Newsletter 75 August 2007

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The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra,

Chapter 9; The Dharma-Door of Nonduality, continued

The bodhisattva Simhamati declared, “To say, ‘This is impure ’ and ‘this is immaculate ’ makes for duality. One who, attaining equanimity, forms no conception of impurity or immaculateness, yet is not utterly without conception, has equanimity without any attainment of equanimity - he enters the absence of conceptual knots.Thus, he enters into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Suddhadhimukti declared, “To say, ‘This is happiness ’ and ‘That is misery ’ is dualism. One who is free of all calculations, through the extreme purity of gnosis - his mind is aloof, like empty space; and thus he enters into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Narayana declared, “To say, ‘This is mundane ’ and ‘that is transcendental ’ is dualism. This world has the nature of void ness, so there is neither transcendence nor involvement, neither progress nor standstill. Thus, neither to transcend nor to be involved, neither to go nor to stop - this is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Dantamati declared, “ ’Life ’ and ‘liberation ’ are dualistic. Having seen the nature of life, one neither belongs to it nor is one utterly liberated from it. Such understanding is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Pratyaksadarsana declared, “ ’Destructible ’ and ‘indestructible ’ are dualistic. What is destroyed is ultimately destroyed. What is ultimately destroyed does not become destroyed; hence, it is called ‘indestructible. ’ What is indestructible is instantaneous, and what is instantaneous is indestructible. The experience of such is called ‘the entrance into the principle of non-duality. ’ ”

The bodhisattva Parigudha declared, “ ’Self ’ and ‘selflessness ’ are dualistic. Since the existence of self cannot be perceived, what is there to be made ‘selfless ’? Thus, the non-dualism of the vision of their nature is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Vidyuddeva declared, “ ’Knowledge ’ and ‘ignorance ’ are dualistic. The natures of ignorance and knowledge are the same, for ignorance is undefined, incalculable, and beyond the sphere of thought. The realization of this is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Priyadarsana declared, “Matter itself is void. Void ness does not result from the destruction of matter, but the nature of matter is itself void ness. Therefore, to speak of void ness on the one hand, and of matter, or of sensation, or of intellect, or of motivation, or of consciousness on the other - is entirely dualistic.

Consciousness itself is void ness. Void ness does not result from the destruction of consciousness, but the nature of consciousness is itself void ness. Such understanding of the five compulsive aggregates and the knowledge of them as such by means of gnosis is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Prabhaketu declared, “To say that the four main elements are one thing and the etheric space-element another is dualistic. The four main elements are themselves the nature of space. The past itself is also the nature of space. The future itself is also the nature of space. Likewise, the present itself is also the nature of space. The gnosis that penetrates the elements in such a way is the entrance into non-duality. ”

The bodhisattva Pramati declared, “ ’Eye ’ and ‘form ’ are dualistic. To understand the eye correctly, and not to have attachment, aversion, or confusion with regard to form - that is called ‘peace. ’ Similarly, ‘ear ’ and ‘sound, ’ ‘nose ’ and ‘smell, ’ ‘tongue ’ and taste, ’ ‘body ’ and touch, ’ and ‘mind ’ and ‘phenomena ’ - all are dualistic. But to know the mind, and to be neither attached, averse, nor confused with regard to phenomena-this is called ‘peace ’. To live in such peace is to enter into nonduality.

In this chapter of The Dharma-Door of Non-duality, the thirty-one bodhisattvas all express and clarify their enlightenment. The ninth bodhisattva is Simhamati or Shishi bodhisattva, who ’s name means Lion Will,

“The bodhisattva Simhamati declared, “To say, ‘This is impure ’ and ‘this is immaculate ’ makes for duality. One who, attaining equanimity, forms no conception of impurity or immaculateness, yet is not utterly without conception, has equanimity without any attainment of equanimity - he enters the absence of conceptual knots. Thus, he enters into non-duality. ”

This bodhisattva Lion Will is very strong. When there is something which can still leak out and go scattering about, we have to make great efforts. ‘Immaculate ’ is to be free from extraneous thinking and attachments, the world of awakening. The world of awakening and the world of ignorance, to see them as two separate worlds is a delusion.

