Down to the great teacher, Fuyo Dōkai. So let's do it the usual way with Dai-yō-shō. Dai-yō-shō. Fuyo Dōkai Dai-yō-shō. So these are ten pioneers of this practice period. So now, I'd like to do it in Chinese. This is a little harder.

[01:01]

I don't know if I can flash these cards fast enough. And the Chinese way of doing it, Dai-yō-shō means great teacher. Ōshō is a way of saying the Chinese word Hēxiāng, which is a Chinese way of saying ācārya, which means teacher. So it means like Maha ācārya or great teacher. So Da-hēr-shāng. So you'd like it to be, this first one would be, Yāo-shāng, Wēi-yīn, Da-hēr-shāng. Yāo-shāng, Wēi-yīn, Da-hēr-shāng. [...] So we can get the Da-hēr-shāngs probably every time.

[02:06]

Okay, ready? Yāo-shāng, Wēi-yīn, Da-hēr-shāng. Yō-yīn, Tāng-shēng, Da-hēr-shāng. Yō-shāng, Yāng-zhī, Da-hēr-shāng. Yō-zhī, Da-hēr-shāng. Tāng-shēng, Da-hēr-shāng. Tāng-shēng, Da-hēr-shāng. Liāng-shāng. Liāng-shāng. One more time. One more time. So, this is the guy we're going to study today, this guy, Tozu Ichin.

[03:34]

But before we do that, I also want to say that these names, the first names of all these people, except for one, are the names of mountains. So it's Yao Shan, Yao means medicine, Shan means mountain. Yuen Yuen, Cloudy Cliff, is not really a mountain, it's like a little cave he lived in, it wasn't really a monastery to speak of. Apparently there was a row of stone grottos and he lived in there. And then Deng Shan is Deng Mountain, by the Deng River. And then Yuen Ju is Mount Yuen Ju. And Tong An is Mount Tong An, and then Tong An is Mount Tong An. And then Liang Shan, Mount Liang, and Dayang Shan, and Tozu Shan, Tozu Mountain. And Fu Rong Shan, Fu Rong Mountain.

[04:39]

So all these are the first names, they are the names of the mountains. And the last part of the name are their monks' names. All these people also have posthumous names too, which we haven't been learning. So that's the lineage. And I wanted to just ask a question, make a statement, which has been asked many times in the last few thousand years, and that is, is this lineage alive or dead? And was it ever alive or dead? And I was saying to somebody yesterday that if you say yes, it's kind of arrogant and

[05:47]

it would make people nervous if we go around and say, this lineage is alive at Zen Center. People say, oh arrogant people, they think they've got Soto Zen in the bag. We say no, it's kind of like, who do you think you are to say that then? Anyway, you can say whatever you want, but there's the question, is this lineage of these wonderful peoples, is it alive now? Is it alive at Tassajara? Is it alive at Green Gulch? Is it alive in Minneapolis? Is it alive in San Francisco? Is it alive in Japan? Is it alive or not? I worry about this. And also, this thing about association with these people, both in many ways, and then the question might be, are we the same as them? Are we different from them? In the formal transmission of Soto Zen, there's three documents that are used as part of that,

[06:58]

and one of them is called the Shisho, which means writing, kind of like certificate writing, and the other one is called Kechimiyaku, which means the bloodline. And in the Kechimiyaku, it has the names, it has the Buddhas and all these pioneers coming down to the person of this generation, and the way it's set up, as you can clearly see, and then it goes from the person at the bottom, you, back up to Buddha. So there's a flow there, and it's very nice that it goes from you back to Buddha and then down again, but also you're at the bottom of the heap. And so the message there is, you are Buddha's disciple, you are Buddha's child, which is of course a great thing, but if you're the child, you're different, you're also alive.

[08:03]

But in the Shisho, it's a circle and everybody's on the same level. There you're not just a disciple, you're on the same level, you're the same. So we're really not the same or different, and actually we're both the same and different. If we're not the same as these people, the lineage is dead, but if we're not different from these people, the lineage is dead too. And sometimes I think we don't have much trouble telling that we're different, but maybe we feel ashamed of it. Well, anyway, we have to be different and we have to be the same. This is, again, another tension that we have to live with and not try to ignore one or the other. It's really unrealistic to think that you're the same as these people or that you're the

[09:08]

same as the previous generation, you're not. But if you just emphasize on being different, that's just totally too cold, can't stand it. But don't make it too warm and comfy either. I'd like to make some unifying remarks for those of you who have been exposed to such a wide range of material for five days and more, and also as a kind of summary now that Barbara is back to include her in this, I hope these are unifying remarks. And also I would like to say that there's so many Zen stories, and I've seen it happen here in the United States too, of where the person who's playing the role of the teacher

[10:11]

says something and everybody just...nobody has anything to say except for like one person maybe, sometimes more than one, but often many stories are, and nobody said anything so then finally so-and-so came up, and that happens around here too. At the same time that this seems to have happened in the past, and I'm not trying to not have that happen, at the same time I'd like to have everybody included. So I thought I said this before Sashin, maybe I forgot, and that was, we're going, you know, like these pioneers, like our ancestors, we're going into constantly, not constantly, we don't have that much courage, but we're going into new territory. We're going into studying, we're studying these precepts in a new way, we're studying ancestors that we're not familiar with, and we're just going into a new life day by day.

