Now I presume there must be in German, in Deutsch, books on the Abhidharma. Booked. What? Booked. Books. I mean, Germany... was once the main language for Buddhist scholarship. But I'm not capable of finding out or deciding which books are best. So I would like you as a group to find some way to do it. I know that Andreas hunted for things but couldn't find any specific books.

[01:12]

Is that right, Andreas? And my library is primarily in Crestone, so I don't know what books I would have that probably have German translations or are German translations. our translation into English. And I don't know how this winter branches group, let's say it's a group, will continue through the four seasons. But I think it ought to continue independent of Johannes Wolff. In other words, I don't think the Johanneshof office should sort of coordinate deciding what texts you guys might like.

[02:35]

Anders ausgedrückt, ich meine nicht, dass das Johanneshofbüro koordinieren sollte, oder anordnen sollte, welche Texte ihr, wir also bevorzugen. So, maybe we need to choose or elect or volunteer, someone volunteers, to be a kind of secretary for the group. Or maybe two or three people perform this function. I don't know. I don't think it would be much work. But, I mean, this is a suggestion. You know, it's... Up to you to decide whether you want to do this. But it would be interesting if, you know, together you, you know, various of you could have suggested books to somebody and then you made a decision.

[03:59]

These one or two books are quite good. And then you would agree that everyone would try to read them before the next meeting. Yeah, now... That would be, you know, you'd be a communal autodidact society. Communal. To find together what books ought to be studied. Now, I presume there must be... in German, in German, books on the Abhidharma.

[05:10]

What? Books. I mean, Germany... was once the main language for Buddhist scholarship. But I'm not capable of finding out or deciding which books are best. So I would like you as a group to find some way to do it. I know that Andreas hunted for things but couldn't find any specific books. Is that right, Andreas? And my library is primarily in Crestone, so I don't know what books I would have that probably have German translations or are German translations.

[06:20]

our translations into English. And I would, you know, I don't know how this winter branches group, let's say it's a group, will continue through the four seasons. But I think it ought to continue independent of Johanneshoff. In other words, I don't think the Johanneshof office should sort of coordinate deciding what texts you guys might like. Anders ausgedrückt, ich meine nicht, dass das Johanneshofbüro koordinieren sollte, oder anordnen sollte, welche Texte ihr, wir, also bevorzugen.

[08:01]

So, maybe we need to choose or elect or volunteer, someone volunteers, to be a kind of secretary for the group. Or maybe two or three people perform this function. I don't know. I don't think it would be much work. But, I mean, this is a suggestion. You know, it's... Up to you to decide whether you want to do this. But it would be interesting if, you know, together you, you know, various of you could have suggested books to somebody and then you made a decision. These one or two books are quite good. And then you would agree that everyone would try to read them before the next meeting.

[09:10]

Yeah, now... That would be, you know, you'd be a communal autodidact society. Communal. to find together what books ought to be studied. Even in English, I don't like to suggest books. I like people to kind of feel out what texts... catch their interest and hold their interest and then study those.

[10:14]

No, I'd like to hear what anybody wants to say about your discussion or yesterday or the Tay Show, etc. And please understand, I want most of what we do in the winter branches to come from you and not from me. If it mostly comes from me, we should disband. This isn't a threat, it's just the way it should be. So I see this as different from the other seminars where mostly I produce what happens. In our group it came to light very quickly that actually no one before the practice had a real, that is, a concrete conception of the body in a usable sense.

[12:00]

Now, Gopit, it was quickly obvious that before starting practice no one had a clear practical imagination of what the body is. Most of us, the body was a sort of machine. And also there was a similar distance to what could have been a mind or consciousness. and without any clear idea what encompasses that. And that is especially for me, and it is based on our cultural understanding of body and mind,

[13:04]

And it should be the case that for most people the sitting practice itself actually spreads a whole spectrum of experiences that one has with the body on the one hand, but also with the spirit on the other. And just the sitting practice for most of it unfolds a spectrum of experiences made as much with the body as with the mind. And starting quite simply with experiences like pain or pleasant feelings. Or feelings which one just didn't recognize before or feeling at places which one didn't recognize before. And this apprehending or noticing of the body over time also changes again then.

[14:41]

Even in English, I don't like to suggest books. I like people to kind of feel out what texts catch their interest and hold their interest and then study those. No, I'd like to hear what anybody wants to say about your discussion or yesterday or the Tay Show, etc. And please understand, I want most of what we do in the

[15:57]

Winter branches to come from you and not from me. If it mostly comes from me, we should disband. This isn't a threat, it's just the way it should be. So I see this as different from the other seminars where mostly I produce what happens. In our group it came to light very quickly that no one before the practice had a real, a concrete idea of the body in a usable sense. Now, Gub, it was quickly obvious that before starting practice, no one had a clear practical imagination of what the body is.

[17:18]

Most of us, the body was a sort of machine. And also there was a similar distance to what could have been a mind or consciousness. and without any clear idea what encompasses that. And that is especially for me, and it is based on our cultural understanding of body and mind, And it should be the case that for most people the sitting practice itself actually raises a whole spectrum of experiences that one has with the body on the one hand, but also with the spirit on the other.

[18:38]

And just the sitting practice, for most of it, unfolds a spectrum of experiences made as much with the body as with the mind. It was quite banal with experiences with Schmerz or with pleasant feelings. And starting quite simply with experiences like pain or pleasant feelings. Or feelings which one just didn't recognize before or feeling at places which one didn't recognize before. And this apprehending or noticing of the body over time also changes again then. And something similar, to go beyond the original body-soul-dualism, something similar plays out, at least for me, with what I would have described as spirit-soul.

