some of the teachings that have been offered during this intensive in scripture, in sutra chanting, in the readings, and in our classes and Dharma talks, may be very difficult to understand, very difficult to believe. So even if we don't believe, understand, still I have some questions I'd like to ask the Great Assembly. According to some of these teachings, is zazen,

[01:05]

The pivotal activity of all Buddhas? I'm asking a question. Is Zazen the active pivot of all the ancestors? Is Zazen the entire treasury of true Dharma eyes? Is Zazen the precious mirror samadhi? Is this the Zazen of the Buddhas and ancestors?

[02:08]

Is Zazen the conceivable mind of nirvana? Is the mind of the great sage of India intimately transmitted? Is the mind of the great sage of India intimate transmission? Face to face? Is face to face transmission the mind of the Buddhas? Is the mind of the Buddhas zazen? Is the pivotal activity of all Buddhas dropping off body and mind? Does our body and mind drop off in the midst of giving up trying to control our body and mind?

[03:38]

Does body and mind drop off in the midst of wholeheartedly embracing and sustaining our body and mind? And here comes a really hard... You don't have to agree with this, but just in terms of the teachings that have been offered... When body and mind drops off, are all beings included in that? Is the dropping off Is the mind of all beings the dropping off of your body and mind? Again, is body and mind dropping off zazen?

[04:55]

Does your zazen include everybody's zazen? Are you included in everybody's zazen? According to this teaching. Is this intimate transmission of the Buddha mind alive right now in stillness? Have we been encouraged to remember stillness? Have we been encouraged to receive it and practice in it? Thank you for responding to my questions.

[06:08]

It sounds like you have been listening to the teaching and understanding it. any story I tell about why I'm going to tell the following story is equally valid. So I'll just tell the story rather than give you one of the stories about how come I'm telling it. It's a story about the nature of Bodhidharma. We call it, we call it Prajñatara, which means wisdom jewel or jewel of wisdom.

[07:18]

And he lived in India. Apparently never got a chance to go to China like his disciple. And one day he got invited by a Raja in eastern Indian country to come to lunch. And the Raja said to him, why don't you recite scriptures? It doesn't say in the story but it was common way back then, and even today, to invite Buddhist monks to come to your house, and you feed them, and then they recite scriptures, sort of to return the favor.

[08:25]

But anyway, Prajnatara, I guess, just ate lunch. and didn't recite the scriptures, so the kings, the rajas said, I'll come, you're not reciting scriptures. And Natara said, this poor wayfarer, while breathing in, does not dwell in the skandhas. In other words, do not dwell in the categories of body and mind. When breathing out, I'm not caught by sense, sense data, and sense consciousness. Breathing in, I'm not caught in the categories of phenomena, of conscious phenomena.

[09:27]

Breathing out, I'm not caught by sense data, sense fields, consciousness. Breathing in, not dwelling. Breathing out, not caught. Breathing in, not dwelling. Breathing out, not caught. I always recite Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of scrolls. And then a modern-day comment on that is, the balloon over the teacher is, I was doing this practice while I was eating lunch.

[10:40]

Now, this story can be found in what's called the Book of Serenity, which is a collection of stories which were collected by the Lancet of Seated Meditation, Hongzhi Zhengzhui. Someone asked me what's his relationship with the author of the other poem we've been reciting, Dogen Zenji, Zenji's great-great-grand-uncle. So Dogen Zenji's great-great-grandfather was the grandfather of that person and also a great-great-grandfather, or rather another great in there for the grandfather.

[11:46]

Anyway, this teacher comes from an ancestor back three or four generations from Dogen. and he collected these 100 stories and this is this story about Prajnatara and then for each story he wrote a poem and so for this story about breathing in not dwelling and breathing out not caught his poem in English could be translated as a cloud rhinoceros playing with the moon, engulfing its radiance, embraced by its light.

[12:48]

A wooden horse romps in the springtime and unbridled. A pair of cool blue-eyed eyebrows How can reading scriptures pierce ox-hide? Heroic strength breaks through the nested enclosure. In the subtle wrath of the pivot, the spiritual work turns.

