I find it's always or almost always useful to use opportunities that have just arisen or nearly so. So this thing about a funny thing happened to me on the way to the lecture hall, all just seems to be apropos if something happens. Like sometimes if I'm going to give a talk at Green Gulch about something or other, something about the Zen or something, sometimes as I'm walking out the door on my house to go to the Dharma Hall, my wife and my daughter make some wisecrack. That's almost always just perfect, much more you know apropos than what I intend to say because they're saying it now rather than then or whatever. So sort of on the way to the lecture hall, the attendant

[01:07]

gave me a note or a letter from one of the monks, which I already read but I thought I might read it again. And I also brought these scissors because I hate this stuff along the edge here. Cut it off in the future. Did you say why not stand it? Because I want to demonstrate, I want to confess that I'm a human being. That's where I start, okay? First is confession. I'm a

[02:16]

human being. Don't be proud of it though. Confess it. So in a sense that's what this letter is about. This person's basically saying, well you're talking about this, you know, you're reading about these ancestors fantastic realms that they enter and this non-cleaning practice and stuff like, but what about me? Basically what she's saying. And yeah, that's right. You've got to start with what about me? What about this person with this person's problems? And I thought yesterday when I started by telling you of my lies that that was my way of saying, hey look, this is a person who just lied to his attendant yesterday. And I was thinking also, you know, when I am or if I ever get to live in the place, if I can ever stand or sit in that place, will I ever not be

[03:27]

sorry for the cruel things I've done? And I guess whenever I think of those things, I'll always be sorry about them. So this is part of the dynamic of the world. This person said, I've often heard you say there are two things that are true. The emptiness or lack of inherent existence is one true thing and the other is the constant appearance or arising of empty things. He said, I feel like the second point has been missing from what you're saying. So I feel like I may not have gone into enough detail about the second thing, but I mean to confess that right off that, you know, there really are no lies, but lies do appear in

[04:28]

my life. Even I lie. I don't really believe lying is true, but I have to admit when I see it, especially when I see myself do it. It's empty, but sometimes it happens. So I do want to pay homage to not only that in my life constantly there is the appearance of empty things, but I often also believe that they're not empty. Okay. Anyway, she said that the instruction about don't cling feels different than be aware of your clinging. It is different. It's true. Being aware of your clinging is not really clinging, but how about clinging? Do you ever being aware of your clinging? Or how about not even admitting that you're clinging? That's clinging. When you're aware of your clinging, that's

[05:31]

just pretty simply, that's not clinging. That's just admitting the second truth that there is the appearance of clinging. So that's good. Admit your clinging if you're clinging. Confess your clinging if you're clinging. That's the first step. Once you admit your clinging, if you could ever admit it enough, then you can enter perhaps not clinging. When I hear empty, empty, empty, even in all its wonderful subtlety, empty, clear, bright, aware, neither existent or non-existent, I tend to feel more frustrated and deficient than inspiring. Maybe I just don't get the subtlety. Certainly I feel pretty stupid and stuck, or no, I feel pretty stupid and stuck. Sitting still, quiet, my experience of emptiness arises from watching the torrential appearance of empty things. What about watching

[06:37]

myself fall into it or fall for it over and over and over? What about watching myself attribute substance again and again and again? So I would say anybody who catches themselves attributing substance again and again and again is somebody who is inspired by the teaching of emptiness. And it's true that we do experience emptiness, it does arise from watching this appearance of empty things. That's right. If practice is about who we are, then how does it fit in? Yeah, this is how it fits in. Confess that you're clinging, you confess that you believe in these things,

[07:41]

that's where you're at, that's the practice, admit it, and that's the basis for realizing emptiness of things. It's my faith that freedom comes through suffering right now, okay? Suffering feels like confusion and stuckness and once again disillusionment. I mean I'm feeling left out but I can't see freedom here at all. Anyway, this is the tension, the discomfort I'm experiencing from what you've been saying. You asked us to express it, so here it is. And if you think I'm really just stuck and off base or something, I'd be more than happy to know where or how. I can't see it from over here, so any light you

