So we've been talking quite a while now about the Bodhidharma and also about the dharmakaya, the body of truth, and the practice of suchness. Someone said to me, it seems like the goal of the relationship between the student and teacher is that they can stand on the same ground or meet at the same level.

[01:03]

And she said, well, it seems like also that's the beginning. I agree that it's both the beginning and it's the goal. Do you agree, John? So then I said, this closeness is heart-rending. And she said something about, I'm always close to this.

[02:20]

And that's a case, it's a story which is case 98 of the Book of Equanimity, Shoya wrote. Someone said to Dungshan, which of the three bodies of Buddha does not fall into any category? And he said, I'm always close to this. So she said, I'm always close to this, and I said, this closeness is heart-rending if you search for it outside. And the ultimate familiarity seems like enmity. Does everybody know what enmity means? It means like enemy or hostility.

[03:31]

The ultimate familiarity seems like some kind of anger or animosity or enmity. Does everybody agree with that meaning for enmity? Does that seem right? This closeness is heart-rending, this closeness. I'm always close to this body of Buddha that doesn't fall into any categories. And the relationship between student and teacher has the same quality because we play the game of letting someone be Buddha in our life and then stand on the same level as that Buddha. And this closeness is heart-rending if we seek for it outside. Or, as the closeness, as the familiarity reaches its ultimate point, it seems almost like enmity.

[04:38]

And then she said, well, that's because it's close, and I said, rather than one? And she said, yes. Because you see, it's not really one. It's not really one with the dharmakaya or one with the teacher, but it's also not two. Two doesn't work, one doesn't work. One is just ridiculous. Two is too horrible. It's too cold and terrible. So, not one, not two. Anyway, I'm interested in what it's like for you when you're sitting still.

[05:46]

How is it? We've been studying Bodhidharma, as I said, and then after Bodhidharma comes the ancestor, Hoika. And after Hoika comes Tsong-tsang, and after Tsong-tsang comes Dao-shin. Having been talking about Bodhidharma for a while, what are the hallmarks of his life and teaching that occur to you? What stands out in your mind about Bodhidharma? Just sitting.

[06:52]

Yes? Reliance on inner truth. Reliance on inner truth. Some kind of uncompromising focus on the practice of non-duality. Some kind of uncompromising feeling about him, and a focus on the practice of non-duality. A focus on just sitting, or a focus on the practice of suchness. Relying on inner truth. I agree, these are kind of hallmarks of Bodhidharma. What else about him? Simplicity. Yes? Simplicity and faith. Simplicity and faith, yeah. Faith in suchness. Stubborn and brooding.

[07:56]

Stubborn and brooding. Silent. Silent. Fierceness. Fierceness. I agree with you. Not very friendly. I agree, I agree. Okay, what else? Is that enough? You're good. According with the causal nexus. According with the causal nexus. I thought you said according with the golden nexus. Sometimes. Face-to-face transmission. Face-to-face transmission. Yes? Yeah. Emptiness.

[09:00]

Nothing holy. Silence. Stillness. Simplicity. Fierceness. And faith. For me, you know, when I first started practicing, I didn't associate fierceness or toughness with faith. To me, I thought faith people are kind of friendly. Hi, I'm faithful. But I learned that actually some are that way. I learned that some people who have very strong faith are really strict and tough. And also Bodhidharma is Avalokiteshvara, you know, the great compassionate one, and he's not friendly. That's another thing which I was surprised to see. Unfriendly people who are boundlessly compassionate or the other way around.

[10:03]

It was hard, it was a surprise. I didn't see the relationship between compassion and strictness. It had shown to me again and again to sort of catch on that sometimes, some people, the way they're compassionate is they're very strict and unfriendly. But there are also some people who are strict and friendly. Given the right environment, some of those people who are very strict and compassionate might also be friendly. They aren't attached to their strictness, but given the time that they lived in history, they looked unfriendly their whole life. And this was compassion under those circumstances. Okay, well, that's pretty good. Okay, anyone want to add anything to that pile? I think we got a pretty good picture of Bodhidharma. I would add one more thing myself.

