No Trace of Realization Exists

Kaizan Doug Jacobson began practicing Zen in 1974 with Dainin Katagiri Roshi in Minneapolis; he had Jukai in 1977. A householder, father, contractor, and civil/tunnel engineer, following his retirement, he became a full-time resident at Jikoji Zen Center* near Los Gatos. He received priest ordination in 2010 and Dharma transmission from Shoho Michael Newhall in 2015. He has led many sesshins, monthly zazenkais, periodic seasonal nature sesshins, and weekly dharma discussion groups. He also helps to maintain and develop infrastructure at Jikoji, getting his hands dirty as a form of Zen practice. In addition, he assists prisoners with Buddhist practice.

Full Transcript

Good to see everyone. Excuse me. Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about "no trace of realization exists." And this no trace continues endlessly.

One of the local occurrences we get here is the parade of turkeys. In this early summer, the parade begins with a hen and is followed by a dozen or sometimes two or three dozen little chicks who are bigger now, but they all can fly and they roost up in the trees. Following behind are two or three other hens.

Last time I spoke, I talked about the seven factors of awakening. And I want to apply these to turkeys. The seven factors, again, are paying attention, discernment or analysis of the qualities, persistence, rapture or being enraptured in what you're doing, serenity, concentration, and equanimity.

What I observe is these turkeys pay attention, especially the hens at the beginning and end of the parade. They're discerning the qualities of what they need. They are going out to grub and they head off into the woods. They come back through by the creek to get water. So they're discerning what is needed and what they need to do. They persist in going for the grubs and staying together, they also concentrate. Because how can you eat without concentrating on what you need?

Now, whether they feel rapture and serenity, usually they're calm. So I would assume we can say that there's some serenity in them until they get jostled by a radical movement or a predator showing up. So already, they embody four or five factors of awakening. And it never occurred to me to look at them that way. But the intensity with which they pay attention, it's life and death. So we get to define these in ways that allow us way more colors in how this all goes.

One of the benefits of concentration, or some of the benefits of concentration, can be really quite phenomenal. They talk about in the book, the book of the great, they talk about in the wings of awakening, Bhikkhu Bhanasaro. He talks about there are supranormal powers that can be developed through concentration. Levitation, walking on water. Clear audience, clairvoyance, remembering past lives. And really, the only one that's important to Buddhism, Buddhist practice, is removal of mental effluence.

So though these turkeys concentrate, I don't see them walking on water or levitating. They can fly, though. And in the late evening, they do fly up into the trees.

This most important one to Buddhist practice, the removal of mental effluence. What are these mental effluence? There are many. And I would include the afflictions of attachment, aversion, and confusion, pride, attachment to views, and doubts. And there are secondary afflictions of anger, malice, hypocrisy, envy, selfishness, deceitfulness. Guile, desire to harm, lack of shame, mental fogginess, excitedness, distractedness, lack of recognition, regret, and twerper. And these are the two main afflictions. Words to describe some of the aspects of what is not helpful in this practice.

And what is beneficial is faith in our practice, having inner shame and dread of blame, lack of greed, lack of hostility, lack of confusion, vigor, tranquility, eagerness, and non-harming, or kindness. Kindness is amazingly healing. We're learning in this class, bringing Zen home, that Susan Tova and Nenzen are part of too, that we are healing one of these Japanese practitioners that Paula had interviewed mentioned that healing arises when we practice kindness. And I never thought about that before, about how powerful kindness itself can be, and that when we embody kindness, we actually are healing ourselves and others. So I'll work more at that.

So there are a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, and a fetter of views that we can embody, often in our stresses. And bound by these views and uninstructed, we are not freed from birth, aging, and death. And we're not freed from sorrow, pain, distress, and despair. And we're bound by these views. And uninstructed, we are subject to the stress.

How can we work with all this? And I guess what I'm going to transition to next, maybe this is a non sequitur, but I'm going to transition to this, because I want to examine Dogen's statement in the Genjo Koan about to study the Buddha way is to study the self. And also, its parallel quality to Tungshan's five ranks. And I wouldn't know about this stuff if it wasn't for William Powell and his teachings and some of the other things we're seeing. So thank you, Bill.