In society we usually see these as two things, that this world is the world of delusion, that this shore is deluded and the other shore is awakened. As it says in the Heart Sutra, we have to go from this shore to arrive at the far shore. We hear that this shore has war and conflict, good and bad and everyone is suffering and deluded, but on the other shore there is no delusion and no fighting nor pain, no suffering nor misery. It is the liberated world. That is why we have to go to the world of satori, to arrive at the other shore.

This is the usual way of seeing things in this world. Herein is the world of life and death and when we die we go to the world of the other shore. This being divided apart and considered as two different worlds is where our confusion stems from in the first place.

In Ikkyu ’s poem he says,

One brief rest on the way back to awakening

if rain falls, just let it fall,

if wind blows, just let it blow,

through our whole life.

In a human ’s life we are taking one break from one place to the next. Fine if it rains, fine if it is windy, just a rest on our voyage. And as the Lion Willed bodhisattva says, it is a big mistake to think that we have to get liberated from this world. This is the same world as the liberated world and to see this is wisdom. We have great contradiction, disappointment and despair because we hold onto an ideal within ourselves and then we feel a big gap between that ideal and our actual life.

The wisdom of Buddhism says that in this world of likes and dislikes, we think the other shore will be more satisfying. Such thinking makes this reality very confused. If we see that we have things we like and dislike, we can see how we still have to make efforts. It is not that there is some other world that is perfect. We will never be liberated with that point of view. We have to see this world clearly instead and resolve the problems here. That is the way to help each other and not be self-centered and then this world itself is paradise and there is no need to look for it elsewhere. We can find deepest joy in this very world.

We have a lack of wisdom and that is why we may have a satori possibility but we conceptualize it and make this world into a concept and separated world. To see that there is nowhere else we have to go, instead with our efforts we have to construct from this world a world of non dualism. This is the awakening of this bodhisattva mind, not to try to divide this world into two but to bring resolution to the problems of this world now.

The next Bodhisattva is Jogei or Suddhadhimukti bodhisattva, one who can see things purely. We separate the created and the uncreated but if we let go of all of that dualism and enter the place of being attached to neither of these, then it is void, it is like empty space. This is the place of non-duality. Our common thinking is, I have done this and done that, and these thoughts are always with us. Rather, do not consider at all that “I have done this and I have done that ” and live in that way.

Further, do good things but never to think about them self consciously. When Daruma Daishi went to China he first met the Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu knew that a living Buddha was going to be arriving. the emperor had been told that and he was so earnest, this emperor had done many things for Buddhism and was looking forward to this bodhisattva ’s arrival and he himself was perhaps also very respected. When Daruma Daishi arrived, the first thing the emperor said to him, right when he had just arrived, he asked Daruma Daishi what merit would there be in all the temples he had made, all the sutras he had gotten translated, and all the monks he had ordained and supported.

“Since I became emperor I have done many sutra translations, built many temples and raised many people of ordination, what is the merit in that? ” This is how he asked. Daruma Daishi answered, “No merit. ”

No merit at all, there is nothing meritorious in any of that. This is how he answered. In the teachings of Christ it is said, ‘to not have the right hand know what the left hand is doing, ’ if we think we are getting merit, this is no merit. To do something moral for the sake of being moral, then we do not need a ruler for our good behaviour.

The emperor continued, asking of the essence of Buddhism, “What is the highest truth of the Buddha Dharma? ”

Daruma Daishi answered, “Only emptiness, nothing sacred. ”

Daruma spoke of that place of nothing at all, and took away all of the emperors attachments to both “me ” and “I ”. To do and to not do, the world which is ideal, and the idea of non-doing, to stop there is NOT not-doing, this is what he is teaching. This place of ‘with intention or without intention ’, they were both taken out from under the emperor and the true path of human character was taught. Unfortunately he missed the subtle state of mind of Bodhidaruma which pierced straight through intention and non-intention.

In the world we have to live among many different social faces, that of home and work and different social connections, that is life in the society. To separate from all of those is to live in the religious world. This is a world of no home, no ‘society ’ and letting go of all connections to the external world. We are free from that external world. In the worlds of layperson and ordained person. there is this difference.

If we have a home and have responsibility at a job then we have to have lot of problems and concerns to think about - friends and neighbors and are sometimes acknowledged, and sometimes not acknowledged. Lots of different confusions are present, our work goes well, does not go well, our business goes well or does not go well, we have a harmonious world or a non harmonious world and we are moved around by all of those differences and the problems they bring.

