I moved over here because more of you were on this side than that side. So I was tending to talk this direction, so Ulrike was having a hard time translating. I suppose we could have moved the platform. Ruth Vinter, could you give us a precept? So my main concept is not to create art. I don't want to become an animist, because I can't do that. And the concepts are just in a simple way. I don't want to change them. What do you mean by principles? Dropping our principles. All these rules, therefore, you still have to do this and that.

[01:27]

The shoulds. Should be true. All the shoulds. Oh, good. You'll become quite free. Christina? The basic principle for me, one of the basic principles is to be always discovering and concerning other people and concerning me and also concerning surrounding objects. And connected is something with separation. But I'm not clear about it. It has to do with watching the separations we make.

[02:33]

As I'm not living in a monastery, I experience the separation taking place in social context. Thanks. Do you want to say it in German? A very important principle for me is to always be discoverable. You have to know the things from the beginning. And I mean both the others, myself and the result and things. It's wonderful to be here. Together with each of you as we try to find out how we should live.

[04:04]

Now I think since Some of you will be taking these precepts on Sunday. I should try to tell you something about these Buddhist precepts. And the kind of thinking or attitude that's embodied in them. Also, I would like each of you to write down the one or five or ten or six precepts that you have come up with.

[05:06]

Then we can post them up anonymously on the wall or something. And then we can go around and say, I think I want to live like this one and this one, but not like that one. But I forgot to bring paper. So at lunchtime I'll go and try to get some paper back in Schlesheim. I wanted to bring the booklet, which I've also left there, that describes how you sew and make one of these things. Gisela's going to be ordained, and she's made a whole bukesa, the whole big robe, as well as this. I guess we can't do that Sunday. We have to wait till we get back to Preston.

[06:20]

They say when someone takes the precepts, flowers fall from the sky. And the earth trembles. So anyway, I'll bring that book about how you make this, or one study of how you make it. And then you can look at it and decide whether you think this is possible for any of you who might want to do that. It's also possible just to buy it, you know. to have it made in the United States or Japan, or maybe Germany, I don't know. At least they can be made fairly easily in Japan. I don't know how much cost to have one made, but probably a couple hundred Deutsche Marks. So it might be that...

[07:22]

For lay people, it's just so difficult to make one that we could buy them. But that's something we have to decide together. Because the meaning of these precepts is just living them, doing them. And the meaning of this Buddha's robe that we wear is just the wearing of it. There's no real meaning beyond the wearing of it. And it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to Buddha and other people. There are certain ways it's worn, and you follow that tradition. To recognize, it's not jewelry. It's a kind of spatial ornament.

[08:45]

I mean the word for to ordain and ornament have the same root. So to take the precepts is maybe we could say is to ornament, to ornament space. Now... The precepts, there are ten prohibitory precepts. There's what's called the 16 precepts altogether, which include the three refuges as three and the 10 prohibitory precepts, making 13. And then there's the three goodies, as Sukersi says in that lecture. And the sense of the prohibitory precepts is not so much like don't do it, but I don't need to do it.

[10:06]

For instance, the first precept is do not kill. We could say, do not kill, and then say, be aware of the preciousness of each existence. Be aware, so do not kill, be aware of each precious existence. And the second one is do not steal. But it actually is do not take that which is not given. So we could have do not steal, do not take that which is not given.

[11:09]

So we could have do not steal, do not take that which is not given. And the third one is do not lie. And we could say do not lie and then accept the consequences of each action. Or you could say, be aware of the consequences of each action. But I think with do not lie, it's more, you can feel it, at least in English, it's clearer. Do not lie means have the courage to accept the consequences of each action.

[12:14]

And in the last couple seminars in Munich and in Holland, I spoke about how thinking itself is based on honesty. that there's no real thinking without honesty, and the courage to accept the consequences of your thinking, and accepting the consequences of your thinking, to really recognize that and to accept the consequences of your thinking, Is this precept, do not lie? Next one is a little harder. It's usually translated as, do not sell alcohol. Sometimes some people interpret it as don't even have a single glass of wine.