[08:49]

can shed from over there would be a lot of help. I think, maybe not, skip that maybe not, help. So there's one thing, in these stories that we've been talking about so far, particularly the last two, there's been reference to a realm, a realm that's not someplace else, right under our nose, and yet there's an issue of whether we can enter it or not, whether we can reach it or not. And speaking words of encouragement to drop everything and enter that realm,

[09:50]

someone may hear that and feel left out. And that realm, in a sense, it does leave someone out. It leaves me, the one who wants to be in the middle of that realm, out. It leaves out anybody who wants to bring something in there. It completely includes us, but if we try to bring something in there, we'll have to stay outside. If we try to station ourselves in the middle, we'll have to stay outside. So if you want to be, if you're not ready somehow to enter that, what you can do, as I said yesterday, is you can be like an usher at a big sports event and you can guide beings, let everyone else go in

[10:58]

there to that big green field, and you can just say, come on, go in there. If you want to be in the middle, you're going to be left out. If you want to be included, that's already okay. If you want to be a good servant, by the way, Dongshan's name, Yangja, means good servant. So anyway, I have to admit, you know, any attachment I have, and also you can also be attached to emptiness. And then I can enter if I want, but if I still don't feel like I can enter, I still don't want to enter, that's okay, I can still play a role in this, I'm not really excluded, I just can't play certain roles, I can't be the center of the whole thing. But I definitely am included in it and I can definitely be a good servant to this process of all beings

[12:02]

entering this space of peace, this realm, this ungraspable realm of not clinging, which is completely not separate from anything else. But if you want to admit everything else, then it seems separate. So all these precepts are pointing to this realm, which you can call Buddha's mind if you want, or suchness, dependently co-arisen awakening. All the precepts are pointing to the same place, they're all included there. And all these Zen stories are pointing to this place. And the precepts, of course, are

[13:04]

phrased, their titles are phrased to admit the world, stealing, killing, lying, greedy sex. There is that world, and admitting that world, and admitting that world, and admitting that world, exhaustively inventorying our neurotic involvement in the violation of these precepts. Then we use these precepts to turn us around and point us back to the place where these precepts are not violated. And these Zen stories, too, are stories about human beings who are trying to be human beings, and yet also trying to really not take that too seriously. Again, I just remind you of what Hunga Doyo said, Tao Ying said. He said, monks, when you vomit out words, you should do so for

[14:15]

a reason and not speak negligently. What do you think this place is? How can you take it easy? Whenever you ask about this matter, you should be sufficiently aware of good and evil. Each of us has to figure out what sufficiently aware of good and evil is. Sufficiently aware means, as much as you can, exhaustively inventory your neurosis. It doesn't mean … I mean, what that is one day is one thing. It isn't like every day it's the same inventory. And also you shouldn't do it too much. Sufficiently aware means aware to the extent that you're

[15:20]

doing the fullest admission of your humanness and your hung-upness that you can, that you admit to what extent you're clinging at this moment and how you're clinging in this moment. So he said, you guys should be aware of that sufficiently. Don't go too far. As soon as you're sufficiently aware, well, then you're ready to enter. When you're sufficiently aware of where you are, you are at the top of a hundred-foot pole or a hundred-foot pile of shit, whatever. You're there when you sufficiently admitted it. But if you haven't yet sufficiently admitted it, your feet aren't on the ground, and if you try to step forth, you'll just be in the same place. But if you admit where you are, you can step forth from there. So he alludes to that simply by saying, you should be sufficiently aware of good and evil.

[16:24]

Then the primary point is not to cling. Then the primary point is to take another step off the top of this existence. Then the primary point is to abandon all human emotion and sentiment. Now that you've admitted all your human cravings, now that you've admitted all your neurotic activity, now you can let go of it, including you've admitted that you don't want to let go of it. That's another one. Including that you've admitted that you don't want to play with the Buddha, and you don't think Buddha wants to play with you. This is more that you admit. Once you've admitted it all, then you can let go, if you want to.