[20:03]

And, at least for me, something similar happens, sort of going over this dualism of body-mind, for me getting out of the dualism of mind and soul. Auch das scheint sich irgendwo in sich ändernde Strukturen aufzulösen. It seems to dissolve into its self-changing stretches. Okay. Okay, Andreas. And by the way, I don't mind if... Like Munen, some of you want to sit in chairs because this shouldn't be limited to just cross-legged adepts. Now he tells me, says Peter. Yes, Andreas. Before just the idea of that body or mind was something in itself noticeable just didn't exist.

[21:42]

You were in the same group as he was? Oh, okay. The bodiless group, I mean. Mindless. Mindless group. The mindless group. I can remember my first seminar with Baker Rossi, which was called Breath, the bridge between body and mind. And this title became a practice for me, although I learned much later that it became a practice, this picture, and a lot came out of it. And I can remember vividly my first seminar with you, Hiroshi, the breath being the bridge between body and mind. And what I noticed just later, this in itself became a practice for me, which I noticed itself later. And out of that came other practice or other practice developed out of that.

[23:02]

Another part that is missing in this area for me, for example, is to notice the thoughts and not to identify with the contents of the thoughts or feelings, but simply to let them be. Another aspect out of this complex is to notice thoughts and not to identify with the contents but also to leave them or leave it for itself and just notice it, not doing anything with it. You know, I don't want you I mean, I want to hear, of course, what... I like to hear what you discussed in the groups, but I also just want to hear what you say.

[24:05]

We don't have to have reports. I'd like to hear whatever you think about anything. And you're mentioning... Go ahead. You're mentioning the bridge of the breast. Sometimes I say... the shuttle, like in a loom, the shuttle of the breath. It weaves body and mind together. But that reminded me that this weekend Sophia asked, what's a shuttle bus? This reminds me of how much you asked this weekend, what is a shuttle bus? And, at least for me, something similar happens, sort of going over this dualism of body-mind, for me getting out of the dualism of mind and soul.

[25:12]

It seems to dissolve into its self-changing stretches. Okay. Okay, Andreas. And by the way, I don't mind if, like Moonen, some of you want to sit in chairs, because this shouldn't be limited to just cross-legged adepts. Now he tells me, says Peter. Yes, Andreas. Before just the idea of that body or mind was something in itself noticeable just didn't exist.

[26:42]

You were in the same group as he was? Oh, okay. The bodiless group, I mean the... The mindless group. [...] Breath, the bridge between body and mind. And this title has become a practice for me, although I realized much later that it has become a practice, this picture, and a lot has come out of it. And I can remember vividly my first seminar with you, Hiroshi, the breath being the bridge between body and mind. And what I noticed just later, this in itself became a practice for me, which I noticed itself later. And out of that came other practices or other practice developed out of that.

[28:02]

Mm-hmm. Another part that is also important to me, for example, Another aspect out of this complex is to To notice thoughts and not to identify with the contents, but also to leave them or leave it for itself and just notice it, not doing anything with it. You know, I don't want you... I mean, I want to hear, of course, what... I'd like to hear what you discussed in the groups, but I also just want to hear what you say.

[29:05]

We don't have to have reports. I'd like to hear whatever you think about anything. And you're mentioning... Go ahead. You're mentioning the bridge of the breast. Sometimes I say... the shuttle, like in a loom, the shuttle of the breath. It weaves body and mind together. But that reminded me that this weekend Sophia asked, what's a shuttle bus? And we said, it's just a bus that goes back and forth. And Sophia said, you mean it doesn't go anywhere? She imagined the bus and... Okay, someone else?

[30:27]

Wow, that was a high up hand. I couldn't ignore that one. It's really yesterday I found something interesting, but I can't even repeat it properly or make use of it. Well, then don't mention it. You said something in the very beginning of the lecture that finding something, that consciousness or understanding how it functions is similar to remembering things. Yeah. So we had a very interesting part of our discussion, and that was one of the main things that stuck to me from the lecture, because I had fun in finding out how I can remember where I left things or how I can repeat something. And Moonen gave a very good... three-fold way of how she remembers things, and I found that very interesting, so I'll try to repeat it, Mullein, but please make it better.

[31:27]

So she said, one memory is merely mental. You know, you hear something, and you can just repeat it. And you do it with your brain. And the other one, which is a very good example, she drives with the car someplace. She's been before, but she doesn't remember. Like some old friend, you haven't been for years, maybe the landscape changed a little bit. And... she figured out if she thinks about it, she won't get there. And if she just drives and is in a kind of maybe space that allows the immediacy to give her a hint of what to do, she often gets to this place. Yeah, if she's like me, you sometimes don't. And it's very much like if you... if you forget where you put your key or something she'd go back into a kind of a through thinking of the key into the situation or maybe the feeling of how it was when she last had the key or what she thinks she might have last had the key and then it comes back so I like that for me I do

[32:54]

If I lose a key, I know I can find it. And I don't think. I just walk like this a little bit, you know, like really, literally have my arms somewhere and let them go where the usual places I might just drop something when I'm in a busy or something, doing something so quickly. And suddenly it was out. looking or making a specific effort, I'd just pick up the key from a location where I didn't really think about. Isn't that like driving and feeling your way? Maybe, but with driving I function differently. Yeah, yeah, I know. So I find it interesting. I know I have to do my own research of how to combine that with searching to understand my mind. But if that inspires you to say something about it, you're most welcome to say something about it. If it inspires me to say something about finding my mind... I don't understand how your mind works on the basis of such observations.

