Well, here's the morning monk again. Yeah. In the afternoon, again, the layperson. Does it make any difference to you in the structure of this Winter Branches seminar that I'm a morning monk and in the afternoon a layperson? The preparation for the Teisho in the morning is putting on robes and three bows and so forth. Yeah, does it affect what I say? Does it affect how you hear what I say?

[01:04]

I know it affects what I say, but I don't know if it affects what you hear. In the afternoon the preparation is the small groups and then the discussion before I say something. And if I'm If what I'm wearing and bows affect what I'm saying, am I outer-directed or inner-directed? Coming from inner, huh? Yeah. This was a distinction that David Reisman famously made in the 50s or 60s.

[02:23]

In a book called The Lonely Crowd. He was I think one of the persons who created public sociology, something like that. Last night the concert, I guess you call it, was really wonderful. And the little, at least the old part of Rheinfelden in the Swiss side is, yeah, quite a beautiful little town. And this... Basel Chamber Orchestra was, as far as I could tell, I was with professionals like Gisela, but as far as I could tell, they played extremely well.

[03:43]

And I found this the skill and the sensitivity and the presence of this star cello player. Just phenomenal. Like another world of skill. Another planet. I'm always in awe of people who can do things well. Yeah, that's true, but I'm kind of in awe of everyone.

[04:58]

That we all somehow survive and get clothed and fed is just amazing. Yeah. And one thing I didn't really know about a chamber orchestra is it doesn't usually have a conductor. But I did notice that the first violin was sort of turned toward the orchestra and she was really animated. It was great. It looked a little showy, but I thought it was great. That's what I would do. You could really feel her. And the Argentinian celloist, too, she cellist, she...

[06:01]

She was moving her head to the music and even saying it with her mouth. So I leaned over to Marie-Louise and I said, look at that first violin. She said, she's the head or something. I learned it from my neighbor. And then she told me that in fact she's the conductor. And that made me immediately think of Otmar. Because he's sort of the first violin here. That's also difficult to say. Because somebody who plays the first violin is a kind of snobby, self-important person in general. Really? Well, he's the second violin. Because, you know, the orchestra needs some kind of organization, some structure to function and play together.

[07:22]

And those roles can be shared and move around. And these roles can be divided and they can also be moved back and forth. But right now I would say that Otmar as assistant abbot is the unsnobby first violin. But right now I would say that Otmar is the vice abbot. I'm mentioning it because I'm thinking too of, because at this point, Atmar's practice is to work with you, but it's also his practice is to start teaching more.

[08:32]

And in the young and unformed Zen Center, San Francisco Zen Center of the 60s, Yeah, Sukershi told me in 1967 that he wanted me to be his successor. But how to enact that is not so easy when I'm just the third violin. So he sent me to Japan. For four years, that's how long it took to make me look serious. So, no, we don't want to send, if we could, to Berlin for four years.

[09:51]

No. Or Thailand. But we do want to find some way to support him as practicing with us also as a teacher. Part of the Sangha is to help develop each of us in our capacities. And it is also the task of the Sangha that it helps to develop each and every one of us. As this Koran says, it is not so that Or the butler looking at the maid, you know, cautiously.

[10:55]

Yeah, and I really, I can't really know what that means. I mean, in England, the butler's head of the household. In China, whatever it is, butler, are they head of the household or are they just another servant? Well, one of the themes of this koan is equanimity, equalness, And difference. Of course, in the relationship between equalness and difference, there's lots of relationships.

[12:02]

This koan is a particular riff on one kind of difference and equalness. So there's positions according to ability and there's host and guest and there's butler and maid. At the same time, there's this sense of, despite the differences, what equalness do we all share? You know, there was the most common reaction I've heard from people who were in New York at the time of the World Trade Center demolishment by the planes.

[13:36]

Well, it's of course a certain kind of trauma and the dust and so forth. But the most common The thing I've heard is the feeling of comradeship, of equalness that people had with each other on the street. What mental posture is that? I think we can understand that if everyone, well, what's the mental posture when Germany scores a goal. I think we can try to use the term mental posture in such a way to understand it better.