[17:34]

But I would suggest to you that once you've admitted it all, you will want to let go. Once you haven't admitted it all, you can't. And the reason why we haven't admitted it all is because we're still wanting not to admit who we are. In other words, we still don't want to let go. But as soon as you admit completely how sufficiently, I should say, as soon as you sufficiently, because again, we can never completely admit how bad we are because the shadow is still there, but as soon as you sufficiently, within what you know, within what you can do, as soon as you are a person who would admit it, you simultaneously reach the point where you're ready to drop. Does that make sense? So then, at the end of Dao

[18:49]

Ying's lecture, he says, if you want to acquire such a thing, if you want to enter such a realm, you must become such a person. Since you are already such a person, why be anxious about such a thing? And Michael asked yesterday about this tension between that. There's a paradox there. He's saying, you must become this person and you're already this person. And there's a tension. There is a tension there. And so part of what we have to be able to do is to stand that. Now, the person we are can stand that, but the egocentric ego cannot stand it. However, the egocentric ego is not excluded from that realm. It just can't stand it if it tries to

[19:53]

be in the middle of it. But it can be over on the edge a little bit. Yes? It seems that there are some human emotions and sentiments that are pretty good to have, and I don't understand why you would want to abandon all of them. Like, you know, wanting to save all beings. Bodhisattva should abandon the desire to save all sentient beings, also. There's nothing that does any good to claim to. It doesn't mean you don't have it anymore. You have to abandon being a woman. You're not going to stop being a woman because you abandon it. But if you hold on to it, it's just going to get in your way. You also have to abandon being a man, and being a human, and being good, and being bad, and being a Buddhist. You have to abandon absolutely everything. Anything you hold on to will block your activity. So because the people

[20:54]

who are dedicated to not abandoning any beings must abandon their vow to benefit all beings. They must let go of it. You cannot hold on to it. You abandon it so you can be it. You abandon Buddha too, so you can become Buddha. The human mind can turn the best thing into poison, if it holds to it. So it's not really abandoning, it's just abandoning your idea of it? Yeah, just abandoning your idea of it. It's just abandoning clean. It's abandoning attachment. You have to abandon attachment to your body. You don't abandon your body. You abandon attachment to Buddha. You abandon attachment to men, and women, and children, and beings. Then you can help people much more effectively. Now it isn't that you don't help people a little bit while you're still attaching to everything, because you're setting a good example of the Dharma of

[21:59]

attachment. And again, the more I admit my attachments, the more I'm ready to abandon my attachments so that I can help all beings. Okay? I would say it the other way around too. If you hold to anything, including if you attach to any beings, any beings, if you attach even to the vow to save beings, if you attach to it and hold to it, you will definitely eventually abandon beings. If you're holding to that, you can be made, you can be forced by that attachment. That attachment can take you and throw you for a loop called abandoning beings. But if you don't attach to that, no one can make you abandon beings, which you naturally won't do

[23:08]

if you don't attach. And you naturally will do, you naturally will forsake yourself and other beings' welfare if you attach. Once you attach, you can be made to do anything. And again, in order to become free of attachment, I have to be honest that I am attached. Because if I'm lying to myself that I'm attached, then not only am I attached, but I have no way to become free of it because I'm kidding myself. But if I admit I'm attached, I have a chance to abandon that attachment. And again, this statement by Tao Ying, if you want to acquire such a thing, you must become such a person. Since you already are such a person, why be anxious about such a thing?

[24:10]

That is, again, these two statements. Things are empty and empty things arise. And when I read that letter, one of the first things that came to my mind was, it's so difficult, it's extremely difficult to understand the middle way. The middle way has a tension in it. It's very difficult to live in that tension until we understand it. We want to veer off to, okay, things are empty, or okay, things are real. But to live with the tension between the fact that things are empty and the fact that empty things are constantly happening, to live in that place between those and balance those, that's the middle way. It's very difficult, extremely difficult to understand how to do that. So again, there's a middle way between, okay, it's so difficult, take it easy on yourself,

[25:16]

don't push yourself too hard, relax. And it's an urgent matter to understand how to do this, how to balance between keeping yourself working to understand this and not pushing yourself too hard. That's another middle way. Actually, there's these three things. There's emptiness of everything, the fact that this is all a dream. There's the fact that dreams, it really is true that dreams are happening all the time. And there's a middle way, these three things, which you can see as a triangle sometimes or three dots sometimes. And there's a Sanskrit character which is made by three dots. And in ceremonies, when we want to encourage beings to become alive and to drop

