Just a moment ago I came into the room and I went to the middle there and offered incense. And then I prostrated three times. I brought the body down to the ground, down to the floor, three times. And then I walked over here and sat down and we chanted and we said something like, an unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.

[01:06]

Kalpas are a very long measure of time, like an eon, a long eon. A hundred thousand million long eons In that amount of time, the Dharma is rarely met with, even in that length of time. Having it to see and listen to, having it to see, to be able to see the Dharma and listen to it, remember it and accept it. And then the last line is, to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. The Tathagata means the Buddha.

[02:09]

All the Buddhas. So today, that's what I would like to discuss with you is this thing about this bowing, this prostration practice, and this dharma, the unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma. Dharma has many meanings. One of them is truth, the truth, reality, the unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect, complete truth. Another meaning of dharma is a thing, a phenomenon, like a person,

[03:20]

a piece of clothing, a light bulb, a mountain, the ocean, and so on. Any phenomena is also called a dharma. And there's an intimate relationship between all phenomena and the unsurpassed penetrating a perfect dharma. So there's a truth which penetrates every phenomena, which is present in every phenomena. The truth of every phenomena is the truth of every phenomena. And this truth of each and every phenomena or the truth of any particular phenomena is rarely seen, rarely heard, So when we say, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's teaching, one way to understand that is, I vow to see the Dharma in something.

[04:43]

Because the Tathagata's teaching, the words of the Buddha, are to encourage us in such a way that we can see the Dharma, that we can see the truth. If we can see the truth, if we can hear the truth, we are transformed by that vision of reality. When we see the truth, wisdom has been realized. the dharma of our life has been realized and all the hindrances to our complete and pure compassion drop away. I just got back from Japan on Friday, and I was at a meeting in Tokyo for a few days.

[06:19]

And this meeting was about actually translating some teachings of the Buddha and the Buddha's disciples into English. And then after the meeting, I went down the coast, the Japan coast, and visited the temple of the founder of Zen Center. The founder of Zen Center, his name is Suzuki Shinryu. We call him Suzuki Roshi most of the time, or Roshi. And so I visited his temple. At the meeting, the translation meeting, one of the scholars there

[07:24]

said that he wanted to, he was a newly appointed scholar for this big project, to translate all the works of one of our ancestors whose name is Eihei Dogen. He's our first ancestor in Japan of our lineage here at this Zen Center. And he wrote quite a bit. And so this newly hired translator was going to start by translating one of his works, which is called, in Japanese, Raihai Tokusui, which means, which can be translated, I mean, translated as Prostrating to the attainment of the marrow.

[08:34]

Prostrating to the attainment of the marrow. Or you could say prostrating to the attainment of the essence. Another translation could be prostrating and attaining the marrow. But I think I'd like to start with the first translation for now, prostrating to the attainment of the marrow, or the attainment of marrow. This title, oh, so that's what that translator wanted to translate.

[09:36]

And when he said that, I thought, oh, that reminded me of something I heard before, and that is that the founder of Zen Center, Reverend Suzuki, when he was a college student in Tokyo... He went to a Buddhist college, and his dissertation for his degree in college, in Buddhist college, was based on Raihai Tokusui. So I was thinking, hmm, maybe I should start, look at this Raihai Tokusui again. I think I'd seen it before, but somehow it seemed like it was time to look at it again. So I did, and that's why I'm talking to you about it, because I'm looking at this thing, this teaching of the title of that fascicle, Prostrating to the Attainment of the Merrill.

[10:54]

So I came in here and I prostrated to the attainment of the marrow. We could say, for short, the marrow is the Dharma. And so when I came in here I prostrated to the Buddha, Shakyamuni, who is a being who may have attained the marrow, who attained, who realized. The English word attained, by the way, means the root of the English word attained. The etymology is to touch or be touched. So the founder of Buddhism founder of the Buddha tradition, Shakyamuni in India, touched, attained the Dharma.