[34:00]

So maybe I should translate it to you. Yes, maybe so. So... that you somehow, similar to how you remember things or something, with this kind you can also try to understand your mind or your consciousness and so on. So with the same tools. And yesterday Molen showed three different kinds of remembering. The one is And we said it's just a bus that goes back and forth. And Sophia said, you mean it doesn't go anywhere?

[35:06]

She imagined the bus at home. Okay, someone else? Yeah. Wow, that was a high up hand. I couldn't ignore that one. It's really yesterday I found something interesting, but I can't even repeat it properly or make use of it, but it's... Well, then don't mention it. You said something in the very beginning of the lecture that finding something, that consciousness or understanding how they function is similar to remembering things. Yeah. So we had a very interesting part of our discussion. And that was one of the main things that stuck to me from the lecture, because I had fun in finding out how I can remember where I left things or how I can repeat something.

[36:14]

And gave a very good three-fold way of how she remembers things and I found that very interesting. So I'll try to repeat it, Mullein, but please make it better. So she said the one memory is merely You know, you hear something and you can just repeat it. And you do it with your brain. And the other one was a very good example. She drives with the car someplace. She's been before, but she doesn't remember. Like some old friend you haven't been for years, maybe the landscape changed a little bit. she figured out if she thinks about it, she won't get there. But if she just drives and is in a kind of maybe space that allows the immediacy to give her a hint of what to do, she often gets to this place.

[37:17]

Yeah, if she's like me, you sometimes don't. And it's very marvelous. Like if you... if you forget where you put your key or something, she'd go back into a kind of a, through thinking of the key, into the situation or maybe the feeling of how it was when she last had the key or what she thinks she might have last had the key, and then it comes back. So I like that because for me I do, If I lose a key, I know I can find it. And I don't think. I just walk like this a little bit, you know, like really, literally have my arms somewhere and let them go where the usual places I might just drop something when I'm in a busy or something, doing something so quickly. And suddenly it was up. looking or making a specific effort, I'd just pick up the key from a location where I didn't really think about.

[38:22]

Isn't that like driving and feeling your way? Maybe, but with driving I function differently. Yeah, yeah, I know. So I find that interesting. I know I have to do my own research of how to combine that with searching to understand my mind. But if that inspires you to say something about it, you're most welcome to say it. If it inspires me to say something about finding my mind... No, understanding how your mind works was on the basis of such observations. So maybe I should translate it to be quick. Yes, maybe so. So... that you somehow, similar to how you remember things or something, with this kind you can also try to understand your mind or your consciousness and so on.

[39:25]

So with the black tools. And yesterday Mullen showed three different kinds of remembering. The one is The memory, pure mental memory, when you hear something and you are in a position to give it back. And the next thing would be that you drive to a place where you have already been, but that's a long time ago and maybe the landscape has changed a bit. And that she is open and doesn't think about anything, how she gets there, but is open to some kind of to get a hint from the surroundings that she remembers it or that she should just turn it off at this point. And the next thing is, for example, when she has put the keys away, that she somehow gets involved into the situation, thinking about the key, how it was, and then getting the key back.

[40:25]

And then I said, Roshi, I know that this is my own work, what you do with it, what tools you use and how you can implement them, the search with the spirit. I don't have anything to add to that, except to say that to observe things in that way, to notice how you function in that way. It's characteristic of the kind of person who would probably decide to practice. I often have thought of I have an older half-brother, a very nice guy named Fred.

[41:41]

When I was very little, I don't know how old, Six or seven or eight or something like that. He's 10 years older. He told me he was trying to experiment with repressing coughs. I mean, he would have a cough and you have this desire to cough and it's very hard to stop it if you have this desire to cough. The body desires to cough. You don't, but the body desires to. I thought this was extremely interesting. And it's actually one of the things that led me into Buddhist practice.

[42:44]

Because I began to notice coughs and then I tried to notice what part of me wanted to cough and what part of me didn't want to cough and so forth. And then I started if I have an intention not to cough, how strong is that intention, if it's not, etc. And really, from then on, I began to experiment with all kinds of things. So I often wondered why it didn't lead him to be a Buddhist, too. But I think the reason is he never asked any questions about it. He just tried to do it, and when he couldn't do it, he forgot about it. So I definitely think that the kind of person who practices and the And if you want to develop your practice too, it's much about the kind of questions you ask yourself and are willing to leave unanswered.

[44:09]

But keep asking. By the way, I've often, when I've lost my keys or something like that, found them on my cushion. It's funny, I used to be much better at it when I was younger. You know, they always say that when you lose something, you find it in the last place you look. But the last place I always looked was sitting on my cushion, you know. to get a hint from the surroundings that she remembers it or that she should just turn it off at this point. And the next thing is, for example, when she has placed a key, that she somehow gets involved

[45:18]

into the situation, thinking about the key, how it was, and then getting the key back. Then I said, Roshi, I know that this is my own work, what you do with it, what tools you use and how you can implement them in the search with the spirit. I don't have anything to add to that, except to say that to observe things in that way, to notice how you function in that way. It's characteristic of the kind of person who would probably decide to practice. You know, I often have thought of...

[46:21]

I have an older half-brother, a very nice guy named Fred. When I was very little, I don't know how old, Six or seven or eight or something like that. He's 10 years older. He told me he was trying to experiment with repressing coughs. I mean, he would have a cough and you have this desire to cough and it's very hard to stop it if you have this desire to cough. The body desires to cough. You don't, but the body desires to. I thought this was extremely interesting. And it's actually one of the things that led me into Buddhist practice.

