What happens here is you have the story, and then there's the commentary, and then in the verse, you have the commentary. And I'd like to read the story and go right to the verse and look at the commentary in the verse first. And then go to the introduction and the commentary and the case next. I think you'll probably see eventually why I suggest to do it this way. Would you like a case? Does anybody need a copy of this case? Who needs a copy? Would you give one to Leon? So a monk.

[01:18]

Oh, just a second. Tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, one of our classmates, Grace, will be standing in attendance upon her father as he has open heart surgery. Tomorrow morning at 9. And it's going to be not routine. There was some, there was, they actually advised that he not have the operation because they didn't think his lungs were healthy enough to handle it. But he decided that he wanted to have the operation anyway because if he doesn't have it, he won't be able to do anything. He won't be able to move around his stuff because he has, what's it called?

[02:21]

He's got heart infection of some kind. No, he's got... What's it called? Endocarditis. What's that? Endocarditis. It's an infection around the valves of the heart. So he decided to have the operation. So it's very touchy because he has emphysema. So tomorrow we'll do a service in the morning, maybe. But you can think about that. Support her and her father tomorrow morning in your mind and heart. What's his name? His name is Mr. Damon. Where are they? Seattle. Okay, so back a long time ago, a monk asked his Zen master, He Guo, whose name actually is Yan Hua, is his name.

[03:53]

He was an abbot. No, excuse me, his name was... Geryuan. Hmm? What? No, his name is, I think his name is Geryuan. I think that it looks to me like the, well, do you think that this guy is the first generation abbot or second generation abbot? Hmm? Hmm? Well, there's two Uguas, right? The Ugua is a monastery. There's two abbots in this story down below. Anyway, the abbot of this place, his name, he's called Ugua, okay? So one of his monks comes to him and asks him, how is it

[04:58]

when a crane stands on a withered pine. And Hugo, did you misspell? Hugo said, an embarrassment on the ground below. And then the monk asked, how is it when a drop of water, when a drop of water is a drop of ice? And Hugo said, an embarrassment after the sun comes out. And then the monk asked again, at the time of the purge of Buddhism, of the Buddhist establishments, in the 1840s, where did the good spirits who guard the teachings go?

[06:03]

And Hu Guo said, an embarrassment for the two of them at the temple gate. Now, without going into details about what this refers to, If you look at the added sayings right away. Okay. How is it when a crane stands on a withered pine? Climbing higher with every step is easy. an embarrassment on the ground. Letting go of every state of mind is hard." Do you understand this?

[07:05]

Doesn't it have something to do with attachment to stages? Yes, right. Yes, that's exactly what it has to do with. So, again, without going into detail about what it means for a crane to stand on a withered pine, the added saying, I think, sums it up quite nicely, that this is some kind of advanced situation here. Okay? A crane standing on a withered pine branch. It's some kind of high advancement, right? And so the commentator says, climbing higher at every state, going higher and higher states, is relatively easy. What's hard is to give up every state. OK, any comments or questions about that?

[08:18]

What do you think embarrassment means? Shame is, you can say shame. Shame is fine. So there's something here for you? The monk's asking the teacher, you know, how about, you know, being at this advanced stage, the teacher said, basically, I'm ashamed, it's a shame to be down on the ground rather than up there. Okay? That's why it's hard. That's why it's hard to give up every mistake, because when you give it up, you actually give it up.

[09:25]

You don't give it up and then sort of say, well, I gave it up, but actually I went one step higher by giving it up. Of course, you try that, but that just, you know, then you're really, you're not just sort of like social climbing in the Buddhist material status thing, but you're fooling yourself to think you're not. To actually give it up, you feel kind of ashamed and embarrassed, left behind, kind of missing out on the big program. We're going to bite deeper into this one, little by little. Hold on to your body. Yes? I read that a little bit differently. I read that. when a crane stands on withered pine, that that creates an embarrassment.

[10:29]

Well, you could say it that way, too. You can also read it that way. But it still is embarrassing on the ground. You're either embarrassed Either way you're embarrassed. Yeah. One way you're embarrassed, either way you've been embarrassed. Either you've been embarrassed because you're not up there, or you're embarrassed by association with one of your fellow beings who's on the trip of spiritual advancement. Either way it's kind of shameful. Either shameful that you're giving up such things, and or probably both kinds of shame would be good to have actually. Both those kinds of shame would be best, even more shameful. And it's even more thoroughly that you've given up all states.

[11:37]

You've given up low states too. You've given up being on the ground and you also give up being shamed. But nonetheless you are shamed. There is an embarrassment. Embarrassments, you know, it's kind of hard to accept where you're at. Yeah. Is it also higher as a tree, the water, the shadow? There's that too, yeah. Yes. Yes. When I was reading it first, and over a couple of readings, I was always thinking that it was that the bird was going to fall out of the tree. And then I just read it in the readings. I mean, I didn't think about it. I just kept thinking it was the bird, and it would be embarrassing if it kind of slept on the ground. Yeah, that's another way to see the image.