[12:02]

The Dharma attained him. And then the big statue up above Shakyamuni there is Manjushri. And Manjushri also is the attainment of the marrow, the attainment of Dharma. So I prostrated myself, I prostrated this body and mind to the attainment of the marrow, to that which attains the marrow, to the ancestors of my practice, to the ancestors of the practice of prostration, to the ancestors who attained the Dharma. I prostrated to them. Sometimes when I come in here to give a talk and I prostrate myself, particularly on Sunday, people are sitting in chairs around me and sometimes they look at me and I think they're looking at me like, who is this

[13:17]

who is this strange person coming in here and bowing to the ground. Maybe they aren't thinking that, but they kind of look maybe like they're thinking that, like... Rather than, they don't, they look like, well, what's he doing, or why is he doing that, or... Rather than, gee, I wish I could too. I don't know, I haven't, I haven't asked, actually. if you all would like to do a prostration. But I've heard, you know, rumors here and there that some people have some question about doing prostrations. They're kind of like, well, what's the reason for that? So I'm talking a little bit today about the reason for prostration. We spend a lot of time in this room sitting in meditation, but we also do prostration some.

[14:29]

But in terms of time, we spend more time sitting here than prostrating. I think we even spend more time doing walking meditation than prostrating. We do some prostrating, but today I'd like to Look at this prostration practice. The monk Dogen who wrote this work called Prostrating to the Attainment of the Dharma, to the Attainment of the Marrow. He said, when there is prostration, the Buddha Dharma, the Buddha's truth,

[15:50]

is alive in the world. When there is not prostration, the Buddha's truth perishes in the world. So, if you, if you prostrate, when you, at that moment, the Buddha's truth is alive in the world. Now, on the other hand, if you don't prostrate, if there's ever a moment when you're not prostrating, it may perish. And you could say, well, maybe people are someplace else in the world are prostrating, so it's okay if I take a break. You're probably right. Actually, we keep some people, you know, we keep certain people always prostrating. We make sure somebody's prostrating someplace on the planet.

[16:56]

But still, anyway, your prostration makes the Buddha's Truth alive in this world. And in the Zen tradition, prostration is a very important practice. Those are words from the tradition and the truth of them can be tasted by you through the practice of prostration. You hear them, but maybe you have to practice prostration to taste if that's true for you to experience it.

[18:05]

The Dharma, the Truth, is all-pervading. It's abundant in you right now, but it doesn't get realized unless there's practice. Prostration isn't the only practice, but the feeling of prostration must be there all the time. When we're sitting in meditation or walking, the feeling of prostration needs to be there. What is the feeling of prostration? The feeling of prostration is giving up all your ideas. The feeling of prostration is to give weight to the truth.

[19:19]

and take your own body and mind lightly. It's to trust the truth more than your own experience. It's not to deny your experience. It's just to give weight to the truth more than your own experience, than your own body, Again, Suzuki Roshi said, only when you give up everything can you see a true teacher.

[20:28]

And giving up, again, doesn't mean to disrespect your body, disrespect your thoughts, disrespect your feeling. It just means not to grip them, not to hold on to them. Just take them lightly. Just let go. In that letting go, you have a chance to see a true teacher. The teacher is something that has attained the marrow. something that has attained the Dharma, something that has touched the Dharma, something that the Dharma has touched. That's a true teacher. And a lot of people who come to Zen centers say, well, everything's my teacher.

[21:40]

Okay. I don't know if they mean by that, that I see how everything has attained the marrow, or everything is attaining the marrow. If that's what they mean, good. But in order to see that, I need to put more weight on seeing that than on my own perceptions. So I see men and women adults and children, plants and animals. These are my perceptions. I feel pain and pleasure. These are my perceptions. So what's being suggested is put more weight on seeing the truth through seeing how these things attain the truth than on having a particular perception.

[22:51]

And this kind of shift is a, if I think about it, it's kind of a big shift to go around meeting people, for example, and put more weight on the truth of the meeting than on my perception of this person's face. I've got a perception." Perceptions are fairly common. Have you noticed? Perceptions are very common. Plenty of perceptions. The perceptions come with body-mind. Bodies and minds are quite common. Perceptions are common. What's uncommon is to see the Dharma. That's very rare. in order to see the Dharma, I need to put less weight, not necessarily a lot less weight, just less, put less weight on the body and more on the truth.

[24:11]

Now, what's the truth? You've got the perception, you've already got something here, got a body, got a mind, got perceptions, you got them. Well, you don't have the Dharma, though. It's not something you can have. It's the truth of what you are, but it's not yours. You are very dignified, but it isn't your dignity. The truth is abundant in you. It doesn't belong to you. So what's being suggested here is putting less weight on what you possess and more weight on what you don't in order to see what isn't yours so that things can be your teacher.