[47:47]

Because I began to notice coughs and then I tried to notice what part of me wanted to cough and what part of me didn't want to cough and so forth. And then I started if I have an intention not to cough, how strong is that intention, if it's not, etc. And really, from then on, I began to experiment with all kinds of things. So I often wondered why it didn't lead him to be a Buddhist, too. But I think the reason is he never asked any questions about it. He just tried to do it, and when he couldn't do it, he forgot about it. So I definitely think that the kind of person who practices and the And if you want to develop your practice, too, it's much about the kind of questions you ask yourself and are willing to leave unanswered.

[49:09]

But keep asking. By the way, I've often, when I've lost my keys or something like that, found them on my cushion. It's funny, I used to be much better at it when I was younger. They always say that when you lose something, you find it in the last place you look. But the last place I always looked was sitting on my cushion. So me and my cushion, I would just look at it and I'd find, I'd see them where they were. But I've lost a very good tea bowl. I can't find it even on my cushion.

[50:11]

A what? A tea bowl. I've lost a Raku tea bowl. Oh, I lost a very valuable Raku tea bowl. It was the first tea bowl ever made by Mr. Raku for a Westerner. And I cannot find it. And I can't find it on my cushion either. So the first tea sign that was made by Mr. Raku for a Western person. And I can't even find it on my pillow. Okay, I'll turn it off. What I think I understood a little better through sitting is that feelings are formed in the body and that the body forms itself in the feeling of the spirit. What I think I understood better through sitting practice was that feelings and emotions are sort of...

[51:16]

projected in the form that they make sort of depicted in the body and also that the body sort of projects or depicts images in the mind. Mm-hmm. But this is actually a picture that is too stable for me. It's more about an oscillation of body-spirit or body-feeling, so that sometimes I can't distinguish between the body and the spirit. But this image itself is a little, for me, too rigid already. It's more about this oscillating between body and mind so that often I can't really sort out which is what. The most interesting thing about the experience is that I had such a strange experience, actually it is not strange, that the body remembers a time when we spoke predominantly with the body, when one was very small, and all his neediness or his feelings or his anger

[52:39]

whatever it is, essentially expressed physically. Very interesting for me is that the body remembers a time when feelings of the emotions of fear, of hate, of fury were just expressed bodily. It was very small. When you were very small? There was probably just a possibility of expressing bodily these emotions. The body remembers that. In other words, you mean your body was able to feel them, but you weren't developed enough as a person or something to express them emotionally or something like that. The memory reflects that time when it wasn't possible to express it any other way, it's just bodily. Okay. Okay. There are two different schools who use the Amidabha in this paper.

[54:13]

It is the Vipassana, and I couldn't find the other school. But how do they use it? What are the differences between it? One is not Vipassana. Vipassana is a term for a way to practice Theravada. Vipassana is the western word for Theravadan who want to leave behind the 250 precepts. I lost it in a very good tea bowl. I can't find it even on my cushion. I've lost a Raku tea bowl.

[55:26]

It was the first tea bowl ever made by Mr. Raku for a Westerner, and I cannot find it. And I can't find it on my cushion either. Also die erste Teescheine, die von Herrn Rackow für einen westlichen Menschen gemacht wurde. Und ich kann sie auch nicht mal auf meinem Kissen finden. Okay, ich zeige mal heraus. Was ich durch Sitzen, glaube ich, etwas besser verstanden habe, ist, dass Gefühle im Körper abgebildet werden und dass der Körper sich im Gefühl dem Geist abbildet. What I think I understood better through sitting practice was that feelings and emotions are sort of... projected in the form that they make sort of depicted in the body and also that the body sort of projects or depicts images in the mind.

[56:39]

Mm-hmm. But this is actually an image that is too solid for me. It's more about an oscillation of body-spirit or body-feeling, so that sometimes I can't distinguish between the body and the spirit. But this image itself is a little for me too rigid already. It's more about this oscillating between body and mind so that often I can't really sort out which is what. The most interesting thing about the experience is that I had such a strange experience that the body remembers a time When we spoke mainly with the body, when one was very small, and expressed his whole neediness or his feelings or his good, whatever, in the essential body.

[57:42]

Very interesting for me is that the body remembers a time when feelings of the emotions of fear, of hate, of fury were just expressed bodily. It was very small. When you were very small? There was probably just a possibility of expressing bodily these emotions. The body remembers that. In other words, you mean your body was able to feel them, but you weren't developed enough as a person or something or other to express them emotionally or something like that. The memory reflects that time when it wasn't possible to express it any other way, it's just bodily. Okay. Okay. There are two different schools who use the Abhidharma in this paper.

[59:13]

It is the Vipassana, and I couldn't find the other school. But how do they use it? What are the differences between it? One is not vipassana. Vipassana is a term for a way to practice Theravada. Vipassana is the western word for Theravadan who want to leave behind the 250 precepts. I think at this point it's not important to discuss the differences. And mentioning before, before I was through breath therapy and training as an actor training, I was quite aware that there was a body.

[60:24]

And there's a connection. But yesterday I was thinking, what is different today? Apart from the pain. Sorry. It's all my fault. I forgive you. This is my fault. And I think for me the most important thing is actually through the practice of And for me, in the practice of the five skandhas while sitting, it is important to have a tool with which not to identify with that which appears or comes up. and secondly, a gain of sovereignty over the way I deal with myself.

[61:58]

And a large gain of being more, what does it mean in English? Well, by mental intellectual intervention. I am able to gain more sovereignty about my conscience, about my feeling and so on. I have gained more sovereignty through intellectual or mental intervention. And thirdly, what came up to me at that time was my presence in nature. Third, what also came up is my feeling and my position within nature has become more meaningful. Within nature, what does nature mean? The world.