In the world of practice we let go of all of these opposites, but if we think of these as two juxtaposed worlds, if we think we do not have any responsibility in the religious world, that is a big mistake. If we can be in the middle of all of it feeling responsible yet not being caught on it, not moved around by it, then there is no need to go into the deep mountains, nothing so difficult as that.

Instead, the point of the Mahayana teaching is to be in the middle of the external world and have our mind purified. There is no need to do some special training, rather, in the middle of our work to be creative about purifying, and here is where the truth of the Mahayana lies.

As the great teacher Honen Shonin said, “Chanting of the Buddha ’s name cannot be thought of as something being done in-between jobs. ” Or, to put it a different way, to not think of doing zazen in-between work times - if we think like that, then it all becomes just the form of zazen and not really alive. Living zazen is to be sitting when in action, sitting in stillness. All of the five activities of the day they are zazen, and in the middle of all of it, to not be moved around in our mind,

While raising our children, with all of its confusion, to not be moved around by any of the confusion whatsoever. And it has to be this essence or it is not real practice; silent or speaking or working no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing, it all has to be zazen. This is where we do NOT divide this world into the external world and the practice world. While living in the world to also fulfill the world of practice or it is not the true world of not two, nor is it the true world of buddhadharma. But because we get caught on the world of things, and we get get caught on our ego and become unable to be accepting, we get confused and turbulent, and if we get strong in our own ego opinion we eventually fall into despair and disappoinment. We can no longer find any meaning to being alive and some even take their own life, only because they are caught on their own individual form and don ’t see that it is a borrowed form only, something that is transient and impermanent.

To sometimes be accepting and sometimes not accept, these are both fine. It depends upon the occasion and situation, there is nothing to be fixed and caught by and right there it will all be resolved. Right there is the dharma door of non duality, this is how Jogei or Suddhadhimukti bodhisattva expressed his awakening.

“The bodhisattva Narayana declared, “To say, ‘This is mundane ’ and ‘That is transcendental ’ is dualism. This world has the nature of voidness, so there is neither transcendence nor involvement, neither progress nor standstill. Thus, neither to transcend nor to be involved, neither to go nor to stop - this is the entrance into non-duality.

“The bodhisattva Dantamati declared, “ ’Life ’ and ‘liberation ’ are dualistic. Having seen the nature of life, one neither belongs to it nor is one utterly liberated from it. Such understanding is the entrance into non-duality. ”

Next we have Seni or Dantamati bodhisattva who divides things into life versus nirvana. The world of life and death as a delusion and the world of awakening as entering nirvana, if we look at these as two different things, this is dualistic and the source of delusion. What we have to do instead is to see that right here, just as it is, this is called nirvana, that the world of the Buddha is the same as the world of the flames of greed, anger and ignorance.

To be free from all attachments is called nirvana, to be in the world is to want and want and want and when we get it all, we lose it and then complain. These three flames of greed, anger and ignorance, have to be quelled, this is called satori. While the usual way is to separate these - flames versus satori, we instead have to use these as an entrance to the most central question of WHAT is greedy, what is ignorant and what is angry?

There is nothing at all, that which is living and dying is our awareness being caught on this idea and this is the source of delusion. Animals have a life and experience death but are not confused by it. Only humans hold it in their heads and get themselves confused by their imaginings, worrying “aren ’t we going to die? ”. If we let go of that as a concept, it is resolved and the truth can be seen clearly. We are then not freed nor tied to life and death.

We are in the world of life and death, yet we go beyond it, to live in a quiet mind about this is to know the mind of the dharma door of non duality.

In the olden days, in the Tang dynasty in China there lived a Zen master named Master Dogo. One time he was with his successor, the monk Zengen, who was his attendant. For the first time he took him to the home of someone who had died. Zengen looked into the coffin and asked his teacher, Master Dogo, ”Is he alive, or is he dead? ”

Master Dogo answered, “Can ’t say he is alive, cannot say he is dead. ”

The disciple Zengen said, “Why aren ’t you clear? ”

“I dont say it because I don ’t say it, ” he kept it right there.

This is a very interesting story, Zengen was a very superior disciple. When he asked Dogo such an unnecessary question, of course it is a dead person, but being just dead has that person no longer anything to do with being alive? As long as we are alive, of course we are know we are going to die, our parents die, our friends die, we see things dying all around us so of course we are aware of this, even if we don ’t want to be.

