May I ask how many people are here for the first time? Would you raise your hands? Welcome to Green Dragon Temple. Welcome to this meeting. Thank you for coming to this meeting. Has anybody here never heard the word Zen? You never heard it?

[01:03]

Yeah, you heard it? Zen? I saw a catalog for women's clothes and it said, Zen. And there was more in the catalog about Zen. Find your Zen. So what is Zen? Some friends of mine just wrote a new book called, What is Zen? Sometimes Zen is spoken of as a meeting, a face-to-face meeting.

[02:17]

Years ago in China there was an amazing teacher who for some reason or other they called him Madsu which means horse master or horse teacher. And when he was not feeling well which might be meaning when he was about to die, one of the monks came to talk to him and asked about his self. And he said, Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha. And in a thousand years since that time, many students of this mysterious thing called Zen have appreciated that story, said how wonderful the story was, and I kind of not understood what was so good about it.

[04:03]

But I feel loyal to the tradition, so I brought it up." This great pearl of compassion, the great teacher, Matsu, when about to die, he was asked, and he said, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. Sun-faced Buddha is basically a Buddha who lives almost for a very, very long time. kind of an infinite Buddha. And Moonface Buddha is a Buddha that lives for just one day and one night.

[05:15]

The great pearl of the Zen school, Matsu, when about to die. How is he? Infinite Buddha? finite Buddha. Infinite Buddha, in my view, is not better than finite Buddha. And finite Buddha is not better than infinite Buddha. The teacher didn't say infinite Buddha. or finite Buddha, he said, infinite and finite Buddha. This pearl of great wisdom and compassion, I would say, is the way that infinite life and finite life are turning on each other, are pivoting on each other.

[06:30]

And in the book where that story, in one of the books where that story appears, there's a verse celebrating this meeting between the student and the teacher. The student saying, the teacher saying, infinite Buddha, finite Buddha. And the verse says, sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha, Stars fall, thunder rolls. The pearl in the bowl pivots on itself. Our life our life in reality is that our life is

[07:45]

turning on finite life and infinite life. And the great wisdom in finite life and doesn't abide in infinite life. In finite life there's birth and death coming and going, good and evil. In infinite life, you can't find anything because you have everything with everything. And those two worlds and are turning on each other. I have not told this story 100 times, the one I'm about to tell.

[09:08]

I've told it less than 100 times, but still, even 99 times is a lot. I don't know, this is maybe the, probably not, I probably haven't even told it 100 times. But anyway, today is one day more. I went to Japan to visit a person who was considered to be a Zen master. I don't know what he was. He was at one point the abbot of the most prestigious Rinzai Zen monastery. This big temple had 3,500 sub-temples. He was made abbot, and I went to his ceremony where he became the abbot of this very important monastery. And the emperor of Japan did not come to the ceremony, but there was an imperial messenger.

[10:16]

And it was a big ceremony. Thousands of people there to witness this person becoming the abbot. And I visited him that time and I visited him other times and he was a delightful person. He reminded me of the founder of Suzuki Roshi. He was very light on his feet and a very good calligrapher. Delightful, like a little elf. And he was highly respected all over Japan. And then after that I heard that he was getting old. So I went back to Japan and visited him. And I went into his temple.

[11:16]

He had retired as abbot because he became And I went to see him, and I went into a little room in a beautiful temple, and he was seated on a very nice lacquer chair, and he had his robes on, his beautiful robes on. And I looked into his face, and he didn't seem to be looking back at me, and he was drooling. and his eyes were watery and couldn't talk. And his attendant said, Roshi, Roshi, look who's come to visit you from San Francisco. And he just kind of, what he saw, his eyes were open, but he didn't seem to recognize me.

[12:18]

And there were some other people there who were crying to see him in this condition. very old, not seeming to respond to our visit. And yeah, I really felt, is this a Zen master? And I'm still wondering. I saw one person in the audience when I said, is this the Zen Master? They went, mm-mm. I, yeah. The Zen Master is, it's this meeting face to face.

[13:25]

It's the face, it's the sun face Buddha meeting the moon face Buddha. It's my face meeting your face. It's me giving my face to you and you giving your face to me. And you might, if you hear me say that, you might think, well, there's not much to a Zen master. Our meeting right now, our finite life right now, meeting our infinite life right now, I don't know if there's much to that meeting.

[14:30]

And we also have a teaching which says, when the truth does not fill your body and mind, you think it's already sufficient. But when the truth fills your body, you realize something's missing. It's like going out into the ocean away from the shore, so you can't see it anymore, where there's no islands. And if you look at the ocean, it seems to be a circle of water. But the ocean is not a circle of water. The ocean is infinite in variety. It only looks like a circle of water

[15:45]

because of our vision. But it is an infinite. It is infinite. But I live in a circle of water. And the circle of water is inseparable from the infinite ocean. There's no ocean without this circle of water, and there's no circle of water without the ocean. So I sense maybe, when I sense that my circle of water, something's missing here. And if I sense that something's missing, I might think that there's something more than this.