[11:05]

He was an Indian. He wasn't Chinese. He was coming from the old country, had a lot of confidence from his teacher and from his lineage to come over to help these people in China who didn't quite understand what compassion really was. They didn't actually understand what the practice of satsang was yet. Before him, there was a lot of confusion about it, supposedly. In that case, I would add arrogance. Arrogance! I really meant the presentation was not true. Anyway, I think he was pretty confident and his teacher told him to be good. And I forgot exactly what he said. I can bring that up some other time. Well, then comes two more disciples. They're both Chinese disciples. But some of you have been studying these two disciples, I think,

[12:07]

Kui Ke and Sung San. How about them? Are they like Bodhidharma, pretty much? Or a lot different? See any departure from their old master in them? Well, I... I'll give you a few more seconds. Any departures there? Anything new? Kui has the one who cut off his arm. Yeah, that's sort of in line with... It's kind of consistent. Yeah, it's kind of consistent. I think the next two ancestors were pretty consistent with that. Doing things like sitting for nine years in a cave, you know, under circumstances where also they weren't giving any... people weren't supporting them to eat either. Chinese people weren't about to support these Buddhist monks who were begging, but they weren't used to that. So these people were living a pretty rough life. Not rough, but austere.

[13:07]

They were very happy to do so, but not too many people could join them. The Bodhidharma had a few disciples. Some people say four, some people say ten, eleven. He wandered about. He wasn't sitting in a cave all the time. But their practice was to not be located at a particular place, to live pretty austerely, and so on. Bodhidharma, [...] there's no evidence that any of them wrote anything. The Xin Xin Ming, which is attributed to Sang Sang, is actually written in the 8th century. He didn't write it himself.

[14:16]

He may have said those things, we don't know. Whoever wrote it, wrote something pretty interesting, which later Zen people really liked. But to say that it's by Sang Sang is probably... there's no proof of that other than people said so. So, and if you think about it also, the life that everybody said he lived was that he did not circulate the teachings in public. He only taught secretly and only to one person, the fourth ancestor, Dao Shen. We don't know anything about him. So, in a sense, not just to give a sense of progress,

[15:19]

or the illusion of movement, which we, of course, don't fall for too much, I would suggest that we can move through the second and third of the ancestors in China, up to the fourth. Yes? Some people suggest that an ancestor had his arm cut off by bandits, and that was a religious practice, or that he cut off his arm. There's two traditions. One tradition is, in the biography of the eminent monks, that story says that it was cut off by bandits. However, that story also says that after it was cut off, he cauterized his arm in a fire and continued his begging round. So even though the bandits did it, he was still a very tough cookie. So there's no question about his...

[16:21]

ascetic abilities. The Zen tradition, however, says he cut it off and stood in the snow to demonstrate to Bodhidharma that he wasn't... that he was ready to practice. Which is another thing about these first three ancestors that carries over to some extent all the way up to the present. And that is, that to practice Zen, you have to give up your body. So, yesterday we had a meeting, we decided not to serve food here anymore. In order to practice... Well, that's another discussion.

[17:30]

But this is all... This decision is... tentative and waiting for complete approval by all of you. But in order to practice a Buddha's way, we have to, you know, we have to let go of self-clinging. And the way to let go of self-clinging is to let go of the body. And mortification is not necessarily the way to let go of the body. The way to let go of the body is to examine the body and find out that there isn't one there that you can get a hold of. So you don't necessarily have to cut your arm off, but if that was helpful to you, you might do it. You don't necessarily have to be real tough to let go of your body. Some people are really tough and really cling to the body even so.

[18:32]

So there is that spirit running all the way through from Shakyamuni Buddha to Bodhidharma, Hoika, Tsong-tsong and Dao-shin to give up the body. Up to Dogen and up to present, here to Tathagata too. We're struggling with this same issue. What does it mean to not cling to the body? What is the middle way about that point? So this is a part of the thread that runs through our lineage. Now, what I'm about to talk about now is, I hope, I hope you can follow it. Maybe I find it might be a little confusing, but I want to tell you a little bit about some historical problems

[19:36]

that I think might actually help practice in the long run. Temporarily it might be a little confusing. Point being that the fourth ancestor, Dao-shin, his life is the first life that really we have a lot of clear historical information about. But most important, he's the first one whose teaching really authentically has survived. All the other teachings that we have are not even, they're not, they're not, they're just random sayings. And if you look in this Zen-don and read what's said about Hoika, it's almost all quotes from sutras. It's almost nothing from him directly. The first one to really put out some distinctive teaching that we really have available besides just word of mouth that was repeated many, many centuries

