So in Buddhism this view, this mythology, is that you witness this each morning. Whether you do or not, I believe a male, every one to two hours, males release a hormone that has to do with their fertility. So our body is doing this, but let's bring our personal mind and our Buddha mind to this. You're entering mythologically but also practically in awareness You are entering mythologically and practically awareness into your basic metabolism and immune system and so forth.

[01:13]

So when you are walking in Kinhin, this is an earth-touching gesture. In the time of this Wednesday morning, but also in fundamental time. In timelessness. Yeah. And When we do fast kin-hin, now you're not just making your body in relationship to yourself, you're making your body in relationship to others. Partly the practical reason is there's vitality in walking, fast walking kin-hin, and it wakes us up and so forth. But the basic practice of fast qin hin is to lock your hara and body into the person in front of you.

[02:29]

To entrain yourself for the person in front of you. You almost don't have to see, you just walk along like that. And our dignified Eno, who does everything and walks with such dignity, has developed this crazy creative course, where if you're not fairly physically alert, you're going to bump into half the people in this endo.

[03:30]

So, and around this cushion in the middle. So you really have to throw yourself into your horror and hope for the best. Soon she'll have us doing it in utter darkness like beavers. Yeah. So this morning is making your body. With your mind and your breath.

[04:48]

And this is the practice of Akshobhya. The beginning of the day. The end of the day is Amitabha. There's Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi. But let me go. I tried to go too fast. Let me go more slowly. If you think this is slow, slowly today. Now, you're not only making your body, you're making Buddha's body. Okay, so... So you make your reclining posture, then you make your standing posture, then you make your sitting posture, then you make your walking posture.

[06:01]

And these are the background of the morning service, the morning zazen, kin hin, and so forth. Recreating your body with mind and awareness. Now, progress in practice would be bringing more awareness and less conceptual consciousness to this making of your body. So I think I'd just like to finish this afternoon's discussion. with this understanding of bowing as the making of the Buddha's body.

[07:25]

Now it's understood that when you sit in zazen and you have your hands in this mudra, you're empowering your hands. And there is the perception that when you sit in sasana with this mudra, that you empower the hands with strength. And this energy of kin hin, coming up through your heels and through your body, the energy of the earth witnessing you, is now in your whole body and in your hands and in your shashu. Now, when you are bowing, the understanding of this mudra as a yogic imagination is that you're bringing this wide presence of awareness together in your hands.

[08:42]

And your kind of convergence of bringing together. And there's a kind of whole... Your fingers are near the tip of your nose, about that distance. And the heel of your hand is related to your heart. And your thumbs are related to your throat chakra. Your thumbs are related to your throat chakra. And then you bow. And as you come down, you touch your elbows first to the cushion, ideally at least. That's the idea. And then you imagine the Buddha is standing on your hands.

[09:47]

So the Buddha is standing on your hands. And you bow to the Buddha touching your head three times. And Buddha's legs are here on either side of your ears. And all this energy of waking up of realizing the four postures, of witnessing the earth, is passed through your hands up into the Buddha. And then when you stand up, the Buddha is standing in front of you.

[11:00]

And this Buddha standing in front of you is then confirmed by the altar right in front of you. This is our Shakyamuni Buddha. So you stand up into the presence of the Buddha that you are now generating. So you can begin to feel this Buddha mind companion as a real presence with you. As witnessing you. And we chant the sutras, chanting Buddha's words, and we become Buddha himself, herself, chanting. And then we chant the names of the lineage. And the presence of the lineage is here as well.

[12:02]

So our morning service is reenacting the earth-touching gesture of Shakyamuni Buddha. In ourself, as if it were us, and in our own presence. And then you're ready to go to work. To start the day. To go to the office. Or to do another day of Sushim.

[13:02]

Thank you for letting me try to make clearer what I was implicitly or trying to say yesterday. And thank you for translating, Christian. I know it must get, particularly in a lecture like this, must get quite tiring. No? Oh, dear. But everyone was translating, too. My name is George, and I am the director of this film.