[14:06]

Hanshan forgot the road he came. Siddha took his hand and led him home. So this poem is celebrating the practice of Prajna Tara. This is celebrating Prajna Tara's breathing in and breathing out. Nothing about... It's a cloud rhinoceros playing with the moon. The moon's not trying to control the rhinoceros and the rhinoceros isn't trying to control the moon.

[15:18]

They're playing together, embracing and sustaining each other. The breath is like this. And the wooden horse is unbridled and writhing. We can't control the wooden horse, but it can roam. I guess the core of this are Prajnottara's eyes. And heroic strength is the enthusiasm, the wish, the joy in breathing in and breathing out. It's not like a force himself to follow his breath, to control himself into following his breath so he can be concentrated.

[16:29]

It's surrendering personal power and embracing and sustaining the process. And in this way we practice like the ancestors But we need to, again, not only give up personal power, give up self, give up trying to control, we also need to be enthusiastic about that surrender and about the tranquility that arises from such a surrender. And this heroic strength breaks through the enclosure of egoistic consciousness without manipulating anything. In the story, there's this image of the rim of a mortar.

[17:47]

Do you know what a mortar is? Timon, do you know what mortar is? So, in the rim of the mortar, flowers are sprouting. In the rim of the mortar of caring for the breath, of caring for the body, of caring for the mind, over and over, flowers sprout out of that practice. So here it is. And again, here it is, the pivot again. That in the pivot of inhale and exhale, in that subtle pivot of inhale, exhale, the spiritual work is turning.

[18:55]

And also in the pivot of inhale and not inhale, and exhale and not exhale, in the joyful playing with the breath, engulfing its radiance and being embraced by its radiance, its intimate playfulness with our breath, which we might be enthusiastic about, the spiritual work turns there in that pivot. Subtle, wondrous pivot. Breathing in, not abiding. Breathing out, not caught. And at the end it has two lines about two Buddhist monks.

[20:02]

Actually, I don't know, I didn't even, I should check. Anyway, two Buddhist monks maybe. One's name's Hanshan, which we often translate as Cold Mountain. and his partner, his friend, Siddha. So Hanshan would often go out into the wilderness and he would sometimes get lost and not be able to find his way home. And his friend Siddha would go and find him and take him by hand and bring him back to the monastery. They played together in the wilderness. Hanshan is the exhale that we don't dwell in.

[21:07]

Siddha is the inhale that brings us home. And off we go again into the mountains playful, poetic, creative life. Nobody's in control. Everybody's enjoying dependent co-arising of the whole universe with each breath. But this breathing is an enthusiastic breathing. This Hanshan is enthusiastic about going out into the woods and singing poetry. I don't know if he's enthusiastic about finding his way home. And his friend is enthusiastic about going and finding him and being his friend and helping him get back.

[22:12]

for another tour of duty. And then we come to the next generation, Bodhidharma, who did a lot of sitting in stillness, a lot of remembering stillness, a lot of enthusiastic practice listening to the cries of the world in stillness, observing all sentient beings in stillness. There's a poem about him, which is something like, facing the wall, flowers bloom in the back. And Bodhidharma taught us, pacify the mind with no contrivance.

[23:29]

Pacify the mind without trying to control it. Peace through close attention without contriving to make peace. Wishing to, yes, and then surrender. It's true the mind can be quite wild, and I don't trust the mind. The mind, like all compounded phenomena, is Stable. Subject to change. Unreliable. Not worthy of confidence.

[24:34]

But it is worthy of whatever you said. It is worthy of embracing and sustaining. It is worthy of uncontrolling love. It is calling for uncontrolling love. And when it receives it, it calms down and becomes When it doesn't, it just keeps crying until it is met in intimate transmission, face to face, in stillness.

[25:37]

This is what Bodhidharma did for nine years in the cave. And this is what he did with the emperor. And this is what he did with his students. And he was the first person, the first teacher who came from India, we say, to teach us that in all of China there's no teacher of Zen. In this intimate there's no teacher, there's no Buddha, there's no student. and we have Buddhas and teachers and students to realize this. I don't trust the children.

