Ulrike, you've become so tall. And you shaved your head. You didn't translate that. True. Okay. Ulrike had to go to... Friesheim, Heidelberg too. She had several appointments that she couldn't change. So I thought it would be good to practice this dharma transmission with transformation with the thin monk. There must be a sociology to this. We dress up in funny clothes and sit still for seven days.

[01:26]

And I put on my monkey suit, my monk's suit. Yeah. There's somebody I read, something I read recently, some psychologist felt that if a guru in India sits on a dung heap, you know, a dung heap, eating dung, this is not from his enlightenment but from his psychological patterning. Yeah, patterns. But some other guru would do something else and that comes from some other patterns.

[02:31]

So from that point of view we're all creatures of our sociology and psychology that has brought us here to do this strange ritual, Asian ritual. Is it better shorter or longer? Shorter. Shorter. Okay. I couldn't do this, so I can't.

[04:04]

As you know, I barely can do this in English, so I certainly couldn't translate anyone. Ich kann das nicht. Ich hab sogar Schwierigkeiten, das in Englisch zu klingen. Deswegen kann es fast jeder. But I feel when I look at each of you, I see an ancient person. All the roots of our Many ancestors are staring out of our eyes. That's really what this is about.

[05:08]

Some psychology and sociology may have brought you here. So what? Now we're looking into our ancient eyes or our ancient souls. Sometimes I have a kind of Not doubt, but worry. Sometimes I don't have a direct doubt, but a little...

[06:09]

Sometimes I have a, not a doubt but a worry. That I'm presenting something that's couldn't possibly make sense in most of our lives. And I find myself acting in ordinary circumstances often as if it weren't true. that this ancient being wasn't present. On the other hand, we don't want to be so serious. Yet serious or light, still our language, our culture doesn't allow us much room.

[07:38]

When I said the Sashin schedule was on the whole pretty easy compared to other Sashins yesterday, I didn't mean that it was really easy or that it was not a serious Sashin. I'm trying to find a schedule Together we're trying to find a schedule because I need to know, because we're doing it together. That is different enough from our ordinary circumstances. And yet lets us come into a sesshin once or twice a year without it being too much in relationship to our ordinary life.

[09:04]

Because I suppose in a way what I'm trying to present to you is that This sashin is the only life you have. You may object to my saying that. And you may hope it's not true. But that means you're already comparing. I want you to also have, when you return home, that whatever your home life is or your work life is, that you have no other life.

[10:09]

I don't want us to have a life which we endure until we can have a vacation or some kind of shape that we like. The vacation is here. And you know that some moments in Sechin are quite, can be quite wonderful. Are quite wonderful. And other moments are almost the opposite. But the situation is nearly the same. What's the difference?

[11:24]

No, I don't want to force any idea on us that it should always be the same in Sesshin, no. But still we can ask the question, why in this same situation can there be so much ease or acceptance or satisfaction or joy? And at another moment so much misery. There's this, as I said yesterday, this biological complexity that we each are.

[12:52]

That actually has no distinct boundaries with each other in the phenomenal world. But there is a kind of cohesiveness. I don't know. I think in German, the word in English, it's cohere, to hear together and adhere, stuck together. But I don't think you have the same... But there's a... We have this... biological complexity, and it manifests as a field, an in-betweenness, an energy, a consciousness, awareness,

[14:06]

And in the midst of that we have views. And as the Eightfold Path begins with right views, because the first way we give form to this field of in-betweenness, of energy, of consciousness, are views, which are kind of like lenses, or screens that screen out or let in. And lenses focus this field.

[15:26]

And then there's various irritants which can be like sand in your eye or sand in a pearl. And this field has certain qualities which organize it, give it cohesiveness or coherence. And what we're trying to do in practice is to go back, is to sometimes let go of the lenses and the pearls and the sand and so forth. And bathe, a kind of bathing, bathe for a moment, for a time in this

[16:28]

in-betweenness, this in-betweenness, which is a kind of field of energy or awareness. We don't exactly have words for it. In English or German. It's a... It's a struggle for me to find words in English. Even find... the attitude, the feelings in myself that let me talk about this. And then I feel, why bother you, as I said in the beginning, why bother you with this?

[17:48]

There's nothing wrong at all with how you are just now. So why do I tell you about something that sounds different? So warum versuche ich euch etwas mitzuteilen, das davon verschieden klingt? Which strangely enough arises from really knowing that just as you are right now is all right. Und es kommt exakt aus dem Gefühl, dass so wie ihr seid, ihr völlig in Ordnung seid. Now this koan I mentioned last night, case 91, case 90 and 91 are both concerned with the practice of dreams and reality. Some famous layperson was also famous for asking Nanchuan that he raised a goose in a bottle.

[19:16]

Rather common Zen story. A famous layperson asked Nanchuan, He asked Nanchuan about this goose. He asked Nanchuan about this goose that grew in a glass, in a bottle. He said, I was bringing, put this baby... Stupid story. Put this baby goose in a bottle and it got bigger and now I can't get it out. How do I get it out without breaking the bottle? Alan Watts told this story when I was One of the first times I met him. So, if we pretend that he is the layperson... The goose. He would have to be a very big bottle. Right. I gave up anyway, trying to get you out.