[11:16]

And this can be frightening and confusing, and again, some people may feel afraid, and I think all of us to some extent, including me, feel somewhat afraid to go into a really new realm, or even slightly new realm. I think it's possible for me and you to go into something that I'm afraid of, that we're afraid of. So I don't say if you're afraid, put the brakes on the machine, but I would say if you're paralyzed, and you can't come along, and you feel left behind, just pull the, there's a little thing you can pull, just say, you know, scream or something, and say, stop, I'm being left behind, take me up, you know, raise your hand, we can stop, I don't mind. Or another way to put it is, I was talking to some people, it's like we're jumping rope here. You know, sometimes in the schoolyard you have these long ropes, and you'd be twirling them,

[12:22]

and sometimes you have more, several people would be jumping at once if they're long enough, and you'd sort of wait for your turn, you know, and this can build up your courage. If you do it too long, pretty soon, you wait out there too long, you get tighter and tighter, and pretty soon you can't get in. So, if you feel like that, say, wait a minute, give me a chance, slow it down or whatever, or jump in. If you jump in, I think part of it is that if you don't jump in, you feel left out. So, I think each day I've gotten a note from somebody, or verbally or whatever, if they've been left behind, and I don't know. So, if you want us to slow down, we can slow down. Some people may say, let's not slow down, speed the rope up, I want to see if I can do it faster. But anyway, we can slow down. Religion is a slow-moving crowd. So, my unifying or summary remarks are that all these stories of all these pioneers are

[13:31]

about the precepts, and they're actually all about one precept, and they're all about each precept. And all these precepts are unfolded by these stories. And all the precepts are about all the precepts. In other words, all the precepts are contained in each precept. I really feel that, and I mean, I feel it and I see it and I believe it. It keeps getting shown, both by the precepts and by the stories. So, these precepts and these stories open up a space where there's a lot of possibility for things to happen, and there can be interpenetration, interdependence, and non-hindering of things which, by conventional means, we might not see that they can penetrate and not interfere

[14:34]

with each other. Now I'm going to do something which may be quite unwise, but I'd like to show a little bit about each story, and show how each story is pointing to the same place. I'm not sure, but just tell you that I think each story is pointing to the same place, and just see if you can see this place a little bit by each one of these stories. And I would also say that I think each one of these stories is about somebody asking about reaching towards, leaning towards, or pointing towards this same space, this same precept, this same mind, and that there was somebody there, well there's two people there. One was either indicating or being asked about, and the other one was ready to enter.

[15:40]

And I think the reason why these people were ready was because they had strong enough egos to be egoless. Strong enough egos to move, to renounce, to relinquish their ego and enter this space. Strong enough egos to sit on the side for a bit. Strong enough egos to hear the instructions on how to practice egolessness, which allow you to enter this place, which allow you to enter this precept. And later I'd like to bring up some of these instructions on egolessness, some of these egolessness practices in relationship to the next precept. But for now let's see if we can remember these stories, these ten or so stories.

[16:45]

The first story is about Yaoshan, Medicine Mountain. He was an expert on the precepts, but he heard about some way that went beyond just minutely following rules and pointed directly to this space where people could enter and realize the way. So he went to studies with Stonehead. When he got to Stonehead he explained his situation, namely that he had understood the twelve-part teaching, etc., etc., but he'd heard about this direct entry into the mind of Buddha. And he said, I beg you, teacher, to show me entry. And you remember what Stonehead said? Being just so won't do. Being not just so won't do either.

[17:47]

Being both just so and not just so won't do at all. How about you? But he couldn't... Why do I do that? Why do I do that? Why do I do it? How about you? Oh, I'm referring to that song. I like New York in June. How about you? I like a Gershwin tune. How about you? That's why I do it. Does it annoy you? It doesn't anymore. I'm trying to, you know, bring it up to date. Or bring it back a generation or two for some people. So, anyway, at that time he heard it. He was shown. He was shown, but actually he was holding on. Now, I don't know if he was...

[18:51]

Just didn't have... Anyway, somehow he was holding on so he couldn't get it. So then he went to see Matsu. And Matsu did the same thing, but somehow he fell into the trap and had a good time from then on and became Yaoshan. And next, Wen Yan, who studied with Bai Zhan for a long time, went to Yaoshan and they had lots of nice talks. But finally, anyway, after a series of times when Yaoshan asked Wen Yan to teach him about what Bai Zhan taught, he told him about Bai Zhan. And after he finished the story he said, finally through you I understand Brother Zhan. And Wen Yi entered. And then Deng Shan visited many nice people

[19:56]

and practiced very well and he finally wound up visiting Yun Yan and he asked Yun Yan about who can hear the teaching of the non-sentient. And he entered. When Yun Yan said, if you can't even hear me, how can you expect to hear the non-sentient? Expounding the Dharma. And then Yun Zhu went to visit Deng Shan and Deng Shan said, what is your name? And Yun Zhu said, Dao Ying. And he said, say it from beyond. And Dao Ying said, if I say it from beyond, I can't say it's Dao Ying. And Yun Zhu said, that's the same thing I said to Yun Yan

[21:01]

when I was with him. And then Tung An went to visit Yun Zhu and Yun Zhu was giving a talk and at the end of the talk he said, if you want to acquire such a thing, you have to become such a person. Since you're already such a person, why be anxious about such a thing? And Tung An woke up. And again, this little dialogue, this little couplet or double couplet, we've been talking about as exemplifying, again, the tension of this space that we're invited to enter, which we're protecting ourselves from out of habit, which we want to go to very much, but we're standing in the way of. And actually when we get there too,

[22:03]

we want to get out as soon as possible and go back to the door. Why? Can't stand the intensity, I think. The ego can't stand the intensity. You ever hear that story I told about, you know, I traveled across many mountains and rivers to be with Suzuki Roshi and I put myself in his tracks, so he had to run away from me. He had to run into me time and time again during the day. I did what's called post-practice. You ever hear about that? Post-practice? No, I haven't heard of post-practice. You've been studying with me 18 years. Do you go to bed early or something when I'm giving talks? It's such an opportunity for a story. I know. I'm really grateful to you.