[26:25]

their attachments and become alive and go forward, we sometimes make these three dots in water before we sprinkle it on people, these three dots. But it's very difficult. Emptiness, the fact that non-existent empty things are constantly appearing and the middle way. The fact that dependently co-arisen things and their emptiness are identical, that's the middle way. It's very hard to understand that. So, when

[27:39]

Dongshan, the good servant, asked Dao Ying, what's your name? And Dao Ying said, Dao Ying. At that time, according to the tradition, Dao Ying had understood the middle way. When he said Dao Ying, he knew that that was empty. At the same time, he knew and was willing to play the game of producing empty Dao Yings. You name it, you want a Dao Ying, here's a Dao Ying. It really does appear here. And then Dongshan says, well, say it from beyond. In other words, say it from where you already are. And he says, if I say it from beyond, I can't say I'm Dao Ying. So there again, that statement is supposed to represent the realization of the middle way.

[29:04]

And then Dao Ying says to Dao Pi, if you want to acquire such a thing, you must be such a person. Since you're such a person, why be anxious about such a thing? And Dao Pi understood the middle way and entered also. He entered this place where all the precepts are pointing. So where are the precepts pointing? Not killing. Life is not to kill.

[30:12]

Let the Buddha seed grow and succeed to the life wisdom of Buddha not taking life. Life is not killed. Not stealing. In the suchness of mind and objects, the gate of liberation is open. Not misusing sexuality. No greedy sexuality. Because the wheels are pure, nothing is to be wished for. All Buddhas are on the same path. No false speech. Dharma wheel has all inclusively turned. There is no excess, there is no deficiency.

[31:27]

One complete moistening of sweet dew bears fruit as actuality and truth. No intoxication or not selling liquor. Where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable. This is exactly great brightness. This realm where all the precepts are pointing, nothing can be brought in there. Nothing is excluded. Nothing is excluded. Like Leslie said, from the definitive vinaya of the Bodhisattvas, if a Bodhisattva says this is anger, this is not Buddhadharma. If a Bodhisattva says anger is not in this realm,

[32:35]

this is arrogance of a Bodhisattva. Confusion is not Buddhadharma. Lust is not Buddhadharma. They don't belong in Buddhadharma. Get them out. Nothing can be, you cannot bring greed, hate or delusion into this light. You can't get them out either though. If you say they're not there, if you say they're not Buddhadharma, this is just arrogance. There's nothing excluded from Buddhadharma. Therefore, nothing can be brought in. Where nothing can be brought in, everything is inviolable. With one moistening of sweet dew, one moistening of sweet dew bears fruit as actuality and truth.

[33:42]

Where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable. This is exactly Great Brightness. And now we're on course. I'll bring up now the next ancestor. Ready? This is number 41. Here he is. His recent historical research has revealed that he actually was a woman. His name in the lineage chart is Dovan Kanshi. Dovan Kanshi. The previous one was Dovan Dohi.

[35:01]

So Dovan Dohi or Tung-an Dao-pi is the teacher of Tung-an Guan-zhi. And sometimes the first one is called the former Tung-an and this one's called the latter Tung-an. Yes, same place. So one habit number one, habit number two, or what we call the former Dovan and the latter Dovan. Okay, so here's a simple story about the former Dovan and the latter Dovan. They were having a talk. So the 41st pioneer, the latter Tung-an, studied with the former Tung-an.

[36:18]

The latter asked the former, The ancients say that what worldly people love, I love not. I wonder, teacher, what you love? The former Tung-an said, I've already been able to be like this. The latter Tung-an was greatly awakened. Now, we can go in two directions, both of which I would enjoy. But I don't know which one. One direction would be go and listen to Khezan Zangye harangue you about abandoning everything. Which this story kind of stimulated him to do. Or we could go and discuss the fifth precept.

