Now I see if he immediately teases back. And I let my geek... It's not just that I do that. It's also that I let myself advance simultaneously because I am one of the things. So when all things, including this thing, advance and experience themselves, This is enlightenment. Das ist Erleuchtung. This is a delicate matter.

[01:04]

And it's also strangely enough the most powerful thing possible. To discover that mind, that Buddha nature, which allows all things to advance, including this which is surpasses any this, which I am, to experience themselves, this is enlightenment. And this is another way of Dogen saying to be identified by all things. This is also to leap beyond the one and the many.

[02:09]

Into a... We could say a silence. A silence which can... which cannot be expressed because it's free of all constructions that might allow expression. And this is not a silence, it's about keeping quiet. If I say much more, my eyebrows will hang down and cover my cheeks. They say if you over-explain Zen, your eyebrows get very long.

[03:11]

And as you notice, mine are already fairly long. And you won't believe it, but I actually shave them every morning. And I must... How kind of you to say, nevertheless. In your answer to him, you mentioned some possibilities of exploring the mind. In the answer to his question, he indicated that there are different possibilities to explore the spirit.

[04:27]

Okay, there are a number of skills. Intention. Attention. No. Intention is a mental posture.

[06:01]

Again, if I say intention, you look at me kind of peculiarly. If I say Achtung, there's a kind of physical response. So you can see there's a kind of mental posture here, a directionality. And there's a kind of location, a physical location and attention. Like I intend to take the bus later. But I give attention to the flowers. So these are the basic two things. I mean like pretty much the most fundamental things you can come to.

[07:04]

Which is direction and location. And one of the qualities of our... one of the capacities... of our mind. There are a number of capacities. It can be concentrated on itself, which is called samadhi. It can have structure. And because it can have structure, it can create cells and observing cells. And it can have direction. And this is the most fundamental. It can have direction, and it's one of these big decisions. What direction are you going to give it?

[08:05]

That's why vows and so forth are so important in Buddhism. And yet attention, this is more a temporal dimension, this is more a spatial dimension. When you give attention to something, you're opening a spatial dimension. Now these two combine to make Intent. Intent is much more than an intention. When attention is brought together with intention, and you have an intent whether if I look at those flowers and I find them arising to reveal all things that means I brought my intention

[09:16]

to discover the potential enlightenment on all things. Together with my attention. And this makes the world very solid. This is kind of the mind of Akshobhya. is perceived with a kind of solidity. A there-ness, a here-ness. So the realization of intent is one of the skills. Pain. Pain. It's not will. No, it's not will. I don't know what it would be in German.

[10:34]

That's intent, intention. Intention is you've formed an intention to do something, but that's not the same as intent. If you went into a room and you said the child is very intent in his reading, that doesn't mean intention at all. In English. Yes, it's more like, it's like when intention comes together with an intensity which doesn't go anywhere. That's intent.

[11:36]

Intention is you want to do it, and intent is you do it. Not only do you do it, every moment is that intention. Yeah. OK, that's one of the skills. Another skill is just concentration. And another skill is We could say uncorrected mind, but I'll give you another.

[12:51]

Let me put it another way. So the two other skills are one pointedness, And a non-interfering observing. So the two main skills of zazen are one-pointedness and a non-interfering observing consciousness. What would you like to say, anybody?

[14:05]

If I say concentration, this is a little hard to deal with, but one-pointedness and non-interfering observing consciousness. It takes intent to realize both of these. And both of these, you could say, are expressions of intent. But zazen practice is primarily these two skills. But this is learned through uncorrected mind, learning to leave things alone.

[15:07]

This is a kind of abstract concentration. Are you using also objects? Well, the most, I think, classic example would be if you have some experience of samadhi, And if you notice you have an experience of samadhi, and that noticing interferes, then you have not yet developed a non-interfering observing consciousness. Because it is possible to be in samadhi and observe yourself in samadhi and not lose the samadhi. And that's non-observing consciousness. non-interfering observing consciousness.

[16:36]

That means this consciousness also has to be constantly adjusting itself to what it's observing so it doesn't interfere. So non-interfering is not a permanent characteristic, but it's a capacity that you can bring to any state of mind. Okay? Any questions about this? What they said last, I mean, the basic practice is to keep, to change posture without affecting the sasing mind. Well, that would be, yeah. That's another kind of example, yeah. Because everyone is affected. Two more later.

