Another version of Winter Branches or something. But I think that what I presented yesterday or what we ended up speaking about was actually rather different than usually I do in seminars. I don't know. What do you think? Yesterday I started with the statement that we do not yet know exactly what this doorstep zen should be. And I had the impression that it was a bit funny for some, because the feeling is maybe implicit. Now that we're sitting here, it's basically the same as we already know it, a different version of the winter branches or something. Any comments? Does it just seem like another winter branches?

[01:13]

There was nothing wrong with winter branches. Yes. And that was a kind of root power that was more noticeable to me, so I would describe it. And this radicality, that was also a new aspect. I don't know if that was already in Winterzweigen, but that was new to me. And the way we have spoken now and the outer form I find similar. and in terms of the outer form and the way that we speak I do find it similar to winter branches for instance but there were also new aspects for me something that I would describe maybe as a root force or a kind of radicality which I feel I haven't heard in the same way before yeah

[02:22]

My feeling was that it was really more open. There was no concept or formula that was actually And it has then shaped itself in the outer form a little similar, but in terms of content. And even now I have the feeling that the design is open, that you can work on it, that it is more something that arises from the doing. I feel like this is different although the outer form may look the same but I have a feeling of that there's a real openness about how to what to turn this into and that there's a feeling of we're doing this as we're doing it and it doesn't feel like there's a script or something of what this is going to be yeah

[03:30]

Yeah, okay. So I chose the name Doorstep Zen, just happened to choose it. But I think what I meant, or what I do mean, is that whoever shows up, we'll meet with, I'll meet with. So my feeling is, for instance, there's a study period in the morning I see in the schedule. I wouldn't put a study period for doorstep Zen. Zum Beispiel ist mein Gefühl, ich sehe jetzt, dass morgens eine Studienzeit ist, und ich würde zum Beispiel für Deutschland keine Studienzeit morgens einplanen.

[04:34]

Ja, because my feeling about it is that that can be, you know... Don't take too seriously what I feel. But my feeling about it is, ideally you just happened to be walking by, so you weren't studying or anything, you had no topic, and you came in and said, geez, you know, when I sit my knees hurt, why is that? And do you know why your knees hurt? because Zen teachings, practices, have decided that to make the periods of Zazen long enough that you hurt.

[05:37]

It's an intention. It's intentional. Because it's a shortcut. If you get to the point with other people sitting beside you, you don't want to move, and you'd pay God anything. God, how much does it cost? When you get to that point, you just have to give up.

[06:41]

Or you move. You have to drop your usual, this hurts, I don't like it, this isn't the way I want to live. You just have to decide, I don't care. If it hurts, it hurts. Goodbye. And you do have to distinguish what might be harming you. legs or knees than what is just extreme discomfort. After a while you just drop the discomfort and really after that discomfort almost never bothers you the rest of your life.

[07:46]

If you get used to doing it. I mean, there's other ways to get there. Do you remember that mountain climber who got his hand stuck between two rocks and he couldn't get his hand out and it took two or three days and he suddenly decided he'd cut his hand off. That's a rougher way to do it, I think. There are also other ways to get there. I don't know if you remember the mountain climber who once stuck his hand in a split, in a mountain split, rock split, and for several days he waited there, tried to get his hand out. After two or three days, at some point he decided to actually cut off his hand.

[09:09]

And that's a much worse way. But the avoidance of discomfort and pain is very deep in us. And it's all tangled up with preferences and who we think we are and psychological discomfort. And once you get past the physical discomfort, a whole lot of things free up. I don't mean that one has to do Sashin's Five a year for the rest of your life.

[10:19]

But there's a point at which you can locate yourself in discomfort without discomfort. I actually have people who started with Suzuki Rishi, for instance, a close friend of mine. After a while, he switched to Tibetan Buddhism because they don't push you to sit into pain. So he said, it was just easier to do Tibetan Buddhism. Yeah, but I've and I've known in all these years, a few people who have absolutely no pain in sitting.

