Today we will do the lay ordination or lay initiation ceremonies for, with, through three people. Six people. Which three of you did I forget? I haven't forgotten any of you since I've met you. And I think it's a rather strange thing to do to take these precepts. Why take vows or vows, precepts, to do what you're already doing? To express what you're already feeling.

[01:13]

Of course we come to this point to make this decision. Because you recognize it is what you're feeling. And it's kind of great that it's a strange thing to do, but it's also a wonderful thing to do. Es ist gut, dass es eine seltsame Sache zu tun ist, aber auch eine wunderbare Sache zu tun. To make a decision, to choose. Diese Entscheidung zu treffen. Among the many things you do. Zwischen all den Dingen, die du tust and the many things you feel. This is what I feel most deeply. And the phrase I've been using recently is, it sounds like it means nothing, but it means a lot to me.

[02:28]

And the sentence that I have used a lot now, it sounds as if it means nothing at all, but it means a lot. Human space. What is this human space in which we live? You know, I've always wondered why people collect beach stones. Strandsteine. Yeah, no, and... Even though I've wondered why, I still am an inveterate collector of beech stones. So I don't know why I would wonder, because I do it all the time.

[03:31]

I once even cracked my ribs collecting beech stones. I was doing it with goggles you know under the water and I got so many that I had I don't know how I had them but I had bunches under my arms And I couldn't move my arms because I was holding these stones under my arms. And when I came out, you know, with flippers and all that stuff, and, you know, groggy from two or three hours in the water, a big wave hit me. And I fell over on my side and all the stones were between my arm and my side and they cracked two or three ribs.

[04:34]

So I don't know why I'd wonder why people collect stones, but I still wonder. People particularly like stones with white lines in them. I go to somebody's house and they've got a white stone sitting somewhere with a line around it or a light sort of, a white line. So we don't just like any stone. We like certain stones. Most stones we luckily leave on the beach. Because there wouldn't be any there at all. And which stones do we leave, which stones do we pick up?

[05:55]

We pick up stones with some kind of definition. Yeah, so we pick up stones that really, you could say, are a kind of human space. Yeah. Yesterday or the day before, I got this stone, three stone figures that's in the altar on the right side. I feel satisfied with the center of the altar and the left side, but the right side I'm not satisfied with yet. So I saw this, those three stone, three figures. that are there now.

[07:01]

And that's sort of like our Sangha altar. And we have the board behind it with monks and the Buddha and so forth. And I don't know if it will work yet. We'll have to live with it for a while. But I like that it's stone. This is a wooden Buddha from 1500 or so. Made of various parts. cut up and fit it together so it doesn't warp or split, etc. And this is a metal Buddha. Yeah. And this is a stone.

[08:11]

So I like it. We have metal, wood, and stone on the altar. And the stone has a presence. And I mean, Atmar... You know, he's a bit crazy about stones. Yes. The translators allowed a comment. And not only does he love stones, he also loves rocks. And I think without his help, most of you would not have completed your raksus. So this stone over there has been made into a human space or a Buddha space. And the... In a way I feel like the white circle around a stone or a straight line on a stone or something like that is a bit like the precepts in our life.

[09:33]

We do many things and yet we want some definition in our life. Yeah, it's assumed in Buddhism as a kind of The basics of being a human being. You're born into this human space. Through a female and a male. And the Family, parents hopefully take care of you. And when you read a book, you're reading human space. School, education, all of this is human space.

[11:01]

Yeah, and what responsibility do we have to this human space? Yeah, what is our relationship to it? Of course, it's not an it. It's a... It's... It's... not anything we can name. So the basics of what is this human space is where Buddhism arises. And as I spoke, you know, I sort of... musing through this in Hannover and in Kassel.

[12:03]

And what is our relationship to sentient beings? To sentient life, to all life. Yeah, this is something we are born into this life, but we also have to choose this life. Wir werden in dieses Leben hineingeboren, aber wir müssen auch dieses Leben wählen. Yeah. In Buddhism we live in a, this sounds strange to say, an historical space. An historical space. A space that is history. A space that is history and we make history. It makes a difference what we do.

[13:11]

What I mean by a historical space is a space that creates history. It makes a difference what we do. Yeah. So we make a decision. What is our relationship to all human beings? In English we say other human beings, but other means something separate. I don't like that. So I now say every each, an old-fashioned word. So what is our relationship to every each? Yeah, and then the second thing we have to... What motivates us?

[14:36]

What are our desires? What are our views, our delusions? From where do our actions arise? And the third basic consideration is what is our relationship to the phenomenal world? The physical and phenomenal world. Yeah. The phenomenal world is also human space, because you know the word phenomena in English actually means the world known through the senses. There may be a physical world out there known by robots and aliens.

[15:41]

But as soon as we know it, it's the phenomenal world and it's a human space. Even if it's monstrous and destructive, as much of the world is. It's still a human space that we've created. And last, what conclusion do you draw from these three considerations? Of course, what I've said just now is the basis. for the four vows. The four bodhisattva vows.

[16:43]

Now, you're already going to take the three refuges and the three purifying precepts and the five prohibitory precepts. Again, please. The The three purifying precepts. The five prohibitory precepts. So now I'm giving you four more. Well, it's the morning. You're going to get those others in the afternoon. You're getting four extra today. I'm sorry. And the four bodhisattva, four precepts. The result of generations considering what is our relationship to sentient beings, the phenomenal world.

