Jun 6, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
This is part four of our examination of the ten unfathomable talks by master Tong'an Changcha, moving on to the one called The Transcendent within Dust and Dirt. The text says: "That which is…
Jundo CohenHost
Uh, the, the talks all, uh, stand on their own, and, uh, my job is to take this, um, 1,000-year-old talk and somehow make it, uh, important to your life.
And I'm going to tell you, I, I, I, I hope I can do that, but it's not an easy job.
The reason is this, uh, talk will tell you things about who you are and what this life is and what this world is that, uh, really goes against our common sense notion.
Uh, but what we're doing here in our Zen practice is to shake up those common sense notions, because our common sense notions cause us trouble, and that, uh, trouble mostly comes from the fact that we see the world as so separated and split into pieces, some of which are nice pieces, but some of which, um, we don't like at all, and some of which, uh, seem to bump into other pieces, causing frictions and troubles.
And our Zen practice is somehow to see through those separate pieces and to see something else, uh, beyond the good and the bad and the, the birth and the death and the, the sometimes beauty, but sometimes ugliness of the world.
The whole answer to this, I'm telling you, is contained in this one, two, three, four, five, six ...
Huh? The whole answer to life, I'm telling you, who you are, what we're doing here, and how to see this world is contained in these lines.
Now, usually I take it line by line, but this time, uh, uh, first we're gonna read through the whole thing and then go back, okay? Uh, these 10 mysterious talks, the word mysterious here really means profound or unfathomable, uh, more than a, a great mystery.
The transcendent not beyond the dust and dirt, the transcendent within dust and dirt.
Highest wisdom, we might say enlightenment, and delusion are likewise, both of them, highest wisdom and delusion are likewise empty and even.
Who could say that nobody can appreciate Bi An He's jade? I say that the jewel of the black dragon shines everywhere.
Uh, the, the talks all, uh, stand on their own, and, uh, my job is to take this, um, 1,000-year-old talk and somehow make it, uh, important to your life.
And I'm going to tell you, I, I, I, I hope I can do that, but it's not an easy job.
The reason is this, uh, talk will tell you things about who you are and what this life is and what this world is that, uh, really goes against our common sense notion.
Uh, but what we're doing here in our Zen practice is to shake up those common sense notions, because our common sense notions cause us trouble, and that, uh, trouble mostly comes from the fact that we see the world as so separated and split into pieces, some of which are nice pieces, but some of which, um, we don't like at all, and some of which, uh, seem to bump into other pieces, causing frictions and troubles.
And our Zen practice is somehow to see through those separate pieces and to see something else, uh, beyond the good and the bad and the, the birth and the death and the, the sometimes beauty, but sometimes ugliness of the world.
The whole answer to this, I'm telling you, is contained in this one, two, three, four, five, six ...
Huh? The whole answer to life, I'm telling you, who you are, what we're doing here, and how to see this world is contained in these lines.
Now, usually I take it line by line, but this time, uh, uh, first we're gonna read through the whole thing and then go back, okay? Uh, these 10 mysterious talks, the word mysterious here really means profound or unfathomable, uh, more than a, a great mystery.
The transcendent not beyond the dust and dirt, the transcendent within dust and dirt.
Highest wisdom, we might say enlightenment, and delusion are likewise, both of them, highest wisdom and delusion are likewise empty and even.
Who could say that nobody can appreciate Bi An He's jade? I say that the jewel of the black dragon shines everywhere.
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