[13:32]

In your whole life. A friend of mine translates it that way. I actually don't think it's such a good way to translate it. Because I think it's more practical and actually more effective to treat, to teach moderation than prohibition. So if you interpret it, it's sometimes also interpreted, do not delude mind or body of oneself or others. And this really means be aware of suffering. So don't increase that by deluding yourself and others.

[14:55]

Now, just, I mean, this is something we can, should discuss among us and with ourselves. And see the virtue of these various ways of looking at it. If you take the position to not drink even a glass of wine, you're taking the position on the Buddha scale. If you take, if you say, I'll have, drink something with people, but practice moderation.

[15:59]

You're more on the moderation scale. I mean, on the bodhisattva scale. the bodhisattva who enters the weeds or entanglements with people. But practically it means that, and it's pretty strict in Buddhism, that if you are taking the precepts, you don't run a bar or sell beer and wine. And strictly speaking, in Buddhist terms, if you do and then they have a car accident, you're responsible. And this is the law actually now in most of the United States.

[17:07]

If you're hit by an automobile and the driver was drunk, You can sue the bar where the person got drunk. And it's also understood to mean you don't work in the armament industry, you don't make weapons or sell weapons. So it means strictly, and that happened a lot during the Vietnam War. At a certain point, quite a lot of scientists and engineers and workers took in effect this precept that they couldn't make weapons and they quit their jobs, sometimes a great sacrifice up to their careers.

[18:19]

I think right now this problem with Iraq and so forth, the problem even greater than the attitude of the nations about all this is that many companies who will sell murder There's actually a bill that Claiborne and Pell just put before it was passed by, I believe, the Congress and the Senate. that says that any company that sells goods, they're called murder merchants, sells these kinds of weapons, can't sell any other product in the United States.

[19:30]

And I believe it was passed by both the House, by Congress and the Senate, but of course President Bush vetoed it. Saying it was his prerogative to make such decisions, but of course he never does. So they've redone the bill, but he says he'll veto it again. So I'm only mentioning this to say that these precepts actually function in daily life, in political life. We can do various things to express them. And they do give us a kind of guide. Where do you draw the line? So maybe it could be in the midst of the suffering of this world, do not delude oneself or others.

[21:00]

Now, let's go back to the three refuges or Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Now, the translation... of the Japanese word used for vow and precept, is to throw yourself into. Something you can give yourself to completely. That's one part of the meaning. The other part is something you can rely on. Now, the root of the word vow is to speak solemnly or to speak seriously. Words you really mean, that you put your life behind and in front of.

[22:13]

So in this world in which everything is impermanent and changing, what can you rely on? And what can you rely on that also can lessen your suffering and the suffering in the world? These are the Buddhist precepts. Something that's so simple that everyone can see its importance. And at the same time so deep that it can cover your whole spiritual life. And can be the perceptual vein linking Buddha to us. So this guy that is called the Buddha lived 26 or 700 years ago.

[23:50]

And it's stated that there were Buddhas before Buddha. And that's mostly mythology. But it's meant to point out that this is not a revealed religion coming from one person. That this is a human invention and a human teaching that we are participating in. Buddhism is something, because you are the Buddhas after Buddha. And the idea of a Maitreya Buddha is to be a Buddha in the future. And what that means is this is a wisdom tradition but also that can be changed. So we can sit here and talk about what should the precepts be and that's also Buddhism. These are not commandments handed down by someone.

[25:09]

There are ways for each of us to discover how to live from the richness of our own experience and to ripen our own experience. So these should be the fruits of our existence, something that we can look in the eyes of any other person and acknowledge our life. And when you can do that, there's a clarity and ease inside yourself that is a great treasure. So these are called the three treasures again because they're also our provisions.

[26:19]

Provisions are the supplies you need to live. Now, this guy, Buddha, lived some years ago and he perished. And it's important to notice also one of the connections with Christianity is Buddha and Christ are both persons who could die. They both died. And they died willingly. And consciously. And so what do we have?