[23:05]

I was afraid you'd already heard it. I didn't want to bore you. Have you heard it, Mark? Good, there's two of them. So anyway, there was at Sokoji, where we practiced with Suzuki Roshi before we moved to Page Street. Tendo was on the second floor and there was this beautiful big balustrade going up there. What's the difference between a balustrade and a banister? Fancier. Yeah, fancier? The same, right? U.S. is a balustrade and at the bottom of the balustrade there was this big post and at some point I said, I'm going to be like that post. Every time Suzuki Roshi goes up the stairs, he puts his hand in that post. So I just made myself into a post in his life. I made myself a piece of furniture. So he had to put his hand on my head every time he turned corners, because I was there. That was a lot of trouble sometimes. Anyway, after a while he got used to me being there and I became like a family appliance. You know, so he would use this thing which was there

[24:07]

because it was there. So I got to be with him. But I noticed almost every time I got to be with him, especially when he gave me all his attention and nobody else was around, I would always say, well, thank you very much, but I don't want to take any more of your time. And I would always try to get out of the room and he would say, get back here. Like there was other people in the room, I didn't mind so much, but when he was like right on me, giving me special attention and special kindness, this is too much. Please, really, that's enough, thanks. You've got to go back to rest. See you later. Tell me you never told that story. He's told it lots of times. You just heard it. He heard about the television. Anyway, oh yeah, that was his television repairman, too. Pretty good, huh? You know what I used to do to fix his television set? I plugged it in, connect the aerial to the back, stuff like that. Anyway, that tension is hard to stand.

[25:09]

So then the next one is Tong An number two. Remember Dan Welch that came to visit? That guy, that old guy? Once he was at Tonto in the city center and I was Tonto at Green Gorge, we called ourselves Tonto one and Tonto two. That was named after a Michael McClure play that had TV one and TV two. Remember that one? What's that one called? Anyway, so Tong An two said to Tong An one, The ancients say what worldly people love, I love not. I wonder, teacher, what do you love? And remember what Tong An two, number one said? Remember what he said? Yeah, I've already been able to be like that.

[26:16]

And then Tong An two woke up. And then Liang Shan went to see Tong An number two, Tong An the latter, and he said, What's the business? What's the busyness? What's the busyness under the patch robe? And today when I read that, I heard it as busyness. One way to hear it is, what's the function? The other way, what's the busyness? Not what's the un-busyness. We know what the un-busyness is, right? The un-busyness is, I'll tell you in a minute. The busyness under the patch robe is, underneath the patch robe, you know what it is? It's, oh my God, oh it's terrible.

[27:16]

Oh God, I'm not taking care of the great matter. This is horrible. That's the busyness. The busyness is, under the patch robe, is that to wear this patch robe and not be in this realm, or not take care of the great matter, is the most miserable thing. That's the busyness. That's what's under the patch robe. It's total anxiety about not doing your job of saving all sentient beings. That's the busyness. But I forgot to mention when we were studying that, that the un-busyness of it is a total, I hate to say this, but it's a total ball. It's wonderful, the un-busyness under there. In other words, taking care of it. When you do take care of it, it's great. When you don't, it's not. Now that's the way it is for some people who don't even wear this robe, but for those who do wear it, whether they know it or not, it is terrible not to do your job

[28:17]

when you have this robe on. Especially if it's a really nice one. That's one advantage of wearing crappy robes. It doesn't hurt so much if you're lazy. You can say, why should I be working hard for all beings? He gave me this lousy robe. I felt that way one time. I came to Tassajara to be a monk and they gave me a lousy robe. A really crummy one. And you know what I did with it? I wore it in a crummy way. I did. I wore it really sloppily. I was mad. And the visiting teacher, Tatsugami Roshi, called me over one time with Dan Welch translating. And Dan said, he says that the way you're wearing that robe

[29:18]

is not Memitsu no Kafu. Memitsu no Kafu means the family style of a minute attention to detail. The Soto Zen style. He had been lecturing about really taking care of every little detail of life. He said, the way you're wearing that robe is not our style of taking care of things. And I thought to myself, here, you're telling me? I don't want to be your style. Give me a better robe. There's some people here like that right now who don't have very nice robes that are really pissed off. I understand. I felt the same way. No, I kind of tidied up a little bit. Huh? No, I didn't.

[30:19]

Actually, I thought it was kind of nice to get some attention. He was pretty nice about the way he did it. And not too long after that, I took the ultimate revenge and got some really nice robes. As a matter of fact, I was going to order some robes and I was going to order myself some robes from Japan. Suzuki Roshi was doing an order and I was going to order some robes from Japan and I was going to get a nice set, kind of like a priest set. So as I was ordering these robes to sort of make myself have a set of robes, kind of like a priest, I said, Can I be a priest? He said, I've been thinking about that. Okay. That was it. Just tripped into it while we were ordering robes. Downhill ever since. Only you can say that. Okay, so what's the busyness? What's the busyness under the robe?

[31:21]

The busyness under the robe is that to wear it and not get to this realm or take care of the great matter is the most miserable. Then what happened? Oh, oh, I forgot to tell you. I've missed a part. He said, He said, He said, What's the busyness under this patched robe? The teacher asked the student, What's the business under this patched robe? And the student sort of went, The student is Liangshan, right? So Dungan's asking Liangshan, the student, What's the busyness under this robe? Liangshan said, I don't know. Then Dungan says, Total misery if you don't take care of the great matter.

[32:25]

And he says, Now you ask me. So then the student says, What's the busyness under the patched robe? And Dungan says, Intimacy. And that's when you take care of the business, right? It's intimacy. So then he woke up and started bowing and crying. And Dungan says, Well, what's the busyness under the patched robe? And he said, Intimacy. And Dungan said, Intimacy, intimacy. Remember that story? Remember that story? At least you heard it once. There's another story about this which I really like, which you haven't heard yet either probably.

[33:28]

So this Liangshan, after this happened, then his practice, he was always teaching people about intimacy after that. And also people heard that story, so they'd always come up and ask him about what's under the robe, right? And so one monk came and asked him, What's the business under the robe? And he said, Even the thousand saints don't know. And the monk said, How can you, how can you protect it? This thing that the sages don't know, the saints don't know, how can you protect it from thieves? And Liangshan said,

[34:31]

Just recognize them and they won't bother you. The monk says, Well, after you recognize them, then what? And Liangshan said, Exile them to the land of no birth. And the monk said, Well, isn't that where they'll be living in peace and ease? And Liangshan said, You can't hide a dragon in a stagnant pond. Like dead, you know, no life in it, very smooth, no movement. If there's a dragon in there, you'll see it. So if it's a dead pond, if it's a bad dragon, you'll be able to find it. It won't be able to hide.

