A crisp, cool, sunshine-filled afternoon. How very much the feeling of fall. So a practice instruction from Dogen. Place yourself fully in immediacy. And consider it the entire universe. Place yourself. Place the concept of who we take ourselves to be in the stream of our activity. Fully means including how we know ourselves and how we're discovering a self that we don't know.

[01:40]

And vollständig bedeutet die Art und Weise, wie wir uns selbst kennen und zu entdecken, ein Selbst zu entdecken, das wir noch nicht kennen. Fully means all possibilities, not holding ourselves back. Vollständig bedeutet alle Möglichkeiten, uns selbst nicht zurückzuhalten. It means when we go to the ocean, we don't stick our toe in the ocean to see if it's cold. It means to run into the ocean when we go to the ocean. Place yourself fully in immediacy. In the midst of this and situation we're continually creating together.

[02:42]

And consider it the entire universe. He doesn't say, take my word for it, it's the entire universe. He said, please be open to my suggestion and find out for yourself. Consider the possibility. Consider that this is the entire universe. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to consider that.

[03:43]

But you know, we're living on a deep gravity well. Deep gravity well with the gravity in the center of the earth pulling on us. And well like a fountain. Like a well that you look down into. On a planet covered with gas. revolving around a nuclear fireball that's 90 million miles away from us and we think this is completely normal. That's our perspective.

[05:03]

It's completely normal. So can we consider the possibility That placing ourselves, not holding anything back. As best we're able. Just as we are, not waiting for when we can really do it the way we think we're supposed to. Placing ourselves fully in immediacy and considering it the entire universe. So why do I bring up Dogen? Why do I do that? Why do I bring up Dogen?

[06:06]

Tell my first teacher, Shinri Suzuki Roshi, to talk to us often about Dogen. And he didn't think we were really ready to practice Dogen's teaching. But he wanted to plant a seed. So many of the lectures that you may see transcriptions of are not really his direct comments on Genjo Koan or Zenki or Shoji, these fascicles. But it's to give us a feeling for the flavor of And for me personally, it's all personal.

[07:10]

For me personally, many of you know I studied Buddhism in the university. For me personally, as many of you know, I studied Buddhism at the university. And he wanted me to live with his Dharma brother at a temple in Tokyo and study Dogen at the Buddhist university, Kamosawa University in Tokyo. So when I study Dogen, I feel connected to and in some small way to fulfill a responsibility I feel to Suzuki Roshi. So when I bring Dogen up, it means Suzuki Roshi is here.

[08:11]

And because here is the temple that Bakeroshi created, it means Bakeroshi is here. It means our lineage is here. It's starting to get crowded. But we have enough room. And here is wearing these robes. The robe, this robe, Baker Roshi gave me when I received my monk ordination. And it's been mended. It was mended last week. Yuki Uli mended a hole in the back. Last week, for example, Yuki Uli made a hole in the back.

[09:28]

So our sangha is in this robe. But this robe came from Japan. It's getting crowded. Japan's here. And it came from Kando-san, which is, he's a robe maker for Rinzai-shu, not Soto-shu, it's a Rinzai-robe. And the robe comes from, what's his name, Kanzo? Kando. Kando. Kando-san. Comes from Kando-san, a robe maker who actually sews for the Rinzai-school, not for the Soto-school. So you just made some room for the Rinzai lineage in Zendo. And it was sent to me in California. And I brought it here on a United Airlines plane. So it means United Airlines is here in the robe. And then somebody, maybe Frank, picked me up.

[10:47]

As he kindly does. Drove me on the road from the airport in Zurich. So it means the Swiss Highway Authority and the people in Baden-Württemberg who make the roads that allowed us to get here are part of this road being here. And the people who made the car and pumped the gas made the bank loan to the person that owns the... I think you get the idea. Consider it the entire universe. Consider the possibility that when we hold our third bowl and pour off water into the water receptacle bowl that Siri is here.

[12:28]

It's actually not that far-fetched. But this is all very linear and reasonable. Excuse me, it may be reasonable. But this robe is a decision. This robe is a choice. And that's not horizontal or linear. That slices through and opens up this moment, a chasm in this moment.

[13:39]

A chasm, like when there's an earthquake and a gap opens up in the earth and you can fall into our deep gravity well. It's an intention. And the intention, as many of you know, and Kiroshi and I talked about this morning, that the Eightfold Path begins with right views, and then intentions follow from that. I prefer to say upright views because it's not that they're right or wrong views. It's a view that can have our breath and our aliveness in it. It feels upright. We inhabit these views and they are prior to perception.

[14:46]

A view such as I'm here and you're there. Views such as the world is trustworthy or the world is not trustworthy. A view such as time is contained in a before and after. These are views we have that color how we live our life. And it's much easier to change the details of our life than it is to change these views. It's much easier to come from It is much easier to come here from Hungary or Poland than to change these views.

[16:12]

And practice is about continually discover and investigating and unfolding what they are. So a generalization. Theravadan practice is about following the teachings of the Buddha. And Mahayana practice is about unfolding the teachings. It's not that it's not a good idea to follow teachings of the Buddha. I think it's a very good idea. But the model for practice in Theravadan Buddhism is the Buddha. We try to be like the Buddha, act like the Buddha, have the view of the Buddha, and engage in the activity of the Buddha.