[17:39]

Yeah, that's a good example. Deutsch? This is in What you said at the end, that you can be in Samadhi and still observe, but do not intervene, that a much simpler exercise, which you encounter sooner or later, but which you can practice well, Die Schmerzen oder was auch immer, die halten sich, um ein Bein hochzunehmen oder was auch immer, ohne aber diesen Sauß hinein zu verlieren oder herauszukommen. Also nicht, dass man sich ärgert darüber, sondern dass man drinnen bleibt, aber korrigierend eingreift, aber nicht interferiert. Now, that's a pretty good example, which almost everyone can do. For instance, when you're driving, and you're concentrating on your driving, you still may be able to reach and do various things and not lose that concentration.

[18:51]

It's quite commonplace to be able to do that. And what you're doing is you're able to hold to the concentration of driving. And I would bet if you studied yourself, you'd see that you had a physical sensation of what that concentration is. And you're able to hold that physical sensation while you do other things physically. Now if you really get to know that, that physical sensation, you can open that physical sensation to a big field of clarity. But the same is true in meditation.

[20:05]

Once you learn the physical sensation of a particular state of mind you can hold that and open up another state of mind. Or you can take the point and expand it. Now these are simply the skills of a yogic culture which has various kinds of inward and interior consciousness. But we are given considerable skills in manipulating the contents of conscious mind. And our education system is entirely about learning how to manipulate or use develop the contents of mind.

[21:11]

But yoga culture is about observing the state of mind itself, noticing the state of mind itself, and once you notice the state of the mode of mind itself, you create the capacity to notice many modes of mind, and then you From that recognition develops the capacity to sequence states of mind. So now you have a language of signless states of mind. Now it's a very simplistic idea of Zen to say when you go along and you get all the contents and then you see emptiness or original mind and everything is groovy.

[22:28]

And both Dogen and Rinzai deny that this is the case. Rinzai says, you may realize enlightenment. But your habits of mentation and emotional attachments are don't give up that easily. You need a continually sharp sword. A continually sharpened sword, Linji says. To cut through delusions and to mature enlightened mind. Okay.

[23:40]

Now, it's 4.30. I don't know how it got to be 4.30, but all things arose and My watch went along with them and produced something we call 4.30. Now, we could go on now for a little while and then stop or we could have a break and then look at Why we... What's the problem with thinking? And what are the five practices of relating to thinking? If we don't get very far in that, we can continue it tomorrow morning.

[24:41]

So should we take a break now? And then we'll say half an hour or a little bit more? Two hours? Thirty-five minutes? Yes. Okay, so we come back at ten after five. And then we'll have another half hour or so. Is that okay with everyone? Okay, thank you very much. But everyone is so attentive. All they have to do is refer to their geronic memory. and the lectures will reappear. But if any of you want to check

[25:59]

Any of you want to check up on the accuracy of your Duranic memory, then the tapes are essential. Thank you. Do I have to repeat everything? When you have the When you have this experience of some kind of precipitation of understanding, what's important is to know that feeling. And again, the ability to know that feeling and to stay with it has something to do with this physicality of the mind or the energy body.

[27:18]

and to then hold that in your activity From now on. It will change. But you stay with it like you might stay with the feeling of a dream during the day. In other words, if you stay with the feeling of a dream, the result usually isn't a continuation of the dream, or even that your daily life tells you something about the dream or reveals something about itself, But that the feeling of staying with the feeling of the dream in your activity rearranges things.

[28:23]

And so the treasure of understanding the experience of an understanding is a treasure that surpasses what you understood. Because the experience of understanding itself And there are various kinds of experiences of understanding. Are like keys. And they unlock many doors. Not just the door of what you understood. Does that make sense? So you learn in practice to stay with the feeling that occurs through understanding. Since we don't have all the time in the world, in fact we do have all the time in the world, we can sleep here, it's warm enough.

[29:25]

But After all, our time is our world. I'm testing our translator at all times. Now, thinking is, the problem with thinking is that it's so great. I mean, thinking is just this wonderful, powerful tool. It's so wonderful, it's taken over our life. It would be sort of like a carpenter who every time he saw a tree, he saw it as a saw.

