I'd like tonight, so we have this story, and this story in particular, I've asked you to try to find the place and the time before this story happened. And then, and then enter the time when the story happens, and then tell us how it's happening. Right? That's what I've been asking you to work on. And so that's what we've been working on, trying to actually enter the time of this story. And tonight, I'd like to help us do that. I'd like to... enact the story here to work on that.

[01:02]

So I wondered if these strong people here in the front could take this table out of the room. It's heavy, but just to make sure you don't drop it on anybody, Can you handle it really well, two of you or three of you? You definitely could. Okay. So to act this out, we need four people. Four people plus all of us. So who knows the part of Shreya Fong?

[02:16]

Anybody know? Can anybody play the part of Shreya Fong? Well, when somebody can play the part of Shreya Fong, please come up here. Got a Shre Pong? Here's Shre Pong, one of the great Zen masters of all time. The teacher of Yunmun, right? Shre Pong's Yunmun's master. And Yunmun's another, perhaps one of the great masters. So we have here Shre Pong the cook. Fei Feng traveled around China being cooks at various great monasteries. He was kind of really a good cook and also a very intense meditator. They say he wore out nine sitting cushions. In those days, those people really saved him as long as they could. A great Dengshan, Shrephong's teacher.

[03:20]

Huh? A Deshan. You need a Deshan. Shrephong's teacher. The master of Shrephong. Who can play that part? Okay, sit up here. Why don't you come up here and memorize it while I'm looking for the other people. I don't want you to hold the book. We can go over this until you can do it without holding the book. Okay, now we need A yunto. Mr. Confident. Anybody play that part? Okay, Patty. Patty Yonto, come up here, please. And we need A narrator. You can be the narrator?

[04:24]

Okay. All right. So, you can sit here. Okay. So I'd like this to be enacted. Let me know when you're ready. When you feel like you know your part enough, you can try it once, and then if you don't get it, we'll do it again until it gets smooth. Huh? You don't need an attendant. The hen doesn't say anything. You can just... Huh? I have a bowl. What, Karen? Yeah, you have a bowl? Okay. Actually, in that little closet right there, there's probably some bowls.

[05:24]

A little spoon. Anybody have a big wooden spoon on you? Okay. Can you move that cushion back a little bit? Second now. Narrator, ready? Okay. So in this situation here, actually, like, I would say that what the situation is, instead of, is that, you know, the head cook is, like, let's say somewhere in her area, right? And Deshan, he's going to come out of the teaching hall and start going towards the kitchen. And then Tenzo will run into it.

[06:26]

So we need the narrator to read the point, the introduction. Okay? When Xu Fang was at Deshan working as a rice cook, one day a meal was late. Deshan came to the teaching hall holding his bowl. Straight bomb said, old man, the bell hasn't sounded yet. The drum hasn't drummed yet. What are you, where are you going with your bowl? Yes, Sean. Immediately returned. Straight bomb reported this to Yang Tao. Yang Tao said. Just a second. Okay, yeah. Should I report? Yeah. So this part doesn't say this, okay? We don't know what Yantou said to Deshan. We don't know what Shui Feng said to Yantou. So this is what Linda's going to say what happened, okay?

[07:29]

So I was cooking breakfast. And it was late. And the umpang didn't go. The drum had started. Guess what I saw? Deshawn comes over to the Zendo through Cloud Hall with his bowl. Could you believe it? So I said, I said, old man, the bell hasn't sounded yet, the drum hasn't drummed yet. Where are you going with your bowl? And he turned around and went back to his room. Even one, oh great, Deshawn, You don't agree with me.

[08:46]

It's up to you, up to you. The next day, when Deshan went up to the Hall of the Steep, It was not the same as usual.

[09:47]

Even Dershan, under Dan's last words, said nothing to me now. I didn't know that. This is one way to tell the story, is the way they just told it.

[11:05]

And so now again, stay in the story, okay? Stay in the story. Find the story now. And in your own, you know, in your own time, in time now, in time now, in your own heart, what is Darshan doing? What's the point here for him to go with his bull?

[12:07]

What do you think's happening there? What's happening there at that time? And I don't say anything, everybody just like, each person like, what is it, what is happening there for this, the meal's late and the teacher of the temp, of the monastery, gets his bowl and goes. What's happening there? You don't have to say anything, just check it out for yourself. What do you say? What do you think? What's the helpful intention in this action? Or is it not helpful? You guys had some problem here.