[12:42]

Another way to see the image is that this bird is actually standing on a withered tree, which is quite a feat. Cranes are big. They grow to be 52 inches tall sometimes. So they're pretty hefty critters. So anyway, that's round number one. Yes? Well, the other way of reading it is that if you're standing underneath, you're going to get shit on. Pardon? If you're standing underneath, you'll be shit on. So this is an embarrassment. Yes. It's hard to be shit on, isn't it? Okay, so when a drop of water, how is it when a drop of water is a drop of ice?

[13:50]

And the comment is, the reality body without clothing cannot ward off clothes. Cold. Cannot ward off cold. This one maybe, you need a little unpacking on this one, or does that make sense right away? Yes? There's the Hakkomen poem about Buddhas and sentient beings. Buddhas are like ice and sentient beings are like water. Pardon? Maybe that goes back to what happened there. It seems to be about going along with conditions. Oh, the state of the water changing into ice seems to leave out going along with conditions?

[15:02]

No, it seems that the whole thing seems to be about going along with conditions. If you stay ice when the sun is out, what's that? Mm-hmm. Right. Something. Mm-hmm. If you stay ice, you're not adjusting to circumstances. So then it says, an embarrassment after the sun comes out. So, you know, as Taigen referred to, one of the images is that the Buddha nature and that the Buddha and sentient beings are like the relationship, they're the same thing, but they're like ice and water. They're states of each other. Water is a state of ice, ice is a state of water.

[16:05]

But if you move from ice, from water to ice, if you move from there and you get into the state of ice, the state of being an awakened one, if you're in that state, then when the sun comes out, you'll be embarrassed. It'll be a shame. It'll be like, oh, boo-hoo, I'm an ordinary person again, right? Too bad. How sad. Yes. Yeah, that's another... In this case, since we're in the Buddha business here, the form that we are most likely to cling to would be Buddha. That's the one that's... Or even if we or even if we identify with the essence And the more special swell and wonderful the thing we identify with Proportionately the more embarrassing is going to be when the Sun comes out Like I mentioned the other day that

[17:34]

In that introduction to Winesburg, Ohio, Mr. Anderson talks about that first there were just words, and then there was truths, and the truths were all beautiful, and then people came. And then they walked by, and they each took a truth, and some took several. But when they took the truth and held the truth... They became ridiculously distorted. They became grotesque. Not necessarily ugly, but grotesque. It was holding the truth that made them grotesque. And grotesque means to be, you know, ridiculously incongruous. So that's good. We got that one. All right? When the ice, when the water, when the sentient being turns into a Buddha, there's an embarrassment when the sun comes out.

[18:37]

And then the comment, an embarrassment after the sun comes out, the comment is, when the snow melts, it exposes the dead. dead, you know, dead Buddha. Buddha that you get. The true Buddha always naturally relinquishes and lets go of the highest attainment and all lesser attainments too. Okay, then the third one, the monk tries one more time. After the purge, where did the guardian spirits go? And the comment is, when you check, you don't get there. What means when you check? When you examine or look for it. When you check out or check into.

[19:51]

When you try to get it. Flowers fall when we grasp them. When you name? Hmm? When you name? When you check? When you name? If you name in the spirit of checking... Yeah. Yes? When I read that, I think that the spirits didn't go anywhere. You think they didn't go anywhere? Yeah. Well, that's fine. Actually, that's what he said. He said he... That's the answer is... the embarrassment of the two of them at the gate. So at the gates of, I'm not going to take my clothes off, but anyway, at the gates of Buddhist temples, they have these guys flexing, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger's, bald Arnold Schwarzenegger's with little top knots, flexing at the gates to frighten people away.

[21:01]

They're called Neo, which means the two gods or the two divine kings, big, muscular, fierce guys. So they're at the gate, and they were unsuccessful at protecting Buddhism in the suppression of Buddhism in 840 to 845 in China. So they didn't go anywhere, they just were not, they were there and they were embarrassed that they couldn't do their job. However, then it says, when you get there, you don't check. Okay. Now the verse. A mature man, dignified, imposing, his temples are not yet grave.

[22:24]

So this is a man or a woman in the prime of their life, vigorous and mature. In youth, if he doesn't bestir himself, he won't be enfioft. The mature man dignified in imposing his temple not yet gray, he regrets heaven doesn't arrive. The youth, if he doesn't bestir himself, won't be enfioft. He's in too much hurry to be on his way. So, the commentator says that these first two lines are describing

[23:44]

the monk, who was very enthusiastic. And in fact, there's a story there which you can read. But anyway, you have the enthusiastic monk who's pressing the teacher. He's becoming active. So he will, you know, be made into a noble person and get his fief, his fiefdom. And if you don't do that, you won't get a fiefdom. You don't make some effort like that, you know, and press the teacher enthusiastically and talk about this kind of stuff, you won't get promoted. That's what it's saying here. But in story two, there's the nuance that he's in a little bit too much of a hurry here. And in the next two lines, Tian Tong says, I think back to the inheritors of a pure family tradition.

[25:02]

And the commentator says, already too many. And I also think back to watering the ox in the stream where ears were washed. Not water, I think back to not watering the ox in the stream where ears were washed. And it says again, at the very end, too much. Okay. So I mentioned, I referred to this on Sunday, this dynamic here, right? which is the story in here is these two monks are traveling together and one says, you know, time is fleeting. Hurry up, catch up with me. And the other one says, the great way is vast and wide. What's the hurry? And then the commentator says about that that each one of these positions has one eye.