[20:36]

after the person lived is the fourth ancestor. However, the fourth ancestor, we have no record that the fourth ancestor ever said, by the way, my teacher is Sung-san and Sung-san's teacher was Hoika and Hoika's teacher was Bodhidharma. But two generations after him his grandson said my teacher was Hong-ren Hong-ren's teacher was Dao-shin Dao-shin's teacher was Sung-san Sung-san's teacher was Hoika Hoika's teacher was Bodhidharma. These we have solid historic information on to back up what is for us an article of faith namely that lineage. But if you look at Bodhidharma's teachings

[21:41]

what they said he was into and you look at Dao-shin's teaching there is considerable discrepancies in the way that they taught. In particular one thing that you didn't mention which I think some of you are aware of is that Bodhidharma used the Lankavatara Sutra a lot. And if you look at the way he practiced and all the things that are said by him they it's reasonable to see that he really was involved with the Lankavatara Sutra. However if you look at Dao-shin's teaching he almost never mentions the Lankavatara Sutra he only mentions the Lankavatara Sutra once and his general way of teaching doesn't use those kinds of meditation devices much. However he was considered not too long after his death

[22:41]

as the legitimate inheritor of the Lankavatara tradition. So in his book which is called The Friends and Neighbors of the Lankavatara Sutra he has listed the lineages Bodhidharma Vaikrat Samsara Dao-shin Shunt Shun-shu and Buddhi and so on. That's supposedly the orthodox lineage of the Lankavatara teaching. But actually if you look at what they taught it isn't it isn't upheld. And the lineage itself is upheld by actual testimony

[23:42]

of near students of Dao-shin and Hung-ren. But that that's the main way and the other way it's held up is by which I think as I mentioned earlier what you can see is a is a sympathy of spirit and of essential concern. But it's possible that these student-teacher relationships were not like face-to-face. It's possible that the first ancestor of Chan is Dao-shin. And he looked around for ancestors for some people who could be his ancestors. And he made up this lineage of who he sincerely felt were Dao-shin were his ancestors. Even people that he didn't necessarily have such a close relationship with. Just like Dong-shan

[24:44]

traveled with many teachers and even was recognized by the very famous master Nan-chuan. But the teacher he felt was most authentic for his life and his understanding was Yun-yan. So in this case the disciple adopted the master even though the disciple had many people who could have been his teacher who recognized him. This this mutual adoption process is part of this not-one-not-two thing that I brought up earlier. The teaching of thusness or the practice of suchness I feel we can see in Dao-shin just as we can see in Bodhidharma.

[25:47]

But still their practice and their teaching methods are quite different. Ah! Before Bodhidharma no about the same time that Bodhidharma was in China at the same time that this Indian monk named Bodhidharma was rolling around in China there was another Chinese monk Chinese monk who lived at that time his name was Ji-ri. Ji-ri was you might say literally his title was

[26:51]

Chan-shir. He was a Chan master a teacher of Chan a teacher of of Jhana of concentration practices. And he was the third in the line of Chinese monks who specialized in in Jhana in Chan. He was the weakest of the three. He barely got approval for his concentration practice from his master. But although he was barely acceptable as a Chan master he was one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism. His intellectual ability was you know

[27:53]

just simply staggering. Just to take a peek at it it's staggering. He created an edifice which no other Buddhist as far as I can tell in the history of Buddhism has matched in terms of intellectual enterprise and comprehensive rapport with the vast ocean of Buddhist teaching. And he could demonstrate it by organizing it into an immense system which we call today the Tiantai system. And it's named that because Jiri lived on a mountain called Tiantai. And it came to be called Tiantai Buddhism. So he lived from 536 to 597. Not too long. During that time he wrote a lot and in his

[28:58]

teachings are again an overwhelming number of meditation practices and meditation devices which teachers can use to help people. This treasure house that he constructed was in the environment around the town of Bodhidharma and continued to be there through the first to the next three ancestors. And all though Dao Shin does not say that Jiri was his ancestor, he does not choose Jiri as his ancestor, still you can see that he obviously was influenced in many ways by Jiri. Many of Jiri's practices we see in Dao