[35:33]

But if it's a good dragon, also it won't be able to live there. It won't, can't live there. Either way, you can't hide a dragon in a stagnant pond. Unless it's chained up. The thieves are delusions. They're delusions. The thieves are not taking care of the great matter. The thieves are this anxiety that the Buddhas have about saving all sentient beings, which the sages, the saints don't know about this, by the way. The saints don't know about the worry of saving all sentient beings, and they're so happily tranquilized that they don't have the joy of being caring about sentient beings either. They're so happily cool that they don't even care about, they hear about the joy of Bodhisattvas and they say, So what? Hysterical Bodhisattvas, on the other hand,

[36:34]

are very happy to hear about the possibility of being joyfully concerned with the welfare of all beings. So you've got to be careful, a little bit careful, not to be a saint, because you might not pick up on the Bodhisattva joy trip. Anyway, these saints don't know about this anxiety, joy, that the Bodhisattvas, the baby Buddhas and the Buddhas have. All right? Why are the thieves happy? Why are they happy? They're not exactly happy, it's just that they're, you know, they're like at rest. The delusions are put at rest in no birth. You don't understand that? Well, do you have any delusions that are alive and well? Okay. Okay. Okay. So, put them in no birth means realize that they aren't born,

[37:35]

then they're cooled. Okay? So this monk is saying, yeah, but aren't they sort of like lurking there happily, ready to go back to work anytime? Right? Aren't you sort of like playing along with them by doing that? And he says, you can't hide them in a stagnant pond. Anyway, the next line is, well, what about when the water is alive? That's, I think, the important point. What's living water? Living water, I told you, is when those three dots are put into it. Living daughter, living daughter has has emptiness, and dependent co-arising, and middle way. Emptiness, vibrating with dependent co-arising, and the middle way. That's living water. What about when the water is alive? He says, then the dragon makes waves without a ripple.

[38:36]

And again, I think I told you the story about when you have water, like regular water, and if you, like, put sound waves towards it, the water will start shaking, the waves will start going. If you put sound waves from the opposite direction of equal amplitude or whatever, the water will get calm. Then if you put sound waves from another direction, then you get disturbed again. And if you put sound waves from another direction, then you're calm again. But every time you do that, you're investing energy into that space, and it's becoming more alive. But when all the forces are balanced, and you've invested, like, waves from this side, from ten directions, maybe, the amount of energy that's converging on that water is considerable. And if you touch the water with a pin, it'll splatter all over the room. Hmm? Yeah. Perfectly, huh? Yeah, it's neat. Unless you have something coming up from the bottom. What do you mean? Something coming up from the... Oh, right, right, right.

[39:45]

You could also do it from the top and the bottom. Anyway, once... The point is it's still, but there's tremendous energy there. And as soon as you do anything, add one more element to it, a pin's nice, but you could also put more sound waves into it. The reaction will be tremendous energy there. And that's the way this balance between dependent co-arising and emptiness in the middle way are. In that water, tremendous possibility. So you can have... So it has this creating waves. There's waves in there. There's tons of waves condensed, but there's no ripples. That's what it's like when the water's alive. The dragon can do anything for you if you got this stuff all in balance. So then the monk says, Oh, what about when you level the mountains, cut down the forest, and empty the pool? And Liangshan got down off his seat, grabbed the monk and said, Don't wet the corner of my robe.

[40:45]

Good questions, but I guess he went a little too far. The next one is Da Yang, Taiyo, went to visit Liangshan and asked him, What is the sight... What is the formless sight of enlightenment? And Liangshan pointed to a picture of Avalokiteshvara on the wall and said, This was painted by scholar Wu. And then he suddenly grabbed Da Yang and said, This is what has form. What does not have form? And Da Yang was awakened. So that's the stories we've gotten to so far. So I'm just saying, they're all pointing to the same place, the same formless sight of enlightenment, the same dynamic of your mind, which is that if you have a mind that wants freedom,

[41:52]

then you should become such a person, but since you're already that way, why be anxious about it? That's what it's like. That's kind of like a hint of this place. And these precepts are pointing to this place too, I think. So now, today's ancestor. And this story is much too long to go into all the details, because actually, this is a very wonderful little... This is kind of a unique spot, as far as I know, in the whole lineage right here. Because what happens here is that actually the next ancestor, in a sense, isn't really the next ancestor. The next pioneer is actually somebody not on the list. And thinking about this story, which I have been doing for a while, I just keep coming up with all kinds of new possibilities. So what happened was that this quite excellent teacher named Da Yang, who had quite a few students,

[42:53]

you know, you know, the practice flourished with him, but he couldn't find anybody to give his teaching to. So that was that. Is that what happened? No. Stinker. How sad. So anyway, he did find somebody at the last minute. And the guy he found was called Fu Shan. Is that his name? Where are you? Hello. Oh, there you are. The guy he found was named Fu Shan. Yan Jian.

[43:56]

That was his name. Fu Shan Liang Jian. He found this guy and this guy came to study with him and they had this really great relationship and then he said, would you please now, in addition to me confirming your understanding, would you please now take this Soto Zen transmission, these teachings of Soto Zen, would you please take care of them and pass them on? And the guy said, well, I'd like to, but I can't because I'm already a successor in another lineage and I can't carry two. He didn't feel he could. And so Da Yang said, oh my God, this is so sad. And also Fu Shan also thought it was kind of sad to see this kind of great teaching kind of like

[44:58]

exhausted. And he said, Soto Zen is exhausted. This fantastic lineage is exhausted and it will be difficult to revive. I remember one time Kadagiri Roshi was visiting Green Gulch and he met this lady at a some kind of bazaar or something up the street, street artist thing in Minneapolis. And she was 90 years old or something and she made these beautiful cards. And I don't know how he found out, but anyway, I guess he asked or wondered or just wondered, do you have, is someone else making these cards? And the lady said no. And he could feel he was really saying, you know, who's going to make this lady's cards? And he was still in pretty good health at that time. But I think you can see what he was alluding to. Who's going to make these cards? And bowls,