[37:32]

Or we could do first the harangue and then go to the fifth precept. Well, yeah, but some people may not want to get harangued by Khezan Zangye. You do? Ah, well, it's good enough for me. Okay, here's a harangue. So here's the story, right? Yeah, well, I'll read the center of the story. The center story is this guy Guan Zhe, right? Dovan Khanshi. He says to his teacher, who is called Dovan Dohi, he said, the ancients say that what worldly people love, I love not. What did the ancients say? He's also saying that's what he feels that, right? And then he says, I wonder, teacher, what you love?

[38:38]

And Dovan Khanshi says, I've already been able to be like this. And then Guan Zhe woke up greatly. Okay. Now, when I read that thing, what the worldly people love, I love not. What do worldly people love? Basically, what worldly people love is they love not understanding the middle way, that's what they love. That's it. Of course, it's extremely painful not to understand the middle way, but we love it. But the ancients say, I love it not. I don't love not understanding the middle way.

[39:41]

And he says, how about you, teacher, what do you love? And he says, well, I've already been able to be like this. But even loving not, I love not, is a little bit too much. You know, I mean, I would say I love not understanding the middle way and also I don't love not understanding the middle way. I love not understanding the middle way and I also don't love not understanding the middle way. How about you? What do you love? So, in a way, the teacher said, you know, I'm like those other ancestors and I guess I'm like a lot of people who they love continuing to misunderstand and attach, but also they don't

[40:50]

love it. And that's the same situation again, right? You must become and you already are. So, here's the harangue. Kesan says, anyway, first of all, he says what wonderful people these two guys are, what wonderful monks they are. And he said, this guy, Kanshi, is just a wonderful Zen monk and he or she who studies will find it for the first time when she reaches this realm. And again, what is this realm? This realm is, if you're a worldly person and you love not understanding the middle way and you're a Zen monk and you don't love that, that dynamic,

[41:56]

to live in that dynamic and from there to enter and reach the middle way. So, this kind of practice of eradicating commonness and achieving excellence revealed by his character right from the start. Therefore, he said, what worldly people love, I love not. I wonder what you love, Master. This what the world loves means people love themselves and others and this love increases little by little. They love their environment, they love their own bodies and this love gets deeper and deeper. They add iron shackles to iron shackles by loving the Buddhas and loving the ancestors. In this way, the impurity of love grows filthier and filthier. Finally, the conditions for their karma continue endlessly and they are born without freedom and die without freedom. These are the consequences of love. Therefore, this kind of love of beings,

[43:08]

Buddhas, males, females, sentient and non-sentient must be banished at once. Coming through for you? Oh, yeah. When you no longer discern anything, whether rules or things, know nothing and are aware of nothing, this is love of the formless. Do not stop here. As for attachment to form, once you arouse the thought for enlightenment, you naturally end up attached to the formless. If you become attached to the view of formlessness and end up in the realm of formless, even after so many eons have passed in your celestial life in the formless realm,

[44:08]

when they've ended, you will unfortunately fall into a hell called uninterrupted. Ah! This is what is meant by no-mind as annihilation of thought. Worldly people desire this form and formlessness repeatedly. Seeing self and others in forms and forgetting self and others in formlessness are totally wrong. Can we read that one again? The whole thing? No. Seeing self and others in forms and forgetting self and others in formlessness are totally wrong. Thus, as eminent Zen monks, whether you are beginners or veterans, you are descendants of the venerable Shakyamuni and use the same robes and bowl he used.

[45:10]

How can you be attached in the same way worldly people are? First, you must free yourself of all false views of such things as right and wrong, good and evil, male and female. Next, do not get stuck in the nihilism of non-action, indifference, and formlessness which may follow that. If you want to experience this realm of personality, personally, do not look for it in others or beyond yourself. You must go back to the time when you had no body. With skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, how could there be anything such as the six senses, their objects, delusions, awakening, impurity, or purity? Buddha can do nothing for you and there is nothing to be had from a teacher. Not only is this not distinguished through sound and form, but it has no eyes or ears.

[46:17]

However, the moon mind shines round and bright and the eye flower opens and forms are fresh. You must arrive here fully to be worthy like Guangzhi. So this harangue goes very well with the one the previous day when he said, that even though you seek it through thought, that itself is the self and nothing else. Even reflecting inwardly on yourself is not discrimination. It is the self and nothing new. Using eyes, ears, and mouth, opening your hands and moving your feet, these are all self.

