Changsha and Radiant Light

0:00 This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Welcome everyone who arrived today. Such Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:25 a delight to welcome you to this Sashin retreat. May Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:36 behalf of us have been sitting for the Past four days, we're winding up a Zen retreat here. And it's great to celebrate the culmination with all of you just arriving today. Since Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

1:06 in our tradition, we say that to study the Buddha way is to study the self. That's what we've been doing this retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:27 What is the self? Report an error in the passage at 1:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27

1:32 That's what we study. Our Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:42 great beneficent original teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, taught again and again that Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

1:56 what we call this body, this Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:03 lump of flesh and bones, is not really who we are, actually. It's not really our true self. It's not really our actual identity and the Buddha taught if we identify with it as ourself, there's going to be trouble because this body is falling apart. It's Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

2:49 unreliable. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

2:54 It's a great gift at the same time and we appreciate it deeply and take good care of it. But we try not to identify with it as who we really are, the Buddha taught, out of his great compassion. Report an error in the passage at 2:54 Highlight the passage at 2:54

3:18 Furthermore, the Buddha taught these feelings of pleasant and unpleasant. Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:29 Moment by moment, there's always some feeling. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:38 Some of you just arriving might feel a pleasant feeling of coming out to Green Doll China. Typical summer day, immersed in fog, and Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

3:55 you've just been walking around, so your legs might feel quite pleasant, whereas some people who've been sitting here nonstop for three and a half days might feel some unpleasant sensations in their legs, or Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:18 maybe they've gotten so used to it now. That it's just fine. But these pleasant and unpleasant feelings are fine. They come and go. We appreciate them or we take care of them. But they're not really who we are, right? They're just temporary feelings. They're unreliable if we identify with our feelings of unpleasant or pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 4:18 Highlight the passage at 4:18

4:57 As who we really are as ourself, then it's going to be rough, the Buddha said. Also, we have these perceptions and conceptions of the world like blue and red and hot and cold and loud and quiet. We Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:36 perceive and label all these. Perceptions and conceptions, and it's essential to our life. And yet, if we identify with these conceptions, we won't be able to find true ease, the Buddha says. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

6:05 We can let them come and go, but identifying with them, in other words, feeling that they are myself. The Buddha said, because the Buddha discovered, he then shared this teaching that if we think they're who we are, then we have some difficulty, more difficulty than if we don't. Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

6:41 Moving into the realms of experience that seem more and more like they maybe really are ourself. The Buddha said, what about our habitual tendencies, our karmic formations, our habit patterns? Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

7:05 We often feel like, I'm just this stuck person. I'm stuck in my patterns. I'm identified with these patterns. They are who I am, and they're unworkable. Report an error in the passage at 7:05 Highlight the passage at 7:05

7:21 These patterns are coming and going. They are actually workable. Because they're not who we really are. They're like the stuff of our lives. They're okay. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:36 But if we identify with being a lazy person, a distracted person, a really Report an error in the passage at 7:36 Highlight the passage at 7:36

7:54 kind person, any type of unique tendency we might have, if we feel like that's who we are, We get caught. Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:12 Well, how about consciousness? The mind that knows things outside of itself. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:25 That's who we are, isn't it? The Buddha said. No, no. If we identify with the mind that knows the world outside of itself, even though it might seem like maybe that's who we really are, that Dualistic consciousness is not really who we are, the Buddha says. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:57 Well, what's left? Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness. Isn't that the totality of our human experience? Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:14 I would agree. We can't really find any experience that doesn't fit into these categories of body and mind. And the Buddha tells us all these experiences are not really who we are. Well, Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:42 who are we? Our job is to study the self. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

9:50 The Buddha didn't actually say much about who we are. It seemed like he thought it was much more important to clarify what we're not. We're not any experiences of this body and mind coming and going. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:12 Conventionally, we could say that's kind of like this collection of stuff is what we sometimes call a person or loosely call ourself, but it's not really our true identity. Report an error in the passage at 10:12 Highlight the passage at 10:12