[46:01]

and excuse me for saying this, leather shoes. I don't know why these leather shoes were so important. Maybe they were the latest importation from, not, Marco Polo hadn't been there yet, so I don't think they were Italian. But anyway, for some reason these leather shoes and a portrait of Da Yong. So, Fushan took these things and and kept them. And Da Yong also said, when you find somebody, here's a little, give them this koan to test them. And also, after you give them succession, tell them to hide out for ten years before they appear. So, after, after, and then Da Yong made a prediction and according to his prediction, I think he, anyway, some kind of

[47:02]

fancy, magical stuff happened. And after this period of time that was supposed to happen, sure enough, this monk named Yi Ching showed up with this Rinzai teacher who was carrying this Sotolini and showed up to meet him. And Yi Ching was this Tozu Yi Ching. But there's this other ancestor in there who we don't chant his name. In a way, you know, I kind of feel like we should, but he didn't want to be in our lineage. He's in another lineage. And a wonderful teacher and I could tell you his story too, but I'm not going to because, as you know, we're still on schedule in terms of patriarchs, excuse me, pioneers. So I'll tell the story of Yi Ching. His name was Yi Ching. And he was he was of the family, of the Li family, of Ching Tse. At the age of six, being unusually bright, he left home. Now does that mean

[48:12]

he was so bright that his parents said, why don't you go live someplace else? Stop bothering us. Anyway, he left home and went to live at Miao Xiang, Miao Xiang Monastery. At six? At six. He examined the scriptures and when he was 14, became a monk. He studied the treatise on 100 dharmas, but pretty soon he lamented. Three incalculable eons are required for complete enlightenment. It's a long road to travel. Even if I take the trouble, what's the value in it? So he went to Luoyang and listened to lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra, the meaning of which explained everything. Once he was reading verses on the bodhisattva named Forest, and there's a section where there's a lot of bodhisattvas

[49:13]

named Forest reciting these verses. And he came to where it speaks about the self-essence of mind and he seriously reflected. The dharma is separate from words and letters. How can it be conveyed in lectures? So he gave up and went traveling to hear the talks of Zen masters of our tradition. At that time, the Zen master Fushan Yuan Chen was at this Huaishang Peak and one night he dreamed he was raising a green hawk. He thought this was auspicious and the next day Yi Cheng arrived. Fushan Yuan Chen welcomed him courteously. A lot of these stories where these guys have these dreams and these guys show up the next day and say,

[50:13]

Oh, please come in. And he had him inspect the story about the non-Buddhist questioning the Buddha. This is a story that Da Yong gave him to give to this guy when he showed up. And the story is the non-Buddhist asked the non-Buddhist asked Buddha aside from speech and aside from silence what is it? So he gave this he gave this guy this koan and after three years after three years one day Fushan asked Yi Cheng Do you remember that case I gave you a few years ago? Try to present it. So Yi Cheng was about to present

[51:13]

the case and Yuan Chen covered his mouth. What? This Rinzai teacher who was carrying the teaching asked the guy to recite the case and as he was about to do it he put his hand over his mouth. Oh, sorry. Sorry. The teacher covered the student's mouth as the student was about to recite the case said, can you recite it? This guy he started to recite he said and he woke up. Never did get to recite that case. Come here, I'll show you. I just did. Do you like it? Thank you. Why is it important? It's just like an address.

[52:13]

That's just what he was. It could have been you. You can ask that question too. That just identifies him. That's who it was. But a Buddhist could have asked that question. It's a good question. As a matter of fact very similar questions have been asked by Buddhists just to identify that he was a non-Buddhist. He hadn't yet he was a bystander, right? He hadn't yet entered the the Buddhist group. Wasn't a disciple of Buddha yet. I think he became one after that interaction I'm not sure. I don't remember. So anyway that happened, right? And and then Yuan Chen said to I Ching you have been wonderfully awakened to the subtle functioning. And I Ching said even if I have it I should vomit it out. At that time

[53:17]

the teacher the attendant was standing off to the side and said today I Ching is like a sick man who is able to sweat. And the teacher said turned to him and said stop your yapping and if you keep prattling like this I'll vomit. So three years later this Rinzai teacher Yuan Chen brought out the essential teachings of the Soto school Tsao Tung school and revealed them to To Tzu. So To Tzu was there at that time six years. To Tzu was in complete accord with them and

[54:18]

Yuan Chen entrusted them entrusted him with Da Yang's portrait leather shoes robe and said please continue the tradition in place of me. I think part of the reason for the leather shoes might be that what you do when he said he said don't remain here long take good care of it. And the reason for not remaining here long partly is they say a phoenix should not stay in a dragon's nest or yeah because he was he had now become a phoenix and this other guy was a dragon or whatever gotta go grow up with other dragons or other phoenixes or whatever you are but don't hang around here. I think the reason for the leather shoes is that maybe what you do is you hang your teacher's picture or you hang the teacher's picture on the wall and you put the leather shoes down at the bottom of the picture.

