With the help of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and our past compassionate teachers and all of you, may we continue to study these great Bodhisattva precepts and understand how they relate to our everyday life. As I said yesterday, Suzuki Roshi pointed out that we ourselves, through the practice of Zazen, are the three kinds of triple treasure. And also that if we become interested in special things, in interesting things, and especially

[01:13]

if we get lost and entangled in them, we cannot see anything, we cannot appreciate our lives. On the other hand, if we can see how fragile and vulnerable human life is, we may be able to be sincere enough about it so that we can stand for it to be not very interesting, not unusual or special, and then not be drawn off and entangled by various interesting things which appear in the world, not go off shopping, away from this fragile, vulnerable human condition,

[02:27]

and thereby be able to continue to see and hear what's happening. In order to encourage us to continue to stay close to this ordinary human life, in order for us to be able to be sincere about something that's not so special, we have the practice of Zazen and we receive the precepts. And again, after all, these precepts and this Zazen practice are just about our ordinary selves. Saying that to you, I imagine that's not too difficult for you to hear,

[03:41]

that when I say those things to you, you don't get upset. Is that true? It's okay to hear this teaching from Suzuki Roshi? I thought so. It makes the triple treasures more understandable and also it, to me, shows how the triple treasure helps us in our practice. But now, I would like to embark in a direction which I sense is a kind of

[04:50]

It's towards the light, but because of our reversed attitude and habitual ways of seeing things, it seems like it's going into the darkness. I want to go in a direction which I feel is quite difficult to discuss with you, but which I feel is potentially very rewarding and, from what I can tell, is necessary. What I'm referring to is going in the direction of exploring more deeply what some of the implications of taking refuge in the triple treasure are, and again, in particular, even more so, to look at what does it mean to have a relationship with Buddha?

[05:55]

What is spiritual communion? How is Zazen a kind of spiritual communion? And again, when I bring this up, I worry because I know in the past when I've tried to talk about these kinds of things, it presses all kinds of associations with our religious background. And I don't mean to activate these habits or these associations, but at the same time, I feel that to not bring these things up just because these associations are activated, it would be a pity.

[07:04]

We'd be missing out on an essential aspect of the teaching if we don't go in this direction, which, as I say, is kind of fraught with demons. Not for all of you, and not for any of you all the time, but I'm just warning you that I know that this may get touchy as we proceed, and I share your touchiness, more or less, depending on conditions. Also, as a kind of warning, and also a release valve on this whole discussion, is we must remember that everything that I say, everything that you hear,

[08:09]

everything in this world lacks inherent existence. Buddha, Zen student, enlightenment, merit, Sangha, Dharma, all this stuff lacks inherent existence, and there's no such thing as any of this stuff. I'm just taking you on a journey into a dark cave, that's all. And in this cave, you may be able to experience what the ancestors experienced when they said, and at that time, there was a great awakening. So, what am I referring to?

[09:17]

I don't know quite where to begin. I'll just begin with the verse that I said here at the beginning. The one bowing, and the one bowed to, their nature, no nature. This body, the other body, not two. Plunge into inexhaustible truth. Live in vow. I and you, you and I, bowed to each other and bowed to Buddha and Manjushri. The character for bow also means to formally pay respects, or formally revere, or formally venerate, or worship.

[10:41]

So, the way the Chinese is built in that verse, is it takes this character, which means venerate, or formally venerate, or bow, and it uses the character twice. The first time it uses the character, it uses it with another Chinese character, which means the ability, or the active. So, you put that character with bowing, and it means the action of bowing, or the ability to bow, but also could mean the one who's bowing. And then you take another character, which means passive. So, the passive action of bowing, to receive bowing. The action of bowing, and the receiving of bowing, or the one who's bowing, and the one who's being bowed to. Those two are both empty. The practitioner, the disciple, and the Buddha are both empty.