[17:43]

The model for our practice shifts. So a lot of the teachings that we investigate and unfold are by historical teachers in various Zen lineages. So we may say the model for practice is actually one another. And if we're fortunate enough, which I hope we are, we can make this north room into a zendo with tan, with raised sitting platforms. There's no statue of the Buddha in a Zendo.

[19:00]

Maybe you know this. There's a statue of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. But there's no Buddha because each of us on our cushion is there. Aber es gibt keinen Buddha, weil jeder von uns auf unserem Kissen der Buddha ist. Es bedeutet, dass jeder von uns ein Buddha für unsere eigene Praxis sein kann. It means not looking outside the situation for some model of our life. Outside of our activity together. And it's a significant shift.

[20:12]

Some of you know my wife Jean lived in a Theravadan center for two years. And when she first went there, she did a 90-day retreat. And it consisted of sitting and walking. They had meals in silence and they had a lecture every other day. There was no work meeting. There was no work. They had a maintenance crew and kitchen staff. After she finished the retreat, she worked in the kitchen. There was no day off.

[21:13]

There was no ninju ceremony. There was no table dinner on evening off. Sit and walk. That's all they did. And the model is, and it's not a bad model, to develop, to settle into and reside in a mind settled on itself. It's an individual practice. The model that we have is a mutually created model. It's not about necessarily realizing the mind of Buddha.

[22:32]

It's realizing a mind of Buddha that we all are creating together in each moment. sondern einen Geist des Buddha zu verwirklichen, den wir alle miteinander in jedem Moment hervorbringen. Mutually discovering and unfolding practice in a way that practice hasn't been expressed before. Auf eine Art und Weise die Praxis gemeinsam zu entdecken und zu entfalten, wie sie zuvor noch nie zum Ausdruck gebracht wurde. Because all of us together have never done this before. Weil wir alle zusammen das hier ja noch nie zuvor getan haben. The model is one that we're continuing to find together. So the view of considering this the entire universe is not about discovery and experience that the historical Buddha had.

[23:41]

It's through establishing such a view, discovering the mind that we're generating and unfolding together. So I tend not to talk about mindfulness. Because I think mindfulness is quite often oversimplified and misunderstood. Mindfulness does include being mindful of each step that we take. But more fundamentally or foundationally, basically,

[24:43]

It means to discover the mind that arises as we take a step. To discover a continually forming mind. And so bowing is being mindful of the process of the prostration. But it's more foundationally being aware of the mind that arises when this entire room bows. What is it?

[25:56]

What is it for each of us? Beyond our assumptions and our expectations and what we're used to. Some of us have bowed an awful lot. Entering fully in immediacy. Can each bow for us be The entire universe. Not theoretically. Theoretically is, do you have the expression booby prize?

[27:01]

No, I don't. Do you know when the children, young children go to a birthday party? I don't know. And the three- and four-year-old children, and they have games, pin the tail on the donkey, or they have a ball. And the mama gives the winner of the different games a prize at the birthday party. The papa always has a couple of extra gifts for the little child that never wins anything. So they get a prize and we call it the booby prize because they didn't win anything. And so having an idea, oh, I'm bowing and the entire universe is bowing, it's kind of the booby prize. As best we're able to enter the bow acting as if we're bowing into the entire universe.

[28:10]

Dogen says consider And last year I think I said Suzuki Roshi admired Dogen so much. Not because he's so brilliant, which he was. But because he was such a sincere practitioner. And then somebody, because I go through some of Suzuki Roshi's lectures, people say, can you tell me the lecture he said that in?

[29:14]

I can't. But I feel even if Suzuki Roshi didn't say it, he would have said it. So, on the evening off after our table dinner, An dem Abend nach unserem Abendessen bei Tisch. Da machen wir eine Vollmondzeremonie, eine Ryakufusatzeremonie. Die wird in einem Tempel jedes Mal bei Vollmond gemacht. And sometimes it's called a ceremony, bodhisattva ceremony, or sometimes it's called a repentance ceremony.

[30:30]

What does that mean? What's repentance? What is repentance? Repentance means to listen to the many voices of the world. I need a different word we can just say the ceremony means the ceremony means to listen to the different voices of the world it's interesting it's a bitter word we don't like to say such a word in English it doesn't feel good to say it also in English in German it doesn't feel good to say such a word it's a bitter word somehow But it means to listen to the voices of the world. And it means to listen to our voices. Our voices which are considering the possibility that Buddhas can actually exist. Unsere Stimmen, die die Möglichkeit in Betracht ziehen, dass Buddhas tatsächlich existieren können.

[31:51]

Egal wie gut oder schlecht es uns geht. That we can recognize the wisdom and compassion of these Buddhas. That we can find a place, even if it's only one square inch, in our life where it can begin to rest. And in that place, we can begin to take responsibility for our actions and the actions of others in a different kind of way. Vowing into them, plunging into the bad. Entering fully.

[32:57]

Listening to the voices of the world in our own voice. taking responsibility directly for this life together. I feel I actually am just getting started with what I wanted to talk with you about.

[34:13]

It's kind of in the background of what I have been speaking about. And this is enough for today. Thank you. Thank you.

[34:35]

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