[13:09]

And I'm going to go through the story and I'm going to keep asking you at each phase to think about what's going on for you. What do you think is going on in each phase? And I want to see what answer you get when I ask the questions. So the old master, who is probably over 80 now, is coming with his bowl. And Shui Fung, the cook, meets him and says, old man, the bell hasn't rung, the drum hasn't been struck. What are you doing here with your bowl? What's happening with him? What's happening with Shui Fung? What's happening there? And how does Dushan feel with what you think, with what you imagine, with what you imagine Trey Fung's doing?

[14:49]

The cook's asking him a question. The student cook is asking him a question. How does the teacher feel about this? What's happening there? What's the story? No, I want to go through the whole thing. Do you have a question about what I'm doing? I want to go through the whole thing and I'd like you to try to remember and see if you have a response and remember it. I want you to try to remember the whole story, your story of this whole thing. What's actually going on in these interactions? What do you imagine happening in these interactions? How do you see this story? For yourself, okay?

[15:52]

I want everybody to keep track of what they think the story is here. I'm just making the bones. You fill it in. You fill in the heart. You fill in the intentions. as best you can at this time. I don't want to hear it. I want everybody to have their own story. Meals late, teacher comes with a bowl, head cook sees him and says, old man, what are you doing here with the bowl? What do you see happening in their hearts, in their minds? How does it feel between them at that time? What's going on? And then, right after this very whatever-happens moment, we don't know how long, but not very long, he says immediately, in that short response that the teacher has to whatever Shui Fong said, he turns around and goes back to his room.

[17:25]

How does the teacher feel walking back to the room? How does Shui Fong feel seeing him go back? Sometime later, probably the same day, you can tell the story whatever way you want to, Shui Fung tells his Dharma brother, Yantou, he tells him the story. What does he tell him? Yantou, we know what Yantou says. He said, even old Dongshan, so great, Doesn't yet know the last word. The last word. Doesn't know it. That's what he said. What's the feeling there?

[18:26]

Somehow, somehow, Dung Shan hears what Yan To said. How did he hear? Who told him? When he heard it, how did he feel? What did he think? How's the story going for the people so far? And we hear that he sends his attendant. What's his intention in sending the attendant? What's the feeling? Sending his attendant to get Yantou to come to him. What's up there? What's he feeling? Is he afraid of his disciple? Is he angry at his disciple? Is he delighted with his disciple?

[20:05]

Is he curious about his disciple? What's happening there? What does he want to find out? What does he want to do? What do you think is the purpose of sending the attendant to get the disciple to come? Yantou comes. Deshan says, you don't agree? And Yantou silently explains his meaning. And Deshan stops at the drop. What happened there? The next day when the teacher went to the hall, it wasn't the same.

[21:35]

We hear it wasn't the same. Something was different about the old master. What was the difference? What do you feel? What do you intuit? What do you sense? What do you think? What do you see was the difference? Yantou is present, comes up in front, claps his hands and laughs and says, happily, the old guy understands the last word. Hereafter, no one in the world will be able to have any effect on him.

[22:43]

What's in Young Toa's heart when he says that? How does Dushan feel? How does Trefon feel? How do you feel? Now, I could imagine that maybe the story that you just made up in your mind is not that clear to you. but maybe it is. Do we have any paper in this room? Do we have a lot of paper in this room? In one of the dressers or drawers? No? Could you go get a lot of paper? I'd like to ask you to write down. Write this down. Pens and pencils do we have in drawers there? Here's some paper.

[24:00]

It can be in your notebook, and I want to hand it in. I'm going to go through the story with you again, and just note, make sure you understand how many questions there are, how many points I want you to envision the story. I'd just like you to, at this point, understand and be clear that everybody be able to take notes about all the different places you need to sort of imagine what happened. Maybe it's clear to you already. Thanks. I'm sure you'll get one. Thank you. I think I can remember. Oh, you've already done that?