[11:54]

Their nature, in both cases, is that they don't have any nature. This body and the other body are not separate, are not two. And when I bow, I dive into that inexhaustible truth of the non-duality and emptiness of Buddha and sentient being. And I live in the vow to realize this non-duality. Now, here comes another way to talk about this, which is a little harder to hear, maybe. And again, I would preface this by saying that one of the things that I think a lot of us have had trouble with, particularly in Christianity, is when Christians say that unless you believe in Jesus, or something like that, you're doomed.

[13:01]

And only the people who believe are saved. So then we think, what about all the people all over the world who don't believe? We don't like to hear that they're doomed for not even having heard of Jesus. We don't like that. Student? Doomed. Doomed means go to hell. Doomed means destined. You will go to hell if you don't believe in Jesus. Have you heard about that? Is there something like that circulating in the world? Anyway, some people came to Buddhism because they didn't like that. Buddhism's not like that, and yet, still, there's something related that sounds like it. And that is, and which I hear both... Again, I hear Suzuki Roshi and Katagiri Roshi saying this very gently. And when they first came to America, they didn't talk like this at all.

[14:05]

But after being here for 10, 15 years, as a matter of fact, towards the end of their life, when they knew that they might be leaving, they started to say something a little different. Something like, if you don't accept the triple treasure, you can't be a Buddhist. And a lot of us Zen people say, well, I don't care. I don't want to be a Buddhist anyway. So that's no problem. And when I hear that kind of thing, I feel uneasy myself. I don't like that feeling of exclusiveness. Yes. Are you coming into the cave now?

[15:22]

Getting dark? Scary? You may go to hell. No, no. Another way to say it, if you do not accept the triple treasure, you will not be a Buddhist child. You will not be a Buddhist disciple. Something like that. As softly as possible, but there's something like that there. And in our ordination ceremony, when you receive the precepts, we say afterwards, now you are a Buddhist child. But actually, I'll take some of the fright out of it right away. Remember, what are the triple treasures? They are nothing but we ourselves. That's what the triple treasure are. When we are truly ourselves, that's the triple treasure. When we practice Zazen purely, that's being ourselves, and that's the triple treasure.

[16:28]

So, if you don't accept who you are, then you're not Buddhist child. So it's not like the Buddhas are over here saying, if you don't accept us, you're out. It's rather the Buddhas are saying, if you don't accept who you are, you don't accept that you're my child. If you don't accept who you are, you don't accept the triple treasure. And if you don't accept the triple treasure, you don't accept who you are. It's like that. If you exclude yourself from yourself, then you exclude yourself from Buddhism. Or even forget about it, we don't care about Buddhism, you exclude yourself from the triple treasure. But, the other way, if you do accept yourself, you must accept the triple treasure. You cannot accept yourself unless you accept the triple treasure. So there's no exclusion from Buddhism to you, there's only you excluding yourself. And in order to understand what it means to accept yourself, you have to accept the triple treasure.

[17:36]

Accepting yourself doesn't mean you just accept your little idea of yourself, it means you accept all sentient beings. Because that's who you are. All sentient beings is really your life. And when you're willing to accept Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, that helps you accept all sentient beings. And when you accept all sentient beings, you accept yourself. And when you accept yourself completely, that's Zazen. So you, as Zazen, is the triple treasure, and that's accepting the triple treasure. If you reject Zazen, in other words, if you reject you being yourself, well, then you're out. Then you can't believe you're a Buddhist child. If you reject the triple treasure, you exclude yourself. So it's tricky there. Buddha doesn't reject anybody. As a matter of fact, remember, Buddha's enlightenment is Buddha became himself,

[18:42]

and then he saw that everybody was Buddha. And then what he did is he taught how people exclude themselves from that. He saw that everyone was Buddha's child, and then he taught people how they didn't believe that. How do you not believe it? You don't accept the triple treasure. You don't take refuge in the triple treasure. Or, you don't venerate the triple treasure. Same thing. If you do accept the triple treasure, if you do venerate the triple treasure, if you do take refuge in the triple treasure, that's the same thing too. That's accepting yourself. So, we're in the cave, but this is kind of a rest stop. Feel more comfortable now? Doom has just been dispersed, right?

