In Fahai’s mind, he is thinking that if he is chosen, he has to take off his robe, become naked, and go into the Sixth Patriarch’s robe. I mustn’t say it was a perverse view, but it shows how he understood the robe, and the Dharma. So the Sixth Patriarch replied, “The Law has already been given. You do not need to ask about it.” When we chant every morning after zazen, that is the chanting of the robe. The robe and Dharma are the same thing. So I can say a flower is a “robe” of Spring. “Spring” is the Dharma of flower. There is only Dharma, inside, outside, everywhere. There is nobody to transmit it, nobody to get rid of it. Yet it is “rarely met with.” Only when no-self is realized, is true Dharma realized. And another word for “no-self” is “emptiness.” This “no-self” realization of emptiness, is instant freedom from ego-centered practice. It’s not a situation which you have attained. It is reality, it’s real, it is how each of us are continuing our life. If you see all beings as imperfect, even if they are practicing toward perfection, that is a perverse view. You will never get Buddhahood. If all beings were not perfect, they could not appear. So when you see something wrong with a person, that tells that some perverse view is appearing. Saying, “He did this to me, I did that to him,” is confused. A clock hand cannot move if it’s whole system is not working. Reality is really working in that way. This perfect Dharma has existed from beginningless time. If you want to see an enlightened world, you have to make all beings enlightened. In that sense Shakyamuni Buddha’s appearance made a thousand million past Buddhas. He saw many beings who came before him and he made them buddhas. Seeing many living beings, he tried to awaken them to this Dharma. He is still working on it. So from our mouths his name comes out. What is the relation between “no-self” and egolessness? When the ego drops off from the self, what happens? It is the action of repentance, a very personal experience. So repentance appears in enlightenment. Repentance appears in awareness of truth. In awakening of truth, repentance appears. In the same action, no-self appears. The body, our physical condition, our physical body and mind, our being as an individual, is not destroyed by dropping the ego. If we give up the ego, at first we feel pain, because the ego is a very strong attachment. We feel physical pain, mental, spiritual and emotional pain. It is all the same thing. But, losing the ego, we don’t become water; we don’t become ashes. Barbara will be the same Barbara as before. Mary will be the same Mary as before. Even if you become empty, egoless, you will still be you. When I speak of “Dharma,” and “robe” I am saying the noumenon is Dharma and its phenomenon is robe. In the Prajna Paramita Sutra this perfect Dharma is “emptiness” and all existences are “robe.” This is a very expanded sense of the meaning of “robe.” How you face to it, with what kind of mind, is very important. Do you accept the whole world as your robe? When the Sixth Patriarch evaporates, his robe will probably be left on the ground as a mound of clothes. It is his body, the Dharma body, which carried his Law. My feeling of the Sixth Patriarch’s answer to Fa- hai is, “What are you speaking about? Are you not wearing a robe? It’s been given to you. Are you not breathing? Are you not eating? Are you not Dharma? From whom are you going to get Dharma and robe?” When the Fifth Patriarch gave the robe and bowl to the Sixth Patriarch, one strong monk followed. The Sixth Patriarch left the robe and oryoki on a rock and hid himself in the bush. That strong monk represents the opposite feeling, which Fahai is showing with his question. In another story, about Bodhidharma, a disciple spoke to him, “Let my mind be at peace.” Bodhidharma replied, ”Show me your mind and I will make it peaceful.” The Sixth Patriarch’s poem expresses this same idea, saying, “The mind embraces all Buddha-seed. I cannot hold it. I cannot find it. It is not possible to obtain. In the rain of Dharma, all flowers grow.” It seems to me that when Huineng says, “sentient,” he is limiting it to the difference between humans and not humans. These days, the concept of “human” is body and mind together as one. And when you speak of “rock” or “mind of rock” it is a poetic expression, referring to your response to the rock. Most people see a rock as just a material thing. For a long time “materialism” vs. “idealism” was the discourse. Now, a more advanced scientific view is that both aspects are possible. In this text, what does seed mean? In the Fifth Patriarch’s verse, flower, petals, rain, seed, soil