[14:38]

Okay. Now, In my comments on the koan so far, and this is the last teisho, so it should be calm, not far out, a soothing re-entry. It should not sound so alien and should be calming. But not that we've been that far out, but still, let's pretend that we need a re-entry. In any case, what I've tried to speak primarily about is who are these two persons, Daowu and Yunyun?

[15:38]

And I'm doing that because I would like us to also know who we are meeting each other. And we are meeting each other within the paradigm of our Western culture. And we're also meeting each other in this kind of vibration of a new world view. And we also are meeting each other in shared vows and a shared enlightened experience of some sort that said, hey, practice can be part of our life. and a shared enlightenment experience, which is the decision to faith.

[17:22]

And a shared enlightenment experience, which is the decision to faith. And a shared enlightenment experience, which is the decision to faith. And I also wanted to dip into occasionally Koan 7 of the Shoyoroku. And the line I mentioned yesterday When bodhisattvas have five requests from three persons, they enter the hall to teach.

[18:23]

But what I didn't say is it says they enter the hall showing their whole bodies with half a verse. What's that telling us? Was sagt uns das? This teaching associated with Yunyan's teacher. Die Lehre von Yunyan's Lehrer stammt. Showing half their bodies, showing the whole of their whole bodies with half a verse. Ihren ganzen Körper mit einem halben Vers zeigen. Is what I'm saying half a verse? Ist das, was ich sage, ein halber Vers? I haven't mentioned any poems or Rilke or anything this time.

[19:37]

I'm sorry, I'm just too busy trying to follow this Koran. Also ich habe überhaupt keine Gedichte gebracht, kein Rilke, gar nichts. Entschuldigt, ich bin zu geschäftigt, diesem Koran zu folgen. The poems have been on the edge of my attention, but I haven't brought them into the... Die Gedichte sind am Rande meiner Aufmerksamkeit, aber ich habe sie nicht hineingebracht. I've told this anecdote quite a long time ago. I mean quite a few times, but it occurred a long time ago. Ich habe diese Anekdote schon öfters erzählt und sie ist vor sehr langer Zeit stattgefunden. On one of the first or maybe the first visit of Rajneesh to the United States. And I had no idea who Rajneesh was. But obviously a lot of other people did. Because I was walking across the Berkeley campus.

[20:39]

And there was a big crowd around this one building. And since I worked for the university putting together programs, I knew the buildings well. I knew there was a mostly ground level window around the side. So I went and climbed in the window and sat on the windowsill. And here was this Indian guy who looked like he'd stopped in Hawaii for too long. Because he had flowers around his neck, big time.

[21:47]

What are those called? Lots of flowers, and he was talking. But wasn't that Maharishi? The Maharishi? No, it was the Maharishi. Excuse me. It was the Maharishi. We have to be careful. I'm sorry. Osho. Osho. I'm in awe of all of them. The Maharishi, yeah, that's right. Anyway, he had all these flowers. So, I don't know, I was there near the end and he talked for ten more minutes or something like that. And I went out, just followed the crowd out the normal door. And I found myself by chance coming out the door, pushed up very close to the car where he was about to get in. Yeah, and they were talking about going to Canada or something.

[23:02]

And Maharishi was just sort of like where you are. I was a little closer. And suddenly the thought appeared in my mind, he's pretty good. So I thought to myself, what precipitated that observation? And I immediately recognized that I had instinctively a new instinct from practicing. You noticed that you had a new instinct from practicing.

[24:05]

I had coordinated my breath with his and decided he was pretty good. And it was clear that it was a continuous drone in his presence. He happened to be breathing a certain way at that moment. I know, but can you start from the beginning? It was clear that it was a continuous drone, his breath. Oh, okay. And not just he happened to be breathing a certain way. And it tuned in to the continuous drone I developed of having breath underneath what I'm doing.

[25:08]

And this practice is not uncertain, it's part and parcel of the one who's not busy. I could feel, whatever he was teaching or anything, I could feel that the one who's not busy was present in the Maharishi. One thing I realized a number of times came close to mentioning is when you're moving from one kind of feel of appearance to the next. You can use breath to develop the punctuation, the grammar of appearance.

