as often happens. This morning during our festivities I had the opportunity to gaze upon this beautiful statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva Manjushri could be translated into English as pleasant splendor or sweetness and light. Bodhisattva of perfect wisdom. And I was experiencing sensual pleasure contemplating his costume. his accessories, the beautiful breast adornments that he's wearing.

[01:08]

There is a term which maybe not everyone here knows. It's called metro. It refers to young men who are very sensitive, for example, to current trends in fashion and other aesthetic issues and cutting edge culture. I have a relationship with a young man who is sometimes said to be Metro. He said, you know, I was ordering some Hanukkah presents for some other young people who I have a grandfatherly relationship with and the question is which company to deal with and he said that Land's End is social suicide.

[02:34]

Do you understand Albrecht? No. Lands End is one of the companies you can order clothes. And social suicide means if you buy Lands End stuff and wear them to school, you will be committing social suicide. Your friends will like, they will not think you're with the program. Do you understand? Yeah. So this young man says, that's social suicide, so I think we went to some English company. What's it called? Some English company that's not social suicide to get their outfits. Manjushri is kind of a metro guy.

[03:37]

He's, well, you know, his wisdom is powerful, but he's also very relaxed and soft, almost, you know, feminine. But he's still, he's a boy. There he is, our wonderful Bodhisattva. And Buddha did not say that he found the middle way between sensual pleasure and self-mortification. Do you know self-mortification? Self-denial. Self-denial. He didn't say he found the middle way between self-denial and self-indulgence. He said he found the middle way between addiction to sense pleasure and addiction to self-mortification. So when the Buddha sees Manjushri, the Buddha thinks, what a fine young man and enjoys seeing him.

[04:47]

but doesn't abide in that enjoyment. Does that make sense? He just enjoys the boy. He just enjoys the girl. Or he just gives up enjoyment of the boy and gives up enjoyment of the girl, but doesn't abide in enjoyment or renunciation. This is the Buddha's perfect wisdom at work. So I enjoy this statue for many years. When we first received this statue, we didn't know it was Manjushri. And when we found out that it was, we were very happy. The perfect statue for the Zen Do. Traditionally, in Zen meditation halls, Manjushri is sitting at the center. This Manjushri, who is wearing these lovely clothing and adornments

[05:49]

He's not dressed as a priest. He's not dressed as a monk. This bodhisattva of perfect wisdom is dressed as a layperson, a very well-dressed layperson, not dressed as a peasant, but as a layperson. So here is the bodhisattva. of perfect wisdom in the form not of a monk, but a layperson. Behind me is another bodhisattva named, or Buddha, named Tara, who is also not dressed as a nun, but dressed also as like a princess or a queen. And behind her is a bodhisattva who is dressed as a monk. Kishtagarbha Bodhisattva, Earth Store Bodhisattva, Jizo Bodhisattva, dressed in the form of a monk.

[06:57]

And this monk arose from the vows of a girl who prayed for her mother's welfare. and was successful in promoting her mother's welfare and realizing the great function of praying for the welfare of beings in friendship with the Buddhas has great fruit. she evoked a deep wish in friendship with the Buddhas for her mother's welfare, and it came to fruit as welfare for her mother. And then she thought, I want to do more of this, not just for my mother. I want to do this for everybody forever.

[08:02]

And this vow then created another fruit, And the fruit it created was this bodhisattva, Kishtagarbha, who now, whose vows now live in the world for the welfare of beings. And somebody made a statue of this bodhisattva. And here's the statue. And this statue used to live in an antique store on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. And the antique store was next to a Japanese restaurant called Misono. And so when I would go to that restaurant with Richard Baker Roshi his family, I would see this statue, and he would see this statue, and we fell in love with this statue.

[09:11]

We didn't abide in it, of course. But we loved it and worshipped it before and after delicious Japanese food. And then somehow a art scholar, art historian, who also wanted to make a donation to Zen Center, let that be known to us, and we told him, we'd like you to buy us this, and he did. So now this statue came from Chiotas on Fillmore Street in San Francisco to live at Green Gulch and to inspire us in the bodhisattva way. In many or most soto-zendos in Japan, in many or most, Manjushri is wearing monk's clothes.

