On Monday morning, I brought up a case called Ditsong Plants the Fields. Earth Treasury Plants the Fields. In the introduction to that story, it says something like, Scholars plow with a pen. Orators plow with a tongue. We patchwork monks lazily a white ox in an open field.

[01:07]

We don't look at the auspicious, rootless grasses. we Zen friends lazily watch a white ox in an open pasture. The white ox is a symbol of suchness. It's a symbol of the jewel mirror, wisdom.

[02:16]

It's about the universal and individual practices of being as such. And how do we watch this white ox? Lazily. which means inwardly we are not fanatic about it or obsessed about such things. But we watch it. We don't turn away from it. We don't touch it. or it's like a mass of fire. If we get excited about it, we fall into a pit. If we tense up and hesitate, we miss it and can't stop regretting that we missed it.

[03:38]

Bodhisattva whose name was Jizo, just like the Jizo that's referred to by the statue behind me. And she was a Zen in China at Jizo Monastery. And one day Four monks who were traveling together. Fa Yan, Dharma Eyes, Xusheng, King Mountain, Jin and Udo were traveling together and their way was blocked by rain and snow.

[05:09]

So they went to Jizo monastery and without greeting the abbot were warming themselves by the fire. And Earth Treasury came up to him and said, may I ask you elders about something? And Shushan, King Mountain said, if you have a question, go ahead and ask it. And earth treasury said, are the mountains, rivers, and great earth the same as you elders or different?

[06:13]

King Mountain said, different. Earth Treasury raised up two fingers and quickly said, identical, identical. And Earth Treasury said again, or he didn't say, he raised up two fingers again and left. After he left, Dharma eyes said to his friends, what did the abbot mean by that? And King Mountain said, he just did that arbitrarily. And Dharmahai said, he shouldn't be so

[07:34]

Of course. Insult him." And King Mong said, Does? Do elephant tusks exist in the mouth of a rat? When the snow cleared, the visitors decided to leave Earth's Thor Monastery. And Dharma I, Fa Yen, why don't you guys go ahead. I think there may be some good point to this abbot. I'd like to stay and check him out. So they left.

[08:55]

Oh, and he said, and if there's nothing much here, I'll catch up. But after they left, he stayed for quite a while. And later, at least one of them came back to visit again. the one named King Mountain. He came back and this time he went to meet the abbot and she said, where have you been? And she said, in the south. And the abbot said, how is the Buddha Dharma in the South? And King Mountain said, a lot of discussion and debate.

[09:58]

And Earth Treasury said, How does that compare with me here planting the fields? To eat. And King Mountain said, well, what about the world? What are you doing about it? And Earth Treasury said, what do you call it?

[11:15]

He could have said, And if he had, the story probably wouldn't be remembered very well. He could have said, how does that compare to me sitting here with all these monks in meditation on a daily basis? How does that compare to following the monastic schedule? But he didn't. He said, how about me planting the fields and making rice to eat? But I think the real question is, how does that compare planting the fields? And while planting the fields, consistently watching the white ox without being or inattentive, without touching it or turning away.

[12:25]

How does the discussion of the Buddhadharma compare to this? And the question was, well, how How does that relate to the world? And the question is, what is the world? What do you call the world? I don't remember if I with my sensual ear or some other way, but I think I read it. Once upon a time in California, some American people asked the teacher from Japan named Suzuki, why do we have seven-day sessions?

[13:30]

This is a story about a Japanese person American people. And he said, the reason we have seven-day sessions is because we say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. This is his version of everything that appears in consciousness is just an idea. Seven things that we know are nothing more than an idea, like seven. At some point in his studies with Earth Store, Earth Treasury, Dharma I went to the teacher and said, I'm going on pilgrimage.

[15:05]

And earth treasury said, what's the purpose of going on pilgrimage? And dharma, I don't know. And earth treasury said, not knowing is most intimate. There's another story, which is that Fa Yan came to . Dharma Eye came to Earth Treasury as he was about to depart from Earth Treasury Monastery.

[16:12]

And Earth Treasury Abbott said, the whole world, or the three worlds, are nothing but mind. How do you explain that? No, no. The three worlds are mind only. And then he pointed to a rock by the temple gate and said, is this rock or outside? And Dharma I said, it's inside. And Earth Treasury said, what a burden to carry this rock around on pilgrimage. And Dhammai couldn't respond other than saying, other than putting his pilgrim's pack on the ground by the teacher's feet,

[17:45]

and requesting to clarify suchness, the truth of our life, the way our life is. And so day and night he went to Earth Treasury and asked about the truth and explained it. And Earth Treasury always said, what you're saying is not Buddha Dharma. Finally, Dhamma I said, I had no words or ideas And Earth Treasury said, if you want to talk about Buddhadharma, everything you see embodies it.

