What did you say? I just said that I bought six crates of drinks and David carried them all. Drinks? Drinks and in the back people are thirsty during the breaks. And these apples. Oh, okay. And are we allowed to go outside and use the yard? No. But we can wander down to the Neckar and have a walk because we are quite close to the river. We can all do walking meditation in the river and startle Heidelberg. And I... Sometimes when I've been here, I've been asked to teach chanting.

[01:01]

So I have the Heart Sutra cards in Japanese and English. So we can if we want. I don't know yet whether we should or not. And the noise of the children, not being bothered by the noise of the children, is pretty much the same as whether you're bothered by your own thoughts or not. And if there were birds only, you probably wouldn't be bothered. So just think of the children as some kind of natural sound, which it is. And someone asked me about psychology and primal therapy and Zen Buddhism.

[02:26]

I want to teach, as I've often said, Western Buddhism. and not just a traditional Japanese or a Chinese Buddhism, nor do I want to teach a westernized Buddhism. And by westernized Buddhism, I mean a Buddhism adjusted to fitting into the way the West views things. I think if you seriously want to practice Buddhism, our fundamental psychological and societal views need to be challenged. But my... practicing with you here is part of developing a Western Buddhism.

[03:46]

Maybe you could close one or two of the windows just for a moment. Thank you. So I'm interested in your feelings and I want some discussion with you about practicing. But I'd like us to not think so much about psychology and comparisons and so forth. in the beginning of this seminar, because I want us to focus on the... what should I say... the vast immensity of this life. If I could say that if we could turn our body toward or turn our attention toward what we can't explain or this mystery of our life, this miracle of awareness and life itself, which we really can't explain,

[05:23]

And you've come here to this seminar. And you may have some reasons. But you really don't know why. Maybe you're a friend of Ulrike's. Or maybe you got the forum announcement. Or maybe you're just lonely. And you want to do something this weekend. Or maybe you're curious about what is Western Buddhism. But really, whatever your reasons, they don't really explain why you're here. And there's a kind of knowledge in our life that can't be put into words. And we, in Zen practice, we want to become more able to hear this knowledge which can't be put into words.

[06:51]

Knowledge and words are not, knowledge and language or knowledge and words are not the same thing. Wissen und Sprache oder Wissen und Wörter, das ist nicht das Gleiche. Jedenfalls so wie ich das Wort Wissen verwende. Und Wissen kann auch einfach eine Neuanordnung sein von dem, was ihr schon wisst. Eine andere Erfahrung von dem, was ihr schon wisst. And it can be also another way to hear the knowledge that's always around us. So I'd like you as much as possible not to have too many reasons for being here. You're just here this evening and Saturday and Sunday.

[08:02]

And whatever it is, you'll just be here. And if you're really going to practice, you need to concentrate. And I don't know all the reasons you're here. But I don't want to miss this opportunity of practicing with you. And whatever happens during these two and a half days, the most important single thing is for you to develop a concentrated state of mind and a concentrated state of body. and that you find a way to have this concentrated state present with you even while you're having dinner or staying in a hotel or wherever you're staying.

[09:08]

So you try to have the feeling of this, you try to get in touch with this concentrated mind and stay with the taste of it or feel of it or remind yourself of it even when you're not here or even when we're having a conversation or discussion. And that concentrated state of mind is you can remind yourself with your breath. And it's very intimately part of your breath. It also means you need a rather sober attitude toward your life or toward this weekend. sober and detached and at ease as much as possible an easy feeling, don't be too serious And then if we can develop that kind of, get a feeling for this concentration, and you can try not to think too much about why you're here or what you're doing, but just have more a sense of turning toward the mystery of our life,

[11:07]

The sense of this miracle of our life and awareness. This feeling is also part of developing a concentrated mind and body. And if you really can develop a concentrated mind and body, and you can just for this weekend say, I commit myself to trying to do that, again, not forcing it, and yet reminding yourself of it. Even in two days or two and a half days you can have some result in your practice. But I should say, if I say result that yes, there are results to practice. But still the most fundamental way to practice is not to be concerned with results.

