This is the second of three classes about Soanka, Song of the Grass Hut, a great ancient song going back to Shuto or Sekito in Japanese, 700 to 7 Hindi. Can you hear me okay? Yes. I'm going to launch into... some of the lines starting where we left off. However, just to say a little bit of the introduction, unlike Chito's much more famous Sandokai, Harmony of Difference and Sameness, which presents the underlying philosophy of Chito Zen practice, this is about the space of practice and how we create the space of practice and how we practice in the space of practice. And I'll just note that the space of practice has gotten in this week much more complicated and challenging and good for us.

[01:08]

Excuse me. I'm not sure. Did we freeze or did you freeze? Can someone tell us what's going on? I don't. Did I freeze? I don't know. I'll start over again. It wasn't Ty again. Nobody froze. Nobody froze. Nobody's frozen? Okay, maybe it's... Am I imagining this? No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Tegan, you just froze, at least with this laptop, but we'll keep an eye out. You can keep an eye out for any messages that we get. I say, yeah, we can just begin again. Sorry. Sure, I'll start again, and I've heard that many are cold, but few are frozen. So, this is just... Freckoned a few classes on... You should turn off our video. Oh, is it okay? Yeah, it's true. We're going to turn off our video and see if that, for some reason, we're having an internet connection issue tonight.

[02:09]

Aha. Well, things happen. So I'll start again. Yeah, let's try it again. Sorry, Tiger. No problem. We have to deal with lots of many things. So this is the second of three classes. on the Song of the Grass Hut in Sino-Japanese Sawanka. This is from Shito or Sekito, lived 700 to 790, very important ancestor in our Soto Zen lineage. Can you still hear me, Joan? Yes. Yep. Much better. Oh, you can't see me. Yeah, much better. Good. Okay. So let me know if there's a glitch. Okay, so... The Harmony of Difference and Sameness by Chateau is, again, this is a review from two weeks ago, the first class, is about the basic philosophy of practice in the Soto Zen tradition, Tzau Dong in Chinese.

[03:12]

And this is about the integration of the universal and the particular. So in our practice, in our Zazen, in our chanting, in our... everyday practice, we get some sense of the ultimate, of the universal reality. But our practice is to bring that into harmony or into expression in our everyday, ordinary practice in the phenomenal world, in the particulars of ourselves and those around us. So this integration of the ultimate and the particular is central to Soto Zen, and it goes back to Huayen Buddhism, which is the Chinese called from the Flower Uniment Sutra. And Dongshan, the founder of Soto Zen in China, was sometimes, well, my teacher considers him, and I agree, the sixth ancestor of Huayen.

[04:13]

So this Huayen philosophy is very important in our practice, and this is the basis from which shi to or seki to is coming from in the harmony of difference and sameness it's um the so just very briefly in hua yin one of the basic teachings is the fourfold dharma datu which is the relationship of the universal and the phenomenal li and shi in chinese and um and how that gets integrated and and fits together and i'm not going to go into detail but That is the basis for the Soto Zed five positions or five degrees or five ranks from a few generations after Shoto Dongshan who wrote the song of the Jewel Mara Samadhi. So that's just a little bit of background but the point is that this teaching song the Song of the Grass Hut is about the space of our practice and so

[05:18]

Chito built a thatched roofed little hut near his big temple. And this an, this character an, as I said last time, it means hermitage, is translated as hermitage, but there are temples designated as an in China and Japan that are actually quite resplendent, even though it goes back to, and I'll talk about this in the lines coming up, it goes back to the Malakirti in India. So I'm going to give some background information as I go along. There will not be a test. This is all just for your amusement and edification and to encourage your practice and how we practice in our own grass huts in the space you're in right now on Zoom or in the Zendo you're in in Massachusetts. So I'm going to start in the text. So if people in the room have their chat books, you're welcome to refer to those.

[06:21]

I'm going to start with a line that we just started on last time. Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world in 10 feet square and all Maniluma's forms in their nature. So this idea of the hut is small, but it includes the entire world. is about, well, we could say the macrocosm and the microcosm, or as William Blake said, to see the universe in a grain of sand. So everything is right here. Wherever you're sitting, in the Zendo or on Zoom, everything on your seat is a product of causes and conditions of many beings. Everybody you've ever known, of course, your parents, teachers, friends, lovers, pets, people you met at a party 10 years ago and have forgotten, all of them are part of what's on your seat right now.