[10:24]

Not always. Like at the Minnesota Zen Center, the statue of Manjushri in the Zendo is wearing monastic clothes. Is that statue still there? Where did it go? It got stolen. The Manjushri got stolen from the Zendo? Wow. So they used to have Manjushri in monastic clothes in the Minnesota Zen Center and someone stole it. Now there's another Manjushri who's not in a monk's form, but more wearing... He's on a line, but is he wearing like lay people's clothes? Well... The people sitting on lines can wear lay clothes or monk's clothes, either way.

[11:30]

So, anyway, I had fun during service. I hope you did, too. Another thing I heard during service which struck my heart was, you have attained, it says gained, you have attained the pivotal opportunity of human form Do not waste your days and nights in vain. This is Dogen Zenji reminding us that we have this pivotal opportunity of a human form. And he means a human form where you are here, you have heard the Dharma. This human form can turn now. It can pivot. on this pivot of Zazen. Do not waste this opportunity to turn this human form at the threshold of enlightenment and delusion.

[12:35]

The Buddha also, over and over, pointed out what a rare opportunity it is to be a human and to have the opportunity and access to the teaching. how it's very difficult to have this opportunity. We have this opportunity. How wonderful. Let's not neglect it. Let's not waste it. Recently, you know, within the last ten years, I have come to be somewhat acquainted with a fairly ancient student of the Buddhist teaching named, I don't know how to pronounce it, but named something like Won Hyol, Won Hyol,

[13:56]

a Korean person who lived around the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in China. And at that time there were some Buddhist monks, there were some Koreans in Korea who had become Buddhist monks, and some Chinese Buddhist monks had gone to Korea But it was a small part of the society. Almost all just educated people were studying Buddhism. And one of them was named Huan Xiu. He lived from 617 to 686. And as he progressed in his studies of the great vehicle teachings, he was particularly attracted to the teachings that all phenomena appearing in consciousness, all phenomena we know, everything that appears, everything that we know is conscious construction only.

[15:16]

that teaching of the characteristics of all phenomena as being conscious construction only. He was very interested in it and he wanted to learn more about it. So he decided to go on a pilgrimage to meet teachers in China. And as he was traveling to China, One night he sought refuge in a cave. And this cave was perhaps on a pilgrim route to China. Anyway, he went into the cave at night and he was sleeping and he woke up and he was very thirsty. And somehow he was feeling around in the cave and he felt a bowl And he wasn't surprised because this cave had probably been used by other pilgrims and there was some liquid in it.

[16:30]

And in his thirst he drank it. And he thought it was very sweet and refreshing. And his thirst QUENCHED, HE WENT BACK TO SLEEP. HE WOKE UP IN THE MORNING, AND IN THE LIGHT OF DAY, HE LOOKED AT THE BOWL THAT HE HAD USED THE NIGHT BEFORE AND SAW THAT IT WAS A HUMAN SKULL. AND THAT THE LIQUID IN IT WAS PUTRID. AND HE VOMITED. AND THEN HE WOKE UP. to how distorted our consciousness is in its attempts to portray reality.

[17:32]

Even though this distorted portrayal is very useful and powerful, it is false. It is not in true accord with reality. he understood the teaching, he was going to China to study and never went. And stayed in Korea and became the most influential Buddhist scholar in the history of Korea. Wrote many, many volumes of commentaries on Mahayana teachings, which I would like to share with you. What I'm saying to you so far is what I would call rice. And his teachings are more what I would call salt. His teachings are salty. They are the wisdom teachings which we use together with the rice teachings which I have just given you.

[18:45]

And so I have some salt for you to season what you've heard so far in your life, including what I've said. And I have more rice. And the rice I brought is also something which was given to the world by this Korean monk. So I'm thinking maybe I should give you the salt and then some more rice rather than give you more rice and then the salt. So here's the salt. The salt is from a text called The Essence of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Scripture, written by Juan Hill.

[20:00]

And it starts out by saying, wisdom is provisionally twofold. First is wisdom observing the characteristics of things. Second is wisdom which enters into the essence of things. And as I talked earlier in this practice period, first there is wisdom which enters into the characteristics of the knowable.

[21:15]

It enters into the characteristics of images, the characteristics of conscious construction which appear to us. And this wisdom is preparatory to a non-imaginative wisdom. So first there's a wisdom which observes the definitive characteristics of things. Next there's a wisdom which actually enters into a non-imaginative wisdom where there's not even the appearance of characteristics of things. And he said that these two types are provisional because actually they're inseparable. You can't really find either one of them or any separation between them. The first type of wisdom, where we enter into the characteristics of things, is the type actually that Juan Huel experienced when he saw the skull with the putrid liquid in it.