[26:13]

The one side that this is an urgent situation and we shouldn't waste time, we should catch up. That's one eye. The other eye is the way is vast and all-pervading. What's the hurry? Those are two eyes. On one side things are urgent, so as it says, stepping on the path, the rarest flowers blossom. It's important, you know, to start walking because every step a rare flower blossoms. We should not miss this. This is an urgent matter in this lifetime. On the other hand, The great way is vast. What's the hurry? She opens her belly skin and engulfs everything.

[27:19]

So... So that makes sense to you all? It's a matter of balance here. Both of these sides see the truth. And then it tells a story here about this business about if a young person, if a person in their prime, if a person who actually is mature, if you try too soon, if you try too soon, if you're not mature and strong, then you should rest and grow up. But if you're mature and vigorous, Then, like in this story, according to the history of the later Han dynasty, Ban Chao's family was poor, and he always took employment copying books. Finally, he threw down his brush and said, a man should emulate Zhang Mo and Zhang Jiazhi, who established their careers in foreign lands to obtain enforcement.

[28:51]

to the barony of 10,000 miles away. How can I work forever between brush and inkstone? Later he went to the Western lands and was enfioffed as a baron, as baron of Dingyuan. This symbolizes the monk's three questioning, seeking too far. And then on the other side, I think back to the inheritors of pure family tradition. During the Han dynasty, Yang Zhen was appointed governor of Jing province. He was by nature impartial and pure and didn't allow private audiences. His descendants ate vegetables and traveled on foot. Therefore, an elder wanted them to start productive work.

[29:55]

But Zhen would not consent to it, saying, to cause later generations to call them descendants of a pure official and leave them with this, wouldn't that also be kind? That would also be kind, wouldn't it? Is that clear? Is that clear? Don't be shy if it's not. So was the previous story clear? About the young man who gave up copying texts and went out west and became a baron? Is that one clear? Does that word mean, like, inheritance? Enfjallment? It means to get a fief. Well, it's to get a piece of land held in, you know, in relationship to an overlord.

[31:00]

So it's in a feudal system where lands are held in, what do you call it, in homage or loyalty to some overlord. You perform some deed and you get lands deeded to you. So becoming... A noble person and getting this land were simultaneous. So you get your fief. So is that story clear? That's one eye. The other eye is that this man was impartial and pure and his descendants ate vegetable and traveled on foot. So then some elder wanted them to start productive work. Okay, so when you have people like this, naturally people want to put their virtue to work.

[32:06]

Does that make sense? Capitalize on this virtue. However, their father or whatever would not consent. He said, Now, if we cause later generations to look at them and say that they were, by their conduct, descendants of a pure official, and leave that opinion, leave that view of them, leave them with that honor, wouldn't that be kind? Wouldn't that be as kind as letting them perform these productive acts and be promoted in the hierarchy of the Chinese government? Does that make sense? Well, pure means he taught his, he taught his, that they ate vegetables and traveled on foot, rather than eating, you know, various kinds of Chinese delicacies, for example, capitalizing on the flesh of various animals, and also riding in carriages.

[33:18]

Yes. Pardon? Like a Chinese official, you know, a government official, a minister. These are the aristocrats of China, right? And they can eat, you know, Chinese people don't eat much meat in those days. They eat rice and vegetables. But these people could get meat probably fairly frequently and fish and so on. And also they ride around in carriages. But he taught his students or his disciples to just eat vegetables and travel on foot. So they were looked to and respected and people wanted to put into work in the government. But he said he wanted to leave them alone. He felt that the best inheritance he could give them

[34:18]

rather than higher and higher positions in the government, would be to let them stay on the ground, so to speak, in purity. Okay? Part of the reason why I'm going to story this direction is because in some ways, looking at it this way, I'm taking you into, what do you call it, into a gate where it's actually quite straightforward. It's almost hard to trust or believe that it's that straightforward, but I think through this gate, it actually comes out to be that straightforward. And this next story is basically about the same thing, but it's a little bit more subtle. So then, according to the historical records, Xu Yu was a recluse on Mount Qi. getting food from the mountains and drinking water from the river.

[35:21]

The emperor Yao wanted to abdicate his throne to this mountain sage. And Xu Yu heard about this and washed his ears in the creek or in the river. Then Chao Fu, watering his ox in this river, asked Xu Yu, people usually wash their faces, you just wash your ears. And Xu Yu explained, I heard that Emperor Yao is asking me to be chief of nine provinces, so I'm washing out right and wrong. And Chao Fu says, The trees of Yuzhong grow in the high mountains.

[36:24]

The craftsmen can't get at them. If you want to avoid society, why don't you hide deep in the mountains? You are now wandering in the human world, merely seeking fame and honor. If I go down river and let my ox drink, I fear that it may foul its mouth. So he led it upstream to water the ox. So he seemed, this person was quite a guy, right? Up in the mountains living on mushrooms and wild vegetables and drinking right out of the stream. And the emperor heard about this and said, you know, wow, let's have this, I'm going to quit and have this guy be emperor because he's a great Taoist sage or whatever. So when this guy heard about it, then he did the right thing, right? He washed out his ears. But this other guy comes by and says, you know, still, you're still involved in this worldly trip.