[07:25]

And not to mention the trees and the animals around you and mountains and rivers and lakes and so forth. So I guess you're close to the Atlantic Ocean in Massachusetts. I'm close to Lake Michigan here in Chicagoland, originally home of the Potawatomi. Anyway, though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. So everything is right here in your inhale and in your exhale. We don't have to go wandering off to the dusty realms of other lands. It's all right here now. This applies to time as well as space. So the next line, in 10 feet square, an old man illumines forms in their nature. So this is a reference to the Vimalakirti Sutra. Some of you may know about a great enlightened layman supposedly in Shakyamuni Buddha's time.

[08:29]

And there's a very colorful sutra about him, very entertaining. But he was in this small hut and Just to make a long story brief, Manjushri, the bodhisattva of insight and wisdom, goes to inquire, at Shakyamuni Buddha's urging, he goes to inquire after the Malakirti, this great awakened layperson who is ill. And all the different bodhisattvas and disciples and various beings in the Buddha's assembly all go to see this dialogue between Vimalakirti and Manjushri. Other bodhisattvas have declined to visit Vimalakirti because he is too sly for them, too smart for them. Whatever teaching they specialized in, he understands much better than they do.

[09:31]

So anyway, Manjushri and Vimalakirti are going to have a dialogue and he goes to his house and Of course, Indian sutras are not historical documents. They're metaphorical or allegorical or however you want to see it. They're not false, but they're not historical journalistic truth. In China, though, they kind of took things very literally. So the emperor said to somebody to go and find out about Bhimala Kirti's rune, because all these beings fit into the rune, and they wanted to know how big it was. The emissary from the Chinese emperor goes and finds Vaishali where Malakirti was said to have lived and asks, where is the house of Malakirti? And this probably giggles or something that the Chinese people are sending to see this space that was the home of Malakirti. I don't know if it was a plaque in front, probably not.

[10:33]

But he finds out that it's 10 feet square. So it's 10 feet by 10 feet. And he goes back. And 10 feet square in Sino-Japanese is Hojo. So ever after in Zen, the abbots' quarter is referred to as the Hojo. And abbots themselves are called Hojo-san. So they live in 10 feet square. Anyway, but all of this comes from... this Malakirti Sutra. And so Chito is referring to that here. In 10 feet square, an old man, the Malakirti, or I don't know, maybe it's me, illumines forms in their nature. So even in a small space, again, though the hut is small, it includes the entire world, everything is right here. So that's that line. In Ten Feet Square, an old man illuminates forms from their nature.

[11:35]

Everything's right here. And then Mahayana Bodhisattva, which, as Jonas pointed out, is sort of redundant. But a Bodhisattva trusts without doubt. So trust is, well, the character for that could be translated as faith. But faith means something different in Buddhism than it does in Western religion. So as a translator, this is challenging. But faith in Buddhism does not mean belief in something, like faith in some deity or faith in some scripture even, or doctrine. It's just kind of basic trust, confidence, taking the next step. So bodhisattvas trust without doubt. And trust or confidence or what we might call faith is very important in our tradition.

[12:38]

Our tradition is not just one of realizing some awakening or whatever or understanding some teaching. It's deep trust in reality. And reality is really difficult this week, but we have to trust without doubt. That's our practice. That's what we need to do, how we need to express this basic truth. So, the middling or lowly can't help wondering, will this hut perish or not? The middling or lowly can't help wondering now, will this nation perish or not? Well, you know, impermanence is a basic teaching of Buddhism. It's one of the basic, you know, impermanence, non-self, suffering, going out of order, and then impurity are considered four basic aspects of our reality.

[13:48]

And so we know that everything changes in the course of a period of Zazen. your thoughts and feelings change, new thoughts arise, they go, they may come back, and in our life, of course, we know that too, things change. However, I want to point out that, and this is, this is a kind of radical teaching, and I hope it doesn't upset anybody, but in the Mahapara Nirvana Sutra, so talking about various sutras here, This is an important sutra in East Asian Buddhism and for Dogen. It's the basis of his Bhusho or Buddha Nature essay of Shobogenzo. And Joan, do you guys chant the Enmejuku Kanongyo? Yes, we do. Okay. Kanzeon Nama Butzio Inyo Butzuen.

[14:51]

Bu Po So En. Oh, no, Bhuposawa is Buddha, no, Jorakugajo is in that chant. So you've chanted it many times. And that comes from the Mahaparnirvana Sutra, the sutra about, we could say, about Buddha nature. Jorakugajo means permanence, bliss, self, and purity. So in that sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha says that unlike what he originally taught about impermanence, and suffering, and non-self, and impurities, those are skillful means because people don't understand the reality of true permanence, bliss, self, and purity. And so in this part of the Song of the Grass Hut, will this hut perish or not? Then he says perishable or not, the original master is present.

