“Sweet ripen melon,” sweet ripen melon, what is it? Is it all right with water melon? “It means to replace by bitter gourd,” There is the foot note below. Even though we are formed excellent, we don’t know it and live in pain dealing with absurdly, which is the meaning of this word. You take the trouble to replace sweet ripen melon by bitter gourd. It is because you don’t know the true things. If you know the things, you don’t do such a foolish deed. You will eat what is sweet as it is sweet. 

     Then how you change sweet melon by bitter one, you should observe examples in daily life. You were suddenly slapped on the cheek. Just only for that, “What you have done!” you instantly change it like that. This becomes a problem. Actually, it is only this, Pan! (hit his cheek), though, “What! You are!” You instantly change it like that. When a person gets old, he comes to be forgetful and repeats the same word again and again, then the person who heard that replies “Quiet! I know hearing just once.” Which is all this sort of thing. You have changed. Look carefully. At that time, exactly the thing as it is was spoken, there is nothing else but it. “Talking again” or “the same thing” etc., such a thing is not at all. 

     Do you know, all of you? That is the story manipulated in the head. To the real ears, there is no word because a sound is vibration of air. When the vibration of air touches the eardrum, the vibration is merely transmitted. A sound works as such. As you have studied it, you may probably know it. That is why when the vibration stopped, the sound can be heard nowhere. It is always like that.

     However, because human beings have learned language, they change the vibration into words instead of hearing the vibrating sounds. They think that they hear sounds. They say a crow caws, caw, caw, but you should ask a crow, it doesn’t caw, caw, caw. A cat goes meow, meow, it doesn’t go like meow, meow. They are imitative sounds produced by human. We made fixed ideas and they decided such like, in case of cat, they go like meow, meow, a dog barks bow-wow. Then, being asked what is the bark of dog? They answer bow-wow. We think it is the real dog’s barking sound. Listen to it. Listen the real one, it is different. In case of real one, the sound comes out when it vibrates. In the other time it does not sound at all, the real thing.

     That is the same. (There was a sound) But as this (the head) is excellent, you catch it instantly, and say “It sounded such a moment ago,” “It sounds so again.” It is not that you hear. It is the story in the head. This sort of sound is said to change sweet melon by bitter gourd. Even though it is over with it without any problems, it is over just as it is at that time, you live in the way that it will be a matter. I think it is not necessary to write with difficult words like that, but Dogen Zenji is so exceeding that he uses this kind of words. Do we feel as if it is driving us crazy? It can’t be. 

     “This is bitter to the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.” Once having become such, you suffer as if you are incapable of keeping still. You only misunderstood yourself, but you suffer with every part of your body, In awful case, you will destroy yourself. Such kind of people are increasing in reality. One makes oneself suffer and corner. Whether there seems to be the mind or not, whether you have a religious mind or not, you suffer like that when you suffer. It is thoroughly bitter. “This is one of the divine practices and enlightenment.” As for suffering, for example, when feeling pain exhaustively, there is no room to think the other thing. When just being in pain, we are relieved. Being ill or having operations, those who experienced various things like that, know well. So, is poverty. If we become so poor that we have nothing to throw away, we will be relieved. Using a world phrase, it is said that a cornered rat will bite the cat. A cornered rat bites the cat. It is opposite. Generally, a cat catches a rat, there comes out what is beyond common sense, the power arises. While we feel that we want become amply, we will suffer, but we become poor bottomless, then we have nothing to lose. That is fine. There is such a world. We are relived when coming to be poor bottomless. Being so, we are cornered, when cornered, we go into personal bankruptcy. There is that sort of system in the society. You throw away everything, the personal bankruptcy is to throw away all you have. That is so. Then you are not ill-treated any more like a debt hell. However, you cannot borrow money even if you go to a bank, as your name is on a blacklist. However, you can live on this your body alone. There is such a system. “one of the divine practices and enlightenment” There is such an interesting world.   

     "It is the divine practice which springs out from the calyxes and springs out from the roots." Being bound, connected, inconvenient, there is not such a thing, it is said.  What inconveniences  human beings is entirely one’s way of thinking. Your own way of thinking makes you be discomforted. It binds you. Being tied, unable to cut off, difficult to break off easily, all are such. In reality, there is not such a thing. We live perfectly separated from such things. If you think it is a lie, you simply look at this painting of the Buddha entering nirvana hanged here like this. Then you see the heater, and the wall, while you see them, to say that how you become, you receive the things one by one so that you are completely separated from what you saw before, and you can see what you are facing now. You are formed like that. What you saw before obstructs and you cannot see a thing next, which does not happen at all. But here (in the head), a glimpse of thought “Oh that is,” such kind of thing arises, you cannot see, even though you should see. 