[37:33]

You act like you're pure and like you won't accept such honors, but really you're still playing the game and you're still famous. If you really want to do it, go higher, go farther out, be even more like just one of the trees, and they'll leave you alone. If you really want to be left alone, you can be left alone. You're not really into it that much. Therefore, I won't even water my oxen downstream from your ears. So, the last two lines, you know, Thinking back to the inheritors of pure family tradition, this one story of the guy whose disciples only ate vegetables and walked on the ground, and not watering ox downstream from where ears were washed, refers to these two stories.

[38:35]

And then it says that Tiantong uses these last two stories to eulogize the three embarrassments. Okay, any questions about this? This is like setting a table, so to speak, for a feast of the teaching. This is just setting the table. So if you have any questions, don't be embarrassed about why we put the utensils down this way. Ask. Ask. Well, I think that on one side, he's basically appreciating the teacher expressing these three embarrassments.

[39:40]

Expressing the side of, what is it, the side of... as he said, the last two lines are like retiring and resigning. Okay? The last two lines are about like retiring and resigning. Can you feel that? Eating vegetables and traveling on foot. Not washing your, not watering your oxen downstream from what do you call it, a worldly sage, a sage who's involved in fame and gain. This is like retiring. You're retiring from the guru business. You're resigning. from being a great sage, from being a famous Buddhist teacher or a famous Taoist sage.

[40:48]

You're resigning from this business. So in one sense, Tien-Tung is praising that. Right? Does that make sense? But on the other side, he's also saying, if you're vigorous, and if you don't do something when you're vigorous, you won't be able to get into the power structure, even spiritual power structure. He says that too. But the commentator is saying that, he's saying he eulogizes the resigning and retiring aspect. Yes? I don't want to say, I would construe the added comments. Oh, the next part? The last two. Oh, the added comments for the last two? Uh-huh. Well, there's a little bit more here in the commentary on the verse, okay?

[41:51]

And a little bit more is this part about balancing. Because he says, after he says all this, after he says that Tiantong uses these stories to eulogize these three embarrassments, to eulogize the three embarrassments. He then says, Yet it was said by Tongan, Defilement, the defiled are of themselves defiled, the pure have themselves pure. Enlightenment and affliction are equally empty and equivalent. This monk and Hua Guo have been let go. It's no business of yours. Each of you do what is appropriate. So, even so, almost it's too much what Tien Tung has done.

[42:56]

Even favoring or praising the retirement and The resigning is almost too much. Do you have to retire before going upstream to water his ox? Well, this guy who... the guy who didn't want to water his ox downstream from this famous sage... You know, he may not have even needed to retire. He may never have even gone into business, for all I know. So he might not have needed to retire. He might just have been what he called a gadfly in the sage world.

[43:58]

I don't know his story. The additional saying seems to indicate that that was too much even. It was too much to wash his ears, it was even too much to make a point of taking the ox. Yeah. He's adding to it. Yeah, that's a good possibility. Because it was pretty clever of him to say that, to notice that this guy was washing his ears out when he heard that he was going to be invited to be emperor. Or if not, I guess he couldn't be invited to be emperor, but he was going to be invited to be prime minister, take over the running of the government. It was pretty smart of him to make these comments, so maybe that's a bit too much.

[45:06]

And he might have got famous for that, and as a matter of fact, he did get famous for it, didn't he? And they wrote it down. And it's been now, and they're still, they were maintaining these records from, yeah, from before the beginning of the Common Era. So this guy's had this story maintained and we're maintaining it too. We're telling stories about this guy 2,000 years later. So he became famous. He's now even famous in California. So it was too much, maybe. The commentator called it well. So, is this table set? Any questions about the table setting? Yeah.

[46:09]

I'm not sure about the relationship of the story to the third embarrassment. You're not sure about the relationship of what story to the third embarrassment? Yeah. This story is eulogizing the embarrassments... The story isn't eulogizing the... The story isn't eulogizing the embarrassments. The verse is eulogizing the embarrassments. And the story is explaining to you the reference. So he's just using the story to eulogize.

[47:12]

See, Tian Tong is making a reference to the story, and he's writing a verse and making a reference to the story as a way of eulogizing the embarrassments. So he thinks these embarrassments are pretty good, right? he's kind of eulogizing according to the commentator. I feel that. Don't you feel he's kind of eulogizing? He says, he says, I think back, he says, you know, he recognizes, you know, you people have to make some effort if you're going to accomplish anything. Right? If you want to, if you're young and vigorous and you want to accomplish something, you're going to have to, you know, stir yourself up a little bit. You've got to arouse yourself. Okay? Okay? And he says, but I actually think back to the inheritors of the pure tradition, or the pure family tradition. So he seemed to express a preference, in a sense, for this old way, this old pure way, rather than this young vigorous way of trying to get something.