[15:52]

So in mature Mahayana teaching, Bodhisattva teaching, there's an understanding that there is a way in which there is permanence. And there is self. And there's bliss rather than suffering. And purity rather than impurity. So this permanence is maybe the permanence of impermanence. This self is not our ego personal individualistic self, but the self of all beings with whom we are all connected. So all of us are connected. All of us are connected. This is basic Buddhist teaching. Indra's Net is one example. We're all connected, and all beings are welcome to the Buddha Dharma, no matter who they voted for. And our reality is about this

[16:55]

permanence, and this larger self, dharmakaya self, maybe, reality body self, and bliss. So our zazen, you know, when your first few sashins, or maybe your first dozen sashins, you know, can be very painful. But there's also bliss somewhere in there, and joy. And joy is important. So we need to face all the difficult realities with joy, with the sense of everything is changing and that's permanent. And that means everything passes and there's a deeper permanence. Anyway, that's what this line implies. Will this hut perish or not? Perishable or not, the original master is present. And, you know, I'm not sure what shirto means by the original master. Maybe it refers to our original face. before our parents were born.

[17:57]

Maybe it refers to the Dharmakaya Buddha, the Buddha who is the reality of the whole phenomenal universe and the other universes beyond our universe and in other dimensions and so forth. Everything. As Buddha. Whatever happens, however difficult and painful, however many people are being oppressed or whatever, there's a deeper reality. that in which everything is awakened. And how do we express that? How do we sponsor that? How do we commune with that and share it is part of our practice and the point of the integration of sadness and difference. Here, Chito is talking about our actual space of practice. And what is that space? As I mentioned last time, first class, referring back to great American Zen patriarch, excuse me for using the word patriarch this week, but Gary Snyder says that Zen practice comes down to zazen and sweeping the temple, and then he says the boundaries of the temple are as large as you want to see them.

[19:10]

So the whole world is here, and our practice involves the whole world, and also taking care of ourselves and the people around us as best we can, and especially in difficult times. We're lucky to be born in difficult times because our practice can make the biggest difference. So here we go. Anyway, okay, perishable or not, the original master is present. And so I was thinking of this original master as the Dharmakaya Buddha, but maybe it's also Shakyamuni Buddha, historical Buddha. Anyway, it's an interesting line. Continuing in this, and... I want to leave time for discussion today, but I might go to the end of the song, and there'll be a third class next week, and we can review some of this. But not dwelling south or north, east or west, firmly based on steadiness, it can't be surpassed. So not caught in east, west, south, north, all these discriminations.

[20:13]

firmly based on steadiness that can't be surpassed, talking about this space of the grass hut. That's the subject of all of this, or the reference of all this, the topic of all this, this grass hut and this space of practice. And it says, a shining window below the green pines. That's a Chinese literary phrase, the shining window below the pines. For a scholar or a literati, so this is referring to someone studying the Dharma. A shining window below the green pines. Jade palaces or vermilion towers can't compare with it. Cannot compare with this wonderful space of this grass hut. And maybe I should go back. I think you probably all have sung this song before, but in the very beginning, which I talked about last week, I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value.

[21:24]

After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. So this whole song is about our space of zazen, our space of relaxation. And here he says... Jade palaces or vermilion towers can't compare with it. Then there's this wonderful line, just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. This just sitting is not literally Shikantaza, but it could be what the characters he uses are sitting and could be translated as just sitting, which is what I chose to use. I translated this originally with Kaz Tanahashi's help a good while back. just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. So there's a reference here to Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan or Zen in China who was a monk who came from India.

[22:28]

And you may have seen depictions of him with a big quilt over his head because he was sitting in a cave in northern China at Shaolin Temple. So I've been up the mountain where this cave is when I visited China. And in the winter, it's really cold. So he, we're encouraged in general not to wear hats in Zendo in North America. But when it's cold, you know, you do what you have to. So this just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. This head covered is a reference to Bodhidharma. And now in Japanese Soto Zen, at a session I did in Kyushu, in a practice period there, back in the early 90s, in the monk's hall, in Japanese Zen, formal Zen, everybody sleeps in the Zendo.

[23:38]

or the sodo, the mongso, it's called. And you do zazen, and you sleep, and you take food, like oryoki, in the same space, in the same seat, in the zendo. And at the back of it, there's a cabinet, and there's a quilt that you pull out, and you sleep there. And in the early morning, when you get up to sit early morning, it's... Accepted to put the quilt over your head to keep you warm. So anyway, this continues till today. This just sitting with head covered. And then all things are at rest. Again. How do we allow all things to be at rest? Even in difficult times. So, you know, our Zazen. Well, I'll come back to this when we get to the line about relaxing completely, which is what... of the key lines in this whole song but um again just sitting with head covered all things are at rest and you know i take this metaphorically to mean when we are sitting in zazen and we're not uh our head isn't exploding you know with all all various thoughts and feelings and confusion and difficulties and so forth when we actually settle into sitting upright

[24:59]

back straight, chin tucked in, inhaling and exhaling. All things are at rest. And of course, thoughts and feelings come up. And whatever difficulties we are facing this week or this month or this lifetime may still be there, but there's also available this all things are at rest. Still, even this week. So, I lost my place. Oh, yeah, just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest. Thus, this mountain monk doesn't understand at all. And this mountain monk is a phrase, in this case, for Shuto, for himself. So I could call myself this mountain monk, even though there's no mountains around Chicago.