[29:58]

Shin's practices. And just as someone might say that Dao Shin, actually Bodhidharma is not really, does not really have the flavor of what we call a Zen Buddhism. Because all of Zen Buddhism has the qualities of giving up the body, practicing suchness, very strong faith, strictness, and a certain aesthetic quality. What Aronsky said, all those things are true, and almost all those come down. Zen also has a quality, a uncompromising quality is also part of Zen, but there is also a compromising quality of Zen. It

[31:00]

compromises and doesn't compromise. And with Dao Shin, you have something about Zen which is very characteristic of Zen, namely, he set up a community. He built a monastery where people could come and practice. So instead of having one disciple or three disciples, he took up location. And people came to him, quite a few. This is not necessarily Chinese or Indian, but anyway, it is characteristic of our school to have some place where people can practice. And although there's a strict side, there's also the side of making it available to people, so that not just one person can come. Within the tradition

[32:00]

are some teachers who only accept one. But he reopened the gates of Chan and made it accessible to people. Another thing about Chinese Buddhism and Chinese about Chan that's different from Indian Buddhism is that you really can't survive very well. Most people can't survive just by digging in China or Japan or America or Korea. So he established some way other than begging for them to be supported. And he wrote a set of precepts, a new set of precepts, Bodhisattva precepts, which helped to enable monks still under the golden rule of, or golden chains of the precepts to find some way to support themselves other than begging, either by farming or

[33:02]

something, or making sandals or something. This is something which is characteristic of the rest of the lineage which was not characteristic in India of Chan and the first three ancestors. He also abandoned the objectified and objectified Buddha. Now this is not necessarily a new thing, but to articulate it as clearly as he did was new. In other words, he set the pattern for a characteristic quality of Zen, which is if you see a Buddha on the road, kill it. And when Dogen Zenji's teacher came in to be installed as abbot of a temple, part of

[34:02]

the ceremony is to come into the Buddha hall and offer incense to the Buddha and make a statement. He walked by the Buddha hall, looked in at the statue and said, a poison dart in my eye. This Buddha outside is poison. Dao Shin starts this tradition of what is the proper way to relate to Buddha. A bodhisattva's whole career is just to think about Buddha. To constantly think about Buddha. But this Buddha that you think about is not an object. So to have no objects in mind, to have a mind that has no objects, this is what we mean by mindfulness of

[35:02]

Buddha. This is a new thing that he started. And here's a big one, I think. And this really makes him different from Bodhidharma, too, and also relates back to what I was saying about Giri. He freely adopted skillful devices, or skillful meditation techniques, for people's needs. Yes, Bodhidharma would have just sat there facing the wall. That was it. There was no skill and means being used. It was just suchness, and if you couldn't get it, that's it. The wall was steep, and there was no place to get a hold except where you were already. Now, maybe on the side, secretly, he gave tidbits, we don't know, but anyway, it looks like he didn't give any skillful devices, he just gave suchness.

[36:04]

Dao Shin adopted freely many, many skillful meditation devices, and most of them that he voluntarily adopted were these Tiantai type. So, again, if you might not be revolutionary and say, really, the first Zen ancestor was Dao Shin. Before Dao Shin, really, the ancestors were still Indian. The first Chinese or Zen ancestor Dao Shin, might even say, actually, the first ancestor was Jiri, but not really, because Jiri, I think if you look at him, you don't feel that same quality of familiarity, but still, Dao Shin adopted many of the Tiantai meditation techniques, and a lot of the Tiantai meditation techniques are now in the Zen lineage, added to the practice of suchness. So,

[37:08]

look at the Fukanza Zengi. It says, take the backward step, but turns the light inward. That's from the fourth ancestor. That's a direct quote from the fourth ancestor's work that I'm beginning to study with you. And that quote from the fourth ancestor, that practice isn't directly a Tiantai practice. And also, when Yangshan is asked by the monk, the monk comes, and he talks to him, and Yangshan says, the mind that can think of things, that which can think of things is called mind, that which is thought of is objects. Think back to the mind that thinks. What do you see then? It's a Tiantai meditation. So these Tiantai practices, these Tiantai meditation practices, you see interspersed all the way down through the Zen lineage,

