Kukai, the founder of tantrism in Japan, he was a contemporary of Padmasambhava, who played a similar role in Tibet. A kind of phrase he used as the center of his teaching. Soku shin jo butsu. Soku shin jo butsu. which is hard to put in a few words in English. But it means something like, We are already Buddhas.

[01:06]

But we haven't realized it. And this is at the center of Dogen's teaching and the center of Shinran's teaching, who started the Pure Land School of Jodo Shinshu. Now, this basic idea that you're already Buddha, you're already enlightened, and you have to realize it, or you can realize it, Isn't a concept like uncovering, like Nietzsche had the idea, you uncover stuff that's hidden? As if it's already there and you have to take the top off. And each of these three teachers, then Japanese Buddhist teachers, has a different way of practicing with this concept that we're already enlightened and already Buddhas.

[02:30]

But Kukai's view and Dogen's view are very, very similar. So, this phrase Shokushin, Jōbutsu, means something like, since you're already Buddha, You have to trust those parts of you that are Buddha. And let them guide your development. And this Buddha will be realized through the body. Okay. Now, consciousness you can think about the world in.

[03:49]

Bodily knowing, or this lebit space, the moment before consciousness arises, or thought arises, you can't think your way to or think about consciousness. means that trust has to be a very big factor here. Okay. It means you can't decide what to do on the basis, oh, this is reasonable, this is moral, this is rational, etc. But if we have this idea of this rather dangerous unconscious, how can we trust it? non-conscious behavior. We may be just acting out unconscious fantasies or neurotic tendencies.

[04:50]

It could be that we simply live out neurotic fantasies or habitual memories or unconscious impulses. not only to be moral and appropriate, but how can we trust ourselves in such a way that we might be Buddha? Now, this question that I'm bringing up doesn't arise... in Japan and Japanese Buddhism in quite the same way. Because they don't have this concept of a dangerous unconscious hiding underneath the surface. But they certainly know what it's like when somebody acts out, in fact acts, what we would describe as acting out unconsciously. desires or something.

[06:12]

So how can you trust your actions you're doing before consciousness arises? and take responsibility for how it develops. Now, Yuan Wu, this person I use as my main Zen authority, the compiler of the compiler and author of the Blue Cliff Records. So if anybody's an authority in Zen, he's an authority. He says, just once you've understood the gist of the teaching,

[07:13]

And he would mean, once you've embodied the function of the teachings... Then just concentrate continuously without breaks. Now we have to ask ourselves, what the heck could be concentrating continuously without breaks? This is impossible. So a kind of concentration that's possible must be met. An example I usually use is, in fact, you are concentrated continuously on your posture without hardly noticing it. Und eins der Beispiele, die ich immer dafür bringe, ist, dass ihr ununterbrochen auf eure Haltung konzentriert seid, fast ohne es zu bemerken.

[08:37]

Also selbst in der Nacht fallt ihr gewöhnlicherweise jedenfalls nicht aus dem Bett. Ihr wisst ungefähr, auf welcher Seite ihr liegt und so weiter. Die Kinder lernen, sich nicht ins Bett zu machen und nicht aus dem Bett zu fallen. Manchmal machen sie aber beides. Okay. So just once you've embodied the gist of the teaching Just concentrate continuously without breaks. And let the womb of sagehood develop and mature. Okay, now both Dogen and Kukai would be talking about something like the womb of sagehood developing in your activity.

[09:44]

And how can we trust this womb of sagehood? How can we trust this bodily activity may be intuitive knowing before consciousness arises. Okay, now what I'd like you all to do is to turn among each other in groups of four or five and have some discussion about this. Right here in this room, so I can listen to the Deutsch buzz. Okay, now I would suggest what I'd like you to sort of like, you can talk about anything you want, you know. But what I would suggest is you speak about

[10:47]

ways in which you have trusted a kind of bodily or intuitive knowing. Or ways in which you find yourself really knowing what to do But sometimes you don't do what you know what to do. Okay, something like that. And the translator can join one of the groups. Okay. I don't know. I'll ring a bell three times. Probably we'll stop before lunch. But I might have each group catered.

[11:56]

So after lunch, I'd like to hear something from at least one person in each group. And because we don't have so much time, not... not too lengthy, but whatever, it will be all right. And then we'll try to look more closely at this bodily knowing and trusting and evolution in the present moment. So it's 12.30. Shall we come back with at 2.30 minus one? Minus one person. Then we have an hour and a half.

[13:06]

Well, if we take two hours, that would be 2.30, then we'd have an hour and a half. What do you think about just only taking 90 minutes? Well, that's up to you. If you can chew fast. 90 minutes? Okay. So an hour and a half will be good enough? Okay. Yeah, I know. So an hour and 45 minutes.

[13:30]

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