[26:02]

Maybe I should call myself this lake monk. I don't know. Anyway, all things are at rest. Thus, this mountain monk doesn't understand at all. So the point of this practice is not to develop some great understanding. So maybe he's exaggerating by saying he doesn't understand at all, but actually not knowing is a keystone in our practice. Our practice is not about reaching some total ultimate knowledge. In fact, our practice is about understanding that we don't know, that there's limitation to what the human consciousness, which is what most of us have, is limited. We're limited in terms of our perceptions, in terms of all of our sense faculties, and our understanding as well.

[27:05]

And that's okay. In fact, it's good to work with one's limitations and accept one's limitations and know that we don't know. So we know something's happening, but we don't know what it is. And it's hard to know what's going on in history at any time, even difficult times. So, not understanding is a famous koan about a monk going on pilgrimage and his teacher asks him, what's the purpose of your practice? And he says, I don't know. And the teacher says, not knowing is most intimate or not knowing is nearest. So, we don't try to know everything as if that were possible. We appreciate our limitations. the limitations of our understanding and of our knowledge. So here in this line, I mean, Chito gets a lot into this song. He says, thus sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.

[28:08]

Thus this mountain monk doesn't understand at all. Living here, he no longer works to get free. So if you are willing to not understand, to not be Buddha, even though we're all Buddha in some way, but to not have omniscience, as the sutras sometimes talk about, to just practice where you are, where we is, and express our sense of the ultimate in the fragile particulars of the phenomenal world, and to try and respond appropriately. as Yunman says, to whatever's going on. How do we do that? How do we share kindness, compassion, sense of including all beings, a sense of caring, even in difficult situations?

[29:13]

So, again, Shito says... living here, thus this mountain monk doesn't understand at all, living here, he no longer works to get free. So this is beyond, this space of practice is beyond struggle and effort. This is, you know, sometimes we need to make effort. Sometimes we need to practice the paramita of enthusiasm and energy. And we do need to take care of our energy so that we can express all this. but we don't have to struggle to get free. We're already, everything is right here. We're already sitting as Buddhas. We sit upright like the Buddha in the center of the, or the Bodhisattva in the center of the Zendo. So, living here, he no longer works to get free.

[30:14]

Who would proudly arrange seats trying to entice guests? Well, of course, you know, in Azenda, we do arrange the seats, but it's not about trying to get, you know, I mean, there were teachers in China who had 1,500 students in their place, and then there were great, great teachers like Yaoshan in Japanese who never had more than eight students. So it doesn't matter how many. You don't have to try and entice guests, but we can welcome whoever shows up who wants to try to engage in this practice of upright awareness and caring. So, who would proudly arrange seats trying to indice guests? And then the single most important line, I think, in the whole song, turn around the light to shine within, then just return.

[31:17]

This is the key instruction in Soto Zen, in meditation and Zazen. Turn around the light to shine within. So it's referred to in many places. Dogen says take the backward step that turns the light inwardly to illuminate the self. Turn around the light to shine within. Study the self. Feel what you feel. So I like the Minnesota Dharma slogan, how does it feel? Feel what you feel. Be aware of sensations, including thoughts, feelings. Study the self. And that includes, you know, the most difficult part of Zen practice initially, at least, and maybe forever, is just seeing our own stuff. You know, seeing our own particular combination of We hate delusion of conditioned self.

[32:22]

So turn around the light to shine within. And some people go off to the mountains. I went to Tassajara for three years and went to Japan for a couple of years. I didn't need to. I could have just stayed where I was. But anyway, turn around the light to shine within. And you can do that just going to sit in a zendo for a period or for a day or for a sashim. But then just return. This line is the most important line, and so does Zen. Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. We have to come back to the difficult world, the world of the marketplace, the world of consumerism, the world of politics, whatever. Return. Come back and then share whatever you've seen when you turn the light to shine within. And then we go back and turn the light to shine within again. So there's this oscillation between this taking the backward step, and then just returning, coming out into the world of our family, friends, neighbors, sangha, city, state, country.