So the five ranks go like this, the personal within the universal, the universal within the personal, the coming from within the universal, the arriving within the personal, and then attaining, fulfilling, manifesting, realizing both the personal and the universal. So that's the five ranks.

And to repeat Dogen's stanza where he says, to study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by the myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away and no trace of realization exists and this no trace continues endlessly.

How disappointing that we can't take our realizations with us. And it all goes on endlessly. So maybe there is solace there. But to start with the first sentence, to study the Buddha way is to study the self. Or to study the self is actually to study the Buddha way. Indicates that when we study the Buddha way, indicates that when we study phenomena, we're looking at it within the real or we're looking at the relative within the absolute. We're looking at form within emptiness. We're looking at diversity with the universal. We're looking at the individual with the collective when we study the Buddha way.

And then Dogen says, to study the self is to forget the self. And this is in line with the second rank of Tungshan, which is the universal within the personal. That to study phenomena is to forget the phenomena. Or to study form is to forget the form. Or to study diversity is to forget diversity. Or to study the individual is to forget the individual.

The third rank of coming from within the universal or coming from within the real. Dogen says is to forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. So when we're actualized by myriad things, the universal is penetrating our existence. So to forget diversity is to be actualized by myriad things. To forget the form is to be actualized by myriad things. To forget the relative is to be actualized by myriad things.

The fourth rank is arriving within the personal or going within together. Where when actualizing the myriad things, your body and mind, as well as the bodies and minds of others, drop away. So when we actualize myriad things, the body mind drops away. When we arrive within the relative, body and mind drop away. When we arrive within diversity, body and mind drops away. When we arrive within the relative, body and mind drops away.

And then finally attaining or manifesting in both the personal and universal. The unity of personal and universal is attained, and they respond unobstructed in harmony with each other and the world. And Dogen speaks of this unobstructed harmony as no trace of realization exists, and it continues endlessly. Arriving within together to be whole. Together to be whole.

So as these turkeys wander and parade through the forest, their realizations leave no trace, just as our realizations leave no trace, even though we do sure accumulate lots of things. This leaving no trace and being in harmony with things as they are, as it is, endlessly requires a constant being kind. Kind to ourselves. Kind to others. Kind to the plants we're tending. Kind to the weeds we're pulling. Kind to the dishes in the sink we're washing dishes within. Recognizing that as we wash these dishes, the water that comes in comes from myriad sources, from the sky, from the ocean, from the rivers, from the pipelines that men have installed to get it to where it can actually flow in harmony with the dishes and the sink.

And kind as we walk through the woods to take care that we notice each step. And it seems with each step, these turkeys that I see parading through the woods, it is a kind, noticed step that they take, looking for their growth. Looking for their grubs. Looking for each other. Looking for being on guard for predators. So perhaps this human aspect of kindness is something that is actually quite universal. And when we are kind, we are tapping into that universality.

So this practice of recognizing the personal within the universal, recognizing the universal within the personal, coming from within the universal, arriving within the personal to attain, to manifest, to fulfill the moment, to realize this moment as it is in both the personal and universal ways is the way. And as it leaves no trace, I think it indicates that the path itself has no existence. It doesn't leave a mark, the path that we're on. And so it's hard to find our way sometimes.

And when we do find our way, it usually is because we're paying attention. We're analyzing what's going on. We persist in that effort. We totally dive into the whole experience of it. And our entire body mind is enraptured with it. That enrapture results in more serenity, which feeds concentration because our body mind are at ease and we can maintain focus. And with that concentration to the end, deep equanimity is the culmination of that. Culmination of the experience, the momentary experience.

So combining the seven factors of awakening with the five ranks of Tungshan and Dogen's couplet. I don't know if it's fair to call it a couplet on the way. The Buddha way, studying the self is to study the Buddha way. Maybe I've given you too much to chew on, but I'm going to stop here and open it up. Thank you. I'd like to hear what you think.