I have been telling questionable stories about Zen practice, about Buddhadharma, May I continue? I've heard that Buddhadharma is not understood by a person. It is only understood

[01:02]

by Buddha together with Buddha. Or I could say, Buddhadharma is only understood by Buddha in conversation with Buddha. What is the responsibility of a person in the practice of only a Buddha in conversation with a Buddha?

[03:18]

The place of a person in such a conversation is for that person to be that person. Or for a person to be a person. The condition of a person being a person is not a person. The condition of a person, a living being, being just a living being, is

[04:34]

Awakening. Or it is being awakened, which is Buddha. A person can be seen and touched and heard and thought about. But a person, the condition of a person being a person cannot be seen, cannot be touched, cannot be heard.

[05:38]

But the condition of a person being a person can talk and walk and sit, just like a person can do those things. Persons, humans, living beings, I could say have the opportunity to completely be themselves. And being themselves is a

[06:48]

Infinite responsibility. It is being responsible to all beings. It is allowing all beings to be included in your personal life. and to allow your personal life to be included in all beings. Human beings can accept this this such this this such responsibility moment by moment and that's not the full story because this practice well it is and this practice is in conversation with Buddhas

[08:17]

And this practice is infinitely questionable. It's a practice informed by a teaching which realizes the teaching which informs it. A slightly different way, it's a practice which is formed by a teaching which realizes the teaching which forms it. For example, it's a practice which is informed by the teaching of generosity. It's formed by the teaching of generosity.

[09:23]

And it realizes the teaching of generosity which forms it. And so on for all the bodhisattva practices. Each moment we are a phenomena. We are something that can be perceived. And each moment our phenomenal

[10:35]

which can be seen, is interfused with the principle of our phenomenal existence, which cannot be seen. When we perceive that others are supporting us, that is the phenomena of being supported, perceived. At the same moment, we are imperceptibly supported by the whole universe, which we cannot see. and we never will see it.

[11:50]

It will not be seen by the we that's a me. But the me that has an I can say, I allow I allow Buddha in this life. I vow to practice the conversation between Buddhas. I vow to listen to the teachings which encourage this listening and encourage this conversation.

[12:59]

For example, we have a teaching that we chanted yesterday, a poem which is translated from Chinese. And in English we say harmony of difference and equality. That's a translation of the original Chinese characters. The character difference could also be understood as phenomena. phenomena are different. Equality is not a phenomenon, it's a principle. It's a principle that all the phenomena are equal. And the principle and the phenomena, the sameness,

[14:16]

and difference are in harmony and in peace. I think it also says in there, just to accord with sameness is still not enlightenment. Enlightenment's not just to accord with the principle, the invisible principle of our life. Of course it's not to accord just with phenomena. It's to accord with phenomena and principle. It's to accord with

[15:18]

difference and sameness in harmony. It also says in that poem, right in light there is darkness. I think it says something like, but don't see it as dark-ness. And then right in darkness, there is light. But don't take it as light. In this poem, although things shift, we could see the light as phenomena or the phenomenal. We can see the phenomena. It's in the light. And the darkness is the principle.

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We cannot see the principle. We cannot see how we are Buddha by being just ourself. However, that darkness is right in every phenomena. every phenomena has within it this radiant, quiet principle of it being itself. And of it being itself interplaying with

[17:38]

hearing a certain way another way to read that poem or rather there's another text of this poem which I've recently seen which is instead of saying write in darkness there is light, say, within darkness there is light. So rather than say, within darkness there is light, don't take it as light.

[19:09]

It would be, darkness has within it light, so don't take the darkness as darkness. And within light, there is darkness, so the light isn't really light. So the phenomenal isn't really invisible. And the visible isn't, the phenomenal isn't really visible, I say. Who knows? the phenomenal isn't really visible and the principle isn't really invisible. This poem was attributed to the ancestor we call Sekito Gisen Daisho.

[20:22]

And one of his students is ungan donjo dayosho, yin-yang. And he had a Dharma brother named Da Wu. And one day, yin-yang was sweeping the ground with a broom. Yuen Yuen was sweeping the ground with a broom and his elder brother said to him, you are too busy. And Yuen Yuen said to his brother, you should know that there's one who is not busy.

[21:35]

And the elder brother Dawu said, then are there two moons? And Nyen Nyen raised his broom up and said, which moon is this? And Dawu walked off. I'm not encouraging this, but when we're sitting here, well, actually now it's okay.

[22:43]

I'm almost encouraging. We're sitting here. You could turn to the person near you and say, you're too even if they're not wiggling, even if they're not talking, even if they're not thinking about something, you could still say, you're too busy sitting still and silent. You could say that, just like the great ancestor. In a sense, we are busy all day long being this person. being a phenomena, being phenomenal. And that word phenomenal, we sometimes use it as though it's right on the edge of bursting phenomena into the trans-phenomenal, the principle.

[24:05]

Like a ballet dancer who's such a phenomena that she becomes the principle of dance. She shows the world what dance really is. But it's not just that she shows the world that dance is the principle of dance, she shows the world that the principle of a dance is the phenomena of the dance. The phenomena and the principle are interpenetrating, are interfusing each other. We are actually really good at being who we are, and yet we have to practice that. And then someone can accuse us, you know, you are so phenomenal.

[25:23]

You're such a phenomenon. And we can say, you should know that there's somebody who's not a phenomenon. Are there two moons? Which moon is this? And the response to that could be, it's the phenomenal moon. And which moon is that? Whichever you say is fine. And whatever you say is in conversation with everything you're not saying. and by wholeheartedly saying what we're saying we open to what we're not saying which is always there whenever we're saying anything.

[26:51]

In this story the elder brother Dawu didn't say which moon it was. He just walked off into history. Someone recently said to me, expressed to me a concern which I think and that person can correct me if I get this wrong, but a concern or a wish for historical accountability in our practice. I accord with the value of historical accountability.

[28:09]

And it's especially important in a practice which is a conversation. Historical accountability is important I think, in a practice which is a conversation between history and transcendence of history. I wish actually to devote my life to a practice which frees all beings from history." Which is the same as saying, frees all beings from their story, from their karma.

[29:22]

Zen is the practice of freeing all beings from history. And it is interfused with history. And historical accountability is the proof, the ongoing proof of historical transcendence. Our daily life is our historical accountability, and it offers the opportunity to be free of our karmic history. And our karmic history includes all living beings. What time are you leaving?

[30:40]

Hmm? 10.50. Is it 10.50? Not quite. How many more minutes? Two? Two moons? This is an example of a world-transcending, historical-transcending practice which is historically accountable. Now there's one minute. Soon it will be time to make history. We're making history and the history we make is questionable. Shall we question our history?

[31:52]

May our intention

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