[22:44]

he understood the characteristics of things. He observed the characteristic of things. Actually, the night before he observed the characteristic of things. And then he watched the characteristic of things pivot. And he saw the illusory nature of all phenomena and entered that kind of wisdom. The next kind of wisdom is you give up the previous kind of wisdom. You let go of the understanding of the characteristics of things. So Huang He wants us to see how these two types of wisdom interplay with each other and complement each other. You just get too salty? You okay with the salt back there?

[23:52]

Yeah? Okay. Let me know if you need some more rice. I've got some. So... by thoroughly examining the characteristics of things we are led to the realization that nothing can be found. By thoroughly examining contemplating the characteristics of things we are led to the realization that they're ungraspable. Realizing that they're ungraspable opens to the imageless intuitive wisdom. When we have this imageless intuitive wisdom, that's what I just read was how the first kind of wisdom leads to the second kind.

[25:02]

The wisdom which observes the characteristics of things realizes that they're ungraspable and then we enter into ungraspability where we actually have nothing to grasp. That's how the first kind leads to the second. The second kind, the imageless, intuitive wisdom, liberates us from abiding in the characteristics of things. Usually when we observe the characteristics of things, well usually, let's say usually when we're observing the characteristics of things, we think we can find them. We think they can be grasped. They actually say to us, hey, I'm here, you can grasp me. I'm here to be grasped. I'm really not your mind. You can grasp me. And we go for it.

[26:07]

Like, for example, here I am a beautiful bodhisattva, well-dressed and lovely. You can grasp me. And then, I was just kidding. You can't grasp me. So by thoroughly examining the characteristics with the teachings about the characteristics, we become liberated from abiding in the characteristics that are appearing to us. That's how the first type leads to the second type, which is thorough non-abiding. And then, after not abiding in the characteristics of things, we are enabled to go back to the wisdom which observes things in an enhanced way and see ordinary things in unprecedented ways.

[27:38]

In this way, we open to the creativity and artistry of all phenomena. In this way we bring the wisdom back into the characteristics of things after becoming liberated from abiding in the characteristics and now see all the possibilities that are in things because we aren't abiding in the appearances. So this teaching of this Korean monk paralleled the teachings of a sangha who teaches three types of wisdom.

[28:44]

But I think his three types of wisdom correspond to these two. He teaches the wisdom preparatory to non-imaginative perfect wisdom, non-imaginative perfect wisdom itself, and then a wisdom which attains things after non-imagination, the wisdom which attains the creative artistic possibilities of phenomena emerging from non-imagination. So the third type of a Sangha is like for Juan, Juan Huel, number one is the same as number one, number two is the same as number two, and number three is not in Juan Huel's, but what's in his is the way you can relate to characteristics after realizing the second type of wisdom. So here this Korean monk is coming to a similar realization as the Indian monk, Asanga.

[30:01]

This treatise by Juan Gil is pretty much straight salt. And I'm not sure whether you want some more salt from him or whether you want some rice. What do you think? How are you feeling? What? Rice? Want some rice? Rice cakes. Rice cakes? Well, rice cakes are salty. Okay, well, so here's some rice, which is... Well, I'm really impressed by Juan Pioll's salty teachings, but then I'm further impressed by his rice, because he served the rice.

[31:44]

Actually, he didn't really serve the salt. to anybody. He just mined it for I don't know how many years. He mined salt. And this big pile of salt which is still sitting there in the Korean Buddhist world for people to use to season their rice. But he didn't really bring the salt to the people. He just made a huge pile of perfect wisdom teachings. And then when he was about 60 From that time until pretty much the end of his life, he left the monastery and stopped writing these perfect wisdom scriptures and these mind-only commentaries. And he went out and traveled around Korea, a country which people had not really heard of the Buddha Dharma.

[32:47]

And he traveled around in the Korean villages, one after another. I don't know how many, but lots of them. He traveled for ten years or nine or eight years. And he went through the towns singing and dancing in a language which the people in the villages could understand. He knew how to speak the language of the courts and the monasteries. And he knew how to write. And he did write in literary Korean and Chinese. But he did not, as far as I, it doesn't make sense that he would be actually singing in these languages. He would sing probably in the language of the village people. So there he was going through these villages singing.