10:31 The Buddha didn't say so much who we are. That was his skillful means. Just carefully study who we're not and we'll feel more and more at ease by letting go of this identification. identification with everything that we're Taking care of all these experiences while not identifying with them. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

11:02 But this week we have been especially studying the teachings of a great Zen ancestor in the golden age of Zen in China in the 9th century named Changsha. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:26 And it seemed like he was kind of willing to To say who we are, actually. Of course, he agrees with the Buddha. All this stuff that we're experiencing is not really our self. Report an error in the passage at 11:26 Highlight the passage at 11:26

11:51 But what is our self? Changsha said our true self is radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 11:51 Highlight the passage at 11:51

12:08 What's left if we eliminate Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness. Is there anything left? Some might say, no, there's nothing left. But Changsha said, what remains is radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 12:08 Highlight the passage at 12:08

12:37 Radiant light? Report an error in the passage at 12:37 Highlight the passage at 12:37

12:42 Like the light that fills the room right now. We can't see directly, and yet everything we see is illuminated by the light. Report an error in the passage at 12:42 Highlight the passage at 12:42

13:01 But the radiant light of the self is not like the physical light in this room. It's an inconceivable, ungraspable, yet brightly radiant light, ever-present. One Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:29 of our Zen ancestors, a disciple of Dogen Zenji, named Koun Eijo, He also liked to talk about this light, and he said something like, this radiant light is not more present in Buddhas and less present in sentient beings, ordinary people. It's kind of like the same. And when we're deluded, the light is not deluded. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

14:11 And if we have some awakening, the light doesn't have some awakening. Report an error in the passage at 14:11 Highlight the passage at 14:11

14:22 When we're born, the light is not born. And when we die, the light does not die. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:34 Changsha called it the radiant light of the self. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:41 It's present right now. It must be, right? And it didn't just pop into the room when we popped into the room and it won't leave. When we leave, and Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

15:07 just to make matters even more ungraspable, Changsha said, the entire world in ten directions, ten directions is an old Zen way of saying everywhere, all directions, right, left, back, front, up, down, this entire world throughout all of space. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:41 is within the radiant light of the self. Report an error in the passage at 15:41 Highlight the passage at 15:41

15:51 just when we were thinking that maybe the radiant light of the self is within the space of the world. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:01 The whole world in ten directions is within the radiant light of the self. And maybe channeling Changsha Green Dragon Zen Center founder Shunryu Suzuki Roshi said, big mind experiences everything in the ten directions within itself. He Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:54 says, small mind is related to other things. You know, outside itself. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:10 For a small mind to relate to things, things have to be outside of itself. It's a kind of a small mind, as Suzuki Roshi said, but big mind includes everything within itself. Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:23 He says it's not related to anything. What a strange thing to say. Big mind is unrelated to anything. So Changsha. We're celebrating this week. He said the whole world in ten directions is within the radiant light of the self. But he also said in the same Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:52 talk, he said the whole world in ten directions is the radiant light of the self. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:10 Maybe the whole world within the radiant light of the self is kind of a warm-up to this. More radical statement that the whole world, all of this, is actually itself the radiant light of our self. Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:32 We're talking about who we really are here. Who we really are, this radiant light, is the entire world in ten directions. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:44 Almost like it's our identity, our true identity, is not somehow within this body and this... Individual mind, our Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:00 true identity, our self is the whole world in ten directions. So we've been savoring that saying this week or ignoring it. I'm not sure. So Chang Sha said some other things too. Very similar. Everything he said is always saying the same thing. Sometimes I feel like that too. Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:34 He said something like, a Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

19:44 person sitting on top of a 100-foot pole has realized some entry, has entered into the way at the top of a 100-foot pole. Report an error in the passage at 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

20:02 That's what we've been doing, some of us, these three days. We're trying to climb a 100-foot pole. And pole is... is coated with grease. We try various Report an error in the passage at 20:02 Highlight the passage at 20:02