[30:33]

So Thank you for the flipchart. This came from your office or something? We have consciousness. And we have awareness. Now I won't go into too much of a definition, but awareness is more non-conceptual. As I say, it's awareness that keeps you from wetting your bed at night. In other words, you're not conscious at night, but you remember not to wet your bed, at least most of us do.

[31:53]

And that kind of intention that... keeps us from wetting our bed travels in awareness, not in consciousness. Yeah. Now, consciousness is thinking. And it's our interests. And it's also often a lot of images. a lot of self-serving emotions. Like last year here in Vienna, I spoke about emotions in the service of self. Emotions and feelings, and they're different, are more fundamental than thinking.

[32:57]

And in fact, most thinking arises from states of feeling and states of emotion. But this is all very compelling. Plus, our government and our society And our parents control us through here. So our whole society is involved with getting us to define ourselves through here. So there's a very strong directionality like this and it's so powerful it tends to pull awareness up into this area if you want to practice you kind of have to loosen this awareness and direct it more inward.

[34:14]

Do you understand my drawing, sort of? Now, so thinking is this wonderful tool. Why is there a problem? And I go on to this before recently, but I'll do it again. One is there's simply a lot of it. There's lots of them. Now, if thinking was only 10% of our life, it wouldn't be a problem. But because it's 98.7%, just the sheer quantity of it's a problem.

[35:23]

And the second is, we tend to attach to it. It's very easy to attach to. And The word. Let's put it this way. And the third reason is it It's very hard not to notice. It has edges. We are so constructed that we tend to notice edges. I was thinking, noticing that I was in some kind of a coffee house or someplace in some airport in America.

[36:41]

And I was trying to have a little break and a conversation with someone. And while I'm talking to this person, there's a television set up here. Now, I prefer to talk to this person. But theater time, television time, is designed to catch your attention. Specifically, it's intentionally a little faster than our ordinary speed. Finally, I'm looking at the television set. So I talked to the person, but I tried to look like Christian. But then there was the same damn television set in another room over there. So, okay, so I turned this way, and I said, well, I was trying to talk like this, you know.

[37:42]

But then both television sets were in a mirror over here. It was almost impossible to have a conversation. Because, you know, I just kept noticing the television set. Even with even with almost 40 years of Zen training. Maybe I'm a bigger failure than I think. OK, so now this is a problem because We only notice boundaries. We tend not to notice centers. Many centers don't have edges.

[38:59]

And many of the more subtle aspects of mind and body don't have edges. There are nuances which The fact that we tend to identify with it or attach to it is a problem. And the fact that our mind is so designed to notice edges. So those are the main problems with thinking.

[40:01]

And we could describe Buddhism as, all of Buddhism is in some ways, a way to relate to your thinking. For instance, if there was no abiding self and no... and hence no attachment to thinking? no attachment to thinking, as Dogen says, there would basically be no reason for Buddhism. But we'd have another kind of teaching that would be another kind of teaching of realization. And we could look at teaching from two points of view.

[41:05]

Teaching that frees you from thinking and the teaching when you're free from thinking. the five main ways which we relate to our thinking in Zen practice. Calligraphy. Hmm? Calligraphy. Oh, okay.

[42:06]

Sanskrit. The first is to leave alone. And that's uncorrected mind. And that's the most basic practice in Zen. And it's through leaving, developing an attitude of acceptance that we develop the deep absorbing mind that opens us to the various big minds. And the second is we observe thinking. And to observe your thinking means you notice its patterns.

[43:17]

You notice how it arises. And you... develop skills like following thoughts or moods to their source. So we don't only leave our thinking alone. We also observe it and really study it. See how it comes up, how our breathing is in relationship to our thinking, what kinds of stillness can be discovered, and what states of mind go with different kinds of thinking.

[44:25]

So it's another stage of which you're kind of making an inventory and then in addition through the inventory developing the skills of remaining intentionally in any one state if you wish. So that's the second. And the third is we intercede with our thinking. Schlicht. Now, intercede is hard to translate? To intercede is to... Yeah, like if two dogs are fighting.