[33:37]

We have to return, even when it's painful, and share that light that shines within, and then go back. And so being settled in Zazen, and settled is a relative term. We can be restlessly settled or whatever. But whatever sense of settledness we have, we bring it out into the world. And then we go back and settle deeper. And we can actually respond appropriately, more effectively. when we are settled, when we do have some space of enjoying our inhale and exhale, of sensing the wholeness of reality in spite of everything, in spite of all the difficulties, in spite of all the oppression and all the hate and so forth that may be around, may be available.

[34:44]

So, okay. Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. And we can talk more about this. And again, we'll have some time tonight and next week. I'll be back for the third class and we can talk more. Then he said, Shuto sings, The vast inconceivable source cannot be faced or turned away from. So in the song of the Jewel Mera Samadhi, which is sort of a follow-up song to this song, it says, turning away and touching are both wrong where it's like a massive fire so this vast vast inconceivable beyond our understanding the source of reality and all our experience can't be faced or turned away from it's just right here and you can't get a hold of it

[35:49]

You can't grasp it. So can't be faced or turned away from. The characters for that, which are the same as in the Song of the Jolmer or Samadhi, could also be, can't be grasped or even groped and can't be turned away from, can't be ignored or, you know, removed. So this vast inconceivable source is what we... engage in when we turn around, turn the light within to shine within and then return. This vast inconceivable source, and this word source is interesting and it's used in a lot of Soto Zen literature, coming back, meeting the source, coming back to the source. When I was living at Tassajara, I tried to go follow one of the side streams from Tassajara Creek up to the source, didn't quite get there. Actually, I did that once with a stream in the Rockies in Colorado, the low Rockies, when I was camping out there one summer.

[36:57]

Anyway, but even if you don't get to the source, wherever you are, you can stop and sit. And as Wang Wei said, wait and watch the clouds arise so we can face the reality of where we're at. Everywhere is the source. That's part of what he's saying by saying in 10 feet squared includes forms in their nature. So let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped some. So, again, turn around the light to shine within, then just return the vast and conceivable source can't be faced or turned away from. Meet the ancestral teachers. Be familiar with their instructions. find grasses to build a hut, build your space of practice, find your way, your place, your arena of practice, and don't give up. No matter what happens, just stay with it. Take another breath, enjoy your inhale, enjoy your exhale.

[38:02]

So, meet the ancestral teachers. This is, you know, in Zen, we chant the names of the lineage of ancestors from Shakyamuni Buddha to our teacher or to Suzuki Roshi or, you know. So we have a Zen ancestry. Of course, each name in that ancestry, there were many, many people in their sangas who made them who they were. So, you know, each name in each generation includes many other people, many other beings in their grasp, but all beings were there too. So meet the ancestral teachers, but also this idea of the ancestors is very important in Zen, and it gives us a link to the vastness of time, which is very important in our perspective.

[39:12]

when we settle deeply, we can have a sense of time. I like to study history of all kinds, and when we study history, we see that there are ebbs and flows of whatever kinds of social situations, societal situations are going on. So, this too shall pass, but... it will require us to meet our ancestors. And that means not just the Zen ancestors, but our cultural ancestors. When I visited Eden in Richmond, I got to see where Patrick Henry said, give me liberty. Forgive me death. So we have cultural ancestors. We have national ancestors. We have cultural ancestors in whatever realm of culture you are interested in, music or poetry or literature, arithmetic, science.

[40:22]

There are many ancestors. So to honor our ancestors is to give us a wider sense of time. So we're talking about a song from this guy in the 8th century. And, you know, what does that have to do with what we're doing here? And what is this thing? 21st century? I think, maybe. Anyway, so meet the ancestors. Be familiar with their instructions. So we study these teaching stories, these koans, and these songs, these long Zen poems from these ancestors. And they provide nourishment for our practice still, which is amazing. But, you know, we have lots of cultural ancestors. you know, Shakespeare or Homer or, you know, anyway. All of those ancestors are part of our life and our reality now. So, need the ancestors to be familiar with their instructions.

[41:25]

Then, the song continues, let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. So right after don't give up, it says let go. Don't give up, let go of hundreds of years. So there's this rhythm of steadfastness, not giving up, taking the next breath, some confidence in just continuing, but also letting go. And let go of hundreds of years implies going beyond karma or... not beyond karma, recognizing our karma. We don't ignore cause and effect, and we don't ignore our conditioning, but we can let go. So we have a repentance verse. I don't know if you say it there in the North Shore Zen Center, but all our ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, or from body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. This is our repentance verse.