[33:50]

And we have a transcript of some of the songs he sang. The transcripts, however, are not probably in the language he gave, but in normal literary Korean. And once again, he was singing to the people about a teaching that they had not heard before. He was singing to them about the practice of the Buddha way. He was exhorting the population and many people understand that he is the main person who awoke the Korean people to Buddhism. That he is, along with Chun Il, the founder of Buddhism in Korea.

[34:52]

And once again, you know, as I read this to you, Maybe I'll get up and start dancing around the room. Be prepared for that. But if I don't, please understand that that's the way it was probably delivered. So if it ever gets a little bit too heavy, imagine the person who is saying these things is dancing and singing in front of you. I think if he just read these words to the villagers and the farmers, it would have been hard for them to hear. This message is not light. It's a deep and serious message which he found a way, in his wisdom, to deliver to people in a way that they would pay attention to, that they would find entertaining.

[36:06]

He was not like a government official coming in and posting an imperial decree. He was a Buddhist monk wishing to open people's heart to the Dharma. And this is a pretty good-sized rice serving. I'll read a little bit. It's called, Arouse Your Mind and Practice. Eihei Koso Hotsugamon is the verse for arousing the vow to practice. This is the Korean monk's verse, the song to arouse the mind and practice. Now all Buddhas adorn the palaces of tranquil extinction, nirvana.

[37:17]

Because they have renounced desires and practiced austerities on the sea of numerous eons, all sentient beings whirled through the door of the burning house of samsara because they have not renounced craving and sensuality during timeless past lives. Though the celestial mansions are unobstructed, few are those who go there. For people take the three poisons of greed, hate, and delusion as their family wealth. Though no one entices others to evil destinies, many are there, many are those who go there.

[38:23]

For people consider the four snakes and the five desires of wealth, for wealth, sex, food, fame, and sleep to be precious in their deluded minds. Who among human beings would not wish to enter the mountains and cultivate the path? But fettered by lust and addiction to desire, no one proceeds. But even though people do not return to the mountain fastness to cultivate the mind, as far as they are able, they should not abandon wholesome practices. Even though people do not return to the mountain fastness to cultivate the mind, as far as they are able, they should not abandon wholesome practices.

[39:33]

This is a teaching for the people of the village. Those who can abandon their sensual pleasures will be venerated Those who practice what is difficult to practice will be revered like Buddhas. Those who covet things join Mara's entourage, while those who live with love and compassion are children of the sovereign of Dharma herself. High peaks and lofty cracks are where the wise dwell. Green pines and deep valleys are where practitioners sojourn. When hungry, they eat tree fruits to satisfy their famished belly. When thirsty, they drink the flowing streams to quelch their feeling of thirst.

[40:38]

Though one feeds it with sweets and tenderly cares for it, the body is certain to decay. Though one softly clothes it and carefully protects it, this life force must come to an end. Thus the wives regard the grottos and caves where echoes resound as a hall for recollecting Buddha's name. They take the wild geese, plaintively calling as their closest friends. Through their knees, no, though their knees bend in prostration, are frozen like ice. They have no longing for warmth. Though their starving bellies feel as if cut by knives, they have no thoughts to search for food.

[41:49]

Suddenly a hundred years will be passed. How then can we not practice? How much longer will this life last? Yet still we do not practice but remain heedless. Those who leave behind the lusts within the mind are called mendicants. Those who do not long for the mundane are called those gone forth into homelessness. A practitioner entangled in the net of the six senses is a dog wearing elephant's hide. A person on the path who still longs for the world is a hedgehog entering a rat's den. Although talented and wise, if a person dwells in the village, all Buddhas feel pity and sadness for him.

[42:58]

Though a person does not practice the path, if he dwells in a mountain hut, all the saints are happy with him. Though talented and learned, if a person does not observe the precepts, it is like being directed to a treasure trove, but not even starting out. Though practicing diligently, if a person has no wisdom, it is like one who wishes to go east but instead turns towards the west. The way of the wise is to prepare rice by steaming rice grains. The way of the ignorant is to prepare rice by steaming sand. Everyone knows that eating food soothes the pangs of hunger, but no one knows that studying Dharma corrects delusions of the mind.