[27:27]

We have Buddha who died. And what else do we have? We have the teaching. And what else do we have? We have the individuals who practiced his teaching. The individuals who practiced the Buddha's teaching. So those are the three treasures. That's one way, an obvious way that has to be understood. is that by trying to understand this practice, you are one of the three treasures. And the physical object of a sutra book or something, the scripture, is a treasure. And this Buddha, On the altar there is a treasure.

[28:37]

And the stone behind it we found up on the Baltic in what little town? Which is north of... What was the name of the town just south of... Gromitz? Gromitz, yeah. Anyway, we found it there. And it's from some place around Munich, I believe, isn't it? Okay, thank you. And we actually got it initially for, it was just in a rock shop, and I said, wow, this is neat. That's the possibilities, this rock. And initially we bought it for Shunan Roshi's temple.

[29:44]

So I thought that we could have a box made for it and give it to him, and he'd put it in the entryway of his temple, I'm sure, where you come from. And he'd love to have something from us and from Europe. And that particular kind of stone is, I mean, it's not, you couldn't almost buy it in Japan to be so bad. They treasure objects like that, particularly with a kind of strong shape like that, in a way that we don't pay so much attention to. But it looks so good behind that Buddha, so, I mean, I don't know. Then I have to decide which direction to practice generosity. And whether I get more joy having him have it or having us have it.

[30:47]

And the scroll behind it is Shakyamuni Buddha touching the earth. And it was given to me by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And he's written something down in the left-hand corner. And that Buddha is... If you look at it, it's clearly an inner picture. It's not a picture... it's not meant to be a picture that's there on the scroll. In other words, where it's organized is not on that surface of that paper. It's organized as a visualization inside you. So it's painted in such a way that you can visualize it. So again, in Buddhism typically it's not really a symbol.

[32:09]

It's an actual experience of the Buddha in the sense that you can experience or visualize it inside yourself. So it's made by certain rules that they've worked out that allow visualization to happen more easily. So you have the circles. And you have mountains and a flower as a circle, too. And you have a stream in the bottom with jewels, flaming jewels floating in it. And you have Buddha on his lotus, rising out of a kind of wheel of the law.

[33:09]

Or supported by the Dharma. Okay. Now, I always had the problem with, you know, I'm a very anti-religious guy. And it's one of my weaknesses. I grew up taking nothing serious. Especially not religion. But I'm slowly getting a little wiser. And But I can remember when I first was practicing at the Zen Center.

[34:21]

And I had to write the brochures that raised the money for Tassajara. I had to talk about why have a place like Tassajara. Why have an altar? You know, logically, we don't need an altar. This is just where you are is the altar. But even with that strong kind of intellectual feeling, I noticed that emotionally I liked the altar. And it kind of gave me a little place I could go, you know. It's like, you know, it's sort of nice when somebody you know has died. That you know where they're buried.

[35:25]

You know, you can go to that place and there's your father's, your mother or your friend's grave. And you can go there and somehow it helps you. You can say, hi, Dad. Papa. So with this, some of it helps you look at it and say, hi, Buddha. How are you today? He says. The Dharma. That's the wheel of the law. You can see that somebody cared about this figure. They took trouble making it, and somebody else even put some gold leaf on the front. Okay, so I'd like you to... I put this altar here in this room for the first time.

[36:28]

We've never done that in a seminary before. And I know, you know, in the Sashin we chant and bow and eat with the Ryokis and so forth. And sometimes people say to me, well, they like the Sashins, but they don't like the religious stuff. And I don't know what to say about that. Because I know among the various Buddhist teachers I meet, the ones who are religious have the feeling of being.

[37:32]

And the ones who are not so religious or say that's not so important have unless it's just their custom, have more of a feeling of doing Buddhism but not being it. And Suzuki Roshi certainly, although he wasn't religious in any way Westerners would understand in the sense of belief, He also had, but he had a just, I don't know what to say, a deep religious sense of his, of how he existed. And I saw the same feeling in Brother Theobald in Italy near Cortona.