[47:19]

Fundamentally, there is nothing that can be grasped with hands or seen by eyes. So again, here's a very dynamic situation which I can't stand. But if I can't stand it, I can arrange for all beings, including this body, to enter this realm and have a good time. So now I could do a little bit more on the fifth precept. I can't restrain myself. I have to say something about the

[48:50]

third one, the third precept, which is commented on by Dogen in saying, because the three wheels are pure, nothing is to be wished for. All Buddhas are on the same path. I'm saying this partly because of what we just said about love. It's because the three wheels are pure. The three wheels are body, speech, and mind. And I just want to say this part again. Receiving Buddha-nature precepts means Buddha-nature receives Buddha-nature. This being so, what we call men and women make Buddha-nature their body, make Buddha-nature their speech, make Buddha-nature their mind.

[49:56]

What we call men and women make Buddha-nature their body, make Buddha nature their speech, make Buddha nature their mind. In this way the three wheels are pure, means to purify body with the body, to purify speech with speech, to purify mind with mind. And if we intend to purify body, speech or mind with something other than body, speech or mind, this is not purity. This being so, when one precept appears, ten precepts appear. When we understand this principle it means we save and awaken all sentient beings by offering this pure Dharma. So not selling liquor is what it actually says, not selling fermented liquor.

[51:11]

There is nothing, where nothing can be brought in, again the same realm where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable, where no words can reach, where no words can reach is where no words can be excluded, where nothing can be brought in is where nothing can be excluded. Everything is inviolable, incorruptible and safe. This is exactly the great brightness. Since I've been at Tassajara I haven't had any intoxicants other than the ones everybody has. What did you say? Green tea. Green tea, coffee, chocolate.

[52:14]

Tulips. Tulips? Oh no! Tulips, oh yes, and also beautiful students. So anyway, you see, it's almost unavoidable, isn't it, if anything is brought in? But even if I haven't had any heavy drugs, in an ordinary sense, still I'm like an alcoholic who although hasn't had any alcohol is still an alcoholic until I find the realm where nothing is brought in. Only then am I not addicted. Only then am I not craving to bring something in.

[53:18]

Only then am I inviolable. Only then do I realize great brightness. Until then, it's just a matter of conditions. Get me in the right spot, I'll take intoxicants. Dial in the right causes and conditions, I'll be a drug addict. Only in the realm where nothing can be brought in are we sober. Pradina? This is the particular kind of statement that would throw me right into finding the realm where nothing can be brought in. Could you say that louder, please? Louder? I'm making an effort to speak louder. This statement, finding the realm where nothing can be brought in, is exactly the kind of statement that would throw me into the tracks of wanting to cling, clinging to that.

[54:22]

That's the very kind of thing that climbs me up, and I guess there's something I should do in this case, it would be finding that realm where nothing can be brought in. Find that realm? Yes. Well, when you feel that, that's very good, to feel that that's what happens to your mind when you hear this. That's very good. Now what? Now listen to the rest. While a bodhisattva's original intention is to cause all sentient beings to arouse clear wisdom, if they are given wine or alcohol, their minds become intoxicated and confused. Now, one kind of wine is what I just said to you. Okay, Regina? Is that right?

[55:23]

What I just said to you was wine, right? You wanted it. And the way you heard that intoxicated you, didn't it? It didn't? I thought you said it did. Oh, the one you said before. Yeah, that's what I mean, before. See, even what I said to her before is wine. The thing about this thing. Now, I'm jumping ahead, but he'll say exactly what I said later, but I just thought I'd tell you that right away. That we're not just talking about regular liquor here, regular alcohol. We're talking about alcohol from the point of view of Buddha. So, bodhisattvas make this vow to help all beings arouse clear wisdom. If they are given wine or alcohol, their minds become intoxicated and confused. If they are not given wine or alcohol, and are not intoxicated, we don't know if clear

[56:33]

wisdom will arise in them or not. So that's part of the dilemma. Maybe we shouldn't give people anything. But that doesn't mean that clear wisdom will arise either. What shall we do? In our country, Japan, people sell wine at will for profit. The same could be said in other realms, even in the so-called Buddhist community. When one is not intoxicated, one sees a tree as a tree. Can this be called realizing correct view? When one is intoxicated, the ground can be seen as if it were above. Or one can see things as two. Do we call this confusion?