     In case of listening to people, it is the same. You wander “What is he saying?” You try to understand the content of what you hear, and hear doing various things to understand, you cannot hear. If you truly hear the talk, you should be without condition. You don’t need to grope for what the other says. You just stay on being it heard and you can understand what is talked. I am positive that it is so. Because all of you think that you cannot understand on that way and you hear racking your brain what he is saying, you cannot catch up with what the other is talking. You take what is said here (a certain point) as an issue and keep it ever since, I proceed to talk at a good space, you call it in question what you took it up there. When finished talking, and asked how it was, you don’t know what I talked. The context of the talk is disconnected. It is always the same on daily conversation. As I am making such an effort to speak, you stay silent as you are, you are formed that all are audible to ears. If you put your thoughts and thinking, or various things to it, it will become topsy-turvily. It is different from what the other is saying. You change it to the way of receiving in your way, or the way of understanding in your way, it is to change sweet fruit by bitter fruit which is mentioned a little while ago. In such way, people suffer, being bound by their own thoughts. We can be more unrestricted. 

     They say “Do not pass in front of others,” it is OK to pass through turning away. You say that it is common sense when crossing in front of people or we should not cross in front of others, it is not so. You are bound by common sense. In case of a child why you let him go across bustling with smile. When an adult goes across, it won’t be that easy. There are sweets and a child comes to eat a bit, you let him have his own way. When a grown-up does, you say that how he has been brought up, or you want to see the face of parents who raised him, you say that much. It is interesting. 

     All these people have seated like this, it probably come to be a question where we sit. When we are invited on other occasion like wedding party, there are tables and if we can sit where we like, it becomes awful if we sit an unproper seat. Actually, there is no rule. Someone has the rule and the rule made in his head makes us restricted. Once you are free from such kind of thing, you will have a fun. It is the divine power that human beings have. Everyone has it. It is not a special thing. Nowadays it will be a question if you give medical treatment without the qualification of doctor. Old times the medicine did not developed, if anything happened to a child, parents did their utmost to save the child. Even if the life of the child was lost. There are various matters. 

     Nowadays, a lot of rules have been established, by which we are restricted, even in various facilities. I have heard that it is serious in nursing care facilities. When a user asks a staff to buy some food that she wants to eat, it is impossible. The staff could do it. She could go to buy it. But she says “I could do it, but there is a rule. If I did it and went back to report to the office, I would be scalded why I did it. So, I cannot do.” It becomes inconvenient world. They cannot do cleaning of a room. When a user asks that as the room is dirty, please clean it, the staff answers that it is not contracted. While the staff is staying for one hour, the user can receive whatever she wants as she pays wage. But the staff doesn’t do what is uncontracted. It is funny. On such case, those who have the divine power, free from such a rule, will do what the other seem to be pleased. They have such power. That is the true divine power, it is not the matter flying over Mt. Fuji from here. 

      “This has been said that sentient beings suffer, and more, there are suffering sentient beings.” Do we read like this? Sentient beings are all living things. We are all among them. If we don’t know the way well, in such lives, we come to suffer from a very trifle matter. “Sentient beings are not self and they are not the others.” The person next has no relation with you, which is not so. We already live together like this. It is the state of your own blood and flesh, this is. Each of you look carefully. But here (pointing his head) this brain understands that only this is me, and the others is entirely different things. When we see once more, we find that here are people this much, who is doing such? To use more simple language, your eyes now see things this much. This is not the affair of the other’s eyes. It is the content which you live now, this state. It is the state of your eyes’ acting that you can see people here this much. Your own eyes are vividly acting. It is not the other’s matter. Being so, it is not what is not concerned. This is all what we are. We should study from this. It is really a wonder. If someone fell over there, when touched it, this one is made to come to respond it. We don’t know where we have learned it. We cannot go by nonchalantly. 