[63:16]

Outside, mainly in the buddha. Yeah, okay. So there is a little change in the way, what we call perspective. So there is a little change. Views. Okay. One aspect is that I sort of shrank. Nature has become bigger, larger. It happens as we get older. Well, that's not true. Yes. I found the exercises that Roshi often suggested to us to be so easy at first that I had fun trying them out.

[64:24]

I thought, if I step over the threshold with my right foot, what will happen to the big one? And I found the practices that you suggested quite often to us so partly interesting but also simple and I tried them out but thinking that what could happen much there. Stepping through the door with the foot closest to the hinge. Oh, you mentioned that. You didn't translate it. I'm sorry. I think at this point it's not important to discuss the differences. Peter? And mentioning before, before I was through breath therapy and training as an actor training, I was quite aware that there was a body. And there's a connection.

[65:44]

But yesterday I was thinking, what is different today? Apart from the pain. Sorry. It's all my fault. I forgive you. This is my fault. And I think for me the most important thing is actually through the practice of And for me, in the practice of the five skandhas while sitting, it is important to have a tool with which not to identify with that which appears or comes up. And secondly, a gain in sovereignty over the way I deal with myself.

[66:58]

And a large gain of being more, what does it mean in English, un-because-sovereign? Well, by mental, intellectual intervention. I am able to gain more sovereignty about my conscience, about my feeling and so on. I have gained more sovereignty through intellectual or mental intervention. And thirdly, what came up to me recently was my presence in nature. Third, what also came up is my feeling and my position within nature has become more meaningful. Within nature, what does nature mean? The world.

[68:16]

Outside, mainly in Buddha, a little change in the way, what we call perspective. So there is a little change. Views. Okay. One aspect is that I shrank, nature has become bigger, larger. It happens as we get older. What I saw too. Yes. I found the exercises that Roshi often suggested to us, partly so easy at first, that I had fun trying them out.

[69:24]

I thought, yes, if I step over the threshold with my right foot, what will happen to the big one? And I found the practices that you suggested quite often to us so partly interesting but also simple and I tried them out but thinking that what could happen much there. Stepping through the door with the foot closest to the hinge. Oh, you mentioned that. You didn't translate it. I'm sorry. Thank you. I needed that. And after a bit of practicing, I noticed that before every door, my body made a little break. And after then another while I noticed that my mind made a break when I was before thinking.

[70:31]

So this practice was a big help in just noticing, noticing. Another thing that happened to me was a wisdom phrase which I tried out, like, for example, just now is enough. And the exciting thing is that I am not in a thinking field, i.e. in a limited field, when I use this sentence or sentence, but that this field can expand into a larger space. The interesting thing is that I'm not, when I use these phrases, I'm not in a thinking field, but in a wider field which can expand. And so is that a help or an answer to the question, what, except for five scandals, what helps me in my practice?

[72:00]

And that would be these exercises and wisdom sentences. Although this is an answer on the question, apart from the five standards, in my practice, what's helping me in my practice? This, for example. Yeah. Yeah, good. Thank you. Well, this has been a very good group right here. Except Valentin's back there. But this is... What about... Is there any other unit here? Yeah, okay. For me, the observation of body and mind and the connection between the two was important. Is that then having to do with other people, I could use this field, this bodily field? In your work or just in your life, both?

[73:02]

Not just at work, but principally. And my intuition became much more accessible. Yes? What's interesting for me is that although I have, when I sit very quickly, the feeling that my body disappears, so I cannot feel my body anymore, but I become more aware of my body after this. After you finish sitting or during? After you finish sitting, yeah.

[74:03]

When I sit, my body actually disappears. I don't notice it anymore. But after sitting, when the sitting is over, I am much more aware of my body. Like Varel. And this changed now with the time I started sitting at all. It was not this way before. And so I found out the last time that besides the sitting still, it's also helpful for me to to do movements when I try to do this movement. I needed that. And after a bit of practicing, I noticed that before every door, my body made a little break.

[75:12]

And after then another while I noticed that my mind made a break when I was before thinking. So this practice was a big help in just noticing, noticing. Another thing that happened to me was a wisdom phrase which I tried out, like, for example, just now is enough. And the exciting thing is that I am not in a thinking field, i.e.

[76:25]

in a limited field, when I use this sentence or sentence, but that this field can expand into a larger space. The interesting thing is that I'm not, when I use these phrases, I'm not in a thinking field, but in a wider field which can expand. And so is that a help or an answer to the question, what, except for five scandals, what helps me in my practice? And that would be these exercises and wisdom sentences. Although this is an answer on the question, apart from the five standards, in my practice, what's helping me in my practice? This, for example. Yeah. Yeah, good. Thank you. Well, this has been a very good group right here. Except Valentin's back there.

[77:25]

But this is... What about... Is there any other unit here? Yeah, okay. For me, the observation of body and mind and the connection between the two was also important. Is that then having to do with other people, I could use this field, this bodily field? In your work or just in your life, in both? Not just at work, but principally. And my intuition became much more accessible. Yes?

[78:29]

What's interesting for me is that although when I sit very quickly the feeling that my body disappears, so I cannot feel my body anymore, But I become more aware of my body after this. After you finish sitting or during? After you finish sitting, yeah. When I sit, my body actually disappears. I no longer notice it, I no longer perceive it. But after sitting, when the sitting is over, I am much more aware of my body, much more aware of it. And this changed now with the time I started sitting at all.