[12:40]

And if you're involved with results, you won't have much concentration. So this is somewhat contradictory, but these contradictions are part of our life. And if you want just one simple mind, you can't practice zazen. Zazen requires, and Buddhist practice in general, being able to stay concentrated in the midst of rather contradictory aspects of our life. So I'd like you to feel your breath as part of your concentration. And feel your breath as part of your mind. If we can maintain this kind of, the more we can maintain this kind of feeling, and as I said, stay with this sense of this miracle of our life and awareness, then within that feeling, then I'd like to look at

[14:10]

look with you at some aspects of psychology. Okay, just now, is there anything anybody would like to ask or bring up? Yes. Yeah? May I repeat what you said? Yes. What are the differences in the results of Zen practice and Prana theory? Tell people. Do you want to say that in German? Why are you interested? Because I thought to find some similarities. Why don't you say it in German? Please say it in German.

[15:47]

Yes, I found that there were some similarities between the two. Although the original discoverers of the primary therapy always have small pages that are similar, I found that there are many similarities. What is the difference between practicing Sazen and a successful primal therapy? Yes, but why does he want me to answer that? Why is he interested? Can you tell us again why you want to solve this?

[16:48]

What did he say? He said, why do I want to know this? It doesn't fit. I want you to forget about knowing things. For a couple of days. Yes. Well, he thinks the question has nothing to do with knowing and knowledge and his opinion.

[17:51]

Well, then don't ask any questions for a while. Can you ask the same question at the end of the seminar? Yes. I said I'll come back, just a few minutes ago, I said I'll come back to that kind of question. But in general, not just, I'm not just speaking to you, this sense of our life as a mystery, I want you to suspend even knowing how you got here. You may not be able to go back on Sunday. You will have forgotten about streetcars and buses and airplanes. And we'll have to lead you by the hand. Anyway, that simple we need to be sometimes.

[19:13]

And actually, one goes to a monastery so that you can be that simple. And you know, there's going, somebody will make, there will be three meals a day. And there's a schedule. But other than that you can bump into trees and wander around. You can even forget why you shouldn't, maybe you should just keep bumping into the same tree. Take a vacation. So some other questions? You'd like to ask a question about concentration?

[20:16]

Yes. I've experienced that there are different qualities with concentration. One quality is like mathematics. When I sit, I warn myself that I am sitting, but this has nothing to do with effort. Sometimes I think that I have to put effort into it and that I want to concentrate. Sometimes you say that you want to concentrate, but there is no effort at all. Can I try to make that simple, the question? The other quality is the awareness through zazen and sometimes you try too hard when you do zazen to be concentrated and get mixed up.

[21:20]

Is that what you were saying? The other quality is the one you don't need energy for to maintain. Just to sit there and to be aware, but in this moment I think I have to concentrate in the sense of where to be active. That's what's difficult for me, because we're concentrating, for me it's always something with the... An object of concern. With what? Something to do with the network. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. That's a good question. We are a mind culture.

[22:32]

And Buddhism developed in what I would call a body culture. And a yogic culture. And the whole development of Tai Chi and acupuncture and the chakras. really means that your personality is in your body. Your basic personality is in your body, not in your mind. And that's fairly strange to us. Now I will talk with you this evening and during Saturday and Sunday About some things which I would call slow messages and not fast messages.

[23:39]

In other words, I hope to say things to you that you're not going to understand. But that you may. And that it takes time to understand. And even if you understand them now, your understanding will change over time. Shakespeare and Goethe are probably slow messages. And we are centuries later still sort of finding meaning in those writers. On the whole, Buddhism is a slow message. And anything that also challenges our, or is unfamiliar to us, challenges our way of looking at things, or is just simply unfamiliar, has the nature of being a slow message.

[24:52]

And what I'd also like you to do is, even if you have the sensation of understanding, to not move toward that sensation of understanding. Does that make sense? No. Because when you try to understand something, you try to make it powerless. Powerless. You try to make it okay and try to make it fit in to the way you think and feel. And again, I've been quoting Panikkar. who I heard speak he's a friend of mine and I heard him speak in Hanover recently he's an Indian and Western and I believe Catholic philosopher but in any case he said speaking from an Indian point of view that thinking is not a worthy cause

[26:02]

Partner of being. Thinking is not an equal partner of being. And we identify thinking and identity and being and so forth. As you know, I have trouble translating even the word mind into German because mind has a sense of thought and thinking in it. And I've had discussions with the Western scientists and philosophers who are adamant that there is no mind separate from thoughts. And they're simply wrong. Or what they mean by mind is not what all of Asia, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, India mean by mind.