[11:42]

They just sit cross-legged. But really, in every case, I think, every case, their practice is not developed. I'm sorry to give you the bad news. That's good news. Oh, because he's hurting. So lucky. over the years, I have met a few practitioners who actually simply do not feel any physical pain, who simply sit down for whom the lotus seat is not a problem at all, they have no pain at all during the whole zazen period. And I would say that in every case where I know someone like that, I would say that their practice is not really developed. Now, also, I'm expecting those people who show up for doorstep Zen will explicitly and implicitly decide how we should continue.

[12:53]

Now we develop the conversation most powerfully if we were the same people every month for four or five days. Wir würden dieses Gespräch, die kraftvollste Art, dieses Gespräch zu entwickeln, wäre, wenn wir jedes Mal genau die gleiche Gruppe wären, jeden Monat für vier, fünf Tage genau die gleiche Gruppe. Aber in einer Laienpraxis kann das nicht jeder machen. And you know, the weekend seminars we've done in the winter branches, there's no tradition like that in Japan or China. This was created here in Germany and America. And they were developed, taking off from the way there were psychological type seminars and yoga seminars. In Europe and America, I and others sort of copied those and then hopefully fine-tuned them for the purpose of Zen practice.

[14:16]

And die sind entlehnt aus einer Tradition von psychotherapeutischen Seminaren oder Workshops, die halt übers Wochenende stattfinden, oder zum Beispiel Yoga-Workshops. Und dann haben ich und auch andere dieses Format übernommen und idealerweise so ein bisschen fein abgestimmt für die Zwecke der Zen-Praxis. So, I don't know what we're... what we'll do and even still continue. Let's see. Maybe it's not going to be useful. All right. My idea, though, is to not so much establish themes, though that is inevitable, but to bring in some contrasts.

[15:22]

Meine Absicht ist, nicht so sehr Themen einzuführen, obwohl das wohl unausweichlich ist, dass es auch passiert, aber vielmehr möchte ich Kontraste oder Kontraste einführen. For example, we have our compass directions, as I mentioned yesterday, north, south, east, west. And Suzuki Roshi pointed out that in Dursun you have what's called ten directions, which is north, northwest, west, southwest, etc.

[16:26]

So that's eight directions. And then up and down. And Suzuki Roshi said, but these directions aren't pointing out, they're pointing at you. She's asking only by up and down or for all of them? No, all of them point at you. Well, if you really examine this, this is a very different worldview. So, the Zen teacher and

[17:26]

presents for Asians and Westerners something that's got a different worldview, in this case, built into it. Do you notice it or not? So I guess partly I'm trying to give you more sense of how to read the teachings when I'm gone. And in a certain way, I think, I try to convey to you more of a feeling of how you can read the teachings for the time when I am no longer there. Koan 40 in the Hekigan Roku, the Bluetooth records, has the statement from Sengjiao, Heaven and Earth and I share the same root. The earth and I share the same body.

[18:47]

Yeah. One of the most famous koans. In a sense, most used. And then Nanchuan says to the man who brings the Sanjiao statement up to him, Nanchuan says, and says, people see this flower, points to a flower, happens to be there, people see this flower as if they were in a dream. zeigt er auf eine Blume und sagt zu ihm, die Menschen schauen diese Blume an, als ob das ein Traum wäre.

[19:48]

It's also typical to present things which have two meanings, so you have to decide which meaning or both are present. Es ist auch typisch, die Dinge so zu präsentieren, dass du zwei Bedeutungen vor dir hast. Und dann musst du die Entscheidung treffen, welche von den beiden Bedeutungen du wählst, oder ob vielleicht beide Bedeutungen da sind. So when Nanchuan says, you see this as if most people see it as if they were in a dream. Und so wie Nanchuan sagt, die meisten Menschen sehen das so, als ob das ein Traum wäre. The crux there is most people. What does he mean by most people? Because in fact, we're all seeing, as I said, if I see this flower, it's actually within my sensorium. That's like a dream.

[20:58]

But later in the koan it says, the moon, we don't see, mountains and rivers are not seen as if they were in a mirror. And by that the koan means that when you see things and need them to be confirmed by consciousness, that's like seeing them in a mirror. And to see them and need to see them consciously reflected, like we talked about yesterday, is to not see them.

[22:21]

Because mountains and rivers exist independently if you're seeing them. The mountains and rivers are on this side. They already are you. Now, there's a number of ecologists, philosophers, writing now about the environmental Anthropocene, sixth extinction, etc. There's about ten of them I'm studying, but one of them, Timothy Morton, is the, I'm finding the most fruitful right now.