20:25 tricks, like nailing pegs into it, but the pegs just fall out. So this is a practice. Sometimes it feels like climbing up a greased 100-foot pole with no pegs allowed. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:48 So we might feel as if we're various heights on the pole. After a few days, some of us might be seven Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:01 inches, three and a half feet, or you might feel like you're halfway up or whatever. But these are just feelings. We don't actually know where we are in this pole because it's a greased pole with no pegs in the dark. Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:21 But Changsha said the person sitting on top of the 100-foot pole, this is the way the Zen ancestors talk. They've entered somewhat into the way. And I might just add a footnote, add a comment and say, at the top of the 100-foot pole, they have some sense that they are radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 21:21 Highlight the passage at 21:21

21:54 I don't know if Changcho would say that. I'm just proposing it. Maybe that's where the top of the 100-foot pole is, is being radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 21:54 Highlight the passage at 21:54

22:06 Changsha says it's like an entryway, but they haven't yet realized the full extent of reality itself, of truth. Report an error in the passage at 22:06 Highlight the passage at 22:06

22:18 Such a person needs to take a step forward off the top of the pole. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:27 Well, if you're already radiant light, where is there to go? So a monk asked Changsha, well, how, how do we take a step forward off the top of the 100-foot pole? Report an error in the passage at 22:27 Highlight the passage at 22:27

22:46 And Changsha said, Mount Tamar Pius, the marine headlands. The Report an error in the passage at 22:46 Highlight the passage at 22:46

22:59 monk said, huh? The monk said, I don't understand. And Changsha said, Newer Beach, the Pacific Ocean, the whole land is under the emperor's authority, we might say. If you're not so into emperors, we might say. The whole land is under the loving care of the park service. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:36 The Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

23:43 park service has a big responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

23:55 This is just, you know, analogies than poetic metaphors, right? Who Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:07 is the park service or the emperor in this? Any guesses? I Report an error in the passage at 24:07 Highlight the passage at 24:07

24:23 heard the word us. Yeah, another word. And who is us? Who is myself? Report an error in the passage at 24:23 Highlight the passage at 24:23

24:32 Radiant light. The radiant light of us. The radiant light of the self that was just previously hanging out on the top of a 100-foot pole. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:47 Now the radiant light is... that's where radiant light is. Maybe a fragile thing on the top of the 100-foot pole. It's just this present big mind. So please, nobody cough because that will distract me from this big mind. And that's kind of like an entry, but it's not yet reality. We have to step forward, not just into a room of coughing people. Report an error in the passage at 24:47 Highlight the passage at 24:47

25:24 All of Mount Tam and the whole Pacific Ocean. It's all under the authority of the radiant light of the self. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:44 Everything we experience is within Big Mind. Big Mind is, I think Suzuki Roshi also said, Big Mind is the boss, the Report an error in the passage at 25:44 Highlight the passage at 25:44

26:01 boss of Mount Tam and your woods. And they're in headlands. Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:16 But not just the boss of that stuff, not just the boss of Mount Tan. Actually, it is Mount Tan, the radiant light of the self. This is wonderful, inconceivable teachings that were being offered by Changsha. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:48 So here's another story of Changsha. I heard this one from Abbot Chiu Yu. One day, Changsha went walking in the mountains. Report an error in the passage at 26:48 Highlight the passage at 26:48

27:07 Kokyo's footnote is, where did the walk, did the mountains go walking in Changsha? When he returned to the temple, the head monk asked, where have you been? Report an error in the passage at 27:07 Highlight the passage at 27:07

27:23 Changsha said, I was wandering in the mountains. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:29 The monk said, well, where did you go exactly? Report an error in the passage at 27:29 Highlight the passage at 27:29

27:37 Changsha said, first I went out following the fragrant grasses. Then I came back pursuing the falling flowers. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