[38:08]

and Dogen of course grew up in that environment. So the free adoption of these skillful means, not just from Tiantai but from wherever it would be useful, and giving them to people according to their needs. This is a change at this point in the history of the lineage. And even Dogen adopted pure land practices of reciting Buddha's name to calm the mind. But again, his understanding of this practice was characteristic of the Zen lineage and not the same understanding that's usually associated with pure land. So what's the essence of all this? I don't know exactly but in one sense it is this steadfastness,

[39:09]

steadfast tendedness, but also harmonious attentiveness. The steadfastness of Bodhidharma but harmoniousness, adapting harmoniously to the circumstances of the environment, to the beings around you. So the attention of the Zen practitioner is constant, steadfast, and harmonious and flexible. And the harmony is not just with other people but the harmony is with the fundamental rhythms of the universe. Steadfast, harmonious attunement with the natural rhythms of others, of other people, plants, and the environment. In

[40:13]

order to have some material to experience the actual, you know, the vibrations that you're attuning to. Again, so there's one, this huge ship that's running through all, everything, you know, this great train of steadfastness, but also this very sensitive adaptation to the environment. So we're concerned about things about whether the generator is on or not. And how do, what to do about that? Well, we want the generator on because we want some lights so we can read the books that tell us that we're supposed to be in harmony. But we also don't want the generator making that noise because it vibrates the ground. And some people want this and some people want that. What is the rhythm of this place? How can we lucidly and clearly harmonize with the true rhythm of this place? And yet also we have this practice which we are committed

[41:14]

to. There's two sides. This is a Daoxin. You can innovate it. And also constrict a chord with an image. A Chinese person who says, We can practice Buddhism. Confidence in your own way. And I must say, when I think about that, I always wonder, how could Chinese people ever practice Buddhism? It's Indian. And how could Japanese ever practice Buddhism? It's Chinese. How could Japanese ever practice Zen? It's a Chinese thing. And how can Americans practice Zen? It's Japanese. Well,

[42:17]

it takes, to some extent, great reverence for the tradition, and also it takes some confidence in what we're doing here. What's the balance between those two? In Dao Xin we see a big step towards the Chinese boldly saying, We have practice here and it's Chinese. And we have to change it because of these circumstances. People won't give us food if we beg. And so on. It's much colder in China than it is in Japan. I mean, than it is in Japan, but also than it is in India. We have to change our clothes. We have to be indoors otherwise only two people will be able to practice in the whole country. And so on. This is reasonable. So,

[43:19]

again, it's a matter of balance. I'd like to repeat something I brought up the other night and that is that in the sort of the backbone of Zen Buddhism is the Prajnaparamita. And

[44:26]

maybe you could say that the stomach or the flesh part of Zen is the Avatamsaka and the Lankavatara Sutras. The backbone is is the Prajnaparamita and Lotus Sutras. These are teachings about emptiness of mind. Reality is fundamentally empty and so is mind. Mind is also reality. But if you relate to mind as reality without having already established that mind is empty and everything is empty then you've got just a pile of flesh that's with no skeleton hanging on. And Bodhidharma's teaching actually is perfectly clear

[45:28]

that the Lankavatara Sutra is based on a not so strongly stated case of emptiness. In the background Lankavatara Sutra is vast emptiness nothing holy. Then all this teaching about how to work with the mind and what the mind is comes and has something to hang on to. So with that in the background Dao Shin has many kinds of teachings but five basic types of meditation methods that he offers which I'll just put out there for you now and you can go into detail later maybe. The first basic type of meditation instruction he gives is that we should know the essence of mind that its intrinsic essence is pure clarity and that

[46:30]

our mind is essentially the same as Buddha. That's one type of instruction. Another type is knowing the function of mind. Its function produces the teaching the treasury of Dharma. Its activity is always silent and myriad delusions are thus. Myriad delusions are thus. This is the function of mind. The third type of instruction he gives is always be aware without stopping. The aware

[47:32]

mind being present it senses the formlessness of things. The fourth type of meditation that he gives is always seeing the body as empty and quiet inside and out communing with sameness plunging into the body of the Dharmakaya. There has never been any emptiness. The fifth type is keeping to the one without shifting. Emotions in motion and stillness always there enabling us to see