[42:32]

Let go of hundreds of years means to acknowledge and then let go and relax completely. This is another one of these key phrases in this song. Again, relax completely. So we talked about relaxing in the first couplet. What does it mean to relax completely? Even in difficult situations, how do we relax into it and face the difficult realities? And we're in that situation. How do we relax completely and then respond appropriately? We don't give up, but we relax completely. So probably not a lot of Zen students realize that the purpose, according to one of our founding teachers, Shuto, the purpose of our practice is to relax completely. And we all have some experience of relaxing.

[43:34]

What does it mean to relax completely? To really let go? So this is an interesting issue for us. How do we relax completely? How do we see all our ancient twisted karma and all the ancient twisted karma of our society going back to the founding fathers who did not include founding mothers or... or non-white fathers, or even white fathers who were not property, you know, let go of hundreds of years, can we let go of the civil war? It doesn't seem like it these days, but how do we relax completely into the reality of all this? Open your hands and walk innocent. So walk innocent means just proceed, just... without trying to get hold of this or that or some answer or some instruction manual for how we're going to practice for the next four years.

[44:43]

How do we just see what's going on and try to be helpful, try to care, practice compassion for ourselves and those around us, for immigrants who may be deported, all around us. How do we try and help? This is a great go on for us. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk innocent. So actually I am going to finish the song. We'll talk about it more next week in the third class and we'll have time for some discussion and I really want to hear your comments and questions. So open your hands and walk innocent. Thousands of words, myriad interpretations are only to free you from obstructions. So particularly in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, which I'm in and Jones in, and which we're practicing in, there's this, I could get into the three main branches of Soto Zen in 20th century Japan.

[45:55]

We're from the branch of Kishizawa Ion, who emphasized Zazen, but also study. But Suzuki Roshi made it clear, my teacher made it clear, that the point of study is not to get some knowledge, not to learn something, not to have some complete understanding, but to free you from obstructions. How do we not get caught by all the various ways we can misunderstand reality or all of our raspings? And, you know, I talked about the line, As it happens, I also teach about this stuff in academic contexts in a seminary in Berkeley. It's possible to have good understandings. It's not that you should not understand, but don't grasp onto some understanding.

[46:58]

There's always more to study. The Buddha taught for 40 plus years, and so there are many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, [...] many sutras. And more sutras that came after him, or that were discovered after him, or that were remembered after him, or whatever. So I mentioned the Flower Inaman Sutra, and Dogen was particularly fond of the Lotus Sutra, and I mentioned the Mahaparnirvana Sutra. There's always more to study. There's no end to that. I've got a bunch of books all around me, you know. A lot of them I've read, and many of them I want to read, and I may not get to all of them. Anyway, so myriad interpretations are only to free you from obstructions. The point of studying in our tradition, in Suki Roshi lineage, is to encourage our practice, to encourage us to actually physically practice in our posture, in our sitting, in our breathing, in our walking, in our dancing. in our sleeping even.

[47:59]

So how do we appreciate the thousands of words and myriad interpretations, but don't get caught by them. Don't hold on to some particular interpretation. That's not the point. Don't try and think you can find some instruction manual for how to do this. Or don't get, you know, kind of dogmatic about some particular perspective or or or interpretation or teaching that's not helpful not knowing is is nearest means that there's always more to learn there's always more to hear there's always more to there's more songs to sing more dances to do so again i mentioned it last time but if any of you are musicians We have the words, the lyrics to this song, but we don't have the music. It didn't survive since the eight, seven hundreds.

[49:00]

So if any of you want to try and put this song, these lyrics to music, I'd love to hear the product of that. Anyway, and I'm going to, well, we're almost. So thousands of words, myriad interpretations are only to free from instructions. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, that which is in this in our space of practice on our sabbaton on our seat in our zendo in our sitting space in our homes alone the person in the hut who is beyond life and death chateau closes with don't separate from the skin bag here and now so i mentioned last time one of my students at my sangha in Chicago, and this challenge is maybe the most popular in our sangha, but when she heard this skin bag here and now, she got very upset because she felt really offended to be called a skin bag.

[50:11]

And yet this is Zen slang for all of us. We are skin bags. But don't try and get rid of it. Don't run away from yourselves. Here and now. And here and now includes all of history and all of the future. So we're not just practicing as a self-help practice or for the benefit of those around us in this period in our world's history, in our country's history. We're practicing for the future. And I wish that climate damage had been more of an issue in this last election and had been talked about more. And it's surprising that it wasn't given all those huge climate damage storms and hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida and fires in California and so forth. So we're practicing for the future.

[51:12]

We're trying to take care of this grass hut, this planet. as a grass hut. And our zendos and our sanghas were beings 50 years from now and 250 years from now. So not separate from the skin bag here and now means to settle into the situation we're in and how do we respond appropriately and try and express some calm and our caring and kindness, and inclusiveness, and welcoming, and protection, and support for struggling beings, which are all around us. Okay, I'm going to stop, and I think we still have some time for comments, questions. Joan, I don't know if you want to open the visuals to your Zendo, or call on people there.