[19:43]

A little bit. So, in the fascicle by Dogen Zenji on taking refuge in the triple treasure, at the very beginning he says, he quotes another Zen text, which is called Changyuan Jingwei, which means the pure rules of the Zen garden, which is one of the main monastic manuals in China. In the 12th century. So, it starts off by saying, he quotes, Do you revere, do you venerate the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha or not? That's the quote. And then Dogen says, it is evident that the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and Zen pioneers

[20:49]

from India to China is reverence, or this character which I said means formally respecting or bowing. You could say he is bowing, or reverence or veneration for Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This quote shows that, he says. Unless you convert, and I looked up the word convert, and I always look to the etymology rather than the various definitions, and the etymology of convert is to turn around the backward step, to reverse our habitual tendencies and go back home. Unless you convert to them, them Buddha, Dharma, Sangha,

[21:55]

you have no reverence. Unless you revere them, you have no conversion. The merit of conversion to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha is surely accomplished when there is, and here comes a big new term. Actually, I'll just say it in Japanese maybe. No, I won't. I'll say it in English. The merit of conversion to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha is surely accomplished when there is a crossing of the paths of appeal and response. Whether you are a being in heaven,

[22:57]

a human being, a hungry ghost, an animal or a beast in hell, once you have this crossing of paths of appeal and response, there is surely conversion. I'll read another translation. Do you venerate the triple treasure of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha or not? This clearly shows that reverent veneration of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha is essential, is the essence of correct transmission of Buddhas and ancestors in both India and China. Without receiving refuge,

[24:03]

and in this it actually says, I looked it up in Chinese, it actually says refuge, but the first translation translated refuge as convert. Without receiving refuge in the triple treasure, it is impossible to reverently venerate them. Without reverently venerating them, it is impossible to take refuge in them. The merit of having gone for refuge in the triple treasure inevitably appears when there is spiritual communion between sentient being and Buddha, between appeal and response. Those who experience this spiritual communion between appeal and response inevitably take refuge

[25:07]

whether they find themselves existing as celestial or human beings, hungry ghosts, animals or hell dwellers. Again, this is a kind of tough thing to say. It's saying, unless you do this, it's impossible to do that. It's saying, unless you revere and venerate the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, you can't take refuge. And also, if you don't take refuge, you can't really venerate. And then it says further, and this is the part that I really worry about talking to you about, it says that the merit or the virtue of taking refuge,

[26:11]

going for refuge, receiving refuge, inevitably appears in this spiritual communion between appeal and response. It's appeal and response between sentient being and Buddha. The appeal and the response are what the sentient being and Buddha do. Can you read that last sentence again? The merit of receiving. The merit of receiving refuge in the triple treasure inevitably appears when there is spiritual communion between disciple and Buddha, yogi and Buddha,

[27:12]

trainee and Buddha, but also literally between appeal and response. Those who experience this will inevitably take refuge, no matter what realm you're in. When Ru Jing died, Dogen's teacher, his death poem was something like, the sins that I have accumulated in sixty-six years would fill the universe. I don't remember completely, but then I think he says, now I drop alive into hell. So in one sense you could say, well, he says he did all these sins, so he's going to hell. On the other side, I think what he's saying is,

[28:14]

I don't know where I'm going, but even if I'm going to hell, I'm going to continue to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. And this taking refuge this appeal will be responded to even in hell. I will continue to revere the Buddha's the Buddha's teaching and the community no matter where I'm going, and there will be a response. So, open the doors wherever it's going. And I know, since I've done so many non-virtuous things, this may be the door to hell. So this term, in Japanese it's kan, one character,

[29:17]

which means feeling, sentiment, influence, emotion, touch, and appeal. In this situation it can be understood as appeal. And the next character, no, which means response. And kan no means Buddha moved to respond, or divine response. Or you could say simply, appeal and response. And then comes do, which means path, and ko. And ko, literally, it looks like two swords crossed.