     I think most of you drive a car, for instance, here was a pedestrian crossing. And an old woman was standing here. We drove along the road. We drove passing unconcernedly, we could see the crossing and the woman standing. While we were driving, I talked with the driver, he said that he was not able to know whether the woman would cross the crossing or not. He was driving. When driving, he was very concerned about, he said. He said, “If she could express her intention to cross if she cross, or not to cross if she won’t. I cannot know. Because I cannot know so that I am nervous and scared.” At that time, I said to him, “You know well. You are clear about it as such. You know clearly that the old woman is hesitating to cross, but your own thought is so strong that you say she has not given a signal properly. If you hit her, you would say something of that sort. No, it is not so. You who are on this side know how the situation is. When you know it is dangerous, you should drive carefully, but you say how the other side is."

     For example, here is a fence. You have seen that there was a shadow moving behind it. You have known it. However, you will say you didn’t know clearly. It is odd. You didn’t know who was there or what it was, but you knew clearly that something moved. But you will say that you are not clear about it. Or you say that you don’t know. Being so, you say that he ran out suddenly. No, it is not so. You know. It is tremendous ability. However, as you insist on your own views, serious matters sometimes happen. 

     The car running in front of you stopped. Something must have happened as the car in front of you stopped. As it stopped, when you were going to pass through thinking to be able to go through the right side, you might crush into a person walking or a bicycle. You knew it, you knew that the car in front of you stopped. If the car stopped like this, even if it did not come into your eyes, the situation before the car did not come into your eyes, as the first thing, it was clear for you that the car stopped. You say it stopped suddenly. Of course, it stopped suddenly. Things rarely work out as you expect. But we are formed, with this body, to be able to know all the things that do not work out as you expect. 

     We are doing various works and while there is a person facing you, when you touch his movement like this, you can know all about it. Although you can know all, you feel you don’t want to follow the movement honestly when the movement differs from what you think. There are many people who feel like that. It is the matter of that sort. Such a thing is expressed here. “Sentient beings are not self and they are not the others” “Furthermore, there are suffering sentient beings.” or  "Thus it has been said that sentient beings suffer, and furthermore, there are suffering sentient beings."

     After that it is said, “ultimately it is impossible to deceive others.” This is what I said now. We are not deceived by others. Whatever it is, it is perfectly well. To say that you dislike what he said is that you can judge like that because you have heard correctly ahead what he said. When you hear correctly, you do not hear thinking that you don’t want to hear, you can hear correctly. After you heard, you try to treat with your thought, various problems happen. It is said that ultimately it is impossible to deceive others, isn’t it? It means not to be deceived. Clap! (he claps his hands) When I have you hear a sound, Clap! If I ask you heard it, and there is a person saying this or that, the sound which you hear now with your ears such is not deceived by others. It is tremendously clear. Without anybody’s help, it is settled. Someone may ask, What? Did you hear such? Or does it sound like that? People might say variously, but when you hear like that, Clap! you are not deceived by others at all. We are formed like that. We are formed that it can be heard perfectly as it is. This is the point which we should see on practice. 

     The Four Abodes of Mindfulness is four thoughts. Within them it is the second now. We are studying the part, “It is the observation that feeling is suffering.” What is sweet is totally sweet and what is bitter is totally bitter, that is the next part. But “suffering should not be easily groped.” All of you, when you are having various things like distress or suffering in your daily life, how it is truly like or what is the problem, you should study them as teaching material on practice. “We should ask ourselves,” he says that you should ask yourself. The other said something like this, Clap! (he claps his hand) when the other said that, it could be heard as it was. Which is the first. From there, if I say what kind of thing is developed, is that your thought, thinking and various thing arise, on which you deal with to make you suffer. What the other said, Clap! this thing does not bother you. What do you think? As I said earlier, the ears can hear while the vibration exists. Who is taking it up an inaudible thing as a question? After you heard, who keeps it to be a trouble? When hit like this, it might be painful, but it is formed that the pain has gone naturally after. However, the memory being hit remains and when meeting the person who hit, you feel that you want say a word like he did nasty thing. Then when asked now, if there is the pain being hit at that time exists in this body, it remains nowhere. What do you take up as a problem? Which is the way it is. You should ask yourself. 

     “We should ask ourselves,” He says what on earth the suffering is. “what is suffering?” One says that he suffers, what is it all about? While we are suffering, if we stop all the thinking and we continue to live, we have nothing to lose. If we don’t think a certain thing, the life become chaotic and we lose many things, which never happen at all. You feel easy when you don’t think what is unnecessary. Is it more pleasant when you are ever holding torment? Is it a worth living when you face torment? Do you spend long time for it? Do you fix what is already part of the past as you like by working on? We don’t say it is practice.