[52:22]

And I can see people here in the Zoom university. Taigen, thank you so much. It's so wonderful to hear from you. And it's really great to have, we have 15 minutes. So to bring forth comments, observations, questions. We chant everything you've mentioned. We chant the purification every day, Taigen, along with the refuges. So that's how we begin our practice day. And many people here do that, many people, at least in this room, and actually on the screen too. And we also chant the harmony of defense and equality. So people are pretty familiar with Shurto. I'm wondering if anybody, so I'll sort of monitor this room. If, Tegan, you can keep an eye on the Zoom screen. Correct. Here, have anything that you'd love to say? Ask, share. Yes, but Tetsu, you know, the line about the skin bag, you know, as a matter of translation, was there any alternative translation that you were considering?

[53:39]

I can look at the characters which I have here, but I don't think so. I mean, I think all of this is pretty literal. So I believe in faithful translation, not interpretive translation. Where's skin? Somewhere here. I just had it before and now I'm not sure where it is. But I have the Chinese characters. But I think skin bag is kind of, you know, that's what it said. It's not an original phrase from Shuto. It's kind of a Zen phrase back then. So, oh, here's the characters. Let me see if I don't... Not going to look them up, but... Yeah, it's... Yeah, skin bag is pretty literal translation. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with sitting in a row.

[54:44]

I recently lost my row, and sitting in that row was very strange. But I think of... don't separate from the skin bag here. Now, it is kind of protective. You know, you're nice, protected in the little contained space. Well, even with a robe, underneath the robe, there's your skin bag. I don't think there's... At least not yet in American Zen. I mean, one of my students is a nudist, but I don't think that our... In the Zendo? Not in the Zendo. That'd be a way to... We were all skin bags. We all have, you know... You know, anyway. I recently had skin irritation, which was troublesome, but I got medication.

[55:46]

As a biologist, I love this line. Particularly... As a Star Trek nerd, there was an episode in Next Generation where these crystalline life forms referred to humans as ugly bags of mostly water. Right. Yeah, I love that. And then I had a professor who just referred to most of the life forms we were studying are just tubes within tubes. A fibular, yes. Yeah. So it resonates on many levels. But I also think of when I hear a line like this, which is very blunt and maybe to our modern ears harsh, you know, back then, no aspirin, no Tylenol, no Advil. There must have been a lot of wish to separate from the skin bag, even as today. But today we do have things we can reach for and assist that separation.

[56:47]

But back then they just had to be with it. Just be with it. And I think today we still have to just be with it and there's things we might want to separate from, but here we are. Let's play some time. Terry? I just have a... I just want you to help elucidate what you think is meant by the vast and conceivable source. Oh my gosh. I don't know. What? So, no, this word, this word, the source is, you know, it, it does not mean like, um, it's not about some creator deity. It's not about, um, the big bang. It's not, it's just what is, so, you know, uh, uh, what comes to me is, uh, understanding the word Prajna, uh,

[57:48]

which is often translated as wisdom. But I think most directly, it's insight to see what's going on in each moment, in each time, to see clearly, and to see into the source. So I referenced this poem by Wang Wei. Do you all know that? No. Wang Wei was actually a contemporary of Chateau, and he was... a great calligrapher and painter and poet and musician. We don't have any of his music, but we have his poems. And there's one... I won't do the whole poem, although I could, but it says... Let's see. Follow the stream back to the source and sit and wait for the time when clouds arise. So... You know, you could follow the stream, literally follow a stream like I tried to do with the side stream on Testament Lord Creek, or you could just follow the stream of thought.

[58:55]

So suddenly there's some platform that you're aware of in your body-mind as you're sitting, and it's possible to follow the stream back to its source. Oh, where did that thought come from? You know, it's a practice you can do. We're encouraged to just let go of thoughts, but they may come up again. But in the stream of thoughts, in the mind stream, in the slipstream, it's not that you have to get back to the source either. Wherever you are is the source, in a way. And you can just sit and wait for the time when clouds arise. And we all know that time is variable in Zazen, some periods. even if there are time for 30 minutes or 40 minutes or whatever. Some periods go by very quickly and some take forever. So our being of time is flexible. So this source is vast.

[60:01]

It includes all time and all spaces and all dimensions and all the bodhisattvas who are waiting for in line to be born in our time because they know this is when they're most needed so it's fast and it's inconceivable because we can't get our we can't get our mind around we can't grasp it we can't completely understand it you know we can have a pretty good understanding of some things but that's not you know but ultimately there's much more that we don't know but So there's various ways to take source that's used in Zen. But I think of it as the source of this breath here and now, as well as the source of all my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, and the source of the events of our world through our history.