[23:24]

And I think Timothy or Harmon says that, you know, this started with, really with agriculture. There's key points where we went over the edge, and agriculture is one of them. And by clearing land, cows produce more gas pollution than all the vehicles and ships in the world. There are several points where we have gone too far.

[24:38]

Agriculture is one of them. For example, the livestock, especially cattle, produces more carbon dioxide, methane, But we don't have to feel guilty about that. If you have an air conditioner, you don't have to feel guilty, but you are destroying the planet. I mean, not the air conditioner, but the whole thing together is doing it. Yeah, and Timothy Morton's conclusion, and mine too, not that I had the same research, but is that it's all over, actually. It's done. There's really nothing we can do about it. We can try to manage it in some way, perhaps.

[25:53]

But one of the things they are emphasizing is basically heaven and earth and I share one body. And we have to, but Buddhism has been saying this a long time, not acting on it in ways that maybe were necessary, but Buddhism does not make a distinction between phenomenality and sentience. And Buddhism always says that. Maybe it didn't always act in the way it was necessary, but in Buddhism there is no distinction between the phenomena and the sentient beings.

[27:26]

Yeah, and trying to hold back from getting involved with trying to explain Timothy Morton and others' position. But I am trying to say that this view that heaven and earth and I share the same, have the same root and share the, have the same body, are assumed fundamentally by yogic practice. And a little more subtly, that seeing things in consciousness is to see them as separate from you and not to see them as already on your side.

[28:38]

Okay. Okay. Now, what are the ten directions? The ten directions that everything is coming towards you is that phenomenality and you are shared processes, relationality. And you can practice with this in ways like everything that happens you say welcome or yes to. So if, Suzuki Rishi says, the ten directions come toward you, it's not about out there-ness, it's about coming into here-ness.

[29:47]

Wenn Sukhiroshi sagt, dass die zehn Richtungen auf dich zukommen, dann geht es dabei eben nicht um das da draußen, sondern um das hier drinnen. You take on the practice of noticing every appearance as coming toward you and being already you and you welcome it. Okay, now, again, in this yoga-zen culture, everything's an activity, there's no entities. So how is the ten directions an activity? I think you need to think of it as some kind of device that's turning and you're part of the turning. Yeah, like something that's... that everything's coming towards you.

[31:22]

But it's an activity coming to it, so it's coming in phases. It's a phasing device. I don't know how to say these things. I'm just experimenting. I don't know how to say these things. I'm just experimenting. I don't know how to say these things. I'm just experimenting. I was just at my daughter's. Sophia just turned 18 and graduated from high school. And I went to her graduation in Vermont. And I decided to practice the ten directions at this graduation. Okay, so it's an activity and it's a metaphor.

[32:58]

And maybe we can think of it as a DPS. A Dharma positioning system. Or maybe we can think of it as a a dharma phasing device. D-P-D. And maybe we can use this as a dharma phasing device. Because really, all of this activity requires you to think metaphorically. By the way, Einstein's genius was not his mathematics, but his ability to think metaphorically into areas which nobody had thought about before.

[33:58]

All these aspects demand from you that you can think in metaphors, that you can think figuratively. For example, Einstein's genius did not exist in his mathematical abilities, but in his ability to think metaphorically, figuratively, to invent things, to think into areas that could never have been thought of before. I would say in the yogic all thinking is intuition basically and metaphoric often. So if I'm going to practice the ten directions at Sophia's graduation, There's all kinds of parents and kids and some of them are good friends of Sophia and some of the parents I may have met.

[35:07]

There's the teachers and her advisors and so forth. Da sind jede Menge Eltern und Kinder oder Jugendliche und die meisten oder einige von denen habe ich vielleicht getroffen, habe ich schon kennengelernt, andere noch nicht. Dann sind da die Lehrer und die Beratungslehrer und so weiter. And this is a John Dewey-ish or John Dewey progressive school. Das ist so eine progressive Schule nach John Dewey oder so zumindest daran angelehnt. And so they grow a lot of their own food. They have 40 cows, 20 horses, and Sophia would get up at 4.30 and muck the stables. It sounds like Zen, you know. So there was 57 graduates.