[25:06]

No, I think they can remember my question. I can remember your question. Yeah. So you may not need this paper right now, but here's all my questions. Number one is first sentence. So first, there's a question for each sentence, right? When Shreipong was at Deshan working as a rice cook, one day the meal was late. Okay, what's happening? What's the situation? The meal's late. You have a Zen master head cook. The meal's late. What's happening? What's happening? Now, Darshan came, it says, to the teaching hall holding his bowl, but I think you can also, another version is he came out of the teaching bowl, out of the teaching hall, holding his bowl.

[26:12]

Okay? What was going on, what's happening then for Darshan? What's his motivation? What's his motivation? He's coming with his bowl now. He hasn't heard the bell or drum, apparently. There's been no signal to come for the food. He's coming anyway with his bowl. What's going on there? Then Sreipan meets him and says, old man, old fellow, the bell hasn't rung yet. The drum hasn't been sounded. Where are you going with your bowl? What's happening there for those two people? What's happening in that meeting? Deshan immediately returned to his room.

[27:19]

How was that? How was it for Deshan to immediately return? How did Shravan feel? What did he think when that happened? And how does that lead him to report this to Yantou? What's he reporting? He's reporting probably what we have written here, but he's probably reporting something else, too, another feeling about the situation. Is he worried about the teacher? Is he happy about the teacher? Is he disgusted with the teacher? What's the report about, really? What's the import, do you imagine? And then Yanto says, even Dazhan so great, he doesn't understand the last word. What does Yanto mean? Does Yanto understand the last word? What's happening there between Yanto and Shrevan at that moment?

[28:23]

How do you imagine Darshan hearing about this? How does he feel when he hears about this? And what is his intention when he sends his attendant to get his student, Yantou, to come? What's he intending there? When yanto arrives, Dasan says, you don't agree with me? What's happening? How does he feel when he asks him that question? And how does yanto feel being asked? Are you ready?

[30:04]

Now Yanto silently explains, indicates his meaning. What happened? What did he do? What did he explain? How was that? What happened between them at that moment, or in those moments? Did something get settled between them about this coming with the bowl business? And what does it mean that Deshaun stopped? Was he satisfied? Did he give up? Was he transformed? Was he delighted?

[31:08]

What happened? What's the story? The next day, when Darshan went into the hall to speak, it was not the same as usual. What happened? What happened? And how come it was unusual? What was the way it usually was? Whatever happened, the line is that Yuntou clapped his hands, laughed and said, happily, the old guy understands the last word. Hereafter, no one in the world will be able to have any effect on him. What do you mean? How did Dushan feel? How did he feel? How did Shreifeng feel?

[32:09]

How did all the monks feel? How do you feel? So this is like, what do you call it? This is like 800 years before Shakespeare. These are the lines. There's a little bit of stage directions. You're the director. What's your understanding of Zen? You direct this play. You direct the actors. You tell them or you and you are the director and you are the actor, you interpret this story. What is, what are you trying to, what do you, what will you convey as you play this story out? What will this drama be? This, now this is a big assignment. Uh, but I'd read, I would, you know, I asked you now between now and next week to go through these and, uh, you just went through it once and you had some ideas, I don't know if you can remember, go through again, and when you start getting a picture, write it down, write down the story.

[33:16]

Okay? Now, that could be enough and we could just call the class off now, but I'd like you just to sort of, just to be quiet for a little while, see how you feel, and then I have some more questions for you after you just be quiet for a while and meditate on this. So as you may know, in the development of Zen in China, a shift in the way of teaching gradually developed in that the interactions, the sayings and doings of the Zen monks became the teaching, became more important than the Buddhist scriptures.

[34:55]

So this is a story which is a scripture. It's a scripture which has a dramatic storyline. It's a story supposedly of a historical event. But people study these historical events after they happen, so they have to be reenacted in order for the meaning to come across. It can't be seen as just like, this is all the documentation we've got at this point. You can get more documentation, but still you have to reenact this thing with your body and mind. So there's two kinds of things I want to talk about in the rest of the night.

[36:02]

One is I want to know how you feel about some things. I'm going to ask you how you feel about some things. And also, depending on your answer to my questions, I will or will not give you more material to answer. to work with as you make your story. So my first question is, how do you feel about this assignment? Is it too hard for you? Do you feel like you could do work on this this week? You do? So I realize this is quite a job, but is it reasonable for me to ask you to do work on this? Is that okay? Now, my other question is... Another thing I would like to ask you to do is... I don't want you to have to say that your story is true, like you know that it's true.

