To have some discussion among each other a little later. But first, I'd like to give you a very traditional recipe. You know, as I said earlier, trying to discover what a generational lay sangha will be. And part of that is to explore what the institutional Buddhism is. And what the relationship is between institutional Buddhism and individualism.

[01:09]

And of course, here there is the Venerbande Which is a kind of ancient institution. At least getting more ancient all the time. And there's the cottage gas. And there's the place which you sit in. The post office. These are all dimensions of institutional Buddhism. Places where you can practice and places where you can meet other practitioners. And sometimes find a recipe.

[02:26]

That's sense cooking. Cooking, for example, is the way I'm defining institution. Cooking is an institution. Why is bread a dish? you know, you need flour to make bread. Bread is a context for flour. And without somebody raising the wheat, grinding it, or even if you grind it yourself, still, you have to have a grinder. You have to know how to grind it. And if you really want to cook at a high level, definition of you need to probably go to cooking school.

[03:45]

Perhaps somebody really is your mentor. If you don't know Japanese cooking, you don't know how to make a chawanmushi. And if you don't know any Japanese cuisine, then you probably don't know how to make chow wak mushy. It's a kind of custard soup. And that's a kind of soup with ice cream. Yeah, chow wak mushy. But my mother never cooked it. And without my knowing what it looks like, at least I couldn't even begin to think about cooking. So what I'm pointing out is that some of the teachings are kind of like recipes. And like recipes, you have to know what ingredient to put in first.

[04:51]

And how the different ingredients So I thought I would present the four Ramabiharas. The divine abodes. As a kind of recipe. Which you can cook anywhere. But probably you wouldn't come up with it on your own. Okay, so... If you go back to nature and you live and grow your own food and dry in the air, still you're not going to come up with the full realm of the earth.

[06:08]

And they're also called the four immeasurables. They're immeasurable because there's no end to the practice of them. And they're immeasurable because the effect is immeasurable. And what we're speaking about here is Now that we know conceptually at least, we can begin to practice. Knowing the sensory world is the contents of mind, and the contents of mind presumes field or continuum of mind.

[07:16]

At the end that we can shift our sense of location from the contents or phenomena. self and ego, to the field of mind and self. And this in itself, changes the relationship to self, ego, non-self. But the field of mind is not just the field of It's also the field of all your activity. Because your activity is outfolding into the...

[08:17]

the field of your activity and as you know from years past Manjushri and represents this dynamic of folding out into the world and folding in to a kind of inner intensity. Now, this field, folded up field of mind, is... very beautiful and often rather clogged up with duties and obligations and anxiety and so forth.

[09:55]

So how are we going to reduce the structure of this folded-out field of mind? Because it already has structure. Am I just being polite or nice or not nice? is a kind of structure, a habit structure. How do we, say, add structure to this up-folded field of mind? That's an antidote to the clogged up structure. That begins to clear up the outfolded field of light.

[11:17]

in folded field of mind, really can be something close to empty. An originating field of mind, which is nearly zero. Well, the four Brahmaviharas are such a process. And they're also the opening to the practice of compassion. And preparation for maybe an entree or antipasto. For the big time bodhisattva recipe of the six perfections. Okay, so the four brahma-viharas, the four immeasurables, are here unlimited friends.

[12:49]

It's also translated as loving kindness. I think it's kind of difficult to practice loving kindness unless you really feel it. But unlimited friendliness, I think, exists. But I think unlimited friendliness is something that is added. And the second immeasurable is empathetic joy. An apathetic joy is a little more difficult.

[14:08]

It means can you really take joy in your enemy's success? Can you really take joy in somebody who treats you like a shit? This is the basic view of empathetic joy. So the practice that you take somebody in really... That person would be better not on the planet, but, you know... So you have to get over a bump.

[15:23]

So first of all, just practice to a close friend who's more successful than you. So empathetic joy is something you can really see how to practice by See if you can feel joy in anybody's success. Does that mean success? And the third Brahmagyāra is equanimity.

[16:28]

Equanimity, literally in English, the word equanimity means equal animus, equal mind. And so you feel equal toward each person. And equal toward pretty much everything. Well, you may have preferences, you know, like, chocolate pudding better than gasoline. But still, you know, gasoline has a price. And the practice of noticing mind on each person These two containers are different.

[17:49]

But the On both, as I know them, mind appears. Now, if I emphasize this over this, it tastes terrible. But if I now inhabit the practice of knowing mind on each situation, object, person, thing, That is kind of same as you. mind arises as well.

[19:05]

And as you shift into that kind of emphasis, this is called a Buddhist thusness or sameness. You begin to feel mind. It is not that there isn't differences, Gregory Bateson pointed out just a little while ago. Even with difference, they all arise in mind and you begin to have a feeling of a kind of equalness with everything. Comparisons are there.