[18:56]

And this opened. And he became Earth Treasury's successor. And he carried on Earth Treasury's way, and Earth Treasury carried on Gensha's way. Gensha carried on Shreya Fong's way, and so on. The family tradition now is continuing through Dharma eyes. So here's their family style, a story about it.

[20:05]

Now Dharamayi is the teacher position, and he gets invited by the governor of a province to become the abbot of a monastery. And so he's waiting in the tea room outside the monastery, and the monks have gathered around the teaching seat, but he doesn't come. So then finally somebody comes to him and said, gathered around the teaching seat, and it's empty. And Fa Yan said, well, they have a good teacher. Still, he finally came into the hall and started teaching. And a monk named Hua Chao came to see him. And Hua Chao said, what is Buddha?

[21:10]

And Dharma said, you are Hua Chao. And this opened the Dharma Eye of Hui Chao. And then people say this is the same as another example of Dharma Eye. In his monastery there was a director. And the director never asked to enter the room. Enter the room means enter the teacher's room and ask about the Dharma.

[22:25]

He never asked. So after some time, Dhammai said to the director, Director Tzu, why have you never asked to enter the room? And the director said, didn't you know, teacher, I had entry into the truth with Ching Li. And Dharma said, oh, would you tell me about that? And so he said, so then the director said, well, I was there. I asked Ching Lin, what is Buddha?

[23:27]

And Ching Lin said, the fire god comes seeking fire. They say the fire boy, because the fire god is in the form of a boy, a boy god. We have a fire god over in the Tenzo's office here, who's made a special trip from China. Fire god comes seeking fire. And he understood and entered the truth when he heard that. And Darmai said, I don't think you did understand. The director restrained his anger

[24:36]

and left the monastery. As he was traveling along the road, the thought arose in his mind, maybe I'm being a little hasty. Perhaps Bai Yan has something to teach me. So he went, oh, and after he left, Fa Yan said to Dharma, I said to his friends, if the director comes back, we can have a salvation party. If he doesn't, he's lost. But he did come back. And he came to see the teacher, and he said, could we try that again?

[25:40]

And Fa Yan said, okay, ask me. And the director said, what is Buddha? And Fa Yan said, fire god comes seeking fire. And the director said, dharma. Everything that you see embodies the Buddhadharma. We don't turn away, we don't ignore it, we don't touch it, we don't try to control it.

[26:50]

We don't try to control what we see, we don't try to control the Buddhadharma. We don't ignore what we see. We don't ignore the Buddha Dharma. We watch it in an open field without getting excited or hesitating. Everything that appears, we meet without hesitation and without getting fanatic about it. Everything that appears embodies the Buddha Dharma, but let's not be fanatics. Also, let's not pout. And also, don't look at the rootless, auspicious grass, which is a symbol for all the wonderful things that can happen in this life.

[27:59]

all the special blissful states. Watch the white cow with this upright mind. I said watch, but I didn't mean like a watch like I'm telling you to do that. I mean watch, like, would you wish to watch in this way? The suchness which is always right before us, the teaching of suchness which has been intimately communicated by Buddhas and ancestors, and now has been given to us to take care of,

[29:17]

Are we the ones to take care of it? Or are they going to take care of it someplace else? We have the opportunity to take care of which everything embodies. Just before we entered the room it started raining again. When we come in from outdoors our bodies and minds are wet and our feet in particular may have a lot of dirt on it.

[30:35]

So we come into the entryway shoes, and there's a nice mess in the entryway for us to take care of. That mess in the entryway embodies the Buddha Dharma. Can we take care of it, ignoring it, without turning away from it, and without becoming fanatic about it? Some of you may have noticed me doing some extra sweeping. When I'm sweeping, I'm questioning myself. Are you trying to control the entryway? Are you trying to control the other sweepers? And the answer is, I don't know. How about you?

[31:38]

Are you turning away? Are you touching? Are you getting excited? Are you hesitating? I don't know. Are you wholeheartedly showing yourself to your friends? I don't know. Someone in this room, who is me, said to me recently, you never do what I tell you to do.

[34:20]

Was that a compliment or a criticism? I guess you know the answer to that question. May our intention...

[34:49]

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