[37:23]

You don't have to have that. But I would like you to have some feeling like it really, that it does have some, it has something to do with how you really do feel. You know, that you have some experience of this. Not just making it up, but that you actually feel something about what you're saying happened. Okay? So in some sense there's some vulnerability or commitment there. It's not just like a joke. You really, I'd like you to say what you really think, you know, for your spiritual life, what you think happened there. That's what I want from you in each one of these questions. And it can really be different for each one of you. I don't think there's a right answer in the sense that it's objective. I think it's a right answer for you. And I'd like you to feel that way when you come up with the answer to each one of these questions. Do you have a feeling for that?

[38:26]

Okay, now the next question is, do you want any more material? No? No. Okay, yes? No, I just want to know if you want any more guidance to do this. Yes? How old was the Tenzo? Over 40. Over 40. Well, one story is he's over 40 when he met Deshaun. Anyway, he's pretty mature by the time he met Deshaun. Deshaun was pretty old by the time they met. I mentioned last week that there was a little bit of a problem in these dating things because... According to some dates I have, Shui Fung was, when Shui Fung was born, Deshan was already, that works I guess, yeah, Shui Fung was already 60.

[39:44]

So if according to some stories, Shui Fung was over 40 by the time he met Deshan, then Deshan would be 100. But in any case, it's either that Shui Fung is about 40, over 40, and Deshan's 80, or Shraipong's over 40 and Darshan's 100. Or Shraipong's younger than 40 and Darshan's 80. Anyway, there's quite a big difference in their age that seems fairly reliable. And he wasn't just a kid because he was a tenzo. They wouldn't have the tenzo. So I'm not sure about the dates. There's some conflict in the dates I have here. Because some stories say he was 40. But if I look at the dates, Darshan would have died before he was 40. So... I don't know exactly how old he was. Yes?

[40:46]

He couldn't have been, according to almost any dates that you look at, he could never have been with Darshan for very long. But he'd been other places before. He'd been at other Zen teachers before. He, like I say, he was a traveling cook, and when he went to monastery, he was a head cook at a number of monasteries. There's cooking stories about him with a number of Zen teachers. And he'd been at other places, some of the other places first. Yes? Christina? What do you think of this extra or additional material that he did first? Well, you can refer to, I think, what you can refer to as Case 50, because Case 50 is, in some sense, happened after this case, but it's kind of a reflection of this case, okay? That might give you a feeling for the context. And Case 22 tells you more about the relationship between Yun To and Shui Feng. I already told you about that. That gives you some background on these people and also before and after the story, okay?

[41:59]

You already have that. We all mentioned that. Case 22 and Case 50 also will help you understand this case, I think, give you a feeling for these people. But what I was considering talking about was that a couple other stories are brought up, and also there's the verse, which give you a little bit more material. I don't know. I'm not sure. And we told a story last week about how after this happened, After Shreipong and Yantou were with Deshan, and Deshan died, because you know if you read the commentary that after... Actually, you maybe can add that to the story too, that after he clapped, you know, after Yantou clapped, he said...

[43:15]

A year after, no one in the world will be able to affect him. Okay? Then he says, but even so, he still has only three years. Okay? That's the full story. That he predicted his teacher would die in three years, and he did die in three years. The student said, even so, he's going to die in three years, and he did. And then Shui Fung and Yun To traveled together for a while, and we told that story last week about how the interaction between them precipitated Shui Fung's great enlightenment. So you could expand the story to include that next line if you want to, which similarly sounds, in one sense, kind of rough, doesn't it, to predict your teacher's death in front of everybody like that, accurately? And then you teach her to go ahead and do what you said. I highly recommend that practice.

[44:24]

Stuart, did you? Yes. You asked whether people wanted to hear more from you about additional information about this case. And I wanted to put in a word for you guys. How many people would have enough now and don't want any more input? Okay, so how about you people leaving and going, maybe go someplace else like Green Gulch and start working on your homework. How's that? How long? Well, until 9 o'clock. Or, you know, all night if you want to. Is that all right? Go right to work on it. Maybe have some, like I think that's too easy. If you have enough, that's enough, and then... Just go someplace and go to the library or whatever and you can start working on it. Yeah, fine. That might be wrong, but that's just how I feel.