[20:14]

Comparisons are useful and practical. You don't feel they're fundamental anymore. Fundamental is the same as the mind. As the mind. email. So she finds herself first of all relating to the sentience of each person. So the realization of the practice equanimity opens you to really practicing and feeling compassion and you feel compassion for

[21:27]

Another's child is pretty much the same as your own child. Of course, you have an obligation to your own child is different than somebody else's child. But if you feel compassion equally toward every child and every person, you're probably not going to push your child to be better than other children. Then you're probably not going to push your child You may take a satisfaction in your child's success. But not a satisfaction in the success of your child in comparison to others. Because you wish the other child to be successful. That's the practice of empathetic joy.

[22:40]

And then this recipe... It starts with unlimited friendliness. Now, how you cook and mix these ingredients Mixed with quartz is you radiate them in seven directions. So let's start with unleveled earth. That sounds corny, but it's great. I like doing it. First of all, you practice radiating in the four compass directions. Unlimited. Unlimited find this text. You actually sit there and radiate as much as you can.

[23:59]

Because the psychological and auric space around you already is populated and has some structure. Like if you say, where is my mother? In the space around me. I'll let you find she might be more to the left or right. Your father might be more in the middle or to the right, etc. And you can ask which side is more darker than the other side. And you can play with that structure and try to kind of switch the darker and lighter sides.

[25:21]

But one way to work with this already structured space around us is to radiate unlimited friendliness. And then maybe radiate it to the left. And then the back or the other side. And then it's a little more difficult to radiate it back. Because we kind of protect our back. Why would somebody do that? This cooking process is not to radiate it to our back. Then you radiate it up.

[26:30]

And that's really what they say in this recipe. And then you radiate it down. And then you radiate it all around. Microwave. Microwave, I didn't say it. Yeah, I love microwave. Other. Yeah, radiate, yes. Microwave is good. Microwave. Um... Okay, so you practice this. You just try it out. So when you see the beggar on the street or the... person coming toward you or whoever.

[27:39]

They're coming toward you in a space that is softened up by Unlimited friends. And into the same seven directions. Likewise with compassion. Likewise with compassion. And this is a kind of recipe which transforms the space around us. more formless, more open, more open field.

[28:52]

So that's the end of my presentation with recipe. So what I'd Now we can have a break. And maybe for a moment, how many minutes are still out? You know, because it's afternoon. And then maybe we can, let's do meat as small groups. And see what you make of this recipe. Are you ready to try it? Which words? Brahma. Indian Brahma. Vihar, a second.

[30:10]

Vihar. V-I-H-A-R-A. Vihar. But you don't need the words. What you do need is the scope. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. And also relates to the point of sincerity. I mean, if I'm joyful for no reason, is this sincere? I don't know. I don't care, actually. Because... If I'm joyful, the hell with sincerity. If I'm joyful, maybe my husband will be joyful too, because if I'm in a good mood, this increases his joy, and this will be a change in reaction that is incredible. Do you all know about this study that was done in the last couple of years of interviewing people who were known in their locale as the happiest person in their area?

[31:30]

Well, anyway, somebody went, a group of people went, literally, but anyway, all over the world. And they'd ask, who's the happiest person in the village? And they'd go interview this person. And I think they did this for a couple of years. Do you know the one thing that all the happiest people had in front of them? They decided to be happy. They decided of the choices available, this one's the best. So that, I mean, you can't make a choice and it makes a difference.

[32:41]

And the practice of the four Brahma Viharas is that kind of choice. So a question which was discussed at length in our group was whether you are only able to practice this if you somehow are clear with yourself. Yeah. Or whether you can use it as a recipe, just as a recipe, which then changes some of space, and also your sex.

[33:58]

Well, yeah, I understand. I do know people who have... are socialized in a way is that they have an extremely affable, positive, public personality. And their private personality is not affable at all. And they're just socially trained well, but it doesn't extend to their own personal daily life. They have to practice. the four Brahma viharas in their family, etc. Yeah. I have a suggestion for watching something at YouTube.

[35:14]

Watching something at YouTube? At YouTube, yeah. So I came across a video where the Dalai Lama is received by the Grinch Charts. Received? Received, yeah. Grinch Charts. And it's quite funny to look at because the situations are completely changed because normally you would have somebody being together with Prince Charles who would be quite hungry and would treat him kind of being in an inferior position. But he suddenly would. Well, that's something I would assume. But he is very open and very friendly and very playful with him and very direct. The Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama with him. And he talks about... He also talks about that he always approaches people at the human level, so not about what they are, what they do, and what their position in society is, but at the human level.

