think probably said, I'm clear now. It's not somebody else commenting on it. The monk saying, I'm clear and the monk he's talking to probably feels like, yeah, you're clear now. Your doubt cleared up. I think that there was doubt. It's kind of difficult to understand. Pecking and tapping has a great function, but if there's pecking and tapping, you lose the function. You might have some doubt about that. He had doubt about it, so he asked the teacher. They had this multifaceted interaction, the result of which was he still didn't understand. But then after he left, he went over here and he understood. He himself felt that it was resolved. He felt that way. There's no commentator in the sky watching this. He felt that way. He had doubt.

[68:00]

He felt like I'm not according with the teacher. And the teacher said, yeah, you're not. He agreed with him, but he agreed that he wasn't according. So he went away into another monastery, a monastery of a very important teacher, Yun Men. But it doesn't tell about him interacting with the great teacher. It talks about him interacting with one of the monks. But that interaction with one of the monks, not the big Zen master, was sufficient, was effective. And his, I would say, he had a clear awakening. In other words, his doubt, his lack of accord was resolved. He felt that way. And what did he do then? He went back. To check out his accord. He left because he was feeling out of accord with the teacher, the great teacher, South Temple. So he goes to see another great teacher. He doesn't meet the teacher, but he meets a student who does the job. He goes back to the great teacher again,

[69:02]

but the great teacher has passed away. So he meets the great teacher's successor, Feng Shui. And Feng Shui says, aren't you the guy who was asking about pecking and tapping a while ago? And he says, yeah. But now it's like, the teacher's like, he didn't accord when he was here last. I wonder how he is now. And the monk's saying, yeah, I'm kind of like in accord now. And then the teacher says, the successor says, how was it when you were here before? And he said, it was like I was walking by the light of a dim lamp. And the teacher said, I would say, you're in accord. So he felt out of accord. The teacher felt out of accord. He went away. He became in accord. And he went back to see if he could enhance or reaffirm that accord

[70:06]

with the original situation. He couldn't do it with the teacher because the teacher passed away, but he did it with the successor, and they reached accord. So it is about reaching accord, but it's not you or me, it's us together. And in the first part of the story, I think he and the teacher both sort of felt like, nah, we're not quite in accord. Go away. And in this other story too, it was like Wang Bo and Lin Ji, we're not in accord. Go see Da Wu, I mean Da Yu. So I would say that the line of the story is the monk's doing quite well. He's really asking deep questions. He's got a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He's listening to the teaching. He's asking questions. The teacher's talking to him. He has doubts. He tells the teacher. So it's one of those happy stories. I would say.

[71:07]

But that's just a story too. So Eric's got his hand raised. I just want to tell you, you've got a case. It's number one in the Book of Serenity. The world under one sentence seat. You've got Hung Ger's wonderful poem to set an example of not depending on words. Now you can write a poem from not depending on words. Okay? So next week you can come in a different costume. Yes? Are the stories where the teacher expresses? You mean the current teacher or the future teacher? I've heard once where a future teacher. Yeah, so the Linji story.

[72:09]

Linji was going to be a future great teacher and he had doubts. But he didn't have any doubts before he met Wang Bo. Before he met Wang Bo he had no doubts. That's why he didn't go see Wang Bo. I'm totally clear. I'm clearly observing. I have no doubts. He was fine. And Mu Zhou said, you should go see him. And when he went to see Wang Bo then he started having doubts. Three times doubts. So what about the teacher having doubts? Yes. So you want one of those? Well, come to class next week and I'll tell you one. It's teacher doubting time.

[72:58]

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