[25:18]

Frustration is part of this. Frustration is a gesture of giving up what you possess, giving up your body and mind to see the truth. So actually I just said, you know, it isn't necessary actually for you to put a lot more weight on the truth and a lot less weight on your body. Just more weight on the truth than on your body. And vice versa, if you put a little bit more weight on your body than on the truth, just a little bit more, slightly more, then the truth will not be given to you.

[26:25]

And I think quite a few people who come to Buddhist practice places, actually they think the truth is pretty important, but there's something else that's just slightly more important than the truth. And so even if your body is slightly more important than the truth, that slight preference of your body over the truth doesn't mean you don't care about the truth. It's just that you won't realize it if things are set up like that. We have to somehow let the balance be shifted the other way. So the Zen teacher says, sincerity and faith are really necessary in order to realize the truth. And sincerity does not come from outside.

[27:30]

Nobody can give you sincerity. And sincerity doesn't come from inside. You can't give it to yourself. Sincerity is just putting greater weight on the truth and taking your body lightly. These words are not causing this to happen. You cannot cause this to happen, but this can happen. This sincerity can happen. And like I say, just slightly, just to give greater weight to the truth than to your own body,

[28:35]

just happens to be the same as letting go of everything. It's not like a huge big deal, but it just entails letting go of everything. Not over letting go, just simply letting go. Because you let go of your body in order to attain the Truth. So it says here in this chapter on prostrating to the attainment of the marrow, it says, in practicing the state of unsurpassed, complete and authentic awakening, anyuttara samyaksambodhi, the most difficult thing is to find a guiding teacher.

[29:46]

Now this, when you hear this, you think, oh God, yeah, well, how am I going to find the teacher? Well, you already know what the answer is. How do you find a teacher? Just give up everything and you'll be able to find a teacher. Maybe not like instantly, but you're in the mode of teacher finding when you give up everything. What will the teacher be? the teacher is beyond appearances such as man or woman. It might be a man, it might be a woman, but it might not be a man or a woman. The guiding teacher should be a big, stout fellow.

[31:04]

Now, in Japanese, this is pronounced daijoubu. Any Japanese speakers here? Daijoubu. Daijoubu. is literally three Chinese characters, tai, jo, bu, which means big or grand, stout, fellow. And it comes from, it's originally a Confucian term. And it meant a person who has realized the Confucian virtues. And then in Buddhism, In China, it came to mean someone who had completed the training, the Buddha training program. But in ordinary Japanese, daijobu means, okay, it's all right.

[32:16]

Like if somebody's worried about something, you say, daijobu. when Suzuki Roshi was close to his death. One day, actually I think it was the day of the Mountain Seat Ceremony for his successor, Richard Baker, to become abbot of Zen Center. I think it was that day. And after the ceremony or before the ceremony, or anyway, around that time I think it was, all the people that Suzuki Roshi ordained as priests were in the room together. And Katagiri Roshi was in the room too. And Katagiri Roshi, at one point, walked on his knees across the room crying, and put his head in Suzuki Roshi's lap.

[33:22]

Suzuki Roshi was sitting in a chair, and we were kneeling on the floor. And Karagi Roshi walked over to him crying, put his head in his lap, and Suzuki Roshi said, The guiding teacher should be a dajubu. It's all right. The guiding teacher should be someone ineffable. but actually it should be someone who is just so. Someone who is just so.

[34:27]

That's everyone. Everyone is just so. But can you see it? Can I see it? Well, that's where the prostration comes in. In prostrating, we can see it. This guiding teacher is not other than you. this giving everything up is not something other than you, the way you are right now. But if, alai, if you give weight to the body over the truth,

[35:50]

that waiting blocks the vision of the truth, of this rare truth. Once Hoseki Roshi was alive, I didn't think, you know, that I was serving him.

[38:55]

I didn't think of it that way. I didn't think I was serving the grand stout fellow because he was just a little tiny guy. But now looking back, I noticed that I did arrange my life so that if he wanted me to do anything for him, I would be able to do it. I wanted to do it. I didn't think, oh, if I serve him, then I will be able to see the Dharma. It is said that those who attach weight to the Dharma will make the body and mind into a seat on the floor.