[20:40]

So, um, Nanchuan said, Geralt? And Nanchuan said, And then Gural said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And Nanchuan said, there, you're out. And Nanchuan said, there, she's out, she's out. So Senja later asked Nanchuan another question. Who? the same government official asked Nanchuan a question quoting Zheng Zhao who said heaven and earth share the same root he said heaven and earth share Myriad things are of one body.

[21:57]

What a wonderful teaching. And Nanchuan looked into the gardens and looking at a peony, Is it a peony? And said, people these days see this flower as if in a dream. And said, people these days see this flower as if in a dream. Now, in a way, yesterday and today I've been commenting on this koan. And in one, it's a kind of philosophical statement. Statement? Aussage. And we see, we know through practice that philosophy in Buddhism is not just philosophical.

[23:27]

It actually shapes this field of aliveness, Our philosophical views actually shape this field of aliveness. Our philosophical views are missing shape. I don't think you're missing shape. I'm missing the German words. You've been speaking English too long. That's true.

[24:31]

But it's... Quite difficult to immerse yourself in this lineage teaching. In which the words come to have a kind unique meanings arising from your own situation and practice. In dieser Lehre haben die Worte ihre eigene Bedeutung und sie kommen aus der eigenen Praxis heraus. And these meanings often don't associate with the ordinary meanings of the same word that now has a special meaning for us. Und diese Bedeutungen haben nicht mehr viel gemein mit den normalen Bedeutungen und bekommen jetzt eine spezielle Bedeutung. So this translation is a good practice, I think.

[25:36]

Because the words are coming from a different place, one from our usual way of thinking and speaking, and then another from a root inside of practice. So the words are coming, the same word is coming from, has two different roots. One is rooted in our culture and usual use of language. And the other root is rooted in our practice. And there's a kind of dissonance because the same word is two different circles overlapping. So when you're practicing with people, you have to be able to say the same word and pull apart the two circles and put them back together.

[26:43]

Because much of our practice, the gates in practice arise in this gap. where you pull the circle apart, the two circles, and put them back together. So there's your good practice or your good feeling in zazen sometimes. And then there's your refusal to really understand what that's about. Or the obstacles in realizing this. But neither the good practice nor the obstacles are what's really important, or what's really important is the space between the two.

[27:56]

So in this koan it says, wakefulness and dreaming are both non-existent. The eye of this house of silence is open. Das Auge des Hauses der Stille ist offen. Das Fenster des Hauses der Stille ist geöffnet. Ihr vermisst nichts. So this statement of Seng Jiao, heaven and earth have the same root, is a kind of philosophical statement.

[29:15]

What's his name, sound? Seng, S-E-N-G, H-A-O. Sound. Sound. S-E-N-G-Z-H-A-O-U, Sanjau. Sanjau, über Himmel und Erde haben die gleichen Wurzeln, ist eine philosophische Aussage. But he's also pointing out practice. Because heaven and earth have one root means can you find the root in yourself? Myriad things are one body. Unzählige Dinge sind ein Körper.

[30:19]

Means, married things are one body, means, just now, this sashin is the whole of your life. Das heißt, jetzt hier, das ganze sashin, ist unser ganzes Leben. There is no other, by definition, this is your life right now. Dies ist unser Leben, qua definition. And you can allow yourself, allow your body, this magical entity of the body, to enter this root. This ancient body to enter this root of heaven and earth. This flowering root. Flowering in consciousness, in in-betweenness, in

[31:22]

And with certain thoughts, this field collapses. And when it collapses, your life is something of a struggle, and you want something else, you need something to distract you, etc. But when you let your body, this magical entity of the body, restore this field, there's much less struggle. Your legs are folded lightly under you. Your legs are folded lightly under you. Your body feels light. Now maybe you hear a sound.

[32:42]

wonderful sound. Maybe some of you know a sound that is so wonderful you could die listening to it. You might even imagine this sound, if I could hear it when I die, I could die with joy. I hope each of you has such a sound. And if you have such a sound it's a kind of power. Let's say maybe it's a train whistle. Does it have anything to do with the train anymore?

[33:54]

The train long ago went to other stations. The people got off. The engineer is probably no longer pulling train whistles. Der Lokomotivführer zieht wahrscheinlich keine Zugpfeifen mehr. But it has today, it can have, if you know what I mean, a power today for you. Wenn ihr wisst wovon ich spreche, kann es immer noch eine Kraft für euch haben. A power that's quite independent of the train, its original source. But it's not independent of the consciousness that arose when you heard this sound the first time or many times.

[35:02]

So this power that isn't associated really with the train was present at the time when you first heard it. And many, every percept right now can have that power. which has nothing to do with the car or the bird, or does it? Perhaps the train engineer pulling the whistle knew the power he was conveying to someone. Perhaps that's why he became a train engineer. Whether he did or didn't, Still this kind, this sound or this whatever has a power for you.

[36:36]

That can cut through your daily life. And perhaps the train engineer again knew that he was hoping that someone was hearing this train whistle in this way. And I think in practice we are all like the train engineer hoping someone hears this ancient being. Maybe no one hears. Maybe someone hears. Maybe in some ways

[37:37]

We're here because we're hearing this together in some way. That's why I'm here. May our intention equally penetrate every being and place.

[38:25]

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