[27:29]

And your being is not limited to thoughts. And so when you try to understand things or translate things into thoughts or understanding, you're limiting yourself. Now to do this in a subtle way, so it's an uninterrupted part of your life, can you say that again, please? to do this in a subtle way so it's an uninterrupted part of your life. It takes some familiarity with the practice. But first we just try it in whatever way we can find to do it. Like I've suggested to you about this weekend. Just for this weekend, try to give thinking a vacation.

[28:43]

Now I'd like to, just for a few minutes, sit. And see if you can give thinking a vacation. It's like they say, don't think of a polar bear. I'll sit this way so you can sit any way you want to. It's the way the Buddha, the posture of the Buddha of the future. You've never seen the statues.

[29:49]

So if you take this posture, maybe we all have a chance. And I noticed some of you sitting with your hands like this and like this on your knees. And that's certainly a traditional posture. But in Zen we usually want to sit as our most basic posture with our hands together. They can either be together like that and then against your stomach. Down, Father. And then, or you can put your left hand on top of your right hand. And the fingers overlapping. And lifting through your thumbs. To make an oval.

[30:51]

And then you can put that with your small fingers against your stomach. Or you can put the thumb and your small finger against your stomach. I think it's a little better to just have your small finger against your stomach and the thumb and the forefinger in a straight vertical line. And some people who have learned from Japanese and Oriental teachers Hold their hands up in the air. And that's really because in Japan and oriental people in general have short arms and long torsos. And when they put their hands, when they rest their hands on their feet, it pulls their shoulders forward and cuts off their breathing.

[31:59]

So if your arms are long enough, you can rest them on your heel or on your lap. And as your meditation becomes more mature Is there a difference in how your energy flows through your body if your hands are together or on your knees? Now, I'm still responding to your question about concentration. I think first of all, while we're practicing this week, this weekend, and for beginning practice, and for mature practice, it's good to try to be able to shift your identity to your breath.

[33:19]

And that's really what you're doing when you're counting your breaths. You're substituting thoughts about self and past and future to thoughts about breath. And when you count your breath it's a thought about breath. But you're hopefully moving so that the thoughts and the numbers or the counting become thinner and thinner. And your identity stream is not in the words and thoughts so much. And begins to shift into your breath. So we're in the beginning and again, beginning and mature practice. You're counting your exhale. And this is a process of shifting your identity stream out of your thoughts into your body.

[34:45]

Into your breath first and then into your body. And as I've been saying recently, four good checkpoints are the mouth, and swallowing in your tongue. And this is, you'll find if you, again, while you're doing something later this evening, you'll find if you swallow, it's connected with awareness. As your mouth is connected with awareness, Your mouth and your body movements are connected with one of the faster brain wave patterns. and your eyelids and eyes are connected with a slower brainwave pattern.

[35:57]

They actually have different rhythms, and one is a deeper rhythm than the other. So when you do these very simple practices, which are just everyday practices, if you do them with authority, and conviction, you're actually playing subtly with your very basic metabolic and electrical rhythms. And you're changing the way you're put together with such simple things. But you've got to do it with conviction and authority. What do you have to do with your mouth and your tongue? Just notice... Well, let me finish. I'm going to give you four points. Mouth is first.

[36:59]

The second is your breathing. And the breathing is the center of heat and clarity. And according to how you breathe, you can generate heat and you can generate clarity. And clarity, excuse me, and heat is part of consciousness. We're warm-blooded, conscious people. And consciousness is not just a mental phenomenon, but it's the ability of your body to generate heat. And the more even and focused that heat can be, the more physically healthy you'll be. For instance, I noticed recently I was staying in Freiburg with friends.

[38:04]

One rainy, rather chilly day I went out jogging. And I still hadn't rested too much from flying over here. And I lost control of my body temperature. And I started getting sick. And my body temperature dropped down from my hands so my fingers were cold. And I simply worked on moving the heat back up my fingers. And within a couple of hours I had my hands warm except the tips of my two forefingers. And as long as I even had the tip of my forefinger cold, I knew I was still on the edge of being sick. I think my hand is warm now. And a testimonial.