[45:32]

She said, what if you feel like you're done with the story and you don't like it anymore? And I say, that's fine. And would you please do the assignment anyway? Yeah. And that still would be good, I think, for everybody. Anything else at this time? Okay, well, there's a number of things that I think... This is a big play, right? So there's some littler plays that might help you a little bit. One of them is in the commentary, and that is at case 23 of this book. Case 23 of this book is called Lupu Faces the Wall. So there was a Zen master named Lupu, and we don't know what he did when he was alone, but whenever he saw a monk coming,

[46:48]

he would immediately turn and face the wall. Now, when we started this case, we didn't know if that was literal or not. In other words, did he in his heart turn and face the wall? Or did he physically turn and face the wall when the monk came? I guess I think he literally did it. And he became, of course, famous for this, for this teaching technique. And he enlightened several people by this method. Yeah, like you come in the room like this, I see you coming and I turn and face the wall and that's it. Okay? That's a literal interpretation. The other interpretation would be When somebody comes to see me, in my heart, I turn and face the wall.

[47:53]

And of course, if you turn and face the wall but didn't do it in his heart, it wouldn't count, I don't think. The thing about facing the wall means this Zen practice of making your mind like a wall. That you receive a guest in the most respectful way to receive a guest. And that is, let them be what they are. Which is pretty difficult, but keep your mind right at the level of what's happening without messing around with it. That's what it means to face the wall. Okay, now, but still, all Zen masters do that, right? So why would they say, Lu Pu faced the wall? He must have actually done it. That's why everybody was talking about it all over China. Even the great master Nanchuan heard about this.

[48:58]

When Nanchuan heard about this, he said, well, in this commentary he said, I usually tell them to attain realization before the empty eon. That's what Nanchuan, in other words, when a monk comes to see Nanchuan, He says, I usually tell them to attain realization before the empty eon. That's been my instruction to you in this koan. I've been telling you, understand this koan before the empty eon. In other words, understand this koan before it happens. The empty eons are before time starts. That's where to understand the story. So that was the way Nanchuan would say that to the monks when they came. Attain realization before the beginning of time, before your mind arises, attain realization.

[50:02]

That's what he would say to the monk. Lupu faced the wall. To comprehend before Buddha appeared in the world, that's what Nanchuan would say. Attain realization before the empty aeon Comprehend before Buddha appeared in the world. Comprehend the story before it happened. Comprehend Zen before there were any Zen teachers. That's the way Nanchuan taught. Okay? And then, do you have case 23? Then he says, then he says, Still, I haven't found one or a half. In other words, He'd been telling people to do this, right? Nanchuan's been saying, attain realization before the empty eon. Comprehend before Buddha appeared in the world. Understand Zen before there was any Zen teaching, okay?

[51:03]

But still, even though I've been telling everybody that, I haven't found one or even a half of a person who will do this. He says, Luzhu, the way he does it, that way, will go on till the end of the year of the ass. And there's no year of the ass. Does that mean forever? It means, well, forever or for nowhere or for no time. Never, maybe never rather than forever. So, in other words, I give him this instruction, he gives him even a harder instruction, he's never going to be successful. This is brought up here by the commentator, and the commentator says, if you can know nanchuan, then you can understand, who can you understand? Yantou. And even, and even go arm in arm with tiantong.

[52:09]

Okay? So, you see, all these you know, all these things are pointing in the same direction, right? I'm telling you where to look for the story. Nantuan's telling you where to look for the story. Lupu is telling you where to look for the story. And also, if you can know where these people are pointing, you'll also understand Yanto. And also, you'll understand Kientong, who writes this verse. Okay? So you've got to get yourself back to this place before Buddhas appeared, before there was Zen, before the world arose, where Lu Pu is turning and facing the wall, and that's where you meet Lu Pu, Yantou, and all of them. And also where you can understand this verse.