[18:03]

And how do we act within it? Are these four vows? Yeah. Sentient beings are innumerable. I vow to lessen their suffering. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are numberless. I vow to enter them. In the Buddha's way is Endless.

[19:04]

I vow to follow it. No. It's taken me a long time to find English that I feel comfortable with. And it really makes a difference. if what words you use, because you want to be able to feel into the words. So you can actually take, enter into these words. Because each of these vows is not only an intention. Each is also a location. And a purpose. I don't know if you can make the distinction in German, but it's a location and a locus.

[20:18]

A locus is a center of activity. So it's an intention, but at the same time, If you can feel into it, it becomes the location of the mind. Now, Recently I noticed reading Robert Musil's diaries. My crib sheet. And he was sort of musing in his diary, between 1921 and 1923, we don't know.

[21:19]

He was musing the same way I was just now about what's our relationship to sentient beings and so forth. And he was thinking about when you're young, being in love, and then what is the state of love? And what kind of radiance is a state of love? And he says, people, he's just trying to, he's thinking out loud to himself in this diary. People ought to meet in goodness. Yeah.

[22:26]

You know, there's a story about Bo Chui, the Chinese poet, went to see a famous Zen master. Then he couldn't find him and he went out behind the temple and there he was sitting in a tree. In a tree? Yeah. And he asked him, what are you doing up there? And he said, I practice. Do you have any advice for me? And he said, do good and avoid evil. And Bojuri says, every child knows that. And the Zen master said, even an old man finds it hard to practice.

[23:31]

Maybe that's why he was up in the tree. In any case, To meet in goodness. People are to meet in goodness. And he says, this is an actual state. And he said, it's really an environment. It's a local environment. Yeah. And the desire is, he says, to bestow. That means to give. The desire is to bestow and not to have. Yeah. He says, wanting to be good means giving, bestowing, it's the same Portuguese, communicating,

[24:46]

and overflowing. And it's interesting, I don't know, I don't think he knew anything about Buddhism particularly. But in Buddhism, the practice of like the four Brahmaviharas, is a radiating. And the Bodhisattva's activity is considered to be an overflowing. And it's always a local environment, a human space, a local human space. He says all quarrels, all ambition, All relationships are as nothing compared to this deeper kind of knowing.

[26:00]

No, I shared that with you. Only because, you know, it's sort of interesting. Someone like Muzil thinks about these things. He didn't have the for vows to kind of bring it into focus. But he brought it into focus in his own way. And our way to bring it into focus is to locate ourselves in these four vials. Yeah, and after all these years of not suggesting it, I'm now suggesting you actually start, or sometime during Zazen, say the four vials.

[27:04]

Yeah, as if you were musing about it, contemplating about it. Yeah, contemplating. These are your temples. Contemplating is to be in a sacred space. Contemplieren heißt in einem geheimen Ort zu sein. Sentient beings are innumerable. Die menschlichen Wesen sind zahllos. How can you have any relationship to all these sentient beings? Wie kannst du zu all diesen Wesen eine Beziehung haben? When it's not just one or two, it's some human space that is all. This human space we were born into and will continue. So you say to yourself, feel it in whatever way you do. Sentient beings are innumerable.

[28:43]

I vow to lessen their suffering. You can also vow to enlighten them. It means both. But I think usually we want to say, and it's more comprehensible, I vow to lessen their suffering. At least it's more practical. More easily feel we can practice it. And delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to This in itself is a lifetime study. What are my motivations? What are my views? Can I, how can I exist as things actually exist?

[29:52]

And Dharma gates are? numberless. So this is a view of the world. Each moment is a Dharma gate. Without number and numberless. Yet we enter them. We have this intention. And this intention becomes again a location. It forms our human space. forms our activity.

[30:55]

And the Buddha's way is endless. And even endless, I vow to. follow it. That's a whole lifetime. And these four vows are obviously related to the Four Noble Truths. There's suffering. There's a cause of suffering. So there's an end of suffering. There can be an end of suffering. And there's a path to realize it. To actualize that is the four vows. It's a time to take the precepts, it's a time to love someone.

[32:28]

A time to listen to the rain. A time to be inside your life and in a Your usual activity leads to generating a you. These vows, four vows. And the precepts we will take in the afternoon. And you can all take them together or listen to them or get a feel for them with the six persons receiving the precepts.

[33:28]

This begins to be the white or the circle on the stone. Taking the precepts begins to be like the circle on the stone. An activity, Buddha's activity in our life, which gives rise to a Buddha and not to our usual self. so we can say that these four vows and the precepts we can say that these four vows and the precepts are all ways to generate the most intimate

[34:28]

And realizable human space. A human space that you don't resist or feel harmed by. A human space that can benefit our sentient life. So the taking the precepts and taking these four vows is a way of generating a human space. And by the way, if you do say them to yourself in zazen, I suggest you say them once, you know, through.

[35:42]

And then what I do is I say them backwards. And sometimes The mind, as it proceeds into zazen, has a sort of dreamlike quality. And when you say them a second time, the mind gets tangled in the words. Yeah, it gets tangled in the words and sometimes you say them in different orders and different words appear. You can trust this kind of... tangle or confusion. Du kannst dieser Verwirrung und diesem Verstricktsein vertrauen.

[36:44]

It's maybe your other mind taking the precept. Das ist so wie dein anderer Geist nimmt die Gelöbnisse. Or discovering what you really mean Not just consciously mean. Yeah, so for every zazen, for a while you do something like this. Yeah. You start creating the human space, which is Buddha's activity. Thank you very much. Thank you for your translation.

[37:30]

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