[61:05]

You know, you can take our history back to slavery or the Civil War, you know, all kinds of things. Founding fathers. I want to know about our founding mothers, too. Anyway, I don't know if that helps. I don't know if you can see. Just a quick question. Could you say again what Joe, Raku, God, Joe, could you list? Joe is, yeah, and this again is in Mejuku Kanonkyo, and this is the Paranavanasutra Buddha Shakyamuni seemingly contradicting basic Buddhist teachings, but actually elucidating them. And he says it very strongly in the Mahaparnavanasutra, Joe Rakugajo, Joe is permanence. Raku is bliss, Ga is self, and Jo is purity.

[62:11]

So, yeah, contrary to the early teachings, which we need to hear to understand what true permanence, bliss, self, and purity are. Thank you. I'm not seeing the screen. I just want to make sure everybody else on Zoom. I've got one. The talk about understanding sort of reminds me that I have often had to make decisions based on incomplete and confusing information. And I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's had to do that. Do you have any advice on how to do that wisely? Take a breath first. Yeah, and we have skillful media misinformation in our world.

[63:18]

But whatever you do understand, and there are probably more than a few people here who are very well educated and all that, and have lots of knowledge or understanding about a lot of things. And it's not that that's bad. In fact, it's useful. That's one of the paramitas, is knowledge, different from wisdom. And the point is, we use it to help all beings. So how do we use our knowledge? But also, not understanding at all, to know that there is a limitation to what you do know. So that means listening. The purpose of the Bodhisattva's compassion is to listen and to acknowledge the differences and the different kinds of people and different kinds of beings. And they all have their own perspectives. And everybody has their own particular area of concern and fear and understanding.

[64:27]

And so when we listen as well as we can, without judging or trying to persuade somebody to believe, to think the way we think, we just listen and feel what people are afraid of and what people are concerned with. And at the same time, you may have studied very, very fully and have some good knowledge about what's going on. So then how do you skillfully impart that without judging people who have different understanding. Thank you. Thank you so much. I want to share that when we were speaking earlier today on the phone, I just wanted to tell you how much I value that time with you and how I feel in some of the things you've said tonight that you

[65:30]

how you've done just that, that deep listening. It's occurring to me that this 10 square feet. Actually, it's not 10 square feet. And this is a translation issue. 10 square feet means, I don't know how many, it's 10 feet squared. Yes, yes, understood, understood. Yeah, a space that's only got you know, that's only as big as 10 feet square. You know, the illusion to Vimalakirti's room, one of the aspects of this story, is how it's so expansive. All these beings were able to fit in this apparently small space. And I'm thinking about that in the context of how everybody's welcome. how there is no one outside the 10 square feet or the 10 feet square.

[66:32]

There's nobody actually outside that. And that kind of expansiveness, you know, maybe it's connected with Terry's question about this source, because this is the quality of this song and the quality of this friendship with you, Tygen, is this vast spaciousness that's just so compassionate, and I'm personally finding it so helpful this week, just remembering how deeply important it is, especially when it's so hard to remember that there's plenty of room for everybody. As you said, no matter who they vote for, There's plenty of room for everybody. So I really appreciate your teaching, Tygen. And I appreciate everybody's comments. And I encourage this again next week. If you didn't get to say anything tonight or ask anything tonight, let's please make a space for those unheard people next week.

[67:36]

Okay. And next week we'll have the third class. And can you hear me okay? Yeah. So... Next week we'll have the third class. And since we've gotten to the end of the song in some ways, I want to next week go over some key lines again, talk more about that, and then really have discussion. And whatever your questions or comments or perspectives or reflections on them, let's get into it further. And again, anybody who thinks they can put this to music, that would be great. Let's see what we can come up with in the next week. Well, let me just mention to Taigen, since you said to, you know, go ahead and bring this up, we will have another three-part series with Taigen on Doshan. So that's something to look forward to. We think it's going to be in the spring, actually. Yes. So we're in the process of planning that. So if we don't come up with a song, with music, between now and next week, maybe we can work something in for, I don't know.

[68:41]

Maybe it'll end up beating music to the song that you won't hear somebody. We'll see. Okay. All right, Kaigen, thank you. So we're going to stand and take refuge together. We're always feeling feet, grounding ourselves, feeling ourselves subordinate by the earth beneath us. And for those who'd like, who can, bring my hands paul to paul, releasing our voice. Da da [...] Thank you.

[70:10]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you everybody on Zoom.

[71:11]

Thank you Ty again. Take care everybody. Have a good night. See you next week. Good night. Thank you. Bye everyone.

[71:20]

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