[26:52]

I don't trust the mind. I trust embracing and sustaining children and minds. So maybe the Dharma is not a compounded thing. Maybe the Dharma is the reality of compounded things. Maybe the Dharma is that all compounded things are fragile and are calling for tenderness. That is not fragile.

[27:53]

That is reliable. It is reliable. Compounded beings and things are fragile. That's reliable. You can trust that. It's reliable that they're calling for love and tenderness. You can trust that. But not the things. Things are not to be trusted. Treated with tenderness. And if you trust them, they'll just, you know, change. And then what are you going to do? Well, if you're practicing them being the same and reliable, you might be. But if you're practicing tenderness towards them, when they change and misbehave, you just have more opportunities. And this practice tranquilizes or pacifies the mind.

[28:58]

So, and Bodhidharma doesn't look that tender. I propose that he was heroically tender. He wasn't going around trying to look tender. He was tender. And he's transmitting the tenderness of transmission, which is for the sake of frail living beings, which we are. One more thing I just want to say, which I said before, is that I used to say, be still. Be silent. I actually didn't say be silent too much, but I used to say be still quite a bit to myself and to others. Now, I almost never say be still anymore.

[30:17]

I say, may we. Remember. I say, may we remember stillness. But even when I say, may we, some people hear, be still. And when they were young, some people told them, be still. And that be still was part of a kind of a shocking and rough, abusive treatment of their fragile little bodies and minds. Be still. I understand that, so I'm... I want to just say very gently, may we all have illness. And I don't... this isn't an order. This is a prayer. I believe it's a good prayer. But if we do not remember

[31:21]

I wish to be tender with my not-remember. And actually I'm pretty nice to myself when I forget what's really important to me. And I feel sorry. I don't have much time to wallow in that because I want to get back to work of remembering. That's the first time I ever put both hearing aids on at the same time.

[32:28]

Is there anything you want to express that you haven't expressed yet? Yes? In the story yesterday, the Wheelwright said, I can't teach it to my children. It comes into my hand, not my cork, but so the children... It can't be taught out there. Reminds you of a con. Are there any tips? Did he give the kids any tips? Like, you hold it this way, or this kind of wood is... Does that all have to be... coming from the kismet's thoughts? Well, he's practicing not going fast, not going slow.

[33:37]

I would say he's trying to find a way to do his work surrendering his power. in the work. And going in this way, not fast or slow, it comes into his hands. When it comes into his hands, that can be witnessed. When it accords with his mind, that can be witnessed. But when it comes into his hands, he's not teaching his children. The coming into his hands, the tathagata, the thus is doing the teaching, and he, his hands are there. But it's not him that's teaching it. The teaching is being demonstrated, well actually, the opening of beings to this teaching is there in him opening to giving up, going fast or slow.

[34:44]

He's open to not know. how to do his work. He's open to letting go of what the ancestors taught him about will writing. And so that opens the next generation. And then the way he teaches them, he doesn't teach it, but it's being shown to them, and then they have a chance to watch. and then it's up to them whether they receive this gift. So there is Zen, there is Zen intimately transmitted, but it's not done by the Buddha. The Buddha doesn't transmit to us. It's our relationship with Buddha That's the practice. The Buddha doesn't teach us. We don't teach the Buddha. But we have a relationship. That relationship is what we want to receive, want to transmit.

[35:47]

But there's no Buddha in the Buddha sentient. The intimate transmission is the Buddha. It's not like half the transmission. But also the Buddha is The Buddha is that the Buddha is nothing in and of herself. Therefore sentient beings are like that too. So the transmission doesn't hold a sentient being and doesn't hold a Buddha. And they're both there pivoting on each other. So there is... But there's no teacher separate from student. So I can't do it. but it is living in stillness right now. Yeah, fortunately. We can't get away from it and we can't go towards it. Getting away from it is like going slow, going towards it is like going fast.

[36:52]

Yes? Where? By saying, I don't know? And also before that he said, vast emptiness, no holy. That's the way being tender with the fragile emperor. I still don't see that. Tenderness doesn't necessarily look like tenderness. Bodhidharma is a great example of tenderness is not It's not just my idea of tenderness.