27:52 That's where I went. The head monk was thinking, did you go to the marine headlands or not town? He got a kind of a different sort of answer. Report an error in the passage at 27:52 Highlight the passage at 27:52

28:05 And the monk said, oh, that's very much like the feeling of spring, the mood of spring. The way you expressed that. And Changsha said, it's even better than dewdrops falling on lotus flowers in autumn. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:33 Changsha was quite a poetic guy. We might say this is just a poetic expression of spring and maybe different aspects we could... Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:55 Imagine in this little dialogue, and since Changsha was the kind of guy who was always talking about everything being himself and celebrating the mountains and waters and the fish and dragons and so on, we might hear it like he was really into the fragrant, Fragrant grasses. He was really getting into those sights and sounds and smells and tastes and sensations of springtime. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:43 And maybe the head monk was maybe critiquing him a little bit, could be, when he said, well, that's very much like a spring mood, but maybe that's a sort of way of saying, Are you sure you weren't just getting distracted and indulging in the sights and sounds and smells of spring, teacher? And Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:11 the teacher said, yeah, that walk was even better than the subtle feeling of cool autumn with dewdrops landing on a lotus leaf and they just roll off. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:29 That's fine, too. That's like being really... Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:37 That's like Sashin. This is better than Sashin. And so I offer this story to all of you who are about to end Sashin. It's going to get better. You get to be the emperor of the airport, the Golden Gate Bridge. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

31:12 The traffic of San Francisco. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:23 We kind of have to get into better and worse, but maybe he felt like the monk thought that the lotus, the dewdrop on the lotus leaf rolling off in the chill of autumn, that's better than following some fragrant grasses and pursuing flowers in the mountains. Report an error in the passage at 31:23 Highlight the passage at 31:23

31:46 Neither one's really better. Why? Because The whole world in ten directions is the radiant light of the self. Report an error in the passage at 31:46 Highlight the passage at 31:46

32:08 Some of you have one more period to sit however high up you are on this greased pole. And then whether you want to take a step forward or not, you're going to be pushed off it. It's called. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:32 The bell that ends the last period of Sashini is the push of a 100-foot pole. So one more story of Changsha before we finish with that ancestor. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:52 So this radiant light of the self has many names, especially in Zen, like almost any name actually could. Express the radiant light of the self, but maybe some names are particular connection Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:24 to this radiant light, pointing at it particularly directly, like your original face before your mother and father were born. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:44 It's another name for the radiant light of yourself because Report an error in the passage at 33:44 Highlight the passage at 33:44

33:52 we heard that it's not more when you're born. And not less when you die. It doesn't come and it doesn't go. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:02 It's also called big mind. It's also called Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 34:02 Highlight the passage at 34:02

34:17 So one time a government official who was a student of Changsha had a kind of maybe sort of doctrinal sounding question. He was... But you might also say he's just trying to understand the radiant light. So he asked Changsha, when an earthworm is cut in two and both halves continue to move, I wonder which half has the Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 34:17 Highlight the passage at 34:17

35:03 I love making the abbot laugh. Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:12 We might say, because Changsha often called Buddha nature a radiant light, we might say, it could have been asked, when an earthworm is cut in two and both halves wriggle away, in which half is the radiant light? Report an error in the passage at 35:12 Highlight the passage at 35:12

35:31 Understand the question. Report an error in the passage at 35:31 Highlight the passage at 35:31

35:35 So we're trying to understand what is this radiant light? Is it like a... Is it like some sort of... mysterious substance inside our body is it is it like our life force or like a like a soul in the body when the body's cut in half which half is the soul in is it some kind of animating principle is it located if Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

36:14 it's located it has to choose one half or the other or divide itself strange question When an earthworm is cut in two and both halves continue to move, I wonder which half has the Buddha nature, which half has the radiant light of the self, which half is the true self of the worm. Report an error in the passage at 36:14 Highlight the passage at 36:14