[30:18]

So it can be translated as cross. But it also means coming and going, and association, and mingle with, and mix, and other things too. So one literal way to translate this is appeal and response, paths associate. The path of the one who's appealing and the one who responds converse with each other. What's the word in Japanese?

[31:21]

Kan no do ko. Kan no do ko. Four characters. It's a Chinese expression. The Japanese way of saying it is kan no do ko. Divine response, paths cross, or paths converge. And more complicated ways of saying it is spiritual communion between appeal and response. Another complicated way is spiritual correspondence and permutation of the way. This teaching, this expression in this teaching is something which, again, our teachers didn't bring up too much. I think because it's so kind of like spiritual, right?

[32:25]

This thing that's going on between you and me and you and Buddha when you bow. Something happens there. You can't see it, but you can also, on some level, you can feel it. Communion of appeal and response. Now, in the Jewel Mirror Samadhi song, it says a couple things about this. One thing it says is, the meaning is not in the words, yet it responds to the inquiring impulse. Remember that? It responds to the inquiring impulse. But again, looking at the Chinese,

[33:29]

literally what it says is, it responds to the arrival of energy or effort. And again, the character there is the one I pointed out to you the other night in class. Character there for inquiring impulse is key, which means opportunity, energy, occasion, function, these kinds of things. It's that same character that's used for when it says, describing the leakage of views, when this key, when this energy holds to a fixed position, you're thrown into a poisonous sea. In this case, it responds to the same energy. This energy which, if it holds to a fixed position, throws you in a poisonous sea. Now, when the same energy or the same opportunity,

[34:35]

when it goes towards, when it appeals to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, there's a response to this arrival of this energy. If you say, help. If you say, I'm sorry. If you say, please. If you say, I love you. If you say, all dharmas are empty. If you say, kanji, zaibou, zatsu. If you say, silence. If you say, this is my body and it's sitting still. If you say with your body, with your body arriving, your energy coming, and you put it on the ground. If you say with your body by standing up straight. If you say with your body by sitting up straight. These are all ways of the energy arriving. These arrivals of energy,

[35:37]

it responds to. Put your hands together. That's the arrival of energy. It responds to that. Salute. It responds. Walk around a pile of dirt. It responds. Put your head on the earth and kiss it. It responds. And particularly, if you do consciously bring your energy to. You devote your energy to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. It responds. It doesn't matter what you say. The meaning is not in the posture. The meaning is not in the words. It's just the arrival of your energy. It's your devotion. And if your devotion is total, the response is total.

[36:39]

If your devotion is partial, you think the response is partial. Of course, it's total, partial response. It meets you exactly what you put in, you get back. Of course, you get back much more, but if you hold back a little bit, you think it holds back a little bit. If you take refuge completely, it responds completely. Another thing the Jewel Mirror Samadhi says, which is very important, it says, the inquiry and response, the arrival of the energy, the arrival of the function of your life and the response to it, come up together. This is a spiritual world. Things don't happen like now and then later. There's only the present. So, when you say,

[37:42]

hello, the response is at that same time. Listen. Listen. Hello. Did you hear the response? The response is right there. Please. The response is right there. It's not, please, what do you want? It's, listen, please, help me. Help me. I need help. The response is right there at that moment, not later. That's why you can't see it, because it's not someplace else. There's no... It's not in the dust. It's not in the objective world. And that's why your mind is completely calm when you ask and you're answered simultaneously. There's no disturbance. There's no disturbance. Here's a couple of practical examples.