[39:18]

But really, when you practice meditation, you become more sensitive to these things. Partly what I call sometimes low threshold dictation. Information we receive from our body that we don't usually notice because it's below the threshold that we usually notice things. And then the third place is your hara. This lower part of your stomach here. And the third place. And the fourth place is your feet. So one thing, four things that are useful to do. When you're busy and distracted or whatever you're doing. See if you can maintain an awareness or remind yourself of any one of these four or all four.

[40:25]

So you have a sense of where your feet are and that they're not cold and that you can feel warmth and consciousness in your feet. If you can't have consciousness and warmth in your feet If you don't have that much connection, how are you going to enlighten anybody? And in the same way you want to feel the strength and power really here in this lower part of your stomach. And in a similar way you can check your breath. Or you can stop for a moment and swallow.

[41:26]

These are not unrelated to the reasons people smoke. They do something with their mouth and with their breath. And it changes the way you feel about a meal or the evening sun or, you know, it's... So what I'm getting at is that the kind of concentration I'm talking about is really a physical concentration in which you pretty much dropped off identification with your thoughts. and as that concentration develops you drop off mind and body but in the beginning you just get a taste of this but this taste itself makes a big difference So I think the last thing I would like to say this evening is that we tend to think we live on this planet and we live in this realm of this space

[42:51]

and we live in time and space and time are independent of us and go on without us and we kind of rush to keep up with it This is not the feeling of space and time in Asian culture in general and specifically not in Buddhism. It's very difficult to distinguish. First of all, they don't really have the concepts of space and time. As strange as that may seem to you. in Buddhism the feeling is that space and time accompany you they're not something you live in but something that you generate and that you carry with you and you carry your own space right now

[44:16]

And to various degrees, you include the people around you. The feeling of that is from here. And if you really have that feeling of space and time are attributes of you, you won't be depressed anymore and you won't be upset you won't get nervous in the usual way I don't promise you no problems but the feeling of them is quite different you don't feel besieged or threatened by problems what would have bothered you before and threatened you now just feels like it lives with you like an arm or a leg or a nose and so it's not so threatening it's just something that lives with you and this is really a

[45:33]

this really can be realized from such a simple thing as really finding that space and time are attributes of you. And as I've discussed this a little bit a few times here in Europe already there are many attributes of this And I don't know to what extent I'll go into it this weekend. But there are different names even for words for these different kinds of space. Or space time. And one emphasizes space. the space or time in which an activity happens. And we're creating an opportunity for an activity of ourselves to happen.

[46:53]

And we're not passive recipients of passive recipients of a past from our parents and grandparents. We actually allow that activity to happen and we squeeze it. They can get a very pure light now by squeezing light And getting all the noise or variation in light sort of squeezed out. And we do that to ourselves. We squeeze that to get rid of noise. We squeeze ourselves down. And that noise is a very important voice of our world. That we should find ways to listen to outside our thinking identity.

[48:00]

So, This evening I would like you to have the feeling of allowing the activity of yourself to be. To allow the activity of yourself to be, to happen, to be free. and to allow the activity of this city to be, to happen. And to feel that space, as I have often said, doesn't separate things, but space connects things. That's the most basic difference in the Buddhist Asian way of looking at space.

[49:13]

It's connecting us. Not separating us. So if you could feel this evening after we separate that space is connecting everything And you're allowing this space, the activity of this space to enfold or to unfold. Okay, I'd like us to stand up and stretch for a few minutes and then I'd like us to sit and then we'll end. Again, I don't know how long we'll sit.

[51:08]

But not too long. I'm a fairly kind person. But please just let yourself disappear. No fooling around, just disappear. Especially on your exhale, just disappear. And if you breathe in again, okay. With that feeling. Out it goes. Maybe it comes back. Please feel this lifting feeling through your back. And through the back of your neck. And it's useful to to rock forward and back and then to the left and right with your head and neck quite relaxed and swinging farther than your body and then make the swings smaller until you feel centered

[52:26]

You feel like the breath of you is going right up and down the middle of you. It is more than just breath. It is consciousness and awareness itself. And it fills your body. And it feels very good all through the center of your body. And you feel deeply relaxed and able just to let everything happen. To find your ease in the middle of this space. In which everything can happen. This space which belongs to you.

[53:43]

But is more than anything you can identify with. your breathing is at the center of this and reaches in every direction with this kind of feeling please sit not inviting your thoughts to tea Just resting in your breath.

[54:33]

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