[48:23]

And so you don't understand how these stories show that? Or you don't understand how the embarrassments show that? The embarrassments. I'm confused about what. I state, and the teacher says, it's an embarrassment to be on the ground. So he's saying, he has two senses of embarrassment. One is that coming down from a high state is an embarrassment. Even being born in a holy situation, you still can't escape a dangerous fall from the top of a pole. So the young monk is asking about some advanced attainment.

[49:28]

And the teacher says, it's an embarrassment to be on the ground. He doesn't say it like, well, you're going up high, but you're going to fall. And it's really better to not be that way. He just says, if you do fall, you're going to be embarrassed. Or being down here on the ground, it's an embarrassment. So he's kind of saying, you know, I'm retired from this business. You ask me questions about this attainment. I've retired from this work. And I'm embarrassed in some sense that I'm sitting over on the sidelines while you're still this great spiritual athlete. You've got all this energy, musical energy, which I see you can use. But it's an embarrassment. It's going to be an embarrassment for you later. It's an embarrassment for me now. that it's going to be an embarrassment for you later, and it's an embarrassment for me that I'm not involved in it anymore. I'm embarrassed.

[50:30]

I'm kind of... I'm kind of irrelevant to this wonderful show you're talking about. And I'm also not gloating over you, like, gee, you stupid fool. I'm actually embarrassed. I actually feel bad that I'm kind of left out. That I'm just an ordinary old monk Of course, you are asking me a question, so maybe you respect me a little bit or something. But actually, I'm embarrassed. So Tintone thinks that that's, it's embarrassing also for a person of virtue to be eating vegetables and walking on the ground. That's kind of embarrassing. All the other virtuous people, what are they doing? Zipping by in their coaches, right? What are you doing down there on the ground? Why don't you have a coach? You're a person of virtue. And so you can be down on the ground and think, well, I'm of superior virtue to you because you're in a coach.

[51:38]

You can be thinking that, right? But of course, that's really not being very virtuous. That's like not eating vegetables. That's like eating I don't know what. I think the feeling is these people were eating vegetables and walking on the ground, but they weren't hardened and looking down on the people who were eating meat and riding in the Koto. They were just taking care of their own virtue, their own simple purity. Should I go on more or do the other examples or does that make sense? Well, in this case, the monk is asking, again, he's saying, what about the, what do you call it, supernormal powers of divine protection?

[52:43]

Do you understand about that? Buddhism has been protected by various forces that we do not understand. Right now it is, too. For example, we don't even dare mention the things that aren't happening to us, right? Otherwise we have to go... But anyway, various bad things are not happening to us here. Have you noticed? I, you know, superstition would not allow me to mention that although we lock our cars now, still people don't come down here and steal our cars. We never had a car store in this place. We're completely open. All we've got to do is just turn the corner, come down here and steal our cars. They could break into our houses if we don't have a lock put in our houses. They could steal our students. Well, a bit.

[53:46]

Anyway, we're quite fortunate here. Something's protecting us. Somebody up there likes us. Is that what he said? We have divine protection. In other words, divine protection means we have protection beyond our poor little human muscles and intelligence. The whole society's protecting us right now. Okay? However, You know, and we haven't been busted as a cult yet. They're letting us stay here. Would that be embarrassing? Do we bust it as a cult? To be busted as a cult would be an embarrassment. And that's what this is about. Buddhism got busted as a cult in 840. The reason why they bust you for cults is because they want your money or whatever, right?

[54:51]

They want to confiscate your Rolls Royces and your lands and your golden statues. They want to put your monks back to work in the fields or whatever, you know. Or put them in, or draft them. There's these motivations, but the reason for it is it's a cult. It's a result of a state, you know, or whatever. It's breeding, it's corrupting the youth or whatever, you know. Brainwashing people. There's some excuse like that. They don't just say, we're going to steal from these people. They got land, let's just take their lands. They make up an excuse. Like, this is the bad religion. Okay? That happened to Buddhism at that time. What happened to the divine forces? What happened, if these guys are really so, such great yogis and such great saints, then the divine forces come and protect them. And those muscular guys out in front actually, they have, they're not just statues. I mean, people go up there and they go, they're empowered.

[55:52]

Their eyes, you know, are flashing brilliantly and people are afraid to go in there and mess around. This is a symbol for something that's real. They're actually protected. And people do not go in there and mess with those people. Because there's some, you know, divine forces protecting the church. Now a lot of churches in the world are not protected anymore. And people go into them and steal the stuff. So where's the divine protection of the churches in the world now? Why don't the... the thieves and stuff, have enough respect for the saintliness and the goodness of the monks that they don't go in there and steal their stuff. Well, the divine forces are embarrassed. We've lost our power. We've lost our... We can't stand on the upper branches of a withered tree anymore. Okay?

[56:53]

We're wimpy. We're weak. We're ineffective. We don't have great spiritual attainments anymore. We have given them up. We're down on the ground. And now they can come in and steal from us. And it's embarrassing that we aren't considered wonderful enough that people won't leave us alone. That we don't have a practice that's so good that we can be better off than other people. That kind of stuff. So that's why Shuyu was too involved in the human world? Shuyu was too involved in the human world that he wasn't... He was famous. The emperor was going to protect him mightily. The emperor was going to give him nine states. and huge armies and, you know, stables of chariots and, you know, he was going to get big time protection and he was supposed to be a pure person up in the mountains, right?