[14:27]

I have been working on this film for a long time, and I am very happy to be working with you. I am very happy to be working with you. I am very happy to be working with you. Just give it a little bit. He said, I don't ask. Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Oh!

[15:34]

I will never talk about the history of the world for a common agenda. In the 50,000, 100,000, million and a half percent of the sector, nobody speaks of it. And I will never talk about the truth of the totalitarian system. Thank you for coming up closer. I feel more cozy now. How was it to see the garden during the period?

[17:06]

Too distracting or was it okay? I think some of you nature worshippers would like it just there all the time. Yeah, but you know I want you to worship your own nature. Which is already mountains and rivers and forests. So I'm trying to discuss with you how we exist in this world.

[18:37]

I'm trying to bring to you an understanding of how Buddhism assumes we exist in this world. And how you may and might find through your own practice that you also exist in this world in a similar way. And I'm not speaking so much about how you exist mentally or spiritually, but rather And in this world it seems to be, at least at initial appearance, a physical world.

[19:46]

Now, as I have mentioned, I spent some time, which was wonderful for me, with Ivan Illich, who is certainly a teacher for me. I spoke to him last night on the phone. He called and he wants me to help a young 17-year-old boy he knows and this boy's mother. And the idea is that this boy might apprentice himself to Lenny Brackett, who built the Doksan building, the Japanese wood joinery Doksan building in Crestone.

[21:10]

And one of the thread in our conversation in the years I've known Illich since the late 70s or early 80s. is what we could call somatic or kinetic intelligence. He definitely has this kind of intelligence presence in his own being and body. And he is immensely relieved to find it in our practice, too.

[22:40]

I think I could say that he hopes that Buddhism doesn't take this possibility away from Catholicism. He's not ready to become a Buddhist. But he hopes that this sense, that this somatic sense of the world that we have could be present again in Catholicism as he feels it once was. And one story he told me... We talked a lot about how you pick something up, how you relate to an altar and things like that.

[23:47]

what it's like to wear robes. He's questioned many Catholic priests who don't wear robes anymore and asked them, what does their body miss? And he says none of them say they miss wearing the robes. Which, you know, I find when winter comes, I put on a winter body. And I also find in a very similar way, when I put on robes, I put on a robe body. And I have the feeling, for example, that when winter comes, I will put on a winter body. And when I put on robes, I put on a robes body. One of the stories he told, and I think I mentioned it to some of you, he went back to going to a monastery, a Catholic monastery, and asking for hospitality.

[25:12]

And he got a piece of cloth up and he said he comes to the door and knocks, you know. And a piece of cloth is drawn away and says, hello, you know. And so Ivan then, a monseigneur, I believe at the time, says, I would like to spend the night here at the monastery. And the cloth drops, closes again and you can hear someone going down the hall. And pretty soon the abbot of the monastery comes. And they, you know, move the cloth, come in.

[26:29]

So he comes in and the abbot washes his feet and hands. And they would do this to any visitor, not just a Monsignor. And once the abbot has done this, then they say, yes, you can spend the night, and the abbot goes back to his room. If we institute this practice, I am going to be quite busy. But it would be worse than Doksana for you, I think. Maybe I'll get two little pans and duks on.

[27:47]

But we have some, you know, in Zen monasteries in Japan, the guest manager, guest monk, sleeps in the room next to the entryway. Next to the Genkan. More or less like our office. And whatever time you come, 24 hours, you say, like I have sometimes quite late, maybe 11 or 12 o'clock at night. And immediately you hear, Hi! as this monk wakes up and then he quickly comes out and says hello and so forth.

[28:59]

Hai means yes, but it actually just means I hear you. And since Zen monks emphasize energy, it's really a kind of, you know, it comes out from under the covers. Yeah. Yeah. So I have some, you know, idealistic feeling about Johanneshoff like this. I don't know what exactly practices and way of being here we will develop, but I want us to develop some clear way of being here.

[30:13]

Yeah, I feel this place is part of the world. I mean, I also see it as a place to find yourself apart from the world. Apart from and yet part of. You know, what I see is that the technologies of communication transformation and information are changing our world very radically. And they're basically new forms of relating to each other.