[55:20]

It's just what I thought. It's probably not true. But just to inspire us. Inspire. Yes. The six years old reminded me I came across a video some years ago and it's a story of an American couple with a young baby that was living at that time I believe in Tibet and at the age of three and a half or four the young male baby said he wanted to go and live in a monastery and they had trouble believing that the child even knew what he was talking about but they decided to experiment so they took him over to a monastery and the child just took to it and the monk said well of course he can live here so they let him go and when the video was made he was eleven years old and had been there and they felt that he was some kind of reincarnated teacher that had seeked his own way because no one

[56:27]

was helping him at all anyway that was nothing has been said or written about in a sense but that does happen yeah and I think some other people try it too but aren't allowed to go their parents won't let them go strange world there's some other stuff too like that well there's a lot of interesting stuff here about this about this this kind of thing that happens that this lineage in a sense being exhausted but not really and because he did find a successor just that the guy couldn't couldn't become part of the lineage and he holds it and gives it to the other guy and we just forget about this guy and we go on our happy way so in a way we have kind of like this kind of hurts me a little bit that here's this guy who really kind of selflessly did this like a

[57:28]

an uncle maybe or something just to serve do this service like he's taking care of this lineage well I'll take care of this other one too for a while and we don't even say his name so maybe in the future kind of like when you get to that point kind of like hey thank you really I was really selfless of you to do that you're not getting any credit from this huge school right it's kind of a technicality but then it's why would these people get so you know that's part of the mystery of this is why do they why do they not why didn't he just do both lineages or why did he put them together you know and say now now I'll transmit both these lineages to the next generation it wasn't

[58:30]

no it wasn't but he wasn't teaching certain Zen at that time the carrier he was still teaching yeah he wasn't that's right but it's interesting to you receive like if somebody like if let's say I don't know what like if Grace somebody said to her look I just found this great kind of medicine or Stuart they found this great medicine and they don't want it they learn how to make these cards and they don't want it to be lost so would you take care of it until you can find somebody to practice it and maybe you're doing your kind of medicine you're doing your kind of medicine this has got nothing to do with what you're already doing so you just learn this stuff but you keep doing your regular practice maybe it's eye surgery or something some special eye surgery technique which you don't have time to do and you learn it very well just right and then you give it to somebody else who then practices it but you just somehow can't teach family practice and herbology and acupuncture and everything and also eye surgery

[59:31]

or whatever so you learn it and give it to somebody and then they practice it it's kind of like that and very kind of you to do that because you're not even practicing or making any money on it you're just helping the teaching go on but you get no worldly profit from but really you help people through this other person yeah it might be to a family style right it wouldn't really be Soto Zen or Rinzai Zen anymore right like it might be kind of bad for a family practice doctor to sort of while taking care of the babies and stuff to be doing eye surgery on the side you know it might undermine both traditions or like to be drawn out of the operating room because of you know and I think Barbara's making a face like that could be a new family tradition but these guys wanted to keep these pure traditions and sometimes

[60:31]

you might say hey I think putting these two together would be better might do that I think these actually would benefit by each other that would be a different decision but anyway that's what they did here in sort of those kinds of situations in terms of learning different styles and different traditions of practice and really sensing that this is one kind of thing that is another kind of thing and putting together it won't be as sometimes that's the case and you can see it and then it's probably not a good idea to mix them the chemistry might be just actually neither one of them will work yeah it might be really right like I remember one time we had this you know Covincino sensei you know him he was practicing here at Tassajara and then at one point

[61:31]

he decided to get married and he was going to marry this woman named Harriet who had red hair and Covincino is an Asian man right a friend of mine said well I hope the kids don't get you know don't have slanty hair and red eyes fortunately they didn't they were really beautiful kids his Chinese name is Fushan Yuan Jin and he's a one of the ancestors in the Rinzai lineage an excellent apparently an excellent monk and in a sense he's one of our ancestors I mean he inherited the tradition took care of it for a while and then passed it on served this great function and

[62:32]

he's forgotten by our lineage but I think it's he's remembered in this book and I think I like to remember him myself and also remember this issue of why they do it that way so now here we are at 11 o'clock again we have this precept sitting here and so I guess if it's alright with you if anybody wants to scream or ask for help now or if you want to end it I'm willing to stop so I don't know if we should have a vote or what want to have a vote that's one vote four what's the precept? two, four, three how many people would like to stop? what is the precept? oh the precept it's number eight number eight like what? like what? what does that mean in words?

[63:37]

well the way we say it at Zen Center is not being possessive of anything but the way it is traditionally is not being possessive of giving Dharma or not begrudging the bestowal of Dharma that's what it says here that's what it's about it means not to like it means to not hold like if you have teaching it means not to hold it it means give it to people that's what it means it means give people the teaching it's about it's a precept about giving it's a teaching about giving and giving particularly giving Dharma and of course anything else too but if you want to get into it we can get into it for a while but if you want to stop I'm going to stop is anybody going to be left behind now that wants to say anything or how are you doing folks? okay well this is

[64:41]

going to be fast unless you guys want to say something I got physically nauseous yesterday from sitting for so long why don't you lie down you can just lie down relax how about now how are you feeling right on the edge why don't you relax lie down put your head in Martina's lap Martina make yourself at home Reby make yourself at home you may be excused anybody needs to go to the toilet or whatever yes please now may I go on while you go on so this I think in a way this precept is about the negative way

[65:42]

of putting it is not holding the Dharma positive way it's about how to how to give it and as you may know there's three things traditionally that we talk about being given one is resources or material wealth worldly treasure the other is Dharma and the third is fearlessness those are the three things that we practice giving fearlessness right well can you think of something else huh worldly resources worldly resources like food money houses good health clothes and so on and the other is Dharma and the other is fearlessness I think by saying fearlessness if they just said Dharma and worldly things probably would be clearer

[66:43]

but they for some reason say fearlessness too because you might think fearlessness would be like Dharma but if anybody can think of anything else how do you get fearless main way you give it is two ways one is by being fearless and demonstrating it the other is when people are afraid go and talk to them about what they're afraid of and help them become fearless which seems like Dharma but that's what they say they say fearlessness has a separate thing I don't know why exactly I can see it being included under Dharma they the Buddhas the Buddha yeah Buddha Shakyamuni yeah what is life? that's Dharma this precept means

[67:46]

encourage life right just encourage life it means don't kill right it means the first precept don't kill but it's positively put but it also opens up the issue of what is Dharma in a way that the other first precept doesn't so what is Dharma? well I kind of feel like Dharma was is demonstrated by how all the precepts work together and how these stories and the precepts work together I mean Dharma is what's happening right hmm? it's what is it's what is it's the way it is all over the place and in every place it's the universe you give the universe how do you give the universe? yeah that's what this is about pardon?