[40:26]

like those who put weight in the Dharma make their body and mind like one of these seats here on the floor. They have these seats on the floor. Actually, they're called, what the bottom, they're called, it's called a zafu. It means a thing for sitting. We'd make ourselves like into zafus. like into something that somebody could sit on. We'd like to be of service. If somebody can use me, I'll be a seat. This kind of attitude I didn't think of it that way, you know, but again, as I told some people, I did this practice with Suzuki Roshi called the post-practice. And when Jiu Zen Center was over in Japantown at a temple called Sokoji, there was a stairway that we had to walk up to to get to our meditation hall.

[42:06]

the bottom of the stairway, at the bottom of the banister, is it? The balustrade? Is a banister the thing you hold on to? And at the bottom of the banister was a post. And whenever Suzuki Roshi went up, or whenever anybody went up, but I thought of him, whenever he went up to the meditation hall, he put his hand on top of the post. when he turned the corner. So I just wanted to make myself into a little post that he'd put his hand on when he turned the corner. Actually, I think it should have been I made myself into a post for everybody to put their hand on when they went up to the corner, but I thought of him, that I would just be like a piece of furniture in his life. That would be that. Like be a rug in his office that he could walk on If he wanted to, and I didn't, the other side is be a rug that he'd have to walk on, that he couldn't avoid.

[43:12]

It was like wall-to-wall carpeting. He'd have to walk on me. He'd have to use me. Wherever he was, I'd be underfoot. He won't be able to avoid me, and therefore he'll use me to walk on. This isn't to put myself down. This is the great stock fellow too. Daijōbō, you can walk on me. Go ahead, walk on me. I'm here to serve you. In this mode, maybe the Dharma can be seen. No matter what happens, I'm not here for this to happen or that to happen. I'm here to see the Dharma. I'm not attached to this or that. Because this or that might happen, and pretty soon it's going to happen. Right?

[44:12]

Some of this or that's coming, and we're not going to be able to really negotiate that much. But whatever it is, it will be daijobu. Or rather, if whatever it is, it's daijobu, if whatever comes to you is daijobu, kind of like, okay, it's all right. then you can see the dharma. But if it's like, well, not this. Then you don't see the daijobu. You don't see the big stout lady. You don't see her. Because it's like, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want cancer. I don't want deterioration. I don't want Asthma? No, it's more like cancer, asthma, heart attack, whatever.

[45:20]

It's okay. It's okay. I put, not, this I take lightly. What's important is no matter what's happening, the truth, the truth. I keep my eye open for the truth. I give up this and this and that and that. Then I see the big star, Daijoubu. This is prostrating myself, the spirit of prostration. I'll become a servant in this situation. When I'm sick, I'm a servant. When I'm healthy, I'm a servant. Make ourselves into seats on the floor and we will serve for countless kalpas. countless eons, maintaining, we will serve whatever, we will serve whatever is maintaining and relying on the great Dharma.

[46:32]

Everything, and relying on the great Dharma, we will, no matter what happens for eons, we will serve that. We will serve what is attaining the marrow. Moment by moment, we serve this, we serve this. whether it is an outdoor pillar, whether it is a stone lantern, whether it is the Buddhas, whether it is a wild dog or a demon, a man or a woman. Bodies and minds are easily received. The Dharma is rarely met. I heard a story about this yogi in India, and he found a great teacher, a great yogi teacher, and he followed this teacher.

[47:46]

And this teacher was invited to go someplace or other, but this teacher Wherever this teacher went was kind of a big production. So this teacher had this big train of disciples coming with her and a lot of equipment to set up the scene. So the disciples were carrying all this stuff. And this new disciple was like junior, and he wound up carrying the biggest thing, the biggest trunk. And they got to, I think, the Ganges River, and there was a ford there for crossing. The teacher came to the edge of the river, and at the edge of the river was this woman who was, you know, she was like a, I don't think she was a leper, but in worse condition than a leper.

[48:49]

all kinds of diseases and all kinds of sores and filth. And she was really a wreck. And the teacher looked at her and was going to help her, but he had this big engagement to go to. So he said, well, maybe later one of my disciples can take care of you. And he went on. But all the disciples had various things that they had to do, so they went on and on. But this guy, the last guy, the junior guy, carrying this big trunk, he thought, well, this is my big chance, right? I probably should take her because nobody else is going to. So he picked her up with the trunk. He started going across the river. And, but then he started to notice that after a while his feet weren't on the ground. And pretty soon he's found himself way up in the sky. And this woman turned into this great divine bodhisattva, I think Vajrapani or somebody like that.