[38:45]

So I'm also bringing this up for you, just how religious is, whatever we mean by religious, how religious is our practice. And do you like having the altar there? And without thinking about it, do you like the feeling of it or not? Would you have an altar in your house? Where you could occasionally offer incense or do zazen? I don't know. I think this is something you each have to discover. But anyway, for me, I like to have one place that reminds me.

[39:59]

And since this isn't mental for me, but physically manifest, I like a physical object. And for me, it's not much different than a nice beach stone. I like I try to resist, but usually when I go to the beach, I come back with too many stones. And I mean, I have a hierarchy of stones all over my desk. One that Ulrike gave me. One that my daughter gave me. One that I found late in the afternoon in 20 feet of water. I don't know. There they are, and they live with me, and they make me happy for some reason.

[41:06]

So for me, the Buddha is just the ultimate beach stone. You know, I was swimming one day, and I saw, whoa, what's that down there? Who expected to find a Buddha at 30 feet? This is not an ordinary beach stone. So I took it out, and we put it on the altar. So this sense of the word Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as being themselves a treasure. Mm-hmm. Among the many words of our language, I'm going to go up, you know, it's sort of like, I'm going to go to lunch in a few minutes. And then there's the word Buddha. And I think I'll go downstairs, and then there's the word Dharma.

[42:08]

And let's go together, and there's the word Sangha. So some Buddha in this sense is the preciousness of human existence. So Buddha represents the preciousness of human existence. The possibilities of each existence. So the precept do not kill is to recognize the possibilities of each existence. The preciousness of this human life. So the first treasure is the preciousness of this human life. And that in itself is a hard precept. It's like Thich Nhat Hanh says it's very difficult to remember your non-toothache.

[43:26]

So it's very difficult to remember the preciousness of this human existence. So to take refuge in the Buddha means to take refuge in or to remember enter into the preciousness of this human existence. So that way of perceiving of dharma is to see the absolute independence of each thing. So this is your treasure all the time, your provision. This. This. And Sangha means in the sense to create to know the

[44:44]

to know and create a harmonious existence whenever you can. It doesn't mean a harmony that suppresses diversity. It means a harmony or an open scale that recognizes everything and finds harmony in it. So if we can find some harmony among ourselves without forcing anything Without denying anything. If you can experiment and find that with your friend, in an open scale, you know, like in music, not an eight-tone or twelve-tone, but an open scale.

[45:53]

If you can find that with each person you meet, And if we in the Dharma Sangha can find that together without denying anything again as openly as possible yet at the same time locate some feeling of harmony among ourselves this is the most contagious thing in the world. So this is taking refuge or entering into Sangha, the treasure of Sangha. So we have to go to lunch soon.

[47:14]

But without too much ado, let's sit for a few minutes. Now the point of these three days together is through zazen and mindfulness to concentrate on recognizing and realizing the inner and outer precepts of our own life.

[48:32]

and the precepts of the Buddha, Dharma, ancestors. So we have time to bring our mind and body into this field of the precepts. As part of and as preparation for receiving the precepts tomorrow afternoon. Quite freely for those of you who want to. Some of you may not feel ready. You may feel you just want to stay with this longer.

[49:38]

That's okay. Of course, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are actually one. Sangha is each person you meet. Dharma is how you understand each person you meet. And Buddha is realizing each person you meet. And not just people.

[51:05]

There is nothing that is not manifesting in this realm of being. Okay.

[52:07]

Now another of the first five precepts. Are you ready? Is the precept on sexuality. And that's translated... from like do not commit adultery, which is pretty much following the Christian interpretation of this kind of precept. To the way that Sukhiroshi usually translated it was, do not misuse the senses. Now, we could have like, do not commit sexual misconduct.