[68:47]

that's what this is about that's what this is about how could you withhold and that's all so Dogen's comment is one phrase one verse are myriad forms ten thousand forms everything one phrase one verse is everything everything you give is everything and the hundred hundred grasses well myriad forms means the entire universe and hundred grasses means the entire world of illusion myriad forms is even things that that aren't even illusions that aren't even that you don't even know about so you give all illusion and all the entire universe you give by one phrase one verse one Dharma and one realization are all Buddhas and all pioneers

[69:49]

there has been there has not been begrudging there has not been begrudging there is no begrudging holding there is no there is no possessiveness of anything there has been no withholding people think there is but this precept is saying there isn't this precept is about what's been going on all along there has never been any withholding of any of the universe there has never been withholding of what's happening but we deluded people think so why do we think so well partly because we don't want it to be so we don't want to give away the whole universe we don't want to relinquish everything and I was thinking of Tao talking about his bowing practice of his bowing practice

[70:53]

being a did you say surrender or did you say a relinquishing what did you say a surrender of giving up the practice of bowing that he does as an act of giving up the practice of bowing could also be the practice of relinquishing could be the practice of the sixth precept of relinquishing what are some things you can relinquish or give up I'm kind of the same relinquish or give up I think we've had some examples of relinquishing mentioned in these stories so I mentioned I feel that these stories I feel that the reason why these people could enter the realm which was indicated enter the realm which they wanted to go back to in other words truly take refuge in Buddha Dharma and Sangha was because I think they had been practicing this precept of relinquishing Dharma of relinquishing everything and in conjunction

[71:55]

with these stories are practices of relinquishing here's some examples of relinquishing practices are practices of not holding Dharma which means practices of egolessness practices which a strong ego takes on to get out of the way so get out of the way is Taiyo's way right? how about the primary point is don't cling don't cling now again you say I am clinging admitting you're clinging is part of getting out of the way but also after you admit you're clinging you can also then just give it up strong ego can say yeah give it up weak ego can say I can't strong ego can say admit it

[72:55]

it's tricky it's tricky strong ego can say admit it admit it ok now that you've admitted it have you admitted it completely ok now give it up I can't admit it go back and forth go back and forth until finally you've admitted it so thoroughly you give it up stop clinging stop clinging think of not thinking that's what Yaoshan said that's an act of relinquishment that's an act of not begrudging Dharma think of not thinking as soon as you think of not thinking you are no longer begrudging Dharma when you think of not thinking you're not holding you can't not begrudge Dharma anymore get out of the way don't hinder that which hears it what about me what am I going to do don't hinder that which hears it without a hair of intellectualizing that's relinquishing relinquish your intellectual activity relinquish your intellectual figuring out what your practice is don't try to stop it that's not relinquishing let yourself keep

[73:58]

thinking away figuring it all out all your theories if they're fun fine drop them same as renounce yes same but anyway that word today sit still just sit silent and still this is relinquishment this is not the grudging bestowal of the Dharma live in silence and serenity and that's it what happens if you don't sit still she says what happens

[75:01]

if you don't sit still I don't know don't you know what happens when you don't sit still move around pardon I move around you move around that's not a problem go ahead move around okay what what I don't know if it does if you I don't know if you were attached to moving around then it would have something to do with sitting still because sitting still means you drop everything so sitting still doesn't have any problem with with moving around moving around doesn't necessarily have any problem with sitting still but if you hold on anything and you're not just sitting still you're you're saying no

[76:02]

I'm gonna hold out a little longer I'm not gonna just do that I'm not gonna just live in simplicity and peace it's more complicated than that don't you understand of course we do drop it relinquish your great intelligence you don't have to prove anything to anybody anymore especially yourself again that's part of holding on to some smarts right got this really great stuff here got this great teaching this great understanding this great truth this great universe I'm gonna impress my friends with it yeah pardon you'll let go of the pain if it goes away you make a deal with yourself you mean you say that to yourself before you let go

[77:04]

yeah and then you let go well yeah so you're not able to because you have a little bit of a deal little bit of reservation there right right well it sounds like you're catching yourself eventually well I think that you're right that's that's not really what it is it's really it's really getting out of the way it's really relinquishing and it's also here in the teaching that you that you actually it's not something you do even it's already that you're not holding on to anything it's already that you have completely relinquished everything that's what you really are already like this is a this is not stopping you from doing anything this is the way you already are

[78:07]

this is this place that you already are that you want to return to this is the person you already are that you don't have to be anxious about but you also want to be that person and you must become that person it's not it's not so dead as just to say you're already that person so why be anxious it's also that you want to be that person that you already are and you must become the person what's between what two there's nothing between the nature of what you already are is that you must become what you are you are a complex being that cannot that does not fit into any simple little package of conception because you're inseparable

[79:08]

from the flow of this of all this there's nothing in between though it's just that there is a when the mind thinks about the way we are the mind comes up with contradictions paradoxes conflicts there really isn't any but when the mind tries to embrace when the consciousness tries to embrace all that's happening doesn't work when when the circle of water says this is the ocean things don't work you can't explain the tides and you can't explain what's happening in the circle of water if you think that's all that's happening you can't see any farther than the circle of water but you can tell it just isn't all that's happening if you watch carefully what's going on you can tell it must be something more going on because nothing it doesn't make sense here there's contradictions in this little circle of water one of the contradictions is that you're already this way

[80:09]

and you must become this way but if you look at the whole ocean that's what it would be like that's the way it is in the whole picture yeah isn't wanting to be this person or that person well, wanting to be that person getting in the way it's not you getting in the way is it? it's not getting in the way, no it seems like getting in the way I know it seems that way but it's not because what it does is it sets up the situation that you want to get that you should get out of the way of you should be willing to enter that space you're just describing I know it sounds like that but I'm saying if you took that away the situation wouldn't be alive if you didn't want to be the way you have to become what? I can't hear you which is the way you already are right if you if you remove that and call that getting out of the way you've got you've got an unrealistic situation there