[53:10]

And the nice thing about the commentary in this verse is Okay, here's the verse, right? You can read the verse. The last word, understand? No? The last word, understand? No? Dushan, the father, and his sons are exceedingly indistinct. It's hard to tell who's the father and son in this story, right? Who's the student, who's the teacher? It's debatable. They're debating it. Don't get any ideas, though. In this assembly, and then Tien Tung Ru Jing says, in this assembly there also is a traveler from south of the river, Hunan. Don't sing of the partridges in front of people. And then the commentator says that Tien Tung got this, made this poem up partly as an allusion to an earlier poem

[54:21]

where the poem goes, the last two lines of the poem are, in the audience there's also a guest from Hunan. There's also the guest from south of the river. Don't sing the partridge's song in the spring breeze. Okay? And the commentary says, Tiantong uses these last two lines. And then it says, it's not necessary to reiterate the underlying meaning. It's not necessary to tell you what the underlying meaning of that is. Okay? You're not going to be told about this because it's not necessary. You've been commentating through all these books, giving this commentary all the way through the book up until this point, but now it's not necessary. Right when you need it, it's not necessary. The reason why you don't need it is because you don't need it, because you're going to do the commentary. You're going to explain the meaning of this partridge. Don't sing the partridge song in public.

[55:22]

You don't need anybody to reiterate the meaning of there's a guest from south of the river. You don't need to. You don't need that. How come you don't need that? Because you got it. That's why. Now, that's some more material. If you want to, you can use the story of Lu Pu and Nan Chuan's comment as a way to focus in. You might be able to get a little help from trying to understand what Lu Pu and Nan Chuan are up to. Oh, Lu Zu, sorry. Lu Zu. Lu Zu, Lu Zu. Lu Zu, Lu Zu. Yeah, lupu doesn't, no, no, I mean luzu, case 23. Luzu, yeah, luzu, not lupu. Lupu is a different guy.

[56:28]

Got lupus other places. Okay. Okay. So that's one big, that's another thing which might help you. Which one? Well, let's see. 36, is it? And 3? 26, 36, and 3? It's in 3, right? Okay. It's in several places. Number three? Yeah, it first appears in case three.

[57:32]

In the subtle round mouth of the pivot, the spiritual work turns. It also appears in 26, 29, 36. One of them, the repeated theme. The pivot and also the pearl rolling on itself. How are you doing? This is optional. You don't have to, but that story might help you. The story, Case 23, might help you. The commentator is saying, if you can understand not what non-Tuan is up to, that might help you understand Yon-Koh. and in the verse. And also the commentator would say, if you understand that, then you don't need me to explain what the verse is about in this case. You can do it for yourself. And so I also suggest to you that when you do this, that if you do this, that when you do this, that you sit in meditation posture while you're doing it.

[59:03]

Like sit upright and try to get, you know, don't lean over your work, bend over, but actually sit in meditation when you do this. And then just kind of try to stay in your zazen posture as you go through this. And between each one, return to your sitting practice and go back to it, back and forth. So you're coming from just being present and then look at the question and then be present and come with the answer, back and forth like that. Okay? Yes? Do you have any... preference that it not be typed or somehow done on a computer? Would you rather it be handwritten or ? It's OK. If you can sit, I think you can sit up right at the computer. I think it's all right. Do you want to know who wrote it?

[60:11]

I'd like that, yeah. But if you'd rather have it be anonymous, that's OK, too. Well, he became his successor. Yeah. So, in a sense, he replaced him. Yes? And Yantou? Out of saying all this, the question is, why did Ganto become his successor, Nishan's successor? I'll think about that.

[61:14]

Anybody else have any comments? Yes? My understanding is Yanto did become a successor and also had students. In fact, it goes on these two generations after Yanto. Your understanding is he was a disciple of Deshan? Yeah, okay. So Shreya Fong had many disciples. I mean, Deshan had many disciples, many successors. Yeah. So like Master Ma had 139 successors. That's the world's record. At the same moment you mean? No. They each had their individual moment. In this story, there's no historical recognition that an enlightenment experience, that enlightenment was realized in this story.

[62:35]

They're not saying that. There's a story that occurred later where Shrevan was talking to Deshan and experienced a major awakening. But not in this story. Not in this story. And he made a famous statement at that time. It was like the bottom of the bucket dropped out, Shui Fung said. So that was a major awakening for him. And that's a story he relates to. Then he tells Yan To that in the story I told you last week. And Yan To said, keep that to yourself. Don't talk to people about that. but he became Darshan's successor. But even though he became Darshan's successor, he wasn't yet finished with his studies, which shows you something about the history of Zen, that sometimes people become somebody's successor but still aren't finished.