become spiritual expressions, like mind as soil. Let us recite the robe gatha we chant every morning: “How great is the kesa! A virtuous garden Far beyond form and emptiness. I will wear the Tathagata’s teachings And save all sentient beings.” What kind of mind is making this sound? That one is wearing the robe. The one who hears the verse is also wearing it. It’s very interesting. It sounds like the words are coming from someone’s mind, but when you make the sound it hits something, which makes a sound too. That is the great virtue of the teaching. If no people are around, you speak to a tree or the ground and they listen, and listening to their own sound they learn. In the same way, when you hear them, even when they’re not human, they also hear the Tathagata’s teaching. Here, the metaphor for transmission of Dharma is the cycle of the seed, flower, fruit. The seed is in the fruit. Again it hits the soil, so the flower is also fruit. The seed is fruit, too. Earth, which contains the seed, has fruits and flowers, too. So the Sixth Patriarch said, “The Dharma has already been transmitted, entrusted. You may not ask who transmitted it. Because when you ask, it makes a delusion.” Another way to look at it is that, because of our senses, it’s hard to get rid of the sense of internal and external. When I put my hand in front of my body and pay attention to it, this side is “inside,” that side is “outside.” Actually, both are external. Even when I pay attention to the inside of this hand, my cognition is catching the external world, or the outside of the inside world! But it’s very difficult to get rid of the sense of discrimination: Saying “outside” you mean no inside, saying “inside,” no outside. But when we see it “beyond form and emptiness,” this man, Kobun, wearing the robe, means everyone is wearing the robe. Actually, it seems easy to discriminate, but it is a very hard job. When you usually listen to a word, or a bird, or the sound of an engine, in order to hear it, you discriminate. Then you know the bird is singing, or the car is running. But to just listen to it is a little different. When you just listen, a dog barking cannot be separated from you. That is how you can listen. So to discriminate seems like an easier job because it’s what we always do. And not to discriminate is really difficult when we are used to discriminating, because it goes in a different direction. In one sense, feeling you can catch something, is madness! And in this so-called “madness” you feel something is different from you. But if you feel it is the same as you, you don’t feel “madness.” In another example, when you say “soil” or “earth” there are two different aspects to it. If it is just soil, just the ground for some life, some seed, that is one aspect. But when seed is contained in this soil, your sense of it is different. Of course, until something sprouts, you just see soil. But there are many seeds contained in this soil so when you realize that, you cannot step on this ground! When “Dharma” is written with a capital “D” people understand it as the universe. We never see the limits of the universe, or we don’t know if it has limits, so this word, “universe” has a feeling close to “Dharma.” Can you say you are in the center or on the edge of Dharma, like when you are sleeping in a bed? Actually, “Dharma” has the sense that you are in the center of it, lived by it, or living it. It isn’t something handed to you. Often, when people think of transmission, they think it’s like being handed a certificate. Actually, each exhalation and inhalation is a symbol of transmission. I can see the rose flower linking to the rose seed and blooming again. That is how transmission works. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, yourself. That is transmission. Maybe we could say, “continuation…” From the Second to the Fifth Patriarch, all are expressing the same thing, like searching for the root in the soil. It represents a very big effort to create tradition in Buddhism. The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth are not well-known people so the Sixth appeared like a shoot of bamboo. His disciples wanted to express this root. It is truly the symbol of transmission. The faith between people, between God and people, between the human Buddha and Buddha in humans, is also transmission. Trust is basic. I don’t trust part of life, distrust another part of life. It means no doubt, no hesitation, trust life. This is not ignorance. Getting to this trust is just a little change of mind, one little change, the thickness of paper. I feel the origin of this verse is in Dhammapada, the record of Buddha’s words.