36:44 And Changsha said, don't have deluded ideas. Don't be deluded. You might even hear it. Don't be deluded to even ask such a question. But the official really wanted to know, so he said, But how can we understand the movement that the both halves are moving? And Changsha said, that's just wind and fire elements that haven't yet dispersed. Report an error in the passage at 36:44 Highlight the passage at 36:44

37:15 So Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:21 wind and fire elements that haven't yet dispersed. This might be ancient Indian or Chinese biology theory or medical theory. Report an error in the passage at 37:21 Highlight the passage at 37:21

37:36 The body is made up of four elements, earth, wind, fire, and water. The earth is a solid, the solid bones and parts of the body. The water element is the blood and the fluids in the body. The fire element is the warmth of the body. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

38:01 And the air element is the air in the lungs. And throughout the body. So when a body dies, these four elements that are all interdependently, harmoniously functioning when we're alive. When at death, these four elements were understood to disperse or disconnect from each other. And the body does its thing and the mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:45 How can we understand the movement of these two halves? Like, where, really, tell me, where is the Buddha nature? That movement, Changsha said, that's just wind and fire elements that haven't yet dispersed. In other words, we're just talking biology here. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:09 So, of course, this got me curious about. just biologically speaking, how does this kind of work? You may be out of... Accidentally, I hope if it's ever happened, cut an earthworm with a shovel and felt bad about it. It happens on farms sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:41 And we see those two halves still seem alive. So I researched it a little bit. In fact, when earthworms are cut, Only the head end continues to live and the tail end continues to move also, but eventually the tail end stops moving and dies. In other words, the movement of the tail end is just wind and fire elements that haven't yet dispersed. Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

40:19 And we might say, same with the head end, actually, that keeps living. It might live for a long time. Like this body. Living now, all of our bodies are just wind and fire elements that haven't yet dispersed, actually. Report an error in the passage at 40:19 Highlight the passage at 40:19

40:38 Wind, fire, water and air. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

40:45 But there is this species called aquatic flatworms. Anyone know aquatic flatworms? So these are really kind of special creatures because if they're cut in half, The two halves do both continue to live as two new animals because they have stem cells throughout their whole body so they can regenerate like another nervous system and so on. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

41:24 And each half grows a new head and tail, aquatic flatworms. So maybe this government minister was thinking that earthworms are like aquatic. Flatworms. But this is all beside the point. Report an error in the passage at 41:24 Highlight the passage at 41:24

41:50 So is Buddha nature, the radiant light of the self, something that's in the body and can be divided if the body is divided or is like wind and fire workings in the body or in the mind even? Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:18 Don't be deluded. Changsha says, it's not like this. In fact, I think at one point that we've been exploring a little bit in this session is, and if you can kind of open to this point, this could be one takeaway, kind of experiential takeaway to consider for the rest of this life, is that We think of our Buddha nature, who we really are, as something maybe inside the body, or even big mind, even though we hear that it's really big. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

43:06 We think it must be in the body at the same time. We just feel, I think many people feel strongly that that's the case. And it's maybe because we have heard about brains, which are in the body. And then maybe Big Mind is another name for the brain, something like this. Don't be deluded. Report an error in the passage at 43:06 Highlight the passage at 43:06

43:37 So the investigation you can check out is experientially what we call the body, it seems to me, is I often think of it as it's like a field of tactile sensation. Report an error in the passage at 43:37 Highlight the passage at 43:37

43:57 If we look at it, it's, you know, it's... Colors and shapes too, but mostly we experience our body day to day as a field of tactile sensation. Tingling here, pulsating there, relaxed here, tense there, constantly changing field of sensations. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:21 Isn't that kind of like our dominant experience of the body when we're not like looking in a mirror or something? Report an error in the passage at 44:21 Highlight the passage at 44:21