[58:05]

So these pure people up in the mountains, if they get powerful enough in their yoga, emperors protect them. Even emperors try to, you know, give material protection. Okay? But then you're still involved in the world then, in a way, right? So somebody else says, you're worse than an emperor or a general. You're worse because you have the political power of a general or a high official, but you act like you're non-worldly, washing your ears in the creek to wash out good and bad. You're so pure, it makes me... I wouldn't water my ox downstream from you. this guy says. That's the sentiment of this thing about the spiritual powers, the protecting powers, they were lost.

[59:09]

And there's monks wondering about that. Okay. It's 835, and the implication of this is awesome now, if you think about it. On one side, it's awesome. On one side, when I was touched by the image of, for example, us folks eating vegetables and walking on the ground. I mean, giving up our cars. Can you think about it? Giving up our cars and walking around the Bay Area. Eating vegetables and giving up our cars. Now, wouldn't we be pure? And wouldn't that be sweet? especially if we didn't think we're better than the other people and we didn't sort of look down on our snoot at the people driving by. We wouldn't even walk in the highway, probably, though. We'd probably walk in the back paths and stuff.

[60:13]

But when we get to Golden Gate Bridge, we'd have to walk over the bridge, probably. We wouldn't want to be flying over there, would we? What? Hey. Yeah, let's do that. Let's have a group swim. So anyway, I was touched by the image of being, yeah, it can be embarrassing, but that really touched me, this idea of eating vegetables and walking on the ground. It's really sweet. And these guys were so good at it that when somebody tried to promote them, they just kept doing their simple life that way. And that's nice. But that has no meaning, I shouldn't say no meaning, but doesn't have much meaning if these people hadn't already had the opportunity to be promoted by their purity.

[61:21]

For a small person to be small is not humble. What would be a good analogy, a modern analogy to this? A good analogy? How about an example? Yeah, an example. Zen Center is an example. We are an example right here. What is the tone of our practice? Should we give up meat? Should we give up our cars? Should we start walking everywhere? It has to do with right livelihood. This is about right livelihood.

[62:26]

This is about right livelihood and how if you, like Ralph Nader has a lot of power because he doesn't drive a car. Somebody told me, you know, Ralph Nader, somebody told me, this is almost like bad speech, but anyway, it's all right. Ralph Nader isn't actually that smart. But he's very powerful because he doesn't drive a car. A lot of these other guys are really smart. There's some of these ecologists and so on. who are proposing these, you know, revolutions in our society, but they're still driving around in a car, so people say, hmm, but he doesn't drive a car, so, you know, when he talks, it's got this authority from his simplicity. At the same time, however, there's the other side of it's touchy, it's tricky. It's embarrassing to be pure, too.

[63:32]

And there's something in us that when we get pure, we feel uncomfortable with that, in a way. And there's two ways to go with it. One is to make yourself dirty and eat a lot of meat and get a big car. The other way is get promoted. Get famous for it. One, just simply, what do you call it, dirties yourself directly and clearly. And the other... sort of secretly or kind of subtly or almost unconsciously you dirty yourself. Which in a way is good. So in a way it's good to get famous because then you lose your real purity. But in another sense it's not so good to get famous and lose your purity. It's better to keep your purity without being better than other people.

[64:34]

To come down to the ground without getting promoted in the process. That was hard for you to follow? I went somewhere else for a second. I'm glad I caught you. I might get famous for that. Tension catches Misha drifting away. I don't know. I really have no idea. It's an internal situation, right? He is famous, and he's famous for eating vegetables and walking on the ground. That's how he got famous. He also, you know, There's some other stuff, but what he did, in some ways, according to certain people watching the scene, the things he has to say are, well, like, you know, I don't know, Amory Lovins, okay, is really smart.

[65:40]

I mean, he's like, he's really smart. Ralph Nader is nowhere near him in terms of his information and stuff like that. He just doesn't have a mind for it. He's just not the kind of guy he is. He's a sincere, hardworking, dedicated person, like a lot of other people. There's a lot of people like that in that movement. But a lot of them still drive, ride airplanes and drive in cars and I don't know what else they do. So he has an integrity and personal authority and moral authority to such an extent that he's famous for it. And when he enters space, people really listen to him because he's got this kind of authority. So that's that. How he uses that authority, that I don't know. If you're a bum... You don't have any authority, got no problems, except the fact that you have no authority, and you're impure, and there's no honor. If you have honor, then people want to promote you.

[66:44]

They want to promote you like a product, and promote you in the hierarchy. If you resist the promotion, you get promoted more, in a sense, if you're not careful. So you get even more famous for refusing the promotion. If you really want to refuse the promotion, actually, you should just get out of there. Or you go someplace where people won't even notice that you're pure, and they won't promote you. They'll just let you be pure, and they won't even notice it. You'll be so pure. If you really want to be pure, that's the way to do it. And yet we have this place where people can... Some people come here because they think there's some pure people here. It's a setup. How are you going to get out of it? This is an example. Zen Center is an example of this very problem. Yes? There's a question I have about the security. I mean... If it's really the way that we should aspire to become secure, as it would be for the scenario to where someone in the forest is not even having someone to ask them to take some of that, or to have them contact with this kind of blood.