[44:12]

Practicing and understanding, which are both complete, are like the two wheels of a cart. Benefiting oneself and benefiting others are like two wings of a bird. If a person chants prayers when receiving rice gruel but does not understand the meaning, should she not be ashamed before the donors? If one chants when receiving the rice but does not understand the meaning, should one not be ashamed before the sages? Humans despise maggots because they do not discriminate between clean and filthy. I didn't understand that.

[45:14]

Humans despise maggots because they do not discriminate between clean and filthy. Humans describe maggots because they do not discriminate between clean and filthy. Saints loathe ascetics who do not differentiate between pure and impure. Precepts are the skillful ladder for leaving behind the clamor of this world and climbing into the empty sky. Therefore, one who wishes to become a field of merit for others while breaking the precepts is like a bird with broken wings who tries to fly into the sky while bearing a tortoise on its back.

[46:16]

A person who is not yet liberated from her own transgressions cannot redeem the transgressions of others. But how could one not cultivate the precepts still except others offering? There is no benefit in nourishing a useless body that does not practice. Despite clinging to this impermanent, evanescent life, it cannot be preserved. People who hope to achieve virtue People who hope to achieve the virtue of dragons and elephants, that is, eminent practitioners, must be able to endure long suffering.

[47:27]

Those who aspire to the lion's seat of the Buddhas must forever turn their backs on desires and pleasures. and cultivator whose mind is pure will be praised by all the gods, while a person on the path who longs for sex will be abandoned by all the wholesome spirits. The four great elements will suddenly disperse. They cannot be kept together for long. Today, alas, it is already dusk and we should have been practicing since dawn. The pleasures of the world will only bring suffering later, so how can we crave them? One attempt at forbearance conduces long happiness, so how could we not cultivate?

[48:32]

Craving among people on the path is a disgrace to cultivators. Wealth among those gone forth into homelessness is mocked by the noble. Despite interminable admonitions, craving and clinging are not ended. Despite repeated warnings, lust and clinging are not eradicated. Though the affairs of this world are limitless, we still cannot forsake worldly events. Though plans are endless, we still do not have a mind to stop them. For today's without end are days of doing unskillful things have been rife. For tomorrows without end, our days of doing good have been few.

[49:40]

For this year without end, we have not reduced defilements. For next years without end, we have not progressed towards enlightenment. Hours after hours continue to pass. Swiftly the day and night are gone. Days after days continue to pass. Swiftly the end of the month is gone. Months and months continue to pass. Suddenly next year has arrived. Years after years continue to pass. Unexpectedly, we arrive at the portal of death. A broken cart cannot move.

[50:44]

Yet, still, we humans lie, lazy and indolent. Still, we humans sit with minds distracted. How many lives have we not cultivated, yet still we pass the day and night in vain? How many lives have we spent in our useless bodies, yet we still do not cultivate this lifetime either? This life must come to an end, but what of next? Is this not urgent? Is this not urgent? I don't know if when he was singing and dancing, when he was dancing and singing this song, I don't know if the villagers threw garbage at him and told him to get out uptown.

[52:39]

But maybe they did. And then he would go to the next town and the next town and the next town. Maybe they said, my heart opens to him. This is the rice that the man who studied perfect wisdom for so many years offered the people. And then Later I can give you more salt to put on this rice. This rice should be salted with non-attachment, non-abiding, and non-dissociation.

[53:47]

Don't touch it. Don't turn away from it. He was a good friend to the Korean people. And some of them listened to him. And thus the Buddha way was planted. When reading the words of this ancient teacher, I reflected on where I sit or stand in relationship to his words.

[56:28]

Did you? What place, what way do you aspire to when you hear his words? And is the way you aspire to when you hear this teacher's words any different than what you aspire to when you hear the words of others? Is this message from him sweet?

[58:26]

Or is this message from him putrid? Or neither? Can you see the pivotal opportunity of human life?

[59:50]

Can you sit upright on the threshold where samsara and nirvana meet and are not separate? Can you be upright on the threshold where the world, where nothing can be found, meets the world where things can be found? the place of freedom from form and freedom from emptiness.

[63:00]

I hear that we have this opportunity and I don't know if this is rice or salt. But I really wish we all find this place where Buddhists sit. in the middle of the world of suffering. Welcome suffering.

[65:00]

Welcome bodhi.

[65:06]

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