44:32 So these tactile sensations, are they not part of the world of experience? Are they not appearing within the radiant light of the self? Big mind experiences everything within itself, Suzuki Roshi says. Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:56 Are not these tingling sensations we call the body, are they not appearing within this big mind, as the big mind? So experientially, I don't know if you can follow this, but it just seems to me much more, it rings much more true that what we call body, this field of sensations, is arising within the big mind, the radiant light of the self, rather than the body is arising in, rather than... Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

45:38 mind, big mind, is arising in the body. You see, they're like opposite points of view. And the body arising within big mind seems to me closer to everybody's actual experience if we look closely and carefully. So I invite you to take this meditation home and explore. explorer. Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

46:07 That shift, that different perspective, could be very freeing. To me, it feels it's a more relaxed way of being. To me, it feels when the body is a field of sensation arising within radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:33 Then I don't mind the pain in the legs so much in Sashin. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33

46:41 Suzuki Yoshi says, the pain... That you're feeling in your legs, he was talking to people in Sashin, is happening in a big space. Report an error in the passage at 46:41 Highlight the passage at 46:41

46:54 Space is taking care of the pain. So in that perspective, it's easier to be with painful legs when they're being held in the big space of radiant light. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:10 So then Changsha wrote a verse after this little dialogue about the earthworm. He presented a verse, I guess a spontaneous verse, to the government official. And this verse, this kind of interesting footnote for dharma geeks, in the Gateless Barrier, the Muman Khan collection, Muman, or Wumen, who collected it, wrote a verse for every case. Report an error in the passage at 47:10 Highlight the passage at 47:10

47:44 He wrote his own verse. But in case 12, he just stole Changsha's verse. verbatim and made it his own. It's fine to do that, actually, in Zen. We're always quoting the ancestors. He didn't say Changsha said, but I just think it's interesting. I think it's the only verse that he didn't write. He felt like it fit the case maybe very well without getting too involved in what case it's on. Report an error in the passage at 47:44 Highlight the passage at 47:44

48:18 It is the case of a Zen teacher. Who always called to himself, Master, and he'd answer himself, yes, here we are, okay, okay. Report an error in the passage at 48:18 Highlight the passage at 48:18

48:38 Don't be fooled by anyone. No, no, that's the koan that Wu Men felt like this verse of Changsha fits so perfectly, I'm just going to take it. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

48:54 But it also, it's the verse that was written to comment on the earthworm being cut story. Don't be deluded story. So the verse goes like this. People who study the way still don't know reality because they only know the discriminating conscious spirit. Report an error in the passage at 48:54 Highlight the passage at 48:54

49:20 The discriminating conscious spirit may be like how we think of our individual self. Maybe our dualistic consciousness or maybe some sort of life force that's our Buddha nature is some sort of like animating life force that's making us raise our eyebrows and blink, that's residing in the body and so on. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:51 People who study the way, Changsha says, don't know reality because they only know the discriminating conscious spirit, that small mind. It's related to things outside itself. Though this has been the root of saṃsāra, the root of painful birth and death for countless eons, ignorant people call it the original true person. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:20 They call it our original face. That's just an ordinary dualistic consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:32 People call small mind, Big mind is another way to say it. And in the passage, Suzuki Roshi talking about big mind, he says, big mind includes everything within itself. Small mind is related to things outside itself. And then he says, actually, they're the same. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

51:01 Actually, they're the same. But if Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:10 we're living in, I can't remember exactly. Maybe I brought it. Report an error in the passage at 51:10 Highlight the passage at 51:10

51:19 Actually, they're the same thing, but the understanding is different, and your attitude towards your life will be different according to which understanding you have. Ah, Report an error in the passage at 51:19 Highlight the passage at 51:19

51:33 so beautiful, I think. They're the same, but they're a little bit of a different perspective, and this little difference in perspective has maybe a big effect on your life. Report an error in the passage at 51:33 Highlight the passage at 51:33