[45:27]

And you went in and you tried to stop them fighting. If you interfered with the dogs fighting, you might not help the fight. But intercede means to somehow make it better. by coming into the situation. Okay, so what do we intercede with? We intercede with right views and we intercede with enlightening views or images or feelings. So while Zen practice is primarily developing, especially initially, a mind which leaves itself alone, which doesn't invite thoughts to tea, and then begins to observe

[47:07]

observe the patterns within thinking and observes most fundamentally the difference between the contents of mind and the field of mind and observing the contents of mind and the field of mind you develop the possibility of shifting your identification from the contents to the field. Now, in order to shift from to actually shift, not just understand it as a possibility. To actually shift from the contents of mind to the field of mind, you need a pivot.

[48:33]

If there's no pivot, you can't hold this. And the pivot is another one of these skills we could call imperturbability. Now, imperturbability is related to one-pointedness. But this is the physical side of the coin. And imperturbability is taught in zazen just by you learn this is simply don't scratch. In other words, you learn to sit for a certain length of time, every day at the same time, whether you want to or not, whether you're in the mood or not,

[49:42]

And only when you do it, whether you want to or not, will you break the grip of ego on meditation. And will your whole life start to flow through meditation. Then within that you can begin to notice the difference between sitting when you're really open to it and when you're closed to it. And this is the way you learn the skill of imperturbability, which is the mind of the Buddha Akshobhya and Samantabhadra. And, yeah, okay. So we are leaving our thoughts alone.

[51:18]

We're observing our thoughts. And we're getting the capacity, now that we have observed the difference between the contents and the field, to shift to the field. And the more we can shift to the field of mind rather than the contents of mind, we increase our capacity, our power to intercede in our thinking. Because the most effective intercession is from the park, the garden, the field of mind. Okay. What are the two intercessions?

[52:23]

One is right views. Okay, what is a right view? The most basic one is impermanence. There are more subtle ones, but let's stick with impermanence. Okay. So how do you bring intercede, how do you bring a right view of impermanence into your thinking? Well, you might use just now is enough. You might find when a koan uses like mu, our thinking is constantly changing. about things. It gives reality to things.

[53:28]

So when you say mu or emptiness or no in the midst of all your yeses you're interceding in your thinking with a right view. Do you understand? Okay. Say that you're thinking, I really would like to go do something. Okay. idea is carrying you. Okay, so every time you have a thought construction, you develop the habit of having an antidote to that thought construction.

[54:32]

So you might say to yourself, everything is impermanent. Or you might say, just now is enough. I think I need such and such. Just now is enough. So you contradict the habits of mind with an antidote. And there's two kinds of antidotes. They're closely related, but there's two kinds. One is correct views, right views. And the other is enlightening views. And various koans and practices are meant to introduce bright views or enlightening views into your thinking.

[55:34]

Because, I mean, whether we like it or not, our thinking is based on views. Okay, so let's go back to what I... said yesterday of the three functions of self. There's a view of separateness, the view of connectedness, and the view of continuity. Okay. Now let me actually make it a little simpler. One of the most common things I say to people is, what is your name again?

[56:38]

Eva. Eva, yeah. You're over there and I'm here. And I have the assumption we're separated by space. Okay. That's a cultural idea. Because in fact we're also connected by space. Otherwise, as I say, the moon would not affect our reproductive cycles and so forth. But I have a view that's there before I start to think. already separated. Now, that's been put there because our mind is designed to create a three-dimensional reality.

[57:43]

This reality, whatever we call it, is much more complex than three dimensions. But to function in ordinary ways we have to We have to limit our perception to three dimensions. And that's part of noticing the edges. We notice the door, but we don't notice more subtle things like the energy of the room itself. So say I see, and I intellectually understand, that we're already separated. That the way my mind is constructed, it presents the world as separated.

[58:45]

And our cultural emphasis on individualism and so forth reinforces that. It's really hard to get rid of that idea. Because if you go out in the street, everything reconfirms separation. So you create a phrase. If before thought arises, you have a thought, you have an assumption that conditions all thinking already separated. It's very simple. Create a phrase already connected. Now, if I look at you and I feel already connected, I don't have to make an effort to be friendly.