[53:12]

Wir könnten das zum Beispiel haben, also sexuell keine Fehlhandlungen zeigen. Or more accurately it would be probably be aware, if we're going to concentrate on sexuality, it would be be aware of the consequence of your sexual actions. Oder wir könnten auch sagen, sei dir der Konsequenzen deiner sexuellen Handlungen bewusst. But since the form of these precepts is prohibitory, do not, etc., just to say be aware doesn't fit the style of these precepts. But do not delude or do not misuse the senses, is more like an inner meaning, but does follow the pattern of do not. Now, There's some interpretations of one Buddhist group in the United States and Europe is to connect sexuality and procreation.

[54:54]

That's to say, there should only be sexuality where there's procreation, and procreation should be within marriage. And maybe that's good. It's certainly not the general atmosphere, at least in Japan. I mean, in the West we have, what, a song like Love and Marriage. Love and marriage fit together like a horse and carriage. You don't have to translate. And in that song you have to read, for love you have to read sexuality. Sexuality and marriage fit together like, you know.

[56:01]

So that's why you're getting married, right? Help. Okay, now in Japan, for example, the common wisdom or common saying is you have to make love once a day to be healthy. That's a very common saying in Japan. That's quite a lot, actually. But anyway, there's no sense of sexuality and procreation are linked. I mean, they know there's a connection. So, I don't know. I think be aware of the consequences of your sexual actions or responsible for the consequences of your sexual actions is pretty accurate in terms of meeting the views of both cultures.

[57:14]

Ich glaube jetzt zu sagen, sich seiner sexuellen Handlung bewusst zu sein oder Verantwortung zu zeigen hinsichtlich seiner sexuellen Handlung stellt eine ziemliche Verbindung dar zwischen beiden Kulturen. But the sense in the precept is something like do not misuse the senses and do not misuse others through the senses. Und im Sinne der precepts ist es aber eher missbrauche deine Sinne nicht und vor allen Dingen missbrauche nicht andere jetzt für deine Sinne. Because mostly these precepts all work with this idea of greed, hate, and delusion. Or attachment, aversion, and ignorance. and this just means greed or attachment means that you think you can possess things which is considered a delusion you can use things or borrow things in a sense but too much attachment or possession is delusion And the other, aversion, means you think you can get rid of things or protect yourself or isolate yourself.

[58:37]

And delusion means usually ignorance of the fact that the world is impermanent. Enttäuschung bedeutet gewöhnlich einfach die Ignoranz oder das Nichtsehen, dass die Welt vergänglich ist. You may be attached and aware of the impermanence of the world. Man ist vielleicht der Unbeständigkeit der Welt bewusst oder man hängt daran. But the third is just you're not aware. You don't know how the world exists. You're ignorant or deluded. So the precepts are working with whether lying, stealing, or sexual misconduct, or working with this idea of attachment and aversion and ignorance. Now, the remaining precepts are something like, do not slander others.

[59:39]

And slander, do not attack, criticize others. And do not praise yourself either directly or by putting down others. One way we often praise ourselves is to sort of, you know, directly or indirectly put down the people around us. And do not abuse or criticize the three treasures, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Sometimes the first five are articulated as being primarily for lay people.

[60:55]

And all ten being for people who are going to be ordained. Can I leave one out? Okay. Oh yeah, I think I've said nine and you left one. I'll think of it. Some of the problem with this is that we don't have the language, a simple language for something, do not praise self by directly putting someone else down. It's a clumsy thing to say in English. We have a great saying. What? Praising yourself stinks. Ein Lob stinkt in German. So you say do not... Be aware that praising yourself stinks. Yeah. Now I've been suggesting to all of you in recent seminars to find your seat.

[62:15]

And that means not just in zazen, but in each situation. So since I've been talking about this so much, you know, I gave in, I think, the Munich seminars, and I said, let's find, between Friday and Saturday, three times find your seat. So I went out to dinner with everybody, and twice during the meal at the restaurant, I was... And then the third, second night, I mean, then I found the third time, I don't know, in the morning or something. And then the next night, I said, let's try three to five times. And I forgot completely.