[38:02]

I do have an idea of tenderness. But tenderness is my idea of tenderness? Yes. But tenderness is also completely beyond my idea of tenderness. It's both. It's both my idea. Bodhidharma is the completely beyond my idea of tenderness. So he's beyond most people's idea of tenderness. But tenderness is necessary for this transmission, which he came supposedly to China to transmit the Buddha's love. He came to transmit Buddha's love, Buddha's heart. This is a story about him trying to do it with the emperor. But it is also the case that sometimes people do not feel ready for this meeting.

[39:04]

So it looks like the emperor couldn't meet Bodhidharma, couldn't meet his offering, couldn't be still with Bodhidharma and discover the transmission which was going on. Wherever Bodhidharma goes, the transmission is there. but not everybody can agree with it, can bring their face forward to meet his face. So an emperor, in a sense, in that lesson, the emperor was not able to enjoy the transmission. Somehow you see that Buddha's answer was tender. I need some explanation. Well, it isn't so much but there is, what do you word, there is commitment and there's commitment to that tenderness.

[40:11]

Well, yeah, his, there's commitment to Bodhidharma's tenderness. Bodhidharma's tenderness is the conditions for me to commit to the tenderness. the seeing of the tenderness is the commitment to the tenderness. By committing. The me seeing, me seeing the tenderness is not adequate to the tenderness. Me seeing is like, okay, that's it. When I see something, I think, oh, that's the way it is. That is not the way to see the tenderness. That's an inadequate way. But if I look and I don't see the tenderness, or I do see the tenderness, either way, if I remember the tenderness,

[41:21]

the love of fragile beings is also completely beyond my idea. And then I receive from this tenderness, which is other than my idea of tenderness, the teaching. Then maybe I say, I wish to commit to this tenderness. That's like seeing beyond my eyes and ears. And if you commit, that's fine too, but the commitment is the real seeing. When I receive the tenderness, I realize it or I am actualizing it, or beyond, cannot actualize it. Once again. I'm receiving the tenderness Yes.

[42:23]

When you receive the tenderness which is conceivable and inconceivable, when you receive it and you then commit to practice it, you have understood it. if you receive it and you don't want to practice it, you haven't yet received it. Even if you don't understand, the demonstration of the understanding of it is that you practice it. Yeah. Yeah. And even before you commit, you might actually practice it.

[43:24]

And practicing it might lead you to commit to it. You practice it and say, this is where it's at. This is what I want to do with my life. I got a life. I want to use it for tenderness towards fragile beings. And so not only am I practicing and do I want to practice it, but I commit to it. This is the full understanding of the practice. It's like that story I tell over and over about the duck. You know the story? Yes, you do. There was a duck. And the duck had a mother, like most ducks. A mother. And the duck's mother was a mother. Do you remember the story now? No. So there was a duck, and it had a duck mother.

[44:28]

But unfortunately, the duck got separated from its mother. Do you remember the story now? No. So the duck's walking around, and the duck fortunately can walk, and I guess it can eat stuff on the ground, which is nice. So it's walking around, it's alive, but it doesn't remember its mother, who was a duck. So the duck doesn't know that it's a duck, even though it is a duck. And the ducks walking along and comes upon a pond or a lake. And in the pond is guess what? Close. Water. Yeah, water. And what kind of animals you sometimes find in ponds.

[45:31]

Yeah, ducks. So there's the ducks in the pond, and the ducks walking by, and the ducks walking by say, Hello, sweetheart. Come and swim with us. And the duck says, I don't know how to swim. And they say, Well, yes, you do. You're a duck. And she says, I'm not a duck. And they say, And I don't know how to swim like you guys do, because I'm not one of you guys. And so the kind ducks give the little duck what's called a sky hook. It's a little hook like this, and you can hook it on the sky, hold on to it, and then you can swim in the water because you've got this hook. So the little duck took the sky hook and put it on the... sky and went into the water and swam with the other ducks.