[26:11]

The pulse of appearance is more subtle than the breath. But you can use the breath to develop a familiarity with the pulse of appearance. Which is a kind of language and punctuation, grammar. That's probably what I'm emphasizing primarily today. You can, for instance, exhale on the appearance. An inhale when you shift to another appearance.

[27:24]

Just to get a feel for how to punctuate your dharmas. So the Maharishi was showing his whole body in half a verse about Canada. Okay. Now, Oh dear. I think I have nothing to talk about when I start talking about it. We could be here for skip lunch. Oh, what I want to give you today is a kind of contemplation you can contemplate.

[28:28]

Okay. Jean-Luc Nancy, who I've mentioned now a number of times, says that being is always being with. He says that being is always being together. That I is not prior to we. Dass ich nicht vor dem wir kam. That existence is always coexistence. Dass sein oder das existieren auch immer coexistieren, gemeinsames sein bedeutet. Now, that's a pretty close description of, accurate description of Japanese yogic sensibility. Das ist eine ziemlich genaue Beschreibung des japanischen yogischen Gefühls.

[29:50]

All their eyes, pronomen, are always we. Die ganzen Ichs sind immer Wirs. Actually, the Japanese have about 20 fairly common uses of I, 20 versions of I. And about a hundred I-pronouns altogether. All context-dependent. I suppose German do is a form of we. Oh, it's a singular form of we. Yeah. Of you. You. But it includes the other person, so it's a kind of we. You don't get too much agreeance, but you can expound it.

[31:01]

I can. All right. See, I don't know. I'm just guessing. Okay. Because my... Basic position is, I includes we, and we includes I. So, if the Japanese I is always a we, then we have to ask, where is the I hidden in the we? Because generics always hide. Generic terms. We use the word tree and it includes all these various trees. So it's a spectrum of trees connected, tied into one word.

[32:06]

And tree as a noun hides treeing as an activity. And hides tree-like things like genealogical trees. Und versteckte auch baumartige Sachen, so was wie Stammbäume zum Beispiel. So what Jean-Luc Nancy is saying is, I would say, that if I is not prior to we... Also ich glaube, was dieser Jean-Luc Nancy sagen möchte, wenn das Ich nicht vor dem Wir kommt... That I appears from we. Dass das Ich... that we probably is prior to I. Anyway, let's not go into this too philosophically.

[33:18]

But I just would like, maybe we should experiment with every time you say I or think I, you feel we. Maybe we should experiment with it Ich denkst oder sagst, spürst oder fühlst du wir. Okay. We're always presenting ourselves. Wir tun uns immer irgendwie darstellen. Now that may sound a little theatrical. Das klingt jetzt vielleicht ein bisschen theatral. And if you're an actor, like our Peter Dreyer is, When he appears on stage, are you an I or a we? And maybe you're hiding your I to be a we of whoever the character you're presenting and a we that can be experienced by the audience, so it's definitely a we.

[34:26]

Also vielleicht versteckst du das Ich in dem Wir des Charakters, den du spielst, um ein Wir mit dem Publikum zu sein. But we have a feeling of maybe if we're too conscious of this, self-conscious of this, we're being theatrical or dishonest. Wir haben vielleicht das Gefühl, dass wenn wir das so tun, When I'm dressed as the morning monk, I'm definitely a wee. I'm dressed like these other guys. And I'm dressed like, if you look at Japanese and Chinese paintings, I'm dressed, I'm in fashion for a thousand years.

[35:33]

And I had artist friends who used to borrow aspects of my robes to wear at clubs in New York because it really was fashionable then. So lineage represents the we-ness of us. And you've all come to the seminar dressed. You've all presented yourself a certain way. And you could have all come nude. Then you'd definitely be presenting yourself. So there's no avoiding presenting yourself. Nude or clothed, it's all presentation of yourself. nackt oder gekleidet, es ist alles irgendwie eine Darstellung von euch.