[79:33]

It was not this way before. And so I found out the last time that besides the sitting still, it's also helpful for me to practice to do movements when I try to do this movement something like completely. You mean after zazen? Yeah, just in my life. You try to do – okay, fine, yeah. And outside of that, apart and additional to sitting... I have to say it in German now. Apart from the silent sitting, I then discovered that movement also gets a meaning and was important after sitting. So movement gets another meaning through the silent sitting. And so I sometimes do some, it's called streaming exercises, it's kind of working with energy.

[80:43]

And so although these exercises are rather complicated, I very often come to a point where it feels like it just happens. It's not me doing this movement. What I wonder the last time is when I When I do, I don't know. In Germany we say lauschen. It's kind of hearing with the whole body or perceiving everything. I don't know what's the word for this in English.

[81:44]

Listening is quite similar. Well, I don't know if there's an English word for it, but the way you described it is good. So it seems to be that I simultaneously feel my body, I feel the atmosphere of the room and of the others, but then I wonder, is it really the same time or is it just switching so quickly? from one to the other. What is switching? What would be switching? What I'm aware of. There is some sound right here and I have a bodily feeling of my knee and I feel the whole atmosphere of the room.

[83:01]

And are you asking if that's an overall experience or a switching back and forth experience? Is that what you're saying? Yes. Switching back and forth between what? Between all these experiences. I see. Well, my experience and the Abhidharma experience and please understand that these Abhidharma lists They may look kind of boring, as I've said. But for the most part, they are the result of a closely examination of experience. And one should practice these things in the spirit of the phrase, wave follows wave, wave leads wave.

[84:14]

In other words, these teachings are prescriptive, not descriptive. If you just read The description of a medicine, it doesn't do you much good. You have to take the medicine. But you have to take it in a dose you can handle. You mean after Zazen? You try to do, okay, fine, yeah. Apart from the silent sitting, I then discovered that movement was also important, but after sitting.

[85:16]

So movement gets a different meaning through the silent sitting. And so I sometimes do some, it's called streaming exercises, it's kind of working with energy, and so although these exercises are rather complicated, I very often come to a point where it feels like it just happens, it's not me doing this movement. What I wonder the last time is when I When I do, I don't know.

[86:35]

In Germany we say lauschen. It's kind of hearing with the whole body or perceiving everything. I don't know what's the word for this in English. Listening is quite similar. Well, I don't know if there's an English word for it, but the way you described it is good. And so it seems to be that I simultaneously feel my body, I feel the atmosphere of the room and of the others, but then I wonder, is it really the same time or is it just switching so quickly? from one to the other. What is switching? What would be switching? What I'm aware of. There's some sound right here, and I have a body feeling of my knee, and I feel the whole atmosphere of room.

[88:02]

And are you asking if that's an overall experience or a switching back and forth experience? Is that what you're saying? Yes. Switching back and forth between what? Between all this experience. I see. Well, my experience and the Abhidharma... And please understand that these Abhidharma lists They may look kind of boring, as I've said. But for the most part, they are the result of a closely examination of experience. And one should practice these things in the spirit of the phrase, wave follows wave, wave leads wave.

[89:15]

In other words, these teachings are prescriptive, not descriptive. If you just read the description of a medicine, it doesn't do you much good. You have to take the medicine. But you have to take it in a dose you can handle. So that when you work with the Abhidharma, you want to try it out and let your practice lead you, your experience, and then study a little more, and then try it out, etc.

[90:16]

So, study... leads practice and practice leads study. And if you're serious about it, you don't get three waves ahead. I mean, you can kind of look and scan, but really, you try to stay as much as possible in your real study, one wave at a time. So both in the Abhidharma teaching and in my practice, consciousness is a scanning process. But knowing that it's wider than consciousness is simultaneous.

[91:27]

It's a kind of mirroring. Or a kind of overall field. And I don't know what these streaming practices are. But the results you mentioned are... The same results are common for practitioners. And in a strange way, or maybe it's not strange, that when you really complete each moment, each act.

[92:30]

In some way you also, that act of completing carries forward the disappearance of the body. Sometimes I think what Yudhita has noticed, something like that, that these little practices often lead to another way of being alive. The particular fruit of Zen practice and koan study is to kind of bring the teachings together in these phrases that are very characteristic of how the mind and body function.

[93:38]

Okay, now... I don't want to go into the work period as a habit. Even today, for more than a few minutes. But I understand why college courses are semester length. Because I'm wondering how much can we accomplish? in one week because really maybe this group right here I should just work with for the week and work with this group another week well I don't you know I just this is an experiment to see if we can actually get somewhere and you'll have to show me if we get somewhere

[94:50]

But part of... So that when you work with the Abhidharma, you want to try it out and let your practice lead you, your experience, and then... study a little more, and then try it out, etc. So, study... leads practice and practice leads study. And if you're serious about it, you don't get three waves ahead. I mean, you can kind of look and scan, but really, you try to stay as much as possible in your real study, one wave at a time.

[96:03]

So both in the Abhidharma teaching and in my practice, consciousness is a scanning process. Und in meiner Praxis und der Abhidharma-Praxis auch ist das Bewusstsein sozusagen diese Abtast- oder Scan-Praxis. But knowing that it's wider than consciousness is simultaneous. Aber simultan damit, zugleich damit gibt es dieses Wissen, das weiter ist als das Bewusstsein. It's a kind of mirroring. Or a kind of overall field. And I don't know what these streaming practices are. But the results you mentioned are... the same results common for practitioners.

[97:13]

And in a strange way, or maybe it's not strange, that when you really complete each moment, each act. In some way, you also, that act of completing carries forward the disappearance of the body. And that's, I think, what Yudita has noticed, something like that. But these little practices often lead to another way of being alive. And that's really the particular fruit of Zen practice and koan study is to kind of bring the teachings together in these phrases that are very characteristic of how the mind and body function.