If we only think mentally about this, then it comes out as a dead person is a dead person, but Zengen was thinking of death relative to aliveness, the living person as dying and the idea of dying are what he was comparing by asking, is this person completely dead? This is what he wanted to ask Dogo.

But Dogo Zenji would not answer this, “is he alive or is he dead? ” If he gives an answer to one or the other of those, he is then carrying around a concept of living and dying, If we have seen this truly we see that only while we are alive are we alive and when we are dead we are dead only.

“I can ’t say! I can ’t say! ” There is no mistake about his, he is not being simply moved around,not at all, instead Dogo is saying the truth about this matter. But Zengen who was not deluded either, was asking clearly what a living person is, he was wondering about what is absolute death, that which we cannot even think of, he is asking about it.

But if the attendant asking, ”Is he dead? ” then immediately it is divided into duality. The attendants ’ place of not being thoroughly realized is being seen there and it hurts ones mind, because it is caught on life and death.

When dying to die completely, only then can we be a person for all people. For us we have to be that when we are alive we are completely alive and when we die we are completely dead, if we only get in with our head it is still dualistic. Alive is absolutely alive, dead is absolutely dead, they cannot be mixed with each other or they become two, but this cannot be known by mentally thinking about it.

In the Edo era Shodo Bunan Zenji left his last words of “While being still alive, to die and die completely, then everything we do is good. ”

While we are alive to know death, to be dead and still be alive. This is not to be a ghost after we are dead or while we are alive to commit suicide.

So is Master Dogo saying that alive is dead? “It cannot be said. ” Just while alive to live completely without being confused or adding in ideas about death to it. If we have the time to think about death then we should become completely dead, this is the truthfulness of the words of Shido Bunan Zenji, not to be moved around by either, but to see each directly and clearly.

If there is any division it does not work, only if we become death completely, not to be full of words about it, but to become living totally and to become aliveness completely and not adding in thoughts about it that bring mental ideas into it, We have to see this clearly or even if we are making efforts to train we will be caught on ideas of living and dying and this is what Dantamati bodhisattva is talking about. Each and every person has to realize this directly, beyond concepts.

Fushi bodhisattva or Parigudha bodhisattva says that ego and non ego are two. This which is called ego is not really there in the first place, this is Buddhism from the origin. There is no such thing as an ego in our original nature, it is so much bigger than that and only on certain occasions does ego appear.

Also, as Bankei Zenji said, “Everyone has come here today to hear about Dharma and so of course it enters their ears, this is the unborn mind. But no one has come here to hear that dog that is barking outside. That dog barking outside, no one came here in order to hear that. It barks and barks and barks whether we try to hear it or not and that which hears the dog ’s barking, this is non ego, that mind of holding on to nothing is Buddha. This is how he taught. We think there is a me but that is a delusion, there is no name for a ‘me ’ from the origin and by repeating a name by which we are called, we start to be conditioned to the idea that we are that name. If we get praised by that name we are happy and if we get insulted we get angry, This is humans ’ delusion. If we are called by our name and there is no answer, it is a problem but it is not that we cannot live without that awareness. Yet while we answer to that name it does not exist anywhere, it is without ego. To think of this name as who exists, this is usual in this world of ego and non-ego. As we live our everyday life we do answer to that name, but where does that ‘ me ’ come from? ”

In the Zen phrases it is written about the cherry blossoms that bloom yearly in Yoshino, or Nara area, every year they bloom but if we cut into their branch we cannot find where they bloom from.

In the spring the cherry blossoms bloom but no matter who much we look for those flowers in the branch we won ’t find it, we do an autopsy and find no ‘me ’, but yet something answers and something hears the dog barking, these are not two different things, both of them are the dharma door of non-duality.

Master Shusan put out the staff he used every day and said, “If you call this a staff, as it is usually called by people, it is a matter of course and that is a regular and accepted name for it. If we say it is not a staff we are confusing how it is referred to in the world. So, should we call it a staff or not, what about this? ”

This very same place is what Master Shusan is asking, while we have a person, it is not only ego, to realize directly this truth he puts out this challenging question. Our true nature is not about having academic fame, our true nature has no joy in being praised like that, and even if we are very smart it has no affect on our true nature nor does bragging about being rich or being sad, it is not about our about being poor, or about whether or not we are a good person or a bad person, we cannot explain this so he asks, ”what about this staff? ”

In this way Master Shusan says without using the name “staff ”. He puts everything into the truth of this, to use it in every situation completely and totally, and only in this way can the dharma door of non duality can be realized and discovered.