[36:14]

And a great big kind of farm machinery truck they all rode in on as a procession. And Sophia came in with a procession on a horse. So she loves to ride, and she had a particular horse which almost nobody could ride because it was so difficult, but she rode it into the graduation. It was outdoors, the graduation. And my oldest daughter had her own graduation for her school. And so couldn't come, so sent Sophia a Jill Sander, is that a designer?

[37:32]

Jill Sander dress. So she had this rather pretty Jill Sander dress. And was barefoot on this horse and barefoot during the graduation. And in this school, The school has a basic diploma, but you give the diploma to somebody else and they design it for you and paint pictures and all kinds. And no one knows what their diploma is going to look like until they receive it because it's designed by other kids. This is all new to me, too.

[38:33]

Es gibt schon so ein Diplom, das man da bekommt, ein Abschlusszeugnis, ein Diplom. Aber das Diplom wird immer einem anderen Mitschüler, einer Mitschülerin gegeben, die das dann entwirft und darauf malt und dem einfach das bearbeitet. Und keiner weiß dann am Ende, wie sein eigenes Diplom aussieht. So Sophia is quite a good pianist and she is a coder and developed a new code for a new kind of, etc. So her diploma has a piano that's also coded in some way. It was kind of a nice looking diploma. A drawing of a piano on it with coding things around the piano keys. Okay, so while this is all going on, I'm practicing the ten directions. Which means first I had to create the image of ten directions and up and down.

[40:03]

And up and down means upness is coming down and downness is coming up. And oben und unten bedeutet, dass das oben nach unten kommt und das unten nach oben geht. So to practice something like this and recognize it's an activity, which is all assumed by just saying the ten directions come towards you. So... It's basically a kind of Kundalini practice. Because you open a visual image in yourself of a column which upness is coming down and downness is coming up. Weil du ein Bild, weil du in dir ein Bild entwirfst von einer Art Säule, in der das Oben nach Unten kommt und das Unten nach Oben geht.

[41:16]

And everything that's coming toward, all the ten directions, eight directions, are coming toward you and being absorbed in this column. And so this is what I'm doing. Now, is this natural? I guess not. But it comes from a culture which assumes you're born incomplete. And your job during your lifetime is to keep completing and re-alivening your aliveness. And our culture does this in its own way. And what I've noticed is artists, painters and poets, in order to write poems and paint paintings, they have to find their own ways to do something like this, to keep bringing their aliveness to certain points which allow them to paint or to write a poem.

[42:45]

Or be a poem. So Zen practice assumes you're always making yourself aesthetically. And zen is a particular way to keep recreating yourself. Now, Timothy Morton can say there's no distinction between phenomenality and sentience. They're absolutely essential to each other web or mesh or weaving. But he presents it as a fact of how we actually exist.

[43:48]

But Buddhism presents it in many ways as a way to enact it in situations. And Tibetan Buddhism, when imagining a deity and etc., is all to metaphorically create yourself at each moment. Now, I think the degree to which this is the case is not understood by Western Buddhism. And in my clumsy way of trying to say something about it, it's as close as I can get to sharing this dynamic of practice as a realivening all the time.

[45:08]

So in Doorsteps and what my idea is to keep presenting these things just as they are and not try to teach you teach you them, and not try to, as I would usually do, is induce the experience in you. I'm not trying to do that. And Doorstep Zen is now my idea, what this can be, is to try to tell you these things, but not as I did before, not to try to introduce them in a way that you can understand them. I'm not trying to induce this in you or teach you.

[46:30]

When I would start a seminar, I would say, okay, here's something like the Ten Directions. By the end of the seminar, I hope to have incrementally created the experience. But now I'm just telling you about it. And when I, for example, start a seminar, then I would say something like, okay, so here is the concept of the ten directions. And then I would hope that when the seminar is over, that I have achieved something so far that you have a feeling for it, an experience of it. And now I don't have the feeling, now I'll just tell you about it. And I'm also curious if this is anything useful to some of you or each of you or all of you. So let's set up the other way and I'll come back after a little while. Okay. If I sit here, I talk too much.

[47:47]

Never. You don't know how much I can talk.

[47:51]

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