[31:15]

But they strangely separate us from our past and from our own experience. And even more strangely, I think this meeting of the civilizations of East and West that is making us have a new reverence for our own past. I don't think it's an accident that Ivan Ilyich, a Catholic, Secretary of Pope John at one time and I are talking about similar things. I also received a phone call last night, I think probably somewhat to Hilda and Christian's dismay.

[32:58]

Because I don't know what time, maybe 10, 15, or something like that, Charlotte Silver called me. And she's 97 or something, 96 or 97. And she has never been able to hear. I mean, she's been pretty deaf most of her life. So at 90, six or seven, she's, you know, you really have to haul her into the phone. You practically don't need the phone except she is in California. And so my room is right above Christian and Hilda's room. And as far as soundproofing goes, this building is made of Kleenex.

[34:12]

So anyway, she talked to me. She's coming to Europe next year for the last time. She says at least, and now her eyesight is being to go, but she's still teaching. Her maiden name is Wittgenstein and she's related to Wittgenstein, the philosopher. And she is the person who brought to the United States, for sure, this bodily sensory awareness. And she had a big influence on Eric Fromm, who was a teacher, actually, of Yvonne Elitch's.

[35:21]

And she had a big influence on Alan Watts, who was one of the first popular Zen pioneers. Who was a friend of mine, and in fact I did his funeral. I don't do the funeral of all my friends, but, you know, so don't get nervous. One time we were driving in a car and he said, can I ask you a favor? He looked healthy enough though he drank heavily. And he said, would you give me the funeral of an abbot? And I said, sure, a hundred years hence.

[36:37]

And I think in two months he was dead. Hmm. Hmm. And of course we're here in this center, Johanneshof, associated with Graf von Durkheim. And he's the person, more than anyone, who introduced the idea of this somatic awareness of the hara to the West. Okay, so we're clearly in some kind of lineage situation with just last night, Ivan Ilyich and Charlotte Silver calling us and talking to us here in this former Durkheim Center. Charlotte was my first teacher before I met Suzuki Roshi.

[37:50]

And she said she might be able to do a... seminar program with us for the Dharma Sangha next year here or in Humber on her last visit to Europe. And that's been a dream of mine, that you could all meet her and spend some time with her. It's quite wonderful to see such a bright spirit in such an imperturbable frailty. In such an imperturbable frailty.

[38:56]

Frailty means... I'm sorry, I don't speak more usual English. So I think we have a chance here at Yanosov and in Crestone of making some place that makes people feel comfortable. And I hope that both places will come to have a certain beauty. And I'm glad this place is a little funky. gives us something to do.

[40:37]

And we're not, you know, rich people who can just make anything we want. We're going to have to work with this, which we have. Okay. Now... I've been again speaking about our... exploring our solidity and... in and solidarity with the world. And I came to use Akshobhya as a vehicle for this discussion. And someone reminded me that this also was a continuation of a commentary on the Blue Cliff Records, go on, number 40.

[41:59]

And someone reminded me that this also was a continuation of a commentary This is the one in which officer Lu Xuan, who had practiced a long time with Nan Xuan. he quoted the Chinese Zen pioneer, Sun Tzu. And he quoted the Chinese Zen pioneer, Sun Tzu, who said, Heaven and... Well, actually, he quoted... He said...

[43:04]

Zhao Zhou, a master of the teachings, quoted Zheng Zhao. We have to get all the guys in here, Charlotte and Yvonne and Zheng Zhao. Zhao Zhou. These are all our friends. He said that heaven and earth and I share the same root. Myriad things and I are the same body. Now, this is... not different from Shakyamuni witnessing the earth and the earth witnessing him. But when you see this most common representation of the historical Buddha,

[44:13]

Touching, witnessing the earth. How do we understand this in our own life? And I'm also trying to... speak about this so that we can look at the tradition and history of Buddhism and see that it is also accessible to us in our own life. So by the end of the session which is soon. I would like you, if you happen to be reading a sutra and come across the names of Akshobhya or Amitabha, that these are not just some kind of cosmic Buddhas living in the East or the West,

[45:33]

in a once upon a time sutra land but rather in once upon a time this present that particularly in Zen practice these are possibilities of realization within our own experience. And they spring from the understanding of this earth-touching gesture of Shakyamuni Buddha on our altar. Okay. Now, Sangha, had been studying Laozi and Xuanzi.