Next, we have the bodhisattva Vidyuddeva, People speak of knowledge as opposed to ignorance but where is that which we call ignorance? It has no place at all.

As it says in the Song of Enlightenment by the Fourth Patriarch,

Have you not seen the idle man of Tao

who has nothing to learn and nothing to do,

Who neither discards wandering thoughts nor seeks the truth?

The real nature of ignorance is Buddha nature;

The illusory empty body is the Dharma body.

After realizing the Dharma body, there is not a thing;

Original self nature is the innate Buddha.

The five skandhas - the empty comings and goings of floating clouds;

The three poisons - the vacant appearing and disappearing of water

bubbles.

When the real is experienced, there is neither person nor dharma.

In an instant the Avici karma- is destroyed.

If I lie to deceive sentient beings,

May my tongue be ripped out for kalpas as uncountable as dust and sand.

“The real nature of ignorance is Buddha nature;

The illusory empty body is the Dharma body ”

We look for that thing called ignorance but we cannot find it. Yet, when we want something badly, we desire it so much we cannot stand not to have it but if we focus on something else, we cannot even imagine how we needed it so badly, we stop longing for it. So even though we behave in an unawakened way with ignorance, there is no actuality to it. The place, the time and occasion changes and that something we longed for is no longer necessary. In this way ignorance is awakening. we talk about “ignorance, ignorance ” but it has no hard fast reality anywhere.

We talk about and count the desires and skandhas,

“The five skandhas - the empty comings and goings of floating clouds;

The three poisons - the vacant appearing and disappearing of water

bubbles. ”

But in fact they are all nowhere to be found, to see this is the way of the bodhisattva.

This is how it is written in the Song of Enlightenment, how our original mind is nothing whatsoever from the very origin. We talk about satori or ignorance but those are all words, when we touch the truth there is no longer any such thing as ignorant nor enlightened. We get confused and deluded because of mozo and when we see through this we see that the deluded mind itself is buddha nature and that from there our function comes forth infinitely. In our everyday life, if we do not clarify and live without awakening to that, then we get moved around by circumstances and become turbulent with the four desires, with anger, with greed and with ignorance, we have to see through all of these circumstances and temporary situations.

“The illusory empty body is the Dharma body. ”

The illusory empty body is the Dharma body - our body changes in every second and because of that we are always being reborn and changing and dynamic and this is the truth, it is not an unchanging thing.

“After realizing the Dharma body, there is not a thing;

Original self nature is the innate Buddha. ”

We have nothing in our mind from the origin but in each situation we see the truth right in that moment, and for this we have to not be caught on the changing circumstances, but instead from morning until night to keep the mu alive without pause. Then we will naturally realize this state of mind, by meeting it directly, and then we will not be moved around by the changing activities that we encounter.

The bodhisattva Priyadarsana declared, “Matter itself is void. Voidness does not result from the destruction of matter, but the nature of matter is itself voidness. Therefore, to speak of voidness on the one hand, and of matter, or of sensation, or of intellect, or of motivation, or of consciousness on the other - is entirely dualistic.

Consciousness itself is voidness. Voidness does not result from the destruction of consciousness, but the nature of consciousness is itself voidness. Such understanding of the five compulsive aggregates and the knowledge of them as such by means of gnosis is the entrance into non-duality. ”

Next we have Kiken,or Prayadarsana bodhisattva. In the Heart Sutra it is written,

“That which is form is emptiness,

That which is emptiness, form ”

People who play the piano say they forget about their fingers and one wonders how they can play without fingers but what that means is to play while having fingers but to not notice them This is the best way to play, to not be aware of them is the way they work best.

Next is Myoso or Prabhaketu bodhisattva.

The four elements, as taught in ancient India ’s philosophy, the elements of air, water fire and earth, when these four gather together, they constitute our physical body. The water is our fluid parts, such as blood and lymph; the fire is our body ’s heat and temperature; the earth is our bones and other solid components; and the air is our breath.