[98:38]

Okay, now... I don't want to go into the work period as a habit. Even today, for more than a few minutes. But I understand why college courses are semester length. Because I'm wondering how much can we accomplish. in one week because really maybe this group right here I should just work with for the week and work with this group another week well I don't you know I just this is an experiment to see if we can actually get somewhere and you'll have to show me if we get somewhere

[99:51]

But part of... Let me just say... See, right now I'm wondering. What's the difference? What can I say here in the seminar that I can say better here than I can in the tesha? What can I say here that if I say the same thing in Taisho, it will be different? So, you know, I know very little about music in any musicology sense. And I'm the kind of person who's kind of bored with predictable music.

[100:55]

If I can see where Beethoven's going, I don't want to go with him. And, you know, this is my own limitation. My? My own limitation. But if I do listen to, well, Chris Bach is another order. Bach? Yeah, I don't know if I can say it right, yeah. It's streaming along there. But I find if I, you know, I've sort of like, it's on the radio in the car, some sort of classical music. I mean, I've listened to a lot of classical music, by the way. I'm not complete and incomplete. Sometimes I listen to classic music on the car radio, and I've actually heard a lot of classic music.

[101:58]

So I'm not completely... I can't... Do you have the word nincompoop in German? No, in English. A dumb cough, it's something similar. Yeah, like a weak head or stupid or something like that. Okay. And somebody said that that's what we are yesterday, didn't we? We're all dumkoffs. Anyway. That's what I believed. If I listen into the details of the music, so that each note is piano or whatever, it's quite unexpected. then I find myself in a space where, even though the next note is predictable, it still could be otherwise, and so its predictability becomes unexpected.

[103:03]

And then, strangely, I feel like I'm almost in the mind of the performer or the composer. For whom the next note may be not quite reached or... composed differently. Now I'm only using this as an example of if you use the Abhidharma as a kind of encouragement to go into the details of things, The process of going into the details of things itself is a teaching. not just the details.

[104:18]

And the process is actually deeper than the details. And if you really get the feeling of the process, then the teaching appears quite easily. No. This little piece. Let me just say... See, right now I'm wondering. What's the difference? What can I say here in the seminar... that I can say better here than I can in the Taisho. What can I say here that if I say the same thing in Taisho it will be different?

[105:23]

So, you know, I know very little about music in any musicology sense. And I'm the kind of person who's kind of bored with predictable music. If I can see where Beethoven's going, I don't want to go with him. And, you know, this is my own limitation. My? My own limitation. But if I do listen to, well, Chris Bach is another order. Bach? Yeah, I can say it, right? Yeah. It's streaming along there. But I find if I, you know, I've sort of like, it's on the radio in the car, some sort of classical music.

[106:46]

I mean, I've listened to a lot of classical music, by the way. I'm not complete and incomplete. Sometimes I listen to classic music on the radio and I've actually heard a lot of classic music. So I'm not completely... I can't... Do you have the word nincompoop in German? No, I know it in English. A dumb cough, it's something similar. Yeah, like a weak head or stupid or something like that. Okay. And somebody said that that's what we are yesterday, didn't we? We're all dumb cuffs. Anyway. If I listen into the details of the music, so that each note is quite unexpected, then I find myself in a space where, even though the next note is predictable, It still could be otherwise, and so its predictability becomes unexpected.

[108:03]

Strangely, I feel like I'm almost in the mind of the performer or the composer. For whom the next note may be not quite reached or composed differently. Now I'm only using this as an example of if you use the Abhidharma as a kind of encouragement to go into the details of things, The process of going into the details of things itself is a teaching, not just the details. And the process is actually deeper than the details. And if you really get the feeling of the process, then the teaching appears quite easily.

[109:38]

And other pieces. No. This little piece we gave you. What you can glean from it, I'm interested in. What you can glean means what you can pull out of it. And it says the faith-oriented developments described in the previous chapter. The faith... oriented developments described in the previous chapter. It talks about how with King Ashoka Buddhism became popular and then faith oriented. Look. the Bodhi tree to have one near you or be connected with a seed from the Bodhi tree became, etc.

[111:02]

And this says... This little piece of paper, this little essay says that the wisdom tradition is quite different from that. And I want to emphasize how different that is. There's no belief There's no belief in an entity called self, no belief in God, no belief even in a world. What does that mean? I often say, pause for the particular. Okay, this is an entry.

[112:06]

But also, this is a worldview. There's nothing but the particular. All there is, is what you notice. within the senses. But if we limit ourselves to that, then it's a little like, I don't know what image you use, swimming. If you're swimming, particularly you're in a bad spot in the ocean, you're trying to get back ashore. You don't care what's going on in the rest of the ocean. You're really dealing with what's going on right then, and can you get back to shore?

[113:12]

It's a tight... This is all that's real to you. For the Abhidharma practice, this is all that's real. Okay. Past doesn't exist. Future doesn't exist. And what's going on over there in... Other parts of Germany doesn't exist. Now let me qualify that slightly. Yeah, we know that... Nico knows that their kids are with their grandparents or something. And they exist somewhere, and you're quite aware that they exist somewhere. But still, your engagement, the sense of aliveness is this immediate situation.

[114:26]

Maybe as if you were swimming and your kids are somewhere else, you've got to concentrate on swimming because otherwise your kids aren't going to have you. So I'm trying to give you a feeling for the sense of actuality, reality, actually beings we gave you. What you can glean from it, I'm interested in. What you can glean means what you can pull out of it. And it says the faith-oriented developments described in the previous chapter. The faith... oriented developments described in the previous chapter.