[81:10]

you've got a too simple version of reality you're denying the fact that you're a human being then well, what seems like getting in the way is that you have some idea about what this situation is then yeah, that's that's different you can want to be there without having any idea of it I guess that's my thought this seems like something else you can want to be something that without thinking that it's something other than what you are as a matter of fact as soon as you remove that way of thinking you can enter there but you have to forsake your intelligence in a certain way you don't have to be stupid you just have to give up your intelligence in order to enter this place and this place has a full range of a whole bunch you know of these opposing forces

[82:12]

that are actually in perfect balance but you don't need this description of this place which this guy is talking about and which he woke up to which the other guy woke up to the description is not how you enter the description well actually the description is the place you enter but the practice you do is to is to let yourself hear that is to relinquish everything then that then it's an entry point with all its contradictions so I have this you know this commentary which is kind of long and I don't know what to do it seems like too long to start it now in a way I don't know what to do

[83:15]

yesterday I remember that it helped me to read part of it you know the first to get into it when you sort of stuck inside your way of processing this one phrase one verse are myriad forms one hundred grasses one dharma one realization are all buddhas and all ancestors there has not been begrudging not begrudging means to study beyond self and others sounds like previous precept and or another way to translate this would be to study the non-discrimination of self and others and to study the non-discrimination of self and others

[84:17]

means that you would study the discrimination of self and others and by studying how you discriminate self and others you will realize what non-discrimination is first and by the way not begrudging means to study beyond self and others is a phrase is one phrase there is one right there and that phrase is myriad forms in other words you can enter all forms with this particular phrase right here which is kind of well it's quite a compliment to that form someone said to me yesterday well do you even need one phrase and I think you do need one phrase and he said well what about can't couldn't something else be what you use I said well like

[85:18]

some people woke up when they saw a peach blossom open or heard bamboo being hit by a pebble but that's a phrase that's he said well isn't that just a direct experience but no it has to be something in your consciousness your regular consciousness in other words your ego is there because it has to be an object because you're trapped in the realm of objects and as soon as it's an object it's a concept and as soon as it's a concept it's a word it's a phrase and not only that however but as far as we know no one has awoken to these phrases without some instruction there's these things called pratyekabuddhas which are people who wake up without ever hearing any instructions but they don't wake up to buddhahood they wake up very deeply

[86:19]

but not the same way a buddha does all the buddhas study with buddhas they all heard instructions from buddhas verbal instructions well that's fine if you think you're studying with a buddha I don't care what their name is but all buddhas were studying with beings that they thought were buddhas but some beings are awakened without studying with anybody they consider to be a buddha and you can be awakened that way but the buddhas don't do it that way they study with beings that they think are buddhas and they hear their verbal instruction not just verbal they make they also can see expressions on the face and eyes blinking and stuff like that but when you see them you convert them into a phrase and it's a phrase from the buddha but you can also consider a peach blossom to be giving you a phrase from buddha but then the same person said

[87:21]

but isn't that just intellectual and I also propose to you that the first level of insight and entry is intellectual that's just the first level intellectual means it's coming in through the ears basically or eyes it can come through the skin too but even if you're touched when it's on the level of objective knowledge it's a concept it's a word this is a word and your intellect is there any object of awareness is made an object by an intellectual process intellect makes it the object you have to have intellectual operations in order to have objects of knowledge you cannot have objective knowledge without intellect doing that job so all things that we're conscious of are brought along with intellection however that's not the whole story and you can get you first get the teaching at that level though because it first comes to you

[88:22]

from the ear and the eye you first get it in from the outside it has to come intellectually you cannot get something outside without the intellect being in operation and you need to get stuff from the outside you need to get it from a Buddha I don't care what it is that you're calling a Buddha you need to get it in from out there and not only do you have to get it in but you have to get in instructions about how to use it and when you get it in and with the instructions of how to use it at that level you can have insight you can have wisdom about what this means by this one phrase yeah I mean you think it's an object if it's not outside if you don't think it's an object you cannot know it we're trapped in the realm of knowledge that's where we're trapped that's where our pain is is in conscious knowledge that's where the ego lives that's where the ego is sort of you know the coordinator of activities that's where identity lives that's where we're suffering

[89:24]

that's what we need to we need to integrate that realm with the total system of our life in this world the first level of release and insight is intellectual it doesn't have to be intellectual like you know philosophy in the sense you ordinarily think about it but it has to be that level first and that's not deep but that's number one the next level is you take it in and you think about it yourself you don't have to get any more information you've heard it you think about what it means for you you mix it in with all your emotions which again are objects of awareness they're emotions which you're not thinking about you mix it in with your feelings you cook it up cook it up cook it up you bounce it around you reflect it and reflect it and reflect it and reflect it so like you can get instructions on how to dance or how to sing the first level of dancing instruction is from the outside by seeing the person by having them touch you by them talking to you by them saying words to you you hear that

[90:25]

when you get enough information so you understand what they're talking about you can think about it yourself and see what it means for you what does it mean for my body when you do that as much as you can and you can't do any more then you start dancing and that's the next level of insight where the level of insight first level is level of hearing and seeing from the outside next level is internal reflection and the next level is you're just having insight about the way you are and one phrase can operate at all these levels but it has to start at the intellectual level once it gets down to like with dancing too you get instructions from other people you practice it and practice it in terms of your own experience they're not necessarily saying anything to you anymore the teacher might not even be around and you're bouncing around the floor with somebody else trying to apply this stuff in terms of your own understanding and what's happening with your body and at a certain point when you can't do any more of that suddenly you start doing this thing called dancing in other words what you're doing is dancing it's not that what you're doing

[91:25]

is like dancing you are dancing and then from there you can think about that and you can talk about it and teach somebody else how to dance by talking to them from the outside until they make dancing their own internal thing yes? you were waving your body back and forth well I'm getting drowned and this is going to sound a little weird but yesterday my understanding where we came yesterday is this place where we're sitting every moment because we're praising self every moment and we're praising self so we became equated to attributing some substance to a self here and we were having

[92:13]

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