[46:33]

But she still didn't understand that she was a duck. She didn't understand that she knew that she could swim without the skyhook. And one day she or he and the other ducks were on the edge of the pond and a fox came by and they all jumped in the water and the little duck but forgot her skyhook. And so then they were all in the water, safely swimming around together, and one of the ducks said to the little duck, where's your skyhook? And the duck said, I forgot it on the edge of the pond. And they said, what are you doing? And the little duck said, oh, I'm swimming. Oh, I'm a duck. Oh, and this is really nice to be a duck. This is what I am. Yeah, this is great.

[47:37]

How wonderful. And I'm going to commit to it. That part I'm adding. So it's like that. When you understand that you are tenderness towards all living beings, then you realize how wonderful that is and commit to it. But before you understand, you don't commit. When you commit, that's really understanding. The duck couldn't see that she was a duck. But when she fully received her duckness, she woke up to her duckness, and then woke up again to notice that she had received it. It's like that. And being concentrated is like that too. We're already concentrated, we're already calm, but we maybe need sky hooks. We don't think we can be calm without it.

[48:40]

We don't think we're already calm. Maybe. Also, if you think you're calm, that's not calm either. What you think or not, that isn't it. It's your actual presence right now. But we think, well, I can't just be present. Skyhook to be present. Okay, here it is. Okay, now I'm present. Great. But someday you forget the skyhook and you discover that that's the way you really are. So our practices are to become the way we really are. Right? Understand yet. But we will. We will. You didn't hear that story before? You didn't hear that story before? Did you hear that story before? Now I remember.

[49:42]

Again, you know, Yuki's not very old, but still I can tell the same stories over and over to Yuki. That's why I asked you those questions that I asked you. But after I asked you, you knew them better. So I'm going over this. Some people are very interesting and say a lot of interesting things, but everybody forgets what they say. So I'm just saying the same thing over and over in hopes that somebody will remember what I said. You know, like really remember. Somebody, some really smart people have reviewed being upright. I'm impressed. They just zip through it, you know. And they say various really insightful things. And one of the things these very bright people say about being upright, he could have said the same thing in a lot less words.

[50:43]

They notice they're smart. They notice the repetition. And that book is like one-third of what it was originally with much more repetition. Because we have to repeat so it gets into our body over and over. It goes into our unconscious, and then it goes into our neurons, and then it goes into our muscles over and over. So, we'll see the next time if I tell the story, if you remember it. Yes? I've heard the teaching that there is heart-mind, mind-right-self. And so, I'm assuming

[51:47]

I said compounded things are not reliable. They're unstable. I may have made a list of things, but I wasn't singling out mine. But I'm just saying, anything that's put together falls apart. What do you mean by mind? Do you mean like your consciousness? I would say anything that appears, is not reliable. Anything that appears in front of you, anything that comes up is not reliable.

[52:59]

And coming up is a demonstration of instability. When anything that arises is unstable, anything that arises will fall down. What is stable? Instability. Impermanence is stable. Fragility is stable by definition. Living beings' fragility is ongoing. but my present state of mind is not worthy of confidence. However, it is worthy. It's calling for tenderness.

[54:04]

Unstable things are calling for tenderness. Tenderness is worthy of confidence. Compassion is worthy Compassion is not a compounded thing. The compassion of the Buddha is. It's not put together. Yes? This is related to Yuki's question. So as I understand, in my conventional mind, tenderness When Bodhidharma says to the emperor, nothing holy, nothing sacred, and the emperor doesn't get it, I would think tenderness would be to change this emperor's mind. Are you saying that had Bodhidharma decided to try and teach or to change the emperor's mind,

[55:15]

that would not have been 10 minutes. Well, Bodhidharma came from India, made a long trip to transmit the Buddha mind. He didn't come to manipulate emperors. He didn't come to change people's minds. He came to transmit this Dharma. Now, when it's transmitted, people's minds change. So, for example, Dogen says something like, among the various things, mind is most difficult. The mind of sentient beings is most difficult to change. And we start the process of change But in giving, you're not trying to get the people to change. You just understand giving will help them change. But I'm not going to get them to change. I'm giving up trying to get them to change by giving them gifts instead of trying to control them into changing, like from evil to good, for example.