[68:01]

And I was thinking that, because I've got a car these days, and it's... I get good mileage? Does he get good mileage? Oh, good. It was my choice not to have a car. I was very serious about it. I found it as a big pain when I decided to do so. And I did it because I wanted to travel and I decided to do so. But I also thought that in a way it gives me the possibility to work with a lot of things coming up in the car. That's right. In a way I think that this going, it's almost like letting go this kind of purity in order to have the chance to become more pure even, because it's like I can experience So I wonder if there is this kind of, this image of somebody who really goes out of the woods in all society and everything, if it's really something that... I mean, I inspired it when I was younger.

[69:07]

I opened up this kind of ideal. Idealism? Yeah, in the opposite direction, in a way. But it's the same. I mean, it's... Yeah. Right. Exactly. So... I had a very similar thing. I didn't want to have a car. I wanted to use Zen Center's car. For years, I used Zen Center's car. Before that, most of my problems were, what do you call it, internal combustion motor vehicle problems. So when I came to Zen Center, I didn't have a car anymore. I came to Zen Center in a hearse. You know what a hearse is? It's a car for carrying dead people. and I brought myself in it, and then I sold it. I had a motorcycle inside, and then I sold my motorcycle, so I had no motor vehicle. I was free, and then I could use Zen Center's car. And finally Zen Center made me get my own car, and now I have my own car and my own problems like you.

[70:09]

So I'd like to, but they wouldn't let me do it that way. They're making me defiled. But here's the thing is that, you see, your idealism was to not have a car and be pure, and now your idealism maybe would be to have a car and to get into the difficulties and challenges that are involved with the car, a new idealism. But the point is, not the point is, but a point is, there are ideals. There's ideals... fleeting and flowing throughout the room constantly. The question is, there are truths. How do we handle them? How do we work with them? See, in one sense we can say, oh, you know, some people say, you know, I'm a Zen monk, therefore I can eat meat, smoke cigarettes, and drink alcohol because I'm a Zen monk. You know? Forget this stuff about vegetables and walking on the ground.

[71:18]

It's just another thing to attach to. How are we going to negotiate? What is it? What is the pure way? What is the way to come down to the ground and be embarrassed there without then say subtly to yourself, this is really where it's at. What does it really mean to retire? What does that really mean, the check out of the world? What does that mean? How can you check out really? Now some people think, oh, eating vegetables, walking on the ground, I don't want to do that, I don't want to check out that way. In some ways that's good because that's not really the way to check out. But it's also not checking out to eat a lot of meat and drive a big car, that's not checking out either. What does it mean to really retire? Zen Center has this problem.

[72:20]

We have this, the Sangha has this problem. What is purity? What is the purity that doesn't stink? That isn't self-righteous? What is it? Yeah. It seems to me the problem is not what I do, it's... It's what I think about what I do. So it doesn't matter whether I'm the emperor or I'm the pure. The problem is, do I see myself as ready or trying to get somewhere? So the only purity would be in seeing what I'm in. Somebody always wants to get somewhere. The purity is to see yourself for what you are, and what you are is someone who's always trying to get something. Right. So we have thoughts running through our mind like, I'm pure, I'm impure, I'm impure, I want to make myself pure, I'm pure, I'm too pure, I should make myself less pure.

[73:34]

We have these kinds of thoughts that run through our mind, okay? What is, you know, what is the Buddhist seal? What does it mean to put the Buddhist seal on your thoughts? I think it means that you see your thought for what it is. So there's no, there's no kind of like, we can't say eating vegetables and walking on the ground, that that's the way. All those, I think it's sweet, and I'd like to eat vegetables and take a walk to San Francisco. It's lovely. But how do I think about it? Maybe I say, well, Leon likes to walk to San Francisco, so I'm just going to walk with Leon, right? And it's no big trip. I don't think I'm better. I'm just taking a walk with Leon as a favor to him. No, I don't even think that. I just like to take a walk. I don't think I'm better than other people. I'm just taking a walk to San Francisco instead of riding in a car. It never crosses my mind that I'm doing something holy. or ecological.

[74:35]

It never even crosses my mind. I'm just walking. Matter of fact, I think, gee, this is kind of nice scenery. Good exercise. Never even crosses my mind that I think I'm doing something good for my body. But I think that maybe. The question is, what am I thinking? If I think I'm doing something good or I think I'm doing something bad, what am I thinking and what is the nature of my thought? And going up high or compensating, coming down low. All this stuff, the question is, whatever state you're in, what is that state? What is it? Now, this is kind of a simple, but it's a difficult question, but it's a kind of simple entry into the story, I think, isn't it? I don't know. To me, it seems kind of simple. I mean, simple in the sense of kind of cognitive, this is a kind of conceptual entry into this case. Do you know what I mean?