[63:26]

I mean, it's not something I'm practicing with all the time, but to specifically stop for a moment and say, ah, I need to find my seat, I completely forgot. I don't know, we were doing too many things. But because I've been saying this all the time and repeating it to you guys, it's sort of like I'm repeating it to myself. So I had this dream the other night. And in the dream, all these different things were happening and shifting around. It's like there were three streams in the dream, all moving. And while I was in the dream, I was saying to myself, I had the sense of practicing to find my seat.

[64:37]

And in the dream, I felt one of the streams slow down and settle while the other two streams kept going. Then I started noticing this in the dream. And I was thinking, this is pretty good. Here I am the dream, which is dreaming. I'm dreaming this dream. But part of me within the dream can decide to find its seat while the other parts of me, which are the dream, are moving along. But It was actually quite a good feeling and made the dream kind of brighter and more joyful because within the dream I was able to find my seat. So by having one part of me with a sort of one sense while the other parts of me were more on their own made all the parts feel better.

[65:47]

Well, this sense of observing yourself in this way is very much like practicing the precepts. You can feel one sense of yourself trying to follow the precepts. And when you do that, it brightens your life. So it's also thought that to practice thoroughly You need to realize the perceptual side of practice. Unless you take, unless you commit yourself to your principles,

[67:00]

by an act, by a decision, the whatever you, unless you do that, no, if you do that, when you practice anything, it'll be more thorough. It'll reach into all aspects of your life. A kind of trying to practice the precepts. First of all, being willing to take the precepts. And trying to realize these precepts in your own life. Um... Now, again, this isn't a kind of control. It's a kind of decision you've made about how you want to live.

[68:29]

Sometimes it may be control. I mean, if you have very strong emotions in some direction, you might say, well, I don't want to. But if you have this sense of trying to follow, stay with, to follow the precepts it creates a kind of awareness and strength in you that allows you to see your life more clearly and penetrate it more clearly. And I think that my sense of my, what happens to me often is this practicing in my sleep.

[69:35]

doesn't just arise from my intention to practice, or how strongly I intend to practice, but my willingness to articulate my practice and commit myself to it. It's again a kind of chemistry or alchemistry that's at work. And it has to do with how you can live with clarity with yourself and with each other. Now, we don't have much time before we leave, but I'd like to give you the hourglass of the visionaries. We don't have much time before we leave, but I would like to give you an hourglass, an hourglass or a sand clock from the Vishnianas.

[70:45]

Sometimes I also call it the mirror mind of the Vishnianas. which you can begin to see and feel most clearly in zazen, but that you want to find a way to practice in your activity. Okay. Now, you have this sense that... I think most of you are familiar... Can you see from here?

[71:48]

Most of you are pretty familiar by now, since I taught it much this year, with the Vijnanas. And with an understanding of the importance of the sense field. Again, not just that I as the perceiver and Ulrike as the object of perception. By perceiving Ulrike, a sense field arises. Now, another way to put that is that when I perceive Ulrike, the object of the perception arises and consciousness arises on the object of perception. So consciousness arises with an object of perception.

[72:52]

But that consciousness can be experienced separately from the object of perception. And this is where a kind of psychological practice comes into Buddhism. Because As I perceive Ulrike as a wonderful object of perception, it's wonderful that each of us is here as a wonderful object of perception. Are you blushing? Here is Ulrike arising as a wonderful object of perception. Can you translate that? Now, when Ulrike arises in my interiorized space,

[73:52]

consciousness arises at the same time. Now, when I feel the field of perception, I'm separating the object, I'm allowing the object of perception to create a field of perception. Now, I can take the object of perception away And still have the field of perception. The other day I was listening to Thich Nhat Hanh's lecture in Vietnamese the other night. And I was with two old friends, Arnie and Therese Kotler. And they were students of mine for many, many years.