[59:59]

I don't have to make any special effort. I can actually just play the strings of the already connectedness. And do you understand? Yes, and I think it's a new phrase, not more and not less. A new phrase. Yeah. You said before it is a phrase to the world that everything is separated. Yeah. Yes, and I think it's right in that way. And to say everything is connected, going out the street and perceive people's houses, kids, being connected with them is another phrase. Yes, it is. Not more, not less. That's right, it's another phrase. And one is an antidote to the other one. What you want to be is free of both.

[61:03]

And this is right views? Be free of both? If I have the view that we're separated and I only have that view that's a delusion. And if you practice with already connected... Yes, go ahead. Question? Yes. Does this mean right views, to have right views, is think-pose simultaneously, for example, or one after the other? Is this right views? That's working with your views. Do you want to say it in German? You're now practicing with your views. Okay. before we think

[62:24]

That thinking is already conditioned by views. If those views are delusive, all of our thinking is going to be delusive. So you want to substitute for the views before your thinking, views that are correct or correcting. So the first step is to notice that you have deluded views. The second step is to create an antidote to those. The third step is to substitute those for correct views and the fourth step is to have no views at all but everything arises from original mind okay okay

[63:32]

Why is it that separation is delusive and connectedness is not delusive? I think both can be delusive. And what do you have to do with Poland? As long as they are opposites of one another. Yeah, that's sort of true. May I add something? Oh, of course. This was my point. I had the impression you were introducing a third observer or sort of morality without naming that, without saying that you introduce it. You mean a preference for connectedness over separation? Yeah. Absolutely. You are introducing a sort of moral and you are not telling us what is the source of this moral.

[64:47]

Oh, I'm sorry. I hear the same I'm sorry. Oh, dear. Okay. Thank you. Hmm? Deutsch. Okay. You're free to do what you want. Buddhism presumes that connectedness is a more accurate view than separation. It's like ecology. Ecology is a more... Buddhism would presume is a more accurate way of looking at things than to think, just because I have a chimney here and it's smoking, it doesn't bother anybody.

[66:02]

But we also understand everything, and maybe this is what intuitively you're getting at, At least if we're in agreement. And we may not be in agreement. And it's okay if we're not in agreement, because this practice still works whether we agree or not. is that everything is simultaneously independent. But that independence is not separation. When I experience you as absolutely independent, I have to stop the world.

[67:04]

Time stops. And everything, it's when the ocean is the drop. So, actually everything exists simultaneously in time and in timelessness. In time, it's interrelated. In timelessness, it's separate. Hmm. But in terms of our thinking, our thinking is always temporal. So our thinking should have views of connectedness and interdependence behind it. So there's two main ideas.

[68:07]

Interdependence and inter... We could add interindependence, if you like. And interpenetration. That things are not just interdependent, they also interpenetrate each other without interfering. Okay. Thank you for your your probing questions. I appreciate it. So you work with antidotes to views that tend to, and you can begin to feel when you have views that make you feel a little bit constrained or...

[69:07]

Now, it is the case, going back to the phrase, just now is enough, that in some ways just now isn't enough. Is that, for instance, she has to leave, so just now is not enough. And We need supper soon or a break. That's all true. But it's also true in another way, in another kind of mind, just now is enough. In fact, just now has to be enough. Because always we're in a state of mind where now is all there is. So a phrase like just now is enough. is meant to penetrate our habit of thinking just now is not enough, that we need something extra.

[70:33]

But the truth is, in one state of mind, in one way of being alive, just now is not enough, and in one way it is. So the koans are all based on this interceding in your mind. Interceding in your habitual activity and your habitual thinking. to change your habits and to free you from habits so tomorrow we'll start with enlightening views and four and five okay Because it's a little after six o'clock.

[71:41]

Thank you for being so patient and I'm sorry I went after six. But if I have two warrior women in the front, you know, I have to, you know, what can I do? Well, that's your problem. I have to say something. But I like to think of you that way. Makes life more exciting. Okay, let's sit for a moment. So we'll have meditation at 9.30 tomorrow and start at 10 and I don't know if any of you have to travel but maybe tomorrow afternoon we'll end earlier and if some of you want to have some since we haven't spoken about meditation specifically if some of you have some questions about

[76:28]

Zen meditation practice, I'm happy to respond. And thank you very much for this afternoon.

[76:34]

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