[57:35]

All these dharmas are just transmigrating birth and death. When we talk about clear wisdom in Buddhadharma, we do not discuss brightness in contrast to darkness. But it is clearly illuminated understanding which does not put objects in opposition to each other. So to say that not brightness itself is dharmata, dharma nature. And dharma nature itself is not brightness. This explanation does not differ, does not refer to one or two. Yet, in dualistic terms, not brightness and dharmata are opposite concepts. With this precept, the precept light comes forth from the mouth according

[58:39]

to conditions and not apart from conditions. This light is not blue, yellow, red, white, black, not form, not mind, not existing, not non-existing. Not the dharma of cause and effect, which you've heard before. This is a description of the other precepts. It's also a description of the light. The light of Buddha's face. The light of the absorption in the treasury of light. The same, this expression comes from the absorption of treasury of light or the womb of light. This light which we're supposed to absorb ourselves in is the same light which is not any of these colors, form or formlessness, cause and effect and also apart from cause and effect. It's not any of that stuff. It is simply Buddha's original practice. It is the fundamental path of the Bodhisattvas.

[59:44]

When we say not brightness, we are eternally liberated from dualism. Where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable. This is exactly the great brightness. And where we say not brightness is where we are eternally liberated from dualism. We do not say that we were deluded yesterday, but we have clear understanding today. We don't say that. Of course we do. But now we don't say that in this realm of not brightness.

[60:53]

We don't talk like that anymore. In the realm of not brightness, we don't have to say yesterday I was confused and today I'm not anymore. That's just the realm of birth and death talking. To expound this principle, my late teacher Dogen said, where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable. This is exactly the great brightness. From these words, it may be difficult to understand the meaning of quotes not to sell wine. When somebody is addicted to alcohol or drugs,

[61:59]

they really have to get away from them. When someone is addicted to brightness, I don't think they should try to get away from it. There's no way. You can never escape brightness. You can never escape the light. So, don't try to run away from it. Also, don't try to run away from the word light, the word brightness. Don't try to run away from the words about it, which then are drugs, possible drugs. Rather, practice with not-brightness. Practice with the brightness that cannot enter, that cannot be brought in, which means admit your tendency to want to go get it or bring it in.

[63:04]

It is difficult from this expression where nothing can be brought in, that is where everything is inviolable. This exactly is great brightness. It's difficult to understand what is meant by not to sell wine. However, where nothing can be brought in means neither birth and death nor nirvana can be brought in. We need to understand this and return to the true. We should know that not to understand the realm of delusion and enlightenment and to be concerned about the difference between sentient beings and Buddhas, to be concerned about the difference between being free and clean is cautioned against as the confusion caused by selling wine.

[64:10]

Go beyond the difference between delusion and enlightenment, sentient beings and Buddhas, being attached and being free. That is to understand and master not selling wine. This is to go beyond loving Buddhas and not caring so much for sentient beingship. To go beyond being concerned with the difference between delusion and enlightenment. And again, to abandon that concern, realistically speaking, means that we admit a little bit and then quite a bit and then sufficiently

[65:16]

that we are concerned with the difference. We are neurotically concerned with the difference between enlightenment and delusion. We're more neurotic about that than some people, you know, walking around the streets. We've got neuroses they've never heard of. But that gives us a chance to be more thoroughgoing because if they ever did hear about this, they would think it was neat too. They just haven't run into these problems yet. So we can be more thoroughgoing in our admission of humanness and there's realms we haven't even got yet to where we're going to have problems and then we can even more thoroughly admit how hung up we can get. And then to go beyond this concern through completely admitting it,

[66:16]

that's what's meant by mastery of not selling wine. This being so, delusion and enlightenment are wine. The difference between delusion and enlightenment is wine. Mountains and rivers are wine. Come to Tassajara. We've got mountains, we've got rivers. You want to get high? Woo! Come on! Sentient beings and Buddhas are wine. The Dharma realm is wine. The great earth is wine. You and me are wine. Go beyond concern with these differences is to master the precept of not selling wine.