[49:54]

And they went off and he got to see the Dharma. This is the big taijōbō. So no matter what's happening, again, we respect what's happening, because in order to give something up, you can't give it up like sort of not even knowing what it is. You've got to give up something that you've actually got, like your body. If you don't know what it is, it doesn't count that you gave it away. Can we have that? Sure. What is it? It's your foot. Well, wait a minute. No, no. You give up your body. You give up something that you know or that you've got. And that's specifically you take lightly. And then you put a little bit more weight on the truth.

[51:01]

then you can see you're in the mode of vision of the Dharma. So that's a little bit about this practice of prostration, of putting ourselves down on the earth lowering our concern for our own body, not worrying too much about, you know, the height of our head, bringing it down to a nice even level with the earth and saying, okay, I... I want to serve all beings so that I can see a true teacher, so that I can see what has attained the Dharma, so I can see how everything has attained the Dharma.

[52:07]

So like, you know, before this talk, I was sitting at a table in a house up in the valley here. And I was thinking about this prostration thing and about, you know, putting great weight on the Dharma and taking lightly my own body. While I was doing that, a woman came over to me, showing me various things in the New York Times. The newspaper, New York Times newspaper. She said, oh, look at this. And she brought the newspaper over to show me. So I was looking at something about making light of my own body and giving more weight to the Dharma, and then something came.

[53:20]

So what I was able to do I'm not always able to do this. Sometimes what I do is I say, no, no, I don't want this to happen. I don't want to look at the New York Times. I'm looking at a Buddhist scripture. For me, I'm looking at the Buddhist scripture. That's my body. My body, I'm a Buddhist priest. This is my scripture. I'm looking at the scripture. I'm learning about Buddhism. Now here comes the New York Times. And who's bringing it, you know? Is it my teacher, Suzuki Roshi, bringing it? Or is it like a woman who I'm married to bringing it? Is this the great stout fellow here coming? Is this Suzuki Roshi bringing me the New York Times and saying, are you attached to my written teachings?

[54:29]

Can you take lightly your experience and open to what's being offered right now? Be a servant to this carrier of the newspaper? Sometimes I say, no, no, no, I'm preparing for this talk. But this morning, I didn't do that. I kind of let the newspaper come, and I looked at it, and there was a picture of these people, and I guess it was New York, who built their house on top of a bank. Nice little bank, you know? And they built a house. It's not just a penthouse, but actually like a house on top of a bank. A nice house. And then the next thing that happens is the attendant comes to get me.

[55:39]

Could that be the Dharma? Could this be the great stout fellow, this female monk? And then the next thing that comes is the grandson. Is this the Dharma? Is this the Dharma? Is this the Dharma coming here? Can I give up my idea of what the Dharma is in order to see the Dharma? Well, this is prostration. This is the spirit of making myself like a seat on the floor to serve all beings. But the main way to serve all beings, in this case, is to give up my ideas, my body, to take lightly my body so that I can see that the beings are the attainment of the marrow.

[56:49]

IT CAN BE ANYTHING. BUT IT WILL BE NOTHING IF I HOLD ON TO MY POSITION AND REFUSE TO PROSPERATE MYSELF. BUT ONCE AGAIN, YOU GOT TO HAVE A POSITION TO GIVE UP. YOU GOT TO HAVE A BODY TO LET GO OF. SO YOU SHOULD TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR BODY SO YOU CAN TAKE IT LIGHTLY. You should take good care of your body so you know what it's like to then even care more for the truth so that all beings can teach you, so that you can realize enlightenment for the welfare of all these beings who are showing you the truth. That was simple, wasn't it?

[58:00]

So simple, but it's quite a shift. So we don't say, I'm going to be able to make this shift, because again, it doesn't come from inside, it doesn't come from outside. But I vow means I hope it would be great if I could make, if this shift could happen, that I could take this body lightly and take the truth, give more weight to the truth. So that's our vow. I vow to taste the truth of the Buddha's teaching. I vow to taste the truth of the Buddha's teaching. I vow to be ready to see a true teacher beyond appearances of man and woman.

[59:24]

Well, there are many more examples of how difficult this is, but I'll let you go.

[60:02]

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