[38:53]

One time Kadagirishi stood right there and he said, talking to the chitins, he said, line up the incense burner and, you know, like always the two incense burners, line them up with the center of Buddha, with Buddha's nose. Because if you make them all in a straight line, your mind will be in a straight... ... Lining them up straight is the arrival of energy. It's an appeal. As soon as you line them up, your mind is straight. It's not like you line them up and then later you say, oh, my mind's straight. At the time of lining them up, you have a straight mind, and a straight mind is the Bodhisattva's mind, just a straight mind. In other words, a mind itself.

[39:58]

Then you think, well, how can that happen? You line up the incense burners and your mind's straight. You know, so what? This is not venerating. This is your mind operating in the usual way. This is not the mind being converted. The mind being converted is lining up those incense bowls with the Buddha's nose makes your mind like a Buddha. That's the other way. That's the reversed way of looking at it. There's effort there, but it's not one-sided. Another example that Suzuki Roshi told us about was some Zen teacher, when he was a young boy, he went to Eheji, and his father, who was a priest, gave him some advice. He said, when you get to Eheji, there's a big bell there,

[41:04]

and you'll probably get a chance to ring it in the morning. When you ring the bell, after each time you ring the bell, you bow. And when you ring the bell and bow, you understand that with every ringing of the bell, with every sounding of the bell, the Buddha dharma wheel turns one notch. Every ringing of the bell, you turn the dharma wheel. Or rather, with every ringing of the bell, the dharma wheel is turned. Now, in a way, if you think about that, of course it's true. I mean, when you hear those bells rung at the monasteries, when you hear the bell rung here, when you hear the bell rung at Green Gulch, the dharma wheel turns with that sound, and all beings are happy to hear that sound. Buddhism, Buddha way is happening,

[42:06]

it's alive. But the one who's ringing it can remember that her energy coming into this moment is met. And this giving of your life energy in the direction of the Buddha way is responded to. And it's not just that you give it, it's that the Buddhas say, yeah, thank you. It's a concert, it's not a solo. And the other side of the concert is inconceivably vast. It's not like, you know, it's not a matching grant. It's a response, but it is inconceivably, it's inconceivably, I don't know what, whatever you want to say, man. It's totally, you know,

[43:08]

it's totally total. It like completely does the job. And in response to whatever little thing you do, completely. Just ring the bell. Completely. And know and believe and want and give your energy to the Dharma wheel turning on your bell. Ringing. That's what his father told him. So he did it. And there he was, little boy, I don't know how old, ringing the bell at Eheji, and Abbot was sitting up someplace, in his room probably, and he said, who is ringing that bell? And he said, I don't know. We'll find out. I don't remember exactly what happened. I think they brought the boy to the Abbot. I think the Abbot said, you're ringing the bell very nicely. Or maybe he didn't even say that. Maybe he just said, who is ringing that bell? But the Abbot could hear

[44:12]

that somebody was ringing the bell. And that kid grew up to be a great Zen master. He did. Well, who wouldn't? I mean, look at, if you're like that, you will too. Just ring the bell with your whole heart, out there in whatever it is. And when you ring it, know that you are putting your life on the line, and you are being met, and in that meeting, the Dharma is coming alive. And there, the merit of your dedication, the merit of your giving yourself to the triple treasure is realized. It's not just realized in you going for refuge. It's realized in the fact that when you go for refuge,

[45:16]

somebody says, welcome home. Glad to see you, kid. I've been waiting. Now the family is back together. In Zen, you may have heard the expression, in some place in the Blue Cliff Record, it's pointed out, I can't remember where, of the image of a chick inside of an egg and the hen outside. And when the chick pecks, supposedly, the mama pecks back. If the chick doesn't peck, the mama doesn't peck back, because if the mama pecks back before the chick pecks, the chick might not be ready, and if you break the egg before the chick's ready, you can have a dead chick. So the mama waits for the chick to peck. And when the chick pecks, the mama knows,

[46:17]

hey, this chick's got a pecker and some energy behind there. Well, I guess I can peck back then. But not real hard at first, because it's still not quite time. So peck back about the same. Peck, peck, [...] peck. And the shell breaks, and it's time, because the baby's strong enough to peck back real hard. And who breaks it first doesn't matter. The point is they're hitting pretty hard there towards the end and the baby's got it going. So when the thing breaks open, the baby's ready, he or she, usually she, I guess. She's ready for this world. But it was a mutual thing, this birth. But the midwife, or the mom, whatever, didn't peck ahead of. It's a responding thing. Baby says, I'm here.