[36:20]

And he even says something like about George Bush, he is a very nice person, he is a very straightforward person, very easy, and it was very nice to be with him. And then he turns to Prince Charles and says something like, and now to this person, this very nice person. And Prince Charles completely is transformed. He is acting like a little child. And it's very sweet. And for me, it's very... Yeah, I know everybody likes that. And this is, for me, this is a very good example of kindness. So there is no, there is no, they are not, there's a separation between two of them from the social position. It's just a direct acting, a direct approach to another person.

[37:26]

And so it teaches this, in a way, how you can approach other people. And this was quite impressive. You can watch it on YouTube. Thank you for your unlimited friend. Did what we talked about earlier today and yesterday come up at all in the discussion? Yeah. to search for these four qualities through a shift-based

[38:33]

So there was the observation that in order to approach or to enter into these four qualities a shift has to happen. From a focus on the situation through a breath on the perception of the field. And in this process, one of these four qualities arises. Somehow unplanned, you cannot make a choice about it. Something arises. Okay, yeah. On the same group there was a question or there was the assumption about the possibility

[39:44]

You can do something like training, like when sheets are repaired, they are put in a dot, dry dot. So when we're not really engaged in this hot situation, and we do this radiation in all directions, and we call out this quality, and maybe you can imagine, so that you could imagine somebody and try to radiate these qualities in the seven directions. So that the fee would somehow be enriched by this training, and you would be more able to really do that in a real situation. I don't think it's just the whole .

[40:59]

So in order to get a glimpse for it or to get an idea how you could change the field in this situation. Okay. Do you remember I spoke in the afternoon about the three minds of daily consciousness? Yeah. And I think I've told you an example of the Dalai Lama speaking in Munich. And I think I've told you an example of the Dalai Lama speaking in Munich. And I think he really transformed the whole corner of Munich. And I think he really transformed the whole corner of Munich. Anyway, somebody else want to say something before we all...

[42:19]

There's a kind of gratefulness that these four Brahma Hinpyaras are not on the level of instructions for action. Yeah. Also the recognition that you cannot discuss these things without doing. Thanks. Yes? In our group you spoke also about seeing something as activity, and there was a question seeing something which is not very nice as activity, which is not difficult. And then we got kind of curious what's coming up, if you imagine this, because when I was speaking in small talk, I was like feeling that loneliness, but what happens if I imagine something

[43:51]

I don't know, some epic cadaver. Cadaver? A dead person? Yeah, like a dog or something has an activity. So we had a stand-in relation. And we had, for example, a bulldozer or an IT building. Well, it's definitely activity. It made me curious what would come up in my perception. There came the idea of beautiful things, and hard things, and related to the poem. You know, you're going to have to say all this in Deutsch. I mean, not to present an unpleasant activity, I've tried, but first I want to say something more English, because the Red Book of Christian Singer...

[45:18]

Yeah, the Gods love, they give all. They give everything. Yeah. Right. Bulldozer. Bulldozers, cadavers. Take me along, you cadaver. And the contrast with what you said this morning. the idea that a thing or an object or that the world is an activity and then I have the question whether it is more difficult or whether it is more difficult to see something that is ugly or scary or scary as an activity.

[46:54]

And then there's the curiosity. I don't understand what's going on here, but I try. I feel like I've been talking for a very long time, because it's a beautiful object. I can imagine that this is an activity. And then people, what happens when this ugly object, like a cadar, on the street, from here to there, when I look at it, I imagine that this is an activity. Then the people, what then appears in the film, it looks like a vacuum. That's the idea of the poem.

[48:10]

Yes, exactly. And then in the book, the next fragment, I don't know if it's the singer, but it says, and that's not in the book, because it's so complicated, but it's in the book. Well, I think what you said this morning on the practice of seeing things as an activity. The world is an activity. The details of the world are activities. And our perception is an activity. For some reason, that being embedded in that experience, as you said, does increase, for some reason, our sense of vividness and vitality even.

[49:22]

And we feel more nourished by the world. Because this is also a practice of practice of not thinking about the world, but being engaged with the world, which the situation itself nourishes. And there is a kind of brightness or a kind of glow or light to the mind itself. And there is a kind of brightness or light to the mind itself.

[50:34]

And let's say a kind of connectedness we can call tenderness. Or we can call intimacy. Or we can call being in the world in what feels like a consequential way. So even if it's a cadaver. You reminded me of the time I was in New York sitting by the East River and right below me a dead dog from the But even At that time, I was more kind of like in a Baudelairean state of mind.

[51:59]

It was rather kind of depressing. But I think now it would just be more kind of. relevant, consequential, vivid thing. And maybe a kind of tenderness. And maybe a kind of tenderness. Okay, why don't we go pretend to have dinner? I don't know why I said that.

[52:48]

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