[67:24]

So it is said, where nothing can be brought in. Nothing. Can't bring in Dharma, can't bring in Buddha, can't bring in nirvana, can't bring in mountains, can't bring in river and nothing's excluded either. Because of this, my late master Dogen said, where everything is inviolable, this is exactly great brightness. There is not a single precept that is not great brightness. So it is self-evident. You should know that wine is not wine. Wine is not sold in the Lotus Assembly. Wine is not... The fundamental intention of Buddhas, of the three worlds, is this precept.

[68:30]

The immediate path of all sentient beings becoming Buddha is this precept. Because wine is not sold at the Flower Adornment Assembly, the three worlds are mind only and there are no Dharmas outside mind and in Buddha's minds and sentient beings, Buddhas and sentient beings are not separate, are all this precept. Not brightness is itself the Dharma nature and the Dharma nature is not brightness, is the essence and function of this precept.

[69:34]

Studying Zen and negotiating the way are totally this precept from beginning to end. The sun, the moon, the stars are the brilliance of this precept. Because by mastering one phrase, myriad phrases become clear. The meaning of sutras, of over 5,000 scrolls, are all come from this precept. The traces of 2,000 years, this is 700 years ago, the traces of 2,000 years are the merit of this precept. In this way we learn that only in the house of pioneer to pioneer succession, wine is not sold. We should understand by this teaching,

[70:43]

all sentient beings have Buddha nature, all consciousness, form and mind enter the precept of Buddha nature. Also, each precept has a mind ground which includes aspects such as wrong and correct, provisional and real. Because wine is a condition for wrong action, it is clearly a fault when someone in the world intends to make wine. Drinking wine is light wrongdoing. Selling wine is heavy wrongdoing. The mind ground of a bodhisattva is that drinking is one person's fault, but selling affects other people. To sell wine for profit and not to be concerned about how others may be affected is not a bodhisattva's compassion.

[71:47]

To create wrongdoing which affects oneself is small, to affect others is great. We should be well aware of this. So I don't know if any wine was sold at this assembly this morning. But the important point is not to make any profit. The other day I came up to the cabin and I looked at my shoe.

[72:55]

There was a drop of red stuff on it. It looked like blood or red paint. I wondered what it was. So I stuck my finger in it and tasted it. It was blood. Whose blood was that? Yours? Yours? Whose blood was that? Anyway, we're into blood here. Amazingly, pioneer-wise we're on schedule and we're only one precept behind. I'm not afraid to fail. The latter asked the former, he said, What do you love, Master? I wonder what you love. I love New York.

[73:59]

How about you? I love a Gershwin tune. How about you? I love potato chips, moon-like motor trips. How about you? I love Bodhidharma's looks. How about you? How about you? There's a wonderful poem here but I don't know how to read it. And it has the word Christ in it, so I'm afraid. Go ahead. You read it, David. Do you have your glasses? Yes.

[75:02]

Sonnet. Sonnet. As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame. As tumbled over rim in roundy wells, stones ring. Like each tucked string tells, each hung bells bow. Swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name. Each mortal thing does one thing and the same. Deals out that being indoors, each one dwells, sells, goes itself. Myself it speaks and spells, crying, what I do is me, for that I came. I say more, the just man justices. Keeps grace that keeps all his goings, graces. Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is.

[76:07]

Christ, for Christ, plays in ten thousand places. Lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes. Not his, to the father, through the features of men's faces. It's a tough one. Sister Moon, could you read it? Again, yeah. As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame. As tumbled over rim in roundy wells, stones ring. Like each tucked string tells, each hung bells bow. Swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name. Each mortal thing does one thing and the same. Deals out that being indoors, each one dwells. Sells, goes itself. Myself it speaks and spells, crying, what I do is me, for that I came.

[77:09]

I say more, the just man justices. Keeps grace that keeps all his goings, graces. Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is. Christ, for Christ, plays in ten thousand places. Lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes. Not his, to the father, through the features of men's faces. What we call men and women make Buddha nature their body. Please purify your body with your body. Don't use anything else. Then no wine will be sold.

[78:04]

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