[63:38]

So there's different stories. Sometimes the successorship means that they're finished, sometimes it doesn't. There's different scenarios, different possibilities in the taking care of the Dharma, Yes. Right, right. So, in case 50... Case 50 is a story of, my understanding is Case 50 is a story of Shre Phuong after he, after he, after Doshan's dead, after he and Yantou have their important meeting, okay, and Yantou's still alive, Shre Phuong's still alive, now they're both teachers on their own, okay.

[64:51]

Shre Phuong's had his big awakening, he has his wonderful students, Okay? By the way, you might also check out case 24. Is it case 24? While you're at it? Yeah, case 24 shows you again, this is Shui Fung teaching Yuen Mun and so on. So Shui Fung is teaching in case 24. He and Yantou are interacting in case 22. So 22, 24, 50, and 55, 23. So anyway, who was I talking to? What was the question? What was the comment? Oh, yeah, yeah.

[65:58]

So, even though he were born in the same lineage, in other words, we're born, we're both born of Dushan, and also, when, at the time of their awakening, of Sepo's awakening, of Shreepong's awakening, they were, like, very close at that moment. Okay? You know what I mean? Okay? Okay? When Yantou was bearing down on Shui Fung, and Shui Fung had his great awakening, at that moment, they were really in the same lineage. They had the same teacher, and now Shui Fung was greatly awakened. At that moment, they must have been equal. They were in the same lineage. But then as they started teaching, they separated, he said. They're forming different lineages. In other words, he doesn't agree with the way Shui Fung handled that situation. So that can happen.

[67:02]

He can be born in the same lineage, and some say veer off and make different lineages. That's part of the story. And then he gives his interpretation of the last word. May I also ask a question about punctuation? He says that the last word he does Yes? . Yes? . Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's important, isn't it? And to tell you the truth, I can't tell from the Chinese where the punctuation mark should be. But I'd be willing to look at it if I have time. Pam? . It's not really a case. It's a commentary. It's in the commentary. It's in the Blue Cliff Record. I believe case 22.

[68:04]

What enlightened him? Yeah, he was talking to Yantou. Well, see, they were snowed in, you know. They were traveling together and they were going over a mountain range and they got snowed in. They were in an inn for several days. And Yantou was sleeping most of the time and Shui Fong was meditating all the time. And occasionally Yantou would wake up and say, you know, knock it off, you're uptight. Relax, take a nap. And Shui Fung said, you know, this is after they finished their studies, you know, and he's had an enlightenment experience. They said, my heart's still not at peace. You know. So, and then Yantou presses him some more and says, you know, knock it off, let go, you know. And he said, no, my heart, I'm really, you know, I'm still aching in a way, even though I've had some understanding, I'm still hurting. I said, well, okay. Let's go through what you understand so far. I'll check you out." So he goes through, you know, and Deshan, I mean, Shreya Pong tells him his various understandings.

[69:22]

And basically, Yantou says, you know, just forget that, forget that, forget that. You know, don't tell anybody about that. You know, don't brag about that. Just drop all that, all your great understandings. Okay? And then finally Yantou said, haven't you heard that the family jewels are not brought in through the front gate. And then Shui Fong wakes up. And then he's all set. That's the story. Slightly abbreviated. Are your ears plugged? No. Oh, OK. How is this book laid out? I've never heard the explanation of that. and then there's the actual case itself, and then there's all the commentary that follows it. You mean what's the format of all the different cases? Yeah. Oh, it works. It looks like the way it works is that actually from Indian times and also in China,

[70:30]

The Indian way of understanding is you take some classical thing and you write a commentary. And in China, the traditional way of working with material is you take some particular teaching and you write a verse. Teaching, verse, teaching, verse. That was a Chinese literary style. So what Zen teachers did What early people did was they'd take a teaching from the Buddha or a teaching from a Buddhist teacher and then they'd write a verse and a commentary, or a commentary, right? As Zen developed, instead of taking scriptures, which they sometimes do, some of these, some Zen koans are scriptures, and then they write a verse from the scripture. So they have a scripture or interaction, an activity of a Zen teacher and Zen student, or just the Zen teacher himself, okay? That's the case. That's the example of enlightenment. Then they write a verse. So people made various collections of case of enlightenment verse, case of enlightenment verse.