[46:57]

And they are the two main accredited, from whom the founding of Taoism is accredited. And, yeah, they present, they say something like, um, um, um, Heaven and earth are great form and our own body is thus. And then Seng Chau was copying out an old translation of Vimalakirti's sutra. And he realized the narrowness of this view. So this koan has in it some mild criticism of Taoism. Because early Taoism presented the relationship as one of an equation of equality.

[48:16]

And what he saw, reading Vimalakirti, copying out Vimalakirti's sutra, was that, as Yuan Wu puts it, all of nature returns to self. Nature returns to self. Now, the difference here is for the... We could say that for the Taoist, it's an equation of equality, the great earth and you.

[49:19]

But in Buddhism, the relationship is logarithmic. A logarithm is... What power do you raise a number to to equal another number? What power do you raise a number to to equal another number? Yeah. That sounded right. Shall we say it again? What, exponential? Anyway, in other words, what power do you raise yourself to that you now then are equal to nature, to the world? Shall I say it again?

[50:40]

I don't know. In German. What power, how do you change yourself so that you're equal to the great earth? Okay. Now, Akshobhya was a, supposedly in the past, as an ordinary person, He made a vow never to experience anger or repulsion. And to be imperturbable in his mind. imperturbable in his resolution to accomplish whatever was before him. So we can say, and Akshobhya, and through this vow he realized imperturbability.

[51:49]

He realized this essential quality that we share with the world of the immense physical presence of the world. The immense physical presence of the world. So again I am going back to this moment of awakening. But also the moment in which the sun comes up and you see the whole, everything, the mountains, rivers, trees. This also means this initial state of mind or original mind. When without thinking about anything, you just see everything present.

[53:03]

One aspect of this is what we've discussed in the past as immediate consciousness. Now, what this is trying to show us is that if you can find yourself, base yourself in this immediate consciousness, that just sees the world knows the world without thinking about it. It doesn't mean you don't think about things again sometimes, but that you're based in this world. absolute moment of just seeing.

[54:20]

Now, what this Buddhism is saying here is that if you could realize this to its utmost, you would be a Buddha. And you'd realize an imperturbability equivalent to the earth appearing as the sun rises. Unshakable. Unshakable. Unshakable, thank you. Reach as in the moment when the sun rises and the earth lights up. So we can say that experientially this is being able to hold to this moment when everything appears.

[55:31]

This initial state of mind when everything appears. So we can talk about realizing original mind and also abiding within original mind. So Akshobhya represents one who has realized abiding in initial or original mind. So that's the experiential basis. Now the karmic basis is that he vowed not to experience repulsion or anger.

[56:32]

Now, of course, as a Bodhisattva and a Buddha, this does not mean that he doesn't experience anger and is in some denial of himself. doesn't mean he's denying himself by not experiencing anger. It means he realized a state of mind which what would normally be anger or repulsion became a similar experience but not as anger or repulsion. This would be a deep patience, acceptance. And a resolve to just face what's in front of him. So you can see here that your own practice can be rooted in such a vow.

[58:18]

Now there are many possible vows, but each one of us has some vow that's intrinsic to, particular to our nature. And if we work with that vow karmically, And we practice with how we experience things. This is the basis for realizing our Buddha nature. This is the teaching of Akshopya. who has identified with the solidity of the world as the sun comes up.

[59:23]

As you yourself first wake up to the world, this is a kind of moment of akshobhya. And this is why Akshobhya is identified with Shakyamuni Buddha, who realized enlightenment through saying, through this earth-touching gesture and his resolve. And that's why Akshobhya is also connected with Shakyamuni Buddha, who has realized enlightenment through this gesture of earth contact, through his release. So why don't we sit a few minutes before we end together?