[36:52]

What is presenting the whole body in half a verse? Was ist dieses, den ganzen Körper in einem halben Vers darzustellen? If you take I'm going to have to leave a lot of this to contemplation. Ich muss viel davon dem Kontemplieren überlassen. To protect your legs from unnecessary exertion. Okay. Is the Maharishi showing his whole body when his breath body is so apparent to anyone else who can also feel his breath body? So when you come downstairs, come down, leave your room, you have really, it's a we coming out of your room.

[38:00]

A we dressed a certain way. You're dressing in a way with and for others. And there's no question that other people relate to whether you're dressed or not. So there's a we there. Now, if we really accept that I is always at least partially we, That being is always being with and it's inescapably being with.

[39:26]

And then if you take the mental posture just now originating You come out of your room with this mental posture. Maybe it's something like after 9-11, the people with a particular mental posture, everyone felt in New York. It was clear there was a we. Okay, now I'm suggesting you experiment with this, I think, fact that being is being with. Und ich empfehle, dass ihr damit experimentiert, dass Sein auch ein Sein mit, ein Zusammensein ist.

[40:45]

Okay, so if what you've put on when you've come out of your room, wenn das, was ihr euch angezogen habt, wenn ihr aus dem Zimmer herauskommt, as you've not just put on your clothes, You've not just put on your clothes. You've put on a concentration on the breath body. If while I'm speaking to you, as I am just now, my attention is equally, if not more, on my breath than on speaking... That becomes part of the we, I am with you. This is the basic idea of the four sublime attitudes, the four Brahma-Viharas. that unlimited friendliness or loving kindness when that's your mental posture or empathetic joy is your mental posture

[42:01]

You instinctively take joy in other's success. hast du sofort auch oder instinktiv auch Freude an dem Erfolg anderer. And if they don't have any obvious success, you find something to take joy in. Und wenn die keinen offensichtlichen Erfolg haben, dann findest du etwas in was du in dieser Person Freude finden kannst. And the third is equanimity and the fourth is compassion. Und das dritte ist Gleichmut und das vierte ist Mitgefühl. Now, are you dishonest if you put these on as an attitude? Are you dishonest when you put on your clothes? Bist du jetzt unehrlich, wenn du dir diese Haltungen zugrunde legst? Oder bist du unehrlich, wenn du Kleider anziehst? Well, maybe you're dishonest if you believe you have some identity stream that is inherent.

[43:25]

Vielleicht bist du unehrlich, wenn du davon ausgehst, dass du einen Identitätsstrom hast, der dir in den Mund ist. Aber wenn du das nicht spürst, und wenn du erkennst, dass in jedem Moment ein gegenseitiges... then from wisdom and compassion you're free to inter-emerge anywhere you want. Compassion. So you can come out dressed And you can come out with attention on your breath.

[44:26]

It won't harm anyone and might help a few. Or you can have just now originating. And I want you to know that I'm convinced that that's also a we and not just an I. Und ich möchte, dass ihr wisst, dass das nicht nur ein Ich ist, sondern auch ein Wir. It's a more powerful part of your presence than what you're wearing. Das ist ein viel mächtigerer Teil deiner Präsenz als das, was du anhast. This is also part of what's spoken about with Da Wu and Yun Yang. It says, as it says in the koan, when you see the one who is not busy, you see the unity, the union of mundane and enlightened reality.

[45:27]

Then you see the unity, not perhaps unity, of the worldly, of the mundane and the holy, and of the enlightened reality. And you also see the union of you and I as we. So, just to finish, if I and we are a spectrum, and if you emphasize we, then at one end of the spectrum, there's an I hidden in the we. And if you emphasize I, there's a we hidden in the spectrum. We should discover that in our experience. And we should look at, if you emphasize one instead of the other, What is indiscernible?

[47:06]

Because every generic hides something. How do you relate to allness from we and how do you relate to allness from I? That sounds maybe crazy, but they're real questions. And that's the second part of this teisho that I didn't give. So come back next time. Sign up with Frank or Katrin.

[48:13]

Or maybe this afternoon I'll say something very short about it. Because I love we. Thank you very much. May God bless you.

[48:31]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_77.43