[56:22]

By practicing giving, they will change. They will discover the Buddha mind. which Bodhidharma wants the emperor to discover. But he's not trying to control the emperor. He's being tender to the emperor in his attempt to transmit the Buddha mind seal. And he recognized the emperor could not merge with this teaching. couldn't harmonize. The character that's used in the text is the emperor couldn't harmonize. The emperor is the Kai of Sando Kai, which means merging in one translation and harmonizing. The emperor couldn't harmonize with Bodhidharma. He wasn't ready to sing with him. Like, what's the high truth? No holy truths. Vast emptiness, no holy. Vast emptiness, no holy.

[57:27]

You are, thanks for coming, man. This is like totally cool. You know, I've been talking to people who are like into vast, who are into holiness and stuff like that. And now I'm finally free. And highest truths. Thank you. So couldn't do that. So Bodhidharma then says, well, maybe if I go sit for nine years, these Chinese people will get it. And he did go and sit for nine years, and the Chinese people did understand. this flower in the back of Bodhidharma, it blossomed into the five schools of Zen. The Chinese people did finally harmonize with this transmission of the mind seal. Bodhidharma wanted the emperor to do it. He wanted everybody in China to do it, but he also was patient.

[58:27]

And if they're not ready today, maybe tomorrow. I'm going up to Shaolin. You're welcome to come. The emperor tried to get him to come back, but the emperor didn't say, I'm going to go up there and practice with him. Or he did say that, and the emperor secretly transformed himself into the second ancestor and went in in disguise, said, my name's Hueca. That really was the emperor. Yeah. Let's see. Let's see what happens now. Jenny? Jenny? Would you speak up, please? You're way far away. From me. So, when you say the word being, I... Being?

[59:32]

Being. B-E-I-N-G? Yeah. What I meant was, dropping and... away of your body and mind, is my body and mind included? That's what I meant. And in the dropping away of this body and mind, is your body and mind included? That was my question. Yes. What did you say? I said, in my head, Yeah, infinite, yeah.

[60:35]

Yeah, yeah. And so, again, one of the teachings which were offered was, you include infinite beings, and you're included in infinite beings. So when your body and mind drops off, infinite beings' body and minds drop off, even though I'm not interested in that. That's the way that they are. Body and mind drops away, separation drops away. Right. And opens onto everybody being included in. If we're holding onto our body and mind, we're kind of resisting that we include everyone. So again, accepting and seeing or hearing the teaching that we include everything is commitment to the Bodhisattva vow.

[61:43]

And it is, again, receiving that teaching and accepting it and committing to it is essential for body and mind dropping off. So when body-mind drops out, in a way, when you are there for that, you're there for receiving the teaching that you include everybody and you're including everybody. I think the next was Louis. I don't know. I like speeding questions. Oh yeah, seeding. And next, Timo. I wonder if there's a good place for trying to control in your mind.

[62:55]

No, it's not. It's just reality. You can think that trying to control is negative. That's fine. That may be another attempt to control. It's like, okay, I'll think it's negative. Maybe that'll be good. But there is this thing about in order to help ducks understand that they're ducks, we sometimes give them skyhooks. Because part of the reason they're having trouble understanding that they're ducks is that they're trying to control So then we give them... help them understand that they're ducks.

[64:03]

So that's called skill and means. But skill and means are temporary, provisional. You use them for a while to wake up to that they're not real. So by... you realize you don't need them. But the place usually where you realize you don't need them is when you're surprised to find out that you don't need them. So like we have the Zen Center, right? We use the Zen Center as kind of one big complicated sky hook with many little hooks on it to help people realize they don't need Zen Center. And then when they don't need it anymore, they might stay and say, well, I don't need it, but I like it. I like sky hooks. But I don't need them anymore. So sky hooks are not negative. They're what we use to realize we don't need them. So let's see.

[65:11]

It's getting kind of late. So I see quite a few hands. maybe we can have a little conversation tomorrow. And if you have a question, maybe you could remember it, possibly. And if you think you can't, write it down soon and bring it to the hall tomorrow. Is that okay? Thank you very much.

[65:41]

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