[60:38]

So this Quran doesn't say heaven and earth and I are the same. It says we share the same root. And this root is found in your intention, your vows. And in your experience of the world. And if you can come to this solidity, this somatic awareness within your own experience this will be an immeasurable treasure to you in everything

[62:28]

then it will be an immeasurable treasure for you in everything you do and in your entire life. Thank you very much. The Morphin!

[64:16]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. ware ima kenmon shi juji suru koto etari negawa kuwa nyorai no shin jitsu giyo geshi tate matsurai I am one of the twelve men who reached the end of a poor, barren town. When there was a goblin who told me that God was no sultan, none of these people found their own way.

[67:51]

I don't know what I'm going to become, but I wish to be one of the first to find a place to live. Good afternoon. I have the most, I don't know why I should tell you this, but I have the funniest relationship to German. You know, French and Japanese seem like languages to me. But German seems like some magical incantation. Maybe it's because I've made an effort for so many years now not to learn German.

[68:55]

And now I've decided to start paying attention. And all these words, they kind of look like English, but they're very magical. And I feel quite excited. I feel like I'm going to unlock a secret code. Well, let's hope I unlock the secret code anyway. Walking with Christian a few days ago back from lecture. I noticed... which I hadn't consciously noticed before, that this building is a lot like the big dormitory buildings at Eheji.

[70:14]

The Dogen's Temple of Great Peace. And I believe in the 19th century they built a lot of buildings which really aren't tatami buildings, just big, simple wooden structures with plain, pretty much unfinished wood. And that staircase could be easily in Eheji, the staircase going up in the middle part. That staircase, aside from whether it's a bit like a similar staircase in Japan, it's, I think, a beautiful staircase.

[71:32]

It's worth the price of the building. No, I think that way, you know, I'm a little crazy. Because with a staircase like that and the simplicity and purity of it, you can develop an aesthetic for the whole place. Okay. So now I want to speak about Amitabha. I never expected to speak about Amitabha and Akshobhya. It's your fault. I don't think I can blame you. I had a feeling to speak about the four natures of mindfulness and the four elements, and it led me to what I've been speaking about.

[72:49]

Now, Amitabha, the development of this Buddha Amitabha transformed Asian Buddhism. Now the understanding and teaching of and about Amitabha is partly a belief system, created by practitioners as a belief system for people out of compassion. Believing that belief is the best route for most people.

[73:50]

And it's also, of course, a system developed by people who believe, not just by practitioners. But my emphasis is for myself and for all of us is to bring these teachings back to practice. I could say reclaim them as practice, to make them our own as practice. Now, No.

[75:00]

Akshobhya we've spoken about, of course. And his practice is rooted in a vow. A vow not to experience anger or repulsion. And it's rooted in the experience of initial mind or original mind. Established, unshakable experience. original mind. Mind before it takes thought, conception. Now, Amitabha is the Buddha of boundless light.

[76:18]

And sometimes his name is Amitāyus, which is the Buddha of boundless life. And in Japan, they're both shortened to Amida. So you have the chant, Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu. And in China, it's Omitafo, Omitafo. And when I was in China with Thich Nhat Hanh a couple of years ago, I guess, especially in southern China, older folks kind of would see us walking along in our brown outfits.

[77:24]

And you could see them shake their heads and And you could feel literally the cobwebs and the rust coming off this phrase. And they would greet us, Amitapha, Amitapha. And then they break into a big smile that they remembered this phrase from before the communist era. Or at least used it when they would have hesitated before. It's said in the same way in Bavarian Germany people say.

[78:30]

What is it? Grüß Gott. Grüß Gott. It's the same kind of... Grüß Gott. When I came to Europe, other than England, I first came to Austria, so I thought everyone said Kruskott. In Hamburg, they thought I was a little strange American. Especially with my hat for that funny thing.

[79:36]

And my jacket with deer buttons I have. I still have that at Creston. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Amida Buddha can take many forms. So, at least I can practice taking forms, if not the Buddha part. Okay. November, actually, I think it's the 17th day of the 11th moon, November 17th, recently, that Amida Buddha's birthday is celebrated. Yeah. I don't know how they figure his birthday, but in any case.