[48:33]

the awakened nature. These are five basic types. And if you think about it these are somewhat going in different directions. This is examples of these are types and if you need to type there are several examples. But these are going in different directions somewhat. The teaching of thusness is involved in each one of these. But each of these give a little different foothold on it. So one is going towards for example essence the other one towards the function. And again we can see this interplay coming through all the ancestors from him on. This play between the essence and the function. Or between

[49:33]

ontology and epistemology. Practical ontology and epistemology. How many of you have been reading The Zen Dawn? Well you might look at that work the section five there which is which is Daoshin. That's his work. And it's if you look at the the whole work on all the teachers and students of one that work

[50:34]

is almost it's about a third of the whole thing just for him. That's the real material there. But again as I mentioned although it's under this collection called The Students and Teachers of the Lankavatara the teaching there is not the Lankavatara Sutra. Lankavatara Sutra is only mentioned once. The teaching of the sutras that are being expounded there are the Prajnaparamita Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. So again the Lankavatara Sutra is in our background but really closer to us is the Lotus and the Prajnaparamita. Even though they say Bodhidharma was specially recommended in the Lankavatara Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra he said was the essence of Buddhism. But if you look at Daoshin if you look at the Six Ancestors if you look at

[51:36]

Dogen Zenji it's the Prajnaparamita and the Lotus Sutra and the Huayan that are actually much more commonly used and cited. So I I had this idea of going through the Ancestors pretty pretty far down the line. Now I run into this man named Dai Doshin and he offers so much that I don't know if we'll ever get out of here. Particularly he opens up the Lotus Sutra which is a vast ocean right there. He's looking at these oceans and so it's going to be tough. That's another thing another connection between Jiri the Tiantai Master the founder of Tiantai and Zen is that the main text of

[52:36]

the Tiantai school is the Lotus Sutra. The three main texts of the Tiantai system are the Lotus Sutra itself the Sutra on innumerable meanings and the Contemplation of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Those are the three main texts of the Tiantai school. And again to me it's impressive that that this inconceivably this inconceivable intellect of the Tiantai school of this monk who had reigned over the whole of Buddhist literature that he puts forth that the text the highest text of all Buddhism is the Lotus Sutra. Again that might be because at that time in the history of Buddhism in China that that was the best sutra for those people at that time but anyway it's coming from him it's quite a

[53:37]

recommendation. And then also I see Dai Yudoshin really the first Chinese Chan master that we really have teachings from is the Lotus Sutra. And then I look at Dogen Zen it's the Lotus Sutra. 80% somebody said of the sutra citations in the Shobo Genzo are the Lotus Sutra. I'll just put that out there. 80%. That's right. I guess so. But he was this Zen ancestor like it or not was a devotee of the Lotus Sutra. And Hakuen Zenji he said when he was a kid he read the Lotus Sutra because people said you're supposed to.

[54:37]

He read it and he said hmm I don't see much. He made some wisecrack about it. But still his great awakening his greatest final awakening occurred while reading the Lotus Sutra. Again, I always thought how un-Zen-like to be reading a sutra when you have your your awakening. For Bodhisattvas those working for awakening those doing Buddha's work all phenomena are equal opportunity employers. Everything is an equal opportunity for awakening. So why how does this Lotus Sutra keep popping up so much? Why?

[55:43]

Anyway, there it is. The Lotus Sutra. We've got we've got that on the table sitting there right in the middle of Dao Shun's teaching. So once we get into it we're going to run into the Lotus Sutra and after that happens I can't predict what's going to happen to me. Because Lotus Sutra starts pushing me around. It really does. It's just like so I'm just saying that although I want to move through the lineage quite a ways now that we've run into Dao Shun we may not get beyond him and I hope that that's okay with you. Because I really think it's there's so much wonderful material here that it may be difficult to pass it on. But I'm open to suggestions and I will try to adapt harmoniously to the circumstances. I recommend that the Lotus Sutra to someone who tried to read it diligently and got physically ill. Yeah, it's kind of

[57:02]

the Bible of China. And if it still was it definitely would be the most read book. Pun intended. Pun intended. Pun intended.

[58:02]

I vow to be comfort. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to be comfort.

[58:49]

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