51:49 One analogy I love for that is it's a little tiny mistake with a really big impact. The analogy is like walking down the wrong gateway at the airport. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:09 There's all these doors right next to each other and each one leads to a different airplane. It's just a small mistake. It's this door and this door, right? Big impact. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:24 So maybe just a little time left if you have anything you'd like to bring up about the radiant light. Yes, yes, yes. The radiant light can speak. So can we use Dolly Parton as an example of a big light? Report an error in the passage at 52:24 Highlight the passage at 52:24

52:51 And what are the ten ways, ten different directions? Oh, the ten directions? Yeah. Are just, you know, north, south, east, west, northwest, east, northeast, southwest, southeast, up and down, and all around. Report an error in the passage at 52:51 Highlight the passage at 52:51

53:09 And is Dolly Parton an example of radiant light? The assembly answered for you. Yes. But, in fact, everyone is radiant light. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 53:09 Highlight the passage at 53:09

53:29 I don't know if you'd say especially Dolly Parton. That's maybe going too far. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:43 Reverend Jim, you can cross. Report an error in the passage at 53:43 Highlight the passage at 53:43

53:58 I missed the punchline of the verse in the... Oh, yes, the punchline of the verse. I mean, it's not that poetic of a verse, really. Funny that... I did so much. The verse is just done. See if you can see how this verse relates to both the earthworm story, if you can remember, about this wind and fire elements not dispersed. Report an error in the passage at 53:58 Highlight the passage at 53:58

54:30 The earthworm story and this other story also of master, host. You could translate it that way too. Host. He's the host of the assembly. Host. Yes? Report an error in the passage at 54:30 Highlight the passage at 54:30

54:47 Be awake, be aware. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

54:54 Don't be fooled by anyone outside yourself. How could I? I know I would. I mean, I hope not. So that's, see if this verse, if you can see how it relates to that story too, right? Host, master. Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:16 So Changsha said, People who study the way still don't know reality because they only know a discriminating conscious spirit, the small mind that knows things outside itself. Though this discriminating conscious spirit has been the root of saṃsāra, which is painful birth and death, for countless eons, ignorant people call it the original true person. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:52 They call it the host. But it's just a guest, actually. The discriminating conscious spirit is a guest that comes and goes within big mind. Sometimes it even emerges within big mind and it starts talking about big mind. Hey, big mind, what are you up to today? Report an error in the passage at 55:52 Highlight the passage at 55:52

56:22 Well, I'm just not up to anything. I'm never up to anything. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:31 Well, you're extremely boring then, big mind. You're not so interesting as me, small mind. You're right, I'm not. That's why no one pays any attention to me. In fact, for countless eons, hardly anyone's ever paid attention to me. But they pay a lot of attention to you, small mind. And you get all the credit. And people... Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

57:00 Because they like the teaching of the original true person. You, small mind, get the credit for it. Yeah, my true self. I am the radiant light. But you are not it. In truth, it is you. I Report an error in the passage at 57:00 Highlight the passage at 57:00

57:28 think in the world of time, which is flowing through the timeless, this. World of Radiant Light. Time's up. Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:45 And thank you for bearing with such strange Zen stories. As I said at the beginning, Changsha is an ancestor that's not known so well. I really like his... He has a particular style. Maybe those who heard all the stories in the Sashin, you get to kind of know him. He's always kind of like... Report an error in the passage at 57:45 Highlight the passage at 57:45

58:16 Sort of making the same point. And I feel like we've celebrated him nicely, this machine. I hope you appreciated him. And please enjoy the... We're not really... It's past spring, but it's not yet fall. So the grasses aren't quite as fragrant as they were a few months ago. and the dewdrops haven't started falling on the lotus leaves yet but kind of like late summer it's kind of mid-away please like enjoy it freely and you can You can even walk down to the beach. Unless you're in Sashen. Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

59:05 We have one more period. Report an error in the passage at 59:05 Highlight the passage at 59:05

59:11 Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Give. Report an error in the passage at 59:11 Highlight the passage at 59:11

59:39 May we fully enjoy the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39