[71:32]

They collect all their favorite cases, 10, 20, or 100, and write a verse for each one, expressing their appreciation and understanding of the story. So the Blue Cliff Records like that, the Mumon Khans like that, and this book's like that, and there's other ones too where there's a case and a verse. And then after the number of those collections of stories with the verses, first there was collections of the stories. First the collection of stories were verbal. Then they got written down. Then people went to the storehouse plus what they've heard and they made shorter collections. The big collections have thousands of stories. And some people have in their head thousands of stories. Then from the thousands of stories they would choose their favorite 50 or 100. So this teacher here, Tien Tung Ru Jing, took his favorite 500 stories and wrote a converse for each one. Then 50 or 75 years later another Zen, Soto Zen priest came along and took that collection of stories and verses and he wrote an introduction to each story.

[72:38]

And then another thing they do in Chinese is they do line by line commentary on scriptures and also Zen stories. So you find like a sutra, you have a line of the sutra, you know, characters like big characters, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then underneath it, they have little characters written half size underneath it so you can tell the commentary. And then big characters, boom, [...] and little characters. So in this text, you have an introduction, then you have the case, line of the case, boom, [...] and then little characters, boom, [...] and then boom, [...] and little characters with interspersed comments. And then a commentary on the case. And then the verse. The verse. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And little characters. Commenting on each line of the verse. Verse. Boom, boom, boom. This one, just two people. A hundred stories of various Zen monks. A hundred stories. Then a hundred verses.

[73:40]

And the verses are written by Tim Tung Ru Jing. I mean, not Tian Teng. Tian Teng Hangzhi, excuse me. Tian Teng Hangzhi wrote 100 verses on 100 cases. Then 50 or 100 years later, Wan Sung, another Zen monk comes along, writes the introduction, interspersing comments on each line, and then commentary on the story. The interspersing comments on each line of the verse with commentary. That's the book that we have here. That's how this was built. That's how the Blue Cliff Record was built. That's how the Moon One Con was built. And then the teacher's copy has all the answers in the back. Actually, in this particular book, the teacher didn't have a copy. What the teacher did is he took the case. Before the case started, he would say something. And he might have written it, so he might have written it. But then his commentary, he would read a line of the story, and then he'd just blurt something out.

[74:46]

These would be spontaneous remarks. So it's like, you know, I'm just reading along. When Shui Fung was at Deshan working as a rice cooker, if you don't work when you're young, one day the meal was late. Deshan came to the teaching hall carrying his bowl. You won't have peace of mind when you're old. Shui Fung said, old fellow, the bell hasn't rung yet. The drum hasn't sounded. Where are you going with your bowl? He makes the baby able to scold his mother. So just like that, he probably just said it right at the time. And of course, you all could do that. Read a story and just... Of course, he had meditated on this. This wasn't the first time he read it, right? He'd been meditating on this for a long time. So then when he got up to lecture the monks, the monks said, hey, Wang San, would you please lecture on Hongzhi's collection of stories and verses?

[75:54]

He said, okay. So he gets up and he reads a line, blurt, line, blurt, line, blurt, line, blurt. And then has a cup of tea and then talks a little bit. His monks wrote this stuff down, probably. He might have written it down, but I think they wrote it down. And the same way Blue Cliff Record, the monks wrote down. And we commissioned Tom Cleary to translate it. And he did. And I like this translation very much. Some of the other translations, which we didn't commission, he didn't. He left some stuff out without talking to us. But this is a good translation. I haven't found him leaving any stuff out when I checked it. But some of the other translations, I checked the Chinese, and he leaves out big chunks because I guess he thinks he has some reason for wanting to make the book more popular. So he leaves out names of people and historical information and stuff.

[76:57]

But at this phase of his translating, he was pretty literal. I think I trust this translation. Really good. Yeah, well, it doesn't say what he said, did it? It doesn't say what he said, right? In another translation it says silently. So if you want to say that he said something, you can say what he said. What happened there? How did he express his meaning? That's the question. I have some other stuff, but I think that's enough for you. Is that enough? No? What do you want? I don't want anything, but you say you have more to offer.

[78:02]

Next week I'll bring some more stuff up, but I think it's enough for you to get working and And I appreciate if you work on this, that would be really great. And then we'll have 65 directors of Zen plays. So we can do something which we almost never do, end before 9 o'clock. May our intention

[78:36]

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