[80:54]

These guys are quite down to earth and cosmic simultaneously. Yeah. Now these four Buddhas I'm speaking about are actually aspects of the historical Buddha. So here I'm just introducing Amitabha to you. Then supposedly he was a king who renounced his throne. And this just means someone with a successful life who's willing to renounce it. And he became a monk with the name Dharmakara. And he made a vow.

[81:57]

Like Akshobhya. But his vow was to live a life of such merit that that merit benefited everyone. And it's Amitabha's vow in its 48 aspects which is the root of the vow to save all sentient beings. And the 48 aspects just mean to help people in any way possible. to sustain them in any way on the path.

[83:04]

That could be like learning how to do a sashin, how to serve in a sashin to help people And 48 means that creativity you can have in discovering ways to help people on the path. So Amitabha's vow was to not achieve full enlightenment until he lived a life of this great shareable merit.

[84:04]

Okay. Now, these two guys are guys, gals. These two... individuals, Buddhas, are associated with the East and the West. And the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. So from a practice point of view, Buddha, Akshobhya emphasizes the solidity, the physicality of the world. And Amitabha represents the light of the world.

[85:06]

So, let's just say you look at a tree. There are four things you're seeing. You're seeing the tree, and you're seeing the light that allows you to see the tree. And you're seeing the sense, the sense feels, your own sense feels, that allow you to see the particularity of the tree. And those sense fields function within the light of the mind. Now, I suggest that you practice this that whenever you look at something, you take a little time to remind yourself of it until it's a habit, that you're always seeing on every perception four things.

[86:26]

The object and the light that allows you to see it, And your sense fields. And your mind. At least in the daytime. If you're looking for a black cat looking for Charlie in a dark room, you know. And especially when Charlie's not there. Charlie... And then Charlie has a girlfriend that hides... What's Charlie's girlfriend's name? Do we know? Just the white cat. She finds it harder to hide, so she runs all the time.

[87:27]

Lives upstairs by my door sometimes. She doesn't think I'm Charlie. You don't have to translate this. Now, say that you get a letter. And this letter makes you think certain things. Let's exaggerate it and say, sometimes the case, that this letter disturbs you. Medical report or some information that disturbs you. And it brings up lots of associations, obviously, and then the associations also disturb you.

[88:46]

Now you can practice with attempting to see all the associations in the letter rather like the tree. Now you can look at a tree. Then you can shift your emphasis from seeing the tree to seeing the light which allows you to see the tree. Now, when you see the light that allows you to see the tree, You see that that light, that tree light is not particular to the tree.

[89:52]

It's also a barn light and mountain light and so forth. The light pervades everything. Equally. Okay. So you can take that same feeling and look at this information that's disturbing you. The roots and branches of this feeling. mental configuration that's disturbing you. And you can look at it in the light of the mind. And instead of, if you can't do anything about it right then, you can just hold it in the light of the mind and it tends to melt into the mind.

[90:56]

Now to do this you have to, for example, with the tree, have the skill to see the light independent from the tree. So the yogic skill here, which you can develop in Sazen, is to be able to see the light of the mind independent from the object, the content of the mind. Now, the vow of of Amitabha was to view every person equally, whoever they are and wherever they are. Now, if you discriminate in the usual way, you can't view everyone

[92:14]

But if you're looking at the light the way a painter might say, you can then view the barn and the tree the same way. You can view them equally as shining in the light. And when you develop this ability to, let's say, identify with the mind of light, then you can view each person equally. Because each person shines equally in the light of the mind. And each person shines equally in the light of their own mind, although they may be obstructing.

[93:27]

Do you understand this basic idea? And this basic idea is the basis of the conception of the practice of Amida. In other words, you don't view everyone equally because you force yourself to be a really nice guy. I mean, it's great if you're a nice guy, but, you know, this is something deeper than that. This is a fundamental shift in the way you view things. It's often called the seeing with the heart-mind.

[94:40]

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