[75:42]

Are you following this? Isn't this easier than some other cases? Something to talk about? Okay, now I just warn you, not warn you, but now I send you into the commentary on the story. which is not so simple. But you're not going to do it tonight, okay? I'm recommending, before I forget, that you go look at the commentary on the case now, because it's quite a different field of dreams, I feel. And I also have this idea that usually we don't have class during sashi. Usually we cancel the class. Now, is this a five-class class or a six-class class? Is it a six-class class? Pardon? This is the fourth. This is the fourth.

[76:44]

This is the fifth? Well, if it's five, then we don't have to have one during Sashim because we can have one on June 7th. Pardon? Pardon? I was just wondering, I'll be away. You'll be away? Sorry. Anyway, if this is the fifth class, then we're going to have a sixth class on June 7th. But I was also thinking of having a class during Sesshin. We usually don't have classes during Sesshin. But I was thinking of having a class during Sesshin. And people who don't want to come to class can just sit. I thought it might be interesting to have a class in the session, to come and talk about this story here in session. But I would like you people to study the commentary, to get familiar with it. It's rather complicated, the commentary on the case, to study it and think about it. It's part of the situation, but it's a little bit different In some sense, it's different.

[77:49]

I don't know if it's more difficult. I think it is, in some sense, more tricky or something. It's more like more Zen. This is more like, you know, this is more an ethical approach here. This commentary on the verse is more ethical, ethically oriented. ... Yeah, I'd like to have a class during Sashin. Well, if you people tell me that this is classed, then I've given you six classes. Next week. Next week, we're having Sashin here, which starts on Sunday night and goes till Friday. So Monday night, we have a regular class, have a class, and the people in Sashin that want to come and discuss this case in the evening, after the first day of sitting, come over here.

[78:53]

If you don't want to, you can just sit. Maybe people who are not in Sashin shouldn't bother coming for dinner. Oh, right. If you're not in Sashin, just come to class because we're having karaoke dinner. We're eating in the Zen, though. We're not eating downstairs. How about we bring our own orioke set? How about we bring our own orioke set? Can you show it for me? Yeah, that might be okay. I'll check it out with Taiyo. See if that's okay. I feel okay about people coming in. Aren't you going to sit session? I thought you've been building up to this. I have been. You busy? I have been.

[79:56]

I accepted a job for two weeks that I've actually extended into a month. Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. I don't want to interfere with your livelihood. Well, it's commitment at this point. Right, so take care of your commitments. I'm not teasing you about that. I'm teasing you, but not about that. He's kind of been building up to longer and longer sessions. Let me read the commentary. Just read the comments. Do you have any guidance for the commentaries? It's really squirrely. I think it would help if you make a diagram. It's kind of complicated, so make a diagram with the characters and their relationships and stuff.

[80:57]

Yeah, well, that's part of the problem. I can't figure out what their relationship is. Well, there's two guys, right? There's... There's... There's Jingua. Jingua. No, not Jingua. That's his... You see what I mean? Okay, so there's Great Master Jingua. There's Great Master Jingua. That's like his title, right? Great Master Jingua. And his name is Su Cheng. And there's another great master, Han Hua, and his name is Jiryuan. So those are the two guys, and they are both abbot of this place called Hu Gua.

[82:02]

No, no, these two guys, these two guys who later became great masters studied with Bao Chi at the same time. So you have Bao Chi up there and these two guys study with him at the same time. Okay. And the second generation abbot who is a great master, Han Hua, Yan Hua, he starts the conversation with Bao Chi. And then after the conversation with Bao Chi, the head monk gives him some advice about the interaction. And this other monk who later becomes the great master Jingua, whose name is Su Chung, he hears it and gnashes his teeth.

[83:09]

And he has a comment about what the other guy said. Okay? And they go back and forth like this for a while. And in the end, the elder brother, or actually the Dharma brother, enlightens the Dharma brother. And one Dharma brother takes the other one as his teacher. And the one becomes the abbot of this temple, and the other guy goes with him, and he becomes his successor. Okay. Okay, that doesn't make sense, does it? Usually that's the way they do it. Okay. So that's probably right. It's usually the way they do it. But this story in here gives a lot of space to the second generation abbot of this temple. Are you following this?

[84:10]

So let me make a diagram of these two guys that both became great teachers, both abbots of this temple who are studying with Bao Chi. And then you also have the head monk and the third seat monk, the number one seat. They were the abbots with Bao Chi. He's the abbot of another temple. See, these two guys are at a temple studying with Bao Chi. They're coming out at that time, though. No, they're students of Bao Chi at that place. Then later, they both leave. One becomes abbot of this place. Then the other one becomes a successor. The one dies, and the other one becomes the abbot, the second generation abbot. So these guys have three names, right? They have their great master name They have the regular monk's name and they're also both called Phu Quas because they're both abbots of Phu Qua monasteries. Okay? All right? So please get that story straight and we can discuss this story and see how this story maybe help us or maybe hurt us in trying to figure out what is purity in this world?

[85:24]

What does it mean to really check out in such a way that it doesn't stink. Huh? To retire. Yeah, what does it mean to really retire from the world? And how are you going to balance these two I's? The laid-back I and the urgent I. This is our... Or like a Green Gulch is a really nice place, and it's really a mess. We have a loving community, and...

[86:12]

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