[74:59]

I ordained both of them. And they're now practicing with Thich Nhat Hanh. But we practice together sometimes, too, and they're coming to a sashin at Cresta and so forth. So anyway, we talked to each other quite often and we went, they came to Heidelberg and then we went to Munich together. And Arnie and Therese started Parallax Press, which publishes most of Thich Nhat Hanh's books. I have to tell you all this because you have to know that they know me well. Also ich muss euch das mal erzählen, damit ihr wisst, dass die mich gut kennen. For many years we practiced together. They were my assistants. So viele Jahre haben wir zusammen praktiziert. Die beiden, das waren meine Assistenten. Okay, so we're there and Sister Phong has decided, is translating the lecture to me from Vietnamese to English.

[76:04]

And Sister Phong, das ist also die Partnerin, also I should explain who Sister Phong is. Yeah. She's the close associate and fellow practitioner with Thich Nhat Hanh. Really is kind of a full-time assistant. Also, sie ist seine wirklich ganzzeitliche Assistentin. But she's not just his assistant. Maybe he's her assistant. Ja, vielleicht ist es auch umgekehrt. In any case, she's also known as Sister True Virtue, I believe. True Emptiness. True Emptiness. Sie ist auch bekannt unter dem Namen Schwester True Emptiness. I find it a little funny to use English words like that. Also, für mich ist es ein bisschen komisch, englische Worte so zu benutzen. Like he'd have to call me Penetrated Zen Baker.

[77:06]

Brother Penetrating Saint. Zen Tatsu is bad enough. Okay. So they're sitting with me while she's translating. And I'd driven to Munich once, returned to Heidelberg, driven to Munich again, and so forth, and I was... Awake, but not obviously awake. So Artie and Therese said they were nearly cracked up because I was sitting there sound asleep while she was translating for me. And I said, I was not sound asleep. I heard every word of the lecture. They said, no. It's impossible. We could hardly just refrain from laughing at you.

[78:07]

So I repeated the whole lecture word for word. And they said, okay, okay. But what this means is I've just been practicing long enough that I can focus my consciousness on what she was saying, but my body goes to sleep. Now, sometimes it doesn't always work. But I was very glad this evening it worked. Because every now and then, Sister Fong would say to me, are you hearing me? So then I'd say, yes, and I would then ask her a question or... clarify something from what she just said because she knew I was really good.

[79:08]

So I was making an effort. So this sense of consciousness can arise on the object of perception and you can maintain this sense of consciousness while you let other things go. Okay, so It's thought that there is the object of perception, there is consciousness, and then there's mental contents. Okay, so if Ulrike is my object of perception, then I can feel consciousness arise. Then I can perceive these things as two separate things. The consciousness and aurica.

[80:09]

And I can hold them clearly through shamatha practice. Then I can see mental contents arise. Associations, attitudes, feelings, memories from yesterday and so forth. So it allows me to study those mental contents. Now, those mental contents are always being affected by the precepts. Okay, so, okay. So the first is the, shall we say, I-consciousness. And let's say that's the field of eye consciousness. It's not just, it's sometimes called the ayatana, it's the field of consciousness.

[81:13]

So there's my eye consciousness of Ulrike, and the field that arises, that's what I mean here. And then there's this in the same way, ear, nose, Body. Okay. Now, each of those is a kind of field, right? And they, in fact, in a sense, they all fit into body. And then the next is mind. And then mind is now becoming a formal German word, the official Buddhist term. So the mind is separate, but it also includes all of all. And mind arises from all of these.

[82:15]

But just as I can separate the field of consciousness from the object of perception, and in each place I can, I can feel consciousness separate from me. And that is mind and also awareness. So we could say mind in Buddhism most specifically means this arising of a knowable consciousness independent of the object of consciousness. And a mind that arises on an object of consciousness. Now again we have Dogen saying, When you experience manifold dharmas, that means everything.

[83:42]

When you experience manifold dharmas through the arising of self, that's delusion. When you experience self through the arising of manifold dharmas, that's enlightenment. In other words, if you walk around with a self that's always seeing the world, that's delusion. But if you walk around with your field of the jnana open, and on each perception the necessary self arises, that's enlightenment. Now, let me say a little bit more about mind.

[84:29]

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