[17:33]

So if I sense that there's something more than this finite circle of water, it might be difficult for me to let my finite life and everything in it be itself. If there's something more than my finite life, I might then then I could be with my finite life. If there's something more than my finite life, then I could be with my finite life. And if I can be with my finite life, I can be in my finite life. And if I'm in my finite life, then that is the source of suffering.

[18:56]

to be located in finite life is the source of suffering. So the Buddha teaches to train ourselves under these circumstances. What's the circumstances? living in a finite life, which is completely inseparable from infinite life. In finite life, things are appearing and disappearing, and the Buddha teaches us to let the things that are appearing and disappearing in the circle of water of finite life, let them be themselves. Train to let the finite life be finite life.

[20:16]

Train to let what is seen be just what is seen. Train to let what is heard be just what is heard. Train to let what is smelled be just what is smelled. Train to let what is touched be just what is touched. Train to let what is tasted be just what is tasted. Train to let what is thought be just what is thought. Train heartedly this limited life.

[21:24]

Completely letting this limited life be this limited life. Training is mature, then it will be that way. In this limited life, there will be just this limited life. In this old age, there will be just old age. In this dying, there will be just this dying. In this birth, there will be just this birth. There will be just this, and there will be nothing more. Even though something's missing, there's nothing more.

[22:28]

infinite life is not something more than finite life. When we are trained this way so that in our finite life there's just our finite life, then there will be nothing more, and then we won't be with it. We won't be with our life anymore. There will be just our life. Just our life. Just our life. Our finite life. And there will also be, by the way, just our infinite life. And they will be just pivoting on each other, like a pearl in a bowl pivoting on itself. We will be like the ancient teachers. pearls in bowls, rolling on themselves, not being less than a pearl in a bowl.

[23:43]

Even though something's missing, they just let things be. And then there will be no being with our life. And then we will not be in our life. and this will be the end of suffering. This pearl being completely in our life and completely letting things be activity of sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha. This is not being stuck in finite life and alienated from infinite life.

[24:57]

This is not being stuck and being alienated from finite life. Some people go to infinite life where there's no good or bad, no birth and death, no coming and going, no justice and injustice. And they abide there and they become alienated from the world where there's justice and injustice. most people are in the finite world with it. They're in it. And they're with it and in it because they think there's something more and they don't let things be. Therefore they're stuck in what they won't let be. And it's, again, when we're sick, that there's no nothing more.

[26:03]

then we wouldn't be with it and we wouldn't be in it. And we would be sick but not suffering. So it's a matter of training. And when we train ourselves into letting things be themselves, then we are successful at this training. And then the next moment comes and we have to start all over. And it's easy to get distracted because we have a tendency to keep thinking, there's something more. And therefore I can't just let things be and I am with things and so on. When Suzuki Roshi was six months, not even six months, September, October, when he was about three months before the end of his life, he talked about Sun Face Buddha and Moon Face Buddha.

[27:29]

And most of us didn't know that he was three months before his death. And here he was, Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha. I guess he didn't know either that he was three months before his death. I guess he didn't know, as he was talking about the sick master who says Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha, that he didn't know he had liver cancer and he would be dying in three months. But he was happily talking about Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha. He was being a happy, finite person. And I hear him saying, yes, there is the infinite Buddha,

[28:33]

But we have to have, he said rules, actually. We have to have rules. We have to have forms. We have to have something to work with, something limited, something finite, in order to realize we have this finite life and infinite life. He says, if you hear about this infinite life, it's easy to misunderstand and get in trouble. So we don't put much, we don't talk too much about Buddha in Zen, even though there's this story. The great teacher knows how to die. knows how to be a dying teacher.

[29:37]

To not think there's something more than being a dying teacher. And therefore the dying teacher is not with the dying teacher and not in the dying teacher. So I got to watch Suzuki Roshi die and I feel like he was a really good dying teacher. I felt like he really was letting things be while he was and still laughing and still teaching all day long. Even though he was now drooling and could talk right to the end, even though he was clear still, that was his way that he led. Today, this afternoon,

[30:59]

...ceremony where people will receive, in a sense, they will receive precepts, which you might call rules. Anyway, they will receive precepts, they will receive teachings, which they've asked for. They've asked for the teachings, and the teachings will meet face to face. They will be a receiver and they will meet a giver. They will be a giver and they will meet a receiver. They will ask for the gift of the precepts and the precepts will be given. They will have a meeting of receiving these precepts, these finite precepts like the precept of not killing, the precept of not taking what's not given, the precept of not misusing sexuality, the precept of the truth, of not lying.

