the teaching of suchness, intimately transmitted, Buddhas and ancestors. Now we have it. And we have been considering over and over, wondering how to take care of this intimate transmission of the teaching of suchness. For the last few days I've been talking about the statement that even for a moment if the Buddha mudra

[01:01]

is expressed in our three actions. By sitting upright in the samadhi, the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha mudra. Literally in the original text it says, express in the three karmas One translation says, express with our whole body and mind the Buddha mudra by sitting upright in the midst of this self-receiving and employing samadhi, this precious mirror samadhi. that translating it as whole body and mind could be seen as appropriate for when we're actually in the sitting posture.

[02:22]

We're literally sitting upright in this samadhi. And then we express the Buddha Mudra with our whole body and mind. And the whole body and mind could include the actions of posture, speech, and thought. these three kinds of karma appear in consciousness. They appear at dawn. And there can be conscious awareness of these three types of action.

[03:28]

But later in the song it says, it is bright just at midnight, it doesn't appear at dawn. It is the the teaching of suchness, the intimate transmission, the intimate communication is bright at midnight. It doesn't appear at dawn. It doesn't appear in consciousness. It's not an appearance. It's bright in midnight. It's bright in a consciousness not in a consciousness, in a cognition, in a mind, the Buddha mind cognition. There it is bright, but that mind is like midnight from the point of view of consciousness. This intimate communication is not an appearance.

[04:38]

And this intimate communication which is not appearance has been transmitted to us and we are encouraged to take care of it. But how do we take care of midnight? I would suggest we take care of midnight by taking care of dawn. By taking care of our three actions which do appear. And we use these actions as opportunities to express the Buddha mind seal which is bright at midnight. by taking care of these actions in consciousness, we simultaneously have the opportunity to, in each action that we're caring for, to indicate, to express

[06:10]

to show what is not an appearance, to show the Buddha mind seal in every action. And there is a question in my mind, is it possible to understand that it's not just in the sitting posture, that we can use the three actions to indicate, to show, to express the Buddha Mind Seal? I guess I would go with yes. We can be in other postures besides sitting. And the three actions in other postures also are opportunities to express the Buddha Mind Seal. This is using the apparent to indicate what is not an appearance, the essence of mind.

[07:26]

A classical story is about an intimate relationship between a Chinese monk named Tianhuang Daowu and his student, who we call Lungtan Chongxin, Dragon Pond. When Chong Shing, before Chong Shing received his name, Chong Shing, Chong Shing, before he received his monk's name, he was a member of a family of rice sellers, cake sellers. And he sold cakes all around his home.

[08:39]

But he also went to visit the monk, Tianhuang Dawu, who was living outside of Tianhuang Monastery. And he would go to visit Dawu every day and bring him ten cakes. And after he gave Da Wu ten cakes, Da Wu would give him one cake back and say, this cake is for your descendants. After this occurred several times, the young Chongqing, who is not yet living in the monastery, still living at home, said to Da Wu, I sell these cakes all over the place. WHY DO YOU GIVE ME ONE BACK? I HAVE THOUSANDS OF THESE CAKES.

[09:43]

WHY DO YOU GIVE ME ONE BACK FOR MY DESCENDANTS?" AND DAWU SAID, IF YOU HAVE THOUSANDS OF CAKES, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM OF ME GIVING YOU ONE MORE? AND THE YOUNG MAN had some insight and he asked his family if he could go and practice with Da Wu. And he went and practiced with Da Wu and became Da Wu's attendant. And apparently, although I didn't see it in the record, apparently Da Wu said to him that he would teach him the essence of mind, or we might say the Buddha mind seal. After some time of living together, Da Wu said, I'm now going to give you a name, and the name I give you is Respect and Faith.

[10:58]

because you have respected my teaching and received it in faith. So your name will be Chongxin." After maybe three years, Chongxin, with some sense of frustration, said to the teacher Da Wu, I've been here now for quite a while. You told me you would teach me the essence of mind, but you haven't taught me anything at all." And Da Wu said, I have never been doing anything but indicating the essence of mind. I've never been doing anything but, this is my elaboration, I've never been doing anything but expressing the Buddha mind seal to you.

[12:07]

And Chongqing said, well, how? And Dao Wu said, when you brought me tea, did I not receive it and drink it? When you brought me food, did I not receive it and eat it? When you prostrated yourself to me, did I not bow my head and receive the prostration? Chong Sheng had some insight. And after a while he said, how can I take care of this?

[13:08]

This intimate transmission. And Da Wu said, If you look at it, you'll miss it. Be present with it and you'll realize it. and a deeper insight came. And then, again, how do I take care of this? Just take care of your daily life.

[14:13]

Now here we practice in a way like that. especially during Sashin, it's clear. We sit and people bring us food and drink. They offer it to us and we receive it. They bow to us, we bow back. This is our daily life. When they offer it to us, are they expressing the Buddha mind seal? When we receive it, are we expressing the Buddha mind seal? I'm often touched by how deeply touched people are

[15:24]

by the practice of serving the meals to the sangha. They often find it a very intense and moving experience. And also they tell me that when they're serving, they're often thinking of a lot of things which are not directly serving food. They're perhaps judging themselves they're serving food, and in addition to serving food, they're judging their skill of serving. Also, in addition to serving food, they might be judging other servers' skill. And also, while serving food, they might be judging the way the people are receiving the food and how much they're asking for. All this goes on in consciousness while we're serving the food and similarly receiving the food, one might have judgments and ideas about how we're receiving it and how it's being given.

[16:43]

Meantime, this interaction is an opportunity to show the Buddha mind mudra. These interactions are the ones that Da Wu used with Chongqing. Cleaning the temple is to do these daily acts, to perform these daily acts for the sake of caring for this teaching of suchness. Similarly, when we're sitting at our seats, the sitting could be seen as, again, our postural and mental and verbal way of celebrating this Buddha mind.

[18:02]

serving, receiving food as an opportunity to celebrate the Buddha Mudra. And any thinking about it or judgment about it is welcome and let go of. And then more comes. We receive and let go. In this way, the action of serving and receiving or the action of sitting as a celebration and an expression that's appearing in consciousness is cleaned of any self-confusion. In suchness, all these actions are already clean.

[19:46]

They're already free of any confusion. by being compassionate to any self-confusion, self-pride, self-view, or self-affection that's swirling around these actions of body, speech, and mind, we realize what has been transmitted by remembering it, practicing it, and transmitting it.

[20:48]

Intimately, carefully, generously, patiently, performing, celebrating the apparent actions of consciousness, we are simultaneously serving and celebrating the intimate transmission which is bright right now at midnight. This is a way to take care of the teaching of suchness. It's not within reach of feeling or discrimination. And yet we can serve it.

[22:32]

We can be servants to a wisdom which is not within reach of consciousness. And caring for it, it is realized.

[22:48]

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