[47:19]

Hen says, you're here. Baby says, I'm here. Mama says, you're here. Baby says, I'm here. Mama says, you're here. Whoa, getting into it, aren't we? I am so totally here, I'm not even here. You're so totally here, you're not even here. Hey, now we're talking. Again, when we understand deeply the total picture of our human world, how fragile and vulnerable our human life is,

[48:25]

then we can accept its ordinariness and we can hear the cries of the world. And again, hearing the cries of the world happens simultaneously with those cries. The cries are simultaneous with the hearing. So, Kadagiri Roshi says, when you do any action, wholeheartedly, this is exactly the total presence of our life, which is exactly the total presence of the universe. We don't see this, we don't know this,

[49:27]

but even though you don't know it, if you sit wholeheartedly, some part of your body feels it directly. You don't know it, but you experience it directly. And we can feel peaceful because our presence and the presence of the universe are exactly the same place. Now again, this wholeheartedly, which could also be called total devotion, or could also be called full function, excuse me, but the term Zenki, which is a fascicle of Shobogenzo, Zenki, which could be total devotion, or concerted activity, but also, the translation I like is, the whole works.

[50:27]

The whole works means the entire universe, but also the whole works means that the whole works through some particular thing. This Zenki is my name, so when I do ordinations I sign Zenki, I sign the whole works. And sometimes the way I see my hand making this, writing the whole works, it looks kind of ugly to me. And when I write, I try to remember, when I write, I kind of, I cry when I write. I kind of have the feeling like I'm crying into my brush. It's a sad feeling, that this ugly writing is the whole working through my hand. And it may be ugly, but it is the whole working through my hand. It is, this is the whole works. That's what I'm writing, and it's true. And sometimes the whole works is an ugly handwriting.

[51:37]

So I cry into it and I go with that feeling, and each signature is another example of the whole working through this brush and this ink on this paper, on this cloth. And it comforts me to know that it isn't under my control what this handwriting looks like. I just try to stay with it. And I'm sorry that it's not more beautiful, in a way, but I also enjoy that this is the whole works, and this is the whole working. And again, if we do everything with this sense of total devotion and feeling the whole working here and giving ourselves to the whole, there is a response. A peacefulness comes into us, even though our handwriting is ugly. Even though we're writing on the walls of hell,

[52:43]

a peacefulness comes into us because the whole is working through us here. So, yes, we study the precepts, and the first precepts are these triple treasure, which are just ourselves. And we give ourselves to these triple treasure. And as our energy arrives in going for refuge, in receiving refuge, I don't like taking refuge anymore. I don't want to take it. I'll receive it, and I'll go for it. I ain't going to take it. But if it's given, OK. In going for refuge with my whole heart, I get a wholehearted response.

[53:46]

I venerate the Buddha. I really treasure and respect the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. And that causes me, that helps me inevitably to take refuge. I take refuge, and that causes me to respect. And in that work, in that energy, there is a response. And in that responsiveness, we realize the merit of conversion. Satsang with Mooji Hey, Martina. You stayed awake. Well, I know this story pretty much. Again, I bring your attention back to the story I told yesterday about Cloudy Cliff

[55:00]

coming to meet Medicine Mountain. Maybe it's easier in English translation than Chinese. Cloudy Cliff meets Medicine Mountain. Sounds like that song that was popular many years ago. Some Indian girl meets some guy. What was the name of that song? Huh? Yeah. Meets who? Yeah. Little White Dove? Little White Cloud. How does that go? There's a river in between. It was a popular song. Something about running bear met little white cloud, da-da-da-da. Anyway. So this is Cloudy Cliff meets