[115:30]

It talks about how with King Ashoka Buddhism became popular and then faith-oriented. Good. the Bodhi tree to have one near you or be connected with a seed from the Bodhi tree became, etc. And this says... This little piece of paper, this little essay says that the wisdom tradition is quite different from that. And I want to emphasize how different that is. There's no belief There's no belief in an entity called self, no belief in God, no belief even in a world.

[116:48]

What does that mean? I often say, pause for the particulars. Okay, this is an entry. But also, this is a worldview. There's nothing but the particular. All there is, is what you notice. Within the senses. But if we limit ourselves to that, then it's a little like, I don't know what image you use, swimming. If you're swimming, particularly you're in a bad spot in the ocean, you're trying to get back ashore.

[117:55]

You don't care what's going on in the rest of the ocean. You're really dealing with what's going on right then, and can you get back to shore? It's a tight... This is all that's real to you. For the Abhidharma practice, this is all that's real. Okay. Past doesn't exist. Future doesn't exist. And what's going on over there in... Other parts of Germany doesn't exist. Now let me qualify that slightly.

[118:55]

Yeah, we know that Beate and Nico know that their kids are with their grandparents or something. And they exist somewhere and you're quite aware that they exist somewhere. But still, your engagement, the sense of aliveness is this immediate situation. Maybe as if you were swimming and your kids are somewhere else, you've got to concentrate on swimming because otherwise your kids aren't going to have you. So I'm trying to give you a feeling for the sense of actuality, reality, actually being that with which you can actually engage, not that with which you can think. So we swim in this situation, and this situation for the all dogs is going to swim toward Frankfurt pretty soon.

[120:13]

Okay, so that's as much as I'll say about that for now. Okay, but now I want to add one more thing. What I notice is my lips moving right now. And I say my lips and I don't know if they're my lips. It just sort of stopped happening. Because I don't know what my is. But I know lips. And I know the breath. And I can feel many things, like you said, simultaneously. What unites those things is not fully knowable. So it's a kind of mystery.

[121:35]

So Abhidharma is to know what you know and to know also what's a mystery. And to let it remain a mystery, even if you function through it. So you're always relating to this mystery through which we function, but you never quite know what this mystery is. And you're always discovering this mystery. And it's always eluding us. Eluding.

[122:38]

Escaping. This is the opposite of the way our culture works. And what most cultures work, except for the Abhidharma and the sort of central core of Buddhism, it's the way not only... It's not the way... Our culture works the opposite way, and almost all cultures work the opposite way, except for the core of Buddhism, perhaps. We start out thinking we know who we are, and then this who we know does things. In the Abhidharma, it starts out with the things that you actually know. And the rest becomes more and more mysterious.

[123:48]

So there's no world that God created. The cosmology of Buddhism is called a three thousand fold world. Or a billion world system. Which has neither beginning nor end. So there's no opportunity to grasp it. It's always coming in and out of existence. Now I don't say this cosmology is real, though it's a lot closer to contemporary physics than evangelicals would like. But it goes with this Abhidharma way of being that with which you can actually engage, not that with which you can think.

[125:08]

So we swim in this situation, and this situation for the all dogs is going to swim toward Frankfurt pretty soon. And we swim in this situation, and this situation will for the IDACs swim to Frankfurt in a certain time. That's as much as I'll say about that for now. But now I want to add one more thing. What I notice is my lips moving right now. And I say my lips and I don't know if they're my lips. It just sort of stopped happening. Because I don't know what my is. But I know lips moving. And I know the breath.

[126:19]

And I can feel many things, like you said, simultaneously. What unites those things is not fully knowable. So it's a kind of mystery. So Abhidharma is to know what you know and to know also what's a mystery. And to let it remain a mystery, even if you function through it. So you're always relating to this mystery through which we function, but you never quite know what this mystery is. And you're always discovering this mystery.

[127:25]

And it's always eluding us. Eluding. Escaping. This is the opposite of the way our culture works. And what most cultures work, except for the Abhidharma and the sort of central core of Buddhism, it's the way not only... It's not the way... Our culture works the opposite way, and almost all cultures work the opposite way, except for the core of Buddhism, perhaps. We start out thinking we know who we are, and then this who we know does things. In the Abhidharma, it starts out with the things that you actually know

[128:36]

And the rest becomes more and more mysterious. So there's no world that God created. The cosmology of Buddhism is called a three thousand fold world. Or a billion world system. Which has neither beginning nor end. So there's no opportunity to grasp it. It's always coming in and out of existence. Now I don't say this cosmology is real, though it's a lot closer to contemporary physics than evangelicals would like. But it goes with this Abhidharma way of being in the world. It goes with, it goes along with this Abhidharma way of being in the world.

[130:11]

Yeah, which is to... I don't know what word to say. Which is a world... of immediacy and engagement. of immediacy and engagement. And there's no sense at all that this is a container. It's something that's happening and the happening of it is completely also us. It's moment by moment emerging.

[131:32]

And it only exists in this moment by moment emerging in any real sense. The rest is just corpses. What is it? Corpses. Half dead people, half dead world. Okay, sorry. Thanks. Being in the world. it goes with it goes along with this Abhidharma way of being in the world which is to I don't know what word to say which is a world of immediacy and engagement.

[132:42]

Of immediacy and engagement. And there's no sense at all that this is a container. It's something that's happening and the happening of it is completely also us. It's moment by moment emerging.

[133:45]

And it only exists in this moment by moment emerging in any real sense. The rest is just corpses. What is it? Corpses. Half-dead people, half-dead world. Okay, sorry. Thanks.

[134:15]

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