I think you'll feel younger. No, I don't usually make promises. But I think it's true. Anyway, I think that's enough. I think we all took a sort of bath together. A sort of a bath in emptiness. And... This sense of concentration. And this energy. And energy and concentration work together during the day. And this sense of knowledge, this knowledge of how the world exists impermanently. And knowledge that the world is in fact interior. It's out there, but what we know of it is interior.

[01:04]

This knowledge is combined with faith. Or trust that somehow we exist. So faith and this knowledge kind of work together. And energy and concentration work together. And these work together with mindfulness and your breath. And these are the ingredients of your balanced spiritual and mental diet. And I'm saying all this so you can take good care of yourselves. And if you take good care of yourselves, you're taking good care of me. So thank you very much. So what time is it anyway? So if, why don't we take a break? And is it all right to take a break?

[02:17]

Yes, sure. And then after the break of 10 or 15 minutes, if anybody wants to and is still here, we can have some discussion or questions or something. Let's talk about it. It's your turn. I have to do some of the work. Now you have to do some of the work. In a day or in meditation? Okay. Well, if you do meditation, as you said, for starters, we usually, the tradition is, and it's not just for beginners, is to bring your breath to your exhales. your breath bring your mind to your exhales and usually we count to ten and then start again at one and there's a feeling if you kind of visualize it that your breath is coming out this way and rising up from the bottom

[03:30]

Of course, it's actually coming in this way. But the way you breathe was not moving your chest much. It feels like it's coming in from the bottom. And again, but this kind of breathing I just described, you don't try to create it in your meditation practice you just let it happen with the sense of counting and whatever breath is there is fine because first of all you just accept the way you are but But then you begin to find a kind of inventory of different ways you breathe. And among those, the way I described is probably the most stable.

[04:45]

And by describing it, I'm not suggesting you do it, I'm suggesting you discover it. Now, the other sense of this is to follow your breath. So if you don't count them, you count your breath, you just have a sense of following or staying with your breath. And whatever, you know. There's many breathing practices, but those are very basic and not just for beginners. Anytime you can do it. And through that, you get the habit of feeling or staying in touch with your breath. And... So in your daily activity, not in meditation, every now and then it's good to bring your attention to your breath.

[06:02]

Now how do you do that? Well, you can figure out your own way. The ways I tend to do it are every time I kind of program myself. Whenever I look out a window, At that moment, I bring my attention to my breath. I forget most of the time. But every now and then I remember it. I think, oh, this is great. And then after a while, it becomes a habit. Whenever I look at the sky, I feel mind and sky identified. And I feel my breath open up. And also I find all stairwells are actually in secret monasteries. Usually when you're in a stairwell, no one's bothering you. So when I go upstairs, I think, oh, this is great, thank you. And I feel my breath as I go upstairs or downstairs.

[07:19]

So I just find little ways like that to remind myself. You can find your own. But if you just develop a habit of occasionally bringing mind and breath together. With the sense of mind and body and the physical world coming together in a kind of subtle pace. if you do it only a few times a day it definitely can and probably will change your life you'll start living in a different kind of space you know there's a very simple and nice koan And I like telling. Two brothers who were also, they were actual brothers and they were Dharma brothers too, having the same teacher.

[08:23]

And named Dao Wu and Yun Yan. And Yun Yan was sweeping. And Dao Wu came up and said, oh, too busy. Yun Yan said, you should know there is one who is not busy. So if you begin to have this sense during the day of occasionally coming back to your breath suddenly you might know the one who is not busy even in the middle of your activity. So that's a good kind of koan or mantra you can keep during the day with yourself. The one who is not busy And in the midst of doing things, still you have a sense maybe you're the one who's not busy. It's a good place to rest.

[09:27]

And your shots kissed her. This is your shots kissed her. Something else? What is a typical answer when you are asked about how a way Well, when we're practicing, I'm trying to teach you through this breath and all to set sail, to set your sails, trim your sails. But the harbor is right here. So you're not going anywhere. That's the way. You're setting sail for here. Something else? Nevertheless, it doesn't work all the time.

[10:30]

So which conditions have to come together so that it functions all the time? Well, first of all is your intention. your intention has to be pretty deep and complete bye thanks for the kiss she threw me a kiss it's not your intention has to be quite concentrated and a sense of faith that it works And then with that intention and that faith you'll find subtle ways to make it work. And this evening I've given you plenty of ingredients. And if your intention and faith are there, I've given you more than enough ingredients for the next several years.

[11:31]

Okay. Yes. It's easy in a circle like this, but in other circumstances it's much more difficult. I know that. That's why I do this so often. I'm doing this because my practice is so bad. And I need the help of a lot of people. So I go to various cities to get people to help me. This is not modesty, this is fact. I need so much help that I create this life which helps me. If I didn't have this kind of, it would be hard. So I live in a place where I practice with people. So there's a sitting group here in Munich that meets once a week.

[12:31]

And the reason that sitting group exists is because it helps actually to associate now and then with people who do the practice. But other than that, you have to find ways to bring practice into your daily life. The problem is that many activities of the day don't lead to practice. So it has to come from a kind of existential insight or a physical feel for practice. Once you have that feel, then you have to nourish it. Are you practicing a lot with colons? Is it that you're coming back again to colons to see it when you've solved it, or when you meditate about it, that you see it from a different viewport?

[13:57]

Or once you've solved it, it is finished for you? Does anybody want to... Do you want to say that in German, or is it not necessary? What? Yes, sagst du es auf Deutsch? To think of koans as something you solve is probably a mistake. At least it's a very narrow dimension of koans. Koans are a way of mixing ordinary language and spiritual language. Or let's use the example of the one who's not busy. Or I can say a phrase like, just now is enough.

[15:21]

Now, in the world of divided, in the world of conceptual perception of the so-called divided world, Just now is not enough. We need many things. But in the undivided world in the way of perceiving the world non-conceptually which is actually possible And in a seminar, for instance, we can spend some time with these things, and I can try to give you a feeling of how you already know this, actually. So simultaneously, right now, we have a divided world and an undivided world existing without interfering with each other. Or we can simultaneously or sequentially perceive the world as divided and undivided.

[16:28]

As noisy and silent, a deep silence. Or busy and unbusy. Or absolutely just now is enough. Now that way of thinking is koan, it's kind of the language of koans. So koans use language as a kind of meta-language that makes ordinary language of the divided world and language is essentially about the divided world with a special use of languages makes the undivided world visible and any real koan is always working in you and opening things up So you mean it keeps on working? Yeah, completely. Everything. How could there be a beginning or an end?

[17:29]

Which, this is about enough, isn't it, don't you think? Thank you very much. Feeling dark. Feeling dark. I'm feeling good. Are you feeling dark?

[18:03]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_67.09