[32:02]

They will receive these finite forms of life. And then they will train to see if they can let the precepts be themselves. Like the precept of not killing. Do you wish to receive this precept? Yes, I do. Now you have received the precept of not killing. From now on, and even after realizing Buddhahood, will you continue to take of the precept of not killing. This is Buddha's teaching. Buddha teaches not killing. Buddha gives us that teaching, not killing. And then Buddha says, now that you have this teaching of not killing, let the teaching of not killing be just the teaching of not killing.

[33:05]

And we can train together with this form, with this precept, with this teaching, not killing, which we can weave together and we practice with it to see, can we let the precept, can we let the teaching of not killing just be the teaching of not killing? Can we let not killing be not killing? If we can, then we will not be with it. We will not be in it, or in between it and ourselves. And this will be the end of suffering, the opening to the finite precept of not killing, and the infinite precept of not killing. which are always living together.

[34:12]

The finite we can see, we can hear, we can think of, or smell, or touch. What's difficult is to let what we're touching be just what is touched. That requires training. Today the people will receive these precepts and they will vow to take care of them, take care of them, take care of them, take care of not killing, take care of not lying. How do you take care of it? The Buddha says, not lying, be just not lying. And also, if lying happens, let lying be lying.

[35:17]

And then you will not be with lying or in lying or in between. And you will not be here or there or in between. This is where we actually live. Not here, not there, not in between. I mentioned about three or four of the precepts, which are three or four of the ten major precepts.

[36:39]

And there's six more, but I hesitate to bring them up right now. But even though I hesitated, now I'm going to do it. So these are ten major ones which I mentioned. Not killing, not stealing, not misusing sexuality, not lying, and not intoxicating body or mind of self or others. Not putting yourself above others, not being possessive, not hating, and not abusing buddha, dharma, and sangha. Those are the ten major precepts. And there's three more which are called . The first one is to embrace and sustain the forms and ceremonies of the school.

[37:50]

And the forms are, for example, the form of sitting in a certain posture and taking care of the posture to make it upright. That's a form. That's one of our forms. And it's also one of our ceremonies. We sit here. Like right now I'm sitting in the cross-legged upright. I'm working on this form. I'm trying to take care of this form. And I also hear the teaching of let this form just be this form while I'm doing it with you. So I'm practicing the precept of forms and ceremonies. I'm practicing a form and ceremony right now. Care of that precept. And I'm trying to let this ceremony just be this ceremony. I'm trying to let this form just be this form. So that I am not with this form or in this form.

[38:57]

So I'm or there, or in between. That's the way I wish to be Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha. And the next pure precept is to embrace and sustain all wholesome activities. And the next one is to embrace and sustain all beings, or to mature all living beings. That's another one. So I wish to receive that precept. I have received that precept. I wish to take care of that precept. I am the precept of embracing and sustaining all beings. which today I'm saying that means I train to let the precept of embracing and sustaining just be the precept of embracing and sustaining all beings.

[40:05]

So I wish to embrace and sustain all beings, which means I also wish to be embraced and sustained by all beings. I want that, and I want to take care of that I do. But I want to do it by letting that precept be itself. Not have my precept, which I'm with. I want to let that precept just be that precept of embracing and sustaining every living being. Maybe many of you want to embrace and sustain and mature each and every being. Maybe you do, and maybe you wish to be embraced and sustained. Or maybe you don't. And then I'm saying, if you do want to practice that precept, then that would be an opportunity to train at letting that precept just be that precept.

[41:16]

Again, then you won't be in the precept. And you won't be in the precept. And there will be no you or there, here or there, or in between. This is the full life of the precept. This is the meeting face-to-face with the precept. And the last three precepts are sixteen, ten, three, and three. The last three or the first three are the precept of Buddha, the precept of the teaching of the Buddha, and the precept of the community. And the precept of going to the Buddha, returning to the teaching, and returning to the community. So those are the sixteen. And again, the first precept, the precept of returning to Buddha, means let the Buddha be Buddha. Let returning to the Buddha be just returning to the Buddha.

[42:30]

Let it be just returning to the Buddha. I return to Buddha. I go for . That's the first precept. return to Buddha. And let that be just that. Train at that. I would train being with Buddha. want to meet face to face with Buddha. I want to let that meeting be just that meeting. Those are the sixteen precepts which we will be giving this afternoon to ten people who have asked for them and they will

[43:40]

and they will receive them. And maybe there will be no here or there or in between. And that will be the end of suffering in that moment. Once again, they ask for the precepts. They ask for, for example, the precept of going to meet the Buddha. They will receive the precept of going to meet the Buddha. And they will have a chance to let the precept of going to meet the Buddha face to face. They will let that precept just be that precept. And then they won't be with that precept. They won't be in that precept.

[44:43]

And in that way, there will be no here or Buddha over there or in between. And this will be realizing the precept. It might be that way today. Actually, it can be that way today, that that's the way they will receive the precepts. And after they, after maybe they receive in that way, I will say, may you always be like this. Moment by moment, may we always take care of meeting the Buddha face to face. and letting that meeting be that meeting. I want that.

[45:51]

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