[56:02]

little Medicine Mountain. Basically, what I want to say about this again is, looking at that story, what did Yun Yan do? What did Cloudy Cliff do for 20 years with Bai Zhang, the great Zen master? What did he do? He just stood there. He was his attendant, right? And so I looked up the word attendance or attendant. And it means to stretch towards. Being attendant is your is an example of an inquiring impulse. It's the arrival of energy. He stood there for 20 years. I don't know how fully he was standing there. But anyway, he was making his effort and there was a response. Must have been for Bai Zhang to let him stand there for 20 years. Communicating subtly for 20 years.

[57:04]

Then he goes to Yaoshan. And does it with Yaoshan. Stands in attendance with Yaoshan. Just stretching towards. Stretching towards. Stretching towards. And being responded to. Being responded to. Being responded to. Also, I looked up the word therapy because I thought it was associated. And yes, therapy means to be attendant. The root of therapy is attendant. To stretch towards. So, Medicine Mountain asked Cloudy Cliff these questions about about Bai Zhang. Cloudy Cliff answered the questions. Finally, Bai Zhang asks him a question.

[58:05]

And Bai Zhang and Cloudy Cliff answers. And Bai Zhang, I mean, and Medicine Mountain understood Bai Zhang's teaching through this young man. And then there was a conversion. An awakening. In that communication. How did it happen? I don't know. But it partly happened by 20 or more years of stretching towards. Of him bringing his energy. Of him caring enough about Bai Zhang and Medicine Mountain to continually stretch towards them. And in order to sustain his continual stretch towards them there was a continual response. Every time we take refuge there's a response to make it possible for us to do it again. Every time we respect

[59:10]

life there's a response for us to do it again. To sustain us. So we can go on being like Cloudy Cliff. Kind of ordinary monks. Until the time's right for us to make total conversion. Not for us, for it to happen. And all of this of course is completely empty. Another great Buddhist teacher wrote a poem about this. Nothing rising above the water. Nor falling below

[60:11]

its orb. A single moon appears everywhere in all waters at once. Buddhas do not come and sentient beings do not go to them. But thanks to compassion and the arrival of energy such things are seen. Thus we speak of this wonder of appeal and response in intimate conversation. So

[61:16]

that wasn't so bad. Looks like you survived pretty well that trip. I was more scared than I needed to be. So Dogen says the essence of the correct transmission of the Buddha Dharma is this receiving refuge in the triple treasure. These are the first three Bodhisattva precepts. So simple,

[62:24]

so common, so usual for Buddhists but so essential for a true practice. This Zen teacher named Dogen as you may know something about his biography he was a very energetic person very smart very gifted very sincere he sat with incredible effort he studied with incredible effort he wrote the Shobogenzo can you imagine writing that and finishing it before you were 53? And he had this enormous impact

[63:32]

on the history of world thought and religion. And as he approached his death what practice did he do? He could do anything. What he did was in his own handwriting I think he wrote out on a piece of paper Buddha Dharma Sangha and he hung the piece of paper on a pillar in his sick room and in his illness whatever realm he was in he walked around that pillar he brought his whole life energy forward he stretched his whole life energy

[64:34]

towards Buddha Dharma and Sangha he walked around Buddha Dharma Sangha this is the essence this is the first three precepts of the Bodhisattva it is the first three precepts of all Buddhists it is the way to unite the entire world in peace and harmony question is will we purely wholeheartedly totally devotedly give our life to these treasures? May our intention equally penetrate

[65:37]

every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way shu-jo mu-hen se-gan do mo-no mu-jin se-gan dan ho-mo mu-ryo se-gan ga-ku bu-tsu-do mu-ryo se-gan jo beings are numberless I vow to save them negligence are inexhaustible I vow to end them

[66:37]

Dharma gates are boundless I vow to enter them Buddha's way is unsurpassable I vow to become

[66:55]

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