With these four acting together we are manifested. These are four varieties of phenomena that harmonize and become our physical body. That we have a body is, as it is, a matter of ongoing change, that we are are always expressing this phenomena of a body, and these four elements become molecules. These molecules then become different gatherings, creating various forms. and these forms will always eventually disband and become something else. If we ask where does a certain form go, it is said that if we examine it all closely, we can see clearly that it is all only emptiness and it is to this which it all returns.

In this world there are these four elements and everything is a collection of these. Prior to them there is nothing. This is like a cloud; a cloud formation gathers and it becomes a shape and then again dissipates and the shape is lost, back to emptiness it returns. To realize this is how everything also works is to be in the dharma door of non duality.

In ancient Japan in Kamakura at the great temple of Engakuji lived the temple founder and national teacher Bukko. When he was still in China, before he came to Japan, during the Sung era, his country was attacked by soldiers from the northern Gen, when they crossed the Yangtze river. All temples were being occupied in by the soldiers and abandoned by the priests. But when the soldiers came to live at the temple of Bukko Kokushi, he was guarding his temple and sitting zazen. The Gen soldiers told him to move and get out of there and Bukko Kokushi answered with a poem:

In heaven and earth no spot to hide;

Bliss belongs to one who knows that things

Are empty and that man too is nothing.

Splendid indeed is the Gen long sword

Slashing the spring wind like a flash of lightning.

if we are awakened then we know “I ” is empty and this world is empty. Even throughout the heavens and earth there is nothing that is permanent all is empty.

Since we are all empty what will you cut in me, asks Bukko Kokushi. if you cut at me it will be like cutting the spring wind.

He gave this poem and the Gen soldiers were so astonished at his deeply awakened mind that they could not slay him. Later he came to Japan. It is just exactly this state of mind that is the truth of the heart of non duality.

Next is bodhisattva Yoigen or Pramati. In the Heart Sutra it says that the five senses and six roots are, what we use. We see the scenery and the eyes capability is known. We hear a sound and we know we have the existence of ears. The same is true of each of our senses, we smell with our nose and we feel with our body and in this way we meet what exists in this world.

We live in a world then that is one layer uniting that which is seeing with that which is seen. Our ears want to continue hearing a good thing and our eyes want to always see a diamond that is so beautiful and we don ’t want to let go of these. Through our eyes our mind becomes attached, and if we get attached then our mind cannot be quiet. Without attachment this world is quiet. If all of our perceptions are not greedy or angry or ignorant, then we are not selfish or confused. We can then receive this world just exactly as it is

Master Nansen had a disciple, Riko Taifu who one day said to him that he had been reading an ancient text, the Choron and in it had found wonderful words that said, “This world and I are of one root, we are one and the same. All the things that I see and I are one and the same. ” This is exactly how it is! What wonderful words these are! If we know this then isn ’t that understanding all of Buddhism? As if he had awakened, he came and told his teacher about his discovery. Master Nansen called to him, pointing to a flower in the garden, “Taifu! This one flower! People in the world today see this as a dream. ” As if to say, ”what you are saying is all only conceptual and conceptually seeing it will not resolve the matter at all. ” Do you really perceive with such words? Or is that only your mental picture of it? In this way Nansen responded to Riko.

It is not about understanding words but about experiencing it for ourselves. “Am I the moon or is the moon me? ” This cannot be known except in direct perception of that bright autumn moon. Where do I end and where does the moon begin? This cannot be told. Only that state of mind where the dividing lines cannot be known, that place of no dualistic division.

There is no need for a division between me and the things of the world, all as one where subject and object become one and the same, and that which is seen and that which is seeing become one and the same, this is where that truth is. The moon does not think about being seen in the water and the water does not thing about how it is reflecting the moon yet it is reflected. The moon does not think it is being reflected, yet the subjective and objective become one and the same, matched perfectly. Neither the moon nor the water think it is reflecting yet the moon is reflected there. In this way the subjective and objective work and we and the world are one and the same. This is the same as “ ”This world and I are of one root, we are one and the same. All the things that I see and I are one and the same. ” With those words that is expressed but if we only mentally understand it, it is very far away. We have to know the actuality of the serene mind and that disappears with a mental understanding of it.

Master Daito Kokushi said it thus, “If we see it with our ears and hear it with our eyes it is beyond doubting, the rain dropping from the eaves. ”

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